Loss
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Everything posted by Loss
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Hase is about as bloody as I've ever seen any wrestler. It had the desired effect, as I was way more into this match than I probably would have been otherwise. I've seen these two face each other a few times now, and I think this is the best outing I've seen them have. I'd credit almost all of that to Hase, where their past matches have been more of a mutual effort. It's not that Muta is bad, but Hase gives a really standout performance. Muto busting out THE MIST was so perfectly timed and really heeled him in front of this crowd. Muto ends up attacking him with ... something awfully big ... and then does a moonsault on him post-match. I loved everything about this. -
My favorite wrestler to compare Bret to these days is Shinya Hashimoto. I can't see myself having rated him above Bret pre-yearbook watching at all, and now, I can't see not doing it. In terms of guys I have seen a lot of that I hadn't before diving in, I would put Bret above Muto, Takada and Chono pretty comfortably. I'd put him behind Genichiro Tenryu and Bull Nakano. He's better than Taue and Dr. Death overall, but they both peaked much higher. I think he's about at the same level overall as Hiroshi Hase, Bobby Eaton, Barry Windham and Devil Masami.
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Not a fan of Bret teasing kicking a guy in the balls and then kicking him in the stomach. It always looked like a balls shot, but didn't get the heat of a balls shot, and wasn't called as a balls shot.
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By 1993, he was estimated to have wrestled around 6,000 matches. 10,000 may be on the high end, but I don't think it's too much of an exaggeration. 7,000-8,000 seems more accurate.
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As a big show performer, I think Bret is on the periphery of the GOAT conversation, actually. So I don't fault anyone for thinking that. Additional footage and exposure to wrestlers not seen by as many people as much has broadened the perspective of quite a few of us. Bret still has a place, but some of us have seen better now. With the possible exception of Vader, Bret was the best in-ring main eventer in the U.S. of the 90s. He was easily the best worker in his company for several years, and he deserves credit for having high quality main events in a promotion that hadn't really had them consistently until Bret became a headliner. 1997 is probably the best year of his career. I would hold it up to just about any year any wrestler has ever had. So in short, I get the Bret praise. I agree with lots of it. I'm a fan, too. But he was the best in *his* world, as OJ said, not really the best in *the* world at any point.
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100,000 matches? Do you realize how ridiculous a claim that is?
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Some of the B-shows have gaps in 1988-1989, specifically Main Event.
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I like Bret, but I would have liked him a lot more if we got the PPV Bret on Coliseum Video matches, TV matches and handhelds. He is very much a big show performer. His career doesn't really have many hidden gems, and his Hart Foundation tag matches are almost all disappointing. His feud with Shawn Michaels had plenty of opportunities and went a long time, and still never produced a really classic match. You could say the same for his matches against Rick Martel. But for delivering exciting PPV main events, he was really good.
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This was humorous and I had to post it here. It was on the F4W site through my Google Reader, but when I tried to link to it directly, there's no content there for some reason. Anyway.
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There's probably enough to do it well for each of those years.
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The last segment of USWA Texas on the yearbook, and the last TV show before Jerry Jarrett temporarily lost the territory. Austin attacks Adams a few minutes into the match and Jeanne and Pringle attack Toni at ringside. They immediately try to cut her hair, but Adams clears the ring with a chair. Then Pringle's hair almost gets cut, and eventually Adams almost gets another haircut. This feud did live on for the rest of the year in Kevin Von Erich's TWF, but had no TV to promote it.
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Cactus has Stevie Wonder braids and even a few supporters in the crowd, but it's a bait-and-switch. He'd like to say he's back, but he hates this place. I take that as a shoot. Cactus is so bad on interviews at this point that it's amazing how far he came. Akbar calls Saddam Hussein "The Fabulous Saddam Hussein".
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The match barely gets started when Eddie Gilbert is out to attack both guys. He's banned from the building, but shows up anyway. He has a ton of heat and does an excellent interview. The studio crowd LOUDLY chants for Lawler to come out. I wish some complete matches were available from this run, because this stuff is great.
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Bill Dundee cuts a local promo for the Evansville market. Then we get a clip of a Lawler/Gilbert match from MSC. It looks like it was worked as a revenge match, as Lawler is all fired up. Great stuff. Sam Lowe (or Sam Bass, depending on the minute) accidentally sprays Gilbert in the eyes with something meant for Lawler, and Gilbert loses the ambulance match. Back in the studio, Lawler shows a clip from another house show in Missouri the night before, with him facing Doug Gilbert. Referee Greg Wayne won't count, then Gilbert comes in the ring to attack Lawler. They work over Lawler's knee, with Lawler still selling the damage in the studio, saying he doesn't know how much more of his legs he could take of this. Brickhouse Brown tries to make the save and DWB hangs him by a noose over the ring rope. Yeah. Wild stuff, with Eddie Marlin taking more bumps and BUDDY WAYNE even getting involved. Completely chaotic stuff, and nice change of pace for something meaningful not to happen at Mid South Coliseum. Loved all of this.
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The heels are making jokes at the expense of Dundee and Vicious Vicki. I tune out when DWG talks, so I have no idea what they're going on about. Dundee is out to point out that Kimberly eats Alpo, and she slaps him. It's SLAP WEEKEND in pro wrestling. Vicious Vicki is out to give Dundee some backup and a fight breaks out. Not the best segment.
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Once again, Sherri proves herself the proto-Lady Gaga. Check out that outfit. Yes! Start of the Savage/Warrior feud. We see Warrior peeking through the curtain as Sherri talks about needing the contract signed to make a Savage title shot official. Sherri cuts one of her better promos, getting a "Warrior" chant going for this crowd. The crowd pops big when he finally comes out, or at least I thought, but the noise also sounded a little piped in, so who knows. Warrior tears up the contract and gets in Sherri's face. She eventually slaps him. And slaps him again! And slaps him again! Awesome. I could watch that all day. Warrior ends up destroying the set. This was the best segment Warrior has been in all year, thanks to Sherri. Warrior was decent too.
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This was a tough crowd, but this was a spectacular match. You expect Rogers and Kobashi to bring their A-game, but Fulton and Ace did too, having some nice temper-flaring exchanges and adding a lot to the match. The Kikuchi/Malenko tag had the much hotter crowd, but this was a much better wrestling match. People would have raved about this if it happened in the U.S. during the same time.
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I don't understand the focus on the right way to end the streak. Why not just run it indefinitely? The gate would tell them when people were losing interest, and at that point, they could do whatever. But it's awfully defeatist to start thinking about the best way to end something when it was working very well. The focus instead should have been on the best way to prolong ending it as much as possible. Do you think Vince was thinking about the best way they could have Hogan drop the title in 1984? He ran with it until he thought he had the right scenario where he could drop the title. We never made it far enough into Goldberg's run where ending the streak should have been any type of concern. As it stands, it ended in December 1998, which was the most successful month in the history of the company.
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