WrestleMania 13

Legacy Review

WrestleMania 13

March 23, 1997 from the Rosemont Horizon in Chicago

Commentary: Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

Fans often debate when the Attitude Era formally started. It's been generally held that Wrestlemania 14 a year after this, when Austin won the WWF Title for the first time, was the start. That shortchanges 1997 though, a plenty Attitudeish year highlighted by the continued rise of Austin, the formation of DX, the DX vs Hart Foundation feud and the almost total erasure of real life/work lines in the Bret Hart/Shawn Michaels feud. The early groundwork for the Attitude Era was clearly being laid as early as late '96, with shows like Survivor Series '96 having a very Attitude feel. Also '97, to me, is the best year of the entire era, or at worst neck and neck with 2000. For all these reasons, I am planting my flag on the hill right now that this show right here, Wrestlemania 13, is the true start of the Attitude Era. I'll hold it with a couple of slingshots, a PEZ dispenser, and the Funniest Joke in the World if I have to.

 

Four Way Elimination Match for the #1 Contenders for the WWF Tag Team Championship: The Headbangers def The Godwinns (w/Hillbilly Jim), The New Blackjacks and Doug Furnas & Phil LaFon in 10:39- The winners of this match get a title shot the next night on Raw, because during the Monday Night Wars weekly ratings pops were as good as PPV buys. It's team elimination rules, meaning if one member is eliminated the whole team is gone. The Headbangers, one of the quintessential teams of the Attitude Era, debuted earlier in the year and were an instant hit with the teenage audience. Their in-ring work left a lot to be desired, but they're hardly alone in that among stars of this era. The New Blackjacks are young Bradshaw (future JBL) and late career Barry Windham cosplaying as his dad. They even show footage of the original Blackjacks from the '70s before the match in a nice touch. The Blackjacks jump everyone during their entrance and it's on. Things settle in with Bradshaw and Henry Godwinn. Henry tags Thrasher, showing the rule that anyone can tag anyone. Bradshaw hits a pumphandle slam. Phineas gets a backdrop on Thrasher....then tags in Mosh! The Headbangers play around a bit before tagging in LaFon and going to work on him. LaFon gets a northern lights suplex on Windham for 2. Frankensteiner for 2. Windham catches LaFon leapfrogging and powerslams him for 2. Blackjacks double shoulderblock. LaFon ducks a clothesline from hell (don't think that's what it was yet but Bradshaw swung hard enough for it to be) and dropkicks Bradshaw to the floor. The Blackjacks work together to suplex LaFon over the top down to the floor. Furnas comes over and all four guys brawl on the floor. Bradshaw pushes Hebner down in the middle of it. It's either a double DQ or double countout, commentary is unclear on it, but regardless both teams are gone. The Godwinns work Mosh over. Er, Thrasher. They look so damn alike it's like they're twins. Even commentary isn't sure which is which. Henry runs into Thrasher hard in the corner, which looked either unplanned or maybe even a little stiff lesson for the kid. Thrasher no sells Phineas headbutts. They spit at each other and slug it out. Mosh tags in. Henry Cactus Clothesline! Mosh hits a springboard crossbody to the apron. Headbanger rocket launcher to the floor. Thrasher takes forever getting Henry in position then misses a moonsault. Hot tag to Phineas. The slop drop is broken up. DONNYBROOK! Mosh hits a butt splash off the top rope for the pin. That was a match that existed. *1/2

 

WWF Intercontinental Championship: Rocky Maivia (c) def The Sultan (w/The Iron Sheik and Mr. Bob Backlund) in 9:47- The Honky Tonk Man comes out first and joins commentary. Sultan is the future Rikishi in a mask with an Abdullah the Butcher ripoff gimmick. He and Sheik are a logical pair, but why Backlund's there I have no idea. This is the Rock's first Wrestlemania, still in his "super rookie" push that the crowd was increasingly wanting nothing to do with. And tonight they're in Chicago. This matchup alone reeks of desperation trying to get the crowd to cheer Rocky. Staredown and shoving at the start. Sultan hits a shoulderblock and Rocky kips up. A clothesline and dropkicks send Sultan to the floor. It's a wonder Rocky hits anything the way he does his dropkicks. Okada he is not. Rocky teases a dive but doesn't do it while the "Rocky sucks" chants start up. Rocky goes to the floor and gets posted. HTM is shouting his head off on commentary. Some poor audio engineer is probably having a hell of a time keeping the levels straight. Back in Sultan does some generic heel beatdown stuff and hooks on a nerve pinch to more "Rocky sucks" chants. Headbutt off the top from Sultan and he plays to the crowd instead of covering. Finally he does an arrogant one hand cover for 2. Rocky gets a sunset flip. Sultan pulls him up by the throat. Belly to belly suplex for 2. To the chinlock! The crowd really starts shitting on the match. Rock fights out and they do a double clothesline. Slow Rocky cover for 2. He starts hulking up off Sultan punches and goes into comeback mode. He doesn't have much to offer but punches and another crappy dropkick. Rocky belly to belly for 2. He spins around into a DDT. Crossbody off the top. Sheik distracts the ref. Sultan superkick for 2. Piledriver for 2. Rock rolls Sultan up and that gets a 3 count. Terrible match, dumb ending. There's no reason in the world not to let the top rope crossbody be the finish and you could still do the angle after. 1/2*

Sultan beats Rocky down with the belt after the bell. Sheik locks in the camel clutch (with Rock helping him by putting one of his own arms in). Rocky's daddy Rocky Johnson comes in to save him but gets beat down too. Rocky junior finally chases the heels off. Old man Sheik takes a couple of slams. That didn't do a thing to help with Rock's crowd rejection problems. Fortunately they were starting to realize that and a course correction was on the horizon.

Triple H is backstage and tells us we don't need to know anything about the recently debuted Chyna. He's slowly morphing into Game/DX Trips.

 

Hunter Hearst Helmsely (w/Chyna) def Goldust (w/Marlena) in 14:29- Putting a bow on this long running feud. Goldust crouches down and is in no rush to start....until he springs up with a clothesline! Pillar to post beating on HHH. He gives Trips a huge inverted atomic drop and clotheslines him to the floor. HHH is in super selling mode already. He gets tied up in the ropes and Goldust works him over. A kick finally gets him free. Goldust gives him a post shot and clotheslines him back in from the apron. HHH counters a backdrop with a facebuster for some breathing room but runs into a Goldust powerslam. HHH sets Goldust up top but Goldust blocks a superplex. HHH drops him down to the floor! Ax handle off the top rope back in. HHH opens Goldust's body suit and chops his bare chest, then stomps him down in the corner. Hard buckle shots and HHH swinging neckbreaker for 2. Abdominal stretch. HHH tries for rope leverage but the ref instantly catches him. Speed run and HHH high knee for 2. HHH tries to muscle Goldust down for a leverage pin but ends up getting crotched on Goldust's knees. HHH suplex and kneedrop. Lawler keeps reaching for movie based jokes but like a poor marksman just KEEPS MISSING THE TARGET (bonus points to anyone that knows what movie that's from). Goldust gets his second wind and gives HHH a corner beatdown. HHH DDT. Goldust backslide and small package for 2. Crossbody for 2. Midring collision. Trips comes off the top rope but falls into Goldust's ass. That didn't come off so great. Goldust dodges and Trips runs into the corner. Trips flip! Bulldog! Cover for a long 2. Chyna, who'd been standing in place like a statue the whole match, starts moving toward Marlena. HHH flips out of the Curtain Call and sets up the Pedigree. Goldust counters and slingshots him into the ropes. He hooks in the Curtain Call again, but sees Chyna bothering Marlena. Goldust goes over and lifts Marlena onto the apron. HHH knee to the back! Marlena falls into Chyna's arms! Chyna swings her around in a bear hug like a doll! Pedigree! It's over. Solid enough. Both guys were trying hard. Triple H is starting to show signs of developing into a pretty good worker. **1/4

Shawn Michaels tries to use a laptop backstage, setting off a whole batch of memes in the future. Still can't find his smile, though.

 

WWF Tag Team Championship: "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith & The Slammy Award Winning Owen Hart (c) and Mankind & Vader (w/Paul Bearer) double countout in 16:08- Bulldog is also the inaugural European champion, having defeated Owen for it in a classic on Raw. Problems between the tag champs continue to be teased. Owen also has two Slammys now, back then the Slammys were held on WM weekend like the Hall of Fame is now. This match is heel vs heel so it's hard for the crowd to get into anything, though they want Bulldog to turn face as had been teased for a while. Lots of interesting histories with the participants too. Vader was with Owen and Bulldog in Jim Cornette's stable earlier in his WWF run, and Vader also had big main event level feuds with both Bulldog and Mankind (as Cactus Jack) in WCW. Owen and Vader start. Vader backs him straight into the corner and starts laying in the potato shots. Owen slides under Vader and hits a clothesline. After some dodges he also hits a spinning heel kick. Vader catches Owen on a crossbody and slams him. Owen dodges an elbow drop. He hops on Vader trying for a hurricanrana, but Vader grabs him and powerbombs him. He sets Owen up for an early Vader bomb. Bulldog cuts it off. Mankind comes in and we're donnybrooking early. Bulldog gives the heels a double clothesline. Owen hits them both with a shotgun dropkick. Bulldog delayed suplex on Mankind. Vader comes in and Bulldog suplexes him too. The crowd chants for Bulldog. Vader pulls the top rope down and Bulldog crashes to the floor. He dodges an urn shot from Mankind, but Vader comes from behind and pops him with it. Vader suplex back in for 2. More corner potatoes. Avalanche. Splash off the second rope for 2. Mankind hits the running corner knee. Vader tackle. Tag. Owen hits a missile dropkick and crossbody off the top for 2. Then runs right into a Vader tackle. The crowd, like usual with a smarter/smarkier crowd when he's on form like this, starts to get behind Vader a bit. The heels hit a Decapitation Device on the floor, with Mankind doing the Cactus Elbow. Owen and Mankind have an apron suplex standoff. Mankind snaps Owen's throat over the top rope instead. Vince mentions that the Hart parents are here, which is like freaking catnip for Lawler to go into his 20 pages of Stu and Helen Hart jokes. Owen's beat down on the floor in front of his parents. Well, they disowned him when he turned heel and feuded with Bret so how much do they really care? Back in Owen gets a DDT counter. He goes for a splash but Mankind gets his knees up. Owen Bret bump! He pops out with a spinning heel kick! The tag is cut off and Vader pummels Owen. Owen slips out of a suplex and hits another spinning kick on Vader. He can't follow up and Vader drops an elbow in his back. He gets tossed to the floor again. Owen snap belly to belly suplex on Mankind on the floor! They go back in and Mankind tries to stop the tag. Enzuguri! Tag! Bulldog runs wild. Vader's mask is off. Mankind gets run hard into the corners. Bulldog sets up the powerslam. Mandible Claw! Vader cuts Owen off, but Vader's tackle sends Owen into Bulldog and Mankind. They fall to the floor. Mankind gets the Claw on again! Bulldog goes out and they both get counted out. They were going pretty good before the non-finish. Supposedly the original plan was for Vader and Mankind to win the titles and for Bulldog to complete his face turn by turning on Owen. But, Bret asked Vince not to do it and to put Bulldog and Owen with him as part of the new, heel Hart Foundation stable after his own turn later in the night. In retrospect, Bret was right. **3/4

Recap of the long Austin/Bret feud, which in many ways was the initial catalyst for the Attitude Era. After losing the WWF Title to Sid on the Raw after the last In Your House Bret went off on a tirade on Vince, naming him the owner of WWF on WWF TV for the first time and dropping non-PG words all over the place. It was the start of the setup that would become the Mr. McMahon character, Austin's nemesis, as well as presaged the real life argument Bret and Vince would have following the next Survivor Series.

 

Submission Match: Bret "Hitman" Hart def "Stone Cold" Steve Austin in 22:05- UFC fighter turned budding pro wrestler Ken Shamrock is the guest ref for this match, and he does a fine job in it. Austin gets his iconic entrance where the glass "Austin 3:16" pane shatters in the entrance tunnel exit. Vince treats Austin like a face on his entrance while commenting on how much Bret has changed. The word "whiner" is used several times. Austin tackles Bret before the bell and it's on! They brawl on the mat and roll to the floor still fighting. Austin gets posted. Bret gets crotched on the rail. Austin clotheslines him off it into the crowd! They go up into the crowd! They stop and brawl at the end of the floor section. Austin tries to grab a drink tray but the arena worker won't cooperate. They keep going up the stands. Bret backdrops out of a piledriver on the steps! They head back down after that and Bret tosses Austin back over the rail, climbs the rail and drops a fist on him. That segment went so well that the "all arena crowd brawl" would become a mandatory spot in most every PPV main event match for the next few years. Bret gets whipped into the stairs. Double middle finger and Austin forearm off the apron. Austin lifts the stairs but Bret cuts him off. They finally get back in the ring. Bret gets a swinging neckbreaker. Elbow off the second rope to the back of Austin's head. He starts working on Austin's bum knee. Shamrock asks Austin if he gives up and Austin flips him off. Guess that's a no. Austin dodges one of Bret's knee shots. Stunner! Bret gets back up first and kicks Austin's leg out of his leg again. Figure four wraparound on the post! Bret gets the ring bell. And a chair. He puts the chair around Austin's leg. The term "Pillmanized" had just been invented thanks to Austin doing this to Brian Pillman. Austin takes the chair off, gets up and knocks Bret off the top rope with the chair! Another hard chairshot to Bret's back. Suplex. Austin with an elbow off the second rope. Gut stomp. Oh, he's going through Bret's moveset as an extra insult. Yup, there's a Russian leg sweep. He hooks on a Boston Crab. Bret gets to the ropes. Austin slowly, deliberately and with great amusement starts putting Bret in a Sharpshooter. Bret eye rakes before he can hook it on. Austin tosses Bret to the floor. Floor whip reversal and Austin crashes into the timekeeper's area! Officials are down like bowling pins! Austin hit his head on the guardrail and got busted open. He's bleeding all over the place. Bret gives him stair and post shots. Back in we get a close up of all the blood on Austin's face. They're not shying away from it now. It's a new era. Bret backbreaker/elbow off the second rope combo. He gets the chair and rams it into Austin's knee! He goes for the Sharpshooter. Austin takes his turn to eye poke out. Bret beats Austin down in the corner. Austin kicks him squire in the nuts! Bret bump! Austin lets him know about it and stomps a mudhole in him. Superplex! Austin gets a TV cord and wraps it around Bret's throat. Before he can do anything serious Bret grabs the bell, which had been laying in the ring this whole time, and whacks Austin with it! Sharpshooter! Austin fights it and refuses to quit. Blood is dripping down his face. He starts going out but gives it one last push....which pushes Bret down but doesn't fully break the hold. Bret pulls back again! Austin's still fighting. The blood is really pouring now, all the way into Austin's mouth. But he's out of options and slowly goes down and out. Shamrock asks him if he gives up, demands a response, and when he doesn't get one calls for the bell. Bret wins, but Austin passed out and never actually gave up. Bret is not satisfied but celebrates anyway while Austin is still out on the mat. Bret attacks Austin again! Shamrock grabs him and throws him! Shamrock wants to fight.....but Bret walks away and is quite literally booed out of the building. Turn complete. Meanwhile a ref makes the mistake of trying to help Austin up and gets Stunnered. Austin flops out of the ring and walks back under his own power to an arena full of "Austin" chants. Other turn complete. This was as perfect a piece of professional wrestling as you will ever see. It's a no brainer full monty match and remains one of the greatest Wrestlemania matches of all time. Mandatory viewing for any fan. *****

The blood stains on the ring mat stay for the rest of the show. No replacement mats back then. During a good chunk of the next match there's a towel in the ring that they used to try to clean the worst of it up. During the next match's intros Vince announces Wrestlemania 14 in Boston. Tickets are NOT on sale yet! Do not call trying to find them!

 

Chicago Street Fight: Ahmed Johnson and The Legion of Doom def The Nation of Domination (w/more Nation) in 10:46- The LOD made their big WWF return right after the last In Your House and quickly joined Johnson in his gang warfare against the Nation. Being Chicago wrestling royalty they get their usual big hometown pop, but it still might not have been as big as Austin's. Vince comments that the Nation came in with everything but the kitchen sink. Then Hawk brings the kitchen sink. Fantastic. Too bad it's never actually used in the match. The whole match is pure street fighting chaos with stuff going on everywhere. The brawl starts before the bell even rings. The faces clear the ring. The Nation goons all try to get involved and get tossed around. Clarence Mason even gets taken out. "Mason's been debriefed! He needs a sidebar and a doctor!" is a great JR line. The fight goes to the floor. Faarooq takes trash can shots. Johnson dives over the rail both directions, which pretty much blows him up for the rest of the match. Hawk swings the 2x4 around in the ring. Animal tries to piledrive Faarooq on the French announce table but they lose their balance and fall off. Crush and Vega get the edge in the ring while Faarooq takes a fire extinguisher blast in the face on the floor. The giant stadium parking sign the Nation brought, which has to be a good six feet tall, gets set up in the ring and Hawk is run into it. Johnson slams Faarooq through the French table to make up for the lost spot earlier. Animal wails on Vega with a trash can. The Nation has a lynching noose and puts it on Johnson. Vega finds Marlena's chair under the ring. Animal hits Faarooq with the giant parking sign. Hawk gets the noose put on him. Crush has SHO's wrench. The Nation goons gang up on Johnson. Hawk uses the noose to pull Faarooq off the second rope down to the floor. They get the noose on Faarooq. The Nation saves him. LOD Doomsday Device on Crush! He gets run into the 2x4 and Hawk covers him for the pin. The fight continues after the bell. D'Lo Brown, one of the Nation goons at the time, takes Johnson's Pearl River Plunge. A couple of other goons get double Doomsday Deviced. Fun chaos and at the time this was a very unique style match that hadn't been seen much. ***

Shawn comes out to join commentary for the main event, taking forever with the crowd.

 

No DQ Match for the WWF Championship: The Undertaker def Sycho Sid (c) in 21:20- Taker's main eventing WM for the first time. He's wearing his classic gray gear from his early years tonight, a nice touch. They go nose to nose. Bret Hart is out and in the ring. He takes a mic. First he goes after Shawn and his "pussy injury", then tells Taker they're done after Taker slammed a cage door on him, and finally tells Sid that's his belt and everyone knows it. Sid punches and powerbombs him! Officials carry Bret out while Shawn laughs at him. Taker ambushes Sid from behind. He gets a boot up in the corner and pummels Sid. Avalanche. Old school. Sid catches another avalanche and puts Taker in a bear hug, then proceeds to spend the next 5 minutes killing the match stone dead. When Taker finally gets out he runs into a big boot and goes 360 to the floor. Sid pushes him into Spanish commentary! It's Wrestlemania, they have to take their bumps. Taker gets slammed on the Spanish table, which tips over instead of breaking. Taker gets a couple of shots back in and Sid looks like he has no interest in selling anything properly tonight. Sid hooks on a camel clutch. Double ax handle off the second rope. Taker fights back and Sid continues to be in Giant Gonzales selling mode. Sid powerslam for 2. Legdrop for 2. Taker flying clothesline. They go back to the floor and Sid gets tossed over the rail. Slugfest over the rail. Taker misses an elbow drop in the ring and Sid goes right to the inevitable chinlock. Taker hits rapid fire strikes to get out and a powerslam. Then he gets in the resthold game with a Nerve Pinch of Time Killing +1. Double big boot! OK, that was cool. More Sid coming off the second rope. Taker finally catches him but gets slammed again. Sid goes up top. Taker sits up, crotches him and slams him off the top. Silly people, thinking Sid might actually do a superplex. Please. Taker clothesline off the top for 2. He calls for the tombstone. Sid reverses it! Sid tombstone! Taker kicks out! They go out and brawl on the floor again. Bret's back. He whacks Sid in the back with a chair! Officials escort him out again. Taker posts Sid's back. Choke slam! Sid kicks out! On a speed run Sid ducks and Taker.....flips over him and falls. What the hell was that supposed to be? Sid sets up the powerbomb. And Bret's here yet again. Sid attacks him on the apron. Taker comes from behind, scoops him up, and hits the tombstone! Hebner does his super slow count. Taker gets the pin and the title! This was a very long awaited title win for Taker, his second and first since late 1991. Really you can call it Taker's first proper world title win, when he won it in '91 it was only as part of an elaborate series of moves to get the belt on Ric Flair without him wrestling Hulk Hogan directly for it. Now he's finally getting a chance to run with the ball. He also goes to 6-0 at WM. It's a great moment, but this is easily one of the worst WM main events ever that all the overbooking in the world couldn't save. Thanks, Sid. 3/4*

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Pretty much a one match show. Outside Bret/Austin this is down in WM 2, 9 and 11 territory among the worst ever, but that one match is an all time classic that everyone needs to see at least once in their lives. Undertaker's title win is also a really good and historic moment despite the awfulness of the match.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C-

Superbrawl V

Legacy Review

Superbrawl V

February 19, 1995 from the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, MD

Commentary: Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan

One thing I need to get out of the way right at the top: Bobby Heenan is plastered. Not three sheets to the wind, he's made his own sails and is halfway to the Caribbean. Clearly working for WCW has not been advantageous to his liver.

Heenan's already stumbling over his words during the opening stand up. We get footage from earlier in the night of Vader arriving in a limo, a limo commentary speculates might also include Ric Flair. Why that'd be such a big deal or needs to be a big secret I really don't know. An anti-Hogan alliance between the two makes perfect sense. Another limo arrives and Vader thinks Hogan's in it, so he attacks the driver and smashes out a back window. No Hogan. During this time WWF was starting to experiment with the Free For All preshow so WCW followed suit, taking advantage of their TBS airtime by having that week's Main Event be a live preshow. Vader crashed that too, storming commentary and attacking wrestlers after a match. One other thing to note from the Main Event preshow- Arn Anderson successfully defended the TV title against Johnny B Badd (again).

"Das Wunderkind" Alex Wright def Paul Roma in 13:20- I think most everyone's heard of this match. Roma attacks Wright while he's having back spasms dancing. Press slam and Roma mocks Wright's dance to a pretty positive crowd reaction. Wright gets a sunset flip for 2 and armdrags that Roma was barely in position for. Roma reverses some arm work. Wright tries to counter and Roma pulls him down by the hair. Wright hops to the top rope and uses Roma's own hold to armdrag him again. Roma's not even trying to sell Wright's arm work, he's just sitting there and jawing with the crowd. Paul Orndorff, Roma's tag partner, comes out to ringside. Nothing but extremely dull mat work happening in the ring. Roma's still more interested in jawing with the crowd and the ref than actually working the match. Roma slam and elbow drops, followed by a tortuously slow triple backbreaker. He stomps Wright down and tosses him to the floor. Wright punches from the apron and tries a sunset flip but Roma says FU and punches him down in midair. Wright tries a backslide. Roma holds back forever, finally goes over, and kicks out at barely 1. Wright small package for 2. Roma goes right to pounding him again. Heenan: "Wonderpunk's had some great mats" and stops. Yeah, he's fershnickered. Loooooooong Roma chinlock. Heenan's slurring like crazy on commentary. Roma dodges a dropkick. He hits the elbow off the top rope and dances around like a prat. Wright gets a dodge in the corner and hits European uppercuts. Roma sandbags a hiptoss. Wright spinning heel kick and again Roma kicks out at 1. Wright hits a crossbody but Orndorff pulls him off the cover. Wright dropkicks Roma in the back, sending him into Orndorff, rolls him up, and gets the pin even though Roma kicked out as a final middle finger. This is what going into business for yourself looks like. Roma decided he was going to make himself look good and take it upon himself to bury Wright. His unprofessional douchebaggery not only cost him his job with WCW, it kept him from getting work with any major company again after this. Blackballed. That said, there is some perverse amusement in watching it. Roma's a dick, but Wright isn't exactly a legend and WCW was banking on him to give way more than what he really had to offer. *

 

"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan def Bunkhouse Buck (w/Col. Robert Parker & Meng) in 11:54- Another jump start with Duggan slugging. Buck eye rakes and bites. Duggan hiptoss. He did a wrestling move! A rare one for the bingo card. Buck is clotheslined 360 to the floor. He drags Duggan down with him and they slug it out on the floor. Duggan gets posted. Back in Duggan hits an ugly ass knee drop. Atomic drop. Back elbow for 2. Buckle shots for Buck. Buck hits Duggan with his rope. More weak brawling. Duggan places Buck on top and hits some gut shots. Another slugfest. Duggan backdrop for 2. Things bog down even worse with Duggan controlling everything and I wonder how the hell this match is still going on. Duggan scoops and spins Buck, slams him and hits another awful kneedrop for 2. Mounted munches. It's still completely one sided for Duggan and he's running out of bullets on his belt. Duggan takes Parker out, hits the 3 point stance clothesline and mercifully gets the pin. As soon as the bell rings Meng attacks Duggan. How the hell did those two get booked for this much time? On top of that the whole thing was laughably one sided with Duggan on offense nearly the whole match. If they kept it under 5 minutes it would have been.....well, not quite as horrendous as that. DUD

 

Kevin Sullivan (w/the Butcher) def Dave Sullivan in 7:16- Oh JOY. This sure isn't going to improve things. And I'm not even getting into the whole "magic slippers" thing. Nope. Another jump start and slugfest. Evad gets a slam and does some ground and pound. A weak back elbow sends Kevin to the floor. Back in Kevin takes buckle shots. Backdrop for 2. Butcher trips Evad. They go to the floor and Kevin runs Evad into the apron. Butcher gets some shots in. Kevin gets a boot up in the corner back in. Evad bites Kevin's.....stomach? OK then. Kevin pounds away with chops and punches in the corner, then clearly on camera tells Evad "punch me". Evad does. After getting dumped to the floor again Evad chokes Kevin. More Kevin chops and he gets crotched on the ropes. More buckle shots. Butcher distracts. Kevin runs Evad into Butcher, sacrificing him, and rolls Evad up with a handful of tights for the pin. After the bell Butcher's reconstructed face is injured and he's writhing in pain all the way back to the back. This was the lead in for the next of Brutus Beefcake's 47 WCW gimmicks, The Man With No Face. It sounds way cooler than it actually was. The match, as expected, sucked. Dave Sullivan is hands down one of the worst wrestlers that's ever worked for a major company. DUD

This show feels like it's been three hours long already. I think I need one of Heenan's drinks.

 

WCW World Tag Team Championship: Harlem Heat (c) (w/Sister Sherri) def The Nasty Boys by DQ in 17:06- Standoff and jawing after the bell. Eventually Booker and Knobbs start. Shoving and slapping. Booker hits knees to the gut on the ropes. Knobbs ducks a heel kick and Booker crotches himself over the top rope. Knobbs knocks him to the floor and Sags runs him over. Back in Sags hits the low blow headbutt and attacks Booker's leg. Booker gets a tag (while selling the leg) and Ray pounds away on Sags. The Nastys work Ray down in their corner and do some work on his leg. Booker tags in and gets hiptossed. More work on Booker's knee. Booker dropkicks Sags over the top to the floor. Sherri and Ray run him into the guardrail. Back in Sags and Ray wander around lost before Sags hits a clothesline. Sags goes to the floor again and Sherri gets a punch in. Sags dodges a Booker elbow drop. Booker no sells it and does the spinaroonie! You know, that's a cool looking move there. Maybe you should find a way to highlight it more in matches? Just a thought, WCW. Heel kick from Booker. Ray comes in and euthanizes a match already on life support with a forever chinlock. Booker scissors kick. Ray hits an awful powerslam. Sags dodges a Booker kneedrop off the second rope and hits a powerslam. Tags on both sides. Knobbs cleans house. Double DDT on Heat. Big splash on Ray and we're donnybrooking. One of Heat gets tossed over the top to the floor. Sherri tries coming off the top rope with the Shoe of Match Ending +1 but hits her own man instead, Knobbs rolls him up and gets the pin and the titles! Or does he? Here comes backup ref Randy Anderson. He tells Nick Patrick about the over the top throw and the decision is reversed to Heat by DQ. Classic awful Dusty Finish. It's sad to say this is the best match on the show so far. *1/2

 

The Blacktop Bully (w/Col. Robert Parker) def "The Natural" Dustin Rhodes in 16:08- Blacktop Bully is Barry Darsow, AKA Demolition Smash and Repo Man in WWF and Krusher Kruschev in JCP. This is an extension of the Dustin/Stud Stable feud that ran most of '94. After antagonizing everyone from the crowd one too many times Bully was hauled off to jail, bailed out by Parker, and offered a $75,000 bounty to take Dustin out once and for all. Before the match Commissioner Nick Bockwinkel throws Meng out because of his attack on Duggan earlier. Bully tries to jump before the bell but Dustin is one up on him. Flying clothesline. Mounted punches and bionic elbow, with his jacket still on. Dustin turns his back and Bully clips his knee. He smothers Dustin with his own jacket. Dustin dodges in the corner and Bully posts his shoulder. He gets kicked off the top to the floor, and stalls a bit down there. Once he gets back in they go back to the basics. Bully tries to slam out of an armbar but Dustin holds on, then transitions to a headscissors. High knee from Dustin that looks like it caught Bully in the face for real. Bully gets a snap mare, Dustin reverses it into a hammerlock. Dustin roll up for 2. As the match crawls along a section of fans across from hard camera amuse themselves by loudly chanting "KFC" at Parker. Dustin springboard back elbow. Suplex for 2. He gets a sunset flip, Bully fights and walks over to the ropes. He grabs one, but the ref kicks his arm off? Dustin rolls him over and gets a 2 count. Why wouldn't Bully get a rope break there? That's crap officiating. Bully blocks a monkey flip and Dustin 360 sells a clothesline. Slow cover for 2. Dustin's tossed to the floor and Parker stomps him. Another punch exchange and Bully hits a back suplex for 2. He dodges a crossbody and Dustin rolls to the floor. Dustin grabs Bully's leg and posts his knee. Bully dodges a kneedrop and hits a suplex. Dustin catches Bully coming off the second rope. Neither guy seemed sure of what he was doing there. Dustin backdrop and inverted atomic drop. Bulldog! Parker puts Bully's foot on the rope. Dustin suplexes Parker into the ring. He goes to suplex Bully off the apron. Parker grabs Dustin's foot and Bully falls on top for the pin. Wrestlemania 5 finish. Another match that hugely overstayed its welcome. 1/2*

Mean Gene brings out Ric Flair. He asks about the limo and Flair says "Why would I be in Vader's limo?". He says he's here for the party and will be in the front row for the last two matches.

 

"Macho Man" Randy Savage and Sting def Big Bubba Rogers and Avalanche in 10:16- Savage seems to have a bit more zest and shows more of his natural self not being paired up with Hogan. Sting and Avalanche start. Avalanche wins the lockups. Sting clotheslines and a dropkick stagger the big man. Rogers hits Sting from the apron and the heels double team. Rogers goes up top. Savage grabs him and crotches him. Sting superplex! Rogers gets knocked around and see saws in the ropes before falling to the floor. Savage double ax handle off the top to the floor. Reset with Savage and Rogers. Savage gets an armdrag. He gets jawey with Flair and Rogers attacks him from behind. Sunset flip from Savage and he dodges the butt splash counter. A high knee to the back sends Rogers into the corner and Savage rolls him up off the ricochet for 2. He deliberately elbows Rogers into the corner and slaps Avalanche! Avalanche tags in. Savage slaps him again! He tries to slam Avalanche which naturally doesn't go as planned. After a corner dodge Sting tags in and attacks Avalanche's knee. Scorpion Death Lock! Everyone in the pool! Forever Stinger Splashes on both heels...until Avalanche cuts Sting off and slams him. Savage jaws with Flair some more. Sting dodges Avalanche in the corner. He slams Avalanche! Rogers punches from the apron and Sting does his "unintentional" headbutt to the crotch. Tag to Savage. Double ax handle off the top. Donnybrook! Savage gives Rogers the elbow off the top. Sting clotheslines Avalanche from the top rope, stacks him up and gets the pin! A decent match that felt like a frigging masterpiece after what's been on this show so far. Savage was on form. It definitely should have gotten more time and other matches cut down. **1/2

 

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Hulk Hogan (c) (w/Jimmy Hart) def WCW United States Heavyweight Champion Vader by DQ in 15:08- This is easily one of the most anticipated matches since Hogan's signing with WCW and should have been the Starrcade main event. Vader's manager for his whole main event WCW run, Harley Race, is not here due to having to leave wrestling altogether after having hip replacement surgery following a car crash and would sadly not be back. Lockup stalemates at the start. Vader completely shrugs off Hogan punches. The mask is off. Hogan slaps Vader in the corner! Corner clothesline. Vader no sells again! Hogan is flummoxed. Vexed, even. He switches gears, cranks Vader's arm and does an arm takedown into an arm scissors. New Japan Hogan is here. He could wrestle, when he felt like it. Vader powers out. Here come the corner potatoes. Vader short clothesline and avalanche. Hogan rolls out to regroup. Vader follows. Hogan reverses a whip and Vader goes over the guardrail into the chair Ric Flair barely got out of in time! Back in Hogan hits chops and a clothesline. Big boot. Another clothesline sends Vader 360 to the floor. After a corner beatdown Hogan tries a slam but Vader falls on top of him. Vader tackle. More potato shots. Setup slam. Vader bomb! Hogan kicks out! Vader goes all the way up. VADERSAULT! Hogan dodges! Great camera angle from the floor for that too. They fight on the floor. Hogan gets a chair and nails Vader in the head! Back in Vader ducks a clothesline. Choke slam! Elbow drop and more corner pummeling. Vader suplex. Hulk Up! Punches, big boot, legdrop. Vader kicks out at ONE! A Vader tackle takes out Hogan and the ref. Powerbomb! No ref. Flair gets in pissed off, tries to revive the ref and gets out again. Splash from Vader! Another Hulk Up. Big boot and Vader gets 360 clotheslined to the floor again. Flair attacks Hogan for the DQ. After the bell the heels beat Hogan down and Flair puts the figure four on before Savage and Sting make the save. Vader and Flair leave together to more speculation. Well, that was actually one hell of a match. What I really liked was Vader worked his match, forcing Hogan to adapt and get out of his usual formula, and what we ended up getting was a very mid-'80s style Hogan match. The end run was a bit messy getting to the DQ. Put a clean finish on that and we'd probably be talking about a classic. Of course, Vader having the gall to actually push Hogan to try led to Hogan politicking the shit out of him backstage and burying Vader in their subsequent rematches. You could also make a strong argument for Vader winning this match, even for a short run and Hogan winning it back at the next PPV, but that was probably a bridge too far for Hogan when he could control his own booking. ***1/2

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- The main event saved this from being an all time disaster. WCW's undercard was in desperate need of reshuffling, rethinking and frankly some guys that were actually good workers. Speaking of all time disasters, the first Uncensored is the next PPV....

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D+

In Your House 13: Final Four

Legacy Review

In Your House 13: Final Four

February 16, 1997 from the UTC Center in Chattanooga, TN

Commentary: Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler (NO VINCE)

Small bit of history here as this is the first PPV to be called just by JR and the King as Vince was slowly transitioning into his Mr. McMahon on screen character. The classic house set has once again been ditched, possibly for good. I don't remember but we'll find out soon enough. No wasting time either, the show starts right up with Mero's entrance after Cassidy got a jobber entrance.

"Wildman" Marc Mero (w/Sable) def Lief Cassidy in 9:31- They trade slaps after the bell. Badd armdrags. ARMBAR! After some aggressive shoves Cassidy rolls out. He drags Badd down with him and tries to post his knee but Sable stops him. Mero double ax handle off the apron. Slingshot legdrop for 2. Cassidy keeps trying to attack Mero's knee and finally gets somewhere with a couple of dropkicks to the knee. Knee stomps and a leg bar. Mero tries to punch back but Cassidy stays on the knee. Back to the knee bar and Mero gets to the ropes. Snap mare from Cassidy and back to the knee. Mero gets an enzuguri. Magistral cradle for 2. Cassidy hits a kneebreaker. Figure four! Sable helps Mero grab a rope. Cassidy goes outside to have some words with her. Sable slaps him! Mero standing tope suicida! He faceplants Cassidy and runs him into the turnbuckle. Samoan drop. The Wild Thing hits! That gets the pin. Solid enough opener. Cassidy would soon be "traded" to ECW as part of WWF's new partnership with them and while there put together all the pieces that made him one of the most unique stars of the Attitude Era: returning to the name Al Snow, starting the JOB Squad and getting Head. **1/4

The Honky Tonk Man's music plays and he comes out to the ring.....then we quickly cut to the following videos and he's never mentioned again. Weird.

 

Next up is a video recap of the WWF Title situation, so I'll go ahead and get into that now. Shawn Michaels defeated Sid to win the title back at the Royal Rumble. Also that night, Steve Austin won his first Rumble under dubious circumstances (distracted refs didn't see Bret Hart eliminate him). Due to the controversy, Austin's Wrestlemania title shot was taken away, and the new WM challenger would be determined in a four way match on this show between the final four in the Rumble: Austin, Bret, Undertaker, and Vader. Technically Fake Diesel was in the final four, not Vader, but thankfully that character had been retired from TV. But a wrench was thrown into everything on the Raw before this PPV (which was one of those Thursday Night Thursday Raws because USA had something more important to show on Monday night, probably a dog show). Shawn vacated the title and said he was going away for a while, claiming he had "lost his smile" and he was going on a journey of self discovery to go find it again. I'm embellishing that last part a little bit. He also floated the idea of a knee injury, an idea backed up by those close to Shawn, but history has shown pretty definitively that the injury claim was just a cover for the fact that he flat didn't want to go with the current plan of giving Bret his win back at WM so he was, to put it frankly, taking his ball and going home. This was one of the major catalysts for the real life Bret/Shawn drama that would seep in during their on screen feud as the year progressed, leading to an infamous night in Montreal in November. The four way match for tonight was changed to be for the vacant title.

 

Following that is a promo from Sid, who'll be getting his title rematch against the winner of the four way on Raw tomorrow night.

The Nation of Domination (w/more Nation) def Goldust, Flash Funk and Bart Gunn (w/Marlena) in 6:43- Savio Vega has turned heel and joined the Nation, teaming up here with Crush and Nation leader Faarooq. The face team is an....interesting random mishmash. Funk and Goldust seem to be having a bet on who can have the longest entrance. Funk wins. The Nation comes in through the crowd. Faarooq takes a mic to say something but Goldust attacks him from behind! Early 3 on 3 action and the faces clear the ring. Funk hops up top and dives on all three Nation wrestlers! They all get up very quickly and Vega and Crush attack Funk from behind while Faarooq works over Goldust in the ring. Goldust counters a backdrop and tags. Faarooq catches a Funk leapfrog and gives him a spinebuster. Corner clothesline from Funk on Vega, then he sets him up top and gives him a hurricanrana! Crush breaks the pin up. A Funk dropkick sends Vega to the floor. Gunn gives Funk a lift into a plancha! The Nation guys no sell/catch him and beat him down on the floor. Funk goes face in peril. Crush shocks everyone by doing a wrestling move, a belly to belly suplex for 2. Faarooq does his super slow beatdown. Funk counters and crotches him. Vega cuts the tag off. Spike piledriver! Funk kicks out! Funk flips over a double clothesline, double clotheslines both guys and tags Gunn. Powerslam on Faarooq and everyone's in again. Gunn hits Faarooq with a top rope bulldog. Crush comes up and legdrops Gunn in the back of the head. Faarooq covers for the pin. OK 6 man stuff, they kept it moving and Funk got his flash (pun intended) in. It also continued the job of getting the Nation over as a cohesive group skilled in gang warfare. *3/4

Very young Kevin Kelley is in the back with Austin. Austin blames the office for holding him back for 7 years (nice WCW callback) and promises to get what's his. You jackass.

 

WWF Intercontinental Championship: Rocky Maivia (c) def Hunter Hearst Helmsely in 12:30- Rocky continued his super rookie rocket ship push by upsetting Triple H for the title on the same Thursday Raw that Shawn vacated, a win that only accelerated the audience backlash against him despite the pop on the night. Little did anyone know at the time but these two would spend the next almost two years off and on making each other stars while feuding for this title, but not before both had complete changes of character. Very little reaction for the new champ on his entrance. Basic start. HHH dodges a drop toe hold and hits his own. He gives Rocky some humiliation slaps on the back of his head. They do some counters and Rocky hits a hip toss, ugly dropkick and armdrag. He returns the favor by slapping the back of HHH's head. HHH stands up and they trade some stiff slaps in the corner. HHH hits some chops. Rocky gets a backdrop and another armdrag. HHH uses momentum to send Rocky over the top to the floor. Baseball slide and Rocky crashes hard into the guardrail. Slam on the floor. Trips is doing his job as the crowd is starting to get behind Rocky a bit. Pillar to post beating back in and a suplex from HHH. Kneedrop for 2. He hooks on a chinlock and plays the rope leverage game with Hebner before getting caught. Rocky ducks clotheslines but runs into a high knee. Small package from Rocky, the same move he used to win the title! HHH *just* gets out in time! The hair tie is off! HHH backbreaker for 2. Rocky does some more dodging and hits a crossbody for 2. His crossbody is so crazy, he tries to stretch all his arms and legs as absolutely far as they can possibly go. It looks like he's posing instead of doing a wrestling move. HHH dodges a dropkick. Rocky catches a kick, spins, but eats a HHH clothesline. HHH comes off the top but Rocky catches him with a gut punch. Inverted atomic drop. Trips flip! He lands in the ring. Rocky powerslam and crossbody (again with the pose) for 2. HHH begs off. Rocky mounted punches. HHH uses the position to drop Rocky on the top buckle. He tries a leverage pin for 2. Rocky hits a horrible DDT. I mean awfully timed. Cover for 2. HHH eye poke and facebuster. Neckbreaker. Goldust, whose beef with Trips was not over, is out. HHH yells at him. Rocky comes from behind, gets a back suplex with a bridge, and gets the pin. A variation on Generic Raw Finish 1A, the distraction roll up. Call it 1B, distraction but the win wasn't with a roll up. Rocky's inexperience showed but HHH ring generaled him into something mostly decent, which showed how far he's come over the past couple of years. **

Trips and Goldust continue jawing at each other. A HUGE woman attacks Marlena from the crowd! Security hauls her away. She's not named yet, but that was the debut of Chyna, who would change Triple H's career forever.

 

WWF Tag Team Championship: Doug Furnas and Phil LaFon def "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith and The Slammy Award Winning Owen Hart (c) (w/Clarence Mason) by DQ in 10:30- The champs, who are nearing 6 months on this title reign, have had some tension lately, exacerbated by Owen "accidentally" eliminating Bulldog in the Rumble. Owen grandstands Bulldog a bit on their entrance. Furnas and LaFon were a really good team known for their run in All Japan but didn't really get time to get traction in WWF. Their more technical wrestling style didn't mesh well with where the company, especially the tag division, were going. Bring them in 5-6 years later when teams like the Guerreros and Team Angle were going strong and they probably could have had a hell of a run. Owen and Furnas start. JR talks football! He really does have full control of the reins in the booth now. A mat wrestling stalemate is followed by a speed run and Furnas hip toss/armdrag combo. Owen monkey flips LaFon into a cover, triggering a nice near fall counter run. LaFon gets a leg takedown into a legbar. Commentary talks about Owen feigning a knee injury vs Shawn's completely legit don't let anyone tell you otherwise knee injury which is pretty funny. LaFon gets a flippy sunset flip on Bulldog. He slips out of a Bulldog suplex and hits a spinning heel kick for 2. Owen kicks LaFon from the apron to send him face in peril. Heel double team and choke. Owen gets a springboard crossbody that LaFon reverses for 2. Owen eye rake and gut wrench suplex for 2. Backbreaker. LaFon gets a sunset flip proper on Bulldog but the ref is distracted. Clothesline from Bulldog and he does his show off flip. LaFon fights off Owen's Sharpshooter. Bulldog lifts LaFon up in a suplex, and Owen floors him with a crossbody off the top for 2! Cool double team. LaFon counters a backdrop with a small package but the ref is distracted again. Bulldog rolls Owen on top in the small package. When the ref is getting him out Furnas puts LaFon back on top! Owen kicks out. Owen and Bulldog argue! LaFon resolves it for the moment by giving them a double noggin knocker. Bulldog trips LaFon from the floor. Owen accidentally spinning heel kicks Bulldog! And they're arguing again. Owen slaps Bulldog! Bulldog clotheslines Owen! LaFon takes advantage and splashes Owen off the top! Bulldog makes the save. For the titles, not Owen. Furnas tags in. Dropkick on Owen for 2. Belly to belly for 2. Face double backdrop and LaFon hits a northern lights suplex for 2. Furnas Frankensteiner! Bulldog makes another save. The faces hit a really cool combo flurry with a superkick, DDT and ledgrop. Owen kicks out again. Owen enzuguri! Both sides tag. Bulldog dropkick and clothesline. LaFon crucifix and roll up for 2. DONNYBROOK! The heels are run into each other! Bulldog drops LaFon on the top turnbuckle and sets up the powerslam. Before he can hit it Owen comes in and hits LaFon with his Slammy for the cheap DQ! Bulldog is furious. He refuses to take the belt. He grabs Owen's Slammy, tosses it aside and it breaks! HE BROKE OWEN'S SLAMMY! Mason tries to make peace and Bulldog gets in his face, but eventually calms down enough to take his tag belt and leave with his teammates. Right after this show Bulldog defeated Owen in the tournament final to crown the first ever European champion, one of the best matches ever on Raw. That could have been Bulldog's face turn, but instead it started to get the air cleared between the two and both would join Bret Hart's heel Hart Foundation stable soon after. This was the best tag title match WWF had put on in a long while. ***1/4

 

Four Corners Elimination Match for the Vacant WWF Championship: Bret "Hitman" Hart def Vader (w/Paul Bearer), "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and The Undertaker in 24:06- Since this is coming off what happened in the Rumble a rule has been added to allow over the top rope to the floor eliminations as well as pinfall and submission. Basically New Japan Rambo rules. After being the first two out Vader and Austin tell each other they're #1 and JR apologizes for it. Gonna become a regular thing very soon. Cautious start as all four guys try to position, then they pair off, Bret with Austin and Taker with Vader. Taker hits the flying clothesline then attacks Bret. Old school on Austin. Vader belly to belly suplex on Taker. Taker sits up. Vader pushes him to the floor through the ropes and starts laying in the potato shots. Vader pushes Fink out of the way and takes his chair! Taker dodges the chairshot. Bret bump in the ring. Taker big boots the chair into Vader's face, then whips Vader into the stairs. Vader is bleeding from his eye, and I mean it's gushing. I think something happened to the repairs that had to be made to his eye after it famously popped out during a match with Stan Hansen in All Japan when the chair hit him. All this time Bret and Austin have been going back and forth in the ring. All four guys are back in. Austin jawbreakers out of a Bret sleeper. Taker choke slams Vader. Stunner on Taker! Vader tackles Bret. Austin and Taker go back and forth while Vader and Bret take it to the floor. Vader gives Bret a chair shot. A closeup shot shows how much Vader is bleeding. It's not pretty but he's still going. Everyone swaps positions. Taker backdrops out of an Austin piledriver on the aisle. Bret's on the apron and Taker suplexes him back in. Vader lifts the stairs but Austin blocks the shot, then runs Vader into the stairs and drops them on him, right on his hurt eye too! Vader potatoes Austin and drops him on the guardrail. Bret's doing some work on Taker's knee in the ring. Austin whips Vader on the floor and he crashes into the timekeeper! Austin beats him with the belt! Vader punches back and hits Austin with the bell! Vader's clearly still bleeding. Austin gets crotched on the top rope by Taker. Vader and Bret go up the aisle. Vader gets whipped over the rail into the crowd! Taker gets Austin over the top onto the apron. Austin clothesline off the top for 2. Vader tries to put the Sharpshooter on Bret on the floor but he gets buried under all the fighting. Bret and Taker double team Austin for a bit. Austin Thesz Press on Vader! That got blood everywhere. All four guys are in the ring again. Vader tackles Taker. Bret piledriver on Austin for 2. Vader sets Taker up for a Vader bomb. No, Paul Bearer is telling Vader to go all the way up. VADERSAULT! Taker dodges! Austin low blows Bret. Taker and Vader take turns choking each other with a TV cable. Austin almost gets Bret over the top but Bret fights him off. Vader covers Taker for 2. Bret elbow off the second rope on Austin for 2. Austin rolls Bret up for 2. Bret/Vader slugfest. Bret low blows Vader! Austin posts Taker's knee. Bret Russian leg sweep on Vader. Taker tosses Austin over the top but he lands on the apron. Bret lifts Austin in a fireman's carry, and gets him over the top to the floor to eliminate him! The refs definitely saw it that time. Vader pounds Bret with corner potatoes. Taker avalanche on Vader. Vader clips Taker's knee. He and Bret double team....until Taker rolls to the floor and they go at each other. The mask is off! Bearer hits Taker with the urn. Vader suplexes Bret and goes up top. Bret pops up and joins him. BRET SUPERPLEXES VADER! Sharpshooter! Taker attacks Bret from behind and he goes under the ropes to the floor. Austin runs back out and attacks Bret! Vader sets Taker up for a Vader bomb. Situp! Taker punches Vader and he falls over the top rope to the floor! Vader's gone! It's down to Bret and Taker. The crowd, who have been pretty quiet this whole show, are going absolutely ape shit now. The hard camera is even shaking. Taker fights Austin off. Choke slam on Bret! Taker calls for the tombstone. Austin grabs Bret's foot as Taker lifts him up! Austin almost gets Bret over the top but Bret falls back in the ring. Bret rolls Taker up for 2. Both guys continue to fight Austin. After Taker gets Austin off the apron again Bret clotheslines Taker, and he goes 360 and out! Bret wins! There's no bell because the bell was destroyed earlier in the match. That's hilarious. Bret wins the title for the fourth time, one shy of Hogan's record. What a match. All four guys were at the top of their game, but Vader was definitely the glue that held this together, even after busting his old eye injury open. It's probably his best WWF match and the closest he got to his old dominant WCW form as his body was starting to break down. What I really liked was unlike modern four way matches where all the focus has to be on one thing happening everyone kept wrestling regardless of where the camera focus was, giving it a more chaotic and realistic feel. That needs to come back. ****1/2

During Bret's celebration Sid comes out and they jaw in the ring while the show ends. Bret's title run would be short lived as Sid won it back the next night (with help from Austin) to carry it to WM as the card was reshuffled with Shawn bailing. Bret's one day reign would be the second shortest for the WWF Title to that point, only longer than Andre the Giant trying to give the title to Ted DiBiase 5 minutes after he won it. But with Attitude Era hotshotting on the horizon things like that will become more common.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- A serviceable undercard, a good tag title match and a tremendous main event make this a damn solid show in that usually hard to succeed in gap between the Rumble and Wrestlemania. JR and Lawler being by themselves also instantly elevates everything. We make fun of JR as the cranky old man now, but in his prime he truly was the best.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B

Clash of the Champions XXX

Legacy Review

Clash of the Champions XXX

January 25, 1995 from Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas

Commentary: Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan

Ever since its inception by Jim Crockett Promotions in May of '88 there's been at least four Clashes every year. Current WCW boss Eric Bischoff wasn't a fan of the Clash concept however. He felt it took away from potential PPVs, and likely also because he already had the idea for Nitro cooking away somewhere. So, starting this year the number of Clashes per year was cut from four to two, and would stay that way until they were phased out completely following the final '97 Clash. To fill the gaps WCW would be introducing new PPVs during the course of '95.

WCW World Television Championship: Arn Anderson (c) (w/Col. Robert Parker & Meng) def Johnny B Badd in 7:38- After being an impromptu replacement for the Honky Tonk Man against champion Badd at Starrcade, Arn went on to win the title in a rematch on weekly TV for his 4th TV title reign. Now we get the rematch of the rematch, which is part of WCW's "fan voting" initiative. Fans vote on the Hotline for matches they want to see, and in this case demanded Badd get a rematch. There's a reason initiatives to let fans book by vote always end up in the rubbish bin (see Taboo Tuesday/Cyber Sunday for another example). Sluggy start. Badd fakes Arn out with a punch and hits a kneelift. Arn gets some beatdown in and goes up top. Badd dropkicks him off down to the floor! Plancha! He got Arn and Parker with that one. Ax handle off the top back in for 2. Arn grabs a kick, mockingly slaps Badd, and Badd nails him with an enzuguri! Now Badd grabs one of Arn's kicks. Arn tries an enzuguri but Badd ducks it. Magistral cradle for 2. Badd tries the same corner counter too many times and Arn grabs him and drops him over the top turnbuckle. He tosses Badd out and Parker gets a kick in. A Badd comeback is cut off with a knee to the gut. Arn gets a back elbow in the corner. He comes off the top rope, sees Badd get a boot up in time, adjusts and drops an elbow. Arn grabs a leg but Badd pushes him into the corner. Badd comeback with a backdrop and clotheslines. Flying headscissors. The Tutti Fruiti punch hits but Arn rolls out to the floor. Parker grabs a pitcher of water and dumps it on Arn to wake him up. Badd stalks Parker around and into the ring, but walks right into an Arn DDT! That gets the pin. Solid. **1/2

The new Alex Wright music video plays. There's not enough bleach in the world to scrub my eyes out with.

 

"Das Wunderkind" Alex Wright def "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton in 7:38- Wright's having a spasm in the ring....oh wait, he's just dancing again. So hard to tell the difference. Wright opens with an armdrag and some arm work, with a shoulderblock/slam/tackle combo in the middle. Eaton hits a gut punch and some of his patented straight right hands. Wright moonsaults over in the corner and gets a flying headscissors. He wants to get punchy and Eaton begs off. European uppercuts from Wright. Eaton ducks a charge and Wright dives into the ropes. Wright counters a backdrop with a suplex. More European uppercuts and a spinning kick. Missile dropkick for 2. Eaton goes to the old eye poke. Wright gets a springboard reverse crossbody off the top rope for 2. Eaton hits the swinging neckbreaker. Alabama Jam! Wright kicks out! Man, Wright's already kicking out of finishers? That's a big German engineered rocket ship they've got strapped to his back. Another Wright springboard crossbody hits and that gets the pin. Eaton walked Wright through a serviceable match. *1/2

Vader comes out to promote his upcoming title match with Hogan at Superbrawl. He's got ringside tickets for he and Harley Race tonight, accuses Hogan of ducking him and says he can show up "anytime, anywhere". Might as well put a giant sign next to him that says "I'M RUNNING IN DURING THE MAIN EVENT TONIGHT". In the middle of intros for the next match Ric Flair's music hits. The Man is here! With some women of course. That forced retirement from losing at Halloween Havoc sure didn't last long (he's got alimony to pay), and certainly isn't mentioned at all on TV. Flair also takes a seat in the crowd. Heenan comes up to say hi and Flair says something that sounded a lot like "Check out the bitches!".

 

WCW World Tag Team Championship: Harlem Heat (c) (w/Sister Sherri) def Stars & Stripes in 9:45- Harlem Heat defeated Stars & Stripes for the titles a couple of weeks prior on weekly TV (as shown, in reality the match had been taped weeks before Starrcade), the first of their record 10 title reigns. Booker and Bagwell start. Booker slaps and Bagwell snaps. Booker gets a knee up in the corner and gives Bagwell some knees on the ropes. Bagwell ducks a heel kick and dropkicks Booker over the top to the floor. Ray runs in and gets double dropkicked. Bagwell backdrops Booker back in. S&S double hip toss. Booker works Patriot into his corner and tags. Ray catches a Bagwell crossbody and powerslams him. Booker bicycle kick. Bagwell gets a rolling cradle in the corner for 2. Patriot and Booker do some suplex counters, fumble around a little, and Patriot hits a belly to belly suplex for 2. Bagwell tries a monkey flip but Ray blocks it from the apron. Booker big boot and tag. They sucker Patriot in for some double teams. Booker flying forearm. Bagwell and Booker do a crossbody collision! Sherri and Ray both distract and the ref doesn't see the S&S tag. As usual Patriot completely ignores the ref trying to get him out and everyone's in the pool. Sherri gets on the apron with her Loaded Purse of Hard Hitting +1. Bagwell fraks up the spot by whipping Booker into the corner. They reset, do the counter and Booker eats the purse. While Bagwell has Booker rolled up Ray nails him with a kick, Booker reverses the cover and gets the pin. Another classic WCW badly executed tag match finish. It's practically their signature. S&S would fall to being more of a jobber team after this before disbanding in the spring and Patriot leaving WCW soon after. *3/4

Mean Gene is with the MONSTER MANIACS. I suppose "Mega Powers" was still a WWF trademark. Heenan accidentally called them "Mega Maniacs" earlier in the show, which was the name for the Hogan/Beefcake team in WWF in '93 but I guess the lawyers didn't like the look of that one either. After that we go to Mean Gene in the Control Center for an update on Superbrawl, normally a weekly TV segment. Random thought: WWF Update was always my favorite part of WWF weekly TV from the pre-Raw days. The home for breaking news and PPV hype.

 

Sting def Avalanche in 5:22- Another Starrcade rematch. The Guardian Angel is the guest ref for this match. Sting tosses his jacket at Avalanche and charges in. It doesn't go so good and Avalanche pounds away in the corner. Angel makes him back off. Sting dodges in the opposite corner and a couple of dropkicks send Avalanche to the floor. Now Angel cuts Sting off from attacking on the floor. Reset back in the ring. Commentary notices Flair is gone and wonders where he is. Maybe he had to go to the bathroom. Maybe he took one, or both, of his women to the bathroom. Or a janitor's closet. Sting tries a slam and Avalanche falls on him for 2. Big elbow and leg drops. Sting's squashed in the corner. Powerslam for 2. Midring collision. Avalanche goes down, and Sting does the "accidental" falling headbutt south of the border. Sting dodges an elbow drop. Stinger Splash. Another one. And another. And another. He slams Avalanche. The Scorpion Death Lock is on. Avalanche is clearly saying yes but Angel is still asking him. Nick Patrick runs in and orders the bell to be rung, saying Avalanche submitted. Angel is mad at......Sting? What did Sting do? He shoves Sting. Sting punches back. Angel clothesline and he beats Sting down. Avalanche joins him. Some of the face locker room runs in to break it up. That was as nonsensical a turn as I've ever seen. 1/4*

Okerlund stops Angel and name drops "Big Bubba Rogers", which was Angel's name back in his pre-WWF heel days in Jim Crockett. Angel tears his shirt off, says "ass" which was a huge no-no in Turnerland, and confirms that Big Bubba Rogers is back. The real story: the Guardian Angels organization was unhappy with the way Rogers' character was being portrayed, so he once again had to change names and gimmicks (after WWF thought The Boss was too close to the Big Boss Man). It was executed in a very dumb way, but going back to his roots wasn't the worst idea. At least they knew this time the name should stick.

 

WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan and "Macho Man" Randy Savage (w/Jimmy Hart) def The Butcher and Kevin Sullivan in 11:04- Vader is still at ringside (shown), and commentary says Flair is back from his bathroom/nookie break (not shown). Hogan and Butcher start with some lockup games. Hogan quickly goes into pillar to post beating mode. Butcher gets points for a delayed flop after a corner clothesline. Savage hits a double ax handle off the top rope and takes Sullivan out as well without even breaking stride. Hogan high knee for 2. Butcher ducks a clothesline. Sleeper! Hogan goes down. Butcher lets go. No arm drops, the ref didn't call it for Hogan being out, nothing, just lets go. The ref says it's not over while the heels celebrate like idiots. Savage tries to slap Hogan awake. No dice. Savage goes to the top rope. He hits Hogan with the elbow off the top! Hogan wakes up! Savage hit Hogan with his finisher to make him Hulk Up! That's freaking hilarious. I know a lot of people get upset about that, it's very fourth wall breaking, but I can't help but laugh at it. The setup was moronically stupid with the heels thinking the match was over for no reason though. Both heels are atomic dropped to the floor. Hogan resumes his Butcher beatdown. Double big boot. Butcher runs Savage into Sullivan's knee now that we have a face in the ring that will actually sell. Savage is backdropped over the top to the floor and run into the rail and post multiple times. Hogan keeps interfering with the ref which only allows the heels to get away with even more. Savage is selling like a, no pun intended, maniac, stumbling around ringside and walking into the rail all over the place. Back in Savage gets put in the tree of woe for what seems like an eternity. Finally Butcher puts the sleeper on. Savage jawbreakers out and fights over to tag. Hogan easily dispatches both heels. Big boot, Savage elbow, legdrop good night. 1/2* for Savage's selling

Vader, to the shock of no one, gets in the ring. He takes Savage out and stares down Hogan. Vader powerbombs Hogan! Hogan, I kid you not, pops right back up. I sure hope Vader has a different finisher to bring to the PPV because Hogan just completely destroyed that one's credibility. Hogan and Savage run Vader off and the show closes with a solid 5 minutes of Hogan celebrating. Egomania is running wild, brother!

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- It started out passably but fell off a cliff the last two matches. A lot of people point to the main event of this show as the encapsulation of Hogan's ego being unchecked by anyone backstage and running roughshod over the entire company. It also foreshadowed the difficulty he and Vader would have working together the next couple of PPVs. Much like WWF, 1995 was a very difficult year for WCW. This is only the beginning.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D

Royal Rumble '97

Legacy Review

Royal Rumble '97

January 19, 1997 from the Alamodome in San Antonio, TX

Commentary: Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

As usual when WWF hit Texas during this era they really play up the cliche "Texas" aspects in ways that makes native Texans like me cringe a little. The Alamodome is an impressive looking venue though, more large football stadium than arena. They would return to the Alamodome for the Rumble in '17 and the next one in '23 is scheduled to be here as well (side bragging note, I was in attendance for the '17 Rumble and will be again in '23). WWF started turning a creative corner in the last part of '96, but the roster was still a bit thin so lots of guys will be doing double duty tonight, undercard matches and the Rumble. To help shore up the roster, and to try to counter WCW building outside company partnerships, WWF has put together a short cross promotion deal with the famous Mexico lucha promotion AAA to have some of their wrestlers appear tonight.

The opening video is a bit unintentionally funny saying Shawn Michaels is A MAN instead of a boy now because he cared more about Jose Lothario having a heart attack in the middle of his title loss to Sid at Survivor Series than the title itself. Is that what "becoming a man" is really all about? I've been doing it all wrong.

WWF Intercontinental Championship: Hunter Hearst Helmsley (c) (w/Mr. Hughes) def Goldust (w/Marlena) in 16:50- This feud had been percolating for a bit with both guys heels, but took off in full when Trips couldn't stop going after Marlena and Goldust answered a definitive NO to Jerry Lawler's "are you a queer" question. No lectures, it was a different time back then. Goldust is now officially a face but has yet to be fully embraced by the fans. Hughes is making a surprise WWF return as HHH's bodyguard, a position he'd only hold a few weeks before he was replaced by Chyna. Goldust charges and attacks HHH during his entrance! Brawl on the aisle. Goldust drops HHH over the guardrail. Back in he goes for mounted punches and HHH takes advantage for an inverted atomic drop counter and some breathing room. He goes for the Pedigree early. Goldust counters with a double leg takedown and slingshots HHH over the top rope back to the floor. They're going to be spending a lot of time down there. Goldust picks up the top half of the steps and straight DROPS them onto HHH's back! Man, that had to hurt for real. HHH does a classic Trips delayed flop face first into the stairs. Getting back in HHH snaps Goldust's throat over the top rope. Goldust turns it back around with a boot up in the corner and clothesline. HHH uses the ref to get a cheap shot in. Goldust rolls out and HHH gives him an ax handle off the top rope on the floor, then whips Goldust into the post. Goldust dodges and HHH knees the rail, opening up a new target. Goldust drops, much more gingerly this time, the steps on HHH's knee then goes to work on the knee in the ring. Figure four! HHH fights and Goldust uses the ropes for leverage behind Hebner's back because once a heel always a heel. After a bit with no submission Goldust lets go and HHH rolls out agian. Goldust clips the knee. Kneebreaker on the steps! Commentary gets on Hebner for letting literally everything go. It's interesting to see how the rules go in flux during this period of in-ring style transition. Speed run back in. HHH ducks a Goldust crossbody and he, once again, falls out to the floor. They've spent more time outside the ring in this match than inside. HHH whips Goldust into the rail while shaking his knee off. He gets Marlena's chair and Hebner finally intervenes to stop something. We go picture in picture as Todd Pettingill interviews a country music guy that's there. HHH snap mare and kneedrop, but that just hurts his knee again. He recovers to cover Goldust for 2. Goldust flying clothesline. Backdrop. He goes up top. HHH kicks Hebner into the ropes and Goldust gets crotched. He fights off a HHH superplex, wobbles precariously, and manages to launch with an elbow drop but he misses HHH by a mile. Hughes slips HHH the IC belt. Marlena gets up to distract. HHH kisses her! Goldust gets the belt off HHH and whacks him with it. Cover. Hughes pulls HHH out to save him. Goldust takes Hughes out. HHH gets him with a clothesline from behind. Pedigree and good night. The match was mostly psychologically sound, but also very slow paced and deliberate. **

Bret Hart and Mankind give their pre-Rumble promos. This was during the time Foley was quietly becoming one of the best promos in the business.

 

Ahmed Johnson def Faarooq (w/The Nation of Domination) by DQ in 8:48- Faarooq put Johnson on the shelf with a kidney injury that almost claimed Johnson's life (cover for a real life kidney issue he needed emergency surgery for) and this is his big return for revenge. I'd forgotten how many goons the Nation had. It's like a boxing entourage. I've always wondered why professional fighters need so many people around them to keep them safe but anyway. Johnson charges in during his entrance and attacks Faarooq while he's still got his entrance pants on. Speaking of kind of, Johnson's famous every match wedgie is already astronomical. Faarooq rolls out. Johnson follows and posts him. Back in he rips off Faarooq's tear off pants. Faarooq attacks the bad kidney. He gets a belt. Johnson ducks it and hits a horrible .5 Thesz Press, then whips Faarooq with his own belt. JR gets his government mule line in. Always a crowd pleaser. They go outside again and Faarooq gets "tossed" (gently nudged) into the steps. Faarooq sacrifices one of his Nation stooges to get an opening (I mean, he's got plenty of them, what's losing one?) and clotheslines Johnson. He sets up a chair and runs Johnson's back into it. More kidney kicks in the ring as things slow down to about .3 Rotunda time. That's slow. And now Faarooq puts on a double chinlock. Good, we needed to catch our breaths. They do the arm drops but Faarooq lets go after two, does an obvious setup, and Johnson lifts him up in an electric chair and slams him. Faarooq is still up first and goes up top. Johnson catches and powerslams him. Faarooq spinebuster. More jawing time wasting, and he turns around into a Johnson spinebuster. Faarooq calls the Nation goon squad in and we have a cheap DQ. Johnson fights them off, tries to get Faarooq again on the aisle, but is cut off by another Nation goon. Johnson takes him back ringside and Pearl River Plunges him through the French announce table. 1/4*

Terry Funk cuts a promo on his Rumble entry tonight. Nice to see Vince get him between his WCW runs. Faarooq says his business with Johnson isn't over and calls him Uncle Tom again.

 

Vader def The Undertaker in 13:19- This has serious potential if done right, especially with Taker showing a new spring in his wrestling step after his feud with Mankind. Commentary comments on Jim Cornette's absence after being tombstoned by Taker on weekly TV, and JR speculates if Vader is a free agent. Vader tries the pre-bell jump but Taker dodges. Slugfest. Vader counters a backdrop with Taker no selling it. Taker corner choke. He runs into a Vader back elbow. Clothesline and Taker situp. Vader hits a couple of tackles but Taker keeps sitting up, flustering Vader to the point he steps outside. Taker attacks from behind on the floor. Vader cutters Taker over the top rope. Taker counters a backdrop with a high leaping legdrop. He slams Vader and hits another legdrop for 2. Taker tries for old school but Vader makes him slip off the rope and crotch himself. Both guys are very slow to get up. When they finally do Vader low blows Taker. After some more recovery time Vader starts laying in the corner potato shots. Avalanche. Tackle off the second rope for 2. Vader hooks in the Nerve Pinch of Time Wasting +1 but Taker fights out pretty quickly. Rapid fire strikes and a back suplex from Taker. Vader dodges an elbow drop and hits an elbow to the extreme lower gut or possibly a bit south of Del Rio. Taker powerslams Vader off the second rope (I love Vader, he's one of my favorites of all time, but I can always see that move coming a mile away). Vader powerbomb for 2. More Taker strikes and a flying clothesline. He successfully hits old school as Paul Bearer makes his way to ringside. Taker sees Bearer, clotheslines Vader 360 to the floor on the opposite side, then flips out in front of Bearer and takes him out! Bearer crawls around in the ring and begs for mercy. Taker goozles him. Vader tries another ambush but again Taker cuts him off. Another 360 clothesline and both guys slowly, deliberately make their way over the top to the floor. Taker sets Vader up on the guardrail. Bearer pulls Vader away and Taker goes into the rail. Bearer with an urn shot off the apron! He slips and falls as he lands on the floor, which is funny but he also hits his head on the guardrail which could have been much worse than it was. Vader rolls Taker in, hits the Vader bomb and it's done. Vader and Bearer leave together. Guess that answers the free agent question. Pissed off Taker gives ref Jack Doan a chokeslam, has a little hissy fit around the ring and has some words for Vince. Yeah, that was a big disappointment. For whatever reason it never came together. *1/2

More Rumble promos. First is Steve Austin with a great, classic Austin "I don't give a shit what you want get that camera out of my face" promo. He's followed by the British Bulldog, who says he's going to win the Rumble this year because he's "bizarre". All right then.

 

Canek, Hector Garza and Perro Aguayo def Fuerza Guerrera, Heavy Metal and Jerry Estrada in 10:56- This is AAA's entry for the undercard. Full disclaimer- I'm not much of a lucha guy (Japanese wrestling, specifically New Japan, is my international jam as you'll see elsewhere on the blog) so we'll breeze through it. It's lucha trios rules, so tags and selling are optional. JR tries to call the match and Vince, to his credit, lets him have at it while trying to keep up. A huge backdrop over the top rope to the floor is completely no sold by Estrada. Yup, lucha. Metal and Garza work the best together and desperately try to get the crowd into it but no one in the arena could care less. Canek rolls Estrada around and Guerrera and Aguayo trade some stiff chops. Metal gets his knee worked over and is default face in peril. Donnybrook with lots of confusion. Garza hits a big corkscrew dive off the top to the floor. Aguayo hits Metal with a double stomp off the top and gets the pin. The crowd cheers the match being over. It certainly didn't hold a candle to the cruiserweight matches WCW was putting on, but they'd already pinched the best talent. *

 

Royal Rumble- For the second straight year, and the second time ever, the Rumble is not the main event. That would become even more common over the next few years. I completely disagree with it, the Rumble should always be the main event, even if there's a world title match. Soon to be standard 90 second intervals this year.

1. & 2. Crush & Ahmed Johnson- This is Crush is his Nation of Domination member phase. The Nation comes out with him and are not happy about who #2 is. Crush jumps Johnson getting in the ring. Johnson clothesline. They fumble and roll around on the ground a bit. Crush hits some shots and Johnson just lays on his knees and doesn't react at all. Is he blown up already?

3. (Fake) Razor Ramon- There's no countdown or horn, Fake Razor's music starts out of nowhere. Vince says they're having "clock issues". Johnson tosses Ramon right out. He knocks Crush over but Crush lands on the apron. Faarooq is out and Johnson sees him. Johnson jumps over the top rope down to the floor and chases Faarooq! He eliminated himself! Glad to see they've cleaned that rule up since Savage did that to get at Roberts in the '92 Rumble.

4. Phineas Godwinn- Phineas and late career Crush? Yeah, it's an ugly 90 seconds. The next guy in can't come soon enough.

5. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin- Oh hell yeah! It's still so weird the glass shatter not getting a massive pop. Very little reaction for Austin overall, but then again this crowd's been pretty dead the whole show. Might partially be large arena acoustics. Godwinn meets Austin with a clothesline. Crush gets in control and bitches at Austin to help him. Austin accidentally takes Crush out and laughs. Godwinn eliminates Crush. Ah good, the clock is working now. Stunner! Austin eliminates Godwinn as the clock hits 0!

6. Bart Gunn- This is right after the long teased Smoking Gunns breakup and Billy Gunn isn't in this Rumble as he's out with an injury. Bart hits Austin with a very ugly Fameasser. He charges, Austin dodges, Bart was supposed to go over the top but hit the ropes like a wall instead. Austin helps him over a second time and Bart is eliminated. Austin does some pushups in the ring, gets impatient, then in one of the most iconic images of his time in WWF gets up on the top rope and looks at his wrist tape like a watch waiting for the next victim to come in. Even non-wrestling fans use that GIF on social media today.

7. Jake "The Snake" Roberts- Austin defeated Roberts to win the '96 King of the Ring to begin his rise to the top, aided by the legendary Austin 3:16 promo right after. Roberts tosses his snake under Austin and comes in with flying fists. Arm wringers from Roberts. Interesting strategery for a Rumble. Austin punches to try to get out but Roberts won't let go. A ref slides in to get the snake bag out.

8. WWF Tag Team Champion "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith- Austin eliminates Roberts during Bulldog's entrance. This is an interesting heel vs heel feud that's been simmering a while with Austin constantly attacking Bulldog. Bulldog pounds on Austin and hits the powerslam.

9. Pierroth- The first AAA entrant in this year's Rumble. He goes right for Bulldog. Bulldog Alabama slams him. Pierroth keeps pounding and gets Bulldog down with a clothesline. Austin and Bulldog forget their differences for a moment to gang up on the outsider.

10. The Sultan- Sultan is the artist formerly known as Fatu and soon to be known as Rikishi under a mask with a short lived Abdullah the Butcher ripoff gimmick. He's also got the Iron Sheik managing him. He goes for Pierroth as Austin and Bulldog go at it again.

11. Mil Mascaras- Another AAA entrant and the Mexican wrestling legend, possibly the most important and most influential luchador of all time, at the worst until Rey Mysterio. He goes to work on Sultan. Flying burrito! Sultan gives Mascaras a horrible belly to belly suplex.

12. WWF Intercontinental Champion Hunter Hearst Helmsley- He's still limping a little coming to the ring after the knee damage in the opener. Bulldog eliminates Sultan. Austin tosses HHH but he lands on the apron. Austin elbow off the second rope.

13. WWF Tag Team Champion The Slammy Award Winning Owen Hart- One or two more awards and Owen's intro is going to get to Toru Yano levels. Wonder if the position of goodwill ambassador to Hokkaido was open at the time? Owen and Austin go at it, which will be a big feud later in the year with serious consequences for Austin. Bulldog saves Owen, then lifts Austin up to try to get him out. Owen sneaks behind and eliminates Bulldog! Bulldog is furious at his tag partner but Owen claims it was an accident. The replay shows it clearly wasn't.

14. Goldust- Austin jumps him as he gets in. Mascaras almost gets Owen out.

15. Cibernetico- Another AAA entrant. He and Pierroth are former tag partners turned enemies. He goes right for Mascaras. Nothing of note happening otherwise.

16. "Wildman" Marc Mero- Cibernetico is eliminated by Pierroth and Mascaras. Right after Mascaras eliminates Pierroth. Mascaras gets on the top rope and dives onto both of them on the floor! But by doing that he eliminated himself! What a dummy. He gets back in but the refs force him out. I wonder if that was all planned or if Mascaras did it without thinking and the refs did what they're generally trained to do in WWE, follow the rules and call it like a shoot absent any other instructions. And that's two self eliminations in this Rumble. Goldust eliminates HHH. Owen nails Austin with an enzuguri.

17. The Latin Lover- Our final AAA entrant. He superkicks Goldust's ass! That's a new one. Owen eats a superkick. Goldust tosses Owen but he skins the cat. Owen eliminates Goldust.

18. Faarooq- Faarooq eliminates Lover. Austin and Faarooq get in a high energy slugfest that this match really needed. Ahmed Johnson runs in with a giant 2x4. More like a 2x8. He whacks Faarooq around and eliminates him. Austin eliminates Mero and Owen! Austin's all alone! In another awesome image he lays on the mat exhausted, but also gestures with his arm to get the next guy in here already.

19. Savio Vega- Another recent Austin rival. Vega does a leg takedown and they brawl on the ground. Austin is slingshot into the turnbuckle and Vega hits a spinning heel kick. Austin works Vega into a hot shot. Austin eliminates Vega! He's alone again and this run is starting to get into epic territory as Austin lays down but waves for more again.

20. "Double J" Jesse James- There's a whole story here with James, the future Road Dogg, taking the no longer with WWF again Jeff Jarrett's nickname and essentially his gimmick but with it being a Rumble I won't get into the details here. James hits some corner shots and a clothesline. Kick wham Austin eliminates James! The crowd is getting behind Austin big time. Austin gets up on the top turnbuckle again.

21. Bret "Hitman" Hart- The look on Austin's face the second Bret's music hits is priceless. Absolutely perfect. As soon as Bret hits the ring it's on! Bret inverted atomic drop and clothesline. Back and forth in the corner. Bret hooks on the Sharpshooter.

22. Jerry "The King" Lawler- Wait, isn't Lawler on commentary? Yup. His music hits, he gets up midsentence, takes his headset and jacket off, and gets in the ring. Old rival Bret meets him, punches him, and Lawler goes over the top and out! He walks right back to commentary, puts his jacket and headset back on, and finishes the sentence he had started like nothing happened! Absolutely brilliant. Austin wants a time out but Bret gives him the gut headbutt.

23. Fake Diesel- This is Glenn Jacobs, who would be Kane in the very near future. He goes after Bret. Bret and Austin end up together again. Bret bump!

24. Terry Funk- He takes it to Austin, which would have been a hell of a singles match if it had happened. Austin gets Funk upside down but Bret saves him. Funk thanks Bret with a punch to the gut.

25. Rocky Maivia- Vince goes nuts as Rocky hauls the rocket ship strapped to his back with him. No reaction from the crowd. Funk gets tied up in the ropes. Bret tosses Funk, who barely doesn't go over. Lawler: "Maybe I should get in there!". Vince: "Um, King, I hate to tell you but you already were". Lawler spends the rest of the match forgetting he was in there at all. Fantastic.

26. Mankind- He rolls in and after a moment's sitting goes after his old deathmatch partner Funk. Funk's tied in the ropes again. Austin suplex and ground & pound on Bret. Bret tries a sleeper but Austin jawbreakers out.

27. Flash Funk- Oh great, now there's two Funks in and they're in no way related. Bret piledrives Austin. Flash dives off the top rope onto Diesel and Terry. Terry and Mankind find each other again.

28. Vader- Terry flops in the ring. Vader goes after Bret. Flash tries Vader and instantly regrets it. Austin runs into a Vader tackle.

29. Henry O Godwinn- He manages to knock Vader down. Vader was tired. Rocky barely hangs on.

30- The Undertaker- The lights go out for Taker's entrance. It'd be hilarious if someone had gotten eliminated while they were out. Vader no sells Flash's stuff, catches him on a crossbody and tosses him backwards over the top to eliminate him. Classic Vader. Bret and Austin are at it again. Vader gives Rocky some shots. Austin and Funk chop the hell out of each other. Taker eliminates Godwinn. Austin gets tossed to the apron by Bret and Taker. Rocky leaps right into a Mandible Claw and Mankind eliminates him. Funk and Mankind are playing again. Cactus Clothesline! Both guys land on the apron! Funk gets back in and tries a suplex. Mankind reverses it and Funk is eliminated! Taker eliminates Mankind. Funk and Mankind keep brawling on the floor. Bret eliminates Austin! But the refs were busy with the brawl and none of them saw it! Austin gets back in. Austin eliminates Vader and Taker! Bret eliminates Diesel! Austin sneaks up and quickly eliminates Bret! Austin wins the Royal Rumble! It's the first of what would be a record three Rumble wins, still the record today, and certainly the most controversial. He was also easily this year's Ironman winning from #5, and even though it's not mentioned on commentary he actually tied the record for most eliminations in a Rumble to date with 10, matching Hulk Hogan in '89. Bret is furious, protesting and tossing the refs around. He goes over and grabs Vince on commentary. "Do something about it!". He drops a couple of f bombs as he walks away. Now, the plan at this time was that Bret would end up with the title shot at Wrestlemania and get his win back from Shawn, they were just creating a more swervey path to get there. WWF President Gorilla Monsoon later took away Austin's title shot due to the controversy (but not the Rumble win) and set up a four way #1 contender's match for the next In Your House. Of course, everything went out the window when Shawn left his smile behind at home in San Antonio. The In Your House match became for the vacant title and everything for WM had to be reshuffled. Either way Austin would become the first man ever to win the Rumble with the title shot at WM stip and not get the title shot.

After a couple of years of bottom barrel Rumbles this was an improvement. The first half was pretty bad outside the early Austin stuff with a lot of fumbling around and uninspired weak brawling. I don't think the AAA guys had been well briefed on what they needed to do. But the second half was much better. They did a good job of holding most of the big names for the end, leaving a lot of plausible winners still in the match at the end run despite the thin roster. The Lawler stuff is genuinely hilarious too. On the whole I'd call it solid but not spectacular by Rumble standards. It was also the latest in a series of great star making performance for Austin, arguably the best Rumble performance since Ric Flair in '92. ***1/4

The video package for the main event highlights something that's real interesting to me at this particular point in history: WWF was still trying to portray Shawn as the happy go lucky plucky babyface as they had all through '96. But, and not to completely try to bury Shawn because he'd be the first to admit all this now, his general bad attitude and, frankly, dickishness from this time was seeping more and more onscreen and even the most casual fans couldn't help but notice it. After Shawn came back from his impromptu hiatus (more on that later) after WM WWF gave up on pretending with Shawn and let him fully embrace who he was then, leading to the start of DX, DX vs the new Hart Foundation, his feud with Bret becoming real life drama, and one of the most compelling years of wrestling television we've ever seen that was the first major step WWF took to catch back up with WCW. But, I'm getting way ahead of myself. In the video package we also get clips from weekly TV of Sid beating up Jose Lothario's son Pete, who was just starting his wrestling career.

 

WWF Championship: "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels (w/Jose Lothario) def Sycho Sid (c) in 13:49- The backstage camera follows Shawn all the way through Gorilla to the entrance. You don't get to see much of Gorilla but it's still cool. Shawn gets easily the pop of the night from his hometown. This definitely isn't the smarky anti-Shawn MSG crowd from Survivor Series. He's wearing his famous Texas themed tights for this match. Sid still thinks he's a face which is hilarious, and actually fits his character. Completely delusional. Nose to chest nose at the bell. Sid pushes Shawn around and gets some early shots in. Shawn runs, ducks a clothesline, hits a crossbody, and kicks Sid to the floor. After a minute Shawn follows but gets whipped into the ring apron. Sid presses Shawn on the floor but Shawn eye rakes out. Sid gets back in. Shawn hops to the top rope but Sid catches him coming off and powerslams him for 2. Sid goes right to the camel clutch. It's like he's got a minimum resthold quota he's got to get in and he's trying to knock it out early. Every time Shawn tries to get out Sid drops on him. Shawn learns, baits, dodges and Sid splats on his ass. Corner whip and Shawn flip! He goes down to the floor. Sid posts his back. And MOAR CHINLOCK! Gotta hit that quota. Shawn fights out quickly.....then gets killed by a Sid clothesline. Cover for 2. Corner whips and now Sid hooks on a bear hug. Shawn bell rings out....then gets punched and Sid puts it right back on. Shawn works his arms under Sid's and gives him an inverted atomic drop. Ax handle off the second rope. He comes off the second again but goes right back in the bear hug. Shawn goes down. Sid lets go and covers for 2. Legdrop for 2. YET MOAR CHINLOCK. Sid scoops but Shawn slips out, hits some punches and slams Sid. Flying forearm. Kip up. Elbow off the top. The band is tuned up. Sid blocks the superkick. Shawn ducks a clothesline. Sid backdrops Shawn to the floor. Powerbomb on the floor! Lothario comes over and Sid goozles him. Son Pete Lothario comes out of the crowd and also gets goozled. Shawn gets in the ring and Sid lets the Lotharios go. Corner whip reversals and Hebner gets squashed. Sid hits a chokeslam. Cover but no ref. Backup ref Mike Chioda runs in, but Shawn had enough time and kicks out. Sid knocks Chioda out. Lothario gets on the apron to distract Sid. Shawn grabs a TV camera and whacks Sid with it! That's a good callback to the Survivor Series match, where Sid did the same thing to Shawn. Hebner milks every damn second slowly crawling over, then does his epic slow count. Sid kicks out! SUPERKICK! Another slow Hebner count, but Shawn gets the pin and wins the title back! Massive pop for the hometown win. Shawn celebrates with the fans, and with Vince. Of course as I've alluded to already, this title run would be short lived after Shawn lost his smile, but more on that in the next review. As far as this match goes, Shawn tried his best but it had way too much Sid to be good. **1/2

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Outside a solid Rumble there's not a lot to recommend this show. I think all the undercard matches were hurt by everyone in them pulling double duty and saving themselves for later. Historically this is an important show for Shawn's second title win that he would later abdicate, and for Austin's first Rumble win as he continued to rise up the ranks.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C-