twiztor

HeAT 7/15/01 InterContinental Title: Justin Credible vs Albert (c) Credible got a decent amount of offense in, but Albert by Baldo Bomb. 3-4 (wwf takes the advantage!) WCW CruiserWeight Title: K-Kwik vs Billy Kidman (c) quick paced match, as you'd expect. Kwik didn't do his research and tries to Powerbomb Kidman, but get reversed into that inverted Pedigree to retain. 4-4. Big Show & Billy Gunn vs Shawn Stasiak & Kanyon ShowGunn picks up the win after an Alley-Oop Bomb (did they ever name this move?) on Stasiak. 4-5. Raw 7/16/01 @ Providence, RI Spike Dudley professes his love for Molly. Heyman tries to convince him to join ECW. Spike declines. the Dudley Boyz drive Molly through a table. Faarooq vs Chuck Palumbo After O'Haire distracts Faarooq, Palumbo lands the Jungle Kick for the quick surprise win. 5-5. Mike Awesome vs Edge match was fine but lacked any sort of hook and felt a bit flat. Storm superkicks Edge, leading to the second straight WCW win tonight. 6-5. Tazz vs William Regal Tajiri joins us for commentary. short match. Tazz has Regal down. Tajiri gets in the ring and pulls off his shirt to reveal an ECW one. then he head kicks Tazz from behind, causing a DQ. 7-5. WCW World Title: Booker T (c) vs Chris Jericho very good match until the shenanigans at the end. Jericho lands a missile dropkick but Nick Patrick won't make the count (arm injury) then Jericho makes Booker T tap out, but Patrick doesn't see it (leg injury) Earl Hebner comes out, but Shane stops him from calling for the bell. A low blow, and Booker rolls up Jericho. Patrick makes a fast three count. officially we stand at 8-5, but all 4 tonight were cheap victories. Way to put over the invading champ, btw. he got visibly pinned AND tapped out AND had to resort to a low blow AND a fast count to steal a victory. ECW Rules: Raven vs Kurt Angle complete squash. Angle by Ankle Lock. 8-6 Kanyon comes out to save Raven, but Angle takes him out too, then chases 2 more WCW guys away. jesus, can this get any more one sided? the first PPV hasn't even happened! Hardy Boys vs Dudley Boyz these teams have good chemistry and this match delivers. Hardys get a visual pin but Bubba makes the save. RVD runs down, giving D-Von enough leverage to counter a sunset flip and steal a pinfall. 9-6. DDP & Rhyno vs Undertaker & Kane to the surprise of absolutely nobody, the WWF guys- especially Undertaker- are dominating the match. some WCW guys run down to interfere and it turns into a huge brawl. Austin drives up (he's been drinking at the Friendly Tap all day, refusing to become the 'old Stone Cold') and whoops everyone's ass. SmackDown! 7/19/01 @ Boston, MA We start with another big promo with the entire WCW & ECW Coalition in the ring. Once again, we hear from Shane, Steph, and Heyman, but no wrestlers talk. DDP vs Chris Jericho a good match one again ruined by a BS ending. Jericho gets a visual pin on DDP after a Lionsault, but Nick Patrick won't make the count. It would be kinda awesome if they played up that Patrick was the nWo referee and he actually wrestled Jericho at the nWo PPV back in '97, but they don't. Jericho gets DQ'd for basically nothing, then makes DDP tap to the Liontamer. another "win" for WCW while they continue to look inferior in every way. 10-6. Lance Storm vs Christian very competitive match. Christian hits a nice Tornado Reverse DDT from the turnbuckle. lots of outside interference, mostly from Mike Awesome, but in the end, Edge Spears Storm for the win. 10-7. More of this, please. Dudley Boyz & Tazz vs Tajiri, Undertaker, & Kane Undertaker & Kane completely dominate. Team ECW isolates Tajiri for a while. hot tag to Taker and he wipes all of them out. Taker by chokeslam. sigh. 10-8. Bradshaw vs Sean O'Haire hard hitting match. Bradshaw largely controls it, but O'Haire has his moments to shine. Bradshaw hits a Clothesline from Hell and that's that. 10-9. Arm Wrestling Match: Torrie Wilson vs Trish Stratus this was absolute garbage. Torrie gets the "win" after Nick Patrick cheapshots Earl Hebner and Stacy cheats. post-match, Trish, Lita, and Hebner beat up Patrick. Jeff Hardy & X-Pac vs Kidman & RVD not a dull second in this one! this is as fast-paced as they come. worth checking out if you like cruiserweight action. X-Pac tries to X-Factor Van Dam, but RVD avoids it by doing the splits. Kidman catches Pac with the Reverse Pedigree (still hasn't been named AFAIK) for the win. 11-9. Booker T & Rhyno vs Steve Austin & Kurt Angle Rhyno GORES! Angle before the match starts. Austin then comes out and beats up both men. DDP on the titantron, he has Debra in the trunk of a car, which baits Austin into leaving the ring. Giant brawl backstage and outside. In-ring, Dudleyz attack Angle and put him through a table. Another non-finish main event. Jakked 7/20/01 Chavo Guerrero, Jr. def Essa Rios (i can't find video of this one). 12-9. Justin Credible vs K-Kwik. Joined in progress. Credible by superkick. 13-9. Gregory Helms vs TAKA Michinoku better than i expected. Helms is still a bit sloppy here. Taka gets the upset win with the Michinoku Driver. 13-10. Billy Gunn vs Hugh Morrus meh. exactly what you'd expect from these two. Gunn via the One And Only. 13-11. we are to the point where every match is WCW/ECW vs WWF. they keep hyping up that this is "the biggest challenge the WWF has ever faced" and specifically talk about how the government couldn't take them down. There's a big 5-on-5 match at the PPV and JR & Michael Cole keep talking about how WCW/ECW has so many great choices for who they will pick. On the WWF side, you have WWF Champ Steve Austin (the old Stone Cold, back to his ass kicking ways), Olympic Gold Medalist (and former champ) Kurt Angle, the Undertaker ('nuff said!), Kane (arguably the weakest of the bunch, but we are in one of his PUSH periods), and Chris Jericho (who has come within a hair of beating both champs, Austin and Booker T, within the last month). on the WCW side, we have WCW Champ Booker T (zero clean wins since this all began), DDP (who has been smashed by Undertaker multiple times), Rhyno (they make a big deal out of him being the last ECW champ, but he's been in Hardcore Title limbo for the last 4-5 months), and the Dudley Boyz (multiple time tag champs). this doesn't even seem close as far as the TV booking goes. Also, like i've mentioned in the reviews, WCW has looked weak in practically every matchup. they currently hold two more wins than team WWF, but almost all of them are due to cheating, biased refereeing, outside interference, or some combination of all three. Team WWF, specifically every member of their PPV team, hasn't been on the bad side of a match yet. If they want to sell this as an actual threat, they need to show that the WCW/ECW coalition has some sort of chance. this is utterly ridiculous.

was about to watch the Invasion event (i was camping all weekend and am a bit behind) when i realized i hadn't posted last week's recap (or the smackdown before? for shame!). anyway, let's get up to date: SmackDown 7/12/01 @ Birmingham, AL dark match: Rob Van Dam vs Johnny "the Bull" Stamboli. decent. RVD via split legged moonsault. Shane McMahon & his WCW contingent open the show by coming to the ring to a chorus of boos. I guess despite all logic, WCW is now a heel stable. Steph, Paul, and the ECW wrestlers come out. Big opening heel promo. no wrestlers talk. Tazz vs Hardcore Holly. Michael Cole: "this is the first match between WCW/ECW stars and WWF Superstars." nice way to put over the talent. Tajiri joins us for commentary. a short 2 minute brawl, Tazz by Tazzmission. Tazz attacks Tajiri and locks the Tazzmission on him, too. WCW 2, WWF 0. Lance Storm vs Chris Jericho very good back-and-forth match. Unfortunately, we only get 3 minutes. (DID SOMEBODY SAY THREE MINUTES?!?) ultimately, Jericho makes Storm tap out to the Walls. 2-1 Vince cuts a promo asking for 'the old Stone Cold' to come back. Austin shakes his head and leaves the arena. Kane vs Rhyno. once again we only get 3 minutes. Kane dominates. WWF Ref bump. Rhyno rolls up Kane, WCW ref Nick Patrick runs down and makes a fast count. 3-1. Hardcore Title: Jeff Hardy vs Mike Awesome (c) OK match. Jeff brings the WWF title back after Edge & Christian smash Awesome with a Con-Chair-To. 3-2. Kurt Angle & Undertaker vs Shane McMahon & DDP Shane gets beat up by both men. DDP tags in and has the advantage over Angle. Undertaker tags in and decimates both men. interference by WCW/ECW guys causes a DQ. 3-3. Taker & Angle beat them all up. Kane & Jericho make the save. more WCW/ECW guys. WCW stands tall at the end, with a 20-4 advantage. yay.

Great American Bash '98 probably. while not the worst event ever, i definitely got more selective after that one. seeing Macho Man lose two matches, knee injury or not, killed my interest in wcw. @Brian Fowler i ordered the first WWA event (Inception?) and enjoyed it for what it was. not sure if that's the same one or not.

not reading through this thread, but GotG is a franchise i had zero interest in before the movies. GotG1 ranks in my top two Marvel movies, and the i loved the sequel too. i am highly disappointed in this turn of events and hope that either cooler heads prevail so this is overturned, or somebody with similar outlook and ability takes over these movies.

OMG OMG OMG i don't go full fanboy very often, but this is one of those times

Happy Birthday, OSJ!

jusr picked up a controller for an NES mini. I can finally play Mega Man 9 and 10, which i downloaded on my Wii more than a couple years ago. this controller is legit! it has the right weight, responsiveness, and look. so happy they re-released these so i could get one at retail price.

didn't know they were making a new She-Ra cartoon. checked it out after this post. i will definitely say that i'm not a fan of the animation style but the costume seems fine. didn't plan on jacking off to it one way or the other, so sorry if this bursts your narrative.

did a quick cursory search (here and google) and didn't see a clear and easy answer. Has Jon Jones had his final punishment figured out and/or released yet? the whole thing happened damn near a year ago.

finally got around to watching Omega-Okada 2 & 3. both matches are amazing and live up to the hype. will have to watch #4 later this week.

just got a promotion at work. i am now salaried. it is a weird feeling. my job duties don't change much and the pay is better, so it seems like a no brainer. had to buzz my mohawk tho. i've had it off-and-on for like 12 years. i feel so normal without it.

i have never seen a Bearcat Wright match, but have heard the name mentioned along other all-time greats. what was the story with the double cross?

where did you find this out? i am looking for more info on the whole process.

ok, so i discovered today that Parker Brothers numbered all of their products, specifically their board games. I can't figure out their numbering scheme. For example, on my game shelf i have #138 Six Million Dollar Man, #739 Barney Miller, #26 Payday, & # 390 Sorry, amongst others. these don't seem to be chronological or alphabetical. Has anyone ever run across a full Parker Brothers list, online or otherwise? I cannot contain my curiosity and don't want to scour eBay looking for obscure games and their numbers, but i can't find anything via Google. Help?

HeAT 7/8/01 fantastic four minute match between Tajiri and Jerry Lynn. Tajiri via Buzzsaw Kick. WCW Tag Team Title: Chuck Palumbo & Sean O'Haire (c) vs Shawn Stasiak & Chris Kanyon i can't quite put my finger on why, but this is the first match that felt like a WCW match. very solid. the heels isolate Palumbo and put a beating on him. After 6-7 minutes, O'Haire get the hot tag and just cleans house, culminating with an F5 on Kanyon to retain. Crazy seeing an F5 pre-Brock. Raw 7/9/01 @ Atlanta, GA (Phillips Arena) dark match: Rick Michaels vs AJ Styles i guess this is probably Styles' in-ring WWF debut. good enough match for an opener. crowd enjoyed it for two unknown guys. Styles wins after a Styles Clash (i think. the video went fuzzy just as he was about to set it up) followed by a Shooting Star Press. Street Fight: Shane McMahon vs DDP Undertaker comes out and says that Page belongs to him. He beats up DDP for a while, until Shane clocks Taker with a kendo stick a couple times. Undertaker then beats them both up until DDP nails him with a chair. Sara slides into the ring, attacking Shane, but DDP BANGS! her with a diamondcutter. i guess the whole fracas from SmackDown! was a ploy. hmm. interestingly, for this being a "WCW match", JR and Heyman did commentary, with no mention of Scott Hudson or Arn Anderson. Tag Team Titles: Dudley Boyz (c) vs APA hard hitting match, as expected. the Dudleyz are heels, but every signature move they tease or hit gets a big pop. Faarooq hits a hellacious Spinebuster on D-Von, but only gets a 2 count. Bubba goes outside for a table, but Spike (with a broken leg, which apparently happened last week) hits him with a crutch. Bradshaw connects with a Clothesline From Hell and we've got new champs. Didn't expect that one. WCW Title: Kurt Angle vs Booker T (c) w/Shane McMahon first cross-promotional match. again no WCW announce team. I guess that gimmick is dead. solid contest, pretty evenly matched, although Book took a bit more. Angle counters the Scissor Kick directly into the Ankle Lock. Booker taps, but referee Nick Patrick is distracted by Shane. Angle with the Olympic Slam. Earl Hebner runs out to make the count, but Patrick (conscious again after being pushed outside) pulls him out of the ring. Booker hits Angle with the WCW Title for a 3 count while a group of referees brawl. WCW 1, WWF 0. Handicap Match: Kane vs Lance Storm & Mike Awesome Jericho comes out as the match starts. No promo, no announcement, but now he's Kane's partner. ok then. match goes through phases. starts out a bit plodding, then gets good, then wanes for a bit, and then i'm interested again. Overall, it was fun enough. Another overbooked finish. Jericho has Storm in the Walls while Kane is dominating Awesome. two guys enters from the crowd. It's Tommy Dreamer & Rob Van Dam! all 4 men attack Jericho & Kane. WWF reinforcements arrive from the back. the Dudleyz, Rhyno, Raven, Tazz, & Justin Credible all make the save. or do they? all these men beat on Kane. Dreamer with the Spicolli Driver. RVD with the Van Daminator. Paul Heyman gets in the ring. "this InVasion has now been taken to the Extreme!" In the back, Shane and Vince run into each other. They're going to team up, one night only, the 10 ECW guys vs 5 WCW and 5 WWF guys. Team WWF: APA, Big Show, Bob Holly, Billy Gunn & Team WCW: Palumbo & O'Haire, Jindrack, Stasiak, & Kanyon vs the 10 ECW guys mentioned above. Lillian Garcia flubs the WCW guys' names and they cut her mic. the WWF/WCW team brawl with each other before the ECW guys come out. Team WWF clears the ring. Team ECW enters from the crowd. they beat the WWF guys 10-on-5. Team WCW enters the ring and embraces Team ECW! Long story short (too late), Shane McMahon brokered a merger between the two teams and introduces us to ECW's new owner, Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley! ok. thoughts. this show is a roller coaster and blows through as many turns and reveals as it possibly can. the WCW dissention being a non-issue was really pointless. they don't even address it in a meaningful way. the Team ECW thing was a big shock at the time, i've been wondering when it was gonna happen this go-round. I thought they were going to stretch this out a bit more. You could've easily gotten more mileage out of a potential Three Way Dance! between the companies (hell, you couldn't have gotten any less!) And then the reveal of Steph as the show was going off the air? i mentioned last week that i was tiring of all the Vince McMahon stuff on screen, so they add ANOTHER McMahon to the mix? i feel like this show was booked by Vince Russo. Is that the biggest swerve of them all? did WWF buy WCW just to get Russo back? I'm almost scared to see where this goes once SmackDown! rolls around.

Brock Lesnar is in the house!

i had a dream the other night that i turned into a centaur. i feel like smackdown would be a lot weirder (and more entertaining?) if it was a dream.

same here. there's even a wcw tag title match on Heat this Sunday.

Raw 7/2/01 @ Tacoma, WA Undertaker vs IC Champ Albert - i missed if this was for the title or not. Albert does OK, but of course the Undertaker dominates. Taker sets up the Last Ride, but DDP runs down, hits Taker with a chair and DiamondCuts him. then Sara, Kane, & Undertaker beat up DDP (and Albert for good measure too) Rhyno vs Test - Winner faces Mike Awesome at InVasion Test dominates. APA & WWF gang enter. APA's been conducting a mole hunt and determined that Test is it. Test dominates more. WWF guys surround the ring. Bradshaw clotheslines Test, setting him up for the GORE! Post match, the WWF gang beat up Test. they're teasing a Vince/Torrie Wilson sexual encounter. they're doing more than teasing it. i'm sick of it. It is now time for the WCW segment. Paul Heyman makes a production of saying "don't blame the WWF for what is about to happen". that sounds promising. WCW World Title: Booker T (c) vs Buff Bagwell a lot has been said about this match. I have generally defended it as being 'not as bad as its reputation' I will admit that it is not a great match. it's not even a good match. But it is also not a bad match. It's just a very typical midcard match, which isn't good enough after all the hype. The match is really hurt by three things: 1- the crowd is sitting on their hands. and for good reason. Buff has never appeared on WWF TV before now. 2- Buff Bagwell is clearly gassed early. He hits his two moves and huffs and puffs. 3- we only get 5 minutes. Austin and Angle run down and beat up Booker T for 8 minutes. Bagwell joins in the beatdown, until the very end, when Austin/Angle suckerpunch him and throw him outside the arena next to Book. Oh, we get more Vince/Torrie stuff. Vince is literally caught with his pants down by his wife Linda. this is terrible. SmackDown! 7/5/01 @ Tacoma, WA Tag Team Titles: Jericho & Spike vs Dudley Boyz (c) Spike is SO good at getting beat up, but always has believable comebacks. Dudleyz pin Spike after a 3D. WCW CruiserWeight Title match: Billy Kidman vs Sugar Shane Gregory Helms (c) good match. a bit sloppy, but very fast paced and the crowd was all about it. Kidman misses the Shooting Star Press, then fights his way out of the Vertebreaker attempt, and lands a move i don't know the name of (sorta looks like a reverse Pedigree) to win the CruiserWeight Title. Good for him, but Helms is better than this. IC Title: Edge vs Albert Christian is barred from ringside, so elects to stay in the locker room with the KotR trophy. Albert dominates and retains. Edge isn't doing so hot as the King. There is lots of Vince/Austin/Angle segments tonight. WAY too many. WCW World Title: Diamond Dallas Page vs Booker T (c) now this is more like it. these guys brawl around and put on a pretty good show. Booker T lands the scissor kick, but DDP bails outside and grabs a chair. He DDT's Book on it for a two count. As he readies to clock Book with the chair, Undertaker runs (?) down, leading to the quickest schoolboy pin and three count. DDP bails and Taker chases him to the back. Angle runs down to attack Booker, but Book gets the better of him. Outside, Taker corners DDP, but a group of 8 WCW guys (including Buff Bagwell. i thought he was released immediately after Raw) attack Taker and beat him down. Shane McMahon interrupts to escape with a victory, but DDP sucker punches him. what? now Booker T is out, checking on Shane, but Mike Awesome gives him the old right hand and the WCW guys beat him down too. wait, what just happened here? this doesn't even make sense.

held off from reading the spoiler until late last night......yeah i'm passing on this one. i've only been marginally following King's run, but this had my attention. emphasis on the past tense.

Liddell-Ortiz 3 is actually gonna happen. Promoted by Golden Boy Promotions. no date yet. wtf.

and the Devil Rays are officially >.500! been quite a while this season!

oddly enough, the announcers never figured this out and argued about it a bunch

Raw 6/25/01 @ New York City, NY (Madison Square Garden) Hardcore Title: Test (c) vs Rhyno pretty middling match. they wander around backstage and hit each other with things. Rhyno GORES! Test into a wall to regain the Hardcore TItle. Somebody runs up from behind. Mike Awesome powerbombs Rhyno into a ladder to win the title. A WCW wrestler just won a WWF Belt! Light HeavyWeight TItle: Jeff Hardy (c) vs X-Pac very anti-X-Pac crowd. match is shorter than last night but worlds better, incredibly crisp and fast paced. X-Pac rolls out of a Swanton Bomb and backslides Jeff Hardy. X-Pac puts his feet on the ropes and steals a victory and the title. Tag Team Titles: Kane & Undertaker vs Dudley Boyz (c) we get about 5 minutes. solid, but i'm getting tired of the the unstoppable badass undertaker biker bit. taker & kane dominate most of the match. Albert runs in and BaldoBombs Kane and the Dudleyz retain. Taker chokeslams Bubba in retaliation. As Taker & Sara celebrate on the entrance ramp, DDP hits him twice with a chair. Then he pulls out some of Sara's hair and runs away. European Title: Matt Hardy (c) w/Lita vs Big Show w/Trish Big Show dominates, Lita rips Trish's top off. Show goes to chokeslam Hardy, but Lita with a Low Kick for the DQ. bleh. Shane McMahon is @ WWF NY. so is Booker T. backstage, a crowd of wrestlers has formed in APA's office. Faarooq says WCW never gave any of them a chance. (huh? Maybe he forgot when he beat Vader to win the World Title?) Bradshaw says they'll take the fight to the WCW guys. As Vince is in the ring telling us how smart he is, Austin & Angle invade WWF NY looking for Shane & Book. They've already left. In fact, Shane comes out to the MSG ring. Booker T (from behind) axe kicks Vince. The WWF troops run to ringside, but Shane and Booker escape...... SmackDown! 6/28/01 @ New York City, NY (Madison Square Garden) Vince & Linda in the ring. The next PPV will be WCW vs WWF. It will be called Invasion. InterContinental Title: Kane (c) vs Albert Albert dominates early. Goes to powerbomb Kane, but Kane reverses it with a hurracanrana (!) Chokeslams Albert, DDP runs in and Diamondcuts Kane. Albert is the new champ! Tag Team Titles / Tables / Elimination Match: Hardy Boys vs Dudley Boyz (c) D-Von gets Swanton'd through a table and eliminated. Jeff gets backdropped over the top rope to the floor through a table. WCW Tag Champs Chuck Palumbo & Sean O'Haire run in and attack both men. About 20 WWF wrestlers run down and obliterate the two men. Just a complete beatdown. Torrie Wilson debuts in a backstage segment where Austin and Angle are competing for Vince's affection. Austin in the ring, blah blah blah, Booker T runs in, attacks him, and escapes while the WWF troops storm the ring. Jakked 6/30/01 Raven vs Low-Ki. Raven wins with the Evenflow DDT but a cool artifact nonetheless.

how long is Rose out for? an interim strawweight title seems unnecessary