The Monday Night Scores Wrestling Podcast

S2E3 - The Giant & Things That Go Mr. Bump In The Fight

Be warned - the temperature of the warmest July on record is about to go up as TMNS returns with some smoking hot takes on 25-year-old wrestling.

There’s confusion on Nitro, as Hulk Hogan impersonates the Yetay, Ric Flair hijacks the commentary booth and home favourites, The Road Warriors return…in their away kit.

Meanwhile, WWF treat us to some staggering Vince McMahon hypocrisy, a dull display from dour Diesel, and a shock appearance from Supreme Court uber-heel Clarence Thomas.

Raw lead the ratings war 9-8, can Nitro peg them back? Grab some headphones and find out.

S2E2 - Lex Luger and a Ham-Fistful of Dollars

This week’s episode of The Scores packs more meat than a triple-stacked Big Mac, as the team review the ’96 Royal Rumble, in addition to the regular Monday Night Wars wares.

It’s mishap mayhem on Nitro, where botches galore and Hulk Hogan thunder theft underlines an episode to forget for Bischoff and the boys.

While on Raw, Jim Cornette unleashes a new monster on the Federation (for one week, at least), Goldust gleams and - just when you thought it was safe to go back in the arena – the Razor Ramon – 1-2-3 Kid feud resumes.

The Monday Night Scoreboard reads Nitro 8 - 8 Raw - hit the sideways triangle to see who snares the ratings spoils.

S2E1: Softcore Porn and Razor’s Scorn

The Monday Night Scores boys are back in town for Season 2 of the 90’s wrestling podcast everyone (or, more likely, only one) is talking about and we’re roaring down the road to the Royal Rumble.

With their self-proclaimed Super Bowl equivalent just around the corner, WWF put some stars in the ring, some chaos on the camera and some Sunny in the bath, as the higgledy-piggledy-est Raw we’ve seen so far delights and dumbfounds in equal measure.

Meanwhile, on Nitro, WCW attempt to quell the Rumble rumblings the only way they know how: with Hulk Hogan, a world title match, a couple of fat lads and a table.

It’s a spectacular start to Season 2 and, like the kid who bought the replica Shawn Michaels attire in ‘96, you’d be full of regret and sorrow if you missed it.

Episode 17 - Ted DiBiase and the Ringmaster Larynx Blaster

It’s another 90’s wrestling review from the Monday Night Scores squad and this time we’re joined by a very special guest. Yes, here to talk us through the Brother Love Show is only Vince McMahon. Sounds difficult to believe, doesn’t it? If you’re questioning the claim…well, your suspicions are absolutely spot on, but we HAVE got the next best thing, with one of the team aping the promoter’s oesophagus-obliterating tones for the segment that introduces Steve Austin to the wrestling war.

 

That’s far from your lot in an action-packed show, where we discuss some Creature of the Night outrage involving The Undertaker, a tag team twist in the eternal Luger-Sting split saga and the sound of copper hitting the floor as the penny finally drops with Nitro and The Giant. So grab some headphones and hit that button – let’s get cracking.

 

Hulk Hogan Homnibus - TMNS 1st Anniversary Special

The banners are up and the cakes are out at TMNS Towers as we celebrate our first anniversary. And to mark this momentous milestone we have gone…MANIACAL. Yes, that’s right, we have succumbed to the powers of Hulk-a-mania and produced a highlight reel showcasing the finest TMNS moments featuring the prayer-uttering, vitamin-gulping, baldness-denying, American-made, Hulk Hogan on our show. What else could that have meant?

This episode contains our takes on all Hulkster-related segments from the fledgling days of The Monday Night Wars, with everything from baffling best friend choices to monster truck mishaps up for discussion. Join us for a run-down of the red and yellow warrior’s late ’95 in the Hulk Hogan (H)Omnibus.

Episode 16 - Macho Man and the Bizarre Search For Double A’s Battery

With 95’s festive frivolities finished, the WWF and WCW duly resume their ratings ruckus, giving the MNS boys a first glance at the wrestling wares being peddled in ’96.

First, we check in on Vince McMahon’s clan, who flushed a dismal ’95 down the (Raw) bowl and welcomed the new year with a new-fangled American football-themed, tag team elimination match/pigskin pun frenzy that was such a raging success they never attempted it again.

On the other channel, Nitro finally delivers for one member of the MNS team, but simultaneously sabotages their own format for a reasonably watchable television show by unleashing Hulk Hogan on the general public. The Hulkster, teeming with turkey, returns from his Christmas holi...sorry, suspension to challenge Ric Flair for the world title. Elsewhere, we see Lex Luger and Sting attempt to mend their fracturing friendship, Craig Pitman’s quest to find a manager *sigh* continues, and multiple wrestlers re-enact a 90’s style FA Cup draw on live TV, using Arn Anderson’s trunks as the bag.

For all of this and, would you believe it, more, plug your headphones in and hit sideways triangle.

’95 Xmas Special - Part Two

The summer is heating up, so cool off with a trip back to the winter of ’95 and Part Two of our WCW Christmas Special. 

We sample the offerings from box office blowout Starrcade ’95, as WCW’s flagship PPV bombed like a Blitzkrieg pilot in 1941. Ted Turner’s coin counters may have been wanting for action in the days that followed, but what few punters coughed up to see this show had plenty to keep them occupied, including the eagerly-anticipated Triangle Match, which pitted Ric Flair, Lex Luger and Sting against one another. The stakes were higher than a glue-sniffing eagle here, with a shot at the hallowed Big Gold Belt awarded to the victor.

Elsewhere, there’s the fallout from groundhog day in the booker’s office in the main event and, most excitingly, we stage the inaugural TMNS World Cup of Wrestling. The competition sees our very own Los Liam and The Nitpicker slug it out for squared-circle supremacy, as they desperately try to avoid an unforgiving forfeit. There’s all the drama you’d expect with such a prestigious prize on the line and no shortage of celebrity endorsement, with guest commentary from someone you may believe is the actual American Dream, Dusty Rhodes himself…if you are very easily led.

After all that, only one question remains – why are you reading all of this when there’s so much gold to listen to?

’95 Xmas Special - Part One

Christmas ’95 saw a brief armistice called in the Monday Night Wars, but there was no time for no man’s land football between Vince McMahon and Eric Bischoff, as Nitro went it alone for their Starrcade go-home show.

We saw all three competitors scheduled to feature in Starrcade’s triangle match take to the ring, as Lex Luger met Scotty Riggs and Sting went up against Big Bubba Rogers.

The pick of these triangle tune ups, though, saw Ric Flair and Randy Savage duke it out for the WCW title in a PPV-quality bout available at a pauper’s price…surely Bisch and the boys didn’t expect anyone to pay to see this match again any time soon.

That wasn’t all either, as we learn of a draconian punishment inflicted upon Hulk Hogan, Jimmy Hart made a new alliance and Craig Pitman successfully buried himself alive on network television. Shove that lot in your stocking.

Episode 15 - John Sergeant Slaughter

Coming in hot from a short stint on the sidelines, the MNS boys are back with another dose of 90s nostalgia. This time we’re reviewing week 15 of The Monday Night Wars, as the run up to Christmas ’95 continues apace.

Raw held their festive bash the night before this episode aired in the shape of box office blow out, In Your House 5: Season’s Beatings. The sluggishness that typically follows company Christmas shindigs was evident here as Vince McMang and the gang served up a show that smelled worse than a Brother Love’s couch cushions after sprout-heavy turkey dinner. Hear our thoughts on the obituary of the definitely-not-dead Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker’s attempt to steal a soul and a surprise win for a Ric Flair rip off.

Meanwhile, on Nitro, the festive spirit is not lost as the omni-grafting Mean Gene yearns for a well-earned Egg Nog, while the charitable Mongo marks the season of giving by gifting pal William ‘The Refrigerator’ Perry a prominent part in the Christmas production. In the ring, the real Ric Flair puts on a stellar performance, there’s a customary chunk of Hulk Hogan-inspired chaos and a strategically placed waste-paper basket gets stuffed with WWF gold in an infamous Wars moment.

In Your House 5: Special Edition - Goldust, Frankincense & Myrrh

It wouldn’t be Christmas without a clash between in-laws and In Your House 5: Season Beatings sees two turkey-chewers from the Hart family dinner table collide with gold on the line. 

 

We’ve got the champ, Bret Hart, taking on his sister’s lesser half, The British Bulldog, in the main event of this Yuletide PPV, with said sibling/wife, Diana Smith, spectating at ringside. 

 

Preceding this nuclear family feud, there’s a treat for those whose ’95 Christmas wish list read ‘GIMMICK MATCHES’, with several underlines, as Henry O. Godwinn and Hunter Hearst Helmsley step into the swine’s squared-circle for a Hog Pen match. 

 

As if that wasn’t enough (and it really should’ve been), we also witness King Mabel’s attempts to defeat The Undertaker at his favourite game in a Casket match. 

 

The festive cheer doesn’t stop there either, with Owen Hart, Diesel, Razor Ramon and Ahmed Johnson, among others, in action across a blockbuster two hours – tune in to see what the MNS team made of all this.