All posts by rdtworldofsport@gmail.com

Uncategorized

RDT Reviews Wrestlemania

WWF Wrestlemania
March 31, 1985
New York, NY

Wrestlemania is the most important wrestling card in North American wrestling history. Shown on closed-circuit, Wrestlemania was Vince McMahon’s big chance. As the legend goes, if Wrestlemania was a success, the WWF could skyrocket financially and change wrestling forever. If it had failed Vince could be nearly wiped out financially and wrestling would never be the same again. Those were the stakes (exaggerated or not, I do think pro wrestling wouldn’t be remotely the same had Mania failed).

But Vince’s plan was pretty good. He had the most popular wrestler in the world in the main event in Hulk Hogan. Probably the #2 heel in the world was also in that match (Roddy Piper). The show also was full of celebrities. Mr. T, Cyndy Lauper, Libarace, they all came to Wrestlemania.

Anyway, a successful show makes the WWF, a poor one ruins them. Let’s see how it turned out.

The Card

Mean Gene sings the National Anthem. Strange that there wasn’t a celebrity for this.

Lord Alfred Hayes sounds quite nervous. Mene Gene then interviews Tito Santana and The Executioner. Executioner’s mask looks ridiculous.

Tito Santana vs. The Executioner

Not much to say here, but crowd is into Tito for sure.

Santana makes the Executioner submit in 4:50. Figure Four wins it, the story being Santana’s calling out Greg Valentine. Executioner was undefeated before Santana won here…the first streak that ended at Wrestlemania!

Lord Alfred Hayes must have just had a bad night.

King Kong Bundy vs. SD Jones

Well, this is a record WWE continually looks to break at many Manias. I think they did it at 24.

Bundy pins Jones in 0:24. Avalanche and splash for the win. No five count though. The Fink says the match was nine seconds long…which it wasn’t.

Matt Borne vs. Ricky Steamboat

“Maniac” Matt Borne? Could have been cool to actually say he went under that name when he became Doink years later.

Some nice suplexes from Borne, but this has mostly been all Steamboat.

Steamboat pins Borne in 4:38. Steamboat pits a flying body press for the win. Alright match, seemed to be a showcase for Steamboat.

David Sammartino vs. Brutus Beefcake

Crowd ERUPTS when Bruno Sammartino is announced as he seconds David.

Speaking of which, wouldn’t Bruno vs. Hogan have been a legendary match? I wonder why that never happened. Bruno definitely wrestled later in the 80s.

Longest match of the night so far, but also quite boring.

Double DQ in 11:44. Johnny Valiant slams David on the outside, and Bruno kicks his ass. The crowd once again erupts when Bruno kicks ass. Double DQ. Not sure why that went 11 minutes if that was the finish, but the image of Bruno owning is a Wrestlemania moment that definitely doesn’t get enough credit. That was awesome.

Intercontinental Championship
Greg Valentine© vs. Junkyard Dog

JYD has entrance music and that also wakes the crowd up.

Valentine nails his manager, Jimmy Hart, the crowd goes bananas once again. Despite the quality of the matches there is great heat here. That’s 1985 for you.

Valentine pins JYD with the feet on the ropes…but Santana comes down to explain what happened to the referee. This leads to…

JYD wins by countout in 6:55. Weird finish for sure, but at least it furthered the Santana vs. JYD feud.

World Tag Team Championship
U.S. Express© vs. Nikolai Volkoff and The Iron Sheik

The Express is Mike Rotundo and Barry Windham.

Like Borne, it’s crazy how Rotundo and Windham would appear at future Wrestlemanias. Rotundo would become IRS, Windham would be at Mania 13 as Blackjack Windham.

The Iron Sheik and Volkoff win the titles at 6:55. Sheik uses Freddy Blasse’s cane to hit Windham and Volkoff gets the pin. Heels win in the first title change at Wrestlemania, who woulda thunk it?

$15,000 Bodyslam Challenge
Big John Studd vs. Andre the Giant

Also, if Andre were to lose here, he would retire.

Big reaction for Andre of course. Pretty sure even at the time there was no way Studd was winning this.

Really slow match here. This was past Andre’s prime obviously.

Andre wins in 5:54. Slam comes out of nowhere but the crowd goes crazy for it. Heenan steals the money.

Women’s Championship
Leilani Kai© vs. Wendi Richter

We obviously don’t get “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” on the Network.

Like everything else on the show, this really isn’t anything to write home about.

Richter wins the title by pin in 6:12. Botched finish where Richter’s supposed to roll through a flying bodypress but fails. Eventually she gets over and gets the pin. It’s the moment that counts though, and the crowd popped huge for Richter. Interestingly, Richter would get legit double crossed by Vince and the Fabulous Moolah soon afterwards. There’s various rumors about why this happened. The most accepted story is that Vince didn’t want to pay her as much as she wanted (she was arguably the #2 face in the promotion at one point), and possibly even Hogan felt threatened about her.

Time for Celebritymania! Billy Martin! Libarace!

Hulk Hogan and Mr. T vs. Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff

Muhammad Ali is your special referee, which is pretty bad ass in itself. Funny story here: Pat Patterson suggested he be a second referee to make sure Ali was okay out there. Patterson would admit he would just find excuses to get on the Mania card for the payday.

Piper gets a live bagpipe entrance. Makes you wonder what Ric Flair could have gotten as an entrance had he been a part of this.

Oddly, this feels like the rich man’s version of the Dennis Rodman matches in WCW.

Mr. T does a good job early on slamming Piper.

Craziness ensues with Jimmy Snuka nearly coming off the top rope.

While it’s mostly been a standard tag match, Mr. T definitely did a great job.

Hogan and Mr. T win when Hogan pinned Orndorff in 13:24. Bob Orton comes off the top and misses Hogan, nailing Orndorff with the cast. Hogan pins him for the win. Good match, best of the night for sure. This definitely was what the WWF needed, the biggest match doing well. This would continue the Piper-Mr. T feud and start Orndorff’s turn.

Hogan, T and Snuka celebrate to end the first Wrestlemania.

Technically this show sucks. There’s not a good match until the main event, and even that wouldn’t be on most people’s top 50 Mania matches. But it worked in 1985. Actually, that’s an understatement. Over a million people went to closed circuit locations to watch it. And the WWF was off and running as a result. The WWF wouldn’t quite get the Mania formula right at Mania II (which I already reviewed and it didn’t do well), but they’d get it figured out soon enough.

Again, the show sucks…but that’s not what mattered here.

Final Grade: A-

Video Games

The (Fictional) World Series of Smash

2 Comments

                A random rant about the competitive video game community first. While I enjoy participating in and watching Super Smash Bros. tournaments, I always wished there was more diversity in them. Sure, the idea of competitive gaming is to minimize luck and maximize skill. But I believe more can be done to have casuals play more tournaments as well to expand the game. Giving casuals events they can do well in as well providing a tournament scene that allows them to have fun and not feel bad about losing to competitive players could only grow the Super Smash Bros. community.

If I ever become rich and wealthy, I would look to create a World Series of Smash, a series of tournaments that provide big money Guarantees for small buy-ins. I would try to have Nintendo endorse the series as well (so no Project M or Super Smash Flash) in this fictional scenario. I would look to have every single match recorded and uploaded. While some (most) of the events are standard double elimination style tournaments, some of the events are tournament types not even remotely seen in the Smash community. Right now, it’s just a dream.

Event #1

Game: Melee

Rules: Standard Tournament, Double Elimination

Buy-in: $20

Guaranteed: $15,000

Event #2

Game: Smash 4

Rules: Single Elimination

Buy-in: $20

Guaranteed: $10,000

Event #3

Game: Smash 4

Rules: 4 v 4, Double Elimination

Buy-in: $20 ($5 per player)

Guaranteed: $3,000

Event #4

Game: Brawl

Rules: 1 Stock, 3 Min, Best of Sevens, Double Elimination, Randoms

Buy-in: $10

Guaranteed: $4,000

Event #5

Game: Smash 4

Rules: Best of Fives, Must use different character each time.

Buy-in: $10

Guaranteed: $6,000

Event #6

Game: Smash 4

Rules: 8 Player Smash, 15 Mins, 10% of highest scores advance (closest to a multiple of 8).

Buy-in: $10

Guaranteed: $4,000

Event #7

Game: Smash 4

Rules: 3 v 3, Double Elimination

Buy-in: $21 ($7 per team)

Guaranteed: $3,000

Event #8

Game: Smash 4

Rules: 4 Player Smash, 10 HP, Randoms, Customs On, Single Elimination

Buy-in: $5

Guaranteed: $2,500

Event #9

Game: Melee

Rules: Single Elimination, Best of Sevens

Buy-in: $20

Guaranteed: $15,000

Event #10

Game: Brawl

Rules: Double Elimination, Low Items

Buy-in: $10

Guaranteed: $3,000

Event #11

Game: 64, Melee, Brawl, 4

Rules: Double Elimination, Game selection is a counterpick option. Game choice at the beginning is a result of striking.

Buy-in: $10

Guaranteed: $2,000

Event #12 (64 Main Event)

Game: 64

Rules: Standard Tournament, Double Elimination

Buy-in: $20

Guaranteed: $6,000

Event #13 (64 Teams Main Event)

Game: 64

Rules: Standard Tournament, Double Elimination

Buy-in: $20 ($10 per player)

Guaranteed: $4,000

Event #14 (Melee Main Event)

Game: Melee

Rules: Standard Tournament, Double Elimination

Buy-in: $20

Guaranteed: $40,000

Event #15 (Melee Teams Main Event)

Game: Melee

Rules: Standard Tournament, Double Elimination

Buy-in: $20 ($10 per player)

Guaranteed: $20,000

Event #16 (Brawl Main Event)

Game: Brawl

Rules: Standard Tournament, Double Elimination

Buy-in: $20

Guaranteed: $15,000

Event #17 (Brawl Teams Main Event)

Game: Brawl

Rules: Standard Tournament, Double Elimination

Buy-in: $20 ($10 per player)

Guaranteed: $8,000

Event #18 (Smash 4 Main Event)

Game: Smash 4

Rules: Standard Tournament, Double Elimination

Buy-in: $20

Guaranteed: $25,000

Event #19 (Smash 4 Teams Main Event)

Game: Smash 4

Rules: Standard Tournament, Double Elimination

Buy-in: $20 ($10 per player)

Guaranteed: $8,000

Event #20

Game: Smash 4

Rules: Standard Tournament, Double Elimination

Buy-in: $50

Guaranteed: $20,000

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Video Games

RDT Reviews Super Mario Bros. (NES)

There’s an argument to be made that Super Mario Bros. is the most influential video game of all time. SMB created the blueprint that all platformers (2D or 3D) followed for the next 30 years. It may seem simple, run forward, jump on some platforms, avoid some enemies and get to the end of the level. There’s so much depth within such a simple design.

Gameplay wise, SMB is still fun to play despite thirty years of gaming. All of the controls are tight and smooth. When you want Mario to jump, he jumps. When you want him to run, he runs. There aren’t any spots where you feel like the game screwed you over. The game is also very easy to follow. The goal is to get to the end of each level to advance. Along the way there are obstacles, usually enemies to bypass or holes to jump over, that Mario must overcome in order to succeed. There are three power-ups that can help you: the Mushroom which makes Mario big and gives him an extra hitpoint in case he’s hit by an enemy, the Fire Flower that lets Mario shoot fireballs and the Star which allows Mario invincibility for a short while. Each enemy has their own unique attributes. For example a Koopa Troopa that’s green will walk straight and fall off any cliffs, while a red Koopa Troopa will turn around when approaching a cliff. The enemy system quite easy to remember (and still used today in Mario games).

The level design is quite smart. It would have been easy just to throw these obstacles together and call it a game, but Nintendo did better than that. There are secrets all over SMB’s eight worlds (32 levels). While maybe today gamers won’t hunt down for every 1-Up Mushroom or every coin, back then finding every little secret was on par with 100%ing a game. Sure there are the big ones. Finding the Warp Zones that let you skip a few worlds was obviously a great accomplishment, but finding all those hidden blocks with 1-Ups made you feel like you were an expert at the game. Every Mario player tried to go down every green pipe in the game. Every Mario player hit every brick just for the satisfaction of finding a gold coin (or ten). That’s what made SMB brilliant, the game was so much larger than its eight worlds would suggest.

Amazingly, despite there being about five or six musical tracks in the entire game, all of them are memorable and often remixed today in current games. The overworld theme is perhaps the most recognizable piece of music in video game history. The sound effects are just as memorable. SMB also looked great for its time. There was some really smart palette swapping done (for example, a goomba and a mushroom are just palette swaps of one another, as is a cloud and a bush) and the colors really work for the Nintendo. When you remember some of the graphical junk the NES produced in the 1980s it really makes one appreciate what SMB looks like.

Really, that’s all there is to it. SMB is still fun to play for a night. And whether or not you’re playing it just to beat it or going through every single green pipe, you’re still in for a memorable experience.

Pros:

-Controls feel tight

-Memorable music, sounds and graphics

-Smart level design

-Memorable enemies and characters

-Simple to pick up

Cons:

-Not difficult at all

-Someone with Mario Maker could remake the whole game in a couple hours

Technically it isn’t perfect, but in 1985 it probably surpassed that expectation anyway. It’s influence alone give it a perfect grade.

Grade: A+

Football

Super Bowl 50 Prediction

We’re 6-4 heading into Super Bowl 50. At first glance Super Bowl 50 looked like a really easy pick. But its definitely not.

Super Bowl 50: Denver Broncos (15-3) vs. Carolina Panthers (17-1)

Denver’s defense is terrifying. What they did to Tom Brady and the Patriots last week was both horrific and beautiful to watch. Without blitzing they got to Brady again and again and were the reason Denver won.

But Cam Newton’s terrifying as well. A deserving MVP who this year became the player we all wanted Michael Vick to be 12 years ago. The player Donovan McNabb never became. The player Dante Culpepper was for one season and then never again. Cam Newton has no good receivers and a great receiving Tight End in Greg Olsen.

All Carolina needs to do is get a 7-0 lead and I think it’ll be over. Denver needs to play a smashmouth ugly game to win and I think Cam Newton will be able to make enough plays to beat that style. If Carolina gets a 7-0 lead Peyton Manning has to score. While Denver did that twice early against New England, the last three quarter it was back to nothing for Denver. Carolina led the league in opponent possessions ending in an interception at 12.4%. I think Peyton will throw one or two. Carolina’s got Cam and they should have enough on D even without Thomas Davis.

Panthers 24, Broncos 17

 

 

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews WWF In Your House 3: The Triple Header

WWF In Your House 3: The Triple Header
September 24, 1995
Saginaw, MI

This is the first WWF PPV event after WCW Nitro had debuted. While the WWF finally had some competition, it wasn’t as if WCW was destroying them right off the bat. WCW began the war at about even ground with the WWF but Vince McMahon hadn’t gotten desperate yet.

Still, the WWF had to be reeling when Lex Luger showed up on Nitro. With a couple of In Your House PPVs left before Survivor Series, the WWF had to make sure to put on an interesting product in order to not allow WCW to take an early lead. To be fair the main event here is intriguing with the three big WWF belts on the line in one match (an idea copied at Backlash 2001). Is there any chance in hell Yokozuna or Owen Hart would walk out of Saginaw the WWF Champion? Well no…but let’s see what happens anyway.

The Card

Savio Vega vs. Waylon Mercy

Vega had started to get a push as Razor Ramon’s friend while Mercy was a nearly finished Dan Spivey.

Mercy gets the early advantage and slams Savio on the floor. Vince says he’s undefeated so far.

It looks like Spivey can’t really move. He hits Savio with a stun gun but it looked like his knee gave out.

Doc Hendrix tells us Owen Hart isn’t here for the main event.

Vega with one of the stranger pinfall attempts I’ve ever seen. It was like a slow reverse Russian Legsweep.

Brainbuster from Mercy that looked a bit dangerous. Again, you can tell Mercy physically was near his end.

Savio Vega pins Waylon Mercy in 7:06. Vega hits the flying spin kick for the upset victory. This was probably done because Mercy was close to retiring. It’s a shame that Dan Spivey was near retirement here as the Mercy character was pretty cool and is a really early prototype of what you see with Bray Wyatt. Match wasn’t good though.

Jim Cornette and Gorilla Monsoon argue backstage over whether the Triple Header is still on because Owen isn’t here. Monsoon says it’s on.

Henry Godwinn vs. Sycho Sid

The build-up seems to be that Sid went crazy after Godwinn slopped him. Godwinn also slopped Ted Dibiase but Sid powerbombed him on the floor as a result.

Godwinn’s dominating Sid early on. He suplexes Sid into the ring but hurts his own back. At least there’s some psychology here since he’s selling the back injury from being powerbombed on the floor.

Godwinn eventually makes a comeback and Slop Drops Sid. How low did Sid fall down the totem pole to nearly be beaten by Henry Godwinn?

Sid pins Henry Godwinn in 7:23. Dibiase trips Godwinn and Sid legdrops him. Powerbomb and its over. It had a good first minute and a boring last six minutes. Bam Bam Bigelow runs in on Sid (didn’t realize that was still a feud) and Kama comes in to take out Bigelow. Dibiase gets slopped anyway. Rough start to the PPV here.

Still talking about Owen not being here and if the match will still go down. Monsoon allows Cornette to pick a different partner if Owen doesn’t make it.

British Bulldog vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

Amazing what happened to Bam Bam’s career after Wrestlemania XI. He turned face, teamed with Diesel, got frustrated with the Kliq backstage and was looking to get out by the summer.

The commentary completely focuses on the Bulldog, a surefire sign that the Bulldog was on his way up and Bam Bam’s just foddler here.

Gotta like the Bulldog obviously rolling into place for Bam Bam. Bulldog kicks out of Bigelow’s flying headbutt as well.

Nice enzugiri from Bigelow. Bulldog sells it with a full flip too.

The British Bulldog pins Bigelow in 12:00. Powerslam (not the standard running one though) finishes off Bigelow. This was a solid back and forth match that had some slow parts. Still, good enough and an improvement over the first two matches. Of course the Bulldog was going over here to prepare him for the Undertaker on RAW the next night.

Razor Ramon vs. Dean Douglas

Bob Backlund introduces Douglas. That could have been a great combo.

Douglas introduces Ramon, weird as that is.

Douglas finally gets control after slamming Razor into the steps. All the school puns do get annoying at some point.

Razor looks absolutely bored in a camel clutch. Jeez.

Douglas throws Razor into the referee, surprisingly this isn’t a DQ.

Dean Douglas pins Razor Ramon in 14:53. Ramon nails a Razor’s Edge and pins Douglas. 1-2-3 Kid runs in and counts three. Ramon thinks he’s won but then sees the Kid and shoves him out. Douglas rolls Razor up (botched as well) and gets the win. I actually like the idea of the finish and it kind of worked. The match was pretty boring though. Douglas has a boring moveset overall and just doesn’t do anything interesting. Kid and Ramon nearly come to blows afterwards.

Bret Hart vs. Jean-Pierre Lafitte

The angle here was Lafitte stole Bret Hart’s ring jacket. Rough year storyline wise for Bret Hart.

I don’t even know when this happened as I watched the RAWs between Summerslam and this PPV and I don’t recall this happening.

Lafitte is dominating and this is pretty good so far. Bret Hart really knows how to make his opponent with his selling.

Bret backdrops Lafitte over the top rope but he lands on his feet, drags Bret out and slams him into the steps! Great spot.

Top rope legdrop from Lafitte but Bret kicks out. Lafitte with a pretty good taunt too.

Bret moves out of the way of the Cannonball. Crowd is really into this. They should be, this is a very good match.

Lafitte with a somersault plancha to the outside…but he MISSES as Bret moves out of the way. Wow!

Surprisingly, Lafitte blocks the elbow in Bret’s Five Moves of Doom.

Bret tries a crucifix pin, but Lafitte counters by putting Bret on his shoulders and hits a rolling Samoan Drop like move (I don’t know what it’s called). Really cool nonetheless.

So many great reversals. Bret goes for the bulldog…but Laffite shoves him right into the turnbuckles!

Bret crotches himself into the ropes after a missed tackle. Laffite then misses a top rope splash!

Bret Hart wins by submission in 16:37.. Bret sneakily locks in the Sharpshooter for the win. Great match and this becomes the 2nd In Your House out of three that Bret saves. To be far Laffite was good here too. Too bad his attitude didn’t allow him to last much longer. It looked like Bret was trying to make a point about being the best wrestler in the WWF at the time. Point taken.

Cornette picks the Bulldog. What a surprise…

WWF, IC and Tag Team Championship
Diesel (WC) and Shawn Michaels (IC) vs. The British Bulldog and Yokozuna (TTC)

This obviously has screwjob written all over it with the Bulldog/Owen switch. If I were watching at the time I could have easily told you what the finish would be.

Shawn mocks Yokozuna by doing the whole sumo routine and Yoko gets him with an elbow to the face. I thought that was hilarious.

Bulldog fails to get Diesel up for the big vertical suplex…but he impressively gets him up on a 2nd try.

Decent Bulldog-HBK match breaks out until Yokozuna comes in and just nerve holds HBK down. We were getting close to Yokozuna not being able to do much in the ring due to his size.

Diesel and Shawn Michaels win the Tag Title when Diesel pinned Owen Hart in 15:42. HBK superkicks Yokozuna to the outside. Bulldog slams Diesel, but HBK goes flying off the top rope with an elbow drop to take him out. Owen Hart runs down but Diesel dodges the flying dropkick. Jackknife Powerbomb gets the win. This was a bullshit finish as on RAW the titles were returned to Owen and Yokozuna because Owen wasn’t legally in the match. The WWF promoted this big Triple Header and then came up with a way for none of the title change. Pinning a guy not in the match? Come on now. At least the match was decent thanks to the Bulldog and HBK.

Really only one good (very good) match here which was Bret-Lafitte. While Bulldog-Bigelow wasn’t bad and the main event was decent despite a terrible finish everything else is pretty forgettable. I maybe could bump this a little if the main event had a good finish. Things would only get worse for the WWF I’m afraid.

Final Grade: C

Pro Wrestling

RAW vs. Nitro Week 7 – 10/16/95

Week 7

Posted Image

RAW: 10/16/95
Grand Rapids, MI

I’m just going to point out that this is Week 4 of the tapings at Grand Rapids. This is also the go home show for the In Your House PPV.

Isaac Yankem, Jerry Lawler and Bret Hart all cut promos with dental puns about tonight’s Steel Cage match.

We now have the “new” RAW theme. Unfortunately it’s bland and it sucks.

Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Doink the Clown

I had no idea Doink made it this long into 1995.

Apparently Mabel was fined $7,500 for what he did to The Undertaker last week. Gorilla Monsoon is announcing a replacement for Undertaker at In Your House later tonight.

Doink grabbing HHH’s nose is a bit funny.

Doink somehow makes himself dizzy and HHH takes him down.

HHH pins Doink. Pedigree wins. Match was decent I suppose, but not exactly the hot opener to keep people from switching to Nitro.

Barry Horowitz tries to teach Hakushi American concepts like baseball. What a waste of Hakushi.

Monsoon selects Yokozuna to face Mabel. Oh boy.

WWF Tag Team Championship
The Smokin’ Gunns© vs. PG-13

I don’t know if PG-13 was supposed to be taken seriously, but JC Ice pretty much makes an ass out of himself here.

Lawler actually adds some psychology into this match, saying PG-13 are purposely acting stupid to take advantage of the Gunns being overconfident…and then that’s what happens!

Billy Gunn pins Wolfie D to retain the titles. PG-13 got some offense in, but ultimately this was a squash. You know considering the Tag Team Division consisted of the Gunns, the Godwinns, The New Rockers and the Bodydonnas for the next year PG-13 getting a shot might have been a good idea. Ah well.

Bertha Faye vs. Alundra Blayze next week for the Women’s title.

Random British Bulldog interview that happened at a house show. The Bulldog doesn’t feel respected. And he’s gonna beat Diesel for the title.

Ahmed Johnson interview. He takes about how his mom made minimum wage to let him go to school and such. Hard to understand.

Dean Douglas vs. Joe Morgan

We’re still doing the jobber thing eh? Clearly Vince didn’t have anything left on this taping.

Notably, the Shawn Michaels getting beat up by 10 men in Syracuse deal took place the weekend before this RAW. Surprisingly Lawler says it was because HBK mouthed off at a nightclub (closer to the truth). HBK guarantees he’ll be at In Your House…although we all know how that went.

Dean Douglas wins by pin. Fisherman’s Suplex wins it.

Vince and Lawler run down the upcoming In Your House card.

Goldust promo on Marty Jannetty. It’s short, yet somehow a lot better than the Ahmed one we got earlier.

Now a Paul Bearer promo. He’s worried Taker will never look the same again and never be the same again, but he’s coming back soon and he’s going to crush Mabel and Yokozuna’s soul.

Steel Cage Match
Bret Hart vs. Isaac Yankem

There’s also a smaller cage at ringside that Jerry Lawler must enter if he interferes in the match.

Yankem takes some big bumps off the top rope when tryng to climb the cage. This has been pretty slow, but at least Yankem’s trying.

Apparently Lawler switched the locks on the cage door, and when Bret tries to escape the ref can’t unlock the door.

Bret locks Yankem in the Sharpshoter then tries to climb out, but Lawler knocks him back in. Lawler gets locked in the small cage as a result. The cage also rises and Lawler’s apparently afraid of heights.

Bret Hart seems to be going at half speed here. A few times now he’s fallen and messed up straddling himself on the top rope.

Lawler gets a nosebleed and starts crying. He’s stealing the show here.

Bret Hart wins in 19:50. Bret gets a bulldog and a top rope forearm before escaping. This went way too long and was pretty boring. Yankem tried for sure, but he just wasn’t any good yet. Bret seemed to be going at half speed. And there’s a reason for that.

So apparently this show was just a leftover of whatever unused bits that was filmed for the tapings. Despite this being the go home show for the PPV we got a pretty horrible show. HHH vs. Doink? Dean Douglas vs. a jobber? It was written that Bret vs. DDS wasn’t even going to air on RAW, but it had to after the WWF realized it needed to fill the 4th taping.

Last week the WWF gave us a really hot match and post-match beatdown that at least helped sell the PPV. But this week? Nothing. At least for Bret he would be reinserted into the title picture after finishing off Yankem here.

The WWF had given us some solid shows since this Monday Night War began, but this was easily the worst one so far. And to no one’s surprise no one bought the PPV either.

The rating held though, so at least the WWF had that going for them.

TV Rating: 2.6 (0.0)
Grade: C

Posted Image

Nitro: 10/16/95
Albany, GA

WCW clearly wins the opening video package war now.

Bobby Heenan makes fun of Steve McMichael’s dog and even that’s funny. The Brian is truly a genius.

On WCW Pro Sting agreed to be Ric Flair’s partner for Nitro and Halloween Havoc. Sting warns Flair that if he crosses him Flair is dead.

Heenan really hypes up Sting teaming with Flair, telling us that it hasn’t happened since 1990.

Television Championship
Diamond Dallas Page© vs. Johnny B. Badd

Page beats Badd down with the title belt and gets DQed. No match here. Page is hilarious though, pinning Badd and then using the Badd Blaster when he counts his own three.

Chris Benoit vs. Eddy Guerrero

This is Benoit’s WCW debut (after he appeared last week).

Great headscissors sequence from Benoit. Fast paced action so far.

Eddy goes flying and takes out Benoit on the floor!

Guerrero sends Benoit into the post…then Guerrero runs and slams into the post himself. That looked so real…

Springboard Tornado DDT from Guerrero!

Crazy hurricanrana sequence from Guerrero! Great stuff here all around.

Benoit with a stiff as hell powerbomb! Wow! Fans gasped after that one.

Chris Benoit pins Eddy Guerrero in 8:45. Dragon suplex wins it. Awesome match that not only show cased Benoit, but also made Guerrero look great too. Great action.

Apparently WCW is creating a Cruiserweight Division. That would be awesome for the next couple of years for sure.

Mean Gene tries to sell the hotline. Someone from the WWF was fired! It was Bill Watts. He also teases information about a wrestler getting beat up by a fan. He’s referring to HBK there.

Taskmaster and The Giant are on their way down.

Promo is all about Sullivan being evil and Hogan having an evil side too. Sullivan has to say the word evil about 20 times. It’s still hard to take the whole Monster Truck deal seriously.

Disco Inferno is out dancing again.

Meng vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan

Duggan falls down for no reason to move out of the way of an elbow drop.

Meng wins in 2:00. The spike makes Duggan give up. Only two minutes, but it was pretty bad anyway. Just a win to give Meng as he prepares to face Lex Luger in a couple weeks at Halloween Havoc.

A black clad Hulk Hogan cuts a promo on the Giant and how he’s evil too. He mentions too that Hulkamania makes promotors cry because it’s bigger than the whole promotion. Another shot at Vince I guess? He actually says he’s going to bury the Giant next toAndre as well. Ugh.

Sting and Ric Flair vs. Arn Anderson and Flyin’ Brian

Sting doesn’t come out and Flair goes at it alone.

Flair does pretty well nonetheless as he chops everything that moves.

Pillman and Anderson finally get the upperhand…and here comes Sting!

Sting gets tagged in and goes crazy on Pillman and Anderson. Crowd is going wild for the Stinger too.

Sting and Flair win by countout. Sting tosses Anderson and he doesn’t make it back. Of course, this was a really good set up for Halloween Havoc which I won’t spoil here. Really fun main event even if it had a bad finish. Sting looked like the biggest star in the business here. Sting tells Flair he has a lot of guts fighting his former brother in Anderson and Flair calls Sting the best. Man this angle is awesome.

It had some dull spots, but this was a really fun show just for the main event and Benoit vs. Guerrero.

TV Rating: 2.2 (-0.4)
Grade: B+

Weekly Review

It’s easy this week. RAW was a poor show at a bad time. Jobber matches and poorly taped shows aren’t going to cut it in the Monday Night War era. Nitro gave us a hot Benoit vs. Guerrero match and a fun main event with Sting and Flair teaming up. It’s a testament to how deep WCW’s roster was here that we got a great show despite no Randy Savage or Lex Luger.

The ratings told a different story as RAW won the week. I assume this was because we did get a really good show last week and people cared about Bret Hart. Curious to see what we get next week rating wise from RAW. WCW still needs time to establish their brand, and it’s not like they’re getting killed on the ratings front or anything. But show quality wise, WCW won the week easily.

TV Ratings Score: 3-1-2 RAW

Grade Score: 2-2-2

Football

Bad Pro Bowl Quarterbacks

Historically, the NFL’s version of the All-Star game has annually been a disappointment. While each of the Big 4 sports have had All-Star Game problems. The NBA has the best situation in regards to All-Stars as basketball can focus upon individuals better than hockey and football (but not baseball). While the NBA’s All-Star Game is usually a no-defense all-offense affair, you sometimes see a really competitive 4th quarter and you sometimes see some crazy plays you don’t normally see otherwise.  The NHL gets some credit for trying to pump interest in their All-Star Game, but unfortunately is still doesn’t lead to great hockey (unless combined scores of 30 are your thing) and for one reason or another the game gets cancelled for one reason or another (lockouts, the Olympics). Baseball infamously had a tie in their All-Star Game in 2002. Major League Baseball decided to make one of their most foolish decisions ever as a result. Starting in 2003 home field advantage for the World Series was on the line in each midsummer classic. That’s another discussion for another time though. At least baseball looks like baseball in their All-Star Game. But the Pro Bowl? The risks are too great to have a real game of football. There are tons of rule changes to prevent injuries (no blitzing for example) and to try to pump offense into the game. Not only does the Pro Bowl not look like real NFL football, players often still skip the game anyway.

As a result the most visible and popular position on the field, the quarterback, has often been filled by some less than stellar quarterbacks. For fun let’s look at the last 20 seasons of Pro Bowl quarterbacks and identify some of the worst ones (either by that individual season or by that players career outcome).

1996

AFC

Mark Brunell (JAX): 19 TD (8th), 20 INT, 4,367 Yards (1st), 84.0 QB RAT (7th) – It’s crazy how those numbers would be considered a good season 20 years ago, but today a QB with them could be losing his job. It’s always hard to justify a QB throwing more INTS than TDs. Brunell had led the Jaguars to the Conference Title game though and had a solid career afterwards though.

NFC

Troy Aikman (DAL): 12 TD, 13 INT, 3,126 Yards (9th), 80.1 QB RAT– Pure reputation pick at this point.

Gus Frerotte (WAS): 12 TD, 11 INT, 3,453 Yards (6th), 79.3 QB RAT– He had the yardage I guess. Unsurprisingly Frerotte never made another Pro Bowl.

Kerry Collins (CAR): 14 TD, 9 INT, 2,454 Yards, 79.4 QB RAT- A record based selection as Carolina was 12-4 (and 9-3 with Collins). Collins would wait 12 years before making another Pro Bowl.

1999

AFC

Mark Brunell (JAX): 14 TD, 9 INT, 3,060 Yards, 82.0 QB RAT – Here just because the Jaguars went 14-2 (and Brunell was 13-2 as a starter). None of those stats were Top 10 worthy.

2001

AFC

Kordell Stewart (PIT): 14 TD, 11 INT, 3,109 Yards, 81.7 QB RAT – Another example of a player getting to the Pro Bowl based on record. He’s helped by the fact that he also had 500+ rushing yards and 5 rushing TDs. This would be Stewart’s only Pro Bowl. In his career he had 77 TDs against 84 INTs. Interesting that Brunell had one of his better seasons here but because his team was 7-9 he missed.

2005

NFC

Michael Vick (ATL): 15 TD, 13 INT, 2,412 Yards, 73.1 QB RAT – I ignored Vick’s 2004 season because he had over 900 passing yards and the Falcons were good. The Falcons fell off in 2005, Vick rushed for about 600 yards (still impressive) and as a passer Vick was embarrassing. 73.1 QB Rating? Top 10 in interceptions?

2006

AFC

Vince Young (TEN): 12 TD, 13 INT, 2,199 Yards, 66.7 QB RAT – The poor man’s version of Vick’s 2005 season. Young got a lot of hype as a rookie because he led the Titans to a winning streak when it looked like their season was over. He did run 550 yards with 7 rushing TDs to help his case, but jeez.

2007

AFC

Derek Anderson (CLE): 29 TD (5th), 19 INT, 3,787 Yards (9th), 82.5 QB RAT – A sneaky pick here. Anderson apparently led the NFL in dropped picks as well. The rest of Derek Anderson’s career was pitiful…he threw half of his career TDs in this season alone. Probably one of the luckiest seasons by a QB in NFL history.

2008

AFC

Kerry Collins (TEN): 12 TD, 7 INT, 2,676 Yards, 80.2 QB RAT – The funniest thing about this was that Collins was looking for a big extension (around what Kurt Warner was making) because of his performance this season. While the Titans did have a great record here, Collins couldn’t get a playoff win here.

Brett Favre (NYJ): 22 TD (9th), 22 INT, 3,474 Yards, 81.0 QB RAT – Led the league in interceptions this season. There was some unluckiness for Favre here as he injured his arm near the end of the season which led to an uptick in INTs (and a four game losing streak that cost the Jets the playoffs). Then again he was also sending dick pics to women so who knows how the season would have finished anyway.

2009

AFC

David Garrard (JAX): 15 TD, 10 INT, 3,597 Yards, 83.5 QB RAT – A random selection here. The Jaguars weren’t a good team or anything either. Garrard had a superior season two years prior that he received no recognition for.

Vince Young (TEN): 10 TD, 7 INT, 1,879 Yards, 82.8 QB RAT – At least he had a QB Rating over 70 this time! I think this was the season all the AFC QBs bowed out or something.

2014

Andy Dalton (CIN): 19 TD, 17 INT, 3,398 Yards, 83.5 QB RAT – Funny how Dalton’s weakest season got him a Pro Bowl berth. Tied for 3rd in INTs.

2015

Teddy Bridgewater (MIN): 14 TD, 9 INT, 3,231 Yards, 88.7 QN RAT – Too bad we’re not past this whole game manager makes the Pro Bowl deal by 2016. Carson Palmer and Cam Newton are both not playing though so what can you do?

This list omitted some potentially bad ones career wise (we’ll have to see with Tyrod Taylor and Jameis Winston) and I also omitted Nick Foles because his run was really really good.

Enjoy the Pro Bowl!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Football

2016 NFL Conference Finals Predictions!

We went 3-1 last week as all the home team pulled it out (after all the road teams won the Wildcard Round). We’re 5-3 for the playoffs. I think both of these are relatively east selections so let’s get to it.

New England Patriots (13-4) @ Denver Broncos (13-4)

Look, Denver was losing to a beaten up Pittsburgh Steelers team before Fitzgerald Tousaaint fumbled and Denver finally put a TD drive together. This Patriots team (which is healthy, no less) is way better than that beaten up Steelers team. Blame whoever you want or whatever, Peyton Manning’s arm, Bronco WRs dropping passes, New England is the better team and should be able to avenge their loss to Denver in the regular season.

Patriots 24, Broncos 13

Arizona Cardinals (14-3) @ Carolina Panthers (16-1)

I think the weather plays a big factor here. It’s going to be freezing a day after a lot of snow. Carolina proved they were no fluke as they horsewhipped Seattle in the first half last week (before going into the deep freeze in the 2nd half). Arizona was disappointing last week as they barely survived Green Bay at home. The Panthers are the best team in football and after watching last week I don’t see the Cardinals, great as they seem, beating the Panthers in Carolina in a cold weather game.

Panthers 31, Cardinals 21

 

 

Basketball

Five and Five: Was Cleveland Firing David Blatt the Right Move?

In perhaps the most shocking personnel move in NBA history, David Blatt was fired as Head Coach of the 30-11 Cleveland Cavaliers. And it may have been the correct move. So let’s debut what I hope will be a recurring feature at RDT World, Five and Five: Five reasons this is the correct move for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and five reasons this is a bad move for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

First, five reasons why this was the correct move for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

No 1: Blatt hasn’t found a way to integrate Kevin Love successfully after a season and a half.

What’s the deal here? Many fans have put the onus on Kevin Love here, claiming he just put up empty stats for a losing Minnesota team for a few years. And while empty stats are definitely a thing (looking at you Monta Ellis), I argue that Love was in fact a great player for Minnesota. The 2014 Minnesota Timberwolves were better than anyone remembers. They only went 40-42 in the tough Western Conference, but had a 48-34 Pythagorean W-L. This means they were unlucky by about eight games. While his raw stats were impressive (20-15, 26-13, 26-12 peak years, excellent 3P shooting) his advanced stats were also amazing (.245 WS/48, 120 offensive rating, 29% usage in 2014). He only has one (huge) flaw, which is that he’s just as bad defensively as he is good offensively. But Cleveland should have found a way to make Kevin Love work, and that’s on the Head Coach.

No 2: LeBron James didn’t like Blatt and loves Tyronne Lue.

If your superstar player doesn’t want you to be the Head Coach you’re going to have issues winning it all no matter what. A great example of this? The 2004 Los Angeles Lakers where Kobe led to the ousting of Phil Jackson. All that dysfunction is difficult to overcome. Players will often follow their leader on the court over their Head Coach when push comes to shove. Don’t forget, LeBron had basically told Blatt what do so in certain situations (like changing the play so he could hit the game winner against Chicago, and the Tristan Thompson sub controversy against Atlanta), and the team followed LeBron.

No 3: Without LeBron the Cavs were awful.

Anyone remember that stretch where LeBron sat out for a couple of weeks last season and the Cavs fell below .500? What happened there? Why is everyone around LeBron James not able to hold the fort? I understand losing LeBron is a huge piece, but a team with Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving should have been able to hold the fort in the Eastern Conference.

No 4: Blatt was severely outcoached by Steve Kerr in the NBA Finals.

Maybe it’s hard to fault Blatt since he was missing Irving and Love here, but Kerr’s switch to Andre Iguodala absolutely sunk a Cleveland Cavalier team that somehow was only two games away from winning the title.

No 5: The 34 point trashing by Golden State in Cleveland last week showed how far behind the Cavs were to winning the title.

The Cavs have had two huge tests this year and failed the both. First, San Antonio outplayed them. But that’s fine, the game was moderately close. Golden State on the other hand absolutely embarrassed Cleveland on their home floor. For Cleveland right now, it’s all or nothing. Winning the East means nothing. Of course Cleveland is going to win the East. But they are going to have to beat San Antonio or Golden State and, especially in Golden State’s case, Cleveland is not in the same league as the top Western Conference title contenders. How Cleveland could not show up in such a huge regular season game was baffling.

Now, five reasons Cleveland made a mistake.

No 1: The Cavs are currently 30-11 on top of the Eastern Conference.

Without Kyrie Irving for most of the season no less! They are on pace for a 60-22 season. LeBron is great, but the Cavs have improved from last season (they’d only need to go 23-18 the rest of the way to match last year’s record). Cleveland has had a couple new pieces too that integrated nicely (like Mo Williams). I mean how many teams even with great players go 30-11 for the first half?

No 2: The Cavs beat the Thunder and the Clippers.

They beat the other two Western Conference contenders this season and in the Clippers case, it was a good win. They were close in San Antonio. The Cavs seem like they can hang with the top teams at least and are capable of beating them. I get that Golden State has their number, but Golden State is just in another world right now.

No 3: Blatt has an 83-40 regular season record and a 14-6 playoff record.

Sure he has a great team, but it’s not like the Cavs lost big games they should have won. The promptly took care of business in the Eastern Conference last season and it was a bit of an upset that they took Golden State to six after losing Kyrie Irving. Even if Blatt wasn’t the best Head Coach and LeBron was amazing, it was clearly a combination that could have won the NBA Title last year. 83-40 is pretty good for a team that was slapped together. Remember, Erik Spoelstra didn’t win the title in the first LeBron year either…and they weren’t guaranteed anything after that either. What if Tyronne Lue is worse?

No 4: We don’t know what Tyronne Lue brings to the table.

All we know is players went to him most of the time and that he’s LeBron’s guy. Should we be placating LeBron? Remember, Doug Collins was Michael Jordan’s guy…then he got fired, Phil Jackson became Head Coach and the Bulls won a bunch of NBA Titles. If Cleveland did this just to placate LeBron and keep him in Cleveland I understand, but there’s a serious risk in regards to a coaching change this late in the season. The best case scenario is that the players play really hard for Lue because they like him. The worst case is that players are forced to learn new things in January and it messes up the team. And if Cleveland falls short…what happens then?

No 5: David Blatt was Dan Gilbert’s guy.

It’s being reported that Tyronne Lue is going to be the guy who “gets on his stars” and holds all players accountable, something Blatt apparently didn’t do.  Blatt probably didn’t do this because Gilbert doesn’t want LeBron or even Irving to leave Cleveland. What if Lue gets on his stars and his stars end up not playing well? Can LeBron and Love take criticism? And is Gilbert happy that LeBron’s guy is now the Head Coach?

To be honest, I like the reasons to fire him more. If the Head Coach isn’t doing his job well, then he has to go. The Cleveland Cavaliers want to win the NBA Title now and any distractions need to go. They’re winning the East for sure. They just need to find a formula to beat the Spurs or Warriors and it didn’t seem like David Blatt had that answer.

 

Pro Wrestling

RAW vs. Nitro Week 6 – 10/9/95

Week 6

Posted Image

RAW: 10/9/95
Grand Rapids, MI

I won’t lie, I really prefer the classic RAW theme (that gets brought back at some point in ’96).

Yokozuna, Owen Hart and The British Bulldog vs. Shawn Michaels, Diesel and The Undertaker

A huge main event kicks off RAW and honestly I can’t think of a better start!

Really cool segment where Shawn Michaels talks about doing a charity with kids. Honestly, 1996 HBK could have used a lot more of that. It seemed genuine and really cool overall.

Shawn and Owen kick the match off and we get a cool double arm drag.

Everyone’s in there early. Double big boot from Taker and Diesel take out Yokozuna!

Undertaker’s DDT on Yokozuna is always awesome.

Waylon Mercy is watching for some reason. Jerry Lawler mentions on Superstars that Diesel will face Mercy in what would turn out to be Mercy (Dan Spivey’s) last match.

Camp Cornette finally takes control on HBK.

Dean Douglas is out here now as he was feuding with Shawn at the time.

Vince McMahon hypes AOL chats with HBK and Lawler. Feels weird that AOL chats were 20 years ago now.

Owen Hart comes off the top rope right as we get a commercial break. On one hand it’s frustrating to see a commercial break right in the middle of a big spot like that. On the other hand it might have been a good idea because you want to see if Owen landed or not (which we are shown he missed). I’m against commercial breaks in any matches though.

HBK tags Diesel in and he cleans out until Owen gets a cheap shot in. Running powerslam from the Bulldog doesn’t get it down as Undertaker makes the save!

Camp Cornette wins when the British Bulldog pinned Diesel. When the referee tries to get Undertaker out, Yokozuna comes in and drops a big legdrop on Diesel and the Bulldog gets the pin. Good finish that at least gives the fans some hope that the Bulldog could beat Diesel for the title (not much hope though). Great match as 1995 RAW continues to impress.

Undertaker tries to fight Camp Cornette off, but Mabel comes down and the numbers are too much for Undertaker to handle. Yokozuna and Mabel continually drop legdrops and splashes on the Undertaker. This is where Mabel infamously broke Undertaker’s face which led to the Phantom of the Opera Undertaker. Douglas comes down to stop HBK from helping and hits a front suplex on the steel steps. The Bulldog continues his beatdown on Diesel. You even see Undertaker’s eye all purple from the injury. Awesome stuff absolutely everywhere here. A great first half of RAW.

We get a replay of the Bret Hart-Jean Lafitte match from last week and DDS attacking Bret. Next week on RAW: Bret vs. Yankeem in a cage.

For some reason we get a replay of the entire Yankeem vs. Bret match at Summerslam. A cheap way to get a Bret match on RAW without him wrestling perhaps? This was already the third RAW of the taping, and Bret wrestled on taping two and will on four.

Jerry Lawler is telling us Mabel is trying to get into Undertaker’s dressing room.

Fatu vs. Skip

I’m guessing this was an excuse to get Sunny on RAW?

In a pretty funny spot, Skip comes off the top rope with a flying headbutt, but Fatu’s samoan so you know how that went for Skip…

Fatu pins Skip. Flying splash off the top finishes Skip. Match was fine…although I don’t really like Vince trying to sell Skip as someone who is in good shape but is stupid. Also, the placement of the match seems strange. Unless people really like Sunny I assume they were switching to Nitro here.

We get a replay of the destruction of the Taker-Diesel-HBK team…especially the Mabel-Taker stuff.

Hilarious Cornette interview as he calls out Jim Ross for just barging into the Camp Cornette locker room and as a bonus the Bulldog is wearing a stupid hat. Turns out the hat is a gift from Princess Diana herself! Mabel comes in and says Undertaker will get buried at In Your House! Of course we wouldn’t get that match since Mabel broke Taker’s face here.

Even though it’s based off of one match what a great show this was. The big match delivered and pushed several storylines in one. Even though it was a replay we got some good hype for Bret vs. DDS. Fatu vs. Skip was fine and we had a good promo at the end by Cornette. I have to take a little off as a PPV match replay is a bit cheap…and the second half of the show didn’t live up to the first half. Still, RAW felt like a big deal.

TV Rating: 2.6 (+0.1)
Grade: B+

Posted Image

Nitro: 10/9/95
Chicago, IL

We see what happened to Hulk Hogan last week at the hands of The Taskmaster and The Giant. IS HOGAN’S CAREER OVER?!

Nitro opening is so freakin’ cool.

Bobby Heenan says Hogan’s in the building but there’s a restraining order in place. Sting shows up though. He says he’s going to fix the Luger-Savage issue we’ve had in the past few weeks.

US Title: Sting© vs. The Shark

Sting retains by pin. Match takes about a minute. Shark gets some offense in, but Sting hits a couple of Stinger Splashes and a top rope cross bodyblock for the win. While it was short, Sting got a good reaction and it got Nitro off and running on a positive note. This was pretty much the end for John Tenta though.

We get a replay of what happened last week with Hogan and being attacked by Grandma Sullivan. Sounds like I’m making fun of it sure…but this was pretty awesome.

Sabu vs. Mr. JL

That’s right, Sabu vs. Jerry Lynn four years before it would be a big ECW match.

WCW fans give us a “Sabu” chant. It’s still quite bizarre that Sabu had a WCW run.

Sabu starts quickly with a somersault legdrop over the top rope. He follows up with a leg lariat.

“Hogan sucks” chant now. Smark crowd in ’95!

Suicide dive from JL!

More flying from Sabu! Over the top rope somersault to the outside!

Air Sabu into the railing!

German suplex then a running dropkick by JL! Really fun match here!

JL drops Sabu with a DDT where Sabu was propped on the top rope. That was the Randy Orton-RVD finish at Armaggedon ’03 I think.

Sabu makes Mr. JL submit. JL comes off the top rope but Sabu counters and locks in the Camel Clutch for the win. Maybe it was a bit of a spot fest, but this still gets the 1995 curve of being awesome stuff that just wasn’t on TV yet. And it was fun. For the heck of it Sabu hits JL with a bit of a botched sunset flip over the top rope onto the floor. But it still worked.

For some reason Eric Bischoff has to talk about Hogan as the camera cuts to him…even though Sabu is still attacking JL. Come on!

Sting is in the ring with Luger and he calls out Savage. Savage actually gets some boos. Really smarky crowd. Savage questions Sting right off the bat and wants to know why the Giant has chokeslammed Hogan, Luger and himself…but not Sting. Sting thinks Luger and Savage should go at it if they beat Meng and Kamala in their respective matches. Luger is hesitant and Sting basically calls him a whiny coward.

Seems weird that Sting came up with this solution. Segment was fine.

Chris Benoit comes to Nitro in a limo. “WCW, where the big boys play”. Bischoff really puts Benoit over as well. WCW made a big deal out of everything and that really worked early on.

Disco Inferno is dancing for some reason.

Big Bubba vs. Road Warrior Hawk

Both Hawk and Bubba walk past a dancing Disco. For some reason Disco put a WCW hat on Hawk’s spiked shoulder pads. Not sure what the point of Disco doing this was.

Hawk gets a huge chant. Obviously this is because this is his hometown.

Big Bubba wins by countout. Disco jumps onto the apron at about the 2 minute mark and Hawk goes after him and beats him up down the aisleway. What the heck was that?

Here comes Hogan and he gets some boos. This was the beginning of Hogan’s short term dark side period where he wore black all the time. Even the neckbrace is black.

The Giant is Andre’s son angle felt tasteless even though it technically wasn’t. Hogan seemingly takes a shot at Vince here as he says in New York City the promotor got jealous over Hulkamania’s success. He gets back to wanting to fight the Giant. What a random shot that was though.

Here comes a monster truck with the Dungeon of Doom in it! Police are in pursuit! Hogan goes out to face the Giant. Not Hogan’s best promo to be honest.

Does Monster Truck vs. Monster Truck really sound like a great idea for a gimmick match?

Bischoff is told by police that Hogan and the Giant are being kept apart.

Cage Match
Ric Flair vs. Arn Anderson

Bischoff brings up that normally you have to buy a PPV to see a match of this caliber. That’s a good point you know. Exciting as it is, hotshotting is dangerous in the long run.

Flair is pretty much dominating this match, slamming Double A into the cage multiple times.

“We Want Blood” chant. Jeez.

Flyin’ Brian tries to get into cage…and Flair knocks him off the side of the cage onto the floor!

Arn Anderson pins Ric Flair. Anderson hits Flair with brass knuckles or some object and gets the pin. Too short for what Flair vs. Anderson in a cage should be. It wasn’t bad or anything but I’m left disappointed.

Flair challenges Anderson and Pillman to a handicap match on Nitro.

Heenan: “I’ve had enough of Hulk Hogan shoved down my throat all these years.” I know Heenan respects Hogan, but man what a comment that is considering it’s not a shoot comment.

Next week we get DDP vs. Johnny B. Badd and Benoit vs. Eddie Guerrero!

I’ll be honest, I didn’t like most of this show. The beginning with Sting was fine as was the Mr. JL vs. Sabu match. Sting helping make Savage vs. Luger was weird but okay. Hawk vs. Rogers? Yuck. Hogan’s promo? Not good and the Monster Truck silliness didn’t work for me. Flair vs. Double A could have been a lot better.

Still, Nitro got a solid rating this week. I guess that’s what counts.

TV Rating: 2.6 (+0.1)
Grade: C+

Weekly Review

I wrote for last week that RAW only had a chance if the Hogan-Giant angle got too hokey…and well that’s what happened. Hogan taking shots at Vince for no reason was also unnecessary. While Nitro had some enjoyable parts I didn’t really enjoy the show overall. RAW on the other hand came out like a house of fire with the big six man tag team match and only didn’t score a higher grade because the rest of the show was merely okay.

Another tie in the ratings, but RAW definitely had the stronger show this week. WCW still has tons of cards to play though as the Flair vs. Anderson feud can easily be great next week just because of who’s involved. Plus Eddie vs. Benoit? We don’t know what’s going to happen next with Hogan either. If they can just get a little more serious about the feud, perhaps it’ll come off better on TV. I can only see the Giant screaming and riding a monster truck so many times.

TV Ratings Score: 2-1-2 RAW

Grade Score: 2-1-2 RAW