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PeteF3

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Everything posted by PeteF3

  1. PeteF3
    Yes, this was the "WWF title is like a Honda, the IWGP title is a Rolls-Royce" match. Somehow the historical significance of this was completely lost on me until now, and I feel like it deserves more attention. This is the WWF Champion working a show involving WCW's top babyface--that was an absolutely unthinkable occurrence until Hulk and Sting were booked and actually appeared. To say nothing of '90s Hogan and Fujiwara sharing a bill. Hogan's delivered more inspired Japan performances, and this is pretty much a shit show from Muta. He shows no real interest in selling anything and takes up too much time doing stupid crap like laying on the ramp and crawling under the ring for no real reason. He only shows a bit of fire when he's on offense. Hogan did come to work, but Muta's back on my shitlist after his great '91. This was an inexcusable performance.
  2. PeteF3
    Yeah, Hase was only halfway into the hold and then tapped (or the referee just called for the bell). Two abrupt finishes in two matches. Before that, this was really good, and more or less lived up to its promise--I think this is my first time seeing Hase work against the shootstyle guys and he's naturally a great fit. But we get a few Hase trademarks like the giant swing, before he does an inexplicable Ultimate Warrior rope-shake and gets a big grin on his face. Fujiwara attempts to top him by doing a great little celebratory jog when he levels him with his headbutts.
  3. PeteF3
    Hey Chad and Parv, if you stumble across this: I found the answer to your "Did Sting ever carry anyone?" question. Oh, this is certainly a fine selling performance from Norton, who shockingly takes on the role of overmatched sympathetic babyface here as Sting pounds him to a bloody pulp. He does a great, great "loss of blood" sell as he just flails away at Sting, who's able to duck his blows easily. Sting just levels him with everything he can, though Norton can't bump around as well as Vader so no cool power moves. Then all of a sudden Sting calls for the ring doctor, who examines Norton's cut and quickly stops the match. Norton creams Mr. Takahashi and one of the young boys with an awesome clothesline while Sting just walks off. I know Norton was often weird about doing jobs around this time but that did not seem like a planned finish at all. His cut was sick, but not Hase or Muta sick. But up until the wonky finish I was really digging this, more than anyone else here it seems. Give this a big spirited Norton comeback and a real finish and it'd be a sleeper top 20 MOTYC candidate.
  4. PeteF3
    This was terrific, a real give-and-take struggle with Hokuto going all-out as a sympathetic babyface. Great blend of mat wrestling building to an incredible somersault dive by Hokuto into the bigger moves.
  5. PeteF3
    This wasn't terrible, but it wasn't good and it was filled with so many unnecessary elements that have already been touched on. And again there's more "let's not break a nail" WWF house show work through most of this, especially during the opening which is about as loose as any match you'll see on these Yearbooks. Actually this was on its way to being terrible, but a fairly hot closing stretch was enough to launch it into mediocrity for me. Perfect outworked Shawn here, for what that's worth. He provided a bit of fun work on Shawn's leg and was carrying things toward the end as well. Even Shawn's normally reliable Sweet Chin Music looked bad.
  6. PeteF3
    Even though Dustin has "his" U.S. title this feud seems like a step down for Rude, who was a legit World title contender a few months prior. This is still great--Rude is as good of a heel as ever and Dustin doing a tope to get after Rude was markout-worthy.
  7. PeteF3
    I spent most of the '90 and '91 Yearbooks bitching about how the Louisville Slugger and Danger Zone didn't have proper sets, so I guess I can't complain too much about how this set feels like it's money down the toilet. Flair is energetic here but I simply don't think an interviewer role suits him. That legendary WCW production comes through again--Flair introduces Vader like he's a surprise guest even though TBS Guy spilled the beans during his intro. Vader talks of his School of Pain, and attendees like Sting, Ron Simmons, Joe Thurman, Cactus Jack, and Nikita Koloff, and has words for the "British Chihuahua." Flair's constant exhortations to "relax, relax" are getting on my nerves--this feels less like Flair than anything he did in the WWF, honestly.
  8. PeteF3
    The set-up for Rage in the Cage, and maybe some house show 6-man tags involving Lee, continues.
  9. PeteF3
    I'm not going to spoil anything either, but this word-association game is a brilliant use of the comedy rule of threes. Sullivan has split with the Nightstalker and vows revenge on his pupil--this is presumably a wrap-up program for Mr. Clarke as Adam Bomb is not far away.
  10. PeteF3
    Tammy rather condescendingly offers to be Brian Lee's manager, if he just signs a contract. Bob Armstrong cuts things off. Lee blows her off, but Fytch declares that he's simply insecure about his masculinity. Fytch is really coming into this role quickly.
  11. PeteF3
    This is a little too close to the tar-and-feathering for my liking, but still a good angle that's ahead of its time. Smothers is gonna light White Boy up like a sympathy orchestra...wait, what?
  12. PeteF3
    Easily the best Memphis studio match since at least the Lawler/Dundee Southern title switch, maybe the best ever as an isolated match without the big killer angle surrounding it. About 7 million near-falls, with the heel and babyface locker rooms emptying to watch and cheer. I like how early they started bringing people out, but didn't go for the predictable fuck finish--the ersatz lumberjacks stayed uninvolved until the end. It was kind of lame that after taking an axhandle to the floor, a big legdrop off the top, and other hot moves, that Jarrett went down to a simple trip, but you knew you weren't going to have ten guys surround a Memphis ring and not descend into a brawl. This edges out Kid vs. Sabu as the best non-Big Two U.S. match of the year, just because it was something unexpectedly epic.
  13. PeteF3
    This is the second emergency room visit for Sherri in a month. No Luna Vachon running in to attack her this time.
  14. PeteF3
    This starts slow and I'm actually wondering if Casas is either phoning it in or babying Jericho through the opening, but Chris acquits himself well the rest of the match. He's no lucha matwork whiz but he keeps up his end during the big 6-man clusters and throws in some good dives. Felino delivers possibly the most energetic wrestling performance I have ever seen--even his pre-match stretching is practically a gymnastics routine, and he throws himself into every move and bump he takes. Even plunging to the floor when trying to hop to the top rope, which definitely looked intentional. He and Ramirez match up really well together. In addition to Jericho, and possibly Ciclon as well, this was our first Yearbook look at Oro--and I can't help but feel a little sad. For his experience level he had all the makings of a huge star. This was fun, with star-making performances from the Casas brothers.
  15. PeteF3
    So are Ultratumbita and Espectrito the same guy, or just the same gimmick on two different guys? Some great dives here, but not much of a compelling storyline, and a rather flat finish.
  16. PeteF3
    Hasn't Bockwinkel spoken well of Lawler? Maybe not to a GOAT level of praise, but AFAIK he's always spoken highly of his trips to Memphis.
  17. PeteF3
    Or at least have Sting confront the fake in the ring, with Windham selling shock or even doing a pratfall and allowing Sting to take him out before turning his attention to Sid. As it was actually executed, the crowd's confusion is palpable--they clearly bought the initial finish straight-up. Question from someone who hasn't seen them since their initial airing: are any of the Sting/Giant matches any good?
  18. PeteF3
    Keith's name isn't invoked by itself as much as it was, his format and tone tends to be used in the vast majority of show reviews I ever read: - Live from Anytown, USA. - Your hosts are Gordon Solie & Don West. - We open with a video package... - Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. The Great Khali. Rote match play-by-play followed by a few token thoughts and a star rating. Standard Keith-ian jokes sprinkled in. **1/2. Even if it's two or three times removed from the source, the style is unmistakable and it's still out there. And I agree that there's a tendency to rate matches before even watching them, just based on who the participants are.
  19. PeteF3
    There have seemingly been as many Black Tigers as there have been Tiger Masks, and also a "Masked Tiger" in Michinoku Pro.
  20. PeteF3
    Pretty historic match, but not actually good. Konnan finishes off the first fall with one of the weakest-looking rollups ever, which is only exacerbated by the slomo replay. Caras takes advantage of a Jake the Snake distraction to open the second fall and wins that in short order. Another match that illustrates why it's sometimes completely pointless to have 2/3 fall matches. Jake is apparently upset with Caras for not properly following up when he has Konnan down and attacks him. Konnan selflessly makes the save for Caras, but in the process of brawling with Jake he gets counted out. Konnan's career is over--Match of the Year! Match of the Decade candidate! Yeah, this was a mess, but kind of a fun mess. Jake was as good as ever acting as ringside nuisance and clobbering everyone, including Mascarita Sagrada. This crowd is legitimately stunned and horrified at the result.
  21. PeteF3
    Yes, that was him. Shawn goes for the ultra-cheap heat right off the bat, referring to NYC as the armpit of the nation and making a March on Washington crack about two fans. That gets the crowd on his case big-time. Heenan: "They're chanting SHAWN IS GREAT!" God, nobody can make a save like the Brain. We get footage from WM9 of Shawn jumping Mr. Perfect in the back as Perfect was attempting to confront Lex Luger. Shawn mixes up Grover and Oscar in regards to which one lives in a trash can, and Mr. Perfect comes out to correct him. Good enough segment--Shawn is now officially a natural douche, a role that would stick with him the rest of his life.
  22. PeteF3
    If Ted DiBiase is on the high end of the introductory vignette spectrum, and Kona Crush is on the low end, then this...is certainly somewhere in-between.
  23. PeteF3
    For a guy with the rep of a perennial underachiever, Bam Bam has been in quite the groove in 1992 and '93. Bigelow goes all out on Bret's back and busts out his double underhook backbreaker among other fun offense. This is pretty much a clone of KOTR '93, with a lot of the same spots like Bigelow countering the back suplex and Sharpshooter, and the finish is the same. This was good, solid stuff--the kind that made those '92-'94 Coliseum Videos fun.
  24. PeteF3
    Angle of the Year so far...for now, of course. The opening is really great, with Cactus pulling out all sorts of stops to inflict pain on Vader, and the ending is spectacularly well-done. Tony and Jesse sell this great, and from what I've been told this is actually a shortened version of what went on in the theater. They even went to the trouble of forcing the fans to stay put so as not to impede the ambulance. The last several minutes, once Jesse leaves, are completely silent--no commentary at all, just a fadeout to the copyright notice as the ambulance pulls away. Yes, it was an over-the-top bump for Foley, but as I said, it was meant to actually ACCOMPLISH something, which is to humanize him. I'd say it succeeded, and it was that human element that made Foley such an endearing figure at the end of the decade, as opposed to some generic CZW mutant.
  25. PeteF3
    Foley's recount of this angle in his book is one of the high points. In WCW fashion, they went from not wanting to air the match at all, to censoring it and then asking Foley to make himself look like he did afterward for the next episode's taping, resulting in Foley having to drive to Center Stage while punching himself and rubbing his nose and eyebrows with sandpaper. Yes, that sounds like Foley wankery, but I think ultimately he was doing it for the right cause--at least from a wrestling/business standpoint. Jack talks of how his family felt seeing him come out of the hospital, and promises this will be the last time for him in the ring with Vader. Vader may want to destroy him, but Jack's been trying to do the same thing for his whole life and hasn't succeeded. This was all very effective at finally getting sympathy on Cactus--which was a problem for the first few months of his babyface run--while still making him out to be dangerous and creepy.
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