PeteF3
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Everything posted by PeteF3
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Morrell is a pretty sorry referee--I get that was sometimes pushed as his gimmick but it can be frustrating and not in a "boy, those Moondogs got away with another one" way. Still, the action is great and Lee is a terror on the outside and inside. He sprays purple ink or something in Jarrett's eyes and throws him into a roll-up, and the Moondogs regain the tag titles and save his hair. So this Monday, it's Jarrett, Lawler, and the returning Jackie Fargo and the Moondogs and Richard Lee. Fargo follows up with his own comments for the "14 karat son of a sapsucker" Moondogs. -
Clever finish to the MSC match that Lauren Davenport didn't execute that well. She continually saves Gilbert from pins by putting his foot on the rope, and then ostensibly shoves Morton's foot off when Gilbert gets a cover. Gilbert's foreign object plus Davenport's interference leads to a title rematch on television. Long studio match follows, and this is Exhibit A of how wrestling in a studio differs from wrestling in an arena. The little details stand out more, you get more direct interaction with the crowd, and the wrestlers can express things verbally right to the camera. It's also a fantastic showcase of Dave Brown as a hold-by-hold announcer. On the '80s set he was (until the very end) overshadowed by Lance Russell, and on these Yearbooks his main job that we've seen has been holding the microphone, introducing film clips, or trying to make sense of crazy studio brawls. Here's a nice demonstration that Dave was more than that--that he could get storylines over while also getting over the holds and the work. We get the '80s WWF time limit draw finish with the heel champ in control, but here we have an actual reason for it: Gilbert demands 5 more minutes, and gets pinned to apparently lose the Unified title. The other babyfaces run out to congratulate Morton and hey, there's Eric Embry! Pity he's not actually being used for anything now. Gilbert has gotten one over on all of us, though--the title match was only valid for the originally agreed-upon time limit, not the extra five minutes. I love how quietly confident Gilbert is here--instead of doing the usual rant and rave act after a loss, he knows he's got the technicalities on his side so he just calmly explains his case. Eddie Marlin takes the title back but makes it up to Morton by allowing him to name his stipulation for an immediate rematch. Morton wants to name his own referee and assures Gilbert that it will be an actual official and not someone like Lawler. Gilbert all to eagerly signs the contract, and only then does Morton reveal that it will be longtime ref and father, Paul Morton. "WAIT A MINUTE, PAUL MORTON?! I THOUGHT HE WAS DEAD!" I don't think the match itself is great, but it was really solidly worked and is the best "straight" studio match seen so far. But the presentation as a whole was Memphis at its best. A semi-convoluted set-up that seems to make perfect sense when you watch it instead of seeing it described, that makes you want to see another match.
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I like the more leisurely JWP pace but this did probably go on a bit too long, to the point where the ladies seemed to run out of things to do--as evidenced by the repeating of the "Kansai tries a Northern Lights and gets DDT'd" transition. Also, Kansai's kicks were approaching the level of being uncomfortable to watch rather than merely stiff. Everything else they did made sense, though, and both workers stayed true to the characters they established in the early going. Good match but the '91 JWP stuff was much better.
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The U.S. Tag Titles are mercy killed. Their existence was tenuous to begin with but made some sense when JCP or WCW had 6 or 7 regular tag teams plus most of the singles guys paired off with each other. Once the Midnights lost them in 1990 they were pretty much useless. A blond-haired Dick Slater rambles and gets in a challenge to the Freebirds. Dick seemed to be on something here, or his brains are just scrambled. He was very good on the mic at one point.
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This is a little goofy, in that an impromptu brawl is taking place with no referee in the ring and yet these guys are doing armbars and pin covers. But the set-up is good, the work is okay, and Austin comes off as a skilled and gutsy athlete instead of a chicken shit heel. And Watts is spectacular--"Sometimes you have your alligator mouth overload your tadpole fanny!" A more effective sell of a house show match than a token TV main event with a run-in DQ. Windham gets a cover and Rhodes counts the pin to put an exclamation point on this deal.
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Southern as a tobacco stock car. Horner runs off Landell with a leather strap (Dutch: "Buddy, don't leave me! ... Tim, I'm glad to see you, I hope you whip Buddy Landell!") Horner cuts a good quick promo though he seems to completely buy Dutch's story, which doesn't speak much for his intelligence. Looks like Horner vs. Landell in a country whipping or strap match--I approve.
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Gilbert is now the Unified World Champion, something that's LONG overdue. So fresh to see the belt on a legitimate top regional heel instead of a freakshow outfit. Embry should have gotten a run with that belt. Gilbert laments all of his title defenses against goody-goody good guys, but his next defense is against a man just like him--Ricky Morton! Gilbert is happy to see Ricky, but Ricky gives him the brush-off and insists he's still on the side of the Memphis fans. Morton goes toe-to-toe with Gilbert on the stick and comes off well, which is impressive. Morton gets the better of a brawl and this is a fun, effective segment that undoes the Richard Morton run without whitewashing it.
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I just said this with the early show segment, but they seem to be setting us up for a fall here. Still, the Moondogs simply regaining the belts isn't going to be enough to re-ignite this feud to the heights it reached in the spring--they need a big twist of some sort. Eric Embry is gone now and I don't think he'll ever be back as his car wreck comes in October, and the promotion misses him badly.
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Surprisingly straightforward result--Lawler & Jarrett win again and successfully attain the $5,000. Lawler tosses money to the crowd and I'm surprised the whole audience didn't rush the ring. The Moondogs threaten the crowd with chairs in an amusing moment. Match was fun but this seems pretty decisive now that the babyfaces have taken two in a row. Lee is incensed and demands another rematch. I'm a little distracted right now, with the Indians coughing up a 9th inning lead they absolutely couldn't afford to, and the (debunked) news of the apparent death of Disco Inferno. But this segment seems pretty overlong to set up a rather standard hair stip.
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The Moondogs had been tag champions continuously since winning the belts back in December. Seven months is an eternity in Memphis, so a title change in 5:24 seems anticlimactic. The pin gets a monster pop, though. The Moondogs gang up on Fargo after the decision, but are run off by Lawler and Jarrett. Anticlimax or not this was a well-done feel-good moment. Anything goes rematch on television, thanks to $5,000 put up by Richard Lee. Lawler seems incredibly confident, which leads me to believe the belts are going back to the Dogs. Richard Lee is out with a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist and demonstrates that he does indeed have $5,000.
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Pretty presumptuous of Okerlund to just start peppering BBM with questions without asking if he was busy or something. Quick comments from the BBM promising to return sooner than Nailz thinks. The photos were an incredibly effective followup to the attack. As cheesy as the idea is this has been executed very well in every aspect except the in-ring part. Kelly sucked to begin with and on top of it he was being asked to play essentially a non-wrestler--which I guess is the right role for him.
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I'm the way-high guy on this--I really thought this was awesome and that the Can-Ams did a fine job of adapting to the different style. It was spotty, but I think I'm showing a pattern of being fine with spotty tag matches if said spots hit. These are probably the two best tag teams of 1992 and while that doesn't equate to a MOTYC, it didn't leave me disappointed either.
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Fun stuff because of how hot the crowd was and the somewhat unique-for-lucha match layout. Misterioso and Fishman are interesting contrasts. Misterioso is young and super-athletic and flashy and charismatic but sometimes looks lost and doesn't seem to have learned how to put together a real match yet. Fishman is well-muscled but is otherwise about as athletic as Montgomery Burns with weaker strikes, but everything he does makes sense and he's in position to set up the technicos for anything they want to do. At some point Misterioso gets taken out of commission in an event that I completely miss, and the technicos are beaten down 3-on-2. This is actually a nicely well-structured chaotic brawl, with babyface comebacks and cut-offs and all that fun stuff. Konnan runs in which pops the crowd big--which is saying something considering their volume level throughout the match. This isn't really a great match, but the story told is fun and different even if the moves and such really aren't.
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Looks like most of this has already been covered. This wasn't one of my all-time favorite matches as I was watching it, even though I basically agree with everything else written so far. So therefore my MOTY still rests with Liger/Samurai and Liger is still in a semi-comfortable lead for Most Oustanding Wrestler. But this is a top 3-5 candidate. Not trying to slight the match, but the first half of 1992 has been just that loaded from pretty much every viable promotion on Earth. After spending most of his transcendent 1990 in either an outright rudo or heelish technico role, Dandy excels in the clean-working sympathy babyface here--the man really could do anything.
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Another Moondogs studio run-in as they assault Lawler & Jarrett, but JACKIE FARGO runs in with a trash can and runs off Lee and the Dogs. Fargo's enthusiasm and panache is so darned infectious--even in his old age it shines through. And the normally stoic Dave Brown is just completely losing his shit over this. Fargo will be officiating this Monday's tag title match--usually Jackie's presence is a clear signal that some big stuff is going to go down.
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That was a SHOOT HOMELESS GUY? Somehow, with this being Jerry Jarrett and Memphis, I find that fact to be wholly unbelievable and making complete perfect sense, at the same time. The video was great.
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Tatanka, Razor, LOD...I'm suffering from On Location Vignette Overload here. Did the Roadies grow up in Mogadishu or something? Even the worst soundstages slums in the U.S. haven't gotten this bad. Animal works a WWF merchandise plug in a clumsy exposition of what Rocco meant to them. I can't believe I'm bothering to explain this. Paul: "This is the best thing to ever happen to the Legion of Doom!" High standards from Mr. Ellering. Rocco is a bigger deal than winning the WWF Tag Titles? I wish the LOD could have done a more dignified type of vignette, like crashing to the Earth from a computer-generated spaceship and being taken in by meat tossed to them by a cackling Ellering.
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