Sunday, June 19, 2016

WWF's Shotgun Saturday Night- First episode: January, 4th, 1997


Shotgun Saturday Night was WWF's poor attempt to capitalize of the growing popularity of ECW and their more adult content.
The debut episode was broadcasted from The Mirage Nightclub in New York City and promised to be edgier than what WWF usually produces, let's see if they make good on that promise. 



The show opens with Bob Backlund warning us that we don't want to see tonight's show, that it is decadent, there's sexual activities, violence, and crime happening inside. 

A ZZ-Top ripoff song plays over flashcuts of Shawn Michaels stripping on a cab, a fresh-faced Sunny getting out of a limo, and The Undertaker coming out of a manhole. Taker is wearing a leather jacket, jeans, and a bandanna on his head, predating his biker gimmick by three years.
 

Vocal chord ripping Vince McMahon and Sunny rundown the card: Ahmed Johnson vs. Crush, Goldust vs. The Sultan, and the main event: midgets!


First match of the night is an unannounced one, The Flying Nuns vs. The Godwinns. The Nuns are the future Headbangers, but in this gimmick, they're a pair of nuns from a Tibetan order in The Himalayas. Their names?
Sister Angelica and Mother Smucker. We get all this info from Todd Pettengill, and if you look closely, you'll notice some geek trying to get his NWO shirt on camera. Well, they were taking over.
  

The Nuns Pearl Harbor the pig farmers, but it doesn't take long for the veterans to take control. Since this was filmed in a night club, the ring used is tiny, especially compared to the huge rings that are usually used.


LOTS of stalling, but a Holy Shit! chant from the crowd gets a big belly laugh from McMahon and he acknowledges the chant with, "holy cow!"

So exciting this match is, that they throw to Todd and Hillbilly Jim.


Business was possibly gonna pick up, maybe, I hoped, until Brother Love popped up at ringside and the nuns begin to bow to him.


Back body drop by Hnery Godwinn and more stalling. FINALLY the Nuns take control by putting the boots to Henry and using the ropes to choke him, getting an ECW chant from the crowd.

Vince brings up the VIP section of the club and that Sunny has her eyes set on Rocky Maivia, I don't know if this was a throwaway line or possibly trying to set up a future storyline of her managing him. Sunny would leave the WWF in August of that year to reunite with Chris Candido in ECW.



HOG tags in PIG( Phineas I. Godwinn) who is reluctant to hit a "woman", this works against him and one crack on the head from the good book gets the win for the Flying Nuns.

Post match interview has Brother Love dubbing the Nuns as The Sisters of Love, plus you can barely spot ECW fan Faith No More guy in the back of the crowd.


Second match is Goldust vs. The Sultan, a masked Rikishi Fatu.
Sultan wastes little time and starts trading blows, but Goldust takes over and hammers away at the cheap-gimmicked heel.

Sultan's backstory is that the Iron Sheik trained him and he doesn't speak because his tongue had been cut out.


Goldust hits The Sultan with the rearview, but any attempt of making this match or show interesting is thwarted by The Sultan. The ref turns heel on the crowd by stopping The Sultan from hitting Goldust with a chair.

Now the only thing worth mentioning in the entire run of Shotgun, Marlena, Goldust's valet and real-life wife Terri Runnels, "flashing" her boobs.


Sunny is livid over Marlena's pastie-covered boobs, but livid rhythms with vivid, and pairing that in a Google search with Sunny will yield something to really cry afoul about.

After a commercial break, Sunny is going on about Marlena and she promises to bring a video of her doing the wild thing, and if Pam Anderson can do it, so can she!
The sex tape turns out to be her and Elmo, not a video of her and "Wildman" Marc Mero or getting Hep C from Tommy Lee.


Crush with the Nation of Domination vs. Ahmed Johnson is up next.
This one starts off hot with Johnson scoring a takedown and exchanging ground and pound shots.
A wild Goldberg chant breaks out as Ahmed takes control again with a jumping clothesline from outside the ring back into the ring.


A low blow to Johnson's johnson turns the tide, but a jailbird chants distracts Crush enough to give Ahmed an opening. The NOD interfere and get this match thrown out.
The faces of the night, Goldust and The Godwinns, save Johnson from taking any further damage,but not before Crush cracks him in the head with a chair.

Before the main event of Mini-Vader vs. Mascarita Sagrada, Todd Pettengill belts outs a parody of the Macarena while Sunny dances in the ring.


Jim Cornette joins on commentary and Holy Shit! The match featuring two midgets, one a parody of another wrestler, is the match of the night and hard to transcribe. 
After a berating from Cornette, Mini-Vader dominates with body slams and powerbombs.


Sagrada is able to capitalize on min vad's mistake and hits a top rope rana and outside splash, following up with a standing rana and top rope dropkick for the win.

Cornette challenges Sagrada afterwards, but the midgets team up and take Cornette down along with taking off his pants.
This is how the episode ends, a shot of Jim Cornette's ass in his underwear.

I don't know how men in drag, hog farmers, an 80's Middle-East gimmick, and midgets were suppose to help the WWF tap into ECW's fanbase.

The WWF finally realized their failure six weeks after the debut and dropped the premise of the show completely.  Shotgun Saturday Night started being tapped before RAW, featuring lower level talent and recaps of RAW.

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers pilot episode: Day of The Dumpster



The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was a live-action television show that debuted in 1993. Targeted towards children and pre-teens, it quickly cemented itself in American pop culture and is one of the things brought up by "90's kids" to show how much of a 90's kid they are.



With the recent reveal of images from the upcoming big budget theatrical reboot, I decided to watch the pilot episode from the original series, original being used loosely, as Saban Entertainment cannibalized three Japanese tv shows and shat out The Rangers.




The episode opens like an endorphin rush. Main villian, Rita Repulsa, is released from a 10,000 year imprisonment and sets her conquering sights on Earth. Zordon, the pre curtain reveal Wizard of Oz, orders Alpha, a robot, to assemble a team of teenagers with attitude.




Accompanying this speeding exposition is the hairiest of hair metal and seizure inducing flashing images. 
After the minute long intro, the episode properly begins. Two astronauts stumble upon what they think is a space dumpster, leading to the title card of the episode.
 



Opening Pandora's trashcan frees Rita and her Keystone Kops: Finster, Goldar, Baboo, and Squatt.




She isn't too picky about which planet to try to conquer, settling for whichever one is closest, which is Earth, of course.

Meanwhile, at the Angel Grove Youth Center, Jason and Zack, the Red and Black Rangers, are having a friendly sparring session. Pink Ranger Kimberly is doing gymnastics, which is what Amy Jo Johnson did before pursuing acting. Lastly, Yellow Ranger Trini is moving her arms around.




Milquetoast Billy Blue Ranger shows up, but never mind that shit! Here comes Bulk and Skull!



Kimberly and Trini turn down their double-date offer, clearly outing themselves as lesbians.

Rita has set up shop on the moon, eyeing Earth and thinking it's right for the taking, ordering Finster to create a batch of Putty Patrollers, her lesser group of idiots.


Cutting back to Angel Grove, we find Billy flopping in Jason's karate class, but never mind that shit, here comes Bulk and Skull!



These two want to learn to kick ass and Bulk manages to throw up an impressive side kick for a fat, nonathletic looking man, but he fails at the follow-up spin kick.




An earthquake rocks the center and Zordon has Alpha beam the teens over. "Teleport five emotional and overbearing humans to us."
After being kidnapped teleported over, Zordon explains to them that he is an inter-dimensional being caught in a time warp.
 

A quick look into the viewing globe and the teens get the rundown on Rita Repulsa, intergalactic sorceress and Madonna cone-boob admirer.

Everyone gets a fancy belt buckle, giving them the ability to morph into The Power Rangers. The black guy is the Black Ranger and the Asian girl is the Yellow Ranger as been talked to death, I'd like to mention Kimberly asking Zordon to be the Purple Ranger instead of pink.
 

 After a rundown of everyone's spirit dinosaur, the would be Rangers decline the offer and walk out. Zordon lets them keep the morphin buckles, which conveniently come in hand when Rita sends her Puttys after them.

These grey goons don't stand a chance against a black man dancing.
 

 They do get their asses handed to them and they give in and accept their destinies, which could have gone to any other group of hormone fueled teens.

Rita turns to her last resort and makes Goldar a Toho sized monster. 
Calling upon the power of stop-motion Bandai toys, the Rangers summon their zords, giant robots that been lying dormant in the earth.
 

Blows are traded, including a flying dropkick by Goldar, but he turns tail and runs at the sight of the megasword.



Back at base, Zordon lays down some rules:
1. Never use your powers for personal gain.
2.Never start a fight.
3. Keep your identity secret.
In other words, don't be Ironman.

So that's it, the first episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. A slew of merchandise, follow-up series, and two theatrical films latter, the franchise is still going strong today, with the new film set to be released in March of 2017, featuring Elizabeth Banks as Rita Repulsa.