Skip to main content

Mayhem 99

The Netcop Rant for WCW Mayhem 99

(I thought I already did this one, but Adam says I did not.  Who am I to argue?  I recently tried to watch this one again, recently as in a few years ago when it was on 24/7, and I would classify it as “nigh-unwatchable”.  The bloom was off Russo’s booking FAST in 99.) 

- What, did you think I’d actually let Sean steal my thunder for trashing this show? Dream on, fanboy. Props to the guy who had a www.rantsylvania.com sign in the front, much appreciated. Next time use a bigger sign and darker color, though.  (Also, plug a website that still exists.) 

- Newsflash: Someone with too much time on their hands has started a rumor that I missed Mayhem because I was donating a kidney to my brother (who of course is on dialysis according to the story). 10 points for style, minus several million for accuracy.  (Given that my brother is a former associate of the Hell’s Angels, that wacky rumor wasn’t even a 10th as interesting as the crazy shit that’s happened to him.) 

- Live from Toronto, Ontario, the Center of the Universe. Just ask someone from there.

- Your hosts are Tony & Bobby.

- Opening match: Jeff Jarrett v. Chris Benoit.

I was gonna do a PTB Count for the show, but the final tally ends up being 11, so it’s not worth the trouble to use it as ammo in the Bottom Line. My roommate, who of course is the sole human being on earth who cares about this stuff, points out the basic structure of Jeff Jarrett’s music is Cactus Jack’s “Mr. Bang Bang” rewritten. (It’s true.  I have done scientific polling of everyone on Earth.)  Big pop for Benoit, duh. Quick tornado DDT gets two. Pretty amazing heat for Benoit and for the match in general here. Superplex gets two. Baseball slide misses and they fight on the floor, resulting in Benoit taking the X-Pac bump to the post and hurting his Powers That Be. Jarrett gets a powerslam for two. Pinning sequence leads to a Jarrett clothesline for two. A sleeper sequence drags things down a bit, then Benoit hits the rolling suplexes. Cue the run-in, as Creative Control comes down and Benoit bumps out of the ring. Jarrett gets a flying bodypress, reversed for two. Backdrop suplex -> swandive gets two. “Patrick” jumps Benoit, Dustin comes out of the audience and attacks him, Jarrett runs into “Gerald”, Benoit gets the guitar, and gets the pin at 9:27. Could’ve done without the amateur-night finish, great match otherwise. ***3/4  (Not that good.  Maybe ***ish.) 

- Cruiserweight title: Disco Inferno v. Evan Karagias.

Does Vince Russo have a vendetta to destroy the light heavyweight title in BOTH promotions or something? (At least he didn’t put the belt on a midget.)  Madusa has the Skank-o-Meter turned up to 11 tonight. Might as well just change her name to “Missy Hyatt”. (They’re both looking pretty rough these days.)  And you thought Team Savage was the biggest waste of Madusa possible. Disco is selling an injury that resulted from being jumped by Jeff Jarrett pre-match. Tony Marinara (also known as “Doogie Howser’s best friend”) is out with Disco. I’m joking about the Doogie thing, please don’t e-mail me. (Fun fact:  The kid that played Doogie’s friend Vinnie actually went on to some fame as the voice of Daxter in that series of games.)  Tony does commentary, and sports the worst Italian accent since Joey Tribbiani. Evan looks nervous as hell out there, allowing Disco to carry the offense. Disco basically squashes him before Evan comes back with that would normally be token jobber offense, if this wasn’t supposed to be a competitive match (ha!). Crowd shows their appreciation for this, ahem, fine match by starting one of the loudest “boring” chants I’ve ever heard. Tony goes to hit on Madusa, Evan chases, Disco chases him, but misses a chairshot and hits Tony by accident. He’s so distracted that Evan is able to hit a springboard bodyblock (SICK BOY LIVES!) and get the pin and the title at 7:58. Oh, god, just bury the title now so we don’t have to suffer through the rumored Madusa v. Evan match at Starrcade for it. ½*  (Oh no, we indeed did have to suffer through that match and title change.  I still don’t know what the fuck their obsession with Karagias was.) 

- Hardcore title: Norman Smiley v. Brian Knobbs.

Smiley has full goalie gear, although he’s wearing Tie Domi’s jersey instead of Curtis Joseph’s. I don’t know if they’re going for irony or inspiration by having him wear a goon’s jersey, actually, or if it was just ignorance all around and they picked one at random. Big face pop for Smiley. We play “I hit you, you hit me” for a while. Knobs pulls off Norman’s goalie pads. The RS.com sign appears in the front row around this time. They fight to the dressing room for the “We’re not copying RAW, honest” segment. Some really weak weapons shots follow, like milk and cardboard boxes. Ooo, that’ll leave a mark. Cute spot as they fight into an elevator, and Jimmy Hart hits the button to re-open it, but nails Knobs with the trash can by mistake, giving Norman the pin and the title at 7:27. This was pretty much a foregone conclusion anyway. Idiotic but fun. Third match in a row to end with blown interference, however. (What, Vince Russo book repetitive finishes?  That’s un-possible!)  Call it *

- Six-person tag: Saturn, Dean Malenko & Asya v. Kidman, Eddy Guerrero & Torrie Wilson.

Dean & Eddy start, and completely waste the potential of that matchup by fighting outside, setting up the trainwreck spot about a minute in. Asya & Torrie scrap for a bit. This match is just a total mess. Dean rolls up Kidman for the pin at 3:02. Eddy & Kidman get into a shoving match over that, drawing big “Eddy” chants. Smart crowd. Eddy gets triple-teamed, but snaps off a rana and pins Malenko at 5:05. Saturn superkicks Asya by mistake and Eddy frog splashes her at 6:28. Eddy & Saturn do a dull sequence, and the DVD gets two. Eddy goes to tag Torrie, but thinks better of it. He tries a bodypress, but Saturn rolls through to the Rings of Saturn at 10:18. So it’s Saturn v. Torrie. She gets two off a low blow, but Saturn retaliates with his own for the pin at 11:17. Okay, can we get a scientific answer: Does that actually hurt women enough to pin them? Because Chyna basically shrugged off Jericho’s at Survivor Series. Match had absolutely no heat, but it wasn’t horrible or anything. *1/2

- Buff Bagwell v. Curt Hennig.

(OK, so this was the BRILLIANT Russo idea of having Hennig face a retirement deal, where he has to win all his matches and if he loses then he retires.  This is similar to the Flair deal in WWE, but Flair was a BABYFACE, so when Flair went on a winning streak as a result of that stip, people got behind him. Hennig was a HEEL, so you don’t want people to get behind him, and yet not only was he booked to be on a winning streak as a result of this, but he drew sympathy for getting forced into the situation in the first place.)  Creative Control attacks Hennig, but he still gets the jump on Buff. See, here’s what I don’t get: Hennig is played as a heel all through this “retirement” thing, wrestling faces and thus getting heel heat. Now, even here he’s programmed as a heel, and yet on Nitro it’s supposed to be shocking when he acts like a heel? (Exactly.) Brawling to start as the crowd chants “Perfect”. First rule of Canadian fans: If you were over in the WWF, you’re over for life. (Very true.)  Crowd proceeds to die as they stink up the joint. Buff suddenly hits the Blockbuster out of nowhere at 8:10 and that’s that. ½* Hennig’s “retirement” of course lasted all of a day, which is a record even for wrestling, I think.  (At least Flair, who has to date lost two retirement matches in WWE, had the decency to give it a few months before wrestling again.) 

- Sting v. Bret Hart.

Big heel heat for Sting here. Wow, one crowd did what WCW couldn’t: Get Sting over as a heel. Hopefully they’ll have the good sense to play him as a heel. Shoving match gets the crowd going. Bret beats him down, but Sting rakes the eyes and hits a low blow to come back. Boring offensive sequence leads to brawling outside, and the ref gets bumped. Oh, lord. Enough with the ref bumps already. (No!  The Russo must be appeased and only sacrificing nubile young referees can keep him at bay!)  Cue the run-in: Luger comes in with the baseball bat, and hits Sting. Bret nails HIM, and the ref DQ’s Sting at 7:40. Bret doesn’t want it, so we continue. FIVE MOVES OF DOOM! Sting blocks one and gets the Scorpion Deathlock, but Bret reverses to the Sharpshooter for the win at 10:07. Bad match for Bret, par for the course for Sting these days. *1/2 We get a male bonding moment.  (This match closed out the latest Bret DVD and I kindly upgraded it to ** there.)

- Chain match: Vampiro v. Berlyn.

(This matchlisting alone makes me wonder if Russo had ever actually watched wrestling before getting this job.)  Dr. Death and Oklahoma Ed are out for commentary. I wonder if Ed Ferrera doing a better commentary job than Tony is intentional or not? (Ed ended up as a pretty good commentator in TNA.)  Berlyn decks the ref before the bell can even ring and a big schmoz erupts. Vampiro fights the Wall, Berlyn gets the idiot punk rocker. There may not be any attempted murder in the WWF, but there’s character homicide of Berlyn going on as we speak. (That poor kid had no chance fighting the idiocy of WCW.)  The Wall chokeslams Vampiro, and Berlyn argues with him over that, so the Wall walks. (This was like, a month or so after they first did the Berlyn revamp, and already they’re breaking up the team.)  Vamp and the goof double-team Berlyn and a camel clutch finishes it about 4 minutes in. I didn’t bother timing it. DUD Why’d they even bother with this?

- Various people walk and talk and stuff.

- Lex Luger v. Meng.

Luger is doing a Memphis sell job, wearing a neck brace to the ring. Bobby notes that “this is gonna be horrible”. Yup. Meng no-sells all, but can’t get the THROAT TICKLE OF DEATH because the collar is in the way. Tony: “It’s worked, Brain, it’s worked!” Truth in advertising, kids. Absolutely brutal match, until Liz maces Lex by accident and Meng rips off the neck brace and ends it at 5:21. Ugh. DUD  (Vince Russo was paid a lot of money to come up with a finish where Lex Luger wears a neck brace to prevent the Tongan Death Grip, but got beaten after his manager accidentally maced him.  For a 5-minute midcard match.  Think about that the next time your paycheque is depressingly small.) 

- David Flair shines the crowbar. Wait a sec, that sounded more disgusting than I intended…

- US/TV title match: Scott Hall v. Booker T.

( I don’t even remember who had what title here.)  Hall is over huge, because of the WWF Canada Theory. Pretty non-descript match, with the crowd chanting for the Rocky lookalike off and on. Booker makes the comeback, cue the run-in. Creative Control jumps him, Outsider’s Edge finishes it at 6:03. This was only wrestling in the loosest sense of the world. ½*  (This was, I guess, a match where the US and TV titles were supposed to be unified into one, and it goes 6 minutes and ends with a nothing run-in finish.  By the way, I do remember that Hall dumped the TV title into the garbage on Nitro, and Jim Duggan found it months later and declared himself the champion.) 

- David Flair v. Kimberly.

I won’t dignify this with a summary, but Kanyon, DDP and Arn Anderson all run in after David threatens her with the crowbar. Next, please.

- I Quit match: Sid v. Goldberg.

Crowd boos Goldberg’s entrance, so the audio guys panic and pipe in the chants. Goldberg is not over in Canada, because the WWF’s spin of him being an Austin clone is the accepted line up here. Seriously. (Goldberg was nothing in Canada.)  Plus Sid is a WWF guy, so he’s over. Fast start for Goldberg, so the fans tell him how much he sucks. He has NO idea how to respond to that. (Maybe yell “BIZARROWORLD!” at them and then never run another show there again?)  Sid gets a cobra clutch slam and two chokeslams, which pretty much exhausts his moveset. Goldberg gets a cross-armbreaker to soften the shoulder, and a cobra clutch gets the win at 5:33. That was pretty, uh, to the point. I mean, a cross-armbreaker and a cobra clutch, and THAT’S enough to put Sid on the mat face-down for five minutes? Not exactly Austin-Hart of 97, even if that’s what they were trying to copy. ¼* I really don’t see where the whole “Sid is so tough that he passed out” thing comes in there. I mean, if the guy’s such a wuss that a sleeper puts him out after 5 minutes, screw him.

- WCW World title: Bret Hart v. Chris Benoit.

Slow start as Bret works the arm. Benoit appears to be bleeding from the eye. Early Sharpshooter -> crossface sequence earns a handshake. Benoit hits the floor and run-in #1 sees Dean Malenko jump out of the crowd and attack him. Bret gets a piledriver for two as Dean is hauled off. They exchange chops and Benoit gets a backdrop suplex for two. Tombstone and swandive gets two, but now it’s run-in #2 as the Outsiders yank the ref out for no discernible reason. Goldberg makes run-in #3 and it’s another ref out as the Outsiders and Goldberg fight to the dressing room. Benoit works the knee as we get a split screen of the match and the other guys yelling at each other in the dressing room. Well, god forbid we miss guys yelling at each other. Figure-four by Benoit, Hart makes the ropes. Bret comes back with a superplex, but the crowd is disinterested by this point. Benoit gets the rolling suplexes and gets an almost-crossface, but Bret counters to the Sharpshooter for the title at 17:43. (Forever memorialized in the opening of “Malcolm in the Middle”.)  Eh, the booking was all over the place, the ending had no buildup, the match had no heat, just a disappointing effort for both. Of course, Russo & Ferrera having no confidence in the match getting over, in Canada, without 4 people running in speaks volumes to begin with. *** Sadly, WCW hasn’t hit this level in the main event since April.

The Bottom Line: I really don’t know where all the glowing reviews of this show are coming from.  (Because WCW’s fanbase was in severe denial at that point and so badly wanted a shake-up of the status quo that they would cling to ANYTHING that seemed like it would present a threat to the WWF again.)  I mean, it had a really hot opener and a pretty decent main event, but there was just nothing of substance to fill the other 2 ½ hours in between. You could probably stretch and say the six-person was okay, but the lows were just too depressing and the highs weren’t high enough to save it. Early buyrates for this show already are disappointing to WCW, which shouldn’t be a surprise considering how piss-poor the promotion for it was.  (Uh, “disappointing” was not the word for it.  EPIC DISASTER would be more accurate.) 

Thumbs in the middle, leaning down, for Mayhem.  (Time has been even less kind.  Thumbs WAAAAAY down.  I could barely even make it through the show last time I tried to watch it.) 

Comments

  1. Really good opening match, good closer, not much else in between is the story of this show. Too bad too, because I love a wrestling tournament!

    So much weird too. The David Flair / Kimberly thing is particularly strange and ineffective. The Hennig/Bagwell match makes no sense and doesn't really pay off the angle. The booking on the end to Sid vs Goldberg was insane too -- I can understand the five minute match, but whatever they were going for they didn't get there. The ending of the Hart/Benoit match is remarkably flat too, as Bret looks pretty uninterested to be world champion and especially given they are in Canada for the show, Bret went over, and they wrestled a good little match.

    Plus, Bobby is drunk off of his ass for the whole show.

    ReplyDelete
  2. How come Sickboy never got his WWF shot? Was he signed to them before or after WCW? I also remember rumors that he was supposed to be somehow involved in the Katie Vick angle (since his shoot* name is Scott Vick), but that might have been fantasy IWC booking.


    *I've actually heard wrestlers use this phrase, most notably Danny Doring at a convention where he gave his card to some guy and said, "That has my shoot name on it."

    ReplyDelete
  3. Whenever I think of the Sid/Goldberg feud, all I think of is Sid yelling "LET IT BLEED!!!" after he got busted opened (at least I think it was that feud).

    ReplyDelete
  4. I know someone else countered me on this once before, but I swear I watched the end of this show for free on WCW's website as it was airing, b/c I remember the choppy nature of the footage and somehow being convinced I should order the 11 PM replay (which I did).

    ReplyDelete
  5. Back when this show aired, some of my college friends had an online community where we talked about what we were thankful for (since it was around US Thanksgiving). I distinctly remember one of those the things I had was "the WCW booking committee for FINALLY giving Bret Hart the world title."


    :\

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wasn't Vick supposed to be in Evolution?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yeah, that didn't end up too good...

    ReplyDelete
  8. WCW's obsession with Karagias was probably that he was exceptionally purty, and they wanted to push someone that the female fans would be into. Sadly, he couldn't get it done in the ring or on the mic.

    The idea that WCW had devoted fans at this point is just sad. I actually feel sorry for people with that much denial, who were SO DESPERATE for any kind of hint that WCW could still be okay, that they would cheer for this kind of crap. Kind of like how Bob Ryder was obsessively pro-WCW despite all evidence that things were falling apart.

    ReplyDelete
  9. "Given that my brother is a former associate of the Hell’s Angels, that wacky rumor wasn’t even a 10th as interesting as the crazy shit that’s happened to him."

    And this was an affront to Scott, as he was a Grim Reaper associate.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hmmm interesting. I know they did some audio streams for PPVs and house shows, but I don't remember them having the ability to do video streams at the time.

    I do remember them sending out a CD around this time (I think right around Halloween Havoc or Fall Brawl 1999) to WCW magazine subscribers that had some video content on it (just clips of old matches and stuff I think) but it also allowed some interaction with the website and "multimedia" stuff, so perhaps it allowed for this? Who knows I guess.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Would I hate myself more after watching this show or Backlash 2004?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Were they still paying him at the time? That could explain alot.

    ReplyDelete
  13. What is wrong with Backlash 04?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Benoit celebrating with Daniel and Nancy is probably what he means.

    ReplyDelete
  15. And Scott might be a little tipsy himself for calling Ed Ferrera a "pretty good commentator" during his TNA run because I remember Ed and especially Don West being 90 levels of atrocious during those first two months, leaving Mike Tenay to carry the entire show by himself.
    Coincidentally, 11 years later Mike is once again paired up with two horrible announcers, the only difference is while Ed and Don knew when to shut up and let Mike carry things, nowadays Mike barely even gets to say more then 10 words per show due to Taz and Todd's constant refusal to shut up.

    ReplyDelete
  16. It's a total Benoit celebration, and this show seems pretty Benoit-heavy? Yeah sorry if that wasn't clear.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Huh, how funny considering my comment in the Spring Stampede post.

    It's absolutely incredible how bad Russo's booking is. I mean, it's so bad people thought he was sent there to sabotage the company, and that shit was actually considered because it made sense!

    Also, Scott, you forgot to mention that Asia is bigger than China.

    The whole Hennig thing is EXACTLY what Russo's stupid ass did with The New Blood. We're suppose to be getting Kidman over, yet we end up rooting for Hulk Hogan to overcome the odds and beat him. Making the old rich guys the faces? Seriously, he HAD to be sent there to sabotage the company.

    Let us not forget his claim that when he started that you would NEVER, EVER see his face on TV. Less than a year later he's beaten Ric Flair, become World Champion, which he then gave up, thus he remained undefeated, he lead the biggest heel faction in their company, and was going to end up the father to Ms. Hancock's baby. Fuck you, Vince Russo.

    ReplyDelete
  18. On the plus side, at least Bob wasn't opening every episode of Thunder by announcing a horrible lineup and then calling WCW the greatest wrestling company on Earth while staring at the camera [and also staring at a bunch of empty seats] like Ric Flair was doing during the final few months of the company's existence.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I still think of that stuff in the context that it happened. I never watch his matches and let what happened think of it differently.

    If I did, I couldn't enjoy my Gary Glitter records.

    ReplyDelete
  20. It wasn't the fingerpoke or nWo that killed WCW it was Vince Russo & his clusterfuck messiah complex star maker bullshit booking.

    ReplyDelete
  21. He's the greatest cancer the wrestling world has ever seen.

    In the WWF, he was kept to such a minimum that he was almost like one of those good cancers that makes fat people look healthier, or like someone who did the correct amount of heroin and came out looking sexy.

    In WCW, he was testicular, prostate, cockhead, brain, lung and pancreatic cancer rolled into one.

    The fact that he goes and does these shoot interviews telling wrestling fans that "your average fan doesn't want wrestling, they want CRASH TV" in his dumb greaseball accent, yet 99% of his ideas failed and when he was right it was when McMahon was filtering his ideas with a fine-tooth comb, is a disgrace. I sincerely hope he is reminded every day that he reduced a company with virtually unlimited funds to worthlessness, and he is literally spat upon by those who had to deal with him.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Oh yeah, and you can see how he looked in his WWF days. Go watch Austin vs. Dude Love from Over The Edge '98, IIRC he's seated somewhere to the left of your screen and he can be spotted. He looks like a total dork. He has this kind of Italian peach fuzz on his face, maybe a mustache, and thick glasses. Thank God nerds changed their looks to something acceptable once Kevin Smith became the beacon of all that.

    ReplyDelete
  23. It was a minor aside and all I meant was that Smith's fashion is the Giorgio Armani of geekdom.

    You're probably reading too much into it seeing as how you're bringing his pot smoking, in which cultstatus is correct: it hasn't negatively affected his life in any measurable way, in fact Kevin has testified that it's helped.

    But let's not turn this into a weed vs. alcohol/cigarettes debate, or a legalisation debate, or God forbid, tales of friends and family who've ruined their lives through weed or other drugs. I have some drinking to do, and that would be tiring.

    ReplyDelete
  24. "Ed ended up as a pretty good commentator in TNA."
    I feel the exact opposite about Ed Ferrara (AKA Shitlocks) as a TNA commentator.

    ReplyDelete
  25. That was Mark Jindrak

    ReplyDelete
  26. "(Vince Russo was paid a lot of money to come up with a
    finish where Lex Luger wears a neck brace to prevent the Tongan Death
    Grip, but got beaten after his manager accidentally maced him. For a
    5-minute midcard match. Think about that the next time your paycheque
    is depressingly small.) "


    Funniest line in ages... also I always find the way you Canucks spell "check" to be comical for some reason.

    ReplyDelete
  27. I don't follow celebrity culture all that much... what did Amanda Bynes do to get included in that group... and more importantly has she fallen far enough that I might have a shot at it?

    ReplyDelete
  28. And then have it crash an hour into the show.

    ReplyDelete
  29. They spell it correctly, like the rest of the English speaking world.

    American downvotes, come at me bro.

    ReplyDelete
  30. I prefer the term Ãœbermensch.

    ReplyDelete
  31. I checked out of WCW and wrestling in general around early '99 or so for a while... when I came back and turned on WCW I remember being shocked... last I saw them they had huge production values, full arenas, and a lot of big names... and I turned it back to find dark stadiums, no Nitro girls, and a bunch of guys I'd never or barely heard of... it was jarring to see how they had fallen so far so fast.

    ReplyDelete
  32. He tossed his life away to become a famous movie director and touring speaker. What a fucking loser

    ReplyDelete
  33. Well you asked for it... you and the other person that downvoted me... don't try and start with me... I mean seriously BRO DO YOU EVEN LIFT?

    ReplyDelete
  34. I actually liked the Knobbs-Norman finish. It was fun. At least something about this PPV was fun.

    ReplyDelete
  35. I think one of the ex writers, Seth Mates maybe, said that Vick was supposed to come in as Katie Vick's brother. That poor guy wrestled dark matches for YEARS and never got to the main roster.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Google her, she seems to have lost her mind and is posting bizarre videos and pictures of her head photoshopped on to animals. Plus she is almost completely unrecognizable.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Karagias was one of the first guys where I was like "he's a cruiser who does flying moves but he still sucks? How?"

    ReplyDelete
  38. Isn't he doing soap operas now?

    ReplyDelete
  39. Surprisingly, I remember them having less issues back in 1999... I only began having problems with their streams after I started to pay for them. But I was in college in '99 and had an ethernet connection.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Could someone explain the Malcolm in the Middle reference? I only vaguely remember the show back in the day.

    ReplyDelete
  41. http://youtu.be/lCyopVWeohU?t=17s

    ReplyDelete
  42. at least Backlash has two good matches not involving Benoit.

    ReplyDelete
  43. I would still bang Uta Ludendorff.

    ReplyDelete
  44. Bret turning Benoit over in the Sharpshooter with Benoit scrapping away trying to fight it was a part of the intro to Malcom in the Middle. I used to watch just the intro for the song and that part and then go do anything else.

    ReplyDelete
  45. During the opening credits of the show, there was a montage of pop culture-type video clips, and the clip of Bret locking in the Sharpshooter was part of that montage.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Scream09_HartKillerApril 22, 2013 at 11:27 AM

    Bret was originally cast to play the father, because he was Frankie Muniz's favorite wrestler growing up. Bryan Cranston played politics and screwed him out of the role by convincing Fox executives that Bret was too handsome for television. When Muniz broke the news to Bret, with tears in his eyes, he vowed to use Bret's likeness in the opening credits as a tribute.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Did they hold this show at the Air Canada Centre? If so, there's no way a 1999 WCW event fills that arena without major papering.

    ReplyDelete
  48. But he was hired, because the ratings and buyrates were already down.

    ReplyDelete
  49. Scream09_HartKillerApril 22, 2013 at 12:01 PM

    Rumor was he was gong to be Katie Vick's brother and feud with Kane.

    ReplyDelete
  50. Wasn't Ryder on the WCW payroll?

    ReplyDelete
  51. She's fallen so far that you wouldn't want to try and have a shot at her.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Man, and she looked great for Les Mis.

    ReplyDelete
  53. Yeah, to be completely honest, as sad as it is I prefer this 1st Russo run in WCW over the Nash run that immediately preceded him AND the Sullivan run that came after him.


    It really was the lesser of three evils. His SECOND run though...woof.

    ReplyDelete
  54. I think the problem was, that his changes came too fast and too radical. He went literally from Hogan vs Savage and Hogan vs Flair to Booker T vs Scott Hall or Jeff Jarrett vs DDP overnight, while in the WWF the change from family friendly to Attitude came very slowly. They needed ca 2 years from spring 96 to spring 98 to get from looser to winner.

    ReplyDelete
  55. Ratings were down but there was still a loaded roster and WCW had their distinct style. With Russo on board WCW turned into a WWE wanna-be. Killed the strong midcard, took the big stars off TV and replaced them with guys drinking his kool aid.



    In what world do Jeff Jarrett & Bret Hart, 2nd generation stars form the nWo that is rebelling against tradition. That's like putting the Undertaker in dX doing crotch chops.

    ReplyDelete
  56. Yeah it's like putting Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage - two of the biggest Stars of the 80s - into a rebellious stable like the nWo... oh wait...

    ReplyDelete
  57. As a life-long fan of WCW (as well as JCP/NWA) I can't tell you how sad it was watching Russo destroy WCW. Hogan's reign of terror in 1994 was horrible. The nWo being shoved down our throats in late 1997, just for the payoff (Sting killing Hogan) to fall through was an epic disaster, but Russo was just soul-crushing. WCW had the "WWF-lite" stigmata attached to it the moment Hogan and friends walked through the door, but shit like Aysa? Oklahoma? I can't think of a strong enough word to describe it.

    ReplyDelete
  58. Agreed, not sure how this is being mis-remembered so.

    ReplyDelete
  59. Benoit and Jarrett had a *lot* of matches around this time. I mean, they were usually very good, but still.

    ReplyDelete
  60. By necessity there aren't many bones down there, so I assume that a low blow would be quite damaging to a woman.

    ReplyDelete
  61. You had me at "Bret"

    ReplyDelete
  62. Anyone think this should have been Bret putting Benoit over for the title?

    ReplyDelete
  63. Hey, you typing in German right now?


    Nope?


    Thought so.

    ReplyDelete
  64. Before Russo, WCW at least had a discernible identity as the more wrestling focused alternative to the WWF's crazy, more plot-driven sports entertainment style.
    Even when WCW attempted to copy the WWF's style, those attempts never lasted long thanks to mediocre ratings and things would usually return to normal the following week.
    After Russo however, everything went out the window including WCW's identity, their strong mid-card scene and what little common sense was still left at that organization. Russo basically turned WCW into XPW with a much bigger budget.

    ReplyDelete
  65. DX Undertaker probably would have been more fun than Bikertaker. At least for a couple weeks.

    ReplyDelete
  66. They actually legitimately sold that place out for the infamous March 29, 1999 episode of Nitro that was home to Bret Hart "beating" Goldberg by hiding a steel plate under his jersey, but of course that was when WCW's ticket sales were still strong, before the huge plunge that started as soon as they changed their logo in April of that year.
    But considering this show was smack dab in the middle of both Russo's reign of terror and that horrible, horrible logo that made the 2010 TNA logo look stellar, yeah it's safe to say this show was definitely heavily papered, hence that famous inside term for WCW shows: "Paper-View".

    ReplyDelete
  67. Jake Roberts, Scott Hall, and Amanda Bynes sounds like a rejected team for King of Trios.

    ReplyDelete
  68. Wow, to quote Paul Heyman just before the X7 main event, "big ups" to you for that solid info.

    ReplyDelete
  69. Karagias struck me as a guy who looked marketable until he opened his mouth.
    Once we heard his awful Southern twang, that just immediately killed his potential.
    It's probably a good thing for us that he couldn't talk a lick because he'd likely still be under WWE contract now if he could talk, considering all of the guys they've brought in who were honestly much worse workers than him but all of those guys could at least cut a half-decent promo.

    ReplyDelete
  70. Norman was a lot of fun in that role. One of the few (only?) bight spots about the show at that point.

    ReplyDelete
  71. I can totally picture Frankie Muniz being hungover nowadays while telling various people at bars and nightclubs all over L.A. that he's going to be shooting "Agent Cody Banks 3" and "Stay Alive 2" any day now.

    ReplyDelete
  72. LOL, I can totally picture them facing Jeff Jarrett, Kurt Angle and Karen Jarrett.

    ReplyDelete
  73. The clip of Bret placing Benoit in the Sharpshooter at the end of the match was always shown in the opening credits of Malcolm in the Middle because the Dad (Bryan Cranston) was a wrestling fan on the show (because wrestling was popular at the time and he was kinda dumb, you see).

    But the other explanation makes a lot more sense, really.

    ReplyDelete
  74. I actually didn't downvote you. In fact I just upvoted your original post despite spelling "cheque" wrong. SEE IT, BRO!?

    ReplyDelete
  75. They were taking over new territory and pulled it off, Bret & Double J didnt have the nWo attitude. Buff Bagwell & Vincent were better members than those 2.

    ReplyDelete
  76. I hear this argument about just about everyone southern (the OMEGA contingent, especially) and I'm not sure I understand it. Some variant of that twang represents like half the country, why is it considered so reprehensible? East Coast bias in media, I guess.

    ReplyDelete
  77. Russo apparently was building towards Bret/Goldberg for Starcade, which to his credit is a bigger money match than anything involving Benoit. Of course this being Russo he gave THAT match away on free tv in the first round of the tournament where Bret went over Goldberg.

    ReplyDelete
  78. I've been watching this tonight, and the ending, where Jimmy Hart is frantically tapping the elevator button while wielding a trashcan, is really fun, creative stuff. Most smile-inducing match on the show.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment