WWE 24/7 Discussion - March 2008

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

The new 24/7 Month starts late tomorrow so we might as well get the March thread open. Same DrVenkman formula as usual: WWE.com summary followed by me breaking down the 5 week schedule provided by Sunflower, researching relevant info about the shows, then having people ask "what's on 24/7 this week?" or some variation of it despite it all being in post 1. Good times.

 

MARCH 2008: WRESTLEMANIA

 

All March on WWE 24/7 On Demand, relive the biggest events, stories and Superstars in WrestleMania history in preparation for this year’s Showcase of the Immortals.

 

Legends

 

WWE Hall of Fame: Bret Hart – There can be no denying Bret Hart’s place in sports entertainment history. Relive the career of the “Hitman” from early tag team success with the Hart Foundation to championship reigns and rivalries with Mr. Perfect, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, the Dynamite Kid, Ric Flair, The British Bulldog and others. Relive Hart’s emotional return and induction at the 2006 WWE Hall of Fame Ceremony.

 

The Legends of Wrestling: WrestleMania – WWE 24/7 brings a cast of ring Legends together to discuss the history and controversy surrounding sports entertainment’s marquis event. The no-holds-barred round table discussion focuses on WrestleMania’s origins, highlights and behind-the-scenes battles.

 

The Big Ones

 

WrestleMania – Relive the excitement of three (3) great WrestleMania spectaculars:

 

WrestleMania 2: Jump around the country as the action emanates from three (3) different venues. Huge matches include Hulk Hogan defending the WWE Championship in a Steel Cage showdown with King Kong Bundy.

 

WrestleMania IX: The first WrestleMania to be held outdoors features Yokozuna challenging “Hitman” Bret Hart for the WWE Championship.

 

WrestleMania X8: WrestleMania heads to SkyDome in Toronto for an unforgettable Icon versus Icon clash between The Rock and Hollywood Hogan. Plus, Triple H battles Chris Jericho for the Undisputed Championship and Stone Cold Steve Austin faces Scott Hall of the nWo.

 

Old School – Three (3) rarely-seen cards with each featuring Championship action. Highlights include a Houston, Texas showdown with Hulk Hogan defending the WWE Championship against “Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase. From Madison Square Garden 1986, “Macho Man” Randy Savage defends the Intercontinental title against former champion Tito Santana. And we go back to NYC, 1977, to see Bruno Sammartino battle Superstar Billy Graham for the WWE Championship.

 

TV Classics

 

Raw – March 11, 2002 – Less than a week before WrestleMania X8, the excitement and action builds on Raw. It’s a dream pairing as Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock team up to battle the threesome of Hollywood Hogan, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, better known as the nWo. Plus, the rivalry between Triple H and Chris Jericho reaches its boiling point as they head towards their WrestleMania clash.

 

Saturday Night’s Main Event (3/1/86) – WWE’s ‘80s network phenomenon features matches and action with enormous WrestleMania 2 implications. Hulk Hogan defends the WWE Championship against Don Muraco, Mr. T faces Cowboy Bob Orton in a Boxing Match and much more.

 

History of ECW – Tazz and Joey Styles chronicle the Evolution of Extreme with two (2) episodes of “Hardcore TV”. Highlights include Chris Jericho’s ECW ring debut against Cactus Jack and 2 Cold Scorpio battles Sabu for the ECW TV title.

 

Shorties

 

CM Punk presents WrestleMania’s Lost Classics as the Straightedge Superstar brings you memorable WrestleMania battles that are often overshadowed by the main events. Matches featuring The Undertaker, Triple H, John Cena, Shawn Michaels, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, Edge, Jeff Hardy, Rowdy Roddy Piper, Randy Orton and more of the WWE’s top Superstars.

 

Week 1 - February 27th - March 4th:

Legends:

 

Hall of Fame - Bret Hart.

Bret Hart vs. Dynamite Kid

Bret Hart vs. Ric Flair

Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart

 

Undertaker: 15-0 (Part 1)

 

Big Ones:

 

WrestleMania 2: Hot off the heels of the hype from TNT, Mania 2 comes to you from 3 different venues with celebrities galore. The Masters of the Mat take on the Giants of the Gridiron in a huge battle royal while Hulk Hogan - injured ribs and all - puts his title on the line against King Kong Bundy in a specially reinforced steel cage (note: only available for one week).

 

Old School - Madison Square Garden - March 16, 1986: Unusual matches all over the place as Ricky Steamboat goes one on one with Mr. Fuji, Dump Matsumoto and Bull Nakano take on Linda Gonzalez and Velvet McIntyre, and Lioness Asuka and Chigusa Nagayo (aka The Crush Gals) wrestle Lelani Kai and Penny Mitchell. Jake Roberts also makes his MSG debut while Macho Man Randy Savage defends his newly won IC title against former champ Tito Santana.

 

TV Classics:

 

ECW - March 4, 1996

 

World Class Championship Wrestling - March 5, 1983

 

TNT - April 16, 1986

 

Saturday Night's Main Event - March 1, 1986 (aka "SNME #5"): WrestleMania 2 hype with feature bouts including Mr. T vs Bob Orton in a boxing match and Hulk Hogan vs. Don Muraco.

 

Shorties:

 

John Cena vs. The Big Show - WrestleMania XX - U.S. Title Match.

 

Randy Savage vs. Crush - WrestleMania X - Falls Count Anywhere, must make it to the ring within 60 seconds after being pinned.

 

Roddy Piper vs. Adorable Adrian Adonis - WrestleMania III - Roddy Piper's farewell match.

 

Owen Hart vs. Triple H - WrestleMania XIV - European Title Match, Chyna handcuffed to Sgt. Slaughter.

 

Undertaker vs. Randy Orton - WrestleMania 21 (which seems silly since it will be in the 15-0 piece too).

 

Week 2 - March 5th - March 11th:

 

Big Ones:

 

WrestleMania X8: WrestleMania returns to Canada as Icons Hulk Hogan and The Rock do battle and Triple H's hunt for the Undisputed Championship after a Royal Rumble victory continues.

 

TV Classics:

 

NWA Wrestling - March 15, 1986

 

Monday Night Raw - March 11, 2002: Hulk Hogan has his first WWE match in 9 years while Hall and Nash have their first WWE match in 6 years in huge 3 on 2 match vs. The Rock and Steve Austin on the last Raw before. How will the always hot Detroit crowd take to the nWo? Also features exciting Board of Directors segments, Jericho running errands for Stephanie McMahon, and a short RVD/Hardys vs. William Regal/Dudleyz match.

 

Monday Night Wars: Raw - June 16, 1997: Faarooq has challenged Ahmed Johnson and The Undertaker as he plans on re-creating the Nation. What does he have up his sleeve? A tag team tournament also begins as backstage antics that were not seen on TV the previous week are discussed.

 

Monday Night Wars: Nitro - June 16, 1997: Hulk Hogan and Dennis Rodman are in tag team action as the main event Nitro against The Giant and Lex Luger. Also features Rey Mysterio vs. Syxx and Ultimo Dragon vs. Chris Jericho.

 

Week 3 - March 12th - March 18th:

 

Legends:

 

Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin

Bret Hart vs. Curt Hennig

Hart Foundation vs. The Rockers (December 14, 1989 - Hamilton, Ontario house show)

 

Undertaker: 15-0 (Part 2)

 

Big Ones:

 

Old School - Houston, Texas - Sam Houston Coliseum, December 10, 1987 (note: Cawthon's site lists this show as occurring on the 11th): Features the commentary team of Bruce Pritchard, Mike McGuirk, and Pete Doherty calling matches like The Hart Foundation vs. Strike Froce and Hulk Hogan vs. Ted DiBiase.

 

TV Classics:

 

ECW - March 11, 1996

 

Shorties:

 

Money in the Bank (if I had to guess, I would say it will be #3 - they won't show 1 and 2 was just on last month though that hasn't stopped that sort of thing from happening before. WWE.com's description also mentions Jeff Hardy and MITB 3 would be the only match he could be in that's listed).

 

The Rockers vs. Twin Towers - WrestleMania V.

 

Mickie James vs. Trish Stratus - WrestleMania 22 - WWE Women's Championship match.

 

Ahmed Johnson, Jake Roberts, and Yokozuna vs. Owen Hart, The British Bulldog, and Vader - WrestleMania XII.

 

Shane McMahon vs. X-Pac - WrestleMania XV - European Championship match.

 

Week 4 - March 19th - March 25th:

 

Big Ones:

 

WrestleMania IX: The first outdoor WrestleMania, it's either moderately enjoyed by some for the unique atmosphere and not as bad as people say card or hated by others for a card featuring a terrible Giant Gonzalez vs. Undertaker match and an unusual ending. Now YOU be the judge.

 

TV Classics:

 

Wrestling Challenge - March 27, 1993 (Note: Cawthon's site says the 28th and Challenge aired on Sundays, so the 28th is right - may be confusion over Superstars airing on Saturday?): The build to WrestleMania IX is featured as Yokozuna and Bret Hart sign a contract. Also features a Steiner Brothers squash match (these ARE fun) and Doink the Clown vs. Tom Jones.

 

Monday Night Wars: Nitro - June 23, 1997: The nWo continues their streak of actually wrestling on the show as DDP faces Scott Hall in the main event. The build towards the big Las Vegas Nitro on June 30th continues - just who will be the major star debuting that week? La Parka is also in action as he teams with Damien to face Public Enemy.

 

Monday Night Wars: Raw - June 23, 1997: We get not one but TWO Detroit Raw's this month (although I wasn't at this one - and it seems this is actually from Cobo Arena, which is next to Joe Louis and nowhere near as good a venue, but I digress). The ECW angle continues (and possibly ends) as Sabu takes on Flash Funk. The tag team tournament also continues while Owen Hart, Goldust, and Hunter Hearst Helmsley have what may be the Fed's first triple threat match.

 

NWA Wrestling - March 22, 1986.

 

Week 5 - March 26th - April 1st:

 

Legends:

 

10-Man Tag Match (Guess: Canadian Stampede).

Bret Hart vs. The British Bulldog

Bret Hart vs. Randy Savage

 

John Cena: My Life.

 

Big Ones:

 

Armageddon 2007: WWE's last PPV of the year showcases the return of Chris Jericho as he attempts to "Save Us" from Randy Orton's reign as WWE champion. Also on the card, Edge and Undertaker challenge Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship in a Triple Threat Match while Jeff Hardy battles Triple H for the right to face the WWE champion at the Royal Rumble.

 

Old School - Madison Square Garden - June 27, 1977: We go WAY back to a show headlined by Billy Graham defending his WWWF title against Bruno Sammartino. Gorilla Monsoon is also in action as he and Dominic DeNucci face Mr. Fuji and Toru Tanaka.

 

Date Unknown: The winner of the Pick Your Big One (WrestleMania VIII has 52% of the vote at the moment) and a Legends of Wrestling roundtable. Plus all those mysterious "WWE Mania Freeviews" (which I assume are in the Free Preview section) that are added on odd dates.

 

Just like last year, the WrestleMania month brings me PPVs and Shorties I already own, but I am very happy that the three featured Manias each get a television build-up special. Excellent idea (though none of those shows are particularly good on paper, it's the thought / nostalgia that counts). I am also looking forward to the ongoing Monday Night War and the Bret Hart Hall of Fame theme looks fantastic.

 

Edit: Well getting this formatted correctly was quite the ordeal. No idea why it was spaced so weird or had different font (which when I went to fix it had individual lines of code for each entry... all I did was cut and paste ONE JAPANESE NAME so I wouldn't need to remember how to spell it and it apparently messed the whole post up.

[Guest]

I've only seen the hacked up 2 hour video of WM2, so I'm glad it'll be there, likely in full. The rest of the WrestleMania's (outside of the possible PYBO winner) don't really interest me at all. But it's something to write about, so that's a good thing.

 

The Monday Night War program looks to be the best of everything that'll be put up.

[Guest Lee_The_Pea]

I've only seen the hacked up 2 hour video of WM2, so I'm glad it'll be there, likely in full. The rest of the WrestleMania's (outside of the possible PYBO winner) don't really interest me at all. But it's something to write about, so that's a good thing.

 

The Monday Night War program looks to be the best of everything that'll be put up.

Whatcan we expect to get out of the ppv version of Wrestlemania 2. I have the video.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

I lost my time list again but I don't think that much is cut from the Coliseum version of Mania 2. I know Mania 1 - in full - is only just over 2 hours so I thought the same applied to 2. 3-7 are all well over 3 hours though.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

I'm real curious to see the full version. I assume there's a bit of in-between stuff switching to different venues.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

They talk and sum up what happened, IIRC. I can't say I've watched Mania 2 and paid full attention since I received it for Christmas in 1998 though.

[Guest]

That's what I thought too. On the version I've seen, it cuts from match to match quite quickly. There's about 83 minutes of match time, and with all the entrances and stuff, it has to be longer than 2 hours.

[Guest Lee_The_Pea]

When will we ever get some more WCW PPvs. I have all the manias. The Dynimite bret stuff should be good, but the Stampede production does not hold up. That ugly ring, aswell as every thing looking brown/grey, aswell as the horrible ref counts ruin the flow to the matches. But for 1980 territoral stuff this should be fun to watch I don't already have it on film.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Don't expect much out of the uncut version of Wrestlemania 2. We get full entrances and a LOT of pointless banter, but nothing else. The only thing of note I can recall is a second promo setting the stage for the battle royal (only one of them made it to the commercial video version).

 

Maybe it's just because I've seen most Wrestlemanias too many times, but I'm underwhelmed by the lineup.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

It's kind of funny to note that Mania 2 and Mania IX are actually the two WrestleMania's that lost to WM XIX in last year's PYBO poll.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

The Hart/Flair match is indeed the title change. I've never seen it in full.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

How about the Dynamite and Owen matches? Stampede and Mania X? I'm hoping this stuff is up by the time I get home.

[landy1987 0]

Another board says it is the match from the 9-14-85 Capital Centre house show

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

How about the Dynamite and Owen matches? Stampede and Mania X? I'm hoping this stuff is up by the time I get home.

As Landy says, it is a Maryland house show. The Owen match is the Wrestlemania match.

[Guest heyguesswhatidid]

Is the Bret HOF piece just his DVD documentary or is it actually different enough to warrant recording.

[Guest]

I'm sure it isn't his DVD documentary. Not long enough, and they usually show clipped matches in the HOF pieces.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Is the Bret HOF piece just his DVD documentary or is it actually different enough to warrant recording.

Hall of Fame profiles are always different. It's usually Mean Gene introducing matches and clips, and ends with the wrestler's Hall of Fame induction speech.

[Guest Bigelow34]

Is the Bret HOF piece just his DVD documentary or is it actually different enough to warrant recording.

Hall of Fame profiles are always different. It's usually Mean Gene introducing matches and clips, and ends with the wrestler's Hall of Fame induction speech.

 

I like the HOF shows. They remind me of the old NBA Vintage programs. They are even set up pretty much the same way: Intro, video piece, interviews & clips of famous moments/games, recap and footage from the acceptance speech. Plus Gene adds a lot to the presentation as well.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

Wow, the Hart HOF piece is 90 minutes. Of course his HOF speech if really long (and awesome) so I expected that.

 

The Bret Hart HOF piece, vs. Dynamite, and vs. Owen is so far the only thing I actually received, but I wanted to see how they did the HOF piece on Bret so I'm happy to at least have this now. My Dynamite match also has the description of Harts vs. Rockers so I can tell you that match is from December 14, 1989 in Hamilton.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

Since Bret vs. Perfect from SummerSlam 91 is on the HOF profile in full, I'm hoping the individual match is from a 1989 house show (as seen in brief clips in the HOF profile).

 

This is kind of nitpicky, but does it bother anyone else that, unless I'm missing it, they haven't updated the HOF intro since 2006? We're a month away from the intro missing an entire new class to boot.

 

I also forgot Benoit was sitting right behind Bret during his HOF speech... not much they can do there, so there he is. Oh well.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

MSG has a match featuring Dump Matsumoto and Bull Nakano. It is interesting to see Nakano in her younger days, she was only a few months past her 18th birthday at this point!

[Darth Pipes 0]

I'm looking forward to seeing the Flair/Hart title change. Never saw the whole match.

 

Even though Wrestlemania II was not a good card, I've enjoyed the build for it on Tuesday Night Titans. I'm glad we'll be getting the SNME that set-up the show and the first post-WM Tuesday Night Titans.

[Guest tdel73]

how many parts is the undertaker 15-0?

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

how many parts is the undertaker 15-0?

Two parts.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

The 24/7 Preview leads me to believe the Bret vs. Austin match is from Survivor Series 96.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

The history of ECW is great this week. Scorpio / Sabu is probably the best match on ECW TV since the glory days of the summer 95 shows where every week was some continuation of the Malenko / Eddie feud.

 

I was settling in to watch the MSG show tonight now that everything is on my system and working, but it turns out it's really the Houston show added early. I think I'm going to watch SNME instead then get my Mania Marathon going tomorrow - 23 shows in 30 days is pretty hard (especially with 24/7 to distract me from my own show collection), I usually start earlier than this.

[Black Lushus 0]

a match featuring Sabu is the best? Really???

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

Well considering they haven't had any really good matches SINCE the summer of 95 (with some exceptions from Rey Mysterio), it's not really as high praise as it sounds. I did really enjoy the match though.

[Black Lushus 0]

I'll take your word for it, I haven't even seen it yet...I just can't stand matches featuring Sabu.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

Well, if you don't like Sabu you probably wouldn't like this because there are some sloppy looking spots, but overall I thought it was a fun match and both men were more than willing to put it on the line for 30 minutes.