PeteF3
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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."
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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!
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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!"
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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).
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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.
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Ah. Then per "Warrior Central" (yes, it exists) she was just a kid from a talent agency.
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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.
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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.
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Shameless as all hell, from the blinking "HULK RULES" which comes off as downright sinister, to the funereal string version of "Real American," to the worried children with Hulk Hogan Friendship BraceletsTM, to the cool shot of Hogan's t-shirt and crucifix hanging in a locker (which real sports teams usually reserve for dead teammates) with the door slamming shut on it to close things out. Not that it's not completely brilliant at the same time. This went a long way to saving an angle that came off incredibly flat live.
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I didn't think much of the rudos (or Aguilita) until the third fall, actually, when everyone stepped their game up and the rudos came up with about eleventy billion new miscommunication spots. Before then Sagrada was working on another level from everyone else. Fun post-match too, with full-sized rudos executing a big beatdown until the technico counterparts make the save, with Mascarita getting a measure of revenge by leveling Fuerza Guerrera with a plancha. Fuerza, God bless him, sells it like a gunshot.
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I thought the middle of this dragged as badly as any other UWF match I've been cold on, but the opening was really hot with Takada basically suckering Maeda into getting anklelocked, and the closing sequence was tremendous. We get that same "impending dread" feeling with Maeda about to hit the capture suplex which will surely finish Takada off. Takada manages to slip out of the frying pan right into the fire, and has nowhere else to go when Maeda kneebars him.
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Standard JYD promo.
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Another standout promo from Jake, who's doing his damnedest to make this feud work. Can't wait for the Harlem Sewer Rats to really send this program into the stratosphere.
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Fantastic aggressive opening from Toyota just pounding the shit out of Hotta in the corner, then tossing in a "Fuck you, Hokuto" dive *over* the guardrails. This turns into a really fun clash of styles between Hotta's kicks and suplexes and Toyota going back to her go-go-go style after the opening flurry. Big trading of near-falls towards the end and Toyota ekes out a victory. Yeah, I had a lot of issues with the execution towards the end as these girls did not seem to be on the same page at all at that point. Not in a "this didn't look cooperative enough" sense but with weird moments like Toyota just letting go of a Northern Lights suplex instead of Hotta kicking out of it. The holds also lost me, but maybe that's because it's 2 am. You can't accuse the ladies of using "restholds" and Toyota is so ridiculously flexible that routine submissions look absolutely deadly. But...they did go on for awhile. Good match with Hotta really bringing something different to the table as far as 1990 joshi goes and Toyota working outside of her comfort zone, but there is no way this is a MOTY contender. EDIT: Good action in the post-tournament highlight reel, but hey, let's add a fucking slo-mo of Hokuto destroying her leg. Stay classy, AJW.
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Goodness, that was uncomfortable. Dueling crowd chants to start, which is actually organic and not two smark factions trying to get themselves over. Toyota levels Hokuto with dropkick after dropkick to start but goes to the well once too often and ends up in a Boston crab. The crab actually goes a LITTLE long for my tastes (and this was before I knew the finish) though you certainly can't accuse either girl of laying in the hold. Hokuto attempts a dive to the floor and her leg slams into the guardrail in a brutal spot, and the match has to be thrown out. Hokuto is crying hysterically and Toyota looks like she's about to do the same, and Hokuto is pretty adamant about continuing against all reasonable logic. Listening to the Bengals game on the way home from work I heard Boomer Esiason talk about coaches sometimes needing to "save players from themselves," and I kept waiting for someone in authority to do that with Hokuto and just get a stretcher for the woman and get her out of there. Eventually she concedes and limps to the back.