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PeteF3

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Everything posted by PeteF3

  1. PeteF3
    Triple Threat vs. Triple Threat at the ECW Arena. Yee-ha.
  2. PeteF3
    You knew as soon as the Lawler/Carrey bit hit the papers that they'd find a way to incorporate it into the ongoing PPW storylines. Stacy's reaction to this accusation is about as it should be. Hales then again accuses her of breaking up the marriage to Paula. But now we get intrigue--Brandon Baxter, after pretending to be in love with Stacy the past few weeks, now seems to have developed real feelings for her, and comes out to defend her from Hales. A Dangerous Liasions-esque plot twist or a set-up? We'll see in the coming weeks, I guess. Stacy gets nailed accidentally as Hales and Baxter have a pull-apart.
  3. PeteF3
    This is probably going to end up being very Yearbook-centric, but let's dive in: Current favorite wrestler to watch: Nakamura is fascinating, and has a Jumbo/Flair-esque ability to put on compelling matches with guys way under him on the totem pole. Last fun match you saw: Sting vs. Goldberg on the '98 Nitro, the night after Fall Brawl. WCW follows up its worst PPV show with one of its best-ever Nitros. The return of Flair is the big deal, but the crowd remains hot for this and Sting actually crafts a very good TV main event. A rare instance where you get to see Sting really carry a guy. Wrestler you want to see more of: Dalton Castle. See below. Last live show attended (if applicable/different from last time you answered): ROH's last TV taping in Philadelphia. Not nearly as mind-numbing as syndie TV tapings in the late '80s, but man it was long. My main takeaway was, why the hell is ROH not building around Castle as their #1 guy? Before, during, and after the show he was by far the most popular person on the roster. But all they could do for him creatively is have him and his two "boys" job in a nothing 6-man tag to the Cabinet. Match you're most looking forward to watching: Nak vs. Joe, probably. More anxious to see the fallout after Takeover and who goes where with regard to the main roster. Last fun interview/promo you saw: The Rock cutting a brutal, misogynistic promo on Chyna, with the entire Nation holding her down and DX trapped in their locker room with a forklift parked in front of their door ("Get her on her knees, where she belongs!"). Rock was only a few weeks from turning babyface (temporarily) but this may have been him at his most despicable. To the point where I'm not sure I feel right calling it "fun," but it was definitely effective heat-building for the ladder match at SummerSlam '98. Last interesting thing you read about wrestling: Dave's review of Wrestling with Shadows in the 9-21-98 Observer. A strong evaluation of the movie itself, tidbits on scenes that were cut, and even some more (speculative) motivation on why Vince did what he did, as it related to WCW marketing Bret in Canada. Last worthwhile podcast you listened to: The Brawl-for-All-centric edition of Between the Sheets. Great to see a relatively even-handed evaluation of the concept and the performers in it. It was an unequivocal failure but I think there's more to the story than "LOL Russo." Most fun you've had watching wrestling lately: Watching the WWF's resurgence in the spring of '98. 1997 was probably better artistically overall but from the post-Rumble Raw to KOTR or so is one of the most scorching-hot runs in company history. Even the stuff that didn't work, didn't seem to matter when the main event booking was so strong. Favorite recent post on this board: I was amused by Tatanka starting his own "You still got it" chant at a recent indy show. Favorite thing about the wrestling landscape in the past three months (if you live in the past, then go with your past three months of time-traveling): In 1998, it might be watching the rise of the Rock, who might be the best thing about WWF TV with the Austin-Vince feud probably having peaked artistically. Now...even though I admire it more than like it, probably the CWC.
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  5. PeteF3
    I was ready to be all cynical about running this match on TV for free, and thinking it was a waste to try to follow up on the Flair return with something even this monumental. But far from being burned out, this Greenville crowd seems extra-jacked and Sting guides Goldberg through a hell of a TV main event. A long time ago the WTBBP guys asked if Sting had ever carried anybody, and I've been trying to find examples in the Yearbooks since that question was asked. We have another answer tonight, and a better one than the Norton NJPW match from years ago. Sting brings out some trademark early-'90s WCW spots like the tombstone reversal, and the fakeout and counter of the Spear attempt to set up the Scorpion was great, too. We had the Last Great WCW Moment a bit ago--now I wonder if this isn't the Last Great Sting Moment. I don't like the ending or the post-match and I think this could have easily ended with Goldberg Spearing his way through a Stinger Splash, but it was mostly a satisfying match befitting these two WCW-made stars.
  6. PeteF3
    Is this the Last Great WCW moment? I suspect so--and what a moment indeed. Probably a top-5 segment for Nitro, that's not only a complete chill scene (my favorite spot among many is Ric instantly switching gears, turning off the waterworks, and re-emerging as the Nature Boy once he talks about a party in town) but works as a wrestling angle as well, making you want to keep watching and see just where this is going.
  7. PeteF3
    Man, the Big Two were just obsessed with angles playing off real-life alcoholism at this point, weren't they? I guess the best thing I can say about this is that everyone from the performers to the announcers treat this with the gravity that it deserves...or would deserve, or...God, I have a headache. The presence of Nash and Konnan even seems logical without totally shattering the fourth wall. This is certainly crass and exploitative but from a pure execution standpoint it beats your average Russo shooty-shoot angle.
  8. PeteF3
    Warrior rambles some more but this is at least punchier and quicker than his other promos. But not any less stupid, as Disciple has to feign unconsciousness while also kneeling.
  9. PeteF3
    A good match given time, but definitely uneven--the middle part drags because Kidman still isn't really a ring general and there's too much time doing nothing in-between highspots. That said, the pop for the title change (and some of the near-falls before that) is huge and Kidman seems like a good, fresh young face to build a Cruiserweight division around now that most of the old guard are working as heavies and actively refusing to compete for the title anymore. And while he spaces out his moves a little too much, I do like how good Kidman's basic offense--the elbow drops, leg drops, and suplexes--looks. He still wrestles like a product of his time rather than an indy ROHbot of today.
  10. PeteF3
    I liked how Saturn builds up every other guy in the Flock, except Lodi who just gets a "good luck."
  11. PeteF3
    Well, WWE has gotten marginally better at this since Chad's post, but probably not by enough. As for this, there have been better show-closing clusterfucks and I'm not sure Austin is fully recovered yet from SummerSlam. The mini-alliance between Rock and Mankind is an interesting development setting up a neat payoff to come.
  12. PeteF3
    I swear even in this brief clip, Regal looks out of it. I like the gimmick in a vacuum but it may have been better served for a guy who couldn't wrestle that well.
  13. PeteF3
    Venis really does come off as a douchebag for '90s dudebros. I have no problem with Terri getting revenge on Dustin for what he did last November, a narrative that Jim Ross at least briefly attempted to pay lip service to, but El-P explains why the angle isn't going to age well at all. I have one other problem: even though I'm predisposed to dislike Venis' character for multiple reasons, Dustin is actually *too* good of an actor. He sells anguish so well that I can't help but view him as the babyface and Venis as a sadistic heel, whether that was the intention or not.
  14. PeteF3
    Rock picks up a huge win over Kane, with some help from Mankind. Yeah, Rock has arrived as a top guy. Even in 1998, wins and losses mattered. Mankind reveals that he lucked out at SummerSlam in two ways: he partially blocked the sledgehammer blow with his hand, and he didn't look all that good to begin with. He accepts Undertaker's challenge, and reveals he's developed some more scientific skills and is looking forward to a fair fight. He demonstrates said scientific skills by taking his sledgehammer to some trash cans.
  15. PeteF3
    I'm amused by Roland Alexander speculating on how he could make APW bigger than it is...if he felt like it. I would love to see more of Vince critiquing actual matches. I'm with Jim Ross in "admiring the effort." I don't really see either guy as WWF material, at least not in the late '90s. Modest may have come 20 years too early.
  16. PeteF3
    ...and Terry because of his bilingualness(?) was tasked with teaching Taka Michinoku to speak English when they were together in the WWF.
  17. PeteF3
    I mean, Stan Hansen on the rare occasions he was asked to speak on AJPW television in the '90s, spoke in English with subtitles. So did the Funks even though they're definitely fluent in Japanese. If I were a pro athlete I doubt I'd trust the media as far as I could throw them, whether I spoke the home language or not.
  18. PeteF3
    Grisham *is* kind of a clueless asshole, though.
  19. PeteF3
    http://members.f4wonline.com/august-24-1998-wrestling-observer-newsletter-warrior-makes-wcw-debut-wo-hof-96876 I presume this is the missing Observer Kris was referring to. On the website, just missing a link in the Archives.
  20. PeteF3
    Laughably bad action--I thought about firing up this match in full to see if it's truly a WMOTYC but I think we have enough here to determine that it is. Hogan is a total idiot here, as the dumbass rules are that you can win by pinfall even before everyone has entered in the cage--with a title shot on the line, why is this not just a 9-man battle royal in a WarGames cage? Anyway, everyone's out and Hogan has rendered Kevin Nash dead, but he doesn't cover because he has to wait for Warrior to make his entrance. There are about 370 other things wrong with what we see, from the blown finish to the inexplicable sudden presence of security, to...whatever. This show's reputation as one of the worst PPVs ever is well-deserved.
  21. PeteF3
    This is a tale of two matches, as the stuff before the gaga is really, *really* dull and heatless. It's easy to complain about Raven's matches being way overbooked, but you watch the work here and you can see why it had to be done. I'm about ready to write this off as an overrated mess that people only liked because it sucked less than the rest of this card, but then we get a rather masterfully constructed spot where Kidman is about to drop the shooting star press on Saturn, only to level Raven with a dropkick for a monster pop. Saturn follows up with the DVD, but Lodi distracts the ref just long enough for Raven to kick out. We go through myriad false finishes and twists and turns and it's all frankly quite overdone, but it *works.* The crowd gets louder and louder with every kickout and even cynical old me is guessing and wondering what's going to happen next. I really can't name many matches that started off this badly and then got this good.
  22. PeteF3
    Ridiculous that this didn't lead to anywhere, even a one-off. It didn't even lead to Jericho feuding with any *other* top star, which would have been a boon. Jericho may have been able to make something watchable out of a program with, say, Luger, or Piper.
  23. PeteF3
    I like how Okerlund doesn't oversell this, not really believing Jericho but still sort of taking him at his word.
  24. PeteF3
    Snow will probably never be as over in the WWF as he is at this moment. He actually controls the crowd well for most of this, though the Stooge Is Right doesn't quite work. We do get a semblance of a payoff as he whacks Patterson in the family jewels with Head. Still kind of ridiculous in the era of Crash TV that this guy has been asking for a meeting and asking for reinstatement for 3 months.
  25. PeteF3
    Clearly they have bigger plans for the Rock, as he calls out Undertaker and Kane for attacking him last week.
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