Slobberknocker Central Monday Night Recap #227 March 20th, 2000 The Opening Word: I've read five reviews for Uncensored and three were neutral (bad, but not as bad as it could have been) and two that were negative. To be honest I don't think the brass in WCW care too much reviews and fan feedback. They're just waiting to see if the buyrate comes in as low as they assume it will, at which point there'll be an explosion of change, as the higher-ups in the corporate food chain step in and try again to turn the company around. Very early reports say the Uncensored buyrate could be as low as 0.11! The Rock's appearance on Saturday Night Live earned an 8.3 rating and a 21 share, the highest rating for SNL since the May 8th, 1999 show hosted by Cuba Gooding, Jr. The show averaged 10.4 million viewers, with at least some of the show being seen by approximately 20 million viewers. The 8.2 rating covers the top 47 markets only (roughly 62% of the country--i.e. an "overnight" rating). [Source: Ultimate TV.] Also from Ultimate TV, the 7.6 rating being attributed to WWF SmackDown! last Thursday is actually a reflection on the total number of different households which tuned in to at least part of the show: 7.6 million. The overall rating was a 4.8. The show scored the UPN network's highest Thursday rating ever in terms of Women 18-34. It was the most watched show for the 30th straight week in the Male Teens demographic, and dominated Thursday night in the Total Teens category as well. In terms of Adults 18-34 and Men 18-34, UPN beat CBS, FOX and WB. In other words, even though SmackDown! isn't winning the Thursday night total household ratings race, it is drawing huge viewers from certain demographical segments very desirable to advertisers. According to final studio figures, Beyond The Mat took in $966,016 over the weekend. Playing in 298 theaters, it averaged $3,242 per screen (which isn't too bad). It did not make the top ten list of movies currently playing. [Source: BoxOfficeGuru.com.] I think that's enough numbers for one week ... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WCW Monday Nitro: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Two Hours+. Location: Gainesville, Florida. Hosted By: Tony Schiavone & Mark Madden. HOUR ONE: - PPV stills. The only thing of note is the clips of the Hogan/Flair match, which are shown in black-and-white and from long distance, because Hogan bled. Earlier Today: Sid Vicious acts all hyper amongst a throng of jubilant fans. - With half the arena blocked off it's hard to ignore how small the crowd is. Enthusiastic, but few in number. - "Mean" Gene Okerlund is out to interview Sid, who says the usual stuff. Out comes Jeff Jarrett and the Harris Brothers. Jarrett wants another shot at the World Title, and proposes a tag team match, in which he'll earn a titleshot if he pins Sid. Jarrett's partner will be Scott Steiner, who comes out wearing a piece of tape marked "censored" over his mouth. Steiner pulls off the tape and mangles some English. Sid says he doesn't need a partner to kick their asses, but in fact has one: Hulk Hogan. Sid literally gets on his knees and begs Hogan to be his partner, even though it was clear from the instant Hogan came out that he'd do it. - Mark Madden does the fattest Rob Van Dam imitation ever. - Lex Luger taks to Ric Flair and Elizabeth about taking care of Vampiro tonight. Flair looks totally wired, like he's just downed a handful of uppers. Subsequent comments do nothing to dispel that impression. There's "Hard Knox" Chris Candido. - Nitro Party. - "Mean" Gene interviews Chavo Guerrero. Chavo says the Cruiserweight Title should be his, then proceeds to steal "Mean" Gene's wallet. Ah, ethnic minorities committing crimes is such a laugh riot. I suspect Sonny Onoo just clinched his pending lawsuit against WCW. - The Artist & Paisley have joined the announcers. As usual the Artist doesn't speak. LASH LEROUX vs. "HARD KNOX" CHRIS CANDIDO Candido grabs a mic and says he doesn't have a gimmick, catchphrase or "trashy valet!" This from a guy whose gimmick is he's led a hard life, is calling himself "Hard Knox" ... and need I mention Tammy Sytch? Watchable match, mostly ruined by Madden's inane commentary. I'll freely admit it: I don't like Mark Madden, and I've heard little to believe he deserves to be where he is. Anyone, really, can go out there in a cheap suit and imitate Bobby Heenan. Candido wins following a Benoit headbutt off the top. Chris may be a valuable addition to WCW, but let's be honest here--the WWF would have snapped him up any time over the last three years if they felt he was worth the baggage he brings with him. Lane & Rave. "Rats." Miss Hancock says they'll face Los Fabulosos on Thunder. There's La Parka. - LA PARKA vs. FIT FINLAY Now they're doing the dubbed voice gimmick in the ring. The disembodied voice gives the crowd some Konnanspeak, then goes too far by dissing Finlay. La Parka desperately tries to let him know he's not saying the stuff. No good--Finlay totally destroys him. There's Booker, Kidman & Torrie Wilson. There's David Flair & Daffney. - Vampiro, secluded in the boiler room, tears off his cats. Funny that his wrist is already taped underneath. - Schiavone says "bumps" while describing a series a stills from the Wall/Bam Bam Bigelow match at Uncensored. There's also the shot of the Wall chokeslamming Crowbar off a scaffold, through a stage below. I'm still laughing over the notion that Bigelow supposedly brought the Wall into the business. (Then Berlyn, on a scouting trip in America, hires him to be his bodyguard ... ) "Mean" Gene is out to interview David Flair. Flair talks about Crowbar and Bigelow sharing a hospital room. He says there's one more bed there, waiting for the Wall. Wall comes out. He no-sells a blast from a fire extinguisher, then chokeslams Flair through a table for about the tenth time. Flair's head sickeningly crack against the table, which they loving show again and again and again in replays. - BOOKER/KIDMAN (w/ Torrie Wilson) vs. THE HARRIS BROTHERS Nothing much happens here. I'm convinced WCW continues to put Booker in matches just so Madden can yell "spinnerooni, spinnerooni, spinnerooni!" The match just sort of fizzles out when Torrie jumps on the back of one of the Harris Brothers. She acts like she falls out of her dress, but we don't see anything, and the cameraman pulls way back to make sure we don't. Boo. The bell rings and Booker & Kidman win by DQ or countout or something. The Mamalukes express frustration over their manager, Disco Inferno. Vito apparently dumps Disco from their team. Or something. There's Lex Luger & Elizabeth. I've said it before and I'll say it again--Liz is pretty hot for a woman her age. Vampiro is still skulking about in the boiler room. HOUR TWO: - LEX LUGER (w/ Elizabeth) vs. VAMPIRO I think Vampiro has won exactly one match since his push began (not counting tag team matches). He doesn't hit two tonight. Ric Flair comes in to run interference and Luger brains Vampiro with the bat, followed by the Torture Rack. Sting comes in for the post-match save. Shouldn't Vampiro's pal Sid come out to help as well? "Mean" Gene records comments from Jarrett & Steiner in the back. - Nitro Party. - Nitro Girls. - Now "Mean" Gene's having a chat with Dustin Rhodes. - Oh for the love of--they play a "press conference" taped after the PPV. Now really, when are there ever press conferences in wrestling? Getting comments from the winner of a match, I mean? Sid gives his thoughts on his grueling title defense against Jarrett, when suddenly Hogan enters the picture and hogs all the spotlight. Why does this remind me of the press conference the WWF did back in '92 which basically led to Sid turning on Hogan, because Sid thought he was going to get the shot at the WWF Championshop at WrestleMania 8, but Hogan was chosen instead. At a subsequent Saturday Night's Main Event (which aired on FOX, of all places) Sid turned on Hogan during a tag team match. Randy Savage wound up getting the title shot, while Hogan faced off against Sid in a grudge match (the infamous match where Sid screwed up and kicked out of Hogan's Legdrop o' Doom, while Papa Shango and the Ultimate Warrior missed their cues to run in--or something like that). In other words, if Sid turns on Hogan tonight, it's pretty much a rip-off of an angle the two did in the WWF EIGHT YEARS AGO! - NORMAN SMILEY vs. HUGH MORRUS Morrus is back? Was he ever gone? Does anyone really care? Near-squash, with Morrus winning quickly with the No Laughing Matter moonsault. Demon runs in post-match, but gets his ass kicked as well. Curt Hennig has a few words for Dustin Rhodes, his opponent later tonight. Speak of the Devil, there's Dustin himself. - "Mean" Gene hopes to get a word with Hogan & Sid soon. - DUSTIN RHODES vs. CURT HENNIG I just can't get interested in Dustin. He's the new millennium's version of Ed Leslie. Hennig wins by DQ when Rhodes tears off Hennig's cast. (Well, that's two casts off tonight.) The beating continues, prompting Hogan to come out to save Hennig. Sid, interviewed by Okerlund, tells Jimmy Hart to watch his and Hogan's backs tonight. There's Tank Abbott. - "Mean" Gene conducts his 73rd interview of the night, this one with Sting. - TANK ABBOTT vs. THE BARBARIAN The last time the Barbarian was on Nitro it was to job to Abbott. The same happens here--except it's worse, because they stretch out the inevitable for a few minutes. Once again Meng looks on in the back, biding his time until that epic showdown no one but Kevin Sullivan wants to see. There's Ric Flair ... and Sting. - One last Riki Rachtman Nitro Party clip hyping Spring Breakout 2000 next week. Thank God. - STING vs. RIC FLAIR The night of recycling continues as WCW serves up a match they've shown on Nitro 216 times. This one ends with Flair in the Scorpion Deathlock, but Lex Luger comes out and pulls out the ref. We'll never know if Flair gave up, or if Sting wins via DQ. Vampiro saves Sting from the post-match beatdown. Jarrett ... Steiner ... Hogan ... Sid ... NEXT! - JEFF JARRETT/SCOTT STEINER vs. HULK HOGAN/SID VICIOUS Steiner says the F-word--the only thing of note to happen in this match as it limps along to the inevitable. Sid is the Face in Peril, making the hot tag to Hogan. Hogan cleans house. Not so suddenly--clearly telegraphing his intentions--Sid grabs Hogan and delivers a chokeslam. Sid then covers Hogan and the ref (reluctantly) counts the pinfall. Yes friends, even in losing Hogan made sure his team won. Jarrett & Steiner don't seem the least bit surprised, as they stand by and applaud Sid's actions. Does this mean Sid and Jarrett are friends now, after all those months of feuding? Shouldn't Jarrett and Steiner say "yeah, that's nice," then stomp on Sid anyway? Of course this turn by Sid couldn't have caught anyone by surprise as Mark Madden spent the entire show complaining about Hogan and his ego and his hogging Sid's glory. - This Wednesday: Lane & Rave vs. Los Fabulosos. - Next week: Spring Breakout 2000. Comments: There are times when you can tell a story, and tell it well, but ultimately that story is bad, and makes no sense, and is flat-out the wrong story to tell. Sid's turn on Hogan was as well executed as it could have been. In the grander scheme of things it makes little sense, the idea that simple jealousy on Sid's part or Hogan's overwhelming ego would cause Sid to turn on Hogan and ally himself with Jarrett, a guy he's been feuding with for months. But hey, wrestling angles rarely make much sense, and such turns have happened in the past following just as weak a build-up as in this instance. The bigger question is was this a good move for WCW, or one that the fans will find entertaining? Seeing the direction WCW has been going of late, and the depths the company has sunk to in the brief time Hogan has been back on top, the answer to both questions has to be no. Looking at that larger picture again there's really only two ways this story can play out: either Sid becomes a mega-heel by destroying Hogan, only to eventually fall at the hands of Goldberg; or Hogan wins the title from Sid, dominating the company for many months to come. Is there any reason for us fans to not assume WCW intends to do the latter? All signs point to Hogan regaining the title, and holding it tight in his steely, orange-skinned claws until his contract with WCW runs out (in four months or next year, depending on who you believe). Neither Hogan nor Sid can wrestle a decent match, and their interviews are sad parodies of what wrestling was like in the 80's. Worse yet, this feud is a sad rehash of one the two had eight years ago in the WWF, and it should be noted that the feud sucked then, and it didn't exactly generate huge business for the company. Both men are now eight years older, slower and sillier. As for the rest of this show, and WCW in general, there's not much to say. The company is still on a course in which they take a few positive steps on any given week, only to backtrack on those steps the following week. Nothing done of a positive nature ever develops any real momentum. WCW's only consistency is that they're inconsistent. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WWF RAW is WAR: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Two Hours+. Location: Rosemount, Illinois. Hosted By: Jim Ross & Jerry "The King" Lawler. WWF RAW: - "Opening credits suck!" sayeth the WWF, as we go immediately to a backstage shot of Michael Cole tracking down Vince McMahon. Vince, enduring the overenthusiastic antics of Pat Patterson & Jerry Brisco, announces there will be a tag team tournament tonight to choose the new #1 contenders to the Tag Titles. (Edge & Christian, the former #1 contenders to the belts, took the shot they had coming to them scheduled for WrestleMania last week on SmackDown! instead. They lost, so new #1 contenders need to be chosen.) There will also be another match which, if signed, will rock the WWF to it's very core, sez Vince. Inspired by the WWF's very successful SNL appearance, Vince growls "live, from Chicago, it's RAW is WAR!" Opening credits. - ROAD DOGG/X-PAC (w/ Tori) vs. THE HARDY BOYZ D-X comes out to their new theme music performed by Run DMC. Road Dogg is failing miserably trying to come up with a replacement for his New Age Outlaw rhyme. You can already tell this is going to be a hot show, as the crowd is absolutely rabid. Whatever arena this is, it's packed to the rafters. The match itself is fast-paced. Just a few minutes in Kane comes out, as X-Pac is recovering from a move down on the floor. He grabs X-Pac. Tori delivers a hammer blow to the back, to no effect. The Hardyz, meanwhile, give Road Dogg their combo finisher and Jeff covers for the pin. Tori crawls in the ring and begs the Hardyz to help her. They shove her back into Kane's waiting grip, and he lays her out with a chokeslam. Kids, that's not the way to treat a woman, even if the bitch did get what she deserves. Aaaaaaaaannnnnd--ACTION! Stephanie McMahon & Triple H are a tad late in reacting to their cure to walk backstage. Oops. Man, am I going to get hate mail for that Tori joke or what! - Finally, our Lengthy Interview Segment arrives, which I'll try to get though as briefly as possible. Triple H & Stephanie come out, drawing an unearthly amount of crowd heat. Shane McMahon & Big Show then come out, with a challenge being thrown out to Triple H to defend his title tonight against Big Show. Triple H refuses, saying he doesn't have to put the title on the line before WrestleMania. He says he'd do it, but not for the Big Show, because he doesn't deserve it. Here comes Vince McMahon. He proposes a Triple H vs. Big Show vs. Rock match--the WrestleMania main event! He has to goad Triple H into accepting. Triple H agrees, on the condition that if he wins, this same match won't be repeated at WrestleMania. That settled, Vince (really hamming it up) tells Triple H to pucker his lips and--not kiss his daughter Stephanie, or kiss Vince's ass--kiss the WWF Championship goodbye. The Godfather's Ho's are--NIPPLE! One of the Ho's gets a bit too free in adjusting her top and for a brief second we get a glimpse of The Good Stuff. THIS IS THE GREATEST RAW EVER! - The Rock has arrived. - THE GODFATHER (w/ Ho's) vs. THE BIG BOSSMAN (w/ Bull Buchannan) Bull Buchannan, who debuted on Sunday Night Heat, is a big bald guy similar to Big Vito in WCW. I've no idea who he really is or where he came from. "Bull" is, of course, slang for a prison guard, so I assume the story here is he's someone the Bossman worked with back in the Cobb County Jail. Some damn fine Ho's in attendance this week. The Bossman and Buchannan attack the Godfather before the bell, then just walk out. DQ? Countout? Does it matter? Road Dogg and X-Pac complain about Kane. Steph & Triple H suggest a match against Rikishi may take care of him. - The good news: Trish Stratus & Tori will be appearing on WWF.com this Thursday wearing nothing but bikinis. The bad news: you have to register to see it, and the fee is $4.95. Damn, I can buy some real porn for that kind of money! - TOO COOL vs. DEAN MALENKO/PERRY SATURN (w/ Eddie Guerrero) Eddie's not wearing the sling anymore. The Radicalz (note the "z" has replaced the "s" now) dominate early, but Grandmaster Sexay and Scotty Too Hotty rally back. Scotty sets up the Worm, but gets tripped by Guerrero. Sexay then punks Guererro, to the delight of the crowd. Eddie tries to interfere again, but winds up thrown off the top turnbuckles onto Saturn. Both end up on the floor, Saturn chewing out Eddie for screwing up. Malenko, meanwhile gets double-teamed, and rolled up by Scotty for the pin. Rikishi Phatu, watching backstage, is excited that his pals won. - The Chicago Bears are at ringside. - KANE (w/ Paul Bearer) vs. RIKISHI PHATU Before the fans have to worry about who to root for, Road Dogg & X-Pac run in and attack Kane. Looks like these four will go at it at WrestleMania in a tag team match. Chris Benoit shares his thoughts on Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle. Michael Cole waits to interview the Rock. - ... and so he does. WWF WAR ZONE: - CHRIS BENOIT vs. CHRIS JERICHO Kurt Angle is out to do color commentary. Talk about changing times, there was a period when the WWF was funnier, sexier, had better storylines and angles, and more exciting characters than WCW. WCW countered with a stellar roster of athletes, occasionally delivering great matches on TV. "Wrestling" versus "sports entertainment." Now a few years have passed, and the WWF still dominates in all the same areas, as well as the talent roster. Their matches may not be as good as WCW's best from a few years ago, but clearly they're leaving WCW in the dust now in terms of wrestling matches. This match is a perfect example--one which many wrestling fans thought they'd never see again. How anyone can still say Benoit & company jumping ship from WCW to the WWF was a mistake is beyond me. Angle confirms that he will defend his Intercontinental Title against Jericho and Benoit in a three-way at WrestleMania. Late in the match Benoit tumbles to the floor. Using the announce desk to regain his footing he touches Angle's title belts, which the champ has draped over the front of the desk. Angle gets up and tells Benoit to back off. Benoit smacks Angle--there goes a gold medal! Angle retaliates with a belt shot to the head, leaving Benoit vulnerable to a Lionsault from Benoit. Jericho scores the pin. Things then get whacky as Bob Backlund runs in. He and Angle leave Benoit & Jericho laying. - Angle & Backlund celebrate their domination over those two plebeians. - Al Snow hypes his and Steve Blackman's pending trip to Wisconsin, the site of this week's SmackDown! This somehow leads to a joke involving Benjamin Franklin. Well, no one said the WWF was perfect. - HEAD CHEESE vs. HARDCORE HOLLY/CRASH HOLLY Hardcore marks his return from an injury of some sort. This, another match in tonight's tournament, goes awry when Tazz comes out, trailing a referee, and he attacks Crash Holly, intent on winning the Hardcore Title! Hardcore Holly falls victim to Snow & Blackman's combo finisher, as Crash & Tazz disappear in the crowd. They play the Run DMC/D-X entrance video. Of note are the topless dancers at a strip club Triple H, Stephanie and the rest party at. Did Vince really allow his little girl Stephanie to hang out in a strip club? - GTV (huh?) features the Kat consoling Terri Runnels on the sore ribs she got last Thursday from being speared by Edge. Terri says they do hurt, but not as much as it must hurt the Kat not being on TV all that much these days. *MEOW!* - EDGE/CHRISTIAN vs. THE ACOLYTES The Acolytes look to be on track to win this one, but their fortunes change when their clueless lackey Mideon comes out with a mop handle, which he tries to use on Edge. Edge reverses the whip and Bradshaw eats the stick instead. Edge gets the pin. Faarooq & Bradshaw give Mideon another beating, one which will presumably be deducted from the poker money he owes them. - The WWF throws a bone to the rednecks by showing footage of Jerry Tolliver (who?) driving the "Stone Cold" Steve Austin funnycar to victory over the weekend. Terri Runnels was on hand to congratulate him. Yay. - VAL VENIS vs. TEST (w/ Trish Stratus) Stratus offers herself up as a distraction to Venis, allowing Test to score a roll-up pin (assisted by a handful of tights). Prince Albert then runs in and he and Test deliver the boots to Venis. Trish grabs the mic and ... and ... oh lordy, this girl needs some work in the promo department. Long story short, Stratus has come to the WWF to give the fans what they want: Test & Albert--T&A. That joke's gonna get old fast. Clips of the Rock & Gang on Saturday Night Live. - TAG TEAM BATTLE ROYAL The winning teams of tonight's tag tournament matches assemble in the ring. Edge has to rudely bodycheck a stupid fan who gets in his way as he and Christian enter through the crowd. The rules here are the standard battle royal rules, with the exception being that if a man is eliminated, his tag team partner is also eliminated. The WWF Tag Team Champs, the Dudley Boyz, sit in on color commentary. The match blows by, with Scotty Too Hotty barely having enough time to do the Worm before he and Grandmaster Sexay are eliminated. Snow and Blackman are eliminated next. It's down to Edge & Christian and the Hardyz. The Dudleyz decide to deliver a message by taking out Edge and Matt Hardy with 3D's. They then set up a table on the floor (big crowd pop), lay Christian on it, and powerbomb Jeff Hardy from inside the ring onto Christian, smashing the table. Choosing the #1 contenders for the Tag Title match at WrestleMania will have to wait for another night. There's the Rock. - TRIPLE H (w/ Stephanie) vs. BIG SHOW (w/ Shane) vs. THE ROCK (w/ Vince) The Rock gets doubleteamed early one, but Triple H and Big Show cross wires enough time to keep the match going. Things start to get interesting when Triple H takes a swing at Vince on the floor. Vince fires back, but fails to drop Triple H like he did last week. Need I say the crowd is totally into the match, as they've been for pretty much the entire show. The Rock continues to absorb tons of punishment, only occasionally delivering spurts of offense. Now we're getting some very near falls. Triple H and Big show wind up down on the floor. Triple H sets up a spot on the announce table, but Big Show counters with a chokeslam. Back in the ring Big Show falls victim to a spinebuster from the Rock. The People's Elbow is imminent, but Shane McMahon cuts it off with a chair shot. In comes Vince and he levels Shane! But now Triple H clobbers him, and comes up with the chair, which he uses on the Big Show! Pedigree! 1 ... 2 ... 3--it's over! The Rock comes to and makes a beeline for Shane, who nearly kills himself hooking his foot in a cable as he leaps over the barricade. Suddenly "No Chance In Hell" fires up, stopping Triple H and Stephanie's exit up the ramp. Linda McMahon walks out! The show goes on pause for several long seconds as Triple H is suddenly called into action to tackle a boneheaded fan who jumps up on the ramp. The camera stays on Linda. She's finally able to say her piece, which amounts to reassuring Triple H that this "Triple Threat Match" will not be repeated at WrestleMania. Triple H will, in fact, defend the WWF Championship in a "Fatal Four-way Match" at WrestleMania, with his opponents being Big Show, the Rock, and a third man who will return to action for one night only, fulfilling his lifelong dream of headlining a WrestleMania ... Mick Foley! Out comes Foley to a massive crowd pop. He drives Triple H back to the ring. Grabbing the WWF Championship belt, he plasters Triple H and the Big Show with it. The show ends with Foley holding the belt high over his head. - This Thursday: Nothing announced. - Next week: Nothing announced. Comments: Okay, so Foley's retirement lasted all of three weeks. It doesn't bother me, though, as I never took Foley's retirement to mean he'd NEVER wrestle again (and I don't believe he actually said he'd never wrestle again). I think he's staying true to the spirit of what he actually said--that his days as a full-time wrestler are over. Returning for one match at WrestleMania doesn't contradict that. I think we all knew Foley has a number of matches left in him, and this one is the first of many we'll see in the coming years. I know some people have a problem with Foley coming back, but I think that merely stems from people pig-headedly taking the word "retirement" too literal. Hell, just comparing this instance with every other time someone has claimed to retire, it's par for the course. "Retirement" in pro-wrestling NEVER means NEVER. I don't see why Foley's retirement should be viewed as an exception to a rule we all knew about. There is the matter of Foley saying he didn't want to be like all the others who claimed to retire, then came back. Some are saying Foley is now a hypocrite. Again, I think it comes down to a misunderstanding of what Foley meant. Mick was obviously talking about those wrestlers who said they were retiring merely as part of an angle; as well as those wrestlers who really did retire, then later came out of retirement to return to full-time action. I think Foley is sincere in saying he has no plans to return to full-time wrestling, and I don't think his retirement was just an angle to take him off TV for a few weeks. Obviously if somewhere down the road Mick packs his bags, kisses the wife & kids goodbye, and goes back on the road full-time, then he'll have truly gone back on his word to the fans. That'll be the day he's a hypocrite. If and when that happens he'll be deserving of criticism. But this, the match at WrestleMania, that's a far cry from that, and I think until the day comes that he breaks his word he deserves the benefit of the doubt. I just don't understand this bitterness some out there are expressing over this. I somehow doubt it's merely concern over Foley's well being. I think some out there feel they've been swerved by a well crafted storyline, and being the types needing something to bitch about anyway, this is as good a thing as any to set their sights on. I say shrug it off, sigh, roll your eyes if you must, but to blow a gasket over what one perceives to be a lie, in a business predicated 99.9% of the time on lies, and to do so against a guy who is truly one of the finer human beings to inhabit this business ... I simply don't see what it accomplishes. If you must, blame it on Vince McMahon. I'm sure he's used to it. Overall this was a really good installment of RAW, and one which really sharpened the focus on the card for WrestleMania. There's still a lot to be sorted out in shaping the undercard, but there's more than enough in place in the top few matches too make the show one well worth watching. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Bottom Line: Just as I was ready to send this edition of the Recap out, news broke on the major wrestling websites (Observer, Torch & 1Wrestling) that Bill Busch had resigned as head of WCW, and that, pending a few details to be ironed out, Eric Bischoff was back in control! Needless to say, the future of WCW is now more in question than ever. As was the case with Bischoff and Vince Russo before him, it was clearly the time to remove Busch from the WCW scene. Bischoff let the job of running WCW get out of hand. Russo, as head writer, proved to be a square peg in a round hole, and incapable of playing the backstage political game. Busch, it turned out, was less capable than either of the other two in getting the job done. His biggest problem lay in his inexperience in the wrestling business. He relied on the advice of all the wrong people, choose the wrong people to run the company, made major decisions which hurt the company, and refused to make major decisions that would have helped. In retrospect it's hard to spot anything he did which helped the company, and won't possibly be undone by the returning Bischoff. It's difficult to be optimistic about Bischoff's return, though to be fair he should be given the chance to makes those changes necessary to turn the company around. He certainly has it in his power to do so. Hopefully he will learn from his mistakes of the past. First and foremost, he has to cut his ties to certain wrestlers, chief among them being Hulk Hogan. A major factor in WCW's and Bischoff's downfall was that he allowed himself to be influenced and dominated by friends and butt-kissers. Much of WCW's current state can be blamed on Hogan, as well as Kevin Nash and Kevin Sullivan, all of whom was said to be in Bischoff's ear. Too often those close to him were able to affect his decision making, usually to the detriment of what was good for the company. Bischoff's other problem was that he assumed an on-screen role. This didn't so much affect WCW as it did his ability to deal with his failing grasp on the company. It divided his attention and drained his energy. Eventually he burned out on trying to do both jobs, and removed himself from television, and turned the booking of the company over to Kevin Nash. Nash drove the company into the ground, as Bischoff stood idly by and watched everything go down in flames. It was imperative that Bill Busch be removed or step down as head of WCW. Unfortunately Bischoff comes in facing all the problems and necessary changes that were facing Busch. Busch's departure doesn't really help WCW, it just passes off all the problems to someone else--the one who was the cause of all the problems to begin with. Bischoff is certainly one who could turn WCW around, but only if he focuses all his efforts on that very job, and doesn't allow himself to be played by the manipulators. He faces making decisions tougher than those he was unable to cope with prior to his being removed from power last year. He faces returning to a lockerroom rife with discontent, and a roster of athletes who have, over the last half year, lost all respect for company authority. He faces an aging star in Hulk Hogan and a head booker in Kevin Sullivan who are entrenched at the top of the company, with neither one having a single idea regarding putting the company back on track. Will he realize Hogan, Sullivan, Nash and certain others have to go? Will he be able to withstand Hogan's poisonous influence in the month or two between now and the day Goldberg is able to return to carry the company? Will he understand that focusing on youth and quality wrestling are what's needed to build for the future? Will he resist the temptation to put himself on TV, casting himself in a role similar to Vince McMahon in the WWF, or Vince Russo's failed "Powers That Be"? Based on his past, the smart money says no, but we've certainly got to root for him to do the right thing. Otherwise this may be WCW's last chance at being a player in the major leagues of pro-wrestling. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Slobberknocker Central" and "Monday Night Recap" are copyright 2000 by John Petrie, and all opinions expressed therein are his own, and not those of "USLink". Check the "Slobberknocker Central" main page for info on how to receive the "Recap" free via E-Mail every week. Volume One, Number 227 of the "Monday Night Recap", March 20th, 2000.