PeteF3
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Everything posted by PeteF3
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Our first recreation of the Montreal Screwjob, back when that idea was kind of cool. The build to Unforgiven has been pretty blah, though the really pushed main event was the Inferno Match anyhow, but I'll take something that's blah but at least focused over the chaos that's WCW's main event scene. There's something to be said for just sticking to the plan.
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We get the soundbite that opened up Val's entrance.
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Like the Dude segment, this Austin promo serves its purpose and advances the story, but does little more. Austin outs Vince and Dude as being co-conspirators. We have a hook for the underwhelming Dude-Blackman main event, as Austin promises to get his hands on both the Dude and Vince.
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This isn't much better than WCW trying to leech onto Master P or Kiss. I guess a mid-card wrestler deserves a mid-card musical act.
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Dude has new music for his new segment that's a bit more in line with his '60s persona than the BeeGees-esque theme he normally uses. McMahon quickly interrupts and laments that Dude Love cost him a chance to humiliate Steve Austin, and fines Dude $5000. I'm still not sure why they felt the need to tease dissension or animosity between the Dude and Vince, but that seems to be a recurring booking trope of this era--they did it with Shawn and Helmsley and then DX and the Outlaws, too, before they ultimately solidified as a team. Dude explains that when he and Austin were tag champs, they were followed by a bevy of pussy...cats. But Austin got the housewives with hair on their upper lip. The Dude will pull out of Unforgiven if Austin gets on his knees and apologizes.
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More run-in-mania, with some nice moments getting completely overshadowed. Liz eating the Stinger Splash was a holy-shit moment that has to play second fiddle to Hogan and Nash interfering. And yes, Hogan's plan didn't really make any sense, as he shoves Savage off the turnbuckle and then leaves the scene like a 1960's Batman villain assuming his work is all done. That's the end of Sting as a superstar main eventer as we're about to hit a big ol' reset button as WCW tries to reclaim its 1996-97 glory.
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Way too many heel miscommunication spots and low blows on this show. This is where, and why, a focused overall vision and agents who know what they're doing matter. The action in isolation is decent if overbooked. DDP fights off the whole Flock but a guy in a ring crew uniform knocks him out with the stop sign, leading to an Evenflow on the kitchen sink and the U.S. title for Raven. I had no idea who this was and neither do the announcers and needed this thread to fill me in. I'm underwhelmed. On the positive side Levy is probably in the workrate run of his career, as he's had a number of strong performances on these PPVs even if he crams too much in.
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There are some iffy moments here because Saturn's no ring general and Goldberg's still green--particularly that springboard whatever to the floor, and the final transition with Goldberg kicking his way back to offense could have been done more dramatically. But this was a very good effort and a very good attempt at creating some intrigue and drama in a match that looks like a foregone conclusion on paper, with Saturn playing good hit-and-run offense and the Flock around making nuisances of themselves. The finish is holy-shit, rewind-and-watch-again worthy. It could have been a disaster but Goldberg brute forces his way into executing. I don't know how people can dismiss Goldberg as nothing but a look or nothing but a Stone Cold ripoff. Even his scissored takedowns get huge pops and he was clearly an incredible athlete in addition to just being muscular.
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Not sure this is a MOTYC-level match but it was fun, with Greco being the big standout here with some awesome holds and suplexes. Definitely more of a table-setter than a truly great match in its own right but it more than served its purpose. Yes, even really good modern mat-wrestling from guys like Gable & Jordan tends to look rehearsed and choreographed compared to the stuff here.
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Lawler and Dundee could probably fall out of bed tomorrow and put on a good match--that's how good their fundamentals and chemistry are. Fall out of bed 18 years ago and the match will be even better. This is a really fun TV bout from the word go with Dundee upending the crown and interrupting Lawler's church bulletin promo, with some great punches and good offense and a few new wrinkles like the Stunner. Austin Idol decides he's going to determine the winner and brains Dundee with a chair to give Lawler the countout victory.
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One thread running through this CC was Taue suffering a bad knee injury early on, causing him to forfeit some matches and get his other matches in and over with in under 10 minutes or so. It's possible that that fucked up the planned booking, though I don't know to what extent if at all. In any case, this was an excellent match and may well be the best MOTY so far in '98. All those recurring dragon screws off the turnbuckles could look really contrived, but these two find ways to make it work, make it look organic, and sell it as a major turning point in any match when Akiyama hits it. Both guys bust out some new offense here--for Jun that's been a running theme for the first quarter of the year, but even Misawa busts out a diamond cutter here to set up the stepover facelock. Some of his elbow-based transitions and comebacks are fantastic too, even by his standards.
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This was fun, though I would have almost preferred it if they stuck to the matwork because they were busting out all kinds of cool submissions you don't see every day, whereas the late '90s and early '00s is sort of the Era of the German Suplex and they sometimes lose their appeal after awhile. Futagami is sort of a poor-woman's Kandori, but that's not a bad thing.
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I was thinking Eddie was going to throw the towel in right as Chavo was about to reach the ropes, but that works, too. Eddie shamefully covers his head with the towel afterward and tragically fails to see Jericho not release the Lion Tamer. Eddie offers to set Chavo free if he beats Jericho Ultimo Dragon at Spring Stampede, but if he loses, Eddie's going to ride him TWICE. AS. HARD. (Heenan: "I think that's what he needs.")
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I don't know how legit the injury is, though Buh Buh Ray did appear to lose his grip on the 3D and it did look nasty. That said, Styles is clearly acting here and not all that well. Peaches and Sandman are back together, isn't that nice.
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The Bushwhackers in tie-dye gear, glasses, being intro'd from "the Down Under section of Dudleyville," doing their full WWF '80s shtick, Styles' reaction...it's all pretty amusing. It'd be better if they actually took part in the beatdown, though. Sandman either legit injures his neck or is just working an injury that's put over big-time.
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They may not have said it about Tenryu specifically, but the DVDVR guys were rather famously saying, "It isn't math, it's a fucking fight", and that was 15-some years ago. The backlash against the Chris Coeys of the review world isn't new, either.
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Yeah, this doesn't quite reach the glorious heights of the show-long build, though at this point nothing could even if they went through with the match. Dude Love's appearance is a groaner, but there was no avoiding that--but having Vince shove him and try to challenge him as the show goes off the air is a little too confusing and something out of WCW. In WCW that's a trend--here, though, it's just nitpicking. A day later, and weeks later when it was apparent that this ratings win wasn't a one-off fluke, no one gave a shit that they built the match up *too* well.