Robert S

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.

This whole angle makes the Nation look really stupid. I mean how could they have believed that someone vandalizing their locker room would leave clues like "Canada rulz"? This is the first time I noticed that the Nation trying to use "By any means necessary" as a catchphrase. Was this a one-time-only thing or did they use that before and/or after as well?

Bret tapping here might have been a way for Bret to show that he had no problems losing per se. Didn't he also offer to put Shamrock over for the title?

Ogawa did quite some fun things in NOAH. Appart from the Kobashi title match (one of the top three defenses of Kobashi's run) there is also Ogawa's title run, which included good to great matches against Taue and Takayama. Also every time he was in the ring with Doug Williams he seemed super motivated. Probably he is a fan of british wrestling or something. There is also Untouchables vs. MaruKENTA and Untouchables vs. Dark Agents.

There are quite some really astonishing things here: ( a ) the cage is huge ( b ) the cage is shaky as hell ( c ) Savage is nuts to do the double axe-handle from the top of the cage ( d ) Schiavone after several Stings appear and one chases Hogan back into the cage: "Everywhere Hogan goes there is Sting." - "Every breath you take, every move you make, every bond you break, every step you take I'll be watching you." ( e ) Why the hell would you try to enter or leave that cage by climbing it when there is a door? I mean you could ask that question for every cage match, but for that huge thing even more so. ( f ) The thing with the fan entering the cage was weird as hell. The camera crew stayed forever on him and Hogan and Savage were working on him with worked punches and kicks. But the way that guy was behaving it had to be a real fan. Probably the production crew thought due to the face paint that guy was part of the show. ( g ) Did they ever make it clear that this match was not for the title?

Zbyszko pulling guard on Syxx, at first trying to get an armbar and then settling for a guillotine choke is fun. Schiavone claims that Zbyszko learned that hold from Gene LeBell in the 70ies. I am not sure if that is true, but Zbyszko learning some grappling from some old-time hookers when he was a guy breaking into the business seems much more likely than him trying to reenact some MMA stuff, especially in 97.

"You fucked Chyna." - "I fucked in China, in Singapore, in Korea. Tell me something I don't already know." Nice reaction by Rude.

That ring mat looks so horrible that I feel that I might have caught Hep B or HIV just by watching this match.

The Kane act looks like it has a shelf life of about a year. Insane that he lasted 17 years (and is still running).

A funny thing happening during the introduction: Sunny stumpled a bit in the ring which lead the ref (the small fat one, I think the one who died a couple of years back) looking shocked at Sunny's ridiculous high heels and apparently asking her if she even can walk in these things which lead to a hand gesture by her indicating "not really".

I suppose Cornette exploded during one creative meeting with a similar rant (probably content wise more like the first rant than this) and Vince decided that the stuff was too entertaining not to put it on TV. That said, the content of this rant really looks horrible considering the following ten years.