Goody Bag 36: Second Looks 2

 

Two-out-of-Three Falls Match: Marty Jannetty v Doink the Clown: From Monday Night RAW on June 21 1993 in Poughkeepsie New York. Doink tries to sucker Marty into the corner, but Jannetty avoids falling for it. The original Doink was just so wonderfully sinister. It's a complete and total shame that they decided to turn him into a comedy act (complete with midget sidekick) by the end of the year. Doink cranks on a headlock, but Marty forces a criss cross, and catches him with a monkeyflip. He tries an armbar from there, but Doink is quick to use a handful of hair to escape, and he continues to play mind games with Marty. Jannetty hangs with him through all those attempts (there's a joke in there about Marty not having enough of a mind to play games with, but I'm above making it), and controls until Doink is forced to bail. Back in, Marty reverses a cross corner whip, and a monkeyflip gets two. Backslide is worth two, but a bronco buster misses, and Doink is quick to capitalize with the Whoopee Cushion at 7:16. Doink stays on him in the corner, and he dumps Marty to the outside for a flying axehandle. Back in, that gets the clown a one count, and Jannetty wisely bails back to the outside to try and break the momentum. He tries a slingshot back in, but Doink distances himself, then fakes him out during a criss cross, causing Marty to miss a kneelift, and end up on his back for two. Doink tries a chinlock, but Jannetty escapes with a schoolboy for two, and he adds a snap suplex to set up a dive off the top, but Doink is too far away, and Marty wisely rethinks it. He hops down to plant a superkick instead, but Doink is in the ropes at two. Facebuster sets up a flying fistdrop, and that's enough to even the score at 11:54. Marty keeps coming with an atomic drop and a clothesline for two, and Doink bails. He sweeps Jannetty down to bash his leg into the post a few times, then back in to capitalize with a figure four, but Marty is able to reverse. Doink gets the ropes to escape, and immediately starts pounding Marty's leg to try and keep control, but he runs into a backdrop. Doink manages to sweep the leg for an STF before Marty can fully mount a comeback, but he can't garner a submission. He decides to go up for the Cushion again, but this time Jannetty manages to slam him off, and he's able to follow-up with a jumping backelbow. Into the corner for a ten-punch, as a second Doink runs out, and hides underneath the ring. Marty doesn't see it, and hits a hiptoss on the clown, but the crowd alerts him to the doppelganger. Jannetty goes out to look for him, but that allows Doink to recover with a baseball slide, and he posts Marty. Back in to finish, but Jannetty manages to fight him off with a dropkick, and Doink ends up on the outside. He switches off with the second clown out there, but Marty manages to hook the fresh Doink in a small package for two. Criss cross, but the fresh Doink is able to capitalize on a worn down Jannetty, and he hits a piledriver for the pin at 20:38. Unfortunately for them, Randy Savage is at ringside, and he runs in to alert the official to what happened. He drags the original Doink from underneath the ring, and when the referee sees what happened, he reverses the decision. I thought maybe I underrated this one the first time out, but I'd actually say I was right on the money. *** (Original rating: ***)

WWF Tag Team Title Match: The Quebecers v Marty Jannetty and 1-2-3 Kid: From Monday Night RAW on January 10 1994 from Richmond Virginia. Jacques and Jannetty start, and Marty quickly hooks a standing victory roll for two. Sunset flip gets two, and both guys decide to tag out. Pierre knocks Kid around during a criss cross, but runs into a spinheel kick for two, and both champions attack. Marty saves before they can do too much damage, however, and the challengers clean house. They work in a couple of tandem moves to keep the Quebecers on their toes, so the champs tease walking out if the referee can't restore order, and the dust settles on Jacques and Jannetty. Marty wins a criss cross by countering a monkeyflip with a fistdrop, and a superkick seemingly gets three, but Jacques' foot was on the ropes, so nope. The champs stall, and manage to sucker Jannetty into a cheap shot, but they go to the well once too often, and it ends up backfiring on them. Over to Kid for some lightning kicks on Jacques, and a spinheel kick connects. Kid goes up, but then decides to dive after Pierre (on the outside) with a flying somersault senton first, then goes back to hit Jacques with a flying clothesline. Up yet again, but he's also went to the well once too often, and Pierre ends up shoving him off the top rope this time. That allows the champs to cut the ring in half on him, and Kid nearly flies out of his boots a couple of times while selling. Tower of Quebec looks to finish, but they neglect to cover, instead wanting to do it a second time. They're cut off by Marty, however, and Kid is able to make the tag - Roseanne Barr the door! Marty manages to clear Jacques out, and he quickly passes to Kid for a vertical suplex/flying bodypress combo before Jacques can recover, and we have new champions at 18:18! Unlike everybody in this match, I went to the well again, and it DIDN'T end up backfiring! *** (Original rating: **)

WCW World Title Match: Ric Flair v Ricky Steamboat: From WCW Saturday Night on May 14 1994 (taped April 21) in Atlanta Georgia. This is for the vacant title, following the double pin finish at Spring Stampede. Feeling out process to start, until Steamboat suckers Flair into missing an elbowdrop, and the Dragon delivers a pair of press-slams. Ric tries bailing, but Steamboat cuts him off with a vertical suplex from the apron for two, and he grounds the Nature Boy in an armbar. Flair fights free, but makes the mistake of disrespecting Steamboat with a slap, and pays for it via backdrop. No cash? No credit? Backdrop's got you covered! Ric bails after that, but he manages to gutpunch the Dragon to win a criss cross upon coming back in, and he unloads the chops in the corner. Steamboat ends up getting dumped to the outside, and Flair dives off of the apron with a flying axehandle, then paints him with more chops out there. Back in, Ric tries his own armbar, but Steamboat doesn't want to hold still, and keeps reversing. Flair sinks his teeth into the hold, so Steamboat uses chops to shake him off, but an attempt at a ten-punch is countered with an inverted atomic drop. Flair wears him down with multiple pin attempts (including leveraged pins), but he can't put the Dragon away, so he goes back to chopping. Unfortunately for him, Ricky responds in kind, and he hits another backdrop - only to miss a dropkick. Steamboat tries a bodyslam, but gets toppled for two, and he bails. Back in, Steamboat manages to corner Flair with a vertical superplex for two, and he also wears him down through multiple pin attempts, but a splash ends up hitting Ric's knees. Ric with a leveraged cradle for two, and a backelbow sets up a 2^nd rope flying kneedrop. Don't see that from him too often. Sleeper follows, and Steamboat teases passing out, but ultimately drops Ric into the turnbuckles to escape. He unloads with chops, so Ric tosses him to the outside to try and derail the comeback, but it ends up backfiring. Steamboat dives after him with a flying tomahawk chop, so Ric uses a gutpunch to block - only to have a vertical suplex on the floor reversed. Ricky tries another suplex back in, but Flair escapes - only to miss a kneedrop. Steamboat capitalizes by going after the leg, and he applies his own figure four, but Ric manages the ropes. Steamboat keeps on the leg, but another figure four attempt is blocked, so Steamboat goes back to the chops to flop Flair for two. Flying splash, but Flair rolls out of the way, and Steamboat hurts his own knee on the landing. Flair with a double-stomp and a hanging vertical suplex for two, and a kneebreaker sets up the Figure Four! Ric gets it on, and isn't shy about using the ropes for leverage, but can't put the Dragon away. Another kneebreaker, but this time Steamboat counters with a leg-feed enzuigiri, so Flair tries going to the top rope - only to get slammed off. Yeah, I'm shocked, too. Steamboat with a ten-punch count, but he runs into a weak hotshot while coming off the ropes. Flair tries to capitalize with a side suplex, but Steamboat counters to a sleeper, so Ric uses a side suplex to escape. Pinfall reversal sequence ends in Ricky taking him upstairs for another superplex, but Ric is in the ropes at two. Side suplex gets two, and a flying tomahawk chop is worth two. Another flying tomahawk for two, and it's back to the press-slam to set up the flying bodypress, but unfortunately the referee gets bumped in the process! Flair capitalizes with a schoolboy for two while Steamboat helps the official recover, but takes an inside cradle for two, and a rollup for two. Criss cross ends in Steamboat taking a headbutt to the balls while trying a leapfrog, and Flair quickly hooks the leg for the pin at 38:00. Still a good match, but it felt really long, and was too derivative of every other Flair/Steamboat match. I wouldn't go four-stars on it anymore. I get not messing with a winning formula, but their matches are pretty much the same thing every time, and it's really glaring when you compare it to the work of guys like Bret Hart or Shawn Michaels from this same era. Yes, they had routines too, but whenever they'd have to do multiple high level matches with the same opponent, they would generally be radically different. This felt like same old, same old. *** (Original rating: ****)