stomperspc

This goes on incredibly long which is unfortunate because the brawl didn’t look too bad and the building provided kind of a unique setting for it. Sandman and Raven go into the BWO locker room. Raven comes out the other end and the cameras follow him. When Sandman emerges a few seconds later, he is wearing a BWO shirt. I think it was supposed to be inane and absurd like in a Bugs Bunny cartoon when Bugs gets into a fight, it turns into a swirl of dust, and emerges while the other guy continues to fight himself (or someone else).

I listened to Regal on Colt Cabana’s podcast a little while back and Regal talks about how he took pride in people able to have a workable match with any wrestler of any style. How well he works here with Psicosis and all the Luchadores in general supports that notion. Good match.

Giant was recently tossed from the NWO for having the gull to not give up the title shot against Hogan that he earned at World War 3 the past November. They already seem to be moving towards Hogan's ego clashing with the main goal of the NWO (to destroy WCW). I always thought that was the logical eventual conclusion to the angle where Nash, Hall and everyone realize they are just serving Hogan and they turn on him but even two years later they never quite got there. In any event, this is a great angle. The main players involved all benefit from it. Giant looks like a monster taking on the entire group. Hogan & the NWO show once again they have the numbers advantage. Sting’s story is advanced and Giant gets some measure of revenge at the end. I also like that for now at least, there are reasons for why the NWO's 12 on 1 beat downs go unchecked. Giant doesn't have any friends in WCW because of his earlier turn. Nobody knows if they can trust Sting. DDP is only starting to become a factor, while Flair and Savage are not around. I think the NWO's ability to run rampant becomes an issue later on but here at least it all makes sense.

Shotgun Saturday in its original form was a really cool concept. I like when promotions have a few TV shows with unique feels & settings. It gives the feel of the promotion being far reaching. Even if that is creating a smaller, more intimate show (like they do here) it helps because it feels like the promotion is everywhere at once.

I am Paul - 29 years old from Baltimore. I lurked here for a while and at DVDVR for a really, really long time. I've been a wrestling fan the majority of my life. I was primarily a WCW fan and preferred WCW to WWF until the bitter end. I replaced WCW with US indies (ROH specifically) in the early 2000's and attended a lot of live shows around that time. I watched WWE during that time but never in the same way that I followed WCW. Somewhere in the 2008/2009 timeframe my wrestling watching slowly faded out until reaching the point where I wasn't really watching anything anymore - current or otherwise. I started watching WWE regularly again during the summer of 2011 and slowly dipped back into my collection here and there. Sometime earlier this year I was bit by the pro wrestling bug again. I watch more current wrestling and a wider variety of wrestling than I probably ever have before. I cannot pinpoint exactly what has spurred my interest again, but I've really had a desire to watch as much different pro wrestling from as many different places as I can. In term of historical stuff, like I said WCW was my gateway into pro wrestling so JCP/WCW as always held a special place in my heart. I am not too discriminating however (at least I don't think I am) and have watched quite a bit historically from the mid-1980's on, be it WWF, other US territories/promotions, Puro, or Lucha. The best way to describe my breadth of wrestling knowledge is if something has been heavily hyped or discussed from like 1986 on, there is a very good chance I have seen it. Anything below that line is more hit or miss in regard to whether or not I have seen it. Currently, I am trying to watch as many different 2013 matches as I can. You Tube is a real life changer. I am watching as much different US & British indie stuff as I can get around to, but that's a herculean task and there is a lot of junk out there to wade through. I'm trying to catch anything hyped out of Japan but NJPW is getting most of my attention on that front. Lucha is probably my weakest spot historically, but I find myself really into it now (specifically CMLL), which I didn't quite expect. I am aware of what is going on in TNA but I wouldn't really say I follow them. In addition to 2013 watching, I went through the 1990 yearbook and I am now working my way through 1997. I am loving every minute of 1997 so far.

I think he said "friggin" but it was hard to tell. Good match, but below Lesnar/Cena. Orton coming out with the title as a heel is the right decision since they probably needed a new heel run against Danielson and this was the most efficient way to get there. I could have done without Triple H being the sole cause of it but the direction is the right one.

I thought Punk/Lesnar was really good. The Kimura/arm bar/triangle segment was fantastic and they managed quite a few good near falls even with a luke warm LA crowd. It is definitely one of my favorite WWE matches of the year on first watch. For me, Punk's top three matches this year (this match, vs. Cena on RAW in February, and vs. Undertaker on WM) are as good of a top three matches in 2013 as anyone else has had this year.

I think that the main factor causing the difference in fan reaction/acceptance was that if WWF wanted someone to get over, the fans knew it. If they were pushing a wrestler, it was obvious. You would have the debut vignettes, featured interview segments, featured matches and programs with already over wrestlers. I would imagine that at least subconsciously, most WWF fans picked up on that. They knew who the promotion wanted to promote and they tended to react to that promotion and not necessarily the talent of each individual wrestler. On the flip side, it was often difficult to tell who (if anyone) WCW really wanted to get over. That’s a generalization of course, but WCW had a history of not really pushing guys in an effective manner. What you were left with is a huge pool of wrestlers extending from guys Ric Flair and Steve Austin to Eddie Guerrero and Alex Wright who were either not being pushed or being pushed half-heartedly. I think it sort of conditioned WCW fans to react to whatever they liked and not to what was being pushed because nobody save for a few top guys were ever consistently pushed all that strongly. In addition, all the turnover in WCW management over the years and just the general chaotic nature of WCW served to introduce WCW fans to a wider variety of wrestling and booking styles. By the time the NWO started, a WCW fan has seen the remains of the JCP/Mid-Atlantic feel, bloody brawls, main storylines built around stables, junior style influence (from guys like Pillman, Liger, Benoit, and Eddie), Hogan cartoonish wrestling, ECW-influenced brawls (Foley, Nasty Boys, Public Enemy), NJPW wrestlers, the beginnings of WCW-ized Lucha, and more. A WWF fan during that same period saw basically none of that, save for the Hogan stuff. WCW fans were exposed to a wider variety of wrestling styles so I think by 1996 and 1997, they were more open to reacting to different styles of wrestling than WWF fans.