PeteF3
-
Posts
10269 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Blogs
Everything posted by PeteF3
-
Foreigners are one thing, foreigners who come off as Aryan superman heels are another. I mean, I don't think anyone saw Pete Roberts or Don Nielsen as some sort of invader type.
-
Heenan drops the bombshell that Jameson is the son of Christopher Lloyd. I can see it. We get a clip from what is probably the least terrible of Hulk's starring vehicles, as damning with faint praise as that may be. Vince actually says the words, "Ricky Steamboat," which surprises me. This whole thing was much better than the last Hogan interview--I think it's a near-universal axiom that low-key Hogan is much better than the usual shouting Hogan. Hulk hypes the Desert Storm Match with Sgt. Slaughter.
-
There was way too little build for Fujinami on television--one press conference angle wasn't enough. More TV footage of Fujinami working, whether it was taped footage from New Japan or some TV squashes or anything. God bless Dusty for somehow tying in his friendship with Willie Nelson into an analogy about Fujinami. These entrances are absurd, by the way. That and in contrast to the Hansen/Vader feud, WCW didn't go to any lengths to educate fans that this was something besides American Champion vs. Evil Foreigner. Thus, we get Flair trying to work heel and Fujinami work babyface in the face of "USA" chants. The time wasn't right yet for a no-frills "two guys wanting to be the best" championship match. The match itself is fine, and I liked it better than the Dome match, and to some degree I'm surprised that they held the crowd as well as they did. Part of me wants to give credit to WCW for something different, but the other part sees the failures here as being pretty self-evident.
-
There's a definite point of difference on display here with how WCW and the WWF structured their big events. You know the WWF would have had Big Josh/Black Bart or Spivey/Morton in this death slot rather than a title match. This isn't technically unsound or anything but this is definitely the wrong spot on the card for this match. I think I liked this more than Loss but it was still kind of a disappointment. And for God's sake, will Dusty decide if he wants to break the Horsemen up or not? "I'm doing it on my own" and then relying on outside interference is kind of a heel staple that can draw heat, but the constant false starts here are getting annoying in the X-Pac kind of way. Thank God Sid is leaving as maybe that will force WCW's hand a bit.
-
Different kind of pre-match video, that sort of comes off as a memorial tribute. This was okay, but after a pretty awesome opening I had hopes that this was a "so overrated it was underrated" found-then-lost classic. The best part was the Lex vs. Rick opening, with Rick in an unusual position of being a pinball bumper stooging for Lex's power spots. That climaxed with Sting's awesome dive to the floor. But the match didn't reach those heights afterward, as this was very much a my turn/your turn-fest but with spots not as well-done as in the Tokyo Dome match. I get the dream match aspect of this and most dream matches probably *should* be booked as spotfests, it's just that this one wasn't that special. One thing that was noticeable was that as soon as the referee got bumped, you saw fans immediately start to stand up and look to the aisleway, which probably isn't something you want to condition your fans to do to that degree--sadly this would only become a worse problem in the years to come. The finish is what it is, and probably an improvement over a standard DCOR or other non-finish. Nikita transitions nicely into a new feud.
-
Simmons is busted open, which surprises me on multiple levels since I've never seen that before and we had double-juice in the taped fist match. The football talk is out of control, and this crowd that was so hot for the U.S. Tag Titles has been killed off. This is actually a surprisingly good sympathy selling performance from Simmons, but while I understand that as a major babyface Ron was going to have to get that act down, I have to think a more decisive victory was in order here.
-
Mark your calendars: Sid carries a match. Despite Dusty's pre-match attempt at a save by proclaiming that a pin in this situation is just as bad as going on a stretcher, this is in fact a stretcher match that ends in a pinfall. This is about as bad as Sid/Nightstalker in all honesty, and the post-match angle is shit, too. For all his size Gigante has no strength and I'm actually surprised that he got the Gang up at all, as shitty as that bodyslam looked. Sullivan hits Gigante with powder and the Gang takes him down with the stretcher and some of the weakest weapon shots of all-time. Gigante took the OMG and Sullivan's best shot and came back, so...what's the intrigue in this match-up, exactly?
-
This was mesmerizing while it lasted--just a total barrage of stiffness, violence, blood, and hate. Double the length of this sucker and you could have a MOTYC. As it is, it's just a fantastic brawl that's the best of their series.
-
This sort of seems like a waste of Hansen--I'm not sure what he was still doing here at this point. This is some of the better stuff Missy Hyatt ever did.
-
Shockingly great action at the finish. Hayes still has his left hand and the 'birds have their charisma--lots of "DDT" chants from Freebird fans in the crowd, though the Pistols draw pops for their big spots as well. Some great high-flying offense from the Pistols, but they make the mistake of doing their finish on Garvin when they've already laid Hayes out with it, bumping the ref. Fantasia, in a preposterous bird outfit reminiscent of the Tenga Warriors from Power Rangers...I should just slit my wrists now for remembering that and Googling the name...runs in and lays out both Pistols with second-rope DDTs, giving the Freebirds the pinfall and the U.S. Tag titles.
-
All that about Hulk, but man, is it hard to avoid artifice and gimmickry in this setting. It all applies to Beefcake as well. And while I've said how WCW missed the boat on proper sets for their talk segments, it's hard to envision a money promo in a faux barber shop environment. War metaphors are one thing but I'm even less comfortable with Hogan talking about "horrors of war" and casualties, especially when he's following it up with cult rhetoric about his Hulkamaniacs taking up his battles for him and making barber shop rhymes in regard to Slaughter. This was lousy.
-
Sano is practically a freelancer now, working for SWS, doing this shot, and soon to show up in UWFI. The stand-up stuff was great and there were some incredible takedowns and suplexes--not to mention shootstyle DDTs! This also had the real feel of a time limit draw, making Sano's dragon suplex and wakigatame for the tapout a genuine surprise. All that said...this is still a 26-minute shoot-style match and my patience was tried a number of times while the guys were on the mat. This is a career match for Shamrock and another feather in the cap for Sano, but I liked the other two good shootstyle matches more.
-
Of the 3 increasingly broad and theatrical shoot-style matches from these debuting promotions, this is the broadest yet, with a Boston crab attempt and reversal and Fujiwara lounging in a leg scissors, resting his hand on his hands. I think UWFI had the best of the 3 matches we saw, since that was one that could go either way while the other 2 were to put over each company's top star, but this is still very good.
-
Mr. Hughes intimidates Jim Ross into going to ringside so Alexandra York can offer Dustin Rhodes "the most lucrative contract in the history of the York Foundation--in fact, the most lucrative contract in the history of professional sports." Jesus, that line was absurd when Dusty was still clinging to it in the mid-'80s. That MAY have passed the smell test in 1975 when there was no such thing as free agency. Dustin and York basically say they're going to hook up in a hotel room as part of the negotiation.
-
Bobby's whole career has been based around safety in numbers, while Arn has been defending the TV title by himself for a solid year. I guess Zenk's little reign is basically erased from history. Not much to say about Arn's promo other than it was naturally another good one, while Eaton delivers his one line just fine.
-
No one could seriously be surprised at the news that Christopher was Lawler's kid, could they? He looks like a dead ringer for him here, clean-shaven. This is easily the best Memphis studio match of either of the first two '90s Yearbooks. There's a strong story of Gilbert wanting to get his hands on the DWB and Anthony avoiding him and a huge payoff when Gilbert finally gets his hands on him. DWB himself looks great, just decimating Christopher and then hightailing it whenever Gilbert comes in. Gilbert and DWB have an awesome brawl at the announce desk with Gilbert throwing everything he can at him, including a great *SMACK* when he waffles him with a 3-ring vinyl binder. Gilbert comes back for the second fall with a broom and we get another crazy brawl before things settle down with an FIP segment on Gilbert. We go off the air with Gilbert and Anthony still beating the shit out of each other to set up their singles match at the Pipkin Building. Fantastic stuff that really, really builds well to the upcoming singles bout. -
Embry's "retired" Lawler, and laid out Jarrett, Keirn, and Gilbert...and he's forced Bill Dundee out of the USWA for 30 days. Okay, I can see the criticism about Embry feuding with everybody. The decision is disputed however, leading to a board meeting with Dundee, Embry, Eddie Marlin, Miss Texas, Tojo Yamamoto, and Paul Neighbors all in attendance. The controversy revolves around a dazed Paul Neighbors raising Dundee's hand after counting a pinfall on him. Seems pretty cut-and-dried to me, actually: Embry won, Dundee needs to take a hike. Embry's tantrums are always fun, though. And just how many shots of Jack did Neighbors down before this?
-
Sherri's dressed for a wedding, for some reason. Another strong interview from Ted.
-
Top 3-5 MOTYC for sure. This wasn't worked like an exhibition at all--the pacing and layout and struggle in holds was much closer to a match in Japan. Casas carries himself like an asshole throughout, with hate being behind his every move and using low blows and chokes with impunity. But he also has Santo's best moves scouted. We get some incredible hate-filled matwork in the third fall, if such a thing exists, with great teases of the camel clutch and a gorgeous sequence where Casas reverses a Romero special only for Santo to reverse it right back into a half-Romero, half-camel clutch that I thought would be the finish. But there's too much hate here for this to end with a submission, and instead Casas reapplies his choke/sleeper thing one too many times and gets DQ'd for it. More, please!
-
Selection bias and limited sample size issues notwithstanding I'm not sure Brazo de Plata isn't the lucha MVP of the year so far. He runs through some fantastic-looking offense and athletic spots here including a killer triple splash to end the first fall. Second fall is quick 'n dirty just to bridge us to the third, which brings us to a series of fantastic false finishes that I'm not used to seeing in a trios match, especially the tecnicos doing a triple surfboard thing and Porky almost pinning all three of them, and Atlantis getting the Atlantida just a little too close to the ropes. Octagon finally makes himself useful towards the end and Atlantis was good throughout, but this definitely came off as a Brazos showcase.
-
This isn't quite an ideal setting for Earthquake. He gives Vince the gift of Damian's skin as well as dice: snake eyes, naturally. 'Quake comes back out in an apron and chef's hat and they're trying to do a slow build with this, but the audience is clearly hip to what's going on as soon as the guys start eating. Vince is appalled and flips the tray over and storms off. Yeah, I can see why this segment became a Wrestlecrap staple.
-
"Was she trying to find out who the dad was?" Ha! That's one advanced security camera system for it to pick up sound.
-
Beefcake's no Paul Bearer--he sensitively asks Jake what it was like to be tied in the ropes while Earthquake "stomped a mud puddle" in Damian. How compassionate. Jake calls out hunters who go after animals who don't have guns of their own, then unleashes a new, bigger snake--Damian's big brother Lucifer. Beefcake gets a peek at him, but not us yet.
-
"You're nothin' but a Yellow Dog, pal!" Oh boy. I know exactly where this is going, and that angle wasn't a good idea when they did it with Windham in Florida the first time. Windham cuts a pretty good cocky douche promo though he comes close to burying Pillman.
-
Okay, now this is starting to get silly. Embry's laid out Jarrett, Gilbert, and Keirn all in the span of one TV program while getting credit for the absence of Jerry Lawler.