Loss
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The final vignette. Jake is taking Warrior to a coffin and Warrior makes clear (as much as he can make anything clear I guess) that he now trusts Jake. He ends up leading him into a room full of snakes. In order to get to the answer, Warrior has to open some box in the middle of the room. When he gets there, he gets bitten by a snake as Jake laughs, and the Undertaker and Paul Bearer show up. Jake makes clear at the end of this that he has turned heel. A really corny way to set up a really great run that I'm excited about revisiting. What a weird series of vignettes.
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This was a fantastic trios match given lots of time. It was mostly based on matwork and exchanges, which was pretty cool. El Dandy still has it, which makes me wonder why he's not a centerpiece of 1991 booking like he was in 1990. I also appreciated that each team tried to wrestle as a unit instead of just as a collection of singles wrestlers. That paid off in small moments like Smiley standing off their opponents when Dandy locked in the figure four. Excellent!
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Savage having entrance music to his bachelor party is nothing less than I'd expect from the guy. Sean Mooney (Yes, Jerry Von Kramer, Sean Mooney!), Bobby Heenan, the Bushwhackers, Gorilla Monsoon, Slick, Gene Okerlund, Koko B. Ware, Lord Alfred Hays, a random pirate and a girl who I think is supposed to be a blind sock hop stereotype, among others, are in attendance. There is a case of Budweasal on the set! Heenan hires a stripper of course, and we get to see everyone dance with her. She's probably better described as an exotic dancer, actually, as Piper is the one who hires the stripper. She jumps out of a cake and Gorilla and Heenan get disturbingly into her act. Sean Mooney chanting "Take it off" out of sync with everyone else is hilarious! Jake shows up and can't get into the party because his name was left off the list in an interesting bit of foreshadowing. He says Warrior gets the final piece of the puzzle on Thursday night. Good hints of a heel turn here to close out an awesomely campy series of segments.
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Chono takes the G-1 in what is probably pretty easily the highlight of his career. This was a wonderful match, probably the best 1990s New Japan heavyweight match I've seen on any yearbook, with both Muto and Chono looking like they have arrived. In fact, the notion in 1991 that either guy would reach the same peaks as Misawa, Kawada and Kobashi based on this match wouldn't seem ill-advised at all, because this was a career-defining performance from both guys. The nearfalls at the end were of course dramatic and I expected that. What I didn't expect was for the early matwork to be so engaging. Muto using the cattle mutilation was fantastic. I also think this match is helped tremendously by seeing their other matches in the G-1 that led to this one. After watching the path Muto and Chono took to get to this match, then watching them here, something is added to the whole experience. It's a near perfect combination of great wrestling and great booking that is worthy of the performances taking place. Chono comes out of this looking like a world beater, and Muto gained just as much from the tournament, showing he could beat a respected veteran, a monster and that on the right night, he could take Chono too. This is my Match of the Year right now.
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It is a good question. I do think to some degree that fans buy tickets to boo Cena, based on how much heat his matches tend to have most of the time. Cena has spent a lot of time on top being programmed against other babyfaces. Even the Punk feud, when it hit Chicago, was Cena taking on the anti-establishment hometown hero. He's also had matches with babyfaces like Lashley, Michaels and RVD, and most recently headlined two Wrestlemanias against one of the biggest babyfaces in wrestling history. Right now, they can make him whatever they want him to be, whenever they want him to be whatever that is. It's more a happy accident than it is something WWE mapped out for the most part, but I do think at times that they've really tried to milk that for all that it's worth.
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Sometimes I think they should turn Cena. I was even telling Dylan last night they should. Then I see that, and realize that he couldn't possibly be a better heel for their fanbase than he is now. The shameless merchandise shilling, the obnoxiousness showing off of the belt, the mocking of the people who boo him ... it's exactly what it should be. We are seeing a John Cena heel run.
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Watching the opening segment from last night, and I can't help but think that Cena has already turned. It's just that no one has noticed. He was clearly trolling that crowd, and it was great.
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Why would Ryback job to Mark Henry last night if he was set to be Cena's next challenger?
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Not as good as the match two nights before, but still a very good match. They really do a good job of building toward a Hashimoto win in the last few minutes, with victory looking like all but his. So when Chono pulls out a miracle comeback, it's a great moment. Amazing job of getting over the STF. Never let it be said that Hashimoto doesn't go all out when he's doing a job. He's the master of making it count, as Chono now enters the final looking like someone who has gone through war to get there.
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Last few minutes of Patriot/Walker. Patriot is injured so Landell costs Walker the match so he can have Patriot in the final. Landell is such a smug, aggressive asshole here, and I love it. Patriot wins the TV title in what seems like a big moment, as Landell was a threatening heel and did a great job of getting this tournament final over as a big deal. Patriot does a pretty good babyface interview to close things out. Should he have been a bigger star?
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Just the finish of Lane trying to hit Steve Simpson with the racket, and Steve Cox trying to stop him because he had the match in hand with a sleeper. But this creates a distraction just long enough for Cox to get rolled up for a pin. Lane and Cornette leave Cox laying after the match for his trouble. Cornette's interview is great! He is way too good to be working in small promotions at this point.
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This is a series I'd love to see in the Sportatorium, but it wasn't to be. While Memphis has had more competitive studio matches than usual in 1991 and this is the better one, it's still not a setting that's meant to give us long, competitive matches. They do a lot with the time they have, but I know they can do better. Eric Embry runs in for the DQ after about five minutes and the heels drop DWB knee first on the chair and then start attacking it with the Texas flag. Jeff Jarrett finally makes the save. Miss Texas tries attacking Jarrett and he actually punches her! It's crazy how comfortable Memphis babyfaces are hitting women.
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He wants a WWE official to address his letter, or he boycotts. The stuff about child fans feels like Bud Bundy arguing to Al and Peg that they always loved Kelly more. Also, is it true that WWE has offered refunds to angry parents when Cena has lost matches?
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I watched the 1991 Yearbook last night. Chono/Hashimoto and Atlantis/Blue Panther were my matches of the night.
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Clip from Mid South Coliseum of Lawler setting Leatherface's outfit on fire to win a match! This is followed by Dave Brown interviewing Jerry Lawler. Lawler has asked to be interviewed outside today because he's holding a BBQ! He says he's a horrible cook because he burns everything, which is a way of promising fire on Monday night. Lawler's hair will also be on the line on Monday night. I guess they have to do tricks like this when Lawler is trying to draw against Reggie B. Fine and Awesome Kong. Cool setup.
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Eddie Marlin sends in a tape with an announcement. Every wrestler in the USWA is now under an open contract, which means no individual contract signings for matches are no longer necessary, which is great because it reduces administrative burden. Eddie got a request from Dirty White Boy and Dirty White Girl that he intends to fulfill - Dirty White Boy & Dirty White Girl vs Eric Embry & Miss Texas, with the loser of the fall getting their head shaved. Embry is just as thrilled with that announcement as you would imagine. This Embry run is starting to look like one of the best six month heel runs anyone has ever had. In the next segment, Jerry Lawler is being presented with a plaque to say thank you from Mid South Coliseum, for 20 years of matches in the building. This is how they're announcing that they are returning to Mid South Coliseum. They stress that the parking lots are safe, the seats are soft, the building is air conditioned, security has been added and closer ringside seats are available. I love that they went overboard to make this clear to people, as I think some of their drawing woes were because of all of these things.
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I agree that this is proto-Sting/Vader. Excellent match. My favorite parts of Vader/Sting matches are always Vader taking Sting's offense and playing pinball. So it stands to reason that him doing the same for Muto would be my favorite part of this match. I love the David vs Goliath dynamic, and how into each nearfall the crowd got, with the two count off of Vader's splash being my favorite. This tournament continues to impress me. While Chono is getting upsets and showing his toughness by hanging with a badass, Muto is in his block doing the exact same thing. Great way to set up the final.
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It's possible that El Dandy in 1990 has completely spoiled me, but this match really left me disappointed. That's strange, because going into this yearbook, I expected this match to end up my MOTY based on it being a title match, its rep and the type of wrestling I like. After watching it, it's not. It is a great match. But I don't think it compares to Dandy against Azteca, Casas, Llanes or Black Warrior, or even Atlantis/Emilio just a year later. The matwork looked great, and I think the match was really well laid out, especially in the finishes to each fall. I loved how the holds became increasingly desperate as the match progressed, and they did a ton of false finishes, which were all excellent. But something was missing for me on this one. I think it was lacking the emotional hook or violent undercurrent of some of the Dandy mat classics. Maybe it's not fair to hold everything to that standard, but I can't help but compare title match lucha to those matches now.