I was just wondering, if RAW was all alone in a forest and no one was around to watch it, does it still beat Nitro in the ratings?
We went to the Worcester show last night and wanted to add a few things that you might not be aware of.They showed at least four matches before they went live, any of which would have been good enough matches to televise on the beginning of Nitro:
None of these matches were even taped, so we kept looking at our watches wondering why the fireworks hadn't gone off or why the opening was taking so damn long. We even phoned our friend with our cellular phone to see if the president had been shot or if TNT had pre-empted the show with something else! Imagine our disgust when they said they were just showing the Hogan/Nash crap.
- Juvi vs. La Parka (who got a big pop from the whole chair dance thing, plus there was a great move when Juvi leapt off the top rope as La Parka was swinging the chair, hitting Juvi right in the face). Juvi won.
- Norman Smiley (he's back!) vs. Chavo. And although Chavo won, it was great seeing the big Wiggle in person.
- Fit Finley defeated Prince Iaukea, with a big contingent of "we love Fit" chants...
- Bam Bam Bigelow defeated Mike Enos, the crowd kept chanting "Goldberg," which bothered Bigelow
As for the rest of the show, there was huge heat for the Goldberg/Flair confrontation, even though it doesn't make any logical sense (although these days, what in WCW makes sense anyway?). I found myself rooting for Goldberg even though I'm a huge Flair fan.
Steiner/Bagwell got good heat, even though I think they're the stupidest wrestlers going. When will they ever job to someone? Although my wife pointed out that they wouldn't give Booker T the TV title on the eve of the fight for the U.S. title with Scott Hall. But does anyone think that Hall is going to give up the belt either?
The Bret Clark (Hart) match was deadly boring... The Rey Mysterio fight was too predictable.... I don't even remember much of the rest of the evening. Oh yeah, the 3-way brawl with Hak and Raven and Bigelow. The best moment was when Raven climbed the scaffolding, but then it blew. It took WCW forever to show what was going on outside the arena, and when they finally showed it on the video screen you couldn't see it because of the ring lights. After many minutes, they finally figured out to turn out the lights so everyone could see.
And during the Hogan/Nash takeover of the announcers booth (gee, how original is that?), we couldn't see or hear anything, so there was no reaction from the crowd. We just sat there all stupid.
By the way, did anyone else catch David Flair running away when Bigelow was chasing Raven backstage? Guess he was trying to get a piece of fruit from the bowl and they forgot to tell him that Raven, etc. were coming backstage.
Oh, and there was a guy dressed in a white dress just like Saturn, who I kept hoping they would show on TV, but I don't think they did.
All in all, it was fun to see Ric Flair, Booker T and Goldberg. The pyrotechnics are pretty cool. But I wouldn't go again to a live event, especially for $35 for 1st level seating. That's the last time WCW gets my money anyway.
Don't know how much that helps, but it's good to rant. Keep doing a great job on the Digest, although the way things are going you won't need to give updates on WCW 'cause nobody will be watching...
I wanted to write in to give a report on WCW's visit to Brown University here in Providence, RI, but I didn't get the chance until now. Looks like you guys already found out about it.Basically, WCW hosted 2 events here. On Sunday, they had the "Campus Clash" -- basically an American Gladiators-like event where teams made of Brown students would compete. They also had some WCW celebrities there. Scott Steiner and Buff Bagwell were there (although I didn't get there until after they had left... They apparently didn't want to stick around for longer than an hour or so). Ricky Rachman was the host. However, the highlight of the event while I was there (as I couldn't find a team in time) was when three of the Nitro Girls came in -- Fyre, Storm, and Spice. I nearly had a coronary when I bumped into someone after entering a drawing for a free spring break vacation only to realize that the person I bumped into was Fyre.
They Nitro Girls were definitely very nice and wanted to have fun there. They stuck around for at least 2 hours -- pretty much from when they arrived to the end of the event. They did raffle drawings for Nitro tickets for Worcester and I managed to be fortunate enough to win them. Too bad I didn't get to attend due to no transportation and a project due Monday night, however, your report makes me think it wasn't a huge loss. The Nitro Girls were also pretty cool about getting their pictures taken -- I managed to get my picture taken with Spice! That was definitely the highlight of my afternoon (although bumping into Fyre and Storm playing with my hair after I won the Nitro tickets weren't half bad either).
Also, for that bit you probably saw (I had the show taped so I didn't see it myself yet as we don't get TNT here at school), we had to rehearse the cheering for that at least half a dozen times, so as you probably suspected, it wasn't spontaneous. However, if you saw anyone wearing a big green coat, that's me, if anyone's curious.
Also, WCW also hosted a Nitro Party at a local club. Again, I couldn't get to go because of that project that was due, but I really didn't hear much about it except that, according to the school paper, Kidman said to one of the female Brown students there, "You can wear anything as long as you're naked." I hope he was just kidding, cause that doesn't show much class on his part.
What Jim Ross has is called Bell's Palsy. It is a paralysis of the facial muscles on one side of the body due to damage to or inflammation of the seventh cranial nerve (also more aptly called the "facial nerve"). That nerve comes off the brain stem and takes a long, winding road through a rather tight canal to exit the skull, where it innervates most of the muscles on either side of the face. Since he hasn't had a stroke or anything but has had this syndrome before, I would think that it's most likely caused by the nerve swelling somewhere. Several things may cause it (I don't have my medical books with me since I'm on vacation, but I remember that sleeping on the same side of one's face increases the possibility of a transient Bell's Palsy), but there is no reliable predictor for the non-stroke variety. Doctors will prescribe some anti-inflammatory medications for it, but otherwise there isn't a lot they can do since it's nearly impossible to find exactly where the swelling is.
Effects of this syndrome, other than the obvious sagging of the face on one side, also include drying of the eye and difficulty keeping food in one's mouth while chewing due to inability to fully close the eye or mouth. Slurring of the speech is also common. His status may improve with medication and some rehabilitation, but the more often he has these attacks, the less likely it becomes that he'll return completely to the way he was before (although a return to the microphone isn't altogether unlikely)
I get a syndicated show called "Ultimate Professional Wrestling" on my TV on the weekends. The focus is on old stuff from the late '80's, primarily in Texas. A recent episode had a match from the GWF with The Handsome Stranger (Buff Bagwell in a Lone Ranger mask) against The Blackheart.
Doing hilarious commentary was "The Palm Beach Heartthrob" Scott Anthony. Who's Scott Anthony, you ask? He's Scott "Raven" Levy. This gives credence to Kanyon's comments some months back about Raven growing up in Palm Beach, Florida and the angle that developed out of it.
Watching The Handsome Stranger in this match and hearing Scott Anthony's commentary, you would never think that they would become Buff Bagwell and Raven.