______________________________________________________________________ I do not offer subscriptions to a mailing list! I do not e-mail images! ______________________________________________________________________ Jeez, the semester just got away from me. I had no time for anything except research, teaching, and family. Just got back from a conference. Powered through the past couple of weeks of WWF TV and set myself up to watch the PPV tonight. I have watched the past couple of PPVs, as well, but I didn't get my reviews up on the web, so I've attached them here. Hopefully, after the final exam period ends, I'll have the time to get through some Japanese tapes and post some reviews of the great matches buried in there. I'll also hopefully have the chance to capture them for the fserve too. Although my teaching load decreases next semester, I'm still teaching stuff I haven't taught before, so there is an enormous amount of preparation required to get on top of things to the level that I like to be. ______________________________________________________________________ - The WWF had Vengence on PPV this past Sunday, 12/09/2001. In the weeks leading up to the show, the WWF's fortunes continued to decline, with the predictable response: hot shot booking, vulgarity and soft porn. Hey, those things have been credited with the last business turnaround for the promotion, even though it is unclear just what true effect they had. I've become enough of a non-serious fan to not want to bother with the analysis of historical data, at least this time out, but even if those numbers showed that any of these three elements of the product played a role in the previous recovery the longer-term effect has to be considered. The profanity and semi-naked women helped make WWF TV a lightning rod for negative media attention, much of it deserved upon careful analysis of the company's attitude, which started the exodus of TV advertisers, hurting an essential revenue stream. In the long run, the hot shot "what will happen next" booking led to unprotected wrestlers being used up before they should have been; part of that problem is due to the incredible number of hours of TV product that the company produces, but the accelerated rate at which up-and-comers become yesterday's stars is further exacerbated by frequent turns and a lack of respect for basic character traits and history. You know, the WWF and Vince McMahon, in particular, have been credited for an amazing track record for hitting the pulse of what the audience wants and for making stars out of guys that were wasted elsewhere. None of that legendary prowess has been dsiplayed in recent time. Even guys like Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho have not really advanced beyond the point they were at in WCW. In both promotions, the fans were conditioned quite quickly to know that these guys were not going to win the big match. It became such common knowledge that "not winning the big one" is the story line that led to Chris Jericho's current push to main event status, har har. Of course, that "push" is hardly a push, unless you consider being treated like a loser at every turn on TV as a push. Compare the treatment of Jericho, some of it quite subtle and all of it designed to set him up to fail, with the way that HHH was elevated. The sad thing is that, just like WCW, there is a club of top guys -- Austin, Rock, Undertaker, and the soon-to-return HHH -- who protect their spots at all costs, losing in the most strategic ways, always making sure that there are at least some key moments where they make it clear to everybody, in a match or in an interview or in both, that the other guy isn't really in their league. So Benoit, Jericho, Angle, Booker, Rob van Dam, and all others, are cut off a few times, just long enough for the fans to know that they shouldn't give a shit about them. Equally bad, guys that did mean something in WCW, like Big Show or DDP, when absorbed into the WWF product never seem to mean as much any more. Where is the brilliance? And we'll probably never know exactly what happened to totally kill the whole Invasion angle. It was seemingly the easiest angle in the world to turn into a huge money machine for the company, but instead it is dead at a point where it really should have been in the early building stages. Was it Vince's inability to promote the team of his greatest competitor in the wrestling war as being on the same footing as his own team? Linda has said that they were concerned about diluting their brand name. Was it the egos of WWF wrestlers that led to them not being willing to work with the WCW guys, who hadn't paid the same dues? DDP had something hot going with his stalker angle, but then a couple of key players reported that he "can't work." And, bang!, he's history, ironically replaced by the workhorse team of Kronik, who lasted all of one match with the company because they "can't work" either. Then Rob van Dam gets cheers even though he isn't positioned to get those cheers. As he starts to gain popularity, what do we hear from backstage reports: he "can't work." In all of these cases, "he can't work" actually led to an "I don't want to work with him" dictum from the key players, which just goes to show you how great the WWF locker room environment really is. We can say what we want about Hulk Hogan over all of the years, and he is far far far from what I consider to be a great wrestler, but he ended up drawing a shitload of money from guys that we all saw couldn't work. Two words: Ultimate Warrior. So, where are we? HHH returns shortly after this PPV, no doubt adding more harmony to the locker room, cough cough. He wants to be top dog, and that would require him to be a heel, which he is more comfortable playing, but it also takes away the obviously hot program built around revenge for his leg injury. I guess they could still promote that, if they used some care. Chris Benoit returns in the new year, with zero expectation that he'll ever get the respect he deserves. And we surely needed Rock to pull Rikishi back into the upper echelon. The company did a complete restart after the last PPV. They nonsensically announced that Shane & Stephanie had sold their shares in WWFE to a "consortium" to drum up the money they needed to build WCW nad ECW. Now, I guess that means that Vince and Linda were 50% owners of the company from that point on. Well, the rabbit pulled out of the hat turned out to be Ric Flair, who claims to be, I guess, the full consortium since he says he owns 50% of the company. Are we really supposed to believe that Vince McMahon is worth $1-billion on paper, then the kids and he are actually each worth half that, then the kids sell their half to run WCW and ECW only to lose it all, then Ric Flair apparently pulled together a half-billion bucks to buy half of Vince's fortune? And Vince, who was just a week or two before reconciled with his wife, seeking counselling, is now openly flaunting a fictional affair with Trish Stratus while getting her to kiss his ass. Going into the show, the results seemed at least partially clear. Rob van Dam can't work, or s the Undertaker would surely convince us. And who in his right mind would bet on Angle or Jericho in the unification match? * Instead of hitting us with a hot opener, the new revamped WWF PPV product opened just like a Monday Night RAW show: with a lengthy interview segment. Vince McMahon bitched a bit, and Ric Flair came out to cut him down. * Albert & Scotty 2 Hotty beat Test & Christian: Jim Ross announced that this was a "bonus" match. Now the word "bonus" to me implies the obtaining of something one actually wants, so I'd like to call this an "added" match. Heat segment on Hotty. They mentioned that Test cannot get fired by the WWF for any reason in the next year. Test himself has jabbered on about this on TV. It then makes perfect sense that he is content to muck around in half-assed opening matches. Not that I want to see it, but shouldn't Test be screwing up all of the main event stuff because he wants to be at that level? On TV on Thursday, Ric Flair had to point out that if anybody saved Vince from his ass-kissing punishment that person would be suspended. In the old days, it went without saying that interferers risks suspension; now it merits special mention on one rare case. If that stipulation really made things run more smoothly, why not make it the standard again? Anyhow, given that idea, why wouldn't Test farm out his services to anybody, since Test can't possibly be suspended without pay, right? Just as typed that, Albert pinned Christian with the Baldo Bomb. It was clear that this would be the result since the thrown-together team surely wasn't going to win. Lame-ass opener. * Edge beat William Regal to retain the IC Title: Jerry Lawler joked that Regal couldn't have his new trademarked brass knuckles with him since he wouldn't have been able to get them past airport security. Which makes you wonder how he brings them anywhere in the large travel radius that the WWF tours. Back and forth. Edge scored a two after a rana off the top. Edge hit a sloppy Northen Lights suplex for another two. Regal took a bump to the floor. Edge tried a flying shoulder block onto Regal on the floor, but Regal moved, so Edge ended up nailing the stairs. As the referee was looking after Edge, Regal pried his brass knuckles out of the ring assembly. Edge scored a few two counts before Edge hit an enzuigiri. Regal hit two powerbombs for a two count. Just as Regal pulled out his knucks, Edge nailed a spear for the pin. * Jeff Hardy beat Matt Hardy: Lita was assigned as referee. It's like they want to blow the whole wad in one match every time, instead of slow-brewing the story line with matches. Match had the expected structure, starting off sort of scientific before heat of the moment stuff. Of course, Jeff scored the pin, with Lita counting it on her boyfriend. Matt ended up storming away later that night. Boy, I sure hope they don't switch her into presumed sexual relationships with both brothers. Wrestling bookers sure hate women. * Dudleyz beat Big Slow & Kane to retain the WWF Tag Titles: This is as good a time as any to ask: okay, the Alliance titleholders kept their jobs after the last PPV. But do they continue to stay on the WWF payroll even after losing the title belts. The whole match was built around Big Slow spanking Stacy, based on TV the previous week. Watching these four while being in the middle of Dynamite Kid's book makes one realize how important and generally underappreciated the bumptakers of the business are. Everybody in this match pretty much stinks at taking good bumps (and I don't mean stunt man death-defying bumps). After the spanking spot, they built to this totally contrived spot where Kane clotheslined Slow, leading to those two arguing. The match continued, but those two dorks miscued again. Slow ended up taking a flapjack into the exposed turnbuckle, with Jim Ross calling it a 3D in the turnbuckles. Hey, if this leads to a Slow vs. Kane match at the next PPV, I'm all for it. We need some more truly bad wrestling. Sadly, the two stiffs just lumbered around the ring instead of brawling with each other. * Undertaker beat Rob van Dam to win the Hardcore Title: Undertaker bumped a bit for a couple of high spots after clobbering van Dam on the first spot. That first miss led to the commentators completely criticizing van Dam's style, which a cynic might say was the point of the spot. Undertaker has the same hairdo as Steven Richards. They brawled on the floor, and Undertaker again just sort of swatted van Dam out of the air during a high spot. RVD always went to high spots, 'cause that is his style, and Undertaker only took or sold half of them. They walked. What would an Undertaker hardcore match be without some walking? They ended up at a staging area. RVD used a fire extinguisher and a garbage can before climbing up to the balcony. A cross body off the balcony onto Undertaker onto a staged area only gave him a two count. Still, Undertaker seemed to be walking around before RVD. They went backstage, ending up behind the Titantron. Hey, I wondered if a Road Warrior silhouette would fall from the roof. They ended up out on the platform. UT torpedoed RVD into the Titantron. He signalled for the powerbomb instead of going for the pin. RVD grabbed the Titantron to avoid the powerbomb. A chair came into play. RVD missed the Vandaminator a few times, but UT hit some chair shots. UT threatened a tombstone, missed it, RVD missed a Vandamintor, UT hit a chokeslam on RVD through some tables. Bingo, exactly what one expected coming in. That finish totally sucked; it's tough to be RVD. UT was walking around afterwards and even rode his motorcycle away a minute after the pin. The commentators sputtered that UT took a hell of a beating from RVD, but the final minutes told the real story: Undertaker barely sold the accumulated assault of the match, riding off into the sunset, while RVD lay on the tables in a heap as we cut away to the next segment. Well, you know, compared to UT, he "can't work." * They aired a video on HHH. It was the usual slick, slick production, but I just don't get HHH's mystique. Made into a name by a garbage wrestler who is arguably the most believable brawler of this modern era, HHH somehow has been given this reputation of being a great worker. He might have a great work ethic and a love for this business which is transcended only by his love for his own position in this business, but he doesn't even come close to being on my top 10 or top 20 list. As this video aired, I kept wondering how they could possibly have the nerve to air the first two matches of the three-match title unification mini-tourney immediately before the unification match. * Trish Stratus beat Jacqueline to retain the WWF Women's Title: Okay, is it T&A or is it pseudoathleticism? The bookers can't decide. The women's division really needs Jazz, who for some reason is in doing backstage interviews. Oh, hell, the women's division needs so much more than just Jazz. Anyhow, this was just about as bad as expected. They tried, but it was so sloppy that I couldn't look at it in anything except a comedic light. Trish missed her bulldog spot, but ended up winning with the patented Dusty Rhodes backslide. They even shook hands afterwards, smiling at each other. * They aired high(?)lights of Vince McMahon's stinkface from Smackdown. Jeez, how much filler can they jam into this PPV? Apparently a lot. I went up to the desktop computer to do a few things that my wife needed for work. I was gone literally ten minutes, thinking I'd missed some great action, but strolled back into the family room to see Austin just making it into the ring. Yes, they tournament matches air back-to-back. I have to think that the PPV could have had a wonderful structure if they aired the first two tourney matches as the openers and the final match as, well, the final match. * Steve Austin beat Kurt Angle to retain the WWF Title: Tremendous heat. Angle had American flag knee pads on, which I don't remember from other matches. Good heated action. Angle hit the ankle lock, but Austin made the ropes. The commentators pushed that the accumulated damage might leave the winner unable to compete at full capacity in the final. Then again, the winner might shrug off the damage in ten seconds and ride off on a motorcycle. Austin's leg met the ringpost. Angle's chops drew a Ric Flair response. Angle did the Bret Hart figure four around the post. At this point, I was expecting an injured Rock to fight an injured Austin in the main event, with that result being questioned to build up WrestleMania which would feature a rested Austin against a rested Rock. Punches. Match was mostly Angle. German suplexes. Angle went up for his amazing moonsault, but missed it, of course. Austin did a series of German suplexes. They didn't look like Angle's or Benoit's is all I can say. Angle hit a low kick. Angle slam for a two count. Angle tried for a stunner, but Austin hit it instead for the pin. I can't believe that they only went 11ish minutes. The historic point of the evening really merited splitting up the tourney matches and making them all 30 minutes, so the guys in the final would wrestle an hour in total. Instead it looked like we had two ten minute matches and a half-hour final on tap. * As between-match comedy, Test decided to explain that the way in which he was going to flex his "can't fire me" muscle was by sexual harassing Trish. Well, she didn't want to kiss Testicle, instead forcing him out of the room. * Chris Jericho beat Rock to win the WCW Title: Jericho has dyed the tailend of his hair red. He also seems a lot thicker on this push than he did, oh, a year or two ago. Jericho hit a spinkick right off the bat for the fast three count. Ha ha, sorry, couldn't resist. The commentators actually tried to convince us that there was some question about what the result to this match would be, heavily putting over Jericho. Jericho bumped a lot. Lawler said that Jericho has beaten Rock twice, but didn't mention that neither win elevated him because they were both bullshit. They brawled on the floor. Some nice exchanges. Nothign elaborate, but nice. There was an odd spot where Rock played possum but the comentators missed it. Jericho hit a sleeper, which is a tremendously over move at this point in the WWF, so the heat was tremendous. Oh, bullshit, Jericho hit the sleeper and the crowd knew that the match had no chance of ending with that move or that result. Jericho hit a lionsault and Jim Ross actually said "should be all." Nobody believed that. Jericho crotched himself on top. A minute later, Jericho plummetted to the floor off the ringpost. Jericho slingshotted Rock into the ringpost, more or less. Jericho took apart the commentary table, because everybody always makes those table spots as safe as possible. I find that so annoying. Jericho Rock Bottomed Rock through the table, no, Rock countered with a DDT through the table. Rock tossed Jericho back into the ring. Rock Bottom countered into a face first russian leg sweep of sorts. Senton. Jericho did his version of the people's elbow, but Rock grabbed him and put the sharpshooter on, but Jericho countered with the liontamer. Everybody expected Rock to tap. Ha ha. Rock seemed to black out. As his hands moved lightly on the mat, Jerry Lawler called it a tap. Rock suddenly went from sleepy to fully awake, just like Bob Dole on viagra, and grabbed the ropes. Rock Bottom. Vince McMahon ran out to distract the referee. Rock had the cover, but Hebner wasn't counting. Rock belted Vince. Sidewalk slam in the ring. People's elbow. The storyline was that Vince didn't want his two enemies to be fighting for the title. Oh, so Jericho was going to get another lame win that isn't really a win. Jericho hit the low blow. Rock Bottom by Jericho. Three count. He was announced as "winner of this match and new world champion." * Chris Jericho beat Steve Austin to unify the WWF and WCW Titles: No rest period. 20 minutes in PPV time. Kurt Angle ran in to lay out Austin. Rock laid out Jericho. Rock chased Angle to the back. Not sure where McMahon was. "Undisputed championship match" said the graphic. Jericho scored a two count on Austin. All Jericho, who recovered before Austin did. They went to the floor. All Austin. Personally, I would like to see a Jericho vs. Benoit program for the world title. They ended up on the Spanish commentary table. Jericho tumbled to the floor. Jericho tried for a submission off an armbar. No luck. Just as I was thinking "time for a referee bump," Hebner bumped to the floor. Austin was hitting his comeback. Vince came out, calling Nick Patrick to the ring. It's all about Montreal again. This time, though, Ric Flair canme out to stop the screw. Vince attacked Flair, posting him, with Flair making it look better than anybody on the active roster does. Austin laid out Vince. Thesz press with no ref. Elbow. Boston crab on Jericho, with Chris tapping. Booker T ran in and belted Austin before running off. "He doesn't work here!" Vince tossed Hebner in. What a total mess. Jericho scored the three count. I think my problem is that when I think about the result of a PPV match I never take into account twenty million interferences. Vince laughed in total overacted fashion. Well, at least they tried to make things fresh, but they've now got a champion that nobody believes can really beat anybody. In the old days, the heel champ was a heel because he cheated or was in some way a prick, but we still believed he was tough enough to beat anybody. Flair cheated his way through title matches and often screwed the other guy, but we all believed that he was tough enough to win. Unless they actually put Jericho over somebody cleanly, this experiment is never going to succeed. - The WWF presented Survivor Series on PPV this past Sunday, 10/18/2001. Leading up to the show, the ratings plummeted and the ensuing desperation behind the scenes influenced the booking to the point that it made as little sense at times as the stuff we were given by WCW in its last year-or-less. A turn by Kurt Angle that made no sense followed, by an explanatory interview that was stilted and unbelievable, led to it being another turn that meant absolutely nothing for business. It was clear to everybody that the bookers just wanted another "star" on the Alliance side because their booking had clearly established the once-fresh WCW guys as not being stars. Really, don't you think a little simple booking, taught in all Booking 101 classes and understood by any fan who has been watching wrestling for a while, could have made somebody like Lance Storm or Mike Awesome mean enough to warrant their inclusion in this main event angle? And, yeah, Rob van Dam needs work, in part because his first few All Japan tours taught him to work stiffly and his ECW stint taught him to work sloppily, but, hell, did they ever cut his legs off at and after his PPV main event match. The reuniting of Linda & Vince came at the same time that Stephanie reminded us on The Weakest Link that Trish Stratus slept with Vince. Who cares if he drugged Linda, etc.? He just wiped it away with the smallest nonmention in his interview. If he and she don't care about the angles, why should we? This is WCW all over again. So, they teased that Vince was going to lure Steve Austin over to the WWF, or perhaps Vince would end up taking over the Alliance side. Whoopie. Like either of those outcomes make any sense. Mick Foley and all sense have left this promotion. And do any fans actually believe the stipulation, anyhow? The only part of all of this I enjoyed a bit was Paul Heyman pushing the idea that "wrestling" was once again going supplant "sports entertainment." * Christian beat Al Snow to retain the European Title: Nothing special. The commentary focused on the main event. The fans seemed hot. When Christian won, it seemed like the WWF was sure to win the main event, since it would make sense to tease an Alliance domination by having them win title matches; then when the WWF wins the main event, all of the Alliance champs would keep their jobs based on a stipulation tossed out at the 11th hour. * Steve Regal beat Yoshihito Tajiri: Regal wore new tights: black with a slight red flare. Tajiri, the Cruiserweight champion, a title change that never happened, with no real explanation for X-Pac's disappearance, got stuck in a match with Regal. These guys are both strong workers, so don't get me wrong: the point of this rant is that the bookers and Vince don't value the Cruiserweight title at all, as evidenced by how the titles have been treated since the invasion and the lack of any Cruiserweight involvement in the storyline demise of one of the promotions. Regal's nose got bloodied. Tajiri got tangled in the ropes. They got back in the ring and Regal quickly pinned Tajiri with a powerbomb. Heyman got excited because the Alliance won both PPV matches at this point, as well as the Heat match. "Do you see the pattern?" Yeah, Paul, the Alliance is going to lose the main event, at this rate. Torrie Wilson, who apparently jumped to the WWF by siding with Tajiri, but that was never explained or played up, ran in, with Regal powerbombing her. Yuk yuk, a joke about the Alliance having several positions for Torrie Wilson when they win tonight. * Edge beat Test to unify the WCW US and WWF Intercontinental Titles: To set up this match, they had Edge pin Kurt Angle with a distraction finish. If they had that in mind, there was no reason to give Angle the US Title, since he didn't need to be taken down a notch with that bogus finish. The explanation, of course, is that nobody had this match in mind until a week before the PPV. Test hit on Stacey before the match. Edge did a poor interview before the match. Paul Heyman said that one title would dissolve this evening, which seemed to imply that the winning titleholder wouldn't have two belts but would eliminate the other title. Match was actually not bad, but I don't enjoy watching Test. They did this incredibly lame overchoreographed spot where Test missed a charging high kick, turned around, and Edge missed a spear. Nothing wrong with the concept, but Test is a bit too lumbering to make the spot work. Finally, Edge got the pin. For the first time, I wanted the WWF side to win, since it theoretically would mean that I would never have to see Testicle wrestle again. * Dudleyz beat Hardyz to unify the WCW and WWF Tag Titles: For no real reason, this was a cage match. Adding gimmicks to matches for no reason was another WCW hallmark in its dying days. The question was how the women -- Lita and Stacey -- would get involved in the match. Some good fast action, but, as with all matches in the modern era, once sensed that the crowd just wanted high spots and power moves and nothing to develop the match. Jim Ross broke out his cliche about the cage being "unforgiving," sort of like the loyalty of casual fans when the booking becomes ridiculous. Hardyz did their usual double team spots, with the cage playing no role. Hardyz tried to get out of the cage, but got cut off. Matt hit a russian leg sweep off the top rope and Buh Buh hit his retaded butt bomb move of the top rope. As Buh Buh climbed up again, Jim Ross said that an escape to the floor means victory. I became confused about whether both team members needed to get out. Oh, what does it matter. Jeff tried to scurry out, with Matt still laid out in the ring. Jim Ross got excited about Jeff "trying to win the match." Oh, so that answers my question. But wait, Pual Heyman said that both men have to get out for a team to win. More WCW memories, as the key voice of the product doesn't seem to know the rules of the gimmick matches. The Dudleyz killed the Hardyz for a few minutes. Hardyz rallied for a few minutes. Buh Buh took a top rope splash and leg drop combo, but kicked out at the two. Oh, so pinfalls count too. I guess I missed that explanation. Matt found himself hanging from the top of the cage by his ankle. D-Von hit the whassup. Buh Buh yelled at Stacey for a table. She pulled it out, sweet talked Nick Patrick who had the only key outside the ring, and passed a table in. Patrick locked the door again. Matt tried to get out of the cage, but ended up trading blows with Buh Buh before dropping out. This seemed like a cool way to tease more dissension between Jeff and Matt, as Jeff was sure to get pummelled. Heyman really pushed the idea that Matt's escape was a mistake. Jeff climbed to the top of the cage and, instead of escaping, jumped off the top of the cage through a table. "Jeff could not resist the swanton off the top of the cage." How retarded. Buh Buh pinned Jeff for the win. The brought out a stretcher for Jeff. The slow motion replay looked good, in that D-Von didn't move out of the way early and barely got out of the way. * At this point, for the first time ever on a WWF PPV in my memory, they aired a rundown of the upcoming house show schedule. I dunno, this time and when ECW did it regularly it seemed sort of low rent. Mick Foley did an interview putting down the commissionership. Test beat up Scotty 2 Hotty backstage in the hopes of taking him out of the battle royal. * Test won the "Keep Your Job" Immunity Battle Royal: They played generic entrance music with everybody walking in. Test walked in to compete in the match, since he beat up Scotty. Yeah, that seemed kosher. The winner of this match is supposed to have a job for one year regardless of the outcome of the remainder of the show. The ring filled with nobodies. Stasiak was dumped after one second. Tazz walked in late. Oh, what the hell, this is ECW again, with no rules or standards. It seemed to me from TV that Tazz was being set up for Sting's old WCW spot, in this case guaranteed a job for one year and not loyal to either promotion. One of the few entertaining guys in the ring, Hurricane Helms was eliminated in short order too. As the Observer pointed out, like every other promoter, when Vince feels panic he pushes the big guys, regardless of (lack of) talent. Chavo Guerrero & Hugh Morrus ran in halfway through the match. Now, they were fired by the Alliance and weren't in this match, but their eliminations counted. Man, battle royals suck. It came down to Tazz, Bradshaw, Billy Kidman, Billy Gunn, Lance Storm, and Test. Tazz got dumped, so so much for my reading the preshow booking. That left me thinking that Test would get a win back. Kidman got dumped. Test & Gunn hugged in the corner, while Bradshaw outwrestled Storm. Yikes. They did some phony eliminations before Test eliminated everybody. Hey, which promotion does this remind of: somebody who before this show was not advertised to be in the match, somebody beat up somebody else to get in the match with nobody questioning that action, that's the guy who won the match! WCW? No! ECW? No! * Next, they aired a music video just to annoy me. Look, you've got my money. I'm sold on the product. You don't need to convince me to spend the money. Why waste air time on a PPV with this stuff that I've seen on TV so many times. It would be something else if they debuted a new song/video on the PPV, and even that I would find annoying, but to just replay the thing they've shown on the pregame TV show...which promotion does this remind you of? ECW? No! * Trish Stratus won the WWF Women's Title: What was the status of the women's title before this match? Who knows? Nobody explained things. Match was a six-woman bout with two in the ring and one in each of the four corners, with anybody allowed to tag anybody. Match involved Trish Stratus, Jacqueline, Lita, Ivory, Molly, and Jazz (formerly of ECW). Heyman really put over Jazz, but the crowd didn't know anything about her. The production crew earned their money in this match, cutting to different cameras with the impact of seemingly every move in the match. Match turned into a mess, with everybody coming into the ring. Jackie ended up turning on Lita, just as the commentators pointed out it was every woman for herself. Lita hit a moonsault on Ivory for a two, with Jazz breaking it up. Jazz, pushed as a killer by Heyman, was booked as nothing special. To make matters worse, Jazz did a horrible missed plancha. Trish scored the win, pinning Ivory after a bulldog. This wasn't as bad as most North American women's matches have been in recent years. * Rock & Chris Jericho & Kane & Undertaker & Big Slow beat Steve Austin & Kurt Angle & Booker T & Shane McMahon & Rob van Dam: The hype package for this match started with 1:05 left in the PPV. Crowd was hot for Rock vs. Austin to open. Boy this stipulation really could have meant something if things had been done right. Of course, it then cuold have meant something years later. RVD drew a good response. Hey, regardless of how this match ends, Rock & Austin have jobs, given that they have the singles titles, right? Shane kept interfering with hit-and-run tactics. Undertaker was in for what seemed like a decade of destruction, which I could only hope meant that he would be the first guy eliminated. Crowd kept chanting "Shane's a pussy," with nobody acknowledging it. Jim Ross said, "He could be as good as anybody ever in this game" while talking about the Big Slow. Main commentator lying through his teeth like that...what promotion does that remind you of? The answer to all of these questions, of course, is "a promotion that was out of business months later." Big Slow took a slam from Angle and finishers from everybody else, before Shane took the glory of pinning him. In reliation, the WWF side did all of their finishers on Shane before Jericho eliminated him. Booker T started to work over Jericho. Booker was on a local radio station on the phone from Florida recently to hype ticket sales for WrestleMania. He said he hopes that he'll be in the main event of WrestleMania, 'cause that's his dream, particularly given that this will be his first WrestleMania. Kane outpowered van Dam, who rallied when with the five star splash when Booker was brought in for a second. Booker hit the missile dropkick on Kane and van Dam hit a high kick for the pin. It seemed certain that Undertaker would eliminate van Dam to even things up, but instead it turned into a mess. Holy shit, Undertaker clotheslined everybody and dominated again for a couple of minutes. Jeez, I just don't understand the fascination with this guy. It's like the WCW fascination with Kevin Nash. Austin stunned Undertaker behind the referee's back, and UT was eliminated. Things didn't look so good for the Alliance, since they were ahead four to two at this point. Can't argue with getting rid of the four guys they got rid of, though. I figured it would be a while before somebody else was eliminated. Indeed, it took a few minutes before both Booker T and van Dam were eliminated. At this point, the battle of the two companies involved four guys with roots in one company. And that it was ultimately makes this storyline suck: they never bothered to book to elevate legitimate outsiders to star level. Austin and Angle really worked hard in this match. You gotta love each guy's work ethic. Heat segment on Jericho, followed by a hot tag to Rock. Crowd heat was nowhere near what it should have been given what was supposedly at risk. Rock put the sharpshooter on Angle, who tapped out. And suddenly it seemed like the Alliance would win after all, that or story line would take over. Jim Ross didn't waste the opportunity to allude to the Bret Hart screwjob. Of course, Austin pinned Jericho, Jericho got pissed, and Jericho nailed Rock. Austin scored a two count off of Jericho's shot. Jericho started to walk back to ringside, but Undertaker ran down to ringside and forced Jericho to the back. Austin & Rock brawled at ringside a bit. Austin put a sloppy sharpshooter on Rock, but referee Earl Hebner stayed straight. I half expected Vince McMahon to come down and tell Earl to ring the bell. Rock put the sharpshooter on Austin. Austin made the ropes, but Rock pulled him back in the ring without releasing the hold. Did it make any sense for the WWF referee to call this match fairly, given that he would presumably lose his job if Austin won? Rock hit a stunner on Austin. Nick Patrick pulled Hebner out of the ring when Rock had the pin. Austin Rock Bottomed the Rock, but Patrick only counted two. Why wouldn't he fast count? Austin nailed Patrick. At least that made some sense. Wait, Austin pulled in Hebner, who bumped when Austin was pushed into him. Austin stunner Rock. No referee. Incredible overbooking? What does that remind you of? Kurt Angle ran in and nailed Austin with the belt. Rock scored the pin. Huh, like that Angle turn makes sense. The commentators tried to play it up, but it had pretty much no impact. I'm left with the impression that they are going to restart the invasion angle. The Alliance as we knew it is dead, but a new promotion will rise from the ashes and they might try to do it right this time. Vince McMahon came out with his hands raised high. - The WWF had No Mercy on this past Sunday, 10/21/2001. Anybody who e-mails me to say I'm not a wrestling fan must miss the fact that I somehow manage to get stoked like a mark as every PPV arrives. It seemingly doesn't matter to my mark gene that the general promotional direction stinks, that the entire invasion angle was botched so horribly in so many sad ways. On this night, it didn't even seem to matter that Undertaker & Kane were going to not one but two matches into total abortions. It also didn't matter that the soap operatic elements of some key matches was pretty transparent: McMahon-mania in the main event, Jericho turning heel. For some reason, I focus on the small number of great things expected on the show: the stunt man work of Edge & Christian (why, oh why, are in they in a ladder match already?), the great comedy of the mannerisms of Hurricane Helms, the work of Lance Storm, the possibility of Jericho finally getting over at the next level, the expected great work in the main event (by Angle, most notably; and who will van Dam injure first with his stiff/sloppy work?), and the absolute horribleness of Kane vs. Test (so bad it could be good). Rundown: * Hardy Boyz beat Hurricane & Lance Storm to retain the WCW Tag Titles: Storm & Hurricane showed a couple of nice tag spots early on, but then the match turned messy, with everybody getting involved and the referee not breaking things up. The idea seemed to be to get to Hurricane's plancha-with-cape spot as early as possible, I guess. Even the girls got involved to set it up. Thankfully, it turned into a wrestling match again, with the Alliance side continuing to control the ring with more nice work. Jeff countered a whip to the corner with a slow rope climb and a twisting body press of some sort; poor Lance had to stand there like he was mesmerized while waiting to get hit. Sure it looks spectacular and requires some gymnastic skill, but it just doesn't fit. Hardyz took charge, although Hurricane got a great close fall with a roll up. Lane & Hurricane hit a double superkick. Everybody got in. The women got involved. Lita hit a rana on Storm. Hardyz hit the twist of fate and the senton for the pin, while Heyman yelled about a lack of tags. Well, jeez, the Hardy Boyz tagged maybe half the number of times that they should have, given the number of times the guy on the apron entered the ring. Good opener, but I kind of wish that the result went the other way. * Test beat Kane: At least they put it early. In reality, no matter where on the card this match took place it was going to suck huge. "Two big young studs," said Jim Ross, while saying that we would have "smashmouth" wrestling in this bout. It was bad. Kane press slammed Test and dropped him to the ringside floor. Nick Patrick distracted Kane outside the ring, and Test whacked Kane with the ring bell. Jim Ross got excited that Patrick didn't DQ Test. Well, after that run of Kane offense, the match quality was ready to turn around as Test started to show his offensive moves. Yuck, yuck, that's a joke, folks. Kane rallied in short order. Jim Ross: "Boy, this thing is...this is how it's gonna be." Indeed. Unfortunately, it really wasn't quite as bad as I had expected, nah, hoped, so it was just horrible and not so-horrible-it-was-good. Lots of lame work, don't get me wrong. Give the most credit to the production manager for switching cameras almost every time there was an impact spot. He misjudged a few, though, so we did get to see some of those really lame punches and elbows not connect at all. I felt so sad listening to Ross & Heyman push these two guys like they were great, while at the same time this promotion has buried or left stagnant so many talented workers. Kane kicked out of the superkick. Test kicked out of the choke slam. Kane hit a powerslam and tried for a clothesline off the top, but missed. Test hit a pump handle slam for a two count and did this amazing facial reaction to the kick out. Elbow off the top for a two count. Test's reaction to his inability to pin Kane was farcical. Test grabbed a chair. Kane dropkicked the chair into Test. The referee stopped Kane from using the chair. Test kicked Kane and scored the pin. Jim Ross blamed the referee for the result, and Kane choke slammed Patrick after the match. Kane choke slammed him twice and powerbombed him. * Torrie Wilson beat Stacy Keibler in a lingerie match: Fink introduced this as the "first-ever lingerie match," which I guessed meant that they had come with some new sort of rule book for this match. The firls wrestled in lingerie. Stacy did cartwheels, so we could she her underwear. Stacy whipped Torrie's butt. The girls rolled around and the camera was on the wrong end. Their ourfits really weren't all that revealing, just showing a bit more buttceek than these women usually show. They did a sequence of near falls that was pretty funny. Torrie did a handspring elbow off the of the ropes a la Yoshihiro Tajiri that was no worse than the stuff that Chyna did for so long (think about that). Torrie got the pin with a roll up, and, again, the camera angle was all wrong. If they are going to do some smutty stuff with carefully clothed girls, they might as wel exploit the camera shots, like ECW always did. * Edge beat Christian in a ladder match to win the IC Title: My video feed froze in the hype segment leading up to this match. Luckily, when I switched channels and came back, everything was fine. The last time I did that, the converter locked up and I had to cancel the show and order a rebroadcast. They brawled in the aisle. They bralwed into the crowd. Edge catapulted Christian into the ladder in a spot that looked lame to me. Edge constructed a brigde with the ladder, but ended up getting dumped on it himself. Christian did a crotch spot on the ladder-bridge, which took, ahem, balls. Christian rallied with a ladder shot on Edge. Christian tried to climb fo the title, but Edge cut him off. Christian basically dominated for a short bit before Edge dumped Christian off the top onto the ladder. Some innovative ladder-based spots in the match. Good drama as the match built. Still, the WWF audience has seen so many ladder matches this year that they popped for the spots without, I think, really appreciating the stupidity of it all. The best ladder matches remain the ones with a heavy dose of wrestling before the ladder is even worked into the match; when Benoit vs. Jericho ended, I at least felt like I had seen a wrestling match. This was a great stunt man show, but it didn't seem much like a match. This ladder match had to have three ladders and a shitload of chairs. Edge laid Christian across the tops of two ladders with chairs underneath him (I should say that Christian graciously laid himself in that position) and Edge hit a concerto before grabbing the belt for the win. Crazy stunts worth seeing. * Dudleyz beat Yoshihiro Tajiri & Big Slow to retain the WWF Tag Titles: Match was pretty much Tajiri getting pummelled, so it was actually pretty good. Tajiri was pretty much a one-man show. Big Slow was horrible, as expected. The referee ate some mist, with Slow getting a cover during the down period. Rhyno ran in and gored Slow. Tajiri somehow rallied, though, getting a great two count on D-Von before losing to the 3D. * Undertaker beat Booker T: Booker T definitely needed to win this match if the Alliance is meant to be taken seriously. Booker attacked UT while he was rolling, rolling, rolling to the ring. Undertaker sold for a full three seconds. Back in the ring, Booker actually got to pound Mr. Taker in the corner. Undertaker did his armlock crap that has zero credibility. Undertaker did the rope walk. They brawled into the crowd and around ringside. Man, Undertaker just sucks so much. Missile dropkick and a quick cover for a two count. Jim Ross pointed out that Undertaker has a "decade of destruction" of match ratings as his legacy. Booker worked hard, so the match was much better than most UT matches, but UT still brought Booker down from the level he can work at. They traded punches a lot. Booker did the spinneroonie when UT was on the floor. He cut off UT when he came in, but UT got his feet on the rope. UT finally got the expected win; like he would lose. * Chris Jericho beat Rock to retain the WCW Title: Match started with both guys working as old-style babyfaces. Lots of headlocks, armlocks, etc., as weardown moves. As you might expect, I enjoyed this part of the match. Rock is so over that he doesn't have to do anything spectacular to get a reaction. Jericho threw punches first. They went to brawling on the floor. Back in the ring, Jericho punched and kicked. Rock rallied with punches. In order to frame this match, the commentators dropped names like Ricky Steamboat and Ric Flair, which I guess is allowed when the competition is dead. Rock hit a dramatic superplex on Jericho off the top, with both wrestlers getting up at nine. Punches. Rock went ballistic, a la Hogan, totally unstoppable. They went outside for a second, getting boos when Rock tossed Jericho back inside. Jericho took a stiff clothesline for a two count. Rock went back to a headlock. I have to say that I was really enjoying this match at this point. I felt like they were working a different style match than anything we've seen in the WWF in recent times, and it was just as captivating and enjoyable when done this well as the standard WWF style can be. Sadly, it underlined how badly they missed the boat with the invasion angle. Imagine if they would have had WCW guys come working a modernized 1980s-NWA style, appealing to the history of the promotion. Interpromotional matches could have had real flavour, with either the WWF flavour or the WCW flavour making the difference. Oh well. After a missile dropkick by Jericho, they did another nine count. Jericho barely hit a neckbreaker, followed by a rana for a two count. Jericho hit a rock bottom on Rock to a reasonable reaction. Lionsault. Two count. Heyman started calling Jericho a choke artist for not putting Rock away. Facecrusher. People's elbow by Jericho, complete with the stripping of the elbow pad. Nope, Rock moved. Rock ended up with a sharpshooter after a sloppy dragon screw. Jericho reached the ropes. Rock dismantled the Spanish commentary table. I had figured that they were saving that for the main event. Rock Bottom on the table. Referee apparently wasn't counting them out. They showed Charles Robinson on the second rope, counting. When the Rock rolled in at eight, the referee gestured that the count was broken. I guess we'll never see that "beat him back to the ring" count out finish in this regime. Rock went back out and tossed in Jericho. Rock waited for Jericho to get up for another Rock Bottom, but Jericho countered, nope, took it, and then took the people's elbow, nope, Jericho hit the liontamer. Rock failed to reach the rope, as Jericho dragged him back into the ring. Stephanie came out and threw a chair into the ring. Jericho let go of the hold. Rock DDTed Jericho. Stephanie cheered on Rock because she hates Jericho so much. Rock hit a rock bottom on Stephanie. Jericho dropped Rock face first on the chair and scored the pin. The commentators sold the result like it was Stephanie's nightmare. How long before Jericho & Stephanie are together? Rock waited behind Jericho, as Jericho celebrated. Rock ended up handing the chair to Jericho, as if to say that that was what he used to win. Really, really great match, a must-see. I could have lived without Stephanie being involved in the tainted victory, but I guess that's planting the seed of Jericho's eventual coupling with her. Hey, that could bode well for Jericho as a player, since HHH would surely return a little pissed if Stephanie was working closely with another guy. * Steve Austin beat Kurt Angle & Rob van Dam to retain the WWF Title: When they announced that this match would have no DQ, all I heard was that it would lots of run-ins. Open was awesome, with Angle suplexing the other two guys silly. They made it clear that it was every man for himself. Austin seemed more interested in working on van Dam, which seemed like a cool way to give van Dam's presence some purpose. Austin & Angle ended up in the crowd for a few seconds. RVD did a somersault tope onto nobody in particular, with everybody falling down. Brawling outside. Angle vs. RVD in the ring. Angle hit a beautiful moonsault. Austin came back in, with RVD hanging out on the apron. RVD bumped. Double clothesline in the ring, RVD hit a frog splash on an empty mat. "Who was RVD going for?" Austin & Angle brawled on the floor, including the requisite table spots. Out of the blue, RVD dove into the scene. Bingo, Vince McMahon came out with 10 minutes to go in the PPV window. RVD vs. Angle in the ring. Austin laid out by the table. Austin crept back in and stunned Angle to the floor. Vince came in and chaired Austin across the back. He then urged Angle to get back in. Meanwhile, RVD hit the frog splash. Angle made the save. RVD took a series of suplexes. Shane came out, and he and Vince brawled. Angle seemed dead. Austin hit the stunner on RVD for the pin. "RVD may never be the same." - The fserve has been up pretty much nonstop. At this point, I've transferred over 50 Gigs of data to wrestling fans, averaging over 10 Gigs a month. Go here for more explanation. Here's the current list of captured matches. Date of Match Match Details Comments on Match Comments on Movie File Date Added 1981/12/12 AJ Bruiser Brody & Jimmy Snuka vs. Terry Funk & Dory Funk Jr. The annual All Japan tag tourney final, featuring the debut of Stan Hansen in the All Japan ring. A legendary match, which launched Stan Hansen's lengthy career in the promotion. * * * * 1/2 Size: 260,755,456 Duration: 30:00 Video quality is shaky, but it is watchable in a small window. This file is really only for historians. 2001/07/25 1986/08 AJW Bull Nakano & Condor Saito vs. Itsuki Yamasaki & Noriyo Tateno Yamasaki & Tateno were called the Jumping Bomb Angels; they visited the WWF for a run in North America. * * * * 1/2 Size: 164,038,656 Duration: 19:52 Video quality is decent, but a bit shaky. 2001/07/18 1990/11/17 UWFh El Gran Hamada & Kendo & Blackman vs. Brazo do Oro & Brazo de Plato & Brazo de Plata El Gran Hamada & Perro Aguayo worked against each other in the 1980s in New Japan as a special feud over a Mexican title belt. Hamada's major contribution to the style of lightheavyweight wrestling came from bringing a hybrid lucha libre style to Japan in 1990. Hamada's UWF created a blend of lucha libre, New Japan junior heavyweight, and comedy that later became the foundation for Michinoku Pro wrestling. This is a great match from the early days of the UWFh. * * * * 1/4 Size: 194,183,168 Duration: 24:31 Video quality is excellent. 2001/07/25 1991/04/20 AJ Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi Just one of the marathon six-man tags that defined All Japan in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This match never aired on TV, but this commercial version of the match shows us 48 minutes of a 51 minute battle. * * * * 3/4 Size: 447,152,128 Duration: 55:45 Video quality is very good. 2001/07/17 1992/06/05 AJW Manami Toyota & Mima Shimoda vs. Akira Hokuto & Etsuko Mita Four of the most amazing women wrestlers of the late 1980s and early-to-mid 1990s. Matches involving these women in any combination are always great. Hokuto is my personal favourite of all-time. * * * * 1/4 Size: 106,227,712 Duration: 12:45 Video quality is very good. 2001/07/17 1992/08/15 AJW Manami Toyota vs. Toshiyo Yamada Regular tag partners and tag champions, Yamada & Toyota here faced each other in a hair vs. hair match for Toyota's IWA Title. This is a legendary match of the year. * * * * * Size: 146.159.616 Duration: 17:57 Video quality is very good. 2001/07/17 1996/10/10 MPro Dick Togo & Mens Teioh & Shoichi Funaki & Shiryu & Taka Michinoku & Great Sasuke vs. El Gran Hamada & Super Dolphin & Tiger Mask IV & El Gran Naniwa & Masato Yakushuji Many of these guys are familar. Taka & Sho Funaki are in the WWF now. Dick Togo was with them for a bit as part of Kaientai. Watching matches from this time period involving these guys will help you realize just how much they were and are wasted in the WWF. Shiryu is Kaz Hayashi. This match was part of the Dynamite Kid revival show. The Dynamite Kid match was sad to watch, but this bout just rocked, as did their similar show-stealing match on the first ECW PPV. Compare some of the moves and comedy to the stuff from Hamada's UWF years earlier. * * * * 3/4 Size: 317,566,976 Duration: 39:35 Video quality is excellent. 2001/07/25 1997/02/09 NJ Jushin Liger vs. Shinjiro Otani Liger was a god for many years in New Japan. Even with injuries grounding him and forcing a style change, he's remained, more often than not, the guy who delivers great matches. Otani is caught up in the current muck that is the New Japan booking formula of the new millennium. At this point in time, however, he was just the best damn worker in the world. His facial expressions are awesome. Liger defends the J Crown in this match. * * * * 3/4 Size: 137,388,032 Duration: 17:26 Video quality is excellent. 2001/08/05 1997/02/16 NJ Jushin Liger vs. Koji Kanemoto A J Crown defence for Liger. Kanemoto in some ways had to overcome the Tiger Mask gimmick, in the process also becoming one of the best workers in the world. * * * * 3/4 Size: 99,854,336 Duration: 12:15 Video quality is excellent. 2001/08/05 1997/11 NJ Jushin Liger & Kendo Ka Shin & El Samurai vs. Shinjiro Otani & Koji Kanemoto & Tatsuhito Takaiwa These New Japan juniors had numerous awesome six-man tags during this time frame. This is just one of them; I have never been able to pin down the exact date. * * * * Size: 72,411,136 Duration: 8:56 Video quality is excellent. This smaller file may be a good first choice to download if you just want to check out the divx video quality. 2001/08/05 1997/11/27 AJ Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs. Jinsei Shinzaki & Hayabusa This match from the annual All Japan tag tournament seemed a bit of a risk going in because of the potential style clash. It paired two of the best wrestlers in the world against two really flashy spotty garbagy wrestlers. For me it was among the first single that Japanese puroresu was going to follow suit with North American wrestling: I remember when Bret Hart was still on top in the WWF and everything was turning spotty around him...like Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle in the present WWF, it just seemed kind of sad to see a great wrestler surrounded by spotty guys. Through the awesomeness of Misawa & Akiyama, this match somehow held together as a great match with the incomparable All Japan build to the finish. * * * * 3/4 Size: 126,916,608 Duration: 15:31 Video quality is excellent. 2001/08/06 1997/12/05 AJ Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue The annual All Japan tag tourney final from 1997. An off-the-charts match. * * * * * Size: 183,762,944 Duration: 22:25 Video quality is excellent. The audio is ever so slightly out of sync, but I couldn't find an easy way to fix it. It is almost unnoticeable, but I'm a perfectionist. 2001/08/06 1997/12/08 NJ Shinjiro Otani vs. Kendo Ka Shin The annual All Japan tag tourney final, featuring the debut of Stan Hansen in the All Japan ring. A legendary match, which launched Stan Hansen's lengthy career in the promotion. * * * * Size: 90,597,376 Duration: ?:?? Video quality is excellent. 2001/08/05 ______________________________________________________________________ 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. ______________________________________________________________________