soup23

Muncie, Indiana is a weird venue. Shawn has ditched the Gap catalog look for the biker shorts. I do agree to a slight extent that Raw was probably at its best around April/May with all the Hart Foundation forming stuff but it still has had plenty of highlights and I have liked this feud overall. I think my biggest issue has been the shoving down of Bret as WWF champion screwing around with The Patriot. This promo again is used as a set up for the Cell match with some One NIght Only hype mixed in.

Austin's pops have been loud but this was nuclear when he came out. Amazing that his popularity has grown with him being out of action. I liked the continuing interplay between Austin and the Harts. You could see what was coming with the stunner and King but they played it up well.

Watched this in full on the network. I don't think it was necessary to include in full but I do think it was a good match. I also don't have as much a problem with what happened at the end if the follow up would have been better. NWO beating Flair and becoming the dirtiest player in the game in a match he made famous sounds like good storytelling from the onset. Especially having Hennig be the catalyst given their history. I wonder why the angle that resulted sputtered so bad because the trifecta of Larry, Flair, and Sting winning the final three matches at Starrcade sounds like a good plan on paper at this point. I would like to give Buff credit as he gets hurled into the cage at the onset vs. Benoit. The action is a little mundane but again not terrible and their is cool little sequences within like the big boot Nash gives Mongo. Syxx taking a backdrop into the top of the cage and Flair chopping everyone. I did like that Hennig immediatly turned so we didn't have any goofy fighting with the NWO that is forgotten once we get the turn. The dramatic door slam would have been better suited for a better crowd. The crowd chanting We Want Sting with Flair yet to enter the match is pretty damming. i don't really know if it is WCW burying Flair too much, Sting being super hot, the crowd sucking or a combination of all of those. I did like the disgusted sign off of Tony to end the show. I think this is a good PPV overall with 3 good matches (that we saw) and some fun stuff like Larry Z getting properly involved.

I liked this finish. Yes, it is goofy for Larry to be an official but the reasoning of "they make their own rules, so we will too" seemed fair enough to me and I thought this was a good bone to give fans for WCW getting one up on the NWO based on what was to come in the main event. I also really liked seeing how active Liz was in this match setting up the final chapter in the Macho vs. DDP feud.

Really bad promo from Benoit. I thought Flair redeemed this as he was his crazed self and ready to whip some NWO ass.

NWO is all excited after wiping out Hennig. It would be an honor has now become overused in the NWO lexicon.

Gene is again outraged at this sneak attack. Something fishy should have been alerted to smart viewers here but I didn't think the turn of Curt was completely telegraphed.

Couple of things before this match in proper: 1. I did my customary check before this match at Loss' top 100 and was pleased to see 32 matches still remaining. Tons of great stuff coming up apparently. 2. I read SK rant about this show before watching this match and it was pretty dreadful. Giving this match ***1/2 stars and then saying they went 5 minutes too long with no rhyme or reason. Again, at the end he criticizes the match lengths. Is this guy Russo? The match as a whole I would have lower than Charles but it was fun to watch Alex grow as a worker considering Ultimo was pretty bad throughout most of this match. I also think having 4 in the booth is too much but Larry taking to Alex Wright because his plight was like his early career was fun to hear. Alex worked over the bulk of the match and even though the crowd didn't care a whole lot (this crowd sucked in general) what he did was fine, basic work. Finish was smart and made Wright look resourceful and a worker on the rise. Glad this was included.

I thought this was super. Cesaro vs. Zayn was a rightfully praised match but this felt like an equal or maybe just a step below mixing in really sound psychology with some great spots. The way the match escalated after Eddy started working on the back was glorious. I also thought the commentary was terrific with both Bobby and Tony getting into this one and praising Eddy throughout. Finish feels good as Eddy is able to reign supreme and Jericho still gave a great effort. Perfect PPV opener given time to develop into something special.

Paul says goodbye to Tod in sort of a snarky tone but he doesn't outright bury him as much as you might think if there was legit animosity.

I really loved this match. It felt like an NWA championship match in a 1997 timeframe. Basic but interesting matwork to start leading into good limb work by Bret. The highlights were not very significant in the early portion on a blow by blow scale but the work were applied snuggly and before I knew it, 20 minutes had passed and Funk was making his big comeback. The comeback was placed well and featured great revenge spots including the spinning toe hold that I thought might be it. The photo finish was a good way to give Bret the duke but also make Funk look strong on the way out. Stamp was also a good official in this match. I think this match gets really slept on but so far it is probably my second favorite Bret performance of the year behind the Austin Mania match.

Piper is the new interim comissioner and already has three things that he has done. 1. Sting vs. Hogan will happen before the end of the year.... ok 2. Him vs. Hogan in a cage at Havoc (why?) 3. Luger/DDP are out of Wargames and Horseman are in (glad a PPV main event gets finalized in the go home segment of the PPV)

I still love Bisch as Hogan's hype man. The Sting dummy descends and Hogan freaks pointing the finger at Dillinger. Vicious and Delicious bring the Sting into the ring and Hogan puts the puts to him.

NWO parades out fanny pack and all. This is a weird foursome together. We get some more spot jokes and Buff/Konnan step up to the plate to face the Horseman tonight.

I have been enjoying most of WCW commentary this year but they really derail this match talking about everything else. Did they say DDP/Luger were supposed to be in the Wargames match at this point? Oy. The action here is a fun sprint in their series and Rey is testing out his injury with some crazy spots that he nearly wipes out on. Cool, upset finish with him getting the win.

I liked this sit in segments in theory but they usually result in an anticlimatic conclusion. This is what happened here. The promo escalation was very well done and Flair was fantastic in his talking about how embarrassed he was to be a wrestling fan and gradually losing his cool..

I was looking forward to this on the onset but was also left disappointed against a myriad of better stuff from the first three months of the year. Really used to get the NAO inserted into the tag team front.

I agree that it seemed odd for DX (Still not named that) to be attacking Davey and the HF in general. They give a good beatdown though.

Owen seems to have been shifted down the card a bit and that makes me a little sad as the HF in general are on the downswing. Goldust punches him in the nuts getting himself dq'd. HF attack until SCSA comes in to make the save. We then get XXX Files part 2 with Terri in the shower.

Basic promo between the two to set up the announced Badd Blood match and to show these two still have unfinished business.

Sunny is wasting away and it is pretty sad. Dude says he needs a friend and JR suggests a dog. We then get the XXX footage from Pillman. This does scream Russo to me but I would be lying if I didn't say I was a little intrigued with the shock value of it all.

Man, Raw had an electric feeling tonight. Slaughter is getting some heel heat and mugs it up. Austin is now unquestionably the #1 face and he gets a huge pop when he beats up Slaughter. Vince flipping the mic and then backing down was great stuff. The crowd is really raucous shaking and patting Austin when he heads to the announce booth.

This could have been edited some and the crowd did suck but as a no-contest main event to serve as a bridge for a ending to the feud, I thought this was a fabulous match that featured some spectacular bumping from Shawn and always felt out of control and could have been thrown out at any time. Taker really brought his A game for this match with great punches, bumping when he needed to and that sick dive to end out the show. Vince and Lawler were pretty bad throughout the match but did get over how crazy the dive was so I will give them credit on that point.

I saw a segment on a lot of WWE Stars swimming with the sharks in South Africa that was very cool and a neat interactive group (Orton, Brodus Clay, Justin Gabriel, Jack Swagger, Kaitlyn) were all featured.

Watched the Mania Rewind special on WM 1. Pretty fun stuff and a good 15-20 minute segment that gets you hyped for the match. They showed all the build up to the match in clips format and had numerous talking head interviews from the principles as where as present stars speaking on the magnitude. Certainly felt like a 30 for 30 short type piece and was a cool thing to sit through even though the first 10 minutes or so involved the old "Vince gambled it all on WM 1" viewpoint.