This weeks Nitro had something for everyone. I could give a crap about all the stuff for the toothless rubes in the veiwing audience, but it did deliver on the matches I wanted so I was in awe at the booking (if not the performances and time given at points) of the stuff DEAN WANT. DEAN WANT GOOD WRESTLING. IF YOU DON'T GIVE DEAN GOOD WRESTLING, THEN YOU CAN GO TO HELL.
Fit Finlay and Alex Wright start mixing it up to set up an actual match on PPV (And if it's on Halloween Havok and it's an IRISH MUTHA FRIPPIN STREETFIGHT like in CWA against Franz Shumann, I'ma getting it.) Finlay and Wright don't beat the holy fukikin shit out each other like I KNOW they can, but there is enough of a hint of it to get me and other Finlay-ites stoked. The teasing of a three way feud with Davey Boy Smith is problematic- if a may use understatement for once in my god-forsaken life. This is gonna be like the Booker T- Fit Finlay- Benoit feud, except everything takes a step backwards: I LOVE Fit Finlay more THAN ANYONE OTHER THAN STEVEN REGAL, but let's face facts, he's not Chris Benoit. I DIG Alex Wright MORE THAN ANYONE THAT I KNOW, but let's face facts, he's not Fit Finlay. Hey, Davey Boy Smith sucks it compared to Booker T but he is better than Stevie Ray. Right? RIGHT?!? The same match will go into effect- except that the weak match (Wright vs Bulldog) will be watchable MAYBE, while the weak match of the Benoit/Finlay/Booker T series (Finlay vs Booker T) was at least stiff as living hell. I do have a REAL good feeling about Fit vs Alex though. And the middle match will be good if DBS can do ANYTHING at all- since Fit dragged Niedhart shitty no-working fat ass to a watchable match. If DBS can't get up for this feud, he really sucks and should retire.
Chicago- the Windy City, The Second City, the City with the Big Shoulders. The city that booed the fuck out of the Ultimate Warrior. That was GREAT!
The Horsemen thing was neato- despite Bischoff hamming it up as his hard-on for this angle hits grotesque proportions, reaching a Crispin Glover In River's Edge-level of overacting at many points- even if this whole Bischoff vs Flair crap totally lacked any possibility of ANYTHING cool past the outside chance of Benoit vs Bret Hart. Benoit says "Talk to the hand," and I FELL OUT!
Raven bumps like maniac for our man Jericho and then puts him over clean as a sheet. Is Raven channeling the good qualities of Bill Watts in his booking ideas? This was- like everything that was worth a hoot in hell on this show- too short. But I dug what they had. Raven is the most deceptively GOOD wrestler in the US.
Juventud tried to carry the Prince and the results barely made the column. Juventud looked puzzled by the hostility and indifference of the crowd- but I'm figuring that the used up all the love with the Eddy chant. The Prince oversold all of Juventud's chops and didn't stand there and take them- which is one of Juventud's most over spots (a spot he picked up by watching Benoit's most over spot- the super-stompdown. Juventud is a fricking SPONGE when it comes to cool ways to get himself over and to instilling neat points of psychology and that's why he will be one of the all time greats before it's all said and done.) The Prince is still rusty from the back injury and I hope he gets back on the track he was on before the injury. Hangman Tim talked to him at the hideous Charlottesville House show a few months ago and he told Tim that he really wanted to be in the Top of The Super J this year which is what you want to hear from a guy who is still developing. They angle the hell out it and Disco and Kidman start beating each other up. They have a whole new core of cool matches with this second wave of Cruiserweights with Juventud, Disco, Chavo and Kidman being over enough to heat them up. I'm up for Juvie/Kidman, Kidman/Hayashi, Hayashi/Chavo, Chavo/Juventud, Disco/Hayashi, etc. Throw in the newly healthy Prince and Magnum Tokyo as developemental fodder, and push the HELL out of Psicosis as a Cruiser challenger as part of the LWO angle and the undercard whips ass as much as it has the last three years.
Did I miss the six-man nWo Hollywood vs nWo Foghat match or did this Nitro just decide to RULE?
Wrath and THE MONSTER MENG are gonna FEUD! So the WCW is gonna have a match between two guys who gimmicks are that WRESTLING DOESN'T AFFECT THEM. A match without selling is like a match without WRESTLERS. Some brainsurgeon at WCW thinks THIS will get over and will be a good compliment to the other heaping helpings of turd that this PPV is gonna serve up. WCW fearlessly takes a turn down the road of AMAZING STUPIDITY. The "brawl" at the end was very much akin to what heah in th' South cahl COTILLION.
Darrell Torborg ruins his knee hitting his finisher against Kendell Windham. Remember when I thought Goldberg was Windham after getting right out of jail and getting into great shape? Now THAT was FUNNY! This should have been a darkmatch at a WCWSN taping. Torborg seems pretty okay as a worker and I hope him a speedy recovery. Kendell, Kendell, Kendell- you take up time that could be given to actual, un-washed-up, good workers when there's a big spot for you as a bodyguard for Frenchy Riviera in Memphis Power Pro. You suck and your brother wasted more talent than anyone on earth, so g'wan- git the hell out of my TV screen.
BOY! That Chuckie-the-puppet-And-Rick-Steiner-Take-It-To-"THE STICK" thing was absolutely ELECTRIC! Chicago hadn't been that excited since the first time Mike Tomczak took over the snaps from center.
The Goldberg vs Giant match was booked a zillion ways to Thursday but they didn't screw anything up and the whole match worked in a 80's WWF kinda Rube-friendly kind of way, so I'll give them three lines. I was figuring on something TRULY much stinkier than that. BUT, this still sucked compared to any most wrestling I've seen from Japan. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! My column, cheese. Go get your own.
Bret Hart ALMOST was enough to carry the two loads of shit and Sting- especially since Sting was basically an offensively stunted Ricky Morton who was unfortunately teamed with the Less-Wrestling-Ability- And-Charisma- Than-Robert-Gibson's-Left-Testicle Ultimate Suckass, BUT the ending was so HORRENDOUSLY BAD that this moring,(I swear this true) guys who I work with- regular un"smartened up" joes who haven't seen Hashimoto OR Mitsuhara Misawa and WHO LIKE THE UNDERTAKER AND GOLDBERG- actually said, "Nitro is getting ridiculous. I'm starting to watch RAW more on Monday." That folks, is the PINNACLE of NOT-WORKING.
THERE YOU HAVE IT.
DEAN RASMUSSEN.
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