MARCH 22
1991
Jeff Jarrett and Tom Pritchard continued their excellent feud in the USWA, this time delivering a ***3/4 match.
1993
WWF Monday Night RAW aired live from the Manhattan Center in New York City. Incredibly heavy-handed footage was shown of Vince McMahon receiving an award at a banquet the previous week, where Hulk Hogan introduced him as a “champion of children” and he was called a great humanitarian while soft piano music played against the image of Vince’s smiling face. Also on the show, we were treated to a very nice tribute video to the recently deceased Andre The Giant. The show did a 2.8 rating, and you can watch it on the WWE Network.
1996
CMLL held a card at Arena Mexico which included an outstanding ****1/2 elimination match, as El Hijo del Santo, Atlantis, El Dandy and Lizmark squared off with Blue Panther, Felino, Dr. Wagner Jr. and Negro Casas.
1999
RINGS held a card in Tokyo Bay that was highlighted by a ***3/4 match between Kiyoshi Tamura and Hiromitsu Kanehara.
WCW Monday Nitro aired live from Club La Vela in Panama City, FL. The show was headlined by Ric Flair defending the WCW World Title against Rey Misterio Jr. in a unique match. Also on the show, Raven turned babyface and reunited with Perry Saturn to begin a feud with Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko while Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash emceed a Miss NWO pageant. The highlight was when a fan yelled “Show your tits!” and Nash responded “I would, but it’s cold.” Later, Nash also said “Eat your heart out, Sable”. The show did a 3.9 rating, tying the lowest Nitro rating for the year to that point, as WCW continued their slow but steady downward spiral.
WWF Monday Night RAW aired live from Albany, NY, in front of a sellout 12,264 fans. The show kicked off with the famous beer truck segment, where Steve Austin drove to the ring on a beer truck and doused Vince McMahon with it. Vince sold it hilariously, acting like he was drowning and trying to swim. In the main event, Steve Austin scored a clean pinfall on The Big Show, which effectively removed his aura and made him just another guy. According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Vince McMahon used to laugh at how badly WCW used him, and he would ultimately end up doing an even worse job. The show drew a huge 6.4 rating. In a somewhat poetic coincidence, on the same evening Nitro tied their lowest rating of the year, RAW tied their highest rating of the year.
In The “To Watch” Queue:
Atlantis vs Emilio Charles Jr. (CMLL 03/22/91)
