[WWE NETWORK] What Are You Watching?

[Niners Fan in CT]

I was watching GAB '91 last night before bed as I remembered nothing outside of the Russian chain match and the main. Boy that undercard fucking sucked.

[KidKash202]

Luger/Pillman at Havoc '89 is one of my favorite matches that I never really hear people talk about. Cocky heel Luger figuring out almost too late that he was getting out-quicked and out-efforted before hanging on and using Pillman's speed against him with a stun gun for the pinfall was really, really fun. I love both of those guys anyway, so I'm not surprised that the match was awesome, but I wanted to give it some love here. 

 

That was a good match man. It really was.

[Phantom Lord]

So I watched the SNME with Hogan/Orndorf. Probably the first time I had seen the entire show maybe since it aired (my father taped it for me when I was like 7).

 

Out of all the crazy stuff on this show, the craziest and most random had to be Blackjack Mulligan doing a Dusty Rhodes impersonation when they showed his promo. Did he do a few lines with Hogan because man he was HYPED. I know he didn't last long in the WWF at the time, but it was odd to see him not have to worry about Kevin Sullivan at the time.

[clintthecrippler]

watched Starrcade 84 and Starrcade 85.

 

Holy shit, that first hour of Starrcade 84 was total jobber mania. Denny Brown vs Mike Davis, Brian Adias vs Massai Ito, and Mike Graham vs Jesse Barr do not make for a promising start for what is supposed to be the "Grandaddy of Them All." And man, Dusty Rhodes looks like shit here. He literally looks like he has not slept in 36 hours, and that backstage promo where he is resting on a chair with his jacket draped over his chest makes him look like an obese grandma. If not for Tully and Steamboat bringing a good match and the spectacle of Jimmy Valiant and Paul Jones in the tuxedo match (for those coming into this cold, the homeless man in the tuxedo shirt stripping a man of his clothes and trying to choke him to death with a tie is the FACE), this would have been a completely worthless show.

 

Luckily, Starrcade 85 stepped it up quite a bit. Holy hell there was tons of blood on this one. I know it was '80s NWA, but it kind of became numbing after a while. When you have Manny bleeding profusely 30 seconds into his match and Superstar Graham blading after an arm-wrestling match, it's a bit much. But quite a few of the matches are pretty awesome. The Midnight Express showing up for a street fight dressed in tuxedos is pretty swank, perhaps maybe only topped by that time Ernie Ladd showed up for a street fight dressed in a polo shirt, slacks, and loafers. Magnum-Tully still holds up, and listening to them violently screaming "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" into the microphone...well, if you watched it with your eyes closed, it sounded like the goriest most visceral '70s horror flick ever.

 

And Dusty and Flair had a MUCH better match at 85. Dusty's selling here was amazing, I loved him just frantically scrambling outside the ring and over the guardrail when the leg assault started. And on top of that, a new contender for favorite wrestling fan ever, with the guy that spent the entire match shouting "Woooooooooooooooooooo! Woooooooooooooo! DUSTY RHODES! Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" only pausing for a few seconds here and there.

 

I bet that guy shot his TV the next week when it was announced that Dusty's victory was overturned.

[Petey]

So at what point did the Dusty finish begin to negatively impact NWA business? Did it start with Starrcade 85? Although not a Dusty finish, but did Dusty beating Flair at Great American Bash 86 and only holding the title for a couple of weeks before Flair regaining it burn out some of the fans? Or was it just this stuff along with some bad luck like Magnum TA's accident and somewhat stale booking into 1987?

[Big Z]

After watching Clash 21, I think WCW under Watts was trending in the right direction as Watts slowly was dragged into the 1990's with Pillman's awesome heel turn and follow up, Windham's awesome heel turn, bringing in 2 Cold, and setting up a Rude-Simmons feud before injuries ruined their plans. And damn did Watts dislike him some Johnny B. Badd, jobbing him out in a boxing match despite his legitimate boxing background (chicanery or not, he should not have lost a boxing match to Scotty Flamingo).

[hammerva]

It looks like tomorrow there is going to be a 30 minute special on the Wrestlemania 13 Austin vs Bret match.  Haven't seen a preview anywhere for it though

 

Watching the Punk WM Rewind and I still say that Shelton Benjamin is the best MITB performer ever.   Punk and Cena was more successful but nobody did more what the hell moments than Shelton.   

[Chaos]

I watched the Foley-HHH match from KOTR '97 to start prepping for my Foley/HHH feud discussion for WrestleRevue.

 

The match had some promising moments but was largely a giant mess. Although, Foley taking a neck breaker on the apron seemed unnecessarily risky, but that is Mick Foley.

 

I ended up leaving the show on and watching some of the rest of it while I cleaned up my kitchen.

 

The Austin promo before he goes out to the ring to face Shawn Michaels seems like a forgotten gem in regards to Austin Promos.

Also, their match at that PPV was really good, and the crowd became unglued for it down the stretch when it seemed like either guy could take this match.

 

My biggest gripe with the match would be that you could see and hear them calling spots to each other in the early going.

 

Also, Austin's Lou Thesz press seems to negate the complaining both he and JR make on their podcasts about the ten punches in the corner spot.

[lovchunky]

Please watch Barry Windham vs. Doug Furnas from Clash XI and tell me that isn't one of the best carry-jobs of all time.

 

Actually, the entire Clash XI card is really fun: Pillman/Mean Mark, Midnights/Rock 'n Roll, and Anderson/Orndorff.

[SirSmUgly]

1989-1990 NWA is some of my favorite stuff ever. I'm going through the Clashes and PPVs chronologically and filling in with the NWA Saturday Nights that a NWA fan is hosting on YouTube, and it's such good fun. 

 

I would love for WWE to use the one-night, round-robin, four-man tournament scheme that was used at Starrcade '89 on a random RAW in order to decide the #1 contender for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Heck, use it for the tag team #1 contendership, for that matter. 

[Big Z]

SuperBrawl III is the best PPV Eric Bischoff was in charge of from an in-ring perspective, and very few over the years compared it. Three of the first four matches (Blonds-Bagwell/Watts, Scorpio/Benoit, and Cactus/Orndorff) are awesome, and the strap match remains my favorite in the Sting-Vader series. You also have the debut of Davey Boy Smith (not long after the Bret classic at Wembley and being WWE IC Champion), the return of Ric Flair, and Barry Windham establishing himself as a main event singles star.

[Niners Fan in CT]

I've been sitting here watching SNME for hours and if I wasn't so tired right now I'd continue. So great.

[Tim Evans]

I've been watching ECW 1994. Why is there a gap between October and late November 1994? The buildup for the Sandman's blinding angle was great. Especially Tommy Cairo's interview from his backyard. It's also a shame Borne again didn't last longer.

[PetrolCB]

That is strange. I thought they'd filled in those gaps already, up into May '95, where I assume it'll stay until Raw catches up.

[hammerva]

No there is a 3 week gap between October and November 1994.   Actually there was an October 1994 to March 1995 gap when ECW was on Classics.  Not sure why most of it was found except that 3 weeks.  It isn't like the blinding angle is rare since it is all over You tube

 

as much as people tells us that the Shane Douglas vs Tully Blanchard 60 minute draw is one of the worst matches in ECW history, I would love to see why it has been ridiculed by almost everyone including people on the TV show (except Shane of course).   That angle was just bad as the "new Tully Blanchard" retired and the old Horseman version returned.   

[SirSmUgly]

Jim Cornette cut a slick promo on behalf of the Midnights before their Rock 'n Roll Express match at WrestleWar '90. It immediately vaults to being one of my favorites. 

 

Also, the one dude in the crowd reading the dirtsheets with the WE HAVE HERD ENOUGH sign in the front row kills me. 

[Petey]

That's tremendous. I've been reading some of the Observers from 1990/1991 and I think Dave had an inflated sense of how many people were reading the sheets.

[Big Z]

All right, Spring Stampede '94 is the 1-A to SuperBrawl III for best Bischoff produced PPV. Amazing that a Sting-Rick Rude match would be the worst one on the show. And damn, as much fun as it is to watch Cactus street fights, it is also not hard to see why he is a cripple before the age of 50.

[mco543]

I'm watching SuperBrawl III right now. I know Muta/Windham gets shit on a ton but aside from the finish I thought it was really good. Also, not for nothing but Cactus' Sunset Flip to the floor, while a good fit for the character, is really one of the dumbest regular spots I've ever seen.

 

On the list of great Bischoff-era WCW shows I'd say a lot of the 1993 and pre-Hogan '94 shows are excellent. I'm also partial to Starrcade '95 which was, aside from Muta and Liger, my gateway drug to Puroresu and features Randy Savage shivving Ric Flair in the ring.

[twiztor]

just watched Bash at the Beach '97, one of my favorite Nitro-era WCW cards.

 

Glacier/Ernest Miller vs. Mortis/Wrath opens us. Glacier is (by my count) 33-0-1 in wcw, and FINALLY he eats a pinfall from Mortis here.

Cruiser Title: Chris Jericho © vs Ultimo Dragon is a great match

Steiner Bros vs Muta & Chono is a fun tag match.

Juventud, Lizmark Jr., & Hector Garza vs Psychosis, La Parka, & Villano IV. excellent lucha match, with Villano V taking the loss (not a typo)

Benoit vs Kevin Sullivan is right in line with the rest of their brawls and a great time.

US Title: Jeff Jarrett © beats Mongo McMichael when Debra turns on her husband. haha!

Randy Savage & Scott Hall vs DDP and Mystery Partner (Curt Hennig wcw debut). this is ok.

Piper vs Flair.

Hogan & Dennis Rodman vs Luger & Giant. this is where it DEFINITELY is off the rails. outside of the novelty of Rodman armdragging Lex Luger, this match is terrible.

[jchap82]

I have started to go back and watch the previous years of the next ppv, that's pretty easy for battleground lol, but I don't think I want to sit through almost 30 years of summerslam. Maybe I'll start from 2010, or does anybody have suggestions for really good ones, I think I will definitely watch the first anx at least Bret vs Davey from 92. Any other suggestions?

[Domino_Not_Deuce]

Watching Backlash 2003 and god damn is the bump Rey takes awful to watch. it's the one where he's tied to the stretcher and Big Show just picks him up and throws him off the ring post. Rey just lands face-first with no hands to protect it. Really fun, fast match to lead up to that point though.

[Pete]

Watching Old School from Toronto 11/10/85 - why did they dub over Hillbilly Jim's "Don't Go Messin' With A Country Boy"? Also does it ever mess with anyone else's head when they perform in a non-standard WWF ring? I always noticed in Toronto they would use a NWA-esce ring minus the NWA logos...other times I've seen NWA rings with WWF turnbuckles on them or other minor touches like that. Don't get me started on rings that have the red/white/blue ropes out of correct order.

 

Speaking of Toronto, Meltz had a great story last week about the origins of the famous ramp- they had an Indian heel who was so hated that building the ramp was literally the only way he could get to the ring without getting lynched by the fans. I really wish the WWE kept the local touches intact like the ramp in Toronto, MSG with the ancient bell and the mic being lowered to the ring, etc.

 

And speaking of Indians, I want them to bring back Jinder Mahal with a spiritual enlightenment gimmick. The Fabulous Mullah!

[Pete]

And the point of my coming into the thread: watching an infomercial for the Dean Martin Celebrity Roast DVD set, I'm thought a WWE series along those lines could be the most epic thing ever. Get a bunch of legends totally into their cups to verbally destroy one of their brethren, have Nash host the proceedings, shoot it before a live crowd, etc. 

[supremebve]

And the point of my coming into the thread: watching an infomercial for the Dean Martin Celebrity Roast DVD set, I'm thought a WWE series along those lines could be the most epic thing ever. Get a bunch of legends totally into their cups to verbally destroy one of their brethren, have Nash host the proceedings, shoot it before a live crowd, etc. 

Of course you should get a bunch of old pro wrestlers liquored up and start talking shit about each other, what could possibly go wrong?  I'd love that show, but it would only last until someone said the wrong thing to Harley Race and he decided to beat the living shit out of everyone including the fans.