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This crowd is NOT appreciative of Vince's intro, and the reaction to Shawn's entrance could charitably be described as "mixed." Even Lawler is being instructed to praise Shawn for "doing the right thing," which is just fucking absurd. Shawn is better at this than Beefcake, but this still smacks of the desperate and phony-sounding sob story that Brutus told when announcing his comeback on Monday Night Raw, which was another intended-to-be-gutwrenching segments that the crowd totally didn't buy. Still, the Lowell crowd stops short of telling Shawn to kill himself. I wonder what Bret Hart thought of Vince talking about Shawn being the fightingest WWF champion ever. Shawn gives the boilerplate John Cena "fans can do whatever they want" promo, except Cena doesn't have a history of public temper tantrums. Of course it's impossible to separate this from the context, but I didn't find this interview to be any good at all. I know it's supposed to be emotional and thus not "clean," but this promo is a rambling, bllthering mess and nobody, including me watching this now much less then, is buying that this guy's knee is suddenly in a career-threatening state.

Contrary to history's re-telling of things, Rocky's victory DID draw a big pop here. But as well-executed as the finish was, this was way too much, way too soon.

Piper's so worked up about what happened to Randy Anderson that his usual rambling actually works--he's in too much of a rage to pick his words properly. A wrestler calling another a "bald-headed geek," whether it's Jimmy Valiant, Paul Jones, or Piper, will never get old. Hogan rebuts by ranting about "doctored footage" of Piper's previous victory and how he's too busy in Hollywood to appear with Piper live this week. Hogan is letter-perfect here: he's swaggering and confident as Hollywood is, but he still knows how to sell for Piper's comments, too. He "gets it" far more than Hall & Nash do, really. It says something for how far ahead Nitro was that they could main event with a satellite interview, even running unopposed.

Nash going all Charles Dickens on us was great, too. So is Nick Patrick suddenly acting all macho once Bischoff makes the challenge on his behalf. It's kind of bullshit that they couldn't play this in the arena, though.

Good segment that builds on the segment the previous week. Sting and Savage put DDP through the same test that Sting put Savage through some weeks earlier--antagonizing him with a bat, then giving it to him and daring him to hit them from behind. DDP won't follow through, but he didn't back down from either man. He's getting more over by the week.

I thought this was a fantastic, brilliant match...I'm just not quite as high on it as everyone else here. I saw a terrific match, but I still think Otani-Samurai told this similar story in slightly better fashion. And yet there's almost nothing I can criticize--I think the only tangible reason I can find for "only" rating this in the ****1/4-****1/2 range is that while the story was well-done and drawn-out, I didn't get the sense of surprise twists and turns that I got on 1/20/97, or in similar efforts like Shawn vs. Mankind and the RWTL '96 final. Both men go after body parts, both men unleash big moves, Otani's emotions get the better of him...it's conventional, and while convention is good, but it doesn't often lead to a true transcendent feeling in watching a match, either. The ending is phenomenal--I can't get the hand-wringing over Liger's palm strike as a finisher because he delivers it so well that I totally buy it as a KO, and Otani's progressive selling of the repeated strikes is fabulous. It's your #2 MOTY to this point, which is not a bad place to be.

I'm not sure when Rubin pulled out--he was definitely gone by the time the Headbangers showed up, though. I don't know if he had any input on the Gangstas or if that was a case of Cornette telling New Jack, "keep it within FCC rules but otherwise be yourself."

Loss mentioned that WCW would have had Daniel Bryan languish forever in the cruiserweight division. I wonder what they would have done with CM Punk. I would guess more of the same, but I could easily see Punk getting enough mic time and quasi-shooting with it, and getting away with it for awhile due to lack of quality control, to the point where fans start reacting. He was skinny, but in a way he was also sort of Bischoff and Russo's wet dream.

He would have had a better outfit, if nothing else. Say what you want about Max Moon...but he didn't look *cheap.* I think it's pretty likely the WWF eventually does the same thing as Dusty did--own up to it and make being clumsy part of his character.

Lots of people hated Papa Shango, but his goofy magic was *way* better-executed than the goofy magic of the Black Scorpion.

Match is kind of goofily laid out, with a commercial break, an immediate ref bump, and then another commercial break all within 4 minutes. That doesn't get into the setting, or the simply odd scenario of Undertaker challenging for the Intercontinental title. UT whacks HHH with the belt to draw a DQ, but lays him out afterward and tombstones him on the top of an escalator in an oft-replayed scene. Cornette in his '97 timeline runs down all the logistical reasons why Shotgun was a bad idea, but I'll kind of miss these weird settings for shows, which the WWF rarely ever did.

Spellbinder is a true oddity in many ways. He dresses up like a mime and does magic tricks but talks and acts like a street tough. He had that random one-off appearance in the WWF as Phantasio. He looks like a roided-up version of that guy on Seinfeld who dated Elaine and who nobody could tell was white or black. Spellbinder is upset about a past loss, so he aims to settle things with...an arm wrestling contest, and Christopher is dumb enough to accept. This arm wrestling match with candles is something that Lawler did with Jos LeDuc years earlier. Probably should have lit the candles *after* all the standard Memphis stalling. This was pretty contrived and Memphis-by-numbers, but the fireball itself was very well-done, as I guess you'd expect from a legit magician.

Lance is practically incredulous at Pillman's ranting.

Samples looks eerily like Dick Murdoch here. The set-up for this is kind of contrived, but the brawl itself is pretty awesome. I wonder if those were real clients. Bobby Bolton is apparently the same guy as Chi Chi Cruz, a name I remember from the early '90s Vancouver indies and a guy I'm guessing Matt Farmer could tell us more about.

I actually didn't get as much of a touring-match vibe from this--not as much as in '91, certainly. The audience is basically indifferent but they work this as a straight-up lucha brawl with some hate and energy and chaos, rather than running through familiar spots for an unfamiliar audience. Finish is weak and not well-executed, and I'm always jarred at these one-fall lucha-in-Japan matches. Santo shakes hands and raises Casas' arm afterwards, which *is* a little touring-match-y.

"My name is Roddy Piper, also known as Rubik's Cube!" Huh?? Piper announces yet another retirement so he can be a father--sort of what he said in '87. Hogan isn't going to stand for that. Piper calls Hogan "Terry" and it actually works here, especially since Hogan shits on the use of that term. Hogan even tries to hold the fans hostage, threatening "something real bad" if they don't shut up and sort of implying he'll take out Hot Rod's kid. Hogan is such a contemptible piece of shit--again. Piper, outside of some weird lines, is also really good here--first selling the embarrassment and just wanting to get the segment over with, to becoming the crazed fired-up Hot Rod. He doesn't even bother to whip Hogan with the belt, he just gouges the buckle into his head like a maniac. He holds off Bischoff and Vincent with the title belt and declares, "Let the games begin!" I don't really want to see these two wrestle again either, but they couldn't have booked a better segment to set up a rematch. Hogan is so much more fun to watch when he's willing to show ass, which he's done a lot of since Starrcade. Once again Hollywood talks big, but like a classic bully he turns into a simpering coward once his enemy fights back.

Nothing advanced, story-wise, but still a clever segment that shows just how hot WCW was--they make a genuine heated segment out of 5 guys all staring at each other.

I liked the discussion about whether the WWF title is in and of itself a force of evil, which brings out the worst in people. Some Treasure of the Sierra Madre-level stuff going on there. Bret and Shawn verbally put each other in their place--I too raised an eyebrow at the use of the word "degenerate." Austin sneak attacks Bret, Sid confronts Shawn, then Bret and Shawn have a showdown over the belt. Strong segment, and the Bret-Shawn build has been so good that I find it hard to believe they were planning to switch the title back to Sid on Thursday.

They were two bad shows, but I don't see either Uncensored as "useless." The first had a lot of interest going in, settled some feuds and furthered others, and the idea of a non-sanctioned, "more hardcore" WCW PPV was a compelling one--they just didn't deliver.

WWF @ Columbus, OH - Ohio Center - July 25, 1986 WWF IC Champion Randy Savage vs. the Junkyard Dog Adrian Adonis vs. George Steele Nikolai Volkoff vs. Cpl. Kirchner (Boot Camp match) That's all Graham's site has and I can remember very little else. Paul Roma-Iron Mike Sharpe was the opener, which ended with Sharpe in a sleeper and I can't remember if Roma won or if the time limit expired. There's a women's match between Black Venus and somebody, possibly Moolah. Steele didn't wrestle Adonis--he wrestled Iron Sheik. George was well into his "special" babyface gimmick but I still wanted to crawl under my seat anyway when he came out, I think because I thought he might come over the guardrail into the bleachers and eat me not because he was an evil monster, but because he just didn't know any better. During intermission, Steele came back out and invited fans to come into the ring and chew on turnbuckles with him.

Eh, the Bushwhackers aren't even the most bizarre kiddie-Big-Two-gimmick-to-be-associated-with-a-Dudley moment in ECW (that's heel PN News coming in to put over Spike Dudley).

I know this wasn't supposed to focus on their WWF run, but I'm a little disappointed you didn't mention that in '96 the Bushwhackers actually did an angle with loose cannon Brian Pillman (Pillman clobbered one of them with his crutch after a match), which might be the most bizarre colliding of wrestling worlds in the history of the business.

Quick and dirty thoughts from what I've seen: - Andre vs. Tank Patton is a fun little bout centering around Patton's loaded cast. Andre doesn't do much that's new, but he's still mobile and works smart, and the big payback spot at the end is cringe-worthy. - I have new respect for Gino Hernandez as an in-ring worker. I didn't really like him at all on the World Class set, but he actually managed to drag a decent match out of Ox Baker through bumping, selling, running, and sheer willpower. If he can do the same to Ivan Putski he'll be a true miracle man. - Want to see others' thoughts on Lothario & Mascaras vs. the Funks. It's 2/3 falls and 25+ minutes. It's not one of the true high-end Funk tags but I still thought it was really good. Jose's already past his prime in 1979 but he does throw awesome punches and knows how to sell. Mascaras actually works a short FIP segment, which is amazing in and of itself.

I myself am horrified that I laughed at this, especially now. I guess it was out of its sheer audacity: "Before Dusty Rhodes' daddy was a plumber, he worked as a shoe salesman. And he was so successful at running his shoe store, that to this day in Austin, Texas, when people think of black loafers, they think of Dusty Rhodes' father." --Jim Cornette, early 1988

This went on too long, and I agree with everything Kevin said about Rich getting too much. Rich DDT'ing Jim Molineaux twice as completely pointless. Still, there's some decent psychology here, and Rich still throws a good punch. Dig the idiot ECW fans "whoo"-ing because of the spinning toe hold. Uh, that's not the same thing as a figure 4, guys.