Some of them, too, had the same problem. Is it an adrenaline rush from watching 3 hours packed with wrestling? Could be? Or maybe, in my case, I'm just laying there while thoughts for the next day's column are running through my head, just before I sleep. Who knows?
On to the PDC.
Reports said that Rick Steiner and Eric Bischoff are good hunting buddies, and have always got along. So, for the first Nitro of Bischoff's new reign, who comes back? Rick Steiner. After taking a LOT of time off because he knew he wouldn't get the kiss-ass booking, he was now shoved into the spotlight. He's had two defeats on Shane Douglas, a big win over Jeff Jarrett, along with many other defeats on wrestlers, like Bam Bam Bigelow I believe. So, after taking LOTS of time off, Rick Steiner is now a big focus of WCW's shows and a US Champion.
You see, many of you criticize me for being sooooo negative towards what I see on wrestling. WCW has a bunch of other guys who have been busting their asses in the company, while Steiner was taking some nice time off. Guys like Lance Storm, Mike Awesome, and any of the wrestlers under 40 have worked hard for the last few months, despite confusion over bookers or who owned the company. Those wrestlers are all much more talented than Rick Steiner, in that they are more agile, more athletic, in better condition, and they didn't wrestle in the 1980s.
But Rick Steiner can just walk into the company, and thanks to his good buddy Eric Bischoff, he's in the spotlight over many other wrestlers. This is just garbage, and there are no two ways about that. Last night, Rick Steiner defeated Shane Douglas for the US title... Yes, I know that Shane was injured from last week, but could you give it to someone else instead? Nope. Then, Kevin Nash chose Steiner as his partner against Scott Steiner, and if you didn't see that heel turn, then you're blind! Rick and Scott have split up and then reconciled, God knows how many times.
Eric Bischoff hasn't changed at all.
Opening Interview for Nitro was kinda entertaining. The Cat set up 3 matches for Scott Steiner. WCW had a lot of involvement in the interview, which is something the WWF doesn't have. WWF has like 2 or 3 people slowly talking...
First match of the night was Scott Steiner pounding on the Jung Dragons and Noble/Karagias. Holy shit, they let the Jung Dragons back on Nitro! You know, it's funny, because the Jung Dragons carried the best match on the Sin card, but yet they disappeared after that, until this match. Now out of one single man squashing 4 Cruiserweights, I'd believe that Scott Steiner could do it. But otherwise, it gives them a bad name. However, you could think of it as a BIG DIFFERENCE between Heavyweight and Cruiserweight? I don't know, but I thought that Triple Steiner Recliner was vicious!
You do have to hand it to Diamond Dallas Page and Scott Steiner for settling ALL of their differences to wrestle last night. Even better, Steiner let DDP get the best of him at the end, which is professionalism at its best! I like seeing that in professional wrestling.
The legendary Tyler Riggs called that El Nino would turn out to be Rey Mysterio Jr., giving Mr. Riggs the "All Over It Award" for the day. Rey-Rey didn't do much to hide his identity though. He should rent Starrcade 1990 to see how Flair tries to hide his look as the Black Scorpion. Good cruiserweight match, with Chavo working well with Rey-Rey's spots.
AWESOME tag match between O'Haire/Palumbo against Mike Awesome/Lance Storm! You want to know the scary thing about the match? O'Haire and Palumbo carried it! Both the Natural Born Thrillers looked very good against Storm/Awesome, and the match was given time to hit spots. The ending was just fantastic, with Storm in confusion to who he had a hold of in the Maple Leaf. An all around great tag match.
You know, Buff vs. Bryan Adams wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, although the Time Limit ending was very lame. It seems as though both Adams and Buff's egos are calming down these days, and that's a plus for WCW.
Eddie Guerrero returned! Guerrero and the rest of the Radicalz gave Jericho the usual beat down, and Eddie let us hear his new music, with "Mamacita" omitted. Oh man, I can't wait to see the matches Eddie and Jericho put on, since there will be no Chyna to interfere anymore.
20 Minute interview..... I don't care. It gave me time to watch the WHOLE O'Haire/Palumbo vs. Team Canada match on TNT, so I'll let it be. So I liked the interview this week. :)
Wow, what a dead reaction Edge/Christian got for trying to talk Japanese over the loudspeaker. By the way, heels and heels don't mix in matches, which is what went wrong in both federations tonight, with crowd reactions.
PHEW! When I heard about Undertaker/Kane getting the title shot against the Dudley Boyz, I was in a panic. But thanks to Edge/Christian, there was a screwjob Disqualification. Let's hope that the Unholy brothers go after Edge/Christian, and NOT the Dudleys again. Dudleys got the majority of the cheers, if the WWF didn't hear that tonight, let me remind them! Decent match overall. Weird seeing each team working with each other.
Right to Nudity, eh? Well, the highlight of that segment was Jerry Lawler getting excited over Steven Richards smooching his own wife in real life, the Kat. That shows you what kind of man Lawler is in real life. Another APA vs. RTC feud? Help me.
Amazing about my predictions of where Too Cool would end up. Didn't I say they sucked in the first place, and they wouldn't amount to anything in the future? Well, thanks to the late Joe C., they did win the World Titles, but look at what jokes they are after that. Give me a fucking medal for this achievement, and I want some apologies for those who called me an idiot for saying that Too Cool was worthless. Once their little pop died for their repetitive dancing and moves, their careers died.
Poor Al Snow. He just hasn't been on top of his game lately, and had it not been for Chris Benoit, he would have looked really bad. Ever since his arrival from his red-hot career in ECW, he hasn't amounted to anything in the WWF, besides some phony European and Hardcore title reigns. The WWF should really sit down with this guy and figure something out. Snow can be a good worker, as some signs were shown during his match last night, but something needs fixed.
I liked the main event tag match between Austin/Triple H against Rock/Angle. For some reason, I like the mixed tag matches like that, where enemies tag up. Austin pulled a good one on Triple H, allowing for Kurt Angle to get the victory for his team.... which was short handed, thanks to the Big Show, who attacked the Rock. Remember, the Rock and Big Show were feuding at this time last year. I could have done without the Stunner to Kurt Angle at the end, but otherwise, I was entertained.
Overall, a Pretty Good night of wrestling. Very satisfied.
WRESTLER OF THE NIGHT: Chuck Palumbo (worked hard in the tag match)
MATCH OF THE NIGHT: Palumbo/O'Haire vs. Storm/Awesome
I always keep forgetting to do those categories of the night.
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@I wasn't too negative, was I? I'll be back tomorrow with some ratings analysis. Until then, STAY OUT OF TROUBLE!
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Take Care, and Thanks for Reading.
-The Saturday night ratings started off at a hot 12.9, but later died down to an 8.9 at the end of the game. That's reasonable, since the Las Vegas vs. NY/NJ game was a one sided game. Had it been a close game, the first ever XFL game would have been an even larger success in the ratings.
-In comparison to the USFL, a rival league in 1983, it's shown that the first ever USFL game gained a network rating of 14.2, and the second week dropped to a 7.4, with the FINAL game of the season scoring a 3.3! We'll just have to keep an eye on the ratings to see how successful the XFL truly is. The USFL, by the way, died off after 3 seasons.
-The XFL has made $40 Million in advertising, so far for this season, with about 20% - 30% of the spots still remaining.
-The overnight rating for the UPN XFL game Sunday was 4.2, which was higher than the NHL All Star game (2.4), and below the NFL Pro Bowl (5.8). The 4.2 rating for the XFL game was higher than the expectations of advertisers, which I don't currently have at the time.
Yahoo! News
I've seen some reports about Phil Mushnick, a long time wrestling basher, from the Jim Rome show. He was just bashing the XFL, saying it won't last, and then he was using his usual stance against anything Vince McMahon does.
Headline News has an XFL piece floating around on their channel today. It's in the "Lifestyles" section, so watch around :25 or :55 past the hour to catch it. I'll note that it's mostly negative, with fans or viewers voicing their opinions.