PeteF3
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Everything posted by PeteF3
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In the pre-match promos, Woman begins her bizarre gimmick of constantly attempting to seduce Mean Gene. Savage cuts off a Liz interview, just like old times. They also say the word "MegaPowers" like 30 times, so apparently that trademark lapsed or was discovered not to have existed. Lots of "Oh, WCW" moments here. The goofiness with the door, the idiot timekeeper, the wide shot once Flair starts bleeding, the weird bit with Flair punching out the referee for no reason, and I don't know what the hell was up with the constant moonings, but it was ridiculous and borderline uncomfortable. Also, Flair for some reason turns into Sportatorium Lawler, stalling and working the mic before the match. That said, they picked the intensity up as the match went along and the ending is a shock among shocks. WCW would top themselves with shocking heel turns not once but twice more in the next few months, but Liz turning heel was a moment that blindsided everybody at the time even if it would get overshadowed later. -
Yeah, I never, EVER understood what the endgame of this was supposed to be. This is a fake shoot, Japanese-style angle in a world where that sort of thing simply didn't exist. (Okay, you had the Michaels collapse not long before, but it wasn't kayfabe-breaking the way this one was). Then Bischoff and Sullivan can talk about how they worked all the boys (amusingly, Disco Inferno was reported as being the one guy in the locker room who smelled work), but it doesn't do anything to draw money. If Pillman doesn't get into a car wreck and doesn't jump ship, what the hell next? Pillman comes back and...wrestles Sullivan again? I will say that the announcers did a very professional and admirable job in the wake of some unprecedented, bizarre circumstances. And that the action in *both* matches is really good. For as short as it is, Pillman/Sullivan has a very Lawler/Snowman-esque vibe that I was rather enjoying before they felt the need to start booking to the Internet crowd ten years before that was a viable option. And they had the decency to have Arn wrestle in his golf outfit rather than magically be in his ring gear. It's a notable moment but more than anything it's an excuse for 3 guys to jerk off.
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From what we see, the action is better here than it was on Nitro, though it is another long beatdown on Savage. Benoit gets to show off some more stuff, and tie Savage in knots. Just as Savage is about to come back and put this away, Arn draws him in and he and Flair and Benoit team up to beat Savage down, even following him into the hallway as he tries to retreat. Good stuff, ruined by Schiavone placing more emphasis on the "satellite hookup" with Hulk Hogan, who talks about how "everything is cool" while his best friend who bleeds for him is getting the stuffing kicked out of him. Ill-fated timing aside, Hulk's promo is actually pretty good. Notice how WCW is practically promising that we'll see blood in the cage at SuperBrawl--Flair has done it numerous times and Hogan does it here. The times they are a-changin'.
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Really good studio match, with the old "to the expiration of time" stip that we haven't seen in seemingly forever. Rich & Gilbert win the first fall after a board is broken over Brian Christopher's head. He can't continue, so Bill Rush orders the second fall to be wrestled as a singles match. Lawler and Gilbert continue to put on some good action before this breaks down with run-ins from Rich, Bowden, Downtown Bruno, and a returning Brian Christopher. Christopher is pretty awesome in the post-match brawl, going nuts with a gas can, destroying Rich at the announcer's desk, and dropping Scott Bowden with a superkick.
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Ah, it's been too long since we've seen a lot of these guys. Really good first fall, with Dandy and Satanico tearing it up on the mat and a terrific long finishing sequence, including a false finish which isn't always common in the primera caida. The second fall sadly isn't nearly as good, as we get a lot of meandering brawling that doesn't seem to mean much. Things pick up with another hot closing stretch, when Casas catches Santo with a small package to allow the rudos to sweep this 2-0, despite Santo's shoulder being up. I approve of more build to more Casas-Santo. It may well be the #2 match of the year but I really can't see this finishing in the top 10 or 15 by year's end.
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Raven introduces us to his newly won ECW World title, as well as Kimona Wanalaya. Tommy Dreamer responds with a candle metaphor. Cactus delivers his famous Doritos promo, attacking Mikey for not appreciating the beauty of fall foliage, for replacing his Leonard Cohen tape with the Satanic ritual music of Ozzy Osbourne, and of course for leaving Doritos in the car. Shane Douglas is back, thank goodness. JT Smith regales us with some Dean Martin. Bill Alfonso's teeth yell at us. The Pitbulls threaten the Eliminators...again. The Gangstas make their return, featuring an actual speaking role for Mustafa. Every time Raven tried to show Beulah his pain, she faked it. Raven whines about society before talking about what a loving, compassionate guy he is. 2 Cold Scorpio loves a good woman, and brings in his latest--the ECW TV title belt. All the hos is for 2 Cold! The Pitbulls threaten the Eliminators...again. The Eliminators respond...again. Saturn shaves off the rest of his hair.
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Smarky crowd over in England, as they do the "SAS-KAY! *clap* *clap* *clap*" chant right from the start. Not a bad little match at all--the tiny ring probably makes the more elaborate spots impractical, but they make do with what they have. Actually this serves as more evidence that the Michinoku Pro guys were far more than spot monkeys--they had strong commands of the basics: mat wrestling, heel/face work, how to build a match, comedy, etc.
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Savage was so absurdly banged up at this point that it's a wonder he was able to wrestle at all, and if a promotional war wasn't going on, he wouldn't have been. The Observers have been talking for months about Savage needing to get his arm fixed, but he just keeps going. For the second time in a week we get an Established Superstar going 50-50 (actually more like 25-75 in this case) against one of WCW's recent young-gun signees. There's no reason why this couldn't have continued onward, with Benoit and Eddy getting pushed as being at Savage or Luger's level. Benoit dominates, but takes a sick bump off a missed tope to set up the flying elbow. But Savage goes after Flair when Flair goes after Liz, and Woman turns on him. Savage gets beaten down, we get a SWERVE as Hogan initially runs the Horsemen off only to be attacked by Flair again, then the Giant and Zodiac continue their little drama, then Savage comes back...and then Savage calls out Elizabeth for not warning him about Woman! Intrigue! Crash-TV at its finest. Overbooked a little bit, but everything still made sense and made you want to keep from flipping the dial. The use of Woman to start with didn't make a great deal of sense but it's not like she didn't have like 57 fake-turns and fake partnerships in ECW.
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Vince of all people accusing Ted of running a money-losing subsidiary is the height of ridiculousness. Like any WWF fan gives two shits about Ted Turner's money or his stockholders. Freud would have a field day with that last line about Ted wanting to tell off his father when he sees him again.
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We get another Mankind clip first. Foley thinks he's finally found a home--a Hardcore Home. Speaking of Japanese guys the WWF didn't get enough mileage out of as babyfaces, here's Hakushi. There are slow parts here, but this is much better structured than an average cruiserweight spotfest, and this feels more like a shortened and tightened-up version of those Lightning Kid-Jerry Lynn matches from years past.
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Not as good as the Psicosis matches, as this is sort of an extended Rey squash. Juvy deadlifting a baseball-sliding Rey into a German suplex was a nice spot, though. Rey wins with his favorite finish, the second-rope Splash Mountain turned into a huracanrana. Trying that move on Rey is as futile as attempting to power bomb Kidman or back body drop Mr. Perfect.
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Cactus displays a "WW F'N F" t-shirt and invites us to Join the New Generation on the back. Fantastic. Mikey is terrific here but the Eliminators, especially Kronus, are pretty clueless. They have some nice spots and Total Elimination is one of the most badass tag finishers ever, but Kronus heaves Mikey with a belly-to-belly right into the corner and stands there picking his nose allowing Mikey to tag out. Pretty anticlimactic hot tag. Mikey refuses to allow Cactus use a broken bottle as a weapon, and the ensuing miscommunication nets the Eliminators the tag titles. Cactus and Raven lay Mikey out afterward, and then Francine suckers the Eliminators into an attack by the Pitbulls. Kronus eats a Superbomb and Saturn gets hanged with a chain, and Francine cuts off his hair as a measure of revenge for her eating a Total Elimination earlier. Angles were pretty good, the match not so much.
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Funny to see Eddy in such vastly different environments (and personas) back-to-back. Luger isn't that compelling on offense overall but he's a great douchebag bully heel here, and he does as much as he can to sell for Eddy's offense. I really like the counters and counters-to-counters involving the Torture Rack at the end. Randy Anderson is in as Luger finally gets the Rack applied, but it's a reverse Dusty finish! Holy shit, Eddy with the victory! Great moment even as Lex gets his heat back afterward. Yes, there's no way this match happens the way it does in '98 or '99.
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This sounds horrible but I had real trouble remembering and keeping track of who was whom. That said, this never really got into second gear--it seemed like Nagata and to a lesser extent Kakihara were the only guys bringing some hate and intensity to this. There are UWFI tag matches that work very well, but adding in more guys past that tends to be asking for trouble, though this throws in a few double teams and saves that you wouldn't see in a pure UWFI setting. It was worth it to see the mid-carders from both promotions work against each other but there were a multitude of NJPW-WAR mid-card bouts that were more enjoyable.
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I wonder if it's not trickier with live music than dubbing an entrance theme, though. The music is playing while Lawler and Vince are talking and it may not be on separate audio tracks.
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I suspect there may be music rights clearance issues with the Raw Bowl episode. They had a live marching band who were playing real songs (I recognized "You Can Call Me Al," and there were others).
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That is one giant cage. The best part of that is that it eliminates a lot of the contrived drama involving guys slooowly climbing out of a cage barely taller than they are--this really does feel like an ordeal to try to escape. Lots of giant bombs here, and the image of both guys standing on top of this cage that's probably a 20-foot drop to the floor is an intensely dramatic and scary one. Damian interferes and both guys get crotched on top of the cage and fall into the ring for a double KO. Kind of a lame finish for what's really a spotfest of a match, but this was fun.