Ok here are my thoughts about the 1000th episode of Monday Night RAW.
The opening with DX was tremendous and was really even better when the New Age Outlaws made their appearance. Now Xpac still looks like the little brother that they bring along because mom said they had too or they couldn't go...slimy and icky, I dont like him.
Now for the lack of Stone Cold Steve Austin... I couldnt even imagine this show without him but the pulled it off and The Rock did his dead level best to give us his best which led to CM Punk,Daniel Bryan and Cena upping their game last night (just like the glory days) . Now the reason for Steve Austin's absence was a mystery to most people but it was explained on his blog today
(courtesy of Online Wrestling Network)
Stone Cold Steve Austin wrote a blog on his BrokenSkullRanch.com website to explain his absence from yesterday's RAW 1000 show. "The reason I did not attend RAW 1,000 was because I underwent a major knee surgery on my left knee on July 2, 2012," Austin wrote, saying he watched the show from his Los Angeles home. The WWE Hall of Famer said that the surgery was a complete success but he is three weeks post op and just started physical therapy a few days ago. Austin said that he is still on crutches and then he's back to wearing a knee brace for around 9-12 more weeks. "There was no way I was going to limp down the ramp on crutches for RAW 1,000. It was time to get my knee fixed. The decision to no-show RAW 1,000 was made by me and no one else," Austin added. Austin said that he's sorry he missed the show and he would have loved to be there under different circumstances. "I normally keep my personal business to myself, but due to feedback and incorrect speculation, I have posted this blog and given the 411 on why I was not at RAW 1,000."
I can give Steve Austin a pass here because he spent years wrestling when he shouldnt have so he needs this time in his life to heal and get repaired, maybe this will lead to an appearance at one of the major PPVs .. I couldnt even imagine this show without him but seeing all the legends helped.
The Brothers of Destruction made their appearance and fought off several jobbers but it was nice to seem the together one more time.
Lita showed up and looked better than ever and just as gorgeous as when she left (Edge should have been there, but we can't have it all).
JBL looked in tremendous shape and nearly decapitated Heath Slater with his "clothesline from Hell".
CM Punk turning heel is a great move and will give him more room to really ramp up the feud with Cena and maybe even have a heel vs heel with Daniel Bryan.
And of course we had the meeting of Paul Heyman and Triple H, with Stephanie McMahon making and appearance
The 1992 version of the famous Match Beyond cage match.
Sting's Squardon
Sting
Ricky Steamboat
Dustin Rhodes
Nikita Koloff
Barry Windham
vs
The Dangerous Alliance w/Paul E Dangerously
Steve Austin
Arn Anderson
Rick Rude
Larry Zbyszko
Bobby Eaton.
While reading this I found these 2 great videos from the ill fated Brawl For All series of real (unscripted) boxing/wrestling matches....long before UFC and MMA was a household name. This was a tournament with some of the so called "tough guys" of the WWF in boxing gloves but also trying to wrestle. In reality it was a Jim Ross idea to help get Steve "Dr. Death" Williams over as a legit tough guy fighter. Now Dr. Death was a legit tough guy wrestler and football player but he was way out of his league with the gloves on, it took away his strength of grappling holds. This left him to try and box and his match with, who was thought to be a patsy setup, Bart Gunn took a turn for the worse for Dr. Death and hilarity for all watching at home. A knockout of Dr Death and a knee injury took him out of action for several months and left him with a battered reputation. To me the highlight was Good Ol JR trying to spin the whole thing as Dr Death had been knocked down before and would be back but you can hear in his voice he was not pleased to see his friend knocked the F out on national tv and then have Jerry Lawler really rubbing it in while showing the replays.
Well this was not the end of the shame of Brawl For All...Bart Gunn won the tournament and set up a match at Wrestlemania 15 with Butterbean, the professional boxer known more for his girth and look than actual fighting ability. Well Butterbean took offense to the way he was portrayed as a big lug who as more a sideshow freak than fighter. Poor Bart Gunn. Butterbean with a chip on his shoulder and a brick in his right hand, spun Bart's head around like Linda Blair in "The Excorcist" and once and for all put the Brawl For All to rest in the graveyard of ideas that should have worked but real life got in the way.
This is for the fans that love Stan "The Lariat" Hansen and his unpredictable and crazy style. I am one that misses the "dont know what is going to happen next" style that he made famous all over the world.
This is his story in his own words about everything you wanted to know...from Japan, to King Kong Brody to Bruno's broken neck to the AWA Title and what happened between him and Verne Gagne....good looking stuff from the all the excerpts you can read at the link post below.
The pre PPV era reached its end with this card from Greensboro NC in March of 1983. This was a huge sellout as fans from all around came to see a tag team war meets its "Final Conflict" with the team of Rick Steamboat and Jay Youngblood meeting the NWA Tag Team Champions Sgt Slaughter and Don Kernodle.
If Steamboat and Youngblood lost they would have to split up and never wrestle again and if they won they would be Tag Team champions for a 4th time. This was in a cage and the crowd was over the top excited and made this seem almost world changing.
The undercard featured a Television Title Match between champion Dick Slater and challenger Rowdy Roddy Piper.
What is not see on this video (which was put together from raw footage by one of the undercard wrestlers, this was never put together for official release) is the match for the NWA World Title with Ric Flair defending against former partner and friend Greg "The Hammer" Valentine.
The 1992 version of the famous Match Beyond cage match. 
