It's Tuesday, which means, of course, reactions to last night's shows. Overall, Raw really struck me as excellent in the entertainment category. Just about every segment was pretty fun to watch, and the Rock's "psycho stalker" character last night was also interesting to see. One thing that I loved last night on Raw was the whole Kurt Angle/Edge & Christian segment. With myself being a huge New York Knicks fan, I was rolling on the floor with laughter. Man, all three of those guys are just great, but one thing was wrong with Kurt Angle's speech... No, Kurt, the Knicks WON'T go down against the Lakers in the finals. It's true, it is.
As for Nitro, I honestly do not know what it is, but just something about the whole show seemed to just simply annoy me. Something was just wrong with the whole show, and I honestly just can't put my finger on it. The show had some good ideas from the booking standpoint, but the show just seemed to come off horrible, for whatever reason. One of those reasons could simply be WCW's production. How could Mike Awesome go from backstage near the ambulance after a match, to carrying "Ric Flair's casket" wearing street clothes in a matter of seconds? This is obviously not WCW's first production screw up. Something really needs to be done about that. Their resources are there, and they should make good use of them. You could also hear a second of Scott Steiner's theme play at the end of the main event, well before Steiner made the run in, which both confused everyone and somewhat gave away Steiner's run in, for those who noticed the theme. Then, we had the "blood" almost completely miss Kevin Nash yet again. Another thing that has really been getting on my nerves in WCW as of late is that almost each and every match has some sort of run in at the end. WCW is obviously not paying as much attention to the actual wrestling these days, and that is understandable, but at least SOME attention must be paid. I mean, the show does revolve around the wrestling matches, does it not? And when there is absolutely no interest in seeing a wrestling match, how can you expect people to order your pay per views, or even stick around for Nitro or Thunder? Yet another aggravating issue in WCW is their commentary. I have no problem with Mark Madden, and I think he fills the heel color commentator role well. BUT, WCW's commentating team as a whole is just horrid. Hardly any attention is paid to the match, which once again really takes away all the interest in the actual wrestling match being called. Something else that has been annoying me in WCW that many people don't really notice is the simple camera work. During an interview, they show a major closeup of the wrestler in the ring, not paying attention to the crowd or surroundings at all. It's just these little things that make it harder to enjoy WCW. As many of you know, I am a huge fan of Vince Russo and his booking, and I have to admit that it has been great, even with last night's show, but the actual show has just been lacking.
The ratings are in for the Monday night shows, and to no surprise, Nitro was once again more than doubled by Raw. Nitro scored a 2.3 rating off hours of 1.4 and 3.2, as the show started early and most people most likely simply forgot to tune in, as it was only mentioned about... TWICE on last week's show. Raw scored a big 7.1 rating off hours of 6.9 and 7.3.
I got a few e-mails from readers on the west coast, who stated that Nitro actually aired late for them, starting at around 10:00 PM. I'm really not positive, but this possibly could have affected last night's ratings.
Other weekend ratings saw Sunday Night Heat score a 3.0, up from last week's 2.9, Livewire scored a 1.5, Superstars scored a 1.4, and WCW Saturday Night scored its lowest rating ever, delivering only a 1.2 rating.
ECW also (I believe) tied its lowest rating ever, scoring a dismal 0.7 rating this past Friday. Something is also lacking in ECW, and besides the several wrestler defections, there really is no huge excuse, as most of their injured wrestlers, including RVD and Jerry Lynn are back in action.
The following are dark matches and Jakked/Metal tapings that took place last night on Raw. Thanks to DarkDefiance and Kevinfrink for both sending in the following notes:
- Dark Matches
The Dupps defeated Steve Norton & ?
Constantino defeated Rodney P (?)
- Jakked/Metal:
Gangrel pinned Joey Abs
The British Bulldog pinned Mideon
Al Snow & Steve Blackman defeated Taka & Funaki (Kaientai)
Headbanger Mosh defeated Stevie Richards
The following are notes from what happened after Nitro went off the air last night. Big thanks to TitronXX for sending them along: "I recently went to Nitro at Van Andel Arena, I must say it was an excellent show. They played some great tunes during the commercial breaks. But I've written you to tell you what happened afterwards. Jeff Jarrett and Bischoff got on the mic talking trash about the city. They said once again the Chosen One is the WCW Champion. Jeff Jarrett got on and started making fun of Nash and Steiner. Then telling everyone to choke on that, Slap@$$. He then ran in the ring and started beating Nash. But Steiner got free, he ran in and he Belly to Belly'd Jarrett. Nash then set Jeff Jarrett up for the JackKnife Powerbomb. He executed it almost perfectly. Nash and Steiner hugged as they both left the ring to the Wolfpac music."
The "blood" used in WCW for the New Blood "blood baths" is some sort of honey with red dye, according to Dave Meltzer and fans in attendance who got splattered with some of the liquid.
The following matches are expected for the WCW Great American Bash PPV on June 11:
- Ric Flair vs. David Flair (?)
- Hulk Hogan vs. Billy Kidman (Special mystery ref)
- Scott Steiner vs. Tank Abbott (Steel Cage Asylum)
- The Wall vs. Shane Douglas (Tables match)
- Lex Luger vs. Chuck Palumbo
- Kimberly vs. Elizabeth
A meeting will take place on Thursday in Atlanta between Time Warner and SFX over the possibility of SFX purchasing an equity investment in WCW or just simply fully purchasing WCW from Time Warner, according to Dave Scherer. This is definitely an interesting situation, and we should have more on it in the coming days.
Booker T is expected to officially join the Misfits in Action either tonight at the Thunder tapings or next Monday on Nitro, and is expected to undergo yet another name change. This time, his name is expected to be "G.I. Bro." ...Okay.
Everyone, including myself, was under the impression that Kid Rock would be on Raw is War last night. However, as it was mentioned last night, his appearance will in fact be NEXT Monday. No word on the change, or it was even a change at all, or he was just originally scheduled to appear next Monday. Whatever the case, he is expected to perform "American Bad Ass," which was used last night partly as the Undertaker's theme music.
Chyna will be guest starring in the season finale of "3rd Rock from the Sun" tonight on NBC at 8:00 PM ET.
As always, we are looking for results of tonight's WWF Smackdown and WCW Thunder tapings. If anyone attends either of those shows and could send a personal report, it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.
One year ago today, Owen Hart fell to a tragic death at the WWF pay per view, "Over the Edge." I have put up a memorial tribute to Owen Hart in rememberance of his great, yet unfortunately shortened life and career. You can view it HERE.
With that, I'm going to end this report. RIP, Owen.
Triple A
TripleA99@aol.com