WWF Summerslam 1998

Well… we’d have to hit a Summerslam at some point. Might as well get it out of the way… on my birthday no less.

Fun fact; two Summerslams took place on my birthday. The 2004 edition, which featured Randy Orton defeating Chris Benoit for his first World title, and the 2010 edition, which featured John Cena single-handedly burying the Nexus and thus killing off any chance of making them seem like a credible threat. Since neither option was worth revisiting, I opted to go back to 1998, which would’ve been my first live Summerslam… on Pay-Per-View. This took place from the old MSG; somewhat appropriate considering the big news involving the current MSG just last week.

Anyway, on with the show… which used AC/DC’s Highway To Hell song as the theme for this show and they even teased the build to the main event as the highway to hell. Unfortunately, you’re not getting that song on the WWE Network, as it’s been scrubbed due to licensing issues. This isn’t a Network thing, as I had this on VHS once upon a time and they scrubbed it from there too. So, I guess we’re sticking with this truncated show that’s missing bits here and there or using shitty redubbed music.

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WCW Road Wild ’99

“You’re my bitch and everyone out here can fight for sloppy seconds.”

When you have a line like that coming from the madness of the Macho Man Randy Savage in a match with Dennis Rodman where a portapotty comes into play, you’re on to something.

So, this is the Road Wild PPV, which would eminate from Sturgis at a biker rally of sorts. So what you have is this setting where you have a bunch of bikers watching this WCW wrestling show headlined by a literal cartoon character as played by Father Time himself. Much like the Bash At The Beach at an actual beach, there was no money made from live attendance and the crowd didn’t seem to be into the show all that much. So, from some business standpoint, this was a stupid idea… but because Eric Bischoff likes bikes, WCW held an annual event in Sturgis for FOUR YEARS.

I’ll give them this much credit; as bad as it might’ve been for business, at the very least, WCW holding a live Pay-Per-View broadcast from a biker rally made for a very distinct and unique atmosphere. And you remember that sort of shit. Please point to the last time you saw a unique WWE arena set-up at a pay-per-view event that is NOT a Wrestlemania or Overseas show.

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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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Random Thoughts On… The ROH/NJPW MSG G1 Supershow Sell Out

Source: https://www.f4wonline.com/ring-honor/roh-njpw-g1-supercard-sells-out-madison-square-garden-263531

So Ring Of Honor tried to get a show at Madison Square Garden and then were told they couldn’t get a show, blaming WWE for the cockblock of sorts. But then things smoothed out and we got the announcement that Ring Of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling are holding their G1 Supershow at the Garden on Wrestlemania Weekend.

And then tickets went on sale and sold out almost immediately. So Ring of Honor and New Japan did what WWE couldn’t do in three years: they sold out the Garden.

You know, I thought the All In show selling out in 30 minutes was probably the most mind-blowing thing I’ve seen this past year and I’m happy that it’s going to be available for public consumption on a broadcast level via PPV and various streaming formats… but then two of the biggest wrestling entities not named WWE not only were able to secure a date for an arena that had been almost exclusively McMahon territory for well over half a century, but to sell the place out when WWE couldn’t do that with a house show that featured the likes of Roman Reigns and Ronda Rousey?

Actually, reading that last bit out loud sounded far more impressive than it actually was, if at all.

So you know what? Good for ROH and New Japan. I’m really thrilled that they were able to make this happen and their efforts were rewarded with a quick sell-out. Here’s hoping that when bell time comes along next year, they pull off a phenomenal showing that would be worthy of the Garden.

Anyone got a Vince McMahon sad face I could post on here?

Power Rangers Reflections Redux #12 – Cyborg Rangers

Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue is a series that, for a period of time that I can recall, not a whole lot of people like to hold in high regard and at one point in time, I was one of those folks. It wasn’t that it was a bad season, but rather a season that I lacked any real interest in and only followed because it was Power Rangers. I never really cared for the more militaristic nature of the show or the fact that it was something of a departure from what came before; a team of people with other jobs drafted into this Ranger team as a superpowered emergency force, equipped with weapons and tech designed by normal humans rather than enchanted items devised by alien sorcerers. I didn’t downright hate Lightspeed, but it was never something high on my list of memorable PR seasons.

As years progressed and lesser incarnations came about, PRLR had started to grow on me somewhat. While the overall story isn’t all that great, there were some decent ideas in there that I kinda dug. Having a Ranger team as public servants and with a public face is a nice concept that would get revisited in SPD (not so much Time Force) and the team of Rangers had eventually grown on me somewhat since they acted more like young adults rather than adult actors trying to be teenagers. The series’ most notable contribution would be the Titanium Ranger, the first home-grown Power Ranger that isn’t a carryover from a pre-existing Super Sentai show. And while he didn’t have much of a role in the series (a missed opportunity if there ever was one), I thought it was a pretty cool add on.

Lightspeed Rescue has a number of episodes that might be worth revisiting in some form or another, but today, I want to look at Cyborg Rangers, the 7th episode in the series. Part of the reason stemmed from a viewing of Once A Ranger, which almost reminded me of this episode. Another reason was the need to go away from MMPR for a while.

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DTM House Show – Mega Man Maker Wily Challenge (August 10th, 2018)

A playthrough of Mega Man Maker’s Wily Challenge mode, which lets you play a series of randomly selected community levels. Played on Short and Normal. This video features no commentary or text blurbs whatsoever; just gameplay.

Despite the lack of commentary, it is technically a DTM House Show… even though it’s on the archive channel.

Slideshow Movie Review #30 – Batman v Superman: Yawn Of Justice (2016)

Full disclaimer; this was done last year and has been sitting around the hard drive for a long time. I’ve considered redoing it in light of recent movies released, but my opinion hasn’t really changed all that much on the film, so I opted to keep the old audio.