Rebellion '99

Legacy Review

Rebellion '99

October 2, 1999 from the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England

Commentary: Jim Ross and Michael Hayes

This is the second of the two UK exclusive PPVs for '99, the first year to have two. The Rebellion name will stick for the fall show until the last one in 2002. It's only 6 days since Unforgiven and the UK PPVs have been little more than glorified house shows for most of them so I don't expect much big to happen here. On the plus side, this is the first UK PPV without a Tiger Ali Singh match. Not sure why Hayes is subbing for Lawler here. Might have to do with Lawler's failed Memphis mayoral campaign, this would be peak campaign season. One other thing, judging by the official match times and what's actually on the broadcast a good number of these matches seem to be clipped. All I can do it rate them based on what I can see.

There is one important bit of history here, as this is the last major WWF show to be booked by Vince Russo. Almost immediately after the crew got back to the US Russo handed in his papers and took off for WCW to put the final nails in their coffin.

Jeff Jarrett makes his entrance for the opening match, with Miss Kitty and ...a vacuum cleaner. So *that's* how they're going to get the air out.....shit, sorry, wrong movie. Jarrett does his usual anti-woman "all they're good for is cooking, cleaning and making babies" shtick and offers 1000 quid (or 1000 bucks, he floats between the two) to any woman that can prove his point. After some misfires he pulls a woman from the audience that looks like she might be underage. Jarrett pours some stuff in the ring and gets the woman to hoover it up. She doesn't do a good enough job so Jarrett shoves her. Figure four! The lady from the crowd sells it about as well as you'd expect from a non-indie wrestler plant (horribly). Chyna runs out and makes the save, 360 clotheslining Jarrett out of the ring. While Jarrett's recovering we have a coin toss in the ring to determine which title the opening match will be for. The IC title wins.

 

WWF Intercontinental Championship: Jeff Jarrett (c) (w/Miss Kitty) def WWF European Champion D'Lo Brown in 6:12- Not defending the European title on a UK show is certainly a choice. A jump start leads to some quick back and forth. Some of that Jarrett made mess is still in the ring. Brown hits a powerslam for 2. Spinebuster for 2. Jarrett grabs a rope, bails, takes the belt and leaves. Brown chases him down in the aisle and runs him back in. Jarrett gets the sleeper! After arm drops Brown comes back and counters into a delayed suplex. Brown comes off the second rope. Jarrett dropkicks him in midair! Jarrett dodges in the corner and hits the avalanche armbar slam. Brown hits a powerbomb and both guys are down. Brown gets up first and starts rolling on offense. He comes off the second rope again but Jarrett gets a boot up. Sunset flip. Brown counters with a stack up for 2. Brown hits a superplex, but Jarrett cradles him on the landing for 2. He goes for the figure four but Brown pushes out. Kitty gets on the apron. While she's distracting everyone Jarrett hits Brown with the vacuum cleaner! Cover and it's over. Perfectly acceptable. **1/2

After the match Jarrett challenges Chyna for a match tonight to settle things once and for all.

 

The Godfather def Gangrel in 6:19- Godfather's extra sized Ho Train entrance takes *forever*. As usual maybe 20% of them are OK. Gangrel seems to want one of the women. Godfather says nah. Once the ring is finally cleared of hos we get a basic start. Godfather blocks a hiptoss and hits a clothesline. He gives Gangrel all around the world buckle shots. Gangrel does some dodges and hits a DDT. He knocks Godfather around with some very basic offense. Slam and a pair of elbow drops for 2. Clothesline off the second rope for 2. Godfather dodges another shot off the second rope and goes into comeback mode. Legdrop for 2. Ho Train! The Pimp Drop hits and it's over. I think Godfather's entrance was longer than the match. 3/4*

Chyna is with Michael Cole and accepts Jarrett's challenge with a horrible promo. Bulldog interrupts (to boos even in England) and says he doesn't want to wrestle that "long haired freak" X-Pac tonight, he wants a title shot and he's going to go demand that from Vince RIGHT NOW.

 

Val Venus def Mark Henry in 3:47- Venus tries and badly misses in his prematch promo. Think his one note act was wearing pretty thin at this point. Venus ducks the lockup and throws some punches. I'd say "pounds" but with Venus that could be taken completely differently. Henry hits a powerslam for 2. Venus dumps Henry over the top and out. Baseball slide. He tries a slam on the floor and of course it fails miserably. Henry drops him on the guardrail. Back in Venus does some more weebles wobble stuff with Henry. He dodges a Henry avalanche and hits a Russian leg sweep for 2. Venus slips out of a press slam attempt and rolls Henry up for 2. He kicks Henry's leg out of his leg and .5 bulldogs him. Money Shot! That's it. Wow, that was a freaking squash. Henry got almost nothing in. Though with Henry that's probably for the best. 1/2*

We cut to the back and Cole is following Bulldog as he CHARGES into the McMahon family room. Vince, Shane and Steph are all there. Bulldog demands a title shot. Vince reminds him he already got one recently on weekly TV. Bulldog goes full ROID RAGE and tosses a trash can across the room! Shane and Vince look shocked and run across the room. STEPH'S DOWN!

 

Four Corners Match for the WWF Women's Championship: Ivory (c) def Tori, Luna Vachon and Jacqueline in 6:51- I'm sure there's some existing alliances here but honestly with this era of the women's division I couldn't be bothered. Neither could the writers half the time. Luna jumps Ivory to start. Tori suplexes Ivory. Everyone takes a turn to play "stomp the champ". Lots of covering and arguing and Ivory eventually does the smart thing and slides out to let the rest of them fight. Jacqueline tosses Luna and Tori around before being double suplexed. Double cover and Ivory comes back to break that up. Jacqueline and Ivory, who I'm guessing based on this were allies going in, start arguing and fighting. They do a big domino sleeper spot followed by a ricochet jawbreaker that puts everyone down. Ref Tim White gets squashed on a bunch of pin kickouts. Finally Ivory hits Jacqueline with the belt and pins her. It's a 1999 women's match. DUD

Steph is getting carted out on a stretcher with a neckbrace on. This, in a rare case of a UK PPV mattering, lead to the angle where Steph had amnesia for a bit. Pulling from more of the soap opera cliche classics. Cole is with with Bulldog elsewhere in the building, who gives zero fucks about hurting Steph while also maiming his promo. Man, what's with these promos tonight? Everyone's struggling with them.

 

Chris Jericho (w/Mr. Hughes) def WWF Tag Team Champion Road Dogg in 11:58- I'd love it if this match is because Dogg finally looked up "lugubrious" in the dictionary and decided it was an insult. Actually it's because Jarrett hurt Dogg's back so badly he had to miss a whole week or two of action. Career threatening. Dogg jumps Jericho from behind on the floor during Jericho's entrance. After getting in to ring the bell they go right back out and go into crowd brawl mode. When they get back to ringside Jericho gets run into the rail a couple of times. Back in the ring Jericho gets the edge. Dogg gives Jericho a HUGE hot shot. Corner X-Pac like kicks from Dogg. Jericho hits a corner clothesline. On a corner whip the other way Jericho flips upside down into the tree of woe and Dogg hits a corner dropkick. Now it's Jericho's turn to hit a hot shot. The springboard dropkick sends Dogg to the floor. Hughes gets a shot in. Jericho suplexes Dogg back in. Arrogant cover! Dogg reverses a double arm wringer. Jericho flips over and kicks out. Slingshot splash for 2. Hayes mentions the ref strike on commentary. Please, never ever bring that up again. So dumb. Jericho pushes the ref's count with chokes. Springboard bulldog! That gets a 2 count. Dogg starts to come back and Jericho gets crotched up top. Dogg hits a superplex. Swinging neckbreaker for 2. Jericho double leg takedown and he goes for the Walls. Dogg flips him to get free. German suplex from Jericho! Dogg dodges the Lionsault! He cranks up the dancing jabs. Jericho ducks and ref Mike Chioda takes one! Hughes comes in and nails Dogg with a chair. Cover and slow count. Dogg kicks out! Dogg hits a flying forearm. Hughes gets on the apron and takes a shot. Hey, my TV went out! What the hell? It's back! Jericho's covering and gets the pin! What? Low blow? From Jericho? No way, you can't be serious. **3/4

 

Chyna def Jeff Jarrett (w/Miss Kitty) by DQ in 4:28- Jarrett charges in and it's on. Chyna hits a clothesline. Jarrett gets a back elbow. He comes off the second rope crotch first onto Chyna's arm. Chyna goes for the Pedigree but Jarrett counters and slingshots her into the corner. Chyna hits an electric chair. Every single spot in this match so far was also in their Unforgiven match. Here's a new one: Bulldog runs in and attacks Chyna for a DQ. He plants her with the powerslam. After Bulldog leaves Jarrett puts the figure four on Chyna just because. 1/4*

 

No DQ: Kane def The Big Show in 8:38- These two have been feuding for months and pretty much nothing good has come out of it, but they're both big guys so it continues. Vince rules. They go nose to nose before the bell and we get some back and forth slugging. Show hits a running dropkick that sends Kane 360 to the floor! Well, "hits" is a stretch. Show dropkicked and the gust of air from it hit Kane. Kane punches away in the corner until Show shoves him off. Show hits some knees in the corner. Kane hits a clothesline. And a standing dropkick! He tries a slam but Show blocks it. Slow, plodding Show offense time. He starts hitting some corner chops. After a few Kane blocks and slugs back. Bret bump from Kane and Show, with extreme difficulty, gives him a reverse DDT for 2. Boston crab from Show, but he put it on right by the ropes so they actually have to move further away from them. Kane starts to power crawl and Show just gives up on the hold. That was pointless. Enguzuri from Kane! He scoops but Show falls on him. Kane dodges an elbow drop. DDT from Kane. Clothesline off the top rope. Goozle! Show kicks free and Kane falls to the floor. Show throws him into the WOODEN stairs. No noise. Show goes over and gets a chair. Kane kicks it back in his face, gets the impossible big guy bodyslam, and that gets the pin. *

 

"The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith def X-Pac in 5:23- Bulldog's getting booed in his home country so I guess they succeeded on that front. After working Unforgiven in his classic tights he's now wrestling in his Attitude Era blue jeans. Lockup! Bulldog pushes Pac out. Pac gets an armdrag and crotch chops. Bulldog cranks a headlock. Pac flips out of a blocked hiptoss but leaps right into a Bulldog slam. Bulldog tosses him out and Pac gets run into the guardrail. Delayed suplex from Bulldog back in for 2. Pac fights out of a chinlock but runs into a knee to the gut. They've been working it fine and I appreciate the classics in wrestling, but everything in this match has been paint by numbers super generic so far. The most basic layout you could imagine. Bulldog goes back to the chinlock and they do the arm drops. Pac quickly counters out of a sleeper and hits a heel kick. Kick combo. Bronco buster. Bulldog presses Pac, crotches him on the top rope, then scoops him up from that position, hits the powerslam, and it's over. Again, it's worked fine, but it's a super generic match. *3/4

Crash Holly confounds Hardcore Holly with the fact that in the UK pounds are money and you weigh in stone.

 

Triangle Elimination Match: Edge & Christian def The Hollys and The Acolytes in 8:42- E&C are still officially #1 contenders despite losing a title match at Unforgiven, and are defending that spot in this match. The Hollys are announced as "over 800 pounds". I guess the "delusional superhevyweight" thing is still going. Crash carries his scale to the ring as part of that. The Hollys, of course, argue before the bell. Lots of jawing after the bell among all the teams before Hardcore and Edge start. Quick speed run and Edge hits a backdrop, followed by a leg lariat. More speed and dropkick from Hardcore. Crash tags in and immediately gets knocked around. Eye poke on Christian and we have a double tag. Faarooq powerslams Hardcore for 2. Hardcore counters a Dominator attempt into a back suplex. After a tag Hardcore saves Crash from Bradshaw, until Bradshaw hits the back superplex. Hardcore comes in illegally and suplexes Bradshaw, then starts knocking Faarooq around. Clothesline from Hell on Crash! Bradshaw pins Crash and the Hollys are gone. Edge flies in with a missile dropkick on Bradshaw for 2. Swinging neckbreaker. E&C double tackle on Bradshaw. Bradshaw plants Edge with a big boot. Edge ducks a Faarooq clothesline and hits a spinning heel kick. Bradshaw gets the tag and cuts Edge off. Edge backdrops out of a powerbomb. Tag to Christian. Bradshaw catches Christian on a double team and hits the fallaway slam. Faarooq slaps on a bear hug. Christian punches out but runs into a spinebuster for 2. Acolyte sloppy double slam for 2. Christian continues to stay in peril. He gets a faceplant on Faarooq. The tag is cut off again. Christian slips out of the Dominator. DDT! Tag to Edge! Dropkicks for everyone. Christian plancha on Faarooq! Brasdshaw Clothesline from Hell on Edge! Christian slides in, saves the pin, then slides back out to continue with Faarooq. Smooth. Edge fights off a Bradshaw superplex. Tornado DDT! That gets the win! The Hollys were their usual mess, but the Acolytes and E&C did some really nice formula tag and power vs speed stuff. **1/4

While the cage is being set up we get a long video recap of all the goings on between Trips, Rock, Bulldog and Austin in the past week since Unforgiven. The most notable thing is the famous moment on Smackdown when Rock did a People's Elbow on Bulldog sliding across the ring in his fancy shoes and somehow keeping his balance. Side thought, I'm not sure why Austin didn't make the trip to the UK. He hadn't been wrestling for a month or so, probably resting his post-Owen Hart piledriver incident messed up neck during what's traditionally the slower season. Of course it turned out to be bad timing because Austin was about to be out for quite a bit longer. Fortunately they had built up other stars to fill the gap in the interim.

 

Steel Cage Match for the WWF Championship: Triple H (c) def The Rock in 20:33- The cage is the old blue car cage painted black. It's classic WWF escape only rules tonight. Birmingham is bonkers for the Rock. Rock cuts a longish Willy Wonka themed promo before the match. Weird but OK. Both guys let thing soak in a bit before we start with some extended back and forth slugging. HHH hits a back elbow and makes the first climb attempt. Rock pulls him back down and pops him again. More punchy/kicky from Rock, but not in a dull way. That was his wheelhouse. He gives HHH a back elbow and goes to climb. After a HHH distraction Rock tries coming off the second rope but HHH gives him a shot in the gut. HHH pounds Rock down in the corner and hits the Harley Race high knee. Rock hits a swinging neckbreaker. Another climb attempt. HHH pulls him down and Rock goes face first into the top turnbuckle with a typical crazy Rock sell. Rock is the first one to go into the cage. More back and forth slugging. Rock gets a Samoan drop. HHH facebuster and clothesline. He climbs and gets halfway over the cage top before Rock pulls him back down. There was almost a Shawn Michaels bare ass moment there but they avoided it. Rock climbs and gets over to the other side. HHH manages to drag him back over. Slugfest standing on the top rope. Both fall and get crotched! Icepacks on standby. Another near HHH ass exposure on a climb attempt. He decides to leap off the top rope....RIGHT INTO A ROCK BOTTOM! Rock tries to climb. HHH gets to him quickly and back suplexes him off the ropes. Rock slugs back and hits a powerslam. HHH pulls Rock down from another climb. Rock hooks up for the Rock Bottom. HHH quickly back elbows out. Pedigree! HHH crawls for the door. Rock just grabs a foot before he can get out. HHH grabs a chair that's conveniently in arm's reach and tries to bring it in. Hebner tries to take the chair away. HHH hits him with the chair and he collapses! Rock falls out the door and hits the floor! Commentary thinks he's won, but Hebner is out and can't call it. They fight around the ring and, even in a cage match, we get the mandatory late '90s main event crowd brawl. HHH takes a couple of announce table shots. Rock gets a mic and says he's won but the ref didn't see it, so here's a present. Chairshot to HHH's head! Rock then grabs a commentary headset and calls his own match. HHH is bleeding. Rock beats him on the announce table some more. Rock climbs up the cage a couple of rungs, not too high. Elbow off the cage! The announce table half breaks. Rock drags HHH back into the ring. All around the world cage shots for HHH. DDT. Hebner is finally stirring. Rock decides to climb instead of using the door. Not sure about that, that's pure stubbornness. Here comes Bulldog. You knew he was getting involved. He drags Rock back up the cage into the ring. Here comes Shane! Shane is all over the Bulldog! For Steph! Bulldog quickly overpowers him. He powerslams Shane on the floor! Patterson and Brisco come out and Bulldog takes them out too. Bulldog gets in the ring and pounds on both Rock and HHH. He hates everyone. Rock low blows Bulldog to put him down. Rock Bottom on HHH! Rock crawls for the door. Now Chyna is out. She slams the door on Rock. HHH climbs and gets over. Rock grabs his hair and drags him back up. Slugfest on the top of the cage. Chyna climbs up. Rock pops her! Bulldog drags Rock down. HHH takes that opening to fall to the floor and win. Solidly good match with all the overbooking that was mandatory in this era, but at this point these two could probably have a good match with each other in their sleep. ***1/4

 

After the bell Vince struts down the aisle, past HHH and to the ring. He locks the cage door and flips Bulldog off! Rock Bottom on Bulldog! People's Elbow! Sending the crowd home happy and end show.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Pretty much another UK house show on TV, but not a totally terrible one and at least this one has an angle that plays into the "main canon" so to speak.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C-

Clash of the Champions XXXV

Legacy Review

Clash of the Champions XXXV

August 21, 1997 from the Nashville Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, TN

Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Dusty Rhodes

Welcome to the very last Clash of the Champions. The Clash started back in 1988 as a direct basic cable counter to Wrestlemania 4, during the months when Jim Crockett and WWF were constantly playing scheduling games with each other. In large part thanks to the Ric Flair/Sting match that cemented Sting as a main event player and made him an overnight star the Clash stuck, becoming an important fixture on the calendar in the days when PPVs were scarce. After the Turner buyout of Crockett to create WCW the Clash stayed, remaining a major show to one degree or another during the tenures of Jim Herd, Kip Frey and Bill Watts despite the increasing number of PPVs. Things changed after Eric Bischoff took over. Bischoff wasn't a fan of the Clash concept as he felt it took away from PPV buys, and after the start of Nitro to kick off the Monday Night Wars the Clash became completely redundant. The past few years it's been little more than a contractually obligated C show. After tonight, the contract is over.

As for tonight, we're smack in the middle between the last PPV, Road Wild, and the upcoming Fall Brawl. We get a clip from this past Monday's Nitro of JJ Dillon demanding Sting finally give him an answer between now and the Clash on what exactly he wants. Sting comes out and points to a bunch of "Sting vs Hogan" signs that were in no way planted in the crowd. Tony seems to think that was a satisfactory answer. No word yet on if Dillon got the message or not. The NWO has also declared tonight will be the one year birthday celebration for the group. More like a year and a month but whatever. It's like someone in the office realized they didn't do this at the real one year anniversary back at Bash at the Beach.

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: Steve "Mongo" McMichael def Jeff Jarrett (c) (w/Debra) in 8:07- To recap: Jarrett stole Mongo's wife, won the US title and got kicked out of the Horsemen after no one really wanted him there in the first place. Mongo is all business heading to the ring. After the lockup Jarrett slides under, hits a slam, struts and brags. Jarrett outdodges Mongo and hits him with his own 3 point stance chop block, then chills in the corner. Mongo is understandably a bit pissed off. Jarrett bails, lets Mongo turn around and attacks from behind. Mongo hits a clothesline and Jarrett powders. Commercial. We come back with Jarrett throwing Mongo into the stairs. Jarrett does some choking in the ring with a Debra assist. Suplex from Jarrett. Sleeper! After arm drops Mongo slowly fights up. Mongo with a sleeper! Debra gets on the apron. Eddie Guerrero runs out. He takes the US belt and gets on the top rope. Mongo dodges and Jarrett gets it! Mongo tosses Guerrero out, covers, and gets the pin for his first ever title. Lord help us. Jarrett's good heel work threatened to make it interesting at the start, but ultimately it's a Mongo match. Guerrero also 100% won that match for Mongo, it was all Jarrett up until then so I'm not sure how that was supposed to do Mongo any good. 1/2*

After the bell hussy Debra tries to cozy back up to Mongo. Mongo tells her to piss off. Alex Wright comes out with Mean Gene and drops some German in a very awkward promo. After commercial Mean Gene does some cross promotion with the TBS Dinner & A Movie guys and drops an awful "jerk chicken" joke.

 

No DQ: Raven def Stevie Richards in 5:01- This is both guys' official first WCW match after coming in earlier in the summer from ECW as outside invaders. Commentary says Raven still doesn't have a WCW contract. Raven comes in from the crowd, assumes promo position in the corner, takes a mic and demands this match be no DQ. It's all Raven to start and he tosses Richards out. Corkscrew plancha! Back in Raven snap mares Richards around until Richards counters with a backslide for 2. Once again it's all Raven and Richards gets tossed out again. Raven hits a couple of Cactus Jack style elbows off the apron, then tosses a chair in the ring. He drop toe holds Richard's face into the chair. Bulldog into the chair! Raven sets the chair up in the corner. Richards reverses and Raven goes into the chair! Raven is still up first. Richards slugs back and hits a flying forearm. Side suplex for 2. Richards tunes up the band. Raven blocks the superkick. Richards maneuvers him into a roll up for 2. Raven clothesline for 2. He plants Richards with the DDT and it's over. An extended squash, but it's not a horrible true introduction for Raven to the WCW audience. It's about all Richards deserves anyway. *1/2

Mike Tenay introduces a short biographical piece on Ultimo Dragon. He's been in WCW for a good two years, so I guess now is as good a time as any. This is also when WCW finally stopped all the "Ultimate Dragon" nonsense and started using his proper name again. I've been calling him Ultimo Dragon all along in these reviews, because that's always been his correct name. Of course this means Dusty spends half of the next match stumbling over trying to say "Ultimo".

 

WCW World Television Championship: Alex Wright def Ultimo Dragon (c) in 13:55- Wright had just dropped the Cruiserweight title back to Chris Jericho and is now getting a shot at the next belt up. Tenay joins the booth for this one. After a cautious start Wright strikes first with an armdrag out of a lockup. Next sequence he manages to outwrestle Dragon again. They do an extended sequence where both guys grab arm wringers with the other escaping. Wright eventually takes a rope break, and uses the opening for an eye poke. He stomps on Dragon a bit. Shoulderblock standoff. On the second try Wright goes down. He begs off. Dragon hits some chops. The corner handstand and kick leads into a classic Dragon rapid fire kick combo, followed by the stiff PKs to the back. Wright jawbreakers out of a chinlock. He powerbombs Dragon! Instead of covering he wastes time, which Heenan gets all over him for. Backbreaker and a very slow cover for 2. European uppercut and another backbreaker for 2. Gutwrench suplex for 2 and we go to commercial. Then there's a super important NWO promo flogging Syxx's shirt, then we finally come back with Wright holding a half chinlock half sleeper. They have a great speed sequence and Wright hits a clothesline. Setup slam. Wright gets HUGE height on a stomp off the top rope. There's more than a few Golden Age ROH venues where his head would have been through the ceiling. Speaking of, I've got some Golden Age ROH DVD sets I really need to get around to reviewing sometime. Wrestler compilations, not full shows, probably why I haven't done it yet. One day. Wright gives us some of his awful dancing then puts the chinsleeperlock back on, with some rope leverage help. Dragon fights free, hits the ropes, ducks, ducks again, slides under, flips out of a backdrop, and puts on his own sleeper! Wright tries to back suplex counter but Dragon flips over and hits his own. Chop exchange. Wright gets another European uppercut and a back suplex. He gets on the apron to climb up top. Dragon springboard dropkicks him to the floor! Wright dodges a plancha. Asai moonsault! Dragon sets Wright up top. Wright fights and goes for a superplex. Dragon counters midair and Wright drops down face first. Magistral cradle for 2. Wright counters the handspring elbow with a back elbow. He tries a leverage pin for 2. Standing switches, Wright blocks the tiger suplex, and both guys trade cradle counters. Wright hits the German suplex, and that gets a clean pin for the title! Good cruiserweight style match for the TV title. Wright will never be particularly good but is clearly a more natural heel, while Dragon continues to very quietly be one of the best in-ring workers on the WCW roster. Maybe the best. ***1/4

 

WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Chris Jericho (c) def Eddie Guerrero in 6:41- As mentioned, Jericho is freshly on Cruiserweight title reign #2 after taking it back from Wright. Guerrero's strangely been off the big shows for most of the year. I'm not sure he was injured, just hasn't been booked, which I would call a misfire. Guerrero jaws a lot after the bell. He goes out of the lockup into a hammerlock and snap mares Jericho, then says "That all you got?". Jericho plays to the crowd a bit. Takedown from Guerrero. Jericho spins into an armdrag, then hits another one and a dropkick. Guerrero immediately does the hair pull bitch to the ref. Jericho hits a shoulderblock, then catches Guerrero leapfrogging and press slams him! You don't usually see Jericho break out pure power moves like that. Guerrero quickly crawls on his knees to the ref and tries to hide, then slides out. More stalling. Guerrero sneaks around and jumps Jericho from behind. Leg lariat. Slingshot senton. He puts Jericho up top and hits a hurricanrana for 2. Guerrero walks the top rope and goes for another hurricanrana, but Jericho blocks it and hits a powerbomb. Giant swing! Both guys need time to recover. Jericho hits a spinning heel kick. Guerrero goes to the floor. Jericho tries for a springboard crossbody but slips off the top rope and falls to the floor. Hope that was deliberate selling still being dizzy from the swing. They get on the apron. Jericho suplexes Guerrero out of the ring to the floor! Back in Guerrero hits a superplex for 2. Long crazy counter sequence. Jericho hits a HUGE release German for 2. Another series of counters and cradle counters. Jericho manages to get on top of Guerrero while he's completely stacked up and gets a 3 count! After the bell Guerrero lays Jericho out, puts the belt on top of him, and hits a frog splash. The slow first part of the match would have been good groundwork laying if they were going 20 minutes on PPV, I'm surprised they did that knowing how little time they had, but it got good as you'd expect from these two after that. They definitely need that 20 minute PPV match. ***

 

Psychosis, Villano IV, Villano V and Silver King (w/Sonny Oono) def Juventud Guerrera, Hector Garza, Lizmark Jr and Super Calo in 4:52- Lucha, er, quados (trios plus one) rules here so tagging and selling are optional. Tenay checks in again for this one. It's an 8 man lucha match barely getting 5 minutes, I'm not going to spend a bunch of time on this because you can probably work out how it goes. Calo and Villano IV open with some extended back and forth. Garza and Silver King get crazy flippy with each other. Psychosis knocks Juvy around before it's everyone run in time. EVERYBODY DIVE! Heenan: "It's like 8 cabbies in Mexico City fighting over a fare!". Fantastic. Oono helps out Psychosis to counter a Calo move, Psychosis hits the legdrop off the top and that gets the pin. Fun condensed lucha spotfest. ***

Mean Gene is back with the Dinner & A Movie guys. Things get suspicious when all their dishes are named after Savage or the NWO, except for the cream puffs, those are WCW. Heel turn! Savage comes out, stops Okerlund from leaving and says this is the kickoff of the NWO's birthday celebrations. A giant NWO birthday cake appears, with the hands of stagehands hilariously coming into frame to light the sparklers on the cake. Vince is tossing his headset at a monitor right now. The D&M guys call DDP out and get their wish. DDP trashes the whole set and lays one of the guys out with a Diamond Cutter. Harmless TBS cross-promotion fun.

 

"Nature Boy" Ric Flair and Curt Hennig def Konnan and Syxx in 5:09- Konnan and Syxx look like two drunks trying to get each other home from the bar after closing on their entrance. I'm probably not far off from the truth. Konnan and Hennig start with Konnan taking a gum spit. Hammerlock standoff. More surprisingly spunky counters and stalemate. Hennig gets stuck in the heel corner. Syxx wraps up an arm wringer. Hennig uses that to drag him to his corner and tag Flair. Syxx hits a shoulderblock and gives Flair some ground and pound. Chop from Flair. Syxx hits a backdrop. More Flair chops. He hits the snap mare/kneedrop combo for 2. Syxx takes a backdrop. Hennig kneelift on Syxx. Konnan tags in and Hennig jumps him while he's coming through the ropes. Hennig ends up in the wrong corner again. Flair runs in and it's donnybrooking time. He goes for the figure four on Konnan. Hennig tosses Syxx, but accidentally right into Flair's leg. Henning gets the Perfectplex on Konnan and gets the pin. They had a ton of energy but not much time to do anything with it, and the finish was a bit of a mess. *3/4

Mean Gene joins the winners in the ring, determined to once and for all to get an answer from Hennig on whether or not he's a Horseman. Hennig's answer? "No". "No you're not a Horseman or no you won't answer tonight?" "That's right". Flair looks put out and they both leave.

 

WCW World Tag Team Championship: Scott Hall and "Macho Man" Randy Savage (c) (w/Elizabeth and Kevin Nash) def "The Total Package" Lex Luger and Diamond Dallas Page in 9:55- The whole NWO (minus Hogan of course, he doesn't show up for C shows) comes out as white and black balloons pour down to continue the birthday celebrations. As they're all hanging out in the ring Nash says this match is now a tag title match with Savage defending in his place. I didn't think Nash had the book yet. Wait, he's not world champion. Dead giveaway he doesn't yet. After being champs 7-8 months they just now invoke Freebird Rules. I'd question that, but of course WCW let them get away with anything. After the challengers make their entrance most of the NWO group leaves. There are balloons popping EVERYWHERE. It's like 5 straight minutes of pyro going off sound. After much discussion Luger and Hall start with a rough lockup. Luger eventually powers Hall down. Hall tights pulls Luger to the floor. Nash runs up and hits Luger from behind. Former evil ref Nick Patrick tosses Nash out! Luger gets double teamed for a bit, until he dodges an elbow drop and gets a tag. DDP takes everyone out. Clothesline on Savage. Hall trips DDP, then Savage hits him with a clothesline. Hall hits the fallaway slam for 2. More double teams follow. DDP tries to fight out of the heel corner but the tag is cut off. Savage tosses DDP to the floor INTO THE BALLOONS! Double ax handle off the apron from Savage. Hall corner clothesline back in. He ties DDP up and slaps him on his back in a very humiliating way. DDP ducks a Hall clothesline, hits his own clothesline, and tags. Luger has clotheslines for everyone. He tosses Savage out. Torture Rack on Hall! Savage breaks it up, then gives DDP a thumb in the eye. Blinded DDP Diamond Cutters Luger! Hall slowly crawls over, gets an arm over, and gets the pin. Solid enough. Like most of their title defenses the Outsiders/NWO team spent 90% of the match on offense. **1/2

The whole NWO gang comes out again, this time with Bischoff, to cap off the birthday celebration. Bischoff says for birthday presents he still wants an NWO only show and Hogan wants more limos and jets. Dark music starts playing. The lights flicker. Sting is here! He's up in the rafters with a vulture. A child voiceover talks about light fighting against darkness. All the lights go out. For a long while. When they come back up the vulture is on the top rope. Bischoff is scared of it and slowly takes a note it's holding. The camera zooms in on the vulture and end show. Eh. It kinda works. I've seen worse.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- The Clash doesn't go out with a bang, but it's a solidly average show and that's the best it's been in a while. Crazy symbolism to have the final shot of the last Clash be a vulture.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C+

Unforgiven '99

Legacy Review

Unforgiven '99

September 26, 1999 from the Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, NC

Commentary: Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

For the second straight year we're getting a fall full of Russorific WWF Championship shenanigans. In 1998 it was the controversial Austin/Kane First Blood match, then the more controversial Kane/Taker double pin on Austin in a Triple Threat match, that led to months of the title being vacant before the Rock won his first title in the Wrestlemania 4 style Deadly Game tournament at Survivor Series. For the encore this year? First off, Mankind pulled off a huge upset win for the title at Summerslam, pinning then-champ Austin in a Triple Threat match that Triple H was also in. The next night on Raw, Trips defeated Mankind one on one (as one on one as Attitude Era main events got) to win the WWF Title for the first time ever. A few weeks after that on one of the earliest episodes of the new show Smackdown, Trips would select none other than Vincent Kennedy McMahon to defend his title against. Vince had been off TV per the stips of the main event in Fully Loaded, but Trips had been making moves on Linda McMahon and Vince, as we all know a man ever dedicated to his wife, stepped in to defend her. Thanks to help from guest referee Shane McMahon and Austin, Vince won the top title of his own company. Don't ask, it's Russo. On the following Raw, Vince (who's somehow a babyface at this point, don't ask it's Russo) voluntarily relinquished the title in order to comply with the "not allowed on TV" stip again. The first ever Six Pack Challenge match was then set up for tonight to settle the vacant title.

If that's not enough, this is a historical show for another reason- it's Vince Russo's final US PPV as WWF's booker. By the time No Mercy came in late October (the next UK exclusive PPV is between these shows) Russo had departed for WCW, who were convinced they'd stolen the key piece that had led WWF to overtake them the past couple of years. How wrong they turned out to be.

The opening video for this show is....unique. There's definitely some influence from the early Smackdown set on the stage. And here's one more for the "don't ask, it's Russo" files on his way out, they're doing a storyline that the referees are on strike due to "unsafe working conditions". Really. There's a shot of all the regular refs picketing outside the arena. All the matches tonight are handled by "scab" referees.

Val Venus def Steve Blackman in 6:33- This feud started when Venus snuck into Blackman's weapons bag and put one of his sex toys in it. Really. Venus has the bag with him on his entrance. Steve "Brooklyn Brawler" Lombardi is the scab ref for this match. Jump start from Blackman. Venus ducks a roundhouse kick and hits a clothesline. Blackman gets pounded down in the corner. After a run of counters Blackman dropkicks Venus to the floor. Venus gets crotched on the top rope coming back in. Blackman adds more injury to insult with an inverted atomic drop. They go back to the floor with Venus on top....in control....whatever. Venus gets whipped into the stairs. Noise! Blackman posts his back, slides him back in and covers for 2. Old school Lombardi is counting a bit slower than the norm. Venus hits his ripcord knees and a Russian leg sweep. Hip swivel over Blackman and cover for 2. Blackman hits a crossbody. Venus rolls through it for 2. Spinebuster from Blackman with a jackknife cover for 2. Venus hits a bulldog and DDT, goes up top, the Money Shot hits, and it's over. Bleh. *1/4

After the bell Venus goes for the bag (which didn't come into play the entire match) and takes a kendo stick out. Blackman attacks, takes the stick, and whacks Venus over the head with it with what had become his signature KO shot. Medics come out to tend to Venus. Blackman tries to stop them but the huge head WWF security guy with the leather beret tackles him and gets him out of the ring.

Lillian Garcia makes her WWF PPV debut backstage, interviewing Mark Henry. Henry makes a suggestion in Lillian's ear, and Lillian slaps him silly! After that we get another shot of the picketing refs to confirm they're still out there.

 

WWF European Championship: D'Lo Brown def "Sexual Chocolate" Mark Henry (c) in 9:11- Henry pulled off one of the best heel turns of the late Russo WWF era, turning on former best friend Brown at Summerslam because Brown thought he was a fat bastard and was trying to save him from a stroke through diet and exercise. Tom Pritchard, apparently the "head" scab ref, is working this match in his blue workout pants. I guess when you're a scab you don't bother dressing properly. Bubba Ray Dudley did a better job at Wrestlemania 40 last night (as I type this). Henry has two ladies on his arm as he makes his entrance. He takes a mic, says he's not defending the title tonight and tells the ladies to go and start the car. He blames Lillian's slap for giving him a "brainurism". I really hope that was a deliberate mis-wording. It gets super annoying because Lawler repeats it every 30 seconds the whole match. Brown's music hits, he comes out and attacks Henry in the aisle. Henry knocks him around a bit on the floor, brainurism forgotten. They get in the ring and the bell rings to officially start. Brown goes into dodge mode and tries to pound Henry down. Spinebuster from Brown for 2. Elbow off the second rope for 2. Henry drops Brown on the top turnbuckle. Brown dodges and Henry crashes into the ropes. He goes to the floor. Brown tope! Crossbody off the top back in from Brown for 2. Henry hits a press powerslam for 2. Slam, clothesline and it's chinlock time! Henry hits some more ugly clotheslines. Brown crossbody for 2. He goes for another but Henry catches and slams him. Legdrop for 2. Avlanache. He puts Brown on the top rope and hits a kind of burning hammer for 2. Brown slides under and hits a hurricanrana! Henry actually just about got himself over for that. Flying forearm and heel kick from Brown. Signature legdrop for 2. Henry hits a half assed corner clothesline. He looks blown up. I wish I was kidding. He gives Brown some mounted punches. Brown counters with another spinebuster! Frog splash! Brown gets the pin and wins the title back! Brown's in his peak when he was pretty damn good, but even after a couple of years of work Henry was still just this side of godawful and Brown was only going to get so much out of him. 3/4*

After a backstage Acolytes promo we cut to Chaz (former Headbanger Mosh) being beat up backstage because they thought he was beating his girlfriend or something. It's more Russo stupidity, and I'm pretty sure it ends after Russo leaves so whatever. It looks even dumber when juxtaposed with what's next. We then cut to a Debra promo, with Miss Kitty (The Kat/Stacey Carter, who Lawler was in a real life relationship with despite her barely being older than Lawler's son). Jeff Jarrett interrupts, tells Debra to piss off, and drags Kitty away to be in his corner.

 

WWF Intercontinental Championship: Jeff Jarrett (c) (w/Miss Kitty) def Chyna by DQ in 11:52- The whole build to this match has been Jarrett beating up on women and putting them in the figure four, including The Fabulous Moolah and Mae Young, the first of many angles with them to come over the next several years. Because of that Chyna is a face here despite still being with heel Triple H. She comes out to Trips' music and gets a pretty big pop. Harvey Wippleman is the scab ref for this one. With Kitty out there Lawler is uber annoying the whole match. Another jump start. Must be Wrestlemania. Chyna hits a shoulderblock and clothesline. Jarrett tries coming off the second rope but his crotch somehow falls on Chyna's arm. Jarrett gets 360 clotheslined to the floor. He drags Chyna down and posts her hooha. Chyna takes some floor beating, while Jarrett takes a moment to move Kitty Savage/Elizabeth style. Jarrett crossbody off the top back in for 2. He ducks a Chyna elbow and hits a dropkick. Chyna does the Trips flip in the corner and hits a clothesline from the apron. Jarrett hits a superplex into a cradle for 2. Armbar slam off the second rope. We get a shot of Moolah and Mae Young sitting ringside. Chyna outmaneuvers Jarrett in the corner and hits an electric chair. Jarrett ducks a clothesline and hooks on the sleeper. After arm drops Chyna fights out and suplexes Jarrett. Powerslam for 2. She counters Jarrett into a powerbomb for 2. Jarrett hits his own powerbomb and goes for the figure four. Chyna pushes out and Jarrett does a crazy flop all the way over the top rope to the floor. Can't say he's not trying. Chyna gives Jarrett a chairshot! That was right in front of Wippleman. These scab refs have no clue what they're doing. Jarrett gets backdropped onto the Spanish announce table! Back in Chyna hooks up for a Pedigree. Jarrett counters with a slingshot and Wippleman goes down. Jarrett tells Kitty to get the guitar. Moolah and Young are in and pounding on Jarrett! And Jarrett's actually selling it! They double slam Jarrett! Jarrett double clothesline on them! Lawler loses it laughing. He continues beating on both women, kicking them out of the ring. Debra comes out, shoves Kitty down, and nails Jarrett with the guitar! Huge pop for that. Chyna covers and Wippleman counts 3! But wait, here comes Tom Pritchard, and he's bringing a Dusty Finish with him. They review the replay on the tron and Pritchard DQ's Chyna, giving Jarrett the match. Chyna attacks Pritchard and gives him a Pedigree before leaving. The bulk of the match was OK with Chyna continuing to look competent with the guys and Jarrett working hard to make it work, but all the overbooking was just dumb. *1/2

 

The Acolytes def The Dudley Boyz in 7:28- The ECW legend Dudleyz are making their WWF PPV debut, still in their ECW tie dye gear for now. They'd recently signed with WWF as part of the under the table partnership between WWF and ECW for talent to go one way and money the other. They get zero reaction from the crowd as they weren't established outside of Philly or hardcore circles yet. Bubba Ray takes a mic and does his stuttering bit, then D-Von lays down some testimony. Lawler makes sure to get his "Extremely Crappy Wrestling" in. Regular ref Jimmy Korderas has crossed the picket line to work this match. The Acolytes charge in and we're four for four on jump starts tonight. Faarooq pounds Bubba down in the corner as things quickly settle in. Bubba responds with an avalanche and suplex. Faarooq gets his knees up on a splash. The Acolytes hit a double team faceplant. Big boot from Bradshaw. Bubba slams Bradshaw and hits a senton off the second rope for 2. Lawler is still going on about Moolah and Young getting beat up. Someone find a damn off switch on him please. Or a reset button, something. He's been horrible tonight. Bradshaw hits a superplex and hits a fairly weak (for him) spear that sends he and Bubba tumbling to the floor. Bubba hits some chops on the floor but gets whipped into the stairs. Noise! Cover back in for 2 as Faarooq says "ECW that!" from the apron. Instantly better than almost anything Lawler's said tonight. Bubba ducks the Clothesline from Hell and hits a belly to belly suplex for 2. Tag. D-Von ducks a big boot and tackles Bradshaw. Swinging neckbreaker. Bradshaw catches D-Von and hits a fallaway slam. Faarooq hits a powerslam for 2. D-Von plants him with a DDT but Bradshaw cuts the tag off. D-Von dodges an elbow drop and gets the tag. The Dudleyz hit a double team neckbreaker that JR calls the 3D. Clearly he needs to watch more tape. DONNYBROOK! Bubba powerbomb/D-Von headbutt off the top combo for 2. D-Von gets crotched on the top rope and Bradshaw hits a back superplex for 2. Bubba runs in and faceplants Bradshaw from behind. 3D on Faarooq! That goof Stevie Richards runs in. He's been doing a gimmick of impersonating WWF wrestlers. Tonight it's the Acolytes. He's got the UPN logo (Smackdown's network) painted on his chest Acolyte style. Richards superkick on D-Von! Faarooq covers for the pin. The Acolytes thank Richards in the only way they know how- laying him out. Then Faarooq shakes his hand while he's down. On paper you'd think these two teams would work really well together, but as hard as they were trying (and they were) it just never came together. Another dumb interference finish also let it down. *3/4

 

Hardcore Match for the WWF Women's Championship: Ivory (c) def Luna Vachon in 3:37- Right after the last match we cut to the back with Luna attacking Ivory from behind with a trash can. I guess this match is on then. They brawl in the hallway and spend the first part of the match throwing everything in sight at each other with the other one dodging: a monitor, a drinks tray, a phone. They go in an office area and Luna uses a copy machine to make copies of Ivory's face. I said face. JR gets the SNL reference in. Some curtains go down. Cameraman down! Luna gets stuffed in a trash can. Scab ref Wippleman refuses to count because Luna's shoulders aren't down in the trash can. Ivory gets tossed on some boxes. Luna climbs up on a forklift. Splash off the forklift! Ivory kicks out! A mic stand gets murdered. Tori decides to insinuate herself in all this and gets stuffed in a footlocker for her trouble. Ivory whacks Luna with what I think is a pool cue and gets the pin. A total mess, though the forklift spot was decent. 1/4*

Ivory decides to interrupt a Moolah and Mae Young promo and gets an old lady beatdown for it.

 

WWF Tag Team Championship: The New Age Outlaws (c) def Edge and Christian in 11:09- Billy Gunn singles push? What Billy Gunn singles push? Huh? The Outlaws broke up? BILLY GUNN won King of the Ring? I don't remember any of that. Good thing too, that would have been really dumb. Stop it with the crazy talk. All kidding aside, the Outlaws had just won the titles back on the Smackdown before this, literally their first night back together. Who did they beat? A little team called The Rock N Sock Connection. Yup, that's happening right now. Real ref Korderas is in again for this one. This is a face vs face match. Finally we have our first non-jump start of the night as Gunn and Edge start with a LOCKUP! Gunn shoves on the break and Edge goes "OK". They roll through some very refreshing basics like an actual wrestling match. Edge hits a hiptoss, some armdrags and a drop toe hold. Gunn back suplexes out of a headlock. Dogg hammerlocks Edge into a roll up for 2. Christian blind tags in and hits some dropkicks and his own armdrag. Gunn grabs Christian's hair from the apron and Dogg pops him off the distraction. The Outlaws roll through some double teams. Gunn press slams Christian down gut first onto Dogg's knee. Christian comes back with some punchy kicky and gets a tag. Dogg hits his signature jabs and jive elbow on Edge. Christian run in and they toss Dogg over the top after a bit of an awkward sequence. From here on E&C clearly decide they're the heels in this match, which given the dynamic is the right call. Dogg goes into the stairs. Noise! He gets his back run into the apron a couple of times and E&C work on the back for a bit. Dogg comes back on Christian. Crossbody collision! Nice. Edge tags in and cuts Dogg off from tagging. E&C beat Dogg down in their corner and do some quick tag double teams. After launching off Edge Dogg punches Christian out of midair! E&C go for a double backdrop. Dogg turns it into a double DDT! Tag to Gunn! Gunn runs wild. Powerslam on Christian. Everyone in the pool! Christian hits a reverse DDT on Gunn. Dogg hooks Christian up for the pumphandle slam but he escapes. Edge spear on Dogg! But while he was doing that Gangrel and Matt Hardy pull Christian out of the ring! Jeff Hardy missile dropkick on Edge! Gunn hits the Fameasser! That gets the pin. After the bell the E&C chase the New Brood to the back. Well, that was a refreshingly old school tag match here in old Crockett country, making it completely different to anything on the card so far, though once again it was hurt by the fact that we aren't allowed to have any clean finishes. E&C continue to look better and better every time out there. **3/4

To recap the epic storytelling that's brought us to the next legendary matchup: Boss Man murdered Head by putting a crowbar through her, er, head. To replace her Snow got a chihuahua named Pepper. After a bit Boss Man not only kidnapped Pepper, not only murdered her, but went full Scott Tenorman on Snow with her. If you don't know that reference look up South Park. Then to top it all off he pissed on Pepper's grave. So, as logically as a witch weighing the same as a duck, that brings us to the one and thankfully only Kennel from Hell match in wrestling history.

Kennel from Hell Match for the WWF Hardcore Championship: Al Snow (c) def The Big Boss Man in 11:42- This match is so epic, it has the blue bar steel cage INSIDE the Hell in a Cell cage. The object of the match is to escape BOTH cages. Which in theory is supposed to be made more difficult by the rabid, trained to attack rottweilers surrounding the ring inside the Cell. The problem is they're nowhere to be seen when the match starts. The bell rings as Boss Man gets in the Cell with no dogs anywhere. They brawl for a bit at the blue cage door. Snow uses the nightstick and holds the door shut on Boss Man. I have zero idea what that's supposed to accomplish other than stall. And, finally, here come the dogs! Every one of them on a leash with a handler. JR tries his damndest but they look about as vicious as my aunt and uncle's litter of corgis. The dogs stay outside the Cell as the wrestlers continue to stall. Finally the dogs are brought inside the Cell, with one of them clearly marking his territory on camera, which again sets Lawler off. It's not even the worst thing they do during the match but it didn't take long for the production people to realize they're much better off not putting them on camera at all. JR cries "Look at the size of that rottweiler!". Yeah, and he looks like all he wants to do is play. Boss Man climbs the blue cage as one of the dogs barks. Snow gets a shovel out of his bag of toys and hits the cage with it. He flips over the cage, more stalling, and Snow falls down. He runs away from the dogs that are clearly only barking at each other. Snow climbs the Cell and crosses over onto the blue cage. More weak brawling on the cage. The crowd is getting pretty restless. Boss Man superplexes Snow into the ring to try to get them going. The dogs continue to say hi to each other and it's about this point they give up trying to show them on screen. Both guys in the ring are barely even trying. Zero effort. Maybe even negative effort. Boss Man hits some cookie sheet shots and Snow is bleeding a little. Boss Man gets some pliers and cuts a hole in the roof of the Cell. Understandable. If he walked around ringside he might end up stepping in some dog shit or something. Snow hits him with a bat, breaking it. Boss Man makes some half assed attempt to use the pliers on Snow's ear. He gets some powder out and Snow throws it back in his face. Stick shot and now Boss Man is slightly bleeding. After running Boss Man into the cage Snow takes the pliers and loosens a bottom turnbuckle, something that leads to absolutely nothing later. Boss Man hits some shovel shots and handcuffs Snow to the ropes. He starts to climb to the hole in the roof. Snow snaps the handcuffs off, shakes the cage and Boss Man gets crotched on the top rope. Snow gets Head out! Head is alive! Sadly that makes more sense than a lot of other stuff in this match. Head shot for Boss Man. They start the climb chase on both sides. Snow strides over onto the inside of the Cell while Boss Man starts to get through the roof hole. Snow swings himself through the door, "runs" from the dogs and mercifully ends the torture. There's a reason this is universally considered one of the worst matches in WWF history. Even Russo called it his worst booked match ever, and THAT'S saying something. It's so bad, it belongs on the same list as some of WCW's worst gimmick matches. I can't think of a more vicious insult than that. MINUS FIVE STARS

 

The saddest part of all of this? Being hanged from the Hell in a Cell cage at Wrestlemania wasn't even the low point of Boss Man's year. He might be wishing they'd left him up there.

 

X-Pac def Chris Jericho (w/Curtis Hughes) by DQ in 13:10- This was supposed to be Jericho vs Ken Shamrock after Hughes took Shamrock out on weekly TV, but Shamrock packed up and decided to go back to MMA right before this show. I don't think "took his ball and went home" is unfair. Lots of stalling during the entrances while the blue bar cage is taken down, and hopefully the ringside area is cleaned up. There's stuff out there that by most city ordinances needs to be cleaned up by the dog owners. Head scab ref Blue Pants Pritchard is back for this one. There's some prior history here as Jericho defeated Pac as Syxx for his first WCW Cruiserweight title, then they had a PPV match at Halloween Havoc later in '97. After the bell they do some standing switches, Jericho gets a takedown, and stalemate. Good back and forth run, double kip up and another stalemate. Jericho hits some chops. He ducks a Pac heel kick and hits a clothesline, then suplex drops Pac on the top rope. More chops in the corner. Pac dodges and hits his corner kick combo. Jericho dodges the coming bronco buster, but Pac sees it and lands on his feet. Pac goes for the X-Factor. Jericho grabs his legs to counter and starts to hook on the Walls. Pac flips Jericho out to the floor. Springboard crossbody! Hughes hits a clothesline on Pac. Right in front of Pritchard, and he doesn't do anything about it but lightly admonish Hughes. Must have gone to Red Shoes ref school. Jericho hits a suplex on the floor. Back in Jericho gets a missile dropkick for 2. He stretches Pac's arms out in a submission hold. "Ask him!" Pac tries a tiltahirl but Jericho blocks it and hits a backbreaker. So far this has been really good, but around this point the crowd gets distracted by some stupidity going on somewhere else in the arena, stays distracted for a good 5 minutes or more, and it slowly starts affecting what's happening in the ring. Jericho hits a slingshot splash for 2. After that they go into stall mode while waiting for the crowd to get undistracted. The problem is the crowd refuses to get undistracted, so they try to continue anyway. Jericho hits a back elbow, hits the Lionsault and does some ground and pound while the crowd is almost in another county. Finally they start coming back in. Oh, with an "X-Pac sucks" chant. Guess it is about time for the crowd to turn on him. JR tries to say the crowd is chanting for Pac while avoiding the lightning bolts shooting down from heaven. Jericho hits the springboard dropkick and Hughes gets another shot on Pac. The crowd starts chanting "we want" something I can't make out, probably something to do with whatever had them so damn fascinated for so long that wasn't what had been by far the best match of the night. In other words as sympathetic as I am to the anti-Pac sentiment I'm pretty much in "fuck this crowd" mode right now. Pac gets a boot up in the corner and hits a couple of heel kicks. Something happens with him and Hughes we can't quite make out because of the bad camera angle, then he hits Jericho with a springboard clothesline for 2. He goes for the bronco buster but Jericho uses the old boot in the crotch trick. Senton off the second rope for 2. Double underhook backbreaker. Pac hits a superplex. Jericho with a double powerbomb. Pac flips Jericho upside down in the corner into the tree of woe. Bronco buster on upside down Jericho! Of course the crowd still pops for that shitty move even after all the "X-Pac sucks" chants. Hughes comes in the ring and takes out both Pritchard and Pac for the cheap DQ. After the bell Road Dogg runs in and helps Pac fight the heels off. Another shit finish. I'm guessing that after the Shamrock substitution no one wanted to do the job. Still, they were going great until the crowd suddenly lost all reason. The whole thing was just weird after that. ***

Undertaker was originally scheduled to be in the main event, but on the last Smackdown before this show he refused to participate in a casket match with Triple H, even when threatened he'd lose his spot at Unforgiven, and walked out. This was to cover a groin injury he'd sustained in a motorcycle accident. He'd return for a couple of joint WWF/IWA house shows in Puerto Rico in December, but soon after tore his pec and ended up on the shelf again, which included missing Wrestlemania for only the second time in his career. When he eventually returned to TV in May of 2000 it was as the brand new American Bad Ass/Biker Taker. For tonight, the recently WWF-returned British Bulldog is taking his place. He had to do a quickie heel turn on the last SD to keep the face/heel numbers even in the match, helping Triple H win a match over the Rock. Both men deny any alliance.

 

Six Pack Challenge for the Vacant WWF Championship: Triple H def The Rock, Mankind, Kane, "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith and The Big Show in 20:28- Austin is the special guest enforcer for this match and has been promised a shot at the winner, a shot he'll get at No Mercy next month. He makes his entrance last, then goes over and joins commentary. For the record the Rock's entrance pop was almost as big as Austin's. This is "two men legal, tag in and out" rules and they surprisingly stick to them for most of the match. Picket line crosser Korderas is working this match. Rock and Bulldog kick us off and it's all Rock to start. HHH tags in and beats Rock down some. Rock hot shots HHH for 2. Kane tags himself in when Rock leans back for one of his crazy over the top punches and continues the beating on HHH. Kane gives old rival Show a shot on the apron. Show responds by pushing Kane off the top rope. HHH tags Mankind in, then punches him out! Mankind beats HHH down in the corner and hits the running knee. Kane and Mankind go back and forth for a bit. Show tags in and is all over Kane. Backbreaker and he stretches Kane out on his knee. Kane hits some clotheslines and an enzuguri on Show. Bulldog takes a Kane big boot. Rock gets in with the Bulldog looking for some revenge for the last Smackdown. Bulldog hits Rock with the delayed suplex. Mankind gets tagged in, doesn't want to get into it with tag partner and lifelong best friend Rock, and tags right back out. Rock gets out of a Kane Tombstone attempt and hits a Russian leg sweep for 2. Kane side suplex on Rock. Rock and Mankind work together a little bit. Mankind piledriver on Kane for 2. HHH and Mankind kick off the mandatory long floor brawl portion of tonight's main event. Mankind gets suplexed in the aisle. Rock hits a full speed running clothesline on HHH! Here comes everyone and the big all over the place floor brawl is on. Mankind piledrives HHH on the stairs! Bulldog and Mankind are the first back in the ring. Mankind wants to double team him with Rock but Rock is not particularly interested. While that's going on the regular "striking" referees make their way into the arena. They're off the picket line and staring Korderas down for having the GALL to be a scab. Good thing it's only the refs' union, as unions go they're about as soft as a feather pillow. Show and Rock argue in the ring over who gets to be legal. Show works Mankind over for a bit while Korderas is distracted by the other refs. Show hits a big elbow drop. Rock breaks the pin up. Mankind tags Rock in. Rock does some weebles wobble with Show, gets him down on the 3rd clothesline, and covers. HHH breaks up the pin. Rock and HHH slug it out on the floor. Rock snatches Austin's beer right out of his hand, takes a swig, and spits it in HHH's face! Austin tries to sound pissed but is on camera and looks amused more than anything. He probably didn't know that was coming. Mankind hits a DDT on Kane. Kane slowly and with difficulty lifts Mankind up from the mat, gets him in position, and hits the Tombstone! Show tosses Kane out before he can cover and calls for the chokeslam. Kane clotheslines him off the top rope! Bulldog powerslam on Kane. HHH Pedigree on Bulldog! Guess that partnership is over, at least for tonight. Rock pounds HHH out of the ring. Mankind double underhook DDT on Rock! That wily son of a bitch. First class mind games. Socko is out! Claw on Rock! Rock counters with a Rock Bottom! He drapes an arm over and HHH breaks the pin up. Show takes everyone out, clearing the ring. Chokeslam on Mankind! The refs pull Korderas out before he can count 3! They're stomping away on Korderas like he owes them money! Now this is more the union attitude I'm accustomed to. Austin leaves commentary and takes all the refs out! He probably leaped at the excuse to do it for a legitimate reason. Rock hits HHH with a DDT. Austin gets in the ring to take over as ref and counts 2. HHH high knee on Rock. Rock Bottom on HHH! Pad off. People's Elbow! Now Austin gets pulled out of the ring. Bulldog's still backing HHH up and gives Rock a chair shot. Austin gets back in, takes the chair, and nails Bulldog with it! But while that was happening HHH hit the Pedigree on Rock! He covers, and Austin has no choice but to count 3 to give HHH his second WWF Title. After the bell Austin tries to be the bigger man and raise HHH's hand. HHH snatches the belt out of his hand and sticks it in his face to taunt him! STUNNER! Austin does some beer bash celebration to send the crowd home happy. That could have been a giant cluster, but it was well laid out and everyone did their part right and it turned out pretty damn good. The only part I didn't enjoy was all the striking refs interfering in the match stuff, which was so freaking stupid. ***1/2

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- The last two matches save this from being another bottom of the barrel 1999 B PPV. Instead it's that layer of crusty stuff just above the bottom of the barrel. The Kennel from Hell match is atrocious, but it's that level of legendary atrociousness you really should check out once just to laugh at or marvel at just how awful all this can be.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C-

Wrestlemania XL Quick Thoughts

Johnny Legacy's Deep Thoughts

Wrestlemania XL Quick Thoughts

Like last year, this is just a bunch of bite sized thoughts immediately after the big show, plus some off the cuff ratings. I was watching at someone else's house with a (for me) larger group so things can certainly change whenever I go back to watch it over again. But hey, that's what full reviews are for.

Night 1

Women's World Title: Rhea Ripley vs Becky Lynch- A highly anticipated match that mostly delivered, though it's not on the same level as Ripley/Charlotte from 39. I'm going to assume the illness commentary talked about for Becky was legit and that might have affected her here, she did look unusually off at points. Ripley retaining was the right call, going into the show(s) she was the retention I was most sure about. She's the best in the ring on the women's roster in WWE right now, maybe the whole world, and this title reign deserves to keep going. ****

Raw/SD Tag Team Titles Ladder Match- The giant clusterfuck that was exactly what it needed to be. Even more impressive is that even with the huge number of guys involved they still managed to do some storytelling rather than just having a bunch of high spots. Though the high spots were certainly spectacular. The titles being split again was an expected "surprise", but it's still satisfying when it actually happens. Truth fully deserved getting his WM moment with all the great character work he's done since coming back. Side thought, with Vince gone it was nice not to have commentary shoving "WRESTLEMANIA MOMENT" down out throats every few minutes. ****1/4

Andrade & ReyRey vs Dom & Escobar- A fun enough match with lots of nods to these guys' lucha roots. The Jason Kelce run in was a nice enough bit of fun for the Philly crowd. As a Cowboys fan and Eagles/pretty much all Philly sports fans hater it didn't do much for me but that's fine. One of these days Dom needs to get a win over his deadbeat dad. ***

 

Uso vs Uso- The clear disappointment of the show. Hindsight being perfect these guys might have been better served by a semi-main or even main event on a B PPV rather than a WM midcard match as they didn't get much time to really do much. They got some good and necessary story bits in, but the match never hit anywhere close to high gear. **1/4

Damage CTRL vs Belair/Cargill/Naomi- This match existed for one reason: continuing the emergence of Jade Cargill. As a huge Asuka and Kairi fan I would have like more for them on the big stage, but for what it was it was fine. It's amazing how, based on what we've seen so far, Cargill has learned more from 4-5 months in the WWE PC than she did in two years with AEW. She definitely looks like a megastar on the rise. **1/2

Intercontinental Title: Gunther vs Sami Zayn- It was time. From the moment WALTER made his first appearance in NXT UK I was a fan. I'd heard plenty about him before then, but that was the first time I'd actually seen him and he didn't disappoint. But I knew going in this was Sami's night, and it should be. Gunther's done everything he can with the IC title and it's time to move on to bigger things. The entire presentation around this was amazing with Sami's family, Chad Gable, and KO all getting moments with him in his backstage walk. The match itself was fantastic, but also not *quite* on the same level as previous Gunther IC title defenses or, if you want to compare, Sami's NXT title matches. A minor quibble. The strangest thing to me was, I was the biggest Gunther fan in the room in our watch group, but I was the only one that picked Sami to win and was the happiest about it afterward. ****1/4

Cody/Rollins vs Rock/Reigns- Between the long video package, the even longer entrances and a long time of standing around "atmosphere soaking" when the crowd was clearly ready for the action to start it felt like it took FOREVER for this to get going, but once it did it was amazing. With Rock in and the way the story was going a full on Attitude Era style main event was expected, and that's pretty much what we got. Crowd brawl, check. Stage brawl, check. Announce table broken, check. All that was missing was the run ins, but as expected there was plenty of that on Sunday. I also want to give credit to the Rock. There were a lot of "Rock's gonna be blown up walking down the aisle" jokes in my group, including from me, but the tag match allowed him to pace himself and in the end he put in his best in-ring performance since probably the handicap tag match at WM 20. The result was also right, as now the deck's fully stacked against Cody going into Sunday. Cole's "Cody is screwed" as soon as the 3 count hit was perfect. ****1/2

Night 2

World Heavyweight Title: Seth Rollins vs Drew McIntyre (Priest cashes in)- There's no denying the influence of Brock Lesnar's post-2012 style on the WWE main event scene, as his "go straight to the big stuff/finisher spam" style match is seen regularly there now. This was the latest example, but in context of the story it worked. McIntyre knew Rollins was hurt from last night and went right for the jugular. They even did the nod to the Sheamus/Daniel Bryan WM 28 debacle, something I was expecting might happen. Rollins was absolutely amazing in this match, selling everything like a maniac and fighting to get his shots in, probably knowing it was going to be his last turn at bat for a while. McIntyre finally got his well deserved title win in front of fans, especially with all the work he's been doing the last few months, though personally I think he's been a little *too* obsessed with one CM Punk. But, once again, all part of the story. Instead of celebrating his title win, McIntyre decided continuing to troll Punk was more important. Unfortunately for him it was in Punk's face, and finally Punk decided enough was enough. Enter Damien Priest. Just the second ever WM MITB cash-in, and it was spectacular. There's all kinds of avenues this can go from here. ****

Philly Street Fight: Final Testament vs The Pride- Bubba Ray Dudley being the special guest ref for this was a great touch, and turned an otherwise bland match into something fun by the end. He even looked the part. Tucked in shirt, earpiece in, all of it. Hire him as a full time ref. I'm not sure if anyone's really connected with the overarching story that's going on here but they sure are trying. **3/4

AJ Styles vs LA Knight- I have a feeling this is the kind of match that will be better on subsequent viewings, without the weight of everything that's coming after stifling it a bit. That said, they did a much better job in this spot than the Uso boys the night before. They'd done a lot of work to put together almost an old school blood feud, and the match was very physical reflecting that. Knight rightly gets a big win in his first WM, while Styles, in my opinion neck and neck with Bryan Danielson as the best wrestler of his generation, continues his late career wind down while still being able to go. ***1/2

US Title Triple Threat: Logan Paul vs Randy Orton vs Kevin Owens- As I've mentioned before, I had no idea who Logan Paul was before he came to WWE because online streamers are not something I pay attention to. I still watch Angry Video Game Nerd, that's about the closest I get. Since getting to know him through WWE, I've come to regard him as a total douche that I can't stand, but as much as I hate it there's no doubt he's a natural in the ring. What might be even more impressive about this match is he didn't have to rely on one of his huge high spots to make it work, just pure heel psychology. Being in there with KO and Orton certainly helped too. KO is still a main event level wrestler that strangely almost never gets main event spots (and still one of my personal favorites), and while I've never been an Orton fan there's no denying the clear blast he's been having since coming back. Paul's run continuing is probably the right call al things considered. ***3/4

Women's Title: Io Shairi Iyo Sky vs Bayley- I almost expected Bayley's old music to hit during her entrance, or the resurrection of the Bayley Buddies. This was the best women's match of the weekend. Great performance, hard hitting for the women, amazing storytelling. Joshi legend Shairi/Sky should get a ton of credit for a long run no one expected her to have and hopefully it's not the last one. I'd been worried for a long while that Bayley's injuries had finally caught up to her in the ring, but when it mattered she delivered here. I have a feeling that Damage CTRL is not done with her yet. ****1/2

WWE Championship BLOODLINE RULES: Roman Reigns vs Cody Rhodes- With apologies to everyone else, in pure old school wrestling style this is what the entire weekend was about. Cody's win is an instant immortal WM moment. The one on one portion of the match went on longer than I expected to, and it was phenomenal on its own. These two guys work fantastically together. But, we all knew after last night the run-ins were coming, and boy did they not disappoint. I kind of wish that most weren't done modern style with the music hitting, but the music is what gets the pops. Rollins was the quiet MVP here, coming in with the old Shield gear on. Yes, Reigns destroyed him as soon as he hit the ring, but the psychological impact of seeing Rollins in that mode again threw him off his game just enough to give Cody the opening he needed. Rollins kept his promise. Having Rock, Cena and even the Undertaker (instead of the expected Steve Austin) involved made this the most epic interpretation of the classic Attitude Era style overbooking. I hope it doesn't become a regular thing, but as a one off it was spectacular and a fitting end to one of the biggest stories in WWE history. And hey, Reigns wanted Bloodline Rules. ****3/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- I'm a cynical old man so I have a real hard time putting anything new on the top of any lists. Right now I'm not sure if WM 40 *quite* gets into the group of my absolute all time favorite WMs with 17, 19 and 20. At worst it's definitely made the next group down of my "also favorites" along with 3, 7, 8, 18, 28 and 30. The Triple H era is here, and I'm so excited to see what the future holds. I'm a Paul Levesque Guy. A

Road Wild '97

Legacy Review

Road Wild '97

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

 

Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Dusty Rhodes

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D+