WWE Network Conversation

[SirSmUgly]

WrestleMania XIV ('98) Notes:

• I’m going to go ahead and give myself more homework by reviewing the Big Five PPVs in 1998 WWF after watching their WCW counterparts that share a month with them. Last time, I talked about the Royal Rumble of 1998, which was a good show and right in line with the quality of Souled Out ’98 for WCW.

 

• I forgot to mention in my previous post that, having owned this series and watched it many times on VHS (!!!), I would rank the Big Five for 1998 in this order, from highest quality to lowest: Survivor Series, Royal Rumble, King of the Ring, WrestleMania, SummerSlam. Let’s see if that order still holds for me in 2023.

 

• The opening video makes it pretty clear that the Attitude Era’s on its way. No more of that camp ‘80s shit! It’s all crotch chops and junk thrusts and middle fingers now. The message: It’s the same company, same history, but now we’re onto some WrestleMania-era fuckery that you’ll one day look back on with nostalgia much like you do Hogan slamming Andre and suffering a spinal explosion or whatever.

 

• The Nation of Domination has great entrance music that formed the spine of pretty much all the Rock’s great entrance music. We hear it as Faarooq and Kama Mustafa come to ringside to enter a fifteen-team battle royale. If one member is eliminated over the top rope, both are eliminated from the match. L.O.D. (2000) are here with Sunny. Hawk and Animal are wearing a cross between S&M wear and the sort of tactical gear that some old military dude hawks on a doomsaying paid commercial that airs on Comedy Central at one in the morning. Anyway, remember the New Midnight Express? Remember the New Blackjacks? Remember Too Cool as the much-less-over Too Much? They’re all here. I even see Ricky and Robert getting a WrestleMania payday in there. I actually like the idea of having a battle royal on every WM 1) to get people a payday and 2) because a battle royal is a nice change of pace in a card.

 

• Barry Windham randomly runs to ringside and eliminates Chainz. I guess, to correct my former remark about the New Blackjacks being in this match, Windham is no longer a New Blackjack, and Chainz was subbing in as a New New Blackjack in this match to help Bradshaw out. 1998 Barry Windham vs. 1998 JBL sounds like a feud from hell. 1988 Barry Windham vs. 2004 JBL sounds pretty good, though! This is why time travel would be a neat thing that ultimately, avaricious and hateful people would use to destroy civilization, kinda like A.I. But at least with time travel, we could book 1988 Barry Windham against 2004 JBL. A.I. can’t make that happen IRL.

 

• The final four teams are the New Midnights, the Harris Twins, L.O.D. 2000, and the Godwinns. A Harris Twin gets dumped, followed by Phineas Godwinn. This sparks the Godwinns to clobber L.O.D with the slop bucket. Phineas snarls at Sunny on his way out, probably remembering that time when she led him on like the doofus that he is so that she could have access to the tag titles. The New Midnights get the advantage, but summarily both Bodacious Bart and Bombastic Bob eat stereo clotheslines that send them over the top rope and to the floor. This sets up a title match between the L.O.D. and whoever the tag champs are at Unforgiven. The crowd likes the Road Warriors and are happy about the outcome of what was a match that I completely forgot happened. And I’ve seen this show multiple times over the years!

 

• Lots of promotional video for this WrestleMania. Lawler, who spent last match perving over Sunny, takes time to perv over Sable. They should upload versions of these shows with Lawler’s commentary edited out because MAN, it’s lame.

 

• TAKA Michinoku and Aguila have a match in what is a half-hearted Vince McMahon attempt to mimic the success of WCW’s cruiserweight division. WCW’s wrestling fans, because of decades of bringing in dudes from New Japan and pushing them as marquee wrestlers, are naturally more open to this sort of match than the provincial WWF fans who don’t believe that much outside of the WWF matters. So I think that it’s meaningful that Taka’s high spots and some of his better looking offense in general get some good pops from the crowd, as I’ve seen WWF crowds sit on their hands for really good high-flying stuff before. Taka apparently idolizes Ricky Choshu, according to Jim Ross. No, wait, that’s just an Oklahoman pronouncing Riki Choshu’s name like an Oklahoman.

 

• We get multiple dives and splashes and planchas from both men. Lawler is like FUCK YOUR PERFECTLY EXECUTED CORKSCREW PLANCHAS, BRIAN CHRISTOPHER IS THE BEST and while I get the in-joke, I really wish that color would actually try to get over some of these extremely well-executed moves. Anyway, these fellas have a pacey match with some great execution of their moves, and the finishing run is good. Taka tries a Michinoku Driver, and Aguila flips out into a rana attempt that gets stuffed with a sitout powerbomb. Taka misses a top rope move, then Aguila misses his own, as he eats a counter-dropkick followed by a Michinoku Driver. TAKA retains the Light Heavyweight Championship that I’m not sure will exist for much longer. Maybe it makes it to 2000, actually? 2001?

 

• Gennifer Flowers interviews The Rock, which is a sentence that I just wrote. The Rock drops a bunch of gems in this. Let’s see:

 

• In response to a question about what he’d do as the leader of the United States: “Well actually Genni, the Rock feels like this: First and foremost, the term leader is really beneath the Rock. The Rock feels like this: A more appropriate term would be ruler.”

 

• In response to a question about how he’d handle the homeless situation: “The Rock feels like this: As long as the Rock has his palatial palace down on South Beach…he couldn’t give a damn whether or not they live in a Frigidaire box or a Kenmore box. As long as those homeless pieces of trash keep their cardboard homes off the Rock’s freshly mowed grass, everything’ll be copacetic.”

 

• In response to a question about the judicial system: “As long as the Rock’s fans understand that he’s the judge AND the jury, everything’ll be fine…actually, Genni, after the Rock contemplated that for a second, if the Rock WERE a jury, nine times outta ten, he’d be a HUNG jury, if you smell what I’m cookin’.”

 

• Not only did teenage me learn a new vocab word that he uses in actual conversation today (copacetic), but he found this interview to be the one that put him fully onto the “Make the Rock the WWF Champ” bandwagon. I don’t know why, but even today, this interview just kills me, like I think it’s one of the funniest interviews I’ve ever seen in pro wrestling. The Rock’s the only wrestler who could do “Bill Clinton preys on young, powerless interns” comedy or dumb political comedy in general that I don’t immediately roll my eyes at in this company and probably in this whole pro wrestling business.

 

• Hunter Hearst Helmsley (with his valet, bodyguard, and charisma source Chyna) comes to the ring to a dope, up-tempo live instrumental of the DX theme. He'll defend his European Championship against Owen Hart. Chyna is handcuffed to Commissioner Slaughter at ringside to prevent her from interfering, but do you think a former WWF World Champion can stop Chyna from doing what she wants to do? Absolutely not. Chyna shoves Sarge to a nice pop and then gets in his face. Chyna fucking RULES and is the BEST. Owen’s cooled off a bit since about December, but still has some juice as a crusading babyface. You’ll be shocked to know that he loses this match and turns heel again, not too much longer after this IIRC. This match is perfectly cromulent and might be one of the two or three best Hunter matches at WM. HHH/Danielson is his best (obviously, IMO, like not even close). I have a soft spot for the first HHH/Undertaker WM match and like it way better than both of his future Undertaker WM matches. Then after that, I’d probably slot this match in. I didn’t love the Batista match, though, so keep that in mind.

 

• This match is, and I felt this way both the first time I saw it as a teen and now, entertaining because Owen’s a fun fiery babyface and Chyna is entertaining no matter what she does due to her immense physical charisma. Hunter is typically a terrible wrestler in heel control, the excellent heel control in the Danielson match notwithstanding. I was actually a little bit mad in a weird way about that match after it was over. Are you telling me HHH had interesting, dynamic, targeted heel offense in him the whole time? What the fuck? It felt like he was trolling me personally after that match. I watched him stink it up in the mid-aughts for minutes at a time in main events, and he damned well knew he could have been doing work that didn’t suck. I digress. Owen’s face gets cut, and the blood is a cool visual. HHH starts to work the ankle, and despite my earlier comments, I think it’s actually decent work from him, especially combined with Owen’s selling of the attack.

 

• Owen makes a comeback and gets a couple of two counts. He hits an enziguri, but sells his ankle, hurt from both multiple weeks of Chyna and HHH attacks and the ankle work in this match. That means a delayed count, which means a 2.9. HHH stuffs a rana attempt with a powerbomb for two. Chyna beefs with Slaughter outside the ring. Both Owen and Trips exchange moves in the finishing run; Owen counters a Pedigree and goes for the Sharpshooter; Trips kicks him away and Owen rebounds from the corner and headbutts Trips in the junk for a 2.9.

 

• Trips tries another Pedigree that gets countered by Owen rolling through into a Sharpshooter. Chyna reachesinto the ring and drags Trips to the ropes behind Tim White’s back because Slaughter is completely ineffectual. He's even more ineffectual after Chyna throws powder into his eyes. Owen comes over to her, and she junk-punches him behind White’s back, allowing HHH to grab Owen and Pedigree him for the win to a fairly sizeable pop, actually. Tim White uncuffs Chyna after the bell rings, and Chyna beats the shit out of Slaughter for a while (also to a pop) before joining the winner in the ring. I think I liked that even more than I previously did. That was really fun; also, anyone who has seen me write about WCW in the past few months know how much I value a woman kicking the shit out of full-grown men in my pro wrestling.

 

• Marc Mero and Sable match up against Luna Vachon and Goldust in a mixed tag match. We get a video package for this match. I hate this “Mero’s a bum and Sable is the real star” thing, not only because I dig Mero as a worker and a personality, but also because I don’t want to see Mero be an abusive husband heel. I want to see him as a somewhat goofy, mostly fiery babyface! This was just the wrong time for Mero to be in the business. I also think that Sable is terrible. She can’t work and has a completely wooden personality. Even worse, this video package had Dustin in a bustier with fake boobs built into it, which was very visually unpleasant! YMMV, IMO, and all that.

 

• Ross notes that mixed tags at WrestleMania are rare and notes that Goldust’s pops teamed with Sapphire against Randy Savage and Sherri in one of these rare events at WM. That feels like a totally different company, time, and maybe even universe. This match is at least smartly laid out; everyone wants to see Sable kill off Luna, so Luna runs away from her and tags out immediately when she can. I also don’t want to see boring-ass Sable kick Goldust in the face. Bring Chyna back out and have her fuck everyone in this ring up instead if we’re gonna have more “women beating up men” spots. The crowd explodes when Sable finally corners Luna and goes off.

 

• The other thing is that Mero and Goldust work well together and actually have a really fun run after the spot where Sable beats down Luna. Mero’s knees might be shit, but he hits a dope moonsault and a nice super Frankensteiner in there. Luna breaks up a pinfall after Mero hits a TKO, which leads to Sable making a blind tag. Sable gets two off a powerbomb, then gets massive chants while Luna finally works her over a bit. Sable eventually catches Luna in a TKO for three to a huuuuuuge pop. I mean, this was the best possible match you could lay out and execute with these four. It was surprisingly decent and sorta fun, as much of a charisma vacuum as I find Sable to be.

 

• I completely forgot that Colonel Parker was in WWF at this time as Tennessee Lee. So, Jeff Jarrett comes off of what I think was a great heel run in WCW to a) be the NWA National Champion alongside Jim Cornette and then to b) go back to his Double J get-up/valet Genni Flowers to the ring. What the fuck, man?  

 

• Genni is the ring announcer for the next match: The Rock defends the Intercontinental Championship against Ken Shamrock. The Rock, as I mentioned in my Royal Rumble ’98 review, has been quite creative when it comes to screwing Ken Shamrock out of winning this title. So, we see a video package in which the Rock destroys Shamrock with an unprotected chair shot. Gross. Then he does it to Faarooq in the same package. Ew, unprotected chair shots.

 

• Shamrock runs down and immediately puts in work on Rocky. The crowd is hot for this one, too. So, the Rock can lose his title by DQ in this match, which makes a lot of sense considering how often Rock has finagled his way into keeping the gold over his reign, as I recall. Speaking of heel control segments, I think the Rock struggled with those early on, but he’s improving with each showing. He even drops a People’s Elbow that gets a decent reaction in this match. Anyway, the story of this match is that Shamrock’s fed up with the Rock and might get DQ’d himself. Shamrock grabs a chair, for example, though he ends up losing it after a confrontation with the ref and taking another unprotected shot to the head behind the ref’s back as a result.

 

• As it turns out, the chair shot just wakes up Shamrock, who locks on the ankle lock shortly after and gets a tap out. Shamrock fights off the onrushing NOD members and goes back to putting the Rock in the ankle lock well after the match. Faarooq fakes a save, but then flicks the Rock off and leaves. Rocky’s bleeding from a busted mouth while Shamrock keeps on the ankle lock, which (while not quite Austin/Bret) is a neat visual. Officials come down to stop Shamrock, so he belly-to-belly suplexes a bunch of them. That gets the match outcome reversed; Shamrock is DQ’d and the Rock retains. Man, the Rock took his share of L’s at WrestleMania, didn’t he? The Rock is stretchered out with the belt draped over him. That’s our champ! 

 

• Wait, hold on, after the decision is reversed, Shamrock runs down and beats the shit out of the Rock some more, slamming him on the bandstand and tossing him into equipment. The Rock lays there, bleeding and writhing in pain. That’s still our champ!

 

• That old “you think we’re not athletes, but we fuck up our bodies all the time” PSA/ad that plays here is a classic, now that I think about it.

 

• Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie/Terry Funk face off with the New Age Outlaws in a Dumpster Match for the WWF Tag Team Championships. OK, this is funny: On WCW programming at this time, Brad Armstrong wears a T-shirt that says ARMSTRONG CURSE. Road Dogg’s t-shirt tonight says, on the front, LOOK MOM, NO CURSE. Ahahahahaha. Admittedly, the shirt also says DOGG 4:20 on the back, but hey, we can’t have it all. This match is basically a casket match, but there’s a dumpster instead of a casket and both guys on the team have to be in it with the door shut before the match is over. I really like casket matches (maybe I’m just weird like that), so I’m into this. I do hate the cheat of the dumpster used to end the match not being the “official” one, leading to a negation of the title change. This is a garbage match; why are we being precious about which dumpster gets used?

 

• The match itself is fun garbage wrestling, though. Billy Gunn bleeds from his nose early. Ooh, blood in three matches, and not a blade was used! A ladder gets involved because why the fuck not? There’s a wild spot in which Cactus and Gunn trade punches on top of the ladder; down below, Road Dogg cracks Funk in the head with a cookie sheet, starting a domino effect where Funk topples the ladder and the guys on the ladder land in the dumpster. The Outlaws double powerbomb Funk into the dumpster, think they're about to win, and then angrily realize that Cactus crawled out and away while they were doing that. They chase Cactus down and fight him into the backstage area.

 

• These dudes just hit Cactus with everything they can find. See, WCW at this time would typically have these creatively safe garbage brawls that, other than maybe having a creative table spot from Public Enemy in them sometimes, would be the same thing over and over. This match, on the other hand, is eclectic in its mayhem. There’s that previous spot with the ladder, dudes getting piledriven on pallets, and a forklift used in the finish (Funk uses it to dump the Outlaws into a backstage dumpster before Foley shuts the lids on them). Funk yells I GOT YA, YOU SON OF A BITCH while banging wildly on the dumpster as Howard Finkel announces the new tag champs back in the ring. This was some wild shit, man, I really liked it, like way more than I remember.

 

• In general, I think this show is better than I would have rated it before this re-watch. I’ve had a lot of fun with it, and most of these matches are laid out in ways that are creative, make perfect sense for the participants involved, or both.

 

• Maybe I had a low opinion of this show partly because I remember Undertaker/Kane as being an interminable slog. However, considering how much higher I am on this show as I watch it today, might this match be better than I remember it? The video package to introduce it isn’t bad, mostly because I could watch Paul Bearer ham it up ALL DAY.

 

• But no, this match sucks. Pete Rose comes down and gets spiked by Kane, so that’s funny (and the start of a great running joke). Rose trolls the partisan crowd of Red Sox fans pretty good, actually. This dude’s a natural heel. I mean, I’m not sure you want Kane to get a massive face pop here, but whatever, this was entertaining. I also think druids holding torches to light the Undertaker’s way to the ring is another great visual in a show full of ‘em.

 

• But then the bell rings, and Kane is one dude who has almost no great matches for someone who has been in a position to have a lot of high-on-the-card, even high-profile ones. I’m rifling my brain for a great match that Kane’s worked. I’m sure he’s worked a verging-on-great tag once or twice, but I don’t know about singles, and I definitely don’t remember him ever working something great. I think Kane was best as the heavy in the Kane-and-Waltman tag team, and most of the greatness of that team was X-Pac being one of the best FIPs in the history of American pro wrestling, like Ricky Morton-level in his execution of that role.

 

• I digress yet again. This match is full of plodding offense and bores the shit out of me. This thing could have been five minutes shorter and all the more bearable for it. By the laws of pro wrestling, Kane is punished for pulling the Undertaker up after chokeslamming and pinning him. ‘Taker comes back, kicks out of a Kane Tombstone, and hits three Tombstones for the win (Kane kicks out of the first two). I will say that ‘Taker does try with a spot where he dives through the Spanish announcing table, but no, that doesn’t get close to saving this thing. The best parts were the pre-match gaga, the Undertaker table dive, and Paul Bearer’s antics outside the ring. Bearer yelling DAMN YOU, DAMN YOU TO HELL at Undertaker or going full Redd Foxx with the pantomime heart attack after Kane barely kicks out of the second Tombstone is so good. Paul Bearer rules. It’s also a nice touch that Undertaker stops just crossing Kane’s arms and actually lateral covers and hooks Kane’s leg on the third Tombstone. But yeah, those little things, while cool, aren’t enough to cover for the black hole of awfulness that is Kane.

 

• We’re definitely making a transition from the old days to the new ones: There’s a promo commercial with Blassie, Ladd, and Monsoon talking about how the old days are gone, but they love these high-flying, never-say-die fellas in the current days of the Attitude era. Vince Jr. is very good at playing up his company's legacy and nostalgia. He has a knack for it.

 

• It’s main event time! After all the video packages, Tyson comes to the ring in a DX shirt. Not to spoil things, but it’s a bluff! Cone Stold is his man! So, people always talk about Michaels being clearly hobbled in this match, but I’m not sure that it makes much of a noticeable different in his work. This is a fun little match in which we unfortunately get a shot of Michaels’s bare ass, but at least we get it out of the way early. I mean, Michaels takes a backdrop onto HHH standing on the floor. His work is about like usual.

 

• HHH and Chyna get booted from ringside after Helmsley attacks Austin. Austin shrugs off a Michaels attack to toss Helmsley into the bandstand area before HHH leaves; these dues follow up by using some of the band equipment and the dumpster from the tag match as weapons. Back in the ring, Michaels takes a full speed flip bump into the corner that sounds gnarly. HBK avoids a Stunner attempt, but gets shoved off the apron and into the commentary desk. One of the things about this whole show is that it feels violent, man, dudes are out there crashing into everything and getting hit with various instruments. Three guys bled even without any obvious blading going on. This show feels modern, or what was modern at the time. Uncensored didn’t have that feel outside of maybe the triple threat match, which was a far worse example of arena brawling than the dumpster match on this show. Everything about WWF right now is simply cooler and trendier than WCW.

 

• Michaels does start moving gingerly at the end of the match, but he’s taking wild bumps over the top rope anyway, so yeah. Michaels works Stone Cold over, keeping him outside the ring and draping him over the table with a baseball slide. Michaels targets Austin’s knee with some fun offense, including a great-looking chop block. Austin’s very bendy and the way he falls makes it look nasty. Michaels locks on a Figure Four, but Austin turns it. Stone Cold makes a comeback, and I only somewhat hate the catapult that Austin uses as part of it because I just can’t get over that move. I can accept an Irish whip as a move that doesn’t break illusion, though, so I know it’s just a weird quirk of mine. Michaels goes for a sleeper, but Austin backs him right into the ref to break it. The ref’s down, and we’re here in the finishing run. Michaels lands a Savage Elbow, then tunes up the band. We get a nicely-worked series of SCM/Stunner reversals that leads to a Stone Cold Stunner and Tyson counting the three. Tyson’s count is what Nick Patrick’s count SHOULD HAVE BEEN at Starrcade.

 

• I also don’t feel like HBK’s selling after getting punched by Tyson is egregious, though people have said that he no-sold it or whatever. No, he just laid there, working his jaw, looking like he was halfway unconscious.

 

• Man, this show pretty much ruled except for the Undertaker/Kane match. It was way better than Uncensored, like the two shows aren’t even close in quality (and wow, the main event had a definitive finish!). I’m thinking that maybe this shouldn’t be ranked lower than KotR for my tastes? Eh, we’ll see when we get there. I can’t put it above the Rumble, which I love, and Deadly Games is a masterpiece of booking, but we’ll have to see about KotR.

[Cobra Commander]

hearing the Lawler/Aldo postmatch whiskey angle on BTS and Vince is calling Lawler pouring whiskey on Aldo Montoya like it's Jake Roberts' snake biting the Macho Man.. didn't notice that when I saw this episode last week

[odessasteps]

That's a weird angle, given Lawler doesn't drink. 

[clintthecrippler]

56 minutes ago, odessasteps said:

That's a weird angle, given Lawler doesn't drink. 

But it did give us the "Jake pretends to relapse before his one-on-one match against Lawler, stumbles and staggers into the ring where multiple officials are out to the ring expressing concern, only to hit the quick snap DDT when the bell rings" angle which was some awesome pro wrestling bullshit.

Of course it would have been better if Jake didn't relapse again and then do that while shoot drunk on the indies for the next decade. 

[Cobra Commander]

WWE Raw (8/9/1993)

We're still in the hangar in upstate New York.

Lex Luger is talking to Tim Raines and throwing out the first pitch at a White Sox game! Macho Man is back on commentary.

The Native American Tatanka vs Mr Hughes: Lots of foam tomahawks in the crowd that may or may not have been stolen from the Atlanta Braves. Bit of a gnarly near wipeout on a leapfrog. Mr. Hughes never found that right spot that would harness his ability to adapt the Big Bubba gimmick instead of giving him a 3 month stint before firing him because he fell asleep or something. I believe that IRS and Mr. Hughes never crossed paths despite their similarities in wrestling attire. Hughes shirt does not protect him from T.N.A. Tatanka's stereotype chop attacks. They fight on the floor and T.N.A. Tatanka wins by countout after backdropping Hughes on the floor. Hughes uses the urn to beat up T.N.A. Tatanka postmatch. But there's a black wreath at ringside that gets dumped on T.N.A. Tatanka.

The Native American Tatanka here for ICO PRO.

Lex Luger talks some more in an effort to make people like him. Also he played pro football (unless you're a snob about the USFL)

The Bushwhackers and The Macho Midget vs Blake Beverly, The Brooklyn Brawler and Little Louie: Macho Man has loaned out his midget child to the Bushwhackers. Tiger Jackson breakdances prematch. Not sure what happened to the other Beverly around this time. Little Louie looks like he could be working a knockoff Chucky gimmick if Midget Louie Anderson stops working. Not sure if the Macho Midget would be more or less horrifying if he was wearing a mask if it that was actually his face. Lombardi jobs to a Macho Midget splash. This was a certainly a match that happened. Heenan lobbing out jokes in a furious effort to make that worthwhile

Lex and Yokozuna sign the contract, tonight!

Jim Cornette is here with Yokozuna. He's the American Spokesman. Talk about being in the right place at the right time. Jack Tunney's in the ring for this special occasion. I think they've beaten contract signing segments into the ground but as time has gone on, the recent contract signings haven't served as a way to get all the WWF suits on TV in the ring for the signing. Lex's suit is only mildly patriotic, He is restrained for this occasion. The contract is signed. If Lex Luger doesn't beat Yokozuna , he will never get another shot at the WWF title. It must be 1000 degrees in the ring with all the head sweat going on.

Razor Ramon vs Dan Dubiel: hiptoss, Sack of shit, Abdominal stretch with leg hook, Chin lock, top rope back suplex, Razor's Edge, ballgame. All the moves you could wish for in a Scott Hall squash.

Summerslam Report! It's in 3 weeks. Lex/Yokozuna. Bret/Lawler. Undertaker/Giant Gonzalez. HBK/Perfect. Contact your cable companies.

Jim Cornette and the Heavenly Bodies are backstage.

The Heavenly Bodies vs Bobby Who and Mike Bucci: The objects of every American Woman's lust is a distinction to make in an arena that's like 2 minutes from Canada. Nice float over DDT by Del Ray that Bucci invented for him. Bucci looks barely coordinated at this time in his life. Bodies win with a Del Ray splash off the top. Fortunately he would get a little better over time.

Promotional Consideration Paid For By The Following: WWF toys, Hulk Hogan! Virgil! IRS!

Hacksaw Jim Duggan faces Yokozuna. The Steiner take on Money Inc. The Summerslam Spectacular (Sunday August 22nd). I assume this show is on YouTube somewhere because the Hidden Gems aren't on Peacock.

NEXT WEEK: GIANT GONZALEZ SPECIAL INTERVIEW! (who's the Gary Michael Cappetta of the 1993 WWF who could speak Spanish in public?) Ludvig Borga! Men on a Mission! IRS vs El Matador! 123 Kid vs Ted DiBiase. At least one of those things sounds good!

Edited August 9, 2023 by Cobra Commander

[Cobra Commander]

WCW Saturday Night (8/7/93)

We're live from the Disney/MGM Studios. It's Saturday Night from essentially the setting of countless Worldwide/Pro episodes. WCW has a rainbow logo (but this show wasn't taped in June?). Rick Rude and The Equalizer were pictured on the big screen behind Jesse.

Sting vs Bill Payne: Vince would insist on not having an enhancement guy named Bill Payne on the same show as Maxx Payne. Harley Race is at ringside with two fat guys who look like the Assassin (the Kongs). Sting wins with the Splash and Scorpion, one of the cooler finisher combos of the mid-90s.

Tex Slazenger/Shanghai Pierce vs Chris Benoit/Bobby Eaton: It wouldn't be 1993/94 WCW without Tex and Shanghai. Chris Benoit was still around WCW at this time? I think this is heels vs heels and the crowd responses don't seem to indicate otherwise. The fans boo after Bobby pins Shanghai with a swinging neckbreaker.

Marcus Alexander Bagwell vs Yoshi Kwan: Our first look at noted Asian dude Chris Champion Yoshi Kwan. Kwan looks like John Wayne as Genghis Khan in the Conqueror. Hopefully Judy told Chris not to do the crane kick to Bagwell. Since the last time I checked in on WCW Saturday Night, Harley Race stole Cactus Jack's bag. Chris Champion is almost enough of a maniac to make this ridiculous looking gimmick work. Kwan wins with a weird looking nerve hold. Yoshi Kwan now has Cactus Jack's bag. Yoshi Kwan looks a little too much like Leo Kruger for my taste.

Big questions about Dustin Rhodes and his mystery partner. Rick Rude and the Equalizer want to know who this mystery partner is. Dustin has clues. Hey, there's more infamous mystery partners from WCW's Summer of 1993.

Rick Rude/The Equalizer vs Warren Quinn/Leroy Howard: Gonna be hard for me to buy into Dave Sullivan as something other than simpleton who has a pet rabbit. Equalizer looks like a fake Windham family member. Rude pins Leroy Howard after the Rude Awakening.

Too Cold Scorpio vs Mercenary #2: Until proven otherwise, i'm assuming this is Jack Victory. Mercenary #1 is apparently busy this week. Regal is is now a heel by this time in 1993. Scorpio is facing Regal at the Clash which is either fun or disappointing. Mercenary #2 is a dude in facepaint and camo, noted Mercenary attire. Scorpio wins with the 450.

Maxx Payne/Paul Orndorff vs Ricky Steamboat/Johnny B. Badd: Not sure which tag team combination is weirder. Johnny B. Badd is wearing a mask because Maxx Payne blasted him in the face with the Badd Blaster IIRC. Maxx Payne looks like a guy who should have had an ECW run post-Man Mountain Rock. Fun match for a little bit. Then Paul Orndorff pulls out brass knucks, Johnny B. Badd takes them, he punches Maxx in the stomach and eventually the ref catches him and the heels win by DQ.

We close with Ric Flair, Arn (and Paul Roma) being interviewed on the stage.

Short episode this week, gonna guess that the Braves had a big game before or after this show.

[Cobra Commander]

10 hours ago, Cobra Commander said:

gonna guess that the Braves had a big game before or after this show.

For the record, Braves had a 7:55 Eastern start for a game vs the Expos which they lost 5-3 in 10 innings. But several of the WCWSN episodes around this time are a bit shorter than the norm.

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

17 hours ago, Cobra Commander said:

WCW Saturday Night (8/7/93)

Rick Rude/The Equalizer vs Warren Quinn/Leroy Howard: Gonna be hard for me to buy into Dave Sullivan as something other than simpleton who has a pet rabbit.

So a week prior, Rude and Equalizer go against Brad Anderson and Tommy Tanner, and Rude and Equalizer do the whip/chokeslam they did in this match.

Equalizer puts Tommy Tanner right on top of his head. To this day it still makes me scream, it's so reckless.

[Curt McGirt]

On 8/9/2023 at 4:01 PM, Cobra Commander said:

Lots of foam tomahawks in the crowd that may or may not have been stolen from the Atlanta Braves.

I can see it now. "Hey Pat, do we have an Indian on the roster aside from Strongbow? Goddammit, pal, we could make a fortune with this gimmick!"

"Yeah Vince, and when Turner see that he gonna go banana!"

[twiztor]

of course, leading to the introduction of Charlie Norris on the WCW side. 

[Cobra Commander]

Of the various gimmicks on 1993 WCW, Charlie Norris was cited in more lawsuits than Yoshi Kwan, wasn’t he?

Yoshi Kwan had the look of “gimmick Chris Kanyon would have used as a one-off to get on TV before someone realized it was horribly offensive”

[zendragon]

The Kane v Undertaker match is pretty much move for move the same match Taker had against Brian Lee at summerslam.

I think Kane's greatest hits are the pair or Benoit matches and PPV matches against Test and batista that are surprisingly good

[SirSmUgly]

22 minutes ago, zendragon said:

The Kane v Undertaker match is pretty much move for move the same match Taker had against Brian Lee at summerslam.

I think Kane's greatest hits are the pair or Benoit matches and PPV matches against Test and batista that are surprisingly good

I'm not going to watch the Taker vs. Taker matchup again; it is easier on my psyche to believe you. As a side note, I was a dumb kid who was HYPED for that match and when I checked out the tape three months after the show or whatever, I was down bad. 

I don't remember any of those matches, and I'll need to steel myself to watch Kane matches on purpose, but I'm making a note of this and will at some point come back around and do some work to find the best Kane match.

Not that much work; I'm not a masochist. But a little work. 

[zendragon]

Now I actually like both Kane v Taker WM matches and I think the inferno matches are fun in their uniqueness 

[Eivion]

1 hour ago, SirSmUgly said:

I don't remember any of those matches, and I'll need to steel myself to watch Kane matches on purpose, but I'm making a note of this and will at some point come back around and do some work to find the best Kane match.

The best match with Kane in it is the TLC with Kane, Bryan, and Ryback vs. the Shield. 

[Cobra Commander]

Let me take a look as Clash Of The Champions 24 (August 18th, 1993) since I just watched an August 1993 WCW episode the other day.

Sting and Flair vs the Kongs! The Blonds vs Anderson/Roma! Vader vs Davey Boy Smith! Boy what else could happen.

We're in Daytona Beach, the same building that hosted the Hulk Hogan heel turn 3 years later

Flyin Brian is injured and since the TV showing the title change is already recorded, he will be replaced by Lord Steven Regal.

We open with Arn and Roma vs Steve Austin and Steven Regal: Roma looks so out of place in this group. Even in a situation where they corralled Steven Regal to team with Steve Austin for a night. Nice that Bill Dundee got to see this momentous occasion. Jesse keeps saying shyster lawyers because, yeah. Not sure how many heels were available on short notice but Regal is probably as good as you can get for this situation. Got some fun teasing of the WCW Over the Top Rope DQ rule. Fun match for a bit. Arn gets the hot tag, Steve Austin gets kicked into Sir William and Arn pins him with a schoolboy to win the titles. Jesse is outraged that Arn held the tights on the winning pinfall. Arn and Roma talk to Eric Bischoff postmatch and say very similar things with Arn doing it better.

Next up, Bobby Eaton vs Too Cold Scorpio: Bobby Eaton replaces Steven Regal in this match (well, I guess Austin wouldn't want to team with Arn Anderson's best friend Bobby Eaton in a tag team title match). In a sense, not the first time that Regal and Eaton would do business with each other. The very southern looking head of Hawaiian Tropic is in the arena tonight. Two women in Hooters outfits go up the stairs in the background. Bobby hits a swinging backbreaker and top rope elbow. Scorpio wins with the 450. Or as Tony describes it "the 360 from the top" (uh, Tony).

Maxx Payne vs Johnny B. Badd, "Norma Jean" (Guitar) vs Mask: Maxx Payne sneak attacks Johnny before the Baddblaster routine. Maxx Payne pulls off a mask only for there to be another mask underneath. Upon seeing how large Maxx is next to Johnny, I'd think that a Billed At 6'6" Maxx Payne would have looked huge in 1996 ECW. Johnny gets the pin after Maxx misses a splash off the top. Johnny B. Badd gets the guitar and he pledges to unmask himself in 3 days on Saturday Night. I believe that's the equivalent of winning Hair vs Hair and then getting your haircut just to spite the other guy.

Welcome To A Flair For The Gold with Sting, Davey Boy, and a mystery guest. Oh this should go great. Ric Flair marrying his on-screen maid like 25 years later is amazing foreshadowing. This set looks like a morning talk show set like I'm expecting Regis to show up. Sid, Colonel Parker, and Harlem Heat show up and Sid yells at our heroes. And you know exactly what happens here. Sid yells some more until the Ole voice starts up. Just imagine, there's a non-insignificant number of people who saw the Shockmaster and Hulk Hogan's heel turn in person. Just imagine, the Shockmaster is the 3rd member of the nWo, here to get his revenge on WCW for placing that 2x4 in his way in August 1993. And that's it, segment over. Great use of time. Not sure how much money was lit aflame by fucking that up because let's be honest, the Shockmaster is pretty lame even if they did the intro right. Surprising how early this segment was in the show considering it's the main thing people remember from Clash 23.

Ricky Steamboat vs Paul Orndorff for the TV title: A main event in any WWF arena in 1986-87 (not a diss). Why yes, one guy gets heel heat with Paula chants and the the hero is named Ricky. They're using Buffer for the TV title match. They must be getting an amazing rate for Buffer in 1993 to use him in multiple matches. They dim the lights and use a spotlight to denote that this is impor-tantttt (or the lights are failing in part of the arena). To be honest, they should dim the lights more often these days so that we don't see so many of the bored looking people who are probably not bored. Sting faces Ric Flair for the NWA title this Saturday (they team with each other tonight). There's sort of a weird comfort food thing with me and Orndorff since when I got into wrestling in 1997, I would check out stuff from the video store which would include 80s WWF that included no shortage of heel Orndorff including the cage match with Hogan. Nice near falls where Orndorff puts his feet on the ropes, gets tapped on the back, thinks he's won, and Jesse gives him the TV title belt. The tide turns there to Ricky and Ricky Steamboat wins the TV title by reversing a backbreaker into a cradle (not quite the Wrestlemania 3 finish but). Orndorff attacks Steamboat postmatch and piledrives him on the TV title on the ramp.

Fall Brawl! September 19th! From Houston. War Games: Sting, Davey Boy, and Dustin Rhodes vs Sid, Harlem Heat, and Vader.

Eric Bischoff interviews Harley Race with the Kongs.

Sting and Ric Flair vs the Colossal Kongs: They got Buffer to do the introductions for the match? The Kongs are from the "unexplored confines of South Africa" and this is before someone told them to stop billing one of the Kongs as "King Kong". Buffer is describing Sting and Flair as "professional wrestling champions of the world" which is one way to put it. Sting slams both fat boys quickly. The fans are hot for this. Stinger splash to Awesome Kong and a top rope splash. As far as random goons go, the Kongs were basically the Putty Patrol for Sting and Flair. 

Postmatch Sting and Flair promo to tell us that hey we're doing a Sting vs Flair NWA title match on Saturday Night.

Rick Rude and the Equalizer vs Dustin Rhodes and a mystery partner: Rick Rude tells the Daytona dirtbags to keep their mouths shut as he removes his robe. The mystery partner makes his entrance in the Camaro that some fan will win and it's Road Warrior Animal. Rick Rude prepared for Animal though, but Rick Rude doesn't know that Animal's drawing Lloyd's of London and that the partner is actually Road Warrior Hawk. Nice to see that Dustin isn't still mad about the Road Warriors spiking his dad in the eye in 88. Anyways, this was the tease from the Saturday Night episode that I watched. Equalizer fucked up being put into a reverse neckbreaker to avoid it. Dustin pins Equalizer after Equalizer lifts Dustin for a slam and Hawk knocked Dustin on top of Equalizer in a match that I used Duolingo during. Keep your pen and paper handy to get the information to win that Camaro that smells like Road Warrior Animal.

The Camaro is a Z-28, for the record. The call only costs $1.49. What an amazing scam. Or mail Omaha, Nebraska. So much B-Roll of a Camaro. Make a little road warrior history.

Davey Boy Smith vs Vader for the WCW Title: Tony assures us that you can hear about the Camaro giveaway on WCW TV until September 12th. The DQ rule is waived, if Vader is disqualified, he loses the title. We got a fight on the outside to start and Vader takes off the mask early. Vader takes a suplex on the ramp. Pretty good match because this is 1993 Vader and Davey can go and be British Sting in the Vader formula. Davey Boy powerslam with a ref bump of course. Harley clips the knee and Vader lands on top to retain.

And Cactus Jack has returned to attack Vader and we'reouttatimefanscyaonsaturdaynight

Let me guess.. people were expecting a better mystery partner for WarGames than the Shockmaster when you consider they were doing a different mystery partner angle for Dustin, and all the other people with reasons to go after Vader in 1993. Of course Jack is sorta on his own rail in regards to Vader and the what that was building towards.

In the scheme of things, if the Shockmaster didn’t fuck up so badly, this Clash is remembered more for the Jack return, isn’t it? If it’s remembered at all.

Edited August 12, 2023 by Cobra Commander

[zendragon]

Just turned 67 and still going strong!

[Cobra Commander]

this might be the 1993 WCW i've watched lately talking but is Jesse Ventura the best commentary partner that Tony Schiavone ever had? I wouldn't say Tony was the best commentary partner that Jesse ever had but Jesse's best WCW work was with Schiavone.

[odessasteps]

You have the weird deal where Tony and JR were together and I guess that's a weird hybrid booth. 

[Cobra Commander]

I'm sure the issue was settled long ago but wasn't there a bit of turf war with Schiavone and JR in WCW? especially after Schiavone came back from the WWF (despite his feeling like he wanted to leave WCW again upon returning)

Not sure how many of these clips are online and I posted one of them in another thread but Schiavone in his last months in the WWF would stooge off of Gorilla Monsoon in segments that are kinda weird if you're used to any other era of Tony Schiavone on TV.

Here's another clip of a Wrestling Challenge opening with Schiavone and Gorilla: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bef0P8WPe90

[odessasteps]

Does he still say his best time in wrestling was his year in wwf?

[Cobra Commander]

Notes from Prime Time Wrestling (8/8/1988)-

Bret Hart vs Dangerous Danny Davis: Jimmy Hart isn't at ringside at the Garden (code for "he's booked in another city"). A good amount of bullshit for awhile until Bret takes control. Danny Davis eyepokes out of a backbreaker to take over. Multiple arm drop spots for Danny Davis' chinlock. Bret Hart wins by countering a duckdown into a piledriver. Not sure what it says for your singles push when you're having 9 minute matches with Dangerous Danny Davis

Terry Taylor vs Scott Casey: From before Terry Taylor's career got the albatross gimmick. We're at Maple Leaf Gardens. Taylor struts a little and also keeps insisting that his hair is being pulled. Lots of openings for Gorilla and Sean Mooney to talk about Toronto wrestling history and how much larger Toronto is in the 80s compared to when Gorilla started. Terry Taylor looks like pro wrestler Jefferson D'Arcy around this time. Terry Taylor wins with the Scorpion Deathlock ("I believe he calls that move The Scorpion" - Sean Mooney)

Special Report: Summerslam: It's in 3 weeks. Ted Dibiase knocks Macho Man off the stage and there's a 2 on 1 attack with Andre providing an assist. Craig DeGeorge tells us that Jesse Ventura is the guest referee. Hulk Hogan is back from filming a movie to be the Macho Man's partner. Big Boss Man vs Koko B. Ware! Bolsheviks vs Powers of Pain! Hart Foundation vs Demolition! British Bulldogs vs Rougeaus! The Rock vs Dino Bravo! The Barber vs the Honky Tonk Man! JYD vs Rick Rude! Bad News Brown vs Ken Patera! Also Brother Love will have an very very special guest (which turns out to not be Ric Flair)

Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs Pete Sanchez: From Wrestling Challenge. Hacksaw wins in a few minutes with a clothesline.

Sean Mooney here to show us promos by Demolition and the Hart Foundation. Jimmy Hart with Fuji and Demolition. I think Bret eventually became a better promo than The Anvil by like 1991/92-ish but he's still rough in 1988. So how much of an overlap is there between Sean Mooney and Craig DeGeorge working here because it seems like their skillsets overlap some.

Speaking of Craig DeGeorge, here he is with Honky Tonk Man and Jimmy Hart.

Junkyard Dog vs Outlaw Ron Bass: From Madison Square Garden. I did Duolingo during this match. They had a commercial break mid-match. JYD cutting his hair was a bad move as noted before. JYD with a surprise victory as he rolled over on drop of Bass after Bass slammed him. "It happened so quickly", not usually a phrase used in regards to JYD/Ron Bass in 1988.

Let's take a look at Brother Love who is surprised when the Macho Man shows up instead of Ted DiBiase. Why do Hogan and Savage insist on referring to DiBiase as the Multimillion Dollar Man. Hulk Hogan shows up too. They run Brother Love off and do a promo

And the feature match this week is Rougeaus vs The Rockers: One of these wrestlers murdered a man (allegedly) and the other murdered the Dynamite Kid's self esteem by hitting him in the mouth with a roll of quarters. We're in the Garden again. This should be a good match. Superstar Graham doesn't believe that the Rougeaus love America because they don't know our holidays. Meanwhile Lord Alfred is a latent heel for this occasion. Jacques threw a neat dropkick early to Shawn Michaels. We switch from Jacques vs Shawn to Raymond vs Marty. Lots of good tag team action. The Rougeau abdominal stretch/thrustkick combo was a cool doubleteam. Shawn Michaels gets the hot tag. Shawn hits the top rope fistdrop but chaos is going on. He goes up again, Jacques pushes him into crotching himself in a gnarly looking bump and Raymond pins Shawn. The Bulldogs show up to tell the ref that shenanigans went on to end this match. The ref doesn't change anything and the Bulldogs drive the Rougeaus from the ring.

Next week's Prime Time is a three hour special.

So, is Prime Time Wrestling the rare WWF show that ran credits? or did a few other shows from back then using credits?

[Technico Support]

Just a quick note…I just watched the 30 minute Iron Man between Rude and Steamboat from whatever Summer-themed ppv that was.  Fuuuck man, those guys were absolutely two of the best to ever do it.  STRONGLY recommend.

[Cobra Commander]

3 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

Just a quick note…I just watched the 30 minute Iron Man between Rude and Steamboat from whatever Summer-themed ppv that was.  Fuuuck man, those guys were absolutely two of the best to ever do it.  STRONGLY recommend.

Beach Blast 92, which also had an awesome Sting/Cactus Jack match directly before Steamboat/Road

[SirSmUgly]

I fell off of my Mid-South watch once I got to '85. The bloom is off the rose. Still, I wanted to finish what's on the Network and see some Power Pro, so I fired it up again. First thing I see is a workout video showcasing Butch Reed in which Joel Watts and his dork-ass friends kick the whole thing off with some shitty breakdancing.

...

...this is going to be a rough year for Mid-South until the Midnights and Fantastics get back here.