El-P

Great entrance indeed, WCW looked total major league. But to me it's getting a bit problematic when the nWo really looks like the coolest faction and Eric Bischoff is legit marking out while the audience mostly cheers because of Rodman, who himself doesn't even try to be a heel, so Hogan gets the mic back quickly to act obnoxious again.

Tarzan Goto's says hello. I wouldnt want to see Kintaro Kanemura's either.

The main from the one of the first Oz Academy shows (Oz-Shimoda) ended with them both covered head-to-toe (and the canvas polka-dotted) in a match that went under 15 minutes. Oh man, I totally forgot about that one. Shame on me, I used to love those two so much. Yeah, this was exactly what Oz vs Shimoda should have been at that point, the two ultra-bitches in a total bloodletting.

It wasn't Benoit vs Sullivan, and yes some spots were too convenient, but I felt it was still a very good match. And since pro-wrestling has become totally scripted, in restrospect this looks a lot more organic than any modern WWE big match. The picnic spot is too goofy and fun to bother me, actually it's too bad this match didn't take place at Bash at the Beach because they could have used more fun props. DDP vs Savage was without a doubt the top feud of the year in WCW in term of freshness.

Piper looks old, but he does deliver a good fiery babyface in peril performance. The Outsider keep the match together and they make the best they can selling for Piper's pathetic offense. The fact Flair forgot about his partner and never came back really doesn't make much sense. As much as their feud in 99 was terrible, I seem to remember their first match together in 97 was actually pretty fun (for Flair vs Piper in 97, let's be real), but maybe I'm dead wrong.

Wiki says that she just disappeared without a mention. Maybe someone thought it a good idea to take her off the road after she became involved with Benoit for real? I don't remember the timeline of that angle becoming reality very well. At this point Chris & Nancy had been together for a while already. Awkward Chris Benoit moment : putting on the crippler crossface on Meng until he passes out. I really didn't had trouble rewatching most of Benoit's matches during this period, but this spot was just uncomfortable as all hell.

Well, this shots of old Rugged Tommy Dreamer and slap-happy cougar Dixie Carter just sold me on watching this segment of IMPACT this week. Potential to be so bad it's good.

You know you're old when most of the references thrown here come from the 00's in the indies or WWE when yours remain Muto in 90 and Hokuto in 92. Another one from joshi, Ayako Hamada in ARSION against LCO in 1999 was quite the majestic bladejob.

Not that much, but he said when Benoit was drinking, he would get angry and confrontational and looked out for trouble. And the following day he would have forgotten what he said to people. I have been on the receiving end of such agressive attitudes, so yeah, classic alcoholic abuse behaviour and symptoms. He also said that him and JBL would bully some people on tour, he gave a striking story about them banging on the door of one announcer (don't remember the name) so violently that Nova was praying the guy would not open, fearing what would happen to him if he did. He also said Benoit was a nice guy too at other times, especially when he was bringing his son to the shows, so there you go. But it's not the first time we hear about the bullying attitude of Benoit in the WWE, but since he was a great worker he got a free-pass from the smarts.

Isn't he a bit ashamed to have used the cheapest and most jingoist way to get a babyface reaction during his whole career ?

Tekno Team 2014.

Each and everyone doing their own little brawl doesn't make much sense, it gives the impression that the WCW guys could care less about the nWo at this point. Sullivan and the Dungeon attacking Benoit I can understand, but to have the Mortal Kombat guys in the alley is just plain goofy. The match itself was pretty bad, with no Waltman to make Flair look good, and Piper is just horrendous working with Nash. Odd Nitro indeed.

They made a point of saying the Giant was in Germany several times, and DDP had been injured backsage, so I can understand no one showed up (including the Steiners who got into a big fight with Harlem Heat backstage). Serious heat here and builds interest for Luger vs Hogan. Kinda dragged a little bit at the end and Bischoff called Hogan "the giant" several times following what was an initial screw up I think.

Well, that was awkward. First, Hogan hasn't defended the title in 4 months. Is this ECW in 1998 already ? Then, Luger says he's got a match with Hogan because of this, but it's actually a non-title match. Hum… This Nitro was not going really well.

First appearance for Siver King ! Yes, this one is a little bit sloppy in spots, and Psychosis didn't cover Ultimo's fuck up well at all, not putting the boots to him or even laughing at his ass like Liger would. The commentary sucked and Tenay looked lost too. Yeah, decent stuff with some fun sequences, but a far cray from the previous week's trio match. Liz trying to Barry Windham's DDP was nice, but where in the hell did she run afterward once the limo stormed off ?

I can't listen to Voodoo Child without thinking about Hogan doing air guitar with the big gold belt. Rodman was a pretty big deal. WCW was packing up the big names.

It does no longer works as what pro-wrestling was in the past. And as an "entertainment product" you put side by side with other fictionnal TV shows, it's really the bottom of the barrel, as the vomit angle showed today. Kayfabe was really hiding the truth. Pro-wrestling was marketed mostly toward the uneducated and then towards the childrens. Pro-wrestling indeed was a hustle as it's been said in the "drawing power" thread. It needed an gullible audience to work like "in the good old days". It's been broken and it will never come back as it was.

What was so expensive in Fandango's "elaborate" entrance already ?

I thought Savage was terrific here, and the unscripted nature of the segment really add to the unpredictability. You feel it's organic. Eric Bischoff was tremendous too in how he reacted, trying a prevent a catastrophy with Savage beating up Dillon too bad, yet capitalizing on the incident anyway after because hell, what can he do now ? Didn't advance the DDP vs Savage feud, but did enforce Savage's aura as a complete madman.

They show a whole lot of DDP beating Marc Mero's ass. The Diamond Cutter's montage is pretty sweet.

Ten years ago ? You're being generous. The format and look has pretty much been the same since 2000 or so (and you could argue 1998 really, the only changes apart from Vince Russo crash TV booking era for 15 months have been cosmetics basically). But yeah, totally agree.

So, don't do two of the things that were hugely significant parts of the last "boom"? Because for better or worse, they were. Were there really ? Take Steve Austin and The Rock off the equation, and all you got is stupid insider references and shitty comedy. And that was basically WCW in 2000.

Stop pimping WWECW to me. I don't want to have to watch it. Stop pimping it to me. Now. (the issue is that there were WWECW matches on regular PPV, weren't there ?)

Anybody knows why Nancy suddenly disappeared from TV after May 26, 1997 ? It was really never mentionned, and Benoit kept on feuding with Sullivan for a while.

Yep, great TV lucha style match, the first one in WCW really, and it goes over really good with the live crowd. Tenay is excellent here while Larry Z hurts the product. THat was stupid of him like it was at times of Dusty and Heenan making fun of stuff they didn't understand. Damian & Hector Garza on my TV. Really cool stuff.