Again, I realise I'm incredibly behind with these, but hopefully you've had chance to check out my last post looking at the bat shit crazy WCW World Championship Tournament leading up to this Pay Per View. As I've mentioned previously, and in the podcast itself, WCW Mayhem 1999 was the first Pay Per View to take place after I discovered wrestling, after having examined the first Pay Per View after Kyle was introduced to wrestling in our previous episode. This was an extremely difficult episode to edit and the recording session was at least one hour longer than the run time, so lots of stuff got cut. So as promised, you can listen to the episode below, as well as check out some additional notes & references for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy.
Opening
That audio came from a TV commercial for the WCW Mayhem video game.
The bed for our introductions was the live version of Metallica's "Seek And Destroy" which Sting used as his entrance theme when I started watching WCW.
Of course, we went on to discuss our experiences watching World of Sport in Episode 7.
Naturally, given how long it's been since the episode was recorded, the music video Kyle's students were featured in has now been released. Check it out below.
"An obsession with KISS" - Bischoff paid KISS millions to perform live on WCW Monday Nitro & also use their likeness for a KISS branded wrestler, The KISS Demon. This was a flop, naturally, and the wrestler would should up on occasion as simply The Demon, as KISS didn't want to be associated with this train wreck any more.
"Rey without a mask" - definitely check out the New Generation Project Podcast's Halloween Havoc 1997 episode for more on that.
"Bryan Alvarez & ... some other guy" - the name I was searching for was, of course, R.D. Reynolds.
Jarrett vs Benoit
I of course had to splice in Jarrett's rip off Kid Rock theme so you could all hear how great it is.
"The GLAGEH sleeper hold" - a mainstay of the AE Podcast. I encourage you to check out their "Grunt of the Night" compilation here.
"Never drawing a dime" - any excuse to play this
Cruiserweight Championship/$25000 Match
I will never be ashamed of marking out for rubbish WCW midcarders! "Sing along with 3 Count..." 3 Count were various combinations of Shane (Hurricane/Gregory) Helms, Shannon Moore and Evan Keragias who were one of my most fondly remembered naff gimmicks from my early days as a fan. I still love the logic of having a heelish fake boyband playing off the popularity of Backstreet Boys, N*Sync etc and how the wrestling fans at the time were unlikely to hold those kind of groups in high regard.
Hardcore Championship Match
DDT Pro's Ironman Heavymetalweight championship has an absolutely bat shit crazy lineage that I encourage you to explore here. My favourite champions were the table and Bunny the cat
"Brian Knobbs remembered HIS weapons trolley" - see our Wrestlemania 32 episode for our frustrations at Dean for forgetting his weapons.
Here's The Big Wiggle for your enjoyment
Intergender Tag
The lead in to this match was yet another fashion parade. Here's the fetching head gear of Konnan's that tickled me...
...and here's Perry Saturn's get up.
I think the boring chant I thought I heard early on in this match might have actually been a chant for Torie, but hey ho.
"You just have to remember not to work yourself into a shoot" - *inserts that Hulk Hogan Tweet*.
First Trimester Question Time
Taker's reaction to that first Draft really was immense
What are your wrestling cravings? What are your go to shows when you want something to watch?
Buff vs Hennig
That moustache on Nick Patrick though...
Bret vs Sting
"This one is for Owen" - Bret's brother, who passed away in a horrible accident where he fell from the rafters of the Kemper Arena in Kansas City whilst playing his Blue Blazer superhero character. A month or so prior to this Pay Per View, Nitro had a show in the Kemper Arena and Bret wrestled Benoit in tribute to Owen, I'd definitely recommend tracking that one down.
Dog
Dear God that Oklahoma gimmick...
Meng vs Lex
Mace spots in wrestling are always super dodgy. Those of you who are listening to my guest spots on the Raw Is Nitro podcast should keep your ears open in the future for one instance of this happening during our TNA Impact vs WWE Raw head to head story arc in the near future...
Sign Watch
For our non-British listeners, the music used in the intro to this segment is the theme tune to the TV show Crimewatch (hence the segment name). Here's the "This is still crap" sign that got this show spot on.
Oh, and any Canadian listeners/readers - do you use shagging as a euphemism for sex?
Hall vs Booker
The WWE Network has an abridged version of the documentary from Scott Hall's Home Video release Living On A Razor's Edge that I really recommend you check out if you want a deeper understanding of Scott's personal problems.
The default thing was (naturally) a Simpsons reference.
Owens: "I'm the longest reigning Universal Champion in history" pic.twitter.com/wM3c3Z2khg— Then, Now, Whatever (@TNWPodcast) December 19, 2016
"that choke sidewalk slam thing that he does" - affectionately referred to as the "chokebottom" by the New Generation Project Podcast.
"Old Booker T is definitely good Booker T" - for sure, we didn't have to put up with him teeling us he thinks all women secretly hate each other back then!
David vs Kimberley
This episode was full of disingenuous WCW commentary, but Tony calling this match "one of the marquee match ups here tonight" made me lose my shit the most!
What was awkward about Kyle identifying Shawn Stasiak as a bad second generation wrestler was he actually follows us!
Crowbar, who might be better known as Devon Storm, actually wound up in an alliance with David Flair later on in WCW.
I Quit Match
Back in January of that year Mankind and The Rock had an I Quit Match at the Royal Rumble revolving around doctored audio of one of the participants, so the build to this match shared some real similarities.
Here's the famous angle Bret and Goldberg had together that made all of Canada hate Goldberg.
Main Event
You can hear me at times audibly stutter trying not to resort to swearing to describe the goings on of such a crazy show. I don't think this was as good as their Owen Hart tribute match but this is the most complete feeling match on this show for a very long time.
Next Time: Our next episode looked at the World of Sport Wrestling pilot episode Kyle & I attended. You can give it a listen here & keep your eyes peeled for the blog edition still to come.
Remember, the easiest place to keep track of the podcast is by following us on Twitter @tnwpodcast, and give us a like on Facebook. Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts/iTunes, Stitcher Radio and Soundcloud, and be sure to leave us a rating or a review if you like what you hear.
Until next time...
