PeteF3
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Everything posted by PeteF3
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Now this is more like it--huge reaction for Flair, lots of boos and lots of cheers. Even Gorilla and His Lordship put over his ring skills to start with. Surprisingly cautious start but the heat is tremendous, and this turns into a nicely laid out match with some good near-falls, a particularly good one coming after Flair clobbers Piper with a chair. It's not as good as Piper's match with Perfect the previous year but it's a much more promising Flair match than the Tito bout, in a much better setting. I even have to admit that Gorilla and Hayes were actually pretty good here, I guess taking Heenan out of the equation forced them to call the action instead of harass the Brain. Flair's post-match interview indicates that he's ready to move on to Hogan. "When are you gonna HULK UP??" -
What a striking comparison to the Jumbo/Kawada match. One isn't going to confuse this with the Triple Crown bout but they're both laid out similarly and both are out to accomplish the same thing--take a guy with potential star power but who isn't seen as true championship material yet, and try to get across that they're capable of winning it all. Simmons dominates the first fall and wins quickly, but Race uses a clever trick to frame Simmons for throwing Luger over the top rope to equalize. The first two falls were slow going but the atmosphere between falls with Dusty's pep talking and the on-point, pure-sports commentary was terrific. The third fall is when this really gets good, as Luger goes nuts unloading on Simmons, only for Ron to Hulk Up and get off a rash of near-falls before Luger gets a refreshingly clean victory. Luger's PPV hot streak has not subsided yet. Ross and Schiavone have made for an excellent announce team tonight--maybe this is the role that suited Schiavone the best.
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I don't know how long it lasted but Dangerously's suspension was a shoot--apparently he leaked plans to the Torch about a planned Luger vs. Lawler unification match. Dangerously cuts a scorched earth promo on WCW for suspending him, but not revoking his manager's license. Madusa has been assigned to bring Paul E. the man who can take out Sting--the WCW Halloween Phantom, aka Rick Rude. He's an instant breath of fresh air for this company, and this setting is fresh for Rude, who was badly stagnating a year ago.
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Great, great pace for most of this--this is probably Austin's best non-gimmick match to date. Double juice, which is always a surprise at this point, and Dustin takes some terrific bumps and provides some awesome unexpected twists like the quasi-shoot-style half crab reversal. Even the final two-count is timed right with the countdown. Not a US MOTYC or anything but both guys come across as the future of the business.
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This is possibly the lamest, cheapest entrance set in the history of wrestling PPVs. It shouldn't be a big deal but it's a big point of difference in the presentation of the Big Two. Also there's a "MINN. TWINS" tombstone which only highlights the idiotic, WCW-esque decision to put this PPV up against Game 7 of the World Series. Amazingly(?) I've never seen this match before. Nice to see Vader again, getting absolutely no fanfare that we can see prior to this show--had to hype up Barry Windham's presence here instead. Cactus Jack is out with a chainsaw that I'm guessing doesn't get used as one of the Instruments of Torture. Big pop for the Steiners. Clusterfuck of a match follows with the main highlights being Mick Foley busting his ass trying to get this concept over. Inexplicable events abound like guys in masks popping out of caskets and "The Ghouls," then Cactus Jack waits by the switch for 45 seconds before flipping it, allowing Rick Steiner to put Abby in the CHAIR OF TORTURE for the win. Abby flips out after being released and Schiavone gets off the Line of the Year: "When he awoke, I guess he thought he was in heaven and he knew he shouldn't be there!" That was...yeah. There's barely anything else to say.
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Abdullah in a shirt and tie with his kendo stick. Fabulous. Diamond Studd and DDP follow, and when Barry Windham and Dustin Rhodes pull up and Windham extends his hand to Bischoff, the Enforcers run in and slam the door on it. Well-executed, except for Bischoff being an insincere ninny as he always is.
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Larry Zbyszko: champion of Creationism? Color me surprised. Arn cuts yet another promo that has Russo, Dunn, et al shuddering. Arn threatens to show the Freebirds what for the next time they see them--whether it's in a mall, downtown, or getting on a plane. That brings the 'birds out for an impromptu brawl. Good action but lacking in heat, and Ross called this like he was barely awake.
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I really didn't care much for the post-match scrum. It was just a repeat of the long, drawn-out confrontation from a few weeks ago, but even though this time there was a payoff with Embry cheap-shotting Prichard as he's being held back, it seems like a tepid brawl lacking in heat. Embry goes on a psychotic rant in the locker room about how Prichard has been riding his coattails and falling for these fat, egg-suckin' dog Tennessee women who weigh about 500 pounds. It's another standout Embry promo, but Prichard tops him by calmly rebutting his points about being a coattail-rider. Prichard very logically points out how it was Embry hiding behind him, both in the ring and when they were out partying. He addresses the Roddy Piper comparisons, his "attitude problems" preventing him from getting signed by the WWF or NWA (how legit that is, I don't know, but he makes it sound as though it is) and brings up how he wasn't letting party time get in the way of business, whereas Embry was staying in his hotel room all day instead of hitting the gym. Great, great stuff from Prichard that redeems the underwhelming angle. It's all wrasslin' stuff in the end but there's a lot of legitimate truth in there, which even a cynical fan has to be able to see.
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Travis is sporting a nasty-looking scar courtesy of a Lawler fireball. Travis claims he's gotten over 100 calls of support as a result of this attack and promises that someone will be coming for Lawler. Lawler dares Travis to step into the ring, but Travis won't bite. Nothing major but this was a much simpler and more effective segment than the previous ones in this feud, and I admit to being intrigued as to whom Travis has in mind.
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Sarge isn't asking us forgiveness, he (or the WWF) is telling us to forgive him. I read an Observer of this time that reported an attempt at having he and Jim Duggan recite the Pledge of Allegiance at a TV taping was roundly booed, which gives you a glimmer of hope for the WWF Universe fanbase of the time.
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Excellent match with Kawada getting a ton. He controls most of the beginning with headlocks and focuses big on Jumbo's head to set up the sleeper and enzuilariato. Unfortunately for him he just can't match Jumbo when it comes to throwing bombs. Kawada gets a few token kickouts before a sick backdrop suplex puts him down. Kawada got put over enough here that he didn't need a ton of epic kickouts--Jumbo does a fabulous job of getting him over but taking only a few big moves to win, which gets himself over in the end as well. Brilliant match layout and brilliant work.
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If Kroffat had gotten the opportunity to work matches like this in the WWF, then maybe the team could have gotten over as babyfaces after all. He pulls off the sympathetic babyface act beautifully here, though it helps that he's working opposite a master in body part dickery in Fuchi. Kroffat gets in some great hope spots but Fuchi just methodically tears the knee apart until he wins by referee stoppage.
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Kazmaier came off as a real idiot in the tag title tournament final and here he becomes the first man in history to allow Abdullah the Butcher to sneak up on him. Ross goes off on a tangent wondering why Kazmaier didn't get a submission victory instead of by DQ. Yes, that's where this angle's focus needed to be.
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Ron talks about his dreams that came true, and those that didn't--he draws parallels to Luger's upbringing, and their past on the football field (which I'd assume is legit--Simmons played for FSU, Luger played for Miami). I like this build, but Simmons could have used another intermediate feud before the World title push. Problem is...it's 1991 WCW. Who was available? He probably should have gone over on a mini-feud with Arn, actually.
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Lawler browbeats Travis for having no friends, pride, or life, which is why he lashes out to destroy other people's property. Lawler is veering dangerously close to his old heel days of burying his opponent. It's a really odd tack for Lawler to be talking about Travis' scrawniness. This is the wrong territory for that kind of promo, and Travis looks to be in better shape than a lot of the rest of the USWA roster. Lawler takes nearly 5 minutes to say what could have been summed up in about two.
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El Diablo doesn't do much but for his time out there, Jake does an incredible job of hiding his mannerisms and acting like somebody completely different--not an easy task considering how recognizable Jake's body and body language usually are. Duggan's involvement here was really random. You'd think Jake and Undertaker would target him for interfering just like they targeted Sid.
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Tito is introduced in front of a bullfighting stadium and some very badly edited bullfighting footage follows. I love the extreme close-ups of Santana's face right as the bull is unleashed. Like some idiot is going to walk out there with a heavy video camera and then turn his back on a bull so he can get that shot.
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Jumbo's Army are about the biggest cocksuckers ever in this. Fuchi gets on the mic and trash talks something before the bell, sparking a brawl. On the rare occasions Misawa is in the match they all home in on his broken/injured nose. Kikuchi gets brutalized some more, with a few gratuitous drops on the guardrail. Fuchi flips off Kawada as he attempts to make a save in a great moment. Kikuchi fights his ass off and gets in some great punch flurries on Taue and Jumbo. But...it's basically a 3-on-2 handicap match and that's only going to take the babyfaces so far. Misawa's presence loomed large over this match even when he wasn't in, which was well-done. He was more of a factor than Kawada, who had a really nice exchange dodging Jumbo strikes and the meltdown with Fuchi, but otherwise didn't offer a lot. Still a great match, based on hate and heels trying to torture babyfaces which is a refreshing change for an All-Japan 6-man even in the context of this feud.