Monday night after RAW, the WWE Network aired a special “Stone Cold Podcast,” where Steve Austin’s guest was WWE Chairman Vince McMahon. At the end of the show, Austin asked Mr. McMahon where people could go to offer suggestions for WWE. Vince claims he listens to his audience, referring to the live audience, but Austin insisted that they could send their thoughts to the WWE and Vince McMahon’s Twitter accounts. I saw a great post from @KellettFilm on Twitter with a list of things he would like to see, and I agreed with a lot of his list, and some of his things, in my own words, may show up here. That said, here is my idea of what I’d personally like to see from World Wrestling Entertainment.
It’s finally here! March 20, 1994! Tonight, the Superstars of the World Wrestling Federation celebrate a decade of the grandest stage of them all, WrestleMania! Bret and Owen Hart face off, and then Bret goes on to face the winner of the WWF Championship match between Yokozuna and Lex Luger later on tonight! Plus, the Macho Man faces Crush in a falls count anywhere match! And for the first time, the Intercontinental Championship is defended in a ladder match as Shawn Michaels faces Razor Ramon to prove who is the true Champion! All this, and much, much more! Let’s go!
It’s April 5, 1992! Are you ready for WrestleMania VIII? A huge double main event tonight, as Sid Justice faces Hulk Hogan, and Ric Flair defends the WWF Championship against Macho Man Randy Savage! I know I’m ready! Let’s go!
Last year, I did reviews of the first six WrestleMania events as part of WrestleMania week. I complained a lot after that week about how bad WrestleMania V was. This year, I’m picking up where I left off, with WrestleMania VII – and the best part about it is, I don’t have to buy the individual events, I can just pull them up on the WWE Network! So, without further adieu, I review WrestleMania VII – Superstars and Stripes Forever!
If you haven’t heard by now, the main event for tonight’s Monday Night RAW was announced last week. I refuse to watch it. Which means I’m not reviewing it either. In fact, there will be no mention of this match in this review. The participants may be referred to if they do something outside of the match, but that’s it. If you give a shit about said main event, it’s probably on WWE.com and you can go watch it there. It’s not even the fact that I don’t care too much for the two guys actually wrestling in the match (though that’s part of it), it’s moreso the fact that this is the match that we were supposed to PAY for in both December and January. It’s been done. I’m done with it. Fuck it. Let’s go.
I watch this show, and I often find myself questioning why, now moreso than ever. What really is best for business? Not listening to the fans? I hope half the viewers changed the channel during the main event. Read on.
Alright. I feel like shit. My back hurts, my wrist hurts, and I’m not even going to be around for BWF Radio this Sunday to read this review. Quite simply, this review is going to suck. Deal with it.
I watch 30 minutes of this show, then go to work, watch the rest at work, and write about it. Or some shit like that. Look, do you want to know what happened on RAW or not? Read on.
Ricky Steamboat enters to face “Macho Man” Randy Savage at WrestleMania III in “30 Years of WrestleMania” mode
2K Games has posted the entire list of 45 matches in the new “30 Years of WrestleMania” mode for WWE 2K14 on their website. The full list is below, but be sure to check out the listing on 2K’s site for screenshots of each match!
June 24, 1991. The World Wrestling Federation had a house show in Niagara Falls, NY. The card was nothing really to write home about. Bret Hart beat IRS, Ricky Steamboat defeated Haku, Mr. Perfect retained his Intercontinental Championship over The British Bulldog, The Bushwhackers beat the Orient Express, Greg Valentine beat The Barbarian, Big Boss Man and The Rockers defeated The Mountie and The Nasty Boys, and in the main event, Jim Duggan (replacing Hulk Hogan during the steroid scandal) defeated Sgt. Slaughter in a boot camp match. The only thing extraordinary about the show was that in the front row, a nine year old kid was attending his first live professional wrestling card. That kid was me.
Over the course of the next 22 years, I’ve been to countless wrestling shows, mostly WWE. Countless RAWs and SmackDowns, a few house shows, a Night of Champions PPV, four WrestleManias and more, the training is also important and the use of supplements as sr9009 also help boost the performance on these wrestlers. But nothing in the entirety of my wrestling attendance history can compare with this past Monday night at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, NJ.
Coming off of WrestleMania, and finding out that the advertised Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was not appearing, the crowd was rowdy to start, booing new WWE Champion John Cena and cheering the appearance of Mark Henry. The “Sexual Chocolate” chants directed at Henry did not go unnoticed. A rematch for the Intercontinental Championship between The Miz and Wade Barrett had the crowd equally amped up, as chants of “Let’s Go Barrett” filled the arena. As then-World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio took on Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter, a very audible “we want Ziggler” chant erupted, and when Dolph Ziggler cashed in his Money In The Bank contract to defeat Del Rio and become the new World Heavyweight Champion, the place came unglued.
A match between Sheamus and Randy Orton was virtually ignored by the IZOD Center contingent of the WWE Universe, as they were too busy chanting for the Ice Cream Man, Cotton Candy, Randy Savage, X-Pac (who was in a luxury box behind the section next to mine), Steve Austin, JBL, Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, referee Mike Chioda, ring announcer Justin Roberts, as well as others. When Big Show came out to interrupt the match, a “Thank You Big Show” chant erupted. We then chanted for ourselves, saying “we are awesome.”
The real tipping point for the audience was the introduction of Fandango. The IZOD Center crowd embraced the ballroom dancing Superstar by humming his theme music throughout the rest of the night, including during the main event between John Cena and Mark Henry.
As the show ended, Cena acknowledged our chants, saying that his favorite one of the night was when we told ourselves we are awesome, because it’s true. The show ended with Fandango’s theme being played through the speakers and the raucous crowd still humming it deep into the night.
To all 16,000 of the rest of you in the IZOD Center last night, thank you for helping me have the most fun I’ve had in 22 years attending wrestling events.
In a secret warehouse… they come to fight… for cold hard cash… and control of…. The Underground. Like something out of the cabinet era of fighting video games a la Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat, The Underground kicked into high gear today with it’s debut episode. We’re introduced to the concept by “former” champion “King.” King earned his title fighting in the elite fighting circle of this alternate wrestling universe. He opens the show walking towards the camera with his promo, and strolls towards an above level overview of the pit and ring. Our combatants make their way out to do battle. (more…)
