El-P

WEEK 2 (January 11 to 16, 1999) Bad booking of the week : Ric Flair is killing off the lWo because he doesn't want more attacks on the luchadors by the nWo. The whole bunch drop the T-shirt, except for Rey who seems disguted at the sheepish attitude by his luchadors compadre. Doesn't make a whole lotta sense since Rey never wanted to be in to begin with. Plus, although Eddie was out of the game at this point, it would have been easy to keep on with the angle with Juvy as the leader. It gave the Luchadors more airtime and some actual angle to be part of, I guess Nash wanted none of this. Stupid angles of the week : Chavo Jr. is throwing a party for Pepe (stick wood)'s birthday. Norman Smiley crashes the party, beats up Chavo and "kills" Pepe. This is retarded. Also, we have Chris Jericho along with Ralphus, challenging Saturn, who has a personnal issue with a referee, to wear a dress if he loses their next match. This is way goofy and stupid. Jericho dropped a lot since the awesome Dean feud, ditto Saturn since the awesome Raven feud. Match of the week : Scott Steiner vs DDP (Nitro). Big Poppa Pump is such a better wrestler than suplex throwing Scotty. My only issue with him is that the Recliner looks like shit, but hey, John Cena made a career out of having a finisher that looks like shit. He's really got the heel routine down pat, he's stooging, stalling, cheating, showing ass, he was born to do this. Buff is fun antagonizing the crowd. And with DDP laying down the match and being super dynamic, this is a fun little match, with a shitload of heat. Honorable mention of the week : Ric Flair vs Curt Hennig (Nitro) : better than I though it would be considering Henning has been pretty awful in 98. Here he works harder since he's in with Flair I guess. David Flair is at ringside. Funniest moment of the week : Eric Bishoff having to put up the ring was pretty funny (nothing jaw cracking but made me smile), Eric being great at his character. And it also is a cool little look at the pre-show stuff. Line of the week : "The Titanic has sank. Say hello to Kevin Nash , your nWo Corporate Giant" Eric Bischoff (Nitro). That was a pretty funny and smart-ass thing to say, as of course Paul Wight was departing to Titan, he just was squashed (basically) by Kevin Nash, and the rumour had it that he would be the lastest addition to Vince's heel faction of the Corporation. Awkward moment of the week : "It's like robbing a bank and then shooting the employee who is already in a wheelchair". Konnan (Saturday Night). Talking about the nWo beating up Rey the previous week. Did he just compare his "little brother" to a guy in a wheelchair ? Way to put your friend over Carlos... The nWo is killing off pretty much every tag-match because they don't want a tag-team tournament to happen. Souled Out looks like a total B-show, the build has been quite poor.

I have no idea how long this will take nor if I'll go the whole route... Maybe I'm just masochistic. WEEK 1 (January 1 to 7, 1999) : Death of WCW angle : The Fingerpoke of Doom. What can be said that hasn't been said already ? Actually in term of execution it was really well done and nobody saw it coming. I had forgotten that they also beat the shit out of Goldberg in the post-match celebration and that no one comes to his aid. No one. Man, WCW sure was depleted in term of babyfaces, as the Wolfpäck had been the big babyface faction for the last 6 months, and most of them (save for Konnan and Sting) turned heel there. I don't remember what was Bret Hart status at the time of Starrcade, I think he had been injured of something at some point while he was playing Hogan's pal and basically manipulating everybody. He's not there at this point. Anyway, it's a reset two years back. The nWo is in full force and Hulk is the champ. Turn of the week : Lex Luger. Of course, Nash turning was a pretty big swerve, but he had been the big time heel until the split with Hogan anyway, so it's only a return to his roots. Luger on the other hand, was basically the second or third biggest babyface during the entire nWo angle, and he only joigned the Wölfpack when they were already full fledge faces. Him attacking Goldberg was a big change for Luger, and the first time he was clearly a heel since he came back to WCW in 1995, and basically since his Narcissist stint in 1993. This freshens things up, but also cuts deeper into the babyface front. Promo of the week : Ric Flair cut a nice little "tradition" promo on Thunder, which was worlds better than his first big time President of WCW promo on Nitro (that was not very good not exciting and was basically a backup to the whole David Flair angle). Nothing special this week. Match of the week : Chris Benoit vs Barry Windham (Thunder). Nice little back and forth action packed match, although way too short (but that's a given usually during this era). I love that old fat Windham wan still do his float over suplex like he's 20 and lean. He's not as smooth as he was before, but he's still a really solid worker. Benoit is Benoit in 99. Shocking revelation during the post-match : Mongo was still on the roster at this point ! Random match of the week : Bobby Eaton & Kenny Kaos vs La Parka & Silver King (Saturday Night). That's why you have to love WCW. This is part of the non-bracketted Tag Team tournament BTW. That's why you have to hate WCW. Kaos was the least useless part of High Voltage, so there is that, and Eaton isn't the guy he used to be 6 years before (plus I doubt he was über motivated at this point), but it's nice to see him in a different capacity than the jobber he'd been relegated to. Park & King are awesome, but this is not the kind of match for them to shine. Pretty fun though, and you'd never guess who got the pinfall. Funniest moment of the week : Oh, *that* "Raven at home" vignette, with the Sandman showing up (I guess playing his brother). The way he says "Hi Kanyon" in a very disgusted way cracks me up every time, as does Kanyon doing a complete flip bump into the pool despite having been barely touched by the Sandman. Then you get Chastity (remember her ?) not wanting to kiss him, and Sandman talking about Tyler being 9 years old now ! Line of the week : "Mick Foley, who was Cactus Jack on our TV show, will win their version of the World Title. He's gonna be their World Champion. Ah !" (well, that was both petty and quite the epic fail) You also get a bad lWo vignette with Eddie throwing a party (which would lead nowhere since Eddie had just crashed in a bad car accident which would help to kill the lWo angle) and Liz accusing Goldy of being a stalker (and she was pretty good at the end of the vignette too, while "apologizing").

Was this on RAW ? I don't have recollection of Goldust feuding with Lawler at any point. What was the context of this ? Was that a KOTR qualifying match or something ?

Whaou. After watching him being the best commisisonner ever in SMW, and being such a great babyface (although I was sick of his feud woth Cornette after a while), that sounds pretty awesome.

I suggest you put in only Demolition matches in there.

Everything is overrated. New Japan is overrated by Dave & Co (hey, last time I tried to watch a NJ show, I think the Dome show in 2012, I couldn't pass the first match), Lawler & Fujiwara are overrated by this board and DVDVR, Takada & Raven are overrated by me myself and I. Everything is overrated and we're all idiots arguing about grown men pretending to fight in funky underwears and doing goofy acting. Rebels without a cause.

I don't think DiBiase had a better match than Bossman vs Perfect either.

Seriously ? I mean, maybe it is because here in France the auteur theory pretty much still is the predominant cinema critic ideology, but to me it's pretty much always what happens when discussing the merits of directors. (this is a footnote in the discussion though, as I pretty much agree with a lot of what you're saying here. I've watched most of the famous Lawler matches in the WWE the last few years, and thought it was "fun for a 60 year old guy", but to hear about Lawler being a great wrestler in 2011/12 is just insane to me. I have seen some indy stuff he did from earlier in the decade too, mostly against Funk, and again it was "fun for what it was". Then again, I don't think Jerry Lawler is a GOAT worker either)

That's the way Candido died. Flair is a complete idiot.

Simon Reynolds approves Dan's posts. (so, is it ok to use the word "trend" now ?)

Too bad the story was very much likely bullshit and Corino recanted it completely. Do people assume any wrestling stories are true? Yeah, who cares really. When I watch stuff like this, I'm pretty much considering I'm watching a scene from a movie with characters I'm familiar with. If Corino recanted it that doesn't change the fact it was a hilarious *story* and he was great at putting it together. Come on, a drunk pro-wrestler telling a story, there's at least 90% chance it's bullshit. EDIT : well, I found out the whole Missy reaction and Corino's retractation. Well, I have to say Missy is right about the stuff about Gilbert. But come on, her Youshoot interview was all about telling stories of guys she banged and the size of their penis. I guess if those were true then there's nothing embarrassing... (I still wonder how people from Highspots and others allow the guys they interview to be drunk as fuck though... pro-wrestling I guess)

Yep. If you listen to Regal's interviews, he also don't think of himslef as a guy who should be pushed as a main event act.

Just heard Steve Corino's story about him having sex with Missy Hyatt, and it's pretty hysterical. Long build story to a great finish. Gotta love the fact that Corino says "I know I'm not good, and she's overselling my shit !". Corino is just a great storyteller.

Pretty much agree with this.

All time great to me. At his peak (88 or so), better than Flair. Could play any role and be great at it, fiery young babyface, vulnerable injured babyface, heel tag-team worker Horseman, face veteran tag-team leader carrying young Dustin, technical veteran heel against Scorp, brawler lone wolf heel against Pillman, had ton of great looking offense (he's one of the most graceful wrestler ever), could sell his ass off, beg like a chickenshit, make great fiery babyface comebacks, the guy could do litteraly everything and look great doing it. During WCW stint from 91 to 93 he was the best worker in the promotion overall, and that was after he passed his physical prime. I'd watch fat Barry Windham rather than tons of guys in their prime. All time great. He he hadn't blown his knee in 1993, who knows how many great matches he would have had still. Awesome awesome worker.

Ah, the famous junkyard vignette. Arn adn Barry look so bad-ass in this one it's not even funny. The last time the Horsemen look like the freaking Horsemen, really.

To me more than showing that Flair had slipped, this match totally exposed Scott Steiner for what he was, a spot machine absolutely not ready for a single push.

That's the big issue with shoot tapes, as the guys doing the interveiws don't to the least bit of research it seems, even the guy from KC. They just to hear stories and the hell with facts. I mean, when Nash says that the best fight he ever saw was Vader vs Orndorff when it happens a good 6 months before he even was in WCW, it's not that hard to point out that fact. Larry is fantastically full of shit, and the talking point about Backlund not drawing shit and being paranoid is ridiculous at this point.

It was also what made WCW so fun to watch though. You could watch Saturday Night and get a mini-feud between Chris Adams and Glacier over the superkick, a Bobby Blaze vs Barry Horowitz match, and Greg Valentine vs Pat Tanaka. Ridiculously random and fun.

I am so gonna use the "meaningless depth" idea.

A few quick thoughts as I am finished with SMW. Overall I'm glad I watched it as the product had been really fun at times. My main criticism of the promotion would be the lack of competitive matches on TC after a point (especially the last year), as the old-school format can get a bit frustrating after a while, always building to non televised shows. I didn't get to see a lot of big shows in full, as I had some handhelds that I just dind't bother to watch (I don't watch handhelds anymore at this point, don't have the patience to unless the footage is really quality), so that plays into it too, but still. It's an incredible promotion in term of promos, the number of legit great promos is just ridiculous. Cornette's booking strong point is an effort on details and overall trying to make sense. The weak point is an overreliance on gimmick and stipulation matches. I understand he was booking a regional territory with a limited amount of workers and turn-over of talent, and you have to give the audience something special to keep them interested, but still it really felt exagerated after a while. Also, as much as I enjoyed Bob Armstrong's promos, the feud between him and Cornette overstayed its welcome after the great Wargames match, and it really was hard to keep things interesting. Third criticism of his booking was the way he overbooked himslef. I love Corny, but by 1995 you ended up with three different Cornette's promo on the same TV shows sometime. It wasn't fresh anymore. Cornette as a booker had its strong points, but he doesn't strike me as a particulary great creative booker. He had trouble keeping his lead babyfaces strong too. As a performer, Cornette's stock rised quite a bit with me, he surprised me as a pure worker in the ring, being quite adept, more than I thought he would. And as much as I knew he was great on the mic, some of his best mic work here is absolutely killer. Guys whose stock has risen a lot are Tracey Smothers, Dirty White Boy and Ricky Morton. White Boy in particular, who I wasn't overly familiar with except a few tag matches from the 80's and the awful WWF stint. Terrific brawler, terrific promo, great heel, superb face. Smothers I already liked a lot, but his best work is just right there. Being the babyface anchor to a regional promotion was the right spot for him, super worker who could do workrate matches, bloody brawl, gimmick matches (the ladder match with Candido is arguably better than the Shawn matches from the same era). Improved quite a bit on promos, sometime cutting really strong ones, other time being a bit shaky, but overall quite good. Ricky Morton was just amazing to watch as he carried angles after angles on his back, cutting excellent promos whatever the situation, and still being really strong in the ring. For someone who was passed his prime and supposedly "dated", he showed me that he was still a great performer up to 1995, at least anyway. I never knew he was such a great angle guy. The Gangstas didn't do much for me. New Jack did cut some great awkward promos, but th whole Gangsta angle just didn't work for me and was conterproductive. As far as work goes, they were just blah. New Jack could do a little bit of stuff in the ring, while Mustafa was useless, and even the Rock'n Roll coudn't carry them to really good matches. Nope. Thumbs down. Al Snow was better here than anywhere else, and the rest of his career seems even more a waste now. Candido was as fun as ever, his stock didn't rise with me as he was already a big favourite of mine. Watching Tammy improve week to week was very cool. Boo Bradley was as useless here as in ECW. Paul Orndorff was the best wrestler of the company in 1992, really enjoyed his work and was surprised by how hard the guy was still pushing himslef and others. Buddy Landell came in too late, but was an amazing promo man especially as a babyface. Loved Bob Armstrong promos at first, but in the ring he didn't bring anything to the table, so after a while I was tired of having him being basically the number one babyface in the company. The best even Commissioner character though, before it became a cliché. Ron Wright was awesome in his role of devious hypocrite old man piece of trash begging for pity. Loved the whole Ron Wright in a wheel-chair period. The Armstrong boys, especially Scott, didn't impress me that much, to the point I now think the talking point of them being underrated and underused is false. They were decent to good, but that's it. The Heavenly Bodies were clearly the heel anchor to the company, and to me the peak ended with their first departure (which is maybe the best moment in SMW history). I enjoyed the first version more than I thought I would, as I'm not a big Stan Lane fan, but Del Rey brought the team to another level. Truly the last old-school tag team that came into the game, misused in WWF, and their work in SMW was very satisfying, although I must admit they are not close to what the MX were. And they had a terrific music theme to boot. Oh, and I enjoyed Tim Horner a lot. Unironically. What else ?.... I dunno. I'm feeling quite burned out at this point, so I'll let it rest. To me the promotion peaked in 1993 and first half of 1994. It was funny to see how ECW followed the footsteps of SMW in a way, with guys like Brian Lee, Candido, the Gangstas, Tracey Smothers, Boo Bradley, Lance Storm, Al Snow would progressively transfer from one promotion to another (with sometime a transitionnal and usually failed WWF stint between the two). Anyway, it was fun. Must see there are the works of Smothers, DWB, Ricky Morton, Heavenly Bodies and Candido & Tammy, and moreso promo-wise Cornette/Wright/Bullet Bob/Landell. I need a break.

Maybe so. I don't know when I'm gonna rewatch that match back, as I'm taking a break from WCW. I stop my watch as the Nitro era begins, for several reasons. One is that I'm feeling the burn out. Second is that these are the years I already know the most (although not the B shows so much), and I don't want to dwelve back into this right now. Maybe at some point I'll do a comparative watch of WCW and WWF from the debut of the Nitro era up to the end of 1997 which is the end of WCW's peak and basically the start of the Attitude era which I intent of never revisiting. I'm just taking a break now and maybe my next "project" with WCW will be to go through the Death of WCW, beginning with the Fingerpoke of Doom until the end. That is, if I have the courage to.

Yep, excellent promo by Flair. This was really good stuff, and felt fresh and exciting. It's just too bad the match hasn't lived up to the hype.

This is excellent, and the most compelling feud of all year. Arn promises the fight of the decade, which it should have been.

There are some peculiar characters in that sauna....