RAW was so-so this past week, I was really into the DX reunion, but in the past week, it has grown to be boring. RAW had the same ending as Smackdown practically, Vince knocking someone out "accidentally" with the title belt, and then having a depressed look on his face as he regretted interfering.  

The Edge/Christian/Hardyz Vs. Hollys/Too Cool match up was a really awesome display, the eight men where all over the place and when you got the top young guys all in the same ring, in the same match it’s going to be entertaining at the very least. 

 The Al Snow/Mankind Vs. Bossman/Prince Albert match was pretty surprising. It was actually pretty well put on, even though Albert and Bossman, two of the laziest workers in the WWF were involved. At the conclusion of the match we see Val Venis light a garbage can on fire containing several copies of Mankind’s best selling book, why is this an angle? Is Mankind upset over losing a few bucks over a couple burnt books? It’s "copies" of the book. It’s not like the took the first edition or rough draft and lit it up, with no other resource left. Get a clue, no one cares who burns a couple books, let’s see some legitimate heat, over something less immature or stupid. 

Jericho with a yeast infection. That’s a scary thought. Chyna has really picked up on her mic skills and even her wrestling skills are slowly growing. Although she still looks awkward executing some of the moves. It was good to see Jericho get the last laugh in this segment, to save some face for him, and to get him over as the heel, with the sneak attack, would of looked better if Miss Kitty had of gotten involved, even if she were to run in and attempt to knock Jericho out with the belt, but only to get knocked down or something to that level. 

  Steve Austin. What is up with Austin. He refuses to wrestle Jarrett, ultimately making Jarrett leave, but the next thing we see, him working a program with Billy Gunn. Jarrett was clearly more over than Gunn, but that still isn’t saying much, but Jarrett-Austin would of looked much more acceptable, rather than a natural tag team wrestler, Billy Gunn taking on Austin. I am really looking forward to an Austin-Rock program now. Rock is much more over than, a few months back at Wrestlemania 15, were Austin went over Rock. Now this time Rock is on a more level playing field, and is close to Austin’s fan base. But I would say he is more over than Austin, because a few weeks back when McMahon declared the Survivor Series main event to be a triple threat, Austin’s catch phrases were getting bigger pops. Not to discredit Rock, but he still has a ways to go before he is CLEARLY the number one contender. 

Lawler, talking about marriage, and giving Stephanie some advice was so dumb, it was funny. Hearing him ask her if he had a ring on his finger, and her playing dumb, just plain funny. The main event, with Shane McMahon taking on HHH was built up pretty well, and it was obviously stacked against Triple H, but it was obvious Shane would not win the championship. He is all right in interviews, and is an alright wrestler, and does do some amazing spots, but he isn’t over enough to be champion. If they gave him the belt, it would of been like reliving a few weeks back when Vince McMahon beat Triple H. 

Moving on to Nitro, now, I really don’t know what WCW can do, they honestly are putting on some pretty entertaining wrestling, and are beginning to do more backstage scenes, but yet they still lose miserably in the ratings. I guess the viewers aren’t as stupid as Russo and Ferrera believe. Basically Nitro is moulding into a replica of RAW, just change the characters and the atmosphere around and you got basically the same format with the same styles and trends, which are easily pointed out. 

The Nitro Girls cannot act. Why are they involved in the story lines? They are supposed to be upset at Kimberly and her ego, yet most of them are smiling dumbly. Also, what is up with David Flair, is he that stupid? "Duh, a car’s driving my way and a video camera is focused on me, I think I’ll just walk out slowly onto the road, and slowly stop, directly in the car’s path, hopefully it won’t hit me." Comon, if your going to do one of these backstage scenes, sometimes it’s better NOT to have a camera on hand, to make it a little bit more convincing. If I were backstage, and a camera was on me, I’d back myself in to a corner, grab a weapon, and prepare for something to occur.  

The Vince McMahon parody by none other than Kevin Nash, was pretty ridiculous. What was the point of it? Do they think if they make fun of the competition, it will get them over, and people will tune in? Why would they, when all they are going to do, is make lame cracks at the competition. The parody had it’s moments, but over all, it should not have even aired. Some of you may, say well what about what DX did and what the WWF is saying all the time about WCW. At least the WWF comes out plainly and points out directly that they hate WCW and Turner. WCW tries to dance around the thought, but won’t ever come out with the truth, that they are embarrassed by the ratings, and hate the WWF and McMahon. 

On to Smackdown, Well Al Snow and Mankind are the tag team champions, I guess it was only for so long that the Holly’s could hold the titles, but was it really necessary for them to drop them to the Snow and Mankind on Smackdown? Wouldn’t it have been better and more dramatic to drop them on a pay-per-view instead of in the first match of a regular television show. Nothing else really ground breaking or earth shattering happened, except for the Main event which really just had the same sort of ending as RAW did. With Vince knocking someone out by accident with the title, to let Triple H pin the person for the win. 

 I don’t know if many of you actually catch Sunday Night Heat, but you might want to being to tape it or even watch it as it’s broad casted. The Video packages on the show are excellent quality and it really shows you, one of the reasons why the WWF is number one. Their titan tron videos and the regular video packages are just so much better and more professional looking, then WCW, and definitely ECW’s. Something that caught my eye on Heat, was Steve Blackman Vs. Julio Fantastico. Julio was on the Heroes of Wrestling pay-per-view, just a few weeks back, I guess the exposure on the pay-per-view helped him into getting into the WWF, I do not know if he’s under a contract or not, maybe within a few week’s, someone on the internet will post a contract status or news on him and the WWF. On Heat they showed in it’s entirety the Chris Jericho, Break the Wall Down video. It truly is appealing and looks fabulous. I know Jim Johnston does the music for the WWF stars, but whoever does the videos, deserves props definitely as well. 

Now, November 2 Remember, the last pay-per-view of 1999, for ECW was truly an amazing show. I really enjoyed the matches and was oohing, and ahhing, through the whole thing. Here’s a run down of the matches. 

Spike Dudley vs Simon Diamond - The sexual references by Simon, are all funny and great, but ECW will only be doing these things until they catch on in the media, and what will they do when they have negative stories written about them. WCW got heat for Lane and Lodi, but with Simon blatantly making sexual references about his "dick" what will happen their? The match was the same old format of a Spike Dudley match. I have been watching ECW since it came on TNN, and Spike Dudley is seriously getting on my nerves. In real life, as ECW wants to be considered, a little nerd, would never beat a guy the size of Sal E., oh and while Sal E. is on my mind, for you extreme ECW fans who say ECW never has stolen a gimmick off WWF or WCW. What do you call the "Big Salbowski"? Sure, it’s a parody of Venis’ gimmick, but comon if your going to do a parody, don’t waste the viewer’s time. Put something more enjoyable out. 

Tajiri vs Super Crazy vs Jerry Lynn - Excellent match, some great technical wrestling in this. I am not a really big fan of Tajiri, but can he work or what? Super Crazy got knocked out pretty quickly, it seems Tajiri and Crazy have been battling for ages now. Lynn finishes off Tajiri with a cradle pile driver, the move he has never been able to execute on Rob Van Dam. 

The Baldies vs Balls Mahoney and Axl Rotten - What kind of gimmick, is a group of four bald rejects? Rotten and Mahoney get the crap knocked out of them until a slow paced New Jack wanders out with his "toys". Obviously he doesn’t know how to place nice, as he knocked one of the Baldies with the vacuum cleaner directly in the groin. Pretty useless match since ECW has not learned of split screen action, anyway only really amazing spot here, was New Jack diving off the banner. I am surprised at ECW allowing New Jack to do these jumps. Since Owen Hart died from an accidental fall from anywhere to fifty to a hundred feet, and New Jack is jumping just below that, with maybe a thirty foot jump? What would ECW do if New Jack fell flat on his face and stomach? It would definitely knock the wind out of him, maybe even break some bones. If he died would they stop the show? 

Chris Candido vs Sabu - Definitely five star match here, Candido really is a hard worker, and we all know how far Sabu is willing to go, so it is very natural for these two to put on such a great match up. Tammy is looking a lot better than before as well, she looks to be thinning out quite a bit. Candido and Sabu worked a very good match, and it was probably the highlight of my night, even though nothing was on the line besides respect and honor. 

Masato Tanaka vs Mike Awesome - Pure brawl, these guys sure can work well together, but how many times can they reenact the same moves out against each other? It was obvious Tanaka was not walking out with the strap, but still he put on a very respectable showing. Tanaka is either very stubborn, or has a very high pain tolerance, I think it’s a bit of both. Those two chair shots he got were laid in stiff, you could see. The Powerbomb off the top was a huge bump, don’t know who that would really take more out of. 

Taz Vs. Rob Van Dam - Before the match even started you had to know Rob Van Dam was going over Taz for sure. It’s only been posted on the internet for the past 2 months nearly, and you have to know Taz is leaving ECW at the end of 1999, or maybe even sooner, since he is finally agreeing to do the job to the elite in ECW. This match was really well worked, but why does every match Van Dam is involved in, heat up at the beginning go a good minute and a half and then come to a halt? Do they not realize that they are letting the dramatic spots die down doing that? I know they need a bit of a break, but if your going to do that, then take your time in the first few minutes of the match, and then heat it up, with someone snapping or something to that affect.  

 Impact Players and Rhino vs Tommy Dreamer, Raven, and Sandman - This match wasn’t really all it was cracked up to be. It wasn’t really interesting, as I kept glancing at the clock as it went on to see how long it would continue. The introduction for the Sandman was way too long, I know it was his first match back in pay-per-view, but did he really need to go around the entire arena, crushing cans over his head. One interesting bit of this match was, Sandman hadn’t taken a bump or thrown a punch, yet he was bleeding at his forehead and the bridge of his nose, thanks to the beer cans. 

Just some quick thoughts involving wrestling now. As many of you know, The Rock has been declared the sexiest male wrestler of 1999, and will probably be in the 50 most sexiest men. The interesting bit of this is, this list and all it’s connections, are featured in "People’s Magazine". I guess the People’s Champ, has finally came back to the People’s pages. 

Mankind has accomplished a feat, that many authors dream of being apart of. The top ten list in the New York Times best seller list. Mick Foley is the number two author in the list right now, that’s a great feat for a humble man like Foley. 

Now, here’s a few of your responses to my open invitation on the failed gimmick of the week.  

[email protected] 
Without question...  it HAS to be Nash's lame impersonation of Vince 
McMahon.  WCW really messed up with this one, showing that they are clearly the 2nd rate company here. 
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[email protected] 
I believe, No I know that the worst gimmick is the RETURN of the Head-Bangers. God! Every time I see those two in the ring, I think we got rid of LOD but these guys stayed? I mean the pop those guys got last week on RAW was unreal, I mean those 7 people who did cheer for them last night were only out done by the 6 people who were booing those guys. Why have such a lack luster match at such a critical time of ratings, in fact why have it at all, especially against a team with such power as the Dudley Brother's. 
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[email protected] 
Okay! Filthy Animals ran away with this prize easily... four 'cool, hip guys'. one handsome and athletic, one small and aerial/martial arts, one wears baggy pants or sweats and cusses a lot, and one completely arrogant yet talented a-hole. Accompanied by a woman in skimpy clothing. The Filthy Animals is simply a poor man's DX.. nuff said!! 
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Thanks to all the responses I received. And I hope next time I hold a poll you all send in your choices as well. Now, for this week’s failed gimmick of the week, it has to be the Head Bangers. Like a few of you readers stated last week, the Head Bangers match on RAW was a waste of time, and shouldn’t have been aired at all. But, do the Head Bangers and Dudlyez match up well? No way. Head Bangers are a more high flying team, while the Dudleyz are pure brawlers and hard core. The WWF needs to really set the Dudleyz up against the team of Al Snow and Mankind, and have some legitimate hard core tag team matches. Throw the Acolytes in there even and you’ll have one awesome display. The Head Bangers either need to be broken up, and feud with each other, or get involved in a feud with a team, more their style. A team like Too Cool, or Edge and Christian. The Head Bangers would also be much better as heels. Whatever happened with Marianna? She was really a nice piece of eye candy, and they just wrote her out of the story line. They should have a GTV segment with her flirting with Thrasher, and have Mosh get upset and end up breaking up the team over her. Bring her back and have her set up in a kind of sexy role like Terri Runnels. 

That’s all for this week, thanks for reading, and I hope you all enjoy wrestling for the next week. I’ll be back next Monday with a review of Survivor Series among other things… Have a good night.