cactus
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Everything posted by cactus
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Not much to say here. Legion Of Doom squash Power and Glory in seconds. Hercules takes the Doomsday Device and that's all she wrote. A super easy payday for Paul Roma, as he gets shoved out of the ring as soon as the bell rings. Hawk and Animal debuted for the company in the summer of 1990 and were being booked incredibly strong, so it made sense for them to steamroll right through their opponents. ½★ -
Of all the filler we got on this show, this was by far the most pointless. Valentine is now face, has entrance music and works at a much quicker pace than he ever did during the entirety of his heel run. He strikes away at 'Quake until he falls down like a big redwood. The crowd pop for this and even get behind Valentine. Earthquake scores a quick win after an elbow drop and a Earthquake splash. Earthquake's single run was coming to end and Valentine is far beyond washed up at this point, so this match helped no one and was a massive waste of time. ½★
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Perfect's selling here got a bit too silly for my tastes. He flips inside out from a Bossman punch and it reminded me of when Shawn Michaels tried to sabotage his match with Hogan by flopping all over the place. After Heenan and Perfect bend the rules, a haggard looking Andre The Giant comes down to even the odds. After Bossman looks like he has this won, Haku and Barbarian rush the ring and cause the disqualification. Bossman and Andre stand tall after the heels are fought off. Even with the naff non-finish, this was a fun, overbooked match with a molten-hot crowd. ★★¾
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As far as monster squashes go, this worked exceptionally well. Even here, it's clear that the Undertaker has an unique aura about him, with the kids at ringside looking in complete awe of him. He's in pure, no-selling Michael Myers mode and makes quick work of Snuka after catching him coming into the ring from a springboard attack. A tombstone later and Undertaker has scored his first of many Wrestlemania victories. I'm sure this was initially booked as yet another filler match, but the added historical significance stops this from being a complete waste of time. ★★
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This is a depressing sight. Demolition are on their way out, with Ax out of the picture and replaced with Crush. Tenryu & Kitao are here as the WWF had a partnership with the short-lived SWS Japanese promotion. A large portion of the crowd are stretching their legs and the remaining fans sit on their hands, all whilst Bobby Heenan makes racist jokes about the Japanese wrestlers smelling like soy sauce. I'm sure these four could have a fun match in front of a hot Korakuen Hall, but this was just forgettable. The Japanese team pick up a win to zero reaction. It's a crying shame that Tenryu's biggest WWF match is pure filler designed to give the fans a break after the Savage/Warrior retirement match. ★½
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Two beefy meatheads clobber at each other for a bit. Bulldog has bulked up big time since we last saw him at a Wrestlemania. He sacrifices a great deal of speed for his added mass. This wasn't pretty, with the exception of some surprising high spots, including a beautiful powerslam from Warlord and a Bulldog standing dropkick that gets a lot of height. Bulldog refuses to tap to Warlord's finishing Full Nelson submission, and is able to escape and landing a running powerslam to score a win to a monster pop. This was a bowling shoe ugly battle of powerhouses, but the crowd dug every second of this. ★★½
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Dino continues to stink up the undercard of Wrestlemania, although this would be his last appearance thankfully. Texas Tornado looks like slimmed down and quicker version of the Ultimate Warrior. This was a simple squash for Tornado, but neither man looked good in this. Bravo looks like shit and works like shit, and Tornado looked so wooden and awkward in there. This is over once Von Erich kicks out from Bravo's side suplex and Bravo is pinned after Tornado lands his discus punch. Pointless not-so-fun fact: both guys would die within weeks of each in early 1993 from gunshot wounds. ½★
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Great episode, guys. I've only followed TNA here and there, so it's a huge blind spot for me. Looking forward to seeing what else has made your list.
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Even with all the working parts in place, Virgil chokes on the big stage. The fans were insanely hot for this entire Dibiase/Virgil break-up storyline and Piper being in Virgil's corner gave everyone even more of an excuse to cheer him. They remain over for him at this show, but the reactions die down once he takes control and the fans see that Virgil is just not that great of a wrestler. Piper antagonises Dibiase and Virgil steals a countout win. It's fine, just not the pay-off that this incredible feud deserves. That satisfying pay-off would finally happen at Summerslam. ★★
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Slaughter has always been a good hand and he is a more interesting opponent than the majority of Hogan's foes during his first title run. He stalls well and is great at playing the chickenshit heel. Although this is worked miles better than Andre/Hogan, this was a far blander and duller main event. No one believed Sarge was winning this and not even the electric crowd and a nasty Hogan bladejob could pull me into this. The amount of blatant chair shots in front of the referee also had me rolling my eyes. At least this was decisive and sent the crowd home happy. ★¾
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You're not going to find anything fancy here, but this was a good match with a lot of heat. The Nasties aren't flashy at all, but know how to brawl when they feel like it. Bret is Bret and Neidhart is brilliant when he's in the role of the hyped up fresh man during the hot tag segments. After the referee is distracted with all the bodies in the ring, Knobbs nails Neidhart with Jimmy Hart's motorcycle helmet to steal the win and the tag titles. This would be the last time we would see the Bret and Neidhart team up for a while, as Bret is being groomed for a big singles run. ★★★
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While this isn't as great as I thought it was when I used to wear out my VHS of this show as a kid, this is still a wonderfully, colourful main event with one of the most electric atmosphere ever. They have them eating out of their hands. Warrior brings the intensity and Hogan sorts out the rest, including laying out the match spot-by-spot. Despite all this, there is way too much downtime as they spent literal minutes down on the mat. I dug all the long stare down and test of strength spots, but I found myself skipping forward ahead whenever they would both collapse to the mat. Warrior wins after kicking out of the leg drop and Hogan finds a way to make it all about himself during the aftermath. ★★★¼
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Rick Rude looks the best he'd ever look during his career here, he's a total stud. He saves this from total mediocrity by bumping around the place for Snuka. Steve Allen joins the commentary booth for this one and cracks jokes about Snuka wearing his wife's underwear. Sunka goes to the top for the Superfly Splash, but Rude rushes up to his feet and is able to put the brakes on Snuka by landing a Rude Awakening. An average squash setting Rude up for a world title feud and to give the fans a chance to breathe for the main event. ★½
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Way too short to break this down in detail. Bossman makes quick work of his former partner by landing a stiff boot as Akeem runs into the corner and laying him out with a Bossman Slam. Dibiase attacks Bossman before the bell, but it doesn't do much to slow down the big man. A good way to wrap up the Bossman vs Slick and Akeem feud, whilst giving some Bossman some momentum as his face turn gets underway. ★
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Solid wrestling with sound psychology, these two did everything right, but the Skydome audience would rather entertain themselves by doing the wave. Robert teases the DDT multiple times but is unable to ever land it. They build up well to a Roberts comeback, as Roberts is brilliant at subtlety egging on the fans to get behind without looking like he's pandering. Dibiase is able to retain his belt by getting Roberts counted out as Virgil interferes. Roberts get payback by stuffing money down Dibiase's throat. An okay match, with a cheap ending. ★★
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The only good thing I can say about Dino Bravo and Jim Duggan facing off is that only one match is going to suck because of their presence. A poor match with Hacksaw more focused on shouting rather than selling for Dino. All we get here is weak punch-kick action with hardly any bumps whatsoever. Duggan tries to get the Canadian crowd to get a U-S-A chant going. Earthquake is in Bravo's corner and he squashes Duggan once this bout is concluded with multiple splashes. ½★
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The Rockers and the Orient Express get a chance to showcase their flashy moves. Shawn and Marty are incredibly over and are one of the most consistent acts in the WWF at the time, although this felt like a touch lackluster when compared to the classic these two teams would have at next year's Rumble. Jannetty counters a back body drop by landing on his feet, which is probably the most impressive spot of the night. My main gripe with this match is that it ends just as things start to pick up, and it's weak finish at that. Fuji blinds Jannetty with salt and he's counted out. ★★½
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Even by non-wrestler standards, Sapphire was bad. Sherri had to carefully lay out her spots and any time we see Sapphire, we get some of the worst offence ever. Rhodes and Sapphire bring out Miss Elizabeth out to be their manager for the night, which enrages Savage. Savage and Rhodes are god-tier talents, but it seems that they are having an off-night. While there's not much meat on the bone, the crowd absolutely love ever second of this. Jesse Ventura's commentary is a highlight, as he can't stop him ripping into Sapphire. ★¾
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Yay for Tito, boo for more filler. Tito carries Barbarian to a decent match, which sees Barbarian getting some heat with a win over a popular babyface after the Powers Of Pain break-up. Tito gets the briefest of hope spots, until it's time to wrap this one up. Barbarian isn't anything special, but his top rope clothesline nearly decapitates poor Tito. ★★
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The Hart Foundation attack the big Russians as they are singing their national anthem and land The Hart Attack for the win in 18 seconds. The crowd love it. No one needed to see Nikolai Volkoff in 1990 wrestle in long and competitive matches, so I can't hate on this much. We do get a funny backstage segment with Steve Allen and the Bolsheviks prior to this squash, which is well worth going out of your way to see. ½★
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Oh god, where to begin with this? For those of you fortunate enough to not of seen this before, this was the match that Piper decided it would be a good idea to paint half his body black as he goes to war with a black man. Blackface aside, this wasn't an awful match, just a disappointing one. Piper has had some cracking brawls in his time, but this wasn't one of them. He pulls out a Michael Jackson-style mesh glove from his trunks and begins to use it as weapon and the referee doesn't seem to do anything. They eventually gets counted out as they fight to the back. ★½
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This wasn't too different from Beefcake's match with Dibiase at last year's Wrestlemania. A basic bout with Beefcake following the lead of a much more talented heel. Perfect bumps all over the place for The Barber's primitive offence. Perfect takes control once The Genius throws Perfect his scroll to knock Brutus out with. Beefcake isn't half bad at selling Perfect's onslaught, but this segment goes on way too long and the finish feels anti-climatic as Beefcake wins after landing a catapult leg toss out of nowhere, sending Perfect face first into the ring post in a spectacular bump. After intervening with Perfect's haircut, the Genius is caught red-headed by Beefcake after gets de-mulleted instead. ★★¼
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We start this off with some basic power-based posturing. Hercules works in a brief hope spot as he hits a barrage of clotheslines, which are only able to send Earthquake down to one knee. Herc makes the mistake of going for his backbreaker submission, but is unable to scoop the big guy above his head. A big elbow drop and a Earthquake splash wraps this up in just under five minutes. This wasn't going to win any MOTY awards, but they did everything they set out to do. Earthquake secures a dominant win over an established star, setting him up for much bigger things over the summer. ★★
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Haku has to carry the workload for his team as Andre is relegated to standing on the apron and attacking Ax or Smash whenever they come into his reach. The action here is rudimentary and unsophisticated as one would expect. Andre finally enters into the ring as an illegal man and Demolition double clothesline him into his corner. A miscommunication by the heels sees Andre getting himself tied up in the ropes and Demolition hit their finish on Haku to a monster ovation. Andre gets chewed out by Bobby Heenan after the match and Andre starts slapping him around before leaving on his own as the crowd cheer him on. This was an abysmal match with a good finish and a truly bittersweet post match. ★★
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Koko shines in this high energy (hah) opener. The audience quiets down once Martel takes control, but are right back to cheering their asses off once Koko makes his comeback after a failed Boston Crab attempt by The Model. Koko is a solid hand at being an over jobber-to-the-stars and Martel looks comfortable doing his campy gimmick, complete with big facial expressions. Martel locks on his crab and scores the first victory of the evening. This was here to give Martel some more momentum and to warm up the crowd, without burning them out without too much excitement. ★★¼