Saturday, December 28, 2013

HITMAN383 Rant for WWF Royal Rumble 1990



- The HITMAN383 Rant for WWF Royal Rumble 1990. I haven’t seen this since like 1997, and I can’t remember a damn thing about it. Let’s see how it is. 

Friday, December 27, 2013

HITMAN383 Rant for WWF Survivor Series 1989



- The HITMAN383 Rant for WWF Survivor Series 1989. As promised, here it is! I haven’t seen this one since 1994, and I can’t remember much other than Zeus beating Hulk Hogan like a dog. Lets see what else there is…

Thursday, December 26, 2013

HITMAN383 Rant for WWF SummerSlam 1989



- The HITMAN383 Rant for WWF SummerSlam 1989. I’ve never actually seen the card, myself, so this ought to be interesting. 

- Well, Rantasia shut down. Too bad, but I’ll get on with my life. (That should place us in 2001 or 2002)

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

HITMAN383 Rant for WWF WrestleMania V



- The HITMAN383 Rant for WWF WrestleMania V! This is one of the biggest shows of the eighties, as the Mega-Powers angle came to an end with a huge Hogan/Savage main event (where the Mega-Powers …. EXPLODE!). At the time, people disliked this card, but over the course of a few years, it has taken the “Citizen Kane” route, as people now appreciate it more. (And now it’s sort of went back the other way, where people don’t particularly care for this show much)

- Also, the NWA wanted to screw up the WWF’s buyrate on this one buy running the Clash of the Champions VI over on TBS. It featured the famous Flair/Steamboat 2/3 falls match, but this shows buyrate didn’t get hurt at all. In fact, it’s one of the biggest wrestling PPV buyrates EVER.

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

HITMAN383 Rant for WWF Royal Rumble 1989



- The HITMAN383 Rant for WWF Royal Rumble 1989. I was going to do the latest ECW DVD “The Best of Cactus Jack,” but that one will just have to wait a while, because 80s WWF COMES FIRST, damn it!

- Trivia buffs: This is the first Royal Rumble on PPV. There was one on TV the year before, but this is the first BIG one.

- Oh, by the way, I’m totally digging the nWo angle in the WWF right now! (That puts us in early 2002)

HITMAN383 Rant for WWF Survivor Series 1988



- The HITMAN383 Rant for WWF Survivor Series 1988. When you think of “Survivor Series” today, it’s just another PPV. Some matches, some people getting run down by cars, some folks getting thrown off cranes … you know, the usual. But back in the day, the Survivor Series saw none of that … they saw those elimination tag matches LOOOOONG Elimination tag matches. So lets head back to the 2nd Survivor Series … The 1988 WWF Survivor Series! (This is the Coliseum Video version… clipping, wonky match orders and all)

Monday, December 23, 2013

HITMAN383 Rant for WWF WrestleFest '88



- The HITMAN383 Rant for WWF WrestleFest 1988. This was a post WrestleMania IV card, which I think was taped specifically for home video and not PPV or anything. Anyway, we’ll see if it sucks or not. 

HITMAN383 Rant for WWF WrestleMania IV



- The HITMAN383 Rant for WWF WrestleMania IV. I’ve had this one requested a number of times, but would YOU be in a rush to watch it? Either way, here it comes.

- Oh, and to do my part in the deal with Scott Keith’s publisher, here’s my review for “The Buzz on Wrestling.” I got the press release copy, and it is definitely a good book. I feel Scott missed some opportunities to go into further detail about some events, but it’s still a solid read. *** ¾.  (Okay, so that means this was written in 2001)

- An even better book is “WrestleMania, the Insider’s Story.” Check that one out, it’s pretty cool. **** ¼.

Saturday, December 21, 2013

HITMAN383 Re-Rant for WWF WrestleMania III



- The HITMAN383 Re-Rant for WWF WrestleMania III. Yes, a rant is already up for this one, but I feel like watching it again, and since the rant is somewhat old, might as well go again, right? 

- In fact, a series of “re-rants” are coming (not necessarily one after the other), on shows I feel like seeing again and/or the rant up isn’t up to par. Any suggestions should be sent to me. (One thing about the pre-YouTube days is that I was constantly at the mercy of local video stores for the most part, and I’d often be stuck without new content for months until making family road trips to New York or Canada and scouring video stores near gas stations we’d stop at along the way – hence, re-rants. This was done in the summer of 2002)

Friday, December 20, 2013

HITMAN383 Rant for WWF WrestleMania III



- Okay guys, quite possibly the biggest wrestling event EVER is my next review ... WrestleMania III. This is THE event of the 80's folks.

Thursday, December 19, 2013

HITMAN383 Rant for WWF WrestleMania 2



- Back on the WrestleMania track with the 2nd installment, WrestleMania II, in 1986. I remember a great Bulldog's/Dream Team tag match here, so lets see what we have, huh? (This was written in 2000, for reference)

HITMAN383 Rant for WWF Wrestling Classic



- The HITMAN383 Rant for the WWF Wrestling Classic. This was the first ever wrestling PPV (from November 1985), and was basically a 16-man tournament that didn’t really have any other point than to put SOMETHING out there. Still, it’s pretty historic so why not? 

HITMAN383 Rant for WWF WrestleMania I



Those who have been following me for years and years likely remember that I used to post wrestling reviews on an Angelfire site called ‘HITMAN383’s Rant Center’ back in the late 1990s and early 2000s – mostly to entertain by school pals. When I started up BUExperience, I thought about copying and pasting some of those reviews, but ten years had passed since the last one I did (fall 2002), and so much had changed (both in terms of the world of wrestling, and for me personally) that it almost felt like reading someone else’s work entirely. It was raggedy, to say the least.

Now that we’re over a year into this new project, I thought it would be fun to put up some of the old stuff, unedited, warts and all. I warn you: these were done when I was still in high school – they are not what I consider my best work. But, in many ways, it was more ‘balls to the wall’ fun than some of my newer stuff.

To spice things up, I will also be going along and adding thoughts to the review. These thoughts can be found edited into the review in italicized bold.

Let’s get started!

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

WCW Bash at the Beach 1999



From Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

WCW Great American Bash 1999



From Baltimore, Maryland; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, and Bobby Heenan.

Friday, December 13, 2013

WCW Spring Stampede 1999



From Tacoma, Washington; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, and Bobby Heenan.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

WCW SuperBrawl IX

From Oakland, California; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, and Bobby Heenan.

Monday, December 9, 2013

WCW Starrcade 1998



From Washington, D.C; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, and Bobby Heenan.

Sunday, December 8, 2013

WCW Road Wild 1998



From Sturgis, South Dakota; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, and Bobby Heenan.

Saturday, December 7, 2013

WCW Bash at the Beach 1998

From San Diego, California; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, and Bobby Heenan.