PeteF3
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Everything posted by PeteF3
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This might be my favorite MPPW segment to date. Baxter is fun, Cornette cuts his best promo in years (probably because it's 99% shoot while also hyping a specific program), the line about Baxter's father was Holy Shit-worthy (and marvelously foreshadowed in Baxter's promo the previous week so the fans could be hip to it), and the heel attack was great. BOY TONY is back after a 12-year absence, and by this point Falk looks like Pat Patterson in that get-up. Michael Hayes makes the save and burns through all the catchphrases he didn't get to in his promo the previous week. I want to see this match!
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So goes one of the 5 or 6 most influential people in the history of the business. As the saying goes, a handshake from Baba meant more than a contract from most other promoters. With the Big Two becoming what they were in '99, the deaths of Sam Muchnick and now Baba in the span of a few weeks seemed like a final symbolic death knell for classic wrestling as an "art."
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This was a spot exhibition...but that's not a criticism, because damn, the spots were something else indeed. Lots of pretty athleticism but all done with a degree of hate and trying to inflict injury on the opponent. People have accused this series of being the same match over and over again, but it already seems to be progressing much better than the Malenko/Guerrero series did just going by Styles' commentary, as this seems to be the first time they go into the crowd or kick the match off with crazy dives. It's not a long match, but these two brutalize each other so effectively, with credible near-falls occurring in the first 5 minutes or so, that you get the feeling that neither man will last long. It's Hagler vs. Hearns, on a lesser level, in that regard.
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Who remembers CRZ? I'll let him break this down from his old recap because it so perfectly sums it up: Now, right here, watch this. As Flair puts the figure four on Scott Hall - EVERYBODY STANDS AND LOOKS TO THE ENTRANCE WAY. They KNOW that this is gonna end in a run-in and screwjob. THAT, more than anything else, is the SADDEST thing EVER to associate with WCW. THAT is why, on a night where they once again have the opportunity to shine and stand out and say "Hey! Give us a chance and we can make you, as a wrestling fan, happier than you could be with the other program!" they INSIST on pulling shit like this and proving they're clueless about what the people want to see. A split screen shot shows Eric Bischoff handing Hogan a bucket of something - we all know it's bleach because of the wonderful foreshadowing we've been treated to all night - and get this, the COMMENTATORS DON'T EVEN ACKNOWLEDGE the other picture. Hogan walks by four downed security men as Heenan starts "Look, everybody's--" and is cut off because he's NOT SUPPOSED TO KNOW IT'S GOING ON. The funny thing is, because all the commentators see is Hogan walking with a bucket, they have to MAKE UP action to call - remember, their backs are to the action and they rely on a television in front of them to call what's going on. Lame, lame, lame. Even the beatdown on Flair is a mess. He makes his own comeback, then Goldberg runs in, and then all of a sudden Flair is down and out even though he was just fine before the save. This fiasco of a show was WCW's best effort on an unopposed night, folks.
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Sweet merciful fuck, a WRESTLING match on Monday night. And, oh dear God, it's enough to make me want to go back to the vignettes. Will Sasso jumps the guardrail to continue this hot-button angle as the audience is, frankly, stunned. The announcers are all acting like their dogs have died--and not in an Owen Voice "put the severity of the Kimberly angle" over way, in a "we've checked out of this shit" way. This finishing sequence goes on, and on, and on, at half-speed, and--stupefyingly--Roddy Piper wins the U.S. title after a 16-year gap.
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MadTV had some good on-air talent but aside from the occasional movie parody or Madden sketch, was usually sunk by horrible lowest-common-denominator writing. In other words, a perfect synergistic match-up for WCW. Sasso ain't no Frank Caliendo as an impressionist, either. He "breaks character" when Bret gets too rough with the other cast members, then he destroys Sasso with a chair to the amusement/whooping of the audience. Sasso ain't no Caliendo and this ain't no Lawler/Kaufman.
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What everyone else said. Tasteless as fuck because, again, lack of commitment. I mean, I don't think this angle could really be saved in any environment, but Kevin Sullivan or even Filtered Vince Russo probably would have had the sense to tear up the TV format to get this over, maybe throw in a few "shoot" elements that aren't really necessary but at least get across that this is "different." Oh, and asking Scott Steiner to do stunt driving and Kimberly to take that bump...Jesus. Did they think last week's angle to write Kimberly off wasn't enough or something? Or was this just a desperate attention grab?
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TELLING STORIES, baby. Eric is now a bathroom matron, a la Babs Kramer. I could have gone my whole life without seeing a skit involving the Faces of Fear doing #2. Bischoff is such a grouch here...I mean, I get he's supposed to be a heel, but when the time calls for him to commit to looking like a buffoon, he still won't do it. He always has to get the last word in. And oh, speaking of which, guess what: it's another segment where Bischoff is supposed to be humiliated but ends up outsmarting Flair. #Politicalhit? And they'll KEEP REPEATING THIS FORMULA.
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In an era of dumb on-location vignettes, these probably stand out as the dumbest. And yet, also the easiest to watch... This is also is the start of the *announcers* not even knowing what was going on with these. If you feel you must run segments like this you need to just go full-on Lucha Underground and shoot it like a movie. WCW's single-camera approach is so half-assed.
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Hogan telling Adams to "just keep it between you and me" in front of a camera broadcasting to 3 million people is so eye-rolling it makes you forget about those asides in the Raven vignettes. WCW's backstage segments are so hamfisted and illogical at this point--I remember John Petrie's recaps completely deconstructing the idea of cameras just wandering around backstage, filming wrestlers doing random stuff and hoping something happens. 1998 WWF was actually pretty light on backstage vignettes and I remember even during the Ministry stuff there being an explanation or at least a plausible reason for a camera being backstage, with a minimum or absence of pretending that they weren't on the air.
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Apparently the initial vignettes weren't any more popular with the WCW brass than this one was with Hogan--Sandman has now debuted as a wrestler (still unnamed) and we take a hard left turn with these segments. Raven's sulking persona is all an act, which was not a change this character really needed even if the real Scott Levy is more Johnny Polo than Raven. These aren't the worst segments in WCW history or anything but Raven's constant asides to the camera (that no one else can hear) are eye-rolling.
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I thought this blew away the elimination tag--Tokyo wrestles like a man well beyond his years here. Sasuke, for once, isn't wrestling as an underdog in a big promotion, so we don't get him having a body part taken away from him so he can blow it off later--he's in the dominant position and, to my amazement, holds this match together really well. This was another ambitious effort, but this time, the reach doesn't exceed the grasp. A low-level MOTYC.
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Looks like we're in Detroit, in one of the biggest arenas I've ever seen an ECW show. Yes, the premise for this is just beyond insulting and I don't know what the fuck was up with the idea of Joey Styles possibly stripping. Heyman really didn't think much of his audience if he thought they'd actually buy this as possibly happening. I guess Douglas is a babyface now, because overtalkative loudmouths who parade around with hot chicks and win all the time make for such great babyfaces.
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Santo and Casas is a Dream Team, but something about it feels...wrong, somehow. Like they should never be on the same side. That said, I liked this a bit--I'm with Chad in that I didn't think this was *great*, but I did enjoy it. Casas still has such velocity to everything he does--he actually manages to make his Casita/la majistral look like a high-impact move here. They also avoided the cliched double- or triple-pin finishes to end each fall. That said, the ending doesn't really make sense even though the brawl with Perro is a cool wild scene. Scorpio slaps him, sets off the incident, and for some reason Santo and Casas are declared the winners. Overall a fun effort, made almost entirely by the technicos.
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This is worked almost like a young-lions' match for the first chunk--all very basic, but at least they lay everything in. This turns into something inoffensive to something really special, as they craft a pretty compelling match based mostly around rather simple counters and holds. "Playing within themselves," as the cliche goes. And refreshingly not too overindulgent for joshi. This stands up against most of the best '96 GAEA for sure, from the two apparent standout workers from the promotion.
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