Jump to content
DVDVR Message Board

WWE Network Conversation


RIPPA

Recommended Posts

Here are your BJ(P)W scaffold matches.

Yuki Miyamoto vs. Takeshi Sasaki https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6eMEjEhehI

Nagasaki & Yamakawa vs. Matsunaga & Nakamaki clipped (probably the best way to see it) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYqLf_h7Ibc&pp=ygUSQkpXIHNjYWZmb2xkIG1hdGNo

The former is legit awesome and I think probably the best match of that golden, post-Matsunaga era when BJPW became BJW and started rockin with actual wrestling since Yamakawa and Honma had legitimized that they could combine that with scarring death work. They started with the Strong division around this time I think. The latter has some incredibly nasty bumps and the one that finishes is horrific. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Time to watch some wrestling

WCW Monday Nitro (7/29/1996)

In loving memory of The Red Scorpion, who claimed to Redditor DaPrice82 that he was thrown into the side of a trailer by Kevin Nash

Tony and Larry are at ringside in Orlando because the Olympics have confined WCW Nitro to Orlando for weeks.

We have footage of the Outsiders attacking Sting in a parking lot in Cincinnati.

Meanwhile Larry comparing the NWO to Julius Caesar and Napoleon.

One of the most remarkable things about this stretch of WCW TV is that it didn't rain in Central Florida.

Match 1: Mike Enos vs Hacksaw Jim Duggan: Mike Enos is without Colonel Rob Parker. Tony Schiavone introducing us to this week's edition of "The Monsters Are Due On Main Street" by questioning Ric Flair's whereabouts last week. This match is better than it has a right to be. Schiavone keeps saying Enos funny. We got lots of security around the show this week, so surely nothing will happen. Larry simultaneously being a heel on Duggan and a face on the NWO. Tony wondering of the 4 empty seats are for the NWO. Duggan wins by wrapping his fist in tape and hitting Enos. The Referee does not question why Duggan has a taperoll hanging from his hand now.

Hacksaw Jim Duggan is really disappointed in Hulk Hogan. "Hulkster, you're a great technical wrestler". Somehow Jim Duggan didn't get a big match out of this.

Also the number of times "Pep Boys" was mentioned on my TV dropped off dramatically post-WCW

WCW Saturday Night, this Saturday night, following White Lightning.

Speaking of White Lightning

Match 2: Ric Flair, Mongo and Benoit vs Macho Man, Sting, and Luger: We were promised this match last week but Ric Flair wasn't here so. Concerned the Four Horsemen didn't have enough valets in mid-1996. Got a wild brawl to start off looking like a videotaped riot. Quick commercial break.

GLACIER does shitty karate. GLACIER is about to have his push dramatically reduced due to his bad timing.

I think the Horsemen have one of each when it comes to hair colors on their valets. Flair ends up outside of the ring having fruit dumped on him by Macho Man. Ric Flair being Ric Flair by kissing Miss Elizabeth to taunt Macho Man. Luger whipping Mongo into the ropes and Mongo reacting like he has no idea how to handle this. Traditional spot of Ric Flair having his chops no-sold by Lex Luger. Macho Man and Benoit with a very roid rage fueled exchange. Let me guess, Dean Malenko trying to get bounty cash from the Dungeon of Doom vs Benoit leads to an awesome match that the bikers don't give a fuck about? (that would be the one where they booed the idea of 5 more minutes?). To be fair, Mongo hit some moves on Sting that he didn't fuck up. All the time hearing Benwah and I was not ready to hear that Joan Benoit's last name is not pronounced that way. Larry Zbyszko has the commentary stylings of a former baseball player who commentates baseball games and talks about how shitty current players are compared to his day. You could imagine him talking about how current players strike out too much.

Meanwhile, Jimmy Hart is here and freaking out.

And we're to the terrorist cell beatdown part of the show. They have baseball bats. Marcus Bagwell gets attacked. Rey goes into a trailer. Macho Man is on the limo. Some real amazing unintentional(?) commentary on security theatre with Larry noting how their extra security didn't do jack shit. Oh yeah, the match is also over now.

Commercial break.

We're back and really this all is even better because they didn't have to have Hall and Nash beat guys down forever. So the part of the show that is basically people freaking out and reacting comes quicker than you might realize. One thing to keep in mind here is that this aired 2 days after the Centennial Park bombing at the Olympics which i'm marking down as a coincidence but the filming of all this kinda reminds me of all your various awful things that they don't have closeup shots of for valid good taste reasons. But this is Wrestling. Which reminds me that Rey had to be talked out of getting thrown against the window of the trailer. You know, Tony Schiavone really does have a certain local newsman quality to him.

Eric Bischoff and Bobby Heenan are here. Bobby and Larry have matching red shirts. Bobby won't do the broadcast since they can't guarantee him security. So we're gonna get Larry and Tony working unpaid overtime tonight.

As insane as this might sound, and I think i've typed this on here before, early NWO is really booked like a terrorist organization showing up to fuck up the wrestling show. It's possible I covered some of this because I watched the Nitro from the week after this one awhile ago.

Also, all the talk about a potential 4th guy reminds me of how every mass shooting has people reporting multiple shooters and how there's not usually multiple shooters.

Angle-wise, this rules. But you probably knew that by now.

Oh yeah, the entire card got fucked up due to the attacks. And the crowd is getting mad because they don't know what's going on. We didn't have the Nitro Girls to dance for 45 minutes during all this.

The phrase 'stand-by matches' being used for this one, so somebody here learned something from working with Bill Watts (applicable to either Kevin Sullivan or Eric Bischoff)

Match 3: High Voltage vs Steiner Brothers: Nice of WCW to throw High Voltage out there now. Booking logic wise, this is a very tough tag team to bring out in this spot. Also there's High Voltage. Rick Steiner using his brain to keep an eye out. Bischoff just saying that there'll be an asterisk on this one if High Voltage beats the Steiners. So many bright colors in this matchup between High Voltage in pink and the Steiners. Oh yeah, they booked Harlem Heat vs the Steiners in front of a bunch of bikers. Scott Steiner doing the Screwdriver in 1996 looks painful.

Eddie Guerrero was supposed to face Rey Mysterio for the Cruiserweight title tonight, but since Rey was attacked, our next match is..

Match 4: Big Bubba vs Eddie Guerrero: Slight difference between Rey Mysterio and Big Bubba. When did we all decide to switch from Eddy to Eddie? when he was in the WWF? later? Larry just kept saying New World Odor for like 2 1/2 years in a row and got some big matches out of it (also because Hall liked him). Bischoff offering a "go Eddie go" and Tony noting "hey the NWO attacked Bubba a few weeks ago". Bischoff dropping in a claim that the NWO took away Rey's wrestling soul since they had to cut the mask off to get him in the ambulance. Bischoff doing an amazing job acting like national news is trying to get updates from them on the big angle. I can guess why the identity of the 4th member would sorta be an afterthought once it happened since you can't really live up to the reveal of the 3rd with the reveal of the 4th. Oh yeah, this match is being worked in a perpetual resthold. Eventually Jimmy Hart's interference backfires and Eddie Guerrero wins.

Jimmy Hart just working through the trauma of earlier tonight by trying to do what he loves to distract him.

We have a paid announcement from the NWO. All these paid announcements just took ad time away from Valvoine. "Whatya bench Lex". This one felt like it went for awhile.

Eric Bischoff has departed the booth. This broadcast position looks amazingly improvised in this arena. Larry displaying all that American History he aced by namedropping Benedict Arnold.

And let's take a look back at the big angle from earlier. Gotta love that Rey's first instinct is to jump off of something at this giant man. As noted earlier, this worked even more because the beatdown didn't take forever.

Arn Anderson lost his title match tonight due to the attack, so it's time for.... Greg the Hammer Valentine!

Match 5: Greg Valentine vs The Giant: Larry randomly questioning Bobby Heenan's bravery like he could tell you that if he lived in a dictatorship, he'd just kill the dictator. I wanna know the kayfabe list of contenders who were beaten out by Greg Valentine for this match. WCW following the rule of baseball broadcasts to give us a shot of the Moon during this broadcast. Greg Valentine hit the Giant hard once before taking two chokeslams and losing.

Fiery babyface Giant is something they went back to later, but there was a heel run in-between now and the end of the year.

Giant gets a postmatch promo to tell us that Hulk Hogan conned America. This is Paul Wight less than a year in and we really don't talk enough about how good he was this quickly. Maybe because he got really fat and meandered for a few years after this.

Let's close with another shot of Rey going into the trailer.

You know, you can't obviously do it too often, but every once and awhile, the show really should be booked to go off the fucking rails because something happened.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

WCW anglicized the names of most (all?) of the wrestlers with Mexican heritage by the end of 1997.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Cobra Commander said:

Is Eddy more or less Anglicized than Eddie?

I think that WCW thinks it less Anglicized. I need to go back through my Nitro reports as I edit them into one big document, but I'm pretty sure Eddy became Eddie, Rey Misterio Jr. became Rey Mysterio Jr., and Psicosis became Psychosis over late '96/early '97. I think it's just WCW stylizing the names more 'Merican. 

I hazily remember writing about the name changes on the chyron as they happened, so I need to go back and check. Funny enough, Eddie spelled it with the -ie ending IRL, and I think spelled it that way before entering WCW? That question is more for the lucha heads. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How much of this might also be changing the spelling to copyright/trademark the names? 

I also love how over the years, Rey has become his name, like it’s actually Ray. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

27 minutes ago, twiztor said:

i was under the impression that he spelled it "Eddy" 

https://x.com/i/web/status/1456346617926258695

I saw something that indicated otherwise, but it was posted in some Reddit thread, and you know what, we'll go with what the man said himself. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

30 years ago today... my bones are turning into dust

ECW Hardcore TV (8/30/1994):

I didn't want to figure out if the 8/27/1994 card as on Peacock in it's entirety. I don't want to ask them to do a better job at sorting out ECW cards or else they'd just pull them.

Anyways, we open up with 911 vs Doink. Does it fuck with 911's mystique if he's barely taller than Matt Borne? 911 is like if you mixed Dan Severn with the Dietrich Bader character from Office Space. 911 chokeslams Doink, therefore proving ECW's supremacy if you pretend that Borne in the WWF anytime in the last 11 months. I guess for 1994, those chokeslams were good but Paul Wight changed the game. Oh yeah Joey, 911 is here to eliminate the gimmicks from wrestling. I believe Matt Borne got a job for like 2 weeks out after this until he became Matt Borne and got himself fired or quit or whatever.

Joey Styles is in a basement somewhere and he doesn't know where the Eastern Championship Wrestling stuff has gone (more on that later)

A look into the events of Tommy Dreamer, the Sandman, Mikey, Singapore canes, Tommy Dreamer is still dressed like an American Male. Tommy Dreamer kisses Woman. Then we got some still photos from Hardcore Heaven because actual footage would disincentivize you from giving someone money to see the card. A few words from Woman and Sandman and some nice graphics for a Singapore Caning Match.

Now we got Sandman vs Dreamer. Loser gets 10 shots with the cane. Holy hell, Tommy Dreamer's jacket is sparkly. It's a miracle that they beat the fuck out of him enough to get him over with these guys. Tommy Dreamer dressed like someone featured in a firefighter calendar in a small town. And we got a quick commercial break.

We're back and Sandman gets thrown over the guardrail to the floor. Dreamer hits Sandman with a DDT that bumps the ref. The ref stumbles around for a bit as Woman comes in and Sandman eventually hits the DDT for the win. Tod tries to get Tommy Dreamer out of taking the cane shots and Dreamer wants to take them. Woman says that Dreamer could avoid the caning if he kisses her feet, a visual that would get Tarantino hard. This keeps on going. At least getting caned by the Sandman is dangerous because he's drunk. You see, Tommy Dreamer's not a pussy despite how sparkly his clothes are. "Can Tommy Dreamer ever come back from this beating?" Well, he got caned in the balls 3 years later.

Joey Styles in front of a plain background makes it look like he's on early ESPN2

Let's to Shane Douglas and 2 Cold Scorpio's voyages through the NWA title tournament. Shane advances over the Tazmaniac! Scorpio advances over Benoit after a dumb double pinfall finish on a superplex. Shane beats Malenko! Scorpio beats 911 after Doink runs out. But then Matt Borne runs out. The ref helpfully counts 911 out as he watches him getting hit by a chair. Shane Douglas is Doink! But Shane Douglas/Dean Malenko happened AFTER Scorpio/911 despite the clips being aired first.

Now it's time for Shane Douglas vs 2 Cold Scorpio for the NWA title. At least they gave us a good match before fucking over the NWA. ECW is proud to be hosting this NWA tournament, oh are they. Shane Douglas playing by the rules to win the title with honor, oh really. Scorpio had an interesting tombstone and missed a moonsault. Shane Douglas hits the belly to belly and he's now the NWA champion. Scorpio has some words.

But...

Shane Douglas has a speech, and you know what's about to happen.

Guessing the NWA dying "7 years ago" (in 1987) is wrestler math unless Shane really hated the Ron Garvin title reign.

Several people applaud as Shane Douglas declares himself the ECW World Champion. Then we get crowd chants. We don't hear what Scorpio says before the handshake. Then the crowd declares "Flair is Dead"

Dennis Corraluzzo gets on TV and he's unhappy about what just happened. He declares that Shane is still the NWA champion but that they'll strip it from him. So. Yeah.

Tod Gordon is here to announce that Eastern Championship Wrestling is now Extreme Championship Wrestling.

Let's spend some time with Public Enemy as Grunge slowly spraypaints "Extreme". It sounds like they're spraying condensed air.

So one ECW died 30 years ago today and another ECW as born 30 years ago today.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just always assume now in retrospect that every time they got kicked off a TV station or cable network it was just because ECW had bought the time and fell behind on paying the bill, but because it was ECW there was always something controversial they could point to and spin it to the sheets and their fans as the reason for getting kicked off TV. 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

THAT's what it was. And I remember it was covered in the DVDVR #100

Quote

MIKEY WHIPWRECK vs. THE SANDMAN:  Loser gets 10 lashes match.  Early 1995, Florida.  ECW. 
(REV RAY)
The angle was set up when Mikey Whipwreck won a battle royal to get a shot at the Sandman.  Whipwreck wins the match, but gets jumped right away by Sandman and is pinned easily.  Whipwreck cuts a promo where he promises he can be just as big a scumbag as the Sandman and tries to smoke a cigarette and ups the antee that he'll take 10 lashes if he loses.  Whipwreck shows some fire, but still gets pinned.  The angle is pretty cool because just about everyone in the promotion comes out to try to save Mikey from taking the lashes, even offering to take the lashes themselves, but Sandman just continues as Woman is practically having an orgasm with every hit.  Styles is outraged during this and as Woman taunts Mikey, he points out that "she's old enough to be his mother!"  This would launch the feud that would lead to Whipwreck eventually winning the belt.  This was the angle that got them thrown off of TV in Florida.  This is also followed by a truly great horrible interview by Marty Jannetty where he says "My Man" about 80 times as he puts over Whipwreck and challenges the Sandman.

If this is what started the Mikey run where he won the belt from Hak and meanwhile the Hak/Austin feud was starting, this is actually kinda historic in nature. 

Edited by Curt McGirt
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Thoughts on Judgment Day 2002

Eddy-RVD for the IC title was a great match to start the WWE era on PPV. It was billed as the Battle of the Frog Splashes, but both men crashed and burned. Eddy used his feet on the ropes to retain the title before his “lie-cheat-steal” ethos became popular.

The Dudleys didn’t have the same “nice to see ya” moment after the brand split like the APA had at Backlash. D-Von and Deacon Batista put Bubba through a table, so they went back to their early ECW days when they couldn’t stop fighting.

When the nWo arrived three months earlier, it was the original lineup of Hogan, Nash, and Hall. On this show, it was already diluted to Big Show, X-Pac, and Booker T. Austin earned the MVP award by defeating Flair and Big Show in a handicap match.

Rico became WWE tag team champion after accompanying the champs, Billy & Chuck, to the ring. He was named Rikishi’s mystery partner, which was supposed to put Rikishi at a 3-on-1 disadvantage. Instead, Rico accidentally superkicked Chuck (his opponent!) and won the title.

Triple H and Chris Jericho battled in a Hell in a Cell match, taking out their frustrations over both losing the WWE title in the previous two months. HHH scored the pin on top of the Cell, which shouldn’t have been legal.

Speaking of wrestlers who have each other’s number, Undertaker won the title from Hulk Hogan, just like he did at Survivor Series 91. So the WWE burned through the nWo nostalgia and the Hulkamania nostalgia in three months. 

 

Edited by Gorman
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Gorman said:

HHH scored the pin on top of the Cell, which shouldn’t have been legal.

So what, did the ref count the pin in the ring while Jericho was pinned up top? That sounds... particularly stupid. It would be dumber if the ref followed them up, but still. Then again I dunno if they ever have fully established the rules of a Cell match? And of course Paul is the boss anyway. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

So what, did the ref count the pin in the ring while Jericho was pinned up top? That sounds... particularly stupid. It would be dumber if the ref followed them up, but still. Then again I dunno if they ever have fully established the rules of a Cell match? And of course Paul is the boss anyway. 

Yep, that was it. The ref counted the 1, 2, 3, on top of the Cell, just as if they were in the ring.

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thoughts on King of the Ring 2002

Molly Holly won the women’s title from Trish Stratus, but the announcers spent the whole match falsely accusing Molly of having a big behind. That was garbage.

Speaking of disrespecting women, Nidia was never taken seriously as a wrestler because she became the focus of the Noble-Hurricane feud. That means the cruiserweight title (which Noble won) was not the focus.

When Steve Austin left the company, Ric Flair was yanked out of his spot as owner of Raw and plugged into Austin’s feud with Eddy. It’s a shame we missed out on that. Flair beat Eddy after interference from Bubba Ray Dudley (of all people).

The Rock interfered in the Undertaker-HHH main event, seemingly setting up a three-way for Vengeance, but Kurt Angle ended up in Hunter’s spot.

Hogan-Angle was a surprisingly good match. Before it started, Angle said he earned “real American hero” status in the Olympics, while Vince McMahon merely gave that mantle to the Hulkster. 

Brock Lesnar is the MVP for beating Test and RVD to become King of the Ring. Paul Heyman lent a hand in both matches, but Brock had a Thanos-like inevitability in his march to the crown and eventually the WWE title.

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 9/19/2024 at 7:54 AM, Gorman said:

Thoughts on King of the Ring 2002

the announcers spent the whole match falsely accusing Molly of having a big behind. That was garbage.

 

Not an accusation. A wonderful truth that these rubes weren't able to appreciate. 

(But yeah, focusing on her ass while she has what IIRC was a solid match with Trish was garbage in general!) 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...