PeteF3
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Everything posted by PeteF3
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Great job of putting over both guys, not just in the context of the tournament but knowing that this rivalry is going to be carrying the New Japan heavyweights in the months and years to come. Chono pays Hashimoto back for everything he does to him and Hash gets to survive the STF that put Choshu down. One can generally call a lot of time limit draws in advance but I didn't get that vibe here at all until the last few minutes when you started hearing more rapid time calls.
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Good opening and good ending with sort of a soft middle. Muto going all out at the start was great but the Fujinami control portion seemed lacking. It didn't really bother me or seem noticeable in the match with Vader but this did feel more like Fujinami was along for the ride than a great match between equals. This was the first time I've ever seen the "repeated pinfall attempts" series actually pay off with a win, so that was nice to see. A big "in with the new" feel to this tournament so far.
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This was better than the Dome match but it still felt like Liger was carrying things along. Nogami just doesn't have the compelling, sleazy desperation that Honaga did. He does a decent job of hanging on the mat here and setting up Liger's highspots. The highspots pepper a series of intense matwork and pro-style submission work instead of just more highspots and bombs, which is a nice way of building to the upset finish without having Nogami have to kick out of a bunch of Liger Bombs and SSPs or try to match Liger with his own big moves that he clearly doesn't have.
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Fantastic match, one that feels like a proto-version of Vader vs. Sting. This is dominant heel vs. plucky babyface stuff all the way, with Vader spending a long time in control and using a dragon sleeper and scorpion deathlock just to be a dick. The backslide was a little weak but Fujinami's comebacks before that were all great.
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Man, outside of the upset ending I didn't care for this at all. I thought Choshu looked pretty lethargic, not to mention out of shape, and much of the match was built on striking with strikes that didn't look all that good. Then you get an oddly muted crowd, whether they were just quiet or didn't really buy Chono as having a chance, I don't know. Big disappointment considering Choshu's rep and how good Chono had looked in the tag bouts.
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This is fun and fast-paced for six beefy guys, but this illustrates how far ahead of the pack AJPW was than everyone else when it came to 6-man layouts. You get six well-defined characters in those matches with definitive strengths and weaknesses relative to everyone else, and it comes through in virtually every spot in the match. Here you have Haku as sort of a monster and Nakano getting hidden as sort of the underdog, but that's about it--everyone works the same against everyone else. Still, the action was all well-done and the post-match confrontation was nice and intense. This is definitely an environment conducive to Haku, and he could have been a depth asset to any of the big Japan promotions.
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I guess this is a match that had to happen. It's not an all-time great and likely not as good as a heel Eaton vs. babyface Morton, but it does its job well enough. Eaton throws awesome punches, there's a great post bump...and a shitty Dusty Rhodes finish (not to be confused with a Dusty finish). Oh, and I think Morton would still project "scuzzy" quite well even if he did get a haircut and new tights.
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There are a few things holding this back from being a MOTYC. The stretcher stip in the middle is a little wonky, though not a huge deal considering the time it takes to set up the cage and the tease that Cactus won't make it for the 3rd fall. The bigger issue is a falls-count-anywhere/stretcher/cage match that ends in a fucking double DQ. That's Capital Combat levels of shitty booking--no reason why Cactus couldn't have eaten a pinfall after being down 2-on-1 to the Gilberts. And what the fuck did Cactus do to get disqualified, anyway? But, this is clearly a coming-out party for Mick. Now he's added a ton of effective offense to his arsenal to go with his crazy bumps, and combined with Gilbert's selling he's improved tenfold as a worker because of it. He's gained weight but keeps moving at full-speed for most of the match--no wasted motion on anybody's part here. I think this could have been better as a three-match progressive series rather than cramming all of these gimmicks into one bout, but once you take the booking out this is one terrific brawl.
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Stan Lane, the greatest tag wrestler of all-time, is forbidden from entering the GWF Tag Title Tournament without a partner. So he's assigned Steve Cox--they're the original Odd Couple! Cornette and Lane are fine with this because they could win the tournament with anybody, but they treat Cox as a hanger-on. This is funny stuff, especially Cornette's half-hearted ring intro.
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Looks like the Badd babyface turn is on already. Austin's promo is interrupted by Lady Blossom checking out her new earrings--"Johnny B." gave them to her. Austin browbeats her and they storm off. It almost goes without saying that World Class Jeannie is better than this subversive Miss Elizabeth wannabe. The U.S. title has been vacated, to be held in a "one night round robin" tournament. Involving Barry Windham, Nikita Koloff, Bobby Eaton, Arn Anderson, Dustin Rhodes, Sting, Steve Austin, Diamond Studd, Z-Man, Yellow Dog, and Johnny B. Badd. WTF, Gordon--do the people producing this segment not know what a "round robin" is? We get a post-match interview from the GAB from Luger, talking up his attitude adjustment and new frame of mind. Well, this is timely. Gordon updates us on the World Tag Title tournament. I know the Flair firing and Steiner injury weren't planned, but two title tournaments ongoing at the same time is a little much.
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Somehow the Leatherface vignette doesn't come off as any less effective than Roberts and the Warrior. Slap some Jake narration over that and you'd have something. Davis talks to all the Little Nightmares about doing the right thing and saying no to drugs. Gag me. Dundee agrees and tries to antagonize Davis into a fight. Davis still kisses up to the fans but then finally starts reciting the ways Dundee gets on his nerves--Dundee retorts with how nobody recognizes Davis without his stupid star painted on! They hit the ring and we get the return of REDNECK UWFI. Eddie Marlin likes this and sends Paul Neighbors into make it an official match. This goes from quasi-shoot-style to matwork to a brawl, with a Davis tope in-between. Awesome stuff. They have to take a mid-match commercial break and by the time we return Dundee has walked out. Kind of a lame finish but it does sort of add to the unscheduled, improv feel of the match.
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We get more multiple-camera angles and a flashback and cheesy music, that really kill the atmosphere of this. Especially that one from inside the casket with Jake talking to the Warrior. Jake takes a little too much pleasure in locking Warrior in the casket, and after fighting for a little bit Warrior goes silent. When Jake opens it back up, Warrior sits up with a blank expression on his face. Jake is outstanding as usual here and just barely does enough to save this. There is a little vibe of Jake slowly and methodically crushing the Warrior's will that comes through here. And now we get a primo example of why WWF booking was so regimented--because guys like the Warrior are incapable of getting over multiple programs at one time. It would add so much more if we got a low-key Warrior--maybe that would add some actual intrigue to the Foregone Conclusion Made in Hell. More lame war metaphors--they're no longer offensive, just lamely outdated. The only positive here is that they're not trying to suppress WrestleMania VI. Sid fits right in with these two visually but cuts a really shitty promo.
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That's still some poor quality control to have sat on this match for this long, and an indication of what a bunch of last-minute stuff was being booked for the company at this point. Great performance from Pillman in particular but everyone except the Studd looks good. And Hall at least looks better than he did in the AWA. Big heat for this and an actual finish. Fun match, but it's obvious how far Jim Ross has fallen as an announcer. I don't totally blame him, but he sounds like a man whose soul has been crushed by the monstrosity that is 1991 WCW.
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Yeah, that half crab spot was...well, I put almost all of it on Yamazaki. He gets dropped on his head with a German suplex and then half-crabbed and he sells it like a resthold. Still, I liked a lot of the rest of this, and I liked Scott to the point where it almost seemed like a carry-job, as aside from a few big kicks and two suplexes Yamazaki seemed like he was along for the ride.
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Fun U.S.-style match in terms of Vader & Bigelow as bullying heels, complete with some hair pull complaints, and Muto & Chono having to play hit and run. The foreigners bust out some neat counters--I particularly liked Bigelow catching the handspring elbow and turning into a suplex. This sort of builds to an inevitable result but that's just fine, since Vader and Bigelow are the one who need to be established as the big dominant team.
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Solie cites Rule 2, Article 1, Section 1. Fantastic. If there's one thing WCW could do at this point it was make the top-10 rankings and rulebook all sound really official. Babyface turn for the 'birds? They're getting challenged by the Enforcers for their U.S. titles and now they're facing the Hardliners in the World Tag Title tournament.
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Even the WWF's Sledgehammer of Plot presentation would see fit to give the Yellow Dog a different entrance theme. Jesus, it's not like they didn't have access to 200,000 generic royalty-free themes lying around. Pillman takes some great little bumps here, and Austin provided an awesome-looking clothesline as the Dog was chasing Lady Blossom around the ring. Austin is still a little green but has all the potential in the world, and Blossom provided a lot of quality work as a second here. The gimmick sucks but Pillman has done a much better job hiding his style under the mask than Flair did. Time-limit draw and then an attempted unmasking by the Diamond Studd, but Z-Man makes the save and the Dog gets the mask back on. I don't recall this leading to any sort of payoff, the whole thing just got dropped and Pillman reinstated. Good match, though.
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In the span of one episode of TV we get a match booked between the DWB & Cousin Harold against Embry & Prichard with Marlin as the guest referee, but when Embry puts up an ultimatum for Marlin to either back out or fire him, Marlin relents. Well, that was pointless. That leads to a continuation of the expiration-of-time main event, which seems like a pretty big match to put on television. Naturally it's a non-finish as they brawl to a DCOR.
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DWB cuts a humbled promo about how he's trying to turn his life around, then proposes to Kimberly. Yeah, the timing of this isn't suspicious at all. Kim gives sort of a half-hearted "yes." That all could have been done better. Arena highlights of Anthony getting double-teamed by Embry & Prichard. Anthony is getting beaten down with the Texas flag as Tojo holds Paul Neighbors down with the stomach claw. Eventually Bill Dundee and a crew-cutted Eddie Marlin make the save. DWB wants some help in dealing with the Texas Boys, and Kimberly brings up the 6'9", 500 pound Cousin Harold. He's not a wrestler, but Anthony eventually seems sold on him. The heels' mocking of "Cousin HAHLD" is pretty funny. Another heel attack, and once again Eddie Marlin makes the save. I love Marlin but Embry should NOT be trading blows with him. Paul Neighbors then comes out and actually starts brawling with Tojo, which is kind of funny but also looks really terrible. For a chaotic brawl this was pretty by-the-book. It had a few added wrinkles like Neighbors but I saw where this was going the instant the heels walked out, and that's exactly where it ended up.