[1990-04-23-WWF-Austin, TX] Mr Perfect vs Tito Santana

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

The finals of the IC title tournament. I love the rapid hammerlock reversals. They packed a lot of good stuff into a pretty short match. This was really good. I liked Santana's leg work. Bobby Heenan becomes Mr. Perfect's manager.

[PeteF3]

Great rapidfire hammerlock reversals to start before Santana goes nuts on Perfect's leg. I love how Santana has kept the figure four in his holster for all of these years and how it can loom over any match where he cares to break out leg work. Bobby Heenan comes down for an unexpected distraction but Perfect gets a clean victory to become 1/2 of the WWF Tag Team Champions. I think the SNME match will be better but this was very good for Superstars.

[Childs]

This was great while it lasted. Sorry to be contrarian, but the one thing I really didn't like was the rapidfire sequence of hammerlock reversals. They came so easily that it struck me as kind of silly, like something from an indy mirror exchange in 2008. Anyway, Santana's legwork was great, and I dug the viciousness of Henning's strikes. That's the guy I love from Portland and AWA instead of the Henning who built most of his WWF run around overly theatrical bumping. I was just bummed when this ended. Given 20 minutes, these guys might have delivered a MOTYC.

[soup23]

Damn, how quick was this tournament that one week after the announcement we are into the finals. Tito continues to be one of my favorite workers that I have a different opinion on than in my childhood. Great leg work and really cool to see the Perfect/Bobby combo come together. Did Perfect/Genius have any formal split or just drift apart like many other manager/wrestler combos did at the time.

[PeteF3]

I think this went on by taping date rather than air date. This match actually took place before some matches in the previous round, maybe even before the entire rest of the tournament. IIRC this was also a scheduled semifinal that turned into a title match when both of the other quarterfinal matches went to no-decisions.

[shoe]

This was a good match between the 2. I think you could make a case that Santana was Hennig's best opponent in the WWF.

[Kevin Ridge]

They show the 8 men who were in the Intercontinental tournament but don’t show the results other than Perfect and Santana making it to the finals. They reverse many hammerlocks. Perfect trips up Santana and McMahon tries to say it was pure luck. Jesse runs on this making the point that it’s Perfect’s skill. Perfect does his flippy upside overselling of kicks. Here’s Bobby as he shows up ringside. Mr. Perfect outsmarts Santana and gets the win with a small package. I must be confusing this match with another match they had from this year as this was not as good as I remembered. Mr. Perfect introduces Heenan as his new manager.

[soup23]

I think the consensus is Kevin that the SNME match in July is a lot better Kevin.

[goodhelmet]

We have established that Kevin Ridge's first name is Kevin.

[Kevin Ridge]

We have established that Kevin Ridge's first name is Kevin.

I actually have a conflict with another Kevin at my job so I appreciate top billing here. Other dude should change his name to William or something.

[Cox]

Short match. Not bad, but I'd hesitate to call it good. WWF heels have to dumb down their offense so much. Also, I found Ventura annoying on commentary, pointing out all the cheating Santana was doing leading to a clean Perfect win. He almost babyfaces Perfect here, and I remember as a kid thinking Santana was going heel when Heenan came down because of the way Ventura called the match, even if that made no sense. He did get a good line about Heenan coming to ringside because he was sick of Santana's rulebreaking, though.

 

Also, is it me or did Perfect hold up a WWF tag team title after the match? Had they not re-strapped the IC title after Warrior had it with the yellow strap by this point?

[shoe]

They also have a good match from prime time that goes the whole 20 minutes.

[Superstar Sleeze]

I liked this a good bit because Tito is at his best when he makes it into a Catalina Bar The Casa Tijuana Brawl! From what I have seen Tito really just has two modes: pissed off babyface and boring. It seems when Tito is motivated he just makes all his matches into blood feud matches because he knows no other way to make a match exciting. I ain't one to complain because this match comes off a lot better with Tito breaking up some go-behinds with hard elbows. Then following Perfect out to the outside with the chop and back in with a sweet springboard shoulderblock that looked stiff. Perfect is pretty damn good in this match and bumps in a tasteful manner. I dug the transition with Tito tripping over Perfect on a drop-down someone needs to crib that for a PPV main event transition. Perfect save for his working punch looks pretty awful on offense and just taunts. Tito is like fuck this shit and just starts working over the leg wrapping around the ringpost and then going for the Figure-4. Heenan is out and they go with a lame inside cradle after Tito had just been kicking Perfect. Jeez, a little more chicanery would have been nice, just felt anti-climatic. I know you have to save the Perfectplex for the return match so I understand that. Heenan/Perfect just make sense together even if it was at tail end of both careers. Tito ruled this match and carried to the promised land. Mr. Perfect was decent, but nothing stand out. I do love the bump he takes when he gets kicked in the back of the leg, but other than that a blase performance.

[garretta]

I like that even after Heenan comes down to ringside to distract Tito, Curt wins the match cleanly with a wrestling move. This reestablishes his credibility after his loss to Beefcake at Mania, which might have been done to set up Beefcake's eventual challenge for the IC title that was scrubbed due to his accident. Tito's going for it all from the start, breaking up perfectly clean go-behinds with elbows to the ears, which predictably makes Jesse hot. He's a lot more aggressive than usual here, almost like he knows that this may be one of his last chances to be a champion, and takes the fight to Curt, which is nice to see. That's part of why he was never completely deemphasized, although he'd lose more and more as time went on: he was one of the few faces who could reliably put on good in-ring performances and get heels over in competitive bouts.

 

Boy, will Vince miss Jesse. This may be the best match for the two of them in quite a while, as Vince isn't in super-nuts SNME mode and actually pays a bit of attention to what goes on in the ring, which inspires Jesse to follow suit. No other commentator- not Heenan, not Piper, and certainly not Lawler- has as much chemistry with Vince as Jesse does, mostly because, unlike the other three, Jesse actually cares about getting over the matches instead of telling jokes. Once he leaves, WWF commentary will never be the same, and that goes right up to the present day.

[drew wardlaw]

Awesome leg work by Tito. I really liked the spot where Tito trips on Mr Perfect and falls out of the ring. I can't tell if it was an accident with quick thinking to make it work or a neat spot. Either way I liked it.

[dawho5]

Tito tripping over Perfect on the drop down made me remember something I'd once heard some pro wrestler say. The way the move was supposed to be executed was to dive at your opponent's legs and try to trip them. Curt was trained old school, as was Santana, so I'm guessing they were putting that one to use. Fun match between two guys who could go and didn't get much of a chance to anymore.