PeteF3
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Everything posted by PeteF3
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A Lance Russell sighting! Am I the only one who was watching in 1992 and horribly, horribly, HORRIBLY confused by the return of the "NWA" with its own separate titles back again? I was one of those people who thought the NWA->WCW thing was a simple name change, and that this was akin to...I dunno, the NFL deciding to crown AFL Champions again. Actually it WAS sort of like that. Apparently Frey wanted to completely drop the "WCW" stuff entirely and rebrand as the NWA name all over again, which was how this deal got struck, and I guess it was something Watts couldn't undo. Hype for the possibility of an all-Dangerous Alliance quarterfinal. This is twice now that they've hyped Austin as the "longest-reigning" TV Champion which is patently false unless maybe you limit it to WCW only, which is kind of an empty record in 1992. This is a nicely-done, Pure Sports Build type segment with some effective quick-and-dirty promos, which makes Bischoff's presence with Russell all the funnier. -
Watts comes across really well. WCW is not going to be a "macabre cartoon" like some other promotions--when Jake the Snake and Sting are in a horror movie dive bar shooting laser beams out of their eyes at each other, it'll be done with REALISM, dammit. Ole Anderson is the new senior referee, something that I don't think ever went anywhere.
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Good, tighter version of the 2/3 falls match. Austin is really coming into his own, as he's got a bit more in his arsenal that he can do besides that cool clothesline. And Ventura remains a breath of fresh air on commentary, at least so far. Well-done screwjob finish with Austin doing a terrific job of hide-the-belt. I was always a little confused over the purpose of this quick TV Title turnaround--Watts was coming in right at this point, so maybe this was him hitting the reset button.
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Lee doesn't offer much but DWB bumps and sells for him the best he can, though not well enough to really save the match. Lee gets caught with a foreign object that Anthony brought into the ring, and gets DQ'd. Another glorious win for our babyface champion. The post-match is what really makes this, as Orndorff goes nuts on Lee with a briefcase, and when Hector Guerrero tries to make the save he gets strung up by his own necktie. Orndorff has always been great at doing beatdowns and this is no exception. This is enough to make me want to see a Lee/Hector-Orndorff/DWB tag.
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Random thoughts as I go: - Man, that Tyson/Detroit card kind of died on the vine, didn't it? Meltzer was always a sucker for "who would win in a shoot" digressions, both in the newsletter and when he was semi-regularly posting on Classics. For such a non-starter of a topic he did go on about it for awhile. - Joe Isuzu was a commercial spokesman for Isuzu Motors, who would put on a transparently-phony-sincere act and make outrageous claims like their trucks sat more people than the Astrodome, or how you could save $2 million by buying 2,000 cars during their latest sale. I don't quite get the tie-in with Brother Love and Geraldo Rivera either. - Lance Russell was on WCW Pro at this point in addition to his hotline duties. But he didn't do the localized versions of Pro that aired in Chicago and NYC, which are most of the shows in current trading circulation. Caudle seemed in and out, but he did co-host WCW for awhile with Ross. - The WNN Kerry stuff is interesting--he was apparently practically signed, sealed, and delivered to debut with the NWA but no-showed a taping or something and that was that. - I remember Nitron from the '90 Yearbook, but that could well be leftover stuff taped from '89. - To Chad's point about the babyface roster: in the newsletter discussing Sting's injury, Meltzer justifies the Luger turn by pointing out that otherwise the company's #2 babyface was...Norman the Lunatic. - Ah, the MOD Squad, the poor man's State Patrol. "Rudimentary but better than expected" pretty much summed up their stuff with the Nightmares on the Memphis set. Granted, the Nightmares were probably an even better team than Pillman & Zenk. - I can see both sides of the Mascaras/Foley deal. Foley was going to still be around, Mascaras wasn't. That Mascaras was unwilling to meet his opponent halfway is a legit criticism, but Foley can't do a whole lot at this point besides take crazy bumps. One other thing I'd add to Foley's legacy that separates him from the other garbage/ECW guys is I still would have him as a top 10 all-time guy on the mic. - Speaking of the babyface roster, if they could have cajoled Muta into staying overseas, there was clearly some potential in babyface Muta. I get that he was Japanese, but he was also flashy and exotic, far moreso than Jumbo or Tenryu or any other Japanese visitor. I think he had similar "exotic" appeal that Jimmy Snuka had circa 1983. Interesting that Chad brings up a Tully babyface act. I'm more on Parv's side on that front. I don't think I'll go full-bore into Fantasy Booking (but I might). The true upper-midcard feud with wheels was not Face Tully vs. anybody, but Heel Tully vs. Babyface Arn. I would much rather have seen that than an Arn/Tully reunion, in fact.
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I know some people really hate the Bridges match. Bridges is past his prime and Nagasaki is nearing the end of his active career, it's from 1987 when British wrestling was dying as a national TV sport, and it's got an Americanized finish. But when I saw it, I liked it way more than I should have. (But then I really like Bridges). Bridges/Rocco vs. Nagasaki/Shane Stevens is probably a match that made OJ want to gouge his eyes out, but I also thought that was fun, but it's not much of a Nagasaki showcase. Two more matches that served as gateways for a lot of people: Steve Grey vs. Clive Myers from 1975 (though they had about 7,000 matches against each other) and Johnny Saint vs. Robbie Brookside. Saint/Brookside is very exhibitiony but Saint runs through all of his trademark spots in greatest-hits fashion.
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Or it's an indication that the decision was made to transition the title to Hogan and Sheik was the next scheduled challenger. When Stan Stasiak won the title from Pedro, it wasn't because he was thought of as a major heel--he was Pedro's opponent when the decision was made to go back to Bruno. That was literally all that went into the process (that, and "Don't change the title at MSG because someone might die"). There's the alleged story about Backlund wanting to drop the title to someone with an amateur background, but that's not one I really believe.
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Dutch pushes himself as doing hard, investigative journalism. Horowitz disputes his 0-43 record--"I thought it was only 25, 26!" Horowitz was a talented worker but got saddled with the jobber gimmick--not just being a jobber, but being defined by being one--for so long that it became impossible to extricate himself from it.
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Prentice laments the closing stores and half-mast flags as a response to Jerry Lawler's accidental title unification, and promises to regain the title for US, the fans. Gilbert vows to quit wrestling if he can't beat Lawler--not go to the WWF, or WCW, but quit entirely. Another money promo.
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This had to be one of the very first AAA shows, if not the first. And they sure as hell aren't skimping on the names in this one. Dig La Parka working a full-on Undertaker/Bray Wyatt gimmick, coming out all somber and stoic, with a lantern. I'm pretty sure the first fall ended with Santo getting a submission on Panther with the camel clutch, and all the chair-related stuff outside was extracurricular and post-fall. Loss summed this up for me--crowd-pleasing with lots of big names, but Aguayo looked his age and Fishman looked pretty awful. The brawling especially at the beginning was pretty tepid, and they got my attention much more effectively with Santo's way cool headscissors and Octagon finding new ways to do armdrags. More goofiness in the third fall as Fishman tears off Octagon's mask and Aguayo immediately tears off Fishman's. Both referees are in disagreement as to whom gets disqualified. Pretty sure the technicos had their mask taken off first. Speaking of '80s WWF, all three technicos beat up the official who ruled against them because they're babyfaces and anything they do is justified. There were some fun parts to this but I wanted more takedowns and flying instead of the brawling we've got. Lucha can give us some awesome-looking brawls but this wasn't it.
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This was a better version of Arn vs. Big Josh--better setting, better heat, and Windham is a more dynamic opponent. Plus the body part work paid off better--even Windham's flying lariat to end the first fall was indirectly set up by his leg giving out as he was climbing the turnbuckle. Full credit to them for not losing a crowd through 30 minutes of work. But that third fall ending...fuck. If they were going to go 30 minutes, they could have easily just went to the time limit draw and saved the Austin run-in for afterward.
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At some point in '91 he got a TV pinfall victory over Davey Boy Smith. That was a shocking result both then and in retrospect, considering that Davey was extremely well-protected because of his international marketability. Graham has it on the 8/5/91 Prime Time, I guess as a last-ditch effort to give any sort of credibility to the Triangle of Terror going into SummerSlam.
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Bobby Fulton sends in a phone promo and gets bleeped in the process, vowing revenge for tearing up Jackie Fulton's knee. Cornette, Prichard, and a giant hairpiece with Stan Lane hiding underneath it are out to respond. Cornette produces an "I WILL WORK FOR FOOD" sign for Jackie to wear once the Bodies finish taking out his knee.
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I hope business spiked for this, because the build to this match has been incredible. Enough to make up for the program fizzling the year before with Gilbert's walkout, return, and face turn. This is one of Lawler's very best promos of the '90s so far.
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A study in contrasts: Eddie Gilbert's reaction upon his #6 ranking with Stan Hansen's the year before. Tremendous promo, with Gilbert rattling off the names Lawler has faced and more or less declaring this to be the final showdown. No DQ, no countouts, no holding up of any belts. I'd like to think we'll get a clean unification finish but I'm about 99% sure that isn't going to happen.
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"Mmmm...evil goo." Okerlund recites the recent history of Papa Shango, including the angle I loved from the previous week--"HIS OPPONENT'S FEET ARE ON FIRE!!!" Shango doesn't say much of note but just when Mean Gene thinks the interview's over, Shango casts another spell and that goo comes down Okerlund's hand.