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/wrestling /guests /Michaelangelo |
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/wrestling /guests /Michaelangelo |
| Guest Columns | Michaelangelo |
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The Good, Bad, and Ugly, 10/18/99
Well wrestling fans, here's your favorite whiner Michaelangelo coming
at you on location in Portland, Oregon. The good news is that, because
of the time difference from my usual East Coast domicile, NITRO is on
at 5 p.m. The bad news is the fact that this hotel room does not get
USA so I will only be able to give you half of what I usually am able
to bitch about.
And what I give you will probably suck because I am on about 36 hours
without sleep and the loaner laptop they gave me sucks ass.
Cross-country business travel bites.
Well, it can't be all bad, They did fly me out First Class (gloat
gloat) Let me tell you, Boston to Portland in coach is just no way to
move. Plus, this room I got is the shit! Two televisions! Whoo!
Okay, so I'm tired, jetlagged, writing on a machine where every other
key sticks, and I cannot watch RAW until I get home this weekend. I can
see my hit rate just dropping to nothing. At least I'm doing it in
style. I do not have access to my personal e-mail right now, but suffice to say that most of the letters I got were about how I totally missed the reunion of the Headbangers. I admit it, I did not see Heat the night before where they wrapped up he Chaz/Marianna angle and reunited Mosh and Thrasher. Okay, you got me. To be honest, I never got so much mail in one week as last week. It tells me that you guys are really reading and paying attention to what I'm writing. Never be afraid to correct me guys! It shows that you're out there! Okay, sorry about the brief opening, but...it's time to go to the all new-improved: WCW BAD: Sid and his lawyers are the first things we have to look at. Who do you hate more? GOOD: Evan Kariagas versus Juvy to start the night. Not a terrible matchup. BAD: A walk-on, by Brett Hart? Uh...okay. GOOD: A semi-shoot type interview by Hart. Cool. GOOD: Sting has new music and a new haircut. It's about time. His heel turn was a month ago. GOOD: Sting's comments about Hart being screwed. It's like all of Hart's anti-fans channeled through the Stinger. Stop whining, Hart. Put up or shut up. GOOD: They announce a good main event right off the bat. Sting versus Hart. Methinks Vince Russo had the pen this week. BAD: Why didn't they finish the Juvy/Kariagas match? Hart didn't touch either of them. GOOD: The rest of the card. Goldberg versus The Total Package. The Filthy Animals versus Harlem Heat. Not bad. I don't know. More signs of a Russo takeover... HOT, BUT BAD: Mona versus Medusa in a "New York Evening Gown Match." Remove any doubt, Russo most definitely booked this. Hopefully he won't do to the WCW Women's Division what he did to the WWF's. He reduced decent athletes like Jackie, Luna, and Ivory to mud-wrestling, top-losing jokes in the ring. Come on Moolah as champ? I can't stand to see talents like Mona treated the same way. BAD: Sid in a suit. He looks like a grey wall. GOOD: Vampiro is back! Yeah! I could do without the ICP jacket... BAD: They are jobbing him to Disco?!?!? Oh God! BAD: Vampiro is a cruiserweight? Okay, guys, let's bury the big man a bit more. GOOD: Lash on the push. If you watched Thunder this week, you saw a surprisingly good young Cajun on the stick. BAD: Jobbing Vampiro in less than a minute?!?!? FUCK YOU WCW!!!! GOOD: Larry Zbyszko interviewing Goldberg backstage. Don't tell me this isn't Russo's influence. I bet you can't help but envision Terry Taylor and Steve Austin. This stuff will help to build angle interest. BAD: Dustin Rhodes mode of speech. "Fear me, you will." Okay, Yoda. Howz' Obi Wan? GOOD: Medusa contesting the validity of an evening gown match. She took the words right out of my mouth. BAD: She took them out of my mouth in no particular order. God, she sucks in interviews. BAD: Are they GOOD: They cut the whole process way down. It was over in a minute. GOOD: The whole company is referring to the "New Era." Buff shoots on Internet reports of him being one of the "newly established top stars" that's gonna take WCW to the top. Making an angle out of the new bookers' presence is actually a good idea. It both establishes the nature of the extreme changes going on in the company while at the same time caters to us Internet smarks. I like it. GOOD: Kimberly backstage. Looks like the Nitro Girls are going to be more involved in angles from here on in. I also like the prospect of a Kimberly versus Torrie Wilson evening gown match...but only because neither of them are wrestlers. GOOD: Thought you had me contradicting myself there didn't you? Ha ha! BAD: Konnan is Rey's partner? Get better, Eddie! Fast! UGLY: Those scars on Harlem Heat's backs. Wow. I'd love to know where those suckers came from. BAD: Rey's bright orange camouflage ring attire. He could hide in a sunset, I suppose. GOOD: The rest of the Filthy Animals! Eddie! Woo! HOMINAHOMINA: Is Torrie becoming the WCW's Debra? If she takes off that fur, we'll know for sure. If she dates Goldberg, it will remove all doubt. GOOD: Lots going on. Ring action, backstage skits, and guests at the commentator's table. This all looks so familiar... BAD: Heenan's obsession with the women. I hope he doesn't turn into Lawler. BLEAH: The match. No real high spots here. BAD: The ending to this match? They let two guys pin Stevie Ray? What the fuck was that? Tonight's show is really pulling me in all sorts of direction. I know that I should have expected the title change, as it is a trademark of WWF's recent booking trends. I'm just not so sure how much I like it. POINTY: Kimberly's nipples. Is it cold backstage or is Russo handing out ice like he did in New York? INTRIGUING: Kimberly setting up David Flair for a beating. What's up with that? GOOD: Interviewing the new Tag Team Champs right after the win. This is one WWF element that I do like to see employed in WCW. BAD: Konnan wearing a title belt? Isn't that one of he seven signs? GOOD: Meng. He's cool, as long as the push stays intact. All they need to do now is give him a mouthpiece and an angle and he'll be great. GOOD: They are going to feed Hugh Morrus to the Mengster. BAD: The announcers fail to mention the fact that Meng was in the First Family at one time. Consistency, people. BAD: The Outsiders in the crowd again. The first time was cool, the second time was interesting, now it's just an obvious means to cater to two lazy guys' egos. Put up or shut up guys. Either get in the ring or get out of the fucking arena. BAD: Goldberg is just a bit too close to being Steve Austin. I'm all for making him the center of the fed, but looking at the camera angles and Goldie's activity in the dressing room, it's almost too obvious what they are doing here. BAD: Sid still flubbing his lines. "There's no looking back now...uh, there's no turning back now." You can dress him up, but you can't make him decent on the stick. GOOD: Goldberg and Sid's confrontation. The whole thing was a well-scripted swerve, Sid gets the better of Goldberg as revenge for last week, and we confirm that there will be a match at Halloween Havok. GREAT: The Outsiders getting in a scuffle with Goldberg and getting thrown out. They put up and I bet they will be back within two weeks to put up some more. Cool. THIS IS SO WWF: Hart's interview is cut short by an attack by Sting. It's as if they transplanted the wrestlers from Atlanta to New York. PREDICTION: Hart wins the title tonight and faces Hogan at Halloween Havok. It makes sense. Wouldn't the fans rather see a different main event for this PPV? Let's see. I am psyched to find out. JUST IN TIME TO KILL THE MOOD: Berlyn comes out. AND NOW STOMPING ON THE DEAD MOOD, DRIVING IT SIX FEET UNDER: His opponent is Rick Stiener. Interesting booking...if you have any interest in either of these two losers. BAD: The censors' desperate and constant failed attempts to mute the word "screw" whenever anyone uses it in a derogatory sense. They keep missing. BAD: Stiener obviously missed the neckbreaker spot here, choosing instead to take the pin on the basis of the chairshot. Egos, still? Bleah match overall. JUST A THOUGHT: Wouldn't it be cool if Road Dogg came out and saved Brad from the beating that the DFG dished out to him after the match? No, you shut up! GOOD: Nash and Hall's antics backstage. NyQuill rules! I lived on that stuff this past weekend. BAD: The fact that they were sneaking around backstage right in front of a camera. Uh...guys? We can see you. GOOD: Kimberly looking hot at the hotel. Holy mammaries, Batman! Maybe GREAT: Whoo! Flair taking David's place in the hotel room! All right! GOOD: Goldberg wiping out Shaggy 2 Dope. Yeah! Now go find Schiavone. BAD: This means those fucking ICP losers are back. Just when you thought you flushed it all down... GOOD: Luger in a nervous interview about having to face Goldberg. Not bad acting there, Package. I was nearly convinced that you are scared. BAD: David Flair versus Kidman? Let's be reasonable here. QUESTION: Who's the heel in this match? IMPRESSIVE: David seems to be improving, but he's still not good enough for Kidman to get a decent match out of him. GOOD: Nice looking DDT by David. BAD: Why would David be distracted by Torrie's outfit? They "were an item" for a while. I assume he saw much more than that in the past. VALIDATION: Torrie is officially the Debra of WCW. How fucking original. BAD: If the Filthy Animals are faces, isn't a beatdown on David Flair a sign that they just turned heel? I will change this to a "GOOD" if they keep the group as a heel faction. GREAT: Flair has returned! Whoo! Does this mean he got a piece of Kimberly? Whoo! GOOD: The evening gown match. It was a decent display of female grappling and ended as respectfully as it could have. Medusa "shoots" on the WCW creative team and stomps out pissed off about having to be a part of it. Okay...but where do we go from here? GOOD: The WCW World Title match at the top of the second hour. Interesting development in booking. Normally we'd have The Cat versus Barry Darsow this hour. GOOD: The pacing of this match. If any two guys in WCW can give us a decent show, it's Hart and Sting. They don't disappoint. GOOD: Sting is acting like a heel finally. He's not playing up to the crowd the way he used to. Now you're getting it BAD: Unfortunately he is not getting any heel heat. The fans just cannot hate this guy. GOOD: Sign: "I see dead people." The hidden meaning alone had me laughing. BAD: Liz at ringside means... WORSE: Luger and a bat at ringside, which means... AWFUL: A bat shot to Hart's leg leading to a tap out to the Scorpion Deathlock. I hate screwjobs. GOOD: More backstage foreshadowing with Flair and the Outsiders. It does hold interest. Definitely. FUNNY: When the Outsiders wore lucha masks and Nash encouraged Hall to use the old Razor Ramon accent. Nash stopped and leaned against the wall as if he were sick and just after they faded out, you hear Hall say "I told you not to drink the water." Even Heenan and Schiavone were cracking up. BAD: Buff is turning heel. The Filthy Animals are turning heel. Goldberg is using heel-type tactics backstage. Hogan is acting like a heel. Is the entire fed going heel? A few more turns and Hart will be the lone face in WCW. AWESOME: Buff acting pissed at the new bookers and laying down for La Parka and then Jarrett showing up and walloping him with the guitar. Too cool for words. BAD: It's too bad that Jarrett didn't shoot on having to drop the IC title to Chyna last night. GOOD: Three-way match between Saturn, Chavo, and Eddie. Good booking. BAD: I probably would have had this match take place a bit earlier in the night. BAD: It's too bad Benoit and Malenko are in Japan this week. They are conspicuous by their absence. GOOD: Douglas telling the announcers to pay attention to the match and stop talking about other stuff. My sentiments exactly, chubs. UGLY: The sloppy three-man superplex spot that saw Chavo go headfirst to the mat. That looked like it hurt badly. GOOD: The Filthy Animals hold to their heel tactics by attacking Chavo after his win on Eddie. Okay. Let's keep it consistent. BAD: Flair should have made the save for Douglas. It could have added an interesting dimension to their relationship. BAD: Horace Hogan in the last quarter hour? I don't care if it is hardcore, this sucks. BAD: Versus Norman Smiley? Oh God. If it were Hak and Chastity, I could be forgiving. Reducing a decent mat wrestler like Smiley to a hardcore division is really a waste. FUNNY: Smiley's squeals of pain actually got a laugh out of me. UGLY: This whole match. It was just bad. GOOD: They are having a Flair interview in the last minutes of the show. Looks like Russo and Ferreira are really showing WCW how to properly pace three hours of Nitro. THE COOLEST: Flair giving me a nod by taking credit for every crowd "Whoo!" when a hard chop is thrown in a match. Read my column from last week. Hey, I can dream, can't I? UGLY: Flair getting mugged by the Filthy Animals. They are officially heels now. AWESOME: Elizabeth down with a BROKEN GUITAR next to her! If they have Jarrett continue his angle from WWF in WCW it will be the COOLEST THING EVER! CLARIFICATION: Now, let me explain the above point. CyanIndigo called me on this one in a recent conversation. So, I felt I should explain my position. I was against the two-month tirade against women that Jarrett did in WWF. I understood the idea, but I just got sick of it. I like the thought of him bringing that misogynistic attitude to WCW because it would exploit heat between the feds and be a great segue to Jarrett as a heel in WCW. This holds true as long as they don't take it too far. Okay? FINALLY GOOD BOOKING AT THE END: Goldberg in the main event against a worthwhile opponent in The Total Package. BAD: Dumb sign. "Sid your next." His next what? I hate when people who can't spell make signs. GOOD: Goldberg's attitude in the ring. He needed to be more nasty, as long as he stays away from the heel tactics. INTERESTING: The crowd was tepid when Sting and Hart ran in on this match, but when Goldberg hit the Spear/Jackhammer combo on Luger they came alive. I think we know where the bread is buttered in WCW. OVERALL: Well, for a WCW show, it sure played out like a WWF-booked event, or didn't I make that abundantly clear already? I knew that Russo and his guys were booking the show tonight, but I had no idea just how much different the show would be. There was a ton going on and a few things missing here and there. The biggest hole by far was the absence of Hulk Hogan who should have a least done a promo for his match this Sunday with Sting. My guess is that he is probably going to be finding his way out of WCW very soon as rumors of his 90-day notice posting are getting louder and louder. It was a good show overall and I think that finally, WCW is taking the first steps towards retaking the Monday Night audience. Now if only they could work on Thunder... Well, sorry I missed WWF. It wasn't my fault! I swear. Hopefully this and CRZ's recaps will be enough to tide you over until next time. Oh, just a reminder, I am attending the October 25 RAW show in Providence, RI and will give CRZ the first scoop on what I see before, during, and after the show! If any of you are going, let me know. Maybe we can hang out after the show. And I might just do a G,B&U for the night as well...if you guys want one. Questions? Comments? Want to send me e-mail letter bombs? Write me at michaelangelo70@hotmail.com. I am Michaelangelo and will be for a while. Michaelangelo [slash] wrestling Mail the Author |
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