Category: Wrestling PPV Musings

It was supposed to be a PPV that would feature WWF Superstars competing against WCW Superstars for the very first time. A cataclysmic encounter that would have been a major moneymaker if done right.

But as history has shown, the Invasion angle that ran throughout 2001 was anything but done right. For you see, it went from being about WWF vs. WCW to being another glorified reinactment of the McMahon family feud that had been beaten to the ground considerably. Vince representing WWF, Shane-O-Mac owning WCW, and because she has nothing to do at the time, let’s give Stephanie ECW and have her join forces with Shane for whatever reason and then you had Austin jump ship to that Alliance and… my head hurts.

There have been potshots made prior to the event; the occasional run-in from low-tier WCW guys such as Lance Storm and Mike Awesome to Diamond Dallas Page’s stalking of the Undertaker’s wife (for reasons that are baffling to anyone with any semblance of common sense) to the eventual WCW matches on WWF programming (kicked off with a horrific Booker T vs. Buff Bagwell match that granted Buff his walking papers shortly thereafter)… and then ECW comes along and joins forces with WCW and… shit.

And then we come to Invasion… I can remember the anticipation of how they’re going to pull this off and thinking it might be the greatest thing ever, how could they possibly fuck this up… and then I can also remember the disappointment and utter contempt that I had for this entire feud. Even today, when I look back at that entire angle, it still leaves a really bitter taste in my mouth. There are very few wrestling storylines that really make me sick to my stomach. Many letdowns, but none of them to a sickening level. The Invasion angle was the sole exception. Perhaps the easiest thing to book and they end up fucking it up. If there is one thing that the whole Invasion angle does succeed at, it’s cementing WWE’s long-standing talent in taking sure-fire wins and turn them into unbelievable failures.

But I digress… anyway, let’s sloth through this thing.

Continue reading “WWF Invasion (July 2001)”

WWF In Your House II
July 1995, Nashville TN

So this is the second 2-hour In Your House event for July, which followed the rather horrific 1995 King Of The Ring, which ranks as one of the worst WWF/WWE PPV events, if not one of the worst pro wrestling PPV cards ever conceived. And after having witnessed that PPV in its entirety, it’s safe to say that I’m rather apprehensive of this card. After all, historically speaking, WWF in 1995 was not particularly good, as Diesel was tanking as WWF Champion, there was a notable lack of compelling content on display, and to call the roster cartoonish and hokey is akin to calling Big Show a big guy.

On the flip side, WCW was giving us the Hulk Hogan show… that was equally painful… considering I hadn’t been following wrestling, I certainly dodged that bullet… and yet here we are.

Meh…

Continue reading “WWF In Your House II (July 1995)”

WWF In Your House I
May 1995, Syracuse, NY

In a vain effort to attempt to separate a potential PPV audience from their money, the WWF decided to launch In Your House, a series of monthly 2-hour PPVS that would beef up the PPV count to one a month. This would eventually evolve into the current format of monthly PPV events with the occasional WWE Network special and lots of raised prices.

Continue reading “The First WWF In Your House PPV (May 1995)”

Spoiler Alert: NXT Takeover Brooklyn blows this show out of the water.

Show cold-opens with host Jon Stewart cutting a bland promo… I guess. Mick Foley shows up for some reason to tell us about how scared he is of Brock Lesnar… come on, Mick. You fell off cages, took five billion chair shots to the head, participated in King Of the Deathmatch tournaments, got lost in Cleveland, lost an ear, wrestled the Mean Street Posse, and survived a couple years in TNA.

Now if a guy like that is scared of Brock Lesnar, you know what that tells me? It tells me that AL SNOW is more of a hardcore legend than Mick Foley.

*drops mic*

Continue reading “WWE Summerslam 2015”

There is indeed a king reigning in this ring. His name? Vince Russo.

In all honesty, this is where we get to the point in which a lot of the Attitude Era stuff becomes hard to sit through nowadays. It’s that feeling I get where I would watch something I hadn’t seen in ages for the first time in a long while, recalling how much I enjoyed that thing the first time, and then after watching it, I often wondered how I got into that stuff. This is one of those instances. Anyway, here we go…

Oh, lookie. We’ve got quarterfinal matches… hurray. Anyway, given that these things are usually short, I’ll keep my thoughts short and sweet.

X-Pac beat Hardcore Holly. This match was too short to be worth anything.

Kane beat Big Show with a number of chair shots following a choke hold that took more air out of the audience than it did Big Show. For fuck’s sake, why did that choke hold need to last fifty years? The sad part is that if that spot happened today, #ChokeHoldCityBitch would be trending on Twitter because that’s how sad things have gotten.

Billy Gunn beat Ken Shamrock via blood stoppage when Shamrock started “bleeding” from the mouth due to some unspecified injury that is never elaborated on. The blood looks so phoney and fake it’s sad. I could come up with “more real blood” (sic) on Microsoft Paint.

Roadd Dogg beat Chyna thanks to a metal cup. See, Chyna generally likes to go for ball shots and this has taken many of males down, but Road Dogg shows off some intelligence by actually wearing a cup. If only others had shown as much foresight…

So it’s Kane vs. Billy Gunn and X-Pac vs. Road Dogg for the semi-finals. Smart money would suggest that this would lead to a tournament finals between two former partners dueling it out… but then again, this is Vince Russo we’re talking about here.

The Hardy Boyz beat Edge & Christian to earn themselves a tag-team title shot against then-champions the Acolytes (or A.P.A. as they would be known later on). Quick match, but you can already tell these guys had something. And that would be expanded upon in their later feuds over the years.

Alright, time for the semi-finals. Looking forward to this… not.

Continue reading “WWF King Of The Ring 1999”

King Of The Ring 1998 is known for exactly one thing; Hell In A Cell.

The other notable thing on King Of The Ring 1998 that occasionally gets mentioned; the First Blood match between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Kane for the WWF Championship.

The focus of the opening video package; the two aforementioned matches.

The King Of The Ring tournament that just so happens to be the reason for this PPV’s existence; treated as an afterthought… and for good reason.

Continue reading “WWF King Of The Ring 1998”

So this was a show that happened one night in June… and in all honesty, not a whole lot to say about this one. I probably rented the tape once or twice, but that’s about it. Therefore, this is going to be fairly brief, with one or two matches of note at most.

Continue reading “WWF King Of The Ring 1997”

WWF King Of The Ring 1996 was the event where Austin 3:16 was born. The End.

Okay, maybe not.

I suppose, if nothing else, that’s the main talking point of this PPV and perhaps the only memorable thing about this show. And as much as WWE and Steve Austin will have you believe, this one promo didn’t set the world on fire from the get-go… especially when WCW was in the midsts of starting their own wildfire thanks to two former WWF’ers messing things up, as it were. But the promo planted the seeds to a future superstar in the making. But there are other noteworthy moments on hand here… so let’s check them out together.

Continue reading “WWF King Of The Ring 1996”