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RDT PPV Reviews
Topic Started: Feb 25 2014, 01:46 AM (5,510 Views)
Dubb
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That's what she said
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I watched Halloween Havoc via internet broadcast and was unaffected by the blackout.

Not sure if I'd call it DDP's best match - but easily Goldberg's. Page was rewarded with the US title the next night by defeating Bret Hart. Which I want to say might be a bit of a slap in the face, but if WCW did anything good during this time period was that the US title was truly treated like a upper class title and the next step to the WCW Title - with folks like Sting and Hart battling for it when not in the title picture.

WCW probably could've easily built around DDP, but all the goodwill they did building him up through the late 90's was damaged when he finally won the title in '99. They would never pull the trigger on him winning the title one-on-one, so he wins the title TWICE in four way matches where he didn't have to beat the champion. And he wouldn't hold the title more than a month or so both times. Sigh.
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Tyler
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I should have wrote more about DDP's WCW Title victories, as yes that was huge in terms of damaging him as a top guy. He also won the title as a heel, which was also messy as fans still wanted to cheer for Page.

DDP winning the US Title I'm mixed on. He'd face Bret in the main event at World War 3 as well for the US Title...his fifth straight main event or last match on the PPV, but the still went downhill for Page past Havoc. I'm not saying they should have pulled the trigger...but why not run a Page vs. Goldberg rematch at World War 3?
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WWF Royal Rumble 1999
January 24, 1999
Anaheim, CA

WWF Attitude is in full force.

The WWF has taken a strong lead in the Monday Night Wars, winning for about 15 straight weeks at this point. While WCW was still putting on a strong fight at this point…and even having some good shows, their decisions at the top killed them long term (booking of Goldberg, The Fingerpoke of Doom). WCW wouldn’t turn into a complete disaster until somewhere in May or June.

But the WWF is at its strongest point since perhaps the Hulkamania days. Riding the Stone Cold vs. Mr. McMahon wave, the WWF had changed wrestling. Crash TV is the norm. While at the time this was amazing, revolutionary stuff, and a lot of it still is, the WWF would find getting past Crash TV very difficult. No doubt Vince wasn’t thinking about that in January 1999.

More good news in 1999 was that some guys were coming into their own as legitimate draws. 1998 was mostly built on Austin vs. McMahon, with Undertaker, Kane and Mick Foley as supporting players at the top. At the end of ’98, Taker was still going strong, as was Kane. Foley solidified his main event status and comes into this event as the World Champion. The Rock, who two years prior was one of the worst babyfaces in wrestling, now is the most charismatic guy in wrestling and may even lead the WWF past the Austin era. Triple H is getting close to the top as well, and he’d get there by Summerslam.

Good luck WCW.

The Card

The PPV was the debut of the “No Chance In Hell” theme, which Vince adopted for himself. Perfect fit. We get a video explaining how we got Austin to be #1 and Vince to be #2 in the Rumble. I’ll get into that when the match comes up.

Road Dogg vs. Big Bossman

Road Dogg and Bossman were feuding over the Hardcore title…which was an extension of the Outlaws vs. Bossman and Shamrock for the Tag belts…which was an extension of DX vs. the Corporation.

This isn’t for the Hardcore title…which is disappointing. I believe though it’s because of the brutality we will see later with Rock and Mankind.

I have no expectations for this. None.

Big Bossman pins Road Dogg in 11:30. Admittedly surprised at this finish. Bossman Slam puts Road Dogg down. Kinda deflating for the crowd. Road Dogg was never a great worker, but the fans reacted to everything he did at this point. Probably why he got the IC title later.

WWF Intercontinental Championship
Ken Shamrock© vs. Billy Gunn


This was the first attempt to get Billy Gunn over as a singles guy. I don’t count Rockabilly.

Ryan Shamrock had debuted at this point. Billy Gunn mooned her to get Shamrock to agree to a title match. Sure why not.

Billy Gunn just never had it in the ring.

Gunn just doesn’t do anything exciting. But like Road Dogg, he got an awesome reaction at this time.

It’s Val Venis! DDT! I think Venis was trying to sleep with Ryan Shamrock.

Ken Shamrock makes Billy Gunn submit in 14:24. Gunn rolls his ankle…and Shamrock locks in the ankle lock to make Gunn submit. Big night for the Corporation so far. Rumors were that Gunn did something stupid I don’t recall that got him in trouble. Two boring matches to start though.


Shane McMahon pumps Vince up!

WWF European Championship
X-Pac© vs. Gangrel


Michael Cole says that X-Pac is “perhaps the greatest European Champion ever”…the belt’s been around for about 20 months at this point. How long can that list be?

X-Pac sells a hangman with a somersault. At least he’s trying.

X-Pac comes off the top…and Gangrel tries to reverse the crossbody but doesn’t get the complete rotation. Teddy Long (remember when he was a ref?!) counts 3, which wasn’t the finish.

X-Pac pins Gangrel in 5:51 to retain. X-Factor wins. Despite the fuck-up, it wasn’t too bad. X-Pac carried it for sure. Better than his DX companions for sure.

Shane McMahon comes out to some generic WWF music. Good times. He was in some feud with Sable at the time that I can’t remember. It may have led to her heel turn.

Women’s Championship: Strap Match
Sable© vs. Luna


Luna’s music is someone’s generic theme I just can’t remember.

Luna attacked Sable in HeAt, and Sable has a “chronic” back injury as a result. Shane wants her to vacate the title.

Sable says to ring the bell though!

No idea why this is a Strap Match.

Sable wins in 4:43. They set up the same finish that happens in every strap match ever…where one touches the turnbuckles and the other secretly does as well, only to jump ahead on the last one. A twist here…a “fan” who is Sable’s stalker interferes and costs Luna the match. That would be Tori.

WWF Championship: I Quit Match
Mankind© vs. The Rock


Mankind won the title on the first RAW of 1999, and refused the Rock a rematch. Rock said he’d do any match type to get the rematch, but when he said he’d quit trying…Mankind accepted. An I Quit Match was set. It was booked around Mankind taunting Rock that this was a match he couldn’t possibly lose as no one could ever make Mankind say I Quit.

The Corporation hired Mabel to squash Mankind earlier, which he did. It would be Mabel’s lone night as a member of the Corporation…

Hilarious spot where Rock gets on commentary for a moment. Jerry Lawler tries to warn Rock…but Rock tells him to shut his mouth…before getting attacked.

Rock rings Mankind’s bell!

Rock tries to Rock Bottom Mankind through the table…but the table gives way.

We’ve got a Ladder! Mankind tries to elbow Rock who’s under a ladder…but it doesn’t work out well for him as he misses.

Rock and Mankind fight up on a balcony…and Rock punches Mankind off into some electrical equipment. Unforuntately for the match…the bump itself wasn’t too insane, but it turns into an overkill of sparks…and the lights go out in the arena. Michael Cole tries to sell it like Hell in a Cell…and Shane McMahon even comes out to try to end it…but it doesn’t nearly have the same effect.

On the plus side, Rock really gets his mean streak put over, as he says no matter what Mankind will quit and forces the match to continue.

Here comes the handcuffs. This is about to get ugly.

Mankind actually gets back on the offensive with handcuffs on. Not many guys could pull that off convincingly.

One of the scariest moments in professional wrestling…even at the time. The Rock nails Mankind with chairshot after chairshot to Mankind’s unprotected skull.

Rock also misses a cue to hit Mankind in the back…and continually hits him in the head.

The Rock wins the title in 21:44. After a sickening shot that knocks Foley down, Rock asks is Foley quits again. Foley is heard saying “I QUIT, I QUIT, I QUIT!” and Rock wins the title. It was revealed on RAW that it was a recording to screw Foley. This is a great brawl that’s hurt by the production stunt in the middle…and the finish is a bit much. Still a great brawl, and Rock’s best match at this point. There are three other significant things about this match that has to be considered though.

First: the finish. WWF backed themselves into a corner here with this stipulation. After Hell in a Cell…you really had to kill Mankind to get him to quit. Foley wrote about this in Foley is Good. They discussed different finishes, one where Foley’s wife calls it but it was explained why that wouldn’t work. I have two proposals for a finish. The most sensible was Mankind being knocked out, a la Austin at Mania 13. The second is having Mankind go over. It’s not like he wouldn’t go over anyway during the Superbowl and fight to a draw at St. Valentine’s Day Massacre as champ. Didn’t have to nearly kill Foley here.

Second: This was the match that ended Foley’s career in his mind as a full time wrestler. He talks about how the love of performing was gone after this match.

Third: With that we know about concussions it’s horrifying to watch. I don’t know if Foley got a concussion here…but the footage is just crazy to watch.

1999 Royal Rumble

Stone Cold is #1, Mr. McMahon is #2.

Austin was told he was not getting anymore World Title shots after the RAW after Survivor Series. But to get Austin McMahon dangled a Royal Rumble spot…if he could beat Undertaker in a Buried Alive Match. He did so. Vince then drew #1 for Austin.

Vince decided to enter himself as #30. This backfired when the Corporation lost Commissioner Shawn Michaels. HBK said since Vince entered the Rumble, he would be considered a WWF Superstar. Shawn made Vince #2.

Vince also put a $100,000 bounty on Austin’s head.

I think it’s funny that Vince looks so much better than Austin shape wise. Nothing against Austin…it says more about Vince.

Austin vs. Vince is a huge deal.

Austin beats the crap out of Austin the first two minutes.

#3 is Golga! Golga attacks Austin…for that bounty. Austin dumps Golga in about 15 seconds. At least he can say he was eliminated by Austin and Hulk Hogan in Royal Rumbles!

Vince hightails it…and Austin chases. They both slide under the bottom rope.

#4 is Droz. No one cares. They are watching Austin vs. Vince in the back.

Vince lures Austin into the women’s bathroom…it’s a trap! The Corporation beats the crap out of Austin!

#5 is Edge. Early in the career of the future 11 time World Champ.

#6 is GILLBERG! Edge takes him out in about 3 seconds.

#7 is Steve Blackman. Crowd really has died down since the beginning, obviously. Shoulda threw someone in there who, um…, matters. Like Road Dogg.

Droz with his best Scorpion impression.

#8 is THE BEAST. No not Brock Lesnar. Dan Severn.

If there was someone who didn’t fit the WWF style…it’s Dan Severn.

Austin is being carried out of the restroom and is being loaded into an ambulance.

#9 is Tiger Ali Singh. No one cares about any of these guys. Only Edge would become anything…although in Droz’s case that’s bad luck.

#10 is The Blue Meanie. I mean sure why not.

#11 is…no one? Well, Mabel smashes Mosh into a wall. So I guess #11 is Mabel.

Mabel dumps Severn and Blackman.

#12 is Road Dogg. Crowd wakes up!

Mabel takes out Droz and Meanie.

Road Dogg gets Edge. Some freakiness is about to happen though…

Lights go out…here comes The Undertaker! Old Taker music plays as well, which is odd.

The Ministry of Darkness abducts Mabel and would later turn him into Viscera. Inintended continuity too, as last time Mabel was a full time guy he just got finished feuding with Undertaker! Anyway, someone eliminated Mabel. Road Dogg doesn’t seem to care.

#13 is Gangrel.

Gangrel lasts about 30 seconds. We’re gonna watch Road Dogg stand around I guess.

#14 is Kurrgan!

#15 is Al Snow!

Not a lot happening here. I think it’s about to pick up shortly though.

Snow was pretty over (or at least Head was). He should have been there earlier to help with the crowd reaction.

Snow is gone, just like that by Road Dogg.
#16 is Goldust. A weird case…as Goldust got a huge face reaction when he turned back into Goldust in October on Val Venis…but has begun to turn heel. A real shame there…although I don’t think Goldust was in the right frame of mind at this point anyway.

#17 is the Godfather. Another great choice of someone who should have been in this match about 12 people ago.

#18 is Kane. Business has just picked up. They should have waited one week with the nuthouse angle, as Kane could have been a great last defense for the Corporation against Austin here.

Kane cleans house of course.

Another angle! The white coats are here to get Kane. Kane eliminates himself…he should have went under the bottom rope…and escapes through the crowd. Crowd is bummed.

#19 is Shamrock. Vince also reappears and sits in commentary.

#20 is a limping Billy Gunn. Not sure how coming out without a boot is a good idea…but that’s what Gunn decides. Perhaps it’s the ol’ swelling ankle theory.

#21 is Test.

We cut to the Ministry shoving Mabel into a hearse…but then we hear an ambulance! Austin is back!

#22 is the Bossman. Austin is back! He chases Vince…but SHamrock cuts him off! Austin dumps Shamrock!

#23 is Triple H!

#24 is Val Venis. Somehow he got in the upper tier class in this Rumble.

#25 is X-Pac. Pretty sure he’s not the lightest Royal Rumble competitor ever. I mean I’d have to look, but one of the Mexicans in ’97 I think beats that.

#26 is Mark Henry. He was more Sexual Chocolate here and less Hall of Pain…for sure.

#27 is Jeff Jarrett. The crowd is cheering. For Debra of course.

#28 is D’Lo Brown. I think Terri was on drugs there…

Austin dumps Test.

X-Pac’s out next.

HHH gets rid of Jarrett.

#29 is Owen Hart. Big reaction for him. Too bad he was never getting a chance with Austin on top. It wouldn’t matter soon anyway, sadly.

#30 is Chyna! First women ever.

Chyna eliminates Mark Henry…and Austin clotheslines her out!

Austin, HHH, Val, D’Lo, Owen, Bossman and Vince left.

HHH takes out Val.

Austin drops HHH with a Stunner…and he’s gone.

Austin dumps Owen. D’Lo gets the Lo-Down on Austin but Bossman dumps him. Austin immediately hits Bossman with a Stunner and he’s gone.

Austin vs. McMahon. Austin beats the hell out of him…but here comes The Rock!

Mr. McMahon wins the Royal Rumble in 56:38. Rock and Austin go at it on the apron, and Vince dumps Austin to win! Vince, Shane, and the Stooges celebrate the close the show!

I like this Royal Rumble a lot more than others do…even though it definitely does have it’s faults. Let’s get into it.

The pros: A lot of people didn’t like that the match was made a mockery of (not unlike World War 3 ’98 actually) with the Vince-Austin storyline, nevermind the Kane and Undertaker angle. Here’s why not only do I not mind it…but I think it was the right way to go. This is undoubtedly the most predictable Royal Rumble ever. There is no way this doesn’t come down to Austin and McMahon. No way whatsoever. Every other year you can make a case for another scenario perhaps with the exception of 2000 (it was coming Rock vs. Big Show no matter what). Let’s look at “modern” Rumbles. 2001? Sure Austin woulda have been there, but there were many who thought Rock was actually winning and facing Austin at Mania that way. 2002? Supposed to come down to Austin vs. Taker vs. HHH somehow. Didn’t. 2003? Brock was the safe choice, but Booker T did get some hype for it (despite how it went) and people thought Undertaker was coming back dead. 2004 could have been a lot of people who weren’t Benoit. 2005 coulda been Cena. 2006 Rey was a shocker. No one knew that was the 2007 plan. Etc. etc.

Anyway, since Austin vs. McMahon was the surest thing in Rumble history…why not have fun with it? No one is believing that Owen Hart and D’Lo Brown were threats. Even HHH wasn’t at that level yet. The only guy that it could work with is Kane. But it’s the Attitude Era! Do something new with the Rumble! Everyone only really cares about Austin anyway.

The cons: The booking of the rest of the match is terrible. Nevermind the obvious tiering of the competitors from jobbers (3 through 17 other than Road Dogg were jobbers). So much for randomization. And there’s so much standing around. Droz stands around with no one to fight. Road Dogg stands around. Shamrock stands around. Horrible flow.

So I see both sides. It’s a B Rumble for me, and Rock vs. Mankind was a great match…even if it’s tough to watch now. The rest of the card though sucks. Sucks horribly. Heels also win 4 out of 6 and the 4 most important matches on the card. Odd as well.

There’s too much to defend here…but I did enjoy the Rumble match for the mess that it was. I can’t quite put this into the B range though when considering everything.

Final Grade: C+
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Baldwin
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I am in the pro-1999 rumble. I just think it stands out as very unique compared to the previous iterations, and it fit in well with what was going on in the company at the time. I also think the cringeworthy Rock/Foley match is an all-time classic for all the wrong reasons. The rest of the show was just trash though if you ask me.
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WWF Wrestlemania XII
March 31, 1996
Anaheim, CA

The tide was turning.

Even without WCW breathing down the WWF’s neck, the WWF was in trouble. Wrestlers were unhappy about their payoffs. Business was down. Wrestlemania XII would in fact have no celebrity involvement whatsoever, the first (I think, I forget if IX did) Mania with that issue. It’s a big dropoff in that regard from Mania IX.

Here’s the real issue the WWF is dealing with: they’ve failed to build an undercard, and their top stars weren’t super top draws. Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Diesel and Undertaker didn’t draw anything like Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Randy Savage or a lot of other WCW guys. And the undercard? 1995’s undercard had already fallen apart or were on the way down. Sure The British Bulldog and Owen Hart were still there…but just the same there were either wasted opportunities like Bam Bam Bigelow, Lex Luger and Hakushi, or absolute bad ideas like Tatanka and King Mabel. Also, some of the top guys from an earlier era were certainly on the way down. Sycho Sid was nowhere to be seen and Yokozuna wasn’t a main event guy anymore. The newer guys hadn’t completely connected yet either, although Vader and Goldust were on their way and Ahmed Johnson would at least be popular for a while. Part of the reason why Mania XII was structured with a 60 Minute Iron Man Match is because filling out the rest of the card would prove difficult.

Worse yet, some of the top guys were leaving. Diesel and Razor Ramon sent their notices in and would be leaving the WWF shortly. It’s said that the fix was in with Razor as he ended up suspended and missing Mania. Nonetheless, filling the top ranks of the WWF would prove very difficult. They had a lot of work to do.

The Card

We open with one of those black and white montages promoting Shawn vs. Bret. Those black and white montages were pretty awesome. Summerslam 97 has my favorite one.

Six Man Tag Team Match: If Camp Cornette Loses Cornette must spend five minutes with Yokozuna
Vader, The British Bulldog and Owen Hart vs. Yokozuna, Jake “The Snake” Roberts and Ahmed Johnson


Story here: Camp Cornette had a major issue when Yoko and Vader didn’t get along…and eventually Cornette chose Vader (or Yoko had enough of Cornette). Ahmed Johnson also slammed a then Camp Cornette Yoko back at Survivor Series. Jake had also recently made a return to help Yoko and Ahmed.

Yoko and Vader go at it right off the bat! While Vader is a monster, I always thought it was a great idea to pair him off with Yokozuna right away, since Vader could show ass there and still be fine.

Tope by Ahmed Johnson!

Vader’s punching combo was awesome.

Yoko with the Rock Bottom on Vader! The Rock Bottom was once known as the Samoan Slam afterall.

Nice camera shot hides the fact that Ahmed was setting up the Pearl River Plunge the wrong way...Owen takes him out with a top rope missile dropkick.

This has been ALL Camp Cornette.

Another botch where Owen drops way too early for an Ahmed clothesline.

Jake was one of those guys WWF brought back from the early 90s (along with Piper and Warrior). I assume it was to get some newer guys over.

Jake becomes the third face in peril here.

Jake survives the Bulldog Powerslam!

Jake then survivies a splash from Vader! Can he get the tag!

Yokozuna cleaning house…and we have a brawl!

Camp Cornette wins when Vader pins Roberts in 13:08. Jake drops Owen with the DDT…but the ref is distracted by the brawl. Cornette tries to break it up, but Jake stops him and sets him up for the DDT. Vader attacks him though, and the Vader Bomb wins it. Decent match. Problem was all three faces went through the face in peril situation…and they never really got any offense at all. It gets over Vader though, so that works.

Hollywood Backlot Brawl: Roddy Piper vs. Goldust

Originally was a Razor vs. Goldust rematch, but Razor was suspended.

The story here was that Goldust was…turned on by the authority of acting President Piper. Piper didn’t take it well.

It’s in an alleyway for sure. Goldust shows up in a gold Cadillac…and Piper beats the holy hell out of him.

Piper hits his perfect punch that just knocks down Goldust. You’ll know it when you see it. Goldust does turn the tables after it though with a low blow.

Goldust actually hits Piper with his car. Piper recovers though…and gets into a white bronco to chase. More on this later…

Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Savio Vega

Story here: I don’t remember how their beef started…I think Dibiase wanted Vega to be his chauffer. Also, with Razor out, Vega needed a tag partner to face the Bodydonnas in the Tag Team Title tournament…and randomly drew Austin. Austin cost him the match.

Austin was the Million Dollar Champion here. He had the Stone Cold name and serious demeanor…but still wasn’t the Stone Cold we all knew quite yet.

Really hot start here.

Something that takes away from this match: Vince gets Piper on the phone while he’s chasing Goldust. They even show “footage” of the chase…which is actually OJ footage. OJ footage was dated in 1995. Takes away from the importance of this match…although there was none really anyway.

The crowd does not care about this match.

Pretty awesome spot: Austin comes off the top but Vega just gets his boot up. The spot itself is nothing special, but it’s just done really well.

Savio nails the spin kick….on referee Tim White.

Stone Cold Steve Austin wins when Vega passes out in 10:05. Dibiase distracts Vega…and Austin nails him with the Million Dollar Belt. Austin hits him again. Austin locks in some variant of the Million Dollar Dream. Dibiase revives the ref, and the ref calls it. Good match, but no one cared. Not sure if it was a good idea to have two heels win right away at Mania either.

Mr. Perfect interviews Diesel. Simple promo here. He’s taking care of Taker…then Shawn’s next.

Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. The Ultimate Warrior

Funny enough, the most historical part of this match would be Sable’s debut as HHH’s valet. HHH should have taunted Brock Lesnar about this two years ago.

Crowd popped when they heard HHH’s theme. Because they were excited for the Warrior. Warrior had been gone for about 3 and a half years now.

It doesn’t go well for HHH. Warrior even no sells a Pedigree by standing straight up.

The Ultimate Warrior pins HHH in 1:38. After Warrior no sells everything, he clotheslines HHH a bunch of times and finishes him off with the Gorilla Press. Give HHH credit: this didn’t bury him. It’s 1:38 and the crowd was into it, so I mean, good for what it was I guess.

Marc Mero debuts in an interview, and HHH runs into him fighting over Sable. Of those three, it would be Mero who wouldn’t get over.

Diesel vs. The Undertaker

This started when Taker declared after beating Mabel that he was the #1 contender. Diesel said no, he deserved a rematch. Taker got the title match at the Rumble and Diesel cost him the belt. Taker did likewise at In Your House.

Diesel was still an odd tweener at that point…until he whacked HBK with a chair at the Garden.

Nice back and forth early on, a clear clash of the titans here. Taker also hits a cross bodyblock!

Match does slow down with Taker trying to get in the ring but Diesel knocking him out over and over.

Double big boot spot!

This match was part of the transition to “humanize” Undertaker, although a very early part of the transition.

Taker begins to make a comeback, and even hits a top rope clothesline!

Diesel stops the comeback with a Jackknife Powerbomb! He taunts Taker to rise and he does. Second Jackknife….but Taker rises ones again!

The Undertaker pins Diesel in 16:46. After rising from two Jackknife Bombs, Taker finishes Diesel with a Tombstone for the win. Slow at parts, but pretty good. I love the finish even though that transition I wrote earlier was lost in it. That transition would go through Taker’s next feud against Mankind. Taker was becoming more of a guy who just could deal with pain as opposed to the cartoonish Grim Reaper who rose from everything.

Goldust vs. Roddy Piper continued…

They’re here!

This time it’s all Goldust, until he kisses Piper and Piper goes nuts. Piper strips Goldust down, kisses him and hits a low blow. He wins as a result I guess. Crowd was hot for it and, like Benoit vs. Sullivan at GAB ’96, it did set the stage for future hardcore matches. And Bra and Panties matches I guess too. I don’t think much of this though.

WWF Championship: 60 Minute Iron Man Match
Bret Hart© vs. Shawn Michaels


Shawn comes from the ceiling, which is pretty cool. The big fight atmosphere is absolutely there.

Match starts off REALLY SLOW, with Shawn trapped in a headlock for six minutes. HBK responds with three minutes of armbars.

HBK gets a flying headscissors, the first highspot of the match.

We get our HBK skinning the cat moment…just to go back to an armbar.

Sharpshooter attempt! HBK survives. Bret sends HBK over the top though next.

Best spot of the first half here: HBK slams Bret off the post and Bret lands on the timekeeper. HBK goes for the superkick…but nails the time keeper! Back to the Bret headlock now.

HBK rams Bret into the post and hits a shoulderbreaker at the 24 minute mark.

I’ll say it, I think the first half hour of this is pretty boring. They went with the “Shawn is surprising Bret” by wrestling a technical wrestling match. It’s just Bret trapping Shawn in a headlock with Shawn reversing it and getting am armbar for 30 minutes. There are some good moments inbetween, but this psychology being set up plays very little into the finish, and feels like just a way to fill time.

The pace picks up. Bulldog to HBK! Bret then with a weird facebuster off the top which hits the ref. Feels like a potential botch there. Not sure really.

Piledriver! HBK kicks out at two, which was the first false-finish fans reacted to. HBK got a lot of boos there too.

Frankensteiner from Shawn. All that headlock and armbar stuff seems like a thing of the past.

HBK takes out Bret by coming off the top to the outside!

Bret survives a Perfect-Plex.

HBK takes a crazy bump over the top rope onto the floor. He goes flying over the corner no less. Michaels survives the 10 count though, since Bret goes to get him.

With HBK’s back screwed, Bret goes on the attack. This basically becomes a Bret Hart match now.

Tremendous back suplex from the 2nd rope.

Shawn takes a crazy bump over the top rope…and he takes out Jose Lothario with him! Slam on the steps next!

Suicide dive from Bret!

It’s still all Bret. Big superplex with 6 to go!

HBK makes his comeback with 5 to go…and even hits a moonsault. Still not enough!

Bret traps HBK in the sharpshooter with 30 seconds to go! The time expires.

Shawn Michaels wins the Iron Man Match 1-0 in 61:52. Bret leaves with the title, as a draw means the champ retains the title. Returning President Gorilla Monsoon decides there must be winner, so this goes to OT. HBK gets two superkicks and wins it. Match is good, but not the all time classic people say it is. It didn’t age well. It feels like a great 30 minute match stretched out to an hour. The psychology in the first half just disappears. Still, the 2nd half is pretty good.

Mania 12 was an odd one. On one hand, HBK vs. Bret and Taker vs. Diesel were Mania worthy. But at this point we didn’t care about Austin and Vega. Warrior squashing HHH was just unnecessary. Piper vs. Goldust was what it was. The opener was decent but dragged.

Historically, some seeds were planted, but they wouldn’t bloom until after Mania. The Austin-Vega feud was the end of Dibiase ultimately, but that didn’t start here. HHH wasn’t anything here. Taker vs. Diesel represented nearly the last of the cartoon Undertaker, although shades of him would pop up in the feud with Mankind. HBK’s title win was fun, but it would lead to an uninspiring face run. I mean the only guy who really got elevated here was Vader and I guess Shawn, although Shawn felt like the top guy already at this point anyway.

Nothing terrible here though. A lot of decent to good and an odd time for the WWF. A hell of a lot better than last year’s Mania at least.

Final Grade: B-
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WWF Royal Rumble 2001
January 21, 2001
New Orleans, LA

It’s over.

WCW didn’t really believe it to be so, but at this point it really was. The WWF vs. WCW war hadn’t really mattered to the WWF in over a year. WCW then proceeded to put on one of the worst years, if not the worst year, that a major wrestling promotion had ever put together. While WCW would have some strong moments in 2001 before its demise, it was way too little and way too late.

Meanwhile, the WWF was riding high. New stars such as Kurt Angle had really hit their stride. The WWF was also pushing the hell out of former WCW stars Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit, and even taking chances with guys like Rikishi. The WWF had all of that talent while also having their mainstays be at the very top. Stone Cold, HHH, Undertaker, Kane and The Rock were still at the top of their games. While that wouldn’t actually remain viable forever (not enough top spots), at this point the WWF was simply rolling.

Then again, there was some small concerns. Ratings in December were low comparing to past years, and that’s with the ultra-hot Austin comeback. Shouldn’t be a problem on the Road to Wrestlemania though…right?

The Card

WWF World Tag Team Championship
Edge and Christian © vs. The Dudley Boyz


From 2000 on, it’s just safe to assume the Hardyz, E and C and Dudleyz were feuding with one another. The con-chair-to was an awesome move. Shame we won’t ever see it again, although it’s for the best.

I always thought the chemistry between the three teams was awesome…especially since the Dudleyz adapted to the WWF style practically instantly.

This whole match revolves around the Dudleyz having concussions. My how times have changed.

Edge and Christian miss the con-chair-to and D-Von hot tags Bubba! The crowd is very into all of this.

“D-VON! GET THE TABLES!”

The Dudley Boyz win when D-Von Dudley pins Edge in 9:59. Edge and Christian go for the Dudleyz’ WASSUP! Headbutt, but it’s reversed. Edge eats the 3D, and the Dudleyz win the title! Crowd pops huge for a very good opening match. Chemistry was just perfect with these teams.

Drew Carey is here! I think he’s promoting a PPV or something. He talks to HHH and Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley and promotes his PPV.

Crash Holly then threatens The APA about the Rumble. Good for a laugh.

WWF Intercontinental Championship
Chris Benoit © vs. Chris Jericho


Their entire promo video is just them beating the hell out of one another throughout 2000. Sounds good to me.

Benoit and Jericho just go at it right away. No time to waste here.

One of the most cringeworthy moments I’ve ever seen: Benoit goes for a tope…and Jericho whacks him right in the head with a chair. Worse when you think about what ultimately happened with Benoit. What a sick spot.

This is just hard hitting stuff back and forth, not a lot of flying. It’s an old school ladder match and it’s awesome.

Ridiculous ladder teeter-totter spot that got Benoit in the face. Jeez.

Walls of Jericho on top of the ladder!

Benoit misses a top of the ladder diving headbutt. Sick.

Chris Jericho wins the title in 18:48. Jericho nails Benoit with a chair, then shoves him off the ladder and over the top. It’s enough time for Jericho to grab the IC Title. Great great match. One of the best ladder matches of all time. It’s forgotten because of the Benoit deal. Hard hitting, great spots and a great crowd. 2/2 so far tonight!

Drew Carey hits on Trish Stratus…but here comes Vince! Vince isn’t happy…so he has Drew enter the Royal Rumble! When Trish says it would impress her…Drew goes for it!

WWF Women’s Championship
Ivory© vs. Chyna


Storyline here: The Right to Censor injured Chyna’s neck…and Chyna wants revenge.

It may have been fun to see Chyna destroy Ivory at the time, but in retrospect this killed the Women’s title until Trish revived it at the end of the year.

Ivory retains the title via pin in 3:32. Chyna goes for her cartwheel elbow, but goes down and holds her neck. Ivory pins her. Chyna is stretchered out. Really a glorified angle. Chyna would crush Ivory two months later anyway.

Drew Carey meets Kane. Kane should be afraid.

WWF Championship
Kurt Angle© vs. Triple H


Weird match here. HHH and Angle had feuded in 2000 in the love triangle storyline, but we got past that randomly in the last couple of months…and HHH had turned heel on Stone Cold. Suddenly HHH is the #1 contender causing Angle to think he’s against the McMahon family…but he’s still a heel and enlists Trish to help him, which infuriates Stephanie (well that and Vince’s flirtations with Vince). Still, both are heels, and the match actually feels like a backdrop of the Steph-Trish feud sadly.

As a result, except for some early “Angle Sucks” chants, the crowd really isn’t into it.

HHH works on the knee, even using a chair against Angle’s knee against the post. This makes Angle the face of the match then?

HHH with a strange Indian Deathlock. He had been using the Indian Deathlock in late 2000, notably against Benoit at No Mercy 2000.

Trish breaks up a Figure Four, leading to a Steph-Trish catfight…and the crowd goes nuts.

Razor’s Edge! Angle kicks out.

Moonsault from Angle! HHH survives though.

The crowd is on HHH’s side now.

Ref gets taken out…twice! HHH has it won…

Kurt Angle retains by pin in 24:16. Stone Cold comes out and beats the hell out of HHH…and hits him with a Stunner. Angle gets the pin. While this is a very good match, the Trish-Steph angle was distracting, and we didn’t even get remotely a good finish. I mean, I know Angle is a chicken-shit heel, but he really struggled to beat anyone during this reign…this match included.

The Royal Rumble

#1 is Jeff Hardy. #2 is Bull Buchanan.

#3 is Matt Hardy, pretty much ending the Bull Buchanan run.

The Hardyz oddly don’t wait for the next guy and go at it after dumping Bull.

#4 is Faarooq, who fends for himself pretty well for a minute before getting eliminated.

#5 is Drew Carey! Carey watches on the outside…and the Hardyz eliminate each other at the same time! Drew wins!

#6 is Kane. Kane slowly walks around the ring and Drew begs him not to hurt him. Drew hilariously offers money, but Kane says no. Kane is about to chokeslam drew, but #7, Raven saves him with a kendo stick shot. Drew eliminates himself.

It’s a Hardcore Rumble!

Al Snow runs in early and attacks Raven he confirms himself to be #8 shortly.

Raven takes a bowling ball to the nuts. Ouch.

#9 is Saturn. Interestingly, Saturn’s titantron has the same style that would be used for Chris Jericho’s Save.Us campaign later.

#10 is Steve Blackman as the Hardcore Division keeps coming out.

#11 is Grandmaster Sexay. It would be his last appearance until 2004.

Kane literally has a “fuck this moment”. Trash can shot knocks out Grandmaster. Blackman is next. Then Al Snow. Raven goes afterwards….then Saturn as well. Kane has cleaned house!

#12 is The Honky Tonk Man! He wants to sing his song. He does so, before Kane whacks him with a guitar and throws him out.

#13 is The Rock. Business has picked up!

#14 is The Goodfather! Goodfather never recovered from his RTC heel turn sadly.

And Rock takes out the Goodfather. That was fast.

#15 is Tazz, and he lasts less time than the Goodfather does. Kane knocks him out in about 5 seconds.

#16 is Bradshaw. He actually kicks some ass and takes Rock out with a clothesline.

#17 is Albert.

#18 is Hardcore Holly. Five guys in there now.

GETTING ROWDY! #19 is K-Kwik. Amazing that Killings never really got higher than this spot other than his heel run in 2011.

#20 is a Right to Censored Val Venis. It seems like we are just waiting for someone to clean house here.

#21 is William Regal. Test follows at #22, and dumps Regal.

Business picks up now as The Big Show returns and is #23. Show was last seen in July after being sent to OVW to lose weight (which he didn’t do, for the record). He chokeslams everyone in sight and gets rid of K-Kwik and Test. The Rock counters the chokeslam and out goes Show.

Big Show drags Rock under the ropes as #24, Crash Holly gets in. Big Show chokeslams The Rock through the Announcer’s table before leaving.

Undertaker is #25, and he and Kane clean out the ring…and DON’T attack one another (see Hardyz, it works!). Scotty 2 Hotty comes out in total fear, and is promptly chokeslammed and eliminated.

#27 is Stone Cold Steve Austin, leading to one of my all time favorite Rumble moments. Taker and Kane in the ring where Stone Cold comes down with no fear. HHH ruins the moment though by attacking Austin. Austin doesn’t make it to the ring. Rock gets back in and fight Taker and Kane.

#28 is Billy Gunn. Gunn gets some good offense in, probably the last good offense he’d get in until 2013.

#29 is Haku. Haku is the current WCW Hardcore Champion! You knew it was a death knell for WCW when the WWF didn’t even acknowledge that they stole Haku.

#30 is Rikishi. Rikishi sees Austin trying to get back to the ring and tries to take advantage, but Austin springs into action and attacks! Anyway, Rikishi, Gunn, Austin, Rock, Kane, Haku and Undertaker are the final seven.

Austin dumps Haku.

You can see there is a little Austin fatigue at this point. It’s not that Austin couldn’t be a top draw, but his out of nowhere attack of Rikishi would have gotten a huge reaction before. Now, it’s just something Austin did.

Rikishi superkicks Undertaker out!

Rikishi goes for a Banzaii Drop, but Rock knocks him over the top rope. Really bad showing from Rikishi here kayfabe wise. All that hype for #30 and he ended up lasting 5 minutes?

Austin, Gunn, Kane, Rock is the final four. One of these is not like the other.

Gunn hits Austin with the Fameasser…then Austin throws Gunn out just like that. Down to three.

Austin and Rock have locked eyes. These two went at one another at Armageddon the month prior as well.

Austin and Rock going at each other here was a huge deal. It was funny when WWE tried to replicate it with Orton and Cena in 2011.

Austin and Rock keep going at it and Austin even gets a Stunner. Austin tries to dump Rock, but Rock counters and tries to dump Austin. Kane comes from behind and tries to dump both, but only succeeds in dumping Rock (the record setting 11th elimination).

Stone Cold wins the Royal Rumble at 61:55, last eliminating Kane. Austin and Kane go at it, and Kane grabs a chair. Austin gets the chair though and whacks Kane a few times, before clotheslining him over the top for the win. Very good Royal Rumble. Had some slow moments…but clearly had its moments as well.

A really good PPV here. Only one match was lacking, and it only lasted three minutes. Everything else ranged from awesome (the IC Ladder Match) to very good (the WWF Title match). Historically this was Austin’s last great babyface moment of the Attitude Era, and Kane got a historical accolade that took 13 years to beat. Kane did kinda get wasted though after this.

Royal Rumble really had some good stuff. Comedy with Carey, Honky Tonk and Scotty 2 Hotty. Kane’s reign of terror. The hardcore part of the Rumble. The Austin-Rock staredown. The Big Show comeback (it got a good pop and he was a main guy always before this).

The entire show did provide good build-up for Wrestlemania as well. Can’t go wrong there.

Final Grade: A
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Not nearly enough was said about the HOF worthy appearance of Drew Carey. But great review nonetheless
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WWE Royal Rumble 2003
January 19, 2003
Boston, MA

The Brand Extension is in full force.

The WWE has established their monopoly of pro wrestling in the United States at this point (TNA was still pretty new…although they’d never be a real threat anyway). Vince McMahon decided he needed to instill competition into the product and the Brand Extension was born. The Brand Extension allowed WWE to push new talent, although it would be shown a lot of them weren’t ready for the challenge.

One of them that looked more than ready was Brock Lesnar. Lesnar, who just dropped the WWE Title at Survivor Series was on his way to the massive face push that would make him the WWE’s top guy (Lesnar would be the Hogan on Smackdown, where HHH would be the Flair on RAW). In a post Austin and full time Rock world, WWE needed to create some megastars on top in the babyface mold. HHH showed he was a lot better off as a heel. Undertaker would never fit that mold. Austin was gone, Rock was basically gone. Goldberg wasn’t here yet. Angle was a heel at the time (although he got a shot at the face run later) and Benoit would never have the charisma to be that guy, although he got a shot later.

Still, the early days of Brand Extension provided interesting content on both sides for sure. Returning legends (HBK, Hogan, Flair), guys way too talented not to be in the main event but somehow not in it (Jericho, Benoit, Booker T), top guys who weren’t ready to leave the top (Taker, HHH) and top newcomers (Lesnar) were just some of the elements out there. I mean in that group I didn’t even mention Angle or Big Show.

Let’s see how the first Brand Extension Royal Rumble plays out.

The Card

Winner Gets in the Royal Rumble
Brock Lesnar vs. Big Show


Story here: Lesnar dropped the WWE Title (and was pinned for the first time) to Big Show at Survivor Series when Paul Heyman turned on him. In actuality two things caused that change: Lesnar had injured ribs that WWE wasn’t sure of the extent of, and WWE was planning Lesnar vs. Angle at Mania and decided to switch the face/heel alignments, so had to make Lesnar a face. Of course, face Angle had to beat heel Big Show for the belt, which led to a weird Angle heel turn, but I guess that was the best way to make this happen. Angle would JOIN Heyman afterwards, and for some reason this didn’t turn Big Show face.

Back to the story, Lesnar then cost Big Show the title at Armageddon against Angle. So we got this match. I’m usually not a big fan of these type matches, as for a storyline like this it’s obvious Lesnar is winning this match AND the Rumble. There was one other option for the Rumble winner, which I’ll get into when we get there.

The way Lesnar would just suplex Big Show all over the place was ridiculous.

The way Show would throw Lesnar around was also ridiculous. While he obviously could, no one else did anything like that to Brock up to this point.

Big Show does a great, if not hilarious shocked face when Lesnar kicks out of the chokeslam.

Brock Lesnar pins Big Show in 6:29. Lesnar escapes a 2nd chokeslam attempt, and gets the F5! That’s so damn impressive and the crowd pops huge. Lesnar gets the pin and is in the Rumble. Good match, if only for how smooth Lesnar is in throwing around Big Show. These two had a strange chemistry.

Terri interviews Chris Jericho. She asks him about Jericho choosing #2 when he had the choice to pick any number. Jericho says because HBK was #1 Jericho HAD to be #2. This was setting up the Jericho-HBK feud.

Jericho sure got A LOT of mileage out of beating Austin and Rock the same night to become Undisputed Champion (as he should have).

RAW World Tag Team Championship
William Regal and Lance Storm vs. The Dudley Boyz


This would be the third Rumble in a row that the Dudleyz were in the World Tag Title slot. They are already 15 Time World Tag Team Champions at this point.

Regal and Storm were what was left of the UnAmericans. Test started being advertised by male genitalia. Christian became Jericho’s sidekick.

Regal still had the brass knuckles gimmick going at this point as well.

The Dudleyz actually weren’t stale here, as they were split up throughout most of 2002 due to the Brand Extension (that led to Reverend D-Von!). D-Von was part of the Big Show to Smackdown trade and immediately rejoined Bubba at Survivor Series.

One of the problems with the Dudley reunion was they didn’t change anything up at all. They literally acted like the same team they always did, moves and all.

Chief Morley comes out to argue about something, and Regal has Brass Knucks!

The Dudley Boyz wins the title when D-Von pinned Storm in 7:24. Regal has the Knucks…but gets the 3D anyway. D-Von picks up the knucks and nails Storm for the win. A good pop for the Dudley title win. This is a waste of Storm and Regal though. Match wasn’t anything special and pretty boring.

Nathan Jones promo! He escaped from prison in Tasmania! It’s like Nailz all over again.

Stepmother vs. Stepdaughter
Torrie Wilson vs. Dawn Marie


Oh god. This storyline was Wrestlecrap from the get go. Dawn Marie fell in love with Torrie Wilson’s father, Al Wilson. This at first seemed like an attempt to have a fling with Torrie, which was “shown” at Armageddon. Dawn and Al continued their relationship and got married, but Al died on the honeymoon because of a heart attack as a result of too much sex or something. Then Torrie and Dawn fought at the wake. It was actually worse than it sounds.

I mean who the hell thought any of that was a good idea?

Torrie doesn’t fall on the Dawn Marie armbar. That could have been a broken arm right there.

Dawn Marie with a springboard clothesline! How about that. It didn’t look great though.

Torrie Wilson pins Dawn Marie in 3:36. Swinging neckbreaker for the win. Torrie and Dawn are not really wrestlers, so to expect anything more than a bad match would be unrealistic. We got that springboard clothesline so there’s that at least? At least this was short. Storyline is still horrid.

Stephanie McMahon and Eric Bischoff meet backstage (where Bischoff was speaking to a still rookie Randy Orton). Steph tells Bischoff good bye, as Vince had given Bischoff 30 days to turn RAW around. Bischoff said he had a bombshell to save his job (which turned out to be Austin). Stephanie said she had a bombshell of her own (which turned out to be Hogan).

Sean O’Haire vignette! I still think he would have worked out if not for Roddy Piper’s involvement in the angle.

World Heavyweight Championship
Triple H© vs. Scott Steiner


Story: Steiner debuted at Survivor Series (as a face no less. Pretty sure that was the opposite of what the Big Poppa Pump character was about) and decided on RAW as his home. A part of the agreement was he gets a World Title shot.

The match actually has a solid start. Hard hitting from Steiner followed by a gorilla press slam. It would get worse though…

I hate Boston Crabs where the guy doesn’t sit on the back. That’s the point Steiner!

Steiner with a belly to belly suplex! He goes for the Recliner but Flair pulls HHH out.

Steiner is breathing HEAVY. He’s already exhausted.

Another belly to belly (kinda) from Steiner.

We get a weird Tombstone reversal sequence which ends with a botched HHH neckbreaker.

Steiner catches HHH coming off the top…for another belly to belly suplex.

Fans begin turning on Steiner….there’s ANOTHER belly to belly.

Another belly to belly. It’s clear Steiner has nothing else. Fans booing.

A sixth belly to belly.

Steiner goes for a double underhook suplex, and Steiner FALLS before the move is finished. Yikes.

HHH gets busted open by the leather part of the World Title.

ANOTHER BELLY TO BELLY.

Steiner doing his push-up taunt is like a NFL defensive lineman celebrating a sack when his team is down 30 points.

HHH tries to get counted out and DQed, but Earl Hebner won’t allow it. Steiner throws in yet another belly to belly while he’s at it.

Scott Steiner wins by DQ in 18:14. HHH finally uses the sledgehammer, forcing the DQ. Post match, Steiner destroys HHH and locks him in the Recliner. Crowd is dead for it. Match was historically bad, and has an argument for being the worst PPV World Title match ever. Scott Steiner was dreadful. There’s a reason he was a midcarder after this (although he did get a HHH rematch at No Way Out).

WWE World Championship
Kurt Angle© vs. Chris Benoit


We covered Angle’s story earlier. We’ll add here that this feud also involved the debut of Team Angle, Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas, which owned.

Benoit actually turned amidst all this as well, and became the #1 contender after being Big Show on Smackdown. Angle and Benoit were reluctant Smackdown Tag Team Champions back in October, and even had a match at Unforgiven as well. This was the end of Benoit the heel, as this face run would go through the rest of his career.

So, as all Benoit vs. Angle feuds go, it comes down to who’s the better wrestler?

Team Angle gets ejected quickly for trying to hold Benoit back.

Watching this match makes me feel that Steiner and HHH was in slow motion.

Benoit DDTs Angle on the apron! Nice.

Angle’s belly to belly suplexes are about 100 times better than Steiner’s.

This has been a non-stop action packed match from the get go.

Rolling Germans from Benoit…but Angle counters into his own!

Benoit re-counters!

I never got why Benoit did that snot thing.

Angle tosses Benoit off the top rope with a belly to belly!

Angle Slam attempt turns into the Crossface! Crowd is very into it. Angle survives though.

Benoit locks Angle into the Ankle Lock…but Angle reverses into his own Ankle Lock! THAT gets turned into the Crossface!

Angle counters a Crossface with an Angle Slam! Wow!

Another great false finish with Benoit countering a German with a victory roll.

Benoit gets a German…only it turns into an overhead release German where Angle lands face first!

Flying Headbutt 3/4th of the ring away!

Angle drops Benoit face first on the turnbuckles leading to another Angle Slam…but Benoit survives THAT too.

Kurt Angle retains by submission in 19:50. Angle counters another Crossface into the Ankle Lock. Benoit tries to escape, but Angle hangs on. Benoit does an amazing sell job here, screaming in pain. Angle grapevines the leg and Benoit is trapped, and taps out (makes you wonder why Angle didn’t always do that). I was blown away the first time I saw this 12 years ago, but it holds up today as well. Incredible match. This match was the match that showed Benoit could play an incredible underdog babyface, and he rode that all the way to winning the title at Mania XX (well, there was a haphazard team with Rhino in there). Just an amazing match. Benoit gets a standing ovation afterwards.

Kane and Rob Van Dam talk about how it’s every man for himself. This leads to a good spot later.

The Royal Rumble

#1 is Shawn Michaels. Jericho is supposed to be #2, but for some reason Christian shows up in the entrance way. Jericho attacks HBK from behind and beats the holy hell out of him. Jericho lays HBK out with a chair and HBK sells it like a million bucks. Chris Nowinski is #3, but he waits on the outside. Jericho beats on HBK a bit more then dumps him, to the horror of the crowd.

#4 is Rey Mysterio, and he owns Jericho for a bit. Nowinski finally gets in there to attack Rey from behind.

Edge is #5. Edge and Rey had been a team, so they natural work together. They eventually go at it though and there’s a false elimination that I think gets screwed up. I think Edge’s feet do hit the floor. No biggie though.

Christian is #6, for real this time. He tries to get on Edge’s good side to double team Mysterio. Edge spears him though.

Rey and Edge hit a double dropkick off the top to Nowinski, but the timing is off and I think Nowinski got hurt here as Edge’s leg lands on his face.

#7 is Chavo Guerrero. Good workrate early on for sure. Rey gets Nowinski out. Jericho gets out Rey. Great heat for Jericho eliminating HBK and Rey so far.

#8 is Tajiri. Crazy airplane spin on Chavo.

#9 is Bill DeMott. What a random push this was.

#10 is Tommy Dreamer. It’s Hardcore Rumble II! Dreamer accidentally legit cracks Jericho in the eye with a kendo stick, busting him open bad.

Con-garbage can lid-to on Dreamer! He’s gone by Jericho and Christian.

#11 is B2. Too lazy to super script here. He’s injured as John Cena turned on him on Smackdown. He lasts about 30 seconds. Jericho gets rid of Tajiri. Edge gets rid of Chavo. Jericho gets rid of Edge and Christian. Jericho is alone in the ring.

#12 is Rob Van Dam! A great near-elimination is in there, where Jericho barely hangs on.

Matt Strongly Dislikes Mustard. #13 is Matt Hardy! Hardy and Jericho double team RVD. Jericho takes a Five Star Frog Splash!

#14 is Eddie Guerrero. No reaction for Eddie…but boy would that change over the next year.

Eddie with a kinda botched Frog Splash there. Matt turns right on him and hits a Twist of Fate. Just in time for…

Jeff Hardy at #15! The Hardys did not get along at this point.

Shannon Moore tries to push Matt back into the ring with his feet. He then takes a Swanton for Matt! Shannon Moore was a great sidekick.

#16 is Rosey. Out goes the workrate.

#17 is Test. The Testicle marketing was just weird.

#18 is John Cena, and we get a whole rap on his way to the ring. He rhymes explain to ya and Wrestlemania. So there’s that. We get Latrell Sprewell and Mike Tyson references as well.

#19 is Team Angle’s Charlie Haas

RVD gets rid of Jeff when Jeff went to the top rope and RVD shoved him off.

#20 is Rikishi. Apparently he’s been in more Royal Rumbles than anyone else in history at this point. RIkishi’s spinning sell of the clothesline was already pretty good.

#21 is Jamal. Both members of Three Minute Warning are in there.

#22 is Kane. JR mentions no one has come close to Kane’s 11 man elimination record…even though the previous record was 10. He gets rid of Rosey on cue.

#23 is Shelton Benjamin. Both members of Team Angle in there now.

#24 is Booker T. This is the other possible winner I mentioned earlier. There were rumors he would win (which made sense since he eventually got the World Title slot at Mania against HHH), but Lesnar was the “safe choice”. In retrospect you had to do Lesnar for the story. But Booker was the dark horse.

Booker dumps Eddie!

#25 is A-Train. He immediately derails Cena, a precursor to the Tensai-Cena feud nine years later surely.

Shawn Michaels runs in and attacks Jericho, and it’s enough of a distraction for Test to eliminate Jericho. While this set up Jericho vs. HBK…what the hell was Test eliminating Jericho for? Weird choice there.

#26 is Maven. Not much to say here.

#27 is Goldust. It was pretty crazy Goldust actually got a full time run in 2002, but he wouldn’t last that much longer. He’d come back a lot later though. Charlie Haas eliminates him after about 40 seconds.

Team Angle surprisingly eliminates Booker T. Odd choice there too.

#28 is Batista with awesome music. He gets rid of Test and Rikishi.

#29 is Brock Lesnar! Team Angle double teams, but Lesnar sends them both out. Matt Hardy is F5ed onto them as well.

A-Train kills both Batista and Lesnar in one sequence. How weird does that seem now.

#30 is Undertaker. While the crowd pops, this was a pretty big disappointment. There were several promo videos about Taker coming back at the Rumble, but the first one hinted he could be the Deadman, and the second mentioned the Ministry. So there was hope he would be back in the Deadman character here.

Taker is the only man to have three #30 Rumble appearances I believe, ’97, ’03 and ’07.

Taker gets rid of Cena and Jamal. A great spot follows though, as Maven dropkicks Taker and immediately celebrates. Maven shocking eliminated Taker in this manner in 2002. Taker sends Maven out.

RVD, A-Train, Kane, Lesnar, Batista and Taker left. All the workrate didn’t make it.

RVD and Kane work together to get rid of A-Train. Then another great moment: Kane goes to slam RVD on Batista…only to toss RVD out instead! They foreshadowed this in their promo earlier.

Batista, Lesnar, Taker and Kane are your final four. Crazy final four considering what Batista would become later.

Lesnar and Taker almost mess up a hangman, and Taker almost goes over the top rope. Lesnar noticeably saves him.

Interestingly, Taker tombstones Lesnar here, but Lesnar’s head is obviously too high up. It’s interesting because the same thing happens at Wrestlemania XXX.

Taker clotheslines Batista out, then tries to convince Kane to double team Lesnar. Taker turns on Kane immediately (not a big fan of that either) and tosses him. Batista runs in with a chair but Taker takes him out and whacks him with the chair.

Brock Lesnar wins the Royal Rumble in 53:41, last eliminating the Undertaker. Taker says something to Batista, and Lesnar sneaks up behind him and dumps him. Taker shakes his head in disbelief and gives Lesnar props. I am not a big fan of this ending though and this only fueled the idea that HHH and Taker were holding people down (I’ve come to think Taker wasn’t really doing this though). Taker took out Batista twice, outsmarted his brother, and Lesnar could only beat him by a sneak attack? While there are certainly some good moments, the outcome was never in doubt and the Rumble itself, while fine, is mostly forgettable.

It’s rare that a Royal Rumble PPV is known more for the title matches than the Rumble match itself, but that is what happened here. HHH vs. Steiner is remembered for all the wrong reasons. Benoit vs. Angle for all the right ones. Having one of the worst World Title matches and best World Title matches back to back is quite the oddity. Steiner didn’t last too long as a main eventer and was a midcarder by Mania (and wasn’t on the Mania card!). Benoit eventually got to the top. So at least something went right there. The Lesnar win was expected obviously, but the finish was pretty weak. I love Undertaker, but that whole return was pretty weak as well, and there was no need to make everyone look bad there.

I’ll give this show a historical bonus though. Cena Royal Rumble debut. Randy Orton on PPV (his first time maybe? His first PPV match wasn’t until Summerslam I know that). Batista with his first top 4 Rumble finish (in fact, in every Rumble Batista has been in he ended up in the top 4). The Lesnar victory. These were small building blocks to the future.

Final Grade: B
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Opening video reminds us that Team Hollywood in War Games is Hollywood Hogan, Stevie Ray and Bret Hart. One of those is not like the other.


Bret is Canadian and the other two are black? :shifty:

Also, as someone who got this Halloween Havoc live on PPV, it will forever get an F from me. F- even...
Well if Page-Goldberg got cut on your broadcast, and you got the additional Konnan music videos...I guess I could see that...

BUT TWO DISCO INFERNO MATCHES?!
This is so very late as a response, but true. I once met Dicso at the Atlanta airport, and hilariously enough, he walked like he was listening to his music (anyone that has seen Saturday Night Fever knows what I am talking about).

Also, about your Undertaker thoughts, I give 'taker a pass on this simply because Brock was put over by Undertaker heavily after beating The Rock for the title. And my God that Steiner/HHH match was horrible. Scott had the name value and the look, but he was too jacked to move or sell realistically at all.
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Wrestlepalooza ‘98
May 3, 1998
Marietta, GA

Bi-monthly PPVs for ECW?!

Yes (well almost, they’d get 4 this year). Whether or not ECW was making money at this point there was no doubt it was leaving its mark on pro wrestling. And now they’ve established the one PPV every two months schedule. Things honestly were looking up for ECW at this point, but they faced a big problem.

ECW wasn’t that special anymore.

WWF Attitude was in full swing. At one time ECW was the edgy underground best kept secret in wrestling. Now, the WWF is doing the same thing with bigger stars and higher production values. Of course, at first this would probably only mean good things for ECW. The wrestling business booming only meant good thing for all wrestling promotions in the United States. And ECW did prosper a little bit because of it. But once the WWF and WCW really raided their stars, they were dead in the water.

Still, May 1998 was an exciting time for ECW. Wrestling was booming. ECW itself had been on PPV for 11 months now. They have some marketable and recognizable stars. Let’s see if the 5th ECW PPV can improve upon the last few, and if Paul E. can make a real run at the big two.

The Card

The Full Blooded Italians (Little Guido and Tracey Smothers) vs. The BWO (Super Nova and The Blue Meanie)

Meanie and Nova are said to weigh over a combined 600 pounds. Just how big IS Meanie?

“WHERE’S MY PIZZA! WHERE’S MY PIZZA!”

One thing I first saw in ECW were unique combo moves. For example, Nova bulldogs Nova and legdrops Smothers at the same time.

Tommy Rich stops the match and challenges the BWO to a dance contest. Smothers gets booed. Meanie is cheered. The referee even does some dancing…and Smothers attacks Meanie from behind. Fun, and good heat from Smothers there.

For some reason THE REFEREE slams Smothers and Guido, and even tries to pin Guido with Meanie making the two count. Fun I guess, but what the hell sense did that make?

Some obvious spot calling with Nova backdropping Guido over the top rope.

Screwed up double corner running attack there. No idea who that was on though.

Another timing misstep, as Nova almost attacks Guido too early.

The BWO wins when Nova pins Guido in 9:27. Nova hits the Novacane (One Shot And You Feel Nothing!) for the win. Novacane is a Flatliner. A fun opener, although it died down after all the silly spots earlier on. Still, it did its job and got the crowd going…as if the ECW needed to get going.

Mikey Whipwreck vs. Justin Credible

This feud had been going on since November to Remember, where I wondered why Mikey of all people was ending Credible’s undefeated streak. Mikey would actually beat Credible again, but Credible would injure Mikey in return. I think this is intended to be the blowoff.

Whipwreck’s in there like a house of fire!

Pretty awesome guardrail bump from Mikey there. He was going for a Russian Legsweep off the apron.

Awesome story from Joey Styles here: Steve Austin (current WWF Champ) came to ECW years ago and got pinned by Whipwreck (true). They say Austin learned the Stunner from Whipwreck! Of course Joey mentions Credible’s finisher is a corkscrew Tombstone…obviously referencing The Undertaker.

Jason puts Mikey on a table and Credible climbs the railing to jump, but Mikey fights out. He then throws a chair at Credible but misses mostly…and actually HITS a fan. Where’s the lawsuit there? Suplex off the railing through the table was a nice spot though. Even if the set up looked terrible.

Credible with the HBK corner flip.

Credible and Whipwreck mess up a sequence that leads to a Whippersnapper, but we get a 2nd one anyway.

Whippersnapper to Chasity off the top!

Justin Credible pins Mikey Whipwreck in 9:54. Poorly done That’s Incredible on a chair ends it. Really had a lot of screwed up spots toward the end. I don’t think it was horrible, but this wasn’t good either. Not sure this was the type of win to further get Credible over, but at least he won this time.

Axl Rotten promo. He’s not as bad as you’d think.

ECW World Tag Team Championship
Lance Storm and Chris Candido© vs. The Chair Swingin’ Freaks (Balls Mahoney and Axl Rotten)


The story here is that Candido and Storm do not like one another. I do remember this led to the RVD and Sabu tag title run which had a well booked setup. I’ll write about it after the match.

Anyway, at Living Dangerously he had that crazy Dream Partner tag match where Storm picked Sunny. So this is an extension of that.

Some funny things from Candido: he comes out with Storm but then goes back and demands his own entrance. Then he demands the team be announced with his name first. Good stuff.

Candido: “I’m a fighting champion…and Lance is here too!”

Rotten and Candido with some chain wrestling. Styles says Rotten is the most underrated wrestler in ECW and that he’s not a chair swinging freak. This match is going to suck is we get 10 minutes of Axl Rotten wrestling, I’m just saying…

Can’t lie…this Mahoney and Rotten wrestling match isn’t that bad! Nice swinging senton from Axl as well.

Candido with a handing vertical suplex to Axl…and crowd responds with a “You Took Steroids” chant. Sure it wasn’t the Bodydonna regimen?

Sunny randomly runs in for some reason. Storm saves her from Mahoney, furthering the tension between the champs.

Candido and Storm retain the title in 12:04. Storm hits Mahoney with a springboard dropkick, but only gets two as Candido hits him a chair. Candido then pins Mahoney himself for the win. Ending seemed out of nowhere and got no reaction. While I enjoyed the match at the outset, it got really boring really fast. No one wants to see Mahoney and Rotten not brawl afterall. Not good at all here.

Storm and Candido brawl down the aisle. This would lead to another Dream Partner tag match, where Candido would pick Sabu and Storm would pick RVD as they were also not getting along (we will see why later). Throughout that match, RVD and Sabu got on the same page and Storm and Candido were pissed about it, thus working together and challenging Sabu and RVD with the belts on the line. Oddly enough Storm missed that show (not sure if it’s kayfabe or not actually), and it was Shane Douglas and Candido defending against RVD and Sabu. RVD and Sabu won the belts there. This led to the Triple Threat vs. Taz, RVD and Sabu match all the way in November.

Anyway, three subpar matches so far. Not a good start here.

Legends segment here. Junkyard Dog makes one of his last appearances before his death. We also get Dirty Dick Slater, The Masked Superstar and Bob Armstrong. Interesting that ECW fans had such an appreciative respect for legends. It’s a very old school NWA like thing.

We get ECW World Champ Shane Douglas next. The elbow injury was legit of course, as it would cost him time over the summer as he held the title over a year before dropping it to Taz in January.

Douglas runs down the WWF, of course, and takes shots at HBK. He specifically refers to the IC title incident where HBK handed Douglas the belt after his Marine attack. He then runs down Flair of course. Not surprisingly, HBK and Flair don’t care for Douglas.

Here comes Taz! Of course, back in July Taz had won the TV title from Douglas in 3 minutes. Now Taz wants Douglas’ World Title.

Taz wants Douglas to hand the title to him. They go at it, and Taz makes Douglas tap immediately. Good thing he didn’t put the belt on the line immediately. Douglas’ protector, Bam Bam Bigelow attacks Taz. Taz gets carried out by security and busts a car window in the process. Like Heyman can afford that…

I will say this is a TV angle and waste of time on the PPV. Why are we doing this?

Bam Bam Bigelow vs. New Jack

What a random idea for a match. I have no clue if there was a story here or what.

There’s a Godzilla action figure balls shot in this match. That should probably say it all.

New Jack comes off a balcony with a guitar, but barely hits Bigelow and it looked terrible. Like this whole match.

Bam Bam Bigelow pins New Jack in 8:43. Bigelow gets up first from the balcony jump and carries New Jack back to the ring. Terrible Greetings From Asbury Park (didn’t remotely hit) and it’s over. Horrible all around. A weak brawl leads to the weak guitar balcony spot, then another minute to carry New Jack back to the ring. Who thought any of that was a good idea?

The Dudley Boyz vs. The Sandman and Tommy Dreamer

Story here: 3D broke Sandman’s neck. Revenge time.

Sandman interrupts Gertner. That’s kind of a shame.

The first spot of the match is botched, as Sandman and Dreamer try to double clothesline Big Dick Dudley over the top and fail horribly.

Sandman with a crazy guillotine legdrop on two chairs on the Dudleyz heads on the railing.

Sandman takes a bump on the railing inside the ring, and sells the neck injury. And the match slows to a crawl as he gets a stretcher ride.

We have a pretty terrible double team of Dreamer going on. This match just died after the Sandman stretcher job.

Dudleyz with a con-chair-to…but they obviously don’t hit Dreamer’s head! Man this is bad. Fans let them know it too.

Spike Dudley is here! For some reason the ref counts a pin by Spike on the Dudleyz. Whatever.

Pretty awesome Tree of Woe spot by Spike, dropkicking a chair in D-Von’s face after running off Dreamer AND Bubba.

The Sandman and Tommy Dreamer win via double pin in 11:19. Sandman comes back and beats the crap out of all the Dudleyz. Double DDT for the win. I liked the ending, but the match was the shits. That’s two awful matches in a row. This story would lead to the breaking of the neck of Beulah.

ECW Television Championship
Rob Van Dam© vs. Sabu


Originally this was TV Champ Bigelow vs. Sabu, but RVD upset Bam Bam in the “warm-up” match to win the title. RVD and Sabu were having their issues before, so now they have to fight in a TV title match it’s only gotten worse.

Side story: Bill Alfonso has referee Jeff Jones in his pocket. Alfonso manages both though.

RVD and Sabu start with an awesome wrestling sequence where each one avoids the other’s chain initiation (like Sabu avoiding the RVD monkey flip).

RVD is on the mic here. He says that he and Sabu really have a plan. RVD shoves Jeff Jones into the corner and calls for Air Sabu, but Sabu turns on RVD and kicks RVD in the face. The hell was that?

RVD messes up the surfboard as Sabu falls all the way over.

Sabu tries to drive RVD through a table, but RVD moves out of the way. Sabu still tries to launch himself at RVD anyway and uses the table as a springboard. Match is picking up a bit.

Great chair throw from Sabu that knocks RVD from the top rope to the floor.

There’s some good booking here where Alfonso refuses to help RVD and Sabu with their spots. He points out he’s gonna be a winner anyway you look at it. That’s a good point actually.

RVD with the springboard back kick that sends Sabu to the floor. He follows up with a beautiful somersault over the top rope.

Nice moonsault from Sabu where he springs off the top with his legs.

Joey says “These two are friends?!” Well, the storyline says apparently not.

Sabu goes for his crazy springboard DDT through a table, but he doesn’t get it good and the table doesn’t break.

This has turned into a spot-rest-spot match.

At least the spots are pretty cool. Springboard hurricanrana from the railing to the floor by Sabu!

Weak Van Daminator there. Sabu kicks out fortunately.

Sabu survives the not quite yet five star frog splash.

Sabu brings a table into the ring, and by not fault of his own one of the legs break. It hurts the momentum of a pretty good second half of the match there.

Bad leaping side kick and Sabu “lands” on the table. Match is falling apart here.

The frog splash through Sabu and the table WAS awesome though!

Pretty awesome springboard knee to the face from Sabu. That almost got three.

Rob Van Dam retains via time limit draw in 30:00. RVD and Sabu go for pins off moonsaults before the bell rings out of nowhere. There was a lot of ugly stuff in this…but some of the spots were pretty awesome and innovative (At least for the United States). I feel like one fan could call this a great four star match...another would say this was complete shit. I’m somewhere in the middle. I did really enjoy the 2nd half of the match. Even if the draw is bullshit, it did further the storyline that Bill Alfonso was trying to make peace here. This match DID help make RVD though, although the powers of Paul Heyman had something to do with that, as I’ll explain at the end. I’m not sure if this match is going to save this PPV from an F though.

We are reminded by Shane Douglas about his injuries. To be fair, the broken arm was legit and he would get surgery shortly. I don’t know about the others though.

We basically get a career montage of Douglas for some reason. I think if we bought the PPV we would know who he is. These are ways to kill time to be honest.

We get a decent serious Al Snow promo.16 years has led him to this moment! He says he’s winning because Head told him so!

ECW World Championship
Shane Douglas © vs. Al Snow


Story: Al Snow was Lance Storm’s second dream partner at Living Dangerously, and he beat Douglas there. So he got this match here. Douglas has told us about his injuries many times. I get he’s trying to prove ECW guys are the toughest…but it doesn’t quite work for the heel. I mean if Snow wins…he just beat a crippled champion, right?

The foamheads all over the arena is kinda crazy. This whole run extended Al’s career by about five years.

Shane Douglas sets up a bunch of chairs in the middle of the ring, but it only leads to Al Snow awkwardly falling on them. Weird.

Powerbomb on two of the chairs works though.

Al Snow gets a nice Asai Moonsault onto Bigelow and Candido, who had tried to interfere.

Shane Douglas retains when he pins Al Snow in 11:19. Al Snow botches a top rope sunset flip, and Douglas does the Bret Hart-Leo Burke finish (Summerslam ’92, Mania X) gets the pin on Al Snow. The entire locker room had come to ringside for some reason, and lift Snow and Douglas on their shoulders like this was the five star classic to end all five star classics. This match is decent at best. It’s hardly main event caliber. And worst yet, the story involved painted Douglas as some courageous babyface (again…although he actually was at November to Remember). Snow of course was headed to the WWF, and promptly feuded with Too Much. I’m that made ECW look great.

Anyway, yikes. That’s really all that can be said. This PPV is pretty bad. There’s only one match that really could flirt in the good territory, and that’s RVD vs. Sabu. Everything else ranges from decent to awful. This clearly below previous ECW PPV standards.

Well there is some fun at least in the beginning. Also, watching this show I do understand the direction the characters are going in, and there are several good storylines that are pushed here. RVD-Sabu, Candido-Storm, Taz-Douglas all moved forward in their feuds.

Sabu-RVD had half a very good match, so there is that. Honestly for its time it probably was considered great, finish and all.

I think that’s enough to get past the F. At least I know what’s going on, where it’s going, and the logic of most things. The right people went over. All that stuff does matter.

By the way, I watched ECW Hardcore TV at the time, and listening to Paul E. I would have thought RVD-Sabu and Douglas-Snow were the best two matches in wrestling history. That man really was a genius.

ECW needs to step up its game if it wants to compete even remotely with the WWF and WCW.


Final Grade: D
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WWF Royal Rumble 2000
January 23, 2000
New York, NY

You knew WCW was dead when the WWF’s biggest problem wasn’t their competition anymore. No, the WWF’s problem was that for the first time in this wrestling boom, they were left without Stone Cold Steve Austin.

After Survivor Series, the main event seemed really thin without Austin and an injured Undertaker. Big Show had won the WWF Title, but was in a midcard feud with the Big Bossman. Mankind had gotten ridiculously out of shape, and was busy in tag teams with Al Snow. Kane had lost some of his luster for sure stemming from the teaming and now feuding with X-Pac angle. Only Triple H and The Rock seemed poised for the very top at this point. Someone had to replace Austin at the top, and who better than the Rock?

But the WWF built the 2000 Royal Rumble so well that none of this mattered. First off was due to the hard work of Mick Foley. Foley was debating about ending his career and wanted a last run as a babyface against HHH. Vince initially shot it down, telling Mick he was too fat (“Mick, you’re huge”) at this point and it wouldn’t work. But when he realized Big Show wasn’t ready for the very top yet and the crowd wasn’t there for him, he decided to go with Foley vs. HHH at the Rumble. This made tons of sense as well, as The Rock seemed like an obvious Royal Rumble winner. I assume Undertaker, who was due to return at the Rumble, would have been the Rock’s biggest hurdle, but Taker hurt his arm in rehab and wasn’t able to return yet. Suddenly, with a motivated Mick Foley, the Royal Rumble seemed like a bad ass show.

The Card

Awesome opening video. You know a Rumble card is built well when the World Title match is just as hyped as the Rumble match itself.

Kurt Angle vs. ???

Angle had been on a winning streak since his debut at Survivor Series. He had been an entertaining heel since his debut for sure.

There had been Tazz videos on RAW and Smackdown over the past few weeks. So it’s not like the opponent was really in doubt.

Angle runs down Patrick Ewing, with his 100% correct assessment that the Knicks can’t win a title with him.

The crowd pops HUGE for Tazz.

One thing that was absolutely true and was half the reason Tazz never made it as a top guy: he was too small, and he wasn’t a Benoit type.

Belly to belly off the top gets Tazz a close two.

Tazz suplexes Angle all around for a minute. See, the idea of “keeping someone strong” is bs sometimes. This didn’t hurt Angle one bit.

Tazz makes Angle pass out in 3:10. Tazz locks on the Tazzmission and Angle passes out. The angle is weird here, as King and JR call it a choke and not a sleeper, giving Kurt an out in regards to the undefeated streak. Angle does a stretcher job. Fun match that got the point across. A great moment too.

For the record, the other thing that killed Tazz was when Benoit, Guerrero, Saturn and Malenko showed up the next week. Became hard to care about Tazz’s debut at that point.

Tag Team Tables Match
The Dudley Boyz vs. The Hardy Boyz


This is when Terri was with the Hardyz. The Hardyz made themselves (despite a previous tag title reign) with the tag team ladder match back at No Mercy. This is the first ever Tag Tables Match.

We get a PG version of the Dudley ECW promo. Bubba Ray says his hero is John Rocker. Rocker of course was the Atlanta Braves closer who said bad things about New Yorkers.

Jeff justs nails Bubba with a chair. Ouch!

Bubba Ray Dudley throws a table into Jeff as he was running off the barricade! Nice.

Matt and Jeff drive Bubba through a table! Jeff off the top rope and Matt off a ladder. This was on the floor as well!

Awesome spot here. D-Von moves out of the way as Matt tries to drive him through a table and Matt goes flying though. But then D-Von moved to where another table was and Jeff tried to drive him though, but HE missed too.

Dudleyz put a table on the steps in the ring…and Matt gets powerbombed through!

Random genius booking about these matches: the fact that when one member of a team goes through a table they DON’T get sent to the back leaving a handicap match.

First ever table stack, but it’s Bubba who goes flying through as Matt nails him in the head with a steel chair. First time we’ve ever seen that.

The Hardy Boyz win in 10:19. Matt puts D-Von on two tables, and Jeff hits the Swanton Bomb off the balcony for the win. Awesome. One of the matches that led to the TLC era. Also one of matches that really put the nail in the coffin for ECW, as this was a well produced version of the balcony stuff ECW had done in the past.

While I cringe at concussion based angles, Kurt’s pretty hilarious here with “did I win? Did I win? I’m undefeated?”

Bikini Contest: Jacqueline, BB, Ivory, Terri, Mae Young, The Kat and Luna

Ugh. Terri famously steals the show here, only for Mae Young’s top to come off and for her to be crowned the winner.

It’s interesting to see the state of the WWF Divas (well they weren’t called that yet) after Sable but before Lita and Trish Stratus. I mean outside of Chyna, the most popular women were Kat and Terri.

Thank god that horriblness is over. That might have been the worst moment in WWE and Madison Square Garden history. Mark Henry did make the save.

I will say Lawler’s comments about the Kat are a lot funnier in retrospect.

WWF Intercontinental Championship
Chris Jericho© vs. Chyna© vs. Hardcore Holly


Yeah, Jericho and Chyna were both the IC Champion. Not a very memorable moment for the IC title for sure. Jericho and Chyna can’t decide who gets to bring the title out, so Earl Hebner does.

I can’t remember for the life of me how Hardcore Holly got dragged into this.

Chyna gets booed by the MSG crowd while there’s a big pop for Jericho.

I do think it’s a shame Chyna was nuts, because I think there was a lot of money to be made with her.

Holly going for a hurricanrana was begging for a Walls counter. I mean really.

I don’t think Chyna is trying. Gets tossed on the outside and doesn’t land correctly. Then misses a dropkick when trying to kick a chair in Holly’s face.

Double top rope splash! Thankfully Holly kicks out.

Chris Jericho becomes undisputed IC Champion when he pinned Chyna in 7:31. Bulldog and lionsault for the win. I think there’s a spot there where Jericho doesn’t know what to do, but either it’s edited or it’s not as obvious as Jericho made it out to be. Anyway, the Chyna-Jericho angle wouldn’t end till a couple of months later when she went with Eddie.

Rock promo. As long as he can get by Mosh and Crash, he’s unstoppable in the Rumble!

WWF World Tag Team Championship
The New Age Outlaws© vs. The Acolytes


Fun fact: this would be the last pre A.P.A Acolyte match.

Ref bump 2 minutes in. Okay then.

The New Age Outlaws retain when Gunn pinned Bradshaw in 2:35. Fameasser for the win. This got cut for time obviously, as HHH vs. Cactus Jack is getting a half hour. BUT, we couldn’t cut a minute or two off of Mae Young?

WWF World Championship: Street Fight
Triple H© vs. Cactus Jack


Amazing build for this one. HHH fired Foley during the beginning of the McMahon-Helmsley era, but The Rock forced a Foley comeback. Mankind, in what today is still a top 10 Smackdown moment, transformed into Cactus Jack and got this street fight. HHH promised that what Rock did to Foley at the 99 Rumble in the I Quit match will pale in comparison to what happens at the 2000 Rumble.

We get the early establishment that HHH isn’t completely scared of Jack…but he has to make sure he has a chair with him when challenging him.

Legdrop on HHH’s face with a chair. Ouch.

Some really great brawling early on. Suplexes on wooden pallets and garbage cans.

Barbie in the house. That would be Foley’s nickname for his 2x4 with barbed wire.

Earl Hebner takes Barbie and hides it behind the Spanish announce table…but when Jack threatens Hebner he gives it up! Nice creativity you don’t see anymore.

Jack beats the living shit out of HHH with Barbie, including a head shot that leads to HHH bleeding all over the place.

Jack goes for the piledriver on the desk, but HHH counters with a backdrop.

Some more violence and out come the handcuffs…shades of last year’s Rumble.

Wicked chair shot that breaks the chair…and Foley stays on his feet! He ends up taking another shot and crashing to the floor with no way to protect himself, being in handcuffs and all.

Underrated great spot here: Jack is begging HHH to smack him with the chair, and HHH goes to do so…only for The Rock to come out and nail HHH with a chair and leave. Jack gets freed by a cop.

Piledriver on the desk happens this time and it doesn’t break. It looked like it killed HHH though.

As if this wasn’t violent enough…thumbtacks!

Jack gets backdropped on the tacks!

Jack kicks out of the pedigree…and the crowd goes NUTS.

Triple H retains by pin in 26:55. HHH follows up with a Pedigree on the thumbtacks! The pin follows and with that, an argument for both Mick Foley’s and HHH’s best matches ever. HHH gets stretchered out…but somehow Cactus Jack isn’t done with him. HHH takes another shot from Barbie for good measure.

An incredible, knock down, drag out violent brawl. This match is the one that turned HHH into upper midcarder ridiculously hanging with Austin and Rock to bonafide bad ass top heel here. It’s also jarring watching the last eight months of Mankind matches…then watching this one. Incredible all around.

2000 Royal Rumble

D’Lo Brown is #1 and Grandmaster Sexay is #2. Not quite Austin and McMahon.

JR with the comment of the night. Lawler: “Grandmaster Sexay? I thought he was luckier than this.” JR: “Some say Grandmaster was unlucky at birth”. Sexay is Lawler’s son, of course.

#3 is Mosh. Rock was worried about him!

It always seemed weird that the Headbangers didn’t make it in the Attitude Era.

Taka Michinoku and Funaki run out. The story here is that they were angered they weren’t in the Rumble. They are taken care of quickly.

#4 is Christian. He would have a big 2000.

#5 is Rikishi. Rikishi had been getting big reactions and got put over with a near win over HHH for the title. A long run here could really cement him as a major player. He gets a huge reaction here and dumps Mosh right away.

Rikishi gets rid of Christian right away too. He tosses D’Lo, and then we are left with RIkishi and Grandmaster.

#6 is Scotty 2 Hotty. In a memorable moment, they dance. Right at the end Rikishi tosses Scotty and Grandmaster, stating it’s just business. Good stuff.

Steve Blackman is #7 to face off with Rikishi. Rikishi gets him out in a minute.

Viscera is #8, creating the monster vs. monster show down and stopping Rikishi’s momentum.

Maybe not, Rikishi eliminates Vis on his own! #9 is the Bossman.

Bossman stops Rikishi’s momentum a really smart way…by not getting into the ring until #10, Test comes down. Test and Bossman had a feud of some kind I think here.

#11 is The British Bulldog. #12 is Gangrel. Not really a lot happening here.

Funaki and Taka run in again…and again are tossed out. Taka takes a crazy bump over the top there and gets knocked out.

Good reaction for #13, Edge, but really outside of Rikishi this has been a really weak first half of the Rumble.

#14 is Mr. Bob Backlund! JR with another great line: “What the hell is Bob Backlund doing here?”

Everyone tosses Rikishi, really killing any star power the ring had. Still, a star making performance from Rikishi there.

Crowd erupts for #15, which is Chris Jericho. He dropkicks Backlund out.

The Rock’s other fear, #16 is Crash Holly!

#17 is Chyna. She suplexes Jericho out…and Bossman eliminates her quickly. Lame.

#18 is Faarooq. At least he’s fresh! Mean Street Posse run in, which leads to Faarooq’s elimination from the Bossman.

#19 is Road Dogg. #20 is Al Snow. We’re waiting for Rock and Big Show here.

Road Dogg gets the Bulldog out.

#21 is Val Venis. Funaki is back…but he is gone once again.

#22 is Prince Albert. He and the Bossman have an issue and they go at it. Edge is gone as well.

This is Rumble where Road Dogg held onto the bottom rope the whole time. Genius stuff.

#23 is Hardcore Holly.

#24 is FINALLY The Rock. Gets rid of Bossman right away.

#25 is Billy Gunn.

The Rock eliminates his biggest rival: Crash Holly.

#26 is the Big Show. The main players are here.

Big Show kicks Test out of the Rumble, and Gangrel is next.

#27 is Bradshaw. The Posse wastes no time in attacking Bradshaw. Bradshaw takes care of them, but the Outlaws dump him.

#28 is Kane. Funny thing here: the build-up basically told us Show or Rock was winning this thing, but on Smackdown the WWF must have realized they needed to make it seem someone else could win, thus, Kane won a three man battle royal between him, Rock and Show. WWF really didn’t know how to book Kane without Undertaker being involved.

Kane gets rid of Val.

#29 is Godfather. Always an easy pop.

Kane gets rid of Albert.

Funaki is back for a fourth time! And he’s gone again.

Lawler took way too much pleasure in Taka getting hurt.

#30 is X-Pac. Your winner is in the ring (he was before this too). I believe X-Pac won a match for #30.

Hardcore Holly is gone. As is the Godfather.

Rock gets rid of Snow. Billy Gunn dumps his partner. Kane gets rid of him too.

Kane, Big Show, Rock and X-Pac.

Rock tosses X-Pac, but ref was dealing with Kane and the Outlaws on the outside. Interesting they used the cheating angle here.

Big powerslam from Kane to the Show! But X-Pac gets rid of him!

Big Show military presses X-Pac and he’s gone. Rock vs. Big Show.

The Rock wins in 51:54. Big Show chokeslams Rock, then takes his time to toss him. Rock counters though and hangs onto the top rope…and Big Show crashes to the floor. Rock cuts a promo, but Big Show attacks!

I found this to be a pretty weak Rumble overall. Other than Rikishi’s run, the first 2/3rds of it is a whole lot of nothing. Just midcarder after midcarder after midcarder (with Bob Backlund!). Still, everything after the Rock showed up was hot, and the right man won (kinda, the storyline would be that Rock’s feet actually hit, allowing Big Show to get a rematch with him at No Way Out…which led to the 4 Way at Mania).

Average Rumble aside…this is one of those times the rest of the show on the Rumble card was really fantastic. Opener was a great moment, Tag Tables was awesome, World Title match was incredible. If there wasn’t some random garbage in there (tag titles and Mae Young), this would be a clear easy A. But it’s still not much worse than that.

Final Grade: A-
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I love Taka and Funaki coming back multiple times (and Taka's injury is brutal but Lawler's reaction to it is funny).

That is the most memorable thing to me from this rumble...which probably says it all.
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I was surprised. I was looking around review sites to see what the general consensus was, and most praised this Rumble. I realized though it was because it was probably the best Rumble since '92 (although I personally like '97 and '98).
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The event itself was very solid. The rumble match lacked in every conceivable way.
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WWF This Tuesday in Texas
December 3, 1991
San Antonio, TX

And you thought Taboo Tuesday was the first experiment for weekday WWF PPVs?

Just six nights after Survivor Series (held on a Thursday back then), the WWF tried a new form of revenue stream in the form of a Tuesday night PPV. It had a pretty hot main event as well, with new WWF Champion The Undertaker going up again the man he took it from, Hulk Hogan. The WWF had been on the bit of a slide business wise, although the true reason for that was that fans were tiring of the Hulkster and Vince had no one hot enough to replace him. Sid was a popular choice at the time. Vince had also acquired Ric Flair, but he was never one to really build his promotion around a heel like Flair.

Also on this card is a match regarding the big Jake Roberts vs. Randy Savage feud. So while this PPV seems pretty random and is forgotten now, you can tell the WWF tried hard with it to see if it would work. Does it? Let’s see.

The Card

We kick off with a post Survivor Series promo with Paul Bearer and The Undertaker. They are already hyping up This Tuesday in Texas. Bearer says nothing is immortal, not even Hogan. He says Hulkamania at Survivor Series…all that’s left is the funeral services. Bearer and Taker were pretty awesome characters in 1991.

WWF Intercontinental Championship
Bret Hart© vs. Skinner


Skinner actually gets the jobber entrance here. Not sure why he’s getting an IC title shot on a PPV but we’re told he’s undefeated so far, so there’s that.

Starting with Bret is a good idea though.

There’s not much to say about this match other than Bret is mega over.

Bret Hart retains when he makes Skinner submit in 13:46. Bret tosses Skinner off the top rope and makes him submit to the Sharpshooter. Went about 6 minutes too long. Match was as bare bones as you can think of. The only move I can remember Skinner doing that seemed remotely unique was his reverse DDT. Boring overall. Crowd was into it though, as Bret was as I wrote earlier, mega over.

Jake “The Snake” Roberts promo. Roberts was terrifying at this point. You really thought he’d beat the crap out of Miss Elizabeth if given the chance.

Randy Savage with a crazy nutty promo himself. Both are pretty awesome.

Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs. “Macho Man” Randy Savage

This really should have happened at Wrestlemania VIII, but I get putting it here to sell the PPV. Story here: Jake turned heel earlier in 1991, and had put a snake in Elizabeth’s wedding gifts. There was an angle later that actually used a real cobra to bite Randy Savage. Savage eventually got re-instated as he lost a retirement match to The Ultimate Warrior back at Mania VII, and got his match with Jake.

Savage attacks Jake during his entrance. I think this is his first match since Mania, but I could be wrong.

Jake quickly takes control, ramming Savage’s arm into the ring post.

Randy Savage pins Roberts in 6:25. Savage drops the big elbow on Jake for the win. It surprisingly just ends like that. While it was fun, it was too short for a feud of this caliber. I would be okay with it if it led to a Wrestlemania match…but it didn’t. Savage tries the post-match chair shot, but the ref stops him, leading to Savage getting the DDT. Jake drops Savage with a 2nd DDT for good measure.

Jake then brings out a snake, and Miss Elizabeth runs in and begs Jake to leave Savage alone. Jake drops a third DDT on Savage right in front of Elizabeth. Jake forces Liz to beg in order to save Savage. Jake then SLAPS Elizabeth, which is one of the most despicable things a heel could have done in 1991. It takes President Tunney to get Jake out of there. Nuclear heat for Jake.

Another great Jake promo. He’s sick.

The British Bulldog vs. The Warlord

A pretty good power match here. Warlord has more moves than I ever realized.

Warlord actually locks his full nelson in by using the Bulldog’s hair. Creative heel stuff.

This long full nelson is kinda killing it though. It just went too long.

The British Bulldog pins the Warlord in 12:45. Bulldog gets a crucifix to win. It was the best Warlord match I’ve ever seen and a decent match overall. The full nelson really took me out of the match though. The Bulldog and Warlord didn’t get through 1992 I don’t believe with the steroid issues the WWF would have.

Randy Savage interview. He’s furious about what happened with Jake and Elizabeth. It’s an awesome promo. How didn’t they blow this off at Mania?!

Repo Man and Ted Dibiase vs. El Madator and Virgil

Part of the Virgil-Dibiase feud…Dibiase hired Repo Man to re-obtain the Million Dollar Championship from Virgil.

Dibiase and the Repo Man dominate Virgil. Makes sense as the storyline is with him, not Tito.

Man, crowd is hot for Virgil, especially when he gets his hands on Dibiase. You just don’t see that for midcarders these days.

Ted Dibiase and Repo Man win when Dibiase pinned Virgil in 11:28. Strange finish here. Dibiase holds Virgil for Sherri to hit with her shoe, but Virgil moves and she clocks Dibiase. Virgil grabs Sherri, but gets kneed in the back by the Repo Man. Dibiase then makes the pin. What was the point of Sherri hitting Dibiase there? Anyway, this was a good match, best on the card. Virgil was over…but sadly no one really cared about him without Dibiase.

Hulk Hogan interview. Hogan really was one of the best promo men of all time.

WWF World Championship
The Undertaker© vs. Hulk Hogan


Bobby Heenan with an awesome line. Monsoon is busy praising Hogan, and Heenan responds with “quiet Monsoon, here comes the WWF...Champion.

Taker and Paul Bearer attack right away. President Jack Tunney is at ringside to prevent any shenanigans.

We get our first botch. Taker goes for his top rope hangman from the apron, but Hogan keeps punching. Well this wasn’t going to be a technical classic.

It’s pretty amazing what Undertaker was in the ring in 1991 and what he was some 16 years later. The only submission Taker knew here was the choke.

Huge botch, although it may have been the ring. Taker was going for his flying clothesline…but he gets caught in the ropes and falls.

Flair is here! Hogan smacks him with a chair and Tunney goes down as well!

Hulk Hogan regains the WWF Title by pin in 13:09. Paul Bearer tries to hit Hogan with the urn…but gets Taker! Hogan grabs the urn, pours out ashes and throws them in Taker’s face before rolling him up for the three. Flair propped Tunney up though so he saw the finish…which led to the title being vacated and being up for grabs in the ’92 Rumble. Uh…this match was terrible. All Undertaker choking with some botches in-between. Historically though this led to the ’92 Rumble, and Hogan failing to obtain a clean victory over Undertaker really helped establish him as a top guy for basically forever.

Interesting attempt at a Tuesday PPV. It was entertaining, but they had to give Bret a better opponent in the opener. I mean what was Rick Martel doing at the time. Taker vs. Hogan was what it was. Everything else wasn’t too bad. Jake slapping Elizabeth is a crazy moment.

Main event is just too bad to put this in B range though.

Final Grade: C+
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