Author: dtm666

I ramble about things.

WWE Money In The Bank 2020

Yeah, so… I watched this show… and then I did a recording on this show… and now here’s a write-up on this show… which hasn’t changed much from the recording on Monday. For context, the main event was a filmed segment where both men and women fought through Titan Towers – WWE’s old headquarters – to reach the roof where the two briefcases reside.

I wasn’t a big fan of this show, but to be fair, it was a fairly short show, ending after two and a half hours of action. So that’s less bad stuff to deal with, but is it really all that bad?

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RAW After Mania (April 1st, 1996) – Picking Things Up…

The night after Wrestlemania 12, where the boyhood dream came true for Shawn Michaels as he defeated Bret “Hitman” Hart to win his first WWF World championship.

We begin the show with the debut of the deranged Mankind; a large, lumbering fellow in a brown leather mask and brown outfit, coming out to ominous spooky music, pulling off his own hair, and making short work of Bob Holly with his signature Mandible Claw nerve hold, upon which a soothing piano piece places in lieu of the earlier music. Yes, they took the former Cactus Jack from ECW and WCW and turned him into a deranged individual in a mask, but that didn’t stop some fans from chanting “He’s HARDCORE!” This was a simple yet striking introduction to a new face and I’d love to have been sitting in the crowd in 1996, gauging reactions to this person, wondering if they had any clue where he’d end up down the line.

Then we have another debut; the “Wildman” Marc Mero, formerly Johnny B. Badd of WCW fame, making short work of Isaac Yankem DDS despite interference from He Of The Three Hs. He Of The Three Hs and Wildman had an altercation because Hunter got squashed by Warrior at Mania and treated his valet like poop… and so the valet joined Wildman, stuck with him for a few years before posing for Playboy, leaving the WWF and eventually wrestling for good… and ended up marrying Brock Lesnar… so that was a thing.

The Bodydonnas beat Barry Horowitz and the guy with the jock strap on his head… and then we got a promo from HBK, where he refers to fans as his KLIQ… or something. That was lame even back in my VHS watching days. And then Undertaker beats some cowboy guy before getting destroyed by Mankind, kicking off that feud that would be on and off for several years.

This show was a thing mostly for the historical significance, but it’s a fun watch regardless, with only Shawn’s limp dick promo being the only sour spot.

WWF In Your House #9: International Incident (July 1996)

(If you don’t mind something old and re-purposed, here’s something that was posted in 2015 and reposted in 2020. That way, we can continue the string of IYH PPV musings uninterrupted!)

It’s another in a long line of two-hour throwaway In Your House PPVs that nobody in their right mind should care about, except this time it’s in CANADA. This is one month after King Of The Ring, where Austin 3:16 was born, Mankind drew first blood (not literally) against the Undertaker, and Ahmed Johnson won the IC title… oh and Shawn Michaels was there too, for some reason.

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Warner Bros. To Rethink Action And Romance

Source: https://www.newsarama.com/50051-arrow-verse-riverdale-more-rethinking-love-scenes-fight-scenes-in-post-covid-19-reality-of-filming.html

So the above article from Newsarama states that a Warner Bros. meeting was discussing means of producing shows in a post “prevailing circumstances” world; most notably in regards to its fight and romance sequences.

Specifically, folks want to limit as much physical contact as possible while filming their shows, which probably means hand-to-hand combat, loving embraces, and even pecks on the cheek could be a thing of the past.

Yeah, honestly, this is not for me.

Look, I get these are trying times and we need to do our part to be safe and protect others. I also get the need to produce fresh new entertainment to take our minds off the world around us. Unfortunately, a lot of the new entertainment taking place right now is doing nothing but remind me of the world outside. Whether it’d be webcam concerts that were good enough for Youtube or empty arenas playing host to combat sports or wrestling, there is never a point where I’m consuming current material that isn’t reminding me of the prevailing circumstances.

You want to know what I watch these days? Old wrestling shows via WWE Network, Youtube, and Impact Plus. Old movies and television shows on Netflix or the various DVD and Blu-Rays in my collection. I watch Youtube videos; primarily stuff relating to video games and wrestling. These are some of the things tha pre-occupy my day that isn’t based on life needs and web material.

I rarely consume current content before the pandemic hit due to its largely heavy political slant. I want a diversion, not an agenda. And now given the future that mass media entertainment could be headed towards for the foreseeable future, I’m not sure I’m going to want to watch anything on the boom tube anytime soon.

Yeah, so that’s my piece.

RAW After Mania (April 3rd, 1995) – Getting There

Third time’s a charm, right?

Matches aren’t all that great, but it’s getting there. Hakushi (Japanese Guy With Ink On His Face) beat Bob “Sparky Plugg” Holly in a boring match with lots of rest holds, Lex Luger and the British Bulldog (the Allied Powers, if you will) defeated Well Dunn (some job team unrelated to Kevin, because they’re not bucky beavers) in a squash, Alundra Blayze beat Women’s Champion Bull Nakano to win the title in the only really good match on the show… only to be beat up by the debuting Bertha Faye a.k.a. Rhonda Singh, a hefty woman dressed up as a clown, and Mabel and Mo beating some other job team whose name I can’t be bothered to remember.

There’s a promo with WWF champion Diesel, who offers Shawn Michaels another shot at the title due to the ref’s spraining of the ankle and Sid being Sid costing ol’ HBK the match at Mania. This would be followed up on by Shawn Michaels cutting a promo accepting Diesel and telling Sid that his services as bodyguard are no longer required, only for Sid to lose his cool and beat up Shawn for a bit, prompting Nash to come out and make the save.

I’ll give the show this much; they planted the seeds for the next several months worth of storylines and turned HBK into a beloved figure (well, the girls loved him anyway) and also, in a way, supplanting Diesel as the people care about. It’s still not a great show, but it’s getting there. If nothing else, check it out for the promos and the Madusa/Nakano match.