Excellent feedback on the Pro Wrestling review that I did in my Wednesday column. Of course, I had a few errors in it, as I said you couldn't go outside or jump off the top rope. I did correct it later in the day. You could say that I wasn't prepared, but look. I'm playing these games cold, and without any knowledge of how to do what moves. It's not like I'm playing these games to master them. I'm just playing them well enough to review them, simply put. It's not like I have a freakin' instruction manual telling me what to do, either.
But the feedback was quite good. Lots of people reliving memories of playing that game to death. My NES history even inspired another "gaming columnist" to do a review on Pro Wrestling. Now that's impressive. The guy even rated it like it was a comparison to today's wrestling games, on far more advanced systems. 8 bit to 64+ bit... oh, what a comparison!
On my grading scale, the NES games will be reviewed on their own scale. No way would I even DREAM of comparing the NES games to any of the advanced systems, and I wouldn't even try to compare the NES games to SNES, either. With the NES games, you'll see two games that are slightly better than Pro Wrestling's grade of A- (A minus), which you'll see in the later years of the NES reviews. First, we have to get through the early piles like the first WWF games and such quality ones like Tag Team Wrestling and M.U.S.C.L.E.. If you've never played MUSCLE, you missed out when you were a child.
Time permitting, you'll see Tag Team Wrestling on Monday and MUSCLE on Wednesday to round out the year 1986. Oddly enough, no pro wrestling games were produced after 1986 until 1989 when the WWF put out "Wrestlemania". I've got a lot to say about that game. Ooooooh yeah! After 1989, the WWF put out 3 more games (!!!), while two other companies tried their hand at wrestling.
Anyway, before we get into a full video games rant, on to the PDC.
Out of all of the celebrities that show up to whore time on WWF television, LL Cool J, Chris Klein, and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos were some of the betters ones to come along. They seemed like they wanted to be there. But seriously, the WWF had a lot of star power on their show. LL Cool J is one of the biggest rappers EVER. Chris Klein is an up and coming actor who seems to see a lot of work in Hollywood, lately. Rebecca Romijn-Stamos is one of the top supermodels of the world, and she's become a decent actor, too. With Romijn-Stamos, I was hoping that Conan O'Brien would jump out of the crowd and jump Klein and LL Cool J. If you watch Conan, you'll know that he LOVES Romijn-Stamos, and wishes harm on her husband, John Stamos. It's quite funny.
Very good acting by Ric Flair, who was portraying the fact that he was leaving pro-wrestling for good, citing that he was selling his stock to Vince McMahon. If you didn't know that he was under WWF contract for a few years or if the NWO was headed the WWF's way, you could actually believe it. Nice set up for the dramatic build up of the very ending.
YESSSSS!!!!! YESSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. We have a NEW European Champion. After months of getting shit on, Diamond Dallas Page was given a chance to shine in the WWF. None of this crap where stale 1998 stars would humiliate him. Oh no. He was given significant time with Christian to develop a match, and given time to build up his character, as a face, to win his first WWF gold. Great match, too. It's about damn time DDP got SOME recognition. The wasting of him, along with other pieces of WCW talent, is why the Alliance NEVER worked in the first place. I bet that if the WWF made him a solid European champion, he'd make that title into something. Let's see how much balls the WWF has to make DDP into something, or if he shows signs of becoming big, how they'll try to hold him down again.
Goldust returns on Monday Night to come after whoever he's in love with. Oh lord, smell the ratings. How long will it take for this gimmick to get stale, or take significant time of those who CAN wrestle without a gimmick coming first?
FUCK YOU Stephanie McMahon! Why the hell does she need a long, sit down interview about her marriage or whatever? It just goes to show you who is having the ego trip and what is actually harming the company: too much McMahon exposure. What a bitch. I'd be embarrassed if I was a WWF wrestler, and had to continually see her draw NOTHING for the product, while wrestlers only get to have 3 minute matches.
Next match was Rob Van Dam/Edge vs. Dudley Boyz. Typical Smackdown match, but with a good ending. The Dudley Boyz have to be sick of wrestling the game gimmick, over and over: stooges fighting against a new combination of wrestlers. Edge and RVD won off of a predicted mishap by Regal. Boy, the brass knucks gimmick is getting overdone as it appears that Regal's character isn't as good as it used to be.
APA versus Test/Booker T was next. APA won to promote a silly movie, but the movie won't be promoted every week. APA are Heat wrestlers or secondary characters who don't do much other than fighting whoever challenges them backstage. Booker T is a key piece of talent, and Test gets his pushes from Shane. My real point is to do something new with the APA. God, they are so one dimensional that it really becomes hard to get into any of their matches.
Next, it was Triple H/Rock versus Kane/Undertaker. Preview of No Way Out singles matches? Let's hope so for one half (Triple H vs. Kurt Angle) and not for the other (Rock vs. Undertaker). At least the Undertaker is starting to wrestle with a little mean streak to him, as he'll rub his forearms in his opponent's face and other cheap moves. The start of this match was classic, as the Undertaker had Triple H fooled into thinking he'd start the match, only for Angle to blindside the Game. Pretty good tag match, especially since this match was given loads of time to develop. I dislike the DQ finish, though. What, can't any of these guys job for each other? The plan must have been for the Undertaker or Triple H to lose the match, so because of that, plans were changed.
The WWF History promo is just awesome. Glad I taped it this time around.
Vince McMahon and his lawyers came down for Ric Flair to sign away his stock. As Flair was going to sign, and he appeared that he would be, Steve Austin ran down and attacked Vince McMahon. Flair would then tear up the contract. For Monday night, let's hope that Austin calls on the NWO, although that would badly divert attention away from his title match at No Way Out. Wait......... Could the NWO screw Austin out of his title shot against Jericho at the Pay Per View??? Sure sounds like it to me.
SMACKDOWN Phat Stats
Matches: 5
Clean Wins: 3
Screwjobs: 1
Disqualifications: 1
No Contests: 0
LAST WORD: Pretty good show overall. A good blend of both wrestling and "sports entertainment", although the Stephanie interview was NOT NEEDED. Keep that smelly fish off the TV, please. I'll take Chyna back on WWF television before taking any more Stephanie McMahon. Quote me on that, please. Matches were good tonight, although there were only 5 of them. Sports entertainment with Vince and Flair was good and well played out. I'll give it a
AOL Instant Messenger: BookerTito - It's recommended that you send your questions or feedback as your first message so that it could be answered, instead of saying "hi", "hey", "what's up" or whatever else. Just get to the point, please, to make it easier since I get drilled with messages.
WRESTLEPALOOZA.com - Audio Show, Columns, News, and more!
KOLTERSHOCK!!! - A site that you shouldn't view with small children present!
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@That's all for today. I'll be back sometime this weekend with whatever comes to mind. Until then, just chill....
Take Care, and Thanks for Reading.