Jump to content
Pro Wrestling Only

PeteF3

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    10269

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by PeteF3

  1. PeteF3
    What the hell happened to the lights? Bush-league shit all the way around on this show. Still, the wrestlers can't be faulted for effort--this is a good closing stretch with some clever false finishes. Steamboat wins the TV belt and is rewarded by getting piledriven on it after the match. Glad to see Steamboat's old theme back. I can't believe they hyped two mystery partners on one show. A case of the left booking hand not knowing what the right was doing?
  2. PeteF3
    I'm surprised the voiceover intro didn't blurt the identity of the mystery guest off the bat. Like all Flair for the Gold segments, this is a total mess--even discounting the infamous debut of the Shockmaster. Everybody's screaming over top of each other, and it's all--in the immortal words of James Brown--"people talkin' loud and sayin' nothin'." Also get a load of everybody in the fucking room standing with their backs to the camera--except for Sting, who's naturally completely blocked out by Davey Boy. Shockmaster makes his grand entrance, and whatever was left of the segment completely dies. He cuts his promo and then we just awkwardly fade out with Sid screaming.
  3. PeteF3
    Total fiasco and a complete letdown of an ending to the Hollywood Blonds run. In the Observers leading up to this, Dave was more or less counting the days until a walkout or an injury or a firing led to disaster due to the mass Disney tapings, and it didn't take long for that prophecy to be fulfilled. Roma hitting Austin with the stungun was a clever touch, and the action we see is good. Even Roma looked sharp here. I can't believe they were using the name "Pretty Paul Roma" for a babyface.
  4. PeteF3
    Good little match in a unique setting. Too bad about the weak-sauce finish. It does lead to a funny post-match argument between Del Ray and Prichard over who has to take the jump--Mark Curtis settles that by forcing both of them to do it. Then he takes one himself, ever the trooper. Chaz and Steven Dane are nowhere to be found.
  5. PeteF3
    Gilbert finds some weirdo as a result of a bet with Sulli that he can be a better host than him. I guess this stuff was considered revolutionary at the time, but holy crap these segments are fucking intolerable. Sulli opens the guy's jacket to find a Gilbert t-shirt underneath. Holy shit, angles based around torso wear--this stuff IS ahead of its time. Doesn't make it any easier to sit through, though.
  6. PeteF3
    Footage from Challenge when the Kid got a pin on DiBiase thanks to a timely distraction from Razor Ramon. Razor joins us by phone and hey Lex and the WWF powers-that-be: pay attention to how a bad guy (or the Bad Guy) can become a babyface and still retain some of that edge that appealed to the fans to begin with, because in about 30 seconds Razor puts on a clinic. Deliberate match with DiBiase methodically picking the Kid apart and only a couple of offensive moves from the Kid--one of which was blown though I couldn't tell who was at fault. IRS runs in to put a beatdown on the Kid until the Steiners make the save. Overlapping feuds! Ted's great, and this is a perfectly acceptable TV match performance, but he's really starting to look dated in this Raw setting. Taking a break from the WWF seemed like the right move for him at the time (and hell, maybe injuring his neck and not being able to wrestle again was a blessing in disguise for him).
  7. PeteF3
    Really good "main eventer vs. mid-carder" match (I assume--that's certainly how it comes across). The most telling moment is when Fukuoka has Masami clamped in a bodyscissors and we get close-ups of both women. Fukuoka is drenched in sweat and looks exhausted, while on the close-up of Masami she, despite being in the hold, is making the crowd laugh and has that semi-smirk on her face. Hikari gets a few good hope spots but this is a decisive Masami victory.
  8. PeteF3
    About as good of a wrestler vs. manager match as you'll ever see. Cornette gets in just enough offense (with lots of smoke and mirrors) to get some heat, but not enough that overly pushes himself. I really, really wish one of those Cornette vs. Ronnie Garvin cage matches had made tape.
  9. PeteF3
    A worthy addition to the WarGames and WarGames-esque canon. Lots of highlights including Morton's gusher and the heels all dogpiling to try to protect Cornette after the match, but I think my favorite part was Scott Armstrong entering the ring and giving low blows to all four heels. Perfect build to Cornette first entering the cage and then Bullet Bob getting his hands on him. The handcuffed Gibson and Scott hold Prichard at bay and with the rest of the heels cuffed, Cornette quickly submits to a spinning toe hold. Chris Candido tries to free the heels afterward, but the Big Boss Man keeps the sides even. Satisfying payoff to the Cornette/Armstrong feud, which I know is far from over.
  10. PeteF3
    Fytch, looking good in her women's sports coat and bow tie, is disgusted and horrified at being involved in something associated with dirty, greasy, filthy coal miners. Lee constantly invoking his height actually makes sense in this context. Another good match between the two, very similar to the match the previous night with a few added spots revolving around climbing the pole. The glove plays pretty much no role in the actual match, as the Dirty White Boy clobbers Smothers with a chair as soon as he gets it, leading to a Lee victory. I thought the match the previous night was a bit better, but that could be a bit of bias talking as the spots were fresher then. A Confederate flag-waving babyface calling his opponents faggots and abusing women. Southern professional wrestling! Oops, there's some added intrigue after the match, as Lee and White Boy both want credit for Ron Wright's bounty. SMW feels really hot right now.
  11. PeteF3
    Ooh, a live Flair for the Gold at the Clash! Can't wait! The Worldwide/WCWSN timelines were always fucked up, it seems. When Worldwide wasn't a week ahead, they were a week behind.
  12. PeteF3
    Quite the loaded card here, actually. This was right when the WWF was going through a roster crunch and going to one house show per night instead of split crews. Shawn laments how he and Razor used to be pals--Razor assures him they can still be amigos, but this is business. This is eerily prescient of the Clique days. Pretty good promos here, actually--Shawn does a good balancing act of being arrogant and also being whiny and cowardly.
  13. PeteF3
    WMC found themselves a green screen, which they'll be making heavy use of in the weeks to come. Jarrett compares and contrasts Bret calling himself a "King" with Jarrett being dubbed the "New Fabulous One." Jarrett's gotten better on the mic. Lawler regales us with the tale of his match with Savage that we just saw, relishing Howard Finkle's introduction and the negative reaction of the New York crowd.
  14. PeteF3
    Bret and Owen vs. Lawler and Jarrett! I approve. I could watch Bret doing a mock Southern accent all day.
  15. PeteF3
    Hugely dramatic match, up there with Jannetty/Doink as a WWF MOTYC. Lots of downtime, but the selling and timing are so good by both guys (not to mention Lawler and even Fuji outside) that it doesn't matter. I too loved the "near-fall" with Bret trying to sneak out underneath the Banzai Drop set-up. Lots of clever spots like Bret crotching Yokozuna on the middle rope and the use of the salt bucket that Lawler tosses in. Bret clobbers Yoko with it leading to an INSANE near-fall that has MSG exploding and almost had *me* going. Lawler eventually tosses salt in Bret's eyes and Yokozuna gets the victory. Yokozuna then squashes him with a Banzai Drop afterward! Very rare to see a heel vanquish his babyface opponent so thoroughly in a WWF main event like that.
  16. PeteF3
    Man oh man...I'm enjoying the matches, but this is part of a BIG stretch of long foreign bouts and handhelds, and it's starting to wear. This is a note as much for myself for future reference as anyone else, not to get too surprised if I start to get pissy and nitpicky until I get some Memphis interviews or WWF Updates to break things up. Huge heat for Lawler. "I HATE BURGERS AND I HATE YOU!" Fantastic. Lawler begins with a public service announcement: "Would the lady who left her nine kids at Shea Stadium please come pick them up, they're beating the Mets 6-0!" Old joke at an easy target, but the crowd instantly gets madder than they already were. Foreign object usage aside, once the match starts it's about as strong as Lawler has ever looked with the company, at least until the feuds with Taz and the Miz. Bret Hart makes his way to the ring and like Elizabeth at WM8 he's inexplicably confronted by an army of suits. Jerry clearly has Savage beaten when he takes the time to spit at Bret Hart, who assaults Lawler for the DQ. That leads to an intriguing pull-apart with Savage afterward, which sadly won't go anywhere. The legal issues would have derailed things anyway, but I still think they could have gone farther than they did with this Lawler heel push. Savage was marginalized, but the crowd is still hot for him and VERY hot for the post-match. Camera-operator: "Who do you like now?" Little kid: "MACHO! He's a legend!" Vince should have listened to that boy. As a package this was pretty awesome, actually. The match isn't really great, but both guys do work hard especially by the sometimes hard-to-watch WWF house show standards of the day.
  17. PeteF3
    Very Warriors vs. Heenan Family at Survivor Series, with Cornette not being quite as masterful as Bobby but with so, so much more awesome offense--from both teams. The Bodies just have ridiculous amounts of cool shit they can do, both in terms of offensive moves and comedy stooge shit on defense. Bullet Bob finally gets his hands on Cornette when the Bruise Brothers attack. The Rock 'n Roll Express come in for the save but are overpowered when one of the Harrises gets the tennis racket. Finally Mark Curtis retrieves a baseball bat--Thank God for unbiased officiating--and Bob takes out the heels one-by-one with it. Really fun match, better than the SMW title bout in fact, and one of the best the company has put on to this point.
  18. PeteF3
    Genuinely good match good heat--Smothers was tremendous here but Lee, as awkward as he can be, has through some miracle progressed into being a perfectly acceptable worker. Even his chinlocks were well-worked, and Fytch is already a natural at ringside. Just a few months into her career and her timing when it comes to reacting to the action and working interference is already superb. She has Mark Curtis distracted and Lee crawls for his loaded glove--cornerman Tim Horner tries to stop him but gets clobbered from behind with a chair by Chris Candido, but the delay allows Smothers to block the punch and for Mark Curtis to see everything and call for a DQ. Smothers almost gets some payback with the glove (with Lee doing a hilarious bit of begging off) but Fytch saves her man.
  19. PeteF3
    Harley Race is incensed that Flair has broken his World title record, and that he isn't defending the title at the Clash. RIC FLAIR IS A GUTLESS HUMAN BEING. Flair comes out to respond and that ends with him popping Race one. Later, he addresses Sting by CCTV and asks to make the Sting/Kong singles match into a tag. The Colossal Kongs come back out to corner Flair before Sting can respond, but Sting comes into even the sides. Pretty good angle, but the Clash tag build is rushed--and Jesus God, are the Kongs a complete waste of an opponent for something that should be treated as a big deal. I have NO recollection of babyface Sting wrestling babyface Flair on TV.
  20. PeteF3
    I was a fan of the countout teases in some earlier lucha matches but here they felt excessive and killed the flow of the match. I think it was a case of "fool me once..." here. I actually liked Heavy Metal more here than in the May match, as he showed some nice athletic moves, but this was more of a my-turn, your-turn bout without much in the way of a story. I did get taken in by the double-pin finish--they stall for a bit, then re-start the match, then it looks like Heavy Metal is going to bail, then he reconsiders and continues the match until Santo gets a decisive victory. Overall good, but not a high-end lucha singles match. I couldn't help but notice that Metal had essentially run out of things to do by the time they'd gotten to the restart--lots of repeated moves and sequences and not in a "learned psychology" way.
  21. PeteF3
    Vader with the Pure Sports Build pre-match interview. This is very similar to Vader/Nakano except Yamazaki actually gets him on the ropes at one point (figuratively and literally). Vader comes back and murders Yamazaki for the chokeslam and the match is stopped, with Yamazaki selling like he's been paralyzed. Good climax to a great UWFI show.
  22. PeteF3
    Funny how Sano constantly turns up in my favorite shootstyle matches. This ranks among one of the better ones I've ever seen, with lots of crazy leg dive takedowns from Anjo and some great counterwrestling. Basically a more technically advanced version of the previous match--without that match's killer ending but with greater depth to it.
  23. PeteF3
    This was awesome, just two guys suplexing the shit out of each other while also throwing in some cool mat counters. Lydick's Hulk-Up at the end is one of the most fun shootstyle moments ever, coming off one of the style's greatest false finishes.
  24. PeteF3
    I know nothing about Harley Saito, but as Nise Dynamite Kansai she does a more than adequate job. They push a strong running story of Saito's bad ribs vs. Hokuto's bad knee, and both ladies take the time to sell that stuff, so you get a more leisurely and psychologically sound joshi match. Not a match that'll change the world but a good look at the "upper-card vs. not-as-upper-card" style of the time.
  25. PeteF3
    But Abby was much the same way. He was "too dangerous" to allow on television.
×
×
  • Create New...