Falls Count Anywhere- 5302003

5302003 Welcome to Falls Count Anywhere! My name is Chris and I’m no longer bound by the rules of your society. SmackDown! OK, so I had to watch this show on tape and I thought it was OK, but not on the level of this week’s RAW. The show had a couple of good matches, and a couple of terrible segments. I would say it stood fell into the good category over all, but not the really good category. Nidia vs. Torrie was a typical woman’s match, but they did the classic Jimmy Garvin “injure your knee on a leapfrog” bit that worked really well back in the day. Not a good match, but not bad. The Sable announcing bit was funny. She is quickly running the danger of being a face in people’s eyes, and possibly even turning Torrie. Tajiri and Eddy vs. Team Angle was a good match, the type that SmackDown! used to frequently do, but this just showed that the two teams are going to be programmed together for a long run, which should take this feud into the Fall. Good stuff, and a whacky finish that I enjoyed. O’Haire got a win Benoit. In WWE terms, that means he’s getting the big push. He has a good look, but he’s not up to level in the ring yet. Benoit made him look as good as he has so far. The Bashem Brothers are great, and they are going to be going places, probably getting programmed with Team Angle before too long. I said they should have called them up, but they probably should have gone to talent hungry RAW instead. Still, they will go places, and fast if booked right. The Main Event was sorta there, with Brock looking good, and UT not annoying me completely. The FBI is good, but I am not a huge fan. I’d like to see them get the midcard push and not this pseudo-main event push. As for the out of ring stuff, Stephanie’s time on the Lie Detector was funny, but the Mr. America and vince bits were lame. I really liked the interactions between Tajiri and Eddy. They are quickly making my “Hey, it just sorta happened, but it’s working” list. The Rey and Matt angle is good, and I hope they work together for a while. A long run between the two would be great. The highlight was the Angle video. I am solidly of the opinion that Angle could turn any situation around. I hope he gets the push that he deserves, and that his body holds up to the punishment. He should fit in with the new mat based WWE. NEWS

RAW, after a HUGE rating a couple of weeks ago 4.2, is back to normal levels, about 3.8. It’s not doing the fluctuations that it had been, so Austin is certainly a stabilizing force. I’m hoping that the show keeps getting better in the ring, since I think that that’s where the most improvement is needed. Blassie is still in the hospital. I am pullign for him. Then again, he’ll probably outlive us all. FlashBack! I’ve been going through tapes over the last few weeks, and here are my five favourite finishes of all time. 5) Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart WrestleMania 13- The ending that made Austin the real deal. Bleeding, blood streaming down as he screamed in pain, Austin became a legend after a great match. The Addition of Shamrock as the ref made it even better. The match that changed the WWF’s course. 4) Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon, St. Valentine’s Day, 1998- Hey, this was a good match because Vince bled all over the place, and took a few big bumps. The ending, with the Big Show coming from under the ring and throwing Austin into the cage, causing it to break and then Austin falling to the outside, winning the match. This was a great event. 3) Terry Funk vs. Ric Flair, 1989- The classic I-Quit match which was likely Funk’s greatest match. After a legendary match, it ended with Funk in the figure four, the ref holding a mic into Funk’s face and Terry yelling “My leg…it’s breaking!” An amazing and dramatic finish. 2) Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant- Market Square Arena 1988- This may be the best known of the great endings. This is the classic ending where Andre won the title and sold it to Ted DiBiase. Then, just when it seemed like Hogan got screwed, a second look-alike ref comes out and they look at each other, Hogan grabs them both and the match is over with a confusing, smart, strange, and memorable finish. 1) Magnum TA vs. Tully Blanchard in an I –Quit Steel Cage Match at Starcade 1985The match was brutal, one of my favourites, with blood, violence and great psychology. The ending, where JJ Dillon threw a wooden chair into the ring for Tully to use, then Magnum knocked it out of his hands, shattered it into a million pieces and then took one of the slivers and dug it into Tully’s eye. Tully screamed, and Magnum looked disgusted with himself, but it was an ending that will live in my eyes forever. OK, there’s another week of Falls Count Anywhere. Next week more fun.