The SmarK Rant for Monday Night RAW – 11.14.94
Taped from Bushkill, PA. The crowd on the hard camera side is already thinning out severely in week 2 of the tapings.
Your hosts are Vince McMahon & Ted Dibiase
For some reason, this episode had “technical difficulties” and thus we miss the entire Bob Backlund v. 1-2-3 Kid match, joining it only after Bob gets the submission with the chickenwing. OK, conspiracy nuts, what’s the deal with the missing 10 minutes at the beginning of the show? Was someone bleeding or wearing a Chris Benoit shirt or something? Anyway, we pick it up with Backlund going nuts on the Kid and Bret Hart making the save before laying Bob out in the aisle and putting the Sharpshooter on him.
Mabel v. The Blue Phantom
Now, previously the Phantom was Black, so maybe he’s just telling more dirty jokes backstage? Oscar’s rap is surprisingly coherent this week, as he recaps the members of Mabel’s Survivor Series team. The Phantom gets some kicks in while Dibiase compares Mabel to Barney the Dinosaur, which is actually referencing a particularly mean rib that the other wrestlers would do to Mabel backstage. Mabel splashes the Phantom at 2:00.
Survivor Series Report with Todd. Nothing new here, although given how little I remember about this show I’ll probably redo it after the next RAW.
Jeff Jarrett v. Gary Sabaugh
What’s with the Stallion getting so much work on RAW here? He actually gets a hiptoss and slam, but Jarrett chokes him down and gets a suplex for two. Stallion with a sunset flip for two, but he misses a dropkick and Jarrett goes to work on the leg, finishing with the figure-four at 3:11.
Meanwhile, IRS cuts one last promo on the poor guy who is getting buried. No, not Daniel Bryan.
The King’s Court with Owen & Bulldog. Not as a team yet, of course. They’re having a TOWEL-BEARER debate and WHAT THE FUCK is with Bulldog’s outfit? Is he going to a cheerleading competition after the show?
The Portugese Man of War, Aldo Montoya debuts in a squash we don’t see for some reason (what the hell?) and Ted Dibiase tries to buy him for the Corporation, but he’s only for sale to Paul Heyman!
Alundra Blayze, dressed like a gangster moll, is headed to Tokyo to defend the Women’s title (which she would lose there, by the way) and we wrap it up.
So we ended up with FIVE MINUTES of wrestling after everything was cut out of this show. Thanks, WWE Network!
Next week: Razor Ramon v. Diesel!
The Razor v. Diesel show is pretty fun. I watched it a few months ago.
ReplyDeleteAnd what was the Mabel rib?
ReplyDeleteI was wondering the same. While my brain is overflowing with wrestling knowledge, it's hard to keep with every homo-erotic and inhumane rib thats occured
ReplyDeleteI'm sure it involves sodomy, shit, sodomy using shit, something along those lines.
ReplyDeleteThey would corner him in the dressing room and sing the Barney song to him.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the taping locations for Raw, it would get wose before it got better. I was watching some shows from 1995 that looked like they were taped in a high school gym. You can see championship banners hanging on the wall and everything!
ReplyDeleteJust looked it up on thehistoryofwwe website, and it was at a high school! HOLY SHIT. What the hell was happeneing to the WWF in 1995?
ReplyDeleteBefore the Dusty/Flair power struggle wasn't the plan for Luger to win the belt at Starrcade? If so I could see why they went the route they did.
ReplyDeleteI never really thought that hurt Luger as much as Summerslam '93 did where he celebrated a countout win like it was the biggest deal on earth.
At least Starrcade it took a chair to beat him.
If it was me I would have forgone the ironman tournament and done heel Lex going over Flair for the title at starrcade '89. You then do a number one contenders tournament on the Saturday night show with the finals being Sting vs Flair which Sting wins. The Horseman turn at the clash still happens because Flair's a dick who thinks he's the number one contender and Sting has served his purpose (Flair needing someone to help against Funk and Muta). Flash forward to Wrestlewar where Flair is now the number one contender thanks to Sting's injury. The Luger match is the same except Luger makes it back in the ring before being counted out only to be met by some Flair shenanigans to regain the belt.
Diesel Power!
ReplyDeleteWWE doesn't run on Diesel Power... it's the best I've got at 1:30 in the morning.
ReplyDeleteand Mr. Fuji mutilating dogs and feeding them to unsuspecting victims,
ReplyDeleteThe Dusty/Flair power struggle was a long road but yes most signs point to Lex finally winning at Starrcade before Flair balked and Dusty threatened him with the Rick Steiner J-O-B instead.
ReplyDeleteNeedless to say Ric won and Dusty was soon being fitted for some polka dot trunks.
They must not have paid their Diesel Power bill, because everything after the first three rows are dark on every show in 1995.
ReplyDeleteAnd why is Jim Powers not in the hall of fame then?
ReplyDeleteI must be missing something obvious. Clearly the tape exists and there's no reason evident why they would delete the match from the library.
ReplyDeleteYeah Haku seemed lost pretty much during his tenure in the WWF. Really his most memorable thing was the Islanders / Bulldogs feud. Otherwise he was basically fodder. The king gimmick was an ill fit for him too and resulted in quite the non-push for such a "distinction".
ReplyDeleteFive minutes of wrestling? What is this, 2008 TNA?
ReplyDeleteDoes the crossface chickenwing count as a chokehold? The whole Kid/Backlund was basically structured around the submission hold with Kid doing everything to counter and avoid it. But at the same time I wouldn't think WWE would go that far to cut the match for that reason, but only thing that springs to mind.
ReplyDeleteToo bad no-one had the Internet back then so we could all say "EVERYTHING IS FINE!"
ReplyDeleteWell the Kid/Backlund match was 10 minutes.
ReplyDeleteTotally random stab in the dark. In watching the version of the show off USA on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pk8vgeQNwdA), the Montoya squash was their spot for the current events bit, and in the Backlund/Kid commentary, Dibiase mentions something about a Foreman/Moorer boxing match (which happened on Nov. 5). Knowing how WWE keeps damn near everything and/or is able to use alternate angles and delete commentary for DVD releases, I'm throwing out that possibly the "new" commentary taped after the tapings proper was somehow damaged? The answer is probably much simpler (last "technical difficulties" I remember was to cut out Brian Pillman saying "Johnny B. Gay"), but it's a theory anyway.
ReplyDeleteIt's possible I suppose. Puts me in mind of the the Summer Slam 1990 airing I saw (along with the DVD) which has the redubbed PTW version of the commentary for the Rockers/P&G match instead of the version from the PPV and original Coliseum Video VHS release.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the Pillman/JBB thing, that's funny because Turner didn't cut that out on the home video release of the event, it's there fully intact, along with Jim Ross' hilarious 'Ooooooh' reaction. They did however cut to an alternate angle when Pillman starts leading a 'faggot' chant for the crowd.
Yeah, they do strange things sometimes. The Survivor Series 1994 DVD has about 90 seconds or so randomly cut out of the Backlund/Bret match (in one of the restholds) that is present on the CHV version.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Hunter was mad at X-Pac this week.
ReplyDeleteI'm slowly getting my 11 year old nephew into pro wrestling, although I don't know how it'll stick given the shittiness of the current product. Anywho, he plays the video games & listens to me and his Dad talk about it, so he knows a little bit. We were watching a Smackdown replay last night (the first time I've watched the current product in a long while, actually - that Cesaro/Ambrose match was the tits) and he randomly asks me if Jake the Snake could beat Andre the Giant.
ReplyDeleteI told him "well, sort of," and he sympathized with Andre because as an 11 year old he's shit-your-pants-scared of snakes too.
I always wondered about stuff like this; they didn't edit out the crowd chanting "faggot" and "Michael's a bitch" at the Freebirds in GAB '90. There is also a "technical difficulty" at the beginning of the Roma/Wright match from Superbrawl V but I have the PPV version on tape and I have no idea why the first part was cut. Hmmmm
ReplyDeleteI recall that -- I think it was when Backlund had the crossface chickenwing on Bret and Bulldog was chasing Owen outside and through the ring?
ReplyDeleteWWE Network: It's unedited! I'm partly joking, but I don't know why they promoted the Network initially as unedited when that's not what we got.
ReplyDeleteJust a bad time for the business. No big draws (as much as I love Bret). The company was still reeling from the steroid trial as well, which had ended the previous summer. The wrestling industry as a whole was in a virtual depression, which is partly why Cornette's SMW folded that summer.
ReplyDeleteThread jack will Brock lesser have the new longest time before wwe title reigns or will back land still have that record?
ReplyDeleteIF that's the reason then I'm glad I have my old tapes and not the Network.
ReplyDeleteThe WWE actually had a house show at my high school in 1995, lol.
ReplyDeleteWWF @ Brookhaven, NY - Bellport High School - February 12,
1995
Man Mountain Rock defeated Mike Bell
Mabel defeated Tony
Devito
Hakushi defeated Aldo Montoya
Doink the Clown defeated the Brooklyn
Brawler
WWF Tag Team Champions the Smoking Gunns defeated Mike Bell & the
Executioner
King Kong Bundy defeated Adam Bomb
Jacob & Eli Blu fought
the New Headshrinkers to a double count-out
Lex Luger defeated Tatanka in a
lumberjack match
(this looks like a dreadful card)
I found a really strange edit the other day in the Rock/HHH Iron-Man match from Judgement Day 2000. Outside the ring, Rock irish whips HHH into the ring apron. Right at impact, the camera cuts to Shawn (in the ring as the ref) cringing at the impact. So it must have been really hard impact to HHH's back....but so fucking what?
ReplyDeleteThe Italian Stallion supplied jobbers to the WWE on the cheap. I guess part of the deal was for him to get tv time. If a guy is from the North Carolina area then odds are they were trained by the Stallion.
ReplyDeleteWatching this show now, and the interviews for the Rude-Roberts match are just filled with sexual innuendo that, as a 9-year-old, I clearly missed. Bobby and Rude laughing at the three-legged race comment was fantastic.
ReplyDeleteI want unedited content on the network Vince! What the hell man?
ReplyDeleteThere was a TV taping at my high school in November 1993 (Carbondale, PA) that I attended. The wrestlers actually trashed the locker room afterwards and it was a local news story. Nearly the entire show was squash matches for Wrestling Challenge. The only non-squashes were The Steiners vs. The Quebecers, Undertaker vs. Jerry Lawler (which actually was a squash....but not a traditional star vs. jobber squash) and the main-event was Bret and Lex Luger against Ludvig Borga and Yokozuna.
ReplyDeleteBacklund: 3985 days (12/26/1983 - 11/23/1994)
ReplyDeleteLesnar (if he wins at SummerSlam): 3836 (2/15/2004 - 8/17/2014)
Close, but Backlund would still hold the mark.
I think that was debunked years ago. Though I am interested in where Cheryl is now and does she even keep in touch with Jake. After this angle she just disappeared.
ReplyDeleteThe big blowoff between Jake/Rude ends in a dq and a transition to a different feud. I don't recall a blowoff to Jake/Andre either.
ReplyDeleteI loved Backlund's championship promo the next week "I HAVE OWNED THIS BELT, SINCE 1978!! BUT THEY PROCURED IT FROM ME... IN 1983!! BUT 1984, IT RETURNS TO ME!!"
ReplyDeleteLuger says he was never booked to get the title at the Bash or Starrcade. It was always going to be Flair and Luger didn't have a problem with that
ReplyDeleteIs it that hard to believe that a 500 pound guy would have a heart attack because his pulse raises when seeing his greatest fear? Whatever when I was a kid I thought the angle was deep.
ReplyDeleteI popped my SNME cherry at the next one. Ahh the Super Ninja we never knew ye.
ReplyDeleteAnd, according to the Hardy's, he took lots of guys pay.
ReplyDeleteMost everything is unedited though in terms of blood, Benoit, wwf usage, swearing. Of course there will be occasional music changes or glitches with the master tape but I'd say it's pretty darn close to unedited.
ReplyDeleteGoldberg vs. Nash Starrcade 1998 OR I would've moved Goldberg vs. Hogan to a PPV instead of Nitro.
ReplyDeleteThat's mean. Couldn't they have just shit in his bag instead?
ReplyDeleteKane pins Triple H for the title on Monday Night Raw to create a feel-good moment and stop Kane from losing his mask, as I thought 2002-3 Kane was great.
ReplyDeleteCena vs Brock at ER 2012. My finish would be like this, Cena hits the AA on the steps and goes for the cover, 1...2..NO! Brock kicks out, that was Cena's last straw of strenght. Brock does that evil smirk, picks him up F-5 put his foot on Cena's chest, 1...2.. Brock takes the foot of grabs him again does another F-5 and locks the kimura, the referee stops the match when he sees that Cena is out.
ReplyDeleteThat would make Brock a even bigger monster than 92 Vader and would still make Cena strong for Surviving that punishment. Brock only became a monster once more because he conquered the streak.
The first one that pops to mind is the maine event of WrestleMania 2000. The Rock clearly should've won there instead of at Backlash. Because Rock won the next month, I suppose it didn't really "damage" anything long term, but I always kind of liked the "face walks out of WrestleMania champion" tradition and it was kind of a bummer to see that broken...
ReplyDeleteThe whole Starrcade should've been WCW winning the matches against NWO.
ReplyDeleteLuger over Yokozuna at SummerSlam '93. I think that match would've made Luger's WWF career.
ReplyDeleteOr at the very least, for him to win at WM 10. that way, he is still a star, PLUS it adds 2 good matches to the WM 10 card.
ReplyDelete(Yoko doesn't have to save his energy, so he can go full out against Lex and have a 3 star match, then the "dream match" of the time for the WWF, Lex vs Bret. ) Instead of Yoko barely going through 2 matches at half speed.
Ric Flair vs. Lex Luger instead of blood stoppage Luger wins clean.
ReplyDeleteFour Horsemen vs NWO Wargames Match: Horsemen get their deserved revenge.
I think Cena going over was the correct decision.
ReplyDeleteNo way, it made Brock just another guy that lost to Cena, if this was a rematch I would defend.
ReplyDeleteAs an aside, I've always felt an interesting article series would be to take wrestling history and do some counterfactual scenarios. Example: The night the Iron Sheik retained against Hulk Hogan, Andre pins Hogan after the botched slam at WrestleMania 3, Bob Backlund wasn't an idiot and charged Yoko at the 1993 Rumble, etc.
ReplyDeleteBooker T beats the racist? (oh come on, we all knew it was coming up at some point!)
ReplyDeleteI'd have a Rock go over HHH at Wreslemania 2000. No heel should go over in a WM main event.
ReplyDeleteYeah, WCW really fell off a cliff at the end of 1997. The Horsemen should've won War Games at Fall Brawl (their loss killed the Carolinas business for WCW), the NWO should've had three months of internal squabbles, and WCW should've annihilated them at Starcade, with the group disbanding after the show. You still could've done Hollywood vs. Wolfpack, just not under the NWO banner.
ReplyDeleteWasn't at the spot where a fan got hit and filed a lawsuit?
ReplyDeleteThe Rock losing is one of the reasons I don't really rate that Mania highly. In fact, I think I've watched it the least of all the Manias. One example of a main event outcome ruining an entire show for me. I get the same letdown watching SummerSlam '93, which prompted my response to this question.
ReplyDeleteIf you get Lex vs. Bret in the main, do you have Luger go over or do you have Bret win?
ReplyDeleteDibiase wins title at wm 4.
ReplyDeleteWWE Taped Challenge or Superstars in Liberty, NY around that time, a little shithole about 10 miles from where I lived, which was roughly the same size, if not smaller.
ReplyDeleteI did like the "life lesson" that the WWF title is the only and only thing that the Dibiase character could never get, no matter what.
ReplyDeleteMatt Hardy vs Edge summerslam 2005. Maybe not the fact that edge won, but stopping the match via blood loss? Hardy was one of the hottest acts in wwe and that's the finish in the grudge match? Have Lita-ferance cost Matt the match, leading to the cage match the next month.
ReplyDeleteRandy Savage wins Royal Rumble '93 and challenges Bret at Wrestlemania.
ReplyDeletethat one, I have no idea. which actually would add to the appeal of the "dream match". Not quite hogan/warrior, but a pretty big deal for 1994.
ReplyDeleteI always wanted Booker T to go over Triple H at mania.
ReplyDeleteI just ask because if Bret wins, Luger still comes out looking somewhat like a choker, having been the champion for all of an hour.
ReplyDeleteNo that happened when Rock and HHH were fighting in the crowd. A fan (allegedly) got knocked over by a security guard that was keeping people back. In the spot I'm talking about, they're simply fighting at ringside and it's a momentary edit when HHH hits his back. The camera immediately goes back on him after he bounces off the ring apron.
ReplyDeleteYep, I guess so. Though I guess "champ for 1 hour" > "never ever champ". But I get your point.
ReplyDeleteBut Brock is just fine. It didn't hurt him one bit.
ReplyDeleteIn the 174th match between Dolph Ziggler and Kofi Kingston, I would have had it end in a double-disqualification.
ReplyDeleteTrue. I think running that match nearly books the company into a corner. Can't have Bret lose twice on the show without getting knocked down a peg, can't have Luger come out looking like a brief champion, can't have a double count out or double DQ finish on the biggest show of the year, and if Luger turned heel prior to the match you have a heel leave WrestleMania with the title for the first time ever.
ReplyDeleteI would not finish NWO at Starrcade but at BATB 98, Hogan gets a rematch at souled, loses again. Then NWO starts to disband, Nash & Hall turn faces and leave the NWO. IMO, I would do a Wargames where Flair/Nash/Sting/Hall vs Hogan and 3 more guys left from the NWO fight, I would book this to be a massacre, the face team just ends the heels.
ReplyDeleteIt did hurt him, and doing a HHH feud hurt him even more.
ReplyDeleteI don't for the simple fact that I'm conditioned to want the face to struggle in a feud before beating the heel. Cena winning eroded the whole idea of struggling (albeit he did in the match)...then again, they really didn't have a "feud" in the conventional sense of the word. Since the WWE was trying to build this whole "Cena has had a rough year" angle for the next WrestleMania, having him beat the former UFC champion made little sense when you look back at things.
ReplyDeleteUndertaker/Brock at Mania *sniff*.... just kidding, loved that ending
ReplyDeleteI still can't believe they are showing that match on NBC. I hope they clip the hell out of it (if the audience isn't made nauseous by Kevin Dunn's camera work and doesn't tune it out beforehand).
ReplyDeleteI never really wanted the streak to end, but I think the Undertaker should've stopped his WrestleMania tour de force after going 20-0. "End of an Era" against Triple H my ass.
Punk wins the 2014 Rumble, doesn't leave.
ReplyDeleteDaniel Bryan would be a better choice.
ReplyDeleteSting Vs Hogan at Starcade. Sting destroys Hogan. Could have saved WCW or at least prolonged it.
ReplyDeleteI see that moment as where the tumor is born, WCW would only see that tumor in 99.
ReplyDeleteAngle beats HHH at Unforgiven 2000. Takes off with Stephanie and becomes so reviled as a heel that HHH is turned face because of it.
ReplyDeleteHogan vs Warrior at WM VI. Don't get me wrong it was totally the right booking decision, but I was 11, a Hogan fan, (obviously) and to this day it's the only match that actually made me feel sick to my stomach...I just never thought Hogan would lose
ReplyDeleteMichaels vs Hart at Survivor Series 97. So we'd never ever have to hear about it again.
ReplyDeleteYeah that was a lot of money left on the table (TM Winfeld Industries). If anything it should've been Matt getting DQ'd for busting open Edge. But I think the whole thing was the Zack Ryder effect where you punish the wrestler for daring to get over the wrong way.
ReplyDeleteThe loss to Triple H at Mania hurt him more than the loss to Cena at Extreme Rules.
ReplyDeleteThe outcome of that angle began to really sour me on the WWF's direction. It was part of the reason I checked out after the Invasion angle.
ReplyDeleteI often wonder what might have happened if Bret had sensed that the screwjob was coming, had jumped out of the ring, and just walked to the locker room.
ReplyDeleteIt worked out ok...Bryan won the title at the second biggest show in the United States.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of strange edits, on the May 10, 1999 from the RAW 20 Anniversary Collection box set, there is a backstage segment in which the old WWF scratch logo is blurred out. What is significant about that a NEW old WWF scratch logo inserted directly on the opposite side of the screen.
ReplyDeleteThat's just sloppy and lazy.
Would have been a great match and thrown a spanner in Hogan's machinations in getting 'his' title back.
ReplyDeleteTransitioned to Andre/Studd revisited (kinda?) and Dibiase/Jake, if I'm even remotely right about the stuff that happened after WM5.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Orton vs Undertaker at Wrestlemania 21. I really liked the Legend Killer gimmick, but I think at the time, Orton was going to have to get surgery after Wrestlemania, so him winning and then having to be out would probably have killed his momentum.
ReplyDeleteWhich makes me wonder, will people still like Daniel Bryan as much if he comes back after surgery?
How would Bryan be a better choice to stop Punk leaving?
ReplyDeleteKnowing Bret he would have just had Owen, Davey, and The Anvil come to the ring with tears in their eyes and tell him it was the best screw job they had ever seen, (oh wait that kind of happened didn't it?)
ReplyDeleteSpiderlady vs Wendi Richter.
ReplyDeleteLooking back, I just feel that it killed so much of Angle's momentum before the title run, and made it clear that he wasn't a "top guy".
ReplyDeleteFuck CM Punk. Spoiled Brat.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet here you are.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I just remember finding Angle really entertaining and hating the way that the story played out. It was one of the better long-term stories that the WWF ever put together, but then....Triple H happened.
ReplyDeleteI like reading alternate history theories. I think if we had a weekly rendition of that on the blog that it would spark some interesting conversations and/or hatred.
ReplyDeleteI remember seeing the Johnny B Gay thing on my GAB 91 video, but I do remember that "I respect you Bookerman!" was cut out of the Superbrawl VI tape.
ReplyDeleteI agree. How DARE The WWF deny us She Bob all these years
ReplyDeleteRight. I didn't come back to the product until 2005 (checked out again after the disastrous ECW launch in '06) and CM Punk and Daniel Bryan got into the picture around 2009 or 2010, so I was gone for a long while. The WWE has gotten just a mere fraction of what I used to spend on them between 1995-2001, though.
ReplyDeleteWhat, because he doesn't care for the direction of the WWF at present means he can't comment on what he had seen in the past either?
ReplyDeleteFuck that condescending bullshit.
Booker T over HHH at WM 19
ReplyDeleteI'm sad ReWriting The Book seems to have fallen flat on its face again.
ReplyDeleteI think I remember reading a piece in the old Wrestleline days some guy put together about the Buzz Sawyer-Tommy Rich cage match in 1983 or something in Atlanta and how both men were never the same. It was a nice historical piece, yet had some interesting counterfactuals, played off like wrestling was real.
ReplyDeleteHave you been drinking? Sounds like you've been drinking. Not judging...jealous actually. I'm at work
ReplyDeleteThose Richter-Moolah matches were soooooo sloppy. Their match where Richter initially won the title had some of the work refereeing I've ever seen too.
ReplyDeleteThe thought of doing the job, losing Stephanie and becoming #3 babyface behind Rock and the returning Austin must have been too much for Hunter.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of strange edits, check out the May 10, 1999 episode on the RAW 20 Anniversary Collection box set. There is a backstage segment whereby the old WWF scratch logo is blurred out. What makes that significant, however, is that a NEW old WWF scratch logo has been inserted on the direct opposite side of the screen. Talk about sloppy and lazy!
ReplyDeleteI've seen this response somewhere before...
ReplyDeleteHas Booker ever commented much on that feud/storyline?
ReplyDeleteI don't drink. Also at work, but it's quiet right now.
ReplyDeleteAnd risk his PPV analyst job?
ReplyDeleteSeriously though, it'd be interesting to hear his thoughts on it.
Really Brian? I always thought you were better then that nonsense. I agreed that Triple H was better then "those people" (by those people I obviously mean mediocre former WCW champions)
ReplyDeleteHaha, "PPV analyst." Does anyone really care what "Whoopie" Booker has to say these days (not that I begrudge the guy for making an easy paycheck)?
ReplyDeleteDiBiase wining the 89 Rumble or Perfect winning the 90 Rumble.
ReplyDeleteThat '89 Rumble is a damn tragedy in how it was booked. Vince thought BIG JOHN STUDD warranted another push?!?!? Still baffles my mind. I remember renting that tape and couldn't freakin' believe that the dude won.
ReplyDeleteJohn Cena vs. The Miz at Mania 27.
ReplyDeleteFirst, because it was Wrestlemania and it deserved a better match. Second, sending the fans home on a heel victory at Mania just feels wrong. The ending of the show needs to be the babyface celebrating in victory.....
.....even if it means CenaWinsLOL
Picking one nobody else has touched on yet: Randy Orton vs. HHH, Wrestlemania 25. Orton goes over in a bloody, nasty brawl similar to Orton/Foley (less weapons, more violence), moves on to be the "undisputed" #1 heel in the company.
ReplyDeleteShucky Ducky Quack Quack?
ReplyDeleteI can't tell if that's a typo for She Bop or a statement on the looks of Richter. Either way, it made me laugh.
ReplyDeleteNo doubt, Taz v Sabu from Barely Legal. I would've had Sabu pin Taz a hundred percent of the time. And I would have murdered whoever came up with that double turn, dumbest move ever.
ReplyDeleteJanuary 4, 1999. Kevin Nash beats the utter black right off of Hollywood Hogan, sends him back into the Presidential race, and builds to a real rematch with Goldberg at Superbrawl.
ReplyDeleteYeah that was total Russo booking to swerve for the sake of swerving.
ReplyDeleteYou're wrong
ReplyDeleteWas there even any follow up on Studd winning?
ReplyDeleteNo, He reffed the match between Andre and Roberts at WM V and that's about it. I think he retired soon after. Maybe the Rumble win was a thank you.
ReplyDeleteShawn vs. Bulldog at One Night Only. Looking back, I'm surprised Shawn didn't also go over Owen in their title vs title match on Raw to become IC champion. And then as both IC and Euro champ, he could beat Bret at Survivor Series to hold all three belts. I'm sure Shawn and HHH ran this idea by Vince.
ReplyDeleteI would have kept the WWF title on Chris Jericho in 2000. Have Rock and HHH wrestle at Backlash in a grudge match, and have Jericho defend against Benoit. Then move Jericho into a feud with either Rock or HHH. Jericho at that time was the 2nd most over man on the active roster.
ReplyDeleteJericho keeping the title from HHH on that April 2000 Raw. How different things might have been if an audible was called after hearing that huge pop.
ReplyDeleteWell, Russo stole a lot of his swerve booking from Paul, and a lot of times Paul did a great job with his swerves but to build a match for 18 months and to end it with a strange double swerve, a swerve that killed Sabu's career I might add, was redonkulous.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wrestlecrap.com/more/rewriting/what-if-chris-jerichos-wwf-title-victory-over-triple-h-wasnt-overturned/
ReplyDeleteI really think that pop was overrated. Really, had Taka beaten HHH in that 2000 match, teh pop would have been just as huge. Santino's tease at the 2011 Rumble was a huge pop. There's always a huge pop for a potential upset. They were 100% right in not calling an audible.
ReplyDeleteKurt Angle vs HHH Unforgiven 2000 would be the one match ending I'd change Instead of Steph low blowing Angle while still seeming like she cares about Angle (a terrible end to a very hot feud), Steph should have came in the ring, low blowed HHH and then made out intensely with Angle. Then the feud could have concluded at the next PPV in a much better blow off match (hopefully with much blood). Also, if HHH and Steph were broken up on TV this early on, maybe they would have broken up in real life if they weren't together so much. Maybe changing the ending to this match could have prevented HHH's reign of terror from 2002-2005 on Raw.
ReplyDeleteWell, actually, that's exactly when most of us old-timers were on the internet, and we were definitely not saying "Everything is fine".
ReplyDeleteTotally agree. The pop had more to do with the surprise of the pin and hatred of HHH than it had to do with Jericho's popularity. In my opinion.
ReplyDeleteIt actually made perfect sense, he was a huge name, and what better way to build him up as a threat to Andre by winning a huge battle royale, which was Andre's specialty? Had he stayed healthy, it would have been fine, but sadly...
ReplyDeleteMaybe he just didn't see it as that big of a deal, and he got over it a few days later? (unlike most of the IWC who are still steaming over it 11 years later)
ReplyDeleteHe was a loser for the next three years. Damn right Booker should have won.
ReplyDeleteTaka pins HHH clean. It stops so much from happening, like the IWC equivalent of going back in time and killing Hitler.
ReplyDeleteIt was his rookie year.
ReplyDeleteShawn Michaels going over John Cena at Wrestlemania 23. I had gotten into wrestling for about six or seven months and was already way tired of Cena. Plus it could have led to HBK getting one more run with the belt which I always wanted, even if only for a month.
ReplyDeleteThe real money was in Rock going over HHH which is exactly what happened.
ReplyDeleteThe thing I like about this is that the ultimate swerve was that... There was no swerve. Looking back, how DARE the guy's wife not leave him for another man! that slut!! (or non-slut!!)
ReplyDeleteI agree with all this, and Rock going over was the right move. But, this was the start of HHH's reign of terror at the top, where I still don't believe he belongs to this day.
ReplyDeleteRaven going over Jarrett in TNA. The crowd was nuclear for it, it should have happened. I know Raven as a champion would have probably been a disaster but they should have gone with it for a little while.
ReplyDeleteI'd change the Rock/HHH iron man match to Rocky going over so he could have a longer World title reign. If I could change two, I'd also change Angle going over Rocky at No Mercy so Rocky has a 11 month title reign when he drops the belt to Austin at X-7.
ReplyDeleteThat's not mean, it's hilarious, especially give how frequently he was injuring people.
ReplyDeleteI was just listening to Bryan and Dave run down this angle on their podcast, and the creative justification for the change was literally, "why would a girl pick Angle when she can be with HHH?"
ReplyDeleteSting winning clean at Starrcade '97. Would have brought closure to that storyline once and for all instead of the debacle it turned into. The nWo could have still hung around afterward, but it's mission would have changed from destroying WCW to just being a stable of four or five core members.
ReplyDeleteAnd you're just pissing away the huge buyrate they did for Backlash that year.
ReplyDeletehaha, i remember back then, Rock's 4 month reign was seen as a super long reign in my eyes. That's how often the title was hotshotted back then.
ReplyDeleteYou really could have had Cena win, then get Rock Bottomed by the Rock and still everything would have been just fine.
ReplyDeleteStudd quit because he was pissed about payoffs after doing a run of C-shows with Andre, I think.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Studd stuck around too long. I want to say Andre feuded with Duggan for most of the year.
ReplyDeleteWe get on Crockett a lot for not having clean finishes and blowing off feuds, but Vince did it alot too. He just made sure to have Hogan win clean. Guess it made everyone forget about all the other nonsensical dq's and finishes
I didn't see a problem either. For me, doing a heart attack angle isn't any different from a stretcher job.
ReplyDelete10 year old me was fine with this.
ReplyDelete21 year old me hated watching Flair have a heart attack. Because WCW.
Studd quit over shitty payoffs in June after doing a round of C shows against Andre.
ReplyDeleteYeah I did a double-take when I rewatched the Rude/Heenan promo too.
ReplyDeleteThe last TV interaction was Roberts pinning Rude clean at Survivor Series, and winning their last round of matches on house shows with the DDT.
ReplyDeleteI thought the Flair heart attack was a shoot. I got upset when I realized it was a work. Not because of the angle itself but b/c of what they were trying to do to Flair.
ReplyDeleteI want to say Rude survived. Let me look it up real quick.
ReplyDeleteLet me put it to you this way...Steph learned why he was a young stallion at an early age too.
ReplyDeleteI'm really basically okay with that for both guys, because if wrestling were real -- even if it still had crazy action-movie-style feuds going on -- that would happen a lot of times. "I know I didn't quite resolve everything with you the way I wanted, but shit... this other guy pissed me off a lot more recently."
ReplyDeletePatera vs. Billy Kidman would be a dream match if only for the possible spot where Patera tries to powerbomb Kidman, and that failing, goes for a corner charge.
ReplyDeleteCheryl Roberts was a pretty damn good looking 80s chick.
ReplyDeleteJake barely got the best of anyone... except Martel.
ReplyDeleteMeh, Hulk's got to beat someone.
ReplyDeleteWell, a weasel isn't THAT different from a mongoose... but still, major oversight by the Brain there.
ReplyDeleteI think that's a bit of a stretch. By most accounts Rude just liked to smoke pot. Guy didn't like to swear and was a fairly religious man.
ReplyDeleteAgainst Savage? Which event?
ReplyDeleteYeah I mean the more you read about him after his death the more you get a sense what a stand up guy he was. I've been to his online grave site or whatever those things are and it's so heartbreaking seeing just how loved he was. It really shows what a great heel he was as a wrestler that you are almost in shock that outside of the ring he was anything but.
ReplyDeleteI'm a man and I don't feel any shame in saying I always choke up a bit when Bret is reminiscing about him on his DVD.
I belive Andre just briefly revisited his feud with Duggan in '89. Their original feud was in '88, when Duggan blasted him with the 2x4 / Duggan bled like crazy on tv. Andre spent the summer to the end of the year in '89 with Woyah.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. No matter how shitty some of the cards were, it's still nostalgia and athmosphere.
ReplyDeleteIt's weird how house was still getting the best stuff then. Summerslam 89 is just a bunch of matches besides Rude/Warrior. Andre was in a six-man with the Twin Towers against Duggan and Demolition.
ReplyDeleteStudd after joining WWF has such a... clean match history. Other than some dates with NJPW in 83, it's pretty much all WWF matches for the last decade of his career. Even during a two-year hiatus, no indie appearances at least according to cage match. I also didn't remember that the Royal Rumble he won was his first wrestling appearance after coming back. One match he's tagging with Bundy against the Machines in 86, next match he wins the Royal Rumble in 89. And no matches at all after June 89.
ReplyDeleteTelling that the word "Savage" only appears in a sentence about who's accompanying Hogan. Savage being the WWF World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion.
ReplyDelete