I Was There…

Just getting this out of the way…

Man, those random promos WWE did in 2002. Anyways.

yeah dude. That’s what this rambling is. Just me rambling about the three wrestling shows I’ve attened and such. And, I suppose, I’ll list them here in order from worst=best. Right? Because why, right?

And, I guess, they also happen to coincide with the last one I went to till the first. So. That’s instresting, right?

Alright so.

WWE SmackDown Taping July 31, 2003

In all honesty, I barely remember either this show or the necxt. But Google was my friend to help me along the way. Fr both.

OI do remember that this was the SmackDown after the SmackDown exclusive PPV… vengenace? Something?

Apparently. Christ Benoit (lol at that typo, right?_)fought Nick “Eugene”Dinsmore, who was still working OVW back then, but he appeared as Doink the Clown. For. Some reason.

Before this, legit. Rhyno did a backstage promo. And the promo aired on the show. However, Rhyno LEGIT said, “I’m gonna kick your fuckin’ ass!” I think the whole sentence was edited out on TV. But I swear to god it happened.

eddie Guerrero also defended the U.S. title against his random partner that he recently turned on, Tajiri. there was a spot where he, I think power bombed Tajiri on the lowrider he came to the ring in and sduch.

Waitaminute, waitaminute, waitaminute… looking voer the card here… Ultimo Dragon’s no wheres to be seent. But i REMEMVBER feeling the heet from his pyro. Cause I was like… PRETT DAMN close to the entrance for this show. sO. I guess… I had to google some velocity tapings too. And Yeah. ultimo beat Nunzio. Nunzio. How the fuuck did Little Guido debut in 2003? Doesn’t make sense. Uh ohhh… MANDELA EFFECT~!

Anyways. Uh…. main event was Andle ang Brock vs. A-Train and Big Show. And. Really. The only thing noteworthy was that Brck gave Big Show. Who was, you know…

An F-5. It wasn’t the first time it happened. You know. Survivor Series in 2002 was a thing. And such. But like. It was still. SEMI-special at that point. So. That was cool? I think Show also took some ort of awkward looking bump to the outside? Or maywa it was Albert? I dunno.

Easily? This show pissed me off. A lot. NThe night before, Raw was held in the same arena and such. And it was during the Shane McMahon/Kane/Linda stuffs. I think it ewas the show where Kane tombstoned Linda. Not sure how or why I didn’t go to the Raw show. But I didn’t. I’d have much rather been there. And. This show was just a glorified house show to hype up the next episode. Where Vince fought Brock Lesbaer in a cage match. And they hyped that next show in front of our faces. Like assholes.

WWE SmackDown Taping September 19, 2002

The SmackDown after the Billy & Chuck wedding.

Right. So.

Couple of notable things I remember from this show, off the top of my head.

Like.

First of all.

I remember watching the taped show two days later. And seeing myself for a split second. These days. WWE Network is a thing. So.

RANDOM SIDENOTES: Nick, you know, the dude wholding that “T” sign. I still owe you $100. Contractually. Sorry bro. And. That dude in front of me was awesome. I convinced him to join me in a chant that didn’t get over during the main event. But… I’ll get to that.

Firstly. this was the first time I experiencesd dark matches. As wellas a Velocity taping or anuything like that. Right?

Some. Fuking how. I remember the dark match before the show here. It was Val Venis vs. Doug Basham. Which. Val, obviously went over. Basham was still in OVW at the time but I had heard the name before. And after the match I remember telling my dad (who isn’t a wrestling fan by ANY stretch of the imagination), who attended the show with me, “He’s great at selling,” or something. Cause, after the loss, Doughie Bash was holdong onto his head and doing the whole “shove it.” But mostly. I think I remember this because I had just gotten into EWR at the time. And I saw that Danny Bashie was in OVW or… however EWR delt with developmental companies at the time.

Then like. Hurrican worked both a Velocity taping and a match on SmackDown. Khudos, sugar.

And. I can’t fact check this. Unlike some things around here. But I’m pretty God damn positive. Because i remember feeling this at the time and stuffs. This is fall of 2002. Right? The brand split is pretty new still. Matt Hardy’s just recently been a heel cunt. Not even srue if the “V1” gimmick became a thing yet. But another first happened for me,before the would-be broken vessel entered the arena, he cut a promo on Colorado springs. Saying that we all had 70’s haircutes. And probably other things.

But yeah. The thing I can’t fact check. It’s something that’s stuck with me al these years. so take this for what it is. I’m pretty positive we, the audiece in The World Arena, created the “We want Jeff!” chants. You know. Directed at heel, SmackDown brand Matt Hardy. Then it was either edited into the SmackDwn shows, or it caught on from there on out. Could be wrong. But yeah.

So. Maine event was Benot and Anfgle taking on Billy & Chuck. Really, all that matters about this is that I convinced the aforementioned “guy in front of me,” to chant, “We want Road Dogg,” when Billy was first tagged in the match. that’s all that matters and suchs.

Lastly, there ws some sort of post showy type of thing with Undertaker. Don’t remember any of it other than that.

And finally…

WCW Monday Nitro April 20, 1998

The show that I just recently watched, cause I’ve moved on from “The great ECW binge watchm,” to WCW. Right? And yeah. This was the first show I evet attended and all that. And I mean, grand scheme of theings, it was kinda historic, right?

#1. This was the week after Raw defeated Nito in the Monday night ratinfs war for the first time and all that.

#2. The two top titles in the company changed handes, quite significantly.

#3. It’s the night after Spring Stampede, Sting lost the title to Randy Savage. Which, you know. Pissed me off and such. I was even more pissed that Sting wasn’t on the show. But. Let’s see.

Rewatching it recent;y, it was kinda crazy. It ewas likew I was having an out of body experience. More accurately, I guess, would be a double bodied experience. I was watching the show on my TV, right? But in my mind’s eye, I’m seeing what I saw in the audience. It was instresting.

Anyways.

Before rewatching, Iremembered the obvious two big matches. And I remembered Chris Benoit fought curt Hennig. I mostly remember that because I yelled, “Crillple him!” Cause. You know. Benoit was “The Crippler.” And my dad scolded me, “You don’t really want him to cripple him?!” Or something.

After rewatching. There was also a match in the Jericho/Juventud Infinity War. Jericho wins after reversing a huracanran into a Lion Tamer, of ourse.

Then. there was. You know. Probably the most important part of the show.

Gold berg won his first championship in WCW. Before he had been in the business a full year, Goldberg left Colorado Springs with the WCW Unitided States Championship. After defeating Raven.

In the grand scheme of things, you know, the whole “bing watching” of WCW that I’m doing, it’s incredible just how LEGITIMATELY white hot Goldberg was, before this match, after this match, and everything. Dude was riding a wave that couldn’t be stopped. Until Kevin Nash got the book or wahtever. lol. But yeah dude. Being a 10-year-old kid at the time? Seeing Goldberg win. Being a part of it. Was awesome. Obviouslty.

Then. There was the main event. Hollywood Hogan. Who never got the hair out of his ass about losing to Sting, or whatever. Beat Savage for the title. After Bret Hart randomly turned. For no reason. Probably the first WCW SWerRVE~! You know. Unnecessary swerve. In the style of a RUSSO SWERVE~! And stuffs.

Oh wells.

Good times all round, though right?