Category: Wrestling PPV Musings

WCW Bash At The Beach 1995

You know… Summerslam is coming up this weekend as I write this and I’m not really looking forward to a ten-hour PPV marathon with about one or two matches that I’d be interested in. So you know what? I decided to spend the ten hours plus watching a couple PPVs that are set during the summer. They’re not even Summerslam PPVs, just summer events.

Let’s kick things off with WCW Bash At The Beach 1995, which took place on an actual, honest-to-god BEACH. Yes, despite having a number of Beach Blast and Bash At The Beach shows, this is the first time that WCW had the gall to hold the event at an actual beach. And you want to know something, folks? You can say that this was a dumb move since they made no money off the show, but at the very least, it was a unique setting with a unique vibe and atmosphere. And perhaps most importantly, it stood out. You watch a show like that and it sticks with you. Compared to the current WWE PPV landscape where every show looks the same and blends in with the rest.

In any event, let us begin.

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AWA Superclash III

The American Wrestling Association was on its last legs.

Superclash III is perhaps best known for two things; for being the AWA’s one and only attempt at a pay-per-view event that drew dismal numbers and also for the title unification match between AWA champion Jerry “The King” Lawler and WCCW champion Kerry Von Erich. That match has been featured on a number of DVD compilations – most notably the Spectacular Legacy of the AWA set that is worth checking out if you can find a copy – but I’ve never seen the full show until recently, with the show being readily available on the WWE Network.

This event was a joint venture between Verne Gagne’s AWA, Jerry Jarrett’s CWA based in Memphis, and the Von Erich’s World Class promotion. Several years later, the CWA and WCCW would be merged into the USWA and AWA would go out of business… so, I’m guessing the show didn’t turn out so well.

And if you need an even less subtle hit, this is being posted on a day where I follow an annual tradition of reviewing a bad game. Said review is coming later today for those who care.

But enough about that. Let’s get on with the show!

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ECW Anarchy Rulz 1999

So I thought we’d have a change of pace and watch an ECW PPV instead. I’ve decided to go with Anarchy Rulz 1999 for a couple reasons. The first and perhaps most significant reason is that this was the first ECW PPV to air in Canada and as such, the first time I had been exposed to that particular product. Up until that point, ECW was a thing that I read about in wrestling magazines (or as some would prefer to call them, the “Apter Mags”) and only knew the basic bits through third hand accounts. So this was a good starting point to jump on.

The other reason I went with this and one that is more relevant to today’s mentality is that I was curious to see how well a ECW show had aged between my initial (and possibly only) viewing and today. While I could go back and pick any of the so-called “better” ECW shows from the promotion’s prime years, those wouldn’t provide much of a context since, outside of maybe one or two shows, that would be new territory. Going back to ECW, I opted for the first ECW show I’ve watched and I’m genuinely curious to see if I could enjoy this now as much as I did back then… at least, I assume I enjoyed it back then since I do recall watching the subsequent PPVs before ECW’s eventual closure in 2001.

So let’s cause some ruling anarchy or something… I don’t know.

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WWE Extreme Rules 2018

So here’s the deal. I skipped out on this PPV recently and only caught a couple snippets that convinced me that this show wasn’t worth the effort. And then I wrote this piece on Monday that you can read on there if you want.

Anyway, while doing a clean-up around Wednesday or Thursday, I ended up loading up a replay of the show at the behest of a friend who suggested I give the show a watch; mostly the main event, which he claimed was the best thing he ever saw. And… well, I’m only half-glad I saw the show; in hindsight, I should’ve stuck with the main even, but regardless, let us begin this journey into the lack of extreme in this Extreme Rules PPV.

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Black Label Pro’s BLP Jam Event (July 14, 2018)

So I had something else planned for tonight, but I’ve decided to hold it off so I can work on this other video I have planned for tomorrow, so in lieu of that, I want to offer some brief thoughts on the Black Label Pro Wrestling BLP Jam event that took place this past Saturday. It’s not something that I would’ve gone for normally, but this card had a particular hook that piqued my interest; a marquee match between legendary tag-team the Rock N Roll Express and the tag-team of UFC/MMA fighter guy “Filthy” Tom Lawlor (he of the Shockmaster entrance on that one MMA show) and Mr. Minus Five Stars himself, Bryan Alvarez. So I decided, “Huh. This sounds interesting.” And thus, I signed up for a Powerbomb.TV subscription that I might keep for the first month at the very least and look for other stuff to talk about. And thus… here we are.

As per usual with these musings, I’m not going into super-detailed recaps or anything like that, nor am I providing anything in terms of “star ratings” or whatver the case may be. A trillion stars for the one match and another trillion or two for the rest is all I can spare and that’s about all I will touch on in that matter.

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WWE King Of The Ring 2002

Spoiler: This show fucking sucks. Who would’ve guessed?

This is the final King Of The Ring PPV… oh, they’d eventually have other King Of The Ring tournaments every once in a while, but this would take place on TV and it’s usually an excuse to give some a royalty gimmick or have them wear a silly crown or something. The subsequent King Of The Rings were so important and so vital that I can hardly remember any of them… I don’t even remember the last King Of The Ring winner and that was a couple years ago, I think.

But I digress… let’s get on with the show, shall we?

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WWF King Of The Ring 2000

You know… I never got around to doing write-ups for the last few King Of The Ring PPVs, so we may as well get those out of the way. And what better way to celebrate the Fourth of July than give people a King Of The Ring 2000 musings… and then the next couple weeks will see the last two KOTR PPVs finally checked off the list. Who knows where we’ll go from there?

While 1999 might have been successful, 2000 was when the WWF product started to get really good as the stories told began to make more sense and you had more guys who were capable of wrestling more compelling matches that were longer yet enthralling.

Unfortunately, none of those positives can be found in this show, which probably explains why I held off watching these even when I had access to the VOD part of the WWE Network. Nonetheless, we move forwards onto the breach… and instantly regret it.

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WWF In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede

Happy Canada Day, everybody. Let’s celebrate by watching what may very well be Bret Hart’s last crowning moment in the WWF. The Canadian Stampede In Your House PPV eminating from Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Context is required for those who wasn’t watching WWF television in 97 or just aren’t familiar with wrestling in general, but this show took place during a time when Bret Hart, once beloved fighting champion, turned on American wrestling fans for cheering anti-hero bad guy types like Steve Austin and booing honest good guys like him. As a result, you had this weird dynamic where Bret Hart (and his brother Owen, his brother-in-laws Davey Boy and Jim, and family friend Brian Pillman) were booed in the United States, but cheered everywhere else.

And then there was Canada, who not only bought into what Bret was selling, but actually cheered him on as an actual honest-to-goodness Canadian hero. And the Hart family was treated as the closest thing to wrestling royalty as you can get within this Canadian territory. So when you had this show in Calgary, the home of the Harts, just guess how people reacted to these guys.

Anyway, on with the show… the final two-hour In Your House PPV event, as the next IYH event would be three-hours; the standard running time for wrestling PPVs until the WWE Network came along and now PPVs are marathon shows… but I digress.

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WCW New Blood Rising

So this is a double whammy of sorts for Canada Day and I wanted to get this show out of the way while it was still somewhat fresh. Later on, I’ll be posting the musings for the Canadian Stampede In Your House event (alongside a couple non-wrestling bits), but for today… heh, heh, heh.

It’s New Blood Rising, WCW’s other PPV taking place in Canadian soil and on this night, the event is held in Vancouver, BC. Featuring Calgary’s own Lance Storm defending his prestigious Canadian championship against Mike Awesome in what may very well be the greatest match of Lance Storm’s professional wrestling career.

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