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Saturday Night’s Main Event Countdown: #18

The SmarK 24/7 Rant for Saturday Night's Main Event - November 26 1988

- Are you KIDDING me? They just happen to show the one SNME that I don't have a copy of and have never reviewed? (Unfortunately they aired probably the worst one of all time.)  Seriously, this channel is like Christmas every single day.

- Taped from Sacramento, CA.

- Your hosts are Vince & Jesse.

WWF Intercontinental title: Ultimate Warrior v. Super Ninja.

Some dumbass on Wikipedia keeps posting that Ninja was Keiji Mutoh, although I've always heard it was Rip Oliver doing a quick job. Mutoh did have a stint in Florida as "Super Ninja", but this guy is clearly way bigger than Mutoh was in 1988. The Ninja tries a lame superkick to start and Warrior totally no-sells it and tosses him on his head, then boots him out of the ring. Back in, Warrior elbows him down and then hits him with a super-stiff clothesline, then finishes with the gorilla press and splash at 2:08. Ninja might as well have been a mannequin out there. DUD  (Seriously, what was the point of starting with a Warrior squash when he was hot off winning the IC title?) 

- Let us take you back to Ted Dibiase buying Hercules as a slave, which didn't work out very well for anyone involved. Where's Abe Lincoln when you need him? 

Hercules v. Virgil.

Odd that a black man would be fighting for his rich boss's right to buy slaves. Ah, irony. Hercules notes in his pre-match promo that each link in his chain represents a victory in the ring. Geez, he'd been wrestling for like 8 years at that point, so that's not really something to be proud of. (Sounds about right, though.)  Dibiase attacks to start, but Hercules cleans house and totally ignores Virgil, going after Ted instead. Back in, Herc slugs away on Virgil and elbows him down, then drops an elbow and pounds away on the mat. Back to Dibiase again as Herc keeps getting distracted, but he goes back to Virgil and kneelifts him. He throws clotheslines as poor Virgil bumps all over the place with no offense, and Herc no-sells his brief comeback. Running powerslam finishes clean at 3:22. Another total squash. 1/2* Hercules was pretty over thanks to sympathy heat, but they overplayed their hand and tried to push him at a level he wasn't ready for as a babyface, and it ruined him.  (And speaking of Hercules, I was reading the Observer from 11/94 trying to figure out if there was something weird around the Kid-Backlund match at the time, and one of the tidbits that I had forgotten about was that Hercules was being brought in to play Razor Ramon’s old Cuban gangbanger friend who would now be his rival, presumably because he sold out to the man or something.  That’s…not bad, actually.) 

WWF World title: Randy Savage v. Andre the Giant.

Ugly pea-soup green tights for Macho tonight, my least favourite variant. Savage tries the boxing in the corner, but Andre boots him down and grabs a facelock in the corner. Andre rams him in the corner, but Savage hits him with a knee to the back before Andre goes back to his facelock again. Andre switches to the choking with the strap and headbutts him, but Savage keeps fighting in the corner. Andre headbutts him again and goes back to choking, but Randy uses a jawjacker to break free. He slugs away in the corner, but Andre chokes him down again. Savage goes up with the double axehandle as Jake Roberts joins us to further that ridiculous feud. So the match grinds to a halt as the ref kicks Roberts out and we take a break. Back with Savage jumping Andre from behind while Bobby searches for the snake. Andre smacks Savage down and gets all worked up about the snake while Heenan tears ringside apart. Savage uses the distraction to keep on the attack, but he can't take Andre off his feet. Savage chases after Heenan and gets attacked by Andre again as a result, and finally Bobby finds Damian. And it turns into a big schmoz at 8:42 with everyone running in. Decent enough, but it didn't actually lead to a finish and Savage looked really weak selling like a jobber for Andre at that point in both of their careers. ** Savage, the World champion, got no significant offense in, which would have been fine if it lead to him getting the big come-from-behind win, but it didn't.  (They had a much better match on a couple of the house shows taped for TV airing, actually.) 

Flag Match: Hacksaw Duggan v. Boris Zhukov.

Slugfest to start and Duggan gets the atomic drop, sending Boris to the floor. Boris comes back with a boot and drops an elbow, but Duggan sidesteps him, only to miss his own elbow. Boris slugs away in the corner, but Duggan follows with a clothesline coming out and slams him to set up the three-point clothesline to finish at 2:49. Yeah. 1/4*

- Brother Love interviews Slick (with Jive Soul Bro sadly omitted again) and Hulk Hogan, so they can debate the recent attack by Big Bossman. Love asking questions and then cutting Hulk off is really funny stuff. Hogan cutting off Love is less funny. But then I'm biased anyway. And then of course Hulk the sportsman beats up little Slick and little Brother Love because he's a big man and Bossman isn't around to stop him.

The Young Stallions v. The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers.

The Rougeaus announce their American citizenship before the match, which sadly means no theme song yet. We've got limited time left so this should be squashtastic as well. Jacques overpowers Powers to start and dropkicks him, but Powers hammers away in the corner. Jimmy Hart hits him in the leg with the megaphone to break that up, and the Rougeaus take over in the corner with the abdominal stretch and superkick combo. Raymond works on the back and Jacques gets a back elbow for two. He misses a crossbody, however, and it's hot jobber tag to Roma. He powerslams Jacques and goes up with a missile dropkick on Raymond for two, and it's BONZO GONZO. La Bombe De Les Rougeaus finishes at 3:07, however. Quick and not particularly interesting. *1/2

- We wrap things up with angry words from Andre, menacing words from Jake Roberts, and Hulk Hogan saying "brother" and "man" a lot.

The Pulse: I won't go so far as to call this the worst SNME I've ever seen, but it's close enough that I can definitely call it a strong recommendation to avoid at all costs.  (I’d call it one of the worst, although crap like the 1990 ones with the depleted roster really gave this one a run for its money.) 

Comments

  1. Why didn't they do that proposed Herc/Razor storyline with Savio? Would have had much better matches as well.

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  2. I dunno, it was actually a really good idea and totally the kind of thing that you see in movies all the time.

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  3. Network update: My credit card botched my monthly payment. Got it fixed 36 hours later, but they already cancelled my entire subscription, and now I have to renew for 6 more months.

    Anyone else have that problem?

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  4. Savior couldn't play a believable heel in the us. See Los boriquas and his high pants

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  5. And they also teased that sort of storyline with "Make a difference" Fatu, with 2 guys watching his matches, but that got scrapped too. Strange.

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  6. There was a nice subtle part of Savage's pre match interview, saying that Hulk Hogan had beaten Andre with the title on the line, so now he wanted to do it too. So already, he was showing hints of jealousy towards Hogan.

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  7. I have to admit, Savio was kinda badass in that 8-man brawl at the In Your House before Mania.

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  8. MikeyMike, WitnessJuly 27, 2014 at 4:17 PM

    I've been reading these reviews and it's kinda like the Clash where a ton of these are terrible.

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  9. I liked the idea for the Ramon feud also. They ran out of stuff to do with him after the Diesel feud. He just treaded water until the Goldust feud which was a year and a half later.

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  10. I don't ever remember hating one as a kid though. Just seeing named wrestlers fight each was such a treat that quality was irrelevant.

    sidenote from Friday: Gianna Michaels did a bangbus that I believe was a shoot. After she finished with one they picked up another guy. Could be a work but does it matter?

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  11. Yeah , agreed. I think, actually, a main event loss at Mania after a shenanigans heavy title reign could've harmed Edge like it harmed Jericho

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  12. The finishes of the main events of Starrcade 1997 and 1998 were (in my opinion) the two worst booking decisions ever made by WCW. And that covers a LOT of ground.

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  13. I don't blame Hogan for not wanting to put Bret over. Neither No Holds Bared or Suburban Commando made a ton of dough at the box office. If the best offers he was getting was crap like Mr. Nanny, even as delusional as he is he had to be nervous that his movie career wouldn't pan out. He was turning 40 in 1993, so he still had plenty of wrestling years left to make money.

    He already did what Vince asked and put Warrior over, and that was a bust. And Bret wasn't as big or flashy as Warrior was. Hogan likely saw WCW as an option -- he was already filming Thunder in Paradise in mid 1993 anyway and that was a Turner project so irons were in the fire -- so he didn't want to put Bret over and make himself look bad before arriving in WCW as a conquering champion. A screwjob loss to a big fat monster like Yokozuna made him look better on the way out than being out-wrestled by new babyface torchbearer Bret Hart.

    Yeah, it would've been "Best for Business" to have Bret beat Hogan to make a clean transition. But it really wasn't in Hogan's best interest and Vince surely wasn't going to pay Hogan a lot of cash to lay down for Bret because he didn't have it at the time. Plus, Vince might've been holding out hope that Hogan would come back and didn't want to insult him or make Hogan look bad either. After all, the Warrior "passing of the torch" didn't work, and the only thing that seemed to draw was Hogan -- hence why he tried to make Luger into Hogan 2.0

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  14. davidbonzaisaldanamontgomeryJuly 27, 2014 at 4:36 PM

    NEXUS uses CONCRETE DDT!


    It's not very effective...

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  15. That was a supremely irritating switch - pointlessly done a month after Rock's epic victory at Backlash, and then Rocky gets the belt back by pinning Vince McMahon at KOTR.

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  16. MikeyMike, WitnessJuly 27, 2014 at 4:39 PM

    It doesn't matter at all. This is great great news.

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  17. They played their part, no doubt - but Jericho was nuclear hot at that point. Biggest active face o the roster behind Rock.

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  18. I've long thought the way you handle that is to make Backlash a three way - or, at least, in paper. Have HHH injure Jericho before the match, then take him out of the match early. A returning Jericho then beats HHH at Fully Loaded.

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  19. Yeah, I noticed that too.

    And he didn't beat Andre here, did he?

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  20. Yeah, and then Taz's manager turned heel on (the victorious) Tz, and Taz got best down by Sabu and RVD. Stupid, stupid move.

    Although I think Heyman really put himself in a corner with that feud. Taz couldn't lose, because he was starting to build the entire promotion around him - Sabu couldn't lose because he'd been gone so long and it would nuke his enigma.

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  21. That's not really important. What is important is that she is a PRO

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  22. Yeah, wasn't there an awful IRS Feud as well? Razor had nothing to do.

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  23. Yes, BangBus is as much of a shoot as WWE.

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  24. I like that nobody is saying 'who is that?'

    Because come on. We all know.

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  25. Yeah, the whole vibe of that PPV is quite odd and grave. Maybe it's how dates it looks, but it has a really dingy aesthetic, and the crowd's largely dead for everything - perhaps a symptom of the US/Canada war stuff. Even during Bret/Shawn there's barely any noise for most of it, bar Bret beating down Shawn at the start.

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  26. Les Freres Rougeaus always bring the fun

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  27. Absolutely. Having Lesnar destroy the face of the WWE his first match back would've been an advertisement that Lesnar wasn't going to be just another wrestler on the roster. Having the unstoppable Brock tear down all challengers for a year would've given them a license to print money.

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  28. No chance any Bangbus scene is a shoot. C'mon.

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  29. It's a shame WWF never ran a more serious 6-Man tag division. It's the perfect way to throw a bunch of guys out there and the formula is perfect for a good time. Great for singles feuds. Great for tag feuds. Great for mixing the two. Creates posses (everyone likes being in a club). It really could have taken off. A great indication is the 6-Man cage match between Honky Tonk + Hart Foundation vs Savage + Strikeforce. Just classic stuff that would have made for revolutionary match ups at the time. Money left on the table.

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  30. Start working at home with Google: I make $63 /hr on internet . I has been without a job for nine months but last month my pay was $10500 just working on the laptop for a few hours.........,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

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  31. Yeah that would have made Fatu's character, well I won't say good but at the very least interesting.

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  32. Check out any other WWF programming (Superstars, Challenge, Primetime), they hyped the fuck out of Mania 3 every 3 minutes to the point you want to scream. I'm assuming they figured they had their bases covered.

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  33. https://youtube.com/watch?v=a1QCBF3h_tM

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  34. Start working at home with Google: I make $63 /hr on internet . I has been without a job for nine months but last month my pay was $10500 just working on the laptop for a few hours.............,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

    ------------------------------------------------

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  35. Possibly the local affiliates had programming to air, which was a lot more common in the late '80s and as it is today, where the affiliates really made their money.


    Keep in mind that SNMEs and Main Events were hyped similarly on the syndie and USA Network programming. Sometimes they wouldn't even mention the name of the program at all--a match on SNME would have promos hyping what was coming "this weekend." And we'd only be told to "check our local listings" to see it.

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  36. Yeah I do agree, that was the biggest issue. Hogan/Flair in of itself was not some sort of egregious violation that served as the death blow -- it was taking the focus off the main storyline and inevitably abandoning multiple storyline over a short period that burned people out. I suppose the angle at least drew a decent buyrate, but it was an aside and one that went nowhere.

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  37. The only thing I would say (and I actually agree with what you said) is that I imagine Hogan didn't see his brand as dead at that point and if he was going to move over to WCW, I doubt anybody wanted some footage of him definitively passing the torch on to the WWFs top current star.

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  38. I for one found the Super Ninja deal quite funny. Mr Fuji did a great pre-match interview, building him up as a real threat, and tiny me feared for the Warrior's reign. And then he got absolutely crushed.

    Many years later I managed to get a friend of mine start watching wrestling, and I had him follow my timeline (started watching around WM III). When it was time for this SNME I hinted, since he loved the Warrior and thought that he was unstoppable, that this new guy was going to make a huge impact. He bought it and may have found it even funnier than I did. Ah, good times.

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  39. At the very least you should have free drinks 4 life. Mean bastard, your friend.

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  40. Yep, even Jesse Ventura had to say something like "Well I don't know, maybe Mr Fuji lied to us..."

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  41. Help your son build a Soapbox Derby racer

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  42. Sting beats Hogan clean at Starrcade 1997, the nWo breaks up at Souled Out, and WCW gets their shit together and fires the Hulkster.

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  43. Outside of Savage/Andre, just a bunch of nothing. Warrior is wasted squashing someone (Feed him Honky in a rematch like they did in January), Duggan vs. ZHUKOV, Hercules vs. a guy who only wrestled occasionally and to be squashed, and Jim Powers closes out SNME for two shows in a row. Still a breeze to sit through, but dang... the next SNME has Warrior/Honky, Hogan/Akeem, Beefcake/Bass, and the face turn of the Red Rooster... and the SNME return of Hall of Famer KOKO B WARE (squashed by Hennig).

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  44. Ava Devine is one of the very few who would do a "shoot."

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  45. I still remember Super Ninja doing some goofy ninja punches on Warrior's chest, and Warrior pounding his own chest in the same spots in response. I was a kid, I marked out, and in fact I loved this entire episode. Seeing Andre beat the hell out of Savage was some nerve-wracking shit.

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  46. I say shoot cause they picked up a couple of dudes that couldn't....you know....like couldn't. Either it's a shoot or they went through a whole lot of trouble to make it look like one. I would post the link but it would probably be frowned upon. Plus, we don't need to start that here. Just use google magic and judge for thy own self.

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  47. but it was an aside and one that went nowhere.


    You finally hit the nail on the head. 99 WCW had some good stuff but the behind the scenes drama was finally starting to affect the booking.



    Goldberg got his revenge on Nash in April but it was almost an afterthought. Like, oh yeah, I'm mad at him. Let's have a match to settle this feud I had forgot about.

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  48. Yep, since she was actually a hooker in the past.



    (dear god, why do I know this? )

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  49. Change one match in history and it's a CM Punk match?? I seriously don't get the love for that guy.

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  50. YankeesHoganTripleHFanJuly 27, 2014 at 6:23 PM

    I'm pretty sure the Super Ninja won the linear championship from JBL in 04. I mean he was a fucking Ninja...he just needed 15 years or so to get focused

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  51. MaffewOfBotchamaniaJuly 27, 2014 at 6:23 PM

    The storyline with Herc in '94 sounds interesting...but Herc matches are the absolute last thing '94 Raw needed.

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  52. MaffewOfBotchamaniaJuly 27, 2014 at 6:25 PM

    I Googled some advice for you but is just gave me ''love''.

    Stupid computer.

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  53. I don't know... Hercules was working some solid * matches for that AWF promotion. Fits right in with late 94 WWF.

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  54. The last five years of The Streak were more important that CM Punks entire career.

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  55. That long title reign should have started at Money in the Bank. Del Rio and Cena padding his title reigns was totally pointless.

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  56. They attempted to bring back Hercules but not Nailz? No wonder the guy accused Vince of sexually harassing him.

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  57. I'm sure Vince probably sexually harassed Hercules, too. "Does your non-tan go under the tights, too?"

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  58. "You know what I think would look good on you Herc? Some sexy baby blue trunks".

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  59. Just get a Bluebird card. You'll never have that problem again.

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  60. Savio was always fairly underrated. He just wasn't capable of carrying someone worse than him to a solid match but he could always hold up his end well.

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  61. It makes you wonder why they don't go back to having PPVs in the afternoon.

    It's totally fitting for the company's current PG direction plus with the PPVs now being more or less Network exclusives, it can be pulled off more than ever now.

    Plus it would benefit the overseas markets by airing live at 10 or 11pm instead of 2am.

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  62. I was one of the people who watched WrestleMania 3 on pay-per-view. My great uncle ordered it for everyone to come over and watch it.


    In terms of the strategy for promoting WM3, all you needed was Hogan-Andre, And even if they didn't mention it on SNME, it was promoted pretty much everywhere else. One show on a Saturday night at 11:30 eastern wasn't going to make much of a difference.

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  63. I would love a 4 p.m. start to PPVs on the Network. I am a very big fan of going to bed early, so staying up til 11 to watch the show basically messes me up.


    Yes, I am an old man. Feel free to make fun of me.

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  64. So was that spammer the same one that claims to make $$$$$ a week working from home (and yet he still has no idea how to type or spell correctly. Why do spammers and hackers do that anyway? Did they learn how to spell from Vince Russo?) and we can do the same too if we just click on *insert virus infested link here*?

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  65. Andre demolishing Savage does seem weird, but Andre was pushed as unstoppable to anyone but Hogan, who was still the #1 star. Nowadays there would be more grousing from the fan base about that.

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  66. I turned 44 two weeks ago so I'm in no position to make fun of old age.

    4pm is definitely a better time for a family friendly sport like wrestling. The UFC (not exactly a family friendly sport) has 5pm and 6pm start times for their shows now so why can't wrestling do the same?

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  67. I agree. His strap match with Austin is one of the most underrated matches of the 90s.

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  68. Don't really see the problem with the Warrior squash here. He was still being built up as this unstoppable juggernaut, so a squash win on SNME against a guy with Fuji's backing was another notch.


    I'm not sure anyone thought Super Ninja was going to win the IC Title, but there was no reason to give Warrior a "competitive" SNME match.

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  69. MaffewOfBotchamaniaJuly 27, 2014 at 7:13 PM

    ''and chains.''

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  70. I keep asking, but did anyone else expect the debut of Larry Zbyszko's Super Ninja from the AWA? And the Andre postmatch is unintentionally hilarious for his delivery of "I'M NOTAFRAIDOFSNAKE!"

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  71. You act as though I wanted Koko B. Ware to be the 1st guy to beat Hogan clean. CM Punk consistently put on the best matches and had the best promos, post MITB '11. Whether you like him or not, he could have been much bigger than he was allowed to be.

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  72. And he was good as "First stepping stone against a new heel", as I always felt he had a chance of winning.

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  73. Great point. You think they'd at least give it a shot with a show like Survivor Series (a "name" show that doesn't really impact the grand scheme of things anymore). I'm sure they can track live views plus within-24-hour views. What do they have to lose, especially when the Network expands internationally?

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  74. From all accounts, if you just happen to be on set during one of her films, you stand a 95% chance of getting some.

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  75. My cousins had PPV, we didn't get cable in Brooklyn until WM V. 4pm on a Sunday was great when I was 15. I didn't go to the WM Ii closed circuit because it was on a Monday night. I think WM7 might have been the first 7pm on a Sunday show.

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  76. Ah, alcohol - the cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems.

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  77. I'd love to see them try survivor series on Thanksgiving at least once.

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  78. What was the last early PPV? last I can think of is Royal Rumble '93.

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  79. The NFL so dominates Thanksgiving now with games at noon, late afternoon and night that it would be death to schedule Survivor Series against it.

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  80. If they ever have a Wrestlemania in London, it'll have to be an afternoon start. 7pm UK time, 2pm EST, 11am PST for West Coasters who can have wrestling with their brunch. And for Hawaii wrestling fans, you can have Wrestlemania with your breakfast!

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  81. I feel like WrestleMania X started at 4pm ET...

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  82. Val Venis never drops the Intercontinental belt to Road Dogg on Raw. The title never recovered from that senseless switch.

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  83. Or at least the zip line part.

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  84. I would have even approved.

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  85. We could have had a proper start to the Age of Orton.

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  86. I find it funny as well.

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  87. That's I wrote the same thing lol. Seriously, if you're a subscriber and it's on demand, fuck the 8 pm start time

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  88. He has one hell of a gimmick though.

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  89. These two comments win easily.

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  90. Oh, don't worry. As a Brit I ALWAYS make fun of North Americans complaining about how late PPVs are when we've 20+ years of 1am-4:20am airtimes for PPV and Raw. "We're hardcore!" etc.

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  91. What's wrong with Koko beating Hogan?

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  92. Bullshit, the title recovered the next year because guys like Benoit, Jericho, and Angle were fighting over it, and even if Venis and Road Dogg weren't the best wrestlers they had way more heat than HHH, Rock, and Mero in early 97. The IC title could recover if we had midcard feuds and characters people gave a damn about.

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  93. Agreed. In 2000, the IC title went to Angle, Jericho, Benoit, Guerrero, Venis, and Rikishi. It did just fine

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  94. Hogan returns to WWF in 1998 en route to headlining Wrestlemania 15 with Austin?

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  95. Haha Ron and Fez used to do a bit with that. If you know the show lol

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  96. Sting over Hogan clean at Starrcade 1997.
    Flair over Hogan clean at SuperBrawl IX.
    Hart over Yokozuna at Wrestlemania IX.
    Luger over Flair at Great American Bash 1988.
    Vader over HBK at SummerSlam 1996.


    For one with a potentially big historical impact: Undertaker over Bret at SummerSlam 1997. (If the belt isn't on Bret, there is no Montreal...and that version of history is a curiosity)

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  97. Yes. With the multiple falls, that Ironman match was built to make both guys look great, even in defeat. Rock getting a definitive win over HHH in the blowoff would have been good for Rock's reign without HHH being hurt by the loss.

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  98. And they all had short token reigns that meant nothing in terms of elevation. Those are some great names and Venis & Rikishi, but none of their runs were in the same league as those of Savage, Hennig, or Hart. The title used to mean "we see something in this midcarder". Now it means "we don't know what else do do with this midcarder". I trace the downslide directly to Road Dogg, the champ who tarnished the gold so badly it could be won by guys like Godfather, D-Lo Brown, Carlito, and Zeke Jackson.

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  99. After the 1999 mess, it really was a long reign. Crazy

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  100. The string of champs that followed Road Dogg were so bad that Benoit, Jericho, and Angle were already above the title by the time they were fighting for it.

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  101. As unimpressive as he was in the ring, Nash could have had a decent tweener/heel run as champ to build to the Goldberg re-match. Feed him DDP at Souled Out, Hogan at SuperBrawl, Flair at Uncensored, Savage at Spring Stampede, Sting at Slamboree, then Goldberg beats him clean in the middle at Great American Bash and carries the belt through the end of 1999.

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  102. Totally agree. Rock raises Cena's hand to congratulate him then Rock Bottoms him. Next night, Rock goes on a tangent in quasi-Hollywood Rock mode to set up the match for 28. Works just the same without the Miz nonsense

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  103. They clearly saw something in Angle, Jericho, Benoit, and Guerrero, as they all ended up being world champions. They seemed to have bigger plans for Rikishi (which didn't pan out). I agree Road Dogg (and most the 1999 IC champs) did the title no favors, but I think it did just fine in 2000.

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  104. More over-looked than underrated. Anyone who has seen it usually drops it in the high 3 or low 4 star scale. It's obscurity (the time period and a show no one would bother watching again) hinders its popularity.

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  105. Eh, well why not thanksgiving eve for shits and giggles? If I was a kid I'd be all over that.

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  106. It's not a "match result" as such, but can I nominate the outcome of Goldberg v Bret - ie: the aftermath of the kick to the head? I'd like to change that to having never happened, please.

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  107. YankeesHoganTripleHFanJuly 28, 2014 at 4:34 AM

    It was a typo. I was...drinking heavily yesterday

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  108. Looks like the Sarah Palin Network will be charging the same as WWE. Personally, I'd go with WWE: http://news.yahoo.com/sarah-palin-launches-online-subscription-channel-041149751.html

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  109. "I'm 7'4'', 520 pounds from Grenoble, Fraaaaaaaaaaance..."

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  110. What, did Herc do something that got him fired?

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  111. Yeah, compare to 1998 plus, where Andre would sell as much as Koko B. Ware would, and could be defeated by anyone's finisher clean.

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  112. And they ended up as tag team title contenders...in ECW. Go figure.

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  113. Yeah this was back when WWF could give us storyline points like that without even thinking. I guess they do the same now, but it was a GOOD THING then.

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  114. New Wave Wrestling, one of the first magazines I read that contained shoot facts, reported about this as well.

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  115. Exactly. Warrior was for the kids, and they wanted to see him squash guys like bugs.

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  116. I don't like when they bring in guys who spent years with the company and were on tons of PPVs and wrestled/teamed up with guys like Hogan, Savage, Warrior, etc and suddenly they're a different guy.

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  117. I think he was calling Savio underrated, not the match.

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  118. But that's 4 promising midcarders all taking a turn in one year (and two guys who never should have worn it). By that point it was like a foregone conclusion all those guys would get reigns. Most of them never had more than a single PPV defense before they passed it along to the next guy. There hasn't been a great IC champ since Razor Ramon. Great wrestlers have held the title, but not have been booked to carry the title like a genuine symbol of prestige. Shamrock was the last traditionally booked champ, and Venis still had potential at the time he won it, but never recovered from dropping it to the Dogg.

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  119. Hopefully the WWE writing team doesn't steal their ideas from it.

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  120. Yeah I agree. Once Punk caught fire, I think it was worth making ADR the "corporate choice" (as briefcase holder) only to be first to fail in a cash-in. Use Punk's promos and antics to provoke ADR into cashing in for Night of Champions. Vince & HHH can be all disgruntled about Del Rio not waiting for a better opportunity. Punk retains at NOC and, with the MITB opportunity off the table, HHH himself steps in for a Hell in a Cell match with Punk (and puts him over) at the next ppv.

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  121. He pretty clearly was talking about the Punk vs. HHH match at Night of Champions. Not the title reign.

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  122. I wonder how that shakes out, even without the Hogan part. Bret retaining against the unbeatable monster at WM and moving on as fighting champ. If he is champ, he presumably doesn't put on the show he did at KOTR. Probably a title defense. Maybe have Luger win KOTR and build him as a heel challenger for Bret at SummerSlam?

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  123. Agreed. And if the crowd turns on Bret, you are screwed. Hogan is leaving, Bret is dead in the water as top babyface. Helps no one. Not sure it's worth the risk.

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  124. Booker over HHH at Mania.


    Jericho wins a re-match with HBK on Raw or at Backlash, while Booker retains against HHH or Flair.


    Jericho challenges Booker for Bad Blood, while HHH vs Nash is just a "grudge match" based feud.

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  125. That... would be really cool especially if Herc went after 123 Kid, forcing Ramon to save his buddy.

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  126. Yeah - but they could have put Barry Horwitz in there and had a more credible match. And he wasn't just the Super Ninja - but Super Ninja #1 -- might as well put a Conquistador in there.

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  127. I think that was late 93

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  128. Absolutely, and Hogan jobs to Austin. I have a slight chub on just thinking about the possibilities

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