Your Favourite Episode of Wrestling Television

[Liam O'Rourke]

So, for this week's podcast, we're looking to talk about classic episodes of wrestling television, and would like your suggestions for your personal favourite individual episode of wrestling TV you've ever seen.

 

It can be from any company at any point in time, but we're looking for your pick for the particular episode, what you thought made it great as an entire show, and why it stands out to you so much over all the others. Whether it's great matches, great angles, a dynamic energy or personal nostalgia, what makes it your favourite?

 

As always, the best contributions will be read and discussed on the show, and you'll be credited accordingly - so what's your pick?

 

EDIT - Our show on Favourite Episodes of Wrestling Television, featuring many of your contributions is now online and available to listen to at the following link: http://squaredcirclegazette.podbean.com/mf/web/rvynm6/SCG_Radio_83_-_Favourite_Wrestling_TV_Episodes.mp3

[Max Power]

I've got two that standout.

 

Firstly, the Raw after Mania 98. As you've recently discussed on the MNW Timeline, this is like a whole new company. Austin is crazy over, Rocky kicks Farooq out of the Nation. HHH picks up the ball that Shawn 'dropped'. X-Pac cuts Karl's favourite ever promo. The difference in the seven day period from this show and the go home show for Mania is like night and day.

 

Secondly (and I couldn't tell you the correct date), but it's the one in April 2000 where Jericho 'wins' the Belt from HHH after the Hebner fast count. The pop is insane, the APA play their roles to perfection - it's just great storytelling.

[PSF]

The Raw where Mike Awesome wins the Hardcore title is the first that springs to mind for me. This is when the Invasion looked like it was going to be fucking mental and anything could happen. No matter what you think of how it turned out (personally I enjoyed it), this episode couldn't help but get you excited.

[Pinc]

We had a thread about best episodes of Raw and SmackDown last month Liam, which you may want to re-purpose for the show. I posted this about an episode of Raw in February 2000, which always comes to mind when I try to think about favourie episodes:

 

 

There is a Raw in the build up to No Way Out 2000 which begins with the McMahon-Helmsley regime (remember them?) putting Cactus Jack in a 5-on-1 handicap match against some combination of DX and the Radicalz (I think the heel team was Triple H, X-Pac, Benoit, Saturn, and Malenko; Guerrero was at ringside with the rest of DX with his arm in a sling). The only sliver of hope for Jack is that he's free to assemble his own team of 5 if he can find anyone in the locker room with the balls to oppose the World champ and de facto authority figure. About half an hour later The Rock in his absolute babyface prime gives a backstage promo in which he tells Cactus Jack that "[his] situation is not five-on-one, it's five-on...two!" Cue much delirium in the stands and at home.

 

So Rock and Jack come out for the final segment looking like a pair of bad asses, when Too Cool's boss 'get high today...' music goes off and out come Scotty, Grand Master, and Rikishi to even up the odds. What follows is an awesome 5-on-5 tag with a fucking molten crowd which keeps getting louder right through to the post-match shenanigans (which are class). It's an excellent Raw that climaxes with a match worthy of consideration in any Best of Raw list. A sublime episode.

[Ambulance Chaser]

My memory is dreadful, I loved 98, basically Austin was running round like a mentalist doing folk over, there was one in particular in the build up to the Rumble 98, where he was public enemy number 1 and he was picking people off with stunners, then mocked them, did Jarrett's strut and shadow boxed like Mero, chaotic madness.

 

Raw 1000, just a weird, crazy night, old school guys popping back, a stellar match between Cena and Punk, 2 other good TV matches, random zaniness and the scissor wielding loon SYCHO SID.

[Gordon_The_Gopher]

 

We had a thread about best episodes of Raw and SmackDown last month Liam, which you may want to re-purpose for the show. I posted this about an episode of Raw in February 2000, which always comes to mind when I try to think about favourie episodes:

 

 

There is a Raw in the build up to No Way Out 2000 which begins with the McMahon-Helmsley regime (remember them?) putting Cactus Jack in a 5-on-1 handicap match against some combination of DX and the Radicalz (I think the heel team was Triple H, X-Pac, Benoit, Saturn, and Malenko; Guerrero was at ringside with the rest of DX with his arm in a sling). The only sliver of hope for Jack is that he's free to assemble his own team of 5 if he can find anyone in the locker room with the balls to oppose the World champ and de facto authority figure. About half an hour later The Rock in his absolute babyface prime gives a backstage promo in which he tells Cactus Jack that "[his] situation is not five-on-one, it's five-on...two!" Cue much delirium in the stands and at home.

So Rock and Jack come out for the final segment looking like a pair of bad asses, when Too Cool's boss 'get high today...' music goes off and out come Scotty, Grand Master, and Rikishi to even up the odds. What follows is an awesome 5-on-5 tag with a fucking molten crowd which keeps getting louder right through to the post-match shenanigans (which are class). It's an excellent Raw that climaxes with a match worthy of consideration in any Best of Raw list. A sublime episode.

I had this Raw, the Jericho title win and the Raw after No Way Out with the Foley tributes all on the same VHS (God bless long play!!) This Raw is probably my favourite ever because it tells such a great self contained story whilst still playing a key part in the bigger picture. I loved Too Cool, The Rock and Cactus Jack and there was so much legitimate heat on HHH when I look back it all plays so perfectly. The surprise ending and shenanigans as well really add to everything. The crowd is at a fever pitch!

[Sir Steve Redgrave]

Always like to go back and watch the episode which concludes with ECW joining the Invasion in 2001. It played out like an episode long story and the twist at the end was great.

[kostan]

SNME where Hogan comes to save Savage from a HTM/ Hart Foundation beatdown. MegaPowers are born!

[HarmonicGenerator]

Picking one SmackDown and one Raw, both from 2002.

 

I loved 2002 SmackDown, and the episode that first comes to mind for me is July 25, 2002 - it's from around this time that SmackDown was really starting to get out of Raw's shadow, but it's best remembered for being the debut of Rey Mysterio. I'd been watching his vignettes and reading about him on the Ross Report, but I'd never seen him before. That debut delivered from the moment he appeared jumping out of the SmackDown stage. Eye catching red outfit, loads of ranas and flippy moves, the 619, it was a great showcase debut and Chavo did a great job with making Rey look a star. 

 

But better than the match was his reappearance during the main event, an excellent Cage Match with Edge against Chris Jericho. Rey climbs up to the top of the cage with more speed than I'd ever seen anyone do before, and effortlessly FLIES off the top onto the Un-Americans. It was amazing to watch, the sort of move highlight reels were made for.

 

This episode also had Brock Lesnar being a beast with Mark Henry and Hulk Hogan, and planting some seeds for his eventual feud with Kurt Angle. It had some very early John Cena in his initial run (as well as Deacon Batista). It had The Rock and Hulk Hogan teaming up! And it had the theme running through the show that at any moment, any of its stars could be being tempted away from SmackDown and defecting to Eric Bischoff and Raw. It ended on a cliffhanger as part of a little run of shows where new stars would turn up unexpectedly each week having changed sides which made for good television and fresh matches.

 

 

 

For Raw, I always think of the Raw Roulette - October 7, 2002. At the time, it felt really novel and original and unpredictable, and, mostly, fun! It probably doesn't hold up as well now (in fact, from reading a recap, I'm sure it won't) but I loved it at the time.

 

Regal's facial expressions when he has to dress up as a showgirl! Triple H vs. D'Lo Brown in a Blindfold Match?! Trish and Stacy tearing each other's clothes off… which is fine to still like in a post-Divas Revolution world because the post-match furthered Trish's feud with Victoria. Lawler vs. Steven Richards just being an excuse for The Godfather turning up?! It was a mad two hours!

 

But the main event was the highlight - the show-long build to the TLC IV match, back when there'd been so few TLC matches they could still have numbers after them. While it couldn't match the E&C/Dudleys/Hardys efforts, you got Jeff teaming with RVD and Christian teaming with Jericho, Bubba and Spike Dudley, and Kane fighting through it with the disadvantage of his partner being taken out beforehand, which added a different dimension to the TLCs we'd seen before. There were some awesome stunts in the match, it was loads of fun, felt like a big deal, and I remember it more clearly than most of the TLC matches from the PPV of that name, for sure. 

 

Let's just forget the introduction of one Ms Vick afterwards...

[air_raid]

I'm going to go a completely different direction to the way most will go, and say the 4th January 1999 Nitro, of Fingerpoke Of Doom and "butts in the seats" infamy. I recently rewatched this episode for the dozenth time with fellow UKFFer and SCG contributer jazzygeofferz and it's an amazing guilty pleasure watch, as time and time again I piss myself laughing at how bad WCW was getting, much as you're already seeing in the timeline series.

Right from the off you know you're watching a show presented by incompetent nitwits by the fact you get a Nitro Girls routine, a match, and a lengthy recap clip ("This week on Nitro.... last week's Nitro!") before they even run the opening credits! There are 9 matches in total and by the time you get to match 5 you've been treated to cobblers like Hugh Morrus vs Glacier, Booker T vs Emery Hale, and new WCW President Ric Flair announcing the first match for Souled Out - nothing approaching a main event, but his own handicap match with has-beens Curt Hennig and Fat Barry. You do get some great comic relief at this junction ; as Goldberg is ludicrously carted off by the old bill for allegedly sexpesting Elizabeth - and who can blame him - big bald Billy is passed by "presidential hopeful" Hulk Hogan who tells someone at the door "Your vote will be appreciated" which is hilarious.

I'll gloss over most of the ropey "Goldberg arrest" storyline other than to point out I'm gobsmacked the coppers let a camera crew in for the questioning, and I'm guessing Goldy let it all take place without his lawyer present because he used his one phone call to call the WWF Superstar Line. The highlight of the middle of the show is when Kevin Nash comes out to talk to the crowd about the announced main event seemingly being under threat because of the challenger's legal trouble, because this is the exact moment you remember they drew nearly 40,000 people for a match that ends up not happening. Later when Hogan comes out there's speculation that he was planning on announcing his running mate and I lament that history may have robbed us of Ed Leslie's greatest gimmick ever.... Brutus "the Vice President" Beefcake!!

There's all kinds of other horseshit. A Scott Steiner v Konnan TV title rematch is notable only because the production clods leave Konnan's nameplate proclaiming him TV champ though he lost it to Big Poppa the week before. The Wrath v Bigelow match features the wrestlers using a chair but the bell only rings for a DQ when the ref gets shoved. There's an ad for the WCW mastercards - at least that was a trick they didn't miss. I regret not getting a Nitro Girls credit card, with which I could have bought my Nitro Girls poster, calendar, lunchbox etc, while Geoff suggested that the Luger card would simply decline every time you tried to use it. That's right - it's a credit card that TURNS ON YOU!

Finally, you get the famed main event, that takes place during the overrun, so all the Raw viewers still get to see the nonsense put on in lieu of a proper main event. Say what I might about understanding the logic (at the time) of building up a unified "elite" nWo for Goldberg to knock down one by one on Pay Per View (that lasted, didn't it?) - this final segment hammers home two points. Firstly, again, that they drew a monstrous crowd who had been promised a big World title rematch which they then DIDNT DELIVER, and secondly, the constant ridicule by Schiavone of Raw's pre-taped nature, which amounts to "That's right folks - we're bringing you this contemptible bullshit LIVE!!!" Thankfully the show at least goes off the air with more giggles - the previously mute Eric Bischoff finally finding his voice and going bonkers at the end is an absolute treat for me, and I nearly forgive them for making Goldberg look fucking clownshoes.

Wrestling is meant to be about variety and I fucking love that episode of Nitro as a comedic tragedy. It's an A-Z of how to fuck up a wrestling show, from Arrest to Zbyszko via Brian Adams, credit cards, dumb finishes, Emery Hale..... you get the idea. Love it, will probably watch it again tomorrow.

[PowerButchi]

will kick Stings head off like in that Film about Wrestling where that man got his head kicked off.

 

I think we should note that Dusty is wearing his shite red leather coat, and Larry Z a swish suit.

 

 

Match 1.

 

V.K. WALLSTREET vs CRAIG FUCKING PITBULL PITMANN.

 

Wallstreet comes down the aisle to his pleasant music festooned in a mullet and his suit he borrowed off the Taylor Made Man. They show footage of Saturday Night the week before where Wallstreet was cheating against Jim Duggan and CRAIG FUCKING PITBULL PITTMAN came down and chinned Wallstreet and Duggan got the win.

 

Our Pitters is announced by David Penzer as Being Accompanied by the Godfather of WCW, Teddy Long. Teddy Long's mafia at this point must have been pretty shit. Pittman, Ice Train and Jim Powers. I doubt they had the Horsemen quaking in their boots. T-Lo is fat here. Pittman has have only just turned face because Cruise says This is a new Craig Pittman and I think we'll like him a lot more than the old one. Of course, I always like Pittman. Actually...

 

Let's get one thing straight right fucking now. Haraga is wrong, Pittman is amazing. His match against Cobra at some PPV in 1995 which I forget right now it what makes wrestling great. He looks like he'd twat you, he more than likely could, he said The Beatings will continue until morale improves which is skill, and he's in a stable with Jimmy Powers. Contrary to Haraga's lies Pittman is fucking magnificient.

 

Anyway, on with the match. Let's put a bet on how long VK Wallstreet will hold an abdominal stretch. Fair dues, the crowd reactions aren't canned at all as Pittman hits a shoulder block and the crowd EXPLODES! It's because they can also see the brilliance which is the Pitbull. Over in the commentary booth on DUSTY WATCH he's claiming that Teddy Long isn't the Godfather of Love, but the Godfather of Love is Tony Schiavone. Fair enough then Stardust. Wallstreet hits a few punches in the corner but has an irish whip reversed into a hiptoss. Pittman hits a scoop slam then segues into a headlock. After about 20 seconds of that, Wallstreet hits a belly to back. Pittman reverses a turnbuckle smash and hits Wallstreets head three times. Pittman has an Irish whip reversed and Wallstreet leapfrogs Pittman and then does the thing that every heel should do forever, the I'm fucking bright, me finger to the side of the head looking smug. Of course Pittman is behind him and Wallstreet takes an Alan Shearer style diving headbutt to the gut. Bubba Rogers runs in (?) and punches Pittman, allowing Wallstreet to pick up the pin. I thought Bubba was with the Dungeon by this point, but I could be wrong. Anyone remember Wallstreet and Bubba having an allegiance? Anyroads, Manager of Champions Teddy Long is whinging at the ref, and that's that.

 

Match 2 KURASAWA (Who?) vs JOHNNY BOONE

 

Kurasawa is some jap bloke I don't recognise. He attacks Boone before the bell with punches, and does some Backbodydrop slam thing. I couldn't care less though to be honest. I will give Kurasawa this though, he has got a giant arse. It's like a bag of sand. That's his redeeming feature of the 20 seconds I've been watching him. It's certainly the only obviously interesting thing about him. Right, I've googled him and he's Manabu Nakanishi. Still means less than fuck all... Kurasawa punches Boone a bit and gives him a big boot. Kurasawa gives Boone a Shoulderbreaker and puts Boone in an armbar. Boone quits. What a dull shite squash. Boone quashes are normally dead good as well because he'll bump around like Lee Scott. I don't think this Kurasawa customer is much of a squash match bloke, he just came of as dull and faceless. His armbar is called the Kurasawa Crush. I don't know why.

 

Mean Gene plugs the hotline. Apparently this week a Former World Champion has retired, he'll tell you who it is, and why people are glad to see him go. Anyone got any ideas? I'm drawing a blank. There's been a Warrior sighting as well apparently. But this is just before WM XII so that makes sense.

 

 

Match 3 THE ROAD WARRIORS vs PAT TANAKA AND THE GAMBLER!

 

A C-show Road Warriors match means two enhancement guys are going to get fucking killed dead. The Roadies have gone for the Blue Spikes today. They are against the super team of Tanaka and THE GAMBLER! The Gambler is the greatest gimmick ever. While Tanaka is wearing a crappy coat that looks like something from a Takeshi film with those weird fasteners that you get on Duffel coats, The Gambler is wearing a swish nylon bomber jacket with playing cards on the back. It's obvious who the star of those two is. It's actually pretty clear why Tanaka is wearing his silly orient coat, and not taking it off to wrestle. He's got dead fat. Tanaka tries Martial Arts on Animal, but Animal just says Fuck that and uses manly power. He clotheslines Tanaka making Pat do a 360. Tag to Hawk and a double Back Body Drop on Fat Tanaka. Powerslam and fistdrop on Fat. He tags out to The Gambler, who pretends to not want to get in, even though we all know he could knock fuck out both of the roadies on his own at the same time and doesn't need that fat wanker in a stupid coat who's meant to be his tag team partner. Hawk cheats and cheapshots Gambler with a kick then Powerbombs him in transitions into mounted punches. Quite nice. Hawk hits a running shoulderblock on Gambler, tags in Animal and Animal hits a big boot. Animal tags in hawk who jumps off the second rope onto Gamblers arm. Dooomsday device on Gambler and he does the moonsault sell. Twat Tanaka doesn't even attempt a save and that's 3. Nice little squash.

 

Commercial for Uncensored 96. They appear to have changed the card to what it was on PPV from something else. According to this Advert the Doomsday Cage match is Hogan vs Flair/Anderson/Sullivan/Giant Haystacks, and Savage vs Benoit in Fall Count Anywhere. I'd have loved to have seen that Savage vs Benoit match occur.

 

Chris Cruise - Now it's time to check in with WCW Motorsports...

 

No it isn't. Fast Forward time.

 

Three fucking minutes that lasted. Anyway, back to C-Show action!

 

 

Match 4 BUBBA ROGERS vs JIM DUGGAN

 

This is during Big Bubba's suit and tie phase that made him look at a 1930's southern lawyer. That was probably the idea, mind. HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Out comes Duggan and his boss eyes. Dusty tells us that tonight on Saturday Night there will be a match consisting of Duggan/PITTMAN/American Males vs Flair/Anderson/Sullivan/Giant Haystacks. Buzzing. I need to try and find that. Guerrero vs Benoit on that card as well. Duggan says HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO and USA a lot before locking up.

 

ZBYSZKO WATCH - Note when Duggan shouts HOOO he holds up the one finger. Bragging about his IQ.

 

Bubba punches Duggan so Duggan reels off some clotheslines. USA USA USA as Bubba bails to the outside. Bubba punches and stomps Duggan as Larry Z rips on Jim, saying that Giant will hopefully retire Duggan. Duggan punches Bubba a few times. Duggan bends for a back body drop and gets kicked in the face. Bubba does that thing he does when the opponents neck is atop the 1st rope and Bubba jumps on them. They punch each otehr a bit, I'm seeing a theme here. Bodyslam on Bubba. Duggan hits the 3 point stance, but Wallstreet runs down and the ref DQ's bubba. They beat up Duggan for a bit and Pittman makes the save.

 

 

WCW CONTROL CENTER WITH MEAN GENE.

 

We plug Uncensored. The discuss the cage match and Roadies vs Sting/Luger.

 

They show the conclusion of Sting vs Flair from Saturday Night, but I'm reviewing Pro, so I'm not going to watch it properly. Anyway, Sting has the match won but Luger attacks Flair drawing a DQ and Sting and Luger argue.

 

 

YOUR MAIN EVENT STING vs BARBARIAN

 

Barbarian is wearing a brown headband. Sting comes out and is matey with the fans, and starts belowing barbarian and hists a cross body. He clotheslines Barbie over the top and Larry Z correctly asks for a DQ. Barbie enters the ring and drives Sting into the turnbuckles upsdie down gut first. He press slams Sting and beats him in the corner for a bit. Barbarian hits Sting with a Powerbomb, and Barbarian poses like a real man because he is one. He goes to the top and misses the diving headbutt. Sting hits a splash on the downed Barbarian but Barbie is in the ropes. Sting misses a dropkick and drops a few elbows for a two count. I fucking love the Barbarian, fair dues. Barbarian goes to the top rope again and misses the diving headbutt again. Fair enough. Straight into the scorpion death lock and that's it. Well. That was short. About 3 minutes.

 

The Announcers plug Nitro and that's it. WCW Pro is quality. Fair play.

[PowerButchi]

It's an episode of WCW Pro from June 96. Exact date is in the old-school thread in gold, i just c and p it

[AshC]

Off the top of my head, I can't see past the April 10th, 2000 Nitro. It's mental, but wildly entertaining.

 

[kickin it wit the kliq]

The March 17th Raw from 1997 for me, all the matches serve a purpose to further the build to wrestlemania the following Sunday.

 

There's a surprisingly watchable mini match that ends with Mascarita Segrada jnr performing an insane dive of the stage onto mini vader, he was going so fast I think.he may have gone back in time.

 

Then there's the cage match main event with Bret Hart and everyone's favourite guilty pleasure, Sycho Sid. The dynamic of Austin and Taker helping their respective wrestlemania opponents is fantastic, and Im surprised that they've not tried that since.

 

Then to top it off there's Bret Hart trying to get all 7 of George Carlin's words you can't say on TV into the one promo, Sid coming back out for another brawl declaring "I don't know shit crybaby", Vince almost losing it on commentary and Shawn Michaels strolling out like a cocky pill fueled mess, just brilliant TV.

 

A special mention also has to go Ahmed Johnson's sensational spandex outfit on this show, it has to be seen to be believed, he looks like a 300 pound Mr Motivator

[stevieg1980]

The 6th of July 1998 edition of WCW Nitro.

 

The cementing of Goldberg as a main eventer in WCW.

 

Yes Hogan / Goldberg should have been on PPV.

 

Yes they lost a lot of money on this trying to pop a rating.

 

Yes this show has some trademark WCW shite such as Scott Putski beating Scotty Riggs and Johnny Swinger, Jim Neidhart and Jim Duggan in matches but this is all about Goldberg running over Scott Hall and Hogan and becoming the man.

 

There is also a lot of fun in the show. Raven / Kanyon, Booker / Malenko and Jericho is his pomp taking on a soon to be gone but a still awesome Ultimo Dragon.

 

Plus. Alex Wright and Disco starting the Boogie Knights early and dancing with Tokyo Magnum is always fun.

 

Cue the German Techno!