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PeteF3

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Everything posted by PeteF3

  1. PeteF3
    We get a pre-match video before cutting to the finish, that's filled with all kinds of computer imagery and effects but doesn't actually tell us anything about why this match is happening or why it's important. Say what you will about the overwroughtness of WWE's videos, they do tell you the story. A good finishing stretch if nothing else, for sure, as we start with Goldberg doing a terrific bob-and-weave avoidance of Nash's blows and leveling him with a superkick. Nash leapfrogging the spear was a really cool spot, and they believably work the invincible Goldberg into an overcome-the-odds story with the presence of Luger. It's easy to be cynical about Nash and his booking, but on this night at least, he did business the right way. After all this, WCW still had something with this guy.
  2. PeteF3
    Enjoyable enough action from what we see, and again I'm late to the party in pointing out the turning crowd as soon as the referee goes down. Steiner is continuing on his way to being a top singles star.
  3. PeteF3
    This was a lot of fun. I don't think I'd call it a great match, but at the very least it's great by 1999 WCW standards. Everyone's touched on the odd match layout already, and in the end I liked the fact that they were willing to change the formula up a bit. Arn was a terrific manager, not just the way he got physically involved but the way he put over the in-ring action. Charles Robinson hit the right note as a very subtly biased ref, without beating it over your head or detracting from the action. Raven looks good here--for a guy I was absolutely dreading going into this Yearbook project based on others' thoughts on him, he may well stand out as the '90s' most pleasant surprise of them all. Not everything he did was a home run to say the least, but I can't say that I ever found him boring. The ending is ridiculous and cringeworthy and maybe the single biggest impediment keeping this at very-good-not-great levels. Still, a fun time with great crowd heat.
  4. PeteF3
    His Ed Whalen was getting there before he left 6:05.
  5. PeteF3
    Blitzkrieg was semi-untrained and boy does he look it at times. That this match is as enjoyable as it is comes down to Juvie, who delivers what is possibly his finest performance, at least in a WCW ring, holding this together. It's his version of Pillman vs. Badd, though obviously not as long, but with a much much greener opponent. Blitzkrieg blows a few things and looks lost at points, but his big spots look crunchy as hell and he's game for whatever Juventud wants to try, including the ridiculous finish. A fine choice for a PPV opener, well-executed.
  6. PeteF3
    Even as the product gets worse, here's hoping the return of JR will make Raw more palatable. Even in Ross' diminished state today, he has a knack for improving upon the formulaic soundbites of modern WWE announcing. Running a boiler room brawl between Mankind and the newly turned Big Show is pretty weirdly random. Mankind gets in his line about Al Snow's new endorsement deal with La-Z-Boy, even though he doesn't sell chairs. Overall, a cute little segment for the B-show, amazingly devoid of angles and drama.
  7. PeteF3
    Yeah, this was fine, since Storm was so obnoxious. Full credit to him for somehow getting "CALGARY...AlbertaCANADA" over as a catchphrase.
  8. PeteF3
    A second straight WTF Dome main event with another oddly muted crowd, though they do react well to a few isolated spots. The thrown chair is great and a fine way to establish the severity of the exploding wire, but while Chono and Onita do a fine job of selling how vital it is to avoid the impact at all costs, neither do a very good job of selling the long-term effects of actually getting caught. This really goes off the rails with an eye-rollingly contrived spot where both wrestlers and the referee all get caught in an explosion, and Chono gets a visual fall while backup ref Tiger Hattori is tending to the other ref instead of counting, defeating the purpose of even having a second referee. That shit barely holds up in the U.S. where gaga is to be expected--in New Japan it looks especially bad. Then a horrible, horrible finish: since these two couldn't sell the explosions for longer than ten seconds, this doesn't feel like two guys leaving everything in their bodies out in the ring with nothing left to give, it feels like two guys going to sleep because this is where the finish is supposed to happen. Chono and Onita make nice or something after the match in an angle I give less of a shit about than the stuff with Roddy Piper and the U.S. title earlier in the year. A monumentally disappointing match considering I was genuinely intrigued by the build to all of this. WCW's derailment is going to overshadow everything, but New Japan really is starting to appear lost in the woods at this point, even moreso than All-Japan and their upheaval.
  9. PeteF3
    Good match though it seemed like we went from the establishing opening portion to the finishing stretch with no in-between, but it could be just because it's late. Even if the finish seemed sudden, Wagner was suitably killed dead so it's not like it felt unjustified.
  10. PeteF3
    Yeah, this was enjoyable enough, though not so enjoyable that the first 20 minutes seem like a lost classic or anything. Just a long, drawn-out finishing stretch. One minor thing I haven't noticed until now is that I'm not sure Vader is built for a match with a bunch of false finishes, because it sort of strains credulity that a man of his girth and power would really be unable to hold a guy down. There are a few instances where Kobashi nicely slips out from a cover but others where it's patently obvious that Vader has to just let him out because that's not the ending.
  11. PeteF3
    Yeah, *this* had some piping-in. I'll never complain about wrestling stuff being destroyed when it's being replaced anyway (even though I sort of did for last week's Nitro).
  12. PeteF3
    I recall liking this team as well. As it is, they stand out as a sign that 1999 WWF wasn't all terrible. I don't think this was piped-in heat--the crowd is visually going pretty nuts when X-Pac scores the pin.
  13. PeteF3
    The smoking skull stuff started last week but basically petered out in the wake of the missing-Stephanie storyline. Austin warns that if they taunt him again by putting the belt on the TitanTron again, it's going to cost Vince a lot of money. Foreshadowing!
  14. PeteF3
    Not terrible but not really much of a match. The crowd gets hot at the end but the ending is lame and with Nash you never really know if he was late on purpose or not, just so he could force a kickout of Goldberg's finish. That's not *too* conspiratorial of me, is it? Sting gets a big pop, but the production on Savage's announcement is so odd (a voiceover with text accompaniment, with no visual of Randy) that I don't think it really registers, particularly since they close the show with it with nothing further from the announcers. Not a good way to build a PPV of course, but that's a marked improvement over some of WCW's other attempts at such this year.
  15. PeteF3
    Flair as NWA champ used to do it a lot. He shakes hands with Windham before their legendary Worldwide match, and on at least an occasion or two against Kerry.
  16. PeteF3
    The irony of content stealers complaining about their stolen content getting stolen.
  17. PeteF3

    ...Dive

    PeteF3 replied to Coffey's topic in Pro Wrestling

    Eyeball estimates put the crowd at 2500. Not a lot compared to Cow Palace seating, but ROH would kill for a number like that.
  18. PeteF3
    We join just in time to see Kidman take a loony belly-to-belly suplex over the top rope to the floor. Good action after that with Rey working a good hot tag and a good tease of a finish when Saturn catches Rey on the springboard huracanrana and drops him with the DVD, but the Horsemen cost Raven & Saturn the tag belts. I can deal with this being the tag division even as the rest of the company sinks into the quagmire.
  19. PeteF3
    MARK. SWERVE. WCW is so, so hopeless.
  20. PeteF3
    Good recap of what the Yearbook mostly skipped from Monday's Raw. Shamrock bulldozing through the Brood and no-selling the bloodbath is one of the cooler moments of 1999 Russorama booking. This is slightly excessive but tolerable until we get to the stuff about Undertaker "believing this character that was created." The phrase "living the gimmick" is uttered. I'll grudgingly admit that the home invasion stuff and Stephanie not feeling safe there is a good bit of plot-convenience for her to be at Raw every week.
  21. PeteF3
    Kind of telling of something that after such a raw viscerally emotional tag match, the promoter of the company has to resort to this kind of gaga bullshit for her match. I could give a fuck how much money or mainstream interest this drew, if this action is indicative of the feud as a whole I'm glad it was ignored. As far as matches between '80s icons put on well past their sell-by date I'll stick with Lawler & Dundee and the Fabs, thanks.
  22. PeteF3
    If you're not getting emotionally drawn into this one by the end I'm not sure you have a soul. Kato and Satomura look completely helpless for the first 3/4 of this as Aja shrugs off almost everything they try, even their finishers. And of course Kong and Ozaki are way more willing to fight dirty and more effective doing it. Aja's no-selling and constant cut-offs almost reach the point of annoyance, but this was like one of those movies where you really had to watch all the way until the end until you could really appreciate what was going on before, as Aja handles her gradual weakening perfectly, and the battle between Kato and Ozaki in trying to prevent saves is almost as compelling. Satomura is joshi's next great young babyface and plays her role to precision, as she wrestles not only a gutsy but incredibly smart match in waiting for Aja to show any kind of opening that she can capitalize on. Right when this feels like the babyfaces have fired every bullet in their chamber, she manipulates Ozaki into running interference on her behalf and drops Aja with one last Death Valley Bomb to pull off the shock win. Joshi is filled with youngsters putting up gallant efforts and losing in the end, so when they get the win here it's the best feelgood moment of the set so far as Satomura and Kato seemingly have overcome the longest odds in a match since Hokuto & Kandori. Oh, and there's a fantastic, chaotic post-match as well that leaves you drooling for more, as if the match wasn't enough to do that on its own. This match isn't *that* good but it's a strong MOTYC for '99 without question.
  23. PeteF3
    I don't know if it happened already and I missed it (actually I think he pinned Hansen in the '98 Carny, for what that was worth by then), but we're itching pretty hard for Akiyama to pin one of the Four Corners in a singles match. I thought they might pull the trigger here, but Kobashi, like Stan, has the Lariat in reserve and it gets him the win despite a strong gameplan from Jun. Loved Jun always being able to go back to Kobashi's knee to break any attempted runs by Kenta, and his facebuster off the apron was a pretty holy-shit spot. Kenta wins but doesn't exactly look like a winner after the match.
  24. PeteF3
    This would have been better served as a straight brawl instead of confining everyone inside a cage. But I guess balcony dives were played out, so we get a post-match cage dive instead. Hopefully this is the end of Mr. Mustafa.
  25. PeteF3
    Yeah, yawn city here even as Douglas and Credible clearly are trying to have a good wrestling match. ECW Arena completely lost its charm when they made it over. I want the full Bingo Hall look and that security guard guy randomly walking around back.
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