My Thoughts...

[Guest Jobber of the Week]

* Did anyone notice that aside from the nWo bit with Shawn (which was only slighty too long), there was no massive promo in this show? Lesnar's challenge was quick and to the point, and no McMahons or anything else to serve as a 20 minute promo spot. Match to match to match to brief angle to match.

 

* I guess I'm the only one who thought Benoit exhibited tiny amounts of ring rust? Or was it just the fact that they were bumping him around tonight? Either way, he didn't seem "into things" and the way he wasn't being handled by the Dudz didn't seem right. I mean, if you're climbing up onto the apron and a guy from the inside comes running at you, you duck. It's that simple Instead, Bubba successfully clobbered & clotheslined Benoit what felt like three times. Still an admirable effort.

 

* I swear that Lesnar gave Flair the weakest spinebuster I've ever seen. Plus, during the backbreaker spot, Brock dropped his hands and it was obvious appearant that Flair was holding onto Brock, and not the other way around. No camera angle would have helped that. Gee, this guy could have used another 3 months of training at the least. However, Flair's "I'm coming back as a wrestler" promo was calling out Brock. Are they perhaps giving Lesnar a side program with Flair to teach him some things? Kind of reminds me of how much better a worker Kurt Angle was after his "wifestealer" program with HHH (remember, this is back when HHH was putting on good matches.)

 

* The ladder match was not at the standards set by Michaels vs Razor, but the chair shots were brutal on a second viewing. Without any obvious sick bump, things seem a bit tame on first glance. Jeffery was trying to sell all he could at the end there, but he already spent the entire match crawling around and looking like a candy raver who got thrown out on the streets, so I think he reached a level where he couldn't appear any more pitiful.

 

* Fact: Undertaker was climbing the ladder faster than Jeff was.

 

* Woman's match was thankfully short. I don't care if all the other gals pick on Molly as long as that gives them an excuse to rip her clothes off.

 

* I have no problem with HHH joining the NWO, as the stable is low on "real" wrestlers and lacking a SmackDown presence makes them look weak compared to the old years. However, why not just go the extra mile and make the damn DX tie-in already? I don't care if it's NWO Green & Black. You'd think Vince would do this already since keeping the old NWO gimmick around is more or less giving props to Bischoff for coming up with an idea that's lasted this long.

 

Overall, good show. If nothing else, the focus was on wrestling this time. Hooray!

[Guest papacita]

Yeah, DX would get over more than the nWo because the fans are more familiar with it...or even the Kliq. The nWo's been tarnished too much for me to really care about them.

[Guest GenerationNever]

Maybe a shirt in NWO style letters that just says "Kliq."

[Guest TheSmarkzone]

Did anyone notice that aside from the nWo bit with Shawn (which was only slighty too long), there was no massive promo in this show?

 

Nice observation. I did notice that the show had an unusual feel to it, but I couldn't put my finger on just what it was. Hey, it was a nice change of pace if you ask me. There were no ridiculously long 28-minute promos, but the show wasn't lacking in the sports entertainment department either. All storylines were advanced.

 

I guess I'm the only one who thought Benoit exhibited tiny amounts of ring rust?

 

I thought he looked pretty crisp in there. If he showed any signs of ring rust, it was probably due to nerves or his wind. Ring conditioning is just something that takes time. And when you just came back from major neck surgery and you are considered to be one of the best workers on the entire planet...the pressure's on. I'm sure that he felt like the fans were watching his every move, which they were.

 

I swear that Lesnar gave Flair the weakest spinebuster I've ever seen.

 

Well, the problem was that he got him too high in the air. I've seen The Undertaker run into this problem with his chokeslam in the past (see his match at IYH: DX with Jarrett). Initially, you see the guy's head grazing the ring lights and you're like, "Holy shit! This is gonna be sick!" But the end result is that the guy delivering the move has to guide his opponent down from a much greater height, which requires more care, and the move loses its velocity. Remember, you gotta protect the guy that you're wrestling with at all costs. The reason that Arn Anderson's spinebuster was so awesome was that he simply pivoted and slammed his opponent down to the mat from 1-2" in the air.

 

Brock dropped his hands and it was obvious appearant that Flair was holding onto Brock, and not the other way around.

 

If he was, I'm sure he was just being business and not sand-bagging Brock. I'm pretty sure that Brock could dead-lift a 240-pound man with no problem.

 

The ladder match was not at the standards set by Michaels vs Razor, but the chair shots were brutal on a second viewing.

 

Well, I don't think anyone was expecting Taker to take any big bumps. Even if he fell off the ladder within the safety of the ring, he would probably wreck both of his hips. The match actually reminded me more of the original Shawn vs. Razor ladder match, or the Rock vs. HHH ladder match from SummerSlam '98, as opposed to the TLC spot-fests. A lot of physical stuff using the ladder as a weapon.

[Guest papacita]

Yeah...

 

And maybe, just to work the Smarks, they could bring back the Buried Alive match against Angle and Jericho...

 

BTW: I am spending way too much of my free time on this board.

[Guest Jobber of the Week]

Maybe a shirt in NWO style letters that just says "Kliq."

I wasn't paying attention until 99. Did they ever use the name Clique/Kliq in angles or promos? I know it's been the online nickname for Shawn's group of pals, but never figured it was anything more than an internet moniker.

 

Both NWO and DX were more or less revolving around the Clique (or the parts left of it) I noticed, but the WCW version had Hogan putting his nose into things..

 

EDITED to add for TheSmarkzone: I wasn't saying Brock was weak. What I'm saying is he made a goof that broke that aura of believability. He was supposed to look like he was smashing his knee into Flair but instead it looked like Flair was grasping onto him for dear life instead. Rookie mistake, I'm guessing. I'm sure the marks probably didn't notice.

[Guest TheSmarkzone]

I think the nWo is going to wind up being the Kliq, sans Scott Hall. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Big Show's days in the nWo are numbered. There's only so much "tough love" that the big guy is going to take before he grabs HBK by the throat, and something tells me that Nash, X-Pac, and HHH (if he joins) are gonna be right there to "beat" him out of the nWo if/when he puts his hands on Shawn. Plus, Nash is almost healthy and I don't think that they need two 7" monsters. Hell, he has already been beaten out of the nWo TWICE before in the old WCW...he guy just ain't nWo material.

 

Don't forget that the original DX was nothing more than the "New York division" of the nWo. According to the storyline, they were trying to get fired so that they could join their Kliq buddies down South. I remember once J.R. actually had the balls to insinuate that HBK was running both DX and the nWo (through his Kliq buddies). He said something like, "Where exactly is HBK calling the shots? Up north, down south, where is it?"

 

WCW really dropped the ball when Rick Rude jumped ship, because they could have gone along with what the WWF was insinuating by promoting Rude as a "gift" from DX to the nWo. Instead, they had Rude bury Shawn Michaels and praise Bret Hart in his very first promo...while Nash and Hall stood in the background with their arms folded.

 

I think Bischoff just did that to spite the WWF and their storylines, because everybody knows that in real life, the Kliq is the Kliq.

 

I'm sure it didn't help when Shawn promised after Montreal that his friends in Atlanta were going to beat the hell out of Bret when he got there, and when he did finally get there the nWo was kissing his ass and begging him to join.

 

Oh well...

[Guest papacita]

I wasn't paying attention until 99. Did they ever use the name Clique/Kliq in angles or promos? I know it's been the online nickname for Shawn's group of pals, but never figured it was anything more than an internet moniker.

 

Both NWO and DX were more or less revolving around the Clique (or the parts left of it) I noticed, but the WCW version had Hogan putting his nose into things..

 

The Kliq was (in storylines), the name given to HBK's group of fans after his return from the infamous concussion to win the Royal Rumble and later the World Title @ WM12. The name soon faded away after losing the title to Sid, but resurfaced once again in late 97, when the night after Badd Blood, HBK, HHH, Rick Rude and the Future Ex-Wife showed footage from the MSG incident, and began talking about how the Kliq ruled the industry and what not. They never went with that name for the group, instead calling themselves DX the next week.

 

And then Scott Hall had those damn Kliq tights.

 

Edit: I NEED MORE SLEEP!

[Guest Spaceman Spiff]

HHH = DDP

[Guest dreamer420]

i hated raw last night. no matches stuck out in my mind as being that good, but taker and jeff hardy did put in one hell of an effort. their match was slow and was pretty well just a legalized beating. rvd got stuck with regal and their match wasn't anything special. and finally more time wasted with the nWo revealed that shawn michaels is more boring than even and ohh yeah, hhh is joining the nWo. the whole show seemed like a letdown to me.

[Guest godthedog]

* Fact: Undertaker was climbing the ladder faster than Jeff was.  

this makes a whole lot of sense, given that jeff was taking a LOT more of a beating than taker. also, kudos to taker for taking more bumps and chairshots than he had any sane right to.

 

all the pieces were definitely there with benoit, but all the pieces weren't gelling together as well as they normally do. ring presence & timing seemed to be a little off, but aside from that he looked great. every move was crisp and fucking vicious, and he sold more for spike dudley than i've ever seen anybody else do.