PeteF3

Great to hear more support for the year-by-year bootleg sets--Chad and Tim are working on doing the same for the AWA. I'd eventually like to see one for as many conceivable promotions as possible. Memphis in particular sounds like a beast to tackle--just trying to re-create Tim's '77 WWWF set with Crockett was a different animal because of the greater turnover and amount of "stuff" happening.

I'm honestly not sure if this is wrong. Wrestling companies have always had trouble selling the paying audience on hypotheticals. And that's wrestling companies everywhere: WrestleMania 4, the Crockett Cup, the Champions Carnival in the 1980's when Baba abandoned it entirely...there seem to be way more disappointments in tournaments than big successes.

"This Is Your Life, Rock" was the highest-rated segment in Raw history. It certainly did a monster rating, but I think it's worth noting that even at the height of the Russo Era, the highest quarter hour in Raw history belonged to...a wrestling match (Austin regaining the title from Undertaker). Also, DX's WCW invasion was the turning point in the Monday Night Wars. It's not even the most DX-centered turning point (X-Pac's debut was a bigger deal), much less the most company-centered.

And that Austin Aries tweet sort of makes me think the same thing about him.

DiBiase used a rash of moves before settling on the Dream. I remember the spinning toe hold, the reverse elbow off the turnbuckle, what would be known later as the Million Dollar Buster (cobra clutch legsweep held into a pin), and possibly the ol' powerslam as well. Adrian Adonis switched to using a modified DDT in 1985 (set up like a vertical suplex but with Adonis dropping straight down--and not like a brainbuster either). When Jake showed up in '86, it was back to Goodnight Irene. Shawn at one point in his heel days (around the time Diesel appeared) switched from the teardrop to a straight piledriver. Eventually Scott Hall told him, "Shawn, the kick's your best fucking move. Just use that."

It ran uncensored on Prime Time and to open Survivor Series.

That certainly didn't help. Also, they had no top stars after Vader left. They went from Vader headlining to........ Joe Malenko. Then they made the ill-fated decision to work with New Japan. They got buried in that feud and it killed the company. Also on top of that, Takada lost a great deal of face when he more or less announced a retirement so he could run for office a la Inoki and Hase, then almost immediately reneged. He had already developed a media reputation for being indecisive for whatever reason, and that just added to it. His failure to issue a challenge to Rickson Gracie arguably hurt more than the Anjo incident by itself. Of course there was nothing Takada could do with Gracie, but from the casual fans' perception it wasn't seen that way.

No way would they have given Mountie that much primo time and effort just to write him out. Guys who were written out simply disappeared from the WWF. They wanted "jailbird" chants thrown his way--something that would lead to his next program.

Shinobu Kandori and the other LLPW ladies showing up on the LPWA Super Ladies' Showdown PPV. I'm not sure you've quite lived until you've seen a Shinobu Kandori match with commentary by Jim Cornette.

I think the Wizard only did commentary for matches on All-American and maybe Spotlight. He didn't even appear on TV, just in voiceover form.

The Black Scorpion.

As were Rodger Kent (twice!) and Rod Tronguard. Kent showing up in 1988 WWF was about as out-of-place as any non-celebrity announcer in history.

No irony intended--Brody's leaping knee drop is pretty damned sweet. He's the only guy who can make a conventional (i.e., not off a turnbuckle) knee drop into a convincing finisher.

Shorter than the usual Hogan promo, presumably because they were running behind. Hogan was graciously prepared to wrestle Piper tonight, if only Piper wasn't locked away in Alcatraz. The presence of Savage and Sting, with Savage calling Sting off, adds a bit of intrigue to wrap up a...well, I can't say "lackluster" considering all the stuff they threw at us, but definitely a misfire of a Nitro.

Piper's "not doing no wrestling promo to draw and sell tickets." Sure you aren't, Roddy. He also makes a big deal about not walking around with his kilt on in the airport, unlike Hogan. I haven't minded Piper as much as others here, but with this I'm waiting for Ed Harris to come along and shoot a ball of VX gas in this guy's face.

This is technically executed well but is just way too ridiculous as a wrestling angle. There were issues with the follow-up to the Gilbert-Lawler car angle but that was set up very organically and came off realistic. And AJ's question is a sound one, especially considering how quick they were to tell Syxx to shut the camera off.

I somehow have no memory of this, but this was a lot of fun. I was secretly hoping for some actual wrestling spots before the KO, but it was a clever angle nonetheless. Patrick's pre-match promo is spectacular. Bischoff pulls a Dangerously and spells out that both men are fired.

I actually like the idea of WCW running the Bobby Blaze/Mikey Whipwreck angle with its TV title, but I wish they found somebody besides Iaukea to run it with.

This started off kinda blah with basic clubbering between the two. But Bret managed to turn this into a darn good TV match, held back somewhat by Sid's clumsiness. Rock solid focus by Bret on Sid's leg, while giving Sid a few hope spots and letting him work underneath--not a usual role for him, but they make it work. Sid actually busts out a sunset flip from the apron to set up Bret rolling through to apply the Sharpshooter, a really neat spot that isn't executed all that well but still deserves credit for the attempt. And of course the ringpost figure four makes its debut here. Finish is well-done all the way around.

This was a pretty crazy development. Lawler and Heyman sound like they're drawing on some real feelings for each other. Meanwhile Owen & the Bulldog are in the process of splitting from Clarence Mason. The major players are there, the length is there, the crash TV elements are there...just another week or two and the new familiar look will be there.

Yeah, Monsoon is rapidly becoming an anachronism--just thankful he's off commentary by this point, because I could see him absolutely ruining Austin in that role. Having two false starts for the title match is a neat way of attempting to hook viewers while taking advantage of the new 2-hour format.

That match made it official: Ox Baker is a better, or at least more useful worker than Ivan Putski.

They're still trying to do something with Jjesse Jjaammess, since they're in Nashville, but that train derailed a long while ago. Speaking of derailings, the Goldust babyface push hasn't clicked yet. Marlena cuts her first actual promo, instead of dropping quick soundbites. She assures us that Goldust is all man, to a mild reaction. Triple H comes out to lay out Goldust, and THAT HUGE AMAZON comes in to bearhug Marlena.

This is a good match and I can see why it was praised at the time--in a time of workrate trumping almost everything in the online/newsletter world, this was 25 or so minutes of high, high workrate from 4 big stars in a company not defined by it. Plus, BLOOD! Intentional or not, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't. It sure added to the effect of the match, though. I agree that this doesn't age that well--the 4-man clusterfuck match isn't as novel as it once was, and while the opening 4-way brawling starts off hot and fun, it probably goes a little too long without a lot *really* happening in terms of psychology or storyline until Austin's elimination. Vader turned in a terrific performance and Undertaker held up his end as well as the other 2, so there's not much to dislike here. Just a fun action movie of a match.

This was slow to start and the action was kind of disappointing, but this turned into a good match, though they've had better. I agree with Kevin that this could have been tightened up, as these two were more enjoyable working syndie TV-type matches--as it is, even though he'd beaten Shinya before I didn't really buy into Kazuo winning the title here, as well as Shinya sold the arm. Hash has some fantastic counters here--I loved his leaping headbutt to cut off a Yamazaki kick attack. Kazuo also started punching Hash's bad arm to block the first attempt at a brainbuster, which was also well done and a little flashback to the "little wrestling" they did in prior matches. Good, but probably not a great match unless those opening minutes were really blowaway.