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Monday Nitro - April 19, 1999

Monday Nitro #185
Date: April 19, 1999
Location: O'Connell Center, Gainsville, Florida
Attendance: 8,567
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

We're getting closer to Slamboree and the main event is set with Page defending against Nash. Other than that we have the further exploits of the NWO as things fall apart with Hogan nowhere in sight. Savage and Sting are still running around and feuding with Flair so it's hard to say what's coming tonight. Let's get to it.


We open with Goldberg arriving and carrying a briefcase. He says it's him vs. Page for the title tonight.

Ricki Rachman and DJ Ran do their thing.

Nitro Girls.

Scott Armstrong/Steve Armstrong vs. Dean Malenko/Chris Benoit

This should be good. Benoit and Scott get things going and of course Charles Robinson is referee. They speed things up to start with Scott ducking a chop but getting taken down with a very crisp armdrag. A quick tag brings in Steve who cleans house and stomps away on Benoit. The Horsemen get Steve out to the floor though and the triple teaming is on. Back in and Malenko nails a low dropkick to the side of Steve's head and the stomping continues.

Benoit takes his head off with a clothesline for two as a LOUD Goldberg chant starts up. Malenko comes back in and hammers away in the corner before Anderson helps with even more cheating. Robinson allows the Horsemen to change without a tag to Arn's approval. Benoit finally charges into a boot but still won't allow the tag off to Scott. Dean comes back in but walks into a double clothesline, finally setting up the hot tag. Scott comes in and everything breaks down. Dean jumps over Scott in the corner and powerbombs him down into the Cloverleaf for the submission.

Rating: C+. This was the best opening match they've had in a good while. The Armstrongs are guys that can wrestle with anyone so if you give them a pair of technicians like Malenko and Benoit it's bound to be good. More importantly than that though, the brothers kept working the whole time they were getting squashed. It's so annoying to see someone just laying on the mat instead of trying to get the tag or doing anything other than just laying around.

Georgia, the woman that gave Flair papers that he signed without looking at them on Thunder, gives them to Piper. Roddy looks very pleased.

Opening sequence.

Savage and Gorgeous George arrive but Doug Dillinger won't let them in. Piper comes up and says he's the Commissioner so they need to be let in. Dillinger reluctantly agrees.

Gene brings out DDP for a chat. Page starts by wishing Hogan the best with his knee surgery. The fans are already chanting for Goldberg. Page says Goldberg needs to get focused like he's been. Both guys know what it's like to grab the brass ring because Page is World Champion right now.

Page sees a lot of Goldberg in himself and there's nothing he would like more than to put the title on the line tonight....but that's not going to happen. This brings out Goldberg who gets right in Page's face. Apparently Page agrees to put the title on the line tonight. Goldberg's music hit and he was out of the ring in less than a minute. So why did Page say no in the first place if he would agree that fast?

Piper is in the back with David Flair and says Ric needs help. They talk about him being put under observation for 72 hours and David agrees before signing the papers Piper was given earlier.

Page comes up to Gene in the back and confirms the title is on the line. Gene isn't done yet though and shows us the clip from Spring Stampede of Page injuring Hogan. We don't actually see Page's reaction to it or anything, but why would that be interesting?

Cruiserweight Title: Psychosis vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Kidman vs. Blitzkrieg

Mysterio is defending and this is one fall to a finish. The fans really odn't seem to like Psychosis or Blitzkrieg. We cut to the front row and see a man all in black with a mohawk hair cut and jewelery on his fingers that look like claws. Tony recognizes him as Alex Wright, which is very impressive detective work on his part as Wright looks completely different and is wearing big sunglasses.

It's a big brawl to start with only Juvy and Psychosis left standing. Blitzkrieg avoids a charge to send Psychosis hard into the post. Juvy loads up a powerbomb on Psychosis for a springboard seated senton from Rey. Guerrera backdrops Mysterio out to the floor and holds up Blitzkrieg for a missile dropkick from Psychosis. Blitzkrieg escapes another powerbomb attempt and causes Juvy to accidentally hit a top rope Fameasser on Psychosis.

Rey is back in with a split legged moonsault to Juvy but Psychosis takes over and throw Guerrera into the air for a big crash. Blitzkrieg and Rey knock the other two to the floor before hitting a pair of Asai moonsaults. Back in and Blitzkrieg hits some standing flips onto Rey for two as Juvy and Psychosis are trying to get back in. Guerrera is back up first with a springboard missile dropkick to Blitzkrieg's back, leaving him alone with Rey.

A quick hurricanrana puts Guerrera down and a slingshot splash gets two. Psychosis and Rey take turns breaking up pins by hitting each other in the face. Things settle down with Juvy bulldogging Rey for two before calling for the Juvy Driver. Instead it's a kind of reverse DDT but Psychosis comes in with a top rope splash for two on the champion. Mysterio's top rope bulldog puts Psychosis down and we have to take a break.

Back with Juvy hitting a huge dive onto Blitzkrieg and Psychosis. Rey goes outside as well but Psychosis pops up and dives onto all three of them. Back in and Rey powerbombs Juvy for two but Psychosis makes a save. Blitzkrieg busts out a very quick Figure Four to Psychosis, only to have Juvy make the save and drop a guillotine legdrop on Psychosis for two. Juvy powerbombs Blitzkrieg but Rey gets the cover for two. Mysterio hurricanranas Juvy off the top and Psychosis steals two of his own.

Blitzkrieg can't get a jawbreaker on Juvy so Rey dropkicks Guerrera to the floor instead. Rey makes the mistake of posing instead of covering, allowing Juvy to try a powerbomb out of the corner. That's fine with Rey as he hurricanranas Guerrera again. Juvy pops back up and snaps Mysterio across the top for two more. Psychosis clotheslines Juvy to the floor but Blitzkrieg kicks him in the face.

A slam sets up the Phoenix Splash for two on Psychosis but this time it's Juvy making the save and Juvy Drivering Blitzkrieg for two. Rey comes back in and hurricanranas Guerrera out to the floor. Psychosis breaks up a Blitzkrieg superplex attempt and drops the guillotine legdrop for the pin and the title in a shocker.

Rating: B+. WHAT A MATCH! I don't ever remember a cruiserweight match going this long (over twenty one minutes) and there is something going on for the entirety of the time. Usually there's the period where things cool down but they never reached that point here. Psychosis winning is a big surprise and the match was very entertaining. Great stuff.

Gene brings out Flair for a chat. Ric, in a University of Florida shirt, seems very happy to be in Gainesville. He talks about students thinking they can out drink him and offers to buy each one of them a drink. Before he can get any further he's interrupted by Roddy Piper. Ric wants to know why Piper always has to ruin his good time but Piper cuts him off and says Flair is becoming the Dennis Rodman of WCW.

He brings up Flair signing papers and offering to buy kids drinks. Somehow this makes him insane and unfit to be President of WCW. Piper is treating this like something serious instead of over the top like it should be. Flair starts dancing and throws his shoes into the crowd. Roddy brings up Flair handcuffing himself to the ropes to fight Bischoff from a few months back so Flair strips off his clothes to reveal Florida boxers.

Ric says his first crazy thing and says he's President of the United States. Robinson brings out Flair's robe as Piper has Gene read the papers. Basically they say Flair is nuts and that he's out of office pending a review of his competence. Flair fires Piper and gives Florida the National Championship from Tennessee.

It's time for more dancing so Piper says that the paper Flair signed last week made Flair vs. Nash (who went to the University of Tennessee in a nice touch) tonight. So he's crazy but allowed to wrestle? Anderson faints in the corner for a few seconds but Flair makes himself vs. Piper for the Presidency at Slamboree and if Piper loses he's fired.

This segment was a mess and really doesn't make sense. The problem comes down to Flair not being insane until just now, and it's a stretch even at this point. Anderson and Heenan made it clear that Flair taking off his clothes and spending a fortune is Flair being himself. That's very true and we've seen him do exactly that for well over ten years.

Yeah Flair has been a bit out there with stuff like signing papers without looking, but going from that to having him committed in four days is a really big jump for this story. It makes the whole thing seem stupid and they could have gotten to the Piper vs. Flair match for control without it. The fact that this is setting up Roddy Piper vs. Ric Flair in a major match on PPV makes things even worse as you can almost hear the fans groan when Piper is mentioned anymore.

The Black and White tells Konnan they're looking for Nash but Konnan says he has nothing to do with Nash anymore. This earns him a beatdown. Konnan was scheduled to fight for the US Title later in the night.

DJ Ran and Nitro Girls.

The announcers hype up the World Title match and they actually have a graphic for it. The shot of the belt on Page's shoulder looks horrible as he's not even touching it.

Brian Knobbs vs. Hardcore Hak

This is a garbage can match or something like that. Brian hammers Hak with a can as he comes in but Chastity slides in some extra weapons for them to use. We get a Pit Stop for old times' sake and Hak is sent out to the floor. Hak sends him into the post and a cameraman goes down. It's already table time but Knobbs nails him in the back with a chair.

Hak comes back with a ladder as you can barely see the mat at this point. There's no wrestling in between these spots. Hak bulldogs him onto the ladder and sets up the table in the middle of the ring. He misses a Swanton though and mostly breaks the table to give Brian a two count. We get the Terry Funk spinning ladder spot to put Hak down but Chasitity takes Knobbs' kendo stick away. Not that it matters as a pair of trashcan shots is enough to pin Hak.

Rating: D-. Remember the good tag match and the really good four way? This was nothing like those matches. As is usually the case with these things, the best part of it was it only ran about seven minutes. On the other hand, I could have spent those seven minutes doing something more constructive, like ripping my fingernails out with rusty pliers.

More DJ Ran because WCW doesn't understand wrestling fans.

Nitro Girls.

Randy Savage has a present for Gorgeous George: Madusa, who is here to train her for Slamboree.

Nash comes in to see the Black and White and ask about what happened with Konnan. Stevie says they know what Nash has been doing and won't be taking it anymore. Nash leaves, saying the team doesn't want this. They're going to send Norton to take care of Steiner tonight.

Buff Bagwell vs. Disco Inferno

Buff talks about how bad Scott Steiner thinks he is and rips off his catchphrases. Disco stomps him down in the corner to start but gets caught by a clothesline. Bagwell chokes Disco with his own shirt before working on a wristlock. A dropkick puts Inferno on the floor and Buff does his strut.

Disco comes back in and is quickly hiptossed right back to the floor. He tries to get back in again and actually shows some intelligence by snapping Buff's throat across the top rope. Disco starts going after the neck as we stop to look at Alex Wright again. Bagwell avoids a middle rope elbow and makes his quick comeback, only to get crotched on the top. The Last Dance is countered and Buff tries (and fails) a running Blockbuster for the pin.

Rating: D+. This was another good win for Bagwell as they actually seem to be building up a young guy for a change. I can't imagine it's for anything more than feeding him to Steiner but it's nice while it lasts. Bagwell really needs to stick with the middle rope version of the Blockbuster though as it looks about 8000% better.

Here's Scott Steiner with a group of women because Godfather was a hot act around this time. After some catchphrases, Steiner gets right to it with talking down Bagwell and mentioning Buff's history as a male stripper. He goes on about it for awhile and says the NWO made Bagwell. The fans chant steroids and there's no Norton as promised by the Black and White. Not only are the boring and losers, but they can't tell the truth about their sneak attacks announced on national TV. What is the world coming to?

Video on Gorgeous George vs. Charles Robinson.

Nitro Girls.

DJ Ran for the third or so time tonight.

Recap of the Flair/Piper stuff from earlier.

Kidman vs. Raven

Raven starts off aggressively but gets taken down by a headscissors. He pops back up and suddenly feels like trying a powerbomb. Kidman is lucky that his opponents always want to use that move even though they never do otherwise. After the faceplant, Raven sends Kidman out to the floor and throws in a chair. The drop toehold sends Kidman face first into the steel and Raven drops a leg onto the chair onto Kidman's head for good measure. Kidman shoves Raven off the top but the Shooting Star hits the chair. The Horsemen come in for the DQ, even though Raven matches are supposed to be non-title.

Mysterio makes the save for his partner and the Horsemen run. Saturn decks Mysterio but gets sent down with a headscissors. Rey gets superkicked but Kidman powerbombs Saturn down. Raven Evenflows Kidman but the Horsemen run back in for the big beatdown.

More of Piper/Flair.

US Title: Scott Steiner vs. Scott Norton

So apparently the Black and White can just make US Title matches at their whim. Steiner is defending of course. After the champion finishes posing, the battle of clubbing forearms begin. Norton runs the champ down with some shoulders and a big clothesline sends him outside. More stalling ensues until Norton drags him back into the ring for some right hands in the corner. Steiner finally sends him to the floor and then into the barricade.

Back in and Steiner gets his required steroids chant. Steiner charges into a boot in the corner and Norton hammers away before getting two off a side slam. Norton loads up the shoulder breaker but the referee gets bumped. A low blow and belly to belly suplex retain Steiner's title. Steiner's feet on the ropes helped too.

Rating: D. I had a feeling this wasn't going to be much of a power brawl. Norton was wrestling like a face here and it worked on a kind of weird level. Steiner's mega push continues as his in ring ability continues to deteriorate every single week. Granted putting him in there with a one dimensional guy like Norton wasn't the best idea.

DJ Ran AGAIN. We get it already.

Kevin Nash vs. Ric Flair

Before the match, Nash promises to get revenge on Page for Hogan. Naturally Robinson, with what looks like a Horsemen sticker on his shirt, is refereeing. Nash shoves Flair down before the bell and Flair is ready to go. Flair tries some shoulder blocks to as much success as you would expect. Back up and Nash knees him into the corner and nails the backdrop. Nash even mocks Flair slicking back his hair as Ric bails to the floor.

Naitch slows things down a bit so Nash busts out a headlock of all things. They trade shots in the corner and there's another backdrop to Flair. A big shot in the corner gives us the Flair Flop and there's the framed elbow. Anderson finally gets involved by tripping up Nash and helping Flair crotch him against the post. Back in and Anderson just gets in the ring to help Flair double team. We get the old “how much time” bit from Flair and Nash goes down to a low blow.

Flair hammers away in the corner while calling Nash Tennessee. Anderson interferes again but Nash comes back with a right hand and the side slam. Flair heads to the apron and gets clotheslined out to the floor. For some reason he tries to come back in off the top and you know what's coming. Anderson tries to come in but gets kicked in the face for his efforts. There go the straps and Flair gets powerbombed, sending Robinson to the floor instead of counting. Gorgeous George comes out and takes his referee shirt to count the pin on Flair. Because that's how WCW works anymore.

Rating: C-. It was Flair vs. Nash so you knew it was going to be at least watchable. The overbooking made sense here and Robinson just walking out was a nice touch. The ending on the other hand was stupid but exactly what you would expect from WCW at this point: someone just deciding they're a referee and having their pin count. I mean, people can make US Title matches so why not this?

Post match Flair is taken out on a stretcher by people in white coats. Yep, they're really doing this. Piper shows up to talk some trash as Flair is loaded into the van. Somehow Anderson doesn't get what's going on.

Dusty Rhodes joins commentary for no apparent reason.

WCW World Title: Diamond Dallas Page vs. Goldberg

Page is defending of course. The referee gets shoved down and we're ready to go. Page charges at Goldberg and gets shoved down as well. Back up and Page is thrown to the floor where he stops to take a breather. He gets back in and tries the Diamond Cutter but is quickly sent back to the floor. A leg trip doesn't even get one on Goldberg who hits a kind of AA into a cross armbreaker, sending Page into the ropes.

Page's shoulder block has no effect and the spear connects out of nowhere. He goes to pick Page up for the Jackhammer but the champ sends him face first into the middle buckle instead. A swinging neckbreaker gets two for Page and a belly to belly suplex gets the same. Goldberg gets caught in a front facelock but he powers up into a kind of powerslam for two. Another Diamond Cutter attempt is countered into another powerslam and Goldberg is getting frustrated.

Page neckbreakers him for two but misses the discus lariat. A superkick puts Page into the corner and Goldberg loads up the spear but the champ is smart enough to just stay right where he is. Goldberg tries the spear anyway and hits the buckle. The Diamond Cutter connects but Goldberg kicks him off hard enough to send him onto the referee. Page loads up a foreign object but stops to use the referee as a shield for the spear.

The Jackhammer connects but there's no referee. Page gets up and nails Goldberg with the foreign object to knock him out to the floor. He loads up the steps next to Goldberg and crushes the ankle with a chair. The referee wakes up and tries to stop Page, earning him a right hand to the face. Page loads up the Figure Four around the post but Nash makes the save for no apparent reason other than the script says so. He helps Goldberg into the ring but Page nails Nash with the belt to end the show.

Rating: C+. This was actually a good match until the screwy ending. These two have some solid chemistry together and can put on a good match with the right amount of time. Goldberg kicking out of the Diamond Cutter as strong as he did was a surprise and the ending was.....well I'll get back to that. The match was good though.

Overall Rating: C+. You know if you just go by the wrestling, this was one of the best Nitros in a very long time. The Cruiserweight Title match was outstanding and the main event was solid too. You couple that with some other good to watchable stuff in between and write off the non-wrestling that was Hak vs. Knobbs and you have one heck of a show.

Unfortunately this heck of a show has an 800lb gorilla right in the middle of it and a 300lb orangutan at the end. We'll start with the slightly better one first. Page and Nash's double turn is acceptable as Nash has basically been a face for months now and Page....yeah it really doesn't work. Much like the Flair stuff, it was just setting down its roots when they jumped it forward to the end goal.

One of WCW's biggest problems at the moment is its lack of top faces. There's Sting, Nash, Piper (oh joy) and in theory Savage, though he's just a glorified manager right now. Nash becoming the top guy is fine enough, but it brings up the obvious question: if he wins the title, why should I believe he's going to hang onto it? It may sound like a stupid question but the Fingerpoke was less than four months prior to this. It's not out of the question.

That leaves us with the big problem with this show: Ric Flair, the fourteen time World Heavyweight Champion and the President of WCW was put in a white van and taken away to a mental hospital after apparently thinking he was President of the United States due to what could easily be written off as a slip of the tongue. Aside from what was just mentioned, the fact that it sets up Piper vs. Flair in 1999, how out of character it is for Flair and how much of a stretch this is, it's not even a well told story.

From what we can tell, David Flair and Piper decided to have Flair institutionalized because he signed a single contract for a match without looking at it. Yeah it's stupid but it's not really grounds for being institutionalized. Just writing that and reading it back makes me realize it's even worse. Ric Flair is being put in a mental hospital. Let it sink in for a second. This is a really bad idea and unfortunately it's the first step off a cliff for WCW. Things were getting stupid before, but now they're flying into the abyss.

Somehow though, the show was actually good for the most part. The Flair/Piper stuff is horrible but it's only a part of what is otherwise a really good show. That's what makes WCW so frustrating: they have the tools and ability to have a good product, but they do things like have a DJ in the arena (because I guess a professional wrestling show just isn't entertaining enough) and the hardcore nonsense drags all the good stuff down.



Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at: 

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Comments

  1. YESTERDAY was calling for him to resign too.

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  2. That's Bill Murrays bro? Holy shit!

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  3. Sadly, my subscription runs to the end of October.

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  4. Well since we are sounding like Jim ross....


    NOOOOO DAMMIT! Not this way!

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  5. I said this awhile ago but I'm glad the WBC exists to push the boundaries of free speech. I'm also glad people make barricades to block the protests from sight of a funeral.

    But still its super important to make sure the most awful types of speech get protected.

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  6. I'm not. Why do people continue to give the WBC attention? It's what they want. Why can't people learn to ignore them?

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  7. I like the Christians that kidnap people ans chop their heads off on video. Oh and the ones that kill people who make cartoons about Jesus, them too.

    Hey wait a second...

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  8. If I was a teen today, I would pick Sofia Vergara. As a kid growing up the hottest mom was Barbara Eden (I Dream Of Jeanie) and she still looked hot on Harper Valley PTA. Runnerups would be Mrs Keaton (Family Ties), Mrs Arnold (Wonder Years), Claire Huxtable (Cosby Show) and Samantha Stevens (Bewitched).

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  9. She also changed a LOT during the course of the show - she was going through some sort of illness, that very noticeably altered her appearance.

    Still, tall and thick, good combo.

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  10. Have you ever seen a troll get ignored on message board or this blog? Trolling is effective.

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  11. I think that's a bit of a stretch.

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  12. You can PUT HIM ON THE UNEMPLOYMENT LINE.........YES!

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  13. There's only one correct answer: Claudia Finnerty (played by Megyn Price) on "Grounded For Life".

    https://www.google.com/search?q=claudia+finnerty&biw=800&bih=481&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=EsYQVL7FBoLwgwTe6oKgAw&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ#tbm=isch&q=claudia+finnerty

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  14. Pro wrestlers get the worst of both worlds. What an awful system

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  15. According to many of them, the world is like 5000 years old and old dinosaur fossils were planted by the Devil

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  16. Oh absolutely. But WBC has been trolling people for 10 years. We get it. They hate fags, and like dead soldiers. Let's move on.

    That said, I do find their family dynamic to be endlessly fascinating and relish watching docs on the family.

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  17. I would probably cry tears of joy if he resigned.

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  18. The reason I hate Goodell and not Bud Selig is the former comes off as a prick while the latter just is a goof that loves baseball.

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  19. Selig is awful but he never went out of his way to fuck over a team in a pathetic attempt to show that he cared about player safety despite ample evidence to the contrary.

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  20. Roger Goodell's words to Saints regarding bounty gate.."ignorance is not an excuse"



    Fuck you, you piece of shit

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  21. I can't say I'm a fan of either movie but at least with avengers/iron man RDJs tony stark is interesting and fun to watch. Its when he puts on the suit and fights I kind of lose interest.

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  22. I don't understand, protecting felons from media scrutiny is his entire gig, what did he do wrong.

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  23. What's his obsession with Baltimore? He's an ass and a sicko.

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  24. I have to disagree. This was funny. Tasteless, but funny

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  25. The pink washing next month is going to be nauseating

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  26. Big Dougie has been trolling this blog for almost that long and everyone still bites including me. I think people like to get riled up deep down inside.

    I also find their family dynamic fascinating (and hysterically hypocritical). I actually like them because they push the boundaries of free speech for everyone and they highlight how dumb all religion is. Plus its somewhat inspiring to see groups of volunteers go make human blockades so funerals can't see them.

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  27. Amen. We expect more out of Goddell than we do politicians and law enforcement. Our value system is seriously screwed when we expect the NFL to guide our inner moral compass.

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  28. Yup, this is a guy who has held himself out to be holier than thou the whole time. I didn't even mind the initial two game suspension because it was consistent with the punishment from a court of law. But to flat out lie about not seeing the tape when your this "law and order sheriff"...fuck off Goodell

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  29. It took eight months to convince Congress to look into Enron, it took them 48 hours to decide something needed to be done about the "CEO" of a sport full of felons not caring about felonious behavior.

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  30. If Goodell leaves then what changes? As far as I can remember NFL players have been committing felonies. Hell, we cheer them on as they commit them every Sunday.

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  31. Nope, the moment my subscription ran out, it was gone.

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  32. Two games for knocking out your fiancee v. 16 games for enjoying a little weed v. 0 games for Spygate v. 16 games for not doing anything while your defensive coordinator offers incentives for big players v. 16 games for being the one to run the bounty programa.


    Goodell

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  33. Dunno. That guy yesterday who went apeshit here would probably know...either that, or he did his own Michael Hutchence style after that bit.

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  34. Serious answer? Some new guy comes in, does a few "don't knock your wife the fuck out" PSA spots, everything continues exactly the same as it was two days ago.

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  35. Only nice boys can play football, and let's not have them tackle to hard

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  36. He did fuck over the Astros in order to ensure that the Brewers made the Wild card instead during Hurricane Ike 6 years ago, but not too mad about that, because if he hadn't, Cecil Cooper might still be the manager.

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  37. exactly. We will all forget about domestic violence like we've just forgotten about Ferguson and police brutality.

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  38. I heard they replaced Ferguson with James Corden actually.

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  39. Maybe we have a commissioner who doesn't decide to be judge, jury and executioner. Maybe we have a commissioner who doesn't launch a flawed investigation, suspending players and coaches and taking away draft picks, all based on unsubstantiated evidence that was refuted under oath.
    Maybe we have a commissioner that cares about the NFL's female fanbase.
    Maybe we have a commissioner who does away with the NFL's draconian drug laws.
    Maybe we have a commissioner that does something about sports teams continuing to rape municipalities all to get a new stadium they don't need that will never deliver promised economic incentives.
    Maybe we have a commissioner who doesn't call for player safety when introducing a full slate of Thursday night games and forcing players to play in England.
    Maybe we have a commissioner who doesn't talk openly of an 18 game season despite calling for player safety.
    Maybe we have a commissioner who doesn't blatantly lie about concussions and the NFL's knowledge of concussions.
    Maybe we have a commissioner that doesn't kill ESPN's involvement in a documentary about concussions.

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  40. America! Land of the free, home of the brave!

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  41. until the next hot button issue.

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  42. "Maybe we have a commissioner who doesn't blatantly lie about concussions and the NFL's knowledge of concussions."


    LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

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  43. In a perfect world yeah, but collectively we don't have the attention span to force them to do these things.

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  44. This Ray Rice thing is not going away. It's a shame people let him off the hook for Bountygate, but the NFL was smart enough to get ahead on that one

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  45. It just keeps working for some reason, I'm praying this will be like SiriusXM and I just never have to pay again for the rest of my life lol.

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  46. It will go away. Not in a week or two but we will get bored with this and move on to the next thing. Ferguson, Trayvon Martin, whatever else

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  47. Goodell deciding one week YOU CAN'T HIT LIKE THAT is another one of his black marks against the game.


    Defensive players don't know what they can do and what's legal and what's not legal. 15-yard penalties are seemingly decided at random.


    We were spoiled by Tags.

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  48. Man I think the forums are stupid too but making a point of posing up to share that at every opportunity is utterly sad behavior

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  49. At the time, I thought Flair being in a mental ward was funny.

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  50. Oh, I agree with that. Football provides a way out of a lot of kids (And, more to the point, those kids' parents), and as long as that is the case, parents will allow their sons to play. I've always thought the more likely scenario for football dying is the sport being crippled by some legislation coming from an over-zealous politician, more than parents pulling their kids.

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  51. Ah, that would make more sense.

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  52. davidbonzaisaldanamontgomerySeptember 10, 2014 at 4:39 PM

    I've never played fantasy hockey before, but I've crushed you guys at the other sports, so why not? I'll send my email when I get off work, but hold a spot for me, Bayless

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  53. I find my occassional venting at trolls to be quite therapeutic. Mainly because it's socially frowned upon to vent at stupid customers.

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  54. What is? The gay sign? Ray Rice Saga?

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  55. davidbonzaisaldanamontgomerySeptember 10, 2014 at 4:41 PM

    Moe Szyslak is a better liar than Goodell. This is redefining clusterfuck

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  56. davidbonzaisaldanamontgomerySeptember 10, 2014 at 4:42 PM

    Batista not coming back until next year. Duh.

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  57. When I saw the date, all I could think was that was one day before the Columbine shootings. Weird it's been so long now.

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  58. Do remember who (not literally) signs the commish's checks, before you get too optimistic.

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  59. If Brock stuck around another year, I think he would of feuded with Batista at least.

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  60. I'm at work til nine tonight. Fairly glad because I would probably be drawn to watching this horseshit about this piece of garbage Goodell.

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  61. Nothing makes me want to read an article more than a guy shitting on his own title.

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  62. davidbonzaisaldanamontgomerySeptember 10, 2014 at 4:47 PM

    I've had it on in my cubicle all day. Haven't seen this many twists in a story since I marathoned LOST

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  63. davidbonzaisaldanamontgomerySeptember 10, 2014 at 4:47 PM

    When you taint The Shield more than Seth Rollins, it's time for you to go

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  64. It's a shame. Well, COULDNT HAPPEN TO A NICER GUY

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  65. The first game became a blow out quite early and by the time the second game started, Raw was pretty much over.

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  66. I agree with your comment, but then I thought about how Samoa Joe went there and I got pissed at how he didn't become the next big thing.


    Fucking TNA

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  67. In fairness, Gordon smoked a lot of weed.

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  68. And that PPV match should have big time entrances and introductions.

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  69. davidbonzaisaldanamontgomerySeptember 10, 2014 at 4:57 PM

    You created UGHW? That's awesome.

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  70. Everything moves a lot faster now. I've been spending a lot of time watching matches and angles from the Backlund era and angles took a lot longer to play out. Between the TV taping cycles, the time it takes to go around the loop, the availability of talent, the lack of internet spoilers (that was a big factor in those days, thus an angle could play out multiple times in multiple cities) it could take 3-6 months until the blow off of an angle. Plus the majority of the roster, particularly the heels, doesn't stick around much past the angle they came in for since they just go to another territory. So you could have someone like a Greg Valentine come in for a WWF Title program every 2 or 3 years and it's fresh every time. Even with the advent of the Intercontinental title someone could still stay relevant after their WWF title program by competing for the secondary championship (see Ken Patera or Greg Valentine). With the over-saturation it's easy to get burned out of both the characters and the angles. Plus there's a lot more impatience among both the fans and the WWE writers and executives. Nowadays you either get pushed out of the gate or you get lost in the shuffle. With the devaluing of the secondary titles, competing for them is seen as a step down instead of a way to maintain an aura competitiveness. WWE creative just needs a massive overhall.

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  71. When was the last time any WWE heel acted like a heel?

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  72. Then for once try to be a bigger person, and don't watch football.

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  73. Costas said he's only gone if they can prove he saw the tape

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  74. So long as BOXING still exists, football has nothing to worry about.

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  75. Millions of little kids don't start boxing at age 8 .

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  76. I don't think Christian would have ever got a World title run if there was only one top championship. Christian won the B championship on the B show, mostly as a reward for years of service. Also, I think he'd make a great color commentator, or a chickenshit heel authority figure.

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  77. I'm sorry for offending you good sir. I will attempt to keep my opinions private going forward, but that will be tough. Please allow me to slip up once in a while, for I am only human.

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  78. Boxing barely exists anymore. When the current crop of legit stars (and it's a tiny crop) retires/dies/gets sent to prison for life, boxing as we know it will disappear because there's no one left to fill their shoes.

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  79. Bayless was right. O'Haire did kill himself. Sad.

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  80. Actually, didn't all the Golden Girls have at least one kid? Soooooooooooo....

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  81. The mom on the Nick show "Big Time Rush". Damn.

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  82. I didn't say every eight year old plays football, I said everyone starts at age 8, which was just to make a point.

    Meaning, eight year olds in 1984 or eight year olds in 2014, they all started at age 8 (or 9 or 12, pick a number the number doesn't actually matter to the point)

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  83. Too bad she won't sell your attraction to her now.

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  84. The mark of a terrible game is one that has to have rule changes every year to stay "competitive."

    Football has been changing the rules every off season for decades and decades.

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  85. Scott Hudson agreed with you!

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  86. You'll be off just in time for Impact!

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  87. Oh yeah, PEARL FORRESTER. More the Sci-Fi era, naturally. Was it me or did she get more attractive playing the head villain?

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  88. This story doesn't even survive to Saturday.

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  89. I thought "King of Queens" was always the example used in Ugly Guy Hot Wife.

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  90. She also got work done

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  91. Solid, solid choice. Kids show moms seem hotter than prime time moms. The Suite Life Mom was ok, but not into short hair much.

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  92. I just considered this, I've always figured concussions would kill it but wasn't sure either:

    What about high school liability? A couple fat lawsuits for brain damage as a result of hits incurred while under the care of the state, boom, completely tax-based scouting system for private corporate entities is gone, game over.

    Or they'll just have a Benoit at some point, that could work too.

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  93. I'm referring to who would replace Goodell... he might be WORSE.

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  94. Never saw it with her. Maybe being in proximity to Tina Yothers made all the females on that show less attractive. Was that mean?

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  95. I've been watching my account like a freakin' hawk for just that reason, I'm on like week #3 for free lol

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  96. Come on, join the forum. We won't edit you, we promise.

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  97. I don't think concussions are going to kill the league or football in general. I have faith that innovation will in some ways make the game safer, but in reality, you are playing a contact sport so you have to expect concussions (previous generation has a claim of not being aware of the dangers, but not this one). Not having guys play until they've fully recovered is a step in the right direction.


    However, the NFL has watered the game down so much out of safety concerns that it's really not all that entertaining to me anymore, so I dunno. Every sport has a concussion issue. Hell, even FIFA is facing legal action over concussions, which blows the whole "well, more people will just play soccer instead of football!" thing out of the water.

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  98. CON-DO-LEE-ZA! (clap-clap clap-clap-clap)

    CON-DO-LEE-ZA! (clap-clap clap-clap-clap)

    CON-DO-LEE-ZA! (clap-clap clap-clap-clap)

    CON-DO-LEE-ZA! (clap-clap clap-clap-clap)

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  99. Ha, Selig tried to contract the Minnesota Twins to enlarge the market share of his former team.

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  100. I wonder how the straight-up Tanaka vs. Taz match would have gone.

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  101. There was an innovation to make the game safer! The Steve Wallace double helmet! I'm going to keep mentioning this whenever the topic of concussions in football come up until everyone acknowledges that it's a great idea and it gets brought back, but for every player. We'd all get used to it within a year. Maybe 2.

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  102. What's forgotten about this whole thing is right afterwards Paul completely botches Awesome's amazing heat he drew here by half-ass turning him heel and pairing him with useless Judge Jeff Jones. Oh sure they still popped for his big spots but he never drew consistent character heat again.

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  103. That's one of the funniest scenes in TV history.

    "its just my natural juices... "

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  104. Don't see the point of a forum, gent. No one has had a concrete, good reason for it, rather I've had a big baby troll me an diminish interest in the forums with most of the people here

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  105. Honestly, I don't think one isolated incident would endanger the game, even an incident as awful as the Benoit one. The game is too big, and there is too much money to be made.

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  106. Indeed. My favorite part of the #AskDixie debacle was someone asking why she hired everyone off the cover of "The Death of WCW" to run her wrestling promotion.

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  107. Drive from Downtown to my burb is 15 minutes. I'll hopefully miss a terrible opening segment.

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  108. No but it could at least get a lot more people to actually care about the guys injuring themselves, look at the change that happened in the wrestling community, half the time people mention not being able to watch head shots during reviews now.

    I think the liability is a better direction, kill the high schools and that eventually moves up to the state colleges. Once the farm system that we pay for is removed, sport is done.

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  109. Probably Nitro's best cruiserweight match, and definitely worth finding on the Internets.

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  110. I don't totally disagree with you but with wrestling one guy takes the brunt of everything that happens in the business. The football industrial complex is a whole lot deeper and wider. You could kill the high schools but that would take at least a few decades.

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  111. That last part is definitely true, no argument there. The good news however is that Chris Harvard is still quite a young man.

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  112. Ideally you'd have a former player as commissioner. But then of course it'd have to be somebody with a law degree or some experience working in politics or big business. I don't know who fits that bill for the NFL. Steve Largent, maybe?

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  113. I see what you're saying, here. Killing high school football would take practically winning a war in states like Florida and Texas, where high school is as much part of the culture as anything.


    Also, along the lines of the headshots being tough to watch, I was watching a MITB match from WM XXI. Benoit does a diving headbutt from the top of the ladder. I actually gasped a little. Fucking insane.

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  114. Those were the days. I had notebooks full.

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  115. For sure, I'm not expecting it to happen soon, or maybe even in my lifetime.

    But then, when I graduated high school if you had told me by the time I was 30 smoking cigarettes wouldn't just "not be the coolest thing ever" it would actually make a person a social pariah I'd have fallen over laughing.

    Or that by the time I was 30 we'd have the first black president but *only* because he narrowly beat out who would have been the first woman president, lol.

    No one can really fathom what 20 years from now will look like, I remain hopeful we stop damaging people for lulz.

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  116. Is this just a smark thing though? Is the casual fan that aware about wrestlers and concussions?
    There is a greater level of detachment with football players cause we really don't know who they are. We know Manning, Brady, etc but you can't touch them anyway. How many of us can name the starting offensive line of every AFC West team?

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  117. Good points, and that's kinda what I've been saying. It's hard now for people to imagine a world with no football, but if we have a few high profile incidents of some sort? Who knows?

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  118. The owner was also willing to cash out on the team.

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  119. Big guys can age fairly gracefully though (look at Taker), especially if they pace the match well, and Batista when he has his crap together is pretty good at pacing a match. We saw in his last return that it takes him a while to shake off the rust, but once he does he's pretty awesome.

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  120. Hah- thanks. It was WAY back in the day, when each page was super tiny. I still couldn't believe that it hadn't been done.

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  121. Raymond was the one for me, but KOQ is a more outstanding example sine the guy is also a porker.

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  122. Yeah, and actually admitted it, which is pretty rare for actresses.

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  123. According to a google search, Taz's exact quote was: Bye-bye, Flash. Get the fuck out of my house, bitch.

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  124. If he stayed a few more years, into this new "concussion" era... do we still remember him as fondly?

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  125. "Yep Mode" ABeyAnce1©September 10, 2014 at 6:50 PM

    Deal with it!

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  126. Surprised nobody mentioned Amy Matthews.

    And now, Topanga Matthews!

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  127. "Yep Mode" ABeyAnce1©September 10, 2014 at 7:03 PM

    Should this be the thread for TNA?

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  128. Ric Flair shouldn't have been a heel in WCW after 1995/1996. Hell, I'd even argue he should have been a permanent babyface when he rejoined them in 1993. By the late 90's, Flair was really in legend/God status to the WCW fans. They just didn't want to boo him, regardless of the fact that Flair wanted to work heel.

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  129. So agree with you on the DDP turn. DDP becomes a heel very close after Steiner throws his wife out of a car and DDP tries to get revenge. Much like Hogan's face turn and Flair's heel turn. WCW Main eventers turns are really questionable.

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  130. Oh no, now I might make less money on this article.

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  131. Yeah, I'm not a big believer in wins and losses being a primary reason for a guy getting over or not. But the IC and tag titles still mattering would help a lot.
    I think we're too far gone to go back to the days when angles took longer to play out and you'd only see a smattering of top guys on the weekly TV shows. It's certainly a cognitive dissonance, wherein I love that Raw usually has a couple of good, long, PPV-caliber matches every week, but I know that long-term for their business and my entertainment it'd be better if most of those matches were held off for PPV. Stuff that could be a fairly big deal- particularly in the midcard is where this is felt- is just commonplace now because we've seen it so much.

    Example: I'm pretty excited about Sheamus/Cesaro for the US title at NoC, but if we hadn't seen them interact in 6,000 different tag matches, singles matches, etc over the last year? In another era, that's a dream match. Imagine if we'd seen the same kind of constant interaction between, let's say Bret and Perfect before Summerslam '91. Would that be an enduring, lasting moment? Probably not, to say the least.
    Related to this, someone here said it well recently, and I wish I remember who so I could give them credit. But in the 80's the WWF title seemed like a bigger deal because the weekly shows had jobbers galore losing to top guys and we didn't see Hogan every week, so it seemed like he was reigning champ over this vast, expansive universe of potential challengers, rather than the guy whose turn it currently happens to be out of the same small handful of guys who are all fighting each other every week.
    I'm going to stop now, because I just gave myself an idea for another column.

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  132. Just learn how to write teasers. It was a good article but your headline nonsense reads terribly.

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  133. You went from "this makes me not want to read it" to "I read it and it was good" really quickly there.

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  134. Yea it was very limited unfortunately

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