PeteF3
-
Posts
10287 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Blogs
Everything posted by PeteF3
-
This is going really good with a fun blend of matwork and dives and big moves...and then Negro Casas double-crosses his brother and throws the towel in even though Felino has an octopus hold applied on Ramirez. Cheap-ass finish to a lucha title match. Should have had Casas cry and beg for his mother to throw in the towel on Felino's behalf instead. Ciclon so far is this year's "who IS this guy and where can I see more of him?" figure of awesomeness.
-
Psychologically sound but I didn't love this as much as everyone else. Which is disappointing--19.5 years ago this was the first Japanese match I ever saw, and I was wowed. I have issues with how Misawa was booked in the Carnival, and I think jobbing twice to Hansen was excessive and did too much to give the result of this away. I know Hansen had beaten Misawa repeatedly in '92 before finally dropping one, but after becoming the Triple Crown champion I thought it was past time to start booking Misawa like a champion, and not start it 9 months later.
-
Holy crap, this was abysmal. It's easily the worst in a running series of bad MVC efforts and it's not really one for a Best Kawada Performances comp either. No heat, loose and meandering strike exchanges, those wonderful MVC holds, and it goes ON AND ON AND ON...I rationalized their first match, but now I sense some major growing pains for the Holy Demon Army in terms of work. This is the worst AJPW effort in a significant match since the Misawa unmasking. If not for Taue doing some good work upon getting the hot tag, this would have vaulted into surprise Worst Match of the Year contendership. Then he gets cut off, tags out again, and it's ANOTHER fucking interminable Kawada-in-peril run. All four of these guys should have been embarrassed. The result is significant, at least--both the tag title win and Taue pinning Doc. With the benefit of almost 3 years' hindsight this should have been one of them there "finish only" matches. -
Holy shit, Funk heard my complaints about the last vignette. I swear I did not read ahead when I made that post. This was great.
-
I deliberately didn't count SNME. Without getting into the "weekly episodic television" counting-game shit, they really weren't the same thing as normal TV shows. I won't say they were a dead-on equivalent to the Clashes, but on the scale of free-to-air television they were closer to that than they were to an average Superstars, Prime Time, or 1993-95 Raw.
-
This was already a memorable Raw before the Kid upset--Michaels was gloating in an in-ring interview about how he'd defend the IC title against anyone, when a man in a hoodie and sunglasses hops the guardrail and enters the ring--MARTY JANNETTY, back after a 5-month absence. Vince goads Michaels into keeping his word and, in what might be a first in WWF history, a match is signed to take place on that very same episode. Hard to imagine a time when that booking move was considered revolutionary, at least for this company. More good action as you'd expect, as these guys seem amped. Michaels' bumping is top-notch of course but I can't help but notice that Jannetty pretty clearly outclasses him on offense. I know I'm beating this drum to death, but Michaels on top is something that I don't know will ever get that interesting. As much as I hated his babyface push that may ultimately be the in-ring role that suits him the best. Jannetty stuns the world for the second time tonight by capturing the Intercontinental title, with some timely help from Mr. Perfect. A ranking of the best episodes of WWF/E television would be an interesting one. Prior to this, I think the only other contender would be the 2/7/87 episode of Superstars: on one show you had the Andre heel turn on Piper's Pit and the Hart Foundation winning the tag titles--not to mention the debut of Outback Jack. I don't think another contender would emerge until the Austin/Bret streetfight episode of Raw, and maybe not another contender after that until the Austin/Vince challenge (that broke Nitro's win streak) and the Dallas Raw of February 2000.
-
Great build to this, with the Kid standing out a little bit by changing his name but otherwise being indistinguishable from any other TV jobber. Kid gets brutalized for a few minutes like any other TV squash, but catches Razor with a moonsault for the mindblowing finish. Crowd absolutely loses their shit, and this is possibly the first year of Raw's defining moment. Great job by the WWF not to telegraph a single thing until the 3-count.
-
I may have to turn in my man card for this but I don't see what's so great about Fifi. Flair continues to be enthusiastic, but God, Arn is about as miscast as anyone has ever been in or out of wrestling in this role. Missy Hyatt makes an appearance continuing whatever this thing is with her trying to track down Flair. We're about 3 weeks into this segment and this is the 3rd consecutive one to have Flair constantly browbeaten by his guest--or, in Missy's case, an uninvited one. All while Flair tries to laugh things off. Way to make Ric look like a total chump. Flair finally snaps this time, which leads to...nothing in particular. The Blonds had some good lines here but this was pretty awful.
-
I like Jesse's indignation when Dustin's shoulder comes up--"WHO CALLED FOR *THAT* ANGLE?!" An apt question, as I recall this U.S. title vacancy as seeming to last for about 6 years and just becoming absolutely intolerable.
-
Metal strikes me as average, too. For whatever that's worth. This is a good match but not a high-end title or mask bout, with a terrific performance from Santo. The highlight here was Metal trying to jump off the top, Santo moving, Metal landing on his feet, then going for the majistral cradle that won the first fall only for Santo to counter. That was a very clever sequence, among a number of good mat-based counters that looked cool while also looking organic. Fuerza makes a nuisance of himself throughout this and plays into the finish, as he breaks up the camel clutch, and when Eddy Guerrero protests, he shoves the referee and draws a cheap DQ. Very clever fuck finish.
-
Not a great match, but it wasn't meant to be. This was all about putting over the brand new Kawada/Taue team and establishing them as a mainstay in the Double Tag Titles division, so they get a relatively easy win over the All-Asia champs. That means no epic saves or last-ditch kickouts that one would expect from a lot of AJPW matches. Kobashi and Kawada brutalize each other before Kikuchi gets dispatched by Taue. This match comes off as sort of a farewell to Kikuchi as a superworker, as this team has probably seen its best days already.
-
The atmosphere of Worldwide and Pro, in arenas, blew away the Techwood Drive setting. Plus it seems more "big" things happened on the syndie shows. The TBS Saturday show was probably more widely seen but on the scale of importance it seemed closer to Prime Time, as opposed to Superstars.
-
Pretty sure early boxing and wrestling rings *were* rings, before taking on the square/rectangle shape. So it's a "squared circle" in the almost-literal sense of the term.
-
Okay, these are creative but they're getting into jerking off territory. Let's see the match.
-
Hot brawl, the kind that really set Raw apart from the stale and sterilized 1992 television. That's Howard Finkle's new car that Shawn gets hiptossed onto, cracking the windshield.
-
Stars from Europe, Japan, South America, and Australia! I will flip my lid if Martin Karadagian shows up at Slamboree. We may have to settle for a Horsemen reunion, so teases Ole. That was pretty fun. The announcer says Flair's guest will be Barry Windham, but there's no sign of him. Oh, those WCW production values. Arn cuts a promo on Windham and then the party (?) starts. Fifi gives Flair a phone call, and it's Windham--oh, I see, he was supposed to be the guest but called to say he didn't want to share the stage with Arn. Flair comes off pretty pathetic begging Windham not to hang up, then wanting to kick the girls out because of it.
-
A redo of the famous Cornette/Watts knockout, but executed perfectly. Even Scott cuts a damn good promo, though Cornette and Bob are incredible. The Cornette/Armstrong feud is officially on.
-
Sullivan drops all of his favorite standbys: Abuddadein, bathing in the River Ganges, the Lady with the Third Eye (whom he enjoyed immensely!), etc. This was awesome, and this comes from someone who was never big on Sullivan's act be it in the CWF or in WCW, but who's enjoyed the hell out of his SMW run. Cornette allowed Sullivan to cut loose (which WCW would never have allowed) but also kept him in the mid-card to keep his act from taking over the program (which is what killed things in Florida). The only thing this run has missed has been an appearance from King Curtis. Also, touching on the WWE TV overexposure thread, it's incredible how fresh and exciting things seem by the mere fact that Sullivan is aligning himself with the Heavenly Bodies and Lee with the Rock 'n Rolls. These guys have been in SMW for months, some of them since the beginning, but are just now beginning to interact with each other, and there's wonder and excitement as to what's going to happen because of it. I know the genie's not going back in the bottle but I'm missing those days. Color me surprised that the Stud Stable are still around at this point, and on the babyface team at that.
-
Dammit Kevin, I wanted to make an Alexandra York quip. Pillman must have been watching tapes from Memphis, as he plays mind games to start with a foreign object, which is worked absolutely beautifully. I love that it never actually gets used. Pillman was like Gaylord Perry at work on the pitcher's mound--the batter THINKING he was doctoring the ball accomplished just as much as actually scuffing it. Bagwell plays some mind games of his own by mocking the Blonds' "roll camera" taunt. Damned if Buff isn't really good taking the FIP beatdown here. More work with the towel, and are the Blonds ever coming into their own as a heel tandem. They do about 3 or 4 heel tag staples and execute them perfectly with their own personal spin on them. I loved them attempting to shoosh the crowd before "shaking hands," as Jesse put it, on the abdominal stretch. With two minutes of airtime left, Buff gets a great escape and hot tag and Scorpio goes nuts, a la Rick Rude at the end of the Ironman Match, trying desperately to get pins on Flyin' Brian. Time expires and this was a whale of a match. When Loss called it the U.S. Tag of the Year I thought it was an overexaggeration, but looking back I can't really find anything that one could definitively argue as better. I think I'm still partial to either the Clash tag or the tag title change, but this has been a hell of a run for the Blonds, and another strong performance from Bagwell & Scorpio also. The only thing I didn't get was Austin walking away from the corner and Pillman getting into a shouting match with him. Either something got cut during the commercial break or they're already teasing a break-up, which is absolutely flabbergasting if that's the case.
-
Is there any non-Memphis gimmick more suitable for Memphis than Papa Shango? I'd say not. He and Flamingo make a pretty hilariously mismatched couple. Holy crap, these two are beating the shit out of each other. No Memphis heel stall bullshit here, at least that we see. Shango shrugs off a fireball and uses his own bit of fire, from a skull, then follows it up with a bulldog to take the Unified World title (for the second time! Wonder if that tidbit ever got acknowledged). Goddamned if I don't want to see this in full. These clips are legitimately awesome-looking and this has to be by far the best Charles Wright match ever. These two were spirited as all hell--intensity, a quick pace, and MOVEZ, some of whom I've never seen done by either guy. Lawler was fantastic here but this didn't come off as broomsticky by any means.
-
Vader really doesn't come off as a shooter at all, but man alive was this a massacre. Nakano gets a few token hope spots in but it's mostly Vader just brutalizing him with slaps and a powerslam(!). After the first knockdown Vader comes barreling at him again as soon as he gets up, plowing through both Nakano and the referee! Vader bulldozes through all 15 of Nakano's points in a cozy 3:35. Molten crowd for this--I and educated MMA/shoot aficionados may not buy Vader as a shooter but they sure did.
-
Tamura's desperation escapes were terrific, and it paid off nicely with a big comeback victory. But goddamn was a lot of this really fucking boring. I know I've got the anti-shootstyle bias going but I love Sano to death, which made this all the more disappointing because it was his performance specifically that held this back.
-
SHOOT THIS RING ANNOUNCER. Jesus, he makes Billy Martin at WrestleMania sound good. Naturally we're subjected to a 45-minute soliloquy when all this could have been perfectly explained by Terry Funk talking to a horse's ass. The teasing and build to the bumps into the wire are all awesome, especially Terry's drunken selling as Onita is raining headbutts on him. This is really sloppy at points, but it's hard to imagine it being any other way. The 5-minute siren had me wanting to tear my hair out at points, but I'm always a sucker for Terry slapping on the spinning toe hold in the most bizarre environments, whether it's a riverbank or an exploding barbed wire ring. Onita pulls out a win and then power bombs Funk into oblivion after the bell, as we hit the 1 minute mark and things get really crazy. Funk is half-dead and convulsing as Onita finally gets out of the ring with about 20 seconds to go, and then decides to dive back in, unsuccessfully revive Funk, and then cover him when the explosions go off. I don't know if the crowd really went dead silent there or if they got muted for the post-produced music, but it was a way cool cinematic effect either way. I don't need to watch 30 of these matches per Yearbook like they're AJPW, but the spectacle is certainly worth watching every so often.
-
Dear God, this is the worst ring announcer of all-time. He sounds like a Japanese version of the Pimply Faced Teen from The Simpsons. That aside, this was an improvement over DreamSlam--a match that I liked, but almost 100% because of Toyota and Yamada, who put on a performance of a lifetime trying to drag Team FMW to something great and almost succeeding. Here the FMW girls pull their weight and are treated more as equals--even Combat looks good here! She's also utilized really well, coming off as a true monster and only sort of like somebody cosplaying as Aja Kong, especially towards the end when she's making saves. And we also get Toyota's incredible backflip bump off a Combat lariat again. Truly Toyota is the Johnny Rich to Combat's Sid Vicious. The FMW makes a spirited comeback when it looks like Kudo is about dead, thanks to Combat and some timely double-teams, and Kudo picks up a huge pinfall on Toyota. An excellent bout in a unique atmosphere.
-
Oh God, the horse's rear end actually getting an "Eddie Gilbert" caption absolutely slayed me. This was quick, to the point, and awesome.