YPB: Episode 081 – Not Sonic the Hedgehog (WCW vs. nWo games, 1997 and 1998)

This week in Your Parents Basement, the show has been taken over by a rogue element! We are no longer covering Sonic the  Hedgehog – and trust us, we’re so disappointed by that – and instead, we’re covering WCW vs. nWo World Tour from 1997, and WCW/nWo Revenge from 1998! Both are by Asmik Ace and AKI for the Nintendo 64. We’re joined by Steve’s buddy josh

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TIMESTAMPS

• 0:00 – Intro, which features the excellent title theme from the game we thought we’d be covering. Josh crashes the proceedings a few minutes in, so we segue from Sonic to wrasslin’ talk.
• 46:00 – Emails! John Tetris wants to know about wrestlers as well.
• 1:05:30 – Even though Brisket is out of the picture for today’s show, we still have to help some people in… Ask The Sweet Boys.  
• 1:11:00 – Snifferoo. WE’VE GOT TO CATCH THEM ALL!
• 1:11:45 – Outtake.

SHOW NOTES

- According to Price Charting, World Tour and Revenge are both cheaply priced. They go for $3.75 to $5 for the loose carts, and $13 to $18 if you want the box and manual included. In contrast, the more advanced No Mercy goes for $8 for the cart, and $27 for the box and manual.

- The awesome book that Steve mentions, Death of WCW by R.D. Reynolds and Bryan Alvarez, is available on Amazon.

Buy My Crap: Ring of Hell an ineffective hit piece

In the bookstore last week, I was initially intrigued by Ring of Hell. By Matthew Randazzo V, it billed itself as an authoratative look at the sadistic business of pro wrestling, and what led to the downfall of "The Crippler" Chris Benoit. I flipped through it a bit at Barnes and Nobles, and since it was only $12, I took the plunge.

However, actually reading the book reveals it to be a pretty sub-par hit piece. Randazzo's background is as a true crime writer and historian, according to his Wiki page and the back of Ring of Hell, but the book is long on hyperbole and short on original reporting and facts.

I know this because I'm a wrestling geek. I'd estimate that 60 to 75 percent of the information in the book is recycled and slanted from other sources. This includes shoot interviews with Kevin Sullivan and Kevin Nash, information from Chris Jericho's much better book Around The World In Spandex, and various dirt sheet publications and books. Frankly, all of these individual sources of information are better than Randazzo's collection.

The main problem stems from his point of view and writing style, which oozes off of every page. Randazzo clearly detests the wrestling business. Now, this doesn't necessarily prevent him from writing a great wrestling book, but he injects the personal opinion into every paragraph. As a result, the entire text reads like an angry pulpit delivered by a preacher as opposed to well-researched material.

Frankly, the facts of the case speak for themselves. Benoit was a loner who was so obsessed with making it in professional wrestling, and so addled by concussions and other brain damage, that he never scaled back his own steroid usage despite watching his idols be turned into monsters and corpses. All of that is indisputable from the factual record, therefore, you don't need to embellish and demonize the wrestling business on every page.

Randazzo also has a severe problem with sourcing. At various points, he attacks Nash and Bobby Heenan, only to later rely on them as information sources. If you're going to tear at someone for being dishonest, it seems silly to then turnaround and use them as a source five pages later. Also, because of my knowledge of the source material, I know that Randazzo is picking and choosing what parts to use in his own text. He has no problems quoting Nash about drug usage, but then rips him apart for his booking, without any defense from Nash.

The book is at its best when it simply reports as opposed to moralizing. For example, it points out that Benoit was using steroids since he was 17 or 18, and it also detailed his path through the Hart Dungeon, Stampede Wrestling and New Japan before ending up in WCW and the WWF. All of this I found interesting, and it would have been better if I didn't have to pick at the good parts through seething hate.

With all that in mind... If you want to buy my copy, it is up on Half.com. The entry is here. Like with my past auctions, if you win, I'll throw in something small and silly as a bonus.

S$#@ gets real on Raw

Holy crap - Did we just see the return of the Attitude era on tonight's Raw?

I won't have pictures up until later, but after seeing that insane ending tonight, I had to scrap my planned entry and instead write about Raw. If you haven't seen the episode, then don't read any further, because the ending is legitimately shocking...

... Anyway, the NXT guys came down to ringside and essentially beat the crap out of everyone, interrupting the main event match of Cena vs. Punk. The beating they put on Cena, and the announcers and ring crew, was savage and brutal. It reminded me of the old school beatings the NWO would put on WCW wrestlers and crew, back before they got bloated with a red and black faction, and with 500 members.

Since none of them talked outside of Bryan Danielson screaming, "I'm better than you!" at John Cena, their intentions aren't entirely clear... which makes it all even better. The whole attack came out of nowhere, and the unconventional nature of it - the wrestlers so pissed that they were literally ripping the ring apart - definitely heightened the rawness of it all. In a day and age when everything is leaked on the Internet ahead of time, this was genuinely shocking.

I think the rest of the show set the tenor for the surprise at the end. By that, I think the WWE went way over-the-top with cheesy and bad skits, like the A-Team and Dusty Rhodes fighting Roddy Piper, to lull the audience into complacency. I also liked the nice, unintentional touch of the little kids at the end yelling, "Mr. King!" Again, it heightened the realism of it all.

A few random observations: No second generation stars were involved, and it was all the younger NXT guys, so I wonder if that will become part of the angle at some point. I also wouldn't be surprised if they pick up a member or two from the roster, someone like Bourne who has indie roots.

It'll be interesting to see where the WWE goes from here. This was about as perfect of a start to an angle as you can get, so hopefully, they don't screw it up. It might even be a smart move to run NXT tomorrow like an old NWO invasion show, to keep the angle in everyone's mind.