The SmarK Rant for WWF Monday Night RAW – 11.03.97
Why settle for AEW’s second-rate 1997 chaos when we can go back to the real thing again? It’s the GO-HOME SHOW TO SURVIVOR SERIES. Bret and Shawn are probably texting each other right now snickering at the low-grade chaos currently being circulated.
Live from Hershey, PA
Your hosts are Jim Ross & Jim Cornette
Happy Saturday Everyone!
WWE are in Cardiff this weekend, so I decided to head back to another show they ran in the UK during the autumn in the form of Rebellion 99. Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara didn’t go on this trip and actually used it as a chance to negotiate with WCW whilst Vince McMahon was over in England. Also a notable storyline with Stephanie McMahon started on this show as well.
From memory there is some good wrestling on this one, although the show is also mostly typical Attitude Era stuff. I seem to recall that the match between Kane and Big Show over delivers, but we’ll see if I’m remembering that right or not.
According to thehistoryofwwe.com, Wrestling Spotlight featured an exclusive match. Here was the result of that bout:
-Irwin R. Schyster (1-0) pinned Koko B. Ware (2-5) with the Write Off
Vince McMahon, Randy Savage, and Roddy Piper provide commentary to conclude the long tapings from Omaha, Nebraska.
Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan are back in the studio for another episode.
A replay of the Legion of Doom clearing Bobby Heenan’s car out of the way so a pregnant lady could get through on last week’s show airs. The woman is irate in the front lobby and wants to get into the studio, threatening to have her child there if she cannot get to Heenan.
The SmarK Rant for Coliseum Video presents The History of the WWF Heavyweight Championship
Next up in the trilogy of title histories from Coliseum Video, it’s the history of the WWF title!
Technical note: This copy, which I’m legally watching here and totally not pirating because I don’t even know what a torrent is, appears to have been ripped from WWE 24/7, complete with the logo in the corner and all instances of the word “WWF” bleeped out and blurred. So this should be a fun romp. Also I don’t remember this tape ever being on WWE 24/7 but then Sasktel had a pretty bastardized selection of what was on there at times anyway. It was more like WWE 17.5/4, am I right?
Hosted by Craig DeGeorge, Bobby Heenan & Johnny V
The SmarK Rant for WWF Monday Night RAW – 10.27.97
BACK TO THESE. So I was proceeding through RAW and Nitro at a pretty good clip for a while but MAN these 1997 shows with the dawn of DX were starting to get to me due to the constant stream of bad finishes and bad matches, so I took a break. Which ended up being more than a year, apparently. So I left off with the show after Badd Blood way back when, and then I had a few already written from the 24/7 days, so we pick things up again on the road to some show in Montreal you may have heard about before.
The SmarK Rant for Monday Night RAW – 09.16.96
OK, one week left of this shitty taping before we REALLY hit rock bottom of the promotion next week. Man, remember a while ago when I said if we can get through the post-WM doldrums period with Shawn as champion it would pick up in August? This is NOT picking up.
Happy Saturday Everyone!
WWE are heading to the UK for a big show in the first week of September so I decided to spend the next couple of weeks reviewing some of WWE’s shows from previous trips over here, starting with this notable event.
This show is mostly known for preceding the infamous “Plane Ride From Hell”, but what often gets forgotten is the show itself and how good/bad it was. It happened very early on in the Brand Split of 2002, so it’s just the Raw crew that have travelled meaning no Edge, Kurt Angle or Chris Jericho to spruce things up.
The two Main Events are Stone Cold Vs Big Show and Triple H Vs Undertaker, so yeah, we’ve got some exciting action to look forward to let me tell you. However, maybe the show isn’t quite as bad as I remember? Let’s see if Insurrextion 2002 really is a Stinker.
This was also the last show to ever use the WWF initials, as they went to being WWE from the next Raw show. Vince McMahon apparently had to be talked out of wrestling a dude in a panda suit for this show (The World Wildlife Fund for Nature has a panda as it’s mascot), although if they’d dressed up one of the women wrestlers as Xiaoyu to manage the panda then I would have gotten a kick out of it at least.
Vince McMahon and Randy Savage provide commentary for today’s episode, still coming from the long taping in Omaha, Nebraska.
Roddy Piper is in the dressing room preparing for his match today with Rick Martel. His left knee is wrapped up and he dedicates today’s match to his mother. Savage rebuts that he is dedicating the match to his mom too because Martel will beat Piper.
Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan are tonight’s hosts.
McMahon and Heenan are quickly joined by Sergeant Slaughter, Colonel Mustafa, and General Adnan because those three insist that they are taking over the show. Slaughter tells WWF Champion Hulk Hogan that he will do whatever it takes to regain the WWF Championship. He calls out a muscular guy in the audience who is wearing a “Hulk Rules” shirt, who comes down to confront him. Slaughter says that fan does not have what it takes to survive Slaughter’s boot camp. The fan accepts the challenge.
The SmarK Rant for Coliseum Video presents Hulkamania 4
Well the review for Hulkamania 3 was insanely well received, and also one of the best tapes that they ever put out, so here’s hoping lighting strikes twice! This one covers Hogan’s 1989 run so I’m sure when we can figure out the greatest hits already, but hopefully there’s something new and different here because this is another one I’ve never reviewed.
Your host is Sean Mooney.
Vince McMahon, Randy Savage, and Roddy Piper are in the booth, broadcasting from Omaha, Nebraska, the site of the recent Saturday Night’s Main Event. The show’s opening now has a generic country beat with some wrestling highlights, continuing a downgrade from the Ultimate Warrior introduction a year prior.
The SmarK Rant for Monday Night RAW – 09.09.96
OK, now we’re back on track after the Friday RAW and unopposed Nitro episode. Back to the Intercontinental title tournament that will seemingly never fucking end. How long CAN they stretch an 8 man tournament out for? Until SEPTEMBER 23! This tournament is decidedly not awesome.
Taped from Wheeling, WV
Your hosts are Jim Ross, Kevin Kelly & Jerry Lawler
Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan host another episode. Heenan brings out a mannequin dressed like McMahon and rips the hair off because Mr. Perfect alleged last week that McMahon’s hair was not real. McMahon walks out and Heenan pulls the pants down on the mannequin, saying he has always wanted to do that to McMahon.
The Tito Santana-Mountie match from Saturday Night’s Main Event is shown.
The SmarK Rant for Monday Night RAW – 09.06.15
This was actually a Friday Night RAW to be accurate, as they moved it because of tennis or something. So it’s CHAMPIONSHIP FRIDAY! I heard they were going to call it Belt Friday but Vince made them change it.
Taped from Wheeling, WV
Your hosts are Kevin Kelly & Jim Ross
Gorilla Monsoon, Bobby Heenan, and Jim Neidhart do commentary, providing the last episode of the taping cycle in Reno, Nevada. Heenan and Neidhart debate how lucky Ted DiBiase is to have Sensational Sherri in his corner.
The British Bulldog’s squash from Prime Time Wrestling starts the show.
Happy Saturday Everyone!
I’ve already reviewed the Opener and Main Event of this show before, so I thought I might as well finish reviewing it seeing as we’re in August and I remember this show being fun.
The WWF was of course in the midst of a hugely successful run during this time period, with The Rock riding high as WWF Champ whilst The Hardyz, Dudleyz and E+C were tearing it up in the tag ranks. The two big matches on this show are The Rock defending the WWF Title against Triple H and Kurt Angle in a Triple Threat match, whilst the tag team division goes to war in a TLC match.
