Old Raw

Been skipping around in the new Raw: Early Years set, and figured I'd post some thoughts.

Mr. Perfect vs. Ric Flair - Loser Leaves Town - Raw 1/25/1993


I was interested to see this because I've only seen the clipped version from the 15th anny set, and I hadn't seen that in a while. I found this disappointing on the whole, but there were still some things I liked. Opening segments were smart, as both guys, knowing the stakes, played it slow and tentative. Flair frequently went to the outside to take breaks, and it was clear he was waiting to pick his spot. Perfect rocked him early, throwing some chops and some really crappy punches. His punches were terrible in this match. Flair finally takes control with an eye poke, which rocked, and then he tossed Perfect over the top rope, which also rocked, and then he grabbed a chair, so Hebnar tumbled off the apron to take the chair, which was awesome. Flair kept control of the match anyway, which meant Hennig got to bump around like a total goof. Now, I'm a guy who generally likes dramatic bumping, but the last couple times I've watched Hennig work with anyone other than Bret (this match and the Tito match from 7/28), he's really annoyed me. His stuff looks ridiculous, which isn't a bad thing on its own, but it's not even really fun. Like, he takes a whip to the corner, and he hits it kinda slowly, and then he turns and does a little front flip, and I'm not impressed. He also took an awkward looking bump over the corner and down to the ground, and it hardly sizzled. As for Flair, he's mostly fine. I mean, he acts like heel Flair, cheating and grabbing the ropes for leverage and using a foreign object out of his tights (really impressive-looking & sounding punch there) and begging off. Nothing I'd call standout-ish though, which is kinda what I expect from Flair. Maybe that's not fair, but he seemed fairly routine here. Heenan was probably my favorite part of the whole thing, as his desperation on commentary really added to the drama. There's a backslide struggle spot, which should've been meh, but Heenan yells at Flair to drop to his knees so Perfect can't get him over, and it makes it seem like a legit dramatic moment. Little stuff like that really raises the stakes.

I've probably been a bit too negative so far. For all its flaws, this was still something I generally enjoyed. There's an awesome moment during Hennig's comeback where he starts shaking and shrugging off Flair's strikes in the corner, and he walks toward Flair, trembling and bleeding and limping (he sells the knee really well after the figure-four), and Flair begs off, and it's great. Finish stretch and the finish itself is really good. Felt out-of-nowhere and looked convincing. Still, something I'd call "good" before I'd call it "great."

***

Bret Hart vs. Fatu - Raw 3/1/1993


I thought this was really good, mainly because of the layout. This is shortly before Bret's Mania match with Yoko, so they put over the size difference early, with Bret failing to take Fatu down with a shoulderblock. Bret plays it smart and uses leverage to take him over with an arm drag, and he controls the arm for a while, which is fine, but Bret always just kinda sits in his armbars rather than making them really engaging. Also, great spot where Bret smashes Fatu's face into the mat, and Fatu pops right up and hits a nasty looking superkick. Fatu has a fairly lengthy control segment, working over Bret's neck and getting help from Afa and Samu and all that, and it's all plenty good. They hit some headbutts and distract the ref. And then Bret hits his streak off offense and locks in the Sharpshooter, and it looks like it's just going to be a little formulaic comeback until Afa gets on the apron to distract Bret, which allows Samu and Fatu to switch places, which was really cool. They switch back a second later, and you really get the sense that the odds are loaded against Bret. He has to fight two different guys with a cheating manager at ringside. But then he gets a fun miracle comeback, knocking both extraneous guys off the apron and locking in the Sharpshooter for a win. Finish was satisfying and good, and the match was quite good.

On a side note, I'm not sure how much I like Bret. I mean, I know how good he could be, and I know he had plenty of great matches, and the Owen match from Mania and the Austin matches and the Perfect match from KOTR are all top tens for me. But as an ace defending his title in formula matches like this, I'm not sure I'd take him over, say, Christian. I mean, I don't know if Christian had a title defense that was as good as Bret/Kid, but assuming this match was kinda an "average" Bret defense, well, I can't think of a Christian defense from 09 (bar the 8-second Regal match) that I didn't think was better than this. Basically, it comes down to the fact that Bret's face isn't very expressive, which makes his FIP segments less engaging than they should've been. Basically, I feel like I don't like Bret as much as I should, considering how smart he was and how well he laid his matches out, and the main reason is that he doesn't appeal to me as a character. He does all the big things right, but, like I said, he just kinda sits in his holds, and he just kinda rolls around while taking a beating, and there's nothing to really put it over the top.

Still, ***

Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon - Raw 8/1/1994


Been a few days since I watched this, but I remember enough to know I loved it. It's Shawn's first match since the ladder match at Mania, and it has everything you want in an early Shawn heel performance. He starts out talking trash and getting in the face of a guy with a major size advantage. He walks up and shoves Razor and then eats some big right hands and spits in the air, and Razor tosses him around, and Shawn gets major elevation on some back drops. Razor throws Shawn into Diesel and catches him coming off the ropes and really plays the bigger guy well. But Shawn has backup and he finds ways to take control for sections, and then Diesel really adds to the match at ringside, cheating and sneering and looking like a mean motherfucker. Match is probably even better when Razor's in control, though, as Shawn is totally willing to get tossed around, and they get in a really good bearhug spot, which Shawn wriggles out of to tease a sunset flip spot, only for Razor to punch him in the face. Shawn's selling is mostly good, and there's a nice spot where he goes for a scoop slam but can't. Razor kicks out of a superkick, which still isn't treated like much of a big spot. Shawn goes for a Razor's Edge even though we all know he can't get Razor up with his back-- he's Shawn and he doesn't know how small he is. Savage and Vince do a good job of putting that over on commentary. A part of me always admires heel Shawn in matches against big guys-- he doesn't know he can't go toe-to-toe with them, so he just launches himself at them with no regard for his own safety, and it's really cool. Diesel gets up on the apron toward the end, and Razor punches him for a while, and it all results in a good finish where Shawn whips Razor into a big Diesel boot and then gets a school boy for the win, and then they beat Razor up. Great match.

****

Also watched Owen/Kid from 8/15 and thought it was really fun. Couple blown-ish spots early on, but still really good. Kid got some fun kicks in, which Owen took really well, and they had some fun grappling exchanges early, and then Owen took control with a suplex to the outside and worked the back for a while, and then Kid came back and had the upper-hand and roughed Owen's knee up and looked in position to win with a half crab, so Neidhart came in. Really good little match, probably ***1/4.