ECW on Sci-Fi 01/27/2009 #138

This past Sunday at the Royal Rumble, Matt Hardy turned on his brother to fuck the dirtsheets and their ”Christian is returning” mumbo jumbo.

Read moreECW on Sci-Fi 01/27/2009 #138

Smackdown – September 16, 2004

Smackdown
Date: September 16, 2004
Location: Spokane Arena, Spokane, Washington
Commentators: Michael Cole, Tazz

We’re coming up on No Mercy and a lot of the card is either already set or pretty clear. Last week saw the return of the Big Show, who you know is going to be treated as a major star. To be fair, when he’s motivated and ready to go, he’s not half bad. The problem is when he’s more than half bad, which happens far too often. Let’s get to it.

Read moreSmackdown – September 16, 2004

Charlotte heel turn = genius or happy accident?

Thinking this through, WWE has sort of created exactly what they likely wanted and needed from this whole Becky/Ronda/Charlotte thing with the way this was handled on television this week.

The day after WM 34, a lot of folks were predicting/asking for Charlotte/Ronda to main event WM 35.  And everyone was all in.  However, the Becky Lynch phenomenon, for lack of a better term, beginning either at or shortly before SummerSlam, caught everyone off guard.  And the fans were all in.

It even escalated to a point to where, if you ran with Becky/Ronda at WM, as is/was the plan at least for a period of time, even if only in kayfabe, Ronda would get booed out of the building at WM.  That's clearly not a position WWE wants her, as their first female WM main eventer (regardless of opponent one would seem), in.  Especially considering how just about every main event at WM since 31 has gone from a crowd input perspective.

People gave WWE so much flack over the last several years for "shoving X guy/girl down our throats."  However, that always happened behind the scenes and WWE rarely acknowledged the fans' feelings about it.

Now, sensing that Ronda may be this year's victim, WWE figured they needed a true heel for the match.  How to do that?  Take the thing the fans hate the most and put it front and center, shoving that in their faces on TV.  Vince made Charlotte the perfect heel for this match by telling the audience we don't care about what you want, or your RR winner, or anything else, the office wants Charlotte and by God, that's what you're getting.  Next thing you know, you've got Becky AND Ronda calling bullshit, with Ronda even lobbying that Becky is the appropriate opponent, despite their back and forth with each other recently.

Charlotte gets boo'd, Becky gets cheered, and Ronda, at worst, probably gets an indifferent reaction.  

Incredible forward thinking booking?  Or is this just where we are out of happenstance?

Happenstance.  Dave said on Observer radio the other day that the whole thing that went down on Monday was exactly what Vince had decided on months ago, even before Becky caught STRAIGHT FIRE.  

HBK vs Y2J


Who had a better second career run? HBK from 2002 till retirement or Jericho from his "suit" gimmick on up untill now. And I don't mean just gimmick wise as obviously HBK never changed his, I mean overall body of work.


Well Shawn Michaels never toured with a heavy metal band, but both Undertaker matches pretty much make him the winner in any comparison to Jericho.  

Shotgun Saturday Night

When the WWF launched Shotgun Saturday Night in early 1997, what were they hoping to accomplish with the show?  Since it was right before the Attitude Era, was it supposed to be a sort of testing ground for a more risque product we would later see, what with the late night time-slot and on location at bars and nightclubs?  

Yes, that was exactly the idea.  

Tag Team

Do you remember this show with Piper and Ventura? It was about wrestlers refusing to take a dive in a match and getting blackballed from the wrestling world. Then, they take odd jobs (furniture movers, womens self defense classes as the guys who the women beat
up) then foil a robbery using their wrestling skills at a super market. Then they become cops and use their tag team wrestling skills to make it through the police academy. After that, they have to protect a lady dog walker who witnessed a murder. It sounds
like I'm on heavy drugs but they only filmed the pilot and it never went to series so they put it on as a movie. I used to work security at a casino and we put on a wrestling event. Dusty was there, so was Lawler for the actual matches. Piper came to sign
autographs in the morning and I volunteered to do the security. After the line was done my boss let me go get an autograph. You know what I asked him? Of all the things he's done? I asked him about this damn show. He kinda thought about it for a second and
said "Oh yeah, that show I did with Jesse." Thats all.

Cool story bro.  I am aware of it but never watched it, as far that I can actively remember.  

WCW Thunder


Was WCW Thunder a request/idea from Turner, a WCW concept, or some combo of both?  I was just going back from that time frame, and it's really weird;  Thunder debuted in early January of 1998, yet Nitro "officially" went to 3 hours every week at the end of that month.  

It was a request in the sense that TBS went to WCW and said "We want two hours of content on Thursday night, make it happen" and that was the end of the discussion.  The original concept was for the nWo to "win" Nitro, which is why they had the prototype nWo Saturday Night shows and the disastrous nWo Souled Out and nWo Nitro.  Once Nitro was rebranded, the WCW crew would then "split" off to Thunder, because apparently retreating like a bunch of losers is exactly what would make people watch.  At any rate, the nWo focused shows were such a flop that they killed the whole plan and just made Thunder a complete B-show.  

The Strong Style Saturday Thread

The weekend is upon us!

Tonight:  I’ve got tickets to the Lego Movie 2, which is kind of bombing thus far.

John Cena will be hosting Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader later this year.  They need to get Sid Vicious as a contestant.

WWE apparently didn’t learn their lesson enough this year, so they’re bringing the Royal Rumble back to a stadium next year in Houston.  Maybe it’ll be 8 hours long while they’re at it.

And to remember Pedro Morales this weekend, here’s him and Bob Backlund winning the tag titles from the Samoans at Shea Stadium, which is funny because the YouTube description hypes up the WWE Network but that show isn’t on there and it probably should be.

Friday Night Party Thread: February 15, 2019

YOU ARE LOOKING LIVE at Fox Hall in Annandale, Virginia, where over 300 of my craziest friends are joining me for NOVA Pro’s season 4 premiere tonight!  It’s also my debut as a referee on this stage, so yeah, I’m a shade nervous.

ESPN has the NBA All-Star Weekend festivities tonight.  ESPN2 has the college action, with Saint Joe’s/Davidson, followed by Troy/Georgia Southern.  ESPNU has the goods tonight with Buffalo/Toledo (don’t laugh — both teams could make the NCAA tournament), followed by Northern Kentucky/Wright State.

I want to thank those in the Day Thread who discussed the ALWF’s future here.  The majority seem to be okay with it being there, and the biggest issue is Benoit’s inclusion.  I’ll consider writing him out if it matters that much in the future.  But I’ll keep the hype to the chat threads instead of their own posts, while putting up the big shows for your enjoyment.

Meanwhile, in the land of the living, we’re heading to the Elimination Chamber, and excitement couldn’t be more tepid!  I would recommend New Year’s Revolution 2005 as a night viewing, as I really love that particular Chamber match.  I think it’s Batista’s real coming-out party.

Enjoy the weekend!

Six of the Best – WCW SuperBrawl

This time out we look at one of WCW’s gala events in the form of SuperBrawl. Indeed, for some within WCW itself, SuperBrawl was actually the event they considered to be the biggest event of the year, even bigger than Starrcade. This mostly was the case when Eric Bischoff took over, as he’s gone on record saying he never really cared for Starrcade due to it happening in December and preferred SuperBrawl’s February date.

SuperBrawl was generally a decent effort from WCW, and usually saw some pretty newsworthy big matches, such as Hollywood Hogan battling with Roddy Piper, Sting and Ric Flair in 97, 98 and 99 respectively. One SuperBrawl event in particular ended up dominating the list however, but in my defence you could probably make an argument for it being the best pay per view event WCW ever put on!

As always, these are just my own personal picks. This isn’t supposed to be some sort of objective list or anything. If I leave out a match that you think warrants inclusion, then please feel free to put it down in the comments section below. As with previous lists, I’ll be listing the matches in chronological order.

So without further to do, let’s get to it!

Read moreSix of the Best – WCW SuperBrawl

Tessa

Scott,

Not sure if this has been covered but I cannot recall. How for the love of the WWE’s love of getting a Four Horsewoman deal over as a thing is Tessa Blanchard not on their roster and sewn directly to one of Charlotte’s implants?  Is there some kind of problems here with her, or Tully, or something?  Or does this kind of logic I’m presenting just make too much sense for this company right now?

Peace.


She was let go for being a pain in the ass, is more or less the explanation I've always heard.  Which made it all the more surprising when boyfriend Ricochet got a deal, because usually that kind of petty heat keeps people away by proxy.  But kudos to HHH for ignoring it.  Tessa might even be on better terms with the office again, I dunno.  

Nailz

Hey, Scott:

Loving your Superstars recaps. Some questions:

1.) Could Nailz — in his previous "Kevin Kelly" incarnation — go in the ring at all? Watching him nearly 30 years later, he seemed to actively *trying* to be terrible.

2.) Did Vince know that Bossman would be gone from the company in early 1993? In hindsight, I've always wondered why Nailz didn't go over Bossman at Survivor Series 1992, if the plan was to slide Nailz over to feud with Undertaker. Seems you'd want to build him up as a legit threat.

3.) I'm old enough to remember Hogan drawing some money around the loop with the exhumed remains of Killer Khan in early 1987. If Hogan was around 1992, do you think he could've done business with Nailz or had the business cooled to the point where Nailz was dead-on-arrival, regardless?

Thanks, man!

1.  No, Kevin Wacholz was always terrible and immobile.  

2.  He didn't specifically know he was leaving, but the writing was on the wall and Bossman was running on fumes anyway.  I think Bossman went over because of the good guys win principle, but you're right, it probably should have been Nailz.  

3.  He would've drawn with Hulk.  Had Hulk been around and in the role occupied by Bossman, that would've carried the summer for them.  

Rotunda

Given his NWA/WCW history, you would assume Mike Rotunda is a Hall of Candidate. So they have to eventually put IRS in, right? 

I am 100% sure he will go in someday, yes.  As WWE Hall inductions go, it's a totally fine one.  

Kofi vs Bryan

I know you’re probably sick of Kofi emails but hear me out here:

Kofi pinned Bryan on SD. At Elimination Chamber, it comes down to Kofi and Bryan. Rowan and Big E brawl outside when Harper arrives and slips Bryan a weapon through the chamber allowing him to retain. At Fastlane they can do a 6-man with New Day vs. Straight Veg-Society with a stip that if New Day wins, Kofi gets Bryan at WM.

With Rollins/Brock, and Charlotte/Rousey/Becky main eventing, it’s a perfect year to have a WWE title match fans can get invested in that can be placed midcard.

Thoughts?

New Day v. Bryan & Bludgeon Brothers isn't a bad idea, but I don't know what the status of Luke Harper is.  I'm still not seeing it as a Wrestlemania match, though.  I still think Cena is where they're going to end up.  Unless Bray Wyatt as a babyface returns to reclaim his family like he's been teasing on Twitter. 

Indies and Insanity: February 14, 2019

Oh, like I have a valentine today.

Your NBA on TNT game this week — just one, as the All-Star break is around the corner — is Thunder/Pelicans.  Your college basketball slate is: ESPN has Houston/Connecticut; ESPN2 has Illinois/Ohio State, then Murray State/Austin Peay (Ja Morant of Murray State is a must-see), and Gonzaga/Loyola Marymount.  Meanwhile, your ESPNU deep cuts are Tulsa/Tulane, Arizona/Utah, and St. Mary’s/Santa Clara.  Plus, if you stick with ESPN after the hoops, they have a special on the UFC Heavyweight Classic between Cain and Brock.

The Indie Roundup of the weekend — and we got some good stuff — coming after the jump.

Read moreIndies and Insanity: February 14, 2019