–The promo poster for this show is odd as it makes it seem like Ric Flair is the babyface since he is “seeking revenge.”
–Eric Bischoff and Bobby Heenan are doing commentary and they are live from St. Petersburg, Florida. Bischoff is substituting for Tony Schiavone who is on the shelf with neck surgery.
–A video package hypes Harlem Heat, spliced with a generic promo of how they are going to beat the Nasty Boys tonight.
Monday Night Raw
Date: November 1, 2004
Location: Peoria Civic Center, Peoria, Illinois
Attendance: 6,000
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
The big story this week is the locker room rising up against Evolution, who ran roughshod last week because Eric Bischoff was gone and they just decided they were in charge. Randy Orton isn’t allowed to challenge HHH for the World Title anymore, making me wonder who in the world is supposed to go after the belt. Odds are no one at the moment, meaning more HHH bragging time. Let’s get to it.
–Gene Okerlund and Bobby Heenan are in charge of the studio portion of the show. Okerlund spoils the result of the feature match by calling it a “warm up” match for Ric Flair for Slamboree.
–Heenan picks up a Butcher trading card and says it will soon be a collector’s item because the Butcher has no name anymore.
Read moreWhat the World Was Watching: WCW Main Event – May 14, 1995
Monday Night Raw
Date: October 4, 2004
Location: Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
It’s time for a big show as we’re in the World’s Most Famous Arena for one of the last two shows before a gimmick pay per view on a Tuesday. Last week’s Raw saw Randy Orton try to turn Ric Flair away from the dark side, only to get screwed out of the Taboo Tuesday title match voting. I’m sure you know where this is headed so let’s get to it.
–Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan are in the booth and they are taped from Atlanta, Georgia.
Read moreWhat the World Was Watching: WCW Saturday Night – April 29, 1995
–Eric Bischoff and Bobby Heenan are on studio duty for today’s broadcast. Heenan argues that Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, and Jimmy Hart are not happy about Ric Flair being reinstated.
–Bischoff hypes WCW’s trading cards that are coming out this week. He notes that the Diamond Doll is nowhere to be seen on Diamond Dallas Page’s card. Heenan says that is simply because there was not enough room on it.
Read moreWhat the World Was Watching: WCW Main Event – April 23, 1995
WCW Prime aired on April 17 with a new feature bout:
–Prime “MOOO” Match of the Week: Alex Wright (26-0-1) defeats Steve Austin (w/Colonel Robert Parker) (8-1) via disqualification when Arn Anderson interferes at 6:05:
Read moreWhat the World Was Watching: WCW Pro – April 22, 1995
–Eric Bischoff and Bobby Heenan are handling the studio portion of the show, with Bischoff reminding fans that Vader has been stripped of the U.S. title and Ric Flair has been banned from WCW.
–A replay of Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, and Jimmy Hart talking to WCW Commissioner Nick Bockwinkel in his office is shown.
Read moreWhat the World Was Watching: WCW Main Event – March 26, 1995
-Here was the feature match from WCW Prime, which aired on February 27. The New York market actually aired a WrestleMania XI ad during this broadcast:
Read moreWhat the World Was Watching: WCW Pro – March 4, 1995
Monday Night Raw
Date: March 22, 2004
Location: Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Michigan
Attendance: 12,000
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole, Tazz
Things are staying hot around here with the second annual Draft (called a Lottery this year), meaning people are going to be changing shows. Tonight everyone from both rosters are here and they have a chance to go from Raw to Smackdown or vice versa. This could be anywhere between really interesting and a big waste of time. Let’s get to it.
Monday Night Raw
Date: March 8, 2004
Location: Arena At Harbor Yard, Bridgeport, Connecticut
Attendance: 7,000
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
It’s the go home show for Wrestlemania and that likely means a slower than average night. In this case we do have the return of the Rock, which almost guarantees at least some energy. There’s a good chance that there won’t be much wrestling as WWE isn’t going to want to risk an injury six days before the biggest show of the year. Let’s get to it.
–Gene Okerlund and Bobby Heenan are the studio hosts for a special ninety minute episode.
Read moreWhat the World Was Watching: WCW Main Event – January 15, 1995
Monday Night Raw
Date: February 23, 2004
Location: Qwest Center, Omaha, Nebraska
Attendance: 14,752
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler
Wrestlemania is rapidly closing in on us and that means things are getting serious around here. In addition to the big main event story with Chris Benoit vs. HHH vs. Shawn Michaels for the World Title being confirmed, Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar is heating up for the interpromotional dream match. Let’s get to it.
–Eric Bischoff and Bobby Heenan are doing commentary and they are live from Atlanta, Georgia. According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the show drew a packed crowd of 785, with no one having to pay for their ticket.
–Gene Okerlund; in the heel locker room with Avalanche, the Butcher, Colonel Robert Parker, the Blacktop Bully, Bunkhouse Buck, and Meng; urges fans to call 1-900-370-3WCW to vote for who they wish to see wrestle in the main event. The calls cost ninety-nine cents. The babyface locker room, where Tony Schiavone is, features Sting, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, the Guardian Angel, and Dustin Rhodes.
Read moreWhat the World Was Watching: WCW Main Event – January 8, 1995
Now that we have covered what the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) was doing in 1995, we will shift our focus to what was taking place in Atlanta with World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Much like the WWF, WCW was fighting against the headwind of a bitter wrestling depression, but it did receive significant publicity in the summer of 1994 when it signed Hulk Hogan. Hogan would subsequently defeat Ric Flair at Bash at the Beach and immediately claim the WCW title, which he still held as 1995 began. Despite drawing an impressive television rating for a Clash of the Champions rematch between Hogan and Flair – a number that put WCW’s events on par with, if not exceeding those of the WWF – WCW was still under pressure to cut costs as it lost more than $3 million in 1994. The cuts were also spurred on by Halloween Havoc drawing a less than expected rating for the third match in the Hogan-Flair series. In that match, Flair was “retired” after losing and although he said the retirement would be permanent, few in the wrestling world believed him. Nevertheless, that meant that WCW was starting the year without one of its major draws in the squared circle. A big question for WCW going into 1995 was how it would attempt to challenge the WWF’s domestic supremacy, and Executive Producer Eric Bischoff’s gamble to launch a new Monday night wrestling show to challenge the WWF’s Monday Night RAW at the end of the summer changed wrestling forever.
Read moreWhat the World Was Watching: WCW Main Event – January 1, 1995
Monday Night Raw
Date: January 12, 2004
Location: Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, New York
Attendance: 6,100
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Jonathan Coachman
We’re closing in on the Royal Rumble and we’re finally starting to talk about the thing. Last week saw the first few names officially announced for the Royal Rumble match and we also have Shawn Michaels vs. HHH confirmed in a Last Man Standing match. Hopefully we get some more stuff added to the card, just to flesh things out a bit. Let’s get to it.
Monday Night Raw
Date: December 29, 2003
Location: SBC Arena, San Antonio, Texas
Attendance: 12,000
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
We’re FINALLY done with this terrible year with one last show and, of course, it’s focused on HHH, who is defending the World Title against Shawn Michaels in Shawn’s hometown. This will set some stuff up for the Royal Rumble, which is in about four weeks and has barely been discussed yet. Such is life in WWE, which is rarely up for capitalizing on the extra time that they have. Let’s get to it.
Monday Night Raw
Date: December 22, 2003
Hosts: Jonathan Coachman, Jerry Lawler
It’s the end of the year and thankfully that means we’re having a week off. This week it’s a Best Of 2003 special, which could be a rather short show. Unfortunately this is just a Best Of Raw show, meaning you’re going to be hearing a lot from HHH and a lot about the Eric Bischoff Era, which is still running strong. Let’s get to it.
Monday Night Raw
Date: December 15, 2003
Location: St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa, Florida
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
We’re closing in on the end of the year and to the shock of no one, it’s all about HHH again. This time though he’s nice enough to allow the rest of Evolution to join in as they swept the titles last night at Armageddon. That means we’re on the way to the Royal Rumble, where I’m sure HHH will give a rub to some young whippersnapper. Let’s get to it.
Monday Night Raw
Date: December 1, 2003
Location: ARCO Arena, Sacramento, California
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
We’re in the final month of the year now and last week’s Raw Roulette….didn’t change much. At the moment we’re STILL on HHH vs. Goldberg, but the Trish/Lita/Chris Jericho/Christian story is still charging strong to keep the show interesting. Well mildly interesting but that’s better than nothing. Let’s get to it.
Monday Night Raw
Date: November 24, 2003
Location: E Center, Salt Lake City, Utah
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
We’re coming up on Thanksgiving but more importantly tonight is a double shot with HHH challenging Goldberg for the Raw World Title and Raw Roulette all night long. It’s a night of Spin the Wheel Make the Deal, which used to be one of my favorite ideas when I was a kid. Now let’s see how WWE can screw it up. Let’s get to it.
Monday Night Raw
Date: November 17, 2003
Location: SE Texas Arena, Beaumont, Texas
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
We’re past Survivor Series and that means we’re on the way to Armageddon to end the year. Eric Bischoff is back in full control of the show as Steve Austin’s team lost last night. I’m sure we’ll NEVER see him again. Goldberg is still the Raw World Champion too, having dispatched Evolution on a bad ankle. Why do I have a feeling that the HHH feud is far from over though? Let’s get to it.
Survivor Series 2003
Date: November 16, 2003
Location: American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas
Attendance: 13,487
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole, Tazz
This is another big one and it’s also a one sided show. The Smackdown offerings are about as uninteresting as they could be while the Raw side looks at at least marginally better. This isn’t a great show on paper and I have a bad feeling that it’s going to be even worse as it actually takes place. Let’s get to it.
Monday Night Raw
Date: November 10, 2003
Location: Fleet Center, Boston, Massachusetts
Attendance: 6,000
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
It’s the go home show for Survivor Series and since the card is mostly set, tonight is going to be all about the hard sell. While there are several options for building to the elimination match, odds are we’re going to have to listen to HHH talk about his match with Goldberg and that’s not a series of statements I’m likely to survive. Let’s get to it.
Monday Night Raw
Date: November 3, 2003
Location: Gund Arena, Cleveland, Ohio
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
The slow road to Survivor Series continues but you can at least see where most things are heading. In this case we have Team Austin vs. Team Bischoff with several members of both teams already announced. Other than that it’s Goldberg vs. HHH for the World Title and Shane McMahon vs. Kane for the sake of pushing Shane. Let’s get to it.