Loss
Admins
-
Joined
-
Last visited
Everything posted by Loss
-
-
That so many guys all over the card are involved in this shows how directionless WCW's booking was at this point. I am pleasantly surprised to see all the babyfaces coming out to Luger's music, since Luger and Sting usually came out to Sting's music. Best quote picked up from a fan on the handheld: "Oh, here come the fan favorites!" But then the fancam guys start doing mock Jim Ross commentary, which oddly enough amuses me. Windham and the Yellow Dog (Pillman incognito) start it off and try to recreate the magic of their earlier opening five minutes, but don't quite hit that level this time. The crowd isn't shitting on the match, but the "WE WANT FLAIR!" chants are loud. This is interesting and shows how hardcore the WCW faithful were at this point, considering that Flair's departure hadn't even been announced on TV yet. I found this hard to follow because of the constantly shaking camera, but still enjoyed watching it. Hardcore fans sort of shitting on/sort of cheering a decent match, a weird mish-mash of wrestlers, chants for Flair, silly gimmicks and War Games ... this is WCW at its WCWiest.
-
This was far better than I expected. Dare I say, it was a perfectly solid match! Undertaker and Paul Bearer were so into their act at this point that I am pretty entertained by everything they do. In fact, I thought it was interesting that Undertaker seemed like a much bigger deal to the crowd at this point than Warrior, who does seem like a guy whose star is fading. A bodybag match is a pretty horrifying idea for a gimmick match, but I love it. Undertaker sitting up in the bodybag after the match was great. I knew Warrior wasn't going to lose, but I was still a little surprised to see Undertaker do a job this early.
-
Savage was SO good during this time. He had his tough guy persona and he was trying to protect it, but he was in love and couldn't help himself. People kept asking him questions and putting him on the spot and it made him extremely nervous. He cracks me up when Beefcake asks him if he's in love with Elizabeth, then after stalling, he says he didn't hear the question. He finally says yes, then looks completely embarrassed. Finally, Beefcake asks if he plans to ask Elizabeth to marry him. He stalls a lot on this also, and finally says yes too. Savage wants to know what he wins for asking four questions. Beefcake tells him he wins a free haircut! Hey, I've seen worse prizes on trivia night. He says if he asks Elizabeth to marry him, he wants to have the wedding in Madison Square Garden at Summerslam! Beefcake throws on the "Match Made In Heaven" tagline, and while this was a six-year love story that was one of the most remembered things about the time period and was about to culminate, it's still amazing they used it in a PPV headline position.
-
June: #1 - Aja Kong & Bison Kimura vs Bull Nakano & Kyoko Inoue (AJW 06/18/91) ****1/4 #2 - Hulk Hogan vs Sgt Slaughter (WWF MSG Network 06/03/91) **** #3 - Eric Embry vs Danny Davis (USWA Dallas Sportatorium 06/07/91) ***3/4 #4 - Steve Williams vs Bam Bam Bigelow (UWF Beach Brawl 06/09/91) ***1/2 #5 - Jushin Liger vs Norio Honaga (NJPW 06/12/91) ***1/2 #6 - Fabulous Freebirds & Badstreet vs Young Pistols & Dustin Rhodes (WCW Saturday Night 06/15/91) ***1/2 #7 - Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs Stan Hansen & Dan Spivey (AJPW 06/27/91) ***1/2 #8 - Mitsuharu Misawa vs Terry Gordy (AJPW 06/01/91) ***1/4 #9 - Ric Flair & Arn Anderson vs Brian Pillman & Bobby Eaton (WCW Main Event 06/09/91) *** #10 - Steve Williams vs Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW 06/01/91) #11 - Ric Flair & Arn Anderson vs Bobby Eaton & Big Josh (WCW Power Hour 06/08/91) #12 - Rick & Scott Steiner vs Masa Chono & Hiroshi Hase (WCW Clash of the Champions XIV 06/14/91) #13 - Ric Flair vs Bobby Eaton (WCW Clash of the Champions XIV 06/14/91) #14 - Chris Candido & Don Cha Mang vs Rob Zakowski & Danny Davis (USWA TV 06/22/91) #15 - Arn Anderson & Terry Taylor vs Bobby Eaton & Dustin Rhodes (WCW Main Event 06/02/91) #16 - Barry Windham & Arn Anderson vs Brian Pillman & El Gigante (WCW Clash of the Champions XIV 06/14/91) #17 - Genichiro Tenryu & Ricky Fuyuki vs Yoshiaki Yatsu & Shinichi Nakano (SWS 06/26/91) #18 - Tom Pritchard, Samu & Judge Dredd vs Danny Davis, Doug Gilbert & Dirty White Boy (USWA TV 06/29/91) #19 - Jerry Lawler vs Ta-Gar, Lord of the Volcanoes (USWA TV 06/29/91)
-
What a weird commercial. Paul E. Dangerously lies about how he spends his time with babes in Ferraris, while they show how he really spends his time, having Lex Luger vs Ron Simmons action figure matches. I don't get it. Were they calling their target audience nerds who couldn't get laid? Was Dixie Carter right all along?
-
-
A commercial for the new WCW trading cards. I had the whole set! They were great, but I preferred the first version that had the black border with gold stars. More Flair marketing! Then, we get a rapping commercial to hype the Great American Bash. PN News's voice is so obviously overdubbed, but they may have picked someone even worse than him to do it. WCW I guess felt that every PPV headlined by Flair vs Luger needed rap.
-
The Desperados are now sitting around a campfire after dark talking about how they still haven't found Stan Hansen. Why all the focus on Hansen? I don't even think he was in the promotion anymore at this point. They tease showing up at the Great American Bash. Yeah, that's exactly what that show needed.
-
Clip of a match from Mid South Coliseum. The match ended in a double countout, and Lawler gave Embry a piledriver on the outside. He's about to give him another one in the ring when Carl Stiles runs in. But he eats a piledriver himself for his troubles. Nishimura suffers the same fate. Candido too! Then Leatherface hits the ring with the chainsaw and Lawler manages to make the chainsaw stop working when he kicks it in a lucky shot! Leatherface freaks out and Lawler is about to really take his head off with a chair when Embry returns to the ring and attacks Lawler from behind. Embry ends up accidentally hitting Leatherface with the chainsaw, and tries to run off, but Lawler brings him back in. Eventually, all the other heels return and I start to wonder WHERE ARE THE OTHER BABYFACES? Back in the studio, Embry isn't pleased at all by Lawler's favorable edit. The two are facing off on Monday night with Jackie Fargo in Lawler's corner. He conveniently ends his interview just as Lawler shows up with a chair. Lawler promises to take the fight right to Embry on Monday night. Good segment with Lawler cleaning house as they continue to build toward the eventual Lawler/Embry showdown to settle it all.
-
I cracked up at Michael St. John saying that Ta-Gar's gloves are probably loaded with weights. I think this segment really sums up everything great about Memphis wrestling. The entire idea of a guy wearing a costume like this in a legitimate athletic contest is completely and totally bogus, but the announcers treat it respectfully. This is a bunch of no-selling from Ta-Gar while Lawler finds ways to sneak in some cheating and do what he has to do to get a win. Embry tries to immediately run in after the match and eats a right hand. Fun.
-
Embry is out for an interview, but he's preceded by Leatherface going crazy with a chainsaw. Embry's entourage is now Leatherface, Ta-Gar and Judge Dredd. Gotta love it. Embry says "Lawler's a lot more stupider than I thought he was." He jokes that no one around the country wanted to be his partner when they found out they would have to face Eric Embry.
-
Samu is, of course, Sabu. It looks like Dirty White Boy returning as a heel has been forgotten. A pretty weird collection of wrestlers. The post-match angle is a big one, as Pritchard handcuffs Dirty White Boy to the ring post so he and Miss Texas can tear and feather Dirty White Girl. Good stuff, and a bizarre match.
-
-
Misawa and Kawada are rock stars. They are being mobbed and can barely make it through the excited crowd to get to the ring. Hansen has an efficient way of dealing with that problem. This was really good. Misawa, Kawada and Hansen are as great as you'd expect them to be, but even Spivey looks better here than Steve Williams or Terry Gordy have looked at any point in 1991. There's a lot of oneupsmanship here surrounding limbs, with Misawa's leg and the arms of both Hansen and Spivey being targets. The match is a brawl right away and never really loses that spirit, even if it eventually settles into a fairly standard wrestling match. While Misawa and Kawada were definitely stars by this point, Hansen is still a step above them in terms of projecting himself as a star. He gives them a lot of offense, but their offense is about his struggle, and his offense is about his dominance. He's not intentionally taking anything away from them, but he just seems like a much bigger deal.
-
I thought this was ok, but it was too much Fuyuki and Nakano, and not enough Tenryu and Yatsu. As a result, this was one of the most disappointing Tenryu matches on a yearbook so far, not because it was a bad match, but because it lacked personality. The best moments are when Tenryu is in, especially when he tries his back elbow on Nakano and Yatsu moves him out of the way, and when Yatsu goes chair-crazy, but I was hoping for more from this.
-
-
-
Dave Brown doesn't like Embry being out there yet again, when he's been on TV enough today. Eddie Marlin comes out to tell him to scram, and Embry attacks Eddie Marlin! Michael St. John asks him if he's crazy and he almost attacks him, but Lawler runs out! Marlin gets up and says he's had enough of Embry, and that effective immediately, he is fired! Lawler isn't happy about this at all, as he wants his revenge. He reasons with Marlin not to go through with that. He tells Marlin if he can just get his hands on Embry one time, he can do whatever he wants with him after that. Marlin relents, and the match is on! This feud continues to deliver, and this episode has been great at furthering this feud.
-
Before they were stars! It's Chris Candido & Osamu Nishimura against Rob Van Dam & Danny Davis. There's some pretty impressive athletic stuff in this. The RVD/Nishimura exchanges are really advanced and impressive. RVD pins Candido after a split-legged moonsault! Fun little match. RVD does a generic "I love the people" babyface promo. Embry is out to talk to him and tells him he needs a mean streak, and says he should join him and Pritchard. Bad move for RVD, as he tells him he wouldn't spit on him if he was on fire, which causes Embry to attack. Lawler quickly runs out and Embry bails yet again. Great all around.
-
I knew they'd find a way out of this! I'm actually glad they did. Embry is out on crutches and in street clothes. He claims he sprained his ankle and can't wrestle. Embry is funny ("You're lucky I'm hurt, man"). Tom Pritchard comes out and Embry says he'd be happy to wrestle Lawler on TV, but this is all a distraction, as Embry ends up attacking Lawler with his crutches and can suddenly walk just fine. The match finally goes into the ring, but it's a short one and is pretty one-sided early on, but Lawler finally pulls out his comeback. Suddenly, the tides are turned and Embry bails. The USWA is the best booked promotion in the United States at this point. It's not even close.
-
This is booking 101. Embry is throwing guys at Lawler left and right to keep building anticipation for their eventual match. One of Embry's recruits was Leatherface, a crazy masked guy who showed up with a chainsaw, even scaring Embry. He goes after Lawler with a vengeance while Embry cheers him on on the house mic. Leatherface is dominating Lawler in all the clips we see, and I don't know who is doing this gimmick but he's not bad. Nice Lawler vs monster stuff, as he pins him after a chairshot. The pre-match stipulation was that Lawler would get three minutes with Embry if he won, but Embry immediately runs in after the match and does a number on Lawler. Embry piledrives Lawler before attacking his bad neck with a chain. Lawler rallies a late comeback with only 30 seconds in the three-minute period. I like that they clipped the match, but showed the post-match with Lawler and Embry in full. They have done a great job making me want to see this match when it happens. It would be nice if it was in full. To close out the clip, Eddie Marlin announces that Lawler vs Embry will happen on TV. On TV? Well, I didn't expect that, and I'm not sure how wise it is, but they know what they're doing.
-
-
A clip of an Earthquake/Nasty Boys vs Bushwhackers/Tugboat match from the previous week's Superstars. Tugboat turns on the Bushwhackers and aligns with Earthquake. I didn't remember Earthquake being so pushed in 1991, but they have put a ton of heat on him. Tugboat is now Typhoon and they are now called The Natural Disasters.
-
Definitely a great match. I like the 4/29 pair of matches better, but it's not a huge gap, and this is really good in its own right. I really thought the pacing of this was great, because it was your typical fast Joshi, but there was still selling mixed in with all of the offense. I thought the Bull/Aja stuff was the highlight of the match, and it is cool to see Aja's ascension over time, going from someone who can throw her best at Bull and not make a difference, to someone who is a genuine threat to her spot as the top dog. Bull isn't ready to step down just yet, but Aja has put in a chink in her armor, and they've made it clear that Aja's time is coming.