Road Wild '97

Legacy Review

Road Wild '97

August 9, 1997 from the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis, SD

 

Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Dusty Rhodes

 

Personal note: I know reviews have been a bit more sporadic lately, but there's a good reason for that. Since the day it was released I've been plowing through Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and just finished it. What an absolute gaming masterpiece. It's going to be a very long wait for the final installment (which I would put money on being called Reunion). When it's all done the FF7 Remake trilogy might stand as the greatest accomplishment in the long and storied history of the Final Fantasy series.

 

Now I need to play through the original FF7 again. But enough about that, on with the show.

 

The show name has changed from Hog Wild to Road Wild, but the venue is the same: the largest motorcycle rally in the world, AKA Biker Heaven. Like last year the ring is set up in a field outside, but unless I'm remembering wrong I think they're using a different location this year inside the town limits, and the entire crowd is bikers using their bikes at seats, occasionally revving their engines if they're excited about something. Or mad. Or bored. It's a unique atmosphere to say the least. Not particularly good unique.

The big story going into this show is this past Monday on Nitro Lex Luger cashed in his long delayed World title opportunity and, in a major shock, finally dethroned Hollywood Hogan as World champ, ending Hogan's reign at just shy of one year. Ratings pop! Because of that the NWO is considered to be fully on their heels, and most of the matches on this show are WCW vs NWO in an attempt to finish the NWO off once and for all. Yeah, right.

 

Harlem Heat def Vicious and Delicious (w/Vincent) in 10:20- Vicious and Delicious are the NWO team of Scott Norton and Buff Bagwell. Harlem Heat get a much better reception than the previous year in Sturgis. Bagwell and Booker start with some basics. Booker blocks a belly to belly suplex, both guys hit hiptosses, Bagwell dropkicks both Heat members and hits Booker with a clothesline. Norton squashes Booker in the corner then misses on the other end. Booker hits a hook kick and tags. Norton side suplexes Ray. Booker kicks Norton in the back from the apron and Ray hits him with a bicycle kick. Booker maneuvers into suplexing Norton. Norton is being outpowered by both Heat guys, very unusual for him. Booker hits an ugly flying forearm and Bagwell breaks the pin attempt up. Norton grabs a kick swinging Booker, slams him and tags. Bagwell hot tag run. Ray pulls the top rope down and Bagwell tumbles out of the ring. Weird dynamic so far in this match with Heat clearly playing the heels despite having been tweeners at worst for a while, and even more strange the NWO team are wrestling like faces. Bagwell's turned the annoying meter almost down to zero. Must have been almost physically painful for him. Bagwell goes in peril with Heat wearing him down for a while. Booker hits the scissors kick, takes forever to cover and gets 2. Bagwell gets a boot up in the corner and hits a clothesline. Ray cuts the tag off and hits a northern lights bomb for 2. Someone's been watching Kensuke Sasaki tape. Jacqueline makes her way out to the ring. The bikers start revving because a woman is in view. She goes straight to Heat's corner as Bagwell hits a crossbody for 2. Vincent is less than pleased at Jacqueline being there. Bagwell flips out of a Booker powerbomb attempt and hits his own. Norton tags in (and already halfway in the ring when he does) and starts unloading the power moves on everyone. DONNYBROOK! Ray gets into it with Vincent on the floor. Norton hits Booker with his Shoulderbreaker of Death. Jacqueline jumps on Norton's back! Booker absolutely decapitates Norton with a hard leg lariat, covers, and Jacqueline holds Norton's boot down while Booker gets the pin. Now we know who Sherri's replacement is. *1/2

 

Mexican Death Match: Konnan def Rey Mysterio Jr in 10:20- Mike Tenay checks in for this one. This is listed as a Mexican Death Match on all the cards online, but is never called that on the broadcast and it's worked more like a regular no DQ match, though the only way you can really tell is the ref not enforcing rope breaks. The freshly NWO joined Konnan hurt Mysterio's knee to set this up, a knee that's clearly still bothering Mysterio as he walks to the ring. Jump start and Mysterio is flipping around early. Springboard dropkick. Flying headscissors. Konnan drops Mysterio on the top turnbuckle and chop blocks his bad knee. He goes to work on it, wrapping Mysterio up in a sort of reverse Tequila Sunrise. Mysterio gets to the floor to recover. He hits another flying headscissors from the apron going back in the ring. Konnan hits another chop block and wraps the knee up again. After a bit Mysterio gets some shots in and hits a clothesline. He can't get back up and Konnan's on the knee again. He starts untying Mysterio's mask, hits a powerbomb, and gets the mask off! Mysterio fights away and gets it back on with his face never being fully exposed. He hits a dropkick and gives Konnan a couple of legdrops. He goes for a double springboard moonsault but misses and hurts his knee again. Mysterio wheelbarrows Konnan into an armdrag. Konnan hits a belly to belly. Mysterio works into a roll up for 2 and dropkicks Konnan's knee. He slowly goes up top, doing a great job of selling the knee, barely able to climb up. Konnan catches him coming off and DDTs him. The Tequila Sunrise is on in full, and Mysterio taps out. Konnan is slow to break but finally does. The medical team runs out with a leg brace for Mysterio. Psychologically sound match and a great resilient performance from Mysterio. **

Mean Gene shows off his new Sturgis tattoo, then has tonight's hotline shill: there's TWO new managers in WCW, including one "former world champion". Film at 11. Hope they gave refunds if one of those two was Jacqueline.

 

Elimination Match: Steve "Mongo" McMichael and Chris Benoit def WCW United States Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett and Dean Malenko (w/Debra McMichael) in 9:36- Benoit's finally done with Kevin Sullivan and the Dungeon of Doom, just in time to join Mongo in his feud with former Horseman Jarrett. At the last PPV Mongo's wife Debra turned on him to join Jarrett. Malenko is a 100% hanger on here. I wish I could say this is part of the angle that leads to Malenko becoming a Horseman, but that's still over a year away. After posing a lot Jarrett starts with Benoit. Benoit outwrestles him, but Jarrett manages to fire off an armdrag and, of course, struts. That's enough work as he tags Malenko in. Benoit gets a quick shoulderblock and Malenko thinks about it. They go into a great extended speed/counter run that's as good as you'd expect from these two. Malenko drops Benoit on his head while small packaging him for 2. Double clothesline and no one moves. Mongo tags in and runs into a drop toe hold. Benoit kicks Malenko from the apron, Mongo hits a tiltawhirl slam, and Malenko goes in peril for the majority of the match. Benoit hits some chops. Mongo knocks him around while the crowd chants "Jarrett sucks". Benoit hits a back elbow for 2. Side suplex from Mongo. Benoit snap suplex for 2. Mongo hits a powerslam. He goes for the 3 point stance tackle, but Malenko dodges and tags Jarrett in! Here we go. Jarrett wants nothing to do with Mongo but Malenko barely has any HP left on the apron. Jarrett eye pokes Mongo, gives him a jawbreaker, then pulls Mongo on top of him and lets Mongo pin him! Jarrett's eliminated, and he celebrates as he leaves thinking he's a genius. Malenko is left to the wolves. He gives it a go, but the numbers are just too much. Benoit hits a tombstone and the headbutt off the top, then Mongo hits his own tombstone and gets the pin. Kinda dumb, but given Jarrett's character it makes some sense. Not like we didn't know it before but we definitely need a Benoit/Malenko singles match. *3/4

 

WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Alex Wright (c) def Chris Jericho in 13:03- Wright is a far cry from his Das Wunderkind days when he was on every PPV, but was getting a bit of a renewed push thanks to a recent heel turn and upset Jericho for the title a couple of weeks prior on Nitro. Oh hell Wright's dancing again. Funny thing is he's dancing the exact same way he used to as a face and now it's getting legit heel heat instead of go away heat because of how bad it is. At least they've gotten more self aware with him. Tenay checks in again for this match. Wright hides in the ropes after a hammerlock exchange and gets booed. A chant I can't make out sets Wright off. Wright snap mares out of a lockup and celebrates. He hits some chops in the corner after a break and that pisses Jericho off. Armdrags and chops from Jericho and Wright powders. After some stalling he runs into a Jericho drop toe hold. Wright goes to some heel 101 hair pulls. Speed run and Jericho hits a spinning heel kick. Both guys flips out of suplex attempts and Wright gets crotched on the top rope. Jericho springboard dropkicks him off to the floor. Springboard plancha! Wright gets slammed on the ring platform. Whip reversal and Jericho goes into the steps. Wright suplexes him on the platform. Back in Wright goes up top but Jericho slams him off Flair style. Dropkick, armdrag and Jericho works the arm for a bit. He hits a whole bunch of forearms while commentary calls him out for not knowing what to do next. It does seem like they lost their place a bit. Wright hits a spinning heel kick. He hits a stomp off the top rope and does some more of what can loosely be called dancing. Jericho dodges a moonsault off the top. Bunch of running corner clotheslines from Jericho. Lionsault! Senton follow up for 2. Jericho hits a double powerbomb with a slow cover for 2. He goes up top. Wright falls against the ropes and Jericho is crotched. Wright hits a superplex for 2. Jericho blocks a German suplex and gets a roll up for 2. Side suplex for 2. He goes for another cradle. Wright reverses it, grabs a handful of tights, and gets the pin. Jericho would get another rematch in a couple of weeks on Nitro and take the title back then. The match was fine but not up to the usual standard set by the Cruiserweight title. Jericho was still learning and Wright was Wright. **3/4

 

"Nature Boy" Ric Flair def Syxx in 11:06- We're finally getting some payoff for Syxx distracting Flair out of a tag match with Piper back at Great American Bash. Both guys play some mind games early and Flair gives us a strut. Syxx hits a shoulderblock and celebrates, including a DX style crotch chop. They can't stop shouting out their old buddies. Flair hooks up an arm and hair pulls Syxx down, with Syxx kiping back up. Flair switches to chops. Syxx back elbows out of a hammerlock. Flair dodges in the corner and Syxx flies over the top and tumbles down to the floor. Back in Syxx tries to flip out of a top wristlock but Flair chops him down to the mat. Another chop and Flair gives Syxx a crotch chop! Syxx ducks a clothesline and hits a roundhouse kick. He legdrops Flair right on the side of the head. Corner kick combo. Syxx hits the bronco buster. Tony tries to explain the buster is really a wrestling move because it "hurts the shoulders". Yeah, not buying that for a second. Syxx hooks on a chinlock and the match stops dead as Flair, very un-Flair like, just lays there for a bit. More corner kicks. It's hard to tell with the way Flair sells but it looks like one of those might have legit caught him flush on the jaw and knocked him a bit loopy. Setup slam from Syxx and he hits a legdrop off the top for 2. Slugfest and another Syxx heel kick. Back to the chinlock. Flair Flip! He shoulderblocks back in. After some chops they seem to lose their place for a second before Flair hits a kneebreaker. He holds onto the leg and Syxx responds with an enzugrui. Flair dodges a senton off the top. Chop block to the knee. Figure four! Syxx quickly grabs a rope. He goes for the Buzzkill (a crossface chicken wing) but Flair fights it off before it's fully applied. He falls in the corner and Syxx goes for the bronco buster again. Flair gets a boot up in Syxx's crotch! He cradles, puts his feet on the ropes, and gets the pin! Never try to outcheat the old master. The match was fine but could have been much better. I think Syxx was at about 50% effort at best his whole WCW run, and Flair seemed off here too even before the possible kick to the jaw. **3/4

 

Curt Hennig def Diamond Dallas Page (w/Kimberly) in 9:41- DDP's taking some time away from his blood feud with Randy Savage to get some revenge on Hennig, who turned on him during a tag match at the last PPV. For the record Hennig has not joined the NWO, yet. The sun is starting to set as we're getting into the latter part of the show. Hennig leads a chase around the ring and knees DDP every time he tries to get in the ring. DDP pulls him out, pounds on him a bit, and slides him back in the ring. Now the bell rings to officially start things. Hennig does a hair pull and DDP laughs at it. He gets Hennig in the corner, pulls his singlet straps down, and lays in some elbows and chops. Hennig tumbles through the ropes off a chop. DDP gives him the hair swing Hennig always took. Hennig gets crotched on the post. He tries to fight back with some back elbows while DDP pulls his tights down, exposing his undertights. Off a DDP punch Hennig sells as much as he can anymore. 5 years ago that would have been a 360 sell. DDP goes up top and gets crotched. Hennig chokes him with his towel. He hits DDP with a clothesline....punch....not sure what that was supposed to be. Clothespunch? Punchline? Kneelift and big chop from Hennig. He does the snap mare/neck snap combo. That's the one move he's got that still looks as good as his heyday. A back elbow cuts off a DDP comeback. Hennig kneedrops DDP's knee and hooks on a spinning toe hold. DDP eye pokes out. Sleeper from Hennig. DDP quickly jawbreakers out. He flips around Hennig into a cradle for 2. Hennig hits another clothespunch/punchline and does a jackknife cover for 2. DDP clothesline. The ref gets squashed on the kickout. Hennig goes over and starts to take the top turnbuckle pad off. That's a MUCH tougher job in WCW than it was in WWF. He manages to get it mostly off. DDP gets run into the exposed buckle and is out in the middle of the ring. Hennig goes over near the corner and it sure looks like he's sucking wind. Finally he gets out, plays around with the knocked out DDP, and hooks on the Perfectplex. DDP kicks out! He blocks another buckle shot and Hennig goes into it with another attempt at a 360 sell that fails miserably. The camera goes wide as DDP is bleeding, probably from the earlier buckle shot. He goes for the front piledriver. Hennig's leg hits the ref and he goes down again. Ric Flair runs in! He comes off the top but DDP catches him. Diamond Cutter on Flair! But that gives Hennig an opening to hit another Perfectplex, and that gets the pin! Not the prettiest match as Hennig continues to look like a shell of his former self, and the end run was a bit ugly. Why the hell did Flair get involved, and go for DDP instead of Hennig? Well as we'd find out after, Flair's recruiting old pal Hennig for the Horsemen. **

Ad for the next PPV, Fall Brawl: WAR GAMES! No one will ever be able to read that in anyone but Regal's voice now.

 

The Giant def "Macho Man" Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) in 6:05- Really not much of a story to this one other than "WCW vs NWO". Savage stalls like crazy outside the ring after the bell. When Giant turns around to talk to the ref Savage runs in and knees him in the back. He tries to slam Giant, which goes about as well as anybody would expect. Giant scrapes Savage off the mat with a spatula then chops him in the corner, then tosses him across the ring. He rips Savage's shirt off and forearms him in the back. Savage rolls out for a breather. He uses Elizabeth as a shield. Giant lifts her up and places her out of the way. Savage charges in, but Giant presses him! He dumps Savage back in the ring. Savage ducks a big boot and a clothesline and chop blocks Giant's knee, then posts the knee. Sadly instead of making the match more interesting the next few minutes is nothing more than Savage stomping the knee about 50 times, then his ADD kicks in and he moves on to doing weebles wobble clotheslines on Giant. Crossbody off the top from Savage for 2. He comes off the top again. Giant catches him with a goozle, chokeslams him, and just like that it's over. Nitro match. 3/4*

 

WCW World Tag Team Championship: The Steiner Brothers def The Outsiders (c) by DQ in 15:29- Back at the start of the year the Outsiders lost the titles to the Stieners, only to have Bischoff in the most obviously corrupt way possible give the titles back to the Outsiders on a technicality. TWICE. Since then the NWO has continuously screwed the Steiners out of getting another title shot until now. The Steiners finally getting another crack is in no small part thanks to DiBiase's face turn, turning on the NWO and joining the Steiners. Guess the NWO didn't need his money anymore. The Steiners make their entrance on their motorcycles. Hall and Scott start with a lockup stalemate and some shoving. Scott slaps Hall! Hall slams Scott and works his arm a bit with humiliating back of the head slaps. That pisses Scott off. Steinerline! German suplex! Double underhook powerbomb. Everyone runs in, the Steiners clear the ring and pose. Reset and Rick gets set loose. Nash also tags in. Nash knocks Rick around. Rick pushes out of snake eyes and hits a back suplex. Hall hits Scott from the apron. Every tag match tonight that's happened. Rick turns around and gives Scott a receipt, but when he turns back around he runs into a Nash big boot. Scott blocks a Hall hiptoss. Hall uses that position to hit a chokeslam. The NWO do some double team choking as Scott goes Steiner in peril. Hall fallaway slam for 2. Nash side suplex for 2, followed by his vintage corner elbows. Hall hits a clothesline from the apron. Rick gets in and the Outsiders swap without a tag. Hall hooks on an abdominal stretch with leverage help from Nash. After a bit former evil NWO ref Nick Patrick catches them and Scott hiptosses out, but Hall dodges an elbow drop. More heel double teams follow. Nash hits snake eyes, then goes after Rick all the way to the floor in a bit that goes nowhere. Scott fights out of the heel corner but gets held back from tagging. Nash does a neck crank. Scott hooks on a double chinlock. Scott lifts him up in an electric chair and drops him. Again the tag gets cut off. Nash short clothesline for 2. Scott dodges in the corner and Nash gets crotched. Hall manages to once again cut the tag off! Crazy. Hall crotch chops at Rick, yet again former Kliq guys shouting out their friends in the other place. Bulldog off the second rope from Hall. He calls for the Razor's Edge. Patrick hops out to keep Nash and DiBiase away from each other, so Rick runs in with a Steinerline! Scott hits a belly to belly. Again Hall grabs him to keep him from tagging. After a long fight Scott gets free and tags Rick! Rick runs wild and quickly everyone's in. Nash gets tossed to the floor. Doomsday bulldog on Hall! Nash pulls Patrick out of the ring at 2! Patrick immediately calls for the bell and raises the Steiners' hands. The Steiners think they got the pin and DiBiase brings the belts in. Patrick has to take them away and explain it was a DQ. DiBiase's pissed as once again the NWO screws the Steiners. Word is the Steiners were supposed to finally win the titles for real here, but backstage politics savant Nash used his pull to get it put off again. Having Scott in peril for so long with so many near tags was actually a nice old school nod to classic '80s NWA tag wrestling (though a cynic could rightly point out that Nash and Hall just aren't interested in selling), but they cut out the whole second half of the match, and the amount of time the NWO screwing the Steiners has been going on is reaching almost AWA levels. That's bad. *1/2

 

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Hollywood Hogan def "The Total Package" Lex Luger (c) in 16:15- Hogan does some light shoving before the bell. Luger runs Hogan over with a shoulderblock, annoying Hogan. On a corner break Hogan hits some knees and chops. Heenan has to bring up Dennis Rodman. Fortunately no one runs with it. Another Luger shoulderblock and Hogan is more annoyed. Hogan goes into some arm work, even whipping out his usually Japan only drop toe hold. Luger uses the POWER to reverse an arm wringer. He whips out a couple of armdrags and Hogan slides out for some breathing room. Stall time. Pretty big "Hogan sucks" chant from the usually pro-NWO Sturgis crowd. Back in Hogan does a bit of pillar to post beating. Back rake! Pure viciousness. He flips out at some more "Hogan sucks" chants and chokes Luger. Luger comes back with the machine gun buckle shots. Hogan drags him out, eye rakes him, and gives him a stair shot. TV cable choke. More generic heel Hogan offense back in. Backbreaker for 2. Bear hug time. He decides to knucklelock Luger and twist his hands. I would have stuck with the bear hug. Luger hulks up and turns the knucklelock. Hogan gives him a quick low blow to get out. Hogan back suplex for 2. Big boot! Cover for 2. A suplex fires Luger up. Hogan poses while Luger sneaks behind him. Turn around shock! Luger clothesline and Hogan begs off. He hides in the corner and the ref pulls Luger off. Hogan uses that for another eye rake and is back in control. He rolls Luger up for 2. That was different. Setup slam. Luger dodges the legdrop! The running forearm hits. Here comes the NWO goons. Luger fights them all off. Nash gets the ref tied up. The obvious fake NWO Sting is out again. They barely put him on camera to try to make it less obvious it's not the real Sting. Luger goes for another running forearm. "Sting" hits him in the back with the bat! Legdrop! Hogan gets the pin and I hope you enjoyed the six days Hogan wasn't champion because it's back to normal. Also hope the one week ratings pop was worth it. It's not the *worst* NWO Hogan match, not like that's saying much. 1/4*

 

The show must have run short because there's a TON of pointless time killing after the main event.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Most of the show isn't outright bad, but none of it is particularly good, and those last couple of matches kill any hope that WCW might be ready to move on from the usual NWO shtick after a year of it. Sturgis is always a weird venue too.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D+

Summerslam '99

Legacy Review

Summerslam '99

August 22, 1999 from the Target Center in Minneapolis, MN

Commentary: Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

The opening video package highlights some of Steve Austin's history with guest referees, for one very good reason. The guest referee for the main event will be none other than former WWF wrestler and commentator, former mayor of Brooklyn Park, MN and recently elected governor of Minnesota Jesse "The Body" Ventura, making his return to WWF for the first time since 1990 and his first wrestling appearance since leaving WCW in '94. The Summerslam logo has been altered again, giving us the second straight one off logo for the show. Lawler (presumably jealous of Ventura's political success) is wearing a button for his own mayoral campaign he was running in Memphis. That didn't work out so well. We cut to backstage where Ventura is laying down the law to Triple H and Chyna. Trips vows to break whatever rules Ventura lays down. Ventura retorts then he better kiss any shot at the title goodbye. We then cut to CHRIS JERICHO in the back. Yes, the millennium countdown clock reached 0 on a recent edition of Raw, leading to the long awaited debut of Jericho in WWF. He immediately hoodwinked Howard Finkel into being his personal valet/dogsbody. Finkel runs in with about 7 bags of Jericho's wrapped all around him, apologizing for being late. Jericho berates "Harold" to get his shit together. "It's Howard". "WHATEVER!". Classic fun early heel Jericho stuff.

WWF Intercontinental And European Championships: Jeff Jarrett def D'Lo Brown (c) in 7:27- Brown, already European champion, defeated Jarrett on Raw a few weeks prior to become the first ever Eurocontinental dual champion. He won't be the last. Jarrett and Debra have had issues lately so Jarrett sends her back to the locker room during his entrance, much to the dismay of both the crowd and Lawler. I'll never not be disturbed how into her guys were at the time. Some people are very easily pleased. Jarrett gets a huge "asshole" chant. Before Brown's entrance we see him backstage with Debra telling her to come out with him, and she does. While Debra's posing Jarrett jumps Brown off camera. Brown counters with a hiptoss and flying forearm. A powerslam doesn't come off very well, so they do it again for 2. Jarrett leaps into a spinebuster for 2. He short arm spins Brown into a sleeper. Brown counters with a suplex. I seriously need a Lawler mute button. You can only hear him whistle and shout "PUPPIES!" so many times. Jarrett counters Brown coming off the second rope and dropkicks him to the floor. Baseball slide. Jarrett comes off the apron but Brown dodges and he goes into the barricade. Jarrett pushes Brown into the post, but he only makes grazing contact with his arm. Back in Jarrett works on that arm a bit. He hits an avalanche armbar slam. Brown counters mounted punches by dropping Jarrett on the top turnbuckle. A series of dodges leads to Brown hitting a powerbomb. Slam and legdrop for 2. Brown goes up top, presumably for the frog splash. Instead it's a senton, but Jarrett dodges it anyway. Debra gets on the apron. Jarrett grabs the guitar and argues with her. Mark Henry, Brown's friend, running buddy and occasional tag partner since way back in their Nation of Domination days, runs in and takes the guitar. HENRY NAILS BROWN WITH THE GUITAR! SWERVE! Jarrett covers and gets the pin for both titles! We (rightly) criticize Russo for overkill on the heel turns, but damn that one was well done and a genuine shock. The new team of Jarrett, Henry and Debra all leave together. Rather than take on the burden of double championships, the next night on Raw Jarrett handed Henry the European title as thanks for his help, Henry's first ever wrestling title. **1/2

 

Tag Team Turmoil Match- This is a six team gauntlet match with the winners getting a tag title shot tomorrow night on Raw. We start off with Edge & Christian against the Hardy Boyz, now with Gangrel as the New Brood. The Brood does the blood ritual in the aisle, then the Hardyz charge in and it's on! After some wild brawling things settle in with Matt and Edge. Edge hits a Russian leg sweep. Christian gets a spinning heel kick. Gangrel gets a shot in and Matt rolls Christian up for 2. The Hardyz hit a double team faceplant and off come the shirts. Jeff hits a springboard moonsault for 2. The Hardyz hit their classic double team. Matt suplex/Jeff swanton bomb combo. Edge breaks the pin up. Christian flips out, hits a double reverse DDT, and makes the tag. The Hardyz toss Edge over the top to the floor. Jeff and Edge run across the barricade on opposite sides, jump off and meet in the middle! That was supposed to be an Edge spear but they didn't pull it off very well. They'd figure it out. Christian dive on Gangrel! Matt moonsaults Christian and Gangrel! E&C get Jeff in the ring, hit a faceplant/elbow off the top combo, and get the pin. Another look at the immediate future of WWF tag wrestling. A revival was on the way. Not the Revival. That's way later. The next team is the scintillating partnership of Viscera and Mideon. Business just....whatever the exact opposite of picked up is. Viscera pounds Christian and hits a fallaway slam. Double elbows from the heels. Christian dodges Mideon off the second rope and tags. Mideon barely gets himself over on an Edge backdrop. Clotheslines wobble Viscera. Edge runs into a Viscera rolling kick. Viscera avalanches Mideon! A double shoulderblock sends Viscera to the floor. Edge spear on Mideon! E&C advance again! Droz and Prince Albert are the next team up. Droz hits an inverted atomic drop and clothesline on Edge. Edge dodges Albert in the corner, but Albert gets him up for a neckbreaker for 2. Christian low bridges Droz over the top to the floor and follows up with a plancha. Albert presses Edge. Christian clips his knee from behind! Edge falls on Albert for 2. The crowd really bit on that. Edge hits Downward Spiral and pins Albert! That got much less of a reaction after the great near fall. The next team, former tag champs The Acolytes, run right in fists flying. While Faarooq and Christian fight on the floor Edge gives Bradshaw a swinging neckbreaker. Missile dropkick. Bradshaw counters mounted punches with a powerbomb. Edge gets a spinning heel kick on Faarooq. Bradshaw tags in and launches Christian off the apron to prevent a tag. He pummels Edge in the corner for 2. Side suplex for 2. Faarooq backbreaker for 2. He plants Edge with a spinebuster. Edge fights out of a gutwrench and hits a DDT! Tags on both sides. Christian dropkicks everyone. Faarooq goes to the floor. Christian tornado DDT on Bradshaw for 2. The final team in the gauntlet, the Hollys, are already out. Bradshaw hits the Clothesline from Hell and gets the pin, ending the great E&C run. The Hollys jump right in and attack. Faarooq easily handles Crash. Hardcore jumps from behind. Acolyte double tackle on Hardcore for 2. Hardcore hits Faarooq with a suplex. Crash tags himself in and runs right into a Faarooq clothesline. Swinging neckbreaker from Bradshaw for 2. Hardcore blind tags in and clotheslines Faarooq. Crash covers, thinking he's still legal and the Hollys, as was their wont, start fighting each other. Faarooq plants Crash with a spinebuster and that gets the final pin and win for the Acolytes. The Hollys continue to argue after the bell. **

Al Snow is in the back with the replacement for the now dearly departed Head, a chihuahua named Pepper. Like Head, Snow has full one way conversations with her.

Road Dogg makes his way out to the ring resplendent in his 1990's traveling wrestler outfit. He looks like he just hopped off the bus. He challenges the winner of the Hardcore title match for tomorrow night on Raw. Countdown clock! Break the walls down! Jericho is out on top of the Lion's Den structure to be used later. He goes right into "here to save the WWF" mode, calling shows Raw is Snore and Summersham. He then runs down Road Dogg personally, including the line that always makes me laugh, "You come out here every week and spell your name. You want to impress me? Spell lugubrious". He also mocks Dogg's hair, which I don't think is the best move considering the top of head ponytail he's sporting. Dogg's "Shut up, bitch" isn't exactly the wittiest retort, but Jericho acts like Dogg scored points on him. Dogg goes over and joins commentary for the next match.

 

WWF Hardcore Championship: Al Snow def The Big Boss Man (c) in 7:27- Snow climbs one of the cranes that makes up the stage area, then dives onto Boss Man during his entrance! He gets a chair and gives Boss Man a running chairshot. Dogg leaves commentary and takes back his arena mic to do roving commentary as the match goes backstage. It's surprisingly not over the top or annoying, he does it pretty well. Boss Man drops a chalkboard on Snow. He hits Snow with Pepper's kennel! Boss Man yells at Pepper then tosses it away! Before anyone asks, we could see pretty clearly earlier the kennel was empty. Snow breaks the chalkboard over Boss Man's head! Boss Man takes a crutch from some random guy backstage that needs it and nails Snow with it! Snow gets run into a Pepsi fridge. Boss Man tosses a propane tank that Snow dodges and it breaks one of the fridge's glass doors! Boss Man then tips the fridge over. Snow runs Boss Man into a minivan. He tells the refs to open the garage door and they go outside. They cross the street. Fortunately they planned better than the last PPV, when some random guy driving by almost ran everyone over. Snow knocks Boss Man around some plants and covers for 2. Boss Man tosses Snow into some outdoor tables and covers for 2. They go into a bar! That's the Blue Alley Bar to be specific. Boss Man hits Snow with the phone book! See kids, back then there was a very large book everyone had a copy of that had all the phone numbers of everyone in the town/city/surrounding area, including a very large section called the Yellow Pages that you could look up any type of business you needed. It was an almost believable weapon. There's your history lesson for the day. Snow hits a flurry of jabs and says hi to some fans. He drops the freebie newspaper rack on Boss Man. Both guys trade broom shots. They go into the bathroom and Snow gives Boss Man a mouthful of urinal cake. Boss Man rams Snow's head against the wall in the hallway. Snow takes a drink and a chain from some guy and uses them. He gets up on top of the bar. Moonsault! That was Kota Ibushi in DDT level real world moonsaulting. They go into the pool room. Boss Man breaks a beer bottle over Snow's head, then jaws at Road Dogg. Dogg nails Boss Man from behind with his own nightstick! Snow takes some pool balls and gives Boss Man a ball shot with them, then covers for the pin! Snow runs back to the arena, but on his way he sees Stevie Richards and the Blue Meanie messing with Pepper. Snow attacks them, including taking crutch guy's other crutch leaving him crutchless. They continue to make these Hardcore matches a unique and fun attraction on the card. ***1/4

Mankind is in the back with Ventura, who's making it clear that any pin must be in the ring and if there's a weapon shot he's not counting. Mankind ignores that, instead wanting to discuss the virtues of Minnesota's own Geraldine Ferraro as a VP candidate back in '84. Ventura dismisses her as a "bleeding heart liberal".

 

WWF Women's Championship: Ivory (c) def Tori in 4:08- In true Russo fashion the words "slut" and "skank" were used extensively during the build for this match. Tori charges in but Ivory jumps her. Powerslam from Tori and Ivory powders. She drags Tori out and runs her into the post. Lawler reports that Pepper is OK so everyone can breathe a sigh of relief there. Back in Ivory hits a back elbow for 1. Tori gets a knee to the gut and hits a pair of suplexes. Dropkick for 2. Ivory goes into the women's heel 101 hair tosses. She tries for a giant swing but doesn't get very far into it. Tori hits an atrocious spear. She landed on her knees before even making contact. Flippy powerbomb/suplex thing from Tori. Crossbody off the second rope for 2. Horrible sunset flip. It's supposed to be the finish so they do it again. Ivory supposedly counters by sitting on Tori but they didn't get it right the second time either, but say screw it and Ivory gets the pin. After the bell Ivory decides to pull Tori's clothes off for reasons. Luna comes in and runs her off. Typical Attitude Era women's match. 1/4*

The Rock is in the back with Michael Cole. Rock takes the mic and says this time it's his turn to do the interview. He says it's OK if Cole is a little "kuhmsee kuhmsah" or however it's spelt then goes into standard Rock promo stuff. We then cut to Billy Gunn escorting his "big surprise" into the arena hidden under a blanket. It's clearly a person.

 

Lion's Den Weapons Match: Ken Shamrock def Steve Blackman in 9:06- Last Summerslam Shamrock had a Lion's Den match with Owen Hart, and they're bringing it back to wrap up the Shamrock/Blackman feud. Basically it's a small size UFC style cage. The addition for this year's match is legal weapons that are hung at the top of the cage. Commentary says this is no pin or submission, to win you have to "escape the cage". The "escape the ring" rules didn't work so well in these guys' gimmick match the last PPV. The door being locked doesn't inspire confidence they'll get this one any better. The ref is positioned on a platform that's around the top of the cage, the same place Jericho did his promo from earlier. Blackman got the nunchucks during Shamrock's entrance and quickly uses them. Shamrock gets a dragon screw into a legbar. Blackman escapes, but Shamrock uses that opening to get the chucks. Blackman sweep kicks and takes them back, then chokes Shamrock with them. Shamrock tries a cross armbreaker. He gets the chucks and tosses them out of the cage. Blackman gets run into the cage. Shamrock climbs up and gets a kendo stick. Blackman blocks a shot with it and now Shamrock gets run into the cage. Blackman climbs and gets his martial arts sticks. Like JR, I have no idea what the official name for these things are. Blackman goes to town on Shamrock with them. Shamrock leaps off the cage and hits a flying elbow. Back suplex. Blackman hits a DDT. Shamrock with a powerslam. Both guys dodge kicks and Blackman hits an enzuguri. He goes up and gets a fresh kendo stick. Kendo shots on Shamrock. Blackman measures and whacks Shamrock right on the top of the head. Shamrock's out. Blackman goes to the door. JR says he can ask the ref to unlock it to leave, but doesn't. Shamrock dodges another shot and gives Blackman a belly to belly suplex. Now Shamrock goes to town with the kendo stick. He needs two tries to give Blackman the same crown of the head shot to knock him out. The bell rings, then Shamrock climbs up onto the platform the ref is on. It's a well worked match, but like the last PPV let down by the fact that no one knew what the rules were. Almost like WCW was booking these matches. **1/2

 

Greenwich Street Fight: Test def Shane McMahon (w/The Mean Street Posse) in 12:04- Former Corporation bodyguard Test has been engaged in an (on screen) relationship with Stephanie McMahon. Shane, ever the overprotective brother, has been trying to split them apart. For Steph's own good of course. If Shane wins this match, Test and Steph have to break up. If Test wins, Shane has to leave Steph alone. During the build Test systematically took out all three members of the Mean Street Posse. Test comes out with taped ribs from an attack by Shane during the Sunday Night Heat preshow. Shane comes out by himself, but then the MSP's music hits. Here they are! They're all sporting souvenirs from Test's attack, but they're here. Shane directs them to a couch that's been set up in the front row. There's even a table and two lamps to make it feel like home. Nothing but the best for the rich families of Greewich. Test attacks Shane on the floor! Shane attacks when they get back in the ring. All out ground and pound brawl. Test gets a backdrop. The MSP have champagne. Like I said, nothing but the best. The fight goes to the floor and Shane goes over the barricade into the crowd. He clotheslines Test back over the barricade and tries to leap off of it. Test catches and powerslams him. Test goes over and gets in the MSP's faces. He press slams Shane into the MSP! DOWN GOES THE COUCH! Test takes shots on everyone but the MSP's superior numbers eventually get to him. More guts than brains there for sure. Test gets slammed on the platform the couch used to be on. The MSP give Shane a mailbox! He nails Test with it. That's a new one. The MSP then go through their collection of Greenich road signs, give Shane a do not enter sign, and he nails Test with that. Shane's then handed a giant picture of himself with the MSP. He smashes that over Test's head! The glass goes everywhere. Roll back in and cover. Test kicks out! Speed run and Shane hits a diving back elbow. Test dodges a corkscrew off the top rope. He catches Shane leapfrogging and powerbombs him. The MSP distract the ref. Shane ducks and Test big boots the ref! 360 clothesline on Shane and Test takes his turn to hit him with the do not enter sign. Slam on the floor. The MSP attack again. They clear off the Spanish announce table and drape Test over it. Shane drags himself up to the top rope. ELBOW OFF THE TOP THROUGH THE SPANISH ANNOUNCE TABLE! We've seen Shane do that a hundred times since, but at this point it was still new and mind blowing. Both guys are down as we get a ton of replays. Finally the MSP drag both guys back in and throw water on Shane to wake him up. One arm cover. Test kicks out! A double team fails as Pete Gas takes out Shane. Big boot on Gas! Cover. Joey Abs gets Shane's foot on the rope. Rodney hits Test with his cast. Another one arm cover. Test kicks out again! The Stooges are out! Patterson and Brisco take out the MSP! Test dodges and Shane posts his shoulder. Pumphandle powerslam! Elbow off the top! Test gets the pin! Steph runs out to celebrate with Test. That match had no business being anywhere near that good. That was quite literally the match of Test's life, and the legend of Shane the part time wrestler continues to grow. ***1/2

 

WWF Tag Team Championship: The Unholy Alliance (w/Paul Bearer) def Kane & X-Pac (c) in 12:01- Following the last PPV the Undertaker and Big Show decided to team up because why not. Kane and Pac are in their "best buds" phase. During the recap for this Kane is shown using his electronic voice box to talk again. Damn, I'd forgotten he used that for this long. Kane's also got new primary red gear for this match. 2v2 brawl start. Pac quickly gets tossed and the heels turn their attention to Kane. Kane comes back with clotheslines. Pac crossbody off the top outta nowhere on Taker for 2. Taker cranks Pac's arm a bit. Pac goes into dodge mode and gets a tag to Kane. Taker gets pummeled in the face corner and Kane 360s him to the floor. Pac dives off the apron and attacks him. Taker eventually has enough of this bug and back elbows him. Kane saves Pac from a chokeslam on the floor. Show runs into a Kane big boot. Kane clothesline off the top on Taker. Taker gets a DDT counter. Tag to Show. Corner chops. Big boot and elbow drop from Show, followed by some kneedrops. A Kane comeback is cut off by a powerslam for 2. Taker beats Kane down in the corner. Double clothesline. Tag to Pac! Spinning heel kick on Taker for 2. Show pulls Pac down from the apron and he gets tossed out. Show drops Pac on the barricade and press slams him back in. Kane and Show fight on the floor for a bit while Taker continues the Pac beating. Taker tosses Pac crotch first into the post. Show then does his crotch headbutt. Get that kid an icepack. Pac dodges a Show elbow, but instead of tagging wants to fight. Show hooks on a bear hug. Pac bites out! Show hits a spinebuster. Kane breaks the pin up, then comes in again to break up a chokeslam. Pac low blow! Taker cuts the tag off. Low blow on Taker! Tag to Kane! Kane runs wild and it's DONNYBROOKING time. Taker catches a Pac plancha, but Pac pushes him into the post. Show is down in the face corner. Pac tags in and gives him the bronco buster. Show chokeslams Pac! He covers with one foot. Pac kicks out! Taker is not pleased with that pin effort at all. He tags himself in and shoves Show aside. Tombstone! Kane can't get there in time and Taker gets the pin for the titles. After the bell rather than celebrating Taker and Show continue to bitch at each other. The Russo trope of tag champs that don't like each other lives. Good match from four guys that in this period you never knew what you were going to get. ***

Ventura is in the back laying down the law to Austin. Give no fucks Austin just walks away from him.

 

Kiss My Ass Match: The Rock def Mr. Ass in 10:12- This is the first ever Kiss My Ass match, meaning the loser has to kiss the winner's ass. Playing fully into the Mr. Ass gimmick. This will really become a thing in a few years when Vince starts the "Kiss My Ass Club". Gunn unveils his big surprise in the ring, a rotund woman with buns of anything but steel. Gunn gets the mic and says when Rock's loses he won't be kissing Gunn's ass, he'll be kissing hers. Gunn jumps Rock before the bell. Corner beatdown tradeoff. Gunn flops over the top rope off Rock punches, then Rock punches him off the apron. They go up the aisle to the stage area and both guys get knocked around up there. This really feels forced and going through the motions, like they know they're expected to do this. Coming back to the ring Rock gets thrown into the stairs. Noise! Gunn gets bounced off the announce table. Rock takes Lawler's crown, puts in on Gunn, and punches him. Gunn hits Rock with the ring bell. Back in Gunn leaps over a Rock backdrop attempt but runs into a clothesline. Rock goes for the Rock Bottom. Gunn counters it into a neckbreaker. He drops a couple of apron elbows. Rock punches back. Gunn hits a bulldog for 2. Stinger splash. Rock clearly says, or mouths, "Fuck you motherfucker" and pops out of the corner with a clothesline. Spinny counter DDT! Haven't seen that from Rock in a while. Slow cover for a long 2. Rock swinging neckbreaker for 2. Samoan drop. He hooks up for the Rock Bottom. Gunn gets free. Fameasser! Gunn doesn't bother to cover. Instead he invites his lady friend into the ring. She hitches her skirt up and shows us the ample ass goods. JR: "Put the children to bed!". Rock counters and Gunn goes into the large ass! Rock Bottom! People's Elbow! Done. I guess we'll call the "kiss my ass" stipulation already met. Pretty dull match. Rock looked completely unmotivated to be working with Gunn, and strangely given this opportunity Gunn didn't seem to be putting huge effort in either. So ends the doomed to failure singles push of Billy Gunn. By the time Unforgiven rolled around in September he'd be back teaming with Road Dogg like they never split up (or had a whole match over the rights to the DX name) in the first place. *3/4

The main event video recap shows the crazy roller coaster we took to get this match. Chyna and Trips had a lover's tiff, Chyna beat Trips in multiple #1 contender matches with unasked for outside help, Mankind made his return after being out 3 months due to a (kayfabe Triple H caused) knee injury and won his own #1 contender's match, then Trips and Mankind had a double pin in an "undisputed #1 contender's" match, forcing Linda McMcmahon to step in (Vince was still off TV per the stips of the main event at Fully Loaded, for now) and make this a triple threat match. Deep breath.

 

Triple Threat Match for the WWF Championship: Mankind def Triple H (w/Chyna) and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin (c) in 16:23- Mankind really feels like the hanger on here. Pretty much everyone was expecting an Austin retention or, more likely, Triple H's big push to continue with his first WWF Title win. Guest ref Ventura comes out first to a huge ovation and has a few words for members of the media that took issue with the sitting governor working a wrestling show. After HHH's entrance Ventura gets into it with him and Chyna. Ventura rings the bell as soon as Austin steps in the ring and we're off. Mankind pulls HHH to the floor. Austin and Mankind double up on HHH on the floor, then continue to bounce him around in the ring. Mankind hugs Austin! He offers a handshake. Austin punches him! Really, what did you expect? Mankind pushes out of a Stunner attempt and Austin knocks HHH to the floor. Austin then low bridges Mankind 360 and over. 3 way fight in the aisle. Chyna stalks Mankind and pushes him into the post behind Ventura's back while Austin and HHH fight on the other side of the ring. Ventura discusses it with Chyna. HHH uses that opening to whack Austin's knee with a chair. Ventura asks him when he gets back in "Did you hit him with a chair?", then asks the crowd. HHH facebuster on Mankind. Mankind ducks a clothesline and hooks on the Mandible Claw! Chyna drags Mankind down and crotches him on the post. Foley's gotta be extra vulnerable there considering the sweatpants he's wearing. Ventura saw that! He tosses Chyna out! While they're all arguing in the aisle Austin charges in and attacks HHH from behind. HHH gets knocked around the stage area for a bit. Back at the ring HHH posts Austin's knee, then clips it. Mankind is back up and they both stomp Austin. Double clothesline on Austin. HHH puts on a spinning toe hold. Mankind drops a legdrop and goes for a pin. That's the end of that alliance. Cactus Clothesline! HHH dodges a cannonball and Mankind splats on the floor. Austin's knee gets posted again. Austin pulls HHH into the post. Crowd brawl time. Austin backdrops Mankind on the floor. All three get back in the ring. Austin gets a sneaky style low blow on HHH. HHH goes for the Pedigree. Austin counters and slingshots HHH into Mankind. Stunner on Mankind! HHH breaks the pin up with a chair to Austin's back, right in front of Ventura. Ventura's not pleased. HHH gives him the proverbial "fuck you" by smashing the chair over Mankind's head! Cover. Ventura refuses to count! Keeping his word. HHH threatens to punch Ventura. Shane McMahon runs in, stops HHH, then berates Ventura. Austin's up. Stunner on Shane! Austin gives Ventura a suggestion and Ventura takes it. He tosses Shane over the top and out! During that Austin got tied up in the ropes. HHH gets him free. Austin/HHH double clothesline. Mankind gets Socko out! Socko Claw on Austin! Mandible Claw on HHH! He's double fisting! Austin kicks Mankind to get free. HHH goes for the Pedigree. Austin breaks it up with a clothesline. He slugs away on both guys. Stunner on HHH! Mankind breaks the pin up! Austin throws Mankind into the post. Pedigree on Austin! Mankind tosses HHH away! Double underhook DDT! Mankind pins Austin to win the title! The least expected result. Even with Austin eating the pin Mankind winning gets a big pop. It's Foley's 3rd and would be final WWF Title win. Fantastic match. Once they wrapped up all the floor brawling stuff they were clearly expected to do the 5+ minute run to the finish in the ring was phenomenal. ***3/4

After Mankind and Ventura leave HHH resumes tearing Austin's knee apart with a chair, rejoined by Chyna. The show ends with Austin laid out in the ring.

Mankind's celebration would be short lived, as the next night on Raw HHH defeated him (with Shane as the guest ref) to win his first WWF Title, and kick of the WWF Title's Russorific journey through the fall of '99, at least up until Russo's departure for WCW.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- For the second straight year WWF puts on a top notch Summerslam. It's not quite as good as '98, largely due to no real top level match to cap things off, but everything outside the women's match consistently falls into the decent to good range in an era where things tended to be more about the angles than the wrestling.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B+

Bash at the Beach '97

Legacy Review

Bash at the Beach '97

July 13, 1997 from the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, FL

Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Dusty Rhodes

It's the one year anniversary of the formation of the NWO, but surprisingly that's not being made a huge deal of. WCW's recent run of bringing in ringers from other sports to try to pop ratings and buyrates continues here, with longtime NWO associate and the most hated man in basketball Dennis Rodman making his in-ring debut in the main event in a tag match teaming with his buddy Hollywood Hogan. Another big question swirling tonight is who will DDP's mystery partner be in his tag match against the NWO. In fact, tag matches are the order of the day on this show.

Mortis and Wrath (w/James Vandenburg) def Glacier and Ernest "The Cat" Miller in 9:47- On the bad side, this is still going on. On the plus side, this would be the end of it. Miller was a former football player turned karate champion that caught the eye of karate obsessee Eric Bischoff and brought into the pro wrestling world with zero experience. Like their match at the last PPV Mike Tenay strangely checks in for this one, not a match you'd think was in his wheelhouse. The heels jump before the bell. Glacier and Mortis, who this feud started with about 15 years ago, are left in the ring and go at it. Mortis gets crotched, takes a buckle shot, and Glacier kicks him off the rope. Kick flurry from Glacier. Mortis gets a tag to Wrath. Wrath hits some corner chops on Miller. Miller slides under and does the only thing he can do- kicks. Wrath gives him a tiltawhirl backbreaker. Miller dodges an elbow off the second rope. Face double dropkick on Wrath for 2. Mortis distracts Glacier and Wrath plants him with a big boot. Glacier goes to the floor. Wrath hits the cannonball senton off the apron. The heels get a chair, put Glacier's head between the chair and ring post, and Mortis kicks the chair! Ouch. Glacier sells it for about 30 seconds before his comeback flurry. Wrath cuts that off with an illegal clothesline and Mortis covers for 2. Double team powerbomb/neckbreaker combo on Glacier. Miller breaks the pin up. Wrath puts on a weird reverse Boston crab and Mortis gives Glacier a legdrop off the second rope for 2. Glacier dodges a Mortis moonsault. Wrath takes Miller out before a tag, which leads to DONNYBROOKING. Miller has kicks for everyone. Glacier DDT on Mortis. Vandenburg puts a chain on Mortis' foot. Glacier superkicks Vandenburg off the apron, but turns around into a superkick from Mortis' loaded boot, and that gets the pin. It's Glacier's first WCW loss of any kind. If he won he always just got beat up by Mortis and Wrath after anyway, he probably figured this was easier. The match was what we've come to expect from this long feud. This wasn't intended to be the end of it, but WCW creative didn't have any end game planned for the crazy story of ancient samurai helmets and even more ancient masters from the Orient, so rather than put some effort into trying to figure one out they just dropped the whole thing cold. No one complained. *1/2

 

WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Chris Jericho (c) def Ultimo Dragon in 12:55- Jericho ended Syxx's near 6 month reign of never defending the title terror by defeating him at a house show in late June, a match later shown on Nitro. This is still pure white meat babyface Jericho, his hugely entertaining heel run hadn't started yet, making this a face vs face match. Tenay stays in for this one. Good back and forth mat grappling start. Lots of flip counters, both guys hit armdrags, simultaneous dropkicks and stalemate. Jericho gives Dragon some chops. Dragon does his handstand in the corner and kicks Jericho, then lets loose a flurry of kicks followed by PKs to the back. Dragon goes for a hurricanrana but Jericho counters it into a powerbomb, then another powerbomb for good measure. Senton for 2. Three loud guys somewhere in the crowd are chanting "We want Syxx" but are left on an island on their own. Delayed suplex from Jericho, followed by a backbreaker with a stretch. Dragon goes into speed dodge mode. Jericho uses it to go for a sleeper. Dragon immediately back suplexes out. Jericho springboard moonsault for 2. Tiger Driver for 2. He goes for a superplex but Dragon blocks it. Jericho adjusts and dropkicks Dragon off the top to the floor! The timing was slightly off and the camera caught they weren't close to actual contact. Not good, but that was also a very tricky spot. Jericho springboard dive to the floor. Back in he comes off the second rope but Dragon gets his boots up. He goes for a top rope hurricanrana. Jericho does a nice counter with a snap mare. Dragon hops back up, and Jericho tosses him out to the floor! Jericho goes for the springboard dropkick. Dragon dodges and Jericho crashes on the floor! Dragon does the 619 dive tease, does a couple of adjustments, and hits the asai moonsault. Jericho *just* beats the count back in. Dragon hits a hurricanrana. Jericho gets a foot on the rope! Dragon goes for the handspring elbow. Jericho grabs him and tosses him away. He goes for a magistral cradle. Dragon counters into his own magistral and Jericho again grabs a rope to break up the pin. Dragon goes for a dragon suplex. Jericho quickly slips out and cradles Dragon, who counters the cradle for 2. Standing switches and they tumble to the floor! Jericho hits chops. Dragon with an enzuguri! Back in Jericho hits a Lionsault to Dragon's back and wraps up a Gedo clutch. Dragon kicks out! Jericho's getting frustrated, showing a side we'll see a lot of soon after his heel turn. He goes for another Lionsault. Dragon dropkicks him in midair! Again that one pretty clearly had no contact. Dragon goes for the tiger suplex. Jericho wraps up in the ropes. Dragon switches to a dragon sleeper attempt. Jericho knees him in the head. Dragon clothesline. Moonsault. He goes for the dragon suplex again. Jericho counters into a Tiger Driver. Dragon counters that with a hurricanrana mid-move! But Jericho reverses the cradle, and gets the pin! They do the babyface handshake after. Phenomenal match. You get the Cruiserweight belt away from the NWO and it's back to business as usual. The two semi-whiffed dropkicks hurt a bit but the rest made up for it. This is Jericho's first truly great WCW match, while Dragon has been a match quality machine for a while now. I don't think he got or even gets today the respect he deserves for his WCW run. ****1/4

Mean Gene is out with tonight's hotline shill: someone who has "no business being in the building" is backstage tonight. He walks to the ring and finds Raven sitting ringside, along with his groupie Stevie Richards. Okerlund asks Raven about why he's here (he was still being presented as an outside invader) and about the rumors he might be DDP's partner tonight. Raven does his usual slam poetry that sounds sophisticated on the surface but says absolutely nothing. Richards decides he wants to talk. He says to Raven "Tell them about the big announcement tomorrow on Nitro". Raven clocks Richards! Clearly someone was speaking out of turn.

 

The Steiner Brothers def The Great Muta and Masahiro Chono in 11:37- Muta and Chono are the co-leaders of NWO Japan in New Japan at this point, and come out to the NWO's music. If you want more on that saga check out my reviews of the January 4th Tokyo Dome shows of the period. Tony talks about the NWO screwing the Steiners out of a tag title shot AGAIN for this show and I can't help but both groan and laugh at the same time. That's been going on way too damn long, but at the same time outsmarting the Steiners is like shooting caged parrots in a pet shop. Scott's morphing into Big Poppa Pump is also continuing apace. Suzuki-Gun jump from the heels. The Steiners get tossed out, then hop to the top rope and hit double Steinerlines. Ring cleared and the Steiners pose. Chono gets into it with a VERY mouthy fan at ringside. Reset with Scott and Muta. Scott hits a shoulderblock and pounds Muta in the corner. Muta does some rolling dodges and hits a back kick. Scott hits a double underhook powerbomb, followed by a press slam. Rick tags in and Muta bails. After some stalling Chono tags in. Shoulderblock standoff. Chono eye rakes and hits a Yakuza kick (or "mafia" per WCW). Test of strength. Rick wins that so Chono kicks him. Standing switches and Chono hits a back elbow. Powerslam from Rick. Chono rolls out and finds the mouthy fan again to stall some more. Both sides swap and Scott pounds on Muta again. He puts Muta on the top rope. Chono comes from behind and electric chairs Scott. Muta hits the handspring elbow and a bulldog, followed by his signature elbow drop. Scott fights a double team and gives Chono a belly to belly suplex. Tag to Rick. Steinerline! Steinerline! Belly to bellys for everyone. Bulldog off the top on Muta. Chono breaks the pin up and it's everyone in the pool time. Scott belly to belly on Muta. Chono gets a shot in and Muta hurricanranas Scott off the top rope. Dragon screw on Rick. He goes for the handspring elbow. Rick plucks him out of midair and German suplexes him. That was SO much cooler in the Tokyo Dome 4-5 years ago. Scott Frankensteiner on Muta. Chono pulls the ref out of his count! The ref reads Chono the riot act. The Steiners avalanche DDT Muta, and it's over. 5 years ago or more this would have ruled, now it's just decent. The Steiners aren't what they were at their peak, getting top effort out of Muta in US matches post-1989 was always a struggle, and Chono was pretty much just this at this point. **3/4

 

Juventud Guerrera, Lizmark Jr and Hector Garza def La Parka, Psychosis and Villano IV (W/Sonny Oono) in 10:08- Lucha trios rules for this one so tagging and selling are optional. Tenay gets his overtime bonus, working his third match of the night. Oono is now managing both Psychosis and Parka, as he's moving on from the Japanese wrestlers to the Mexican wrestlers. Lizmark and Psychosis start with some groundwork feeling out while Tenay explains the terms rudos (heels) and technicos (faces). Garza comes in with an armdrag off the top on Villano. Villano with big chops and a corner clothesline on Garza. Garza does a huge leap into Villano's boots, then goes into super flippy mode. Villano gets armdragged to the floor. Garza flips out to join him, then gives him a tiltawhirl backbreaker on the floor. Juvy tries some tiltawhirl stuff around Parka, who's too big to be caught by most of it. Juvy monkey flips Parka to the floor. Oono gives Juvy some kicks on the floor. Parka sets Juvy up, but Oono kicks Parka! Parka's hot and wants to kill Oono. Psychosis comes over to make peace. Oono flashes Parka a giant wad of cash and everything's good again. Small reset back in the ring. Psychosis CRASHES into the technico corner! Lizmark flips himself into the rudo corner and has to go into dodge mode to get out. Parka gets pissed at his teammates for that. The rudos all miss sentons and Juvy dives onto the whole pile! Triple cover for 2. A trio of dropkicks sends the rudos to the floor. TRIPLE DIVE! Psychosis midair dropkicks Juvy back in the ring. He leg powerbombs Juvy off the top for 2. Techino moonsaults for 2. The rudos run into each other and get locked into a rowboat/THE STAR. Parka gets in the middle and uses Juvy to break it up. They go into a sequence where everyone misses a dive off the top rope. They stack up in the corner for a tower of doom. The rudos have a double electric chair out of it, but Juvy dropkicks them in the back to get his teammates back down. It's EVERYONE DIVE ON THE FLOOR time! Juvy get some insane hang time on his. Garza caps it off with a huge corkscrew onto everyone. While everyone's recovering Villano V runs in to replace IV, who hides next to the ring. V legdrops Garza for 2. Garza dodges around, hits V with a missile dropkick followed by a standing moonsault and gets the pin. Very fun "turn your brain off and enjoy it" lucha spotfest craziness that the crowd didn't give two shits about. ***3/4

No DQ Retirement Match: Chris Benoit def Kevin Sullivan (w/Jimmy Hart and Jacqueline) in 13:11- At long last, this feud that has gone on even longer than the Glacier/Mortis saga and turned into real life bad blood (Benoit stole Sullivan's wife Nancy, known as Woman on-screen) is finally reaching its conclusion with quite literally only one man remaining as a wrestler after. The first part of the feud saw these two have some famous all arena plunder brawls, so they're going back to their wheelhouse to wrap it up. Sullivan and Jacqueline are bitchy at each other during their entrance. After the bell it's an immediate hockey fight. Sullivan suplexes Benoit to the floor! Benoit takes a couple of guardrail shots while Jacqueline gets fully involved, Sherri style. Benoit low blows both of them to get some space and tosses Jacqueline onto Sullivan. Sullivan then sacrifices Jacqueline to get a shot in. They work up to the stage area. Benoit goes into the surfboard hut! Surfboard shots from Sullivan! Beach chair shot! Hart climbs up the lifeguard tower. Benoit pushes it, and him, down! The surfboard hut also collapses. When Hart gets back up he gets some kicks in on Benoit. Another slugfest and Sullivan hits a low blow. Piledriver in the aisle! Jacqueline drops elbows on Benoit! Sullivan hits the double stomp and whacks Benoit with a random tray. They get back in the ring. Benoit comes back and hits some clotheslines. Sullivan tights pulls him to the floor. Hart gets some more kicks in. Benoit gets posted. Sullivan crotches him on the rail right in front of give no fucks Raven. Back in Benoit his a snap suplex for 2. Sullivan bites his stomach! Benoit responds by biting his ear! Big Benoit chops. The crossface is on! Sullivan survives the arm drops and slooooooooooowly fights his way to the ropes. Benoit kicks and chops fire Sullivan back up and we're slugging again. Benoit goes down. Tree of woe! Sullivan hits one, two, THREE running knees! Jacqueline gets a wooden chair from under the ring. Sullivan wants the chair. Jacqueline gives it to him.....across the head! SWERVE! Jacqueline leaves, damage done. Benoit hits the headbutt off the top rope, and the wrestling career of Kevin Sullivan is over. Sullivan would retire as a full time wrestler here, but would stay involved in WCW as an on again off again booker through the end of the company with the occasional on-screen appearance. Benoit is FINALLY free to move on. Tony specifically says maybe he can finally go after some well deserved titles. You can't say they didn't go out on a high note. ***3/4

 

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: Jeff Jarrett (c) def Steve "Mongo" McMichael (w/Debra McMichael) in 6:56- Jarrett defeated Dean Malenko for the US title on a Nitro just before Great American Bash, but neither were booked on that show so I didn't get a chance to mention it. Now I am. The longstanding Jarrett/Mongo issues have also finally caused Jarrett to be kicked out of the Horsemen. Thankfully Jarrett doesn't have the second Halliburton of Death with him for this match. Do you know what would happen if the two Halliburtons of Death made contact with each other? Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light. Total protonic reversal. Yeah, that's bad. Mongo tells Jarrett "You never should have jumped in my chili" during his entrance. Um......OK. Think he's hit his head one too many times. Before the bell Mongo snatches the belt away and poses with it. The crowd does not like Jarrett. After some stalling we get going with an arm wringer tradeoff. Jarrett gets a takedown, struts and chills in the corner. Standing switch and Mongo muscles Jarrett around a bit. Jarrett back elbows out but runs into a side slam. 3 point stance chop block from Mongo and Jarrett bails. Test of strength that Mongo easily wins. Jarrett hits the ropes and Mongo hits him with a "high" (barely got off the ground) knee and 360 clotheslines him back out. Jarrett hears all about from the same guy that got in Chono's face. Mongo comes out and takes a stair shot. Jarrett gets whipped into the rail. Mongo chokes him with a TV cable. Horrible press slam from Mongo back in. Powerslam for 2. Jarrett dodges in the corner and Mongo somehow hurts his knee. Jarrett does a couple of Mongo style 3 point stance chops blocks. He goes for the figure four. Debra gets on the apron. Jarrett takes the Halliburton of Death from her, whacks Mongo with it (who tries to block it like you can block an unblockable attack) and gets the pin. After the bell Debra confirms that after months of teasing she has, in fact, turned to Jarrett's side the hussy. Turrible match, AKA a Mongo match. 1/4*

Next up is an ad for the next PPV, Road Wild. It's a new name, but we're going back to Sturgis. [sarcasm]Yay[/sarcasm]. After that is a classic NWO circle jerk promo that goes on way too long with Rodman and Hogan.

 

"Macho Man" Randy Savage and Scott Hall (w/Elizabeth) def Diamond Dallas Page and Curt Hennig (w/Kimberly) in 9:35- Hall comes out with both tag belts, but no reason is given for Nash's absence from this show. The recently WCW debuted Hennig is the not at all surprise mystery partner for DDP. The former Mr. Perfect in WWF, and in my opinion the greatest Intercontinental champion of all time before Gunther, had done very little wrestling in the Fed due to continuing back issues the past few years, doing managing and commentary work instead. Like Randy Savage before him, he jumped at the chance to go to WCW because they'd let him wrestle full time again as much as the money. Savage and DDP, whose red hot feud was still going, start. DDP's ribs are still taped up like the last PPV. Quick DDP clothesline and corner elbows to start. He hits a forearm and Savage rolls out. Someone throws a bunch of flowers in the ring. I think that came from the crowd. Good job by the ref on the quick cleanup job. Hall tags in and wants Hennig, and gets him. Toothpick flick and gum spit. Lockup! Clean break and shoving. Hall hits a back elbow and Hennig slaps him. After some stalling Hennig hits some shots and a kneelift. He gives Hall both atomic drop variations and clotheslines him. Running neck snap. DDP hits his front piledriver and more corner elbows. Hall responds with a corner clothesline. Savage hits DDP from the apron, then tags in with a double ax handle to send DDP in peril. Hall starts working DDP's hurt ribs. Seems like an obvious target that barely gets touched in this match. DDP gets tights pulled to the floor and takes a stair shot. Hall discus punch for 2. DDP hits an inverted atomic drop on Savage and tags Hennig. Now here's what would have been a dream match around 1991. They did butt heads in '92 when Perfect was managing Ric Flair during the tremendous Flair/Savage WWF Championship feud. Hennig hits the ropes while DDP is holding them down to balance himself (I think). Now, Hennig was supposed to go over the top and out to give reason for what's about to happen, but he completely fucks it up and just falls against the ropes instead, then compensates by rolling out. Hennig hits DDP in the back of the head! He walks out of the match. DDP takes the Razor's Edge and Savage elbow, and Savage pins him with one foot. The whole thing was a mess and Hennig looked awful after his long layoff, even with the very short spurts he did in this match. The bad botch pretty much ruined all the logic for the finish too. 3/4*

 

"Rowdy" Roddy Piper def "Nature Boy" Ric Flair in 13:26- Flair abandoned Piper in a tag match against the NWO at GAB because he wanted to punch Syxx instead (a pretty natural reaction for anyone seeing Syxx at that time) to set this up. Piper breaks up the basic start with some wild ground and pound on Flair. The flying fists continue in the corner and Flair rolls out. Coming back in he clearly wants to slow things down. Chop exchange in the corner and Flair goes down again. Piper with a slap. Flair Flop off the slap! Fantastic. Flair Flip! Piper clotheslines Flair off the apron. Flair eye pokes on the floor to try to get some space. Piper backdrops him on the floor! Flair tries to beg off. Piper says nah. Another beg off in the ring. Piper kneels down and gives Flair the double finger eye poke. The ref tries to stop Piper choking in the corner. Flair takes that opening to clip Piper's knee from behind. Now we're going to school. Flair beats Piper down with some jabs and goes back on the knee. Now Flair gets in it with the ref and Piper kicks Flair's knee. Nothing. That was weird, like Piper did something Flair wasn't expecting and just ignored it. Flair hooks on the figure four! Piper hulks up and reverses. Swinging neckbreaker from Piper for 2. He chokes Flair. Flair responds with a low blow. After some more Flair picking apart Piper comes back with jabs. Backdrop and he 360 clotheslines Flair to the floor. Flair begs off again. Piper nails him with big chops. Back in Piper gets the sleeper! Flair quickly jawbreakers out and tries for a rope leverage pin. Chop and a bit of a strut. Flair goes up top and gets slammed off as per usual. Piper hooks on a figure four! He gets a two count before Flair slowly gets over to the ropes. Flair gets the classic Flair knucks out of his boot. Piper blocks the punch, gets the knucks and waffles Flair! Benoit and Mongo are out. After some fumbling around on Piper's part Benoit goes for the headbutt off the top. Piper dodges and Flair gets it. Benoit goes to plan B, distracting the ref while Mongo plants Piper with a tombstone. Flair drapes an arm over. Piper kicks out! I blame Mongo. Sleeper! Flair goes out and the ref calls it! This would be Piper's last match as a "full time" wrestler so I'm not sure about that result. He'd move over into a commissioner role while still wrestling the occasional match. Sadly there's more matches with Hogan coming. This was a nice old school match but not one that would be mistaken for one of either guy's classics. Flair drug the good match out of Piper Hogan never got close to. ***1/4

 

A little big picture perspective before we head into our main event: World champion Hollywood Hogan hasn't wrestled on a PPV since Uncensored in March, and hasn't defended the title on PPV since Superbrawl back in February against Piper. One of those streaks will continue tonight.

 

"The Total Package" Lex Luger and The Giant def WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hollywood Hogan and Dennis Rodman (w/Randy Savage) in 22:19- There's a ton of trash being thrown in the ring before the match even starts, and it goes on the entire match. That's something WCW needs to get some control over. One of the clips from Nitro on either this show or GAB, I can't remember which, the ring looked like a literal garbage dump. Luger and Hogan start. Luger cranks an arm and Hogan ties up in the ropes. Bandana toss! Some lockup shenanigans follow. Shoulderblock tradeoff. Hogan fakes a test of strength to get an opening. Corner clothesline. Slam but Luger dodges the elbow drop. Luger hits a huge slam. Rodman tags in as commentary goes nuts. He's still wearing his sunglasses. And, of course, we have stalling. Finally Rodman locks up. He armdrags Luger! The whole NWO team celebrates as commentary acts like they've just seen a literal miracle performed. It's really really annoying. Another lockup and Luger gets an armdrag. Armdrags for the running in Hogan and the NWO bails. Well the sunglasses are off. Speed run, Rodman leapfrogs (commentary: OH MY GOD RODMAN CAN DO A LEAPFROG THIS IS THE GREATEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN ANYONE DO) and gets a shoulderblock. Luger is a bit shocked. More speed, more leapfrogs and Luger hits a clothesline. Rodman does the whole Captain Hammer "This is what pain feels like!" bit and quickly tags out. The trash throwing continues to be out of control. Giant tags in. Hogan does some weebles wobble stuff with him. Corner chops. Giant no sells a corner clothesline and the NWO team scurry out again. Giant atomic drops out of a headlock and Hogan tags Rodman back in. Giant catches him leapfrogging and gives him an inverted atomic drop. He spanks Rodman's ass! Tony gets in a good line about how many NBA players would love to do that. It's funny because it's 100% true. Giant chokes Rodman and Hogan attacks from behind. NWO double clothesline on Giant as they do a double up beatdown on Giant for a bit. Hogan hits the big boot. He tries to hiptoss Giant and gets nowhere, so Rodman comes in and they both do it. Double cover on Giant. Giant tosses both of them off and takes the opening to tag Luger. Clotheslines for everyone. Savage gets in and goes down. Luger hits the ropes and Rodman kicks him from the apron. Hogan clothesline. Back suplex for 2. Savage gets a shot in. Hogan hits the legdrop and arrogant covers. Luger kicks out! There's a pipe in the ring among the trash thrown in. A literal pipe that way back in the before times people used to smoke. What the hell. Rodman hits some corner elbows. Savage distracts the ref as Luger tags out. Giant stays in anyway and takes everyone out. Sting is coming out. Oh, it's NWO "Sting". The hair is different, he's way bigger and is clearly wearing a mask. Commentary is, naturally, clueless. "Sting" hits Giant with his bat, points at Hogan to try to sell it's really Sting, at leaves. Hogan takes Rodman out during a double team attempt. Luger gets Hogan in the Torture Rack! Hogan submits! That was an absolute super finisher at this point. Rodman and Savage both get Racked after the bell for good measure. That was a huge spectacle that came off about as well as it could have wrestling wise. *3/4

Luger would use this win to finally cash in the title shot he'd won months before, and on the last Nitro before Road Wild defeat Hogan for the World title, ending Hogan's reign at just under one year. Sadly, the reprieve would be short lived.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- As has been typical since the NWO showed up, there's quite a bit of good stuff on the undercard capped off with a less than stellar main event. This main event is worth watching however just for the spectacle alone, but be ready to search for a "mute commentary" option to not have to listen to them verbal blowjob Rodman the whole match.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B

Fully Loaded '99

Legacy Review

Fully Loaded '99

July 25, 1999 from the Marine Midland Arena in Buffalo, NY

Commentary: Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

The main event for this show, a First Blood match between Austin and the Undertaker for the WWF Title, is being billed as an "end of an era" due to its stipulations. If Austin loses, not only does he lose the title, he can never ever challenge for it again. If Austin wins, Mr. McMahon can NEVER EVER EVER appear on WWF TV again. Ever. The show opens with footage from an incident that just took place on the Sunday Night Heat preshow, Taker attacking Austin backstage and busting him open. We go live to Austin in the trainer's room refusing stitches and dropping "son of a bitch" on everyone. Michael Cole accuses Vince of orchestrating the attack, which is of course denied.

 

To lead into the opening match: The night before this PPV WWF held a house show in the Skydome (I know, a house show in the SKYDOME). Ken Shamrock was scheduled to challenge Jeff Jarrett for the IC title but "no showed", and his last minute substitute was hometown boy Edge. Edge and Christian had recently separated from Gangrel in the Brood and turned face. Edge upset Jarrett in his hometown to win his first ever WWF singles title. Far from his last. We get some screencaps from that match but no video.

 

WWF Intercontinental Championship: Jeff Jarrett (w/Debra) def Edge (c) in 13:22- Jarrett takes a mic before the bell and says little of note. Standing swtiches at the start followed by a Jarrett drop toe hold, leading to a good basic exchange. Stalemate and shoving with Jarrett going down. Edge hits a leg lariat and gets a half nelson cradle for 2. Backslide for 2. He fakes Jarrett out with a fake crossbody and hits a sunset flip off the second rope for 2. Jarrett rolls out, takes the belt, grabs Debra's hand and teases walking with "his" belt. He hops back on the apron with an eye poke. Edge counters the attempted buckle shot. They go to the floor and Edge gets whipped into the steps. Noise! Back in Edge slides under and hits a northern lights suplex for 2. Floatover in the corner but Edge hurts his knee on the landing. Jarrett goes right to work on it. Edge pushes out of a figure four attempt and rolls Jarrett up for 2. Jarrett's kickout sends Edge shoulder first into the post. Now he's got two hurt limbs. Armbar slam from Jarrett. After that he forgets about all the hurt body parts and goes into generic offense with some strutting. Jarrett sleeper. Edge runs him into the top turnbuckle. Jarrett hits a flapjack for 2. The sleeper is back on and Edge goes down. Arm drops. Edge fights out and puts on his own sleeper. He flips out of a Jarrett back suplex attempt and gets a roll up for 2. Edge Bret bumps in the corner, both guys hit heads and Edge does the flop head first into Jarrett's crotch. Edge drapes an arm over for 2. Another leg lariat and a running swinging neckbreaker from Edge. Small package for 2. Tornado DDT. He goes for the spear. Jarrett dodges and Edge flies over the top rope to the floor. Gangrel's music hits and the lights go out. When they come back up, Gangrel is down with Edge standing over him! That clearly didn't work. Jarrett attacks from behind. Crossbody off the top. Edge rolls through it for a 2 count. Powerbomb counter from Edge for 2. Spear! Debra, predictably, gets on the apron and tries to woo Edge. No man in their right mind should go for that trash. Edge and Jarrett punch each other at the same time, Jarrett falls into Debra and Debra goes down! Gangrel gives Edge a shot. Jarrett hits the skull crushing finale or whatever he called it then and gets the title back. With that win Jarrett sets a new record with his 5th IC title win, breaking a tie with Razor Ramon. The match was fine as Edge continues to get better and better. A one day first reign is disappointing, but it's the Attitude Era, hotshotting midcard titles was the norm. Edge having two hurt body parts that never went anywhere was also disappointing, but having a Jarrett match, especially a title match, with no broken guitars was a plus. **3/4

After the match Jarrett gets the mic again and brags. We cut back to the trainer's room where Austin's head has been taped up and he takes his leave in none too good a mood. Back to the ring where Jarrett and Debra still are. Glass shatter! Austin RUNS in! Stunner on Jarrett! Austin gets a mic and tells Taker "If I'm going to be going into this match with stitches, so are you!" and leaves. Rumor has it this was supposed to lead to an Austin/Jarrett program down the line. Austin, however, had no interest in that, and rightly so in my mind as Jarrett was very much a "career midcarder with delusions of stardom" at this point, and the whole thing was dropped before it got going. I think it's better and funnier that Jarrett just happened to be the unlucky SOB in the ring when Austin needed to let off some steam anyway.

 

Acolyte Rules Match for the WWF Tag Team Championship: The Acolytes def The Hardy Boyz (c) and Michael Hayes in 9:32- The Hardyz upset the Acolytes on Raw a few weeks prior to win their first ever WWF titles. There's an unintentionally funny bit in the prematch promo where Hayes says he led the Hardyz "from curtain jerkers to tag champs". Yeah, from curtain jerkers to....the second match on the card. Bradshaw and Faarooq being who they are they're actually letting themselves be at a 3-2 disadvantage for this "Acolytes Rules" match. More people to punch. Everyone jumps everyone else in the aisle and it's on. I'll give Hayes credit, he's in the middle of it all years after his retirement. Matt gets tossed into the steps. Noise! Hayes takes a Bradshaw clothesline across the top of his head, then the Acolytes give him some stair shots. Faarooq and Jeff get in the ring and the bell rings to officially start things. Bradshaw is still pounding away on Hayes. Jeff ducks a clothesline and hits a tope con hilo on Bradshaw! Matt moonsault off the top to the floor! OK Hayes, your turn to dive. Back in Bradshaw hits Matt with a fallaway slam. Jeff quickly comes off the top with a missile dropkick and Matt rolls Bradshaw up for 2. The Hardyz dropkick Bradshaw to the floor. Bradshaw catches Matt trying to plancha, but before he can do anything Jeff baseball slides him. They swap to the Hardyz double teaming Faarooq in the ring. Matt and Hayes double suplex him, then Jeff hits the as yet unnamed swanton bomb for 2. Bradshaw starts pounding on Hayes on the floor again while Faarooq plants Matt with a spinebuster in the ring. Things start to settle in and switch from wild brawl to normal tag match for a bit with Matt in peril and the Acolytes hitting some nice power stuff, tossing Matt all over the place. Jeff breaks up a powerbomb attempt and Matt tags Hayes. Bradshaw quickly pummels Hayes down. Hayes counters a Farrooq backdrop and gets the hell out of town, tagging Jeff in. Faarooq hits a powerslam. Jeff was FLYING on that, Faarooq barely kept his grip. Bradshaw plants Jeff off the top rope. Jeff jawbreakers out of a Faarooq chinlock, which barely fazes Faarooq. DONNYBROOK! Or, back to the wild brawl. Matt hits the also yet unnamed Twist of Fate on Faarooq. Bradshaw breaks the pin up and kills Matt with a short clothesline. Back superplex from Bradshaw! Jeff saves the pin. Jeff nails Bradshaw with Hayes' cane! Bradshaw kicks out! The Hardys go for their double team. Bradshaw whacks Jeff out of midair with the Clothesline from Hell! Two straight PPVs there's been a great counter out of that double team. Matt makes the save on the pin. The Hardyz get tossed out and Hayes ends up alone in the ring. I don't like this. The Acolytes go easy on him with a simple double powerbomb, and that gets the pin and the titles back. Good stuff. Not long after this the Hardyz dumped Hayes and took over Edge and Christian's old place with Gangrel as the New Brood. ***1/4

Austin is walking and door slamming backstage.

 

WWF European Championship: D'Lo Brown def Mideon (c) in 7:11- Not long after Wrestlemania Shane McMahon decided to retire the European title instead of defend it, a decision he could make as he was in control of the WWF at that point (slightly retconned since with the Vince as the higher power reveal but hey, it's Russo). A few weeks ago Mideon found the belt in Shane's bag, and Shane said what the hell, it's yours. Why Mideon was going through Shane's bag in the first place will, and probably should, remain a mystery. As soon as D'Lo Brown saw that belt back in play there was no choice to make for him. Find someone that loves you as much as D'Lo loved the European title. Brown gets right in Mideon's face while the ref is trying to take the belt. Slugfest. Brown hits a back elbow and clothesline. Mideon gets 360 clotheslined to the floor. Brown hits a baseball slide. Tope suicida! Mideon reverses a whip and Brown goes into the stairs. Noise! He drops Brown on the aisle guardrail. Brown 360 sells a short clothesline that barely hit. Mideon gutwrench powerbomb for 2. Chinlock time. After arm drops Mideon blocks a clothesline and hits a neckbreaker for 2. Both guys trade eye pokes in the corner as some "boring" chants start to roll around the arena. Brown sunset flip for 2. Mideon clothesline. Brown gets a boot up in the corner and hits a tornado DDT for 2. Sky High spinebuster for 2. Brown goes up top. The frog splash hits! That gets the pin! Brown gets his baby back. It's been a bad night for champions so far. Brown tried the best he could, but in the end it's a Mideon match. *1/2

Austin shoves a cameraman out of the way backstage. After that we get a quick recap of Boss Man putting a spike through Head, causing Al Snow to go even crazier than usual. Snow's been demanding Boss Man finish him off. Cole is with Snow live, who rants about hearing voices nonstop and needing them to stop. The drums, the drums, the never ending drums....

 

WWF Hardcore Championship: The Big Boss Man def Al Snow (c) (w/spiked Head) in 10:13- Snow meets Boss Man in the stage during his entrance, kneels down and wants Boss Man to hit him. Boss Man hits the spike in Head with his nightstick, and Snow sells it! Snow snaps and attacks. Brawl around the stage area. Snow gets stuffed in a trunk, then gets a sandbag and hits Boss Man with it. Snow gets thrown through a piece of the stage. He still wants more. They go through the curtain to the back. Snow gets run through a Punt, Pass and Kick competition target! Lots of prop shots. Snow gives Boss Man a cookie sheet shot, then pours hot coffee on him! Full trash can shot. Boss Man gets suplexed through the table! Boss Man pokes Snow with a football down marker! He changes it from 1st to 4th down, leading to some good football jokes from JR and Lawler. Boss Man gets in a golf cart but can't get it to start. Shelve that spot. Snow pulls a plant out from its planter and nails Boss Man with it! Boss Man pulls his belt off and whips Snow. He chokes Snow with it and drags him down a long hallway. They go through a door to a stairwell. Snow hits a combo of open hand strikes with Boss Man doing a nice flop sell. Through another door and they're outside. Boss Man hits a bulldog on the sidewalk! That gets a 2 count. Snow hits Boss Man with a hubcap. And a cone. I think I know which one hurt more. Boss Man hits knees to Snow's head. Snow's smiling. Brick shot for 2. They go into the street. A passing car has to slam on his brakes for them, honks and drives off! Holy shit, I don't think that was planned, that was a guy legit just driving by. Boss Man rams Snow into an iron fence on the other side of the street, then handcuffs Snow to it. He gets out a retractable stick, pummels Snow with it, then puts his foot across Snow's throat. Snow's shoulders are on the fence so the ref has some mercy and counts 3 to give Boss Man the title. Boss Man hustles back into the arena and all the way into the ring to get the belt, the only time anyone was near the ring this whole match. Snow is still smiling. That was another fun hardcore plunder brawl, though maybe a tick too long. Great storytelling too. Snow's stuff was so off the wall, but so good for it. Usually. 4 for 4 on title changes so far tonight. ***

Recap of where the Kane/Big Show feud has gone since their disaster of a match at King of the Ring (that JR rightly calls bowling shoe ugly). The two big guys continued to do big guy things to each other, but where it got interesting is when Taker and Kane seemingly got on the same page opposed to Show. Of course this being Russo it was all a vehicle just to set up a SWERVE, namely Taker chokeslamming Kane's new best bud X-Pac, causing the brothers to break up once again. Hardcore Holly is guest reffing this match, or "The Big Shot" as he's now calling himself during the period where he was under the delusion that he was a superheavyweight. Don't ask, it's Russo. Holly had also been feuding with Show but they now seemed to be on the same side. Kevin Kelley asks Holly if he can be impartial for this match. Holly says yes and how dare you even ask that question. Kelley's meek "Yes sir" to Holly's threat is pretty funny.

 

The Big Show def Kane in 8:13- While Holly's giving elaborate AWA style instructions to Kane Show jumps him. He military presses Kane and tosses him down to the floor! Legit impressive strength wise, but Kane also hit the top rope on the way down and that could have been ugly. They trade headbutts on the floor and Kane gets whipped into the ring post. Not stairs. No noise. They're probably going to get fined for that. Back in Kane slugs away in the corner. Holly hooks his arm to stop him and Show hits a clothesline. The next 5ish minutes that feel like 20 is the usual slow, dull Show beatdown. Kane tries to slug back but runs into a big boot. Show tells Holly he's going to hit a powerslam, then does for a 2 count. Holly helpfully tells Show to "hook his leg". Russian leg sweep from Show. Kane dodges an elbow drop, wobbles Show with about a hundred punches and hits a DDT. Clothesline off the top rope. He sets up for the chokeslam. Goozle! Holly clips Kane's knee! Show hits a chokeslam, as if it's needed Holly fast counts for the two people that haven't gotten what's going on yet, and it's over. Well, it's better than the KOTR match. Barely. 1/2*

After the bell X-Pac runs in and takes out Holly. Taker runs in and chokeslams Pac. They beat down Kane for an overly long time while also looking pretty lost, like someone else was supposed to run in and didn't. Finally Taker just leaves and Show's music hits. Show and Taker share a look as Taker leaves, leaving commentary to speculate what's going on there. When Taker gets through the curtain Austin jumps him! Taker gets busted open! Promise kept.

 

Iron Circle Match: Ken Shamrock def Steve Blackman in 4:19- This is one of those "fight in the middle of a ring of cars" matches. It's all pretaped, and the cars are in a parking garage this time instead of outside so there's a roof. There's also a bunch of wrestlers with the car ring, banging on hoods and honking horns the entire match. It can get old, but at the same time as opposed to the alternative (silence) it works OK. Almost like a score for the match. The rules are supposedly the first person to "escape the circle" wins. I'm not getting deep into this, when you've seen one match of this type you've seen them all. Guys get slammed on car hoods, windshields and windows are broken, weapons are used. Shamrock takes one crazy leaping backwards bump onto a hood. Later Blackman slams him on a hood and he slides right off. Blackman gets a tire iron out of one of the cars. Shamrock gets run into the parking garage wall. Wait, that's outside the cars. Is that considered escaping the circle? Shamrock uses a chain Blackman introduced earlier to punch Blackman down, then chokes him out. The bell rings for that with no one escaping. OK then. It's fine for what it is, though they WCW'd the rules quite a bit. *1/2

Terry Taylor (or "Rooster" as JR calls him) tries to get a word with Taker and gets tossed into the wall.

 

For the Rights to the D-Generation X Name: Road Dogg and X-Pac def Mr. Ass and Chyna in 11:44- Considering the stips there's a total lack of heat for this match as DX had become far less relevant than its heyday. Both teams come out to DX's music. Gunn and Chyna are wearing matching fishnet thongs. JR gets a funny line in about them during the match, "How do they know he's wearing his and she's wearing hers?". Pac's clearly wobbly after Taker's attack earlier. Dogg and Chyna start. Chyna controls with headlocks and a couple of shoulderblocks. Dogg dropkicks her from behind into Gunn, then hitting the ropes Chyna runs into Gunn again. Dogg hooks her up for the pumphandle slam, and gestures that he wants to start Chyna's porn career early. Chyna escapes before either hit. Gunn tags in to a huge "asshole" chant. Almost the entire front row opposite hard camera has a giant "Mr. Asshole" sign with his logo at the end. The front row was cool before it was just Green Tee guy and Trinidad and Tobago flag guy every single show. Back and forth slugging with Gunn hitting a Stinger splash. Chyna hits Dogg from the apron and he goes DX in peril. Chyna tags in and hits uppercuts, a PK to the back and elbow drops for 2. JR says the doctors almost held Pac out of this match with a concussion from the chokeslam earlier. Definitely the pre-"concussion everyone panic" days. Gunn plants Dogg with a jackhammer. He comes off the second rope. Dogg gets a boot up and Gunn does the most ridiculous sell of it. Tag to Pac. Kicks for everyone. Gunn gives him a hot shot to cut it off. Pac's head is hurt again. Chyna pounds on him and puts on a sleeper. Pac runs into a Chyna powerslam for 2. They do the phantom tag spot and Pac gets unloaded on in the corner. Pac runs into another powerslam, this time Gunn's, for 2. Chyna goes for the handspring elbow but Pac cuts it off with a clothesline. Both sides tag. Dogg runs wild. He hits his signature jabs and kneedrop on Chyna. Everyone in the pool! Pac gives Chyna the bronco buster. Chyna inadvertently pulls Pac out of Gunn's path, Gunn Stinger splashes the post, and Dogg hits him with the pumphandle slam for the pin. Solid formula tag stuff for a match that, again, doesn't feel like it mattered nearly as much as it should have. This would get the face and heel branches of DX away from each other for a bit, until Gunn's singles push crashed and burned and he and Dogg were teaming back up again two months later. **1/2

 

Fully Loaded Strap Match: Triple H def The Rock in 19:21- The winner of this match gets a WWF Championship shot at Summerslam. Trips' morphing into The Game is almost 100% complete. The "Fully Loaded" part of this strap match is that it must end by pinfall rather than touch all four corners rules, and falls count anywhere. Rock charges in and it's on! He's all over HHH. Rock uses the strap to pull HHH into the post. He takes a camera from a fan and takes a picture! That sets HHH off. Both guys take shots off and around the announce tables. Back in the ring Rock has some trouble maneuvering around the strap before they do some typical back and forth stuff. Back out and HHH goes into the stairs. Noise! Over the barricade and it's late '90s mandatory crowd brawl time. When they get over by the stage area both guys use the strap for guardrail shots. It's amazing how those individual sections of the old style guardrail were always in that perfect spot to be used during matches. Rock gets whipped into some of the stage girder and clotheslined for 2. HHH does the first strap whips. Rock blocks a suplex and suplexes HHH in the aisle for 2. Another Rock whip into the guardrail for 2. They work back to the ring with Rock taking stair shots. Back in the ring with HHH doing some more strap whipping. Slugfest. HHH hits the high knee. Chyna makes her way out. HHH argues with ref Mike Chioda over a call, then Chyna gets on the apron to take over arguing. Rock uses the strap to pull HHH into a Rock Bottom! Chyna's still distracting Chioda. HHH hits a low blow. He climbs up the ropes and hangs Rock with the strap. Rock starts to go out. After arm drops Rock uses the strap to slam HHH off the top, the pulls the strap for a clothesline and hot shot into the top turnbuckle. Samoan drop for 2. HHH takes the strap off and pounds on Rock in the aisle. He goes over and gets a chair. Rock cuts it off with strap whips. DDT from Rock back in for 2. Now Billy Gunn runs in. He hits Rock with an international club. HHH cover. Rock kicks out! HHH hooks up for the Pedigree. Rock low blows out. Slam. People's Elbow! Cover. Gunn pulls the strap to pull Rock out of the cover! Rock Bottom on Gunn! Pedigree on Rock! HHH gets the pin! He's headed to the Summerslam main event. Rock, on the other hand, is headed for a scintillating midcard match with Gunn that would prove once and for all Gunn's singles push was a mistake and kill it stone dead. This was a fun brawl with two guys that worked that style and with each other extremely well. ***1/2

 

First Blood Match for the WWF Championship: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin (c) def The Undertaker in 15:31- Vince comes out first in crutches, apparently a legit minor injury sustained in a car accident, and joins commentary. As soon as Austin's out we have the usual brawl in the aisle start. Taker ducks a belt shot. He unleashes punch flurries to try to get at Austin's cut. Austin covers up to protect it. Both guys block stair shots. After Austin goes over the barricade Taker tosses the stairs at him! Austin dodges! Crowd brawl time, on the opposite side from the last match so those fans get some personal attention. Taker cuts off a stair shot. He tries to rip open Austin's cut both out of and in the ring. Austin dodges in the corner and gives Taker some hammy kicks to try to work his leg. Clothesline duck and Austin clips Taker's knee, then posts the knee. Taker pushes and Austin flops all the way over the barricade. More crowd brawl on the same side that got it the last match. Crowd favoritism that is. Taker gets a chair. Austin ducks and dodges, then drop toe holds Taker into the steps. Cable choke. Back in Hebner goes down in a goofy ass way that could only have been intentional. Austin hooks up for the Stunner. Taker escapes, but trips over Hebner and gets tied in the ropes! Austin gets a chair, with a huge opening to end it. Shane runs in. Chairshot for Shane! Taker kicks the chair away and gets free of the ropes. Low blow on Austin. Taker takes a top turnbuckle pad off. Austin blocks being run into it and low blows Taker. Stunner! Vince gets up pissed off and starts swinging with his crutch. Austin hops out, swings and down goes Vince! Austin gets another chair. Taker hits him with his chair, then punches Hebner down just because. Now X-Pac runs in for revenge. He kicks the chair into Taker's face! Austin has a TV camera! Camera shot for Taker! Taker's bleeding. Slugfest. Taker scoops Austin up for the Tombstone, but Henber sees the blood and calls it! The match was held down a bit by the stip as most of the first part was two guys punching each other's heads trying to reopen a preexisting cut, but they got rolling better in the second half and like the last match the overbooking was more fun and story logical than overdone. ***

We're not done. Austin gives Taker another Stunner for the road. Stunner for Vince! Triple H runs in, looking to get an early jump on Austin before Summerslam. Rock runs in and fights him off. While they're going at it Taker gives Austin a chairshot off camera and Austin's gushing blood. More bloody slugging with officials running in to break it up, back at it, and broken up again. We get a shot of Sad Vince in the ring, knowing per the match's rules he can no longer be on TV. Austin gets in and offers Vince a handshake. Vince takes it. You know what's coming. One more Stunner on Vince's way out HAHAHAHA yeah right. Vince would be back on TV in less than two months, and I'm surprised it took that long.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- This is how you take a B PPV and make something fun out of it. It's a huge improvement over the disaster that was King of the Ring and gives the company some good momentum heading into Summerslam. I'd say it's up there with Backlash for WWF's best PPV of the year so far.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B