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PeteF3

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  1. PeteF3
    I'm really not a fan of these long shticky, working-the-crowd segments in AAA. I mean, I can't deny that it's effective, because the crowd's way into it, but it's very WWF house show-y and not 1/10 as entertaining as the Brazos doing the same idea more creatively. But once that big dive train started, I was hooked. Not only did the dives look great, but they all hit 100%--even Rey's moonsault to the floor was dead-on, which is hard to do. I don't get what the finish was either--my only guess is that two of the rudos were counted out, but that only makes a modicum of sense. The referees kept on counting, though. Anyway, the second and third falls have more intense work from the rudos with some fierce brawling on the floor and that sick Samoan drop off the second turnbuckle that absolutely crushes Rey. Then we get another different kind of dive train, with everyone trying to jump off the turnbuckle into the ring and everyone missing. Psicosis is the man of the match here but Winners also turns in a great performance--knowing his reputation that he's not exactly a guy to be confused with Casas or Satanico as far as great workers go, I wonder if this may even be a career performance for him. Misterio and Heavy Metal both try to dropkick each other and both get nailed in the groin. The referees disagree over who fouled whom and I guess that leaves this as a draw. I don't mind the cheap finish because it was a complicated idea that was executed perfectly. Slow start but turned into a very fun match, possibly the best AAA trios match yet since the departure from LA.
  2. PeteF3
    Good action, with Sting grabbing a strap given to Windham by Harley Race and clotheslining him for the pin. Sting then goes nuts afterward and hangs Windham with the strap! That's hardcore shit. Vader pulls Windham to safety and Mike Atkins awards Windham the victory by disqualification. More Omni hype--aw shit, it's been awhile since we had to hear that.
  3. PeteF3
    Every promotion on the planet is at war with the other! Cornette and the Heavenly Bodies come out of the crowd and demand to see Bill Watts, who isn't returning Jim's phone calls. This is badly censored at points, like Cornette taking a shot at Jim Herd--I believe these are the first, ugly fingerprints of Eric Bischoff to appear on WCW programming. Can't have things getting too intense. Cornette is incensed that WCW television showed the Rock 'n Roll Express beating the Heavenly Bodies, and demands a public apology from Watts, lest he sue Ted Turner and reduce Watts to scrubbing bathrooms at CNN Center. Watts' crack about having to have his blood tested because of Cornette's presence gets left in, naturally. "I'll tell ya who you oughta to put in jail: you ought to have the Rock 'n Roll Express arrested for murder, they came out here last week and killed your ratings!" Watts shuts everybody up and gives them the opportunity to settle their dispute in the ring. Both teams are in street clothes, but are ready to wrestle anyway--somewhere Vince McMahon is horrified. The match is on and the crowd is electric, about the loudest you'll ever get in the antiseptic Center Stage environment. This could have been a perfunctory sprint, but they work in some great spots in here--cool reversals between Gibson and Lane, and Morton getting slingshot over the top rope to the floor. Lane is ON here--for a guy who'd been on the verge of quitting wrestling for years and would actually do it soon, you wouldn't be able to tell from his in-ring performances in '93. Weird to say but I have new respect for Sweet Stan as a worker. Bobby Eaton breaks up a pin after the double dropkick, which ends the match but not the fight. Veg-o-Matic with the tennis racket across Morton's throat! Cornette whacking referees and jobbers with the tennis racket never gets old. The Main Event follow-up to this is awesome as well. Watts and Bob Armstrong, making the most badass team of bureaucrats since the York Foundation, call Cornette & the Bodies out, and Watts ends up swapping them into SuperBrawl in place of the Wrecking Crew to face the Rock 'n Roll Express. Cornette laughs it off, saying he doesn't work for WCW, until Armstrong threatens to double the fine already levied on them and strip them of the tag titles. Cornette barely has time to get a tantrum in before Watts adds that the third Heavenly Body will be barred from ringside. That leads to the Bodies creating chaos during an "Underdog Challenge" match, laying waste to Joey Maggs and Mustafa Saed with Cornette ranting on the mic that there's nothing WCW can do--they don't work for them! More referees and jobbers get picked off with the racket and the scene legitimately feels like a proto-NWO invasion. I don't know where this ultimately was going--right as this television was airing, Watts and Ross were being booted from power. Part of me is hoping for a WCW vs. SMW WarGames, but another part of me is actually happy that Cornette and the Bodies ended up with a run in the WWF. This stuff was surreal, but that was on a whole other level--but I'm getting ahead of myself. Still, in a way, that did more to legitimize Smoky Mountain Wrestling, at least temporarily.
  4. PeteF3
    Christopher rants about how smart he is while Doink puts bunny ears on Dave Brown's head. Christopher makes an AIDS crack that barely makes sense, but it's more in the delivery than the content with him, I guess. Brown looks nauseous even having to share screen time with Doink. Doink and Christopher have a conversation over which Beverly Hillbillies Jarrett and Lawler most resemble. Doink warns Lawler and Jarrett that they don't know what lurks behind the face. This is pure Jack Nicholson as the Joker, and it's fantastic.
  5. PeteF3
    Jarrett reiterates his challenge to Bret Hart, who has reneged on his promise to deliver a title shot back in August. Then threats for Christopher & Doink. Yeah, this is a slight improvement over the Jarrett/Doink and Lawler/Doink feuds we got in the WWF.
  6. PeteF3
    Lawler takes out his longtime frustrations with the WWF on the mic, and explains how he went to the WWF just to prove his points. This is a pretty brilliant way of explaining away his heelishness on WWF television--it's because he's from the South! Out comes, not Harvey Wippleman, but DOWNTOWN BRUNO to a tremendous studio audience reaction. BrunoMania runnin' wild! Apparently Howard Finkle thinks he's the greatest thing since sliced bread, but is in fact the biggest nothing since the invention of the zero. Lawler outs Finkle as one of Vince's main stooges who tries to boss around talent. Highlights from a WWF TV taping follow--Bruno doesn't need some "retarded lookin' geek" to conduct an interview. Yeah, this was definitely not taped for air on WWF TV. Finkle has enough of his browbeating but eats a Kamala chop and splash when he makes the mistake of confronting Harvey. A stretcher job for Finkle! This would have been so wild if they'd aired this on Superstars. And they DROP him. That part had to be a rib. And now Finkle gets to cut a green screen promo--"Downtown Bruno, my goodness...that has to be the STUPIDEST name I ever heard!" Holy shit, this lives up to the hype and then some. In some ways this is every bit as glorious of an interpromotional feud as WAR/New Japan. Finkle and McMahon had to have been dreaming for years of getting to cut loose as heels. Finkle is such a patronizing ass, it's fantastic. Bruno the redneck is going to show that Yankee white trash what's what, and we get a crowd singalong with the Bruno catchphrase. Bruno may not have pythons, but he's got a pair of earthworms! The last guy who came down talking like Finkle was Andy Kaufman--and Lawler says we all know what happened to him! Holy mother of God. This whole thing just kept getting better and better.
  7. PeteF3
    Christopher is back out after another babyface squash, and Jarrett is stupid enough to oblige. This time it's oil on the floor that trips Jarrett up, and Doink is back on for yet another beatdown. LOOK AT THE CLOWN WORK JEFF JARRETT OVER! I'm not sure if Doink or Dave Brown is the MVP of this show.
  8. PeteF3
    It's Bubba Johnson vs. Big Bertha Prentice this Monday night in a boxing match. Prentice confronts Texas during her promo, and cracks me up talking about how he would never want a body like Texas'--"you wish you looked as good as me!" Doink is back out and pies Texas. That is just ridi-ku-luss. Prentice stiffs Texas, just to add an exclamation point on all this. Dave Brown is disgusted and appalled--that Clown is getting to be a problem!
  9. PeteF3
    The squash itself is kind of fun. Macklin's enthusiasm makes him hard to really hate, regardless of how poor a broadcaster he may be. Afterwards Brian Christopher calls out Lawler, allowing Doink to set up some banana peels on the floor--you can guess where that goes. Christopher and Doink put a beatdown on Lawler until Jarrett runs them off. Funny visual of Doink peeking his head through the curtain and giggling, then going serious. Bert Prentice makes a nuisance himself. Standard cheap-heat Memphis promo but Dave Brown is AWESOME, maybe legitimately pissed when he starts discussing all the men Bubba has taken the pants off of.
  10. PeteF3
    Such a well-built angle, from Duggan bouncing off Yokozuna at first to jiggering Yokozuna's shoulder to Yokozuna's gradual weeble-wobble selling to the big moment where he goes down (the Royal Rumble finish apparently having been wiped from history). If there's one thing Duggan still knew how to do through the years, it was sell a beating. He does it here and he would work it to perfection some years later in the lone highlight of Goldberg's heel run. The anti-Japanese sentiment really comes off as absurd--Lawler even references 1941, which is insanely over the top. This would get worse, as the WWF attempted to portray the entire country of Japan as a heel instead of being content to push Yoko as a monster. Yokozuna Banzai Dropping the American flag is something else that would never fly today. The angle itself was great, though.
  11. PeteF3
    And we have our contender for 1993's Worst Gimmick, as Jorge Gonzalez makes a staggeringly unnecessary jump to the WWF. I guess Vince felt he needed to at least give the guy a try, and I guess I can't even fault him for that. UT goes all-out to try to get him over, but this was a doomed program.
  12. PeteF3
    The dogpiling elbows is possibly the spot of the year for the first month + 2 days. The only thing I hold against this is that it felt like it could have gone another ten minutes, but Nogami goes down relatively quickly. He did take an ass-beating here, with Hara just murdering him with strikes and Tenryu leveling him with probably the stiffest enzuigiri he ever did when Nogami made the mistake of bouncing off the ropes in Team WAR's corner. Another chaotic brawl afterwards, as Tenryu and his side continue to rack up victories. More of this feud, please!
  13. PeteF3
    He'd just won the belt at the PPV, but was working without a contract. So naturally Vince pounced and offered him one. I always thought that was a fantastic dick move from Vince (if rewarding a longtime hand like Meng/Haku is a dick move)--as near-death as WCW was, it was still the perfect "I'm still watching you" message.
  14. PeteF3
    This is more than the WWF usually did for the departed, at this time. Andre's death also came rather suddenly, in the days before they could whip up a video package at a moment's notice. Ten bells, some cool photos, and the birth-death dates--all you really needed.
  15. PeteF3
    Hot main event. Vader lays waste to both Sting and Dustin and brings the leather strap into the ring, and whips Sting while Windham holds him.
  16. PeteF3
    Regal's a humble babyface but he still isn't using his genuine accent. He doesn't have much to say yet, but this is an interesting footnote.
  17. PeteF3
    So...yeah. A few matches ago I was talking about the genuine coolness of 2 Cold Scorpio. Well, here's Exhibit A in how to completely shit all over that. These kids aren't in school, so 2 Cold is going to have them STEP their way to class. To terrible music, to boot. That's not Salt or Pepa or Spinderella with him, is it? Yes, PG-13 is still in the lead for Best Urban Gimmick in Wrestling History Through '93.
  18. PeteF3
    Did any schools actually make money from these wrestling fundraisers? Even though they sound carny as fuck, I wish we'd gotten one of these in school, instead of selling cheese & sausage or candy every year. Austin Idol is back from some apparently crippling car accident two years ago. He puts over the promotion and the area, in a way more low-key interview than his usual bombastic style. Idol vs. Iron Sheik is quite a bit past its sell-by date as an issue, though Sheik actually looks a bit more jacked than he has recently. Idol is then presented a FedEx package from "TF & Collections," and it's a threat for Idol to "pay up." The interviewer mentions two phone calls from two different people regarding the package--sounds like the Funk Brothers to me.
  19. PeteF3
    Crazy overbooked match with almost too much to talk about. The Bodies are subbing for the Stud Stable, who didn't show up on time for their tag title shot due to a flat tire. Mantell is hilarious ranting about this, and ranting about Cornette without turning himself babyface. And Caudle is in his glory, egging Dutch on. Fuller & Golden show up with suitcases and street clothes, but are escorted from ringside. Great action follows, with some killer double-teams from the Bodies, including a wicked flapjack/gutwrench/powerslam thing. Then a crazy-ass finish--Mark Curtis gets creamed and knocked from the apron, we run through a bunch of teased finishes, then Killer Kyle runs in, then the Stud Stable come back out, then Dutch tosses a foreign object to Morton (!), then BOBBY EATON runs in and hits the Alabama Jam and the Heavenly Bodies are once again tag team champions. Cornette delivers a great gloating promo--the two greatest tag teams of all-time are now one unit. Soon the Stud Stable are out to confront them and Cornette makes the mistake of bringing up the Stud's "four flat tires." And now it's on again! Holy shit, what an awesome brawl. The build to this 3-way match has been the best build of any match in quite some time, in any promotion. This is not the #1 match for January, but this package as a whole is the single best thing to take place in the month of January. It's still a very good match, and the booking is absolutely masterful.
  20. PeteF3
    The Blonds theme is here! The one that got reused for about 9 million other guys, but I still think of it as the Blonds theme. Basic but good production here as we get footage of the champs getting laid out at the Clash. Fun sprint with a cool finish, as Douglas does a rolling reverse cradle on Austin, but Pillman creams him with Air Pillman from behind. What a great month of television for WCW. Yes, it's officially a pity that Watts was mere weeks away from being forced out.
  21. PeteF3
    I always wondered why that Lawler/Perfect incident never got any follow-up. Turns out that it did--just in Memphis only. Eddie Marlin, Jeff Jarrett, and Danny Davis lead the way for the King, complete with fanfare. Lawler is receiving congratulations for something or other--I guess he's regained the Unified title or gotten a title shot. Lawler again expresses his desire to put his belt up against the WWF title, which the Royal Rumble would have given him the opportunity to do. Jerry tells us that Curt Hennig had it in for him as soon as Lawler stepped into the locker room, all because of the big blemish on his Perfect Record--the AWA World title loss. Perfect sends in a green screen promo. It's hard to see where Perfect's in the wrong in this specific instance--we saw Lawler was already eliminated. Perfect points out Lawler's silly crown, like he stepped out of an Imperial Margarine commercial. Strong promo--this definitely seems like a hot main event for the MSC. Jerry rebuts. PG-13! This is, without a hint of irony or exaggeration, infinitely cooler and more culturally on the mark than PN News or MOM ever were. Not bad for two skinny white boys from Tennessee. The effects are cheap and dated but this is a genuinely good intro video.
  22. PeteF3
    I always wondered why that Lawler/Perfect incident never got any follow-up. Turns out that it did--just in Memphis only. Eddie Marlin, Jeff Jarrett, and Danny Davis lead the way for the King, complete with fanfare. Lawler is receiving congratulations for something or other--I guess he's regained the Unified title or gotten a title shot. Lawler again expresses his desire to put his belt up against the WWF title, which the Royal Rumble would have given him the opportunity to do. Jerry tells us that Curt Hennig had it in for him as soon as Lawler stepped into the locker room, all because of the big blemish on his Perfect Record--the AWA World title loss. Perfect sends in a green screen promo. It's hard to see where Perfect's in the wrong in this specific instance--we saw Lawler was already eliminated. Perfect points out Lawler's silly crown, like he stepped out of an Imperial Margarine commercial. Strong promo--this definitely seems like a hot main event for the MSC. Jerry rebuts. PG-13! This is, without a hint of irony or exaggeration, infinitely cooler and more culturally on the mark than PN News or MOM ever were. Not bad for two skinny white boys from Tennessee. The effects are cheap and dated but this is a genuinely good intro video.
  23. PeteF3
    Doc & Gordy have stepped up their game considerably--they had the great matches with Jumbo & Taue and another really good one here. They actually work some new holds and do some interesting stuff in them instead of deciding to slap on a half crab and stand there. Plus there's a neat build-up to Kawada being beaten down and taking the fall, before he makes a comeback and hot tag only for Misawa to promptly get cut off. Doc ends up pinning Misawa to win the tag titles. I'm guessing the Misawa/Kawada split was already planned by this point so you have to get the belts off of them. That said, Misawa does the job here and then does two more jobs in the Carny--one to Gordy and one to Stan. I get setting up title matches, but I think three prominent pinfall losses by your Triple Crown champion in 5 months is too many. I'm going to go against the grain here somewhat: I think the Clash tag title bout is the month's #1 match.
  24. PeteF3
    Oh, dear God, Rob Bartlett. I think he mostly shuts up for this, though. The Manhattan Center may be my all-time favorite weekly wrestling venue. Even if it's a bad sign for the WWF that they were running a venue that small. For a hated career-ending grudge match there sure are a lot of drop toe holds and mat reversals going on here. I'm not really complaining, because the work is good and sort of different for the WWF Style. It's just odd. Perfect goes to the floor, and oh my God, that cues a commercial break! The more things change... This soon does get a lot more vicious, with some really stiff punches from Ric. Holy crap, blood--I had no recollection of that at all. Perfect wins with his standard finish--opponent goes for a back body drop and gets Perfect-Plexed--prompting yet another classic tantrum from Heenan. This is a match that got pimped for awhile and then started getting tagged as Overrated--now looking at it again, I think it's so "overrated" that it's underrated again, because I thought this was a hell of a match. More intense than your average WWF bout and they kept the bout moving as befits a TV main event. A worthy WWF swan song for Ric, as this is one of his better matches for the company.
  25. PeteF3
    It may seem more obvious in retrospect, but just like with Bret's title win I can't adequately described how flabbergasting Yokozuna winning this was. Before the match started I pegged this to come down to Flair vs. Perfect. Then they both went out early, so I figured it would come down to Undertaker or Savage. Then Backlund started getting the marathon push, and I actually thought he'd win it. At best, Yokozuna was the #6 pick for me, behind all of them. It wasn't until Savage's feet hit the floor that I believed for even half a second that they'd headline any PPV, much less a WrestleMania, with Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna. It'd be the equivalent of John Cena working a tag title match while WM gets headlined by Daniel Bryan vs. Big E. Langston. The ring clears as soon as Savage gets in, after a failed attempt at ganging up on Yoko. '90s Backlund would never be as over as a babyface as he was by the end of this match--every teased elimination, his elimination of Martel, and his actual elimination by Yokozuna all get loud reactions. Yoko and Savage work almost a full-fledged match in their own right--this would have to be the longest closing stretch for the Rumble until that year Undertaker and Shawn went at it for awhile. Yoko's timing and selling are already pretty much impeccable, staggering just enough so that it looks like both Backlund and Savage have an opening to knock him over the ropes, before decisively cutting them off. Then that stupid ending. Oh well, the match was going great before then. I forgot the stupid Caesar & Cleopatra bit surrounding all this. Yokozuna has this act down pat and he's way better than I credited him for at the time, but he was probably a year away from being a legitimate headliner.
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