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Thoughts on Heat Wave 94

Everyone but Mikey Whipwreck seemed to be allergic to the TV title. Chad Austin hired Jason as his manager and won the title - only to falsely accuse himself of using brass knuckles? The decision was reversed. I've seen some inexplicable things in wrestling (e.g. Undertaker rising from the grave ... both times), but this is near the top of the list.

After the Singapore cane problem on the last show, Sandman and Tommy Cairo had a "dueling canes" rematch. Sandman won, and then he and the fans reminded Cairo to pay his bills. I'll have to research what they mean by that.

Shane Douglas made a strong case for MVP. He went into his "battle for the future" title defense against Sabu with Mr. Hughes in tow to neutralize 911 and Angel to counter Paul E. Dangerously. So which style would prevail: Douglas' wrestling or Sabu's insanity? Sabu answered this question by smashing himself into a table and getting counted out.

After the match, bodyguard Mr. Hughes allowed 911 to chokeslam the Franchise right behind his back. Hughes' application for the Bodyguard Hall of Fame keeps getting lost in the mail.

The Public Enemy is the MVP. First, they had the guts to defend their belts against the Funk Brothers in a barbed wire match. Then, they survived Terry's invitation for the fans to bury them in a pile of steel chairs. Finally, they were smart enough to use wire cutters, wrap Terry up in the wire, and both pile onto him for the victory.

Edited by Gorman
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On 2/17/2023 at 11:56 AM, SirSmellingtonofCascadia said:

 

Stuff that fascinates me: 

  • Bill Watts's politics
  • Bill Watts's inability to get a guy over at the level of JYD, no matter how hard he tries
  • The North American Championship hot potato
  • The potential of DiBiase/Duggan

The Darsow turn was very compelling to watch for me when I completed the 1983 portion of my watch last year. I had never known the full details of what turned him to a Russian heel, and I absolutely loved that the seeds wasn't a generic "turning anti-American over politics" but came from him being absolutely in awe of how dominant Nikolai Volkoff was when beating him to end a winning streak and wanting to know more about how "the Soviets" train and prepare for wrestling competition. 

And oh man, if you are fascinated now by his attempts at getting someone over to the level of JYD, wait until JYD finally leaves in August 1984. That immediate six-week period is quite the fascinating display of "stages of grieving" in real time with some very interesting panic-booking attempts and misfires in establishing "a new JYD". 

That North American Championship hot potato was absolutely weird and off-putting to me too. It will stabilize a bit in 84 though, thanks to some of the people that you mentioned having some love elsewhere in your post.

And Duggan does get to "almost JYD" level as 1984 progresses, though I will advise now that the real bulk of the Duggan/DiBiase fun is more towards the end of the year. 

I continue to look forward to seeing how your continued Mid-South watch goes. I am stalled out in April 1985 right now just due to having a lot on my plate at the moment in both work and life, but 1984 was pretty damn great from start to finish. 

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22 minutes ago, odessasteps said:

My favorite meta thing in the Watts Russian stuff is using a sack of grain as a foreign object

Hell yes - "he just knocked Dusty Rhodes out with that 100-pound bag of wheat!" is one of my favorite sneak-attacks.

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18 hours ago, clintthecrippler said:

The Darsow turn was very compelling to watch for me when I completed the 1983 portion of my watch last year. I had never known the full details of what turned him to a Russian heel, and I absolutely loved that the seeds wasn't a generic "turning anti-American over politics" but came from him being absolutely in awe of how dominant Nikolai Volkoff was when beating him to end a winning streak and wanting to know more about how "the Soviets" train and prepare for wrestling competition. 

And oh man, if you are fascinated now by his attempts at getting someone over to the level of JYD, wait until JYD finally leaves in August 1984. That immediate six-week period is quite the fascinating display of "stages of grieving" in real time with some very interesting panic-booking attempts and misfires in establishing "a new JYD". 

That North American Championship hot potato was absolutely weird and off-putting to me too. It will stabilize a bit in 84 though, thanks to some of the people that you mentioned having some love elsewhere in your post.

And Duggan does get to "almost JYD" level as 1984 progresses, though I will advise now that the real bulk of the Duggan/DiBiase fun is more towards the end of the year. 

I continue to look forward to seeing how your continued Mid-South watch goes. I am stalled out in April 1985 right now just due to having a lot on my plate at the moment in both work and life, but 1984 was pretty damn great from start to finish. 

You've got me hyped about this. 

I always forget that JYD left in '84. For whatever reason, I always misremember him as debuting in WWF a year or so later than he did. If I were Watts in August 1984, I'd just strap the rocket to Hacksaw Duggan, who is very over in front of those Shreveport crowds. 

Re: Krusher Darsow's heel turn, I'm going a bit DVDVR here with the "heel is actually a face" thing. I don't think Darsow's a heel, but he a) is upset that JYD didn't thank him for the save or that b) JYD and his buddies didn't come to him for team-ups or to help him get some bigger matches. JYD's response is basically to say, I lost a bunch when I started here, so you should have to lose a bunch before you get anywhere, too. Then, he slaps Darsowbecause that's what JYD's dad would have done to Dog had he whined so much about not getting any help (as is implied because JYD is mad about what Darsow's saying and he responds with something like, "My daddy would..." and then slaps Darsow). 

Darsow's probably a bit too whiny to be considered the face here, but JYD doesn't even address the lack of thanks and then is just like, Life is hard, fuck you. Meanwhile, Volkoff is nice enough to help Darsow improve his technique as a wrestler and a lifter. Even if you argue that Volkoff is doing this because he's a devious Russian who wants to divide the Americans and conquer them, Darsow's turn is understandable. The Russian treated me nicely, but the Americans don't care that I'm upset. Why should I stay loyal to people who don't care about me or my feelings? 

In 1983 Mid-South, Darsow is the clear heel. He should just stop crying and try harder. Forty years later (!!!), I bet a lot of modern wrestling fans would have a little sympathy for the devil, so to speak. 

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Oh yeah, I forgot to mention this, but the 12/24/83 Mid-South must be the very first instance of Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler as PBP/commentator ever, right? I can't imagine that there was a time before this that it would have happened. 

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Thoughts on Hardcore Heaven 94

The fans sided with Hack Myers after his breakup with Rockin Rebel and cheered him (or "Shah"-ed) him on to an upset victory.

Chad Austin's mini-career renaissance continued with an upset win over Tommy Cairo. Jason wasn't Chad's manager after the whole "throw away the TV title" thing on the last show. In fact, Jason went right out and won the TV title from Mikey himself.

The Pitbulls caused Jason's win, but then the immediately got wiped out by Tazmaniac and Jimmy Snuka.

911 only knew one move, but it was enough to beat Mr. Hughes, who popped up immediately and rolled out of the ring in disgust. 911 celebrated the biggest win over his career by chokeslamming poor Angel two more times.

Tommy Dreamer finally stepped up to the hardcore plate, even though he was disqualified in his Singapore cane match with The Sandman. Dreamer hid under the ring before the show so he could sneak-attack Sandman and laid him out with the cane. After he was DQ'd, Dreamer caned ring announcer Bob Artese for delivering the bad news. I'm surprised that's never happened to me. 

Bad Breed scored a 10-count on ECW tag team champions The Public Enemy, but that only meant that the baseball bat could come into play. TPE scored the win. Before we start handing them another award, Rock & Grunge need to go to the penalty box for ruining the main event. It was Terry Funk vs. Cactus Jack in a show called Hardcore Heaven, and TPE interfered after about five minutes.

2 Cold Scorpio blew everyone's minds in his ECW debut, just like he did in WCW. For surviving all of Scorpio's aerial antics and winning the match with his own crazy style, Sabu is the MVP.

 

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6 minutes ago, Gorman said:

2 Cold Scorpio blew everyone's minds in his ECW debut, just like he did in WCW. For surviving all of Scorpio's aerial antics and winning the match with his own crazy style, Sabu is the MVP.

This was my 1994 ECW MOTY - 20 minute match with an actual finish, which was unheard of at that time for ECW.

It was Scorpio's ECW Arena debut, but he actually worked the Gibertsville, PA TV taping on 6/3 against Sabu (it aired on the 6/14 episode of Hardcore TV)

Edited by Dolphman 3000
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watching some more February 1987 Prime Time Wrestling, where Heenan is decidedly less jokey (which is good), and fucking Pete Doherty can't take a pinfall loss to King Kong Bundy.

Also, they show Hogan accepting Andre's challenge and Danny Davis being suspended for life by Jack Tunney in back to back challenges. This show is cooking.

Jesse asking the relevant question of "How can you suspend somebody for life?"

edit: you know one thing that they did on some 80s wrestling that they don't do anymore? having someone get introduced before a match do they could get cheered or booed before they go back up the ramp. You know, like how boxing matches used to announce dignitaries in the crowd/etc. Just inspired by seeing a Billy Jack/Hercules match where Bobby Heenan introduced Paul Orndorff to come out and get booed before going backstage. (spoiler alert: Orndorff runs out later while the ref was distracted to help Hercules beat Billy Jack, so that makes it slightly more logical than the runins we're used to seeing?)

edit 2: gotta love Monsoon just doing whatever he wanted to on commentary and talking to Bobby the Brain about how Andre actually never got a title match because he never established a win pattern to merit a shot due to his travel, while he was never being defeated for 15 years. That's on a different level of commentator excuses.

Edited by Cobra Commander
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I just saw Corny and the Midnight Express use maple syrup and pillow down to "tar and feather" Magnum TA while the crowd screamed in anger, and that is EXHIBIT A for why Southern pro wrestling is NUMBER ONE AND THE BEST.

I WILL BROOK NO ARGUMENT ON THIS.

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15 hours ago, Cobra Commander said:

watching some more February 1987 Prime Time Wrestling, where Heenan is decidedly less jokey (which is good), and fucking Pete Doherty can't take a pinfall loss to King Kong Bundy.

Also, they show Hogan accepting Andre's challenge and Danny Davis being suspended for life by Jack Tunney in back to back challenges. This show is cooking.

I grew up in a region of Northern Michigan that somehow didn't have an affiliate that carried WWF Superstars, the A-show from 86 through 92.

But thanks to cable and being able to watch Prime Time Wrestling and All-American Wrestling, and that cable system also beaming in a Detroit station that carried the Wrestling Challenge B-show, I managed to never be lost as to what the main storylines were and major angles despite never being able to watch the true "A-show".

I really do think that is an underrated component of the national television takeover from that era. They really did make an effort back then to make sure that you still knew the major happenings of the promotion if you only had access to one TV show from their suite of programming, or had access to the full slate but missed Superstars.

Reflecting on that also reinforces what I think is one of the most low-key brilliant production decisions of the time. The call to only note the name of the weekly TV show during show-intros and show-ends, and on commentary segue out of match segments with "stay tuned for more World Wrestling Federation action" to make it easier to stand alongside more "show-unique" content gave a much easier "plug-and-play" when editing matches/segments from Superstars and Challenge into Prime Time, All-American, and Spotlight. 

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It's Fat Tuesday so let's do some more early NXT

S6 E27 (December 19th, 2012)

We open with a video tell us that Bo Dallas is facing The Big Show tonight.

Primo & Epico vs The Usos: I wasn't paying enough attention to realize that Primo and Epico had a tag title reign and that it was before the end of 2012. Speaking of tag title reigns, they're facing the Usos. For a variety of reasonx, we never had a Bloodline of Carlito, Primo, and Epico. The Usos win and then immediately the lights go out and the Ascension has a menacing message on the big screen.

We got a Seth Rollins interview, tonight!

Camacho and Aiden English vs Big E. Langston: You have a week to look around and your best option is 2012 Aiden English? Aiden English starts this match ooff and then quickly gets beaten and dragged towards his corner. Aiden English takes the Big Ending and loses quick without Camacho entering the ring. Guess Aiden's not marrying into Camacho's family. Aiden takes another Big Ending for a 5 count. Big E. is still one of the best things going on this roster.

Percy Watson vs Kassius Ohno: This goes for a few minutes with some back and forth. Watson's spinebuster looks perfectly fine and he follows it with a trademark move splash. Kassius sets up the rolling elbow with a neckbreaker setup, continuing the trend of most of the heels doing some sort of neckbreaker as their finish. Kassius Ohno follows up the win by staring/yelling at William Regal.

Seth Rollins in-ring interview with Jim Ross. A shirtless Corey Graves shows up quickly to attack Seth Rollins putting him in the Fuller Leglock before referees arrive to break it up. Graves has a few words with JR to say he wants that NXT title. Graves really does look like he could get dropped into the Judgment Day faction without needing to change much up.

John Cena tells us that next week is the NXT Year in Review.

Bo Dallas vs The Big Show: "He has a carcinogenic right hand" says JR in regards to the Big Show, which is one way to build up the Big Show's punch finisher. Big Show dominates because he's quite large and Bo Dallas is the 3rd generation of his family to be very skinny as a 20something. Bo gets some offense with a sleeper which is eventually countered into a Big Show sideslam. Bo's bulldog is easily countered and Big Show punches him in the face for the win.

S6 E28 (December 26, 2012)

This one probably won't require much typing since it's a Year in Review

Tony Dawson is here in the Studio for this one. 

We start with Seth Rollins vs Jinder Mahal for the title from August 29th, 2012. Joined in progress. Seth wins the title with the Buckle-bomb and Curbstomp (Blackout).

This show FINALLY acknowledges that Seth Rollins is a heel on the main roster shows. So some news from the Year in Review show.

Hey, it's an extended Bray Wyatt vignette back when he was leader of a homeless encampment Bray (or Southern Gothic Bray).

Bray Wyatt beats Aiden English from July 11th, 2012.

We get some words from Bray Wyatt after that recap.

There's an exclusive match on this NXT Year in Review show, and it's between Cody Rhodes and Kane. Well. Okay. Sorta like if you had a Foo Fighters Best Of album with a new song by Pearl Jam on it.

Recap video of some events in the life of Kassius Ohno. Then we get a Kassius Ohno promo. Chris Hero could have made for a good mid-level Dudley in 1995 with his glasses game.

CM Punk is here to give some advice to NXT stars. He mentions that he gave Seth Rollins advice and now the Shield is doing things.

BTW, the placement of ad breaks in this episode is not precise.

Now let's take a look at Big E. Langston 5-counting some jabronis.

We go back to Big E. Langston vs Camacho from November 21st, 2012.

They acknowledge the outside world by showing Big E. Langston showing up with AJ Lee on Raw to take out John Cena. Hey, all the good guys on this roster are heels on the main roster. Big E. Langston says he attacked John Cena to help his friend AJ Lee and then he challenges Seth Rollins for the NXT title.

A never before seen match between Kane and Cody Rhodes from the NXT Arena from July 2012. It's like a Coliseum exclusive. I wonder if Cody Rhodes ever did much in wrestling after this. Just gonna imagine that they had this match ready in case of emergency. Kane wins with a Chokeslam.

Next week on NXT: Seth Rollins vs Corey Graves, Bo Dallas vs Epico, Kassius Ohno and Leo Kruger vs Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel

The Shield cuts into this broadcast and Seth Rollins suggests he turned heel because he was stewing down in NXT as the champion (well, they didn't book him that great post-title win, to be honest). Also this is the first time Ambrose has shown up on this show (he was on FCW but that's not on the network). Amazing how much healthier Ambrose/Moxley could appear to be when he has hair.

S7 E1 (January 2nd, 2013):

Welcome to the year 2013, folks.

We open with the Shield attacking some dudes joined in progress like we're in mid-80s JCP. This show is closer to the main show timeline than it has been in awhile. (RIP, Roman's original heel persona, 2012-2012)

Dusty is doing his best to seal the month and a half long plothole by saying he told them to make their impact but to keep it out of NXT, like Dusty's a college coach insisting that uf his players fuck around, they should do it offcampus and not on game days. Dusty announces a Seth Rollins/Corey Graves match (that was announced last week).

I think this show finally has some good main heels (for however long they're gonna stick around this roster) after the months of Jinder Mahal and Drew McIntyre and others trying to be that guy. I also think that Corey Graves, at least for this week, is a babyface, in the J-Tex getting cheered against the Horsemen sense.

Bo Dallas vs Epico: Nice spinning sell of a dropkick by Bo. Bo Dallas wins with the spear. Primo and Epico almost attack Bo Dallas before Michael McGillicutty makes the save.

Seth Rollins vs Corey Graves! Tonight!

Sasha Banks vs Tamina Snuka: Tamina wins in a few minutes with the Superfly Splash. In a way it's kinda remarkable that there were multiple second generation Jimmy Snuka relatives in the WWE considering how neither of them were actually all that remarkable. Although Tamina has been employed for a longgg time somehow.

Kassius Ohno and Leo Kruger vs Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel: Tyson Kidd was in peril for awhile here. Gabriel eventually gets in and Kruger beats him with the facebusting neckbreaker finisher. 

For the NXT Title
Seth Rollins (c) vs Corey Graves

Seth Rollins is out in his Shield gear and I check to find that this was taped after Survivor Series, so this is slightly newer than previous episodes. This is a bit of a back and forth, Graves puts Rollins in the Fuller Leglock and the Shield runs in for the DQ. Dusty Rhodes waves out the babyfaces to get beaten up by the Shield. The camerawork of the Shield fighting off half the roster is a bit chaotic. The Shield gives Bo Dallas a Triple Powerbomb as Dusty watches on. Big E. Langston makes an entrance to chase off the Shield.

Dusty announces Seth Rollins vs Big E. Langston for the NXT Title next week. It's possible this show is starting to cook a little bit.

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currently watching the 2/19/1988 Prime Time Wrestling where they air the Main Event Hogan/Andre match, with my cousin becoming distraught that Hogan lost, Hogan launching Earl Hebner into the aisle in an insane spot, Hogan's postmatch promo that's like an crazy person calling a sports talk radio station after their team lost a big game, and the original WMIV brackets (where Dibiase/Duggan are in the same quad as Bam Bam/One Man Gang)

Also the less remembered Dibiase promo where he accused Hogan of paying off a fake Dave Hebner to sow confusion.

The first match of this show? Barry Horowitz and Steve Lombardi take on Scott Casey and Lanny Poffo. An amazing jobbermania matchup.

Edit: huge upset finish because (1) Casey/Poffo lost, (2) Poffo didn't take the fall, (3) Steve Lombardi pinned Scott Casey.

Edit2: Omar Atlas and Brady Boone vs The Conquistadors! Man, they're unleashing all the huge matches for this episode.

GORILLA: "We're going to the Chicken capital of the United States right now, what am I referring to?"

BOBBY: "Hogan's home town?"

Edited by Cobra Commander
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Feels like I should do a few more NXT episodes before Spring Training games start.

S7 E2 (January 9th, 2013)

This show opens up by reminding us that Seth Rollins! Big E. Langston! Tonight!

Yoshi Tatsu and Percy Watson vs Luke Harper and Erick Rowan: Bray Wyatt is a man of integrity for making sure he's far away from ringside while hanging out on his chair. Therefore he can't interfere, as if Harper/Rowan need help here. Tatsu misses a move off the top. Harper wins with a corner charge into a spinning clothesline.

Paige! Emma! Next!

Emma vs Paige: Don't worry, Emma's doing that dance already. Not sure where i'd rank her out of the NXT roster members around this time who essentially became ironic favorites and then washed out on the main roster where being a meme couldn't counter being an NXT person. Nice dragon screw into a half crab by Emma. Paige gets out of it and quickly wins with the Paigeturner. One large Joe Posnanski looking dude in the audience is happy at the Paige victory.

Seth Rollins and Big E. Langston is also No DQ. But up next, Bo Dallas and Michael McGillicutty take on Epico and Primo in the FamilySearch.com Genealogy match of the week.

Adrian Neville introduces himself through a brief promo. More dudes are showing up on this show.

Primo and Epico vs Bo Dallas and Michael McGillicutty: Nothing can stop Joe Hennig from getting NXT TV time around this time. McGillicutty also does the early work for his team. Bo Dallas is in the ring after the commercial break ends which leads to Bo being in peril. Bo reverses an irish whip to lead the heels to dropkick each other, then me makes the hot tg to McGillicutty. Primo hits McGillicutty with the Backstabber for the win. Some front row ladies yell at Primo and Epico after the match ends.

For the NXT Championship, No DQ:
Seth Rollins (c) vs Big E. Langston

One helpful fan brought a "5" sign and got it on TV. The obligatory "shoulder charge directly into the ring post" happens early (does that move ever work?) but Big E. rebounds to press Seth onto the floor. Ambrose and Reigns run in to doubleteam Big E on the outside. The match returns to the ring when we come out of the break. Big E counters a headscissors by getting up and dropping Seth on his back. Ambrose and Reigns prevent the Big Ending. A swarm of NXT babyfaces run down the ramp. Ambrose and Reigns are driven away from ringside by around 12 people. Big E kicks out of the Sliced Bread. Big E counters another Sliced Bread into the Big Ending for the pinfall to win the championship. The group of random babyfaces returns to celebrate with Big E.

Feels like the group of babyfaces actually overwhelming a heel faction is the rare time that actually ever happened. Also feels like we just saw the "Seth and Roman are off to the main roster for good" write-off.

S7 E3 (January 16th, 2013)

Adrian Neville vs Sakamoto: With some talent departing, it's time to do more debuts on NXT. Nice enziguri by Neville and he wins with the Red Arrow.

Tyson Kidd! Justin Gabriel! Antonio Cesaro! Damien Sandow? Tonight! But before that.. Trent vs Leo Kruger.

Leo Kruger vs Trent Baretta: The Baretta/Beretta spelling thing has been a pain writing these recaps. Even more so because Trent isn't boring like Mike Rotundo/Rotunda/Rotund@. Kassius Ohno is guest commentating this match. Kruger really has the look of the Al Snow looking dude who was running a knife over his face in the Black Hole Sun music video. Nice dive by Trent onto Kruger. Kassius Ohno leaves his commentary spot to hit Trent with the elbow behind the ref's back. Kruger wins with his neckbreaker variant. Kassius has a nice aqua blue shirt but another referee shows up to tell the original referee what happened. The decision gets reversed and Trent wins by DQ.

Big E. Langston walks down to the ring to be welcomed as the new NXT Champion. Big E. welcomes us to the Era of the Five. He gets interrupted by Camacho. Well, we never did get that Big E/Camacho feud resolved did we.

For the NXT title(?): Big E. Langston vs Camacho: Camacho is high enough that he could show up during this segment but not high enough to make us wait a week for this match. Big E. hits the Big Ending quickly and gets the pin. Big E five counts Camacho after the match ends. Okay, now that feud is resolved. Big E five counts Camacho again. Always fun to have an asskicker babyface champ.

Damien Sandow and Antonio Cesaro vs Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel: Sandow does mic work on his way to the ring. A random front row woman claws towards him as he walks up the steps. Considering the talent in this match, it's gonna be a good match almost all the time unless someone is working with the flu. Gabriel was getting a lot of the time before making the tag to Kidd moving the match from Cesaro/Gabriel to Sandow/Kidd quickly. The faces get the win after Kidd pins Sandow with a springboard elbow (preceded by Gabriel's springboard moonsault). "Perhaps an upset in the eyes of some" - I don't know JR, the heels made separate entrances but the faces made one entrance, that would suggest the faces would be better at teamwork.

S7 E4 (January 23rd, 2013)

We open with Shawn Michaels in the ring. Certainly the only time he's gonna be involved with NXT, right? He's here to announce the NXT Tag Team title tournament. Finally, all these random tag team matches have built to something.

Tag Team Title Tournament: Luke Harper and Erick Rowan vs Yoshi Tatsu vs Percy Watson: Bray's chair moves a little closer to the ring this week, putting a rocking chair on the ramp. Bold. We just did this match 2 weeks ago. This tournament isn't official until JR tells us only the winners advance (but then again, this isn't a Gold Rush tag team title tournament). Harper pins Watson with the clothesline this time to advance.

Dusty is backstage talking to Alex Riley and Derrick Bateman. Corey Graves is mad that he didn't get a rematch for the NXT title and that he didn't get invited to the NXT tag team tournament. Dusty makes a Corey Graves/Jake Carter match for tonight. 

Up next: Adrian Neville and Oliver Grey vs 3MB. Gotta love when your tag team tournament features teams that have never teamed on TV. No wonder Corey Graves was so mad.

Alicia Fox vs Sasha Banks: I just realized, the exfoliating ugliness tour from early NXT never actually went anywhere, did it. "It is true that Sasha Banks is related to Snoop Dogg" - William Regal. Nice headscissors by Sasha that almost dropped Alicia on her head. Sasha Banks wins with a small package. Welcome to the era of young lions Divas matches because that's what the WWE is still calling them since Stephanie hadn't brought about the women's revolution yet.

Paige vignette.

Renee Young makes her debut (described as "some new blonde interviewer" by one of the reviews I check in case I have no idea who's on screen) and gives us an interview with Aksana. Aksana just barely missed a chance to get married to Rusev but fortunately this company had multiple women with ties to the Baltic States ready to go.

Conor O'Brien vignette as we're in the transitional period from the original Ascension to the Ascension we got to see on the main roster. Guess we're not getting Ascension/Usos in the tag team tournament.

Jake Carter vs Corey Graves: This matchup is a before and after used by a DARE class to tell 10 year olds to not smoke pot. Corey wins with the Fuller Leglock. We get some Corey micwork postmatch.

Big E. Langston! Tonight! but we got a tag title tournament match before that.

Bo Dallas and Michael McGillicutty chat with each other and they're facing Primo and Epico next week.

NXT Tag Team Tournament Match: 3MB (Heath Slater and Drew McIntyre) vs Oliver Grey/Adrian Neville: Kinda remarkable that we got 7 more years of Heath Slater in the WWE after this. Also remarkable that Drew McIntyre dug out from being in this group. Nice dive by Neville onto McIntyre that is only barely kinda sorta protected. Neville gets the hot tag from Grey. Neville hits McIntyre with the Red Arrow for the win (and has an impressive bounce off of McInytre hitting that move).

Axl Keegan vs Big E. Langston: This is non-title but you could probably guess that. Vader attack. Straps down. Big Ending. Ballgame. Big E picks up Axl Keegan for another Big Ending only to be interrupted by Conor O'Brien on the tron. Polite of Big E to stop what he's doing to listen. As soon as the video ends, Big Ending, 5 count. Not sure how long we're gonna get singles Conor but this sorta feels like if Demolition Ax got a singles stint in-between switching Smash from Larry Latham to Barry Darsow. Big E picks up Keegan and hits him with another Big Ending.

S7 E5 (January 30th, 2013)

We got a look at the brackets (I guess the Usos aren't on this show anymore) to see the 2 first round matches that'll be tonight (Bateman/Riley vs Kruger/Ohno, Dallas/McGillicutty vs Primo/Epico). Guess that they couldn't get more Tyson Kidd/Justin Gabriel matches in this tournament.

NXT Tag Team Tournament Match: Derrick Bateman and Alex Riley vs Leo Kruger and Kassius Ohno: This Kruger/Ohno team have the look of avid listener-supported radio donors. Ohno more for music discovery and Kruger hopes that the volunteer DJs play death metal all night. It's been awhile since Bateman has been in a match on this show and Alex Riley is Alex Riley. Don't worry, Derrick Bateman is about to do something somewhere else and his hair will look less goofy as a result. Bateman misses a corner charge with his knees. Ohno starts working him over. Chaos ensues in the stretch run and Ohno makes Riley tap out to a cravate. Kruger/Ohno will take on Neville and Grey. Corey Graves runs out to put Alex Riley in the Fuller Leglock.

Big E. Langston gets interviewed backstage. He will be facing Conor O'Brien next week.

Sakamoto vs Mason Ryan: Hey, Sakamoto has his own tron graphics. On checking Wikipedia, this would be Mason Ryan after his time on the main roster. Mason Ryan does some good power moves, and also does a nervehold for a few moments. Mason Ryan wins with a Jackhammerish move. Mason Ryan has the look of a guy who went to the WCW Power Plant, was frozen in a block of ice, and came back to work in the WWE after thawing out.

Aksana vs Paige: I think Aksana is fully in the "find something to do with her" phase of her WWE career? Paige wins with a more painful looking version of the Texas Cloverleaf. Summer Rae runs in postmatch to attack Paige from behind.

Renee Young interviews Sasha Banks. Sasha's so happy. She gets interrupted by a card from her secret admirer. Can't Jim Ross send anonymous cards in a less public way?

Let's take a look at the Royal Rumble Fanfest (first time this show has acknowledged the outside world in a few weeks)

NXT Tag Team Title Tournament: Bo Dallas and Michael McGillicutty vs Primo and Epico: Rosa Mendes is with Primo and Epico and she gets 6 subheadings in the WWE section of her Wikipedia search, each slightly less impressive than the last. She was in the WWE for 11 years. As for the actual match. Eh. Epico prevents Bo from winning with the Bulldog. Tony Dawson commentates like he'll never see his family again if he doesn't say "For the win" after every near fall. Bo Dallas gets the win by countering a charge into a powerslam. Dallas/McGillicutty face Harper/Rowan next week. Hopefully Bo Dallas will make himself familiar with Bray Wyatt and his family to make it through that match. So the final is either Wyatts vs Neville/Grey or Kruger/Ohno vs Bo/McGillicutty. Kinda unfortunate timing that they're doing a tag team tournament just as the tag teams they've been featuring for weeks aren't there (Ascension V1, Usos, etc).

This era of NXT also got some retro workrate reports from @RIPPA a few years ago if you wanna read even more about January 2013 NXT from someone else.

January 2nd: http://deathvalleydriver.com/workrate_nxt010213/
January 9th: http://deathvalleydriver.com/workrate_nxt010913/
January 16th: http://deathvalleydriver.com/workrate_nxt011613/
January 23rd: http://deathvalleydriver.com/workrate_nxt012313/
January 30th: http://deathvalleydriver.com/workrate_nxt013013/

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Mr. Wrestling II's slow-burn turn is pretty amazing. I'm sitting over here heated that TA is letting Wrestling II disrespect him like that. Wrestling II slapped TA after TA said Wrestling II was acting like an ass, and I went OOOH and then said DON'T LET HIM TREAT YOU THAT WAY out loud, and it's good that pro wrestling can still get me to have that type of reaction. 

TA comes off like a punk. He's too deferential to Wrestling II. He didn't even sign the contract for the title shot because it's ruining the friendships between him, Wrestling II, and JYD. Fuck that shit. Knock Wrestling II out and sign the contract, dammit! 

This angle rules and is a great role for an over-the-hill former champ that the crowd still loves. "Over-the-hill beloved face gets desperate that his time is up and turns heel" is a great bit of character development. 

EDIT: I swear to fuck, if this punk bitch TA doesn't stop letting Wrestling II slap him...

EDIT #2: As Watts dressed down Wrestling II, he said basically You helped this guy get to where you said he could go, and you should be proud of him and not jealous of him and some woman in the crowd says RIGHT really loudly, and all the justice and truth in the world was in her loud agreement with Watts. 

I love professional wrestling. 

EDIT #3: OK, this Mr. Wrestling II/TA angle will be one of my all-time favorites if it even remotely stays as hot as it is right now. That 3/3/84 Mid-South is AMAZING because of this angle. Watts stuffs multiple angry Mr. Wrestling interviews, two slaps, a contract buyout, and a throwing in of the towel with a twist into this angle, and it all works. This is a sublime hour of pro wrestling. Holy shit. One of the best things I've ever seen.

TA coming out and saving Wrestling II, getting beat up, and finding a way to survive the Russian backbreaker, but not getting the three count because Wrestling II threw the towel in was a hell of a sequence. But man, when TA actually starts fighting back, the Boys' Club crowd is going to explode. Also, so will I. 

Edited by SirSmellingtonofCascadia
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Thoughts on November to Remember 94

The guy playing the "extreme national anthem" Hendrix-style didn't do a bad job! Too bad he got chokeslammed by 911.

The Pitbulls beat Bad Breed, but the Rottens' post-match dog-collar attack satisfied the fans who were chanting "We want blood."

2 Cold Scorpio beat Mr. Hughes, who popped right back up after the pin (again!) and cut a "This is my house" promo.

Tommy Cairo mocked the recent blinding of The Sandman, only to be destroyed by Tommy Dreamer, who was wracked with guilt for causing Hak to lose his sight.

Shane Douglas retained the ECW title with a win over Ron Simmons, only to have Scorpio join Simmons in a post-match attack. The Franchise raised the stakes by calling Sensational Sherri on the phone and also announcing that he would team up with "Stunning" Steve Austin.

Dean Malenko didn't put his TV title on the line against Tasmaniac, but he won the match anyway with a chloroform-soaked towel. Is that one of his 1,000 holds?

Sandman is the MVP for faking his retirement AND his blindness to attack Tommy Dreamer. He even suckered his estranged wife Peaches into giving him a kiss before he revealed the ruse.

Before they became masters of the tables match, The Public Enemy specialized in the "baseball bats are legal after someone scores a 10-count" match. They regained the tag team belts from Cactus Jack & Mikey Whipwreck. 

Why was Chris Benoit called "The Crippler"? Because he dropped Sabu on his head after one minute, ruining another main event for a big ECW show. The wrestlers tried to salvage the ending with a big brawl, followed by a Benoit-Scorpio match that ended in a double-countout.

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45 minutes ago, Gorman said:

Thoughts on November to Remember 94

The guy playing the "extreme national anthem" Hendrix-style didn't do a bad job! Too bad he got chokeslammed by 911.

The Pitbulls beat Bad Breed, but the Rottens' post-match dog-collar attack satisfied the fans who were chanting "We want blood."

2 Cold Scorpio beat Mr. Hughes, who popped right back up after the pin (again!) and cut a "This is my house" promo.

Tommy Cairo mocked the recent blinding of The Sandman, only to be destroyed by Tommy Dreamer, who was wracked with guilt for causing Hak to lose his sight.

Shane Douglas retained the ECW title with a win over Ron Simmons, only to have Scorpio join Simmons in a post-match attack. The Franchise raised the stakes by calling Sensational Sherri on the phone and also announcing that he would team up with "Stunning" Steve Austin.

Dean Malenko didn't put his TV title on the line against Tasmaniac, but he won the match anyway with a chloroform-soaked towel. Is that one of his 1,000 holds?

Sandman is the MVP for faking his retirement AND his blindness to attack Tommy Dreamer. He even suckered his estranged wife Peaches into giving him a kiss before he revealed the ruse.

Before they became masters of the tables match, The Public Enemy specialized in the "baseball bats are legal after someone scores a 10-count" match. They regained the tag team belts from Cactus Jack & Mikey Whipwreck. 

Why was Chris Benoit called "The Crippler"? Because he dropped Sabu on his head after one minute, ruining another main event for a big ECW show. The wrestlers tried to salvage the ending with a big brawl, followed by a Benoit-Scorpio match that ended in a double-countout.

First episode of ECW I ever watched. The Sandman retirement angle was so groundbreaking at the time. A seminal ECW moment. Tommy Dreamer became Mr. ECW but before that Angle everyone thought he was a dope. They angle made his career. 

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11 hours ago, SirSmellingtonofCascadia said:

TA coming out and saving Wrestling II, getting beat up, and finding a way to survive the Russian backbreaker, but not getting the three count because Wrestling II threw the towel in was a hell of a sequence

various things you gotta love in this episode of Mid-South

1) the various fans clapping along to the Midnight Express' theme because they haven't cranked the heat up on the Express yet

2) how good Cornette is at throwing the tennis racket into the ring so early in his usage of the racket (a weapon that doubles as a way to try and fight off drunk cajuns until they gave him a bodyguard)

3) the Mid-South ringpost being made out of razors since every time someone gets rammed into it, blood must flow.

4) how Bill Watts is gonna acknowledge Krusher Darsow's new name long before he ever pronounces Duggan like everybody else. Also, Volkoff doesn't sing the actual Soviet anthem until the WWF. But nobody in Louisiana is gonna admit they know that

5) a Mid-South match where the purpose is to beat the hell out of your opponent with a football helmet between two dudes from a 1983 Mid-South wet dream

6) dumbass good Samaritan Terry Taylor leaning near the ropes to get popped by a football helmet

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Yeah, my excitement over the Wrestling II/TA angle has sorta overshadowed the awesomeness of Butch Reed and Jim Neidhart spearing each other while wearing football helmets, which I regret.

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