PeteF3
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Everything posted by PeteF3
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Local promos here, it looks like. Graham has got a title match with Lawler somewhere outside of Memphis. Lawler retorts Dream Machine's talk about his broken leg by bringing up his own broken leg, and how Jimmy Hart double-crossed him by signing...Dream Machine. Another strong chapter in a hot feud. -
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Yes, I remain a mark for brawling in entrance gear. Throw in entrance-gear brawling AND crazy dives, and I'm in wrestling heaven. This is easily on the level of the J-Cup matches, as Shinzaki adds a different dynamic to the usual juniors fare. He can match guys dive for dive, but he's still a heavyweight and that adds another layer of sympathy to Sasuke and his brethren. Excellent bout in one of the better months for in-ring action of any year so far.
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Nobody with a gut like that should be calling themselves an "Ironman." Jesus, that was distracting. Anyway, this was kind of ECW-by-numbers, and we've at least reached the point where I can say something like that. Sandman looks pretty much like we expect him to look now. I guess this is Woman's debut, as she helps the Sandman give a belt-lashing to Peaches. The post-match cuts off, but I believe this is leading to the first Singapore Cane Match. Younger viewers are going to be lost as to the significance of that stip but it was a dominant news story of the time.
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There are moments here that come close to evoking the realistic, out-of-control nature of the Lawler/Snowman feud. Dream Machine is SUCH a breath of fresh air for a stale promotion. He's the first non-WWF guy to really seem to shake things up in the USWA since...I dunno, maybe the Moondogs' heyday.
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Oh, good, can't wait to see more of these. The quality of the WWF on-location vignettes has plummeted mightily.
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I don't know what was going on in Volkoff's life at this time, but it sure seems like Vince getting his jollies playing off a real-life situation, even if he was ultimately doing him a favor by giving him a job. Lawler rips into Nikolai with one one-liner after another. Volkoff manages to get in a zinger about Lawler telling the truth, and despite losing his money through bad investments still wants to wrestle. How does he afford all these front-row wrestling seats?
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I would be more impressed if this really was the Stanford Library, as in the University.
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The timing of this B-feud is really weird, and I suspect it's a symptom of the mass Disney tapings. It would have fit in nicely as an in-between program for Flair if he weren't in the process of turning heel. Looking forward to the action, though. Regal espouses the virtue of Lord Mountevans Rules and challenges the top American wrestler--Ric Flair--to take his Marquis of Queensbury Cup. Flair rebuts, and seems pretty excited to do so.
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Lawler absolutely, positively cannot get involved in the action in his role as co-host. It's in writing, people! Studio audience isn't too thrilled with that. I'm guessing it won't last. Clips of a pretty awesome brawl the previous week, that goes backstage and into the WMC parking lot. Then some good action from the Coliseum, where Graham steals a win from Lawler with a foreign object and a yank of the tights. Graham cuts a strong gloating promo in the locker room. Graham is out in the studio, unscheduled, and cuts another great scorched-earth promo on Lawler. I loved how Graham made a point of turning his back on Lawler to the TV camera to cut his promo. He turns back around and finally goads Lawler into a fight by talking about his STINKING, DEAD, DADDY. All-around good stuff, as Graham comes off as truly unhinged--the second studio incident really looked like something on the verge of legitimately spiraling out of control, in that Memphis way.
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Perfect apparently broke a toe before he could do his house show run with Lex, and simply never bothered to come back. Perfect ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT hold a grudge against Luger, even though Lex knocked him out "391 days ago" at WrestleMania IX. Love the sarcasm in that line, and I'm digging all the little nods to history here. Kind of out of character for the WWF. This is actually a pretty awesome overall promo from Perfect, and despite his in-ring deterioration I think the WWF was a lot poorer for having lost him at this time.
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This was supposed to be Funk vs. Mr. Hughes, but Hughes was taken out by the Bruise Brothers with the worst spike piledriver in history. Paul E. clobbering Funk with the phone was really well-done--Funk does turn his back but doesn't make it blatantly obvious that he's feeding the guy for a sneak attack. Styles is not as bad as he was at UltraClash but his constant yammering over "the format" being messed up by the impromptu match is maddening. I get that it's apparently supposed to set ECW apart from the Big Two but it's not like impromptu matches weren't a staple of the studio days. Anyway, these two have had better matches, but a lot of the ECW staples are now in full effect. I'm pretty sure Sabu's spring off the chair sending both guys over the top is the spot that was in the ECW TV intros for years. This is really, oddly, kind of heatless for the bulk of the match. Funk unmasks Sabu's handlers but a third masked man costs him the match. NOW we get good--Paul E. takes his mask off and it's BOBBY EATON! I marked out for that, as well as ARN ANDERSON's big save! Great, great post-match, and I love how intentionally or not it continues the story that Smoky Mountain was telling a year earlier.
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Dark, dark times for character development in the WWF.
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They add a few wrinkles that we didn't see in '89, like Steamboat's attempted dive to the floor and some awesome milking of the figure four from both sides (Steamboat pulling himself on the mat to keep Flair from the ropes, and Steamboat blocking Flair's leg). However, Loss' points are well-taken. The work is a good balance of smart and athletic, but the interpretation of Flair giving a PPV payday to his working buddy still comes through, as much as I liked the build-up. The fans are into it, even in a "quietly watching intently" way, but the idea of Flair turning heel is lost on them. The unclear face-heel alignment has an affect on this, as the crowd isn't anti-Steamboat but as the Brain says, they don't want him beating Flair either. And the finish pretty much sucks--a rehash of the Superdome Clash, poorly explained by everyone involved, and used to set up a rematch on Saturday Night back before giving us a PPV main event repeat immediately after on TV was so foreign as to be almost nonsensical. I think the idea is that the match was supposed to be ruled a draw, but Buffer and the fireworks make it come across as a straight Flair victory. I liked this a lot and always have, but ultimately I can't see it as Match of the Night much less US MOTY.
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The WM2000 main event is probably near the top--honestly neck-and-neck or only closely behind the Streakbuster. Aside from that, for me...oddly enough, I was totally blindsided by Doink beating Crush. I wasn't an insider yet and thought Doink was going to be a territory-style "come in for a program and leave" character, and that he'd be gone or repackaged after Crush squashed him. I also was starting to think Crush was on his way to taking on an Ultimate Warrior-in-1989 heir-to-the-throne role. I didn't realize the WWF had bigger plans for Doink. Honky over Jake is a good one. I was more upset by Danny Davis & the Hart Foundation winning the 6-man, though. I had similar thoughts about Davis than I had later on about Doink.
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It's not my place to say so, but...fuck, I will anyway: my first thought is a suicide. EDIT: I guess I should expand a little--Warrior said something about "every man breathing his last breath" in his promo. If it's not suicide, it's possible that he'd been suffering from some sort of illness that only he and maybe a few other WWE folks knew about. It may explain how they so quickly went from not being on speaking terms to inducting him in the HOF. That, or it's simply some of the most bizarre timing with the weirdest coincidental speech of all-time.
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It could be seen that way in certain contexts. It was definitely a heel move in the UK--blue-eyes would always want to wrestle their way out of a hold, villains went to the ropes. Of course, in Japan, crawling to the ropes invariably drew applause, because fighting spirit. Going for the ropes in the territory days was sort of a traveling-champion type heel tactic, or a working-heel-in-an-all-babyface-match tactic. Not overt, but a sign that the local babyface had the champ on the run.
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Actually I'd like to see Sheamus take Cesaro's place as the newest Zeb Colter Guy instead.
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It didn't last, but Ryback got legitimately over by demolishing people in squashes. I don't get the problem with them.