Slamboree '98

Legacy Review

Slamboree '98

May 17, 1998 from The Centrum in Worcester (pronounced WOOSTAH), MA

Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Mike Tenay

In case anyone forgets this show is Slamboree, the stage is little more than a humongous Slamboree logo with a door in the middle for entrances. Since Spring Stampede the NWO civil war has continued to develop and we now have two distinct factions: NWO Hollywood (white) and NWO Wolfpac (red). There's quite a few of the new red NWO shirts in the crowd tonight. Personally regardless of the wrestlers or factions involved I think the red just plain looks better than the white.

This is the show where Eric Bischoff infamously challenged Vince McMahon to show up for a fight. Bischoff even went so far on Thunder (where no one would see it) to read the letter he got from Vince's lawyers saying Vince wouldn't be there and Bischoff was opening himself up to legal action by telling people to expect Vince to be there. We then get footage from earlier today of Vince NOT SHOWING UP with some obvious plants posing as fans. Seriously, this reeks of the most base, insane desperation. WWF had just started beating WCW in the weekly TV ratings for the first time since the start of the NWO and WCW was already in full on panic mode. What benefit would it be to Vince to actually show up to this? Zero. Absolutely none. And yet WCW thought they were doing themselves a favor by talking about Vince. They saw Vince as the one that was driving WWF's ratings boom, there's no way it could be that Steve Austin guy that was cast off from WCW soon after Hogan's arrival. Hogan said he would never draw dammit!

WCW World Television Championship: Fit Finlay (c) def Chris Benoit in 14:52- Finlay interrupted the Booker T/Benoit feud to defeat Booker for the title on Nitro a couple of weeks prior. Interesting note: per the now official title history, Booker and Benoit traded the title back and forth no less than four times on the house show loop before Finlay won it, title changes than I'm sure WCW never officially recognized. Those would be Benoit's first title wins in WCW. Lockup, shove, Benoit chop. This has all the intensity you'd expect from these two right from the start. I hope the guy in the crowd holding the "Where are you Vince, we're waiting" sign got a good payday from WCW for it. Headlock into a top wristlock fight into a knucklelock test of strength. Benoit does a nice bridge, then does a fancy escape into a cradle that leads into some cradle counters. Nice World of Sport style stuff here. Drop toe hold from Benoit. He goes for the crossface but Finlay counters into a hammerlock. Speed run and Benoit does a hiptoss straight into a cover for 2. Standoff reset. Both guys cautiously go back in. Benoit hits some more chops. Tiltawhirl backbreaker. Finlay gets a leg takedown. He tries for a Boston crab but Benoit flips him out of it. Then Benoit runs into a Finlay clothesline. He rolls out to the floor. Finlay slams him on the floor. Short clothesline. Back in Finlay hits a double stomp to the gut. Benoit gets out of a chinlock with an electric chair. Backslide from Finlay for 2. More chops from Benoit. Finlay cuts it off with an eye poke. PK kick to the back. He slams Benoit's throat on the apron, then goes for a chair. Benoit cuts it off and gives Finlay the chairshot. Benoit loads up in the ring....tope suicida INTO FINLAY'S WAITING CHAIR! Da. Yumn. Finlay hauls Benoit's carcass back in the ring, but is in no hurry to finish it, going into full cocky mode. After a slam he finally covers for 2. Another clothesline. Finlay's still going at about quarter speed. Benoit dodges in the corner and Finlay runs his shoulder into the middle turnbuckle. RRRRRRRRRRRROLLING GERMANS! Benoit gets two before Finlay counters by pushing him into the ropes. He goes for another short clothesline. Benoit ducks and goes for the crossface! Finlay gets in the ropes before it's on. Snap suplex from Benoit. He calls for the top rope headbutt. Booker T makes his way out in a shirt and tie. Benoit goes out to jaw at him, allowing Finlay to dropkick him in the back. Benoit manages to get a flash small package for 2. Finlay plants him with a tombstone and it's over. Benoit loses yet another title match on TV. Everything you'd expect from these two, but not quite enough to really get it up to great. ***1/2

 

"The Total Package" Lex Luger def Brian Adams (w/Vincent) in 5:05- Adams, the former Crush, and Vincent are both on the Hollywood side of the NWO fight. The is the lowest Luger's been on the card for a while. He spent a long while being booked as WCW's #1 babyface even though in reality DDP and Sting were way more popular than him. Slugfest start and Adams does a 360 over the top rope off a punch. Luger gives the heels a classic double noggin knocker, then works on Adams' shoulder around the ring post. Powerslam back in. Vincent gets on the apron, allowing Adams to hit from behind. Sloppy piledriver from Adams. He's still selling the shoulder, I'll give him that. Dull kicky chokey heel offense from Adams. Backbreaker for 2. Legdrops for 2. Double clothesline. Adams calls Vincent up again and Luger pops him back down. Luger ducks a clothesline to hook Adams up in the Torture Rack and it's over. Also what you'd expect from these two. 1/4*

 

WCW Cruiserweight Championship #1 Contender Battle Royale- The winner of this will immediately face Chris Jericho for the title. Jericho comes out and interrupts Dave Penzer, then proceeds to handle the intros himself. It's mostly funny. In this match are: Super Calo, Silver King, Villano IV, El Dandy, El Grio (who does not look like a cruiserweight), Psychosis, Ciclope, Chavo Guerrero Jr, Damien, Evan Karagias, Kidman, Johnny Swinger, Lenny Lane, and Marty Janetty (yes really, he'd been with WCW since January as a jobber/lowcarder). The official rules are elimination by pinfall or women's battle royale two feet hit the floor no matter if they go over the top rope or not rules. In reality everyone works it like a normal over the top rope battle royale. This is a pretty typical WCW battle royale, as in lots of dull brawling with no real attempt at a story, with some attempts at high spots added because it's the cruiserweights. Many of them don't go that well. At one point Janetty pulls up legit lame and quickly gets tossed out. Chavo goes out at 5 and the final four are Juvy, Psychosis, Ciclope and Kidman. Psychosis misses a move in the corner and flies out, though it looked like he pretty much eliminated himself. Juvy dumps Kidman while they're both on the ropes. The final two of Juvy and Ciclope circle and stare down. For a long time. A REAL long time. Juvy hops over the top rope and lets Ciclope win! The hell? Ciclope takes his mask off.....IT'S DEAN MALENKO! Malenko is back! HUGE pop for that reveal. Malenko hadn't been seen since he said he was going "home" after losing to Jericho at Uncensored, and Jericho has been throwing a bunch of insults at Malenko's family ever since. Jericho is in the ring absolutely shocked as we move straight into the next match.... *

 

WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Dean Malenko def Chris Jericho (c) in 7:02- Malenko pounds away on Jericho, still with the belt on, while the crowd continues to go nuts. Jericho gets the belt off while he's down in the corner. Backdrop. Dropkick. Jericho blocks a suplex but Malenko continues to pound away. A leg lariat sends Jericho to the floor. Malenko's dive is missed on screen because the camera was on Juvy still out there cheering him on. Jericho attacks as they get back in the ring but Malenko quickly gets back on top. Jericho begs off. Speed run and Jericho gets a hot shot to finally turn things around. Running senton. Jericho still can't believe it's Malenko. He looks like he's seen Adam Cole's ghost. Delayed suplex and arrogant cover. Lionsault! Malenko kicks out. Malenko flips out of a pumphandle slam attempt. Standing switches. Jericho gets a double underhook backbreaker and goes for the Liontamer. Malenko counters into an ankle lock. Jericho quickly gets to the ropes. Back elbow off the top rope for 2. Slaps in the corner fire Malenko up. Fight on the top rope. Malenko hits the super gutbuster! It didn't fully connect but still. The cloverleaf is on! Jericho tries to get to the ropes but Malenko drags him back to the center. Jericho taps! Malenko gets the title back! Good stuff and a rare great long term payoff in this era of WCW, especially one where the face comes out on top. ***1/4

Commentary gets super excited about a white limo on the "Vinny Mac Cam". It parks outside the arena and Doug Dellinger goes out to take a look. Tony: "If Jim Ross jumps out carrying his bags, that's Vince". Oh Tony. That's pathetic and so beneath you. I know it's very likely a fed line but still.

 

Bowery Death Match: Diamond Dallas Page def Raven (w/riot squad) in 14:35- Putting a final bow on this feud that was originally over the US Title. So what is a Bowery Death Match? Well, the rules are normal death match rules with a win only by a 10 count KO. The difference is this is in a cage. Not just any cage, a cage with a ROOF. Fortunately we're still about a month before the legendary Mankind/Undertaker Hell in a Cell match so they won't be trying to top that. Might be aping the first HIAC match from the previous fall by putting a roof on the cage though. There's also a bunch of plunder inside the cage. DDP gets up and poses on the roof during his entrance. Raven comes out flanked by security in riot gear. I'm not clear on if the protection was something Raven asked for because of "unsafe working conditions" or if it's something WCW forced on him. After a bit of staring down it's a hot start from DDP. He goes for one of the garbage cans but Raven runs him into it. Twice. Then DDP takes a cage shot. Raven unhooks both garbage cans and dumps out all the toys contained therein. Including an old wood paneled VCR. It's 1998, wood paneled electronics went out over a decade before so it's probably time to euthanize it. Hell, my family got our first VCR in the mid-'80s and we never had a wood paneled one. A silver top loader, but no wood panel. DDP jumps Raven from behind and hits a clothesline. He picks out a bullrope and chokes Raven with it. He even strings it through the beams on the roof and literally hangs Raven. Raven is counted but is up at 8. DDP breaks the VCR over his head! Yeah, put it out of its misery. Again I'm kind of pining for some insane Dusty commentary for this one. DDP does his Kenny Omega circa 2016 impersonation and cleans the ring out while Raven's being counted. Raven pushes with his legs and DDP goes into a hanging trash can again. More can shots. Cookie sheet shots, Raven hits a Greco Roman Nut Elbow, and yet more sheet shots. Raven does his usual chair setup that never ends well for him. Sleeper from Raven! HARDCORE! DDP backs Raven into the corner can, then jawbreakers out and as usual Raven gets drop toe holded into his own chair. The Flock comes out and take the riot squad guys out, then open the cage. Hammer, who'd recently been excommunicated by the Flock, then comes out, gets the standard Flock giant stop sign, and takes out all the Flock guys. The riot squad then order him and his nipple ring out. DDP is back up and pounding away. Two of the riot squad guys get in the cage and attack DDP! They take their helmets off and it's Kidman (again) and Horace Boulder. Kidman, as always, misses the target. Diamond Cutter on Boulder. Diamond Cutter off the roof on Kidman. Raven can't get the fire extinguisher to go off so he hits DDP with it instead. Evenflow! DDP stirs before 10 so Raven attacks him before he gets back up. Slugfest. Raven maneuvers into hitting his own Diamond Cutter! DDP is back up before 10. He ducks a Raven chairshot! Diamond Cutter! Both guys are down. DDP barely wobblelegs himself back up at 9. Raven is down and out! Definitely not at the level of their previous matches, but the last couple of minutes after all the interference was well done. **3/4

After DDP leaves a riot squad guy slowly handcuffs every single Flock member to the guardrail or cage, tosses Raven into the cage, then handcuffs him too. He takes his helmet off. It's Mortis! Zero crowd reaction. Then he takes his mask off, unveiling his face for the first time! More zero crowd reaction. Commentary deduces this is the same guy that's been attacking Raven for weeks. Chairshot to Raven and end segment.

We cut to one of the arena attendants holding a paper with photos of Vince and various other WWF wrestlers to help identify anyone that might try to sneak in. Like he wouldn't know them on sight. Then we go to a feed of, I kid you not, the building security system to see if Vince is hiding anywhere. It's all time killing while everything from the last match gets cleaned up.

 

Eddie Guerrero (w/Chavo Guerrero Jr) def Ultimo Dragon in 11:09- Chavo lost to Dragon at Spring Stampede so now uncle Eddie is taking his shot. A Dragon win would mean Chavo would be freed from being his uncle's forced lackey. Eddie bypasses the lockup to go right into some chain wrestling. Dragon works some counters, armdrag and stalemate. More nice mat wrestling. Dragon works a headscissors into an armbreaker attempt. Eddie gets a knucklelock and tries for a pin. Dragon bridges and we go into some crazy knucklelock flippydo. Eddie dodges Dragon's rapid fire kicks and hits a legdrop. Corner chops and European uppercuts. Dragon gets a corner flying headscissors, monkey flips Eddie and goes into his kick combo. Eddie powders to kill the momentum. Dragon snap mare into his PK back kicks. He hooks on a half crab as the crowd is clearly distracted by something up in the arena, not like they were paying much attention anyway. Dragon transitions into a Mutalock. Eddie gets a rope break and goes to the old eye poke. Clothesline. Brain buster for 2. He tosses Dragon out and gives him a guardrail shot. Cable choke. Eddie slaps Chavo! Top rope fight back in and Eddie gets crotched. Dragon kicks him down to the floor. Asai moonsault! Still no reaction from the crowd. Back in Dragon does his tiltawhirl airplane spin backbreaker for 2. Moonsault for 2. Eddie cuts off a top rope hurricanrana attempt and hits a tornado DDT. Chavo's pissed because that's his move. Dragon dodges the frog splash! Magistral cradle for 2. Dragon moonsaults into the dragon sleeper! Eddie uses the ropes to reverse it! He tries for rope leverage but Chavo pushes his feet off. More family slapping into shoving. Dragon comes up but Eddie ducks and Dragon takes Chavo out! Brain buster, frog splash and done. Pretty disappointing for these two. The Masshole crowd clearly didn't give a flying fuck about any of it no matter what they did, that didn't help. **3/4

Chavo snaps and attacks Dragon! Eddie's so shocked he actually tries to pull Chavo off but Chavo wants none of it. Eddie gets down and offers Chavo a free shot! Chavo won't take it, and eventually gives Eddie a reluctant peck on the cheek. Family still rules.

We get a shot of Vince's "private dressing room". The sign says Vince "The Reason For the Ratings" McMahon. This is so, so sad.

 

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: Goldberg (c) def Perry Saturn in 7:01- This is a rematch from Spring Stampede and Goldberg's first PPV title defense. He defeated Raven for the title the Nitro after Spring Stampede, ending Raven's reign at a whole one day. Nonconformists like Raven don't care about titles anyway. Saturn starts out with some chain wrestling. Goldberg tosses him. Saturn tries again. Goldberg clotheslines him. Press powerslam followed by an Ultimate Warrior style gorilla press. Another clothesline and Saturn powders. He attacks Goldberg getting back in and lays in a bunch of corner kicks. Goldberg responds with his own back kick. Saturn leg sweep. He slaps Goldberg! Don't think that was smart. Goldberg tosses him in the corner and pounds him down. They go back to the floor and Saturn suckers Goldberg into hitting the post. Flying kick off the apron. Saturn hits a spinning heel kick off the top rope for 1. Leg lariat. Saturn tries a sleeper. Goldberg squashes him in the corner. Another sleeper go. Goldberg powers out and belly to belly suplexes Saturn. Saturn hits a swinging neckbreaker and tries the sleeper again. Goldberg wants NOTHING to do with the ref's attempts at arm drops! That was funny. He does a kind of swinging neckbreaker of his own to get Saturn down. Saturn dodges in the corner and hits a suplex. He goes and gets a chair, but not to hit with. To jump off of. Chair springboard dropkick. Saturn goes again. Goldberg spears him out of midair. Jackhammer and good night. Not as "good" as their Spring Stampede match, but it's still easy to see why Goldberg is quickly becoming a phenomenon even if all he can really do is extended squash matches. *1/2

They actually haul Buffer out with two matches left on the card to do full intros for the Bischoff/McMahon "match". I guess they're really going through with it. Bischoff comes out. Buffer does a full intro for Vince, who shocks everyone stupid by not being there. In one way I should probably be glad they didn't do a bad impersonator, which is something Vince would absolutely have done. Bischoff then has the bell ring and actually does a full 10 count to take a "victory" by forfeit. I've just about run out of ways to say how pathetic all this has been. If Vince watched this it was probably a surefire sign to him that he'd already won, it was just a matter of finishing it off.

OK, bear with me here. Savage defeated Sting at Spring Stampede to win the World title, pre-formal NWO split though he and Hogan had been butting heads for months to set it up. The next night on Nitro, Bret Hart of all people turned heel to help Hogan defeat Savage to win the title back. Yes, rest easy, the past few months have been hard, but Hogan is champion again and all is right in the world. In Hogan's mind at least. When the NWO split officially took place Savage joined the Wolfpac side. Bret is still non-NWO for now but he is most definitely the heel here. I get that Bret had a great heel run in '97, but having him be anything other than your next big anti-NWO babyface is moronic booking to me, especially seeing as how they've already destroyed Sting. Of course that brings up the point that they had zero interest in any anti-NWO babyfaces anymore which is another level of stupid.

 

"Hitman" Bret Hart def "Macho Man" Randy Savage in 16:38- Tony was careful to say at the top of the show this is their first match *on PPV*. They actually had a singles match on a Saturday Night's Main Event back in late '87 when Savage was between his heel IC Title and face WWF Title runs, and when they were first tinkering with the idea of moving Bret to singles. And it was AWESOME. Nothing less than the greatest match in the whole original SNME run. Possibly EVER ever, I'd need to revisit the SNME revival to say for sure. Buffer gives up halfway through Bret's name. Oh yeah, Roddy Piper is also the guest ref for this match. After the bell Bret stalls on the floor. Piper holds Savage back, then goes out and tosses Bret in! More stalling in the ring. Lockup and Savage immediately eye rakes. Bret shrugs it off and slugs away. Very punchy chokey offense from possibly the best technical wrestler ever. Piper shouts "WRESTLE!". Now Savage goes into kicky eye rakey chokey mode. Clothesline. Jabs in the corner. Bret comes back with a headbutt and snap legdrop. Apron suplex. Gut headbutt. They go out and Bret knocks Savage around on the floor. Savage dodges being squashed by the stairs. Bret dumps Savage over the guardrail and they go into crowd brawl mode for a bit. Savage slams Bret on the floor ringside. Back in Bret kicks at Savage's still bum knee and starts picking the knee apart. Very slowly with lots of jawing at the crowd. Then a few minutes later, in a very un-Bret like manner, he completely forgets about the knee. Instead he hits a Russian leg sweep for 2. Piledriver for 2. After arguing the count with Piper he hits a DDT for 2. Still he's mixing in a lot of barking at the crowd between moves. '97 Bret Hart this is not. The backbreaker hits but the elbow off the second rope misses. Savage hits an ugly elbow drop that catches Bret in the face as he was rolling away. Suplex for 2. Savage goes up top and the elbow hits! But he hurt his knee on the landing. Crawl and cover for 2. Bret gets a leg takedown and hooks on the Sharpshooter. Elizabeth runs out. Savage reverses the Sharpshooter! Bret gets to the ropes. Elizabeth comes in the ring and gets right in Piper's face. Bret low blows Savage behind Piper's back then pushes Piper from behind. I guess Bret got knucks from somewhere because Savage takes them from him. Bret begs off. Now Hogan is out. He clips Savage's GOOD knee (wonderful). Bret hooks the Sharpshooter on again. Piper checks Savage, then calls for the bell, holding the knucks. Submission or DQ? Hell if I know. Commentary, as usual for WCW, is no help. Cagematch says DQ. Wiki says not DQ. Take your pick. What a mess. How the mighty have fallen. *3/4

Right. There's a lot going into the next match too. First off, Hall is making his first appearance in a while after being forced by WCW to go to rehab. He's so wobbly during his entrance and the survey I'm not at all sure if he's mocking everyone or still genuinely plastered. I think it goes without saying Nash and Hall are the de facto leaders of NWO Wolfpac. When the NWO split formally happened, Giant made a completely nonsensical turn to rejoin the NWO on the Hollywood side. Even though he's teaming with Giant, Sting is still "I'm on no one's side" Sting. Giant is pressing him hard to join NWO Hollywood, but in a nice this would be so cool way, not in a I'll break your kneecaps way.

 

WCW World Tag Team Championship: Sting and The Giant def The Outsiders (c) (w/Dusty Rhodes) in 14:46- Sting and Hall start. The Masshole crowd is pretty hot for the Wolfpac, I'll admit that. In case anyone's wondering I was living in southern New Hampshire in 1998 so I claim full right to use the term Masshole. I lived with those people. Toothpick flick/crotch chop exchange. Hall goes right to the arm work. Sting hits a back elbow. Hall uses hiptoss blocks to hit a chokeslam and does his usual Giant mocking. Sting hits a faceplant and a couple of inverted atomic drops. Short Stinger Splash to Hall's back. Full Splash to his front. Sting goes for the Scorpion Deathlock early. Nash runs in and we have a very short donnybrook before the Outsiders bail. Giant tags in. Nash tags in. The old rivals stare down again. Nash slugs away and teases a quick jackknife. Giant backs him into the corner. Nash does his usual corner knees and choke. Corner clothesline. Giant response corner clothesline and big boot. He does some Andre style squashes in the corner. With more hip gyration, which is slightly disturbing. Sting tags in and they do a very obvious distraction setup for Nash to big boot him. Fallaway slam from Hall. Nash hits snake eyes. Sting is fully in peril. The Outsiders work their usual midmatch stuff. Hall abdominal stretch with help. Nash hits a side suplex and hooks on a bear hug. After arm drops Sting bell rings out. He dives back on Nash and just reaches out enough to tag Giant. Giant pounds Nash down. Crotch headbutt. Legdrop for 2. The strap is down. But no chokeslam call. Instead Giant goes up top. Nash dodges a very big splash! Dusty gets on the apron, along with a tag belt. Nash puts the straps down and sets up the jackknife. Hall picks the belt up.....AND HITS NASH WITH IT! Check off one of the big turns they hadn't done yet. Giant covers and gets the pin to win the titles! Sting is stunned. Literally can't move off the apron stunned. Giant, Hall and Dusty all hug. The crowd is less than enthused, in other words your usual NWO era PPV ending. So Sting now has a really big decision to make. When will he make it? Well tomorrow night on Nitro of course. Typical low effort Outsiders match. A big problem is even though they're essentially faces in this they made no attempt to change up or alter their usual formula. 1/2*

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Most of the show falls into the OKish territory with the usual NWO era duds at the top of the card. The whole nonsense with challenging Vince to show up really drags the show down it's so freaking stupid.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C-

Judgment Day 2000

Legacy Review

Judgment Day 2000

May 21, 2000 from Freedom Hall in Louisville, KY

Commentary: Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

Following a really cool opener laying out the one hour Ironman match concept we cut almost immediately to the very full McMahon-Helmsely/DX locker room. Pretty sad seeing what's left of DX, Road Dogg and X-Pac, willingly selling themselves out to the corporate man. Exactly the opposite of what DX is supposed to be about. Brand new Hardcore champion Gerald Brisco walks in late. Vince berates him and asks where Pat Patterson is. Out sick, apparently. Well, Vince has important work for Brisco to do. Everyone has coffee orders. Trips: "You know how I like mine? Quick! Go!". After Brisco leaves Vince hypes up all the matches various members of the regime are in tonight.

We cut to Brisco being attacked elsewhere in the back! 24/7 rule! He's had coffee spilled all over him! Damn, he already paid for them too. Getting a refund from an internet food delivery company is hell. He gets stuffed in a side room as we cut away to.....Shawn Michaels walking. In his ref shirt and disturbingly '80s short spandex shorts. Shawn's making his first appearance tonight since leaving the Commissioner role to be the special guest referee for the Ironman match, since he's the only wrestler on the roster to have been in an official televised one previously. Incidentally, we're at just about the exact halfway point of his injury forced temporary retirement. Two more years.

Too Cool and Rikishi def Team ECK in 9:47- Team ECK is the newly formed teamup of Kurt Angle and WWF tag team champs Edge and Christian. See, Edge and Angle had a relationship years before Edge tricked him into holding up some silly signs on Smackdown. Three future world champs early in their careers too. Everyone cuts promos before the match, including Christian calling the town "Lewisville", then....."For the benefit of those with flash photography...". Yes! First Five Second Pose on PPV. And it's one of the most famous ones ever. The jug band! Kentucky's greatest export. I'd have thought that'd be West Virginia but whatever. Sorry West Virginia. After Too Cool make their entrance ECK try to jump them but TC were ready for them. All the heels get stacked in the corner. Scotty and Sexay hip attack them, then Rikishi loads up to squash them all with the power of the ass. The heels get the hell out of town before he can. Reset with Edge and Sexay. Speed run, counters, and Sexay hits an enzuguri. Dropkick off the second rope. TC do some double teams. Edge goes to the ol' heel eye poke on Scotty. They crank it up, do some more counters, and Scotty hits a suplex, kips up and moonwalks. Christian hits him from behind. Both sides do some teammate corner blocking shenanigans with Edge getting hung out to dry. He gets drop toe holded into Christian's crotch. While the heels are on the floor regrouping Sexay loses his pants! The hell? Scotty's laughing and apparently he caused it somehow. Wonder if that was planned or a legit rib, Sexay seemed pretty shocked. Christian comes in and jumps from behind again. Tag to Rikishi. He cleans house all over. Angle tries a sunset flip and manages to dodge Rikishi's counter butt splash. Rikishi gets triple teamed in the ECK corner. He fights out and tags. Bulldog from Scotty. Angle kills the Worm before it can be unleashed. Scotty gets worked over. Tag match expert ref Teddy Long somehow lets the heels swap without tagging to keep Scotty in peril. Suplex from Angle for 2. Scotty gets boots up in the corner on Christian. He counters a Christian powerbomb into a hot shot. Tag to Edge. Tag to Rikishi! Again Rikishi knocks everyone around. He goes for the triple layer corner squash again and gets it this time. Stinkface on Angle. A Christian/Angle double DDT on Rikishi is no sold. Samoan head. Edge spear! He mocks Scotty's worm. Bulldog from Scotty and here's the real Worm. Angle takes a Sexay superkick. Christian runs in with the bell and hits Rikishi with it! Long's distracted, so Sexay goes up and hits Edge with the Hip Hop Drop! Rikishi drapes an arm over and Angle is *just* a split second too late to prevent him from getting the pin! It was so close a lot of people weren't sure if it was a pin or not. Angle already showing off his amazing timing. Fantastic high octane 6 man opener. It's easy to forget with the passage of time but good lord Too Cool and Rikishi were the absolute definition of bonkers over in this period. ***1/2

Shawn promises to Michael Cole that he'll be impartial tonight no matter who he might be visiting before the match, and gets a good little dig in at the internet dirt sheets.

 

Triple Threat Match for the WWF European Championship: Eddie Guerrero (c) (w/Chyna) def Perry Saturn and WWF Light Heavyweight Champion Dean Malenko in 7:56- The dissolution of the Radicalz continues. It's already clear WWF only really wanted two of the four of them. How is Light Heavyweight champ Malenko wrestling for a heavyweight title? Malenko comes in last, charges in and we have another jump start. Saturn and Malenko team up early on Guerrero. Decapitation Device. They shake hands. Will it last? Guerrero gets trapped in the corner. Saturn hits a corner clothesline. Malenko charges in to follow up....and runs into a Saturn clothesline! Already over. Malenko leg lariat on Saturn. Saturn goes to suplex Guerrero. Malenko tries to use it for himself, grabbing at Guerrero. Guerrero lands on his feet and low blows both guys! He leg lairats Saturn and hurricanranas Malenko. Malenko counters another Guerrero flying headscissors attempt into a side suplex for 2. Guerrero, after some clunky setup, tornado DDTs Saturn. Malenko double underhook powerbomb on Guerrero for 2. Guerrero counters another powerbomb attempt into a sunset flip. Malenko rolls through that and goes for the cloverleaf. He sees Saturn coming to break it up and clotheslines him. Saturn breaks up a Guerrero superplex. Malenko fights off Saturn on the top rope. Guerrero goes up again. Malenko hits Guerrero with the super gutbuster! Saturn quickly knocks Malenko out of the ring. Frog splash on Guerrero! Malenko breaks the pin up. Now Saturn tries to put a cloverleaf on Malenko. Guerrero breaks that up. Guerrero brain buster on Saturn. Everyone takes turns breaking up submission holds. Saturn misses a punch and falls to the floor. Malenko back suplex on Guerrero. He hits a splash off the top rope. Saturn comes in and suplexes everyone at once! He ends up on the floor again. Chyna hits Saturn with her Roses of Suspicious Heft +2! He's done. Guerrero goes for a sunset flip. Malenko blocks it. Chyna gets on the apron and goes after Malenko with the roses. Malenko blocks that and grabs the bunch away from her. Chyna trips Malenko and he goes face first into the roses! Guerrero magistral cradles him and gets the pin. Afterward Guerrero and Chyna confirm what we already knew- there was a lead pipe inside the bunch of roses. Fairly good match working a lot into a short time for a triple threat match, but clunky at times. **3/4

Next up is footage from last week's Smackdown of Brisco winning the Hardcore title, sneaking into the locker room while Crash Holly was napping and pinning him. The ref doing a silent count and everyone in commentary whispering during it all is freaking hilarious. Very Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship vibes from all this. We go live to Brisco trying to hide in the bathroom. Again Lawler whispers because he's SNEAKING. Fantastic. Brisco sees his own reflection in the mirror and freaks out. Then he punches the mirror! 24/7 rule paranoia at its height.

 

Falls Count Anywhere Match: Shane McMahon def The Big Show in 7:11- Show was the first one eliminated in the Wrestlemania main event, something Shane berated him for as he was Shane's representative in the match. That caused Show to snap, leading him into his "just want to have fun" period. After numerous attacks by Shane and DX the past few weeks, Show is super cereal again. While Show's making his entrance Shane over the top rope tope dives onto him! Show catches Shane and posts him! Shane takes some shots on the stairs and Show smashes his hand on them. He presses Shane over the top rope back into the ring. Back in Show literally kicks Shane's ass. I mean it, he's kicking Shane in the ass. Short clothesline. Big boot. Show calls for the chokeslam and an early finish. Old Show rival the Big Boss Man runs in! He goes after Show's knee with his nightstick. Show shrugs it off and headbutts Boss Man. Powerbomb on Boss Man. Now T&A run in with chairs. Show punches the chairs into their faces to put them down. Trish Stratus is in. She low blows Show! She must have missed because that had no effect. Show picks Trish up and throws her down onto T&A on the floor! Trish taking the big bumps already. While all that was happening Shane was slowly crawling up the aisle trying to get away. Show chases him down. Shane gets tossed into the stage. Show breaks a piece of the stage off. Shane does a pull up on one of the stage poles and swing kicks Show. T&A attack again. They put the stage piece Show broke off onto a rolling cart and Shane runs it into show. That's like shooting Mongo, it only made Show mad. He takes everyone out. Test and Albert both meet the stage. Shane tries to climb the stage to get away. Now Bull Buchanan is out here! This is starting to be like the Undertaker/Yokozuna '94 Royal Rumble match with the entire heel locker room running in. While Buchanan attacks Show Shane gets up one of the tech areas. Shane pushes a giant speaker down onto Show's leg! With sparks flying everywhere! Buchanan gets on top of the speaker to press it down more onto Show's leg. Shane breaks a cinder block over Show's head! He pins Show! Not a terribly bad little all arena brawl there, but I have to question the call of Shane winning. **

 

This last match was a textbook example of how bad Lawler can run something into the ground. During the build Shane called himself Simba because of his cat like reflexes. Never been heard before. It was fresh. About a minute into the match I was completely sick of Lawler calling Shane "Simba" or "cat like" every five seconds.

A gaggle of officials, including Sgt. Slaughter, get Show free and help him out of the arena all the way into an ambulance.

Elsewhere, Brisco wants to hang out in the ref locker room. Seeing as how people look for refs to take advantage of the 24/7 rule I don't know how smart that is. Brisco is exhausted from all the running he's had to do the last three days. As soon as he sits down he's out quicker than Worf on the Enterprise D bridge after the big finale battle in the last season of Picard. The refs look like they're thinking about taking advantage. Brisco jumps back up! The refs play it off as a joke. Brisco is not amused and leaves.

Elsewhere elsewhere, Shawn and Trips catch up. Planning for that day when Trips will be running the wrestling side of the company, and who better than Shawn to take over developmental while he's doing that? What am I talking about, that's crazy. THESE two, running the whole thing? Please. Trips asks Shawn "You're not going to wear those shorts are you?". Shawn says he loves those shorts. Trips says it looks like he's smuggling bananas.

 

Submission Match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship: Chris Benoit (c) def Chris Jericho in 13:22- This is intended to be the big final blowoff for this feud, at least for a bit. They've certainly done an incredible job in not only making the IC title feel important again, but also getting it back to being the "worker's" title. For now. Both guys are coming in with hurt body parts. Jericho's shoulder is less than 100% thanks to damage from crossfaces in previous Benoit matches, while Benoit's got a bum knee with a brace on thanks to an attack by Hardcore Holly on the most recent Smackdown. Lockup! Ref Tim White has to force a corner break. Another lockup and Benoit says screw the rope break, laying into Jericho. Corner chops. Jericho slides under Benoit and hits a bulldog. He gives Benoit some return chops. Jericho does the misdirection run that usually leads to the bulldog, but instead tries to wrap Benoit up in a Fujiwara armbar. Benoit escapes and tombstone scoops Jericho. Tombstone reversal. Another reversal. Instead of a tombstone, because that's kinda copyright protected in WWF, Benoit hits a shoulderbreaker on Jericho's bad shoulder. Headbutt off the top onto the shoulder! Benoit wraps Jericho's arm up. Jericho escapes, gets a double leg takedown, and goes for the Walls. Benoit flips Jericho out to escape. Both guys hit the ropes and Jericho hits a back elbow full speed. Springboard dropkick. On the floor Benoit whips Jericho into the stairs and he hits bad shoulder first. Jericho kneebreakers Benoit on the stairs! Back in Jericho hits a double underhook backbreaker. Chop exchange into a full on chopfest. Benoit dodges in the corner and Jericho posts his shoulder. Benoit takes the top turnbuckle pad off and runs Jericho's shoulder into it. He hooks on a modified ARMBAR. Jericho gets up and armdrags out. More chopfest. Snap suplex from Benoit. Kneedrop on the shoulder. Short clothesline. Benoit goes for a cross armbreaker! Jericho tries to block it but Benoit gets it fully applied. Jericho slowly fights across and just gets a foot on the rope for a break. Now Jericho dodges in the corner and Benoit knees the exposed turnbuckle. Flapjack. Jericho does a sort of dragon screw into some ground and pound. Despite Benoit's attempts to resist he manages to get Benoit's knee brace off. Jericho hits the bad knee with the brace! Running forearm with the brace. He goes for a figure four. Benoit hits some STIFF kicks to Jericho's head to break it up. Jericho basement dropkicks the knee. Lionsault! Jericho dangles Benoit over the ropes and stretches out a rope assisted Walls! Bit of a psychology or inconsistent rules lapse here as White asks Benoit if he submits even though Jericho got a rope break earlier. Benoit has to fight out the hard way. Benoit goes for an enzuguri that Jericho in theory ducks. Or just no sells. Duck under and it's ROLLLLLING GERMANS time. Benoit only gets two before Jericho fights free. Another Walls attempt. Benoit grabs the brace and hits Jericho with it! Counter into the crossface! Jericho almost gets to the ropes but Benoit lets go and drags him back to the center! Jericho keeps fighting. Benoit lets go again, pounds down on Jericho, then hooks the crossface on again, but this time putting his hands down on Jericho's throat to choke him! He STRETCHES Jericho back! Jericho goes out and White calls it! Benoit won't let go and it takes two refs to get him to release. Yeahhhhhhhhhh that makes your mind instantly go THERE, you can't help it. Still, this was their best match yet, nicely stiff and with pretty tight psychology. It also felt a bit short. As great as it was, they clearly left a lot on the table. ****1/4

Cole is with Brisco. While Brisco's complaining that the last three days have been hell, he's not even safe in the BRISCO BODY SHOP for God's sake, a couple of concession workers come in behind them. Then a ref. Brisco sees and attacks the concession guys! Popcorn and drinks are everywhere! Preemptive strike, and Brisco's gone again.

Elsewhere, the Rock lectures Shawn about not screwing him tonight or else. We all remember last time Shawn was guest ref in a Rock/Trips WWF Title match on Smackdown, Shawn did screw Rock over to help his buddy Trips. Shawn's got about the same look on his face as he did whenever Commissioner Slaughter was reading him the riot act back in '97.

 

Tables Match: Road Dogg and X-Pac (w/Tori) def The Dudley Boyz in 10:55- After Trish became the first woman to avoid a Dudley table shot, Tori one upped her by turning the, er, tables and putting Bubba Ray through a table on a recent Raw. Bubba Ray's vowed revenge ever since. The crowd reactions make it pretty clear this incarnation of DX has more than run its course. The Dudleyz set a table up in the aisle on their entrance and charge in. DX bail instead of jump starting, and we get a proper start with Road Dogg and D'Von. The crowd instantly starts serenading Pac on the apron with a huge "X-Pac sucks" chant. D'Von hits a tackle and back elbow. Pac tags in and also takes a tackle. Bubba Ray hits some jabs. Pac gives him a spin kick. He goes out for a table. Plenty to choose from. Bubba Ray cuts him off and gets him back in the ring because that's his thing dammit. Big corner chops on Pac. Clothesline off the second rope. The Dudleyz hit both guys with the crotch headbutt. Thanks for distracting the ref, Tori. DX regroup and count their nuts on the floor, then decide to walk. The Dudleyz chase them down and we get a bit of a floor brawl. Bubba Ray and Tori stare down and you can see in Bubba Ray's eyes he's DESPERATE to get this woman some wood. That allows DX to double team D'Von in the ring. Pac hits the bronco buster to huge boos, as that shit move deserves. Heel choking shenanigans follow. They work in the phantom tag spot that you could see coming a mile away. Leg lariat from Pac. D'Von hits a double clothesline and tags. Bubba Ray side suplex on Pac. Bubba Bomb on Road Dogg. Get the tables! They set two up in opposite corners. Dogg reverses a floor whip and sends D'Von into the stairs. Dogg sets a table up, and puts D'Von through it! Now a third table is set up in the ring. Bubba Ray catches Pac leapfrogging and puts him through the table! Dogg starts hitting his dancing jabs. Bubba Ray responds and it turns into almost an enjoyable slugfest between the two. The ref tries to stop the closed fists. Both Bubba Ray and Dogg hiptoss him through a table! Well that was different. DDT from Bubba Ray. Gerald Brisco is out! The Dudleyz 3D Dogg through a table! That should be the match, but the ref is still out. Brisco pulls Dogg out. Tori gets in Bubba Ray's face. Bad move. He grabs her by the hair. Table set up. Tori is set up. Brisco punches Bubba Ray to save her! Pac goes up and avalanche X-Factors Bubba Ray through the table! The ref saw that and that gives DX the win. OK match, but like the Shane match a questionable booking call. It's also interesting how they worked it like a straight tag match until the very end. But it might have been for the best, Dogg and Pac are no Hardyz. **1/4

Brisco stays to gloat, giving the Dudleyz a crotch chop. The Dudleyz respond by giving him a 3D through one last table. Sadly neither of them tries to take the Hardcore title.

We get another play of the horror style promo with creepy young girls talking about judgment coming. I mistook this for a Judgment Day ad at Insurrextion, but I'm fairly certain that this is for Undertaker's imminent return from injury, though of course when he comes back he will be very different than we've ever seen him before.

 

60 Minute Ironman Match for the WWF Championship: Triple H (w/the McMahons) def The Rock (c)- Shawn's still wearing the shorts. After his entrance HHH takes a mic and says this is between him and Rock, he needs to do this alone to prove himself, and sends the rest of the family to the back.

FIRST FALL- Lots of jawing after the bell. They go nose to nose. Rough, long lockup and stalemate. Another lockup and both guys jockey for position in the corner. They break and shove. Rock cranks a headlock. Top wristlock fight. Rock does a nice bridge and gets the headlock back on. Quick tackles off the ropes for 2 counts. HHH tries for a knee to the gut but Rock rolls around it into a roll up for 2. HHH goes outside for a mental reset. Back in he hooks on a headlock. Rock gets the better of him on a speed run and HHH powders again. Another speed run and again it's all Rock. He knocks HHH around the corners. HHH counters with a back elbow and clothesline. He cranks an arm wringer on Rock. ARMBAR! HHH armbar slam for 2. Rock backs him into the corner. Shawn has to force a break. Rock punches HHH over him. Rock Bottom outta nowhere! Rock gets the first pin! Well, clearly this isn't going to be like the Shawn/Bret Ironman match with no falls at all until overtime. 49:18 left, 1-0 Rock

SECOND FALL- HHH flops out of the ring off the Rock Bottom. Rock gives him some barricade shots as they go a bit up the aisle. Rock dodges and HHH knees the barricade. Rock suplexes HHH back in the ring for 2. He posts HHH's knee as he clearly now has a target. Apron shot for the knee. Kneebreaker on the stairs! HHH tries to back off in the ring. Rock stays on the knee. It's not his wheelhouse but he's doing pretty good with it. Figure four! I really like the strategery involved with doing this now. Under different circumstances HHH might have sacrificed a fall to get free of the hold, but now he can't afford to go down 2-0. After a long fight HHH tries to reverse but can't. Near fall. Another go and HHH gets the reversal. Rock holds it for a minute then rolls into the ropes. They go back to the floor. HHH reverses a whip and hits a clothesline, then tries to shake the knee off. He tosses Rock into the crowd and it's crowd brawl time. Two lesser wrestlers probably would have killed a good 15 minutes here going all over the arena. These two though, they're barely in there at all. Rock gets backdropped back to ringside. Back in the ring with HHH still shaking the knee off. Suplex from HHH. He hits a couple of elbow drops and covers for 2. Long leverage fight on the mat with HHH trying to hold Rock down for a pin. Rock kicks at the bad knee. HHH momentum tosses Rock over the top to the floor. HHH gets whipped into the stairs. Back in Rock is on the knee again. He wraps the leg up in a grapevine. HHH eye rakes to get free. Kneebreaker from Rock. He goes for another figure four. HHH pushes him out into the corner. Kick wham Pedigree! Pin and it's tied up! 35:34 left, 1-1 tie

THIRD FALL- HHH hooks on a choke. Shawn physically pulls him off. Rock tries a whip reversal, but HHH gets him in a half DDT Paul Smackage for a pin! 34:34 left, 2-1 HHH

FOURTH FALL- Rock comes back up slugging. HHH tights pulls him out to the floor. Another walk up the aisle, this time all the way up to the stage. HHH gets whipped into the stage. HHH suplexes Rock in the aisle. They wander back toward the ring. Rock gets a back suplex in the aisle as we hit the halfway mark. HHH gets whipped into the ring and backdropped in the aisle off the rebound. Rock continues the pounding back in. HHH hits the facebuster. Pedig....no, he goes for a piledriver instead! It hits and HHH gets another pin! 28:48 left, 3-1 HHH

FIFTH FALL- Now HHH can practically go into prevent defense. Or, as my good friend and footy fanatic Cody would say, park the bus. HHH stomps Rock down in the corner. Shawn backs him up. Rock pops out with a clothesline. HHH back elbow for 2. He goes up top. Rock Flair slams him back down. After a near 10 count both guys get up with some wobblelegged slugging. Back elbow from Rock. Magistral cradle! That gets 2. HHH high knee for 2. More slugfest. HHH hooks on a sleeper! Rock slowly goes down. Shawn can't even get one arm drop so HHH gets some extra rope leverage to put Rock down again. Shawn misses it. More arm drops. This time Shawn catches HHH's feet on the ropes and channels his inner Hebner to kick them off. HHH and Shawn argue. The sleeper is back on. Rock hits a belly to belly suplex! Slow arm drape over for 2. Rock goes for the spinny DDT, slips off, but recovers nicely with a kick and hits the DDT. That gets a pin! He's back in it. 19:27 left, 3-2 HHH

SIXTH FALL- They go out to the floor again. HHH gets dropped on the timekeeper's table. After getting Rock down he gets a chair. Shawn takes it away! HHH gets run hard into the stairs. Rock shrugs off a barricade whip and hits a swinging neckbreaker on the floor. HHH begs off in the ring, then kicks Rock when he gets close. He gets the chair again and nails Rock with it! Shawn DQ's him for it! 17:30 left, 3-3 tie

SEVENTH FALL- HHH takes advantage of the chairshot, stacking Rock up, gets his feet on the ropes for extra leverage, and gets a pin to go back ahead. 16:54 left, 4-3 HHH

EIGHTH FALL- Rock's slightly busted open from the chairshot but not too bad. HHH goes back to the sleeper. Rock tries to fight it all he can, but eventually HHH gets him out enough for three arm drops and picks up another fall. 13:45 left, 5-3 HHH

NINTH FALL- Once again HHH is in a spot he can put 5 DBs in and play them 15 yards off the line. But will he? HHH keeps the sleeper on. Shawn wants a break since there was a fall. HHH refuses so Shawn pulls him off by the hair! HHH shoves Shawn! They go at it, verbally. More shoving. Finally HHH backs down. Rock wobbles up and uses the argument opening to slug away. Trips flip! He takes a cameraman out as he goes down! Back in HHH hits a DDT for 2. 10 minutes left. HHH gets crotched on the top rope. HHH tries to fight him off but Rock hits the superplex. Slow crawl over and HHH *just* kicks out! Both guys' fatigue shows with a very rough whip and Rock hitting a weak back elbow. He 360 clotheslines HHH to the floor. Another ringside knockaround. HHH lets his emotions get the better of him and clears off the English announce table. He wants to Rock Bottom Rock onto the table! Rock gets free! He Pedigrees HHH onto the table! And it doesn't break! Oh man, HHH. That's not parking the bus, that's driving it off a cliff. After some fairly obvious traffic directing, think they were getting tight on time for what they had left, Shawn starts a pretty fast count. HHH is counted out! 3:54 left, 5-4 HHH

TENTH FALL- To the shock of no one the McMahons are back out. HHH is also busted open now. He staggers back to the ring and just beats out another countout. Rock lays in the smackdown right hands. Clothesline. DDT. Shane and Vince get on the apron. Rock takes them out. HHH starts to set up a Pedigree but Rock counters it into a spinebuster! People's Elbow! Pin and it's even! 2:01 left, 5-5 tie

ELEVENTH FALL- Overbooking time. Shane pulls Shawn out. Shawn takes both Shane and Vince out on the floor. While that's happening Road Dogg and X-Pac lay into Rock in the ring. During all this the creepy little girl promo is playing in the arena. Rock hits a Rock Bottom on HHH but Shawn's out elsewhere. The promo video ends. IT'S THE UNDERTAKER! THE UNDERTAKER IS BACK! AND HE'S GOT A BICYCLE MOTORCYCLE! Biker Taker is here! HHH hits a Pedigree on Rock. Taker comes in and completely cleans house of everyone McMahon-Helmsley or DX. Steph gets in Taker's face. He goes to chokeslam her but HHH makes the save. Chokeslam on HHH! Taker scoops HHH up for a Tombstone. Shawn sees it and warns him. Taker hits it anyway! The buzzer goes off, but I think time had already elapsed. The whole last few minutes of this match were really rushed, the time got away from them a bit. Shawn goes over to Fink. The official announcement is the winner of the final fall by DQ, and the match 6-5.....TRIPLE H! HHH gets the title back! Shawn does a good job of making you unsure if he's mad at himself or if he'd been with HHH all along. The crowd is PISSED. Taker stalks Shawn back up the aisle while the regime celebrates, Rock recovers in the ring, and trash is thrown everywhere. End show. I won't be making an original observation saying this, but that was 58 minutes of phenomenal wrestling, and two minutes of total insanity to cap it off. The overall package is still superb. A lot of people were worried going into this if Rock and HHH had the experience or the moveset variety to carry a match this long, especially because the art of the 60 minute match was already a long lost one in mainstream wrestling (neither had worked a match longer than 30 minutes ever before this one). They proved everyone wrong, though they definitely did whip out some new stuff for the occasion. ****1/2

 

Side thought here before we wrap up: 60 minute Ironman matches are seriously one of my favorites of all gimmick matches, if not my #1 favorite. People criticize them for lacking drama because you know you're going to go the distance no matter what, I get that, but to me it only alters the drama to more like a sports game where the score ebbs and flows, tactics change based on that, and when put together right can be something completely different to a normal wrestling match in the best ways possible. Of course I also love the art of the 60 minute draw. Either way, I'd really like some more full hour matches in wrestling. Not a ton, but more.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- This is one of the pinnacles of the fantastic year WWF had in 2000. The company was firing on all cylinders creatively, everyone showed up with their working boots on, there was a nuclear hot crowd the whole show in a city not normally known for it, pretty much everything you could ask for. The show long saga of Gerald Brisco with the Hardcore title was a superb entertaining cherry on top. If you want to quibble about anything it would be that everyone associated with the McMahon-Helmsley regime won whether it really made sense or not. I'm sure that was a sticking point at the time, but looking back I don't think it hurts all that much.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: A-

Insurrextion 2000

Legacy Review

Insurrextion 2000

May 6, 2000 from the Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London

Commentary: Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

As usual for UK PPVs this is coming only 6 days after the last "regular" PPV, that being Backlash and the Rock finally winning the WWF Title as a face. This is the second year for the spring UK only PPV, and after its original name of No Mercy was taken for the regular October PPV it needed a new one. Enter Insurrextion with an X as all things were in the late '90s-early aughts, the name that will stick for this show until the end of the UK only PPVs in 2003.

The opening video plays more like a TV commercial than a PPV opening video. It probably was the commercial repurposed. I don't think there's any pyro left in the UK either.

Too Cool def The Radicalz in 7:00- The quickly being left behind duo of Perry Saturn and Light Heavyweight champ Dean Malenko are representing the Radicalz here. The pecking order within the group has already become very clear. Say what you will about Too Cool's wrestling acumen, they were over as hell in their heyday. Sexay is making his return after a legit knee procedure that can't have been too serious because he wasn't on the shelf very long. The Radicalz try the Suzuki-Gun jump. Sexay responds by powerslamming Saturn while still in full entrance gear. Too Cool hit some double teams. Saturn and Scotty do a long counter run and Saturn hits a back elbow. Then Scotty and Malenko show off the chemistry they've built up during their Light Heavyweight title feud. Malenko hits a Russian leg sweep. Sexay gets baited in and Saturn gives Scotty the old Greco Roman nut stomp. Again Sexay is baited in for a double team. Malenko swaps in without a tag to cover for 2. Scotty flips out of a back suplex attempt and rolls Malenko up. Saturn pulls the ref out, which pisses Sexay off. Malenko and Saturn shove each other! There's been some brewing dissension there. Scotty rolls Malenko up again and Saturn breaks the pin up. Scotty sunset flip on Malenko for 2. He plants Malenko on the top rope and hits a superplex. Tags on both sides. Sexay hits slams, hiptosses and clotheslines. He tackles both Radicalz off the top rope. DONNYBROOK! Scotty hits Saturn with a bulldog and time stops as he does, once again, the DOUBLE Worm. Saturn accidentally clotheslines Malenko while trying to avoid a double team. The Radicalz collide and Malenko's head falls into Saturn's crotch. That's not as nasty as it sounds. In a wrestling way. Sexay goes up, puts the goggles on, hits the hip hop drop, and it's over. Rock solid tag stuff. **1/2

Malenko is pissed at Saturn. Saturn hits Malenko! Full on pub brawl between the teammates! The ref gaggle has to run in to break it up.

We get a promo for the next regular PPV, Judgement Day. After that Vince makes his way out. He blames Linda for Trips' loss at Backlash. And Austin. But mostly Linda. Then he says "Every genius has a plan", but he's noncommittal on which side he'll be on in the main event, his son's or his son in law's, only saying a McMahon family member will walk out with the title. Commentary wants to know.

 

Kane (w/Paul Bearer) def Bull Buchanan in 3:31- Jump start #2 with Kane quickly taking control. After a rough backdrop counter Buchanan hits a DDT that's completely no sold. Buchanan hits a springboard ax handle off the top and the scissors kick. Legdrop for 2. Punches fire Kane back up. Big boot. Buchanan hits a jawbreaker. He jumps off the second rope right into a Kane goozle. Chokeslam and good night. An extended squash, and given the participants I have zero issue with that booking. 1/2*

Trips and Steph are doing their usual backstage lounging. Steph is also unsure what side her dad will be on. Trips doesn't like that answer.

 

Road Dogg (w/Tori) def Bradshaw (w/Faarooq) in 5:58- Jump start #3. Tori tries to join and gets backed off by Bradshaw. Faarooq hops into commentary for about 2 seconds, then sees Bradshaw still stalking Tori on the floor and backs his partner up by jumping Dogg. Ref Jimmy Korderas tosses Faarooq out! Shortest commentary stint in wrestling history. Red carded per JR, but I also would likely have made that reference since one my closest friends is a Premier/Champions League nut. I usually only watch international footy when the World Cup or Euros come around. They get back in the ring with Bradshaw in control. Suplex with a floatover for 2. Bradshaw targets Dogg's ribs, placing a lot of punches in that area. HUGE buckle whip. Swinging neckbreaker for 2. Bradshaw puts Dogg in a torture rack! Lex Luger shoutout. Dogg fights out but runs into a big boot for 2. Dogg gets a boot up in the corner, ducks a clothesline and hits a DDT. Bradshaw hooks up for a powerbomb but Dogg backdrops out, then dropkicks Bradshaw out of the ring. Bradshaw flies right back in with a tackle! Dogg goes into his dancing jabs. Flying forearm and shimmy legdrop for 2. Bradshaw dodges in the corner. Clothesline from Hell! Tori gets on the apron. Dogg gets a roll up for 2. The pumphandle slam, minus gratuitous grinding, hits and Dogg gets the pin. Another match that overdelivered considering the participants. **

Next up the Kat and Mae Young vs Terri and Fabulous Moolah rivalry continues with an arm wrestling contest hosted by, who else, Lawler. We get a ton of the usual heel stalling BS and Terri pulls her bottoms down to distract Lawler. Once they get going they actually get into it, until Terri spits water in Kat's face to keep from losing. Young takes Terri's water bottle and pours it all over her and I guess in there Kat got the win. Terri then pulls Kat's top off! I don't see how that's punishment for anybody. Sadly the camera angles keep us from seeing anything. Pixellating at Armageddon, now camera tricks here. Kat keeps trying be we keep being denied.

We get a slam cut from Kat barely keeping her damn near perfect tits covered to a close up of Rikishi's ass. Damn you Kevin Dunn. Bunk trip cancelled again. At least Mae Young kept them put away this time.

 

Rikishi and Showkishi def The Dudley Boyz in 7:10- We're still in the period of Big Show just wanting to have fun. Now he's Rikishi's clone, complete with his own thong. He's even dyed his hair and beard Rikishi's color. Jump start #4. D'Von tries to chop Show down. Big boot from Show. Headbutts and corner clothesline. Double headbutt on D'Von. Rikishi Samoan drops Bubba Ray. He fights off Dudley double teams but the Dudleyz keep trying and eventually D'Von drop toe holds him into a Bubba Ray elbow drop. That puts Rikishi in peril for a bit. Bubba Ray hits a big chop and a short clothesline. Rikishi and his hard Samoan head no sell a DDT. Superkick for 2. The Dudleyz get Rikishi back down and hit the crotch headbutt. Ref Tim White has to legit jump almost out of his shoes to dodge Rikishi hitting the ropes. Rikishi hits a double clothesline and tags Show. Side suplex on Bubba Ray for 2. Double corner squash and we get the mandatory double stinkface. That only pisses Bubba Ray off and he brawls with Rikishi to the floor. While there he gets a table out. A UK table by the looks of it. Clothesline off the second rope on Show for 2. Edge and Christian run in! Edge spears Bubba Ray. Show hits the chokeslam and it's over. Meh. *1/4

The rest of Too Cool come out. They want the Dudleyz to stay. Everyone swaps glasses and we have a six way dance! Yes, the Dudleyz too. As if that wasn't enough, Bubba Ray actually goes one on one with Rikishi. In dancing. Fun times all around. But, the table never got broken. Bubba Ray is unsatisfied.

Kurt Angle tours London and seems to be making legitimate inroads as an unintentional face. We can see during his promo that Benoit has a huge shiner from Chris Jericho accidentally hitting him for real with the IC belt on Smackdown the past week.

 

Kurt Angle def Chris Benoit in 6:04- Bit of a pop for Angle. During his prematch promo he goes after the children of London to try to get some heel heat back. Man, Benoit's eye is UGLY. Just before the match starts Crash Holly's music plays and he comes out to join commentary. Crash says he's been looking all over for an Englishman to challenge him for the Hardcore title and hasn't gotten any takers. Setup. While the camera is on Crash we can hear Benoit attacking Angle with chops. These two with no lockup, I'm calling it jump start #5. Snap suplex from Benoit. More chops. Angle turns things around with a hot shot. He dodges a swing and gouges Benoit's bad eye. Benoit falls to the floor in pain. Angle hops out and stays on it. Back in Angle beats Benoit down in the corner. Benoit slugs back. Angle snap belly to belly suplex! Regular suplex for 2. Clothesline for 2. Benoit takes a Bret bump and Angle follows up with a buckle shot on the bad eye. Another corner whip and this time Angle takes a hard Bret bump! Off the rebound it's ROLLLLLLLLLING GERMANS time. Benoit bridges on the third for 2. Small package from Benoit for 2. The crossface is on! Angle thumbs the bad eye to break it up. Back suplex from Benoit. He goes up top. Angle dodges the headbutt! Another eye gouge. Benoit takes a wild half blind swing. Angle ducks it, hooks up and hits the Angle Slam! That gets the pin! Not bad at all. Even with Angle being less than a year in and considering Benoit's bad eye that was pretty much their floor match. **3/4

Shane seems pretty certain Vince will be on his side tonight.

Bulldog's music hits! He charges in with ref Teddy Long in tow! Crash tries to run even though Bulldog is giving him what he asked for. Bulldog grabs him and the bell is rung.

 

WWF Hardcore Championship: "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith def Crash Holly (c) in 3:37- Kinda sad that this is all they can trust Bulldog with in his home country, but....at this point this really is all you can trust Bulldog with. He knocks Crash up the aisle and suplexes him on the ramp. Whip reversal and Bulldog goes into the UK show wooden stairs. Crash goes under the ring and gets some toys out. He chokes Bulldog with a strap. Mop handle shot. He goes out and gets the very not steel chair he was sitting in for commentary. Reversal and Bulldog drop toe holds Crash into the chair. Return mop handle shot from Bulldog. He breaks the handle over Crash's back. Running powerslam! Bulldog gets the pin and wins the title! 3/4*

That is essentially it for Davey Boy Smith. This was his final appearance on a major show. He'd work a few more weekly TV matches (including dropping the Hardcore title back to Crash) before leaving WWF later in the month and quietly retiring. He came out of retirement in May of 2002 to work a couple of tag matches with his son Harry Smith (later to be DBS Jr) in a Canadian indie before his early death later that same month at just 39 years old.

Earlier today Edge and Christian charged a kid five quid for an autograph, then blocked a fan out of a photo the fan asked for. Yes, they're settling into their new heel personas very nicely. We're not too far away from the start of the legendary Five Second Pose.

 

WWF Tag Team Championship: The Hardy Boyz def Edge & Christian (c) by DQ in 12:53- No jump start! Matt and Christian start with Christian stalling like crazy. They go nose to nose and exchange slaps. Speed runs, with Matt getting a shoulderblock and Christian hitting a dropkick and armdrag into an ARMBAR. Matt slams out and pounds Christian down in the corner, then the Hardyz double up the pound down in their corner. Edge tags in and hits a swinging neckbreaker on Jeff. Jeff floats over in the corner to flying headscissors Edge to the floor. He loads up a dive but Edge gets the hell out of town. Small reset in the ring. Edge blocks for Jeff in the corner. Christian tries to do the same for Edge but the Hardyz outsmart them. Matt roll up for 2. He and Christian exchange chops. The Hardyz hit the both ends double legdrop, then stack E&C up in the corner and hit Poetry in Motion on both of them. E&C maneuver Jeff into taking a punch off the apron into the guardrail. Edge covers for 2. E&C double diving headbutt for 2. Christian powerslam for 2. He pulls Jeff down by the hair to kill a comeback. E&C swap without tags to keep Jeff isolated and in peril. Jeff dodges an Edge dropkick and jackknife covers him. They bridge up, the backslide is blocked, Edge counters into a powerbomb attempt, Jeff counters that into a roll up for 2. Very nice sequence. Clothesline from Edge. Front facelock fight and they do the phantom tag spot. Edge/Jeff midring crossbody collision! Christian runs in again. Matt hits an elbow off the top rope on Edge behind the ref's back and Jeff covers for a long 2. Jeff fights Edge off and finally gets the tag. Hot tag run for Matt. Sleeper DDT on Christian for 2. Matt gets stuck on the top rope. E&C stack up for a SUPERsuperplex! Jeff breaks the pin up. E&C go for a double backdrop but Jeff midair counters with a double dropkick! He clotheslines Edge 360 and out. Double faceplant on Christian. Jeff tope con hilo on Edge! Twist of Fate/Swanton Bomb combo on Christian! Edge comes in with the ring bell and uses it to draw the cheap DQ. Funny bit where the ref still points at the timekeeper to ring the bell even though Edge has it. Not the best finish, but it does fit in with E&C's new heelness. These teams are already at the point they can pretty much have a good match with each other in their sleep. They hit all their usual stuff for their matches, but at this point it was all still pretty fresh. ***1/4

All four guys continue to fight after the, er, improvised bell. The Dudleyz run in to join the scrum! 3D on Christian! Bubba Ray gets the UK table out again. Table shot for Edge! The UK table broke like a pro. Bubba Ray is now satisfied.

Video recap of Chyna turning on Jericho to go with Eddie because his LATINO HEAT was irresistible.

 

WWF European Championship: Eddie Guerrero (c) (w/Chyna) def WWF Intercontinental Champion Chris Jericho in 12:56- Jericho had just defeated Benoit on Smackdown to regain the IC title (reign #3 of his record 9), but would drop it back to Benoit the Raw after this show. It takes a whole two seconds for Lawler's fake Hispanic accent to get really annoying. Before the match there's a coin flip to determine which title will be on the line, "won" by the European title. Like there wasn't going to be a European title match in the UK. That was as legit as a War Games advantage coin flip. As soon as the coin flip is done we get jump start #7 as Guerrero lays into Jericho. Long speed run, Jericho gets a monkey flip and 360 clotheslines Guerrero out. Guerrero tries to walk. Chyna pushes him back toward the ring! Jericho runs out and collects him. Back in Guerrero hits a powerslam. Jericho hot shots Guerrero onto the top turnbuckle and hits a clothesline for 2. He stretches Guerrero's arms out. Guerrero gets up and we have an arm leverage fight. Jericho hits some chops. Guerrero small package for 2. Jericho delayed suplex and arrogant cover. A spinning heel kick sends Guerrero to the floor. Guerrero dodges a baseball slide. He leads Jericho around the ring into a Chyna clothesline. Or, more accurately, Chyna putting her arm up and Jericho running into it. It's a big arm. Top rope fight and Jericho hits a superplex. Guerrero dodges in the corner and hits a European uppercut. Hurricanrana off the top for 2. Guerrero puts on a Canadian backbreaker. On the Canadian. They go into some rapid fire cradle counters. Clothesline from Guerrero and he puts on an abdominal stretch. Jericho fights out, but Guerrero cuts him off with an eye poke and chops. Jericho does the backdrop faceplant. He goes for a powerbomb but Guerrero sunset flip counters for 2. Another European uppercut. Guerrero hooks on the Gory Special. Jericho reverses it! Very nice. He gets Guerrero up in an electric chair and faceplants him down. Bulldog for 2. A not so pretty flying forearm for 2. Jericho goes for a pop up powerbomb. Guerrero blocks it and both guys tumble over the top rope to the floor! Guerrero complains to ref Tim White that his back is hurt. While he's distracted Chyna DDTs Jericho in the ring! Guerrero crawls in and covers for a LONG 2. Jericho hits the double powerbomb. Lionsault! Chyna distracts White. Jericho springboard dropkicks her off the apron. But, she'd slid the European title belt in. Guerrero nails Jericho with it, covers and gets the win. Rock solid stuff. Like Benoit/Angle this was just about their floor match, they were definitely more in house show mode than PPV steal the show mode. ***

Trips and Shane argue in the back with Steph in the middle trying to make peace.

 

Triple Threat Match for the WWF Championship: The Rock (c) def Triple H (w/Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley) and Shane McMahon (w/Vince McMahon) in 15:37- This definitely feels like a handicap match at the start. Rock and HHH want Shane to stand aside and let them duke it out. Shane does and we have a slugfest start. The final jump start count for tonight is 7 out of 9 for those keeping score. Shane sticks his nose in and Rock punches it. Rock swings a backdrop counter kick in Shane's direction that misses by miles but Shane sells it anyway. Rock punches HHH in the corner until he does the Trips flip. Then Shane takes corner punches and also does the flip! On the floor Rock takes Lawler's crown, puts it on Shane, then punches him. HHH drops Rock on the guardrail and we go into a 2 on 1 beatdown. Rock clotheslines Shane in the ring, but HHH immediately grabs him for a neckbreaker. HHH and Shane take turns hitting Rock. Shane is doing his usual showboating dancing before swinging punches. HHH says anything you can do I can do better and starts up his own pre-punch dancing! OK, that's pretty damn funny. Shane takes the hint and cranks up the dancing even more! Before he can swing Rock clotheslines him! Too much showboating. Rock joins the trend, doing a little shuffling of his own, then hits a full on Dusty Rhodes bionic elbow! Fantastic. HHH facebuster and Shane clothesline on Rock for 2. Vince takes an opening to choke Rock. Shane elbow off the second rope. HHH kneedrop for 2. HHH slaps a sleeper on Rock. He holds it for a while, adding some knees to the back. Arm drops and Rock fights back up. He puts a sleeper on Shane while still in HHH's sleeper! It's a sleeper chain! Everyone gets jawbreakered and everyone's down. Rock punch flurry. He ducks a couple of HHH clotheslines but then runs into the high knee. Shane breaks the cover up! Here we go. Shane says he was confused but HHH doesn't believe him and shoves him. HHH turns his back and Shane clotheslines him! Shane tries a moonsault but sees it's missing and lands on his feet, but right in the middle of the other two. Rock clothesline on Shane. DDT on Trips right after Trips loudly shouted "DDT!". One of HHH's famous loud spot calls. Steph gets on the apron. Rock DDT on Shane, but ref Mike Chioda is tied up with Steph. Shane gets Rock from behind and tries to hit him with the Pedigree but doesn't know how to do it. Rock slingshots Shane right into Chioda, then HHH finishes Chioda off by squashing them both in the corner. Vince trips Rock. Rock grabs Vince. HHH comes from behind and hits Rock with Steph's women's title belt. No ref. Vince calls out for someone. Stooge Gerald Brisco with a ref shirt on runs in. Rock kicks out! Shane gets a chair and accidentally hits HHH with it. Vince gets in and attacks Rock. He goes for a chairshot but Rock's staredown stops him. HHH low blows Rock. Pedigree! Brisco counts awful slow. Rock kicks out! HHH argues with Brisco and punches him out! A second Pedigree. Vince pulls the ref shirt off Brisco, puts it on, and goes to count. Earl Hebner runs in! Hebner was still mad at Vince for Vince firing him. He pulls Vince out of the ring! They argue on the floor. Hebner ducks a Vince punch and Vince punches he post! Meanwhile Shane "accidentally" crotches HHH on the top rope. Vince chases Hebner around and into the ring. Vince runs into a Rock Bottom! Rock punches HHH off the top rope. Spinebuster on Shane! People's Elbow! Hebner counts and it's over! Like Backlash it's overbooked all to hell and almost all of it is straight out of the Austin vs McMahon playbook with Rock now in Austin's place, but so far it still works just fine. Again, it helps that HHH and Rock have phenomenal chemistry and are almost guaranteed to have a good match no matter what. ***1/2

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- It's nothing hugely special, but it's definitely the best UK exclusive PPV since the original (and excellent) One Night Only in '97. A fun house show night on PPV.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C+

Spring Stampede '98

Legacy Review

Spring Stampede '98

April 19, 1998 from the Denver Coliseum in Denver, CO

Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Mike Tenay

The early phases of the NWO civil war continue, with Hollywood Hogan and Randy Savage leading their respective divisions. Savage has gotten himself into a World title match against Sting, who's already becoming an afterthought after all the build up work put into him in '97, just to spite Hogan. Of note is the fact that NWO original Kevin Nash appears to be on Savage's side rather than Hogan's.

The run of good PPV stages for this year continues, a western town setup with a giant barn with a door that opens up for guys to come out of. BREAKING NEWS from the booth: Savage's cast just this morning has been removed! Can't have been on long, he didn't have one at the last PPV. They also announce both Savage and Sting have agreed their match will be no DQ.

Goldberg def Saturn (w/Kidman) in 8:10- Goldberg's streak is up to 73-0 (officially) and he's starting to get pretty big pops. In fact the crowd tonight is borderline bonkers for him. Regardless of what happens tonight Goldberg already has a US title match scheduled for Nitro tomorrow night. Saturn tries some wrestling at the start but Goldberg tosses him around. Kidman gets in and gets press slammed down onto Saturn on the floor for his trouble. Back in Saturn gets Goldberg down with a sweep kick, then hits a springboard legdrop and elbow off the second rope. Goldberg blocks a suplex into a kind of swinging neckbreaker. It did look impressive whatever it was. Press powerslam. Kidman wants to die again. Saturn uses the distraction to snap Goldberg over the top rope. Slingshot splash. Half and half suplex from Saturn followed by a superkick. He tosses Goldberg out, dropkicks him into the stairs and smashes Goldberg's arm between the stairs and ring post. Commentary mentions how this is already Goldberg's longest match ever and he's not used to this. Saturn hurricanrana off the apron! Then Saturn HORRIBLY botches an asai moonsault attempt. He slipped off the ropes and flopped back down on his back. Goldberg quickly and visibly checks on him before continuing. Somehow that was worse than Nia Jax's hurricanrana that wasn't at Bad Blood this past weekend (as I write this). Coming back in Saturn hits a leg lariat off the top rope. He works on Goldberg's supposedly hurt arm a bit. Goldberg powers out and squashes Saturn in the corner. Side suplex. Off a whip Goldberg barely touches the ropes as he hits them, then Saturn hits a terrible dropkick. They look lost for a bit after that and it's probably time they got this wrapped up. Goldberg superkick. Spear! He hooks up for the jackhammer but Kidman runs in again, allowing Saturn to low blow out of it. Goldberg blocks a superplex and gives Saturn a Flair-like slam off the top while standing on the ropes. Some more Flock members run in and get taken out. Kidman takes a spear. Saturn gets the Rings of Saturn on! Goldberg powers up, muscles Saturn around into jackhammer position, hits it and it's now 74-0. A couple of ugly botches aside, that were more on Saturn's end than Goldberg's, that held together pretty nicely for by far Goldberg's longest match to date. He's rapidly becoming one of WCW's biggest attractions. **1/4

 

Ultimo Dragon def Chavo Guerrero Jr (w/Eddie Guerrero) in 11:49- Eddie is still trying to control Chavo's career despite Chavo despising him, but family is family. The stipulation for this match is if Chavo wins Eddie will leave him alone, but if Chavo loses Eddie will get twice as tough on him. Nice to see Dragon back on PPV. For a good chunk of '96-'97 he was WCW's most consistent in-ring worker, laying down great matches PPV after PPV. As usual big "Eddie sucks" chant at the start. Chavo quickly works Dragon down to the mat and does some leg work. Nice long speed run and Dragon hits a back kick. Corner handstand and kick followed by a kick combo. After a reset Dragon hits his trademark stiff kick to the back and works Chavo on the mat. Stump puller! I love a good old stump puller. Chavo counters that into a Mutalock. Dragon takes a rope break. You'd expect a lot of good high octane stuff from these two, but the mat wrestling has been superb so far. More speed and Chavo hits a flying headscissors, hurricanrana and dropkick before going into some more mat work. Dragon works into a camel clutch, then a surfboard. Chavo catches Dragon handspringing. Standing switches. Dragon gets a magistral cradle. Chavo quickly escapes and hits a clothesline for 2. Hurricanrana and cradle from Dragon. Chavo reverses the cradle for 2. Dragon goes for a superplex that Chavo fights out of. Dragon crotches him on the top rope instead. They reposition and Dragon suplexes Chavo off the apron to the floor. Asai moonsault! That's how you do it, Saturn. Eddie gets down and yells in Chavo's face. Chavo gets Dragon down, then gets a huge head of steam in the ring and does a HUGE air twisting tope con hilo that almost completely overshoots Dragon! Double clothesline back in. Dragon hits an enzuguri. He comes off the top but Chavo dropkicks him in midair. That caught Dragon below the belt and ref Lil' Naitch holds Chavo back to give Dragon some room. Eddie is FURIOUS Chavo is letting that happen. He gets on the apron to yell some more, then slaps Chavo! Dragon blocks a suplex and small packages Chavo for 2. Chavo hits a brain buster. He goes for a tornado DDT. Dragon blocks it into the dragon sleeper! Chavo taps out! Eddie is absolutely beside himself. Chavo points to the "Cheat to win" slogan on the back of Eddie's shirt then says he won't do it that way. Tremendous match and great storytelling as the Guerrero family feud continues. Dragon is right back to his old level of quality. ****

 

WCW World Television Championship: Booker T (c) def Chris Benoit in 14:11- These two have had two 10 minute draws for the TV title on Nitro, so for tonight there is no time limit. Rough lockup broken up by the ref. Speed run, Booker hits a shoulderblock and Benoit rolls all the way out to the aisle. Nice kick dodges from both guys and Benoit gets a leg sweep takedown. Booker is up with a side kick and Benoit powders again. Blocked hiptosses and Booker hits a clothesline for 2. ARMBAR! Guy stole Jericho's hold list. Hook kick. Benoit kicks and stomps Booker down hard in the corner, leading to the ref pulling him back and a pretty loud 50/50 cheer/boo reaction from the crowd. Booker hits a backbreaker for 2. Benoit does his suplex drop over the top rope and punches Booker off the apron and into the guardrail. As Booker did earlier, Benoit doesn't follow up and lets Booker take his time getting back in. Big Benoit chop in the corner. Snap suplex. Booker dodges a dropkick but Benoit plants him with a drop toe hold. Back suplex. Benoit goes up top. The headbutt hits! But that hurt Benoit too. He's slow to cover and Booker gets a foot on the ropes. Suplex from Booker. Benoit hits a back elbow for 2. Another snap suplex for 2. Backbreaker for 2. Benoit ducks a clothesline and it's ROLLLLING GERMANS time. Benoit releases on the third one and Booker does a full 180 sell! Back superplex from Benoit! Fantastic Booker sell on that too. But again Benoit hit his head on the landing and can't follow up. Finally he drapes an arm over for 2. Booker comes back with a spinebuster. Big flying forearm. Flapjack and spinaroonie! Scissors kick! But the ref is in the way and takes it! Did Benoit do that on purpose? The crossface is on! Booker does a couple of light taps that might have been a tap out or might have been him trying to find a rope. He does get a hand on the ropes. Benoit gets the ref up, thinking Booker tapped out. Booker flies over the ref with a spinning heel kick that catches Benoit flush in the face! Booker gets the pin! Phenomenal stuff. We know Benoit is already that good, but it's scary how good Booker's gotten in the short time since his singles run started. ****1/4

 

Curt Hennig (w/Rick Rude) def "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith (w/Jim Neidhart) in 4:48- Amazingly these two never crossed paths in WWF even though you'd think they would have. Their first match ever was a couple of weeks prior on Nitro. Anvil is another Hart family member that made the jump to WCW in the wake of the Montreal Screwjob, but due to legal wranglings none of the other Harts could do anything onscreen with Bret Hart, leaving them galloping down diarrhea drive without a saddle. The way Bret's been booked in WCW he's not too far behind though. This is the second time in the last three PPVs he's been a healthy scratch. Anvil's wearing his '97 Hart Foundation jacket on his entrance, a nice touch. There's an added stipulation for this match that Anvil and Rude are to be handcuffed to each other, which leads to the usual heel bitching about said handcuffing that goes on as long as the match does. Rude finally gets talked into it when the ref threatens to declare Bulldog the winner. While the camera's focused on the handcuffs Bulldog jumps Hennig in the ring. Hennig's got a knee brace on and Bulldog immediately attacks that knee. Hennig can barely walk. Apparently it was a legit injury he was trying to work through, but if that's real and not selling he really has no business being out there. Some weak shots get traded and Bulldog hits a headbutt for 2 before going back to the knee. Rude tries to get in but Anvil pulls him back. Bulldog puts on a legbar. Hennig gets some offense in but still can barely put any weight on the knee. Bulldog gets him down and slowly, ridiculously slowly, goes for a Sharpshooter. We cut to the floor where Anvil has (we assume) the same cop that put the handcuffs on in a chokehold. Behind his back Rude has a key, unlocks himself, then handcuffs Anvil to the bottom turnbuckle. Hennig throws Bulldog into the post and covers him for the pin. After that we finally see why Anvil is assaulting a police officer- it's Vincent. The NWO gang beatdown ensues and the heels take their leave. Hennig would mercifully take a few months off after this to get his knee worked on, because it clearly needs it. 1/4*

 

WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Chris Jericho (c) def Prince Iaukea in 9:55- I'm less excited to see Iaukea back on PPV than I was Ultimo Dragon. Jericho cuts a promo before the match and dedicates it to his fallen comrade Dean Malenko, who hasn't been seen since losing to Jericho at Uncensored. Heenan does a funny bit where he says he saw Malenko on a street corner in St. Petersburg holding a "Will wrestle for food" sign. Off the initial lockup Jericho clean breaks but Iaukea slaps him. After a top wristlock fight Jericho does an elaborate escape but Iaukea hits him with a clothesline. He flips out of a Jericho back suplex attempt and hits another clothesline. Jericho hits a shoulderblock and celebrates. Iaukea hits a dropkick and tosses Jericho over the top. Jericho tries to skin the cat, but Iaukea basement dropkicks him off to the floor. Canonball senton off the apron from Iaukea. Back in Iaukea goes back to the headlock he's spend a good chunk of the match so far working. Jericho hits a chop. He fakes Iaukea out coming off the ropes and drops toe holds him into the ropes. Delayed suplex and arrogant cover. Lots of fun playing to the crowd from Jericho. He's easily one of the most entertaining guys WCW has going right now, even as a heel. Jericho comes off the top rope right into Iaukea's bare feet. Comeback flurry from Iaukea. Springboard canonball for 2. Jericho blocks a victory roll and goes for the Liontamer. Iaukea quickly grabs a rope. Jericho gets a sunset flip off the second rope. Iaukea counter cradles him for 2. Both guys go up top and fight standing up on the top rope. Iaukea pushes and both guys tumble down to the floor! That did look planned but it still could have gone very badly. Both do look a little lost coming back into the ring. Another series of counters and Jericho is in Liontamer position again. Iaukea counters into a cradle for 2. Northern lights suplex from Iaukea, which judging by commentary's reaction is his finisher now. Jericho just grabs a rope at 2. Iaukea does a crazy extra flippy sunset flip off the top rope. Jericho rolls through and gets the full Liontamer on! Iaukea taps out! After the bell Jericho tries on....I don't know the name, Iaukea's skirt thingy, for size. That was as much as Jericho was going to get out of Iaukea. ***1/4

During their entrance for the next match Buff Bagwell comes out with a ridiculously obvious fake cast on his wrist. He takes a mic and says the match is cancelled due to his debilitating injury. Mean Gene and JJ Dillon then make their way out. Dillon is dubious to say the least. But he says, hey, we just so happen to have a top level orthopedic surgeon from Atlanta right here in the building, let's take a look at it. The doctor comes in and starts taking the wrapping off. Bagwell shoves the doctor away and grabs Dillon's tie, WITH THE BAD HAND! Dillon says well, it's clearly fine, let's go. Always a grade A brain trust, Buff Bagwell.

 

Rick Steiner and "The Total Package" Lex Luger def Scott Steiner and Buff Bagwell in 5:58- Rick throws his jacket aside in the aisle and charges in. Scott, as he's done ever since his turn, runs away from his brother. Bagwell attacks Rick in the ring while Luger jumps Scott on the floor. Rick powerslams Bagwell. Scott gets in and jumps Rick from behind and the match settles in. The vast majority of it is Rick in peril while the heels quick tag him and work through the most basic, boring heel offense imaginable. Finally Rick flips Bagwell over, Scott tries to hold Rick back from tagging, but Rick does and Luger runs wild. Clotheslines for everyone. Forearm on Bagwell. He calls for the Torture Rack and gets Bagwell up, but Scott breaks it up. Rick absolutely murders Bagwell with a blindside Steinerline, then chases Scott off. Bagwell goes up top, but Rick comes back to push him off. Torture Rack on and it's over. 1/2*

Mean Gene comes back out with tonight's hotline shill- an NWO member that hasn't been seen for a while has been spotted in the locker room. Find out who!

 

Psychosis def La Parka in 6:59- Parka's in his alternate black and yellow tonight. He struts around after the bell, then spits at Psychosis. Big chops from Parka. He even takes his glove off to hit them harder. They both hit the ropes, then Psychosis flat stops Parka in his tracks to give him some chops back. Rope assisted flying headscissors from Psychosis. Another off the top rope and Parka powders. Psychosis over the top rope tope suicida! Parka gives Psychosis a hard kick as he's coming back in the ring. Counter run and Parka hits a clothesline for 2. He uses the top rope to flip Psychosis to the floor. Parka split legged moonsault to the floor! Cover back in for 2. Suplex for 2. They fight up top and Psychosis gets kicked to the floor, then Psychosis crotches Parka. Psychosis struggles to spring up the ropes but manages to hit the hurricanrana for 2. He dropkicks Parka out and hits a corkscrew moonsault to the floor. Back in Parka dodges a big splash off the top. Parka covers but pulls Psychosis up at 2. Alabama slam. Again Parka pulls Psychosis up at 2. He tries a powerbomb but Psychosis counters into a cradle for 2. Parka gets tied up on the ropes. Psychosis hits the guillotine legdrop while Parka's on the ropes! That gets the pin. They got their flippydo in but the match as a whole never came together. *1/2

 

Baseball Bat on a Pole Match: Hollywood Hogan and Kevin Nash def "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and The Giant in 13:23- Not sure how you do a baseball bat match without Sting but here we are. Like other matches of the "on a pole" variety the rules are whichever team can get the bat down can use it legally. Also like most "on a pole" matches, the whole thing is treated like no DQ anyway so it hardly matters. Hogan and Nash get separate entrances to highlight their current issues. After the bell Piper goes right for the bat. After a very long pause Hogan chases after him while Nash says "Fuck it, that's work". Hogan slowly drags Piper down into a tree of woe. Tag and Nash waistlocks Piper on the ropes, then drags him to the NWO corner. Piper hulks up off Hogan shots and fires back. He rips Hogan's bandanna off! That's a declaration of war right there. Giant hits a headbutt from the apron. Piper gears up for a headbutt, hits it and it puts both him and Hogan down. Hogan gets his weightlifting belt off and starts whipping Piper with it. Right in front of the ref. Like I said, might as well be no DQ. He goes for the bat. Giant tags in, pulls Hogan's tights down (thankfully out of camera view), and pulls him down. Giant gets the belt and gives Hogan some whips. Then he puts Hogan over his knee and spanks him! Probably a whole website you don't want to visit where that's premium content. Nash comes in and we're DONNYBROOKING early. The heels powder so crazy Piper goes after the ref with the belt. More Piper belt shots on Hogan. Hogan hits a low blow. Right in front of the ref. Nash tags in and wants Giant. Piper gives him to Nash. They go nose to nose and Giant attacks. Corner clothesline. Big chop. Nash gets a boot up in the corner and goes into vintage Nash corner knees and elbows. Piper runs in so both NWO guys choke Giant. Clothesline from Nash. Giant gets right back up. Double big boot! Well they pulled that spot off right for once. Both sides tag. Hogan/Piper slugfest. Piper gives Hogan mounted punches right under the bat. It's like everyone's forgotten about it. Nash comes in and gets low blowed. EVERYONE IN THE POOL! Giant dropkicks Nash to the floor. Piper gets the sleeper on Hogan. Now the faces go for the bat. Piper legit climbs the pole the hard way while Giant tries to make it look like he's helping. Couldn't have he put Piper on his shoulders or something? Piper gets the bat. Nash pulls Giant down. Hogan grabs the bat and tosses it away. The Disciple is out. With his own bat. Because....that makes a difference somehow? He tosses his bat to Hogan and Hogan nails Giant with it. Nash holds Piper down. Piper dodges and Hogan waffles Nash with the bat! Piper chases with the bat and Hogan runs away and begs off. Now Disciple has the original bat. He tosses that to Hogan. Hogan whacks Piper with it, covers and LOLHoganWins again. It was bad, but honestly, it could have been a lot worse. 3/4*

Nash is up and pissed. Hogan points at Giant. Nash says OK and hooks him up for a jackknife. Hogan hits Nash with the bat! Giant tosses Hogan out and breaks whichever bat that was. Hogan and Disciple do the NWO tactical withdrawal, AKA the scaredy runaway. The faces leave while Nash is still dead in the ring. Bullet Club is....not fine.

 

Raven's Rules Match for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: Raven def Diamond Dallas Page (c) in 11:52- We've had Benoit vs Raven, DDP vs Benoit, and DDP vs Benoit vs Raven and all have been awesome, so why not do the last possible combination to see if it can happen one more time. We've got yet another WCW stolen belt angle going as Raven has appropriated the US title belt. Sick Boy tries to hold DDP but takes a belt shot from Raven. DDP slugs away. Back suplex. A running forearm sends Raven to the floor. Plancha on Raven and Sick Boy! Off another Flock distraction Raven running knees DDP off the apron. Short clothesline. He goes for Evenflow. DDP senses it and backs Raven into the corner. Swinging neckbreaker for 2. Raven takes a walk up the aisle and DDP follows, all the way to the stage area. Raven climbs up the stagecoach that's part of the western town set. DDP pulls him down into a stack of hay! The ref also goes down. DDP goes all the way up the stagecoach and dives off onto Raven! Raven gets whipped through one of the fences around the stage area. Trash can shot. I hate to say it, but we really need Dusty on commentary for this match. DDP suplexes Raven into the website commentary table! Raven pushes DDP into the backdrop there. He gets a cookie sheet from somewhere and whacks DDP with it. They go to a "VIP area" with covered tables. Raven sets DDP on a table but it suffers from premature breakage. "Aw shit!" Raven says OK. let's try the next one. DDP set up. Raven dives off the stands into DDP and the alternate table doesn't break! Raven grabs a rope with a cowbell on it, hits DDP, then chokes him with it. Return trash can shot from Raven. More rope choke and Raven drags DDP back to the ring. Sick Boy has that plunder match classic, the kitchen sink. Raven nails DDP with it, breaking the faucet off, and covers for 2. More rope choking to lead into the DDP comeback. He drop toe holds Raven into the sink. DDP covers. Kidman tries to splash him off the top but DDP dodges and Kidman gets Raven. Kidman's not having a good night. DDP covers for 2. Sick Boy has one of the hurt Lodi's crutches and hits DDP with it. Raven covers for 2. He goes for the Evenflow again. DDP counters into a small package for 2. Now Hammer gets up. He goes to the top rope and goes for a tackle, but gets Raven. DDP gets a 2 count. "Big man" Reese comes in and chokeslams DDP. The Flock tosses Raven their signature giant stop sign. DDP gets it and nails Raven with it! All the Flock members get stop sign shots. Diamond Cutter on Kidman! Real bad night. An unknown guy in a work crew shirt gets the stop sign and nails DDP with it! Tony says he'd been working as a grip before the show. Evenflow onto the sink! Raven covers and wins the title! Not *quite* as good as the earlier matches in the three way series, but it's still a damn fine plunder brawl. ***3/4

Raven's title reign would be very short lived. As mentioned earlier Goldberg already had a title shot scheduled for Nitro the next night and, well, can you say "transitional champion"? 75-0.

 

No DQ Match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship: "Macho Man" Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) def Sting (c) in 10:08- Once again we're getting a potential dream match years too late. Put these guys together around '91 or '92 and it could have been magical. According what commentary is saying Savage is apparently coming into this match with a hurt arm that just had a cast removed, a bum knee that's braced, a recent concussion, a stubbed toe, COVID-19, a paper cut on his left thumb, shingles, COVID vax caused mydocarditis, a tweaked hamstring, vertigo and a hangnail. Three of those things are true. Savage jumps Sting as soon as Sting gets in the ring. He goes right for the no DQ chokes, then hurts his own arm punching Sting. Sting fires back and tosses Savage out. They fumble around some really weak floor brawling. Sting hits Savage's bad arm on the barricade and Savage takes a walk up the aisle. Sadly it's the last time any of Savage's hurt body parts will be referenced in this match. Sting tosses Savage through some of the western town style fences that are still standing from the last match. He lifts a bale of hay to hit Savage with it and it goes EVERYWHERE except on Savage's head. They decide that's enough there and head back to ringside. Savage dodges a floor Stinger Splash and Sting goes into the barricade. Back in Savage does a leverage pin for 2. Clothesline for 2. Sting backdrops out of a piledriver attempt but Savage dodges the follow up elbow drop. Sting tosses Savage over the top back out again and suplexes him on the floor. Elizabeth helps Savage get back up and to the ring. Savage tries to hide in the ropes and begs off, until he sees an opening and low blows Sting. He tries the double ax handle off the top but Sting catches him in the gut. He goes for the Stinger Splash. Savage pulls Lil' Naitch in the way. Sting sees and hits the brakes, but then Savage pushes and Naitch gets squashed anyway. This time the piledriver hits. Sting pops back up! Elizabeth comes in and hits Sting with a chair from behind! Sting still catches Savage trying to ambush. Another corner setup. STINGER SPLASH ONTO ELIZABETH! THE HUMANITY! Savage whacks Sting with the chair. He sets up for the elbow. Hogan runs in and pushes Savage off the top rope. We see Elizabeth being carried out. Scorpion Death Drop! No ref. Nash runs in, plants Sting with the jackknife, drapes Savage over, gets Naitch up, and Savage gets the pin to win the title. The crowd goes right into classic NWO garbage throwing mode. Hogan and Disciple are by the entrance pissed off. Hogan yells "That's my belt!" as the show ends. Whatever small vestige of momentum Sting still had from his transformation into Crow Sting and year long buildup to the initial Hogan match that hadn't already been pissed away is well and truly gone for good. *1/4

 

Like Raven, Savage's reign would be very short lived. The next night on Nitro Hogan took the title back from Savage in another no DQ match that I feel pretty safe in saying did not have a clean finish. For those of you sick of Hogan title reigns and hoped Sting's win would be the end of it, here's more Hogan title reigns.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- This is definitely one of those crazy roller coaster shows with good amounts of both really good stuff and absolute trash. Sad to say it'll be more of the latter as we get more into '98 and the NWO civil war consumes everything not named Goldberg in its path.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B-