PeteF3
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Everything posted by PeteF3
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Embry thanks the fans for their concerns, and is in disbelief that Richard Lee & the Moondogs would try to intentionally blind someone. He delivers a warning to Lawler, Jarrett, and anyone else who faces the Moondogs. Great follow-up to a terrific angle.
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The departing Prichard regains the Southern title. Maybe Bill Watts booked this finish.
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Sid takes credit for ending Hulkamania and promises to do the same to the Warrior. Wippleman stands nearby. All this hype for a house show run that was done in about a week. This Yearbook does do a tremendous job of definitively torpedo-ing the "Sid got fired for kicking out of the legdrop" urban legend. He's been as heavily pushed as ever post-WM.
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This really feels like a role reversal from the Bull of the previous years. There she was almost selfishly dominant, cutting opponents off and coming off as near-unstoppable. Now, even a joshi n00b like me knows that she has a long way to go. But here in '92, with Aja having gotten multiple victories over her and making her look vulnerable, this comes off as Bull's "mid-'90s Stan Hansen" hour--the monster veteran suddenly working underneath. It's the most sympathetic look at Bull yet, weathering Aja's non-stop attack and getting in comebacks but with Aja withstanding every big move she can pull out. Definitely a primo illustration of storytelling and hate over big spotz, and this comes from a guy who really liked the previous match. This, however, is probably the best joshi singles match of 1990 to spring of '92.
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Lots of holy-shit spots here, and I can't believe Toyota is still alive after Inoue splattered her with the springboard ass drop and the back of her head hit the bottom of the guardrail. Just a sickening-looking event. I dunno...I liked this a lot. Now, I won't disagree that ***** MOTY is overrating it, but I've seen overlong meaningless joshi bullshit already on these Yearbooks like that fucking interminable Toyota/Kong draw from 5/91. And this smokes that pretty easily. For all the spots there are very few of them that are blown and there was some "smaller" stuff that I liked, such as Toyota repeatedly countering into the rolling cradle attempts before successfully applying it. None of the transitions looked particularly out of whack, either. It wasn't a psychological masterpiece but it was up there with the best Steiner Brother bombfests. The only part I was really down on was a sort of anticlimactic ending, but since the JOCS seems to be Toyota's "no can defense" finisher of death, it was far from the worst finish I'd seen.
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Not much to this at all. Keeping Eddy's slip was an odd editorial decision.
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Man, I'm actually loving these sort of bite-sized juniors matches. The matwork feels more important because it takes up more of the match, and it's all so solid and beautifully done. Eddy gets in his spectacular springboard dive and a few nice near-falls. I agree that he doesn't look as good as Samurai, and maybe not as good as Benoit or Scorpio. Liger catches Eddy in the same hold he caught Negro Casas with in the previous year's tournament. That finish was executed a bit better.
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Kawada really takes it to Hansen with the kicks, and Hansen's big moves like the power bomb on the floor all feel like desperation moves to buy time. Great way to get Hansen over as an offensive force but get Kawada over at the same time. Love, love, LOVE Kawada's forearm shot (and flop on top) for a near-fall--that's a spot he should have kept around and used more. Despite going undefeated through the Block Stage, they've done a terrific job of making Hansen look vulnerable to a loss in the finals to either Misawa or Jumbo.
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Center Stage has been remade and Saturday Night (a new name at this point) has been altered into WCW's version of Prime Time Wrestling. Very good points from all about Sting's look--this never, ever would have happened in the WWF. Hype for Sting vs. Vader--that's a good way to make me forget about the production snafus plaguing this.
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Maggs pushes his sore neck--attention to detail! Davis and Maggs got a victory over the Russians to set themselves up as legit contenders. Stanfield cuts a deadly serious promo regarding sexual harrassment at the hands of the fat cornfed women pawing them at arenas. I think this was a little late to capitalize on the Clarence Thomas stuff but still good work from Lane.
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Jarrett ties in the battery acid angle to his father losing an eye. He's still stumbling a bit but this is pretty good by his standards. Lawler does a better job of hyping up Charlie Trapper, who I imagine had to be the drizzling shits in the ring.
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He's in the background for most of this, but it is truly astounding some of the shots that Richard Lee takes here. Embry fits into all this perfectly--love putting a trash can over Cujo and whacking it with a board. And of course the requisite Memphis chain. Lee eventually gets squashed by his own Dog and pinned. Good way to finally give the babyfaces a victory while still leaving you hungry for a decisive win over the Moondogs themselves. Then the big post-match angle. Cujo carries a steaming cup of something and intends to use it on Jeff Jarrett, and when Embry tries to stop him he gets the whole batch of red liquid in his eyes. Embry sells this like death and the MSC goes dead fucking silent. PWI published a fantastic image of the red stuff flying at Embry and it freaked me out as much as the Jake/Arrogance stuff did. Angle of the First Quarter, probable Angle of the Year candidate. Such a dastardly fucker like Embry couldn't turn babyface just by teaming with Lawler for a week--something truly monumental had to happen for him to redeem himself, and this is it. A somber Marlin, Lawler, and Jarrett are out to address the situation. Marlin brings up Spike's hospitalization and how firing the Moondogs would open the USWA up to lawsuits, and also brings up that firing them would lead to them appearing on another wrestling program bragging about how the USWA wasn't tough enough for them. God, Lawler and Jarrett were MASTERS of detail. Incredible how such a fast-paced, angle-heavy promotion generally had angles that still made sense on the surface, and how hard these guys worked to preserve realism as best they could.
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The thing I always wanted most was that cassette tape of entrance music. Young'uns may not be aware that getting "clean" wrestling themes was once a holy grail and not something you could find on iTunes or Youtube. A smiley, happy Warrior greets his Little Warriors, as they're trying to undo the mistakes of his previous run. Where's Amanda? So they replace it with another one--Warrior spends the first half of his interview kissing up to Ho Kogan. The ill-fated Warrior/Sid feud is pushed and they're clearly trying to position Warrior as the face of the company and #1 babyface, despite the title being on Savage.
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Thought the first half of this bordered on actively bad--really slow pacing, and some weird miscommunication moments like Tenryu not being quite sure if he wanted to grab Ric Flair's leg, and Flair doing maybe the most delayed Flair flop in history. It got a lot better by the end--both guys looked like they'd gone through hell and Tenryu's rally out of the corner got a great reaction. Nonetheless, Tenryu is still coming off as a guy who needs a fire lit under his ass in the worst way. You'd think getting into the ring with Flair would be a natural remedy to that but I don't think he's quite there.
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I think the Casas trio was still better as lucha MOTY, but this was really great with great spots combined with a strong overarching story. Misteriocito is actually the guy I wanted to see more of by the end--the dude looked tall enough that he could have passed for a Misterio/Virus-style standard-size worker.
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I'm almost terrified of trying to count how many Samurai matches I've seen. (It's not zero...but I don't think it's been any since watching the '94 Super J-Cup, either.) This is an awesome match, and it finally, for the first time since Sano's departure, seems as though Liger has a natural rival who's truly on his level--instead of semi-desperate attempts to create rivalries with Nogami or Honaga (as much as I love him). Samurai comes off as a guy who can match Liger hold for hold and aerial spot for aerial spot, and he provides some rudo dickishness to go with it. Seeing all the hype in this thread for the rematch has me drooling.
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Awesome match that, as mentioned, had everything in it. The technical stuff at the beginning was legitimately great and they built up to the highspots, and executed them, perfectly. Scorpio is a guy who should have gone way, way farther than he did. He got signed by the WWF at maybe the worst possible time considering what WCW was doing when he jumped.
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Really good match. Shawn has long been criticized for his lack of offense but give him a limb to focus on and he brings the goods, since even the most pedestrian attack fits right into the storyline. Sherri was a monster on the outside, taking a sick bump off the apron and providing all kinds of neat interference spots. And yeah, that leg sell was pretty fucking spectacular. Very close to Bret/Piper for WWF MOTY for the first quarter and change. AGAIN Shawn gets to look strong against a top babyface, as he and Sherri lay Savage out after the match as well as several officials in a nice chaotic scene.