Thanks to that individual who held up the Tito sign at Nitro. I admire anyone who takes time out of their busy schedule just to put my name on a poster board. Also, just putting effort into having it show up on a wrestling show is great too! I call it #46.
Alright, it looks like someone did an excellent one week job of advertising! It also looks like someone didn't deliver when the door of opportunity was wide open. That's right, Nitro just screwed up their only chance of getting back into the game full time. You may thank the biggest EGO in wrestling for that, Mr. Vince Russo. "Oh, my match with Booker T won't be the main event". Uh huh. I loved the bullshit excuse given on WCW Live as well. To make it even worse, Russo just crapped on the WCW World Title again!! Although nobody has been declared the winner, he's screwed up the title at his own expense, which gives him the
The rest of Nitro was ok, with two great matches of Scott Steiner vs. Goldberg and a technical masterpiece of Sting vs. Lance Storm. The other angles and matches were pretty much HALF ASSED, although I enjoy seeing Jindrak/O'Haire as champs. I promised an "F" if Russo won the belt, but since he put it in question, I'll flunk him and WCW Nitro anyway. Like I'm afraid to fail a show.
For the first night on TNN, I felt RAW put on a decent show, but it could have been better. Stone Cold was still acting the same, the Chyna LONG ASS INTERVIEW put me to sleep, and the usual slopped together matches as well. I did enjoy the ladder match, although it would have been better if they were rested up. Both Edge/Christian and the Hardy Boyz need to start making around $10 Million a year for the risks they take compared to other high paid wrestlers. The main event was good, but I'm sick of the Duck, oh, I mean the Rock as World Champ. He's a lame 'duck' champion anymore, as it seems to me that he's losing some crowd cheers as champ. Hmm. I'm also wondering how long it will be for guys like Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, and Chris Benoit to finally get a win over guys like Triple H or the Rock. It's starting to look like WCW 1998 where younger talent was beating the door down, but the main eventers wouldn't put them over.
You have to give props to the WWF and Viacom for shoving commercials everywhere for RAW is WAR. I'm serious, every cable show I saw it had the TNN switch commercial on it! I also heard some radio commercials as well, as it was unavoidable. The scary thing is that the WWF is sort of close to their regular ratings, so as the cable stations start picking up TNN and that everyone realizes the switch has occurred, the WWF will now move on. I expected them to be much lower than this, but they are starting off good on TNN. WCW should have never let the WWF get a good first hour off, as they should have put on a better show to counter it. They didn't, and now they are in deep trouble!
The real ratings losers of this week was the last 45 minutes of Nitro. The first 15 minutes did a good rating against the WWF, but after that, yecch!! I guess knowing that Russo was in the main event was good enough reason to look for RAW is WAR.
Funny thing about RAW is TNN is for the fact that it was the top rated show on TNN in years! I'm sure the guys at TNN are thanking the heavens, although they could have gained better ratings out of ECW on TNN to make their network stronger then. They didn't, and now they have the WWF. Hell, they now have ECW on TNN still. I wouldn't mind having one channel with two federations, although I'd rather see ECW on a better timeslot than stupid Fridays at 8pm.
Let me get off the subject here and discuss the WWF's backing of ECW. Did they do it out of heart? Well, the WWF and ECW have had a good relationship over the years. From talent swaps to letting ECW borrow Tazz to defeat Mike Awesome, they've worked together well. I think the WWF just extended this relationship, as it will obviously help the life of ECW during their financial troubles. I think there is a bit more to this than just helping out a good friend. WWF knows that ECW must stay alive to possibly give the struggling WCW a run for its money. Also, the WWF has a pile of midcarders who just aren't going anywhere. *cough* D'Lo and Chaz *cough* Maybe ECW could turn them into another Al Snow, although the WWF misused what ECW created during that time.
But anyway, ECW on TNN got a 0.8, which is kinda low considering it was the FINAL ECW on TNN show(for those not knowing of the deal). Of course, for last week, it remained the top rated show. You never know though for this show, as the WWF joining the network could bump the ratings up! What I'm really hoping for, however, is that the WWF helps to negotiate a deal between ECW and USA Networks. WWF put confidence in them to keep them on TNN, so why shouldn't USA Networks to signing them to a deal?
On the lower end of the stick, Livewire did an ok rating of 1.2, Superstars had a strong showing for their final show at 1.5, and Heat continues to be low with their 2.6 rating. I expect Heat to get a higher rating now that it's getting watered down by Mtv. Those teeny boppers can now watch WWF wrestling, just like they watch garbage known as the Real World, Road Rules, and even their new show Fear.
http://www.ncsx.com- NCSX has this game for $68.00, and it offers various shipping options(like if you want it on UPS 1 day, 2 day, 4-7 days ground, and so forth)
http://www.express.com- Express.com has the game for only $64.99, although I can't give out the shipping methods because I couldn't find them.
http://www.therage.com- VPW 2 is priced at $78.00, but I believe that is with One Day shipping already included.
http://www.buyrite1.com- Buyrite.com has the game for $64.99 too, but you can get this game with some wierd bandana for ONLY $79.99. I believe you can only get and must pay for 2 Day UPS shipping.
Remember, for this game, you MUST get an adapter to play Japanese games on your N64. BuyRite.com has a good one for $12.99 which you can check out by Clicking Here.
So there you have it. A few readers did warn me to tell you about the next WWF game coming out, WWF No Mercy. It could very well include many features from this game, and the screen shots from No Mercy are just awesome! Click Here for information or just LOTS of screenshots on WWF No Mercy for the N64. I just want Virtual Pro Wrestling for the Japanese wrestlers. By the way, No Mercy is said to be coming out sometime in November.
-For those of you who were wondering about where the RAW/Nitro show of WrestlePalooza was, one of the hosts was sick Monday Night, so the show didn't go down. There should be a show later on today to hype Thunder and review spoilers.
Since I'm back, I'll be looking at applicants for the Phat Pharm very soon. Email PhatPharm@lordsofpain.net to send in your tryout columns.
@That's all for today. I'll be back tomorrow with WCW Day, where I'll conclude on the state of WCW after I catch Thunder tonight. So until then, just chill.......
Backyard BBQ: Great Backyard Wrestling!
Take Care, and Thanks for Reading.