PeteF3
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Being scrawny to the point of barely looking like an athlete works if you're a scuzzy punk like Norio Honaga, or in an ultimate underdog role like PG-13. For a guy pushed as a heartthrob...well, he's over, but I just don't get it. Is it just because the Mexican ladies found him exotic-looking? This is incredibly heated but not a lot of it makes a great deal of sense from a work or psychology standpoint. Both guys try but Vampiro isn't good and Morgan doesn't exactly cover himself with glory either. The squeals for Vamp's victory are in-fucking-sane, though.
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I'll agree with all the praise of Satanico--he and Dandy have been the two standout talents of 1990-92. (Well, Santo and Casas, but they have a rep even among non-lucha guys, whereas these two don't.) Satanico has all kinds of whacked-out submissions, like his second fall finisher that I can barely describe (figure-four Indian deathlock front facelock double armbar wristlock...yeah). And the layout here is kind of fresh, with a longer first fall with lots of false finishes that usually only turn up in the climactic falls. Lizmark has some good offense of his own but tends to repeat himself as the match goes on and clearly isn't on Satanico's level as a worker. The fluke victory doesn't seem befitting of a lucha title match but the finish itself was very clever. It probably would have worked better in one of the first two falls, though.
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I guess AJPW's tag streak had to end sometime. This wasn't bad but the two tag bouts from the GAB left this in the dust. Ace simply isn't that interesting, at least at this point. Hansen gets yet another pinfall on Misawa in a nicely done finish. -
Han adds some nice theatrical touches to the mindblowing matwork. Little things like the way he sells frustration over Kopylov's rope breaks and the little fist pump after a knockdown mean a lot from such a stoic bastard. This went a little overlong as all the leglocks started looking samey after awhile, and Han doing a sort of standing omoplata made for a nice change of pace--it wasn't enough to elevate the rest of the match to the levels of greatness that the opening promised, though. Big upset finish and I wouldn't mind seeing more Kopylov if they shortened things up.
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I wish they'd found a way to separate two heel title wins from one PPV, because this is a pretty downer ending after one gut punch already. Not much to this and Ole sucks as a referee.
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Great match, as we all know. Sting got to toss Vader around but as the match wore on they did a terrific job of selling those moves as great feats of strength that also wore Sting down. Yeah, there was that turnbuckle spot, but the Samoan drop was done so well that it didn't matter. WCW MOTYC for sure, and this is a hell of a card. By the way, while Ross was excellent here and very good throughout the night, this was a standout match and a standout PPV for Jesse. I know he hated working with Ross and he probably didn't take too well to Watts' ideas for his job as a color man, but he's executing very well. I daresay he's better in this setting than he was in 1990. This was a really great "table-setting" match with Sting continually bouncing off and being cut off by Vader, getting over the idea that Sting couldn't possibly beat him without changing strategies. After that little episode with Terry Funk in '89, Sting developed into one of the least selfish main event babyfaces ever, at least until The Rock came along.
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Fantastic performance from Dustin, especially off the hot tag. He elbows the fuck out of everybody that moves and his reverse elbow off the turnbuckle was a terrific spot that I wish he used more often. No, it's not as good as SuperBrawl, and maybe not as good as the opener, but it's a really good match. Incidentally, I think I have to take back my criticism of Mike Atkins in the previous bout. Randy Anderson makes a big deal of forcing Austin back into the ring when the heels did a switch-off, and Atkins' "bad positioning" now comes off as following Bill Watts' orders that the referees enforce the rules (unless, of course, there's strong reason not to).
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Watts does a terrific job of getting over the idea of the different rules between the NWA and WCW, drawing comparisons to the Designated Hitter and various amateur wrestling rule differences. No one could draw comparisons to real sports for even the most absurd wrestling logic better than Watts. This has a long, drawn-out layout like an extended Japanese tag match, but it comes off as fresh in this setting. Sort of like the previous All-Asia tag where it keeps going after you think you're watching the finishing stretch. It's not that good, of course--Nikita tries but also brings this match down at times with his chinlockery. Plus Mike Atkins is too busy escorting people out of the ring to count, which I thought was setting up something but was just Atkins being out of position. Crowd is really into Liger vs. Steamboat, especially Liger unloading on him with big bombs, and that's definitely a match you wish you could have seen sometime. Really great, fun PPV opener.
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Well-done video, as would be expected from the WWF.
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Silver is the guy who came across the best here. Yamazaki got in some rather cheap shots a couple of times (once while the ref was checking him during the standing count, and once after knocking him down but before the count started) that looked like they'd do Silver in, and he kept coming back. He also kept on fighting when he had opportunities to tag in Albright, and the decision comes across as courageous rather than dumb. Of course, once he gets down to 2 points, he makes his big comeback and the big tag. Albright was built up to great as this lurking force on the apron, and the crowd loses it when he gets back in. Tamura just gets leveled with a German suplex and the match is stopped instantly. I agree that shootstyle tags are kind of wonky but this is one of the peaks of the style.
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This had kind of a slow start (or slow JIP point), but then just kept going and going and going ten minutes after you expected the actual, real finishing stretch to begin. The amazing part of this, aside from all the hot near-falls, was how great Kobashi and Kikuchi were at playing underdogs. Okay, that's nothing new for them, but...Kobashi is pretty clearly well ahead of Fuchi at this point even though both guys are each team's #3. Kobashi pinned Fuchi several times during the year (thanks, Purolove!) and I think Fuchi pinning Kobashi would come off as a major upset. And while I love Fuchi, Kobashi is so much bigger and more dynamic that it'd be easy for fans to wonder how Fuchi, much less Ogawa, could possibly beat him. Ogawa got a pinfall on Kikuchi in a 6-man at some point around here, and that came off as an upset though not nearly to as great of a degree. Yet a few fluky injuries like Kobashi buggering his knee on the moonsault and some miscommunication spots have the champs fighting for their lives against seemingly overmatched opponents. Anyway, I KNEW Fuchi & Ogawa never held the All-Asia belts and I was still totally biting on the near-falls, especially Kikuchi kicking out of every finisher Fuchi had. Then Ogawa gets a chance to shine, withstanding just about every big bomb the champs have. And the icing on the cake, Kikuchi pins Fuchi and gets one of the biggest wins of his career to that point. Fantastic match and maybe just as big of a feelgood moment. Eventually on the same level as the previous All-Asia tag and Kawada/Kikuchi match. In its own way it also served as a strong illustration that it was maybe time to move on from Misawa's Army/Jumbo's Army. Jumbo was still the #1 man in the company, but the rest of his team was clearly behind everyone else on Misawa's side. It's unfortunate that AJPW's hand was once again forced the way that it was, but it's time for some shuffling to take place.
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Was I one of many who was naive/stupid enough to think Garvin was bad on the mic? He's awesome here. For fuck's sake, somebody get this complete run of Knoxville footage out in circulation. Please. Poor Ron Wright has to take his pills to calm down after seeing footage of Garvin kicking Andre the Giant and Jos Leduc's asses. White Boy isn't as impressed while Orndorff accuses Garvin of doctoring footage.
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I'm not sure what the set-up here is. Prichard is still "gone" from the USWA, he's challenging for Christopher's Southern title, and yet he's got a belt with him. And it's not an SMW tag title. Still, the promo is good and the set-up acknowledging Christopher's adventures with the homeless guy even better.
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Morrell is a pretty sorry referee--I get that was sometimes pushed as his gimmick but it can be frustrating and not in a "boy, those Moondogs got away with another one" way. Still, the action is great and Lee is a terror on the outside and inside. He sprays purple ink or something in Jarrett's eyes and throws him into a roll-up, and the Moondogs regain the tag titles and save his hair. So this Monday, it's Jarrett, Lawler, and the returning Jackie Fargo and the Moondogs and Richard Lee. Fargo follows up with his own comments for the "14 karat son of a sapsucker" Moondogs.
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Clever finish to the MSC match that Lauren Davenport didn't execute that well. She continually saves Gilbert from pins by putting his foot on the rope, and then ostensibly shoves Morton's foot off when Gilbert gets a cover. Gilbert's foreign object plus Davenport's interference leads to a title rematch on television. Long studio match follows, and this is Exhibit A of how wrestling in a studio differs from wrestling in an arena. The little details stand out more, you get more direct interaction with the crowd, and the wrestlers can express things verbally right to the camera. It's also a fantastic showcase of Dave Brown as a hold-by-hold announcer. On the '80s set he was (until the very end) overshadowed by Lance Russell, and on these Yearbooks his main job that we've seen has been holding the microphone, introducing film clips, or trying to make sense of crazy studio brawls. Here's a nice demonstration that Dave was more than that--that he could get storylines over while also getting over the holds and the work. We get the '80s WWF time limit draw finish with the heel champ in control, but here we have an actual reason for it: Gilbert demands 5 more minutes, and gets pinned to apparently lose the Unified title. The other babyfaces run out to congratulate Morton and hey, there's Eric Embry! Pity he's not actually being used for anything now. Gilbert has gotten one over on all of us, though--the title match was only valid for the originally agreed-upon time limit, not the extra five minutes. I love how quietly confident Gilbert is here--instead of doing the usual rant and rave act after a loss, he knows he's got the technicalities on his side so he just calmly explains his case. Eddie Marlin takes the title back but makes it up to Morton by allowing him to name his stipulation for an immediate rematch. Morton wants to name his own referee and assures Gilbert that it will be an actual official and not someone like Lawler. Gilbert all to eagerly signs the contract, and only then does Morton reveal that it will be longtime ref and father, Paul Morton. "WAIT A MINUTE, PAUL MORTON?! I THOUGHT HE WAS DEAD!" I don't think the match itself is great, but it was really solidly worked and is the best "straight" studio match seen so far. But the presentation as a whole was Memphis at its best. A semi-convoluted set-up that seems to make perfect sense when you watch it instead of seeing it described, that makes you want to see another match.
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These vignettes are getting better. And we haven't even gotten to my favorite one yet.
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I like the more leisurely JWP pace but this did probably go on a bit too long, to the point where the ladies seemed to run out of things to do--as evidenced by the repeating of the "Kansai tries a Northern Lights and gets DDT'd" transition. Also, Kansai's kicks were approaching the level of being uncomfortable to watch rather than merely stiff. Everything else they did made sense, though, and both workers stayed true to the characters they established in the early going. Good match but the '91 JWP stuff was much better.
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MAKE THE OMNI HYPE STOP. MAKE IT STOP. Was Bischoff the one who finally killed that? That might be the best thing he ever did, at least pre-Nitro.
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The U.S. Tag Titles are mercy killed. Their existence was tenuous to begin with but made some sense when JCP or WCW had 6 or 7 regular tag teams plus most of the singles guys paired off with each other. Once the Midnights lost them in 1990 they were pretty much useless. A blond-haired Dick Slater rambles and gets in a challenge to the Freebirds. Dick seemed to be on something here, or his brains are just scrambled. He was very good on the mic at one point.
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This is a little goofy, in that an impromptu brawl is taking place with no referee in the ring and yet these guys are doing armbars and pin covers. But the set-up is good, the work is okay, and Austin comes off as a skilled and gutsy athlete instead of a chicken shit heel. And Watts is spectacular--"Sometimes you have your alligator mouth overload your tadpole fanny!" A more effective sell of a house show match than a token TV main event with a run-in DQ. Windham gets a cover and Rhodes counts the pin to put an exclamation point on this deal.
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Cactus is back in the hitman role, being paid to take out Ricky Steamboat. He delivers an intense, creepy, gory promo despite the antiseptic environment. Steamboat vs. Cactus seems like an odd stylistic match-up but I'm intrigued by it anyway.
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Southern as a tobacco stock car. Horner runs off Landell with a leather strap (Dutch: "Buddy, don't leave me! ... Tim, I'm glad to see you, I hope you whip Buddy Landell!") Horner cuts a good quick promo though he seems to completely buy Dutch's story, which doesn't speak much for his intelligence. Looks like Horner vs. Landell in a country whipping or strap match--I approve.
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Gilbert is now the Unified World Champion, something that's LONG overdue. So fresh to see the belt on a legitimate top regional heel instead of a freakshow outfit. Embry should have gotten a run with that belt. Gilbert laments all of his title defenses against goody-goody good guys, but his next defense is against a man just like him--Ricky Morton! Gilbert is happy to see Ricky, but Ricky gives him the brush-off and insists he's still on the side of the Memphis fans. Morton goes toe-to-toe with Gilbert on the stick and comes off well, which is impressive. Morton gets the better of a brawl and this is a fun, effective segment that undoes the Richard Morton run without whitewashing it.
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I just said this with the early show segment, but they seem to be setting us up for a fall here. Still, the Moondogs simply regaining the belts isn't going to be enough to re-ignite this feud to the heights it reached in the spring--they need a big twist of some sort. Eric Embry is gone now and I don't think he'll ever be back as his car wreck comes in October, and the promotion misses him badly.
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Surprisingly straightforward result--Lawler & Jarrett win again and successfully attain the $5,000. Lawler tosses money to the crowd and I'm surprised the whole audience didn't rush the ring. The Moondogs threaten the crowd with chairs in an amusing moment. Match was fun but this seems pretty decisive now that the babyfaces have taken two in a row. Lee is incensed and demands another rematch. I'm a little distracted right now, with the Indians coughing up a 9th inning lead they absolutely couldn't afford to, and the (debunked) news of the apparent death of Disco Inferno. But this segment seems pretty overlong to set up a rather standard hair stip.