WWE SmackDown 12-27-16

Cena starts the show off and gets some huge YES chants while talking about AJ. He asks if AJ can retain once more and says that he'll challenge for the title at the Rumble. He's sick of the new era and says it's the My Time is Now Era. The Wyatts come out as THE SMACKDOWN LIVE TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS. Boy does that sound ridiculous - and it's not like just being SD Tag Champs would be dumb enough too. Usos and Rhyno/Slater are here too.  Miz's locker room is shown and American Alpha comes out. JBL says that this is the same building that Raw was in and they outdrew it.

Slater slips off the top and eats a superkick to take them out. A wonky sunset flip takes out the Usos. AA's gold and American flag gear is Angle-riffic. Harper catapults Gable into the rope and Gable bumps to the floor for it - that's a new one. JJ gets a hot tag and works really well with Orton. Gable missile dropkicks Orton AND GRAND AMPLITUDE HITS TO GIVE AA THE WIN! This was outstanding and these guys were made right here.

Dolph cuts an intense promo and then Robo Dasha chats with Ellsworth. He buries himself for being scrawny, having no chin, being 150 pounds but Carmella says that Dasha is insulting him by saying these things and they leave arm in arm. Becky and Alexa having a ground-heavy match with Becky dominating. BECKY DOES THE PENTAGON JR. ARM SNAPPER! And this is just a spot - Becky gets 2 off a missile dropkick. La Luchadora comes out to distract Becky, which gets 2 off a schoolboy. Bliss gets a forearm shot that sends Alexa down, but Becky gets the armbar and Bliss gets the ropes. Luchadora interferes and Bliss hits the DDT to win. Alexa was put over as almost a face in overcome the arm injury and popping the arm in the socket to retain. Bliss tells Dasha that La Luchadora could be Sasha - or maybe Nia.

Miz and Renee do a bit outside of his dressing room with her surrounded by security. Dean beats up Miz. Nikki cuts an annoyed promo about Nattie. Baron says that he feels no pressure tonight - but AJ and Dolph should because they're going to meet the end of days. Baron is fine in there as a guy who exists to look intimidating and give the other guys someone to feed off of. AJ hits the over the knee DVD while Mauro puts over his amazing year, but Dolph avoids the clash. END OF DAYS HITS AND DOLPH HITS A ZIG ZAG TO BARON - to get 2.5! End of Days to Dolph, but the P1 Forearm hits Baron and AJ retains. AJ and Cena shake and will face off at the Rumble. This was an outstanding show - it was fun to watch and built to the future perfectly.

Screens -
 http://www.imagebam.com/gallery/o5js542npsuvxt8waqak2j5noiy0fmi4

WCW Starrcade 1990 pt3

The Horsemen vs. Doom street fight is up. Doom is in half shirts and jeans, while the Horsemen have their swaztika shirts on. Everyone brawls for a while. Barry gets busted open on the floor, hugs the post, they brawl more and we get a double pin. So it's a draw - but with no winner, and then they just keep fighting down the ramp. Wow was this a mess. Muta and Saito come out with pyro and Saito just no-sells it. Muta's got mist on his chest and a half-face of paint looking odd. Scott's pink singlet is Flanders-level distracting with how much it's riding up his ass.

Muta lands a series of swift kicks - boy could he move then. Scott avoids a kick and then goes for an inverted enzuiguri and locks on a half-crab. Muta gets crotched and then rattles his pants around for a bit. Scott hits the winding belly to belly. Rick slugs away at Saito and then gets Saito suplexed. Heels cheat and bonk Rick with the bell. Muta hits a springboard elbow on Rick. We get a shot of the trophy and the seldom-seen Starrcade banner. Scott gets Saito suplexed and choked. Heels hit a spike piledriver to Scott and...just punch him. How very odd. Saito smashes him into the buckle again. DROP HIM ON HIS HEAD AGAIN. Rick gets a sunset flip off the top and wins with a finisher he's never used before.

The faces are presented the trophy by all of the models, and JIM HERD.  Herd has a mild speech prepared to really put this thing over. Rick tells soldiers to kick butt. The cage is set up for the main event - so they filled time rather well. Paul E gets on his giant phone and calls no one. A crew member fixed the buckle and DICK THE BRUISER COMES DOWN dressed like Popeye, only with gigantic pants on. He can almost move here. A wide variety of Black Scorpions come out - with some having jobberriffic masks.

 
A wacky UFO falls from the sky.  It hits the ramp, closes, then opens with pyro and reveals the REAL BLACK SCORPION with a silver cape. They get a closeup of his face and boy is going with a chinless mask a bad idea since Flair's face is so distinct. Sting comes out and gets a $20 pyro display. God that Black Scorpion thing was the must low-rent big-dollar attempt at special effects yet. The Black Scorpion hops around and does a jig.

Scorpion hits a back suplex and missed an elbow before begging off. Sting gets some clotheslines and they circle around a bit. This may actually be a worse Flair-Sting match than their final one in 2011. Scorpion hits a series of clotheslines. Flair-esque snapmare leads to a figure 4 on the neck. Scorpion goes for a pin with his feet on the ropes. Dick has none of that. Scorpion gets a headlock punch....HMM!  We get a shot from the camera man sitting atop the cage. A corner lariat and snapmare gets 2.

Chinlock. GODDAMN IS THIS MATCH BORING. Scorpion uses the ropes and Dick breaks it up. Scorpion lands a series of punches. This match is 15 minutes in and still in first gear. Scorpion takes a press slam EXACTLY LIKE FLAIR. HMM! Sting misses a cage Stinger splash and hits the cage hard. That looked good. Bruiser takes a decade to count 1. Sting gets 2 off a boot and it takes Dick eons to get down and up for it. Sting chokes him in the corner, but Scorpion hits the eyes.

Sting gets tossed into the cage and fans hold up Black Scorpion signs. Sting gets trapped between the cage and the ropes and gets tossed into the cage back-first. Scorpion hits a terrible piledriver for 2. Sting gets a running bulldog - FINALLY THE CROWD DOES SOMETHING. Sting hits the stinger splash and Dick almost gets in the way. Scorpion deathlock is on and Dick and Sting are in almost the same position. Scorpion gets the ropes and slams him into the cage.

Scorpion gets unmasked BUT HE HAS A SECOND MASK ON, resulting in a fan gasping. This mask reveals his blonde hair and then he bumps crotch-first on the ropes. Sting tosses him into the cage and he Flair flops to...not blade. Sting hits a press into the cage before hitting a flying lariat. Scorpion gets color and Sting beats him with a crossbody off the top. Sting and Dick take the masks off the B squad. Arn and Barry come down to save the Scorpion. HMM! DDT on the chair. God, Flair got a lot of blood under that mask. Ross is doing the MSW hard sell that they only have 2 minutes left.

Zenk and Morton come down to save Sting. And they fail. Well, good. THE STEINERS SAVED AMERICA AND THEY'RE HERE TO SAVE STING. Rick's got bolt cutters and Barry keeps his fingers in there. Flair is unmasked and we don't even get a good shot of it. They plug the OFFICIAL STARRCADE SHIRT - which costs almost twice as much as this show does to watch on the Network.

WWE SmackDown 12-20-16

AJ vs. Ellsworth starts the show, with Otunga saying Ellsworth MIGHT have a chance. Ellsworth's tron being just his name with stars is perfect. AJ blocks No Chin Music and lays him out with the KENTA combo to win. AJ beats the piss out of him afterwards, including hitting a stiff slam onto the announce table. Dolph comes out looking like an unmade bed and cuts a promo on AJ, before Baron talks about deserving the shot more than Dolph. Bryan looks like a school teacher and makes Dolph vs. Baron tonight with the winner facing AJ for the title, and if Dolph loses, he's done.

Miz battles Crews for the IC Title. Crews was given quite a few chances to shine. Maryse's catsuit may be hotter than her usual lingerie. She gets ejected for interfering, but Miz wins after flipping out of the back suplex>powerbomb, "hitting the ref" on the way down, thumbing the eye and hitting the Finale. Solid match. Renee chats with him afterwards and he insults her over Dean, so she slaps him. Ryder's surgery is recapped.

Cena hype video. Nattie, Nikki, and Carmella chat. Nattie admits to it and then tosses Carmella into a Christmas tree, as ya do. Bliss talks to Bryan and Bryan says that the trainers have cleared her. Bryan tells her she's in a match tonight - but not against Becky. Dean faces Harper in a good little match that Dean wins with a cradle, and the family beats him up - so why even bother doing the fall? Miz further beats him up and gloats.

 

Alexa faces The Avenger...err...La Luchadora, DRESSED LIKE THE AVENGER - Chris Adams's gimmick against Jimmy Garvin in WCCW. Bliss taps to the Dis Arm Her. This gimmick ALWAYS works and even with it being done note for note like it was 30+ years ago, it works. Hawkins and Mojo chat with Ryan Phillipe before their match. Mojo beats him with a stiff running forearm. Ellsworth comes out of the trainer's room with two foot boots, k tape on his arms, ice on his shoulders, and a neck brace. Robo Dasha is absolutely perfect saying these robotic questions without a hint of concern. Carmella is concerned about him.

Baron gets a new lighting and tron setup tonight. AJ is on commentary and Dolph is sent into AJ by Corbin. They go to a double countout and AJ lays out Dolph and Corbin with a chair. Bryan makes next week's match a triple threat match. Solid setup there and it allows Baron to be in the main event mix without relying on him as a regular main eventer.

Screenshots -
http://www.imagebam.com/gallery/u5k7eqefq1h2uirf2ycye4rknt3s1lzv

WCW Halloween Havoc 1998 pt1

This gets a makeshift box cover with the starship WCW logo that just looks odd. Speaking of which, we start with a grey blur of Hogan. This show apparently aired free on WCW.com at the time and we see the OWN. We get a rundown of the big matches - of a 13 match card. The set here is outstanding and easily one of the best ever in the company's history.

Heenan, Tony, and Tenay are on commentary. it's so odd to have them hype up the biggest match in history - a WWF rematch. Heenan puts on a little gold mask and Tony just no-sells it and stares at Tenay. Nitro Girls are out to dance and make their PPV debut here. Gene is out here to interview Rick Steiner to get his thoughts on his match with Scott later. Buff is out in FUBU - the ultimate sign of '98. He recaps the history of Buff, Scott, and Rick here. Buff has Rick's back here. That'll end nicely for him. A Superman-clad fan poses. Raven vs. Jericho is up for the TV Title in a bonus match. This is a slide for Raven, who earlier was a legit thing in pop culture with the US Title reign and DDP feud.

We get a crowd shot and holy shit is there a packed house here. Jericho's WWF theme is dubbed in here. He's got a Monday Night Jericho shirt and they need to make that NOW. The TNT part would have to be nixed, sadly. Raven bitches about his losing streak and goes to leave. Jericho calls him out on being a chickenshit and wants a match. Odd heel behavior here. MORE TALKING. What is this, Raw? Raven sets up the steps and does a run-up dropkick off of them.

Jericho hits a stungun and a triangle dropkick. Jericho jump off the apron into Raven...who easily moves and Jericho just hits the railing. Raven takes a wacky flip bump into the barricade. Raven locks on a sleeper, but Jericho back suplexes him. Jericho takes the buckle pad off, and eats it with a slingshot. Raven ducks a spinkick and eats a belly to belly for 2. Jericho goes for the crab, locks it on, but Raven gets the ropes. EVENFLOW! GETS 2! Schoolboy with the jorts gets 2 for Jericho. Ballshot by Jericho leads to Kanyon coming out for some reason, bonking heads with Raven, who taps to the Liontamer. Jericho's wacky jump for joy after the win rules.

Hogan and Bischoff come out for the Raw Opening Promo on PPV portion of the show. The NWO Nitro shirt is on Hogan because they had at on of them, and it's a solid logo. We see Hogan beat up Horace on Nitro. Time for a second match! Meng is out to face Wrath - who is so big a star that he gets his name graphic up TWICE. Heel vs. Heel for the second match in a row. Wrath hits a flip dive and then SMASHES MENG INTO THE BUCKLE. That doesn't go well for him. MENG ROLLS OUT OF THE MELTDOWN AND HITS A MULE KICK. Nice stuff there. Meng kinda hits a sloppy lariat in the corner. SUNSET FLIP is countered. Uranage hits for 2, but the Meltdown wins. Kidman and Lee Marshll are backstage talking about Juvi vs. Disco for a shot at Kidman's title.

Disco comes out and THE FANS DANCE TO HIS THEME. Well hell, he actually seems like a star. Juvi is out in purple and orange - looking even more absurd than Disco. Disco starts with CRUISERWEIGHT MUDHOLE STOMPS and a sideslam. They botch a rocker dropper before Juvi finally lands it. He gets a wonky headscissors off the apron too. Disco hits the second rope elbow before a chinlock. Disco outsmarts Juvi, who dives on him and Disco bumps before the move. Disco's Macarena elbow doesn't work. Piledriver hits and wins it. Good-looking piledriver there.

Nitro Girls dance around some more. They're dressed rather skimpily for WCW, but the idea of having a showgirls-esque act here does work. Scott Steiner comes out with a live mic and HOLY JESUS is he jacked. He wants the match changed to Rick and Buff against Scott and the Giant. Great! JJ comes out to spoil their fun. JJ agrees to the match, but only if Scott agrees to face Rick for 5 minutes if Rick and Buff win. And then the heels just leave - so much for the impromptu nature of this.

Finlay comes out with a ridiculous black and neon green-striped getup. Alex Wright comes out for this, which should actually be a solid little matchup. Heenan says that Alex is in this to get revenge for his dad, who had his leg broken by Finlay in a match years before. CONTEXT! Wright takes him out with an armdrag and dances. Finlay hits his awesome snapmare-ELBOW TO THE HEAD bit. They trade uppercuts and Wright hits a running uppercut - that looked great. Finlay hits the slingshot backbreaker. Wright and Finlay take each other out over the top with a crossbody. Finlay misses a corner charge and eats a neckbreaker - giving Wright the win. Well, that was a darn fine little match - best on the show so far. Lee chats with The Cat. Apparently, the Cat Bo line was a number for a WCW office member - ha!

Lodi is out with signs. Lodi apparently still wrestles now. Saturn comes out looking like a member of the Village People. Actually, it's even more absurd. Lodi, in his leather booty shorts, is dressed in a subdued manner compared to Saturn. I remember getting this show on PPV and I guess I in part paid for LODI VS. SATURN. Saturn drops him on his head during an exploder and wins with the DVD. Great falcon arrow too.

WWE Roadblock: End of the Line 2016

Pre-show features Sam Roberts and the announcement of the UK Title and tournament. Rusev being on the pre-show of a B show is astounding. And now Enzo is referencing her real-life nudes. Wow. I know the first thing I'd do to the cohort of the guy who tried to snake my wife would be engage him in a collar and elbow tie-up. Commercial right after. Of course. Current highlight of the show is a kid dressed like Enzo. They're brawling in the WWE UNIVERSE - JUST LIKE YOU CAN DO IN THE GAME! Rusev wins by countout. Wow.

Sam Roberts says annoying things. "WE THE WWE UNIVERSE, OWENS AND JERICHO WAS LIKE OUR ROSS AND RACHEL!" This man is paid to speak!? NXT is hyped up as the show with the next generation of talent. "The next generation". 37 year old Itami, 37 year old Nakamura, 39 year old Joe, 39 year old Roode. Tag Title match starts things off with rather fitting Christmas gear. Big E referencing cockblocking here on this PG show. Kofi calls Cesaro and Sheamus the Shameful Swingers. And now we've got the black minstrel act singing slave songs. Wonderful.

Solid double teams by Cesaro and Sheamus. Big E hits the suicide spear and actually lands reasonably safely. Babyface New Day once again uses 3-on-2 heel tactics to try and retain titles when Woods kicks Sheamus leading to the Big Ending. THEN AGAIN when Woods distracts while Kofi taps to the sharpshooter. Weird bit where Kofi seemingly deadweights Cesaro during a setup for the Neutralizer, which gets 2. Tornado dive by Cesaro on the floor. SOS gets 2. Sheamus rushes in and cradles Kofi to win the titles.

Generic Brunette Interview Woman Says Words to Owens, who says he's better than the New Day and Roman. He buries her stupid questions, then gives Chris a scarf - but Chris REJECTS IT! Sami's out to face Braun. Sami's new gear screams WCW Saturday Night jobber. Braun really loves him some corner charges. Mick brings a towel out. Braun vs. Cactus in his prime would've been a fun match. LOL @ DELETE! They are out here FOREVER. Shouldn't the ref be counting? We had a countout earlier. Sami avoids a charge and Braun eats the post and then goes through a barricade. NOW the ref counts!? He gets to 9 and Sami gets 2 off a crossbody. Sami hits the kick, but time expires - which gives him the win because...he didn't lose? Corey points out that this is not actually a win.

Seth vs. Jericho recap leads to their match. Jericho's homage to Okada gear is nice. Match itself is nothing. Good sequence leading from a powerbomb into a Walls. KO comes out and winds up not only distracting Seth, but also the ref when Jericho cradles him. Jericho yells at him and eats THE WORST flying knee ever. Pedigree hits and ends it. Pre-show match recap leads to the announcement of Rusev vs. Cass II on Raw. Kendrick is out for the crusierweight title three-way. Aries is out for commentary. Two minutes in and we get submission finisher trading. Great. Super-long kneebar to Swann leads to him getting to the ropes, the faces superkick partying Kendrick, and then the hook kick winning for Swann. Neville comes down and jumps Swann. Neville as a heel is already more over as a face than he ever was as a face. Owens begs Jericho to forgive him and bangs on his door - but there's no Jericho.

The Sasha vs. Charlotte video airs - so this is already happening. Holy shit is this gear a great look for Charlotte. Cole's PPV streak is stated to be better than Hogan AND THE UNDERTAKER'S. Jesus. Pretty smooth chain wrestling here from each woman - impressive. Three minutes of that leads to a crossface, but Charlotte gets the ropes. They fight to the floor and Sasha hits the shotgun knees off the apron. Backbreaker/strangle hold is locked on for Sasha. Charlotte goes to toss Sasha out, but Sasha counters, tosses her out and hits a suicide dive.

Sasha is on the apron, but gets slickly tripped off the apron and hits the steps hard. This seemingly KOs her, and it only gets 2. Why Charlotte didn't just take the countout, I have no idea. Super Natural Selection hits and gives Charlotte a fall. Sasha evens it up with a wacky clusterfuck of a cradle. Crossface gets a second fall for Sasha. Charlotte works on the knee and gets a last-second tap to tie things up at the end.They go into overtime and Sasha gets 2 off a small package. Charlotte has a sub-Dusty-level figure four on now. Yikes. Charlotte wins with the figure 8 and a fan is PISSED. Sasha is now a three-time champion who had ZERO DEFENSES.

Owens-Reigns is up. Lots of chinlocks. LONG CHINLOCKS. Owens hits a frog splash off the dasher boards through the announce table. This gets a 9 count before Roman rushes in and eats another frog splash for 2. Pop-up powerbomb leads to 2 when Roman gets his foot on the ropes. KO grabs the belt and eats a spear. Jericho hits a codebreaker to KO. Codebreaker leads to WE'RE BUDS AND WE SWERVED YA! Well, this show got everyone on it under. Seth comes down and we get a double-team powerbomb to Jericho through the Spanish announce table and then attack KO near the English team. KO eats a powerbomb through that and rolls to the floor. ROMAN IS STILL BOOED. This helped...maybe Seth?

 

Screenshots - 
http://www.imagebam.com/gallery/1zmwz9xoqgo3up6jew1khg3lasx0wgsy

WCW Starrcade 1990 pt2

The show begins with Pat playing a WCW show theme with lyrics that sounds absolutely awful. We get a recap of the Terry Taylor vs. Wallstreet issues. Seeing Taylor wearing the robe he sold to Roode is always weird. Taylor jumps Wallstreet and a clock pops up to show how long it will take Wallstreet to beat Taylor according to York's computer. Wallstreet wasn't signed to a contract here. BOY WAS WCW SMART. Taylor gets a headlock takeover and then Wallstreet rolls him onto his shoulders. Wallstreet gets his rope-assisted abdominal stretch. Firearm hits, but it's too hard and sends him into the ropes. Wallstreet gets a stungun. Stock Market Crash hits and wins.

Wrestle War '91 gets hyped up with a great barb wire logo. Curtis Hughes and the Motor City Madman coming out looking like early '90s indy jobbers - so they're a great choice for this, the biggest show of the year. The Skyscrapers are out and boy does Sid look strange in a singlet. Madman fucks up a kick to the gut by falling to his gut before the shot connects and then he deadweights Sid on the powerbomb, so Spivey hurks him up. Goddamn was he awful!

Morton and Rich come out as a team, with Gibson on the shelf with a knee injury. They're facing the Freebirds, looking beyond ridiculous. Rocky King is out as "Little" Richard Marley. The 'birds are actually wrestling in this garbage. Marley is dressed like a neon green and pink Harley Quinn outfit. Hayes has a fantastic sell job for an inverted atomic drop. Gibson threw a great punch on Impact and threw a nice one here with a bad wheel. Double figure fours on the heels! Gut punch and a kneelift get an easy pop for Ricky. Hayes his an ugly bulldog for 2. Gibson hits Marley with a crutch, sending him into Garvin, who gets beaten with a distraction schoolboy. LOL @ the faces just leaving. Crowd is cheering this beating too. NOW THE FACES SAVE. HA. Gibson eats a double lariat on the ramp.

Stan Hansen says words, with a lariat and some chew! Yes! Not as good as his AWA stuff about having a big, fat wife and five billion kids at home who all need shoes. Team Mexico is out to face Team USA. Steiners are out and over. We get a crowd shot of two very white men hooting and hollering AND DANCING. Glorious.

Konnan botches a fireman's carry bump. Konnan gets a wacky leglock. Scott hits the powerbomb and the double impact bulldog hits. Konnan just gets up and tags Rey in. Well, that was all weird. Scott just hoists up Rey and hits him with a sack of shit fallaway slam. Rey goes for a rana and just eats a stiff powerbomb to end it. Barry and Arn are in neon green and pink with a neon green swaztika. Boy were they morons.

Team Russia comes out to face Team Japan, which could be okay since Team Russia actually came from NJPW. Zangiev gets a shoot-style German. Hashimov looks like Kozlov and gets a Boston crab. Muta breaks it up with a kick. Saito gets the deathlock, and Zangiev gets the ropes. Hashimov gets a waterwheel takedown and then Saito hits a Saito suplex to beat Zangiev quickly. Ross says "just as we hoped, the number 1 and 2 seeds are in the finals!" Doom's African flag shirts are dreadful. Ron cuts a great, intense promo. This works - other than the shirts, but they had great passion. Teddy busted out both Homie don't play that and an "I've fallen and can't get up" reference in.

Luger comes out with a weird photo of himself above the stage. "Luger has never wrestled a Texas Lariet Match". I bet! Stan is also the master of "the Lariet". Oh WCW. This is hyped up as a battle of FORMER FOOTBALL PLAYERS by JR. Of course. Hansen dominates the bullrope match to start. Luger's CFL days are recapped. Hansen hits a photographer and hits Luger with a chair. Luger goes for a cover in this four corners match. Hansen just kind of stops going for the corners because I guess he hates being a champion. Maybe he hates poor spelling. Hansen and Luger brawl. Stan's faces are a highlight. Hansen kind of shoves Luger into the buckle, seemingly giving him the win - but the ref was knocked down. Nick Patrick is out and Hansen drags Luger around to try and win, and then his the lariat and hits the corner to win. Only not - Luger is given the win. Well, Luger at least got a huge pop here - so I guess it worked.

Luger is interviewed by Ross, and has some giant zits on his chest. He roars and flexes.

WWE SmackDown 12-13-16

AJ is welcomed to MizTV and AJ says that Ellsworth has chinfluenza. Miz tells AJ that he has taken the WWE Title to new heights - while he has made the IC Title LEGENDARY. Miz tells him that AJ has struggled to beat Dean, but he beat him last week - and he is now above AJ. Dean and Dolph come down and Dean takes them out. Giant billion team number 1 contender's match for the tag titles later. Nattie and Carmella have a pretty bad match, that Carmella wins via distraction cradle.


Some fat comedian yammers with Miz and Crews is now the comedian's buddy as they mock Miz. Hype Bros win the tag title shot via battle royal. Alexa destroys Deonna Purazzo and gives her a wedgie before Becky comes down and Alexa tells her to shut up because the champ has something to say. Shane makes Alexa vs. Becky now, and Alexa ducks her after a few minutes by feigning a knee injury. Shane restarts it and Alexa eats a beating, so she just leaves...so why didn't Shane come out again? Dean vs. Dolph vs. Harper vs. Miz is up to determine a top contender for the WWE Title - even though everyone in this is in the IC Title division too. Dolph wins after a Miz distraction allows him to superkick Dean and win.

Screenshots -
http://www.imagebam.com/gallery/zomy03u66autgxuj0k9lagc3ycukgtqf

WCW Starrcade 1990 pt 1

I watched this show when the Network first began because it seemed so weird lineup-wise, and now with the Wayback Playback available, I figured I might as well watch it. Pat going over how they drew 900 in a building that could hold far more right before it was a sign of the times. They're at the Kiel, which looks gorgeous. This card has 14 matches on it - Jesus! Gary Michael Capetta announces something for Sam Muschnick. Missy is mid-ring with Sam Muschnick...whose mic DOES NOT WORK DESPITE GMC JUST USING IT. The set has stars on the side of the "WCW" lettering, and looks very 1990 with its colors. The color guard comes out for a ceremony. Pat does Cornette's Kevin Dunn impression about how they would never allow this on WWE TV.

We get stats for the roster, with Eaton being from The Dark Side as a single...even though Cornette and Lane are gone. We have red and yellow ropes here, which is quite odd. Tom throws a dreadful punch and Bobby just stares at him before doing this neat thing where he puts his elbow by Tom's jaw and punches his own arm to drive the elbow in harder. Lots of long holds.

Tom suplexes Bobby on the ramp, which Bobby takes on his side. Bobby hits the Alabama Jam, but Tom just gets up, goes in the corner and Bobby misses a charge. He misses something off the top, and then Zenk misses a dropkick off the top. Bobby hits a small package to thankfully end this. Tony interviews DICK THE BRUISER! He'll be the ref for the main event, and I guarantee that he might almost sell at some point. Dick has aged wonderfully since he always looked 50 and every wrinkle adds a bit to the badass vibe.

 

The Pat 'O Connor Memorial Tournament is up, with the world's largest cheap trophy being used here. THIS WILL DETERMINE THE BEST TAG TEAM IN THE UNIVERSE! Women come out with the various flags of the nations...and pyro. They're treating this like a runway show, and they're bad at this too. TONS of hair product too. That got the show a few minutes closer to the grave. Brackets for the tourney are shown and Heyman compares this to the NFL playoffs. Only no one cares.

Team South Africa is Ray Apollo and Ted Petty with really stupid names. Rocco Rock and Doink 2 face the Steiners. Starrcade stats tell us that BOTH BROTHERS WRESTLED AT MICHIGAN STATE. Apollo takes a giant Steinerline, and that may make his hairline recede even more. Ted does a flip dive and Rick powerbombs him down on the floor. TILT A WHIRL BY SCOTT! Frankensteiner hits and wins while Pat talks about Grunge stealing a WCW production truck one time.

Great Britain has Chris Adams and Norman Smiley, in a smoking jacket. It took WCW A DECADE to figure out how to make Smiley work. "Rey Mystric and Konan" are out with some dreadful outfits. Konnan is ripped and with bacne and a giant shoulder scar. The luchadors base for him and Norman flips around them before Chris does a tumbling routine through Norman's legs and they hit a double dropkick. Rey eats a superkick that misses by 20 miles, so Chris does a cartwheel. Konnan hits a nice run-up armdrag before eating a Norman fisherman suplex - and it's a beaut! Adams locks on a chinlock and Jim says that Adams had a broken rib here. Adams hits a superkick and then Norman hits a German, and they call Rey "Mysteric" on commentary. They theorize that they just got faxed the names and the o was cut off a bit. Konnan just hits a back bridge and wins. Okay then. This was sloppy. Adams dives and the director misses the shot.

 

York and Wallstreet are with Missy. They talk about how this Wallstreet gimmick was actually featured in USA Today and got some press. JACKO VICTORY and Rip Morgan are out for New Zealand to face Muta and Saito. Well, this is going to be a thing. Victory posts Saito. Saito lands some nice punches in the corner to Morgan. German suplex gets the pin for Muta. Saito broke a sweat here, Muta didn't. Russia battles Canada next. Heyman interviews them and Saito says that they are strong and will beat the puny Americans. Replay shows the ref holding Jack's shoulder down.

Bull Johnson and Troy Montour represent Canada. Victor Zangiev and Salman Hashimikov represent Russia - they're amateurs with some pro experience and were in the Olympics. Inoki trained them and brought them in, so they're off an Inoki tour. Zangiev was apparently the basis for Zangief. Love seeing him just outwork Troy on the mat and tear away on him with a bow and arrow lock. Hashimikov was an IWGP Champion and hits a GORGEOUS belly to belly throw for the win. Troy comes in and hops away. Sting chats a bit with Tony in the locker room.

Screens -
http://www.imagebam.com/gallery/ujbz4ihkf3tyng1zhya5gn6pq0ay31cx

WWE SmackDown 12-6-16

AJ comes down and addresses the elephant in the room - his ass being exposed. He's got a walking boot on his ankle and says he did everything he said he'd do at TLC. Ellsworth comes out and says that the boot is just a way for him to get out of defending the title against him tonight. Daniel Bryan is protecting AJ because he's beaten him THREE TIMES and YER DUCKIN ME STYLES! Dean comes down and hits Dirty Deeds on Ellsworth. Wyatt Family squashes Heath and Rhyno - I dig Bray tossing him into an RKO. Kalisto talks about facing Baron again and Nattie vs. Carmella is up next.

They brawl and thus there's no match. Nikki confronts Nattie backstage, but Nattie is flustered and Nikki...just leaves. K. Baron hates small guys and The Ascension talks about rising. Skinny one has solid face paint work. They face the Hype Bros, who win with a Hype Ryder. Miz TV with Dean features Miz insulting Dean - and giving him a Participation Award plaque. Well, now we know Dean's direction outside of the WWE Title picture. Bryan comes down and makes Miz vs. Ambrose for the title. The fans Yes and so Bryan makes it for tonight!

Kalisto gets a few shining moments, but eats an End of Days and loses. Nikki meets with Sophia Grace...who is apparently a singer. They yammer about some wacky celebration thing. Gable destroys Tyler Breeze and beats him with an O'Connor Roll German. Alexa Bliss comes down and gets a pyro celebration. Alexa mocks those who don't like her and says this isn't the New Era - it's her era. Becky can call her anything she wants - but she'll call her Champion first.

Miz and Dean have a pretty solid match. Ellsworth comes out to try and help Dean, but winds up distracting him and Miz wins with the Finale. Yowza. Dean lost in both WWE Title and IC Title matches within 48 hours - that doesn't bode well for him. Miz has added the flying knee strike to his arsenal - making him a far better Daniel Bryan impersonator than Brie was. Okay show, but nothing amazing.

Screenshots -
http://www.imagebam.com/gallery/8ylcrpvndv1nw23ntv66wipq510pjpkr

WCW Great American Bash 1991 Part 3

Finally got the Torch sub back - so let's go back to this show.  Here's part 1 and part 2 of my coverage. Ross explains a Russian chain match between Sting and Nikita - which is pointed out as being a horrible idea for a show in Maryland, where a blood stoppage would be legit. We see Nikita jump Sting at Super Brawl and boy are Scott's tights way too tight. We see Nikita constantly cheapshot him and apparently, the Little Stinger at the Clash show is Kevin Sullivan's son. We get a great shot of Nikita standing on a twirling platform and then a shot of the camera guy in shorts. Sting gets pyro and a giant STING graphic.

They brawl a bit in the ring before brawling outside the ring. More walk and brawling. Sting touches TWO CORNERS. A fan holds up a Sting and Bart comparison sign. Armbar with the chain...Jesus someone do something! The chain crotch bit still gets a pop. All American ballshot by Sting.  Nikita rakes the eyes and hits the Sickle. Sting wackily stinger splashes Nikita into the buckle to give Nikita the win after touching three buckles...so WCW managed to not be able to properly count to 4. SUPER-DUPER CHAIN BALLSHOT BY STING. For a guy who sure choked in a lot of matches, this was another one for Sting.

Tony and Jim throw to a video package explaining why Barry and Lex are fighting for the World Title. It's hyped up as ONE OF THE GREATEST WORLD TITLE MATCHES OF ALL TIME. We get clips of Barry showing why he was great at points - super-smooth with his suplexes and lariats. The cage gets a small pyro display and the World Title match is the semi main event. They talk about how Lex and Barry always came close - but they never would win the big one. BOY DOES THAT PUT THEM OVER HUGE. Hey, this guy holding the belt we just showed you? The guy in the WWF WITH THAT BELT? Our two top guys couldn't beat him!

Jim Ross goes in-depth on Lex's football background. Tony talks about Barry's accomplishments...leaves out leaving the company. Good God this is all so awkward. After several years, the cage is set up and we get a wacky light display. Barry gets a graphic...as "Barry Windam" yowza. We get a shot of the "World Title" that Dusty had made in no time flat. Lex has his badass NWA theme and a good gold and white color scheme. We get some pyro on the cage, which looks pretty solid.

They exchange shoulder blocks to start. Pat and Jim talk about how these two have wrestled since Luger started off in Florida nearly a decade before. We get some amusing jokes at Blackjack's expense about his counterfeiting jail stint - there's no handlebar 'stache on Abe and "in Gordon Solie we trust" isn't on anything. BACKDROP. SOMEONE DID SOMETHING. Wide shot of the crowd leads to another "we want Flair" chant, so we get a shot of the ring overhead.

Lex counters a suplex with a very sloppy suplex. Barry goes for a figure 4 - which shockingly doesn't get a huge WE WANT FLAIR chant. Barry takes an atomic drop and sells his ass and heavily-taped right knee, so he might've landed wrong. Lex locks on a sleeper. Riveting. Barry counters and locks one on before Lex hits a DDT. Barry slams Lex off the top and drops a knee. Barry misses a flying sloppy elbow off the top. Clothesline series.  THE RACK IS ON AND A FAN GOES CRAZY. Barry escapes and hits a back suplex.

Lex goes for a superplex, Barry's move, but it's countered and a flying lariat hits. Slam gets 2. Barry gets a sorta-dropkick off the top for 2. The fans stare at the ramp and Hughes and Race come down. Hughes distracts Barry, so Lex drops him and piledrives him - winning the title with Race's move. I like how Barry held his hands together to block the move's impact - it also made this stand out a bit. We hear about how Lex took a stand for Harley in '92 so he would keep his job - that's nice of him.

Arn and Paul E come out to face Rick Steiner and Missy Hyatt in the main event. Paul is dressed like 1991, and Maryland has a ban on men wrestling women. Brilliant. Missy is also dressed like 1991 with lots of neon and black hair. Dick Slater and Murdoch come down and take Missy. A FAN HITS MURDOCH AND HE SLUGS HIM. Rick has to go solo against Arn and Paul E. We get a great shot of a We Want Flair sign and another headlock. Heyman falls off the top with the phone to the head. Rick grabs Paul while Jim talks about Heyman's hairline receding and we get a shot of his bald spot. Steinerline pins Paul. LOL. Rick just leaves. Wow. Pyro ends things. WCW using credits for this show amuses me since it's so historically bad. We get a recap of the show - a scaffold match with no one falling, a chain match with no blood, a mixed tag with no woman, and a world title match with a fake belt.

WWE TLC 2016

Pre-show features Peter Rosenberg and Alexa shining nicely talking about Rey and Trish being her idols. She had great faces throughout this. Ascension, Hawkins and the Villains against Crews, AA, and the Hype Bros. Mojo does a wacky dancing taunt bit from No Mercy before doing a seated double chop to the chest - thus making The Worm look like a stiff shot by comparison. A long chinlock helps this nothing 10-man tag out a bunch. TWO OF THEM! YES! RUNNING GRAND AMPLITUDE! Well, that was a good finish.

JBL compares Orton and Bray to Brody and Hansen. Heath and Rhyno come out and Rhyno only does his jog for maybe 2 seconds. It's amazing to think that Rhino was just a dude in TNA for eons, disappeared, and then just completely revived his career and is back in WWE as a full-timer and a champion to boot. Great story for him. Orton stomps away at Heath before Bray lands some shots to the back of the head. Wyatts rightfully win the titles after an RKO.

Dean and AJ cut promos with Dasha and Renee respectively about their match. Jesus. Did Nikki eat anything from Tuesday through today? She looks Brie-level skinny now. They do some weird bit where Carmella does a rana setup on the apron, but just gets shoved on her ass on the apron before doing a full rotation rana that somehow sends Nikki sideways into the steps. The ref counts on the floor in a no DQ match before Carmella kendo sticks her in a tree of woe. Nikki escapes the code of silence with a kendo stick. Disaster kick off the apron by Nikki. Nikki canes her in the ass. Nikki sprays her for 20 years with a fire extinguisher and then beats her with a TKO. Well, Nikki just killed Carmella dead. Carmella brings up the Survivor Series beatdown on Nikki and says Nattie did it. Well, obviously. JBL IS SHOCKED!

We get some bizarre Kay ad with Nattie and some fan who wants to propose to his wife in the ring. Great IC Title hype video here. Really shows off the gulf between eras for the belt. Bryan meets with a brunette interview human about the IC Title match. Dolph is out, meaning that the CHAMP COMES OUT LAST! Nice American flag gear for Dolph. JBL rants about how Miz brought the title home to SD beating Sami. How can Miz bring it "back home" when it never left?

Nothing really too amazing about this early on. They do some basic shoves into the ladder and a drop toehold spot on the floor. They tease a powebromb into the ladder on the floor and deliver a spinning DDT onto it - well, that was slick. Miz dropkicks a ladder into his gut in the corner. This is like a less exciting version of the match you could have in the video game. Miz's INTENSE RUNNING DROPKICK almost makes a sound against the ladder. He's the king of soft style. Miz destroys the knee and gets a MIZ! MIZ! MIZ! CHANT! FIGURE 4 WITH THE LADDER! This must be in 2K18.

Miz hits a finale on the ladder and goes up top, but Dolph takes the ladder and hits his knee - resulting in a MOTHERFUCK from Miz. SLINGSHOT POWERBOMB INTO A CORNER LADDER! Yet another huge MIZ! MIZ! MIZ! chant. Miz is legit getting over as a main eventer working with Bryan - have him lose this and go into the WWE Title picture. They tell the story of Miz overcoming the odds to leave WM as the WWE Champion who is now climbing a ladder with one leg to win this match...and how can I boo him? Dolph climbs up and eats two kicks to the balls and Miz retains. Miz thanks Bryan for motivating him and says it's day 19 of the reunion tour while Dolph should get a participation award. 

THE DREADED CHAIRS MATCH is in fact an apt way to describe this encounter - just not for reasons they would ever intend. Why is Kalisto dressed up as a Mexican jobber version of Rellik? Double-jump suicide dive. A GOOD LUCHA THING FROM KALISTO! Kalisto tosses a chair at him on the floor and then moonsaults him with a chair on his gut. He adds some chairs to the pile and goes up top and eats a chairshot. End of Days on 10 chairs ends it - fun match, will do in a game at some point.

A generic brunette human chats with Nattie about the Nikki angle. She puts Becky over huge - so she'll seemingly be costing her the match tonight. Outstanding hype video airs for Bliss-Becky making it seem like a big deal. They fight on the floor for a bit before Bliss gets swept on the apron. Alexa hits the shotgun knees and does the surfboard stomp. They go for...something off the apron that just doesn't work, so Bliss tosses her into the steps. Really off night for Becky between these forearms and whatever happened on the apron. They re-enact the SD table spot tease, but the table is knocked off.

 

 
NONE OF THE FOUR MEN AT THE COMMENTARY TABLE POINT OUT THIS IS A REFERENCE TO SMACKDOWN. STO counter to the Bexploder. Wonky sunset flip punch leads to the Insult to Injury. Becky goes for an AA through the table, but Bliss DDTs her on the frame. DISARMER ON THE TABLE LEG! Drop toehold into the table. Alexa rakes the eyes and powerbombs her off the apron through a table to win! Generic brunette - She is. Do-ing. A good job. Of acting like. A hu-man. Be-ing. Becky is upset. Well good - a loss mattered.

 

 

 

Another silly Kay ad. Dean comes out. BOY LISTEN TO ALL THOSE...CHEERS FOR THE TOP HEEL! They fight on the floor and Dean does a bar fight spot running him down a table face-first. AJ eats a beating, but comes back mid-ring and tosses Dean onto the rope off the ladder. Dean hits EZ Money's old WCW finisher on him through two chairs. AJ's gear gets torn up revealing an ass cheek. AJ snap suplexes him through a corner table. AJ's ass is cut up.

Dean SETS UP A LADDER ON ONE ANNOUNCE TABLE AND ELBOW DROPS AJ THROUGH ANOTHER ONE! Dean climbs up but THE FOREARM HITS! THAT FOREARM WAS GORGEOUS! They slug it out on the ladder and just fall for some reason. Clash attempt leads to Dean spinning his upper ribs into the ladder. JESUS. RIP AJ's upper ribs. AJ goes for a powerbomb over the top, but eats a rana. ASAI MOONSAULT INTO THE DDT ON THE FLOOR! The fun of doing this crazy shit in the game is that no one actually gets hurt. Good God is AJ nuts.SPRINGBOARD 450 OFF THE TOP THROUGH A TABLE ON THE FLOOR. Yup. Certifiable.

Ellsworth comes back and AJ goes to Clash him, but Dean saves and DDTs AJ on the steps. AJ comes back in  AJ gets punched to the outside, but Ellsworth tips the ladder and sends Dean through a set of tables on the floor. AJ climbs up and wins.

 

Screenshots -
http://www.imagebam.com/gallery/okk31gwqgibam00pdrsfonl8s450zl8o