Robert S

So this was the go-home segment for the biggest PPV in WCW history. The Clash segment a couple of month before this was also corny as well but would have been a much better last segment before Starrcade. The whole Sting vs. Hogan program probably peeked too early. And yes: Hogan's acting is so horrible here that I have no idea at first if was glad to got a mannequin head of himself as a gift, or shocked.

I would really like to know why one announcer (the one Alfonso Morales usually calls "Pistolero"; though Google does not yield results for a lucha announcer called "Pistolero") shortly before the finish began reciting the lyrics of La Bamba.

Who was promoting in Austria (the Heumarkt in Vienna etc.) before Wanz? Kaiser as well? Blemenschütz himself?

German football goalkeeper Tim Wiese claims to have an offer for a WWE development contract. He says he will check the offer with his manager.

A good read, though there is one line, I would argue heavily against: "Hashimoto was a better draw than Taue and the ace of New Japan for portions of the 1990’s but where Taue is the 4th guy remembered in the Four Pillars, Hashimoto is the 3rd in the Three Musketeers." Hashimoto was easily the biggest draw of the Musketeers and arguably the best worker. Taue as a worker has to be seen as you indicated by considering the cards he was dealt. Taue was compared to the rest of the All Japan stars lacking in athletic skills. And even though the in-ring style in mid-90ies All Japan was one of the most athletic demanding styles of all time he did not look at all out of place. Even when he was physically broken down in the mid-00s he still was able to have great matches from time to time, just by his understanding of working. If he had come along 10-20 years earlier he might have had an even more prolific career.

"This interview is probably illegal in 27 states." - Jim Cornette This variation of Goldust probably was a bit too weird to get over.

There are some really horrible choices on the modern US/Canada list. Interesting to see Wanz on the list, as Meltzer before usually just laughed when the name came up w.r.t. the HOF. I am no Catch expert at all, but Georg Blemenschütz might be a better Austrian candidate for the Hall of Fame.

This is the same promotion that has "the sons of Rikishi" Jimmy and Jay Uso and "the son of Curt Hennig" Curtis Axel / Michael McGillicutty.

This segment was almost "death of WCW"-level bad. All creativity seems to be gone by that point, everything here is just some repetition: - Running the same match-up for the 700th time. - Doing the fake Sting angle for the 50th time, this time even on back-to-back nights. - For the second time a mannequin is dropped from the ceiling with the nWo pretending that it's Sting. - Of course the whole thing ends with just another nWo beatdown with no WCW guys even trying for a save.

I wanted to make that joke with writing a line like "One Man Gang beating Kensuke Sasaki for the US title" (funny thing is that the match actually was restarted and Sasaki won).

I was really inclined to feel sorry for him before realizing that this is Jim Neidhart. The WWF stuff post Survivor Series is barely watchable. I remember not feeling sorry at all when WWF lost TV in Germany (and Austria) 1-2 months after this. This era put me off of WWF and I never returned watching their programs regularly.

By this point it's obvious that the Rock is the main guy of the Nation, surpassing Faarooq. He is even dressing differently from the other guys.

I think its pretty fitting that there were two really crappy title changes of the European title right around the time where the WWF was losing television in Germany (to be precise I think that this was the first Raw not available anymore on German TV), probably their hottest market in 93-96 with tours there every other month. Thinking about it, the downfall of WWF in Germany from summer 95 until this point might make a really interesting article, if someone would invest the time.

I usually like the RINGS stuff, but this was more on the boring side to me. I mean the match was fine and all, but Volk Han vs. Tamura usually is a more entertaining match-up than this was.

That somersault looked really dangerous. A good athlet might pull that one off easily, but the Sandman hardly made the rotation and landed almost on his head.

As long as the Rogers money is higher than the expected number of Canadian subscribers times 7 (or whatever is left after paying MLB and considering organization) it is the right choice from a business perspective.

You've certainly done a great job defending someone you don't know in a system you don't understand! You've certainly done a great job being a giant jackass.

I know plenty of guys that fit that description and in no case them not finishing their grad degree has anything to do with lock of intelligence or smartness or whatever. Usually its just a case of doing a job in parallel that at one point becomes the main priority (sometimes in combination with starting a family). Of course the system is different over here in Europe, so I may be comparing apples and oranges.

It's funny seeing the Wrestling With Shadows part with Shawn apologizing to Bret pretending to be upset saying he knew nothing about the screwjob and did not want to have anything to do with it and this promo back to back.

It's funny that the only guy Jarrett said bad things about (he had praise for Savage and Hogan and was diplomatic about Bischoff) is HHH. In addition either at that show or at Survivor Series there was a clearly visible sign saying "Hunter Hearst Hemlsey - Career Midcarder". It's really easy to see why HHH got so protective about his main event spot, once he got it.

Why did the referee count he pinfall after he was knocked down by HHH?

Didn't Brock's lawsuit cover the USA as well? I think the idea was that the court considered a seven (?) year non-compete clause ridiculous. I think that allowed him to compete in MMA (which was included in the non-compete) in the States as well.

Owen telling the timekeeper to ring the bell (to stop the match due to DQ) is really funny considering what happened later that night.

Sasuke's complete no-selling of the lengthy work on his legs and back after the hot tag took this down a notch. Apart from that a great match. Thankfully Delphin ended this with a Shota and not the Delphin Clutch, one of my least favorite moves in wrestling.

If that story is true the whole thing might get really ugly.