The SmarK Rant for Monday Night RAW – 02.26.96
Taped from Cincinnati, OH
Your hosts are Vince McMahon & Jerry Lawler
Isaac Yankem v. Jake Roberts
This would be Jake’s first appearance on RAW, no? Yankem works on a headlock, but Jake puts him down with a hiptoss, so Yankem pounds him down and chokes away in the corner. Yankem uses the clubbing forearms and calls for the DDS, but Jake blocks it and gets the DDT instead at 3:30. Awful and embarrassing for Jake. -*
Ultimate Warrior returns at Wrestlemania! Maybe.
Diesel v. Bob Holly
This would be the match that Bischoff was bashing on Nitro at the same time. Holly attacks in the corner and Diesel pounds him down, then follows with a side slam. Diesel’s all paranoid and checks for Undertaker’s secret trap door, which is kind of a cool touch. Holly makes the comeback as we take a break, but we return with Diesel powerbombing him for the pin at 5:10. Why would you edit 2:00 out of a 5:00 TV match? ½* Diesel feels much more confident about his chances, but Undertaker appears in the ring and then vanishes when Diesel goes to chase him. No wonder Nash went to WCW…no one there had supernatural powers!
Ahmed Johnson v. Shinobi
Yup, it’s another attempt at finding a gimmick for Al Snow, this time as a ninja. Ahmed looks like he literally bathed himself in baby oil before the match. Ahmed tosses Shinobi around, and the evil ninja blows a springboard spot, slipping on the top rope and falling into a spinebuster and Pearl River Plunge at 1:50. Another winner for Snow. DUD And then immediately after this match, they announce that the Godwinns will be meeting the New Rockers in the tag title tournament, giving us ANOTHER loser gimmick for Al Snow in the same SEGMENT.
Mankind is still talking to the rats in a dungeon somewhere. The Observer notes that the rat is the trained pet of Jim Cornette’s girlfriend.
Shawn Michaels joins us and Jerry Lawler screams about how he’s getting “the biggest reaction since the Beatles” when clearly fans aren’t reacting. Bret Hart also comes out and they do the mutual respect interview, which goes nowhere. Roddy Piper comes out and chastises the crowd for booing both guys, and announces that the Wrestlemania main event will be an Iron Man match.
Yokozuna v. Owen Hart & British Bulldog
Yoko manages to fight off both heels, but Owen comes off the top with a missile dropkick and they double-team him as we take a break. Yoko slowly makes the comeback as the Man They Call Vader wanders down to ringside and comes in for the DQ at 6:05. DUD Ahmed and Snake make the save, which sets up their six-man at Wrestlemania. Vince is still selling it as Vader v. Yokozuna, however, so I guess plans changed.
Larry Fling Live with the Huckster and Nacho Man, and this one is actually pretty funny. Fling asking “How’s Liz doing?” and then both guys answering before sharing a shocked look is a great bit, and Huckster threatens Fling with a steel chair before backing down from a woman’s shoe. Huckster demands that he win their match to keep up his merchandise sales, and then attacks the crew with incredibly fake chairshots as a tribute to the ending of Uncensored. Ok, THIS was hilarious, and if they had stuck to this kind of cheap satire instead of swinging above their pay grade with the “predatory practices” nonsense it would have been totally harmless fun.
The Pulse
Probably one of the worst RAW shows I can recall. Next week is Bret v. HHH and Shawn v. Kid, so that should at least be better in the ring.
Better face alliance: Ahmed, Yokozuna, and Jake "The Snake" or Sting, Paul Orndorff, and Junkyard Dog?
ReplyDeleteOnly Vince would sign Vader, still arguably in his prime, and immediately think putting him with Yoko was the best thing to do.
ReplyDeleteI dunno, having the new heel monster come in and take out the old heel monster is a pretty good story.
ReplyDeleteThe best segment on the show is a satire of WCW. The most memorable part of Nitro that night was bashing how bad the card looks on paper. MONDAY NIGHT WARS!
ReplyDeleteAgreed. It was in the summer and working competitive matches with guys like the Godwinns that started to make you go "Huh?". He was well booked for the first half of the year.
ReplyDeleteAnd Vader destroying Yokozuna on that Raw after Mania was AWESOME
ReplyDeletethe first has more interesting characters, but the second can ride sting to a good match with the right circumstances, so I guess number 2.
ReplyDeleteI'm going with the WCW team. When washed up Jake Roberts is the only guy getting you to 1-star matches (on a good day), even the mighty suck of JYD can't balance it back
ReplyDeleteWas this the segment where Piper tells Bret and HBK to shake hands, cause they'll hate each other after this? Eerie...
ReplyDeleteJYD can always just hang out on the apron, hit a headbutt and a thump and tag back out. If Jake is high that night, who even stays in the match for the wwf team?
ReplyDeleteYokozuna. He can just lay on his ass or something. The bastard might've have been blown up walking to the ring, but he can sell... kinda. Ahmed can't.
ReplyDeleteApparently it's not only Vince.
ReplyDeleteDid Bret no sell the handshake, like he no sold all of HBK's work on the arm during the actual match?
ReplyDeleteHonest question, who else did that?
ReplyDeleteKrista Maze
ReplyDeleteThis one was just so easy to knock out of the park though. Have Vader destroy everyone in his path, win the title and then have HBK or whatever face they want to push finally beat him. They completely botched Vader which is a shame, b/c him coming to WWF around this time when WCW was on the rise was a huge moment.
ReplyDelete"Shawn Michaels joins us and Jerry Lawler screams about how he’s
ReplyDeletegetting “the biggest reaction since the Beatles” when clearly fans
aren’t reacting. Bret Hart also comes out and they do the mutual respect
interview, which goes nowhere. Roddy Piper comes out and chastises the
crowd for booing both guys, and announces that the Wrestlemania main
event will be an Iron Man match."
So wait, does this mean Reigns/Bryan is actually a recreation of Bret/Shawn? Does that mean we have to deal with a year and a half of Roman gyrating his hips on the announce table while Cole-via-Vince gargles "OHHHHHHHHYEEEEEEAAAAAAHHHH!" on commentary every Monday? God help us all.
What was Vince's obsession in the mid 90s with crappy ninjas and shit?
ReplyDeleteYoko can just lay on his gut and basically be unbeatable as a beached whale. who can flip him?
ReplyDeleteMortal Kombat, I assume. WCW was also trying to milk it with Blood Runs Cold, so I think it was just a general attempt to get on board the zeitgeist of the time.
ReplyDeleteYeah, when I got online and read the IWC's account, years later, of how Shawn was this massively over guy who fans universally cheered over anyone he faced, I wondered if I had gone deaf at some point in 1996, because I didn't get that impression at all. Granted I was biased, but I always thought Bret, Taker and Shawn were fairly close in reactions.
ReplyDeleteYou'd think he'd get an actual guy from Japan that could do that stuff and push him.
ReplyDeleteHakushi?
ReplyDeleteHe barely pushed Hakushi.
ReplyDeleteOh god no. I'm right there with you. Shawn was despised by NYC crowds, and Thursday Raw Thursday is particularly hilarious because of it.
ReplyDeleteHe wasn't a ninja, he was a modern day kamikaze
ReplyDeleteIn Vince's defense, it was a bit of a dream match at the time. Both were the monster heel champs of their respective organizations.
ReplyDeleteI wish it wouldn't have been the Iron Man match, so that they could make more matches.
ReplyDeleteMy WM12 would have been something like:
Bret vs HBK
Diesel vs Taker
Warrior vs Helmsley
Vader vs Yokozuna
Owen & Bulldog vs Roberts & Ahmed
Austin vs Savio Vega
Godwinns vs Body Donnas
and what happened to Goldust vs Razor?
Shawn's attitude towards Bret in the build up is gracious and putting him over as the best of all time....while Bret's taking shots at Shawn for not being tough like him and not being as popular as him.
ReplyDeleteIt only gets worse. I just watched the September 23rd episode of RAW. Probably the lowest point in company history. They spent an entire 10-minute segment of their one hour programming talking about "Double J" Jeff Jarrett, who was at that point over on Nitro, in a desperate attempt to bury him I guess and try to get The Roadie over (because everybody cared so much about a midcard angle from a year and a half prior involving a fake country music record... Jesus). Then the closing segment is J.R. turning 'heel' to cheers, introducing the fake carny Razor Ramon in one of the most pathetic bait and switch tactics ever, to capitalize on WCW's nWo craze I guess, only to have Savio vega immediately bury the new Razor (as if further burying was needed) by whipping his ass and hitting him with a back body drop as the show goes off air. Over half the episode dedicated to promoting WCW wrestlers on WWF TV.
ReplyDeleteI know internet concensus is that Shawn should have let Vader beat the shit out of him because to complain about it means "egotistical clique politics!" but watch the way Vader tosses Montoya around the week before here. If that's the kind of stuff he was doing to guys no wonder they didn't get behind him.
ReplyDeleteRazor failed a drug test
ReplyDeleteAt this point in time, my hatred for Shawn Michaels was building.
ReplyDeleteYour card is exactly the same, you just separated out the six man tag into two matches.
ReplyDeleteI know. :-) I was never a big fan of WM12, because half of the time is only one match and the rest is a too much cramped or compressed and there was only one title match. Give HBK/Bret 25 minutes and it would have been the best Wrestlemania main event ever (at least in 96).
ReplyDeleteYeah, Bret was being a dick throughout the entire buildup to the match and during the match itself and yet he was shocked when Shawn was mad at him after the match.
ReplyDeleteIronically enough, the episode of Live Wire that aired five days later was one of the best shows in company history.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the Iron Man match was a little disappointing in hindsight- once it was 0-0 with 20-15 minutes to go you could see the draw coming from a mile away - but the idea was neat at the time. besides, what better way to hide a thin roster than letting your two best workers put on a clinic? Did the world really need Vader vs. Yoko one on one?
ReplyDeleteVince LOVED The Godwinns though.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure the plan was for Vader to kill Shawn, setting up Ahmed as the conquering hero who eventually defeats the monster Vader. But Ahmed getting hurt and Shawn being Shawn changed things around.
ReplyDeleteMy money is on Roman Reigns. They don't call him The Juggernaut for nothing.
ReplyDeleteWrestlemania 12 is kind of at the bottom of Wrestlemanias for me. Iron Man match is kind of a polarizing match in itself, but the undercard is a little underwhelming because of it.
ReplyDeleteWM 11, 12, and 13 are really just a bad time for the company.
They should've went all the way and ripped off all of the hennig bockwickle match. They should've just never announced it as an iron man and played up the drama as they went
ReplyDeleteHakushi would've pushed back. He doesn't take gruff from anyone
ReplyDeleteLike Cena/HBK in London. I think WWF was so desperate for PPV buys at the time they needed every gimmick and hook they could get.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened again? Honestly I would love for the old LiveWires to end up on the Network. I was a 10-year old mark at the time and couldn't understand all the smark references.
ReplyDeleteI don't think anyone can deny that at the night of WM12... they were glued to every second of Bret/Shawn. It was fascinating.
ReplyDeleteDude, in the Observer reviewing the show, Dave was there and wrote that several thousand people left before it even finished
ReplyDeleteI'd have a hard time believing that actually happened. Not saying it's not in the observer... but "several thousand people leaving" seems like an exaggeration.
ReplyDeleteMan, can you imagine Ahmed Johnson's Hall of Fame Speech in 2024 when they finally run out of guys?
ReplyDelete"Get ready doo wop dat stoopid riddle grim off your face! Cause its time do beat da real Supastar of the WWF. Wonton and beef stew EIGHT NO ONE money come safe your sorry carcass! Juice make sugar you got plenty of insurance PUNK!"-Ahmed Johnson, WWF War Zone, Sony Playstation. (Original credit to Youtuber Sonny Bone)
This is from the report Dave wrote:
ReplyDelete" Fans were leaving the building during the main event. To say they were
leaving in droves would be an overstatement, but there were probably a
few thousand empty seats by the time the match reached its climax and
the pop for the title win couldn't compare with major babyface world
title wins of the past. The fans from the upper deck, who appeared to
enjoy the match the least, started booing early, starting at the 6:45
mark of the match when they went back to the mat after a quick high
spot. There was little heat during the first half of the match, and
long lines at the snack bar since people knew the match had a long way
to go."
I am one of those who doesn't like the main event. Meltz did give it ****1/4.
You know your roster sucks if you have to give Savio Vega a single match. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI just tried to make a different card, but I can't even find other combinations that would have been better. Diesel vs Yokozuna? Steve Austin vs Warrior? Goldust vs Ahmed? Austin vs Roberts?
"No wonder Nash went to WCW…no one there had supernatural powers!"
ReplyDeleteAsk Hogan about '98.
13 could have had a stronger undercard had they not gone with the Tag Title Match-split that into Mankind-Vader (let them recreate their WCW classics) and do the Owen-Bulldog European Championship Tournament Final at Mania instead of weeks earlier. I get doing that particular match in Europe, but maybe 13 would be remembered a little better in that regard.
ReplyDeleteIs that Fling episode the infamous "Don't call me brother, brother."
ReplyDeleteYou can actually see it if you watch the match. Half empty by the time Shawn superkicks him.
ReplyDeleteHe actually exercised his notice to leave (then he mysteriously failed a drug test).
ReplyDeleteIt was when Vince was on with Cornette and Russo (!!) and Russo basically told him his product sucks now.
ReplyDeleteI always thought the 1996 Bret- Shawn feud was awful. It was all about mutual respect, when in reality they hated each other. They were bad actors and couldn't fake respect for each other. Their 1997 feud was much better, because it was rooted in reality.
ReplyDeleteIt was a technically great, but long boring match. You could tell Hart was phoning it in, and wanted no part of the match.
ReplyDeleteHakushi vs Chuck Norris. Book it!
ReplyDeleteI don't know why but its a really quiet scene down here for St Pats. I'm at the block party and its at like 60% people from previous years.
ReplyDeleteI'm sitting at a bar on st P's listening to people I know talk about an election in Israel and I have no idea what they are talking about so I'm pretending to do important work on my phone. I should just blurt out "So doesn't Cory Graves just remind you too much of Randy Orton." Because tbh that's what I was just thinking (no homo).
ReplyDeleteWell Sting was Hulk Hogan - since both hailed from Venus Beach.
ReplyDeleteI love both Hart and HBK dearly, but I hate that match. I don't even know if hate is the correct word, actually. I just know I never want to watch it again.
ReplyDeleteFuck those fans! Fucking 8 to 5 lifer white sockers wouldn't know a good wrestling match if they punched their card into it everyday at the factory they work at (to paraphrase Nick Bockwinkle).
ReplyDeleteRazor got popped for drug-related stuff, I think.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised they didn't get Tajiri, actually; was he around at that point?
ReplyDeleteI remember this show live oddly enough. I think I was in 8th grade at the time and I remember being bummed out because I realized yokozuna who was the guy I grew up with, was about to get pushed aside for wcws version. At the time I didn't get why yokozuna vs hbk wouldn't be awesome. Obviously in hindsight I was a moron but I was there with Yokozuna as a little kid a few years earlier and I didn't understand he sucked yet.
ReplyDeleteget in da ring wit da SAND RIPPA
ReplyDeleteThe absolute best Billionaire Ted skit was the one that flat-out asked for viewers to protest the AOL-Warner merger. In hindsight...
ReplyDeleteimo Shawn Michaels in 1995 > Shawn Michaels in 1996 in terms of crowd reactions.
ReplyDeleteWhat promotion did she run? She probably went broke paying just their catering...
ReplyDeletealthough one can argue that putting someone over as the best of all time is a lot easier knowing you'll be the one beating him..
ReplyDeleteonly that both Michaels and Hart have gone on record saying they DIDN'T hate each other at that point.
ReplyDeleteAMEN the REAAALLLL BAD MOON!
ReplyDeleteI was 14 at the time and going into that match had NO DOUBT that Michaels was gonna win (despite myself favoring Hart). so for me it was kind of "let's get this over with" instead of "wow, who is gonna win?".
ReplyDelete(I must admit I was thrown off a little when there were no falls during those sixty minutes, but was also sure it would go to an overtime the second Hart put Michaels in the sharpshooter. no way Michaels was losing like that)
Yes sir. Those chair shots were sooooo bad, but still better than what Hulk did on the PPV the week before.
ReplyDeletePiper does get it one terrific line, completely shitting all over something Michaels said earlier about his six-pack abs being proof of his great conditioning. So rare to see HBK get put in his place like that, particularly from another babyface.
ReplyDeleteWatch the lead-up training videos. Bret is a FANTASTIC subtle heel, talking about how there are no tough Mexican wrestlers (brilliantly dickish thing to say before a show in Anaheim, even if the crowd ended up being mostly Anglo), then passive-aggressively referring to Shawn taking a "little beating" from "nine cheerleaders" in Syracuse.
ReplyDeleteYUH, GUW'N, DUN! YUH, GUW'N, DUN!
ReplyDeleteI don't really think there was any intent of going anywhere with Shinobi. He was just a throwaway gimmick put together to avoid the appearance of showing a squash match. Same logic behind bringing in TL Hopper, the Goon, etc. later on.
ReplyDeleteHe gave notice and they coincidentally had him take a drug test right after and he failed, so he got a suspension. They probably figured they would have to put him over Goldust since that's the direction of the storyline, but with him leaving, they didn't want him going over anyone of any redeeming value.
ReplyDeleteHa. Bret has said one of the reasons Hakushi's push stalled is that he didn't know how to play politics, he just went along with whatever was given to him.
ReplyDeleteA lot of people left during Angle/Brock at WM 19 too, isn't enough.
ReplyDeleteGesundheit.
ReplyDeleteNeither have ever lied either...
ReplyDeleteI actually remembered that promo and it felt closer to the true Bret. I didn't match with the rest of the "mutual respect" feud though.
ReplyDeleteDidn't Vince pay for a full page ad in the WSJ too to the same effect?
ReplyDeleteYeah, this is one of those that'd benefit from a four hour running time, although I doubt they had the roster to support it.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of that, how did the WM running times go?
I seem to remember WM 1 clocking in at about two hours, WM 2 at about three, WM 3 like 3:15 and then WM 4 through 7 at about four hours. Then they dropped it back to the ~3hr shows for 8 through 15 and from 16 on, it's been a four hour show, no?
Anaheim is right up there with Salt Lake City as the whitest cities in America.
ReplyDeleteI thought they both said that it was planned at this point to start showing some some veiled anger towards each other building up to the following WM rematch. Bret's line was (I think) "we worked ourselves into a shoot"
ReplyDeleteShort version.
ReplyDeleteNetanyahu is the Israeli president. Yesterday he said he will never acknowledge Palestine exists. Super far right stance. Now isreal decides whether or not to double down on conservatism.
Hmm...the '10 Census has Anaheim at about 52% Hispanic, as opposed to 22% Hispanic for Salt Lake City.
ReplyDeleteI know how much Scott hates Hogan, but I never found any of the Billionaire Ted skits even remotely funny.
ReplyDeleteAccording to one person, if you don't love the iron man match, it's because your ideal match is just chair shots and balcony dives. Of course, he also says that if you don't love the nba, you're a racist, so ymmv.
ReplyDeleteHe also said AJ is a fitness model
ReplyDeleteAt least Shawn has admitted he was a liar. And to be fair, so has Bret.
ReplyDeleteAhmed wasnt that bad of a talker. I understood every word he said.
ReplyDeleteJobber, your only defense of the match seems to be Pat Patterson loving it
ReplyDeleteWhen Bret Hart phones in a match, it can still be good.
ReplyDeleteWhen Hulk Hogab phones in a match, he uses a postcard. Want to see a great phoned in Hulk Hogan match - watch the Havoc match in a cage with Piper. Heck, the Warrior rematch was a letter delivered by a carrier piegon - that got lost a dozen times.
I did - in 1996. And I was a big die hard wanted to see Hogan take out the roster back then too.
ReplyDelete20 was 5 hours
ReplyDeleteCena HEY in London was such an amazing surprise.
ReplyDeleteT L Hopper and the Goon could have been over.
ReplyDeleteI did not like Shawn in 1996. I was hoping Jake Roberts, Jerry Lawler, Taker, Vader, Sid, the return of Hogan - anyone to take the belt off of him.
ReplyDeleteBruce from Connecticut!
ReplyDeleteWhat was Hulk Hogan's last great match? I'll say against the Rock for the first time. His first match with Vader at Superbrawl was great too. There was a DDP match in October 1997 that was fairly decent too that ended with the usual nWo DQ ending - but it was Hogan-decent. Surprisingly, I loved the two brawls with Kidman too. It was never going to elevate Kidman, but it was cool to see Hogan pull out some different stuff. Even the RKO match was decent, and that was a dream of mine. Randy destroys all the legends - and then Hogan destroys Orton in revenge - being the ultimate legend.
ReplyDeleteYes, that's true. Their dorky in ring interview with Piper was contrived. Bret ragging on him in the training videos and build up was better.
ReplyDeleteWell yeah, he wasn't christly yet!
ReplyDeleteI remember watching in 96 and thinking Shawn can't last an hour with Bret, he couldn't hang with him at Survivor Series 92!
ReplyDeleteI take umbrage to calling Leif Cassidy a loser gimmick.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think that's the same one they showed the ad and bragged.
ReplyDeleteAnd then they'd show the live crowd full of kids who have no clue what the hell just happened.
I wasn't a believer in 1996 either Kyle, that was not the reason why I didn't like him.
ReplyDelete11, 12, 13 or 27, 28, 29?
ReplyDeleteYeah, i think that was Bret just being truthful (and a jerk). Had nothing to do with the location of Mania.
ReplyDeleteBret admitted to lying to his wife for 20 years
ReplyDeleteDid they change the 6 man for WM because they thought the Vader/Yoko match would suck or because they wanted as many people on the card so they could all get a payday.
ReplyDeleteSaved from logic.
ReplyDelete28
ReplyDeletePower Rangers had a ninja team at one point during that time
ReplyDeleteI saw those videos for the first time since they aired last week, and this isn't anti-Bret "gimmick", but the bitterness we've come to know from him is just dripping off everything he days. It's a baby face match and while Shawn's being the gracious respectful face Bret's taking pot shots and making snide remarks.
ReplyDeleteThat was later. Bret started ripping him in his Calgary Sun column while he was off and eventually told Shawn he was just working to set up a rematch. Whether he was sincere or not Shawn was saying all the right things while Bret's making snide remarks and going on about how he didn't really lose when the whole point was to launch Shawn - not point out Shawn wasn't the better man over and over again.
ReplyDeleteDidn't want to give him a WM payday either.
ReplyDeleteVader, Bulldog and Owen in a six man was a waste.
ReplyDeleteShawn got over being the funny, cocky guy who could go and knew it - next thing you know he's a polite flamboyant guy with a boyhood dream.
ReplyDeleteI'm pro-Shawn, but subscribe to the theory that they were both assholes in their way - but if you want to trace it back to where it started it's when Shawn's about to get the and Bret's a dick about giving it to him.
ReplyDeletein a kayfabe sense, given their spots on the card, that's EXACTLY how Bret should be playing it.
ReplyDeleteShawn is younger. Shawn is more athletic. Shawn is more popular with the fans (arguably). Shawn is clearly being positioned as THE guy in WWF (still only looking at this from a kayfabe pov)
Bret is smart, and is aware of all of this, and STILL is convinced he's better than Shawn. So as the elder, he tears him down, picks at his flaws.
It's the correct character move for Bret. And makes Shawn the bigger babyface.
I was riveted at the time since I was such a Bret mark. I was surprised that they went the 0-0 route...
ReplyDelete"The Observer notes that the rat is the trained pet of Jim Cornette’s girlfriend."
ReplyDeleteSomething something ring rats owning ring rats?
I don't think so. The Bible talks about the earth hanging in the sky - noting it was round eons ago.
ReplyDeleteThere are historical proofs of Christ yesterday, today, and forever.
But I underdtsnd the blindness.
lol
ReplyDeleteYou make him sound like Jeffrey Dahmer. I like.
ReplyDeleteThat shock was all worked though supposedly. According to both guys they were working a "we really don't like each other angle", which then got too real
ReplyDeleteEAT A REEF!
ReplyDeleteVince appeared in what was a half work/half shoot interview. Plus Vince Russo made one of his only on-air appearences in the WWF and Paul Heyman and Jim Ross called in the show to put over their respective angles. It was quite the bone jarring show and a complete 180 from the tired and cartoonish nature of RAW five days earlier.
ReplyDeleteYokozuna was blowing up in 30-seconds. They probably figured the 6-man would make 1 good match and eliminate a bad one at the same time. They did Yoko/Vader at Beware of Dog (2 days after the fact), and it was Yokozuna blown up in 30-seconds and awful.
ReplyDeleteThe match with Michaels at Slam '05 is good if you like carwrecks. He had a few good matches with Angle, too, but without that Mania X-8 atmosphere, there's nothing topping the match with Rock.
ReplyDeleteAnd having a 60 year old man getting a closeup view of him strip teasing.
ReplyDeleteI would have gone with Warrior vs Kid instead with Razor failing to get his final revenge on Waltman and then Warrior squashes him in 30 seconds and sends him to WCW.
ReplyDeleteAnd would have gone with New Rockers vs Donnas as the tournament final match instead because New Rockers were awesome and deserved better.
Yes its original version (before he got all serious) was pretty funny, I loved Snow doing the retro geek.
ReplyDeleteneeded to get more guys on the roster in on the WM payday since Bret and Shawn took up so much airtime
ReplyDeleteAgreed, although I'd just have them do a Bulldog-Owen re-match. They'd been teasing a split for months, why not have Owen turn on Bulldog after the initial title match (drawing major heat from the European crowd) and then have a grudge match at WM.
ReplyDeleteYou can still have Bret reunite them the following night (or even after the match to make the Hart Foundation an even bigger deal)
"People can say I refused to ever help anyone but myself make money and drunkenly accused a co-worker of cheating on his wife with another co-worker on live television... but have you heard about Jesus?"
ReplyDeleteWell the gimmick was that he was a loser, so technically it's true.
ReplyDeleteThose sound about right. Everyone bags on WM4 for being so long but 5 was a bit longer IIRC. No one seems to remember 7 being so long. It might have been 3.5, not sure. That and Superbrawl I were my first PPVs live with the magical box. Of course, I had a super early bedtime so after the first hour, I watched the rest the next day after school.
ReplyDeleteHBK knows he's great and is, as always, going to go there and be great. He doesn't need to talk the other guy down because he'll just be better on the day.
ReplyDeleteBret picks people apart. So he's always looking for weaknesses in his opponent and him calling out is representative of that process.
It really did make sense for them to play that way.
makes you wonder what would have happened to Austin if a. they weren't even more DESPERATE for new stars (so they would even try out something different) and b. if they hadn't "failed" with two guys before by totally changing their character to make them more "family-friendly".
ReplyDeleteNo IYH 6 review?
ReplyDeleteReigns is gonna start to strip after matches and pull his pants down and show off his ass and pubes to the crowd. That will surely get him over more.
ReplyDeleteThats what killed Diesel when he got the belt. No longer ass kicking badass but a grinning baby kissing 'please like me' pushover
ReplyDeleteVince, Cornette, Russo, and Heyman together on TV each week talking wrestling would make for a great network show.
ReplyDelete