PeteF3
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Everything posted by PeteF3
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Zulu also worked New Japan for at least a tour or two in the '80s, under the name "Hercules Lone Hawk" (possibly a mistranslation or Engrish). Some of his matches made TV. -
That doesn't work, because the thumbtacks were under the ring and clearly planned to be used (that was the "surprise" that Foley had promised beforehand).
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Question for the '80s WWF project guys: is there a single good Hillbilly Jim match out there? Was he at least passable before breaking his leg? Did a Harley Davidson vs. Jerry Lawler match ever make tape? The '89-'90 version of Jim was easily worse than Beefcake, though granted his career wasn't as long.
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Hiroshi Wajima, though I would question how "proper" his true dojo experience was, or if he got the Bad News Allen express treatment. He was still godawful, though. And yes, El Gigante had enough of a "real career" to qualify, though if you go by Fantastic's criteria absolving guys who just "fell into the business") he wouldn't.
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Even though I proferred this as the answer initially I STILL read this as "Sting." I have to cut down on the WON HOF arguments.
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I'm personally not as concerned with background or how/why they broke in. But I do think it has to be a guy with a real career. The worst band in the world is some shitty dive act playing bars in Lima, Ohio or somewhere, but they don't annoy as many people for as long as a band like 4 Non Blondes. I would be hard-pressed to think of a guy who was worse for longer, while still getting big pushes, than Tiger Jeet Singh.
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A study in contrast with the Goldust promo. Dustin didn't have the act down pat yet, but he put more effort into a gimmick that could have been a disaster of Rooster-sized proportions than Shane did with his Douglas calls out Bret Hart for failing to execute a proper leg hook. Somewhere Gorilla Monsoon is creaming his pants watching this. Douglas makes his "!" for the first time. Somewhere Elaine Benes is--oh, the hell with it.
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I dug this from the moment I first saw it, but the reaction at large was almost universally negative, with many thinking this was the end of Dustin's career. That said, not even the most cockeyed optimist could believe that he could still be kicking ass and winning titles with this gimmick 19 years later. I like the story of Dustin nodding along with Vince's pitch for the gimmick and signing off on it, because he didn't know what the word "androgynous" meant.
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Won't someone help me to break up this crown? Let's all drink to the death of a clown...
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Dang, this is like Buddy vs. Armstrong and the Lawler-Dundee Christmas LLT, rolled into one and cranked up. Flair staying in Mutoh's blind spot and peppering him with rights and lefts was absolutely awesome. Flair is a pure heel and Mutoh is a pure babyface, and both play their roles perfectly, though it's clear that Flair has lost a step and that Mutoh is the superior worker at this point. Pains me to admit it, but it's true. Flair still knows what he's doing though, in terms of laying out a match and timing his kickouts and giving Mutoh his hope spots. Mutoh's moonsault actually looks really vicious here, and is a convincing way for him to go over. New Japan carrying the banner of '80s southern wrasslin' in the middle of the '90s is something I can definitely get behind.
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Tenzan has improved tremendously but is still raw and at times sloppy, and this comes off as a Hash carry job. But it's a great performance by Shinya, who throws an awesome dropkick, kicks the shit out of him as you'd expect, and absolutely compresses Tenzan with a brainbuster to score a decisive victory.
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They tease a Landell no-show/walk-out, as Cornette produces BRIAN LEE to take Brad on in the Nature Boy's place. And...oh, wrong chapter. Not worth tracking down but I'd be curious if Brad could drag Lee to something good. I'd be cautiously optimistic. Since Brad's already wrestled once, we can jump straight to the heat, as Landell absolutely peppers him with some awesome punches. But he wrestles on the level, and the lumberjacks (all 3 of them) don't get involved until Cornette and his Militia appear at ringside. In the confusion, one of the tennis rackets makes its way to Brad, and as Buddy and Cornette argue he clobbers Landell with it to take the vacant SMW title. Hulk Hogan would be proud of that kind of unprovoked cheating from a babyface. Landell is incensed after the match and teases punching out Cornette, but Jimbo bails. Buddy settles for tearing into him on the mic.
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I actually think more could have been done with a babyface Vader and would have been interested to see where it went. God help me for saying this, but this is pretty well-booked. Vader isn't suddenly a happy gladhander just because he's feuding with heels--he's got Hogan's back, but he still wants Hogan's title. "I'm gonna get in the SHOWER!" Well, that could have been replaced by a better line.
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Hogan is back in the Dungeon, with some spectacular candy-striped tights. Hogan challenges the entire Dungeon, but is confronted by the Giant, who rips off the crucifix just to bludgeon the comparisons to '87 over our heads some more. Vader fights off the Dungeon drones but can't affect the Giant. It's enough for Jimmy, Savage, and Sting to escort Hogan to safety--where the hell did everyone COME from??!! Russo-era backstage segments had more internal logic than this. Giant vs. Vader wouldn't have been any good in '95, I don't think, but it's a match that seems like money left on the table. I can see that big staredown drawing a huge pop if they had put it in a ring instead of...yeah, a spa.
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Cornette didn't use ether--the Dirty White Boy was downing too much Knoxville moonshine and passed out dead-drunk. Glad that's cleared up. It was a clean sweep for the Militia at the Super Bowl of Wrestling...except for top lieutenant Buddy Landell. Budro, sporting his sharp suit again in accordance with the modern WWE dress code, is out to insist that Cornette will *not* be in his corner at Fire on the Mountain.
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Not sure if this is a different week of TV or what, but here's a little final footnote in the Rock 'n Roll Express' SMW career (until Ricky Morton returned right at closing time). The Headbangers and Snow & Unabomb get involved, and there's more dissension between the Rock 'n Rolls and the THUGs.
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Damn, this is a dream match that I'd love to see in full. Wolfie executes a picture-perfect double sunset flip on both Bodies at the same time. Dr. Tom eventually clocks Wolfie with the racket to capture both the SMW and USWA tag titles. PG-13 vow to regain their belts--this Monday, Cornette is barred from ringside.
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Some odd SMW loyalists on the heel side--Brian Lee makes sense, Gorgeous George III and Pat Tanaka less so. Lance Russell, for some reason, is doing live commentary over the house mic. The USWA win by handcuffing everyone from SMW to the cage, and thus win 5 minutes with their handcuffed opponents. But Billy Jack Haynes turns on Tommy Rich and there's a big brawl, with keeper of the key Brian Christopher getting involved. Too confusing to really follow, as evidenced by the lack of live heat. Doug Gilbert is out to talk about Eddie's death and his joining the USWA Dream Team--which he agreed to do, for Eddie. It's hard to snark on this, but this is pretty meandering and unfocused. It gets better when he directs his attention to Billy Jack Haynes and an upcoming first-blood match against Brian Lee.
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Mutoh has gone through quite the resurgence in '95, after several years of Lazy Mutoh polluting a lot of singles matches. Chono has, as noted a few times, had quite the resurgence himself, but I'm starting to think Norio Honaga did this style with a little more panache. He doesn't have Chono's star power, though, nor does he have goons to run interference like Hiro Saito does here. We even get a total U.S. style "YOU! OUT!" from referee Tiger Hattori as he ejects Saito from ringside. But Mutoh is busted open in the process, and while this is hardly an early-'90s Muta Scale performance, the blood flows pretty freely. Ending is a little too similar to Sasaki-Hash for my liking, as both guys go from getting their asses kicked to hitting two big moves for a fluky pinfall. Unlike Sasaki, Mutoh puts an exclamation point on things by effectively kicking Chono's ass after the match. Pretty good, though so far Mutoh/Koshinaka has been the best match of the tournament.
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Pretty solid and straightforward, from a work and psychology standpoint. Hash kicks the shit out of Sasaki, but Sasaki keeps targeting Hash's legs and using it to buy time and counter moves, before getting in a fluke pinfall. Not much wrong with it, but while Sasaki is better than I remembered, I really hate how he applies his various Strangle Holds. Those are some STFU levels of weak.
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The streak ending seemed far more upsetting to the "casuals" than the hardcores.
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Facebreaker could be a dumbed-down name for the DDT.
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'80s women's wrestler Despina Montagues (of AWA '80s set semi-fame) was--or is--married to Tarzan Goto. And of course, Kevin Sullivan & Woman.