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Falls
Count Anywhere
05-30-03
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I cross
the street without looking both ways.
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Welcome to Falls Count Anywhere!
My name is Chris and I'm no longer bound by the rules of
your society.
SmackDown!
OK, so I had to watch this show on tape and I thought it
was OK, but not on the level of this week's RAW. The show
had a couple of good matches, and a couple of terrible segments.
Overall, it fell into the good category, but not the really
good category.
Nidia vs. Torrie was a typical
woman's match, but they did the classic Jimmy Garvin "injure
your knee on a leapfrog" bit that worked really well back
in the day. Not a good match, but not bad. The Sable announcing
bit was funny. She is quickly running the danger of being
a face in people's eyes, and possibly even turning Torrie.
Tajiri and Eddy vs. Team Angle
was a good match, the type that SmackDown! used to frequently
do, but this just showed that the two teams are going to
be programmed together for a long run. This should take
this feud into the Fall. Good stuff, and a wacky finish
that I enjoyed.
O'Haire got a win over Benoit.
In WWE terms, that means he's getting the big push. He has
a good look, but he's not up to level in the ring yet. Benoit
made him look as good as he ever has so far.
The Bashem Brothers are great,
and they are going to be going places, probably getting
programmed with Team Angle before too long. I said they
should have called them up, but they probably should have
gone to talent hungry RAW instead. Still, they will go places,
and fast if booked right.
The Main Event was sorta there,
with Brock looking good, and UT not annoying me completely.
The FBI is good, but I am not a huge fan. I'd like to see
them get the mid-card push and not this pseudo-main event
push.
As for the out of ring stuff,
Stephanie's time on the Lie Detector was funny, but the
Mr. America and Vince bits were lame. I really liked the
interactions between Tajiri and Eddy. They are quickly making
my "Hey, it just sorta happened, but it's working" list.
The Rey and Matt angle is good, and I hope they work together
for a while. A long run between the two would be great.
The highlight was the Angle
video. I am solidly of the opinion that Angle could turn
any situation around. I hope he gets the push that he deserves,
and that his body holds up to the punishment. He should
fit in with the new mat-based WWE.
NEWS
RAW, after a HUGE rating a couple of weeks ago of a 4.2,
is back to normal levels, about 3.8. It's not doing the
fluctuations that it had been, so Austin is certainly a
stabilizing force. I'm hoping that the show keeps getting
better in the ring, since I think that that's where the
most improvement is needed.
Blassie is still in the hospital.
I am pulling for him. Then again, he'll probably outlive
us all.
FlashBack!
I've been going through tapes over the last few weeks, and
here are my five favorite finishes of all time.
5) Steve Austin vs.
Bret Hart, WrestleMania 13- The ending that made Austin
the real deal. His own blood streaming down as he screamed
in pain, Austin became a legend after a great match. The
addition of Shamrock as the ref made it even better. It
was the match that changed the WWF's course.
4) Steve Austin vs.
Vince McMahon, St. Valentine's Day, 1998- Hey, this was
a good match because Vince bled all over the place, and
took a few big bumps. It ended with the Big Show coming
from under the ring and throwing Austin into the cage, causing
it to break and then Austin to fall to the outside, winning
the match. This was a great event.
3) Terry Funk vs. Ric
Flair, 1989- The classic I-Quit match which was likely Funk's
greatest match. After a legendary match, it ended with Funk
in the figure four, the ref holding a mic into Funk's face
and Terry yelling "My leg…it's breaking!" An amazing and
dramatic finish.
2) Hulk Hogan vs. Andre
the Giant- Market Square Arena 1988- This may be the best
known of the great endings. This is the classic ending where
Andre won the title and sold it to Ted DiBiase. Then, just
when it seemed like Hogan got screwed, a second look-alike
ref comes out and they look at each other. Hogan grabs them
both and the match is over with a confusing, smart, strange,
and memorable finish.
1) Magnum TA vs. Tully
Blanchard in an I -Quit Steel Cage Match at Starcade 1985-
The match was brutal, one of my favorites, with blood, violence
and great psychology. JJ Dillon threw a wooden chair into
the ring for Tully to use, then Magnum knocked it out of
his hands, shattered it into a million pieces and took one
of the slivers and dug it into Tully's eye. Tully screamed,
and Magnum looked disgusted with himself, but it was an
ending that will live in my eyes forever.
OK, there's another week of Falls Count
Anywhere. Next week more fun.
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