PeteF3
-
Posts
10287 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Blogs
Everything posted by PeteF3
-
Stan Lane, the greatest tag wrestler of all-time, is forbidden from entering the GWF Tag Title Tournament without a partner. So he's assigned Steve Cox--they're the original Odd Couple! Cornette and Lane are fine with this because they could win the tournament with anybody, but they treat Cox as a hanger-on. This is funny stuff, especially Cornette's half-hearted ring intro.
-
Looks like the Badd babyface turn is on already. Austin's promo is interrupted by Lady Blossom checking out her new earrings--"Johnny B." gave them to her. Austin browbeats her and they storm off. It almost goes without saying that World Class Jeannie is better than this subversive Miss Elizabeth wannabe. The U.S. title has been vacated, to be held in a "one night round robin" tournament. Involving Barry Windham, Nikita Koloff, Bobby Eaton, Arn Anderson, Dustin Rhodes, Sting, Steve Austin, Diamond Studd, Z-Man, Yellow Dog, and Johnny B. Badd. WTF, Gordon--do the people producing this segment not know what a "round robin" is? We get a post-match interview from the GAB from Luger, talking up his attitude adjustment and new frame of mind. Well, this is timely. Gordon updates us on the World Tag Title tournament. I know the Flair firing and Steiner injury weren't planned, but two title tournaments ongoing at the same time is a little much. -
Somehow the Leatherface vignette doesn't come off as any less effective than Roberts and the Warrior. Slap some Jake narration over that and you'd have something. Davis talks to all the Little Nightmares about doing the right thing and saying no to drugs. Gag me. Dundee agrees and tries to antagonize Davis into a fight. Davis still kisses up to the fans but then finally starts reciting the ways Dundee gets on his nerves--Dundee retorts with how nobody recognizes Davis without his stupid star painted on! They hit the ring and we get the return of REDNECK UWFI. Eddie Marlin likes this and sends Paul Neighbors into make it an official match. This goes from quasi-shoot-style to matwork to a brawl, with a Davis tope in-between. Awesome stuff. They have to take a mid-match commercial break and by the time we return Dundee has walked out. Kind of a lame finish but it does sort of add to the unscheduled, improv feel of the match.
-
We get more multiple-camera angles and a flashback and cheesy music, that really kill the atmosphere of this. Especially that one from inside the casket with Jake talking to the Warrior. Jake takes a little too much pleasure in locking Warrior in the casket, and after fighting for a little bit Warrior goes silent. When Jake opens it back up, Warrior sits up with a blank expression on his face. Jake is outstanding as usual here and just barely does enough to save this. There is a little vibe of Jake slowly and methodically crushing the Warrior's will that comes through here. And now we get a primo example of why WWF booking was so regimented--because guys like the Warrior are incapable of getting over multiple programs at one time. It would add so much more if we got a low-key Warrior--maybe that would add some actual intrigue to the Foregone Conclusion Made in Hell. More lame war metaphors--they're no longer offensive, just lamely outdated. The only positive here is that they're not trying to suppress WrestleMania VI. Sid fits right in with these two visually but cuts a really shitty promo.
-
That's still some poor quality control to have sat on this match for this long, and an indication of what a bunch of last-minute stuff was being booked for the company at this point. Great performance from Pillman in particular but everyone except the Studd looks good. And Hall at least looks better than he did in the AWA. Big heat for this and an actual finish. Fun match, but it's obvious how far Jim Ross has fallen as an announcer. I don't totally blame him, but he sounds like a man whose soul has been crushed by the monstrosity that is 1991 WCW.
-
Yeah, that half crab spot was...well, I put almost all of it on Yamazaki. He gets dropped on his head with a German suplex and then half-crabbed and he sells it like a resthold. Still, I liked a lot of the rest of this, and I liked Scott to the point where it almost seemed like a carry-job, as aside from a few big kicks and two suplexes Yamazaki seemed like he was along for the ride.
-
Not sure what was up with Frank Morrell clobbering a Brawler with a chair at the finish, but this was pure Memphis chaos all the way. Bar stools, counters, tables, kicks to the groin...everything you could hope for.
-
Fun U.S.-style match in terms of Vader & Bigelow as bullying heels, complete with some hair pull complaints, and Muto & Chono having to play hit and run. The foreigners bust out some neat counters--I particularly liked Bigelow catching the handspring elbow and turning into a suplex. This sort of builds to an inevitable result but that's just fine, since Vader and Bigelow are the one who need to be established as the big dominant team.
-
Another inconclusive unmasking in a match between the Dog and Diamond Studd. Paul E. editorializes about Brian Pillman making a mockery of the rules, just like his Cincinnati criminal idol Pete Rose.
-
Solie cites Rule 2, Article 1, Section 1. Fantastic. If there's one thing WCW could do at this point it was make the top-10 rankings and rulebook all sound really official. Babyface turn for the 'birds? They're getting challenged by the Enforcers for their U.S. titles and now they're facing the Hardliners in the World Tag Title tournament.
-
Luger is now hiding behind Mr. Hughes and "spokesman" Harley Race. Luger cuts an okay promo but there's no attempt to establish a #1 challenger.
-
"When the pen fails, the government calls in THE ENFORCERS." Great line. Arn declares that in professional wrestling, the winner is the one with the most toys--the U.S. Tag and World Tag titles.
-
Even the WWF's Sledgehammer of Plot presentation would see fit to give the Yellow Dog a different entrance theme. Jesus, it's not like they didn't have access to 200,000 generic royalty-free themes lying around. Pillman takes some great little bumps here, and Austin provided an awesome-looking clothesline as the Dog was chasing Lady Blossom around the ring. Austin is still a little green but has all the potential in the world, and Blossom provided a lot of quality work as a second here. The gimmick sucks but Pillman has done a much better job hiding his style under the mask than Flair did. Time-limit draw and then an attempted unmasking by the Diamond Studd, but Z-Man makes the save and the Dog gets the mask back on. I don't recall this leading to any sort of payoff, the whole thing just got dropped and Pillman reinstated. Good match, though.
-
In the span of one episode of TV we get a match booked between the DWB & Cousin Harold against Embry & Prichard with Marlin as the guest referee, but when Embry puts up an ultimatum for Marlin to either back out or fire him, Marlin relents. Well, that was pointless. That leads to a continuation of the expiration-of-time main event, which seems like a pretty big match to put on television. Naturally it's a non-finish as they brawl to a DCOR.
-
DWB cuts a humbled promo about how he's trying to turn his life around, then proposes to Kimberly. Yeah, the timing of this isn't suspicious at all. Kim gives sort of a half-hearted "yes." That all could have been done better. Arena highlights of Anthony getting double-teamed by Embry & Prichard. Anthony is getting beaten down with the Texas flag as Tojo holds Paul Neighbors down with the stomach claw. Eventually Bill Dundee and a crew-cutted Eddie Marlin make the save. DWB wants some help in dealing with the Texas Boys, and Kimberly brings up the 6'9", 500 pound Cousin Harold. He's not a wrestler, but Anthony eventually seems sold on him. The heels' mocking of "Cousin HAHLD" is pretty funny. Another heel attack, and once again Eddie Marlin makes the save. I love Marlin but Embry should NOT be trading blows with him. Paul Neighbors then comes out and actually starts brawling with Tojo, which is kind of funny but also looks really terrible. For a chaotic brawl this was pretty by-the-book. It had a few added wrinkles like Neighbors but I saw where this was going the instant the heels walked out, and that's exactly where it ended up.
-
Fuller and Jarrett touch down in Memphis on a plane, hit the WC Handy statue and Graceland, and fly out. Well-done stuff.
-
This is a localized NYC-centric report, complete with Don Imus namedropping. Hogan refers to Jack Tunney as "senile" for putting this match together. What a hero. Warrior sings along with Hogan's catchphrase which I guess is the final mound of dirt on top of Warrior's career as #1 babyface. I always thought this card was underwhelming, but it's a decided improvement on the bloated 1990 show.
-
For all intents and purposes, this is Jake's final interview as a babyface. They're still pushing a Jake/Earthquake program, presumably to give Jake something to do on house shows while this is going on. Jake declares that through the power of Lucifer (and he's not talking about the snake) he will have no fear of death. And then promises to share those secrets with the Ultimate Warrior. "..and secondly, he must do something that neither you or the Undertaker could ever do. And that's simply...trust me." Jake is as awesome as ever and this is a great table-setting promo that looks even better in hindsight, knowing what's to come out of him.
-
This is Mr. Steven Keirn, Florida by way of Memphis. He cannot be seen. Now, I'm going to ask Mr. Keirn to come out and cut a wrestling promo. Mr. Keirn, would you stand up please? *BANG* Python referencing aside, these vignettes can get old even when DiBiase and IRS and Rude are the ones doing them. As good as Keirn was on the stick in Memphis it doesn't seem like he's as comfortable in character as they were. At the risk of having to dodge some tomatoes, this gimmick seems dead in the water.
-
Man, if you're an armdrag fetishist this is your dream match. All others, meh. There's kind of a weird dynamic throughout with the Guerreros constantly double- and triple-teaming and the Brazos objecting, leading to confusion over precisely whom the rudos are supposed to be. The closing stretch finally makes this worth watching, with a few good triple near-falls and Eddie performing an absolutely spectacular springboard dive that seemingly goes halfway into the floor seating. And I'll never stop loving the dive train build with Super Porky inevitably being the last one for the climactic big fat man dive. I thought the climax of this worked just fine even if it didn't descend into a brawl. It was the first two falls that failed to hold my attention. Chavo in particular has fallen off badly.
-
This was good but not one of the premier 6-mans in this rivalry. Jumbo's indignant shoving of Kawada is a highlight, and they book a semi-surprise finish--with Kikuchi and Ogawa in there you'd think the main suspense would be which of those two takes the fall. Instead, Jumbo uses some trickery to keep Misawa in the ring long enough to backdrop him into defeat.
-
A fucking piledriver and dropkick in PWFG! This is about as broad and theatrical as this style will ever get--the shootstyle version of a big bomb-throwing fest a la All-Japan, with killer suplexes and mat counters in place of power bombs and headdrops. As soon as I see Sano in a bloody brawl he'll have possibly matched El Dandy when it comes to mastering multiple disparate styles.
-
Writing off a UK vacation as a business expense? Just guessing. Hope his ex-tag partner doesn't find out if that's the case. Here's the angle with Heenan storming off Challenge, for anyone interested.
-
This was the least of the matches in this series so far. This featured the worst of Doc & Gordy sitting around in holds and it's compounded by the natives doing a lot of the same. Then we get Kawada knocked out on the floor but not a whole lot of urgency or feeling of danger when Misawa is down 2-on-1. The leg work does pay off nicely when Misawa gets a hot tag later on, and the attempted "stop myself with my foot from hitting the corner" backfires. This picks up from there, with a nice quick pace and Kawada getting another chance to shine. Misawa pins Gordy again, but with the fluky nature of the pinfall itself and this being a tag title change, the feeling of an upset is still there.
-
Oh man, if the rest of the match had lived up to that first fall, this would be a serious MOTYC. The first fall was the world's greatest Survivor Series showcase of monsters and freakshows, but in a New Japan setting with the workrate to match and an insane crowd. Big fat guys moving around quickly--what I love about pro wrestling and what thrives in these multi-man environments. Unfortunately we get diminishing returns with each subsequent fall, with Hash sort of anticlimactically kicking Samu and a dogpile cover for the victory--a finish that belongs in the middle of an All-Japan battle royal more than a big multi-man tag. All the foreigners pulled their weight and Muto was probably the standout guy for the natives here, working some really long and complicated sequences.