PeteF3
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Everything posted by PeteF3
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Ugh. There are conflicting reports out there, then. He didn't LOOK mid-30s, but of course Buzz Sawyer died at 33 and looked 53. -
I doubt Brooks was ever a particularly good worker but I will note that he was about 50 by then.
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Really good stuff here, as Oz and Kansai sort of move to the background and let the junior team members shine. Of course having said that, Kansai's buggered leg is the overarching story of the match. This is a JWP-style matwork-based match worked at an AJW pace, if that makes sense. Poor Montoya practically gets her arm ripped out of joint, but pulls a sunset flip out of her rear end to score a (controversial) 3-count. I think you've got a strong argument that your shoulder was in fact up, Reiko.
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Compelling stuff here as Lawler weasels out of a $5000 stip because the contract didn't say it had to be cash. Instead, it'll be 50 $100 bills against Cyberpunk Fire's mask in the final USWA main event at the Mid-South Coliseum. You'd like the building to close out with a better main event than that, in an ideal world, but this is still a hell of a segment.
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This is an interpromotional match and there's big heat for the FMW team. If you like fat out-of-shape guys flying all over the place, as I do, then this is one to watch. Kanemura is a total loon here--he's covered in blood before the match even begins and bumps like a madman and also delivers some great flying and bomb-heavy offense. It's tornado rules so there are pin attempts and heart-stopping saves all over the place. Not a match that will change the world but one of the better bouts in W*ING history for sure.
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Really incredible layout and performances--without going back and checking (and my original post at DVDVR is of course lost to history) it reminded me a great deal of Choshu & Saito dropping the IWGP tag belts to Hirata & George Takano that people raved about on the NJPW '80s set. That was a similarly overmatched team pulling out a stunning tag title victory, and even though it's been awhile since I've seen it I could almost believe that Hirata used past experience to lay this match out himself. Hash is such an awesome bully in this, abusing Iizuka because that's what people are supposed to do with him, and brutalizing Yamazaki's ribs as Kazuo turns in an all-timer of a face-in-peril performance. It seems like there's no way the champs can lose, but Iizuka provides a glimmer of hope by taking out Hash's knee, removing him from the picture just long enough for Yamazaki to bust out a cross armbreaker when he looked completely dead. One of the better-booked of NJPW's many, many '90s upsets--this felt like an upset that served a purpose and told a story rather than something like Liger pinning Chono because gosh darnit, they won't expect that.
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Now this is more like it. This was a tremendous comeback story for Eddy, who gets used and abused for most of this but finds a way to come back and win, even getting out of the la majistral that Liger put Samurai away with, as well as most of his other finishers. I don't know if this *quite* has enough juice to finish in the top 15 MOTYs, but it would in a weaker year, at least.
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Shane Douglas has lost his TV title to one of the Pitbulls, and despite not initially wanting it, he's pissed. Big Dick Dudley is back, and he grunts. Perry Saturn don't need no stinking stitches. ECW is a bit too crazy for Divine Brown, and she wants no part of Stevie Richards and his money. Big Dick and Bubba Ray want to change D-Von's attitude. Missy and Sandman cut another BDSM-tinged promo. Alfonso romances two ladies in a swimming pool. Dreamer discusses a weapons match with Brian Lee. Lee responds. Raven gives us his catchphrase. Yeah, the storylines are starting to run a little thin. Paul is at least trying to freshen things up, with the Douglas-Pitbull feud and the soon-to-begin Raven-Sandman program.
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Yeah, this was the "Niggas with Attitude" incident, and that doesn't make air. Mikey literally having to hold the chair *twice* so RVD can knock it into his face was pretty eye-rolling (this is probably the debut of the Van Daminator, and thank goodness for that) but it's a fresh look at RVD for him to be booked as a killer heel, at least. Pillman hasn't mellowed at all since the car wreck, obviously. This promo was pretty good and I really kinda wish we'd gotten the whole thing, just to see exactly what he said.
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This was pretty whatever and I'm not going to waste time trying to go to bat for Benoit, as enjoyable as I've found some of his stuff. I'm stunned that this was as well-received at the time as it apparently was--I guess Benoit really could do no wrong at this point, because any other wrestler would have been crucified for all the chinlock/sleeper/"rest hold" stuff by smart fans of the time. Even the live crowd seems to be shitting on it when Benoit goes back to the hold for like the 30th time. Eddie's pop-up huracanranas and doing the slingshot senton to the floor on the ramp were nice early touches and I really liked the tease of the top-rope tombstone, but I can't say that I found this particularly special otherwise.
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jdw made the same basic point I made in the last Liger match thread, with more to back it up. Yeah, just differing perspectives is all. Loss was watching this without having watched 6 other Yearbooks first. Anyway, this is a nice little bout, but that's about all. It made me want to see it in full, though.
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I get the jobbers=special teams thing, but Tajiri really should do the kicking for Team ECW. And Paul Diamond (former pro soccer-er) for the AWA. Now, can we make a starting roster of guys who dabbled in wrasslin'? Note, eligible roster guys must have at least been college players of note, if not pros. QB Erik Watts RB Marcus Dupree RB Bronko Nagurski WR WR TE Russ Francis T Dr. Bill Miller G Bill Fralic C Vader T Bradshaw G Dick the Bruiser DE Jeff Gaylord DT Ron Simmons DT Ernie Ladd DE Reggie White LB Lawrence Taylor LB Wahoo McDaniel LB Kevin Greene CB Pacman Jones CB S Brian Pillman (even though he was a lineman in college and special-teams in the pros) S K P KR And...I give up for now. We have an embarrassment of riches for the lines, especially defensive lines, not so much at the skill positions.
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I admire his commitment to it, but I thought the "booker man" angle was eye rolling at the time (I even remember being in a Prodigy chat room getting live PBP of Uncensored) and in hindsight it's worse--fairly or not--simply because we know it doesn't lead to anything, even if Heyman is trying for Pillman vs. Douglas. Pillman's workrate was also plummeting even before the auto wreck, as I'm sure injuries had already piled up. It's like Fall Brawl was a last gasp of greatness.
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I actually liked how Breeze blew her off. Fits his narcissistic character.
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Also, "I retired Bruno and/or Bockwinkel" and a reference to General Cornwallis.
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I'll vote for Arn too, but I think this is closer than some people may want to believe. Actually Waltman in 1990-91 WCW would have been off the charts awesome.
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Fun commercial with Jerry Lawler being tormented in Hell by Elvis, Kong, Don, and various other Kings. Vince is in the ring with Lawler, thus giving us a rare WWF interview segment where we're spared anyone talking over it. Lawler, in the spirit of peace after costing Warrior a KOTR berth, offers a comic book-inspired portrait of the Warrior. Well done, Jerry. Warrior rebuts, and I'll grudgingly credit him for updating his manner of speaking 6 years after his peak, giving a bit of lip service to the mystical hoohah but concentrating mostly on talking about kicking ass. Lawler shatters the glass portrait on his head but Warrior no-sells.
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We start with Heenan cutting a great psychotic promo, paranoid over having to deal with Randy Savage at the Bash. Then he bails again, and that only means one thing... Hall is back out to antagonize Ken Doll, and KEVIN NASH is here behind Eric! We get the soundbite that opens up every episode of a certain PTBN podcast. "Look at the adjective: PLAY." That unfortunate bit of phrasing aside--and the Marge Schott/Mein Kampf reference that I don't get--this is a hell of a promo by Nash. "You couldn't get a paleontologist to get a couple of these fossils cleared? You couldn't get three guys off dialysis to get a team together?!" Bischoff agrees to try to get them 3 guys if they're willing to show up at the Bash. Yeah, it doesn't need to be repeated how great the build to this was. "Who's the third man?" would become the only topic in wrestling anyone wanted to talk about for the next month.
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This was okay, and given a good amount of time. Sting works a pretty good FIP segment and Flair and Arn do some good blind-tagging. Rather predictable run-in finish but the post-match is HOT. Sting, Scott Steiner, and Luger all waylay the Giant with chairs but can't bring him down, and Jimmy Hart has to drag him away from the ring as the crowd erupts into "LU-GER" chants. This is a hell of a booking job to get the general public this excited for a Luger-Giant main event.
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Good build to this main event match, pity they didn't actually do anything with it at the Bash itself. But I guess there was enough elsewhere to make up for it. A fascinating insight into the Mongo/Greene training sessions follow--Kevin is inspired by the Slim Jim in his hand to pick out their "coach." Flair and Arn strike back by bringing in the Brain to coach them.
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In the span of a week, Cyberpunk Ice and Bill Dundee are both sent packing--Ice in a loser-leaves tag and Dundee in an impromptu studio match. I suspect this ends up with both teams allowing the opposing partner to return in exchange for the other, but we'll see.
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This was solid, but little more. The hot tag title match seems to have sapped the crowd of a bit of energy, though they're hardly dead, and this match had quite a bit to live up to. These two can sleepwalk through a lot of trademark sequences, but the finish doesn't really build well and comes off as an anticlimax. This is one instance where 16 or so minutes isn't long enough for the story they were telling.
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This is the AJPW Match of the Year to this point, surpassing Taue vs. Doc, and that puts it at #3 for the year at the moment. There is definitely a foreshadowing of the head-droppy nature of late-'90s All-Japan to come, but they're worked in well here, knocking guys out for extended periods and being treated as huge momentum shifters. Akiyama gets to shine again, as does Ace down the stretch when Doc is finally taken out, after being a deadly lurking force for most of the match. Ace succumbs but looks like a tough bastard in his own right for surviving as long as he did.
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Yeah, Eddy really has morphed into a complete worker by this point. The fans practically pleading with Otani to go for the cover as he began his last comeback was also a treat--this time, Otani goes for the kill when he can, and successfully puts Tiger away to end a very good match, that blended studio wrasslin' style body part work with high-flying juniors action.