I figured a lot of heat would enter Mike Awesome's early career at WCW. Awesome's style is so stiff as compared to the other wrestlers, and 3 wrestlers, DDP, Kanyon, and Booker T. Of course, a powerbomb can be misexecuted, but 2 of those wrestlers, Booker T and Kanyon, have been hurt by the Awesome-Bomb, and Mike Awesome has only been in WCW for a few months already. They weren't intentional(I'd imagine), and a punishment would destroy this early momentum that Awesome is getting. Then again, if he's continually hurting wrestlers, have a little talk with him please.
Since there was NO PDC yesterday, I'll say that Thunder had an OK rating of 2.5 this week, which I'm figuring that if Nitro did have a "great" ratings day like many claim, then I'd hope that this number would be higher. The Thunder after Russo/Bischoff's first night on television did a 3.1. Maybe I've been too evil towards the Thunder rating for the past few weeks, because comparing it to the wonderful 1.8, 1.9, 2.0, or 2.1 ratings that one of the worst bookers in history, Kevin Sullivan, pulled in. It's a BIG improvement from that.
Ouch. Ric Flair is expected to have shoulder surgery real soon. Poor Flair. For the past 5 years, injuries have had the best of him. Now, he has to leave Russo's, I guess, well planned out angle where Russo is the NEW father that David Flair never had. I though the NWO, collectively, was supposed to do that last year? Anyway, early rumors suggest that David Flair will defeat his father in a retirement match of some kind to put Ric out of action to have the shoulder surgery. I just hope they explain his winning of the battle royal at Thunder last week for the title at the Great American Bash. You know they have to give it to somebody else now, so I just hope it doesn't disappear.
Uh oh, I see rumors about Lance Storm showing up for Nitro. With Hardcore Heaven being tomorrow, and the 3 way match with Justin Credible and Tommy Dreamer as his RUMORED final match, why not start working for the opposition? You must consider what he role could be in WCW though. I don't know any gimmick Lance could have, other than being himself with a valet that had the fan's attention. Unless Dawn Marie goes with Lance, IF HE LEAVES, I bet Storm will face his former tag team partner and enemy, Chris Candido. That's my guess.
Good ol' Dustin Rhodes is reported to become another WWF rip off...but then again, he is the one being ripped off here. It's funny how dissatisfied he was with being Goldust in his early years in the WWF, but now he's willing to somewhat go back to it. I'm sure it will be funny though, because Dustin can get rather strange with gimmicks like that. He's going to call himself Platinum, so you'll now have to remember the name of ........PLATINUM.
The anticipation of Shawn Michaels's return keeps growing each and everyday. I've seen that he could be having a meeting this week, and maybe show up in 2 weeks or so. I really hope those are true, because Shawn Michaels can attract attention at any aspect of a show. His great mic work always carries him, and his spots as the WWF commissioner were very fun to watch. The WWF should have resolved any differences with HBK before last week, that way the WWF could have spiked the ratings without the Rock. The WWF thought that they probably didn't need any star power without the Rock, and the lowered RAW ratings prove them wrong.
I like how Jim Ross will say anything in his Ross Report column, especially the part concerning the Radicals: Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero, and Perry Saturn. Here's the exact quote:
"Also, I expect that the European Title will be at stake in a Triple Threat match between Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, and Perry Saturn. Guerrero and Malenko are amazing in-ring performers and Saturn is rapidly getting there."
It's just really well known that Saturn isn't especially getting the attention that Malenko, Eddie, or Benoit is getting. He just hasn't found the right angle or way to showcase his talents besides taking cookiesheets in Crash Holly's hardcore matches. I just hope the WWF doesn't get the wrong thinking about Saturn so that he doesn't get a chance to shine.
A whole lot of people question if the Rock and Triple H can hold up in a 60 minute Iron Man match. I think they easily can, especially if they have a good many falls instead of going the time limit like they did with HBK and Bret Hart, who are two individuals handled the long time well without fatiguing as much as others would. I'm thinking that this match, although it's the 3rd pay per view in a row to feature Rock fighting against Triple H, could be the match of the year if handled right. They really need to have a few pinfalls to spice things up, and let the drama build up towards the end for a spectacular finish.
I gotta say that Joel Gertner did a great performance tonight. From his opening line to his color commentary, he was damn good on ECW on TNN last night. He was in a rhythm that was present throughout the show, and could silence some of the many critics of his.
Oh boy, Simon Diamond! Like a used car ad for ECW: With a grand entrance, a valet, and two stooges, you too can wrestle main eventers in ECW! Tommy Dreamer fought Diamond to a decent match, and it was funny to see the referee chopping away at Diamond before Dreamer gave him the DDT from hell. One thing that cracks me up about ECW: the DDT is actually effective in ECW, whereas it's a regular move in WWF and WCW.
ECW put on a really good match with Lance Storm and Jerry Lynn. Oh the irony shows us that one COULD be on his way to WCW, and the other came from WCW to join ECW. These two put on a good "wrestling" contest with a great series of attempted falls and moves. I liked this match, although a loss to Lynn just days before the PPV could be damaging.
Cyrus is a bad man. He ripped everybody in Minnesota hard, and he kept calling Tajiri a "stupid Jap". Now is that nice? I'm surprised the REAL TNN hasn't jumped on ECW or Cyrus for that one. Anyways, we are treated to another Tajiri vs. Rhino match, which if you put two televisions side by side and watched the match these two had on ECW on TNN a few weeks ago, it would look the exact same. Well, except for some rather stiff kicks from Tajiri, which is always enjoyable. No octopus this week from Tajiri though, which is a move that I marked out for since seeing it on Wrestlemania 2000 for the N64.
Rob Van Dam looked to be in good ring shape when he went after Rhino, and after this Sunday, he should prove to critics that he CAN come back from injury to rise to the top once again.
Hey, the day off wasn't too bad. While I was out, I got two good deals on future Multimedia or Book reviews. I bought Diamond Dallas Page: Feel the Bang which is the video from WCW's Superstar Series, and I also bought the Rock's biography, The Rock Says... Many requested that I read the Rock's book, so since it seems shorter than DDP's or Mick Foley's and I bought it at a good price, I'll gladly review it. Give me some time with that book though as finals are coming up for me in 2 short weeks!
Since I took a day off, I couldn't hype yesterday's Phat Farm column, so I apologize to the man, Jaymz for that. You can read his column, Dead Bodies Everywhere, by clicking HERE.
@That's all for today. I'll be back tomorrow with some Hardcore Heaven predictions to botch up, along with some other thoughts. I apologize for taking Friday off, but a day off is nice every once in a while. Just chill...till the next episode.
Backyard BBQ: Lots of Backyard Wrestling, Columns, and much more...so CLICK HERE to ENTER!
Do you notice how I plug my personal projects here at LoP and not a completely different wrestling site like OTHERS do. I like how many strive to post news everywhere just so they can get more and more hits on their wrestling sites. That's ridiculous in my opinion, especially for the ones who have something in the title of their news post which you can only access by going to their page. Maybe someday, the greed of getting hits for their precious sites will slowly rot away from their heads. I plug the hell out of Backyard BBQ and the Phat Farm only because it benefits others or helps out in some way. With the Phat Farm, 6 columnists can show everybody what they have. With the Backyard BBQ, you can click on the many links and check out a lot of Backyard wrestling sites. I don't have any other sites with Exclusive News, nor do I have sites with EXCLUSIVE Women of Wrestling pics either. Well, I've argued enough here.
Take Care, and Thanks For Reading!