This past week on RAW, one of the best angles in WWF went down. The Wedding. At first I thought that this whole thing was a shamble and would definitely not go down. But, unlike I thought. There was a wedding, but not Test and Stephanie, but rather Triple H and Stephanie. That had to be the most shocking things of 1999 in the big three of wrestling. Forget the Higher Power, forget all the sacrifices ‘Taker did throughout the year, forget the reformation of DX, and other such things. No one saw that coming. Triple H, marrying the boss’ daughter. When I was sitting there, anticipating the wedding, the show slowly began to unravel. Stephanie having her bachelorette party, the "extra" shot glass before she left. Then the wedding begins to play out. You knew something was going to go down but, not sure of what, we all stayed glued. Just look at the ratings. As the minister began, the fans in attendance started to become a bit restless, expecting something to happen, finally after a small delay, HHH’s theme blasts through the speakers as the arena becomes dark. Out walks Triple H, showing us a clip of his "activities" from last night. At first it didn’t dawn on me. But when he pulled into the little White Chapel’s drive way, and pulled up to the sign, it clicked in my head. Brilliance. McMahon has practically laid out big story line for the next couple of months of the WWF. The thing that shocked me about this whole thing was. That NO ONE on the internet knew or even thought about this. Which was great. For once a story line wasn’t known ahead of time, and everyone on here, had to tune in to find out what would happen, if they wanted to see it, first hand. The rest of the RAW really had no effort put into it. The WWF basically knew, that fans would stayed tuned to see what would happen, and didn’t have any worry of the competition out doing them. Even with the effortless first hour and a half of RAW, which really didn’t further any story lines or anything, they still beat out Nitro in every quarter hour, by 2.5 to 3 points. 

Nothing much new happened. The same rivalries went at it, and I think that may ruin Starrcade. Why is Goldberg bothering with the Outsiders, when his World Title match is in three weeks or so. The Bret Hart versus Goldberg match hasn’t gotten much hype in my view. Seems that the broadcasters, are putting it over as just the normal match. But it’s not just a normal match. It’ll be the LAST Pay-Per-View main event of 1999. They need to hype the hell out of this match and even rekindle the rivalry between Goldberg and Hart in mid-March of this year, when Bret confronted Goldberg in front of the Toronto crowd, and later roughed Goldberg up a bit, before "quitting" the promotion. WCW has a perfect opportunity to present us a pay-per-view main event that many of have been anticipating, and have yet to see actually go down with a clean finish. Honestly, it would be in WCW’s best interest to allow Hart to retain the title at Starrcade, and then feud on into the new year with Goldberg, who is being set up at the moment, as the number one man in the promotion. Giving him the title at Starrcade would be pointless. If WCW had of planned it out more clearly, it would have been interesting to see a Diamond Dallas Page Vs. Bret Hart feud running up to Starrcade, allow Hart to retain, and then work his way into January of the new year, and then set up a rematch between DDP and Hart, keeping Goldberg busy throughout this feud, and finally allowing Goldberg to defeat and receive the title, sometime near April. The way it looks, WCW wants to set up Goldberg Vs. The Outsiders. But if they are going to do this, you can’t ruin your biggest pay-per-view of the year, by having the top contender, Goldberg have his hands busy with a bunch of guys that are already busy, Nash and Hall. 

 Same thing goes for Hall Vs. Benoit for the US Strap. There is not heat between the two. The match is pointless. The match itself will most likely be a memorable one. But the average fan ordering the pay-per-view, doesn’t know that the match will be great or not, all they know is, that a pointless match with no heat or story line will be taking place in three weeks. Anyway, Nitro didn’t seem all that great this week. Just the average. The main event cage match wasn’t really built up well, and the Liger match was a disappointment. This was my first time seeing a complete Liger match up, and I really don’t understand the hype over this guy. One man can’t carry a match. It takes two, no matter what to work a match, and something just wasn’t clicking with Liger and Juvi. Sure, there were some unique or abnormal counters. But nothing really impressive. Liger looked out of shape and a bit slow on the interactions. Same thing with the Benoit/Liger match on this past week’s Thunder, I believe. I don’t see the hype between the two. I’ve heard of the excellent matches these two have had, well all I have got to say about that is, Benoit is a more devastating force, and I hope he won in their Japan feuds. The BLOCK match is pointless. Who really wanted to see The Wall and Flynn in a match, where all they execute are different style punches/kicks and weak spheres.  Main event looked to be a good one, but turned out to be just a flat out brawl, with ridiculous interference from Jarrett. I really don’t see Jarrett ever headlining a pay-per-view event in WCW. POSSIBLY he could have in WWF in time. But in WCW, all I keep seeing is him coming out as the country singer in the flashy outfits, trying to be apart of the horsemen. He should of  stayed in the WWF. McMahon would have realized soon enough that Jarrett had some possible potential. One thing for sure is, Jarrett’s a lot better as a heel, I think that’s one of the only reasons I can stand him. His work ethic in the ring, is unique and is a refreshing change from the new high flying, just the guitar abuse doesn’t work well with his look. Nor does the wild west showdown music, he has now.  

Although I didn’t catch all of Smackdown! I did see some parts. Mankind Vs. Jericho was a pretty good quality match. Shows you Mankind still can go, even though he has stated he is retiring. One thing to note about his retiring is. He stated it on Off The Record. So he’s stated it in the real world. When will he officially announce it on WWF television? Probably not for awhile, since he is caught in the middle of the Rock/Snow feud, even though this isn’t a major feud. It will probably be Mankind’s last full time angle. The Test and Stephanie saga on Smackdown! was plain stupid. You could plainly see that Stephanie was out in the car, therefore, don’t you think Test would be a little bit more understand, and more reasonable with the "love of his life". Maybe the WWF is setting up another shocker, where Test is trying to slip out of the marriage with Stephanie because he had an affair with another WWF woman. Trish Stratus maybe? Would be interesting. By the way, isn’t it illegal to wed another man when your already ENGAGED to another? Therefore shouldn’t the Triple H/Steph marriage be broken up? The main event was pretty well done, as the Senton Bomb off the Big Show’s shoulders by the Matt Hardy, was amazing. Decent showing by the WWF, and they showed they still can put on a quality show even with the new less, adult-themed rating. 

Well PTC finally got their wish, as the WWF have stated that they will tone their product down to a less adult-theme rating. Which really is a joke. Just do a bit of channel surfing around 8pm-9pm on any given night, and you’ll find much more adult material on other shows. With more violence, more coarse language, etc. One thing I find totally ridiculous about this whole mess, is the statement from AT&T: "AT&T outright told USA Today, that they will never advertise with the WWF again because of the WWF's soiled reputation." GIVE ME A BREAK. The idiots there were one of the last advertisers to flee from the WWF, and really the only reason they most likely did, was that they were in fear of being criticized for staying with the WWF as a sponsor. If that was the case, then all right, it’s sad to see you go over a power hungry group like PTC. But to say that the WWF has a soiled reputation and that they will never advertise with the WWF again, is just plain stupidity. All they’re doing is hopping on the bandwagon for some publicity. The WWF isn’t the most graphic thing on television, end of story. 

Switching gears now, Vince Russo is now the creative man behind WCW. No disputes. Well really when you look at what he has done this far. All he has done is, recycle old WCW angles, and rip off WWF ones at that.  Here are just a few: 

Oklahoma - Sure, this is a parody, but this whole character is based on what Ross/Williams acted out a few months ago, when JR was the disgruntled employee.  

Sting - There’s talk of him reappearing as the mysterious crow sting. Sure that was great back in 1997, to fight the nWo, but what is the point of bringing back the black and white silent stinger, if he doesn’t have a serious, long lasting feud or competition? 

Buzzkill - Blatant rip off, of Road Dogg, which is really sad, since Road Dogg isn’t nearly as over as he was in the beginning of 1999. If you don’t think this is a big time rip off, just listen to Buzz’ music. It’s a slower version of the NAO theme, his antics in the ring and out of the ring, slightly resemble his brother’s, as well. 

Bret Hart - There is talk of Bret Hart, turning against the American Crowd, and praising the Canadian crowds, and world wide crowds. Something identical to the Bret Hart of 1997. Another thing worth noting is. WCW rarely comes to Canada, and HAS ONLY began opening the doors to the Great White North. Also they rarely go over seas as well, so the angle would be pointless, since Hart would be backed into the corner, in nearly ninety nine percent of the shows they do, all in the U.S. 

Jeff Jarrett - Not a rip off at all, since Jarrett is using his own name, etc. But if your going to a new federation, at least alter your look slightly. 

Dustin Runnels - What can you say about him? He’s not ripping off a gimmick or anything, but he just plain out sucks and putting down the Goldust character just makes him sound ungrateful, since The Goldust gimmick was the first gimmick where he was really over with the crowd. Time for somebody to roll him out to the pasture, because he’s done.   

Now this week’s Failed Gimmick of the Week is….. Torrie Wilson. Just when her character begins to rise to the top female spot in WCW, she begins to have problems working out a final contract. If WCW knows what’s good for them, they’ll give in to her demands and get her back on television. She’s the most natural looking, and really plays off the girl next door appeal. It’s too bad that the Filthy Animals are out for now with injuries, because the love triangle between Guerreou, Kidman and Torrie was really beginning to heat up. Even if the Animals are out, resign Torrie to a new angle. I’m sure no male fan would mind seeing the alternation. Maybe we could see a trio of Kimberly/Symphony/Torrie, team up against the "Stalker" David Flair.  

Thanks for reading, and I’ll be back next Monday with an all new Pain Tolerance. I hope you all enjoyed this week’s issue. Enjoy the wrestling.