The Wrestling Menu - Bad Blood Review, Raw Review & Shout-Outs
Submitted by DaveyBoy on Wednesday, June 18, 2003 at 2:51 AM EST




THE WRESTLING MENU #49

Heeeeee's baaaaaaaccccckkkkk!!!!!

Welcome one and all to the 49th edition of The Wrestling Menu, the column that is sure to satisfy your taste buds when it comes to discussing all things wrestling.

I'm back from vacation. I got some sun, fun & relaxation into me while spending a little over a week on the Gold Coast of Queensland, Australia. Nothing like a little stress-relieving vacation a couple of times a year. Plus, it's bloody cold in Melbourne during winter, so warming up is a good enough excuse. I have been able to read 2 wrestling related books while on leave, and should have mini-reviews up for you all over the next 3-4 weeks.


APPETIZERS - Shout-Outs

My 'Appetizers' will be a little different today. I always try to stick to wrestling, but 3 things have transcended that in my opinion during the last fortnight. I just cannot leave them untouched, and therefore have 3 huge shout-outs to give.

1. The San Antonio Spurs

Despite living in Australia, I am a huge fan of 3 international sporting codes. The NBA, NFL, and English Premier League Soccer. We have more than enough coverage down under to allow a person like myself to follow any of those sports just as closely as anyone in the country where they are played (without seeing any live matches of course). While The Buffalo Bills & Southampton Saints couldn't get the job done for me in 2003, the San Antonio Spurs have done so & are deservingly NBA Champions.

Why I am exceptionally happy for the Spurs this year is because they became champions the hard way. In my opinion, they defeated all 3 of the other top 4 teams in the league (Lakers, Mavericks & Nets). They also lost home games to each of these teams, which meant they had to dig deep away from home. The team were also called chokers on more than one occasion this season, had criticism thrown at them for having the coach & MVP of the year, and were dubbed boring & unentertaining.

What I loved about the season, was that the championship was thoroughly earnt by the team. While Tim Duncan was the league MVP (I still cannot believe that decision was criticized by many. He was 2 blocks away from a quadruple double in Game 6 of the finals), the Spurs worked as a team consistently & got the job done as a team. Heavy bench scoring was often the order of the night, and any one of the 12 men on their roster could arguably start on a weaker NBA team.

Congratulations to the no-nonsense undisputed championship team of 2003; The San Antonio Spurs.

2. David Robinson

Many people wonder how an international fan chooses the team that they follow. For me, it had nothing to do with the success of the team. I chose both Southampton & Buffalo, because of their entertaining offense in the late 80's & early 90's. With the Spurs, it was because of David Robinson. Forgive me if I am a little sketchy on the details, but I remember watching a weekly NBA show (like NBA Action) the year he was drafted. Hearing about his naval academy training & the fact that he wasn't coming straight into the NBA really made me stop to think about the man's character. When I later heard him in interviews & saw him play a little, I was won over. Robinson was almost immediately my sporting idol, and probably a little bit more.

Over a decade later, and many would think that David Robinson has not changed one bit. I won't go through what he has done for charities, the city of San Antonio, and arguably the country of the USA, as the list is way too long. But again, what we have here is an unselfish, no-nonsense, team-oriented, nice guy who stuck with his beliefs as a person above everything else. During the years we saw great showmen like Johnson, Jordan, O'Neal & Bryant win a title or 5. It would have been a shame if a guy such as David Robinson never had this honor.

1999 was a shortened season & the title was celebrated as hard as any other, but it will always remain tarnished to some fans. While some would argue that the Admiral needed Tim Duncan by his side to win a championship, I urge you to not under-estimate the role that Robinson had in turning Duncan into the league MVP for 2 straight years.

Either way, the script went according to plan for David Robinson in his final NBA season. Congratulations to a no-nonsense undisputed champion. And believe me, I do not throw the word "champion" around like most others do. There are many superstars, but few champions.

3. Jason McCartney

I was watching 'World Sport' on CNN a couple of weeks ago & the host stated "Later in the show, we will quite possibly see the greatest comeback in world sport ever". This was a story I just had to see, as no matter what the sport, level or country, I always like seeing huge comebacks & how both teams/individuals handle the situation. However, I had completely misinterpreted the host's meaning of comeback. Furthermore, the comeback was extremely close to my heart, as it dealt with the Australian Rules Football team that I follow extremely closely; The North Melbourne Kangaroos.

Forgotten amongst the latest war, 9-11 & Sars, was the terrorist bombing in Bali last October. Terrorists had placed 2 bombs in a nightclub (one inside & one just outside which detonated a minute later). The nightclub was mainly full of tourists. Over 200 people died that night; Americans, Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans, Europeans & Balinese. Jason McCartney, an AFL veteran was enjoying his end-of-season trip in that nightclub on that very night. When the first bomb exploded, he was initially like everyone else; trying to get out of there immediately. But he didn't do that, instead he stopped his progress toward the exit & saved 2 women he just knew would not have made it out on their own.

Feeling uncomfortable & slightly burnt, McCartney treated his injuries as superficial & ensured the safety of the 2 women, even hours afterwards. Even the next day, when the Australian Government chartered special planes back to Australia so that the victims could get superior medical treatment, Jason McCartney gave up his seat on the plane to someone who he felt was in more pain than he was. This decision proved almost fatal. When McCartney arrived in Australia for surgery, the burns were not what anyone would even consider to label superficial. In fact, he had terrible burns to over 50% of his body. The pictures were not at all pretty. McCartney almost died in surgery on the operating table.

Fortunately, McCartney did survive. His long rehabilitation process began. He had 2 objectives; (1) To get married in December as planned & (2) to once more play football at the highest level. The former goal was going to be hard enough, the latter was practically impossible. Australian Rules Football is very much a body-contact sport, and there is not much padded protection at all. So while McCartney's motives were courageous, not many believed them to be realistic.

Just over 8 months later on June-6, with the aid of special gloves, a long-sleeve top, and special leg-coverings similar to what sprinters wear, Jason McCartney once again played AFL football at the highest level. He wore the numbers 88 & 202 on his top to signify the number of Australians & total number of people killed in the terrorist bombings in Bali. With each hit he took on the field, the crowd squirmed. But his courage continued to be unquestionable. He had a relatively quiet night in terms of touching the ball, but he kicked an important goal at the beginning of the final quarter, and then in a moment that no-one at the ground or watching the match on tv will ever forget, Jason toe-poked the ball forward to assist Leigh Harding to kick the winning goal with barely a minute remaining.

To further add to the night, in an interview after the match, Jason McCartney announced his retirement from AFL football. Not many of the team had known that this would happen, and neither did any of the supporters. To say that the water-works were turned on when his retirement was announced, is an under-statement. Jason McCartney is currently in Bali to testify against the terrorist bombers. Jason McCartney may not be a sporting champion like David Robinson is, but his inspirational comeback may have been, as CNN put it, quite possibly the greatest comeback in world sport ever. Macca, you're an inspiration to everyone, and a champion person.


MAIN - Bad Blood Review

For those that cannot recall my previous PPV review columns, this is the key (of sorts), that explains what the final PPV Rating means:

<50: Ask for a refund for not only your money, but also your time. [F]
50-54: Mediocre & disappointing. [D] (EG: UnForgiven '02 & Judgment Day '03)
55-59: Average. [C]
60-64: Worth A Watch. [C+] (EG: No Mercy '02, Armageddon '02, No Way Out '03 & Backlash '03)
65-69: Good event that was worth the money. [B] (EG: Survivor Series '02 & Royal Rumble '03)
70-74: Very good. [B+] (EG: WrestleMania 19)
75-79: Make sure you add this ppv to your video or dvd collection. [A] (EG: SummerSlam '02)
80+ : Make sure that the video or dvd is locked in a safe & cannot be erased. Memorable. [A+]

CHRISTOPHER NOWINSKI & RODNEY MACK defeated THE DUDLEY BOYZ: Decent enough opener, which was pretty much similar to a Raw match. It did serve it's purpose however, in getting the crowd going. The Dudleyz are often the most popular wrestlers at house shows for involving the crowd, and the Houston audience was in good form here. Nowinski & Mack are going to be hard for any team to wrestle. This was sufficient, if nothing more. Strange to see The Dudleyz lose if they're going to be the next title contenders. Match Rating...5

SCOTT STEINER defeated TEST to Win the managerial services of Stacy Keibler: Let's get it out the way quickly; Scott Steiner's bellyflop off the apron was just hilarious, but these things happen to everyone. I'm sure many people would have hated this match, and while I didn't think it was crash hot, I thought it was passable. Sure, I wasn't expecting very much, but I thought the 2 did the best they possibly could do, especially with such a boring & long feud. More surprisingly, was that real heel heat that Test was getting? Match Rating...5

BOOKER T defeated CHRISTIAN by Disqualification in a match for the InterContinental Title: Just forgetting about the ending of this match for a moment, I actually enjoyed this title bout. It started out at a decent pace, but really consistently gathered momentum as it went along. I also didn't mind the touch of Christian attempting to get himself counted out, BUT not only was the DQ ending not the appropriate way to go, but it occurred almost instantaneously after the count-out shenanigans. This resulted in the match lasting 8 minutes, which was approximately how long the 2 openers lasted. Come on WWE, this is the InterContinental Title we're talking about here. Match Rating...6

LA RESISTANCE defeated KANE & ROB VAN DAM to Win the World Tag-Team Titles: This was by far the worst of Kane & RVD's matches since they became champions. There was no excitement, no momentum & nothing great about the whole match at all. It was as if the 4 men were all trying to be careful to not make a mistake. Not a great start to La Resistance's title reign (see Raw review for more opinion though), and the Kane & RVD break-up continues to get closer. Match Rating...5

BILL GOLDBERG defeated CHRIS JERICHO: Boy, I hate it when a crowd boos the face. By all means, cheer the heel, but don't boo the face. I could go on forever about that topic, but back to the match. It was actually a fair bit better than I expected. The intensity was great, the psychological aspect was there & there were enough exciting moments spread throughout the bout. Goldberg unfortunately oversold the arm injury way too much, but that's just him. I'm not going to allow whatever is going on backstage to influence my opinion of a wrestling match. This was good. Match Rating...7

RIC FLAIR defeated SHAWN MICHAELS: Like the InterContinental Title match, I really liked the way this bout progressed. It started slowly with each man sharing domination of minutes on end. But when the 2 started to mix it up, it was great; Exactly the way a match should play out. HBK threw in his usual 2-3 aerial moves which proves that he still has something left in the tank, and then Orton interferes & it's over. Don't get me wrong, I did not want to see the 35 minute marathon that Michaels wanted to. Not just yet anyway. But (again like the IC title match), to have a match progressing well & seemingly building up to what could have been a great finish, and then to have an abrupt interference-caused ending is just silly. I'm not always against interference ending a match, but when it cuts it short abruptly, I don't like it. Match Rating...7

STEVE AUSTIN defeated ERIC BISCHOFF 2-1 in a Redneck Triathlon: Obviously, this segment took up enough time to warrant a rating. Now, I don't usually like segments on pay-per-views, but I knew something like this one had to happen. Extremely inconsistent, I found parts of this good & parts of it bad. The burping contest was just stupid. The segment involving Mae Young was great (mainly due to Bischoff & Mae), but was ruined by Austin giving the stunner to Mae. What exactly did that prove!?!?!? The singing contest could have been really good, but Austin threw a Sosa & cheated (sorry, I couldn't resist), and changed the rules. The remainder was all a waste of time. When all was said & done, it was ok, BUT wasted way too much time. I didn't time the cumulative amount the segments went for, but it was at least 5 minutes too long. Segment Rating...4

TRIPLE H defeated KEVIN NASH in a Hell In A Cell match to Retain the World HeavyWeight Title: Pretty much what I expected. The HIAC gimmick & Mick Foley being in there as the special referee made this bout better than last months. Anyone could have predicted that there was going to be blood everywhere. In fact, the whole match panned out exactly as I thought it would. Watchable. Match Rating...6

PPV RATING (45/80) = 56

Looking at the key, I have given Bad Blood a 'C' grade & have said that it was 'Average'. That pretty much sums it up well, in my opinion. Anyone who states that this pay-per-view was the worst that the WWE have put on this year, is actually looking more at how much better it could have been, rather than how good it was. It is also a back-handed compliment to the WWE for setting this ppv up well. There is no doubt in my mind that Bad Blood was better than last months Judgment Day. No matches were awful & the sports-entertainment segment was watchable. Unfortunately, there was once more, no clear-cut 'great' matches. Although, Michaels vs Flair could have been.


DESSERT - Raw Review

In an extremely important period, let's see how Raw went the next night. Once more, I warn you that my Raw reviews are not as serious as my PPV Reviews.

- Mick Foley starts off Raw & says... pretty much nothing. Out come Evolution with new entrance music. It sounds familiar. Sort of like a slowed-down version of Puddle of Mud's "Control". We finally see classic Foley, as he puts Randy Orton in his place. A brawl ensues & then of all people, Al Snow & Maven save Mick. There must be a new season of Tough Enough coming up!!! Decent opening segment which mainly served to re-establish Orton.

- Great! It wasn't enough that Mae Young took a stunner at Bad Blood. Now the poor old lady has to wrestle. No joke, at her age, she should get a bravery medal for all the shit that she has been put through over the last year or so.

- We have a 6 person tag match for our opening bout of the night. It's worth a try tagging up Nowinski & Mack, but I don't think they will succeed. Ivory pins Jazz in a tag match for the third week in a row. I wonder if their eventual title match will main event Raw ;)

- I remember a time when the WWE never even used to like showing stills of their ppv's on Raw. Now they're showing the best highlights. Buyrates must truly be low.

- Strange segment/match next as Austin comes out & chants "Boring" at Lance Storm during his match against Garrison 'Lance' Cade. I'm all for a new direction for Storm, but encouraging the crowd to chant "boring" is not only a dangerous tactic, but it could turn out to be the stupidest decision the WWE has made since the necrophilia angle. I wonder if Austin also thinks the Spurs were boring :)

- An interesting tag match followed where Booker T & Goldberg defeated Jericho & Christian. It wasn't exactly the smoothest tag match I've ever seen. In fact, it was like 2 separate singles matches held simultaneously. Nevertheless, it was entertaining enough for tv & a worthy experiment in seeing Goldberg in a rare tag appearance.

- Test makes Mae Young his whore by giving her a pump-handle slam. While I detest all this beating up of poor Mae, at least this time it's trying to further establish a heel. I still can't work out the stunner at Bad Blood.

- Holy Jackie Gayda sighting!!! WWE, please remember not to let her in the ring. What the f$#k have they done with Rico now!?!?!? I don't care how talented he is in the ring, this gimmick will fail. He defeats Spike Dudley in among "boring" chants from the crowd. I told you that was a dangerous ploy involving Austin earlier.

- For the most part, I liked the Orton vs Maven match. the middle part (including possibly the longest headlock ever) was a little, ummmm dare I say it, boring, but the beginning & ending of the bout showed that both these 2 youngsters have potential.

- TONIGHT'S TRIVIA: Rico is more than double Rene Dupree's age!!! So unbelievable, yet so true!!!

- The tag-title rematch was a very good main event, in my opinion. This was definitely a lot better than the bout at Bad Blood, in almost every way imaginable. The match ended in a DQ win to La Resistance when Kane gave young Rene a huge chair-shot. Loyal readers will know my positive thoughts on RVD & Kane as a tag-team, and I thought this was a fitting end to their team.

- Afterwards, Triple H offers Kane a position in Evolution, but Austin & Bischoff come out to set up next week's main event; Triple H vs Kane in a 'Title vs Mask' match. Very good ending to the show.


Overall, a very interesting Raw. I liked it. We must all remember that the WWE has not been in this situation in over 8 years. What I mean is that there is now 10 weeks until the next pay-per-view event for the Raw roster. TV shows have to be different now. How many of us can even think back to 1994, which was the last time the WWE was in this situation...??? While nowhere near perfect, this is the type of tv show that is necessary to make the brand extension work as successfully as possible. Youngsters & experimentation are all part of the big picture. If the midcard & main-eventers do their part (like on this Raw), then I feel the WWE are most definitely heading in the right direction.


Well, that just about does it for edition #49 of The Wrestling Menu. I hope no-one minded me going off topic for parts of this column. As you can probably tell, I genuinely believe that I had reason to. If you want to talk sport with me, or share your opinions on Bad Blood and/or Raw, please do not hesitate to e-mail me. All feedback is welcome & you know I will respond to anyone who writes. My e-mail address is DaveyBoy123@bigpond.com

Next Wednesday, (insert drum roll here) The Wrestling Menu reaches a major milestone. The big five-o. A half century. I initially wanted to do a special column every 10 editions, but they're killers time-wise. So I have reverted to every 25 editions. Next week, I will have something special for you all. I can only hope that you won't be disappointed. Look out for the column same Wednesday time & same LOP channel next week. Until then, this is Davey Boy signing off & asking you to remember that dinner is best served in 3 courses.














*NEW GALLERY* The WWE SD & RAW Divas PARTYING in a CLUB! WOW!

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