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PeteF3

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  1. PeteF3
    Dangerously takes a pre-Monday Night Wars shot at the competition and also takes a shot at Windham's inability to preserve "another organization" (flashes four fingers). Rude is now clearly being positioned as the centerpiece of the Dangerous Alliance, as he gets credit for re-injuring Sting and is the only other man to get mic time. He issues a warning to Ricky Steamboat over his near-striking of Madusa. This is Dusty booking at its best--the upper and mid-cards are falling into place and feuds and storylines are beginning to overlap without becoming excessively confusing.
  2. PeteF3
    Richard Lee is immediately out to interrupt Fuller's promo and immediately gets decked. Fuller chokes him out by the necktie (no more firing jokes, I'm done) and gets a measure of payback by hanging him from the ring ropes. The Moondogs are out but their only concern is rescuing their master. Really good segment that's the first sign of weakness shown by the Moondogs tandem.
  3. PeteF3
    This promo has me suspecting that Piper's IC title win was already booked at this point. When Piper was 5 he wanted to be big and tough--he got a kilt. When he was 10 he wanted to be like the Beatles--he got bagpipes. And at 15 he wanted to be a professional wrestler. Great, passionate interview from Piper.
  4. PeteF3
    In the wake of the WWF sex scandals involving the Other Terry Garvin, Terrence has undergone a makeover into a white-meat babyface look that would soon involve a name change (to Simms) and a heavily pushed "family man" gimmick. Garvin is much improved from his flamboyant days--not great, but better and willing, with at least a few offensive wrinkles in his holster. This is a very well-laid-out match from the quickie first fall to the figure four work, plus Gilbert goes back to the boot-lace work he was doing with Jarrett. Gilbert torches Garvin with what we must assume is a fireball--damn you, ESPN. Good match and a standout performance from Gilbert.
  5. PeteF3
    We get a Boni Blackstone sighting, and she has a hideous long hairdo that makes her look like a member of Nelson. I don't like the combination of finisher vs. finisher to begin with, much less combined with 2/3 falls. This is still an excellent match and yet another stylistic change, as they do some cool matwork here before dropping the bombs and throwing in some good Southern wrasslin' spots in as well.
  6. PeteF3
    I never got why WCW could never spring for Liger's real entrance music. Surely New Japan would have gone along with that. Holy shit, I thought this SMOKED SuperBrawl II, and I like that match just fine. This had a viciousness to it that the PPV match didn't have, with Liger heeling it up on the floor and Pillman paying him back (and turning heel in the process himself--it really seemed that Liger won over the people chanting "LIGER SUCKS" and "USA.") Lots of hot near-falls as this was worked almost completely Japan-style, but with more highspots in the beginning rather than the typical token NJPW junior matwork. This was not remotely "house-showy" as both guys went balls to the wall. This is right up there with Submit or Surrender and WarGames as the best WCW matches of the year.
  7. PeteF3
    Twevah Boobikoo! Takada makes no pretense whatsoever of going along with the agreed-upon rules, as the very first thing he does is a kick to Berbick's legs. Crowd things Berbick is a whiner and I wonder if they were hip to the rules, because Takada really comes off as a coward despite the crowd going nuts for him. Berbick eventually bails, cusses out everyone he sees at ringside, takes the countout, and the crowd does a '96 WCW and fills the ring with trash. Supposedly Berbick a.) tried to hold UWFI up for more money right before the show, and b.) dismissed the fight to the media beforehand as an "exhibition" which angered UWFI, who wanted him to play up the fight as a shoot. Takada and the ref changing the rules on the fly is cheap as fuck, but Berbick was always a loonball. Nobody really comes out of this looking good. I'd like to have seen a tag match pitting Takada & Onita against Berbick & Leon Spinks. Maybe add Lawler and Snowman to make it a 6-man.
  8. PeteF3
    Very old-school build, with Austin showing off some new offensive wrinkles like borrowing the Bobby Eaton/Billy Robinson backbreaker. I had to giggle at Steamboat bouncing up for a series of Austin clotheslines. It worked, but knowing the WWF StyleTM it was similar to a heel doing the ten-count punches in the corner. They run a fairly creative Dusty finish as both men collide with the referee, who takes a nasty bump. Steamboat hits the big chop off the turnbuckle but Austin's feet land under the ropes. A replacement ref counts three but Mike Atkins saw Austin's foot, and orders the match to continue. Austin immediately dumps Steamboat over the top rope for the DQ, but that was a DQ that makes sense instead of a typical Dusty Rhodes "don't give anything away whether it matters or not" non-finish. Too early to be jobbing out Steamboat but he doesn't need the TV belt either, plus Austin needs protected too. We get another tease of Steamboat hitting Madusa--this is a really great build for the big payoff when Steamboat finally does deck her, a fantastic angle that I think the '92 Yearbook missed. I'm digging Madusa's ditzy-badass work as a ringside second. The hot post-match continues as Austin and Eaton beat down Steamer, and then take Windham out when he tries to make a save. We go off the air with Eaton dropping elbows on Windham's hand and Steamboat coming in with a chair. We're closing out 1991 with both of the Big Two on a major (artistic) hot streak, which is really the first time that's happened simultaneously on these two Yearbooks and might be the biggest collective peak since as far back as 1987.
  9. PeteF3
    Cactus will paint his face or carry a guitar if he's teamed with Sting or Van Hammer in the Lethal Lottery...or they can make Sting or Hammer more like them. Instead of ending careers Cactus and Abby are out to win BattleBowl. Cactus and Abby start beating each other with the stick, just because they can.
  10. PeteF3
    A tearful Richard Lee laments how he ALWAYS trains his dogs to wrassle bah the rules, and Jeff Jarrett had the audacity to use a chair on Spot. Jeff Jarrett has signed a death warrant for the USWA through his actions. The Moondogs brutalize two jobbers, opening one up with the can opener, then lay waste to several others who try to make the save in a wild scene. MSC footage of the Moondogs getting a pin on Jarrett & Fuller. Afterward they do the Decapitation finisher using the dog bone, which Fuller sells huge. He has to get stretchered out. But Spike jumps off the apron and hits him with another bone shot! Fuller cuts a taped promo from the control room, rewatching his tag title loss and invoking his family name. This is Fuller's best promo yet. Jeff Jarrett is out for a promo that's quickly interrupted by the ominous whistle. The Moondogs beat Jarrett to a pulp and choke him out with a rope while Richard Lee rants on the microphone. Wild angle as Jarrett is hanged from the ropes while the Moondogs cut off help from Reggie B. Fine and T.D. Steele. Cory Macklin rips off his jacket and prepares to take the Moondogs on (??!!) but sadly nothing comes of that. Sad as it is to see Embry relegated to mid-card heel status without a proper main event blowoff, the Moondogs are a breath of fresh air in the territory that was becoming saddled with inferior geek heels and silly gimmicks. It's been established now that the Moondogs and Lee can come out at any time and start messing shit up, which brings to mind NWO-era Nitro with tension filling seemingly every segment.
  11. PeteF3
    Embry in a suit looked like Johnny V, and here he looks like Ken Patera having really let himself go. He gets a pin on Prichard with a piledriver behind Paul Neighbors' back as the match takes a backseat to catfighting between Miss Texas and CJ. Prichard levels Embry with five piledrivers of his own after the match.
  12. PeteF3
    There's Jake, and there's everybody else.
  13. PeteF3
    Reasons I'm Going with 1992 First: 3. Seeing the AJPW transition to a post-Jumbo world. 2. Seeing what the hell was up with New Japan because I frankly have no idea what happened in NJPW in '92. The rise of El Samurai, I think? 1. Despite the fact that I've watched Will's DA comp--Dangerous Alliance matches. Is there a better collection of talent in one match on U.S. soil in 1991? I'm guessing not. This had some fine triple-teaming by the babyfaces and a really great performance from Eaton--just a total dick. This is something to show anybody who tries to make the claim that Eaton was uncharismatic. This ends the way practically every DA victory ever did: babyface has a pin, but Eaton does the Alabama Jam onto the back of his head. Another hot scene post-match as Barry Windham goes nuts on the heels using his cast--somewhere Jesse Ventura is throwing a fit.
  14. PeteF3
    "I got two words for ya...COME HERE, PAL. I guess that was three!" I know it's been quoted twice but it bears repeating. Really hot segment where Rude no-sells the idea that Sting can apply the Scorpion Deathlock, but gets trapped in it anyway and sells it like his career is ending. Great eye-for-an-eye booking to set up the idea that for house show rematches it will be Rude coming in injured.
  15. PeteF3
    Hase and Muto do a tremendous job of setting up Norton's offense, from bouncing off of him to going up for his way-cool double-suplex. This is really New Japan's answer to the Misawa Army vs. Doc/Gordy tags but it's probably better than all of them, in fact, since Hash is better than either of the two MVCs and can work the bulk of the match, and the natives do a better job of feeding themselves to Norton even if he's not as good as Doc or Gordy. There's a consistent story of Muto and Hase having better continuity as a team, constantly making saves and executing double-teams while I don't think Norton and Hash do any such thing the whole match. Not going to be a MOTY finisher but I think I'm way higher on this than Loss or Kevin. This was an excellent closing chapter for 1991 New Japan.
  16. PeteF3
    I thought this was a god awful match--limited strictly to Yearbook matches, maybe a Worst MOTYC. The Pistols' heel shtick seemed like it was right out of a WWF House Show Stalling 101 textbook and the Patriots are just beyond hope. They can't sell anything; their offense is weak, even their Rockerplex attempt; and they're too juiced and inflexible to go along with any kind of sustained heel offense. Badly timed finish on top of everything else, with Steve hitting a diving headbutt to Chip's back that barely connects. With Chip's knee taped up and the token leg work, why not just have him clip the knee out? Watts was wise to kill off these belts soon after his arrival.
  17. PeteF3
    So I heard mascara contra mascara enough times to pick up on that and was able to figure out the stips from there, knowing that 3/4 of the guys here weren't losing their hoods. But I didn't pick up on Black Shadow being so blatant about wanting to go after Santo's mask until reading this--and that's awesome. I also love Fuerza just sort of standing idly by while Shadow whoops on Octagon, and is completely taken by surprise when Shadow turns and clobbers him as well. That's some primo, Royal Rumble-type shit. Black Shadow, I would assume, was attempting to avenge his father's mask loss to El Santo,* and the legendary ancestor's offspring facing off against each other comes off as a big deal even with the muted crowd noise. There's some great outside brawling here and Santo laying among a pile of chairs with his mask turned red is an incredible image. Shadow looks real good and this is a low-level lucha MOTY. * So he's not actually related to Black Shadow at all, just using the name. Doesn't change things that much.
  18. PeteF3
    Outstanding match, maybe the second-best television match of the year behind Sting/Cactus. Steamboat and Eaton are pretty much perfect for each other in terms of bumping style and offense, and this is a sort-of dream match that lives up the billing and then some. A promising start to a strong era of television matches, with a set-up for another big match next week.
  19. PeteF3
    CJ ain't no Madusa, that's for sure. They have a few good false finishes here before Embry uses CJ's loaded purse to regain the Southern title and save Tony Falk's hair. Between the tease last week and Falk's fuckup here I suspect he's not going to be employed as a driver for much longer.
  20. PeteF3
    You'd think Sandman would just hit him with the surfboard instead of awkwardly setting up to ram Lawler's head into it. Regardless, the action here looks really good and Kamala continues to look like a focused, vicious fighter who happens to be in a culture he doesn't belong to, rather than a complete idiot. He's clearly the best freak Lawler has faced this year, but his title victory doesn't have the impact that it should because of all the trading Lawler has done with it over the past few months.
  21. PeteF3
    This seems really incongruous for the time period and for that matter, really perfunctory with a "let's get this over with" vibe. No intro, no acceptance speech from Bret.
  22. PeteF3
    I THINK a Tenryu win was the original plan at one point until Hogan got the finish changed. That could be my old anti-Hogan smark side coming out, though. Anyway, Hogan busting out the cross armbreaker to start with was a fun surprise, but the first half of this was plagued by what hurts a lot of Hogan-in-Japan matches: lots and lots of resets. It sort of shows Hogan's limitations in that he has a few rote takedown and mat sequences but never really learned how to put them together. So we get a cool Hogan takedown and hold you don't see in the U.S., an attempt at working it, then a crawl to the ropes and get up and start over again. This did get much better when Hogan hurt his knee, which was sold great and brought out a terrific, intense attack from Tenryu. I didn't really need two enzuigiri spots from Hogan but there was lots of drama towards the finish, with all the finishers getting kicked out of. The legdrop never puts anybody away in Japan but Tenryu kicking out of the Axe Bomber was huge, almost like somebody kicking out of Hansen's Lariat. Hogan has to hit him with 3 or 4 of the fuckers one after the other to finally put him away. I think I liked the Hansen match better than this, as well as the LOD match, as they had more intense action throughout. That said, it seemed like Tenryu had a better shot to win this than Hansen did and it did end decisively, so that should count for something.
  23. PeteF3
    I don't have much to say about this either way, except that holy Lord was there some vicious kicking going on here. Mostly from Yamada of course, but everyone else gets their shots in as well. I couldn't envision Jungle Jack winning both matches but there's a good, long, gradual beatdown of Aja towards the end--with a few teased comebacks--to put the outcome in doubt.
  24. PeteF3
    This is the type of heated, intense brawling I hoped to see earlier in the year. No big stupid weapons like hockey sticks (I guess Bison's nightstick is a little incongruous), just stiff shots with the "conventional" trademark weapons on hand. There was even some focus on Bison's back and Aja's legs. Jungle Jack look completely doomed after Hokuto and Bull hit some great dives to the floor, but Bull takes one risk too many and whiffs on a guillotine legdrop, allowing Aja to get one-on-one with Hokuto and that doesn't end well for Akira.
  25. PeteF3
    FWIW, Meltzer reported a legit injury at the time--not from the chair, but from UT's knee banging Hogan in the head and/or shoulder. I haven't seen the full show since renting the Coliseum Video at the time, but the same Observer states that Sean Mooney had to cut Hogan's Tuesday in Texas promo for him and that there was fear that Hogan wouldn't be able to make the show.
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