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PeteF3

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Everything posted by PeteF3

  1. PeteF3
    MadTV had some good on-air talent but aside from the occasional movie parody or Madden sketch, was usually sunk by horrible lowest-common-denominator writing. In other words, a perfect synergistic match-up for WCW. Sasso ain't no Frank Caliendo as an impressionist, either. He "breaks character" when Bret gets too rough with the other cast members, then he destroys Sasso with a chair to the amusement/whooping of the audience. Sasso ain't no Caliendo and this ain't no Lawler/Kaufman.
  2. PeteF3
    What everyone else said. Tasteless as fuck because, again, lack of commitment. I mean, I don't think this angle could really be saved in any environment, but Kevin Sullivan or even Filtered Vince Russo probably would have had the sense to tear up the TV format to get this over, maybe throw in a few "shoot" elements that aren't really necessary but at least get across that this is "different." Oh, and asking Scott Steiner to do stunt driving and Kimberly to take that bump...Jesus. Did they think last week's angle to write Kimberly off wasn't enough or something? Or was this just a desperate attention grab?
  3. PeteF3
    TELLING STORIES, baby. Eric is now a bathroom matron, a la Babs Kramer. I could have gone my whole life without seeing a skit involving the Faces of Fear doing #2. Bischoff is such a grouch here...I mean, I get he's supposed to be a heel, but when the time calls for him to commit to looking like a buffoon, he still won't do it. He always has to get the last word in. And oh, speaking of which, guess what: it's another segment where Bischoff is supposed to be humiliated but ends up outsmarting Flair. #Politicalhit? And they'll KEEP REPEATING THIS FORMULA.
  4. PeteF3
    In an era of dumb on-location vignettes, these probably stand out as the dumbest. And yet, also the easiest to watch... This is also is the start of the *announcers* not even knowing what was going on with these. If you feel you must run segments like this you need to just go full-on Lucha Underground and shoot it like a movie. WCW's single-camera approach is so half-assed.
  5. PeteF3
    Hogan telling Adams to "just keep it between you and me" in front of a camera broadcasting to 3 million people is so eye-rolling it makes you forget about those asides in the Raven vignettes. WCW's backstage segments are so hamfisted and illogical at this point--I remember John Petrie's recaps completely deconstructing the idea of cameras just wandering around backstage, filming wrestlers doing random stuff and hoping something happens. 1998 WWF was actually pretty light on backstage vignettes and I remember even during the Ministry stuff there being an explanation or at least a plausible reason for a camera being backstage, with a minimum or absence of pretending that they weren't on the air.
  6. PeteF3
    Apparently the initial vignettes weren't any more popular with the WCW brass than this one was with Hogan--Sandman has now debuted as a wrestler (still unnamed) and we take a hard left turn with these segments. Raven's sulking persona is all an act, which was not a change this character really needed even if the real Scott Levy is more Johnny Polo than Raven. These aren't the worst segments in WCW history or anything but Raven's constant asides to the camera (that no one else can hear) are eye-rolling.
  7. PeteF3
    I thought this blew away the elimination tag--Tokyo wrestles like a man well beyond his years here. Sasuke, for once, isn't wrestling as an underdog in a big promotion, so we don't get him having a body part taken away from him so he can blow it off later--he's in the dominant position and, to my amazement, holds this match together really well. This was another ambitious effort, but this time, the reach doesn't exceed the grasp. A low-level MOTYC.
  8. PeteF3
    Looks like we're in Detroit, in one of the biggest arenas I've ever seen an ECW show. Yes, the premise for this is just beyond insulting and I don't know what the fuck was up with the idea of Joey Styles possibly stripping. Heyman really didn't think much of his audience if he thought they'd actually buy this as possibly happening. I guess Douglas is a babyface now, because overtalkative loudmouths who parade around with hot chicks and win all the time make for such great babyfaces.
  9. PeteF3
    You know what? I'd buy a ticket to see this in 1999, no question. Would you believe that Hayes was younger than most of the WCW main eventers of this time? He wasn't even 40 yet!
  10. PeteF3
    Sort of a repeat of last week's angle, but not a bad chaotic scene in the storage area. And they're not overdoing it with the Sean/Stacy stuff like the WWF did with the XXX Files.
  11. PeteF3
    Santo and Casas is a Dream Team, but something about it feels...wrong, somehow. Like they should never be on the same side. That said, I liked this a bit--I'm with Chad in that I didn't think this was *great*, but I did enjoy it. Casas still has such velocity to everything he does--he actually manages to make his Casita/la majistral look like a high-impact move here. They also avoided the cliched double- or triple-pin finishes to end each fall. That said, the ending doesn't really make sense even though the brawl with Perro is a cool wild scene. Scorpio slaps him, sets off the incident, and for some reason Santo and Casas are declared the winners. Overall a fun effort, made almost entirely by the technicos.
  12. PeteF3
    This is worked almost like a young-lions' match for the first chunk--all very basic, but at least they lay everything in. This turns into something inoffensive to something really special, as they craft a pretty compelling match based mostly around rather simple counters and holds. "Playing within themselves," as the cliche goes. And refreshingly not too overindulgent for joshi. This stands up against most of the best '96 GAEA for sure, from the two apparent standout workers from the promotion.
  13. PeteF3
    Great running thread throughout Raw, doubtless more entertaining than anything going on in the ring.
  14. PeteF3
    Yeah, the time is rapidly approaching to get out of haha territory and put some heat back onto this feud. Russoffication of the product notwithstanding, I'm fairly confident that we'll get it.
  15. PeteF3
    Basically a gag reel version of the ad, not intended for air on network TV. Rock swears and the Sable scene is much raunchier.
  16. PeteF3
    Boy, Liz, don't bother to keep a straight and face and put over the stips or anything. Luger is still playing to the crowd as a babyface just as Nash has been, which is quite the contrast from his performance on tape. Heenan drops a quick reference to old-tyme Jack Pfefer women's star Yulie Brynner--Bobby is obviously increasingly out of touch at this time but it made *me* snicker.
  17. PeteF3
    Lex and Liz make goo-goo eyes at each other and are being set up as an on-camera couple. Luger fits in well in this environment--Liz, not so much, as her dialogue recital is pretty wooden albeit not Nitro Girl-caliber. There are interesting parallels between Goldberg's entry into the business and Luger's, that a promotion that's more on the ball could have possibly drawn upon for this (apparent) feud.
  18. PeteF3
    Well, the other issue is, Bischoff keeps finding ways to outsmart Flair in the end, which is kind of backwards. When Vince is booked to look foolish, he goes all-in, 100%. Bischoff seems to be trying to want to be a cool heel still. That said, La Parka's presence here was ROTFL-worthy and made it all worth it.
  19. PeteF3
    The matter-of-fact "she's out" brings to mind Tony Schiavone's reaction when Dave Crockett got Sickled. "David's down...we'll be right back."
  20. PeteF3
    Suicide. In retrospect you have to wonder if CTE played a role or not. No way to know, but if (emphasis on *if*) it did that's a little scary considering he had a short career that wasn't particularly bump-heavy.
  21. PeteF3
    Well, it's 2 years later, but let the record show that Vince refers to the fans and arena "in Arizona" a few times, when they cut back to Kelly & Shane. Yeah, a lot of fun, and deliberately more lighthearted after the torture porn that was the I Quit Match. Not really something that falls within the realm of a traditional star rating, but fun and creative--final camera angle notwithstanding. Vince calls this and is weirdly sort of half-Mr. McMahon and half 1995-era Vince, which is jarring and at times hilarious. "That's not real liquor, by the way--real liquor has never touched the Rock's lips!" Into Pro Wrestling Mostly territory for a second...interestingly, aside from the Puppy Bowl, there's not much halftime counterprogramming left. After the Wardrobe Malfunction incident of '04, halftime started to get notice again. Then after a few too many years of old guys, bottoming out with what was left of the Who, the NFL and Super Bowl turned to getting the biggest stars in music to perform. Now, I'm not sure there's a lot you could do that would work as a ratings draw--wrestling or otherwise. The gimmick worked with In Living Color because that came at a time when the halftime show if not the game itself was usually completely embarrassing. Then Michael Jackson put a stop to it for a few years, then it started back up again with Celebrity Deathmatch and then this. But after a few years of it being a fad, the idea seems to be extinct.
  22. PeteF3
    "Get it?" indeed. A rare example of the Undertaker being allowed to appear in a comedy segment.
  23. PeteF3
    This was an admirable effort and I don't want to shit too much on a match with 6 students in it, but MAN does this go completely off the rails at about the 2/3 mark. The opening is about as good as any '90s juniors 6-man you care to see. There are a few sloppy spots as you'd expect, and Crazy Max isn't quite Kaientai when they're not in the ring with 3 veterans like they were for our first glimpse at them a few weeks ago. Still, Shiima still does so many little things that are terrific and there are some great ideas for spots here even if they're not always executed 100%. SAITO offers some terrific matwork and innovative holds that had me itching for more. Hoo boy...then we get to the portion where Shiima is down 2-on-1. Aside from being laid out rather backwards as Shiima suddenly starts working like a sympathetic underdog babyface, Dragon almost murders him with an ugly, UGLY 450 that splits his lip open and pretty clearly concusses him, and the next few moments where Shiima is clearly out of it and Dragon and Magnum are trying to stall/cover for it are intensely uncomfortable to watch. I wasn't far removed from that feeling watching the I Quit Match, saying in my head, JUST GO HOME ALREADY--END THE MATCH. At least he cheats to eliminate Dragon. Shiima manages to recover somewhat but the match doesn't, as the final portion of this feels like it's wrestled in slow motion in comparison to the first part and it's not "epic selling" either--these guys were just gassed and/or out of ideas. Shiima hits the Iconoclasm but takes about 7 minutes to climb to the turnbuckle in a really contrived set-up for Tokyo to get up and crotch him, and Tokyo finishes with a shooting star press that's almost as ugly as the 450. Again, a very admirable effort from 6 guys who are still wrestling beyond their years, but the flaws in this were gaping and impossible for me to ignore. To my own surprise, coming off that MPro match, for the most part the babyfaces outworked the heels.
  24. PeteF3
    Hahahaha, everyone's beaten me to my obligatory "Joey Styles ruins everything by telegraphing it" spiel. This actually would have been a really good segment without him. Buh Buh Ray's Grunge impression just consists of him talking in a really high voice, but it's still funny. He also gets off some great below-the-belt lines--"I don't see the ugly old rat I used to fuck around here anymore," and a crack about Rocco's age. Then Buh Buh cuts a good serious promo that sounds exactly like something Paul Heyman would come up with to explain an unplanned absence. To the live audience, this was probably an effective swerve. To us, the TV viewer, it loses a lot from the commentary.
  25. PeteF3
    I liked this promo, without the THIS IS A SHOOT stuff. At least Taz vs. the Rock is something that *could* concievably have happened. Taz vs. Hogan is just kind of hilarious. It's kind of telling, though, that no actual member of the ECW roster is mentioned.
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