WWE Network Conversation

[Cobra Commander]

"Hey, do you have any unemployed friends who can help out?"

as to who decided that Scotty Anton would beat people with a move called "The Clap"

[Cobra Commander]

there were only a handful of Dusty ECW matches and really, the one I saw yesterday was a reasonably good. Sure, Dusty moved as slow as you'd expect but he knew what he could do in there and didn't do anything he didn't want to do.. then again, I also remember the Randy Orton/Dusty Rhodes bullrope match being a solid match that didn't overstay it's welcome.

Steve Corino basically got to work a bunch of other matches with Dusty post-ECW as a result of this whole thing.

The only ECW matches (on CageMatch) where Dusty isn't working Corino are a six man tag (Dusty/Doring/Roadkill vs Bill Wiles/CW Anderson/Erik Watts) and a Dusty/Jack Victory bullrope match that was on Hardcore TV in May 2000.

[Curt McGirt]

Those Dusty/Corino matches are good, I think we put a couple of them in the BLOODSUCKING FREAKS~! thread. 

[GuerrillaMonsoon]

Whose idea was it to put Diana Hart on TV? I'm assuming it was a favour to Davey Boy, but also, she's just horrifically wooden - they already knew this from 1992, and the angle gets dropped without any real resolution beyond just the commentary team deciding that she had to be making it all up.

Just seriously weird. 

[Robert S]

5 hours ago, GuerrillaMonsoon said:

Whose idea was it to put Diana Hart on TV? I'm assuming it was a favour to Davey Boy, but also, she's just horrifically wooden - they already knew this from 1992, and the angle gets dropped without any real resolution beyond just the commentary team deciding that she had to be making it all up.

Just seriously weird. 

I don't know who came up with the idea, but according to a Jim Cornette story, the reason why the thing was dropped was that Stu Hart did not like the portrayal of his daughter on TV:

 

[Gorman]

Thoughts on Heat Wave 2000

Blue Meanie was back after losing a ton of weight. As the Blue Boy, he enjoyed fat-shaming people who weren't actually fat.

Big Sal E. Graziano went from roly-poly sidekick to unstoppable monster as he squashed Balls Mahoney.

Steve Corino bled PROFUSELY in a losing effort again. Jerry Lynn wrote the word "DIE" on his own chest in Corino's blood. I will have to check with my daughter to see if that is "metal." (UPDATE: "Yes, I would say so!")

Broken legs seemed to be an epidemic in ECW as New Jack and Spike Dudley both came out with broken legs. RVD was still recovering from a broken leg.

Speaking of RVD, he received a huge hero's welcome in Los Angeles, with many fans making RVD signs. It gave me the feeling that if anything bad  happened to ECW, RVD would land on his feet.

Justin Credible is the MVP for successfully defending the title in a Stairway to Hell match. Randy Savage's former valet, Gorgeous George showed up in Dreamer's corner and turned heel almost immediately. Even though Dreamer said winning the ECW title would make all of his pain and suffering worthwhile, Justin won after a piledriver on the barbed wire.

Edited October 19, 2023 by Gorman

[Cobra Commander]

Time for a League Championship Series two-fer of Dallas and Philadelphia. Don't ask what my League Championship Series wrestling picks would be if Arizona or Houston win some games this week.

ECW Hardcore TV (6/10/1997)

We open with Joey welcoming us to Wrestlepalooza 97

Nah, we cut to Lance Wright with the Eliminators. One of Perry Saturn's legs is destroyed (he'll be wrestling in WCW within 6 months). So the Eliminators won't be facing the Dudleys.

Then we cut to Joey Styles next to Rick Rude. Rick towers over Joey, for the record. We're having the final battle between Raven and Tommy Dreamer tonight.

Joel Gertner and the Dudley Boys are in a dimly lit place.

We start off with the Final Battle between Raven and Tommy Dreamer. Loud "You Sold Out" chant for Raven, in case anybody had any doubt about who was winning this Loser Leaves ECW match. Raven immediately goes for the door so we can get some crowd brawling. Nice cross section of America at the Arena as Raven flings Dreamer through a merchindise table. This match was originally scheduled for Hardcore Heaven but was moved up for reasons totally not involving one of the wrestlers leaving the company. A shot of Shane Douglas and Francine watching the brawl opens the door for Rick Rude talk about Francine in his usual way. You could almost break some of these tables by breathing on them. After a few rotations around the arena, Finally this match reaches the ring and Tommy Dreamer gets drop toe hold'd into a chair. The first pinfall attempt comes after Raven launches Tommy Dreamer into a chair, which breaks. Dreamer unveils a sign as having a road sign under it, as is tradition. Lupus gets DDTed by Beulah. Dreamer and Beulah pose and Raven lowblows Tommy. Tommy lowblows Raven. Chastity and Beulah catfight. Rick Rude gets an extended bleep. Beulah lowblows Raven and Dreamer gets 2 with a DDT. A second ref bump before another DDT. Hey, Louie Spicolli seems more useful than Lupus. That interference gets a 2 count. DDTs for everybody. Dreamer mixes things up by hitting the Death Valley Driver in front of Spicolli. The finish of this match got replayed a few times. Dreamer defeats Raven and everybody lives happily ever after.

Actually, the lights go out and Rob Van Dam hits the Van Daminator on Tommy.

Then the lights go out again and Sabu joins the fray. Raven just walks off casually during all this.

The lights go out again and Jerry Lawler's in the ring. Ineffective babyfaces try to make a save. Shane Douglas publicly declines to do anything. New Jack and Mustafa show up to remind us that the Natural Born Killers replacement kinda stinks.

Eventually the Sandman shows up to make the save for a second.

Then Taz comes out to make a save and the heels flee.

On the upside for Tommy, at least he didn't get caned directly in the balls. This time.

We come out of the commercial break with Taz, Shane Douglas interrupting Taz, and more Taz, before we go to a break.

We're also getting the rematch of Sabu vs Taz tonight. Which was also moved up from the PPV because both men couldn't wait. Rick Rude explaining the psychology of working Taz's knee. That moonsault only barely avoids clipping the guardrail. Fuck that whistle must have been annoying to endure live. Taz tries a senton and misses. Sabu puts Taz through a table but Taz puts Sabu in the Tazmission and gets pinned for the loss. Taz beats up the referees because he's mad that he lost. Taz then chokes out Fonzie.

We come back from the break as Joey summarizes what happens in 3x speed. If Taz can't choke out Shane Douglas, he has to leave ECW for 45 days. Which is an oddly specific number of days.

So we got Shane Douglas vs Taz and Taz has 3 minutes to choke out Shane Douglas. Rick Rude noting how stupid Shane Douglas is for this challenge. Wouldn't you just immediately run for the door to burn the clock. Taz chokes out Shane Douglas and wins the TV title. Play stupid games, win stupid prices.

A legendary blowoff, the start of a big feud, a rematch that is sorta just there, and Taz wins the TV title to end the show.

Now, let's go to the second half of tonight's Peacock viewing...

World Class Championship Wrestling (12/14/1985)

We're in Reunion Arena this week. We got some cage matches.

Match 1: One Man Gang vs Kamala. One Man Gang gets the first bite in. Bill Mercer takes this opportunity to plug the Christmas card at Reunion. That rope guardrail is very faith-based. I think One Man Gang did his version of hulking up. Babyface (or de facto babyface) One Man Gang has a bit of a Braun Strowman vibe. Both wrestlers get disqualified. This match was worked exactly how you'd expect Kamala vs One Man Gang to be worked.

Match 2: Jack Victory vs Brian Adias for the Texas title. Adias is the Texas champion in this match. Somehow Jack Victory got all the masked gimmicks except "stand-in for Bobby Eaton". The doctor who helped Mike Von Erich not die in the hospital gets a mention and a crowd shot. Brian Adias did a heck of a flippy sell of a mid-ring collision. Adias is a house of fire but Victory escapes the spinning toe hold with a rope break. Adias wins with a bodypress off the top rope.

Match 3: Hollywood John Tatum (with Missy Hyatt) vs Scott Casey (with Sunshine) in a steel cage Texas Death match. By Texas Death Match, they mean "the match ends when one man cannot stop the other from escaping the cage", which is a cooler way of describing WWF cage match. Holy hell Missy's top tonight is something. The women are in the cage in separate corners. The cage is barely taller than Missy. Doesn't take long for one to notice "hey they put these women inbetween the ropes and the cage". Tatum eats a piledriver but Casey distracts himself by looking at Missy. It looks like Missy could smother someone pretty well tonight. Tatum puts on a chinlock and scoots over so Missy can help him. And Missy jumps Sunshine from behind and runs off. Got a sleephold (which Casey counters by running Tatum into the corner). Tatum counters a piledriver and running bulldog. Tatum tries climbing the 6 and a half foot tall cage but with a little help from Missy, Tatum escapes to the floor. Which means that Sunshine can immediately jump Missy. Escape the cage logic. Kabuki comes in to attack Scott Casey and Sunshine. So Kabuki and Scott Casey fight for a bit. All the unimportant non-Von Erich babyfaces (John Mantell, David Peterson, Brian Adias) rush the cage to get their asses beat by Kabuki.

Next week: Kerry Von Erich vs the Smashingly Beautiful Rick Rude for the American Title

Match 4: Gino Hernandez and Chris Adams vs Kevin and Kerry Von Erich in a steel cage for the held up Tag Team titles with two special referees (Terry Gordy and Brian Adias). Adias is substituting for Iceman King Parsons. Adams and Gino are wearing masks. Terry Gordy makes sure that no heels get unmasked during this cage match because we got rules damnit. Mercer either figures out which one is Gino and which is Adams due to these unmasking spots. Apparently it's legal to unmask these guys but Gordy doesn't see it that way. Hey it's been a year or two since the last "Freebird was a less than stellar guest referee" angle. The lighting starts flickering slightly. Gordy decks Adias after an extended argument and Gordy departs. Mercer is just defenseless against Adams and Gino wearing masks. Chris Adams gets unmasked and then Gino hits a loaded headbutt on Kerry and the forces of evil win the Tag Team titles. Lance Von Erich shows up to keep Chris Adams away while Kerry and Kevin doubleteam and unmask Gino. Our heroes! Somehow Terry Gordy perpetually getting in the way was the more useful of the two referees.

Mercer closes the show to announcing that Missy and Sunshine will be in a mixed tag team match on Christmas. Seeing 1985 Missy in ring attire should be family fun for all ages.

[Gorman]

7 hours ago, Cobra Commander said:

the Natural Born Killers replacement kinda stinks.

I actually love the fake Natural Born Killaz, as well as Mikey's fake Beck song. In WCW, DDP has my favorite fake overdubbed theme.

[odessasteps]

Tangentially, I’m one of the MX fans who doesn’t hate the JCP knockoff of Chase.

[Cobra Commander]

2 hours ago, Gorman said:

I actually love the fake Natural Born Killaz, as well as Mikey's fake Beck song. In WCW, DDP has my favorite fake overdubbed theme.

I didn’t mind the Dreamer theme because I think they used his WWECW theme which was an attempt to knockoff Man In The Box instead of using a distinct knockoff MITB. But someone could tell me if the overdub was a different theme

[Cobra Commander]

Since there's no Walker Texas Ranger lever for the Network, let's dig around and watch something like...

Monday Night Raw (2/24/1997)

We're in the Manhattan Center tonight

Our first match is The Godwinns vs the New Blackjacks. Pig farmers vs Cowboys, a feud as old as time. Vince says we have a huge surprise tonight on Raw (well i'd say). Also Marlena vs Sunny in an arm wrestling match. Lawler notes the possibility of ECW wrestlers being here quickly. Barry Windham with short black hair and a mustache sure is a look. Ken Shamrock is in the crowd tonight. The match is pretty much being worked like how you'd expect. I think Windham is the thinnest of the 4 wrestlers in this match. Bradshaw clotheslines Phineas and Windham gets the pin despite Phineas having his foot on the ropes. Another referee comes out to discuss the matter and the Godwinns slop the referee in retaliation. Our heroes!

We come out of the break with the Eliminators hitting the Total Elimination on a dude. Also Paul E. Dangerously is here.

Hey, Paul E. gets the ECW graphics package (well, part of it, they figure it out better later on)

Our ECW Experience match is Little Guido vs Big Stevie Cool. Vince gets a brief description of what the Blue World Order is. People doing a Hall/Nash parody in a promotion where guy's are reusing the Razor/Diesel gimmicks. Hey, it's Raven, and he's standing. Hey, we get a side interview with Goldust that doesn't happen. Meanwhile Paul E. says he'd go home with Goldust. Okay, now we got the Goldust side-interview. UP NEXT, LA FEMME NIKITA. Stevie wins with the Steviekick.

Got some words from Sunny about her impending arm wrestling match.

Time for Sunny va Marlena in an arm wrestling match. Our guest referee is the Honky Tonk Man. A bit of a show whiplash to have The Godwinns, The Eliminators, The BWO, Women's Arm Wrestling and the Honky Tonk Man in the first 3 segments of the show. Hey, Sunny is doing the most blatant Rick Rude prematch routine for some reason. 8 Days Ago, Chyna choked Marlena. Last week, Chyna shook Marlena. Sunny decides to do the kind thing and offer Marlena a chance to forfeit. Hey, a prostitution joke in response from Marlena. Sunny decides to stall for a bit. Cut to Ken Shamrock watching this and questioning his decisions in life. Sunny throws powder in Marlena's face before she could lose the match. Savio Vega wanders out to the ring for some reason only for Goldust to show up and slam Savio's face off of the arm wrestling table.

So I guess we have a Savio Vega vs Goldust match now? Sunny is still hanging around ringside because you don't wanna turn down a chance to watch this matchup. Miguel Perez is at the commentary table for this one. Aw, one of PG13 got a hug from Sunny. Vince does an extended "we got events coming up in these cities" read. We got a huge surprise later tonight, by the way. Miguel Perez reminds us that Savio let down all the Puerto Ricans by turning heel. Another shot of Ken Shamrock in the crowd. Goldust gets an exchange with Crush on the outside. Crush decides to just end this and run-in for the DQ. Miguel Perez hits a top rope dropkick in nice shoes! Miguel Perez looking like Puerto Rican Tommy Dreamer if Tommy actually dressed nice.

A huge surprise, coming up! Look, just keep watching the show or you might miss the huge surprise

Hey, here's a clip of Tiny Tim on Raw from 1993 (that's presumably not the huge surprise). Tiny Tim only died 2 1/2 months before this Raw.

Jerry Lawler walks over to Ken Shamrock to interview him. Ken Shamrock denies that he spent time working out with Jerry Lawler. Normal person Ken Shamrock is a little different than when Shamrock really began to embrace some wrestling shtick. No disrespect to Lawler but just imagine Bobby Heenan claiming he taught Ken Shamrock everything he knows.

Let's continue the show whiplash with another ECW match. Mikey Whipwreck takes on Taz. We got some Paul E/Lawler sniping over Lawler referring to Taz as short. Holy fuck, taking a release Tiger Suplex in a WWF ring must have taken a year off of Mikey's life. We got some words from Faarooq on the side because he's taking on the Undertaker later. Sabu shows up and leaps off of the RAW sign onto Team Taz (not the huge surprise). Team Taz drugs Sabu off. Taz chokes out Mikey for the win.

Coming up next, we have a huge surprise.

We get a replay of Sabu leaping off of the Raw sign from a better angle. Sabu manages to land on some of Team Taz.

Our huge surprise is the Legion of Doom, for the record. The matchup is The Headbangers vs the Legion of Doom. This show continues to be all over the damn place. We get a "Nitro Sucks" chant for some reason. There's no censorship in the World Wrestling Federation folks (winking gif). This match is a little too long for an LOD return. We get a "Bischoff sucks" chant too. We get a commercial break as the Headbangers are working over Hawk. This match ends in a fucking countout? a double countout? Mosh flips for the Doomsday Device. Well... of all the ways to bring the Legion of Doom back, this was... one of them. Fortunately the Wrestlemania 13 match was a little more remembered than this match.

Here's the Shawn Michaels "Tell Me A Lie" music video. I don't know if this got dubbed or not because I don't know what the actual song sounds like.

We get a 3rd ECW match tonight. D-Von Dudley vs Tommy Dreamer. Time for some Tommy Dreamer weapons shots on WWF TV. This show sure does veer hard from segment to segment. We get a Willie Herenton namedrop from Lawler. What a show. The Lawler/Paul E. segments are a bit like the Morton Downey Jr Show. We get an Undertaker interview during the finish of this match. Tommy Dreamer wins, by the way. Bubba Ray runs out and they hit the 3D on Dreamer because the Sandman is slow. Sandman takes on the Dudleys to make the save. Lawler and Paul E do a pull-apart as we go to the break.

This is such a weird episode of Raw.

Vince says that next week's RAW is the biggest event in Germany since the Wall was torn down. Slow decade in Germany, I guess.

Jim Ross and Jim Cornette narrate what happened last week with Bret and Sid on Raw. Did Bret really debut the corner Figure-Four on Sid, because that seems like a way to accidentally fuck yourself up because Sid barely got his legs in position for that move. Anyways, Sid beat Bret Hart for the title last week with the help of Stone Cold Steve Austin. Meanwhile in a WWF Superstars Exclusive, Bret Hart is mad (don't worry, i'm sure he won't get even more angry on live TV in a few weeks). Sid and The Undertaker will meet at Wrestlemania for the WWF title.

Todd Pettingill is with Ken Shamrock, which is a bit of a "these two worked for the WWF at the same time" thing. Ken Shamrock's wife has laryngitis. Also, Bob Shamrock is in the crowd for this card. What a show for Bob Shamrock to see live. Ken Shamrock gives the Undertaker the edge over Sid due to technique, which, I guess he's watched the product before.

Yesss.. we got PG-13 rapping the Nation theme on this episode. Faarooq has some words for Ken Shamrock. The only way this show could get more wild is if they randomly brought back the Luchadores from the Rumble.

Our main event is Faarooq vs the Undertaker. Wait, does the Undertaker have a teardrop tattoo? well, I guess he thought he killed someone until mid-summer 1997. The Nation gimmick is all over the damn place around this time because you have D-Lo in "random dude who hangs out with the Nation of Islam" attire and you have Jamie Dundee providing hype for the Nation. This match gets a chant of "Lets Go Rangers" which should tell you how hot it is with these fans. Meanwhile Jim Ross' dad passed away and that's why he's not here. Which feels like something you mention earlier. There's a "Die Rocky" sign being held by someone disappointed that Rocky Maivia hasn't been on Raw this week. The Undertaker uses a schoolboy rollup. The Undertaker no-sells a Faarooq piledriver, so the rest of the nation runs in. Then the Legion of Doom runs in. Andwe'reouttatimefolks.

Well.... that was a real Mixtape of a 2 hour show. You might be able to figure out which half of the roster was working a house show in Germany on February 24th (which might have played a factor in the talent imported to fill out this episode of Raw)

[Godfrey]

Went back and watched Sami Zayn/Roman Reigns from Elimination Chamber. Growing up a Canadian boy just trying to fit in and following Sami his whole career, this angle was the first thing to get me truly emotionally invested in a match in a long time, maybe since the main event of Wrestlemania 30. It's a bit plodding and the finish goes off the rails but I remember standing and pacing frantically when I was watching live and it gave me goosebumps on this watch too. I still think there was a path forward with Sami winning and I selfishly think WWE owes it to Montreal and Canadians for the Screwjob. When wrestling is at its best it can be transcendent and I felt it with this one

[odessasteps]

I was watching mid 85 WCCW and it was weird to see 2 episodes with no Von Erich’s, no Freebirds and no Dynamic Duo. 
 

on the plus side, in one episode, we got a Rip Oliver v Bobby Fulton singles match and Scott Casey vs Bobby Eaton singles match. 

[SirSmUgly]

I don't know how anyone who watched even a little bit of 1996-1997 WWF doesn't have that fucking "Tell Me a Lie" song burned into their brain. It felt like Vince played the thing every half-hour on the hour on every one of his shows both times he busted it out.

IIRC, we first got huge doses of that song after Shawn Michaels valiantly fought and lost to thirteen or fourteen dishonorably discharged Marine thugs who jumped him for no reason, and second after the knee injury that was career-threatening right up until the point at which the WM XIII card was changed and Michaels didn't have to job to Bret Hart.

It seared itself into my brain to such an unpleasant degree that I remember when I bought Anthology and popped the first disc in, the second that song started, I immediately slammed the ol' forward button on my Discman...God, I'm old. 

Oops, let's avoid a double-post - I think my favorite generic dub on the Network is the Fantastics' dub that replaces "Sharp Dressed Man," and I'm partial to the JYD dub that replaces "Another One Bites the Dust."

I will say that I second the love for the DDP dub, which funny enough sort of reminds me of "Heart Shaped Box."

I'm looking forward to 2000-01 WCW just to see if they dubbed over Elix Skipper's "Party Up (Up in Here)" knockoff, and let me tell you, I'm praying that they didn't because man, I love that thing. 

Edited October 18, 2023 by SirSmUgly

[zendragon]

On 10/17/2023 at 6:28 AM, Gorman said:

I actually love the fake Natural Born Killaz, as well as Mikey's fake Beck song. In WCW, DDP has my favorite fake overdubbed theme.

They don't use the Jimmy Hart Nirvana knock off?

[Gorman]

3 hours ago, zendragon said:

They don't use the Jimmy Hart Nirvana knock off?

No -- not a "Self High Five" to be found.

[zendragon]

weird I would have assumed that came with the sale...or they just don't want to pay Jimmy hart royalties 

[Cobra Commander]

would it surprise you if WCW managed to not own some of the music that they used, aside from the stuff that was Turner Network stock music that the WWE didn't inherit either

[Cobra Commander]

Since I missed an hour of Dynamite and the Rangers lost and there really isn't Sam Houston Coliseum house show wrestling that I wanna watch on the Peacock and Tony Khan had to drive across Louisiana to reach the card tonight.. let's go through the shows on the Peacock and watch...

Mid-South Wrestling (5/21/1983)

Let's see how picking an episode off of the description works out

Bill Watts with a nice shirt and tie looking like a high school teacher this week

The Teen Club voted JYD over Michael Spinks to headline their meeting. So there.

Let's take a look at highlights of Von Erichs vs Freebirds from the Superdome. Speaking of overdubbed music, i'm guessing that version of "Badstreet" was a dub. It's David and Kerry vs Buddy and Gordy because Bill was the one to bring Buddy into the Freebirds. Kerry Von Erich defied jetlag to fly from Japan to New Orleans for this event (he wrestled in St. Louis in-between his Japanese tour and the Superdome)

There was a Kerry/Chic Donovan/Gypsy Joe vs Onita/Tenryu/Baba match from that tour that is almost certainly lost to time unless somebody got a camera into the City Gymnasium in Matsue, Shimane, Japan.

Let's take a look at when Tim Horner took on King Kong Bundy at the Superdome. The New York Wrestling Magazines and Florida publications loved the Superdome show.

Our first match: The Black Ninja Kendo Nagasaki vs Tim Horner. Kendo is managed by Skandor Akbar. Kendo is very charming in how very balding he is at this time. It looks like he has the hair for an evil clown gimmick. Kendo really enjoying unleashing that spinning taunt. Akbar gets to sit down in a chair at ringside so he did that in multiple promotions. Tim Horner wins with an unintentionally delayed inside cradle.

Our second match: Johnny Rich vs Tony Torres. Both of these guys are babyfaces and Tony Torres doesn't have a Cagematch profile. Bill Watts talks about Micah and Erik coming on down for the Superdome card and visiting schools. This match is just filling time and they're commentating it accordingly. Boyd declares Pro Wrestling to be the World's Most Exciting Professional Sport. Johnny Rich wins with a one-legged inside cradle.

Our third match: Super Destroyer and Tony Zane vs Junk Yard Dog and Hacksaw Butch Reed. Hey it's babyface Butch Reed teaming with JYD. The overdub for "Another One Bites The Dust" tries it's best. Butch Reed, one of 3 major pro wrestlers who I know attended the same college as me (the other two being Chuck Palumbo and Bryan Clarke). Of course Bill knows one of Butch Reed's old football coaches from his time in an Oklahoma university. Tony Zane tags in and immediately gets armdragged onto his head. Nice dropkick by Reed. Nice form on Super D tripping JYD from the apron. Reed tried to help JYD and hit him accidentally hit him. JYD wins by slamming Zane as Reed hits the shoulder on Super D. I'm sure this team will stick together for a long time.

Our fourth match: Ted DiBiase vs Ron Ellis. Bill Watts reads the card for next week as DiBiase beats up on this guy. DiBiase wins with the powerslam. Nice move by Watts to essentially say "Hey DiBiase was on our TV as a rookie and got beat up on" to help explain Ron Ellis getting to get squashed on TV here.

Our fifth match: Butcher Vachon vs Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Butcher Vachon is being managed by Skandor AKbar. Nice of them to lure a Quebecer like Vachon to Louisiana for some matches. Duggan's spear bumps the ref. Duggan promptly punches out Akbar and DiBiase runs in. DiBiase accidentally hits Vachon with the chair and Duggan gets the win. If you believe CageMatch, this was literally the only time that Vachon ever worked in Louisiana. If some douchebags with chinstrap beards really tried, they could grow a Butcher Vachon beard.

Our sixth match: Mr. Olympia vs Jerry Caldwell. Akbar is managing Mr. Olympia too. I'm surprised he didn't find a way to manage Super D and Tony Zane too. This match is getting a countdown noting how little TV time is left. So, would matches on Rampage be de facto standby matches for Dynamite if Dynamite needed matches on short notice? Olympia beats Caldwell with the sleeper just before time runs out.

Skandor Akbar managing every heel is at least a little easier than the Mid-Atlantic period of Humperdink managing every heel because they don't air the promos during these Mid-South episodes

[Mister TV]

8 hours ago, Cobra Commander said:

would it surprise you if WCW managed to not own some of the music that they used, aside from the stuff that was Turner Network stock music that the WWE didn't inherit either

WCW used music from all the stock music companies that were around back then, a lot those licenses would have just been for just television, ppv, and home video releases.

[twiztor]

DDP's knockoff Nirvana theme song sounded WAY too close to the real thing. It wouldn't surprise me if whoever owns the rights to the actual song sued Turner/WCW or at least C&D'd them. 

[Cobra Commander]

The thing about entrusting your knockoff music to Jimmy Hart is that he was a musician in the early 60s and probably can play every rock hit from his youth from memory because he had to perform “Come Go With Me” at a party in 1959

In other words, he’s really good at knocking off music for the purposes of wrestling.

This is a long shot but BBC needs to talk to Jimmy Hart to find out his Desert Island Discs

[Mister TV]

Did Hart actually write the knockoff themes? A lot of the music library companies had knock off tunes, they'd kind of hint what they were knocking off in the descriptions.

[SirSmUgly]

I forgot to shout out Brickhouse Brown's replacement theme, though nothing can ever really replace that dope Newcleus song he was actually using at the time.

Raven also doesn't have his "Come As You Are" knockoff on the Network. Jericho's heel theme is dubbed, but I don't know what that knocks off. 

Then again, the Outsiders do still have their Seal (!!!) knockoff theme, so I don't know what the heck's going on with the dubbing for those WCW "almost, but not quite" themes.

[Cobra Commander]

wasn't Jericho's theme an Evenflow knockoff or did he have a theme that I don't remember because I wasn't watching wrestling before late 1997?