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PeteF3

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  1. PeteF3
    This is a good setting for Lex and he's a quality addition to the roster at this point. Heenan excitedly disrobes Luger and practically creams his pants rattling off all of Luger's body parts. Bobby begs Lex for a soundbite so we can hear the beautiful, melodious tones from his mouth. Luger and Heenan call out Mr. Perfect, which basically gives away the loser-leaves match scheduled (but already taped, IIRC) for Raw the next night. Bobby continues to bloviate as the curtain falls over him. Fun segment.
  2. PeteF3
    Good timing: we pick up right before an incredible suplex spot to the floor, and then the big Sherri babyface turn as she clocks Shawn as he tries to get up. Heenan is INCENSED. Some hot near-falls follow with Shawn continuing to bump like a pinball, and some clever twists on the usual spots like Shawn missing his superkick. Sherri accidentally creams Jannetty with her shoe, and Heenan goes off on the funniest misogynist rant since Paul E.: "PILEDRIVE HER! ... Look at her beg, 'I'm just a dumb harlot!'" Only Bobby can make domestic abuse funny. Shawn wins in one of the first but not last examples of heel Michaels completely outsmarting his babyface opponent. Jannetty jumps Shawn in the locker room, and this looks like a feud that's going to continue, except Jannetty would get fired after working the next TV taping. I guess that puts a capper on this feud for good.
  3. PeteF3
    Scary how good Akiyama is at this point. I wouldn't put this up against the best Kroffat/Furnas matches as far as All-Asia tags go, but it's not terribly far behind. Akiyama already has quite a bit of stuff he can do on offense and he sells well down the stretch. The psychology of a long All-Japan match isn't always about consistently selling body part A that was worked on in the opening minutes, but can be more about seeing a wrestler's "energy bar" give away, like in a video game. The best AJPW matches are ones where that energy bar is treated in a consistent way--enough near-falls to keep you on your toes, but when you get to the finish, you say, "Yep, that's the end." I don't know if I'm explaining this well but it's something that separates the best of AJPW from the worst of modern-day indy 2.9 wrestling--near-falls for the sake of near-falls. This is all a roundabout way of saying Jun is picking up in this aspect very, very quickly among all the other shit he can already do.
  4. PeteF3
    Crazy match and an effective finish. Gilbert using a dolly as a weapon was pretty inspired.
  5. PeteF3
    Good match where both guys wrestle cleanly but with intensity--the best kind of babyface match. Makes you want to see a PPV match between the two that we never get.
  6. PeteF3

    General thoughts on 1991

    PeteF3 replied to Loss's topic in 1991

    There is definitely more from that G1 in general I need to see, as someone (I think Childs) had pimped a few other matches worth viewing including Vader vs. Norton (!). Reading the criteria Dave spells out, work *does* matter in terms of WOTY. One could probably say the criteria are analogous to that of the WON HOF--that someone who's truly otherworldly in one category can make up for a deficiency in the other, but that they should ideally be a positive in work, influence, and drawing. If we ever get '80s Yearbooks I'm sure I'll vote for Hogan, too. But...I think Hogan in those years offers some positives from a work standpoint. The stuff re: Jumbo is well-noted. If I'm picking pure favorites, he'd beat out Mutoh in any time period you can name up to and possibly even including the era of decrepit 6-man comedy Jumbo. Maybe I can revoke Mutoh's award later like I did Han's 1992 ROTY.
  7. PeteF3

    General thoughts on 1991

    PeteF3 replied to Loss's topic in 1991

    Expectations play a huge, huge role in how I rate matches and wrestlers. I'm not saying that's the correct way of doing it, but that's simply how it is. It's why Tony Atlas got a nod for 1990 Best Interview over Lawler, Jake, or the other usual suspects. I had conditioned myself to think Mutoh was overrated as fuck and Jumbo was the GOAT--unfortunately for Jumbo that leads to me holding him to a higher standard and fortunately for Mutoh he can get a bonus for surprising me. It also is a fact that I've seen everything from AJPW in '91 and '92 that's out there that matters, while my NJPW knowledge prior to these projects was limited to the juniors and a lot of other scattershot stuff mostly involving WCW guys. I still think Mutoh's overrated and I still think Jumbo's the Best, but...Mutoh surprised me in '91, and Jumbo didn't, so he inherently stuck out more. Without going through every G-1 match again, I definitely didn't like Chono's first match with Choshu, and I think I liked Mutoh more in general throughout that tournament including the final. Fujinami in '91 was in a prime spot on cards on both sides of the ocean but had to set some sort of record for falling back-asswards into most high-quality matches that his own performance and standards didn't deserve. And in the end it was Mutoh's Match of the Year that stuck with me more than any one Jumbo performance.
  8. PeteF3
    This is a lot to digest, and I may develop some thoughts of substance later. But the first thing that jumps out at me was Watts going from talking about Vince taking the magic out of the business to I DON'T LIKE FAGS, FAGS DON'T LIKE STRAIGHTS, THAT'S JUST MY OPINION. I know the interviewer brought up The Crying Game first but that was LOL-worthy. I want to know who the specific wrestler was who talked to Watts about how he drew money in the WWF. It can't be anyone else but Rick Rude, can it?
  9. PeteF3
    Kind of too bad Barbarian left as soon as he turned babyface, because I think there was potential in this team continuing. Good promo from Cactus, who isn't changing a thing despite turning babyface. I shudder to think how the WWF would have treated this at the time.
  10. PeteF3
    We get a penetrating internal monologue from Sting, as we hear the doubts and fears belied by his Up Close promo. This is interspersed with Vader yapping with packing peanuts snow falling over him. "Where is this Castle of Fear, anyway?" Jesus, that's the kind of thing you want to find out before leaving in the helicopter. "Where is this Castle of Fear?" "STING, I'VE SPOTTED THE WHITE CASTLE." I live a few miles from White Castle headquarters but this doesn't really look like Columbus. Vader's in a harem or something as chicks eat apples seductively, if that's possible. They point out that "he's here," yet ten seconds later when Sting walks in, Cheatum and the others excitedly point out again, "HE'S HERE! HE'S HERE!" Vader screams so loudly he shatters a mirror. Sting's putdown is bad enough, but he makes up for it with one of the worst deliveries in the history of cinema. Vader challenges Sting to a strap match, VADER-STYLE, and is about to pull him into some randomly appearing flames, when the strap explodes. TO BE CONTINUED...AT SUPERBRAWL III. This was the first WCW PPV I ever ordered, and it WASN'T because of this. Holy crap, this made Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal look good. And before the year's out it's going to get worse!
  11. PeteF3
    Windham looks like the Best in the World in the first month of '93, and it's absurd that Scorpio didn't go farther than he did. He had terrific moves, he knew how to pace them, and he was able to come across as legitimately cool. Awesome unheralded sprint.
  12. PeteF3
    Sting breaks down his title loss at GAB '92 to Vader as well as his King of Cable win. I can't keep talking about how cool these realistic interviews are, but that's all I have to say. And from that, we go to...the White Castle of Fear. I'm convinced some of the dumber WCW ideas came from people higher up than the Executive VP. That includes RoboCop, Oz, and the various mini-movies. This stuff took place under three different regimes all with rather wide differences.
  13. PeteF3
    My burning question from the previous segment is answered--the Russian Warhead is Boris Zhukov. That's a letdown. Mr. Tennessee rants about showing some videotape, as we awkwardly and slowly transfer to an interview with Cornette and the Heavenly Bodies. They're coming after the Bullet. Listening to Mr. Tennessee I'd swear it was Brian Christopher, but apparently he's none other than WCW jobber Larry Santo.
  14. PeteF3
    Dutch is on a first-name basis with most of the Gulf Coast, because he's beaten most of the people up down there. He calls out the Iron Sheik, the Junkyard Dog, the Russian Warhead(?), and Austin Idol.
  15. PeteF3
    Holy shit, the Honky Tonk Man! Wasn't expecting that at all. He's doing his WWF babyface shtick and I'm thinking this is a set-up for something. Ah, yep, old decrepit Eddie Marlin has Alzheimer's preventing him from communicating. Marlin comes out and puts him in his place. They have a good back-and-forth--no surprise that Honky still thrives in this type of setting. He calls out "Little Jeff Jarrett," but quickly plays innocent as soon as he appears: "I don't think I know this young man." Ha! "What titles have YOU held recently?" Honky has no response to that. As I said, Honky fits in this promotion like a glove. I'm sure his ego would get in the way of any kind of extended run, but I think he could do just fine working Memphis heel shtick in this setting.
  16. PeteF3
    Good but not to the next level is about right. This started great with Santo and Espanto tearing it up on the mat, and it ended very good. But it did meander a bit in the middle, and there were some bad spots like that Steiner bulldog and some mistimed pin saves. Santo & Eddy make for a very good team however, and I like the sort of Japanese layout they sometimes bring to their matches with high-impact moves leading to guys scrambling to make pin saves. Estrada took a number of loony bumps, as expected, and I loved his casual kick to the groin that turned the second fall the rudos' way. Santo provided a spectacular dive about 3/4 of the way across the ring, and held a lot of this together.
  17. PeteF3
    Good action with a screw finish, as Windham plants Steamboat with a DDT on the concrete to give Rhodes the tournament victory. This was a #1 contenders tournament that turned into a title tournament due to the Rude injury. I take it Windham gave Rhodes the win so he could beat Dustin himself?
  18. PeteF3
    Schiavone speculates on Austin being the "Wrestler of the '90s." Oh, if only they knew. Wrestlers discussing strengths, weaknesses, gameplans...we can make fun of Ross and Watts for comparing everything to football, but these type of segments are legitimately effective. Austin and Pillman do a good job of getting this stuff over and getting their competition over, while still coming off as heels. These segments continue to be great.
  19. PeteF3
    I wonder whose daughter that was. (No, no, NO, I'm just curious!) Arn shows up during an impromptu autograph session and makes good on his promise to confront Watts away from the arena. This is actually a cool brawl until we get the absurd sight of Watts slapping on the STF in the middle of a gas station. Police break things up while Arn sells like his leg has been amputated. Watts, much like Marge Simpson, is thankful that everyone is videotaping everyone else, so that justice will be done. Erik Watts: Champion of the NSA. Watts cuts a stilted, awkward promo in response. This is lame on almost every level.
  20. PeteF3
    Clever "behind-the-scenes" setup for an angle, with Cornette and the Bodies in character preparing for a local promo (more hate for Beckley, WV!) There's even swearing to add to the unfiltered effect. Funny promo follows--Cornette explains that they were never really friends with the Stud Stable to begin with. Bob Armstrong announces a title match in two weeks time, but doesn't disclose whether the Bodies or the Stud Stable get a title shot. I appreciate Cornette trying to get in a word about Killer Kyle in the TV title match, but Armstrong cuts him off to warn Dr. Tom about his apparently loaded boot and leaves. Cornette and the Bodies are furious. The Bodies aren't as good in the ring as the MX but it's nice to see two of Cornette's guys cut loose on the mic--Lane in particular has been a strong, underrated talker.
  21. PeteF3
    Total showcase to put Smothers over. Not really a good match and Golden pretty much sucks here, but it was still effective, especially the quickie pin on Kyle. It does leave you wanting to see more of Smothers vs. DWB, because their segment is brief but pretty good while it lasts. Dr. Mantell is hilarious "outing" Smothers as actually being from Wisconsin, due to the goat cheese on his breath and his failure to use the phrase "fixin' to." If they'd just stuck to waving the flag around and using the "Wild-Eyed Southern Boy" nickname, I honestly wouldn't have a problem. I don't like the Confederate flag but I'm willing to tolerate certain things more in wrestling than in real life. But Smothers coming out to a song called "The South's Gonna Do It Again" and using "the South will rise again" as a catchphrase is just too damn much, and I don't think it's remotely necessary. Tracey's a good enough talker and more than good enough worker to be above this sort of thing.
  22. PeteF3
    This was part of a rather funny stretch that saw a bunch of Brian Christopher's cronies either a.) lose their hair as a result of various match stipulations, or b.) get hired and immediately fired for not putting their hair up on Christopher's behalf. Jarrett finally gets Christopher's hair on the line, and they run through two heel miscommunication false finishes before Bret Prentice & Mike Samples trip up Jarrett and get Christopher the Southern title. Very Pat Patterson-esque match that we see.
  23. PeteF3
    Goofy WWF sportz-entertainment that suddenly turns deadly serious, as they go all-out to make Crush's injury look legit--almost to Vader/Cactus degrees. There was a lot to like about heel Doink but somehow I think he could have done even more to shake the WWF out of its doldrums. I would like to have seen the apparently originally planned feud between Doink and Davey Boy. This was a terrific segment.
  24. PeteF3
    Another interpromotional war--obviously this couldn't live up to the Dream Rush match but it was a hell of a war. I can't believe Kansai didn't die on that crossed-arms piledriver thing, and of course the kicks were borderline uncomfortable to watch, both from Kansai and Hotta. Inoue is sort of portrayed as the weak link here and she does the predictable job, though the ending itself is kind of nifty. As intense as the action was this still meandered a bit and the blown spots were quite noticeable--namely that awful armdrag and one of the worst pin saves ever--Hotta just brushes one of the JWP girls who makes no attempt to move off Inoue, who makes no attempt to kick out or lift her shoulder. That's picking nits because this is the best match of January so far, but I don't really see this holding up as a MOTY. Perhaps for joshi.
  25. PeteF3
    Looking back I realize I gave Volk Han Rookie of the Year for 1991, too. He didn't work much in 1991, so if this were baseball he'd be eligible to win in '92, but I guess we have to move Jun and Takayama up a slot and stick Rey Rey in at #3. Yes, these are important considerations.
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