(Picture courtesy of Amazon.com)Hey, I'm going to make the end of the week very special here for the readers. By the request of many, I'm going to do a whole lot more Multimedia reviews! I basically went to my local video rental store here at home and rented a whole bunch of stuff. So with that, let me throw out a schedule for the reviews:
MULTILMEDIA REVIEWS
Today:"Cause Stone Cold Said So" and "Best of RAW Volume 1"
Thursday: "WCW Backstage Assault" for the N64
Friday: "WWF Hardcore", and POSSIBLY "Stone Cold 'Oh Hell Yeah'" if it's available.
So there you have it. When I get back to school, I have my eye on a few more videos to review as well, including the Jesse Ventura one. Now doesn't this sound like fun?
On to the PDC.
Today's PDC
*Ratings Analysis
*2 Phat Video Reviews
*Shouts
Wow, Nitro improved. Even more of a wow, RAW's rating decreased, just weeks into Wrestlemania. I think the buzz of WCW closing got around, because both the first and second hour went up slightly. That's good for WCW on their way out, and I wonder what the Spring Break "Night of Champions" Nitro will do. I always have a fetish for the Spring Break Nitros, and I don't know why.
But the real problem is RAW. They dropped from last week, and that's heading into Wrestlemania. We can blame the opening bout between Raven and the Big Show for a horrible, horrible start. A 3.5 rating was scored for that match alone, and it started off a bad night. The next two segments picked up on the ratings, both scoring 4.6, but the Tazz vs. Richards/Rock promo/Austin at the airport segment dropped down to a 4.2. That's incredibly low for what the WWF usually does during the 9:45-10:00 interval. Very low.
RAW bounced back in the beginning of the second hour, but it just dropped from 9:30 and out. I don't know, maybe people had better things to do than to stick around for the main event? Maybe fans figured that the Rock and Jericho will defeat all odds and beat 3 guys. Who knows? But the point is that last year, RAW scored a 6.2, overall, in the ratings, and for this year, they scored a 4.6. That's a nice difference, and back then, the ratings were just going up instead of down, leading into Wrestlemania. The sad thing is that the WWF has most of their Wrestlemania card already booked, but yet the interest is not there. From what I've read through emails, message boards, and whatever else, it seems the interest is missing in the main event of Austin vs. the Rock at Wrestlemania.
The funny thing about this feud is that the crowd is beginning to show negative vibes towards the Rock. It was reported that at RAW, many anti-Rock signs were taken from the crowd. Now that's funny. If you caught the main event, you saw a "FUCK YOU ROCK" sign in the crowd, and because of that sign, the main event had a lot of extra side ring views. But the real point about this feud is that face vs. face feuds are hard to manage, as they should have remembered the confusion of the Warrior vs. Hulk Hogan in 1990.
As for the 2nd to last Nitro EVER.... Well, it picked up big time with the Eric Bischoff phone call. What's this? Eric Bischoff draws ratings??? Thank God it has come at the end of WCW's existance on Time Warner, or Bischoff would be trying to include himself in the storylines again. Thanks to the MI Smooth vs. Kanyon match, those ratings were lost.... Even better, MI Smooth must wrestle again on Thunder. I can't wait for that (sarcasm).
Look at the margin between head to head hours. A 1.8 isn't that far away. RAW used to just pound Nitro by 3.0s back in the day, but things are different now. I wonder how Nitro will do next week, for their final Nitro ever on TNT. RAW better do something to counter it, because the word will get out about the show. Besides the stupid Stasiak vs. Bam Bam rematch, Nitro is looking pretty good. Let's have a look at what I *think* Nitro will be, based on what went down Monday:
-Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Shawn Stasiak (SUCKS)
-Chavo Guerrero vs. Shane Helms for the Cruiserweight Title
-Rey Mystero/Billy Kidman vs. Kid Romeo/Elix Skipper for the Cruiserweight Tag Titles
-Lance Storm/Mike Awesome vs. Chuck Palumbo/Shawn O'Haire for the World Tag Titles
-Scott Steiner vs. Booker T, US title vs. World Title
So besides the Bam Bam-Shawn Stasiak match, Nitro is looking pretty stacked to me. I bet we'll probably see one more Kanyon vs. Cat match, and if Johnny Ace has his way, we'll see Rick Steiner wrestle another horrible match. Why not just give Rick Steiner the night off for the love of God??? At least give us loyal Nitro viewers a chance to view a Nitro without a worthless match involving Rick Steiner. Pretty please?
On the Weekend front, Mtv Heat is slightly up. Don't know why, really, unless Kaientai are great hosts. Superstars takes the low blow this week, scoring below 1.0. Livewire shot up from their embarrassing 0.9 last week to a 1.1. I don't really know how you could interpret that. Hmm...
(Picture courtesy of Amazon.com)
The video starts off with the King of the Ring 1996, as I forgot how good of a match he had with Mero that night. The showed how he got Austin 3:16, which was right after he beat Jake "the Snake" Roberts for the King of the Ring spot, he ripped on Jake Roberts for relying on the word of the bible for not helping him win, since Austin 3:16 just said I whopped your ass! I still can't believe what COULD have happened at the King of the Ring 1996. Triple H was schedule to win, but because of his actions involving the departure of Diesel and Razor Ramon, the Game was depushed back then, allowing Austin the victory. The Austin 3:16 interview is one of the best ones ever.
It then went to the ECW days, where Stevemania was running wild! It showed the many Hogan and Bischoff like skits, which made me laugh. Hey, he was totally screwed out of WCW, so he has a right to express his feelings. I haven't seen the full clips of these, so it was nice to have seen them with this video. What I don't get is why if you are going to include Austin in ECW, then why not include The Ringmaster Austin??? Rather interesting....
We practically fly through backstage scene after backstage scene, and we get a full taste of the Bret Hart feud. Almost all of each match was on the tape, with no complaints here. Their classic submission match at Wrestlemania 13 is the only match I specifically like at WM 13. We fly through a whole bunch of stuff, including SOME clips of the Pillman gun incident (without showing the gun) and some very early stages of Vince McMahon vs. Austin. The Pillman stuff, though, had Stone Cold using a lot of curse words towards his old WCW partner. They also showed the funny time of when Austin and HBK teamed up, and actually wrestled at a Pay Per View.
LAST WORD: Pretty good video here, although the production of this one is no where near the latest WWF videos. The content is pretty good, and for that, I'll give it a
(Picture courtesy of Amazon.com)
What I didn't quite get about this video was the time frame of the video. Some of the incidents dated back to late 1997, while some started the night after Wrestlemania. I found that to be quite strange. It did provide me with some funny memories... like the early Val Venis vs. Kaientai feud. My gosh, I didn't realize how funny that feud was back then. "I choppy choppy off your pee pee". I want to know what kind of drugs were used to write this storyline back then!
To make wrap this video up, they showed a good bit of DX after Wrestlemania 14, they showed the Rock's involvement with the Nation of Domination, early Vince vs. Austin, sort of the rise of Austin too, and finally, just about everything the Undertaker was involved with, including the evil Ministry. I mean, I guess it's a good recap if you didn't buy all of the other videos, too.
LAST WORD: The overlapping from each video made this one pretty hard to watch, and it also made me thankful that I didn't buy this one back then. I ALMOST DID! But if you want a good reminder of the past, and you haven't seen the videos, then pick this one up. If you've seen the videos I listed above, avoid this unless you really need to see the Val Venis vs. Kaientai feud. I'll give it a
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Since when is Ken Shamrock and the Patriot's love child wrestling in the WWF? (Kurt Angle)
Now that The Rock is going to be in The Mummy Returns, do you think that Brendan Fraser will get a WWF Title Shot?
Imagine if Mike Sanders joined the MIA, I'm sure Russo would have called him something like Col. Sanders.
Boy, Dusty Rhodes better not join the WWF now, we wouldn't want that federation to also close down too!
Eric Bischoff sent an open invitation to any former WCW World Champion for next week's Nitro... and coincidentally, David Arquette has a new movie to plug.
Vince McMahon told Bob Costas that they had no guns in the WWF, yet there is one that no one likes, and his name is Billy.
Supermarkets across the word are displaying a new sleep aid for insomaics. It's a half an hour tape of Rick Steiner.
Isn't it ironic that both organizations Paul Heyman has worn a hat for (XFL and ECW) are both pretty much dead?
If X-pac shaves his head then the WWF will have it's version of the baldies. Why not, everyone else from ECW is showing up.
Why doesn't the WWF fire Austin for showing up late during the middle of Raw all the time?
#Not bad this week. Please do not send in any shouts until I ask for them next Tuesday. Thanks to anyone who sent in Shouts!
Credit for the Screaming: Virgil Wade, Dean Marando, Mike Talladino, Chico, Azusa Guy, 4 String Ninja, Shaun Stambaugh, Beanie Eight, and Mad Muffin.
Make sure you check out the latest Wrestle Palooza Audio Show, airing later today, for a review of the Current News and Spoilers in the wrestling world. So CLICK HERE to listen to the show! Keep in mind that the Audio Show is giving away a Wrestlemania care package, which you could win by listening to the show and answering Wrestlemania Trivia. Also Note that former WCW and ECW star, Scotty Anton, will be a guest on the show sometime in April. I'll keep you posted.
LoP T-Shirts: NEW STUFF IN STOCK! Mouse Pads, Sweat Shirts, Coffee Mugs, more T-Shirts, Baby Doll shirts, and more! Also, you can now order via Credit Card!
Backyard BBQ: The Best in Backyard Wrestling!
@That's all for today. I'll be back with my FINAL Chunder review ever, thoughts on the World of WCW, and a stunning review of WCW Backstage Assault for the N64. Man, that Video Game Review is going to get nasty! See you tomorrow!
Phat Pharm: Why Don't you Kick Ass and Take Names Later???
Take Care, and Thanks for Reading.
Yahoo! News reports that the 1.6 rating for the XFL game on NBC was the lowest rating in history for Prime Time shows on the big 3 networks (NBC, CBS, and ABC). Ouch. The NCAA tournament was too much for the XFL.
I've seen several reports that NBC will most likely move the XFL games to the daytime next season, to spare them from any embarrassment.
Meltzer reports that this week's NBC game was lower than ANY Nitro ever on TNT! Ouch!