______________________________________________________________________ I do not offer subscriptions to a mailing list! I do not e-mail images! ______________________________________________________________________ As you'll read below, I've still been battling sickness. I guess that work has been busy and stressful enough that my strength has been sapped. I'm hopefully back on my regular schedule. ______________________________________________________________________ - I spent the whole day on Sunday puking. I'm not being dramatic. I got up at 7:00am and barfed. It lasted throughout the day. I don't know if it was Uncensored anticipation or fond memories of the Ultimate Warrior or Darren Drosdov, but I was sick like a dog. Now, you'd have to be healthy and filled with good humour to watch a WCW PPV, so I was having some doubts about ordering the show. Besides, I needed sleep. Turns out I had no say in the matter: my cable company has switched the way that PPVs are handled so that they are only accessible if you have a digital source converter. Of course, I can upgrade to that at no extra charge, but not on a Sunday (the change just occurred this weekend). Anyhow, being a diehard for punishment, I avoided what were no doubt bad reviews and ordered the replay on Tuesday night. It's no secret that going into the PPV, the current regime's life was all but over. Hulk Hogan has so much control, though, that even if there are some changes made, his cancer will still kill whatever could be. I decided that since I always feel so depressed when I watch WCW, I might as well keep track of my depression level during the show. Keep in mind that my state of depression doesn't necessarily reflect on match quality. Overall I couldn't give the show anything but a thumbs down. Rundown: * The Artist beat Psicosis to retain the Cruiserweight title: Chris Candido came out during the match opening. It was sort of a waste to debut him at a PPV that so few people will order. Artist is so bad that Psicosis couldn't make this a good match. Maybe WCW has finally done it and actually killed the work ethic of the luchadors. The commentators pushed Candido. They didn't mention Tammy Sytch by name, but alluded to her. Psicosis got a near pin at 5:00, signalling that they were moving to the finish. Psicosis actually drew a little heat. There were a half-dozen empty seats directly in the camera shot during the match. Juvi & Paisley got into it, with Paisley coming out ahead. Way to kill Juvi. Psicosis was distracted by Paisley and ended up getting DDTed off the ropes by Artist. Depression Index +1. The more positive the index, the more depressed I am. Match time was 6:36. * Demon & Norman Smiley beat Lane & Rave (formerly Idol): Miss Hancock came out to do commentary during this match. I couldn't believe that they were going to have four people on commentary all night long. Poor Norman was getting over a long time ago, and it once seemed like they couldn't kill him despite the stupidity, so now they've teamed him with Demon and dressed him up in Demon's gimmick. Mike Tenay had the nerve to say that Demon & Norman had unity and are a top team in WCW. He used to bring something to the table -- credibility. This match should be viewed in a similar light to Hardyz vs. Edge & Christian many months ago in that it featured fresh faces. Unfortunately, it had half the talent in the ring and took place in a promotion that isn't interested in making stars. The commentators were a bit unaware about Miss Hancock's storyline on WCW Saturday Night. Demon is brutal. He's like Kane in without the over gimmick and in a dead promotion. At 3:43, pretty much out of nowhere, Norman hit the conquest for the win. Afterwards, Rave & Lane tried to take Miss Hancock away, but the Screamin' Demons saved her. She danced in the ring with Norman. She spanked Norman. Demon tried to wiggle. Depression Index +1. * Wall beat Bam Bam Bigelow: They recapped the storyline. Truthfully, I didn't even remember some of it. I'm not sure if that's good or bad; I guess it depends on your perspective. Despite the push, Wall has nothing and the crowd knows it. Bammer hit the headbutt off the top very early. Wall did a high kick. This match was below simple, even or a half-notch above Kane vs. Big Slow. There was some sloppiness, but I was sort of surprised that Bammer was able to keep it from being embarrassing. Mind you, the crowd couldn't care less because the Wall is the just the wrong guy to push. They brawled to a stage area, where Wall choke slammed Bammer through the WCW.com tables, I guess, for the DQ at 3:37. A load of smoke came out of the equipment. Crowbar & David Flair attacked Wall, but Wall limited his selling so Crowbar & Flair ran off. Bigelow did a stretcher job. Suddenly, Wall & Crowbar appeared on the scaffolding, with Wall choke slamming Crowbar through the ramp. Yeah, they could have mattresses under the ramp and make it a reasonably safe stunt since Crowbar could launch himself the way he wanted to, I guess, but isn't he a good enough wrestler that they could find a way to get him over without resorting to this crap? Crowbar was stretchered off. Wall did his Buh Buh Ray Dudley imitation, all bug eyed and turned on by his accomplishment. Tony told us that Uncensored has been stopped because everybody was so concerned. Three seconds later he cut back to Mean Gene to hype the next match. Depression Index +0. * Brian Knobs beat Three Count to win the Hardcore Title: Shane Helms wore a mask because his nose was broken on TV a week before. Knobs dedicated the match to Crowbar. As Knobs was loading up the ring with plunder, he was broomed in the back. He managed to use weapons on Three Count as they all went back to the ring. When Knobs did his "Pitty City" on each guy, Shane Helms no sold it because the mask protected him. The commentators didn't bother to explain any of it. Three Count did dives off a ladder and then danced. Knobs used a fire extinguisher. Shane was pinned three minutes in. Karagias took a stiff power bomb through a table for the pin at 4:20 or so. Shannon got a pin off a double team move (despite the other guys being eliminated), but Knobs was in the ropes. The referee signalled that this mess should continue. Knobs splashed Shannon with a garbage can for the win at 7:00. I don't like garbage wrestling like this, but the Depression Index stayed even +0. Just because two matches in a row didn't depress me doesn't mean that things were looking up. * Booker & Kidman beat Horrible Heat 2000: It's inexcusable that Booker isn't in a headlining role. He should be pinning Luger on Nitro and beating Hogan at a PPV. Torrie Wilson is a sight. Stevie Ray is a waste. Tony Norris looks more like Rikishi than Ahmed Johnson these days. Even Booker & Kidman could get any goodness out of Fat T. They drew heat on Kidman. J. Biggs did commentary, telling us that Fat T is agile. Even with the nose bandaid on, Fat T was sucking wind at the 5:00 mark; I think he should paste those things all over his body. Kidman made the hot tag. Heat stood no chance until a double team sidewalk slam. Kidman made the save. The fans were actually into Booker & Kidman, but that won't change the mind of anybody who makes decision. Kidman hit a sunset flip off the top, Booker hit the sidekick to knock Fat T over, and Kidman got the pin on the slob at 6:55. I liked the result. I want both guys on the winning side to see brighter and bigger things. For a moment I'll delude myself and think positively: Depression Index -1. * Vampiro beat Fit Finlay in a falls count anywhere match: I don't know why Vampiro is in this spot on a PPV. He's also on the list of guys that should be in main events right away, beating Luger and Sting on Nitro. They actually want to team him with Sting to give him the rub when he really should just be beating Sting. The commentators tried to push Vampiro's performances against the "stars," but it fell flat since he didn't beat any of those guys. Finlay draped a chair across Vamp's face, but the referee moved it before he could do anything. They brawled to the commentary table. They walked, without even suggesting that there was a battle underway. They went into the crowd. They climbed the stairs. It was ridiculous. They kept walking. In the concourse, they brawled into the women's room, released the mistaked, and walked over to the women's room. Mark Madden said a uranage would be a good move to use in the washroom. Vampiro tried a tope off the top of a stall. A lot of mutant fans figured that they were part of the match. The wrestlers couldn't do anything because of the throng. They wnet outside. Finlay teased throwing Finlay off the building's balcony. At 7:30, it felt like a half hour, not a good thing. Vamp hit the nail in the coffin at 8:20 for the pin in the concourse, with fans crowding to get into the shot. Too ridiculous for me, although I liked the closing shot of the fans around Vampiro all raising their arms. Depression Index +0. * Harris Twins beat the Mamalukes to win the WCW Tag Titles: The Harris brothers came out to NWO music. Harris twins suck. They are so bad that my wife, who happened to be in the room during this match, laughed at their punches. After 6:00 that seemed like six hours, the Mamalukes finally rallied and went for the big finish. There was a horrible save by a Harris brother. They pancaked Johnny, but he kicked out. The commentators called a pancake an H-bomb because they knew that move was the finish, I guess. Disco Inferno interfered, thinking he had set up the win. A title belt was left in the ring. The Harris twins used the belt to clean house. H-bomb for the pin at 8:45. Depression Index +2. There is no up side to pushing the Harris twins. * Dustin Rhodes beat Terry Funk in a bullrope match: Dustin calls himself the American Nightmare now. He's so unmotivated that he's a wrestling fan's nightmare to be sure. Terry came out with a raw chicken on his hand. He called Dusty fat and said a chicken was Dustin's baby brother. A guy in a chicken costume lured Dustin into the aisle where Terry punched him. They mentioned "Beyond The Mat" in pushing Terry, who got a two count after a bell shot. Terry did the seesaw spot on the ropes as Dustin belled him. They finally hooked the bullrope on their wrists at close to 4:00. Dustin bulldogged Terry on the cowbell. The chicken came back in, taunting Dustin, and getting laid out. They turned on some henhouse sound effects. Inexplicably, Terry Funk turned the match into an "I Quit!" match, dumping the referee and yelling at Dustin quit. Dustin said he quit, but the referee wouldn't stop the match because Terry can't change stips. Dustin nailed Terry with the bell to the head. Dustin tried to piledrive Terry on the cowbell, but it didn't quite click. Match ran 8:50. Dustin laid into Terry some more. This was the best match of the night thus far (and what was going to be better), but it wasn't praiseworthy. Depression Index +0. * Sting beat Lex Luger in a lumberjack cast match: All of the lumberjacks had casts on: Vampiro, Fit Finlay, Brian Knobs, Curt Hennig, Jimmy Hart, Doug Dillenger. Mike Tenay mentioned that Lex Luger had recruited some lumberjacks of his own. Luger apologized to the casted lumberjacks and then called out his lumberjacks: Hugh Morrus, Fat T, Stevie Ray, Kash, Harris Twins. Sting came out to a lukewarm response, but Tony called it one of the greatest responses anywhere. They did a few dumps out of the ring with the lumberjacks getting into it. 3:00 in Tank Abbott walked down to ringside. He decked Doug Dillenger, laughed, and walked away. They lumberjacks fought down the aisle, actually walking through the entranceway, turning this into a nonlumberjack match. Only Vampiro remained. Ric Flair came down to ringside with his bat and Elizabeth. Vampiro tried to take on Flair. In the ring, Sting laid into Luger. Flair came in only to be splashed and dumped. Flair is the only guy who makes Sting look good. Liz used the bat on Sting. Vamp took the bat away from her. Jimmy Hart threatened Liz and dragged her off. Sting kicked out of the cheap pin. As Luger put Sting in the rack, the referee turned away for no reason, so Vamp came in to bat Luger's back. The referee turned and saw Vamp in the ring, then leaving the ring, but counted the pin anyhow at 6:59. Sting & Vampiro hugged a little. Hey, maybe they'll elevate Vamp. Depression Index -1. * Sid Vicious beat Jeff Jarrett to retain the WCW Title: Throughout the show, they showed a limo in the back, teasing that somebody who would play a role in this match was inside. The commentators also explained that this match was planned to air last, but was in this spot for some reason. Jarrett said that his NWO girls would strip when he won the title, guaranteeing a loss and setting the stage for Sid's rumoured heel turn the next night. Jarrett can try as hard as possible, but with Sid in there this had no chance. Sid's punches are atrocious. Sid slammed JJ on the commentary table, poured water on him, and did a double aze handle off the table onto JJ, slipping on the wet mats when he landed. They walked through ringside, with the commentators explaining that the referee was being lenient to guarantee that the fans get a finish. The Harris twins can out to attack Sid. They even went into the ring to attack Sid. The referee, meanwhile, tried to stop Jarrett from getting a chair. Jarrett hit a sleeper. Two arm drops, but the third gave a finger wag. Jarrett cut him off for a second, but Sid still rallied. Punches, big foot. How can a promotion have two horrible wrestlers with the same routine? No, I'm not talking about Undertaker and Kane. JJ used a low blow to counter a choke slam. JJ knocked the ref down. Guitar shot. Jarrett called out his handpicked referee, but Hogan pulled the referee out of the ring before he could count three. Hogan attacked JJ and the Harris brothers. Hogan hit the legdrop and draped Sid on top of JJ, with the referee counting even though Hogan was in the ring. Match ran roughly 7:40. Big Poppa Pump ran in to lay out Hogan with a guitar shot. As the participants of this match left, Ric Flair just came in to start the next match. Depression Index +2. * Hulk Hogan beat Ric Flair in a crappy buy, er, yapapai indian strap match: With no ring entrances, the match just started. Hogan stopped selling the severe beating of Steiner and the little bit from Flair at the 35 second mark. What a pro. He didn't sell any chops at ringside. They had a leather belt connecting them. The winner had to touch all four corners without losing momentum. Hogan kicked Flair low. Hogan used his weightlifting belt on Flair. Poor Flair didn't get any credible offence in and had to beg his way through the match. Hogan sucks. And he has control. He has said he isn't doing any more jobs. Who needs him? Flair tried to run but Hogan pulled him back in using the strap. Flair bladed. They went into the aisle. Jimmy Hart strapped Flair a bit. They walked to the entry ramp. Lex Luger surfaced to chair Hogan, with Hogan blading. Flair dominated with cheap shots. Hart interfered to help Hogan, but Flair decked him. Flair hit two corners. He hit some knee drops before getting the third corner, with his "momentum" apparently okay. Hogan hooked the bottom rope to stop Flair. Tony Schiavone explained that Flair needed to be knocked off his feet to stop his momentum. Flair pulled out an object. Despite Flair never dropping, Tony Schiavone said Flair had to start over. Then he said that was the case because Hogan got back up to his feet for a second. Hogan hit the punches, high foot, and started the corners. He hit three without difficulty. As he went for the fourth corner, Lex Luger ran in, Hogan leg decked him, Hogan leg dropped Flair, and Hogan pinned Flair at 14:20. Oh, he also then touched the fourth corner, apparently still with momentum. Oh god, I hate Hogan. Depression Index +3. My Depression Index score came out at +7 overall. I have no idea what that means comparatively, but I was pretty bummed at the end of the show. - Also in my absence, ECW ran Living Dangerously on PPV, an apt description of one piece of the content of the program. People wonder why I'm down on the North American wrestling scene, and this show provided yet another strong example of what troubles me. I'm really happy that Mick Foley was able to find a career path that gave him the chance to earn enough money so that he could retire a broken man after a short career. It was his decision to work the style that he has popularized so widely in North America, and, while I question the sense of it and the integrity of the promoters who let him cripple and maim his body and mind, we have to acknowledge that he saved his money from day one because he knew his future. There's something strange, dare I say abnormal, about the decision, and I guess that is what makes his book a good read. In his wake though, and perhaps partly exacerbated by talentless stunt man cum wrestlers in ECW, others have tried to follow suit, raising the bar and risking life and limb as well. Owen Hart died because a stupid stunt went wrong. Nobody in a decision-making capacity in North America seems to care. Regularly, wrestlers perform risky stunts that have extremely limited connection to wrestling, risking their health every time in the hope that they can be elevated to Foley-like cult status. It is sad that the first death that comes out of this oneupmanship will be connected to Foley as part of his legacy and impact, but that connection will be darn clear because that death seems like it will take place before Foley becomes a faded memory. At ECW Living Dangerously, there was nothing all that good about the wrestling. There were a few good wrestling moments, and Super Crazy's match with Little Guido was okay, but none of that left an impact on the viewer. The high(low)light of the show saw the supremely talentless New Jack brawl with Vic Grimes to a stage area to take a bump off a scaffold. Remember when Vince McMachon climbed a scaffold set and took a Nestea plunge bump into a hay pile that had mattresses under it? That was a carefully planned, safely executed spot. The "safe" claim comes because Vince had full control of his release and his flight path. Something could have still gone wrong, but they had created a large enough soft landing area that it seemed "safe." I would still question whether it had much at all to do with wrestling, but that's a different complaint. Well, this is ECW, a paragon of safety checks and careful stunt planning, not to mention employee restraint. Apparently, Vic Grimes and New Jack scouted the arena before the show and decided that they would do a suplex spot off the scaffold through two tables. They didn't climb the scaffold or check things out in any way. It's unclear whether they even cleared the idea with anybody. Just prior to getting to that position, Grimes did a senton over the ringpost onto the floor, a deadly move for a guy his size. They set up the tables and climbed opposite sides of the scaffold. Only then did they realize there was no footing on the scaffold. It was immensely dangerous. They still tried to set up the spot. Finally, New Jack sort of half-jumped and half-fell off the scaffold, barely crashing through a bit of table on the way down. He pulled Grimes with him. Grimes presumably wanted to go back-first through the tables, so he launched himself into a somersault. He overshot the tables. He landed on New Jack's head and chest. The camera cut away as soon as they realized that something had gone terribly wrong. And here's the wonderful part about the climate of oneupmanship: the crowd chanted "ECW! ECW!" It didn't matter that these guys clearly had almost killed themselves, that the fans didn't even know whether New Jack was okay. "ECW! ECW!" Bar the windows and lock the doors; the barbarians are at the gate. The Observer reported that some ECW wrestlers were upset that New Jack & Grimes had "raised the bar" for stunt men. How did the promotion react? Given that New Jack suffered a severe concussion, among other injuries, and that there was fear for a while in the arena that he might die, surely the ECW leadership would try to establish some restraint amongst the stunt man faction. Well, on the Friday night TNN show, they opened with the spectacular and scary bump, with the crowd chanting "ECW! ECW!" The show aired taped matches, including one involving New Jack. The message to the sicko fans is that that bump is what the promotion is about, that New Jack was already back in action. And people no doubt laughed when a relic like Roddy Piper sat on the Larry King show and talked about promoters exploiting wrestlers. The showed went into fastforward mode after that dangerous bump, because people honestly didn't know the status of New Jack. It went off the air some 20 minutes early. It was a disappointing show. Quick rundown: * At the start of the show, Steve Corino started insulting Sandman's wife, who sat at ringside with his children. He called her a whore and said she did the locker room, etc. Don't get started about the kid being there, Herb. People will remind you he's probably nine or ten by now. Definitely old enough to be involved in this sort of angle. Uh-huh. I wouldn't let me nine year old watch pro-wrestling. Anyhow, Lori Fullington was speared through a table by Rhino, with Sandman showing as much support for her as he does for his partners by taking forever to make the rescue. The tone of Corino's oral assault was so strong, Sandman should have been out long before it got to the table spot. I thought it made him look like an idiot, especially when he was carrying her off yelling "Where's my kids at?" At least we didn't have to see him wrestle. * Dusty Rhodes beat Steve Corino in a bullrope match: A horrible match. Dusty was worse than Hogan and Sid rolled into one. But he bled, as did Corino, so the crowd didn't care about how bad the match was. Yet another indictment on wrestling fandom. Really sloppy ending, with the referee taping the cowbell to Corino's head and Dusty using a chairshot to it. It didn't work out well. * C.W.Anderson & Bill Wiles beat Danny Doring & Amish Roadkill: Really indyish. They tried to have the Anderson & Wiles work like the old Anderson teams. Elektra ended up turning on Roadkill & Amish to lead to the upset. Does anybody care about her? * Mike Awesome beat Kid Kash: It was supposed to be Kash vs. Simon Diamond, but Awesome came out and told them he'd beat them up if they didn't leave. Diamond (injured) left, but Kash hung around for the beating. Joey Styles started explaining that Awesome, as a double champion, wanted to have two title defences on the PPV, so this was apparently a title match. Not that it mattered. Awesome pretty much squashed Kash. * Nova & Chris Chetti beat Gedo & Jado: This was a miscarriage of justice. Chetti has gotten so out of shape and was pretty bad. Gedo was great (and awesome on TV against Storm & Credible). Whether it was Chetti's crappiness, Nova's indyish style, or Jado's mediocrity, this match was not particularly good at all. * Super Crazy beat Little Guido: This was the semifinal of the TV tourney. Okay match, close to good. Really the only worthwhile match on the show. Crazy is great. * Balls Mahoney beat Kintaro Kanemura: Blink, the match was over. I'm not complaining. This led to the New Jack & Grimes disaster. "ECW! ECW!" * Lance Storm & Justin Credible beat Raven & Mike Awesome and Masato Tanaka & Tommy Dreamer to win the Tag Titles: These threeway matches are getting old. It wasn't long before Tanaka pinned Awesome after a suplex through a table. The commentators really took none of the match time to build to that surprise result, nor did they really get excited about it as a surprise. I'm sure the point was that the world champion had been pinned by one simple (in ECW) move, but the crowd didn't react to it as anything special either. Awesome isn't working out, it seems. He's still doing better than Sid, though. I guess the crowd was drained from seeing somebody nearly get killed. Storm & Credible pinned Dreamer after a stuff piledriver. Cyrus, who was great throughout the show, came in to congratulate the TNN-approved champions. * Super Crazy beat Rhino to win the TV Title: They wrapped a lot of stuff into this match, which meant that it wasn't as much match as it was storyline. It looked bad for Crazy, as Yoshihiro Tajiri interfered and misted him. Crazy got destroyed, but Rob van Dam and Scotty Riggs came down to ringside, with van Dam getting in the ring and hitting a couple of spots, selling his leg on each landing. van Dam ended up putting Rhino through a table and he was pinned by Crazy. The heels rallied and started beating up all of the faces, but Sandman made the grand entrance to cane some people and share some beer. RAW RAW on 03/20/2000 opened with Vince McMahon announcing a tag team tournament to determine the number one contenders for WrestleMania. Edge & Christian, who had previously attained that status, lost their title match on TV. WWF TV in recent weeks has had a few good matches, but nothing particularly special. Dean Malenko beat Esse Rios for the Lightheavyweight Title, which is exactly the spot that Dean should be in. A rematch at WrestleMania could be a great match, with Dean reining in Rios' youthful exuberance to keep the match together. In the biggest news, albeit expected, Vince McMahon returned to the show that he said he'd never appear on again. It built to Big Slow vs. HHH vs. Rock at WrestleMania, with Shane, Stephanie, and Vince in their corners, respectively. It's unfortunate that Big Slow is in there. Vince's return was ludicrous, as he marched from his limo to the ring, like superman, laying out the WWF champ en route, decking his son, and counting the fall for Rock. Ridiculously over the top. Back to this show, the opening tag team match saw the Hardyz beat Road Dogg & X-Pac, the Newer Age Outlaws. That's a good result, of course, but it didn't happen without Kane lumbering around ringside to distract. Afterwards, Kane choke slammed Tori one more time, 'cause what the WWF be without some violence against women. At this point, don't you think that Kane has a problem? This woman betrayed him, so he snapped at attacked her. Even that's unforgiveable, but in the comic book world of pro-wrestling, particularly the WWF's pornographic world, they can get away with it. Still, Kane has now attacked Tori a good handful of times; doesn't that make him a stalker of sorts? Nope, it draws cheers. HHH & Stephanie hit the ring. Tremendous heat for the mediocre champion. He said he'd beat the Poontang Kid at WrestleMania. Huh, isn't Big Slow in the match too? Bingo, out came Shane & Big Slow. Shane asked HHH to defend the title against Big Slow tonight. The crowd booed at the mention of Big Slow, not in a good way. I guess they wanted HHH vs. Rock. It would be nice if HHH beat Slow to eliminate him from WrestleMania. HHH said no to the match, 'cause he doesn't have to defend the title before Mania. Before Slow & HHH could bore us with in-ring "action," Vince came out. Shane did an impression of Vince gulping in fear. Vince apparently calls the shots again, saying that HHH vs. Big Slow vs. Rock would main event tonight with the title on the line. I'm still confused about who is in charge. Oh well, Vince did a huge babyface deal announcing the match. Vince & Shane actually taunted HHH to get him to agree to the match. I guess nobody actually calls the shots. HHH said that there would be no rematch at WrestleMania. Vince told HHH to kiss the WWF Title goodbye. I like it when they bring things back to the title, make the title belt seem important. Godfather came out, after 10pm EST of course (yeah, right). Godfather did his whole pre-match routine. Godfather faced Big Boss Man, who was joined by Bull Buchanan, a huge bald guy. They double-teamed Godfather, laying him out in 30 seconds with no match ever starting. HHH decided to put Kane in the ring against Rikishi, because HHH apparently is in charge tonight. In the next tag team tournament match, Too Cool faced Dean Malenko & Perry Saturn. The Radicals were accompanied by Eddie Guerrero, but Chris Benoit was nowhere to be seen. Really nice, although I don't care for some of the goofiness in Too Cool's act. Hey, that's a personal thing; I readily admit that I laugh at El Gran Naniwa's goofiness. The match got a bit messy with everybody in the ring. Eddie tripped up Scotty when he tried for the worm. Eddie took a few bumps, one into Saturn, with the two of them arguing afterwards. Dean was pinned once again. Kane faced Rikishi. These two will team to face Road Dogg & X-Pac at Mania. Horrible match, really, but just like in the mid-1980s, the WWF is so hot that the fans pop for everything, regardless of quality. Dogg & X-Pac ran in to attack Kane. Unlike in WCW, these guys actually ran in. Rikishi rallied, but ended up getting laid out as well. Hard to believe that the Newer Age Outlaws lost on RAW tonight and will lose at Mania. They talked to Chris Benoit, building to a triangle match at Mania with Chris Jericho & Kurt Angle. That match has been worked house shows; they apparently put together a great match which draws great heat. It sure looks good to me. The Poontang Kid hyped the main event. Kurt Angle came to the ring, but was cut off before he could speak by Chris Jericho's music. Angle was out to do guest commentary during the Jericho vs. Chris Benoit match. Benoit attacked Jericho in mid-speech. In a rare miscue, as Angle was coming out Jim Ross mentioned that he would put both belts on the line in the triangle match. But during the commentary, Angle said that he'd gladly put one of his belts on the line in a triangle, as if he were announcing that match for the first time. Match was really just the backdrop for Angle's commentary. Not too much happened, or the commentators never actually talked about it. The camera kept cutting away to Angle, so we could hear and see him. The match was really hurt by this. The first match commentary was "Oh, what a move there." Finally, Benoit was dumped out of the ring. He touched Angle's belts while climbing to his feet. Angle & Benoit got physical. Angle walloped Benoit with a belt, so Jericho got the win. Hopefully, that bodes well for Benoit at Mania. As Jericho responded to a postmatch attack by Bob Backlund, who has surfaced as an Angle lackey, Angle climbed in the ring again to whack Jericho with his other title belt. Crash & Bob Holly faced Al Snow & Steve Blackman in the tag tourney. Tazz came out to challenge Crash Holly to a hardcore match, which led to Crash running off and Bob getting pinned. They aired a new DX video by Run DMC. Terri dissed Cat. Edge & Christian faced Acolytes in the final tag tourney match. Christian & Faarooq did one of the worst clothesline spots in modern history. Mideon came out; he's trying to work off his debt to the Acolytes. His interference backfired and the Acolytes lost. Val Venis faced Test. They didn't work so well together. Val was distracted by Trish Stratus, who came down to ringside to show off her bosom, I mean, to watch. Test got a roll-up win. Prince Albert ran in. He and Test double-teamed Val. Albert let Trish in the ring. Trish did some really weak microphone work. Everybody wants to see "T&A," Test and Albert. Oh lord. Hey, it's an idea anyhow. The victorious tag teams in the earlier tournament squared off in a battle royal to determine the number one contenders to face the Dudleyz at Mania. The Dudleyz were out for guest commentary. As most of the wrestlers were struggling in the corner, Scotty hit the worm on Blackman, only to be dumped by Snow. Snow was dumped right after. The remaining guys did a lot of spots in two minutes, with the Dudleyz running in and laying out everybody. They pulled out a table. Hmmm, triangle match at WrestleMania? Buh Buh powerbombed Jeff Hardy on Christian through a table. The "WrestleMania main event" came next. HHH, the champ, came out first, which is just wrong whenever it happens. But you know that Rock has to come out last, and coming out second is the dead spot. They kept pushing that the WWF was delivering on a promise, that the match hype wasn't just a big swerve, a tactic that seemed like it would pay off only if there was a title change. Shane & Stephanie accompanied their charges. Vince came out to his own music alone. Finally, Rock came out. The heels took turns getting pounded by Rock and miscuing on each other. HHH went out over the top. Rock his a pescado. Okay, that was a joke. Vince decked HHH. Rock almost pinned Slow. Rock dumped HHH, who had just come in to make the save, and started pounding him in the ringside area. Slow showed up, and he and Rock traded blows. HHH was resting. Vince gulped. Rock launched HHH onto Slow in a bad spot. Crowd chanted "wrestling! wrestling!", oh, no, that's "Rocky! Rocky!" All three were back in the ring, with Slow working on Rock and the crowd getting quiet. As HHH got involved, the crowd started chanting. HHH tried to order Slow around. Slow dropped elbows, with nothing but air getting hit. He sucks. If Vince wanted to rip off HHH, why wouldn't he just yell "Ring the bell!", especially with Earl Hebner in there as referee. Rock was double-teamed. Rock finally rallied on HHH, as Slow was yelling at the referee. Jim Ross called HHH the best in the business. Rock got dunmped. Rock reversed a whip, sending HHH into the steps. Back in the ring, Slow choked Rock. HHH was back on his feet way too quickly, not selling anything from the steps bump. HHH kneedropped the Poontang Kid's gonads. Rock rallied on both heels at the 8:00 mark, but HHH cut him off. All I could think was "thank god this wasn't the WrestleMania main event." Big Slow & HHH finally squared off, with Slow pounding HHH. Slow did the slowest run into the corner ever, getting kicked by HHH. Rock came back into the picture, kicking HHH and DDTing Slow. HHH was choke slammed on the floor. Rock went for the elbow, but Shane pulled down the ropes and chaired him. Vince came around and decked Shane. Before he could chair him, HHH took the chair and whacked Slow. In the ring, HHH hit the pedigree for the pin on Slow at 12:00. Rock chased Shane into the crowd. Disappointing result. Oh wait, Linda McMahon came out on the platform. Let me guess: Linda is in charge! She announced that Mick Foley would be part of the WrestleMania main event in a four corners elimination match with these three guys. Mick came out. He has nothing left, but the crowd got into it. Nitro Nitro on 03/20/2000 followed the depressing Uncensored PPV the night before amidst loads of talk that everything will be shaken up backstage. The one unfortunate constant, though, is Hulk Hogan calling most of the shots, which essentially means that things won't improve. The opening scene saw Sid Vicious & Hulk Hogan vs. Jeff Jarrett & Scott Steiner get set up as the main event. It seemed clear that Sid was going to turn to make it Hogan against the world. First match on the show saw Chris Candido debut against Lash Leroux. The Artist & Paisley were at the commentary table. Candido did the "I don't need a gimmick, I'm a wrestler" shtick prematch and tried to show something. Already the wrestling on this show seemed better than most recent Nitros, Thunders, and PPVs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. was interviewed before the match, saying that he's the best cruiserweight in the promotion. It seemed like they were setting up a triangle match between Candido, Chavo, and Artist. Well, at least Candido & Chavo will look impressive against each other. Triangle matches and four corner matches need to go, don't they? They've gone from an occasional gimmick to standard fare. Miss Hancock said she'd debut Los Fabulosos. Fit Finlay faced La Parka. I still don't get La Parka's English interview gimmick. I don't know that it's going anywhere. If the voice actually belonged to somebody who would eventually come out of the shadows to be La Parka's partner or voicepiece, it might build to something, but as it is it makes a potential star in the promotion seem like ven more of a jobber. It seems like they are going to bring in an enemy for La Parka in this angle. They don't know how to elevate anybody, or they don't want to. Finlay went over of course. Gene Okerlund brought out the incomparably untalented David Flair. Flair pulled a table out from under the ring before even getting in the ring. I was hoping that the Wall would come out and destroy David to the point that we never see him again. I don't mean that literally of course; I just think David is a waste of air time. Flair called out Wall. In less time than it took to write this paragraph, Wall destroyed David. Wall had David in a choke slam position on the apron, ready to drive him through the table. Daffney used a fire extinguisher, but Wall no sold it. Choke slam. Billy Kidman & Booker, pushed as potential tag team champions, which would only be a good thing if guys like Luger, Sting, Sid, Hogan, etc., did tag matches so that they could help elevate Billy & Booker, faced the Harris twins. See, that sentence explains the problem, doesn't it? The Harris twins as champions have no credibility in any way. They suck, but they aren't part of the crappy squad of really old WWF guys who are causing so much trouble. Kidman wasn't given anything by the Harris twins. He got pounded because of his size and then made a desperate tag. Kidman snuck in with a bulldog. As Booker tried for a top rope spot, one of the Harris twins decked him with the belt for the DQ. Afterwards, Torrie jumped on top of a Harris and took a little bump on the mat. The commentators already starting teasing that the guys were both interested in her. Jeez, give things a chance to stabilize before pushing dissension. Vampiro faced Lex Luger. There was absolutely no reason why Vampiro shouldn't go over cleanly in this match, which of course meant he would not. Luger means diddly to the promotion, and it is past time that his name was used to create new stars. He needs to cleanly lose programs with Vampiro, Booker, and even Buff Bagwell. There are ways to have him lose to Kidman that would increase Kidman's redibility, but Kidman really should be in the cruiserweight division. The problem there is that that division was so soiled by Vince Russo that Kidman rightly wants no part of it. Look what the WWF has done with X-Pac. There's no reason that WCW couldn't do similarly well with Kidman. Vamp sneak attacked Luger. He had a whole minute in charge before Luger hit a low blow and started his crappy routine. Vampiro had no cast on on this night. Luger did a press slam and then mugged for the crowd. They tried to give Luger a smart ass personality during Russo's run, so now all Luger does is smirk at the crowd. Finally, Vamp dropped out of the torture rack attempt, hitting a few big moves. The crowd wanted him to win. He got a two count after a top rope clothesline. Ric Flair came out. Vamp hit a crossbody and decked Flair, who was on the apron. As the referee was distracted, Luger whacked Vamp with a bat. He used the torture rack for the pin. Sting came to the rescue. They could have established this pairing just as well by having Sting & Flair come to ringside separately, with Sting's involvement leading to what seemed like a fluke win for Vamp. Instead, they had Sting vs. Ric Flair on tap for later, presumably with Sting getting the win in that match thanks to some junk that happens involving Luger & Vamp. In a PPV match involving these guys, Vamp has to go over strong. Dustin Rhodes did a great interview bashing the old guys. It wasn't really great, but I liked the sentiment. They aired footage from a fake press conference, with reporters asking Sid Vicious all kinds of questions. Hulk Hogan showed up at the conference, and all of the reporters started asking Hogan questions. There wasn't anything subtle about how they treated this. Mark Madden immediately pushed this clip as Hogan trying to steal the spotlight. They can't even leave that conclusion for the viewers and do it more subtly. Norman Smiley faced Hugh Morrus. Thank goodness that Norman wasn't dressed as Demon this time. Morrus "had Smiley beat" a few times, but kept picking him up. Argh. Let's kill Smiley. Morrus hit the moonsault for the pin. Demon came in to check on Smiley. Morrus laid out Demon too. Dusti Rhodes faced Curt Hennig, who still wore a cast. Dustin took off Hennig's cast, got DQed, hit the referee, and chaired Hennig's arm. Hulk Hogan came out. Madden said, "Why doesn't he run in on every match?" I guess they were trying to reposition Curt Hennig as a friend of Hogan for the turn later this night. Tank Abbott faced the Barbarian. Argh, they had Tank run the ropes. Mark Madden: "It's the best anyone has ever done against Tank." I guess he's forgotten that Sid debacle on Nitro a few weeks ago. With the turn of Sid, feeding him Tank sure seems like an even bigger waste in hindsight. Tank got the win with a punch. Ric Flair faced Sting. Flair once again showed that he's the only guy who can pull a good match out of Sting. They showed clips from the crappy buy indian strap match. The commentators billed this as the return of Sting to WCW Nitro. Mark Madden mentioned their first match in 1988, but then said that this time its about so much more than a title. See, WCW doesn't bother to put the title belts over, and then they wonder why the champion can't draw. Sting's rallies amounted to not selling Flair's stuff. It was still a really good match, especially considering that Sting was involved. Of course, Lex Luger ran in. Sting laid them both out. Flair was put in the scorpion. As Flair seemed to be giving up, Lex pulled the referee out for the DQ. Sting beat up Luger. Flair recovered his senses, and the heels finally double teamed Sting. Vampiro ran in, and the heels ran off. Compare how they treated Sting here and how they treated Vampiro earlier. In the main event, Sid Vicious & Hulk Hogan faced Jeff Jarrett & Scott Steiner. Mark Madden really pushed Scott Steiner, who isn't the future, right? The Harris twins and the NWO Girls joined the heel side. Madden already started freaking out when Hogan wanted to start the match. Hogging the spotlight and all that. Sid & Jarrett squared off, and the crowd didn't even react, as if they could not care less that these guys have the headline rivalry in the promotion. Sid clamped on the choke slam attempt, but Steiner made the save. Steiner did a suplex on Sid. TSN edited things a bit as Steiner showed Hogan a finger and swore at him. Sid got worked over. Sid hit the tag. Hogan pummelled Jarrett and Steiner. The crowd chanted "Hogan!" and Sid looked perturbed. As Hogan had Jarrett laid out, Sid grabbed Hogan in the choke slam and pinned him. Yes, Sid pinned his partner to end the tag team match. Sid vs. Hogan at Spring Stampede. Oh lord. Thunder on Wednesday night actually had some pretty good wrestling, but none of it factors into the upper echelon because of egos and the turmoil in the office. The Observer reports that Hulk Hogan continued to voice negative opinions about various other WCW wrestlers in public interviews. It also reports that when Arn Anderson was told that his awesome Thunder interview got over, Arn said "That must mean I'm going to get fired." They did more stupid angles with the stupid Dog gimmick. This time, Brian Knobs finally had enough and ditched Dog, leaving him on the side of a deserted highway. The commentators talked about Dog being abandoned. Really, he only had a camera man with him. Key matches had Jeff Jarrett face Buff Bagwell for the US Title and Hulk Hogan face Dustin Rhodes. In the first match, the Harris twins came out to interfere when Buff was tossed out of the ring. Curt Hennig came out to help Buff, with Mike Tenay saying that 2-on-3 evened things up. As Bagwell seemed ready to close the deal, Scott Steiner ran in to save him. Hennig's arm as been "broken, rebroken, and now they're tearing off the cast again." Jarrett used the guitar on Hennig. "Can anybody stop the NWO?" They'll stop when the ratings hit zero, that's for sure. In the second match, Hogan did his same old routine against Dustin. Dustin took Hogan into the commentary area, chasing away the commentators in the process. Dustin "snapped," taking out Hogan with the cow bell and decking the referee. Nick Patrick grabbed the microphone, saying that he wasn't going to DQ him, that Dustin needed to come back in the ring to face Hogan or be fined $10000. Huh? And he'd push for a suspension too. What the hell. Shit, Dustin went back in, Hogan came back from the dead, legdrop, knife in chest, kill me. Afterwards, Sid came up on the big screen. He choke slammed Jimmy Hart through a table and left a contract on top of Jimmy. Hogan came back to check on Jimmy, but Sid chaired him and yelled at him. It left me wondering why Hale, Jimmy Hart's WCW SN monster, is never around to save him from these attacks. - Bret Hart has been doing the media tour in Canada. He said that he'll know in July whether he's retiring due to the concussion. He said that he still suffers from headaches, has memory losses and has dizziness. He talked about the need for unions in wrestling, and, like me I guess, lamented over what pro-wrestling has become. He called Vince McMahon a bastard on Canada-wide morning TV. WCW has cut his pay in half because of his absence, even though they still pay Goldberg full salary. - Speaking of Bret Hart, in the last update I mentioned a Japanese photo magazine I'd received from Japan that made me think about Owen yet again. Here's a scan of the cover and the final page tribute montage of Owen Hart. - WCW has signed Christopher Daniels, who wrestles as Curry Man in foreign matches. They also might sign Michael Modest, who has been an indy wrestler for some time. And, best news of all, they signed DJ Ran to another contract! There is a plan to send some of the developing talent to New Japan. - The WWF has WrestleMania on 04/02/2000. Line-up seems to have * Rock vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Big Slow vs. Mick Foley for the WWF Title in a fourway match * Dudley Boyz vs. Hardy Boyz vs. Edge & Christian for the WWF Tag Titles in a triangle match * Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle for the IC Title & Ewuropean Title in a triangle match * Mae Young vs. Fabulous Moolah * Road Dogg & X-Pac vs. Kane & Rikishi - The Observer suggests that locker room jealousy from guys with clout (read: DX) may affect the position of Too Cool & Rikishi, who are getting over too much (and too cool) for the tastes of some. Meltzer in particular reports that the DX boys and their friends are purposely working well with Scott Taylor to help him look great, while at the same time working in ways to make Brian Christopher look bad. Backstage, they complain that Christopher isn't ready to be in his spot. - WCW has Spring Stampede on 04/16/2000. Line-up has * Hulk Hogan vs. Sid Vicious for the WCW Title * Chris Candido vs. The Artist for the Cruiserweight Title - While stumbling around my stored tapes, I came across an All Japan TV tape that I overlooked when I tried to watch Japanese men's TV in order. Sigh. So, backtracking half a year, we start a tape review with the 07/25/99 All Japan TV show. Hey, we didn't miss anything from a good wrestling standpoint. The only match on the show had Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayam challenge for the double tag titles, facing upstart champions Bart Gunn & Johnny Ace. Now, Takayama is horrible, but the others at least have some things going for them. Nobody in this match is a star. I'd say it was among the worst All Japan tag title change matches in the promotion's history. The wrestling was so bad, with the transitions being as bad as the North American wrestling I criticize for that failing. At least I didn't have to listen to an English commentator telling me how great the match was. But it still built well, so it wasn't totally nonsensical. The crowd seemed to get into it, largely for the gaijins vs. Japanese content. Ace & Gunn are a funny team to watch. It's like watching a lot of the green high flying guys in the WWF (Hardyz, Edge & Christian, etc.) and WCW (Three Count) in that they tried to do moves that were hot for this crowd, but flubbed almost all of them (and those transitions! Ugh). Really bad for this promotion. With much effort, I decided to try another show in the same sitting. Surely All Japan can't deliver two dogs in a row, right? Right! The 08/01/99 TV show also had one match (the matches were from the same show on 07/23), but this match was a potential match of the year featuring (who else?) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada for the Triple Crown. You can say what you like about the repetitiveness on top in All Japan, but, like in All Japan Women, it is really only a problem in the sense that none of the next generation of wrestlers has been able to work at the level of the current handful of stars. We saw the effects of that reality in All Japan Women in the mid-1990s, and five years later it seems like it is starting to happen in All Japan, as the best handful of male workers of the 1990s finally starts to break down physically all while the promotion that they've held together during that decade starts to fracture. In some ways, then, I found myself viewing this match as the ultimate or perhaps penultimate match in the best feud of the 1990s. The funny thing for a fan like me on an internet like this is that most of the people who watch wrestling in North America, even most of the people who have watched wrestling throughout the 1990s, wouldn't even consider picking these guys for that obvious honour. I mean, how could these guys beat out Vince McMahon vs. Steve Austin? (That should be read as a rhetorical and sarcastic question.) On to the match. I thought it was an awesomely intense match, but for me it missed the incredible moves I hope for, relying instead on lots of stiff action. In some ways, Misawa reminded me of Mick Foley or Terry Funk in that he hobbled to the ring and looked like he was going to have to struggle to deliver a match. But when the bell rang, he blocked it all out and worked harder than you could have imagined, similar to Terry (before this year) and Mick. Indeed, when the bell rang, Misawa & Kawada circled each other, with Misawa not limping at all. You'd almost think he had one of those WCW locker room injuries. They traded stiff forearms/elbows at the start, with Kawada also slipping some high kicks in. Kawada dropped to his knees, popped up, kicked Misawa straight in the face, and both guys took a second to regain their feet and gather their senses. Kawada got a facelock/chinlock and did a sweet little leg scissors to get Misawa down. More elbows from Misawa upon his escape. Kawada did the kicks to the face, but a grimacing Misawa acted tough and didn't bump. Another high kick took him down though. Kawada went to the injured knee. There were a lot of little short kicks and other shots here and there throughout the match, giving it that really stiff feeling. After a rope break, Misawa got chopped in the corner. Nobody in the crowd yelled "Woo!", which makes them different from every WCW, WWF, and ECW crowd. Kawada hit a really stiff high kick in the corner, following up with the stiff elbows. Misawa rallied with a Tiger Driver in the ring. He tried for a German suplex, but Kawada scrambled to the ropes. Misawa hit a flying elbow, twisting in the air on impact. When Kawada got up, he was dropkicked out to the floor. Elbow suicida. After a few seconds for recovery, Misawa tried for a Tiger Driver off the apron, but Kawada ended up dropping himself to the ringside floor feet-first and hitting a fireman's carry or back body drop on Misawa to the floor off the apron. Big bump by Misawa reminded me again of the style that Terry & Mick found themselves working in recent years, except Misawa wraps a lot of awesome wrestling around the big bumps and the big bumps are based on legitimate non-garbage wrestling spots. Kawada high kicked Misawa off the apron into the rail, whipped him into the opposite rail, and clotheslined him over the rail into the ringside section. Back in the ring, Kawada slammed Misawa and kicked him a whole bunch of times, stiffly of course. Misawa blocked a suplex, so Kawada hit a spin kick instead. He started hitting the stiff kicks to Misawa's unprotected head. He dropped a knee on Misawa's face, with Misawa rolling to the floor, covering his face like he was just forced to watch a month's worth of WCW programming with no breaks. The knee drop looked incredibly stiff when they showed a replay. Misawa somehow managed to block a high kick when he got in, but he acted so groggy that he couldn't possibly block a second kick. Down he went. Kawada picked him up and hit a backdrop driver style suplex, dropping Misawa straight on his head. That bump just scares the hell out of me. Yeah, when you watch it in slow motion you can see that Misawa takes it with his arm and shoulder, but the risk seems immense. I enjoyed All Japan style for so many years without this bump, and I think I'd still enjoy it like crazy without this bump now. Misawa sort of rotated straight up to his feet after the impact, hit an elbow, and collapsed. They both struggled to their feet, with Kawada hitting more stiff kicks to the head and face. These kicks were brutal. Somehow it is easier to accept this sort of stiffness (in the context of a legitimate match) than the contrived high risk garbage wrestling or stunt man spots. They traded stiff shots. Misawa nailed a hard elbow. After a few exchanges, Misawa hit the rolling elbow on Kawada for a two count. Misawa hit a German on Kawada, who rolled through the bump, hit a jumping hich kick, and collapsed. Kawada got up first and hit a stiff clothesline. He followed that with a brainbuster suplex, dropping Misawa on his head again. Kawada hit a power bomb for a two count. Kawada went for a second power bomb, with Misawa trying to a counter it with a rana. Last time around in an earlier match, when Misawa tried that counter, Kawada stayed standing. With Kawada standing and Misawa dangling from his neck, Kawada bearhugged him and dropped him in a brutal head first power bomb. So they teased that finish here. This time though, as Misawa was dangling and Kawada seemed ready to drop him, Misawa managed to just nail the rana and take Kawada over. It was a great spot in isolation, but awesome for fans who have followed their matches. Kawada still stayed in control. He tried for a power bomb, Misawa dropped down, Misawa hit an enzuelbow, and Misawa nailed a Tiger suplex. Misawa hit a few more elbow, with a stiff one dropping Kawada to a knee. Misawa hit one more off the ropes, with Kawada going down. When he got up, Misawa nailed one more and went for the pin. Kawada's selling and facials were out of this world. Kawada tried to kick out Misawa's thigh, like in a kick boxing match or some UFC matches. Misawa hit a German suplex for a two count. As Misawa charged to hit an elbow, Kawada just crumbled to the mat, exhausted. Misawa stopped and instead hit a Tiger Driver. Misawa stood in the corner waiting for the chance to charge with an elbow. But the referee stood over Kawada for a second and then signalled that Misawa should go for the pin. He did and he got the three. The idea of the finish was to get over that this match was so stiff and real that Kawada was knocked out. It made it memorable. Tremendous bout, better than anything in North America thus far in 2000. The 08/08/99 All Japan TV show opened with Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama against Vader & the late Gary Albright. Vader, despite the reality of the strain he's put on his body showing at times, was intense and really stiff with his blows. Poor Kobashi took all sorts of punishment. I don't understand how some of these guys can work this style so many nights in a row. Kobashi rallied by attacking Vader's knee, hitting a famouser, and pounding Vader. He ripped off Vader's mask. Vader hit a really stiff clothesline as a comeback. Albright tagged in and the heat level dropped until he hit a knee drop on Kobashi's injured (and protected) nose. Kobashi did a tremendous job of carrying this match. Vader came in and started pounding on the nose too. It was sort of brutal because of this focus. Kobashi hit the hot tag and Akiyama cleaned house. Northern lights suplex on Albright. Albright rallied with power and tagged in Vader, who hit the Vader bomb for a two. Akiyama eventually tagged in Kobashi, only after a lot of punishment. Kobashi came in on fire, taking punches from Vader, but not going down for two Vader clotheslines. Kobashi hit rolling punches on both opponents, ripped off his nose protector, and hit some more spinning chops. The heat went through the roof. Suplex on Vader. It all led to a two count. Vader did an incredible German suplex on Kobashi. "Abunaaaaiiii!" Kobashi acted like he could barely stand. Vader splashed him with the Big Van Crush splash off the turnbuckles, but Kobashi kicked out. Albright came in with a couple of suplexes that looked a bit like power slams, getting a two. As Vader took Akiyama to the floor, Albright hit a German suplex, rolled through, and tried for a dragon suplex, but Kobashi freed himself and hit his clothesline for the pin. "Lariato! Lariato! Lariatoooooo!" It was amazingly good. Next up came Yoshinari Ogawa & Masahito Kakihara vs. Johnny Smith & Jinsei Shinzaki (Hakushi). Not that much aired on TV, but it looked really good. What ever happened with ECW using Johnny Smith? The final match on this TV show saw Akira Taue face Pierre Oulette in the expected bad match. These matches were also from the 07/23 show, and the crowd was into this bout too even though it didn't seem great at all. Pierre still looked really heavy, and wrestling with a bare upper body made it even more evident. It was kind of neat to see him without the stupid eye patch. The final TV show in the series features a couple of lacklustre matches not worth getting into. Next week, I'll get back to more current stuff. I have a large stockpile of recent All Japan, New Japan, and Japanese Women's tapes to watch and no time to get to them! - The WWF has Backlash on 04/30/2000. - The WWF has Judgment Day on 05/21/2000. - The WWF has King of the Ring on 06/25/2000. - The WWF has Fully Loaded on 07/23/2000. ______________________________________________________________________ If you have any feedback regarding my web pages, please send me e-mail. Don't forget to delete the leading "x" from my e-mail address; that "x" is my web spider spam guard. ______________________________________________________________________