SirSmUgly

These 1995 RAWs are such a chore to sit through, but in Episode 102, Ernie Ladd does a really awesome interview/promo where he responds to Vince's question about Lawrence Taylor's chances against Bam Bam based on Ladd's experiences as both a football player and a wrestler. I liked it so much that I would say that it's actually worth seeking out if you're futzing around the Network and looking for something to watch.

Yeah, I was trying to follow up on WW3 with the next night's Nitro, and it's the same on my PS4. I think they are pulling down the 1995 Nitros to properly number them because I can only get to the very last Nitro of 1995, and it is now labeled "Nitro 18" instead of whatever crazy number they had up for it before.

Woman.

Mojo getting beat the fuck up was hilarious. The wrestling wasn't that great this week (Alexa Bliss didn't quite get completely off the ground for the Belly-to-Bayley, I think), but I did enjoy the nice double-team moves from the Lucha Dragons and Hideo Itami kicking Konnor in the face.

Short question: Does anyone know of a match where someone submitted to a figure four when they put it on, but got turned over and had the pressure reversed? Long question: My hypothesis could be incorrect, but it seems that since WWE style signals the finish of a match with finishers, it has become imperative for at least the top wrestlers to have multiple finishers (usually one impact and one submission at the least), and matches are now often centered around kicking out of finishers to bring unpredictability into the match. Is this compensation for finishers being the primary signal that a match is going to end sufficient, or would WWE be improved by making it so that matches more often end on moves other than finishers?

it was a TV Ratings war, especially then. WCW was gonna give you this one off Sting vs Hogan match that was just a TV deal to make people go ,"I'm watching that, fuck RAW". Yes, I'm aware of Bischoff's propensity for counter-programming during the MNW and why he did it. I do think that he did it at the expense of making PPV money off of matchups, though in this case it didn't come back to bite him because he could sell Sting/Hogan with Hogan as a heel two years later (plus it looked like the end of the "nWo taking over" narrative. 1995 RAW is not very good; just teasing that matchup for WW3 with a confrontation of some sort would have worked just as well, but in the end, I suppose that it doesn't matter so much.

Man, was the first Sting/Hogan matchup given away on that November 20, 1995 Nitro? If so, I can only imagine how much money they gave away - I split the price of a TNA PPV with someone in 2011 to watch old Sting and broken down Hogan wrestle each other. I would have gladly scraped together my weekly allowance to see them wrestle in 1995.

It also helps that the WCW midcarders weren't working the same exact match as every other WCW midcarder. You'd get a cruiserweight bout, then two guys trying to punch through each others' faces, then a nice matwork match. You'd also get matches with clear clashes between technique (as when Dean Malenko would wrestle a Mexican cruiserweight). It's hard to tell the WWE midcarders apart when they're all wrestling the same formula match. I fully believe that one of the reasons that both the Shield and the Wyatts got over (in a multitude of reasons) is that they were wrestling trios matches that had just enough of a different structure from typical tag matches to catch everyone's eyes.

I don't get the bitching about Rollins trying to cash in on Lesnar. He just saw Cena go AA--->STF for about a billion years----->AA on Lesnar after two earlier AAs. Who would he rather wrestle - Lesnar, who was about to get put down, or Cena after Cena wins and has some time to gather himself and catch his breath? Logic says that if you get rid of Cena, you can Curb Stomp and cash in on Lesnar pretty quickly, and of course, someone like Rollins would love the feather in his cap of beating the man that beat The Undertaker on top of it, no matter how it was done. The only problem with Rollins's plan is that he took too long to execute it.

I liked this match better than the Summerslam one, but I am a sucker for matches where guys just throw bombs all day even when it doesn't make narrative sense (like most early '90s Steiner matches). When it actually fits the narrative, I'm definitely loving it. This was probably my favorite PPV match since Usos/Harper and Rowan 2/3 falls and my favorite PPV singles match since Bryan/HHH.

I think Nikki is just pretty good at this point. She was working pretty tight in there. Plus, every time I see her wrestle on Main Event or Superstars, she looks solid.

I thought the opener was solid, though the Usos had much better matches throughout their reign with Harper/Rowan, and I thought the triple-threat Women's Championship match was pretty good. Everything else was whatever except for maybe the last four minutes of Sheamus/Cesaro, which saved the rest of that match. But the main event was GREAT! Plus, if you're overbooking a finish to protect both guys, that is how you do it. I genuinely had no clue what was going to happen. Plus, they came out the way Henry and Rusev should have - throwing bombs at one another immediately and trying to get a knockout early. Loved that match. I wouldn't call it perfect or anything, but man, was it entertaining.

Keith Harris is extremely trustworthy as a reporter. I'd put some stock in this report.

Badd/Guerrero on the 11/13/95 episode of Nitro is really fun. There's some really quick, fun counter-wrestling to begin before both guys just say "fuck it" and start throwing bombs, interspersed with some counter-wrestling in between for awhile. Then, they basically just get frustrated with one another by the end and start throwing punches, hitting tombstones and tornado DDTs, and stuff like that. I don't know if it makes a whole lot of sense structurally from a narrative standpoint, but it's just really great to watch as a "two guys trying to get a quick pinfall and then getting really irritated with each other" sort of thing.

They should just put the title on Tyson Kidd and watch the dollars rain down on their company as Kidd leads the company into the Network era as an all-time draw. God bless.

It looks like the WrestleCrap writers skim the threads here for ideas just like WWE's writers do. http://www.wrestlecrap.com/headlies/headlies-tommy-wiseau-hired-as-new-wwe-head-writer/

Rovert was not lying about Emma. Wow, that crowd was surprisingly silent for her, though they did get a "Welcome back" chant going at the start. They should just pull her back down to NXT and rehabilitate her with a gimmick change or something. It's too bad that Tyson and Nattie are known to be a couple in real life and are thus presented as such on the show because a Tyson Kidd/Charlotte power couple would be the best, most dickish wrestling couple out there outside of Macho King and Queen Sherri or Tully and Baby Doll. Itami showcase was fun. I was hoping he'd take back the G2S and maybe actually hit one that looked like it hurt for the first time in a WWE-affiliated ring, but I like the double-stomp, though I think he could just do one from the ground and get a bit of height on it, and it'd be just as cool. I'm not interested in the Ascension at all, but this little feud will probably be short so that Itami can move on to other things. I wish CJ Parker were a better wrestler because I like everything else about him - his gimmick is great, his music is great, his look is great. I get why people don't like Enzo and Big Cass, but I love those guys. They have great chemistry, and I think Carmella has great chemistry with those guys, too. I can ignore the mediocre wrestling because they're just really enjoyable, entertaining dudes. The tag match was solid. Kidd was the best thing about it.

They should just go ahead and delay the next-gen versions past the new year. I'd rather have a next-gen experience that is well-polished. I'm not sure how much more they can do to make that happen with an extra three weeks.

I do it all the time. Check out the old NXT thread. Are you still thinking/hearing that Sasha Banks will be headed to RAW/Smackdown in the next callup? I thought that they were going to put the gold on Bayley just to get a Charlotte/Sasha Loser Leaves NXT match set up, but there are still a number of ways they could go to get there.

Then let's set an example by talking about NXT instead of dwelling on what other people choose to talk about. Also, if you think people need to see KENTA, direct 'em to some KENTA so they can get acquainted. I'm encouraged that people who haven't seen KENTA before saw him being a badass right off the top. He's got amazing charisma. I'm wondering where they go with the tag belts. I'm almost sure the Vaudevillains are going to get them at some point soon, but maybe not. I'm also interested to see if Neville just turns outright heel and drops the NXT Championship to Zayn, which I sense will happen after seeing the post-show.

This is the first time that I've seen Verne Gagne outside of AWA. He's pretty fun to watch.

Everything everyone just fantasy booked in these last few posts is the best and deserves my money.

They did the shirts for The Vaudevillains right. If only it didn't have that out-of-place NXT logo right on the back...

I had no clue where to start, so I started with Angelo Poffo since I'd never seen him work. Hans Schmidt and Angelo Poffo v. Bob Konovsky and Pat O'Connor (2 out of 3 falls, 5/2/58) I think fans should start dressing in suits and ties again. This was a disjointed match for me with some cool stuff. Pat O'Connor's bridge-up into a headlock -----> strike the opponent square in the face thing was a great spot, though after the third time, I was wondering when Schmidt and Poffo would stop pinning him in the perfect position so that he could kick out by doing just that. I also loved the quick tags to clubber the shit out of Konovsky and Schmidt trying to stomp Pat O'Connor's ankle from outside the ring. Anyway, the clubbering and two Hans Schmidt backbreakers that led to the first fall was whatever, but what I liked was O'Connor cracking Konovsky's back in the interim before the second fall started. There was a quick heat segment on O'Connor before Konovsky got in, and for whatever reason, it really worked because the crowd exploded for the hot tag because I thought it was rushed. Konovsky throws some shitty judo chops, man. I know that some of the forearms Schmidt and Poffo throw can be weak, but those chops. The second fall was rushed, though of course the point was that the heels goaded Konovsky to start the fall after getting beat and paid for it. Then Schmidt is sore about losing, so Poffo has to start fall three. That's built around Poffo wanting to tag out and Schmidt not agreeing. There's not much here except for a couple neat spots and the commentator dropping quips about S&H Green Stamps, so you can probably just skip it. The first fall's segment where the faces outshine the heels sort of drags on and gets repetitive, and except for the quick tags near the end of that fall by the heels, most of this is rushed too quickly to really be effective after that. Note: I could be just not understanding the way '50s tag team wrestling in the U.S. worked, so if I don't understand what I'm watching, or if I'm not putting it in the proper context, please feel free to share your thoughts on that.

Bayley vs. Charlotte with Sting and Ric Flair as their seconds outside the ring sounds like a whole lot of fun.