With The Ring #56

Ryan and Cindy continue their trek through 1999 WWF but take a bit of a detour. Due to the horrible incident that happened at Over the Edge 1999 it was decided to skip that show, and instead look back at the Smackdown Pilot, and then selected segments from Raw in May and June of 1999. Among the topics:

• How and why Smackdown was being formatted and how a wrestling pilot show looks.
• The Corporation/Ministry of Darkness merger and their soon to follow theme song mash-up.  
• Talk of how the 1-2 punch of May 3rd and 10 Raw running unopposed helped make the chasm between WWF and WCW grow into the Grand Canyon. 
• One of Vince Russo’s favorite tropes factions with silly acronyms, the Union or Union of People You Oughta Respect Shane, UP YORS forms and takes shape
• The Stooges beginning their epic feud with the Mean Street Posse, including setting the at the time, mark for most watched wrestling match on cable TV.
• The end (for now) of Sable’s run atop the Women’s Division and WWF in general
• Shawn Michaels turn as a hot cop and how he helps push along the Corporate Ministry against Austin, Rock and friends
• We discuss Over the Edge what happened, why it happened, why the show continued and Raw the next night
• We then look at Raw on May 31, where Jeff Jarrett wins the IC title, Triple H injures Mankind and the Higher Power reveals himself to Steve Austin
• We then watch the beginning of the next Raw with the reveal of (25 year spoiler alert) Vince McMahon as the Higher Power and how it went over as a fart bomb, but at least it’s given no time to breath and immediately get Linda McMahon’s new CEO announcement to set the stage for the next few weeks 

Enjoy the Show!