Uncensored '97

Legacy Review

Uncensored '97

March 16, 1997 from the North Charleston Coliseum in Charleston, SC

Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Dusty Rhodes

My biggest hope for this show is it can be the first Uncensored we get through without a match so atrociously bad it almost amounts to Geneva Conventions violations. One of the big stories going in is Eric Bischoff has been suspended by Turner higher ups so the NWO is a bit backs against the wall for one of the first times since it started.

No DQ Match for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: Dean Malenko def Eddie Guerrero (c) in 19:14- Guerrero has been trending heel since accidentally costing Malenko the Cruiserweight title to Syxx at Superbrawl. Staredown after the bell with fingers in chests leading to shoving leading to swinging. Guerrero pounds away while holding a headlock. Malenko runs Guerrero over with a shoulderblock. Guerrero rolls to the floor and stalls a bit. Back in Malenko stomps a mudhole in the corner. He hits a suplex, then sticks a finger in Guerrero's face while he's down and slaps him. Now it's Guerrero's turn to pound away in the corner. There's definitely intensity here. Malenko backdrops Guerrero onto the top turnbuckle and hits a quick back suplex. Tony says there's "some kind of commotion" happening in the back. We cut back there and see Syxx and the Outsiders standing over Rick Steiner's corpse, with a broken kendo stick strategically placed next to his head. Doesn't take a genius detective to figure out what happened here. Hall sarcastically says "The Steiners sure are having back luck". Remember this is only a month or so after the Steiners' car crash that was supposedly so horrific it would never be shown on TV again. Survived a car crash, killed by a kendo stick. It's like that Civil War vet that survived a litany of major battles then got run over by a carriage months after the war ended. Anyway, back to the match with Malenko cranking Guerrero back in a half crab into almost a Liontamer. He dumps Guerrero over the top to the floor, which is OK because it's no DQ. Malenko gets the belt, rolls Guerrero back in, and nails him with it a couple of times. Clothesline for 2. Guerrero ducks another clothesline and hits a uranage. Now it's his turn for a point and slap while Malenko's down. Dropkick to Malenko's knee. Guerrero starts picking the knee apart. He wraps up a leg scissors into an STF. We go picture in picture to see Rick Steiner getting stretchered out. Malenko rolls out for some space but Guerrero follows and stays on the knee. Malenko reverses a whip and Guerrero goes into the guardrail. Guerrero recovers and dropkicks Malenko's knee against the post. Figure four! Guerrero gets a bit of extra rope leverage and gets a couple of near falls. Malenko eye pokes to get out. Guerrero hits some European uppercuts. Malenko ducks one and tries a backslide, but Guerrero flips over it and hits another uppercut. Baseball slide to Malenko's back on the floor. Guerrero comes off the top, but Malenko dodges and Guerrero crashes into the guardrail! Back in Malenko targets the arm and puts on an almost Fujiwara armbar. Guerrero works free. The straps are down! He chops Malenko and hits a tiltawhirl backbreaker. Powerbomb with a jackknife cover for 2. Counters, standing switches, Malenko hits a low blow, Guerrero also hits a low blow and small packages Malenko for 2. Malenko hits a powerslam and goes up top. Frog splash from Malenko! He pulls Guerrero up at 2! Not sure how smart that was. He goes for a powerbomb. Guerrero counters into a flying headscissors! Malenko hits a tiltawhirl slam for 2. They kind of muff a cradle spot, with Guerrero recovering to get a cradle for 2. Malenko wheelbarrows Guerrero into a German suplex for 2! Guerrero hits a tornado DDT. He goes for the Cloverleaf! Malenko tries to fight but he gets it on! Syxx makes his way out to ringside, with a video camera. That klepto is going to try to steal the US belt AGAIN. That angle is getting very, very stale. Guerrero lets the hold go to fight him off. Syxx swings with the camera, misses, and the camera ends up in the ring. Guerrero fights Syxx off and takes a swing at Malenko with the belt. Malenko ducks, hits Guerrero with Syxx's camera, and covers him for the pin and the title! This is a nice elevation for Malenko after all the great work he put into making the Cruiserweight title something worthwhile, work that Syxx was already doing all he could to chuck out the window. The match was great until the completely stupid and unnecessary ending because everything had to be about the NWO. ***3/4

Mean Gene is in the back with tonight's hotline shill: Who is the WCW superstar that is GONE FOREVER, and WHY? After that Roddy Piper comes in and has another of his completely nonsensical rants about the main event. The difference between his WWF and WCW promos is night and day. His Horsemen teammates for the main event also come in, with Mongo trying to go toe to toe with Piper in insane ranting.

 

Ultimo Dragon (w/Sonny Oono) def Psychosis in 13:17- Mike Tenay checks in for this one. A couple of good back and forth mat wrestling exchanges and stalemates to start. Dragon grabs the rope to block a whip. Psychosis chops him free, long speed run, and Dragon hits a combo of kicks. PK to Psychosis' back and Dragon hooks on a legbar. Another speed run and Psychosis hits a dropkick for 2. Corner clothesline. Dragon does a handstand in the corner on the other side, flummoxing Psychosis to the point he doesn't know what to do. After that they have a rough stretch where Dragon walks the ropes but Psychosis is out of position for any moves, then Dragon straight up whiffs on an enzuguri, They do the enzuguri again and this time Dragon hits it. They trade camel clutches. Psychosis does a legdrop off the top that barely connects for 2. Elbow off the second rope for 2. Dragon hits a tiltawhirl backbreaker and hooks on a sleeper. Psychosis jawbreakers out. He puts on his own sleeper with Dragon quickly back suplexing out. Psychosis hits a spinning heel kick off the top rope. Dragon goes to the floor. Psychosis goes for a tope con hilo, but doesn't rotate enough and almost collides head to head with Dragon. Slingshot legdrop to the floor. Dragon lifts Psychosis with his legs on the apron. Psychosis acts like he hit something in the corner, but from the camera angle he could just as easily have missed that too. Dragon hits the asai moonsault. He distracts the ref, allowing Oono to nail Psychosis with a roundhouse kick to the head. The ref goes out to question Oono. "He just slipped". Back in Dragon hits a moonsault for 2. Psychosis tries a powerbomb, both guys counter ending with a Psychosis cradle for 2. Dragon magistral cradle for 2. Both go up top, fight for leverage, and both go down into the ring. Then both guys try for spinning heel kicks at the same time. Psychosis hits a top rope hurricanrana. After some very obvious maneuvering Dragon hits a Liger bomb. He sets Psychosis up top and flips him off with a supposed tornado DDT, but it didn't come off right. Tiger suplex and Dragon gets the pin. It's right on that "good" line, but there were too many obvious sloppy stretches to ignore. **3/4

Mean Gene is in the arena, saying he's got some "uncensored" material on the hotline. Well, that is what 900 numbers were invented for. Not sure how big the audience for that would be though. The red hot DDP comes out for some words to a big pop. Randy Savage attacked him a few weeks back, but has been completely ignoring him since. DDP challenges him. Savage, alongside Elizabeth again, calls out to DDP from the announce desk podium. He says he had DDP all wrong, he's cool after all. Why? Well, check out this special celebrity issue of Playboy. There's DDP's wife Kimberly! With strategic spraypainting to be able to show the centerfold on TV of course. While he's talking Kimberly slowly comes out of the entrance stage, crying and covered in spraypaint. When DDP goes to her Savage attacks him from behind! Shirt off and DDP gets spraypainted. Kimberly covers her husband up to prevent any more attacks so she gets spraypainted too, with Elizabeth fully embracing her inner heel and volunteering to do it. As Savage leaves he says "He's the man! Oh, and Kimberly likes me too, you can see it". One of WCW's last truly great feuds is underway, and that was a brilliant kickoff.

 

Martial Arts Match: Glacier def Mortis (w/James Vanderberg) in 9:04- Months after his long (LONG) hyped debut Glacier is finally getting his first PPV match. On the other side, the Mortis character (Chris Kanyon under a mask) is making his overall WCW in-ring debut. Vanderberg is also making his major company debut. He's still around today, having worked for pretty much every major promotion in the US over the years. He was recently the center of controversy for doing cocaine live on air during an NWA PPV. The genesis of this feud is that Mortis is a guy from Glacier's past that knows him and is pissed at him for reasons unknown and probably won't ever be known. The first Uncensored also featured a "martial arts match". No one knew what the rules were then, and we still don't now. Dodges after the bell and Mortis spits in Glacier's face. Glacier kicks Mortis into the ropes and hits a snap belly to belly suplex off the rebound. Mortis gives Glacier a forearm shot right on the ear. We know Glacier is hurt because he shouts "My ear!". After a bit of a beatdown Glacier forgets about the ear issues and does a fighting game style sweep kick. Kick to Mortis' face for 2. Mortis slides under Glacier to the apron. Glacier hits him with a high knee, sending him down into the guardrail. Plancha from Glacier! He suplexes Mortis on the floor. Martial Arts match! Glacier covers and Vanderberg pulls him off. Glacier chases him around and Mortis hits him with a baseball slide. Guardrail shot. He puts Glacier on his shoulders, climbs the steps, and drops him face first on the apron. Back in Mortis hits a Buckshot Lariat! Cover for 2. He tries a springboard legdrop but Glacier dodges. Mortis hits a fameasser for 2. He goes for it again, but Glacier blocks and turns it into a powerbomb. Flashy rolling elbow from Glacier. Boot in the face for 2. Mortis hits a roundhouse kick and slow covers for a long 2. Glacier hits a superplex for 2. He tries coming off the top but Mortis catches him and hits a northern lights suplex for 2. Springboard crossbody from Glacier for 2. He goes for his superkick finisher but Mortis uses the ref to block. Superkick from Mortis! Glacier kicks out! Vanderberg holds Glacier and Mortis manages to stop in time when Glacier dodges. Glacier superkick! It's over. Not good, but nowhere near as bad as it could have been. Both guys went for it. This is another feud that will go on forever, and unlike Savage/DDP with diminishing results. I still have no idea what the rules for a Martial Arts match are. **1/4

After the bell another guy dressed similar to Mortis comes out. Commentary doesn't know who he is, but it's the debuting Wrath (AKA Adam Bomb in WWF), also supposedly someone from Glacier's past. They beat Glacier down to take the feud to the next level. After that we get the footage of the Outsiders-caused Steiners car crash. I guess it's only too gruesome for regular TV, PPV is just fine.

 

Strap Match: Buff Bagwell def Scotty Riggs in 12:27- The American Males blowup continues. Before the bell we get the usual heel stalling with Riggs whipping him. After the bell Bagwell gets a couple of shots in and poses. After some choking Bagwell goes up top. Riggs pulls him down to low blow Bagwell for the first of about 10 times in this match. Given the likely shrinkage from all his roiding up he probably doesn't feel it anyway. Riggs hits a superplex. After some usual strap match stuff Riggs gets 2 corners before being stopped. Bagwell hits a hot shot and starts a stretch where he talks into the camera as much as he wrestles. Typical Bagwell in other words. He wraps the strap around Riggs' throat and gets 2 corners. Bagwell uses the strap for a snap mare and hangs Riggs on his back. The meathead tries for a pin, then gets in a shoving match with the ref, working in his usual hiding in the corner like a little bitch from the ref bit. Bagwell goes up for the Buff Blockbuster but Riggs dodges it. Clotheslines. Powerbomb. Missile dropkick. He gets to 3 corners before Bagwell stops him. Bagwell backdrops Riggs over the top rope and hangs him with the strap. Riggs goes out. Bagwell drags him back in, casually meanders to all four corners, and gets an easy no drama win. I should hope that's the end of that feud. 1/2*

The NWO team for the main event have one of the most pointless promo segments in wrestling history. It's literally just them shooting the shit about getting laid and Dennis Rodman wearing women's clothes like a lumberjack.

 

Texas Tornado Match: Harlem Heat (w/Sister Sherri) def Public Enemy in 13:17- PE set up a table on their entrance. They empty the toys out of their trash can and the fight is on. A frying pan is introduced early. Grunge has a toilet seat in the ring! Or, in the immortal words of Dusty, "He got a commode lid!". Sherri is fully involved in the match from the start. There's both cookie sheets and pizza pans in the ring getting swung around. The funny part is they all still have their store labels on. Booker somehow gets a scissors kick in for 2. Sherri hits some trash can lid shots. Ray takes a straight cookie sheet shot. Trash can shot on Booker with a great delayed flop sell. Dusty completely loses it on that, causing the whole commentary team to break. Now Booker's being choked with the toilet seat. Ray almost ends up in the laps of some of the people sitting in the front row. More trash can shots. Dusty: "I used to do that to my little brother!". Sherri hits some shots with a pizza pan. It looks like she's bleeding from her cheek from something earlier. Always 100% in, she was. More cookie sheet shots all around. The match is starting to bog down, they need to either wrap it up or get something new out there. Heat hit Rock with a rocket launcher for 2. Sherri accidentally hits Ray with a the trash can. She hops on Grunge's back but he squashes her against the guardrail. PE double team cannonball that puts Ray through the table! Jarrett and Mongo are out. Mongo hits Rock with the Briefcase of Death, which is pretty ridiculous how hard it puts him out considering all the other foreign object shots in this match. Booker hits the Harlem Hangover and it's over. Fairly fun plunder brawl, but it really drug in the second half. Cut the match time in half and it would have been much better. Commentary had the time of their life calling this, especially Dusty, so that helped. This whole match is one giant Botchamania "Insane Dusty Commentary" segment. **

Team WCW confirms they will be down one man for the main event tonight after the attack on Rick Steiner.

 

WCW World Television Championship: Prince Iaukea (c) def Rey Mysterio Jr in 13:41- This is a rematch from Superbrawl. After that match ended with Regal interference ultimate good guy Iaukea quickly agreed to giving Mysterio another shot. I can imagine all the shocked faces at Iaukea's reign lasting this long. Mysterio's in his Spider-Man gear tonight. Again Iaukea gets zero reaction from the crowd, and he's dragging Mysterio down with him as they're dead pretty much the whole match. Tenay tags in again as is mandatory for a Mysterio match. Lots of dodging at the start. Iaukea hits a Samoan drop. He goes for a springboard splash but Mysterio gets his knees up. Springboard senton from Mysterio for 2. He uses an Iaukea lift to get a hurricanrana for 2. Iaukea starts to do a tiltawhirl but they're near the ropes and both tumble out. Judging by the reaction I don't think that was intentional. Mysterio recovers to hit a dive to the floor. After another rough exchange in the ring Mysterio ends up dangled over the top rope. Iaukea hits a slingshot powerbomb. Mysterio goes out and Iaukea hits a springboard dive. Guardrail shot for Mysterio. Iaukea hops up on the guardrail but misses the dive off. Back in Mysterio hits the split legged moonsault for 2. Bulldog off the second rope for 2. Lionsault for 2. Iaukea comes back with chops. Mysterio gets a sunset bomb off the top for 2. Iaukea dodges a senton off the top and hits a northern lights suplex for 2. Some "boring" chants start to echo around the arena. Iaukea catches a leaping Mysterio and powerbombs him. He tries a springboard but Mysterio dropkicks him in midair. Iaukea does a straight headbutt right into Mysterio's crotch. Well OK then. Weird. Mysterio rolls out and Iaukea gives him a double ax handle off the apron. Speed run back in. Both guys go for dropkicks, and collide in the middle with a *literal* scissor! I'm not exaggerating. The Acclaimed are jumping up and down somewhere. Mysterio gets a flying headscissors and rolling cradle for 2, then Iaukea reverses the cradle for 2. After some standing switches they stand around for a ridiculous amount of time, then Iaukea rolls Mysterio up for 2. Mysterio does a Coffin Drop like fall back into Iaukea from the top rope. As he covers the bell rings for the "15 minute" time limit out of nowhere, no countdown at all. Mysterio asks for more time and Iaukea, ever the babiest of babyfaces, agrees. Reset lockup and Mysterio hits chops. Springboard enzuguri! The crowd is finally starting to get into it a little bit. Hurricanrana off the top. Springboard hurricanrana, but Iaukea reverses the cover and gets the pin! The improbable title reign continues. Like at Superbrawl, Mysterio is only so much of a miracle worker. *3/4

The next match is a very unique setup, with a bit of War Games, a bit of Survivor Series, a bit Royal Rumble and maybe a dash of the New Japan Ranbo. The match starts with an initial 5 minute period with one guy from each of the three teams. After that one more for each team come out for 2 minute periods, like War Games, until everyone's in. Elimination is by pinfall, submission, or over the top to the floor. It's individual elimination, with the match ending after all members of two teams have been eliminated, like a three way Survivor Series match. Unlike War Games eliminations can take place before everyone has entered the match. For a new gimmick match the rules are surprisingly specific for WCW. Can't wait to see how they frak them up. There's also extensive stipulations for the results of the match. If Team NWO wins, they can get a shot at any title they don't already have anytime, anywhere they want. So business as usual then. If Team Piper wins, Piper gets a rematch with Hogan in a steel cage. Gotta wonder what was in it for the Horsemen to hook up with Piper. If Team WCW wins, the NWO must forfeit all of their titles AND they can't wrestle in WCW for THREE YEARS. Might as well say eleventy billion years, that one's not happening and everyone knows it. One final twist is after the attack on Rick Steiner Team WCW is already down a man, so they won't have anyone to come out in the last period.

 

Triangle Elimination Match: Team NWO (w/Dennis Rodman) def Team Piper and Team WCW in 19:22-

P1. Chris Benoit (Team Piper), WCW World Tag Team Champion Scott Hall (Team NWO), The Giant (Team WCW)- Benoit and Hall are already fighting as Giant makes his entrance. After that the vast majority of the period is Giant dominating no matter what the other two try to do. Hall hops on Giant's back and puts on a sleeper that almost looks like it might work, then Giant flips him over. Benoit eats a chokeslam but Hall breaks the pin up, which is not a smart move in this type of match. Near the end of the period Hall dodges a Giant avalanche, with Giant going over the top rope and all the way to the floor, eliminating him! Commentary doesn't realize what happened at first, and when they do they're stunned Giant is out.

P2. Jeff Jarrett (Team Piper), "Macho Man" Randy Savage (Team NWO), "The Total Package" Lex Luger (Team WCW)- Jarrett works Hall over and struts before the other two come out. Savage tries to jump Jarrett but gets jumped instead. Luger press slams Jarrett and gorilla presses Savage.

P3. Steve "Mongo" McMichael (Team Piper), WCW World Tag Team Champion Kevin Nash (Team NWO), Scott Steiner (Team WCW)- Nash hits Jarrett with snake eyes. Scott double underhook suplexes Hall, then Nash jumps him from behind. Steinerline on Nash. Benoit saves Jarrett from a Razor's Edge. Nash 360 clotheslines Jarrett over the top to the floor and he's gone. Hall backdrops Mongo over the top and out.

P4. "Rowdy" Roddy Piper (Team Piper), WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hollywood Hogan (Team NWO)- Nash big boots Scott over the top and out, leaving Luger alone for Team WCW. Hogan doesn't show up after Piper gets in, and another countdown comes on the screen even though everyone is (theoretically) in the match. When the countdown is at about 45 second Hogan and Rodman finally start sauntering to the ring. Piper chokes Savage with a chain. Hogan stalls forever on the floor, then finally gets in. "We want Sting" chant from the crowd. Hogan tosses Piper through the ropes, not over, to the floor. Piper pulls Hogan out and they brawl up the aisle. Savage comes out to save Hogan and they all get back in. After some Hogan/Piper flailing around Rodman pulls the top rope down and Piper falls to the floor, eliminated. Security stops Piper from going after Rodman. Hogan goes out and beats on Piper some more. Back in the ring, Nash has to help Hall get Benoit up for the Razor's Edge. After that hits Benoit is tossed. It's down to all four NWO guys against Luger. It'd be better if we hadn't seen almost the exact "Luger vs the whole NWO" setup in the World War 3 battle royale just a few months earlier. Rodman gets on the apron and the NWO goofs around while taking occasional shots at Luger. Nash goes for the jackknife. Luger flips out! Clotheslines for everyone. He gets Savage in the Torture Rack, and Savage submits! Nash gets 360 clotheslined out! Hall is Racked and submits! It's down to Luger and Hogan. Luger gets Hogan in the Rack! The ref is holding Nash back. Savage hits Luger with Rodman's can of spray paint, Hogan falls on Luger, and gets the pin to win it for Team NWO. Not too bad actually. It's not great, but it's amazing what can happen when WCW makes a solid set of rules for a unique match and actually sticks to them. **1/2

After the match Rodman spray paints Luger and gives him a couple of slaps. The NWO clear Luger out of the ring and the show closes with the usual long NWO celebration........or not! Here comes Sting down from the rafters and into the ring! He takes Hall out with the bat! And Nash! And Savage! Scorpion Death Drops all around! The crowd is going BONKERS! Sting points his bat at Hogan! Rodman is "holding" Hogan back. Hogan tells Sting to put the bat down. Sting does! Hogan slowly, cautiously, walks up and gets in the ring. Sting's all over him! Scorpion Death Drop on Hogan! "We're outta time folks, we gotta go!". After months in the shadows amid a multitude of questions on where his loyalty was, Sting answered them all with an emphatic statement. He was out to destroy the NWO, and Hogan. Along with DDP/Savage, this would be the feud that would carry WCW through the rest of '97. Now it could be argued that they stretched it out too long, and I think it's objectively true that when it finally came time for the final resolution at Starrcade they fucked it up royally, but that doesn't take away the awesomeness of this moment.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Another PPV with pretty solid quality across the board, though without anything hitting the absolute top shelf. The main event held together pretty well, and that great closing with Sting is easily worth a bump in the final tally.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C+

Backlash '99

Legacy Review

Backlash '99

April 25, 1999 from the Providence Civic Center in Providence, RI

Commentary: Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

The In Your House name is no more. This is the first PPV outside the Big 5 (or Big 4 + King of the Ring if you prefer) not to have it. This is also the very first Backlash, which will remain as the traditional post-Wrestlemania PPV for the next decade. A spot it never should have lost in my opinion, though it has thankfully come back the last few years. JR is back full time after returning from his latest Bell's Palsy attack for the WM main event.

The Ministry of Darkness def The Brood in 11:38- The Brood is now out of the Ministry to fill Russo's monthly turn quota. And because Ken Shamrock used the ankle lock to torture Stephanie McMahon's location out of Christian after the Ministry kidnapped her. For the first time. It's Mideon and the Acolytes representing the Ministry in this one. Christian and Mideon start by crawling around staring at each other before locking up. Kind of a nice change of pace after all the jump starts at WM honestly. Christian uses his obvious agility advantage to speed around a (probably legit) fumbling Mideon, hitting a spinning heel kick and armdrag. Bradshow no sells some Gangrel shots and nails him with a big boot. Gangrel hits a diving elbow off the second rope. Bradshaw catches Gangrel trying a crossbody and gives him a fallaway slam. The Brood double team Bradshaw to get him down. Edge tries a crucifix on Faarooq, with Gangrel dropkicking him over for 2. Faarooq plants Edge with a spinebuster. Mideon hits a delayed suplex for 2. Edge gets a sunset flip but ref Teddy Long is distracted and Faarooq comes in to nail edge, officially sending him in vampire wannabe in peril. Bradshaw hits a tackle and covers. Christian makes the save and slugs it out with Bradshaw. Faarooq takes the opening to sneak in and pound Edge some more. There's a HUGE "Mideon sucks" chant from the crowd when all he's doing is sitting on the apron. That's hilarious. Bit of a smarky crowd here tonight and I like it. During the continued Edge beatdown Mideon tags back in to huge boos. I think that's only making him go even slower. Edge manages to get a boot up in the corner. Spear off the second rope! Tag to Christian! Reverse DDT on Mideon for 2. DONNYBROOK! Christian hits a tornado DDT on Bradshaw for 2 while everyone else is fighting on the floor. Bradshaw powerbombs Christian out of mounted punches. Gangrel breaks the pin up. Edge missile dropkicks Bradshaw into a Christian cradle for 2. Christian tries to plancha Faarooq, but Faarooq catches him! Edge hits a baseball slide to knock them all down. Viscera comes out to ringside. He supposedly squashes Christian against the ring. That was the intention, but from the camera angle it looked like Viscera hardly touched him. Christian gets slid back in, eats a Bradshaw Clothesline from Hell, and it's over. Solid. **1/2

 

WWF Hardcore Championship: Al Snow (w/Head) def Hardcore Holly (c) in 15:27- I've always liked how the Hardcore Championship logo looks like a Mortal Kombat fatality. 100% intentional I'm sure. We're a bit past the peak of the fighting game craze at this point but they were still a big thing in gaming. Holly gives Snow a belt shot before the bell! Back to the jump starts, but for this type of match it works. Quick cover by Holly for 2. Snow tosses Holly over the top to the floor. Holly gets a water jug from under the ring and whacks Snow with it. They go into the crowd and Snow is already bleeding. Likely from the belt shot, not the water. Rhode Island water's not that sharp. Snow slams Holly on the floor and hits a moonsault off the barricade for 2. He gets a hockey stick out and pummels Holly with it. After that he gets a table out. Holly gives Snow a shot with the hockey stick and finishes setting the table up in the corner for him. Snow nails Holly with a cookie sheet. Lawler asks a very logical question: why are there always so many cooking utensils under the ring? Holly suplexes Snow in the aisle for 2. They go through the entrance stage to the back. Holly gets THE KITCHEN SINK! Fantastic. Snow cuts him off with a stream of water from a nearby hose. Both guys get run into an SUV, setting off the alarm. Snow breaks a broom over Holly's back. They go up some stairs. Snow gets tossed down into a full dumpster! Holly does a big splash onto him! Cover for 2 in the dumpster. They roll over the hood of an 18 wheeler. Ref Mike Chioda shows some serious agility hopping out of the dumpster, off the truck hood and back down to the ground. No hesitation. They brawl up into one of the TV trucks! Lawler namedropps Kevin Dunn. Holly gets hiptossed onto a car roof! Snow drops an elbow on him! Cover for 2. They go back inside the back of the arena. How about a coat stand shot? They go through Gorilla and back into the arena proper and all the way back to the ring. Snow has a couple of frying pans and whacks Holly with one. Snow covers, then gets back up. He wants a table shot. He sets Holly up and goes up top. Holly gives Snow a pan shot! Superplex through the table! Holly slowly drapes an arm over Snow. Snow kicks out! Head shot! Snow gets the pin and the title. Another fun all over the arena plunder brawl. I like how they keep trying to add in new props and locations. They've got something good going with this new Hardcore division and the crowd is really into it. **3/4

In the back the Undertaker is giving the Ministry a pep talk. Some audio issues cause him to stumble over himself, then he drops the Botchamania famous "hower power". Taker closes the speech by saying "The tragedy begins". Well that's ominous.

 

WWF Intercontinental Championship: The Godfather (c) def Goldust (w/The Blue Meanie) in 5:22- From the Attitude Era's "I can't believe that actually happened" files, right behind the folder for Road Dogg as Intercontinental champion, I bring you the Godfather as Intercontinental champion. The title has changed hands twice since WM as we're now really in the IC title hotshotting era: Goldust defeated Road Dogg for the title on the Raw after WM (ending Dogg's title reign at a whole two weeks), then Godfather took it from Goldust on Raw a couple of weeks later. This is the rematch. Godfather plays with the crowd by teasing no ho train to big boos, then brings the ladies out to big cheers. Tonight's ho ratio is 2 out of 5 are reasonably attractive, which is a pretty good percentage compared to usual. This is clearly Lawler's favorite part of the night. In an unusual move the ladies stay ringside for the whole match. Goldust jumps Godfather from behind as he's getting the hos set just right. Godfather hits a backdrop and clothesline. He faceplants Goldust and backdrops him to the floor. Goldust starts to walk, then Meanie reminds him it's for the title so he goes back. Back in it's still all Godfather. He hits a slam and legdrop for 2. Meanie trips Godfather and Goldust 360 clotheslines him to the floor from behind. Meanie goes to town on Godfather. Back in Goldust hits the flying clothesline for 2, then the fall down uppercut and another clothesline. Meanie gives Goldust a bag full of powder. Godfather pushes it into Goldust's face! Meanie comes in to try to help, but blinded Goldust thinks he's Godfather and punches him! Godfather encourages this, with Goldust pounding Meanie down in the corner. Shattered Dreams to Meanie! Godfather maneuvers them around some more, squashes them both with the Ho Train (the move, not the ladies), hits Goldust with the DVD and gets the pin. The blinded Goldust stuff was fun but the match was nothing special and very one sided. 3/4*

Michael Cole is by the bathroom urinals with new Hardcore champ Snow. Snow calls Cole "Todd", but quickly gets interrupted in his head by Head. Head asks which hand Snow pinned Holly with. The hand Snow was holding Head with. Clearly Head is implying......she?.....should be the real champion. Snow asks Cole to leave their very private conversation.

WWF Tag Team Championship #1 Contender's Match: The New Age Outlaws def Owen Hart and Jeff Jarrett (w/Debra) in 10:33- Owen and Jarrett lost the titles to the new team of Kane & X-Pac after WM. After going through separate singles runs the Outlaws are temporarily back together before Gunn's huge singles push really gets going. Lawler loses it at Debra's skimpy bikini again. Still does nothing for me. Dogg tells Debra to whip out the "puppies" and that sets Lawler off more. Jarrett won't allow it though Debra clearly wants to. Dogg threatens to unleash the Ass of Gunn but Owen cuts it off and the bell rings with all four guys fighting. Gunn gets double teamed while Dogg gets on the apron. Owen's got a cool new OH logo on his tights. Gunn speeds around Owen and hits a dropkick with JR doing the full buttering up job from commentary about his incredible athleticism because, again, big singles push coming. Press slam and crotch chop. Of course they have to keep putting Debra on camera. She's. Not. That. Hot. Owen and Dogg trade arm wringers into an Owen neckbreaker. Jarrett swinging neckbreaker on Dogg. He gets some strutting in. Dog hits his jabs while the crowd chants at Debra to "show those puppies". I don't like them as much now. Dogg maneuvers the heels around to run into each other. After a Jarrett distraction Owen hits the enzuguri and a legdrop for 2. Dogg goes Outlaw in peril. Jarrett dropkicks Dogg to the floor. Gunn keeps getting held back by ref Tim White but the heels don't take advantage of it much. Lawler says stay away from the Spanish announce table, it's a dangerous place. That gag is already going. Dogg gets a backslide on Owen but now Jarrett is distracting White. Owen hits the spinning heel kick. Gunn saves the pin. Jarrett hits a powerslam for 2. Dogg and Jarrett both leap at the same time and collide. Owen tags in and cuts a Dogg tag off. Sleeper. Arm drops, escape, and Dogg puts on a sleeper. Double clothesline. Tags on both sides. Gunn runs wild. Powerslam on Jarrett for 2. Everyone in the pool! The Outlaws both do mounted punches. Gunn Cactus Clothesline on Jarrett. Debra gets on the apron to distract Dogg. Owen tries to jump, but Dogg hits the pumphandle slam. Jarrett just breaks the pin up. Owen Sharpshooter on Dogg. Dogg fights of a Jarrett figure four. Fameasser on Owen while he's holding the Sharpshooter! That gets the pin. Solid formula tag stuff with a good end run. I'm trying to not let all the focus on Debra hurt the match in my eyes. Sadly this would turn out to be Owen's final PPV match. **1/2

Cole grills main event guest ref and new WWF Chairman Shane McMahon on his promise to give the title back to the Rock if Austin lays a hand on him and how he could be an impartial referee. Shane swears on the grave of his grandfather Vincent JAMES McMahon that if Austin has Rock down he will count the 3, then proceeds to disown Vince as his dad. "He's just Vince to me". After that we cut to Kevin Kelley with Vince and Stephanie McMahon in her first PPV appearance (plus armed guard because of the recent kidnapping). Vince isn't thrilled with what Shane is doing but he's more concerned with protecting his family right now.

Boiler Room Brawl: Mankind def The Big Show in 7:40- This is a rematch from Wrestlemania. The only way to win is to escape the boiler room. We start with Show walking into the boiler room in Dusty Rhodes street fight gear, as evidenced by the big "Boiler Room: DANGER!" sign on the door. I'm pretty sure this is pretaped but can't say for 100% certain. Mankind jumps him from behind with some toys. He smashes Show in a door. Show goozles and fights back out. Mankind takes some shots off the equipment around the room. Show straight drops a table on him. Cameraman sighting! A fridge takes a pounding. Mankind breaks some ceiling tiles over Shows head. A trash can gets kicked into Mankind's face and Show pounds him with it. Show puts Mankind in a shopping cart (what the hell is a shopping cart doing in a boiler room) and rolls him into some panels. Slam on the panels. The panels fall on top of him! Shot of ref Teddy Long outside the exit waiting for someone to escape. Mankind breaks a pane of glass over Show's head! He cut his own hand open doing that. Mankind sets a ladder up. Show chokeslams him off the ladder into two tables covered with glass panes! Damn. Show is bleeding from the earlier shot. Show breaks a mop over Mankind's back and he falls into MORE glass panes! This is turning into a CZW match. The box of air conditioner filters is busted open! Filters are everywhere! Mankind's hand looks really hurt for real after getting sliced open by that glass. Another slam onto some portable steps. Show rolls Mankind off the steps into another stack of metal. Mankind breaks open a pipe and Show gets steam and hot water in the face! Low blow with a pipe on Show. Show gets buried under a huge stack of pipes! The same pipes that will be falling backstage during fights for decades. Mankind gets out the door and wins! As soon as he gets out Boss Man and Test jump him. Show gets free, takes Test out and chases off Boss Man. Mankind has Socko out! Claw on Test! That was a tremendously fun hardcore brawl. They learned a lot since the first Boiler Room Brawl, this one had a lot more space and better lighting. ***1/2

Chyna says X-Pac has forgotten "who got him over". Oooooooh, insider talk! After that we cut to what I'm pretty sure is a Coliseum Video exclusive of Show getting worked on by the doctor and Mankind giving a guided tour of the wreckage in the boiler room. "I should stay away from those damn ladders!"

 

Triple H (w/Chyna) def X-Pac in 19:19- Trips shocked the world by turning on DX and joining Chyna in the Corporation at Wrestlemania. His slow transition from DX Trips to The Game is on. He comes out to some generic heel music tonight so clearly that's a work in progress. HHH slaps Pac over ref Chioda and the fight is on. Pac fights back with some of his martial arts stuff. HHH rolls out for a breather. Pac chases and HHH takes a stair shot. 75% of the crowd chants "X-Pac" and the other 25% fills the gap with "SUCKS". That percentage will change over the coming months and not in Pac's favor. After some back and forth slugging HHH tosses Pac over the top to the floor. Chyna stalks but Pac cuts her off, then he catches HHH coming off the apron. Pac takes a shot on the Spanish announce table. Back in Pac hits a heel kick for 2. Corner kick combo from Pac. HHH dodges the bronco buster. He goes into angry beatdown mode, ignoring the ref trying to stop him. Chyna gets a shot in and HHH covers for 2. HHH attacks Pac's neck, where he knows Pac's had a couple of major injuries. Swinging neckbreaker for 2. HHH hooks in a front facelock, almost a guillotine. While in that HHH clearly asks Chioda "What's the time?". JR covers saying it's trash talk. Pac fights out but HHH hair pulls him back down. Kneedrops to the back of the neck and a cover for 2. Now HHH puts on a dragon sleeper with a knee in Pac's upper back. After arm drops Pac knees HHH in the face to get out. HHH hits the facebuster for 2. Pac gets tossed to the floor again. Chyna drops Pac on the barricade. More HHH shots to the neck on the apron. Back in Pac gets a flash small package for 2. HHH clothesline for 2. Back to the facelock. HHH switches gears and puts on a regular sleeper. Pac fights out and jumps on HHH's back with a sleeper. HHH backs him into the corner. Pac keeps getting the sleeper back on. Back suplex and both guys are down. Another heel kick from Pac. A third. HHH reverses a corner whip but Pac pops out with a rolling clothesline. Tornado DDT! He gets an arm over HHH for 2. Chyna gets on the apron. Pac counters the Pedigree and headbutts HHH in the nads for 2. Back to the floor and HHH goes into the steps. HHH pulls Chioda in and Chioda gets wiped out by a Pac baseball slide. The X-Factor hits! No ref. Chyna comes in and low blows Pac. She plants Pac with a reverse DDT. The lights go out and Kane's music hits. Here comes Pac's new best bud. He tries to chokeslam Chyna but HHH cuts it off and takes it instead. What a good boyfriend. But then Chyna takes a chokeslam anyway! Kane sets them both up in the corners and leaves. Pac sees the setup we're bronco bustering all around. Kick wham Pedigree! HHH gets the pin. Damn that finish made me laugh. The match wasn't all it could have been but it wasn't a disaster, especially the good psychology in the middle part. It'd take HHH a bit to get comfortable in his new role. **1/4

 

The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) def Ken Shamrock in 18:50- Shamrock has become the point man for the Corporation on the Ministry of Darkness front of their two front war. Among the Ministry's most recent "sacrifices" was Shamrock's sister Ryan. Shamrock jumps before the bell because that's in the rules now. Back and forth corner slugging. Taker hits a clothesline for 2. Old school hits. Flying clothesline for 2. Shamrock dodges a Taker big boot in the corner and starts kicking away on his knee. He wraps Taker's knee around the middle rope. Hebner makes little more than a token effort to get him to break. Finally he does, and Taker kicks him and hits a back suplex for 2. Shamrock seems to muff a sunset flip, but twists around to wrap Taker up in a legbar. More kicks to the leg and Shamrock grounds things again with a leg scissors. Taker hits some more haymakers, Shamrock wraps up another leg hold, rinse and repeat. Hebner tries to enforce a rope break and Shamrock shouts "Bullshit!" at him. They go to the floor and Shamrock stomps Taker's ankle on the steps. JR mentions Shamrock is still "personally loyal" to Vince and is "not affiliated" with Shane's Corporation. We're gonna need a chart for all this crap, which Russo being Russo it'll change every week anyway. Taker gouges Shamrock's face and hits some Kevin Nash like corner elbows. Drop toe hold from Taker and he does some ground pounding. Shamrock reverses and, after all the leg work, now grabs a cross armbreaker. There's some "boring" chants floating around the arena. Taker snaps Shamrock over the top rope. Shamrock tries coming off the apron but Taker catches him and posts his back. Back in Taker pounds away on the back. Backbreaker with a stretch. Bow and arrow from Taker! That's a new one. Slam and legdrop. Shamrock grabs the leg into another legbar. Taker counters into a single leg crab. A clothesline from Taker is horribly sold by Shamrock and the crowd lets him know it. A high knee from Shamrock barely rattles Taker. Shamrock runs into a big boot. Cover and Shamrock doesn't kick out! For frak's sake. Hebner stops at 2 anyway. The crowd again registers their disapproval. Chop block from Shamrock, followed by a hurricanrana for 2. Ankle lock! No, Taker slips out before it's fully on. Or Shamrock just let go. Take your pick given how it looked. Another Taker clothesline for 2. Shamrock remembered to kick out this time. Shamrock slips out of a Tombstone scoop and gets the ankle lock on. Bradshaw runs in and gets taken out. Chokeslam, no, Shamrock counters into an armbreaker! Bearer distracts Shamrock. After another rough exchange Shamrock hits a belly to belly suplex. Shamrock scoops for his own Tombstone. Big mistake. Taker flips it over, plants Shamrock, and it's over. After the bell Taker lets Bradshaw have some fun with Shamrock's corpse. I appreciate them trying to do a submission based match, which was way outside the WWF's style in this era, but it never came together even before Shamrock started botching all over the place. I think it's becoming pretty clear Shamrock's hit his ceiling and is never going to be a tippy top guy. *3/4

Among the developments in the Austin/Rock feud since WM: Since he was champion again Austin demanded his personal smoking skull belt back. Vince and Shane said hell no, and Rock claimed possession of that belt. Austin tried to get it back, which culminated with a brawl on a bridge and Austin getting dropped into a river, followed by the belt. The next week on Raw Rock held a mock funeral for Austin, while revealing he still had the smoking skull belt after all. Austin crashed his own funeral, ran over Rock's car with a monster truck, tried to take his personal belt back again but this time had it taken away again by Shane, and here we are.

Vince escorts Steph into a limo outside the arena, surrounded by a crack police squad that would never ever allow anything to happen to her while she's in there.

 

No Holds Barred Match for the WWF Championship: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin (c) def The Rock in 17:07- Even though it's a No Holds Barred match, if Austin lays a hand on Shane the Rock will automatically win the title back. Rock comes out with the smoking skull belt. Shane tells one of the ring attendants to put the smoking skull belt in his office when the match starts. Austin charges in, tosses the regular belt away, and it's on. The smoking skull belt does indeed get carried away. Austin Thesz Press! Elbow drop for 2. Rock gets a swinging neckbreaker. Austin gets tossed over the top to the floor. Clothesline in the aisle. They fight up into the stage area. Austin takes a fire extinguisher shot, then gets whipped into part of the fence that makes up the stage and the whole thing falls over! Rock gets suplexed on the floor. Damn the crowd is bonkers for this match. Now it's Rock's turn to get whipped into the other side of the stage and that side collapses! Well, no one's getting in or out that way now without some serious reconstruction. Austin continues pounding on top of the remains of the stage. Rock gets choked with a cable. Austin whips him into an equipment area and leaps off a box with a clothesline. He rolls a metal case right into Rock! Austin tries leaping off it but Rock catches him. Now Rock rolls the case into Austin. Austin is whipped into the crane camera and Rock clotheslines him on the rebound. Austin comes back with a clothesline and slams Rock on the floor. They work back and Rock gets whipped into the steps. Mudhole stomp back in the ring. Shane pulls him out of the corner and shoves him, baiting Austin to hit him. Rock charges but Austin sees and LAUNCHES him over the top to the floor! Clothesline off the apron from Austin. And the top comes off the top of the Spanish announce table. Look out. Austin gets on top of it with Rock. Low blow from Rock! Rock Bottom through the Spanish announce table! Rock gets a Spanish headset and adds some improv commentary. Austin gets a chair. Shane takes it away and tosses it to Rock! Austin kicks it away before he can use it. Rock reverses a whip and whips Austin over the barricade into the crowd. Austin gets run into the English announce table and Rock sets him on top of it. Rock gets a camera! No more commentating, Rock's a cameraman now! He gets a shot of Austin and adds his own middle finger, then gets a shot of the crowd. The camera turns and we see Austin is back up from Rock's POV! Double bird! STUNNER INTO THE TABLE! That was fantastic. Austin sets up in the ring to finish it. Rock pushes out of the Stunner and Austin runs over Shane! Rock Bottom! Shane drapes Rock's arm over Austin! Austin kicks out! Shane goes out and gets the belt. Austin ducks and Shane takes Rock out with the belt! Austin covers. 1.....2.....double middle finger to Austin! Austin chases and Shane gives him another double bird as he runs. Vince is out with Hebner. And he's got the smoking skull belt. He walks right by Shane without looking at him. Shane sees the belt and stops Vince. VINCE TAKES SHANE OUT WITH THE BELT! In the ring Rock nails Austin with the regular title belt. Hebner goes in to count. AUSTIN KICKS OUT! STUNNER! BELT SHOT! Austin covers and wins! Vince looks resigned, tosses the smoking skull belt to Austin and starts to leave but then stays near the stage to watch. Even better than their WM match. These two could work the brawling/real fight style as well as anyone ever has. Just don't think about the plot twists too much, which is a standard disclaimer for anything Russo. ****

But we're not done. Steph has the window down and is chatting with the cops. The Acolytes come out and the cops tell the limo to go go go go. We cut to inside the limo. Steph screams at the driver to stop and wait for her dad. The screen slides down. IT'S THE UNDERTAKER! "WHERE TO, STEPHANIE?" Oh man, it's awful but it's a classic. Two legendary Undertaker Botchamania moments in one show. We cut back inside the arena and Vince has no idea what happened while Austin celebrates.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Easily WWF's best PPV of the year so far and a nice recovery from a pretty dreadful WM. It's not going to blow you away, but there's some good quality all across the show with a great main event. The whole Ministry/Corporation thing is already getting absurd but only about a quarter of how crazy it's going to get in the near future.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C+

Superbrawl VII

Legacy Review

Superbrawl VII

February 23, 1997 from the Cow Palace in San Francisco

Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Dusty Rhodes

The show opens with another of WCW's legendarily awful mini-movies, this one Roddy Piper "escaping" from Alcatraz. You may recall Piper defeated Hollywood Hogan at Starrcade in the "Match of the Decade", but unfortunately no one put anything in the contract about it being a World title match. Mostly because Piper didn't ask. Now after being the first man to beat Hogan since his heel turn he's getting the title shot. To get ready, Piper decided to spend a week- A WEEK- in Alcatraz. To, I dunno, psyche himself up or something. Thing is, Alcatraz hasn't been a working prison for decades. Far from being "seven days of hell", he'd have gotten the same effect if he'd gone and sat in a cave by himself for a week or had one of those Aaron Rodgers darkness retreats.

WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Syxx def Dean Malenko (c) in 12:00- After running an angle of Syxx stealing the US title belt from Eddie Guerrero, they're now running an angle of Syxx stealing the Cruiserweight title belt from Malenko. Starting to think Syxx needs professional help for his kleptomania. Or a stint in a real not Alcatraz prison. At least the Cruiserweight title is much more on his current level, the US title was reaching way too high. If possible Malenko looks even more serious than usual on his entrance. As soon as Malenko hits the ring it's on. Malenko is full of fire, hitting a ton of high impact stuff early instead of his usual meticulous body part working, and even more he keeps pulling Syxx out of covers, wanting to do more damage. Syxx tries to fight back but Malenko hits a powerslam for 2. Syxx crashes in the corner into the tree of woe. Malenko dropkicks his knee, then quickly goes for the Cloverleaf. Syxx fights it off. Malenko hits a crossbody against the ropes and both guys tumble to the floor. Malenko goes and gets the belt. While he's posing with it Syxx tries to hit him with a roundhouse kick. Malenko ducks and puts Syxx back down with a punch, then sets the belt down in the corner. Circle that for later. Syxx continues to sell the knee, but manages to hit Malenko with a misdirection kick. He lays in his corner kicks and hits the bronco buster. Sleeper from Syxx. Malenko quickly counters out. Syxx gets it back on. Malenko back suplexes out. Chops from Syxx. He sets Malenko up on the apron then hits an elbow off the second rope. And still remembering to sell the knee. Pleasant surprise. Syxx hits a suplex and legdrop off the top for 2. He puts the sleeper on again. The match stalls for a minute when one small but VERY loud row of the crowd opposite hard camera starts chanting "123 SUCKS". Malenko works his way into his own sleeper and we get a midring collision. Syxx gets crotched on the top rope. Malenko goes for a back superplex. Syxx sort of counters it but I don't think they pulled that off how they intended. Syxx takes the belt from the corner where Malenko left it. Eddie Guerrero runs out to ringside. He and Syxx play tug of war with the belt, with Malenko joining in to pull Syxx in a triple threat tug of war. After a minute Guerrero loses grip on the belt, and it snaps back right into Malenko's face! Syxx covers and gets the pin, and the title for real! Guerrero is furious with himself. Not up to your established Cruiserweight or Malenko title match standard but it was still a good one. ***1/4

Mean Gene is in the back with tonight's hotline shill: apparently a VERY PROMINENT WCW wrestler was seen HAVING BREAKFAST somewhere in suburban San Francisco that morning WITH HIGH LEVEL MEMBERS OF THE NWO! I guess they've run out of promotion jump teases. DDP comes in and uses some logical deduction to figure out who his mystery NWO opponent will be tonight. Okerlund confirms his guess is right, that it will indeed be Buff Bagwell.

 

Konnan, La Parka and Villano IV def Juventud Guerrera, Ciclope and Super Calo in 9:52- Lucha trios rules for this one so tagging and selling are optional. Mike Tenay joins the booth. Ciclope and Villano start with some good back and forth mat wrestling. They shove a bit then tag out. Konnan and Juvy run through some speed counters before Konnan hits a clothesline. Funny little bit in there where Heenan shouts "JUVY!" like he's surprised to see him, maybe a little dig at Juvy no showing the last Clash of the Champions. Juvy gets a flying headscissors and springboard missile dropkick. Konnan German suplexes Ciclope than gives him a powerbomb. Parka and Calo take their turn. Heenan marveling at Calo's hat staying on never gets old. Parka gets kicked to the floor and Calo hits a slingshot senton. He goes for another dive but Parka lets him splat on the floor. He gets a chair (padded because he's a nice guy), sets Calo in it, then hits him while seated with a tope suicida. Villano and Ciclope resume their counterwrestling. Ciclope tries coming off the top but crashes on the floor. Juvy completely misses a 450 splash on Villano but it's sold anyway. Juvy no sells a German and hits a back kick. Parka hits a corkscrew off the top on Juvy for 2. Juvy springboard hurricanranas Parka off the top for 2. Konnan and Villano hit the doomsday device on Juvy. They both tie Juvy up in a submission, and more guys run in to make it a giant daisy chain cradle. The ref counts 2 on someone. If that had been 3 good luck figuring out who the winner was. Konnan lifts Juvy up and TOSSES him down to the floor. Villano and Konnan hook up what Tenay calls "the star". In the middle of that Parka surfboards Juvy. The rudos get knocked out to the floor, and the technicos hit a triple tope suicida on them! Juvy cradles Konnan for 2. Konnan drops Juvy with the Razor's Edge powerbomb. Juvy kicks out, but the ref counts 3 anyway. Oof. No one looks happy after that. Lucha style in general is not my cup of tea, but that was fun enough minus the botched finish and a couple of other rough spots. ***

 

WCW World Television Championship: Prince Iaukea (c) def Rey Mysterio Jr in 8:52- One of the staples of the Bischoff era is young wrestlers pushed beyond their experience, and ultimately their abilities, only to flop spectacularly. There was the Renegade, Alex Wright, and now upstart TV champ Prince Iaukea. Mysterio was scheduled to challenge Steven Regal tonight, but Iaukea pulled the monumental upset on him at Nitro the week before the PPV thanks to distraction help from Mysterio. Tenay stays in for this one since it's a ReyRey match. Tony speaks for everyone by saying straight up "No one thought Iaukea would come in as TV champ". Zero reaction for him on his entrance. Both guys are faces so Code of Honor handshake to start. Lockup! Basic arm wringer start. Shoulderblock standoff but Iaukea falls down anyway. Speed run, Iaukea gets tossed on the apron, he springboards over Mysterio and hits a superkick for 2. Mysterio goes outside and Iaukea hits a crossbody off the top to the floor. Legdrop back in for 2. Iaukea works through some basic power moves while the crowd gets distracted by something else going on. Press slam into a backbreaker and Iaukea poses a bit. The crowd wants nothing to do with him. He tries coming off the top but Mysterio dropkicks him in midair. He headscissors Iaukea over the top to the floor. Tope senton! Springboard moonsault back in. Mysterio counters a corner lawn dart and hits a heel kick. Split legged moonsault for 2, followed by a good old drop toe hold. Iaukea hits an avalanche Samoan drop. Regal comes out, in glasses and a suit. Mysterio hits a floppy thing off the top that I'm not sure Iaukea did what he was supposed to do with. Mysterio sets up on the apron. Regal pulls him down, sending Mysterio into the apron face first. As we all know, that's the hardest part of the ring. No recovering from that. All of Regal's anger is directed at Mysterio for costing him the title, proving again no one gives a shit about Iaukea. Regal slides Mysterio's limp body back in, and Iaukea covers for the pin. THEN wonders what and why the hell. After he won the match of course. He sees Regal and figures it out. Iaukea then goes so far as refusing the belt and tries to give it to Mysterio. Mysterio also refuses to take it that way and hands it back. Hell, give it to me, I can stall enough to get 15 minute time limit draws and keep the belt for years. Mysterio did the best he could but even he's only so much of a miracle worker. **1/2

Side thought, it's a damn shame Regal had another relatively long run with the TV title the second half of '96 and couldn't get a single PPV match booked. He'd been off PPV so long I was trying to remember if he was even still with WCW or not.

 

Diamond Dallas Page def Buff Bagwell by DQ in 9:45- DDP is seriously getting big time thanks to his "fuck the NWO" face turn. The crowd is borderline bonkers for him. After the bell DDP chills in the corner while Bagwell jaws. DDP with a slap! Drop toe hold into an arm wringer tradeoff. Bagwell pulls hair then hides in the corner like the little bitch he is. DDP cranks a headlock for a bit. After a speed run Bagwell blocks a hiptoss. DDP turns it into a swinging neckbreaker to another huge pop. Bagwell rolls out and DDP doesn't even hesitate chasing. Bagwell snaps DDP over the top rope. The usual dull Bagwell beatdown follows. He hits a tornado DDT, then poses and talks into the camera. Back elbow for 2. DDP hits a borderline low blow and small packages Bagwell for 2. Bagwell argues with the ref and DDP rolls him up for 2. Now Bagwell's really arguing with the ref. Shove. The ref shoves back and Bagwell goes down! The ref gets Bagwell in the corner and yells at him so much he's cowering! Like I said, little bitch. DDP hits a clothesline. Inverted atomic drop with a crazy Bagwell sell. About .4 Rick Rude. Sit out powerbomb for 2. Bagwell hits a back elbow in the corner and tries a leverage pin for 2. DDP dodges in the corner and gets another roll up for 2. He drops Bagwell on the top turnbuckle. Diamond Cutter time. Bagwell counters it into a backslide for 2. He hits the perfectplex. Instead of going for the pin he demands that the ref does a 10 count KO on DDP. While that's going on he poses some more. DDP gets up with little drama and Bagwell kicks him. He goes for a Rude Awakening style neckbreaker. DDP counters into the Diamond Cutter! The NWO B team runs in and DDP exits into the crowd. Kind of a quick trigger on the DQ call since no one actually touched DDP but whatever. The match was as much as DDP was going to get out of Bagwell. **3/4

 

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: Eddie Guerrero (c) def Chris Jericho in 12:00- Now this has potential, even though both guys are still years away from their respective peaks. Lockup and Guerrero hits an armdrag. Jericho grabs a waistlock. Guerrero counters into an arm wringer. A counter series leads to Jericho holding a hammerlock. Guerrero gets a leg takedown. Speed run and Guerrero goes for a spinning heel kick but his whole body accidentally hits Jericho. He plants Jericho with a Saito suplex for 2. Jericho responds with his own Saito. A Jericho abdominal stretch leads to a test of strength. Jericho works it into a northern lights suplex, which leads to the bridge up spot and a Jericho backslide for 2. Delayed suplex. More back and forth takedowns and stalemate reset. Jericho hits a spinebuster into a not Walls of Jericho Boston crab. Jericho tiltawhirls Guerrero into a torture rack! He drops Guerrero down on his shoulders and covers for 2. Lex Luger is in the back drafting a move stealing case for kangaroo court. Guerrero dodges a springboard crossbody and hits a clothesline. Powerbomb for 2. Brain buster. Guerrero goes up top. Jericho dodges, but Guerrero rolls through the landing. HUGE release German suplex from Jericho! Another tiltawhirl into an attempt at a not yet named Codebreaker but Guerrero flips over it and hits the ropes. Jericho gets a snap belly to belly suplex and covers. Guerrero gets a foot on the ropes. Jericho crotches Guerrero on the top rope and knocks him to the floor with a springboard dropkick. Big splash off the top to the floor! He comes off the top again in the ring. Guerrero catches him into an inverted atomic drop! Backslide for a long 2. Both guys swing spinning heel kicks, then collide midring. Jericho hits a powerslam for 2. Guerrero rolls Jericho up out of a suplex for 2. Jericho superkick with a great Guerrero delayed sell flop. Magistral cradle from Jericho for 2. Guerrero tries a tornado DDT but Jericho blocks it into another northern lights suplex for 2. Guerrero goes through another series of rapid fire counters, gets Jericho into a sunset flip cradle, and that gets the pin! After the match Jericho is clearly frustrated but they handshake it out. There's a few rough patches due to inexperience, but it's still a fantastic match from two future legends. Jericho worked in a lot of early teases for his future heel turn and that only makes it better. ***3/4

 

Three Way Dance: Public Enemy def The Faces of Fear and Harlem Heat (w/Sister Sherri) in 7:41- This was supposed to be a four way for the #1 contender's spot with the Steiners in the match, but on Nitro recently the Steiners were involved in an NWO caused car crash that apparently was so gruesome Tony says they'll never show footage of it on TV again. Probably means it was crap more than anything else. I don't remember. He also says the Steiners will be back in action soon so it can't have been that bad. Because of all that this is no longer a #1 contender's match. Barbarian and Rock start with Barbarian dominating with his power. Ray blind tags in and barely gets Rock up for a press slam. Heat kick Grunge from both sides. Booker hits the scissors kick for 2. Rock takes a few step towards Sherri before getting cut off. Long beatdown of Grunge by Heat. Booker spinaroonies and hits a heel kick. Grunge and Booker almost legit run into each other during a whip reversal. Meng tags in and works Booker over. The FOF beat Booker down in their corner. Barbarian hits a superplex. Meng piledriver. Double flying headbutt from FOF. Everyone kind of meanders around for a minute after that before the FOF hit Booker with their double team powerbomb finisher. The cover is broken up. Barbarian big boots Booker out to the floor. Rock tries coming off the top rope but Barbarian scoops him out of midair. Grunge follows up with his own crossbody off the top, and gets the upset pin! Not the worst WCW three way tag match. The FOF were actually a fairly underrated team at this time because they worked the power game so well. *1/2

 

Jeff Jarrett def Steve "Mongo" McMichael (w/Debra McMichael) in 8:09- After months on the periphery, if Jarrett wins this match he officially becomes a member of the Horsemen. Tony asks the logical question, will he be a 5th Horseman or is someone going to get kicked out if Jarrett wins? The weird thing is, Jarrett had been a face (with zero traction because no one took him seriously as a face) his whole WCW run to this point, but he wrestles this match very much as his old heel self. I can't remember if he officially turned on weekly TV or if it was just something for the night. Jarrett does his strut to boos before the bell. Mongo throws the 4 up to a small pop. Basic start, Jarrett hits a hiptoss and struts again to more boos. Another lockup, Jarrett gets an armdrag and hops on the corner to chill Tyler Breeze style. Mongo catches Jarrett on a floatover and powerslams him. Chop blocks to Jarrett's knee. Jarrett rolls out and Debra blocks Mongo from attacking. Oh yeah, they were also doing a thing where Debra, Mongo's wife, was clearly into Jarrett. We all know how that turned out. Jarrett uses the distraction to get a cheap shot. He wraps Mongo up in an abdominal stretch and gets extra rope leverage. Debra very playfully teases hitting Jarrett's hand with the briefcase. When Jarrett doesn't let go she goes ahead and does it. Mongo hiptosses, then misses a legdrop. He gives Jarrett a press slam and 360 clothesline to the floor. Debra goes over and gives Jarrett a towel. Mongo grabs it, chokes Jarrett with it, and gives him a couple of guardrail shots. A Jarrett faceplant back in gets him back in control. Short clothesline that Mongo has no idea how to sell. Jarrett hooks on the sleeper. Mongo quickly powers out and puts on his own sleeper. Jarrett back suplexes out. Mongo hits some forearms and barely gets Jarrett up for a side suplex. A Rock Bottom style slam gets 2. The match is getting really disjointed because Mongo is constantly losing his place more the longer it goes on. Jarrett hits a crossbody off the top for 2. The ref takes a shot on the kickout. Mongo wants the briefcase. Debra refuses to give it to him, then blind tosses it away, conveniently right into the ring and Jarrett's waiting arms. Briefcase shot on Mongo and Jarrett gets the win. He's now officially in the Horsemen. Details to follow. It's a Mongo match. 3/4*

 

San Francisco Death Match: Chris Benoit (w/Woman) def Kevin Sullivan (w/Jimmy Hart and Miss Jacqueline) in 8:33- The feud that just won't end. Haven't these people's personal lives been ruined enough by this going on so long? Obviously not. What exactly is a San Francisco Death Match? Do they wrestle in the poop and used needle strewn streets of San Fran because that is dicing with death. Turns out that even though death match is in the name it's not regular death match rules, it's your basic no DQ street fight. The extra twist is the women are tied together during the match with a leather strap, meaning that they're having an impromptu strap match at the same time. As soon as the strap is on everyone starts fighting and it's on! Sullivan no sells Benoit chops. Benoit goes up top but Sullivan slams him off, then hits a double underhook suplex. The women, who'd been whipping each other on the floor, get back in the ring still fighting. Sullivan tries to intervene and gets the leather strap right up his ghoolies for the trouble. Benoit then gets in and is smart enough not to straddle the strap, but Jacqueline does whip him in the back. Sullivan chokes Benoit with the strap and hangs him over the top rope. Jacqueline gives him a swift kick in the nads to even things up on that score. Woman jumps on her ex fists flying. The dream of many a divorcee. The women momentarily team up to clothesline both guys with the strap then get right back to fighting each other. Sullivan tights pulls Benoit to the floor. They brawl up the aisle and into the crowd while the women are still whipping each other in the ring. Knowing the history of this feud they're probably going right to the nearest public bathroom. No, they go into the main backstage area. Benoit gets slammed on a flatbed cart. A trash can gets thrown. The guys slowly work back through the crowd, up the aisle and back in the ring. The women swap out with them. Yes they were fighting the whole time in there. Sullivan gets Benoit in the tree of woe. He hits the running knee and double stomp. Woman gets in and whips Sullivan before he can cover. Benoit hits a piledriver. On Sullivan, not Woman. Benoit gets a table and sets it up in the ring. He puts Sullivan on top of it and goes up top. Jacqueline gets in and drapes herself on top of Sullivan. Benoit says what the hell and splashes them both off the top rope! The table didn't break, but it's so thick it wasn't supposed to. Benoit covers Sullivan under the table and gets the pin. Everyone worked the match fine, but it was a bit too chaotic to really be any good. I'd say they would have been better off having two separate matches, but then they wouldn't be able to do the postmatch angle. **1/4

Everyone but Woman is down and out in the ring. Arn Anderson comes out to survey the damage with a "My God" look on his face. Everyone is still out in the ring so we get a gaggle of officials running in: Paul Orndorff, Lee Marshall and Terry Taylor. There's a nice bit where Jimmy Hart actually consoles Woman it looks so serious. After a bit they do what I'm pretty sure was a first in wrestling: a triple stretcher job. The cameras follow the stretcher trio all the way to the back, into the ambulances, and out of the arena. The match didn't come together all that great for me, but that was a damn fine piece of business. But unfortunately it also means this feud will still continue.

Ad for the next PPV, Uncensored. Hopefully this will be the first Uncensored without a match so hideously awful it will make you want to swear off wrestling forever.

 

WCW World Tag Team Championship: The Giant (and "The Total Package" Lex Luger) def The Outsiders (c) (w/Syxx) in 8:52- Luger was recovering from a broken arm (real or kayfabe I'm not sure) so Giant, being the Giant, is perfectly willing to go after the tag champs alone in a handicap match. The bell rings with no Luger so I guess we really are doing this. Hall starts for the champs with a toothpick flick and doing his Frankenstein's monster like walk to mock the Giant. He tries knees to the gut and a hammerlock but Giant quickly puts him down with a back elbow. Hall retreats to his corner and the champs stall a bit. Hall tries some corner chops. Giant flips him around and hits chops of his own. He tosses Hall across the ring with a slam. Hall gets up, spits in Giant's face, and tags Nash in. Nash has a quick flurry and hits a corner clothesline. Giant responds with one of his own. Giant dropkick! That sends Nash to the floor. Giant posts Nash's back. Elbow drop. Syxx comes in and hits Giant off the top rope with the Cruiserweight belt. Hall hits the bulldog off the top and Nash covers for 2. The Outsiders work together to beat Giant down. Syxx completely whiffs on a kick from the floor that Giant kind of sells the wind gust from. Hall tries mounted punches but Giant shoves him out of the corner, more and more forcefully each time. Syxx tries coming off the top again. Giant catches him and throws him into Nash. Now Hall has the Cruiserweight belt and he nails Giant in the back with it. Nash hooks Giant up, and hits the jackknife! That understandably hurt him too. Here comes Luger, in street clothes and wearing a cast. Bischoff tries to stop him and gets tossed aside. Luger hops in the corner and wants a tag! And gets it! Cast shots on Nash and Hall! Right in front of the ref. He gets Nash up in the Torture Rack. Nash submits! We have new champs! The crowd goes nuts. For good measure Giant chokeslams Hall and gets the ref to count 3 on him. *3/4

But once again, it was not to be. For the second straight PPV, the next night on Nitro Bischoff reversed the decision, this time because Luger wasn't medically cleared, and handed the titles back to the Outsiders.

 

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Hollywood Hogan (c) (w/Ted DiBiase and Vincent) def "Rowdy" Roddy Piper in 10:54- Piper comes out in the same torn shirt he was wearing in the "escape from Alcatraz" bit. Commentary says he's a total wild man, feral, rabid, animalistic, etc. It's all very subtle. Hogan spits on Piper's kilt and that really sets Piper off. Hogan, to the shock of no one, stalls. After a bit Piper jumps out and attacks him in the aisle. Almost as soon as they get back in the ring Piper goes straight to a low blow. He chokes Hogan with his shirt. And bites him. More choking in the entrance aisle and Piper taps Hogan with a pathetic chairshot. Back in it's Hogan's turn for a low blow. Piper doesn't care and keeps on attacking. He gouges Hogan's face. Michael Wallstreet runs in and gets taken out. Vincent is down. Hogan uses the distraction to give Piper a throat shot. Piper again shrugs it off and does the old two finger eye poke. Hogan begs off. Piper gives him the two arm bell ring. Hogan tries to hit Piper's knee on the apron but yet again Piper acts like it didn't happen and he slugs away on Hogan on the floor. Hogan gets bounced on the top rope because there haven't been nearly enough low blows in this match yet. Sting and Randy Savage come out on the entrance stage. After his feud with Hogan the previous fall Savage left WCW for a time due to them being deadlocked on contract negotiations. They finally hammered a deal out and Savage returned to WCW in late January, claiming he'd been blackballed by Bischoff and joining Sting in the "we might be on one side, we might be on the other" club. Savage starts to walk to the ring but Sting stops him. When Sting turns around Savage keeps right on walking and goes all the way to ringside. Sting watches from the entrance area but doesn't do anything. All this intrigue is WAY more interesting than anything going on in the actual match. Hogan breaks out the big guns with the dreaded back rake, then posts Piper's back. And his knee. More slugfest with Piper completely forgetting the knee. Hogan hooks on a bear hug. He jaws at Savage a bit. Piper goes down for a 2 count. After a couple of arm drops Piper bell rings out. Piper dodges an elbow drop. Yet another low blow, this time from Hogan. There's more low blows in this match than an entire AEW PPV, and that's saying something. Piper gets the sleeper on! Arm drops. Hogan's arm goes down three times and the ref calls for the bell! Piper wins the title! Or does he? Savage pulls Hogan toward him. The ref stops everything, talks with Piper, and rings the bell to restart the match for no apparent reason. Commentary has no clue, that's for sure. With the camera on Savage almost the whole time so we barely see any of it. What a clusterfuck. Savage is digging in his pocket. He hands Hogan something. Hogan waffles Piper with one punch, covers him, and gets the pin, then quickly hands the knucks back to Savage. Savage and Hogan then confirm everything by hugging. Savage has joined the NWO. I guess Savage has forgiven Hogan for torturing him for months by stealing Elizabeth. Savage gives Piper a spraypaint job, then they hit Piper with the elbow off the top and legdrop. The show closes with a 5+ minute long NWO celebration and nothing else happening. Commentary says the match was restarted because Hogan's feet were under the bottom rope. Well they weren't there until after the ref had already called for the bell. I guess Savage was supposed to pull Hogan under the ropes before the third arm drop and messed up. Yet another NWO Hogan disaster of a main event. DUD

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Another NWO era show that might have scraped the good/very good line with a main event that wasn't a total train wreck. Still, there's some good quality earlier in the card, mostly in the first half, before it gets there and is mostly a good recovery after the disaster that was Souled Out.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C

WrestleMainia XV

Legacy Review

WrestleMania XV

March 28, 1999 from the First Union Center in Philadelphia, PA

Commentary: Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler

We're right in the middle of the Attitude Era, and Wrestlemania is coming to one of wrestling's best hotbed cities for the first time ever. Main eventing tonight is the first of what would be a trilogy of era-defining WM matches between Steve Austin and the Rock. Of note, Michael Cole is commentating his first of what would be many Manias as JR is still out following his latest attack of Bell's Palsy toward the end of '98.

The opening video features Freddie Blassie going over the stars of WM past and present, and the opening graphic is pure class. Very un-Attitude Era and very WM. PYRO, ballyhoo and it definitely feels like we're at Wrestlemania.

Triple Threat Match for the WWF Hardcore Championship: Hardcore Holly def Al Snow (w/Head) and "Bad Ass" Billy Gunn (c) in 7:06- Gunn gets a mic to do the DX intro but before he gets far Snow jumps him from behind and we go three way fighting for a bit. Gunn 360 sells a Holly clothesline. They go to the floor and everyone gets knocked around ringside with the Spanish announce table taking its first shot. I suspect it won't be the last. Holly suplexes Snow on the floor. Snow gets a hockey stick out from under the ring and starts stick checking some guys. Then he gets the ring crew's drinks tray and dumps it all out on Gunn. Gunn takes the tray and whacks Snow with it, then breaks the hockey stick over Holly. Snow gets a broom, breaks that, and starts wailing away on everyone with the broom handle. Gunn brings a chair in but gets cut off. Snow sets it up in the middle of the ring and launches himself Sabu style onto Gunn. That predictably gets an ECdub chant. Gunn and Holly take Head shots. Here comes the table. Snow sets it up in the corner. He and Holly spin around corner whip reversals and Holly hits a clothesline. Gunn gives Holly a chairshot and launches Snow through the table. Gunn fameassers Snow onto the chair! Finally that's his finisher now. Gunn covers but Holly nails him from behind with a chair. He covers Snow, and gets the pin and the title back! OK little hardcore brawl, but not what the ECW faithful are used to or as wild as previous Hardcore title matches. No one got dunked in a river. **

We get footage from the Sunday Night Heat preshow of the #1 contender's battle royale for the tag team titles, the winners getting a title shot on the main show. The Russo twist was that whoever the last two men in the ring were, regardless of whether they were a team or not, would get the title shot. The last two turned out to be Corporation member Test and very not Corporation member D'Lo Brown, and neither was very happy about being stuck with the other.

 

WWF Tag Team Championship: Owen Hart and Jeff Jarrett (c) (w/Debra) def Test and D'Lo Brown (w/Ivory) in 3:58- Brown and his regular partner Mark Henry had been going after the tag titles, but Henry was out with a knee injury. Brown and Test argue after their very separate entrances. Debra is wearing next to nothing tonight and of course Lawler freaks out over it. As usual with Debra, it does nothing for me. The challengers jump before the bell. Test gives Owen a big boot and tries to 360 clothesline him, but Owen flubs the launch and can't get over. The match settles in with Brown in control over Jarrett. Both sides tag and Owen gives Test some chops. Test plants him with a huge powerbomb. Owen hits the enzuguri. Brown breaks up a Sharpshooter attempt. Far from being thankful, Test tags him in and shouts at him to get his ass in there. Jarrett tries to hit Brown from the apron but Brown avoids it. Owen takes the opening to hit a spinning heel kick. The champs double team Brown and Jarrett gets a little bit of a strut in. Brown hits a double clothesline and we're already donnybrooking. The low down spinebuster gets 2 on Jarrett. Debra gets on the apron but Ivory pulls her down. Both Jacqueline and Terri Runnels come out to join the cat fight. Well, cat bitching. Owen hits a missile dropkick on Brown, Jarrett jackknife covers him and that gets the pin. After the match Test and Brown get fisty with each other. Pretty much as good as it could be for what little time they had. *1/2

 

Before the next match, I suppose I should get into the infamous Brawl for All tournament. I haven't had to yet thankfully because it was all on weekly TV. In the summer of '98, piggybacking off the success of MMA guys like Ken Shamrock transitioning into wrestling, WWF decided to put together a tournament of known tough guys and shoot fighters to see who was toughest of them all. The twist? All the matches would be shoot fights. No booking. As a result the tournament didn't go as planned, with unexpected winners, more than a few bruised egos and even more bruised body parts. JR summed it up best years later, saying no new stars were made and nothing was accomplished. Fans rejected it in much the same way wrestling fans in Japan rejected New Japan's move into "Inokism", blending shoot fights and booked wrestling, around the same time. Bart Gunn emerged as the surprising winner, defeating tournament favorite "Dr. Death" Steve Williams, who WWF signed solely for Brawl for All, in the second round and Bradshaw in the finals. As a result he gets the *ahem* honor of taking on legitimate boxer Butterbean tonight.

 

Brawl for All Match: Butterbean def Bart Gunn in :35- This is Butterbean's second WWF PPV appearance. In December '97 at D-X: In Your House he had a regular worked match with former boxer Marc Mero. No booking tonight, like the Brawl for All tournament this is as shoot as shoot can get  without guns. Before the match the Fink introduces a cavalcade of grandees, including an active boxer referee and ending with the great Gorilla Monsoon looking in very ill health in what would be one of his last public appearances before passing away in October. Like all Brawl for All matches this will be three 1 minute rounds. If it gets that far. Bell, both guys come in, and Butterbean gets a couple of decent early shots in. Gunn manages to land a couple of punches before a quick Butterbean flurry puts him right down. Stay down, son. Oh hell, Gunn's getting back up. Butterbean punches Gunn's head clean off with a right cross! You can almost see his soul leave his body. That's legal murder that is. Gunn goes down in a weightless heap and Cole instantly says it's over. It takes Gunn a good couple of minutes to come around. Clearly no one thought the match would be this short so someone in the back calls an audible and sends the San Diego Chicken, who was scheduled for later, out to improv with the boxer that was reffing the match. We also get a bevy of replays to kill time and bloody hell that KO punch looks even worse in slow-mo. So ends the disastrous experiment that was Brawl for All. WWF would never frak around with any kind of shoot matches ever again. This was a disaster, but an unintentionally hilarious disaster. Gunn left WWF right after this to go to All Japan full time, where he'd actually become a decent sized star. Butterbean would never again be invited back by WWF. NR

There used to be a video someone made of this entire match with music and sound effects from Mike Tyson's Punch Out overlaid onto it. It was one of the greatest things the wrestling internet community has ever made and it's a travesty I can't find it on Youtube or anywhere else anymore.

Next up is footage from Big Show attacking Mankind backstage during the preshow. Show had been camped out waiting for Austin to arrive, and of course Austin comes in behind him while he's busy pounding Mankind's face in.

 

Mankind def "The Big Show" Paul Wight by DQ in 6:50- The winner of this match will be the special guest referee for the main event. Show just came over from WCW and had his big shock debut on the last PPV, already a member of the Corporation and immediately targeting Austin. They're still settling on his name since WCW had "the Giant" trademarked. This match is all part of Vince's master plan to get Show installed as the ref in the main event to make sure Rock keeps the title. Another jump start. It's definitely Wrestlemania. Mankind tries to chop Show down with punches and clotheslines before running into a big boot. They go to the floor to brawl. Mankind tries for the double underhook DDT but Show backs him into the steps. Back in Show hits chops. The voice of future Michael Cole floats back in time saying something about "frying pan sized hands". Russian leg sweep from Show. Mankind ducks a punch and Show tumbles over the top to the floor. Socko is out. As Show's getting back in Mankind puts the Mandible Claw on! Show headbutts out. The Claw is back on! Show punches out. Again Mankind gets the Claw on, this time with a little low blow assist. Show fades and Hebner does the arm drops. Mankind works over onto Show's back. Show gets back up, lifts Mankind, and drops him back! All of Show's body weight landed on Mankind there. Damn. I'll give that a mild Foley bump. They go back to the floor with Show hitting a couple of chairshots. He sets two chairs up in the ring. Goozle. Chokeslam though the chairs! That finally crossed Hebner's line and he calls for the bell, DQ'ing Show. When Show realizes what's happening Hebner gets out of town quicker than a gazelle on steroids. *

Vince is out, and he's pissed. After a quick "You couldn't control him?" to Hebner he gets in the ring. Vince says he counted on Show to be the ref. "I'm Vince McMahon and you're nobody!" Show goozles Vince! He lifts him up....then rethinks it and sets him back down. Vince says no more mistakes. He slaps Show! More "you're nobody" talk. Show punches Vince out! It took all of one month for Show to have his first turn in WWF. Talk about foreshadowing a career. The Stooges help Vince to the back, while Mankind is stretchered out. Back in the back Vince and the Stooges wonder what they're going to do for a referee since Mankind is on his way to the hospital, then Vince demands that son of a bitch Show be arrested for assault.

 

Four Corners Elimination Match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship: Road Dogg (c) def Ken Shamrock, Val Venus and Goldust (w/The Blue Meanie and Ryan Shamrock) in 9:47- From the Attitude Era's "I can't believe that actually happened" files, I bring you Road Dogg as Intercontinental champion. He defeated Venus on Raw a couple of weeks before this for the title. Following their feud Goldust and Meanie are now on the same side with an....interesting relationship. Meanie calls Goldust "mommy". Don't ask, it's Russo. Shamrock's younger sister Ryan is going through more guys than She-Hulk in season 1, dumping Venus and now with Goldust for....reasons. Don't ask, it's Russo. Ryan and Meanie also don't get along even though they're supposed to be on the same side, another Russo booking tic that's quickly becoming cliche. Basically Road Dogg is the odd man out intersecting feud wise here, and he's the champion. This is two guys are legal and you have to tag in rules. Shamrock charges in for yet another jump start. Everyone takes shots and Shamrock is the last one standing after the initial exchange. He yells at ref Tim White to "Ring the bell!". Um, already done. We're live, pal. Shamrock and Dogg settle in with Shamrock in control. Dogg hits a dropkick and tags Goldust. Goldust spinebuster on Shamrock. Flying clothesline. Shamrock tags Venus in, but Venus ignores Goldust and stomps Shamrock instead. Goldust hits an atomic drop for 2. He hooks up for the Curtain Call. Venus flips over and hits a spinebuster for 2. Goldust sets Venus up top for a superplex. He legit slips off the ropes. Venus covers then hits a bulldog off the top for 2. Perfectplex for 2. These near falls are getting nothing from the crowd. Collision and Venus falls on Goldust's crotch. Shamrock and Dogg come in and give both guys DDTs. Goldust slow covers Venus for 2. Dogg swaps with Goldust behind the ref's back. Venus nails him with corner clotheslines. Dogg hits his dancing jabs on Venus, then Goldust. Shamrock gets the shimmy legdrop. He hops on the ropes to play to the crowd. Venus comes from behind and back suplexes him for 2. Dogg hooks Venus up, straight up humps his ass which is, OK, I guess if that's what you're into Double G, then hits the pumphandle slam. Shamrock blind tags in and hooks on the ankle lock. Venus drags himself to the ropes. Shamrock gets dumped to the floor and Ryan comes over to give him an earful. Venus hits a baseball slide. Shamrock and Venus fight up the aisle. Shamrock runs back to try to beat the count but they're both counted out. Pissed Shamrock belly to belly suplexes Goldust and Dogg, stares White down and leaves. Goldust covers Dogg for 2. The crowd is finally waking up now there's only two guys left. Ryan reaches out to trip but gets Goldust instead of Dogg. Goldust tries to powerslam Dogg, but Dogg rolls through into a cradle to get the pin and retain. After the match Goldust and Meanie kick Ryan out for messing up. Spotty McSpotfest. *3/4

We go outside and every indie wrestler in Philadelphia's been given a fake cop uniform to arrest Big Show. After that we get footage of recent happenings in the Kane/Triple H feud. A few weeks ago on Raw Kane got a fire flower and shot a fireball intended for Trips, but it hit Chyna in the face instead and put her out of action. Then last week on Raw Trips dressed up as Goldust (I don't remember why and I'm not asking, it's Russo) and hit Kane with a giant flamethrower, giving him "partial burns" that have already miraculously healed and re-traumatizing him.

As Kane makes his entrance he's attacked from behind by the San Diego Chicken! Kane gets the head off. It's Pete Rose! Rose is out for revenge! Kane gets him in the ring, and plants him with a Tombstone! Two straight Wrestlemanias. Highlight of the whole damn night so far. Kane murdering Pete Rose never gets old.

 

Kane def Triple H by DQ in 11:33- HHH comes in through the crowd behind Kane and low blows him. Six for six on jump starts tonight. Kane is dumped over the top and lands on his feet. HHH gives him some post and stair shots. A high knee knocks Kane off the apron and into the barricade. Back in Kane hits a big boot and tosses HHH right back out. He goozles HHH off the steps and crotches him on the barricade. Clothesline and HHH falls into the Mean Street Posse! That's Shane McMahon's buddies and you'll be seeing more of them later. HHH's back is posted. Kane goes into beatdown mode back in. Clothesline and legdrop for 2. Kane no sells a kick and hits another clothesline. HHH gets tossed over the top back to the floor. KANE RUNNING PLANCHA! OK, that was something. Kane goes up top but HHH slams him back down. He punches Kane down to one knee. Facebuster. The high knee hits and Kane's down. Here comes Chyna. You knew it was coming. Both guys go for finishers only to have them countered out of. Kane drops an elbow then flops down for no logical reason other than Chyna needed time to slide the steps into the ring. HHH kicks the steps in Kane's face, then drop toe holds him into them. Another 360 clothesline. HHH goes for a Pedigree on the bottom half of the steps. Kane backdrops out. Chokeslam back in the ring. Chyna gets on the apron with a chair. She wants to finish HHH off. Kane says OK, and turns his back to her. Oh hell, we all know what's coming. Yup, Chyna nails Kane with the chair! Barely two months after Chyna turned on DX to join the Corporation, she's turning on Kane to rejoin HHH. Russoriffic. And that's just the start of it. That chairshot drew the DQ, the second DQ finish of the night. At Wrestlemania. HHH gives Kane a Pedigree on the chair. Chyna jumps back into HHH's arms and the crowd goes nuts for it. If only they knew what was coming. Very disappointing match. It was your classic "dog it until the angle hits" match. *1/4

Vince is with Kevin Kelley, who's wondering who's going to replace Mankind as the guest ref in the main event tonight. Vince says he just so happens to have a ref's shirt in his bag, so he'll be reffing the match! Makes you wonder why he didn't just do that in the first place. Vince also says there'll be "no more controversy". I highly doubt that.

 

WWF Women's Championship: Sable (c) def Tori in 5:06- Sable's just started her post-Playboy arrogant heel run, but the crowd is still cheering for her. Could be a Philly thing but I doubt it. Tori debuted a couple of months back as a deranged Sable superfan. I'm trying to work out the story since but, once again, don't ask, it's Russo. She's billed as an inexperienced rookie which isn't too far from the truth. She did get training and a bit of experience in the indies in the early '90s but has been out of the game for a long while. Tori's outfit is very reminiscent of Giant Gonzales, which is appropriate for this match. Tori tries for a jump start but Sable kicks at her to keep her out of the ring. I'm calling that seven for seven on jump starts tonight. After a couple more attempts like that Tori drags Sable out. Sable takes apron and barricade shots and Tori hits a chop. Whip reverse and Tori goes into the barricade. Sable hits a horrible crossbody off the apron, almost landing on her head. More Sable kicks back in. Tori hits a clothesline with a horrible Sable sell. Corner clotheslines from Tori. Tori tries to roll over Sable into a cradle in the corner and barely gets the job done. Sable jackknife cover. They fuck up the bridge up spot something fierce as the crowd starts to turn on the match. Tori ducks kicks and runs into the ref. Sable goes for the Sable Bomb. Tori is supposed to counter out of it, but they do it so badly it looks like another fuck up. It probably was. A giant, bigger than Chyna woman comes into the ring. This is Nicole Bass, formerly of ECW and, as Cole mentions, featured on Howard Stern. Bass gorilla presses Tori Ultimate Warrior style. Sable Bomb and it's mercifully over. Almost everything they did was disjointed or mistimed in some way. That's up there with Undertaker vs Giant Gonzales (see why it was appropriate?) and the WM 6 mixed tag match as one of the worst Wrestlemania matches ever. DUD

All of DX is back together backstage heading to X-Pac's title match. Stronger than ever. Nothing's breaking them apart again.

 

WWF European Championship: Shane McMahon (c) (w/Test) def X-Pac in 8:41- Shane won the European title on Raw in February in a tag match where the title was on the line. He's taken to having "X-Punk" taped over his jersey during the feud, but tonight it's "X-Chump". The Mean Street Posse are all at ringside draped in their cardigans and ready to cheer their boy Shane on. That was a hilarious gimmick. Patterson and Brisco attack Pac from behind on the ramp. Eight for eight. Pac easily fights them off and charges the ring. Shane bails and stalls. After a bit he gets in, goads Pac, and bails again. This time Pac chases. They go into a speed run in the ring. Shane does a leapfrog and celebrates. Oh, the irony of what happened to him the last time he did a leapfrog, at Wrestlemania 38. Pac nails him with a roundhouse kick. Shane goes down in the corner. Test saves him from the bronco buster. Shane walks up the aisle. Pac chases and throws him back in. Test hits Pac from behind and throws him crotch first into the post! Damn. Pac beats the count back in and Shane is all over him. Corner knee flurry and Shane slaps him. Slam. The elbow pad is off. Shane's going for it! Pac dodges the Corporate Elbow. Test distracts the ref and Shane hits a low blow. Surprised Pac even felt that, he just went nads first INTO THE RING POST. Shane gets a belt and whips Pac with it, right in front of the ref. I guess there's logic in "there's no way a ref will DQ a McMahon". They're good belt shots too. Pac ducks and dumps Shane over the top to the floor, right in front of the Posse. Pac plancha! The Posse try to grab Pac. Pac knocks them all down! Test hits Pac with a clothesline and tosses him back in. Shane hits an elbow off the second rope. He goes up top. Pac dropkicks and superplexes him. Test pulls him out of his cover. Pac fights Test off and he goes into the steps. Now Pac has the belt and he goes nuts on Shane with it. Back and front. They're going for it and it's great. Corner kick combo and the bronco buster hits. Test comes from behind again and nails Pac with the European title belt. Shane crawls and covers. Pac kicks out! Shane tries for his own bronco buster but Pac dodges it. Test gets in and Pac fights him off again. HHH and Chyna are here to the delight of the crowd. Pac hits Shane with the X-Factor! But Chyna has the ref distracted. What the hell? HHH comes from behind and plants Pac with the Pedigree! WHAT? HHH drapes Shane over Pac, and he gets the pin! Now that was fun overbooking, with both guys working the match well. The legend of Shane the part time wrestler is being born, and he didn't even do any of his crazy ass high spots. ***

After the match HHH and Chyna celebrate with the Corporation guys, then HHH and Test continue the beatdown on Pac. The New Age Outlaws run in and HHH fights them too. The lights go out, Kane runs in and chases the Corporation off. So to recap: Chyna was not rejoining HHH in DX, HHH was joining Chyna in the Corporation, while at the same time kicking Kane out even though Vince had spent months threatening Kane with committal to an insane asylum if he left the Corporation. Kane and X-Pac will become a team after this while Pac and the NAO try to keep DX going on life support. And folks, that's just the start of the craziness that will ensue from this the rest of the year. I know I've mentioned it before but '99 is the year Russo's stuff really started to go off the rails.

Oh, and on the next Sunday Night Heat Shane will decide he's had enough of the European title and "retire" it. It'd vanish for a few months, then over the summer Mideon of all people found it in Shane's bag and was awarded it as the new champion, cementing the European title's status as the "oh yeah, we have this thing too" title.

 

Hell in a Cell Match: The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) def The Big Boss Man in 9:46- This is the Ministry of Darkness vs the Corporation match. The Undertaker has been tormenting Vince and his family for weeks, including kidnapping Shane and lots of hint dropping that Taker is after Vince's as yet not on TV daughter. The first hints have also been dropped about the "Higher Power", which will end up being the most disappointing wrestling reveal since the Black Scorpion. I don't think there's any other feud that showed more that Russo didn't give a damn about having any good guys. Everyone's awful. If it was possible I think Taker's gone even MORE satanic since the last PPV. Suppose I should mention this is also the first ever Hell in a Cell match at a WM. Boss Man opens up with punching. A lot of punching. Amazingly I think they paused enough after the bell to call this the first non-jump start of the night. Taker does his corner toss and lays in his punches. Kinda funny the ref telling them to open up the closed fists. It's HELL IN A CELL! No DQ. Taker hits a clothesline for 2. Boss Man hits a swinging neckbreaker to shock us all with an actual wrestling move. They go outside and Boss Man gets run into the cage. Whip reversal and Taker goes into the cage. Boss Man gets handcuffs out and cuffs Taker to the cage. The nightstick is out. Boss Man nails Taker in the head with it, which also breaks the handcuffs. More nightstick shots and Taker's busted open. Taker goozles and pulls Boss Man into the cage. Chairshot from Taker. Boss Man gets lawn darted into the cage and is now bleeding. There's lots of boos floating around the crowd and I don't think it's directed at any specific wrestler, but the match in general. They get back in the ring and Taker hits the flying clothesline for 2. Taker goes for old school but Boss Man kicks him down. He pushes Taker off and he falls into the cage to the floor. Slugfest back in the ring as the crowd continues to show zero interest in what's going on. Taker hits a low blow. He scoops for the Tombstone but Boss Man fights out. A little more back and forth, Taker scoops again, hits the Tombstone, and mercy kills the match. That's up there with Undertaker vs Giant Gonzales, the WM 6 mixed tag match, and Sable vs Tori from earlier tonight as one of the worst Wrestlemania matches ever. DUD

But we're not done. The Brood all come down from the ceiling in a stunt you're about to not see ever happen anymore and land on the top of the cage. They force open the cage roof and lower what looks like a rope in. No. Noooooooooooooooooo no way they are not. It's a noose. A frelling noose. The Brood get pulled back up into the rafters. Bearer has the cage controls and raises it. Boss Man is literally hung. Hung. For real. He passes out and looks dead. The lights go out and I hope someone is getting Boss Man's ass down before he really suffocates. Talk about things you'll never, ever see again, and this one with good reason. MINUS FIVE STARS doesn't even cover that shit.

After we just saw a man almost literally murdered we now go to footage from the Wrestlemania Rage Party earlier in the weekend. After that Cole is in the ring and brings out.....JR! JR is back! Cole takes his leave and it's just JR and Lawler for the main event. Poor guy's face still looks awful. When he gets settled Fink announces the guest ref for the match.....Mr. McMahon. With no ref shirt. That means he's not a real ref. He said he had one! When he gets in the ring Commissioner Shawn Michaels' music hits, and he's got real ref Mike Chioda with him. Apparently the WWF Rulebook (if it exists) that Vince apparently has never read states that only one man can appoint a referee at Wrestlemania (very specific and convenient clause), and that is the Commish. Shawn sends Vince off, and goes the extra step of barring the Corporation from ringside. Chioda stays in the ring to ref this match.

 

No DQ Match for the WWF Championship: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin def The Rock (c) in 16:52- This is the match Austin comes out in one of his t-shirts because he forgot his vest at home. Rock talks trash while Austin tries to hit the corners. Austin swings and it's on! 9 for 10 is our final jump start count for the night. Rock tosses Austin over the top and he goes all the way into the English announce table, still in his shirt. Rock takes the shirt and chokes Austin with it. Austin reverses a whip and uses momentum to send Rock *flying* over the top to the floor. And into the crowd for the mandatory late '90s crowd brawl. They get back ringside, Austin tosses Rock over the barricade on the other side and they go into the crowd on that side! Rock chokes Austin with a TV cable. Up the aisle to the stage area. Rock gets whipped into the hockey wall and takes a clothesline. Rock backdrops out of a piledriver and Austin's knee hits one of the giant lights at the end of the entrance stage. That looked accidental. Either it was and they rolled with it or did a hell of a job making it look that way. Austin slugs back and runs Rock into the crane camera. Austin tops it off with a Greco Roman Nut Stomp. No DQ. Now Rock gets choked with some cable. Austin whips him into the giant metal WM logo that's most of the entrance stage. Rock suplexes Austin in the aisle. They go around to the tables again and Rock does his now traditional swig of JR's water, then spits it in Austin's face. Austin drops Rock on the guardrail then drapes him over the Spanish announce table. He drops an elbow off the barricade onto Rock on the table! No table break. Second try, and there goes the Spanish announce table! Austin returns the favor with a water spit in Rock's face. Hey, they're back in the ring! I wondered if they forgot it was there. Then Rock drags Austin down, posts his knee, and they're fighting on the floor again. Another try at getting in the ring. Rock Bottom outta nowhere! Austin kicks out! Rock gets a chair in. Austin takes it away, swings, and Chioda takes it in the head! Rock pulled him in as a shield. Swinging neckbreaker from Rock. Austin blocks a chairshot, Rock pushes out of the Stunner, and Austin takes a back elbow. Chairshots on Austin's hurt knee. Another chairshot to Austin's head. Rock covers and backup ref Tim White comes in to count. Austin JUST kicks out! Rock hooks on a chinlock as Chioda is carried out. Clothesline from Rock and back to the chinlock. After a bit Austin fights out again. Rock Samoan drop for 2. Rock doesn't like the count and Rock Bottoms White. Stunner! No ref. Hebner runs in to count and Rock kicks out! Here comes Vince. He gets Austin's attention and gets flipped off. Rock blocks a chairshot with a straight Greco Roman Nut Punch. Vince comes in and punches Hebner out! That's three refs down. Vince joins Rock in mudhole stomping Austin. Mankind is here! He's alive! And he has a ref shirt on so he's an official official. Mankind takes Vince out. Austin rolls Rock up and Mankind counts 2. Thesz Press! Rock hits another Rock Bottom! He doesn't cover. Instead, he poses. Elbow pad off. Austin dodges the Corporate Elbow! Rock goes for another Rock Bottom. Austin fights out. Stunner! Austin gets the pin and finally wins the title back after months of screwjobs! Vince is devastated. The show closes as it should, with a long Austin celebration (Hebner joins in very enthusiastically) and Vince taking a Stunner. It's overbooked all to hell like most everything else from this era, but it's also a lot of fun and a very satisfying conclusion, even if a temporary one (the part WCW could never figure out). Rock and Austin worked beautifully together. You know they have better matches in them and will prove it later. ***1/2

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- After the most Russoriffic Rumble earlier in the year, this is the most Russoriffic Wrestlemania. We're definitely scraping near the bottom of the WM barrel here. It's got not one, but two of the greatest turds in WM history, plus the Brawl for All match which is also a disaster, but a hilarious one. Still, it's not quite in the list of absolute worst WMs ever with 2, 9 and 11, largely thanks to the excellent main event. The double swerve DX stuff also ends up as a small net plus if you don't overanalyze it too much.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D+