PeteF3
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Everything posted by PeteF3
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"A running team" in football used to be the old three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust, grind-it-out, Woody Hayes offense--passing only when necessary. Now, particularly in the NFL, you're a "running team" if you rush on 50% of your plays. These things can happen. This is a performance art not a sport. Is this sort of how Nickelback became metal or something? My view is in that in pro wrestling perception is reality. DiBiase in kayfabe terms was a technician--so that's what he is. -
"A running team" in football used to be the old three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust, grind-it-out, Woody Hayes offense--passing only when necessary. Now, particularly in the NFL, you're a "running team" if you rush on 50% of your plays. These things can happen.
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The Puerto Rico match sounds interesting, but I thought Perez was a gigantic pile of shit in both World Class and Mid-South and other than that Abby match I have no desire to watch him again. He has a match with Tito on Prime Time that I thought was okay.
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1. Jerry Lawler - Even though I used to think he was the greatest ever at being either a heel or babyface I'm now convinced well into the 1990 set that he was better as a babyface, and oddly better as a babyface champion than heel champion which is pretty backwards. That said, Lawler's high-end stuff is more versatile than he gets credit for and as the Snowman feud indicates the dude is full of surprises. Not everything hits (I really didn't like that Fujinami match at all) but you're always at least glad you saw it. 2. Terry Funk - See above, but more versatile. Would be a #1 GOAT if I had to do a ballot right now. 3. Steve Veidor - Really one of the all-time great babyfaces--sadly I don't think a ton more footage is going to turn up of him that isn't out there already, unless someone digs out the Inoki match that I think he had or that damned missing third fall from his match with Pete Roberts. Veidor vs. Gwyn Davies is still my favorite WOS match (or at least my favorite complete one) and it's about as epic as the style ever got. His matches that exist never fail to be less than awesome when he's not albatrossed by Haystacks and Daddy. 4. Stan Hansen - Not really a pick that I feel the need to explain. My plowing through of the All-Japan seasons died out at the beginning of '93, so what I really want to see are the last vestiges of Hansen as the aging, respected veteran. 5. Angel Azteca - Because I'd never heard of the guy before starting the 1990 yearbook and he's had a MOTYC that some people are calling a GOAT candidate and looked really awesome in the trios matches, too.
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I mute or DVR-FF ads at almost every opportunity nowadays. But when I got my SNME set, I was positively giddy when a particular show still had the commercials.
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I'm about the only guy online who still likes Dory, it seems. Even on Classics he's invariably the top guy mentioned in a "Most Overrated" thread. I thought Dory was the MVP of the '75 Open League, which is not a small feat considering that was a tournament that included Baba, Jumbo, Destroyer, Harley, Murdoch, and Horst Hoffman--not to mention Dusty and Abby. Dory/Horst is a MOTYC, Dory/Jumbo looks great even though we only have the last 10 minutes of a 30-minute draw, and he even has a fun match beating the shit out of Abdullah the Butcher and actually showing some fire. It's sort of damning with faint praise but that tournament also had the best Baron Von Raschke match ever.
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I guess I see Sheamus, Sarge, and Gordy as "power wrestlers." At some point suplexes and backbreakers went from being finishers to being "regular" moves and thus the technician/power-wrestler divide got blurrier. I don't think having a submission finish in and of itself is de facto proof of a technical wrestler. Sheamus' big thing is kicking people's heads off more than the Cloverleaf. Gordy was about picking you up and throwing you down again as much as it was the Asian Spike. Sarge at least had the kayfabe Marine training but was still about knocking people around than taking it to the mat. Valentine? I don't see any issue calling him a "technician" at all. Not only did he have the figure 4 but MOST of his matches were about methodically setting the opponent up for it, Anderson-style. That's an indication of a true technical wrestler. Piper doesn't even come close--his background (kayfabe, at least) was boxing and he was all about how he grew up as a guy literally fighting his way up from the streets. That more than counteracts the fact that he had a sleeper--and earlier, a swinging neckbreaker--as a finisher. Savage and Shawn are high-fliers--hit and run guys. I can't think of either guy using a submission at all outside of maybe slapping the figure four onto Ric Flair. DiBiase's "technician" status is probably a triumph of hype and marketing and gimmickry over actual ability, but I guess he passes the Potter Stewart "know it when I see it" test with me. On top of just having big moves, "smoothness" is an indication of technical ability in a pro wrestling sense and DiBiase certainly had that. He had a sweet powerslam that looked like he was leveraging his opponent over than doing a Steve Williams/Davey Boy-style show of strength, and he still had a submission finish pre-MDM (the figure four--the "official" finisher which still applies even if most name opponents were finished by a glove to the head).
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PEACE IS FOR PANSIES. SGT. SLAUGHTER IS DECLARING WAR ON PEACE AND ON YOU, VOLKOFF. I know Steve Beverly absolutely flipped his lid at the closing shot of Slaughter pointing an assault rifle at the camera, basically threatening to shoot any fan who supported peace or Volkoff. It's doubly disturbing now. Ventura says he completely agrees with Slaughter's stance which is also pretty crazy when heard with 2012 ears. This is actually a pretty hilarious combination of a classy ceremony with the most un-PC wrestling promos seen in the WWF in years. Ventura invokes noted political stalwart Andrew Dice Clay and says that if Volkoff can't speak the Pledge of Allegiance he should get out. I'm going to miss Jesse on this yearbook.
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This was pretty good. Onita gets fucked up early with several explosions and eats most of them throughout the match, which only exacerbates the effect when Goto gets whipped full-on and tangled into the ropes. Onita's fired-up facials as he's trying to fight out of the figure four really sell this as much as the gimmickry. The fucker still won't go down until Onita basically just DDTs and power bombs him into oblivion. What fucking kills this for me is the overdubbed commentary. I know FMW has long had an issue with its golf-style announcing but it's still not any easier to take.
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In a way I now wish I hadn't listened to the USWA-TX/Global podcast because that spoiled the Lawler babyface turn. This is a really fun match nonetheless with some great stooging from Young and even Falcone was perfectly okay. Awesome finish as the heels use a riding crop on both Lawler and Jarrett, but Lawler retaliates by pulling out his trusty chain as well as a SECOND chain to give to Jarrett. Spectacular. Unfortunately Tony Falk only sees the chain and not the riding crop, leading to a DQ win for Devastation, Inc. and a piledriver on the referee. Like Loss I wonder if that's going to be a factor in this "deal with the Devil" that Johnson and Pedicino were hyping.
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Zrno is in the short trunks, Schumann in the tights. This will be fun as it's my first chance to see Marty Jones as a heel. This crowd is absolutely jacked for Zrno, chanting "MI-LE" non-stop every time he's in the ring. Schumann isn't really that good and is basically just a big musclehead but his reversal of the Hart Attack where he gets Finlay to clothesline his own partner is absolutely fucking brilliant and gets a huge reaction. The third fall takes a really unexpected detour when Schumann gets busted open and Finlay & Jones go from rather routine heels to being particularly vicious in going after the cut. Schumann ducks a flying attack by Jones and he and Finlay both tumble to the floor for the countout. This is a tag title change that the crowd pops huge for and is treated as a Big Deal. Fun match. If not the most Southern tag match in continental European history it's not far off.
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A fantastic brawl with Austin taking two absolutely insane bumps: the dive to nowhere on the floor and the missed tackle against the post, with Austin smacking it so hard his helmet flies off. Somehow they book a DQ finish in a no-DQ/no-countout match when Percy Pringle runs in and helps engineer a 2-on-1 on Adams. The psychology surrounding the football gear is actually quite clever which puts this an additional notch or two above the usual garbage brawl.
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They have bears in Africa? Lord Alfred and "Jim" encounter Koko B. Ware searching for a mate for Frankie, Damian (with Jake using the opportunity to cut a promo on Bad News), the Bushwhackers walking with the Nairobi Express (an underrated tag team if there ever was one), the "anthropoid" Jimmy Snuka running around, and some unfriendly natives--Slick & Akeem. Hayes has to bail Jim out at every stop in their search for the mouth of the Yanghtze River. Hayes is pretty great and Gene is pretty shamelessly bold in pratfalling around like an idiot.
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They have bears in Africa? Lord Alfred and "Jim" encounter Koko B. Ware searching for a mate for Frankie, Damian (with Jake using the opportunity to cut a promo on Bad News), the Bushwhackers walking with the Nairobi Express (an underrated tag team if there ever was one), the "anthropoid" Jimmy Snuka running around, and some unfriendly natives--Slick & Akeem. Hayes has to bail Jim out at every stop in their search for the mouth of the Yanghtze River. Hayes is pretty great and Gene is pretty shamelessly bold in pratfalling around like an idiot.
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The crowd is absolutely jacked for this. Even with WWF TV being sound-sweetened beyond death you can tell visually that the reactions here are genuine. No, there isn't much beyond the false finishes and the referee switch, but those are some pretty great false finishes and some great fiery comebacks from Tito. Heenan is absolutely outstanding here--he has a camera trained on him for most of the match and makes the most of it. His little signal to Perfect to switch from a chinlock to a chokehold was a great bit of subtle managing.
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This was a disappointment especially in light of the POP match earlier, which may not be totally fair. Crush blows a lot of things, even his normally reliable tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, while Smash doesn't offer a lot besides ax-handlery. Ax as the outside man is honestly the best worker of the team. The Rockers themselves are fine but I can't call this one of their standout performances, either. I do like the finish which is maybe a bit Memphis heel-ish for what are supposed to be big bruising tough guys, but gets the advantage of having three men over. Ax's interference is protested by both the Harts and LOD, to no avail. Also, "A LOVE TAP??!" Vince's incredulous reaction cracked me up. Highlight of the match, hands down.
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I'm guessing they got a shiny new merchandise catalog, at least. Unique setting to this, with Vince doing a rare-for-the-time in-ring interview and Ventura alone on commentary. It's not quite as good, but Hogan hits a lot of the same notes as he did n his comeback speech and he's still more low-key than usual. Earthquake and Bravo try to corner Hogan, but Tugboat comes to help get them to back off.
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More animal analogies in the green-screen promos. As forced as some of this was it actually forces the Warrior into focusing on-point. And it's better than having Okerlund involved. There's a whole lot about this feud that I don't get at all. There's a cage match already signed for SummerSlam that isn't mentioned once. The WWF was always about what was happening NOW--6 months ago may as well have been ancient history. Yet the entire basis of this feud was, "Rude beat the Warrior a year and a half ago." All of those training vignettes aren't mentioned either in any way, even by Ventura--I guess THAT'S ancient history, then. Rude is pretty decisively beaten even if it's by a countout and we get Heenan getting beaten up, too. Joey Marella doesn't call for a bell even after clearly seeing Heenan interfere twice. Not to mention an idiotic spot with Marella lifting the Warrior's leg three times on the sleeper. Now, all that aside--and it's a lot of "all that"--Rude was great here. Rude going into a boxing stance and just pummeling the Warrior with punches may be the best spot of any match in this series, and it's a damn good series as far as ringwork goes. I love how they keep building and building on the "block the Rude Awakening" spot. At WrestleMania, Warrior turned it into a clothesline. At SummerSlam, Rude ducked the clothesline and caught Warrior in a sleeper. Here, Rude uses a thrust kick and immediately hits the neckbreaker anyway. This is also another good Warrior performance by his standards, as his selling and bumping are actually pretty good.
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