[1993-09-12-WWF-All American Wrestling] 1-2-3 Kid vs Marty Jannetty

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

They packed a lot of action in a pretty short period of time, had a nice build, and had some beautiful exchanges. Feels like a tournament semi-final. I wish the finish had been a pinfall, that would have been the cherry on top, but this was a very fun match.

[Kevin Ridge]

I was totally thinking a King of the Ring tournament early round match when I watched this! Kid went flying into the guard rail on a flip off the top rope. Then goes splat a few seconds later on another dive to the outside. Nice face versus face match for WWF. Some really good back and forth exchanges between the two. Respect after match for each other sets up them as a tag team. WWF is in need of some tag teams.

[PeteF3]

This had a slow start with a lot of resets and some sloppiness from the Kid, but they turned things into a very nice match--all clean, but with some intensity. Some of the exchanges sort of look cliche now but there was a lot of "non-WWF-style" stuff for the time here, like all the back-and-forth two-counts and the Boston crab counters. Not to mention the dives to the floor. Ross and Gorilla do an effective job of hyping this as a de facto #1 contenders match for the Intercontinental belt.

 

I've said this before, but it's pretty sad that WCW is getting blown away by the WWF in terms of throwaway TV bouts--WCW was once (and would be again) the king of that domain, but not at this time.

[...TG]

Really fun, fast-paced face v face match, albeit a little short. Kid took a couple crazy bumps, not just with the missed tope at the finish, but earlier he overshot the somersault plancha and nailed his leg on the barrier. And I liked JR and Gorilla as a team - they had a nice, relaxed chemistry, with Gorilla taking a backseat and letting JR do play-by-play. Wish we could have heard more of them together.

 

(I seem to have overtaken Chad on the 93 yearbook. This would be more of an accomplishment if I wasn't sure he watches like, 5x the footage I do. )

[soup23]

Short, energetic match that was a highlight of the offering on tv by the WWE. They cut a quick pace and were doing reversals and aerial moves that were uncommon in WWF at the time. Kid's splat to the floor looked nasty and it paid off with being the finish of the match. REally nice hidden gem here. ***

[garretta]

This was a match unlike almost any we saw in the WWF at this time. It's a shame it was so short, because I'd like to see what these guys could have done with fifteen to twenty minutes. I don't think they could have kept up the pace they cut for quite that long, but I'm sure they would have found plenty of other exciting things to do.

 

The best part was, it was all clean; there wasn't even a hint of tempers flaring like there is in most face vs. face matches. It all came down to Waltman taking two too many chances and wiping himself out, first on the railing and then on the floor.

 

I thought Marty kept up with him about as well as could be expected, and again we as fans are forced to ponder what might have been if only Marty had cared enough about himself and the business to keep himself clean. From what we've seen this year, he might have been either Shawn's equal as a single for at least a few years, or at worst a half step below him. As for Waltman, he distinguished himself even in defeat by taking a veteran like Marty to the limit, and it's clear that Vince was thinking about a program with him and Michaels before things took a hard left turn at the end of the month. Waltman would have been too young to be a champion for long, if at all, but he'd have definitely given Michaels a run for his money.

 

JR and Gino were good here, although I get the feeling that Gino's still adjusting to being a color man again after calling play-by-play for so many years. I can see why some people harp on him for sounding like a complaining old buzzard, because he seemed a little too eager to point out faults in both Waltman and Marty at times. But as my mom once put it about those who complain, he was old enough to say what he thought, and no one was going to stop him. I liked him gently chiding JR about getting six hot dogs while he only got two himself, and JR was able to laugh at it with the response about the vendor being an old friend of his. If Jesse or Heenan had tried to say stuff like that he would have been unlivable for the rest of the night.

 

I've heard of the Jannetty/Waltman team, but I've never seen them in action. If they're as good a team as they were opponents, they should be something to see, and I'm looking forward to it.