NXT Takeover: Dallas

Legacy Review

NXT Takeover: Dallas

April 1, 2016 from the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center in Dallas, TX

Commentary: Tom Phillips and Corey Graves

The first Takeover of '16 is coming a bit late in the year as WWE was syncing the schedule up with the main roster PPV calendar. This is taking place on the Friday of Wrestlemania 32 weekend. Unlike Brooklyn in '15 and all the future Takeovers this isn't being held a 15-25K seat large arena, but instead in the arena section of the same convention center Axxess was being held in, seating about 9000. I think they were still hedging their bets on how well Takeovers would draw, but NXT was the hottest thing in wrestling at this point so there was really no reason to worry.

 

Small personal note before we get going: I did attend Wrestlemania 32 weekend but this was the only show I wasn’t able to make (we did go to both Saturday and Sunday Axxess, the Hall of Fame, WM and Raw the Monday after). I was literally packing my suitcase while watching this show. The main reason was it would have been an additional hotel night and extra day off work. I’m a little disappointed I missed this show in person but not hugely because: 1. I could only afford so much, especially back then, and we were already staying 3 nights and going to everything else; B. I got to see everyone I wanted from NXT, including all the new signees, during the NXT TV taping (Saturday afternoon) and house show (Sunday morning) at Axxess, and even more up close and personal than I would have at Takeover, especially on Sunday when we were ringside for almost the whole show; and I suppose c. because we did make a Takeover in Houston the next year, and that just happened to be the first ever WWE produced War Games.

NXT Tag Team Championship: American Alpha def The Revival (c) in 15:11- This is the match that would kick off a 2016 where the NXT tag division would finally fully catch up with the rest of the brand after lagging behind for a long time and lead to a renaissance of tag team wrestling in at least one WWE controlled property. Dawson and Gable start. Lockup! The crowd chants Gable's name to Kurt Angle's music again. Clean corner break and Dawson gives Gable some light cocky playful slaps. The crowd doesn't like that and starts up the old "Which one's Dawson? Which one's Dash?" chant. The Revival respond by hugging. Dawson and Gable go into a very good extended amateur exchange. Gable works into a waistlock with a bridge for 2, then gets Dawson back with his own light mocking slaps! That sets the Revival off, everyone's in and we have a 2v2 standoff. Reset with no tags. Gable tries to work wristlock leverage. Dawson hits the ropes and hits some shoulderblocks and a hiptoss. Armdrags from Gable. Dawson runs into a double dropkick and rolls out. He tries to tag Dash from the floor but naturally the ref won't allow it. The Revival use the distraction to let Dawson get a huge eye rake on Jordan. Jordan clotheslines both heels. Alpha stereo backdrops and they work Dash's arm a bit. Dash hits a back elbow and tags. Big Dawson chop. He sets Gable up top. Gable fights him off, rolls over his back, and rolls Dawson up for 2. Springboard crossbody for 2. More armdrags and dropkicks. Gable goes for Dash too but he dodges the dropkick. Double suplex attempt from The Revival. Jordan comes in and saves his teammate. Alpha double dropkick. Double German suplexes! The Revival roll out while Jordan runs around Gable in a very Rick Steiner like fashion. Alpha slide out and we have a fight on the floor. The Revival are run into each other. Back in Dash gets a blind tag but Gable was ready for him. The Revival change tactics, lure Gable to the floor and he runs into a HUGE Dash clothesline. Quick tag beatdown on Gable from the champs. Dash puts on a cobra clutch type hold and holds Gable back from tagging. They isolate Gable again and Dawson puts him in a Gory special. Gable rolls into a cradle for 2. Another tag is cut off. Gable hits a double DDT! Dash sneaks underneath the ring and pulls Jordan down just as Gable was about to tag him! The Revival do a double team move where Dawson completely misses a kneedrop off the top. I think Gable fell too early. Dash covers but the ref catches that he's not the legal man and doesn't count while the crowd chants "You fucked up". Dawson swaps back in and soaks the chants in. The crowd switches to a "Botchamaina" chant, much to Dawson's amusement. Gable dodges and Dash crashes in the corner. Revival go to cut off the tag again, and after a crazy series of maneuvers and counter maneuvers Gable gets the tag to Jordan! Dropkick! Exploder suplex! The straps are down! Corner spear! Exploder to Dawson for 2. Jordan sets Dawson up top. Dawson tries to fight him off, then Dash grabs Dawson's foot and Jordan crashes to the mat. Dawson drops down, no flips remember, and stacks Jordan up with Dash holding onto Dawson's legs for serious extra leverage. Jordan still kicks out! Jordan blocks a slingshot suplex and rolls Dawson up. The kickout sends Jordan right into a Dash uppercut! Gable saves the pin! Dash tosses Gable out. Jordan tries a sunset flip. A Gable dropkick assists and Jordan gets 2. Jordan belly to belly! Dash saves Dawson from a corner spear. Dawson rolls Gable up for 2. Gable tries a hurricanrana but Dawson blocks it and drops Gable for 2. Gable reverses the roll up for 2. Gable small package for 2. Gedo clutch for 2. Bridge up/backslide spot. Gable gets a blind tag to Jordan. Corner spear! Alpha hit Grand Amplitude! That gets the pin and the titles! Fantastic match, even with that one bad botch and a bit of a sudden ending. They had 5 more minutes in them easily. American Alpha get a well deserved title win and were a tremendous team, but it's amazing watching the Revival's nonstop teamwork all around the ring. No one in tag wrestling was doing anything like that. I don't think anyone ever did before the Revival, not quite this way. Their reshaping of the tag team landscape was fully underway. And yes, I know the Young Bucks were catching mainstream fire around this point too, but their style was and is totally different. Still great, but very different. ****

Jim Ross is in the crowd, hanging out with ESPN's Michelle Beadle. Remember her? Yeah, me neither until just now. Funaki is also in the crowd with....KOTA F'N IBUSHI! That's right, the Cruiserweight Classic was just around the corner. I really need to review that at some point. After that is an ad for the next NXT UK tour taking place in June. That's an NXT tour of the UK, not the brand NXT UK. They weren't around just quite yet.

 

Austin Aries def Baron Corbin in 10:43- This is the first of two big debuts tonight. Aries was one of early Ring of Honor's biggest stars (his 70+ minute 2 out of 3 falls match with Bryan Danielson is still possibly my favorite ROH match ever) and was also a big name in TNA for a long time. Corbin was still running with his heel "anti-indy guy" gimmick which was perfect for where NXT was. This feud started when Corbin lost a #1 contender's match on weekly TV, then after that took Aries out during Aries' initial unveiling because he was pissed at Regal. And the world, generally. Very mild and underwhelming pop for Aries. If I was being nice I'd say the crowd was saving themselves for the even bigger debut later. He charges and attacks Corbin right after the bell. Corbin tries to outpower him but Aries continues to lay in the strikes. 50/50 dueling chant for both guys. I think that's the most popular Corbin has ever been. Aries dropkicks Corbin's knee and tries to ground him. Corbin flips him over his back. An Aries discus punch sends Corbin to the floor. Aries double ax handle off the top to the floor. Phillips mentions Aries ending Samoa Joe's 645 day title reign, which was with the ROH World title and still the longest reign for that title to date. Corbin gets a hot shot and blasts Aries in the back of the head. Slow stomps lead to typical slow Corbin offense with lots of crowd playing. He tosses Aries into the post and covers for 2, then hooks on a Nerve Pinch of Match Killing +2 for a long while. Aries backs him into the corner to get out. Corbin pins Aries in the corner with tackles then pummels him with elbows. Cover for 2 and more trash talk. A knucklelock leads to a slow slugfest. Aries hits forearms and chops. Flying forearm. He beats Corbin down in the ropes and hits a neckbreaker in the ropes. Missile dropkick. Corner dropkick. Corbin falls to the floor. Aries under the second rope TOPE SUICIDA! But then he runs into a deep six on the floor! Corbin wants a countout and Aries barely gets back in at 9. He gestures for more. Corbin beats him down with forearms. He sets up for the End of Days. Aries flips out of it, rolls Corbin up, and gets a pin! Not the most spectacular debut. It seems obvious in hindsight, but Aries and WWE's corporate mentality didn't mesh well and his run would be short and unspectacular. It's also a Corbin match. **1/4

Little did we know it at the time, but that was also Corbin's big NXT finale. He would be a surprise entrant in the Andre Memorial Battle Royale at WM, and surprised everyone even more by winning it. He'd then be one of many NXT stars making their formal main roster debut on the Raw after, possibly the best Raw after WM to date. But I am a bit biased because I was in the crowd for it.

 

Shinsuke Nakamura def Sami Zayn in 20:07- New Japan legend Nakamura is another face we never, ever expected to see in a WWE ring, but here we are. The generation of Nakamura and Hiroshi Tanahashi, and to a lesser extent Katsuyori Shibata (the New Three Musketeers), is generally credited with literally saving New Japan from dying due to a bad case of Inokism. This is his first match since his classic with AJ Styles at Wrestle Kingdom 10 back in January. Both Styles and Nakamura gave their notice to New Japan literally right before that show, with Styles having his big WWE debut later in the month at the Royal Rumble, bypassing NXT entirely. Full disclosure: with apologies to Tetsuya Naito, Kota Ibushi and a couple of other guys, Nakamura is my favorite Japanese wrestler of all time. Nakamura's face appearing on the tron alone before the prematch video gets a massive pop. Zayn comes out first and gets a bit of an extended entrance because it was widely assumed this was his NXT finale since he was booked in the IC title ladder match at WM. Nakamura's first NXT entrance is nothing short of electric. Pure charisma right off the bat. The only reason his music isn't being sung is because no one had heard it yet. His entrance alone gets a holy shit chant. Both guys take their time and let the crowd do their dueling chants after the bell, soaking in the atmosphere. They slowly walk to the middle of the ring to a huge "YES" chant. Zayn goes to lock up. Nakamura ducks and struts away! Classic. Lockup for real. Clean rope break and Nakamura does his classic head to the belly and arm wobble, then gives Zayn the "come on" gesture. Knee to the gut from Nakamura. Zayn avoids kick swings. Graves mentions Nakamura was the youngest IWGP champion ever, getting the IWGP name drop in. They go into an arm wringer tradeoff to let things settle in a bit while the crowd chants "both these guys". Zayn hits some armdrags. Nakamura takes refuge in the corner and Zayn gives him the "come on" gesture! Nakamura does with knee strikes and a kneedrop, followed by some more back and forth mat arm work. Zayn back elbows out of a hammerlock. Nakamura knee and kick combo. He goes for good vibrations. Zayn lifts his leg up. Nakamura spins a kick with the other leg and drops Zayn! After a leverage fight Zayn hits a suplex. Forearms and heel kick for 2. Forearm exchange. Nakamura sits on the top rope. Zayn forearms him to the floor! Nakamura kicks Zayn on the apron. Strut and he hits the running apron knee. Kneedrop on the apron! Back in Nakamura gets good vibrations, then puts Zayn on the top rope for the roll back running knee. Cover for 2. Zayn tries to block a back suplex, flips over, suckers Nakamura in, pulls the top rope down and Nakamura goes to the floor. Zayn tope con hilo! Back in Zayn hits a crossbody off the top for 2. He lifts Nakamura for another suplex but Nakamura knees him in the head! He pummels Zayn with ground knees. Zayn catches Nakamura running and plants him with a Michinoku Driver! After that is a very long very New Japan like extended exchange of forearms that completely exhaust both men and drives the crowd to another level of crazy. Nakamura is bleeding from the nose. He sees the blood and pounds Zayn down in the ropes with forearms, knees and stomps. Hard chest kick. "King of strong style" chant. Nakamura runs into a Zayn clothesline! With a 360 sell. Second clothesline. Nakamura counters a backdrop with another knee. Zayn goes for another clothesline. Nakamura flips around into an armbar attempt! Zayn locks his fingers to keep it from being applied. Nakamura changes gears and works Zayn into a triangle choke! Zayn rolls over and kicks to get out. Rapid fire punches from Zayn and now he angrily pounds Nakamura down against the ropes with his own stiff stomps. Koji clutch! After a fight Nakamura rolls Zayn over for 2. Enzuguri with a great delayed Zayn sell and both guys are down. "Fight forever" chant. Zayn elbows out of a suplex. Nakamura running one foot dropkick. He dodges a flash Helluva kick! Inverted exploder! He loads up for the Boma Ye. Sorry, Kinshasa now. Zayn dodges it! Blue thunder bomb! Nakamura kicks out! He rolls out to the floor. Zayn goes for his corner dive DDT but dives right into a Nakamura kick! That gets a holy shit chant. Nakamura goes up top. Zayn fights up to him. Fight on the top rope. Headbutt from Nakamura. He kicks Zayn down. Nakamura runs into Zayn's corner exploder suplex....no, Nakamura blocks it and elbows out! HUGE elbow to the back of Zayn's head. Knee off the second rope to the back of Zayn's head! KINSHASA! That gets the pin! What a debut. What a sendoff. What a match. These guys worked together like they'd been doing this with each other for years but, as the story goes, they'd literally never been in a ring together before the match started. Add in the crowd and atmosphere and it doesn't get any better. *****

After the match they handshake and hug it out. Nakamura leaves while the crowd gives Zayn a "Thank you Sami" and ole chant for what would turn out to be his last NXT match while Zayn visibly fights off tears. Torch passed.

 

NXT Women's Championship: Asuka def Bayley (c) in 15:25- Steph is in the crowd and gets booed before the match. She's used to it and laughs it off. Asuka is 6 months into her NXT run and is still undefeated, and frankly no one's even come close to beating her. Bayley is holding down the fort for the Four Horsewomen in NXT, the other three are in the triple threat Diva's title match at WM, the match that would introduce the modern WWE Women's championship, finally getting rid of the Divas name for good and ditching that stupid butterfly belt. Commentary makes a point throughout this match to say "women" instead of "divas". After intros the crowd serenades Bayley like the London crowd did at the last Takeover. Asuka swings an exploratory kick, kicking off dueling "Asuka's gonna kill you/Bayley's gonna hug you" chants. Lockup and basic start. A forearm rocks Bayley. Reset. Bayley ducks a kick but runs into a shoulderblock. Long speed/counter/dodge run that leads to a stalemate. Asuka hits some hammy kicks. Forearms. Hip attack! Bayley dodges an apron hip attack and hits a clothesline. Back elbow off the second rope for 2. Bayley buddy elbow. Crossbody off the top for 2 (that Asuka started falling for well before Bayley was on her). Kneedrop and sliding back elbow. Asuka tries to grab a Fujiwara armbar! Bayley gets a foot on the rope. Corner beatdown from Asuka. Bayley dodges a kick gets Asuka into the tree of woe. Springboard elbow drop. Bayley hurricanranas Asuka off the second rope for 2. She locks in a guillotine, the move she took Nia Jax down with the last Takeover. Asuka stands up but Bayley grapevines her body, refusing to let go. Asuka goes down...then slips free and puts Bayley in an ankle lock! Bayley uses it to flip Asuka to the floor. She shakes her ankle off. Flying headscissors through the ropes to the floor! Back in forearm shots only wake Asuka up. Asuka misdirection dropkick. Dropkick off the second rope. Chest kicks. Bayley hits a punch. Asuka responds with a knee to the face and shining wizard for 2. Leg takedown from Bayley into a jackknife cover. Asuka's right back up with forearms. Bayley catches a hip attack and hits a Saito suplex. She ducks a kick but Asuka's second swing hits. Both women are down and use the ropes on opposite sides of the ring to stand up. Simultaneous dropkicks. Simultaneous forearms. Asuka hits an open hand slap, ducks a punch, and goes into rapid fire strikes. Bayley grabs a kick and hooks on a kneebar! She drags Asuka away from the ropes and plants the knee on the mat. Kneebreaker into a dragon screw. Another dragon screw. She calls for the Bayley to Belly. Asuka flips into an armbar! Bayley tries to counter out but Asuka uses it to switch to a Fujiwara armbar! Bayley rolls over and gets a 2 count. Kick ducks and Bayley small package for 2. Asuka Lock! No, Bayley blocks it! Bayley suplex and sliding clothesline for 2. She stretches out Asuka's arms with the same hold that won the Ironman match with Sasha Banks. Somehow Asuka escapes. Bayley ties her hair and goes to finish it. Asuka blocks the Bayley to Belly! Spin kick! Suplex into an armbar! Into the Asuka Lock! Bayley tries to fight it being applied but Asuka cinches it in and spins Bayley into the middle of the ring. Bayley fights and struggles back to her feet. Asuka gets her down again! Bayley goes out and the ref calls it! New champion! Bayley's reign ends at 223 days. Asuka's win gets a mixed reaction, but only because everyone loves Bayley so much. She'd be fine with the crowd after. In the annals of great NXT women's title matches I think this one is sorely underrated. They followed the Zayn/Nakamura masterpiece as well as they possibly could have. ****1/4

We have one last surprise left tonight: Bobby Roode is ringside! There's another big name free agent coming in soon.

 

NXT Championship: Finn Balor (c) def Samoa Joe in 16:22- After losing to Balor at the London Takeover Joe had a feud with Sami Zayn, recently returned from injury, over the #1 contendership. After a couple of controversial matches Joe clinched another Takeover title shot by defeating Zayn in a two out of three falls masterpiece of a match that took up literally an entire hour long weekly TV episode, to this day possibly still the greatest regular TV match in NXT history. Balor makes his Demon entrance with a chainsaw, possibly the same one that Dean Ambrose made a central part of his upcoming match with Brock Lesnar at WM. Both guys stay in their corners after the bell. Joe charges, hits some shots and tosses Balor out. Balor pops right back in. Joe shrugs him off and throws him out again. Joe's bleeding like crazy, they collided right at the start and it busted Joe open above his eye. Balor pops in again and tosses Joe out. Tope con hilo! The ref pulls Joe aside as he's dripping blood and it's, unfortunately, the PG era. Joe tosses Balor over the barricade! I think that was to give the ref time to work on Joe. He's covered in blood. Joe shoves the ref away. Balor comes up with a springboard forearm off the barricade. Again the ref tries to wipe Joe's face and Joe pushes him away again. Balor hits forearms, Joe stiff slaps and corner punches. Balor tries to dodge but eats an apron kick. JOE TOPE SUICIDA! MAMA MIA! And the match stops again to clean Joe up. "Let them fight" chant. Joe throws Balor back in the ring but the ref stops Joe from getting back in and the medical staff comes in to work on him. Joe's annoyed. The crowd's more annoyed. Finally Joe gets cleared and we're on again. Balor jumps but runs into a uranage! Joe's still bleeding quite a bit. He stretches Balor's arms out. Corner elbow and enzuguri for 2. ANOTHER blood stop to huge boos. "Fuck PG" chant. We're on again and Joe hits a back elbow. Corner beatdown, boot scrapes and a running boot. Big chop and Balor's up on the ropes in muscle buster position. Balor leaps down into an inverted atomic drop. Big boot and chest kicks from Joe, followed by a kneedrop. More kicks. Balor hits a dropkick to finally get some space. There's more blood cleanup but the match doesn't completely stop as the ref counts both guys down. Forearms and a flying forearm from Balor. He chops Joe all around the corners. Joe gets on the top rope but Balor kicks him down to the floor. Basement dropkick. Apron PK! Back in Joe blocks a slingblade and hits a belly to belly suplex! Cover for 2. Another corner beatdown. Balor slingblade! Joe dodges the John WOOOO dropkick and hits a senton for 2! Powerbomb for 2...into a Boston crab, then Joe transitions into a crossface. Balor rolls over and hits a double stomp! Slingblade! John WOOOO! Balor goes up top. Joe punches. Balor tries to fight him off. Enzuguri! The muscle buster hits! Balor kicks out! That was a very, very believable near fall. Joe is shocked. Both guys are up with forearms and exchange strikes. Balor Pele kick! Both guys are down. Balor gets up at 8 all kinds of fired up! Slingblade. John WOOO. Coupe de Gracie! But Balor doesn't cover, he wants more! He hooks Joe up for Bloody Sunday. Joe counters into the coqina clutch! Balor gets to the corner, climbs up, does the Bret Hart flip and gets the pin! Joe is stunned beyond belief he lost that way. All the stopping for blood cleanup kept the match getting into any kind of a groove for a while even if the blood on Joe helped, but once they were able to really get going that stretch run was a thing of beauty. ***3/4

Despite two straight Takeover losses Joe would continue to hound Balor, and finally on April 21 struck gold in the unlikeliest of places: a house show in Lowell, MA, ending Balor's title reign at 292 days, the longest NXT Title reign to that point.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- NXT came to Wrestlemania weekend for the first time looking to steal the whole weekend, and they sure as hell did just that, aided by a nuclear hot Wrestlemania weekend hardcore crowd. This is definitely among the best of the best in Takeover history.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: A

Wrestling World 2001

Legacy Review

Wrestling World 2001

January 4, 2001 from the Tokyo Dome

This year's show has a singular focus: a one night tournament to determine a new IWGP Heavyweight champion. No other title is on the line, a first and only for 1/4 Dome shows. Kensuke Sasaki won the title at the previous year's show and dominated the year, even winning the 2000 G1 Climax with the only blemish on his record a draw. To this day he's still the most recent wrestler to win the G1 while reigning champion. But lightning finally struck in October, when he lost to All Japan's Toshiaki Kawada in a non-title match on a NJPW/AJPW joint show. Sasaki, disgusted he lost to an outsider, agreed to vacate the title and a 6 man tournament was set up for New Japan's biggest show of the year to fill the vacant title. I'm honestly not sure how the byes were determined, but Kawada got one and Sasaki didn't, making his road to getting the title back even harder. Masahiro Chono got the other bye.

As usual this is from the New Japan World archives so only Japanese commentary for shows this old.

Quarterfinals: Kensuke Sasaki def Satoshi Kojima in 16:33- After a lockup standoff Sasaki goes straight into a Saito suplex out of a headlock. Kojima dodges a lariato and Sasaki falls all the way to the floor. Kojima teases....stops....TOPE SUICIDA from almost a standing position! When he gets back in the ring Kojima is bleeding from above his right eye after a bad landing. Sasaki's arm hit the guardrail on the floor and Kojima goes to work on it. Sasaki hits chops to get out of it. Suplex. Kojima jawbreaker/cutters of out a chinlock and goes back on the hurt arm. Senton. Sasaki blocks an armbreaker. Totally random, but I'm just now seeing Square has ads on the neutral white corner pads. Cool. Square or Squaresoft, now Square Enix, is the developer of, with apologies to many other franchises, my favorite video game franchise of all time, Final Fantasy. In 2001 they'd be in the middle of development of FF X on PS2. Anyway, I'm undistracted as Sasaki hooks Kojima up for a Scorpion Death Lock. Kojima fights it but Sasaki manages to get him turned over. Kojima gets to the ropes. Big chop exchange. Kojima cutters Sasaki's hurt arm. Some more focused arm work follows. Running corner elbow from Kojima. He hits the elbow off the top rope. Kneedrop on the arm. Sasaki attempts to fight it off but Kojima hits a dropkick off the second rope also targeting the arm. Sasaki tries to hulk up with chops. He catches a leg and slams Kojima, but Kojima hangs onto the arm all the way down and has an armbreaker applied! Sasaki gets to the ropes. Kojima hits the ropes but runs into a Sasaki powerslam! Sasaki tries a misdirection faceplant but Kojima anticipates it and runs Sasaki's arm into the corner! Kojima spinebuster for 2. Back to the arm again. Sasaki pulls him into a short arm lariato! Both sides lariatos from Sasaki. He goes for the northern lights buster but Kojima blocks it and turns it into a Michinoku Driver! Cover for 2. Kojicutter for 2. Lariato for 2. He stretches Sasaki's arm out again, almost into a Fujiwara armbar. Sasaki gets a foot in the white out of bounds area. Kojima pulls into an armbreaker but the ref forces a break. Kojima reverse DDT for 2. Sasaki blocks a lariato. Kojima goes again and it hits! Cover for a long 2. Sasaki arm flip slam! Lariato! Kojima absorbs it! Another one puts Kojima down! Northern lights buster! Instead of covering, Sasaki puts on a Boston crab. Kojima submits! Damn good match to get the tournament going. The crowd was into it more than any opening match on a 1/4 Dome show so far. Sasaki also now has a wounded arm to watch the rest of the tournament. ***3/4

 

Quarterfinals: Hiroyoshi Tenzan def Yuji Nagata in 16:45- Two of New Japan's fastest rising young stars in this one. I forgot to mention earlier, the TenCozy team of Tenzan and Kojima are also the reigning IWGP Heavyweight tag champs. They start out with some corner break jockeying and extended standing chain wrestling. Nagata eventually works Tenzan down and the back and forth continues on the mat. Tenzan escapes and reset. Chop exchange. Nagata hits forearms, Tenzan a headbutt and Mongolian chops. Nagata belly to belly suplex! A kick to Tenzan's head wobblelegs him and Nagata covers for 2. Stiff chest kicks from Nagata kicks off (no pun intended) a long sequence of kicks. Snap mare and a kick to the back of Tenzan's neck. Nagata hooks in a leg scissors and Tenzan gets to the ropes. Nagata continues work on Tenzan's leg and ankle. Tenzan goes to a desperation eye rake to get out. Snap mare and Tenzan drops some throat chops. Forearm exchange. Mongolian chop. Nagata blocks a second and hits a somersault kick! Tenzan pops out of the corner with a lariato and his own somersault kick. More Mongolian chops and corner lariatos. Kneedrop off the top for 2. He goes up again. Nagata joins him and hits a belly to belly superplex! More kicks. Enzuguri! Northern lights suplex for 2. Nagata puts a heel hook on! Tenzan gets to the ropes. Nagata ducks a lariato and hits a Thesz Press! He hooks Tenzan in a modified figure four! Tenzan fights to the ropes. More Mongolian chops. Nagata kicks at Tenzan's knee. Tenzan backdrop. He hits the headbutt off the top rope! Nagata kicks out! Dropkick to the leg from Nagata. He goes for the modified figure four again. Tenzan low blows him! Nagata low blow and roll up for 2! Tit for tat. He gets the modified figure four on again! Tenzan tries for the ropes but Nagata keeps him in the middle of the ring. After a bit Tenzan doesn't submit so Nagata lets go. More leg kicks. Both guys are standing and swinging haymakers. Chops, forearms, Mongolian chops, everything. Unloading the gun rack. Neither will go down. Tenzan lariato! Sit out tombstone! The moonsault hits, and Tenzan gets the win! Nothing against Tenzan, but booooo to Nagata losing early, he's one of my favorites from this period. Another good early tournament match. ***1/4

 

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Junior Stars def Tatsuhito Takaiwa and Shinya Makabe in 18:02- Junior Stars are a true all star tag team of longtime Liger rival and multi-time Junior Heavyweight champion Koji Kanemoto, and the current junior champ in his first reign Minoru Tanaka. Shinya Makabe, better known now as Togi Makabe, is making his Dome debut and I believe is still officially a Young Lion at this point. Takaiwa would soon leave New Japan to be a co-founder of Zero-One with Shinya Hashimoto, more on that later. I'm not sure why the titles aren't on the line here but whatever. Tanaka and Makabe start. Makabe looks so different with the basic Young Lion look. Especially the hair. After some stalemate wrestling Makabe gets some corner knees and a slam. Big chops from Takaiwa. Kanemoto and Takaiwa do some back and forth mat wrestling. Takaiwa muffs a slam a bit. The Stars both kick the piss out of Makabe. Tanaka dropkick and kip up. He and Makabe trade off some leg work. Makabe works Kanemoto down. More Takaiwa chops lead to a slugfest. Tanaka suplex and kneedrop of Takaiwa. Makabe chops and dropkick on Tanaka. The Stars take turns hitting chest kicks on Makabe. Kanemoto gets caught in the wrong corner and chopped down. Takaiwa powerslam. Kanemoto combo kicks put Takaiwa down. Takaiwa hits a DVD for 2. Kanemoto dragon screw! Takaiwa lariato and Kanemoto gets set up for a big double team move. Tanaka comes in and breaks it all up and the match breaks down a bit. Makabe whips Tanaka into the guardrail, then breaks up Kanemoto's ankle lock on Takaiwa. One punch from Kanemoto floors Makabe! Makabe ducks a kick and hits a German suplex! Spear! Not a great one though. It's funny how the spear has always been a transitional move in New Japan, but it's a finisher for multiple wrestlers in WWE because Vince loved it so much. Makabe and Takaiwa load up for the double team move they were trying before and hit it this time, a kind of doomsday device powerbomb. Then they hit Kanemoto with a lariat/northern lights suplex combo. Kanemoto kicks out! He blocks a Makabe suplex and hits a falcon arrow. Tags on both sides and we're DONNYBROOKING. Tanaka avoids a double team, hits a spinning heel kick on Makabe and backslides Takaiwa for a long 2. Takaiwa blocks a spinning heel kick. Makabe powerslam. After a long counter sequence Makabe hits another German. A second one with a bridge! Kanemoto just fights free of Takaiwa to break the pin up! Tanaka spins into an armbreaker! Takaiwa breaks that up. Makabe and Kanemoto have a stiff open hand slap exchange. Makabe comes out on top. German! Kanemoto rolls into the ankle lock! Makabe gets to the ropes. Tanaka dropkicks Makabe's leg and Kanemoto puts the ankle lock back on! Makabe taps! ***1/2

Takashi Iizuka def Kendo Kashin in 6:12- This is a rare cross-weight class singles battle, with Kashin a junior and Iizuka a heavyweight. It's also billed as "Technical Wrestling". We'll see how long that lasts. The first couple of minutes lives up to the billing with a very extended back and forth chain wrestling sequence. Young Red Shoes is the ref for this match, working his way up the card. They both go to the floor and Iizuka whips Kashin over the barricade and into a VIP area! Guess the technical part of the match is over. Iizuka slam back in for 2. An armbreaker is blocked. Kashin gets on top and fights to get a leverage pin. Iizuka escapes and reset. Kashin hits European uppercuts and Iizuka chops. Kashin blatant low blow kick! Then he kicks Iizuka in the head. Red Shoes is not at all happy, but come on, it's Red Shoes, he's not DQ'ing anybody. Kashin wedges Iizuka's legs in the corner and hits a Greco Roman Nut Kick. Iizuka gets out and mauls Kashin with forearms. Kashin rolls into an armbreaker. Iizuka gets to the ropes. Kashin superplex. Iizuka tries a whip but Kashin holds onto the arm and turns around into a sleeper! Iizuka gets in the ropes. Exploder suplex from Iizuka. He puts on a sleeper. Kashin taps! OK match. **

 

Semifinals: Kensuke Sasaki def Masahiro Chono in 11:28- Rough lockup to start. Shoulderblock standoff. Sasaki wins a second try. Suplex. Sasaki runs into a Yakuza kick! Chono hits knee strikes and elbow drops. ARMBAR! Sasaki hits rapid fire chops in the corner. Misdirection faceplant. Chono works into a headscissors on the mat, then gets back on Sasaki's wounded arm. Sasaki hits a flash dropkick. Chono gut kick and he puts on a butterfly lock. Sasaki backdrops out. Chono goes to the floor and stalls a bit. Back in he hits another Yakuza kick. Sasaki doesn't go down. Chono goes up top. Sasaki meets him and hits a superplex. Chono pops back up! Yakuza kick! Sasaki hits a powerslam. Now it's Chono's turn to hit a superplex. Sasaki pops back up and hits a lariato! Chono Yakuza kick to the hurt arm. Spinebuster into the STF! Sasaki slow crawls and manages to get to the ropes. He gets the arm flip slam, which is badly sold by Chono. But Chono rolls around and puts the STF on again! Another rope break. Lariatos from Sasaki and cover for a long 2. Powerbomb for 2. Piledriver. He puts on his dragon hold submission. (I guess that's what it's called, Japanese commentary always says that in English when he puts that on) Chono taps! **1/2

 

Semifinals: Toshiaki Kawada def Hiroyoshi Tenzan in 10:45- They charge into the lockup right at the bell. Tenzan hits headbutts then RUNS Kawada over with a shoulderblock. Mongolian chops. Kawada hits some hammy kicks, a slam and back kicks. Chop exchange that Tenzan stops dead with another headbutt that drops Kawada. Backdrop. Spinning heel kick. Kawada dodges the headbutt off the top. Tenzan is still up first, lays in some more headbutts and hits a tombstone. A second try and the top rope headbutt hits! Slow cover for 2. Tenzan superplex. Kawada collapses in the middle of the ring on a corner whip. Corner chops from Tenzan. Kawada swings a hard right hand and floors Tenzan! That gets a replay. Face kicks from Kawada. Running corner kick. Tenzan fights out of a hold attempt so Kawada kicks him right in the head. Tenzan grabs a leg on another kick attempt and gives Kawada a dragon screw! A second one! Modified figure four! Kawada gets to the ropes. Enzuguri from Kawada! Tenzan lariato! He goes up for the moonsault. Kawada kicks him from behind, lifts and gives him a back suplex for a long 2. Another Kawada enzuguri. Front enzuguri for 2. He goes for a powerbomb but Tenzan fights out. Another big kick to Tenzan's face. Another powerbomb cinch up. Tenzan tries to fight it but Kawada slowly gets leverage and hits it, then stacks Tenzan up for the pin. **3/4

 

Keiji Mutoh and Shinjiro Otani def Manabu Nakanishi and Jushin Thunder Liger in 5:44- Getting all the big names with nothing else to do on the card. This is Mutoh's big return to New Japan after being forced to disband NWO Japan after losing at the last 1/4 show, then spending most of 2000 in the US with WCW and taking time off to rehab injuries. He was supposed to have a singles match with Hayabusa from FMW tonight but Hayabusa was injured. Mutoh is also debuting his shaved head and goatee look in New Japan. This is in the short period where Liger and Otani were both moved up to the heavyweight division as part of a very unsuccessful experiment. In fact, Otani would be another defector to Hashimoto's Zero-One promotion as a co-founder soon after this show, a promotion he'd stay with the rest of his career. Liger is in his super cereal all black gear for the second straight 1/4 show. The previous year when he wore it he destroyed longtime rival Koji Kanemoto in less than 5 minutes. Nakanishi had been treading water at best since his massive upset win in the '99 G1. Mutoh and Otani jump as soon as intros are over and we're on. Otani hits a running corner kick and German on Liger while Mutoh drops his signature elbows on Nakanishi. As the ring clears Otani puts Liger in the torture rack, which is a bit of an FU to Nakanishi. Everyone's in again. Mutoh gives Nakanishi a dragon screw and Nakanishi rolls out to the floor. Mutoh suplex on Liger. Liger tries to fight back so Mutoh eye rakes him. Liger hits an enzuguri and tags out. Nakanishi/Mutoh chopfest. Mutoh grabs a kick and hits another dragon screw. Figure four! Otani cuts Liger off. Nakanishi does the slow crawl and gets to the ropes. Otani chops Nakanishi in the corner and starts to do his boot scrapes, until Nakanishi pops up and nails him with a spear! Spear for Mutoh! Otani dropkicks Nakanishi from behind. Powerbomb. He turns to hit the ropes but Nakanishi grabs him and German suplexes him! He puts Otani up in the torture rack. Mutoh comes in so Nakanishi throws Otani on Mutoh! Liger's tagged in and hits Otani with shoteis. Brain buster! Otani kicks out at ONE! He ducks another shotei, hooks up for a dragon suplex but quickly switches and gives Liger a German instead. Nakanishi breaks the pin up. He puts Mutoh in the rack while Otani gives Liger a spinning powerbomb for 2. Mutoh escapes and puts Nakanishi in an armbreaker. Otani cobra clutch on Liger! He gets Liger down and grapevines his body. Liger taps out! They did the absolute best they could with the little time they got. ***

 

Riki Choshu and Shinya Hashimoto no contest in 15:20- This one is really putting the special in special shingles matche. Hashimoto was New Japan's most dominant wrestler for the second half of the '90s and held the record for longest IWGP Heavyweight title reign. In '99 he started a feud with shoot fighter Naoya Ogawa that quickly turned nuclear intense and even crossed the business/real life personal line a few times, including the infamous incident at the '99 1/4 show. Hashimoto vowed to leave New Japan if he lost to Ogawa again, which he did in April 2000 and New Japan made him keep his word. It was a very strange ending for such a dominant run. As mentioned earlier Hashimoto put together his own promotion, Zero-One, but would still make the occasional New Japan appearance as a freelancer, including tonight. Choshu was one of New Japan's early stars in the '70s and '80s. He retired with much fanfare at the '98 1/4 show, but as usual in wrestling retirement didn't last long. He was also New Japan's booker in this era, though Inoki had a lot of say too. Absolutely epic atmosphere for the start of this match. The bell rings.....and Hashimoto refuses to get out of his corner. The ref says let's go. Choshu kicks him. Hashimoto isn't budging. More entreaties from the ref and he still won't move. Massive disrespect here. Finally Hashimoto deigns to get out of his corner.....and steps outside onto the entrance ramp. Oh the crowd doesn't like that at all. After more stalling Hashimoto gets back in and he's swinging! A kick puts Choshu down. Hashimoto follows with some ground and pound. Choshu stands back up for about a second and another kick puts him right back down. More ground pound and corner stomps. The ref forces Hashimoto to back off. Hashimoto punches the ref out! Good thing Tiger Hattori was already ringside as backup. He hops in and takes over. Nakanishi, who's part of the ringside New Japan contingent, gets on the apron and he's pissed. Hashimoto charges into a Choshu punch! Kicks and stiff punches from Choshu. Hashimoto rolls out. He takes his time on the floor, and takes off the MMA gloves he had been wearing to this point. Lockup back in and Hashimoto pounds away again. Open hand slap fest. The crowd is absolutely nuclear during this exchange. Choshu hits a Saito suplex! Lariato! Another one! Hashimoto won't drop! A third one drops him! Choshu is clearly favoring his lariato giving arm after those shots. Hashimoto kick wham DDT! He hits chops to Choshu's shoulder, clearly seeing that arm is bothering him. Choshu chops back. More Choshu lariatos and Hashimoto kicks. Choshu is down again and Hashimoto wants him to stand up and fight you scum sucking pig you son of a motherless goat. The last part might have been lost in translation (points for anyone who gets that movie reference). Choshu catches a kick and elbows Hashimoto's knee. Hashimoto hits the hurt arm again. Another long open hand slap exchange that ends in stalemate after both guys have no swings left. Hashimoto is up first and Hattori counts Choshu down. Choshu gets up at 9 and wobbles Hashimoto with a huge punch. Lariato! Both guys are down again. Hattori steps out to the ramp and consults Tatsumi Fujinami, who's on commentary, about something. When they get up both guys continue to swing haymakers. Hashimoto lariato. Fujinami waves from commentary, gets up and goes to ringside. Both guys are down again. Fujinami gets on the apron, flashes the X sign, and calls the match off. All the seconds get in as the wrestlers cool down. I guess it's because of Choshu's arm? I don't think there's ever been a definitive answer other than it was all a work, not a legit injury. Fujinami gets the mic and gives the crowd the Ferris Bueller "it's over, go home" speech. Oh shit, we still have a main event. Don't go home. The match was good while it lasted and incredibly stiff with a molten hot crowd, but that ending sucked. I guess no one wanted to take a loss. This is pure speculation on my part, but word is Hashimoto got a reputation in New Japan during his dominant run of being unwilling to do any jobs to anyone, which might have been part of the reason he was essentially let go and this might have been more of that. Again, that's me connecting dots that might or might not be on the same page, don't take it as gospel. ***

 

Tournament Final for the Vacant IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kensuke Sasaki def Toshiaki Kawada in 10:30- Another big match atmosphere here as this is the tournament final everyone wanted to see. They charge in right at the bell and Kawada hits an enzuguri! Another one! Saito suplex for 2! After some Kawada kicks Sasaki backdrops out of a powerbomb attempt. Another Kawada enzuguri for 2. Chest kicks. Sasaki catches a kick and drops him! Lariato! Kawada face kick, Sasaki lariato, repeat again. Sasaki pulls Kawada up for a hard lariato that gets a replay. Powerbomb for 2. Kawada fights out of a German and hits a Pele kick. Sasaki powerslam. Open hand slap tradeoff. Kawada gets a German suplex! Lariato! Rapid fire open hand strikes from Kawada don't faze Sasaki at all. Snap mare and back kicks from Kawada. Kneedrops for 2. He puts on what looks like a variation of Sasaki's dragon hold. Sasaki goes down and Kawada covers for 2. More face kicks from Kawada. After a long struggle the powerbomb hits! Sasaki kicks out! More kicks and Kawada goes for the powerbomb again. Sasaki fights, lifts and spinebusters Kawada! Boston crab! This is where Sasaki winning a match with this earlier tonight turns out to be good booking, because now you believe he can win with it here too. After a long struggle Kawada manages to get to the ropes. The northern lights bomb is blocked! Kawada enzuguri! FULL SPEED DOUBLE LARIATO! Kawada goes down, Sasaki just manages to keep his footing. Kawada blocks a German by grabbing the ropes. Sasaki gives him a straight shot right in the back of the head, goes again and hits the German! Lariato! Kawada *just* kicks out! Northern lights bomb! Sasaki gets the pin and the title back! The crowd was ape shit for that whole finish sequence and the win. Amazing sprint. ****1/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- The main event is the only thing approaching greatness, but the whole show is solid from top to bottom with everything being at least watchable to near good and carried literally start to finish by a superb nightlong performance from Sasaki in the tournament. It's also refreshingly free of the Inokism style that had been coming to the forefront the previous couple of years and plays more like a classic early/mid '90s NJPW show from before Inoki lost his booking mind in retirement. Sadly that wouldn't last. Overall it's one of the best pre-modern Wrestle Kingdom January 4th shows, but it is a little disappointing there were no other title matches.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B+

D-Generation X '97: In Your House

Legacy Review

D-Generation X '97: In Your House

December 7, 1997 from the Springfield Civic Center in Springfield, MA

Commentary: Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

It's a month after the Montreal Screwjob and the repercussions are still being felt. With the departure of Bret Hart and most of the Hart Foundation the DX duo of Shawn Michaels and Triple H, along with Chyna, are the clear focal point of the WWF product right now. We've got a pretty cool DX stage tonight for this show. For some reason the video quality is lower than most archival WWF shows. It's not horrible but it is noticeable.

Tournament Final for the Inaugural WWF Light Heavyweight Championship: Taka Michinoku def Brian Christopher in 12:02- This is inaugural only as WWF recognizes it. The original WWF Light Heavyweight title was created in 1981 for WWF's partner Mexican promotion UWA, and after UWA folded WWF didn't care about it so it bounced around Mexico and then Japan for years. It was even part of the J-Crown during its short run. In fact, the catalyst for the J-Crown being disbanded was WWF asking for the belt back. This is the same Taka Michinoku that works in New Japan today, formerly of Suzuki-Gun but now SG's been disbanded he's the frontman/mouthpiece for the new Just 4 Guys stable that are all former SG members. Young Taka has gotten over well with the US crowds thanks to his high flying style. Brian Christopher is Jerry Lawler's son, and they're doing a fun angle where he and Lawler both deny it but it's an open secret that it's true and JR needles Lawler about it all the time. Christoper tears up a "Taka" sign before the bell and wipes his ass with it. Classy. Lockup and Christoper gets a quick slam. Another lockup right into a Christoper armdrag. He's got a considerable size and strength advantage over Taka and showing it early. A "Jerry's kid" chant sets Christopher off. Taka tries an arm wringer but Christoper almost effortlessly hiptosses him. Corner dodges, Taka flips out of a German suplex attempt, ducks a clothesline, hits a spinning heel kick and dropkicks. A clothesline sends Christopher 360 to the floor. Taka running springboard crossbody! He almost flew *over* Christoper there. Taka tries to suplex Christopher back in but gets crotched instead. A Christopher running double ax handle sends Taka to the floor. He tries coming off the top but Taka dodges and Christopher crashes into the guardrail. Back in Christopher dodges a crossbody off the top and Taka does a great splat on the mat. Christopher's lip is busted open from hitting the rail and bleeding pretty good. Taka dodges in the corner. Swinging DDT off the second rope! Cover for 2. Hurricanrana! Christopher rolls to the floor. Taka asai moonsault! Lawler leaves commentary to check on the man that's absolutely positively not his son don't you dare get into that crap again. He wipes some of the blood away in a very dad like way. Taka dropkicks Christopher and he almost falls on Lawler! JR says Lawler is "like a little league father out there". Long speed run and Christopher blocks a monkey flip and plants Taka with a Skull Crushing Finale like slam. Sit out powerbomb. Slow arrogant cover. Taka counters for 2. Christopher dropkick off the second rope to the back of Taka's head. Christopher goes full on into cocky crowd playing strutting mode. He hits a fameasser and backbreaker for 2, then tries to get Taka fired back up with a bunch of arrogant slaps. Clothesline. Christopher is clearly playing with his food rather than seriously trying to get the win. Slow cover for 2. He drops some very Lawler like fistdrops. Taka flips out of a back suplex, standing switches, Christopher hits a German. More crowd playing and a legdrop for 2. Powerslam. Christopher finally decides it's time to finish it. Taka dodges the Tennessee Jam! It's just like the Alabama Jam except it's from Tennessee. Michinoku Driver! Taka gets the pin! Fairly good stuff to get the Light Heavyweight title off the ground but nowhere near the Taka/Great Sasuke match from earlier in the year. It was a bit slow in the second half but they told a good story and Taka got his shit in. **3/4

After the match WWF tries to recreeate a Japanese style title ceremony, with Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco presenting the belt and everyone posing for pictures. Nice little touch. Don't think that one's going to make the cover of the weeklies though.

Los Boricuas def The Disciples of Apocalypse in 7:58- Oh yay, this again. One new wrinkle is DOA leader Crush is gone. On screen he was attacked by Kane to write him off, in reality he left to go back to WCW in protest of the Montreal Screwjob. To make the numbers an even 3 on 3 ref Tim White throws LB leader Savio Vega out for this match. These factions have had several PPV matches this year and they've all been horrible so I'm not getting deep into this one. As usual DOA controls to start before LB cheats to get the advantage. There's a funny moment when the crowd chants "Shave your back" to Miguel Perez, who needs to shave much more than his back. Giant Gonzales' fake hair bodysuit had less hair. Perez also feigns an injury during the match. Vega tries to replace him but White has none of it. After the usual donnybrook Perez is miraculously OK, hits Chainz from behind, and LB steal the win. Same old same old Russo faction stuff that was often little more than time filler. 1/2*

 

Toughman Match: Butterbean def "Marvelous" Marc Mero (w/Sable) by DQ in 10:20- Mero had recently returned from injury with major changes. He changed his wrestling style from high flying to his boxing roots due to the injuries he'd accumulated over the years, and he's also turned heel by treating Sable like 1986 Randy Savage treated Elizabeth. Butterbean was a professional boxer known for quick knockouts in short four round "Toughman" matches, hence the name of this match tonight. I'm honestly not sure how he got on WWF's radar but it was probably part of the continuing effort to bring more shoot style fighters in (Ken Shamrock, Steve Blackman). This match is a precursor to the disastrous Brawl for All competition WWF would hold in '98, but unlike those matches which were genuine shoots this one is completely worked. It's boxing rules and 2 minute rounds for this match. Mero worked some matches like this in WCW because of his boxing background so if you're going to try to make it work he's the right guy to do it with, but those were with fellow wrestlers. I'm not sure Butterbean knew what he was doing in this environment. Mero spends most of the first round hiding in the ropes. Finally Butterbean pops him and he falls down to the floor. After the bell Mero punches Butterbean in the back of his head and everyone in both guys' entourages has to be separated. When the bell rings to start round two Mero does it again, hitting Butterbean from behind with a high knee. Then he chokes Butterbean with wrist tape. Butterbean starts punching back so Mero glove thumbs him in the eye and starts pummeling him with body shots. After the bell Mero dropkicks Butterbean in the back. I think we've got the point by now. Round three starts with Butterbean all kinds of fired up and he dominates the round. A hard right floors Mero just as the round ends. Round four starts and Mero is quickly staring at the lights again. When he gets up he hits Butterbean with a blatant low blow and gets DQ'd. After that he hits Butterbean with his stool. 3/4*

Luna Vachon drags out The Artist Formerly Known as Goldust on a leash. Both are wearing a lot of pink. TAFKAG says he's going to read a book "he wrote as a kid" and proceeds to read from Green Eggs & Ham. After a bit Luna says that's enough and drags him away. OK then. On Raw that would have been awful and pointless. On PPV, I want a partial refund for the time of that segment. This is the era WWF was experimenting with how far they could push boundaries, and I'm no prude but Goldust and Luna's bondage play was a bit too far over the edge for my liking.

 

WWF Tag Team Championship: "Bad Ass" Billy Gunn and Road Dogg (c) def The Legion of Doom by DQ in 10:32- Billy Gunn and Road Dogg were two guys going nowhere that got thrown together as a tag team and upset LOD for the titles on Raw just before this with no indication of the legendary team they'd become. Sometimes those things work, sometimes they don't. Dogg, as usual, is talking on the way to the ring. LOD wants to go right now, but Dogg stalls by saying they haven't stretched properly yet. Finally officials come out to force the champs to the ring. Dogg says Gunn is sick and they need to see a doctor. LOD attacks from behind. In the ring Animal kicks Dogg and whips him with the title belt. Hawk dropkick. Dogg rolls out. Hawk counters a backdrop with a neckbreaker. The heels regroup on the floor. Hawk gives them a double clothesline off the apron! Animal gets a clothesline in on the floor too. Double noggin knocker. Dogg keeps trying to tag in the wrong corner. He gets beat down some more. After a long speed run Animal catches Dogg leapfrogging and hits a sit out powerbomb for 2. The champs go to the floor again and get ambushed again. Gunn gets dropped on the steps. The champs try to walk and there's a brawl in the aisle. Dogg hits Hawk with an ice chest from under the ring. Apparently at the same time Gunn low blowed Hawk but it wasn't caught on camera. Gunn hits Hawk in the head again with the chest and it breaks. Turns out it was only styrofoam. Oh well. Dogg drops a knee for 2. Dropkick and Dogg does the worm before covering for 2. Hawk stays Road Warrior in peril for a while with slow heel offense from the champs. Gunn/Hawk double clothesline. Gunn grabs Hawk's tights to prevent the tag. Hawk does a Bret bump in the corner and he and Gunn collide. Tags on both sides. Animal powerslam and tackles. Double team corner clothesline from LOD and they set up the Doomsday Device. Henry Godwinn runs in and hits Animal with his bucket. Hawk takes the bucket and wails way on everything that moves, drawing the DQ. That was a match that existed. 1/2*

 

Boot Camp Match: Triple H (w/Chyna) def Sgt. Slaughter in 17:39- DX had been a thorn in Commissioner Slaughter's side for months, both professionally and personally, so Slaughter decided to come out of retirement and do something about it. The Boot Camp match was his specialty match back in his wrestling days. It's pretty much your standard no DQ street fight. Trips comes out to the new DX theme and is in jeans. Slaughter uses the Patriot's music, which will eventually be Kurt Angle's music. The brawl is on as soon as Slaughter hits the ring. Someone throws a hat at Trips' back from the crowd. Not sure what that was supposed to accomplish. Slaughter puts his riding crop to good use like Patton on a shellshocked soldier in Sicily. Hey, Lawler's breaking out all the military references so I can too. Gutbuster and double stomp from Slaughter. He tosses Trips out, runs him into the stairs and drops him on the guardrail. He goes for a pin on the floor but the ref says no, it's not falls count anywhere. Back in Slaughter takes off his belt and goes into belt whipping mode, then chokes Trips with the belt. Clothesline for 2. He goes for the Cobra Clutch but Trips counters out of it. Corner whip reversal and Slaughter flies over the corner down to the floor. Trips tosses him into the crowd then punches him back over the rail the other way. He goes over and tries to get the ring bell but timekeeper Mark Yeaton won't let him take it. Yeaton goes down! Slaughter hits a clothesline and the bell goes flying. Trips is still the first one up and whacks Slaughter in the back with the bell. Back in Trips uses the belt for a bit, then gets a chain from Chyna, wraps it around his fist and works Slaughter over with it. Cover for 2. Yeaton is dead and carried out. I hope there's a backup timekeeper, someone has to ring the bell the rest of the night. It's a specialty job. Slaughter tries to punch with the chain but Trips backdrops him down to the floor. Back in Trips tries coming off the top rope but Slaughter gets a boot up. Slaughter lifts Trips for a slam or backbreaker but can't hold him up and collapses. I think that might have been the old man legitimately blown up. You can almost hear Trips saying "suplex me" and Slaughter does. Slaughter goes up top but Trips slams him off. Cover for 2. Trips sleeper. They do the arm drops. Slaughter fights back and counters into the Cobra Clutch! Chyna comes in to break it up. The ref reads her the riot act but can't do anything, it's no DQ. Chyna knocks the ref out! She gets a chair and loads up to hit Slaughter. Slaughter throws powder in her face! Trips hits Slaughter with one of his boots. Slaughter is back up and puts the Cobra Clutch on again! Again Chyna breaks it up, this time with a low blow. Trips hits Slaughter with a Pedigree onto the chair and gets the pin. I think they were going for an old style '80s NWA bloody brawl street fight here, but 1. there was no blood, and b. Slaughter had no business going this long. If they'd kept this under 5 minutes it might have been passable, but it was three times that long. At least the right guy won. DUD

 

Jeff Jarrett def The Undertaker by DQ in 6:54- Frequent Monday Night Wars era promotion hopper Jeff Jarrett is back with WWF and making his in-ring return here. I'm pretty sure Jarrett jumped the most back and forth during these years. It's either him or Sid. Undertaker, meanwhile, is still reeling from his long lost brother Kane coming to WWF and absolutely positively refuses to fight his own brother under any circumstances no matter how much Kane wants it. Taker stalks at the start of the match while Jarrett tries to stick and move. Not the worst plan...until Taker grabs him by the throat, tosses him in the corner and lays in the rapid fire body shots. Big clothesline for 2. Old school hits, followed by an old school corner choke. Jarrett gets a back elbow in the corner and tries to come off the second rope but gets goozled. Jarrett fights out, ducks a big boot, and clips Taker's knee. Knee work follows. Taker fights back and hits a backbreaker and legdrop for 2. Big boot. The lights go out. Everyone but commentary knows what's coming. Yup, here's Kane's music and the red light of imminent death. Kane gets in the ring and Jarrett gestures for Kane to take Taker out. Bad move. Kane choke slams Jarrett! That's the official DQ. Kane and Taker go nose to nose for the first time ever with Taker looking extremely conflicted. Kane punches Taker! Taker refuses to respond. Kane sets off the ring post pyro and leaves. Jarrett clips Taker from behind again and tries to put the figure four on. Goozle counter and Jarrett is choke slammed again. Thanks for leaving WCW, Jeff. The match was what it was, but the Taker/Kane stuff continues to be fantastic. *1/2

Michael Cole is up in the nosebleed section with Mark Henry. This is the much hyped signees' first PPV appearance in over a year due to injury. He promises to be back soon. He would be back....and turn heel by joining the Nation of Domination.

 

WWF Intercontinental Championship: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin (c) def "The Rock" Rocky Maivia (w/the Nation of Domination) in 5:28- Austin vs the Rock for the first time on PPV. It won't be the last. It was during this feud that Maivia really started putting together the Rock character, insisting that people call him the Rock, talking in the third person and calling himself the people's champion. Rock also stole the IC title belt from Austin and is carrying around like it's his. A little aside rant if you'll indulge me, this is one reason why WWE's longtime insistence on refusing to call a belt a belt is really stupid. Modern WWE, at least while Vince was still in charge, would say "Rock stole the title". No, he didn't steal the title. Austin is still champion, there was no match and no title change. He only stole the physical belt that isn't his. It's like saying "he hit him with the title". He hit someone with an abstract concept of superiority? No, he hit him with a BELT. A PHYSICAL OBJECT. Sorry, rant over. Back to the match. The "Rocky sucks" chants start the instant the Nation's music hits. Austin drives inside the arena in his pickup truck! He hits the ring and the fight is on. The whole Nation gangs up on Austin. D'Lo Brown gets backdropped onto the truck's hood and breaks the windshield! Stunner to Brown on the truck's roof! Austin gets back in the ring and the bell rings to officially start the match. Slugfest. Thesz Press! Rock turns it into a cradle for 2. Austin reverses it for 2. Rock throws Austin over the top to the floor. Faarooq and Kama attack. Kama accidentally nails Faarooq with a chair. Austin whips Kama into the truck. That truck is seriously starting to look like the car in the first bonus level of Street Fighter II. Back in Rock hits a back elbow and the Greco Roman Nut Punch, followed by stomps in the corner. Austin turns it around and hits his own corner punches. Rock slam and he hits the still unnamed People's Elbow for 2. Austin fights out of a chinlock but runs into a knee to the gut. Another Rock slam. The elbow pad is off. He goes for the People's Elbow again but Austin dodges this time. Mudhole stomp. Austin ducks a clothesline and goes for the Stunner. Kama gets on the apron. Austin knocks him off, then grabs who he thinks is Rock and hits the Stunner, but it was the ref! Rock gets brass knucks. Austin blocks the knucks punch. Stunner! The backup ref runs in and counts the pin! Decent match, but it's clear where the future of WWF lies, all you had to do was listen to the crowd reactions all through this match. The "Rocky sucks" chants even stopped after it started. Also, Austin worked the whole match with his vest still on. **1/4

The next week on Raw Vince ordered Austin to defend the title against Rock again due to all the shenanigans in this match. Austin refused, so Vince awarded Rock the title by forfeit. In response, Austin tossed the belt in the river. Austin would never be in the IC title picture again, but that's a good thing because much bigger things were already being planned for him.

 

WWF Championship: Ken Shamrock def "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels (c) (w/Triple H and Chyna) by DQ in 18:27- This is clearly a test match on a B PPV to see how Shamrock does in the main event. It shouldn't come a surprise that Shawn and his DX crew didn't really want to work with him here. Shawn still goes hard at times here, but it's in more fits and starts. And he wasn't wrong that Shamrock wasn't ready for this level yet. After some opening jockeying Shawn gets a quick eye poke and punches. They go speed, Shawn fights out of a press slam, Shamrock blocks a roll up, more speed, Shamrock hits a kick and Shawn flops all the way to the floor. He takes his time getting back in. Lockup and Shawn tries arm wringers. Shamrock tosses him into the corner. Press slam and backdrop. Shawn flip to the floor! He rolls halfway up the aisle. Chyna gets on the apron to distract. Shawn tries an ambush but Shamrock is ready. Shawn got a mouthful of water on the floor that he spits out on impact. Shamrock hits a suplex and clotheslines Shawn 360 to the floor again for another big stall. Shamrock has enough and gives Shawn and Trips a double noggin knocker. Shawn slides under coming back in and tries a sunset flip that's blocked. Another corner toss and pummeling from Shamrock. Corner kick and Shawn is crotched. Shamrock hooks up for the belly to belly suplex. Shawn grabs the ref and gets a low blow. Cactus Clothesline, but Shawn hangs onto the rope and skins the cat back in. Trips gives Shamrock some punches. Shawn crossbody off the top to the floor! Baseball slide. Shamrock dodges a second one and punches both Shawn and Trips down. Chyna pushes Shamrock into the post. Trips stomps him and Chyna slams him on the floor. Shawn big splash off the apron. He hits an elbow off the second rope back in. Dropkick for 2. Trips gets more shots in, including Shamrock completely whiffing the sell of what's supposed to be a very hard right hand. Shamrock gives Shawn a couple of buckle shots and more body blows. Shawn springboard crossbody off the second rope, Shamrock rolls through it for 2. After a fight out of a chinlock Shamrock blocks a hiptoss and rolls Shawn up for 2. Shawn hooks on a sleeper. Shamrock goes down and Shawn gets near falls with his shoulders down. Shamrock gets up and backs Shawn into the corner a few times but Shawn still hangs on. Finally Shamrock back elbows get him out. Hard Shamrock corner clotheslines. Diving elbow. Powerslam. Hurricanrana! Ground and pound from Shamrock. Shawn tries a crucifix into a roll up but Shamrock counters for 2. Shamrock hits the ropes and there's a weird bit where his head goes under the top rope and knocks him down. Don't think that was planned, and that could have been much worse. Shawn leaps up but Shamrock catches and powerbombs him for a long 2. Shawn grabs the ref and DX pull Shamrock out for more pummeling. Back in Shawn hits the elbow off the top. The band tunes up. Shamrock ducks the superkick! Belly to belly! He goes for the ankle lock but Trips and Chyna run in for the cheap DQ. Long way to go to get to that finish. **1/2

After the match DX continue to beat Shamrock down. Shawn gets on the apron to gloat. Someone runs in and pushes Shawn off the apron into the Spanish announce table! Man, that table collapsed easily, Shawn barely touched it. Almost as if it was designed to. IT'S OWEN HART! OWEN HART IS BACK AND HE WANTS REVENGE! Trips comes over to save and Owen leaves through the crowd. That was a true, legitimate shock. No one expected Owen back after what happened in Montreal, especially so soon. Sadly a surefire money match for the Rumble was not to be, probably due to backstage politics.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- December WWF/E PPVs are usually placeholders as it's just before the Rumble and WM season and this just isn't any exception, it might be the worst of the bunch. The whole thing is pretty much skippable with not much happening to recommend it other than the first and inferior Rock/Austin match, Taker/Kane standoff and Owen's return. Also, four DQ finishes on an eight match PPV card. Blech. It's a dreary end to what was otherwise a spectacular year for WWF in '97. Officially they were still behind WCW and tight on money, but even with the loss of Bret Hart and the soon to happen loss of Shawn Michaels, everything was in place for them to take the top spot back over in '98.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D(X)