PeteF3
-
Posts
10267 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Blogs
Everything posted by PeteF3
-
"NOBODY will get ripped off this time!" Yeah, what Loss said.
-
Ole is unhinged and clearly trying to mask the fact that he's scared out of his wits at his exclusive GAB stip. Ole is pretty fun to see as a stooge for once. Flair is unshaken--Sting still has to beat The Man.
-
Somehow the last-minute build to WrestleWar and the less-than-last-minute-but-still-plan-B build to Capital Combat were so much more compelling than this. That said, this was the first time I'd ever seen El Gigante and I have to admit that my mind was utterly blown. Standing silently and pointing his finger was likely his career highlight with me.
-
I think Steamboat had a stake in the promotion itself. WrestleMania I: The Sequel! Borne and Steamboat are JIP just smacking the shit out of each other. Borne gets to kick out of the flying karate chop. Steamboat goes for a high knee and hurts it in the process. Borne goes after the knee but gets small-packaged on a figure four attempt. The announced time is about 6:27 but both guys look like they've gone through a war. Steamboat is a mess by the time Robert Fuller gets to the ring. Fuller is relentless tearing after the knee from the opening. Steamer does his trademark backflip-out-of-the-suplex counter but hurts the knee again in landing, and Fuller seamlessly scoops the leg up, applies a stepover toe hold cradle, and gets the pin! Markout city for that upset. This seriously may be the greatest 90-second match in wrestling history. They told every single thing they needed to tell in that time. This is also another one of those "That guy wrestled that guy?" matches, but it's the best one of the set so far. Mid-Atlantic meets Memphis with Memphis winning this one. Steamboat is interviewed afterward and gives what might be the promo of his career. Fuller is awesome as usual. NAWA/SAPW was a promotion that was actually really deep with talent, both veterans like we see here to go with Vince Torelli/Ken Shamrock, Chris Chavis, the American Bulldogs/Pitbulls, and the Nasty Boys. But the changing face of television would doom them just as it would Smoky Mountain Wrestling. -
Good, strong promo from the DWB. Kimberly isn't completely terrible saying her one line or anything but she's a step below Toni and Jeannie in the mic department.
-
Yes, this was one of my most anticipated matches of the set. It's only the last couple of minutes but it seriously lives up to the billing. Spinks actually comes across as competent from what we see, selling well and throwing good-looking punches. Snowman interferes as Lawler has Spinks on the ropes in round 5, and Lawler is double teamed afterward. As much as a fuck-up as he was it's still absolutely astounding to see a former world boxing champion work a glorified indy show and doing it as a heel of all things, needing to be bailed out by a crony. Lawler in studio starts off doing a full-fledged babyface promo and ramps it up from there, referring to Snowman as someone who belongs in the audience buying tickets to see him and to his posse as a bunch of welfare stooges. "Hey, when are you due back in the display window at Woolworth's?" 1990!
-
The ill-fated Beefcake Intercontinental title run is in full force. Heenan gushes over Perfect's looks to a degree not seen in...well, months, when the Genius was doing it. We're talking unveiling-of-the-Narcissist levels of homoeroticism here. Perfect does a really good job of moving the focus from haircutting to what the title belt means. A very NWA-esque promo that makes the championship look important.
-
The latest on Hulk Hogan: he's feeling better physically. Did he get his ribs broken, or a busted sternum, or what? Give us some specifics here, Gene. Emotionally and mentally, however, he's a long way away. Tugboat does a phenomenally cheesy and over-the-top promo spot reading a Hulkamaniac's letter, encouraging us to keep writing and buying Hulk Hogan Friendship Bracelets. Wow, I vividly remember Tugboat reading the letter but do NOT remember him being that ridiculously perky about it. Maybe did more than one of these where he was sadder. Tugboat is pretty much a lost cause at this point.
-
An improvement over Kobashi/Misawa but probably ten minutes too long. These guys' ambitions were still ahead of their ability, and it showed at times. Still, the match was well laid-out and surprisingly hate-filled at times, the run of false finishes was well-done, and I appreciated an All-Japan epic that actually ended with a cradle move for once.
-
Yeah, Flair corroborated that in his first DVD set. Herd went from having Flair drop the belt to Luger at the Bash to Flair dropping the belt to Windham at a house show (or TV taping, I forget) to just firing him outright.
-
This is another sort of a "Hey, these two guys wrestled each other" match but man, is it miles ahead of Bret vs. Misawa. The only Owen thing that really bothered me as far as looking choreographed was his too-easy blocked kick into an enzuigiri spot. No, he didn't have much in the way of strikes but I can deal with that if you throw some nasty suplexes, something I'm not sure Owen gets enough credit for in general. His moonsault was off but was a good excuse for Mutoh to kick out and then say, "Here, let me show you how it's done."
-
I like the contrasting promo styles. Ole wants Sting grounded into the mat and embarrassed and beaten down, Flair just wants Sting to try to prove that he's ready to be The Man.
-
Finally, WCW remembers that the U.S. Title exists. Won't be the last time this disappearing act happens. Paul E. rattles off past U.S. Champions like Johnny Valentine, Ric Flair, both Funks, and Jack Brisco, and promises that Mean Mark's name will be added to the list. You have to shake your head at Paul's "future of wrestling" talk for Callous knowing where he was soon to end up.
-
Top 10 MOTYC easily. All ten guys brought something to the table, and I loved Goto's presence here in every respect. The crowd absolutely despised him, which is always a treat to see a native get that kind of reaction, and he really came off as an outsider with stuff like bringing chairs into the match. He even heels it up in the post-match. Hoshino works some awesome house-afire stuff. Sasaki is a big bundle of energy who seems to have been studying Rick Steiner at times. Saito takes some absurd bumps to the floor and his sentons are as great as usual. I hate Koshinaka and he's a lot of fun here, working maybe the longest sequence of anyone in the match. Hamaguchi throws everything he has into every move he does and maybe has the best regular elbowdrop in wrestling history. SSM brings some nice chunky offense. I've never seen Kurisu before but he worked a little mini-match with Koshinaka that was nice. Choshu was Choshu. Yeah, there's nothing not to love about this.
-
A dedicated Montreal conspiracy theorist could see it as a pre-emptive strike against Bret Hart and his 104-degree fever.
-
The Big Boss Man had to lie and cheat his way through school and still only made straight F's. DiBiase laughs while Mrs. Cofer makes goo-goo eyes at the money Virgil is flashing.
-
Lots of stiff foreign object shots to start with, and Funk takes an absolutely ridiculous bump off the ring apron. It wasn't a big Nestea Plunge like Cactus Jack, just something that looked like it could have torn his groin and ACL at the same time. Eventually the brawl moves outside the ring area, where Funk teases taking a backwards bump into the river, but manages to hold on and apply the SPINNING TOE HOLD on the motherfucking river bank in the middle of a crazy brawl. Then Hansen kicks him off and into the river he finally goes, then a BODYSLAM into the river for good measure. STAN HANSEN HAS BEEN DISQUALIFIED FOR THROWING TERRY FUNK INTO THE RIVER--even by the standards of BS finishes set by Hansen on American soil in the past, that is a new one. The fight continues into the utility trailers/locker rooms, with Hansen trying to break through a door a la Michael Myers and eventually he pulls Terry out by the bullrope. Amazing. The spinning toe hold on the bank was almost as much fun as the bodyslam.
-
Roses are red, Violets are blue, Tessa, I love you, baby, I love you! Eat your heart out, Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Tatum reveals that he had a "drinkin' problem for a few days" after Tessa left him, but he's given up drinking, gotten himself a tan, and has CHANGED. Hugs all around, including two hugs for some rather uncomfortable Sportatorium fans, one of whom loses his cowboy hat in a hilarious moment. Tatum's sudden mood swing when the crowd starts getting on his face is legitimately unsettling. "Bubba Fangman" is about the most hilarious misnomer in wrestling history--I expected a big Ray Boone/Makhan Singh type instead of a generic pasty-faced jobber. Tatum still wants to shake hands after every exchange until Fangman makes the mistake of armbarring him one too many times, leading to a false handshake, kick to the gut, a nice superkick, and the DREADED SHININOMAKI for the win.
-
Pringle eggs on Tessa about the package contents, but she isn't giving in. Fired-up promo from Dundee who has his Southern title back. EDIT: Tatum's subsequent promo reveals it was non-title. Curse you, Craig Johnson!
-
If Pringle had to slide back into PBP (I wonder if Johnson was covering the World Cup for someone), then honestly, I'd rather hear him do it straight than try to be Michael Cole. Austin dispatches with Germany in really effectively quick fashion, and John Brazelle breaks up a post-match attack and gets them to sign for a mixed tag match against Chris & Toni Adams. Chris & Toni then attack and finally it looks like Chris gets to look effective against Austin, as they run Austin & Jeannie off. Really compelling build to this mixed tag. "GO HOME SLUT!"
-
I actually think Ross' statements about Cornette's weight are much more constant and annoying, not to mention hypocritical. You can be heterosexual (or Nancy-sexual, maybe) and still be a wimp. God help us if JR and Ronnie P. Gossett ever worked for the same outfit (Gossett was also gay, though that was never part of his character that I've seen).
-
Eh. It's as much a "Cornette's a pathetic wimp" crack as it is a crack about Cornette the character's orientation (and Jim is expressing rather shockingly heterosexual tendencies on this yearbook). Cornette is so physically weak that he competes on a woman's level because that's all he can do.
-
Ah. Then per "Warrior Central" (yes, it exists) she was just a kid from a talent agency.
-
Leon Spinks is Snowman's hand-picked referee. More shoot-style fighting between the two, but when Lawler cradles Snowman up for a count, Spinks pulls Lawler off instead of counting. After getting in Lawler's face again, Spinks KOs him and fast-counts the pin, giving the Snowman the Unified World title. Lawler comes out with LEON STINKS drawn on his shirt and makes a crack about Snowman having his hand out "like he does in the welfare line." This is a VERY split crowd, even as Lawler is coming off as more babyface-ish. Spinks sends in a fascinating (and clearly edited post-hoc) promo that makes the Warrior look absolutely lucid. "Ith you ready to go?" as Lawler puts it. Highlights follow of Spinks' upset title win over Ali, the biggest boxing upset ever prior to Douglas-Tyson. The intro of "Here's some footage of Spinks when he was in his prime" cracks me up as much as the Spinks promo.
-
I THINK that's Warrior's real daughter. This is the WWF attempting rather rapidfire damage control, as they realized--apparently after the fact--that kids were afraid to be around the Warrior as opposed to Hogan. And why wouldn't they? I certainly wouldn't want to approach the Warrior in an airport or outside an arena so I can get a lecture on LIFTING THE FILM OVER MY EYES. I quite liked being a Normal, thank you. So we get Warrior interacting with and praising and hugging a kid to try to mitigate that. But it just doesn't work--Warrior talks about the love that the Little Warriors have for him but still comes off as a nut when talking about Rick Rude or antagonizing Brother Love. And here is the fundamental difference between Warrior as a company ace and Hogan...or anyone else. Hogan was loud and super-intense at times, but he was a guy who happened to be loud and intense. He was also capable of talking normally, of displaying a sense of humor, of showing vulnerability, etc. etc. etc. Rock, Austin, and Cena were obviously the same way. Warrior was never anything except the Warrior, 100% of the time. What baffles me is why or how the powers that be didn't realize this before hitching their wagon to him and attempting to do something about it then. It was a rather obvious problem before WM6 and the build-up to it only exacerbated it.