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PeteF3

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Everything posted by PeteF3

  1. PeteF3
    Some great callbacks to finishes we just saw, from Liger's attempted top-rope DDT to Honaga's neckbreaker drops. Great false finishes abound before Honaga gets his second upset on Liger in a month to take the IWGP Jr. title. This was outstanding, and it really felt like Honaga earned this victory.
  2. PeteF3
    Loved Casas leveling Liger with a dropkick as he tries to vault into the ring and the resulting divefest that followed. The matwork portion was pretty perfunctory and disappointing and we ramped up the high flying again before an unexpected flash submission victory, something you'd see in Mexico before you saw it in Japan.
  3. PeteF3
    Some of Honaga's offense--like his pescado--is fun, because he's possibly the least-athletic looking wrestler in history who isn't morbidly obese. But that was a weak-sauce finish and Honaga looked completely overmatched even though that wasn't the apparent story of the match. I can't believe I'm saying this about any match, much less one from Japan, but this could have used more outside interference. You could buy Honaga stealing a victory from Liger because he cheated and had Saito helping him, but here he knocks Benoit out with a neckbreaker lariat and that's it. But goddamn, what a crowd.
  4. PeteF3
    More excellent stuff with a strong story backing up the big moves. Nothing much to add except that I loved Moreno's tap-dancing pin save late in the match--it's one of the most joyous, excited pin saves I've ever seen. That comes after basically out-Pillmaning Brian Pillman as the gutsy babyface-in-peril for most of the match. After a match built around both teams trying to isolate one of the opponents Jungle Jack isolates Toyota long enough to get a big second-rope powerbomb and victory, but it comes off as a real skin-of-the-teeth escape.
  5. PeteF3
    Yeah, there are big moves and kickouts, but even after the opening matwork chunk, the big moves are all given time to breathe here. Even during Hokuto's closing flurry she's selling fatigue between every move she does. I'm waiting for Minami to do something to get me really emotionally invested in a match of hers instead of appreciating her bouts more than loving them, but this was really good stuff and a vast improvement over the majority of 1990 joshi.
  6. PeteF3
    Sid Vicious is notably persona non grata in the talk of Pillman's "revenge." Good promo aside from those unfortunate asides ("I CALL THAT JOHNNY B. GAY!").
  7. PeteF3
    The opening had a lot of the same exhibitiony problems their 1990 match had, but then we got Ole Hart and Jushin Anderson tearing each other's arms apart and I got more into this. This was still indieriffic, both at the beginning and the 2.9 ending, but a decent little match.
  8. PeteF3
    As fun as all the skits were, it's a breath of fresh air getting to watch SNME promos with no puns or overarching theme that has to be pushed. This is a really strong match, a true hidden gem that I've never heard about before in a land where hidden TV gems are very rare. This does come off as a coming-out party for Bret, even more than Survivor Series did. I'd actually have liked to have seen him get the COR victory outright, but they'd beaten DiBiase with that finish enough times during the Virgil feud that I can see why they wanted to skip it.
  9. PeteF3
    Warrior with a decent interview. Col. Mustafa is now in Slaughter's entourage. Hot start with more crazy bumping from Sarge, who incidentally appears to be in the best shape of his post-'84 career. Unfortunately he's not nearly as interesting when he's in control despite the focus on the back. This isn't a great match but I did get into the post-match quite a bit, with Undertaker joining with the Triangle of Terror for a 4-on-1 before Hogan makes the save. UT no-sells a belt shot and that's the extent of their interaction--good way to tease something for the future without giving anything else away. Warrior manages to come back against UT after the Triangle has run off, but can't hurt him with clotheslines and just sort of knocks him off balance with the flying shoulder tackle. This is about as hard as Undertaker has been pushed to this point, or indeed any WWF heel since Andre. Hogan and Warrior both took their best shots at him and couldn't hurt him, and both babyfaces expressed fear and confusion. It's really, really well done, but you also understand why fans started cheering for Undertaker, in fact already had at this point.
  10. PeteF3
    Love Pillman eschewing the ten-count punches in the corner just to slap Windham in the face instead. Lots of other great touches throughout, like Windham's bump off the turnbuckle to the floor and a really sick brainbuster. Another shit finish, but the crowd is NWO levels of rabid over the post-match attack, littering the ring with crap until and after Bobby Eaton makes the save.
  11. PeteF3
    This is an incredibly tough sell, Fujinami in a PPV main event. Even a stock Flair promo does a decent job of it, though. Flair manages not to butcher Fujinami's name.
  12. PeteF3
    Luger channels Magnum T.A.--REPRIMAND THIS. Strong, focused promo.
  13. PeteF3
    I suspect that this is where Jim Herd's strengths--such as they were--lay. It's a little sad how relatively ahead of the curve the AWA was in terms of action figure merchandising. Crockett and a bunch of other territories should have been all over that shit much earlier.
  14. PeteF3
    Meadowlands highlights--Nikita wraps a chain around his arm to deliver the Russian Sickle, but mistakes Bill Alfonso's crawling for a three-count--this apparently, if I'm interpreting Nikita correctly, results in a held-up U.S. title. Nikita promises to break Luger's back, his neck, and then his spirit. I wish they would decide if Missy was a babyface or a heel already.
  15. PeteF3
    Steve "Gator" Keirn--in fairness to the WWF, every indication is that the real-life Keirn is closer to Skinner than he is to a Fabulous One. The crowd seems to be able to keep track of who is whom despite the fact that this match involves two blond guys named Steve--incredible. This is short and basic and mostly well-done for a studio match--I dug Keirn trying to pry at Austin's fingers to escape the chinlock. Keirn eats a spike piledriver on the floor from Austin and the Texas Hangmen. Fuller makes a rather tardy save and eats a loaded boot enzuigiri from Dr. Tom Prichard. Even with Lawler out the USWA roster seems to be as deep as it's been since the early '80s, and almost all of them can talk you into the building.
  16. PeteF3
    Embry talks about the imminent unveiling of Miss Texas, a Texas Death Match with Eddie Gilbert, and a Texas Brawl (bunkhouse stampede) all in one magnificent promo. Embry is such an arrogant, sleazy jackass. His best overall promo was the one shortly before the Cage Match to Decide Everything against PY Chu-Hi, but this is not far behind--and easily his best heel promo. Chain match highlights from the Pipkin Building follow. Embry becomes the first wrestler in recorded history to actually attempt to RUN to touch all four corners as quickly as he can--a daring strategem that does not pay off, but the effort was there. After some really good action, Paul Neighbors gets bumped and misses Gilbert touching all four corners. Embry then unleashes GREEN MIST (??!!!) and that gets him the victory. I guess this is part of the Tojo Yamamoto connection but that's the most hilariously incongruous green mist gimmick in the history of wrestling--they may as well follow up by bringing in Kendo Nagasaki and have him wear loud suits and carry a tennis racket. Gilbert covered with blood and mist is a pretty disgusting sight. Gilbert sticks up for some of the few good apples in Texas but declares that the ugliest girl in Tennessee looks a lot better than the prettiest girl in Texas--and then he gets into a DEAD-ON impersonation of Embry which is fantastic even if I'm not sure the studio audience grasps the genius of it. Gilbert as the babyface with an edge is so much better than Gilbert as WCW babyface that it's absurd.
  17. PeteF3
    I'm stunned that the brains/dynamite/nose thing is thought to be that complicated. Calgarians don't have enough brains to generate the force necessary to blow their noses, even if brains were dynamite. I don't think it's a line that DiBiase invented.
  18. PeteF3
    IRS' heart bleeds for us.
  19. PeteF3
    Although we did not see the senseless and deplorable act just committed by the Earthquake, we can surmise its outcome. Mooney promises that we will not return to the arena until the Walking Natural Disaster's destruction has ceased, but we will return to the Event Center if the carnage continues. This was a pretty hokey premise and even hokier in actual execution, but...Damian was in his own way an on-air character for 5 years, so this does come off as a fairly major deal. The angle is also helped by some fantastic performances from Jake, Vince, and Piper. As annoying as Vince is calling matches, he's been outstanding when calling angles on these two Yearbooks. Vince laments how a pet loss can affect a person while Jake psychotically tears the bag open with his teeth, "having to put himself through that" as Vince puts it.
  20. PeteF3
    Bearer introduces "Roddy Roddy Piper" as his guest, and Vince's disgust with that error is palpable. Piper's baby fetish isn't as creepy as seeing Piper and Virgil play with wrestling buddies and Virgil doing a falsetto Sherri voice. Piper and Virgil: meaner than the LAPD!
  21. PeteF3
    Arnold Skaaland and Pat Patterson make cameos. Sherri squeals over Andre in highly disturbing fashion and gets a spanking for her troubles. Andre is pretty funny here. Gene actually points out that this is the second time this year Sherri has been turned down.
  22. PeteF3
    Not only would he be Col. Parker soon, here he's waling away on a future protege! Jarrett is pretty clearly the USWA Wrestler of the Year to this point, having all sorts of great performances in a number of different styles.
  23. PeteF3
    What the hell happened in the crowd here? I get the criticisms of DiBiase's work and the chairshots here, but there had to be more to the story than that. The crowd looked actively distracted by something without making any noise--I honestly wonder if a fan didn't have a heart attack or some sort of medical emergency. It was something non-match-related, I'm almost positive. The match is kind of a mess at times, with DiBiase being late to pick up on Piper trying to feed him his bad knee, throwing weak chairshots, and then ramming the wrong knee into the post. Piper's selling was top-notch, however. DiBiase busts out the old figure four for probably the first time in his WWF career and gets a UTC victory out of it. Piper gets his heat back afterward and strips Sherri, but that's about as decisively as you'll ever see Piper get beaten in the WWF, which was a treat to see. I enjoyed this okay, actually. Like I said, I think there was some outside factor here that took the crowd out of it. It wasn't a primo DiBiase performance but MSG crowds have popped a lot more for a lot less in the past.
  24. PeteF3
    Sting and El Ji-gon-tee against Flair and Windham in a cage. I think even Gigante could be covered well in such a match.
  25. PeteF3
    Gratuitous shots of Sherri's ass as she's bending over to pick up the money, and her cleavage as she's sticking the bill back in there. I approve. All-Japan's great but after slogging through 4 or 5 epics I need a bit of a comedown.
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