NJPW Toukon Festival: Wrestling World 2005

Legacy Review

NJPW Toukon Festival: Wrestling World 2005

January 4, 2005 from the Tokyo Dome

This show marks the end of the almost decade long run of Wrestling World as the name of the annual January 4th Dome show. After a one off name next year the run of modern Wrestle Kingdoms will begin in 2007. We're still in the worst depths of Inokism, the dark period that almost killed New Japan completely when Inoki was trying to cross worked pro wrestling over with shoot MMA fighting and turning off fans in droves.

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

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Gedo & Jado and Katsushi Takemura and Wataru Inoue go to a 15:00 time limit draw- No idea why the titles aren't on the line here. Gedo and Jado are members of the latest big heel faction in New Japan, CTU (Control Terrorism Unit). Takemura literally pushes Inoue back into their corner so he can start with Gedo. He charges but Gedo was ready for him. After he recovers Gedo stalls in the ropes to try to cool off the extremely intense Takemura. Gedo sets to lock up...then slides to the floor. After a short chase Gedo snaps Takemura's throat over the top rope. Takemura trips Gedo on the apron, gets in and immediately lays on some ground and pound. Man, what did Gedo do to piss this guy off? I mean, apart from, you know, meeting Gedo. Gedo dodges a slingshot senton. Jado tags in and is willing to lock up. Takemura gets him in the face corner and Jado has to fight out. Jado and Inoue do some back and forth that ends up on the apron. They exchange some shots, then Inoue plants Jado with an apron DDT! Hardest part of the ring TM. The faces stomp away on Jado and Inoue hooks on a camel clutch. Takemura comes in and give Jado a basement dropkick while in the hold. Jado tries to eye rake out of Takemura arm wringers but he ends up right back in. Chops back Takemura into the heel corner. Gedo tags in and cranks his own arm wringers. Takemura gets tossed to the floor. Jado is out there with a chair and whacks Takemura in the back a couple of times. Man, the ring attendants/Young Lions (they weren't all Young Lions doing that job back then) are wearing some BRIGHT orange tracksuits for this show. They're easy to spot, that's for sure. Takemura's back is posted and the heels go to work on it. Takemura tries to fight back but Gedo puts him in a front facelock. Big splash to Takemura's back. Jado tags in and Takemura is dead weight. Jado hits a back suplex for 2. Takemura rolls under a swing, hits a dropkick and tags. Inoue spinning heel kicks get the crowd going for the first time tonight. Spear from Inoue at the 10 minute call. Standing switches and Inoue hits a gutbuster. Jado whips Inoue into a Bret bump and hits him with a couple of rolling German suplexes. He dodges another Inoue spear and puts on a crossface! Nice. Gedo holds Takemura back on the floor. Inoue fights and gets to the ropes. He rolls around Jado with counters and into an armbreaker. Gedo breaks it up. Jado hits a lariato and both sides tag. Lariatos from Takemura for both heels. Gedo runs into a powerslam. Long counter run, Gedo maneuvers out of a sleeper attempt, and the heels get run into each other. Gedo hits a neckbreaker on Takemura. Big splash off the top rope! Inoue breaks the pin up. Takemura hits an F5! Sleeper on Gedo! Into a dragon sleeper! Gedo fights and doesn't go out. Time is almost up, so Takemura lets go and does a desperation cover. Gedo kicks out, and literally one second later the bell rings for the time limit. Solid opener. **3/4

 

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship #1 Contender's Match: Jushin Thunder Liger def Koji Kanemoto in 10:30- The forever rivals go at it in the Dome one more time. Liger is still in his heel run and is the leader of CTU. He and Kanemoto had actually put their differences aside and had been partners the past couple of years, even getting a run with the junior tag titles, but I'm pretty sure Kanemoto has turned face after an injury. An unusual role for him, he was always a natural heel. Heel Liger black and gold gear for him tonight. Both guys are cautious after the bell, until Kanemoto floors Liger with one kick. A flurry of corner strikes puts Liger back down again and he's selling like they're already 10-15 minutes into the match. They don't have much time tonight so they're cutting the usual first half of the match out and getting right to it. Liger reverses a corner whip and kills Kanemoto with a running shotei. Kanemoto rolls to the floor. Liger apron cannonball! Brain buster on the floor! Speed run back in and Kanemoto hits a snap belly to belly suplex. Liger flash roll up for 2. Shotei for 2. The Ligerbomb hits early in the match! Kanemoto kicks out! Big splash off the top for 2. Kanemoto spins around Liger in counters into an ankle lock. Liger gets to the ropes. Kanemoto kicks his ankle out of the ankle. He hits a falcon arrow. Up top Kanemoto goes for a moonsault, sees Liger dodging and lands on his feet, blocks a Liger rolling kick and the ankle lock is back on! Liger goes to the ol' heel eyepoke and hits a sitout powerbomb for 2. And the ankle lock is on again! Kanemoto grapevines the leg! If he was Kurt Angle it'd be over. Unfortunately for him, as good as he is, he's not Kurt Angle. Liger makes it to the ropes again. Kanemoto hits the moonsault for 2. He follows up with a corner knee and some classic boot scrapes. Liger pops out of the corner with another shotei. He sets Kanemoto up top. Backwards. Liger German superplex! Another shotei. Brain buster! A second one! That's it. No, Kanemoto kicks out! The crowd goes nuts for that. Liger puts on an ankle lock! Kanemoto easily counters out into his own. More standing switches and a crazy counter run, Kanemoto gets a roll up for 2 and transitions into a *reverse* ankle lock! Liger counters with a Gedo clutch, and gets the pin! Good stuff, though not nearly on the level of their previous classics. They did the best they could with the time they got. I'm not sure when Liger cashed in his title shot but it wasn't successful as he's already had all his title runs. ***1/2

 

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Tiger Mask def Heat (c) in 14:17- Hey, a junior title defense on an Inokism era show! It's a Rusev Day miracle. Tiger Mask IV had his first junior title reign in mid-'03 that he had to vacate due to injury, then he won Best of the Super Juniors '04 as part of his comeback. Heat (Minoru Tanaka), who's also a member of CTU and is being cornered by Gedo and Jado for this match, had been champion for just over a year coming in. TM runs in and hits Heat with a dropkick just as the bell rings! Heat goes to the floor. Tope suicida! TM teases another dive but 619 spins instead. Heat pulls TM down and runs him into the post. They go up the entrance ramp. Man, what an awesome looking stage. Too bad I'm still in the shows where World cuts all the entrances out because they don't have music rights anymore. Heat goes for a fisherman's buster on the ramp but TM blocks it. TM slips out of a suplex, then stumbles on the landing, loses his footing and falls off the ramp to the floor! Yeesh. For the record, that was not planned. That was a Botchamania moment. Heat jumps down and throws a few punches to cover, then goes back to the ring so TM can recover. TM staggers to the ring. Heat hits a snap suplex and kneedrops. Camel clutch, then Heat transitions into a guillotine. TM gets a rope break. Heat continues with a basic and pretty dull beatdown. TM comes back with dropkicks. Tiltawhirl backbreaker. Double underhook powerbomb for 2. TM tries to counter a backdrop, but Heat maneuvers around and hits a back kick. More kicks put TM down. Heat back suplex. A second. A third. He sets TM on the top rope. TM fights him off, comes off, and Heat is supposed to counter dropkick him in midair but misses by a mile. TM sells it anyway. This match has been sloppy as hell. Heat hits the fisherman's buster. TM tries a backslide but Heat counters it into a Euro clutch for 2. A TM headbutt off the top is dodged with a great camera shot from above the ring camera showing him splatting on the mat. TM flips out of a German attempt. Heat goes back around and hits a dragon suplex that TM flips over to sell. Straight kick to the head from Heat! TM kicks out! Heat goes for another fisherman's buster but TM counters into a small package for 2. Heat cross armbreaker! TM barely gets a foot on the rope. Heat goes for kicks but TM blocks and hits dragon screws. German for 2. TM ducks a kick and hits a sort of enzuguri. TM spins Heat into a tombstone. He puts on a chickenwing, targeting the shoulder Heat has taped up. TM turns the chickenwing into a suplex! The tiger suplex hits, and TM gets the pin and the title! Very tepid crowd reaction for that, but for a junior title match that was a very tepid match. Especially following a Liger/Kanemoto match. **1/4

 

Amateur Wrestling Exhibition Match: Yuji Nagata def Katsuhiko Nagata in 5:00- Yes, you're reading those last names right and yes there is a connection. This is former IWGP Heavyweight champion in the prime of his career Yuji Nagata facing his own brother in a pointless amateur match in the Tokyo Dome. K. Nagata had no professional experience, but he won a silver medal in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, and later in this year would embark on a very so-so MMA career. I'm not getting deep into this, it's an amateur wrestling match. And a Greco-Roman one at that, where you're really limited in what you can do. The "highlights" are Nagata literally dragging his brother out of the corner to hit a belly to belly suplex, and K. Nagata trying to deadlift his brother but failing and having him fall on top of him instead. The bell rings at five minutes and the ref raises both their hands. OK then. Per all the online match listings Y. Nagata won by points so we'll go with that. Good thing too, he'd already been pantsed in an MMA match a year or so prior and didn't need any more shooty screwups messing with his career. NR

Sad thing is, that's not the worst thing they do with Nagata tonight.

 

Minoru Suzuki def Takashi Iizuka in 9:45- Two future Suzuki-Gun stablemates face off, though Iizuka will change a lot between now and then. Suzuki is still a freelancer early in his post-MMA wrestling career. Suzuki dances around after the bell and we get a feeling out start. After Iizuka reverses a Suzuki takedown Suzuki gets a very smooth escape and we reset. Iizuka grinds Suzuki down with some arm work. Suzuki counters out with a smile on his face and probably a song in his heart. An evil song, naturally. Iizuka tries to re-counter but Suzuki kicks his leg out of his leg. Front facelock from Suzuki. Iizuka tries some open hand strikes but Suzuki ducks them all while daring Iiuzka to hit him and lays in a couple of his own. Iizuka eventually has enough of this shit, straight punching Suzuki and dropkicking him to the apron. On the apron Suzuki again goes into mocking dodge mode. Iizuka turns him around and puts on a sleeper. Suzuki falls to the floor on the break. Back in the match bogs down a little with a slow and basic Iizuka beatdown. He has a flurry of corner forearms and stomps. Suzuki looks almost amused. Possibly even aroused. Suzuki dodges a dropkick and lays in some stiff kicks. Another open hand exchange with Suzuki dodging almost everything Iizuka is throwing and landing his own. Back suplex. Sleeper from Suzuki. Iizuka gets to the ropes. Big open hand exchange with Iizuka finally landing some blows and getting Suzuki wobblelegged. Long run of sleeper counters. Iizuka manages to lock his in with a body scissors. Suzuki fights and gets a rope break. He ties himself in the ropes in the corner, not allowing Iizuka to pull him out for another sleeper. Suzuki rolls around to put his sleeper on, and flips Iizuka over with it! No more ha-ha's from Suzuki, he's deadly serious now. Double foot curb stomp! Sleeper from Suzuki, Iizuka goes out and it's over. I'm probably overrating this, when Iizuka controlled it was pretty dull, but Suzuki is so damn entertaining I can't help myself. He definitely carried this match and it flew by thanks to that. ***

 

Satoshi Kojima def Osamu Nishimura in 19:26- This is an All Japan vs New Japan battle, with Kojima is still with All Japan full time. In fact he was a month away from his first Triple Crown Championship win. Code of Honor handshake to start. Lockup and clean break from Nishimura. Another lockup and a less clean break from Kojima. After taking some shots Nishimura gets a flash backslide for 2. Huge Nishimura uppercut in the corner. He works Kojima's arm a bit. Kojima chops back and Nishimura floors him with another uppercut. Kojima counters a headlock into a headscissors. Nishimura does an elaborate handstand escape that gets a pop from the crowd. This time Nishimura counters a headlock into a hammerlock. He transitions into a Mutalock, then a bow and arrow. Kojima escapes and powders to the floor. I know one thing for sure, Nishimura ain't diving. Back in they have another chop/uppercut exchange that Nishimura wins. Nishimura pushes ref Marty Asami away! To be fair lots of people have wanted to do that. Particularly if they survived his bus driving. Kojima lands more chops that finally stagger Nishimura. Elbow drops from Kojima. Top rope elbow drop for 2. More slugfest and Nishimura hooks on a sleeper. Kojima back suplexes out. Nishimura responds with his own back suplex. Lariato duck and another back suplex from Nishimura. A third one. A fourth one! Kojima is still getting up first. Dragon screw from Nishimura. Figure four! Kojima reverses it but Nishimura reverses it back. Kojima gets a rope break. Nishimura quickly hops up top and drops a knee on Kojima's hurt knee. Spinning toe hold! Classic. And back into the figure four! Now Kojima's in agony. He tries to reverse but can't. Finally he manages to get to the ropes again. Nishimura goes back up top. Kojima joins him. They have a leverage fight and tease Nishimura throwing Kojima all the way to the floor. Eventually Nishimura wins a strike exchange and Kojima falls to the mat. Missile dropkick from Nishimura. Kojima pops right back up! Kojicutter! He goes for a second one. Nishimura blocks it into a cobra twist! Kojima gets a rope break and hiptosses Nishimura over the top to the floor. On the apron Nishimura ducks a lariato and puts on a sleeper. Asami has to physically force a break. More strikes are exchanged and they have another leverage fight, with Kojima suplexing Nishimura back in. Brain buster for 2. Lariato to the back of Nishimura's head. Another one to the front. Asami counts and Nishimura is back up at 9. Another lariato! Nishimura uses the ropes to stand up. A fourth lariato! Nishimura is barely up in time. A FIFTH one! Kojima's just playing with his food at this point. He goes for 6 but Nishimura ducks into a cobra twist cradle! Kojima *just* kicks out! Kojima gets the message, stops fooling around, murders Nishimura with one last lariato, and covers for the pin. Another quality midcard match. ***1/4

 

Eight Man Ultimate Royal Match- You just knew that Inoki was going to crap at least one giant fake shoot fight turd onto this card, and this is it. You're welcome for that imagery. This is an 8 man single elimination submission only tournament that is very much MMA style rather than wrestling, with the "fun" twist being that two matches happen in the ring at once. First the first quarterfinal pair, then the second, then the semis at once, and then the final gets center stage. Representing puroresu and New Japan in this mess are Manabu Nakanishi, Blue Wolf, a now blonde and heel Toru Yano, and once again Nagata-san. The name of this show should be changed to "How Best to Waste Prime Yuji Nagata". From the MMAers turned wrestlers we have Masayuki Naruse and Mitsuya Nagai. Also participating is Mongolian amateur wrestler and future politician Dolgorsuerngiin Sumyaabazar. And rounding out the 8, the straight MMA representative, Ron Waterman. Guess who wins? But never mind all that shit, the real headline is who's sitting ringside.....BROCK LESNAR! And Sable. Brock was about a year out of his initial WWE run, his football attempt didn't pan out, and he'd debut for New Japan later in the year. And, being Brock, cause no end of controversy before leaving for UFC. As for this match/tournament/battle royale/whatever, Nagata makes it to the final, then taps out to Waterman in less than two minutes. This whole thing was dumb on so many levels. DUD

 

Three Way Dogfight Match: Masahiro Chono def Riki Choshu and IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroyoshi Tenzan in 18:27- Chono is leading another new heel stable, New Japan Black, which in many ways is just NWO Japan with a new name. Choshu is once again coming out of retirement for this one. Tenzan is in his 3rd reign as Heavyweight champion. He also won his second straight G1 Climax in '04 before winning the title back. The fact he's involved in this mess as champion is as big an indictment on Inoki's management as the last mess of a "match" was. Going by what takes place here, obviously commentary doesn't help me any, this is a two fall or first to two falls match with only two guys legal until a decision, then the winner wrestles the odd man. If there had been split decisions I wonder if it would have gone to a third fall. The video starts right up with Chono nailing Tenzan with a Yakuza kick while his entrance music is still playing. Right after that Choshu nails Chono with a lariato and puts him in a Scorpion Death Lock. Red Shoes is reffing this match by the way. Tenzan gets on the apron and Choshu lets go to kick him off. After that the bell rings to officially start the match, with Chono and Choshu wrestling the first fall. Choshu goes for the Scorpion again, and when that fails goes into slow beatdown mode. Chono hits a spinning heel kick and piledrives Choshu. After a bit of work on Choshu's tree trunk legs Chono hits another piledriver. He puts on a butterfly hold for a bit, then goes up top. Choshu joins him and hits a superplex. Lariato! Chono goes to the floor. Tenzan inserts himself while they're out there. He goes to piledrive Choshu on the floor but Chono gives him a Yakuza kick. Back in Choshu hits a lariato for a long 2. It may not seem like much reading this and not really knowing him, but Choshu swung a clothesline as hard as anyone in wrestling history and always looked like he could kill a man with that alone. Chono responds with a Yakuza kick and covers, but Choshu is out before Red Shoes barely gets to one. They go through some more lariato/Yakuza kick exchanges. Chono hits a shining wizard! Shoutout to his forever rival Keiji Mutoh, now in All Japan. He gives Choshu another kick, covers and gets a pin. Choshu is out and Tenzan is in. Choshu stays ringside the rest of the match, giving credence to my possible third fall theory. Tenzan lariatos Chono and hits some Mongolian chops. They go up top and Tenzan fights off a superplex. Chono ends up on the apron. Tenzan with a flying lariato off the top to the apron! He pounds Chono down on the apron while Red Shoes counts. A Yakuza kick knocks Tenzan off the apron. Another Yakuza kick in the ring. Chono hooks on the STF and Tenzan quickly gets to the ropes. Both guys fight to put on a cobra twist and Chono turns it into a roll up for 2. Tenzan hits chops and headbutts. Anaconda Vice! Chono punches out. Closed fists in New Japan, what a heel. I just noticed that Tenzan is bleeding from the ear. One of those kicks must have caught him flush. Both guys exchange back suplexes. Corner lariato from Tenzan. He plants Chono with the top rope kneedrop. Suplex for 2. The top rope headbutt hits but Chono kicks out at 1. Sleeper from Tenzan. Chono tries to use it to pin Tenzan and Tenzan lets go. Chono inverted atomic drop and shining wizard. Tenzan hits the Tenzan Driver for 2. Back to the Vice. Chono fades, then fights back up. Low blow to get out of the hold! Tenzan spinning heel kick for 2. Backbreaker. Chono dodges the moonsault! STF! With a rollover! Tenzan taps! Chono gets a fall on the reigning champion. I don't know if he got a title shot or not, but everyone that knows Chono's career knows he didn't win if he did. The match never really came together. *1/2

 

IWGP U-30 Championship: Shinsuke Nakamura def Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) in 24:45- After everything else that's gone on tonight, at least they're getting the main event right. Wrong title, but right match. This is Nakamura's second straight Jan 4th main event, and the first for the future Ace. These two are also the reigning IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team champions. For the first time for a Jan 4 Dome show on World we get full entrances! Great first match to do that. There's an English ring announcer for this match for some reason. Listening to commentary translate it into Japanese is a funny reversal of what is usually the case for me watching New Japan. Nakamura's black and silver Lion Mark tights are really cool. Both guys slowly circle after the bell, letting things settle in. Nakamura offers a handshake and Tanahashi blows it off! Very cautious feeling out to start. Nakamura swings a kick that Tanahashi quickly backs off from. Quick go behinds. Nakamura hits a dragon suplex! Tanahashi counters with a German! A triangle choke attempt is quickly escaped. A reset lockup leads to some back and forth mat grappling. Katsuyori Shibata is shown watching from ringside. Both guys do some fancy flippy counters and another stalemate. Tanahashi does a bit of arm work, leading to some more mat grappling. Nakamura tries for a triangle, then mounts Tanahashi and could do some ground and pound but sticks with the straight wrestling and tries for an armbreaker. Tanahashi blocks it, then gets on top himself and also refrains from strikes, putting on a headlock instead. The contrast in styles is so obvious from the get go. Tanahashi is a classic straight pro wrestler, while Nakamura with his MMA background is more well versed in submission wrestling. Shoulderblock standoff. Here comes the strikes! It's breaking loose now. Nakamura hits his classic stiff knees to the gut. Flying forearm from Tanahashi, followed by elbow drops and a standing corkscrew for 2. Leverage fight on the top rope and Nakamura hits a superplex. Tanahashi pops right back up! Nakamura tries a sleeper. Tanahashi counters out into a backbreaker. Nakamura rolls to the apron. Tanahashi dropkicks him to the floor! TOPE SUICIDA! Tanahashi flew OVER THE BARRICADE AND OVER THE TIMEKEEPER'S TABLE TO THE FLOOR! HOLY SHIT! And he's right back up! Another suplex leverage fight on the apron. They almost lose their balance teasing Tanahashi going over to the floor but recover quickly. Next lift Tanahashi does go over but lands on the apron. Tanahashi DDTs Nakamura on the apron! As soon as Nakamura steps back in the ring Tanahashi small packages him for 2. Sleeper. Nakamura counters into an armbreaker! Tanahashi tries to block it, can't, and quickly gets to the ropes. Nakamura spins into another attempt. Tanahashi fights it off again. He tries a sleeper but Nakamura quickly flips him over to counter. Nakamura gets the triangle on! Tanahashi uses his superior power to push out and turn it into a Boston crab. Nakamura rope break. Tanahashi dodges a dropkick and puts on a Scorpion. Another rope break. German from Tanahashi. Nakamura fires back up! He's bleeding from somewhere in his mouth. Tanahashi goes for a dragon suplex. Nakamura fights out, but Tanahashi uses the counter to get him in a dragon sleeper! Tanahashi turns it into a reverse DDT for 2. Back to the dragon sleeper with a grapevine. Nakamura fights to the ropes. He tries to forearm Tanahashi in the gut but it's weak shots. Tanahashi slaps him to try to get him fired up! Kick to the face exchange. Nakamura tries a slam but Tanahashi counters out into another dragon sleeper. Nakamura climbs the ropes to flip it over into his own dragon sleeper! Tanahashi fades, then makes it to the ropes. Running corner knee from Nakamura. Spear! Not a great one, I see why he didn't stick with that. Nakamura sit out powerbomb for 2. Moonsault for Nakamura! Again, not his wheelhouse and not the greatest. Tanahashi dodges a kneedrop. Dropkick and corner chops from Tanahashi. He slaps Nakamura again! This is serious bear poking. Nakamura fires up and they go nose to nose. Takedown from Nakamura and he chokes Tanahashi! Yeah, he lost it for a minute. Tanahashi is up with an ezuguri! Powerbomb. Nakamura turns it into a triangle! Tanahashi deadlifts him up and slams him! The dragon suplex hits! Nakamura kicks out! Tanahashi goes for another but Nakamura fights it off. He puts on another triangle, then switches to an armbraker! Tanahashi barely makes the ropes to save himself. Sleeper from Nakamura. Tanahashi fades quickly, tries to fight back up, gets pulled down again and almost goes out. One last attempt to escape. Nakamura switches to the armbreaker! Tanahashi has nowhere to go and has to tap out! Nakamura wins the title! Fantastic match, show saving main event, and the start of two legends and one legendary feud. ****1/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Cut out the two matches before the main event and this is a pretty solid show. Of course those matches still count in the final evaluation. The main event saves it from being the worst 1/4 show to date. It's a match everyone should watch once, even if it's only the faintest glimmer of what's to come. Speaking of that, this would end up being the last Jan. 4th show under Inoki's management. Near the end of '05 Yuke's purchased a majority share in New Japan, and promptly ousted Inoki from power in the company he created as it clearly needed saving from him. When New Japan rolled into the Dome the following January, a new era was about to dawn.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C-

Rock Bottom '98: In Your House

Legacy Review

Rock Bottom '98: In Your House

December 13, 1998 from General Motors Place in Vancouver, BC

Commentary: Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler

A small bit of history here as Michael Cole, the longest tenured play by play announcer in WWE history if not all of wrestling history (I'd need to run some numbers on Gordon Solie to say for sure), is manning his first ever PPV from the big chair. He's there because JR suffered his second attack of Bell's Palsy during the PPV in the UK the previous week and would be out the next few months.

The show opens with the Rock welcoming us to the Rock's PPV from Planet Hollywood. He drops some names for future Rock-themed PPVs that never materialized, though one did get shortened and became WWF/E's second longest running weekly show. I'm honestly not sure if this bit was on the PPV broadcast or a Coliseum Video exclusive. Rock Bottom is sponsored by Glover! Glover?......Hold on *checks Al Gore's interwebs*.....huh, it was an N64 game. That's one that passed me by completely, I don't remember anything about it at all. Looks like it's getting ported to modern consoles so I guess it wasn't a complete disaster. In keeping with the "Rock's personal PPV" theme the stage is little more than a couple of giant Rock posters. It's good to be the Corporate Champion.

Lots of tag matches tonight. Unusual for a WWF PPV.

Mark Henry and D'Lo Brown (w/Terri and Jacqueline) def Val Venus and The Godfather (w/hos) in 5:56- Venus and Godfather do seem like a logical pairing from a business standpoint. I mean their business. Godfather comes in with a 4 girl Ho Train, and like most of his entourages there's maybe one that's actually attractive. Terri and Jacqueline formed their own pairing before hooking up with Brown and Henry. For those of you who've been following along, no Terri's not pregnant. Never was. Don't ask, it's Russo. Brown and Venus start with some spunky back and forth reminiscent of their better than expected opener at Summerslam. Venus hits a spinebuster. Godfather works Brown over a bit before Brown dodges an avalanche. Godfather hits a sort of back kick. The match stops for a "D'Lo sucks" chant and Brown responds by tagging out. Godfather gets in position and does the full setup so I guess we can say he hits the Train even if it's not called that yet. Henry responds with a powerslam and.....lots of regular body slams. He's still learning. Godfather dodges an elbow drop and tags. Brown holds Venus by the tights in the corner so Henry can avalanche him. Brown hits his spinebuster. He goes for the frog splash but Venus dodges and tags. Godfather barely gets Brown over on a backdrop. Double suplex on Henry. The women all start bitching at each other outside. While that's going on Jacqueline gets in the ring, pulls Venus' tights down to expose his thong, and Henry kills him with a clothesline. Henry big splash and it's over. 1/2*

Triple H is in the back with Dok Hendrix for his only scheduled appearance on the PPV (he had a match on Heat) and says he's not worried about DX being banned from the Outlaws' tag title defense tonight. After that we get footage from Heat of Mankind attacking the Rock in the Corporate Skybox and injuring his Corporate Ribs. Rock tells the Corporate Doctor to beat it, then coming back live Rock tells Corporate Vince and Corporate Shane he'll be fine.

 

The Headbangers def The Oddities (w/Giant Silva and Luna Vachon) in 6:52- Kind of surprised the Oddities are still around to be honest. Cole keeps calling Cartman "Cart Man", which as a long (LONG) time South Park fan myself is both chuckle worthy and eye rolling. Kurrgan and Mosh start with Kurrgan subjecting us to his attempts to wrestle. Yeah, he's still awful. Mosh dodges in the corner and Cole commends his quickness. Quickness? An arthritic grandfather with a walker could have dodged that. Or Joe Biden. After a Kurrgan slam Mosh rolls under a big boot and tags out. Kurrgan plants Thrasher with his one and only move, the side suplex. Mosh runs back in and Kurrgan easily handles them both. Golga (Earthquake with a mask) tags in, pulls his shirt up, and squashes them both with an avalanche. Hip toss and elbow drop from Golga for 2. Mosh dodges Kurrgan timbering off the second rope. He tries for a suplex. That's dumb. Thrasher comes in and they manage to get Kurrgan over. In a suplex. An endorsement from Wayne Gretzky himself couldn't get Kurrgan over in Canada. The 'Bangers work through some double teams. Eventually Kurrgan decides enough selling, hits a backdrop and clothesline, and tags out. Golga pounds away on both 'Bangers. Dropkick! Ol' Quake could still go a bit, I'll give him that. Another avalanche. The 'Bangers do a "blind tag" that there's no way Golga didn't see. Golga hits his powerslam and sets up for the Quake splash. Mosh takes forever waiting for the setup after the tag, then jumps on Golga from the top while he's running for the splash, and gets the pin. DUD

We get some footage of Austin inspecting the gravesite for his Buried Alive match before the show.

 

Steve Blackman def Owen Hart by countout in 10:28- Big Canada pop for Owen. I'm sure it won't surprise anyone, but he hasn't exactly had a banner year being the last Hart family member standing in WWF after the Montreal Screwjob. There's been a whole crazy story going on about Owen retiring after injuring Dan Severn with a piledriver (a nod to his injuring Austin), then the Blue Blazer starting to show up, then Owen unretiring and other people being the Blazer and is Owen really the Blazer anyway and it's all Russorific and in the end completely pointless. Owen jumps Blackman as he gets in the ring. Snap suplex and dropkick. The crowd unsurprisingly is all Owen. Blackman gets a backdrop and hook kick to a chorus of boos. He clotheslines Owen 360 to the floor. Owen takes a walk so Blackman runs out and clotheslines him. Back in Blackman hits a suplex. Backbreaker into a bow and arrow. Owen does a nice enzuguri counter that wasn't nearly as telegraphed as it usually is. Then he hits suplex #3 in the match. Gutwrench suplex for 2. Owen grabs Blackman's legs and the crowd goes crazy, but he does the gut stomp instead of the Sharpshooter. He tries coming off the second rope but Blackman gets a boot up. Corner kicks and chops from Blackman. Match suplex #4 and an elbow drop for 2. Owen grabs the ropes on a whip and bails. Blackman lets him think about it, then hits him with a baseball slide. Owen catches Blackman coming back in and hits a blatant low blow. Inverted atomic drop and spinning heel kick for 2. Suplex #5 for the match. Owen hits an elbow off the top for 2. Chinlock with arm drops. Owen goes for a crossbody. Blackman rolls through it for 2. Another Owen enzuguri for 2. Owen takes a top turnbuckle pad off. Blackman reverses the whip and Owen Bret bumps into the exposed pad. Blackman tries to put on a sleeper. Owen quickly counters with a sleeper of his own, then switches to a dragon sleeper! Nice to see that back. That's been an important hold in this feud. Blackman knees out of it. Owen hits a DDT. Blackman dodges a missile dropkick. Sharpshooter! The crowd is not happy about that. Owen gets to the ropes. Chop exchange on the floor. Blackman gets back in. Owen walks and takes the countout. The crowd is even less happy about that. What a shit finish. I guess they didn't want Owen to lose in Canada or for Blackman to lose at all. The match tried so hard to be good but just had too many issues to get there. **1/2

Vince is looking for Mankind backstage. He sees a sign for "Mankind's office" on the door of a small closet under the arena stairs and disgustedly rips it off. Knock and Mankind asks him in and offers him a seat, saying they have a lot to talk about....

 

The Brood def The JOB Squad (w/Head) in 9:08- This is six man action, with the full Brood going against Al Snow, Scorpio and Bob Holly. Edge attacks Holly before the bell. Holly's got a new short blonde haircut that he'll keep the rest of his career. A falcon arrow from Holly hits. Edge gets a boot up in the corner and plants Holly with a face first electric chair drop. Holly double underhook powerbomb on puffy shirt Christian. Scorpio hits some full speed stiff corner clotheslines on Christian. Welcome to the big leagues, kid. Spinning legdrop off the second rope from Scorpio for 2. Snow tags in and goes nuts with headbutts. Christian does a Bret bump and Snow clotheslines him. Dropkick from Christian and he tags Gangrel. He knocks Snow around for a bit. Standing switches and Snow hits a northern lights suplex for 2. Gangrel boot up and clothesline. Snow wheelbarrow suplex for 2. DDT from Gangrel. Snow gets trapped in the heel corner. He fights out of a chinlock and hits a front enzuguri. Edge holds him back from tagging. Snow dodges, clotheslines Gangrel, spinebusters Edge, and gets the tag to Scorpio. Scorpio heel kick on Christian. Everyone in the pool! Scorpio dumps Christian over the top rope but Christian dodges a plancha and Scorpio splats on the mat. Holly dodges a Christian splash off the top rope. Snow lays Christian out with Head. Scorpio moonsault legdrop off the top! Edge JUST breaks the pin up in time! Edge springs off Gangrel's back for a big dive to the floor. Christian hits Scorpio with the as yet unnamed Unprettier and it's over. That match wasn't very pretty. *1/2

Vince and Mankind are still talking in Mankind's office.

 

Striptease Match: Goldust def Jeff Jarrett (w/Debra) by DQ in 8:02- The rules for this one are if Jarrett wins, Goldust strips. If Goldust wins, Debra strips. Needless to say Lawler's tongue is rolling out like a Loony Tunes cartoon. The crowd is also super hot for a Goldust win like real nudity is actually going to happen or something. Please. WWF was edgy at the time but they knew what lines to not cross. Plus no one really wants to see Debra anyway. Now if it was pre-train wreck Sunny, I'd be freaking out right there with Lawler. Basic start from what at heart are two old school southern pros. Goldust works some headlocks. Jarrett hits the jets and goes into dodge mode but runs into a spinebuster. A back elbow sends Goldust to the floor. Jarrett snaps Goldust over the top rope. Crossbody off the top from Jarrett that Goldust rolls through for 2 and a big crowd reaction. The crossbody rollover counter was definitely the move de jour in WWF at this point. Jarrett hits the armbar slam. Swinging neckbreaker for 2. Fistdrop off the second rope in what might be a little shoutout to his buddy Lawler. Goldust hits a suplex. Jarrett ducks a clothesline and hits a dropkick for 2. Sleeper. After arm drops Goldust fights up and hits a back suplex for 2. Jarrett clothesline. He signals Debra to ready the guitar. He tries to whip Goldust into it, but Goldust reverses and Jarrett and Debra barely hit the brakes in time. Ref Tim White catches them and Debra plays innocent. Goldust uses the distraction to plant Jarrett with the Curtain Call! But Debra still has the White distracted. Jarrett tries a sunset flip but Goldust stacks him up for 2. Bulldog for 2. Goldust calls for the Shattered Dreams nut shot. Debra gets in the ring and tries to slink him out of it. Goldust says nah and hits Jarrett with Shattered Dreams. Jarrett falls out of the ring. Debra nails Goldust with the guitar! Jarrett just beats the count in, plants Goldust with his Skull Crushing Finale like new finisher (honestly can't remember right now what his name for it turned out to be), and gets the pin. Commissioner Shawn Michaels and his suit make their way out. Shockingly little hate for him from the Canadian crowd. He tells Jarrett to leave and Debra to stay. He saw the foreign object that was used, therefore the decision is reversed and Goldust wins by DQ! And that means, per the match contract, Debra must strip. Debra's pissed at first but quickly gets into it. Shawn gets his play money out. Jarrett is pissed watching from the back. Just when Debra's about to get past PG-13, Jarrett and, oddly, the Blue Blazer run out to cover her up and shuffle her off even though she doesn't want to stop now. The match was OK, and I know those two have a better one in them. **1/4

Vince leaves Mankind's office and looks happy.

 

WWF Tag Team Championship: The New Age Outlaws (c) def The Corporation (w/Shawn Michaels) in 17:04- It's Intercontinental champ Ken Shamrock and Hardcore champ the Big Boss Man representing the Corporation here. It was Shawn's edict to ban DX from ringside and it actually makes some rational sense outside Russo swerviness. Shawn and Trips started DX, then Shawn gets hurt and literally the day after Trips is bringing in all these new guys to replace him. Now Shawn's getting a measure of revenge. Shamrock chases the Outlaws around. After a bit of stalling and jawing Dogg jumps Shamrock. Shamrock quickly gets the upper hand on him. Boss Man hits a slam but misses a splash. He slides under Gunn in the corner and tries to crotch him but Gunn pulls him into the post. Outlaw double backdrop. Shamrock hits corner clotheslines on Dogg. Dogg ducks a kick and does his dancing jabs and kneedrop. While he's down Shamrock grabs the ankle lock! Gunn quickly comes in to break it up. Shamrock pounds on Gunn until Gunn hits a fameasser. Dogg tags in but runs into a belly to belly suplex. Boss Man goes into slow beatdown mode on him. Dogg fights out of a facelock but Boss Man gives him a knee to the gut. Shamrock back elbow for 2. Dogg continues to be in peril as the heels sucker Gunn in for double teams. Heel kick from Shamrock and more front facelock. Shamrock cuts off another comeback with a clothesline. During this title run the Outlaws have used a very consistent formula of Road Dogg taking long, Ricky Morton style beatdowns before Gunn (the man being eyed for a singles push) got the hot tag runs. The problem is Dogg is no Ricky Morton. The Corporation continue to go to the facelock and we get the "ref didn't see the tag" spot in. Dogg drops Boss Man over the top to the floor....then goes after him instead of tagging. Dufus. He gets caught on the floor in the heel corner by all three with Shawn getting a shot in. Back in Dogg gets a boot up in the corner, back elbow and finally tags out to Gunn. Gunn runs wild, until running into a Shamrock heel kick. Shamrock goes for a hurricanrana but Gunn catches and powerbombs him. Cover. Shawn pulls ref Tim White out! Boss Man works everyone over with the nightstick. Shamrock covers. Gunn kicks out! After a bit of obvious maneuvering, Gunn lifts Shamrock up for a suplex. Shawn trips Gunn and Shamrock falls on top of him, but Gunn rolls over and gets a pin! Shawn is so pissed after he takes his suit off. They weren't doing near enough to sustain a match this length. Honestly I don't think the Outlaws had it in them to sustain a match of this length period. *

Vince tells Rock and Shane backstage that he's made a deal with Mankind, it's all good, he just wants witnesses so we'll all go to the ring. After everyone makes their entrances Vince takes a mic. First off he tells Mankind he has a hole in the knee of his tights like a little kid. Then he and Mankind go over their deal: Mankind will strike the clause in the match contract saying that if Rock's not able to wrestle for any reason, Mankind wins the title. But before that, Mankind wants Vince to admit that he never said "I quit" at Survivor Series. Vince hedges and finally says he thinks he heard something and Shane heard something and Rock heard something so it might have been Mankind submitting. Mankind tears the contract up right then and there. No deal. Rock jumps him from behind and the bell rings to start the match.

 

WWF Championship: Mankind def The Rock (c) (w/Mr. McMahon and Shane McMahon) in 13:32- Mankind quickly gets the edge attacking Rock's hurt ribs. Rock gets whipped into the steps and Mankind drops the steps on him. Rock tries to fight back but Mankind whips him into the ring apron and clotheslines him. Vince gets a mic and says enough of that crap, and tells ref Mike Chioda to immediately DQ Mankind for "ANY legitimate reason". While Mankind's distracted by the announcement Rock clotheslines him. Back to the floor and Rock chokes Mankind with a TV cable, then suplexes Mankind on the floor. Kick exchange back in the ring and Rock gets tossed over the top back to the floor. Mankind with a baseball slide! That's a new one. He sets up on the second rope to hit the Cactus Elbow but Shane grabs his foot to block it. Rock comes up and flips Mankind off the second rope down to the floor! Moderate Foley bump. Rock takes Cole's headset and adds the Rock's own commentary to the Rock's beatdown. Mankind gets a chair but the ref stops him. Rock DDTs Mankind on the chair. Cover back in for 2. Setup slam. Pad off. Corporate Elbow! Still gets a huge pop even with Rock a heel. Mankind kicks out! Mankind ducks a clothesline and hits a swinging neckbreaker. He spins Rock around on a kick counter and clotheslines him for 2. Legdrop for 2. He drops the groinal legdrop. Vince says that's it and demands Chioda DQ Mankind. Mankind piledrives Chioda before he can! Vince orders the bell to ring. Mankind takes timekeeper Mark Yeaton out before he can do that! Rock comes from behind with a chairshot and gets Mankind back in the ring. Rock Bottom! But there's no ref. Shane sets up for a belt shot but whacks Rock instead! Ref Tim White slides in as Mankind covers! Rock kicks out! Oh the crowd bit hard on that one. Rock hits the spinny DDT for 2. Mankind double underhook DDT for 2. Socko's out! Mandible Claw! Rock goes out! White calls it! Huge pop. Vince snatches the mic right out of Fink's hand mid-announcement before he can say "AND NEWWWWWWW". Vince gets on the apron, acknowledges that Mankind won the match, but the "only way a title can change hands is pinfall or submission", Rock didn't submit and therefore he's still the champion. If you're looking for a next level screwjob, you found it. Mankind Claws Vince and takes out Shane and the Stooges before Shamrock and Boss Man come in and save everyone. Not the best match between these two. There's enough overbooking here to fill three main events, or one Bischoff era WCW PPV, so how you feel about the match will come down to how you feel about that. Personally I think it was generally entertaining enough. **3/4

This is very much the "weekly TV over PPV" business plan cropping up again, very typical for the Monday Night Wars when weekly ratings were just as if not more important than PPV buys. After a few more weeks of hounding the Corporation Mankind would finally get another title shot on the first Raw of 1999 and, as spoiled by Tony Schiavone under Bischoff's orders that night on Nitro in a massive WCW own goal, finally win the WWF Title that had eluded him for so long in a very popular victory that did indeed put butts in seats. That would also be just the beginning of the title hotshotting that would take place between these two the following couple of months.

 

Buried Alive Match: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin def The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) in 21:30- Putting a temporary bow on this very long running feud before everyone moves on for Royal Rumble/Wrestlemania season. Speaking of, per Vince's orders Austin must win this match in order to qualify for the '99 Rumble. Taker has gone full Ministry of Darkness the past couple of months, with he and Bearer attempting to embalm Austin alive one week, then last week on Raw they crucified Austin on a giant Undertaker logo in one of the seminal images of the Ministry of Darkness days. Austin climbs up and checks the grave on his entrance, then meets Taker in the aisle to kick things off. Austin chokes Taker with his vest and a TV cable. They find a classic style guardrail conveniently placed near the grave and throw some shots with it. Cole talks about the various implements available around the grave: "a wheelbarrow, shovels, hoes". No, the hos were in the Godfather's match. I don't think that's the kind of work they do either. ......Fine, I'll show myself out for that one. Very slow Taker walkaround beatdown around the grave and they work back toward the ring. Austin hits the Thesz Press back in. Taker gets crotched on the post. He beats Austin down around the Spanish announce table and pushes the table over. They should count themselves lucky that's all that happens to it tonight. They work back to the grave with Taker in control. Austin slugs back and Taker rolls down the hill. Austin grabs the barricade and runs Taker over with it. He slowly (I mean SLOWLY) works Taker into the grave. Taker hits Austin with the wreath stand and Austin falls in. The brawl continues with both guys trying to get out and getting drug back in. Taker punches Austin in his bad knee to fully get out. More brawling around the floor and slow walking back to the ring. They get back in just so Austin can 360 clothesline Taker right back out. Austin's back is posted. Back in Taker hits a chokeslam. He rolls Austin out, drags him all the way over and dumps him in the grave, repositioning a gas can he introduced at the start of the match for some reason. Some idiot throws a nearly full drink right into the grave area from the stands. Taker takes a shovel and starts slowly pushing dirt in. Austin slowly fights out and whacks Taker with his own gas can. Taker falls in the grave. Austin shows he's clearly smarter than Taker because instead of faffing around with shovels he dumps the pre-prepared wheelbarrow full of dirt down on Taker. He chases Bearer off and then goes to the back for some reason. Taker gets out of the grave, takes a shovel, and hides himself behind the hill. It looks like he's setting up an ambush for Austin, but the real reason is so the grave is hidden from the cameras. Pyro explosion in the grave! Kane's here! I mean, you knew he'd show up at some point. Taker and Kane brawl around the grave a bit. Taker scoops for a Tombstone but Kane escapes. Austin is out with a backhoe! While that's happening Kane Tombstones Taker off camera and he falls in the grave. Piss poor timing all around but that's not the last problem they'll have with the industrial equipment. The guy working the backhoe has to do a ton of maneuvering, then finally dumps a load of dirt down on Taker. The backhoe is supposed to scoop up more dirt and dump it down, but the guy working it can't get to it. Finally Austin gets a shovel and does it himself. While all that's going on off camera Taker is escaping through the same trapdoor in the grave Kane used to get in. Austin goes back in the backhoe, gets a bunch of beers, opens one up and I guess that's good enough because Hebner calls the match for Austin. As usual when Taker loses matches like this he's "resurrected" as a different version of Taker. In this case, he'll come back more satanic than ever. That was a mess. Started slow, only got slower, and the ending was horribly executed. Just a near disaster all around. 3/4*

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- They tried to make this more important than the usual wheel spinning December PPVs. They partially succeeded, but it doesn't help the fact there's little worth watching on this show and it's a chore to sit through. It's probably the worst WWF PPV of 1998. Fortunately for them Raw was still so hot week to week they didn't really need good PPVs.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D

Starrcade '96

Legacy Review

Starrcade '96

December 29, 1996 from the Nashville Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, TN

Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Dusty Rhodes

Title Unification: J-Crown Champion Ultimo Dragon (w/Sonny Oono) def WCW Cruiserweight Champion Dean Malenko in 18:30- This is also called a "Nine Belt Match" by WCW, meaning the J-Crown's 8 plus their Cruiserweight title. Mike Tenay joins the booth for this one. The crowd is really behind Malenko. It's partially the US vs Japan thing, but crowds have been warming up to him for a while despite him being a heel. Another example of how simply being a badass wrestler will get you over no matter what some people might think. Cautious start and a good mat exchange. Dragon hooks up a legbar and Malenko gets to the ropes. Both guys flip out of arm wringers and they have another mat stalemate. Dragon gets a snap mare and hits some kicks to Malenko's back, the first strikes of the match. Malenko responds with a Saito suplex. He snap mares into a headscissors. Dragon snap suplex for 2. Rapid fire kicks from Dragon into a half crab, then an STF. Speed run, leaps and dodges, and Dragon maneuvers into hitting a buckle shot and chops. He tries a floatover in the opposite corner but Malenko pushes him out to the floor. Dragon dodges a baseball slide and slams Malenko on the floor. Dragon teases a dive, flips over, then hits a short tope suicida. Tenay mentions that Jushin Liger is challenging the winner of this match in "early January" in the Tokyo Dome. That'd be the '97 January 4th Dome show. More on that after the match. Back in Malenko hits a suplex, then a sunset flip for 2. Dragon neckbreaker for 2. He hooks on a surfboard, then switches over to an abdominal stretch/cobra twist. After Malenko gets free Dragon continues with the short kicks to Malenko's back. He tries a sleeper but Malenko fights it off and hits a back suplex. Big Malenko German suplex for 2. He snaps around Dragon into a legbar. Dragon tries to get to the ropes but Malenko pulls him back in. After a long fight Dragon manages to get to the ropes. Malenko hits a kneebreaker, dropkicks the knee, then lifts Dragon into a kind of Alabama slam that he twists around to put the legbar back on. Another rope break. Malenko dodges a handsrping elbow. Dragon gets a boot up in the corner but runs into a snap Malenko powerslam that gets a big pop. Dragon ducks a clothesline and hits a spinning heel kick. Powerbomb for a long 2. Tombstone reversal and Malenko PLANTS him with it. Dragon kicks out! The crowd is really into this and bit on that one. Malenko goes for the Texas cloverleaf but Dragon fights it off. Double underhook powerbomb with a jackknife cover from Malenko for another long 2. Malenko hits a crossbody against the ropes and tumbles to the floor. Dragon has a hard time getting over but eventually joins him. Malenko throws him back in. Dragon heel kicks Malenko off the apron. Asai moonsault! He goes up top. Malenko joins him. Dragon fights him off. Malenko dodges a moonsault. Dragon hit his knee on the way down. Malenko gets the cloverleaf on! Oono gets on the apron to break it up. Dragon small package for a long 2. Clothesline and brain buster from Malenko for 2. Crazy counter run, both guys counter out of dragon suplexes, Malenko tries a wheelbarrow, Dragon gets out of it, and Dragon hits a tiger suplex! That gets the pin! Dragon adds the WCW Cruiserweight belt to the J-Crown. Sort of. Once again the cruiserweights deliver in the opener, a regular occurrence this year as the division has come into its own. ****1/2

The week after this Dragon would lose the J-Crown to Liger at the Toyko Dome, but the WCW Cruiserweight title was not defended as part of the J-Crown with the other titles on that show. Dragon would continue as the WCW Cruiserweight champion after that loss, but Malenko would win it back before January was done. The J-Crown would exchange hands a couple more times in New Japan but wouldn't make it out of the year '97 due to WWF asking for their Light Heavyweight belt back to restart the division (due I'm sure to WCW's success with the cruiserweights), causing the rest of the Crown to fall apart and the belts return to their respective companies. That's an idea we need to have done again.

 

Tournament Final for the Inaugural WCW Women's Championship: Akira Hokuto (w/Sonny Oono & Kensuke Sasaki) def Madusa in 7:06- Yes, WCW is creating a women's championship despite having no women on the full time roster other than Madusa. Everyone else in the 8 woman tournament for the title was from Japan. Maybe I was distracted by note taking but I'm pretty sure I didn't even see a belt for this match. There would be one eventually. Sasaki is with Hokuto because they were married in real life, a rare case of Japanese wrestlers letting their private lives show in public. It's a cultural thing. For some reason Lee Marshall joins commentary for this. Hokuto jumps Madusa before the bell and tosses her around by the hair. Madusa responds with her own hair pull. Oono trips Madusa. Hokuto hangs Madusa while on the ropes to choke her. Madusa handstands Hokuto back to the mat. More Hokuto chokes follow. She puts on a Scorpion into an STF. Hokuto bites Madusa's foot! Dusty says she's "A bitin' and a teethin'". Medusa hits her shitty slingblades and a slam for 1. Hokuto goozles out of the cover. Yet more chokes. This isn't even heel 101, this is like heel junior high. Hokuto hits a northern lights suplex into a cross armbreaker. Madusa hits an AWFUL DDT. That was messed up on both ends by both of them. Hokuto German with a bridge for 2. Madusa does a "tornado" DDT if you can call it that. She came off the second rope but landed her feet on the mat before hitting it. Powerbomb for 2. Madusa goes for another one. She loses her balance and Hokuto falls on top of her and I'm pretty sure that's not what they were going for. German from Madusa for 2. Hokuto hits a superplex for 2. Hey, they pulled that one off right at least. Madusa dropkicks Hokuto off the ropes to the floor. While everyone's looking at her Oono comes from behind and whacks Madusa with her own US flag flagpole. Hokuto hits a missile dropkick, then breaks out her hubby's finisher, the northern lights bomb, to get the win and the title. Rather than actually try to build a women's division (which they should have done first, cart before the horse) WCW pretty much gave up on it in short order. Hokuto took the belt with her to Japan in June and that was the end of it. Sloppy mess of a match. 1/2*

Roddy Piper joins Mean Gene to talk about his main event match tonight with Hogan. Piper nonsensically rants about Hogan's size, leaving home when he was 13, Jurassic Park, bagpipes and skirts, and other unrelated things. Before he leaves Okerlund asks about the surgically repaired hip. Piper says nothing and hops away on one leg. "Back to you guys for more action". Guess that answered that.

 

Jushin Thunder Liger def Rey Mysterio Jr in 14:16- Oh. Hell. Yes. The only reason this match was booked was for these two to have a dream match and tear it up, which to me is as good a reason as any. Liger was still recovering from having a benign brain tumor removed earlier in the year. Tenay is in the booth again for this one. Code of Honor handshake to start since both guys are faces, but Liger definitely works as a heel during the match. Liger easily shoves Mysterio out of the opening lockup. Mysterio slowly works Liger down with a leg takedown. Both guys exchange surfboards and stalemate. Speed run and the much larger Liger (rare thing for him) runs Mysterio over. Dropkick and delayed suplex. Liger RUNS Mysterio hard into the corner chest first. Mysterio gets his faceplant backdrop in. Liger powerbomb. He lifts for another one but Mysterio counters with a hurricanrana. He goes to dump Liger to the floor with a flying headscissors but they have a little trouble with the execution. Mysterio does the 619 spin dive tease but Liger was already getting out of town. Mysterio catches Liger on the apron. Liger blocks an apron suplex and suplexes Mysterio down to the floor. Powerbomb on the floor! He sets Mysterio up top. Mysterio pushes him off. Liger dodges a dive and Mysterio splats on the mat. Tiltawhirl backbreaker from Liger and he puts on the full surfboard. Mysterio maneuvers around into hitting a German suplex. Standing moonsault for 2. DDT and springboard moonsault for another 2. After a springboard missile dropkick Mysterio puts on a camel clutch. Another springboard attempt, but this time Liger dropkicks him in midair! Huge release German from Liger for 2. Dragon screw leg whip. Dusty has a fit at the name of the hold. Liger rolling corner kick. Mysterio gets a monkey flip with a spinning heel kick follow up. He flips over the top, gets Liger down to the floor, hits the swinging rope kick, and then one ups Ultimo Dragon with an Asai moonsault from the *top* rope! Back in Mysterio hits a springboard guillotine legdrop. Cover and Liger gets a foot on the rope. Liger dodges a springboard senton. He hits a headbutt off the top rope for 2. Mysterio goes up top but Liger knocks him to the floor. Mysterio tries a springboard hurricanrana but Liger blocks it (kinda badly, looks like a botch but it isn't) and hits a midring rolling kick. Ligerbomb! That gets the pin. It's good, but Liger was clearly still shaking off the ring rust and was a little off here. Pretty much their floor match. It'd be the same the next week in the Dome when Liger defeated Ultimo Dragon for the J-Crown, good but not quite the usual Liger level. ***1/2

 

No DQ: Jeff Jarrett def Chris Benoit (w/Woman) in 13:48- There's a couple of different things going on here. One is Benoit has stolen Woman from Kevin Sullivan, both on screen and in real life, and his feud with Sullivan and the Dungeon of Doom was far from over. On the other side, Jarrett was invited into the Four Horsemen by the injured Ric Flair, but it's mid-'90s Jarrett and no one else wanted him in, so this match is intended to work out some of the issues within the Horsemen. To add to the whole "no one really cares about Jarrett" thing, the crowd is pretty firmly behind Benoit even though they're in Jarrett's hometown and Benoit is clearly supposed to be the heel here. Lockup stalemate and Benoit shoves Jarrett right on his keister, then Benoit mimes kicking dirt onto him. Chris, you're supposed to make the crowd hate you, this is doing the opposite. Headlock/headscissors exchange. Benoit slaps! Then hides behind the ref. Back elbow and chops from Benoit. Drop toe hold and he slaps the back of Jarrett's head, then pushes Jarrett's face into the mat with his boot. Jarrett finally loses it. He gets his own drop toe hold and walks over Benoit, then struts. Standing switches and Benoit hits a back elbow. He kicks Jarrett down in the corner. Jarrett tackles Benoit and they do a roll around ground and pound down to the floor. Benoit uses Woman as a distraction and hits Jarrett from behind. Back in he slingshots Jarrett into the corner. Big corner chop. Jarrett fights off a superplex. He chokes Benoit in front of Woman. Woman pulls Benoit out of harm's way and Jarrett crashes on a dive. Clothesline from Benoit for 2. He tosses Jarrett to the floor and they exchange some fairly weak guardrail shots. Benoit back suplex back in for 2. He hooks on a sleeper, but when Jarrett goes to the mat turns it into a regular chinlock and tries to get some rope leverage. After arm drops Jarrett fights back up and back suplexes out. Small package from Jarrett for 2. He comes off the second rope but Benoit gets a boot up. More Benoit chops. Jarrett hits jabs and a dropkick for 2. Snap belly to belly suplex from Jarrett. Benoit teases suplexing Benoit to the floor but Jarrett blocks it and drops Benoit on the top rope. He goes for the figure four. Woman gets on the apron and gouges his eyes out. No DQ. Arn Anderson makes his way out. He walks right by Benoit and gets in Jarrett's corner. The match goes to the floor again. The Dungeon of Doom comes out and tries to get Woman but she fights them off with some Greco Roman Groinal Kicks. While that's going on Arn DDTs Jarrett on the floor! Also while that's going on Kevin Sullivan gets in the ring whacks Benoit with a chair. Arn rolls Jarrett back in for Benoit to pin, but Benoit is out too. It looks like a double pin, but apparently Jarrett had a shoulder up and is declared the winner. Arn is pissed and blames Benoit. The overbooking was a bit much but they were going pretty nicely before that. ***1/4

Mean Gene tries to get a word from someone involved in the match but they all walk right past him. But never mind that shit, here comes Mongo, and he's always willing to talk. He's mad at Benoit for screwing up too. Debra kills 5 minutes of PPV time and says absolutely nothing of note.

We get a short video package on Sting and the questions swirling about where his loyalties truly lie.

 

WCW World Tag Team Championship: The Outsiders (c) (w/Syxx) def The Faces of Fear (w/Jimmy Hart) in 11:55- All but confirmed NWO ref Nick Patrick is working this match so we all have a good idea how it's going to go before it even starts. Meng and Hall start. They trade some arm work until Meng ends it by decapitating Hall with a stiff clothesline. Tony: "His head flew to Murfreesboro". He shoves Hall into the corner and lays in some chops. Hall gets a boot up and hits the bulldog off the second rope. That just makes Meng mad. Tag to Barbarian. Hall spits on him and quickly tags out to Nash. Nash hits his corner elbows and knees. Barbarian responds with a back elbow and chops. He gets annoyed with Patrick and Nash hits him from behind. Meng comes in and the FOF go a'clubberin' on Nash. Nash tries a double noggin knocker but should know better than that. The FOF floor him with a double headbutt. Barbarian side suplex for 2. Nash dodges an elbow off the second rope and hits snake eyes. Hall gets a couple of shots in from the apron. Meng drags Hall into the FOF corner and they pound on him. Hall fights his way out. Meng goes tit for tat and whacks Hall from the apron. Barbarian hits a clothesline but is ridiculously slow to cover, and then of course Patrick slow counts it. Hall tries to fight it but Meng hits a piledriver. Another slow cover and slow count. The FOF aren't doing themselves any favors here, which commentary rightly points out. Powerbomb from Barbarian. They keep Hall isolated to work him over. Inverted atomic drop/big boot double team. Barbarian locks on a Nerve Pinch of Double Fistedness +1. Nash takes a shot from the apron and Hall clotheslines Barbarian. Both guys are down. Syxx takes Jimmy Hart's megaphone and chases him to the back for no apparent reason. OK then. Barbarian goes back to the nerve pinch. Hall isn't moving but Patrick stalls on checking to see if he can continue. Eventually Hall fights back up and tags out to Nash. Slugfest. Nash big boot. DONNYBROOK! While Hall and Meng fight on the floor Nash plants Barbarian with the jackknife powerbomb and gets a clean pin. It started promising but got bogged down working all the heel Nick Patrick stuff in. Good to see a rare clean finish in an NWO though. **1/2

Hogan provides a response to Piper from the NWO interview room and is about 17% more coherent.

 

Tournament Final for the Vacant WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: Eddie Guerrero def Diamond Dallas Page in 15:20- After months of feuding it's a remarkable coincidence that these two end up in the final for the vacant US title. Amazing how these things work out. The title was vacated due to a Ric Flair injury. The Giant has been walking around with the belt because he's the Giant and no one will tell him otherwise. No one sees a belt for this match so commentary assumes Giant still has it. Lockup stalemate and some mat feeling out to start. DDP hits a chop on a corner break. That fires Guerrero up. He pushes DDP into the opposite corner and gives him a chop in return. A Guerrero fakeout dropkick sends DDP to the floor. DDP gets run into the guardrail. He eye pokes Guerrero and gives him a stair shot. Guerrero snap mares DDP from the apron over the top and back out. Slingshot senton from Guerrero for 2. He does a bit of arm work on DDP to let things settle in. Hair pull tradeoff. Guerrero dodges a charge and DDP is on the floor again. Guerrero plancha! He goes for mounted punches back in. DDP drops him on the top turnbuckle. DDP hits his forward drop piledriver. While he works Guerrero over slowly Tony tries to make sense of the whole Battlebowl ring saga, bless him. That's a losing fight. DDP hits a suplex for 2. He hooks on an abdominal stretch and plays the rope leverage game with the ref. Guerrero gets a sunset flip, dodges a counter, and gets a small package for 2. DDP hits a swinging neckbreaker for 2. Someone hits the rewind button on the match and DDP goes back to the abdominal stretch. This time the ref catches him. DDP tries to argue and gets backed off. Guerrero tries for his own abdominal stretch but we've already hit the match quota for that. He works around into a rollup for 2. Clothesline from DDP. Corner dodge and DDP's shoulder gets posted. Big leg takedown from Guerrero. He floors DDP with a huge European uppercut. Suplex for 2. Back suplex. Guerrero goes up top to, strangely, a huge chorus of boos. The crowd's kinda pro DDP but generally really flat for this match. He goes for the frog splash but DDP dodges. Barely. Arrogant cover from DDP for 2. Powerslam for 2. Gutwrench gutbuster. DDP goes up top but gets crotched. Guerrero hops up for a hurricanrana. DDP pushes him off but Guerrero flips through it. DDP comes off and Guerrero catches him in an inverted atomic drop then small packages him for a long 2. Backslide for 2. DDP goes for the Diamond Cutter but Guerrero counters into another backslide for 2. DDP hits a huge blue thunder like powerbomb for 2. He tries to set up for the Cutter, but Guerrero bounces off the corner and they collide. The Outsiders and Syxx make their way out. They'd been aiding DDP during the tournament but recently DDP's made it clear he wants nothing to do with the NWO. Hall plants DDP with the Razor's Edge. Guerrero takes advantage of the situation presented, hits the frog splash, and gets the pin for his first WCW title! After the bell Guerrero tries to fight the NWO guys off but the numbers are too much. Turns out there was a belt at ringside (a brand new one per Tony) that Syxx steals. Guess that's continuing. Another match tonight that started promisingly but couldn't maintain momentum. **3/4

 

"The Total Package" Lex Luger def The Giant in 13:23- For the record Giant does *not* have a US title belt with him. Long staredown before the lockup as the crowd is pretty damn jazzed for this one. Long back and forth leverage fight lockup. Giant shoves Luger away. Luger lays in punches to try to wobble Giant while Giant shoves him away for space. Finally Giant says enough of this and nails Luger with a clothesline. Big elbow drop. He kicks Luger out to the floor, then suplexes him back in. Giant goes into slow beatdown mode with a lot of work on Luger's back. Luger counters a backdrop. He tries a slam but of course it fails. Luger dodges an avalanche and Giant gets caught on the ropes. Luger takes the open shots. Giant gets a boot up on a charge. He tries a dropkick but Luger dodges and Giant crashes. Luger hits a neckbreaker! That'll get Giant down. Cover for 2. The ref gets squashed on the kickout. Nick Patrick sneaks out, trying to stay out of Luger's sight. Luger gets the slam! He gets Giant up in the Torture Rack! Patrick sneaks behind and kicks his leg out! Anyone doubting his allegiance anymore? Sting is coming in through the crowd. Syxx is in the ring and roundhouse kicks Luger. He and Patrick try to help Giant get up. Sting gets in the ring. He puts his bat down in the middle of the ring, whispers something in Luger's ear, whispers something in Giant's ear, and leaves. Luger goes for the bat but Giant steps on it. Luger low blows! He works Giant over with the bat! Cover and the original ref counts 3! HUGE pop for the win! Commentary says this is the NWO's first loss of any kind. Afterward Giant stays in the ring sad faced that no one else came to help him. Not too shabby. Giant was learning and could still move then, and Luger looked motivated and channeled as much of his peak 1989 self as he was capable of. **3/4

 

"Rowdy" Roddy Piper def WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hollywood Hogan (w/Ted DiBiase) in 15:27- Here we go. WCW is billing this as the Match of the Decade. The big hook is Piper is the guy Hogan was never able to beat. There's a lot of technicalities there but sure. Hogan and Piper was WWF's hot feud that the first Wrestlemania was built around in 1985, but it's been over a decade since they faced each other. As hard as WCW was pushing this I think the fans were seeing through most of it and were less enthused than they would be if Hogan was facing someone more relevant to today. Piper is all business walking to the ring, half disrobed before he even gets in. Hogan hops out to stall before the bell even rings. Lockup and in the corner Hogan tells the ref to "watch him on the break, I don't trust him", then Hogan slaps Piper. After the second one of those Piper punches back. Punch flurry and Hogan tumbles to the floor. After some more stalling Hogan gets a kick and eye rake to get the edge. He flips the script on his deadly back rakes and chest rakes Piper instead. Piper ducks a corner clothesline and hits his own sort of clothesline. Casual Piper eye poke. Another clothesline and Hogan rolls out again. Back in Piper cranks a headlock and will not let go for anything. Hogan back suplexes Piper and he still holds onto the headlock. A shoulderblock knocks Piper through the ropes. Hogan back rake! His ultimate heel move. Back in Piper ducks a clothesline and hits his own. A dropkick to the back send Hogan back out. Piper gets his belt from his kilt and whips Hogan with it around and in the ring, then chokes him with it. DiBiase grabs Piper's leg and Piper goes after him. Hogan attacks from behind and knocks Piper around the ringside area. Back in Hogan kicks the hip surgery scar that he pointed out at the contract signing the last PPV. He hooks on an abdominal stretch. Not sure if that's supposed to hurt where the scar is, but it certainly gets it on camera nicely. Piper hiptosses out. There's a horribly ugly moment as they both flop down to the mat super slowly. Piper tries some ground and pound but he's looking as blown up as a grenaded NASCAR engine. He gets a small package for 2. Slugfest. Piper manages a suplex (Hogan had to set up half of it for him) for 2. Hogan dodges a kneedrop. He goes for the big legdrop but Piper dodges. Piper hops around on the bad leg to show it's fine. Giant is out. He sets up Piper for a choke slam. While that's going on some dumbass hops the rail and gets in the ring. Hogan takes care of him real quick and security manhandles him out. Piper bites Giant's nose to get out of the chokeslam and Giant tumbles to the floor. Piper hooks the sleeper on Hogan! Hogan goes out and it's over! Good pop for the win but not a great one. Less than what Luger got. The match was as good as it possibly could have been. It's a sad state of affairs when mid-late '90s Hogan is the clearly superior worker in the ring. *1/4

The Outsiders hit the ring after the bell. Piper fights them off and escapes. Hogan gets the belt and brags about still being champion. Commentary spent the whole match skirting over the "non-title match" issue, this is the first time it's really made clear on TV. Giant stares everyone down from a distance and leaves. Hogan chases him down, brings him back, and they argue as the show closes. For the first time since their formation there are issues in the NWO.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Put a good main event on this show and it'd be stretching borderline greatness. As it is it's a pretty good show with another great cruiserweight opener, some good undercard matches and no turds outside the women's match (acceptable in 1996), and the main event is a famous spectacle that really should be viewed at least once by everyone.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B

Capital Carnage '98

Legacy Review

Capital Carnage '98

December 6, 1998 from the London Arena in London

Not to be confused with WCW's 1990 PPV Capital Combat: The One With Robocop. This is the second annual UK exclusive PPV, broadcast on Sky Box Office. Not sure when it made it to the US, if there was a Coliseum Video release or if it wasn't until the Network hit. They don't do anything special for the stage again, it's mostly the basic Raw set of the era. As you expect from a UK show the crowd is bonkers hot all night. I should note that during this show JR suffered his second attack of Bell's Palsy. He gets through the whole show with no incidents, but you can hear it in his voice at times and definitely see it whenever he's on camera.

Gangrel def Al Snow (w/Head) in 5:54- Lockup! Snow gets a leg takedown and an armdrag followed by some basic back and forth. Speed run, Gangrel almost runs head first into Snow's junk when he doesn't duck on a leapfrog, and hits a hiptoss. Snow wheelbarrow suplex for 2. Crossbody off the top for 2. Gangrel counters into a DDT. Clotheslines. Slugfest into a Gangrel Russian leg sweep. Snow counters a corner whip by doing a baseball slide, turns around and hits a clothesline. Standing switches and Snow gets a northern lights suplex for 2. Gangrel's Brood teammates Edge and Christian are out. Yes, Edge is now a part of the group. Russo's got that monthly turn quota to hit. Gangrel sort of dodges a Snow moonsault. Suplex for 2. Snow hits a tornado DDT. Christian gets up and distracts the ref. Snow uses the opening to whack Gangrel with Head. Edge goes up top, missile dropkicks Head into Snow's face, and Gangrel covers for the pin. Sloppy as hell. *1/4

 

The Headbangers def The Legion of Doom 2.0 in 3:21- This is the Animal and Droz version of LOD. Before the match we get footage of Hawk's "suicide attempt" on Raw where he fell down the back of the Titantron (pushed by Droz). The UK crowd wants absolutely nothing to do with this version of LOD, they want Hawk and let everybody know it. Droz and Mosh start with some back and forth. Speed and a lot of leapfrogs. Droz dropkicks everyone to clear the ring out. Powerslam on Thrasher to boos and a "We want Hawk" chant. The 'Bangers blind tag and Mosh gets Droz with a clothesline. Droz hits Thrasher with a clothesline and tags Animal. Tackle on Mosh. The crowd's no more receptive to Animal than they were to Droz. The 'Bangers try to double team but take a double clothesline instead. Powerslam on Mosh and both guys are down. Droz pushes Animal out of the ring, but before he can do anything he gets rolled up and pinned. After the bell Animal and Droz argue, shove, and fight with more energy than anything that was in the match before the refs break them up. 1/4*

 

Val Venus def Goldust in 5:35- Let me try to sum up this very Russo feud: Dustin's real life wife Terri Runnels, AKA Marlena, started screwing around with Venus behind Dustin's back. The truth, and some match losses to Venus, caused Dustin to snap so bad he reverted back to Goldust for about his 5th gimmick change this year. Recently on Raw Terri announced that she was pregnant. Venus did not like that at all and dumped her on the spot. Turns out that it's not because he was scared of being a dad, it's because he had a vasectomy for his, er, other career and physically couldn't have gotten her pregnant. So who did? Terri then tried to get back together with Goldust, who rightly told her to hit bricks. That's where we are right now and there's still more to come. Why yes, Russo got a lot of his ideas from the Jerry Springer Show, why do you ask? Venus jumps before the bell. Goldust fights back and 360 clotheslines him to the floor. Venus takes a couple of stair shots with what must be the UK backup stairs because there's almost no sound. What's the point of hitting guys on the stairs if there's no earth shattering kaboom? Back in Venus slugs back. Goldust hits a hiptoss and slam. Venus begs off. Goldust slaps him! Corner beatdown from Venus. Goldust clotheslines back and hits a slingshot back suplex. Venus blocks a monkey flip and hits a clothesline for 2. Running knees and Russian leg sweep from Venus, and he mocks Goldust with the hip swivel. Goldust hits a bulldog for 2. Venus spinebuster for 2. Collision and Goldust does the "accidental" fall onto Venus' groin. Goldust sets him up for the Shattered Dreams kick. Venus uses the ref to block it, rolls Goldust up and gets a pin. After the bell Goldust drops Venus and hits him with Shattered Dreams to make the crowd happy. *3/4

We get some footage of Vince giving a talk at the venerated Oxford Student Union. Not too much though because none of it was in character. After that Vince himself, Shane and the Stooges come out. Pat Patterson announces a change to tonight's card: Rock vs Triple H for the WWF Title is out, Trips vs Jeff Jarrett and Rock defending against X-Pac are in. For the fans, of course. Gerald Brisco and Shane say some stuff about Vinnie Jones with Shane questioning his sexuality. Who's Vinny Jones you ask? Excellent question. More on him later. Vince then takes the mic and does some basic heel shtick running down of the UK. It all goes on a bit long but it's not terrible.

 

Tiger Ali Singh def Edge in 2:54- It's almost as if WWF is contractually obligated to get Singh out of mothballs for UK shows so we all have to suffer through one of his matches. The crowd is certainly not happy to see him. Interesting booking here with Edge supposedly now a heel after joining the Brood. Singh tries to jump before the bell and fails. Edge hits a couple of armdrags, a backdrop and dropkicks. Singh bails to the floor and Edge follows. Back in Edge dodges in the corner and crotches Singh on the post. Singh begs off to get an eye poke in. Edge quickly shrugs that off, hits an inverted atomic drop and some clotheslines. Missile dropkick. He tries coming off the top again, but Singh catches and powerslams him, puts his feet up on the ropes for leverage and gets the pin. Singh wins by doing one offensive move the whole match and it's one where Edge did most of the work. After the bell the fight continues, with Edge hitting another backdrop and 360 clotheslining Singh again. Even in selling they didn't trust Singh to do anything other than the most basic stuff. 1/4*

Michael Cole is in the ring and brings out the local man of the hour, Vinny Jones! At the time Jones was known as a footballer, the hardest of the hard men in British football, a reputation that caused him no little bit of controversy. For those of you not as familiar with British slang as I am, hard man means tough guy, not other things you might be thinking. Earlier in '98 he had also appeared in his first acting role in the Guy Richie hit Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Turned out he really could act, and that translated into a long and successful acting career that continues to this day. Personally I know him best as Gareth from the superb ABC musical comedy Galavant. Go watch it on Hulu and thank me later. Anyway, Jones walks through a few lines responding to Vince with Cole giving him some obvious prompts. He will be at ringside for the main event tonight and I'm sure won't get involved in any way whatsoever.

 

Mixed Tag Match: Christian and WWF Women's Champion Sable def "Marvelous" Marc Mero and Jacqueline in 4:50- Mero and Jacqueline's issues had already come to the point where Mero fired her, but they're still teaming together here due to "contractual obligations". In fact this would be Mero's last match in the WWF period. Jacqueline attacks Mero before their opponents even make their entrance! The men start with Christian still wrestling in his puffy shirt. JR references the fact that this is likely Mero's last WWF match. Christian gets the easy early upper hand. Jacqueline tags in and is ready to fight Christian. Sable tags in and she bails. Mero is in and he hitches up his shorts to fight Sable. Christian comes from behind and pulls his shorts down! Sable kicks him while he's on the mat. Christian continues to work Mero over. Sable gets a rope-balanced superkick in. Jacqueline doesn't let Mero tag out. Again Christian outsmarts Mero. Crossbody off the top. Jacqueline breaks the pin up and Sable chases her. Mero hits a Samoan drop. He goes up top but Christian crotches him. Spinning heel kick from Christian. He hits an Edgecution style reverse DDT. Sable low blows Mero. Sable bomb on Mero! Mero tags out. Sable flips Jacqueline in the ring. HORRIBLE Sable ground and pound punches. Some of the worst I've ever seen. Fortunately Mero and Christian are fighting up on the stage so that gives the camera something else to focus on. Sable hits the TKO on Jacqueline and that's it. After the bell Jacqueline attacks ref Tim White for doing his job. White lifts her up on his shoulders. Sable pulls Jacqueline's top off and she's tits out to the world! That's not as huge a deal in the UK, there's a whole industry over there of topless women in tabloids known as Page 3 Girls. Jacqueline covers up with her arms and runs off. Lawler dies and JR calls for an ambulance for the King. 1/2*

 

WWF Intercontinental Championship: Ken Shamrock (c) (w/The Big Boss Man) def Steve Blackman in 6:51- The Raw after Survivor Series Shamrock was formally offered and accepted a position in the Corporation, ironically under his longtime archrival the Rock. Commentary wonders why Boss Man is out here. Quick start with Shamrock getting the early edge. Blackman turns the momentum with a dropkick and clothesline for 2. Shamrock hits a powerslam. Suplex for 2. The crowd is all over Shamrock as he stays in control. Lots of "Blackman gets a flurry, Shamrock knocks him back down" but none of it is particularly interesting. I also heard at least one very loud spot call. Shamrock works a front facelock for a bit. Blackman slaps push Shamrock back into the corner, then he Bret bumps off a corner whip. Blackman spinebuster and jackknife cover for 2. A tackle sends Shamrock to the floor. Blackman turns around and baseball slides Boss Man for no good reason, he hadn't done anything. Yet. In return Boss Man whacks Blackman's ankle with his nightstick. Shamrock puts the ankle lock on and Blackman taps. That was incredibly dull. 3/4*

Cole is in the back with the WWF Champion. Hold the Rock's apple. Rock gets some lines in on X-Pac, then has a really funny bit where he works through various famous catchphrases of other wrestlers before hitting on his own.

 

Triple H (w/Chyna) def Jeff Jarrett (w/Debra) in 6:55- Jarrett doesn't have his guitar! Was it confiscated in customs? Is there a law in the UK banning hitting someone on the head with a guitar in wrestling matches? That's about the only thing that would stop him. This is HHH's first match back following a legit knee injury that forced him to vacate the Intercontinental title. Unmentioned by commentary, he'd been ready to go for a while but started playing footsies with WCW while on the shelf so Vince held him back a bit longer while they worked that out. I don't think there was any real chance of him jumping, he was too smart to make that move when WCW was clearly falling apart, it was more negotiating leverage. They start off with some arm hold tradeoffs and a quick HHH shoulderblock. He grounds Jarrett with a headlock. Spinebuster for 2. A Jarrett back elbow sends HHH to the floor and he snaps HHH over the top rope. Crossbody off the top that HHH rolls through for 2. Jarrett hits an armbar slam. Swinging neckbreaker for 2. HHH is really going for the spit sells tonight. Shawn would be proud. Debra tries to choke HHH and Chyna stalks her away. Jarrett hooks on a sleeper. Arm drops and HHH fights out. The sleeper goes back on but HHH back suplexes out. Slugfest. Speed run and HHH hits the high knee. Inverted atomic drop and mounted punches. He sets up for the Pedigree. Jarrett tries to counter into a post slingshot but HHH blocks it. Facebuster and Jarrett gets clotheslined 360 to the floor. Debra gets on the apron and tries to woo HHH. Chyna chases her off. While the ref is busy with her Debra gets in the ring and turns the slinky factor up to....well, as high as she can get it. I've never been into Debra. HHH spurns her advances. While that's going on Jarrett has gotten a chair and is about to use it. Chyna cuts it off. Kick wham Pedigree and it's over. All the overbooking was a bit much, but when left to their own wrestling devices these two put on a perfectly solid match, easily the best thing on the show so far. HHH looked good and not ring rusty after the layoff. **1/2

 

WWF Tag Team Championship: The New Age Outlaws (c) def Mark Henry and D'Lo Brown in 10:11- Vince has been recruiting the Outlaws for the Corporation as a way to try to break up DX. No answer one way or another from the NAO yet. Before the match we get some video of the famous Henry/Chyna date that saw them both taking out some hooligans. Brown and Dogg start. Brown gets the early upper hand and gets the head waggles in. Dogg does his dancing jabs and kneedrop. Brown bails to the floor. Back in Brown hits a sloppy heel kick on Gunn. Gunn press slams Brown and clotheslines him, and Brown powders again. Brown gets back in, tells Gunn "I'm ready", then gives him a Spaceballs salute and tags out to Henry. Henry wants a test of strength. Gunn cautiously agrees, then uses the opening to kick Henry. Off the ropes Gunn runs right into a bear hug. After arm drops Gunn bell rings out. Flying forearm. An Outlaws double team dropkick puts Henry on the mat. Double hiptoss for Brown and once again the heels roll out to rethink things. Dogg tries to work Henry's arm. That doesn't go well for him. Brown hits a slam and legdrop. Spinebuster. Henry tags in and hits a legdrop. Big splash! Gunn breaks the pin up, then drags Dogg's carcass over to his corner to tag out. Clothesline on Henry and he's down. Gunn gets Brown down, then runs into a Henry powerslam. Brown elbow drop. Gunn hits the fameasser and both guys are down. To the point the match kind of grinds to a halt. After a long count and lots of wobblelegged selling Gunn hits a piledriver and gets the pin. That end run seemed kind of disjointed. Dogg still looks out of it after the match, I wonder if he got legit shook up in there and they had to improvise something. **

 

WWF Championship: The Rock (c) def WWF European Champion X-Pac by DQ in 12:33- I should note here, because it's part of this match's setup, that Shawn Michaels has returned in the non-wrestling role of Commissioner, and a couple of weeks ago on Raw turned on Pac during a WWF Title match and joined the Corporation. WHAT A SWERVE! Pac goes for a lockup but Rock goes for a fistpunch instead. Pac responds with some armdrags. Criss cross! You never see that anymore. Pac hits a flying clothesline and another armdrag. He fakes Rock out with a leapfrog and hits roundhouse kicks that send Rock through the ropes to the floor. Rock grabs his belt, takes a mic and says he calls the shots, screw all of you, the Rock is outta here. Triple H and Chyna come out to cut him off and Pac attacks from behind. Trips and Chyna stay at ringside. Rock dodges the bronco buster. Clothesline for 2. Swinging neckbreaker. They go to the floor and Pac takes an announce table shot. Rock steals JR's drink and takes a swig, but Pac punches him for a nice spit sell. Pac chops are cut off with a Rock eye poke. Rock suckers HHH up to distract the ref and hits a low blow stomp on Pac. Russian leg sweep for 2. After a chinlock a Pac comeback is cut off with a back elbow. Slam. Pad off. People'sCorporate Elbow! Arrogant cover and Pac kicks out. Back to the chinlock. Pac fights back and goes for the X-Factor. Rock counters into a Rock Bottom setup. HHH gets on the apron to distract the ref again and Chyna low blows Rock! Pac cradle! Rock kicks out! The crowd bit a bit on that one. Pac spinning heel kick for another long 2. Crossbody off the top and Rock rolls through for 2. Corner kicks from Pac. Ref bump! Rock hits a powerslam. He goes out and gets the WWF Title belt. HHH grabs the European belt. Pac ducks a belt shot from Rock, and HHH nails Rock with his own belt shot! Pac slow crawls and drapes an arm over. Rock kicks out! Bronco buster! They did that without any obvious setup, nice. Rock rolls out and shoves Chyna. HHH jumps Rock from behind and draws the DQ, clearly as Rock intended. After the refs break everything up Rock gets a mic and starts to brag about leaving town still champion, setting off another brawl. Shamrock comes out to back up Rock (still requiring a double take for any of us that have a memory better than a goldfish) and everyone leaves. Good match that almost had you believing Pac could really do it. ***

Ring announcer Tony Chimel reads verbatim a corporate announcement saying the wonderful, amazing Shane McMahon will be the guest ring announcer for the main event. Shane announces Pat Patterson as the guest timekeeper, Gerald Brisco as the guest referee, Vince McMahon as guest commentator, and the Big Boss Man as guest enforcer. Oh, and Vinnie Jones. Jones and Boss Man quickly jaw at each other. Jones' jacket is off. They go nose to nose. Jones shoves Boss Man right out of the ring! Vince is PISSED. Brisco red cards Jones! He's sending Jones off before the match even starts! Why and how does Brisco even have a red card? Jones reluctantly packs up and leaves.

 

Fatal Four Way Match: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin def The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer), Kane and Mankind in 16:12- Mankind attacks Kane before the other two make their entrances. As they're fighting Undertaker's Dong hits. The lights still go out and he still does his full entrance. The lights come on and the other two are waiting for him. Kane pushes Mankind into a Taker chokeslam. Taker tosses Mankind out and Kane attacks. Taker tosses Kane over the top to the floor. Glass shatter! Taker meets Austin in the aisle and it's on. While they're fighting Kane hits Mankind with a flying clothesline off the top. They pair off like that for a bit. Taker breaks away to jump the other pair and they switch to Austin/Mankind and Taker/Kane. Mankind takes an announce table shot. Austin and Taker get in the ring for the first time and Austin chokes Taker with his vest. Taker hits a flying clothesline and legdrop for 2. Bearer gets a shoe shot on Austin. Who uses a shoe, honestly? Austin hits the Thesz Press and elbow drop. Cover and Brisco suddenly has a bum knee bothering him. All four guys get in the ring for the first time. Back on the floor Taker chokes Mankind with a TV cable. Kane comes in and chokes Taker with a cable. Austin comes in and chokes Kane with a cable! It's a cable choke daisy chain. Mankind takes Chimel's mic and whacks Taker with it. It's fun listening to Vince flit between his heel Mr. McMahon character and his old straight commentary. Everyone gets in the ring again. Taker sets Austin up for old school but Kane breaks it up and crotches Taker. Austin and Mankind knock Kane around. Mankind offers Austin a handshake! Oh Mick, you know better. Austin does not accept. Mankind counters the Stunner. Mandible Claw! Taker grabs Mankind's legs and crotches him on the post. He and Kane team up on Austin. Behind them Mankind gets Socko out! He comes up and joins in on the Austin beating, then clotheslines both. Austin covers and again Brisco is slow to the point. A chair is in the ring. Kane sets Austin up for the Tombstone. Mankind breaks it up. While all that was going on Taker was set up on the top rope but clearly whatever he wanted to do didn't materialize so he hops back down. Mankind gets a second chair and whacks Kane. Taker gets the first chair and whacks Mankind. Austin chairshot on Taker. He covers and Brisco does a SUPER slow count. Taker big boot on Austin. Kane 360 clotheslines Taker. Austin fights off a Kane chokeslam. Stunner! Now Brisco suddenly gets worried about the time and asks Patterson how much time is left. Austin's had enough and decks Brisco. Taker hits a chokeslam. Hebner runs in as ref backup and Mankind breaks the pin up. Kane scoops Austin up for the Tombstone. Austin slips out. Stunner! Hebner counts 3! After the bell Austin Stunners Brisco. Vinnie Jones is back out. He punches Boss Man out. Stunner for Boss Man! Hebner kicks Boss Man while he's down! Austin, Jones and Hebner share some beers as the show closes. The match started a bit slow but the stretch run was fun. **3/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- It's a UK house show on PPV.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D+