This seems like an appropriate topic with Wrestlemania being about two weeks away. This is something that is very important and can really make or break a company if not done right. Yet for some reason over the years, it’s very rarely been done right. On Rise and Fall of ECW, Heyman talked about Terry Funk wanting to get the next generation ready so that there was a business to pass on to them. That’s what we’re getting at today so let’s get to it.

Now first and foremost, there’s a BIG difference between giving someone a rub and passing the torch to someone else. Back in the 80s, Hogan tagged with a bunch of guys that were known names but didn’t become anything important until they were his best friend for a few months of house show tag matches. Then they’d be Hogan’s partner for awhile and they’d be bigger stars than ever before. That’s giving someone a rub.

Passing the torch means that you make someone the new big name in the company. We’ll get to examples of that later on, but the main idea is that someone is either leaving, is dropping down the card after being on top for a long while, or that the other person is going to be taking their place. To use the example from earlier, Hogan wasn’t going anywhere and wasn’t moving down the card. He was still top dog but the others were up higher than they were before. That’s an important difference.

On second thought, this was going to just be about passing the torch but I might as well cover rubs in here too. We’ll get to passing the torch first.

Let’s go back to the past as I’m known to do. The better example is probably King Jackie Fargo passing the torch to King Jerry Lawler but we’ll go with something actually in the last thirty years with Harley Race and Ric Flair. Now let’s take a good look at what put this together and why it was a true passing of the torch. There were a lot of factors that came together to make it work.

First of all, Flair was already a big name. He was a two time NWA World Champion and was well established as a top guy. This is important to passing the torch because if you want someone like Race to go out, this is how you do it: to a guy that has proven he can do something already. Otherwise you might need to go to someone else which makes the moment weaker.

Second, this was built up. It had a long and personal angle to it which resulted in real emotion. Race had put a $25,000 bounty on Flair’s head and it was cashed in, resulting in Flair being put out of action for months. He took care of the attackers and then came after Race to take the championship and get his revenge. It was an angle that people wanted to see get paid off which makes the match that much more interesting.

Third, the match was great. It’s a classic old school cage match with Race working him over and Flair making the comeback for the pin and the big moment. It was also in the main event of the first Starrcade, which at the time was the biggest card ever put together. Look at Cena vs. Rock this year: they’re having this match in the main event of Wrestlemania after a year of these two arguing and bickering. In short: take your time and make the match feel important.

Most importantly though, RACE LEFT. After this happened, Race was gone from the NWA spotlight. There was a three day title change in New Zealand but other than that, Race went back to the smaller territories and eventually on to the WWF. Now, that’s not to say that Race couldn’t have come back in a smaller role. If Race had come back in say a year or even six months it would have been fine, as long as he didn’t challenge for the title or feud with Flair. That’s one of the main things: Race didn’t try to come back against Flair. He had been defeated and was done.

There really aren’t that many of these moments to talk about in history, and since most of them have been done well there isn’t really a point to going through them one by one because they would all mostly say the same thing. The other few of note are the Fargo/Lawler one that I mentioned earlier, Austin vs. Michaels in 1998, HHH vs. Batista in 2005, and really those are all of the major ones.

Now let’s get to the problems that can come up when these rules are broken. This can also be called The Hogan Section.

Hogan has had a few chances to pass the torch onto someone else and both times he’s broken one of the aforementioned rules and caused the next person to not be able to do as well on top. We’ll start in 1990 at Wrestlemania 6. You could argue the first time was at #4 with Savage but the end result of that was ALWAYS Hogan vs. Savage for the title the next year so I can’t fault Hogan for that as it was part of a major angle instead of Hogan not going away. Anyone on to #6.

I don’t think anyone would argue that the main event of that show was designed to be a moment where Warrior became the top guy. However in short, Hogan didn’t leave. He stuck around in 1990 and feuded with Earthquake, taking all of the spotlight (as well as the top and most obvious feud for Warrior) from the new champion. The right thing would have been for Hogan to take AT LEAST a few months off and made a movie or whatever.

Instead he stuck around and therefore made Warrior look like a second rate guy, which made the main event of Wrestlemania completely pointless. Warrior was a failure as the top guy but there was never a real chance for him to be the top guy. Everyone thought that Hogan was still top dog and him simply not having the title wasn’t going to prove that wrong. Considering Warrior barely beat him, it didn’t really prove that Warrior was the top guy. Instead of passing the torch, Hogan basically gave Warrior the title for about 7 months and then got it back later. Good for him, bad for Warrior.

Jumping to WCW, we have the moment that was a big bullet to WCW in the Monday Night Wars. Sting FINALLY stopped Hogan and won the (nearly) year and a half long title reign and it should have been the end of an era in WCW. This is probably the biggest botch of one of these things ever. First of all, the match sucked for reasons that you can read elsewhere. Second, Sting didn’t get to even hold the physical title for two months, so how much do you think the fans cared by that point? Third, Sting officially won the title in February and Hogan had it back by mid-April. Sting is defeated, Hogan is champion AGAIN, and the fans are screwed over.

The third example of Hogan doing this would be in 1998 with Goldberg. Now to be fair this was probably much more about WCW than Hogan, but depending on what you believe about Hogan having creative control in the back, that could be a matter of debate. Also to Hogan’s credit, he lost the match clean (mostly) and never got his win back against Goldberg, which is a big help. However that being said, he got the title back in just a few months. There was WAY more to it than that, but at the end of the day, the problem was that Hogan had the title back about half a year later, Goldberg was defeated, and the fans were screwed over AGAIN. Sound familiar?

There are probably other example that I’m overlooking, but I think by now you more than get the idea. The WWF in 1990/1991 was in real business trouble and was even on the verge of going under for awhile. The WCW instances are times where the company took big hits because either they wouldn’t let people have the title or they wouldn’t let anyone get thrown out of the main event. The moral: bad things happen when you don’t change things when you need to.

Now onto the other topic that I wasn’t going to talk about here but it fits as well: rubs. As we’ve established, a rub is where someone is going to be sticking around but is going to bring someone else up the card by giving them some of their star power and making them look like a bigger deal. We’ll begin in the 80s, as I am known to do.

The perfect example of this is usually Flair and Sting from March 27, 1988 and there’s a good reason for that. Sting wasn’t a big time name like he is today. He was a guy that had been brought over from a regional company and was looking for his first big break in the national scene. The company knew he had talent but they needed a way to let the masses know that.

Enter Ric Flair, who in the words of Jim Cornette, made a career out of making other people look way better than they ever could have done on their own. So at the first Clash of the Champions, Sting fought Flair for the NWA Title and had him in the Scorpion when the bell rang and the time was up. Flair made Sting look AWESOME that night and Sting became a huge star because of it. Flair kept the title and would for a good while, but Sting was a major player all of a sudden. I think you get the idea.

There are dozens of other examples from history that I could go into, such as the tag teams that Hogan had which I mentioned earlier and Bret vs. Austin in 96/97, but you more than get the point by now. On the other hand, there are examples of times where bigger names lose matches, but the win doesn’t do a thing for the smaller name guy. Let’s take a look at a quick example.

I hate to do this again, but the best example is Hulk Hogan. In the year 2000, Hogan lost to Billy Kidman. What’s forgotten about this is that Hogan DOMINATED Kidman and Kidman won after Bischoff hit Hogan with a chair. The win didn’t do anything for Kidman because it didn’t look like he had a chance to beat Hogan in a fair fight. The same thing is true of instances like jobbers pinning big names, such as Brooklyn Brawler pinning HHH in the year 2000. Rock had a bit of a hand in that loss, but HHH still gets made fun of for it on occasion. Again, I think you get the idea.

So anyway, in short there are good ways and bad ways of passing the torch, and hopefully Rock does it with Cena at Wrestlemania. Rock is a guy who a victory over would still mean a lot and I just hope they don’t screw it up somehow. Rubs and passing the torch are very important things in wrestling, and if you don’t do them right they can turn out very badly indeed.

Monday Night Raw
Date: July 23, 2012
Location: Scottrade Center, St. Louis, Missouri
Commentators: Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole

It’s the 1000th weekly episode of a show that airs year round which makes it the longest running show with as many catches as they can think of, as long as you don’t count shows like WCW Saturday Night or Memphis Wrestling’s Saturday morning show which ran for about 30 years airing new shows. There’s A LOT to get through tonight as we have a wedding, Lesnar, Rock, DX and other legends appearing live, and Cena vs. Punk for the world title. Let’s get to it.

We open with one of those always awesome WWE montages of past Raw moments. I’ll set the over/under of moments from 1994/1995 at about 2.

There’s a new logo for Raw tonight and for apparently one night only, there’s a different song, called Tonight is the Night.

We start the false advertising right away, with Vince opening things. The video wall is different too, with HUGE walls on the side of the Tron now. Vince thanks us for 1000 shows and brings out DX complete with a hybrid of the old and new entrances. Shawn and HHH come out to do the entrance but Shawn is having issues because he’s old and out of breath before the crotch chop.

They talk about having their DX merchandise on and asks each other if they’re wearing underwear. After assuring that they are, Shawn still thinks something is missing. HHH thinks there used to be more of them, drawing a BIG pop. Complete with military invasion vehicle, here are the Outlaws and X-Pac. They do their usual lines (complete with Road Dogg censoring himself on Billy’s nickname in a very nice bit) and HHH points out that he’s the only one left with a full head of hair.

Billy and Shawn aren’t sure who should say the final line. Billy: “He never really gave me that much but I was good at this.” Shawn says the same so HHH pulls Billy aside and says that Shawn might lose his smile and go pose for Playgirl again. Shawn: “I NEEDED THE MONEY!” They agree to do it at the same time….and here’s Damien Sandow. That’s the perfect choice too. He says this is what WWE has disintegrated to and how low society has gone: people like DX are now revered. Shawn says he’s going straight to church and asking for forgiveness….AGAIN!

Sandow understands that DX could destroy him but if they do so, he won’t be a victim. He’ll be a martyr. HHH calls for a DX huddle but Sandow tries to listen in. Sandow: “That’s very rude.” HHH: “We’re rude guys.” HHH goes to talk but it’s Sweet Chin Music and Pedigree for Sandow. Billy and Shawn get to do their line and that’s it. GREAT opening segment and absolutely hilarious.

Here’s JR with a goatee. Cole is fine with him now.

Rey Mysterio/Sin Cara/Sheamus vs. Chris Jericho/Dolph Ziggler/Alberto Del Rio

The difference in pops for Cara and Sheamus is staggering. We’re joined in progress with Cara in trouble from Ziggler before it’s off to Jericho for a chinlock. Cara gets a rollup for two but Jericho knocks him right back down. We get the posing cover for two and a BIG reaction before it’s off to Del Rio. The heel team works on Cara’s back with Del Rio hooking a chinlock with a knee in the back. Cara hits a tornado DDT and it’s hot tag to Sheamus. He cleans house on Jericho, hitting a running kneelift.

Irish Curse is kind of botched but the second attempt connects for two. Everything breaks down and Rey knocks Del Rio to the floor, hitting a seated senton off the apron. Sheamus and Jericho are the only two left in the ring and White Noise is countered into a failed Walls of Jericho. Codebreaker is countered but the Brogue Kick misses. Ziggler drills Jericho (intentionally) to break up the springboard dropkick and the Brogue Kick finishes Jericho at 4:26 shown.

Rating: C+. Other than the main event, expect a lot of these matches to be short and sweet tonight, which is the right move on a show like this. Cara getting to rub elbows with guys like Mysterio and Sheamus is a great thing for him and it should do him a lot of good. This was fast paced and fun, which is the right idea.

TOUT IT OUT!

Charlie Sheen is the social media ambassador and is on Skype with us here. Sheen thinks he’d fit in with DX. That’s a perfect fit actually. He doesn’t sound like he has any idea what’s going on but he doesn’t seem bored out of his mind and that’s all I can ask for.

We recap the wedding buildup from last week.

AJ is getting ready in the back with Layla and she asks if AJ is ready. AJ says yes she is and yes she’s mentally stable. Everyone is a bit off out here and she opens the door to prove it. Jim Duggan is talking to someone and R-Truth and Roddy Piper holding a jump rope for Little Jimmy. Then, in perhaps the funniest thing I’ve ever seen on Raw, MAE YOUNG AND A FULL GROWN HAND ARE HERE!

Someone delivers Sonic to Jerry Lawler. That’s kind of awesome.

Brodus Clay vs. Jack Swagger

Brodus brings out DUDE FREAKING LOVE. Brodus is in a USA themed singlet tonight. Swagger misses a charge, gets suplexed, and the splash ends this in 19 seconds.

It’s time to dance, complete with a tye dyed Socko to Swagger.

HHH is in the back with Trish Stratus who I don’t think people recognize. She demonstrates Yoga to him and shows HHH how to bend over when DX comes in. They don’t know what to think but Road Dogg says they’ll wait in the rear. Pac stays around and hits on Trish but it goes nowhere.

Daniel Bryan is talking to what appear to be orderlies.

We open the second hour with the wedding. Jerry is the master of ceremonies for some reason. The reverend is SLICK! Lawler was just introducing Slick apparently. Slick looks BAD. Here’s Bryan first, to his theme music of course and in a white tux. AJ comes out as normal, minus the skipping. Slick goes into Jive Soul Bro mode and says that marriage shouldn’t be entered into lightly but AJ tells him to get to it. We get the speak now moment and half the arena starts booing. Slick: “Wooooooow. I never heard that before.”

The fans chant no but Bryan has a speech ready for AJ. Once they’re married, he’ll have everything he’s ever wanted. The ring goes on AJ’s hand and he says he does. AJ says yes before she’s asked a question. Slick is about to say they’re married but AJ says wait. She wasn’t saying yes to Daniel, but rather to someone else. Someone else proposed to her earlier tonight: VINCE MCMAHON???

Oh wait he’s just interrupting things. Scratch that as apparently he did propose to her, but it’s a business proposal: AJ is the new GM. Now that’s something I didn’t see coming. AJ hands Bryan the flowers and skips off to her music. Vince only said GM of Raw so I don’t think she’s in charge of Smackdown too. Bryan freaks out and breaks a lot of stuff.

Post break and Bryan is still freaking out, shouting NO at everyone. Cue Punk for likely a hearty laugh. He laughs about Bryan getting left at the altar and says that AJ is going to be GM. Punk: “You can continue to throw a tantrum. I’m going to continue to be WWE Champion.” Bryan says Punk isn’t even the best in the ring tonight and says that Bryan is the best of all time.

Cue The Rock for a rebuttal. After a lengthy intro, Rock says Bryan doesn’t get to say who the best of all time is. The fans get to say that, and guess who they chant for. Rock does the FINALLY bit but Bryan cuts him off because he can say anything else. He doesn’t know who Rock thinks he is but Rock cuts him off as well. Rock says he won his first WWE Championship here, but he’s not here to talk to Frodo right now.

Instead he wants to talk to Punk, because at the Royal Rumble, he’s got the world title shot. That gets almost no reaction for some reason. Punk says that’ll be him because he’ll defeat Cena tonight. Tonight he’ll end Cena and he’ll beat Rock at the Rumble. Bryan says no because it’s supposed to be about him and it’s supposed to be the best night of his life.

Bryan, with his eyes bugging out, says that he’ll fight Rock at the Rumble. He says he’ll be the face of the WWE. Rock says we’re not looking at the face of the WWE. We’re looking at a homeless lumberjack mated with an Oompa Loompa. “Oompa Loompa dumpity ding, you look like a troll from Lord of the Rings.” Rock Bottom to Bryan and that’s that.

Here’s Bret Hart to be ring announcer for the next match. He says he won his first IC Title by beating Mr. Perfect and he’s introducing the Intercontinental Title match tonight.

Intercontinental Title: Christian vs. The Miz

Bret’s boredom of introducing Miz is great. Christian immediately sends him to the floor and hits a dive to the outside but he may have hurt his knee. We take a break and come back with Miz holding a weak leg lock on Christian. During the break the champ (Christian) had his knees sent into the steps to further the injury. A top rope cross body gets two for Christian and he goes up again, hitting the jumping back elbow for no cover. Unprettier is broken up and the sunset flip out of the corner gets two.

Miz kicks him in the face for a near fall of his own and things slow down again. Christian comes back with a tornado DDT for two but his leg is still messed up. Spear is blocked and Miz gets a short DDT for a very close two. The corner clothesline misses for Miz but the Killswitch is countered again. Finale and Killswitch are countered again. Christian escapes a belly to back but hurts his leg again, allowing the Skull Crushing Finale to give Miz the title at 7:46.

Rating: C+. That’s a nice surprise for tonight as they needed to do something to give us a little history here. Also Miz gets to win something for the first time since losing the world title over a year ago. It’s even better than it was clean, which is rare to see. Good stuff here and a nice surprise.

Charlie Sheen says he’s a fan of Rock and is looking forward to the Rumble. As for Bryan, he has Anger Management issues.

Regis Philbin talks about all of the wrestling guests he’s had on his show. He looks good for 80.

Here’s HHH to talk to Lesnar. After a recap HHH calls Lesnar out but gets Heyman again. Lesnar is here tonight and Heyman has power of attorney for him. The match at Summerslam isn’t happening. HHH says he’s tired of this so he’ll go find Lesnar himself. Heyman says HHH is already facing multiple lawsuits and that might not be best for business. HHH says Lesnar is a coward so Heyman makes fun of HHH’s kids. HHH yells and Heyman backs off. Paul keeps talking about the kids and here’s Stephanie, looking great in a black dress but showing off that famous Stephanie acting ability.

She yells at Heyman for his failures and says the lawsuits are a way for him to make himself feel better. Heyman gets cut off and Steph says her dad has more guts than Lesnar. She calls Heyman a parasite and gives him an awful slap. Heyman bails but gets back in almost immediately. The match with Lesnar is on now. Heyman runs his mouth some more so Stephanie takes him down. Cue Lesnar who is actually here for once. Well he’s here but his arms seem to be missing. Lesnar takes HHH into the corner and fires in shoulders but HHH comes back. HHH clotheslines Brock to the floor and takes his hair down so you know he’s serious.

Tout it out!

After talking about WWE 13, we get a video on Vince vs. Austin, which needs to be on a show like this.

Here are Santino and Hornswoggle with WWE toys, which apparently are like old school WRESTLING BUDDIES. These talk though.

Howard Finkel is guest ring announcer for the next match. Now all is right with the world.

Heath Slater calls out any legend to a No DQ anything goes match.

Heath Slater vs. Lita

WOW. Lita still looks great too. Slater laughs this off but then accepts her challenge. The bell rings but Lita says she hired herself some protection. Cue the APA and Slater PANICS. Slater immediately runs but backs into every legend he’s fought in the last few weeks. They chase him back into the ring and the Twist of Fate sets up the Clothesline which sets up the Litasault (looked perfect) for the pin at 1:54.

Take a guess what Ron Simmons says post match.

SEAN FREAKING MOONEY is in the back with Daniel Bryan. Bryan didn’t like being called an Oompa Loompa by Sheen earlier and says he’d slap Sheen if he were here.

We talk to some guy that is the 100,000,000^th social media follower. Good for him.

Fozzie Bear hosts a video on great catchphrases on Raw over the years. There’s a great bit in here where they go with Austin and Vickie saying WHAT and EXCUSE ME over and over again.

Ryder is in the back with Cena and Mean Gene. Ryder thinks Gene was behind GTV and Gene says he wasn’t working here at the time. Cena is lost when Rock comes up. Ryder and Gene leave and it’s time for the staredown. Rock wishes Cena luck and Cena says see you at the Rumble. Rock says he’s looking forward to it.

Kane vs. Jinder Mahal

Mahal comes out with Hunico, Camacho, Reks, McIntyre and Hawkins. They say they’ve gotten no opportunity over the years and they’re tired of it. They surround Kane….and a gong strikes. There go the lights and here he is. His coat has spikes on the arm now. There’s no hat for some reason though. The six guys have bailed and it’s just the brothers in the ring now. Taker has a buzz cut mowhawk now. The six guys run into the ring because they’re pretty stupid. Hawkins and Hunico get stereo chokeslams and stereo tombstones.

BE A STAR! Just for clarification: We go to an anti-bullying rally preaching non-violence right after six guys were about to jump one and the solution to the one’s problem was that his big brother came out and helped him fight.

Charlie Sheen says he’ll shake Bryan so hard that the fake beard will fall off and you’ll see the word losing under the baby cheeks. Sheen challenges Bryan to a fight when he’s in LA. No mention of Summerslam is made because then it might happen. Scratch that as it’s mentioned once Sheen is gone.

We get a clip from the end of the show last week where Cena challenged Punk and says he’s cashing in tonight.

Raw World Title: John Cena vs. CM Punk

Punk is defending in case you’re reading this years later. We take a break before the bell, and it’s already 10:56. We don’t get big match intros as the bell rings immediately when they come back. There’s a quick hand slap and we’re ready to go. Punk gets taken down quickly but comes back with an abdominal stretch. Cena hiptosses out of it and it’s a stalemate. Cena fires off some right hands and takes Punk down with a headlock. Lawler says Cena is like Superman.

Punk comes back and they slug it out with Punk taking over via a kick to the face and a clothesline. The running knee in the corner hits and Punk does You Can’t See Me. Bulldog is countered into the ProtoBomb and there’s the Shuffle. Punk pops up and hits the high kick but the GTS is escaped. There goes the referee as the AA hits but there’s no one to count.

Cue Big Show who spears Cena down and he loads up the right hand. Down goes Cena and Punk isn’t sure what to do. The champ rolls the referee back in and covers Cena but it only gets two. He loads up the GTS but Cena rolls through into the STF. Big Show runs in again and hits Cena for the DQ at 11:15, making Cena the first person to cash in and not win the title.

Rating: C+. The match was ok but it’s a far cry from their previous ones. That being said it wasn’t bad or anything as these two feel like a major match whenever they get in the ring. The interference was obvious but there’s nothing wrong with that. Given the amount of time they had to work with, this was fine.

Punk turns his back and lets Cena get beaten down until Rock comes down for the save. He beats up Show and loads up the Elbow….but Punk takes Rock’s head off with a clothesline. Hokey smoke I think we just had a heel turn. There’s a GTS to Rock and the champ stands tall to end the show.

Overall Rating: A. The ending bumps this up a good bit. This was certainly an entertaining and very fun show, but it wasn’t a masterpiece. The ending was great as Punk’s demons of being overshaddowed time after time finally got the better of him and he embraces his inner evil side. That’s great storytelling and gives them a ton of possibilities down the line. Also by having him attack Rock, there’s a much better chance of him being hated down the line. Great stuff here and a great show.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Monday Night Raw
Date: November 2, 1998
Location: Compaq Center, Houston, Texas
Attendance: 12,590
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

Well it’s been awhile since I’ve done one of these hasn’t it? We’re still building towards the Deadly Game tournament at Survivor Series which is another step in the feud between Vince and Austin. We have Shane as the top good guy now against Vince as Vince is still evil of course because his name is Vince McMahon. I barely remember most of what’s been going on here so let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Vince vs. Shane.

Here’s Shane in the arena to a big pop. He says that the day after Survivor Series, Austin gets his title shot on Raw. Apparently Shane is in charge tonight. Here’s Austin and we cut to the back to see Vince arriving. He comes to the arena before Austin can say anything and says that he’s not going to retire. As the crowd tells Vince what they think he is, he says that Austin, Shane and the fans would love it if he left.

Well the only way he’s stepping down though is the day he dies. That’s very true I’d assume. When he dies, he doesn’t want anyone coming to his funeral because he wants to get straight to where he’s going forever. That’s where he’s been lately because of what Shane has been putting him through. Therefore, Shane is fired from his executive spot and now he’s a referee. If he’s bad at that, he’ll be on the ring crew where he started his career. As for Austin, he’s in the tournament at Survivor Series. In the opening round, he’ll be facing Big Bossman, Vince’s goon.

There’s a cage over the ring.

During the break, Vince yelled at JR and Lawler. Also, someone will be paying hard time tonight in that very cage.

D-Generation X vs. The Brood

This would be the Outlaws and X-Pac. This is being written the day after Raw 1000 so they’re pretty fresh in my mind. The Brood is Edge, Christian and the leader Gangrel. They may have picked the wrong guy to be in charge. Pac and Edge get us going and you know how fast that’s going to go. Pac kicks Edge’s head off for two but Edge comes back with a spinebuster.

Off to Christian who is in a long sleeve shirt for some reason which is really loose on him. It’s a pretty odd look but he hits a gutbuster to take over. Hot tag brings in Road Dogg for some shaking punches and it’s back to Edge. He DDTs Road Dogg and everything breaks down. The lights go out and it’s Kane time. He clears the ring and we’ll say it’s thrown out too soon to rate. There was nothing to see here.

During the previous break, Vince yelled at Cole. Today these roles would be completely reversed.

Hawk vs. Droz

Thankfully they’re just calling him Droz now. Last night these two got in a fight and cost the LOD a match to some team called The Hardy Boys. Hawk is drunk again. Droz jumps Hawk but Animal comes in and pulls him off. No match but Animal yells at Hawk a lot. Animal and Droz leave together.

Vince yelled at Cornette during the match. I’m sure there’s a shoot video about this somewhere.

Al Snow and Mankind have an argument…..I think. Mankind makes reference to a show called Real Secrets of Pro Wrestling Revealed, which was a documentary which was supposed to be a big deal but didn’t reveal anything most people didn’t already know.

Oddities vs. Mankind/Al Snow

Golga/Kurrgan here. ZZ Top is here. Mankind and Kurrgan start and we get a dance off until Snow jumps Kurrgan from behind. Off to Snow who has a bit less success. Snow fires off some kicks to the legs and Kurrgan goes down before Mankind comes back in. Golga comes in with a splash in the corner and an elbow drop for two. A side slam from Kurrgan gets the same as we’re told Vince is yelling at the Fink.

Mankind grabs a double arm DDT on Kurrgan and reaches for Socko, but he’s not there. Snow hits Kurrgan in the head with Head as Mankind leaves in panic. Snow walks into a bad Bossman Slam from Kurrgan. Snow makes both Oddities miss a few times but Kurrgan chokeslams him and the Earthquake gets the pin.

Rating: D+. This was a comedy match at times and a major upset at the end. Well maybe not major but still an upset. Kurrgan is a total guilty pleasure for me and when he’s in there with my all time favorite, what else am I going to say here other than it wasn’t all bad. This was nothing great but I had to like it a bit given who was in there.

Most of the roster was watching the show and someone is with them. Vince comes up and throws the guy out because he doesn’t have a backstage pass. His response: “I’m Shaquille O’Neal. I don’t need a backstage pass.” Vince leaves.

Post break Mankind is looking for Socko and thinks Vince can help him find it.

Steven Regal vs. Goldust

It’s the REAL MAN’S MAN! This is the result of an open challenge from Regal, who wants to fight a real man. Regal works on the arm but gets taken down with a shoulder block. Back to the arm for Regal but gets caught in a bad hiptoss. Regal comes back with some shots to the head and sends Goldust to the floor. Here comes Terri with a cigar. Back in and Regal pounds away in his usual clunky style. Goldie comes back with an uppercut and bulldog for two. Goldust loads up Shattered Dreams but here’s Kane for the throwing out of the match.

Rating: D+. The song alone keeps this from failing but the match didn’t work for the most part at all. By that I mean there wasn’t anything here and the focus was on Terri for all of ten seconds. Basically they were there for five minutes until Kane came out. Can I just listen to Regal’s song some more?

Kane goes for a chokeslam on Terri but suits come out. Tony Garea gets the chokeslam instead.

Here are the brackets for the tournament at Survivor Series:

Kane and Undertaker have byes to the second round.

Kane

Undertaker

The Rock

HHH

Goldust

Ken Shamrock

Mankind

???

Jeff Jarrett

Al Snow

X-Pac

Steven Regal

Steve Austin

Big Bossman

Mankind goes to Vince and Vince says Mankind can have something if Mankind doesn’t interfere in the next match. The gift: the WWF Hardcore Title.

Intercontinental Title: Ken Shamrock vs. The Rock

Vince talked to Shamrock during the break but we didn’t hear what he said. BIG pop for Rock here. Before the bell, Vince comes out and says if Rock doesn’t win the title, he’s not the #1 contender, nor is he in the tournament at Survivor Series. Rock takes over fast and sends Shamrock into the corner before hitting an elbow to the chest while Shamrock is on the apron. Rock punches some more but gets elbowed down as the champ takes over.

They head to the floor and the Brahma Bull is in trouble. Shamrock stomps away and Rock goes into the steps as well as the announce table. Back in and Shamrock is relishing the fans hating him like they do. Rock comes back with a clothesline but he gets taken down by a hurricanrana and the belly to belly. Ankle lock goes on but Rock makes a rope, taking the smile off Vince’s face.

A double clothesline puts both guys down and Rock gets a very delayed two. Rock fires off right hands and ducks a high kick, followed by a swinging neckbreaker for two. The champ comes back with a powerslam for two but Rock gets a DDT for two of his own. Down goes the referee so Shamrock gets a chair. He swings at Rock’s head but hits the rope, sending the chair into his own head. People’s Elbow connects but there’s still no referee. Shamrock gets up and cracks Rock in the head with the chair for the DQ.

Rating: C+. These two always had some good chemistry together and this worked pretty well too. Rock would be thrown out of the tournament for this but since it’s the Attitude Era, I’ll put his time at being out of it at about 45 minutes. Good little match here and the ending makes sense given the story going on.

Vince tells Rock he’s out of the tournament.

Rock is mad.

Val Venis vs. Jeff Jarrett

Val has recently dumped his pregnant chick of the week Terri, saying it’s her problem and not his. This is a rematch from last night apparently. Feeling out process to start and Val hooks a quick abdominal stretch and a backslide for two. A spinebuster puts Jarrett down and Val does his running knees to the ribs. Val loads up the Money Shot but here’s the Blue Blazer for the DQ. Too short to rate but this was nothing again.

Some cops arrive and Vince wants Rock arrested.

D’Lo Brown/Mark Henry vs. Headbangers

The Bangers are dressed up like the Outlaws. Brown and Mosh start and apparently the winners get a title match at the PPV. Off to Henry and Thrasher and Thrasher has hurt his knee. Mosh cheats a bit but Thrasher can barely walk. Mosh comes in legally now as does D’Lo. Brown charges into a boot but he lures Thrasher in to prevent a Headbangers tag. Mosh charges into a bearhug from Henry and what we would call the World’s Strongest Slam. Big splash crushes Mosh but it’s back to Brown. A middle rope elbow misses for Brown and everything breaks down. The Bangers take over….and here’s Kane to end it.

Rating: D+. This was nothing of note other than a way to bring out Kane for the third time tonight. You know, I think we get it at this point. Anyway, there would be a triple threat tag title match at the PPV where the Outlaws would retain. Also, points to Thrasher here for gutting it out through an injury.

Kane breaks some people.

Rock is arrested.

Post break, Rock is still being arrested and Vince and company gloats.

Here’s Owen Hart dressed as himself in street clothes. He apologizes for injuring Severn a little over a month ago and states that he’s retired. Tonight though he’s here to hear from Severn in person. Here’s Severn in a neckbrace who says everyone knows Owen is the Blue Blazer, but Severn is here to tell Owen that he’s nothing but scum. Severn sounds like Goldust when he talks. Owen jumps him but Steve Blackman makes the save.

Severn is loaded into an ambulance and Blackman jumps Owen. The Blue Blazer comes in to beat down Blackman in a double team. JR has no idea what’s going on.

The cage is lowered.

Here are Vince and company. Vince wants to send everyone in the audience into the cage to serve hard time but instead he’ll just be wheeled down to ringside for now. To Patterson: “Straighten me out!” Patterson: “It’s not that easy. You’re heavy you know!” Boss Man is told to check the cage’s security with the Stooges. They all get inside and Vince says all he wanted was a cup of coffee. He tells the Boss Man to go and the Stooges and Slaughter get destroyed. Boss Man vs. Slaughter would have been a BIG feud in late 90/early 91. Vince tells Boss Man to rip off their clothes for some reason.

Austin finally comes out for the save to attack Boss Man and save the Stooges. Patterson, ever the nice guy, hits Austin in the knee with the nightstick and the beatdown begins. Shane comes out for another save but Vince tells Boss Man to let Shane go. Shane flips Vince off and here comes Taker. He goes into the cage and brawls with Austin with the Rattlesnake being too weak to fight back. Cue Kane for about the fifth run-in for this segment. Kane does his fire thing and the middle of the cage walls are on fire and it’s a three way fight to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. There are two problems with this show. First of all, the matches went nowhere. There were seven matches on this show and ONE didn’t have a run-in or a DQ finish, and that match had one of the four people in it walking out. Second, nothing really happened here. Rock was thrown out of the tournament and we were told that Austin’s first victim will be Big Bossman. There’s nothing here for the most part and while the show went by fast, it wasn’t anything good or memorable at all. Bigger things were coming though.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Monday Night Raw
Date: October 22, 2001
Location: Kemper Arena, Kansas City, Missouri
Commentators: Jim Ross, Paul Heyman

Since I had already done the October 15 show I’m jumping ahead to this one (see the October 8 review for the link to the October 15 show). It’s after No Mercy and the major change is that Jericho is now the WCW Champion, having finally won the big one over Rock. We’re on the way to Survivor Series in four weeks which is the final burying place of the Alliance. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Austin retaining over Angle and RVD last night, pinning Van Dam.

Here’s Vince to open things up and he’s got Linda with him. Vince says that he’s been off recovering and has been watching Shane and Stephanie dismantle the largest wrestling empire ever. That’s not going to happen though because Vince isn’t going to let it. He needs a charge though and goes to kiss Linda but here are the kids. Stephanie tells the old prunes in the ring to dry up and blow away. Vince says they’ve thought about that but they’re not ready to go yet.

Shane and Stephanie have been handed everything unlike Vince and Linda. They got where they are by way of calculated risks. Vince is tired of the Alliance and the Invasion, so he wants to bring it all to a head at Survivor Series in a winner take all match. Shane tells him to take the bass out of his voice and the match is made.

Vince is tired of all the titles being with the Alliance so tonight they’re coming home. He suggests Austin defending tonight but Shane stops that dead because Austin isn’t here tonight. Vince says that it’s Jericho/Rock vs. the Dudleys for the WWF Tag Titles. Shane wants to fight Vince right now but Regal stops him. Linda wants to know where she and Vince went wrong. Oh sweet merciful goodness don’t tempt me like that. Their daughter is a maneater and their son is a wuss.

Lita/Trish Stratus vs. Ivory/Mighty Molly

Molly has the signature Hurricane music now. She offers a handshake to start but gets headscissored to the mat instead. Off to Ivory who gets double teamed by Lita and Trish. I never thought I’d like to be Ivory. Trish stays in now and chokes in the corner. Her offense wasn’t all that well rounded yet to put it mildly. Ivory slams her down and it’s back to Molly. A suplex looks to set up the Molly Go Round but Trish crotches Molly and hits the Stratusphere to put both girls down. Hot tag brings in Lita but Poetry In Motion with Trish on all fours (loudest pop of the night) is broken up. Twist and moonsault pin Ivory quick.

Rating: C. Trish was starting to get going in the ring but Lita was on fire around this time. The match was sloppy at times but the energy in it blows away everything that the girls today have. It’s amazing what happens when they actually have some fire in them instead of just smiling all the time.

Vince and Linda meet RVD in the back and Vince tries to recruit him. Van Dam isn’t sure but he likes just being RVD. Vince says ok then, but tonight he’s defending the Hardcore Title against Big Show.

Matt goes to celebrate with Lita but finds Trish in a towel (second biggest pop of the night) instead. Awkward chatter abounds and Trish goes to take a shower. Matt likes what he sees when Lita comes in. She goes to take a shower but Matt stops her so he won’t get caught looking at Trish.

Mick comes in to Regal’s office and thinks they should watch together. Foley has made Bradshaw vs. Hurricane for the European Title later tonight. He thinks there should be all clean finishes tonight and there might even be a Connect Four game.

Angle and Edge are chatting and Angle says he never liked Christian. Rhyno pops up out of nowhere and Gores Edge into a steel wall. Angle gets held back by referees.

Foley makes Rhyno vs. Angle for the US Title.

Cruiserweight Title: Tajiri vs. Billy Kidman

Billy won the title last night over X-Pac. Kidman ranas Tajiri down to start but misses a corner charge and gets drilled by an enziguri. Out to the floor for a second but Tajiri misses a top rope dive. Kidman hooks a chinlock which is broken in just a few seconds. Tajiri’s rana is countered into a powerbomb for two.

A LOUD chop sends Kidman into the corner and kicks put him down. A spinwheel kick gets a near fall. There’s the handspring elbow for another two count. Kidman comes back with a DDT but Tajiri comes back with a slam. That’s not exactly what I expected but ok. Tarantula goes on but the Buzzsaw Kick misses. Sky High gets two for the champion and they hit the mat for a second, resulting in the Buzzsaw Kick and a new champion.

Rating: C-. There were some awkward spots in there and it brought things down a bit. This was so much more entertaining than the Pac vs. Scotty match, because it was MUCH faster paced and therefore more exciting. That’s my problem with Pac for the most part: he wrestles like a small heavyweight instead of a Cruiserweight, the latter of the two being FAR more entertaining.

Here’s DDP for a chat. He talks about how a lot of people (including the hometown Kansas City Chiefs) have lost lately but that’s a good thing. When you lose, you learn to eat smarter, train harder and to improve your lives. Cue Kane with slightly remixed music. Page says that Kane having a messed up face is good, because it’s almost Halloween. Chokeslam takes care of Page, because CLEARLY the way to get over a new character after the old one got killed by Undertaker is to have the new one get killed by Undertaker’s BROTHER.

US Title: Kurt Angle vs. Rhyno

The fans chant USA and Heyman finally asks the important question: are you sure they’re cheering for Angle? Rhyno is from Michigan, which is in the USA. Angle immediately grabs a German but he can’t roll them. He can however hit a belly to belly, followed by punches and chops in the corner. A cross body gets two. Rhyno comes back with a freaking airplane spin into a TKO for two.

Rhyno puts him in Shattered Dreams position but spears him in the corner instead. Angle makes a brief comeback but walks into a spinebuster for two. Out to the floor and Angle rams him into various things. Back in Rhyno takes him down again and hooks a quick chinlock but Angle quickly gets out and hooks the ankle but Rhyno escapes. Back to the chinlock followed by a belly to belly, getting two for the champion.

Angle sends him to the corner and pounds away, hitting another cross body for two. An overhead belly to belly sends Rhyno flying and it’s Rolling Germans time. It’s a standard set of three but Rhyno sends him chest first into the corner. Angle Slam hits out of nowhere but Kurt can’t cover. The delayed cover off the belly to back suplex (that’s all it was) gets two. Moonsault misses and Rhyno Gores both of them to the outside. That gets two back in the ring and there’s the ankle lock for the quick tap out.

Rating: B-. This was a decent match as Rhyno continues to be a very steady hand to have out there. He consistently had decent to good matches every time he was out there in this period. Angle going from the world title to the US Title in two weeks wasn’t the best thing in the world but it worked here pretty well. Quite good match.

European Title: The Hurricane vs. Bradshaw

Hurricane keeps doing his posing and Bradshaw keeps knocking him down. Out to the floor and Molly glares at him. Hurricane tries a dive but Bradshaw….”catches” him I guess you could say, in a fall away slam. By that I mean he tries to and drops Hurricane down on the floor. Back in the ring and Hurricane hits a superkick but it can’t even put Bradshaw down. Suplex is countered by Bradshaw and both guys are down. A neckbreaker puts Hurricane down and Molly dives at Bradshaw which goes as well as you would expect. There’s the fall away slam for her and the Clothesline gives Bradshaw the title. Too short to rate but it was nothing.

Foley makes fun of Regal in the back and wins Connect Four.

Undertaker/Kane vs. Booker T/Test

Taker and Test start us off and Taker will have none of these punches in the corner. A big boot and a clothesline put Taker down and it’s off to Booker. Side slam and knee drop combine for no cover by Booker. Taker comes back with a clothesline and it’s off to Kane. Booker kicks him down and it’s off to Test. This is your usual power brawl so far. Taker comes in and does his arm lift to Booker but walks into a big boot from the Canadian.

Out to the floor and Booker rams him into the steps. Back in and the beating continues. Yes, Undertaker is actually selling some of this stuff. The ax kick misses and the side kick is caught in a slam move. Double tag brings in Test and Kane with the masked one cleaning house. Kane hits a big boot to both guys but Booker breaks up the chokeslam to Test. Booker and Taker go to the floor as the other two hit big boots at the same time. Chokeslam to Booker and after Taker saves Kane from the pumphandle slam, the Tombstone by Kane pins Test.

Rating: D. The ending was decent but man was the rest of this dull. The match wasn’t bad I guess, but this is the same thing we’ve seen time after time which doesn’t make it interesting. All it does is make it repetitive and clear that they have no idea what to do with these four guys or anyone else they’ve had out there in this position.

RVD and Big Show don’t say anything to each other.

Hardcore Title; Rob Van Dam vs. Big Show

RVD is defending. Show immediately knocks him down as the RVD chants get louder and louder. He crushes Van Dam in the corner and a big boot puts him down. There go the straps but the chokeslam is countered by a high kick. Van Dam gets draped over the top rope and we go to the floor. Rob manages to get to the corner and hits a kick off the apron to slow Big Show down. Here come the weapons but Show starts crushing him again. Trashcan lid shot does nothing so RVD grabs a fire extinguisher. Show gets a chair to block it but takes the Van Daminator and Five Star for the pin.

Rating: D+. This was basically a squash until the end where Van Dam hit two moves out of nowhere to retain. That being said the ending was at least a smart one with there being a reason for Show to have a chair in front of his face, which hardly ever happened. Nothing great here but it could have been a lot worse.

Maven is at WWF New York and says he’s going to the WWF farm system when Taz beats him up.

Foley makes Taz vs. Snow for Smackdown before taking some jabs at Regal.

Jericho is in the back when Rock comes in. Rock congratulates the new champion on winning the big one. He’ll be coming back for his title though. Jericho insists he’s still WWF after Rock accuses him of defecting for some reason. Rock goes to leave but Jericho stops him to give him the name plate from when Rock was WCW Champion. Rock has a gift for him too: a chair for when they have a rematch so Jericho can have a chance. Jericho won with a chair shot last night. See how easy this was? The chair was a focal point of their feud and it comes back here. That’s not hard!

WWF Tag Titles: Dudley Boys vs. Chris Jericho/The Rock

Jericho and D-Von get us started with Jericho speeding things up. Middle rope dropkick gets two and it’s off to Rock. DDT gets two as well. Off to Bubba who hits a side slam for two. Rock comes back with a Samoan Drop for the same before tagging the new champ back in. D-Von comes back in as JR criticizes WCW for never giving Jericho a title match. Rock comes in with a glare to the Canadian.

The challengers are tagging very quickly here as it’s already back to Jericho. Stacy offers a distraction to allow the Doomsday Device to shift the momentum. D-Von hooks a chinlock and talks to Jericho loudly in the process. Powerslam gets two. Rock gets drawn in and the beating continues. Jericho enziguris Bubba down and it’s off to Rock vs. D-Von. Bubba breaks up the Elbow but Rock nips up in a cool spot. The Elbow hits for two but Bubba makes the save again. Jericho’s missile dropkick hits Rock but he breaks up 3D a second later. Rock Bottom to D-Von changes the titles.

Rating: C-. Just a main event tag match here and it furthered the Rock vs. Jericho feud as well. It’s a Russo standard with the wacky partners so maybe he did have an influence of some sort. Thankfully this reign wouldn’t last that long and we could get back to Rock vs. Jericho tearing the house down again.

Rock gives Jericho the WCW Title post match.

Vince and Linda celebrate all the title wins with Vince wanting sex out of it.

Overall Rating: B-. Was it good? Yes. Does it really change anything? Not really. The problem here is still clear: these title wins mean nothing and considering WWF’s total and complete dominance over the Alliance so far, having them win three titles back in one night isn’t going to make people think that the Alliance has a better shot at winning at Survivor Series. Good show for the short term, but it doesn’t do much for the long term.

Remember to like this on Facebook and follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Monday Night Raw
Date: October 8, 2001
Location: Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana
Attendance: 9,204
Commentators: Jim Ross, Paul Heyman

We’re 13 days away from No Mercy but more importantly tonight, Angle defends against Austin in a match with NO, I repeat NO, interference at all. You know, so they can guarantee interference. Other than that there isn’t much to do here but we’re getting set for the PPV too. Since there isn’t much else to say, let’s get to it.

We open with a recap from Smackdown where Angle fought RVD with Van Dam winning to earn Austin a shot tonight on Raw.

Dudley Boyz/Tazz vs. Big Show/Tajiri/Spike Dudley

DUCHESS OF DUDLEYVILLE! YES! Stacy Keibler is now managing the Dudleys and has the gray camo skirt and the tied off Dudleys t-shirt with the glasses. For me, this is the hottest she EVER looked, which is covering a lot of ground. It’s a brawl to start until Tazz and Spike get us going. Spike gets suplexed over and D-Von comes in, only to get taken down by his half brother. Tag to Big Show who cleans house. Taz breaks up a double chokeslam with a low blow and a kick to the head from Tajiri gets the pin in maybe 90 seconds. What in the world was the point of this match?

Post match Spike tries a Dudley Dog on Bubba but gets thrown to the floor. Torrie gets powerbombed through the table while Tajiri is forced to watch. Big Show got shoved to the floor in case you were wondering. Yes, six men were used to further Stacy vs. Torrie at the PPV. Let that sink in for a minute.

Torrie gets checked out in the back.

Here’s Stephanie looking great in a leather top and a short leather skirt and thigh high boots. She wants to know why it’s such a big deal that Torrie got put through a table when Jericho beat Stephanie up two weeks ago on Smackdown. We see her being put in the Walls and getting hit two more times after that. She’s better now and she thinks she can do anything, so she’s going to watch the main event tonight.

Cue Jericho to cut her off. We get the required Stephanie jokes but here’s Shane to interrupt him. Stephanie dancing like a stripper for her brother’s song is both nice to see and also strange at the same time. Shane says Jericho’s usual long list of insults for some reason and says he’s funny. Stephanie is freaking out and Shane says that if Jericho actually focused, he could be the top guy.

Instead, Jericho is a choke artist who does comedy relief. Jericho thinks it would be comedy to see the McMahons team up against him tonight. Stephanie says she knows Jericho wants to get his hands on her body but she’s not that stupid. Instead it’ll be Shane/RVD vs. Rock/Jericho. How much money was there to be made by Jericho turning heel and admitting he treated Steph like this because he was in love with her but refused to admit it?

RVD is watching in the back when Test/Booker come in to congratulate him for his success. Booker was happy RVD won but he could have beaten Angle a lot faster. Booker is a five time champion, which RVD says means Booker lost the title five times. Ok then.

Some chick tries to be DDP’s student but is clearly reading off lines, which is the idea. This went nowhere.

WCW Tag Titles: Hardy Boyz vs. Booker T/Test

The champs (Booker/Test) jump the Hardys during their posing time but the brothers clear the ring. Test and Matt get us going but Booker kicks Matt in the back of the head to give the Canadian the advantage. Off to Booker who hits the forearm to the head for two. Test comes back in quickly and walks into a tornado DDT. Off to Jeff who speeds things up and everything breaks down. Bookend to Jeff and here’s Lita with the rana. Twist of Fate takes down Booker but Test breaks up the cover. Test throws Lita into the crowd and here comes the Spinarooni. Undertaker comes in and hits the Last Ride so the Swanton can get the pin.

Rating: D+. This was a coherent match for a minute and then everything fell apart. The titles being switched again doesn’t really mean anything but it would set up Dudleys vs. Hardys again because we haven’t seen that in a few months I guess right? Pretty boring match but again with about 3:45 to work with and two people interfering, how much could they do?

Booker and Test fire each other up and say they’ll get the belts back.

Lita says they’ll celebrate later and leaves to run into Hurricane and Molly who chastise her. Molly vs. Lita later.

Christian comes out for commentary.

US Title: Rhyno vs. Edge

Rhyno is defending and charges Edge into the corner almost immediately. Edge comes back with an atomic drop and some right hands. Rhyno knocks him right back down and drops a leg as Christian gets off commentary. Edge goes after him and avoids a charging Rhyno, hitting the Edge-O-Matic for two. The champ hits a spinebuster to put Edge down and finally takes his t-shirt off. Edgecution hits as there isn’t much selling in this match. And never mind as Christian pulls Edge out for the DQ.

Post match the Gore misses and Edge spears Christian.

Rob Van Dam/Shane McMahon vs. The Rock/Chris Jericho

Rock and RVD start things off with Rob firing off kicks in the corner. A moonsault out of the corner misses and Rock takes his head off with a clothesline. Off to Shane who gets punched in the face, allowing Rock to bring in Jericho. Jericho destroys Shane and sets for the Lionsault but Van Dam kicks him down off the ropes. RVD comes in legally and hits Rolling Thunder for two.

Back to Shane because that worked so well for the Alliance team the first time. A jumping back elbow gets two for the Boy Wonder and it’s time to dance. An enziguri to Shane allows the tag to Rock and things speed up. Shane tags in RVD who is quickly put in the Sharpshooter. Jericho knocks Shane to the floor and pulls Rob out too, putting him in the Walls on the floor.

Shane comes out of nowhere to bulldog Jericho into the steps and I think bust him open. Back in the ring the Five Star misses the Rock and it’s punching time. He pulls Shane in for the Elbow but RVD makes the save. Rock reverses a whip into the Rock Bottom but Shane saves. Jericho comes in with a chair but blasts Rock with it by mistake, allowing Van Dam to pin Rock.

Rating: C. Not bad here and we get the start of both a big feud as well as Jericho’s heel turn that led him to his first world title. Van Dam beating Rock I believe would lead to him getting a title match (against Austin) on PPV in a triple threat. Shane would go on to do nothing new, but that’s probably a good thing.

The Alliance celebrates with Van Dam, but it’s in front of Austin’s dressing room, meaning he’s not happy.

Chris Benoit was at WWF New York last night and predicted Angle getting the win.

Lance Storm and Ivory are at WWF New York tonight and says Benoit doesn’t speak for all of Canada.

Jericho gets his cut looked at when Rock comes in. He wants to know what Jericho was thinking, to which Jericho says that it was to get at Shane. Rock isn’t happy and Jericho says even Rock makes mistakes every now and then. Jericho says he was trying to win the match which Rock isn’t happy about. Rock wants Jericho to live up to his mistakes, so Jericho says maybe he should have knocked the People’s Eyebrow off his face. Rock says try it now and the fight is on.

Light Heavyweight Title: Scotty 2 Hotty vs. X-Pac

Pac is defending. He starts with his bouncing headlock but Scotty comes back with very basic offense. Pac gets sent to the floor but he kicks Scotty’s head off in retaliation. Back in and Scotty takes over again as this is going nowhere. Bulldog sets up the Worm for the pin but Pac’s foot was on the ropes. And there’s the X-Factor for the pin.

Rating: D. The match was ok enough I guess but it’s nothing of note at all. It’s pretty clear they had nothing else to do here so they threw the title out there for the sake of filling in some time. Then again, did ANYONE care about this title at all? Pac had the WCW Cruiserweight Title too so there was no division to speak of.

We’re supposed to talk to Austin but it’s Debra instead, looking as white trashy as you can get while still being both white and trash. She says Austin doesn’t want to talk and asks where Regal’s office is.

Lita vs. Mighty Molly

Molly quickly takes her down and drops some elbows for two. She puts Lita down again and poses too much, allowing Lita to take over again. Molly wants a handshake so Lita punches her in the face. Handspring elbow misses for Molly but she blocks the Twist of Fate. Molly gets a bridging rollup for the quick pin. Was there a point to this either?

Hurricane and Molly leave on the Hurricycle, but tonight it’s the Molly Mobile.

Regal is in his office when Debra comes in to beg Regal to let her be at ringside for the title match tonight. Regal say no way because there is NO interference tonight.

Angle says he isn’t worried about anything. Austin gave up at Unforgiven and he’ll do it again tonight.

WWF Title: Steve Austin vs. Kurt Angle

Debra comes out before Angle so Regal comes out to throw her out. He’s even going to stay at ringside to ensure that no one interferes. If you don’t know what’s coming by this point, you have no business reading this. They start brawling on the floor and with the arena mostly full of smoke. They head into the ring and Kurt avoids a right hand to take over with chops. They’re moving very fast right now.

Austin hits the Thesz Press and the middle finger elbow for one. Now Angle hits a Thesz Press and more punches. That’s been the majority of his offense so far. Austin tries a kick to the ribs but Angle catches it into an ankle lock, but Austin immediately gets the rope. They go to the corner again and Austin wraps Angle’s leg around the post. Out to the floor with Austin going into the table and Angle going into the post in response.

Angle comes back and throws Austin over the table and peels back the mats on the floor. Austin fights back again to avoid being dropped on concrete and fires away with chops. Back into the ring and Kurt comes back as well but Austin rams the knee into the apron to slow your Olympic Hero down. Austin suplexes him down and stomps on Angle’s hands. Why don’t more people do that? Off to the chinlock which is quickly broken by a backslide from Angle for two.

Angle throws on a sleeper but Austin easily breaks that as well with a jawbreaker. Kurt doesn’t stay down long, so Austin’s shoulder is stronger than his head I guess? Now Austin hooks a sleeper but Kurt breaks it just as fast. A cross body and small package get two apiece for the champion. Austin tries a sunset flip of all things but Angle drops down onto him and fires away with punches.

Austin low bridges a charging Kurt to send him out to the floor. He goes for a chair but picks the one right next to Regal for no apparent reason. That gets taken away so Austin has to settle for a clothesline. Austin loads up a piledriver on the exposed concrete but Angle backdrops out of it. Back in the ring Angle gets put in a Boston Crab but makes the ropes relatively quickly.

Austin doesn’t like the decision to break the hold so he shoves Hebner. Angle comes back with clotheslines and chops and punches in the corner. Austin tries a double ax off the middle rope but Angle catches him in a belly to belly. Here are rolling Germans and Austin is in trouble. With the referee trying to get Austin to let go of the ropes he low blows Angle to escape. Angle Slam is countered and there goes the referee. Austin gets the belt but Regal takes it away, only to drill Angle with it. JR is SHOCKED, SHOCKED I TELL YOU! That only gets two for Austin but a Stunner gives him the title back.

Rating: A-. Another great match between these two but Austin came to play here. What’s often forgotten about him is how awesome he was in the ring because of how great he was at talking, but this was more proof that he was excellent in the ring. Regal turning isn’t needed at all as the Alliance already had two people with match making abilities, so this is just more crowding in that area.

Overall Rating: B. Good show because of the awesome main event (with NO COMMERCIALS) and the start of Jericho vs. Rock, but there were some holes in this. Regal becoming Alliance Commissioner was a bad idea because it just wasn’t needed and it made things even more complicated, but it’s not a huge deal. This was a good show, but they needed to make some major changes to save the Alliance, although it was probably too late at this point.

I’ve already done the Raw from October 15 so here it is if you’re interested:

Remember to like this on Facebook and follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Monday Night Raw
Date: October 12, 1998
Location: Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, New York
Attendance: 10,632
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

It’s the go home show for Judgment Day and Austin is back tonight I believe. Vince is going to be mad after the whole rape thing that happened last week. Anyway tonight main event is Austin/Rock vs. the Brothers, which has to be awesome based on star power alone. Rock is rising quickly and along with Austin is going to take everyone with him. Let’s get to it.

We recap Vince’s plot to get the title off Austin over the last five or six weeks.

Vince drove himself here tonight. This isn’t a good idea for him as you’ll see later. The Stooges help him into his wheelchair.

Tag Titles: New Age Outlaws vs. Animal/Darren Drozdov

Hawk is here too, sitting in on commentary. It’s strange to hear him without the over the top voice. Hawk is officially the alternate at this point due to his past issues, but he says he’s cool with that and that he’s sober. Droz and Roadie get us going and the champs take him down for some double teaming. The DOA, LOD’s opponents on Sunday, jump Hawk at ringside. Animal goes to the floor and it’s a big brawl. Now the Headbangers come in and break a boombox over Roadie’s head. The Bangers have a match with the Outlaws on Sunday apparently. The match is thrown out.

HHH has been stripped of the IC Title due to a knee injury so tonight there’s a one night tournament for the title. No entrants are announced yet.

Intercontinental Title Tournament First Round: Ken Shamrock vs. Steve Blackman

Blackman is returning from an injury for this match. It’s an eight man tournament. There’s actually a history here, due to a brawl from two months ago. Shamrock starts fast and hits a powerslam before heading to the injured knee. Blackman is in trouble early on and gets caught in a Robinsdale Crunch of all things. Blackman tries a quick comeback but it’s ankle lock time and Shamrock advances. Basically a squash.

Post match the Blue Freaking Blazer jumps both guys and runs away. Shamrock puts the ankle lock on Blackman again.

Undertaker is arriving in street clothes. Vince is intrigued.

We get a retrospective of Goldust to play up his return tonight.

Intercontinental Title Tournament First Round: Marc Mero vs. Val Venis

The girls that would become PMS are at ringside too. Val runs into a drop toehold to start but he grabs the arm a few seconds later. Butterfly suplex gets two. Mero comes back with a DDT for the same. Someone has arrived but JR doesn’t know who it is. Terri distracts Mero and the fisherman’s suplex gets the pin for Val to advance.

Jackie beats up Terri post match.

Paul Bearer with a briefcase was the arrival. Vince isn’t pleased.

We hear about Sable on Pacific Blue last night and Sable goes after Jackie. She drags Jackie into the arena but Mero makes the save.

Intercontinental Title Tournament First Round: Mankind vs. Mark Henry

Mankind gets Shamrock on Sunday and earlier today he said that Shamrock’s chair shots aren’t hard enough. Before the match, Henry has a love poem for Chyna. Here’s Chyna very quickly after the bell and the distraction allows Mankind to take over very quickly. Henry comes back with the power game and goes after Mankind’s leg. He goes up for a middle rope splash but Foley gets out of the way. There’s the double arm DDT and he takes his shoe off to get to Mr. Socko. Well that didn’t take long. Mankind still has the piano music.

Post match Chyna tries to ask why but Henry says it’s out of his hands and leaves.

Austin drives up in a cement truck. The Stooges say they’ll go look at it and Slaughter falls on Vince’s bad leg on the way.

Intercontinental Title Tournament First Round: Jeff Jarrett vs. X-Pac

Jarrett jumps Pac to start and pounds away on him for a bit but X-Pac comes back with a spin kick (clearly missing by 4 inches) and a flipping clothesline. Pack loads up a superplex but gets knocked to the mat. Small package gets two for Jarrett, as does a powerslam. Pac fires off the kicks in the corner but the referee goes down too. Bronco Buster is countered by a boot to the groin and Jeff goes for the guitar. Instead he finds Head in the case, allowing Pac to roll Jarrett up to advance.

Rating: D+. Nothing of note here but it wasn’t bad. The idea here was about pushing Snow vs. Jarrett in a feud that was pretty much out of nowhere. There was a story to Pac and Jarrett due to a feud from a few months ago, so this wasn’t all that bad. It was way too short to mean much of anything though.

The remaining brackets:

Ken Shamrock
Val Venis

Mankind
X-Pac

Austin pours cement into Vince’s Corvette in a classic moment.

Here’s Austin in the arena to a big pop. He says on Sunday, he’ll beat them both up and then raise his own hand whether Vince likes it or not. Cue Vince in wheelchair with attack dogs behind him. Austin can’t quite go at them so Vince yells and makes Austin/Rock vs. Kane/Undertaker.

Vince says Austin is going to need eyes in the back of his head. Austin shouts at Vince and Vince breaks down, talking about how bad his last three weeks have been, including the Zamboni, his ankle being broken, the hospital stuff, and now the car being destroyed. Vince says if Austin doesn’t raise the winner’s hand, he’s fired. Austin says Vince doesn’t have the balls to do that but Vince says he’ll humble Austin one way or another.

Intercontinental Title Tournament Semi-Finals: Ken Shamrock vs. Val Venis

Shamrock jumps Val during his entrance and throws him into the steps before the bell. Into the ring and there’s the bell, but Shamrock has a huge advantage. Shamrock works on the back and puts on a reverse chinlock which he releases very quickly. Val hits a big boot but Shamrock kind of no sells it in a weird way. Ken comes back with a pair of suplexes and then a Boston Crab. Val FINALLY makes a rope before starting a comeback. He has to bump and grind though so his big boot only gets two. Shamrock quickly chop blocks him and the ankle lock puts him in the finals.

Rating: D. Again this was more or less just a squash. Shamrock has steamrolled everyone in his matches so far tonight and it would make sense to have him win at this point. The match wasn’t all that entertaining and I wasn’t a fan of all the back work before we finally got a chop block and an ankle hold for the win. To be fair though it lasted five minutes so how much can I complain?

Before Val can get up Goldust returns and does his mind games with Val before hitting Shattered Dreams.

Mick tries to console Vince about his car and tries to get the briefcase and the keys out of the car full of cement.

Rock says he isn’t worried about the Brothers because he’s beaten both of them, which makes him #1 contender. He doesn’t like being Austin’s partner, and here are Henry and Brown to complain about Rock not being partners with one of them. Rock says shut up and that’s about it.

Intercontinental Title Tournament Semi-Finals: X-Pac vs. Mankind

Mankind suplexes out of a headlock and pounds on Pac in the corner. They go to the other corner but X-Pac hits a spin kick out of the corner. They head outside and Mankind grabs a chair which is dropped pretty quickly. A kick in the corner drops Mankind and ther’es the Bronco Buster. Foley comes back with a forearm and hits a neckbreaker on the floor, but here’s Shamrock. He pops Mankind in the previously injured knee with a chair, allowing Pac to roll him up for the easy win.

Rating: D+. This didn’t have time to get anywhere, but flash back with me to the review of last week’s show. This is another great case of matches between guys of completely different styles. There are still differences today, but rarely are they this striking. The match was ok but the ending didn’t help it much.

Post match Shamrock destroys Pac with a neck hold and we go to a break before the match.

Intercontinental Title: Ken Shamrock vs. X-Pac

HHH is on commentary. Pac can barely move but keeps fighting as much as he can. Shamrock stays on the neck including a dragon sleeper while Shamrock is on the floor and Pac is on mat. X-Pac comes back with a pair of spin kicks but he can’t follow up on the cover. There’s the Bronco Buster but again he can’t follow up. There’s the ankle lock but we get a rope break. The hold goes on again and this time it’s over, giving the title to Shamrock.

Rating: D. The problem again here, and this isn’t their fault, is that having about four minutes just isn’t enough. The idea here was that with Pac being so hurt the match wasn’t entirely fair, but Shamrock will take it because he’s becoming evil. For his three matches, Shamrock only wrestled less than fifteen minutes. That’s not a bad night’s work.

Kane/The Undertaker vs. Steve Austin/The Rock

Ok so apparently Rock IS #1 contender. I think what messed me up last week was that he was #1 contender to a title that had no owner, so I thought Kane and Undertaker would be considered the contenders. Say it with me: it’s a brawl to start. Kane and Austin go to the floor while Rock beats up Undertaker. Austin and Rock double team Taker down but he sits up. We start with Austin and Undertaker while Kane is on the floor.

Here comes Paul Bearer, which is good as I had forgotten he was here. Taker hits a clothesline for two before working over the arm. Austin comes back and wraps Taker’s leg around the post before tagging in Rock. He loads up the People’s Elbow but Taker sits up. Rock kicks him right back down before hitting the elbow in a move that I’m sure has been on highlight reels before.

Kane distracts Rock so Taker can hit a HUGE chokeslam. Off to Kane now as Brown and Henry come out too. Back to Taker for some choking and then to Kane again. Rock finally comes back with a DDT as the referee tells them seven minutes left. Kane blocks the tag and drapes Rock over the top before tagging in Taker again. Kane hammers on Rock on the floor but comes back in for a Samoan Drop.

A double tag brings in Austin to face Undertaker again and things pick up. Austin can’t quite drop him as Henry and Brown beat down Rock on the floor. Austin gets caught in the ropes and Taker pounds away. That doesn’t last long as Austin escapes and hits a clothesline for two. Thesz Press is broken up by Kane and the security guard from earlier with the dogs run in and hits Austin with a stick before unmasking to reveal Big Bossman. The match is thrown out.

Rating: D+. This is one of those matches that sounds better on paper than in reality. This was more about Austin getting beaten down by Vince’s guy which is ok, especially when the main event on Sunday is about Austin vs. Vince with the title and the Brothers being thrown in. Not a bad match but the important thing here again is to have Rock rubbing elbows with these top guys.

Austin gets beaten down to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. This is a hard one to rate because of the tournament sucking up the middle of the show. The matches weren’t good but they had to do it at some point given HHH’s injury. It’s interesting looking at the main event scene here as it’s clearly all about Vince vs. Austin and everything else is thrown in on the side. The perk though is that the main feud is so awesome and works so well that it’s easily accepted. Not a horrible show here but the tournament hurt it a lot.

Here’s Judgment Day if you’re interested:

Remember to like this on Facebook and follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

In Your House 25: Judgment Day
Date: October 18, 1998
Location: Rosemont Horizon, Rosemont, Illinois
Attendance: 18,153
Commentators: Jerry Lawler, Jim Ross

So we’re just three weeks (dang it happened back then too) from Breakdown and your two main things are as follows: there is no WWF Champion. After the double pin last month, Vince said that the title is vacant. The following night on Raw, Vince tried to have a ceremony but Austin interrupted with a Zamboni, (the thing used to smooth ice) and attacked Vince.

Vince announced Taker and Kane with Austin as referee for Judgment Day. Taker and Kane broke his ankle because of it. HHH was stripped of the IC Title because he hurt his knee and Shamrock won a tournament for it. D’lo got the European Title back too.

Standard opening, but they get a little insane by having a missile go off with the words WWF on the side. A bit intense don’t you think?

Al Snow vs. Marc Mero

Snow continues to get big pops and I have no idea why they didn’t push him as something. He was over and could work a good match. Oh that’s right, Vince didn’t come up with the gimmick so it wouldn’t have worked. I can’t stand him sometimes. Anyway there’s no point to this match so it should be better than most on this show. Jeff Jarrett joins us as he and Snow had been fighting lately.

He’s gone in all of 2 minutes though so that was a fairly pointless thing. This is a decent opening match with the best line being Al Snow is so dumb his dentist says his wisdom teeth are stupid. It’s exactly what you would expect here as they go back and forth a bit with Mero missing the SSP (by a freaking mile. Seriously he completely missed.) Snow gets rolled up and his shoulder is so clearly off the mat it’s awful but he’s counted anyway for two. TKO gets reversed into the Snow Plow to end it.

Rating: B-. It was a short opener so what more did you want from it? Not a bad match but just ok. Jarrett made no sense with the run in at the beginning so that part was a waste of time. Mero of course sucked a bit and Snow was good as always. I’ll never get how Snow wasn’t a bigger star than Mero was. I simply don’t get it.

Austin is shown coming into the arena and having to dress in the referee’s locker room. Slaughter has to be the most useless man in wrestling history.

DOA vs. LOD

This is a twist as it’s a 6 man with Droz and Ellering in the ring. That’s fun as I now have 6 reasons to hate this match instead of just 4. Hawk has admitted his “demons” which is the bad storyline that I’ve been referencing. The LOD with regular haircuts just do not work at all. They’re the hometown boys though so the pops are……..pretty mild actually. They exist but it’s nothing solid.

Droz actually looks the most like an original LOD member. He also busts out a jumping reverse elbow which is one of my all time favorite moves. This is a fairly short match with the LOD dominating for the most part. Hawk looks fine for someone with an addiction problem but oh well. Anyway, Ellering does next to nothing as was expected. Eventually the Doomsday Device is hit, resulting in Droz stealing the pin. Hawk isn’t happy.

Rating: C+. It’s very short and an overdone feud that wasn’t interesting, but it wasn’t a bad match. Droz was better than I remember him being but he was ok at least. He had a unique look which helped him out a lot, making him look more like the LOD than the LOD> Not a terrible match, but nothing that wouldn’t fit on a Raw.

Christian vs. Taka Michinoku

Christian has his cocky walk going already here even as a rookie. This is going to be a much happier review as I just finished seeing my boy Punk get the WHC back. Anyway, this match yet again shows what’s wrong with this division in two parts. Number one, Taka has been champion ten months now. That’s too long for what’s supposed to be a fast paced division and WAY too long for an inaugural champion.

Second, and this is the most important of the problems, they’re wrestling a heavyweight style. The big spot here is a crossbody block. Ricky Steamboat used that for years and he’s certainly a heavyweight wrestler. Sting used to use it. See what I mean? In a division like this, I want all kinds of flips and top rope moves and dives etc. CM Punk, who is the NEW WHC I might add, is more of a light heavyweight than Taka was.

Christian wrestles a heavyweight style as well. See how this is a problem? Anyway, Christian reverses the driver (what small guy uses a piledriver anyway?) into a rollup for the pin and the title as Edge looks on from the crowd.

Rating: C-. It was way too short, there weren’t enough high flying moves, and no one knew who Christian was at t the time. It gets a passing grade simply because it ended the mind numbing Taka reign which went on about 8 months too long and killed the division before it ever got off the ground. Not a great match, but passable I suppose.

Venis and Goldust are recapped, leading to…

Val Venis vs. Goldust

Before the match Goldust hijacks Val’s mic so he can’t do his shtick. That’s a nice little thing that plays up to Goldust and the psychological games. Anyway, apparently dressing in gold is quite intimidating these days as the guy that Val destroyed last month now scares him. Ok then. Anyway, it’s a pretty standard match here and Val uses a diving cross body and does it better than Taka did. See what I mean about the boring moves?

One thing I really don’t like about this match is that they use too many rest holds and they spend too much time with them. Things like that slow down the match and just suck all of the life out of the crowd. Anyway, the main thing is that Terri is on the floor and still wearing her wedding ring despite Val making out with her earlier. During the match Goldust’s glove comes off and he’s still wearing his ring as well.

Other than that, there’s not a lot to say about this match as while it’s entertaining there’s not much going on in it. Finally Terri gets involved as we know this is the finish. Val almost hits her and walks into a low blow for the pin.

Rating: C+. It was a pretty standard match but yet again that doesn’t mean it wasn’t good. It’s ok with both guys being solid in the ring to make this a decent enough match. It’s nothing mind blowing, but it’s perfectly acceptable wrestling.

We’re told that Shamrock has beaten up HHH and injured his knee again and HHH is in the hospital. X-Pac says he’ll deal with Shamrock tomorrow but tonight he’s getting the worthless title tonight.

European Title: X-Pac vs. D’lp Brown

Brown is from Milan, Italy now which is a little touch I always liked from some of the champions. Apparently the Nation has finally broken up which I can’t say is a bad thing. It ran its course and has split, which is how it was supposed to go. Now I’ve never been a fan of X-Pac but I like this match quite a bit for some bizarre reason. It’s solid all the way up until the ending where it just completely dies for me.

These guys go back and forth with Brown using my favorite counter as he just raises his foot up to stop the Bronco Buster. They hammer the heck out of each other and with the guys of smaller size working together, the match works much better than most of what Pac does. Brown just can’t put him away and I’m actually getting into it a bit.

Mark Henry, who is suing Chyna for sexual harassment, comes down to the ring for no apparent reason, allowing X-Pac to get hit with the belt. Brown hits a bunch of big moves but Pac keeps kicking out. Eventually he goes up top for the splash but Pac is up already.

Now for the stupid part. He dives face first and lands in the X-Factor. WHY WOULD HE JUMP LIKE THAT? What was he going for? It makes no sense and exposes the match, which just makes things bad. Hate the ending as it ruins what was otherwise a good match.

Rating: B-. If the ending was good, this would be a B or maybe even a B+. I really liked the flow here despite my disdain for Sean Waltman. Everything had a nice flow to it but of course we couldn’t just have a clean finish. We just had to have the interference and the belt shot and the ridiculous looking ending didn’t we? Just left a bad taste in my mouth.

Paul Bearer might be in Taker’s locker room.

Tag Titles: Headbangers vs. New Age Outlaws

This started when Road Dogg had a boom box broken over his head. Outlaws are WAY over here as no one wanted to see the bald guys win again. They hadn’t done anything in forever and they weren’t any good to begin with. Why would we want to see them as champions again, or even for the first time. The problem here is that there is absolutely no heat on this match at all.

It’s all about the Outlaws and no one wants to see the Bangers do anything. Gunn gets beaten on for a good while and they use an arm bar on him late in the match. Ross thinks that’s not a good move and he’s right. Seriously, an arm bar? Why not a Saskatchewan Spinning Nerve Hold? Or maybe an ARM BAR? If that doesn’t work, you could try an ARM DRAG. As a final solution though, I’d go with an ARM BAR.

Now that my bad Chris Jericho impression is over, let’s continue with the match. Yeah it sucks. We keep waiting on the hot tag but it never comes. They set Gunn for their finisher but Road Dogg blasts one in the head with a boom box for the DQ and the biggest and I think only pop of the whole match. Why did he have a boom box there? I don’t know, I guess because he felt like it.

Rating: C-. The Outlaws were solid faces here while the team they were against just plain sucked. I don’t get the appeal to this team and I never have. What was so amazing about them that I’m just not seeing? They were ok and that’s pushing it. No one thought they were winning here and this was the last feud they had.

Mankind cuts a very funny promo bashing Shamrock and talking to Mr. Socko.

IC Title: Ken Shamrock vs. Mankind

No real reason for this other than one is a big face and the other wants to be a big heel. Shamrock had won the belt Monday so he’s just not going to lose here. Mankind is 6’4??? When in the world did that happen? According to JR at least he is, but I always thought Foley was more around the 6’2 range. Edge and Orton are 6’4, and I think they’re both fairly taller than Foley is. This starts off with Shamrock just beating the heck out of Foley with strikes and punches.

Foley gets little offense in as usual and of course makes Ken look like a million bucks which Shamrock couldn’t do if his life depended on it. That’s where Foley truly shines and this is no exception. However he gets the claw on for all of one second and it’s enough to bring the match to a screeching halt. The commentators are talking about how Foley is a loveable idiot that is doing nothing but trying to please Mr. McMahon but is constantly ridiculed and manipulated by him.

For some reason the chair shot by Shamrock is completely ignored. The comeback is on as Foley uses the same offense he always uses and still makes it look good either way. All of his big moves are hit ranging from the Cactus Clothesline to the corner punches to the double arm DDT.

Shamrock gets the ankle lock on him but instead of tapping, Mankind puts the claw on himself, knocking himself unconscious. Shamrock hears this and snaps, beating up the referee and Mankind until other referees come out, allowing Mankind to put the claw on him and limp away.

Rating: B+. This was exactly the way this match should have been. Both guys worked pretty hard out there with Shamrock not actually beating Mankind but winning anyway. Foley made him look good which was likely what his instructions were. Good match but not great.

Cole tries to see Vince but Bossman doesn’t like the idea.

Rock vs. Mark Henry

This is fallout from the Nation’s split I suppose, not to mention a beatdown they gave Rock on Monday. Henry has a poem for Chyna. The pops for Rock are there and they would never leave again. The classic style is there too as the Rock has finally arrived. The commentators do nothing but talk about how big Henry is. Did you know he’s a big man and a former Olympian? Rock uses his normal stuff which works well against big men like Henry.

He shows some unusual power for himself by suplexing the big fat waste of 3 people’s skin. Soon thereafter Henry is beating him down to lead to a comeback. With D’lo’s help Henry survives the elbow and a splash finishes the Rock. I know it’s short but the match is five minutes and two seconds long. How much can I really say about it?

Rating: C. The shortness hurt this one and it hurt it bad. There’s no need to make this match just five minutes long. I know that Henry was limited in the ring and still is today and that Rock wasn’t ready for a main event spot yet but he could do more than 5 minutes. I even get Rock losing here, but not that fast. The time is the main thing here as it just takes a lot away from what could have been an ok match.

Massive recap and blah.

WWF Title: Undertaker vs. Kane

Austin is the ref and if he doesn’t do things right he’s fired as we’ve been over already. Austin of course is the biggest star in the whole match as is expected here. If you’ve seen one match from these two you’ve seen them all and this one isn’t particularly great as Taker is more of a heel. It’s more of two big guys fighting instead of Taker against Kane in one of their epic struggles.

It’s a slow pace which is what you would expect from these guys, but there’s no burst of high speed offense like there are in the other matches. Austin really is reserved here as we all know it’s just building to the big deal with him in the finish. It was kind of obvious to me that something would keep there from being a straight new champion crowned here.

Your psychology here is that Kane’s knee gets worked over the whole match. Since this is the Attitude Era though, it has no bearing at all on the end of the match. As they fight, Kane starts beating up Austin for no reason at all. Chokeslam puts him down long enough for Bearer to come out and turn on him as he joins Taker all over again. Anyway, Austin sees him blast Kane with the chair and refuses to make the count.

He stuns Taker (who staggers around and never falls) before chairing him. Austin counts three on both men then declares himself the winner. He goes to the back to find Vince but Vince appears as the Titantron is raised after Austin returns and fires him as he breaks out the catch phrase for the first time. Austin says to play his music and has a beer bash to end the show.

The next night would be the famous Austin’s Got A Gun show where he is stalking Vince all night and Vince wets himself as the gun says Bang 3:16 to end the show. Shane would rehire him but for no good reason at all screw him over weeks later. Why rehire them just to screw them instead of just letting him stay fired? God bless kayfabe.

Rating: B-. It was ok but once again this was more about the angle than about the title. I like a lot of what Russo did but I will never agree with his stance on titles being just props. It should mean something to be the World Heavyweight Champion.

I get that Austin was the biggest star on the planet but it makes the title look weaker. Never once been a fan of that and never will be. As for the match it’s one of Taker and Kane’s weakest entries but that’s because it wasn’t about their rivalry as they were just two guys fighting over a belt.

Overall Rating: C+. This was a pretty solid show I think from a wrestling standpoint. However, it kind of falls flat at the end as the final moments meant nothing since Austin would be in the tournament at the Survivor Series the following month.

The show serves as a good lead in to the Deadly Game tournament but other than that it’s just not there. While the in ring work is pretty good, there’s no substance as far as storylines go which drops this pretty far in my eyes. It does feature 5 title matches, but the European and IC matches are the only ones I really liked. It’s a decent show but don’t expect too much. Rated just slightly above average.

Remember to like this on Facebook and follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Monday Night Raw
Date: October 5, 1998
Location: Breslin Arena, East Lansing, Michigan
Attendance: 9,846
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

It’s another week closer to Judgment Day and we have two Raws left before we get there. Tonight we’ll likely hear more about the main event for the PPV which is Austin refereeing Taker vs. Kane for the vacant world title. You know that’s going to rival a Thesz vs. Gotch classic for basic wrestling skills of course. Anyway there isn’t much else announced for that show so let’s get to it.

We open with a quick look at Taker and Kane breaking Vince’s leg/ankle last week.

European Title: X-Pac vs. D’Lo Brown

Pac is defending and he’s coming out before JR can even welcome us to the show. Brown charges right into a spin kick but he comes back with a powerslam. Legdrop hits Pac and a leg lariat gets two. Off to the chinlock and Brown yells at the crowd. He always was good at that. Someone serves Chyna with papers and Henry is smiling.

The champ fights out of the hold and hits a belly to back suplex. His elbow misses and Brown hits one of his own off the middle rope for two. Side slam gets the same. The Low Down misses and it’s slugout time. Pac speeds things up and hits the Bronco Buster, but Henry trips him up and rams Pac’s back into the post. That and the Low Down gives us a new champion.

Rating: C-. Not bad here but it was more about building up the DX problems as Chyna didn’t help Pac out for no apparent reason. Brown would hold onto the title for awhile until the title fell into obscurity. You know, as in more than it already was at this point. I’ve always been a fan of Brown’s work so I can’t complain much here. Decent opener.

Vince is in a hospital bed and complaining about getting the wrong kind of juice. OH IT’S THIS SHOW!!!

The Oddities played football earlier today.

Here are the Headbangers who apparently aren’t scheduled right now. They call out the Insane Clown Posse and I can easily see why I’ve never heard them cut a promo before. The Oddities come out but the Headbangers want the Clowns.

Headbangers vs. Insane Clown Posse

Please make it short. The Oddities have to go to the back and the Clowns come in. I’m not sure if this is an official match or not. Shaggy takes a flapjack and it’s a double suplex for Jay. There’s no tagging so far at all. There’s a Super Bomb for Shaggy and Thrasher gets a chair. The Clowns get laid out with chairs and it’s a big beatdown until the Oddities make the save.

We see Austin looking for Vince last night with an ax in his hand. He took over the production truck and hacked the feed to Vince’s hospital. I mean that literally.

Austin had a metal CD. Ok then.

We get a clip from last week with the Zamboni attack and the announcement of the PPV main event. Vince called the Brothers handicapped (one physical and the other mental) and Taker threatened them. Vince flipped them off and the Brothers destroyed his leg.

We go to Vince’s hospital room and the nurse says he has a large visitor. Vince says no visitors and it’s Mankind. Vince’s heart rate monitor beeping in time with his panicking is great. Mankind gives him candy and balloons and has a visitor. It’s female entertainment. “She does a trick with a dog that you won’t believe.” It’s Yurple the Clown. Vince being given stickers and balloon animals is great. Foley says he has another visitor and it’s….MR. SOCKO!!! Vince finally snaps and throws them out.

Sable joins in on commentary.

Vader vs. Marc Mero

Sable says she wants the Women’s Title which would come soon enough. The whole Vince is Sable’s Boss thing is pretty much forgotten at this point. Vader pounds away on him and they head to the floor where Mero hides behind Jackie. Back in and Vader runs Mero over, sending him right back to the floor. After a Jackie eye rake it’s back to the ring and Mero takes over with his usual stuff. Vader beats him down again and a splash gets two. Jackie dives onto Vader and gets caught, but a Mero low blow and the Marvelocity (Shooting Star) gets the pin.

Rating: D. Nothing to see here as Mero was only there as a surrogate for Jackie and Sable. That would tend to be the case for awhile as Mero never really meant much after this. This was also Vader’s last match on Raw which is kind of pitiful but he was so far past his prime in WWF that it never quite clicked.

Jackie gets on the mic post match because I haven’t suffered enough so far. She challenges Sable who gets in, but Mero distracts her so Jackie can jump her. Jackie cuts Sable’s hair.

William Regal makes his own orange juice.

Edge vs. Owen Hart

We hear about Edge’s younger brother, which is a new revelation. His name is Christian. Owen comes out in street clothes. Last night he tried to walk out on a match with X-Pac but got rolled up anyway. He’s distraught because of the injury to Severn last week. He says he’s sorry but he can’t wrestle tonight. Owen walks out and it’s a forfeit.

Post break Owen says it’s over and he’s done before leaving the arena.

Kane vs. Ken Shamrock

See, THIS is something you don’t get today. These guys have very different styles and it’s cool to see them clash. Today almost everyone but two people have the same style so you can plug in anyone. It’s something that really is missing today. Shamrock is on the verge of turning heel but he’s still a tweener here. He uses his speed advantage and fires off some strikes to take over early.

Shamrock goes for the leg but gets caught in a powerslam when trying a cross body. A dropkick staggers the big man but his rana is caught in a powerbomb. Kane chokes him down and chokes on the mat before a powerslam gets two. Off to a chinlock which Shamrock fights out of but here’s Undertaker to watch. Shamrock fires off a bunch of stuff but it takes the rana to put Kane down. Not that it matters as Kane is up to his feet first. Kane goes up top but Undertaker gets up and crotches him, allowing a belly to belly superplex to give Shamrock the pin.

Rating: C-. Like I said the conflicting styles were a nice touch here. That’s something you NEVER get anymore. We don’t have many power monsters and even fewer MMA style guys, so it’s nice to see something like this. Think about it: how many people work the same exact style today and how uninteresting does it get after awhile?

Val Venis finds Terri’s wedding ring. Guess where it was.

Val Venis vs. Gangrel

Val talks about Magic Johnson before the match. He starts fast with a powerslam and some knees to the ribs followed by the bump and grind. JR takes a shot at WCW by saying this is action and not two 45 year olds on the microphone. Val hits a big boot and here comes Edge. He gets in Christian’s face but Gangrel runs out to DDT Edge on the floor. They stomp Edge and the match is thrown out. Oh ok Val wins by countout. That makes sense.

Val and Terri make out in the ring but a movie usher shows up. He hands Val a gold envelope, the contents of which freak Val out. Cue Goldust’s music and the man himself on the screen. Goldust’s world premiere is next week apparently.

We get a clip from last night of Austin yelling at Shane on Heat.

Vince is in the hospital and wants another nurse and something for his pain.

Al Snow vs. Jeff Jarrett

They go to the mat and it’s a nice technical exhibition to start. Snow is like screw that and catches him with the trapping headbutts. He knocks Jarrett to the floor and grabs a chair but Jeff knocks him down. Slaughter comes out here, demanding the Head from the referee. Snow hits a kind of Air Sabu move against the barricade but as Al goes after Slaughter, Jarrett hits him in the back with a chair. Back in the ring Snow hits an enziguri to come back and goes up but Slaughter crotches him for the DQ. Fun while it lasted but this was about Slaughter vs. Snow, which isn’t interesting at all.

Road Dogg vs. Mark Henry

There’s no Billy here so Roadie brings in a blowup doll. Lawler gets the papers that Chyna was served earlier and it’s a sexual harassment by Henry. Road Dogg takes over to start and hits the shaky knee for two. He walks into what would become known as the World’s Strongest Slam to give Henry the advantage. Brown trips up Dogg and a legdrop to the back of the head half kills him. Chyna comes out and drills Brown, allowing Pac to kick Henry low and hit an X Factor for Dogg to get the pin. Another short match.

Henry chases after DX with a chair post match.

Vince is in the hospital and wants more juice.

We go to McMahon for an interview but he isn’t ready, so we look at Austin’s Zamboni stuff from last week again. We get the attack on Vince as well.

Vince is getting hit blood pressure taken when Austin, dressed as a doctor, jumps him. Austin pounds on his broken ankle, hits him with a bedpan, and zaps him with the cardiac paddles. To end it he anally rapes Vince with an IV. To quote Punk: “SECURITY AROUND HERE SUCKS!”

The Rock vs. The Undertaker

They have a lot of time for the main event here. Rock is on fire and this is one of his biggest matches to date. He’s still listed as part of the Nation here but it’s really just in name only at this point. Taker immediately jumps him and the fight starts fast. The jumping clothesline puts Rock down again as it’s been all Taker so far. Out to the floor and Rock reverses a whip into the steps.

Here comes Kane to watch the match ala Undertaker in Kane’s match earlier. The distraction alows for a powerslam from Taker to stop Rock cold again. Henry and Brown come out but get glared away by Kane. Taker starts in on the arm and here’s School. Off to the chinlock which is quickly broken by a belly to back suplex. Rock gets thrown to the floor and the beating is on in the aisle.

This has still been almost all Undertaker and it continues to be as he slams Rock into the steps. Back into the ring and Rock’s comeback is easily stopped by a right hand. Sunset flip out of nowhere gets two for Rock. Again he fires off punches but Taker easily clotheslines him down for two. Rock grabs an O’Connor Roll for two and a clothesline for the same. Big boot takes Rock down for another near fall.

Taker loads up Old School again but since you can’t hit the same match twice in a match, Rock arm drags him down. JR declares Rock the #1 contender for some reason. Swinging neckbreaker gets two for the Not Yet Great One. Tombstone is escaped into a side Russian legsweep and the People’s Elbow connects. The referee gets crushed in the corner and everyone goes down. Time for Kane but Undertaker sits up. Kane kills Taker in the back with the chair and the Rock Bottom looks to finish but there’s no referee. Kane slides the chair in and a Tombstone onto said chair gets the pin.

Rating: B. These two don’t do that well on PPV together, but man they were cooking here. Rock was on fire at this point and more or less would stay on fire for the next two years or so. Seeing him get beaten down and then fight back time after time, including hitting a solid Rock Bottom, only to get screwed was a nice ending to a good match. That’s how you give someone a rub by the way.

Overall Rating: B-. They’re clearly running on all cylinders at this point and it’s clear that WCW having stuff like Warrior vs. Hogan is merely a band-aid trying to stop the tidal wave that is Raw. With Rock on the verge of being revealed as the Corporate Champion and Mankind’s rise up to the top of the company, this is going to get great and it’s going to do it in a hurry.

Remember to like this on Facebook and follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Backlash 2003
Date: April 27, 2003
Location: Worcester, Coliseum, Worcester, Massachusetts
Attendance: 10,000
Commentators: Jonathan Coachman, Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, Tazz

Rock vs. Goldberg. That’s really all there is to say about this show. Well not really because I’ll write five or six pages about it but you get what I mean. Goldberg debuted the night after Wrestlemania and I think this is the first big match he’s had. It’s also Rock’s last match for about eleven months as he would go full Hollywood, come back for Mania, and then be gone for seven years. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is exactly what you would expect: highlight packages of Rock and Goldberg who collide tonight.

Smackdown Tag Titles: Team Angle vs. Los Guerreros

The Smackdown Tag Titles were established in the fall and had been a big highlight of the company ever since. They let the wrestlers go out and have great matches, and when you had guys like these four, Angle/Benoit and Edge/Mysterio, you could mix and match anyone and get an entertaining match. Team Angle (who are defending here) brings out a portrait of Angle who is too hurt to be here. This is Los Guerreros’ rematch after the champs won the titles in February.

Eddie and Charlie get us going. They take it to the mat quickly and it’s a stalemate. Eddie gets three straight two counts and a nice bit of applause from the fans. After some showboating it’s off to Chavo vs. Benjamin. Los Guerreros take over on the arm of Shelton and use better teamwork. Shelton gets in a slam and clothesline on Chavo but Eddie gets in a shot to the back and Los Guerreros take over again.

Chavo chokes him with the tag rope and Eddie gets in some shots on the floor. Slingshot hilo gets two. Off to Haas who gets Eddie into the corner and Shelton uses the rope to choke away as well. Nice little bit of storytelling there. Eddie gets caught in the double team move where Shelton jumps over Charlie and lands on Eddie’s back for two. A pair of suplexes get two for Charlie.

Benjamin comes in with a chinlock and uses a leg lace to keep Eddie in the ring. Shelton comes back in with a kind of powerslam for two. Off to a chinlock as Cole sets up Tazz to explain how Shelton is making this hold more effective. See? Why can’t he do that with Booker and Lawler? Charlie bends Eddie’s back over his knee but Eddie comes out of it with a headscissors in a cool counter.

Hot tag to Chavo and he cleans house. Suplex gets two on Charlie. Shelton powerbombs the tar out of Chavo and everything breaks down. Three Amigos to Charlie but Eddie has to be sent out. Chavo gets a delayed two on Haas so Eddie Frog Splashes him so Chavo can get another two. He tries a suplex to Charlie but Shelton hooks the foot and it’s the Wrestlemania 5 ending as the champions retain.

Rating: B-. Bad ending to a good match here. Like I said, there’s no real need for a story here because you can give four talented guys fifteen minutes and you’re going to get a good match. Tag matches and cruiserweight matches to open a show are great choices. Tag matches with cruiserweight style guys are even better choices. Good stuff here but the ending wasn’t great.

Chavo dives onto the champs and Los Guerreros steal the belts. They head to the back and leave in a green car. The horn plays La Cucaracha and the car bounces away.

Torrie tells Test to leave her alone. He calls her baby and says they don’t have to tell Stacy about anything. Stacy is Test’s girlfriend but he’s not getting any until he wins more if I remember this properly. Test won’t let her leave and kisses her, making Torrie leave distraught. Sable sees what happened and smiles.

Here’s a very fat gut attached to Roddy Piper. He’s got a basket of coconuts with him. After saying he has a lovely bunch of coconuts, he introduces Sean O’Haire.

Sean O’Haire vs. Rikishi

O’Haire was a guy with A TON of potential and an awesome looking gimmick that was similar to a devil’s advocate who said that everyone knew they did wrong things, but what’s so bad about that? Look up the promos as they’re really cool. Then he was put into a feud about Piper vs. Hogan and became Piper’s lackey and had his push ruined. This match is happening because of Piper hitting Snuka with a coconut almost 20 years ago.

Rikishi controls to start but Piper offers a distraction to shift momentum. O’Haire hooks on a chinlock as this match stops very quickly. Piper plays to the crowd and gets them to boo him, because keeping the focus on the guys in the ring isn’t a good idea right? O’Haire misses a spin kick and Rikishi splashes him in the corner. Sean escapes the Stink Face and Piper gets in the ring. He brings in the coconut but both guys hit kicks at the same time. Piper gets in again but Rikishi cracks the coconut over his head. O’Haire picks Rikishi up and hits the reverse Death Valley Driver for the pin.

Rating: D-. Piper sucked the life out of O’Haire at this point because no one was interested in Piper vs. Rikishi, which is what this was really about. Piper would be gone a few months later and O’Haire’s push would die. The Devil’s Advocate character was never mentioned again and we lost a ton of great potential. But hey, Piper got some TV time out of it right?

Sable comes up to Stacy at catering and suggests that Torrie hit on Test. This was part of some weird lesbian crush that Sable had on Torrie.

RVD and Kane get fired up. RVD is nervous because Morley is guest referee. Kane says let’s go win.

Raw Tag Titles: Dudley Boyz vs. Kane/Rob Van Dam

RVD and Kane are champions. Morley is the guest referee and the corrupt Chief of Staff for Bischoff. The Dudleyz are heel against their will here but it’s the only way they can get a title shot. They’ve also been fighting a bit. Bubba and RVD start us off and it’s power vs. speed. RVD kicks the legs out from under him but Bubba pounds him down with ease. Van Dam tries to flip out of the corner but Bubba takes his head off with a clothesline.

Off to D-Von and Kane with the masked man taking over. Big boot gets two as Morley has been fine so far. Bubba comes back in and gets clotheslined down very quickly. The fans want tables as Bubba manages to knock Kane down. The count seems a little faster there. Spinebuster by Kane gets two and a pretty fast count as well. Van Dam comes back in for some flipping offense, including a moonsault for two.

The rolling monkey flip is countered and Bubba hits a sidewalk slam for one. Kane gets knocked down and What’s Up RVD? D-Von comes back in and gets two as Van Dam is in trouble. Off to a chinlock to fill in some time. Bubba comes back in but gets caught by a spin kick from Van Dam and it’s a double tag to bring in D-Von and Kane. The Dudleys are both in the ring at the same time and Morley is fine with it. Back to RVD who hits Rolling Thunder on Bubba.

The monkey flip is broken up but Kane hits the top rope clothesline to take D-Von down. Morley hits Kane low to break up the chokeslam but it only gets two. Morley clotheslines Bubba by mistake and D-Von beats the tar out of him. Here’s Lance Storm to take out D-Von but he takes a Bubba Bomb. There’s a 3D to Morley and a chokeslam to Bubba. Five Star Frog Splash gets the pin by another referee.

Rating: D+. The match wasn’t that terrible but MAN was it overbooked. I completely lost track of what was going on in the middle of the match with who was on what side. Did anyone really care about Morley in 2003? I don’t think anyone did in 2001 so I’m thinking the answer to that is no here. The match was ok but it was a total mess by the end which brings it down.

Stacy goes into the women’s locker room and a fight starts.

Women’s Title: Jazz vs. Trish Stratus

Trish is champion and Jazz has Teddy Long with her. The Dudleys beat up Trish on Raw recently so she’s coming in injured. To those of you paying attention, IT’S THE SAME THING AS LAST YEAR. Jazz goes after the bad ribs but gets rolled up for a quick two. Clothesline gets two for the champ but Jazz goes back to the ribs. A release Glam Slam puts Trish down but she comes back with a tilt-a-whirl slam for two.

Backslide gets a delayed two because Teddy has the referee. Jazz gets in a shot to the back and it’s off to a Boston Crab. Trish rolls out of it with leg strength and hooks the same move on Jazz and then into an STF, which is the same finishing sequence from last year. Teddy shoves the rope to Jazz though and we keep going. Chick Kick gets two. Stratusfaction hits but Teddy throws in his shoe to break it up. Somehow that’s not a DQ and Jazz rolls her up with the ropes for the pin.

Rating: D. Someone tell me the appeal of Jazz. This is the second year in a row they’ve put her over Trish for the title and I still don’t see the appeal of her. You have Molly and some other chicks on the roster that can be evil and you pick Jazz? Why? So you can have her speak ebonics and be loud? You have Jackie for that. Boring match with an annoying outcome.

Booker and Shawn fire each other up. Nash is ready too. Yeah the Raw main event is a six man that no one wants to see.

Rey Mysterio vs. Big Show

Apparently Mysterio embarrassed Show recently. A fan things Big Show loves Cher. Is that an insult? Rey gets Show to chase him which frustrates the giant. Things go exactly as you would expect: Rey fires off some offense, Show uses power, Rey speeds things up again. Backbreaker puts Rey down and Show takes over. Rey gets sent to the floor and gets in a chair shot and seated senton for two. A pair of 619s take Show down and a third staggers Show but he jumps into the chokeslam for the pin.

Rating: D. I can’t stand these matches. The one perk here is that Show didn’t look like an idiot for the most part. At the end of the day, without making the giants look stupid in these matches, there’s no real conceivable way to have a competent giant lose these matches. Rey’s offense would have no effect here and for the most part it didn’t. The ending helped it but the rest of it was junk.

Post match Rey is put on a backboard and Show picks it up and slams the board into the post.

Flair, HHH and Jericho (the other team in the six man) say that they’re ready and not worried about Nash. Yeah, not only did HHH vs. Nash get two PPV singles matches, it gets a six man as well. That’s ignoring their European PPV main event too.

Stacy and Torrie are still fighting. Were they fighting all through that match? Scott Steiner comes in to take care of Stacy again, which would lead to them hooking up and then a feud with Test, resulting in a Steiner heel turn and Stacy being made a sex slave. Test comes in to yell and Steiner leaves. Some savior.

We recap Cena vs. Lesnar. Cena was a plucky young guy that Lesnar hurt so then Cena came back as a rapper and won a pretty star studded tournament to get his shot here. Check out these brackets.

Chris Benoit
Albert

Big Show
Rhyno

Undertaker
Rey Mysterio

Eddie Guerrero
John Cena

Cena beat Eddie, Undertaker (with interference) and Benoit. That’s not bad for a guy less than a year into his run with the company. Then again Lesnar main evented Mania in his first year so that trumps Cena I think.

Smackdown World Title: John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar

This would be a very different match today. I mean imagine: CENA ON SMACKDOWN? That’s hilarious. Cena comes out in a Yankees jersey and raps about being better than Sammartino. He’s iron like the Sheik and has us in his camel clutches. Cena jumps him from behind and we’re ready to go. This is Lesnar’s first defense since Mania. Lesnar grabs him into a backbreaker and hits two of them followed by a fallaway slam.

Brock hooks a front facelock on the mat and the fans think this is boring. That’s so weird to hear in a Cena match. A kind of fisherman’s suplex puts Cena down. Lesnar hits a gorilla press and we head outside. Cena goes into the announce table as this has been ALL Brock for the first few minutes. Back in Cena avoids a clothesline and heads right back to the floor. John manages to reverse a whip into the steps and gets a breather.

Brock is bleeding from a bandaged cut he had coming in. Belly to back gets two for the challenger. Cena knocks him to the floor and rams Brock’s head into the post again. That gets two so it’s chinlock time. Brock has a cut that looks like the kind Hogan used to get: it’s all jagged. The hold doesn’t last long as Lesnar charges into a big old spinebuster which puts both guys down.

Cena comes back with a clothesline for two. Now the Dr. is getting frustrated so he puts on a rear naked choke of sorts. Cena’s eyes look crazy here. Brock gets up and rams Cena’s back into the corner three times to break the hold. That would be opposite corners which makes it even more impressive. Brock gets all fired up and hits a bunch of clotheslines and a spinebuster for two. Powerslam gets the same. Brock almost gets rammed into the referee but he puts on the brakes. Low blow gets two for Cena and the Throwback gets two. Cena picks up the chain but as it’s taken away he walks into the F5 for the pin.

Rating: B-. Not bad here but man is it weird to see Cena as such an underdog. This wasn’t really a match with a chance of having a new champion, but rather giving Brock a good first match as champion. Cena was obviously going to get better but for a first time out there, this was fine. Why they don’t do this more often today is beyond me. Why not throw out something like Kofi for a title match if you have a bigger main event such as Rock vs. Goldberg.

We recap the six man. Nash wants HHH, Booker wants HHH, Shawn wants HHH, Jericho and Flair are there to give some backup. Jericho and Shawn were just getting past their Mania match too.

Ric Flair/HHH/CHris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels/Booker T/Kevin Nash

Booker gets an ok reaction, Shawn gets a good reaction, Nash gets NOTHING. Nash and HHH start but Jericho tags in during the staredown. Off to Shawn as well before any contact was made. Shawn punches him a few times and hooks a sunset flip for two. They trade pinfall attempts, getting about 14 in total. Off to Nash who sends Jericho to the floor and hits both Evolution members.

Back in Nash hits the big boot and with 1/5 of his offense gone, he brings in Booker. Spinebuster gets two on Jericho. Flapjack gets the same. Jericho gets him into the corner and it’s off to The Game. Flair comes in and misses a knee drop, letting Booker tag in Shawn. Forearm and nipup set up the superkick but after it connects, Shawn walks into a Pedigree. Flair makes the tag and it’s off to Jericho who picks the bones of Shawn.

A few elbow drops get two for the Canadian so it’s off to HHH again. High knee gets two for the Game. Flair comes in but the Figure Four is countered into a small package for one. Jericho back in and he throws on a quick hold which gets him nowhere so it’s HHH time again. That goes nowhere so it’s back to Flair for some knee attacks. Shawn gets a clothesline for a pair of twos but he can’t follow up.

Double tag brings in HHH and Nash and things slow down again. You can literally see the crowd sitting still during his house cleaning segment. Shawn had been in trouble for awhile just like the formula would suggest, but the people just don’t care at all. Everything breaks down and it’s Booker vs. Flair on the floor. Pedigree is broken up as is a Jackknife (a few people reacted at least) and everything breaks down even more.

There’s a Spinarooni and the fans pop to their feet. Shawn slams Flair off the top but Jericho breaks up the kick. Figure Four goes on and Jericho adds the Lionsault. Nash comes in for the save and the second Jackknife attempt gets even less of a reaction. There go Flair and the referee and the Jackknife kills Jericho to a moderate reaction. Not that it matters as HHH hits Nash with the hammer for the pin.

Rating: C. The match was ok but Nash’s reactions were downright embarrassing. No one cared about Nash and there’s no other way of looking at it. The pop for his entrance got nothing, his hot tag got nothing, his finisher got nothing. Also, why in the world would you have HHH pin him here? Why in the world would I want to see Nash vs. HHH now if HHH just pinned him? You have Nash pin HHH here to set up the PPV match that you just have to have. Ok match, stupid booking.

We don’t know much about Mysterio now other than he’s hurt.

We recap Rock vs. Goldberg. Rock beat Austin at Mania and had his appreciation night until Goldberg debuted and speared him to death. They had Goldberg talk too, which defeats the purpose of him.

Rock says he’s done it all and that when he got speared, it hurt but he’s here. Rock is a heel here but he’s so energetic that no one will boo him. Goldberg is next.

The Rock vs. Goldberg

Goldberg’s music is changed. You know, because Goldberg wasn’t over with what he had. We also get the full on Hollywood Rock entrance which is still awesome. Goldberg’s music is MUCH softer and it doesn’t work at all. Lawler keeps talking about how Goldberg was a big fish in a small pond and makes sure to make people remember that WCW was NOTHING. The fans chant Goldberg as we’re in full stall mode.

We’re going very slowly with Goldberg knocking Rock out to the floor. Rock stalls on the floor but guillotines him on the rope and hits a clothesline for a pop. Goldberg hits a Rock Bottom and sets up for the spear but Goldberg crashes into the buckle which Lawler says “may be the greatest thing he’s ever seen.” Now it’s Sharpshooter time which is broken eventually. For some reason the referee looks away and Rock hits Goldie low.

Rock sets for the Rock Bottom but Goldberg hits a weak spear. Time for more laying around as this match is WAY too boring. Rock tries some clotheslines but Goldberg won’t go down. A spear from Rock puts Goldberg down and King is losing it. Rock Bottom gets two. The Great One punches him so Goldberg clotheslines him down. Another spinebuster sets up the Elbow but it only gets two and the fans are mad. Spear hits, Rock swears, spear again, Jackhammer and we’re done thank goodness.

Rating: F. ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME? This was GOLDBERG VS. THE ROCK! Goldberg literally did nothing but punches, clotheslines, spears and the Jackhammer. Not close to it, not an expression, literally that’s it. This match was absolutely awful with them spending at least four minutes (out of 13) laying around. It’s one of the worst debuts I can remember in years and it was completely unacceptable.

Overall Rating: D-. I was thinking this was an ok at best PPV until the main event. Then the bottom fell out of that idea. This was AWFUL with a terrible main event. Nash’s reactions are some of the most embarrassing I’ve ever seen but he would be in the next THREE Raw PPV main events for the title until Goldberg took over. You know, the guy who got a lukewarm reaction at best. There’s a reason people call 2003 the worst year in company history. IT WAS TERRIBLE.

Remember to like this on Facebook and follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Backlash 2000
Date: April 30, 2000
Location: MCI Center, Washington, DC
Attendance: 17,867
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

It’s the final series. This feels like the last week at school when you realize that it’s over after this. This show is probably what Wrestlemania should have been. The company was on fire at this point and this might be the best show of the year for the best year of the company. The main event is Rock vs. HHH for the title with Shane as guest referee. There are also rumors of a Rattlesnake sighting. Let’s get to it.

We open with a video of Rock vs. HHH who has most of the McMahons in his corner. The idea here is McMahons/HHH vs. Rock/Austin. Austin blew up a bus or something recently.

Here’s a VERY drunk Debra to announce the first match. This is her return to the company after awhile.

Tag Titles: Edge/Christian vs. D-Generation X

This would be Road Dogg/X-Pac and the Canadians are the champions. I do miss DX’s Kings of Rock theme. I also miss Tori. Debra is GONE. Edge vs. X-Pac gets us going. Pac speeds things up and armdrags Edge down. Edge takes him down as well and hits a spinwheel kick to clear the ring. Back in Pac spits at him and tags out to Roadie. The champs hit Poetry in Motion and it’s off to Christian vs. Dogg.

The Canadian gets guillotined on the top and Pac kicks Christian’s head off. He’s sent to the floor due to a Tori distraction, resulting in him being sent into the steps. Back in Road Dogg stops a tag and the Bronco Buster keeps Christian in trouble. Some hard kicks to the back get two for Roadie. Christian comes back but gets caught in the dancing punches to a big reaction. Shaky knee gets two.

I think they’re both supposed to try a cross body but Christian looked like he just jumped into the one from Road Dogg. Pac breaks up the tag but while he’s being put out, Edge drops a swan dive on Road Dogg which gets two for Christian. Christian escapes a double something into a double reverse DDT. Everyone but Edge is down and there’s the hot tag. Pac’s rana is countered into a sitout powerbomb for two. Unprettier is broken up but Edge spears down Road Dogg. Tori gets up and Pac accidentally drills her, getting a rollup for two by Edge. X-Factor takes Edge down but Christian hits him with the bell so Edge can pin him.

Rating: C+. This was a good choice for an opener as both teams were moving well out there. That’s what you do for an opener: get the crowd fired up and make them cheer, even though the Canadians were on the verge of turning heel anyway. Good solid opener here and it was fast paced enough to fire up the fans.

Debra can barely say WWF Tag Team Champions. Pac was busted open.

Rock is here.

Light Heavyweight Title: Scotty 2 Hotty vs. Dean Malenko

Dean is champion and this is Scotty’s rematch I believe. Scotty dances with Lillian pre-match. Scotty starts off fast with some near falls. Belly to back puts Dean down and Scotty nips up into the Moonwalk. He sets for the bulldog to set up the Worm but Dean clotheslines him down instead. Dean, the heel, tries to get the buckle pad off but can’t quite get it. He rams Scotty into the buckle anyway and we head outside.

A dropkick to the knee gets two and Dean works the leg over a bit. After a quick leg lock he wraps it around the post a few times. Back to the leg lock and then a leg lace. Dean hits a knee crusher but Scotty comes back with an enziguri. That gets him nowhere so it’s back to the knee by Dean. He tries a spinning toehold but Scotty kicks him into the corner and rolls him up for two.

Malenko kicks at the knee again but then charges at Scotty, sending both of them out to the floor. Back in Dean hits a superplex to put both guys down. Dean is up first but walks into a backslide for two. Scotty bulldogs him down and it’s Worm time! That gets two so Malenko rolls him up with feet on the ropes for two. Things are speeding way up. Tiger Bomb gets two for Dean and he’s frustrated.

Scotty comes back at him again but walks into a powerslam for two. He tries to put Dean on the apron but gets guillotined down on the top rope. Malenko goes up top but Scotty pops him with a right hand. Scotty goes up for a superplex but Dean counters in mid air into a DDT. FREAKING OW MAN and Dean retains. SICK counter.

Rating: B. Malenko is awesome but unfortunately he never quite did anything of note in the WWF. The Light Heavyweight Title was almost exclusively defended on the late night weekend shows which meant that most people didn’t know the title was around or who held it. Dean would hold it until a few weeks before the next Wrestlemania. This was a really good match though and that ending is GREAT.

The McMahon-Helmsley Era (I think that’s their name at this point at least) is in the back and Patterson and Brisco swear their loyalty. Vince says it’s all hands on deck tonight.

Big Boss Man/Bull Buchanan vs. Acolytes

Brawl to start and it’s Bradshaw vs. Buchanan to get us going. A DDT puts Buchanan down and Bradshaw goes up top for a shoulder which gets two. A spear puts Bull down as does a fallaway slam. Off to Boss Man vs. Farrooq with a Boss Man Sucks chant at the same time. Farrooq suplexes him down for two and Boss Man goes to the floor. Bradshaw puts him into the steps to keep the Acolytes in control. This is a VERY fast paced match.

Bradshaw sends him to the floor again where Farrooq gets in a few shots. It’s basically been a squash up to this point. Simmons comes in legally and finally gets taken down by Boss Man. Off to Buchanan who drops an elbow and pounds Farrooq into the corner. Farrooq plays Ricky Morton which some pretty original casting.

Off to a chinlock which doesn’t last long as it’s off to Bradshaw. Everything breaks down and Bradshaw goes up. Boss Man slows him up so that Buchanan can suplex him down for two. Buchanan misses a charge and the Clothesline gets two. A nightstick shot stops Bradshaw dead and an ax kick from the top (cool!) gets the pin.

Rating: B-. What in the world was this??? Who would have ever thought these four would have had a match that was almost faster paced than DX and Edge/Christian? The ending was great too with Buchanan’s ax kick looking great, although it wound up being more like a Fameasser. Still though, good match and a HUGE surprise.

The Hardys are in the back and say they’ll fight if they have to over the Hardcore Title.

Hardcore Holly is looking forward to beating up Crash for the Hardcore Title. Crash offers a handshake and gets slapped in the head.

We go to the announce desk for a quick talk. That’s normal but for some reason a name graphic comes up that says Tim Russert. I rewound it to see if that’s what it said and it certainly did. How odd.

Hardcore Title: Crash Holly vs. Hardcore Holly vs. Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Perry Saturn vs. Tazz

Matt was defending against Jeff when Crash came in and stole the title. You can only win here by pinning Crash or Crash can win by pinning anyone. That’s a unique twist on multi-man rules. Crash runs into a cameraman during Saturn’s entrance. Saturn immediately suplexes Crash for two. Hardcore powerbombs him for the same. The idea here is pretty clear: everyone is going after Crash one at a time and then they’ll fight each other. Northern lights suplex gets two for Tazz. Remember there’s no point in anyone covering anyone but Crash.

Crash runs up the ramp and climbs the structure (it’s the cool one with the swinging hooks). He’s followed by Matt and winds up getting hung upside down by his knee. Everyone gets him down so Matt dives on all of them. The fans are impressed. Saturn does something to Matt that we miss and a piece of the structure breaks off. Jeff dives off part of it as well to take down Saturn. Matt and Crash head to the ring and Jeff joins them for some double teaming.

This is one of those matches where you can’t really keep up with what’s going on. Saturn hooks a freaky arm bending hold on Crash but Matt breaks it up. Even the announcers can barely keep up with what’s going on here. Tazz gets a clothesline and Matt covers for two. The Hardys beat up Tazz and Hardcore on the floor. Hardcore suplexes Crash out there for no cover. There are some signs being used as weapons now.

Back in the ring and Crash dropkicks Tazz down for two. There’s an extension cord in the ring now and all six guys are in as well. Tazz pops the Hardys with a sign and gets two on Crash. C rash barely has any offense at all for the most part here. Saturn suplexes Hardcore and gets two on Crash. The Hardys both have cookie sheets and they clean a few rooms. Jeff hits a Sabu style moonsault on Crash so Saturn can get two. Hardcore superplexes Crash for two. A Falcon Arrow onto a chair gets the same.

Jeff brings in a ladder (JR: “The ladder gets a pop!”) and beats up everyone in sight not named Matt with it. This has already gone on way too long. Hardcore gets thrown into the ladder while Saturn is outside on the announce table. Jeff Swantons Crash from the top of the ladder and Matt steals a two count, leading to a brotherly fight. Tazmission to Crash but Saturn clocks Tazz with a stop sign. Jeff dives on Saturn and Crash steals the pin on Tazz to retain. The Hardys music plays for some reason.

Rating: D+. You can’t say Crash didn’t earn it after a beating like that. The match went on too long though, clocking in at over 12 minutes. The problem was they ran out of stuff to do about 8 minutes in, so from about that far in until they bring in the ladder, this was a lot of laying around and doing nothing of note. It would have been better with less time.

Shane says he doesn’t have a conflict of interest tonight.

We recap Angle vs. Show. Show has “gone Hollywood” resulting in some funny imitations. HHH gave Angle and Show a tag title shot but Angle didn’t like Show being a fat Scottish guy so Angle jumped him. This went badly, setting up the following match.

Kurt Angle vs. Big Show

Angle runs down Marian Berry, who is mayor of Washington DC. He’s also a former crackhead. The lack of integrity is what’s wrong with America. That means we need a Real American…..and that’s what we get. Here’s Big Show doing the absolute best Hulk Hogan imitation you’ll EVER see. He’s got a Showster t-shirt with the rips in the back, yellow boots, a bald skull cap with blonde hair down the sides, he does the hand to the ear, rips the shirt and throws it, and does the swinging arms warmup that Hulk did. And then, he talks.

Doing an even better Hogan imitation, he talks about being to the top of the mountain and says dude and brother more times than should be humanly allowed. Angle jumps him but Show HULKS UP almost immediately. Right hand doesn’t work (JR: “The old no sell!”) so Show punches him three times and hits the big boot. LEG DROP gets two and a bigger reaction than anything else so far, which is saying a lot as the fans were going nuts the entire time so far.

Angle goes for the leg and the fans chant for Hogan. Show (who has his goatee dyed too) rips off the cap and hair and destroys Angle in the corner. Chokeslam ends this quick. It’s too short to rate but as a match it was worthless. From an entertainment perspective, this is one of the best and funniest moments you’ll ever see. Check this out as it’s well worth it if you’re a Hogan fan.

We recap T&A vs. the Dudleys. The Dudleys are the hot new team and Bubba likes to put women through tables. The only one he hasn’t been able to do it to is Trish, so Trish has been making these sexy videos about tables. She keeps kissing him to keep from being put through the tables and then T&A would put him through it instead.

Trish, still the evil chick who wears skin tight tiny outfits and has more sexual innuendo than Lawler could ever dream of, says Bubba will see how she feels in a minute.

Bubba is in another of his trances.

T&A vs. Dudley Boys

Brawl to start of course and Bubba chases Trish around on the floor. Albert and D-Von get us going with the future Japanese bore taking control. D-Von takes him down for two and I have no idea who the faces are and who the heels are here. Off to Bubba who takes his head off with a clothesline. That and an elbow drop both get two. Off to D-Von and the Dudleys hit a double suplex and the yet to be named What’s Up.

Albert comes back with a bicycle kick and it’s off to Test. Double splashes in the corner get two on D-Von. I could listen to Bubba Dudley yell from an apron all day. I’d get pretty bored but I certainly could do it. The big evil (I think?) ones double team D-Von. Albert slams Test onto D-Von and shouts to TESTIFY TO THAT. Bubba: “SHUT UP!” The fans of course want tables but D-Von gets a neckbreaker on Test instead.

The referee misses the tag to Bubba and the beating continues. Albert hits his slingshot into the bottom rope for two. A sunset flip out of nowhere gets two for D-Von, but he’s quickly powerbombed for the same. The fans want tables and Trish isn’t sure what to think. Albert goes up but Bubba distracts him, allowing D-Von to hit a superplex and make the hot tag.

Reverse 3D (called the 3D by JR of course) gets two. Baldo Bomb kills Bubba but D-Von pulls him away from the big elbow. The Dudleys load up the REAL 3D (as in Bubba gets a running start) but Trish offers a distraction by taking her jacket off and shaking her hips. Keep in mind that this is before Trish let herself go in 2001/2002, and yes I said that right That lets Test kick Bubba’s head off for the pin.

Rating: D+. Anything with Trish in hot pink shorts and shaking her hips is never a bad thing. The match however was pretty bad, but the whole point was the post match stuff. Also the Dudleys were more or less turned face in this match due to the fans loving hot women being put through tables for some reason.

Post match Bubba hits the Cutter (called a neckbreaker by JR who is way off tonight) on Test and grabs Trish. She French kisses him but gets powerbombed through the table anyway. The orgasmic look on Bubba’s face is always great. Trish is taken out on a stretcher.

Chyna and Eddie arrive. Eddie is told he has a match next. They’re just arriving from the prom as Eddie has earned his GED if I remember correctly.

As Eddie is changing in the aisle, we get a quick recap of him hooking up with Chyna. Essa was Eddie’s partner one night and Lita accidentally moonsaulted Eddie. Chyna threatened her and Lita hit Eddie again. This is before Lita meant anything.

European Title: Eddie Guerrero vs. Essa Rios

Rios has Lita with him. Eddie immediately dropkicks him down but Rios speeds things up to take over. A Saito suplex stops that completely and Eddie works on the arm. Rios tries to run the corner out of a wristlock but slips off the ropes and has to drop it. Instead an armdrag sends Eddie to the floor but Rios’ dive misses. Slingshot hilo hits Essa and Eddie is in full control. Apparently Trish has been taken to the hospital.

Rios is sent to the floor where Chyna drills him with a forearm. Rios comes back with a missile dropkick for two. The fans don’t really seem to care here. Things speed up and Eddie gets launched into the ropes by Rios’ feet. Eddie sends him to the floor with ease and Chyna fires off another big forearm. Eddie dives on him and you can hear the Spanish announce team talking.

Guerrero loads up a powerbomb on the floor so Lita goes up top for the save. Chyna shoves her off and Lita crashes into the table. Rios runs in and hits a HUGE moonsault off the top to send Eddie into the table. Back in the ring a missile dropkick puts Eddie down and to the floor where Essa hits a HUGE over the corner dive. Back in Eddie hits a superplex and a brainbuster, but Rios armdrags him off the top. The big moonsault (gorgeous one too) hits Eddie’s knees and a Gory Bomb into an airplane spin into a neckbreaker gets the pin to retain.

Rating: B. This started slow but once they started busting out the lucha stuff, this got very good very fast. Rios is a guy that never quite clicked in the WWF but his chick certainly did. Lita would hook up with the Hardys the next month and become as famous as she ever did in her career. Very fun match here.

Post match Lita rips off Chyna’s dress, revealing some very nice and very small blue underwear. This was when Chyna was still hot.

HHH is still in street clothes and says he has nothing to worry about. Vince is smug about Austin not being here yet.

Benoit says Jericho may say he’s great but Benoit is the champion.

We get the second schoolgirl video of the night. It says Judgment Day is coming. That’s Undertaker.

Intercontinental Title: Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit

Does this need a backstory at all? Benoit is champion and I think that’s all you need to know. Jericho is a face here…..I think? The fans chant for him so we’ll say he is. They jockey for position on the ropes and tumble out to the floor. Back into the ring and they hit a series of rollups I can’t keep up with. They trade skin ripping chops before Jericho gets on top of him with right hands. Benoit gets up and tries some Germans but Jericho grabs the top rope.

Instead Benoit throws him over the top and out to the floor. Suicide dive misses and Benoit crashes ONTO HIS HEAD on the floor. That’s a much scarier move knowing what we know now. Benoit gets back up and sends Jericho into the steps but he jumps over them to avoid contact. Benoit is cool with that and dropkicks them into Jericho’s knees to take over. Back inside Benoit gets two off a gutbuster.

The champ drapes Jericho over the top rope and hooks an abdominal stretch. Jericho comes out of it and hits the Lionsault but he can’t cover because of the ribs and a possible arm injury. Eventually it gets two and they get back up. Benoit gets his boot up in the corner but Jericho kicks his head off with a spinwheel kick. Jericho cradles him for two and then drapes him over the top just like Benoit did earlier. The challenger tries his springboard dropkick but Benoit avoids the contact.

Benoit goes up but gets crotched with his back to the ring. Jericho tries a belly to back superplex but Benoit spins around in the air and lands on Jericho for a delayed two. Awesome match so far. Jericho hits his double powerbomb for two but Benoit counters the cover into the Crossface. That gets broken up by a rope so Jericho tries the Walls but he can’t quite hook it before Benoit makes the rope.

They head into the ropes and Jericho accidentally forearms the referee. Benoit grabs the belt to blast Jericho in the face and tick off all the fans. That only gets two and the kickout gets an eruption. Benoit snap suplexes him onto the belt and goes up top for the Swan Dive. Jericho moves and Benoit hits the belt which was under Jericho……AND THAT’S A DQ??? Oh freaking blow me! JR flat out says that decision sucks.

Rating: A-. Seriously, WHO THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA? This was getting AWESOME and was probably on the way to being the best non-ladder match I can ever remember with these two, but then we didn’t get to see the ending. At least the replay shows that Jericho picked up the belt because it looked like he just moves and Benoit hit it. That being said, Benoit vs. Jericho with 15 minutes is more than worth watching.

Jericho puts the referee in the Walls post match. Good.

We recap HHH vs. Rock. Vince turned on Rock to help HHH retain at Wrestlemania and said that Rock would never be champion again. Rock beat Boss Man and Buchanan in a cage to get a rematch but was beaten down after the match ended. Vince stacked the deck so Linda said Austin would be in Rock’s corner. He hadn’t been seen since November so this was a big deal. Austin blew up DX’s bus to end Smackdown.

Rock says if Austin isn’t here, he’ll win the title anyway.

WWF Title: The Rock vs. Triple H

HHH is champion, Vince is in his corner, Shane is guest referee, Stephanie is HOT in a little dark blue dress. Vince points out the card subject to change line in the program, which means that Austin isn’t here. Slugout to start and Rock knocks him down after a delay into the spit punch. Rock stomps him down in the corner but Shane drags him off. Brahma Bull charges at HHH but gets sent to the floor.

HHH sends him into the steps and then the announce table. Vince posts Rock and throws him back in as the odds are stacked very high already. That only gets two, as do the suplex and knee drop. HHH hooks on a long chinlock and puts his feet on the top rope. Shane has been leaving his eyes elsewhere of course. Rock finally gets up and drops HHH onto the buckle to escape. He fires off right hands and they clothesline each other.

Rock knocks him into the corner but Vince pops up with a belt shot to put him down for a very close two. Rock gets up and throws HHH to the floor where he may have hurt his arm. Back in the ring Rock hits a spinning DDT but Shane won’t count. Rock goes after Shane and they head to the floor where HHH gets in a shot to take over. Pedigree through the table is countered by a low blow but Shane doesn’t DQ him for some reason. Instead he gets up on the table too and it’s a DOUBLE ROCK BOTTOM through the table.

Both guys are half dead but Rock gets up first. There’s no referee, but it doesn’t really matter as Shane wouldn’t count a pin anyway. Vince gets in the ring with the guys and hits Rock in the back. That goes badly as you would expect because HHH gets back up and hits a Pedigree. Here are Patterson and Brisco to count but Rock kicks out. The Stooges pound on Rock and HHH gets in some shots too. His arm is clearly hurt.

Vince hits Rock in the head with a chair so hard that he falls down too. CUE GLASS SHATTER! Austin, to a MASSIVE pop, comes out with a chair and murders everyone in sight. Everyone is down so Austin leaves as Linda and the recently fired Earl Hebner come out. Stephanie gets shoved down and it’s a spinebuster and the People’s Elbow to give Rock the title back.

Rating: B+. Why this didn’t happen at Wrestlemania I’m not sure. Either way, it happened here and it was GREAT. This was the Attitude Era formula of throw EVERYTHING out there but give the fans what they want in the end. That makes the wild brawling ok and it gives Rock the title back, which is how it should be. Austin’s pop was incredible and thankfully for Rock’s time on top, Austin wouldn’t be back to action for about six more months.

Rock celebrates but here’s Austin in his truck. He’s hauling the remnants of the DX Express behind him. Austin and Rock drink beer to end the show.

Overall Rating: A. This was an EXCELLENT show with everything hitting on all cylinders. The worst match was certainly fine and the main event was great. You couple that with a hilarious moment in the Showster and a great main event that needed to happen and this could be nothing but great. Rock and HHH would trade the title some more over the summer and it was always awesome. Great show and well worth seeing.

Remember to like this on Facebook and follow me on Twitter @kbreviews