WeeAl

I've been watching Nitro back this past while, as I'm sure loads of you have done since the Network came about. (Really, it's gone on several years now and I'm still in November 1996. I'm going through the PPV's as well, and the same in the WWF - that's my defence for it taking me an age!) Anyway, I'm watching World War 3 here at the moment. What hit me right away is how they shot it in a way that shows they are somewhere unique. It was at The Norfolk Scope in Virginia. The place appears massive, much larger than the reported capacity and it has a bloody great looking roof. What does look stupid, production wise, is the position of the commentary table. We all know they watch the monitors and not the action. That doesn't make it any less stupid when the commentators are shown facing a ring with nothing happening, while they have their back to the action in the ring behind them. If it must be that way, shoot it in a way that they aren't shown. Big Tone does a good job of addressing the absurdity of it though instead of pretending it isn't happening. Ultimate Dragon and Rey Misterio had a lovely opener. Rey gets beat from pillar to post really, before getting in a brief comeback and then losing clean. He still looked pretty good though as he took an absolute leathering until that point. Jericho Vs Patrick was a tonne of fun, with Nick Patrick's shenanigans continuing to be one of the highlights of the shows. Speaking of continuing to be something. . . On a rewatch, the stuff involving the NWO continues to be a chore. At this point, with how things have went, I think it's already went stale. It doesn't help that every cunt and their dog is already in the bloody thing, but they are already diluted. Looking back without watching over it again I would have said that was mad, that creatively they wouldn't run out of steam for another year, but it certainly feels they are at, or close to that point on a rewatch. It's just too much heat. Sure, the build of Sting is going great, and it's clear that he's heading for Hogan so Hulk needs to stay strong. And Lex is looking good every week, like he usually did, carrying the fucking promotion a lot of the time I'd say (without getting the credit for it in a lot of circles). But by God, if Hogan was untouchable for now, somebody needed to get some shine on Hall, Nash, The Giant, Syxx or even fucking Virgil for God sake. I'm not looking forward to watching Souled Out, but If I remember right, Starrcade 96 was pretty damn good, other than the main event? Though I've just seen it the once, many moons ago.