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PeteF3

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Everything posted by PeteF3

  1. PeteF3
    From his early-'80s ascension onward Jumbo was one of the very best "top guy vs. lower guy" workers of all-time. This week was definitely a coming-out party for Kobashi.
  2. PeteF3
    Eddie Gilbert really, really hates Evansville.
  3. PeteF3
    Brian Lee and Don "The Stomper" Harris are THE DREAM TEAM. People have been DREAMING of seeing these two team up! They can't be beaten! Bruno runs down Jeff Gaylord. Gaylord looks a lot like Charlie Sheen as Topper Harley in the second Hot Shots! movie and makes some ridiculous, mystifying facial expressions in reaction to this. Gaylord throws Bruno across the announce desk after intoning, "I LOST THE MATCHES??" Well, gosh, Jeff, did Bruno say anything that wasn't true? He wasn't wrestling for you. Gaylord stomps around the ring and his squash is barely underway when he gets laid out by Lee and Harris. Gaylord is hit repeatedly in the head with a chair. With the known effects of concussions I should be condemning such a move in a throwaway angle like this, but Gaylord should be utterly immune to the effects so I give this a pass. Bruno gets in a punt to the groin for good measure. I admit, this should have been a momentous, pivotal turn in the history of Memphis wrestling if not all of wrestling, but the messed-up date on the yearbook totally took me out of it. You have to step up your game when accurately preserving history like this. Jeff Jarrett's mystery partner apparently gets told to take a hike, and Gaylord will be his partner Monday night. Jeff Gaylord cuts a screaming promo that comes from someone with either a psychotic mind or severe gastrointestinal distress.
  4. PeteF3
    Lawler & Dundee vs. Gilbert & the Dirty White Boy in another Hospital Elimination Match.
  5. PeteF3
    Kobashi gets the pin on Rogers, which is probably one of his first televised wins. This was enjoyable but I didn't understand what it was doing on the yearbook until reading that it was a rarity--I guess that explains the VQ, too.
  6. PeteF3
    Okay, well-laid out match for the most part but probably the least of the series, with an anticlimactic ending, though I kind of liked Warrior doing the hip swivel as he was about to drop down. Rude blades, which surprises me. Awfully short for a PPV main event even by WWF standards but it enabled them to cut a quick pace.
  7. PeteF3
    Intermission time as we set up the cage. Rude compares himself to Rocky Balboa and the Warrior to Apollo Creed. They've been stressing that Warrior has no cage experience and Rude does. The problem is Rude beating Warrior once and having been in cage matches are nice little tidbits used to enhance a feud, but here they're expected to carry the feud entirely. "Ain't gonna be no rematch!" was a really fun closing statement from Rude. Dusty is still wearing the polka dots, but here now at long last is--more or less--the classic Crockett Dusty. He'd even drop the polka dots after this. Dusty seems to be semi-acknowledging all that with his lines about fans asking him, "When you gonna get NASTY, Big Dust?? When you gonna get EVEN, Big Dust??!" Lord Alfred Hayes updates us on the cage-building process and the crew. This is actually very cool. Hogan essentially tells us that he and Earthquake are going to go around the horn at house shows. New buildings are going up all over the world, and they're EARTHQUAKE-PROOF, DUDE. May have just been off-the-cuff comments or may not have been, but there is subtle teasing of Hogan vs. Warrior II. Earthquake rebuts. Ultimate Warrior cuts a super-patriotic promo in opposition of his foreign menace opponent...wait, what?
  8. PeteF3
    Odd pre-match promo from Hogan. It starts off great, with Hogan dedicating the match to Tugboat and bringing up the feeling he felt of getting his sternum crushed and the outpouring of Hulkamaniac prayers and letters, Boss Man follows up nicely...then it's like they were wearing earpieces and somebody (Vince?) yelled at them to suddenly cram in as many Founding Father puns as possible in the time left. Just a total left-turn into SNME-ville when it wasn't necessary. This is definitely an above-average Hogan match, with Earthquake playing the immovable object and Hogan only getting openings when 'quake makes a mistake. There are some new offensive wrinkles here to boot: 'quake comes off the top turnbuckle (!) and applies a Boston crab, while Hogan goes for a cross body block (which gets caught and turned into a powerslam). 'quake also provided some great, Blackwell-esque weeble-wobble selling. The Hulk-Up and Legdrop is broken up by Bravo and Hart, but Hogan bodyslams Earthquake on a conveniently placed ringside table to get the COR. Hot post-match angle with Earthquake lifting Hogan up in a chokehold and not breaking as Boss Man is whaling away on him with a chair. Whether it was from the table slam or the chairshots Tenta gets some incredibly nasty-looking marks on his back. I'm a little surprised that they didn't continue the formula of the first two SummerSlams and have Hogan in a tag match here. It would have accomplished the same purpose, as best I can tell.
  9. PeteF3
    You know, Ted, just because your money CAN buy anything doesn't mean that you SHOULD. His taste in women would improve in several months, at least. Dusty chases after the limo and this is so Crockett-like that I suspect Dusty booked this himself. Sean Mooney laments that Dusty couldn't get to the limo in time to stop it. "What was Dusty gonna do if he got there sooner?" Piper retorts. "Lay in front of the car?" Once again, I'll miss this cranky heelish Piper.
  10. PeteF3
    I don't think there was anything to the DQ finish. There was a second-fall DQ in the Brain Busters title switch as well. Even if their run as a top team was coming to an end you still need to keep the Demos reasonably strong if you're going to feud them with Hawk & Animal. No point in jobbing them twice if you don't have to. ("So why book a 2/3 falls match?" Shush.) I don't know if it's the "best Demolition match" ever (I liked the MSG match with the Rockers quite a bit) and I don't even want to get into whether that's faint praise or not. But I thought this was pretty damn good, and an improvement over the SNME Rockers bout. The hot crowd helps, and the Demos are a lot crisper on offense this time even if they're not unleashing anything particularly high-end. The whole business of Ax and Smash suddenly becoming indistinguishable is goofy as all hell on every level--Vince is able to identify Smash even before he takes his mask off at the start but keeps harping on how it's impossible to tell them apart. But, the switch-offs generate great heat and the presence of the 3rd member was pretty much a given regardless of the match stips. That just adds to the effect of the final pinfall, as even with the LOD's help the Harts look like they've overcome the longest odds in the world. This was a result that shocked me at the time--I figured KVE would take the IC belt but I thought the Harts were just placeholder challenges like they were at the first SummerSlam, and that the Demos would keep the titles until it was time to drop them to LOD. From the crowd reaction here I think a lot of them felt similarly.
  11. PeteF3
    This match was a real disappointment when I first saw it on Coliseum Video all those years ago. In hindsight Kerry probably would have been better off making the jump in 1986 (leaving the motorcycle accident aside entirely). This is a super-hot Philly crowd, though, that adds to every big match. Backstage Okerlund is scheduled to interview Sapphire, who's disappeared after her arrival at the arena which mercifully spares us the Sapphire/Sherri match. Heenan and Perfect crash the scene and Heenan is practically crying over the officiating, while Perfect vows that the title will return to the Family. Really good promo.
  12. PeteF3
    I'm heartened to see that P&G live up to my memories as a pretty cool team that never quite got a break. Oh, they're no Midnight Express, but they have good chemistry together as partners and the PowerPlex is still all kinds of kickass. Jannetty makes a go of it without Michaels but the numbers game overwhelms him. No, it's not a great match, but it tells a fine story and goes just as long as it needs to. Incidentally I like this short-lived run of Roddy Piper as a babyface commentator with a major antagonistic streak. At the open he calls the Rockers the "Mick Jagger & David Bowie of the WWF" and doesn't mean it as a compliment, and then when Jannetty was laying over Michaels to shield him from the post-match attack and Piper said "they LOOK like Mick Jagger & David Bowie right about now" I completely lost it. The single biggest laugh-out-loud moment of the set for me, I don't care how counterproductive or in poor taste it may have been.
  13. PeteF3
    The mini-resurgence of Race continues. He's not in peak, '70s form but at the same time he's not very distinguishable from his King run which had all kinds of quality performances.
  14. PeteF3
    I don't agree that there was no build. There were little payback spots sprinkled throughout and Owen finally getting Finlay's elbow pad that had been used against him the whole match and giving Finlay everything back in return was built to as a pivotal moment of the match. If you're expecting an epic rise to the finish this will be a disappointment, but this was more about little peaks and valleys than about gradual build. The match just kind of peters out to an unsatisfying draw finish. This is no classic but it's a match I enjoyed and the best Owen match of the yearbook.
  15. PeteF3
    What did the Scorpion do to earn a title shot, anyway? Was this ever explained?
  16. PeteF3
    I liked this better than the last MX match, naturally. Crowd was dead until the end but they did pop nicely for the finish. Ross sounded like he was phoning this in (as in literally on the phone).
  17. PeteF3
    I really should have mentioned the clever twist on Every Perfect-Goes-Over Finish Ever: the opponent ducks his head for a backdrop and Hennig stops and Perfect-Plexes him. Tito has a counter for that but Perfect is still one step ahead. Not overly complex but I literally think that's one of the best clean finishes the WWF ever booked, in light of the other false finishes in the match and how the other finish had been done and would continue to be done ad nauseum.
  18. PeteF3
    Skandor Akbar is carried out to ringside on a stretcher after being carried away from ringside Friday night. Tatum, Young, and Rod Price slowly move him to a wheelchair as he confronts Jeff Jarrett. Akbar has a pretty great wounded-puppy look on his face as he channels his inner Ron Wright, aghast that fans would cheer for this HEATHEN and "typical American, always kickin' somebody when they're down." I agree, this is one of Akbar's best moments on the stick. Akbar has one more thing to say to Jarrett: a fireball to the face. The heels STILL put Akbar back on the stretcher and carry him to the back--that's commitment. Well-done angle. Craig Johnson still is no Marc Lowrance but he's improved from where he started--he's developed a good, panicked, "Bob, go to something!" reaction for situations like this. Billy Travis runs Jarrett to the back and we go off the air.
  19. PeteF3
    Terry Taylor has bailed already, it seems. He promises to put Akbar in the hospital.
  20. PeteF3
    Chris Adams was victorious in the Queensbury Rules match and shows off the response he got asking fans to name the match stipulation. It'll be Chris & Toni vs. Steve & Jeannie in a cage, with Percy Pringle in the penalty box. Toni has broken Jeannie's arm, and threatens to break her neck next. During an Adams squash, the camera picks up a grotesquely fat woman in an old-lady dress and curiously googly eyes and a blond moustache. Yep, that's Percy all right. He takes out Toni while Austin assaults Adams. Chris Von Erich attempts to make the save and is quickly overpowered--Percy takes out a COATHANGER and chokes Chris with it, yelling "THIS IS FOR YOU, FRITZ!" Holy living fuck. Jeannie takes over on Toni and shoves her cast in her face. All 3 end up locked in the penalty box. Much like Tatum, Pringle is quite admirable in his utter shamelessness in getting any angle over. After a loss to Austin, the Dog of War lays one on Jeannie before leaving the ring. "Outside of Jeannie, Percy is the best-lookin' person in this building!" Jeannie produces an attorney's statement demanding more alimony from Chris, which brings Adams & Von Erich out. Von Erich takes out Percy while Adams whales on Austin with a chair a few times. Adams changes his mind about Pringle and demands he be suspended above the ring instead of in the penalty box. It's amazing how long they've kept this feud fresh even though they've been running the same iterations of two matches (Austin vs. Adams or the mixed tag) over and over again.
  21. PeteF3
    Great hard-sell promo for the Clash. Not to sound like a broken record but it's great how Flair comes up with all these justifications for going after the U.S. title. First it was so he could get a title shot at Sting. That's still pushed here, but Flair also is out to turn the tables on Luger, who was constantly a thorn in his side challenging for his title and now he wants to do the same. Arn and Sid stand nearby.
  22. PeteF3
    I'm so glad we get an actual Cowabunga match on this yearbook. It would be poorer yearbook without one. Gilbert's reaction to getting tickled is priceless. This is a pretty standard TV match with Memphis staples like hide-the-object. Cowabunga turns things around by tapping Gilbert on the shoulder as he's being pinned, causing Gilbert to think a 3-count was registered and get up. Cowabunga comes back and seems ready to score the pin when Sam Lowe interferes. Lowe takes some pretty reckless bumps from Cowabunga before Anthony & Dougie start a beatdown. That's quickly broken up by Lawler & Dundee, who send the heels running when Doug's hair is tragically lost again, making a waste of all that Miracle Elixir.
  23. PeteF3
    This week it's the same 6 guys, in a Hospital Elimination Match, basically Survivor Series meets first-blood rules. Lawler does a fantastic job spelling this scenario out. An Idol music video follows, with clips against Stan Hansen, Jos LeDuc, the Zambuie Express, Road Warrior Hawk, and others.
  24. PeteF3
    A positively giddy Dirty White Boy finally gets his wish to see videotape from the MSC. The Dirty White Girl gets the final word in this valet feud, using powder to win a loser-retires cage match over Tessa. The DWG is triumphantly carried out and makes the mistake of daring Lawler to bring out "another little floozy" so she can take care of her, too. Lawler & Dundee respond, with DWG speculating that their new valet came from a bar or street corner somewhere. It's "Vicious Vicki," a cigar-chomping woman who looks like that fat lady that Andy Kaufman beat up in that home video promo of his. Kimberly gets stripped (complete with a pretty blatant camera shot up her dress). Vicki isn't all that inspiring but they did blow off the valet feud that needed blowing off.
  25. PeteF3
    Granny Gilbert's Hair Elixir! The 6-man looks as awesome as it sounds. I kind of shudder to think what Idol was like at this point but he's perfectly serviceable in the clips we see. They tease a split, but Lawler kicks out of an accidental Idol clothesline and comes back to pin Doug after the White Boy accidentally clobbers him with his boot. Goodbye to Doug's hair, but not for long! Dave Brown seems to be legitimately trying to hold it together.
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