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PeteF3

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Everything posted by PeteF3

  1. PeteF3
    Savage is coming to Oxford, Mississippi to take out Jerry Lawler. I can't fathom how much money Savage would have made on that, but maybe he was just that eager to wrestle again.
  2. PeteF3
    Scotty Flamingo is in Memphis! The First Family consists of himself, Brian Christopher, Mike Samples, and the Harlem Knights. Jerry Lawler's jaw has so much glass in it, he oughta be a chandelier! Flamingo drops some rhymes on us (I think he used the same rap, verbatim, when feuding with Men on a Mission) and this was pretty entertaining. I was always a fan of Flamingo's, even during his cheesy feud with Johnny B. Badd and the Clash boxing match. He's funny here without letting the comedy overwhelm the issue--the formation of this new stable and his Unified World title challenge. At some point, Levy became all about either Polo's comedy or Raven's poetic musings instead of cutting money promos.
  3. PeteF3
    The greatest array of pissed-off southern redneck interviews in the history of our sport, is how I think an old DVDVR review put it. I saw this on a tape in 1995, before I'd seen any ECW, and I thought this was the most mindblowing thing I'd ever seen at the time. It's not exactly mindblowing now, but I still liked it. Not to get all Meltzer here but this did come off as something incredible at the time, and it still stands out in the context of the Yearbooks. I continue to mark out for wrestling moves in the middle of chaotic brawls, so the big spots that stood out were Robert Fuller busting out the Fuller Leglock and the Bodies raining down on Robert Gibson with repeated rocket launchers. Arn clears the ring with a fire extinguisher(!) and then DDTs all three Bodies in a great moment. Prichard steals the win by strapping on a loaded kneebrace and hitting Gibson with a knee off the top as he was busy figure-fouring Cornette. The Tennessee chain match didn't last very long as the best SMW match.
  4. PeteF3
    Lance Russell! I thought this was pretty great--it just suffers in comparison to Sting/Vader. The "both guys touching corners" finish is a cliche, but this particular one was well-executed. There wasn't exactly anything new under the sun here, as it was mostly chain/strap/bullrope spots we'd seen before, but it was a satisfying payoff to the feud and probably the best SMW match to this point. White Boy trashes Smothers during the post-match interview, breaking a board over his head and kicking him between the legs. More good stuff.
  5. PeteF3
    I'm a sucker for another Liger move, where he counters a flying headscissors by holding the legs, then kneeling down and basically using that to bend his opponent's body. A "bat hanging lock" as FirePro Wrestling calls it. Cool way to end a juniors match with a flashy submission. The spider twist and Koji Clutch are basically from the same family, and they're both awesome.
  6. PeteF3
    I wouldn't have believed it myself, but I thought Konnan was pretty awesome here. His strikes looked pretty good and he executed a lot of good near-falls and counters with Caras. And yes, that finish was great. The other highlight was one of the masked Hermanos holding Santo for a tope from the other (I always forget which one is which), but Eddie frees Santo--one rudo goes flying through the barricade and the other is on the floor while Santo and Eddy just rain somersault sentons on him, one after the other. That eliminates the other Hermanos leaving Caras alone with Konnan for the closing stretch.
  7. PeteF3
    Tenryu vs. Hash one on one has been one of the best-built matches on any of these Yearbooks. Another awesome brawl in an awesome feud, with Ishikawa looking as good as he's ever looked.
  8. PeteF3
    Potential, REALISTIC choices for the Scorpion in my mind... Realistic means the Warrior is out. That leaves only one reasonable person from Sting's past who remotely fits the clues, and that's Eddie Gilbert. Considering he was a mid-card/JTTS guy for WCW before leaving, that would probably be an immediate anticlimax, especially if they continue to drag this out until Starrcade. That said, an earlier reveal with Gilbert being given a chance to cut loose on the mic could have saved this, as Eddie could sell any storyline. However, the other big negative in addition to Eddie's prior placement on the card is that Gilbert being thrust into a main event role would probably rub a lot of other people in the company the wrong way--and it was a matter of when, not if, Eddie got into a disagreement with Evil Jim Herd or somebody and wanted out again. So the other option is to pretend all those clues never happened, which with Flair is exactly what they did. Other people who were theoretically available or would be soon: - Terry Funk. Could have pulled it off, but you run the risk of rehashing a main event run with more of the same. Funk's run was great but I don't know if WCW fans were clamoring for more of him. - The Great Muta. I suspect more fans at the time would have wanted to see him back than Funk. - Rick Steamboat. My pet pick and one whose shock value would have been through the roof. I've never quite believed the idea that "fans wouldn't want to boo Ricky." Someone forgot to tell the '89 WCW audience that. And I think a worker as masterful as Steamboat was could have worked heel. I like the idea of Steamboat as a forgotten World Champion, vengeful that this upstart Sting was stealing the spotlight that should have belonged to him. - Dusty Rhodes. No way on earth would Dusty have agreed to turn heel at this point, and he couldn't step into the ring on anything more than a limited basis. But there's something appealing about Dusty playing the same role as Steamboat, cutting bitter promos in a Col. Kurtz/Kasper Gutman-style setting and sending a wave of heels after Sting. Honestly, the idea of Hansen basically taking over the gimmick is probably the best realistic one that I've heard. Stan really should have had that Havoc main event over Sid.
  9. PeteF3
    Without Boyd, we wouldn't get such penetrating insights like that he understands why they call him the Barbarian, or why they call him the Nightmare.
  10. PeteF3
    Hitchcock. Also immediately, definitively recognizable on sight, which I couldn't have done for any of the others until I was at least a teenager, and still couldn't right now for Hughes.
  11. PeteF3
    For the record, that's Kuniaki Kobayashi in there for Raging Staff, not Ohara. Anyway, this isn't at the level of the best NJPW/WAR matches but it's another fun as hell war among the mid-carders. Super Strong Machine has apparently defected to Team WAR and Raging Staff makes him pay for it, big time. Crowd is totally behind NJPW despite this being a WAR card, which I suppose isn't much of a sign for WAR's long term future. Saito always seems to end up in there with Hara, so two stiff fuckers can freely beat the shit out of each other. A well-timed thrown chair at Kitahara knocks him off the turnbuckle and allows Koshinaka to pick up the win (even if he seems to let go of the power bomb at 2). This continues to be the Feud of the Year, and maybe the most fun pro wrestling you'll ever see.
  12. PeteF3
    Hmm, have I ever seen Kandori before? ::does Yearbook forum search:: No. But it's an interpromotional match and that means a fucking war. And I have enough of the background to pick up on the message put across in the early going when Kandori tries to take Hokuto's arm, as they seem to deliberately call back to Hokuto's broken leg. I'm glad I've watched the joshi that I have going in, because it makes this one stand out more--this is essentially a longer '90s version of Magnum vs. Tully, in the primal way both women try to murder the other and the way each one sells fatigue and blood loss. Kandori reversing the tombstone and hitting Hokuto with one on the table was insane, and the moment was enhanced by the shot of the hole in the table. We go from war to something resembling a wrestling match towards the end, with two back-to-back awesome near-falls when Hokuto hits the Northern Lights Bomb, only for Kandori to kick out and hit her with her own move in response, for another hot kickout. Eventually we go back to warring as Hokuto just punches Kandori's lights out, which works because the opening portion showed us that Akira was capable of putting her down with just punches. I don't know if I loved this as much as the two big 1992 matches--the 2/3 falls tag and Liger-Samurai--but this is easily the 1993 MOTY to this point.
  13. PeteF3
    39.5 rotations on the giant swing. Yes, I went back and counted. This was really quickly paced without feeling overwhelming, as the multitude of near-falls were based around rollups and takedowns more than big moves. If anything I was prepared for this to go a little longer than it did. Excellent match, though. Ozaki, like Liger and the lucha Ninja Turtles, amazes me by being able to wrestle so smoothly in that outfit.
  14. PeteF3
    Not to keep harping on this but I don't like Bret wearing his ring gear to a contract signing (Yokozuna's different because real sumo wrestlers are in that kind of gear pretty much all the time). It's hard to explain but Hart getting pulverized while in a suit would have made this segment come off as much more chaotic, though it's a strong angle anyhow. They make a big deal about Bret standing up after taking the Banzai Drop. I wonder how much the rights fees cost to use "Respect," if the WWF even bothered with that. Awesome little tie-ins to the lyrics--Bret kissing the belt when Aretha talks about kisses sweeter than honey, and then clotheslining Ted DiBiase while she sings "...so is my money."
  15. PeteF3
    The cameras seem to be consciously trying to hide the Blonds' beltless waists, then out come Steamboat & Douglas with their tag titles. I get that Worldwide was syndicated and had varied air times, but come on. Pretty abbreviated match, as they go almost immediately to the FIP segment and almost immediately after that start teasing the hot tag cutoffs. Too short for the amount of talent and heatedness of the issues involved.
  16. PeteF3
    Payne is either in a wind tunnel or stuck his finger inside one of his amps before the cameras rolled.
  17. PeteF3
    Nothing to add, but the finish was indeed great.
  18. PeteF3
    Sullivan is basically immune from Bob Armstrong's fines, as his followers keep coming up with the money to cover for them. Brilliant. Armstrong segues into the 3-way, 9-man elimination Smoky Mountain Showdown at Bluegrass Brawl. Arn promises pain, and brings the Stud Stable into things. "The life you save, may be your own."
  19. PeteF3
    This particular psychiatric evaluation will be performed by Dr. Dutch Mantell, in an empty dark arena with both men holding flashlights in front of their faces. The idea is a low-rent Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal: Brian Lee rolls a die, with each result corresponding to a different gimmick match. Clever stuff, with all the matches described by Sullivan, who ends it by describing the Lee's Choice stipulation by repeatedly screaming, "WHAT KIND OF CHOICE DOES HE HAVE?! WHAT KIND OF CHOICE DOES HE HAVE?!" Back-to-back examples of two guys used way better in Smoky Mountain than they ever were in the Big Two.
  20. PeteF3
    Anthony cuts a promo from "Central Park," with a peacemaker to frighten off any potential muggers. Great southern-fried promo--any promo hyping a gimmick match by making use of the gimmick itself is automatically good.
  21. PeteF3
    Fuck the Douglas hate. I don't like him either but he's been better than solid in all of these, and he was very good as Ricky Morton here. Steamboat and Douglas provided some cool double-teams and good offense in general, while the Blonds did some fun cheating while also coming off as tough asskickers, bringing more to the table than just Memphis stall-o-rama. The use of the towel was pretty ingenious and Pillman was a fucking beast working the crowd from the apron--he's finally come into his own as a heel. Steamboat at one point gets clotheslined off the apron by Pillman and takes what appears to be an absolutely hellacious bump to the floor--Cactus Jack-worthy, even if we didn't see him hit. Really hot finish with some twists in the tag formula, before Austin whacks Steamboat with a title belt and the championship goes to the Blonds. I don't know if it was as good as the Clash but I was getting way into this, not remembering if this was the title change or not.
  22. PeteF3
    Stalljob special with Christopher whining, cheating, and stooging. Lawler's about to pick up the victory when he's attacked by MO AND MABEL--but here they're Nelson and Bobby, the Harlem Knights. Mabel does a second-rope splash, which is a pretty impressive spot. He had the look and athletic skills to be a legitimate sensation, but he was sunk by a.) being dangerous as all hell to his opponents, b.) a dumb WWF gimmick with one of the worst ring names ever, and c.) the death of the territory system where he could have been a traveling attraction.
  23. PeteF3
    Pure WWF style promo for Memphis television. Michaels makes sure to chew his gum as loudly as possible just to take this over the top.
  24. PeteF3
    Legitimately good promo from Duggan, manufacturing an All-American 2x4 from All-American wood, so he can take it to Yokazuma. I don't get all the bitching about jobbing out Steve Austin to this guy--with the fire and love for his country he showed here in this comeback, the United States championship was the only logical conclusion to the story.
  25. PeteF3
    "ARE YOU READY...FOR THE SURVIVOR SERIES!" Wait, what?? Loved Papa Shango getting a featured spot in the opening portion, because sparkles or something. There are odd choices throughout as to which wrestlers to feature. I guess they figured Boss Man would be back.
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