Ain't nothing like PDC baby... no columns in a few days drive some crazy. Yes, there were no columns on Wednesday or Thursday, and yes this one is late. Actually, the "Smackdown *Spoilers* from a Tito's Perspective" is the Wednesday PDC, but not everyone reads spoilers. For Thursday, I just stared at the screen with a blank look. Why? Ever hear of burn out?
Just the overload of school and work, as I never take my summers off, is really beginning to catch up with me, and losing lots of sleep from coming back from Smackdown, late at night, and then waking up early in the morning from work really thrashed me. Add that to an exam I had to take this morning, and prepare for in the previous days.
God, if only I could write these columns on a Full Time basis. Like if it was my job. However, I write as a hobby, and not an enterprise. Besides, even if I tried to get money out of this, I couldn't get any with the worthless ad industry these days, not that I've tried to look into it or anything.
Enough with this personal junk. I'm sure 99.99999 % of you don't care. On to the PDC.
The first match was Hardy Boyz vs. Kidman/HURRICANE Helms, which oddly looked better live than it did on television. Just the rush of the fans cheering for the Hardys made it better in person than a few days later on television. Just a standard Hardys match. I'm just dreaming of having O'Haire/Palumbo vs. the Hardy Boyz, especially if it's Title vs. Title. Oh wait, I bet the stupid Showgunns will get those titles first! Like everyone really wants to see Big Show/Billy Gunn represent the WWF against O'Haire/Palumbo. Riiiight!
Not an opening interview, but Stephanie, Paul Heyman, and Shane came down to tremendous heat, and Stephanie put herself over. Well, I can understand why, because the fans were booing the hell out of her, and it's 10 times louder live than in person. I really did enjoy the introduction part of the interview, with the wrestlers with WWF or WCW gold. Where I sat, I could see the backside of the entrance, and I remember seeing Sean O'Haire just jumping up and down like he was really pumped up or something. It's like he's very satisfied with his career choice in professional wrestling. Austin's music, by the way, sounds wicked live, and I like it as much as the first two "Stone Cold" (not the Ringmaster) themes already. The Titantron for it is pretty cool, too. Angle was insanely over in Pittsburgh, and if you look closely, you can see him getting a little emotional about it. The second they booked Angle vs. Booker T, I knew that the city of Pittsburgh was in for something extra special tonight, and I couldn't wait!
Now granted, the Showgunns put up a decent performance, but neither guy has been worth anything before that. Plus, the Dudleys were selling moves like champions. It should be noted that the Dudleys barely had any heat from the Pittsburgh crowd, if you didn't notice that on the television. I don't know, I think the WWF should give the Showgunns a few more weeks to develop as a tag team before even daring to push those two. Hey, it could work, especially since neither guy is even worth anything in the singles division right now. But GIVE THEM TIME TO DEVELOP AS A TEAM PLEASE!
Kane vs. DDP wasn't a bad match, although it seemed slower live than on television. The second the chair came into the ring, I just knew Nick Patrick would call it the other way somehow. And he did. Patrick was receiving heat all night long. He's the best dirty ref in the business! I about had a heart attack when Kane let his ring fire off. Damn, that's loud live and in person.
The Kanyon/RVD vs. Tajiri/Jericho match was fun both ways, and it was funny to see and hear the fans cheering for RVD and Jericho, while being quiet for the other two competitors. Oh wait, they loved the Tarantula. I just hope that submission doesn't become Tajiri's "worm", if you know what I mean. The Tajiri kicks to RVD looked very vicious in person, by the way. Awesome Froggy splash. RVD is really becoming a superstar, just before our eyes. Let's hope no jealousy occurs, and let's hope RVD keeps his head screwed on straight, too.
Saturn vs. Storm had ABSOLUTELY no crowd response, and that's easily heard on the television show. Personally, I think they need to make Lance Storm do more than just wrestle. He needs to grab the mic and piss off the fans, just like he did in WCW. Saturn's mop routine is a joke, and it's just another piece of crap thrown at the wall, in hopes of making it stick.
For the Shane segment, I believe they edited that down a little bit. I do remember them showing the full clips of what Vince did to the Rock, as a opposed to highlights. I might be wrong there, or just going totally insane this week. Probably both.
The Edge/Christian vs. Tazz/Rhyno match was fun to watch, but the crowd didn't know it was going to occur until it happened. That hurt their responses, a little bit. Plus, with the WWF right now, they have a lot of wrestlers on Team WWF who just came off as being HUGE heels in the WWF. Then, with the ECW/WCW vs. the WWF feud, all WWF wrestlers are supposed to play faces now??? That's just totally killing the crowds, like for example, this match! The finish for this match was well booked. I swear, Edge has the best spear in the business, period.
Wow, what a thrill it was to be in the Pittsburgh crowd for the Angle vs. Booker T match. The second Booker T tapped, the whole Mellon Civic Arena exploded with noise. It's like the Penguins won the Stanley Cup, again. Hell, that's exactly what it was, because nothing in Pittsburgh has won a championship since that. Not that I'm ripping on Pittsburgh, but the city, as a whole, has fallen on some hard times lately with population decreases and industries moving elsewhere. It was nice to see a hometown boy come in and achieve big success within a profession. Give major credit to Booker T for allowing the WWF bookers, who probably quickly booked it, to let him lose the WCW World Title. Booker T fought for many years to gain that, and he deserves credit for being very open to anything that the WWF does.
LAST WORD: Let's bump this grade up to a B+ for both seeing it live and on television. There were a lot of stories told with this show, and an incredible moment at the very end of this show. Kurt Angle is the leading man in the WWF, whether they realize it or not. You can have the Rock have a big comeback all that you want, but he's NOTHING compared to Kurt Angle right now.
TOUGH ENOUGH
When I watched the previews and saw the transvestite club, I was like "oh shit, another Real World episode". But it wasn't. That was only for a shot segment. Most of it was wrestling, as they showed a lot of the progress of the remaining contestants. There was a lot of panic, too, among the wrestlers about the 2nd cut, as 3 guys were basically up for it. The two Vanilla Midgets, Josh and Chris NOT from Harvard, and Shadrick. Out of the 3, on looks-wise, I'd definitely pick Shadrick. But on pure talent, I don't know... Just looking at Josh, no matter how good he is, he just isn't big enough to really make it big in the business. He has that small frame that even steroids couldn't bulk up.
The Chris guy is about the same way, but only slightly bigger than Josh. I bet he'll be turfed, next, because of the slacking or at times, arrogant, personality he contains. Shadrick was turfed, this week, because he was just too sloppy in the ring and he couldn't improve for some reason. This wrestling stuff definitely isn't easy, and you can't knock the guy for trying. With any of the bumps, if you don't like flipping, you're body won't flip. That's a dilema which is very hard to cure. Poor guy. Yeah, and go ahead and laugh at Jackie for crying over her. She's a very emotional person, and she'll probably cry for everyone, hear on out. It's probably hard to just dump off a guy who is actually putting heart into it, despite not doing the wrestling correctly.
Last Word: But I definitely see one of the Vanilla Midgets receiving a cut next week, and the other getting the next cut. So here's my final field: Chris from Harvard, Maven, Greg, Taylor, Paulina, and Nidia. I believe Chris will show some real ego and attitude in the next upcoming weeks, which we'll see a preview of next week. It looks like we'll be seeing Paulina getting her knee looked at, which could result in her leaving. I don't think she'll last. Out of Maven, Greg, Taylor, and Nidia, you have 4 good and potential wrestling prospects. Out of them, I'd probably take Greg and Taylor, but it's a tough one.
CLICK HERE to listen to the latest show, as the WrestlePalooza.com crew discuss their trips to both Cleveland and Pittsburgh for recent WWF events. Note that new Wrestle Palooza shows are produced every Sunday and Wednesday of the week. Be sure to check regularly for any announcements concerning possible guests on the show. Also, listen to the archives, which features interviews with Bobby "the Brain" Heenan, Harley Race, Daffney, Spike Dudley, Dr. Death, Dusty Rhodes, Lenny Lane, Kid Kash, Madusa, and more!
Mr. Tito's MARIO TENNIS Page: Serving up Codes, Cheats, Hidden Characters and Courts, and a lot more information about this GREAT Nintendo 64 game!!!!
Backyard BBQ: The Best in Backyard Wrestling!
KOLTERSHOCK!!!! You KNOW you want to check it out!
Gamerave - The Ultimate Videogame Site: Reviews and Previews of Gameboy Advance games, along with information about future gaming systems!
@That's all for today. I should be back to normal, now, I hope, and I'll return with a WEEK IN REVIEW column tomorrow. Now can you dig that?
Phat Pharm: NEW Columns to READ!
Take Care, and Thanks for Reading.
Mr. Tito © 1998 - 2001 Exclusive to LordsofPain.net