Guest Tim Cooke Report post Posted November 14, 2002 What Worked: - Harris/Storm continue to impress. These two have shown a lot of improvement and potential in the past couple of weeks. They both have solid punches, the ability to have decent move sets, and the good old southern babyface look. The feud with Lee/Slash has been misbooked to the heavens by Jerry "I created the Fabulous Ones but forget anything on tag team wrestling" Jarrett but somehow, all four guys have managed to bring some intensity and hatred to the table to make for some watchable brawls. - Jason Jett debuts and looks decent but goes all Indy Innovationish with a couple of moves and forgets to do his crowd popping handspring back elbow. But he still looks good and should be able to get over easy while creating strong matches. - Jimmy Yang continues his great improvement. He actually led Red through a well paced match that was able to get some good heat on the nearfalls down the stretch. Yang's All Japan work has certainly made him a better and much smarter worker. What Didn't: - Malice returning sucks. If they want a real heavyweight, go get Samoa Joe. - BJ James and Brian Lawler blow.........they blow hard. - Tony Mamaluke is one of the worst US Indy Juniors as he continues to look horrible where ever he pops up. Tim Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest RedJed Report post Posted November 14, 2002 - Tony Mamaluke is one of the worst US Indy Juniors as he continues to look horrible where ever he pops up. Tim Huh? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Tim Cooke Report post Posted November 14, 2002 Mamaluke doesn't know how to sell, lacks any ability to lay out a match, and generally lacks any substance. I'll give him credit for tonight though...he did hit a super tope, though that is the norm for Santo, Misawa, etc. Tim Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest CoreyLazarus416 Report post Posted November 14, 2002 I think the attraction to Mamaluke is that the fucker can BUMP. Besides, the tag team classics of FBI vs. Whipwreck/Tajiri weren't ALL because of Tajiri, Mikey, and Guido... And Tim, it's EZ Money, not Jason Jett. His name was EZ Money before it was Jason Jett, and he's back to EZ Money. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Slapnuts00 Report post Posted November 14, 2002 Good show tonight! I was hating the first 30 minutes with the squashes and interviews but it really picked up! -It's great to see EZ Money again, him and Mamaluke had a nice little match but I wish it went a little longer. I can't wait to see Money vs. Kash lock it up again... -What's up with Malice? I was really suprised to see him return! I guess that WWE deal didn't work out. Good to see him back though, he can go for a heavy and adds credibility to the New Church. -I don't get the Siaki squash at all. -I choose to ignore all the Estrada/Lawler/April crap, but may I say it was a nice shot of April in the shower... -What happened to Syxx Pac? Nevertheless James and Jarrett really suprised me out there by putting on a darn good brawling match. They worked it perfectly, and may I say that James' angry interview was excellent and added a lot of drama to the feud. Best I've seen out of Roaddogg in a long while. -Both tag team tournament matches were kinda bleh. Not to happy to see the Harris' advancing but I guess it's a foregone conclusion. What ever happened to Lodi anyway? Will he be back soon? It'd be a good way for Lenny and Bruce to "break up". -Oh my God was that tag team title match awesome! What has gotten into Harris and Storm and why are they so awesome!? This match had me at the edge of my seat, I totally bought the false finishes, and was marking otu like "NOOOO!!!" when the New Church won, but in a good way. They really pulled me into the match which is a rare thing these days. -Yang and Red own it all! These guys are highspot machines! Dig the Code Red from the top! Good finish too -Good stuff as always from the usual suspects in the main event triple threat. They worked quite a few more innovative spots in there which is amazing considering all they've already done. -Jarrett's interview at the end was effective. I would have liked to have seen The Truth for a rebuttle, but there's always next week. Terrific show for me to return on this week, after missing the last 4. I'll be tuning in next week too since the Wiz are off Wednesday again! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest bps "The Truth" 21 Report post Posted November 14, 2002 "- Harris/Storm continue to impress. These two have shown a lot of improvement and potential in the past couple of weeks. They both have solid punches, the ability to have decent move sets, and the good old southern babyface look. The feud with Lee/Slash has been misbooked to the heavens by Jerry "I created the Fabulous Ones but forget anything on tag team wrestling" Jarrett but somehow, all four guys have managed to bring some intensity and hatred to the table to make for some watchable brawls." Right on! One (well...two) of the biggest and nicest surprises is watching these two get up and go every week now. "- Jason Jett debuts and looks decent but goes all Indy Innovationish with a couple of moves and forgets to do his crowd popping handspring back elbow. But he still looks good and should be able to get over easy while creating strong matches." Pretty much right on the head here. "- Jimmy Yang continues his great improvement. He actually led Red through a well paced match that was able to get some good heat on the nearfalls down the stretch. Yang's All Japan work has certainly made him a better and much smarter worker." Jimmy Yang is one of my personal favorites, and I really dug the match tonight. I thought it was built very well to the point where I was out of my seat for the hot finish. "- Malice returning sucks. If they want a real heavyweight, go get Samoa Joe." Meh. I don't HATE Malice. Especially when the rest of the heavy division is filled with B.G/ JAmes types. "- BJ James and Brian Lawler blow.........they blow hard. " This doesn't even begin to describe how poor they are. "- Tony Mamaluke is one of the worst US Indy Juniors as he continues to look horrible where ever he pops up." I actually like Mamaluke. It may be my ECW markishness...but I like watching him get thrown around. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest J*ingus Report post Posted November 14, 2002 I don't get what happens with Mamaluke in TNA. Every time he comes up here, his working ability seems to fall into the toilet, whereupon a crappy opponent often hits the lever to flush. If you could see some of his Wildside stuff, he breaks out all kinds of neato shootish mat wrestling stuff that they apparently don't let him use in Nashville. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest The Last Free Voice Report post Posted November 14, 2002 just to add something. Belladona is HOT!!!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Tim Cooke Report post Posted November 15, 2002 I have seen Mamaluke's ROH stuff where he is allowed to break out his mat work and it is just that, mat work. It really makes sense how Mamaluke was trained by Malenko. He is sound in all the technical areas, but has no idea on how to work a smart match nor connect with the crowd. You can bust out matwork all the time and if you don't understand how to use it, it is meaningless. Tim, who has seen Mamaluke live at ROH busting out his "great" matwork and have no connection with the corwd of mat work lovers at all. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest RedJed Report post Posted November 15, 2002 I have seen Mamaluke's ROH stuff where he is allowed to break out his mat work and it is just that, mat work. It really makes sense how Mamaluke was trained by Malenko. He is sound in all the technical areas, but has no idea on how to work a smart match nor connect with the crowd. You can bust out matwork all the time and if you don't understand how to use it, it is meaningless. Tim, who has seen Mamaluke live at ROH busting out his "great" matwork and have no connection with the corwd of mat work lovers at all. If you're saying Malenko never knew how to work a "smart match" or connect with the crowd, I'm assuming you never saw some of his WCW run? He connected with the crowds many times by doing just that, working "smart." Go check out his matches with Ultimo Dragon, for example. I actually like Mamaluke but it's true he's not a steller worker by any means. He probably would be better off being a manager and taking the occasional crazy bump. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest dreamer420 Report post Posted November 15, 2002 If Mamaluke were booking into a match as an equal to his opponent for once he might get his chance to shine. Getting squashed and bumping like a mofo to put others over isn't the role he needs right now. The WWE would be smart to pick him up and stick him with Guido once he debuts because there would be one more legit tag team for the crappy division. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Tim Cooke Report post Posted November 15, 2002 I have followed Malenko's career from AJPW in the late 1980's to early 1990's to New Japan in the mid 1990's through ECW and then through his WCW career. The guy is not a smart worker. For example, his series with Rey was nothing more than 11 minutes of him holding down Rey on the mat with masturbatory mat work, let Rey up for 2 minutes of high spots, and then take it home. Look at Rey/Dragon from World War III 1996. It is a much more balanced approach by Dragon. Rey gets the same amount of offense in, only it is paced better and made to connect and interact with the crowd. As for the Malenko/Dragon from Starrcade 1996, look at Malenko's opponent. Dragon could lay out matches and was able to play to Malenko's strengths that the crowd was going bonkers for EVERYTHING they did. I'll also note that Malenko was one of the few Gajins in New Japan that failed to connect or get over with the crowd in a huge way during his NJPW run because of his lack of smarts. He is fundamentally sound in his holds, but lacks the smartness (like most do today) in putting together a match. Tim Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest dreamer420 Report post Posted November 15, 2002 He is fundamentally sound in his holds, but lacks the smartness (like most do today) in putting together a match. Tim Translation = He can work his ass off but he's just not a sports entertainer, Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Tim Cooke Report post Posted November 15, 2002 Traslation = you don't get it. Working his ass off means exactly what? Because I have seen the SAT's and Dvine Storm work 15 minute spotfests without a break...that doesn't mean they are great. Sports Entertainer doesn't mean connecting with the crowd. Misawa, Kawada, Kobashi, Benoit, Taue, Jumbo, Liger are NOT sports entertainers yet they connect with the crowd. Is Rey Jr as sports entertainer? Fuck no, but he connects with the crowd through his spots and grace. Malenko is a fine wrestler who knows how to work holds. I can even work a few holds. Understanding how to use them in a match and get some crowd reaction is something he never did. Tim Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest CoreyLazarus416 Report post Posted November 15, 2002 Tim, I have but one match to disprove your theory, and it is a BIG one to disprove your theory (that Malenko couldn't connect with a crowd): Dean Malenko vs. Chris Jericho, SlamBoree '98. And don't reply with "Jericho knows how to connect," or "that feud was just booked great," because Malenko had a HUGE part in it. I don't know about you, Tim, but I connect with a good chunk of Malenko's matches. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Dames 0 Report post Posted November 15, 2002 Tim, I have but one match to disprove your theory, and it is a BIG one to disprove your theory (that Malenko couldn't connect with a crowd): Dean Malenko vs. Chris Jericho, SlamBoree '98. And don't reply with "Jericho knows how to connect," or "that feud was just booked great," because Malenko had a HUGE part in it. I don't know about you, Tim, but I connect with a good chunk of Malenko's matches. Even I have to step in and say that I disagree with you there Corey. I KNEW someone was going to bring this up. That ENTIRE feud was built by Jericho with his promos and in ring work and thats why the crowd connected to it....Jericho was so over in WCW that whoever beat him would have gotten the pop that Malenko did. When Malenko won the Cruiserweight Battle Royal and unmasked himself as Ciclope, the crowd popped big because after all of the talking that Jericho did (and Jericho alone), they figured it was time for Jericho to be shut up. Malenko has NEVER gotten that kind of reaction anywhere else outside of ECW when he and Eddy were about to leave....and even then, they got over through workrate. Dames Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Tim Cooke Report post Posted November 15, 2002 "Tim, I have but one match to disprove your theory, and it is a BIG one to disprove your theory (that Malenko couldn't connect with a crowd): Dean Malenko vs. Chris Jericho, SlamBoree '98. And don't reply with "Jericho knows how to connect," or "that feud was just booked great," because Malenko had a HUGE part in it. I don't know about you, Tim, but I connect with a good chunk of Malenko's matches." It's hardly a theory. Malenko got over HUGE in middle 1997 when Eddy was making his heel turn. So it was Malenko that was just so popular that he got over big? In 1998 before the Horsemen reformed, he was way over. Because of him again? Or because of his association with the Horsemen? You list 1 match. If you scan EVERY TV, PPV from 1995-2000 for Malenko, you will find a ton of matches (like the Rey Jr series) where he just did his masturbatory mat work. Compare him to Eddy and Benoit....especially Benoit in a tag team setting where he will always pay attention to the crowd and if they are not reacting right, he will do something to bring them back in. Ditto to Eddy...only on many other levels. Dean...he just didn't. And don't tell me he was playing a "Stone Cold" character because that is as pointless as your Slamboree example. Watch his AJPW stuff, watch his NJPW stuff, and then watch his WCW stuff fully. He doesn't work smart. Yes he got over...so did a ton of other horrible wrestlers who didn't even know a technical hold. Tim Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
