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The SmarK Rant for Monday Night RAW–09.11.95

The SmarK Rant for Monday Night RAW – 09.11.95

- Taped from somewhere "two or three weeks ago" according to Eric Bischoff.  That would be Worcester. 

- Your hosts are Vince & King, green-screened in at ringside in an awful-looking open. It's the new fall season, you know.

Razor Ramon v. The British Bulldog

Ramon works the arm with an armbar, but Bulldog whips him into the corner and follows with a delayed suplex. Bulldog works on the back, but Ramon slugs him down, so Bulldog clotheslines him for two. Bulldog with a press slam and we take a break, and return with him getting a slam for two. He sets up for the powerslam, but Razor grabs the ropes and falls on top for two. Bulldog slams him again and goes up, but Ramon slams him off the top and slugs him down. Fallaway slam gets two. Ramon comes back and the ref gets bumped, allowing Ramon to hit the Razor's Edge. Dean Douglas runs in and hits Ramon off the top, however, and takes out the 1-2-3 Kid as an afterthought, allowing Bulldog to get the powerslam. Kid comes off the top and hits Ramon by accident, and it's a DQ at 7:10. Slow and dull. *1/2

- Vince follows up with a hard-hitting interview of the spurned lovers, as Kid is sick of getting treated like dirt by Ramon and challenges him to a match next week.

The Smoking Gunns v. Rad Radford & The Brooklyn Brawler

Billy gets tossed to start , but Bart slingshots him back in off an irish whip in a really slick spot. Someone should swipe that. Bart comes in and runs into a knee from Radford, as the grungry jobbers take over and Vince makes pop culture references so we totally know that it's totally not taped. Brawler goes up and gets slammed off by Bart, and Billy pounds him in the corner, then the Gunns finish with the Sidewinder at 3:00. *

Isaac Yankem DDS v. Scott Taylor

Yankem chokes away on the ropes and drops an elbow, then uses a hangman choke before dropping Taylor on the top rope. Yankem with the DDS to finish at 1:46.

WWF Intercontinental title: Shawn Michaels v. Sid

Thanks to that bastard Bischoff I already know the finish now! Although more accurately at the time I already knew the finish because of the internet. Shawn evades Sid and gets a flying clothesline, then slugs him out of the ring. Back in, Shawn can't knock him down and gets tossed, but skins the cat back in and dropkicks Sid out again. Back in, Sid grabs a headlock and chokes away in the corner, then whips him into the other corner and out of the ring, then drops him on the apron. Dibiase gets his cheapshots in and they milk the countout tease, but Shawn heads back in and we take a break. We return with Sid holding a bearhug, but Shawn fights out, so Sid chokeslams him. Sid calls for the belt and I'm shocked Vince didn't run down and yell at him for calling it that. It's a CHAMPIONSHIP, Sid, don't you attend the meetings? Sid sets up for the powerbomb, but Shawn fights out and gets the flying forearm before going up. Flying bodypress gets two. Shawn gives him three superkicks that wouldn’t earn him a green belt at the local YMCA to put him down, and that gets the pin at 7:21. Hey, just like Bischoff said! This was fine. **1/2

Next week:  Will the Network ever update these again? Who the fuck knows. 

Comments

  1. I could have sworn I've read this review before.

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  2. Smokin Gunns really got into a groove but that gimmick was such a loser.

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  3. Scott, based on the schedule, 3 more episodes on Wednesday morning, so that seems like the new random pattern.

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  4. Stranger in the AlpsOctober 17, 2014 at 10:04 PM

    Yo, Scotty! The schedule for Wednesday, 10/22 has RAW for 9/18/95, 9/25/95 and 10/2/95.

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  5. Stranger in the AlpsOctober 17, 2014 at 10:04 PM

    You quick, yo.

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  6. Eh, I just always check the schedule every time I sign onto the Network, that way you get some idea of what new shit is coming. Also coming is a Smackdown from 1/6/00 which I THINK had the famous Mankind-to-Cactus Jack promo that's one of my favorites of all time.

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  7. Sid was booked like such a meatball for most of 95

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  8. I was a huge WWF mark during the war and thought WCW was totally dishonorable in the way they went for the jugular, but man, watching this show again, Vince deserved to get his ass kicked.


    How in the hell were they not live, knowing well in advance that their feisty competitor was launching an unopposed hour of wrestling a week prior to this?


    And then to show up for the fight in this condition? With King and Vince in front of a green screen to open up the show? Scott didn't even mention the end of the episode which featured CLIPS FROM NEXT WEEK'S MATCHES!!!! Like they were PROUD of being on tape against the unpredictability of the new show a few channels over.


    Hubris is a bitch.

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  9. Adam "Colorado" CurryOctober 17, 2014 at 10:09 PM

    "Taped from somewhere "two or three weeks ago" according to Eric Bischoff."


    Or today: "Taped from some high school gym or bingo hall or something 2 months ago, probably for the last time."

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  10. Oh and about that green screen: Look closely and you can see Vince and Dok Hendrix (!) doing the intro and commentary during the matches. Would love to know what panic decision led to redoing the entire thing with King.

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  11. Adam "Colorado" CurryOctober 17, 2014 at 10:11 PM

    And in these podunk little towns too. Should have just stayed at Hammerstein, at least that place has a unique look to it, and a hot crowd.

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  12. Apparently Hammerstein was a logistical nightmare. Like, it only had one tiny elevator so the entire set and ring had to be loaded in piecemeal.


    But go take a look at those first Nitro shows again. They weren't running in huge arenas either. It's just lit really well and had an innovative use of space. Meanwhile, Vince and crew thought they could coast along churning out the same old shit. Kinda like... well, you know.

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  13. Adam "Colorado" CurryOctober 17, 2014 at 10:21 PM

    Yeah, I've heard that about Hammerstein. Still, WCW was doing a bunch of SEC/ACC basketball arenas that hold about 8,000, the WWF was doing shows in places I've never heard of, and I live in WWF country. Jesus, ROH gets around more than WWF used to back then.

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  14. That might be workable, although I'll have to find something else to fill Monday/Tuesday with, I guess. Then once I'm caught up I can start doing the alternating RAw/Nitro that people seem to want.

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  15. Nirvana had three albums, Joy Division had two.


    Longevity is not the only mark of greatness.


    I would actually use longevity instead of greatness. Like, maybe they never had the definitive match or angle (or album, in the case of bands) but they were producing decent stuff FOREVER.

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  16. Adam "Colorado" CurryOctober 17, 2014 at 10:37 PM

    Maybe it would be a good idea if they released these things so that one show wasn't 4 months behind the other? Just a thought...

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  17. I pay 9.99 a month for the BoD network, I expect fresh content. What's next, ADS?!?

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  18. I'm just saying, acting like a taped Raw is a personal affront to you is a bit weird.

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  19. Adam "Colorado" CurryOctober 17, 2014 at 10:40 PM

    I always see this website plugged by someone here... Something about cable, maybe?

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  20. My friend, I think it's safe to say that everyone who has ever posted here takes this stupid stuff way too seriously.

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  21. If I had been getting a push earlier and was suddenly teaming with Brooklyn Brawler, I would pick up a drug habit myself.

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  22. Hey now, fuck you buddy! IT'S STILL REAL TO ME DAMNIT!

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  23. Pretty sure being offended that a 1995 Raw was taped is a first.

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  24. Adam "Colorado" CurryOctober 17, 2014 at 10:44 PM

    Why do you think Lombardi was always brawling? People get irritable when they're jonesing.

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  25. I find it weird that I began checking out of wrestling around 1993 after Survivor Series... And came back around the time the New Generation guys all left, sans Shawn and Hunter ofc.

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  26. It's possible Dok wasn't available when it came to time to actually do the commentary at the studio in Stamford. Live at the tapings, the announcers only talked when they were on camera and otherwise just sat silently at ringside.
    Same thing happened in December 1998 when JR got Bell's Palsy in the days between the taping and the show airing on TV, so you saw him sitting at ringside during the matches even though Michael Cole was announcing.

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  27. If you think THAT'S being offended, you should see what I'm like when I see Sean Mooney on commentary.

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  28. I don't see where personal offense enters the picture here whatsoever.

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  29. But he literally COULD have moved the needle full time if they let him. Edge in January of '06 was the catalyst for Attitude Era Ratings, in '06!!

    Now, for whatever reason, and its probably HHH related, they took him out of that spot and decided that he was gonna be for full time number one on Smackdown, but that's THEIR thing. Had they left him, who knows what could have happened. You can't really punish Edge's drawing power of his first reign does Do huge numbers but the powers that be take him away.

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  30. If I had to take it up the ass from Patterson for 20 years to keep a job, I'd be irritable too.

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  31. Sean Mooney is a saint, you shut your whore mouth.

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  32. That sounds very likely. Although using Hayes in the first place when Lawler was clearly the #1 commentary guy at the time is another weird decision for a company facing its biggest threat since federal drug trafficking charges.

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  33. Oh, yeah? Well a double dumbass on you AND your couch.

    I like Mooney. ;_; (Forever Alone)

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  34. Edge was on RAW for like a year and a half after he won his first title.

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  35. Now, by local YMCA did Bischoff mean the Worcester, Mass YMCA, the San Antonio, Texas YMCA or the Y wherever Nitro was LIVE? Each Y may have different standards.

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  36. PREEEACH!!!

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  37. May fave is dead. Kayfabe even.

    Live in the now!

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  38. Stranger in the AlpsOctober 17, 2014 at 10:55 PM

    Well, there's this one for Chinese chicks on the make....

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  39. I like the guy, but I think you're severely overrating him. His serious promos were goofy, overacted and most irritatingly, over-enunciated (Jericho has the same problem; maybe it's a Canadian thing?) I'm not going to act like he was carried, but is having great matches with Benoit, Eddie and a prime Kurt *that* much of an accomplishment? He was generally a great gimmick/tag worker, no argument there. Also, his 2004 babyface character bombed and he was getting go-away

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  40. Bret did get started in the late 1970's in stampede. . .

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  41. To those who watched the show on the network, is that music that opened Raw the original?

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  42. Totally weird. I didn't remember that opening having lyrics at all. But for the life of me I can't understand why they would add lyrics now.

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  43. Virgil's Gimmick TableOctober 17, 2014 at 11:33 PM

    Sometimes I swear that WWE hates money.

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  44. I love Joy Division.

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  45. I believe his quick exit in the MITB match was due to injury.

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  46. Stranger in the AlpsOctober 17, 2014 at 11:42 PM

    Yes. I don't remember how long the version with vocals sticks around, however.

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  47. That jaw injury cost Edge his Wrestlemania streak. He was 5-0 at Mania heading into WM23, and had he been healthy, I imagine he would've gotten a higher-profile match and won it.

    The WM24 main event between Edge and Undertaker would've had a lot more intrigue to it if it was Edge's 6-0 vs. Taker's 15-0. I think there would've been legit belief that this would've been the end of UT's unbeaten run.

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  48. I'm sorry, I thought this was America!

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  49. Well done sir!

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  50. irritable? so your saying he is a pain in the ass?

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  51. In one sense of the phrase more so then the others….

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  52. Did I miss the Starrcade 95 repost? I'm actually looking forward to that.

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  53. Oh, I disagree with you about Orton. He's crisp technically, but his timing is the worst and he's super reliant on rest holds.


    Seems like most of what we disagree on is personal preference (I love Edge's promos, personally), but it's not like he only had great matches with great workers. The Dudleys and Hardeys circa 2000 were nothing special (D-Von and Matt never really were), he got better work out of Taker and Batista than just about anybody (neither is bad, but neither is HBK, either), and he had good (if not great) matches with stacks of other guys .


    As for his baby face character, I must have my years mixed up, because all I remember is that character as part of the Smackdown Six, super over teaming with Rey, and feuding with Kurt (and coining You Suck).


    He also, for what it's worth, gets the best out of Cena this side of Punk and HBK. He also had the ability to have multiple matches with the same opponent and make each one feel different, which is an underrated attribute a lot of guys don't have (Cena/Orton is always Cena/Orton, for example, and Trips/Foley was always great, but also always Trips/Foley).


    We don't need to agree here, but I still think the guy is sneaky underrated for the most part, and I'd rather watch him than Cena, Orton, or anybody else who's working today (not counting exciting new stuff like Ambrose, which is sort of a different category).

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  54. If he were medically cleared to compete.

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  55. Edge is a Southern States Wrestling alumni!

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  56. How long was that era? Cena only used that gimmick less than six months.

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  57. CruelConnectionNumber2October 18, 2014 at 2:43 AM

    Worse PPV main event pushed heels than Bulldog? He wasn't even over as a babyface except that one time!

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  58. Babyface Lawler can be a pain to listen to.

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  59. Don't forget to Scott Sez all the Thunder rants once we get to 1998! :)

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  60. davidbonzaisaldanamontgomeryOctober 18, 2014 at 3:04 AM

    YOU WANT AR-ROW! *clap clap clapclapclap*

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  61. Agree to disagree about Orton, I s'pose.

    Matt Hardy is a really underrated worker in my opinion. Dude had fun TV matches all the time against a variety of opponents. Also, let's not forget that Edge and Christian was, of course, a tag team, and I'd definitely rate Christian higher than Edge as a worker as well.

    I have to disagree about him and Batista having special chemistry -- all of their one-on-one matches seemed okay to me, but nothing to write home about. As far as Batista goes, I'd say his best opponents were 'Taker, Cena and HHH, in that order (he only had the one great match with HHH in the cell, but it really was great).

    His babyface character that I'm referring to was on RAW in 2004. He'd come back after his injury the previous year and was pushed pretty strongly, but the fans either didn't really care for the most part, or in some cases they turned on him.

    All in all, despite sort being a fan of the guy, I'd say that he was an overrated overachiever.

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  62. Since I don't see a Smackdown recap, guess I'll do this here:
    * I have to admit I'm surprised at how good Dean Ambrose is as a babyface. In the latter stages of The Shield's run, I was thinking of people who should stay in their current roles for basically their whole careers -- e.g., The Usos should always be babyfaces, The Miz should always be a heel -- and I had Ambrose down as someone who should always be a heel. He just seemed like such a natural at being a bad guy. I didn't think he would be very good as a face, and now he's a face who could be the No. 1 guy in the company.
    * So WWE (and I guess wrestling in general) conditions us to believe refs are weak enough to get knocked unconscious for five minutes simply because a wrestler runs into him. But then tonight I'm watching a single ref actually hold an angry Dolph Ziggler back by himself from attacking Rollins. Minor thing, I know, but it made the IC champ look pretty weak IMO.
    * Time to wrap up the AJ-Paige feud and move them onto other storylines. At this point they're just spinning the wheels and doing the same thing every week, which is a skeleton of the original basis of the feud.

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  63. But Koko B Ware was never a main eventer at all.

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  64. No it doesn't! WWE never updates the network! They are so damn unreliable! Rabble rabble

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  65. You do know Mabel JUST main evented a PPV right?

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  66. While it's hard to get too angry about it (because it resulted in us getting Edge/Foley) the fact they abandoned the super-hot Edge/Cena program in order to give HHH another 'Mania Main Event was a high point of HHH putting himself before THIS BUSINESS. I don't hate HHH like many do and Edge/Foley, HHH/Cena were both good matches but Edge/Cena was the obvious 'Mania Main Event and would have cemented Edge as a bigger star. Of course, the plan was always HHH/Cena and you can't have things like ratings and heat get in the way of Haitches payday!

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  67. 4 PPV main events in a period of 9/10 months for Bulldog. Not too shabby. I doubt anyone thought he was winning any of them though.

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  68. Only a few people really know what that job is like. So, on this topic, I value JBL's opinion over a thousand smarks combined.

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  69. This was taped in Canton, Ohio.

    Also can't believe Scott didn't mention how the end of the show had clips of the matches from the FOLLOWING WEEK'S EPISODE. Basically exposing the product was taped for any marks who didn't know. But Vince and Lawler were still doing nonsense on commentary like making jokes about the new "Best dressed list" and the football game from the night before.)

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  70. Damn, I remember that... I wasn't quite sure what to think of it, but you're right, they were basically bragging that it was already taped.

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  71. I like Edge quite a bit, but he also got to the main event at a time when I stopped watching wrestling religiously, so I missed some of his stuff. Personally, I don't know if he gets a true hof nod. He won titles but it was during a real bad time for wrestling and usually on smackdown, the b show. Had he been around in other eras, I just don't see him getting the belt. Also, had there not been two world titles, I also don't see him getting so many runs. I loved his tlc stuff but other than gimmick matches, I don't remember a ton of Edge matches that I loved. I might have missed some good ones, but that's just my opinion.

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  72. Yep, plus in the final 2 of the 1995 Rumble, the final 4 of the 1996 Rumble, part of the 6 man Main Event at the International Incident PPV, and part of the 10 man Canadian Stampede PPV main event. He had quite a push in 1995/1996.

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  73. The following week clips was a Watts thing. For what reason, I don't know--maybe he felt that if the show was going to be taped, there was no sense in pretending that it wasn't.

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  74. Not to necessarily play devil's advocate, but after hearing Michael Cole being interviewed on a few wrestling radio programs, I am of the belief that Vince McMahon and the current state of the WWE are more to blame for Cole's poor performance as an announcer. Michael Cole as a person seems very much unlike his dull, cliche-ridden WWE persona, and could likely be a good (but perhaps not great) commentator if he were not overly produced and made to conform to a subpar product.

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  75. They didn't realize WCW was a threat though. The whole industry thought Nitro was a huge mistake.

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  76. This deserves a million upvotes.

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  77. I used to help break down the ring at RoH shows sometimes before they got big enough to move to the big room downstairs, so I can attest to the shitty single elevator situation.

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  78. TJ: Holy crap I did not realize that Drew Galloway vs Jimmy Rave is happening today in close driving proximity to me.

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  79. WWF was literally doing episodes in high school gyms in upstate New York wastelands during this time. Wouldn't be surprised if they went to my older brother's high school at some point!

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  80. Holy shit, he actually said "Maggle?" This isn't just us fucking around with how he pronounces the dude's name, he actually WRITES IT? Fuck this guy.

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  81. I thought it worked bizarrely well.

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  82. Was going to post ''Khali and Kozlov'' but they were actually pushed really well (meaning they pinned everyone, including Undi) they just sucked in every other department.

    So I'm going to post THE BUTCHER BEEFCAKE instead.

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  83. davidbonzaisaldanamontgomeryOctober 18, 2014 at 10:53 AM

    THE CH CH CHOSEN ONE

    Wait, wrong chosen one

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  84. davidbonzaisaldanamontgomeryOctober 18, 2014 at 10:54 AM

    Yeah I like babyface Loose Cannon Lunatic Fringe Ambrose

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  85. At least 2 of those PPV's being the among the worst drawing PPV's in WWF history. No one expected him to win, and judging by the low buy totals, no one wanted to watch him, either.

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  86. They worked a High School in Liberty, NY for weekended syndies. That had to be the lowest of the low. Total shithole.

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  87. Really? Watts was known for being VERY kayfabe and never exposing stuff like that. You may be right tho

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  88. But he lost in England in 1997!

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  89. It's far more likely Lawler was not available. The uswa was still running Memphis on Mondays

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  90. It's not his fault the last of the 4 was the day Austin 3:16 was born. business exploded the next day with 20,000 seat sellouts with everyone having 3:16 signs, 5 million views each week, and million buy PPV. if only he could have main evented one more month.

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  91. Jesus Christ, the intro sequence for this episode was so mid-90s it hurts.

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  92. In Your House PPV's didn't even air in the UK at that time, so we didn't watch him either.

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  93. And the canned crowd noise was so mid-80's it hurts!

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  94. From the September 18, 1995 Observer:

    *Look for Sabu (Ted Gooch) to have a lengthy run in WCW. There is speculation of building a stable of invaders from ECW around him called the nWo, with the other members being Shane Douglas and Cactus Jack (Mark Finley). Yeah, that sounds like it's got a lot of legs.

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  95. Sabu's real name is Ted Gooch?

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  96. I'm a Mooney mark, too!

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  97. Yeah, what was with the Van Halen "Right Now" rip-off they played throughout the show? I thought only WCW played generic rip-offs.

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  98. I think it was a punishment for his behavior in '92.

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  99. I read from somewhere the reason they did that was because of Melrose Place, which shouldn't be too surprising considering most of the WWF workers were big fans of that show and that show's convoluted"throw every far-fetched idea possible" storytelling style ended up being the pre-cursor to what pro wrestling in general would become within three years.

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  100. Gotta love how wrong Todd was in predicting that Mad About You would be cancelled because NBC briefly moved the show to Sundays.


    Yeah Todd, NBC had so little faith in Mad About You that it lasted four more seasons during NBC's most successful ratings streak.

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  101. Did I miss something? What does Austin have to do with Bulldog being a colossal failure at the top of the card?

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  102. No one "drew" against Shawn and Diesel in 95, 96. If Bulldog was matched up with Austin in 98, instead of Mankind, it would have "drawn"


    But mostly I was making fun of the WWE's version of the story where business got better over night after KOTR 96.

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  103. That is what the fake Dave Melter said.

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  105. They were also very bland so even if they had a more respectable gimmick they'd still fail to get over.

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  106. But that's the thing--what's to "expose"? The show being taped wasn't some secret. Not that I agree with the move, but I think Watts may have thought it was more kayfabe-breaking and insulting to NOT show self-awareness over the taped nature of he show.

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