Loss
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Everything posted by Loss
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Austin doesn't like him? -
I would really like it if we could stop calling him "Levesque". I see this happening more. Why not just HHH?
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The Gangstas are ON LOCATION in the hood to show that the Rock & Roll Express wouldn't last five minutes in their neighborhood. New Jack shows up in his Corvette, which he drives onto the grass. The n-bomb sneaks its way on television again. He points out that they are the first black champions in SMW. I actually really liked this segment, because they look more like tough guy heroes entering enemy territory than the way they were normally portrayed. Al Sharpton called to congratulate them on the win! Great segment. Bob Armstrong is with the Rock & Roll Express. Bob rockin' the ICOPRO tank top! They show a clip of the match where the Gangstas won the SMW tag titles and Mark Curtis restarted the match leading to a Rock & Rolls win. The Gangstas got attorneys on that one, and they ended up with the tag belts. I actually side with The Gangstas here. The restart was discrimination! How many white heels in this territory have won belts by cheating? Please. Now Bob Armstrong wants to do whatever he can to help the Rock & Rolls get the belts back. Yeah, no collusion there. The Rock & Rolls are willing to agree to whatever terms The Gangstas set in order for them to get a rematch. Morton is awesome here. Next, Bryant Armstrong continues to get ready for his SMW debut. Ole hypes his amateur credentials. Finally, The Gangstas cut a promo in front of the live crowd at a TV taping. Robert Gibson jumps them and them we have a lot of wrestlers stepping in to try to separate them.
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Doug isn't going to get cheated, and wants Randy Hales out before the match. Tommy Rich ends up hitting him from behind and they whip Hales with a belt, I presume to avenge Scott Bowden. Lawler is out to make the save, which leads to the match, which is pretty short and uneventful. We see a very short-haired Doug Gilbert for the first time.
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Doug Gilbert pitches to a clip from Mid South Coliseum of Sid attacking Christopher and Lawler in a tag match where Doug teamed with Rich against them. Then, Tommy Rich is out to celebrate his USWA title victory. Then, we get a confrontation from the previous week between Randy Hales and Scott Bowden. Dave doesn't like Bowden using the words "retarded" and "illegitimate". Hales ends up jumping Bowden at the announce booth and they have to be separated. Well done. Finally, Sid tells Lawler he will never get a title shot and that he will not be the "mystery partner", which brings Lawler out. I like Lawler setting the record straight on "mystery opponent" versus "mystery partner", as Sid is promoting the match all wrong. Lawler ensures that it won't be him because of weird contract things, and Sid gloats that everyone is scared of him and no one will be face him. Lawler announces that the opponent will be Lord Humongous, which is a pretty hilarious inside joke.
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I really liked the Razor commercial, but I wish they would have made it a little darker. "Put your faith in us" as a slogan feels like brainwashing, though. Then, we get Randy Savage playing baseball with a kid who's crying because of the strike. We close things out with Bob Backlund on the Heartbreak Hotel. Between the Cornette segment and this, Shawn has a tendency to undercut other heels when they are his guests, unless it's someone like DiBiase that he clearly respects. In a weird way, the undercutting works here, because it makes Backlund seem like a special heel that even the other heels can't wrap their heads around. Nash looks odd, like he's had botox. His facial expression seems stuck. Backlund is getting more into his gimmick, using big words (sometimes correctly, sometimes incorrectly) and seems like a legit nutjob. I love it!
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This is awesome really before it begins. There's a lot of build to Vader and Albright squaring off. Tenta insists on starting, and the crowd HATES it because they have built up the tension with those two so well. Still, they've guaranteed big heat later. And yeah, Tenta is not as good on the mat as everyone else, but he sure knows how to work a crowd enough that it really makes up for that. The exchanges with even Yamazaki are really good because he is this immovable brick wall and Yamazaki is trying whatever can to take the advantage. Vader and Yamazaki bring the action, and I have to give Yamazaki credit here, because he is definitely the one of these things that is not like the others (either him or Tenta, depending on your point of view), but he stands out even more because he's the only guy wrestling the typical style. Vader and Albright bring the big match feel and the magic. Gary's Germans on Vader are terrific. This is obviously not as high-tech as Takayama/Kanehara, but the psychology is far better, and as a result, I'd call this the better match of the two. This felt like a WAR match in some ways because of all the clashes in styles and odd pairings. Matt D, if you're reading, WATCH THIS.
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These two go after each other pretty aggressively. I love Takayama trying to angle Kanehara for a punt and not really being able to hold him still long enough. And that really explains the dynamic of a big part of the match -- Takayama is trying to just keep Kanehara stationary while Kanehara won't stop moving. Takayama locks in a hold and Kanehara comes back defensively with a strike. Eventually, Kanehara gets the better of the mat sequences too, with Takayama forced to start wrestling defensively. We get some desperation slaps just to get out of a leg grapevine! Kanehara is pretty dominant most of this. Takayama's mouth is bloodied and he can't seem to win any exchanges. He's bigger than Kanehara, but Kanehara is faster and seems to have his number no matter what he tries. Takayama tries mounting him and doing body shots in the ribs and can't even win that battle. This is really well-worked and both guys gave an inspired performance, but the layout was too lopsided. Takayama couldn't get the better of anything, and that continued for nearly 20 minutes.
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I'm so used to just being able to scroll to the bottom and click on the thread, and because everything is in order, it's typically there. Now I have to search for it because someone beat me to it. I now know how anyone who has ever tried to comment after me has felt.
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Kobashi is an incredibly talented guy. He does the graceful Steamboat armdrags in the early stages of this, which is something I've never seen from him. Has there ever been a more physically talented wrestler in history? I thought this was really good. The most fun thing about watching 1994 All Japan has been that so many of the matches aren't aiming to be classics, and there's a nice selection here of matches that are good, perfectly enjoyable matches that have no ambitions of changing the world. Sometimes that's nice. This is just solid, basic, smart wrestling. What I also like about this is that while M-K-K are so talented that it will always be obvious, the normal gap that exists in these matches between the Four Corners and someone like an Ogawa isn't as huge as I'm used to seeing. One of my favorite moments is when Kawada tortures Akiyama with this really basic hold I haven't really seen him roll out much -- he stands him on his head and tries to bend his leg behind him. Immediately, Misawa and Kobashi stand in the ring. They don't save, but they seem to both realize they may need to very soon. It was a cool way of getting over the hold. Akiyama is in peril for a big chunk of this. The hot tag to Misawa gets a pretty big pop. I guess that makes apparent that despite the Triple Crown loss, fans still view Misawa as The Man, because he gets a far bigger reaction than anyone else in the match. I've also noticed going back to '92 that Misawa seems to enjoy working with Ogawa. He doesn't sell for him like Kawada (nor should he), but he always lets Ogawa get in some offense on him and sells it well. So yeah, while there is much better All Japan, I really liked this, and it's the type of match that would be considered a MOTYC if it was a main event on Raw today. I'll make a side observation that Kobashi has scored the pinfall for his team more often than not on this yearbook. He was pushed pretty hard in 1994.
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Last few minutes. Sandman accidentally takes a cigarette to the eye. They sell it like he's blinded and Dreamer wins the match. Everyone goes into a panic and people rush the ring to stretcher him out. Woman is hysterical and yells at Dreamer, who seems apologetic. Um ... he had a cigarette in the ring, WHAT THE FUCK DID HE THINK WAS GOING TO HAPPEN? Woman is once again great in this. Gabe Sapolsky gets a name drop. The report so far is that one eyelid was burned due to the cigarette burn, and the other eyelid was completely torn off! Of course, you can call the hotline for updates on Sandman.
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This is really weird. Some guy interferes and Dick Murdoch comes out of nowhere to help remove him from the premises, and Tenryu and Hara team up to take him out. Then the match resumes. This was just okay for me -- the neverending chop battles felt like the worst of 00s Kobashi, so it was hard for me to get into.
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Recap of the previous Sunday's Main Event. Hogan tells Dave Sullivan how much he loves him and him gives him an autographed photo. How nice. He also gives him a pair of wrestling boots that he says he was wearing when he signed Andre the Giant in front of 94,000 people. Zane Bresloff Dave Meltzer blah blah blah. So later in the show, Flair and Sherri did a number on Hogan until Hogan comes out and makes the save. Hogan can do a number on Flair even while tearing his shirt. The masked man shows up, but Brutus shows up to run him off. Kevin ends up hitting Dave and then getting into it with Hogan. This week, we get a promo from Flair and Sherri to respond, and Sherri does indeed look like she went on a heavy drug binge. Dave interrupts Flair yet again and I'm actively rooting for him to get beat up now. Sherri is pissed when she sees him, and rightfully so. Flair says he's going to break Hogan's leg if he doesn't disappear after Flair counts to five. Hogan comes out to Flair's surprise, which I guess means Flair couldn't hear his entrance music. Anyway, Hogan/Dave vs Flair/Partner is set up for next week, under the condition that Flair will also put his career on the line at Havoc. Flair agrees to the stip, but video would make that pretty easily unenforcable in any court, as he was clearly coerced. These segments are infuriating. Finally, Mr. T and Flair are spotted entering Michael Jordan's restaurant in Chicago together. (Hey, that's my hood!)
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Miss Texas shows up and attacks Fantasia. She gets a big pop, almost loses her top and throws some great punches. Also on the show, Doug Gilbert had a match against one of the Eliminators Sid at ringside tossing him a chain. Fun to hear the studio crowd in a "Powerbomb!" chant. Lawler and Christopher come out to even the sides when the heels won't leave well enough alone, and Scott Bowden ends up eating a fireball!
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Doug Gilbert has recruited Sid Vicious as his partner. This is a really good interview from Doug. He's suddenly been on a roll lately, and he's normally a guy I don't care for, because he seems like someone trying too hard. But he's been good lately. Then, Tommy Rich boasts about his accomplishments, all of which are true, in a terrific interview. Suddenly, the USWA interests me after not being as good the rest of the year as it has been in every other yearbook so far.
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I wonder if HHH is going to have consequences for some of the people he's burned on his way up once he gets to the top. Sure, they may work for him if he's the only game in town, but will he command the same loyalty that Vince has had?
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WCW agreed to terms to bring in Hogan. Hogan never did anything that he didn't have contractual power to do. Without a doubt, he had too much power, but had WCW not agreed to his terms, he never would have signed. Hogan brought both positives and negatives to WCW. So I do blame Bischoff for acquiescing, because Hogan had more influence than he should have. As long as he was drawing though, what was good for Hogan was usually good for WCW. When they became two different things, that's when there was a problem. That said, while I don't blame Hogan as much as I blame Bischoff, that doesn't mean Hogan is blameless. It doesn't mean Nash is blameless. They played a part in WCW's decline in popularity. As a result, they killed what was a pretty good gig for themselves and others, and it had an impact all the way to the front office people who lost their jobs. It's perfectly reasonable to call them selfish while acknowledging that management let them get away with too much. Consider this: Guys like Hiroshi Hase and Bill Dundee have booked themselves as midcarders during booking runs they've had, so the idea that anyone would do it is not quite true. Was that really a power play by Hogan? Perfect had gone around the horn on house shows with Hogan and was one of his worst-drawing opponents. Why would they give him a rub when he had just proven he couldn't draw on top? They were building toward Warrior and Hogan needed to be as strong as possible going into that match.
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Well, the reason I hesitate in saying Vince is not because I think he was a bad booker, but because it's hard to say what exactly he booked. He's the best promoter of all time for sure, but it seems like most WWF stuff, even in the 80s, was fairly collaborative. Do you call Vince the booker during the 80s, or do you call Patterson the booker in the 80s? For Heyman, he didn't have enough success to be in the conversation. Pretty much everyone who booked a territory prior to the 80s - and some who booked during the 80s - have a stronger case. He's a creative guy. He's great at manipulating emotions and making wrestlers seem better than they really are. But he's never been the driving creative force behind a big money show. I think we could look at every booker we can think of -- good and bad -- and list their best and worst qualities. Somewhere in there, through addition and subtraction, you come up with what would be the ideal booker. But they all have flaws and failures, which is unavoidable. There is always going to be a little trying of new things, and if you look at Vince's success rate of all the things he's attempted, he probably has the worst batting average of just about anyone ever. But rating him like that isn't fair. So yeah, all of that is why I like the idea of keeping this subjective and just talking about the good and bad in bookers instead of trying to answer a specific question.
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I'm not sure we can definitively answer this question. Rather than trying to pin down the single person who is the best booker, how about if we just discuss who we think are the best bookers without having to pick just one? You can say good and bad things about every person listed, and I'd rather have a more nuanced discussion. "Who is the best booker ever?" is almost impossible to answer. "Who are the best bookers ever?" is much easier.
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Kevin Sullivan is similar to Dusty Rhodes in that both have had really good and really bad booking runs. In both cases, the problem was that they needed a break at the end of their most successful run that never came. 3+ years is a really long time to handle the stress associated with being a booker.
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September: #1 - Steve Williams vs Kenta Kobashi (AJPW 09/03/94) **** #2 - Sabu vs Al Snow (California 09/11/94) **** #3 - Nasty Boys, Dusty & Dustin Rhodes vs Arn Anderson, Terry Funk, Bunkhouse Buck & Col. Parker (WCW Fall Brawl 09/18/94) ***3/4 #4 - Vader vs Sting (WCW Fall Brawl 09/18/94) ***3/4 #5 - Jushin Liger vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara (NJPW 09/23/94) ***1/4 #6 - Ricky Steamboat, Dustin Rhodes & Sting vs Arn Anderson, Bunkhouse Buck & Terry Funk (WCW Main Event 09/11/94) *** #7 - Vader vs Brad Armstrong (WCW Worldwide 09/10/94) #8 - Arn Anderson & Bunkhouse Buck vs Ricky Steamboat & Dustin Rhodes (WCW Main Event 09/04/94) #9 - Brian Christopher vs Doug Gilbert (USWA Mid South Coliseum 09/19/94) #10 - Rock & Roll Express vs The Gangstas (SMW TV 09/17/94) #11 - Rock & Roll Express vs The Gangstas (SMW TV 09/03/94) #12 - Atsushi Onita, Katsutoshi Niiyama & Mr. Gannosuke vs Mr. Pogo, The Gladiator & Hosaka (FMW 09/25/94) #13 - Jerry Lawler vs Doug Gilbert (USWA TV 09/24/94) #14 - Cactus Jack vs Sabu (ECW TV 09/30/94) #15 - Tommy Rich & Buddy Landell vs PG-13 (USWA TV 09/17/94) Overall thoughts: I need my socks knocked off. Come on, October!
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