PeteF3
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1.) New Japan. Best variety of matches and probably the first set to actually end on a high note until AJPW came along. 2.) Mid-South. Probably #1 in terms of depth. NJPW had several matches that I (and others) hated. Mid-South had about two matches for the whole set where I thought, "That wasn't that good." I was convinced that McAdam's old website header about Mid-South being the Best Wrestling There Ever Was, was true (since he was clearly going by U.S. promotions only). 3.) All-Japan. Agreed about fewer surprises, and less variety as well. It did end with the strongest year, which helps. May also have been deeper than NJPW even if the peak wasn't quite as high. Really 1-3 are in a major cluster and really I could see arguments for any of them being the "best" set and some of it depends on how I feel on a particular day. 4-6 are much the same way. 4.) AWA. Some bias here because it's the set I viewed most recently, but this edges out the other two territory sets by virtue of variety and surprises. I mean, John Studd and Jesse Ventura actually turning in good performances? Col. DeBeers being decent even if I wasn't nearly as gaga over him as the committee? Even as the promotion was dying I got a kick out of all the random names who would show up for 1 TV taping and then vanish. A lot of the '88-'89 stuff was a real chore, admittedly, and the booking lagged pretty far behind the other territories even if the action held up way better than its reputation. 5.) World Class. Never really had a deep roster even at its peak so there was a lot of repetition when you plow through about 8 years of material in a few weeks. I also failed to really get sold on Kevin Von Erich as a superworker even though I liked plenty of his matches. Next to Mid-South it had some of the most creative finishes of its day and the Embry run from '89 was a revelation. 6.) Memphis. Again, 4-6 could conceivably be in any order. There really weren't a lot of studio matches that I was that high on and many of the arena bouts were clipped. The high-end stuff was equal to anything else in the U.S. but I don't think it could match the other sets in terms of depth. 7.) WWF. Remains to be seen if the re-do ranks higher but there are a lot of things about the style that I'm just not crazy about. This also had other issues that the Will sets didn't have: no order to the matches, matches on the set in hacked-to-death clip form when full(er) matches were available, a less-organized nominating process, basically no WWE 24/7, etc. etc. etc. 8.) Other Japan. 'Nuff said. I needed the novelty stuff (the JPW matches, the Brits showing up in UWF) to make it through.
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Things guys that you like do that you hate
PeteF3 replied to JerryvonKramer's topic in Pro Wrestling
An extension to power bombing Kidman: headlocking Riki Choshu. At least a headlock is a basic hold that everyone knows rather than people who never did power bombs suddenly deciding it'd be neat to try with Kidman, but it doesn't make it a transition I'm any less sick of seeing. -
This is spectacular. Slaughter contrasts the smell of napalm in the morning with the disgusting smell of pinko commies, pinko commie supporters, Nikolai Volkoff, and peace. What we need is the SMELL OF WAR.
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Well-said, Jimmy. Demolition and the LOD are in conflict as to who's impersonating whom. Fairly standard LOD promo. I'm okay with them appearing on Brother Love--no way was the WWF capable of being out of the box enough to do anything different--but there's definitely something wrong about the LOD talking about their "good friends" the Hart Foundation and Vince gushing about how they must be taking their Hulk Hogan vitamins. Unfortunately every babyface had to be a glad-handing one, which really doesn't suit Hawk or Animal at all.
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There was actually some build to this, as Herc & Roma had been working as an undercard tag team for a few weeks. Now they have Slick, a great team name, and as we'll see a killer tag finisher. I don't see any reason why an honest push couldn't have gotten them to the tag titles, but the Nasty Boys ended up falling into the WWF's lap.
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We start with Vince & Jesse making reference to the expensive gifts that Sapphire is receiving. In retrospect I should have seen where that was going from a mile away. As I alluded to in the Arsenio thread, this Rude/Warrior booking makes no sense at all. They've scheduled an SNME title match AND a Cage match for SummerSlam? Would it have killed them to run a hot angle on NBC and get to the Cage Match from there? I guess they wanted both main events to be announced at the same time, but that really fucked up the timing of this feud. Rude isn't up to his usual standards here, but Heenan is great, almost out-preaching Brother Love.
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I have to admit this is the first thread in which I've seen a lot of love for the 8/92 match. It has a unique finish that gets the elbow over as a killer and is a pivotal moment, but I didn't think much of the match. I agree with Loss that the 3/92 match is much better. Anyway, not much to say about this but the ending stretch was very good from what we saw, though it is disappointing if the match was really all about armwork. The 3/92 match was the same layout but Hansen's Lariat had a much greater air of desperation about it, like Hansen was sacrificing his own arm to get the home run swing. This is a little more routine.
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Eh, different time periods. Reagan was the one who got credit for ending the Cold War--the Big Bads were in the Middle East now. Besides, I've never gotten the vibe that Vince cared about Conservatism in any form other than how it affected his tax rate.
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I have new respect for Arsenio after reading that. Rude starts by calling out Arsenio for not taking the opportunity to spank Madonna (???) when offered the chance. They give the hard sell for a Rude/Warrior title match on SNME. Nonsensical booking aside, Heenan is great here, comparing his alleged "cheating" to Earl Weaver or Tommy Lasorda getting provoked by umpires. The Arsenio tights are spectacular. Rude had the best ring attire in wrestling history. I think it's fantastic that we have a major talk show with WWF guys acting in character putting over the storylines with a cooperative host. No way there's a forum for anything like this today.
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None of the options given have been very good, but can we please pick a name for the babyface team and stick with it?
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"I have a question from Bill Albright..." "WHO??!!" "Our next question is from Elena Parsons..." "WHO??!" "Our last question is from Steven Cohen..." "WHO??!" In a way, ever since I got to the ICW stuff on this yearbook, my whole life has been building to this moment. It did not disappoint.
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Chief Thunder Mountain got some sort of DQ/countout win but could not pin the shoulders of the Atlas to the canvas. No DQ and no countout in the rematch.
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Yeah, better than usual stuff from the Warrior--his talk is about meeting challenges and the threat of the cage and retaining the title. No film over eyes, poisoned bloodstreams, or even any talk of "the Normals." Heenan is great on commentary. "Looks like a worried man."
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I remember that drawing in an Apter mag ad. I think they were trying to pass it off as somebody else.
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When Dundee takes another man's woman, he keeps her forever. When Tatum takes one of the fat, ugly Texas women he only uses 'em for the night. Good fired-up promo where Tatum challenges Dundee to a "Texas Tornado Death Match."
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Parsons is out to do what he does best--beat up on Uncle Toms. As he gets into the ring to show Skip Young what bein' black is all about, Jeff Jarrett tackles him from behind and we get a big pull-apart. Skip Young will be guest-reffing their match on Friday and exhorts the locker room to "LET 'EM FIGHT," but nothing comes of it, though Parsons does deliver a jumping headbutt to John Brazelle that's barely sold in a funny moment. I still don't know why these two hate each other so much beyond "That's the program" but these are good segments nonetheless.
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After watching the NJ '80s set I'd rather watch 500 Tiger Mask matches than anything involving Shiro Koshinaka again. TM and Dynamite struck gold at least one time--the Koshinaka/Takada matches were just fucking mind-numbing. I guess objectively speaking Takada is as much to blame but I actually liked some of his stuff on that set including the much-maligned Cobra match. If/when the Portland set hits I could change my mind, but I have very little enthusiasm for the Sheepherders and the more I watch the less upset I get about what they became in the WWF. Before they turned into shitty comedy workers they were shitty brawlers. Tellingly the best 'herders match I've seen is against the Fantastics at Clash II and it's pretty much a straight tag and not a barbed wire juicefest. I don't think he's really seen as a superworker but he got some love during the World Class '80s set: I cannot fucking stand Gino Hernandez once he stops talking and starts trying to wrestle. Thought he was actively terrible in his singles matches and the tag matches were good by virtue of Chris Adams and the opponents. His matches were heated and he was charismatic, but all the guys in Will's OP are charismatic too. I think Skandor Akbar is a pretty terrible manager in all aspects. No timing at all at ringside, tended to stumble or get lost on the mic, and that fucking Texas accent. That Devastation Inc. came off as effective as it did in '89 is a testament to the forgotten genius of Eric Embry. Give me Adnan any day--came off as more of a threat and was actually authentic. But Akbar's a southern wrasslin' staple so he tends to get most of the love.
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"Anything you can do, Toni, I can do ten times better--if you don't believe me, ask your husband." Austin: "Or just ask me!" Jeannie declares that she's not a fan of violence and holds up an envelope that supposedly contains recent photos of Chris Adams in "not so innocent positions."
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Sting's the Man, now he has to stay the Man. Flair dismisses Jim Herd and Ted Turner if they stand in their way of the Horsemen getting the title back.
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Rehash of the Hansen suspension. Meanwhile, Sting hasn't changed just because he's the champion.
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Cowabunga is called away from TV where he's been gushing over Jeff Gaylord's muscles, The Bold and the Beautiful, babes, and a Jerry Lawler match before being called away by Splinter, who declares that his greatest battle against evil--JEFF GAYLORD--is at hand. Fascinating. God, I hope Splinter appeared at ringside.
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#1 contenders match for the Unified World title live in studio. Gilbert plays a masterful game of hide-the-rope with Jerry Calhoun, and about as soon as we get going the Dirty White Boys hit the ring for the beatdown. DWG hands something to Gilbert, and out comes a fireball that misses Lawler and hits Burton! Between eating a piledriver last week and getting burned now, Burton ought to be near dead. Gilbert declares that it was Lawler who burned Burton and dares he and Dundee to bring their fire and bats to the MSC for the Texas Death Match. Vote Kathryn Swisher for Chancellor of Chancery Court, Part 1!
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Highlights from the big MSC tag. Dundee gets a pin on Anthony after Jerry Calhoun is bumped, but Tom Burton runs in and clocks Dundee and rolls Anthony over on top and a groggy Calhoun awards the match to the heels. Until Lawler, Dundee, and the fans convince him otherwise. Well, he DID count Anthony down and then raised the wrong hand afterward, so I'll buy the fact that Calhoun "reversed" the decision on his own because he isn't really reversing anything. If that makes any sense. Post-match goes about as expected (as Michael St. John tacitly acknowledges on commentary), as the DWB grabs Tessa and re-handcuffs her to the post and releases the Dirty White Girl, who rips off Tessa's top in order to bring some much-needed class to this feud. Lawler comes out and says that Dundee and Tessa are in Texas but have sent in a videotape, and that brings out Gilbert & the DWBs. As they're ragging on Lawler for being so stupid as to show up in studio without help, we and the heels get SWERVED as Dundee suddenly comes running in with two baseball bats and the brawl is on with the heels getting run off. This Monday is the same stip as before except that Tom Burton will be handcuffed as well as the valets. Lawler and Dundee more or less spell out that the Dirty White Girl will get stripped naked. Gilbert and the DWBs come out for an awesome psychotic heel interview demanding that the bout be a Texas Death Match. Gilbert brings up his burning of Lawler years ago and promises to bring out some things that you thought might have gone away. Kimberly even cuts a pretty decent promo by her own standards. Great studio segment.
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I never quite got why the cage was brought out for this match without any real build-up.
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Something else from 1990 that absolutely floored me when I saw it. I was no insider but I knew Sarge had disappeared from WWF television rather suddenly and that it was a departure on bad terms. But he was back--and as a heel, no less. I think "'80s relic who can't handle the fact that the Cold War is over" was actually a brilliant gimmick and it's really too bad they had to ruin it by hitching him to the Gulf War.