PeteF3
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Everything posted by PeteF3
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I wasn't a fan of the table getting thrown into the ring and then Kevin Christian suddenly becoming a stickler for the use of chains. That said, Christopher works really hard and bumps his ass off, and the finishing run is long and really, really clever with Christopher trying and failing to use multiple chains and Doug Gilbert's use of ether backfiring on him (notice how Gilbert gets woozy just spraying the towel, which is what allows Lawler to grab him). One of the better MSC clips we've seen in the past 12-18 months. Also a rare case of a USWA feud being blown off in a satisfying manner with all stips fulfilled. Doug Gilbert is out in his Dark Patriot mask with Buddy Landell and Scott Bowden wearing his Uncle Bobby's school colors. Doug vows to shave the heads of Christopher and Lawler. -
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Fun stuff, and the most "pro-style" Fujiwara match since his pre-UWF days. It occurs to me that I think this is the first time I've ever seen him run the ropes. He also brings back his old "iron head" spots just because. Liger puts up a fight but makes the mistake of attemping a blind move and falls right into the wakigatame. Good finish to a very cool, "these guys wrestled each other?" type match.
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Douglas was the champ ECW needed at this point, and cuts the promos the company needed to differentiate itself. Not saying it'd be a difference-maker, but imagine if TNA could fine one Shane Douglas who could cut promos like this and sound like he meant what he said. Cactus and Douglas are still cordial at this point.
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Borne can clown around, but he can still kick your ass. He even throws on a flannel shirt and makes reference to swinging sticks, just because. He's also channeling Roddy Piper here, to nearly Prichard-ian degrees. Glad to see him back. Douglas is full of fire and bombast even if I don't quite follow his talk about omegas and alphas.
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Bob Backlund, who just celebrated his 16th anniversary as rightful WWF Champion, rants to the crowd about his high standards and our society's failure to live up to them. "I USED TO LOVE YOU...and you changed." Backlund didn't want to use the chickenwing upon his initial comeback, but locked it on Bret Hart to represent his locking it on modern society. He then vows to retire if anyone can escape the hold, and a "demonstration" on a WWF Magazine writer ends with Vince, a multitude of officials, and Randy Savage trying to pry him off. THAT'S WHAT DISCIPLINE IS ALL ABOUT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. Vince sort of Lance Russells Backlund along through the interview, and their interplay is pretty great. As obnoxious as McMahon has gotten as a play-by-play man he still knows how to get an angle over, and I think this is one of those storylines he really, personally enjoyed, which may explain the level of push Backlund got. Also note that Backlund, despite being shaky at points, takes care not to refer to Bret as "the champion," simply "the man who has the belt."
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Well, now Cornette interviewing the guy who called the first months of ECW television has to happen, for the train wreck aspect if nothing else.
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They were planning that as far back as 1988? Nord claims that he and Brody were going to come in feud with Demolition before Brody would move on to a program with Hogan. Take that however you want--I don't really buy it. I can buy that Brody would do a house show run with Hogan and make some final bank, though I don't think it'd ever headline a WrestleMania or anything. I doubt they'd get viking gimmicks or that Brody would go for that, but it wouldn't be the first time the WWF sat on a gimmick idea for multiple years.
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Complete with Mountie zapping Hogan on a for-the-local-market-only Funeral Parlor.
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What hurt Nord was the WWF going to mostly uniform house shows, as opposed to '84 through roughly the end of '87 when things were haphazard and booked for specific markets. Hogan could work a Philly series with Kamala while working an LA series with Orndorff, with a one-off Boston match against Rick Rude, etc. and work his way through almost all of the singles heels on the roster from Andre down to Hercules and Reed. Plus SNME often seemed tailor-made for Hogan to face random weirdos like Sika, Honky Tonk Man, etc. who would never get a proper house show "run" at the champ. In '91, the only "random" opponent he had was a quickie fall series with the Warlord because of a lack of options. Had the mid-'80s booking philosophy held (and it's totally understandable why it didn't) we could have seen one-offs between Hogan and Berzerker, Hogan and the Mountie, etc. I think that's the best case scenario, a monster for Hogan to slay as contrast to the real monsters like UT.
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These frankly sound like cons rather than pros when evaluating WWF monster heels. Did Undertaker get over by giving a lot to his opponent and making them look good, or did he get over because he was perceived as unstoppable? Did Sid? Berzerker's way may have made for more aesthetically pleasing matches to us (though I'd love to see a Berzerker match as good as UT/Warrior or UT/Bret from MSG) but it wasn't really, as Parv put it, the "WWF way."
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I'm not Ditch but Survival Tobita was a DVDVR sensation WAY back in the day (late-'90s, green board, Linear-style layout where you had to click on each post individually). He ran an under-under-underground indy fed that usually didn't even use a ring, just mats, and wrestled against a bunch of guys in monster outfits. Sort of Japanese indy sleaze meets Kaiju Big Battel. Ken the Box or Mokujin Ken was his most famous opponent, a big guy in a box outfit with boxing gloves who was invincible.
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Michael Buffer opens with a bizarre monologue about American troops protecting our honor and somehow connecting it to WarGames. I never understood why Meng was announced for WarGames only to swap him out for Parker--it was yet another bizarre and nonsensical decision from Commissioner Bockwinkel. Great video package nonetheless to set this up. Mercifully we're spared Buffer attempting to explain the rules of WarGames as he disappears entirely after hitting his catchphrase. The payoff to this is sort of like the payoff to Flair chasing Vader. That could be seen as Flair's last hurrah, and as Exposer talked about this is sort of the last hurrah, SMW notwithstanding, for classic southern wrestling. Even if there are better matches during the year, very few can match this for emotional satisfaction. I've always been amazed by Robert Fuller's ability to disregard his own size--he's a legit 6'6" or 6'7" but never wrestles like it, and against Pillman and in this he somehow comes across as a gigantic wimp even though he towers over everybody else in the match. It's appropriate that Dustin Rhodes is on the opposite side because he, along with the babyface version of Ray Traylor, is sort of Fuller's spiritual successor in that regard. This is an ideal environment for the Nasties just as the first WarGames was the ideal spot for the Road Warriors and Nikita--they come in, hit a few decent spots, and then can just punch and kick their way through the rest. I thought Funk was tremendous here, doing one of the best out-of-the-ring acts in WarGames history before tearing it up inside. I'm amazed he didn't get paralyzed on that piledriver between the rings. Blood would have been nice, but we get lots of nice stiff shots with belts to make up for it. Dustin and Arn certainly started hot but this didn't have the transcendently dynamic openings of WarGames past. But in the end, I'm too busy marking out for Dusty getting his hands on the Colonel and the Nasty Boys dropping on him and Meng trying to tear the cage apart to care. I think 1992 was a better overall match, but I liked this much more than '91. A great addition to what has been, unpleasantness of the final 3 months aside, a tremendous in-ring year for WCW.
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Hogan wishes he was at Fall Brawl. Oh, bullshit. Even the densest mark couldn't have swallowed that. This is clearly pre-taped, as Okerlund is trying to fit responses in that don't match what Hulk is saying. Then a really dippy set-up involving JImmy Hart getting Ric Flair on the phone where there happens to be a camera. For some reason one of the skanks that Flair's with gets more fucking face time to talk than Flair himself. Flair busts out the "Real World Champion" line again. Flair's partying and retired and apparently not cognizant of a goddamned camera in the middle of his orgy. Hogan somehow finds time to bitch about the officiating in the Clash match. This goes on, and on, and ON until Hogan gets to the frigging point of challenging Flair to a retirement match. Interestingly, only Hogan has offered to put his career on the line at this point. Flair is good here but this is an awful, awful segment. This is a match stip deserving of a low-key Hogan promo--the kind he cut before agreeing to wrestle Earthquake, or before his "farewell" at WM8. Or even the angry, intense promo after being burned by Sgt. Slaughter. There have been examples all over these Yearbooks that show Hogan can legitimately bring the goods when he wants. Instead, it's similar to what happened to Vince Russo when away from the WWF Machine. This is Hogan at his hokiest and most obnoxious.
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"Asshole" by Beck! Combined with Pavement! Best menu music of the '94 Yearbook so far! I don't think the rules for this were ever really made clear before the show. It was hyped as a "triangular match" but no one knew if it'd be 3 guys at once or one guy on the apron tagging in and out. It turned out to be neither. More good action from what we see between the Angel and Vader, before Harley Race hands Vader a cheap win. Boss/Angel was pretty bitched out on PPV, as he has another job to Vader coming up at Havoc. Sting/Vader is one of the lesser matches of a great rivalry, but still has some really great work. There are some surprisingly messy spots early on, which is pretty stunning considering the chemistry these two had. And they seem to run out of gas at the end of overtime, before turning it back up a notch for sudden death. I do like how they went from one ring to the other and then back again over the course of the match. As ElP mentions, the timekeeper is out to lunch for this and kind of ruins the drama with late or nonexistent bell-ringing. Pretty crazy that WCW is lifting old match stipulations from 1990 USWA. If I hear about a "technical loss" at some point, I'll flip my lid. I admit I'm a sucker for the first-man-off-his-feet stip. I loved it with Lawler and Valiant and I love it here, whether it makes any kayfabe sense or not. And the crowd wakes up for it, too. They'd run out of breath, as Schiavone accurately put it before, but there was huge heat for this, thanks to Sting putting on a master class in selling. Then a dumb finish, where the Masked Man gets involved for no other reason than because he's a Bad Guy and where Nick Patrick looks like a complete moron. I do like the fans trying to confront the Masked Man afterwards, at least. There's some stuff holding this back but this is in the end a worthy addition to the canon.
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Johnny B. Badd vs. Lord Steven Regal, Fall Brawl Oh my God, this was AWESOME. Absolutely fucking smokes Bash at the Beach, because Mero is on here. He actually hangs with Regal on the mat to open, and even busts out an airplane spin--which is a great move for him that he really should have kept. Plus it allows Regal to do a great dizzy stooging sell on the floor, before Badd levels him with a pescado. Badd whiffs on another flying tackle in the ring, and Regal, having been outclassed on the mat, absolutely fucking loses it, just raining forearms and palm strikes and punches down on him in the corner and this turns into a borderline Japan-style "out of control for real" shoot-angle type situation. Some absolutely great hope spots and good selling from Badd and great cut-offs by Regal, and they throw in some cool false finishes playing off past Regal victories, before Badd catches Regal with a backslide to take the TV belt. Fire this sumbitch up on the Network--this is one to put on a supplemental set for sure. Absolutely the match of Mero's career to this point and really just a shade behind the Zbyszko matches.
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Apparently Ricky busted his ass as hard as he could to try to get into wrestling shape, if even just once more, so that he could put Austin over in the ring instead of handing him the title. Tragically for all of us he failed, leading to this shit show. WCW had remained rather hot after the arrival of Hogan, which was remarkably easy to swallow because of a good first-night performance and the fact that he was more or less isolated from the rest of the company. But now we see the creeping influence of Hulk start to take over everything else, and the whole product is going to be worse for it. Two loyal, hard-working WCW employees royally fucked over so far. Austin is really great in this, at least until Hacksaw shows up. The same fans so upset over the loss of Cactus Jack are losing their shit over this doofus, so any goodwill they had with me is out the window. Fuck you, Roanoke.
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The action here isn't bad from what we see, but Dave Sullivan is all over the place. We do get a replay of Cactus' huge bump off the turnbuckles to the floor. Huge negative reaction to the winning pinfall, so good for the fans. Total bullshit the way Cactus was treated for basically his last year in the company, and in the end this was good for him, too.
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I think this was supposed to be before the Tennessee Valley Fair match, as they made reference to this brawl during that bout. Hot brawl, by far the best of the "matches" between these two. New Jack tries to hang Ricky Morton with a NOOSE (or, as Chip Kessler helpfully points out, "THEY'VE GOT HIM LYNCHED!") which is pretty fucking wild. The empty seats in Johnson City are pretty noticeable--that was once SMW's hottest town, but this is just coming off the hair vs. hair fiasco. New Jack closes us out with another promo. I respect New Jack's commitment to heeling, cutting promos on all the "Uncle Toms" in the area in addition to all the rednecks, doing his best to ensure universal loathing from all races.
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Landell & Rich stop by the announcer's desk to inform us that they're GOOD CHRISTIAN MEN who don't sneak attack people with weapons. They face the Moondogs on Monday in a match where the losing team must split up. That actually sounds pretty significant, and seems to mean either the end of the Moondogs, the end of Landell, or some typical Memphis bullshit. Yes, there's little more to say about Lance & Dave. I particularly liked their little side discussion on past ring mishaps after the bottom rope collapses. Absolutely seamlessly done. The match itself isn't really that good, but it's not bad for a studio bout and considering the clusterfuckery surrounding the ring, between the bottom rope and Fantasia. Landell & Rich win to set them up for Monday's big match.
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Some way cool highlights. I loved the payback spot of Christopher breaking a bottle over Bowden's head at the MSC, right after it happened to him on television. For whatever reason (no traumatic incidents in my past or anything) I always get VERY queasy when scissors get involved in action. Gilbert is pretty careful with them as Christopher is struggling.
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Was he a worse talker than Sting?
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That is one rickety-looking ring, and other than Mustafa's pump splash none of the 4 guys seem to eager to take any big bumps on it. Oddly enough--or maybe not, I don't know--the Gangstas are slightly better working on top than working R'nR shine sequences. Not really a great match but better than the TV bout, though the clipping helps. Chip Kessler's reaction to the apparent pinfall is hilarious--it's literally a recreation of the viral Yes, I too noticed the black youngsters cheering the Gangstas, and disgustedly slamming down their fists when the match is restarted. Post-match promo from Bullet Bob and the Rock 'n Rolls. Bob was acting under direction from the "new Commissioner," who I think was supposed to be Bill Watts but that never came off.