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.

Continue reading “WWF In Your House #9: International Incident (July 1996)”

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.

Howard Finkel

I thought long and hard about how to properly convey the words in regards to what kind of impact the late great Howard Finkel left on my life… and I end up drawing a blank. It’s almost embarrassing that it took me two weeks since his passing to come up with a worthy tribute… but ultimately, nothing I can do could be considered as such.

Because there are no words that could do the man justice.

Howard Finkel is the first thing that comes to mind when I think pro wrestling ring announcers. For over two decades, he was the voice of Wrestlemania. Appropriate when you consider that he was the one who coined the name. His distinct vocal inflections and way of making things seem grandeur and important brought a level of class and distinct to a sport that was often lacking in such things… and did a far better job of it than anyone that came before or since.

Howard Finkel was also the smartest man in WWE, with an encyclopedic knowledge of the business that became the inspiration for a short-lived contest called Out-think The Fink, where fans would try to stump the Fink. And when he needed to be, he played a perfect lackey or foil to the delight of the audience.

It is safe to say that there will never be another Howard Finkel. He was truly one of a kind and he shall be forever missed.

Thanks for the memories, Howard.

The "Lost" 2018 Reviews Are Coming To YouTube!

So over at the Youtube channel, I posted this update thing to let everyone know that the “lost” 2018 reviews will be posted there starting next week from Monday to Friday. These reviews were already featured on the blog while they had stuff like Nice Code and AT Games Weeks… so this is a first time moment.

New review (for the blog) coming at noon.