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RDT PPV Reviews
Topic Started: Feb 25 2014, 01:46 AM (5,515 Views)
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Tyler
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WCW Beach Blast 92
June 20, 1992
Mobile, AL

Background: To be honest, I don’t know my WCW 1992 very well, but I do know of some things that were going on and how the company was struggling as a result.

WCW had lost their top two main eventers in the past year. The Jim Herd era had the NWA/WCW’s top draw leave without dropping the belt, as Ric Flair left in the middle of 1991. This led to the end of the new Lex Luger run as well…as Luger never beating Flair ended up ruining Luger’s reign, and he bolted shortly thereafter. This left Sting as the only top guy. WCW did have talent though, and we’ll see it on this show.

Herd was fired after the Flair fiasco and I believe Kip Frye took over for a while…but eventually Bill Watts was the head guy in WCW for this point. Watts was an extreme mixed bag…extremely old school…but at least his booking provided good stories and solid action. So let’s see how Beach Blast 92 shakes out.

The Card

Main event tonight is a World Tag Team Title bout: Steiners vs. Dr. Death and Terry Gordy. I guess that passes in 1992.

Bill Watts is on screen talking about tonight’s matches. He talks about hard hitting action and rules and stuff. I do think there is a way to do the old school stuff, and Watts was the way to do it. They weren’t going to beat the WWF like that though.

WCW Lightheavyweight Championship
Flyin’ Brian Pillman vs. Scotty Flamingo


I wonder how much it killed Raven to be Scotty Flamingo.

Crowd is very into Pillman. I think this is right after a series of matches with Jushin Liger.

Well wrestles match so far. Watts’ rules had no over the top rope moves…so unsurprisingly we’re getting a technical contest.

Not the best selling of the wristlock by Raven (unless you purposely flip to the canvas in a wristlock).

Most of my Brian Pillman viewing was post accident in 1997, watching him do cruiser stuff is a bit jarring (although I’ve seen it before). Pillman was really good.

Jim Ross points out that if Pillman jumped off the top rope it would have been a DQ. See, that was a bit too much for the old school stuff.

Scotty Flamingo looks like Carlito.

Getting close to the 20 minute time limit here.

Scotty Flamingo wins the title by pin in 17:29. Pillman clotheslines Raven over the top rope onto the ramp, but misses an over the top rope dive and lands on the ramp hard (both of which I thought would be DQs here. I guess I don’t understand the WCW rules at the time). Raven brings him back in and hits a knee from the 2nd rope (looked terrible though). Gets the three. Good match. Not great, but filled the 17 minutes pretty well and put over Flamingo.

Bikini Contest
Missy Hyatt vs. Madusa


Oh god Johnny B. Badd is hosting this. I actually prefer Marc Mero.

I guess it’s actually an evening gown contest first. Doesn’t really fit the Beach theme.

We’ll get back to this later apparently.

Ron Simmons vs. Taylor Made Man

Here’s another wrestling joke: Terry Taylor. At least this is better than the Red Rooster.

Horrible three point stance shoulder blocks…as Taylor practically jumps over Simmons.

Simmons presses Taylor over this head and tosses him into the ring from the ramp. Jesse Ventura says I guess that’s not a DQ because Taylor was thrown into the ring. Even the announcers were confused.

Angry Man Spinebuster wasn’t that angry yet.

Ron Simmons pinned Taylor in 7:10. Powerslam for the win. Honestly, I could see why Watts went with Simmons later. Simmons would have been a great guy for a territory to build around, and if Watts was going old school, it makes sense.

Marcus Bagwell vs. Greg Valentine

A really young Buff Bagwell here.

I can’t really tell, but I feel like Valentine is stiffing Bagwell here.

Good old school match with Valentine destroying the leg.

Greg Valentine makes Bagwell submit in 7:17. Figure four for the win. Interesting ending as Bagwell never makes a comeback, almost as if this was a “real” match. It was what it was, but good psychology with the leg I guess.

Falls Count Anywhere
Sting vs. Cactus Jack


Some story here, although I know more about the backstage stuff: Sting was beginning to be fed monsters to help put him over (I think preparing for a Sting vs. Rick Rude World Title match). As Mick Foley wrote in his first book, Cactus Jack came in to put over Sting…but Foley wanted to try some crazy stuff to put himself AND Sting over, which worried Sting at first. Mick Foley calls this his favorite match in his book. While Sting is the WCW World Champ here, it is a non-title match and it kinda makes sense as that’s not what Cactus Jack was about at this point.

In the storylines, Cactus Jack was kinda known as the king of the Falls Count Anywhere match at this point. That’s really the standard Hardcore Match. He beat Van Hammer in one where Abdullah the Butcher interfered.

Awesome backdrop sequence on the ramp! Awesome start so far.

Jack with the flying elbow off the apron. A killer move for the time.

Sunset Flip off the apron on the floor. I’d love to see someone Foley’s size do that today!

I can’t believe this match is taking place on USA national PPV in 1992. Crowd fighting. Rail bumps!

That was what was great about the Cactus Jack character. Yes he was a violent brawler…but he could wrestle too…and that only added to the danger (body scissors here).

Nice Stinger Splash on the floor where Cactus ends up dumping Sting on the railing.

Not sure if that was a botched piledriver or part of the story with Cactus’ knee. I’m actually gonna go with story here.

Sting bashes Jack in the knee with the chair. So yeah, I think the earlier spot was story. Cactus escapes the Scorpion!

Sting pins Cactus Jack in 11:24. Flying clothesline from the top to the ramp from Sting for the win. Great match! Nice brawl. Wish this was longer…and I am wondering why this didn’t main event? No wonder Sting wanted to work with Foley so much afterwards.

30 Minute Iron Man Match
Rick Rude vs. Ricky Steamboat


Oddly, another non-title match as Rude was the US Champ here.

I like how Rude’s gimmick hadn’t changed one bit since 1988, yet he was still over as hell anyway.

Before I even watch, same question about Sting vs. Jack. Why isn’t this the main event?

Steamboat brings his kid and wife Bonnie (Flair’s brings some insight there about here). He attacks Rude’s ribs and Ventura has a point about Steamboat using his kid as a way for Rude not to attack first.

Steamboat trying to win it with some submissions quickly. Interesting story they are trying to tell.

Rude gets a surprise pin after a knee to the face. Steamboat was absolutely owning before that. Pin seems a bit quick for me, but if we are going for realism a knee to the face I could see being a good finish (ain’t that right D-Bry).

Rude nails the Rude Awakening for a quick 2-0 lead now. I do like that booking a lot. Steamboat is dazed…so take advantage. Well done.

Rude comes off the top rope with a flying knee drop! That’s a DQ here! 2-1. But wait, that took out Steamboat…so Rude gets ANOTHER pin for the 3-1 lead. Awesome heel spot. HHH vs. Rock stole this idea at Judgment Day 2000.

Steamboat gets beat on for about six minutes, but nicely reverses a Tombstone and drills Rude to cut it to 3-2. I wanna see someone climb Undertaker like that.

Steamboat with an awesome bridge into a backslide for another three. 3-3! Still 10 minutes left.

Steamboat trying to take the lead with tons of pinning attempts. No dice though, Rude stops him.

Man even Rick Rude’s sleeper looks awesome.

This seriously is the best sleeper I’ve ever seen. And somehow Steamboat even sells it like a million bucks…which is crazy, again, because it’s a sleeper. Two minutes left.

Ricky Steamboat wins 4-3. Wow! Steamboat looks dead in the sleeper…but gets back to his feet and does the Bret Hart-Roddy Piper/Steve Austin Rude pins himself sequence…only the Rude’s injured ribs story makes it more effective…and he gets the pin! Rude goes batshit insane here and gets SEVEN two counts in 30 seconds to try to tie it…but no dice. Incredible finish. Match was great. I did think the first fall came too sudden but everything else worked really well. Really wondering why this wasn’t the main event especially since there was a great finish here. This was PWI’s Third Runner up for Match of the Year.

Swimsuit Competition
Missy Hyatt vs. Madusa


Oh god more Johnny B. Badd.

Um…I think Missy Hyatt wins. There’s a round three later though.

Six Man Tag Team Match: Ole Anderson is the special referee
The Dangerous Alliance (Steve Austin, Arn Anderson and Beautiful Bobby Eaton) vs. Nikita Koloff, Barry Windham and Dustin Rhodes


A young Stone Cold and Goldust in this one. Young Heyman at ringside too.

Windham and Austin start. Not sure if this is really a good comparison, but I actually see some Austin in Windham at this point.

They tease Arn Anderson coming off the top. Really pushing the new rules of WCW here.

Koloff clotheslines Arn over the rope…and Paul E. wants a DQ. He doesn’t get the call though…which it least is consistent from the Lightheavy title match.

During the match Ross and Ventura say that Madusa is beating Hyatt 51% to 49%. A lot of blind people voting I guess.

I like Ole Anderson as a referee.

Rhodes, Windham and Koloff win in 15:32 by DQ. Arn Anderson is caught coming off the top rope for the DQ. Ugh. Look, that’s fine if you want to get the new rules over, but don’t waste a PPV finish on it. This is a well wrestled match but utterly pointless due to the finish.

Paul E. tells Steamboat no more US Title shots. Then Steamboat is attacked by Cactus Jack. Good stuff.

Bikini Contest
Missy Hyatt vs. Madusa


Hyatt uses Ventura’s scarves as a bikini. Johnny B. Badd says she wins. Madusa gets mad. For the record, Hyatt’s swimsuit was more of a bikini. Whatever. How did Missy Hyatt get so unhot though? She was practically Sunny before Sunny.

WCW World Tag Team Championship
The Steiner Bros.(c) vs. The Miracle Violence Connection (Dr. Death Steve Williams and Bam Bam Terry Gordy)


I think the story here is the Steiners have destroyed everyone…but these two from Japan can match amateur wrestling and power with the Steiners.

A lot of amateur wrestling early.

Jesse Ventura with the line of the night. JR: “Rick Steiner has a degree in Education for Michigan.” Ventura: “Oh yeah right. From Kindergarten?”

Crowd is really into the Steiners, for what it’s worth about this being the main event.

All this technical wrestling leads to a Bow and Arrow lock from Scott. I like the rarer unique submissions as you can see.

Working on Scotty Steiner’s knee. Always good psychology.

Dr. Death with the Walls of Jericho!

I always wondered how people killed JBL for his Clothesline From Hell when the Steiners used Steinerlines as a finisher at times.

Time Limit Draw in 30:00. Scott Steiner gets a Frankensteiner, but it’s too late. Of course, in any era, this is a shit finish for the last match on the show. Match itself was pretty boring. Maybe it was a big deal in 1992, and it was wrestled well I guess, but I just wasn’t feeling it. This match also has another bigger issue. Throughout the show a NWA World Tag Team Title tournament was being promoted. So, why should I care about the WCW World Tag Team title?

Interesting PPV. It’s wrestled well from top to bottom, but it has some major problems. One is the match order. Having two non-finishes as the last two matches on a PPV is very unsatisfying. Especially when Steamboat-Rude was an excellent Iron Man Match and quite main event worthy…and the WCW Champ Sting could have also main evented in a great brawl with Cactus Jack. But a DQ by coming off the top and a time limit draw? Bad way to end the show in any era. I’m guessing the tag match main evented because Watts liked tough guys, and Dr. Death, Gordy and the Steiners were all as tough as they come. It’s still the wrong choice though and really messes up the card.

The bikini stuff didn’t need three different segments.

There could have been some emphasis on the stories. While Cactus Jack got some story, I had no idea about why Steamboat-Rude wasn’t for the title and why he still can’t have a title shot. Also no idea why, as alluded to in the commentary, Vader was happy that Cactus was beating up Sting.

Those may be the only bad things, but they are major.

A lot of good stuff though. Great wrestling. A couple great matches. Some of the bikini stuff was great. Very good opener. A clear showing that they were going to go with Ron Simmons at some point. The storytelling is there…they just need to tell us.

Good outweighs the bad for sure.

Final Grade: B
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1994 Royal Rumble
January 22, 1994
Providence, RI

Background: Hulkamania had burnt out, brother.

Vince McMahon made a mistake in 1993. Thinking that Hulk Hogan still had some juice at the time, McMahon prematurely ended the first Bret Hart World Title run and had Hogan win the title at Wrestlemania IX via Yokozuna. The Hogan reign was a shell of the previous eight years. It set the WWE back a year. If you believe Vince was trying to build Hogan vs. Hart at Summerslam 93, fine, but it sure as well didn’t seem to work out that way post Hogan.

It’s interesting in 2014 that we talk about the whole forced push (Batista) vs. the naturally over star (Daniel Bryan). We got the same thing in 1993/1994. The difference is, being the TOP guy mattered a hell of a lot more then than it does not. The top guy needed the title in 1993. Now, it depends. While Lex Luger got some good reactions in his feud with Yoko, he was the poor man’s Hogan…and was not in the popularity discussion with Hart. Worse, Luger was actually the #3 babyface popularity wise as Survivor Series 93 showed (The Undertaker).

The 1994 Royal Rumble was perhaps the most organic way a world title program for a year had ever been decided. It’s interesting how 20 years later WWE dared not to try the same thing. Interestingly enough, they tease Bret not being in the 94 Rumble.


The Card

Ted Dibiase is Vince’s commentary partner!

Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Tatanka

Tatanka still had that undefeated streak going here. (Actually, Dibiase says Tatanka has one loss, so I’m wrong there).

Match was originally Tatanka vs. Ludvig Borga. Borga left the WWF right before this.

Interestingly these two would be the members of the Million Dollar Corporation going for the Tag belts the next year.

Dibiase and McMahon mention that Tatanka and Bigelow may be running on empty in regards to stamina for the Rumble. Makes you wonder why someone would take a match before the Rumble, no?

Never would have expected a double crossbody spot between Bigelow and Tatanka.

Awesome heel spot here. Bigelow pounds on Tatanka..but Tatanka is...er…Nativing Up? Tatanka keeps no selling the forearms…so Bigelow just does a standing dropkick to the back of the head…then he mocks the Tatanka hopping or whatever he is doing. Bigelow can be awesome sometimes.

Tatanka pins Bam Bam Bigelow in 8:12. Bigelow misses the top rope moonsault…and Tatanka hits a flying crossbody off the top for the win. Decent match. I don’t really think much of Tatanka (who did really?) and I think this may be the best match I’ve ever seen of his. Not a bad opener.

Bret says 1-2-3 Keep somehow in an interview. Whatever, tag title match time.

WWF World Tag Team Title
The Quebecers© vs. The Hart Brothers


Story here: Owen and Bret collided at Survivor Series 93 in their match which resulted in Owen being the only Hart eliminated. Owen pushed Bret around a bit, blaming him. Owen challenged Bret, Bret said he’d never fight his own brother, but then they reconciled over Christmas for this tag team title match.

Gotta like Jacques trying to stir trouble between Owen and Bret early on. Quebecers were a great heel team.

Random botch from Owen early on when he puts on the brakes on a Jacques backdrop attempt.

Classic Hart Foundation Backbreaker Forearm combo from the Harts.

The Harts are doing a lot of lack of chemistry spots…which I can’t tell if it’s intentional or not, but I think it is. (Example, Bret trying to tag Owen when Owen had his boot on the top rope for Bret to slam Pierre into). Match is doing a good job of making this match seem like teamwork vs. individuals.

Double stun gun to Owen!

I do think this match made Owen someone that money could be made from.

Johnny Polo (Quote the Polo, never more) pulls down the rope and Bret goes flying to the outside (which didn’t look good to be honest). Bret injures the knee, and the Quebecers pounce!

Owen puts Bret back into the ring, which I never caught as a selfish move until a lot later. I’ll get into that afterwards.

The Quebecers retain via ref stoppage in 16:48. Bret moves out of the way as Pieree crashes to the mat. Instead of tagging Owen though, Bret goes for the Sharpshooter…but his knee collapses. Ref calls it there. One of the greatest heel turns ever follow, as Owen kicks Bret’s knee down…and when Bret gets carried out we get the famous “kicked your leg out of your leg” promo.

I think the match is rather disjointed. I do think the finish itself kinda sucks, even if it works storyline wise (and to protect Bret as the blame can be placed on the referee). It doesn’t really flow…but I think that’s because of the storyline of building up tension between Bret and Owen, and how they really weren’t on the same page. And the storyline is great. The best part about it is that the fans can choose how they feel about it. Was Bret selfish about trying to win the match on his own? Was Owen right to feel this way (surely real life little brothers can relate). Or was Owen selfish in putting Bret in the ring with the blown knee (the way the WWF went about it…as Owen’s whole thing for a year was about him trying to win his first title, which he does at Mania XI 14 months later). Interestingly, you can also see a lot of parallels between this feud and Taker vs. Kane in 97-98. Right down to the temporary reunion.

Intercontinental Championship
Razor Ramon© vs. IRS


Story here doesn’t really involve IRS. Former IC Champ Shawn Michaels was suspended (legit) and was stripped of the IC title. Then they ran the former IC Champ who was never beaten (HBK) vs. current champ (Ramon). Really leaves this one in doubt, eh?

For some reason, Jim Ross and Gorilla are commenating on this match.

IRS cuts a promo. All the tax cheats showed up tonight. I do think the IRS character was great.

Creative spot with IRS coming off the top then blocking Razor’s boot.

Ref bump. Briefcase shot to IRS!

It’s HBK! Fake IC belt shot to Razor!

IRS wins the title! Wait, second ref!

Razor Ramon retains by pin in 11:30. IRS gets screwed. Second ref comes out and tells the original ref that HBK interfered. Razor’s Edge to IRS and the pin. Here’s why this finish sucks: First off, always hate the referee correcting the call finish. Just have two refs then. And also…RAZOR HIT HIM WITH THE BRIEFCASE FIRST! Jeez. Anyway, match was uneventful, and this was just HBK-Razor Mania X build.

WWF Championship: Casket Match
Yokozuna© vs. The Undertaker


Story: Undertaker was added as a member of the All-American team at Survivor Series 93. Taker survived a Banzai Drop. Set up this match…where Cornette got in the stip that this was Taker’s only title match…but Paul Bearer got in that it would be a Casket match.

This is the last of the Western Mortician Undertaker. The promo video for this is Taker building the casket and Yokozuna looking scared shitless. The only problem here is that it makes Yoko look kinda weak…but this was how mid 90s Taker was booked. It also kinda explains the shit finish we’re going to get here.

In defense of the booking, Yokozuna is afraid of the casket and NOT the Undertaker.

Yoko hilariously runs into the ringpost on his own.

Taker whacks Yokozuna with a chair! To be honest, this is a fun start.

Salt to the eyes!

Chokeslam on Yokozuna! Big DDT from the Taker!

Yoko’s in the box! Here is where it goes off the rails.

It’s Crush!

Taker takes him out.

It’s the Great Kabuki and Tenryu!

Taker takes them out!

Bam Bam Bigelow!

Mr. Fuji stole the urn. But Bearer steals it back! And here’s the Taker comeback!

Jeff Jarrett, Adam Bomb, the Headshrinkers, Diesel! It’s a 10 on 1!

POWER OF THE URN. Taker still fights back.

Yoko steals the urn…urn shot to Taker! Then we get some green smoke or something. I’m the biggest Undertaker fan of them all, but lol what the hell? Hey um…why didn’t these 10 guys just attack Paul Bearer?

Yokozuna retains the title in 14:18. They all beat up on Taker a bit more, then dump him in the casket. Bigelow jumps on it to close it. Taker does some crazy resurrection stuff with a big speech. Really, horrible stuff even for mid 90s Undertaker standards. Look, I get and even embrace the idea of the indestructible Terminator Undertaker of the mid 90s. I was a big fan. I’m all for Taker kicking out of a finish or two. But this is a bit much. If it takes 10 guys to beat the Undertaker…one of those guys being the dominant World Champ that ended Hulkamania, we’ve went a little too far here. If they wanted to run this finish, should have had maybe just Crush, Kabuki and Tenryu come in, and have Yoko drop five or six Banzai Drops. Of course, this whole idea made the King of the Ring 95 finish between Taker and Mabel look really ridiculous…and while Taker vs. Yoko was a good match later in 94 (probably because Taker practically killed him), this Taker character got wasted until Mankind showed up in 1996.

And really, the levitation and resurrection and all that stuff. Really too much. Green smoke and all. Match was pretty good until the clusterfuck. Some say it’s the worst match ever. I wouldn’t go that far, as there has been a lot of crap out there (I think Sting vs. Jarrett and six fake Stings is worse, for example), but it was pretty bad.

The Royal Rumble

Nice 20 second Royal Rumble interviews!

I think this was the first year to do 90 second intervals.

#1 is Scotty Steiner! Pre-Big Poppa Pump of course.

#2 is a Headshrinker, Samu.

#3 is Rick Steiner. Well so much for Samu.

Scott Steiner oddly shoves Samu off the apron to take him out. Weird elimination.

#4 is Kwang. Green Mist takes incapacitates Rick and evens the odds.

Scott practically kicks Kwang’s ass.

Huge heat for #5 Owen Hart. That’s how you know the angle earlier worked.

Owen dumps Rick Steiner.

#6 is Bart Gunn.

We are told there was an altercation backstage!

#7 is Diesel.

Diesel goes on an ass kicking spree. Bart Gunn is gone. Scott Steiner is gone! Owen Hart is gone to huge cheers! Kwang tries to hang on, but he’s gone too. Diesel Power has arrived!

#8 is Bob Backlund! Funny enough, these two were a WWF World Title match by November…where Diesel won the title.

Backlund almost gets rid of Diesel, but Diesel holds on...then just takes out Backlund. This is the match that got Diesel over, for the record.

#9 is Billy Gunn. And there he goes! Great reaction for Diesel. This was the first time something like this (one man owning the Rumble) had ever happened.

Kabuki and Tenryu have beat up Lex Luger in the back. They are hired to make sure Luger doesn’t win.

#10 is Virgil. Dibiase is of course going to enjoy this. Of course, Diesel takes him out. Apparently this could have been Kamala. Commentary like that is gold (Dibiase’s).

#11 is Randy Savage. This will be the end of Diesel Power for now. Diesel’s face sells it well though. Of course Dibiase doesn’t like him either.

#12 is Jeff Jarrett. Jarrett thinks he got rid of Savage..but he doesn’t…and Savage dumps him as…

#13 comes…and it’s Crush. Savage and Crush were feuding here.

Crush and Diesel prove to be too much for Savage, and as #14 comes, they get rid of him (what a waste of Randy Savage).

#14 is Doink. Comedy spots coming. Doink laughs at both Crush and Diesel. Flower water squirter to the eyes of both men. Steps on the foot! Poke in the eye. Going for the bodyslam on Diesel is Doink’s downfall.

#15 is Doink’s enemy, Bam Bam Bigelow. Bam Bam sends Doink flying out, and I believe this injured Doink legit.

#16 is Mabel. A lot of big men in there.

#17 is Thurmann Sparky Plugg. In other words, Bob Holly. This is his debut.

#18 is Shawn Michaels…and it looks like Diesel wants a piece of him! Shawn convinces him otherwise, but everyone attacks Diesel. Michaels actually does the final push, and Diesel is gone and gets a huge ovation. Also planted a really early seed in the Diesel-HBK storyline over the next year.

#19. Mo. Woo?

Greg Valentine is #20. Tatanka is #21. Time killing portion of the match now. Shawn is doing a lot of near eliminations.

#22 is Kabuki. Means we are getting Luger soon…of course…if LUGER CAN MAKE IT.

Everybody (but Mo) dumps Mabel.

#23 is Lex Luger! Good pop for him. Of course, we’ll see how that ends up.

Goodbye Kabuki. But Fuji’s other hired gun is #24…here comes Tenryu.

Vince says we’ll see Crush, Kabuki and Tenryu triple team Luger. Um...Kabuki is gone.

Tenryu with some awful looking chops. Probably why before I knew who he was I didn’t take him seriously as a threat.

#25 is no-one! Sadly, that must be Bret. What a shame.

Tenryu ups the chops on the next exchange.

#26 is Rick Martel.

Crazy Luger-Tatanka exchange.

#27 is…Bret Hart! Great fake with #25 (who Vince says was Bastion Booger, who got sick. Thank god). Huge reaction for Bret. Bret is heavily limping and everyone goes for the knee.

#28 is Fatu.

There goes Crush by Luger.

#29 is Marty Jannetty. Him and HBK just go at it! I love this stuff and you just don’t see it today. Two men who have always been enemies just going at it.

#30 is Adam Bomb. Your winner is in the ring! Despite Vince saying Bomb is going to win…I don’t see it.

There’s a 5 minute period where nothing happens.

People finally start to get dumped. Valentine was first. Adam Bomb probably has the worst #30 performance ever. Dibiase kills him for it.

Bret, Fatu, Luger and HBK are the final four. You know, one of these guys ran over the biggest star in the business six years from this point.

Luger and Bret simultaneously dump HBK and Fatu out.

Bret Hart and Lex Luger co-win the Rumble in 55:08. Luger and Bret go over at the same time (later proven that Bret hit last, but whatever). Jack Tunney comes down to make a decision. For the record, when they announce Luger as the winner, crowd cheers at first…but when Bret gets announced he gets a HUGE pop. When they keep going, the fans turn on Luger. This was the end of the Lex Luger as World Champion idea. Bret was the right choice here and for all of 1994. I think this was a pretty good Rumble, although the time after #30 was a bit slow. The finish though, sucks. Absolutely sucks. Just restart it right after the crowd reactions and let Bret win at least! I mean a draw? A draw? Come on. Hell at least run Yoko down there to lay both men out or something. What a lame ending.

What hurts this card a ton is that only one match had a clean finish: Tatanka vs. Bam Bam. Tag title match had a crap finish. IC title match had a Dusty Finish. No idea what Taker vs. Yoko was as a finish. And of course, the 2nd worst Rumble finish over (1999!).

But this card is significant historically. The rise of the Hitman. HBK and Diesel becoming stars in the Rumble. Owen Hart’s development into Summerslam main eventer. Undertaker going full terminator. A lot of these pieces would carry the WWF through 1995. And that means something.

That…and it is a well wrestled show overall. Only Taker vs. Yoko was bad, but it was pretty decent right up until the 10 on 1 green smoking urn or whatever.

Could have been high Bs with some good finishes.

Final Grade: B-
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ECW Hardcore Heaven ‘97
August 17, 1997
Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Background: I coved a lot of this in the Barely Legal review, so I’ll go from there.

Now that ECW has gained some national recognition, spirits in the ECW seemed high…for a little while. Unfortunately because of that high profile WCW would continue to pillage stars (ok, WCW was fighting a wrestling war too). ECW had put the finish of the two year long Raven vs. Tommy Dreamer feud on one of their big non PPV shows, as Raven bolted to WCW. But the ending angle for that match is what leads us to a very important part of ECW’s 1997.

Remember back in February of 97, there was the ECW invasion of RAW. Well, this time it was the WWF’s turn. Jerry Lawler invaded the ECW arena on the night Dreamer beat Raven. This tied in with Rob Van Dam’s Barely Legal angle…about how he was worth more money elsewhere. RVD even wrestled on an edition of RAW. So, RVD, Sabu and Lawler beat the crap out ECW. Jim Cornette showed up one night too. And while I think the angle itself is pretty awesome…you have to admit that Jerry Lawler wasn’t exactly Shawn Michaels in terms of statue. Nonetheless, it was an interesting angle (and, I should point out, I am surprised that ECW fans forgave RVD for this angle the next year).

Some storyline notes: Taz choked out Shane Douglas to win the TV title…and Sabu actually won the ECW Title from Terry Funk a week before this event in a crazy barbed wire match (one of the sickest matches I’ve ever seen. I believe Sabu only won the title because in the way Funk and Sabu got tangled and Sabu was on top of Funk. Not sure if true though).


The Card

Arena looks really small here.

Big heat for Jerry Lawler’s name.

Here comes Rick Rude! How, ECW-like?

Heavy You Sold Out chants….people must have known already he was returning to the WWF in a few weeks after this.

Joey Styles actually says that Rude sold out to a boytoy from another organization. So there you have it.

Rude intros Chris Candido. Tod Gordon tells Rude he has to leave or Candido forfeits the upcoming TV title match. I’m guessing this was Rude’s last appearance.

ECW TV Title
Taz© vs. Chris Candido


You know, the ECW TV title belt always looked better than the ECW World title belt.

Cool start with Candido pushing and spitting at Taz, and Taz no selling all of it. Taz eventually counters a leapfrog and drops Candido on his head.

Nice powerbomb from Candido!

Candido is getting a lot of offense, a lot more than I expected.

Damn Freestyle Bow and Arrow from Taz. You don’t see that everyday.

Taz retains the title when he choked out Candido in 10:52. Tazmission gets the win. Pretty solid opener. Not sure if the Triple Threat existed yet, but if it did it does make sense for Taz to start with Candido here on the loooong path to Douglas.

We get some Insane Clown Posse? Ok?

RVD beats them up! Nice!

Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Spike Dudley

The match on ECW Hardcore TV they had right before this is the match that got me into ECW. Spike upset Bigelow and the way Joey Styles calls it is amazing (“Spike can tell his grandkids he got a 2 count on Bam Bam Bigelow!”) Spike being bodypressed into the crowd was another thing.

Always liked the grey color on Bam Bam. Felt more badass.

Bam Bam is in the Triple Threat…which answers my earlier question.

Bam Bam is just murdering poor Spike here.

Bam Bam just tosses Spike from the ring into the crowd!

Ridiculous inverted Greetings From Asbury Park.

Bam Bam Bigelow pinned Spike Dudley in 5:05. Moonsault for the win. Hand it to Paul Heyman to book a squash match I cared about. All because of one upset. Poor Spike.

Apparently, RVD and Sabu took out The Sandman too.

Rob Van Dam vs. Al Snow

This will be contested under Monday Night Rules!

Snow is still in the Rocker gear. This was still pre-head.

Snow looks annoyed with Bill Alfonso’s whistleblowing.

Amazing how Snow looks so much better than when he was jobbing to Flash Funk.

Always liked RVD’s railing moonsault.

RVD’s Five Star Frog Splash wasn’t his finisher yet!

Rob Van Dam pins Al Snow in 13:43. Van Daminator for the win. Good match. Showed both that RVD was really getting there as a performer, and Al Snow showed that he wasn’t just some joke wrestler.

The Sandman has taken over the ambulance he was in! But he’s lost!

Jerry Lawler promo!

We’ve got Dudleys in the ring. And adult actress Jenna Jameson. But more importantly, Dudleys!

Apparently this was supposed to be Tag Champs the Gangstas vs. The Dudleys, but Gangstas were taken out. Dudleys new champs? Leading us to…

ECW World Tag Team Championship
The Dudley Boys© vs. PG-13


This is basically heel vs. heel. Since PG-13 is from the Jerry Lawler based USWA.

JC Ice runs out and kisses Jameson. She reacts like he’s the most disgusting thing ever in her mouth. That’s pretty bad JC.

Dudley arguing! Leads to an awesome heel spot as Big Dick Dudley attacks the distracted PG-13.

Jameson gets a bounce chant…and she obliges. This match sucks by the way.

The Dudley Boys retain when Bubba pins Wolfie D in 10:58. 3D for the win. Confusing match as PG-13 acted as faces? Also, very hard to take PG-13 seriously as a threat here. Points for Jenna Jameson involvement though! In all seriousness, not a good match. JC Ice says Bubba’s mother is a ho. Storyline wise…that’s true, no?

Still following the Sandman here. Weird.

Jerry Lawler in the house!

Another promo…and an In Your House: Ground Zero plug!

Tommy Dreamer vs. Jerry Lawler

Lawler always took one of the best over the top rope bumps in the business.

Fighting in the crowd! I’m surprised fans don’t kill Lawler.

Lawler’s a solid brawler. I wonder why the WWF didn’t use him more as a midcard heel in the Attitude era. Lawler could still go.

Lawler with some great heel stuff. He wipes his ass with Dreamer’s ECW shirt.

Dreamer is EXTREMING UP!

Lawler DDT’s the ref!

Lights go out…RICK RUDE is back! Smashes Dreamer with a garbage can!

Dreamer gets control…lights out again!

Jake The Snake Roberts! Drops Dreamer with a vicious DDT!

Jake shortarm clotheslines Lawler. Good history there with their 96 feud.

ANOTHER LIGHTS OUT.

It’s Sunny! Hairspray to the eyes of Dreamer!

Tommy Dreamer pins Jerry Lawler in 18:57. DDT! Pretty solid brawl to be fair, but tons of overbooking. Rude, Jake and Sunny? A little too much. But this isn’t bad or anything.

Styles hypes the famous Sabu-Douglas-Funk match in 1994.

More Sandman stuff. He’s near the arena!

Sandman canes some people outside the arena. I don’t even know what to make of this.

ECW World Title: Three Way Dance
Sabu© vs. Shane Douglas vs. Terry Funk


Three Way Dance is an elimination match.

Strange start with Funk standing on the outside and Douglas and Sabu going at it. Soon though, Douglas and Sabu double team Funk.

Loved Douglas’ selling of a German Suplex there.

Sabu’s Asai Moonsault seemed twisted…which was great.

Some really weak chairshots in this one.

Double sleeper!

Sabu hits both men with the triple jump moonsault. Double kicksout. Not gonna lie, this match is pretty damn boring.

Weak chairshots all around.

Tod Gordon just saved Terry Funk from a table. OK?

Sabu drives Gordon and Alfonso through a table. I’m confused on what’s going on now.

We have a ladder in the ring now. Ladders for everyone!

Sandman’s here! He attacks Sabu!

Douglas and Funk double pin Sabu. That means we will have a new ECW Champion!

Funk is bashing his own head with a garbage can now. Weird.

I just can’t take Douglas’ Belly to Belly as a serious finisher.

Dory Funk Jr.? Seriously?

Some weird table bump. This match has fallen apart.

Funk kicks out of another Belly to Belly. Then he kicks out of a 3rd one!

Shane Douglas pins Terry Funk to win the title in 26:37. Douglas hits another belly to belly for the win. Bad finish. Sorry but the belly to belly is a horrid finisher. I don’t know what the fuck was going on at the end. Dory Funk Jr. was in the ring. And the Sandman. Whatever. Douglas tried, I’ll give him that, and I actually like him as a World Champ at this point. Still, anti-climactic finish.

Douglas now whips Funk with a belt. Dudleys out here now to keep being up on Funk. Gertner wants Douglas to join the Dudleys! Now Candido and Bigelow are out here. Triple-Threat vs. Dudleys brawl!

ECW locker room is out here. Once again no idea what is going on.

Chair Swingin Freaks out here now attacking the Dudleys. Why are we doing this?

Oh man, the debut of the Gangstanators, New Jack and Kronus! This happened because Mustafa was awful and left, and Saturn went to WCW.

Actually, Saturn on one leg is here? How about that. I am confused. So this show ends with a Dudley beat down?

What a weird ending.

Not sure what to say about this show. Started off fun enough but tailed off with the PG-13 vs. Dudleys match. But Candido vs. Taz was fine. I enjoyed Spike vs. Bigelow for what it was (an ass kicking). Snow vs. RVD was solid. PG-13 vs. Dudleys was meh. Dreamer vs. Lawler was fun until the 8 billion run-ins…although that wasn’t really bad either. The main event was a mess with a poor finish. Douglas winning was fine. What the hell was the New Jack ending? Why didn’t this happen earlier in the show? Did Heyman know that fans would shit on the Douglas finish?

Historically, this show seems irrelevant. Taz was hardly featured. RVD didn’t do that much. Douglas is Douglas.

But there is some good stuff in it, so there is that.

Final Grade: C+
Edited by RDT, Jul 13 2014, 09:34 PM.
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Judgment Day 2000
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Judgment Day 2000
May 21, 2000
Louisville, KY

Background: WCW was just coming off a period where David Arquette was the World Champ. That alone should tell you everything about were the WWF vs. WCW war was at.

This is an interesting time period for the WWF. Stone Cold’s future was in doubt. Other than Backlash, we hadn’t see Stone Cold and again wouldn’t until September. Vince had put all of his eggs in two new baskets: The Rock and Triple H. The Rock was more natural here, he was already megaover and there was a good chance that if Austin never had to take time off that Vince would have run with him in 2000 anyway. HHH was more of the question mark. He was already being groomed as a top heel in 1999, in fact he was champ when Austin went out, but it always did (and still does) feel a little forced. It’s not as if the WWF had a choice though. They needed new top guys. Austin and Undertaker were hurt, Mick Foley was retired, Kane still wasn’t quite there and Big Show wasn’t grabbing the opportunities being thrown at him. So Rock vs. HHH was a natural on top.

In terms of the in ring product…the WWF was arguable in the best shape ever. Acquisitions such as the Radicalz, Chris Jericho and the Dudley Boyz bolstered the midcard. In addition homegrown talent like Edge, Christian, the Hardyz and Kurt Angle were just as good as those acquisitions if not better. Gone were the days of guys like DOA and Bluedust piling up in the midcard. The WWF arguably had the best pure wrestling in the world at this point.

WWF was now rolling. Let’s see how it continued to go.

The Card

McMahon-Helmsley Faction runs down the card for the most part. They also make Hardcore Champ Gerald Brisco get them coffee. Good stuff.

Brisco gets attacked by the Headbangers! He gets away I think.

Totally forgot about the HBK as the ref dynamic.

Kurt Angle, Edge and Christian vs. Rikishi and Too Cool

Angle stutters a lot in his promo.

Story: E and C had just turned heel and joined up with Angle. Too Cool was chasing them for the tag belts.

5 Second Pose! The Jug Band!

It’s amazing how in the span of a month Edge and Christian went from bland faces to amazing heels.

Crowd is hot for all six guys here.

Real creative save from Grandmaster on the irish whip to the corner to Scotty.

It’s amazing how over Too Cool was.

Huge Rikishi chant.

Angle gets the Stinkface!

Edge even had a spear in 2000, how about that.

Rikishi and Too Cool win when Rikishi pinned Edge in 9:46. Rikishi goes for the Rikishi Driver, but Christian whacks him with the ring bell. Grandmaster though drops the Hip Hop Drop…and Angle is just too late to break up the pin. Really fun opener. Matters so much when all six guys are over.

Michael Cole interrogates HBK.

WWF European Championship
Eddie Guerrero© vs. Perry Saturn vs. Dean Malenko


Story: Well, the Radicalz got their contracts, and now it is each man for themselves. Guerrero was with Chyna here…and was the face.

The WWE fans never really got Malenko or Saturn.

Match is wrestled well, but no one cares about anyone that isn’t Eddie here.

Top rope gut buster from Malenko to Eddie! Nice!

Saturn just steals everyone’s moves.

Eddie Guerrero wins when he pins Malenko in 7:57. Chyna takes out Saturn with a shot with the flowers…then drops Malenko face first on them. Of course there’s a pipe in there. Eddie rolls Dean up for the win. Fans were not really into it, but popped for Eddie’s win. Decent match, but disappointing considering who was involved.

Replay of Brisco winning the Hardcore title when Crash was sleeping.

Now we get Brisco all paranoid. I don’t like 24/7, but the Brisco stuff was hilarious. Brisco shits himself when he sees himself in the mirror…and then punches the mirror anyway. Great stuff.

Falls Count Anywhere
Big Show vs. Shane McMahon


Story: Big Show went Hollywood and wanted to have fun after Wrestlemania. Shane was pissed that Show was eliminated 1st in the title match at Mania which embarrassed Shane. Shane called Show a fat, unmotivated slob. Considering how this played out, I wonder how much real life played into this feud.

Big Show has that Aggression theme. I actually liked it for him here.

Show beats the crap out of Shane for a few minutes…but here comes the Bossman!

T and A out here as well to help Shane.

Funny moment as Big Show breaks a part of the stage to hit Shane…but he sells it as something really heavy. A few seconds later Test picks it up like it’s nothing.

Shane McMahon pins Big Show in 7:12. Shane tries to escape by climbing up the titantron, but Show catches him. Bull Buchanan comes in and beats Show up with a nightstick. Shane pushes a huge amp on Show’s leg, then smashes a cinderblock on Show’s head for the win. I usually hate Shane McMahon matches, but I like this one. Shane McMahon should never have any offense in matches against top guys, and he didn’t here. This was the only way he could win. Other than the Conspiracy angle a couple months later, Show was practically gone till Royal Rumble 2001. He was supposed to lose weight, but he returned fatter somehow.

Brisco tries to get a moment of sleep, but the refs move in to win the title. Brisco was upset.

HBK-HHH backstage discussion. Quite casual.

Intercontinental Championship: Submission Match
Chris Benoit© vs. Chris Jericho


Story: Jericho’s been chasing Benoit’s title. Jericho messed Benoit’s eye up at Backlash. Benoit asked for the submission match. So what’s the better submission, the Walls or the Crossface? Benoit has a brace because Hardcore Holly smashed Benoit’s knee with a chair on Smackdown.

Benoit works on the shoulder of course.

Jericho goes for a pin! Know the rules Jericho!

Jericho gets the brace off!

Jericho then beats the crap out of Benoit with the brace!

Awesome Walls of Jericho in the ropes! Benoit screams in pain!

Benoit counters a Walls with a brace shot to the face.

Chris Benoit makes Chris Jericho pass out to retain the title in 13:27. Benoit has the Crossface. Jericho tries to escape, but Benoit turns it into a choke crossface and Jericho passes out and the ref calls it. While I thought the finish was bad ass at one time…obviously it’s kinda uncomfortable to watch now because of what Benoit ended up doing. Anyway, match was hard hitting and quite good…and the worst Jericho and Benoit would have in the WWE. Which says a lot about those two. But good match, told a good story.

More Hardcore Champ action! He beats up a couple of vendors. Proactive champ!

Rock tells HBK that he better call it down the middle. They were playing off HBK screwing The Rock back on the first Smackdown.

Tables Match
DX (X-Pac and Road Dogg) vs. the Dudley Boyz


Story here: The Dudleyz wanted to put Tori through a table. Tori actually splashes Bubba through one. And here we are.

I love the Aggression DX theme.

Tori distracts the ref when the Dudleyz do the Wassup headbutt (pre-wassup though). I hate that. It’s a tables match, who cares if the ref sees?

Again I don’t get the normal tag rules. Lawler points out that the Bubba should just run over the ref. He’s 100% right you know.

Road Dogg drives D-Von with the Armstrong Slam through a table. That’s 1 Dudley.

Bubba powerbombs X-Pac through. So 1 vs. 1 table wise.

Bubba AND Road Dogg hip toss the ref through a table! GREAT! Ref was annoying.

Hardcore Champ Brisco is here.

3D through a table…but the ref is out!

DX wins in 10:55. Bubba tries to put Tori through a table, but Brisco saves her. Ref sees the X-Factor through the table and DX wins! Hated the structure of the match…as a regular tag match made no sense here. But the finish was fun and set-up a “rematch” (if you include dumpsters) the next month. Brisco gets driven through a table. No one tries to take his title though.

“As I lay me down to sleep…my soul is mine to keep etc. etc.” His Judgment Day is Coming! I wonder what that means?!?!

WWF Championship: 60 Minute Iron Man Match
The Rock© vs. Triple H


Story here: This was the feud of the first half of 2000. Rock vs. HHH. Rock won the title at Backlash. This is the rematch. HBK as the ref was supposed to play off what he did on the first Smackdown and the fact he was in the first ever 60 minute Iron Man match at Mania 12.

They kept the Finkel botch in this version! Finkel announced HHH as the WWF World Champion here. I think it is said he was reading the result.

HHH tells the Faction to go to the back…because he wants to do this on his own.

Lawler’s telling a great story early on about conserving energy.

The Rock hits a Rock Bottom out of nowhere in 10 minutes for the first fall. That is the only thing I dislike about this match…HHH shouldn’t go down to a random Rock Bottom in 10 minutes.

Figure Four by the Rock!

HHH gets his first fall at the 25 minute mark. Makes a lot more sense, as Rock can go down to a Pedigree in 25 minutes.

HHH rolls up a dazed Rock for a 2nd fall! Great booking there! Use that clock!

When we pass the 30 minute mark, Lawler says this is the longest match both Rock and HHH have ever had. Well, they both have lasted 50 minutes + in Royal Rumbles at this point…

Piledriver! HHH goes up 3-1! I like how once that Pedigree hit Rock’s health was very low and doesn’t recover. That’s how an Iron Man match should work. Half the match still to go.

The way this match is being built, every move, even a sleeper, matters. Just awesome.

They start to build up HBK not allowing HHH to break the rules. This will matter soon.

Floatover DDT gets a 2nd fall for the Rock. It was botched though, and just a regular DDT. Weird how I like HHH’s falls a lot better than Rock’s.

HHH blasts Rock with a chair in HBK’s clear sight at the 46 minute mark! We are tied! And HBK called it!

HHH then pins Rock to get the 4-3 advantage. Amazing spot. Fans got excited for Rock to tie…just for him to be in a worst spot now. Great stuff.

Sleeper works this time for HHH! Two fall lead with 13 minutes to go!

HHH’s Harley Race flip takes out a camera man. Still, can Rock get 2 falls in 12 minutes?

HHH kicks out of a superplex…which was masterful as it looked like a must win for Rock there.

Rock Pedigrees HHH on the Announcer’s Table! It gets a count out and Rock is within 1 fall! HHH makes it back just in time to avoid a 2nd fall. Three minutes to go!

McMahons are back!

People’s Elbow with 2 minutes left…we are tied!

All hell breaks loose now. HBK takes out Shane and Vince, but he gets knocked off the apron. DX gets in there…but the nursery rhymes begin. The Undertaker has return and he kicks the crap out of everyone! Huge pop!

HHH wins the title, winning 6 to 5. With 8 seconds to go, Taker chokeslams HHH, which HBK does see and later segments would show video evidence of this. I do think the finish is a little messed up, but it works enough. HBK calls for the DQ, and HHH wins. Incredible match. Best of Rock’s career. One of the best of HHH’s. Still the best Iron Man match in WWE history. It was sixty minutes of non-stop action that actually told a story throughout. Undertaker’s return was also a huge moment.

This PPV owns. You’ve got no bad matches and only one that’s merely ok (Tables). Opener was good. Euro was decent. Shane vs. Show was booked correctly and entertaining. IC was very good. Main event was absolutely top notch with a classic sports entertainment finish. Match also showed that Rock could go sixty minutes, which was a damn surprise…and I’m sure HHH gained tons of respect after this one.

Historically, this show didn’t matter other than the Undertaker comeback (Rock would take back the title the next month, and Benoit and Jericho didn’t move up the card yet). But sometimes a damn good show is just a damn good show. Bonus points for awesome main event, of course.

Final Grade: A
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Over the Limit 2011
Mania 14 comes 1st.
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WWE Wrestlemania XIV
March 29, 1998
Boston, MA

Background: The WWF was coming back!

After getting their ass handed to them in the Monday Night Wars, the WWF finally switched gears to an edgier product in late 1997. The results were almost immediate. Stone Cold Steve Austin was the hottest thing in either company. De-Generation X had made the NWO look old and dated. The media had gotten behind the WWF, especially with Mike Tyson slated to be at Wrestlemania. Tyson had bit Evander Holyfield’s ear off only seven months before.

This was a huge make or break show. If it was good…the WWF was probably in great shape in the future (which is how it worked out). If it sucked? WCW might have been able to hold on and end the WWF. It wasn’t likely it would suck though, as this was a well-built show with some good matches set up. The right guys were in the main event. New guys were ready to make an impact. It would be hard for the WWF to screw this up.

It’s worth noting that WWF Champion Shawn Michaels injured his back at the Royal Rumble. There was talk back and forth about whether he’d show up to even defend the title…but I think he always would have. I don’t believe The Undertaker taped fist story or any of that. I actually believe the account Shawn wrote in his book. He was a pain in the ass, threatened not to show up a lot, got his own dressing room, took No Way Out off and got pissed afterwards. I buy that.

Anyway, this is the PPV that set up the WWF taking back the ratings lead two weeks later.

The Card

15 Team Battle Royal: Winner gets a WWF World Tag Team Championship Match

We don’t see all the entrances…but we have a Los Boricuas team, Chainz and Bradshaw, two Nation teams, the Truth Commission, Flash Funk and Steve Blackman, the new Midnight Express, the Godwinns, the DOA, the Rock’N’Roll Express, Headbangers, Too Much and the Quebecers. Oh, and the Legion of Doom has returned! LOD 2000 is with Sunny! Gee, I wonder who wins this one.

To be fair, Sunny leading the return of the LOD would have been a great moment…if the LOD didn’t become a joke and Sunny didn’t fall apart. Ah well.

Fans are also very into LOD. So there is that as well.

Sunny and Cornette argue on the outside. There is practically no way this doesn’t come down to the New Midnight Express and LOD 2000.

Kurrgan and Barry Windham make appearances. Way too much going on.

Always thought it was weird that the Quebecers were so wasted in their 2nd WWF run.

Midnight Express, Godwinns, DOA and LOD left. Sounds about right.

DOA is thanks to the Godwinns. DOA come back in and take out the Godwinns. There is a feud I’m happy we never saw.

Godwinns attack LOD. They did feud in 1997, so it makes sense.

LOD 2000 wins in 8:19. They double clothesline the New Midnight Express out to win. This would set up one last New Age Outlaws vs. LOD match at Unforgiven, but LOD never regained the popularity they had in the late 80s/early 90s. Battle royal was just a way to get everyone on the card. Unless you thought Flash Funk and Steve Blackman or Chainz and Bradshaw were long time tag teams. Didn’t help that the winner was obvious from the beginning.

WWF Light Heavyweight Championship
Taka Michinoku© vs. Aguila


Aguila is the future Essa Rios.

This was the WWF trying to carve in their own high flying division, but it would never even remotely get close to the WCW Cruiserweight division…and WWF fans never really cared anyway.

Aguila gets the jobber introduction…which should tell you who’s going to win this one.

Really nice top rope moonsault to the outside from Aguila.

Aguila looks really good here to be fair. Nice spots. Springboard armdrag.

Aguila with an over the top corkscrew tope con hilo!

Taka Michinoku retains by pin in 5:47. Aguila comes up the top but Taka dropkicks him on the way down. Michinoku Driver gets the pin. Fun little match. Aguila was interesting as all of his high spots got a good reaction, but his stomps and chops looked really fake and uninspired. Also, the dirty secret of Taka Michinoku here: In this WWF run, if you saw one Taka match you’ve seen them all. While this is a fun little match, it isn’t even close to the level WCW was doing. WWF lost its chance when The Great Sasuke didn’t stick around.

The Rock with Gennifer Flowers. Hilarious interview. Amazing the difference between Rocky Maivia in 1997 and The Rock in 1998. Absolutely amazing.

WWF European Championship
Triple H© vs. Owen Hart


Story: This is an extension of the HBK-Bret Hart feud. HHH and Owen ended up feuding. Somehow Owen never beat HHH in this feud. Also, to keep Chyna from interfering, Sgt. Slaughter will be handcuffed to her. There was also an Owen Hart ankle injury in all this.

Owen starts by double leg tripping HHH. Owen was wrestling a really aggressive style here to be the Blackhart. Too bad it didn’t go anywhere.

Match is revolving around the ankle injury…which makes sense and is good psychology!

Sharpshooter got a huge reaction.

Triple H retains by pin in 11:27. Chyna helps HHH get to the ropes in the Sharpshooter…then tosses powder in Sgt. Slaughter’s eyes. Low blow to Owen then Pedigree. Good match here. Didn’t bury Owen as it looked like Owen had it won if it weren’t for Chyna. With that being said, this was the right decision as Owen Hart had no shot at being a main eventer in the WWF anymore (despite what people say about the Game gimmick after Owen died). Austin never wanted to work with him again, so that was that. They were clearly going with HHH.

Mixed Tag Match
TAFKA Goldust and Luna vs. Marc Mero and Sable


Story here: Fucking weird. Mero is jealous of Sable. Somehow Mero decided to use Goldust as his valet. Somehow Luna got involved cause Sable is the pretty girl everyone loves. Mero got angry at Goldust protecting Sable once. We still aren’t sure if Sable can rely on Mero. It’s a lot weird than this, but this is the basic story.

Sable kicks Goldust in the face, to the surprise of everyone.

The Goldust-Mero sequence is actually pretty solid. Fans don’t care though, they just want Sable.

Sable beats the crap out of Luna…and it looks damn good to be fair.

Nice TKO counter to the DDT from Goldust.

Mero busts out the Merosault…which is a 180 jump on the top into the moonsault. He hadn’t busted that out since the Wildman days.

Sable and Marc Mero win when Sable pinned Luna in 9:05 Sable hits a powerbomb and a TKO on Luna for the win. This match was really good…and I don’t remember it being good! I would have never guessed. Of course, I assume Sable here was why they brought in the Women’s title a few months later…since it seemed like Sable could wrestle.

We have Jeff Jarrett bringing Gennifer Flowers to the ring. Jarrett was in the IC title match only three years ago at Mania, interestingly enough. She says Jarrett great. No one cares.

WWF Intercontinental Championship
The Rock© vs. Ken Shamrock


Story: They actually went at it at the Rumble, but Rock got himself DQed. This match has the stip that if Rock Is DQed, he still loses the title. The Nation is out here, sans Faarooq. This was during that power struggle.

Shamrock just murderalizes Rock here.

Rock does get a People’s Elbow in…before it was called that.

Rock with a cringeworthy steel chair shot to Shamrock!

Rock taps out! Shamrock wins!

The Rock retains by reverse decision in 4:49. Shamrock snaps again! He keeps going for the Ankle Lock then takes out some referees. Faarooq turns on Rock here by not helping him. Rock gets carried away on a stretcher…and the ref reverses the decision. Shamrock attacks Rock again (Rock was hilariously holding up the title despite being carried away, funny stuff). While the finish is whatever (since surely this happens in other matches) it was pretty well done, and somehow Rock got more over despite getting killed.

WWF World Tag Team Championship: Dumpster Match
The New Age Outlaws© vs. Chainsaw Charlie and Cactus Jack


Story: This all began with the famous dumpster ride. They were on opposite sides of the No Way Out 8 Man tag as well.

This works like a Casket Match…just with a dumpster.

Foley actually tries his upside down Crack Smash off the apron but misses Road Dogg and hits the dumpster…and lands on his head. Jeez.

Russian Legsweep into the Dumpster. Foley is taking an ass kicking.

Billy Gunn and Cactus go flying through the dumpster lid from a ladder. Jeez.

Terry Funk takes a POWERBOMB into the dumpster.

Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie win the title in 10:00. They fight backstage, and eventually they get the Outlaws on a forklift and deposit them in a different dumpster (which would cause the title to be held up the next night). Not really a good match…it was pretty disjointed with the random Foley or Funk bump. Ending was strange too. A precursor to the Hardcore Title division for sure. While I said it wasn’t good, it wasn’t bad either.

Pete Rose comes out and cuts a heel promo on Boston, which is awesome. Finkel calls him a surefire future Hall of Famer…which is true for WWE! Kane’s feud with Rose begins here with a Tombstone!

The Undertaker vs. Kane

Story: Very similar to Bret vs. Owen in 1994, except with more death stuff and Paul Bearer. That being said, this was a well built story that led to this feud. Taker accidentally (or, as we were told later, purposely) killed his family, but Kane survived. Kane wants revenge. Paul Bearer was with Kane for the last 20 years. Taker refused to fight him. Kane locked him in a casket and burned it. And here we are. Kane also had beaten up everyone and was undefeated at this point. For the record, it’s funny that Taker refused to fight Kane…then fought him probably 500 times over the next 13 years…if not more.

Taker had that awesome “O Carmin Fortuna” entrance. First time he did this. Probably still the best one unless you take the Mania XX version.

This is the first time the Undertaker as the underdog story actually worked. Unless you took Giant Gonzales seriously. Watching Kane no-sell Taker punches is a bit odd, and was very odd at the time.

I think at the time the whole idea of Kane was that he was better than the Undertaker at everything (kayfabe wise). Bigger, stronger, more agility, etc. And actually, I would have bet at the time they thought Taker would last 4-5 more years and then Kane would be the new Undertaker. Never worked out that way.

Undertaker somehow climbs to Kane’s shoulders in one move…but then gets dropped head first. A weird sequence for both.

This is a really well booked match. Big time chokeslam by Kane. Kane has dominated this match.

Really long chinlock here. Kinda hurting what was a really good match so far.

Undertaker knocks Kane to the floor…but when he goes for the tope Kane slams him through the announcer’s table! What a spot!

Taker just kicks out of a Kane Tombstone! Barely!

Shocker as Kane kicks out of Taker’s Tombstone (a first, although Hogan got up from one once)!

Second Tombstone! Kane just kicks out again! Fans are stunned.

The Undertaker pinned Kane in 16:58. Third Tombstone…and Kane still kicks out, but does so a moment too late. What a well booked match. Even though Taker won, it still looks like Kane was the dominant brother. It took three tombstones at a time where one was automatic death. A very solid big man match…although that headlock was annoying. If you wanna know why I hate the Survivor Series 98 match between these two, just watch this match and see the difference. Kane also destroys Taker post-match. Kane lost the battle, but won the war.

WWF World Championship
Shawn Michaels© vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin


Story: Austin won the Rumble and HBK was the champ. Mike Tyson was brought in to be the special enforcer and him and Austin had a famous altercation…and Tyson eventually joined HBK’s De-Generation X! The buildup was fantastic. You can tell Tyson was having a lot of fun (I bet Tyson would have been an awesome professional wrestler) with the whole thing. DX was the hottest thing in all of wrestling not named Stone Cold, and that includes the NWO.

Backstage story: HBK’s back was screwed up from the Casket Match in January. Of course, there were questions if he’d even make it to Mania and do the job for Stone Cold. Austin stated he was worried about that in his book…HBK said he was adamant about putting Austin over in his. And since HBK ended up doing it, hard not to side with his story.

Austin gets one of the biggest pops in history during his entrance. He was fucking over, that’s for sure.

HBK says “this is for you Earl” on camera, as referee Earl Hebner was in the hospital. Pretty classy for HBK there.

Even though it happened for HHH’s entrance, the live DX entrance is one of my favorites.

Something that is cool about this match: Neither Austin nor Michaels had someone who could match them attitude wise. Austin had finished with Owen Hart and a not main event ready Rock. HBK finished with Bret, Undertaker and Shamrock. It really added to this match. For every suck-it from Michaels there’s a middle finger from Austin.

Michaels still takes some bad ass bumps for someone with back problems.

A lot of outside brawling once HHH is ejected. Another thing about this match is HBK wasn’t the high flying HBK here…but instead a brawler. This is more 2002 Shawn than 1996 Shawn.

Austin busts out the old Stun Gun.

You can see Michaels tending to the back pretty much the whole match. It starts as just a hand on the back.

Michaels gets no lift whatsoever on his flying forearm. You can tell his back is fucked.

Stone Cold Steve Austin wins the title by pin in 20:01. HBK goes for Sweet Chin, but Austin ducks. Stunner is countered, then Austin hits the classic SCM block, spin around, Stunner sequence for the win. Mike Tyson makes the (fast) count. Whatever, great finish. Match itself wasn’t much to say in terms of spots…but it was still a bad ass back and forth match. Hard hitting, good brawling, good action. Tyson’s turn to Austin’s side is funny too. This of course gave Austin the title and launched the most successful WWF era ever.

The WWF needed a great Wrestlemania and it delivered. The only match that could be considered bad had a good moment at least (Tag Battle royal), and everything else ranged from decent o pretty fucking good. Taker vs. Kane elicits different opinions from a lot of people, but it was the perfect match to continue to get Kane over despite losing. In terms of action, this was a B+/A- PPV.

But then there is the historical aspect. So much of the midcard here was the future of the foundation of the WWF coming into their own. Hunter Hearst Helmsley was pretty much dead, here is Triple H. Rocky Maivia was firmly The Rock. Kane went from storyline to legit WWF Championship material. Cactus Jack took some sick bumps and became Austin’s first challenger. And of course, the Austin era began here.

And you’ve gotta give Shawn Michaels credit for the main event.

Final Grade: A
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WWE Over the Limit 2011
May 22, 2011
Seattle, WA

Background: It is PPVs like this one that led to the Summer of Punk.

Be honest, if you are a casual fan…you probably can’t name a match on this card except for Cena vs. Miz. Disappointingly, WWE went back to the Cena and Randy Orton after Extreme Rules. The Miz at the time was one of the hottest heels in the company. Christian was seemingly finally getting a shot at the top. It all didn’t matter. Cena and Orton was the way WWE was going. On this PPV you will see CM Punk be wasted. You will not see Daniel Bryan, as he was regulated to pre-show duty. You will see the same old tired booking. The only characters that get some sort of development is Sin Cara and R-Truth.

Let’s just be real, outside of The Rock’s comeback, the first half of 2011 blew. And that only helped the effectiveness of the Summer of Punk.

The Card

R-Truth vs. Rey Mysterio

Not sure of the story here…but R-Truth had just gotten a much needed heel turn and was probably at his most entertaining…ever. This was the crazy man R-Truth. And admittedly it was awesome. He would conduct promos that made no sense and blame Little Jimmy. He cuts a promo here about a parking spot.

Rey with the off the apron hurricanrana. Nice.

Top rope bulldog from Rey! Some cool spots in this one.

R-Truth pins Rey Mysterio in 8:12. Definitely considered an upset here and Truth gets good heat. Truth wins with the Lie Detector, which is a version of the Flatliner. Decent opener.

Miz promo. Sigh, what the hell happened.

Heel Michael Cole was a lot more annoying than I remember.

WWE Intercontinental Championship
Wade Barrett© vs. Ezekiel Jackson


Story: The Corre was a spinoff group led by Barrett of the neXus. Jackson and Barrett were having problems or something. Here we are.

This is still my favorite Wade Barrett theme (End of Days).

Ezekiel Jackson wins by DQ in 7:27. Corre runs in for the DQ. Nothing to say about this match whatsoever. Practically a TV match with a TV ending.

New neXus beat up in the back. I thought Orton punted them back to developmental months ago. How about that.

Sin Cara vs. Chavo Guerrero

Man a Chavo Guerrero PPV match in 2011.

Story is kinda funny. Chavo claimed Sin Cara stole every move he knows from Chavo.

Backstage story: Sin Cara was NOT getting over. There were botches in his matches. They were using Chavo to help him have a good match.

Cara lands on his feet after a corkscrew tope which was pretty sick.

Sin Cara pins Chavo Guerrero in 7:23. Horribly botches flying head scissors for the win. Why was that the finish? Yikes. Match was nothing special. Just a bunch of spots. Maybe if this was 1996 it would be considered great. It’s amazing how overrated Mistico ended up being.

Weird Christian-Randy Orton promo. All about respect so far. Of course Christian turned later.

Here comes Alberto Del RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIO! No idea why he’s here. Pretty boring promo, and Big Show and Kane come down to end this segment.

WWE World Tag Team Championship
Big Show and Kane© vs. CM Punk and Mason Ryan


I do not remember this Big Show and Kane tag title reign at all.

Kane: “I’m already disappointed we didn’t have the rapture yesterday”. I laughed.

CM Punk chants. I feel bad for him here.

Mason Ryan is so bad.

Punk was already doing the Randy Savage tribute, which is nice.

Big Show and Kane retain when Kane pins Mason Ryan in 9:06. Double chokeslam for the win. Pretty damn forgettable, just like this tag title reign. I guess it wasn’t awful or anything.

WWE Diva’s Champion
Brie Bella vs. Kelly Kelly


I have no idea what the story here is. Not sure if Kharma already disappeared as this point.

Nunzio is YOUR referee.

Michael Cole: “Ugh, we have to sit through another boring Divas match”.

Brie Bella retains when Nikki Bella pins Kelly Kelly. TWIN MAGIC. I could think of two reasons why that doesn’t work anymore. Er…pretty boring match even by Divas standards. Half of it was an armbar.

World Heavyweight Championship
Randy Orton© vs. Christian


Story: Christian had a feel good story when he won the World Heavyweight title at Extreme Rules. He lost it five days later to Orton (which pissed off the IWC). Rematch here. To be fair, the way Christian left the ring that Smackdown was pretty awesome acting.

This is just a solid back and forth contest. It was done this way to try to make it seem that Christian was on Orton’s level.

There’s a lot of counters in this match as Christian said with full preparation he could beat Orton. So for example, Orton’s rope DDT was countered.

Randy Orton with a really cool inverted Walls of Jericho. How random but awesome.

Really cool spot where Christian faked out Orton with the corkscrew body press (Orton countered that into a RKO to win the title). Too bad Christian would fall for this 2 years later.

Christian looks to pay tribute to Edge with a Spear, but Orton powerslams him.

Great false finish! Orton hesitates on a punt, and Christian gets a spear for two!

Randy Orton retains by pin in 16:52. Awesome finisher counter sequence, then a countered back suplex into a RKO for the pin. Great match. Orton and Christian had awesome chemistry in the ring.

Kiss My Foot Match
Michael Cole vs. Jerry Lawler


Ugh, this feud needed to end two months ago at Wrestlemania.

Story: Cole’s love for The Miz turned him into a heel. That spawned a really annoying announcer feud…although one where Michael Cole was a great heel for a while. But it needed to end at Mania with Lawler killing Cole. Cole won with some bs in a 15 minute match. At Extreme Rules Cole and Jack Swagger beat Lawler and Jim Ross. Now we are at a Kiss My Foot Match.

Cole comes out limping and cuts a promo. Doctor’s note! He’s trying to get out of the match.

Ref tears up the note. Okay then.

Cole gets his pants torn up.

Michael Cole takes off his shoe and it’s disgusting. Why is this on PPV.

Cole into the Colemine!

Jerry Lawler pins Michael Cole in 3:01. Flying fistdrop for the win. Basically what should have happened at Mania. It takes Eve, JR and ultimately Bret Hart to get Cole back in the ring when he tries to avoid kidding Lawler’s foot. Sharpshooter + Lawler shoving his foot up Cole’s mouth is the payoff. Woo?

WWE Championship: I Quit Match
John Cena© vs. The Miz


Story: Cena won the title at Extreme Rules in a Three Way Cage match. Miz’s rematch.

It’s amazing watching Miz here…and how bad he is now. Miz was awesome in late 2010-early 2011.

Miz tells Cena since it’s no DQ, Alex Riley can help him and it will basically be a 2 on 1. Miz gives Cena the chance to quit right away. Cena obviously says no.

Miz and Riley dominate Cena. Cena refuses to quit! Sigh.

Near the end of this ridiculously boring match Miz does a Skull Crushing Finale on a chair in the ropes. That was kinda cool. Although, the way Cena hit the chair might have been a botch. Of course Cena will never quit, so who really cares.

Miz asks a kid in the crowd to ask him to tell Cena to quit. Innovative I guess?

Chairshot to the head! I thought those were banned.

OMG Cena quits! NEW CHAMP! What’s this? Ref finds a phone? Who cares. Oh it’s Riley’s having a Cena “I Quit” recording in there. Oh…can’t we ignore it?

Match restarted. Second time in two matches between them.

SUPERCENA.

John Cena retains when Miz quits in 24:56. STF for the win. This match is horrible. Arguably the worst main event in WWE PPV history. And it’s neither man’s fault (although I’m sure people backstage blamed Miz), the story is just horrid. Miz and Riley beat up Cena for TWENTY minutes. WAY TOO LONG. Dusty Finish was overkill. And then, Cena beats up Miz for two minutes and Miz quits. This KILLED the Miz and Miz never recovered (although he almost did with Awesome Truth). Absolute burial. There was money in the Miz and it was flushed down the toilet here. Probably the worst occurrence of Super Cena ever. It’s fine if you want Cena to go over…but how a back and forth I Quit match? Why was this the story? The only positive is the match getting restarted I think led to the conspiracy angle…which led to Awesome Truth. Ugh. Just ugh.

Absolutely forgetful. Nothing on this show mattered long term other than Miz’s demotion (he would LOSE to Riley next month). Orton and Christian would have three other PPV matches. I don’t even remember what else happened on this show. No wonder CM Punk was disgusted.

Close to F status for the uneventful card and horrid main event…thank Christian and Orton for having a great match.

Final Grade: D
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I remember at the time I was pissed about Orton beating Christian all the time, but I got over it. I also enjoyed watching Cena get the shit beat out of him for 20 minutes, but the finish was kind of given away because of it, and that did kill Miz. I think they jobbed him out to Riley the next month, which is another story in itself because Riley was over huge in that feud....and no he's an announcer with Albert on NXT.
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