SaitoRyo

Watched the February 7th 2000 episode of Raw last night and, fuck me, what a belter it is. It's the one from Dallas with the incredible DX & Radicalz vs Cactus, Rock & Too Cool ten-man at the end. I'd never watched it the whole way through, despite having seen the ten-man a bunch of times. Opening promo with the Radicalz turn and setting up HHH/Foley at the Cell wasgreat and the crowd are super into it (as they are for everything all night). Foley was superb here, showing real emotion and basically selling everyone on how important the match is. Usual decent match between the Outlaws and E&D, with Billy bumping his arse off and the Dudleys being absolute dicks on commentary. Hilarious Kurt Angle promo - fucking hell he got good quick - followed by a short and sweet match between him and Henry. Ends with Mae Young taking an Olympic Slam like a champion. We all know where this was leading... APA and the Hollies having a short hardcore tag next and you really start to get a sense of what a good variety show WWE programming was back then. It's just goofy fun, with most of the 'match' taking place in the concession stand. Big Viscera waddles over at the finish, flips and falls right on his arse. He gets up quickly though and has an IC Title match with Jericho next. Absolutely all of over the place. Jericho nearly decapitates himself on the top rope in the opening seconds. APA and the Hollies run in later and Ron Simmons does the same. Weird. Luna and Jacqueline then have a short but fiesty match, after which Gangrel hits this SWEET Impaler: Video package on new arrival Tazz (which was effective) followed by a classic Rock promo. All of the catchphrases, taking the piss out of Kevin Kelly, further setting up the main event and his match with Big Show at the next PPV. Dudleys against Godfather and D-Lo Brown (remember that pairing?) next. Short and inoffensive and did the job of getting the Dudleys and the 3D over. Then the main event, with an absolutely molten crowd and just full-on, nonstop action. Everyone is on during this and it really is one of the best matches in Raw history. At ten minutes long, it doesn't outstay its welcome, either. Even better than I remembered. Then to cap it all off we have the return of Kane and the reappearance of Paul Bearer. A great hook to close on. This is an all-timer IMO and you should give it a look if you haven't in a while. Perfect antidote to today's 3-hour bores.

I agree but it just does nothing for me. He should do it more and better!

I'd like Jericho to go full on Terry Funk soon, to be honest. Just transition into a wild character brawler, ditch this 'I'm still cool, guys!' rockstar shit. He looks like a parody now. Stop doing the Lionsault and springboard bollocks and trying to keep up with the younger, more athletic guys. I don't dislike Jericho as much as others, but for a man who has been so great at reinventing himself over the years, this latest incarnation kinda sucks a dick.

Hogan in 2002 was great. Those matches with Brock, Rock and Angle, as well as the tag stuff with Edge and the odd TV match against the likes of Jericho, were really good. They tapped into the nostalgia perfectly and used Hogan about as well as they could. The stuff with HHH and 'Taker was shit, granted, but don't let that negate the good stuff.

They've also uploaded a few of non-televised WWE Title matches, which is the kind of shit I love, just because it's something different. First one is Undertaker vs British Bulldog from 30.11.91 in Canada. Second is Triple H vs Randy Orton from Birmingham in '08 (Zzzzzzzzzzzz). Third is Balor vs Joe vs Zayn from one of those NXT house shows they ran a few years back. I'd be really curious to see just how much house show stuff they have in their archives. There was a period in the early-to-mid 2000s that they filmed everything for those video packages they used on TV (to help boost flagging ticket sales). I'd love to see some more stuff from that era, given how stacked the roster was then.

Oh no.

Recently had the displeasure of watching a few clips of Baddiel's Syndrome and that's got to be up there with worst UK sitcoms. David Baddiel playing David Baddiel, an architect who goes to therapy for his myriad neurocies, such as thinking he might have a gay son. Also starring Stephen Fry, the Guardian's Peter Bradshaw (also co-writer) and Baddiel's wife. Looks like they're on YouTube, if you're a gluton for punishment.