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Falls
Count Anywhere
05-06-03
Welcome
to Falls Count Anywhere! My name is Chris, and this just in:
PowerSauce is amazing!
RAW
I'll let the categories speak for themselves.
The
Good
The IC Title is coming back. I can remember another Battle
Royal for the IC title that took place in 1993 on RAW. The
Battle Royal went down to the last two men, who then met in
a match to decide the new champ. Rick Martel vs. Jordan Rosa's
TV boyfriend, Razor Ramon, was the final. Ramon walked out
with the title. I always liked the IC belt.
What the
hell? Lance Storm got a pop coming out? Where am I? Why am
I a turtle? Strangely, it was also easily my favorite match
of the night. It moved fast but crisply, and the crowd was
into it. Booker works really well with guys like Storm, and
when he gets the chance to do the spinerooni, I am happy.
The
Average
Well, the opening was long, led to a match between Lawler
and Morley that wasn't bad, got little reaction from the crowd
until the piledriver, and featured Lawler doing the worst
elbow off the ropes of all time. Still, not a bad match, but
not particularly good in its execution. The whole thing reeked
of explanation. The Morley firing was OK, and the crowd loved
it.
RVD/Kane
vs. Steiner/Test was not bad, but there was sloppiness from
RVD, a dangerous powerslam from Steiner, and a lot of stalling.
RVD did pull some nice spots, like the chokeslam into the
dropkick, but overall, just an average event.
Trish
Stratus vs. Jazz was the definition of average. Theodore R.
Long's suit belongs in the good portion of this column. The
crowd did like it, except for the ending.
The
Bad
Most of the backstage Bischoff/Austin stuff was awful. I like
Austin; I appreciate the pop he gets, but I'm not sure he'll
help things out this time.
Jericho's
portion of the Highlight Reel was good. Nash's was bad. The
rest was average. The set-up was transparent, and the beatdown
was awful. The fans booing Nash was a positive…not for
the good of the company, but for my faith in wrestling fans.
There
was something in the HHH portion of the brawl that I must
admit was good, since HHH always makes it seem like he really
hates his opponent. It was way long, but violent, and believable
at points. This section is what's wrong with the WWE right
now.
Hey, the
Frogs are back on my screen talking to Stacey. I must admit,
they are wearing nice sashes. The match wasn't much better.
I gotta say, they look like they do have some potential, but
they are a long ways off.
3 Minute
Warning coming in to beat on Goldberg sucked. The explanation
of the attack was the worst thing on the show. The attack
itself was OK, but the whole thing overall sucked. The intensity
of the staredown between Austin and Goldberg was lacking,
making the cage match set for next week was about average.
The
Exceptionally Bad
Confidential doing an expose on Miss Elizabeth's death. Come
now, it would be fine to do a tribute, but the way they are
promoting it was just a shame.
All in
all, it wasn't a good night for Chris and wrestling.
News
Lot's of it today. 411 Wrestling is reporting that Jim Ross
will be stepping down in short order as Talent Coordinator.
The likely replacement will be John Laurinitas, better known
as Johnny Ace, who has wrestled in Japan, WCW, and various
other places over the years. Since Ace arrived, he has slowed
gained popularity and importance backstage and this is more
seen as a lift of Ace than a cut of Ross.
More on
the Jeff Hardy situation. He was suspended for failed drug
tests it seems, and when he refused rehab, he was fired. When
he was approached about working with TNA, he seemed to indicate
that he wasn't interested in going back, and had really just
burnt out. So much can be said about Jeff's fall being more
due to the fact that he did all those killer moves that put
him through so much, leading him in the direction of painkillers.
Vince
had a meeting before Backlash in which he reinforced the idea
of more mat-based matches and less high impact stuff. It has
to be done, but most are afraid that it will only hurt the
already down ticket numbers for the WWE.
Nothing
new on Elizabeth, except that Lanny Poffo (who can currently
be seen on an elliptical trainer infomercial) has an interview
on No Holds Barred that talks a little about her.
The daughter
of the Iron Sheik was found murdered this weekend. Her boyfriend
confessed and is being held. The Sheik, listed as 60, but
probably a few years older, has yet to make a statement.
FlashBack!
Texas used to be a place for wrestling. All sorts of great
wrestling, guys like Chris Adams, the Von Erichs, Al Madril,
Joe Blanchard, The Funks, and so many more spent a good deal
of time in Texas rings.
The highlight
of Texas wrestling had to be the moment that defined its height:
the first David Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions on
May 6th, 1984. The show had been planned for ages, but the
death of David Von Erich, the son of promoter Fritz Von Erich,
led to the show being changed to the Parade, and the main
event was changed from David winning to his brother Kerry
winning the NWA title from Ric Flair.
What makes
this so important? It was the only time that a title change
happened on a card run by Fritz Von Erich. The title had changed
hands in Houston a couple of times, I think Blanchard was
running Houston at the time, and even in the 40s.
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The Nature
Boy in repose.
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Texas
had always been a big wrestling state, and an NWA title switch
was the ultimate sign that the wrestling world understood
that. The Parade of Champions drew more than 40,000 and featured
a classic Fritz, Mike, and Kevin Von Erich winning the Six-man
title from the Fabulous Freebirds. But the reason everyone
showed up was to see Von Erich vs. Flair.
Their
feud had been boiling for years, with dozens of matches between
all of the brothers and the Nature Boy. There had been some
very good matches, particularly one in a cage that began the
Von Erich vs. Freebirds feud. The plan to switch the title
had taken years, with David getting the nod just before his
death. Kerry was the most charismatic of the other brothers,
so he got the rub.
The match
itself? Not great. Flair and Kerry had many better matches,
but it was certainly the hottest crowd, and everybody was
behind Von Erich, which never happened to Flair, as he was
popular even though he was the cowardly heel.
I was
always entertained by the match, but watching it again recently,
it doesn't hold up as many of the others do. But the pop when
Kerry got the backslide was amazing. I have heard many of
the great pops in history: Luger and Windham winning the Tag
Belts at the first Clash of the Champions in 87, Hogan pinning
the Sheik, Hogan pinning Andre. All of them fail to meet the
Texas Stadium pop. It was a classic moment, and some say the
last great Texas wrestling moment.
Kerry
held the belt for a few weeks, losing it back to Flair in
Japan. He would get in a motorcycle crash and lose some of
his foot. He'd wrestle in the WWF as the Texas Tornado, hold
the IC belt, then burn out, lose his job and shoot himself
in the heart in 1993. Flair continued on his way to legend.
World Class, Fritz's promotion, would stick around until the
late 1980s, but would fade away.
If you
have the chance, find some mid-1980s World Class, as the Freebird
stuff is great, and any Flair match is worth it.
Thanks
for reading another Falls Count Anywhere. Friday will be another,
and the FlashBack will be a special look at Chris' favorite
bad match.
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