PeteF3
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Everything posted by PeteF3
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Austin's future star power is evident here, though his ringwork could kindly be described as "raw." He sounds way, way more confident on the mic and particularly in how to work the crowd than Foley does at this point. We see the debut of Jeannie and we've already found out the story here. Adams sort of looks like a chump in the way he walks away after getting slapped. At one time I was convinced that "Frogman Leblanc" was a name that had to have been made up in PWI. -
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Really tepid match between Borne and Kevin that sees Borne use the ropes to get the win. Like there was any chance of Kevin ever wrestling Kerry in a title bout under any circumstances. Borne's promo is almost that of a psychotic babyface, with a few lines that could be borrowed from motivational posters but delivered in a high-strung whackjob fashion that really makes him look unhinged. Kerry insists that a fight will end their friendship, so in a week he's going to wrestle Borne instead. Kerry invokes the name of David & Mike to put over said friendship, then calls Matt's old man a cheater. We get into a my-dad-can-beat-up-your-dad argument, but Kerry won't take Borne's bait to fight then and there. Good stuff from Borne.
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Very Memphis-meets-late-'90s-Raw segment with everyone getting a chance to speak a bit on the mic. Adams demands a match with Austin after Austin came out with Chris' ex-wife Jeannie. We go from the originally scheduled matches of Chris Adams vs. Terrence Garvin and Eric Embry vs. Steve Austin to Adams vs. Austin and Embry initially challenging Jerry Lawler, then getting rebuffed by Ronnie Gossett and Terrence Garvin before getting more or less tricked into facing Garvin with one hand tied behind his back. Everyone was pretty good here playing their roles even though this probably took a few left turns too many.
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Numerous people also cut promos on his deceased father. "OOOOH YEAH, LAWLER--THINK OF YOUR DAD, MAN, BEIN' DEAD."
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If Jerry Jarrett or Eddie Marlin had suffered a heart attack at any time from around 1983 to 1997, you know Lawler's second--maybe first--thought would be, "How can we make some money off of this?"
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Billy Travis has apparently turned babyface as he's scheduled to form a team with Jeff Jarrett, whom Lawler says is the Most Hated Man in wrestling. Not to second-guess the King on a promo but I kind of wish he'd gone after Jeff for riding the nepotism wave instead of saying it's because "he's a punk."
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Lawler is overselling this one punch to an absurd degree, losing by countout TECHNICAL LOSS to the Thriller and having to be carried to and from the dressing room. All he seemingly can remember is "Nate Whitlock." Reggie B. Fine cuts a dapper figure but is not one of the premiere managers the Memphis territory has ever seen. Sweet Daddy Falcone is an oversized Paul Heyman lookalike who is hardly representative of the "team of the '90s."
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Terrific match, actually I'm not overly convinced that it wasn't as good or better than WrestleWar. It's a little heel-in-peril-ish but the HIP stuff is so fast-paced and executed so well that it doesn't matter. Zenk is still an albatross around the other 3 guys' necks in any given match, but Pillman is excellent here. Pillman does a blind cross body and eats the tennis racket, setting up the Midnights for a title match at Capital Combat.
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Hansen, apparently upset that Tenryu's getting this title shot and not him, unloads on Tenryu before the match, hanging him against the turnbuckle and knocking him silly with a Lariat. Jumbo runs off Hansen, but when he checks on Tenryu and gets slapped, he decides, "Fuck this sportsmanship shit" and instantly tries to put Tenryu away. Tenryu weathers that storm but it's pretty much Jumbo's match, as Tenryu sort of shoots his wad by hitting the power bomb early and seemingly the tide turns in the opening minutes when that fails to put him away. Totally agreed on Tenryu's departure being timed right in retrospect. Knowing how slowly AJPW liked to elevate people, they needed something to force their hand and get behind the future Four Corners. Tenryu is already becoming a forgotten man as he's quickly ushered to the locker room after his defeat and Hansen and Jumbo mix it up again after the match. There would still be occasions to come in this decade of Hansen going nuts on people before and after the bell, but this is is about the last time we'll see a prolonged, extended pre- or post-match angle in an All-Japan ring.
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And here I thought there was far more aggression in Anjoh/Takada. I'm getting to the point where I don't even know what I'm watching anymore when it comes to the UWF. The upset finish was nice but this was clearly the #2 match of the night and only marginally better than Maeda/Nakano, which is not a knock per se, I just liked the other two matches a lot.
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Christ, I'm finding these discrepancies comical at this point. Shave five or so minutes off of this and it's a legit MOTYC. Yeah, I said it. The stand-up strike exchanges were dynamite with Anjo throwing great palm strikes and Takada having the advantage when he kept his distance by throwing kicks. Takada even lands a VICIOUS spin kick that is worth preserving as it's probably the only time in his professional career that that ever happened. Some great "near falls" on the mat, but also a lot of LONG stretches where one guy or another is in a pro wrestling-style lateral press position and nothing much is happening--hence the length being an issue. Finish also sort of comes out of nowhere even by shoot standards. Still really good, and for the record my favorite Anjo singles match is still the one with Tenryu.
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Hah! I'm just going to be the shootstyle maverick forever and ever. I think one of many issues I have with the UWF is the perception that the top guys are all interchangeable in terms of push and star power--it makes every match more or less inconsequential and the equivalent to a die roll, because I don't get any sense of anyone being elevated or not. Well, now we have a match where a top guy is facing someone clearly underneath him, and Mr. Underneath is going all out fighting for his life. Love the headbutts from Nakano and loved how behind him the crowd was. Maeda wins relatively quickly...but he SHOULD win quickly. He's the Top Guy, not Nakano. Great sense of impending dread as Nakano is about to go up for the capture suplex, and he's done after that. Fun way to get the bad Japanese indy taste out of my mouth.
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Billy Jack is certainly unhinged enough that you can buy him snapping by seeing Larry holding a trash can, video evidence be damned. BIG JUICE and LITTLE JUICE? I knew about the Juicer gimmick but holy fuck. Haynes goes nuts afterward, blaming Oregon for not supporting him or his gym. He says "SHUT UP" a few too many times but gets in a dig at the little Juicers--"You like midget wrestling, huh?"
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