UseTheSledgehammerUh

I have seen ads for TNA's Primetime Impact move during primetime and daytime hours on both USA Network and ESPN, at least twice on each. So good for them.

"Stanley's Cup" is tonight, and is the last episode of the season, correct?

Flair sneaking in "DEBBIE DOES THE NATURE BOY!" as Bischoff quickly sent it to commercial ruled, as well.

"How did the feud with Hogan and the Dungeon of Doom end?" The kayfabe answer to this: Kevin Sullivan did an interview with the Dungeon shortly after Hogan's turn on WCW to form the nWo. Sullivan announced that Hogan had succeeded himself in doing what Sullivan was destined to do, destroy "Hulkamania". Hogan got significant time off following the DoomsDay Cage match at Uncensored '96, which allowed Giant to focus on Flair's World Title, Flair to focus on winning the tag titles from Sting & Luger, and the Dungeon to briefly feud with the Horsemen. Sullivan had no real beef with Arn after a few matches, which you could see when Sullivan seconded Arn on the second to last Nitro of May '96 for a "fair" title shot against Giant.

Yeah I think something rather cool happens on the first one, could be wrong. Some Cuban guy interrupts the show or something.

"Cena's a good wrestler" Stop. He handles crowd heat well, and maybe you mean "performer", but that statement is absurd. The announcers who blow Cena on a weekly basis have even said so. "That means he has to control most of the match with his offense" What offense? "Cena really needs to be getting his ass kicked throughout most of a match." That IS how Cena is booked. And why, in addition to his corny, outdated jokes, why the marks hate him. Because of his predictable match-ending comebacks.

I'd expect Cena to get like an 80/20 negative reaction at Survivor Series, personally. Philly, whose WWE crowds are awful, BTW, and will go apeshit for DX, still has enough mutants that hate him.

And honestly, Angle was in such bad shape Friday that it really doesn't matter to me. I'm not feelin' TNA. The fact is that Kurt Angle was never a draw for WWE, and was always just a great wrestler and character who added a large piece to a greater whole.

TNA delivered a very good last show in Philly with a much larger crowd than CZW or ROH draw in Philly. Great show. + TV Advertising + Web Advertising + Angle headlining = Lower attendance? Doesn't add up.

"Kurt was WWE's top draw" 600 fans Friday night in the ECW Arena.

Well, I look at it this way. Flair was out of the title picture, feuding with football players, his mind on Savage. Eddie got screwed over the night before and was slowly being pushed to the top of the mid-card. Why give him 20 minutes with Flair to end it as usual? An upset loss to Eddie would have elevated Eddie and done no damage to Flair. Plus Flair could've gotten the win back at Hog Wild '96. As it was, it was just Eddie losing twice. The Hog Wild match would've actually had some heat instead of being a random title defense.

WCW Monday Nitro (Live) - May 20, 1996 Live from Unannounced Hosted by Eric Bischoff and Bobby Heenan Special 90-Minute Edition Footage of the Slamboree confrontation between Ric Flair & Arn Anderson and Steve McMichael & Kevin Greene. McMichael isn't at the announcer's table, as he is training for their upcoming match. Fire & Ice Vs. The Steiner Brothers Train and Scott start, with each overpowering the other until Train eats a Steinerline. Train comes back with a big clothesline and a belly-to-belly for two. Scott hits a beautiful overhead belly-to-belly on Train, as Rick & Norton tag in. Norton brings the aggression, then hits a big clothesline and splash off the top rope. Norton's in total control, then gets dropped on his head with a release belly-to-back suplex. Rick hits a Steinerline and tags Scott in. Holy crap, Scott drops Norton on his head with a Dragon Suplex. Scott goes up and drops a forearm onto Norton, on the arena floor. This is fun. Norton catches Scott with a Samoan Drop and tags Train in. Release Northern Lights suplex on Ice Train! Rick in, but he & Train clothesline each other. A four-way brawl erupts, with everyone on the floor. Norton delivers the shoulderbreaker to Scott on the floor as Rick & Train brawl. The referee issues a double-countout at 5:27. ** Scott gives Norton a German suplex as Train & Rick fight to the back. If they had more time and Train was much better, these two could tear the house down. Eddie Guerrero Vs. "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (with Woman & Elizabeth) Wow, Woman is totally decked out and Elizabeth is smokin' as usual. This could be okay but Eddie's just so bland and Flair wrestles every match the same way. Eddie keeps on a headlock for several nearfalls. Criss-cross ends with a nice dropkick from Eddie for two. Eddie stays with the headlock and keeps Flair on the mat. They trade chops and punches. Eddie wins that battle and they seperate, as Eddie has had the match in hand so far. Eddie gets more chops, a big backdrop, and two dropkicks that send Flair to the floor. Flair goes to the VIP table and grabs a chair, but the referee takes it away and shoves him. Flair throws a tantrum and it seems they're giving this a lot of time. Back in, Eddie is back in control, then taunts Flair by doing his strut on the floor. "Eddie!" chant. Eddie chops away and Flair flops on the mat. Eddie's really dominating here and getting a nice rub. Flair goes to the eyes and we go to commercial. We're back with Eddie fighting to escape a chinlock. Eddie does and hits three clotheslines, then goes up top. Top rope sunset flip gets two for Eddie. Flair with an inverted atomic drop slows Eddie down. Elbowdrop gets Flair two. Eddie tries to fight back but Flair's a step ahead. Eddie gets in a backslide for two. Small package gets Eddie two. Back suplex by Flair. Eddie should really win this thing, it'd do wonders for him, plus Flair won't be crushed by the loss. Eddie avoids the figure-four leglock and puts it on Flair himself! Flair gets into the ropes and it's broken. Eddie to the top rope, leaps at Flair on the floor, but Flair moves and Eddie hits the guardrail. Looks like Eddie may have hurt his knee. Flair suplexes Eddie on the floor. Eddie's knee is a wreck and Flair goes to work on it. Eddie still gets an O'Connor roll for two. Flair gets flipped over to the apron and Eddie dropkicks him to the floor. Eddie hits a tornado DDT off the second rope for two! Eddie leaps to the top rope and comes flying off with a "Frankensteiner" on Flair, then signals for the Frogsplash! He hits it! But Eddie messed up his knee in the process and is writhing in pain. Flair takes advantage and locks on the Figure Four! Eddie fights, but Woman grabs Flair's hands, and Eddie is pinned at 17:04. That had to get 20 minutes with commercials. Really good little match, we'll go with *** 1/2 for a pretty good outing between the two. Wrong guy went over, though. Post-match, Gene Okerlund interviews Flair at the VIP table. Savage is in town, but Flair says he's nuts and starts kissing Liz & Woman. Greene & McMichael have no chance of becoming two-sports stars, and Greene won't make it to his next NFL mini-camp. After the commercial, Flair brings a candelabra & plate of fruit to the announcer's table, where he joins the team for the rest of the show. The Faces of Fear Vs. WCW World Tag Team Champions Sting & Lex Luger Lex is okay after Giant's chokeslam last week. He's still TV Champ, by the way. In sokme tragic forshadowing, Flair says he caught Elizabeth looking at Luger and she thinks he's cute. Lex and Meng start and Meng gains the advantage until Lex powerslams him for 2. Meng with a back suplex, then tags in Barbarian. Sting tags in and we go to commercial. Flair exclaims "Debbie does The Nature Boy!" We're back and Sting hits both opponents with clotheslines. Sting bearhugs Barbarian (wha?), then misses a standing dropkick. Meng tags in and puts on a modified Boston crab, then stomps away. Barbarian comes in with the Kick of Fear on Sting, but Lex breaks it up. Barbarian takes Sting to the top and hits a HUGE overhead belly-to-belly suplex for two! Sting got huge height on that! Meng and Barbarian both go up top and hit simultaneous flying headbutts. Luger has the referee distracted, though, and Meng only gets two. Sting remains unable to make the tag as the match slows down. Barbarian goes up and misses a flying headbutt, allowing Sting to make the tag. Worst backdrop ever on Barbarian. Good one on Meng by Lex. Big clotheslines for all. Bionic forearm gets two on Babarian. Sting hits a huge flying splash on Barbarian, and Lex gets the pin at 7:50. Good little formula matc on a pretty good Nitro so far. ** 1/2 Gene Okerlund Interview with "Macho Man" Randy Savage We're outside the building because Savage is banned. WCW Executives are meeting about Savage's future with the company. Savage's fines outweigh all the other professional sports stars' fines, of course. Police stop Savage from rushing the door. Brad Armstrong Vs. WCW Lord of the Ring "Diamond" Dallas Page This would be day two of DDP's push to the moon. Flair continues to taunt Savage on commentary. Bischoff claims Page came from "virtual as-curity". Page controls with some matwork, but Armstrong dropkicks him to the apron. Page comes back with a neckbreaker as the crowd sleeps. We go to commercial. Armstrong fights back and gets a backslide for two. Page runs into the ringpost and Armstrong rams his head into the turnbuckles 10 times. Brad hits a flying bodypress for two. Page gets an elbow and the Diamond Cutter for the pin at 4:35. * 1/2, I guess, for a really basic match. Postmatch, Gene Okerlund is in the ring to speak to Page. Last night Page shocked the world and won Battlebowl. He thanks himself with a "Self High-Five". Page says The Giant's going down, but Gene Okerlund tells him the WCW Championship Committee reviewed the tapes and will not be awarding him a World Title match at The Great American Bash. Lex Luger is getting the title match, since Page cheated to win Battlebowl. Thus, rendering the already 99.9% pointless Slamboree show 100% pointless. Alright! Arn Anderson (with Kevin Sullivan) Vs. WCW World Heavyweight Champion The Giant (with Jimmy Hart) Flair senses a title switch, ha. Sullivan explains that he is just out there to ensure Arn Anderson gets a fair shot at the title, and that there's no interference for either man. Go behind obviously doesn't work for Arn. Giant no-sells a flurry of shots in the corner. Giant dominates Arn, using his power. Arn gets tossed to the floor. Arn crotches Giant on the top rope and then hits three second-rope axehandles. Arn with punches. Arn tries the DDT, but Giant easily blocks and chokeslams him for the pin at 3:38. * for the squash. Sullivan did not interfere and checks on Arn after the match. Heenan steals the candelabra and heads for Flair's private party as the show ends.

In case you were wondering, my "star" scale is as follows: DUD - Insulting and awful. * - Not good at all, but they tried. ** - Acceptable, just too short or had problems. *** - Good match. **** - REALLY good match, plenty of suspense, lots of time given, and drama. ***** - Flawless match.

WCW Monday Nitro (Live) - May 13, 1996 Live from Nashville, Tennessee Hosted by Eric Bischoff, Bobby Heenan, and Steve McMichael Footage of Lex Luger camping outside the arena overnight airs, with Luger making sure he was at the arena, since he missed his last two World Title shots. The Steiner Brothers Vs. The Public Enemy Scott and Rocco start, with Rock avoiding power moves early but ultimately getting gorilla pressed onto Grunge. Rick comes in with a double-Steinerline on TPE. Rick and Grunge are in, and Grunge stupidly jumps into the overhead powerslam. Scotty in, overhead belly-to-belly for Grunge. Now we get a brawl on the floor, which favors TPE. Grunge accidently gets decked by Rocco, but TPE keeps control on Rick inside the ring. Scott tags in and hits the tilt-a-whirl suplex on Rocco. Up to the top, but Grunge electric chairs Scott and Rocco delivers a flying headbutt. Apparently, Ric Flair & Steve McMichael had an altercation in the locker room this weekend. Rocco & Grunge hit the "Drive By" (assisted Cannonball) from the top rope on Scott, a move that would later be their finisher. Rocco goes up and misses a wild somersault senton. Nitro is 2 hours every week starting Memorial Day weekend. Rick comes in with a Steinerline for Grunge, and a belly-to-belly for Rocco. Scott eventually hits the Frankensteiner on Rock for the pin at 6:55 for the pin. Not bad, I think their first Nitro match was a little more interesting, however. **. "Squire" David Taylor (with Geeves) Vs. Chris Benoit Taylor replaces The Belfast Bruiser at Slamboree, and Dallas Page has a benefactor with money that got him on his feet, and subsequently a slot in Slamboree due to Bobby Walker's injury. Commercial before the match. They trade takedowns to start. Enzugiri from Benoit, but Taylor comes back with European uppercuts. Criss-cross ends with a boot to Benoit's face. Benoit slingshots Taylor into the corner and hits a big chop, but misses a charge into the same corner. Axehandle to the floor by Taylor. Taylor hits Benoit with an electric chair drop. Fallaway slam gets Taylor two. McMichael leaves to find Randy Savage, who is outside the building. Taylor misses a crossbody attempt, and Benoit finishes him with the Dragon Suplex at 4:16. **, as four minutes with Regal Lite wasn't getting any more, obviously. Gene Okerlund Interview with "Macho Man" Randy Savage Savage is banned from the building and security is lined up outside to keep him out. Steve McMichael interrupts and tells Savage he can sympathize with him, as Flair has also been pissing him off by going after his wife. McMichael has "a plan!" Savage says Okerlund hasn't seen crazy, yet. Savage says he doesn't have a problem teaming with Flair, and won't mind "dragging a dead tag team partner to the ring". Our World is About to Change. Blood Runs Cold. Coming to WCW. V.K. Wallstreet Vs. "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (with Woman & Miss Elizabeth) McMichael won't reveal his plan for Flair, but it probably involves Kevin Greene. This would've ruled all in 1988. Some nice mat wrestling, which Wallstreet takes command of and Flair's off his game. If Wallstreet woulda went back to his amateur wrestler gimmick he'd have been much better off than his stupid Million Dollar Man ripoff nonsense in 1996. Backdrop (shock!) on Flair, and Naitch goes to the floor. Wallstreet again takes Flair to the mat, and this is much different than most of Flair's matches in '96. Commercial. Back, and Flair gets flipped over the corner to the floor. Wallstreet slugs away at him and Flair does his flop on the floor. Flair goes up top and gets thrown off. Big backdrop on Flair. Now we're back to Flair repeating every match. Wallstreets slowly hits the Samoan Drop (Wallstreet Crash, I think), but Flair's in the ropes. Sunset flip over the ropes gets Wallstreet 2. Backslide gets him 2. Wallstreet clotheslines Flair to the floor. On the floor, Flair moves and Wallstreet's flying knee attack hits the ringpost. Back in, Flair locks on the Figure Four, with Woman pulling his arms for leverage. Wallstreet submits at 6:24. **, as has become a trend for this show, as it was pretty decent but way too short to be that good. Hopefully the 2 hour format changed this immediately on Memorial Day. Post-match, Flair and the ladies go to their VIP table to speak with Gene Okerlund. Flair says Tennessee hasn't liked him since he made Dolly Parton ride Space Mountain. Flair kisses Elizabeth all over his arms and tells Savage that a dead man wouldn't do that. He'll "knock WCW on its ass" at Slamboree. Flair then mocks Steve McMichael, calling him a worthless defensive lineman daring to talk back to the quarterback. WCW World Heavyweight Champion The Giant (with Jimmy Hart) Vs. WCW Television Champion Lex Luger We return from commercial with both men in the ring already. Luger bounces off Giant with two shoulderblocks and then gets clotheslined. His slam attempt doesn't work either and Lex gets thrown to the floor. Back in, Lex hits two clotheslined, but gets caught off the second rope and Giant hits a proper Oklahoma Stampede! Luger gets a TON of momentum, running the ropes three times, and drills The Giant with the bionic forearm, but Giant no sells it! Giant tosses him to the floor, and Bischoff mentions Luger knocked Yokozuna out with that forearm for 10 minutes. Flair and ladies dine at the VIP table. Luger keeps fighting and nails Giant with punches and shoulders to the mid-section. Giant no-sells and chokes Lex, then brings him to the floor near the VIP table. Giant clears the table and chokeslams Luger through it as Flair and the ladies freak out! Luger is dead! Jimmy Hart is on Giant's back trying to stop him. The referee throws the match out at 4:15, presumably a no-contest. * Sting arrives to come to Luger's side, with Bischoff claiming Lex proved himself by giving it his all against The Giant. Sting yells at Gene Okerlund to get lost as officials tend to Luger and a replay is shown.

Coming up...the last official 1 hour Nitro and a 20 minute Nitro match?!?

Booker T. delivers the Harlem Sidekick, which has been called a Harlem Sidekick for years by WCW. Bischoff: "Jumping back-leg round kick! Look out, what a move by Booker T!"

"Oww! It's...NOT HOT!"

Oh My God. Watch this. The Japanese subtitles make it even better. If it's already on here, my apologies.

"Bow Wow Wow" Konan video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYjjpgF76gg I think the tougher one to understand, with heavy Spanish, would be the one: "Ashes to ashes, and dust to dust to dust, and before I leave here, believe I'm'a bust." Sounds like someone would say at a strip club.

Angle is winning at Genesis. Also, I think he's going to have trouble with the Angle Slams.

That's got to be fake.

Quick TNA Philly results: Petey over Sonjay via Destroyer - Good Young over Runt via Ocean Cyclone into a neckbreaker - Bad AMW over James Gang/Voodoo Kin Mafia via superkick on Kip - Bad Joe over Rhino via chokeout - Decent Senshi over Lethal - Decent, little tooone sided LAX over AJ & Daniels - Decent Angle over Abyss - Bad Angle/Abyss had multiple ref bumps, a really botched Angle slam, and another not so good Angle slam for the finish. SoCal Val signed autographs w/ the X Title Borash did ring announcing No James Mitchell or Konan AMW got Kip to do a brief "Rockabilly" dance after the end of their bout

I wish they still had a "Heat" type show on TV, where they could have an Elimination Match for the lower undercard jobbers, ala 1996. That one in 1995 (on PPV) with Horowitz, Skip, Radford, etc. was fun, too.

Team Rated RKO should be the favorites, as Orton has survived the past 3 Survivor Series alone, ironically pinning Shawn Michaels (twice) and Triple H to win them. Just joking, Orton's eating pedigree.

re: DrVenkman "Nasty Boy Sags... ...REPO MAN!"