Cobra Commander

I was looking around Peacock last night and I thought to myself "maybe I should watch the Cruiserweight Classic" which certainly has some good matches, right, maybe... so thats kind of a C show that's out there Then again the Peacock has stuff like Evolve and wXw tucked in there and I guess some of that is good but there's quite a bit of it.

WWF Monday Night Raw (7/24/1995) Last night, Shawn Michaels won the Intercontinental Title Shawn Michaels vs Jimmy Del Ray: We got Cornette and Prichard in the corner of Jimmy Del Ray. Always nice to see a matchup where 90s Shawn Michaels is the less creepy of the competitors. Jimmy Del Ray bumps around for a few minutes, takes control, misses a splash, and HBK takes over, superkicks Prichard off the apron and superkicks Del Ray to win. The Louisville Gardens looks likely smaller than I was expecting. Postmatch HBK teases getting his ass out. Our hero! Last night, Double J lip-synced? Bret Hart vs Hakushi, tonight! The Smokin Gunns vs John Faulkner and Rick Stockhauser: The jobbers are in matching red and black tights. One of these guys has more facial hair than the other. Gunns win with a doubleteam move (Bart lifts the buy up and Billy jumps off the top to drive him down) The dork who was selling stuff at In Your House 1 was still on WWF TV two months later? Goldust is on his way to the WWF (but we don't know what this guy looks like, it could be Barry Darsow) Fatu is making a difference by walking around shirtless in San Francisco and dancing with youths. Waylon Mercy vs Gary Scott: Handshakes for everybody prematch. Mercy holds up the rope for the jobber so he can drop it on his back. Waylon Mercy is dressed like redneck Razor Ramon with all that white in his gear. Waylon wins with the sleeper. Even without the back injury, feels like having the sleeper as a finish in 1995 should yell "Doomed gimmick" Todd Pettengill with the In Your House Report, informing us that Summerslam is brought to us by Stridex. So we hear about the results from the PPV last night. King Mabel has words for Diesel. King Mabel might actually be the best Nelson Frazier wrestling look. Hakushi vs Bret Hart: I thought the Space Flying Tiger Drop spot was at IYH but it wasn't, so that's a reason why i'm watching this episode of Raw. Hakushi still has Bret Hart's head in a bag. Next week on RAW, Razor Ramon and Savio Vega take on Owen Hart and Yokozuna. Jerry Lawler mispronounces Hideo while doing a topical reference to Hideo Nomo. Hakushi will be fined for using the railing? what? is Bill Watts working for the WWF this early? Shinja is the closest thing to having the masked lover from "Self Control" by Laura Branigan working as a manager in the WWF. Isaac Yankem mention on commentary. Bret Hart is in trouble as we go to a commercial break. Bret remains in trouble out of the break as Hakushi hits the springboard elbow and his running crotch attack. Hakushi does the same counter into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker as he did at IYH. The old man in the front row is unfazed by Hakushi hitting the diving headbutt into Bret's back. Bret is on the floor before and after the break and Hakushi hits the MFing Space Flying Tiger Drop on him coming out of the break. Aw yes! That was a cool thing to unleash on thousands of unsuspecting Kentuckians. Bret Hart springs off of the ropes to the floor with a splash, the closest thing to a Bret Hart dive? Diving elbow, Shinja gets punched, Bulldog, Small Package, Hakushi takes control and misses a diving headbutt. Bret Hart superplex leads into the Sharpshooter and Hakushi gives up. Since we're in USWA country, Bret Hart piledrives Shinja postmatch. This was as good as In Your House, without any awkward earliness that the IYH match had. On the other hand, no commercial breaks at In Your House. Meanwhile Pierre steals the bag with Bret Hart's severed head. Nice to see somebody picking up trash around here. Let's go to Dean Douglas talking in a class room. Shane Douglas made a questionable move by revealing to Vince that he had a non-wrestling profession. He looks so much like a Troy in this gimmick. He drives us the definitions of Knowledge. This classroom looks like a community college classroom as Dean Douglas lectures 31 year olds trying to get a JC degree to get a new job after the factory shut down. Dean Douglas looks like if Mr. Perfect and The Genius had a boring child. Next week: King Mabel and the Bodydonnas and Bam Bam in action. They have boxes of Stridex at the table. Let's close this out with Vince interviewing Shawn in a splitscreen. Jerry Lawler has words. Sid wants to face Shawn for the IC title.

was Sabu really in WCW for long enough to have any Worldwide/Pro matches end up on TV? the only Sabu WCW matches on TheHistoryOfWWE that weren't on Nitro/Havoc are from a "TV Taping" in August 1995 where he worked Chris Kanyon twice, so is it possible that you're confusing Devon Storm and Chris Kanyon?

Gonna have to watch the movie to find out if the killers were Bimbot Zombies or people that killed Bimbot Zombies There are a few random Twitter people I found that mentioned having crushes on Stephanie Wiand during her WWF time. Which feels like a very specific type of taste, like people who would find Paula Poundsrone hot.

#1: A test to the "Anybody who comes out of a box is instantly over" claim #2: We will adopt your baby Just because I just saw an 11 year old win an Orlando house (which his family flipped quickly). In Your House baby.

Watching the first In Your House, won't do a long review, but Bret vs Hakushi was awesome (as you may have heard in the last 28 years) and Kansas City's own Akio Sato was in prime form doing heel manager stuff in that match, Stephanie Wiand is female Todd Pettengill, and Razor Ramon officially declared Ramon to be his last name and not his first name by referring to his kayfabe mom as "Mama Ramon" edit: the Mabel vs Adam Bomb match was better than you'd expect from a sub-2 minute match between Mabel and Adam Bomb. They also never found a good outfit for Nelson Frazier to wear while wrestling. edit 2: Not sure it does Diesel any favors to follow up his Wrestlemania 11 Jackknife (which wasn't his fault) with a match where Kevin Nash has the second best looking powerbomb in the match. Diesel/Sid is what it is but seeing Sid's powerbomb and the Jackknife in succession really does remind you of the "Powerdrop" putdown of Nash's powerbomb edit 3: my favorite little detail for Bret vs Hakushi? Hakushi selling a Bret clothesline with a flip like he just got hit by Nikita Koloff's Russian Sickle in 1985

baseball!

If CM Punk uses his total power over AEW Collision to paste Johnny Cash giving the finger on wrestlers who are banned from Collision, that might be gimmick infringement brah Now if he makes the shows color scheme green and black

the blog summary of the Norris lawsuit just realized how wild it is that WCW had a wrestler named Charlie Norris (which is his real name) when Chuck Norris was about to heat up as a TV star in the fall of 1993. If only Greg Gagne could have showed Charlie Norris how to do karate.

to clarify, Norris was mentioned in a WCW racism lawsuit because Greg Gagne (IIRC) was trying to instruct him on how to do stereotypical Indian wrestler shtick seeing Norris' first WCWSN match today, I could see how a WCW suit could look at some of his offense and think "he needs my instruction on how to do this gimmick".. not saying such instruction was a good idea

Let's go back to August 1993 WCW once again, WCW Saturday Night (8/21/1993) Tonight! Sting vs Flair! Sid Vicious and Harlem Heat vs 2 Cold Scorpio, Marcus Alexander Bagwell and Ron Simmons: Sid and Harlem Heat, what a stable. Charlie Norris makes his debut later tonight! Ice Train! Johnny B. Badd unmasks! Center Stage is ready to see their kings 2 Cold Scorpio and Ron Simmons in action. Scorpio and Booker start off in a match that would have been fun in several years. Stevie vs Bagwell is a little less interesting but the crowd sounds pumped up for Stevie vs Ron Simmons. Simmons cleans house and knocks Sid to the floor. Sid gets into the match vs Simmons, a bit of a stumble on a leapfrog and then we go to Sid vs Scorpio. Scorpio gets clotheslined to the midsection which.. that's unique. Sid chokeslams Scorpio. Lots of fun heeling as the 3 heels who all seemingly tower over Scorpio doubleteam him at times. Scorpio gets insane hangtime on a leapfrog into a sunset flip attempt. Bagwell gets tagged in, Sid gets tagged in, a schmozz develops, Sid beats Bagwell with the Powerbomb The Equalizer vs Ron Preston: Ron Preston is a generic looking dude in light blue tights. Equalizer gets the Kick Of Fear and a swinging neckbreaker and an axhandle to the back and he wins with a swinging full nelson. The Fall Brawl Control Center with Chris Cruise: Since we haven't done War Games in his promotion for a year and a half, here's a primer on the rules. Also a highlights package in black and white because we can't be having blood in color in 1993. Charlie Norris vs Fury pf the Wrecking Crew: "Tatanka's pretty over, do we know any guys who can be our Tatanka". Of course Tatanka's from North Carolina, so in theory, they should have been a little bit more on the ball here. Lots of arm twists and drags. Eventually Norris unleashes some stereotypical offense and he wins with a doublechop. Well, yeah. Let's go back to Wednesday where Cactus Jack is being interviewed post-Clash. The Interview rules, of course. Johnny B. Badd vs Mike Thor: A few minutes go by. Johnny unmasks to reveal that he looks the same as he did a few months ago. Then he punches Thor for the win. Postmatch promo where Johnny mentions having the best song on the Slam Jam album Ice Train vs Rage of the Wrecking Crew: Train is with Thunderbolt Patterson. Three weeks ago, we saw Ice Train's indy farewell. Ice Train wins quick with a powerslam. Postmatch interview with Thunderbolt and Ice Train. Vader vs JD Stryker: Vader is wrecking shit on his way to the ring. Stryker charges Vader because he's apparently an idiot. Chokeslam. Two punches in the corner. Powerbomb. That's it. Vader and Harley postmatch promo. Ric Flair vs Sting: This being a slight rarity in this matchup, a face vs face Sting/Flair match. Jesse criticizing Sting's aggression level early. Sting working on Flair's back a little. Eventually you get the hint that Flair is gonna be a little more heelish because duh after his puts his foot on the rope in a pin attempt. Flair actually hits a move off the top rope on Sting. We start to play the hits, backslide counter, Flair flipping over the top to the floor. Sting slams Flair off the top to the canvas. Things spill to the outside where Sting nosells an Irish whip into the guardrail. We get back into the ring and Flair puts Sting in the figure four which gets flipped over eventually. Sid is seen lurking around ringside and he joins Tony and Jesse on commentary. Sting reverses a figure four into a cradle for 2. Sting does his traditional no-sell of chops, press slam, bulldog. 2 count for the bulldog. More back and forth and Sting puts Flair in the figure four. Flair tries another pin with a foot on the ropes. Sting with a Superplex. Both of them get knocked to the floor. Sid pulls Sting off the apron and throws him to the floor behind the refs back and Flair wins by countout. Gotta love how Center Stage had a guardrail directly in front of the camera with no fans ever there and that section of guardrail was essentially where all the chaos happened. Anyways, Harlem Heat shows up to beat up on the faces too and we get a Flair/Sting interview after all this. Flair challenges Sid and Harlem Heat to face Flair/Sting. But WCW with all the stuff swirling around about how bad things are going just drops a 40 minute Sting/Flair match on TV like nothing is amiss. Looking at Cagematch, they ran at least one Sting/Flair match in 1987, 88, 89, 90, 91, 93, 94, 95, 96, 99, 2000, 2001, and then a long break until 2011. With the only WCW-era breaks involving Flair being in the WWF, Sting's crow year, and a 1998 where Flair was pretty much out of the company for nearly half the year.

Yet another walkoff bunt in a Royals game, this time with the bunt stylings of Dairon Blanco

Obligatory

Beach Blast 92, which also had an awesome Sting/Cactus Jack match directly before Steamboat/Road

How much could they lean into the “CM Punk is the dictator of Collision” on TV before it goes too far? Punk becomes Anthony Fremont and the people who displease him disappear from the show. The show runs music videos hyping CM Punk constantly like it’s state-run media. Maybe it’d be like if the NWO got a weekly show in 1998 only without acknowledging that the show is controlled by heels now.

Bro bro bro bro what about a Royal Rumble that’s like the brawl for all

Punk running Collision like he’s moderating a message board?

after going 4:40 two weeks ago and 5:42 last week, Between the Sheets is once again pushing 7 hours this week, 6 hours/48 minutes! (the week is 8 days in August 1993 including two episodes of Raw) excellent news for any listeners with a long commutes

if this was 1998, the shirt would say "Cody sucks rocks" or "Cody lixx dixx" like it's a sign on a RAW episode

Notes from Prime Time Wrestling (8/8/1988)- Bret Hart vs Dangerous Danny Davis: Jimmy Hart isn't at ringside at the Garden (code for "he's booked in another city"). A good amount of bullshit for awhile until Bret takes control. Danny Davis eyepokes out of a backbreaker to take over. Multiple arm drop spots for Danny Davis' chinlock. Bret Hart wins by countering a duckdown into a piledriver. Not sure what it says for your singles push when you're having 9 minute matches with Dangerous Danny Davis Terry Taylor vs Scott Casey: From before Terry Taylor's career got the albatross gimmick. We're at Maple Leaf Gardens. Taylor struts a little and also keeps insisting that his hair is being pulled. Lots of openings for Gorilla and Sean Mooney to talk about Toronto wrestling history and how much larger Toronto is in the 80s compared to when Gorilla started. Terry Taylor looks like pro wrestler Jefferson D'Arcy around this time. Terry Taylor wins with the Scorpion Deathlock ("I believe he calls that move The Scorpion" - Sean Mooney) Special Report: Summerslam: It's in 3 weeks. Ted Dibiase knocks Macho Man off the stage and there's a 2 on 1 attack with Andre providing an assist. Craig DeGeorge tells us that Jesse Ventura is the guest referee. Hulk Hogan is back from filming a movie to be the Macho Man's partner. Big Boss Man vs Koko B. Ware! Bolsheviks vs Powers of Pain! Hart Foundation vs Demolition! British Bulldogs vs Rougeaus! The Rock vs Dino Bravo! The Barber vs the Honky Tonk Man! JYD vs Rick Rude! Bad News Brown vs Ken Patera! Also Brother Love will have an very very special guest (which turns out to not be Ric Flair) Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs Pete Sanchez: From Wrestling Challenge. Hacksaw wins in a few minutes with a clothesline. Sean Mooney here to show us promos by Demolition and the Hart Foundation. Jimmy Hart with Fuji and Demolition. I think Bret eventually became a better promo than The Anvil by like 1991/92-ish but he's still rough in 1988. So how much of an overlap is there between Sean Mooney and Craig DeGeorge working here because it seems like their skillsets overlap some. Speaking of Craig DeGeorge, here he is with Honky Tonk Man and Jimmy Hart. Junkyard Dog vs Outlaw Ron Bass: From Madison Square Garden. I did Duolingo during this match. They had a commercial break mid-match. JYD cutting his hair was a bad move as noted before. JYD with a surprise victory as he rolled over on drop of Bass after Bass slammed him. "It happened so quickly", not usually a phrase used in regards to JYD/Ron Bass in 1988. Let's take a look at Brother Love who is surprised when the Macho Man shows up instead of Ted DiBiase. Why do Hogan and Savage insist on referring to DiBiase as the Multimillion Dollar Man. Hulk Hogan shows up too. They run Brother Love off and do a promo And the feature match this week is Rougeaus vs The Rockers: One of these wrestlers murdered a man (allegedly) and the other murdered the Dynamite Kid's self esteem by hitting him in the mouth with a roll of quarters. We're in the Garden again. This should be a good match. Superstar Graham doesn't believe that the Rougeaus love America because they don't know our holidays. Meanwhile Lord Alfred is a latent heel for this occasion. Jacques threw a neat dropkick early to Shawn Michaels. We switch from Jacques vs Shawn to Raymond vs Marty. Lots of good tag team action. The Rougeau abdominal stretch/thrustkick combo was a cool doubleteam. Shawn Michaels gets the hot tag. Shawn hits the top rope fistdrop but chaos is going on. He goes up again, Jacques pushes him into crotching himself in a gnarly looking bump and Raymond pins Shawn. The Bulldogs show up to tell the ref that shenanigans went on to end this match. The ref doesn't change anything and the Bulldogs drive the Rougeaus from the ring. Next week's Prime Time is a three hour special. So, is Prime Time Wrestling the rare WWF show that ran credits? or did a few other shows from back then using credits?

I'm sure the issue was settled long ago but wasn't there a bit of turf war with Schiavone and JR in WCW? especially after Schiavone came back from the WWF (despite his feeling like he wanted to leave WCW again upon returning) Not sure how many of these clips are online and I posted one of them in another thread but Schiavone in his last months in the WWF would stooge off of Gorilla Monsoon in segments that are kinda weird if you're used to any other era of Tony Schiavone on TV. Here's another clip of a Wrestling Challenge opening with Schiavone and Gorilla: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bef0P8WPe90

The Braves are pummeling the Mets on MLB Network right now. I figure a lot of the reason to watch the Mets involves how much better their commentary team is compared to their baseball team

having seen some 1993 WCW recently, i'm working under the premise that it's more fun the less you know about what they taped 4 months in advance in Orlando

this might be the 1993 WCW i've watched lately talking but is Jesse Ventura the best commentary partner that Tony Schiavone ever had? I wouldn't say Tony was the best commentary partner that Jesse ever had but Jesse's best WCW work was with Schiavone.

looking around into which other heels were in WCW in August 1993 (in regards to replacing Pillman), I found this interesting substitution: Bobby Eaton and Brian Knobbs is certainly a team. Not sure if the vignettes of the Nasty's trying to make Bobby Eaton nasty would have been near as much fun as the Bobby Eaton Bluebloods vignettes. Of course when you consider one of the Nasty's signature spots and Bobby Eaton's reputation for having a weak stomach..