WrestleMania X

Legacy Review

WrestleMania X

March 20, 1994 from Madison Square Garden in New York City

Commentary: Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler (making his surprise return after a legal issues hiatus)

After the '94 Rumble ended in a tie President Jack Tunney ruled that there would be two WWF title matches at the big 10th anniversary Wrestlemania, with the order determined by a coin flip. Lex Luger won the chance to face Yokozuna first, with Bret Hart facing the winner in the main event. Both title matches would also have a special guest referee. To make things fair Bret would also have a second match against "suitable competition", which just so happened to turn out to be his estranged brother Owen.

Nice opening with highlights from WM 1 before transitioning into the setup for tonight. There's a definite big show atmosphere. Between matches they show highlights from all the previous WMs (some poorly chosen, like the blindfold match from 7). Vince does the intro himself in-ring WM 3 style before bringing in Johnny B Badd Little Richard for America the Beautiful. A recap of the Hart brothers feud follows, and after that some very weak pyro. Early days for that. The black and gold ropes from WM 9 are back, and this show is also the debut of the cool hexagonal entrance tunnel with the back lighting. Sadly Howard Finkel is nowhere to be seen at the start.

"The Rocket" Owen Hart def Bret "Hitman" Hart in 20:21- Owen's wearing Bret sunglasses on his entrance and tears them up in the ring. After a lockup standoff Owen celebrates like a true heel. Owen fireman carry to Bret headscissors counter sequence. Owen slips out and celebrates again. Bret gets a go behind takedown. Owen goes for the ropes and screams for Bret to get off. Owen grabs a waistlock. Bret momentums him down to the floor. Now Owen's pissed. He slaps Bret and immediately runs to hide in the ropes. Hammerlock/headlock counters. Owen escalates things a notch by pulling hair. Bret hits the brakes on a corner whip, leaps over and gets a rollup for 2. Owen back elbows out of a hammerlock, another escalation. Speed sequence. Bret monkey flips Owen, then clotheslines him 360 and out. Owen starts wandering up the aisle. Bret grabs him by the tights, throws him back in, and asks "Hey, didn't you want to fight?". Shoving. Bret slaps! And uses the distraction to get a flash roll up for 2. Arm work by Bret with a crucifix for 2 in between. During another speed run Owen hits a spinning heel kick and stomps Bret down to the floor. He posts Bret's back and goes to work on it. Camel clutch. Bret breaks out of it. Owen hits a snap belly to belly suplex for 2, then goes back to the back. He tries to slam Bret, but Bret shifts leverage and falls on top of him for 2. Owen tries a suplex from the apron. Bret slips out, tries to grab a rollup, but Owen switches the switch and hits a bridged German suplex for 2! Bret blocks another suplex and wraps up a small package for 2. After multiple tiltawhirl reverses Owen hits a tombstone! He goes up top and does a Dynamite Kid shoutout by going for a diving headbutt, but Bret dodges. Five Moves of Doom. Owen hits an enzuguri and goes for the Sharpshooter. Bret fights out and tries to hook on his own. Owen eye rakes out and gets a leg rollup for 2. Owen goes outside again. Bret plancha! But he hit his previously hurt knee on the way down! As they get back in the ring Owen sees him limping and immediately goes to work on it. He kicks Bret's leg out of his leg again and posts the knee. Dragon screw leg whip! Owen locks on an Indian Death Lock. He follows the ZSJ rule of never staying in a hold too long, lets go, and hits another dragon screw. Figure four! Bret reverses it and both guys get in the ropes. Bret with an enzuguri! Owen does a Bret bump! Bret hits a legdrop and covers for 2. Bulldog for 2. Bret piledriver! Slow cover for 2. Superplex! Another slow cover and Owen just kicks out. European uppercuts from Bret. He ducks an Owen punch and locks in a sleeper. Owen immediately gets to the ropes and hits a Flair-style low blow behind the ref's back. Owen Sharpshooter. Bret powers out and reverses into his own Sharpshooter. Owen gets to the ropes. Bret climbs up on Owen and tries a victory roll, but Owen drops right down on top of him....and gets a 3 count! The crowd is flummoxed, bamboozled and just plain stunned. So is Bret. Commentary speculates on what kind of condition he'll be in for the title match later tonight. That was as magnificent a technical professional wrestling match as you will ever see. ****3/4

Owen brags to Todd Pettingill backstage, but shows some respect for Bret and doesn't fully cross the line. The Hair Club for Men guy comes out and introduces the Fink with a rug on his head.

 

Bam Bam Bigelow and Luna Vachon def Doink and Dink the Clowns in 6:09- As usual Bigelow jumps before the bell. Shoulderblocks and a dropkick. Doink dodges a senton. After some back and forth Doink tags out. Dink begs to die. Bigelow spares him. Dink runs around Luna until he gets taken out by a kick. Midget murder follows. Dink dodges a dive and hits a little elbow drop for 2. More runaround and another kick. Dink goes up top and Luna dodges. She slams Dink and goes up top herself but Dink dodges and tags. Bigelow clotheslines Doink 360 and out. Doink is out recovering a long time, possibly a legit bell ring, so Dink runs in and kills time annoying the heels and dodging dives. Back in Doink gets a sunset flip. Bigelow sits on him. Doink gets a boot up in the corner and hits a DDT. Now he goes up top. Bigelow dodges the whoopie cushion. Dink gets knocked off the apron and Bigelow reverses a Saito suplex for 2. The headbutt off the top rope finishes it. After the match Dink screws up a double splash dodge and Luna lands right on top of him. They fumble around some more to complete crowd confusion before the heels leave. The match wasn't as completely horrible as it could have been. *

 

Falls Count Anywhere Match: "Macho Man" Randy Savage def Crush (w/Mr. Fuji) in 9:49- The rules of this match are falls count anywhere, but after a fall the wrestler that was pinned has 60 seconds to get back into the ring to prevent the match from being over. Savage jumps Crush as soon as he steps foot out of the entrance tunnel. After some back and forth Crush presses Savage, drops him on the guardrail, and gets a pin. Savage crawls toward the ring, and just as he's about to make it Fuji whacks him in the back with his flagpole. Savage still just gets back in. Crush puts Savage in the tree of woe and beats him down. Fuji gives Crush salt, but Savage pushes it into Crush's face and comes back. Double ax handle off the top rope. Savage elbow! He rolls Crush out and pins him on the floor. Fuji dumps a pitcher of water on Crush's face and he gets back in. Savage charges and Crush backdrops him over the top and out. They tumble over the guardrail and start fighting into the backstage area. Crush tries a piledriver. Savage backdrops out. He throws Crush through a set of doors and pins him. After that he ties Crush up in a conveniently placed pulley on a scaffold and tries to raise him up. He doesn't get the ropes tied right and Crush falls back down, but still can't get out and Savage gets the win. Not bad. It had good action and was innovative for the time with a cool finish, but the "get back to the ring after a fall" rule was a bit too overconvoluted. This was Savage's last major match for WWF. He would continue to do commentary and hosting until the fall before jumping over to WCW because they'd let him wrestle full time again (and, you know, Ted Turner's money and Eric Bischoff's guaranteed contracts). **3/4

Video package recapping Wrestlemania FanFest, the precursor to Axxess.

 

WWF Women's Championship: Alundra Blayze (c) def Leilani Kai in 3:20- After working primarily as a valet in WCW for a couple of years, Blayze (Medusa) was signed by WWF in late '93 to be the face of the newly revived women's division. Blayze teases a test of strength but does a sweep kick instead. That was always my go to move on Mortal Kombat. I....sucked. There's lots of games I'm good at. Fighting games, not so much. Ugly midring collision. Blayze gets a couple of rollups for near falls. Kai chokes and tosses Blayze across the ring. Lawler, being Lawler, is spending the whole match obsessing over how the women look. Blayze hits a hurricanrana with a cover for 2. Kai does the '80s female heel hair pull throws. Blayze with a spinning heel kick and suplex for 2. She hits a German suplex with a bridge and gets the 3. The good thing is, Medusa was awesome. The bad news is, there wasn't a single other woman on the WWF roster that was anywhere near her level. It would take bringing in a ringer later in the year from Japan, Bull Nakano, to start to get any kind of lift in the division. 1/2*

 

WWF Tag Team Championship: Men on a Mission (w/Oscar) def The Quebecers (c) (w/Johnny Polo) by countout in 7:41- Suzuki-Gun ambush by the heels. They isolate Mabel but the big guy takes them out. Quick reset with Mo and Pierre. Mo crossbody for 2. A Mabel legdrop during a double team gets a huge gasp from the crowd. After another double team the ref is getting Mabel out and Jacques hits Mo from behind to put him rapper in peril. Tag rope choke. Jacques backdrops Pierre onto Mo. Nice. Jacques backdrops Pierre OVER THE TOP ROPE ONTO MO ON THE FLOOR! Very nice. Mo's rolled back for a 2 count. Double hot shot for 2. A Mo cannonball takes out Pierre but the tag is cut off. Mo dodges a Pierre splash off the top and gets the tag. Mabel Big Boi Offense. Pierre dodges an avalanche. The heels try to double suplex Mabel, fail, reset, and pull it off! And they got a pop for it. Quebecer finisher. Mabel kicks out. Pierre/Mabel slugfest. Mabel hits a spinning heel kick! As he tags out he looks blown up all to hell, but he did it out there. MOM hit their finisher but the ref is distracted by the managers. MOM hit their finisher again on Pierre on the floor and just stand around and let him get counted out. Then MOM take the belts like they actually won the championship. Fortunately by this era, the crowd knew better. Dumb finish. Borderline serviceable match. **

We get the first of the two celebrity run ins for the first of the two WWF title matches. Mr. Perfect is announced as the guest ref, making his first appearance since last fall.

 

WWF Championship: Yokozuna (c) (w/Jim Cornette and Mr. Fuji) def "Made in the USA" Lex Luger by DQ in 14:40- Luger's finally got his own music instead of Stars and Stripes Forever. Very slow start. Midring jawing and slugfest. Clothesline exchange. Yokozuna does his usual tumble to the floor after a punch. Stair shots. Back in Luger gets a crossbody off the top for 2. He goes for a slam and fails. Yokozuna gives Luger some buckle shots, then takes the top turnbuckle pad off. After some more beatdown Yokozuna locks in the Double Oriental Nerve Pinch of Time Killing +4. And it's on forever. Lawler accidentally calls Perfect "Curt". Luger comeback. Collision. Luger goes down. Yokozuna doesn't. Some more beatdown and back to the nerve pinch. Forever and a day. At the first hint of a Luger comeback Yokozuna throws him out, and for some reason Luger slides across the mat and bumps off the guardrail. Back in, chop, and back to the damn nerve hold. Sure, why not? Luger punches out. Yokozuna takes him down with one punch and it's BACK TO THE NERVE HOLD. This match is officially moving in either geologic time or Rotunda time. I can never tell which moves slower. After the arm drops Yokozuna ducks clotheslines and hits a belly to belly suplex. He goes for the exposed buckle, but Luger blocks it and Yokozuna takes the shot. Which barely fazes him. What was the point of the whole thing then? A series of clotheslines knock Yokozuna down and Luger gets the big bodyslam, which third time around was losing its impact. Loaded forearm! Cornette and Fuji both run in and get taken out. Luger covers but Perfect decides to check on the managers instead. Luger pushes Perfect and covers again. Perfect stares him down, calls for the bell, and leaves. Yokozuna wins by DQ. Huge "bullshit" chant from the crowd. Remember kids, Lex Luger screwed Lex Luger. This was Luger's last gasp at the main event level during his WWF run, after this it was all midcard and tag teams. The match was 5 minutes of action and 10 minutes of rest holds, which I guess is what you have to do when Yokozuna has two matches in one night. 3/4*

After the match Luger confronts Perfect backstage with officials separating them. This was supposed to lead to a Perfect/Luger feud but Perfect's back refused to heal up enough for him to wrestle and it all had to be scrapped.

Now, there's an urban legend out there that Luger was supposed to win the title here and drop it to Bret later in the night, but he got drunk and spilled all the booking plans to a reporter the night before the show and it all had to be redone. After years of hearsay and speculation, I think enough has come out to say this one is more legend than actual fact.

 

Earthquake def Adam Bomb (w/Harvey Wippleman) in :35- Before the match Wippleman runs down Fink and the NYC roadkill on his head, continuing their little mini-feud. He tears off a sleeve of Fink's suit. Fink lays him out. Bomb runs out and confronts Fink. Quake runs out and hits Bomb from behind. Belly to belly suplex, powerslam, Earthquake splash, squash done. So much for any modicum of push momentum Bomb might have ever had. NR

To quickly recap the build for the next match: Shawn got suspended while IC champ (kayfabe for not defending the title, really for failing a steroid test) and was stripped of the title. Ramon won the vacant title. Shawn returned toting the backup (house show) belt saying he was still the real champ because no one ever beat him for it. Natural collision course. And to get this out of the way, yes, Shawn and Bret had a "proof of concept" ladder match as a dark match during a TV taping to prove to Vince it could work. It was never shown on TV but was released to the world on the ladder match DVD set in 2012. Word is Bret was upset Ramon took his spot in this match, despite the fact this WM was essentially booked around him.

 

Ladder Match for the Undisputed WWF Intercontinental Championship: Razor Ramon (official c) def Shawn Michaels (claimed c) (w/Diesel) in 18:47- Both belts are above the ring and you have to get both to win. Cautious start with some good counter wrestling. Ramon hits a choke slam. Shawn gets a swinging neckbreaker. Off a Ramon run Shawn uses momentum to send him to the floor (with some fairly obvious spot calling right before). Diesel lurks and hits a clothesline. Hebner's having none of it and tosses him out. Back in Shawn corner flips and Ramon clotheslines him 360 and out. To the shock of no one, Shawn is in full super selling mode. Ramon lifts up the floor pad. Back in the ring, Ramon goes for the Razor's Edge. Shawn backdrops him over the top rope and Ramon splats hard on the concrete floor! I'll give that a .8 Foley. Shawn goes for the ladder (the one and only ladder, weird to see when today there's an entire chain of hardware stores around the ring). Ramon hits him from behind and picks the ladder up. As he's getting into the ring Shawn baseball slides the ladder right into Ramon's gut! Back in, Shawn runs the ladder into Ramon's gut again. Then he drops the ladder onto the prone Ramon. He drops it again, and I mean drops, like a Minoru Suzuki chairshot, on Ramon's back! Shawn gets a rope run and THROWS THE LADDER ONTO RAMON'S BACK. That shit hurts, there's no way to avoid it. Shawn sets the ladder up and starts to climb. Ramon stops him and we have the mandatory mid-'90s PPV Shawn's tights come down and his ass is exposed spot. He pushes Ramon down and hits an elbow drop off the ladder while his ass is still hanging out. Setup slam. Shawn big splash off the ladder! That's one of the true iconic shots from this match. He climbs again. Ramon pushes the ladder down and Shawn bounces off the ropes. They crank it up again and have a big midring collision with a nice smack sound. Shawn's up first and he sets the ladder up in the corner. Ramon reverses the whip and Shawn flies into the ladder, over the top and out to the floor. Ramon squashes Shawn between the ladder and the ring post. Slingshot into the ladder! Vince's "UNBELIEVABLE" count is up to about 20. Ramon hits Shawn with the ladder and he 360s out to the floor again. Ramon climbs. Shawn crawls up to the top rope and hits Ramon in the back with a double ax handle. Everything comes tumbling down. The ladder falls on top of Shawn. Reset and double climb. Slugfest at the top of the ladder! Ramon gives Shawn a suplex-like flip slam! But the whole ladder collapses. Ramon resets and climbs again. Shawn dropkicks the ladder! Ramon's down again. Shawn casually drops the ladder on top of him. Superkick! Shawn teases doing his own Razor's Edge but hits a piledriver instead. He climbs up in the corner with the closed ladder, and drops it on top of Ramon! Vince has run out of unbelievables. Shawn sets the ladder up over Ramon. Climb. Ramon pushes the ladder, then shoulderblocks it, and Shawn falls down and gets tied up in the ropes! Ramon gets the ladder in position to climb, but has a bit of trouble and Shawn has to retie himself up after he got out too early. Ramon climbs and gets the belts to win! Absolutely fantastic. There's been over a quarter of a century of big time ladder matches since, and quite a few have equaled or surpassed this original one, but you can't lose sight of the fact that this match literally invented an entire new genre of wrestling for mainstream fans, and did it in considerable style. *****

There was a 10 man tag match scheduled for this show, but it had to be cut because of time constraints. There's a quick backstage bit of the heel team arguing over who gets to be the captain to explain it away. The match would take place the next night on Raw. After that is a setup video package for the main event. It's a bit overlong and sloppy, but this was a new idea back then.

Round two of guest celebrities. Burt Reynolds reads off his ring announcer cue cards like a 10th grader reading a report on a book he barely read. The guest ref for the main event is Roddy Piper, his first WWF appearance in nearly two years.

 

WWF Championship: Bret "Hitman" Hart def Yokozuna (c) (w/Jim Cornette and Mr. Fuji) in 10:38- If you take out the impromptu Hogan title win disaster from WM 9 this is the first time the same matchup has main evented multiple Wrestlemanias, and on back to back shows too. Bret limps out to the ring, continuing to sell the bum knee. Yokozuna jumps him as he gets in the ring. Bret fights back with about the only thing he can do with Yokozuna: punches. Big Yoko chop. More Bret punches and a dropkick. Yokozuna dodges a second. He bites Bret and Piper gets in his face admonishing him. Cornette gets on the apron and Piper takes a swing at him. Bret dodges a big splash and wobblelegs himself giving a headbutt, but Yokozuna slowly goes down too. After some more pound down punches Bret covers. Cornette pulls Piper out. Piper puts his lights out. Yokozuna chokes and Piper gives more warnings. Legdrop. Bret dodges an avalanche. Bulldog off the second rope for 2. Elbow off the second for 2. Diving Hart Attack clothesline for 2. Those were quality near falls. He goes off the second again, but Yokozuna catches him and turns it into a belly to belly suplex. He drags Bret over to the corner to finish it with the Banzai Drop. Yokozuna gets up on the ropes, but slips and falls off! Bret covers.....and gets the 3! Massive pop as the long Yokozuna title run nightmare ends. Silly finish, but the result was right and the match was as good as could be expected. *3/4

After the match Bret gets a massive celebration. The face locker room empties and fills the ring. Gorilla Monsoon and even Vince join in. I've said for years that this is the closest to a direct, on air apology we've ever gotten from Vince McMahon. The whole thing screams "Sorry about WM 9, I know we screwed up". Bret Hart is officially and rightly anointed as the new Man in the WWF, at least for a while. But as the celebration goes on, Owen Hart shows up on the entrance aisle, looking more jealous than ever....

 

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS: On each end of the show you've got a classic match, and a great ending with Bret's big win. Take out the weak middle part and you're looking at an all time top tier WM. But, the middle part still counts and the show must be knocked down a notch for it. Vince and Lawler in Awful One Liner mode are also a really bad combo on commentary and hurt the show.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: A-

Royal Rumble '94

Legacy Review

Royal Rumble '94

January 22, 1994 from the Providence Civic Center in Providence, RI

Commentary: Vince McMahon and Ted DiBiase

 

Pretty cool opening graphic this year. DiBiase gets an on air entrance, making his WWF return to begin his run as a commentator and manager.

Tatanka def Bam Bam Bigelow (w/Luna Vachon) in 8:12- Tatanka was originally scheduled to face Ludwig Borga before Borga's WWF career killing ankle injury. Bigelow's a suitable substitute as he and Tatanka feuded much of the previous year. Both these guys are scheduled for the Rumble later on. Bigelow charges for an avalanche before the bell and Tatanka dodges. After some back and forth Tatanka staggers Bigelow with shoulderblocks and dropkicks, then hits a crossbody for 2. Bigelow goes for a backdrop but Tatanka counters it into a huge DDT. Bigelow dodges a Tatanka dive off the top rope and he splats on the mat. The avalanche hits. Tatanka tries a sunset flip off the top rope but Bigelow drops down on him. Bigelow cuts off Tatanka chops with a sloppy half dropkick/half enzuguri thingy. Bear hug of time killing. After a bit they do the arm drops and Tatanka chops out. Bigelow kills his momentum with a shoulderblock. Tatanka with a scoop powerslam! That gets a 2 count. Double crossbody collision! Tatanka starts dancing up. Bigelow cuts him down with an enzuguri and mocks the dance. He goes up top. Moonsault! Tatanka dodges! Tatanka hits a crossbody off the top and that's that. **

 

Recap of the Hart brothers' family issues, starting with Survivor Series. After that is Owen's interview with Vince in December where he says he's been in Bret's shadow long enough and challenges him to a match. The next week Vince is with Bret, who says no way no how under any possible circumstances no matter what will he ever face off with his own brother in a match, not happening, end of story. Through the magic of Christmas (thanks Ice Cream Bunny) the Harts made up and challenged the Quebecers for the tag titles. Meanwhile, earlier in January the Quebecers were upset for said tag titles by the 1-2-3 Kid and Marty Janetty on Raw. They recovered and won the titles back at an MSG house show barely a week before the Rumble.

 

WWF Tag Team Championship: The Quebecers (c) (w/Johnny Polo) def Bret & Owen Hart in 16:48- Bret and Pierre (PCO) start. Good back and forth start. Owen and Pierre also hit the jets, with Owen getting a hiptoss with nice floatover for 2. Pierre pulls hair to get away and tag. Owen kips up and Jacques mock applauds, followed by the usual insincere handshake offer. Owen and Jacques have a miscommunication on what looked like should have been an Owen flip over a backdrop attempt. After some fumbling Owen hits a suplex to get back on track, followed by an enzuguri for 2. Hart Decapitation Device for 2. Bret rolls through some Ricky Steamboat-like quick pin attempts. The Quebecers eye rake to take over and double team. The Harts reverse whips and Owen gets a spear roll up. The Quebecers go outside to hug and recover. Once they get back in Bret goes right back in control. Owen hits a diving clothesline and gutwrench suplex. Pierre with a powerslam on Bret to switch momentum. The heels choke Bret with the tag rope and put him Hart in peril. Hothead Owen keeps running in and inadvertently allowing double teams. Bret gets a boot up on Pierre's dive off the second rope and tags. Owen cleans house. Sharpshooter on Pierre! Bret and Jacques get into it, and while the ref is getting Bret out Jacques bulldogs Owen. Double hot shot on Owen for 2. Owen ducks a double clothesline, hits a double dropkick and tags. Bret cleans house. Johnny Polo (Raven) sneaks up, holds the ropes open, and Bret tumbles down to the floor, hurting his knee on the landing. The Quebecers go to work on it on the floor. Chairshot on the knee. They work Owen around to whack the knee with Polo's putter. Owen rolls Bret back in. More knee work. Jacques puts on a Boston Crab. Owen breaks it up. Pierre with a legdrop to the back of Bret's head off the second rope. The Quebecers load up their finisher. Bret dodges but he doesn't tag. Instead he tries to wrap Pierre up in the Sharpshooter but his knee gives out. The ref's seen enough and calls for the bell, giving the Qubecers the win via ref stoppage. Good match, and good and important piece in a sensational long term angle. The Quebecers, usually not ones to peg the workrate meter, stepped their game up for who they were in there with. ***1/2

After the match Owen is furious. He yells at Bret for not tagging him while Bret's clearly just trying to stand back up. Finally Bret uses the ropes to get vertical again. Owen kicks his leg out! NUGGET RAGE! As he leaves he yells in the camera that Bret is too damn selfish. Pat Patterson chases off Raymond Rougeau's interview attempt as Bret's loaded onto a stretcher. As he's wheeled out Todd Pettingill's with Owen on the tron. Owen has a complete meltdown, berating Bret for being selfish, all he had to do was tag out, and capping with the legendary "That's why I kicked your leg out of your leg!" botch. Pettengill asks Owen about the Rumble and Owen says he doesn't give a damn if Bret can be in it or not, all he cares about is winning it himself. The heel turn is complete and the stage is officially set for the Hart family drama that will dominate WWF off and on until Bret's departure after the Montreal Screwjob in late '97.

 

WWF Intercontinental Championship: Razor Ramon (c) def Irwin R Schyster in 11:30- In the build for this match IRS stole Ramon's gold necklaces in lieu of back taxes. JR and Gorilla Monsoon switch over to TV commentary for this match. Ramon toothpick flips, IRS slaps and stalls. Ramon goes into punchy offense and Rotunda (shock) stalls again. Ramon atomic drop/clothesline combo for 2. IRS uses Ramon's momentum to send him flying over the top rope and out and follows up with a stair shot. IRS goes up top. Ramon puts a boot up but IRS sees it, lands away from it, and drops an elbow instead. Ramon tries to come back with buckle shots. IRS cuts it off with a back elbow. To the chinlock! With the usual Rotunda rope leverage game. Ramon comeback and slugfest. Fallaway slam. After a whip reversal in the corner we have a ref bump and an open door for overbooking shenanigans. IRS gets his briefcase. Ramon steals it and IRS takes the shot. Ramon cover, but the ref is still out. He hoists IRS on the top turnbuckle and hits the back superplex. Razor's Edge setup. Shawn Michaels runs in and whacks Ramon in the back of the head with his own IC belt! The wrestlers are down. The ref is down. Finkel and commentary are probably down. Everyone's down. IRS crawls over, covers, and gets a 3 count! No bells rings, a telltale sign it's about to get even goofier. Right on cue, Hebner runs in and points out to Marella that there's *two* IC title belts here! While they discuss Ramon hits the Razor's Edge. Marella says screw it and counts 3 for Ramon. An uninteresting match with severe overbooking, but the crowd was into it at least. *1/4

Recap of the WWF title feud, with a montage of the pretty good weekly TV vignettes from Taker's workshop while he custom built Yokozuna's double wide, double deep casket. Good chuckle line from Bearer as he says "While you try your 1994 model" like a car salesman. We also get in arena clips setting up Yokozuna as absolutely terrified of all things Taker related.

 

Casket Match for the WWF Championship: Yokozuna (c) (w/Jim Cornette and Mr. Fuji) def The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) in 14:20- Nose to nose standoff. Taker dodges a charge and rocks Yokozuna with clotheslines. The diving clothesline takes him down. Yoko tumbles to the floor. Taker no sells a stair shot. Back in, Taker does the rope walk punch. Another diving clothesline attempt is dodged and Taker rolls to the floor. Yokozuna gets a chair but Taker steals it and uses it. Yokozuna responds with salt in the face (Watch the funny reaction of the guys in the front row that also get sprayed. The first two rows will be seasoned). Taker takes chair shots, including one that should have been in the back but ended up more in the back of the head that I have to think there was a receipt for later. Yokozuna calls for the lid to be opened and rolls Taker over. Taker lands on his feet in the casket and grabs Yokozuna's foot to get out. Slugfest. Yokozuna belly to belly. Zombie situp and goozle. Choke slam! Yoko got a whole two inches off the ground on that. Taker DDT! He calls for the lid and rolls Yokozuna in. But as he's closing the lid, Crush runs in and stops him! Taker fights him off. Now here's The Great Kabuki and Genichiro Tenryu. Taker double clotheslines them. Bam Bam Bigelow is in. The numbers are starting to catch up to Taker. Meanwhile, Yoko's still out in the casket and sometime off camera Fuji stole the urn from Bearer. Bearer gets it back, takes out both heel managers, and uses the POWER OF THE URN to get Taker back on his feet. Adam Bomb's in. Jeff Jarrett's in! No guitar shot, we're years away from that. The Headshrinkers are in! It's the rumble before the Rumble. There's a bunch of weak brawling with most guys standing around wondering what to do, and Yokozuna in a corner by himself sucking in oxygen from the entire floor section. Diesel's out! Taker finally goes down and gets rolled into the casket, but he stops the lid from closing and fights out again. Yokozuna gets a hold of the urn and takes the lid off. Green smoke billows out from it. Taker lays dead in the ring, all his power gone as the gaggle of heels hit big moves on him. Finally they drag Taker over, Yokozuna rolls him in with one foot, and the lid closes to end the match. 1/2*

The heels lock the casket shut and leave with it. Undertaker's Dong! More green smoke, this time from the casket. The lights go out. A shot of Taker in the casket comes up on the tron. His eyes open! Taker gives a very Ultimate Warrior like spiel about spirit living on, eternal flame, etc. "Soon mankind will witness the rebirth of the Undertaker, and I will *not* rest in peace." Thunder and Frankenstein monster style electricity. The casket on screen explodes and Taker goes negative like he's just been shot by a Dalek. Slowly he floats to the top of the screen, and in sync rises from behind the tron in the arena (in actuality Marty Janetty in Taker's gear). He "floats" all the way to the top of the arena and end scene. Well then. A lot of people absolutely hate this. Others think it's entertaining in its own unique way. You know I never shy away from strong opinions on wrestling, but for me I'm firmly in the "it is what it is" camp. It's all part of the whole package that was the legend of the Undertaker, good and bad. All this was to give Taker time off to heal a back injury, causing him to miss Wrestlemania for the first time. He'd come back for Summerslam and the (in)famous Undertaker vs Undertaker feud.

To transition into the main event we get the classic pre-Rumble promo montage. For the first time the interval is cut down from two minutes to 90 seconds due to "time constraints". The crowd is awfully subdued. I think the whole Taker bit killed them.

 

Royal Rumble

 

1 & 2. Scott Steiner and Samu- Immediate slugfest. Samu corner clothesline. Scott Steinerline and double underhook slam. Samu fights off an elimination attempt.

3. Rick Steiner- Thanks for coming, Samu. The Steiners double team and Rick hits a belly to belly suplex. Steinerline! This is surprisingly plodding along. They're all going at about 50% speed. During the countdown for #4 Samu misses a wild dive, gets hung in the ropes by the neck, gets out and is eliminated.

4. Kwang- This is Savio Vega in a mask making his WWF in-ring debut. As soon as he gets in the ring he green mists Rick. Uh, Great Kabuki is in this match. Did they have a discussion about gimmick infringement? The crowd starts to get restless at the rather listless action.

5. "The Rocket" Owen Hart- Gets booed out of the building. He goes right for the blinded Rick, slowly gets him over the top and eliminates him.

6. Bart Gunn- Scott deadlifts Kwang and inverted atomic drops him. Vince says something's happened in the back and they're trying to get cameras there.

7. Diesel- Goes after everyone. Bart's eliminated. Scott's eliminated. Owen's eliminated! During the countdown Diesel clotheslines Kwang 360 and out to stand along in the ring. Damn what a run.

8. Bob Backlund- He mat wrestles low and lifts Diesel by the legs. Diesel fights out and dumps Backlund! With time to spare to brag and get ready to boot.

9. Billy Gunn- After a little Billy offense Diesel hits a big boot and eliminates Billy! The crowd is starting to get behind Diesel. With nothing happening in the ring Vince cuts to footage from the locker room of Kabuki and Tenryu beating up Luger. Well Bret's already hurt, might as well have both face favorites come in wounded.

10. Virgil- He tries to stick and move but Diesel makes short work of him. DiBiase loves it.

11. "Macho Man" Randy Savage- He's the first guy to get sustained offense on Diesel and last the whole period.

12. "Double J" Jeff Jarrett- He jumps Savage, beats him down and struts while Diesel cools off after his big run. Savage skins the cat to avoid elimination, hits Jarrett in the back with a high knee (also ricocheting him into Diesel) and eliminates him.

13. Crush- He and Savage were still feuding so Savage jumps all over him as only Savage can do. Double ax handles off the top. Crush comes back and the heels double team Savage.

14. Doink the Clown- Lame face Doink. As he's walking in Crush unceremoniously eliminates Savage. Crush and Diesel brawl on the ropes and the camera catches Diesel saying "Elbow me", which Crush does. Doink stands in the corner and watches them fight until they realize he's there. Both heels get water squirts from his flower and foot stomps. Lame face Doink.

15. Bam Bam Bigelow- Diesel and Crush invite him in to murder Doink. Bigelow doesn't mind if he does, press slamming Doink to the floor. Diesel and Crush take advantage and jump him from behind.

16. Mabel- That's a lot of beef in the ring. Diesel takes his straps down and goes after him. Mabel avalanches everyone.

17. Sparky Plugg- This is Bob "Hardcore" Holly making his WWF debut in his original gimmick as a NASCAR driver. Really. Bigelow squashes Mabel in the corner. Crush goes over but lands on the apron.

18. Shawn Michaels- He and Diesel go face to face. Shawn backs off. Diesel messes with him before offering a handshake. Everyone else in the ring takes advantage to jump Diesel, get him over, and with a final sneaky push from Shawn, eliminate him. There's a small ovation and Diesel chant as he leaves a newly made man.

19. Mo- There's a near legit collision when multiple guys do whip spots at the same time. Shawn skins the cat.

20. Greg "The Hammer" Valentine- Making his official WWF return (after working under a mask at Survivor Series) following a short WCW run, and he gets a nice reaction from the crowd. Men on a Mission double team Bigelow.

21. Tatanka- Goes after Shawn. Shawn gets his first 360 sell in. Valentine gets Shawn over but he lands on the apron.

22. The Great Kabuki- Everyone finally gangs up to eliminate Mabel. Shawn gets in near elimination trouble again.

23. "The All American" Lex Luger- Business has picked up. Luger doesn't bother to sell any of the backstage beatdown earlier. He takes a shot at everyone and eliminates Kabuki.

24. Genichiro Tenryu- The future IWGP Heavyweight Champion is in no rush to get to the ring. When he does get there he chops the bejesus out of Luger. They also have a "fumble around we forgot what to do" moment before more chops.

25. No one- Vince speculates this must have been Bret Hart's spot.

26. "The Model" Rick Martel- Goes right for Santana....oh, yeah. Lots of brawling going on with nothing much of note. Luger and Tatanka have a spiffy face on face slugfest.

27. Bret "Hitman" Hart- BAH GAWD BRET HART MADE IT! Huge pop from the crowd. He's limping the whole way down because unlike some people you know Bret's going to sell the hell out of an injury. Crush goes right for the knee.

28. Fatu- Crush presses Bret and moves to throw him out. Luger makes the save. Tenryu works on Bret, which would be a pretty big dream match. A gaggle of guys eliminate Crush.

29. Marty Janetty- THE ROCKERS EXPLODE....again! Huge Shawn/Janetty brawl. Tenryu wanders in the middle of their sequence and quickly gets shooed away. Another Shawn near elimination.

30. Adam Bomb- Janetty has a sleeper on Shawn. Bret eliminates Plugg. Vince says Bastion Booger was the no show at 25 because he "got a little sick". Har har har. Shawn and Bret find each other. Tenryu stands around wondering what to do. After the shorter intervals this part of the match goes on for too long with too little happening. Get a move on. Martel eliminates Valentine. Tatanka eliminates Martel. Luger eliminates Bomb to the shock of commentary. Quite a comedown from his Survivor Series run. Bigelow eliminates Tatanka to get revenge for losing earlier in the night. Bret's still getting worked over. Bigelow does a flip in the corner and Luger eliminates him. Shawn eliminates Janetty. Tenryu does a double noggin knocker on Shawn and Fatu. Shawn sells. Fatu doesn't. Shawn and Fatu get whipped into each other. Bret and Luger eliminate Tenryu.

FINAL FOUR: Shawn, Luger, Bret and Fatu. For the first time the final four get a bit of a setup moment with all four guys in different corners. Shawn jumps Bret while Luger and Fatu pair off. Shawn spins out of a slam. Bret slips and counters an elimination attempt. Fatu superkick on Luger and he hits a headbutt off the second rope. The heels lift Luger onto the apron but he fights off. Fatu 360 sells a clothesline. The heels are whipped toward each other. Shawn leapfrogs Fatu, but as they hit the corners they're both simultaneously eliminated by Bret and Luger! We're down to two, the top two babyfaces in the company (excluding perhaps Taker). The crowd's awake again too. Huge slugfest. Luger lifts Bret. Bret gets back down on his feet, pushes, and both guys tumble over the top and onto the floor! Who won? The refs are confused and consult to debate/argue. Fink announces Luger as the winner to a mild pop and some boos. Hebner stops it. Fink announces Bret as the winner to a MASSIVE pop. The refs shut it down again, each raise a guy's hand, and argue in the ring. OK, only one way to settle this. Hebner vs Marella, one on one match, the winner gets to decide the Rumble winner. Wait, the President is here! Tunney makes his way to the ring (what a shame No Chance In Hell wasn't entrance music then). He manages not to blow his quads out like a certain other authority figure in a similar situation years later. The replay confirms what we saw: they pulled the spot off perfectly and hit at the same time as planned. Fink builds up an announcement and pulls out (insert your own dirty joke here). Big "Bret" chant from the crowd. Finally Fink announces the winner.....s are Lex Luger AND Bret Hart! The crowd's not pleased. Bret and Luger have a handshake.

The final four was a strong finish and the Diesel elimination run was fun, but otherwise this was an extremely underwhelming Rumble. The deteriorating roster was starting to show, and Vince's awfulness on commentary did it no favors. The tie finish was also a questionable call. That's what most people remember here, but don't sleep on the fact that this is also the match that made Kevin Nash a star. **3/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS: Like most every other WWF show from this period anything involving the Hart family was great, the rest was take it or leave it. The Rumble's not a great one but is one that should be watched for historical purposes. DiBiase had a good debut in the booth, which helped the show.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C+

Survivor Series '93

Legacy Review

Survivor Series '93

November 24, 1993 from the (Old) Boston Garden in Boston, MA

Commentary: Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan

After going with a more normal PPV card in '92, this year returns to the traditional Survivor Series format.

WWF Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon, "Macho Man" Randy Savage, The 1-2-3 Kid and Marty Janetty def Diesel, Irwin R Schyster, "The Model" Rick Martel and Adam Bomb (w/Harvey Wippleman) in 26:58- Mr. Perfect was originally going to be on Ramon's team, but had to drop out due to injury (a reoccurance of his longstanding back issue that would force him back into wrestling only part time until jumping to WCW in '97). Ramon announces Savage as his replacement. Savage had just started working a feud with the newly heel turned Crush and commentary wonders if he can keep his focus for this match. Foreshadowing! Ramon and Martel start, a rematch of the bout to fill the vacant IC title after Shawn Michaels' suspension. More on that later. After some basic hammerlock counter wrestling Martel hits a back elbow and Ramon slaps him. Martel tries a springboard reverse crossbody but Ramon rolls through it and gets a 2 count. Ramon and Bomb have a big man standoff. Bomb's wearing nuke green contact lenses. He wins a power exchange, shocking Ramon. Long test of strength. Ramon uses a nice suplex-like move to get out and covers. Martel tries to make the save, but Ramon dodges and he hits Bomb instead. Wippleman comes in and gets punched, and the whole heel team starts imploding. IRS makes peace. Kid gets tossed around by Bomb, then Diesel. After a nice tiltawhirl flying headscissors Kid makes a tag to Savage. Savage takes out all the heels, slams Diesel, hits the big elbow drop and gets the 3! Diesel is shockingly gone early after doing almost nothing of note. Savage hits IRS with an ugly crossbody for 2. Martel knees Ramon in the back from the apron and the heels go to work on it. Well, Martel and Bomb do. IRS does his usual. Ramon gets a kneelift on a backdrop attempt and boot up in the corner to make it over and tag. Savage slams IRS and loads up for the elbow again, but as he does Crush comes out. The face team holds Savage back. IRS sneaks up and gets Cheap Raw Finish 1A, the distraction rollup, to eliminate Savage. After getting pinned Savage chases Crush to the back. Janetty gets knocked around. Martel locks in an abdominal stretch with Bomb's help. Wippleman, IRS, Crush and whoever need to get out there too and do the whole abdominal stretch leverage daisy chain Bullet Club has hilariously been doing lately. Janetty dodges and Martel posts his shoulder. Ramon choke slams IRS, hits the Razor's Edge and IRS is gone. Ramon and Martel corner slugfest. Donnybrook! Ramon hoists Martel up for the Razor's Edge but IRS whacks him in the stomach with his briefcase. Ramon falls to the floor and gets counted out. Kid and Martel crank up some speed sequences, with Kid getting a Japanese armdrag. He speeds around Bomb and knocks him to the floor. TOPE SUICIDA....Bomb catches him and slams him on the floor! Fantastic. Bomb hits him with a slingshot clothesline coming back in! Kid dodges a charge and gets a rollup for 1. Enzuguri! Martel tries coming off the second rope. Kid gives him a gut punch and tags. After a Janetty hot tag run and a double team Kid rolls Martel up for 3. Almost instantly Janetty rolls Bomb up for 3 to win! Fun, solid Survivor Series match. Strange seeing Bomb getting the Big Man Push while Diesel was the first guy out, considering how the next year played out. The ending even led somewhere, as Kid and Janetty would form a regular team and go on to win the tag team titles. SURVIVORS: The 1-2-3 Kid and Marty Janetty ***1/4

 

Bret, Bruce, Keith and Owen Hart (w/Stu Hart) def Shawn Michaels and The Knights in 30:57- This was originally going to be Jerry Lawler and his knights as part of the ongoing feud, but just before this show took place Lawler found himself in a spot of legal trouble, accused of raping a 15 year old girl (charges that were later dropped by the accuser). Ironically Shawn had just come back from a suspension for steroid use, a massive no-no due to the feds' investigation into the WWF. Shawn is wearing an IC title belt of his own, saying he's still the real champion because no one beat him. All the Knights are wearing masks, but the Black Knight is former Lawler USWA rival Jeff Gaylord, the Red Knight is Barry Horowitz, and the Blue Knight is Greg Valentine. If it was WCW Jack Victory would probably be playing all three. Shawn does his annoying dick heel best to work his way into the feud, and even brings up losing to Bret at last year's Survivor Series.

 

Before the match Family Feud host Ray Combs does a way too long and unfunny introduction, then unfortunately joins commentary. Bret's in rare short tights to match his brothers. Owen and Shawn start. No, Shawn wants Bruce. Smart, go for one of the guys that hasn't wrestled in a while and never on this stage. Of course Bruce gets the upper hand with Shawn selling like a mofo. Shawn and Red get run into each other. Shawn slips out of a Keith slam attempt and tries a suplex, but Keith turns it into a small package for 2. Owen outwrestles Red until he gets eye poked. He shakes it off and hits dropkicks. Black gets armdraged around. Bret hits atomic drops and a diving clothesline on Blue. Bruce gets kneed in the back by Shawn and the heels go to work on it. Red double underhook suplex for 2. Bruce gets a backslide on Black for 2. After getting tagged in Bret gets a couple of near falls on Black. Owen hits a spinning heel kick. The pin is broken up and we have a donnybrook. After a long and tortured setup process all four heels are whipped into each other. Owen hits Black with a missile dropkick off the top and pins him. He clips Red's knee and all the faces take turns working on it. After a while Keith hooks a figure four in. Shawn breaks it up. Red trips Keith and Shawn does a slingshot dive on his arm. Now the heels go to work on Keith's arm for what feels like two hours. At the end of it Keith dodges Shawn getting rocket launched by Blue and tags. Bret hooks Red in the Sharpshooter and Red is gone. Shawn and Bret finally end up in the ring together, but the camera is on Stu trying to get Keith's arm back in wrestling shape. Bret powers out of the Mandatory Chinlock Spot. After a tag to Owen it's Donnybrook 2. Shawn slides under Owen to the floor, then sells a Stu punch like he got hit by Mike Tyson. Owen with a plancha! He hits a bulldog on Blue and locks in his own Sharpshooter. Blue is gone, and Shawn is all alone against the whole Hart family. Naturally he stalls getting back in the ring and begs off. Bret atomic drops him into the face corner and everyone gets a shot in. Shawn hits Bruce with a glancing superkick for 2. Bret starts rolling through the Five Moves of Doom with Shawn continuing to sell like a pinball in zero mavity. Owen hits a crazy running belly to belly suplex for 2. As he hits the ropes Bret is on the apron and he knocks Bret off and all the way to the guardrail. Shawn uses the distraction to roll Owen up and eliminate him. All the Harts go to check on Bret and Owen is furious. As he slowly leaves he asks "What about me?" on the aisle. After some more weak Bruce and Keith/Shawn stuff and pretty good Bret/Shawn stuff Shawn decides he's had enough and takes a walk, taking the countout. After the bell Owen comes back out and he's HOT. He pulls Bret down, gets in his face, gets in his other brother's faces, and shoves everyone in sight. The others try to reason with him but give up and leave. Owen stays in the ring and celebrates to a chorus of boos. The match was way, way, way, way too long for what they had to offer. Keith looked almost OK, but Bruce's work was very rough. None of the guys playing the knights got in a groove, not to mention the fact the whole "knights" concept was pointless after Lawler got pulled. But everyone only remembers one thing from this: the start of Owen's heel turn, and that part was very well done. SURVIVORS: Bret, Keith and Bruce Hart. *1/2

We have a commentary swap for the next match as Jim Ross and Gorilla Monsoon (yay!) move over from Radio WWF to TV. Monsoon and Heenan have some fun as they cross paths on the floor. Then there's an ad for Wrestlemania 10, heading back to Madison Square Garden for the big anniversary show. After that is a recap of changes made to the teams in the main event. First, after Tatanka finally suffered his first loss at the hands of Ludvig Borga, Yokozuna squashed him with a Banzai Drop. Tatanka was replaced by the Undertaker, showing the first flashes of the patriotism that he would show later in his face American Badass days. After that, Lex Luger took out Pierre of the Quebecers (the new tag champs after beating the Steiners on Raw in September) with his loaded forearm. Pierre was replaced by new Mr. Fuji stable member Crush. Oh, and before anyone asks, yes Pierre is PCO.

 

Smokey Mountain Wrestling Tag Team Championship: The Heavenly Bodies (w/Jim Cornette) def The Rock 'N' Roll Express (c) in 13:41- These two teams have been trading the SMW tag titles back and forth since the company's formation (though most changes were with former Midnight Expresser Stan Lane on the Bodies instead of Jimmy Del Ray). Bit of history here as this is the RNR's first match ever in a WWF ring. This match is under WWF rules rather than SMW, which will be important later. The Bodies do the Suzuki-Gun ambush before the bell and throw the RNR to the floor. They flip Gibson back in, then try to flip Morton in, but Morton turns the tables and flips both heels out to the floor. Gibson holds the ropes open for a Morton TOPE SUICIDA! MAMA MIA! Cornette is livid. Like about to shoot on how awful AEW is livid. Reset with Gibson and Del Ray. The have a great high speed run that ends with a Gibson flying headscissors. Morton and Pritchard slightly mess up a leapfrog spot. Morton has hiptosses for everyone, then dodges Del Ray's superkick and he takes out Pritchard instead! The RNR roll through some more double teams and even whip the old rowboat out. They do some work on Pritchard's knee. More RNR double teams as they're in complete control. Pritchard finally gets away with an eye rake, but Del Ray walks right into an armdrag. More RNR outsmarting of the heels and they roll out to regroup. Pritchard and Morton do multiple whip reverses in the corner, leading to Pritchard turning a Morton backdrop attempt into a powerbomb. Morton goes face in peril. I know, I know, I'm shocked too. Pritchard lifts Del Ray into a standing moonsault for 2. Morton gets thrown out. Del Ray hits a springboard moonsault from the second rope to the floor! Pritchard powerslam for 2. More Midnight Express style double teams get a couple more near falls. Del Ray lifts Morton up for a powerbomb, but he turns it into a hurricanrana for 2! Morton then gets a desperation small package for 2. Del Ray with another moonsault, this time from the top rope. Gibson breaks the pin up. Morton double DDTs the heels, rolls through and gets the tag. Donnybrook! Morton rolls Del Ray up. Pritchard grabs him and throws him over the top rope. Gibson thinks it's over because in SMW that would have been a DQ. Not under WWF rules. Morton hits a crossbody off the top but the pin is broken up. Double dropkick by the RNR. Morton covers, but behind the ref's back Cornette tosses the tennis racket to Del Ray, who whacks Morton in the back of the head off the top rope with it. Pritchard covers, and we have new champs! Really good, if sometimes a bit disjointed, NWA/southern style tag match on a WWF show that the northeast WWF crowd didn't give two shits about. ***1/2

Recap of the build for the next match, where the now face turned and not Matt Bourne Doink the Clown told Bam Bam Bigelow that he'd be facing not one, not two, not three, but four Doink clones. The prematch promo with the heel time has everyone but Bigelow and Luna chowing down on food, which sadly plays into the next match way too much.

 

The Bushwhackers and Men on a Mission (w/Oscar) def Bam Bam Bigelow, Bastion Booger and The Headshrinkers (w/Luna Vachon and Afa) in 10:58- The heels are still eating as they come in. All the faces are wearing Doink makeup and wigs. So....where's the real Doink? Commentary doesn't even bother to ask. There's a big "We want Doink!" chant that the faces play along with, but methinks the crowd's not too happy with this. Luke and Booger start. It's awful. Samu comes in and beats Luke down. The faces start offering him balloons and he bites all of them. The last one has water in it, which surprises Samu and Luke rolls him up for a pin. Pause for everyone reading to mental facepalm. Gird your loins folks, it's only going to get worse. Fatu beats Luke down. Or it could be Butch. With all the facepaint it's harder to tell than usual. Booger hits a legdrop. Bigelow comes in and tries to get things serious for a minute. Booger hits the booger drop or whatever it was called. But instead of pinning LukeButch, he's distracted by food! He goes for the drop again, but MOM pull LukeButch out of the way. The Bushwhackers hit the battering ram, and Mabel covers Booger to eliminate him. Fatu attacks ButchLuke with a turkey. Really. Mo gets the scooter Luke rode in on and rides around the ring with it. Vince: "What is going on?". Might be Vince's biggest understatement ever. Bigelow enzuguris Mo and throws the scooter to the floor. Fatu hits a splash off the top rope, but doesn't get the pin because now *he's* distracted by the food! Oy vey. The other Bushwhacker comes in and threatens to throw clown stuff on Fatu from a bucket. Fatu SLIPS ON A BANANA PEEL AND GETS PINNED. Son of a bitch, I'm a quarter of a nerve away from going full on Jim Cornette on this match. I'm talking modern day angry old man Jim Cornette. Bigelow is the only heel left and he tries to have a wrestling match with all the crap all over the ring. Mabel comes in. I should mention, no one on the face team has tagged in or out the whole match, they've just swapped. Jim Cornette and FTR. After some big man shoulderblock standoffs Mabel eventually knocks Bigelow down. Bigelow dodges an avalanche. Butch gets one of the buckets and throws confetti on Luna. While Bigelow's distracted by that he gets squashed in the corner by MOM, and all the faces pile on top of him to pin him. What. The. Flip. That was beyond atrocious. That was a joke, but not a funny joke. Even as a comedy match that was a pathetic excuse for anything remotely resembling what a wrestling match should be. The Gobbeldy Gooker reveal was better than that. I'm not even joking. SURVIVORS: Anyone that's still alive and sane after watching that garbage. MINUS FIVE STARS

 

The All Americans ("The All American" Lex Luger, The Undertaker and The Steiner Brothers) def The Foreign Fanatics (WWF Champion Yokozuna, Ludvig Borga, Crush and WWF Tag Team Champion Quebecer Jacques w/Mr. Fuji, Jim Cornette and Johnny Polo) in 27:59- Yokozuna and Taker go nose to nose before the bell. Something's really not right here- Rick's wearing matching boots. Scott and Jacques start. Jacques offers the insincere handshake. Scott offers a Spaceballs salute in return. Scott belly to belly suplex for a quick 2 count. Rick tags in and Jacques does the scardey runaway into the heel corner, tagging Yokozuna. Steinerlines and tackles knock Yokozuna to the floor. Rick gets caught and beat down in the heel corner. Borga throws him outside, with Rick inadvertently landing on top of a cameraman. Rick goes up top and hits Borga with a flying tackle for 2. He goes up again. It looks like Borga was supposed to catch and powerslam him, but he misses and Rick flops face first into the mat. Borga covers and Hebner counts 3 even though Rick puts his shoulder up. Rick rolls out and several guys check on him as it looks like he had his bell legitimately rung. Scott presses Jacques and throws him into Crush, who catches him. Crush ducks a leapfrog and hits a spinning kick to Scott's face. Randy Savage comes out, being held back by a gaggle of officials. Crush presses Scott and drops him all the way down to the floor while staring Savage down. The scrum gets Savage back behind the curtain. More kicks and some knee work from Crush on Scott. Savage is out again! Scott dropkicks Crush in the back, sending him to the floor. Crush doesn't care, barely sells and goes right for Savage. They brawl on the aisle as Crush gets counted out. When the camera gets back on the ring Scott's being pounded on in the heel corner. Jacques hits a piledriver. Scott comes back, hits a press slam and tags Luger. Luger slams Jacques, hits an elbow off the second rope, and that's all it takes to pin him. Scott comes back in, but Borga wants Luger. Borga stiffs the shit out of Scott with clotheslines and an avalanche. He goes up top. Scott catches him, climbs up and hits a superplex! Yokozuna breaks the pin up, then stays in the match. Seriously, are all the matches tonight lucha rules and no one bothered to tell us? Scott tries for the Frankensteiner. Yokozuna grabs the rope to stop, hits the legdrop and Scott's gone. Luger comes in and we have our Summerslam rematch. Yoko pounds away. Luger dodges a big splash. Luger clothesline. Yokozuna counter clothesline. Borga rib punches. Luger dodges a Yokozuna avalanche and tags Taker, who's finally in for the first time tonight. Taker leaping DDT on Yokozuna! The crowd finally wakes up for this. Borga tries a cheap shot from the apron. Taker takes him out, but Yokozuna uses the distraction to hit a belly to belly suplex. Taker sits up. Yoko clothesline. As Taker starts to sit up again Yokozuna hits him with a dropkick! Nice. He drags Taker to the corner and hits the Banzai Drop. But instead of covering he goes for a second one. Taker sits up and Yoko splats. Flying clothesline. They go to the floor. Taker no sells a stair shot as both guys are counted out. And the WWF title match for the Royal Rumble is set. It's down to Borga and Luger. Borga hits a bunch of power moves for near falls as Luger slowly starts hulking up. Luger reverses a suplex. Double clothesline. While Hebner's distracted Fuji gives him the salt bucket and he whacks Luger with it. Crawl over and cover. Luger kicks out! And now the full hulk up. Luger hits a DDT and power moves of his own for near falls. After a bit more back and forth Luger hits the loaded forearm for the win. Decent mini match to finish it there. It would turn out to be the heavily pushed Borga's last major WWF appearance, as he'd suffer an ankle injury at a house show in January before the Rumble and leave the WWF soon after, never to be heard from again. SOLE SURVIVOR: Lex Luger **1/2

As the show closes snow starts falling and Santa Claus comes out to celebrate with Luger. I'm done.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Another up and down show to close out an up and down year of major transition. The fact the crowd in one of WWF's major hub cities had a hard time getting invested in anything shows the struggle the company was facing, and would continue to for a few more years.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C-

Summerslam '93

Legacy Review

Summerslam '93

August 30, 1993 from The Palace in Auburn Hills, MI

Commentary: Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan

Razor Ramon def "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase in 7:32- The famous 1-2-3 Kid upset was used to turn Ramon face, and he and the Kid formed a loose tag team that harassed the former Money Inc. They're all paired off in singles matches tonight. DiBiase jumps Ramon as he gets in the ring and chops away. Ramon reverses a whip, hits a backdrop and fallaway slam, and DiBiase powders. Reset lockup. Ramon hits a series of clotheslines, the last sending DiBiase 360 and out. After getting flipped back in DiBiase begs off, but it's a RUSE as he grabs Ramon's tights and pulls him into the turnbuckles. Lots of DiBiase chokes. Backbreaker for 2. DiBiase really looks like he's lost the proverbial step. To the chinlock! The ref decides to do the arm drops with *both* of Ramon's arms. Double your tools, double your accuracy? Ramon comes back and DiBiase stops it with a knee to the gut. After a couple of setup moves DiBiase goes for the Million Dollar Dream. Ramon cuts it off with a back elbow. After a buckle shot Ramon falls to the floor. DiBiase takes a top corner pad off while he's down and of course ends up eating it himself. Razor's Edge and good night. Bleh. This was DiBiase's last WWF match as a full time wrestler. After spending the last half of the year in Japan (where he'd win the AJPW World Tag titles with Stan Hansen) he came back to WWF in '94 as a commentator and the company's new top manager. *1/2

Todd Pettingill hits on the Steiner women. The Steiners' sister calls Rick by his real name, sending waves of confusion across pre-internet wrestling fandom. Considering how the Steiner boys usually sound, the women come across as oddly normal.

 

WWF Tag Team Championship: The Steiner Brothers (c) def The Heavenly Bodies (w/Jim Cornette) in 9:28- The Bodies and Cornette do the full Midnight Express style entrance. They were here as part of WWF's new working relationship with Cornette's Smokey Mountain Wrestling. Cornette's in a neck brace because it's a heat getter. The Bodies do the Suzuki-Gun jump before the bell. Rick gets double suplexed and lands on his head (deliberately) off a double backdrop. Scott recovers and cleans house. Rick hits a Steinerline and Scott a belly to belly. After a Scott tiltawhirl slam the heels regroup. The Steiners are in matching Michigan Wolverine singlets in their home state. Reset with Scott and Pritchard. Scott hits a press slam. Rick blocks a hip toss and hits a huge Steinerline. Scott gives both heels inverted atomic drops. The Bodies use their 87th double team of the match to finally get an edge, faceplanting Scott from behind and send him Steiner in peril. Pritchard hits an enzuguri. Del Ray does a rolling senton off the apron to the floor! He follows that up by countering an attempted Scott counter into a spinny DDT. Superkick! Cover for 2. Cornette gets a racket shot in. Del Ray tries the spinny DDT again, but this time Scott counters and turns it into a Saito suplex! Pritchard takes a double underhook suplex and Scott gets the hot tag. Steinerline! Steinerline! Heenan: "Mrs. Steiner just gave her daughter a clothesline! They're all nuts!". Rick hits a bulldog off the top! Pritchard saves the pin. Cornette throws the racket in and Rick's nailed with it. Cover...and Rick kicks out! Del Ray goes for a moonsault, but Scott pushes Rick out of the way! Frankenstiener! That gets the pin. Like most Steiner WWF matches, fun but sloppy and just doesn't come together as a whole nearly as well as their WCW matches. The Bodies looked pretty damn good too. Cornette knows how to pick tag teams. ***

Vince figured out something that Jim Herd and Bill Watts WCW never could: Kevin Nash standing in the background looking super cool and saying very little just might get him over.

 

WWF Intercontinental Championship: Shawn Michaels (c) (w/Diesel) def Mr. Perfect by countout in 11:20- Both guys are going into this saying this match is to figure out who's the greatest IC champion of all the times. Cautious counterwrestling start. Shawn uses a hair pull to keep a headlock on. A crazy good long speed sequence ends with a total frak up as Shawn face plants himself after Perfect completely loses his place. Perfect transitions into arm work. He outcounters Shawn and Shawn has a hissy fit (something we're going to see a lot of in the ring the next few years, and not always worked). Perfect hits some .7 Flair chops. Shawn flips over the top rope to dodge a charging Perfect, but Perfect catches him coming off the top rope with an armdrag. He catches an attempted Shawn dropkick and slingshots him to the floor. Diesel and Perfect stand off. Perfect turns around into a superkick! Shawn goes to work on Perfect's old back injury. Hard buckle bumps from Perfect. Shawn hits a backbreaker and leaves Perfect draped on his knee. Perfect punches out. Another speed run ends with a huge Shawn sell of a Perfect dropkick. Shawn sells a kneelift by flopping all over Hebner just for the hell of it. After a blocked hiptoss Perfect goes for a backslide. Shawn flips out, but Perfect transitions it into the Perfectplex! Diesel breaks the pin up. Brawl on the floor! Shawn knocks Hebner down so Diesel can run Perfect into the post and it's a countout. After the match Diesel gives Perfect a KO punch, which was his thing at the time. Hugely disappointing considering who was in there, not to mention the crap finish. The last vestige of Perfect's momentum from his huge babyface return at Survivor Series '92 circles down the drain. It also showed that, the one great Bret Hart match aside, Perfect was likely never going to get back to his peak '90-'91 form. On the other side, Shawn and Diesel definitely looked like the Next Big Thing. **1/2

 

Irwin R Schyster def The 1-2-3 Kid in 5:44- Young 21 year old Sean Waltman (AKA Syxx and X-Pac) is finally making his PPV debut after being a heavily featured wrestler on weekly TV for months following his famous Raw upset of Razor Ramon in the spring. He's easily the smallest wrestler WWF has given a significant push to, and Rotunda, not a large guy himself, looks huge next to him. After some opening basics Kid hits a spinning heel kick for 2. Rotunda stalls (shock!). Kid gets planted on a big face first backdrop. IRS lifts him again, but Kid twists in midair and turns it into a dropkick! IRS hits a back elbow and throws Kid over the top and out. He tries to flip Kid back in, but Kid rolls through it, lands on his feet, and rolls IRS up for 2. Rotunda hooks in the Rotunda Special Abdominal Stretch and plays the rope leverage game. Kid comes back with buckle shots and kicks. Moonsault! IRS kicks out! That's the move he upset Ramon with. IRS blocks another spinning kick, but Kid hits an enzuguri for 2. On rope runs IRS nails Kid with the Write Off clothesline outta nowhere and gets the pin. Meh. Kid got his stuff in but it had too much IRS to be good. *3/4

The next match is scheduled to be Bret Hart vs Jerry Lawler for the undisputed King of the WWF crown. Bruce and Owen Hart are at ringside. After Bret's entrance Lawler comes out on crutches with massive over the top knee wrapping. He tells a wonderful heel BS story about how a little blue haired old lady (Helen Hart according to Heenan) caused a massive pileup on I-75 and wrecked Lawler's piece of shit anyway Detroit made limo that he had to crawl out of the flaming wreck of and hobble all the way to the arena on one leg. Long story short (too late), the doctors won't let him wrestle and he's SO PISSED OFF about it because he wants to kill Bret, but what can you do? Well, he gets his court jester, (still Matt Bourne) Doink the Clown as a substitute.

 

Bret "Hitman" Hart def Doink the Clown (w/Jerry Lawler) by DQ in 9:05- Doink has two buckets with him. With one he throws confetti on the ringside fans. With the other he throws water on the Hart brothers. Bret jumps him on the floor. The ref holds Bruce and Owen back. Bret clotheslines Doink 360 and out. Bruce gets a punch in. Bret uses Doink's still attached jacket for a short clothesline, then posts him. Back in Bret blocks a kick, spins Doink around, and punches him to the floor again. Doink gets some shots in from the apron, goes up top, but Bret punches him and he gets crotched. Bret holds the ropes open, inviting Lawler into the ring. A slugfest ends with a Bret headbutt. Bret's had enough of Doink and goes after Lawler. Doink attacks from behind and gives Bret a stair shot. Double ax handle off the top. Doink hits a kneebreaker, posts Bret's knee, and wraps him up in an STF. Bret slips out. Doink beats him down some more and hooks on his stump puller finisher. But he makes the mistake of trying to use some added rope leverage and the ref catches him. Doink tries coming off the top again, but Bret gets his knees up and Doink goes crotch first into them. Russian leg sweep and elbow off the second rope. Bret hooks in the Sharpshooter. Lawler gets in the ring and nails Bret with his crutch. He can walk! It's a miracle! Lawler beats Bret down with his crutches while the ref holds Bruce and Owen back. OK first act. **1/4

President Tunney comes out and orders Lawler to wrestle Bret or he'll be banned for life.

 

For the Undisputed "King of the WWF" title: Jerry "The King" Lawler def Bret "Hitman" Hart by DQ in 6:32- Bret jumps Lawler on the entrance ramp and we have a slugfest on the floor. Bret hits Lawler with Doink's bucket. Back in the ring Lawler gets a pissed off Bret Hart beatdown. Hart whacks Lawler with the crutch right in front of the ref, who channels his inner Red Shoes and lets it go. Lawler sneaks around the ring, grabs crutch pieces out of Bret's view, and nails him with it. He taunts the Hart brothers and runs away to choke Bret with more crutch pieces. Lawler suckers Owen and Bruce into distracting the ref to do more crutch assisted damage in the ring. Bret hits a blind kick to Lawler's crotch to get some breathing room. The straps are down! We're getting super cereal now and Bret goes into murder death kill mode. He mixes a piledriver into the usual Five Moves of Doom run. Sharpshooter! Lawler submits and the bell rings. But Bret refuses to break the hold. More bells. Bret still won't release. More refs come out. Bret still won't release. Now officials are running in. It's a veritable Royal Rumble of refs and officials running in, but Bret's still got the Sharpshooter on. Finally Bruce and Owen in his leather pants come in and talk Bret into letting go. Fink announces that the referee has reversed his decision and awarded the match to Lawler by DQ. As a stretcher comes out for Lawler Bret attacks him again! The 800 officials in the ring get him off. As Lawler gets on the stretcher Bruce jumps on him, but they manage to get Lawler out. Lawler holds his hand up in victory while laying on the stretcher all the way up the ramp. Absolutely tremendous old school blood feud stuff here, right out of the '80s. The only thing missing was actual blood. ***1/2

Ludvig Borga (dressed like Big Josh) wanders around a decrepit area of Detroit and throws words at Lex Luger.

 

Ludvig Borga def Marty Janetty in 5:15- Now, Borga's a guy with a interesting life resume. Legitimately from Finland, he was a boxer, MMA fighter, bodyguard, appeared on an American Gladiators-style TV show, served in the Finnish military, wrote five books, recorded music, acted in films, and was even a member of the Finnish parliament in the early aughts before committing suicide in 2010. He had a huge push as a "legit fighter" in New Japan in the early '90s, including a co-run with the IWGP Heavyweight Tag titles, before moving over to WWF, where he was planned as another top evil foreigner heel. All this is way more interesting than the match, which is an extended squash with former IC champ Janetty selling like a champ and making Bork Laser v0.4 look like a monster. Borga uses the torture rack to submit Janetty, an interesting subtle message to Luger, who used the rack as his finisher in WCW. 3/4*

 

Rest In Peace Match: The Undertaker def Giant Gonzalez (w/Harvey Wippleman) in 8:04- "Rest in Peace Match" is a fancy way of saying no countout, no DQ. These are the things I do for my readers: watch a second Undertaker/Giant Gonzalez match. I hope it's appreciated because I can think of Geneva Conventions violations less painful than this. Wippleman still has the urn. Paul Bearer has been MIA since the urn was stolen in the spring. Taker is starting to do his "lights off/raise the hands and lights come on" entrance. Taker ambushes Gonzalez and climbs the second rope to choke him. Gonzalez kicks, clubbing blows and headbutts stagger Taker. Taker gets a leaping clothesline. A Gonzalez throat thrust takes Taker down and Gonzalez throws him out. Weak slugfest on the floor. Gonzalez whacks Taker with a chair and whips him into the stairs. Taker lays on the floor a while, reaching for help. Back in Taker keeps trying to crawl to the urn but gets cut off by Gonzalez or has the urn taken away by Wippleman. Undertaker's Dong hits! It's Paul Bearer! (Brian Blessed voice) BEARER'S ALIVE! He's got a black funeral wreath with him. Wippleman takes his jacket off to fight but runs right into a Bearer punch. Bearer walks around, says "come to daddy" and takes the urn back! The reunion of the century! Overdoing it? Well, the night at least. Gonzalez stares at Bearer as he uses the Power of the Urn to get Taker to sit up. A series of clotheslines stagger Gonzalez. Taker goes up top and hits a diving clothesline that gets Gonzalez down. There's no way in hell Taker can physically tombstone him, so that's the finish. Thank God that's over. After the match Gonzalez divorces from Wippleman, No one cares. Gonzalez would mercifully be out of the company a couple of months later. It had a definitive ending and the story has it's own internal logic, so it's "better" than the WM disaster, but still an atrocious match because Gonzalez was one of the worst wrestlers there's ever been. DUD

 

Tatanka and The Smoking Gunns def Bam Bam Bigelow and The Headshrinkers (w/Luna Vachon and Afa) in 11:15- "Two cowboys and an Indian walk into a wrestling ring" sounds like a joke setup. Rumor has it this was originally going to be a Tatanka and Sherri vs Bigelow and Luna mixed tag match before Sherri left the company. The faces charge, but the heels take them out! That was different. Start proper with Bigelow and Tatanka, who's still "undefeated", which is getting kind of ridiculous at this point. Tatanka dropkicks, then backdrops Bigelow! Tatanka and Bigelow both go for crossbodys and collide! Damn! Tags on both sides. Billy/Fatu slugfest. Fatu superkick! Billy hits a reverse bulldog off the top rope. Fatu runs him over with a shoulderblock. Samu hot shots Billy into Fatu. Another superkick sends Billy into the face corner and he tags. Bart hits a crossbody for 2. Samu faceplants Bart. Bigelow with a dropkick. Samu powerslam for 2. The Headshrinkers hit a double headbutt, then Bigelow rams Bart's head into both 'Shrinkers' heads. Fatu no sells a faceplant and kills Bart with a clothesline. Bart dodges a Bigelow charge and Bigelow goes HARD into the corner. Hot tag to Tatanka. Tatanka scalps everyone. He slams Bigelow! DDT. Crossbody off the top for 2. Bigelow gets some shots in but Tatanka almost instantly goes into dancing up mode. Bigelow kills it with a leaping enzuguri! Fatu hits a diving headbutt off the second rope. DONNYBROOK! Everyone in! The heels hit a triple team avalanche and triple headbutt on Tatanka. All three go up top, but Tatanka dodges the triple diving headbutt! He rolls Samu up for the pin. Now that was a pleasant surprise. These guys took a dead spot on the card, said screw it, and went out and had a hell of a fun match. ***1/2

 

MAIN EVENT FEUD RECAP- After destroying Hulkamania at King of the Ring and winning back the WWF Championship, the gargantuan and still growing Yokozuna took part in an open Bodyslam Challenge on the deck of the USS Intrepid on the 4th of July. After several wrestlers tried and failed (including, I believe, Crush, who was originally possibly in line for this push) Lex Luger arrived in style in a helicopter and proceeded to slam the mammoth champion. Out was the Narcissist, in was the Hulk Hogan v2.0 All American. Luger chartered a bus and named it the Lex Express, crisscrossing the country and meeting with fans in a bid to get a title match. Yokozuna's new American Spokesman James E Cornette (who joined up with Yoko and Fuji after the SMW partnership started) agreed on two conditions: Luger would wear a pad over his forearm with the metal plate, and this would be a one time opportunity. If he failed, he would not get another title shot.

 

WWF Championship: "The All American" Lex Luger def Yokozuna (c) (w/Mr. Fuji and Jim Cornette) by countout in 17:58- Full pomp and circumstance for the main event, with both the Japanese and American national anthems being sung. Randy Savage continues to be Vince's gadget player in between his occasional matches, escorting singer Aaron Neville to the ring and announcing Luger's entrance. Despite all the red, white and blue out there Luger's pop is noticeably smaller than Bret's or even Taker's. Midring big match staredown after the bell. Fuji tries to sneak in behind Luger. Luger turns to stop him and Yokozuna tries to jump but Luger anticipates that too. Luger tries a waistlock and rollup. Yokozuna counters with a back elbow. Luger dodges the legdrop and gets some kicks to Yokozuna's hamstring, a sound strategy that lasts for about 23 seconds. Yokozuna tries to get out of the ring. Luger kicks the middle rope into his crotch and the big man is down. Big Luger elbow drop for 2. Yokozuna grabs Luger on a run and slams him. Luger dodges the follow up elbow drop. Corner clothesline from Luger. Yokozuna hits a throat punch. Fuji sneaks up again and Luger avoids getting a face full of salt. He tries to slam Yokozuna. No dice. Headbutts send Luger to the floor. Yokozuna squashes Luger against the post. He grabs a chair, but Luger dodges and Yokozuna whacks the post. Back in Luger hits a double ax handle off the second rope, then another off the top. Yokozuna's still standing. Luger comes off the top again with a flying forearm with the (padded) loaded forearm! Cover for a long 2. He gets a run and pops Yokozuna in the back of the head with the forearm and covers for another long 2. Zero crowd reaction to either near fall. Double clothesline. Cornette distracts the ref and Fuji tosses the salt bucket in. Yokozuna nails Luger with it, crawls over and covers. Luger just kicks out. Big Yokozuna belly to belly suplex. After a slow cover Luger again barely kicks out. Saito suplex. Another narrow Luger escape. Again, zero crowd reaction to the near falls. Yokozuna goes to the Oriental Nerve Pinch of Time Killing +3. Luger powers out, stomps on Yokozuna's bare foot, and tries another slam. Yokozuna falls on top of him for a 2 count. He hits the legdrop! Another long 2. He drags Luger to the corner to finish him. Luger dodges the Banzai Drop! Back and forth in the corner. Luger dodges an avalanche. He slams Yokozuna! Fuji takes a punch on the apron. Cornette is yelling at the ref so Luger takes the pad off his loaded forearm and nails Yokozuna with it! Yoko falls down to the floor, knocked out cold. Cornette takes a punch as Hebner counts Yokozuna out. And we get a huge celebration like Luger actually won the title. Luger celebrates. Savage comes in with the US flag. Faces run in from the locker room. Vince turns up the over the top buttering up on commentary to like level one million. Balloons and confetti stream down. I mean, excuse the language here, but what the actual fuck?! Luger wins by countout and they still do the big celebration like if he had won the title? This is another level of moronic. The only reason it's not WWF's worst booking decision of the year is the fact Wrestlemania 9 and its atrocious impromptu main event is in the same year. The match itself was honestly as good as it could have been, with Luger showing as much motivation as he had at any point since his '89-'90 peak. But holy hell what a God awful ending. This is how Luger got the reputation of the guy that can't win the big one in the WWF. *1/4

And we're not done. The Lex Express music video plays again. There's an honestly good shot of Yokozuna still unconscious on the floor buried under red white and blue balloons. Then we go to the locker room and a Luger promo, which is interrupted by Ludwig Borga as he runs down Luger and the US. End show. At least that's two straight PPVs that they're experimenting with something other than the usual ending.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- There are positives here. The whole Hart/Lawler section is really good, and the 6 man tag is one of those fun you didn't expect it surprise good matches. But you also have a massively disappointing IC title match, Undertaker vs Giant Gonzalez existing, and good lord that main event leaves a horrible taste to close out the show.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C-