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PeteF3

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Everything posted by PeteF3

  1. PeteF3
    Elvira must be easily impressed.
  2. PeteF3
    Holy fuck, these guys needed to be muscle for Mr. Backlund in 1994 and '95. It's the same gimmick, but played without a hint of comedy. This interview could have melted Vince Russo and Kevin Dunn's faces off, as Arn talks about how teams of the '90s are concerned with making great entrances while the Enforcers concern themselves with entering and succeeding. It sounds way better than I typed, believe me.
  3. PeteF3
    Another great angle in the middle of a WWF hot streak. It's great to see a WWF heel back up what he says. Flair cheapshots Piper with the belt and goes to town on him, and they make sure to mention that Savage can't intervene as he's on probation for trashing Tunney's office. Then the big moment as Vince McMahon eats an accidental chairshot and takes the first bump most fans had ever seen him take. I never get tired of scenes of chaos with no commentary. Hardcore angles and storylines intersecting with one another--this period is possibly the most Southern in WWF history, at least pre-1997.
  4. PeteF3
    Damning as the faint praise may be it probably legitimately is Hogan's best starring vehicle.
  5. PeteF3
    This one is different. The connection between becoming a matador and attaining success in the WWF could make some sense if there were a Ross or someone who could really get the athletic requirements over, but it just comes off as spurious and lazy here. Santana's narration isn't helping matters.
  6. PeteF3
    Jake has to have some sort of Funeral Parlor guest appearance record. And there's still more to come. Roberts informs the children of America that their parents are liars and that their night time fears are all real. All while holding a cobra and flicking at its head. That's a heel for you. Jake declares that once bitten, "you are no more," which had to be a conscious shot at the Ultimate Warrior. He finishes with threats towards Sid Justice, his second ill-fated feud since turning heel. Another strong promo, but we ain't seen nothing yet.
  7. PeteF3
    Obviously a big letdown, as Backlund unleashes some awesome forearms and a back suplex before sustaining an injury when Takada kicks him in the gut and the match comes to an end. Past history and Backlund's opening flurry suggest this really could have gone somwhere special.
  8. PeteF3
    Interesting that it's Anjoh offering the handshake at the beginning and Yamazaki being the one to blow it off. Outside of that, nothing particularly memorable or offensive about this.
  9. PeteF3
    Whether they were for shoot purposes or not, the ref wearing protective goggles and bumping for each explosion are great visuals. Each explosion is a jolt to the viewer's system and are sold great by everyone, if you want to call it selling. It's the standard Onita story of getting mutilated and making a big comeback around headbutts, then power bombing his opponent into oblivion, but it's executed as well as any of the others and is another great FMW spectacle.
  10. PeteF3
    Dangerously compares Hughes to Lord Byron in what has to be a first in the history of wrestling commentary. Hughes is full of surprises--he takes some fine bumps and unleashes a dropkick, a sleeper, and a figure four(!!) which is worked really well thanks to Race. This should be his career match, at least in singles. Windham bleeds(!!!) but comes back with a big lariat off the turnbuckle to send Hughes to the floor, and then he goes after Race. Windham is about to put Race's face into the concrete when Luger clobbers him with a chair and Windham is triple-teamed and left laying--Ron Simmons is speaking at another Boys & Girls club and is unable to help. This is the hottest segment of the Luger title run yet. Hughes actually looks like a star in the making here, it just wasn't to be.
  11. PeteF3
    For goodness sake, they even have Tony Schiavone with a new overdub on the Omni footage. What's the point??
  12. PeteF3
    Beefcake puts Flair over big-time by mugging in his barber's chair and pretending to nap. At least it gets Heenan on the stick for this interview, despite the setting. Quick and to the point, touching on the same stuff as before. Flair's music kicks up and it seems they wanted to cut him off early.
  13. PeteF3
    Slaughter is made up to look like he's been living in a survivalist compound ever since SummerSlam. Okerlund is on location, telling Slaughter that he got what he deserved. Slaughter agrees--he wanted to become WWF Champion at all costs. Slaughter lost his friends, family, and country when he lost his WWF title. The only one of those that he can get back is his country. I know this is going to get worse before it gets better. I know it's a blatant attempt at retconning Sarge's entire MO. I know it's a big reset button getting hit on his storyline. But this segment and this segment alone was really, really good. And at the time, I truly never thought the heel Slaughter would be permanent. The only two options the WWF had with him was either a babyface turn, a release, or a front office position. Being as Sarge still had something to offer in the ring I have to say the first option was the best of the three. And at least at first, they went about it in the most effective possible way.
  14. PeteF3
    Fun spectacle of non-stop action. Sullivan's little gloating act to Fallen Angel after blatantly punting Funk in the nuts is great, and there are some stiff shots and nicely crowd-pleasing brawling that never really descends into an ECW or AJW weapons-fest stunt show. It's broad and theatrical in that pro wrestling way, but it still looks like two guys beating the shit out of each other with anything not nailed down. Both men are DQ'd even though they spent the whole match breaking every rule in wrestling, but the brawl continues. Funk gets into it with some facepainted ally of Sullivan's--Metal Maniac, maybe?--and both men abuse a Japanese photographer just for fun. I'm not sure I didn't like this more than the Cactus/Gilbert match. It was far shorter of course, but they packed in almost everything they could in that time. Easily on par with the Benoit matches as the best that Sullivan has looked on tape.
  15. PeteF3
    No question the Lawler of '93 is better than the Lawler of '99, but the main thing that separated him from Ventura or Heenan is his complete inability/refusal to ever praise the babyfaces for anything, or criticize the heel for anything. It's really the same symptom as his heel promos where he doesn't put his opponent over, just belittling them instead. Jesse or Bobby's occasional acknowledgment of what a babyface could do well, or a mistake made by a heel, gave just a little bit more credence to their usual heel shtick. Lawler was a lot more blindly allegiant to the heels, to his commentary's detriment.
  16. PeteF3
    The newest referee in WCW is...the Z-Man. Oh YAY. If there's one angle from the previous 2 years I wanted to see recycled, it was the WWF Ronnie Garvin retirement storyline. Zenk is LIVID about Luger turning his back and ALL OF THESE KIDS, and for not returning his phone calls. Z-Man is injured by one piledriver...wait, I thought it was Cactus Jack who "ended his career." Way to get the new talent over. Z-Man vows to play it fair and call the upcoming tag match right down the middle and hypes how great the match will be. Ugh all the way around.
  17. PeteF3
    Okay, the Hansen stuff is funny, but it's time to either do something with it or drop it. Namedropping Stan Hansen with no forthcoming payoff isn't going to do any more for the USWA than the Desperados did for WCW. Mantell also has a letter that he won't read because of the language in it, but threatens the anonymous letter-writer anyway in a manner that gets bleeped. Okay, now maybe we're getting somewhere. A very sparkly (Mr. Travis' wardrobe courtesy of Eric Embry) Billy Joe Travis is out to serenade us with "The Eyes of Texas," but mixes in lyrics from the other song to that tune, "I've Been Working on the Railroad." Travis heads to the ring for a match and decides to just cream Chris Frazier with the guitar instead. Apparently Frazier interrupted him as he was attempting to sing again. Dutch Mantell is now out in the flesh. Apparently Eric Embry made some derogatory comments about Dutch earlier, and he comes out to defend himself. Embry denies writing the letter and tries to soothe things over, but Dave Brown is there to fill in Dutch on what Embry actually said. The chemistry of all three of these guys is great--Dutch works the crowd, Embry accuses Dave of spreading lies, and in a hilarious moment Embry brings up Dutch's Texas background and that he knows exactly where Oil Trough, Texas is. Brown: "Earlier you said there was no Oil Trough, Texas!" Embry draws an imaginary line on the studio floor and dares Dutch to join the Texas Boys or be an enemy. Dutch refuses, and that nets him a flagpole to the back courtesy Tojo Yamamoto. Dutch gets beaten down until Jeff Jarrett, the Dirty White Boy, and Freezer Thompson (!) make the save. I'm still not sure what this letter-writing business is supposed to be out, but I was secretly hoping it'd be someone new and not just another Embry scheme. Eddie Marlin thinks that Dutch can be the man to take out Embry, and that nets an attack from Eric. Jarrett gets intercepted by Billy Joe Travis. Marlin is choked out by his necktie and shockingly Embry is not fired right on the air over this.
  18. PeteF3
    Santana VERY woodenly recites how he must face off against a charging bull to reach new heights in the WWF, then goes into scary voice mode. Such an awful, lamebrained idea from a company that was on a creative hot streak.
  19. PeteF3
    Flair makes his live-audience debut, still using the original 2001 theme. Flair delivering this promo with the Undertaker music in the background is all sorts of odd. On the plus side, Flair has quickly mastered the ever-changing Funeral Parlor camera angles. And you know WCW would just have him (or Hogan) in front of a green screen. Bearer's "oh SHIT" face as Flair drops the Thunderlips line is great. Flair delivers a tightened version of his Prime Time promo directed towards Piper and Hogan, and brings up how he has a thousand women for every Little Hulkster. I get that late '91 was a far more adult WWF than had been seen in awhile or would be seen again, but it has to be mentioned that talking about women and Lear jets simply isn't going to draw as much heat with Little Hulksters as it did with WCW audiences. The WWF and U.S. wrestling as a whole were in a deep financial rut that I'm not sure any dream program could have instantly saved, but this may have something to do with the allegedly disappointing Hogan/Flair gates.
  20. PeteF3
    I don't mind the rounds system but it seems Finlay and Taylor were almost consciously trying to time their highspots right at the end of every round, so the action breaks stood out more and not for the better. Taylor wasn't as active as Benoit was but did have a number of big-man spots, and with a crowd this electric you can hardly blame these guys for milking that for all its worth. This goes to a draw that has you wanting to see more, but hopefully a little tightened up.
  21. PeteF3
    I do like Woman better on the mic, but Sherri is so much more versatile and dangerous. Not only can she take bumps but she can actually inflict fairly effective offense on male opponents.
  22. PeteF3
    Savage is making every attempt at a run for Interview of the Year. He, Jake, and Embry are going to have a knockout, drag-out for that award. The gleam is gone from Elizabeth's eyes as a result of the reception angle. Savage is turned down for reinstatement and responds by trashing Jack Tunney's office. Savage is torn apart and appears to be about a second away from breaking down and crying. The interview just sort of trails off, as Savage simply has nothing else to say. Holy living fuck--this is the year's single best interview to this point. And being quite familiar with Jake's stuff to come, I still think it will stay that way.
  23. PeteF3
    How hilarious would it have been if Austin had won the tournament, thus necessitating yet another title vacancy? That would be a clean sweep for WCW titles vacated in the span of one year. At least they set up Lady Blossom and Austin's stupidity by having them hug earlier in the match. Sting comes back with the early-'90s WCW trademark, the tombstone reversal, and that apron spot with the valet is just as well-executed here as it was with Maria and Shelton Benjamin. Recap of the various box angles, and naturally they make sure to edit out Cactus' big elbow. And for some reason they had Ross dub new, less effective commentary over the Abdullah debut. Sting gives punny names to the various boxes he's received and even while doing so, completely misses the significance of the last box with the woman in it. Cactus says that Sting can't play mind games with him, because he makes the rules. Cactus Jack: Calvinball pioneer. He takes credit for ending the career of Z-Man. Oh, if only.
  24. PeteF3
    Another hot angle. Could it be WCW is turning things around already? There's focus over the World title, focus over the U.S. Champ if not his actual title, and credible tag champions. One slight weakness: you know that Dusty is really, really wanting to recreate the Big Bubba magic with Mr. Hughes, but it simply isn't going to happen.
  25. PeteF3
    Paul E. is back to heel mode, but retains his deadpan demeanor from last week. Highlights of the Patriots winning the U.S. Tag Titles from the Freebirds. The finish is okay in concept--Garvin sets Chip up for the DDT, Champion hits the jumping elbow knocking him down with Chip on top. But the execution is godawful as Garvin has to stand there and change directions a bunch of times as Champion bounces around the ring. Somehow there's tremendous heat for this, even though this match-up sounds like the stuff of nightmares. Yeah, this is Scorpion-ish, but about a million times better. Sting remains cool and calm instead of having to sell fear or confusion, and Cactus and Abdullah are way more threatening than possessed referees and female fans. Cactus cuts a really good creepy promo, consisting of dialogue you could imagine the Joker saying to Batman.
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