WWE 24/7 Discussion Thread - February 2008

[Ed Wood Caulfield 0]

- There's something called WWE Mania listed, I don't have any idea what that is.

 

Isn't that the old WWF Saturday morning show from 1993-1995 hosted by Todd Pettengill?

[cabbageboy 0]

Yeah that is WWF Mania. I wonder if they will have that ultra irritating chick Stephanie Wynand on there as well?

 

I might not mind them showing some Live Wire shows from 1996 when they were going into this reality based shoot direction. Stuff like Russo showing up as Vic Venom and ranting. I remember his analysis of Bret's return at Survivor Series in 1996: "He came back and really struggled with Steve Austin? That's a guy he should go throw pretty easy." Something like that.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

For the record, Sunflower is listing it as "Mania FREEView", (presumably as in WrestleMania), not the Superstars / Raw recap show from the 90s.

[Darth Pipes 0]

For the record, Sunflower is listing it as "Mania FREEView", (presumably as in WrestleMania), not the Superstars / Raw recap show from the 90s.

 

Maybe that's one of the Wrestlemania Free-For-Alls? Though they didn't come until a year or two later I think.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

Cole opens the 6/9/97 Raw by explaining that Nitro had recording problems and thus they do not have it, so that explains that.

[JHawk 0]

Cole opens the 6/9/97 Raw by explaining that Nitro had recording problems and thus they do not have it, so that explains that.

Recording problems? The shows were replayed the same night, which is how I originally watched it. I call bullshit.

 

Wait, Hogan jobbed to Luger that night. Maybe the tape was destroyed due to Hogan's creative control.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Yeah that is WWF Mania. I wonder if they will have that ultra irritating chick Stephanie Wynand on there as well?

 

No. She didn't come about until maybe midway through the show's run.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

Cole opens the 6/9/97 Raw by explaining that Nitro had recording problems and thus they do not have it, so that explains that.

Recording problems? The shows were replayed the same night, which is how I originally watched it. I call bullshit.

 

Wait, Hogan jobbed to Luger that night. Maybe the tape was destroyed due to Hogan's creative control.

 

They even show clips of the show when Cole goes over what we WOULD have seen. I'm curious if "recording problems" mean "we tried to edit out a bunch of times Benoit was standing around with the Horsemen rednering the tape unwatchable", but probably not. Maybe it's a digital encoding problem?

[garfieldsnose 0]

Wrestlingate....why was that tape destroyed!?

[TheSSNintendo 0]

Cole opens the 6/9/97 Raw by explaining that Nitro had recording problems and thus they do not have it, so that explains that.

Recording problems? The shows were replayed the same night, which is how I originally watched it. I call bullshit.

 

Wait, Hogan jobbed to Luger that night. Maybe the tape was destroyed due to Hogan's creative control.

 

Wasn't that a non-title match or something? Hogan also lost to Luger in August for the belt as well.

 

[garfieldsnose 0]

Yeah, Hogan dropped the title to Luger in August for the 100th episode of Nitro. That's mainly the reason they did the title switch, because Hogan won it back 6 days later. I think the excuse they used for Luger's Nitro shot was he still had the title shot from Spring Stampede in the 4 way with Harlem Heat and the Giant. Am I remembering wrong?

 

 

I can only think Hogan lost by DQ or something to Luger in this episode.

[King Kamala 0]

Checking on DDTDigest, Hogan jobbed to Luger cleanly twice (Has anybody else beaten Hogan cleanly twice?). The match on this Nitro was non-title.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

Watching Raw, there seems to be quite the smart community around ringside with their signs. "Vince, Don't Ruin Sasuke", "Mr. Perfect - On Nitro June 30", something about Wade Keller, something with Nitro as an acronym about politics, and that's just a sampling. In nice symmetry, the Raw where I notice the most "smart" signs seems to be the debut of on-air talk about politics (HHH talking about 1996). I'm also at the Headbangers vs. Furnas and Lafon match with no sign of Bret Hart AND British Bulldog using his own music and not the Foundation's - is this the show Bret and Shawn had a backstage tussle at?

[bob_barron 0]

Here's a recap of the mystery Nitro by John Petrie of Slobberknocker Central:

 

WCW Monday Nitro:

Live/Taped: Live.

Length: Two Hours+.

Location: Boston, MA.

HOUR ONE Hosted By: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay and Larry Zbyszko.

 

- They start us off with a promo from MTV featuring "Hollywood" Hogan and

Dennis Rodman, hyping their upcoming tag team match at Bash at the Beach

in July.

 

- A black limo pulls up. Elizabeth gets out, but before Randy Savage can,

Diamond Dallas Page runs in from off screen and kicks the window once,

twice, and shatters it on the third. He reaches in and opens the door,

but Liz runs over and slams it shut on him. Page hits the ground as the

limo speeds off.

 

- ULTIMO DRAGON/SUPER CALO/JUVENTUD GUERRERA vs.

PSYCHOSIS/LA PARKA/SILVER KING

This one was crisper and less sloppy than the Mexican six-man match from

two weeks ago, but I still have a hard time getting all that worked up

about these type of matches. WCW insists on throwing these guys at us

without giving us any sense of who they are or why they are there. Silver

King? They don't even bother to tell us whom the good guys and bad guys

are. We end up just "ooh-ing" and "ahh-ing" at the high spots, of which

there were plenty. Too many. They again do the ridiculous spot where

every guy does a tope or plancha into the same spot at ringside. Ultimo

Dragon wins by taking Psychosis off the top with a spinning huracanrana,

then applying a reverse headlock. Ultimo and Psychosis are scheduled for

the next PPV, so either Dragon will win easily, or Psychosis will get the

win as payback for this match. (Since that pretty much covers the only

two options possible, I'll predict a Psychosis win).

 

Mike Tenay mentions during the match that soon he will be traveling to

Mexico to do a series of stories explaining the Mexican wrestling

culture, the significance of the masks, and so on. Now THAT could be

interesting.

 

- Mean Gene Okerlund interviews Lex Luger. Luger says that J.J. Dillon has

reviewed "Hollywood" Hogan's recent World Title tenure, and has decided

that Hogan hasn't defended the belt since February. As punishment, Hogan

must wrestle Luger later in the show. Luger also announces that he and

the Giant will be the ones to face Hogan and Rodman at Bash at the Beach.

 

- Mike Tenay awaits in the parking area as "Rowdy" Roddy Piper's and Ric

Flair's limo pulls up. Tenay announces that Piper and Flair, as a preview

to the PPV this Sunday, will face the Outsiders in tonight's main event.

 

- ALEX WRIGHT vs. CHRIS JERICHO

In a match that stretched way, way, WAY too long, Alex Wright wins via

pinfall with his feet on the ropes. Now, some may say this was a really

good match. I'd probably agree. I also don't care! I don't give a rat's

ass about Alex Wright. This is currently the worst angle WCW has going

now. Jericho just shows how misused and washed up he is by losing this

one. Apparently many of the fans in attendance agreed with me, as there

was next to no crowd reaction for most of the match. The only noise, in

fact, came when a large section of fans, utterly bored by the match,

started playing with a beach ball someone had smuggled in. When a

security guard confiscated it, the crowd booed.

 

- MALIA HOSAKA vs. AKIRA HOKUTO (w/ Sonny Onoo)

Hokuto practically squashes Hosaka, controlling the whole match except

for a very brief flurry. Hokuto wins with a brainbuster suplex, then the

pin. Hokuto executes another suplex, which brings out Madusa to make the

save. (My God ... if Madusa loses the Career Match this weekend, she must

already have a new job lined up to hide watermelons under her shirt, cuz

I'd swear she was smuggling a pair of them this time out!).

 

Schiavone announces that the upcoming Hogan/Luger match will be non-

title.

 

- Mean Gene tries to interview the Steiner Brothers, but Harlem Heat and

Sister Sherri come out and interrupt. The Heat challenge the Steiners.

Rick Steiner says why wait, and a brawl breaks out. This is what happens

when the World Tag Team Titles are held by guys who don't defend them:

pointless feuds to decide the number one contenders. Schiavone says that

whichever team wins the match this weekend at the Great American Bash

will receive a title shot ... at Hog Wild ... in AUGUST!

 

- KONAN vs. STEVE "MONGO" MCMICHAEL (w/ Debra)

No match. Mongo is jumped on the way to the ring by Kevin Greene. The two

fight until separated by WCW officials. They then switch to the ring to

show Konan laid out cold, with a broken broomhandle next to him. Hugh

Morrus is assumed to be the culprit. Referee Nick Patrick declares a no-

contest.

 

By the way, all week ESPN has been reporting that the Carolina Panthers

are very upset with Kevin Greene for not showing up at any of the

preliminary practices for the upcoming season. They said if he didn't

show on Wednesday, they would start fining him. When he didn't show on

Wednesday, ESPN reported that the Panthers will now be fining Greene

$1500 for every practice he misses. Real, or a cleverly crafted work on

WCW's and the Panthers' part? You decide.

 

- "HOLLYWOOD" HOGAN (w/ Eric Bischoff) vs. LEX LUGER

Hogan and Bischoff get on the mic to work the crowd. Hogan belittles by

saying his physique can't match Hogan's, and that he could never beat him

in this lifetime. Hogan then says there will be no match tonight, and he

will instead pose for the crowd.

 

As the crowd reaches a frenzy level, Luger comes out. He faces off with

Hogan, who calls him a wannabe. Bischoff then starts running off at the

mouth. Luger shoves him down and referee Randy Anderson, who had slid

into the ring, signals for the bell.

 

Immediately Kevin Nash, Syxx and Scott Hall come out. Hogan meets them

outside the ring, but decides to go on with the match. Shortly thereafter

they take a break.

 

HOUR TWO Hosted By: Tony Schiavone and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan.

 

Hogan seems in control of the match, but Luger mounts a comeback. Nash,

Hall and Syxx enter the ring, but the ref doesn't call for the bell since

each is knocked back out by Luger and none of them connect with any

shots. Luger then hoists Hogan up onto his shoulders in the Torture Rack.

Hogan almost immediately submits. Hall, Nash and Syxx charge again and

this time they lay Luger out. Hogan drops about a dozen legdrops, then

lays in the center of the ring along with Bischoff for an interview. The

referee has to drag Luger out of the ring by a leg to save him.

 

- Mean Gene interviews J.J. Dillon. Dillon says WCW will be fining Randy

"Macho Man" Savage $50,000 for his actions last week. He also says that

the match between Savage and Diamond Dallas Page this Sunday at the Great

American Bash will be a "Lights Out Match", which is unsanctioned, no DQ,

no countout, no time limit, and falls count anywhere.

 

Savage appears in the crowd and starts to yell at Dillon, threatening to

come up with $100,000 and attack Dillon again.

 

Page then comes to the ring and challenges Savage to come down. Savage

does, and the two brawl for a few seconds until Nitro goes to a break.

 

- JEFF JARRETT vs. DEAN MALENKO

Good match, but not as good as previous efforts between the two. Debra

McMichael comes out a few minutes in to root on Jarrett. They then take a

break, which is probably why I'm less than enthusiastic about this one.

 

Jarrett is in control, but Malenko takes over with some rest hold. They

go back-and-forth. Jarrett applies a Figure Four, but Malenko rolls over

and reverses it. More back-and-forth and Jarrett really seems on the

verge of winning. Jarrett hits a suplex off the top turnbuckle.

 

Suddenly Eddy Guerrero hops over the rail at ringside and climbs the

ropes. He looks, then nails Malenko with the Frog Splash. Eddy's left arm

is in a sling, and he removes it and drops it on Malenko's chest. The ref

somehow fails to hear the loud thud, and is only slightly puzzled by the

appearance of a rehabilitative sling lying on the mat. Jarrett slaps on

the Figure Four and Malenko quickly submits. Jarrett wins the United

States Heavyweight Title in notable, but unsatisfying fashion.

 

- Mean Gene interviews Jimmy Hart, along with Meng and the Barbarian. Hart

says he has Chris Benoit's third step to meeting Kevin Sullivan. It's ...

Kevin Sullivan? Sullivan and Jacquelyn come out. Sullivan plays up to the

Boston crowd, which is essentially his hometown. Sullivan calls Benoit

out. Sullivan tells Meng and Barbarian to leave Benoit alone.

 

Here comes Benoit. He and Sullivan go at it, trading mean looking punches

to the face. Jacquelyn jumps Benoit, but she is pulled off. Meng grabs

Benoit by the throat, but Sullivan breaks it. Finally Benoit drops to the

ground and is stomped on by Sullivan, Meng, the Barbarian, Jacquelyn, and

even Jimmy Hart.

 

- THE OUTSIDERS (w/ Syxx) vs. RIC FLAIR/"ROWDY" RODDY PIPER

At first the ref can't get the four men out of the ring to really start

the match. Nitro then takes a break.

 

WCW, breaking with form somewhat, takes a closeup shot of a "WWF Sucks"

sign. The match, meanwhile, has commenced and pretty much consists of one

hot tag sequence. Piper is kept in the ring and Flair can't tag in. They

do all the old favorites where Flair gets drawn in, only to be forced out

by the ref as Piper receives a double beating. Before any tag is made,

though, Flair starts to chase Syxx around the ring. Flair corners Syxx,

but is hit from behind by Hall. The ref calls for the bell, DQ'ing the

Outsiders. The bell rings continually. The fight continues.

 

Out comes Jarrett, McMichael and Benoit. The fight continues.

 

Out comes Buff Bagwell and Scott "Flash" Norton. The fight continues.

 

Out comes Kevin Greene. The fight continues.

 

Out comes Harlem Heat and the Steiner Brothers. The fight continues.

 

Out comes Glacier, Wrath and Mortis. The fight continues.

 

Out comes the Mexican wrestlers. The fight continues.

 

Out comes Kevin Sullivan, Barbarian and Meng. The fight continues.

 

Out comes Randy Savage and Dallas Page. Hogan nails Page from behind with

the World Title belt. Page flops to the floor at ringside. The fight

continues.

 

Sting drops from the ceiling, whacks Nash, Norton and Bagwell with a

baseball bat, hooks the unconscious Page to his cable, and rides on

Page's back as the two are raised to the top of the arena.

 

The fight continues as the show ends.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

The main event recap seriously has me wondering if they just couldn't figure out to remove Benoit from that scenario.

 

Also, Vince and JR briefly referred to Canadian Stampede as "Canadian Collision". That threw me for a second (because Vince verified that was the name when JR said it), but JR then corrected himself.

[garfieldsnose 0]

Damn. That Nitro sounds badass. Fuck. I remember that, too...when Sting attached DDP to his harness and they both were raised. That was one of the Nitros I can clearly remember the ending to.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

Ok, they confirm in the last segment of Raw that Michaels and Bret were thrown out of the building for "unprofessional conduct". The crowd also chanted "Softball Sid" which got a laugh out of me. After the past 4 episodes (though technical issues prevented me from seeing part the last one), I have to say that in re-watching the Foley / JR interviews, they might very well be some of the best pieces of televised business in the past 10 years.

[Darth Pipes 0]

I remember that Nitro very well. The brawl at the end was awesome. Very long and with both the NWO and WCW really going at each other. Remember Sting raising himself and a knocked out Page to the roof with Sean Waltman in the ring looking like someone had kicked the living crap out of him.

 

I definitely call bullshit on the "recording problems" episode. I say it equals Benoit. It would be a shame if that episode is lost though.

 

Hogan lost clean to Luger that night and everyone thought (including me) that Luger won the title. It was revealed after the fact that it was a non-title match, just like it was revealed after the fact that Piper didn't win the title from Hogan at Starrcade 96.

 

I will say one thing about Hogan, he pulled off a lot of crap with his backstage politicing but he put over Lex Luger as strong as possible. He did a clean job to him by submission on the "lost episode" of Nitro. He did a clean job to him by submission in a tag team match shortly thereafter. Luger then beat him cleanly by submission (overcoming NWO interference in the process) to win the title on a great three-hour Nitro. Hogan only won back the title on outside interference too. Say what you will about Hogan but you can't deny that he put over Luger strong that year and Luger probably had his last great year in the business in 1997.

[cabbageboy 0]

At this point why not just drop this whole idiotic Benoit thing and just show the episodes? What are they going to do when he actually becomes a major force in WCW in 1998-99? Stuff like the Booker T "Best of 7" and Flair's return are too important to edit.

 

 

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

-- On WWE 24/7 yesterday, when they were to show the Nitro show, Michael Cole said there was a recording problem and couldn't air the episode. It appears the real reason is the main event of Hall & Nash vs. Flair & Piper had lots of outside interference, and Chris Benoit was a major part of it. It appears the "recording problem" was more because all the commentary on the show built toward the main event, and because of Benoit, they couldn't air the main event (thanks to Stephen Gray)

 

Of course, that's just Dave taking what I assumed was the problem and reporting it as fact, which is pretty awesome.

[Jericholic82 0]

how retarded. I was wondering why the 6/9 raw popped up in the update, but no nitro. That sucks cuz it had Eddie's redebut as a heel when he helped Jarrett win the US title.

 

are they afraid of offending anyone by showing Benoit? Maybe cuz he always had Woman with him so it would seem odd?

[cabbageboy 0]

Okay I will tolerate them doing this sort of thing as long as Benoit and Woman were a couple on TV, since that actually might be uncomfortable to some people. But once she retires from the business and it's just him, I think they ought to show him again.

[Guest sandwich]

-- On WWE 24/7 yesterday, when they were to show the Nitro show, Michael Cole said there was a recording problem and couldn't air the episode. It appears the real reason is the main event of Hall & Nash vs. Flair & Piper had lots of outside interference, and Chris Benoit was a major part of it. It appears the "recording problem" was more because all the commentary on the show built toward the main event, and because of Benoit, they couldn't air the main event (thanks to Stephen Gray)

 

Of course, that's just Dave taking what I assumed was the problem and reporting it as fact, which is pretty awesome.

 

 

Of course it could also prove that Dave is full of shit, makes up stories, and there really were recording problems.

[JHawk 0]

-- On WWE 24/7 yesterday, when they were to show the Nitro show, Michael Cole said there was a recording problem and couldn't air the episode. It appears the real reason is the main event of Hall & Nash vs. Flair & Piper had lots of outside interference, and Chris Benoit was a major part of it. It appears the "recording problem" was more because all the commentary on the show built toward the main event, and because of Benoit, they couldn't air the main event (thanks to Stephen Gray)

 

Of course, that's just Dave taking what I assumed was the problem and reporting it as fact, which is pretty awesome.

 

 

Of course it could also prove that Dave is full of shit, makes up stories, and there really were recording problems.

They showed replays of Nitro of TNT later that night. If there were recording problems, the replay wouldn't have aired (and the replay is how I watched Nitro back then).

 

Recording problems my ass.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

I have reasons to believe there was a recording issue (in terms of the tape's quality today, not 11 years ago) and let's leave it at that. Miscommunication.

[bob_barron 0]

The bait and switch in that RAW was pretty scummy. And the Bart-Billy match was just random.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

No, bait and bait! Bait and bait!

 

TNT was pretty good again with the last build-up to Mania 2 (which was well timed since what do you know, Mania 2 is on 24/7 next week). I don't even like Mania 2 and now I'm pumped to watch it. It was kind of weird that whenever Vince was going to mention the guest ring announcer for the battle royal, I heard nothing the first time he said "guest ring announcer" and I could visually see Vince was talking but was muted the second time he said it. I didn't even remember who it was but a quick wikipedia search shows it was Chet Coppock, someone very recently under fire for alleged antisemitism and apparently dropped his pants in front of a female employee in 2007. Ok then. It was also funny seeing Mr. T train to music that would eventually become Eugene's... I ASSUMED it was dubbed in over some copyrighted training music (from Rocky maybe?) but if it was dubbed, they did a much better job than usual because Mr. T was able to audibly talk over it with the music volume being lowered to background noise, then raised again. They normally can't pull that off.

 

 

[Darth Pipes 0]

No, bait and bait! Bait and bait!

 

TNT was pretty good again with the last build-up to Mania 2 (which was well timed since what do you know, Mania 2 is on 24/7 next week). I don't even like Mania 2 and now I'm pumped to watch it. It was kind of weird that whenever Vince was going to mention the guest ring announcer for the battle royal, I heard nothing the first time he said "guest ring announcer" and I could visually see Vince was talking but was muted the second time he said it. I didn't even remember who it was but a quick wikipedia search shows it was Chet Coppock, someone very recently under fire for alleged antisemitism and apparently dropped his pants in front of a female employee in 2007. Ok then. It was also funny seeing Mr. T train to music that would eventually become Eugene's... I ASSUMED it was dubbed in over some copyrighted training music (from Rocky maybe?) but if it was dubbed, they did a much better job than usual because Mr. T was able to audibly talk over it with the music volume being lowered to background noise, then raised again. They normally can't pull that off.

 

I was just about to get to this. I just watched TNT a few minutes ago and I noticed that they kept cutting out the audio a few times as well. The first twi times were with Captain Lou and I thought they muted him saying Macho Man. However, the first thing they muted was followed by Vince giving an "oooohhh" reaction, suggesting Albano might have said something he shouldn't have. Then I notice it with Vince. Strange they would cut it out anyway.

 

Though they let Fred Blassie get away with calling Mr. T a house ape twice.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

Well that's old people for ya.

[cabbageboy 0]

Good grief, why not just show it anyway? They show old shows from 25 years ago with iffy quality, I think we can stand one Nitro.

 

Anyway, I didn't remember some of this stuff on Raw. Like the whole hilarious RVD/Funk match with Heyman and Dreamer sitting at ringside, only to have Heyman jump the rail and attack Lawler! Lawler of course beat his ass, then Dreamer attacked Lawler, RVD jumps in. It was a fun angle, though it was a shame that the WWF audience really didn't get what was going on since it was mainly an ECW angle.