PeteF3
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Everything posted by PeteF3
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I don't know specifically how to improve upon the execution here, but ultimately I think this was too much, too soon. Not to excuse the crowd, but this type of long, understated ceremony hadn't really been done--especially incorporating pre-WCW and non-WCW elements like Verne and Thesz. And running multiple legends matches on top of this was overkill. And of course the Horsemen segment did its best to piss off the crowd before the ceremony even started. Wrestling II gets a nice reaction, complete with "II! II!" chants. Solie tells us the story that I've always loved, of Wrestling II refusing a White House invite once he was made aware that he could not wear his mask. -
Jesus Christ, they couldn't even be bothered to edit the intro--"THE ORIGINAL FOUR HORSEMEN!" Crowd starts shitting on this the instant Flair mentions "a little bad news." I'm surprised they even bothered to mention Blanchard at all, instead of trying to scrub him from existence. The idea that Barry Windham was supposedly responsible for Tully no-showing is ludicrous. And instead, of course, we get Paul Roma. Crowd doesn't boo so much as loudly, LOUDLY groan. "I don't think these people realize the THOUSANDS of wrestlers you had to choose from!" Oh, come on. That said, despite Roma being a douchebag, he was set up to fail here. Just about anyone would have failed, much less a WWF undercarder. Another indescribable segment and sadly things are going to get worse for WCW before they get better.
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Scorpio absolutely kills Benoit (ooh, bad choice of words) with the Tumbleweed legdrop, landing full-force on his head. Hard to watch that now. But everything up to this was very good. Bagwell has turned into a perfectly serviceable worker, and as the perennial FIP of the team he plays his role well. Benoit & Eaton should have gone farther than they did, and I wish some of Eaton's ring smarts had rubbed off on Benoit a little more. Eaton could take any insane bump you'd care to describe but he also knew how to work shtick, heeling, and comedy...things that Benoit never really picked up on, which in retrospect was to his detriment.
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Oh dear God, geisha girls on the set and Flair and Arn are in kimonos. This show finds new ways to...well, bottom itself. Arn looks like he'd rather be anywhere else in the universe. Flair hypes a live Flair for the Gold at Slamboree with the ORIGINAL FOUR HORSEMEN, ON THE SHOW LIVE. Can't wait for that. "I'm talking about Tully Blanchard!" Wow, don't recall the name actually making television. This goes on while Fifi takes Flair to get dressed. Rude comes back out and sort of gladhands with Ric, which is a role that doesn't fit him at all, while Flair can't decide if he wants to be a babyface or a heel. Rude repays Flair for the hospitality by introducing "Fufu" and I can scarcely believe what I'm watching. Somehow in one segment they've managed to undercut Flair, Arn, and Rude all at once. Incredible. WCW is so, so painful to watch right now.
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This comes off as very ESPN Classic SportsCentury-ish, 7 years early. Solie talks up appearances by Jim Barnett, Don Owen, and Stanley Blackburn at Slamboree. A rundown of Lou Thesz's career follows--I'm quite dubious of Gordon's claim that he was wrestling's "first major celebrity." Clips follow of Thesz vs. Inoki and I think, if I heard correctly, they're actually trying to push this as just happening recently as opposed to the 1970's. Bischoff is so very punch-worthy here. We don't get a list of who's actually competing in the Legends matches but we do get two separate hype jobs for Maxx Payne playing Norma Jean. The concept of this show is admirable, but I think the early-'90s wrestling environment wasn't the right place to run such a show on a national level. Nostalgia and acknowledging the past and Youtube clips and Hall of Fame ceremonies weren't around in full force and most promotions in the U.S. were concentrating on the here and now. And even if it was a good time to do it, WCW was not the promotion to pull it off effectively.
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After Rage in the Cage, the heel team crucified Bob Armstrong against the cage with handcuffs and he was beaten half to death. Scott and Steve Armstrong are now in SMW to go after Cornette and the Bodies: "Your mama can't pay her way out of this." Bob is resigning as commissioner, and is coming back to wrestle! Cornette is in hysterics. He's gotten what he wants. Jimmy Del Ray is here! Stan Lane has quit for a WWF commentator's job been sent packing in a loser-leaves-town match. Del Ray is Prichard's "cousin" (???) Del Ray is immediately the biggest, sleaziest scuzzball any of you will ever see.
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This is going really good with a fun blend of matwork and dives and big moves...and then Negro Casas double-crosses his brother and throws the towel in even though Felino has an octopus hold applied on Ramirez. Cheap-ass finish to a lucha title match. Should have had Casas cry and beg for his mother to throw in the towel on Felino's behalf instead. Ciclon so far is this year's "who IS this guy and where can I see more of him?" figure of awesomeness.
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Psychologically sound but I didn't love this as much as everyone else. Which is disappointing--19.5 years ago this was the first Japanese match I ever saw, and I was wowed. I have issues with how Misawa was booked in the Carnival, and I think jobbing twice to Hansen was excessive and did too much to give the result of this away. I know Hansen had beaten Misawa repeatedly in '92 before finally dropping one, but after becoming the Triple Crown champion I thought it was past time to start booking Misawa like a champion, and not start it 9 months later.
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Holy crap, this was abysmal. It's easily the worst in a running series of bad MVC efforts and it's not really one for a Best Kawada Performances comp either. No heat, loose and meandering strike exchanges, those wonderful MVC holds, and it goes ON AND ON AND ON...I rationalized their first match, but now I sense some major growing pains for the Holy Demon Army in terms of work. This is the worst AJPW effort in a significant match since the Misawa unmasking. If not for Taue doing some good work upon getting the hot tag, this would have vaulted into surprise Worst Match of the Year contendership. Then he gets cut off, tags out again, and it's ANOTHER fucking interminable Kawada-in-peril run. All four of these guys should have been embarrassed. The result is significant, at least--both the tag title win and Taue pinning Doc. With the benefit of almost 3 years' hindsight this should have been one of them there "finish only" matches.
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I deliberately didn't count SNME. Without getting into the "weekly episodic television" counting-game shit, they really weren't the same thing as normal TV shows. I won't say they were a dead-on equivalent to the Clashes, but on the scale of free-to-air television they were closer to that than they were to an average Superstars, Prime Time, or 1993-95 Raw.
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This was already a memorable Raw before the Kid upset--Michaels was gloating in an in-ring interview about how he'd defend the IC title against anyone, when a man in a hoodie and sunglasses hops the guardrail and enters the ring--MARTY JANNETTY, back after a 5-month absence. Vince goads Michaels into keeping his word and, in what might be a first in WWF history, a match is signed to take place on that very same episode. Hard to imagine a time when that booking move was considered revolutionary, at least for this company. More good action as you'd expect, as these guys seem amped. Michaels' bumping is top-notch of course but I can't help but notice that Jannetty pretty clearly outclasses him on offense. I know I'm beating this drum to death, but Michaels on top is something that I don't know will ever get that interesting. As much as I hated his babyface push that may ultimately be the in-ring role that suits him the best. Jannetty stuns the world for the second time tonight by capturing the Intercontinental title, with some timely help from Mr. Perfect. A ranking of the best episodes of WWF/E television would be an interesting one. Prior to this, I think the only other contender would be the 2/7/87 episode of Superstars: on one show you had the Andre heel turn on Piper's Pit and the Hart Foundation winning the tag titles--not to mention the debut of Outback Jack. I don't think another contender would emerge until the Austin/Bret streetfight episode of Raw, and maybe not another contender after that until the Austin/Vince challenge (that broke Nitro's win streak) and the Dallas Raw of February 2000.
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Great build to this, with the Kid standing out a little bit by changing his name but otherwise being indistinguishable from any other TV jobber. Kid gets brutalized for a few minutes like any other TV squash, but catches Razor with a moonsault for the mindblowing finish. Crowd absolutely loses their shit, and this is possibly the first year of Raw's defining moment. Great job by the WWF not to telegraph a single thing until the 3-count.
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I may have to turn in my man card for this but I don't see what's so great about Fifi. Flair continues to be enthusiastic, but God, Arn is about as miscast as anyone has ever been in or out of wrestling in this role. Missy Hyatt makes an appearance continuing whatever this thing is with her trying to track down Flair. We're about 3 weeks into this segment and this is the 3rd consecutive one to have Flair constantly browbeaten by his guest--or, in Missy's case, an uninvited one. All while Flair tries to laugh things off. Way to make Ric look like a total chump. Flair finally snaps this time, which leads to...nothing in particular. The Blonds had some good lines here but this was pretty awful.
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I like Jesse's indignation when Dustin's shoulder comes up--"WHO CALLED FOR *THAT* ANGLE?!" An apt question, as I recall this U.S. title vacancy as seeming to last for about 6 years and just becoming absolutely intolerable.
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Metal strikes me as average, too. For whatever that's worth. This is a good match but not a high-end title or mask bout, with a terrific performance from Santo. The highlight here was Metal trying to jump off the top, Santo moving, Metal landing on his feet, then going for the majistral cradle that won the first fall only for Santo to counter. That was a very clever sequence, among a number of good mat-based counters that looked cool while also looking organic. Fuerza makes a nuisance of himself throughout this and plays into the finish, as he breaks up the camel clutch, and when Eddy Guerrero protests, he shoves the referee and draws a cheap DQ. Very clever fuck finish.
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Not a great match, but it wasn't meant to be. This was all about putting over the brand new Kawada/Taue team and establishing them as a mainstay in the Double Tag Titles division, so they get a relatively easy win over the All-Asia champs. That means no epic saves or last-ditch kickouts that one would expect from a lot of AJPW matches. Kobashi and Kawada brutalize each other before Kikuchi gets dispatched by Taue. This match comes off as sort of a farewell to Kikuchi as a superworker, as this team has probably seen its best days already.
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The atmosphere of Worldwide and Pro, in arenas, blew away the Techwood Drive setting. Plus it seems more "big" things happened on the syndie shows. The TBS Saturday show was probably more widely seen but on the scale of importance it seemed closer to Prime Time, as opposed to Superstars.
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Pretty sure early boxing and wrestling rings *were* rings, before taking on the square/rectangle shape. So it's a "squared circle" in the almost-literal sense of the term.
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Hot brawl, the kind that really set Raw apart from the stale and sterilized 1992 television. That's Howard Finkle's new car that Shawn gets hiptossed onto, cracking the windshield.