Fall Brawl '95

Legacy Review

Fall Brawl '95

September 17, 1995 from the Asheville Civic Center in Asheville, NC

Commentary: Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan

Monday Night Nitro has started, kicking the Monday Night Wars off in full. Like a lot of wars, at least historical ones before the advent of "shock and awe" aerial bombardment, there would just be some exploratory skirmishes to start out with, like Lex Luger making a shock return to WCW on the first Nitro. Total warfare wouldn't begin until the start of the NWO in '96. Hell, WWF wouldn't even hardly acknowledge there was a war before late '96 or '97 other than those hilariously awful Billionaire Ted skits. I guess all those coastal defenses just blew themselves up.

During the intros it's mentioned that during the Main Event preshow the Giant destroyed Hulk Hogan's prized Harley motorcycle by running a monster truck through it. Sadly that is a direct setup for what's coming next month.

Johnny B Badd def "Flyin'" Brian Pillman in 29:14- The winner of this match gets a US title shot. This is face vs face, at least in theory. Badd makes Buffer wait forever with his frisbee throwing and Badd Blaster blasting. Note Buffer says this is a 20 minute time limit. Pillman gets a lot of boos on his intro, the crowd is almost all pro-Badd. Code of Honor handshake, but after the inital lockup. Does that still count? I need an ROH rules expert to make a ruling. Polite but fairly intense basic wrestling at the start. After an extended speed run both guys try a dropkick at the same time. Badd goes to arm work. Pillman snap mares out and moves into a headlock. Another speed run and both guys hook for armdrags, twirl and go flying. Pillman runs and trips in Badd's vicinity, not sure what that was supposed to be. Badd rolls him into a magistral cradle but Pillman quickly gets out. Pillman drop toe hold and Euro clutch for 2. Flying headscissors in the corner from Pillman and he gets another leg roll up for 2. Pillman starts laying in the chops. Badd's bleeding on his head from somewhere. It's clearly inadvertent, I'm not sure where it could have happened and commentary doesn't even mention it (Turner corporate orders were WCW was a no blood zone). Badd hiptoss into a chinlock. Pillman tries an armdrag but Badd rolls through it back into the chinlock. Pillman backbreaker for 2. Boston crab. He lets go pretty quickly and starts punching Badd as the heel loose canon starts to come out. Badd tiltawhirl backbreaker for 2. He hooks on a toe hold then rolls into a surfboard. Pillman gets out and shoves. Badd shoves back. The niceties are definitely over. Pillman gets a back elbow in the corner then messes with the crowd, clearly going full heel now. Badd punches back and Pillman rolls to the floor. After he gets back in he offers another handshake. This time Badd knows better and offers a fist instead. Pillman punches and tosses Badd out. He bites Badd on his cut! Badd gets a slingshot legdrop for 2. They hit the ropes again, both guys leapfrog, then they leapfrog at the same time and collide! That's definitely a theme in this match and it's not done yet. Pillman plants Badd with a headbutt but collapses and both guys are down again. Pillman's up first and kicks Badd to the floor. 5 minutes left. Badd suplexes Pillman out to the floor. Pillman does that every match and it never stops looking awesome. Badd plancha! Back in Badd comes off the top. Pillman dropkicks him in midair! 4 minutes left. Badd sit out powerbomb for 2. Pillman tombstone for 2. 3 minutes left. Pillman tries a DDT off the second rope but Badd pushes out. He wraps Pillman's arm up in an obvious stall. 2 minutes left. Pillman slips out of a slam, does a Russian leg sweep and transitions into his own submission hold for a bit more time limit stalling. 1 minute. The ref does arm drops on Badd and they don't get up until there's 30 seconds left. Badd faceplant. Tutti Fruiti Punch! Pillman falls under the ropes to save himself. Pillman springboard clothesline for 2. He gets a backslide as time expires. Ref Nick Patrick quickly calls Buffer over and says this match MUST CONTINUE! It's for a title shot so it's sudden death until there's a winner. Pillman charges out aggressive and bites Badd again. Badd punches Pillman to the floor. Chop exchange. Badd gets whipped into the guardrail. Back in Badd comes off the top with a missile dropkick, but Pillman also tries his dropkick counter again! Another simultaneous move. Pillman hooks on a sleeper. Badd goes down and they do the arm drops again. Badd grabs a rope. Badd sleeper! Pillman back suplexes out. Badd blocks a superplex. Sunset flip off the top! Pillman kicks out! Badd tries another powerbomb but Pillman counters with a hurricanrana for 2. Pillman goes for a crucifix but Badd drops him for 2. Badd sets Pillman up top. Hurricanrana off the top! Pillman kicks out again! Badd sets Pillman up top again. Pillman counters into an avalanche DDT! Badd kicks out! Where the hell is this crowd, these are serious quality near falls and they're all sitting on their hands and staring at their phones or something. Wait, it's 1995. They're imagining staring at their AOL homepages at home. Pillman goes up again. Badd tosses him off all the way to the floor onto the guardrail! Somersault plancha! Badd goes for a slingshot splash back in. Pillman gets his knees up! Cover for 2. Pillman drops Badd on the top rope and he falls to the floor. Pillman TOPE SUICIDA! Man, Badd did Pillman no favors there, he was a mile away. Pillman barely reached him. Pillman tries a springboard apron dropkick but Badd counters and Pillman gets crotched on the top rope. Another crazy speed run. I mean they're going full tilt. SIMULTANEOUS CROSSBODY COLLISION! Badd ends up on top and gets the pin! Great finish, great match. Other than Flair/Savage at Great American Bash this is by far and away the best match WCW has put on in this dreary year so far. The time limit draw and restart was a bit silly and unnecessary but the match after that was so great it's easy to forget about. ****

Ric Flair gives a great promo about his history and relationship with Arn Anderson ahead of their match against each other tonight, including some Four Horsemen references. Good stuff, but I spent almost the whole thing trying to figure out what the hell that big green stain is on Okerlund's cuff.

 

Sgt. Craig Pittman def Cobra in 1:22- Cobra (sadly not dressed like GI Joe bad guy Cobra) is Jeff Farmer, soon to be NWO Sting. There's this huge elaborate backstory about how Cobra and Pittman knew each other in 'Nam and one of them went AWOL or something but frankly it's not worth getting into. Zero crowd reaction for the supposed face Cobra. Pittman no shows his entrance and instead a generic unnamed solider (crazily enough the future next Alex Wright-like rookie push bomb, Prince Iaukea) comes out to argue with/distract Cobra. Distract because Pittman rappels down from the ceiling behind him. It's special forces warfare! Pittman chokes Cobra from behind and after a little back and forth submits him with the Code Red armbreaker. Total crap, but they kept it short so I'll go easy on it. NR

Next up we get a video of Paul Orndorff backstage doubting himself after a recent string of losses, thinking he's not Mr. Wonderful anymore. Until help arrives in the form of....."Gary Spivey?! From the Psychic Companion's Network?". Yes, that's the actual line from Orndorff. You can hear the collective shouts of "WHO?" from 1995 still echoing across spacetime today. This Spivey guy, no relation to Dan Spivey that I know of, was an actual "celebrity" (I use the term very loosely) psychic. His wig has to be seen to be believed. It looks like it's chiseled out of styrofoam. Anyway, Spivey goes all Stuart Smalley on Orndorff, convincing him he's good enough and doggone it people like him. Orndorff starts kissing his own arms so I guess that means he's OK now. This angle was so bad that Orndorff decided retirement was preferable by the end of the year.

 

WCW World Television Championship: Diamond Dallas Page (w/the Diamond Doll and Maxx Muscle) def The Renegade (c) (w/Jimmy Hart) in 8:07- DDP's got a very early Savage/Elizabeth relationship going on with the Doll and that's finally given him some traction with crowds and on TV. Case in point: DDP gets in the wrong ring then blames Doll for it. DDP jumps Renegade before the bell. Bret bump from Renegade and DDP turns the rebound into a Russian leg sweep. Renegade shouts and DDP stumbles out of the ring, walks into the ring post and stumbles over the guardrail into the first row. What, is Renegade the Dragonborn or something? DDP begs off back in and tights pulls Renegade into the corner. Renegade drags DDP around in a headlock. Clothesline for 2. DDP dodges a crossbody...ish. He snaps Renegade over the top rope. Swinging neckbreaker and he tosses Renegade out. Renegade sunset flip back in. DDP counters for 2. Renegade counters the counter for 2. DDP clothesline for 2. Running corner shoulderblock. Renegade dodges another. Backdrop counter and clothesline from Renegade. DDP is selling like a crazy man. Renegade handspring elbow with a great DDP flop out of the corner. Double ax handle off the top for 2. DDP jawbreaker. Renegade goes for a hiptoss. DDP counters in midair into a DDT! That was good. He cinches up for the Diamond Cutter. Renegade pushes out, DDP bounces off the corner and Renegade rolls him up for 2. Muscle gets on the apron. DDP gets whipped into him and Renegade hits a powerslam. Renegade goes up top....and dives on Muscle on the floor! Emotion over strategy. As Renegade gets back in Muscle holds his leg down. Diamond Cutter! DDP gets the pin and his first WCW title! On top of that our long nightmare of Renegade as TV champ is over. WCW thankfully decided to pull the plug on the experiment after this. Renegade would hang around a couple of more years but only as a lowcarder and jobber. But for DDP, the sky was the limit. The Doll is not happy with the title win however. It's only 1995 but DDP is already a freaking miracle worker, dragging Renegade to a decent match. **1/4

 

WCW World Tag Team Championship: Harlem Heat (w/Sister Sherri) def Bunkhouse Buck and "Dirty" Dick Slater (c) (w/Col. Robert Parker) in 16:49- The romantic subplot of Parker and Sherri being into each other continues. Booker drops what sounds like an f bomb coming down the aisle. A shot from hard camera catches one of the ringside cameramen coaching fans to boo on camera. Booker and Slater start with Booker getting the quick edge. Slater gets a drop toe hold into a sort of crossface before getting worked over in the face corner. Ray chinlocks early. Booker hits a heel kick. They go speed and Booker hits a hiptoss and kneedrop. Slater tries to chop Ray down, eventually giving him a swinging neckbreaker. Ray responds with a gut headbutt then chokes Slater with his own bandana. Well if he wears it in the ring voluntarily.... Parker is caught on camera all in a flutter about Sherri. Booker gets tossed onto the steps. Buck runs over and clotheslines him with his rope. Booker goes Heat in peril. Heel corner beatdown and choke. Slater Russian leg sweep for 2. Piledriver. Booker gets tossed out again and run into the guardrail. Medium boot back in from Buck. It was too short for a big boot. Buck dodges and Booker crashes hard in the corner. Slater back suplex for 2. Some more Booker FIP beatdown follows. Buck and Booker muff a counter sequence a bit before Buck slams Booker. Slater hooks on a Boston crab. Ray breaks it up. The heels swap without a tag and Buck puts on a single leg crab. Buck goes for a backdrop but Booker counters with a scissors kick. Tag! Ray cleans house. Powerslam. DONNYBROOK! While the fight goes on in one ring Parker and Sherri can't contain themselves anymore and get in the other ring to have a "match" of their own. Sherri crawls toward Parker and they make out. Hard. If it wasn't Turner PG clothes would be coming off. The Nasty Boys run in, whack Slater with a boot, and Ray covers for the pin and gets the titles back for Heat while the intergender Greco Roman lip lock continues in the other ring. Why would the Nastys interfere on Heat's behalf? Could be something from weekly TV I don't remember. Could just be WCW. Buck is pissed at Parker while Heat aren't sure what Sherri is doing either. Sherri argues they got the belts back so everything's good. Not as bad as their borefest of a match at the last Clash but still nothing close to good. They did try to work the most classic of tag team formula. 3/4*

Mean Gene stops the heels as they walk back. Buck and Slater are still pissed at Parker. Parker says he's serious about Sherri, and he's the boss anyway so shut up. He also promises to get them a rematch.

Next up is a video package going through Flair and Arn's recent issues. One of the key parts of this is Flair has clearly not been himself mentally since Hogan came in. For both guys this is not anything like a blood feud or grudge match, it's an unfortunate piece of family business that must be done.

 

Arn Anderson def "Nature Boy" Ric Flair in 22:37- It's a perfect stroke to have this match in North Carolina, the former home of Jim Crockett Promotions where Flair, Arn and the Four Horsemen became stars in the mid '80s. It'd be even better to have it in Greensboro or Charlotte, JCP's top two cities, but that's a very minor quibble. Flair looks conflicted as he makes his way to the ring. A bunch of wrestlers have joined the crowd in the first couple of rows, adding more atmosphere to the match. This truly is a match we thought we'd never see. Flair gives Arn a little Slick Ric and strut before locking up. Speed run, Flair shoulderblock, Arn gets a drop toe hold and rides Flair a bit. Long staredown. Arn gets his own shoulderblock. Both guys shove. Flair rolls out for a think. Arm wringer tradeoff back in with Arn getting the edge. Flair gets out and yells. Arn slaps him! Flair, of course, bumps off it. Flair gives Arn one of the most intense "WOOOOO"s ever. Hammerlock exchange. Flair gets a drop toe hold. Arn counters into a hammerlock. Flair gets a leg takedown but Arn cranks the arm again. He goes into an armbreaker. Flair does a really sweet multiple roll flip to get out and puts on a headlock. Arn headscissors counter. Flair chop! He kicks Arn's knee as things get ratcheted up a notch from clean mat wrestling to striking. More chops. Back elbow in the corner from Arn. Arn sleeper! Flair backs him into the corner. Arn climbs the second rope and comes off with a knee to Flair's back. Hammerlock slam. Flair tries to beg off but Arn grabs the arm again. Pure vintage Anderson strategy, choose a body part (usually an arm), stay on it and pick it apart. Leverage pin attempt from Arn. Flair wobbles him with more chops. Arn hair pulls Flair back down, then posts his arm. ARMBAR. Flair backs into the corner and hits more chops. Arn starts throwing punches. Flair Flip! Arn charges while Flair's on the apron, but Flair pulls the top rope down and Arn goes to the floor! Brilliant subversion of the usual moves there. Flair double ax handle off the top to the floor! He's Randy Savage all of a sudden. Arn gets snapped over the top rope. Flair chop and kneedrop. He tries a rope leverage pin. Arn pummels him with left hands. Backdrop. The ref has enough of the closed fists and blocks an Arn punch. Flair takes advantage with a hard cheap shot to Arn's gut. Arn gets tossed out again. Arn backdrops Flair on the floor! He follows up with some ground and pound. Flair blocks and suplexes Arn on the floor! Delayed suplex from Flair back in the ring. Both guys are down. Flair rolls over for a 2 count. More Flair chops. Arn sunset flip. Flair tries to punch out but Arn dodges. Flair Flip 2! Flair gets caught in the tree of woe! Arn stomps and chokes him. He calls for the DDT. Flair grabs the top rope to block it. Flair Flop! Flair gets slammed off the top rope. Arn tries coming off the second rope again but Flair clotheslines him. Figure four! Arn tried to block it by grabbing Flair's leg but Flair gets it applied. After a couple of near falls Arn sits up. Flair spits on him! Arn reverses and Flair lets go. Chop block from Flair as both guys are limping. Another figu....no, Arn small package for 2! Another knee shot. Flair pummels Arn with punches in the corner. Arn's knee goes again on a whip attempt. Brian Pillman gets up on the apron. He punches Flair! Flair punches back! Pillman kicks Flair! Arn DDT! That gets the pin! That was a beautiful piece of business. Intense, emotional, perfectly worked by both guys. You'd prefer a clean finish of course, but Pillman's interference would be explained in the coming weeks and it turns out it all works when you get through the whole story. Flair must have booked all this out on his own without Sullivan. ****1/4

From that to this. After a typically weird as shit Kevin "Taskmaster" Sullivan video we get a replay of the Giant committing motorcyclecide on Hogan's Harley with his monster truck. Then ANOTHER video setting up the match. Of all the War Games deserving a double video package, this one sure isn't it.

 

War Games: WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan, WCW United States Heavyweight Champion Sting, "Macho Man" Randy Savage and "The Total Package" Lex Luger (w/Jimmy Hart) def The Dungeon of Doom (w/The Taskmaster) in 18:47- Luger was a last second replacement for Vader after Vader left the company and Luger returned at the same time. Luger also takes over Vader's assigned role of possible Dungeon mole within Hogan's team. Luger already made Hogan promise him a title shot the night he came back. Hogan's team are all decked out in camo pants and paint. Huh, I think I have an idea where that green stain on Okerlund's cuff came from. An added stipulation is if Hogan's team wins, Hogan gets Taskmaster inside the cage.

P1. Sting and Shark- Shark is the latest gimmick for the former Earthquake. You know, he's into natural disaster gimmicks. Wonder what would happen if you combined a shark with a tornado? Nah, that's too out there even for wrestling. Shark gets in control at the start because he's large. Shark swims steps over Sting and bites his arm. Sting dodges an avalanche. Dive across rings by Sting! He slams Shark, then tries for another slam and gets squashed. Shark bear hug. That'll kill some time. Sting bell rings out. Shark tries to dive between rings but gets caught straddled over the top rope. Beached whale! Sting kicks him while he's hung up. Another Sting dive. Shark catches him this time. Shark gets up top again and gets crotched. Sting hits some hammy kicks. He manages to put the Scorpion Death Lock on as the period expires.

P2. Zodiac- OK, so Zodiac is announced as "the man that walks between the darkness and the light". Well, yeah. Don't we all? Anyway, with that deep thought, Zodiac breaks the Scorpion up. Sting grabs the top of the cage (which is even lower than usual because of all the pyro that's been set up on it) and kicks Zodiac. He goes for another Scorpion but Shark breaks it up. Elbow drops from the heels. Double clothesline. Sting's run into the cage.

P3. Savage- He runs in and, as expected, goes nuts. The Dungeon guys are too much and he gets pounded down. The heels outside pull Sting's arm under a huge gap that's between the bottom of the cage and the ring. Man, they phoned in the setup on this one. Shark powerslam on Sting. Now Savage's leg gets pulled through the gap. Someone in the back must have said something because they stop doing that after this.

P4. Kamala- He pounds away on Sting as the Dungeon stay in control.

P5. Luger- Double clothesline on Kamala and Shark. Zodiac is run into the cage. Savage manages to get a double ax handle off the top rope despite the ceiling being almost as low as in some of those ballrooms Ring of Honor used to run back in the early aughts. Zodiac ducks and Luger clotheslines Savage! Uh oh. Savage attacks Luger! Sting tries to make peace.

P6. Meng- He easily picks apart the infighting face team. The Dungeon stays in control as the camera stays on a shot of Luger being choked in the corner for a very long time.

P7. Hogan- The Match Beyond begins. So does any drama that the Dungeon might actually win. Hogan comes in with a pocketful of powder and it's all got the Dungeon's name on it. After that every heel takes his turn getting bounced off the cage. More powder gets thrown. After a few more minutes of painfully dull brawling Hogan hooks Zodiac in a mostly camel clutch and Zodiac gives it up. It's definitely one of the worst War Games, but it's the Dungeon of Doom, what can you do? *1/2

As per the stipulation Hogan now gets Taskmaster in the cage. Taskmaster tries to run but security ace Doug Dellinger and Sting get him in the cage. Hogan tosses him around. Taskmaster tries to escape, Hogan drags him back in. Big boot. The Giant makes his way out. He gently tosses the door ref aside (with a hilariously great look of terror on the ref's face), then swings himself over the top rope using the top of the cage. He could move in his younger days, I'll give him that. Giant chokes Hogan from behind. Hogan tries to punch back but of course they have no effect. Giant snaps Hogan's neck and leaves him lying in the ring as Buffer calls for medics.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- There's a lot of the usual '95 shit, but if you sort through the shit enough there's a couple of nice solid gold nuggets in there. As usual, a crap main event hurts the final rating though. Main events matter. WCW wouldn't get better overnight but the early days of Nitro do give them some focus that they had been lacking up to this point.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C+

Summerslam '97

Legacy Review

Summerslam '97

August 3, 1997 from the Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford, NJ

Commentary: Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

The tagline for this show is "Hart & Soul", referencing the Bret/Taker main event. The show opens up immediately with the National Anthem, before another good opening video on the recent career paths of the players in the main event. Pyro! Lots of it. The cage is already set up for the opening match.

Steel Cage Match: Mankind def Hunter Hearst Helmsley (w/Chyna) in 16:25- The likely reason this is opening is so they don't have to take the time to set the cage up later. They're still using the old blue bar cage which is much heavier than a chain link one and can't be lowered from above. Traditional escape only WWF cage match rules here as they try to put an end to this feud, at least for now. Mankind kisses the cage before getting in. HHH dives right for the door at the bell. Mankind stops him. Now HHH tries to climb. Mankind stops that too. Corner beatdown from Mankind. Running knee. Bang bang! Piledriver. The Mandible Claw is already on! Chyna reaches in and chokes Mankind with her belt to break it up. HHH catches a leg, spins Mankind, but eats a Mankind clothesline. Mankind climbs. Chyna also climbs up and stops him. HHH joins him up top. He superplexes Mankind off the top of the cage! HHH goes for the door, thinks, stops and goes back in to dish out more punishment. He could have easily won there. Bold strategy, Cotton. He runs Mankind into the cage on almost every side. Kneedrops and more cage shots. Foley, no surprise, is going into the cage full speed and just about head first. HHH climbs. Mankind grabs a leg to stop him going completely over and drags him back in. Mankind beatdown. Chyna gets a forearm shot in through the cage. HHH inverted atomic drop. Mankind inverted atomic drop and clothesline. HHH facebuster. Mankind lifts HHH in a suplex and HHH's legs get caught on the top of the cage, putting him in a cage tree of woe. Mankind running elbow. Now HHH gets run into the cage. HHH backdrops Mankind into the cage! Double climb and slugfest on the top rope. Both guys take cage shots and fall, with HHH getting crotched on the top rope. Mankind crawls for the door. Chyna slams it in his face, then runs the ref into the door! She gets a chair, climbs and tosses it into the ring. In fact she accidentally tosses it right onto Trips. HHH sets up for a Pedigree onto the chair. Mankind counters and slingshots HHH, who goes into the cage and knocks Chyna down! Double underhook DDT onto the chair! Mankind climbs. Chyna gets in the cage, starts to drag HHH to the door, then realizes she's too early and gets out again. Whoops. Mankind goes all the way to the bottom of the cage....but instead of dropping to the floor to win he stops and thinks, pulls his mask off, and climbs back up! He sits on top of the cage and rips his top off, showing Cactus Jack gear underneath. Cactus Elbow off the top of the cage! He climbs again. Now Chyna is in at the right time and drags HHH to the door, but she's not quick enough as Mankind is down to the floor and wins! As he's lying on the floor Dude Love's music starts playing. Foley taps his foot while lying down, then gets up and dances to it. Solid enough but far from their best match even to this point. It had way too much Chyna, which could have been because of all the "the cage is there to keep Chyna out" talk. The crowd was super into it too. They've fully embraced all aspects of Mick Foley. **3/4

Todd Pettingill is on the old school interview stage with New Jersey governor Christie Todd Whitman. New Jersey had just repealed a tax on sports and/or entertainment attractions and this is WWF's first PPV in the state in 8 years because of it. I'm sure the McMahons were political contributors too. WWF President Gorilla Monsoon presents Whitman with an honorary title belt in what would be one of his final public appearances. After that we see Tiger Jeet Singh is in the crowd with his son Tiger Ali Singh, who would soon be debuting for WWF to soak up as many DUD ratings as a human could possibly receive.

 

Goldust (w/Marlena) def Brian Pillman in 7:15- If Pillman loses this match he has to wear a dress on Raw the following night. Said dress is on display on a mannequin ringside. Pillman was in very bad shape at this point. Injuries had taken their toll on him to the point he was a shell of the wrestler he used to be, and his personal demons were also a major issue that would catch up to him very soon. Pillman jumps Goldust before the bell. He bites Goldust in the corner and chops him. Goldust counters with a springboard back elbow. Mounted punches and Goldust blocks an inverted atomic drop. He gives Pillman a vary rarely seen Greco Roman lip lock. Pillman has to roll to the floor to get over the shock. He uses a test of strength tease to get one up on Goldust, then rolls out and chases Marlena, running into a Goldust clothesline. Goldust rolls with the Dusty jabs in the ring. Pillman counters a backdrop. Suplex. He goes up top. Goldust tosses him. I think Pillman was supposed to land crotch first on the top rope but instead he falls down to the floor. Marlena blows some smoke in his face after I'm pretty sure checking to see if he was OK. Pillman uses Marlena as a shield and DDTs Goldust on the floor. Clothesline off the top for 2. Snap mare/chinlock. Goldust fights out and gets a backslide for 2. Pillman clothesline for 2. Goldust flying clothesline. Open hand slaps are followed by a bit of flip flop and fly. Bulld...no, Pillman counters and Goldust slides all the way to the floor. Goldust does a horrible sunset flip coming back in, almost landing on his head. Pillman struggles mightily to get in position near the ropes, takes a purse shot from Marlena when he finally does, and Goldust gets the pin. Ugly ugly ugly finish. Pillman naturally loses it after, pulling the mannequin apart and trying to rip the dress up. 1/2*

 

The Legion of Doom def The Godwinns in 9:51- Wait, the Godwinns are still on the roster? Phineas suffered a broken neck after landing on his head while taking a Doomsday Device from LOD on Raw earlier in the year, and when he came back the Godwinns turned heel to start their morph into Southern Justice. 2v2 standoff at the start. LOD swings first. Clotheslines send the Godwinns to the floor. Hawk clothesline off the apron while Animal hits a tackle in the ring. Reset with Animal flipping out of an attempted double suplex and hitting a double clothesline. Hawk continues the attack on the floor. Re-reset with Hawk and Henry. Henry snaps Hawk's throat over the top rope. Hawk dodges an apron legdrop and tosses Henry into the steps. Snap mare and legdrops from Hawk. Henry gets some shots in and Hawk in in the wrong part of town. Phineas hangs Hawk up by his neck. Hawk escapes and both sides tag. Animal cranks Henry's arm. Phineas kicks Animal from behind on the apron. Cactus Clothesline from Henry! Animal gets knocked off the apron into the guardrail. Bear hug from Phineas. They do the arm drops and Animal bell rings out but is still cut off from tagging. Phineas tries coming off the second rope. He misses but lands on his feet, then Animal clotheslines him. Tag. Hawk powerslam. He fights off both Godwinns. Corner clothesline. Neckbreaker. DONNYBROOK! The Doomsday Device is broken up, so the LOD hit a spike piledriver and that gets the pin. *1/2

Next up is some more live TV contest hijinks. Pettingill is out with Sunny and Sable (who manage not to murder each other on camera, they did not get along backstage at all). Sunny's outfit is.....hoo boy. She's one of the world's biggest train wrecks now but back then that was a train you'd be OK with riding even if you ended up in the hospital after. Pettingill tries to make live phone calls with the usual issues. One number no one picks up (YOU LOST YOUR CHANCE AT A MILLION DOLLARS!). Another number is disconnected and probably dialed wrong. They finally get someone on the phone and he's not watching Summerslam. Eventually they get through it all with no one winning. I don't think this helped the buyrate any.

WWF European Championship: "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith def Ken Shamrock by DQ in 7:29- The European title, first awarded back in February and still in the hands of the inaugural champion Bulldog, is finally being defended on PPV for the first time. Bulldog threw some dog food on Shamrock during the build so there's an extra stip that if Bulldog loses he has to eat the dog food. The can of said dog food is sitting on the commentary table so there's no way at all that's going to get involved during the match. Jump slugfest right at the bell. Shamrock belly to belly suplex. After a horrible looking whip Shamrock gets a leg takedown for the ankle lock and Bulldog quickly grabs a rope. Shamrock clothesline for 2. Corner body shots. Kneelift. Bulldog gets a boot up in the corner and hits a clothesline. Delayed suplex. Shamrock gets a sunset flip for 2. Another Bulldog clothesline and chinlock. Shamrock starts fighting back so Bulldog low blows him in the corner in full view of the ref. He hits forearms and gets a small package for 2. Shamrock's shoulder gets posted and he falls to the floor. Bulldog whips him into the steps. Another Shamrock flurry is cut off with a low blow. At least the ref didn't see this one. Bulldog is supposed to DDT Shamrock on the floor but they muff it horribly and both end up just kind of flopping down to the floor. Back in with yet another Bulldog chinlock and we can see Shamrock is bleeding from the mouth. Back outside and Shamrock is slammed on the floor. Bulldog grabs a handful of dog food and throws it on Shamrock. Bad move. Shamrock absolutely loses his shit on Bulldog. He grabs the can and whacks Bulldog in the head with it, which is apparently one step too far for the ref and he calls for the bell, DQing Shamrock. Shamrock doesn't give a damn and continues the assault. He puts a sleeper/rear naked choke on Bulldog and won't let go. Every ref in the building is in the ring trying to talk him off. Talk mind you, no one is physically doing anything about it. More officials come in. Finally Shamrock lets it go to a mixed crowd reaction. He doesn't like the officials admonishing him so Tony Garea, Gerald Briscoe and a couple of refs all take belly to belly suplexes. The crowd liked that a lot more and chant "Shamrock". The match showed again that Shamrock was talented but extremely raw, while Bulldog was in "hit a couple of moves and rest" mode. *

 

Los Boricuas def The Disciples of Apocalypse in 9:07- Vince Russo's beloved gang warfare is well and truly underway. Both these groups were born out of the breakup of the original Nation of Domination. Savio Vega founded and leads Boricuas with a few other Puerto Rican wrestlers whose main claim to fame are being a member of Los Boricuas (Jesus, Jose Estrada Jr and Miguel Perez Jr). Crush is the leader of DOA, along with Skull, 8-Ball (the former and now shaved Blu Brothers) and Chainz (Brian "Fake Undertaker" Lee). The Nation is also still a going concern, now consisting of Faarooq, Ahmed Johnson, D'Lo Brown and Kama Mustafa. So basically we've got the black gang, the Hispanic gang, and the white biker gang. Going through all of this is way more interesting than the actual matches to me. I never really cared for any of this stuff. The height of Russo's faction wars was the Kaientai/Oddities match at the following year's Summerslam that was a wonderful comedy match. But I'm getting way off track. The DOA all come in on motorcycles. They charge in and quickly clear the ring. The DOA control for a bit. LB control for a bit. During LB's segment the Nation come in through the crowd and park it ringside. Johnson's neck choker is something else. After a long face in peril run one of the Blu boys (still can't tell them apart) gets a hot tag and quickly everyone's in the pool. Chainz gets thrown out and hits Johnson so Johnson Pearl River Plunges him on the floor. He gets thrown back in and pinned. To no one's surprise the huge brawl continues after the bell. Crush finally breaks it up by riding his motorcycle through everyone. 1/4*

 

Before getting into the next match I want to take a moment and go through where the tag titles are going into this show. When last we left them on PPV Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin were wrestling each other as tag champs at King of the Ring soon after ending the long reign of Owen Hart and the Bulldog. However, they were stripped of the titles in July after a backstage attack by Shawn on Bret Hart. A match was set up that night for the vacant titles between Owen and Bulldog, who had won a #1 contender's tournament, going against Austin and a partner of his choosing since, for once, Austin wasn't involved in the attack. Of all people Austin chose the red hot new crowd favorite Dude Love, Mick Foley's new alternate persona to Mankind. Austin and Love won the match for the titles and still hold them as of this show.

A bit of history during the intros for the next match as very young, very thin and very goateed Michael Cole makes his WWF PPV debut taking his life in his hands by trying to talk to Austin as he's walking to Gorilla. Austin's response? "You're fixing to kiss my ass, son. You and your stupid bow tie".

 

WWF Intercontinental Championship: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin def The Slammy Award Winning Owen Hart (c) in 16:16- Owen's been making a huge deal out of pinning Austin in the epic 10 man tag match at Canadian Stampede, so Austin has promised that if he loses his match he will kiss Owen's bare ass. Austin's pops continue to get bigger and bigger. He flips a double bird to Owen as he hits the corners on his entrance. Owen comes from behind and clips Austin's knee before the bell! He posts Austin's knee. Austin punches back. Thesz Press! Owen does a Bret bump in the corner. Austin goes into beatdown mode before transitioning into working Owen's arm for a bit. Owen tries to flip out so Austin gives him an eye poke and goes back on the arm. They do a series of hammerlock reversals and Austin slams Owen. Owen gets a back elbow and Austin goes to the floor. He pulls Owen down in the corner but Owen pulls with his legs to send Austin into the post. He smashes Austin's hand on the steps and starts to pick apart that most dangerous of all Steve Austin weapons- his middle finger. Owen bites Austin's middle finger! He ties Austin up in the ropes. Austin gets free and gives a charging Owen a stun gun! Love the "Stun gun! Stun gun!" call from JR, a definite WCW callback. Owen leaps for a hurricanrana but Austin catches and powerbombs him. Owen is clotheslined 360 to the floor, decides he's had enough and takes a walk. Austin chases, clotheslines him from behind and drags him back. Owen begs off. Austin offers a sarcastic handshake then stomps away. Owen gets his snap belly to belly suplex. Swinging neckbreaker. Legdrop for 2. Elbow off the top for 2. Owen cranks Austin in a neck vice while JR, with unintentional foreshadowing, goes into Austin's history of neck trouble. Austin eye rakes out. Clothesline out of the corner. Austin tries to put on a Sharpshooter but Owen fights it off. Legdrop to the back of the neck from Owen. Springboard crossbody. Austin rolls through it and covers for 2. Owen German suplex for 2. Camel clutch. Austin gets out and they hit the ropes again. Owen counters a backdrop with a DDT for 2. Austin sleeper. Owen sleeper. Austin jawbreakers out. Austin tries coming off the second rope but Owen catches him. Russian leg sweep. Owen puts on a chinlock and moves close to the ropes for extra leverage until Hebner catches him. Austin tries a tiltawhirl. Owen rolls through it to counter, positions Austin for a reverse piledriver, and drops him. Right on his head. For real. Austin is out completely, then comes to and can't move. Owen walks around and messes with the crowd to play for time but you can clearly see he's in shock. You can tell something's wrong for real. After a couple of minutes Austin is finally able to struggle to his knees, where he gets Owen in the worst roll up ever with Owen doing almost all the work, and gets the pin because he was supposed to win the match. He drops again right after and still can't get up. Finally the refs help him to his feet and help him to the back. This is the infamous piledriver incident that broke Austin's neck, forcing him out of action for a while. On the bad side Austin was on a ridiculous hot streak, having phenomenal matches with everyone and this killed that for a while. After coming back he'd have to change his style to almost nothing but straight brawling but, being Austin, he still made it work. On the plus side he stayed on TV while recuperating and the neck injury didn't keep him from talking, so his popularity continued to skyrocket based on that alone. This also led to the traditional piledriver being banned in WWF/E, and it still is to this day. Before the injury the match was superb and likely would have hit the upper echelon if not for that. ***1/2

Commentary vamps for a bit because the last match was supposed to go longer than it did. Bret also kills some time after coming out by asking the Canadian national anthem be played.

 

WWF Championship: Bret "Hitman" Hart def The Undertaker (c) in 28:09- Shawn Michaels is the special guest referee for this match, making it pretty obvious shenanigans are going to go down. Shawn gets his full entrance between Bret and Taker's, and JR quips "All the other referees are going to want pyro now!". In this night of stipulations we have one more: Bret promised that if he failed to win the WWF Title he'd never wrestle in the US again. WWF officials forced him to keep that promise by putting it in the match's contract. Bret grabs the belt from Shawn and whacks Taker with it before the bell. Taker no sells punches, tosses Bret in the corner and lays in quick fire body shots. Clothesline and Bret rolls out to kill the momentum. Taker chases and runs Bret into the guardrail and post. Bret whips Taker into the steps. Taker catches Bret coming off the apron and runs his back into the post. Shawn admonishes him so he does it again. Back in Taker focuses on Bret's back. Backbreaker and bear hug. Bret bites out but runs into a Taker big boot. Bret ducks another big boot and kicks Taker's leg out of his leg. Bret spends the next portion of the match picking Taker's knee apart. Figure four! Paul Bearer makes his way out so commentary can remind us that Kane is coming. If he really is still alive that is. The jury was still out at this point. Taker sees Bearer as he's reversing the figure four. Bret grabs a rope to break. Taker slams Bret's knee....then goes out after Bearer! As Taker's beating Bearer down Bret clips him again from behind. Bearer gets escorted out by refs. Post wraparound figure four from Bret. Shawn counts for the break and he and Bret argue after. Bret gets back on Taker's knee. Now Owen and Pillman come out to ringside. Bret posts Taker's knee again. More Bret and Shawn arguing and more knee work. Taker drops his good leg across Bret's jaw on the mat, gets up, flips over the top rope and goes after Owen and Pillman! Shawn throws the two of them out. Bret runs into a goozle! Choke slam! Taker covers but Shawn's still watching Owen and Pillman being escorted out. Taker grabs Shawn and pulls him up to the apron and they argue. Bret rolls Taker up for 2. Clothesline from Taker and he stalks Shawn again. They go back outside and Bret runs Taker's back into the apron, then the post. New target. Again Bret and Shawn argue with Shawn saying "My patience is wearing thin". Back in Bret works on Taker's back. Backbreaker for 2. Situp. Bret suplex. He gets on the second rope, flips the crowd off, and hits the elbow drop for 2. Another situp. DDT for 2. Taker grabs Bret, lifts and drops him on the top turnbuckle. Headbutt exchange with Bret targeting Taker's back again. Legdrops from Bret. He tries for the Sharpshooter but Taker goozles him. Knee to the gut. Bret gets a boot up in the corner. He runs into another goozle. Slugfest and both guys are down. Taker flying clothesline. Bret bump! Taker big boot/legdrop for 2. Brother. Bret gets on the apron. Taker goozles him and choke slams him off the apron into the ring! Bret kicks out! Taker tries old school but Bret kicks the top rope and Taker falls. It takes them two tries (Taker had a hard time getting his footing right) but eventually Bret superplexes Taker. Sharpshooter! Taker barely moves, but eventually manages to power out so forcefully Bret rolls all the way to the floor! Clothesline from Taker. He calls for the Tombstone. Bret squeaks out. Post wraparound Sharpshooter! Taker powers out again and Bret falls on top of Shawn! Shawn tweaked his knee and is down. Bret gets a chair and whacks Taker in the head with it! He calls Shawn in and covers. Taker kicks out! Shawn sees the chair and confronts Bret with it. Bret clearly says "Fuck you" and spits on Shawn. Shawn's had enough and swings the chair. Bret ducks and Shawn hits Taker in the head! Again! Shawn is furious at himself. Bret covers. Shawn reluctantly gets down, counts three, and immediately rolls out and walks to the back still furious at himself. Taker quickly follows, also furious with Shawn. Bret celebrates in the ring as he's just tied Hulk Hogan's record with his 5th WWF Title win. The crowd throws so much trash in the ring you'd think he was in the NWO. The stands also empty out pretty quickly. The match was well worked and psychologically sound, but also a bit flabby. I'm sure they had to go longer than expected due to the Owen/Austin match ending early. ***1/2

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Solid opener, two good matches at the end, but the middle is a bit rough. Austin's injury tends to overshadow everything else that happened on this show, but it was a major transition show in the main event scene. Taker and Shawn's new feud would take center stage before we hit the final road to Bret vs Shawn at Survivor Series and the Montreal Screwjob.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C

Clash of the Champions XXXI

Legacy Review

Clash of the Champions XXXI

August 6, 1995 from the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, FL

Commentary: Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan

 

No intro at the top of the show, we start right up with intros for the opening match. It's regular TV instead of PPV so gotta cram everything in.

 

WCW United States Heavyweight Champion Sting and Road Warrior Hawk def Meng and Kurasawa (w/Col. Robert Parker) in 7:23- Kurasawa is New Japan star Manabu Nakanishi, who was on his Young Lion excursion at the time. The Kurasawa name is.....eh. Whatever. Nakanishi should have gone the whole hog and tried to direct WCW's infamous B movie like segments (one of which is later in this show) like his namesake. Couldn't do any worse than the usual WCW production crew. With longer hair and a beard he looks a bit like Hirooki Goto. The heels pull the Suzuki-Gun (RIP) jump before the bell. Hawk runs over Kurasawa. Meng gets double teamed and the heels regroup on the outside. Reset with Hawk and Kurasawa. Both guys swing kicks. Hawk gets a double leg takedown and hits the gut headbutt. Sting with an inverted atomic drop. Kurasawa chops back. Suplex from Sting. Kurasawa counters a Hawk backdrop and Hawk gets trapped in the heel corner. Meng/Hawk double clothesline double no sell. Kurasawa suplexes Hawk on the floor. Back in Hawk gets a boot up in the corner and hits a clothesline. Fistdrop for 2. Swinging neckbreaker on Meng. Hawk splash off the top on Kurasawa. Powerbomb. Meng breaks the pin up and it's DONNYBROOK time. Sting and Meng go at it while Hawk looks totally lost. Sting literally shouts at Hawk what to do on a double team like Dolph Ziggler shouting instructions during the 2015 Elimination Chamber disaster. Stinger Splash. Hawk and Kurasawa continue to fumble around on the periphery while Sting and Meng wrestle. Double clothesline on Kurasawa. The faces hit their version of the Doomsday Device and get the pin. Hawk looked like crap, so of course he worked most of the match instead of Sting. After the match Kurasawa snaps Hawk's arm, injuring him. *

 

Diamond Dallas Page (w/The Diamond Doll) def "Das Wunderkind" Alex Wright in 8:14- No high pitched pop for Wright. In fact, he gets almost no reaction at all apart from some scattered boos. This is a fascinating match when looking at where both these guys are in their careers at this point. Wright was the figurative golden boy who was handed a big push on a silver platter that was now slowly starting to fizzle out as he's failed to make any real connection with the crowd and before long he'd be just another guy. On the other side, DDP had been spinning his wheels for literally years and was just now finally starting to get going thanks in large part to the heel heat generated by his constant abuse of the Diamond Doll, which had a lot of echoes of the early Randy Savage/Elizabeth relationship, and it would be nothing but up for him from here as he continued to improve. He was never the smoothest or best pure wrestler, but he was one of the best at match layouts, DDP's matches almost always have cohesive and logical flow. DDP plays around on a corner break. He tosses Wright out of a lockup and plays to the crowd. Wright sneaks up and rolls him up for 2. DDP bitches at the ref and again Wright rolls him up for 2. Wright dropkicks send DDP to the floor. Plancha! DDP bitches at Doll. I guess she was supposed to block it. Back in DDP works the arm a bit. Wright goes full World of Sport to escape and gets a fireman's carry takedown. Corner flip over moonsault from Wright and another dropkick. DDP tights pulls him to the floor. Wright pops up and hits a slingshot splash for 2. Long speed run and Wright crossbody for 2. DDP floors him with a straight right. Gutwrench gutbuster. Swinging neckbreaker for 2. Wright blocks a hiptoss and gets a backslide for 2. European uppercuts and spinning heel kick. Wright high knee for 2. Missile dropkick for a long 2. Wright goes to mounted punches and DDP drops him on the top turnbuckle. Standing switch and Wright gets a German suplex for 2. A flying forearm sends DDP to the floor. Another dive from Wright, but DDP dodges and he splats on the floor! DDP rolls him in and covers for a clean pin. Golden boy no more. Good logical finish, but boooo to no Diamond Cutter. The match was decentish. **

 

WCW World Television Championship: The Renegade (c) (w/Jimmy Hart) def "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff in 3:59- This is a rematch from Bash at the Beach. Is Renegade using Sting's old music now? I don't think so but it kind of sounds like it. He runs to the ring again like you know who that he's clearly ripping off and Orndorff jumps him with his robe still on. Renegade turns it with a clothesline and belly to belly suplex. Orndorff rolls out still in the robe. Renegade gets up on the ropes to pose for the crowd and gets nothing but mild boos. Orndorff, robe still on, sneaks up and back suplexes him off the second rope. Now the robe comes off. Boogie woogie elbow and a slow Orndorff beatdown follows. Tony tries to excuse Renegade's awful selling by saying it's Orndorff's awesome power. Sure. Renegade gets tossed out and tries to hulk up on the floor. Orndorff knees him off the apron a couple of times, then turns around to jaw with the ref. Renegade hits a slingshot crossbody and gets the pin. DUD

 

Harlem Heat and Sister Sherri def WCW World Tag Team Champions Bunkhouse Buck & "Dirty" Dick Slater and Col. Robert Parker in 11:01- Slater and Buck defeated Harlem Heat for the tag titles the week after Bash at the Beach (in a match that had been taped a month before that). There's also a subplot, or possibly main plot as far as commentary is concerned, of Parker being romantically smitten with Sherri. If the Harlem Heat trio win they get a title shot. Parker's wrestling in his suit. This isn't the case of a non-wrestling manager working a match, Parker was older but he was also a near 20 year veteran with a wrestling career that spanned many deep south territories as well as the AWA. Sherri was also one of the best women's wrestlers in the '80s before she went to managing full time. Both Heat guys have to hold Sherri back as she wants at Parker bad. Ray and Slater start with usual dull Ray offense. Buck tags in as Sherri still wants in. Booker dropkicks Buck off the top rope. He holds Buck down for a Sherri punch. Booker elbow drop miss, spinaroonie and flying forearm. Slater wobbles himself trying to headbutt Ray. Hook kick from Ray. Another Sherri shot. Booker gets a heel kick as we go to commercial. More of the match is cut off by an ad for WCW's contest to win a Harley, the winner to be announced on the premiere episode of Monday Night Nitro on September 4. I don't know if that was really the first true mention of Nitro, but Tony acts like it is and goes into super hype promo mode for it. Meanwhile in the match Buck hot shots Booker to send him Heat in peril. They work the FIP stuff a bit and do the ref didn't see the tag spot. Double punch from the heels. Parker tags in for the first time. Booker pops up and beats him down. Heat double suplex. Sherri is tagged in. Crossbody off the top for 2. Elbow drop. Parker dodges a splash off the top. Sherri is out cold on the mat. Parker, ever the southern gentleman, can't bring himself to hit her. Sherri gets up, hits the ropes, gives Parker what should be a Thesz Press but it's a bedroom Thesz Press as she's kissing him on the mat. Parker's shocked and gets pinned. After the bell Sherri continues chasing Parker, ripping his shirt off and trying to kiss him more. Parker can't get away fast enough. You're into a woman, she finally decides to go for it, you find out she's completely nuts and can't get away fast enough. Dude, I've been there. I guess the story they're going with here is Sherri hit her head on the mat, that scrambled her brains and now she's totally into Parker. I'm sure wacky hijinks will ensue. Boring ass match though. 1/2*

I mentioned one of WCW's infamous mini-movies on this show, and here it is, Hulk Hogan walking into the Dungeon of Doom. Important background here- Paul Wight had made some initial tease appearances on earlier shows, but he's now a full fledged DOD member called the Giant and his whole angle to tie him to Hogan is he's Andre the Giant's son. It starts out with the Master shouting some more stuff that no one can understand to the Taskmaster. Hogan walks in, attempts to act, says bring on everybody and he wants the Giant. Giant comes in, rips Hogan's crucifix necklace off in a direct nod to the Andre feud, chokes Hogan down and the entire DOD come in to beat him up. VADER off all people comes in to save Hogan. He distracts Giant, giving Savage, Hart and Sting time to drag Hogan away. Clearly the intent here was face turned Vader was going to put Giant over before he went for Hogan. It wouldn't end up happening that way, which I'll get into after the next match. Its far from the worst DOD segment. Thankfully it wasn't the one where Hogan walks around the Dungeon and says the "anti-Hulkamania" water is burning him with some of the worst acting ever caught on camera.

Commentary continues the Nitro hype, including a tease that an Emmy winning sportscaster will be joining the broadcast crew on that show. Never mind that shit, here comes Mongo. Tony also announces the first Nitro will be live from the Mall of America.

 

Handicap Match: Vader def Arn Anderson and "Nature Boy" Ric Flair in 8:05- Flair "unretired" to team up with Vader in an attempt to take Hogan out once and for all. When Vader failed Flair turned on him. Arn, at this point, is just along for the ride as Flair's best friend. Evan after the Hogan save earlier the crowd's not quite sure if they want to fully embrace Vader yet on his entrance. Vader's got the old school entrance headgear on again like Bash at the Beach. Arn starts with Vader as was the plan. Arn softens him up, Flair comes in to finish him off. Series of lockup stalemates to start. Vader starts laying in the potato shots. Arn retreats to his corner and Flair tries to fire him up. Forearm shots from Arn. Vader hits an inverted atomic drop and clotheslines Arn 360 to the floor. Flair helps him up but still doesn't even try to tag in. More Vader potatoes. Short clothesline. Arn reverses a whip and manages to give Vader the World's Greatest Spinebuster! Now Flair tags in. He gives Vader some boot sole eye rakes. Vader pops up when Flair's back is turned. Press slams. Flair Flip! Vader clotheslines him off the apron. Now the crowd is getting behind Vader. Flair grabs a chair to distract the ref and Arn clips Vader's knee. The heels double team with a little trouble getting their coordination down. Legit trouble, not storyline. Arn plants Vader with the DDT! Flair tags back in. Figure four! Vader grabs a rope. He slams Flair off the top rope. Big splash. Arn breaks the pin up. Vader and Flair have some trouble getting a snap mare off right. Vader splash off the top rope. Again Arn makes the save. Vader double clotheslines both heels. Powerbomb on Arn, and Vader covers for 3. OK but underwhelming match considering the talent that was in there. Give them more time on a PPV and it'd probably be much better. **1/4

Flair, who's been a serious loose canon since coming back earlier in the year, is pissed at Arn. Arn's having none of it. Flair tries to leave but Arn drags him back in and they argue some more. Finally Flair walks away with nothing settled. This was the lead in to Flair and Arn breaking up and feuding. After that Hogan comes out, wants to know exactly where Vader is coming from, and declares war on the Dungeon of Doom. Hmmm, Hogan declares war and the next PPV is Fall Brawl. I think I know where this is going.

This would end up being Vader's last major appearance for WCW, which in retrospect is not much of a shock considering how his feud with Hogan and the political BS it turned into went. Hogan did eventually ask Vader to be on his War Games team but Vader was gone from the company before that show. Vader left with a hell of a legacy, dominating the world title scene for most of '92 and all of '93 and firmly cementing himself as one of the best big men of all time. THE best, in my opinion. He'd take some time off to rest and heal up, returned to New Japan for one match, an absolute classic with Antonio Inoki at the '96 January 4th Tokyo Dome show as part of Inoki's years long retirement tour, and then debuted for WWF at the '96 Royal Rumble.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- As the start of Nitro gets closer the Clashes get less and less important and more like contractual obligation shows for TBS. If you missed it you didn't really miss anything other than Vader's last big WCW match.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D+

In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede

Legacy Review

In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede

July 6, 1997 from the Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta

Commentary: Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

The name of the show has a dual meaning: the Calgary Stampede is one of if not the biggest rodeo in the world (and I live in a small Texas city with one of the largest annual rodeos in the US so I actually have an idea what that's like) and had just concluded right before this show, and it's also a tribute to the old Stampede Wrestling promotion in Calgary that was run by Hart patriarch Stu Hart and that every member of the Hart family got their start in before it was bought out by WWF. This show is a bit of an end of an era as it's the last discount price 2 hour PPV produced by WWF, and the last numbered In Your House. After Summerslam WWF would expand every monthly PPV to 3 hours and the In Your House name would become secondary to the monthly name before being phased out completely the next year.

The opening video is particularly good, documenting the change from straightforward good and evil into much more shades of gray in the WWF world. In keeping with the Calgary Stampede theme the house set has been decked out like a farm/ranch house and everyone has their hats on.

Hunter Hearst Helmsley (w/Chyna) and Mankind double countout in 13:14- The King of the Ring final was only the beginning of a long and heated feud between these two. Jump start as soon as Mankind hits the ring. Early double underhook DDT! That wasn't a finisher yet so instead of covering Mankind mocks HHH's bow. HHH facebuster. Mankind backrops HHH over the top to the floor. Cactus Elbow off the apron! Bang bang! Cover for 2. Trips flip! Mankind sets up on the second rope for a super Cactus Elbow but HHH gets the hell out of town and walks up the ramp. Mankind clothesline from behind. Suplex on the ramp! HHH slowly crawls back to the ring....and gets knocked right off the apron. HHH sunset flip back in. The Mandible Claw is on! Chyna forearms Mankind to free HHH. Mankind goes out to have a word with her. HHH tries to attack from behind but Mankind gets the jump on him. HHH reverses a whip on the floor. Chyna scoops Mankind and slams him leg first on the steps! HHH comes in with a chair to the knee. Back in he clips Mankind's knee and we're going to school, kids, as HHH channels his inner Ric Flair. Figure four! HHH plays the cat and mouse rope leverage game with the ref before getting caught. Pedigree setup. Mankind counters out. HHH counters the counter pushing Mankind back into the corner, but it backfires when Mankind falls right onto his exposed crotch! Corner pound down from Mankind. Running knee. HHH does the tree of woe flip and Mankind drops an elbow on him. Mankind piledriver for a long 2 count. Cactus Clothesline! Mankind gets a chair. Chyna grabs it, HHH takes it and gives Mankind another chair to the knee. Chyna follows up by clotheslining him. HHH goes up top. Mankind backs into the ropes and HHH falls on the turnbuckle. The Claw is on again! Chyna grabs Mankind's legs, drags him down, and crotches him on the post. HHH follows and goes into beatdown mode on the floor. As both guys are going over the guardrail into the crowd the bell rings for a double countout. They don't care and keep on fighting into, much to commentary's amusement, one of the penalty boxes here on the home ice of the Calgary Flames. Damn good match. A definitive finish is always best, but this one works to keep the feud going, especially with how they play with it later in the night. ***3/4

Next up is video highlights of WWF Weekend during the Canadian Stampede, with the hometown hero Harts front and center. After that Austin tries to interrupt the Hart Foundation's promo with some physical violence but gets held back by officials.

 

The Great Sasuke def Taka Michinoku in 10:00- This is announced as part of WWF's new Light Heavyweight division, which they were creating to try to capture the same success WCW had been having with their cruiserweight division. On top of that, with WCW's longstanding relationship with New Japan, Vince is finally going out and getting some Japanese talent. Sasuke was quickly becoming a junior heavyweight legend in Japan, working mostly with Michinoku Pro but he also had an IWGP Junior title reign under his belt in New Japan as well as other junior titles from all over the world, including the original version of the WWF Light Heavyweight title that had been floating around in Japan for years and had just been discontinued to make way for this new division. Meanwhile, Michinoku was Sasuke's protege in Michinoku Pro (Taka got his ring name from the promotion's name as a sign of their faith in him) and was still in the early years of his career. Yes, this is the same Taka Michinoku still wrestling part time today in New Japan as a member of Suzuki-Gun as well as promoting his own shows. Funnily enough, WWF got Sasuke with the intention of him being the big star of the division, but they couldn't get a long term deal worked out so it ended up being the first big springboard in Michinoku's career. And as ever with Vince, he lost interest in the whole thing after a few months anyway. But never mind all that shit, Mankind and HHH are still fighting in the crowd! I guess all the officials were trying to keep Austin away from the Harts. After they get back to the backstage area this match finally gets going. Cautious start with Sasuke swinging some exploratory kicks. After a clean rope break Sasuke gets a takedown and Michinoku blocks an armbreaker. A Sasuke reverse kick connects. Snap mare into a chinlock and headlock. Michinoku escapes into a partial surfboard. Commentary is really playing up Sasuke as a big effing deal. Well, JR and Vince are. Lawler's completely checked out for this match. Sasuke tries to hook on a sleeper. Michinoku fights out, hits the ropes, and runs jaw first into a Sasuke kick! That got the crowd, who'd spent the first part of the match waiting for Mankind and HHH to come back out, into it. Single leg crab from Sasuke and Michinoku gets to the ropes. More kicks from Sasuke. Michinoku grabs one and floors Sasuke with an open hand strike! Snap mare/basement dropkick. Another Michinoku basement dropkick to Sasuke's face to a nice crowd gasp. Sasuke backdrops Michinoku to the floor. Sasuke comes off the top with a flying kick down to the floor but both guys are down and take a while getting back in. Another flurry of stiff kicks from Sasuke back in. Michinoku counters with a dragon screw! Dropkick to Sasuke's knee. Sasuke rolls to the floor. Michinoku runs up, leaps and springboards off the top rope, and hits a crossbody to the floor! That REALLY gets the crowd into it. He tries to suplex Sasuke back in. Sasuke flips out to his feet, grabs a waistlock and tries to German suplex Michinoku, but Michinoku flips over onto his feet! Michinoku hurricanrana for 2. Magistral cradle for 2. He hits the ropes, and Sasuke cuts him off with a handspring elbow! Michinoku rolls to the floor. Sasuke springboard moonsault! Speed run back in. Michinoku belly to belly suplex for 2. Missile dropkick to Sasuke's back. Michinoku Driver! Sasuke kicks out! Michinoku tries coming off the top rope again. Sasuke dropkicks him in midair! Springboard moonsault for 2. Thunder Fire Powerbomb. Tiger suplex from Sasuke, and that gets the pin! A pure 100% Japanese style junior heavyweight match in a WWF ring? Hell freaking yes. Anyone that tries to tell you great wrestling alone can't get a crowd invested is completely full of shit, as this match proves. ****1/4

Mankind and HHH are STILL fighting in the parking lot! Mankind gets thrown through a bunch of conveniently stacked and placed beer kegs. HHH tries to Pedigree Mankind on a stack of wooden pallets but Mankind backdrops out. Officials finally get them separated after that.

 

WWF Championship: The Undertaker (c) def Vader (w/Paul Bearer) in 12:39- Vader is replacing the oft-injured Ahmed Johnson (a major upgrade), who had just turned heel and joined the Nation of Domination as that group started to splinter off into other groups to really set off the gang warfare Vince Russo loved. Since King of the Ring Taker has kicked Paul Bearer to the curb again, causing Bearer to make good on his promise to expose Taker's dark secret: he's a MURDERER who Bearer claims killed his family by setting fire to their funeral home. How does he know? Because, unknown to Taker, his younger brother Kane survived and is STILL ALIVE! Commentary wonders how much Taker's head is in this match with all that swirling in the background. These two had a very underwhelming match at the Royal Rumble (probably because they were both pulling double duty) that Vader won with Bearer's help. Taker jumps out quick at the bell. Clothesline and legdrop. Avalanche from Taker. Old school hits. Vader pops out of the corner with a tackle. Taker situp and flying clothesline. Vader tries to slow things down with a headlock. Shoulderblock from Vader. Taker big boots send Vader to the floor. Taker gets whipped into the steps and Bearer mocks him. Vader tries to pull Taker back in but gets neck snapped over the top rope. Taker clothesline off the top. An uppercut sends Vader 360 to the floor again. Taker stalks Bearer. Vader clothesline from behind. Bearer beats Taker with his shoe. Who uses a shoe, honestly? Vader starts laying in the corner potatoes. Short clothesline. Clothesline off the second rope for 2. Suplex. Vader big splash for 2. Taker comes back with a flurry of body shots. Vader shuts it down with a clothesline and more potato shots. Taker punches back. Goozle! Vader low blow! He charges. Taker scoops him up into tombstone position! Vader tries to reverse it but loses his balance and falls. Taker quickly recovers to cover for 2. Another Vader tackle. Vader bomb set up. Taker sits up! Low blow! Tit for tat. Chokeslam off the second rope! Vader kicks out! Another chokeslam. Vader kicks out again! Taker calls for the tombstone, plants Vader with it, and it's over. Now this is more along the lines of what these guys are capable of. ***1/4

Before the main event we get the Canadian national anthem. Stu and Helen Hart are ringside along with most of the other Hart brothers.

 

The Hart Foundation def "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, The Legion of Doom, Goldust and Ken Shamrock in 24:31- I've long argued that the world title match, or whatever the company's top title is, should always main event major shows if it's on the line. This is one of the few exceptions to that rule. I can't imagine anything main eventing this show other than this match with this insane partisan pro-Hart Canadian crowd. Austin plays with the crowd as he comes down the ramp, fully embracing being the heel again for the night. The Hart Foundation all get individual entrances with their own music, each to a big pop, topped off with Bret getting an absolute roof buster at the end. Fantastically done, presentation wise. Owen is debuting his new buzzcut look tonight. All 10 guys stand off in the ring before the bell. Bret and Austin are in the middle staring down with Bret, thumbs in his tights, giving absolutely no fucks at all. The ring gradually clears out leaving just the two of them in. The bell rings and they immediately start slugging it out! Bret beats Austin down in the corner with the crowd going absolutely bonkers. Austin reverses it to massive boos. Bret clothesline. Inverted atomic drop and another clothesline. Austin low blow in the corner and he stomps a mudhole in Bret. Million Dollar Dream! Austin going back into his old Ringmaster playbook. Bret flips over in the corner and Austin just gets out before getting pinned. Austin Thesz Press on Anvil. Anvil ducks a Shamrock kick, laughs, and gets caught with the same kick attempted again. Ankle lock! Pillman runs in to break it up. Pillman tags in and goes crazy on Shamrock. Shamrock fights back with a clothesline. Belly to belly suplex. Owen enzuguri on Goldust for 2. Mounted punches from Goldust while a huge "Austin sucks" chant goes on. Austin is playing up to it like crazy in the corner but sadly only little glimpses of it get on TV. But, the action in the ring is so nonstop it's understandable. Hawk goes high impact on Owen for a bit. Splash off the top for 2. Owen dodges a dropkick. He goes for the Sharpshooter but Animal breaks it up. Bulldog delayed suplex on Hawk for 2. Powerslam! Goldust breaks the pin up. I love how guys are hitting their finishers early. Very outside the usual formula. Bret and Goldust size each other up. Knees to the gut from Bret and Goldust gets stuck in the tree of woe in the HF corner. The whole HF team rains punches down on him and we're DONNYBROOKING! Order is quickly restored. Owen backbreaker on Goldust. Goldust dodges and Owen goes shoulder first into the post. Owen spinning heel kick on Animal. Missile dropkick. He goes for a hurricanrana but Animal blocks it and powerbombs him. Powerslam. Doomsday Device! Anvil breaks the pin up and everyone's in again! Austin posts Owen's knee, then whacks it with a chair in the confusion. He gets into it with the Hart family and takes some swings at Bruce Hart! Bret comes over to make the save. The HF check on Owen with more "Austin sucks" chants going. Anvil tags in and Owen limps off. Anvil lifts Austin up and carries him into the HF corner for a huge beatdown as Owen is helped to the back. Austin fights the whole Hart Foundation off that crazy son of a bitch! Pillman tags in and Austin pulls him around by his tights. Kick wham Stunner! Bret saves, drags Austin down and posts his knee in retaliation for Owen. Fire extinguisher to Austin's knee! Post wraparound figure four! Animal breaks it up and Austin tags out. Hawk gets crotched on the top rope by Bulldog. Officials try to help Austin but he naturally refuses. He does limp his way to the back though, making the match 4 on 4 for now. Animal and Anvil reset and calm things down a little with a test of strength. Anvil and Bret to a Demolition style Decapitation Device for 2. One of my very few quibbles for this match: I would have liked to have seen more old school Hart Foundation double team moves. It doesn't hurt the match not having them, just a personal preference. Shamrock tags in and sets Bret up for the ankle lock. Pillman again that loose canon runs in and clotheslines Shamrock. Gut headbutt from Bret. Bret bump in the corner! Huge stiff forearm from Shamrock. Then he hesitates, wanting a stand up fight with Bret. Bret quickly gets the advantage and tosses Shamrock to the floor. Pillman throws Shamrock over the, er, international announce table! Not sure which one that was. Huge brawl on the floor. Bret Russian leg sweep on Shamrock. Bulldog pummels Shamrock down in the corner. Low blow from Shamrock. I'm not sure that's MMA rules kosher. Goldust bulldog on Bulldog. He goes for the Curtain Call. Once again it's Pillman running in and breaking it up. Bulldog superplexes Goldust. Austin limps his way back down and immediately wants to tag back in. He gets it. Bret also tags in and here we go again. Bret bump 2! Austin suplex for 2. Bret swinging neckbreaker. Backbreaker and elbow off the second rope for 2. Bret hooks on a sleeper. Austin jawbreakers out. Bret leg takedown. Sharpshooter! Animal breaks it up to huge boos. Austin flips Bret off and puts on his own Sharpshooter! Owen's back and breaks it up! Owen wants to tag back in and does. Austin clotheslines Owen 360 to the floor. He throws Owen into the guardrail in front of the Hart family and gets into it with them again! Austin's brawling with Stu Hart and all the Hart brothers! Bret runs over and breaks it up. Austin gets back in still jawing with them. Owen sneaks up, rolls Austin up, grabs a handful of tights and gets the pin! Holy hell what a match. Absolute perfection from everyone involved. This is the gold standard for large multi man tag matches without even getting into how great the whole Hart Foundation angle was. This is also a textbook example of a nuclear hot crowd raising an already great match to another level. *****

The fight continues after the bell. The whole Hart family comes in from ringside as order is slowly restored. The family celebrates in the ring.....until Austin runs back in with a chair by himself! The whole family beats him down. Security puts Austin in handcuffs. He's still trying to fight, and while being led away flips the crowd off even with the handcuffs on. Far from the last time Austin will leave an arena in handcuffs. The main fallout from this match is Austin would shift his attention from Bret to Owen and the Intercontinental title. The Hart family continues to celebrate in the ring to close the show with a seemingly never ending stream of relatives coming in. I think the whole arena is related to them. I kid, but it is a truly nice moment for them all, especially with how things would play out for them the next couple of very difficult years.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- To this day this show is spoken of in almost hushed, reverent tones by wrestling fans and with good reason. Four matches on the card and every single one of them delivers in spades, and on top of that right in the middle of one of the company's hottest creative runs ever with great and compelling stories happening all over the place. The red hot Canadian crowd, not just for the Hart Foundation homecoming but the whole show, is a cherry on top. The only knock you could have on this show is in the long run it's not very historically important with no major angle advancement or title changes happening, it's simply a great wrestling show. Which usually is all that you need.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: A

Bash at the Beach '95

Legacy Review

Bash at the Beach '95

July 16, 1995 from Huntington Beach, CA

Commentary: Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan

Sponsored by Slim Jim. If there's one thing to say for this show, it's a unique venue as Bash at the Beach is taking place....on a beach! It's the first time WCW has gone to an outdoor location, something they'd revisit a lot in the future (Road Wild, the "spring break" Nitros). Sponsored by Slim Jim. Commentary keeps claiming there's "hundreds of thousands" of people there, but the eye test says it looks more like a regular arena sized crowd. The official count was about 10,000, and because it's on a beach they're all free. Haven't seen this many comped tickets since the last AWA shows. I feel for the people in the back of the crowd, I have no idea how they can see. I've been at shows with floor seats 9 or 10 rows back and even from there it can be a bitch to see properly. The whole beach setup does look good on TV though. And in case you missed it, it's sponsored by Slim Jim.

Before the opener we get an absolutely ludicrous video promo for Meng. "Knows 9 forms of martial arts" "bodyguard for an unnamed royal family" etc etc. What's even crazier is all they needed to do was go with some of his real life fight stories to prove he was one of the toughest SOBs in wrestling history.

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: Sting (c) def Meng (w/Col. Robert Parker) in 15:31- This is a rematch of the tournament final for the vacant title at Great American Bash. Cautious start. It's hot out there. Meng hits chops and forearms in the corner. Slugfest stalemate. More slow lockups. Mongolian chops from Meng. He hits more kicks and chops in the corner then puts on a Greco Roman throat hold. Sting quickly gets out of a nerve pinch and hooks on an ARMBAR. Meng goes for a suplex that's blocked by Sting, then he no sells a Sting clothesline. Sting's stunned, flummoxed and bewildered. Meng slam. Sting dodges a headbutt off the second rope. He sloooooowly turns Meng over into the Scorpion Death Lock. Parker gets on the apron to distract. Meng kicks Sting from behind. Brain buster for 2. Trio of backbreakers for 2. A Meng abdominal stretch kills some time. Sting gets a sunset flip. Meng tries to fight. Sting gets him down but they're in the ropes. Now Meng tries a sunset flip. Sting leaps and falls on him. Both guys are down. Meng grabs both of Sting's legs in one arm and puts on a modified Boston crab. Sting dodges an elbow drop. Back suplex. Clothesline flurry. Thesz press! That was new. Ugly Sting hurricanrana for 2. Springboard crossbody for 2. Stinger Spla....NO Meng kicks him right in the face in midair! OK, that was good. Cover for 2. Meng splash off the second rope for 2. Sting ducks under a kick, rolls Meng up, and gets a pin. The whole match was in slow motion, which doesn't bode well for everyone else going out and trying to wrestle outside on a beach in the middle of July. *1/4

Jimmy Hart and the Renegade are with Mean Gene. Renegade continues to milk his Ultimate Warrior Comic Con cosplay for every penny WCW will give to him.

 

WCW World Television Championship: The Renegade (c) (w/Jimmy Hart) def "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff in 6:12- And Renegade even runs to the ring. Quick start in contrast to the last match with Orndorff getting a knee to the gut and dropping a kneedrop. After some jawing at Hart (it's hilarious to hear Heenan call Hart a runt now Hart is a face after all those years they were both heels in WWF) Orndorff comes off the top rope into a Renegade boot. Tackles from Renegade and he clotheslines Orndorff 360 outside. Orndorff falls off the dais the ring is on and all the way into the sand. Well that's going to make a mess in the ring. I feel bad for anyone that gets sand down their tights during a match. It's coarse and rough and it gets everywhere. Renegade pulls him back in by his hair over the top rope and drops him, then cranks a headlock. Horrible dropkick from Renegade. So bad I don't know if I should even be calling it a dropkick. Orndorff goes out again, gets a handful of sand and throws it in Renegade's face. Saito suplex from Orndorff back in. Renegade's idea of selling is "wander around the ring and shake your head a lot". That's not just from the sand in the face, that's normal for him. Orndorff goes for the piledriver. Renegade backdrops out and hits more awful dropkicks. Give it up, kid. Renegade powerslam to some boos. Orndorff goes for a suplex. Renegade slips out, hits a back suplex, bridges and gets a 3 count to some definite boos. After the bell Orndorff attacks him to cheers. He plants Renegade with the piledriver to about the biggest pop in the show so far. Renegade pops up like it never happened and gives Orndorff a tackle off the top rope to more boos. 1/4*

Ladies and gentlemen, I regret to inform you it's Dungeon of Doom time. We get video from the very fake Dungeon cave set of the Taskmaster (Kevin Sullivan) holding the GOBLET OF DARKNESS while the Master guy rambles on saying something totally unintelligible. Seriously, he needs to learn to deliver lines so people will actually understand what he's saying. Kamala is introduced as the Dungeon's first "warrior". More will come. It's not in this video but they've also been joined by the Zodiac, Brutus Beefacke's latest ever changing gimmick.

 

Kamala (w/The Taskmaster) def "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan in 6:00- Tony and Heenan try to find a line of logic through the Dungeon of Doom story. A losing battle if I've ever seen one. I've seen Rifftrax/MST3K movies with more coherent plotlines. Duggan teases a 2x4 shot before the bell. Lockup and slugfest. Kamala weebles wobbles and doesn't fall down. A clothesline finally puts him down. Tony praises his "balance" in not going down which is hilarious. Kamala opens his arms to Duggan. Does he want a hug or something? He hits chops to Duggan's head. Duggan tries a slam but of course can't lift the GIANT. Kamala hooks on the inevitable bear hug. Duggan tries to headbutt out and hurts himself. Finally (Duggan has always been a bit slow) he goes the obvious route and stomps Kamala's bare feet. Kamala dodges a charge in the corner and hooks on the Pectoral Pinch of Boob Twisting +1. Duggan bites out. Clothesline and he manages to slam Kamala. 3 point stance clothesline. Sullivan gets on the apron to distract. Zodiac runs in, hits Duggan with Kamala's mask, and Kamala covers for the pin. DUD

 

Diamond Dallas Page (w/The Diamond Doll and Max Muscle) def Dave "Evad" Sullivan in 5:04- After years of stops and starts across multiple WCW regimes DDP was finally starting to get some traction, thanks in part the current "abusive boyfriend/husband" angle he has going with the Doll (Page's real life wife Kimberly) that's turning him into one of the company's top heels. His cool new finisher, the Diamond Cutter, helps too. This started at GAB when Evad beat DDP in an arm wrestling match to win a date with the Doll. Nothing about said date is mentioned during this match and I honestly can't be bothered to go look up if they did anything with it on weekly TV or not. A kid tries to give the Doll flowers before the match. DDP takes them and yells at her. Evad charges the ring and attacks. He stuffs the flowers down DDP's mouth. Evad ducks a punch and hits an atomic drop. Suplex. He starts talking to the Doll and DDP hits him from behind. Sullivan catches him in the corner with a bear hug. DDP eye pokes out. Another Evad dodge in the corner. He catches a DDP kick and clotheslines him. Buckle shots. He puts DDP in the "inverted bear hug" that's his current finisher. Muscle gets on the apron. Diamond Cutter! Good night. It's an Evad match. Second straight match with a manager distraction finish too. DUD

 

Triangle Match for the WCW World Tag Team Championship: Harlem Heat (c) (w/Sister Sherri) def The Nasty Boys and The Blue Bloods in 13:41- These triple threat matches were still a new thing at the time and they were still trying to figure out exactly how to make them work. If I remember right that's another thing ECW was taking the lead on innovating around this time. Knobbs and Booker start after a very long coin toss. Regal gets in but both teams pound him. Everyone's brawling. The Bloods both take pit stops as the Nastys clear the ring. Reset with Knobbs and Booker. Back and forth brawl. Booker 360 sells a clothesline. Regal tags himself in. Booker trips and superkicks him. Ray backdrops Eaton. Eaton rolls out and Sherri pops him. Sags blind tags in and drops elbows on Ray. The Nastys pound him down in the corner. Then Sags tags Regal in and tells him to go for it. Regal gets stuck in the Heat corner. Booker gets a boot up on Knobbs in the corner and it looks legit accidentally falls out of the ring. He's OK. Regal blind tags in and then has to tell ref Nick Patrick that he did it because Patrick wasn't looking. European uppercuts on Booker. The Bloods and Nastys start to fight with each other, allowing Booker to tag Ray. The Bloods and Nastys start to work together again to pound Ray down. Heat gets Knobbs isolated and Booker hits him with a swing kick. The Bloods get in to work Knobbs over. Eaton fistdrop off the top rope. Sags breaks up the Regal Stretch. Tony and Heenan argue about the rules and I don't think either of them have it right. Knobbs and Regal lay into each other a little bit stiffly. Sags tags in and does a hot tag run. Everyone in the pool! Sags backdrops Booker onto Regal. Knobbs splashes them both and sits on them. He gets a 3 count and the Nastys think they won. But Patrick gives the belts to Heat! Apparently Booker got a shoulder up, and also apparently Knobbs was only sitting on Booker, not Eaton, while Booker was covering Eaton. See, that's trying way too hard to get cute and clever with the finish in a match that was already unique enough at the time as it was. The rest of it was a pretty big mess too. 3/4*

During Flair's promo I notice that his roots badly need doing. That's the least blonde I've ever seen Flair. Before the next match the cast of Baywatch comes out to say hi, sit around and watch so WCW can say they were there. Heenan stands on a chair to look at the women and Tony legit loses it laughing. "You never know when you'll need a lifeguard!"

 

Lifeguard Match: "Macho Man" Randy Savage def "Nature Boy" Ric Flair in 13:55- So what is a Lifeguard Match? Well, it's a Lumberjack Match except it's on a beach. So, Lifeguard. Hey, that's pretty much word for word what Tony said. And it is wrestlers working as the lifeguards, not the Baywatch cast. Flair's in his rare pink gear. Savage has all the Slim Jims with him for Slim Jim presents Bash at the Beach sponsored by Slim Jim. Tony calls shenanigans on Arn Anderson being a lifeguard. After the bell Flair bumps off an eye poke. Savage does some ground and pound. Backdrop and clotheslines. Flair gets clotheslined 360 to the floor. The lifeguards get him back in. Savage does mounted punches. Flair inverted atomic drop counter. He tosses Savage out and he gets pushed back in. Flair chops lead to a slugfest. Running elbow from Savage. Flair Flip! He falls out and gets pushed back in. A tights pull sends Savage out hard all the way into the sand. Savage blocks an apron suplex and suplexes Flair over the top outside! Flair begs off and gets the eye poke in. Back elbow and Flair gets strutting a bit. Sleeper. Savage elbows out. Speed run and Flair puts the sleeper back on. Savage runs him into the top turnbuckle. Flair Flop! Flair is up first with more chops. He tosses Savage over the top into the sand. There hasn't been an incident with the lifeguards, yet. Flair comes off the top and lands jaw first on Savage's head. I don't think that came off right. They take a minute to get their footing back. Savage hooks on a sleeper. Flair counters with a kneebreaker! We're going to school, kids. Another corner slugfest. Flair gets a boot up in the opposite corner. Figure four! Savage fights and reverses it. Flair delayed suplex for 2. Savage goes for mounted punches again. Flair tries the inverted atomic drop counter again but this time Savage blocks it. He punches Flair 360 to the ground. Flair tries to run but the lifeguards drag him back in. Savage double ax handle off the top. Arn gets on the apron and in the ring. Savage pops him. Flair with another eye poke. Savage backdrops him over the top! Knobbs catches him in midair! While that's going on Arn sneaks up and DDTs Savage! Flair covers. Savage kicks out! Savage backslide for 2. Flair gets slammed off the top. Another double ax handle off the top. Setup slam. The elbow hits! Savage gets the pin! Solid but not spectacular. Nowhere near the level of their GAB match. I appreciate that they didn't do the cliche giant lumberjack brawl finish. Er, lifeguard. **3/4

 

Steel Cage Match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Hulk Hogan (c) (w/Jimmy Hart and Dennis Rodman) def Vader in 13:13- With this show Hogan is marking one year with the company and one full year as world champ, the longest WCW/NWA world title reign since the Jim Crockett days. Vader's going old school with his old headgear! Nice. NBA star Dennis Rodman, a polarizing figure at the time to say the least but also an avowed wrestling fan, is making his first of what would be many WCW appearances. For the first time ever in WCW this match can be won by escaping the cage as well as pin or submission, something I'm sure Hogan insisted on since cage escapes were the standard cage match finishes in WWF during his time there. As soon as he tears his shirt off Hogan wraps it around Vader's neck and pulls him into the cage. He stuffs his bandana in Vader's mouth. Mounted punches and stomps. Double ax handle off the second rope. Both guys block cage shots. Slugfest. Hogan finally gets run into the cage and Vader starts laying in the corner potatoes. He runs Hogan into his headgear that's set up in a corner! Hogan blocks another shot and Vader takes a headgear shot. Hogan puts Vader's headgear on! Then headbutts Vader with it! OK, that's funny, I'll give him that one. Avalanche from Vader. Vader bomb! A second one! Cover. Hogan kicks out. Vader suplex. He goes for the door. Hogan pushes him from behind into the cage. Vader blocks a slam attempt. He goes up top. Hogan dodges a senton. Corner clothesline. Another slam attempt and Vader falls on Hogan for 2. Another slugfest. Hogan hits a clothesline and gets the slam, but his back gives out. Vader short clothesline. Splash off the second rope. Hulk Up. Hogan no sells cage shots and runs Vader back and forth into the cage. Big boot. The Taskmaster and Zodiac come out and try to get in the cage. Rodman chases them off. Legdrop. Hogan poses forever then hits a second legdrop. He climbs the cage. Vader chases. Hogan fights him off, climbs over, falls to the floor and it's over. Bleh. *1/2

After the match Tony and Heenan think they're going off the air, then Flair comes out to berate Vader for failing to take Hogan out. Arn joins him. Vader takes them both out and challenges them to a 2 on 1 match. That match will happen at the next Clash of the Champions as Vader would be gone from WCW before the next PPV.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- After finally having a halfway decent PPV at Great American Bash it's right back into the '95 doldrums here. The only positive thing I can say about this show is the beach location looks good on TV.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D-

King of the Ring '97

Legacy Review

King of the Ring '97

June 8, 1997 from the Providence Civic Center in Providence, RI

Commentary: Vince McMahon and Jim Ross

While going through this show, at least the KOTR tournament portion, keep in mind Triple H was supposed to win the '96 KOTR before somebody had to be punished for the Curtain Call and he was, in Vince's mind, the only one available. Of course that gave us both Austin's win and the Austin 3:16 promo that was the launching pad for Austin's superstardom which literally saved the company when the WCW/NWO angle was putting them out of business so it all worked out in the end.

Semifinals: Hunter Hearst Helmsley (w/Chyna) def Ahmed Johnson in 7:42- Huge pop for Johnson, who's called the favorite in the tournament by commentary. It's not mentioned by commentary, but HHH actually lost to Johnson by DQ in the first round but disputed it, threatened to sue and ended up getting a second chance by replacing an injured Vader against Crush in the first round. Johnson flashes his power advantage early. Really slow start, AKA Johnson's normal pace. Johnson mocks HHH's bow and wants a test of strength. HHH slowly locks up....then kicks him. Johnson no sells a chop. Press slam. HHH rolls to the floor then goes to the eye poke back in. Johnson comes out of the corner with a clothesline counter. HHH dodges an elbow drop. He gives Johnson a stair shot on the floor and a baseball slide. Ax handle off the top back in for 2. "Johnson" chants hulk him up and he does a scissors kick counter to a backdrop. Spinebuster. He sets up for the Pearl River Plunge. Chyna gets on the apron. HHH running knee to Johnson's back, Pedigree, and it's done. It's nothing special but it got its point across. It's definitely for the best they got Johnson out without having to work two matches tonight, he tends to get blown up with just one. *

 

Semifinals: Mankind def Jerry "The King" Lawler in 10:24- Vince mentions Mankind getting a pop. This is at the start of Mankind's slow face turn, and the emergence of Mick Foley's other characters. Mankind takes a mic and chides "Uncle Paul" for not being with him because he had "better things" to do (more on that later). He goes through a funny bit of talking about Lawler and he being naked. "BANG BANG!" is back. Lawler also does a promo coming down the ramp, mocking some aisleside fans before making fun of Mrs. Foley's baby boy. It all goes on a long while but it mostly works. Mankind attacks on the floor after Lawler gets his entrance gear off. Corner beatdown. He sets up for the Mandible Claw. Lawler sees it and bails. JR goes through Lawler's history, mentioning the USWA and Andy Kaufman. The reigns are definitely loose on commentary now. Lawler takes over with his usual "foreign object in the tights" hijinks, focusing on trying to hurt Mankind's half ear. JR says "I'm glad I don't have to say international object anymore". Lawler bulldog. Mankind gets tossed hard to the floor and takes a turnbuckle shot from the apron. Lawler bites on the ear. Now JR straight up calls him Mick Foley and mentions Cactus Jack. More brawling on the floor and Lawler goes into the guardrail. Lawler dodges and Mankind crashes into the steps. He tosses Mankind back of the head first into the rail. Piledriver on the floor! Lawler dropkicks Mankind off the apron. Piledriver in the ring. Mankind kicks out! He goes into comeback mode and hits a legdrop. Running corner knee. Bang bang! Lawler counters a backdrop with an ugly takedown that I don't think went as planned. Fist drop off the second rope again to the half ear. He sets up another piledriver. Mankind counters. Lawler tries to counter the counter with a sunset flip. Mandible Claw! Lawler goes out and the ref calls it. Call me nuts but I didn't hate that. Lawler's psychology combined with Foley's crazy bumping and skill at match layouts came together with at least a watchable match. **

Todd Pettingill (who's becoming more and more out of place as we get more into the Attitude Era) is in the back with super crazy Brian Pillman. Pillman takes credit for stirring the pot and getting Austin and Shawn at each other's throats, but also gives Bret Hart credit for the idea. But don't look behind you! Here comes Austin! Austin smiles at the camera and hilariously mouths along to Pillman's promo for a minute before jumping him. They go into a bathroom and Austin gives Pillman a good ol' swirlie.

 

Goldust (w/Marlena) def Crush (w/The Nation of Domination) in 9:56- More commentary looseness: JR directly calls Goldust Dustin Runnels, The Natural and says he's Dusty Rhodes' son. Goldust and Marlena are also being openly acknowledged as husband and wife. Crush jumps before the bell. They fight to the floor and Crush takes a stair shot. Back in Goldust gives Crush mounted punches and an old fashioned Goldust chest rub. Flying clothesline. Swinging neckbreaker for 2. Crush counters a corner whip and hits a belly to belly suplex, then goes into slow beatdown mode. Goldust tries to slam him but Crush falls on top for 2. Crush backbreaker for 2. Match killing double chinlock time. JR mentiones WWF President Gorilla Monsoon is at home sick. Sadly it was the beginning of the illness that would force Monsoon to retire fully soon after this show and eventually lead to his passing away in the fall of '99. Goldust crotches Crush to get the match going again. A long speed run ends with a Crush press into a gutbuster for 2. Now Crush locks on a nerve pinch. Goldust counters a backdrop with an uppercut and goes into Dusty-style jabs. The Nation goons circle Marlena. Goldust bulldog. He sees Marlena in trouble and goes to help her. Crush attacks from behind. Back in kick wham Goldust DDT and it's over. There was only so much you were going to get out of Crush at this point in his career but Dustin tried. 1/2*

Promo time with Sid and LOD. Fortunately (or unfortunately) Sid and Hawk being in the same promo doesn't turn into a giant train wreck, but there's a funny moment as you can see Sid mouthing Hawk's promo like he's reading off the same cue card. During the Harts' promo Owen says LOD wears "funky" makeup, but the way it comes out it sounds like "fucking".

 

The Hart Foundation def The Legion of Doom and Sycho Sid in 13:37- It's former tag champs Owen Hart and the British Bulldog along with Jim Neidhart representing the Harts in this one. Even though they lost the tag titles Bulldog and Owen were still European and Intercontinental champion respectively. I love the Hart Foundation jackets with the logo and individual names. Sid milks and sucks up every last drop of crowd adulation as he slowly makes his way in. Legend in his own mind. I mean yes, he is I'd say a low level wrestling legend, but in his mind he was Mount Rushmore material. Animal and Owen start with Animal tossing him around with a possibly flubbed spot in the middle of it. Owen gets slingshot into the face corner and powerslammed. Sid playing to the crowd so much is hilarious. Bulldog delayed suplex on Sid. Sid says eff that, pops right back up and knocks the heels off the apron. Anvil and Hawk try to out no sell each other. Hawk clothesline off the top for 2. The crowd chants for Sid and Animal says go for it. Bulldog piledriver on Hawk, who also pops right back up and hits a clothesline for 2. Owen spinning heel kick on Animal. Anvil runs him into the steps and gives him a chairshot, sending Animal face in peril. Owen and Anvil do the old Hart Foundation slingshot tackle. Animal gets a sunset flip but Hebner is distracted. He gets stuck in the heel corner for a bit. Animal catches Bulldog coming off the second rope and slams him, then goes up top. Bulldog meets him and superplexes him. After some more generic FIP stuff Owen puts a sleeper on. Animal reaches over and tags Hawk. Owen dodges a Hawk fistdrop off the top rope. Hawk double clothesline and tag to Sid. DONNYBROOK! Sid choke slams Bulldog. He sets up the powerbomb. Owen sunset flips him off the top and that gets the pin. Not a lot of effort going on out there. This would be Sid's last major WWF appearance. He'd take some time off and work in the indys before going back to WCW in '99 for his last big run there. *1/2

To my point at the top of the review, we get a short recap of Austin's huge run and rise to stardom since winning the KOTR tournament the previous year.

 

King of the Ring Finals: Hunter Hearst Helmsley (w/Chyna) def Mankind in 19:26- Another new matchup that had a huge future no one knew about yet. Mankind's coming in with a hurt neck from the semis that will play into this one. Basic back and forth start. Mankind lays in the beatdown. On a whip HHH grabs the top rope and bails. Back in HHH stomps Mankind out of the ring. Mankind runs HHH into the rail. Mounted punches from Mankind back in. HHH drops him over the top turnbuckle. Swinging neckbreaker. Slugfest. HHH hits a clothesline and Chyna gets a shot in. Mankind hits a desperation low blow. HHH ducks a charge and Mankind gets hung in the ropes. He gets himself out. HHH baseball slide. Kneedrops to the back of Mankind's hurt neck back in. Mankind hits a couple of hot shots. Running corner knee. Trips flip! He ends up upside down and Mankind drops an elbow on him. They go to the floor and Mankind backdrops HHH on the aisle! Cactus Elbow! Double underhook DDT. Chyna distracts the ref and HHH manages to kick out at 2. That finally woke the crowd up. HHH hooks up the Pedigree, kicking off a counter run like the previous match ending with Mankind hooking the Claw on! Chyna pulls Mankind out to the floor by his hair. The ref has some words with her for that. HHH neckbreaker over the top rope! That'll hurt the bad neck some more. The mask is off. HHH goes up top. The Claw is back on! HHH eye pokes to get free. Mankind inverted atomic drop and clothesline for 2. Cactus Clothesline! Chyna pulls HHH out of danger and Mankind goes crashing into the rail head first again. HHH clears the main English announce table off. Pedigree on the table! Mankind is up quickly so Chyna grabs the KOTR scepter and whacks him with it, breaking it completely. Running knee from HHH and Mankind falls to the floor again, taking out a photographer in the process. Arrogant cover. Mankind kicks out! Pedigree and good night. The crowd deflates on that result but I'd say it was the right call. The first half of the match was a pretty dull brawl but they got going better in the stretch run and the psychology was tight throughout. **1/4

HHH and Chyna call Pettingill into the ring for an immediate coronation ceremony. HHH beats Mankind some more with the crown.

 

Before the next match the Hart Foundation joins us in full. The original plan was Bret was going to join commentary but their whole setup was destroyed in the last match and there's no headset for him. Bret takes Pettingill's mic to cut a promo in the ring. He says he's almost cleared to wrestle again and challenges any five wrestlers to take on the Harts at the next In Your House, Canadian Stampede in Bret's hometown. If they have the guts. Bret gets out and takes Vince's headset but WWF officials force him and the rest of the group to leave. They're still in Gorilla as Austin comes out for the next match. Words and fingers are exchanged.

 

WWF Tag Team Champions "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels double DQ in 22:29- Austin and Shawn ended the 8 month tag title reign of Bulldog and Owen Hart on Raw a couple of weeks prior (the longest WWF/E tag title reign there would be for nearly a decade), Shawn's first match back after finding his smile again, but still can't get along and are trying to settle their differences here while being fully egged on by the Harts. It's the start of the "tag champs who hate each other" trope that will be a thing in wrestling for quite a while after this. Austin's pops continue to get bigger, while Shawn's is so high pitched it almost hurts your ears. They have a discussion in the ring after the bell. Lockup and hard Austin shoulderblock. He gives Shawn the double bird. Everything stops when a Special Olympics athlete jumps over the rail. Shawn goes out to help. Austin jumps him from behind! Speed run, Shawn armdrag, and now Shawn gives Austin the double bird. Shawn goes out again to help the kid that went over the rail as his mother? and officials get him out of harm's way. Really good job by Shawn in handing that situation, showing that maybe there really is a good person in there underneath all the dickishness he was showing at that time. He just needed help to bring it out. Austin holds the ropes open for him to get back in. Lockup and Austin works the arm a bit. Shawn works a headlock. Speed run and stiff Austin back elbow. He mocks Shawn's pose to a pretty big pop. Classic Austin elbows to the head. Shawn escapes and hooks on a chinlock as the groundwork continues to be laid. More crazy speed. Shawn tries to do Austin's Thesz Press! Austin says UH UH, grabs him in midair, gives him and inverted atomic drop and clotheslines him 360 to the floor. Mega Shawn selling on the floor. Austin tries to suplex him back in. Shawn counters into a roll up for 2. Austin takes a rope break on a hammerlock and rolls out to shake his arm off. Back in we get a test of strength for a bit with Austin having the clear advantage. Shawn hits a backdrop and goes back to the ARMBAR. More speed. Austin Thesz Press with fists flying! Quick cradle exchange for near falls. Bridge up spot and Austin escapes a backslide. Momentum push and Shawn FLIES over the top rope to the floor. Austin knocks Shawn off the apron into the rail. He goes out and pulls the floor mat up. Austin press slams Shawn onto the bare floor! More speed back in. Austin ducks Shawn's flying forearm! Shawn slides back to the floor. Back in Shawn flash small package for 2. Austin clothesline for 2. Elbow off the second rope for 2. Austin hooks on a chinlock and plays the rope leverage game before getting caught. Slugfest. Austin get tossed over the top to the floor. Shawn baseball slide. Austin with a suplex counter. Shawn hits the flying forearm! Kip up! Austin dodges a charge and Shawn flies shoulder first into the post. Austin pulls Shawn's tights down for the mandatory bare ass shot while pulling him off the ropes. Shawn reverse crossbody off the second rope. Austin rolls through it and covers for 2. Another Austin clothesline for 2. Corner whip reversals and ref Tim White goes down. Austin blocks the superkick! Stunner! No ref. Austin pulls White back up.....and Stunners him! Superkick! Backup ref Mike Chioda comes in.....and checks on White! Oh, Shawn does not like that. Superkick on Chioda! Shawn covers and White counts. Austin kicks out! Shawn berates White as ref #3, senior ref Earl Hebner, runs in. Hebner says enough of this shit and throws the match out, DQing both guys. Huge boos for that. Austin tries to cheap shot Shawn with his belt but Shawn was ready for him. They argue all the way to the back while the crowd chants "bullshit". Clearly, nothing is settled. What a match. Austin and Shawn meshed beautifully, the crowd was nuclear through the whole thing, and even the non-finish really doesn't hurt in context of the story. All the ref bumps were funny as hell too, well done and at this point it was still fresh and not a cliche. ****1/4

 

WWF Championship: The Undertaker (c) (w/Paul Bearer) def Faarooq (w/The Nation of Domination) in 13:44- Good luck following that last match. Bearer is back from the burn unit and back with Taker, but not by Taker's choice. Bearer is keeping himself attached to Taker, and championship money, by blackmailing Taker with a "dark secret" from his past. There's a lot of talk about Faarooq possibly becoming the first black WWF Champion, though no one mentions the fact that he was already the first black world champion in wrestling period, winning the WCW World title as Ron Simmons in '92. Faarooq attacks from behind while Bearer is giving Taker grief over not giving him the belt quickly enough or something. Taker double goozle, corner toss and body shots to counter. Big boot. Bearer bitches about...well, everything. Faarooq powerslam. The Nation goons reach in and attack Taker. Taker gets a boot up on Faarooq in the corner. He hooks up for old school and does the rope walk.....and falls backwards into the Nation! Taker snaps Faarooq over the top rope. Old school rope walk again, but this time Savio Vega shakes the rope and Taker gets crotched. Faarooq suplex for 2. Taker sit up and clothesline. Faarooq with a low blow. Nation goons choke Taker. Faarooq gets the ring steps but Taker big boots them right back in his face. Back in Faarooq counters a backdrop with a piledriver. Slow cover for 2. And here we go with the Chinlock of Match Killing +3. After a while Taker cutters out. They go through a long run of every attempted move being countered or dodged with long pauses between each. The Nation guys start getting into it with each other for some reason. Faarooq goes over to try to restore order. Taker scoops, hits the tombstone, and it's done. That might have been a passable title match on Raw, not a PPV main event. A couple of weeks after this on Raw Faarooq would clean house in the Nation, leading to new groups being created and eventually new leadership of the Nation itself. 3/4*

Vega and Crush both take chokeslams after the bell. Bearer demands Taker chokeslam Faarooq too. Taker reluctantly does it. Bearer wants another one. And another. Taker resignedly goes through with it. Finally Ahmed Johnson comes out and asks Taker what the hell. Bearer tells Taker to get him too. Johnson ducks Taker's punch and plants him with the Pearl River Plunge. Taker sits up with Bearer's help, and Bearer bitches at him as the show closes.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Outside Shawn/Austin there's not much going on here wrestling wise. However, WWF was in the midst of one of the hottest creative periods in the company's history. Almost everything on this show was part in some way or another of a larger whole, and it's creative fires like this that can raise a show up to being at least watchable even if the matches themselves aren't that great. Plus Shawn/Austin is must see great.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C