Wrestling PPV Musings – Page 18

NXT In Your House (June 2022)

You assholes thought that I was going to skip this one, did ya? You didn’t think that I wouldn’t follow through on keeping up with these NXT In Your Houses despite this not being the same NXT as the previous two?

Yeah, well, I’m probably stopping after this one.

For those needing further context, I have not seen a single episode of NXT 2.0 – the retooled version that went from being HHH’s attempt to be the King Of The Indies to a true developmental brand featuring a bunch of random athletic rookies with dumb names and gimmicks. The most I would consume is the occasional clip here and there, which is the most I could take before emptying my bowels. I’ve heard nothing but negative things about this show and my brief samplings of the show have not painted a pretty picture… which is appropriate considering “pretty picture” is the furthest thing from my mind when it comes to the overall visual presentation of this NXT 2.0 program.

Regardless, I’m willing to give this a fair shake. More often than not, the NXT specials formerly known as Takeovers are usually highly regarded fare and at the very least, I’ll expect more in-ring action than insipid skits. Despite this, I’ve got my hard liquor on standby in the event that I may need it.

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WWE Summerslam 2022

I had a somewhat cute little intro about Summerslam in July, but honestly, I wasn’t feeling it.

I missed the show when it aired lived; had a nice road trip that day with the family and when I got back, I really wasn’t feeling in the mood to do anything but sleep, so I held off until a week or so later. Of course, the musings for this show are only happening now because I wanted to get the last two Summerslams out of the way first.

So it’s live from Nashville and it’s a stadium show, surprisingly enough. So it looks different from the usual homogenized sets they usually use.

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WWE Summerslam 2021

Yeah, I’ve got nothing for this one, kids… so GOOMBA!

Summerslam 2021 took place on a Saturday; the rare instance of the annual PPV taking place on another day outside of its usual Sunday night airing. Summerslam 2021 took place the night after former former wrestler Cookie Monster Punk made his return to wrestling on the second episode of AEW Rampage.

I didn’t watch Summerslam last year; I had better things to do. And reading the results from the show as well as news that it went beyond the promised three-hour runtime meant that it was going to be the first major WWE PPV that I would miss out on. But since this year’s Summerslam is looking to go international, I’d figure that I’ve got nothing to lose and give this show a shot.

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WWE Summerslam 2020

So I never did a musings on this show, did I?

Oh yeah, because it was in the Thunderdome… that weird period in WWE history where they held all their shows in an arena in Florida where, instead of being occupied by a live audience, you had video screens of people at home doing face time and “reacting” to stuff… and then of course, everyone figured out quickly that reactions were controlled completely by WWE production so match up with how they felt people should react… I’m pretty sure WWE wishes they could go back to the Thunderdome whenever they have a crowd that refuses to play ball.

But, anyway, this was the beginning of the Thunderdome era, which I was never a big fan of. The idea was sound in theory, but always felt creepy in execution. All those empty, sterile facecams staring into the ring, the constant feel of Big Brother always watching. And then there would be times when the ‘Dome would be used for “supernatural” effects, such as whenever we needed Bray Wyatt to do his shitty magic tricks. Thank fuck he’s no longer around.

Anyway, I took the time to watch this while in bed. My thoughts on this will be ever so brief, so don’t be surprised if I blow through this faster than Kevin Dunn shines his bucky beavers.

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NXT ArRival (February 2014)

NXT Arrival – yeah, I’m not sticking with their weird formatting – you’ll have to settle for the title if that’s your thing – has a couple distinctions. Not only is it the first ever NXT PPV-style special event to air on the WWE Network, but it is also the first live television event to air on said Network, as it had launched a few days prior to… let’s just say “less than stellar” reactions. I’m not sure I could talk about the WWE Network’s early days because Canada didn’t get it until much later and only the live feed which ended up being a premium channel on cable systems; the On-Demand Stuff not coming along until much, MUCH later.

But enough about that; let’s talk NXT Arrival because naturally, I have not seen this one. And with Triple H taking the creative reigns of WWE, we might as well look at the first major WWE Network event under the NXT banner. We’ll dive into the last few Summerslams starting next week.

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WCW Road Wild 1997

Another year. Another Sturgis show. Yippee. This show was following the 100th episode of Monday Nitro, which saw Lex Luger defeat Hollywood Hulk Hogan for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and all his friends came out to celebrate with him on the accomplishment of actually winning a world title over a hated heel and not over a countout win.

So now let’s see how WWE WCW fucks all that up because of course they would…

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WCW Hog Wild 1996

Easy E decided to hold a free wrestling show in Sturgis during one of their biker rallies. Apparently, it went over so well that he’d make it an annual thing until the end of his presidential tenure. Sadly, the event that would replace it in 2000, New Blood Rising, is a largely awful show known for featuring Lance Storm’s best match ever.

So, yes, the first event was called Hog Wild, but that name didn’t stick for the other annual shows due to copyright concerns and thus was changed to Road Wild. I’ve already mused on the 98 and 99 editions of the event, but never touched on these early shows. Let’s fix that, shall we?

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WCW Bash At The Beach 1996

“Whose side is he on?” The immortals words of one Bobby “The Brain” Heenan were uttered (and consequently scrubbed from subsequent WWE Network airings of this event as I recall) should have cast doubt as to whether the man coming down the ring would be the man who would fend off these callous Outsiders from up there or be the much-vaunted third man that had been teased weeks prior. That faint warning was quickly dismissed because there’s no way it could be.

But for those truly in the know, who else could it have been?

Before we get to that pivotal moment in wrestling history, we have the Bash At The Beach undercard, which is about as business as usual as you can get given a night that nobody figured would have big ramifications for the business going forward. Let’s get that out of the way so that we can get to the good stuff.

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WCW Great American Bash 1996

The prelude to what would end up being the angle that changed the fortunes of World Championship Wrestling in more ways than one… is just Kevin Nash and Scott Hall beating up Eric Bischoff and powerbombing him through a stage. Now that we got that piece of business out of the way, let’s sample this Great American Bash 1996 PPV program, which was probably one of the first WCW VHS tapes I actually bought at a used video store somewhere.

This is a tremendous show, so tremendous that I’m left speechless as to how tremendous this show is. So expect plenty of quick blurbs and if you want more… just watch the damn show because it is GREAT!

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WWE Money In The Bank 2022

Yes, your eyes do not deceive you. I am doing a PPV musings on yet another WWE PPV in 2022.

Don’t get too excited. I had a stomach ache last night, I couldn’t sleep, and this popped up so I figured why not? At the very least, if the show sucked and made me fall asleep, it’d be worth it. I’m also not going to say a whole lot here since I haven’t been following WWE as of late.

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