Ending the discovery on HitNRun EP was such a bummer. Latter-day Prince seems incredibly overwrought compared to his 80s and 90s output (and even his vaulted albums). So far, we've had three posthumous Prince albums (not including rereleases), Piano And A Microphone, which was a live album,  Originals, which is a collection of singles and demos of Prince singing songs he wrote for other artists, and Welcome To America, easily the best of the trio.

There's not much for me to do with Piano And A Microphone. It's a live album, and not even a particularly well produced one. Nothing on it jumped out to me as Necessary. And I've sprinkled some of the tracks from Originals on previous albums because the tracks have been around forever, they just didn't have their own album in the real world.

I decided to combine this most recent album with the HitNRun EP that I had already made. Look, there was no way to use 21st century Prince songs to make something as good as Sign O'The Times or anything. But this is a much more fun album to go out on than the previous version. The grungey somewhat overproduced HitNRun EP benefits from the more open and breezily mixed tracks from Welcome To America​. I would much rather listen to this album than either of the real world counterparts that make it up.

Welcome To America is the obvious opening track for this album. Prince starts off going after capitalism with some moderately cheesy lyrics. It's catchy. It really wants to be Gil Scot Heron good, but it definitely sounds like an old person talking about modern things (modern being early 2010s) while using slogans from the late 80s and early 90s. It's still good, but without the music this would sound like a sloganeering slam poem that Old Heads would shit talk relentlessly when they got together. 

Fixurlifeup sounds like a Foo Fighters track. A really good one. The lyrics are generic fixyourlifeup bumper sticker wisdom. But the guitar is a buzzing wasp, killing everything in its path.

My previous version of this album (The HitNRun EP) closed with Revelation but Welcome To America deserves better. This is some 90s sex under a waterfall music video with Kenny G on horns. It's really good for what it is, as it definitely sounds more Of An Era than an Outdated Shell Of A Song. Like, this SHOULD have been released in the 90s. People would have Fucked to this song, which is what Prince would have wanted. People still might be fucking to this song, but they're probably moving slow because they have to not because they're trying to be erotic. Nobody is breaking a hip to this song.

Break out your pompoms for Yes, it's got crunchy guitars but kind of bland sing-along vocals. Prince sings bass harmonies under the lead, and it's ... a choice. It's simultaneously a very late 80s and very late 90s production sound where the vocals feel like they're sitting in the wrong section of the mix, and all of the instruments are at the wrong volume. It's still a head bopper but with better production it could actually be good instead of just listenable.

There was a version of When She Comes on the HitNRun EP but this is not that version. That was a kind of overproduced definitely 21st century erotic Prince song. This version is Classic Prince. The instruments are stripped down. The harmonies are flawless. The lyrics are filthy. This is easily one of the best 21st century Prince songs. It could have been put out at any time in his career. Thank God for the return of Prince's falsetto erotic balladeering.

Another song from the previous version, Whitecaps is a loud bass and slamming drums song with an almost Porno For Pyros underwater instruments feel. Until the guitars kick in, it's difficult to realize this is a Prince track. He's barely a background vocalist here but it eventually morphs into  recognizably Prince.  

The song floats right into Stopthistrain. It's almost a continuation of the previous track, but now we at least get Prince harmonizing to Hannah Ford-Welton's lead vocals. The brief, echoey breakdown near the close of this track was probably the best part of the 3rdeyegirl portion of this album.

The lick of a bass. Prince shows up. Talking about his old days, taking the stage in our underwear. Who can help but Stare at Prince when he's on stage? And now that we've put the proper funk into the music, we're in familiar territory. He even pulls out the "Kiss" lick to remind us who he was. Ok. But who are you now, Mr. Nelson?

The keyboard intro for 1010 (Rin Tin Tin) is another case of This Could Be Prince From Anywhen. The lyrics are 21st century but the production is so much cleaner than most of the rest of this album. I would put this on a Best Of Prince album if I had to represent each of his albums.  

Another Lover starts out with an almost Tom Morello riff before descending into ... Incubus? When I was writing about this for the previous incarnation of this album, I mentioned how itneresting it was to hear someone who influenced so much of modern music turn around and be influenced by the artists who came after him. Often it doesn't work at all. I think Duran Duran's Thank You was the first album where I thought bands should really stick to covering the songs from before they started making music, not the songs that came after them. This song isn't a cover, but it definitely sounds like Prince trying to capture a sound that has evolved past him. I still like it but it sounds like A Band With Vocals By Prince as opposed to A Prince Song.

Plumelectric is straight up the licks from Rage Against The Machine's "Revolver" slightly retooled. Morello could have definitely sued him for credit as a songwriter. It's a banger, but, again, not precisely a Prince song even though it's definitely his fingers absolutely destroying the guitar in a late 90s grunge fashion. 

Here we go, Prince wants to make this woman scream in Hardrocklover which is half slow jam, half rock track. All Prince. This is the first production that sounds 2010s. It could also be a Frank Ocean track. Beyonce could be on vocals here. But, again, it's completely Prince on guitar.

Now that all that heavily bassed guitar portion of the album is over, it's time for hand claps and harmonies with a 90s Prince feel instead of a 90s grunge feel. Same Page Different Book is Prince singing about war and religion, which he felt passionately about but never wrote particularly well. The lyrics to this song are ... fine. They're not going to explode your head. It has that "Yea, I Said It" feel without actually presenting any challenging ideas. But it feels good to listen to. The funk guitar is On Point.

Running Game (Son Of A Slave Master) is the best middle finger song on the album. It achieves what many of the rest of the songs on the actual version of Welcome 2 America aspired to. Nothing earth shattering or that you couldn't have heard at the average poetry slam before the pandemic but it feels better conceived than the other tracks.

The album Has To Close with One Day We Will All Be Free. It's just a great optimistic sounding closing track with lyrics that defy the optimistic music and title. It's the inverse of Jason Mraz's "Life Is Wonderful" where the lyrics are all about how great everything is while the vocals and instrumentation make it sound like someone is holding a gun to the head of Mraz's favorite dog. This is a false flag song that doesn't seem to believe in its title. And then it closes with that buzzy amp sound that filled most of the HitNRun​ era tracks. It's a phenomenal end to this particular album.

The 1980s were a bloated, cheesy masterpiece of professional wrestling. Soap opera storylines with Big Heroes (mind you, Hulk Hogan, the biggest "hero" in the WWE was always cheating to win, overcelebrating his friends' victories, hogging the spotlight, and stabbing his friends in the back while waving The American Flag), steroid riddled promos about vitamins, warriors, maniacs, hard times, and Space Mountain, and A-B-C match formats where the hero used the same stale and unimpressive move to somehow annihilate his previously healthy opponents. Something had to give.

It took time. Time and evolution (not Triple H, Ric Flair, Randy Orton, and Batista; although they eventually contributed). Technical wrestling improved, storylines became more complex, and more room was made at the top for a wider variety of heroes and heels with fewer career jobbers making their way on TV.

This season sees The Four Horseman Era continue in WCW while their undercard trains to be the future of the WWE. Meanwhile WWE becomes more than just the Hogan/Savage/Warrior show, as Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, and The Undertaker make their presences known.

The middle of this season sees one of the three Gaping Creative Drouts that occured in wrestling during my lifetime. And, yet, they still contain some spectacular matches.  

200: A Not So Gentlewomens' Intermission, 1986-1990

Before we get back to WWE and WCW, and before we introduce ECW into the mix, another wrestling company deserves at least one episode in our chronology. The Gorgeous Ladies Of Wrestling inspired an incredible Netflix show, and had a decent, if often turbulent run on television over the course of four syndicated seasons. There are some amazing spots in this episode but there are no amazing matches. I doubt any reach above a two and a half on the Meltzer star scale. But the characters are fun, and Rob Sturma described it as Wrestling Hee-Haw which is an accurate description of the dad-joke sketches that absolutely saturated the show.  I have kept that feel in this episode not because the jokes are good but because they're only slightly worse than some of the wrestling, so I felt like I should let this be an accurate experience of the TV show, if it were pay-per-v...sorry...premium live event length. Oh, and if you can't stomach terrible stereotypes, you're going to want to stay a million miles away from this, it is wildly 1980s offensive.

Announcers: David McClane, Mike Morgan, Colonel Ninchotka, Sir Miles Headlock

1. Salt & Pepper vs Sarah & Mabel
2. Corporal Kelly & Attache vs The Southern Belles
3. Colonel Ninotchka vs Little Feather
4. Hollywood & Vine vs Mount Fuji
5. Spanish Red & Jungle Woman vs The Cheerleaders
6. Dementia vs Little Egypt
7. Tina Ferrari, Ashley Cartier & Little Fuji vs Angel, Hollywood & Vine
8. 20 Woman Battle Royal
Palestina, Headhunter Mina, Headhunter Mika, Envy, Adore, Chainsaw, Spike, Attache, Hollywood, Vine, Colonel Ninotchka, Spanish Red, Mathilde The Hun, California Doll 1, California Doll 2, Little Feather, Tina Ferrari, Ashley Cartier, Little Fiji, Olympia, Mt Fuji, Scarlet The Southern Belle, Tara The Southern Belle

9. Attache vs Amy The Farmer's Daughter
10. Tina Ferrari & Ashley Cartier vs Hollywood & Vine

201: Arrogance, 1990 

While we bid adieu to Hulkamania running wild at the end of last season, it's not dead. The 80s wrestlers didn't just disappear as 1990 rolled in. So here we see the old guard start to wind down as slightly younger wrestlers like Mr Perfect, Texas Tornado, Shawn Michaels, and The Undertaker all make their way to the top of the WWE wrestling cards. This also includes the Survivor Series where, at the end, everyone who survived the previous matches teamed up for a random faces vs random heels match. Zero points for guessing who overcame the odds to win. We also get a great buildup to a decent feud and terrible match as Rick Martel's fragrance takes on Jake Robert's vision.

​Announcers: Roddy Piper, Vince McMahon, Gorilla Monsoon, Gene Okerlund, Sean Mooney, Lord Alfred Hayes, Howard Finkel.

1. Mr Perfect (WWE Intercontinental Champ) vs Tito Santana
2. Mr. Perfect (WWE Intercontinental Champ) vs Texas Tornado
3. Demolition (WWE Tag Team Champs) vs hart Foundation in a 2/3 Falls Match
4. Ultimate Warrior (WWE Champ) vs Rick Rude in a Steel Cage
5. Million Dollar Team vs The Dream Team
Ted Dibiase, Honky Tonk Man, Greg Valentine, Undertaker vs Dusty Rhodes, Bret Hart, Jim Neidhart, Koko B Ware

6. Visionaries vs Vipers
Rick Martel, Hercules, Paul Roma, Warlord vs Jake Roberts, Jimmy Snuka, Shawn Michaels, Marty Jannetti

7. Survivors vs Survivors
Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, Tito Santana vs Ted Dibiase, Rick Martel, Hercules, Paul Roma, Warlord

202: Capitol Combat, 1990

WWE isn't alone in starting to push new stars a bit. Weirdly, almost all of the younger generation that appears in this season of WCW moves to WWE to get real famous next season. Still, it's fun to see Mick Foley as Cactus Jack, Steve Austin as The Hollywood Blond, and Ron Simmons just being his badass self before WWE started tossing gimmicks at him.

Announcers: Jim Ross, Terry Funk, Bob Caudle, Paul Heyman, Gordon Solie, Missy Hyatt, Tony Schiavone, Gary Michael Cappetta

1. Rock & Roll Express vs Freebirds in a Corporal Punishment Match
2. Steiner Brothers (WCW Tag Team Champs) vs Doom
3. Ric Flair (WCW Champ) vs Lex Luger in a Steel Cage
4. Vader vs Tom Zenk
5. Doom (WCW Tag Team Champs) vs Rock & Roll Express
6. Ric Flair (WCW Champ) vs Sting

203: American Nationalism Run Amuck, 1991

This is all over the place. We even start with The Rising Hero Of The Late 80s (Ultimate Warrior) vs 70s Superstar Sgt Slaughter, whose scond run in the WWE we're going to mostly skip because it was super cringey when it was happening, and it's worse now. Likewise, the Royal Rumble calls back to the 1970s, let's some of the 80s undercard and some up-and-coming 90s stars mix it up before totally 1987ing the ending.

Announcers: Gorilla Monsoon, Roddy Piper, Gene Okerlund, Sean Mooney, Howard Finkel
​
1. Ultimate Warrior (WWE Champ) vs Ted Dibiase
2. The Orient Express vs The Rockers
​3. Ultimate Warrior (WWE Champ) vs Sgt Slaughter
4. Ted Dibiase/Virgil vs Dusty Rhodes/Goldust
​5. Mr. Perfect (Intercontinental Champ) vs Big Boss Man
​6. Royal Rumble
Bret Hart, Dino Bravo, Greg Valentine, Paul Roma, The Texas Tornado, Rick Martel, Saba Simba, Bushwhacker Butch, Jake Roberts, Hercules, Tito Santana, The Undertaker, Jimmy Snuka, The British Bulldog, Smash, Hawk, Shane Douglas, Animal , Crush , Jim Duggan, Earthquake, Mr. Perfect, Hulk Hogan , Haku , Jim Neidhart , Bushwhacker Luke, Brian Knobbs, The Warlord, Tugboat 

204: The Japanese Invasion, 1991

While the WWE is being Super Problematic with their nationalism, WCW starts to do crossover events with New Japan Wrestling that highlight the mastery of Japanese Wrestling rather than trying to crush all of the performers under their American competitors. I haven't watched it for a while, so I don't know if it's completely uncringey but I think I would remember if it was as politically graceless as the WWE. Also, bonus points for a very early Rey Mysterio match before he disappeared back to Mexico for a while.

Announcers:  Jim Ross, Dusty Rhodes, Paul Heyman, Tony Schiavone, Missy Hyatt, Gary Michael Cappetta

1. Steiner Brothers vs Konnan/Rey Mysterio
2. Masa Saito/Great Muta vs Victor Zangiev/Salman Hashminikov
3. Stan Hansen (WCW US Champ) vs Lex Luger
4. Steiner Brothers vs Masa Saito/Great Muta
5. Jushi Thunder Liger vs Akira Nogami
6. Four Horseman vs Masa Saito/Masahiro Chono
7. Barry Wyndham vs Brian Pillman in a Taped Wrist Match
8. Great Muta vs Sting
9. Ric Flair (WCW Champ) vs Tatsumi Fujinami (NJW Champ)

205:  Perfect Justice, 1991

We continue the slow passing of torches in 1991 with some excellent slow burn storylines, including the Ted Dibase/Virgil feud, and the blurring of whether Jake Roberts is a face or heel. It's also the beginning of the Golden Age of The Intercontinental Championship as some of the biggest future stars take their turns with the belt.

Announcers: Gorilla Monsoon, Bobby Heenan, Roddy Piper, Jim Duggan, Gene Okerlund, Sean Mooney, Lord Alfred Hayes, Honkey Tonk Man, Howard Finkel

1. Texas Tornado (Intercontinental Champ) vs Mr Perfect
2. Hart Foundation (WWE Tag Team Champs)  vs Nasty Boys
3. Jake Roberts vs Rick Martel in a Blindfold Match
4. Mr. Perfect (Intercontinental Champ) vs Shawn Michaels
5. Undertaker vs Jimmy Snuka
6. Shawn Michaels vs Kato
7. Ted Dibiase vs Virgil
8. Mr Perfect (WWE Intercontinental Champ) vs Bret Hart
9. Ultimate Warrior vs Randy Savage in a Career Ending Match

​206: The Chamber Of Horrors, 1991

While the future of both WWE and WCW wrestling start to take control of the WWE in the early 1990s, WCW starts to descend into terrible gimmicks and an overreliance on tournaments to give shape to their pay-per-views. There are still some stellar performers and matches, though.  

Announcers: Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, Dusty Rhodes, Eric Bischoff, Missy Hyatt, Gary Michael Cappetta

1. Steiner Brothers (WCW Tag Team Champs) vs Lex Luger/Sting
2. Arn Anderson (WCW TV Champ) vs Bobby Eaton
3. Tatsumi Fujinaki (NWA Champ) vs Ric Flair (WCW Champ)
4. Brian Pillman vs Marc Mero
5. Nikita Koloff vs Sting in a Russian Chain Match
6. Lex Luger vs Barry Wyndham in a Steel Cage Match for the WCW Championship
7. Chamber Of Horrors Match
Sting, El Gigante, The Steiner Brothers vs Abdullah the Butcher, The Diamond Studd, Mick Foley (as Cactus Jack), Vader

207: Match Made In Heaven,  1991

The double turn of Randy Savage and Jake Roberts was a perfect way to see them out of the WWE, it's almost a shame it wasn't either of their last matches for the company. They worked incredibly well together. We don't get to see their matchup in this episode, but it's totally set up here. We also get a better Dibiase/Virgil match, the total redemption of Randy Savage, and we realize that The Earthquake isn't going to get the chance to be The Monster Heel in place of Andre The Giant because The Undertaker is an unstoppable force.

Announcers: Gorilla Monsoon, Vince McMahon, Alfred Hayes, Bobby Heenan, Roddy Piper, Randy Savage, Jim Neidhart, Gene Okerlund, Howard Finkel 

1. Bushwhackers vs Natural Disasters
2. Ted Dibiase vs Virgil for the Million Dollar Championship
3. Nasty Boys (WWE Tag Team Champs) vs Legion Of Doom
4. Million Dollar Team vs Hitman Squad
Ted Dibiase, Ric Flair, Warlord, The Mountie vs Bret Hart, Roddy Piper, Virgil, British Bulldog

5. Roddy Piper vs Ric Flair
6. Hulk Hogan (WWE Champ) vs Undertaker

208: Lethal Lottery, 1991, 1992

WCW did a few of these Lethal Lotteries, where tag teams were put together randomly, and the winning teams' members were thrown into a 16 Man Battle Royal. It's an interesting concept. But this will be the only one I'm including in the series. Also, those Japanese wrestlers haven't gone away. They're still a vital part of this era of WCW, and it is Glorious.

Announcers:  Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, Eric Bischoff, Missy Hyatt, Magnum TA, Gary Michael Cappetta

1. Steve Austin/Rick Rude vs Van Hammer/Doink
2. Bill Kaamier/Jushin Thunder Liger vs DDP/Mike Graham
3. Ricky Steamboat/Todd Champion vs Mick Foley (as Cactus Jack)/Buddy Lee Parker
4. Vader/Mr Hughes Vs Rick Steiner/Adam Bomb
5. Battlebowl Battle Royal
6.Enforcers Vs Michiyoshi Ohara/Shiro Koshinaka
7. Dusty Rhodes/Goldust vs Masa Saito/Kim Duk
8. Lex Luger (WCW Champ) vs Masahiro Chono
9. Sting /Great Muta vs Steiner Brothers

209:  Fair To Flair 1991, 1992

Bobby Heenan's finest hour is calling the 1992 Royal Rumble, as WCW's biggest star has jumped ship and is running around the WWE with the WCW belt around his waist. It's fantastic. The rest of this match is the ending of feuds from previous episodes, and showing off a couple of new talents. 

Announcers: Gorilla Monsoon, Bobby Heenan, Gene Okerlund, Sean Mooney, Lord Alfred Hayes, Howard Finkel

1. Jake Roberts vs Randy Savage
2. Undertaker (WWE Champ) vs Hulk Hogan
3. New Foundation vs New Orient Express
4. Royal Rumble Match for the WWE Championship
The British Bulldog, Ted DiBiase, Ric Flair, Jerry Sags, Haku, Shawn Michaels, Tito Santana, The Barbarian, The Texas Tornado, Repo Man, Greg Valentine, Nikolai Volkoff, Big Boss Man, Hercules ,  Roddy Piper, Jake Roberts,  Jim Duggan, Irwin R. Schyster, Jimmy Snuka, The Undertaker, Randy Savage, The Berzerker, Virgil, Col. Mustafa,  Rick Martel, Hulk Hogan, Skinner, Sgt. Slaughter,  Sid Justice,  The Warlord

210: Superbrawl 2, 1992

Again, this is kind of a gold buried under crap era for WCW, as it's slowly morphing from NWA to the official WCW. This episode, in particular, aligns with the earlier WWE matches from this season as 70s, 80s, and 90s stars are all represented pretty equally.

Announcers: Jim Ross, Jesse Ventura, Tony Schiavone, Eric Bischoff, Missy Hyatt, Barry Abrams, Gary Michael Cappetta

1. Jushin Thunder Liger (WCW Lightweight Champ) vs Brian Pillman
2. Barry Wyndham/Goldust vs Steve Austin/Larry Zbysko
3. Rick Rude (WCW US Champ) vs Ricky Steamboat
4. Lex Luger (WCW Champ) vs Sting
5. Sting's Squadron vs Dangerous Alliance
Sting, Barry Wyndham, Goldust, Ricky Steamboat, Nikita Koloff vs Steve Austin, Rick Rude, Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton, Larry Zbysko

211: Damaged Goods, 1992

After the last episode's Superkick Heard Round The Industry, Shawn Michaels begins his spinning heel turn, Ric Flair's plan to go after Hogan goes belly up when Hogan is suspended for steroids, so, instead, we get Flair vs Randy Savage, which proved to be more fun, anyway. (Don't worry, Hogan vs Flair is coming.) 

Announcers: Gorilla Monsoon, Bobby Heenan, Vince McMahon, Mr Perfect, Gene Okerlund, Sean Mooney, Howard Finkel

1. Shawn Michaels vs Tito Santana
2. Undertaker vs Jake Roberts
3. Money Inc (WWE Tag Team Champs) vs Natural Disasters
4. Owen Hart vs Skinner
5. Roddy Piper (WWE Intercontinental Champ) vs Bret Hart
6. Headshrinkers vs High Energy
7. Ric Flair (WWE Champ) vs Randy Savage

212: Beach Blast, 1992

Jake Roberts crosses over to WCW here, along with Greg Valentine. There's not much to say about this episode other than Congratulations to these wrestlers for making entertaining matches during one of the worst booked eras of a wrestling company that doesn't have Vince Russo on the payroll yet.

Announcers:  Jim Ross, Jesse Ventura, Tony Schiavonne, Eric Bischoff, Bruno Sammartino, Missy Hyatt, Teddy Long, Magnum TA, Tony Gilliam, Gary Michael Cappetta

1. Raven vs Brian Pillman
2. Greg Valentine vs Buff Bagwell
3. Sting vs Mick Foley (as Cactus Jack)
4. Rick Rude (WCW Heavyweight Champ) vs Ricky Steamboat
5. Sting (WCW US Champ) vs Vader
6. Farooq (WCW Heavyweight Champ) vs Barbarian
7. Sting vs Jake Roberts in a Coal Miner's Glove Match

213: The Excellence of Execution, 1992, 1993

Here we go, the old guard is almost completely gone (Hogan's appearance at the end of this episode is just to show what a desperate, aging cliche he had become THIRTY YEARS AGO.) and The Kliq (Shawn Michaels, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and XPac) are starting to dominate the entire industry, and will continue to do so for the rest of the decade. 

Announcers: Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan, Mr Perfect, Jim Duggan, Hillbilly Jim, Jim Ross, Gene Okerlund, Sean Mooney, Lord Alfred Hayes, Howard Finkel

1. Bret Hart (WWE Intercontinental Champ) vs British Bulldog
2. Bret Hart (WWE Champ) vs Shawn Michaels
3. Ric Flair & Razor Ramon vs Randy Savage & Mr Perfect
4. Shawn Michaels (WWE Intercontinental Champ) vs Marty Jannetti
5. Steiner Brothers vs Head Shrinkers
6. Bret Hart (WWE Champ) vs Yokozuna
7. Yokozuna (WWE Champ) vs Hulk Hogan

215: Raw, 1993

WWE launches Monday Night Raw. The Kliq and the Hart family continue to run rampant, Hulk Hogan wrestles his last WWE match for a decade, and XPac debuts (as the 123 Kid) becoming the most famous jobber of all time.

Announcers: Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan, Randy Savage, Rob Bartlett, Gene Okerlund, Sean Mooney, Lord Alfred Hayes, Howard Finkel

1. Scott Hall (as Razor Ramon) vs XPac (as The Kid)
2. Mr. Perfect vs Ric Flair in Loser Leaves Town Match
3. Bret Hart vs Scott Hall (as Razor Ramon)
​4. Bret Hart vs Mr Perfect
5. Hulk Hogan (WWE Champ) vs Yokozuna
6. Bret Hart vs Bam Bam Bigelow for King Of The Ring

216: Supershow, 1993

Another New Japan crossover supports the otherwise awful booking of the era. Chris Benoit debuts, and Mick Foley vs Vader is an early 90s Highlight.

Announcers: Tony Schiavonne,  Jim Ross, Larry Zbysko, Jesse Ventura, Eric Bischoff, Missy Hyatt, Gary Michael Cappetta

1. Ultimo Dragon (IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champ) vs Jushin Thunder Liger 
2. Great Muta (IWGP Champ) vs Masahiro Chono (WCW Champ)
3. BattleBowl 2
4. 2 Cold Scorpio vs Chris Benoit
5. British Bulldog vs Bill Irwin
6. Hollywood Blonds (WCW Tag Team Champs) vs Dos Hombres in a Steel Cage
7. Vader vs Mick Foley in a Texas Death Match

217: Everybody's Got A Price, 1993

WWE's prime time show, Raw, expanded their ability to play with mid-term storytelling. You no longer had to compact a storyline into a single episode or make it months long in order to reach a pay-per-view event. I choose to celebrate this by condensing the Razor Ramon/1-2-3 Kid/Money Inc storyline into half an episode. We also get to see the short term revenge of Bret Hart against Jerry Lawler. Their storyline went on for months after this but the matches were at best terrible, and at worst, gross. We'll just pretend it stopped here. The Undertaker gets written off for the season here, and we wrap things up with the end of the thirty year Gorilla Monsoon/Bobby Heenan feud.

Announcers:  Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan, Jim Ross, Ted Dibiase, Gene Okerlund, Gene Wood, Howard Finkel

1. Scott Hall (as Razor Ramon) vs XPac (as The 1-2-3 Kid) for $10,000
2. Ted Dibiase vs X-Pac (as The 1-2-3 Kid)
3. Scott Hall (as Razor Ramon) vs Ted Dibiase
4. The Steiner Brothers vs The Heavenly Bodies
5. IRS v X-Pac (as The 1-2-3 Kid)
6. Bret Hart vs Doink/Jerry Lawler
7. Yokozuna (WWE Champ) vs Undertaker in a Casket Match
8. Bam Bam Bigelow & Headshrinkers vs Tatanka & Smoking Guns
9. Shawn Michaels vs XPac (as The 1-2-3 Kid)
10. Crush vs Tony Roy

218: Crossing The Line, 1994

For the purposes of this project, I've referred pretty much all of the non-WWE episodes as WCW. By the mid-90s this was true. Before that, the NWA was the umbrella organization that ran an ever evolving set of smaller wrestling territories that gathered for the big pay-per-view events. Their titles had a variety of names that were difficult to keep track of. When WCW became The Official Competitor to WWE, NWA didn't go away, they just became less of a presence on television. They even decided to let their top title be decided in an ECW ring, and THAT is when ECW got famous. This episode ends with a unification match where the NWA and ECW titles were supposed to be merged, but instead the new champion rejects the NWA title, and declares that ECW doesn't need their support. It was a huge deal at the time, and brought a ton of eyes to the relatively new product.

Announcers: Joey Styles, Paul Heyman, Tod Gordon, Bob Artese

1. Jimmy Snuka vs Kevin Sullivan
2. Peaches and Tommy Cairo vs Sandman and Woman in a Singapore Cane Match
3. Sabu vs Mick Foley (as Cactus Jack)
4. The Funk Brothers vs Public Enemy in a Barbed Wire Match
5. Terry Funk vs Mick Foley (as Cactus Jack)
6. Shane Douglas vs Too Cold Scorpio for the NWA Championship

219: Return Of The Flair, 1994

The Dirtiest Player In The Game returns home to spice things up for the final WCW episode of the season. 

Announcers: Tony Schiavonne, Jesse Ventura, Bobby Heenan, Eric Bischoff, Gene Okerlund, Michael Buffer, Gary Michael Cappetta

1. Vader (WCW Champ) vs Ric Flair in Title Vs Career Match
2. Harlem Heat vs Thunder & Lightning
3. Ric Flair (WCW Champ) vs Vader in Thundercage Match
4. Rick Rude (WCW International Champ) vs Sting
5. Vader vs Big Boss Man
6. Ric Flair (WCW Champ) vs Ricky Steamboat

220: King Of Harts, 1994

We close off this season with the true ascendence of the Next Generation. No more shall Hogan, Heenan, Savage, Okerlund, Mr Perfect, Dibiase, Jimmy Hart, or any of their ilk cast their shadows on the WWE (well, ok, so SOME of them will come back eventually, but never for long). All the rising Harts, and Michaelses and, Razors both Ramon and not Ramon, and Diesels both Kevin Nash and Kane, Jerry Lawlers, and Jim Rosses shall come to forever be known as The Faces Of The WWE. I mean, for a few minutes, anyway. 

Announcers: Gorilla Monsoon, Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler, Bobby Heenan, Randy Savage, Ted Dibiase, Gene Okerlund, Todd Pettingill, Burt Reynolds, Howard Finkel 

1. Owen Hart vs Bret Hart
2. Scott Hall (as Razor Ramon) (WWE Intercontinental Champ) vs Shawn Michaels in a Ladder Match

3. Yokozuna (WWE Champ) vs Bret Hart
4. Bret Hart (WWE Champ) vs Kevin Nash (as Diesel)
5. Owen Hart vs Scott Hall (as Razor Ramon) for King Of The Ring
6. Alundra Blayze (WWE Womans Champ) vs Bull Nakano
7. Kevin Nash (as Diesel) (WWE Intercontinental Champ)  vs Scott Hall (as Razor Ramon)  

​