Wrestling

The Spotlight On Attitude Era Raw- 12/29/1997

Tom Lynch Spotlight On Raw, Spotlight On The WWE Network, Wrestling , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of the spotlight on Attitude Era Raw where each week we continue our journey through every episode of Monday Night Raw that took place during the famous Attitude Era as listed on the WWE Network’s Attitude Era Raw section.  Remember the hope is to have these listed for you as you’re waiting for this week’s Raw so that if you’d like to wet your wrestling pallet prior to Raw, you can go back and watch this episode.  This week we journey back to December 29th, 1997 in which Raw took place in the Nassau Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum.  For what it’s worth, the Nassau Coliseum is my favorite venue to watch a wrestling show, at least it rivals Madison Square Garden.  I have been going to shows at Nassau Coliseum since I was all but five years old in 1991.  With that said, however, I hadn’t gone to any television tapings until the late 1990s so I was not present for this Raw taping. Regardless, this was a really fun and eventful episode of Monday Night Raw so let’s get right into it with the highlights of the show.

Highlights
1) Crapper 3:16-   The highlight of highlights on this show has to be the opening segment featuring the brawl between The Artist Formerly Known as Goldust (Coming to a Do you remember section of this blog near you) and Stone Cold Steve Austin.  TAFKA Goldust comes out as the single most annoying character back then, dressed as the new year’s baby as this was the final Raw of 1997.  This leads to Stone Cold Steve Austin showing up and lowering a porta john from the rafters before throwing Goldust into said porta john.  It’s one of the great Stone Cold Steve Austin memories that I feel gets overlooked because it took place early in his run pre-McMahon feud but to me it’s one of my favorite memories of the Stone Cold character, well worth going out of your way to track down.
2) Jim Cornette’s Rant-  This is an interesting episode of Monday Night Raw because in many ways it’s a transition episode.  This being the final episode of 1997, a year in which WWF lost mostly every week in the Monday Night War and lost Bret Hart in well documented controversial fashion, this is right before the WWF started one of it’s most successful year’s in history, that being 1998.  Thus, in this episode you get a heartfelt thank you from Vince McMahon thanking the fans for sticking by the WWF and also to expect big things from the WWF in 1998.  Also on this episode, in a similar vein, you get a pretty controversial promo from Jim Cornette about the state of wrestling of 1997.  It’s worth taking a few minutes to check out and I’ve embedded the video for you guys above.
3) Shawn Michaels Vs. Owen Hart- The war between Sgt. Slaughter and D-Generation X continued this week as Triple H pulled out of his title match with Owen Hart, due to injury, only to have Sarge declare that Shawn would now have to defend his world title against Owen instead.  This is really a packed show as this was also the night that The Undertaker’s casket arrived to scare Triple H only to have Shawn pop out of the casket dancing to start the build for their match at the Rumble.  As for match quality, I’m trying to give you one each week and, even though there’s a screwy finish, it doesn’t get much better than Shawn Michaels vs. Owen Hart.  Owen was still super hot at the time as it seemed that perhaps he would be getting that major push towards the world title following the Montreal Screwjob.
Do You Remember…
Chainsaw Charlie?!?!?- This episode of Monday Night Raw won’t only be remembered for the great DX and Stone Cold Steve Austin segments, oh no!  This stacked Raw will also be remembered for the night in which Chainsaw Charlie made his debut.  If you don’t remember Chainsaw, this was the character portrayed by Terry Funk during the time period where Mick Foley (Now Cactus Jack) was searching for a partner to help him out in his battles against The New Age Outlaws.  So yes that man with the pantyhose over his face in the picture above is WWE Hall of Famer Terry Funk!
Closing Thoughts
Overall, this was obviously a stacked episode of Raw that’s worth going out of your way to check out.  I really like that not only did they start to put such an emphasis on the Royal Rumble (In December) but they also started to cement some of the seeds for Wrestlemania that year, three months out.  It’s because of long term booking like this that midcard matches at Mania that year like Owen Hart Vs. Triple H and The New Age Outlaws vs. Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie meant so much more.  That’s going to do it for this week, I’ll be back early in the morning with the spotlight on this week’s Raw and back next week looking at the first Raw of 1998!

The Spotlight On Wrestling Podcasts- Wrestling Observer Live 

Tom Lynch The Spotlight On Wrestling Podcasts, Wrestling , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hello everyone and welcome to the this weeks edition of The Spotlight On Wrestling Podcasts where we look at different wrestling podcasts you may have never heard of , you may be overlooking or maybe an episode of a wrestling podcast you should go out of your way to listen to. This week on the docket I’m going to talk to you about Wrestling Observer Live. Hosted by F4Wonline.com’s Bryan Alvarez & Mike Sempervive, Wrestling Observer Live airs Sunday thru Friday across the sports byline USA networks as well on Sirius Satellite Radio. Without any further ado lets get into some of the highlights of the show.

Highlights

1) Daily Wrestling Radio- As a lifelong wrestling fan I’ve always dreamed of a time where I could head home after a long day of work and turn on the radio to hear some wrestling radio. Well one of things I love about WOL is that it airs Monday thru Friday at 3PM EST. The show is also easy to find replays of either on F4WOnline.com or by finding a replay schedule on sports byline USA’s website. I personally love to listen to WOL on the way home from work as its a great source to find out all of the up to the minute news in a concise fashion.   Being that it’s only an hour each day, It’s the perfect way to get my fill of all of the wrestling and MMA news of the day quickly. Also don’t forget about the Sunday show, which airs at 6PM EST for two hours each week. The 2 hours on Sunday allow for the show to really go in any direction and it’s often my favorite show of the week. In particular, these two hour shows often end up making for a great pre show to the pay per view on Sundays when there’s one. For an example, just last night they did their own commentary to the Meta Powers/Ascension pre show tag match prior to the payback show.

2) The Hosts- Bryan & MIke are both incredibly knowledgable in both wrestling and MMA. Bryan Alarez in particular not only has been covering the world of pro wrestling for over 20 years but used to wrestle in his own right. This, to me sets him apart from other wrestling journalists because he can offer that in ring perspective, and that’s meant as more praise for Bryan than a knock on anyone else. That said, while the guys will offer there opinion in an entertaining fashion, you know that the insight you hear on Wrestling Observer Live can be trusted.

3) The Guests–  One of the real highlights of Wrestling Observer Live is that you never know who’s going to show up for a guest appearance on the show.  Anyone from Chris Jericho to Rey Mysterio to Ethan Carter III has been on WOL recently and this really makes the show can’t miss.  Guests are usually on the show on Tuesdays and Thursdays and what’s cool is that if you subscribe to f4wonline.com then you can usually catch a longer interview with Bryan and the guests, though the free interviews on Observer Live are also great listens.  What’s great about the guests is that they are usually timely so that when a guest is on they’re also their to promote something that may otherwise go unnoticed by the wrestling fan.  For example, last week JTG was on to promote his book “Damn Why Did I Write This Book?”  which I knew nothing about prior to Observer Live but picked it up after his appearance and found it quite enjoyable.  Other appearances included Court Bauer & Wale prior to Walemania as a part of Wrestlemania week as well as Jay Briscoe prior to a Ring of Honor pay per view.

Closing Thoughts

I think Wrestling Observer Live is definitely worth going out of your way to listen to.  While the hosts may be critical, I feel that they come off fair as opposed to many in the wrestling media that are often negative for the sake of being negative.  I also feel that the guys do a great job in mixing in some mixed martial arts chatter, but not enough to overwhelm the wrestling fan listening.  If anything Wrestling Observer Live and the coverage that they do on MMA makes me more of a fan of UFC and keeps me up to date on important issues going in the sport. That said, on shows where a big wrestling show is coming up, you will rarely hear any MMA talk on the show and vice versa on the shows prior to a big UFC show so it’s a good mix.  In closing one other really cool thing about WOL is that because it’s also a radio show, fans are given the opportunity to call in towards the end of the show provided that they stay on topic. The phone lines remain open a good amount longer on the Sunday shows where really nothing is off limits.   Thus, go out and listen to wrestling observer live which you can find streaming live here  http://sportsbyline.com/wrestling-observer-live/ or you can subscribe to the wrestling observer website at f4wonline.com.  If you check out the show I would love to hear some of your feedback and if you have any other suggestions for future editions of the spotlight on wrestling podcasts feel free to leave those as well as I’m always looking for more content.

If you didn’t get a chance you can check out my spotlight on wrestling podcasts from last week which focused on the Lapsed Fan wrestling podcast and you can view that right here https://thedailyspotlight.com/2015/05/09/the-spotlight-on-wrestling-podcasts-the-lapsed-fan/.  Thanks for all of your support, now go listen to some podcasts!

The Spotlight On WWE Payback 

Tom Lynch Spotlight On The WWE Network, Wrestling , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

  
WWE Payback was presented live tonight on the WWE Network and on pay per view from Baltimore, Maryland. The show kicked off a four week stretch for WWE in which they have four different live event pay per view style events on the WWE Network with WWE Payback, NXT Unstoppable (Wednesday night at 8PM  EST), the Elimination Chamber two weeks from tonight and then Money In The Bank on June 14th. It’s an exciting time to be a fan of WWE to say the least. With that said lets get into the highlights of tonight’s show in chronological order. 

For those looking to avoid spoilers Id stop reading now as the show has already aired. If you’re looking for a recommendation, I’d suggest going out of your way to watch the show. The show was a lot of fun with no match being bad & everyone making the most of their time. With their only being 7 matches I felt that every match got time to develop & kudos to the superstars & divas who did the most with that time. 

 1) Ziggler vs Sheamus- Lets be honest the build for Ziggler & Shemus has been a bit silly with all of the kiss me arse stipulations. The truth is the kiss me arse stuff just isn’t necessary as these guys have good to great matches every time out. Tonight was no exception as the two gave 110% and had a great match to start off the show. The finish where Ziggler legitimately spilt his head open by head butting Sheamus & taking a Brogue Kick was brutal. Since each guy got a win I actually hope they are both kept out of the Intercontinetal title match at the chamber & we get a rubber match.   2) The New Day Vs Kidd & Cesaro- To me this was the second best match on the show as both teams looked so strong. All four men worked so hard to put on an exciting 2 out of 3 falls match. The New Day are also continuing to do a great job in their role. Having the New Day go out there and trying to encourage the Baltimore Orioles to finally win a World Series, made them even more hated in Baltimore and was a great way to utilize the players in attendance. I just hope that Kidd & Cesaro stay together as a team. They are both so strong in the ring & should be big single stars but have worked hard to perfect their tag craft that they’ve become an integral part of the tag team division. I personally can’t wait for the tag team elimination chamber match.   3) The I Quit Match- I figured that the finish here would have either been Lana quitting for Rusev or Lana in on it with Rusev all along and the two getting one over on Cena. In the end, Lana did in fact quit for Rusev but I didn’t take it that she was screwing Rusev at all. Rather, I took this to mean that she was actually in love with Rusev and couldn’t stand to see him suffering in the STF, I could be completely off by the way. Regardless this match was great! Total brutality that you would expect to see in a match blowing out off the feud, as I assume this was the end. Both men came off strong in that neither man quit and, as unpopular as this may be, John Cena continues to have great matches week in and week out while helping to make younger stars shine so kudos to him. The only thing I thought was a bit off was that I would loved for one guy to get a clean win & thought Rusev winning by knock out would have been cool as that’s how the feud started. Regardless if Cena winning means more Open Challenges than sign me up because those have been great.   4. What a Main Event!- I do these chronologically but if I had to pick one match that stood above the rest it would have to be that main event. There was so much that went on in that match, it was just so much fun. Even though I feel some of the interferences make Rollins look weak, WWE is doing a great job in making him absolutely hated in that he continues to find a way to keep the title. (Though I will say that this has to be the end of whether Kane is going to turn because he’s made it clear he’s loyal to Triple H).  Moment of match for me had to be the shield reunion and the return of the triple powerbomb through the table. (Especially since it was at Payback last year when the Shield had their defining win, as a unit, in sweeping Evolution) It was also nice to see Ambrose & Reigns going at it without one turning on the other. As we saw in the shield documentary these guys are friends & so it would make sense for them to work together and then admirably go at it. I felt this was another strong showing for Reigns, who’s gotta be winning over even his most passionate of haters at this point. In the end Orton is the right guy to take the pinfall here as he’ll always be a bonafide main eventer, so it’s good to protect Reigns & Ambrose. 

Closing Thoughts

Overall this was a really fun show with a strong main event that had everyone I was watching with jumping with every near fall. I try to limit these posts to three or four highlights but if I extended it to one more I would have added Wyatt & Ryback, those guys also worked hard especially with Ryback pulling out a version of a frog splash. In the end they also had me excited to see where they go from here and interested to see who Rollins and Cena defend their respective titles against in two weeks at the Chamber. However, before we even get that far, the guys & gals on NXT have one helluva show to follow. I can’t wait! 

The Spotlight on Attitude Era Raw-12/22/1997

Tom Lynch Spotlight On Raw, Spotlight On The WWE Network, Wrestling , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Just last month the WWE Network launched a collection of 55 episodes of Monday night Raw that were titled “Attitude Era Raw”. The Raws started with the final two episodes of Raw from 1997 & spanned up until the first Raw from 1999. This means that for the first time since its inception, every single Raw from 1998, one of the most successful years in WWF history, is available in the on demand section of the WWE Network. So beginning today, I’m going to go through every single Raw on that list once a week spanning a full year. The idea with this is not to break down every segment of every Raw, but to do the Spotlight on each Raw like I have everything on here with some highlights of each show & also some overall thoughts.  There will also be a “Do You Remember?” feature which will cover a variety of superstars, storylines or matches that you may have forgotten about, most of the time with good reason. My plan is to release these over a full year and drop these posts at 630PM EST so you have the full 90 minutes to check out these classic attitude era Raws prior to this week’s Raw, if you’re so inclined.  Thus, without any further ado let’s get to Monday Night Raw from December 22, 1997 which took place at the memorial auditorium ins Lowell, Massachusetts.

Highlights 

1) Raw Is Christmas–  I’m a sucker for holiday themed wrestling specials.  I always used to feel like the old Survivor Series events that took place in and around Thanksgiving did a great job incorporating Thanksgiving into the show and getting you into the holiday spirit.  Well this episode of Monday Night Raw is, arguably, the most Christmas themed episode of in history (and this includes the Raw hyped around the good santa vs the evil santa just a couple of years ago).  From the infamous clips of Stone Cold giving Santa a stunner the week before, to Sable coming out first dressed as a reindeer then revealing a sexy mrs claus get up, to vader  claus, to the merry DX mas mooning to start the show to even the entire arena being decked out in red & green while snow fell throughout the night, made this a very festive Raw.

2) D Generation-X in Classic Form– The main story of this episode of Raw was the continuing saga of the feud between DX & Commissioner Sgt Slaughter.  The show starts with Slaughter, offended by DX’s antics mooning the crowd & wearing mistletoe G strings to the ring, forcing World Heavyweight Champion Shawn Michaels to defend his European Championship against Dx counterpart Triple H.  The entire show is then built around this developing tension between Shawn & Triple H with the announcers wondering if this was the end of DX.  Of course in the end DX was in on it and Shawn basically lays down for Triple H as the two laugh at Sgt. Slaughter to end the show, but not before Sarge gets one last jab in on DX by saying that next week Triple H would defend his title against Owen Hart.  I always liked this about Raw back then, they always gave you something to look forward to the following week.  I also felt that DX vs. Sgt. Slaughter was a really underrated feud.

3) The Rock Vs. The Undertaker– From an in ring standpoint the only real match that you were able to sink your teeth into was an often forgotten but solid match between the Rock and the Undertaker.  This was during the time period where the Rock was in the Nation of Domination and still finding his way as the intercontinental champion but still this was a fun match that went about 10 minutes.  In the end, their really wasn’t a finish as Kane showed up.  This was during Kane’s first few months in the WWF and so he was still trying to get The Undertaker to fight him.  Kane was so scary upon his debut, the character was so great.

Do You Remember…

Kurrgan?- This was still during the period of time in which Kurrgan was apart of the Truth Commission, with Snyper, Rekon & The Jackyl.  On this show Kurrgan destroys 8-Ball while The Jackyl cuts a promo throughout the entire match.  While Kurrgan looked menacing, there wasn’t much to this match or the entire Truth Commission vs. DOA feud.

Closing Thoughts

This was obviously a taped show as the announcers are shown in front of a green screen.  This was also during the period of time in which they would separate Raw into Raw is War and the Warzone.  They’d end the show at 9 and then have a separate introductions, theme songs and announcers (Except Jim Ross he called both shows) for each half of Raw which I never understood why they did that.  There were also a ton of video packages and highlights on this show so it looked like they filmed the few matches and DX storyline before or after Raw the previous week.  It was also interesting to see how much the crowd was into the Legion of Doom who were taken out the week before.  I also liked that on a Raw in December you already saw some of the pieces coming together for Wrestlemania 14 with Kane-Undertaker, HHH-Owen and Mankind-Outlaws.  Overall a fun show and they got you excited for the next week by announcing that Owen Hart would finally be able to get his hands on DX following the Montreal Screwjob.

The Spotlight On Wrestling Podcasts- The Lapsed Fan 

Tom Lynch The Spotlight On Wrestling Podcasts, Wrestling , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

“Forget about Cesaro, they’re the real Kings Of Swing”

As I mentioned on the first post on the spotlight on wrestling podcasts, my idea with these blogs isn’t only to update everyone on a podcast you should go out of your way to listen to for a particular week.  That said,  I’m also looking to make wrestling fans more aware of  podcasts they maybe haven’t heard of or paid as much attention to as they should in the past. Today I’m going to talk about Wrestlezone.com’s Lapsed Fan Wrestling Podcast.

The Lapsed Fan hosts, JP Sarro & Jack Encarnacio, choose a classic wrestling pay per view from the archives of WWE, WCW or ECW that are currently in the on demand section of the WWE Network at random. When I first heard of the concept, I thought it was genius! This is the type of stuff us wrestling fans need as these podcasts encourage us to go back & watch an old pay per view we may have forgotten in the vast, sometimes overwhelming, library of wrestling events on the Network. Let’s get into some of the highlights of why I feel this is a must listen podcast you should go out of your way to hear.

Highlights 

1) A podcast for wrestling fans by wrestling fans- The thing about this podcast that I really enjoy is that both hosts are obviously lifelong fans of WWE. Even if they may have had periods of being “Lapsed”, at their core they are fans of the industry. Throughout the podcast not only is their attention to detail second to none but they also mix in a variety of stories from their past in which they went to different shows or signings that add a lot to the show or, in my case, lead me to reminisce about my experiences. There is one story, from the Wrestlemania 30 lapsed fan, where JP talks about how Jack got Virgil, yes wrestling superstar Virgil!, to appear at JP’s bachelor party, it has to be heard to be believed. The two hosts are also best friends & you can tell they love being around each other & talking about wrestling so, in turn, listeners like to listen to them talk about said wrestling.

2) 30 Weeks Of Wrestlemania- What’s great about The Lapsed Fan is that they pick the shows at random and so you don’t know which show will be reviewed next. With that said, the best feature theses guys have done thus far, in my opinion, has been there 30 week journey for Wrestlemania.  Every week they did a podcast dedicated to each one of the Wrestlemanias leading up to this year’s big show and even brought in Dave Meltzer for each show to get more of a historical perspective.  It was a great way to get excited for Wrestlemania and I would suggest that everyone who loves Wrestlemania history (what wrestling fan doesn’t? ) go back and check these out, maybe on the road to next year’s Wrestlemania.

3) The impressions-  All too frequently with wrestling podcasts, the material is discussed too seriously.  Well that isn’t the case here as Jack & JP remind you that, at the end of the day, wrestling is supposed to be fun.  JP Sarro in particular does a great job with his impressions of anyone from Vince McMahon to Jesse Ventura to Helen Hart to even Ludvig Borga.  These impressions are done just enough to keep you laughing without getting annoying.  Jack also does great as a counterpart to JP’s antics as the straight man that they end up balancing each other out very well.  The guys even find a way to get you to laugh at the some of the more tragic details of wrestling history such as with their death toll to start each show.

Closing Thoughts

At the end of the day I really think the Lapsed Fan is something that any long time wrestling fan should check out.  It’s important to point out that most episodes will give you entertainment for the entire week as each podcast goes for about four hours, sometimes as many as 7 but the guys do a good job starting off each episode with about an hour breakdown of the show which you can listen to if your short for time.  They then tie in fan feedback even encouraging fans to record audio of their own to send in.  Lastly, they move into a “deep dive” of the show which is the most comprehensive coverage of a wrestling show I’ve ever heard as they cover every match and story from the show.  This past week they just dropped their coverage of WWE Survivor Series 1993 and this week they’ll drop their coverage of WCW Great American Bash 1995.

The Lapsed Fan Podcast can be found at www.wrestlezone.com/tag/the-lapsed-fan

They can also be followed on twitter @thelapsedfan

And if you’re interested in supporting the guys monetarily you can do so here https://www.patreon.com/thelapsedfan?rf=751612&ty=2

That’s gonna do it for this week’s spotlight on wrestling podcasts, until next time, take care!