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PeteF3

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Everything posted by PeteF3

  1. PeteF3
    I liked the Dungeon Match a bit more because it felt more like a real fight in a gritty environment--I have no problem with going for wrasslin' over faux-MMA here but this is the type of match that's probably better served as a quick and decisive war as JR predicted. Instead, it's a bit more drawn-out. But man, what a balls-to-the-wall closing stretch. Shamrock was incredible here, probably his best performance in the WWF--maybe my personal favorite overall considering how low I am on the PWFG stuff. I expected WM14 to be a runaway winner for Major Show of the Year, but if I end up being higher on Austin-Undertaker than the other comments, then this show could find itself in contention.
  2. PeteF3
    Mankind decides that playing in traffic is a better idea than facing the New Age Outlaws with no partner, and is about to drag Cole out with him until Vince does what Vince does, and talks him out of it. Inspired by his past hitchhiking escapades and love for MSG, Foley is pumped to go into a falls-count-anywhere handicap match in a quest for MSG immortality.
  3. PeteF3
    Lawler: "I always knew Howard Finkle was a degenerate." Ross: "So what?" Yeah, no way that exchange wasn't a rib. Jarrett is now "Double J" only--a name change that hopefully doesn't stick. Really good little match, to end a relatively old-school-type feud. Jarrett still isn't that over but X-Pac is, and Finkle actually does a great job as cornerman leading the crowd into cheering on X-Pac's comebacks, and they work some fine near-falls in the closing stretch. Droz and the other people whom Jarrett had shaved coming out to ensure that he gets his hair cut was a nice finishing touch.
  4. PeteF3
    Well, it wouldn't be much of a mystery if Sable blabbed the partner's identity. Spoiler: it was Edge. This is too much talking for one Sable segment...I say that, but her dancing is even worse.
  5. PeteF3
    Probably Hales at his best--he's become pretty fully comfortable on-camera and the awkwardness is at a minimum here as he does a fine job of keeping up with a guy who can eat you alive if you can't talk. I also like how he's couching this as wanting to help Lawler as a friend, just to increase the mystery factor of it all--is Hales sincere, is Baxter working him, is this a plan between the two, or is he even being played by Stacy & Lawler?
  6. PeteF3
    There was some good promising stuff here but most everyone seemed like a shallow imitation of somebody else. Crazy Max = Kaientai (and boy did the commentary do them no favors in that regard), Dragon Kid = Rey Jr., Magnum Tokyo = Alex Wright, Ryo Saito brings to mind the ruthless spot-blowing efficiency of Sin Cara, etc. The coolest parts of this were Magnum's funky roll-ups and some of CIMA's offense. As for the rest...it's the same problem I have with most of the Toryumon I've seen in that they failed to really make me care who wins or loses.
  7. PeteF3
    "Pink tights...what a load of crap. This ain't no ballet class, son" ... Anyway, I *did* think this stood out, at least to the other BattlArts in '98, and actually think it's a good starting point for people as the style can be a bit obtuse for newcomers such as myself. This has tons of heavy-hitting suplexes but also some really well-done wrasslin' stuff to get your attention, like Otsuka busting out a somersault tope. One of my favorite BattlArts matches so far and maybe the best match on the Japan low-level indy scene this year.
  8. PeteF3
    Highlights of the "36 Mafia," as the title card says it. Apparently this is the full actual video, ECW footage and all. Actually Shane & Francine come startlingly close to my own thoughts on this--why *was* Beulah in there and not Francine?
  9. PeteF3
    So, Candido's a babyface now? Yeah, babyface Candido vs. heel Storm should work perfectly.
  10. PeteF3
    No, not everything here works, but as I've said...when you're as hot as the WWF, those types of things just don't matter in the big picture. The company, because the production is so slick and focused in all facets from the camera work to the commentary, can make you overlook those types of things while WCW usually does the precise opposite and draws even more attention on a given angle's shortcomings.
  11. PeteF3
    Shawn, to his credit, practically leaps out of his chair trying to put all this over. Bart makes mincemeat out of Bradshaw and there *may* have actually been some way to capitalize on this, but of course the Wrong Guy won the shoot tournament, because that possibility wasn't predictable at all. I like the idea of running Bart vs. Shamrock, even if just to put Shamrock over in a one-off PPV match.
  12. PeteF3
    This was a FANTASTIC segment--one I vaguely remember from the live airing but something I found almost spellbinding this time. Rock is such a despicable, contemptible piece of shit here, of Tully-esque proportions. It's hard to imagine him sinking any lower. It's also good to see the Nation get more heat on DX for the second week in a row. Despite the threatened sexual assault taking place I couldn't help but laugh out loud when Rock passed up the opportunity to kiss Chyna and instead told Mark Henry to do it. One because the delivery was so funny and two because this will lead to a pretty fun storyline before it goes completely off the rails. It'd be easy to point to this as another example of Russo misogyny in action but this segment actually works, because Chyna is otherwise portrayed strongly and because of Rock's total commitment to being a scumbag that it leaves no doubt who the face and the heel are. Oh, and the surprise return of Shawn was a big deal as well--you had to think that this was leading to an in-ring return.
  13. PeteF3
    This was crazy--some truly cringeworthy shots, but at the time it seemed awesome and it's all done with a sense of fury and hatred and deeper storyline that makes this rise above your usual brainless stunt show. Undertaker and Kane are out to end Mankind once and for all and almost do it--Mankind is now a fully sympathetic character. A DQ in a Hell in a Cell match should probably not be let any more off the hook than the Capital Combat main event, but I guess there's a difference between a PPV title main event and a match on Raw given about 30 minutes' notice. A super-hot post-match once again makes us forget about feeling ripped off, as the WWF has done time and again over the past 12 months.
  14. PeteF3
    Maybe he thought to stick a microphone inside the boots themselves to get the full audio effect. This does lead to the death of Double J and through sheer force of will, a gimmick makeover that *sort of* has fans caring about Jeffrey Jarrett.
  15. PeteF3
    Awesome little promo with Mankind channeling a bit of his old partner Mikey Whipwreck. Mankind will get his ass kicked by Kane inside the Cell and he knows it--so he's going to start on the roof again.
  16. PeteF3
    Ah, focus in the main event scene. Nitro had almost made me forget what it was like. Short of Vince stepping into the ring himself this really does feel like the biggest money match the WWF has in its holster.
  17. PeteF3
    Goldberg & Nash vs. Hogan & Giant ends with Goldberg pinning Curt Hennig, because why not? "Hennig asked to be a part of this match!" --Tony Schiavone. Okay, you can run in as long you "ask" first. One of the most tepid post-match brawls in history takes place afterward--it seems like I've been typing something to that effect a *lot* for these show-closing clusterfucks on Nitro. Watch the stomps on Goldberg in the corner by the NWO and you'll see what I mean, though. This whole thing is muddled and badly-timed...the run-ins seem late (and it takes the geriatric WCW crew a while to get there), and Team WCW just sort of stands around for awhile until we get the Nash-Goldberg face-off on the floor. Yet another head-shaking edition of Nitro.
  18. PeteF3
    Dumb and unnecessary is a good way of putting it. Bret can come *close* to saving all this because his delivery and gravitas still carry weight, but it's not quite enough. At one point Schiavone would incredulously bring up the Giant chokeslamming Ray a bunch of times, even if he couldn't even try to explain it--now he's given up on even doing that.
  19. PeteF3
    Warrior does a bit of his old running entrance...and blows up. What a promising sign. IT'S COMMON KNOWLEDGE THAT IF YOU WANT TO EXCEL IN ANY FIELD, YOU STUDY THE MASTERS, EMULATE THE CHAMPIONS, MODEL THE VIRTUES OF THE PREEMINENT INDIVIDUALS IN THAT PARTICULAR FIELD. Nice and punchy, Warrior, good going--can we have Konnan back out here again, please? His promos are infuriating but at least they're concise. Warrior stumbles around saying nothing and then chides the crowds for their impatience. Like it or not, it's a new world now, Warrior--adjust or die.
  20. PeteF3
    If I never see another one of these Wolfpac catchphrase-fests again it will be too soon. Nash has been completely lost in the wilderness practically since the Wolfpac formed--I guess I can't complain too loudly now that he has a shred of focus to him.
  21. PeteF3
    The ladder match doesn't really have that "holy shit" vibe it would carry later on--too much turnover from the big matches of 1994-95 to now. Rock has a few new phrases that would recur more often ("rooty-poo candy ass" and "rung by damn rung...") later on. It's still refreshing to see Rock doing straightforward promos incorporating this stuff a little more organically than his later promos as a catchphrase-spouting babyface.
  22. PeteF3

    What Now For Roman Reigns?

    PeteF3 replied to DMJ's topic in WWE

    Yeah, but they also insisted on having Reigns do at least one job to Show, which was rather stupid and counterproductive no matter what the "payoff" was supposed to be.
  23. PeteF3
    Omori does his best to kill this, but this is pretty high-quality the rest of the way. They attempt to re-do the old Jumbo/Misawa angle with Ogawa and Jun and they pull it off, mainly because Ogawa is so good at being an opportunistic ratfuck. This has some really heated exchanges between the two that climaxes with Ogawa PINNING JUN. Was that ever a stunner--it's like Riki Choshu booked this show. Clearly Baba or whoever felt that AJPW needed some freshening up because this feels like a pretty monumental card. For no particular reason I'll drop this hot take here: after two '80s sets and now most of the '90s, I've determined that I don't like Korakuen Hall as a venue. It's probably great to visit live and I like intimate atmospheres, but I don't like the feel of the place on tape at all.
  24. PeteF3
    Kobashi accidentally knocks Ace off the apron, a la Owen & Bret. Ace recovers eventually, but seemingly gives up on attempting to save Kobashi from a Taue power bomb. Then he helps Kobashi to his feet...and drops him with a clothesline! Ace takes out a slew of young boys and lays out Kobashi with the cobra clutch suplex until Akiyama makes the save. Ace leaves seemingly having formed a new alliance of his own with Johnny Smith & The LaCrosse. A fun angle from a promotion not known for them--this might be the first involving main eventers since 1990. They do their best to work this angle close to the way it would go down in a real sport with the way that the other young boys react.
  25. PeteF3
    A pretty good match that threatened to verge into greatness, but never quite got there, as this lose focus and peter out towards the end. The kick exchanges were great and some of the counterwrestling was just gorgeous, though. This probably peaked with Satomura's tremendous comeback leading into the Death Valley driver, but after that fails to put Kato away (after Satomura had just kicked out of Kato's finish as well), the ending is more of an anticlimax rather than a huge build into an inevitable result leaving you thirsty for more. Unquestionably a noble effort, though.
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