El-P
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Everything posted by El-P
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Tremendous heat and good work. I totally disagree about Hall & Nash, they were solid, especially Hall working with Arn during the first segment and bumping for everyone. Nash didn't shine because the cage doesn't suit his strong points, but the way he delivered his big boot to Arn the first time he came on was Barbie-like smooth. And both of them actually bump and show a lot of ass, which should be the case as they are bullies, not invicible monsters. The crowd didn't bought the fake Sting at all, chanting "This is not Sting !", which made the announcers look like idiots for not even questionning the identity of the guy in the ring. Not as bad as when Barry Windham dressed up as Sting in 90, but still. I agree that once the Sting stuff was out of the way, they totally rushed through it and the finish was anticlimatic (which kinda was always the case in Wargames anyway because of the "surrender" gimmick to me). The post-match was pretty awesome (although Benoit & McMicheal should have showed up) with the amazing "wolves around their pray" beatdown of Savage, Liz showing up from nowhere to protect Savage (which does come from nowhere but they do have 10 years of history together, and the love/hate/love dynamic is a classic so I can buy it) and the amazing scumbag attitude of Hogan. I loved the fact they just didn't beat on Savage for ten minutes but just satyed around him, simply threatening him and humiliating Liz, showing they could do whatever they wanted with both of them. Über sexy Liz lying over Savage and getting spraypainted was a great B-movie like gang-rape metaphor, there's something really creepy about the whole scene (and just like with the Jake Roberts feud in 92, Liz is portrayed as a pretty damn brave woman, jumping in the shark cage when not one WCW wrestler seem to have the balls to do it). Loved it and it was a tremendous built for Savage vs Hogan which all of a sudden looks like the hottest feud in the world again. -
Solid babyace Savage match here, and the best single match the Giant has up until that point. Just basic storytelling that works thanks to Savage's selling and bumping. The nWo attack outside puts the heat on Savage vs Hogan for Fall Brawl. Good stuff, although Giant still looks like the odd one in the nWo, very clearly. Nick Patrick hasn't made his coming out, but he's obviously crooked. Good stuff.
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Ah ah. Didn't notice it at first. Amazing indeed.
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Yay. More idiotic comedy instead of giving Goldust a WM match.
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Amazing footage !! The 1971 stuff totally cracked me up too, with "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" as the soundtrack, and the dry humour when he says he only has a drop of wine ("deux doigts", which litteraly means two fingers, which of course in his case means the whole bottle). In the 66 interview he says he only drinks milk. I always heard Eddie Carpentier say Andre looked great and athletic when he was young, I had a hard time picturing that, but now I can. Thanks for this.
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Yeah, I found pretty interesting that it was actually based on Amin Dada's rumoured cannibalism.
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They actually look like a cute couple on those ones.
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Eh eh eh. You actually got a laugh out of me.
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Johnny Polo + Gorilla Mansoon is the greatest odd pairing ever on commentary. Levy was great in this role, too. Yeah, Levy was just a tad bit too old, but he had the look and attitude down pat.
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Again, interestingly enough, Sullivan says in the Timeline that he didn't though the idea of Sting "joigning" the nWo was good because Sting had no ties with them from the past. Anyway, this is still the second big money angle in the nWo saga, leading to Sting becoming the hottest babyface in the country while only having to hang out in the rafters. Nick Patrick leading Luger to the slaughter was a great touch, and the rainy, stormy weather only made the visuals ever more perfect. I admit that seeing Rick Steiner in his wrestling trunks holding an umbrella later on cracked me up. Great angle, great execution (really, who could have thought it wasn't Sting here ?), and great way to put it over *huge* during the remaining time of the broadcast, with the announcers acting both depressed and nervous and the Horsemen interview being conducted while a match is taking place, like a newsbreak from the usual show. Terrific stuff.
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Hum… that was kinda the character, you know. The self-pity party guy who thinks he's saying profound stuff while blabbing pretentious, morose bullshit about himself.
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I love Raven. Loved every twist of his character, down to the ridiculous comedic WCW vignettes at his rich house. Bray Wyatt doesn't look remotely as sick, twisted or creepy as Raven to me, because of the sanatized nature of WWE. Plus the Raven character was multi-layered, there was always some comedic, funny, ironic elements about it (which suited the whole gen-X slacker nature of the gimmick too) carried by his entourage. Not to mention the awesome SM gay vibe of the Flock. About the Wyatts, yes, the intro is great, the music is excellent (especially now that 99% of the music themes suck), but when I see the Wyatt Family, they look more like the Godwinns rather than a dangerous cult to me. And really, the heel Godwinns with the Deliverance-like banjo theme looked dirtier. So yeah, I think the gimmick has potential, but the execution and the way WWE product is presented now just hampers it a lot. And really, Bray Wyatt isn't Mankind. He's a whole lot better than Abyss (then again, everbody is), but like I said, Spivey doing Waylon Mercy was creepy and fun. Wyatt is just cute to me.
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Sullivan also adressed the issue of Waltman, which couldn't jump or appear on TV right away because of contractual issues. Sullivan wanted the nWo to be Nash/Hall/Waltman with Hogan, but Waltman's debut was delayed. He said he didn't like the idea of the Bulldog being paired with these guys either since he didn't had any connection with them in the WWF.
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Terrific angle. Yes, the Horsemen and the DoD got punked around, but they got atacked from nowhere after battling out for more than ten minutes against each others, and the Giant was the übermonster at the time. The promo bit was awkward, but Giant showed his inexperience here, and for better or worse, Hogan made the point and got the spotlight on himself. Interestingly enough, on the 96 Timeline, Sullivan said he was opposed to the Giant turn, so I guess it was a Hogan thing. And yeah, it really didn't make a whole lotta sense since he had no tie with the WWF. And the nWo *was* basically the WWF guys banding together. So although the angle, beatdown and post-beatdown promos are memorable (Hogan's that is), it can be considered as the first faux-pas in the growing nWo angle. The fact the Giant would turn back only a few months later kinda confirms it.
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The Network thread just reminded me of the existence of Steve Blackman. Man, WWF has so many dull and useless workers in the late 90's.
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(threads like these are why I love this board BTW, and why I still enjoy to read/talk about pro-wrestling in 2014, well after it has effectively passed me by)
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The modern overscripted promos style of the WWE is one reason I find the product unwatchable as a whole. It doesn't comes off like bad pro-wrestling promos or cheesy badly acted pro-wrestling vignettes, it comes off like just terrible acting from a fourth rate TV show or old-school porn-movie (you know, when they used to have actual scripts and stories). The way they cut the scenes is awful too, with those awkward two seconds too many after each backstage skits. What is acceptable for pro-wrestling would just look downright embarrassing in any other entertainment business really. And don't get me started on their many attempts at doing comedy. To me it started with Russo, but really got settled with Stephy in the early 00's. 14 years later, it's the exact same thing and it's putrid. One huge turn-off of the modern WWE style for me.
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No, you're not. It always seemed obvious to me that HHH tried to emulate the Franchise character at that time. The whole "Cerebral Assassin" gimmick, the serious deliberate promos, all of this was basically "The Franchise" done poorly. One of the differences being that Douglas oozed pure heel charisma on promo in the mid-90's, and even when he went too long by the end of the decade he was always making a point and was getting his opponents over. And he wasn't insecure and showed tons of ass all the time.
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Andre the Giant Battle Royale - Worthless, total waste of time. Usos vs Real Americans - What Will said. Could be fun, I guess. Shield vs Kane & New Age Outlaws - Holy shit. Kane & New Age Outlaws. Remember when these guys were fresh, in 1998 ? 16 years ago ? It's like having Rocky Johnson & Tony Atlas to put over some hot new guys at Wrestlemania 2000. Poor Shield. They win, of course. Divas match - Anyone gives a fuck ? John Cena vs Bray Wyatt - Total throwaway match to me. Cena not involved in a big main event or a title match sounds wrong to me, no matter how played out he seems to be. He's still the Man at this point. Cena wins. Wyatt has no legs. It's a cute character, but he's not even as creepy as Waylon Mercy. IF they give him the win, it'll quickly end nowhere, I don't see him ever being a major player. Undertaker vs Brock Lesnar - Again, this doesn't seem as special as it probably should. Taker wins. HHH vs Daniel Bryan - Only interested in the result. Hopefully short, because God knows no-one wants to see a long HHH match in 2014. Bryan wins. Right ? Right ? Batista vs Randy Orton vs Daniel Bryan - Same thing. Only the feel-good moment interests me, as I couldn't give a crap about either of Bryan (right ?)'s opponents. So as a main event, really it's not compelling at all, especially since 3-ways is a shity gimmick to begin with. But the final pin and celebration should, could be a great moment. Right ? RIGHT ? But yeah, quite the underwhelming card.