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.
A week of Yoshi is ruined by a belated Kirby episode… but regardless, it’s a week of Yoshi-themed puzzle games on your NES, Game Boy… and even SNES gets a run at it… and then on Saturday, we’ll do something or other, I don’t know.
State Of The Blog thing… I suppose the good thing is that there’s an actual schedule being followed this month as far as the video material is concerned.
It actually hurts that this got delayed a couple times, but I guess this means a full week of videos, as this coming week was also supposed to be a marathon and that’s still the plan… I only wish that this wasn’t a piece of shit plan.
It is August 31st of the year 2025 and I have NOT watched the Section 31 streaming video motion picture film starring Academy Award Winner Michelle Yeoh.
I dodged a bullet… because I may or may not have mentioned that if a certain someone I knew had send me a DVD or Blu-Ray copy of this thing, then I would compel myself to watch it. I had a Paramount Plus subscription, but I mostly used that for Strange New Worlds and some old Trek reruns… and also some Turtles stuff.
Lo and behold – that certain someone who would send me gag gifts decided on a proper birthday gift instead – the complete TMNT 80s cartoon on DVD that he probably bought from one of the Toys R Us stores that are shutting down in Quebec… yes, it seems like even Canadian ownership couldn’t keep the TRU train running. Personally, I think it was the decision to ditch their video game stock in favor of bringing back another dead brand (HMV) to sell some minor stuff that you could probably get cheaper elsewhere.
So, yes… much to the chagrin of anyone who thinks this gag is starting to be a bit tiresome, the cycle continues.
Is WWE counterprogramming AEW the result of McSon-In-Law pettiness? Of course, it is; why would you ask a silly question? Also, someone wants to know what it would take for me to watch the Voldemort of Ghostbusters and the answer… may not surprise anyone who frequents this space for decades now.
Last year, Paramount released the first clip of the then-upcoming third season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, which is the continuing adventures of Captain Pike and his hair on board the U.S.S. Enterprise. Said clip was not from the season premiere episode, which was to resolve a cliffhanger from the previous season involving the Gorn… but rather an unrelated episode where four of the crew were injected with a serum that transformed them into Vulcans… and supposedly, that’s where the “hilarity” ensured.
Needless to say, this got a mixed reaction… and also I didn’t care for it…
This was one of the many big swings that the producers promised for this season. And sure, why not? You can have your big swings… except nobody ever mentioned anything about these swings actually hitting anything. And this is something that soured me on the show during its second season – we need our Spock comedy hour, we need our musical episode – BIG SWINGS… big misses. I thought the Spock turning human plot point was fascinating, but was played for “laughs” and left me wondering when this would be funny… note to any aspiring comedy writers: NEVER put your audience in a situation where they have to ask when your shit gets funny.
So… the third season comes along and… this is the eighth episode of the season; by which point the closest things to what the showrunners wish to perceive as “big swings” is a Trelane cosplayer doing a fake wedding and a holodeck adventure that’s no better or worse than any other Star Trek that takes place on a holodeck… I suppose if you want to count the documentary-esque episode as a “big swing,” then go for it. I thought it was largely dull and uninspired when it should have been thought-provoking.
And then we get this pile of shit… which may or may not be worse than The Way To Eden… you know… the one with the hippies.
The difference between the two episodes is that at least the Eden writers had some idea on how to write space hippies. The people who are writing modern Star Trek can’t even script these Vulcans right; they just come across as emotionless assholes for the sake of being emotionless assholes. Even the Vulcans on Enterprise never came across this poorly. And in watching all this stupidity unfold, at no point did I find myself laughing. Nor did I crack a smile or a chuckle. Hell, I wasn’t even screaming in agony… I was largely bored. This felt like a complete and utter waste of time.
Just about the only thing that worked for me is the budding working relationship between Kirk and Scotty as they try to keep Vulcan La’an from starting a war with everyone… because that is logical… or that’s being an asshole. Fuck if I know. All I know is that those guys work well together; maybe you should put them on a ship or something, so they can work together or something.
So yeah… that was a big swing, alright…
A swing… and a huge, MASSIVE miss.
Please tell me that I need to turn my brain off in order to be entertained by this, so I can calmly reply that if I were to turn my brain off for this thing, I would have found the cure for insomnia that’s even more effective than a 20-minute HHH promo.
P.S. I would be remiss in not mentioning the post credit bit involving Ethan Peck’s Spock and Patton Oswald, but that would involve giving Patton Oswald the light of day. Two mentions of that individual’s name is more than enough and he does not deserve a speck more.
P.P.S. I would rather watch The Way To Eden than sit through that horrible musical episode from last season, too.
I think I have nothing left to say… other than it’s on my list…
Sorry about the incomplete Slammiversary posting that I had completely forgot about. I was supposed to have it done soon, but then lost interest and forgot about it. I’m usually diligent on this stuff, but I’ve been preoccupied as of late.
Good news is that we’re fairly on track with videos. No set schedule for the rest of the year save for maybe a couple key dates in October (the Hell’s Kitchen Wii review as well as knocking off the three DS Castlevanias), but truthfully, I’ve been starting on getting stuff ready for 2026 so that by the time we’re ready to get started there, there’ll be no setbacks.
Finally, I saw the latest Strange New Worlds… the one where everyone turns into a Vulcan and also guest starring Patton Oswald because god forbid we can’t have a show without that fellow around… anyway, the less said, the better.
Later.
P.S. I have a poll up… for a friend. Click here to check it out.
P.P.S. New review will be up on Saturday. Feeling a bit sick and also wanted to add a bit or two to vid before going ahead. And then next week, it’s Star Trek’s 59th anniversary and we’re doing… nothing of significance.
dtm666 