WWE Network Conversation

[GuerrillaMonsoon]

Remember when they heated up Wrath and Meng as having big winning streaks so Nash could squash them to build to Starrcade?

They were both mad over at the time.

[SirSmUgly]

Dr. Death and King Kong Bundy were part of an improbably awesome tag match (with Johnny Rich and Ted DiBiase as partners) on the 9/30/83 Mid-South, so I was hyped for their one-on-one match the next week (thanks in part to the work and in part to the finish of the tag match). The match is brief and has a ugly single-leg takedown spot, but it was short and had a FANTASTIC finish with Bundy hitting a big falling slam and getting a three-count...but not a five-count. Since Bundy has been established as writing into his Mid-South contract that he wants to win only with five-counts - he's gone out of his way to say it himself in multiple interviews - the match re-starts and Doc has Bundy dead to rights with an Oklahoma Stampede before the incredibly shitty Boris Zhurkov/Zhukov/Zukhov comes in and Doc fights them both off. I mean, Watts in the early '80s could put damn near anyone into the ring and get a memorable match or segment out of it just through how he books his finishes. 

I feel like Doc being, if not a star, at least a guy who would be a significant worker for the next decade, was obvious even when he came in ten months before this and was a totally green rookie still playing ball for the Sooners. 

On another note, I've come around on Ted DiBiase as a) a heel and b) a tag worker in '83, so much so that I've somewhat blurred out his terrible heel tag work as part of Money Inc. This is saying a lot because Money Inc. were champs for like four straight years, or at least it felt that way, having the shittiest tag matches with the most heatless and boring control segments ever. 

I've also come around on Mr. Wrestling II quite a bit because, even though he's clearly over-the-hill physically, I like how he uses the kneelift. He builds every match around hitting it; sometimes, when he's taking apart a jobber, he loads a single big one up for the finish, much like Shawn Michaels theatrically prepping for the SCM so the crowd can get into the buildup. Other times, in fights against tougher talent, he hits a series of them, taking any opportunity he can, until he wears his opponent down with them. He teases kneelifts for tension and uses kneelifts to transition effectively between segments. I'm really impressed at how versatile he is with that one move. Also, it's a gorgeous kneelift. Back when Hunter was doing mediocre knee-based offense, he should have watched some Wrestling II tape and developed a similarly-good-looking kneelift. 

Edited February 7, 2023 by SirSmellingtonofCascadia

[GuerrillaMonsoon]

Still on my WCW 1992 pilgrimage.

I don't get Barry Windham at all.

He's just bland and gets a lot of credit for being a more versatile big guy than those of his time. I mean yes - he's got great timing, and he gives his opponent plenty, he bumps credibly for a guy of his size. Otherwise he's not in the slightest bit compelling at all. He feels like one of the first top guys who just roll through spots and going through the motions without letting it sink in. I'm clearly missing something as he's one of the most over guys on the show - is it just a pop for the ZZ Top ripoff theme?

The Austin TV title matches are good in theory - I hate the premise of the TV title matches where the challenger has to win two falls to get the title, and if its 1-0 at the time expiry, the champ retains. They should be a showcase for Austin - and given he takes 70% of the match, he is, but the outcome doesn't reflect that over the series of their matches. 

[SirSmUgly]

18 minutes ago, GuerrillaMonsoon said:

Still on my WCW 1992 pilgrimage.

I don't get Barry Windham at all.

He's just bland and gets a lot of credit for being a more versatile big guy than those of his time. I mean yes - he's got great timing, and he gives his opponent plenty, he bumps credibly for a guy of his size. Otherwise he's not in the slightest bit compelling at all. He feels like one of the first top guys who just roll through spots and going through the motions without letting it sink in. I'm clearly missing something as he's one of the most over guys on the show - is it just a pop for the ZZ Top ripoff theme?

I'll go out on this limb with you. I do think as a character, he's pretty dull an inordinate amount of the time. HOWEVER

• His heel run in 1988 was fantastic, IMO, because he effectively got over that he was pretty much sick of being a nice guy, and he was going to use his natural athleticism to do whatever he wanted. He had really good facial expressions and moved differently, like somehow less heroically and more carelessly. He would throw lariats like he didn't give a fuck, IMO. 
• As a fiery babyface, he is excellent at making you (or at least me) care in the moment, too. He just has to feel like turning that on, and by 1992, he's coasting. Even his cursory heel work doesn't feel particularly mean. 

I think the reason there was a lid on how far he got, though, is because he's only a passable promo and because he's so inconsistent in conveying emotion through his in-ring work. 

Edited February 7, 2023 by SirSmellingtonofCascadia

[GuerrillaMonsoon]

I need to watch some 88 TBS. That seems to be the common denominator - I didn't like his match with Flair at a time where I loved Flair's matches with anyone. 

I figured it'd be the tag team with Dustin and nah, that does very little for me when there's at least three other tag teams on the roster that are so much more interesting.

There's this weird segment on one of the early Saturday Nights where he's doing a sit down interview with Jason Hervey, only to be heckled from the crowd by Paul E Dangerously in disguise as a cowboy, so Windham sort of half-assedly chases him off, and there's just no pay off to it at all. 

I remember someone on here saying that Kevin Federline should have been Cena's biggest nemesis over the years and had his own First Family to try and bring him down. Jason Hervey is the most punchable face on wrestling TV I've ever seen. And he worked behind the scenes till the company shut down after it. Why would you not strike while the irons hot here? His heel commentary was good at getting himself over and not much else, but it could have been the start of something. Especially after Heyman gets fired and sinks the DA - him buying their contracts and taking the stable over would have been decent.

[Cobra Commander]

Now that the various things distracting me from old NXT (College Bowl Games, the Australian Open, late time slot College Basketball, books, etc) aren't in the way, it's time to get back to 2012 NXT.

S6 E20 (October 31st, 2012)

The Usos vs Johnny Curtis and Curtis McGillicutty: We start with more Usos. We start with more Joe Hennig. A fitting way to resume watching this show. The heels squabble amongst themselves before the bell. Got some early "Samoan no-selling of headshots" in this one. Interesting inverted atomic drop/clothesline combo move since there probably weren't many inverted atomic drops being done in 2012. Hot tag to Jey, and then Usos win after pinning McGillicutty with a top rode splash. Afterwards, the Ascension stares menacingly from whatever you'd call a balcony in this arena.

TV Announcer talks with Trent Baretta before a glasses wearing Kassius Ohno interrupts. I believe Ohno was almost wearing Terry Richardson shades here.

ROMAN REIGNS DEBUTS (on NXT) TONIGHT (is he gonna be good?)

Antonio Cesaro is still hanging around this show and he'll defend the US Title against Tyson Kidd

Xavier Woods vs Leo Kruger: Xavier Woods with lots of lights on his tron and generic music. Stellar hair too. Leo Kruger is still acting weird. Kruger wins after a few minutes with his neckbreaker.

Byron talks to Big E. Langston about his five count. Big E., and his long since dropped accent, loves the number five. Vickie Guerrero shows up to interrupt this speech. Big E claps some weightlifting powder towards her to drive her off.

Jinder Mahal wants a match for the NXT title but Justin Gabriel cuts that off to get some mic time to suggest Seth Rollins vs Justin Gabriel. Drew McIntyre comes out to also talk about beating Seth Rollins. Then Bo Dallas comes out to also talk. It's his turn (I wonder how he didn't get over as a face). Dusty Rhodes decides to come out before any more wrestlers emerge. All four of these guys will face each other next week in a #1 contenders match.

CJ Parker vs Roman Reigns: With how Reigns' upperbody looked around this time, naturally they put a vest on him for years after his main roster debut. Nice leaping forearm and single arm DDT-ish move from Reigns that he probably hasn't used much in years. Reigns wins with a back suplex into a sidewalk-ish slam. All the trademark stuff wasn't used here. Nice of him to show up on this show before the Shield debuts on the big roster.

Antonio Cesaro vs Tyson Kidd: For the record, Jim Ross is still showing up to commentate main events on this show. This was a really good match which you could probably guess from it being Cesaro vs Tyson Kidd. Elevated uppercut and Neutralizer and Cesaro wins this one.

S6 E21 (November 7th, 2012)

Kassius Ohno vs Trent Baretta: Early ring apron-aided stomp by Ohno. Ohno wins after a few minutes with the roaring elbow. Baretta foils a postmatch beatdown leading Ohno to tumble to the floor.

Corey Graves vignette talking about his tattoos.

Big E. Langston vs Memo Montenegro: I'd describe Memo as looking like "what if Alberto Del Rio's ring announcer was a little taller and decided to work as NXT enhancement". Big E wins with the Big Ending really quick. The ref denies him a five count to save Memo Montenegro's dignity. Another Big Ending and Big E does a five count. Vickie Guerrero pops up to put a $5000 bounty on Big E. Chad Baxter shows up to try and take the bounty, gets the Big Ending and gets five-counted.

Jason Jordan vs Luke Harper: Hey we got Bray back on this show for the first time since a July 2012 episode. "All you do is talk" - Jason Jordan (just wait, Jason!). Bray and Jason Jordan exchange words before Harper comes out to make his NXT show debut. Harper beats Jordan with a spinning Bossman slam. Bray announcers Harper as the first son of the Wyatt family postmatch.

Roman Reigns comes out to talk to Byron Saxton. His suit game is on point. Roman dismisses Byron quickly. Amazing it took like 7 years to get Roman's character work back to this point.

Justin Gabriel vs Drew McIntyre vs Jinder Mahal vs Bo Dallas: Nice Superplex/Powerbomb combo involving Gabriel/Drew/Dallas. Jinder tried to get pins from that. This is an elimination match as Bo Dallas eliminates Drew and Gabriel within a minute with his shitty spear. We finally see that Seth Rollins is hanging out on a stool on stage when this gets too Bo vs Jinder. Mahal just flings Bo with a full nelson slam. Jinder beats Bo with the Camel Clutch and we're gonna get Jinder vs Seth again next week. Seth tries to make a save for Bo and gets beat up a little before driving Jinder from the ring.

S6 E22 (November 14th, 2012)

We open with Jinder Mahal before being interrupted by Bo Dallas, who talks Jinder into putting his title match on the line vs Bo tonight.

The Ascension vs Yoshi Tatsu and Percy Watson: Yoshi Tatsu slumming it on NXT this week. The Ascension wins quickly.

We get Aksanna and Layla talking backstage.

Corey Graves vs Oliver Gray: Corey Graves looking like someone with active warrants out on him this week. JR is getting to work more than the main event this week. Graves wins with the Fuller Leglock.

Big E. Langston has an interview. Camacho jumps Big E. from behind and runs off.

DID YOU KNOW? CM Punk's DVD is the #1 sports DVD in America!

Layla vs Aksanna: Finally, Lithuania clashes with Great Britain. Aksanna has apparently gone solo from Cesaro but JR's the source for that information and he's pretty checked out on things overall. This goes on for awhile and then Layla wins by kicking Aksanna in the head.

Earlier Today: Bray Wyatt is wandering around outside yelling. Luke Harper is there. We are gradually descending into the Brayverse on this show.

Roman Reigns vs Chase Donovan: Chase Donovan has the name and look of a guy who did jobs on WCW Saturday Night in 1998. Roman's offense was still a bit generic as we get a shoulder nerve hold quickly. JR mentions how Roman is said to have the intangibles to be a star. He does have the roar before he does his sidewalk slam finisher to win the match. So we're getting extra JR because Byron needed to ring announce to be harassed by Roman.

Jinder Mahal vs Bo Dallas: This goes on for awhile without really having anything interesting happen. Bo Dallas runs into the turnbuckle (not even the post!) and taps to the Camel Clutch again. This is a match that probably didn't need to happen. We do the same thing as last week with Seth Rollins saving Bo Dallas from Jinder Mahal.

S6 E23 (November 21st, 2012)

We start with a TV announcer mispronouncing Kassius. Somehow in the WWE, the babyfaces and announcers default to the lesser known pronunciation of Kassius. Also, Ohno vs Beretta in the main event tonight. So that Seth vs Jinder match was gonna be last week until it wasn't, and it won't be this week either. You gotta milk a match like that.

The 2012 Survivor Series took place on November 18th, 2012. So let's see how long it takes for the commentary on a way in the can episode of NXT to acknowledge what happened on that show with two NXT regulars.

Alicia Fox vs Paige: Paige had a weird kind of energy to her stuff back then. Paige wins with the Pageturner.

Camacho vs Big E. Langston: This threatens to be the first Big E NXT match that isn't a total squash. Big E wins with the Big Ending in a few minutes. Big E immediately doesn't stay on Camacho to ask for the 5 count but the fans want a 5. So Big E. gives Camacho another Big Ending and does a 5 count. JR proclaims Big E to be the Bull of the Woods and also someone who covers the ground that he walks on. Big E does a third Big Ending to Camacho and five counts him again.

Trent Barreta is in pain on the floor backstage. Leo Kruger is looking weird one corner over. After the break, a TV announcer says that Trent hasn't been cleared. Well, yeah, it's been like 3 minutes.

BRONSON~! vs Nick Rogers: JR is here to tell us about Nick Rogers football career at the University of British Columbia, which is the most JR commentary cliche thing ever. Bronson wins with a unique looking leg lock. JR is selling Bronson on commentary as inherently evil which is a contrast to him winning with a finisher that looks like a backyarder failing to do the Figure Four leg lock correctly.

Mike Dalton vs Luke Harper: The Brayverse was more fun when it was Bray trying to be Max Cady than all the Fiend and post-Fiend stuff. Harper wins with the spinning sidewalk slam. I think we had back to back segments of trying to sell the heels as being evil, with Harper/Bray being a bit more convincing than Bronson.

Earlier today, Seth Rollins got jumped by Jinder Mahal.

The Raw Rebound: Paul Heyman is celebrating 365 days of CM Punk's title reign. CM Punk has his eyes set on passing Bruno Sammartino in 2018. But before 2018, Ryback comes out, and gets jumped by the Shield. So Seth Rollins is the babyface NXT champ on NXT and a heel protector of CM Punk whenever NXT acknowledges what happened on Raw. Congrats NXT, you're big time now, the main show is taking your top guy and contradicting your taped TV shows.

Kassius Ohno vs Trent Baretta: Before Kassius can get Trent counted out, Dusty Rhodes shows up to announce a new opponent.

Kassius Ohno vs Richie Steamboat: Hey, Richie Steamboat is still around. This went on for awhile and Richie gets the win with the Slingblade. Maybe it's the "knowing Richie doesn't go anywhere" thing that kinda makes it hard to fully invest in these matches or what.

S6 E24 (November 28th, 2012)

We start with Daniel Bryan announcing that he's returning to NXT tonight. He's here with Kane and there's arguing. Aw, Team Hell No.

Trent Baretta vs Leo Kruger: Trent opening this week's show like the MLW doctors have cleared him to resolve any potential continuity holes. Kruger looks more like Wish.com Roman Reigns now that they're both on this show regularly. We got some rib work on Trent. Kruger wins with his neckbreaker.

We got a face to face confrontation between Seth and Jinder! The Seth/Jinder rematch is moving along as a snails pace. Team Hell No takes on Johnny Curtis and Michael McGillicutty!

Xavier Woods vs Memo Montenegro: We're getting more Memo Montenegro matches than Seth Rollins matches during this stretch of NXT. Oh man, I made my joke about Memo Montenegro earlier not knowing that he's Alberto Del Rio's brother. Also, what an amazing show this is, everybody's second generation status is mentioned unless it's Camacho. Xavier beats Alberto Del Arroyo with a flipping clothesline and then dances.

Aubrey Marie vs Emma: I believe this is the first Emma sighting on this show. Aubrey Marie wins wins with a spinning slam.

Roman Reigns is taking a raincheck on his backstage interview until a later date. Well, he's busy in the main show, afterall.

Michael Cole gets his own introduction tonight. He says that you're gonna see these NXT guys on Smackdown, Raw, Main Event (!!!!!!!! whatthefuckmichaeldontbethathonest) one day.. he's gonna moderate the Mahal/Rollins face to face to spare JR from having to do any extra work tonight. JR saying Seth Rollins is the most popular man in the arena is a tribute to the fact that this commentary was taped 7 weeks before it aired. Oh good, this match finally has a date, it's airing in 2 weeks. It was announced for November 14th three weeks ago. This show has some real "MLW running pre-pandemic footage and ignoring COVID" vibes with Seth being a face on this show after he's debuted in the Shield. This is a heated face to face confrontation as both of them are able to strip down to their tights before being told "hey, don't have your match just yet, guys". Jinder accuses Michael Cole and the American media of bias before jumping Seth and putting him in the Camel Clutch. Can Seth recover in time for the December 12th episode or will this match be put off until December 19th?

For The Tag Team Championship:

Johnny Curtis/Michael McGillicutty vs Team Hell No (C)- It's nice that the WWE main show title reigns are lasting long enough during 2012 that some of them can be defended on 7 weeks delay on NXT without any problem. Johnny Curtis going down the ramp like a man about to find his gimmick ticket to the main roster. Hey everybody who was lured to Full Sail University, you've waited patiently, here's Kane! As for the actual match, it's perfectly fine in the squabbling partners genre. If you're gonna feed anybody to Team Hell No, might as well be Curtis/McGillicutty. Bryan beats McGillicutty with the LeBell/Yes/No Lock as Kane chokeslammed Curtis.

For five episodes of this show, these weren't great or as good as the ones before it. This show is in sort of a weird holding pattern before it emancipates itself from the main shows and becomes good. We're within 2 months of TV away from Arrival and we have a stable core of dudes and the cameos are getting slightly better although they sure are doing their share of cameos for a show that is airing on Hulu and whatever foreign markets are syndicating this show. There's more JR in these shows and it's very possible that JR has been washed for a long time although it's mean to openly say that.

Roman Reigns is probably the clear all-star of these episodes, although there's lot of "in retrospect" to that, even if people at the time probably liked Bray more.

So, i'll watch December 2012 whenever I feel like it. There's still a few weeks until Spring Training Baseball takes priority on my TV so I can pull it off.

[Cobra Commander]

Watching ECW Barely Legal for the first time today. Kinda digging that the babyface side of the M-Pro match includes a dude in a peter pan outfit (Yakushiji). Also i've likely typed this before but Lance Storm with a rat tail was a bad decision.

also the Eliminators worked like it was a video game where you were just mashing buttons with no rhyme or reason to do as many spots as possible and it kinda ruled

[Cobra Commander]

Extra Barely Legal notes: having Taz win, and then Alfonso turns in a double-turn was interesting. Now, I don't know how much more they were able to do with heel Sabu/face Taz compared to a year of face Sabu/heel Taz, but they went that route

Joey went to his inner Commentator Vince McMahon during Shane/Pitbull 2 with lots of "that's gotta be it" on nearfalls.

There seems to have been a debate for years over putting the title on Terry Funk or what main event to do. But, they probably didn't know in April that Raven would be gone by the time that they had their next PPV? so they didn't necessarily need to do Sabu/Taz and Raven/Dreamer on the same card.

Some people are on the record for preferring 1995/96 ECW over 1997 ECW and they might have a point.

[odessasteps]

We went to the Funk dinner the night before instead of the PPV and I think made the right decision.

[SirSmUgly]

I never would have believed that Rick Rude had ever looked like a dork, but the 9/3/83 Mid-South has proven me wrong. He looks like Burt Reynolds' socially-awkward nephew on this show. 

[twiztor]

16 hours ago, Cobra Commander said:

Some people are on the record for preferring 1995/96 ECW over 1997 ECW and they might have a point.

is that a controversial take? because when i watched it all a couple of years ago for the first time, i feel like 95-96 was ECW's peak. Still plenty of good stuff in '97 and beyond, but just SO MUCH good stuff in that 2 year period. 

edit: here's my exact quote:

Quote

It starts to turn the corner in early '94, hits like a tidal wave in '95, and arguably crests in '96. But '97 and '98 still have some monster moments.

https://deathvalleydriver.com/forum/index.php?/topic/9289-ecw/#comments

Edited February 9, 2023 by twiztor

[Niners Fan in CT]

What happened to the G.A.B. Tour house shows they had on here?   Also... are there more out there ?  

[Gorman]

14 hours ago, Niners Fan in CT said:

What happened to the G.A.B. Tour house shows they had on here?   Also... are there more out there ?  

When I was watching on the WWE Network while researching my upcoming WCW history book, I found the Charlotte and Greensboro shows from 86. I was actually in the middle of another GAB show (I forget which) when they made the switch to Peacock, and it disappeared.

[SirSmUgly]

With how much Watts and Ross love their football, they missed a chance to call the tag team of former Raider Jim Neidhart and former Chief Butch Reed something more on the nose. Maybe the team of AFC West. Then they could pun that they're the AFC Worst at sportsmanship and humilitry on commentary. 

[odessasteps]

Or point how odd it is that a former Raider and former Chief would team up. And then bring in Ernie to talk about how much better the AFL was than the NFL. 

[Niners Fan in CT]

8 hours ago, Gorman said:

When I was watching on the WWE Network while researching my upcoming WCW history book, I found the Charlotte and Greensboro shows from 86. I was actually in the middle of another GAB show (I forget which) when they made the switch to Peacock, and it disappeared.

Damn.. that's bad news.  hope they return!    

[Gorman]

Thoughts on Hostile City Showdown 94

Tommy Dreamer's win over Hack Myers was met with resounding boos because Dreamer wasn't hardcore enough ... yet.

When Chad Austin faced Donn E. Allen, you knew 911 was coming out. But he went right for referee Pee Wee Moore because he was still angry about getting DQ'd against Mikey Whipwreck on the last show.

Speaking of Mikey, his superpower was "everybody loves beating me up so much, that they don't want to pin me for the TV title." Rockin Rebel fell into that trap, and Mikey kept the title after Jason, Taz, and the Pitbulls intefered.

Taz and Pitbull #1 were having the typical dog collar match where both men touched three corners, but then Taz flipped the script and hit a suplex for the pin. They must have borrowed the WCW rulebook (which is blank). 

So Mr. Hughes was a bodyguard in all three companies. In ECW, he filled that role for the champ, Shane Douglas. Dragging his client into his feud with The Bruise Brothers means that Hughes was 1-for-5 at effectively guarding his client's body (HHH, Y2J, Terry Taylor, but he was okay for Luger).

Sandman fought Tommy Cairo in the first-ever Singapore Cane match. The first man to retrieve the cane was supposed to be the winner, but the cane fell off the pole! Sandman got DQ'd when Woman pulled out another cane.

Terry & Dory Funk had a combined age of 103 when they fought The Public Enemy, who were the tag team champs, in a non-title match. TPE gave Terry the early birthday present of hanging him upside-down from the balcony.

When Cactus Jack started smashing himself in the head with a frying pan, Joey Styles said he may have found a new home in ECW. At the time, Cactus was WCW tag team champions with Kevin Sullivan. After the match, Cactus spat on his tag team title belt and threw it down. Foreshadowing!

For showing Cactus Jack that ECW is a fun place to play, and for winning their match, Sabu is the MVP. 

Edited February 12, 2023 by Gorman

[Cobra Commander]

Watching Prime Time Wrestling from 2/13/1987 and the Evil Referee Danny Davis gimmick is a little more fun after how many people think various sports officials have some bias against their favorite teams.

Gorilla claims that 60% of the United States is a one hour flight or one days drive away from the Pontiac Silverdome, which seems slightly exaggerated.

Also, to paraphrase the words of 1987 Jake Roberts: "They say that lightning never strikes the same spot twice, rarely does it have to"

[SirSmUgly]

Man, I can get into some of this North American title fuckery, but Butch Reed losing to T.A. losing to Volkoff and having all that wiped out on technicalities really sucked. That was some nonsense. 

I'm almost through '83 Mid-South here and this is the first time I've sort of rolled my eyes as any title controversy stuff Watts has booked. This feels a bit Russo-esque. 

[SirSmUgly]

Double-post, but I thought that Watts insisting on pronouncing it DOO-gan was bad even after Duggan cut a promo in which he explicitly said that he preferred the pronunciation DUG-gan. But he really topped himself on 10/29/83 Mid-South.

Jim Neidhart becomes Jim NEED-hart...and Dusty's Bionic Elbow becomes the BEE-onic Elbow.

This dude is just trolling me now, right? Trolling me from the past. 

[Cobra Commander]

More 2012 NXT? More 2012 NXT

S6 E25 (December 5, 2012)

Michael McGillicutty vs WWE US Champion Antonio Cesaro: Our commentators change from week to week. This week it's Tony Dawson and William Regal. I guess McGillicutty is a de facto face now. We're on a new batch of tapings, so this match is only 3 weeks old as opposed to airing mid-October matches through the entirety of November. Also the lighting seems darker than the last few episodes. McGillicutty really isn't more interesting as a non-heel. Cesaro is still pretty good though because duh. McGillicutty does get some offense in for a few moments. Uppercut and Neutralizer ends it for a Cesaro win.

Tyson Kidd! Leo Kruger! It's our main event! You'd think someone who spent their youth around Teddy Hart could handle the weirdness of Leo Kruger.

Jinder Mahal! Seth Rollins! Next week! Finally!

Axl Keegan vs Bo Dallas: Axl looks like a scuzzy long-haired dude that was rejected from The Ascension. They have a new tron video for Bo Dallas which is starting to lay it on thick (it has an American Flag flying in-between BO on both sides). On checking Cagematch, Axl Keegan is a tall dude from Massachusetts who didn't really do anything. Both guys have a similar stripe design on their tights in different colors. Bo's physique is as flat as he believes the earth is (hey now, Bo's only a hollow earth guy). Bo wins with his shitty spear and talks after the match.

Corey Graves! Yoshi Tatsu! Up next!

The Raw Rebound! The Miz is subjecting his friend CM Punk to a lie detector test. Man that's a nice laptop. The Shield runs in to wreck the Miz. Team Hell No gets wrecked by the Shield. Ryback runs out too. Ryback drops CM Punk and hits him with tables, ladders, and chairs. Not sure if this was one of the times that Ryback fucked CM Punk up bad because it's Ryback.

Corey Graves vs Yoshi Tatsu: Corey looking like a guy who gets told to wear long sleeves in Japan for cultural reasons. Yoshi Tatsu intercepts Corey's jacket and tosses it away. Corey attacks early and works the leg. We hear that Tatsu admired The Great Muta growing up. "Graves says he only knows 4 submission holds but he's great at all of them". Fuller Leglock wins it for Corey Graves.

Tyson Kidd! Leo Kruger! Still tonight! Kruger is apparently the most unorthodox man in NXT while Bray Wyatt is on the roster.

Gavin Reid vs Roman Reigns: Gavin Reid is from Wales and he's wearing blue tights with white stars. Cagematch says Reid is Stevie Starr and that he's 6'6", so he would look a little larger in there with someone who isn't Roman Reigns. Reigns dominates and wins with the side slam in a few minutes. He dumps Gavin Reid and harasses Byron Sexton some more.

Tyson Kidd talks before his match and gets interrupted by Pitchwork Writer Kassius Ohno.

Leo Kruger vs Tyson Kidd: Jim Ross appears and spends part of the opening to recount what happened already on this show as if he was watching it. JR saying people have told him that Tyson Kidd reminds them of the Dynamite Kid. Pretty quality back and forth in this one. Nice springboard elbowdrop by Kidd was blocked by Kruger. Tyson Kidd wins by a submission. Then Kassius Ohno jumps Kidd. "What's the reason for this" (said JR, not having seen the last segment on this show). Kruger joins in. They combine the roaring elbow with Kruger's neckbreaker. William Regal walks down to the ring to pull Tyson Kidd to safety.

S6 E26 (December 12, 2012)

We open with a video reminding us that Seth Rollins! Jinder Mahal! tonight!

Paige vs Sasha Banks: This is Sasha's first NXT TV appearance. She has gone on to work indies in the San Jose area as Mercedes Mone. All those dudes trying to fantasy book her to replace Toni Storm just didn't know their history. Paige with a nearfall from a Fisherman's Suplex. Paige wins with the Paigeturner.

Roman Reigns talks to Mr. TV Announcer. Roman harasses the announcer to remind him that "it's Roman Reigns time". Roman answers his phone and walks off before any questions are asked or answered. Once again, it took them like 7 years to get this Roman Reigns on the main roster.

Kassius Ohno and Leo Kruger are backstage acting menacingly in mentioning Richie Steamboat, Tyson Kidd, and William Regal.

Oliver Grey vs Erick Rowan: This would be the first we've seen Rowan on this show. Rowan has a nice green tracksuit looking outfit. Rowan wins in a few minutes with a sidewalk slam as Bray watches on from the stage.

Dusty Rhodes comes out to tell Vicki Guerrero that she can't make decisions about NXT and that the Bounty doesn't exist because he didn't authorize it. Camacho comes out to interrupt and he needs that bounty money. Big E Langston comes out to join the conversation. Dusty announces Big E. Langston vs Camacho and a partner in a handicap match. On checking, Hunico is "busy" with other matters at this time.

Earlier Today, The Big Show, who is the WWE Smackdown Champ at this time, is angry and coming after Bo Dallas. Big Show! Bo Dallas! next week! Yay?

For the NXT Championship:
Seth Rollins (c) vs Jinder Mahal

Jinder gets 3MB lighting as this match happened after 3MB formed but before The Shield formed. Seth takes a bit of a nutty bump by getting shoved to the vicinity of the ramp after jumping onto the top rope. This match is what you'd expect an extended Seth Rollins vs Jinder Mahal match to be like in 2012. I think the one time they've done a Face Rollins vs Heel Reigns big match on the big roster was Rumble 2022 which went 14 minutes and ended in a DQ, and they haven't been able to get back to that (partly because Reigns is in the hottest storyline in the company and Rollins is doing other things). Rollins eventually beats Mahal with the Sliced Bread (which is called the Skywalker on this show and I don't think he used it regularly on the main roster).

Postmatch, Corey Graves is in the front row sarcastically applauding Seth Rollins.

So, more episodes later. One of these episodes is gonna be a year in review (12/26/2012).

[SirSmUgly]

Mr. Wrestling II shitting on Lanny's dad and brother in front of him while fitting him in a tag team with Magnum TA is uncalled for. Lanny should have slapped the shit out of this fuckhead. 

Mr. Wrestling: I think TA is too good for a tag team, but fuck it, Lanny is going to tag with him. Even though his dad and brother are human garbage. I hope to God this bastard Lanny really is a bastard and not related to those pricks, or he'll probably be just as shit as they are. 

Lanny's coming heel turn is entirely justified. I hope he moonsaults Wrestling II through a stack of tables. 

[SirSmUgly]

Ah, another year of Mid-South in the books. 

Stuff I want to see more of:

• Mr. Wrestling II, Wrestling Coach. This guy is such an asshole. If he's not shitting on Lanny for being related to Angelo and Randy, he's telling Magnum TA how much TA sucks at pro wrestling. I eagerly await one of these guys punching this crochety old fuck square in his jaw. 
• Speaking of: Leaping Lanny Poffo, though the Mid-South crowd sitting on their hands for what is a pretty good moonsault (in the U.S. in 1983!) confuses and astounds me.
• Butch Reed and Jim Neidhart, who are a fun beefy guy tag team. Neidhart's Samoan Drop looks like it's legit killing dudes. Maybe it is!
• Rick Rood, and it's probably hindsight to say, but he looks like a star even as a lanky young guy putting it together.
• Dr. Death Steve Williams, another beefy guy with cool wrestling moves.
• The Midnight Express and James E. Cornette. Cornette is so far ahead of everyone else in this company on the mic that it's almost absurd. Eaton and Condrey are a great tag team, but even if they weren't, they'd get over just off the strength of Cornette's mic work.

Stuff that fascinates me: 

• Bill Watts's politics, which I broadly disagree with, but which I think make everything that he books more fascinating in a lot of ways. Darsow joining THE REDS because he couldn't get any help from JYD or the other faces in climbing up the card is a perfect example. Besides Watts's "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" mentality, it's clear that his wife being from a Soviet satellite state and probably having some trauma related to that really eats at him, and it comes through in his booking and commentary. I'm bored by Red Scare stuff in general (which of course is different from legitimate criticism of the Russian state), but I do think that something about Watts's take on this is more interesting than the typical Red Scare stuff. Plus, he got a crowd of white and black folks in 1980s Shreveport to wave American flags enthusiastically for a Black American, and that's an astonishing thing. 
• Bill Watts's inability to get a guy over at the level of JYD, no matter how hard he tries. He's tried with Hacksaw Jim Duggan, who is well over, but a clear number-two face. He's tried with Butch Reed, then turned him heel (and Reed doesn't have the charisma to be a top face, but is well-suited to be a top heel, IMO). He's going to try with Dr. Death, who I love, but who was never even close to charismatic enough on the mic or even in his body and facial expressions in the ring. He's actually got a lot of guys who are better as top heels in this company. He's also got TA, but the gap between TA and Duggan is similar to the gap between Duggan and JYD. He's going to shoot his shot with Iceman King Parsons, too, another guy I love who I know isn't coming close to the Dog. Parsons in World Class = amazing. Parsons in a few weeks of squashes on Mid-South isn't showing me what I'd expect based on what I've seen of him in Dallas. Actually, the most viable number two face, and the guy closest to JYD's overness, is probably Mr. Wrestling II - the crowd loves the FUCK outta that crusty old guy. Too bad he's in his 40s, which in 1983 is like being in your late 50s. 
• The North American Championship hot potato. That Reed -> TA -> Volkoff -> Reed (on a technicality) -> JYD swap that happened inside of three weeks was Russo-esque. I am interested to see if the hot-shotting gets worse as Vinnie McMahon puts pressure on Watts/the regional oil business going dry causes the bottom to fall out for Watts's houses. 
• The potential of DiBiase/Duggan. Obviously, I am the opposite of a Duggan fan, but DiBiase certainly showed himself as a very good heel this year - another guy who wasn't suited to be a top face, but who makes sense as a top heel. DiBiase's in All Japan churning out what I thought were some dull matches, but if he's coming back to Louisiana to brawl with Duggan in a bunch of gimmick matches, I'm here for it and looking forward to it. 

 

 

[zendragon]

On 2/8/2023 at 4:13 PM, Cobra Commander said:

Extra Barely Legal notes: having Taz win, and then Alfonso turns in a double-turn was interesting. Now, I don't know how much more they were able to do with heel Sabu/face Taz compared to a year of face Sabu/heel Taz, but they went that route

Joey went to his inner Commentator Vince McMahon during Shane/Pitbull 2 with lots of "that's gotta be it" on nearfalls.

There seems to have been a debate for years over putting the title on Terry Funk or what main event to do. But, they probably didn't know in April that Raven would be gone by the time that they had their next PPV? so they didn't necessarily need to do Sabu/Taz and Raven/Dreamer on the same card.

Some people are on the record for preferring 1995/96 ECW over 1997 ECW and they might have a point.

Interesting that the Taz/Sabu double turn comes less than 30 days after the Austin/Bret Double turn at Mania

[Cobra Commander]

2 hours ago, SirSmellingtonofCascadia said:

Ah, another year of Mid-South in the books. 

Stuff I want to see more of:

• Mr. Wrestling II, Wrestling Coach. This guy is such an asshole. If he's not shitting on Lanny for being related to Angelo and Randy, he's telling Magnum TA how much TA sucks at pro wrestling. I eagerly await one of these guys punching this crochety old fuck square in his jaw. 

not to spoil anything coming up in 1984 but 2 around this time comes off like someone who would end up being hated by the fans who were backups on a sports team with a tyrant head coach. Just having 2 being a crusty old fart kinda unintentionally makes him come off like twilight years full-alcoholic Bear Bryant.

From what i've seen in 1984, and this might be the case pre-84, but the WWE Network versions of these shows sorta suffer by not having local promos included.