PeteF3
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Everything posted by PeteF3
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Nyman sucked and this match was almost all stand-up. Now Volk is pretty underrated at standing up and striking, but it isn't really a Volk match without a bunch of tricked-out submissions. Sort of a sprinty match for RINGS with Han on the verge of being TKO'd before he busts out one big submission to get a sudden tapout. Before he breaks the hold he gets leveled by one of Nyman's cornermen and that triggers a crazy brawl. An angle in RINGS??? I've seen everything now. -
This was good, but I was hoping for a little more for Taue's first TC win, and in comparison to the previous classics between these two. This is a shortened version of a standard Misawa formula match--quick start by the challenger, big Misawa comeback, then the finish. In hindsight, I almost wonder if it wouldn't have been better and more memorable for Taue to have the big comeback. Instead, this feels very by-the-numbers. Now, a by-the-numbers AJPW main event is still really damn good, but...well, expectations are what they are. The counterwrestling involving the nodowa toward the end was fantastic, and the finish was quite well-done though I don't necessarily agree with the logic of booking Taue's big title win on a fluke. Misawa was so firmly entrenched on top at this point that it wasn't going to hurt to have him beaten more decisively.
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A very good followup to the previous night's tag match. I will agree again with Zenjo that it's a little jarring to see Kobashi still acting like a plucky underdog when he theoretically should be above that sort of thing, but the match only suffers slightly--and he *is* very good at doing it. This seems to be a match all about re-establishing Kawada after his bad loss, anyway.
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This opens up super-hot and would be a legit frontline MOTY, but as Zenjo points out it sort of bogs down once Kawada & Taue take over for the first time. That doesn't last however, as we get a bunch of great twists and turns in a match that's all about making Akiyama. He's a sympathetic underdog babyface of course, but also shows flashes of badassery in standing up to his bully opponents, with some timely saves by Misawa. We get a little callback to the '93 RWTL final, until Akiyama just murders Kawada with repeated exploders to get his biggest win to date. With AJPW you never quite know if they're really going to pull the trigger on a signature win for a young star, so it's incredibly satisfying when they do it at the perfect time, as I believe this was.
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Fantastic job by Murdoch to hang in there with Fujiwara for 24 minutes at his age. No pretense of shootstyle here--this is a wrasslin' match all the way with pro-style matwork, big moves, comedy, and pinfalls. Murdoch unleashes just about all of his classic offense and this match has a little bit of everything to it. Really good little footnote to Dick's career.
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Buh Buh Ray has some misadventures driving in a parking lot, much to the consternation of D-Von who has taken over Big Dick's role as the Dudley antagonist. The Pitbulls threaten the Eliminators (gasp). The Eliminators Harris twins respond. Francine responds to that. D-Von goes for a ride on the hood of the car. Bill Alfonso is interrupted by a phone call--he asks his mom to call the massage parlor to tell them he'll be late. 2 Cold cuts a promo on Shane Douglas. Shane rebuts and complains about Scorpio's actions after the match, in a promo that lasts longer than your average entire Pulp Fiction montage. The Gangstas threaten somebody. The Eliminators, apparently. Kronus doesn't cackle this time.
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Ah, I see we've approached the start of announcers talking about everything except the match in the ring. Still, Flair and Bobby are having way too much fun for two people. I love Flair's justification for going after Kevin Greene being about Greene "coming into Carolina" (having signed with the Panthers) without Ric's permission. Barbarian and Sting put on a hell of a show here--Barb looks good but it takes two to do most of those big moves, and Sting takes some tremendous bumps and works a good FIP segment for a guy who didn't do that too often. Great flying splash at the finish, too.
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This was a 90-minute episode *and* they were running unopposed (early start due to the NBA playoffs) so these two get plenty of time, not just to wrestle but to slowly build up to the big spots toward the end. Eddy does tone it down some, but Flair still takes the tornado DDT (which he bumps great for), the frog splash, and a huracanrana, so Guerrero still got plenty of his spots in. Heenan also does a strong job of putting over Eddy as having a real chance--yeah, this really should have been followed up quickly with a US title push.
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From a business standpoint, NJPW was almost always ahead of All-Japan from at least the early '80s onward, with the big exception being when Choshu's Army was with AJPW.
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Does the coupon book include $1.00 off any one-topping from Tatum and Victory's pizza place?
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This was such an absurd PPV, with the most contrived "Lethal Lottery" in history with literally every match involving enemies teaming or tag partners against each other. The result is a #1 contenders' final 4 consisting of DDP, the Barbarian, Johnny Grunge, and Ice Train. Unbelievable. Oh, and pinfalls count, because why not? DDP and Barb work hard to put on as good of a match as possible under the circumstances, before DDP puts him away with the Diamond Cutter. We didn't know what was to come with Diamond Dallas, but at the time this was a total out of nowhere, WTF result.
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Eddie should stick out like a sore thumb here but he acquits himself nicely with some fun stuff. Arn DDT's Eddie, thus solidfying himself as a walk-behinder 4 life, giving Flair and Savage the win. Then an awesome post-match beatdown, complete with Liz slapping Savage and Arn dropping him with a DDT on the floor.
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Match is typical boring WWF climb-the-cage stuff, with a few great bumps from Shawn both into the cage and off the cage. Davey Boy also makes a cameo appearance. Then of course, "But--but I'm a good guy! And you're...you're...you're a BAD GUY!" Pretty brazen, but the crowd approves of it. It occurs to me that doing this even 3 years later would probably be a total non-issue.
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Lawler calls out the other babyfaces, including the Cyberpunks and Dave Brown, for not coming to his help when Frank Morrell faked that heart attack. He starts on the level, stressing that it's just business and not personal with the Cyberpunks, but he and Dundee work as subtle heels for this, and Dundee ends up using a chain to net them the tag titles. Dave informs Lawler of this, and Jerry teases that he's going to be upset about it...but decides that a title belt is a title belt and gloats to the Cyberpunks anyway. We've all talked about the lack of a babyface equal to Lawler in 1990 Memphis...but now, even as the promotion is dying, it looks like it may have its men this time. Lawler immediately draws boos from the studio crowd for associating with Dundee and they're behind Fire & Ice all the way. This should be quite the interesting development.
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The main pitfall of Texas Death Matches rears its head immediately, as Takako pins Ozaki in about 30 seconds, though she uses Ozaki's own Tequila Sunrise finisher just to be a bitch. She then attacks Ozaki with what appears to be a jumprope. They actually restrain from loading this up with a bunch of falls after the first one to establish the stips, so credit to them for that. I still didn't think much of this, though--the opening brawling is incredibly tepid and sloppy (and not sloppy in the chaotic brawl sense--I mean in the sloppy sense). And despite being a match between two of the biggest cunts in the history of women's wrestling this doesn't really feel very hateful or high-stakes--and yet another dead 1996 joshi crowd doesn't help, either. What HAPPENED, exactly? Leaving aside Kudo/Toyoda, this doesn't hold a candle to the Ozaki/Kansai death matches.
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DW Dudley laments his inability to walk anymore...but that doesn't stop him from getting up to pick up a dropped quarter. Tommy Dreamer should be mad about Beulah cheating on him, but...well, the fringe benefits are made obvious. Taz threatens Scorpio with SHOOT TIME, BRUTHA. DJ RAN makes an appearance, all up in our area! Holy shit!
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We come in with Luger throwing everything at the Giant trying to knock him off the ring apron, in a cool-building spot. Giant says "fuck this" after getting knocked off and drags Luger to Flair's VIP table and chokeslams him through it. Sting saves, but it's too late--Luger and the announcers all sell this big, as Lex's babyface turn is cemented.
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This was okay, mostly saved by a well-worked closing stretch. That power bomb/Frankensteiner/sunset flip sequence was cool. Helmsley is SO not ready for prime time on offense, though--he really has nothing going for him except some knee-based stuff (big shock). I do admire the attempt at nose-based psychology in the early going, which may well be a first.
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First we get a history lesson on the history of Kuwait--5 years earlier, Kuwait City was overtaken by Iraq until it was saved by Hulk Hogan defeating Sgt. Slaughter the efforts of Gen. Schwarzkopf and Desert Storm. Highlights of the WWF in Kuwait follow. Fancam footage of Shawn talking to a family on the beach, when he's jumped from behind by Davey Boy Smith. Neat, unique little angle.