PeteF3

The Black Scorpion.

As were Rodger Kent (twice!) and Rod Tronguard. Kent showing up in 1988 WWF was about as out-of-place as any non-celebrity announcer in history.

No irony intended--Brody's leaping knee drop is pretty damned sweet. He's the only guy who can make a conventional (i.e., not off a turnbuckle) knee drop into a convincing finisher.

Shorter than the usual Hogan promo, presumably because they were running behind. Hogan was graciously prepared to wrestle Piper tonight, if only Piper wasn't locked away in Alcatraz. The presence of Savage and Sting, with Savage calling Sting off, adds a bit of intrigue to wrap up a...well, I can't say "lackluster" considering all the stuff they threw at us, but definitely a misfire of a Nitro.

Piper's "not doing no wrestling promo to draw and sell tickets." Sure you aren't, Roddy. He also makes a big deal about not walking around with his kilt on in the airport, unlike Hogan. I haven't minded Piper as much as others here, but with this I'm waiting for Ed Harris to come along and shoot a ball of VX gas in this guy's face.

This is technically executed well but is just way too ridiculous as a wrestling angle. There were issues with the follow-up to the Gilbert-Lawler car angle but that was set up very organically and came off realistic. And AJ's question is a sound one, especially considering how quick they were to tell Syxx to shut the camera off.

I somehow have no memory of this, but this was a lot of fun. I was secretly hoping for some actual wrestling spots before the KO, but it was a clever angle nonetheless. Patrick's pre-match promo is spectacular. Bischoff pulls a Dangerously and spells out that both men are fired.

I actually like the idea of WCW running the Bobby Blaze/Mikey Whipwreck angle with its TV title, but I wish they found somebody besides Iaukea to run it with.

This started off kinda blah with basic clubbering between the two. But Bret managed to turn this into a darn good TV match, held back somewhat by Sid's clumsiness. Rock solid focus by Bret on Sid's leg, while giving Sid a few hope spots and letting him work underneath--not a usual role for him, but they make it work. Sid actually busts out a sunset flip from the apron to set up Bret rolling through to apply the Sharpshooter, a really neat spot that isn't executed all that well but still deserves credit for the attempt. And of course the ringpost figure four makes its debut here. Finish is well-done all the way around.

This was a pretty crazy development. Lawler and Heyman sound like they're drawing on some real feelings for each other. Meanwhile Owen & the Bulldog are in the process of splitting from Clarence Mason. The major players are there, the length is there, the crash TV elements are there...just another week or two and the new familiar look will be there.

Yeah, Monsoon is rapidly becoming an anachronism--just thankful he's off commentary by this point, because I could see him absolutely ruining Austin in that role. Having two false starts for the title match is a neat way of attempting to hook viewers while taking advantage of the new 2-hour format.

That match made it official: Ox Baker is a better, or at least more useful worker than Ivan Putski.

They're still trying to do something with Jjesse Jjaammess, since they're in Nashville, but that train derailed a long while ago. Speaking of derailings, the Goldust babyface push hasn't clicked yet. Marlena cuts her first actual promo, instead of dropping quick soundbites. She assures us that Goldust is all man, to a mild reaction. Triple H comes out to lay out Goldust, and THAT HUGE AMAZON comes in to bearhug Marlena.

This is a good match and I can see why it was praised at the time--in a time of workrate trumping almost everything in the online/newsletter world, this was 25 or so minutes of high, high workrate from 4 big stars in a company not defined by it. Plus, BLOOD! Intentional or not, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't. It sure added to the effect of the match, though. I agree that this doesn't age that well--the 4-man clusterfuck match isn't as novel as it once was, and while the opening 4-way brawling starts off hot and fun, it probably goes a little too long without a lot *really* happening in terms of psychology or storyline until Austin's elimination. Vader turned in a terrific performance and Undertaker held up his end as well as the other 2, so there's not much to dislike here. Just a fun action movie of a match.

This was slow to start and the action was kind of disappointing, but this turned into a good match, though they've had better. I agree with Kevin that this could have been tightened up, as these two were more enjoyable working syndie TV-type matches--as it is, even though he'd beaten Shinya before I didn't really buy into Kazuo winning the title here, as well as Shinya sold the arm. Hash has some fantastic counters here--I loved his leaping headbutt to cut off a Yamazaki kick attack. Kazuo also started punching Hash's bad arm to block the first attempt at a brainbuster, which was also well done and a little flashback to the "little wrestling" they did in prior matches. Good, but probably not a great match unless those opening minutes were really blowaway.

I never had a problem with Kanemoto controlling the onset of the match--I just saw it as Liger not being 100% after the super-quick turnaround (by Japan title match standards) in defenses. It still definitely gets better as it goes along, with Kanemoto making some of the same mistakes Otani did, going to the well once too often on those moonsaults (and what gorgeous moonsaults they were). Quite a week for Liger and the NJPW juniors in general.

Lawler runs off Reggie B. Fine, decked out in a crown and cape and sitting in a personal throne. He brings out Sunny to class this segment up. No one, including Sunny, is quite sure if she's supposed to be a babyface or a heel, which has been a problem for her ever since she gave up managing. PG-13 as you'd expect provide some nice athletic spots and bumps for a studio setting. Lance explaining how Lawler's skills as an artist translate to skilled hands for throwing punches might be the greatest bit of analysis I've ever heard. Lawler and Dundee control most of the match, but King Reginald clocks Lawler with a chain to give PG-13 the win.

Pretty tepid segment all the way around. Bret's run-in is half-assed, Austin half-assedly walks away afterward which is WAY out of character even at this relatively early stage, and the Sid-Bret brawl isn't much, either. Sort of a fitting conclusion to a desperate mess of a show.

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."