PeteF3
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Everything posted by PeteF3
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"Maybe he got bit by a tsetse fly!" Forgot to mention in the tag match itself but Lane suffered a horrific-looking cut to his lip or tongue in the early going--this has been more bleeding in the past month than Lane did in pretty much his entire professional career before this. This seems to be the effective end to the Bodies/Fantastics feud as the Bodies throw out a challenge to the Rock 'n Roll Express. Cornette doing a Scrooge McDuck with the money was a terrific visual.
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Definitely the best match to appear on SMW television so far if not the best SMW match period. This whole set-up was taken from Mid-South, with Cornette replacing his banned tennis racket with ether. And the match itself is awesome, with some neat spots from the Fantastics to open and some good punishment dished out by the Bodies in return. I liked how they got over the no-DQ stip immediately by having both teams get sent over the top rope. Plus more of Bobby Fulton's awesome uppercuts. Great stuff all around.
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For once there's some clever production at the finish--I liked the fact that you could only see it after the fact, with the help of a spotlight on Satanico's interference. That said, Dandy had sat in a figure four for like two minutes, so I'm not sure why they couldn't go with just having his knee give out when he attempted the superplex. (Okay, I do know why, because they presumably had Dandy/Satanico matches to set up). Overall, the first fall was great and the third fall pretty good, but the second fall seemed to just be in the way, so to speak. And even though this is lucha and not a Ric Flair match, Dandy seemed to be hopping around pretty good on a leg that had been figure foured. This was good overall, but there are better Dandy matches and better use of the three falls in lucha title bouts.
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Hayes and Monsoon are pushing the idea of Perfect being responsible for Flair's success. Rpss' shills and football talk have gotten on my nerves, and he didn't sound too interested in doing Coliseum Video voiceovers either, but he beats insight like "THAT URN SURE ISN'T FULL OF GRANOLA BARS!" The match itself isn't terrible but Flair can't do much in this setting. Bret and the Warrior showed that getting a good match out of ZombieTaker wasn't impossible, but Flair didn't quite seem to know how to do that at this point. Doesn't help that he's booked as a gigantic pussy, even by his standards.
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Another all-action match--it's like Bill Watts is in charge or something. As bad as locker room morale was at this point, you know Watts has lit a fire under people's asses when Nikita and Hercules work a pretty damn good sequence. Jake working against Scott Steiner even for a brief spell amuses me--talk about two wrestlers who couldn't possibly be less compatible with one another. There are some great transitions and bumps here, but it's way too rushed and none of the eliminations until the end are done very well, even the pinfall ones. Good finish with Jake covertly sneaking Rude back to his corner, though. Would have been a much better match with more time.
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I've sort of been harping on this, but the Simmons title push could have worked with a more timely follow-up to Halloween Havoc. Instead he got hurt, then for whatever reason got shifted out when it looked like he was going to be part of the Dangerous Alliance feud. I still love Arn's quote to Cactus Jack in the locker room following this video--"I don't care if the son of a bitch has a heart attack and dies. You will roll him on top of you." I'd like to see a televised debate between Ernie Shavers and Leon Spinks. Ahmed Johnson could moderate.
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Brad Armstrong is throwing a pity party for himself when an angry Pillman comes out to confront him. Pillman has a legitimate beef--you'd think he'd get the title by forfeit. Pillman cuts an effective promo, but for such a long build-up, I would have preferred Pillman to turn heel in the ring.
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Brad Armstrong is throwing a pity party for himself when an angry Pillman comes out to confront him. Pillman has a legitimate beef--you'd think he'd get the title by forfeit. Pillman cuts an effective promo, but for such a long build-up, I would have preferred Pillman to turn heel in the ring.
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Bruno is happy to be associated with REAL wrestling, and this has a hilarious payoff later in the broadcast. Seeing Andre in this setting for this promotion was mindblowing. Bob seems completely unaware of his kid's knee injury. Teddy Long and T-Bolt have a mini-Baptist revival before Long sends it to Mr. Wrestling II, from Hawaii via satellite.
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Everyone from Hank Aaron to Doug Dillinger are dressed to the nines. We bizarrely get the national anthem *after* the intros to the first match. Paul E. gets suspended above the ring in a cage and Ventura throws in towards the end that this is no-DQ. The whole "ban top rope moves and then reinstate them and make them special" idea was a complete failure on all levels, starting from when they undermined their own stip by doing two big shows with "NWA rules" and guys flying all over the place. All that aside the match is really good and fast-paced, with just enough consequences from Steamboat's rib injury (like his failure to immediately cover after the dueling tombstone reversals) to make it worthwhile. Strong opener of a match.
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For all those love handles, Vale can move pretty damn well. I don't remember a single thing about Takahashi or Ishikawa from the first match (one guy threw wicked headbutts), but he comes across better here because he's in a more immediately urgent situation, facing a bigger and more credentialed opponent. He tries a few takedowns, but Vale spins out of one and just rains punches down onto his ribs to get out of another, and then rather casually puts him away with a bunch of palm strikes. I hope the payoff when Fujiwara or whichever native finally knocks Vale off lives up to the build that it's getting.
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Not really a great match, but a decent one thanks to Savage and Perfect. Their match-up was in some ways more compelling than Savage vs. Flair--it's a standout performance by Savage but also probably Perfect's best work as a second. Razor Ramon instantly comes off as big-time in this setting, more than he ever did in WCW. You can chalk some of that up to the WWF Machine but I think a lot has to go to Hall, too.
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I haven't always been that eager to sit through these eastern indy matches, but the action here was pretty awesome with two hard-working guys, even if the crowd is sparse. There's some stalling but not that much, and Lawler giving a piledriver to Stately Wayne Manor was a "wow" moment. Fun brawl into the bleachers at the end, with a crazy attempt by Lawler to toss Gilbert off the top row over the fence, and then trading shots with a fan's crutch. Put this action in the MSC and it'd come across as the hottest wrestling act in the country.
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Warrior isn't good but is better than usual, since he once again has something strong to focus on. Warrior declares that Savage had sold out from the beginning. Savage rebuts over the same bits of video that Warrior showed, with a great moment where Warrior throws a right at Flair and it's ambiguous whether it lands or not. Fantastic Rashomon-style promo work.
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The matwork portion didn't do much for me, though I suppose it would have made some more sense with the Inoue match. It was quickly blown off so Toyota could get her stuff in, but just as with the Steiners, when it works, it works. The near-falls and move-trading down the stretch were quite fun, though I agree the crowd seemed oddly muted.
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Major title changes not in the sets. It doesn't seem like Japan was in the habit of skipping out on televising big title matches by the 1990's, but it's possible that some of this didn't make tape. IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE: - Riki Choshu vs. Tatsumi Fujinami (12/26/90) - Big Van Vader vs. Tatsumi Fujinami (3/4/91) - Riki Choshu vs. The Great Muta (8/16/92) - Shinya Hashimoto vs. Tatsumi Fujinami (4/4/94) - Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Shinya Hashimoto (5/1/94) IWGP JR. HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE: - Akira Nogami vs. Norio Honaga (11/5/91) - El Samurai vs. Ultimo Dragon (11/22/92) - Norio Honaga vs. Wild Pegasus (9/27/94 tournament final) - Norio Honaga vs. Koji Kanemoto (2/19/95) - Koji Kanemoto vs. Sabu (5/3/95) - Sabu vs. Koji Kanemoto (6/14/95) - Jushin Liger vs. El Samurai (7/6/97) - El Samurai vs. Shinjiro Ohtani (8/10/97) More to come.
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What kind of length are we looking at for each individual category? One 4-hour disc? Has that even been discussed yet? Well, anyway, some random stuff that comes to mind that was either missed or cut for time/importance reasons. I'm also going to try to gather up any major title change ("major" meaning U.S. Big Two, Japan Big Two, or ECW) that didn't get included. I suppose I'll simply go back to this thread as more come to mind. WWF: - Tugboat vs. Bob Bradley (8/18/90 Superstars). Tugboat gets taken out of SummerSlam/Jesse Ventura's final Superstars appearance. - Big Boss Man vs. Barbarian (1991 Royal Rumble). Not a very consequential match but a good one. - Hulk Hogan on Arsenio Hall (ca. 7/23/91). This is on Youtube, so presumably it's available out there somewhere. A truly infamous segment that sort of sets the stage for the scandals to come in the next year. - Interview: Jake Roberts' Survivor Series team (11/24/91 Survivor Series Showdown). Yet another incredible Jake promo ("Elizabeth...he won't be home for Christmas, baby.") Also includes the complete and uncensored snakebite attack. - Ted DiBiase vs. Virgil (11/24/91 Survivor Series Showdown). Repo Man repossesses the Million $ Title. - Update (3/1/92 Superstars). Announcement of DiBiase & IRS' tag title victory, formation of Money Inc., Natural Disasters face turn. WCW: - Steiner Brothers vs. Anderson/Eaton (SuperBrawl II). I know the reluctance not to have the entire PPV out there, but... - "The Paulie Awards" (2/1/92 Worldwide). Which pays off later in the show when Steamboat comes in to rescue Brad Armstrong from a post-match attack by Rude, until Madusa and Rude overwhelm him and attack him with their gold statuette. - Ricky Steamboat vs. Bobby Eaton (4/4/92 Worldwide). Possibly an interesting comparison piece to their terrific WCWSN match from '91, but mainly for the post-match angle. After weeks of build-up, Steamboat finally clocks Madusa in self-defense. He's immediately remorseful and apologetic, but the Dangerous Alliance swarm him, brutalize him with a chair, and then rub his face into the exposed concrete and break his nose. One of the best WCW angles of the year. - Rick Rude vs. Nikita Koloff (8/9/92 Main Event). The debut of Jake Roberts. The best WCW angle of the year. ECW: - Shane Douglas vs. Pitbull 2 (10/5/96, ECW Arena). Shane hits the single-arm DDT that broke Pitbull 1's neck. Pitbull 1 enters the ring to try throw in the towel for his partner, and Douglas grabs his protective halo and shakes it. One of the greatest moments in ECW Arena history. WOMEN IN JAPAN: (I'm simply going to gather a list of matches that Meltzer gave **** or more to that didn't make the first cut): - Bull Nakano/Kyoko Inoue vs. Akira Hokuto/Mariko Yoshida (6/5/91). **** - Bull Nakano/Akira Hokuto vs. Aja Kong/Bison Kimura (aired 8/9/91, can't find taping date). ****1/4 - Manami Toyota vs. Kyoko Inoue (8/18/91). ****1/4 - Akira Hokuto vs. Suzuka Minami (8/18/91?). ****1/4 - Manami Toyota/Etsuko Mita vs. Bat Yoshinaga/Yumiko Hotta (10/4/91). ****1/4 - Aja Kong/Bison Kimura vs. Toshiyo Yamada/Kyoko Inoue (10/4/91). **** - Toshiyo Yamada/Kyoko Inoue vs. Esther/Cynthia Moreno (10/26/91). "Highlights ... looked to be four-stars-plus" - Bull Nakano/Akira Hokuto vs. Manami Toyota/Debbie Malenko (10/26/91). ****1/2 - Takako Inoue/Mariko Yoshida vs. Debbie Malenko/Sakie Hasegawa (1/5/92). ****1/4 (more to come) JAPAN MISC.: - Weekly Pro at the Tokyo Dome, 4/2/95. I guess this wasn't actually much of a card from a pure quality standpoint, but a match or two, or highlights, need to be included. I've heard good things about the AJPW 6-man in a "fall out of bed" sense. EDIT 8/27: I'll keep updating this, but I think I'll get all the title changes in a separate post.
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Bret's promo is right out of early 1997. I MADE YOU AND THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT. Only thing missing was complaining about Jack Tunney screwing him. Heenan gets off about 8 classic lines in a row shitting on the bagpipers. "Don't applaud him, he might play more!" This is one hell of a performance by Bret--his cut-offs early on are all great, he paces things well, and the crowd is electric enough that Bret's chinlock-centric control still come off well. And that pescado-into-a-neckbreaker thing...I don't know what that was, if it was what Bret had in mind, or what, but it looked awesome. They do some convincing near-falls down the stretch with both guys escaping the other's finisher, and I liked Vince & Bobby going completely silent at the finish, letting the crowd reaction speak for itself for once. Not a World MOTYC but I have no problem considering this the best WWF match of 1992. It simply isn't a strong in-ring year with tons of competition for it, and this was legitimately as compelling of a story as Bret/Piper but greater in scope.