In Your House 9

Legacy Review

In Your House 9: International Incident

July 21, 1996 from the General Motors Place in Vancouver, BC

Commentary: Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

 

This is WWF's first PPV after WCW's legendary Bash at the Beach '96, which featured Hulk Hogan pulling off the biggest heel turn in wrestling history and officially forming the NWO. It was the night that turned the entire wrestling world upside down and escalated the Monday Night Wars to a whole new level. The question was, how would WWF respond, if at all?

The show opens with a clip from the Free For All of Jose Lothario and Jim Cornette getting into it, then Shawn Michaels saving Lothario from a Vader beatdown.

The Bodydonnas def WWF Tag Team Champions The Smoking Gunns (w/Sunny) in 13:05- The Gunns have gone full heel with Sunny, while the Bodydonnas are now faces after realizing they don't need a manager anymore after getting dumped by Sunny and getting rid of Cloudy. Wait, who's Cloudy? Don't ask. Just....don't. This is a non-title match because Sunny refused to put the belts up. It has nothing to do with the fact that they've already advertised the Gunns defending against a Shawn/Ahmed Johnson superteam on Raw the next night, no not at all. Harvey Wippleman has done the reverse Teddy Long career path, going from manager to ref and is reffing this match in a complete straight up he's an actual ref way. The Donnas do a mini-Suzuki-Gun ambush at the start and clear the ring. Reset back and forth with Zip and Bart, then a similar run with Skip and Billy. Billy counters a backdrop with a fameasser. After a bit of face arm work Billy slides out on one side and Sunny dramatically fakes a faint on the other side. Skip checks on her and gets slapped, then eats a Gunn double team to go Donna in peril. Bart catches Skip coming off the top and powerslams him. The Gunns horribly frak up a double team where Billy is supposed to leapfrog over Bart, but Bart stands at full attention and expects Billy to pole vault over him or something. The Canadian fans let them know they messed up. Heel corner double teams. Now Bart and Skip fumble around a spot, reset, and Skip gets a roll up for 2. Billy comes off the top and Skip counters it into an inverted atomic drop. Tags. Billy trips Zip. Bart sets up for the sidewinder finisher, but Sunny and Billy are having a row on the floor. Skip hits Bart with a dropkick off the top and Zip covers for 3. Started in first gear, stayed in first gear. 3/4*

 

Mankind def Henry O Godwinn (w/Hillbilly Jim) in 6:54- Godwinn is replacing Jake Roberts, who is "out with an injury" (didn't make the town). Godwinn turns to the crowd to give them the hog call. Mankind responds to it by attacking him from behind. Godwinn hits a powerslam and clotheslines Mankind to the floor. After some more Mankind beatdown Godwinn gets a leg takedown in the corner. Mankind faceplant and elbow drop. He goes outside and pulls some of the floor mats up. Swinging neckbreaker on the concrete. A Godwinn comeback is cut off with a corner clothesline. Godwinn dodges in the corner and Mankind flies into the post. They go outside again and Godwinn flips Mankind off the apron onto the exposed concrete! I'll call that about a .3 Foley bump. Mankind blocks the slop drop, hooks in the Mandible claw, and it's all over. On a side note, got to take advantage here to say that Mankind's soft piano victory music, in contrast to his deep string horror entrance music, is a piece of absolute genius. 1/2*

A still injured Brian Pillman is manning the Superstar Line and is still half shooting promos.

 

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin def "Wildman" Marc Mero (w/Sable) in 10:48- This is a rematch of the King of the Ring semifinals, a damn good match. Austin busted his lip open doing a jawbreaker in that match, but WWE retconned it to Mero accidentally kicking him while doing a Gedo clutch to get another moment out of it in this match. Austin has a logo on his trunks! Holy crap I'd forgotten about that. It was thankfully short lived. Usual quick Austin start, but he at least waited for a lockup this time. Mero crossbody for 2, followed by an armdrag and some arm work. Austin turns it into a headlock and Mero counters with a headscissors. They do the bridge up spot and have a backslide stalemate Austin ends with a knee to the gut. Mero whips out the Gold Glove punches. Austin rolls out and stalks Sable. Mero hits him in the back. Gedo clutch again! Austin feigns getting kicked in the mouth again to sucker Mero in. Pretty big pop for Austin after that. They go outside again and Austin slingshots Mero into the post! Another pop. Austin elbow off the second rope for 2. He slaps around the back of Mero's head to humiliate him. Mero lifts Austin up and he gets crotched on the top rope. Austin lifts Mero up to hit a Stun Gun, they lose their balance, teeter, recover, and Mero turns it into a rana that sends both guys over the top to the floor! It was sloppy but they got there in the end. Marlena and the usher randomly comes out but it doesn't go anywhere. Mero hits a moonsault off the apron to the floor! Slingshot splash for 2. Austin counters mounted punches and now it's Mero that's crotched. Mero blocks a stunner. Springboard legdrop for 2. Austin clips Mero's knee. Stunner! That's it. Not as good as their KOTR match, but like all of Mero's early WWF matches it was definitely ambitious in terms of high spots. Austin is slowly developing the mannerisms that would become famous with Stone Cold. **3/4

 

The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) def Goldust (w/Marlena) by DQ in 12:07- After the casket match at the last IYH Goldust and Mankind have struck up a weird sort of partnership to torment Taker. Goldust stalls forever on the floor and then tries to hide behind the ref. Taker doesn't flinch a muscle as Goldust slowly inches up to him.....then takes him down with one thrust to the throat. Goldust goes right back to the floor. After some more stalling he drags Taker out but gets dropped again. Choke slam on the stairs! Taker goes to throw the stairs on top of Goldust but Marlena shields him and the ref stops it. Back in Goldust works a top turnbuckle pad off. Taker clothesline and legdrop for 2. Goldust hits a flurry of knees in the corner. Taker blocks a punch, does some more pummeling and hits the rope walk drop. Goldust dodges an elbow drop and clotheslines Taker to the floor. Naturally he lands on his feet. Taker snaps Goldust's throat over the top rope and he does a nice flop. You may have noticed I'm a sucker for a good delayed flop. Goldust reverses a whip and Taker's back goes into the exposed buckle. They go outside again and Goldust drops the stairs on Taker's back to damage it some more. Double chinlock in the ring. Taker comes back and hits a big boot. He goes for the tombstone. Goldust fights it, so Taker wraps up a small package for 2. That was a new one. Flying clothesline. Tombstone! Mankind comes up from underneath the ring! Mandible claw! He pulls Taker down through the hole! Mankind comes back up and smoke comes up out of the hole. The lights flicker and Undertaker's Dong hits. Everyone stalls for a while to let Taker get where he needs to go. Taker comes back up through the ring on the other side! He and Mankind brawl up the aisle to the back. Very meh match, but the Taker/Mankind angle was good stuff. *

Ad for Summerslam, and with the Summer Olympics in Atlanta that year it's Olympic themed and actually pretty funny. Ahmed Johnson running through the hurdles is the best part. Commentary vamps as the ring mat is put back together, and a crazy Canadian fan at ringside reaches over and places a Burger King crown on Jerry Lawler's head. Meanwhile the Taker/Mankind brawl has gone all the way down to the boiler room. After that is the video package for the main event. It was set up by the big brawl at the end of KOTR. In the interim the Ultimate Warrior was fired (again), or "indefinitely suspended" on TV for the real reason he was fired, no showing house shows, so he needed a replacement. Enter the freshly returning from injury Sid, who did a quickie face turn to realign with Shawn after murdering him with powerbombs barely a year prior. There is some intrigue on who's side Sid is on, and not just because he's nuts. There's a funny moment on the last Raw before this show where everyone's brawling in the parking garage and Sid barrels in driving a car, almost hitting everyone on both sides. On the other side, Jim Cornette has guaranteed a Camp Cornette victory or everyone in the arena will get a refund.

 

Vader, "The King of Harts" Owen Hart and "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith (w/Jim Cornette) def WWF Champion "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels, WWF Intercontinental Champion Ahmed Johnson and Sycho Sid (w/Jose Lothario) in 24:34- During Shawn's entrance a bunch of kids pile up so much on a barricade section it collapses right into the entrance aisle! Shawn does a good job covering as security swoops in. Johnson is still carrying Goldust's gold strap IC belt. Vader and Johnson start. No, Vader wants Shawn. Shawn obliges. He holds his own with Vader in the first lockup but gets lifted by the neck from the second. Slugfest. Vader wins that too. Shawn gets on Vader's shoulders and hits a rana! Shawn crossbody and both go over the top to the floor! Baseball slide. Shawn plancha! This is already by far the best match tonight and it's barely started. Shawn dives off the apron again but misses and hits the guardrail. Vader corner potatoes. Shawn flips over and tags Sid. All the heels eat clotheslines and get tossed over the top to the floor, including Vader. The crowd goes ballistic. No don't cheer Sid, you'll only encourage him. Johnson ROLLING GERMANS on Owen! Well, mostly Germans, They were hit on the side instead of the back but close enough. He misses an elbow drop by a mile but hits Bulldog with a spinebuster. Pearl River Plunge! Vader breaks the pin up, then slowly backs Johnson into the corner clearly laying out the next spots in detail. Johnson pummels Vader down in the corner. Vader reverses and hits an avalanche. More Vader corner punches that he's pretty obviously pulling to go easier on Johnson. He goes for another avalanche. Johnson catches and powerslams him! Owen spinning heel kick on Johnson. Johnson press slams Owen. Big boot from Sid. Then genius Sid whips Owen right into the heel corner. Bulldog hits a huge delayed suplex on Sid. Vader tackle. Sid no sells Bulldog headbutts and punches and tags. Shawn double ax handle off the top for 2. He reverses a whip and Bulldog runs into Vader on the apron. Shawn covers for 2. Shawn/Owen Oklahoma roll. Owen gets a 2 count. Shawn victory roll for 2. Owen rolls it over for 2. Bridge and backsl...no, Owen breaks it and hits a clothesline. That was an amazing, breathless sequence from Shawn and Owen there. Just tremendous. Bulldog backdrop and legdrop for 2. Owen hits Shawn in the back of the head with his cast. Vader comes in to finish him off. Shawn flip in the corner to the floor. Vader short clothesline, then locks on a Million Dollar Dream/cobra clutch like sleeper on Shawn. While he's holding it some idiot fan jumps the rail and tries to climb into the ring. Bulldog cuts him off and security takes care of him offscreen to the delight of the crowd. Bulldog probably saved his life, if that guy had hit Vader he probably wouldn't have lived to tell the story. More modified sleeper that Vader turns into a choke when Hebner's back is turned. Shawn finally punches out but runs into a tackle. Vader big splash. Before he can cover Johnson runs in and clotheslines him. Bulldog cuts off a tag. Shawn fights out of a Canadian backbreaker. He tries a crucifix but Bulldog drops him. Shawn/Owen midring collision. The tag is cut off again. Bulldog powerslam! Sid breaks the pin up with a legdrop. Hot tag to Johnson! No, Hebner didn't see it! They did a good job of not making it obvious that was coming. Shawn gets triple teamed but kicks out of the cover. Owen and Bulldog try to double team but Owen missile dropkicks Bulldog. Real hot tag to Sid! Sid chokeslams Vader! And Owen. And Bulldog. Sid rocket launches Shawn onto Vader! Bulldog breaks the pin up. DONNYBROOK! Cornette gets on the apron. Shawn grabs him, gets a hold of the tennis racket, and pops Vader with it. Vader kicks out! Shawn tunes up the band but Cornette grabs his boot. Vader avalanche! Vader bomb! 3 count! Vader just pinned the WWF Champion! After the bell Sid powerbombs Owen and Bulldog, but they save Vader before he can take one too. Shawn over the top tope onto Vader! Hebner eventually breaks it up. Fantastic, show saving main event. ***3/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Very much a one match show as there was nothing worthwhile going on in the undercard. Most of the show was wheel spinning, while the last part of it mostly existed to set up the top two matches for Summerslam: Mankind vs Undertaker in the Boiler Room Brawl, and Vader vs Shawn for the WWF Title. If anyone was looking for an instant response to WCW's nuclear escalation at Bash at the Beach they were in for a disappointment.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C-

Fall Brawl '93

Legacy Review

Fall Brawl '93

September 19, 1993 from the Astro Arena in Houston, TX

Commentary: Tony Schaivone and Jesse Ventura

The Fall Brawl name that had been used as the subtitle for the first few Clashes that took place in the fall now stands alone as the first of two completely new PPVs for WCW in '93. It's also the latest home for War Games, and would stay that way for most of the rest of WCW's existence.

WCW World Television Championship: Lord Steven Regal (w/Sir William) def Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat (c) in 17:05- Regal is not impressed with his pyro. Steamboat's ribs have some tape on them due to an attack by Regal the "night before" on TV. Steamboat goes full revenge fury and jumps Regal before the bell. Being Steamboat, he's very good about selling the hurt ribs early and often. Chopfest. Regal gets some European uppercuts in the corner. Chop off the top rope. Steamboat can't follow up because of the ribs. Regal sticks an elbow in them. Steamboat hook kick counter. More chops. Regal's shoulder gets run into the top turnbuckle and now both guys have a sore spot. Steamboat works it with a hammerlock. A smarky section in the crowd chants "Steamboat sucks" as Regal targets the ribs again. Steamboat pulls a page out of the Bret Hart playbook by playing dead, then flipping Regal over by the hurt arm. He tries to use the hurt shoulder for a leverage pin. Speed run. Steamboat crossbody for 2. After some more arm work Regal lifts Steamboat up by one arm! That's the Shawn Michaels/British Bulldog spot. Steamboat rolls it over into a short armscissors. Regal counters with a backdrop and the ribs are flaring up again. Regal senton on the ribs. Steamboat lifts him up into an electric chair and drops him. Regal gets his knees up on a splash and hooks in a Canadian backbreaker. Steamboat slips out and hits chops. Regal drop toe hold into a surfboard. The tape finally gets ripped off. Regal double underhook suplex for 2. Steamboat slingshots Regal into the corner. He tries a slam, but the ribs give out and Regal falls on top for 2. Tombstone reversal and Steamboat hits it. Someone in the WCW offices loved that spot, they worked it in at least once a show during this period. Steamboat flips out of a back suplex and rolls Regal up for 2. He hits the crossbody off the top but Regal pushes off as he's landing to keep Steamboat from covering right away. Sneaky smart. By the time Steamboat can cover Regal kicks out. Regal pushes Steamboat over the top. While Steamboat's skinning the cat William hits him with the umbrella! Regal hits a German suplex, gets the pin and the title! Pretty good opener, just wish the hurt ribs played more into the finish instead of having the generic heel manager interference finish. ***1/4

The Nasty Boys promise a surprise for tonight. Knobbs calls his shot, saying they will win the match with a bulldog off the top rope.

 

Charlie Norris def Big Sky in 4:34- So who the hell are these guys? Norris came to WCW in August and was getting a mini-push after working his first few years in a short lived Minneapolis (old AWA territory) promotion called Pro Wrestling America. He's taken over the mandatory one per company Indian gimmick. Sky is actor Tyler Mane. He was Doom's bodyguard Nitron for about 5 minutes and had been partnering with Vinnie Vegas (Kevin Nash) before Nash left for the WWF. Lockup standoffs. Arm wringer tradeoff. Sky: "Shishishitshitshit!". Not PG. The smarky section starts a "We want Flair" chant. More Norris arm work. Now they're chanting "boring". Sky gets a boot up in the corner and hits a chokeslam. Norris dodges a kneedrop off the second rope and goes into full Tatanka dancing comeback mode. Bicycle kick, pin. Next. 1/4*

 

2 Cold Scorpio and Marcus Alexander Bagwell def The Equalizer and "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff in 10:46- Lots of stalling at the start with the "Paula" chants in full force. Bagwell and Equalizer start. Equalizer's crazy gets the edge. Then he flat outsmarts Bagwell with counters. Well, as we'd learn in later years Bagwell was a meathead. The faces double team and a double dropkick sends Equalizer to the floor. Scorpio gets double backdropped. He hits a reverse crossbody off the top but Orndorff rolls through it for 2. More face double teams. Bagwell floatover suplex for 2. Equalizer pulls the top rope down and Bagwell crashes to the floor. He gets slammed on the floor. Orndorff blocks a sunset flip. More unexpected Equalizer intelligence as he suckers Scorpio in for double teams. Bagwell crucifix on Equalizer for only 1. Scorpio breaks up an Equalizer pin. Orndorff with a bear hug. Bagwell hits a back suplex. Tags. Scorpio comes in all fists of fury. Crossbody off the top. Orndorff breaks the pin up. Everyone in the pool! Scorpio gets clotheslined to the floor and the heels work isolated Bagwell. Bagwell dodges and Orndorff high knees Equalizer. Scorpio goes up top, hits the 450 splash, and it's over. *3/4

 

Ice Train def Shanghai Pierce (w/Tex Slazenger) in 3:27- So who the hell are these guys, part two. Pierce is the future Henry Godwinn, he teamed with Slazenger (the future Phineas Godwinn) on the last PPV. Ice Train is a green 1993 version of Powerhouse Hobbs, best known for teaming up with Scott Norton as Fire and Ice in '96. He shouts "CHOO CHOO" a lot. I'd call that Jim Herd gimmick territory if it wasn't a couple of years after he left. Train powers out of a headlock and shoulderblocks Pierce down. Pierce suckers Train in with a test of strength. The heels try a double team clothesline with their rope. Train powers through it, hits an ugly powerslam and gets the pin. Next. 1/4*

 

WCW World Tag Team Championship: The Nasty Boys (w/Missy Hyatt) def Arn Anderson and Paul Roma (c) in 23:58- The Nastys had returned to WCW in the summer after floating around WWF's midcard hell for a couple of years. Hyatt is their big surprise. The whole "nastiest lady in wrestling" thing is a bit too on the nose. Roma and Knobbs start with a lot of playing to the crowd. Roma anticipates a Knobbs ambush and takes him out. Knobbs knocks him down with some shoulderblocks and a lot of trash talk. It's the only thing the Nastys were halfway decent at. Roma powerslams both Nastys and they go out to regroup. Reset with Saggs and Arn. Corner pounding tradeoff. Arn drags Saggs and posts his knee. The Horsemen go to work on it. The smark section is waving one dollar bills at Hyatt like she's a cheap stripper and are chanting "take it off" at her. She looks legit not pleased. Behind the "action" such as it is you can see a couple of arena security guys go over and tell some of them to cool it. The Nastys swap, but the Horsemen just continue the knee work on Knobbs like they didn't even notice. The way they're on autopilot this match maybe they didn't. Knobbs pushes out of a Roma figure four attempt and Roma ends up in the wrong part of town. Tony says "What does Missy know about the sport anyway? The holds?". Ventura responds "I bet she can get you in a few holds". Tony quickly moves on. The Nastys quick tag Roma and start working their usual array of dazzling rest holds. Roma lifts and drops Knobbs, and gets a tag. Arn puts a sleeper on Saggs. While the ref's distracted Knobbs comes in and clotheslines Arn 360 to the floor. Arn gets slammed on the floor. Saggs gives him a chairshot. Knobbs covers for 2. The Nastys play the abdominal stretch illegal leverage game with the ref. "Ref didn't see the tag" spot and more heel double teaming. Chinlocks, abdominal stretches, and now a bear hug. More tag cutoffs. Arn double faceplants both Nastys and tags. Roma cleans house. Dropkick off the top. The pin is broken up. The Nastys set up for the top rope bulldog. Arn pushes Saggs off and Roma victory rolls Knobbs for 2. World's Greatest Spinebuster! Roma covers but while the ref's getting Arn out Saggs hits Roma in the back of the head with an elbow off the top. Knobbs covers, gets the pin and the titles! Well, it was the basic Midnights/RNR playbook. As interpreted by two junior varsity high school teams that might have practiced together once. Arn was the one guy in this match you could count on to provide some quality but he completely phoned it in, probably because of all the Disney tapings pretaping and everyone knowing the result months ago. 3/4*

Recap of the Vader/Cactus Jack feud, including clips from the infamous Lost in Cleveland spots. Jack cuts a pretty good promo after, showing he's learning what would be one of his greatest strengths during his WWF run.

 

Cactus Jack def Yoshi Kwan (w/Harley Race) in 3:38- Kwan is Chris Champion made up to make it look like he's Asian. Race has the bag he stole from Jack early in the feud that has some kind of huge meaning to Jack. We never find out why. Jack goes straight for Race and keeps Kwan from ambushing him. Cactus clothesline! Jack stalks Race again and Kwan kicks him in the back. Kwan hits a running enzuguri on the ramp. Back in he rolls through some martial artsy type stuff. Spinning heel kick. Jack catches a kick and pounds away. Inverted atomic drop. Kwan's selling is....something. Race trips Jack and hooks him in for a double team. Kwan takes Race out. Double underhook DDT and it's done. Jack gets his bag back. Yay? After the match he challenges Vader for Halloween Havoc. *1/2

Recap of the Rude/Flair feud. Rude breached every workplace sexual harassment law known to man by forcibly kissing Fifi on A Flair for the Gold. Fifi slaps him. After she and Flair turn their backs Rude hits Flair with the title belt and gives him a Rude Awakening.

 

Before getting to the match, I've been teasing this for a long time, and at last the day is here. It's time to talk about the WCW International World title. Get a notebook or some scratch paper ready, you're probably going to need it. WCW reunited with the NWA in mid-'92 under the Bill Watts regime, bringing back the Big Gold Belt at the same time to represent the NWA World title, which was separate from the WCW World title that was still represented by the (underrated) '91 "globe and stars" belt. Unlike the tag titles, which were unified. Not long before this show, the Eric Bischoff regime and the NWA fully dissolved the partnership. Done. Finished. But, WCW kept possession of Big Gold (side note to all of this, this is when the NWA brought back the 10 Pounds of Gold to represent their world title). The solution? They created a completely made up, fictitious, as real as the four headed man eating fish beast haddock of Aberdeen, "WCW International" branch and said Big Gold represented that branch's champion, which was still completely separate from the WCW World title. I think part of the logic behind that, assuming there was any, was that Big Gold had spent a good amount of time around the waist of New Japan wrestlers since coming back. They would continue as two completely separate titles before sanity finally returned and they were unified in the summer of '94.

And if you've got all that down, might be time to start working on a degree in quantum mechanics or nuclear engineering.

WCW International World Heavyweight Championship: "Ravishing" Rick Rude def "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (c) (w/Fifi) in 30:47- Classic Rude tights mind games as he has Fifi on them. Cautious start. Rude works a headlock. After a shoulderblock he misses a knee off the top rope. Flair goes right for the figure four! Rude quickly gets to the ropes. Flair struts a bit as Rude rolls out. When he gets back in he clotheslines Flair 360 to the floor. Rude starts barking at Fifi. Flair goes up top and drops an ax handle on him. Then for some reason, even though Rude's already damaged his knee earlier in the match, Flair spends the next 10 minutes picking apart Rude's arm. There's a funny moment where Ventura's mic gets temporarily cut off by the truck because he's made one too many overtly sexist comments about Fifi. Rude eye rakes and hits some chops of his own. He runs his shoulder into the corner and Flair's back on it. Rude tries to slam but his arm gives out. Punch/chop exchange. Flair blocks a hiptoss and backslides Rude for 2. A Flair crossbody sends both guys tumbling to the floor. Rude suplexes Flair back in for 2. Now it's Rude's turn to kill the match with restholds, specifically his double chinlock. After 5 or so minutes of that they go speed, ending with Rude pressing Flair and dropping him on the top rope. Flair Flip to the floor! Rude bear hug. Flair goes down and Rude gets near falls with it. Finally Flair rolls them over and eye gouges out. Flair charges. Rude grabs him and hits a hot shot. Flair Flop! Rude hits ax handles off the top. On the third one Flair counters and rolls through some of his usuals. Rude gets a knee up in the corner and hits a DDT for 2. He sets up the Rude Awakening. Flair bites Rude's hand to get out! Flair hits a Rude Awakening! Rude just gets a foot on the rope. Rude puts on a sleeper. Flair kneebreakers out. He goes for the figure four. Rude small package counter for 2. Flair tosses Rude out and drops him on the guardrail. Flair ax handle off the top to the floor! Rude reverses a corner whip and Flair Flop 2! Flair runs over, climbs up, but Rude catches him on the way down. Rude kneedrop off the top rope. Flair kicks out! Flair gets tossed out. Rude calls Fifi up to the ramp. Fifi slaps him. He kisses her and lifts her into the ring. Flair comes from behind and punches Rude. Backdrop. Inverted atomic drop. Figure four! For some reason Fifi distracts the ref. Rude gets brass knucks out, nails Flair with them, and covers for the pin and the title! We go 3 for 3 on title changes tonight. As I've mentioned before, this was Rude's consolation prize after his scheduled WCW World title win in '92 was scrubbed due to his injury. Now, I didn't hate this match as much as a lot of other reviewers did, but it's still miles below the all time classic we all know these two were capable of. They certainly got the time for it. The work was fine but there were a lot of psychology hiccups, and why in the hell would Fifi distract the ref at the end if she wasn't turning on Flair? **

 

War Games: Sting, WCW United States Heavyweight Champion "The Natural" Dustin Rhodes, "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith and The Shockmaster def WCW World Heavyweight Champion Big Van Vader, Sid Vicious and Harlem Heat in 16:39- Commentary gets blown up by the pyro coming off the cage. I think Ventura had 'Nam flashbacks. After his disastrous intro Shockmaster's gimmick has been changed from....whatever it was to construction worker. With all the craziness around his debut I forgot to mention Shockmaster is Fred Ottman, AKA Tugboat/Typhoon in WWF. Dustin's coming in with hurt ribs. His teammates want him to wait for the end, but he pushes past them to get in first.

P1. Dustin & Vader: As if it wasn't bad enough Dustin went in first hurt, look who he's in there with. Vader goes right to the ribs. Dustin taped fist punches beat Vader down in the corner. He takes his boot off and whacks Vader with it. Huge Vader clothesline. Corner potatoes. Dustin kicks him with his bare foot. Vader bomb! The mask is already off. Dustin DDT. More boot shots. Dustin hits a powerslam as the clock hits zero.

P2. Kane (Stevie Ray): Kane hits Dustin with his own boot, but he goes for the head instead of the ribs. That's great strategery if you're trying to take out Thanos, but in a wrestling match go for the hurt body part! Dustin gets run into the cage and is bleeding. As the clock counts down the heels move over to cut off the next entrant.

P3. Sting: Double clothesline on the heels. Kane goes into the cage. Sting lifts Vader and backs him into the cage. They pair off in each ring, Sting & Vader, Dustin & Kane. Vader goes face first into the cage.

P4. Sid: He whips Sting into Vader and chokeslams him. Triple team on Sting. The boot is still being used as a weapon. Sting faceplants Sid. Vader and Sid press Sting into the cage ceiling.

P5. Bulldog: Sid tries to cut him off but Bulldog clotheslines him. Powerslam on Vader. Sting and Bulldog press Sid up into the ceiling. The heels slowly take over again before Sid gets whipped into the cage.

P6. Kole (Booker T): Tony says Shockmaster will be last. Ventura: "Who knows what kind of entrance he's gonna make". The heels mostly stay in control with nothing much interesting happening. Booker dives over both ropes but apparently misses his target. They go wide shot and it's hard to tell.

P7. Shockmaster: He tosses Harlem Heat aside and goes for Vader. Dustin boots Sid. Shockmaster bear hugs Kole, and after a minute Kole gives it up. What a lame ending. The heels bitch and moan in the ring a few minutes to close the show. All that setup with Dustin being hurt and going in first went nowhere. The whole thing was built around trying to salvage Shockmaster after his epic disaster of a debut and make him look like an unbeatable monster. You'd be hard pressed to find a worse War Games match. *3/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Once again, taping months worth of shows in advance does nothing but de-motivate your wrestlers and kill any momentum. On top of that, a lot of the guys getting put over are ones that no one cares about and have little long term prospects. Outside the opener this is a pretty big train wreck. Not GAB '91 level, but not too far behind.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D

King of the Ring '96

Legacy Review

King of the Ring '96

June 23, 1996 from the MECCA in Milwaukee

Commentary: Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and The Slammy Award winning Owen Hart

For the first time a King of the Ring PPV is only featuring the semifinals and finals matches, opening up room for the rest of the card. And, on paper at least, it's a pretty damn stacked card too.

Semifinals: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin def Marc Mero (w/Sable) in 16:49- Austin debuted the stunner in his quarterfinal victory over old rival Savio Vega. There's a giant crown hanging above the ring. That's....something. Basic but good headlock/headscissors standoff and hammerlock swap at the start. They hit the jets and Mero gives Austin a flying headscissors. Austin rolls to the floor. Mero starts to crank up a plancha but Austin gets out of town before he can launch. Back in with an Austin hiptoss and Mero armdrag. Austin goes for the Thesz Press but overshoots and rolls past Mero after tackling him. He settles for some stomps instead. Lots of cheers for Austin, the crowd is at least 50/50. Mero hits a backdrop and Austin powders again, then calls for a time out. He heard the cheers and is trying to get the crowd to turn on him again. One smart wrestler, Austin. Now he offers the insincere handshake. Mero refuses and they lock knuckles for a test of strength instead. Austin kicks Mero down to more cheers. He uses Mero's momentum to send him over the top to the floor. Austin pulls the pad up and drops Mero down on the exposed concrete. Still getting cheers. At this point I think Austin just accepts it and moves on. Austin measured elbows and hard corner whips. He teases the stunner but snap mares Mero instead. Elbow off the second rope for 2. Boston crab. Mero flips out of it. Small package for a long 2. Austin puts the crab back on. Mero squeaks out and they trade a couple of near falls. Bret bump from Mero. He flips out of an Austin back suplex attempt and does a Gedo clutch for 2. A straight right from Austin floors Mero. Mero hooks in a sleeper! Austin half stunners/half jawbreakers out. Austin bit his lip or something on the way down, he's bleeding from his mouth pretty good. Mero hops up to the second rope and jumps backward right into Austin. Double ax handle off the top for 2. Austin gets tossed to the floor. Mero somersault plancha! TOPE SUICIDA! Mero missile dropkick back in for 2. He sets Austin on the top rope. Hurricanrana! Austin just kicks out! Kick wham Austin gives Mero his old WCW stun gun finisher and covers for a long 2. Stunner! Good night. Hell of a match. Austin looked great as almost always and Mero continues his early WWF run hot streak. ***1/2

 

Semifinals:  Jake "The Snake" Roberts def Vader (w/Jim Cornette) by DQ in 3:34- Roberts trying to win the KOTR tournament during his comeback at the "ripe old" age of 41 is the tournament's dominant storyline. But he's got to get past WWF's newest monster to do it. Vader's power dominates early and he hits a couple of his signature Vader tackles. Big splash for 2. Roberts gets a boot up in the corner. He hits Vader with a slo-mo high knee. Vader was just standing there waiting for it. Roberts calls for the DDT. Vader backs him into the corner and lays in the beatdown. Roberts ducks a short clothesline and hits his own. He runs into another Vader tackle. Roberts dodges an avalanche. DDT! But as Vader was going down he pulled the ref down too. The ref calls for the bell, DQ'ing Vader. Weak finish. An enraged Vader gives Roberts a couple of avalanches and a Vader bomb before being stopped by officials. I know I've said this a lot during this stretch of shows, but Roberts is just a shell of what he used to be physically. Even in this short a match he was struggling. 1/2*

Billy Gunn gets a look down Sunny's very low cut top and forgets where he is in his promo. No one can blame him. He might need to go to his bunk before the match.

 

WWF Tag Team Championship: The Smoking Gunns (c) (w/Sunny) def The Godwinns (w/Hillbilly Jim) in 10:10- The Gunns haven't officially turned heel yet but are clearly trending in that direction. Sunny has been jumping teams to be with whoever the champions are. She let herself be swept away by Billy when the Gunns won the titles back, much to the dismay of a very smitten Phineas Godwinn. Before the bell Billy grabs a mic and brags to Phineas about stealing Sunny from him. While he's distracted Bart nails him from behind. Billy comes in, beats Phineas down then stars slapping and playing with him. He lets himself get distracted by Sunny, allowing Phineas to get a shot in and start laying in the you stole my woman (like he ever really had her) rage pummeling. Bart and Sunny pull Billy out of harm's way and they regroup on the floor. Reset with Bart and Henry. Henry gets a boot up and huge clothesline for 2, then tries to pull Bart's arm out. Billy hits Henry from behind while he's hitting the ropes to send him hog in peril. Billy fameasser for 2. Lots of trash talk from Bart. Henry small package for 2. He dodges and Billy crashes in the corner with a great flop sell. The Gunns swap without a tag behind the ref's back and Bart cuts a Godwinn tag off. Henry dodges Bart's legdrop off the top rope and tags. Everyone in the pool! The Gunns are run into each other. While the ref's tied up with getting Henry out Bart whacks Phineas in the back of his head with his boot and Billy covers for the pin. It got better during the closing stretch, but it was still another tag match that existed. The tag division has been in a bad rut most of the year. *1/2

Dok Hendrix is in the Camp Cornette locker room and WWF Title match special guest ref Mr. Perfect wanders in mid-promo. Hendrix is suspicious of his impartiality. On the plus side the whole "Diana says Shawn wants to fuck her" story has been dropped.

 

The Ultimate Warrior def Jerry "The King" Lawler in 3:50- Lawler comes out on the mic and makes a big show of checking out the KOTR winner setup, claiming the scepter for himself, and mocking some individual fans on the entrance aisle. He attacks Warrior with said scepter during his entrance and chokes him with it on the floor. Back in he chokes Warrior with tape he had used to tape his fists up. Then he gets an international object out of his tights and hits Warrior with it. Lawler piledriver. Warrior pops right back up, runs around and hits the ropes. Forever clotheslines, flying tackle, and it's already over. And so ends the Ultimate Warrior's final WWF PPV match. Before the next In Your House he'd be fired again for no-showing house shows and wouldn't be seen again until signing with WCW in 1998. And if you thought this run was bad, hoo boy, you ain't seen nothing yet. DUD

President Gorilla Monsoon is in the back with Roberts and the medical team. Monsoon says despite Roberts' injuries he's going to let him wrestle again in the KOTR final later tonight because he's 41 years old and might drop dead tomorrow. He also says he'll be willing to stop the match if he has to.

 

Mankind def The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) in 18:21- Bearer comes out by himself and commentary wonders where Taker is. The lights come up and we see: already on the top rope, and he drops Mankind with a clothesline. Huge pounding in the corner. This is an all new Undertaker. The slow zombie is gone and modern Taker is here. Taker does a face smother and the rope walk drop. Mankind gets a slam. Taker does the situp. Mankind immediately hits him with a sliding clothesline. They go to the floor. Mankind with an elbow off the apron! A Taker comeback is cut off with a clothesline. Mankind grabs a couple of chairs from under the ring. He charges Taker with one. Taker gets a boot up and Mankind gets a chair in the face. Taker whips him into the apron and backdrops him onto the bare floor on the aisle! Mankind's back came down on part of the chair legs too. There's your Foley bump. Taker gets a chairshot in the ring to Mankind's back. After a big boot he scoops Mankind up for the tombstone. Mankind fights out and hits a swinging neckbreaker. Legdrop. He goes for the mandible claw but Taker blocks it. After an elbow drop Taker sits up again. Mankind locks in the Nerve Pinch of Time Killing +1. Taker gets out with super rapid strikes and clotheslines Mankind 360 to the floor. Mankind pounds Taker down with forearms and he sits leaning against the stairs. After getting a huge head of steam running around the ring Mankind rams Taker with a knee against the stairs. He scoops Taker up, slams him on the entrance aisle and sets up for another elbow off the apron. Taker lifts the chair that was left there up like a shield and Mankind crashes into it! Chairshot to Mankind's head. Back in Taker hits headbutts and the flying clothesline. Mankind counters a backdrop with a piledriver! Slow cover. Taker kicks out! Mankind freaks out and starts pulling his own hair out. He grabs the urn from Bearer. He goes to hit Taker with it but Bearer snatches it back. Mandible claw! Taker goozles Mankind. Bearer goes to hit Mankind with the urn but accidentally hits Taker with it! The claw is back on! Taker is out and the ref calls it! Damn solid match, and even though their feud had already been going a few months on weekly TV it's just the beginning for these two. In fact, two years after this on the same show they would redefine what a high spot was. **3/4

 

WWF Intercontinental Championship: Ahmed Johnson def Goldust (c) (w/Marlena) in 15:34-This is the feud that kicked off with Goldust's infamous mouth to mouth resuscitation "kiss" on Raw. Johnson throws open the entrance doors and the attendants go flying! That's hilarious. He charges the ring and attacks Goldust while he's still got his robe on. Goldust 360 sells a clothesline and crawls out of the ring. Johnson dives over the top onto him! Once again Johnson was trying to land straight on his head on the floor. He tries to throw the stairs at Goldust but misses. Back in Goldust dodges and Johnson crashes to the floor. He drops the stairs on Johnson's back. Flying clothesline for 2. Goldust dodges a corner clothesline and targets Johnson's back some more. After a light spanking and fondling Goldust gives him more back shots. They almost frak up a sunset flip spot. Goldust with a piledriver. He slowly crawls around, slinks up Johnson's legs and covers for 2. Johnson hits clotheslines in the corner. Goldust reverses a whip and Johnson goes into the buckles face first. Another knee to Johnson's back and some more fondling. Goldust dodges a wild Johnson dropkick. JR straight up says he doesn't think Johnson should be doing that. Goldust sleeper. The ref does two arm drops but Goldust lets go before three. He thinks Johnson needs mouth to mouth again so he gives it to him. That tongue is just to open his windpipe some more. Johnson wakes up and goes beserk. Fists of fire. Spinebuster. Pearl River Plunge! Johnson gets the pin and the title! Goldust would remain weird but the overt homosexuality in his gimmick would be toned down after this. *3/4

Ad for In Your House 9, which will be in Canada. BRIAN PILLMAN IS HERE! He's on crutches with an injured ankle he sustained in a car crash a couple of months prior. He joins JR and tries to cut a shoot promo but only goes about halfway. Still great loose canon stuff though, and lots of non-PG talk as WWF continues to slowly stretch its boundaries. Former Hollywood Blondes in WCW teammates Austin and Pillman have a cool small moment crossing each other on the aisle.

 

King of the Ring Finals: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin def Jake "The Snake" Roberts in 4:28- Vince says Austin went to the emergency room after the opener and got 16 stitches in his mouth and lip. Roberts' ribs are all taped up. As soon as Roberts sets foot on the apron Austin is all over him, targeting the hurt ribs. "GET UP!" Honestly, Roberts lying down and sucking wind is about what he's best suited for at this stage of his career. Austin slaps him and that wakes Roberts up a bit as he tries to fight back, but his ribs won't take it. Austin starts pulling the tape off. Monsoon gets in the ring, stops the match and confers with Roberts. Roberts says no, gets back on his feet, and surprises Austin with a flurry of punches. He calls for the DDT. Austin backs him into the corner and pummels Roberts' ribs with shoulderblocks. The stunner hits and the squash is done. Not much of a match, but it was just what it needed to be to get Austin over. Like he needed any help, with what was coming. 1/4*

 

Austin goes up to the KOTR victory throne, ignores all fancy accessories, turns to the mic Dok Hendrix offers and, with no script like it's supposed to be done and the barest idea of a plan, delivers the single most consequential promo in the history of professional wrestling. "You sit there and you thump your bible, and you say your prayers, and it didn't get you anywhere. Talk about your Psalms, talk about John 3:16. Well Austin 3:16 says I JUST WHIPPED YOUR ASS!" A legend is instantly born. Almost immediately Austin 3:16 signs started appearing all over arenas. The iconic t-shirt soon followed. Steve Austin just took off from the launch pad on the way to becoming the biggest star in the history of the business.

 

I said in my In Your House 7 review when going over the Curtain Call in detail I would get back to the punishments that were handed out during this review, and here it is: Hunter Hearst Helmsley was supposed to win this KOTR tournament but ended up being the guy holding the bag. Nash and Hall were both gone, Vince couldn't do anything to them. He either couldn't or wouldn't punish Shawn as he was the clear top guy with Bret Hart on a break. That left Trips. To his credit he took his months in the doghouse like a pro and emerged on the other side in better shape than he did going in. It also gave us the moment that started Austin's ascent to megastardom, so I'll call this another all's well that ends well situation.

 

WWF Championship: "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels (c) (w/Jose Lothario) def "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith (w/Jim Cornette and Diana Hart-Smith) in 26:24- Before the match Monsoon relegates Perfect to the outside while Hebner will be the main ref inside. No one trusts Perfect. Fink does a great job milking the announcement too. Bulldog tosses Shawn around out of the opening lockups. Cornette and Perfect huddle on the floor while the guys in the ring roll through some basics. Cool spot where Shawn tries to shoulderblock Bulldog, but uses the momentum to bounce back into the ropes. Bulldog uses momentum to send Shawn over the top. Shawn skins the cat, grabs Bulldog with his legs and pulls him to the floor! Shawn hurricanarana off the apron on the floor! It was in slow motion but still very cool. Cornette takes a punch and a spank with the racket. Reset in the ring with a Bulldog headlock. The go speed again. Shawn leapfrogs, Bulldog stops, and they have a second where neither one of them seems to know what to do. Bulldog recovers and presses Shawn. Shawn slips out. Bulldog blocks a roll up. Shawn does a single leg takedown for 2 and gets an armdrag. Perfect breaks up Bulldog's attempt at a leverage pin. After a series of counters in the corner Shawn grabs an armbar. Another speed/counter sequence. Shawn puts on a sleeper. Bulldog backs him into the corner. Hard Shawn corner whips. Shawn gets an armbar slam and double ax handle off the top rope for 2. Bulldog presses Shawn, backs up and drops him straight to the floor! He goes out and suplexes Shawn on the floor, then presses him back in the ring and covers for 2. Shawn flip in the corner and huge Bulldog clothesline. Bulldog puts Shawn in a surfboard! He rolls Shawn over into a pin but Shawn kicks out. Bulldog backdrop and legdrop for 2. A bit of chinlock resting. Shawn ducks a couple of clotheslines to get a huge head of steam and hits a crossbody for 2. Another big Bulldog clothesline for 2. More chinlock resting. Shawn gets a crucifix for 2. After a couple of reversals Bulldog sets up the powerslam. Shawn squirms out. Bulldog dodges the superkick and hits another hard clothesline. Bulldog piledriver. Instead of covering he goes to the top. Bulldog's intention is a Dynamite Kid headbutt off the top, but he slips coming off and misses by a mile. It looks like Shawn was going to dodge it anyway. Shawn goes up top. Bulldog dropkicks him and joins him. Superplex! Bulldog released it halfway down too. Shawn kicks out! Bulldog sets Shawn up top again and goes for a back superplex. Shawn rolls through it and covers Bulldog for 2. Midring collision. Shawn tries for a hurricanrana. Bulldog blocks it and hits a powerbomb! Another Shawn kick out. Bulldog flips upside down in the corner and bounces a good five feet off the turnbuckles! Damn! Shawn flying forearm and kip up. He slams Bulldog, but Hebner got taken down too. Elbow off the top. Superkick! Both Hebner and Perfect count. Owen comes over from commentary and pulls Perfect out at 2, while Hebner counts 3. That was a mess. It was the end of the match with no argument at least. This was a very good match that was held back from being great by a few rough spots (to my eyes these guys did not have effortless chemistry, it looks like something they had to constantly work at), and another finish that was being too clever for its own good. ***1/2

After the bell Owen gets in the ring and wrestles arm cast or no arm cast. Shawn starts out with the upper hand but the 2 on 1 eventually gets to him. Ahmed Johnson comes out for the save. Vader comes out to make it heel advantage again. After a bit the Ultimate Warrior comes out and the faces stand tall to end the show.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- If you're looking for a pre-Attitude Era show to watch the WWF slowly working its way into that period, this is a great one to pick. Austin becomes a star, Undertaker and Mankind begin their feud in earnest, Shawn Michaels has another solid main event, and the promos are getting edgier and edgier. For historical importance alone all wrestling fans should watch this show for the Austin 3:16 promo if nothing else.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B-

Clash of the Champions XXIV

Legacy Review

Clash of the Champions XXIV

August 18, 1993 from the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, FL

Commentary: Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura

Unified WCW and NWA World Tag Team Championship: Arn Anderson and Paul Roma def The Hollywood Blondes "Stunning" Steve Austin and Lord Steven Regal (c) (w/Brian Pillman and Sir William) in 9:52- The Disney tapings come back to bite WCW in the ass. The Horsemen were scheduled to win the titles at Beach Blast but that was nixed at the last second because word got out of them being champs during the tapings, so Bischoff decided to swerve the smart fans. Now their backs are against the wall- do the title change or lose the footage. The problem is, Pillman got hurt a couple of days before this show. Regal is his emergency this match must happen tonight replacement. Arn and Austin start. Arn gives Pillman a little mocking violin playing. Speed run out of the lockup. Austin his a clothesline and lays in the measured elbows. Arn gets a leg takedown and some ground punches. He slingshots Austin over the top rope. Austin lands on the apron, charges, and Arn backdrops him to the floor. Austin backpedals quick and tags. The Horsemen work Regal's arm with some terrific selling. Regal keeps trying to get his ground game going with Roma but Roma's all "screw this limey, we're working my way". You can almost see the point where Regal figures the hell with it, might as well just go with it. Austin trips Roma to put him Horseman in peril. Pillman helps out with a choke. Regal hits a senton for 2, then a gut wrench suplex for 2. Roma and Austin make a hash out of a buckle shot counter. More mildly interesting face in peril stuff follows. Roma gets a small package but the ref is distracted. He catches Austin and gives him a hot shot. Regal runs in and the ref doesn't see the tag. Roma hits a .5 enzuguri I think and gets the tag. Regal breaks up an Arn DDT attempt. DONNYBROOK! Arn runs Austin into Sir William and cradles Austin with a handful of tights for the pin and the titles. Roma becomes the fifth (and least) partner Arn has won a tag title with. Fine for a thrown together match. Sadly this was the end of the Blondes' short but nuclear hot run. Austin would get a singles run while Pillman was hurt, and even after he recovered they were kept apart until teaming up again just to lead to their half hearted breakup feud. **

 

2 Cold Scorpio def "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton in 5:26- This was originally set as Scorpio vs Regal before the Pillman injury. They open up with some basic arm work. Eaton counters a backdrop and tosses Scorpio out. Scorpio flips back in with a roll up for 2. Eaton answers with a clothesline. Scorpio ducks in the corner and Eaton runs face first into the top buckle. Scorpio flips over onto the top rope and hits a crossbody for 2. Eaton dodges a crossbody and Scorpio splats on the mat. Scorpio sets Eaton on the top rope and dropkicks him to the floor! Plancha! Back in Eaton hits a swinging neckbreaker and elbow off the top for 2. Scorpio has a quick comeback, hits the 450 (badly, driving his knee right into Eaton's face) and it's done. Eaton was an '80s version of a high flier but this was a total clash of styles, and frankly didn't look like there was much effort being put in from either side. *1/2

 

Mask vs Guitar: Johnny B Badd def Maxx Payne in 2:41- The final final blowoff of this feud. Payne grabs Badd during his entrance and whacks his knee over the apron. Then doesn't touch the knee again the whole match. He hits elbow drops instead. Badd ducks a clothesline and lays in some punches. Payne dodges a crossbody and hits a side suplex. He rips Badd's mask off. Badd has another one on underneath! That old trick. Badd hits a flying headscissors. Payne goes for the Paynekiller. Badd wraps up a small package for 2. Payne tries a splash off the second rope. Badd dodges, and covers the prone Payne with one arm for the pin. Lame finish. Given Payne's track record, it's for the best this was kept so short. 1/4*

 

Next up is a Clash edition of A Flair for the Gold. His guests are Sting and the British Bulldog. Even though they all have matches later tonight, this is all about their upcoming War Games match at Fall Brawl, specifically who their mystery partner will be. Sid Vicious, Col. Robert Parker and Harlem Heat crash the show, demanding to know who it is. They yell at each other for a while, during which Flair goes to leave then hilariously stands frozen in the door like a cardboard cutout. Finally Sting says their partner will shock you, because he is.....THE SHOCKMASTER! BOOM PYRO! SHOCKMASTER CRASHES THROUGH THE WALL and trips and falls flat on his face. His glitter covered Stormtrooper helmet comes off and he has to scramble to put it back on. Yes, a Star Wars Stormtrooper helmet covered with purple glitter. Someone says "Oh God!". Bulldog: "He fell on his fucking arse!". Everyone stands around and tries to recover while waiting for Ole Anderson to get on the mic backstage and deliver Shockmaster's promo Black Scorpion style. Because that angle worked out so well, why not call back to it? Generic promo cut, everyone gets the hell off the set in case they get associated with the all time disaster that took place here. This isn't just a wrestling botch, this might be THE definitive wrestling botch. Everyone's heard of the Shockmaster, just not the way that was intended.

 

WCW World Television Championship: Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat def "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff (c) in 8:31- Tony and Ventura are still trying to pull themselves together and make a few funny cracks about good entrances. Oh great, Buffer's here. That'll kill 10 minutes. The TV title is about 5 rungs below his usual standard, he's really slumming it here. The first few minutes is pretty flat with a lot of basic and uninteresting work. The most engaging thing is the house lights have gone down and spend the match trying to turn back on. Orndorff ducks a dive and Steamboat flies over the top rope to the floor. After a Steamboat leapfrog Orndorff does a u-turn, slams him, and tries again for a pin multiple times. Steamboat chops back. Orndorff counters a backdrop with a faceplant. Steamboat chop off the top rope for 2. Back suplex. Big chops from Steamboat and Orndorff goes 360 over the top outside. Steamboat with a plancha! He almost legit ran over the ref to do it too. Orndorff gets a shoulderblock and slingshot splash back in for 2. He grabs the belt from Ventura. Steamboat rolls him up from behind for 2. Orndorff goes for the piledriver but Steamboat backdrops out. Bridge and backslide for 2. Steamboat crossbody off the top. Orndorff rolls through it for 2. He goes for a slam, but Steamboat rolls him up for 3 and the title! After the match Orndorff piledrives Steamboat into the belt on the ramp. Dull as paint start, but the closing stretch pretty good. **1/4

 

NWA World Heavyweight Champion "Nature Boy" Ric Flair and Sting def The Colossal Kongs (w/Harley Race) in 2:14- The Kongs are purported to weigh a half a ton, are masked and are named Awesome Kong (no, not that one) and King Kong (no, not that one). Which is which? Don't know, don't care. Sting is challenging Flair for the NWA World title on TV next Saturday but they can operate together because they're buds now. Sting immediately slams both Kongs out of the gate. Well there goes that drama. After a long heel stall everyone gets in the pool! Flair and one Kong fight on the floor with the Kong getting posted. Sting gives the in-ring Kong the Stinger Splash, a splash off the top and we're done here. That was pointless. Buffer's intro was longer than the match. I could be remembering wrong but I'm pretty sure the Kongs never showed their masks in WCW again. 1/2*

Dustin Rhodes has a mystery partner tonight, who's arriving in a Corvette that's part of a giveaway contest. It drives into the arena and out pops....Road Warrior Animal! He teases getting in the ring, but while the heels are distracted Road Warrior Hawk sneaks in from behind and scares them off. Hawk will be wrestling this match as, not said on TV, Animal's back injury was still keeping him from wrestling. Hawk had been working full time in New Japan since leaving WWF after Summerslam '92 and had been in the last joint WCW/NJPW Tokyo Dome show, but this is the Roadies' first proper WCW appearance since they left for the WWF in mid '90 and the crowd goes nuts for them.

 

"The Natural" Dustin Rhodes and Road Warrior Hawk (w/Road Warrior Animal) def "Ravishing" Rick Rude and The Equalizer in 7:41- The US title was amazingly still in limbo, but it would finally be won by Dustin between here and Fall Brawl. After his big entrance Hawk and Rude start. Ventura: "There's been a lot of really good entrances tonight. Almost shocking." Hawk tosses Rude across the ring out of the lockup. Rude takes forever to get in a test of strength and loses when he does. Equalizer comes in. WCW fans know him best as the future Dave/Evad Sullivan. After a roll out and chase sequence Hawk tries to hit a neckbreaker but Equalizer just.....drops. Ugly. Hawk hits a corner clothesline. Equalizer gets a boot up and clotheslines Hawk. Rude slaps on a double chinlock just so Hawk can lift him on his shoulders. Dustin tags in and the faces hit a doomsday device. Dustin runs wild, giving Rude an inverted atomic drop (classic Rude sell) and backdrop. Rude hits an ax handle off the top rope. Equalizer choke slams Dustin. The heels try to double team but Rude clotheslines Equalizer. Dustin tags out but the ref didn't see it. Hawk doesn't give a shit. He press slams Equalizer into Rude. Double clothesline. He clotheslines both heels 360 to the floor. During this whole sequence ref Randy Anderson is yelling at Hawk to get back on the apron to deaf ears. Equalizer clotheslines Hawk down to the floor. He bounces right back up to the top rope, tackles Dustin's back while Equalizer has him lifted up, and Dustin falls on top for the pin. *3/4

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Big Van Vader (c) (w/Harley Race) def "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith in 11:11- Vader can lose the title on a DQ in this match. After another overly long Buffer intro Vader wanders onto the ramp, Bulldog charges him and we're on! The mask is already off! Vader hits a short clothesline. Bulldog delayed suplexes Vader on the ramp! He clotheslines Vader back in the ring and tries a slinghsot splash, but Vader gets his knees up. Bulldog hurt his knee coming down. Vader lays in the corner beatdown. Bulldog ducks away from punches at one point, I think legitimately because he didn't want Vader to hit him any more. They have an obvious quick conversation and Vader tosses him to the floor. Bulldog dodges a charge and Vader crashes into the guardrail. Back in Bulldog hits a Samoan drop. Vader gets a foot on the rope. Off a whip reversal Vader hits his signature tackle and elbow drops Bulldog's hurt knee. Stiff clothesline. Vader hits his own Samoan drop. He goes up top and hits a splash! Bulldog kicks out! Bulldog flies into the corner upside down on a corner whip. After ducking a clothesline Bulldog wraps up a crucifix. Vader fights and tries to drop Bulldog, but Bulldog hangs on a gets a *long* 2 count! HUGE Vader potato shot. More corner beatdown. He goes up top again. Bulldog dropkicks him and Vader gets crotched. He falls down in the corner and Bulldog stomps a mudhole in him. Vader gets a boot up in the corner. Vader bomb! Bulldog kicks out again! Vader comes off the second rope. Bulldog catches and powerslams him. Ref Nick Patrick got taken out too and there's no one to count Bulldog's cover. Bulldog lifts Vader up for another suplex. Race come in and clips Bulldog's knee! Vader falls on top of him and gets the pin. Not great, not terrible. Not really a fan of the booking, I don't see the downside of Vader winning clean the roll he was on. This was essentially the end of Bulldog's mega push in WCW. He'd be relegated back towards the midcard and would be out of the company before the end of the year. **3/4

 

After the match is over someone tackles Vader on the ramp. IT'S CACTUS JACK! Jack found his way out of Cleveland! BANG BANG!

OVERALL SHOW THOUGTS- Not much in the way of good wrestling to recommend here. If you're going to watch this show, it's going to be for the bad things that happened: the Hollywood Blondes dropping the titles despite Pillman's injury because of WCW painting themselves into a pretape corner and ending their red hot run almost as soon as it began, and THE SHOCKMASTER. For people that enjoy poking fun at the let's say less successful moments in wrestling history (the same kind of people, like me, that are huge Rifftrax/MST3K and Angry Video Game Nerd fans), the Shockmaster is a seminal must see event.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D+, the plus for the Shockmaster

In Your House 8

Legacy Review

In Your House 8: Beware of Dog

This is the famous IYH where a storm knocked the power out for the whole middle portion of the show, so Vince restaged the matches that were missed on TV the following Tuesday night.

 

Night 1- May 26, 1996 from the Florence Civic Center in Florence, SC

 

Commentary: Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler

 

On the preshow match the Smoking Gunns ended the one week reign of the Godwinns as WWF tag champs. They also stole Sunny from them, after the Godwinns had taken Sunny themselves from the Bodydonnas when they won the tag titles. Sunny got around more than Missy Hyatt.

"Wildman" Marc Mero (w/Sable) def Hunter Hearst Helmsley in 16:23- Mero "rescued" Sable after she was Trips' valet of the week at Wrestlemania. Mero does the becoming standard quick jump as soon as he hits the ring. Slugfest in the corner and Trips goes over the top to the floor. Mero plancha! Slingshot legdrop for 2. Trips dodges in the corner and Mero posts his shoulder. Trips then runs it into the post again on the other side. Vince mentions the storms, "If we leave you it won't be for long". Some smarky fans at ringside are flashing too sweets at Trips. This is only a couple of weeks after the Curtain Call. Trips high knee for 2, followed by lots of work on the hurt shoulder. He wraps the arm around the post again. Man that high pitched screeching sound is awful. Must be something with the storm.......oh no, it's just Sable screaming. After Mero tries to block it Trips gets a cross armbreaker on. Mero manages to get to the ropes. Kneedrop on the shoulder. Mero flips out of a back suplex. Gedo clutch for 2! Trips kills the momentum with a clothesline and barely hits an ax handle off the top. He plays cat and mouse with the ref getting rope leverage on an armbar. Trips goes up top again. Mero falls into the ropes and Trips gets crotched. Mero with a hurricanrana! Flying headscissors! Mero goes up top and hits his old Johnny B Badd finisher, the sunset flip off the top rope. Trips *just* kicks out! A dropkick sends Trips outside. Mero with a diving senton! But Trips moved, and Mero tweaks his knee on the landing. Shoulder and knee, he's having a bad night. Trips wants the Pedigree to finish it, but won't hit it unless Sable is watching. After arguing with her on the outside he goes for it but Mero counters. He slingshots Trips into the post, and covers for 3! Not too shabby. Maybe a bit too long, but Trips did a good job keeping all the shoulder/arm work interesting while Mero hit his high spots. A small preview of Trips' future "cerebral assassin" moniker and definitely his best match to date. ***1/4

 

Right after this match the TV power went out and the next three matches were only seen by the arena audience.

And we're back! Mr. Perfect is in the back with Camp Cornette. The story in the main event is the British Bulldog's wife Diana Hart-Smith accused Shawn Michaels of making sexual advances toward her, which was really just a Cornette ploy to throw Shawn off his game. Cornette says the Slammy Award winning Owen Hart has gotten a one night manager's license and will be in Bulldog's corner for the title match. He also promises another "bombshell" before the match starts.

WWF Championship: "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels (c) (w/Jose Lothario) and "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith (w/Owen Hart and Diana Hart-Smith) draw in 17:21- Vince references the storm again, saying they just got back on air. Before the match the hilariously wounded Clarence Mason (neckbrace and arm immobilized) takes the mic and says "May I have your attention please!". Did he get an email from the anonymous Raw General Manager? He has his stooge present Shawn with a summons to court on charges of "attempted alienation of affection". Is there even a law on the books about that? Shawn tears the summons up and Bulldog jumps him from behind. They go into a good rapid fire counter run. Bulldog dodges a superkick and bails to the floor. Shawn with a plancha! Mini-reset in the ring with Shawn working a headlock. And working. And working. Finally they go speed again. Bulldog catches Shawn leaping with a bearhug. Shawn enzuguri for 2. Shawn wraps up an armbar into an armscissors. After another long stall Bulldog lifts him with one arm and slams him. Bulldog backdrop. To the chinlock, as the match continues to come in fits and starts. Canadian backbreaker from Bulldog. Shawn powers out and tries a crucifix. Bulldog drops him down. Legdrop for 2. More chinlock. Shawn has another one of his famous mid-'90s in-ring tantrums as he flat stops selling, looks annoyed, then argues with Hebner presumably about the finish with a very WTF look on his face. After Shawn powers out they hit the ropes again, but they have some kind of miscommunication as Shawn flies out onto the floor for no clear reason. Bulldog follows and runs him into the guardrail. After some very obvious head clearing and reset Shawn comes back in with shoulderblocks and a slingshot clothesline. Midring collision. Shawn flying forearm and kip up. Double ax handle off the top for 2. Bulldog comes off the ropes and runs into Hebner, who absolutely FLIES out of the ring. Shawn elbow off the top rope. Owen tries to sneak in behind him but eats a superkick! Bulldog hits Shawn from behind as replacement ref Mike Chioda runs in. Bulldog sets up the powerslam but Shawn slips out of it. Shawn with a German suplex! Chioda counts 3! Even though all four shoulders are clearly down at the 3 count, Bulldog's music plays and Fink starts to announce AND NEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW before the music cuts off. Diana appropriates the belt. Then Shawn's music starts and stops. The refs argue with each other. Diana's on the floor holding up the belt, clearly claiming the title for herself. WWF President Gorilla Monsoon comes in, takes the belt, and confers with the refs. After getting the word from Monsoon Fink announces that all four shoulders were down and the match is a draw, and hints at a future rematch. I get what they were going for but in the end the overbooking is a bit of a mess. Whether it was the storm and power outage or something else, the whole match was definitely off and well below both guys' standards, especially the way Shawn had been tearing it up all year. **1/2

Night 2- May 28, 1996 from the North Charleston Coliseum in North Charleston, SC

Commentary: Jim Ross (YAY) and Mr. Perfect

Caribbean Strap Match: Savio Vega def "Stone Cold" Steve Austin (w/Ted DiBiase) in 21:27- We get some footage from the dark match (literally dark) from the originally scheduled PPV. The standing stipulation for this match is if Vega loses, he has to become DiBiase's chauffeur. But the night before on Raw, DiBiase added another twist- if Austin loses, DiBiase would leave the WWF! This is purported to be Vega's specialty match that he's undefeated in. It's the Caribbean part, you see. Austin uses the strap to try to keep Vega out of the ring. Once they get attached Austin quickly ducks a swing and rolls out. After some more caution Austin pounds away. Vega hits a backdrop. Austin rolls away from a whip shot so Vega pulls him into the ring apron! Hardest Part of the Ring TM. Austin gets whipped like a government mule, a line I'm disappointed JR didn't get in. It's so great hearing him on a PPV again. Austin gets dangled over the top rope and whipped some more. After a roundhouse kick Vega starts hitting corners. 1, 2, Austin pulls the strap up and Vega does a crazy flip sell of it. Now Vega gets whipped. Vega takes Austin down. They go into full rolling around the mat brawling mode and end up on the floor again. Vega chops and Austin backs him into the HPOTR, aka the apron. He drops Vega on the guardrail. Badly, and checks on him right after. Austin suplexes Vega back in. He wraps the strap around Vega's ankle and goes for corners. 1, the strap comes undone, 2, Vega pulls away and spins Austin around into the corner. He clotheslines Austin with the strap. Austin backdrops Vega to the floor, but the strap pulls him down too! Vega suplexes Austin on the floor! He ties Austin up and hits corners. 1, 2, Austin grabs the bottom rope so Vega slacks the strap a bit for 3. He charges for the last corner, but Austin catches him and hits a spinebuster! Austin chokes Vega with the strap. He gets a couple of corners but Vega dead weights him then gives him an eye poke when Austin gets close. They do a series of tombstone reversals and Vega tumbles to the floor. Vega gets hung by the strap. Austin goes up top. Vega yanks the strap and Austin flies down into the guardrail! They trade stair and post shots. Vega lifts Austin in a fireman's carry. 1 corner, 2, Austin falls off and grabs Vega by the jeans. Vega fights him off for 3. Austin pulls the strap to JUST jerk Vega away from the last corner! Austin hits a piledriver! DiBiase says to give him another one. Austin tries but Vega backdrops out! Austin hooks in the Million Dollar Dream! Vega carries Austin and starts touching corners! After two he pushes off in the corner to break the hold. Austin lifts Vega up and straight drops him head first on the post! He wraps the strap around Vega's throat and drags him to corners. But unbeknownst to Austin, after he touches a corner Vega also does behind his back. They get up to 3 each. By now Austin's realized what's happening and they tug of war trying to get to the last corner. Austin pulls the strap and Vega falls into it to win! DiBiase is gone! Austin walks out on him and Vega gets the crowd to chant the goodbye song to him. DiBiase was, like so many others at this time, WCW bound. In the weeks after Austin would say he lost on purpose to get rid of DiBiase. Not long ago I said that Sting vs Vader at Superbrawl III was probably the best strap match of all time. This is most likely second best. Intense, well booked, stiff, and these two just plain worked well together. A classic that was buried for many years due to the storm and redo situation. ****

 

Vader (w/Jim Cornette) def Yokozuna in 8:53- After months of teasing and false starts these two are finally getting their one on one match. Vader's definitely getting cheers on his entrance. And once again we're slugging it out before the bell. Yoko hits a throat chop and Vader ducks out in the corner. Yoko wants a sumo match. Vader stalls. There's an audible Vader chant. Vader gets down in a three point stance....and bails. Try again. Another false start. It's working though, the crowd's booing Vader now. He knew what he was doing. They set up a third time, charge, and Yoko knocks Vader down! He clotheslines Vader 360 to the floor. Vader comes back in with potato shots. Yoko does a leg takedown and drops an elbow on Vader's knee. Vader sells it like his leg just got pulled off and rolls to the floor again. His knee pad was broken during that exchange. Vader gets back in and they do the exact same sequence again. Vader gives Yoko and eye poke and hits more potatoes. He tries to slam Yoko. JR: "The only person I can recall slamming Yokozuna was Ahmed Johnson". Smart use of the "I can recall" there. Yoko blocks it and hits a uranage. Yoko avalanche and Samoan drop. He's done blowed up. Yoko's sucking in enough wind to knock the power out again. He sets up the Banzai drop. Cornette jumps to the apron. Yoko causally blocks his racket shot. He flips Cornette in the ring, headbutts him, and sets him up for the Banzai. Vader times it, pulls Cornette out just in time, and Yoko splats on the mat. He attacks Yoko's knee that he injured a couple of months ago. Vader bomb! Good night. After the match Vader limps off. As good as it possibly could have been considering Yoko's physical condition. *

Ad for the next PPV, King of the Ring. And it's a doozy, with Jerry Lawler choking on a piece of chicken and going to wrestling heaven, only to find it's wrestling hell. JR and Perfect go over the 16 man bracket, as the tournament already started the previous night on Raw. After that is footage from another moment on the last Raw- Goldust giving Ahmed Johnson the infamous "mouth to mouth resuscitation" kiss.

 

Casket Match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship: Goldust (c) (w/Marlena) def The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) in 12:36- Both these guys are engaged in other feuds so you have to expect some kind of screwy finish here. The casket is Goldust themed. The lights come on early during Taker's entrance and he's already in the ring behind Goldust. He gives Goldust a shot from behind and the early match pillar to post beating commences. Goldust freaks out anytime he gets near the casket. Taker throws him on top of the casket! Slam and legdrop. Rope walk drop. Classic Taker choke in the corner. Goldust gets a desperation back elbow and slams Taker. Zombie situp. Goldust with a tombstone! That's different. Diving clothesline. He gets Taker in the casket. Taker fights out quickly. Goldust backdrops Taker to the floor and chokes him with a TV cable. Taker starts to get comeback momentum in the ring so Goldust locks on a sleeper. After he thinks he's out Goldust rolls Taker in the casket again. Taker *just* prevents the lid closing by sticking one arm out! Goldust tries again, getting all the way on top of the casket. Taker throws the lid open and Goldust falls to the floor. The lid completely broke off when he did that. Taker flying clothesline. Cactus clothesline! Goldust fights off a chair shot and hits a clothesline on the floor. Goldust powerslam in the ring. Clothesline off the top rope. He covers Taker. No pins in this match. Goldust tries to do Taker's rope walk. Taker flips him off. Tombstone! Taker lifts the lid. MANKIND IS IN THE CASKET! Mandible claw! Taker goes out and Mankind closes the lid on him! Goldust wins! The casket starts to smoke. Bearer opens it up, and Taker's gone! Bearer's expression seeing the empty casket is priceless. Match was decentish. Once it got going it was nice to see Goldust get a chance to establish that he really could wrestle well, not just be weird and run away from everyone. In contrast to the WWF Title match, this was overbooking that made sense. **1/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- It's hard to judge given the circumstances with the power outage and having to redo most of the show another night, but overall it's pretty good, anchored by a great strap match, a good opener and nothing truly awful. It's also important to note that the pieces continue to be put in place for WWF's recovery, with more and more spotlight on new (to WWF) faces like Triple H, Mero, Austin, Mankind and Goldust alongside company stalwarts like Shawn and Taker.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B