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PeteF3

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  1. PeteF3
    The Moondogs attack Lawler as he's working a squash and pound him with a chair, until Jeff Jarrett attempts to make the save. That doesn't go well, until Robert Fuller returns to turn the tide. Only temporarily, as a guy in a Grappler mask called the Flaming Star comes out and throws a fireball at Fuller! That takes him out and the beatdown continues as we go to commercial... ...only it's cut off, as Austin Idol has finally made his way to the studio! Idol is still in his flying clothes and goes nuts with his aluminum baggage, which breaks open leaving clothes and toiletries all over the ring. Spike gets his face covered with shaving cream and eventually Lee calls the dogs off. Great, great use of Idol and the TV format. Make us wait until the very end of the show to see him and play off his real-life unreliability. Idol relates how his plane was filled with water this morning, with the intent of causing the plane to crash. This is yet another ridiculous over-the-top promo from Idol, which he's made a specialty in his cameo appearances in the '90s, but his rap and delivery are so good that I can forgive it. Idol gets so worked up that he takes out the mic and goes after Dave Brown. This is wrestling so of COURSE Idol wants to settle this in the ring rather than, you know, have Lee and the Moondogs arrested. Brown always does a convincing job of getting pissed off, but something in his reactions to Idol's conduct made me think he was legit irritated. In one episode of TV we've had man-on-woman violence, male nudity, S&M implications, race-baiting, and something that today would probably be considered terrorism. This was the USWA segment of the year, but this show carried a sense of desperation as well.
  2. PeteF3
    The early vestiges of the WWF/USWA agreement are coming into view. I believe this was set up by the WWF cutting back on house shows and allowing some of their lower-level guys to take indy bookings. Dennis Coraluzzo is working a lawyer gimmick, apparently, sending the "black sheep" of his family after Unified World Champion Kamala. Coraluzzo goes off on every black stereotype imaginable as the camera zooms inside his nostrils. Well, this makes the Horsemen/JYD feud look like Do the Right Thing. Koko laughs this off and promises to be the next World Heavyweight Champion of the World. Koko serenades Kamala and us with a rendition of "A Change Is Gonna Come." He stumbled a bit but Koko seems happy to have an actual issue to talk about. Going against the Moondogs on a special Sunday afternoon MSC show will be Lawler and Austin Idol, making his semi-annual return to the territory. Either he legitimately skipped the taping or they're deliberately playing up his no-show rep.
  3. PeteF3
    Macklin prefaces this with how hilarious this is and we cut right to footage of Eric Embry clocking the Dirty White Girl in the face. Embry ends up victimized by his own handcuffs. DWB chases CJ away and...yanks down Eric Embry's tights so Kimberly can whip him. Y'know, when Anthony grabbed Embry's tights to keep him from escaping right at the beginning of the clip, I was afraid they were going to go there. I wonder if Embry booked this angle himself. An incensed Embry promises to strap the bare behinds of both Anthony and Kimberly. Anthony and Kimberly come out to do this right now--an "equalizer"?? Embry is unarmed, Dave!
  4. PeteF3
    This is a straight-up re-do of the Jimmy Hart/Andy Kaufman mummy angle, but hey, that was 9 or 10 years ago. More crazy action with Lawler absolutely going nuts on Spike with chairshots. They tumble out of the ring to set up the impostor Lee and the real Lee's interference, as chloroform or ether or something puts Jarrett under. The Moondogs are getting ridiculous protected--it's been great so far but I hope their first loss comes off as appropriately monumental instead of their push petering out like Gilbert and Embry's did.
  5. PeteF3
    A scarred (PERMANENTLY DISFIGURED) Richard Lee takes his frustrations out on two jobbers. The USWA desk is thrown into the ring and these two guys are brutalized with chair shots. This is sick but I think this is relatively tame compared to some other Moondogs squashes of this time period. Frazier must not be one of those guys who got on Jerry Jarrett's bad side and had to pay to get destroyed on TV.
  6. PeteF3
    Sherri is as bubbly as she'll ever be, and Bearer decides it's because she must have just come from a funeral. That was LOLworthy. Sherri is in love with a man with long, blond locks, superb wrestling ability, and the body of an Adonis. That doesn't really narrow it down by itself, but it's Shawn Michaels. I had always remembered this as DiBiase "buying" Sherri a boyfriend--I guess that's sort of what happened but I remembered it being more overt with DiBiase involved. Marty Jannetty is mentioned by name, twice. Either an editor was asleep at the switch or they already knew that they were bringing him back, because that's not WWF behavior at all.
  7. PeteF3
    Shango probably deserved the Most Embarrassing Wrestler Observer award on principle, and I know he was sort of the final straw for a lot of longtime fans. And I know Charles Wright may have never had a good match in his entire career. But dammit, I marked out when jobbers got set on fire and ooze started coming out of people's bodies.
  8. PeteF3
    Those fake camera noises are really distracting. Flair rubs his Rumble victory in our faces one more time. Tunney makes sure to note that he examined each challenger's record as well as the opinion of the public at large, which becomes important. Hogan immediately launches into his standard spiel while Sid stews. Savage is entertaining as ever, even when kissing Hogan's ass in a role that does not suit him. Sid blames Hogan for the Rumble loss, and rightly so. And what you did, Jack Tunney, WAS BOGUS. THE MOST BOGUS ACT YOU HAVE EVER PULLED OFF. The best heels tend to have justifiable motivation behind them, but man oh man, I don't think a heel (or soon-to-be heel) has ever been more in the right than Sid was here.
  9. PeteF3
    Undertaker is still extremely limited because of the nature of the gimmick, but Bret did an awesome job when he got in his flashes of offense. Lots of hit-and-run, chop-down-the-tree stuff and Undertaker was able to sell just enough to put Bret over while also still coming off as unstoppable. Agreed on the commentary job--this was the most focused Monsoon & Heenan production yet. Bret is more or less dominated for most of the match but I like the finish--that UT had to cheat and use the urn puts Bret over by itself. Hardly a great match, and as far as Best UT Matches to This Point it ranks behind the Warrior bodybag match, but it's a very, very good performance from Bret that his biggest boosters will want to point to.
  10. PeteF3
    I think the work in the 11/1 match was quite a bit better, but the extracurricular bullshit here with Konnan and Cien Caras was far, far better than the extracurricular bullshit with Gran Davis. Honestly, when watching this I really felt like this was something Pat Patterson would have laid out if he were a lucha worker/booker--big broad move, pause to work the crowd, repeat. Plus long sequences with one guy as a punching bag for the other, also a WWF staple. It doesn't really come across as a lucha title match at all, with lots of blatant cheating from Fuerza and big dives. Konnan and Caras' tempers escalate between falls, and things come to a head after a big dive from Octagon leaves both guys out on the floor. Caras takes the opportunity to foul Octagon. Loved the teenage female fan leaving her seat to confront him for that. Konnan finally has enough and they end up in the ring with Konnan fending off a double-team to take out Caras to a huge reaction. The dude had an effect on crowds, there's no denying that. While that's going on, Fuerza grabs the shirt that Konnan had ripped off and chokes out Octagon with it. The match is thrown out, and regardless of the actual result a DQ victory for Octagon seems like it would make the most sense. The Box y Lucha commission gets involved after the match and there's speculation over a mask vs. mask rematch (which would have ruled the world) and a tag match, which would be the proper Southern territory booking move. Good work and even better booking, assuming it did lead to a decisive finale in the rivalry. Also plants the seeds for the big Konnan/Caras feud that would become a huge deal for AAA.
  11. PeteF3
    I think the work in the 11/1 match was quite a bit better, but the extracurricular bullshit here with Konnan and Cien Caras was far, far better than the extracurricular bullshit with Gran Davis. Honestly, when watching this I really felt like this was something Pat Patterson would have laid out if he were a lucha worker/booker--big broad move, pause to work the crowd, repeat. Plus long sequences with one guy as a punching bag for the other, also a WWF staple. It doesn't really come across as a lucha title match at all, with lots of blatant cheating from Fuerza and big dives. Konnan and Caras' tempers escalate between falls, and things come to a head after a big dive from Octagon leaves both guys out on the floor. Caras takes the opportunity to foul Octagon. Loved the teenage female fan leaving her seat to confront him for that. Konnan finally has enough and they end up in the ring with Konnan fending off a double-team to take out Caras to a huge reaction. The dude had an effect on crowds, there's no denying that. While that's going on, Fuerza grabs the shirt that Konnan had ripped off and chokes out Octagon with it. The match is thrown out, and regardless of the actual result a DQ victory for Octagon seems like it would make the most sense. The Box y Lucha commission gets involved after the match and there's speculation over a mask vs. mask rematch (which would have ruled the world) and a tag match, which would be the proper Southern territory booking move. Good work and even better booking, assuming it did lead to a decisive finale in the rivalry. Also plants the seeds for the big Konnan/Caras feud that would become a huge deal for AAA.
  12. PeteF3
    Pretty good match, but still not as good as one would expect considering the caliber of workers. Not as heated, either. That was just the nature of this match-up. The psych is good and Jumbo's selling is top-notch, but there was always something missing that puts this over the top. Jumbo kicks out of a Lariat (!) but quickly gets hit by another one to net Hansen the Triple Crown.
  13. PeteF3
    So far I'm higher on both Benoit matches and Benoit performances than the others. I liked the layout of this a lot, with the usual quickie first fall being moved to the second which serves as a nice change of pace and keeps the first two falls from coming off as perfunctory, which is a common issue in the tres caida matches. Villano III doesn't really come across as Mr. Sympathy when Benoit is tearing up his back but the build to the ref stoppage is well worked. Benoit can come across as overly mechanical regardless of where he's wrestling, but he did a capable job of keeping up on the mat and pacing the match.
  14. PeteF3
    Really fantastic match, maybe even better than the 6-man before it. Kobashi and Kikuchi are full of spunk and get a lot of offense, even if there's basically no chance for them to win. Kikuchi is about the gutsiest bastard ever at the end of this--his kickout of Jumbo's powerbomb was huge. I think Jumbo/Kawada is a pretty easy Match of the Month but this is going to be in a real dogfight for #2. This is the third consecutive Yearbook with a super-hot month of January.
  15. PeteF3
    Attention to detail! Barry Windham cannot accompany Dustin to ringside due to a lack of a manager's license. Windham cuts a fiery promo backstage at the Clash swearing revenge on Larry Zbyszko. Good match, but a little more shticky and less of an intense struggle than the first bout. Arn fakes a knee injury but this isn't quite as convincing as the fakeout he pulled off against...Z-Man, I think, at the end of 1990. He does do jumping jacks afterward though, just to be a douche about it. Rhodes hits the bulldog, but Zbyszko breaks the pin for the DQ, followed immediately by Windham, who runs off the Enforcers and then catches both Steve Austin and Paul E. when they try to ambush him. Windham goes nuts, pounding on Austin's knee with the phone before figure-fouring him. This sets up the Windham/Austin program for the TV title, but the point about these high-action matches not having much in the way of consequences may be borne out--let's see if this knee injury has any long-term effect at all or if it's completely forgotten like Sting and Rude's knee injuries were.
  16. PeteF3
    Was David Crockett in charge of providing the straps for this? This comes down to Eric Embry against the Dirty White Boy, and Embry pulls down the strap on his singlet...then realizes both guys are carrying leather straps and pulls them back up. Fairly decent action follows until CJ throws powder into the DWB's eyes, and White Boy more or less rolls out to the floor for a rather weak-sauce elimination. CJ gets a spanking afterward, but Embry makes DWB pay for that. Embry somehow looks like more of a scuzzball with well-coiffed hair than he did with the stringy stuff that looks like it hadn't been washed since Fritz Von Erich was his boss.
  17. PeteF3
    I would never, ever have taken Moondog Spike for such a bump machine, but he's good for at least one insanely reckless fall to the floor in each of these matches. This is a complete match that goes for some considerable length, and is so balls-to-the-wall that I can scarcely describe it. Tables are flung about like weapons, stiff chairshots, the bell gets used, the bones make an appearance...finally Paul Neighbors is abused by both teams and Frank Morrell comes out to stop the match and gets absolutely brained with a chairshot from one of the Moondogs. Eddie Marlin unsuccessfully attempts to break things up, and Jerry Lawler hits Richard Lee with a fireball. And we're out. Don't think it made the Yearbook but Lee cut an absolutely riotous studio interview either this week or next, in full mummy regalia and crying his eyes out about how even though he's never done anything wrong in his life and never hurt anyone, Lawler has permanently disfigured him.
  18. PeteF3
    The one at the tail end of '91, DEFINITELY. I don't know if the matches would have been any good but Tatanka as an anti-American heel trying to take out Duggan and Slaughter sounds awesome on paper. They're going for the same vibe here as the El Matador vignettes, but these are better, with a bit better delivery from Tatanka.
  19. PeteF3
    Love that Royal Rumble poster--I know they brought it back for 2001, they need to do it again. Flair and Piper are new champions, while the LOD has a "successful title defense," an interesting euphemism for "loss by countout." Speculation abounds about Flair's challenger at WrestleMania VIII. Flair and Perfect gloat, with Flair oddly underselling his own performance--"We wrestled for 54 minutes!"
  20. PeteF3
    This didn't seem like one of the high-end 6-man tags, but consider what that means. That said I liked a number of Clash matches more than this. Jumbo is pretty spectacular here and Misawa, after several matches as a background force, finally gets a long FIP segment and a chance to unload and elbow the fuck out of people. Kobashi gets a really great closing stretch with Taue, getting a bunch of hot kickouts before succumbing to a second Golden Arm Bomber. Kobashi's still the #3 man jobbing to Jumbo's #2, so that makes some sense particularly with Kikuchi absent.
  21. PeteF3
    This thread feels empty without any mention of Pat Tanaka.
  22. PeteF3
    This was a good match, but it didn't quite hold up in the face of the awesomeness we got earlier in the show. As much as I liked Schiavone in his role, Ventura is a breath of fresh air here--and so far he hasn't missed a beat. Jesse was always way into it whenever Rude was wrestling, anyway. Wonky finish that Jesse rightly loses his shit over, and we get a chaotic post-match angle with Steamboat eating two Rude Awakenings and some shots from Paul E.'s belt while Austin and Dangerously pick off the security guys who try to break this up.
  23. PeteF3
    I called the Freebirds' entrance at WrestleWar, with DDP and Big Daddy Dink, professional wrestling at its least cool. Well, that entrance was Jimi Hendrix at Monterey compared to this. The song is so awful and Hayes' soft-shoe routine so mystifying that even WWF-level production values probably couldn't save it. This doesn't even have the camp value that Rhythm & Blues did. I believe we're mercifully approaching the end of this "New Freebirds," and none too soon.
  24. PeteF3
    I don't think this match was worthy of the $5000 bonus that it got in the wake of the previous tag match, but I thought this was pretty great, actually. I'm not ashamed to admit that I marked for Van Hammer shooting sparks out of his guitar in Cactus' face to start the match, and then he follows up with some cool dives for some quick near-falls. Cactus of course takes some hellacious bumps and Hammer is at least doing what he can to keep up. Cactus really was the master of the falls-count-anywhere stip--one staple of his matches that I love, love, LOVE is that the matches are basically worked the same way regardless of where they go. It's a standard match that simply can't be contained by a ring, so we get counters and reverals and even a small package on the rampway. The rampway itself helps out because it allows them to work rope-running spots on the floor. The brawl goes into a rodeo holding area and Cactus attempts to stab Van Hammer with the horn of a bull skull, before a cowboy-hatted Abdullah swings wildly with a shovel and conks Van Hammer to give Cactus the win. The brawl continues and Missy Hyatt, whose presence here during the match was utterly pointless, goes for a swim. This may lose some effect in the wake of the Hardcore stuff to come but I think this more smartly worked than all but maybe a handful of late-'90s bouts.
  25. PeteF3
    Cheesy announcement of the World title match for SuperBrawl, with Schiavone gushing over the match before Luger's opponent is even announced. But Frey responds with a bombshell--out to announce SuperBrawl II is JESSE VENTURA. I know there's been debate over Jesse's performance in WCW, but a.) the TV announcing has suffered greatly with Ross and Schiavone calling most of the shows by themselves, and b.) Ventura was showing no signs of slowing down when we last saw him in August of 1990. WCW made a lot of empty moves that wasted money but this definitely comes off as a big deal. Still, I'm not a fan of Jesse and Sting high-fiving. Luger cuts a pre-taped promo remarking on his seclusion--or his "champion's prerogative." Or, in another more accurate way, his contractually limited number of dates has run out due to him being forced onto more live shows with Flair's departure. Luger even with a shirt on has noticeably ballooned to ridiculous, WBF levels. I don't know if Frey was the long-term answer at the top or not, but from a pure artistic standpoint WCW continues to revitalize itself.
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