SpiceDawg

Okay, leaving comments while I read because that how real men do it and I wish I was one.

Nitro:

I hate the fact the show started with a Sid run in. Especially since in real life, I think Russo started to phase out the annoying Sid ruins matches angle. The one positive with Russo was he tried to develop characters for everyone on the roster. So it would be nice if you tried creating stories for both Parka and Norman. Definitely two guys that could do some interesting underneath stuff. Though hopefully you keep La Parka away from any pinatas on a pole.

I'm liking the continuing of PTB using Madusa as a shill while she actually wants to wrestle. It has potential for a good storyline but you would have to break the Russo curse and actually be able to write a middle and end for it not just a beginning.

The insider Buff stuff like 'They didn't repackage El Dandy' is funny. It wasn't too insider either but enough to have that edge. Though if you keep on pushing the 'do the job' angle then it will get annoying.

Hahahaha - Jarrett talking to Sting is such a 'dying years' of WCW thing. Perfect.

Heat v. Revolution has the usual overbooking that one expects but at least it made sense. Benoit wants a piece of Malenko after what he did so it completely acceptable. Plus I think I am going to dig that feud. Though I'm sensing some drifting by the Heat. They need a decent storyline pronto. Actually, I wouldn't mind a split angle even though the Heat only reformed 3 months ago plus it would be another mimic of real life which I criticized you of earlier. I'm a hypocrite.

Why does Steiner want the Heat to get beat up? I hope you're going somewhere with that because I find it interesting.

Suprestrella made me laugh. I sort of like this repackaging of Mexicans. Though I wonder if it will only lead them to all job to Buff or if it will go somewhere.

The American Nightmare staying up in the rafters is cool. I really look forward to seeing how thing plays out. I hope this lead to Stinger feud just because, I think it has potential to be a little crazy and full of cheesy booking goodness. Maybe Nightmare can try to convert Sting back to the dark side because he feels he lost his touch or something odd. Though I guess Sting needs to go face first. Anyway, glad you didn't scrap the gimmick like Russo did or supposedly had to.

The Hogan sit down was 100 times better than what really happened. Kudos. This should be really interesting. Lots of possibilities. It is clear now that PTB want an nWo but who will replace Hogan? Or will they eventually be able to convince him? And what will cause Hogan to come out of retirement? Will the PTB allow him to leave gracefully. I'm pumped. This could be a killer angle.

Wow, a great follow up with Sting and Bret. This is just such a great storyline. Totally the way one should play a 'shoot' angle. Be interesting to see if Stinger really is aligned. Lots of different possibilities to explore.

The screw job in Benoit v. Malenko was inevitable. You can't blow off the feud in one night. Though it definitely gave taste for what kind of match this has potential to be.

I totally called Filthy Animals to turn on Benoit because that is the ultimate Russo thing to do. Feud two groups against each other then pay it off by swerving everyone by joining each other. Doesn't make a lick of sense but that is how Russo likes it. Because it is all about logic. A very Corporate Ministry thing to do. Though it's completely illogical it actually does allow for a awesome heel stable. Though do we need a nWo if we have such a strong Revolution? On the plus side it avoid having a Stable War which Russo booked to death in WWF '97. The real life Rev v. Animals was tre lame.

Tag match was total Russo. Like the report says, all the heat in Flair and DDP seems to have died. But at least she didn't pin Ric.

Okay, maybe Sid v. Goldberg is done now. I mean, where do you go with it? Two clean pins in a row? Does anyone really want to see it a third time? Plus you wrestle anymore and Sid needs a win to get his heat back. And Sid has no right pinning Goldberg. He needs to stay undefeated and becomes unstoppable again. It is the only way that Goldberg has value.

Probably would be slightly pissed if I ordered Havoc to only have the same main event shown for free. But that was how the Monday Night Wars was sometimes. Giving away stuff that you previously paid for. Besides, Russo seems to lack understanding of the importance of buyrates and often seems to write in a way that sabotages potential PPV revenue.

As a whole, it was not a great Nitro by any means. A whole lot of crap plagues most of it with a lot of silly booking to most of the matches. BUT it had a really hot and awesome angle involving Sting/Hogan/Bret. I mean, I think this has potential to be so great. But the problem is, can the rest of the story keep up with this hot beginning? Plus while the merger with Rev and Animals makes no sense at all, it has potential to be a cool stable.

Okay, I haven't really been leaving feedback for months now. I consider this my comeback which will probably come to a abrupt end shortly after this post. But the enjoy the love while you have it.

Halloween Havoc:

I originally was going to mention how Armstrong beating Berlyn completely kills off the character but reality is, he was killed off at Fall Brawl when Duggan refused to sell for him. This win may not be as pointless as the real life Armstrong win if you actually do more with him than turning him into a really lame Road Dogg rip off. Besides, I've never liked Alex Wright and think he was terribly overrated.

Your booking is really similar to the actual Havoc card at the time. Malenko swerves Benoit so Steiner takes back the TV Title. I didn't like it then and I sure don't like it now. But I also can see the positives behind it. Such as, Benoit deserves to be higher up the card then the TV Title and now maybe Steiner can switch the title over to someone that could use its rub. And a Malenko v. Benoit feud is a good thing and I've always thought Malenko works better as a heel than a face. So, while in reality, this booking turned out to be crappy since it killed the TV title and the Revolution became of the lamer stables whild the Malenko v. Benoit feud was blown off in a matter of weeks. I have hope that it could turn out much better this time.

It is a very Russo thing to have Jarrett lose to Bagwell when everyone knows JJ should be debuting strong. Though swerve for the sake of swerve stays loyal to Russo, I still think it is a stupid idea. But I'll hold off anymore criticism until I see if this story goes anywhere. Or if it gets forgotten withing a week like it did in real life. The return of the Harris Boys is pretty lousy too since they are a vortex of suck. But on the other hand, it's always nice to have some tag team to add depth to the roster.

I was half expecting Luger to go over just because it happend in reality plus it would be a 'swervey' thing to do. I'm glad that didn't happen. I am alaos surprised that it was a completely clean match. I am not surprised that Luger acted like a spoiled brat. Though the whole statement about Luger unwilling to elevate young talent seems kind of funny when it is in regards to Hart. Hasn't Bret been in wrestling longer? Hart is definitely an established main eventer even if WCW abused him for his entire run.

I definitely agree with the rant that the finish was pretty stupid. I never like the idea of a guy letting go of a hold that can win the match just because someone decides to stand on the apron. Even moreso when it is a veteran like Flair that should know better. On the other hand, it looks like this feud is being extended which has a lot of potential to be special. Unlike real life which was killed when Flair was buried in a desert. Ugh.

Exact same Medusa angle as done in real life. Except the fact this time Bobby didn't slag a product that the company actually wants to make money on. So, right there this segment was a 100 times better since trashing ones own merchandise seems a little coutner productive. Though Counter Productive may be one of the best ways to explain Russo's booking in WCW.

Another angle that I hated at the time being repeated here. I just beg you to actually do something with Hogan laying down to Sting rather then it being a really lame reason to write him out. It has potential to be intriguing but it means you need to put more thought into it than Russo did. Which isn't hard since I think he put none.

Goldberg had to go over here which is why I was scared that he wouldn't. I'm glad you went with a more non Russo like booking choice. I am once again really surprised by how clean it was. It looks like you pretty much blew off this feud and it is time to move these guys on to something else.

Obviously you booked this to reflect Russo. Your own rant shows that you didn't think this was a great show. It kind of makes it hard for to criticize when I know the writer is purposefully put on a sub par and screwjob-tastic show. On the other hand, you presented some interesting angles and plot points. I am intrigued where you will go with things. But please, try to have some ending and pay offs to these angles even though Russo never seemed to be able to actually do such things.

I'm jumping on the bandwagon a little late but I enjoyed your WWF '99 thus decided to give this a peek. Comments while I read because it's the manly way. And I really wish people would start considering me a man.

I was going to leave a comment on how WCW usually always had a 3 man crew but then you left a reason for it. Basically, I've typed an useless sentence. I was thinking of suggesting Dusty but remembered he was nWo now. Larry never seemed to do PPVs.

I immediately wonder where Ciclope is in the battle royal (a reference to the actual battle royal from that year's Slamboree). Maybe Malenko is under the Super Calo disguise.

Crap, guess Super Calo was actually Super Calo. Guess, you aren't pulling the Dean is in disguise angle. I realize you would be accused of ripping it off if you went with it but I thought, that was the whole purpose of this battle royal. Besides it was one of my biggest mark out moments ever.

I'm liking the tension between Kidman and Saturn. It will be interesting where this actually leads. Will it divide the flock or only need to one being booted. Will Kidman take the role Saturn had in the real WCW? Intrigue. Or I am reading too much into things.

Why is Juvi still wearing the mask??? Jericho took it off him back in SuperBrawl and it should be one of the things he has collected as a trophy.

Why the heck is everyone going for pinfalls in this battle royal? It makes seem like they don't even know the type of matches they sign up for. I'm sure most of these guys would have been in a battle royal before. It seems silly to me.

Eliminated by tossing them by the ears? I can't picture it. I don't see that translating well at all on actual television. Don't see how you can avoid it looking super fake.

Chavo winning would still be a a feel good moment. He deserves a big win like this after all the crap he has put up with Eddy. This also will wonders in progressing that story since Eddy should be pretty jealous.

I'm definitely liking the heelish tendencies from Beniot. It shows his frustrations with not being able to beat Booker are coming to a boiling point. I am also enjoying how the farther the match progresses the more vicious the wrestlers are getting with each other. It goes from a clean skilled based contest to almost an outright brawl/fight.

I am beginning to get the feeling we won't get any pinfalls until the very end. I'm also thinking Beniot may turn officially heel after this one. I have to say this isn't turning out to be the traditional iron man but in 1998 with two midarders, the major use of the chair is probably the way to go to keep interest in the crowd. What are these guys overness like in this scenario? An iron man would be an idea both federation would probably be weary off with the current wrestling fan but even moreso, with two non main eventers trying to pull it together. I know the WWF/E tried it twice but I remember the first time, a lot of 'journalists' were thinking WWF were heading for a disaster. They were wrong. I think I've lost my point in all this rambling.

So much for no falls in the entire match. I'm liking the desperation and agression by Beniot after he is down a fall and knows time is running out. Man. this is a fantastically written match. Did the wrestlers no the time left in the match or mainly, did Booker hear the 10 second count down? If he didn't then I love the finish of tapping right at the bell but if he did, well, I never liked it when wrestlers tap when they know the time will run out. Actually, I always think wrestlers who put a submission hold one with only a few minutes or seconds left are kind of dumb unless they are hoping to get the guy to pass out. Though you did do a good job of showing the hold would be causing permanent damage to Booker if it stayed on even a few more seconds. I can understand the tapping. Anyway, it makes for a really dramatic finish but I just hope Booker didn't know the count or otherwise he looks silly tapping when the match is basically over. Actually, since Booker retain, it looks like he tapped after the bell anyway.

I love the snapping of Beniot after he finds out he is unsuccessful. I am assuming we have a heel turn now. Great stuff all around and the rematch should be amazing. I like how the story continues of how Beniot can not beat Booker no matter what.

Fantastic Jericho promo. I could totally see '98 Jericho cutting that exact promo.

Rights guys went over in Luger and Steiner. At this point, nWo needs to start losing matches because they were so dominate for a year and half. Besides, Adams taking the fall doesn't mean too much since he's a B-teamer anyway. The big collision between the brothers is held of for a little bit still.

Okay, so this is when you're going to trot out Malenko. His appearance would have registered a massive pop. Well played. What the hell? Malenko hit Chavo?!? Not sure if I like that swerve. How much of the taunting of Malenko would have Jericho done up to the point of starting your diary? I'm all for going in a different direction but I don't know if this story needed that. But Eddie coming to save the nephew he has been tormenting is a interesting twist and should probably lead to a tag match on Nitro or the PPV.

Excellent Hart promo and lead some more hype to the main event. Pretty stoked to see where that one goes.

Are the Risin Sons under a written contract? Otherwise, I am really shocked by the big push they are receiving. Not that Neidhart or Bulldog are major players at this point. I was definitely shocked to see Cornette but he can add a lot to the Risin Sons. Afterall, he can be the promo man and plus he fits with a wrestling oriented like team.

Hahaha -- I can totally picture Schiavone falling off his seat while overhyping the cage match. That silly little over excitable fat bastard. This will be the greatest cage match in the history of this great sport.

Backpedaling it a bit, is it me or was the write up for the Rising Son's match longer than the 1 hour Iron man match? How long is this card anyway? 4 hours? This thing is packed.

I think, a little too much happend at the end of the bowery tag match. I always feel cage matches lose a little anytime someone can interfere in them. I liked the real WCW's way of having Mortis arrive after the cage match. You couldn't do that here because you wanted Benoit to do his attack. I think all the mayhem really made Mortis' big revelation and attack a tad forgettable. Especially since he gets beat down right after taking out Raven. He isn't even made to look that significant. Oh well, I'll see how the rest of the story progresses.

Aren't the Outsiders technically not part of WCW? How can they suspend them? Or at this point has WCW given up on making nWo a renegade promotion and now just a stable? Anyway, once again the talk is pointless because Hall is actually there.

Another rewind, back to the bowery match, I thik you need to make sure you watch the amount of times you allow Goldberg be laid out. At this point, he was seen as an indestructible monster. Part of his appeal was that he could kick anyone's ass and nobody could stop him. That aura is lost when a segment ends with Goldberg laid out on the mat.

Oh boy, yet another nWo turn. Been there and done that. Poor Giant doesn't even get a decisive win over Nash but rather just crawl back into the group. Not a fan, I have to admit. Especially since we've already seen enough turns and surprises tonight. Too many causes things to lose their impact. Oh well, once again, I'll wait to see where this is headed. I really hope Sting is able to avoid the treatment he got in the real WCW. After over a year of being the saviour, I think it's sad he got shoved down to upper midcard -- hopefully, you can avoid that.

I have to admit I am intrigue about this current nWo split especially since it looks like both are going to remaing with the midset of taking over WCW. Which makes a lot more sense than a face nWo that we got in WCW. Hopefully, at some point they do reunite because in reality, the two nWos was just a way to sell t-shirts. We don't really want to see nWo destroy themselves but rather see WCW get their long await revenge (revenge that really should have happend at Starrcade but I digress).

Putting the title on Hogan was completely the right choice. Now, Hart can Hogan and the title. When/if Hart wins the title, it definitely should be off Hogan. Though I hope you slow build a little to the singles match. Maybe wait until the fall or even Starrcade? How doe TEW treat heel v. heel matches? Is it as unforgiving as EWR or a little more realistic? Because you could easily do Hogan against Wolfpack for most of the summer leading to the eventual Hart match. Plus Sting never got his rematch.

Wow, that seemed like a really long show. I think a few matches were written longer that should have been shorter. A few of the short matches should have been longer. But oh well. It was definitely the opposite of a placeholder show because a hell of a lot happend. I have to admit I'm pretty excited to see the direction you take. You've opened up a lot of possibilities. It was a good show despite the fact it may have seemed I had a lot of criticisms.

Keep up the work. Push <insert some random wrestler> (Y)

The lay out isn't my most favourite in the whole universe. I always like nice colourful heading so every segment is broken up for me. This is probably the lamest nit pick ever so you can ignore it. Honestly, the writing is good and you do a good job of making a compelling show.

I thought the Horsemen came off a little too weak. This is supposed to be the biggest stable of the last four years or so but at this current rate, they would seem to be dead by April. Christian loses his title and then, the stable goes on to job to Austin. Jericho seems to be the only one with credibility at this rate. But I do understand the reasoning, Austin needed that title shot and this displays a guy who can overcome the odds. It can't hurt too much to be jobbing to Austing since he is the biggest star ever. This would probably be his final big run in the company. I still felt it did a little damage to the Horsemen especially since guys usually running the gauntlets don't win.

The Booker main event really came off as an after thought. Probably should have ended with the gauntlet since it's a bigger and better story. I just not excited about Booker v. APA at the PPV. At the same time, I recognize this is more of a small stop on a bigger story. I am willing to see it play out.

I love the Hardy stuff. It looks like you'll be able to make both bigger stars from this split. Which is something WWF failed around this time. I think, this feud could have enough life to last until Mania.

I'm liking the IC scene. I am interested to see where things go with Regal. I completely expect him to be a pest in the Rumble IC match.

Blood would have been a big deal on UPN. Even now, WWE usualy reserves blood for big moment and big stars. Which is why having Holly displaying the crimson mask just doesn't seem right. He is too low on the totem pole.

But I am loving the reformation of the Flock. I like how Raven beats guys into membership too. I am thinking some really solid stuff should be in store.

I was a little surprised you are giving Michaels and Undertaker at the Rumble. I would have thought it would be a Wrestlemania match. Maybe you skipped that since you want to put Michaels over and that is harder thing to do when you have the Taker streak.

Overall, I am digging the stories. This is a real life time period where I felt WWF stagnated some. You are making a much more exciting beginning of 2001. I look forward to the rest of the road to the Rumble.

PPV, comments while I read. . .

Opening sort of felt like a Raw match. Cloutier's issues was with a guys not in the match and he even came down to continue issues. Seemed more like a match to set up things rather than blow off a storyline. It's a off months PPV and this match did serve it's purpose. Though Jannetty seems like a lameduck champ since he would have lost if it wasn't for D Lo. I think, Jannetty needs to drop that title soon.

In retro, Envy needed that win. It doesn't help elevate Snow but this heel stable hasn't done anything significant for about a month. It was nice to bee reminded of Mavia again. Maybe the Nash and Maivia feud will be restarted afterall since Rocky was referring to Nash. Does that mean Nash wins the title tonight? I hope not. Poor Hart deserves so much better than a 1 months reign.

Wow, I wasn't expecting the Ahmed and Henry feud to go past tonight. It looks like you're serious about pushing Henry. You did a good job of putting him over as a monster but keeping Ahmed pretty strong too.

So, Goldust was playing mind games all along. I like it. It was sweet reading that Goldust was pouding the crap out of HHH. Some sweet retribution for all the months he was used. I looked forward to seeing this feud progress. It looks like it is long from being over. Maybe a streat fight for the next PPV?

Wow, what a brutal match between Cactus and Vader. That was the definition of a hardcore match at it's finest. A really big blow off to a feud that really did nothing for me. Hopefully, this has elevated Cactus back in his rightful spot in the main event.

I think it's only a matter of time before the Suicide Blonds take the title. Matches like this only make the build up to the win that much sweeter. You're doing a good job of making the tag titles seem important. I am definitely looking forward to a rematch.

Michaels definitely has new found a violent streak. As much as I wanted Austin to win the feud, I am liking the Michaels make over. Maybe he will become heel afterall.

Wow, Jacobs wins clean and no appearance by 'Taker. Wasn't expectin that. It definitely got him over as a true threat. Maybe even in position for a title shot?

DAMMIT! Big Lazy wins the title. Poor Bret. This won't make him any happier. It looks like he may be on his way out of the WWF. I was hoping he'd have a longer reign. It doesn't look like you'll make any effort to try to appease Bret. Too bad. I am intrigued to see what will happen with Nash and Michaels. I'm guessing Jammes is destined to be lost in the shuffle and that doesn't bother me.

A pretty good show with some shocking booking decisions. Definitely nothing badly booked. I can understand taking the title off someone who isn't happier and could soon be asking for his release. I hope you end up trying to keep Bret on.

A decent show and look forward to see what direction you can take with the world title. A lot of people that could be line for a shot. Definitely interested in Michaels and what happens with him.

Predict-o-rama for the show that I didn't think would really mean much in your universe. Now, I believe has potential for lots and lots of intrigue.

Bret Hart© Vs. Kevin Nash

Unless you have given up on Hart, I don't see your top heel dropping the title after not even one month. Besides, I am pretty sure you eluded to Nash taking some vacation time even though he had a massive vacation last year. Maybe he will be repackaged as Diesel? Anyway, Hart will walk out as champ and move on to an Ahmed title feud.

"Party Boy" Marty Jannetty© Vs. Francis Cloutier

Even though I don't think Marty deserves to be IC champ, it seems to be the run WWF wants to give him. I can't see the rather new Cloutier be given the ball so soon in his career. I'm saying Marty walks out with the title after D Lo interferes to cost Cloutier the title. Though there is always the chance you give the title to Cloutier to add some heat to the D Lo feud. I'm sensing a Party Boy win.

Brian Pillman and Chris Benoit© Vs. Suicide Blonds

Last time these four met on PPV, the Blonds weren't ready to be champions. Now, I think it is definitely their time. I believe WWF is ready for a new team on top. Especially with WWF starting to form a lot of new heel teams. Maybe Beniot and Pillman are ready for singles run? Anyway, I say the young blonds pull off the 'upset' and move on to a program with the Dynasty.

Last Man Standing Match

Shawn Michaels Vs. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin

Austin will put up a gutsy performance but HBK will walk away with the win. Austin has won the majority of the feud thus it's Michaels time for a key win. I'm thinking, Michaels will go overboard and walk away seeming very heelish. He might even beat up Austin more after the contest. Either way, I think Austin will start to look like the next World title contender. But Michaels needs a win to set up Hart v. Michaels 2 for the title, soon.

Chain Match

Cactus Jack Vs. Vader

Time for Jack to get his win back. Cactus deserves to be at the main event and a win here should help start to re-elevate him there. It should be a brutal match with both guys looking vicious. It will be the night of Cactus this time.

If Scott Hall Wins, He Gets A Shot At The WWF Championship

Scott Hall Vs. Jacobs

UT will return to distract Jacobs and cause him to lose. Thus Hall (not Ahmed) can be the man to challenge Hart next. Jacobs will probably be protected in order to keep him strong for 'Taker.

Mark Henry Vs. Ahmed Johnson

Henry's purpose is to put over Johnson as something amazing. I can't see Johnson doing the job here nor should he.

Goldust Vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley

Will we even get a match here? Part of me thinks the last few weeks has been mind games by Goldust. He may even be ready to take out HHH. There is another chance that Goldust won't want to fight HHH and end up getting beaten pretty bad. Either way, I think Hunter gets the win in order to set up a rematch.

Mr. Perfect and Rick Martel Vs. Al Snow and Ken Shamrock

Snow and Shamrock seem to be the guys you want to elevate. Martel and Perfect don't seem to be rising up the ladder but rather remain in their current spot on the card. The faces go over here but it should be a good one.

Tie Breakers

1. What will be the first match of the night? IC title match

2. Which match will get the best match quality in EWR? Last Man Standing - HBK v. SCSA

3. Which match will get the worst match quality in EWR? Johnson v. Henry

4. How many titles will change hands? 1

5. What's going to be the match before the main event? Michaels v. SCSA

6. Will anyone debut? And if so, Who's debuting? No, but 'Taker and Owen will return.

Okey Dokey, I'll review this bad boy while I read it.

A pretty generic Backstory but it at least explains why things will be changing on the beloved Smackdown. Be interesting to see who Vince wants brought in. I'm expecting they will be hosses.

Isn't Nash signed to a written deal to TNA?

I was going to comment on the date but you already basically said you'll ignore that little inconsitency. So will I. Kind of.

It looks like your skipping a possible Booker v. Lashley feud in prefernce for continuing Finlay/Lashley. Not necessarily a bad thing but Lashley did spear Booker through a throne. You'd think that is an issue that needs to be resolved.

I sort of would have liked JBL to move on. He is the US champion and as long as he feuds with Rey, the US title will be ignored. I don't like that.

Wow, a Funaki push! It must be that time of the year again.

I recognize that Henry needs to be squashing people in order to get over as a monster. I disagree with Gunner Scott as your choice. WWE had been pushing Scott fairly well before this night. This one squash basically kills the Gunner push dead. He's now basically in the same spot as Hardy and Burchill, do we really need another talented guy that jobs every week? The bigger problem I have is the impact this would do to Booker. Booker has been pinned by Scott on two occasions. Yet Henry just squashed him like a bug. This makes Booker seem pretty insignificant since he can't beat someone who is essentially a jobber. Poor booking choice here.

Tatanka has been hyped for weeks through video packages about his return to Smackdown. Then he jobs? What a waste of money. I think, Helms could have been better showcased in a match with a Cruiser.

Blah, no interest in 'Taker resurrecting again. This isn't your fault because this is obviously the direction WWE is going. I'm just tired of it. I don't really know what alternative you could have done.

Um, I thought Chavo quit wrestling???? All of sudden he is in Rey's corner for a match and he is fine with wrestling again? Big plot hole there. You should have at least done a segment earlier that would have had Chavo give a reason why he is suddenly unretired. Chavo's big return is to job!?!

Looks like the Lashley/Booker issue isn't forgotten. I spoke too soon. Oopsy.

Uh, what happend to the comments from Melina and Nitro? Or any mention of that? It was promised in the preview yet we got nothing. Did you forget? Oh well, probably better since in real life the two are suspended and wouldn't be on TV.

An okay show. Some small plot holes but all in all, a good starting point. You've continued some of the stories that need to continue and have started up some interesting new ones. I'd still rather Rey move on to someone new. Sad, that Benoit got nothing this week. Especially when Funaki got some exposure. Something that I can't see the real WWE or Vince doing.

I don't think WWE promised a World Title shot for winning KOTR. This is directed more at a commenter than anything you have mentioned.

It looks like someone has already addressed lots of things that I brought up. I still think you really should have explained Chavo being in the ring better than you you did -- which was, you didn't explain at all.

Meh, Gunner jobs on Velocity too. You've basically pissed away eveyrthing the WWE did with him. Booker loses to Gunner but Funaki beats him! Come on!

Once again, I don't think KOTR was for a title shot. Did Teddy ever claim that it was???? Brock's KOTR win was the only time it was ever for a title shot.

Next Smackdown. . .

Ugh, not a fan of the Confinement match. It sounds like a poor man's Elimination Chamber. Smackdown doesn't need to be percieved anymore as a B-show to Raw. Now they steal ideas but they aren't even as good?

I like Noble being used. It'll be cool to see if this leads to him being a face. Or are things heading towards several guys chasing after the title???

Basham's gimmick has potential of being comedy gold. Or Wrestlecrap. Either way, it'll be fun for a few weeks at least. After that, he's probably Velocity bound.

Orlando should have been the guys for Henry to squash last week. That's guy who needs to be repackaged or he's doomed to jobberdom.

Uh, Finlay was supposed to be fighitng Animal??? Do you do the previews before you simulate? Anyway, face v. heel is a better combo than heel v. heel.

Hmm, Tatanka and Animal gets shots to be in a World title match???? Smackdown's roster is weak.

'Even when the win didn't matter'? What does that mean? I'm assuming it was non title thus it didn't matter as much if Rey lost? Anyway, hopefully, the confinement match isn't a way to prolong the blow off for JBL v. Rey. JBL needs to be defending his title before it loses value.

Okay, so decent first few shows. Not the biggest fan of not writing out the interviews. I'm glad you didn't dramatically change the product after only one show. It looks like it'll be a gradual thing. This diary definitely has some potential.

Hopefully, I gave you the type of feedback that you wanted from me. I can't promise that I'll be checking this out regurally. Good luck. (Y)

Bret Hart has been dropping Owen's name a lot. My spider sense is definitely tingling. Could we be seeing the return of Owen on Sunday? Will Owen return as a face? Or will Owen return and reunite with his brother? Maybe on Raw Bret will reveal Owen's retirement was lifted in the place that Owen agreed to join him. A lot of different directions you could go and I'm really interested to see what happens. I really do hope you've been dropping Owen's name because you're trying to remind us of him for when he returns. But I think I remember a news report saying Owen was going to return with an army of USWA guys. Maybe you scrapped that idea?

I hope Bret retains. I really would like for him to have a longer run than just a month. I fear you may drop the title off him because my impression is his morale is low.

Scorp won the Euro title and I couldn't be happier. (Y) Too bad he doesn't have a slot at the PPV. I'm interested to see who his first challenger ends up being.

IYH: Almost Human may not be the best built PPV ever but there is a lot of intrigue going into this. Will Undertaker return? Is Nash going bye bye for a bit? Is Owen returning? What will happen in the Goldust v. Hunter match? Is Goldust just playing mind games or does he really not want to fight Hunter? I am really digging the Goldust storyline since it's not obvious what the direction is. I'm sure this thing is far from over.

Shocked Rocky was pinned cleanly. I know it was to Ahmed but you seemed to be giving Rocky a big push. He holds big wins over the number one contender and my memory says Nash never got revenge. I'm sure Rocky will be destined for more greatness. I look forward to seeing where Ahmed goes. I always though he had loads of potential during this time period.

Too bad about the Hakushi depush. I have no problem with a Storm push either. A Devon Storm v. Hakushi feud wouldn't be the worse thing ever.

I didn't know you still had PG-13. I thought you let them go. Or maybe you only got rid of JC Ice? I look forward to seeing who else joins the group. I really like you're adding personality and stories to the LH division. About time. Kudos.

I think, I'm much more pumped for the PPV now. I think it has a chance of being a sleeper hit. Glad that you appreciate my feedback even if it's usually critical. I'll keep reading and enjoying it. (Y)

A decent Raw that has done a good job of putting some sizzle into the Sunday PPV as well as working toward future storylines to develop after the PPV. An observation I've made, I believe you end your shows way too often with interviews/angles. I am a firm believer that a show should be capped off with a main event quality match as much as possible. Reserve the show closing angles for when they are really big. The interivew/angle segments lose their impact when it happens that way almost every week. That of course is only one goofs opinion.

I liked the idea of Nash having to put his career on the line. I thought you went about doing it in a very lazy fashion though. The commisioner throws that stip out there from nowhere. I know he has a history with Nash but he dislikes a lot of guys. Why did he suddenly just do this to Nash? I do like the stip because it doesn't make the main event a forgone conclusion. I was 100% positive Hart had to go over since he was a new champ but now with Nash's career on the line it adds some mystery to the finish.

I still think Hart needs to go over. I'm guessing, Nash will be taking a little vacation. Though be careful of overusing these career ending stip matches. You did one with Ahmed and Owen. Ahmed is back and Owen will be. The matches lose their luster when you know they are only taking a short paid vacation. Stips lose there impact when they happen often or if the fan doesn't believe them anymore.

No problems with the Ahmed push. The WWF was really behind the guy before he started injurying himself and others on a weekly basis. If he could have stayed healthy, I'm positive he would have been the first black WWF champion before the Rock did the feat. In his peak, I'd say Ahmed was more talented and interesting than Goldberg ever was. Be interested to see how far his push goes.

I love that Scorpio has himself a storyline and is even getting a decent push. I'm sensing we could be looking at the new European Champion this Friday. I can't see Marty holding two titles for too long. It diminishes the value of them in my view. It will be interesting to see if this angle leads to Scorp going heel which seems to be the direction at this point. I partly think it won't lead to heel turn since you just recently gave Scorp the 'Fun Babyface' gimmick.

You know that Marissa isn't Maria, right? You seem to have Marrisa act a little like the current day Maria. I don't know if Shane - O - Mac would like having his wife portrayed as a dim bulb every week.

Once again, it was a fairly decent show which purpose was to add the final touches to the PPV. A PPV that doesn't have me all that excited but it's decent for a 'off-month' show. I'm sure some interesting plot development will come from it. It might even be the show that starts to elevate some of the lower/mid card guys. I am very intrigued to see what happens in the Goldust and HHH match. It's a very unique story and nothing like anything you have right now. I'm just itching for Goldust to finally react unkindly to the man who has used him for months. Maybe HHH will finally reveal he was behind the Marlena attack? I could see that setting off Goldy. Anyway, it's probably one of the most interesting stories you have right now. Keep up the good work.

Alright, you're going to hate me because I'm nitpicking here. You've got some wrestlers on the roster that haven't debuted yet or in gimmicks that haven't started yet. The Bootyman gimmick wasn't around yet and at this point he was most definitely still the Zodiak (I remember the Zodiak coming in after the Clash of Champions main event to be beat up by Hogan and Kevin Green). I am pretty sure Hugh Morrus hasn't debuted(arrived in June-ish, I think). The Steiner Brothers didn't debut until February or so. Rey Misterio debuted in June and Juvi debuted in September -- so this would have been their first match in WCW. I'm pretty sure there was a few other guys that you jumped the gun on. I just found it harder to get into the diary when alignments, rosters and storylines weren't quite accurate. Plus why is Bischoff a heel? Why isn't he commentating with Mongo and the Brain? Oh yeah, Kimberly should be with Badd who was feuding with DDP.

At this time, I'd say WCW would be very close in Public Image with the WWF. They traded Monday Night ratings back and forth every week it seemed. For the record, One Man Gang v. Kensuke Sasaki was a dark match at the PPV and wasn't considered the main event. Only the paying audience saw the match and I think it was later aired on an episode of the Main Event. WCW wasn't even acknowledging OMG as the champ yet.

What happend to the promised #1 contenders match for the tag titles?

The style of WCW didn't really seem to fit early 1996 either. At the time, almost all interview would have been conducted by Mean Gene. The wrestler coming to the ring to do an 'on the fly' interview didn't start happening until the nWo. Matches being booked for the evening on the fly also didn't start happening until later in the year or even maybe early '97. That type of storytelling and angles is a very new concept to wrestling. You basically had a cutting edge show here. The announcers should have really pumped up the fact that guys were just showing up out of nowhere to cut promos by themselves. And that matches were being booked on the fly. At the time, fans were used to the entire line up being set for the evening.

I did like the stories. I like the fact that the main event scene is cluttered with a bunch of guys wanting a title shot. It should lead to some interesting story telling. I like a the TV title push for Regal but don't forget he is partners with Bobby Eaton at this point. I believe Taylor joins the group very close to this time too. Another thing, Finlay hasn't debuted yet and when he did, he had a goal of taking out Regal (of course, you can go any direction you want). Hopefully, Pillman and the other Horsemen won't be forgotten either. Actually at this time, Horsemen were having troubles with the Dungeon due to Pillman's mouth. Though they also sort of had an alliance since Hart helped Flair pin Savage for the title. Hopefully, you explore those aspects too.

Anyway, a good first show. Sorry for being such a stickler for detials. In a few weeks, it won't matter anyway since you'll have taken things in a new direction. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on things.

Wow, that was an absolutely great Post PPV Raw. It's opened the doors for some new stories and feuds. It had a few twists and shocks. Really well done and exactly the type of great effort expected from a Raw after the 2nd biggest PPV of the year.

I'm really glad Hart walked away with the title. I was really concerned that you were going to start demoting him which I didn't agree with since he is your top heel. Now he's the champ and I think you have lots of possible match ups. It's looking like he'll be fighting Nash at the next PPV. Soon, he will probably go against Hall and eventually he'll need the rubber match with Michaels.

Looking forward to the steel cage match at the next Raw. That will make next week's Raw another must see show.

Really sitnks that Aguila is now out for 9 months. It looked quite possibly he was set to go for the title against Hakushi. You spend all that time hyping him and he then gets injured after his debut. Rough.

I can't express how big of a fan I am of the possibility of Jannetty v. Scorpio. I've been a big mark of Scorpio ever since he debuted in WCW in '92. He evern pinned your golden boy, Wright. I enjoyed the tension between Scorp and Jannetty after the match.

Interested to see who Hall has to go up against. I have a feeling it might be someone debuting.

I look forward to seeing the rebuttal of Goldust for next Raw. It should be very interesting. This has been the feud that has almost been 6 months in the making. I doubt IYH will be the blow off but it should still be a hot match. I'm seeing this thing going until at least Survivor Series.

Didn't you sign Phoebe Elizabeth to an open contract? Too bad you never got to use her.

I like the debut of Darnel Porter. It's good to start hyping up some of the light heavyweights. I finally think you're starting to put some effort into making this a division that matters.

All in all, a really great show. I'm really pumped for the next week's show which should be a doozy. Steel Cage!!!!

Oh yeah, for the guy who asked, Kip Parker is Tom Pritchard.

The second biggest PPV of the year has finally arrived. I've noticed you've cut down the length of your match summaries significantly. I don't think that was necessarily a bad thing. It still got across the point for each match. Though I did find the commentary inbetween each match didn't always add to things. The commentators seemed to go on and on about what they had just seen sometimes. A little shorter segues may have kept things slicker.

I totally bombed on my predictions for this show. The only match that had any title changes was in the match that had to have one. I believe the handicap match was the only 'top match' that I even got right. Not a good showing for me at all.

Bulldog taking the fall makes me think he may be on his way out. Hall scoring the pin makes me think he isn't going anywhere. I'm really concerned about the future of Hart. I was quite shocked to see him not win the title tonight. It looks like Jacobs will be getting the next big world title main event. I'm a little surprised by that. The match has been about 3 months in the build up, so it probably deserves to be main eventing. I really don't know where Hart goes from here. I fear he may be on his way out. But PLEASE don't do a Screw Job for Survivor Series because I'm really sick of those being redone in diaries.

Rocky was kept strong by not taking the fall. It looks like you will be continuing that storyline. That is probably the better way to go then to have blown it off here which I had predicted.

Were more seeds planted for a Shawn Michaels heel turn? He beat up the ref and seemed really upset about his loss. I've been wanting this since his Cactus feud. Hopefully, that is the direction this is going. WWF has too many faces on top and the Michaels act is pretty stale.

Looking like it might be the Mystery Masked man making a huge debut by taking the title off Hakushi. Not really a fan of people winning titles on debuts though. Of course, you might not be going that direction at all.

Not a good night for returning to the ring superstars. Both Perfect and Kanyon take the falls. Hopefully, this leads to better things for Kanyon.

Vader was put over huge. Looks like you will not let him go the same route that WWF allowed him to go. I'm all for keeping him a monster. Vader at this point was still able to work thus he should be pushed. Though I don't know where poor Cactus goes from here. I don't want him lost in the shuffle either.

I wanted Goldust to be the one to finally stand up to Hunter. He has looked like a complete moron for always thinking Hunter gives a damn about him. At the same time, it was time to pull the trigger on the split up. It's been going for a long time and you can only keep it interesting for so long. Hopefully, Goldust is able to tear a hole out of Hunter on RAW or whenever Goldust comes back if you plan to have sell the beating for a bit.

I'll say it again, I'm really glad Austin went over. Even if it meant I got another prediction wrong.

The show seemed to lack a big time supercard feel. Nothing really huge happend other than Hunter finally dropping Goldust. At the same time, it still served it's purpose for now. Maybe even the blow offs didn't seem that big because most of these matches were only developed in the last month. It was a decent show. It will open the door for some interesting directions leading into Survivor Series. It does look like that PPV may be minus poor Bulldog and Hart. It's interesting because it seems like the guys you really like are the guys I'd be more apt to push off a tall skyscraper. The guys you tend to dislike would be the ones I'd want to keep around for a long time. Oh well, I'm still reading.

A solidly booked COTC. I forgot to remark in my last post of how great it was to see Tully and Arn reunited. I'm getting a sneaky feeling that Sid may soon be replaced too. I'm hoping it isn't by Ole Anderson because he's too old at this point to fill his role properly. Plus I was never really a big fan of the guy. Another point, the 4rth position should be filled by one of the 'futures' of WCW. I'd vote Austin except it looks like he's destined to be aligned with Cornette which is a pretty solid pairing. Though off the top of my head, I can't think of another really solid addition. Of course, I'm jumping the gun because Sid may not be going anywhere. I'm just sensing it because he hasn't been holding his end of the bargain lately and the Horsemen don't tend to tolerate such things.

Really stinks about the injury to Snow. I liked the show of respect that Eaton payed to Snow after the match but too bad such a rub has been wasted since Snow is sidelined. Maybe Eaton will move on to a feud with Stan Lane since it's obvious you're bringing him back and Eaton most definitely seems to be going face now.

Love the debut of Rick Rude. A Rude v. Luger contest was a dream match for me as a kid. Now, I finally get to see it. . . errr, read it. Heyman shouldn't be too pleased that he has been replaced by the Body in the broadcast booth. Are we going to witness the Dangerous Alliance a year early? With the same very similar. very 'NWo-ish' storyline? I hope so. Though the stable may lose some power with the Horsemen already existing.

Interested to see were Vader calling out more competition goes.

Love the slow build with Pillman and Zenk. Very similar to how things would be played out during this time period. Keep up the interesting and slow story telling.

Kimberly heel turn was so easy to call. But that isn't a bad thing because telegraphing was the expected during this time period. Plus she works better with the Diamond Mine than with the Japanese team.

I didn't think Flair would win tonight. Not sure why. I had a feeling you'd save it for the next PPV. The finish almost screams rematch and maybe with a gimmick? I'd say Flair is ready to take that title now, though.

Oh yeah, Cornette being upset with Eaton raising Snow's hand tells me that Jimmy might be bringing in Stan Lane to teach him a lesson on being a heel. It looks like Cornette will be forming himself a stable too. Wow, there is a lot of heel stables in this WCW. That isn't a bad thing because it was actually pretty common during this time period. Especially since there was a very distinct pecking order with lower card, mid carrd and main event being very well defined. It makes sense to have a stable for each position.

Keep on bringing me those months. I'm aching for the full shows again.

I'm a little saddened to hear this is the last of the full write ups until you hit June game time. I was really digging this diary. If it gets you to newer shows faster then I have no real reason to complain.

As for your TNT question, I believe it started in 1988 but didn't start becoming the premier network until mid 90s. It started off showing mainly old movies that Turner owned at the time (he bought the library of several films and pissed everyone off when he added colour to them - WWF even mocked this once).

I am fan of you telegraphing angles and events. That was a very big 80s and early 90s wrestling thing to do. It wasn't until the Monday Night Wars when 'swerving' really became a common part of wrestling. I'm not saying there wasn't shocks before then but I am saying it wasn't a common practice. Honestly, your booking is pretty true to the time period as long as I ignore a few small details (like the stacked shows).

And 4 ways! I say you should have saved doing a multi man match for the World title or something special. Since the matches would have been relatively unheard of at the time. They shouldn't have been blown off on something so minor.

Clash of the Champions was marvelously built to. I'm disappionted to know that I won't get a full write up on it. The show should be really solid and a lot of great potential stories coming out of it.

I love the Zenk & Pillman stuff. I enjoyed the segment were Zenk really wanted to team with Pillman but Brian told him they shouldn't ever be a team again. It's looking like Zenk will wish he stuck to Pillman's words.

Austin is fantastic. I loved him in real life when he first debuted and I love him in this diary. Though despite what a few readers have said, Austin was actually pushed really well by WCW for his first few years. It wasn't until Hogan arrvied that Austin really got screwed over. Even the premature break up of the Blondes did more damage to Pillman than it ever did to Austin (who shortly after got the US title). He was clearly being groomed for the World title.

You know the Russian Sickle is a lariat, right? You keep on saying Nikita applies the Russian Sickle which makes me think you're envisioning a nerve hold of some type.

I sort of got an overdose of your shows so I'm having a hard time remembering everything that I just read. I'm sure I'll comment on things when it comes back to me. Great stuff. I am really looking forward to when you get to the new material.

Yet another very decent but very stacked episode of WCW television. I'll just need to come to terms with the fact you aren't shooting for totall realism. Instead I'll just enjoy the well written characters and intriguing stories being crafted.

Two comments that I totally forgot about last post. 1) They didn't have 'tap outs' in 1991 and the tap out didn't become the popular way to submit until shootfighting became pretty popular ('97/'98 was that start of the tap out), 2) I don't think Sid should have been beaten so cleanly. At the time WCW seemed to do as much as they could to protect Sid. Even Sting's win at Havoc was through a simple roll up. It takes a bit away from the aura of the monster Sid when he's submitting especially since submitting was reallly rare in the early '90s.

Wow, my first thoughts on reading the header for Z-Man v. Austin was 'Oh crap, TGC is making Austin a jobber!' Then Austin basically beat Z-Man cleanly for the title which would have been huge in '91. People never got titles shots in their debut and heels rarely were able to defeat a name wrestler cleanly. I'm guessing, Austin is in line for a super duper push. Which is actually pretty close to how he was treated initially in WCW since he won the TV title pretty close to his debut match (only his debut match was in mid '91, I think).

Austin's interview was fun. You did a decent job of not making him sound like Stone Cold which is extrememly important. The 'Stunning' character was such an opposite of what the Stone Cold character became. I remember the promos being strikingly different. I believe you were able to convey that.

Bischoff's comment about Austin not being a long term presence made me chuckle.

I don't like the Armstrong being relegated to jobbers. Brad is way too talented to be stuck in jobbing purgatory. He was always one of those wrestlers that deserved so much more then he got. But then again, what a lousy match rating for the tag considering who was in it. I guess, Brad not selling is what hurt the rating so badly or the stats you had didn't fairly represent one of the workers during this time. Surprised Brad didn't sell since he was always a company man. I'm saddened if this has lead to no push for him.

I always thought Windham has decent promo skills. Shocked once again to see the two Horsemen lose overness in a promo.

It was sort of odd reading Pillman being able to jump right back up after being hit with a reverse ddt. During this time period, a move like that would be able to almost kill a wrestler. Oh well, I'm nitpicking.

Speaking of nitpicking, I hate to do this but your audience would have been wondering what the hell Kevin Nash was going on about with yellow brick roads and Oz. Because Oz didn't debut until Superbrawl of that year against some token jobber (but a real jobber, not Brad Armstrong). It was a little hard to get into the character make over of Nash when the only previous gimmick he had was as a Master Blaster (which actually, he would have been doing up until about Nov. '90?). I'll just pretend I heard Nash bashing his rather lame Master Blaster schtick.

Muta jobbing? BAD! Why is WCW flying in these hot Japenese talent to only get squashed? Sounds like a waste of money to me. Especially since Muta was eternally over with the WCW fans after his '89 stint and could have always been trusted to come in for one shot deals at supercards.

Who who who? Isn't 'woof woof woof'? Isn't the whole deal that Rick Steiner is a dog? Or have I been totally clueless all these years? Is the gimmick actually that Rick doesn't know who anybody is?

It is looking like we will have a 3 way for the US title. And no, it didn't exist around this time period. WCW's first attempt at anything like a three way would have been the triangle match at Fall Brawl '94. Even then, it was more of a mini-gauntlet. Coin toss to see which two guys would wrestle first and the winner fought the third guy. Oh well, you've already told me your guys are trailblazers so blaze away!!!

Another fairly decent show. Worldwide was never on TBS, was it? I always thought it was the syndicated show. This would have been WCW Pro or something similar to that. Anyway, in the end it doesn't really matter too much. A good show that continues to keep me interested to see what is next.

Edit:

Okay, once I posted this I noticed you since got another show up. It was another fairly fun show that started the hype job for the Clash. I am already pretty excited for what should be an excellent Clash of Champions. I agree with rvdwannabe that it stinks that Eaton went over Liger but lost his push by jobbing out to Snow. Especially since Snow would have been a complete unknown to the casual fan. But Snow v. Eaton should be a pretty decent program and it's nice to see Snow get recognized during his prime. I like the return of Cornette and will be interested to see how he is used. The finish to the main event was telegraphed once Sting put the stipulation on it. Who else could Sting possibly face? I still enjoyed the main event and realize it's the right finish. Everything else was pretty servicable if not forgettable. A decent show to continue getting me stoked for what should be an excellent supercard in the Clash.

First off, I am really excited to get the chance to read WCW 1991 since I wasn't around when you first started this thing. The last time you reposted it, it was already several pages thus it intimidated me. Now, I can check this thing out from the ground up.

Back story was excellent as it was written in your usual unique style. I can't describe other than that TGC style. It was a good way to re-introduce us to the disaster that was 1990. Though 1990 was a dream compared to what 1991 actually turned out to be. Anyway, I don't see you getting rid of Flair thus no problems there.

I've got a few opinions on the first episode but I do realize they are pretty useless since it's only a reposting at this point. I always have one big pet peeve with most diaries that attempt to do wrestling pre-Monday Night War era. The shows are always way too stacked and have way too much happening. Back in the day, you're looking at maybe one major angle, one or two name v. name matches and the rest is filled with squashes. I know WCW was much better on giving quality matches than WWF was at this point but they still had a lot of jobber matches. I don't mean Brad Armstrong jobber but I'm talking Bob Cook and George South jobbers. Despite your excellent grasp of the characters, there is a slight lack of realism. Especially since you stacked the show with THREE title matches and title matches with really big names. This show would have been considered a supershow if it actually happen in 1991.

Wasn't Page managing the Freebirds already at this point???? If I'm going to nit pick, I am also very positive that Harley Race was not managing Vader. That didn't happen until Vader became more full time in mid 91. I know for a fact that Jesse Venture didn't show up in WCW until SuperBrawl 2 ('92). I'm being a obsessive wrestling fan so I'll stop.

I think, it's a good sign when my gripes are such minor details. It was a great show that helped establish some of the ongoing stories. I'm intrigued to see where the Tom Zenk and Brian Pillman friction goes. It will be interesting to see who Page brings in as his big gun. Not a fan of Nikita's potential money feud with Luger just being thrown out in his return match. Maybe this will lead to a three way??? Flair v. Sting seems set as the next big show's main event. I wonder if you'll let Sting hold on the title for a bit longer? Oh yeah, back to the nitpicking, I don't believe Liger even debuted into WCW until October '91 thus this match wouldn't have been his return. It sort of stinks he jobbed out right away.

Seriously, I did enjoy the show even if it may not read like it. I'm interested in the direction of almost all the storylines at this point.

Rufino v. Chetti: The non-sensical push of the man with wrestling's silliest name continues. That may have been the most non-sensical sentence I've ever typed. What is the 'Trip to New Jersey'? Other than the worse finishing name around. It's good to see Chetti get some offense but if you're going to keep Rufini undefeated than you need to really push this guy. He needs to start showing up on Raw or Mayhem and getting wins that matter. Or even having a program for him would be good. At this point, his wins aren't really doing anything for his career in WWF. If you have nothing for him or don't really want to push him too hard, I just wonder why he has this huge win streak.

Blonds v. Godwinns: A Godwinn heel turn can only be a good thing. There current gimmick just doesn't fit with this time period anymore. Is Hillbilly Jim still with them? You definitely should keep Godwinns around since there high tag experience should always mean decent match quality.

Hakushi v. Storm: I originally misread one of the lines and thought it said Storm walked out of RSN with the title. I was completely shocked you did such a ballsy move on the C-show right before the PPV. I then realized, I can't read and I was totally wrong. Good to see Storm push Hakishi to the limits and maybe he can start getting a push in the LH division. I also like Hakushi having the whole blowing mist gimmick. I've always thought it was cool ever since Killer Kahn did it way back in the day. Yes, I'm dating myself.

Chavo v. Mike: You got to love RSN with all the LH matches. It's definitely the work rate show. Still disheartening that the crowd responses are still so low. These guys deserve so much more than being relegated to RSN. Hopefully, the four way can steal the show at Summerslam and lead to a better push for the division. I'm also fine with Mikey getting a push but he needs a less bush league name.

Cloutier v. Bradshaw: Poor Justin gone from being on a PPV to jobbing on RSN. Though it looks like you gave Bradshaw an 'injury' in order for the hoss to keep some heat. Cloutier is gold and deserves a solid push. I do look forward to Cloutier v. D Lo. I'm sure Bradshaw will get another push soon because afterall, he is a hoss.

DLo v. Diamond: So the face side of the six man scores another win. I'm beginning to think the heel may win the six man except I just can't see that happening. It was good to see these guys get the main event slot. A nice preview for a SummerSlam match even if it's the big throw away match on the PPV.

I'm glad you agree with the 'debate style' angle in feuds. I look forward to seeing what changes you implement for the next set of feuds. It should be a interesting time after Summerslam for sure.

Now it's time for SummerSlam predictions:

World Wrestling Federation Championship

Casket Match

The Undertaker© Vs. Bret Hart

I'm thinking it's time to close the door on the Undertaker title reign. Bret Hart is the new top heel and he needs a big win. I think, Bret with the title opens up a lot of possible challengers and feuds. It's looking like Undertaker is entering into a feud with Bearer's Army and at this point, it looks like a bunch of guys that don't deserve to be in the title scene. I'm thinking Jacob's will interfere at Summerslam and help shove 'Taker into the casket. Probably 'Taker will disappear for a bit but then return from the dead in time for revenge at the next PPV. Exactly how WWF likes to do their 'Taker storyline. I'm sure I'll have lots of snarky remarks regarding it all.

World Wrestling Federation Intercontinental Championship

World Wrestling Federation European Championship

Flag Match

"Party Boy" Marty Jannetty© Vs. Alex Wright©

Wright has had the title for awhile but Marty is still a brand new champion. I'm guessing, Marty isn't losing the title this soon and Wright will move on to bigger things (because you heart Wright). I don't know what will end up happening with the Euro title, maybe a tourney?

World Wrestling Federation Tag Team Championship

Helmsleydust Vs. Brian Pillman and Chris Benoit©

I'm thinking, Goldust gets his revenge on Pillman. HelmsleyDust will have a very short title reign but right now, Goldust needs to win his feud with the evil tag champs. I'm guessing Hunter will turn shortly but not tonight. Instead, they will win the titles and seem like a united group. Without Marlena, Hunter can manipulate Goldust for a while more. Eventually, Hunter will sicken of being with Goldust and show his true colours. I think, the storyline works best if Goldust eventually stands up to Hunter rather than Hunter just turning on Goldust. Either way, tonight will be a good night for the Golden one.

World Wrestling Federation Light Heavyweight Championship

Four Corners Match

Hakushi© Vs. Craig Finney Vs. Chavo Guerrero Vs. Ron Killings

I'm thinking, Hakushi's time is up as champ. He hasn't really caught the world on fire. I could see the title transitioning over to Finney. I'm picking Killings because he seems really over and he is a brand new face to elevate. Should be a great match.

Hardcore Match

Cactus Jack Vs. Vader

It's time to permanently move Cactus to the main event scene. He needs a big win over Vader. I wouldn't be surprised if this was only the beginning of this feud.

Two On Three Handicap Match

Kevin Nash and Al Snow Vs. Mr. Perfect, Rocky Maivia and Rick Martel

Not the best way to establish the new heel faction but I'm sensing a win for the faces. It'll be a whole fighting against the odds type of story. I'm sure the Envy will get revenge the next night on Raw. Tonight, Nash gets some revenge on the loud mouthed Pebble.

Shawn Michaels Vs. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin

It's not the ending I want. I am sensing that Stone Cold has gotten the edge too often leading into this PPV. Austin will put up a hell of fight but HBK will walk out the better man. I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't the end of the feud, though.

Chris Kanyon and Hollywood Holly Vs. Scott Hall and Sean Waltman

It's Kanyon's return thus I predict a big upset win for him. I also think he will end up pinning Hall. It will be a good chance to start elevating the man who has Creative Control and an unsackable contract.

British Bulldog, Mr. Yokozuna and Simon Diamond Vs. Ahmed Johnson, D'Lo Brown and Ken Shamrock

It's the B-Team v. the heavily pushed faces. This match is a gimme. I see no reason for the heels to win here. Ahmed is moving on to the World title scene. D'Lo is rapidly elevating up the ladder. Shamrock always seems to be in a decent spot. I see the B-teamers continuing their jobbing ways.

Tie Breakers

1. What will be the first match of the night? Flag match - Wright v. Marty

2. Which match will get the best match quality in EWR? Michaels v. Austin

3. Which match will get the worst match quality in EWR? 6 man tag

4. How many titles will change hands? (titles can't change hands by DQ, No contests, Etc) 4

5. What's going to be the match before the main event? Austin v. Michaels

6. Will anyone debut? And if so, Who's debuting? no

7. Who will take the fall in the four corners match? (who will be the loser) Hakushi

8. Who will take the fall in the handicap match? (who will be the loser) Rocky

Killngs v. Swinger: It's good to see the light heavies finally getting some decent crowd responses. Killings seems to be getting a pretty solid push. I was surprised to hear Swinger is your most over heel since he seems to be the designated jobber at this point. Maybe this will all change after SummerSlam.

HBK Not Out: 'Do you want me to hug you? Cause I will' That's a classic line and I could see the deranged Austin saying it. Very funny. Did I detect a little bit of heelishness with HBK's words? Or am I pining too hard for HBK heel turn because I am sick of him as a face? I like the whole big talking but a little cowardly Austin. I really do hope he can pull off the win on Sunday.

Pillman/Beniot: I'm glad to see that the "Crippler" is back. I look forward to seeing how far off the handle Pillman will fly.

Johnson/Shamrock v. Corporate: Hmmmm. . . the faces get a clean win right before the PPV. Wrestling logic dictates that means the heels go over at Summerslam. I'm thinking instead it just really shows how much of a B-Team those three heels are at this point. Plus those 3 faces seem in line for big pushes and a loss to these heels would be bad. Especially since Ahmed should be in the title hunt after Summerslam.

Euro title match: Meh, a match between two guys I would normally turn the channel on if they appeared on TV. Arif is kept really strong with a Dusty Finish. Things with Marty and Wright get a little bit of heat added to their PPV match. I'd say this match served it's purpose. I have to say that I'm shocked that Arif is a face. I sort of assumed him as a Pacifist in a wrestling company would make him a heel. Oh well, Fatu is a big man that can work which may lead to a push with McMahon's hoss philosophy. I like Fatu as the wrestler but haven't got into this gimmick yet.

Heating up: Why didn't the announcers show total shock that Cactus was able to stand after being powerbombed off the stage on to concrete???? These guys have been taking beatings that are usually done to write a guy out. I can appreciate you are trying to make these guys seem super tough as nails. At the same time, it really going to desensitize people to big beat downs now. Jesse James is still out after merely being powerbombed through a table. Which makes him sort of weak. If you ever want o take Vader out for a few weeks, you'll now have to shoot him with a cannon and have run over with a mack truck. Even then, it'll only take him out for about an hour or so. Anyway, kidding aside, it's been a pretty wild feud and I'm sure the match will be crazier. It's no DQ right?

Holly v. Waltman: Not sure if having Kanyon being busted open right before his big return is good idea. Though I guess, Kanyon been beaten up for months now thus no point saving his big comm uppance for the PPV. I just wouldn't want to give Kanyon an injury excuse right before the PPV. Plus seems odd to use a 'blood' angle on such a midcard affair. Anyway, Holly gets the win which gives the heels some momentum going into the PPV. It's good that Holly and Kanyon have been getting the rub over two pretty big players.

Interesting: I like the planting of seeds with D Lo and Cloutier. They could have a really good match when it eventually leads to that. Though did Cloutier and Nash even have any resolution? I look forward to seeing who Cloutier uses to go after D Lo.

Who wil Envy?: Meh. Nothing new really explored here. Just some last second hype. You really do like doing the debate style promos for your feuds. It seems like almost every program gets at least one. You should look into trying to freshen up how you do some of the feuds and not make them seem too cookie cutter. Don't want your shows to all become generic. Anyway, Envy could end up being a really interesting stable but losing at Summerslam with the handicap advantage could be a very bad thing.

Main Event: The faces get the big win before the PPV. I'm liking the new ferocity from Goldust. It seems like Helmsly is a little more compliant now. Don't know if that is just the calm before the storm or if he'll end up being a partner for several months now. A decent match up that got the important players invovled before the PPV.

Not the first one scared: Good closing segment. I liked Hart begging to not be in the casket match and going on about it not being fair. It was done really well. I dug that Undertaker didn't say a thing the whole time but let his fists do the talking. I look forward to this match up. I also like no Bearer and his cheesy army!

You've been pulling off some high ratings lately. Good to see. Probably helps that your guys overness seem to be creeping into the 90s now. What is the max you can get on UPN? 6.45 seems pretty good.

Overall an okay pre-PPV effort. The point was to sell SummerSlam and you did that well enough. Keep up the good work.

Alrighty, I'll be leaving my thoughts while I read this bad boy.

Savio Interview: I think inserting Shamrock into this feud was a good cover since I'm sure the original intention was to have Stone Cold before he got attitude problems. This game seems to keep on handing you a sour deal even after you already stacked the odds against yourself. You always seem to find way to book yourself out of a corner. Anyway. this promo just doesn't sound like Savio to me. Though having him yell at the end has touches of the Vega I remember.

Cage: Norton beat Shamrock: I'm shocked the fans didn't seem too hot on Norton because he'd be coming fresh from WCW. Though he was only a nWo B-teamer which wouldn't warrant him the highest overness rating. I do like Norton as an addition and McMahon sure does love his hosses. WOW, Norton won completely clean! I was not expecting that at all. It's looking like you plan to give the boy a big push. Shamrock will need to do something big in order to get his heat back since he just got jobbed to a newbie. I'd have to say the belly to belly into the cage would have been an amazing visual.

Genius Joint: Got to be careful that Graham doesn't start resembling Dean Douglas or the Genius Lanny Poffo too much. Especially naming the segment the Genius Joint immediately make me think of Poffo rather than Richards. HHH's promo felt a little flat to me but then again, HHH wasn't cutting great promos at that point in his career anyway. Flair's promo was gold and you always write a great Flair promo. Flair alone has got me jacked for their match. I find it really hard to believe this feud will be blown off on Raw rather than a PPV. I smell a screwy finish. One more thing, did Flair only have 12 title reigns at this point? I'm thinking you are missing two because today Flair is a 16 time champion but I can only think of him winning two more after '98.

Jay Reso beat Taylor: Wow, check out those ratings! It's looking like you're getting the light heavy division over now. The complete squash by Reso doesn't really represent the 91 match rating this thing got. I'll just assume the rating was because Taylor bumped like a mad man. I'd say this rating indicate Scotty should be in line for a push because he appears to be over. I look forward to the Reso v. Taka feud. It's about time Taka has a program with someone else other than Christopher.

Quebecers give a piece to LOD: I like the Quebecers in this diary. It's interesting to see how different your tag division is in your reality compared to real WWF '98. NOA were a super team in reality but they also ended up being division killers since it took main eventers to be able to take the titles off them. Your division is much more competitive at this point.

The Rock Interview: Great interview! Very similar to a promo that the Rock cut in either '98 or '99 were he went through all the big catchphrases from past WWF main eventers. I enjoyed this a lot.

Merro/Kurrgan v. Rock/Kane: I was hoping for some new guys but I guess, we already got our surprise debut for the night. Plus this is probably better since it focuses on two major feuds in one match. I never thought I'd see the day Kurrgan was in a 83 match rating. I love the chicken shit Mero. The heels going over makes me think Rocky might be line for his title again come the PPV. This was definitely a fun segment that served it's purpose. Kurrgan and Kane came out of it looking like monsters too. Quick question, what happend to Corny again? Injured?

Jarrett & Rhodes getting ready: Nothing segment but it gets the mood ready for the next match.

Jarrett/Dustin beat NOA: An okay match that seemed to be set up for Rhodes v. Crush. It also served the purpose on getting the champion on the show. Though the NOA are really drifting at this point in time. They are pretty over so I think they need to be put into a top program. Though much like real life, I'm not sure if any tag team is in the league of the NOA.

Flair draws Hunter: I was almost postive we couldn't have a clean finish here. HHH beats up HHH, eh??? That was a very great match and definitely had the big time feel to it. We got ourselves the obvious screwy finish that I was suspecting. At the moment, the fans seem to feel all is right in the world until. . .

It's not over Yet: This was a classic screw job finish with the dueling refs. It gave us our 3 way which was the point. I'm interested to see what happens with Heat. Flair & Hunter v. Mero/Rock should be a interesting little overbooked delight.

So, that definitely gave off a big time Raw feel. This was a loaded show, for sure. The rating shows that because you got a doozy. I don't think you'll be able to pull off shows like this every week but then again, they wouldn't feel special if you did. Awesome show that have a PPV type of feel with it because of the cage match and huge main event.

It's been a very looooong time since I last commented on this diary. I'll be leaving my opinions/thoughts on this week's Raw while I read through it. Quick comment, this upcoming Summerslam card doesn't feel like a Summerslam card to me. It's supposed to be the second biggest show of the entire year. I haven't really felt the build for it has been typical of something a supercard would warrant. It might be because I'm of the thought that the bigger shows like Summerslam and Wrestlemania need to have blow off matches that have been built to for several months. It isn't exactly the case with this show since most of the matches seem to have been thrown together in the last few weeks. Though for a typical PPV, I'd say you've done a good job of shaping a worthwhile PPV. I definitely think the last few weeks have done a much better job of making me care for Hart v. Undertaker. Though rather then a big blow off PPV main event, it seems more like a backdrop for the Jacobs & Bearer v. Taker storyline. A storyline which is a little cheesy for my liking but it fits with a typical WWF 90s Undertaker feuds.

Scott Hall/Waltman v. Royalty: Interesting to see Lawler get a much busier in ring schedule. I am a big fan of trying to beef up the tag division and make it mean something. Lawler could be a pretty good tag wrestler since it means he isn't required to have to carry the load for the whole match. I'm sure Lawler has enough overness that he can help Memphis Royalty be seen as a legit threat by the fans. Though it seems like you're making Royalty into a JTTS tag team which I hope I'm wrong because I wouldn't say that is smart booking. Lawler/Christopher can be used better than just to put over all the face tag teams. Especially since Brian Christopher is pretty talented and could be really beneficial to the, also struggling, light heavyweight division. Either way, he doesn't deserve to be just used as enhancement talent. I like the current persona of Kanyon and I believe it fits him really well. I'm hoping this program leads to decent push for both Holly and Kanyon.

Austin/Hart: A generic heel interview that hypes up tonight's main event and the key Summerslam matches just fine. I'm hoping both Austin and Hart pull off the wins at Summerslam since I think they need it more. I also find it kind of hard to believe both heels will win the top matches since it'd cause the fans to not 'go home happy.'

Nash/Envy: Doesn't make the heels look too strong when two of them can't fight off one. I fear all the good Maivia's wins over Nash did will be negated at Summerslam.

Snow v. Martel: This match seemed to establish that Martel can't win without the other two on his side. It sort of starts making Snow and Nash appear to be the favourites as long as they can get a fair fight. Not sure if I exactly agree with that booking. It's usually a good plan to make the faces look like underdogs going into a handicap match.

Ahmed/Dlo/Shamrock: Not sure if I could be any less excited about the upcoming six man at Summerslam. These three guys are getting big pushes while they're fighting the Adminstration B-team. Does Yoko ever win matches???? I should note that I do like the idea of a lot of guys vying for the world title at this point with Ahmed laying claim to not having a fair shot at the previous Raw. He seems to have a little bad blood with 'Taker. All these title issues revovle around Undertaker which doesn't bode well for Hart taking the title at Sumnmerslam.

8 man tag: Just like the WWF to think that Beniot needs to have a 'character.' I really don't know how well Beniot would be able to pull it off. Seeing the usually very serious Beniot play a rather goofy character would be kind of fun. Faces go over but not sure if that telegraphs a heel win at Summerslam. I could see HelmslyDust take the titles at Summerslam since it would pop the fans huge but I can also finally see the trigger be pulled on Hunter turning on Goldust. Ignore my thoughts about telegraphing a heel win since the after match actions were big enough to get all the champs heat back. I like seeing Pillman snap like that. This would have been a super hot angle back in '97 seeing a women get manhandled like that. I'm now thinking Goldust needs to get his revenge at Summerslam and the Hunter doublecross will be held off for a bit. I'd guess, Goldust will be feuding with the tag champs for at least another month after what happend here. Good and controversial angle.

Is the guy who is coming, that Luchadore who was being hyped a few months back?

Jacobs: I thought Bearer promised Jacobs the WWF championship? Now he wants Jacobs to cost 'Taker the championship at SummerSlam? There seems to be a plot hole here. I'm really not looking forward to undead Brian Lee. This could be cheesier and messier than the real life Kane/Taker storyline.

Marty v. Kama: I hope Kama wins the title! I am having a hard time getting into this feud with Wright. Marty's character is nothing more than a comedy act which I'd prefer not be taking up room at the IC/Upper Midcard division. I really don't like the Alex Wright character in this diary. It may be due to that fact that I never have liked Alex Wright ever since WCW tried shoving him down our throats as the Wunderkid (though, I did get a kick out him when he was being thrown out by security when he dances with Nitro girls). I know you love Wright. I know Marty is a hit with most readers. This is something I'll just need to tough out.

Vader Gets Even: Though I love the idea of a Cactus/Vader feud, I haven't really been a fan of this build up. I know Cactus came up with his reasons for hating Vader, which are good ones, but it still seems like a randonly thrown together match for Summerslam. The brawl was a nice touch and Vader killing Cactus with the powerbomb was interesting. A normal man would be written out with such an angle but Cactus isn't any normal man. It'll make the Cactus return at Mayhem an even bigger deal.

Taker/Michaels: This interview reminded me that Austin and Bret have had the faces' numbers. It'll be interesting to see the direction you go with the main event. This would typically be the place that the heels go over to set up the face wins at Summerslam. I have an inkling that the heels might be the winners at the PPV which means the faces will need some momentum before the big losses.

Hart/Austin v. Taker/HBK: Wow, Austin got the clean win on HBK! I'm shocked. Though now I fear poor Austin is taking another marquee PPV loss. Not what I wanted but at least this pinfall will give him some rub. A good match that would get fans hyped for the two top matches for the PPV. Undertaker is the last man standing in the ring, maybe Hart has a chance to take the title at Summerslam afterall.

Question for you, what is the max ratings that TNT can have in your scenerio? Nitro never seems to be able to break out of the 6.00 barrier. The Monday War isn't really fair if one network has a larger max rating than the other. Or maybe you're just that much better than them.

Didn't you just sign David Taylor??? Now, you're letting him go? Was that so you can pay the salary for the up and comer Droz?

SWF stole Adams from you. So much for any pay off between Lee and him.

SWF really like the old guys, eh?

A pretty good final Raw before Summerslam. You seemed to hype all the matches going into the show. Each one seems to have a decent level of heat going into it. Keep it up. (Y)

Pretty good fall out from KOTR. Lots of interesting devleopments coming out of the PPV. The Adminstration has a lot more credibility with Bret Hart in the stable now. I'm pretty sure he'll end up with the title at Summerslam at this point. Undertaker just hasn't really done it for me as World champ. Maybe due to his opposition? I thought, the Maivia & Nash turns would have been held off for a few more weeks. I enjoyed both the angles that resulted in the turns. I look forward to seeing how Maivia works out for you as a heel. Nash v. Hart should be a fun little mini program. I'm liking the new exposure that the light heavies are getting. Hakishi v. Chavo should be a really good program. I'm thinking Tom Pritchard as Trey Parker is supposed to be played for laughs because the man isn't a teen idol. He is really talented and hope this lead to a decent push for him. Maybe he can have a small program with Billy Gunn who is looking for something to do. The shows did a good job of setting up the next big set of programs. I'm guessing we have a lot of PPV matches already set up. Not a big fan of Martel & 'Taker but probably because I don't see Martel as much of a threat. He and Maivia should be a nice duo. I also like the fact that Marlena is not buying the act by Hunter. It's about time she is more then just background scenery. Hopefully, this new assertiveness by Marlena will allow this story to get to the next step. It was a good week of stories and look forward to seeing where you're going next.

Decent Shotgun. Good to see Bart & Holly repackaged. I dig the 'Asscoiates' gimmick. This could lead to some really interesting things. Good to see Bushwhackers in a role they deserve, jobbing. I'm digging the Kane is lost without Bearer story. It will help Kane come off as more of a babyface without Bearer with him. Good to see some development for Ahmed & Kurrgan. I'm guessing it will be a pretty big mid card contest for 'Mania. My money is for a big Kurrgan win for that one. Look forward to seeing where you continue for the road to 'Mania. Curious to see what Austin's role will be for 'Mania. I'm sure he will be used. Keep up the good work.

OCC: Glad you're still liking all the shows. Maybe one day I'll even book Alex Wright or Disco Inferno to win a match?!? As for Kronik, WCW never seemed to figure out if they wanted them to be heels or faces once they started the 'bounty hunter' gimmick. They were definite heels against Goldberg at Halloween Havoc & heels when they fought Vito & Reno at Starrcade. Soon after they started to feud with Totally Buff & Team Canada. But I started things right after Starrcade, I'm treating Kronik like heels since that is what they most recently were plus they had most recently been hired by Reno who is a Thriller. I thought, it would make sense that Sanders would want their services at some point since they've been used successfully before. I honestly, didn't plan to go anywhere with Kronik after Wildside but your interest in the gimmick has changed my mind.

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WCW Wildside Ratings & Backstage Notes

01.21.01

www.grapplefanatics.com

- WCW is very happy with scoring their highest ratings for Wildside yet with a 2.18. WCW feels they put on an excellent episode of Wildside. It made use of the less established star but also pushed some of the important stories along. The John M. Belk Arena housed an attendance of 5031 fans which raked in $201240 of revenue.

- Dark matches before the show saw Harris Boys beat Norman Smiley & Glacier, Shannon Moore pinned Jamie Noble, Lance Storm & Mike Awesome beat the Yung Dragons.

- Post show saw a huge 10 man tag match where Ric Flair, Sting, Kevin Nash, DDP & The Cat beat Scott Steiner, Totally Buff, Rick Steiner & Jeff Jarrett when Sting pinned Buff Bagwell after a Stinger Death Drop. The crowd was said to be really into the match though it was said to be overly short.

- WCW Road Agents felt that Evan Karagious & Shane Helms didn’t click in their match due to different styles.The simple truth is, Helms is a way better wrestler then Evan and he wasn’t able to bring him to his level on that night. It was probably the first time that Helms didn’t have close to match of the night honours.

- Scott Steiner was seen talking to creative and asking for a match with Kevin Nash in the future. No word if this something creative is considering.

- TBS executives were said to not be happy with this weekend’s show. Apparently, they didn’t like the video package that showcased Kevin Nash bleeding and felt it was way too much for the family hour. WCW has been asked to tone down the content for upcoming Wildside shows. WCW has gone on record that it was a complete oversight and will not allow it to happen again [OCC: Silly me forgot to knock down the risk level for Saturday!]

- WCW Creative apparently have been contemplating a heel turn for Kaz Hayashi. They’ve been very high on both Yung Dragons and would like to find something to give the men more air time. The belief is a possible feud could help both men while a Cruiserweight team doesn’t have as much value.

- WCW officials especially Terry Taylor were said to not be very happy with Jim Duggan not selling well for Bam Bam. Word is, if it wasn't for the goodwill that Duggan has in the locker room that some kind of action would have been taken. They can't really threaten the guy with a depush since he doesn't seem too high on the pecking order anyway. He never even got a match the Wall after he attacked him on Sunday.

- Word is, WCW SuprBrawl matches are still being decided on at this point. The goal is to still get as many of the top names on the show as possible. WCW is finding they have a large pool of talent at this point and is having some struggle juggling all the talent they want pushed. The company still wants every match to feel special rather then a match to try to get lots of people on the show.

- Jimmy Hart was seen backstage talking with Creative. They were trying to come up with the best way to use Hart for television. He will obviously be a manager but they haven’t decided who can benefit from him most. [OCC: Any ideas???]

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CZW Fake You TV Ratings

01.21.01

www.indywrestlingbeat.com

CZW scored their second highest ratings of the year with .47 on America One. This was CZW’s first television show since the new management change which resulted in a risk level change of 30%. The majority of the show concentrated on the fall out from their big show last Sunday, CZW Accepting The Challenge. A house of 186, bringing in a gate revenue of $2790, saw a main event of John Zandig & Nick Gage defeating CZW Tag Team Champions Wifebeater & CZW Heavyweight champion Justice

Pain when Zandig pinned Pain after a DVD in a non title match up.

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Power Pro Wrestling Main Event Wrestling Taping Results

01.21.01

www.indywrestlingbeat.com

It was another great night at the Center Stage in Atlanta. The production values even seemed to be a step up this week. PPW seems to constantly wanting to improve and put on an excellent show for the fans. They definitely did that again this week. Before the camera came on, Arn Anderson thanked us all for being here this evening. He shilled the times that PPW would be on syndication in the surrounding areas. It seems the show will only be making it in the state of Georgia and some of the surrounding counties. Arn also encouraged us to check out Thunder & Nitro and said that is the big stage that all PPW talent is hoping to make. I personally hope all these guys make it up there because they work their asses off each week (or at least, the two whole weeks they’ve been here). The majority of the evening was the first round of the PPW Heavyweight title tournament.

1. In a first round match, Bob Sapp beat Christian York (w/Tracy Brooks) Bascially was a squash for Sapp. York put up little offence but the majority was Sapp stretching or suplexing York. Sapp won the thing with an armbreaker submission. He kept on the hold until Matthews came from the back to try to stop him. Sapp left without any problems after Matthews arrived.

2. Michael Modeat beat Air Paris in another tourney match: A great high flying match. Both men came off looking really strong. Lots of crazy moves from both men that I’ve never seen before. Paris just flung his body all over the place. Ending saw Paris miss a 450 splash and Modest followed up with what he calls the Reality Check which is basically the Kryptonite Krunch or a back drop driver.

3. Yet another first round contest, Rob Conway defeats Kimo (w/Queen Victoria): Conway tried to keep the big Samoan off his feet by using a lot of speed. The Samoan eventually takes down Conway with a superkick to the face. A nice little big man against a smaller foe match develops from this and the Samoan can move when he needs to. Botched interference from the Queen causes Conway to score a roll up victory.

4. First rounder, Russ Haas beat Joey Matthews (w/Tracy Brooks): Matthews & Brooks kissed before the match which reaffirmed they are doing a ‘couple’ gimmick. Matthews acted very ‘Hardy Boyish’ and tried to take it to the air a lot. Hass tried to keep Matthews grounded with mat skills. Haas started to get frustrated because Matthews kept countering moves and coming off the top with an aerial attack. In the end, Haas caught Matthews with a inside cradle and hooked the tights for the win. Brooks complained after the match but the ref wouldn’t reverse the decision. My oh my, isn’t she hot when she is upset.

5. Trinity won a PPW Diva battle royal by last eliminating Daffney: The particpants in this thing by order of first eliminated to last were Ms. Jones, Major Gunns, Leia Meow, Bobcat, Tygress, Queen Victoria, Tracy Brooks, Gail Kim & Paisley. Paisley really impressed me in this match and it looks like she could be a viable contributor to the future WCW Women’s division. It looks like they want to pattern this division around Trinity which I don’t understand other then she maybe sort of resembles Lita. She isn’t the best looking of the bunch and she is far from the most talented.

6. Christopher Daniels (w/Gail Kim) pinned Nick Dinsmore in another tournament match: A really excllent match where Daniels got to showcase his heelishness. Kim would distract the ref often and Christopher would take advantage with constant cheating. Dinsmore did well with a variation of brawling and mat wrestling. The match ended when Kim distracted the ref again, David Flair arrived from the back and knocked Dinsmore out with a pair of brass knuckles. Flair was dressed up in a custom made suit and seems to be doing a ‘Nature Boy’ lite kind of gimmick.

7. Another first round contest, Shelton Benjamin beat O.G. Ekmo(w/Queen Victoria): This match saw Benjamin try to overcome the interference of Victoria & Ekmo’s partner Kimo. Victoria was finally disposed of when Tracy Brooks came out from the back. HOTNESS ALERT! I’m telling you, this Tracy is definitely the best diva that WCW has on the payroll and she’ll get over really quick with the WCW fans. Anyway, here in PPW, Benjamin pulled out a pretty good match with the big Samoan. Shelton hit a Stinger splash which lead to a fisherman suplex for the pinfall win. Shleton had to fight off both Samoans to be left standing tall in the end.

8. Charlie Haas defeated AJ Styles in another first round match: This match was awesome and both these guys are brimming with potential. AJ had a much better opponent this week to showcase his stuff. It was a combo of high flying and mat wrestling which I really dug. The fans seemed to be into it too. Finish came when Haas caught AJ on the top rope and plants him with a DVD. Charlie put in a sumbmission move that is apparently called the Haas of Pain which got the tap out from AJ. Haas didn’t let go of the move right away which caused officials to come out to stop him.

9. In the main event and the final first round match, Brock Lesnar defeated Afa Jr & Hail after Lesnar pinned Hail with a move known as the F5 (a fireman carry into a ddt type move): This was the exact same finishing move that Brock used last week in the 6 man tag. Afa was pulled out of the match when Gail Kim came out to distract him and to yell at him. Afa went to chase off Gail but was then jumped by a debuting Reno! Sweet! Reno did a Roll of the Die on the outside which took Afa Jr completely out of the match. After the match, Charlie Haas was taunting Brock which lead to Russ Hass attack Brock from behind which brought out Shelton Benjamin to make the save. This was okay but Brock is so much better then both his opponents are. Brock should have an amazing match in the second round against Charlie Hass.

The next round will be Brock Lesnar v. Charlie Haas, Shelton Benjamin v. Christopher Daniels, Russ Haas v. Michael Modest, and Bob Sapp v. Rob Conway. It’s looking like they want to do a Lesnar v. Sapp final but I’d rather someone like Benjamin or Daniels take on Lesnar in the finals. Whoever it is, I’m positive Lesnar will win the PPW tournament unless WCW calls him up before this thing is done. It was also announced that Nick Dinsmore will go against David Flair next week. I’ll be here to recap all the action once again.

[OCC: Not sure if anyone would be interested but I'd be willing to let someone book and post weekly (game time) shows of Power Pro Wrestling's Main Event Wrestling. I'd tell you who needs the major pushes or what type of gimmicks some guys need, since WCW would really be telling their developmental that type of stuff, but you'd get a lot of creative control. It could be lots fun though hard to juggle all the talent that WCW would start recalling from you. PM me if this interests you.]

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WWF Royal Rumble Q&D Results & Numbers

01.22.01

www.grapplefanatics.com

Everyone seems to be praising last night’s WWF Royal Rumble. I have to say it was a great way to kick off the road to Wrestlemania. This is like the Christmas for wrestling fans as everything always seems to be a little bit better. I’m thinking we have a really great next two months on the way to ‘Mania.

Lots of people wanted to see the Rumble last night as it scored a 1.62 buyrate which soundly beat WCW Sin’s 1.04. 16,743 crowded into the New Orleans arena which brought in a house of $1,004,580.00. The PPV revenue was $4,050,000.00.

Here are the quick results for what was a great Rumble:

Dudley Boyz defeated Edge & Christian to win the WWF World tag team titles after Bubba pinned Edge from the 3D. A really hot opener.

Chris Jericho defeat Chris Beniot to win the WWF Intercontinental title in a Ladder match. Both guys were really over in this one.

Ivory defeated Chyna after the ref stopped the match due to Chyna suffering a stinger. Though the entire thing was an angle and I’d consider pretty tasteless.

WWF World champion Kurt Angles continues to be a Honky Tonk champ by beating HHH only after interference from Stone Cold Steve Austin allowed Angle to score the win.

Stone Cold Steve Austin wins the Royal Rumble to earn the right to be in the main event at Wrestlemania. Austin last eliminated Kane in what many people widely consider one of the best Rumbles. The Rumble also saw the debut of previous developmental talents Maven, The Prototype (John Cena) and Rico Constantino though Maven was the only one who got a really good pop from the crowd probably due to him being on the reality show, Tough Enough (OCC: for the sake of the scenerio, I’ll pretend the show was aired a few months earlier then it really was).

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XPW’s New Year Revolution

01.21.01

www.indywresltingbeat.com

XPW, the wannabe western coast version of ECW, put together their first big show of the year, New Year’s Revolution. I have to say, for the reports, it’s got a ways to be ECW still. The 515 that packed an LA nightclub seemed to be happy with what they saw. It was enough to make Rob Black happy as he raked in $10300.00 in revnue for the event.

1. Halloween won a four corners elimination match between GQ Money, Dynamite D and Damian 666. This was an excellent match and by far the best of the night. Halloween last pinned his partner Damian to win the match after hitting a moonsault.

2. Big Dick Dudley & Josh Lazie defeated Big Rott & Chronic after Dudley pinned Chronic with a chokeslam. A very meh match. The crowd was into Dudley.

3. James Mariato defeated Nosowa in another very decent match. Mariato got the win with the Sicilian slice from the top rope.

4. An angle was run where New Jack declared he would be winning the vacated (after Sabu was fired) XPW World Title tonight but then Vic Grimes came out to dispute this which lead to an ambush by Mustafa & Kronus. Out for the save came, Simond Diamond & Johnny Webb which lead to a tag match.

5. Simon Diamond & Johnny Webb beat John Kronus & Mustafa after Diamond pinned Mustafe after hitting him with a keyboard. How ’97 of them. Diamond is good but eveyrone else can only brawl and it wasn’t even a great brawl.

6. Pogo the Clown & Kid Koas beat Angel & Kraq in a bed of nails match match after Angel was powerbombed on to a bed of nails. Youch! The dynamic gay duo took a beating in this one. Pogo & Kid Koas came off as ultra face dues to who they were fighting in this one.

7. Tammy Sytch beat Lizzy Borden in a catfight. Both women were stripped to their bare undies. Lots of T&A in this one. Sytch remains the most over person in this company by even having a few nip slips.

8. Lester defeated Messiah for the XPW King of the Death match title in a barbed wire match. Messiah got torn up really bad in this one. Apparently, it was really gruesome near the end.

9. New Jack defeated Vic Grimes to win the XPW World Heavyweight title after a Jack dived on to Grimes from a balcony. Real life enemies really tore down the house in a sick brawl. In the end, Jack won the XPW title to the biggest ovation of the night.

XPW put together a big effort tonight. We will have to see what they follow up with in the coming weeks. A realy big show is apparently planned for February and word is XPW might be looking for some fresh talent to showcase on the show.

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Wrestling Experts Declare A New War & WWF Is Winning It!

01.21.01

www.grapplefanatics.com

The dirtsheets are saying that the WWF & WCW have resumed the wrestling war. Many consider the two close enough in public image to be considered battling each other now. In this supposed war, WWF is still kicking some butt. The word is both companies are taking this ‘win’ for WWF very seriously. Mostly WCW, is attempting to find ways to fix the problem. At this point, the ‘experts’ feel that WWF has the better workers which will cause fans to choose them over WCW. In what WCW conisders a real shot, WWF has the bigger stars between the two wrestling promotions. Apparently, WCW knew that WWF had more talented workers due to scoring the Radicalz last year but they had still hoped to have the edge in star power but that is no longer the case. WCW’s strategy is to conitnue to refine their guys in the developmentals and to make a concerted effort of making new stars For now, consider WWF the easy leader in this battle.

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WCW Nitro Preview

01.21.01

www.wcw.com

WCW continues to march towards WCW SuperBrawl XI which promises to be one of the biggest PPVs in the history of wrestling. Tonight WCW will roll into Winston Salem, NC for what will definitely be an explosive chapter in the road to SuperBrawl XI. On Thursday, we saw the final image of Ric Flair stand over top the fallen body of the WCW World Heavyweight champion, Scott Steiner. No doubt, Scott Steiner will be out for revenge and be ready for the dirtiest player in the game. What could possible happen with these two sworn enemies in the same arena tonight. What do the two SuperBrawl main event opponents have in store for each other? Will it result in another brawl in the parking lot of the arena?!?

Mike Sanders signed two huge championship matches for tonight. First off, the WCW World Television title has been reinstated into the company. Tonight, a 20 man over the top battle royal will decide the new champion. Mike Sanders had announces himself as the first entrant into the event but since then, we have discovered several more big names. Some of the top stars expected in the battle royal include as follows: the last WCW World Television champion Hacksaw Jim Duggan, The Beast from the East Bam Bam Bigelow, all members of the Filthy Animals, all members of Team Canada, Terry Funk, Dangerous Devon Storm, Shane Douglas, Meng and so many more huge stars!!!

The other signed championship match will see US Champoin Hugh Morrus defend his crown against the Chosen One Jeff Jarrett. Jarrett is the only member of the Apocalypse with out any gold. Jarrett will be sure to try to fix that tonight. Is it true that Sanders is on the Apocalypse payroll? Will he try to make sure that Jarrett wins the title? Will the Cat once again make his presnce known to Jeff Jarrett? Nobody should underestimate Hugh Morrus who has been on a roll ever since returning to the laughing man. It will be an amazing contest for the United Stated championship.

Goldberg will be in action tonight as he continues to find back his killer instinct. Tonight he battles one of the men responsible for taking Goldberg’s chances at the World title in 2001 away. He does battle with Buff Bagwell. As we have learned, Apocalypse members never stray too far from each other. Goldberg should be ready for possible interference from more of his hated rivals. It should be an explosive battle as the phenom vs. one half of the WCW World tag team champions.

Plus all your other WCW favourites will be in attendane such as Sting, Sid Vicious, DDP, Lash Laroux, and Sean O’Haire. Be sure to not miss a second of the action on the best wrestling show anywhere on Monday nights. It will be only on TNT at 9:00pm EST!

WCW Wildside

Date: 01.18.01

Venue: John M. Belk Arena in Davidson, NC

Network: TBS

Timeslot: Early Evening

Commentators: Scott Hudson & Larry Zbysko

Ring Announcer: David Penzer

The usual WCW Wildside open showcasing some great WCW wrestling which accumulates with a shot of Scott Steiner standing with the WCW World Title around his waist. The scene cuts to inside the arena where pyro and fireworks go off to the delight of a packed house. The camera pans the arena while the announcers go over the evening’s card.

3 Count Explode

Evan Karagious v. ‘Suga’ Shane Helms

Referee: Charles Robinson

Shane Helms comes out to his hot intro with the techno music and the Nitro girls dancing with him. Shane wastes no time taking it right to Evan Karagious. Helms flies all over the ring hitting Karagious with a variety of dropkicks and springboard moves. Karagious is sent flying from the ring after a stiff Suga Smack (superkick). Helms follows Karagious out with a moonsault from the top rope to the outside floor. The crowd pops big for that move but unfortunately, that is the most over they would ever be in the contest. Some of the reason for lack of response could be that this turns out to be one of the weaker matches Shane Helms has had in a very long time. Back in the ring, Evan Karagious gains control with a swinging neckbreaker. Karagious tries to control the match with a variety of power moves. At one point, Karagious catches an attempted Helms cross body block and responds by lifting Helms high over his head with a military press slam. The fans start a small rally for Helms while Karagious goes up top for a corkscrew moonsault but Karagious ends up hitting nothing but mat. Helms starts his rally using all his signature moves like the shining wizard and Nightmare on Helms Street. This offensive flurry brings out Shannon Moore who tries to swing things back in the favour of Karagious. Moore hops on the apron to attempt to cause a distraction but instead gets a face full of Karagious via an irish whip from Helms. The stunned Karagious is put away with the patent Vertebreaker.

After the win, Shannon Moore re-enters the ring to start an attack on Helms. The attack causes Jamie Noble to run out from the back and helps fight off the Three Count members. The crowd starts to boo as Cruiserweight champion Chavo Guerrero runs out from the back and uses his title as a weapon. The advantage for the heels is short lived as Lash Laroux comes out to run off all the heels. The faces celebrate in the ring while The Count slink to the back.

WINNER: ‘Suga’ Shane Helms

67/60/75

COMMERCIAL BREAK - Buy the new WCW Wrestling DVDs!!!!! Watch the best wrestling on Monday nights by tuning into TNT for WCW Nitro!

Week That Was

Another well put together and thorough WCW highlight package showcasing the major events of this past week. A considerable amount of time is given to the story of Steiner/Flair displayed by the challenge for a match at Suprebrawl and the subsequent brawls between the two men. Other focuses of the package are Goldberg’s statement from Nitro; Jarrett & Cat confrontations from both shows; Devon Storm turning heel and his related actions; the attacks Sting and Sid have exchanged with each other; O’Haire bruttally attacking Nash which suprisingly includes the blood; Mike Sanders confrontation with O’Haire plus his announcement of the WCW World Television title; and the two title changes from this past week involving Totally Buff & Rick Steiner.

99

COMMERCIAL BREAK – WCW Action Figures are all the rage. Konnan still thinks you should be drinking Pepsi. THQ makes good video games.

Advanced Payment

The show returns to Mike Sanders walking the hallways of the backstage area. Sanders stops at a dressing room labelled ‘Kronik’. Apparently, WCW wants us to start believing each wrestler has their own dressing room, now. Sanders begins to knock at the door and it eventually gets opened by Bryan Clarke. Clarke acknowledges Sanders by a nod of the head and allows Sanders into the room. Sanders pulls an envelope out of his suit pocket and hands it over to Clarke. Brian Adams gets off a bench he was sitting on and goes over to Clarke to examine the envelope.

Mike Sanders: There is about ten thousand reasons why I want something special tonight in your match with the Mamalukes.

Brian Adams: [gives out a sinister laugh] Oh don’t you worry, we will deliver, brah.

Bryan Clarke: [Clarkes notices the camera and starts to close the door] You folks will have to wait until the match to get your daily dose of Kronik!

Door is slammed shut. The announcers go into overdrive contemplating what exactly the three have in store for the Mamalukes.

86

Battle of the Big Men

‘The Beast from the East’ Bam Bam Bigelow v. ‘Hasksaw’ Jim Duggan

Referee: Scott Dickenson

Poor Jim Duggan has gone from being on a PPV at the beginning the week to doing job duty on a C-show at the end of the week. Duggan gets lots of ‘Hooos!’ and ‘USA’ chants from the crowd to kick this match off. This match leads to the announcers acknowledging Duggan as the last World Television champion and that the title is being reinstated via a battle royal this Monday on Nitro. The announcers also mention that both these man are entered into the battle royal. If this match is any sign, Duggan has no chance this Monday despite never losing the title. The majority of the match is Bam Bam displaying his power and overhwhelming Duggan. Except that Duggan didn’t really want to cooperate and despit allowing Bam Bam to be on offense, he didn’t want to sell the moves as devastating. Hacksaw does get some offensive rallies but they were kept short with Bam Bam quickly cutting him off. Though, my guess is that Duggan ‘improved’ a few times but cutting off rallies of Bigelow’s that weren’t supposed to be shortened. Bam Bam displayed his strength by powerslamming and back breakering Duggan but the vet didn’t stay on the mat as long as one would expect. A miscued splash by the Bammer allowed the American patriot to start another big rally on the Beast from the East. Duggan rocked the big man with several punches in bunches and lariats. The tattooed monster was stunned enough for Duggan to give him a scoop slam. The crowd started giving a mild pop to Duggan as he started to get back into the match. Bam Bam actually was willing to make Duggan look good even though that was not the intended purpose of this contest. The rally ended again when Duggan missed a charge into the turnbuckle and smashed his shoulder into the ringpost. Bam Bam followed up with a shoulderbreaker and then climbed up to the top rope. The big man came crashing down onto Duggan with a flying headbutt. Scott Dickenson was immediately in position for the easy three count. The announcers hyped Bam Bam as a huge favourite for the battle royal on Nitro. The announcers definitely made Bigelow seem like a major threat even if Duggan didn’t want to.

WINNER: Bam Bam Bigelow

60/65/49

Jim Duggan didn’t really sell very much, which hurt the match quality

COMMERCIAL BREAK – Be sure to watch Ric Flair’s final chance at glory when he battles Scott Steiner on February 18th at Superbrawl XI only on PPV!!!

Hot Cruiser Action

Yang v. ‘Prime Time’ Elix Skipper

Referee: Billy Silverman

Wow! Charles Robinson actually doesn’t ref a cruiserweight match. Elix Skipper comes out adorned in bling and gets on the mic asking everyone what time it is. Apparently, it is indeed Prime Time. This has been Elix’s usual entrance when he is in single competition. Neither guy comes out with any partners, which does get noticed by the announcers. It is also announced that Elix Skipper is indeed in the World Television Title battle royal and so are members of the Filthy Animals. Yung Dragons continue to prove their worth as this is the second fantastic match from members of the team this week. Yang and Skipper both attacks each other with a variety of exciting high flying moves. Yang pops the crowd when he hit Elix with a diving senton from the top onto a standing Skipper. Unfortunately, the fans are sitting on their hands for the majority of the contest. The announcers spend the time detailing the recent war between Team Canada & Filthy Animals. But the announcer perk up when Yang almost scores a near fall after hitting a springboard rolling neckbreaker (ala Buff Blockbuster). Yang quickly follows that up with a top rope leg drop but Elix has some fight still thus kicks out at the two count. Yang continues to try to remain on offence by hitting Elix with some very stiff karate kicks. Elix is able to duck a big shot to the head by pulling off the Matrix dodge. Elix strikes back with a leg sweep knocking Yang hard to the mat. Elix tries to set up Yang for the Play of the Day but the Japanese star is able to counter the move with a leg drag. Immediately, Yang follows up with a seated dropkick the face of Elix. The next few minutes sees a variety of exciting counters and attacks but is met with mild excitement from the crowd and no attention from the announcers. Yang reverses a atomic drop into a bulldog and follows up by scaling the ropes. Yang comes off the ropes and connect with a cannonball splash (Pierre’s finisher). Elix barely gets the shoulder up to remain in the match. Yang lifts up Elix and whips him hard into the corner turnebuckle to set up for a big splash. Elix is ready for it and move out of the way but Yang is able to prevent hurting himself by landing feet first on the turnbuckles. Yang leaps off the ropes for an attempted hurricanrana but instead is stopped with a powerbomb. Elix delivers the Play of the Day and scores the easy three count. Elix grabs his ‘bling’ and shouts out his greatness to the audience. The announcers talk up the roll that Elix is on while going to a. . .

WINNER: 'Prime Time' Elix Skipper

72/49/95

COMMERCIAL BREAK – Be sure to watch the very best wrestling on Thursday nights with WCW Thunder on TBS!!! PS2 should be your next big purchase!

Burning The Past

A new hard rock themed songe brings out Dangerous Devon Storm. Storm comes out in a nice red, collared shirt and a pair of dark slacks. Storm looks much like he did on Thursday and nothing like the old Crowbar. Storm has a pair of tattered jeans, a black tank top and a garbage can in his arms. He soaks in some of the heel heat before entering the ring to address the crowd.

Devon Storm: First off, you should all be happy that I’m slumming it her in Davidson, North Carolina for your enjoyment. None of you really deserve me or my time. The fact is, I won’t be doing C-caliber shows or venues for very much longer. [this of course gets the expected fan reaction – boos] After this coming Monday night, I will be the WCW World Television champion. I will be a somebody and a star while your pathetic hero, Terry Funk, will just be a has been. Terry, I’m ready to move past you. I am ready to exceed all that you have accomplished. I said on Thursday, the Hardcore title is nothing more then a meaningless piece of tin. You see Terry, Hardcore wrestling was a fad and it’s time is over. I will no longer dabble in that little experiment. I am going to be the best in this sport. This is professional wrestling. It all begins this Monday when I win a real title. I will become the next great star while you will be nothing but a beaten up old man. Terry, I’ve already forgotten you and the fans will do the same after this Monday.

Storm sets down the garbage can. He briefly looks over the tattered jeans and the black t-shirt. It is revealed that the black shirt is actually a spaghetti strap t-shirt that Daffney used to wear. This shirt has sparkly lettering that reads, ‘Crowbar & Daffney Rule.’ Storm spits on the two items and tosses them in the trash. He then pulls out a container of gasoline from the trash can and starts to douse the inside of the can with the substance. Devon procures a book of matches from his pocket and strikes a match before throwing it into the can. The inside of the can is engulfed with flames that gets a rather decent reaction from the crowd.

Devon Storm: Tonight, I officially allow the old self to be burned. There is no more Crowbar. No more Daffney. I am Devon Storm from this point on. I am shedding myself of my filthy past. Cleansing myself through the flames of the future. The future will be me. Terry, you are the last bit of my past I want to burn away. That my ol’ pal, will happen this Monday night when I become the next WCW World Television champion and you become the ashes of my past. 19 men will fall at Nitro and Devon Storm will rise to the top.

Storm looks down at the furious flames. A wicked smile comes across his face. Many of the fans just sit in shock of the display. Or they sit in boredom depending on your view. The announcers talk about how much of a change has come over Devon Storm. They both declare Storm will be out for something to prove this Monday at Nitro.

64

COMMERCIAL BREAK – A hype ad for this Nitro, which will showcase a Battle Royal for the WCW Television title and a US title match between Jeff Jarrett v. Hugh Morrus.

The Big Pay-off

Kronik(Bryan Clarke & Brian Adams) v. Mamalukes (Johnny the Bull & Big Vito)

Referee: Randy Anderson

A quick clip shows the Mamalukes reuniting at WCW Sin. The announcers hype that there will be no more commercial breaks tonight and we will be getting two back to back matches. The announcers also mention that all four of the men are entered into the WCW Television Battle Royal. They spend a good amount of the match speculating what effect this will have on them as regular teams. Especially if one is able to successfully win the title on Monday. Kronik jumps the Italian duo immediatley upon their entrance into the ring. Kronik use a ground and pound attack with double forearm sledges and stiff boots. Eventually, they isolate the attack on Johnny the Bull and beat him down in their corner. It soon becomes clear that Kronik isn’t out to win the match but rather to hurt the Mamalukes. Kronik members will be choking or punching Johnny but refusing to stop at the count of 5. One member will distract the ref while the other with use closed fists or chokes to keep Johnny down. They also use they variety of power moves to keep Johnny out. Vito will often try to assist his partner but it only leads to distracting the referee. Johnny the Bull is able to start a comeback by knocking Adams to the ground using a leg lariat. Adams quickly tags off to Clarke but isn’t able to stop Bull from making the hot tag to Vito. Or at least, the very luke warm tag as the crowd gives out a courtese pop to the fiery Italian. Vito immediately greets Clarke with a swinging neckbreaker. Puts down an interfering Adams with a follow through lariat. Both Kronik members are on the receiving ends of scoop slams. A recovering Johnny the Bull enters to send Adams flying out of the ring. On the outside, Adams propels Johnny into a ring post. Adams picks up a folding steel chair and enters the ring to do damage to Vito. The ref immediately intercepts Adams and demands him to drop the weapon. This allows Clarke to grabs his own chair from the outside. The chair doesn’t meet Vito but rather crashes into the face of Clarke courtesy of a Johnny the Bull jumping leg lariat. The ref turns around to see Big Vito tag in Johnny in order to do the their tag finisher. Vito powerslams Clarke to the mat while the Bull jumps of the top rope with a leg drop. Johnny makes the cover while Vito takes care of the Adams. The crowd gives out a decent face pop as the Mamalukes claim the win.

The announcers remark that Sanders won’t be happy with Kronik not living up to their end of the deal. Mamalukes don’t get much time to celebrate their big win as they are immediately jumped in the ring. The Perfect Event have entered the ring with muscle flexors and are using the objects on the Mamalukes. The flexors are slammed hard against the back of the Mamalukes. The Perfect Event pose with Kronik over the fallen bodies of the Mamalukes. Scott Hudson complains about the vile actions of the heels while Zbysko remarks it’s all about getting ahead in the game. The crowd show their disapproval with a round of boos.

WINNERS: The Mamalukes (Johnny The Bull & Big Vito)

77/69/86

Wildside Main Event

The Boogie Knights (Disco Inferno & Alex Wright) v. The Filthy Animals (Billy Kidman & Rey Misterio Jr)

Referee: Nick Patrick

A quick video clip shows the match between Disco & Rey last week which set up this week’s tag contest. The Boogie Knights start arguing with each other before the match even begins. Both men verbally fight over who should start the match. Announcers mention that all four men will be in the battle royal this Monday on Nitro. The first serveral minutes see the faces completely overwhelm the heels with a high flying arrange of moves. Rey even monkey flips Disco right into Alex Wright which causes the duo to start yelling at each other again. A missed moonsault by Billy Kidman finally gives the advantage to the dancing fools. Wright and Disco decide that making use of their size is the best strategy for staying on top. Wright uses a variety of moves that propels Kidman into the air and flat onto to his face. Disco hurts Kidman with a tilt a whirl powerslam. None of the moves are able to keep Kidman down for the three. Disco uses an impressive slingshot suplex to knock Kidman hard to the mat but once again, Kidman is able to escape from the pin. Wright is tagged in and attempts a top rope elbow smash but instead meets the empty mat. Wright immediately tags out back to Disco but the Italian is met with a freshly tagged Rey Misterio. The crowd is very much into the Animals even if they don’t seem as into their opposition. Misterio tags both heels with high dropkicks to the face. Misterio trips Disco into the ropes and hits the unnamed 619. The springboard hurricanrana is stopped when Wright is able to trips up poor Misterio. Kidman rushed the ring to conplain but this only gets the ref distracted. Disco holds Rey as Wright warms up the arm for a big lariat. The lariat connects but with the wrong wrestler. The crowd pops as Misterio spin wheel kicks Wright out of the ring. Misterio drags the stunned Disco to his corner and tags Kidman into the match. The revitalized Kidman scales the ropes and comes off with a picture perfect shooting star press. Kidman makes the cover and gets the three on Disco.

In the ring, the Filthy Animals celebrate their big victory on Wildside. They start to dance to the strains of their theme rap. Meanwhile, Wright and Disco are both verbally tearing a hole into each other. Both yell at one another while they make their way to the back. The Animals continue to the dance while the announcers encourage us all to watch Nitro this Monday.

WINNERS: The Filthy Animals (Billy Kidman & Rey Misterio Jr.)

78/69/87

OR: 75

Another fantastic PPV where I would have felt I got my money worth. High quality matches with some big story lines happening and of course, some very key seed planting. I predicted the Hart heel turn correctly and it was definitely a very 97/98 style swerve that wrestling was trying pull back then. I only got the swerve myself because it started to seem like things were pointing too much at Michaels going heel. Though I would have preferred Michaels going heel, Hart will make a fantastic top heel and open some doors for some really interesting things the next several months. I'll go out on a limb and predict Bret Hart v. Undertaker for Summerslam just like it was in the real WWF. I'd also guess, Hart takes the title. As for KOTR, the turn came off great and McMahon has just the right amount of indignition over the event. I look forward to the promos from both wrestlers that will inevitable happen on Raw.

Rick Martel was probably the guy I was thinking would win the battle royal until he started getting invovled with Shamrock & Maivia. Jacobs became my pick out of default. I'd say this booking choice make more sense especially since Jacobs still came off looking really strong. Now it'll probably have Maivia v. Shamrock as a central feud with Martel still instigating things. Probably for Summerslam we will have Martel & Maivia as a team to do battle with Shamrock. It looks like a face turn was planted for Kevin Nash as he not only eliminated a stable mate but he showed respect to Waltman. I'm interested to see where Nash goes from here. All in all, a well booked battle royal.

Super glad to see project Godwinns come to an end. It was great to see Pillman & Beniot demolish them so much. It was almost like WWF was apologizing for making the decision to have Godwinns as champs. I'll accept it if it means Beniot & Pillman continue to kick ass.

I like the impending Hakushi heel turn. I also like that Christopher was made to look fairly strong still. Finally, things may finally be heating up for the light heavy division.

Lots of wrestlers kicked out finishers on the PPV. I would say a few too many. It takes the impact away of Undertaker being able to kick out from the stunner when we saw finishers kick outs by Droese, Bulldog, Chavo, & Christopher (I think, more then that too). That is a small negative on what was a fun show.

I definitely felt a lot of the stories were paid off well. I'm very excited to what is in store for the next many months. Raw should be fantastic.

One more thing, Vader v. Bulldog was realy well booked despite me not really being a fan of the build up. I would say both men came out looking stronger. Kudos.