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Everything at Home Depot and Lowes costs a trillion dollars. But I own a house now.

Holy shit. Now this is a motherfucking promo. This dude is going to quickly turn himself face again with promos like this. I’m on Team Hangman.

Today's been rough as it's the 10th anniversary of my Mum's funeral, 8th July 2014. I was there 10 years ago and gone every year since. Had some lagers with her. For a while I'd pushed this date out of my mind but in recent times, it's resurfaced. Date brings it all back. My eulogy, Aje coming up, Conrad going and how upsetting it all was.

Also, the post Gulf War recession probably had an impact on people having the spending money to afford going to major wrestling shows. Also, launching those matches on the West Coast was so odd to me. I went to their MSG match and thought it was a decent crowd. Really, they should've started in Baltimore and moved it down the Carolinas down to Georgia first (or started on the South and moved it North) James

I really really wish WWE would balance better PPV time vs. match time. I understand they want to/need to have ads during their PLE's. Its the price I pay for getting WWE PLEs for only $5 to $10, there is going to be some ads. But Money in the Bank just felt even worse than usual. I swear after the Cena promo, I got up to do work around the house, did dishes, came back ten minutes later and Samantha was still finishing intros for the next match. There is just so much dead time, I wish some higher up in WWE would sit at home and watch it on Peacock and think "hmm we are hurting the at-home viewing experience, how can we improve?" It didn't used to be this bad, feels like it started when PLEs went to five matches but they still want the shows to be three hours. Anyway, the matches were pretty predictable but doing the predictable thing isn't always the wrong thing, a 'swerve for the sake of a swerve' never helps anyone in the long run. I'm really torn on the women's MITB as while I was highly sports entertained I was also concerned with the number of bad/accidental bumps. There is always a fine line between "I want to see dangerous stuff" and "I don't want to see people actually hurt" and you knew it was bad when even the commentators had to acknowledge how dangerous it looked (they didn't make that comment during the men's, which had the spots but was much more crisp). I enjoyed it! But I'm just glad no one was injured as there were some rough parts.

As we are learning - movies are only successful if parents can take their kids so they can get out of the heat

taking my friend who has never seen pro wrestling to her first indy show later this week

Dom, you’ve got some ‘splainin’ to do…

the ref appeared to be the most reluctant person to actually touch the ground also gotta note that Cactus Jack's sunset flip onto the floor was really one of the stupidest bumps that he did regularly.. I'm kinda amazed Mick is as good as he appears to be online considering all the stuff he was doing regularly 25/30 years ago

I think Marko should come back with a preacher gimmick.

I had to re-read that a few times before I realized you were talking about Christian Cage and not advocating Marko should come back with a preacher gimmick. I'm assuming Rush just refuses to go 60/40 in JTTS matches.

But then most fans would have Booed Hogan and Cheered Flair.

I wonder if there had been better TV build these house shows would have drawn better leading to a WM8 main event?

Hope everyone still have all ten fingers

I'm comin' up so you better get this party started.... So, 2024's Money in the Bank featured the first ever unsuccessful day-of Cash In with that cheeky fella CM Punk causing Drew McIntyre to lose his chance. But on the good side... it's TIFFY TIME~! for the foreseeable future. Get this party started on a Saturday night... Everybody's waitin' for me to arrive! And we're on our way to the biggest party of the year in just 4 weeks in noted party city... um, says Cleveland on here. So... okay. I mean some places in Ohio City are fun? I'm comin' up so you better get this party started. I'm comin' up, I'm comin'! Damien Priest will face GUNTHER... and hopefully lose! Cody will probably(?) face Solo Sikoa... and probably win! Let's see what else is in store. Enjoy the week! (Jesus, I'd forgotten how extremely 2001 this video is.)

Fightful has this version of the ending.

Not only the recession but the WWF's exploitation of the war caused a lot of casual viewers to turn away, then add on American Gladiators becoming a huge hit and depending on the market Superstars had to run head to head with Gladiators or got bumped to a less desirable time slot.

Fantastic promo. Hanger’s gonna make that Wembley title match a true main event when all is said and done.

who knew that Benoit would set the template for EVERY YOUNG BUCKS MATCH, EVER!?!? i would very much agree with that assessment. My initial thought was that you missed the Radicalz, but upon reflecting, they just kind of existed the first couple years in WWF. And, despite Benoit being the WCW Champ, they didn't really feel missed in WCW. Which is a batshit thing to say. But i'm trying to figure out if i mean that full stop, or just relative to the other jumpers. yes, the GG/CR is basically a hidden gem for '99 WCW. it should be talked about in the same realm as the Bill Alfonso/Beulah match i thought there was some potential for a heel Steiners vs Harlem Heat mini feud, but in typical WCW fashion, that's not what happens. Not a huge loss, mind you, but i guess the fan dynamics swinging so wildly and the complete character makeover of Scott in particular could have brought out something.

Emphasis on the CW.

https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1809980701053485154 You need to see this Jeff Jarrett promo.

Can I interest you in some MS Paint drawings of Apes?

Today was my last day at the PT weekend job. It feels great to finally be able to finish up there. I didn't think anyone really knew, since nobody had really said anything about it. But, I had people coming out of the woodwork to say goodbye to me. Both the store manager and assistant manager made a point of coming up to me and telling me that I'd always have a job there if I needed one.

WWE mingling with TNA & Bloodsport makes more sense when you view it from the TKO perspective. They just paid out MLW 20 million in a settlement they didn't want to go to trial. They just settle a UFC anti-trust lawsuit. They don't want scrutiny on that independent contractor status / antitrust lawsuits. This is their way of mitigating all that. Having something to point to and say hey we aren't trying to monopolize. There's a clear #2 and we're working with the #3s & #4s to help them out. Some of it can be a shift in philosophy because Triple H & Shawn don't see the business in those same black and white 'I need it all' terms that Vince did. But TKO wanting to keep their nose clean is the driving force I'd say.

It was a hip toss.

"Smuggler's Blues" and "You Belong to the City" are bangers and I won't hear otherwise.

I have it! Being a Joshi wrestling footage hoarder comes in handy sometimes.

I was working at Marvel during the Hogan/Flair series. Even with free comics that recession had me cut back my monthly MSG shows. Welll... in hindsight that had more to do with visits to Show World* *if you aren't from the greater NY Tri-State area, I do not expect you to know what Show World was... but I'm sure you can figure it out James

I thought it was a good show. I thought for sure Sol would end up turning after the match with a beat down. Evans is a mad man for that table bump. I like the idea of Page bragging about his win and beating 3 other men. Tag match was really great and I honestly was hoping we'd get a Chase U victory.

Maybe T Nox for Bash since she isn't doing anything right now then Giulia when healthy for next PLE

Show #189 – 17 May 1999 “The one that definitively proves that whenever WCW tries to ape a late-night TV show sketch, they fail at being entertaining in immeasurable ways” One thing that I have not been looking forward to during this watch-through is Owen Hart’s neglectful manslaughter at the hands of Vincent K. McMahon. It’s on the Sunday after this show, unfortunately, that this happens. Even obliquely through WCW's programming, I’m bummed about having to experience that shit again. Ric Flair gets out of a limo, along with Arn Anderson, Asya, Charles Robinson…and Diamond Dallas Page. YOU’RE STILL THE MAN, some fan yells at DDP. Charles Robinson replaces Piper’s namecard on the WCW President’s door with Flair’s. Oh great, a contested presidency angle. You’re so on the nose, WCW, even though you did this 25 years ago. Gene Okerlund interviews Ric Flair and his brood (minus Page) in the ring. This angle has descended into a complete mess. It’s like someone gave Nash orders to book Flair as an increasingly demented authority figure, and he chose the dumbest way possible to do that. Arn guarantees that Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit will defeat Raven and Saturn for the tag titles later tonight; then, Flair yells a lot. He claims that Bischoff has no authority to make any rulings (true in kayfabe, I think) and that if Ted Turner doesn’t get Bischoff out of the company, he will *sigh* have sex with Jane Fonda. He books himself in a mixed tag match for later in the show: he and Lil’ Naitch versus Randy Savage and Gorgeous George. He also says that DDP is getting a rematch against Kevin Nash for the big gold later tonight since Bischoff re-started a match that he shouldn’t have been able to re-start. Page comes to the ring and lauds Flair’s strong decision making as WCW President. It looks like Page’s Hollywood Squares cap that he's wearing has been autographed. But by whom? Whoopi Goldberg? Bruce Vilanch? Tom Bergeron? The crowd tries to drown out Page with a GOLDBERG chant, but he powers through and introduces Bam Bam Bigelow as his backup. I mean, Flair is a raving lunatic, but he’s right about one thing: In storyline, Eric Bischoff should have zero power unless someone restored it to him. Eric Bischoff cuts a pre-taped interview in which he tries to be a babyface, but it’s like trying to make David Leisure as the Isuzu guy a babyface. This guy is totally untrustworthy and unlikeable. It doesn’t help that I listen to 83 Weeks sometimes and the guy is speeding into old age as (shoot!) unlikeable and untrustworthy as ever. Bischoff promises to make WCW the number one wrestling company in the United States again. See, I told you: You can’t trust these slimy fucks when they make unbelievable promises! Tony S. and Heenan talk about the Steiner Brothers being a working unit again (blergh) and whatever the hell Bret Hart is doing (ugh); then, they kick us over to a video package to hype Bret/Goldberg, which should be good, but which I know will eventually end poorly at the penultimate Starrcade. I think we are firmly in the Bad Place when it comes to WCW until about July of 2000, and even then, it’ll take two or three months after that for things to stabilize. As bad as WCW has gotten, I don’t think it was ever bad for more than about eight straight months of television – August of 1998 to about February/March of 1999. This is going to be a hellacious stretch of television, but if I can get through the next thirteen months of TV, I’ll have made it. Seventeen minutes in and here’s more of that fucking Eric Bischoff pre-tape. SHOW ME A WRESTLING MATCH, YOU DUMB FUCKS. Anyway, Bischoff continues to be entirely unlikeable. At least Bischoff is like, Uh, was I in authority when I re-started the Slamboree main event? Well, I didn’t consider whether or not I was before acting as an authority. OK, sure, bud. Bischoff dares his bosses to come get him for his actions. ONLY FOUR MORE MONTHS, YOU SHITHEAD, AND AS DDP WOULD SAY, THAT’S A SHOOT Tony S. tries to clarify how and why the decision from the Slamboree main event stands based on Bischoff’s words, and then we go right back into this sit-down interview with Bischoff. Bischoff does a worked shoot about how much he loves WCW and how he took his eye off the ball, but he’ll lead WCW back to the promised land. Look, if he had leaned harder on getting drunk with power because the nWo courted him and forgetting where he came from, this could have worked better. I mean, it wouldn’t have worked well at all because, again, it’s Bischoff, but still. Oh look, another limo arrival! It’s Roddy Piper and Eric Bischoff. Tony S. basically sums things up from the Bischoff pre-taped interviews like so: Nick Patrick was allowed to re-start the match no matter what due to his referee’s authority, so the Slamboree main event decision stands. Ric Flair is still the WCW President unless he is removed from office somehow because he won the Slamboree match against Piper. Now, I suppose that the President of WCW can fire the Commissioner of WCW, but that wouldn’t line up with how that role had been handled before. Piper has been the Commissioner of WCW for most of his time in the company, remember. He got the job because he had experience in that role filling in for Gorilla Monsoon in the WWF – this was, if not explicitly stated, obliquely stated as to why WCW felt that Piper was a good fit for the job. Yet, even though Bischoff was President of WCW during that time, he wasn’t able to fire Piper. So what gives? Oh, I know what gives: I’m looking for logic where there is none. Twenty-three minutes in: Still not a single, solitary wrestling match to be had. Mike Tenay called Bret Hart and Bret had some stuff to say that Tenay reports back to us. First off, Nash was on the Tonight Show, I think, though they didn’t show the clip. Nash made a million dollar challenge to Bret for a in-ring meeting on the Tonight Show. Bret’ll be on the Tonight Show this week and will answer the challenge there. YUCK. I mean, I'd rather that it happened because it was likely only dropped due to Owen Hart being callously sent out to die by his criminal boss, but in a vacuum: YUCK. Do you want to see some footage, not stills, of Charles Robinson/Gorgeous George at Slamboree No? You want to see a fucking wrestling match? Well okay, this footage isn’t too long, so we’ll get a match next. This HOT CRUISERWEIGHT OPENER opens the show 25 minutes in. Also, Evan Karagias is in the match. More like a LUKEWARM CRUISERWEIGHT MATCH NEARING THE HALF-HOUR MARK IN HOUR NUMBER ONE. Karagias is getting another title shot at Rey Misterio Jr. Karagias tries to headstand on a whip to the corner, fucks it up, takes a few seconds, and then leaps over the ropes and onto the apron, so that’s how this match is going. Why are we giving Karagias air time on Nitro that Psicosis or La Parka or Blitzkrieg could be getting instead? This guy is sixth of six in the Jung Dragons/Three Count feud! No, wait, seventh of six. I forgot about Leia Meow. Anyway, Rey could wrestle a pogo stick and get a decent TV match out of it, especially if it’s a short match. This is mercifully a short match; Rey lands a top-rope Frankensteiner in about three minutes for the win. Hype for the mixed tag match. Mona is so adorable. Ric Flair hires Buddy Lee Parker into an office job. Also, he promises to push David Flair “right down their throats,” just like Verne and Bill, etc. Look, Greg Gagne was a good tag wrestler! He was a dork who couldn’t cut promos and was purely a tag specialist, but he was good! I cannot defend Erik Watts as a worker or Joel Watts as a commentator in any way, however. Anyway, Flair says that Buddy Lee needs to take a dive at Arn’s signal in his match tonight against David to secure his new position. You know, being meta about pushing the promoter’s kid does not actually make the resulting angle any better. Saying HEY, WE’RE GOING TO PUSH A WRESTLER’S SHITTY KID, BUT WE KNOW HE’S SHIT *wink* *wink* doesn’t make me feel good about having to watch said shitty doofus kid wrestle. Flair brings David and Torrie out of his office where they're waiting and tells him that the fix is in. I thought Ric was mad at David? Did they make up? Oh, wait, Ric’s trying to steal Torrie from David, I think is what’s happening. Maybe? Who the fuck knows, actually. Fuck off, WCW. I don’t want to spend any time with Gene Okerlund. Fuck you. No, don’t have him call anyone down right now. Not even Booker T., who I am a big fan of. Well, Gene didn’t pay ME any fucking attention, so Booker’s down here for an interview now. Booker wants to beat up Rick Steiner tonight, but he really should set his sights higher. He also blows off any suggestion that he’ll be hooking up with Stevie Ray any time soon. Then, he calls himself the true People’s Champion. What next, is he going to start doing a Rock Bottom? Wait, I’m being handed a note…OK, look, this is all beside the point, other than to say that it’s low-rent. Booker quotes Blackstreet to end the interview. Why in the world does Nitro punt the first hour so often? You’d think they’d want to build an audience before RAW comes on. David Flair is out to wrestle Buddy Lee Parker. Charles Robinson refs in his trunks. This match is what you’d expect. Does WCW want to kill Cedar Rapids off as a town? Why would you subject them to this first hour of television? Gorgeous George is a better worker than David Flair, and I feel confident in saying that. If she’s decent in the tag match tonight, I’ll be upgrading that take to her being significantly better. Parker forgets himself a bit and pretty much rolls David, but eases up after reminders from Flair and Arn at ringside. David locks on a Figure Four when Parker misses a top-rope kneedrop and wins. “Thus Sprach” plays for the fiftieth time this hour: It’s time for the mixed tag match. Ric Flair and Charles Robinson (w/Asya) hit the aisle first. Flair grabs a mic and demands that Savage and his ladies show up immediately. Actually, Flair says that he’s going to wrestle Madusa and give her some of what Gorgeous George got, so I guess there’s been a change in the lineup. Ah yes, there is: George is on crutches, so it’ll be Savage and Madusa tagging up instead. Savage cuts a little pre-match promo. I would rather see Mona wrestle than Madusa, but that’s just me. I’m annoyed that WCW pulled off a fun comedy match at Slamboree and then went straight back to the well the next week to tell the same jokes, but with half the effectiveness. I do like the spot where Charles Robinson bounces off the second rope to escape an arm wringer, but gets flattened by a Madusa lariat, though. Macho tags in and the crowd is still behind him even though he’s helping DDP out at every turn. It’s a good thing that Savage still has those nice punches. I dig the rabbit punching he does. Savage punches Flair a whole bunch in an aesthetically pleasing way, but eats a nut shot. Charles Robinson tags in and Savage actually kinda sells for the guy for a second before eating his punches and tossing him across the ring by his hair. Madusa tags in and hits Robinson with a shitty piledriver, but Robinson gets his boot to the ropes on the cover. Robinson tags out, but Madusa hits Flair with a drop toe hold, rides him around the ring like a bull, chops the shit out of him, and hits a TERRIBLE back body drop because she doesn’t have the upper body strength to pull it off. Finally, Flair hits a back suplex to kill her offensive flow. You know what the absolute sicko writing this review thought after this sequence? Yeah, you guessed it: Man, I would pay good money to see Chyna vs. Ric Flair in 1999. Or 2000, for that matter. Chyna working a match in Ric’s formula as the babyface? That would be a classic. Flair starts working Madusa’s leg and then tries a Figure Four, but she wraps him up for an inside cradle that gets two. Flair bitches at the ref and shoves him; the ref shoves him back and he stumbles backwards into a Madusa schoolboy for another two count. Flair takes control with another back suplex and locks on a Figure Four that Madusa survives for a few seconds until Savage gets in the ring and stomps Flair to break the hold. Flair drags Madusa away from her corner when she tries to tag, but she nut shots him and gets a hot tag. Savage hits a dumb (in the best way) spot when both Naitch and Lil’ Naitch go up top for big moves and Savage press slams one, then runs over and press slams the other. Madusa throws forearms at Naitch while Savage drops a Savage Elbow on Lil’ Naitch for three. So, they actually told quite a few different jokes in this match than in the Slamboree match. I cannot fucking believe that this was actually enjoyable. Again, I can’t quite say that it was straight up good, and it wasn’t as good as George/Robinson the night before, but it was exactly the type of match you’d want from this combination, and the crowd was hot for it. I’m telling you, women beating up men in the ring is money! I know it, Ted Turner knew it, and it remains an immutable truth of American wrestling. Gene Okerlund brings Roddy Piper out to try and talk us through this frankly muddled angle regarding who the WCW President is and which guys have what power in the company. Piper claims to be the president, gets a cheap pop for mentioning the Iowa Hawkeyes in a good light, and then proceeds to cut a promo that is legendarily terrible rather than the usual very terrible promo that he typically cuts. Piper has a top ten list of reasons that Flair shouldn’t be president. Here they are: #1: Flair's broke (a fan helps Piper think of this one). If he can’t manage his own finances responsibly, how will he manage WCW’s finances responsibly? This is damned near a shoot. It’s also the only telligible (I'm still establishing this word!) point on the list, so of course it came from the crowd. #2. Flair dressed in women’s clothes once. Oh, let me stop here for a quick edition of Roddy Piper is a Pop Culture Wizard: Barbra Streisand, RuPaul (of course), Hillary Clinton, and a lot of other people and notable things: Dennis Rodman, Dr. Jack Kevorkian, Pfizer’s well-known Viagra brand #3. Something about Charles Robinson stalking the previously mentioned RuPaul. #4. Charles Robinson or Ric Flair maybe, I don’t know, got KY Jelly and Y2K confused? #5. Flair thought “The Phantom Menace” was Hillary Clinton, and let’s just agree to avoid any follow-up political jokes and commentary on that one. #6. A naked Ric Flair chased himself around a desk once (???). #7. Flair is Dennis Rodman’s – no, you know what, I’m done trying to follow this gibberish. GET THIS OLD TIRED FUCK WHO CAN’T CUT A PROMO OR WORK A DECENT MATCH THE FUCK OFF MY TELEVISION. FUCK OFF, PIPER, YOU ARE ANTI-FUNNY. STOP GIVING THIS FUCKHEAD QUIETER AND QUIETER PITY CHEERS, IOWA! Do you like extremely awful extended segments? I hope you do! Piper calls Eric Bischoff down to the ring. Bischoff is penitent as Piper goes off about how miserable Bisch has made Piper for three years. Piper forgets the colors of all the different nWo offshoots, which is the one thing about this segment that isn’t his fault. Fucking nWo offshoots. Bischoff says he’ll be a better man going forward. Randy Savage comes to the ring to join the proceedings. His squad of ladies join him. Bisch tries to shake hands with Savage, who no-sells him. Savage wants a shot at Kevin Nash for the title because he had Page on the hook for one before Bischoff ruined that by ordering a re-start to the match. Piper says he’s the commissioner (look, again, I don’t blame him for being confused) and that Savage’ll have to wait in line, and Savage says he’s not waiting in line for a shot. Gorgeous George then hammers Piper in the back with a crutch and Savage piledrives him. Meanwhile, Madusa kicks Bischoff in the back of the head, and Savage slams him and climbs the ropes for a Savage Elbow. Kevin Nash comes down and stares Savage down; Savage climbs back down - oh yeah, Bischoff and Nash are conceivably still buddies in storyline – and grabs a mic and says that he wants a title shot because Nash is an “ass…with no guts” and a “geek.” Then Savage says that Nash should just give him the belt like he did to Hogan. You know, Savage was squeezed out of the Wolfpac, so his anger at Nash makes sense. Nash is like YOU BOUGHT THOSE WOMEN LOLZ and then accepts a match with Savage for the title. I’m assuming that Savage wins it because we’ve got to squeeze two more Savage world title wins into the next six months. Wait, I guess Nash is wrestling DDP for the title tonight because Flair gave him the shot to start the show, but my primary guess is that Nash wins tonight and then drops it to Savage in the next week or three. My secondary guess is that Savage helps Page win the gold back tonight and then gets a shot at DDP (who he owned back in 1997, so it makes sense that he’d want to have Page as his opponent over almost anyone else). Also, this was the long-form angle that went up against the opening of RAW. Wow, I can’t believe that this tone-setting segment only led Nitro to putting up a 3.8 against Raw’s 6.4. Hardcore Hak (w/Chastity) enter the gladiatorial arena. Of course, they enter said arena to talk. He says everyone in Iowa STINKS and that he’s SUPER HARDCORE. He yells about being a hardcore champ and embellishes his resume again. Then poor Finlay, who is going to damned near lose his leg in the next couple of months if I recall correctly, comes on the video boards and says that he’s coming to the ring to fuck Hak up. This fuckin’ sucks, man, just hurry up and have this same-y garbage match. Finlay requests the mic and uses it to hit Hak in the head instead of continuing the talky-talk. We proceed to get a match that starts out as a brawl with some weapon shots before descending into what I think of as the predominant U.S. match style today, which is a bunch of empty calorie-style spots to pop a crowd instead of an interesting and layered bit of storytelling. Unless you’re wrestling in a big match on a WWE PLE, I guess. I have seen maybe five WWE matches since late in 2016, but I know that house style. Anyway, they do some stunts for awhile, and then Brian Knobbs comes down and attacks them both. Hulk Hogan finally leaves TV injured for awhile, and they bring back Brian Knobbs on a weekly basis. Dualities, man. Eventually, they just call this a no contest. What a waste of time and energy on everyone’s parts. Rick Steiner has a little bleached blond streak in his goatee, which is actually a pretty good visual marker of his heel turn and re-alignment with his brother. Booker T.'s music plays, but oh look, Booker is laid out on the concrete in the back. Meanwhile, Rick Steiner talks too much and offers an open challenge for his title. This guy SUCKS. No one comes out after like fifteen seconds, so Steiner leaves the ring…and Sting meets him on the ramp. Sting slumming it for the TV title is kind of a bummer, as is Sting being relegated to a mini-feud with Rick fucking Steiner. Sting bashes Rick around at ringside before tossing Rick back into the ring. Sting misses a Stinger splash, and Rick settles in for some top control on offense. Sting fires up, so Rick clubs him back down. Steiner punches and hits forearms and chokes Sting in and out of the ring. Sting makes another comeback with an inverted atomic drop and a dropkick. He lands two clotheslines and a diving clothesline after that. Rick tumbles to the floor, and Scott Steiner comes out to join him. They surround the ring, but Lex Luger runs in. For the save? Yes, for the save. You never know when 1999 WCW is going to have someone make a random turn. Sting and Luger run the Steiners off. Did anyone reading this subscribe to WCW’s Slam Society? It was a short-lived thing, I think. If you did subscribe, share details, please. Konnan heads to the ring wearing an upturned visor and a Miami Heat Tim Hardaway jersey. If you didn’t know anything else about this show, you’d know it was set in the late 1990s just based on Konnan’s attire. Konnan shouts out Tommy Boy Records after hitting the ol' roulette. Konnan picks up his HOT feud from 1998 with Curt Hennig once more. Iowa chants MR. PERFECT at Hennig for some reason. It’s not an insult, folks. Hennig tries to show out with a somersault, but Konnan rolls him early, gives him ten punches in the corner, and causes him to Flair Flop and then roll out of the ring. Hennig stalls a lot. He waits until Konnan breaks his line of sight to slide in and attack, so the stalling had a point. Hennig hits some chops, but gets chopped in turn and bails. Hennig comes over to Heenan at the desk and complains about how his brand new wrestling boots are fitting, then wanders around some more. He checks his nipple for injury after that Konnan chop. We go to a break. Back from break, Konnan is dragging Hennig back into the ring to a pop. I actually think that Hennig’s stalling this match, while not top-level, is pretty good. Konnan hits a run of offense until Hennig is able to clothesline his way out of trouble. He lands stomps, punches, chokes, and a loud chop. Hennig snapmares Konnan over and then lands his signature neck snap before going back to choking and striking. Hennig locks on a standing knee bar for a short while, then generally targets the knee going forward. Hennig locks on, geez, what is that? A cross-ankle breaker? A cross-knee breaker? I genuinely don’t know what this move is. Mickey Jay breaks the move when Konnan gets the ropes, then backs Hennig down when Hennig gets in his face. Hennig goes back to a knee bar while Konnan tries to yank Hennig’s hair and neck to escape. They get back to standing, and Konnan fires up after Hennig disrespectfully slaps him; they trade slaps, and when Hennig goes up for a sledge, Konnan sticks a boot up to counter and starts his comeback. He blows off the knee work to leapfrog Hennig and hit a back kick and sit-out facebuster. Hennig barges into Mickey Jay, who bumps, and then Savage comes out and says that Konnan is going to be sent a message for his buddy Kevin Nash. Hennig comes from behind and knocks Konnan over the top rope; Savage tosses Konnan into the steps and puts him back in the ring. Hennig hits a Perfect Plex as Jay recovers in time to count three. That wasn’t a good match and it was way too long just to end with Savage interference, but Hennig’s stalling was at least somewhat entertaining. Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko (w/Arn Anderson) are taking their shot at Raven and Saturn (w/Kanyon) for the tag titles. Kanyon takes his first trip down the new ramp, stumbles, and then has an animated conversation with Raven about how bad the new ramp sucks. I think WCW debuting a new stylized ramp to fit their new logo, but not having it be safe or easy to walk down, is like the most late-stage WCW shit thing that could possibly exist. Malenko and Saturn start off with some slick chain wrestling. Saturn ends up forearming Malenko off the apron and to the floor, dispatching of Benoit, and then diving onto the floor and Benoit. Saturn and Raven hit their signature Total Elimination variant that replaces Kronus and a jumping roundhouse kick with Raven and a running lariat. Raven loses control soon after and Benoit tags in, but they have a nice rope-running exchange that ends with Raven scoring punches, then booting a charging Benoit and hitting another lariat for two. Raven and Saturn combine on a top-rope crossbody to Benoit in the electric chair spot, and the Horsemen sense that things are slipping away from them and reset the match by bailing and taking some time to re-gather themselves. The crowd chants HORSEMEN SUCK, and Benoit and Malenko (and Arn) are pretty good at garnering heel heat in this run. Benoit re-enters the ring and controls Saturn, then quickly tags Malenko. Malenko shoots Saturn into the ropes, but ducks down and gets kicked and overhead suplexed. Quick tag for Saturn: Saturn hits a drop-toehold on Malenko and sets him up for a Raven elbowdrop to the back of the head that gets two. I really like Raven and Saturn’s quick-tag style of offense. They’re a fun team with some enjoyable double-team moves. Saturn is back in after some more doubling up on Malenko and then sinks in a headlock that Malenko fights up from. Malenko tries to turn the tide, but runs right into a kneelift and then is punished on another quick tag. It looks as though the Horsemen are just never going to get on track, but Benoit sends an illegal boot to Raven’s chest to break a Raven chinlock on Malenko. That draws Saturn over, which gives Malenko time to get to Benoit and score a tag. Even that doesn’t help, though. Raven reverses a Benoit whip and then lands triple verticals for two. Raven works Benoit back into the corner and tags Saturn, then slams Benoit in place for a Saturn guillotine legdrop for two. Then, and this sucks, there’s a commercial break. It sucks because we come back to Raven being the FIP. We didn’t even see how that happened. It sucks because I really liked the extended shine segment for Raven and Saturn; I was drawn into this match. That break ruined it because now Raven’s already fighting up from a beating to get a hot tag, and it doesn’t feel like he endured enough because I didn’t see him have to survive. Raven gets a hot tag to Saturn, who gets backed into the Horsemen corner. He tries to fight his way out, but Benoit hangs Saturn over the top rope with a front suplex. Malenko tries to capitalize by yanking Saturn to the floor and holding him in place, but boy, the Horsemen cannot seem to get on track; Saturn moves as Benoit tries a baseball slide, and Benoit clears Malenko out. Malenko recovers quickly enough to land an illegal low dropkick to Saturn’s head after Benoit manages a drop toehold, though, and then he tags in and attacks Saturn’s knee. Benoit and Saturn now make a couple of quick tags and continue to wear down Saturn’s knee with strikes and kneebars. They double-wishbone Saturn and seem like maybe they’ve calmed things down, but Saturn hooks Malenko for a desperation overhead release belly-to-belly and gets a hot tag to Raven. Raven clears house and is handed a chair by Kanyon. Malenko takes a headfirst dive into the chair on a drop-toehold, but Benoit breaks up Raven’s cover at two. Raven and Saturn next hook up on a front suplex/top-rope splash combo, but that doesn’t get three, either. They pair off for Irish whips, and after a series of ducks and clotheslines, Benoit is the only one standing. He tries a top-rope headbutt on Raven, but whiffs. Then, the jibber jabber happens. Kanyon gets on the apron and Arn takes the chance to hit Raven with a tire iron. However, the ref turns toward Raven and Benoit spilled on the outside, and misses Kanyon shoving Malenko off the top rope and onto Saturn’s shoulders for a DVD. Saturn drills it and gets three as the ref turns back around and sees the cover. This was fantastic, and if we hadn’t had a chunk taken out of it, it might be on my Favorites list. They had minutes and minutes of time to do bad talking, but they didn’t have time to build up to the first hot tag segment? Stupid-ass WCW. Anyway, I could watch these teams wrestle one another a million, billion times. They have fantastic chemistry to the point that this is one of my favorite little feuds on my watch-through. We follow Raven and Saturn to the back, where Bam Bam Bigelow talks shit to the champs and challenges them. Kanyon tells Bammer to get a partner, and Bam Bam seriously considers it. Diamond Dallas Page comes to the ring with about eleven minutes left in the recording, so to my disappointment, this is probably going to be a short match that is filled with fuckery. As I said in the Slamboree review, I think there’s a lot of potential in a fifteen or twenty minute Page/Nash no disqualification match. Nash lands a few soupbones to start the proceedings. The crowd chants for GOLDBERG, who hasn’t been on this show, now that they mention him. Meanwhile, Nash clotheslines Page to the floor. Page wanders and yells at the crowd, then consults with Bam Bam Bigelow, who joins him at the foot of the ramp. Bigelow’s support doesn’t mean much, though; Nash punches him, hits him with Snake Eyes, and then gets two off a lariat. Bigelow hops up on the apron and Mickey Jay must still be concussed from getting cleared out a couple matches ago, because he just watches Bigelow and Nash trade punches without doing anything, then counts two for Page when Nash turns around into a lariat. Poor Mickey Jay, too out of it to remember the rules of professional wrestling. Bigelow chokes Nash (behind Jay’s back, at least); Page chokes Nash. This is a zero match, a null, and it’s a crime because Page is very good right now, maybe even great. Just get to the wonky finish already. Page gets two on a diving clothesline from the top. He locks on a chinlock, then grinds his elbow into Nash’s temple and covers for two before going back to the chinlock. Nash works to his feet and elbows his way out, but Page counters with a swinging neckbreaker for two. Page tries a side Russian, but only gets another two. Bigelow gets on the apron, again in front of the ref, to try and help out, but Nash shoots Page into Bigelow, then scores a couple of two counts off that bump and a follow-up lariat. Nash turns up the offense and hits a big boot, so Bigelow jumps in and gets cleared out. Randy Savage runs down and clobbers Nash in the back, and that’s when Mickey Jay decides that he’s seen enough and calls for the bell. Okay, sure. Nash eats a three-man beatdown. Page and Savage dap each other up. Why are they friends now? Explain. Savage tosses the ref out of the ring and then continues to attack Nash, then puts lipstick on him to indicate that he is very feminine, which is, as we have learned from '90s U.S. pro wrestling, a very bad trait to have unless you’re a woman wearing only a halter top and booty shorts, in which case it's good. A fan runs into the ring, throws up the bullhorns, and eats punches from Savage. I’d be honored to take a punch from Randy Savage. Savage goes right back to punching and stomping Nash, then drops an elbow on him and freaks out on the guys at commentary before the show ends. This show was ass, and two good matches were never going to save it. -2 out of 5 Stinger Splashes.

It was nice to see them bust out the Evolve footage for Ethan Page. Nice of them to use that tape library for something.

The most insane aspect of the Redbox bankruptcy is that Chicken Soup for the Soul Media bought Redbox.....in 2022. Two years ago some business was like "Renting DVDs out of a Kroger Parking lot will never die." And were willing to take on that company's already 325 million in debt to prove it. I love physical media. I don't love it that much.

Jesus Hulk was so god damn roided out he began to lose his butt crack. Totally explains the push up gag with his ankles in No Holds Barred after all these years.

I may be wrong, but millennials were the first generation not to have better standard of living than their parents when reaching adulthood. Gen X was still teetering on the edge of that one, but not quite falling over. So there's really no reason for millennials to automatically become more conservative after growing up, since they don't necessarily have so much to "conserve" as of yet.

As someone who often complains about WCW having matches that are too long, I actually thought it was the perfect length. There were no wasted spots in the whole thing. IMO, the match likely being carefully laid out by Savage and Flair laying out all these spots ahead of time, combined with Robinson doing an admirable job of directing traffic in the ring, made it pretty much flawless from a length standpoint. It also might be the encyclopedic example of how a match with even below average workers can be good if you lay it out right beforehand. I've seen too many matches with "meh" workers end up good at worst because of some enterprising road agent. There was a point after 1995 that stretched for maybe five or six years where pretty much every main event and Royal Rumble in the WWF was baseline good because of the agent work. My dislike of triple threat matches capped how much I'd enjoy the match. It was the best possible triple threat tag possible, which is high praise from me.

The WWF's attempt at Hogan vs. Flair not drawing well was probably more a sign of the times rather than the build. A few weeks ago, I happen to stumble upon some of the 1992 house show attendance numbers. I am going to hazard a guess the reason why the 1992 numbers look absolutely atrocious is they started to atrophy sometime in 1991 or maybe earlier. Hogan vs. Flair sometime in 1987-89 probably would have done amazing business even in markets that wouldn't recognize Flair as a big star. Late 1991...not so much.

I'm shocked McIntyre can stand up straight the way he's carrying the Punk feud.

That cash in & angle felt hella lazy to me. Like, folks continue to gush over hhh’s booking like it’s brilliant. If TK had booked something this obvious and uninteresting, the online discourse would be deafening. It wasn’t good, and Summerslam looks pretty lackluster so far.

as for Sullivan, the most subtle public tribute for Sullivan is to stiff a job guy a bunch in a match where you absolutely refuse to bump

There are some new teams in Faction Wars (5 new teams and 20 new cards) including Amethyst Asuka, Bayley and Carmilla. (Also a Rey '09 identical to the one from the Live Event chain.) 6000 points each.

I probably won't keep this up for very long, but this is where I'm at when it's all said and done this year. And no, that's not Buff Bagwell!

Not the worst idea.

The first E3 WWF No Mercy build looks like Wrestlemania 2000 but with the menus in blue. Not much options and modes can be selected. Engrish typos. At one time signs could had been selectable, but the option doesn't come up. Only play modes are singles and tag matches. Guest ref mode is in. Only one same costume each for the 6 selectable wrestlers. Their costumes are different from the final game. Full entrances but no vids though. Ladder weapon can be obtained from the crowd. Only one early Smackdown arena. Two tables, however seems no one can't get on those tables. The backstages aren't implemented. The second and 3rd builds that were rom dumped are closer to the final game but Big Show is in and some things are unfinished like the rings and the storymodes. The press start screen is different The early story mode is the same for all belts and short. Two unused gameboy storymodes that cant be selected. Lot of engrish. Some special moves from the Muscle anime in the caw mode, (muscle buster) while other moves are omitted. The muscle moves are listed as game boy moves. Lillan Garcia was originally going to be in. The records from the old pictures doesn't work. Some of the debug is messed up around the game. The shop mode isn't fully realized. No Ironman Match. The entrances are in length down to coming down to the ring. I will post screenshots taken by me later.

I saw a short trailer on Instagram, of all places, and is that the dude from the first XMen movie playing Sabretooth?

Chelsea will sign him for £50m.

I will forever love that on one of the first indie dates he did after he got let go the first time from WWE - for IWA Mid-South - that when he came out to "Assman" and circled around the ring greeting everyone, whoever was doing commentary with Dave Prazak just started busting up laughing and remarking "I'm sorry, I have never actually heard the entire song before!"