Category: Wrestling Television Musings

A Brief Blurb On The NXT vs TNA Showdown Show

So I managed to catch some of the NXT Showdown show on Tuesday – airing opposite an episode of Dynamite that saw Darby Allin attempt to use more explosive instruments (literally) – and I don’t have much to say other than a couple points.

First off, congratulations to the Hardys for winning the NXT Tag titles while also holding the TNA titles. How fitting that of all the TNA contracted talent, the first to hold NXT titles just so happens to be former WWE Superstars and celebrated tag team champions. Funny how that works.

Secondly, the multi-person matches went over about as well as I’d expected. Funny how a NXT contracted wrestler (Jordynne Grace) reffed a match that saw the NXT women triumph while a TNA contracted wrestler (Joe Hendry)

Oh, hi, Joe. Long time no see…

…officiated a match that saw the TNA team triumph… after TNA champion and contracted NXT wrestler Trick Williams walked out on his NXT team… so I guess it was a swerve or something? Maybe… I don’t know? I’m not sure if this is making me want to watch more NXT or get me excited for TNA’s upcoming Bound For Glory show.

Other than that, I thought it was a perfectly fine show. I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that TNA got a good showing here and even won a couple matches. Had this been under Vince… oh, who am I kidding? This wouldn’t have gone past two weeks and everyone would be jobbing to Roman Reigns and his tired babyface schtick. Fuck off with that noise.

WCW Monday Nitro (Oct. 9th, 1995) – Eh…

So it’s worth noting – at the risk of breaking the kayfabe of these musings – that I’m wrote most of these earlier in the year when WCW’s YouTube channel… think about how awkward it is to say that about an official channel…. anyway, they’re uploading the first few episodes in aired order until the Oct. 2nd episode, which is later followed by the Nov. 27th, 1995 episode that takes place a month later. Obviously, Nitros not being uploaded in order kinda hurts this whole project that’s supposed to be about following this show in episodic order.

Fortunately, a buddy of mine had recorded a whole bunch of Nitros off the WWE Network when that was still an on-air TV channel as part of the Rogers package on to a bunch of DVD-Rs and kindly gave me his batch as a sort of “get well” gift as a result of my earlier health scare. And so whenever I need to fill holes in the Youtube playlist, this will be my go to.

And just as well to because I’m actually enjoying these more than I thought I would.

Continue reading “WCW Monday Nitro (Oct. 9th, 1995) – Eh…”

AEW Dynamite (October 1st, 2025) – 6th Anniversary Show

Color yourself shocked; I actually sat down to watch the last episode of AEW Dynamite, which happened to be the 6th anniversary episode of the program. It is also the first bit of AEW programming that I’ve watched since whatever the last PPV was from the summer. All In? All Out? One of the two? I don’t recall. I’m sure it’ll pop up on the archives if I look it up, but it doesn’t matter.

Continue reading “AEW Dynamite (October 1st, 2025) – 6th Anniversary Show”

WCW Monday Nitro (Oct. 2nd, 1995) – A Clean Shave

Five episodes into Nitro… and we’re still watching this somehow… honestly, this hasn’t been that bad of a show. Sure, a couple times have been slow, but it hasn’t gotten to the point where I want to quit. The promos, if nothing else, have been fun.

This, however, was a good show and it begins with…

Continue reading “WCW Monday Nitro (Oct. 2nd, 1995) – A Clean Shave”

WCW Monday Nitro (Sept. 25th, 1995) – Yep.

Someone had asked if there was any chance of me doing Thunder since those are also on the WCW Youtube channel… the answer is kinda, sorta no.

No, seriously, the answer is no.

And now, on with Nitro… but before we do, allow me to extend congratulations to Stephanie McMahon, future WWE Hall Of Famer and champion of VPN services everywhere! I expect many ear plugs to sell out in preparation for the oral violation that is to occur with that acceptance speech.

But enough about that! On with Nitro!

Continue reading “WCW Monday Nitro (Sept. 25th, 1995) – Yep.”

WCW Monday Nitro (Sept. 18th, 1995) – Easily Digestable Slurry

The show opens with Gene Okerlund interviewing Kevin Sullivan and the Giant… and yes, there was a time where they tried to pass off Giant as the son of Andre The Giant – hence the similar looking singlet… except Paul Wight is obviously not French. Harlem Heat somehow lose the tag titles to the American Males (Bagwell fell on top of Booker for the win)… don’t worry, the Heat would get them back eventually. After another Ric Flair promo taunting Arn Anderson, Paul Orndorff, somehow looking 80 years old despite being half that age, defeated Johnny B. Badd in a nothing match.

Randy Savage refuses Flair’s help with Lex Luger, which draws out Lex Luger so they can go at it verbally. This is followed by a replay of some WCW show where Hulk Hogan’s motorcycle is run over by the Giant’s monster truck… see, because they’re gonna have a monster truck battle at Halloween Havoc. And finally, Ric Flair defeated Brian Pillman via submission in the main event that lasted a little over five minutes, but it was fun while it lasted, I guess.

Three shows in and the matches are starting to feel less big time than the did initially. For what it’s worth, it wasn’t a bad show… but it also wasn’t all that important unless you really want your American Male fix.

WCW Monday Nitro (Sept. 11th, 1995) – Sabu Debuts

For anyone wondering… I do plan on eventually making a nicer banner for these Nitro musings rather than reusing the old banner that I made for the final Nitro episode musings that I wrote ages ago. Sure would be nice to have something a little more lively for these things.

In any event, this is episode 2 of WCW Monday Nitro and the first episode to go head-to-head with Monday Night RAW. Unlike last episode, which took place at the Mall Of America, this takes place in a proper arena and so we have the classic WCW Nitro set.

Continue reading “WCW Monday Nitro (Sept. 11th, 1995) – Sabu Debuts”

WCW Monday Nitro (Sept. 4th, 1995) – Lighting The Fuse

On this day – thirty years ago, to be precise – the very first episode of WCW Monday Nitro took place at the Mall Of America in Minesota. It was a sixty minute episode where, among other things, a former WCW champion made his return to the company shortly after his run in WWF, another Ric Flair vs. Sting match took place, and Hulk Hogan sold Hulkaroos to the few Hulkamaniacs who weren’t booing his ass at WCW shows.

WWE launched a WCW Youtube channel earlier this year, which featured uploads of WCW Monday Nitro. So we’re gonna watch these as they go up and for the rest, I was provided with some recordings thanks to a buddy of mine. These aren’t full-blow reviews or anything like that – you can get those anywhere – just some mild observations. If you’ve read my 21 Years Ago In TNA project that I did a while back, you’ll have an idea of what this will be about… although unlike those early NWA-TNA runs, I don’t anticipate hating these. In fact, a lot of these I never got to see, so it’ll be a genuinely fresh experience.

Continue reading “WCW Monday Nitro (Sept. 4th, 1995) – Lighting The Fuse”

RAW (June 9th, 2025) – Nobody Can Handle The Truth

It’s the RAW after Money In The Bank, where a couple people won briefcases that they’ll have to carry around for months on end until their eventual scripted cash-in takes place where they will win whatever title they will challenge in cheap fashion… oh and R-Truth was hired back after his contract ran out earlier in the month and fans protested because WWE wouldn’t re-sign him.

Well, they did re-sign him. And the first thing they did was have him cut a promo where he adopted a more serious demeanor and is now going by his real name. Yes, it took a contract expiration and a fan riot for WWE to free Ron Killings from this one-note joke character that he’s been playing for years and give him one last hurrah as the serious competitor that you only really saw ages ago when he was in TNA or even early on in his last WWE stint. Where they go from here is anyone’s guess, but whatever happens from hereon out, I hope it was worth it.

In other news, GUNTHER made Jey Uso pass out to win back his World title and end this YEET experiment that has been going nowhere. I’d imagine they need GUNTHER to hold a title so that they can fast track that rumored Goldberg match, but in any event, Jey Uso as the World Champion was worth a shot, but clearly not something that had anyone excited. Oh well.

Also, Nikki Bella made her return, teased future involvement, and got into a spat with Liv Morgan, who is supposed to be the heel in this program, but actually got more cheers than Nikki. That can’t be a good sign… also, the backstage bit where Nikki and IYO SKY is exchanging pleasantries and IYO claiming that Nikki “paved the way for the rest of us” felt so dirty and so wrong. I’m not going to deny Nikki was a major player back in the day, but let’s be real; the Bellas on top was not exactly a high point in the women’s division and it took the influx of NXT talent to really give the WWE women some actual worth. There is a reason why a lot of those Diva segments back in the day were called “designated piss breaks.”

Also, we have tournament matches for the King and Queen of the Ring titles, whose finals will be held at the next WWE Blood Money show at Saudi Arabia. And speaking of which, CM Punk – who once told some WWE Superstar to go suck on a blood money soaked dick in Saudi Arabia – will be challenging John Cena for the title at said Blood Money event. What a world we live in.

And that’s about it, really. To tell the truth – no pun intended – I didn’t watch the show… I’m only going by bits and pieces I’ve seen online as well as some recaps here and there. Haven’t renewed my Netflix subscription because I’m presently in the middle of a Paramount run, which may or may not continue if this Strange New Worlds thing ends up being worth a follow for the next couple months.

A friend did offer a recording of this Friday’s Smackdown show if I wanted to watch. Apparently, the big John Cena vs. Ron Killings rematch is taking place there. Should be fun to do a musings on… maybe give Impact a bit of a spotlight in a couple weeks.

AEW Dynamite (June 11th, 2025) – Half A Spectacular

Hey, look… an AEW Dynamite musings.

No way in hell am I sitting through FOUR HOURS of wrestling programming in a row in the middle of the week no matter who’s booking this thing, so you’re just getting the Dynamite portion of this summer spectacular or whatever they called it… which is fine by me, because I’m told that the Collision portion of the program is where things fall off a cliff. I guess I’ll take their word for it, but anyway… a brief summation of what I’ve seen.

We open with a Will Ospreay/Swerve Strickland match that ends in a 30-minute time limit draw, which then brings out the Death Television Riders to beat up Swerve and Ospreay eats a tacked Superkick for good measure. The match was your usual Ospreay goodness/hackiness… whatever floats your boat. This is followed by MJF mocking the fomer Sin Cara before the Hurt Business come out to beat a bunch of guys in a six-man, which was a thing that happened. At this point, it’s just the Hurt Business beating the shit out of dudes, which is fine. But this thing with MJF? Doesn’t work for me, brother. I think we’re at the point where MJF feels like someone you add to an act that’s hot and you want to kill it.

And so this is followed by Hangman getting ambushed by the DT Riders or whoever and Moxley cutting a quick promo before some guys come out to run off the DTRs. After a forgettable women’s match – no, seriously, I know someone made a return and it’s their first match back, but considering how talent gets signed and showcased for a couple weeks before shoved into the back of the corner, it’s not worth getting back. And finally, the show ends with a contract signing between Kenny and Okada, with Okada seemingly associated with Don Callis because… sure, why not?

By the way, Kenny, Ken Shamrock called. He said he wants his fake blood capsules back.

Look, the one thing you can’t say is that they’re not building towards this All In show in Texas. I wouldn’t call it a great show because a lot of the stuff on here is just “meh”, but it’s putting in the work to get people interested in this show. Apparently, from what I’ve been told, the Collision portion of the program is where things supposedly fall off a cliff. I guess I’ll take their word for it.