PeteF3

Green screen promo from Savage--MACHO MONDAY at the Mid-South Coliseum, Savage and Lawler in a cage, not sanctioned by either the WWF or USWA. Yes, I approve of this. Lawler is out in the studio to rebut and holy shit, SHERRI. She's not exactly smooth on the mic, but her energy isn't deniable. "Hi, Lance!" Okay, that was legitimately LOLworthy. Lawler points out that the only difference between Sensational Sherri and garbage is that garbage gets picked up occasionally. Sherri loses it and fucking LEVELS the King for that. Lawler grabs Sherri is about to PILEDRIVE HER ON THE STUDIO FLOOR, and holy shit, Savage is here! In all black street clothes, looking like the craziest most dangerous nutcase in history! Savage is about to return the favor to Lawler when Eddie Marlin is out to break *that* up, only for Marlin to get laid out by Savage. Things continue to break down with Lawler making his own comeback before we head to break. Holy shit, one of the best USWA segments in ages--just one blindside after another. Sherri and Savage together again feels so, so right.

Primo performance from Hansen making Kobashi look like a million bucks. By the end, Hansen is actually working hope spots and making desperation moves just to keep pace with Kobashi, before catching him with the Lariato as Kobashi makes a dive off the second turnbuckle. A terrific find--it's just too bad no one apparently got a tape of Hansen putting over Kawada in the same tournament.

On one hand it sucks these matches aren't complete, but on the other, my match-based, short-attention-span brain is sort of grateful. That '91 G-1 Climax is one of the best wrestling tournaments ever but all those matches in one huge bunch weren't exactly a breeze to sit through. Maybe JerryVonKramer's "peaks and troughs" philosophy of card-booking really is the soundest one. So, consensus at the time and among others today is that Kobashi was Best in the World™ in '93, but looking at these matches it's hard to see how he's better than Kawada. Not that Kobashi isn't awesome here, but this is so much more coherently laid out than the Misawa match, with longer stretches of each guy working on top and a continuing story of Kawada having a bum knee, which constantly gives Kobashi openings to either kick out of or counter Kawada's big moves. This really feels like Kobashi is in the fight of his life, while the Misawa match came off as a particularly long card opener.

Really good action but also can't really hold a candle to the previous bout. I agree that this was pretty spotty and my turn your turn. Kobashi kicking out of not one but two tiger drivers did seem pretty pivotal in his development, and I did like the finish--the closest AJPW main event equivalent to a flash pin.

Incredible match, just as good as their 1/15 brawl but of course totally different. This match is loaded and loaded with counterwrestling. But not WWE Main Event-style counters to create artificial drama--the story that's clearly pushed here is that these two know each other like a book by now and are seemingly ready for everything the other tries. Taue somersaulting out of the Fujiwara armbar attempt and booting Kawada in the shoulder blade was one of a number of gorgeous escapes here. And some terrific near-falls as you'd expect. When Kawada kicks out of the nodowa there's a beautiful camera shot of Kawada sitting up semi-bug-eyed, and you can almost see the thought bubble above his head asking, "Did I really kick out of that? Is this match still going?" Kawada hits a second power bomb but the bell rings, taking me by surprise. I had no idea the draw was coming, but of course with the story of the match there really is no other ending--there's nowhere else to go with this feud, at least until next year's Carnival. So the two shake hands, though they're not exactly acting like blood brothers yet. (Interestingly the Observer initially reported that Kawada was going to strike out on his own upon splitting with Misawa--I don't know that was simply bad info or there was an active change in plans. I also STR there were still glimmers, at least in the WON, that Jumbo could become available someday.) Best AJPW match of the year so far, and maybe Taue's best or second-best singles match to this point.

Laying around, lazily applied holds, long arbitrary and non-selling-related pauses between moves...this is everything you want out of the MVCs colliding. Gordy's clothesline is about the lone highlight.

Thank you for all that. I'm trying to build my joshi (and lucha) knowledge while spoiling as little of the rest of the '90s as possible. Oh, for fuck's sake.

I understand why they talked over this but I wanted to hear Jake's promo. Seemed to be a sort of WWF vs. USWA type promo, with Jake talking about being an international star and making fun of Konnan's Mickey Mouse t-shirt. I'm guessing this won't be of any worth artistically but from a drawing standpoint this run seemed to be a real feather in Jake's cap that never really gets talked about.

Things are going from bad to worse for Cornette--Bobby Eaton can no longer defend the SMW Tag Titles, as Bob Armstrong and SMW are prepared to go to court with regard to the Heavenly Bodies' claim of being a corporation. Cornette promises revenge on Armstrong and reiterates his promise to humiliate the Rock 'n Roll Express out of SMW. Prichard still wants Eaton's $1,000. Cornette: "He doesn't have a thousand dollars!"

Cornette is hilarious lecturing the two on the rules beforehand, like a 1950's referee. Unfortunately there's barely a match, as they trade wristlocks and hiptosses for a bit and then start scuffling, leading to Cornette entering the ring as we cut to commercial. And when we come back...the match is over. I knew this was going but I genuinely wanted to watch these two trade holds for a little bit.

Jarring setting for this Update--instead of Gene in the control room, it's Gorilla at a desk in front of the standard PPV interview set. Mr. Fuji and Yokozuna are with Gene on-site at WM9, where Fuji has filed a formal protest over the WWF title situation. That mess was one of a number of reasons why Fuji from a kayfabe standpoint was about the worst manager ever. After much deliberation over Mr. Fuji's protest on behalf of Yokozuna, it is Tunney's decision that there was an oral contract. Hogan remains WWF Champion.

The Pete Watches the Other DreamSlam Matches That Look Interesting portion of our show... Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Combat Toyoda & Megumi Kudo Going back to the first DreamSlam for this one as it looked like a lot more interesting match involving the FMW ladies. This had a slow beginning and Team FMW simply wasn't very interesting, and outside of her big fat plancha Toyoda still isn't. Other than that she contributes very little to this. I should be a fan of a team slowing the pace of a joshi match down, as they did here, but it didn't really work. This turns into a good to very good match, but it strikes me as a Toyota/Yamada carryjob--it's amazing how Toyota has been carrying herself as a grizzled veteran in these bouts, having a real knack for timing and building up to the big spots. The whole layout really seems to be dictated by the AJW team. On top of that Toyota decides she's going to murder herself getting the FMW ladies over, most notably including a HOLY SHIT backflip off a Combat lariat. Just an array of one sick bump after the other before she starts her comeback, leading to a fun stretch run with Kudo finally deciding to pull her weight. We get an incredibly clever finish--Combat saves Kudo from one Japanese ocean cyclone suplex, so Yamada stands in front when Toyota goes for a second attempt and then ducks away when Combat tries for a second save, suckering her into clobbering her partner. Toyota then hits the JOCS cleanly for the win. Even in a match with probably one too many miscommunication spots down the stretch, that stood out. The result of this, despite the loss, was sort of a coming-out party for the FMW ladies. But it came off more like a selfless performance from the AJW team to get them over, rather than Combat & Kudo doing a ton to get themselves over. This was a good match but an overall fantastic performance from Toyota & Yamada, saving this from a dull start. Kyoko Inoue, Takako Inoue, & Yumiko Hotta vs. Bolshoi Kid, Plum Mariko, & Cuty Suzuki The only other Bolshoi I've seen is a submission match with Plum that's worked like joshi UWFI, so I confess between that and this that I still don't quite know her deal. That match was worked completely straight and here we get a comedy opening that's out of a Brazos match. It is amusing shtick and probably fits in well with the overall card, and Kid brings the goods when it comes to offense and bumping and selling later in the match, being the real workhorse of her team. That being said, there were long stretches of this that were loose and cooperative-looking as hell, and other than the dive train, Plum's cool takedown and leg submissions, and the JWP team doing a bunch of top rope double stomps in a row, very little of this stood out. Almost totally heatless, to boot. Kyoko pretty convincingly kills Bolshoi dead to end a disappointing match. Grover talked about this whole card aging surprisingly poorly--I don't know if that's the case, as the main event sure didn't seem to, but this would be a match to point to to support that assertion. Bull Nakano vs. Chigusa Nagayo What was Nagayo doing between the Crush Gals and this show, anyway? Or until the formation of GAEA? I do admire the booking of this show for laying out so many disparate styles, especially for a big joshi show where one of my criticisms is that the styles and matches tend to run together. This is a hard-hitting slugfest between two old rivals, with some crowd brawling and some intense submission work before we start hitting the near-falls. I don't know what Nagayo's status was but for a legend-returns-to-the-ring match this was pretty awesome, and she didn't look to have lost a step. Nagayo gets a nice comeback after kicking out of the Guillotine Legdrop, before Bull shrugs it off to put her away. Aja Kong & Akira Hokuto vs. Shinobu Kandori & Eagle Sawaii Definitely up for seeing more of Hokuto vs. Kandori, but the Kandori/Aja dynamic gets a lot of play here as well. Lots of spots of Kandori trying to take Aja down and bouncing off of her like a Nerf ball, lots of intensity when Hokuto's in the ring. Great closing stretch of bombs being unleashed on everybody, even if Sawaii is just along for the ride. Lots of mirror spots from the Dreamslam 1 match as well, climaxing with Hokuto stealing Kandori's Fujiwara armbar the same way Kandori stole Hokuto's finisher the week before. But Kandori counters it and then goes back to Hokuto's arm, bending out of place again while Sawaii holds Aja at bay on the floor. The referee steps in and this time the match is stopped. Hmm...ideal booking would seem to have this match first to set up Dreamslam 1 later, where Hokuto weathers the arm work and comes back for a dramatic victory. Seems kind of backwards, but this does nicely set up at least a theoretical Kandori vs. Aja Kong match, as evidenced by the post-match confrontation, and that's something I can definitely get behind. I would love to know the politics of all these interpromotional matches, with regard to who could job to whom and in what capacity and who got to get "paid back" for who put whom over, not to mention who booked what. It all sounds so complicated that I can scarcely believe these shows ever got put together. The other striking thing is how decisively AJW put over the other, smaller promotions here. Was this a case of AJW struggling and needing the other promotions' support, or AJW somewhat generously figuring that stronger rival promotions would be better for joshi as a whole? Without going through every match, Dreamslam II may be the most significant women's card ever and certainly the highest-drawing at least to that point, but there's no way I could rank it ahead of Dream Rush as far as highest-quality cards ever go, and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't put it ahead of 6/5/89 or possibly the 4/18/91 Budokan show either. Dream Rush beat this as far as in-ring action and despite the presence of four different promotions coming together, still felt like it had greater historical impact with Bull passing the torch to Aja. That said, DSII is a hell of a show with some pretty great wrestling and booking, and I can't see anything else touching this for Best Major Card when I get to the '93 year-end awards.

Nothing was going to be as transcendent as Dream Rush, but this was at worst a Godfather II/ Two Towers-worthy sequel. They throw us a curveball right at the start when Kansai levels Yamada with the crucifix power bomb to take the first fall in a cozy 12 seconds. I don't know if it's her opponents, her partner or what, but Toyota has reigned in her worst tendencies tremendously over the course of this feud, and as Loss points out takes time to sell some of the drama here instead of quickly rushing to the next spot. I think the only thing that's dissipated which separates this from Dream Rush is the war between Yamada and Kansai--they certainly do kick the shit out of each other, but with not quite as much gusto as the first time around. Those were the moments that really set that first match apart from anything else ever seen in wrestling, and this is a bit more conventional--first fall notwithstanding. The JWP girls get the win here and in a more decisive manner than Team AJW did, which feels like it should be hugely significant though I don't know if that's actually the case. I think I have this as MOTY so far. I know '93 was pretty overflowing in quality but I'm surprised this is the only match from DreamSlam II to make the cut. Think I'll have to break off and check out the rest of the card or at least the other big matches.

Sort of slow to start considering the background of this feud and the fact that Choshu's involved, but like the previous match the closing stretch was A+ stuff. Choshu winds up for the Lariat but when Tenryu ducks, Choshu levels him with a DDT, then just Lariats him over and over again until Tenryu keels over, and that gets Choshu the pin. Color me a bit surprised at that result--I thought Hash would be the one to stop him.

The early matwork portion wasn't overly inspiring but it wasn't bad either, though the early highlights were the bullshit-type stuff. You know you're in for a fun match when Liger flips off his opponents during the intros and Dragon dropkicks him off the apron as soon as the bell rings. Then Liger sends him to the floor and does the Ric Flair groin thrust at him, just to bring this to a new level. Also Honaga being Honaga, biting Samurai's fingers to get out of a chinlock and then actually doing finger work to follow up. Norio may be my favorite lost worker ever--I loved that a guy with his athletic talent (which was comparatively very little) could get by in the NJPW juniors division by being able to do like three advanced moves and the rest of his arsenal is all southern heel cheating. I'll take him over Ultimo any day. Dragon's sort of here but he does his nice moves and Liger and Honaga do a fantastic job of holding all this together while Sammy and Dragon are more along for the ride. Lots of good near-falls mostly built around pin saves, but Liger makes the mistake of doing one more dive onto Honaga and that leaves Dragon alone to take down Samurai.

Best music video ever. This is a gimmick that should have been revived.

Tod Gordon makes a big show out of the words LIVING LEGEND. Yeah, I don't think Bruno was going to be making too many appearances here, even with ECW in its proto-indy form. Eddie Gilbert logically assumes it to be him, but Gordon instead unveils footage of Quantum Leap. Because when you want to get legends over, the only way to do it is to show them getting their ass kicked by Scott Bakula. Funk affably offers to kick Gilbert's butt after Gilbert rants about old people, and Eddie can only respond with "OH YEAH?" and leaving. The word "hardcore" is dropped on the very first pilot episode. Funk puts things over pretty well.

Since I was beaten to my go-to suggestion of Robinson vs. Bockwinkel--Clive Myers vs. Steve Grey from '75.

Hogan's actual return didn't have 1/10 of the impact and shock of the Warrior's return the year before. And the returning to Hulk as the #1 babyface comes off even more desperate and outdated as the Warrior's push was. I get that Bret wasn't drawing, and it was the weakness of the Bret-Yoko main event that meant that this was the first WrestleMania that I (or my parents) I didn't order. So only hearing about Hogan's weird title win after the fact, I wasn't angry as much as I was confused. And underwhelmed. All in all, there probably wouldn't be any easy answers for the WWF until the steroid trial was over, at the earliest. Six months later, I was begging for Hogan to come back.

One of those bullshit finishes I talked about in the Opening Ceremony thread. You're not bringing back Hogan to lose and he's not winning the tag belts either, so book a shitty DQ (with Hogan losing, but nevermind). The goofy stuff with Hart's jacket and the beating up of Danny Davis are just icing on the cake. What heroes. Hogan always played by his own rules, kayfabe-wise, but this was the start of Hogan's on-screen character being a self-entitled egomaniac whose actions could no longer be defended.

Ross showing up in the WWF was almost as much of a jawdropper as Lawler, and again--college students of today have no direct knowledge of it being any other way. I really liked the atmosphere of this show, as goofy and outdated as the toga party stuff was. Too bad the booking and particularly the finishes were almost uniformly awful. Ross drops some historical knowledge from a Caesar's Palace pamphlet he probably got from the hotel desk. Heenan, bless him, is utterly shameless--taking a swing at the ostrich and doing about 3 pratfalls in getting off the attack camel. I doubt this cost the WWF much in the way of money--Caesar's probably came to them to hold this event, just as Trump Plaza did, and this probably all stuff they had lying around in storage (elephant, ostrich, and camel included).

Is that Nancy? Anyway, Sullivan's SMW-paid therapy sessions have made him FEEL A LOT BETTER. Sullivan's closing laugh and quick recovery are great. These are really effective at making Sullivan look completely unhinged, as opposed his dress-up Devil-worshipping stuff in Florida and WCW.

Awesome segment, as dissension hits the ranks of the Heavenly Bodies when Cornette's TV title drawing injunction backfires on him. Caudle gloats over the name he picked as Cornette quickly tries to tear the injunction apart, but Prichard decides he wants the match!

Good solid promos. Lawler's pretty funny getting bumped to the back by Bret and vainly attempting to get a word in.

Why didn't Savage just cut that promo to Lawler's face? Lawler and Vince come across Shawn Michaels and we get a camera shot directly under Shawn's robe. Shawn cuts a promo on Tatanka, still clicking that gum.