El-P

That is something I never could stand.

The last one was Horace Hogan. And he was probably the best worker of the bunch, which is pretty scary. Yep, they came off like bitches. But hey, Virgil is a wrestling superstar.

Martel was basically working part time at this point, being involved in real estate business at the same time. He stated in his shoot interview that he takes the blame for the whole Model not working out great because his heart wasn't 100% into wrestling at the time. Smart guy though, made money in wrestling to support his own business.

WEEK 6 (February 8 to 13, 1999) Debut of the week : Blitzkrieg in a match vs Rey Mysterio Jr. (Nitro). Hey, now I remember why this guy was the Internet darling for a few months when he popped up on TV, in an era where MOVEZ weren't evil yet. This guy had amazing explosiveness, he was quick and smooth as hell as a flyer, and had a cool little superhero outfit. In term of working impressive acrobatic sequences, he was just head and shoulder ahead everyone else in the company save for Rey, and it shows here. He does the job but gets over in the process, as he pushes the king of cruiserweight Rey pretty hard. This would probably be my match of the week too. Honorable mention : Rey Mysterio Jr. vs Juventud Guerrera (Saturday Night). You can't go wrong with these two together, although it's pretty much a routine match at this point, but a routine match between Rey and Juvy is better than most match. They actually screw up a spot, but cover it pretty well. The difference between those two and most of the young guys they had in the cruiserweight division is that they take the time to actually sell a bit between big moves. Of course it's still a go-go match. Useless title change of the week : Roddy Piper wins the US Belt from Bret Hart (Nitro). Yep, Roddy Piper, who at this point is really awful in the ring. Bret plays around with his whole "I'm injured" gimmick, but it can't save the match especially when the finish sees the involvement of a fat guy from a TV show (Will Sasso). This stinks. Slut of the week : Torrie Wilson, debuting in very bizarre vignettes shot in a subjective sort of view, but we don't even know if the guy who she's vamping is filming or if it's supposed to be a porn-like POV stuff. What's even more puzzling is that none of this is even acknowledged on TV by anyone. I remember being intrigued by all of this back then and very, *very* let down by the payoff. Anyway, she also can't act to save her life, which makes it even more look like some sort of stuff from a porn movie. Nonsensical turn or the week : The Barbarian turning on Meng (Thunder). These two were feuding in 1998, then Jimmy Hart put them back together without much explanantion then after a few weeks of competing in the non-bracketed, nebulous tag-team tournament, Barbie turns on Meng from nowhere. Blah. I was so glad to see the Faces of Fear back together, they're much better as a team than individual wrestlers. Nonsensical vignette of the week : Raven is working his depression. Yeah, all of this was a ruse apparently, to piss off his mother. Raven is a rich kid who's happy with his life and isn't depressed at all. He breaks kayfabe with Kanyon and goes shopping with him. And really Kanyon playing Pretty Woman is an obvious sign of his sexual preference, he's gay as all hell during this sequence. Well, it is kinda funny if you like Raven, but it also makes no sense whatsoever. This is the first time the funny, sarcastic and smiling Scott Levy we all came to know in a hundred shoot interviews shows up on screen, complete with winks to the camera. Stupid angle of the week : Scott Steiner drops Kimberly from a car. I hate this kind of overacted, overscripted angles. Steiner stalking Kim was good enough, and it was "credible". This is not. Line of the week : "What a mark !" Raven talking about Kanyon. So this week we also had tons of nWO B-team segments, which is something that needs to die. And also Kaz Hayashi buying Glacier's gimmick, save for the blue lense that The Cat actually bought. Ah ah. Nash is so funny, or so he thinks. Wait a minute. Woman portrayed as a slut : check. Violence against woman : check. Nonsensical turns (Chavo Guerrero also turned on Kidman for no good reason BTW) : check. Surprise title change involving a shitty worker and a TV "celebrity" : check. Nonsensical character developpment : check. Matches interrupted by backtage "comedy" segments : check. Shooty-shooty stuff with meta comments about gimmicks and carny vocabulary being used on camera : check. I think Vince Russo is already in the place.

Coke.

That's what I thought. I would guess Raymond Rougeau should get in the discussion somewhere.

Now that's surprising. I though you hated Kroffat. But yeah, Kroffat would be in my top 10 for sure.

The funniest part to me is when Bruno said on the Observer podcast that he never heard anyone tell anything bad about HHH, he only heard good things about him. Corporate as hell already.

Martel was supposed to come back to the WWF with Callis as the Super Models, and turn on Callis, at least that what he said in his shoot interview. Then something didn't work out and Martel ended up alone in WCW instead.

WEEK 5 (February 1 to 6, 1999) Pussy of the week : Curt Hennig. "Hey, Barry, the nWo beat the shit out of me and dumped me off the side of the road. Why don't we team up in the tag team tournament and win the titles. Now that will piss Hall & Nash pretty bad, uh ?" Match of the week : Barry Windham & Curt Hennig vs Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko (Nitro). It's part of the infamous tournament. Still no bracket. Double elimination tournament now, your team has to lose twice to be eliminated. Okay... But it's a really good match, and the good news is that Hennig seems to be back in working mood. Probably teaming up with Windham motivates him more than teaming with Brian Adams against the Bulldog & Neidhart. Debut of the week : The Sandman, or at least a guy with no name wrapped in wires. (Nitro). Of course let's pretend those vignettes with Raven at home never existed, as the announcers don't seem to recognize that Jim dude who was visiting him and blowing kiss to that girl with no name at poolside. He cuts a goofy promo talking about extreme and hardcore, and we get a fun little match with Bam Bam Bigelow. And Hak does the job in 6 minutes. Way to go to get a new guy over. But hey, Sandman is on my TV again, and I missed him since the end of my ECW watch a few years ago. Stiff-fest of the week : The Cat vs Scott Norton (Nitro). Oh my god, this is brutal. The Cat calls out Norton, and gets the living shit beat out of him. The crowds gets into this big time. Norton comes off looking like a monster, and The Cat sells his ass off (and gets a purple chest in the process). In term of competitive squash, or just a plain monster abusing a loudmouth, it's pretty awesome. Random match of the week : Barry Windham & Curt Hennig vs Brian Enos & Bobby Duncum Jr. (Thunder). Well, not so random as it's a tournament match, but still, Duncum & Enos are pretty random. Once again, Hennig keeps on being fun again, that's the best news of this early 1999. Bobby Duncum on the other hand, was not much of a worker at all, seemed green and sloppy, while his partner provides the badassery needed to make this match interesting. Windham is Windham in 1999, which means he's still a damn good worker. Despite the nebulous (to say the least) booking, this tag team tournament has delivered some cool stuff thus far. Shitty booking of the week : Rey puts his mask on the line against... Liz's hair. Ok, I understand the reasonning behind this, as it's a direct reference to the tradition of hair vs mask. But it's not Mexico, it's not lucha libre, nobody believes Liz will lose her hair (and she didn't sell the stip like she was concerned at all), and if you add the fact that we already had Bischoff losing his hair (well, kind of) a few weeks ago, it just makes the odd impossible for Rey to win this in any way shape or form. It wouldn't have been very complicated to find a stip that would at least be credible, like Liz becoming Konnan's valet for a month for instance. That I can buy. Liz shaving her head, nope. Well, of course, Rey's mask shouldn't be put on the line in a tag match against Lex & Nash, but that's beyond the point. Ah, if Russo would be booking we'd have Rey's mask vs Liz stripping to her underwear at least. I should also mention that while Nash came off cool as hell during his promo, totally cattering to the crowd like he's still a babyface (he just can't help himself), Rey's promo was pretty poor and awkward, and full of nonsense (talking about how Nash and Luger showed him nothing but respect since he came in WCW... uh... forgot about the dart throwing against the wall in 1996 Rey ? He also said he was watching both of them when he was a little boy and admired them. Well, for Luger the timeframe can match at least, but was Rey really a fan of Oz ? Anyway...). Idiotic angle of the week : Hulk Hogan and Chuck Zito are stalking David Flair. Nitro ends on a stupid cliffhanger leading to... nothing basically, at least that's what we're led to believe to on Thunder. Okay, this is the part where Nitro crosses into Attitude Era WWF sitcomish shittyness, complete with full invisible camera mode on (although the cameraman was actually acknowledge in those vignettes). Line of the week : "I'd like to say hello to my cat Smokey". Bret Hart, guest announcer on Nitro during Chris Benoit vs Scott Hall. Yeah, he didn't give a fuck. The whole show was ponctuated by sequences of Eric Bischoff being plunged into a pool of cold water by WCW employees. It was not funny and poorly done, but Eric was a trooper and went into a water several times. Also the never ending storyline nobody gives a fuck about gets a lot of airtime, I guess to fill the 5 hours of Nitro/Thunder. I'm talking about Vincent vs Stevie Ray for the control of nWo B-Team. And the luchadors are now mainly back to being jobbers. Lash Leroux debuted on Nitro (he was working solely on Saturday Night until then) and looked actually pretty decent for a 22 years old spot machine cruiserweight, and not as annoying as I remembered him to be. I guess this will evolve into nothing too good. Perry Saturn has turned the whole "wear a dress" gimmick into his advantage, and now totally embrace the freak look, complete with makeup and "Life's a drag" catchphrase, which fit the character and was a pretty smart twist on the whole gimmick.

I'll rephrase this : "Too bad Booker T and Stevie Ray are dangerous workers who don't protect their opponents, they fucked him up three times in a row (concussion, knee injury and finally neck injury) and ended an excellent comeback."

Thanks for reminding me how much I hated Bossman in WWF in 99. Some of the shittiest Attitude era stuff I can think off.

All this concern about my mental health is heart-warming. I'll hang on for as much as I can, good people. I won't quit on week 4 though, as it was actually really good. WEEK 4 (January 25 to 30, 1999) Stupid beating of the week : nWo beats up Curt Hennig, because he wasn't wearing the nWo colors I guess. Now this is truly stupid, there's no reason why they would get rid of Hennig, especially that way. He was the one feuding with Flair, which kickstarted this whole David Flair beating. He didn't do anything to piss people off except team up with Windham who is not part of the nWo. I guess that was the rational here, but this beating would make sense only if Hennig would turn face. Which of course, he won't. Gimmick match of the week : Scott Hall vs Bam Bam Bigelow (Nitro). Now you're taking. Bam Bam can certainly work a ladder match with Hall, and I thought this was quite good. Hall is recycling a lot of spots he was using with Shawn, occasionnaly taking Shawn's role too. To me this is better than any WWF stuntfest or the ridiculous Rock vs HHH match from 98 with the 90 year old ladder climbs, as they didn't do those awkward sequences of ultra slow climbs, they first used the ladder to beat each others up, then after a while they tried to get the stun gun, and the counters were pretty timely and quick. Nice enough selling, some brutal bumps. Yeah, I liked this. The finish is a non-ending but it doesn't matter as it's Goldberg getting his revenge from the PPV, spearing and both of them at the same time, and shocking them to boot. Stiff-fest of the week : Meng & Barbarian vs Fit Finley & Dave Taylor (Nitro) : For those who wonder, Jimmy Hart put together Meng and Barbarian as members of the First Family. This is basically four guys beating beating the crap out of each others, and it's fun as hell. Just exchanging stiff shots back and forth, and those four sure can do that. It's supposed to be a tournament match, with a wall of wrestlers around the ring to prevent the nWo to clash the scene. I think Tenay utters the words "It's like a reverse Lumberjack match". Somewhere, Russo was listening. Random match of the week : Chris Adams vs Lenny Lane (Saturday Night) : Chris Adams was the best B & C shows-only worker in 1998. And he's back with a vengeance, and a judogi. Don't ask. He went back to his roots or something. Lenny Lane really had potential to me, he's the most fun JTTS they had, so it's a fun little match with no implication at all on the big picture. Best beating of the week : nWo beats up Rey Mysterio Jr. while Konnan has to watch, on Thunder, as a reenactment of the David Flair beating. This was good as this time it made Rey Mysterio look like a big deal, he's the center of an angle involving the big wheels. It should have led to Rey not losing his mask and being pushed as a major babyface, of course, but hey... At least I thought this was a very good heel beating, plus the announcers mentionned that Flair & the Horsemen weren't in the building so to explain the lack of save (Goldi & DDP weren't here either), so it's all fine with me. Plus you get Kevin Nash "singing" Whipping Post by the Allman Brothers at the end, which is pretty funny. Crassiest move of the week : Norman Smiley lifting up Saturn's dress and giving him the big wiggle (Nitro). Holy shit, that was dirty. Of course the crowd went crazy for this. And he got his ass kicked for it. Match of the week : Hulk Hogan & Kevin Nash & Scott Steiner vs Ric Flair & Chris Benoit & Steve McMicheal (Nitro). For once a main event that delivers ! Benoit vs Hulk, not something you see everyday. Of course Mongo sucked, but he didn't get in the way too much, it's mainly Benoit in here, as they smartly milked the hell out of Flair vs Hogan. So yeah, it is really fun, Steiner is actually bumping for Benoit at the beginning before a nice face in peril segment, which leads to a hot finish. Bischoff interferes, as always, but then something happens that should have happened like two years ago : the entire WCW roster jumps in the ring to fight off the nWo with the Horsemen, and I mean everyone, including Ciclope, Fit Finlay, La Parka, everyone ! This is awesome to watch, as the nWo retreats. And then it's not over, on the entrance ramp shows up Goldberg, who then proceed to kicks the shit out of every nWo guys who tries their hands at him !! Holy shit, did Nash really book this show ?! Promo of the week : Bret Hart (Nitro) Yeah ! Hart is back, he's still the US champ depsite his groin injury. Of course he's not happy he has to fight Booker T and speak in a totally condescending tone about him and list a bunch of names who should be contenders to his belt instead, dropping random luchadors and other cruiserweights, to the outrage of Mean Gene. Bret was so awesome here, with an asshole smirk the whole time. I know he said his heart wasn't into it at the time, but my theory is that his lack of interest actually fed his heel character, which had a "don't give a flying fuck" feel to it which made it so fun. And of course, it's during this promo that he uttered the famous words... Line of the week : "Who are you to doubt El Dandy ?". This is classic. This may be the greatest line in the history of our sport. Seriously an excellent episode of Nitro, and some other good stuff on B-shows. Norman Smiley has been my favourite wrestler in the company thus far. Another guy they should have pushed like crazy once he got himself over.

Yep. It was a standing ovation, and I don't think they anticipated that reaction because they cut away pretty quickly. The roof is going to blow off MSG when he walks on the stage. I think there's a potential for "Biggest pop ever candidate" at MSG when he shows up. It's pretty interesting that this is basically only HHH's doing. Is that the first big statement of HHH as the days of him getting control of the company are getting closer and closer ?

Not really, although it is refreshing to hear him on Saturday Night, he seemed to get along Tenay pretty well. It seems like he was into wrestling history to some extent, as he would refer to actual older stuff during the show, which was pretty cool.

This is not a debating thread about Mark Henry, this is a bukkake.

Well, the true WCW fanatics here should already know what the next "line of week" will be...

These two were so wasted in WWF. Shit, it was the time of blood and gimmick matches, they could have done so much with Los Boricuas. Give them a hot latino valet to help them get some attention, put them into feuds with valuable players, book garbage matches with bucket of bloods on PPVs. This thread seriously gives me the urge to watch that batch of WWC I have on some DVDs. Once I get done with my own WCW cross to bear.

Holy motherfucking shit.

Russo drove me off WWF in mid 99 and off WCW before Starrcade of the same year. I have no idea how much I'll be able to endure this time around. Maybe I won't go that far.

WEEK 3 (January 18 to 23, 1999) Shitty booking of the week : Lex Luger and Kevin Nash beating Rey Mysterio Jr. up. Now, it wouldn't be that bad if Konnan, who swore vengeance on Nash & Co on the streets and in airports earlier on, didn't run in *after* they both kick the shit out of Rey and put their finisher on him for 5 minutes. If I didn't know best I could smell a swerve. Makes Konnan look like a complete fool. Stupid match of the week : David Flair vs Eric Bischoff. Man, David looks worse than El Gigante in the ring, I swear. If Bischoff wins, Flair (Ric) shaves his head and loses the company. David gets kicked a few times then KOs Eric with a roll of coins, one of the worst punches ever. Eric gets shaved, his hair are actually grey. Promo of the week : Ric Flair (Thunder). Once again, gotta go to the B-show to see Flair cut a pretty intense and passionate promo about Hogan, and comparing the way their careers went. Nothing earth-shattering but good and devoid of nonsense like David Flair running in and fucking it up on Nitro by challenging Bischoff. Match of the week : Hector Garza & Lizmark Jr. & Super Calo vs Juventud Guerrera & La Parka & Silver King (Saturday Night). Yeah, a trio match that get a little bit of time, and no intervention from the nWo. Cool dives, lucha comedy, fun stuff. Honorable mention of the week : Booker T vs Norman Smiley (Thunder). Norman keeps on ruling, the guy is getting himself over in a big way. Meanwhile, Booker T remains one of the least compelling pushed wrestler in the company. Really not doing anything remarkable but his few token spots, some of which require abnormal collaboration. This guy is the RVD of WCW, the king of athletic wasted motions and useless idiosyncrasies (he's still much better than RVD though, and much less offensive). Good little match because Norman is just having his way with Booker more than his push should warrant. I enjoyed this quite a bit. The ending shows Norman was even protected a bit. Nobody gives a fuck angle of the week : Vincent takes over nWo B-Team. Yeah, because of all the workers on the roster who need TV time and actual angle and mic time, Vincent, Stevie Ray, Brian Adams, Scott Norton and Horace Hogan just are the right ones. Completely useless, but funny in a humiliating way. Homophobic line of the week : "Now Perry Saturn (who was wearing a dress), I always said there's two things from Texas, steers and queers (bliped). Now I know you're not from Texas, and I don't see no horns, so you must be a little..." Scott Steiner (Nitro). Well when you think of it, since Saturn is not from Texas, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense... Rey Mysterio should enjoy his mask while he can... The tag team tournament is announced. Again. Scott Steiner stalking Kimberly was pretty good, planting the seeds for his feud with DDP.

You want to make a poll about when I'll raise the white flag ? Worse than WWF under Russo at the same time ? I wouldn't say that. Russo killed my interest in WWF once and for all in 99. Summer was often a pretty terrible period for WCW. Well, I'm curious about that. If I go that far. WWF too ? At the *same time* ? You're insane.

I'm glad Big Poppa Pumb is getting some love. He'll probbaly get a whole lot from me and will be a bright spot during these trying times. As far as his promo on Flair goes, seriously, I know he gets a pass for mostly everything he does because he's Flair and he was Bischoff's victim at the time, but the guy was an asshole as much as anyone else in this business.

PPV 1 : Souled Out 1999. Match of the night : Norman Smiley vs Chavo Guerrero Jr. Yeah, the Pepe storyline sucks, but damn this match is fun. Smiley was just awesome in every possible way, and he was so much fun as a heel that he already gets some loud cheers, and not just for the big wiggle (which may be the most crass gimmick maneurism ever). Chavo has also imporved quite a bit in 98, but Norman is the star here, streching Chavo in funky submission holds, making fun of Pepe, being a dick and giving it to Chavo doggystyle, I mean, litteraly at one point. Maybe a little bit on the long side, and the referee sucked at not seeing Norman use Pepe's "ashes" at the end, but really a very good match. "WTF" match of the night : Mike Enos vs Chris Benoit : Yeah, Mike Enos is basically a guy who loses matches on Thunder. This guy has been on the roster for three years, and his most famous moment remains being in the ring when Scott Hall showed up on Nitro the very first time. Why the hell he gets a match with Benoit on PPV no less ? No idea, but he sure deserves to be on more PPV slots, as he's a super solid worker. So it's a super solid match, stiff, hard hitting, pretty bad ass. "Looks like shit on paper but is actually good in reality" match of the night : Lex Luger vs Konnan. Luger turns heel and he's automatically ten times better than he was as a face. Shit, this match is not pretty, but if you like wrestling matches that actually make sense, with a beginning, a middle and an end, this is solid and quite fun. I have a soft spot for Konnan. Despite the horrible work ethic. Despite the catchphrase. Despite the music video. And Luger works much better when he's a deliberate heel who can also show his ass. Of course his execution is not exactly crisp like Benoit, but at least he didn't kill anyone. Wait, bad exemple. Anyway, Konnan does a decent job selling Luger's abuse, although at some point you wonder if he's selling or just grasping for air. His comeback is the most unergetic babyface fiery comeback ever, but that's why I love him too, he's such an awkward putz. And when this match couldn't get any better, Liz huge boobs are on my screen, as she walks to the ring in a leather miniskirt and high heel boots. I'll say it once and let it rest, but Liz was so ridiculously hot at this point, in all her Milfesque glory. She was what, 39 or so. Shit, in two years I'll be the same age. Anyway, she sprays Konnan's eyes, Luger wins, we know where it'll lead, but damn it was better than it had the right to be. "Flatest" match of the night : Chris Jericho vs Saturn. Loser wears a dress/heel referee. What is this, Smokey Mountain Wrestling ? Man, Jericho's stuff hasn't aged very well, and Saturn, well, he's Saturn. Sloppy shit, no heat. Scott Dickinson is an ugly motherfucker and a shitty performer. Ralphus was neat for a one shot at Goldberg, but he overstayed his welcome the second time he showed up. This gets better toward the end, as they trade big spots, which they know how to do, but of course, you guess the finish. Saturn wears a dress. Yawn. "Shitty gimmick" match of the night : Kidman vs Juventud Guerrera vs Psychosis vs Rey Mysterio Jr. 4 corners match, no elimination. I hate this kind of gimmick, as there's no reason for wanting to tag out. Hence, none of this stuff makes any sense at all. They play up the fact that Kidman & Rey are friends for a while, but it leads nowhere but to a texas tornado match, which is better than tagging in and out at least, with some pretty insane spots and bumps, which really is the whole point of such a match. But really, as far as wrestling match telling a story, Konnan vs Luger was better. There, I said it. Kidman doesn't kill Juvy with his shooting star press, which I guess is a plus. "Not good but fun" match of the night : Barry Windham & Curt Hennig vs Ric Flair & David Flair. David has no business being in the ring, he looks totally out of place in every aspect. Barry is a trooper taking his "offense", which looks effectively offensive. Flair is all about chops, ditto Hennig who is fun again it seems after a horrible 1998. The finish sucks as David gets the pin on Hennig (thanks to complete cheating by Arn), but the following beatdown is awesome. I mean, brutal stuff. Flair must have been crying for real. Gets monster heat too. So yeah, not exactly a good match, but fun as hell once David is out of the way. Windham rules BTW. "Death of WCW" match of the night : Goldberg vs Scott Hall. Because when you think Goldberg, you think ladder match. Right. It is exactly everything a Goldi match should not be : long, deliberate, slow, plodding. I guess Goldie was legit injured (he was "attacked by the nWo in the back), as there's no way he would have sold his left knee like that during the whole match. One cool spot at the end, as Goldi gets the tazer, throws it in the air and spears Hall as he's trying to catch it. Do you get Goldie celebrating over Hall's dead body ? Of course not, Bam Bam (who had a nothing match with Wrath earlier on), attacks him, Hall gets back the tazer and shocks both of them. Oh man... Anticlimatic and Goldie-killing finish aside, this was a pretty fun PPV with nothing really bad on it and tons of fun stuff. MVP : Norman Smiley. Line of the Night "Lex Luger you'll toss my salad and peel my potatoes." Konnan. Holy shit, do people in the office actually understood what he was actually saying ? Between this and the big wiggle spot on Chavo earlier on, this was a dirty night.

I wouldn't say he looked stronger than Nash. Nash got like 90% of the offense, the announcers said Nash was a better big man, more agile and stuff... Yeah, they let Giant chokeslam Hall before he was fucked by the wrench (which was conviently let under the ring by Bischoff earlier, I thought that was a nice touch). At least it pushed further the notion that Hall & Nash were dipshits heels. And yes, he was humiliated without a comeback, so in the end no one remembers he chokeslamed Hall. I'm okay with that one.