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Matt Franklin

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Everything posted by Matt Franklin

  1. Matt Franklin
    Good match, but like Loss I remembered it being better. Perfect may have got legit concussed by his insane corner bump, as he had a fair sized hematoma and appeared to be off from that point on. I thought Flair was really good in this, but they just didn't click as well as you would think. Still a good match, just not to the caliber you would expect. Heenan was gold throughout, Flair matches brought out the best in his commentary.
  2. Matt Franklin
    Estrada bumps like a lunatic in this really fun match. Lucha is one of my neglected areas of watching, so I am looking forward to seeing more throughout the set. Santo looked really good and Eddy did some sweet suplexes, but Jerry was the star of this match for me, with his aforementioned sick bumps and great rudo antics. He just carries himself like a star, and I look forward to seeing more of him in the future.
  3. Matt Franklin
    Damn, Owen's elimination looked nasty. Was he legit injured after the match? I seem to remember him having knee problems at this time. Yoko looks great here as a monster, and this is a great way to set him up as a credible challenger to the title. I agree about Savage looking totally stupid going for the pin, but that is the only issue I had with an otherwise really fun closing stretch to the rumble.
  4. Matt Franklin
    Loved this match and thought both put in a great performance but my god, Funk is the MAN. He has such a crazy aura that really gets you emotionally invested in a match. Personally, I feel that the handheld camera adds to the chaotic feel to the match and makes it seem more real. I feel like if this took place in ECW and was pro-shot with good commentary, it would be remembered as one of the better U.S. indy matches of the 90's. As it stands, it is a great hidden gem that I would suggest everyone seek out and watch.
  5. Matt Franklin
    I totally agree with everything you say here. Talking about strategy and treating the matches as if they were legitimate athletic competition is something you usually associate with Watts booking, and Sting does a great job of seriously explaining his two mathes with Vader, ridiculous outfit notwithstanding. Ten minutes later in the disc, we see the opposite end of the spectrum with the White Caste of Fear segment.
  6. Matt Franklin
    I loved this segment. I thought HTM did a great job coming in as the big-shot loudmouth, and Jarrett was a great white meat babyface there to call him out. I loved Honky's line about not knowing who this 'young man' was, and thought everyone really played their part well. If only Honky could actually go in the ring at this stage, I imagine he could have had a hell of a run in 93 Memphis with his promo ability. As it is, between the shape he was in at this stage of his career (which his awesome jumpsuit doesn't do a great job of hiding) and whatever politics there were with Lawler, it doesn't appear that he had much of a run.
  7. Matt Franklin
    Really good TV match, with Scorpio as the underdog taking it to Barry until he makes one mistake, which Windham capitalizes on and gets the victory with the implant DDT. Very basic formula, and one they would get more time to work with later in the year. Barry was sooooo good in the first half of 93.
  8. Matt Franklin
    Run-ins galore in this short selection of clips. Looked fun for what it was, with a couple of nice near falls before the finish. Brian Christopher looks really small here, he obviously worked out a lot before he made it to WWF
  9. Matt Franklin
    Really simple but effective way of putting Smothers over as a threat to the champ. The match itself was nothing to write home about, but was solid throughout. I have a feeling I will use the adjective 'solid' a lot when going through the SMW featured on the yearbook.
  10. Matt Franklin
    This was a tremendous match, and really sets the tone for the awesome year in Joshi that 93 would become. Takako takes a hellacious beating in this match but keeps on fighting despite being over matched. As stated earlier, Kansai and Hotta give just enough to make you really want to see a singles match between the two ass kickers. Ozaki was great as always, with tremendous facials and intensity. They really make 30 minutes fly by, and never once does the match drag. The perts that weren't executed very well were very minor in the grand scheme of things and did not effect my enjoyment of the match whatsoever. For my personal tastes, I have this slightly below the Clash tag, but I think the Clash match was absolutely brilliant so that is still quite high praise. I look forward to seeing more from Ozaki and Kansai through the year, as I know Dynamite especially has a killer 93.
  11. Matt Franklin
    I think I may have seen this years ago, but I clearly forgot how awesome it was because this match was fantastic! Everyone is great, but Shane Douglas is especially king-sized in this match, with some great offense such as his back senton and powerslam out of the sunset flip, as well as selling like a champ for the Blondes. This is an early Austin/Pillman tag, and you can really see that their in-ring chemistry was there from the start. I currently have this just below the Ironman match for MOTY so far.
  12. Matt Franklin
    Yeah, this was really good. It had the aura of a fight and was violent without appearing choreographed, which is a trap most modern 'hardcore' matches fall into. The entire segment - match, heel beatdown, comeback with the shovel - definitely has a 'Watts' feel to it, which is a good thing in this instance. Everyone played their roles perfectly, and the turn was very effective. Sidenote: Knowing what we do now about Orndorff, I can't help but to stare at his right arm during his matches.
  13. Matt Franklin
    This is such a good way to get people and feuds over. By presenting the wrestlers in a low-key and serious manner, you tend to take what they say more seriously. Vader talking about the Superbowl ring and how his World title is the highest achievement really puts over the belt as something special and worth fighting for. He puts both Sting and Simmons over as legitimate contenders, while also stating how he is better than both. One of the better Vader promos I have seen.
  14. Matt Franklin
    Nothing new to add here. Heel Doink is one of those gimmicks where it is easy to see why at the time people would shit all over the idea of the WWF bringing in a wrestler dressed as a clown, but looking back on it you can appreciate how boss it was. Borne was so good in this role, it would have been really interesting to see the character have a longer run. As it is, we have about 9 months of a run that was years ahead of its time. If you get the chance, youtube some heel Doink squash matches. They are as fun as shit, with Borne just tooling jobbers.
  15. Matt Franklin
    I have had this show on disc for years but never got around to watching the match. What a fool I was. Easily Flair's best WWF match, and perhaps Bret's best at this stage of his career (Bulldog at SS 92 & Perfect at SS 91 would be close). The 60 minutes flew by, and I think for the limitations of the match (crowd knows that it is going 60, multiple falls etc) they worked it perfectly. I never felt the match dragged, and progressed logically throughout. Flair bringing out some of the awesome arm work was reminiscent of his work in the Mid-South set, and both this and the leg work later in the match were sold perfectly by Hart. There is so much to love, I will give bullet points for the other highlights: - I really liked Bret going back to the figure four time and time again early on, and I was convinced that he would get a fall from it - The rollup to give Bret the first fall was really smooth and well executed - Loved Heenan giving the distraction for Flair to use the chair on Bret's leg, which played into the next two falls - Flair throws some great looking kicks at Bret's leg, just nasty - The final few minutes were amazing, Bret's bump and sell off of the first brass knux shot looked killer, and I totally bought the near fall that followed - I love how with time winding down, Flair releases the figure four as soon as Bret reaches the ropes to show the desperation of needing a fall. Previously in the match, he would hold it a little before breaking. Little touches like this make it a great match - Perfect finish, with the technical babyface having one trick left to pull out the victory. The fact that they didn't use the roll-up off of the figure four any time in the match before the finish adds to the effectiveness Just a fantastic display by both men, which was better than I could have hoped for as I had previously been lukewarm about their other matches that I have seen. Probably the best ironman match I have ever seen, and is my MOTY nine days into the year. Realistically, if this drops out of my top 10 for the year, then this is truly one of the best years ever for in-ring wrestling.
  16. Matt Franklin
    This was really good throughout, though it never really hit the 'great' level that many other AJ 6-mans do. Taue's Arm Bomber onto Kobashi on the exposed floor was cringeworthy, in a 'shit, is he dead?' way. Fuchi is such a cantankerous old bastard, and I love his facials and methodical way in which he goes to town on his opponents. Akiyama looked really good for his experience level, and his second german to finish the match was pretty as hell. Once again, really good, though I have enjoyed the WCW and WWF matches on this disc more.
  17. Matt Franklin
    I couldn't get into this. I can see the appeal, however the sloppiness took me out of the match, which is unusual for me as I can usually look past execution. I know that both men will impress me greatly further into the set, but this just didn't do it for me. I felt that the finish was flat, and I think the crowd thought the same as it didn't get the reaction you would hope for.
  18. Matt Franklin
    Awesomely cheesy music video, with great clips (including an awesome Guerrero/Malenko rollup with Tony Charles!) and it is really good to see how they handle his departure. It is a breath of fresh air from the typical injury angle/jobbing out that is commonly the way characters are written out of promotions when they leave. That is unless this is a swerve, though I'm pretty sure that Dundee did actually end up in WCW around this time.
  19. Matt Franklin
    Great match, everything made sense and looked great. I really liked the selling of both men, and the fact that it was given time to develop really made it into a near-PPV quality singles between the two. Ross is great on commentary, putting over the story behind the match as well as the action in the ring and the upcoming Clash event. The finish makes perfect sense leading into the Clash, with the tag title match and Thunderdome match feuds being furthered. The DQ finish didn't bother me as I can see why they wouldn't want to pin Barry clean, and the finish leads into the aforementioned brawls to establish the feuds. Looking at the booking in hindsight, having Barry go over would have given us Dustin vs Windham in the finals of the US title tournament, which could have been a way to blow that feud off, with Dustin pinning Barry to win his first singles title.
  20. Matt Franklin
    Loved this match. I haven't seen the Starrcade match in years so it's hard to compare the two for me, but I thought this was a really fun TV tag that got a decent amount of time. I forgot how awesome Barry's right hands were, and both Douglas and especially Steamboat sell them appropriately. I really don't mind the finish in the context of the feuds at the time. Windham's DDT to Douglas on the concrete looks great and is a believable way to take someone out of a match. Dustin runs out to check on him and gets caught up in the moment and gets on the apron and is tagged in, which the ref kinda stops and then finally says 'fuck it' and lets it continue. While it is ridiculous that this can happen in the context of the rules, the ref getting caught up in the emotion of the match gives the heels a valid reason to be pissed and want a rematch with the champs, as well as further the Barry/Dustin feud. I loved Dustin's backhand blow with the cast to finish the match, it looked like a believable KO blow. The post-match promo, with Jesse livid about the heels being 'jobbed', is great as it continues the story of the heels feeling cheated and Barry is great in setting up the singles match with Steamboat the following week. You also need to remember that they were transitioning to the Barry/Dustin feud (which is a shame, as they never got a proper blow-off) and Steamer/Douglas vs Blondes, so having Dustin screw Barry is a way to get him out of the tag program and into the singles feud. Having typed all of this and reading it back, maybe the booking is a bit screwy, but compared to the slapdash way feuds are put together these days, the fact that I can make sense of what they are trying to get across is good enough for me. Plus, as a match this may be better than any tag match by WWE or TNA this year. I know that this is cheating as I should be looking at it in the context of January 1993, but it really stood out to me how solid all four were in comparison to what we get on TV today.
  21. Matt Franklin
    Wasn't a big fan of this. They did not appear to be on the same page throughout the match, and it just felt disjointed throughout. There are a few cool moments, like Liger's insane senton to the floor, but overall nothing I would go back to watch again. Their match in the 95 J-Cup is worlds better.
  22. Matt Franklin
    Really fun bomb-throwing heavyweight tag match. Nothing too complex, just two teams who are superhero tandems in Japan beating the shit out of each other. I loved Scott's amateur throws at the start, with Hawk responding by press slamming him over the top rope to the floor. A spectacle, which is perfect for the Dome setting.
  23. Matt Franklin
    A really great low key interview from Arn, who has such great delivery that he really makes you believe in what he is saying. Loved the 'ice cream shop' line mentioned earlier, as well as how he discussed his injury, as it really came across like he was an athlete rather than just a 'wrestler'. Two big thumbs up.
  24. Matt Franklin
    The only thing I have to add is that Bobby is wearing a fantastically flamboyant silk pink vest underneath his suit jacket.
  25. Matt Franklin
    I just watched Bret vs Yoko from Survivor Series Showdown and I think it may be Yokozuna's best match, even better than the cage matches on the set. Everything is timed perfectly, the crowd is hot and even though the finish is screwy, it fits in with the future program with Owen perfectly. As far as a size vs skill match, I might like this even more than the KOTR final against Bam Bam, and I LOVE that match. Check it out here if you haven't seen it:
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