FOOTAGE! from two weeks ago - Booking Foley vs. Randy, Foley circling the ring (with flashbacks, to tension-building music), Foley walking away (to sad music), Bisch and Randy confronting him on his way out.
Fighting evil by moonlight, winning love by daylight, never running from a real fight, because it is time to WAKE UP! It's Raw, live from San Antonio, TX...and a Fashion Report, too!
Mick's music brings out Randy, in pale blue-grey shirt and black slacks, the IC Title over his shoulder. Lots of smoke hovers in the air. He talks down Mick, the smart coward. Lillian, in orange/black midrif-baring shirt and black/orange skirt, anounces Randy the winner of last week's "match". Booker, in white hot-crotch, flamin "BookerT" undies, is out and challenges Randy for the IC Title. Mark Henry, in red "Mark Henry" singlet with gold trim, with Teddy, is out to punk-out Booker. Randy accepts the challenge.
Bisch, in the back, confronts Mark and Teddy, and runs-down the card. Teddy and Mark want their favor; Bisch begs-off - next week they'll get their wish, but they're off for the rest of tonight.
Rob, in yellow flamin' "RVD" singlet vs. Steiner, in chainmail and black "Freakzilla" tights. Steiner dominates most of the match, but Rob comes back to hit the 5-Star for a pin. A nice match.
It's FOOTAGE! from the Royal Rumble, '97. Shawn defeats Sid.
In the back, Christian! and Jericho argue. Christian got ditched...for a girl.
Coach is in Stamford, with door #428! Vince, in black pinstripes stops for a talk and blabs about stockowner stuff (but don't you own, like, 75% of the company, Vince?).
JR, in black suit, black hat, and blue shirt, and Lawler, in black/white vertical stripes with gold and yellow/red trim, announce. And they show us the same video packagethat ended last week's Smackdown!
Dudleyz, DVon in sleeveless black "Dudley Boyz" jersey, green/yellow camo pants, and Bubba, in black "Dudley Boyz" jersey, green/yellow camo shorts, vs. jobbers (Eddie in silver undies, Russel in black undies). Flair, in striped shirt and khakis, is the special referee. (JR gets ALL Fashion Reporty.) Ha - Flair DQ's the Dudleys for using a closed fist! Post-match, Batista comes out for the beatdown.
More FOOTAGE! of Shawn. This time, from SummerSlam '02, there is much carnage vs. HHH.
IN the back, Bisch addresses the referees. He pumps-up the refs and tells them to...enforce the rules(?).
Meanwhile, in Stamford, Coach interviews Vince. His TESTIMONY? Fuck this noise. This is just like The People's Court.
In the back, Terri interviews the face ladies (all in red), who talk about their Christmas. Then Austin tries to run them all over (ha - HE tried to kill Goldberg), in his pick'em-uptruck.
It's Austin! He's still in his truck! This is boring!
Randy, in red "Orton" undies with black hip scrawlings, carryin the IC Title, vs. BookerT, in same as before. Chioda is the official. For some reason, Kane comes out. That disctracts Booker, allowing Randy to hit the RKO for the pin. Average match. Post-match, Kane beats-down Booker.
More Shawn FOOTAGE! This is from Elimination Chamber I.
Coach and Linda, in Stamford. She's animated (not in a cartoon way)? HOly frick!
Jericho wanders in the back, and bumps into Trish. He gives her a gift, but she's still very bitter. (What a bitch.) Then she gets all teary and opens-up, but quickly pushes Jericho away (emotionally), and shoves the gift back at him.
Austin is STILL in his truck. Damnit, CRZ, don't call him - he's waiting for news from Stamford.
The heel women, in red, vs. the face women, in red. Charles Robinson officiates. Lita - that makes me think of Sailor Jupitor. If she were real, I would TOTALLY be too shy to ask her out (her legs go ALL the way up). But that would mean getting in the way of her and that one friend she should be going out with, even though she doesn't realize it's the perfect match. Oh - the match! Um, whatever. Post-match, Victoria (oh so sweet in pigtails) turns on Molly.
Austin is STILL in his truck. Blah blah. He drives off in a huff.
Let's see that last paragragh again. ALL of it. (Like it was that entrancing the first time.)
Shawn, in steel-studded black leather vest and chaps, and black tights with silver sundered hearts, vs. HHH, in black iron-cross undies, wearing the World Heavyweight Title, with Flair, in grey sportscoat, olive green tshirt and khakis. Earl Hebner is the official, in the black/white striped shirt and black pants. But first Adbreak!
Shawn vs. HHH, cont. Shawn likes to keep HHH in a headlock, but eventually he does a springboard (with authority) onto Flair and HHH on the outside. HHH recovers and launches Shawn outside. This gives Adbreak a chance to run-in. (Did JR say "there's plenty of time left."? But, JR, couldn't the match end at any time? Oops for you!)
Shawn vs. HHH, cont.(2) HHH is very much in control, focusing on Shawn's back. Shawn rallies, and a back-and-forth ensues. HHH goes for a big knee and comes up lame. So Shawn focuses on the knee and locks-in the figure four. Flair breaks the hold with a rake of the eyes. HHH with a pedigree, but Shawn reverses. Shawn with atomic drops and chops. Flying elbow connects and Shawn tunes up the band. HHH takes-out Hebner and hits a DDT. HHH with a beltshot...for 2! Pedigree, reversed and Shawn takes-out Hebner. Bisch comes out to revive Earl. Bisch gets in and counts to 2, after HHH hits his head on an exposed turnbuckle. HHH is bleeding. Superkick and Shawn falls on HHH for 1, 2, 3! It looks like we have a new champion. A good match.
Post-match, Bischoff states that Shawn's shoulders were down, too, so he can't win the title. Shawn kicks Bisch's ass. Bisch fires Shawn. Then Austin comes down, re-hires Shawn, books another Shawn vs. HHH match, and kicks Bisch's ass. JR creams his pants.
Overall: The Stamford and Austin crap was, well, crap. That aside, it really was a nice show. I am just so freakin' sick of Austin (and they myriad of stuff surrounding him). SO he was gone for a whole...6 weeks? I'm surely going to care about the next "retirement" angle.
Another nit to pick: JR and King refer to the officials as "the ref", "this ref", or just "ref". They only tend to call Earl Hebner by his name. Thus I don't know who the hell most of those officials are. Damnit, guys, they've got names - please bother to learn 'em.
Fashion Reporter Extraordinaire
Because ten billion years' time is so fragile, so ephemeral... It arouses such a bittersweet, almost heartbreaking fondness.
Forget Austin, forget Mark Henry, forget the technicalities... That was an excellent match!! I loved every minute of it!! (Well, except for the damn Adbreak.) Giving it away on free TV?! That's a Christmas present!! :-)
Pretty much the definition of a one-match show. At least Triple H/HBK was good; the early going was a little basic, but there's nothing wrong with treating headlocks and such as if they actually, y'know, hurt and are difficult to break, as opposed to most other WWE matches, where headlocks are shrugged off with contemptuous ease. Bullshit ending, though.
Thanks for re-signing, Rob, here's a meaningless win over Steiner.
I'd feel better about this whole Kane-attacking-random-babyfaces thing if I was convinced they were actually going somewhere with it instead of just giving him something to do to mark time. Booker and Orton worked together pretty well before the run-in, though, and I wouldn't mind seeing the feud continue.
Oh Goddess, not a refs-asserting-their-authority angle. Those never go anywhere good. Remember when the refs went on strike? Will the enforcement of the closed fist rule go the way of WCW's "relaxed DQs"? And does anyone, I mean anyone, want to see a continuation of the Dudz/Batista and Flair feud?
Victoria's turning face? Okay. I guess I can get behind that. Especially if I get a few Victoria/Molly matches out of the deal.
"I do have a degree in electrical engineering... from almost 20 years ago. Punchcard systems were just becoming obsolete, we had rotary phones in the dorms, and a modem was still a gizmo the size of a shoebox into which you squooshed the phone receiver itself. In short, we lived like animals.
The instant obsolesence is why I became a writer. The rate of punctuation in a sentence doesn't double every 18 friggin' months, and you never have some 22-year-old looming over your shoulder, shaking his head, saying "dude... you're still using adverbs...?"
Orton is entertaining on the mic. His in-ring work needs a bit of polish, but I see him becoming a superstar....I wonder what Mark Henry could want as a favor....RVD v.s Scott Steiner is what you'd expect from these two: suplexes and rolling thunders....Ah, the good ol' "Board of Directors." Can't get enough of THOSE angles....Nice Smackdown in Iraq video package....Yes! A Jobber match! And of course, they win thanks to Naitch, the only ref willing to assert his authority....Good Vince promos tonight- he CAN deliver without being over-the-top....Booker v.s Orton was disappointingly mediocre....
The women's match was the usual Christmastime gimmickry. Call me a pig, but I liked the match where they fought in eggnog a few years back better....The main-event had a big-match feel to it. It was technically sound, but alot of it seemed to be punching and chopping. I don't even remember so much as a dropkick. The moveset seemed a bit limited. I could've done without the ref bumps, but it wasn't as bad as it could've been. Hot crowd added to the match....Austin's back. Another "loser leaves fill-in-the-blank" stipulation trashed and Austin shares power again. Not a big fan of that.
I don't know if it was the mood I'm in or what, but I haven't marked out that hard for a RAW match in a long, long time. Ladies and gentlemen, the Heartbreak Kid is back. Maybe not in the attitude, maybe not in the promos, but in the ring, Michaels is the man once again. It just had to be said.
The match was incredible..and then the last two minutes happened. What was the point of that? For the life of me I can't understand why they continue to shove Bischoff/Austin down our throats as the main RAW angle. Just the fact that Michaels left the ring while Bischoff and Austin continued their little segment demonstrates that in the WWE, the wrestlers and their matches are a backdrop to the non-wrestlers.
First thing that popped in my mind after Bischoff fired Michaels was..Michaels to Smackdown..Michaels vs Lesnar at Wrestlemania. Now I'm thinking Lesnar vs Benoit, Michaels vs Angle. Regardless, they can still pull off the move, considering HBK can just claim that once he was fired, he was out the door. And the story tells itself..HBK can just say that he has already proved three times that he can defeat HHH, but the powers-that-be at RAW screwed him over too many times. So now he's at Smackdown to claim what he's never tasted before. It would work.
* They're still playing up the "Foley is a coward" angle. Boo hoo, the Dudleys are distraught.
* Wow - massive loss of heat when Mark Henry broke up Booker T's stick time.
* Sign Of The Night: the three guys with painted letters on their bodies: "H" "K" "B". Nice try, guys.
* Eric Bischoff makes BigDaddyLoco look like a prophet. (see the "Rules And Referees" thread)
* Nice way to nearly kill the women, Stone Cold.
* Trish "acting". No, Trish, we're all sorry.
* Booker T jobs in Texas, then Kane continues the random violence. Next.
* Why did Molly bother with partners?
* Nice old-school transitions in the Clique match. I can't remember the last time I saw the headlock-head scissors-power out transition.
* Screwy finish to the show, though. (And I thought the crowd dropped dead earlier - holy COW.) I know they needed to bring Sheriff Stone Cold in, but it just seemed - disjointed.
Steph
P.S. It looks like SHG beat me to the punch, so I deleted my thread and moved my views here instead.
I'm going twenty-four hours a day...I can't seem to stop - "Turn Up The Radio", Autograph
It had to happen eventually: Wiener Of The Day - June 10th, 2003
Originally posted by ScreamingHeadGuyLita - that makes me think of Sailor Jupitor. If she were real, I would TOTALLY be too shy to ask her out (her legs go ALL the way up). But that would mean getting in the way of her and that one friend she should be going out with, even though she doesn't realize it's the perfect match.
Might I suggest you look up the Live-Action Sailor Moon that's currently airing in Japan? You could download episodes of it through mIRC or BitTorrent. But it's still in Japanese. But that doesn't matter becasue Asian women are hot! :)
Originally posted by Mr TuesdayMight I suggest you look up the Live-Action Sailor Moon that's currently airing in Japan? You could download episodes of it through mIRC or BitTorrent. But it's still in Japanese. But that doesn't matter becasue Asian women are hot! :)
RVD v. Steiner was better than I expected. I heard Steiner's music and expected the worst, but it ended up being pretty okay. I just wish they actually had a storyline for Rob, instead of throwing him in pointless matches every week.
The Dudleys' match was just to further a feud between them and Flair/Batista. A feud that is totally NOT rocking my world.
A feud that totally IS rocking my world, however, is Trish/Jericho. C'mon Trish, forgive him already! God, I'm such a mark.
Booker T v. Kane? Well, it's better than Booker T v. Mark Henry, but I still have no desire to see it.
The women's match was what it was.
I totally couldn't give a shit if Austin is co-GM/president/vice-president/owner/co-owner/boss' son/sheriff, or whatever the hell the new authority figure of the week is.
And oh... my... GOD! What a fucking main-event! Best match on RAW in a LOOOOOOONG time. I'm not a huge fan of Shawn (he's great in the ring, but it's time to put new guys over, and he isn't helping) and I down right HATE Triple H. But, I must give both of them their due. They tore down the fucking house and put on a near ***** match. Kudos.
The first 90-minutes of this RAW was pretty dull, but the main-event more than made up for it.
GOD! What a f*****g main-event! Best match on RAW in a LOOOOOOONG time. I'm not a huge fan of Shawn (he's great in the ring, but it's time to put new guys over, and he isn't helping) and I down right HATE Triple H. But, I must give both of them their due. They tore down the f*****g house and put on a near ***** match.
Though i dont agree with the all the cussing, I have to agree, that match was amazing, the finish was crap though, i knew what they were going for when Shawn fell on him, but shouldnt Trips had his hand over shawn or something?
Other that that I was completely into the match, top to bottom. But that one moment where you see the gig after he pulls off the turnbuckle cover took me right out of it.
Oh yeah, and clique only jobs to clique, whine, whine whine...
Which reminds me, anyone else hear JR say that Shawn Michaels "doesn't lay down for anybody"? I love that old chestnut.
You can't stop Pete "Gas". You'd be a fool to try.
How anybody can say that match, (HHH & HBK) was anything BUT outstanding is beyond me. Calling it a "punk kick" match is just plain ignorant.
Anyhow, the crowd was so hot for that match, when the first time you really think HBK has a chance of winning it, the entire, ENTIRE crowd is on thier feet, and when the kick out happens, it is silence. Total utter disbelief. Terrific way to build to a somewhat disappointing finish.
I have to disagree with OMEGA here and say that I dont WANT HBK putting new guys over just for the sake of doing it. Who is really left in singles that needs to be put over? I will take an entertaining 15-20 minute match with him and HHH any day over him making Randy Orton look good.
Oh, and now that Daffney is no longer under contract and won't scream (haha) about gimmick infringement, keep Victoria in the pig tails! GOOD LORD she was looking hot!
1. victoria in pigtails is better. 2. i liked the main event, but one thing that bothered me was that i noticed the refs' (hebner, bisch) hands would stop just a split second before the guy getting pinned could throw his shoulder up. i don't know if this is because of the camera angles they took or whatever, but it took a bit of the overall suspense away (especially after the belt shot, etc) when it was semi-telegraphed that it wasn't a pin. but other than that i was into it. :)
So let's see, at the end of the show, we had: 1) Lawler gettin' all wet over the girls and their breasts rather than notice that even Goddamn Stacy is now wrestling better than he could! 2) Steve Austin is now there in a GM type role fighting with Eric Bischoff. 3) Triple H keeps is still the world's champion with no end in sight. 4) Bischoff fires a guy, just so Austin can re-hire him. and probably a whole else that I just can't be bothered to remember due to the first 90 minutes being a bore.
And yet Jim Ross has the nerve to end the show by saying "RAW will never be the same again!"
Tribal Prophet
Wrestling exists in the eternal present. What is, has always been, and when it no longer is, it never was. It has no past and no future, and sometimes even today is in question. - Madame Manga
The main event made tonight's show. Awesome crowd overall. I wish I didn't have the main event result spoiled for me before the show. But even when I did know it, I was on the edge of my seat at each pinfall. You have to give it up to HHH and HBK, those two really did go all-out tonight. That'll probably end up on some DVD down the line. Although one thing...since the Best of RAW 2003 show is over and this was the last show of 2003, think this'll still be featured on Best of RAW 2004?
The post-match stuff though, I have to admit, even i'm getting tired of Austin getting fired/leave then getting another chance. Or just "face authority figure gets fired/has to leave but then gets reinstated". It's just overkill.
Rest of the show was pretty "ehh". Not horrible but not great either. But the crowd helped keep things going which was good.
Only other thing I really enjoyed greatly was the women's match. I questioned at first why Victoria and Molly were teaming after Molly attacked her on Heat a couple weeks back. But then of course Vicky got her revenge. Plus the pigtails, wow. She definitely needs to do that more. I'm sure i'm not the only one excited about this feud.
Good to see Trish showing some range in her acting [/sarcasm]. I'm still enjoying the angle though, and I know she's trying her best, so hey.
Lastly, looks like they're rolling out the WWE Originals commercial/segments already. It's gonna be rough! hah.
Originally posted by ScreamingHeadGuyAnother nit to pick: JR and King refer to the officials as "the ref", "this ref", or just "ref". They only tend to call Earl Hebner by his name. Thus I don't know who the hell most of those officials are. Damnit, guys, they've got names - please bother to learn 'em.
Referees referred to by name at least once during their match by JR tonight: Chad Patton Ric Flair Mike Chioda Charles Robinson Earl Hebner
Referees Jim Ross didn't name at least once during their match tonight: None
Referees not assigned a match tonight: Jack Doan
Originally posted by OlFuzzyBastardHey, did anyone notice there wasn't one word about Goldberg this week? Probably meaningless, but I know I've got my fingers crossed.
Bischoff DID mention him... during his speech to the officials.