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PeteF3

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  1. PeteF3
    DiBiase beats Virgil up after a miscommunication spot then beats the Rhodes family singlehandedly, as Dusty's full-time in-ring career comes to a somewhat ignominious end. DiBiase rants on the mic afterward as only he can do. The crowd's woken up now and is DiBiase ever pissing them off, he even gets a drink to the back. As Virgil kneels down to pick the belt up, DiBiase turns away from him to gloat some more, and the rising crowd reaction egging Virgil on, to the nuclear climax when he clocks him with the belt, to the standing O as Virgil stands stoically over DiBiase, is one of the most chill-inducing moments in company history. Piper is really fucking incredible here, too--going from resigned disgust with Virgil to almost creaming his pants. One of the highlights of his WWF babyface career. And...well, I'm repeating something I said earlier again, and it's not coming as news to anybody. But is there a remote possibility of a partnership being pushed on any company's television for four years nowadays before pulling the trigger on a split? Especially when such an angle writes itself as effectively as this one does? Don't think anything from today can match this. The tease of Virgil's independence would be pushed right from the start and the payoff would come sometime between Big Four PPVs.
  2. PeteF3
    Fired up the whole match because I wanted to see if it held up to the other high-end Warrior matches. Adnan ranting in Arabic in the pre-match interview while we get a shot of a burnoose-wearing, bug-eyed Slaughter nodding his head is one of my favorite images ever. Adnan and his flag are there and Slaughter makes reference to turmoil in the world today, but his promo is otherwise refreshingly free of world event talk and is almost back to the "America needs a new leader" rhetoric from the summer. Warrior blithers about foxholes in the desert but is kind of okay in response. Warrior counters an attempted clothesline with the Iraqi flag and rips the flag apart to class this whole feud up a little bit. It certainly gets the crowd going, though. Sarge bumps like an absolute loon for Warrior's pedestrian offense which keeps things going, until a made-over Sherri runs to the ring. Sherri grabs his leg and Warrior stupidly chases her to the back, where Savage levels him with a clothesline and engineers one of the greatest mid-match beatdowns in history, complete with the light standard to the body which I thought was the coolest thing I'd ever seen. Warrior slooowly makes his way back to the ring while Sarge keeps breaking the count, which is a pretty nice attention to detail. Slaughter does a lot of kicking with the pointed boots while mugging at every opportunity. It's a bit pedestrian of a heel control segment but it's all nice and focused on the back to set up the camel clutch. Standard Hulk-Up comeback, interrupted by Sherri and Savage, and a scepter to the head leads to the shock title change. Don't ask me why I wrote up a big recap of this match of all things. This isn't a great match but it's another bout on the level of the Main Event stuff that Warrior had with DiBiase and Rude, with Slaughter doing a great job of feeding for a routine Warrior performance. I can't deny that the pre-match stuff really galvanized the crowd or how deflated they seemed after the title change, either. It's incredible that Sarge went from being utterly washed up to being WWF Champion in the span of about 6 months. I talked earlier about this but it bears repeating how this run was a personal triumph for Slaughter even if it was a failure on business and taste levels.
  3. PeteF3
    I kinda really, really want to see Savage vs. Slaughter. This is probably Sherri's best work on the mic to this point. Warrior comes out but doesn't say anything, which prompts Sherri to try a different tack. This was absolutely wild for the time, as Sherri opens Warrior's jacket and gropes him. Sherri gets on her knees and the throbbing intensity is actually building here, before Warrior yells NOOOOOO. Savage flips out and runs from the locker room to the interview set in about 6 seconds, but Warrior is long gone. Best Warrior promo of either Yearbook. But man alive, he comes across as such a fucking coward.
  4. PeteF3
    Hey, it's a Rockers tag in January that's a WWF MOTYC, maybe the winner. Where have we heard this story before? Except the OX are a lot more capable than the Powers of Pain. I remember being absolutely blown away by the stereo move sequence at around the halfway point, especially the first time I saw a Tiger Feint. The only time this comes close to dragging is the OX's heat segment on Shawn, but that also went a lot longer than I recalled as I remember this being a very heel-in-peril match and it was more even than I gave it credit for. January's greatness continues.
  5. PeteF3
    Cornette is a leech, just like Jimmy Hart, Downtown Bruno, and Reggie B. Fine. It's a battle to determine the best team in Memphis history between Lawler/Dundee and the Fabs. Jeff Jarrett in the babyface corner to counteract Cornette. I suspect that a bounty collection will be attempted.
  6. PeteF3
    Pay downgrade or not, what a relief it must have been for Cornette to finally get a chance to cut loose on the mic in meaningful angles after spinning his wheels for most of his last year in WCW.
  7. PeteF3
    Pretty good closing stretch based around reversals and counters more than giant bombs, with Jumbo finding a way to withstand the Lariat in a cool moment. Hansen goes for a second one but Jumbo takes a page out of Baba's book with the jumping neckbreaker to regain the Triple Crown. These guys were always better off against each other in heated brawls. I get AJPW just ran one of those and that their big title matches were generally worked on the level, but that could have provided a nice change of pace at least for the pretty staid opening portion.
  8. PeteF3
    Embry is a blond once again and looks sleazier than ever. Funny how lack of moves is brought up because in terms of pure offense I thought this brought more than most post-buyout Texas matches with the exception of Jarrett/Gilbert. This isn't a match of great substance but for a bomb-throwing-fest, Texas-style, this was pretty good. After his miracle run of 1989, I'm always happy to see Eric Embry back working in the Sportatorium.
  9. PeteF3
    As great as the AJPW epic is I think the promotion was worse off for the (more or less) disappearance of matches like this. This is a total out-of-the-box-for-its-time war based on blood and hate as much as bombs and near-falls, though we do get those two towards the end. I don't know if it will come through on this yearbook yet but I love how Kawada's enzuilariato becomes a recurring element of his matches this year after its insta-KO appearance here.
  10. PeteF3
    Yep, MOTYC and the Match of January so far. What a great month this has been, and there's still some greatness to come. The first fall is sort of standard and not MOTYC level but everything from Santo's segunda caida comeback onward is pure gold. Both guys bleed like stuck pigs and Santo hits some tremendous dives when his back is against the wall. Near falls abound in the third fall, with Brazo getting to escape the Santo camel clutch twice.
  11. PeteF3
    York and Missy make cracks about Paul E.--York's computer is only able to calculate the abilities of athletes, so it won't help Missy with Paulie. Dangerously comes out and makes more insinuations about how Missy got and is keeping her job, then goes into a patented Paul E. misogyny rant after Missy runs off. He's about to do the same with Miss York but immediately changes his tune when Michael Wallstreet comes out. Funny stuff. I've always dug the York Foundation gimmick but what made WCW change its tune regarding having TWO women on the roster? Woman brought so much more to the table than Terri did.
  12. PeteF3
    Big Cat gets a visual fall (as such) on Lex Luger in the football match. Unbelievable. Hey, it's Vladimir, and he's a Horsemen fan! Ric Flair takes two visual falls himself from Sting, but lands on top after a collision and gets the pinfall, despite Sting's foot being on the rope. The first of two World Championship reset buttons to be pressed within the span of a week.
  13. PeteF3
    As an added note, Eddie Gilbert no-showed the previous Monday's MSC card and apparently (though not for that long, looking at the match listings) walked out on the promotion entirely. So that burial from Cornette was just that. Now I wonder if this wasn't a panic turn, though one always has to wonder how long any Cornette babyface run can truly last. EDIT: An Observer confirms the Fabs turn was planned, and that Eddie would turn babyface to team with Lawler against them. Would have been interesting to see though I think it was way too early to turn Gilbert at that point.
  14. PeteF3
    Lawler is back out--he would have expected Cornette to be a sellout but expresses disappointment with the Fabulous Ones apparently not having any pride of their own. Lawler & Dundee vs. the Fabs for Monday. I guess at this point they felt they couldn't run a MSC show without Lawler on the bill, but yeah, you'd think they could have the Fabs go over a team like Dundee & Davis first. A great promo, though.
  15. PeteF3
    The Fabs make a show of watching Jerry Lawler's back during an interview, only for Cornette to clobber Lawler with the racket and the Fabs drop him with a spike piledriver on the floor. Cornette calls "Terry" on his portable phone and informs him that he's "2 for 2"--they ran Eddie Gilbert off and just broke Lawler. Cornette reveals the master plan: they couldn't collect the bounty on Lawler by going after him head-to-head and there was a chance that the Memphis Mafia could collect it first, so they earned Lawler's trust and thwarted the Mafia before making their move. Eddie Marlin comes out to get in Cornette's face and this face-off is as great as one would expect. The Fabs vs. Lawler and a partner is more or less signed for Monday night.
  16. PeteF3
    Lane is working pretty half-assed here. The Fabs' return came off as a big moment but the title change less so.
  17. PeteF3
    DiBiase heaps more abuse on Virgil but Lords his family over him. Virgil is on the verge of rebelling but that breaks him and he picks up DiBiase's money. Good promo from DiBiase and the crowd was really, REALLY wanting to see Virgil fight back.
  18. PeteF3
    Iraq had a deadline of 1/15 to withdraw from Kuwait before the UN Coalition went to combat. The WWF touches on this...for the sole purpose of setting up a Sgt. Slaughter promo saying most of the same stuff as before about standing side-by-side with President Hussein. The U.S. on the verge of war is basically being treated the same way as a WWF title match. I think it's possible to incorporate current events into a wrestling angle in a reasonable, if not necessarily tasteful, way. But it needed something besides the WWF's hamhanded, sledgehammer of plot approach.
  19. PeteF3
    I know I wasn't that high on the chain match, but the grittiness and intensity and atmosphere there was undeniable. The weapons-fest that this descends into felt about as gritty and intense as an episode of The Itchy & Scratchy Show. I don't know how else to describe people flinging around oversized nunchuks and bamboo sticks the size of telephone poles (while laying the shots in as lightly as possible because they're too heavy to do anything else with). One of the apparent stablemates standing by with a frigging hockey stick (always a big draw in Japan) just added untintentional humor that this match was desperately trying to avoid. Kyoko also blows every big spot she tries--she airballs on the Tenryu reverse elbow, almost kills herself doing a plancha, almost Hayabusas herself trying to do a springboard something-or-other, and the leapfrog-Bull-into-a-corner-kick spot was a neat idea but looked like she did as much damage to herself as to the opponent. So, all that shit needed to go away. And it did (except for Inoue), and we got back to an actual wrestling match with a pretty good build to the ending. I liked Nakano & Inoue's counter to the double-Irish-whip spot a lot, and it was a good way to get Aja out of the picture and leave Bison alone against both opponents, which spells doom. The contrasting images of Bison on the chair in despair and Aja stewing stoically is pretty great. But this was yet another joshi match that, even for a big stipulation blowoff type match, crammed more into it than the match needed. Maybe Toyota and Hokuto could have given them some pointers on how less is more.
  20. PeteF3
    Toyota junks the rapidfire style due to Hokuto coming out with a giant cast and splint on her arm. That lasts for about a minute and a half before Toyota rips it off (and emphatically breaks the splint over her knee just to drive the point home) and Hokuto basically has to resort to nothing but dives and high-risk moves because her arm won't let her do anything else. She gets a slight opening when Toyota buggers her leg on a dive (irony!) She kicks out of a few big Toyota moves but misses one last go-for-broke somersault. Toyota wraps her back up in an armbar and we get a submission. That's absolutely the right finish but color me surprised to see a joshi title match end on a tapout. Great different dimension from Toyota here--I wish we'd gotten this Toyota when she first met Hokuto after the big leg injury. So far January '91 has been on fire from pretty much every promotion imaginable.
  21. PeteF3
    Fujinami seems like he's aged quite a bit since we last saw him at the end of '89, and he's clearly not back in prime shape yet. Fujinami clearly isn't on the level of his '80s best but this is a pretty good fight that fits in well thematically with the Texas stuff we've just been watching. Vader gets a cut in the eye again but manages to come back with a lariat and splash to win the IWGP Heavyweight title. I can get on board with Fujinami maniacally throwing punches at a cut if he can't do the chain wrestling and dives he used to do.
  22. PeteF3
    Okerlund implies that Hussein was on WWF TV giving those boots to Slaughter. Warrior talks of hourglasses and...for fuck's sake...minefields. The invasion of Kuwait and war in the Middle East is only serving as a basis for wrestling metaphors. Absolutely no one in this company seems to have any clue of what's actually happening in the real world. That's not even necessarily a problem, but then leave the fucking real world out of things.
  23. PeteF3
    Total war, with Funk throwing more incredible punches and both guys flinging themselves into the ringside table and posts, and Lawler breaking a particle board over Funk's head which makes a lovely popping sound. This is one of the stiffest matches in the history of a building that, while it's had a multitude of frenzied brawls, I don't really think of as a house of stiffness. Funk clotheslines Tony Falk and that draws a DQ. Sort of an '80s Japan structure where guys use weapons with impunity but abusing a ref ends the match. I'm just fine with that.
  24. PeteF3
    USWA-Texas, how I've missed you! Redman Tobacco has seized control of the lucrative sponsorship contract from Renegades Rampage, but otherwise it's the same Sportatorium we know and love. Except the crowd is hotter than it's been since the Von Erichs' heyday. This is surprisingly matwork-based which is not only really well-done but the work pays off big-time throughout the match--Gilbert has a hurt arm, Jarrett has a hurt leg. Fantastic work in the figure-four with Gilbert using Jarrett's boot laces for leverage. After James Beard gets bumped, Gilbert pulls a chain from under his towel, but Jarrett gets it and uses it for the apparent pin. Unfortunately he makes the same mistake he made against Jerry Lawler and gets caught with it again, and the Southern title goes back to Gilbert. What I love about Gilbert is that he wrestles mostly on the level and only cheats either incrementally to gain a slight advantage--and just enough for you to notice--or at the very end. His heeling here amounts to a few closed fists and the work with the bootlaces, while the chain doesn't make an appearance until the finish. It's what separates Lawler the heel from Ric Flair the heel, and what separates Gilbert as well. This really does seem like an exciting time to be a USWA fan, as there's more energy in the Sportatorium than in a long time with grandiose plans being tossed about in the sheets by Pedicino. I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts.
  25. PeteF3
    Paul E. sells the hell out of that slap, almost as over-the-top as Lawler selling Nitron's punch.
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