Clash of the Champions XXXI

Legacy Review

Clash of the Champions XXXI

August 6, 1995 from the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, FL

Commentary: Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan

 

No intro at the top of the show, we start right up with intros for the opening match. It's regular TV instead of PPV so gotta cram everything in.

 

WCW United States Heavyweight Champion Sting and Road Warrior Hawk def Meng and Kurasawa (w/Col. Robert Parker) in 7:23- Kurasawa is New Japan star Manabu Nakanishi, who was on his Young Lion excursion at the time. The Kurasawa name is.....eh. Whatever. Nakanishi should have gone the whole hog and tried to direct WCW's infamous B movie like segments (one of which is later in this show) like his namesake. Couldn't do any worse than the usual WCW production crew. With longer hair and a beard he looks a bit like Hirooki Goto. The heels pull the Suzuki-Gun (RIP) jump before the bell. Hawk runs over Kurasawa. Meng gets double teamed and the heels regroup on the outside. Reset with Hawk and Kurasawa. Both guys swing kicks. Hawk gets a double leg takedown and hits the gut headbutt. Sting with an inverted atomic drop. Kurasawa chops back. Suplex from Sting. Kurasawa counters a Hawk backdrop and Hawk gets trapped in the heel corner. Meng/Hawk double clothesline double no sell. Kurasawa suplexes Hawk on the floor. Back in Hawk gets a boot up in the corner and hits a clothesline. Fistdrop for 2. Swinging neckbreaker on Meng. Hawk splash off the top on Kurasawa. Powerbomb. Meng breaks the pin up and it's DONNYBROOK time. Sting and Meng go at it while Hawk looks totally lost. Sting literally shouts at Hawk what to do on a double team like Dolph Ziggler shouting instructions during the 2015 Elimination Chamber disaster. Stinger Splash. Hawk and Kurasawa continue to fumble around on the periphery while Sting and Meng wrestle. Double clothesline on Kurasawa. The faces hit their version of the Doomsday Device and get the pin. Hawk looked like crap, so of course he worked most of the match instead of Sting. After the match Kurasawa snaps Hawk's arm, injuring him. *

 

Diamond Dallas Page (w/The Diamond Doll) def "Das Wunderkind" Alex Wright in 8:14- No high pitched pop for Wright. In fact, he gets almost no reaction at all apart from some scattered boos. This is a fascinating match when looking at where both these guys are in their careers at this point. Wright was the figurative golden boy who was handed a big push on a silver platter that was now slowly starting to fizzle out as he's failed to make any real connection with the crowd and before long he'd be just another guy. On the other side, DDP had been spinning his wheels for literally years and was just now finally starting to get going thanks in large part to the heel heat generated by his constant abuse of the Diamond Doll, which had a lot of echoes of the early Randy Savage/Elizabeth relationship, and it would be nothing but up for him from here as he continued to improve. He was never the smoothest or best pure wrestler, but he was one of the best at match layouts, DDP's matches almost always have cohesive and logical flow. DDP plays around on a corner break. He tosses Wright out of a lockup and plays to the crowd. Wright sneaks up and rolls him up for 2. DDP bitches at the ref and again Wright rolls him up for 2. Wright dropkicks send DDP to the floor. Plancha! DDP bitches at Doll. I guess she was supposed to block it. Back in DDP works the arm a bit. Wright goes full World of Sport to escape and gets a fireman's carry takedown. Corner flip over moonsault from Wright and another dropkick. DDP tights pulls him to the floor. Wright pops up and hits a slingshot splash for 2. Long speed run and Wright crossbody for 2. DDP floors him with a straight right. Gutwrench gutbuster. Swinging neckbreaker for 2. Wright blocks a hiptoss and gets a backslide for 2. European uppercuts and spinning heel kick. Wright high knee for 2. Missile dropkick for a long 2. Wright goes to mounted punches and DDP drops him on the top turnbuckle. Standing switch and Wright gets a German suplex for 2. A flying forearm sends DDP to the floor. Another dive from Wright, but DDP dodges and he splats on the floor! DDP rolls him in and covers for a clean pin. Golden boy no more. Good logical finish, but boooo to no Diamond Cutter. The match was decentish. **

 

WCW World Television Championship: The Renegade (c) (w/Jimmy Hart) def "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff in 3:59- This is a rematch from Bash at the Beach. Is Renegade using Sting's old music now? I don't think so but it kind of sounds like it. He runs to the ring again like you know who that he's clearly ripping off and Orndorff jumps him with his robe still on. Renegade turns it with a clothesline and belly to belly suplex. Orndorff rolls out still in the robe. Renegade gets up on the ropes to pose for the crowd and gets nothing but mild boos. Orndorff, robe still on, sneaks up and back suplexes him off the second rope. Now the robe comes off. Boogie woogie elbow and a slow Orndorff beatdown follows. Tony tries to excuse Renegade's awful selling by saying it's Orndorff's awesome power. Sure. Renegade gets tossed out and tries to hulk up on the floor. Orndorff knees him off the apron a couple of times, then turns around to jaw with the ref. Renegade hits a slingshot crossbody and gets the pin. DUD

 

Harlem Heat and Sister Sherri def WCW World Tag Team Champions Bunkhouse Buck & "Dirty" Dick Slater and Col. Robert Parker in 11:01- Slater and Buck defeated Harlem Heat for the tag titles the week after Bash at the Beach (in a match that had been taped a month before that). There's also a subplot, or possibly main plot as far as commentary is concerned, of Parker being romantically smitten with Sherri. If the Harlem Heat trio win they get a title shot. Parker's wrestling in his suit. This isn't the case of a non-wrestling manager working a match, Parker was older but he was also a near 20 year veteran with a wrestling career that spanned many deep south territories as well as the AWA. Sherri was also one of the best women's wrestlers in the '80s before she went to managing full time. Both Heat guys have to hold Sherri back as she wants at Parker bad. Ray and Slater start with usual dull Ray offense. Buck tags in as Sherri still wants in. Booker dropkicks Buck off the top rope. He holds Buck down for a Sherri punch. Booker elbow drop miss, spinaroonie and flying forearm. Slater wobbles himself trying to headbutt Ray. Hook kick from Ray. Another Sherri shot. Booker gets a heel kick as we go to commercial. More of the match is cut off by an ad for WCW's contest to win a Harley, the winner to be announced on the premiere episode of Monday Night Nitro on September 4. I don't know if that was really the first true mention of Nitro, but Tony acts like it is and goes into super hype promo mode for it. Meanwhile in the match Buck hot shots Booker to send him Heat in peril. They work the FIP stuff a bit and do the ref didn't see the tag spot. Double punch from the heels. Parker tags in for the first time. Booker pops up and beats him down. Heat double suplex. Sherri is tagged in. Crossbody off the top for 2. Elbow drop. Parker dodges a splash off the top. Sherri is out cold on the mat. Parker, ever the southern gentleman, can't bring himself to hit her. Sherri gets up, hits the ropes, gives Parker what should be a Thesz Press but it's a bedroom Thesz Press as she's kissing him on the mat. Parker's shocked and gets pinned. After the bell Sherri continues chasing Parker, ripping his shirt off and trying to kiss him more. Parker can't get away fast enough. You're into a woman, she finally decides to go for it, you find out she's completely nuts and can't get away fast enough. Dude, I've been there. I guess the story they're going with here is Sherri hit her head on the mat, that scrambled her brains and now she's totally into Parker. I'm sure wacky hijinks will ensue. Boring ass match though. 1/2*

I mentioned one of WCW's infamous mini-movies on this show, and here it is, Hulk Hogan walking into the Dungeon of Doom. Important background here- Paul Wight had made some initial tease appearances on earlier shows, but he's now a full fledged DOD member called the Giant and his whole angle to tie him to Hogan is he's Andre the Giant's son. It starts out with the Master shouting some more stuff that no one can understand to the Taskmaster. Hogan walks in, attempts to act, says bring on everybody and he wants the Giant. Giant comes in, rips Hogan's crucifix necklace off in a direct nod to the Andre feud, chokes Hogan down and the entire DOD come in to beat him up. VADER off all people comes in to save Hogan. He distracts Giant, giving Savage, Hart and Sting time to drag Hogan away. Clearly the intent here was face turned Vader was going to put Giant over before he went for Hogan. It wouldn't end up happening that way, which I'll get into after the next match. Its far from the worst DOD segment. Thankfully it wasn't the one where Hogan walks around the Dungeon and says the "anti-Hulkamania" water is burning him with some of the worst acting ever caught on camera.

Commentary continues the Nitro hype, including a tease that an Emmy winning sportscaster will be joining the broadcast crew on that show. Never mind that shit, here comes Mongo. Tony also announces the first Nitro will be live from the Mall of America.

 

Handicap Match: Vader def Arn Anderson and "Nature Boy" Ric Flair in 8:05- Flair "unretired" to team up with Vader in an attempt to take Hogan out once and for all. When Vader failed Flair turned on him. Arn, at this point, is just along for the ride as Flair's best friend. Evan after the Hogan save earlier the crowd's not quite sure if they want to fully embrace Vader yet on his entrance. Vader's got the old school entrance headgear on again like Bash at the Beach. Arn starts with Vader as was the plan. Arn softens him up, Flair comes in to finish him off. Series of lockup stalemates to start. Vader starts laying in the potato shots. Arn retreats to his corner and Flair tries to fire him up. Forearm shots from Arn. Vader hits an inverted atomic drop and clotheslines Arn 360 to the floor. Flair helps him up but still doesn't even try to tag in. More Vader potatoes. Short clothesline. Arn reverses a whip and manages to give Vader the World's Greatest Spinebuster! Now Flair tags in. He gives Vader some boot sole eye rakes. Vader pops up when Flair's back is turned. Press slams. Flair Flip! Vader clotheslines him off the apron. Now the crowd is getting behind Vader. Flair grabs a chair to distract the ref and Arn clips Vader's knee. The heels double team with a little trouble getting their coordination down. Legit trouble, not storyline. Arn plants Vader with the DDT! Flair tags back in. Figure four! Vader grabs a rope. He slams Flair off the top rope. Big splash. Arn breaks the pin up. Vader and Flair have some trouble getting a snap mare off right. Vader splash off the top rope. Again Arn makes the save. Vader double clotheslines both heels. Powerbomb on Arn, and Vader covers for 3. OK but underwhelming match considering the talent that was in there. Give them more time on a PPV and it'd probably be much better. **1/4

Flair, who's been a serious loose canon since coming back earlier in the year, is pissed at Arn. Arn's having none of it. Flair tries to leave but Arn drags him back in and they argue some more. Finally Flair walks away with nothing settled. This was the lead in to Flair and Arn breaking up and feuding. After that Hogan comes out, wants to know exactly where Vader is coming from, and declares war on the Dungeon of Doom. Hmmm, Hogan declares war and the next PPV is Fall Brawl. I think I know where this is going.

This would end up being Vader's last major appearance for WCW, which in retrospect is not much of a shock considering how his feud with Hogan and the political BS it turned into went. Hogan did eventually ask Vader to be on his War Games team but Vader was gone from the company before that show. Vader left with a hell of a legacy, dominating the world title scene for most of '92 and all of '93 and firmly cementing himself as one of the best big men of all time. THE best, in my opinion. He'd take some time off to rest and heal up, returned to New Japan for one match, an absolute classic with Antonio Inoki at the '96 January 4th Tokyo Dome show as part of Inoki's years long retirement tour, and then debuted for WWF at the '96 Royal Rumble.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- As the start of Nitro gets closer the Clashes get less and less important and more like contractual obligation shows for TBS. If you missed it you didn't really miss anything other than Vader's last big WCW match.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D+

In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede

Legacy Review

In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede

July 6, 1997 from the Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta

Commentary: Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

The name of the show has a dual meaning: the Calgary Stampede is one of if not the biggest rodeo in the world (and I live in a small Texas city with one of the largest annual rodeos in the US so I actually have an idea what that's like) and had just concluded right before this show, and it's also a tribute to the old Stampede Wrestling promotion in Calgary that was run by Hart patriarch Stu Hart and that every member of the Hart family got their start in before it was bought out by WWF. This show is a bit of an end of an era as it's the last discount price 2 hour PPV produced by WWF, and the last numbered In Your House. After Summerslam WWF would expand every monthly PPV to 3 hours and the In Your House name would become secondary to the monthly name before being phased out completely the next year.

The opening video is particularly good, documenting the change from straightforward good and evil into much more shades of gray in the WWF world. In keeping with the Calgary Stampede theme the house set has been decked out like a farm/ranch house and everyone has their hats on.

Hunter Hearst Helmsley (w/Chyna) and Mankind double countout in 13:14- The King of the Ring final was only the beginning of a long and heated feud between these two. Jump start as soon as Mankind hits the ring. Early double underhook DDT! That wasn't a finisher yet so instead of covering Mankind mocks HHH's bow. HHH facebuster. Mankind backrops HHH over the top to the floor. Cactus Elbow off the apron! Bang bang! Cover for 2. Trips flip! Mankind sets up on the second rope for a super Cactus Elbow but HHH gets the hell out of town and walks up the ramp. Mankind clothesline from behind. Suplex on the ramp! HHH slowly crawls back to the ring....and gets knocked right off the apron. HHH sunset flip back in. The Mandible Claw is on! Chyna forearms Mankind to free HHH. Mankind goes out to have a word with her. HHH tries to attack from behind but Mankind gets the jump on him. HHH reverses a whip on the floor. Chyna scoops Mankind and slams him leg first on the steps! HHH comes in with a chair to the knee. Back in he clips Mankind's knee and we're going to school, kids, as HHH channels his inner Ric Flair. Figure four! HHH plays the cat and mouse rope leverage game with the ref before getting caught. Pedigree setup. Mankind counters out. HHH counters the counter pushing Mankind back into the corner, but it backfires when Mankind falls right onto his exposed crotch! Corner pound down from Mankind. Running knee. HHH does the tree of woe flip and Mankind drops an elbow on him. Mankind piledriver for a long 2 count. Cactus Clothesline! Mankind gets a chair. Chyna grabs it, HHH takes it and gives Mankind another chair to the knee. Chyna follows up by clotheslining him. HHH goes up top. Mankind backs into the ropes and HHH falls on the turnbuckle. The Claw is on again! Chyna grabs Mankind's legs, drags him down, and crotches him on the post. HHH follows and goes into beatdown mode on the floor. As both guys are going over the guardrail into the crowd the bell rings for a double countout. They don't care and keep on fighting into, much to commentary's amusement, one of the penalty boxes here on the home ice of the Calgary Flames. Damn good match. A definitive finish is always best, but this one works to keep the feud going, especially with how they play with it later in the night. ***3/4

Next up is video highlights of WWF Weekend during the Canadian Stampede, with the hometown hero Harts front and center. After that Austin tries to interrupt the Hart Foundation's promo with some physical violence but gets held back by officials.

 

The Great Sasuke def Taka Michinoku in 10:00- This is announced as part of WWF's new Light Heavyweight division, which they were creating to try to capture the same success WCW had been having with their cruiserweight division. On top of that, with WCW's longstanding relationship with New Japan, Vince is finally going out and getting some Japanese talent. Sasuke was quickly becoming a junior heavyweight legend in Japan, working mostly with Michinoku Pro but he also had an IWGP Junior title reign under his belt in New Japan as well as other junior titles from all over the world, including the original version of the WWF Light Heavyweight title that had been floating around in Japan for years and had just been discontinued to make way for this new division. Meanwhile, Michinoku was Sasuke's protege in Michinoku Pro (Taka got his ring name from the promotion's name as a sign of their faith in him) and was still in the early years of his career. Yes, this is the same Taka Michinoku still wrestling part time today in New Japan as a member of Suzuki-Gun as well as promoting his own shows. Funnily enough, WWF got Sasuke with the intention of him being the big star of the division, but they couldn't get a long term deal worked out so it ended up being the first big springboard in Michinoku's career. And as ever with Vince, he lost interest in the whole thing after a few months anyway. But never mind all that shit, Mankind and HHH are still fighting in the crowd! I guess all the officials were trying to keep Austin away from the Harts. After they get back to the backstage area this match finally gets going. Cautious start with Sasuke swinging some exploratory kicks. After a clean rope break Sasuke gets a takedown and Michinoku blocks an armbreaker. A Sasuke reverse kick connects. Snap mare into a chinlock and headlock. Michinoku escapes into a partial surfboard. Commentary is really playing up Sasuke as a big effing deal. Well, JR and Vince are. Lawler's completely checked out for this match. Sasuke tries to hook on a sleeper. Michinoku fights out, hits the ropes, and runs jaw first into a Sasuke kick! That got the crowd, who'd spent the first part of the match waiting for Mankind and HHH to come back out, into it. Single leg crab from Sasuke and Michinoku gets to the ropes. More kicks from Sasuke. Michinoku grabs one and floors Sasuke with an open hand strike! Snap mare/basement dropkick. Another Michinoku basement dropkick to Sasuke's face to a nice crowd gasp. Sasuke backdrops Michinoku to the floor. Sasuke comes off the top with a flying kick down to the floor but both guys are down and take a while getting back in. Another flurry of stiff kicks from Sasuke back in. Michinoku counters with a dragon screw! Dropkick to Sasuke's knee. Sasuke rolls to the floor. Michinoku runs up, leaps and springboards off the top rope, and hits a crossbody to the floor! That REALLY gets the crowd into it. He tries to suplex Sasuke back in. Sasuke flips out to his feet, grabs a waistlock and tries to German suplex Michinoku, but Michinoku flips over onto his feet! Michinoku hurricanrana for 2. Magistral cradle for 2. He hits the ropes, and Sasuke cuts him off with a handspring elbow! Michinoku rolls to the floor. Sasuke springboard moonsault! Speed run back in. Michinoku belly to belly suplex for 2. Missile dropkick to Sasuke's back. Michinoku Driver! Sasuke kicks out! Michinoku tries coming off the top rope again. Sasuke dropkicks him in midair! Springboard moonsault for 2. Thunder Fire Powerbomb. Tiger suplex from Sasuke, and that gets the pin! A pure 100% Japanese style junior heavyweight match in a WWF ring? Hell freaking yes. Anyone that tries to tell you great wrestling alone can't get a crowd invested is completely full of shit, as this match proves. ****1/4

Mankind and HHH are STILL fighting in the parking lot! Mankind gets thrown through a bunch of conveniently stacked and placed beer kegs. HHH tries to Pedigree Mankind on a stack of wooden pallets but Mankind backdrops out. Officials finally get them separated after that.

 

WWF Championship: The Undertaker (c) def Vader (w/Paul Bearer) in 12:39- Vader is replacing the oft-injured Ahmed Johnson (a major upgrade), who had just turned heel and joined the Nation of Domination as that group started to splinter off into other groups to really set off the gang warfare Vince Russo loved. Since King of the Ring Taker has kicked Paul Bearer to the curb again, causing Bearer to make good on his promise to expose Taker's dark secret: he's a MURDERER who Bearer claims killed his family by setting fire to their funeral home. How does he know? Because, unknown to Taker, his younger brother Kane survived and is STILL ALIVE! Commentary wonders how much Taker's head is in this match with all that swirling in the background. These two had a very underwhelming match at the Royal Rumble (probably because they were both pulling double duty) that Vader won with Bearer's help. Taker jumps out quick at the bell. Clothesline and legdrop. Avalanche from Taker. Old school hits. Vader pops out of the corner with a tackle. Taker situp and flying clothesline. Vader tries to slow things down with a headlock. Shoulderblock from Vader. Taker big boots send Vader to the floor. Taker gets whipped into the steps and Bearer mocks him. Vader tries to pull Taker back in but gets neck snapped over the top rope. Taker clothesline off the top. An uppercut sends Vader 360 to the floor again. Taker stalks Bearer. Vader clothesline from behind. Bearer beats Taker with his shoe. Who uses a shoe, honestly? Vader starts laying in the corner potatoes. Short clothesline. Clothesline off the second rope for 2. Suplex. Vader big splash for 2. Taker comes back with a flurry of body shots. Vader shuts it down with a clothesline and more potato shots. Taker punches back. Goozle! Vader low blow! He charges. Taker scoops him up into tombstone position! Vader tries to reverse it but loses his balance and falls. Taker quickly recovers to cover for 2. Another Vader tackle. Vader bomb set up. Taker sits up! Low blow! Tit for tat. Chokeslam off the second rope! Vader kicks out! Another chokeslam. Vader kicks out again! Taker calls for the tombstone, plants Vader with it, and it's over. Now this is more along the lines of what these guys are capable of. ***1/4

Before the main event we get the Canadian national anthem. Stu and Helen Hart are ringside along with most of the other Hart brothers.

 

The Hart Foundation def "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, The Legion of Doom, Goldust and Ken Shamrock in 24:31- I've long argued that the world title match, or whatever the company's top title is, should always main event major shows if it's on the line. This is one of the few exceptions to that rule. I can't imagine anything main eventing this show other than this match with this insane partisan pro-Hart Canadian crowd. Austin plays with the crowd as he comes down the ramp, fully embracing being the heel again for the night. The Hart Foundation all get individual entrances with their own music, each to a big pop, topped off with Bret getting an absolute roof buster at the end. Fantastically done, presentation wise. Owen is debuting his new buzzcut look tonight. All 10 guys stand off in the ring before the bell. Bret and Austin are in the middle staring down with Bret, thumbs in his tights, giving absolutely no fucks at all. The ring gradually clears out leaving just the two of them in. The bell rings and they immediately start slugging it out! Bret beats Austin down in the corner with the crowd going absolutely bonkers. Austin reverses it to massive boos. Bret clothesline. Inverted atomic drop and another clothesline. Austin low blow in the corner and he stomps a mudhole in Bret. Million Dollar Dream! Austin going back into his old Ringmaster playbook. Bret flips over in the corner and Austin just gets out before getting pinned. Austin Thesz Press on Anvil. Anvil ducks a Shamrock kick, laughs, and gets caught with the same kick attempted again. Ankle lock! Pillman runs in to break it up. Pillman tags in and goes crazy on Shamrock. Shamrock fights back with a clothesline. Belly to belly suplex. Owen enzuguri on Goldust for 2. Mounted punches from Goldust while a huge "Austin sucks" chant goes on. Austin is playing up to it like crazy in the corner but sadly only little glimpses of it get on TV. But, the action in the ring is so nonstop it's understandable. Hawk goes high impact on Owen for a bit. Splash off the top for 2. Owen dodges a dropkick. He goes for the Sharpshooter but Animal breaks it up. Bulldog delayed suplex on Hawk for 2. Powerslam! Goldust breaks the pin up. I love how guys are hitting their finishers early. Very outside the usual formula. Bret and Goldust size each other up. Knees to the gut from Bret and Goldust gets stuck in the tree of woe in the HF corner. The whole HF team rains punches down on him and we're DONNYBROOKING! Order is quickly restored. Owen backbreaker on Goldust. Goldust dodges and Owen goes shoulder first into the post. Owen spinning heel kick on Animal. Missile dropkick. He goes for a hurricanrana but Animal blocks it and powerbombs him. Powerslam. Doomsday Device! Anvil breaks the pin up and everyone's in again! Austin posts Owen's knee, then whacks it with a chair in the confusion. He gets into it with the Hart family and takes some swings at Bruce Hart! Bret comes over to make the save. The HF check on Owen with more "Austin sucks" chants going. Anvil tags in and Owen limps off. Anvil lifts Austin up and carries him into the HF corner for a huge beatdown as Owen is helped to the back. Austin fights the whole Hart Foundation off that crazy son of a bitch! Pillman tags in and Austin pulls him around by his tights. Kick wham Stunner! Bret saves, drags Austin down and posts his knee in retaliation for Owen. Fire extinguisher to Austin's knee! Post wraparound figure four! Animal breaks it up and Austin tags out. Hawk gets crotched on the top rope by Bulldog. Officials try to help Austin but he naturally refuses. He does limp his way to the back though, making the match 4 on 4 for now. Animal and Anvil reset and calm things down a little with a test of strength. Anvil and Bret to a Demolition style Decapitation Device for 2. One of my very few quibbles for this match: I would have liked to have seen more old school Hart Foundation double team moves. It doesn't hurt the match not having them, just a personal preference. Shamrock tags in and sets Bret up for the ankle lock. Pillman again that loose canon runs in and clotheslines Shamrock. Gut headbutt from Bret. Bret bump in the corner! Huge stiff forearm from Shamrock. Then he hesitates, wanting a stand up fight with Bret. Bret quickly gets the advantage and tosses Shamrock to the floor. Pillman throws Shamrock over the, er, international announce table! Not sure which one that was. Huge brawl on the floor. Bret Russian leg sweep on Shamrock. Bulldog pummels Shamrock down in the corner. Low blow from Shamrock. I'm not sure that's MMA rules kosher. Goldust bulldog on Bulldog. He goes for the Curtain Call. Once again it's Pillman running in and breaking it up. Bulldog superplexes Goldust. Austin limps his way back down and immediately wants to tag back in. He gets it. Bret also tags in and here we go again. Bret bump 2! Austin suplex for 2. Bret swinging neckbreaker. Backbreaker and elbow off the second rope for 2. Bret hooks on a sleeper. Austin jawbreakers out. Bret leg takedown. Sharpshooter! Animal breaks it up to huge boos. Austin flips Bret off and puts on his own Sharpshooter! Owen's back and breaks it up! Owen wants to tag back in and does. Austin clotheslines Owen 360 to the floor. He throws Owen into the guardrail in front of the Hart family and gets into it with them again! Austin's brawling with Stu Hart and all the Hart brothers! Bret runs over and breaks it up. Austin gets back in still jawing with them. Owen sneaks up, rolls Austin up, grabs a handful of tights and gets the pin! Holy hell what a match. Absolute perfection from everyone involved. This is the gold standard for large multi man tag matches without even getting into how great the whole Hart Foundation angle was. This is also a textbook example of a nuclear hot crowd raising an already great match to another level. *****

The fight continues after the bell. The whole Hart family comes in from ringside as order is slowly restored. The family celebrates in the ring.....until Austin runs back in with a chair by himself! The whole family beats him down. Security puts Austin in handcuffs. He's still trying to fight, and while being led away flips the crowd off even with the handcuffs on. Far from the last time Austin will leave an arena in handcuffs. The main fallout from this match is Austin would shift his attention from Bret to Owen and the Intercontinental title. The Hart family continues to celebrate in the ring to close the show with a seemingly never ending stream of relatives coming in. I think the whole arena is related to them. I kid, but it is a truly nice moment for them all, especially with how things would play out for them the next couple of very difficult years.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- To this day this show is spoken of in almost hushed, reverent tones by wrestling fans and with good reason. Four matches on the card and every single one of them delivers in spades, and on top of that right in the middle of one of the company's hottest creative runs ever with great and compelling stories happening all over the place. The red hot Canadian crowd, not just for the Hart Foundation homecoming but the whole show, is a cherry on top. The only knock you could have on this show is in the long run it's not very historically important with no major angle advancement or title changes happening, it's simply a great wrestling show. Which usually is all that you need.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: A

Bash at the Beach '95

Legacy Review

Bash at the Beach '95

July 16, 1995 from Huntington Beach, CA

Commentary: Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan

Sponsored by Slim Jim. If there's one thing to say for this show, it's a unique venue as Bash at the Beach is taking place....on a beach! It's the first time WCW has gone to an outdoor location, something they'd revisit a lot in the future (Road Wild, the "spring break" Nitros). Sponsored by Slim Jim. Commentary keeps claiming there's "hundreds of thousands" of people there, but the eye test says it looks more like a regular arena sized crowd. The official count was about 10,000, and because it's on a beach they're all free. Haven't seen this many comped tickets since the last AWA shows. I feel for the people in the back of the crowd, I have no idea how they can see. I've been at shows with floor seats 9 or 10 rows back and even from there it can be a bitch to see properly. The whole beach setup does look good on TV though. And in case you missed it, it's sponsored by Slim Jim.

Before the opener we get an absolutely ludicrous video promo for Meng. "Knows 9 forms of martial arts" "bodyguard for an unnamed royal family" etc etc. What's even crazier is all they needed to do was go with some of his real life fight stories to prove he was one of the toughest SOBs in wrestling history.

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: Sting (c) def Meng (w/Col. Robert Parker) in 15:31- This is a rematch of the tournament final for the vacant title at Great American Bash. Cautious start. It's hot out there. Meng hits chops and forearms in the corner. Slugfest stalemate. More slow lockups. Mongolian chops from Meng. He hits more kicks and chops in the corner then puts on a Greco Roman throat hold. Sting quickly gets out of a nerve pinch and hooks on an ARMBAR. Meng goes for a suplex that's blocked by Sting, then he no sells a Sting clothesline. Sting's stunned, flummoxed and bewildered. Meng slam. Sting dodges a headbutt off the second rope. He sloooooowly turns Meng over into the Scorpion Death Lock. Parker gets on the apron to distract. Meng kicks Sting from behind. Brain buster for 2. Trio of backbreakers for 2. A Meng abdominal stretch kills some time. Sting gets a sunset flip. Meng tries to fight. Sting gets him down but they're in the ropes. Now Meng tries a sunset flip. Sting leaps and falls on him. Both guys are down. Meng grabs both of Sting's legs in one arm and puts on a modified Boston crab. Sting dodges an elbow drop. Back suplex. Clothesline flurry. Thesz press! That was new. Ugly Sting hurricanrana for 2. Springboard crossbody for 2. Stinger Spla....NO Meng kicks him right in the face in midair! OK, that was good. Cover for 2. Meng splash off the second rope for 2. Sting ducks under a kick, rolls Meng up, and gets a pin. The whole match was in slow motion, which doesn't bode well for everyone else going out and trying to wrestle outside on a beach in the middle of July. *1/4

Jimmy Hart and the Renegade are with Mean Gene. Renegade continues to milk his Ultimate Warrior Comic Con cosplay for every penny WCW will give to him.

 

WCW World Television Championship: The Renegade (c) (w/Jimmy Hart) def "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff in 6:12- And Renegade even runs to the ring. Quick start in contrast to the last match with Orndorff getting a knee to the gut and dropping a kneedrop. After some jawing at Hart (it's hilarious to hear Heenan call Hart a runt now Hart is a face after all those years they were both heels in WWF) Orndorff comes off the top rope into a Renegade boot. Tackles from Renegade and he clotheslines Orndorff 360 outside. Orndorff falls off the dais the ring is on and all the way into the sand. Well that's going to make a mess in the ring. I feel bad for anyone that gets sand down their tights during a match. It's coarse and rough and it gets everywhere. Renegade pulls him back in by his hair over the top rope and drops him, then cranks a headlock. Horrible dropkick from Renegade. So bad I don't know if I should even be calling it a dropkick. Orndorff goes out again, gets a handful of sand and throws it in Renegade's face. Saito suplex from Orndorff back in. Renegade's idea of selling is "wander around the ring and shake your head a lot". That's not just from the sand in the face, that's normal for him. Orndorff goes for the piledriver. Renegade backdrops out and hits more awful dropkicks. Give it up, kid. Renegade powerslam to some boos. Orndorff goes for a suplex. Renegade slips out, hits a back suplex, bridges and gets a 3 count to some definite boos. After the bell Orndorff attacks him to cheers. He plants Renegade with the piledriver to about the biggest pop in the show so far. Renegade pops up like it never happened and gives Orndorff a tackle off the top rope to more boos. 1/4*

Ladies and gentlemen, I regret to inform you it's Dungeon of Doom time. We get video from the very fake Dungeon cave set of the Taskmaster (Kevin Sullivan) holding the GOBLET OF DARKNESS while the Master guy rambles on saying something totally unintelligible. Seriously, he needs to learn to deliver lines so people will actually understand what he's saying. Kamala is introduced as the Dungeon's first "warrior". More will come. It's not in this video but they've also been joined by the Zodiac, Brutus Beefacke's latest ever changing gimmick.

 

Kamala (w/The Taskmaster) def "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan in 6:00- Tony and Heenan try to find a line of logic through the Dungeon of Doom story. A losing battle if I've ever seen one. I've seen Rifftrax/MST3K movies with more coherent plotlines. Duggan teases a 2x4 shot before the bell. Lockup and slugfest. Kamala weebles wobbles and doesn't fall down. A clothesline finally puts him down. Tony praises his "balance" in not going down which is hilarious. Kamala opens his arms to Duggan. Does he want a hug or something? He hits chops to Duggan's head. Duggan tries a slam but of course can't lift the GIANT. Kamala hooks on the inevitable bear hug. Duggan tries to headbutt out and hurts himself. Finally (Duggan has always been a bit slow) he goes the obvious route and stomps Kamala's bare feet. Kamala dodges a charge in the corner and hooks on the Pectoral Pinch of Boob Twisting +1. Duggan bites out. Clothesline and he manages to slam Kamala. 3 point stance clothesline. Sullivan gets on the apron to distract. Zodiac runs in, hits Duggan with Kamala's mask, and Kamala covers for the pin. DUD

 

Diamond Dallas Page (w/The Diamond Doll and Max Muscle) def Dave "Evad" Sullivan in 5:04- After years of stops and starts across multiple WCW regimes DDP was finally starting to get some traction, thanks in part the current "abusive boyfriend/husband" angle he has going with the Doll (Page's real life wife Kimberly) that's turning him into one of the company's top heels. His cool new finisher, the Diamond Cutter, helps too. This started at GAB when Evad beat DDP in an arm wrestling match to win a date with the Doll. Nothing about said date is mentioned during this match and I honestly can't be bothered to go look up if they did anything with it on weekly TV or not. A kid tries to give the Doll flowers before the match. DDP takes them and yells at her. Evad charges the ring and attacks. He stuffs the flowers down DDP's mouth. Evad ducks a punch and hits an atomic drop. Suplex. He starts talking to the Doll and DDP hits him from behind. Sullivan catches him in the corner with a bear hug. DDP eye pokes out. Another Evad dodge in the corner. He catches a DDP kick and clotheslines him. Buckle shots. He puts DDP in the "inverted bear hug" that's his current finisher. Muscle gets on the apron. Diamond Cutter! Good night. It's an Evad match. Second straight match with a manager distraction finish too. DUD

 

Triangle Match for the WCW World Tag Team Championship: Harlem Heat (c) (w/Sister Sherri) def The Nasty Boys and The Blue Bloods in 13:41- These triple threat matches were still a new thing at the time and they were still trying to figure out exactly how to make them work. If I remember right that's another thing ECW was taking the lead on innovating around this time. Knobbs and Booker start after a very long coin toss. Regal gets in but both teams pound him. Everyone's brawling. The Bloods both take pit stops as the Nastys clear the ring. Reset with Knobbs and Booker. Back and forth brawl. Booker 360 sells a clothesline. Regal tags himself in. Booker trips and superkicks him. Ray backdrops Eaton. Eaton rolls out and Sherri pops him. Sags blind tags in and drops elbows on Ray. The Nastys pound him down in the corner. Then Sags tags Regal in and tells him to go for it. Regal gets stuck in the Heat corner. Booker gets a boot up on Knobbs in the corner and it looks legit accidentally falls out of the ring. He's OK. Regal blind tags in and then has to tell ref Nick Patrick that he did it because Patrick wasn't looking. European uppercuts on Booker. The Bloods and Nastys start to fight with each other, allowing Booker to tag Ray. The Bloods and Nastys start to work together again to pound Ray down. Heat gets Knobbs isolated and Booker hits him with a swing kick. The Bloods get in to work Knobbs over. Eaton fistdrop off the top rope. Sags breaks up the Regal Stretch. Tony and Heenan argue about the rules and I don't think either of them have it right. Knobbs and Regal lay into each other a little bit stiffly. Sags tags in and does a hot tag run. Everyone in the pool! Sags backdrops Booker onto Regal. Knobbs splashes them both and sits on them. He gets a 3 count and the Nastys think they won. But Patrick gives the belts to Heat! Apparently Booker got a shoulder up, and also apparently Knobbs was only sitting on Booker, not Eaton, while Booker was covering Eaton. See, that's trying way too hard to get cute and clever with the finish in a match that was already unique enough at the time as it was. The rest of it was a pretty big mess too. 3/4*

During Flair's promo I notice that his roots badly need doing. That's the least blonde I've ever seen Flair. Before the next match the cast of Baywatch comes out to say hi, sit around and watch so WCW can say they were there. Heenan stands on a chair to look at the women and Tony legit loses it laughing. "You never know when you'll need a lifeguard!"

 

Lifeguard Match: "Macho Man" Randy Savage def "Nature Boy" Ric Flair in 13:55- So what is a Lifeguard Match? Well, it's a Lumberjack Match except it's on a beach. So, Lifeguard. Hey, that's pretty much word for word what Tony said. And it is wrestlers working as the lifeguards, not the Baywatch cast. Flair's in his rare pink gear. Savage has all the Slim Jims with him for Slim Jim presents Bash at the Beach sponsored by Slim Jim. Tony calls shenanigans on Arn Anderson being a lifeguard. After the bell Flair bumps off an eye poke. Savage does some ground and pound. Backdrop and clotheslines. Flair gets clotheslined 360 to the floor. The lifeguards get him back in. Savage does mounted punches. Flair inverted atomic drop counter. He tosses Savage out and he gets pushed back in. Flair chops lead to a slugfest. Running elbow from Savage. Flair Flip! He falls out and gets pushed back in. A tights pull sends Savage out hard all the way into the sand. Savage blocks an apron suplex and suplexes Flair over the top outside! Flair begs off and gets the eye poke in. Back elbow and Flair gets strutting a bit. Sleeper. Savage elbows out. Speed run and Flair puts the sleeper back on. Savage runs him into the top turnbuckle. Flair Flop! Flair is up first with more chops. He tosses Savage over the top into the sand. There hasn't been an incident with the lifeguards, yet. Flair comes off the top and lands jaw first on Savage's head. I don't think that came off right. They take a minute to get their footing back. Savage hooks on a sleeper. Flair counters with a kneebreaker! We're going to school, kids. Another corner slugfest. Flair gets a boot up in the opposite corner. Figure four! Savage fights and reverses it. Flair delayed suplex for 2. Savage goes for mounted punches again. Flair tries the inverted atomic drop counter again but this time Savage blocks it. He punches Flair 360 to the ground. Flair tries to run but the lifeguards drag him back in. Savage double ax handle off the top. Arn gets on the apron and in the ring. Savage pops him. Flair with another eye poke. Savage backdrops him over the top! Knobbs catches him in midair! While that's going on Arn sneaks up and DDTs Savage! Flair covers. Savage kicks out! Savage backslide for 2. Flair gets slammed off the top. Another double ax handle off the top. Setup slam. The elbow hits! Savage gets the pin! Solid but not spectacular. Nowhere near the level of their GAB match. I appreciate that they didn't do the cliche giant lumberjack brawl finish. Er, lifeguard. **3/4

 

Steel Cage Match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Hulk Hogan (c) (w/Jimmy Hart and Dennis Rodman) def Vader in 13:13- With this show Hogan is marking one year with the company and one full year as world champ, the longest WCW/NWA world title reign since the Jim Crockett days. Vader's going old school with his old headgear! Nice. NBA star Dennis Rodman, a polarizing figure at the time to say the least but also an avowed wrestling fan, is making his first of what would be many WCW appearances. For the first time ever in WCW this match can be won by escaping the cage as well as pin or submission, something I'm sure Hogan insisted on since cage escapes were the standard cage match finishes in WWF during his time there. As soon as he tears his shirt off Hogan wraps it around Vader's neck and pulls him into the cage. He stuffs his bandana in Vader's mouth. Mounted punches and stomps. Double ax handle off the second rope. Both guys block cage shots. Slugfest. Hogan finally gets run into the cage and Vader starts laying in the corner potatoes. He runs Hogan into his headgear that's set up in a corner! Hogan blocks another shot and Vader takes a headgear shot. Hogan puts Vader's headgear on! Then headbutts Vader with it! OK, that's funny, I'll give him that one. Avalanche from Vader. Vader bomb! A second one! Cover. Hogan kicks out. Vader suplex. He goes for the door. Hogan pushes him from behind into the cage. Vader blocks a slam attempt. He goes up top. Hogan dodges a senton. Corner clothesline. Another slam attempt and Vader falls on Hogan for 2. Another slugfest. Hogan hits a clothesline and gets the slam, but his back gives out. Vader short clothesline. Splash off the second rope. Hulk Up. Hogan no sells cage shots and runs Vader back and forth into the cage. Big boot. The Taskmaster and Zodiac come out and try to get in the cage. Rodman chases them off. Legdrop. Hogan poses forever then hits a second legdrop. He climbs the cage. Vader chases. Hogan fights him off, climbs over, falls to the floor and it's over. Bleh. *1/2

After the match Tony and Heenan think they're going off the air, then Flair comes out to berate Vader for failing to take Hogan out. Arn joins him. Vader takes them both out and challenges them to a 2 on 1 match. That match will happen at the next Clash of the Champions as Vader would be gone from WCW before the next PPV.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- After finally having a halfway decent PPV at Great American Bash it's right back into the '95 doldrums here. The only positive thing I can say about this show is the beach location looks good on TV.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D-

King of the Ring '97

Legacy Review

King of the Ring '97

June 8, 1997 from the Providence Civic Center in Providence, RI

Commentary: Vince McMahon and Jim Ross

While going through this show, at least the KOTR tournament portion, keep in mind Triple H was supposed to win the '96 KOTR before somebody had to be punished for the Curtain Call and he was, in Vince's mind, the only one available. Of course that gave us both Austin's win and the Austin 3:16 promo that was the launching pad for Austin's superstardom which literally saved the company when the WCW/NWO angle was putting them out of business so it all worked out in the end.

Semifinals: Hunter Hearst Helmsley (w/Chyna) def Ahmed Johnson in 7:42- Huge pop for Johnson, who's called the favorite in the tournament by commentary. It's not mentioned by commentary, but HHH actually lost to Johnson by DQ in the first round but disputed it, threatened to sue and ended up getting a second chance by replacing an injured Vader against Crush in the first round. Johnson flashes his power advantage early. Really slow start, AKA Johnson's normal pace. Johnson mocks HHH's bow and wants a test of strength. HHH slowly locks up....then kicks him. Johnson no sells a chop. Press slam. HHH rolls to the floor then goes to the eye poke back in. Johnson comes out of the corner with a clothesline counter. HHH dodges an elbow drop. He gives Johnson a stair shot on the floor and a baseball slide. Ax handle off the top back in for 2. "Johnson" chants hulk him up and he does a scissors kick counter to a backdrop. Spinebuster. He sets up for the Pearl River Plunge. Chyna gets on the apron. HHH running knee to Johnson's back, Pedigree, and it's done. It's nothing special but it got its point across. It's definitely for the best they got Johnson out without having to work two matches tonight, he tends to get blown up with just one. *

 

Semifinals: Mankind def Jerry "The King" Lawler in 10:24- Vince mentions Mankind getting a pop. This is at the start of Mankind's slow face turn, and the emergence of Mick Foley's other characters. Mankind takes a mic and chides "Uncle Paul" for not being with him because he had "better things" to do (more on that later). He goes through a funny bit of talking about Lawler and he being naked. "BANG BANG!" is back. Lawler also does a promo coming down the ramp, mocking some aisleside fans before making fun of Mrs. Foley's baby boy. It all goes on a long while but it mostly works. Mankind attacks on the floor after Lawler gets his entrance gear off. Corner beatdown. He sets up for the Mandible Claw. Lawler sees it and bails. JR goes through Lawler's history, mentioning the USWA and Andy Kaufman. The reigns are definitely loose on commentary now. Lawler takes over with his usual "foreign object in the tights" hijinks, focusing on trying to hurt Mankind's half ear. JR says "I'm glad I don't have to say international object anymore". Lawler bulldog. Mankind gets tossed hard to the floor and takes a turnbuckle shot from the apron. Lawler bites on the ear. Now JR straight up calls him Mick Foley and mentions Cactus Jack. More brawling on the floor and Lawler goes into the guardrail. Lawler dodges and Mankind crashes into the steps. He tosses Mankind back of the head first into the rail. Piledriver on the floor! Lawler dropkicks Mankind off the apron. Piledriver in the ring. Mankind kicks out! He goes into comeback mode and hits a legdrop. Running corner knee. Bang bang! Lawler counters a backdrop with an ugly takedown that I don't think went as planned. Fist drop off the second rope again to the half ear. He sets up another piledriver. Mankind counters. Lawler tries to counter the counter with a sunset flip. Mandible Claw! Lawler goes out and the ref calls it. Call me nuts but I didn't hate that. Lawler's psychology combined with Foley's crazy bumping and skill at match layouts came together with at least a watchable match. **

Todd Pettingill (who's becoming more and more out of place as we get more into the Attitude Era) is in the back with super crazy Brian Pillman. Pillman takes credit for stirring the pot and getting Austin and Shawn at each other's throats, but also gives Bret Hart credit for the idea. But don't look behind you! Here comes Austin! Austin smiles at the camera and hilariously mouths along to Pillman's promo for a minute before jumping him. They go into a bathroom and Austin gives Pillman a good ol' swirlie.

 

Goldust (w/Marlena) def Crush (w/The Nation of Domination) in 9:56- More commentary looseness: JR directly calls Goldust Dustin Runnels, The Natural and says he's Dusty Rhodes' son. Goldust and Marlena are also being openly acknowledged as husband and wife. Crush jumps before the bell. They fight to the floor and Crush takes a stair shot. Back in Goldust gives Crush mounted punches and an old fashioned Goldust chest rub. Flying clothesline. Swinging neckbreaker for 2. Crush counters a corner whip and hits a belly to belly suplex, then goes into slow beatdown mode. Goldust tries to slam him but Crush falls on top for 2. Crush backbreaker for 2. Match killing double chinlock time. JR mentiones WWF President Gorilla Monsoon is at home sick. Sadly it was the beginning of the illness that would force Monsoon to retire fully soon after this show and eventually lead to his passing away in the fall of '99. Goldust crotches Crush to get the match going again. A long speed run ends with a Crush press into a gutbuster for 2. Now Crush locks on a nerve pinch. Goldust counters a backdrop with an uppercut and goes into Dusty-style jabs. The Nation goons circle Marlena. Goldust bulldog. He sees Marlena in trouble and goes to help her. Crush attacks from behind. Back in kick wham Goldust DDT and it's over. There was only so much you were going to get out of Crush at this point in his career but Dustin tried. 1/2*

Promo time with Sid and LOD. Fortunately (or unfortunately) Sid and Hawk being in the same promo doesn't turn into a giant train wreck, but there's a funny moment as you can see Sid mouthing Hawk's promo like he's reading off the same cue card. During the Harts' promo Owen says LOD wears "funky" makeup, but the way it comes out it sounds like "fucking".

 

The Hart Foundation def The Legion of Doom and Sycho Sid in 13:37- It's former tag champs Owen Hart and the British Bulldog along with Jim Neidhart representing the Harts in this one. Even though they lost the tag titles Bulldog and Owen were still European and Intercontinental champion respectively. I love the Hart Foundation jackets with the logo and individual names. Sid milks and sucks up every last drop of crowd adulation as he slowly makes his way in. Legend in his own mind. I mean yes, he is I'd say a low level wrestling legend, but in his mind he was Mount Rushmore material. Animal and Owen start with Animal tossing him around with a possibly flubbed spot in the middle of it. Owen gets slingshot into the face corner and powerslammed. Sid playing to the crowd so much is hilarious. Bulldog delayed suplex on Sid. Sid says eff that, pops right back up and knocks the heels off the apron. Anvil and Hawk try to out no sell each other. Hawk clothesline off the top for 2. The crowd chants for Sid and Animal says go for it. Bulldog piledriver on Hawk, who also pops right back up and hits a clothesline for 2. Owen spinning heel kick on Animal. Anvil runs him into the steps and gives him a chairshot, sending Animal face in peril. Owen and Anvil do the old Hart Foundation slingshot tackle. Animal gets a sunset flip but Hebner is distracted. He gets stuck in the heel corner for a bit. Animal catches Bulldog coming off the second rope and slams him, then goes up top. Bulldog meets him and superplexes him. After some more generic FIP stuff Owen puts a sleeper on. Animal reaches over and tags Hawk. Owen dodges a Hawk fistdrop off the top rope. Hawk double clothesline and tag to Sid. DONNYBROOK! Sid choke slams Bulldog. He sets up the powerbomb. Owen sunset flips him off the top and that gets the pin. Not a lot of effort going on out there. This would be Sid's last major WWF appearance. He'd take some time off and work in the indys before going back to WCW in '99 for his last big run there. *1/2

To my point at the top of the review, we get a short recap of Austin's huge run and rise to stardom since winning the KOTR tournament the previous year.

 

King of the Ring Finals: Hunter Hearst Helmsley (w/Chyna) def Mankind in 19:26- Another new matchup that had a huge future no one knew about yet. Mankind's coming in with a hurt neck from the semis that will play into this one. Basic back and forth start. Mankind lays in the beatdown. On a whip HHH grabs the top rope and bails. Back in HHH stomps Mankind out of the ring. Mankind runs HHH into the rail. Mounted punches from Mankind back in. HHH drops him over the top turnbuckle. Swinging neckbreaker. Slugfest. HHH hits a clothesline and Chyna gets a shot in. Mankind hits a desperation low blow. HHH ducks a charge and Mankind gets hung in the ropes. He gets himself out. HHH baseball slide. Kneedrops to the back of Mankind's hurt neck back in. Mankind hits a couple of hot shots. Running corner knee. Trips flip! He ends up upside down and Mankind drops an elbow on him. They go to the floor and Mankind backdrops HHH on the aisle! Cactus Elbow! Double underhook DDT. Chyna distracts the ref and HHH manages to kick out at 2. That finally woke the crowd up. HHH hooks up the Pedigree, kicking off a counter run like the previous match ending with Mankind hooking the Claw on! Chyna pulls Mankind out to the floor by his hair. The ref has some words with her for that. HHH neckbreaker over the top rope! That'll hurt the bad neck some more. The mask is off. HHH goes up top. The Claw is back on! HHH eye pokes to get free. Mankind inverted atomic drop and clothesline for 2. Cactus Clothesline! Chyna pulls HHH out of danger and Mankind goes crashing into the rail head first again. HHH clears the main English announce table off. Pedigree on the table! Mankind is up quickly so Chyna grabs the KOTR scepter and whacks him with it, breaking it completely. Running knee from HHH and Mankind falls to the floor again, taking out a photographer in the process. Arrogant cover. Mankind kicks out! Pedigree and good night. The crowd deflates on that result but I'd say it was the right call. The first half of the match was a pretty dull brawl but they got going better in the stretch run and the psychology was tight throughout. **1/4

HHH and Chyna call Pettingill into the ring for an immediate coronation ceremony. HHH beats Mankind some more with the crown.

 

Before the next match the Hart Foundation joins us in full. The original plan was Bret was going to join commentary but their whole setup was destroyed in the last match and there's no headset for him. Bret takes Pettingill's mic to cut a promo in the ring. He says he's almost cleared to wrestle again and challenges any five wrestlers to take on the Harts at the next In Your House, Canadian Stampede in Bret's hometown. If they have the guts. Bret gets out and takes Vince's headset but WWF officials force him and the rest of the group to leave. They're still in Gorilla as Austin comes out for the next match. Words and fingers are exchanged.

 

WWF Tag Team Champions "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels double DQ in 22:29- Austin and Shawn ended the 8 month tag title reign of Bulldog and Owen Hart on Raw a couple of weeks prior (the longest WWF/E tag title reign there would be for nearly a decade), Shawn's first match back after finding his smile again, but still can't get along and are trying to settle their differences here while being fully egged on by the Harts. It's the start of the "tag champs who hate each other" trope that will be a thing in wrestling for quite a while after this. Austin's pops continue to get bigger, while Shawn's is so high pitched it almost hurts your ears. They have a discussion in the ring after the bell. Lockup and hard Austin shoulderblock. He gives Shawn the double bird. Everything stops when a Special Olympics athlete jumps over the rail. Shawn goes out to help. Austin jumps him from behind! Speed run, Shawn armdrag, and now Shawn gives Austin the double bird. Shawn goes out again to help the kid that went over the rail as his mother? and officials get him out of harm's way. Really good job by Shawn in handing that situation, showing that maybe there really is a good person in there underneath all the dickishness he was showing at that time. He just needed help to bring it out. Austin holds the ropes open for him to get back in. Lockup and Austin works the arm a bit. Shawn works a headlock. Speed run and stiff Austin back elbow. He mocks Shawn's pose to a pretty big pop. Classic Austin elbows to the head. Shawn escapes and hooks on a chinlock as the groundwork continues to be laid. More crazy speed. Shawn tries to do Austin's Thesz Press! Austin says UH UH, grabs him in midair, gives him and inverted atomic drop and clotheslines him 360 to the floor. Mega Shawn selling on the floor. Austin tries to suplex him back in. Shawn counters into a roll up for 2. Austin takes a rope break on a hammerlock and rolls out to shake his arm off. Back in we get a test of strength for a bit with Austin having the clear advantage. Shawn hits a backdrop and goes back to the ARMBAR. More speed. Austin Thesz Press with fists flying! Quick cradle exchange for near falls. Bridge up spot and Austin escapes a backslide. Momentum push and Shawn FLIES over the top rope to the floor. Austin knocks Shawn off the apron into the rail. He goes out and pulls the floor mat up. Austin press slams Shawn onto the bare floor! More speed back in. Austin ducks Shawn's flying forearm! Shawn slides back to the floor. Back in Shawn flash small package for 2. Austin clothesline for 2. Elbow off the second rope for 2. Austin hooks on a chinlock and plays the rope leverage game before getting caught. Slugfest. Austin get tossed over the top to the floor. Shawn baseball slide. Austin with a suplex counter. Shawn hits the flying forearm! Kip up! Austin dodges a charge and Shawn flies shoulder first into the post. Austin pulls Shawn's tights down for the mandatory bare ass shot while pulling him off the ropes. Shawn reverse crossbody off the second rope. Austin rolls through it and covers for 2. Another Austin clothesline for 2. Corner whip reversals and ref Tim White goes down. Austin blocks the superkick! Stunner! No ref. Austin pulls White back up.....and Stunners him! Superkick! Backup ref Mike Chioda comes in.....and checks on White! Oh, Shawn does not like that. Superkick on Chioda! Shawn covers and White counts. Austin kicks out! Shawn berates White as ref #3, senior ref Earl Hebner, runs in. Hebner says enough of this shit and throws the match out, DQing both guys. Huge boos for that. Austin tries to cheap shot Shawn with his belt but Shawn was ready for him. They argue all the way to the back while the crowd chants "bullshit". Clearly, nothing is settled. What a match. Austin and Shawn meshed beautifully, the crowd was nuclear through the whole thing, and even the non-finish really doesn't hurt in context of the story. All the ref bumps were funny as hell too, well done and at this point it was still fresh and not a cliche. ****1/4

 

WWF Championship: The Undertaker (c) (w/Paul Bearer) def Faarooq (w/The Nation of Domination) in 13:44- Good luck following that last match. Bearer is back from the burn unit and back with Taker, but not by Taker's choice. Bearer is keeping himself attached to Taker, and championship money, by blackmailing Taker with a "dark secret" from his past. There's a lot of talk about Faarooq possibly becoming the first black WWF Champion, though no one mentions the fact that he was already the first black world champion in wrestling period, winning the WCW World title as Ron Simmons in '92. Faarooq attacks from behind while Bearer is giving Taker grief over not giving him the belt quickly enough or something. Taker double goozle, corner toss and body shots to counter. Big boot. Bearer bitches about...well, everything. Faarooq powerslam. The Nation goons reach in and attack Taker. Taker gets a boot up on Faarooq in the corner. He hooks up for old school and does the rope walk.....and falls backwards into the Nation! Taker snaps Faarooq over the top rope. Old school rope walk again, but this time Savio Vega shakes the rope and Taker gets crotched. Faarooq suplex for 2. Taker sit up and clothesline. Faarooq with a low blow. Nation goons choke Taker. Faarooq gets the ring steps but Taker big boots them right back in his face. Back in Faarooq counters a backdrop with a piledriver. Slow cover for 2. And here we go with the Chinlock of Match Killing +3. After a while Taker cutters out. They go through a long run of every attempted move being countered or dodged with long pauses between each. The Nation guys start getting into it with each other for some reason. Faarooq goes over to try to restore order. Taker scoops, hits the tombstone, and it's done. That might have been a passable title match on Raw, not a PPV main event. A couple of weeks after this on Raw Faarooq would clean house in the Nation, leading to new groups being created and eventually new leadership of the Nation itself. 3/4*

Vega and Crush both take chokeslams after the bell. Bearer demands Taker chokeslam Faarooq too. Taker reluctantly does it. Bearer wants another one. And another. Taker resignedly goes through with it. Finally Ahmed Johnson comes out and asks Taker what the hell. Bearer tells Taker to get him too. Johnson ducks Taker's punch and plants him with the Pearl River Plunge. Taker sits up with Bearer's help, and Bearer bitches at him as the show closes.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Outside Shawn/Austin there's not much going on here wrestling wise. However, WWF was in the midst of one of the hottest creative periods in the company's history. Almost everything on this show was part in some way or another of a larger whole, and it's creative fires like this that can raise a show up to being at least watchable even if the matches themselves aren't that great. Plus Shawn/Austin is must see great.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C

Great American Bash '95

Legacy Review

Great American Bash '95

A small personal note before we get going (this is a blog after all): I was lucky enough to be able to attend Ring of Honor Final Battle '22 in Arlington this past weekend and it was a fantastic show. My favorite AEW/ROH guys, other than Kenny Omega, are FTR and everyone in Blackpool Combat Club, and while I was disappointed FTR lost the tag titles to the Briscoes it was still an absolutely incredible, brutal match that was one of the best I've ever seen in person, it was great to see BCC sweep their two title matches. The end of the Jericho/Castagnoli world title match in particular was genius. We had a hell of a time and I hope to make more ROH PPVs in Texas in the future, I assume they'll keep coming back here. Anyway, on with the show.

 

June 18, 1995 from the Hara Arena in Dayton, OH

Commentary: Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan

The Great American Bash, traditionally the #2 yearly show after Starrcade back from the Jim Crockett Promotions days, returns after a two year hiatus, but in a new June slot. Bash at the Beach had taken over July and cemented itself as one of the year's top shows with Hogan's debut the previous year. Speaking of Hogan, for the first time this year he's not booked for a match at the PPV as was allowed in his contract, but he is here tonight. This show is also the debut of David Penzer as WCW's ring announcer, who would hold the position the rest of WCW's existence. Longtime ring announcer Gary Michael Capetta was unceremoniously released the previous month with "budget cuts" cited as the reason.

"Das Wunderkind" Alex Wright def "Flyin'" Brian Pillman in 15:42- This is inexplicably Pillman's first PPV match in over a year. Not long after this WCW would let him out of whatever cage Bischoff was keeping him in again to go to Japan and wrestle that year's Best of the Super Juniors tournament (which was won by Chris Benoit as Wild Pegasus, who had a few tryout months with WCW a couple of years previous and would return later in the year). Pillman is also a face again, at least for now. Lots of low pitched boos for Wright. The longer his push goes the clearer it is he has no fanbase outside young women. Code of Honor handshake to start. They do a lot of extended back and forth respectful chain wrestling to open up, followed by another handshake. That gets boos. Pillman headscissors takedown and dropkick. Wright flips over in the corner and does his own dropkick and headscissors that Pillman tries to block but Wright gets him over. On a rope run Pillman runs gut first right into Wright's head. Not sure if that was planned or not. Enzuguri counter shenanigans follow and Pillman gets a leg takedown. He hooks in a bow and arrow. Yet another Pillman headscissors takedown. Wright swipes away a dropkick and hooks on a Boston crab. He tries for a surfboard but they blow the spot and Wright settles for grabbing one of Pillman's arms. Quick series of roll ups from Wright for near falls. Big Pillman chop. I think he's had about enough. Pillman back elbows out of a hammerlock. Wright uses momentum to send Pillman out to the floor. Wright opens the ropes and invites Pillman back in. Pillman grabs his hair and pulls him out to the floor! There's the crazy Pillman that's about to get even crazier over the next few months. More chops. Back in Wright faceplants Pillman. Pillman gets his knees up on a splash. Stupid Wright dove right into the knees instead of Pillman's body. The crowd is still firmly behind Pillman despite all the heeling it up he's doing. Gut wrench gutbuster for 2. Pillman drops Wright on the top rope and tries to suplex him back in. Wright blocks it and suplexes Pillman from the ring to the floor! Baseball slide that gets huge boos. Wright plancha! Missile dropkick back in for 2. Pillman grabs Wright's tights and tosses him to the floor. TOPE SUICIDA! Pillman gets Wright up and tries coming off the second rope to the floor but Wright dodges and Pillman crashes into the barricade. Back in Wright tries coming off the top rope but Pillman dodges. Both guys dropkick at the same time! Wright blocks a superplex and hits a crossbody off the top for 2. Another sloppy dive from Wright, he went into Pillman with his knees instead of his body. Wright tries coming off the top again. Pillman dropkicks him in midair! Cover for 2. Wright crotches Pillman. Standing switches and Wright hits a German suplex for 2. Pillman tries a crucifix into a sunset flip but Wright blocks, stacks him up and gets the 3 count! Very loud 50/50 cheer/boo reaction for that result. After the bell they hug it out despite Pillman heeling it up earlier. There were some definite rough patches, but on the whole Pillman carried Wright to his best match yet. ***1/2

 

Oh yay, we've got some arm wrestling up next. The past few weeks on TV WCW has been building up Diamond Dallas Page as an arm wrestling savant, with occasional heel help from his new friend Max Muscle. Page held a series of arm wrestling challenges, offering a date with the Diamond Doll (Kimberly Page) to anyone who could beat him. Meanwhile, Dave Sullivan had returned from injury with a new pet rabbit that was a present from Mrs. Page while he was recuperating. Tonight Evad is taking on the DDP challenge to try to win that date, but to get the match he also has to put Ralph the rabbit on the line. I'm giving this way more time than it deserves. The match itself is arm wrestling. DDP does a bunch of heel stalling, Muscle tries to cheat, and in the end the Doll pushes Muscle into DDP to let Evad win. Afterward DDP and Muscle shove, then hug, and Muscle points the finger at the Doll for causing the loss. DDP freaks out. It's the usual arm wrestling pointlessness, but it kept us from having to see Evad, one of the worst wrestlers to ever work for a major company, wrestle a proper match so thumbs up for that.

"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan def Sgt. Craig Pittman by DQ in 8:13- Pittman is a former Marine that's recently graduated from WCW's Power Plant training school who's being put over as an insane shoot fighter that's breaking everyone's arms with his Code Red cross armbreaker finisher. Duggan is replacing an injured Marcus Alexander Bagwell. It's obviously not said on TV but reportedly the "injury" was a rupture in one or both of Bagwell's calf implants. Yes, calf implants. Nose to nose shoving at the start. Lockup stalemate. Pittman does some pushups. Duggan gives Pittman a hip toss that's so sloppy on Duggan's side the rookie Pittman has to save it. Duggan dodges a charge and Pittman FLIES over the top rope down to the floor! He's certainly not lacking in enthusiasm. Pittman pulls Duggan down in the corner, rips his knee pad off, and posts his knee. Back in they roll around on the mat. There's no brawling or punches being thrown at all, they're just rolling around. OK then. Pittman puts on a leg bar. Duggan rips part of Pittman's tank top off. Pittman gives him some ground punches. Duggan gets up and floors Pittman with a punch. Rough takedown from Pittman and back to the leg bar. Duggan eye rakes out. Another Pittman takedown into a spinning toe hold. Duggan kicks and Pittman flops all the way out to the floor. Punches and a slam from Duggan back in while he does some lip service to the hurt knee. Clothesline. 3 point stance tackle. Pittman gets right back up like nothing happened, grabs Duggan's leg, then switches to the arm. The Code Red is on. Duggan grabs a rope but Pittman won't let go. The ref calls for the DQ. Yeah, Duggan would definitely not have been on my list of choices to try to work a green Pittman through a match. 1/2*

 

Harlem Heat (w/Sister Sherri) def "Dirty" Dick Slater and Bunkhouse Buck (w/Col. Robert Parker and Meng) in 8:39- This match was set up on the preshow with some romantic shenanigans between Sherri and Parker. Both teams are officially heels, but the crowd is behind Harlem Heat. The way this is set up WCW might have been testing the waters to turn Heat face. The heels jump Heat as they get in the ring and we have a 2v2 brawl. Heat gets the edge and the heels go out to regroup. Small funny bit, at least to me: I was thinking during intros about getting Dick Slater and Dick Murdoch mixed up, and in the first part of my match notes I wrote Murdoch instead of Slater. Self fulfilling prophecy. Reset with Ray and *Slater*. Ray slams both heels and we have another 2v2 standoff. Booker hits Buck with a swing kick and dropkicks Slater. Bicycle kick on Buck. Ray comes in and facelocks Buck for a bit. Slater and Booker flip the script with a little mat wrestling. Ray comes in. He doesn't mat wrestle. He does resthold though. Booker gets a slam but misses an elbow drop, spinaroonies up, and hits a flying forearm. Slater chops Ray but he doesn't go down. Buck kicks Ray in the back of the head and he does go down. Buck big boot for 2. Ray double clotheslines both heels. Mild tag to Booker. DONNYBROOK! Booker small packages Buck. The ref is distracted. Parker comes in and turns them over. Sherri comes in and turns them back over. The ref finally gets away and Booker gets the pin. *

Next we go to footage from the preshow of Vader attacking Commissioner Nick Bockwinkel. When Vader first comes out him saying "I'm tired of your shit" slips past the Turner censors, but he catches himself and when he gets closer says "I'm tired of your.....stuff". Hogan and the rest of the face locker room come out to stop him. Commish Bockwinkel is with commentary live. Tony has to remind him what the next PPV is when he forgets, then he sets Hogan vs Vader in a steel cage for Bash at the Beach. After that is Flair with Mean Gene. Mostly normal stuff from Flair, but he says "I took your wife in '92" for a nice continuity reference.

 

WCW World Television Championship: The Renegade (w/Jimmy Hart) def Arn Anderson (c) in 9:07- Renegade is what you get when you can't get the Ultimate Warrior and want to make your own but he doesn't have a tenth of the charisma. His mannerisms are nearly identical. This is another one I'm surprised Vince didn't sue over it's such an obvious rip off. Arn tries to jump from behind but Renegade easily overpowers him. An Arn corner clothesline is completely no sold. Clotheslines from Renegade and Arn goes 360 to the floor. Renegade cranks a headlock and screams a lot. He blocks an Arn hiptoss and shoves him down. MOAR headlock. Arn gets an abdominal stretch. Renegade reverses it. Arn eventually hiptosses out. An enzuguri is no sold by Renegade. Arn slides out and calls a time out. Back in Arn gets a back elbow on a corner whip reversal. He tries to put a sleeper on but Renegade runs straight into him. Arn eventually gets it on. Renegade escapes and puts on his own sleeper to audible boos. Arn back suplexes out. Snap mare and chinlock. Renegade moves his arm up and down almost exactly like Warrior while in the hold. Arn counters a backdrop with another no sell. World's Greatest Spinebuster. Arn covers for 2. There's a small "DDT" chant after that. Renegade atomic drops Arn into the corner and they collide. Arn goes up top but Renegade drops him. Samoan drop. Renegade goes up top, hits a splash, and gets the pin and the title to a lukewarm reaction at best. There's a shitload of pyro set off for the win and that gets a bigger reaction. After the match Paul Wight is shown ringside. Commentary still doesn't know who he is. Arn tried his best but even he can only work so much miracle with someone like this. It wouldn't take long for WCW to realize the huge mistake they made. 1/4*

 

WCW World Tag Team Championship: The Nasty Boys (c) def The Blue Bloods in 15:03- The Blue Bloods are young Steven (William) Regal and late career Bobby Eaton, repackaged as Earl Robert Eaton. One guy is from Blackpool and the other from Alabama. There's a joke setup in there somewhere. Like Capetta before him, Penzer needs to learn that when dealing with UK weight measurements it's "stone", not "stones". The brawl is on before the bell. Sags is hitting Regal with his coat. The fight goes to the floor with Knobbs and Eaton going up the aisle. Sags and Regal get back in the ring. The Nastys double team Regal. Regal takes the pit stop! He goes to the floor and his reaction is fantastic. Knobbs avalanches Eaton and he gets pit stopped too. Both Blue Bloods gag on the floor as Regal continues to kill it with the facial expressions. Reset with Sags and Regal. Sags' general insanity flummoxes Regal. Regal goes to the floor again and Knobbs hits him from behind off the apron. Both heels continue to get steamrolled. Knobbs drops Eaton on a chair. Sags pumphandle slam on Regal for 2. Regal finally gets some offense in on Knobbs. It doesn't last long. Eaton ducks and Knobbs goes over the top to the floor. Regal elbow off the apron to the floor! Knobbs/Regal slugfest in the ring. Sags comes in and attacks again. The Nastys flat want to stay on offense forever and never do any selling. Regal works Knobbs on the mat. Knobbs dodges and Eaton crashes in the corner. Tag to Sags. He hits a horrible powerslam on Eaton followed by a kneedrop. The heels work the ref and Sags gets tossed over the top to the floor. The heels double team him down there. Eaton kneedrop off the top back in for 2. Regal European uppercut for 2. Sags dodges a Regal senton and tags. Knobbs goes wild and everyone's in the pool again. Regal and Knobbs collide hard. Harlem Heat comes out. Booker hits Knobbs with the Harlem Hangover, but on his way out accidentally knocks Eaton off the top rope. Sags hits Eaton with the elbow off the top rope, and Knobbs covers for the pin. The Heat plan, such as it was, backfired. It'd work out for them though. The next week on TV Heat beat the Nastys to get the titles back (in a match that had been taped back in May before the Nastys beat them for the titles in the first place). The match was a Nasty Boys match (you didn't expect the Nastys to work someone else's style did you, you silly person) but the Bloods were good enough to be better foils than they usually had. *1/2

Next up is a recap of the 16 man US title tournament. It's pretty amusing watching the lengths they go to keep Alex Wright from taking any pins. Sting/Meng was supposed to be a semifinal match, but Flair and Savage ended up together in the other semifinal and in their match they fought to the back and even out of the arena, causing the match to be thrown out eliminating them both. Sting/Meng was moved to the final as a result. We also get a promo for Bash at the Beach, which this year will be.....on a beach!

 

Tournament Final for the Vacant WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: Sting def Meng (w/Col. Robert Parker) in 13:34- WCW had spent the last few months building Meng up as an ultimate fighting machine. HUGE pop for Sting. I'd be willing to bet Sting is still the most popular wrestler in the company, not Hulk Hogan, which is why Hogan didn't want him anywhere near the world title scene. Cautious start. Meng gets a cheap shot over the ref and goes to work. He puts on what I think is a Greco Roman throat hold. I'd need Taichi to confirm if it really is or not, he's the expert on that hold. Sting chops back. It looks like he wants to do a dropkick but doesn't launch right and settles for a weird one leg kick instead. Now he gets the dropkick. Parker pulls Meng out for a strategy session. Meng goes back to generic heel 101 offense back in, mostly kicks and chops. Sting goes to the desperation eye rake and hits another dropkick. Meng dodges and Sting flies over the top but lands on the apron. He is not eliminated from the Royal Rumble. Sting jaws with Parker and a Meng back elbow knocks him off the apron. Now he's eliminated. Meng sit out powerbomb back in for 2. Shoulderbreaker, followed by the Nerve Pinch of Double Fisting +2. Sting goes out and Parker gets some kicks in. Sting tries a sunset flip but Meng blocks it. Now he puts on the Nerve Pinch of Singlehandedness +1. On a rope run Sting and Meng run into each other and neither seems to know what to do. Sting turns a blocked hiptoss into a backslide. Meng powers out of it. Sting falls backwards off the second rope into Meng. Meng headbutt off the second rope for 2. He tries a back suplex but Sting turns over in it for 2. Meng no sells clothesline. A big flying clothesline finally puts him down. Faceplant. Sting Cactus Clothesline! He takes Parker out and dodges Meng, who runs into the post. Scorpion Death Lock! Meng powers out of it! Sting is shocked. He clips Meng's knee. Clothesline off the top. Splash off the top for 2. Leaping DDT from Sting! Wonder if he'd been watching Shinya Hashimoto tapes to get that from? That's good enough to finally put Meng away and get the title, to a very nice pop. The match was pretty good, mostly thanks to Sting, but also had several really sloppy moments. Sting having to go the extra mile to finish Meng off was also good booking. **3/4

 

"Nature Boy" Ric Flair def "Macho Man" Randy Savage (w/Angelo Poffo) in 14:42- These guys had been circling each other ever since Savage's WCW debut, but the feud kicked off in earnest at the last PPV, Slamboree, when Flair attacked Savage's dad Angelo Poffo. Of course these two had a legendary feud in WWF in 1992 that included the WWF Title match at Wrestlemania 8, one of my favorite WM matches of all time. After a short chase at the start Savage hits back elbows and a backdrop. Flair gets clotheslined 360 to the floor. Savage double ax handle off the top to the floor. Flair gets an eye poke for some breathing room. But not for long as Savage backdrops him on the floor. Flair counters a push and Savage gets posted. Flair double ax handle off the apron. Big Flair chop back in. Snap mare/kneedrop combo. Savage hits back elbows and quickly hooks Flair up for a suplex. Flair maneuvers into the ropes. Savage goes back on the attack, pummeling Flair in the corner. Savage is definitely at intensity level 10 tonight. Flair Bret bumps! He begs off but Savage is all over him again. Flair rolls out. Savage follows and knocks Flair into the guardrail. Back in Flair gets slammed off the top rope. Flair Flip! To the floor. Flair attacks Poffo! Savage goes over to save and Flair clips his knee. Kneebreaker on the guardrail! Nice. Savage is still trying to fight back in the ring so Flair clips his knee again. Savage tights pulls Flair to the apron and kicks him. Flair drags Savage to the floor. Savage reverses a whip and Flair goes into the rail. He gets back in and his knee gives out again. Figure four! Flair plays the rope leverage game but ref Randy Anderson never catches him. He needs to go back to ref school. Savage hangs on for a long while and finally reverses. Flair releases. Savage hops on one leg and pounds Flair. Flair kicks the knee again. Savage dodges a splash off the top rope. Flair is still up first with chops. Savage punches back. Flair Flip 2! He goes across and climbs up top. He comes off, but Savage clotheslines him out of the air! They both collapse but Savage's leg fell on top of Flair and he gets a 2 count out of it. Savage setup slam. The elbow off the top hits! Savage pulls Flair up at 2! Now that's bold strategery, Cotton. Savage goes out and pulls a spare ring bell from under the ring. That's a new one. It's also a good callback to the damage Savage caused guys like Ricky Steamboat with the bell in his early heel WWF days. The ref stops him and takes it away. Flair rolls to the floor. Savage comes off the top again. Flair dodges and Savage CRASHES into the barricade! Man, that was one of the hardest barricade shots I've ever seen, he fell straight into it hard. It's Flair's turn to snap as he punches and chokes Savage on the floor. He goes over to Poffo. Poffo hits Flair and chokes him with his cane! Flair takes the cane away. Savage comes from behind but Flair gets back in the ring, still with the cane. Savage checks on his dad then gets back in. Flair waffles him with the cane! He covers for the pin! Fantastic match. They made it look as much like a real fight as a wrestling match, intense as hell, great finish to keep the feud going and a hot crowd. Amazing what happens when you get Hogan out of the main event. ****

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- This one isn't going to blow anyone away, but it's easily the best PPV WCW has put on so far in '95, and the best going back to probably mid-'94 when Flair was still booking. The main event is must see, especially if you're a fan of the long Flair/Savage feud. I also have to give a shout out to Heenan. I gave him grief for being drunk on air back at Superbrawl, but he was on fire this entire show and capped it off beautifully with a great rant and headset drop as the show closed.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C

In Your House 15: A Cold Day In Hell

Legacy Review

In Your House 15: A Cold Day In Hell

May 11, 1997 from the Richmond Coliseum in Richmond, VA

Commentary: Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

The house set has returned in full, and it's at the top of the large metal ramp that's become a staple on the new look Raw over the course of the year. There's several important cosmetic changes for this show if you're into that sort of thing as I am: the ring ropes are all red on a PPV for the first time, there's new black turnbuckle pads with a white WWF logo, and the ring posts, ring mat and guardrail are all now black. The visual transition continues here in the early stages of the Attitude Era. This is also just the second PPV with JR & the King doing commentary with no Vince.

Hunter Hearst Helmsley (w/Chyna) def Flash Funk in 10:05- Speaking of transitions, Trips' presentation is still the old aristocrat HHH, but his personality and character are quickly becoming more Game/DX HHH. Funk doesn't have the Funkettes anymore. The reason given is Chyna ran them off, the real reason is WWF's money was so tight they couldn't afford them anymore. Basic start. Funk gets a hiptoss/dropkick/armdrag combo. JR points out that the Hart Foundation bought 5 ringside seats (from scalpers of course) for tonight so they can keep an eye on Austin. They aren't here yet and their seats are empty. Funk does some flippydo and dropkicks HHH to the floor. HHH works the ref and Chyna nails Funk from behind. Facebuster and high knee back in. HHH stomps away in the corner and Chyna gets another shot in. HHH suplex and kneedrop for 2. Funk tries a comeback, which in practice looks more like stumbling around, and HHH gives him a knee to the gut. Two more Harley Race high knees from HHH, the last one sending Funk off the apron onto the ramp. Back in HHH tries coming off the top. Funk gets a boot up and HHH does a fantastic super slow mo flop. Funk does some uninspired comeback stuff. Springboard legdrop for 2. Crossbody off the top. On a corner whip HHH tries to do the Trips flip but doesn't get all the way over. I think he went in *too* fast that time. Funk hits a spinning heel kick. He goes up top again but HHH crotches him. Back superplex with Funk doing a full 360 rotation. The Pedigree hits and it's over. Eh. Even as a spot monkey, which was pretty much all he was ever good for, Funk was rapidly outliving his usefulness. *1/2

We get footage of Ken Shamrock's MMA days to prove that he is indeed the baddest man that ever walked a planet in the history of all universes. Or something. There's also footage of Mankind and Vader attacking Shamrock in his locker room on the preshow. JR and King try to talk to him live but he's IN THE ZONE.

 

Mankind def Rocky Maivia in 8:46- Paul Bearer is still off getting burn treatment after the last PPV. Lawler teases that he'll be back on Raw tomorrow night. Rocky dropped the IC title to Owen Hart on a Raw just after the last PPV and shows a bit of attitude for the first time during the course of this match rather than the plucky babyface he'd been so far. Little did anyone know the future these two had in store over the next couple of years. Mankind does his usual sitdown and rocking in the corner, then tries to ambush Rocky but Rocky cuts him off. Backdrop, dropkick and he 360 clotheslines Mankind to the floor. Mankind drags him out and beats him down a bit on the floor. Rocky hits a powerslam back in. Mankind dodges an elbow but Rocky quickly counters into a hammerlock. After a leg takedown Mankind gets tossed to the floor again. Rocky goes out and Mankind hits him with a cannonball off the apron! Bang bang! Corner beatdown and running knee from Mankind. Rocky dodges in the corner and they do a double clothesline. Mankind goes 360 to the floor again. They fight up the ramp. Rock Bottom on the ramp! It's not a thing and not even called the Rock Bottom yet but it still looked good. Rocky belly to belly suplex back in for 2. Mankind works into a counter clothesline. Rocky small package for 2. Hard clothesline to the back of Mankind's head. Shoulderbreaker. Rocky goes up and hits the crossbody off the top. Mankind hooks in the Mandible Claw while being covered! Rocky goes out! Nice finish, OKish match. This was the start of WWF's major course correction on Rocky after the crowd thoroughly rejected him. It would stall out a few months due to a knee injury Rocky suffered during this match, but when he returned in August it would be as a changed man. **

 

Gauntlet Match: The Nation of Domination (w/more Nation) def Ahmed Johnson in 13:43- If the Nation loses this match they've agreed to disband, but in true Nation style they've stacked the odds because Johnson has to beat all three guys to win, where it would take only one Nation guy getting a decision on Johnson to get them the victory. WWF President Gorilla Monsoon comes out to lay the law down to the Nation- pick one guy to start, everyone else has to leave ringside and stay up on the entrance stage. Crush starts out for the Nation. Johnson pounds away on him and hits a scissors kick. Crush dodges an elbow drop and then hits a SUPERKICK? Didn't know Crush had it in him. Clothesline off the second rope for 2. Suplex and Johnson holds his leg which looks like something legit. He keeps going. Johnson blocks another suplex and hits a falcon arrow for 2. Crush hooks on a sleeper. They stay in that for a while and the ref does the arm drops. Johnson powers out but runs into a Crush knee to the gut. Crush wants the Nation goons to come down and help him but none of them do. Johnson roll up for 2. Crush hits a piledriver. He still wants help and still no one comes. Crush sets up the heart punch. Johnson counters, hits a heel kick, and pins Crush. Savio Vega is next up. He limps down to the ring with a supposed ankle injury. Johnson hits a backdrop for 2. Stiff clotheslines. Vega hits the corner heel kick that he falls to the floor doing. Guess the ankle's OK. A long, dull Vega beatdown follows. Johnson turns it around with a hiptoss of all things. Vega dodges a splash off the second rope and mocks Johnson. Johnson dodges in the corner and hits a back suplex for 2. Powerslam for 2. He calls for the Pearl River Plunge. Vega rolls out. Johnson follows and eats a superkick. Vega gets a chair and whacks Johnson with it, getting the cheap DQ. But it's all strategery, as he continues to pummel Johnson with the chair to soften him up for the last man in the gauntlet, Faarooq. Faarooq is still in a sling but takes it off when he gets to the ring. He's OK now too. Johnson gets a small package for 2. JR goes into some detail about Faarooq's history as Ron Simmons, showing how loose the reins on commentary have gotten. Faarooq goes into beatdown mode until Johnson plants him with a spinebuster. Pearl River Plunge! Johnson is slow to cover. Faarooq kicks out! The crowd bit hard on that. Faarooq gets a chop block and follows up with the Dominator for the pin. The Crush segment was horrible but the rest was moderately serviceable. The crowd was also really into it at least. 3/4*

 

No Holds Barred Match: Ken Shamrock def Vader in 13:21- The rules of this match are win by submission or KO only, no pins. Shamrock is being billed as a wrestling rookie, but he actually worked a stint in All Japan and some indies back around '90-'91. This is his first worked match since then though. Vader was a smart choice to get him going, and even smarter after seeing how this match goes. Yes, this is the famous "Vader teaches Ken Shamrock how to work the hard way" match. They start out arms out MMA style with Shamrock getting some hammy kicks in. Lawler references the famous Inoki vs Ali fight that's generally credited with creating MMA. Vader grabs a waistlock. Shamrock turns over into a wristlock and tries for a kimura type hold. Vader gets to the ropes. Vader tries to get some shots in the corner but Shamrock escapes. Shamrock grabs waistlocks and tries to take Vader down, succeeding on the second try. Vader rolls out for a think. He charges back in. Shamrock ducks punches and gets another waistlock takedown that was almost a full German suplex. He lays in some forearms that land pretty stiff on Vader. Vader pushes Shamrock away and rolls out to the floor again because he was getting hit for real. Back in Vader grabs Shamrock and lays in some punches and headbutts that definitely have some stiff receipts in them. He tries a hiptoss. Shamrock blocks it, takes Vader down and tries for his submission of instant death, the ankle lock. Vader escapes to the floor again. When he gets back in Shamrock lays in some more kicks and forearms. Vader powers out of a facelock. STIFF short clothesline. Vader's had about enough of being hit for real. He lays on Shamrock for a bit while holding an armbar. Shamrock reverses, tries for an armbreaker and then a triangle choke. Vader lifts him up and tosses him across the ring. Vader lifts Shamrock in a suplex, then drops him straight down to the floor! I think that was a message to ease up a little. Vader follows and gives Shamrock some stair shots. They fight up the ramp a bit with Vader flooring Shamrock with a stiff forearm. Back in Vader tries his own ankle lock but Shamrock escapes. Rear choke from Vader and another escape. Avalanche. Setup slam. Vader teases the Vader bomb....but then goes all the way up top. VADERSAULT! Shamrock dodges it! Flurry in the corner and Shamrock slams Vader! He tries a single leg crab. Vader gets to the ropes. In the corner Shamrock starts pummeling Vader with another series of forearms and knees, and once again a lot of them are extremely stiff and catching Vader right on the jaw. Vader visibly tries to push Shamrock back to get him to ease up but Shamrock doesn't take the hint and keeps pounding away. Finally Vader says enough is enough of this shit, stands straight, and absolutely WAFFLES Shamrock with a straight right hand right on Shamrock's ear! Shamrock drops like a rock and I don't think he was selling. Vader gives Shamrock a minute to recover, then walks over so Shamrock can get a leg takedown for the finish. The ankle lock is on and Vader taps. After the match Shamrock is still a little legit wobblelegged and Vader kayfabe needs help to get back to the locker room. Well. There's no doubt it's entertaining, and Shamrock did learn his lesson and eased up in the ring after this match for the most part. I call it a win all around. ***

 

WWF Championship: The Undertaker (c) def "Stone Cold" Steve Austin in 20:06- This is the first of many PPV main events for this matchup. Lots of Austin 3:16 shirts in the crowd as Austin continues to slowly become the face of the company. Good pop for Austin too though Taker's is a bit bigger as this is a face vs face matchup. After entrances the Hart Foundation finally make their way out to take the ringside seats that have sat empty all show, including new member Brian Pillman and the recently WWF returned Jim Neidhart. Bret is in a wheelchair to sell his broken leg at the hands of Austin (storyline, in reality it was a minor knee injury). As they take their seats Austin jumps Taker! Back and forth brawl with Taker still having his jacket and the belt on. Off a whip Austin grabs the top rope, slides out, goes right for the Harts and pulls Owen over the guardrail! Taker comes from behind and pushes Austin into the stairs. Then he hits Owen, sending him back over the rail into his seat! Taker also hits Bulldog for good measure. As he gets back in Austin hits him with some elbows. Taker flying clothesline for 2. Old school hits. Austin grabs a headlock and works that for a bit to give the match a breather. Stiff shoulderblock standoff. Austin kicks and gets a headlock takedown, and more headlock that might start to overstay its welcome just a bit. The Harts jaw with the crowd while that's on. Taker escapes the headlock but Austin uses it to give him a chop block and starts to go to work on Taker's knee. Taker grabs a choke, throws Austin into the corner and starts pounding away. Austin pulls Taker down and posts his knee, then flips off the Harts. Taker pulls with his legs and posts Austin. Austin recovers quickly and gets back on Taker's knee. He flips over a slam attempt and tries for an STF. Taker gets to the ropes. Austin continues the knee work. Taker pushes him over the top to the floor. Now Taker starts working on Austin's bum knee. He puts on a single leg crab and Austin gets to the ropes. Austin rolls out and wants a time out. Taker disagrees. Austin ducks a big boot and clips Taker again. Spinning toe hold. He looks like he wants a figure four but doesn't fully put it on. Taker fights out. Austin pounds Taker with elbows to the head and covers for 2. Suplex for 2. Taker gets a hook kick. He goes for old school again but Austin drops him. Taker blocks an Austin superplex attempt. Austin dodges an elbow drop. Taker hooks on a sleeper. Austin quickly jawbreakers out. Austin low blow! Hebner's furious. Austin says sorry....until Hebner turns his back, then Austin flips him off! HUGE pop for that. Taker low blow! All's fair I guess. HEBNER FLIPS AUSTIN OFF! Taker chokeslam! Austin rolls to the apron and when Taker gets close snaps him over the top rope. Stunner! The bell rings as Austin covers! It's Brian Pillman that crazy loose canon! Austin goes over to yell at him. Taker sits up. He hooks up for the Tombstone. Austin reverses to a massive pop! Taker reverses the reversal and hits it! There's quite a few boos for that, the crowd was really pulling for Austin down the stretch. Hebner does the epic slow count even though he never took a bump and it's over. Really good match, and even better in that I think they left a lot on the table for the future, which is good because as I mentioned this is a match WWF will be going back to a lot the next couple of years. ***1/2

Here comes the Hart Foundation. They gang up and attack Taker. Austin sees Bret by himself. He dumps Bret's wheelchair over! Austin takes a crutch and runs the rest of the Harts off. Owen takes a Taker chokeslam before leaving. This beef is far from over. Austin gives Taker a Stunner for the road before chasing the Harts to the back. Taker quickly follows.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- The undercard is moderately serviceable and the last two matches mostly deliver, so all in all not a shabby show. This is at a point where WWF is getting a lot of big picture and intangible stuff right again so we're going to start to see more of these shows where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts again. Having JR and Lawler on their own on commentary also instantly elevates everything.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C+