Clash of the Champions XVII

Legacy Review

Clash of the Champions XVII

November 19, 1991 from the Savannah Civic Center in Savannah, GA

Commentary: Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone

Lumberjack Match: Big Josh def Thomas Rich (w/Alexandra York) in 6:03- The lumberjack is in a lumberjack match. How original. Rich jumps Josh at the bell, wraps his flannel around his head and beats him down. After a bit Josh gets pissed and no sells a shoulderblock. Rich tries to bail but can't get out. Josh belly to belly suplex and he does the log roll. Rich rolls out and the lumberjacks argue. The face turned Fabulous Freebirds push everyone away and roll Rich back in. Josh gets thrown out and the heels attack. Buddy Lee Parker throws TICKETS at him! That's serious heel work. Rich goes sneaky style (copyright Rocky Romero) and chokes Josh with his wrist tape. The heel turned Young Pistols join the choke party. Rich suplex for 2. He goes up top but Josh slams him off. Criss cross. Rich's York Foundation teammate Terrance Taylor trips him! Completely on purpose! Josh hits the Northern Exposure (Earthquake splash) for the pin. The lumberjack wins the lumberjack match. How original. The Taylor trip was supposed to be the catalyst for a feud to break the York Foundation up, but with the changes in WCW management coming in '92 the whole thing was backburnered and the group quietly fizzled out. There was another heel stable forming that would (rightly) take all the oxygen out of the arena anyway. *

 

"Beautiful" Bobby Eaton def Firebreaker Chip in 4:52- Eaton's still in his short lived babyface phase so we get the Code of Honor handshake to start. (Incidentally I'm writing this on the day ROH announced it was suspending operations after Final Battle '21. I know they plan to come back and hope they do, but if they don't it was a hell of a run. Golden Age ROH from around 2004-2010 kept indie wrestling in the US alive and produced so much great talent it's almost hard to fathom.) What exactly is a firebreaker anyway? Does he literally break the fire with his hands, or is it more of a mental thing where he breaks it down through psychological trickery? Anyway. Eaton outwrestles Chip a bit before sitting in a headlock for a while. Chip springs to the top rope and Eaton casually walks out of range. Chip comes off anyway, lands on his feet, then bounces to the opposite second turnbuckle for a crossbody for 2. Back to the headlock. After he's had enough Eaton backs him hard into the corner. He ducks a Chip crossbody in the corner. Chip lands on his feet on the apron and springs up to the top rope, coming off with a clothesline for 2. Eaton does some nice chain wrestling. Chip turns it into a half nelson to try to get a leverage pin. Eaton pops out of the corner with a clothesline to wake up the completely moribund crowd. He hits a crossbody but Chip rolls through it for 2. Chip gets a sunset flip. Eaton's kickout sends Chip into the corner (with an obvious foot plant and launch well after Eaton's push) and Eaton hits a back suplex with a bridge for the pin. Pure carry job by Eaton. He'd go back to his natural heel role soon after this and join the rapidly expanding Dangerous Alliance. *1/2

Next up is an ad for Starrcade '91, which will feature the first ever Lethal Lottery and Battlebowl. After that Tony is with Sting, who's being presented with his last mystery gift box which will reveal who's been sending Cactus Jack and Abdullah the Butcher after him. This one is no ordinary gift box, it's a royal chariot being carried by a bunch of beefed up extras that look like they just walked off the Roman segment of History of the World Part I. The curtains open and out comes....Medusa! She gets all slinky with Sting, not unlike Sherri trying to seduce the Ultimate Warrior earlier in the year. While Sting's staring at her in a not completely disgusted or uninterested way Lex Luger comes out of the chariot and clips Sting's bad knee! It was Luger all along! Luger works Sting's knee over before the face locker room chases him off.

 

"The Z Man" Tom Zenk def The Diamond Studd in 1:24-We JIP the match after commercial with Studd hitting a bulldog off the second rope. But no time for that crap, we go right to the back to check on Sting. He's on a stretcher with medics looking him over. They load him into an ambulance and drive off to the Local Medical Facility. Back in the ring Zenk hits a karate kick and crucifixes Studd to win. Studd gives him the Diamond Death Drop after because after two straight Clash jobber losses he needed some heat back. NR

 

WCW World Television Championship: "Stunning" Steve Austin (c) (w/Lady Blossom) def PN News in 4:21- Austin jumps before the bell. News counters with a choke and some corner pounding. Avalanche and clothesline to the back of Austin's head. Austin begs off. He suckers News in on the floor, but News reverses a whip and Austin goes into the guardrail. Back in Austin tries to slam News and it goes less than ideal. News hits a dropkick, or as much as he can do. Austin grabs News' tights and pulls him onto the ramp. Austin charges. News backdrops him back into the ring. Belly to belly suplex by News. Blossom puts Austin's foot on the rope. News goes after her. Austin LEAPS over the top rope and hits News in the back of the head. He dodges another News avalanche, stacks him up and gets his feet up on the ropes in the corner for the pin. Another pure carry job. But man, I'm always amazed how Austin moved in his younger days before he destroyed his knees (and Owen Hart almost paralyzed him). He was one of the quickest SOBs I've ever seen in a ring. *1/4

 

Cactus Jack def Van Hammer in 4:03- Another heel jump before the bell. Jack bites. Hammer hits a back suplex and dropkicks Jack to the floor. Big boot, slam and legdrop by Hammer for 2. Who's he been watching tape of brother? Foley does some nice misdirection to hit a faceplant. Cactus Clothesline! Elbow off the second rope to the floor! The crowd for no discernible logical reason actually chants for Hammer and he hulks up off of it. Jack takes a Bret bump and Hammer hammers him with a stiff clothesline to the back of the head. Knee off the top rope. Jack kicks out! Midring collision and Jack falls to the floor. While the ref "can't see" Jack grabs Hammer's guitar, which conveniently is one of those funky triangular '80s ones and is the exact perfect shape for ramming into someone's throat. Jack uses it as it was designed and gets a 3 count. Hammer gives him the slingshot suplex on the ramp after and they continue fighting all the way to the back. *1/2

JR is on the phone with Eric Bischoff, who's at the Local Medical Facility Sting is being examined at. Bischoff says three doctors, including an orthopedic surgeon, are with Sting right now, then says an orderly just gave him a thumbs up. What could it mean? Stay tuned for more.

 

WCW World Tag Team Championship: "The Natural" Dustin Rhodes and a mystery partner (w/Barry Windham) def The Enforcers (c) in 14:48- Windham can't go due to getting his hand crunched in a car door by Zbyszko at Halloween Havoc so we have a mystery partner replacing him. Someone walks in with a huge dragon head on and walking very gingerly down the ramp due to barely being able to see. It should be obvious who it is, but Tony provides a surprisingly nice bit of misdirection by saying maybe it's someone from Japan. Dustin takes the head off.....BAH GAWD IT'S RICKY STEAMBOAT! Steamboat had last been seen buried in midcard hell and going nowhere on WWF programming. The heels are not surprisingly furious and have to calm themselves down. Steamboat and Arn start. Steamboat comes out hot so Arn rakes his eyes to slow him down. Steamboat fights out of the heel corner and we're donnybrooking early! All four guys fight on the floor, then the faces clear the ring and the heels need to regroup. The crowd's going absolutely bonkers. Arn: "He's just a man". When they get back going the faces work Zbyszko's arm for a bit, including Steamboat posting it. Zbyszko works Dustin over to his corner and tags. Arn takes control and goes up top. Dustin tries to slam him off. Arn pokes him in the eye to counter and hits a double ax handle off the top. Dustin gets a boot up in the corner and goes nuts with bionic elbows on everyone. Arn goes into mega super ultra selling mode flopping out of the ring and wants a time out. Zbyszko wants Steamboat and gets him. Steamboat hits a reverse kick. Zbyszko slaps him to rile him up and leads him in a chase. The Enforcers maneuver Steamboat into an Arm ambush and he goes in peril. Dustin tries to run in and the heels double team. Steamboat tries to chop back and Arn cuts him off with a shot just north of a bit south of Saskatoon. Steamboat with a sunset flip. Arn fights and just manages to tag before going over. Zbyszko abdominal stretch with outside help. They continue to focus on Steamboat's back. Arn with a back suplex for 2. Steamboat never stays down long and keeps trying to fight back. Faceplant on Arn! Zbyszko cuts off a tag and hits a backbreaker for 2. Consummate babyface Steamboat with a desperation eye rake! He tries for a slam but his back gives out and Zbyszko falls on top of him for 2. Arn hooks in a bear hug and gets a near fall off it. He goes for a leverage pin but Steamboat wraps him up in a body scissors. Arn turns that into a Boston crab! The Enforcers swap and Zbyszko drags Steamboat back into their corner with his own Boston crab. Steamboat crawls back. Arn distracts the ref and he doesn't see the tag. Steamboat ducks a punch and atomic drops Arn. Arn goes into the corner, bounces off, and hits heads with Steamboat. He's still up first and goes up top again. Steamboat gets his boots up! Crawl...hot tag! Dustin cleans house. Arn reverses a whip. Dustin sneaky tags Steamboat and hits a bulldog! Steamboat goes up top and hits the crossbody! Dustin cuts Zbyszko as the ref counts 3 and we have new champions! What an incredible match. Perfectly paced and logically laid out like you always got with Arn Anderson tag matches, not a second wasted, and everyone in the ring worked their asses off, even chronic staller Zbyszko. Possibly WCW's match of the year for 1991. ****3/4

Next up is a video feature on the soon to debut in the US Jushin Thunder Liger, featuring footage from New Japan and some horrible music. After that Paul E is with JR. He disavows anything to do with Luger or Medusa and says what happened to Sting was tragic......BUT, "I'm not lying, this time", he points out a clause in the match contract that if Sting doesn't appear, he forfeits the US title to Rick Rude. After commercial JR is on the phone with Bischoff again. Bischoff tells Sting about the contract clause. Sting yells "I'm getting back!" and commandeers an ambulance.

 

WCW Light Heavyweight Championship: "Flyin'" Brian Pillman (c) def Johnny B Badd (w/Teddy Long) in 4:19- Someone in the back messed up and played Pillman's music for Badd's entrance and they have to pause for the tape to rewind. Badd and Long (or "Peanut Head" as JR likes to call him) have been having some disagreements lately but look on the same page at the start. Badd breaks out the fisticuffs early. Pillman responds with chops. A dropkick sends Badd to the ramp. Pillman with a springboard clothesline! Badd throws Pillman off the ramp into the guardrail. Pillman comes back in with a slingshot tackle for 2. He goes up top for a splash but Badd gets his knees up. Now Badd tries coming off the top but Pillman dropkicks him! Spinning heel kick for 2. Badd gets a diving clothesline and goes up top again. Sunset flip off the top. But Long's distracting the ref! Pillman pushes Badd into Long and rolls him up for 3. After the bell Badd and Long argue, leading to Badd punching him out. This was the start of Badd's face turn. Match was fine for the time they got. **1/4

 

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: "Ravishing" Rick Rude (w/Paul E Dangerously) def Sting (c) in 4:50- Paul E cuts a promo while we see the ambulance arrive with Sting. Sting limps back in (after picking the wrong door, not unlike the bits where Chris Jericho got lost outside the arena). Rude meets him on the ramp and we have a slugfest! Sting press slams Rude on the ramp! Rude's tights game is an A+ again tonight, with a picture of the US title belt on them. Back in Rude rakes Sting's eyes and goes up top. Sting gives him a punch in the gut on the way down. Huge Sting backdrop. He clotheslines Rude 360 over onto the ramp. Rude grabs Sting's leg, drags him down, and posts the bad knee. Fistdrop off the top and Rude gives us the hip swivel. He goes for the Rude Awakening but Sting powers out. He punches back, and Rude does a delayed fall but when he does he comes down on Sting's knee! Paul E with a phone shot. Sting kicks out! Sting DDT. Paul E's on the apron again. Rude clips Sting's knee again, rolls him up and grabs a handful of tights for the pin and the title! Good match showing instant chemistry between these two, and a great angle. Even with the bum knee the heels still needed to use every trick in the book to win. Rude would go on to hold the US title for just over a year, a reign that only ended due to injury. ***

Paul E, Rude and Medusa are in the back with Tony. Paul E says he set up EVERYTHING! Luger, Medusa, the boxes, he was behind it all, and WCW can suck it! This was the foundation that the entire Dangerous Alliance was built on.

 

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: "The Total Package" Lex Luger (c) (w/Harley Race) def Rick Steiner (w/Scott Steiner) in 11:30- The first Clash of '91 had Scott getting a world title shot, and the last one sees Rick getting one. This actually had some build, with Rick pinning Luger in a non-match with a ref present and beating Mr. Hughes in an actual match, both with the belly to belly suplex. The ref kicks Hughes out before the match starts. Rough stalemate lockups. Rick gets leg takedowns and Luger gets right to the ropes. Lots of the usual heel Luger stalling. They finally crank up a speed run. Rick catches Luger and powerslams him, and a Steinerline sends him to the floor. Race and Luger consult and the match slows to a crawl again. Luger gives Rick a buckle shot and of course Rick no sells it and pounds his head into it some more. Nothing up there to hurt. He ducks a Luger clothesline and hits a German suplex for 2. Luger reverses a corner whip and Rick Bret bumps. Scott has the ref distracted so Luger lifts Rick up and drops him on the top rope crotch first. Huge Luger clothesline. Rick blocks a suplex and hits his own. Luger hits clubbing blows and Rick shrugs them off. Rick comeback powerslam for 2. Bulldog off the top rope! Luger gets a foot on the rope. Belly to belly superplex! Hughes comes back out. Scott backdrops him into the ring and gives him a Frankensteiner! Rick suplexes Race in! Old man still taking the bumps. In the confusion Luger grabs the world title belt. He whacks Rick with it, and covers him for 3. Pretty typical '91 Luger title defense. It could have been pretty good if Luger was motivated and they didn't take forever to get out of first gear. The overbooking wasn't too bad in this case though. *3/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- With five title matches and two title changes, probably because Starrcade was going to be all Lethal Lottery matches, this Clash certainly feels more consequential than previous ones. The first half is the usual listless Jim Herd era show, but the second half picks up pretty well. Everything involving Sting/Rude/Paul E is both good and important, and the tag title match is a must watch. This is a key show in the rise of the hottest angle in WCW in years, the Dangerous Alliance.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C

Summerslam '95

Legacy Review

Summerslam '95

August 27, 1995 from the Civic Arena (AKA The Igloo) in Pittsburgh, PA

Commentary: Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler

Hakushi def The 1-2-3 Kid in 9:27- This has potential if Hakushi is motivated, which was always a question. In the background during intros the Stridex blimp appears to be crashing into the crowd. Oh, the humanity. Slow, basic start. Kid flashes some agility. They crank it up with a speed run ending with a double kip up. The crowd's pretty into it. Hakushi throat thrusts escalate things. He tries a powerbomb. Kid rolls it into an armdrag. Hakushi catches Kid running and hits a tiltawhirl slam. Handspring elbow! Bit of a pop for Hakushi after that. Vince even mentions it. Hakushi slows things down to a glacial pace with some kicks to Kid's hamstring, then the back of his head. Vader bomb for 2. A backdrop and reverse kick send Kid to the floor. Hakushi runs up and hits a handspring moonsault over the top to the floor! That gets him even more of a pop. Back in Hakushi gets a tackle off the top rope for 2. He tries coming off the top again but Kid dodges. A dropkick sends Hakushi to the floor. Kid springboards off the second rope with a crossbody to the floor, then hits a legdrop over the top rope for 2. He tries a spinning heel kick, but Hakushi catches it and slams him down for a 3 count. Solid but spotty. As usual Hakushi hit his two or three awesome big spots and dogged the rest. **1/2

 

Hunter Hearst Helmsley def Bob "Spark Plugg" Holly in 7:10- Young Triple H is making his WWF PPV debut with his classic blue blood character. Fun fact of interest to no one but me: I went to the same high school Trips did. About 10 years apart, but still. HHH's seal is still on the entrance screen for Holly's entrance. HHH refuses to lock up, probably because Holly's covered in engine grease or something. Holly says screw this, scoops and slams HHH. Trips hides in the ropes and gets a cheap punch in over the ref. Holly reverses a corner whip into a ripcord back elbow. HHH picks Holly up in the corner and hits a (sloppy) hot shot. Huge Holly buckle bump. HHH gives his sarcastic bow to rile the crowd up. We cut to backstage to see the British Bulldog arriving at the arena with a promise of intrigue for the main event because he got into it with Diesel on a recent Raw. HHH works some power moves on Holly's back (with the Flair kneedrop mixed in) and locks on an abdominal stretch. Holly reverses. HHH hiptosses him over the top to the floor. Back in Holly counters a backdrop into a DDT. Holly does a tiltawhirl, they lose their place for a second, and Holly hits a dropkick. HHH charges, Holly grabs him and hits an inverted atomic drop. Holly puts his head down for a backdrop. Big mistake. Pedigree! That gets the pin. Borderline acceptable, but a bit sloppy. Trips was still learning. *1/2

 

The Smoking Gunns def The Blu Brothers (w/Uncle Zebekiah) in 6:09- Billy and, er, Blu 1 start. I can't tell which Blu is which and frankly don't particularly care. Blu quickly takes over with power. Billy gets a flash roll up for 2. Fameasser! That's a cool move, it might work as a finisher someday. The Blus double team Bart until Bart hits a crossbody for 2. The Gunns hit a nice double team, but the non-covered Blu breaks the pin up. Double slam on Billy and he goes cowboy in peril. One Blu wanders around forever before finally covering for 2. Billy gets tied in the tree of woe, followed by a few minutes of Billy kicking out of bland Blu offense. Billy hits a faceplant and gets the hot tag. Bart has slams for everyone until he eats a big boot. Bart runs the Blus into each other and the Gunns hit their finisher to win. 3/4*

 

Barry Horowitz def Skip (w/Sunny) in 11:21- Ah, Sunny. Many a teenage libido were awakened by her. For many in my age bracket, looking for pictures of Sunny was the first thing you did on the internet that you didn't tell your parents about. Skip is future ECW star Chris Candido. This was actually a fun little angle. Horowitz was a well known regular jobber on weekly WWF TV going back to 1987. On a July episode of Wrestling Challenge he cradled a distracted Skip with a three quarters nelson for his "first" victory ever (not really but it made a good story), then drew with Skip in a 10 minute time limit rematch a few weeks later. Horowitz charges the ring and comes in hot. Not sure about those suspenders though. Backdrop. When he slides out to punch Skip the suspenders come undone. A clothesline sends Skip 360 over to the floor, and Horowitz dispenses with the suspenders. Fun counter sequence with Horowitz outsmarting Skip and rolling him up for 2. Horowitz goes to the apron and suplexes Skip over to the floor! Sunny throws her towel in onto Hebner and gets in the ring. Hebner yells at her that this isn't boxing, it's wrestling and get the hell out! I could run down the wrestling matches that have ended with a towel thrown in, but nah. Sunny trips Horowitz and Skip hits him from behind. Suplex and legdrop off the second rope. Skip decides not to cover. Gut wrench suplex. Skip goes into showboating mode. Horowitz dodges an elbow drop and hits shoulderblocks for near falls. Sunset flip for 2. A Skip clothesline kills his momentum. Horowitz Thesz press for 2! Skip hits a powerslam and showboats some more. Rapid fire Skip legdrops and a cover for 2. Slugfest with huge European uppercuts from Horowitz. Both guys go for dropkicks! Skip hits a headbutt off the top, but pulls Horowitz out of the pin at 2. He goes for a piledriver. Horowitz backdrops out. He goes up top but Sunny shakes the rope and he gets crotched. Skip with a superplex! Hakushi, who was involved in distracting Skip during Horowitz's first win. comes out. He springboards over both guys! The distraction allows Horowitz to get a Paul Smackage for 3! Fun match let down by the distraction finish. Sadly Horowitz's push would fizzle out after this. He'd tag with the face turned Hakushi and some other guys before mostly going back to being a jobber. Too bad. A Horowitz IC title win and short run could have been a lot of fun. ***

Dean Douglas (Shane Douglas in his annoying heel schoolteacher gimmick) is in the back conducting "summer school" classes by breaking down some of the matches, but seems to struggle with properly using the words he's trying to define.

 

WWF Women's Championship: Bertha Faye (w/Harvey Wippleman) def Alundra Blayze (c) in 4:14- The women's division (or what there was of it at the time) reappears after a long PPV absence. Faye had an extensive pedigree working in promotions around the world, but was given a very comic relief "large woman that thinks she's beautiful" gimmick with the added gag of tiny Wippleman being infatuated with her. After Blayze and Bull Nakano put on some of the best women's matches in WWF history it's quite the comedown. Blayze throws some kicks and hits an enzuguri, then dodges an avalanche. Blayze runs into Faye and goes down so Faye keeps running her over. At one point Blayze pushes Faye away like she's legitimately mad about something. Faye legdrops for 2. Blayze dodges a splash off the second rope and does a victory roll for 2. .5 slingblades from Blayze. Wippleman distracts the ref and Blayze chases, but it literally goes nowhere. She gets back in the ring an the match continues like she never left. Blayze rolls around a "modified" (being generous) crucifix for 2. These women do not look like they're on the same page. Blayze whips out a hurricanrana for 2. She hits missile dropkicks off the second rope, but tries one time too many as Faye dodges and hits a sit out powerbomb for the clean as a sheet win and the title. 1/2*

JR makes an appearance, once again on aisle interview duty. This was a troubled time for him in WWF as he was constantly in the doghouse and even fired on more than one occasion. On top of that just watching him talk he's clearly already had his first Bell's palsy attack.

 

Casket Match: The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) def Kama (w/Ted DiBiase) in 16:26- Back to back matches of feuds that refuse to die despite being well past their expiration date. First is the Taker/Million Dollar Corporation stealing the urn feud. On top of that, casket matches generally don't lead to quality matches. The XXXXXL casket from Taker's Yokozuna feud returns for one night only. Taker comes out hot, barely getting his coat off before attacking Kama. He throws Kama over the top rope onto the casket. Taker with a Stinger splash, followed by the rope walk punch. Kama goes into the casket. He reaches up and snaps Taker's throat over the top rope before getting out, then hits a clothesline off the top rope. Taker goes for another Stinger splash but Kama catches and powerslams him. Taker goes into the casket. He drags Kama in but DiBiase distracts him before he can go for the lid. The next few minutes is Kama working horribly dull punchy kicky offense. He clotheslines Taker off the apron and onto the casket. DiBiase gets some shots in. Paul Bearer gets hot. THE JACKET IS OFF! PAUL BEARER IS HERE TO KICK ASS AND CHEW BUBBLE GUM AND HE'S ALL OUT OF BUBBLE GUM! The refs hold him back while Taker and Kama go back and forth on the floor. Taker's back is posted. Kama suplexes Taker onto the casket! That cracked some of the boards on the casket lid. So, if the casket gets broken, how does the match end? Kama sets up a piledriver on the casket. Taker backdrops him back into the ring. Kama hits a powerslam and goes for a pin. Casket match, dumbass. Now Kama works a chinlock with rope leverage, which is completely pointless in a match like this. And now he's working a headlock for frak's sake. Finally Taker suplexes out. Flying clothesline. A Taker clothesline sends both guys tumbling into the casket and the lid closes on them. Kama crawls out. Taker grabs his leg and both guys are out. Kama hits a swinging neckbreaker. Taker ducks a clothesline and hits the chokeslam. Tombstone, Kama's rolled into the casket, and it's mercifully over. Whoever gave this match this much time should be forced to spend a week's worth of nights in that casket. Taker was clearly trying to evolve his wrestling style at this point, but there's only so much he can do with who he's having to work with. Help would soon be on the way. 1/2*

 

Bret "Hitman" Hart def Issac Yankem DDS by DQ in 16:07- Jerry Lawler had enough of wrestling Bret himself, so he's throwing his "personal dentist" at him. Yankem is, of course, young Glenn Jacobs making his PPV debut, who would go on to become mayor of Knox County, Tennessee. And a WWE legend as Kane. Bret tries to work a waistlock and Yankem tosses him away. The first few minutes is mostly Yankem pounding Bret down with small Bret comeback attempts. I'm starting to think the buckles were rigged to made an extra loud pop sound tonight. Not that Bret didn't always hit them hard, but everyone's really been running into them tonight. Bret ducks a corner elbow, hits an inverted atomic drop and clotheslines. Yankem goes 360 and out. Bret plancha! He had a bad launch and damn near landed on his head there. Clothesline off the second rope by Bret. Yankem blocks the sharpshooter so Bret gives him a headbutt in the gut instead. Bret roll up for 2. He blocks a hiptoss and backslides Yankem for 2. Yankem catches Bret, tries to press him but can't get him all the way up, and drops him in the general vicinity of the top rope. Bret bump! Yankem lifts Bret up on his back by the chin. That's different. Bret flips over and wraps up a small package for 2. Bret's turn to get clotheslined 360 to the floor. Yankem posts his back. Bret's draped over the top rope standing on the apron. Yankem goes up top and hits him with a legdrop! Nice. Bret kicks out! Bret goes into dodge mode. Yankem takes an opening and clotheslines him in the back of the head for 2. The kickout sent Yankem to the floor. TOPE SUICIDA! MAMA MIA! A bulldog kicks off the FMOD run. Sharpshooter! Lawler gets off commentary and puts Yankem's hand on the rope. From now on it's essentially a handicap match. Bret backdrops Yankem to the floor. Yankem whips Bret into the stairs. He goes up top. Bret catches him and gives him the Flair slam off. Bret slides out, does a leg takedown, and uses a TV cable to tie Yankem's feet around the post! Young Toru Yano taking notes. Bret kicks Yankem in the head while the ref gets him free. Lawler distracts Bret so he goes out and pops him. Yankem comes off the top rope to the floor with a double ax handle from behind. Bret starts cranking up another comeback so Lawler trips him. The heels team up to hang Bret in the ropes. The ref calls for the DQ. A gaggle of officials come out to get Bret free. Not a horrible first outing for Mayor Jacobs. He was still pretty green, but he was in there with Bret Hart. And all the shenanigans in the second half made sense given the nature of the feud. All in all, not a bad package. **3/4

Dok Hendrix (Michael Hayes) replaces Lawler on commentary for the rest of the show, thank goodness.

 

Ladder Match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship: "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels (c) def Razor Ramon in 25:04- The rematch of the decade to this point after the genre defining ladder match at WM 10. Unlike the first ladder match this is face vs face. The ref puts the belt on the hook wrong. Shawn barks at someone at ringside to bring it down again, then pushes the ref aside in a very not nice way and fixes it himself. Mid '90s Shawn temper tantrum #1 tonight. More to come. They start out with some basics and a speed run. Ramon dodges a superkick. Shawn bolts from a Razor's Edge attempt. On a corner whip Shawn FILES over the top all the way to the floor. He stops Ramon from getting the ladder. Ramon suplexes Shawn over the top rope down to the floor! Second time that spot's been done tonight, but Shawn really took that one. His leg his the guardrail on the way down. He fights out of another Razor's Edge attempt. Ramon ducks a superkick. Double clothesline! What a great start, and we haven't even had anything with the ladder yet. Ramon whips Shawn around the buckles, then takes advantage of him being draped over the top rope to hit an avalanche fallaway slam! He goes and gets the ladder. Shawn tries a baseball slide. Ramon moves the ladder and punches him! Nice callback to the first match. Ramon is the first to climb. Shawn pushes the ladder down. He hits Ramon accidentally on purpose with the ladder while repositioning it. Shawn climbs and Ramon pulls his tights down for the mandatory Shawn ass exposure, thankfully on the opposite side of hard camera this time. Ramon pushes the ladder down while Shawn's leg is caught in it and goes to work on it. Ramon clips the leg with the ladder and slams Shawn leg first onto the ladder. He sets the ladder up in the corner. Shawn's leg gives out on the whip attempt so Ramon goes for a figure four instead. Shawn pushes out and Ramon goes into the ladder! Ramon kneebreaker on the ladder! More knee work. Ramon climbs, and Shawn comes off the top rope with a double ax handle to the back. Thus ends the knee work. It's not referenced again and Shawn does nothing to sell it, which is a small psychological blemish on the match. Shawn slips out of a slam and pushes Ramon into the ladder. Both guys climb on the same side and Shawn back suplexes Ramon down! Shawn sets the ladder up in the corner, climbs, and moonsaults off of it! Ramon was slightly out of position so the catch/landing is a little fumbled. Shawn climbs all the way to the top of the ladder. Big splash! Ramon dodges! Another good callback. Both guys climb. Slugfest at the top. The ladder goes down and both guys land on the top rope! Shawn tries to run the ladder into Ramon on the apron. Ramon dodges. The ladder catches the rope, bounces into Shawn, and he goes down. I don't think that went the way they planned it. Ramon pulls out the "backup" ladder from under the ring. That's right kids, back in these days there weren't 857 ladders all around the ring to choose from. You had ONE. And a backup. Shawn starts climbing. Ramon grabs him, lifts him up and hits the Razor's Edge! Both ladders are set up and both guys climb. Ramon's ladder goes down! Shawn reaches for the belt but he's too far away and he falls. Ramon sets up the Razor's Edge again but Shawn backdrops him to the floor! The door's open! Shawn climbs, but he's in a bad position. He tries to pull the belt but it doesn't come off and he falls to the floor. Mid '90s Shawn temper tantrum #2 follows as he fires one ladder (Bischoff already trying to figure out how to sign it to be on the first Nitro), grabs the other, climbs, and gets the belt to win! Afterward Ramon teases heelishness but they handshake it off. Another fantastic match, though with a few things that keep it a shade below the original for me (long stretch of leg work going nowhere, a few rough spots). The addition of the second ladder was a smart and logical escalation for the second match. ****1/2

Dean Douglas criticizes Ramon's loss. Ramon storms his classroom and knocks him on his ass. The dream of many a student.

 

WWF Championship: Diesel (c) def King Mabel (w/Sir Mo) in 9:14- From that to this. Yes, this really is a main event on a major PPV. And you wonder why WWF couldn't get out of their own way in 1995. Diesel tries shoulderblocks and goes down himself. He reverses a Mabel corner whip and hits corner clotheslines. Mabel's staggered with more clotheslines and Diesel tackles him to the floor. Diesel cranks things up a bit with a tope onto Mabel but Mabel whips him into the post. Back in Mabel reverses a corner whip and hits a .5 rock bottom for 2. He flat sits on Diesel, which is why people complained that working with Mable could be hazardous to your health. Somewhere in there a buckle pad came off and Mabel runs Diesel's back into it. Mo distracts Hebner and Mabel runs him over. With no ref the heels double team. Lex Luger, not the Bulldog, runs out. Diesel takes him out in confusion. Mabel legdrop on the floor. Luger attacks Mo, walks him to the back, and doesn't stop walking until he reaches the Mall of America. Mabel belly to belly. Hebner crawls in and does his super slow count. Diesel just kicks out. He dodges Mabel's splash off the second rope, hits a tackle off the second rope, and after another Hebner super slow count it's thankfully over. DUD

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS: On the 1995 WWF curve it's not completely horrible. Obviously Ladder Match II is the only one you should go out of your way to see, but Horwitz/Skip and Bret/Yankem won't waste your time either. That main event though, that's just how you *don't* end a show. OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C-