Monday Night Football gets worse every year. Despite the best intentions of the schedulers, they have developed a knack for choosing the wrong games with the wrong teams at the wrong times. Last night was no different. The Packers are halfway down the slippery slope to the ineptitude of their 1980s years while the Panthers are trying valiantly to prove everyone who picked them for the Super Bowl dead wrong. I never thought I'd say this, but thank goodness for Jimmy Snuka.
I usually watch the Monday night game at a sports-bar with a couple of friends of mine. On the large bank of TVs, the game was on the center, feature TV, while various other sports-type shows graced the surrounding, satelite screens. One of these screens is inevitably turned to wrestling. To be specific, the WWE product, Monday Night Raw.
I watched wrestling in high school, "back in the day" as it were. Today's product is less wrestling than a mixture of bizarre soap opera and soft porn. Last night was some special event (I couldn't tell what exactly because the volume was muted). A bunch of the old-school wrestlers, the wrestlers of my youth, were in attendance. As they panned across the assembled squared-circle greats, we picked out "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, "The Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiasi, "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, and others. Here was Mean Gene. There was Jimmy Hart. Over in the back was Nicholai Volkoff. Who's that guy? My friend and I, we began to craft a sort-of fantasy, where the old-schoolers would rise up out of their chairs and take over the ring. But it was just a fantasy, wasn't it?
No! It was real! ...Okay it wasn't real but it happened. There they were, the mighty assemblage of past stars in the ring for a ceremony (I guess - again, no volume) when some scrub decides to come into the ring and start some trouble. We held our collective breaths. The scrub says his piece. Then there's a pause. A long pause. A pause pregnant with anticipation.
Article comments
1 - Chris Beaumont
Last night was the WWE's return to the USA network after 5 years of being on Spike.
I thought it was a good show. I haven't missed many shows for the past 7 or 8 years. The opening Iron Man match was great!
2 - The Errant Fool
So THAT's what the hubbub was about! With the volume off, it was hard to figure out what was going on with the individual matches, particularly when I was watching it with one eye on the football. It was nice to see the old-timers out in force though!
3 - Chris Beaumont
Yeah, that was good to see, mainly Snuka. But some of those guys have real class, not like some of the younger talent.
4 - The Errant Fool
Snuka looked really old. He could barely scuttle up the turnbuckles... but it was cool to see - a blast from the past, so to speak.
5 - Tan The Man
Gotta love Superfly...
6 - Gil
Superfly rules. He is 63 years old now so got to cut him some slack! What a legend!