PeteF3
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Everything posted by PeteF3
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Yeah, if Hogan vs. Flair for WM was ever the plan, that was changed far, far before Hogan was announced as #1 contender. The turnaround from Hogan vs. Flair being announced to the double main event was, like, a week or two. Probably the same taping cycle. The Hogan-Flair announcement in the spring was just a red herring/set-up for Sid. -
Yes, but Austin's knees were shot, so they were in a holding pattern for the next PPV. So we get this clusterfuck--we open with Mankind taking a loony bump from the stage to the plot, but I didn't much care for this, between all the shit going on backstage and the constant run-ins during and after the match. The sledgehammer to the back of Big Show's head is just absurd, but he and Undertaker are champions again even though Undertaker can't wrestle, either. Austin's return is a nice holy-shit surprise, though, since he hadn't been seen on TV except for a taped sitdown interview since SummerSlam. This would have had so much more effect, though, if we'd just gone off the air with Austin kicking Triple H's ass instead of the big stunt show we actually closed with.
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Good highlight package showing us the Y2J-Shamrock feud so far, including the amusing sight of Harold Finkle in a long blond wig and Jericho's outfit, suckering Shamrock into a parking lot attack. Jericho fulfills his promise to meet Shamrock face-to-face, but does so from the confines of a shark cage. Harold fails to raise the cage because he's in an argument with Lillian Garcia, and Shamrock does a RoboCop and bends the bars and gets into the cage. This was fun--God help me for saying this, and I'll make this trade-off every time, but Russo was one of Jericho's most powerful allies and I think he understood how to use him better than anyone else in charge in the WWF. He's pushed as a bigger deal but still has his goofy WCW charm.
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Pat and Gerald as Test's best men is hilarious and doesn't speak much for Test's social or family circle. I too have no memory of Terri with the Posse, though presumably she dumped Meat after last week. Shane seemingly turns babyface. I'm for it--Shane's been good this year but I don't think he has the chops to be a lead heel authority figure by himself.
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I wonder who put this together--David or Jackie Crockett, maybe. Hard to imagine now, but this type of thing couldn't have been all that easy back when you didn't have Google (as it is now, at least), cagematch, or Graham Cawthon to go to as a timeline reference. We had to make do with the PWI Almanac, consarn it.
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Surprisingly fun and vicious, despite Lawler's attempts to ruin things--as the brawl went on, though, he got a little more into it as a serious fight. Raw was in a bit of a holding pattern, with 8/30 and this week airing at 11pm due to the US Open, so we get some mid-card focus while the heavy hitters work Smackdown.
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Only the most degenerate wrestling nerds like us watching in the Attitude Era would have any memory of Avatar and we have no actual reason to care about this, either. Al responds to this traumatic episode by coming out and doing lame faux-superhero shtick and the crowd rightfully boos. You wish you were the Hurricane, buddy. He takes the mask off and does a really terrible job of acting shocked. We continue to get matches set up for Smackdown, as Rock & Mankind answer a challenge for a Buried Alive Match against Undertaker & Show. So they're still together? Rock's caveman-esque Show impersonation will never cease being funny. He's a douche, but he's making himself into a man who can and will carry the company on his own, before our eyes. Mankind cuts a refreshingly serious promo on Undertaker.
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Eat your heart out, DDP Yoga. This is just earnest--no pun intended--enough to qualify as being almost indistinguishable from real-life infomercials of this (or any other) era. The 800 number on this ad supposedly led to a WCW voice mailbox and could connect you to Bischoff's office if you punched his name in on the dialpad.
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WCW as usual was waffling on whether to pull the trigger on this match, because with Hogan wrestling Sting at Fall Brawl, they didn't want Hogan facing two babyfaces in a row. Yeah, I know, God forbid Hogan get booed, right? This is a good to-the-point promo that gets over big. Under the worst circumstances possible, the reset button has been hit and conditions are actually right to run this match and have it mean something. As usual, though, WCW will fumble the ball when it's handed to them.
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I admit to laughing at Tajiri obliviously nodding along as Corino cuts a promo on him. Corino accuses Tajiri's kind of fulfilling every possible Asian stereotype besides the Japanese ones. This would be an effective swerve, but Joey TELEGRAPHS IT by talking about how Tajiri and Crazy are going to kick Corino's ass. We get a decent match that gets a lot better as it goes along, but is a step behind their previous matches.
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Two years later but IMO there's no way this works at all without the threat of the Dudleys taking the tag titles to the WWF. Too drawn-out, as I see it, but maybe my attention span is being ruined not just by Crash TV but by the nature of the Yearbooks. But Raven showing up fresh off being in WCW during a time of a slower news cycle was quite the shock, with storyline implications to keep you wanting to watch next week to see where this goes. Is Raven making up with Dreamer or is he doing what Styles implied, which is "forcing" Dreamer to share his first World title with him?
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Impossible to evaluate since the commercial break takes out seemingly a key transition. Say what you will about "...as Raw rolls on!", at least we don't miss shit under the standard WWE house style. Thank God this is the last match in this feud--and once again, the Dudleys don't go through a gimmicked table.
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This ring announcer needs a sedative. Okay competitive squash though Tajiri does come off as a bit of an ineffective ninny. The goal at this point was to quickly build Taz as a mountain for RVD to climb before he was off to the WWF, but obviously...you know, plans changed. As someone who's shat on Joey more than anyone else on this board I'll say this was one of his less offensive performances.
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Rock and Mankind win the tag titles to a monster pop after Show is left to rot by Undertaker--no idea where that was leading to but I have a feeling it won't be relevant as Undertaker isn't much longer for the company until Judgment Day next year. Rock allows Mankind to perform his move in the end, but seems reluctant to share the belts as we go off the air. Show did look better here than he usually has in the WWF and I agree that this has been his best role so far.
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No time for actual wrestling tonight, it seems. At least it sets up a match on Smackdown, but as I recall that one doesn't actually take place either. Backstage, Mankind suggests doing a move that bears a strong resemblance to something Golden Tate did to a football on Sunday. Or possibly one of Rock's moves, I'm not sure.
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Rock is moving on quickly from Triple H. He's one of the few people who can get away with openly trash-talking Undertaker, amusingly talking about his "Mickey Mouse tattoos," which gets a long sustained reaction. Mankind, who was also assaulted by UT & Show, is out to respond. A love-hate partnership is born. Crash TV strikes again, as we go from a semi-main event angle to a low man on the totem pole. Weird to see Rock doing this. GTV shows Meat making out with somebody who we have to assume is Marianna based on nothing but the word of the announcers. God knows how we're supposed to care about this feud but the crowd gives a mild pop for the catfight.