WWF KING OF THE RING '97



Providence, RI

Opening graphics hype the Steve Austin vs. Shawn Michaels and Undertaker vs. Faarooq matches, Jim Ross and Vince McMahon welcome us to the show, and we're off.

King of the Ring Tournament Semifinal - Ahmed Johnson vs. Hunter Hearst-Helmsley (w/ Chyna): Ahmed powers Helmsley to the mat to start things. HHH gathers himself, re-engages, and cinches in a side headlock, but when he attempts to run the ropes, he hits a brick wall when he collides with Ahmed, dropping hard to the mat. For his third attempt to gain an advantage, Hunter lures Ahmed into a test of strength before laying in a cheap kick to the gut. He jostles Ahmed into the corner and lays in a chop, but Ahmed no-sells. Reversed corner whip by Ahmed, then a big press slam. Helmsley rolls to the outside, unable to find any answer so far.

HHH re-enters and whips Johnson into the corner, but Johnson bounces right back out with a running clothesline. He slams Helmsley, but his attempted elbow follow-up misses, and finally Ahmed has created an opening that Helmsley can build upon; Hunter stomps him, rolls him out of the ring, then whips him hard into the steel steps. He goes back into the ring, but connects on a baseball slide when Ahmed attempts re-entry. He rolls Johnson inside, scales the ropes, and hits an axhandle for a two-count. HHH lays in punches, but again Ahmed no-sells, putting H back down on the mat with a couple of rights. Johnson follows with a terrible-looking sloppy scissor kick. Backdrop. Patented awful spinebuster, and Ahmed signals for the Pearl River Plunge. As he sets it up, Chyna gets up onto the apron and distracts him out of it. Hunter capitalizes by attacking with a running knee from behind, follows quickly with a Pedigree, and scores the pinfall.



Result: Hunter Hearst-Helmsley via pinfall
Rating: *1/2

Ahmed angrily chases Hunter and Chyna to the back, but Hunter is moving on to the finals and Ahmed's night is done.

Next up is the other semifinal between Mankind and Jerry Lawler. Wouldn't it have been better to run this one first? Theoretically Mankind could face either opponent in the finals, but the entire audience is fully aware that we're not doing a Helmsley vs. Lawler final.

Anyway, Mankind gets something of a pop for his entrance as Vince and JR put over his growing popularity. Mankind gets on the mic when he arrives in the ring, and begins to bemoan the fact that Paul Bearer isn't bothering to show up for his big moment, but says that it isn't going to stop him in his quest to become the King of the Ring. He continues on, cutting a weird attempt at a face promo that isn't very good. It gets a heavy dose of Vince McMahon HYUK HYUK HYUK, but I don't know if it particularly helps him win the crowd. Todd Pettengill tries to interview Lawler backstage, but Lawler just rips the mic away from him and decides to promo his way to the ring. He calls Foley an "ugly freak of nature" and mocks him for his half-ear. "You want to know something about his childhood? … You know, when he was born, his mother took one look at his rear end, and one look at his face, and said, 'My God; Siamese Twins.'"

King of the Ring Tournament Semifinal - Mankind vs. Jerry Lawler: Mankind comes out and greets Lawler on the floor with a couple of punches, then smashes his face into the announce table. He claws at the King's face a bit, and now we're going to get this thing into the ring for the first time. Mankind whips Lawler off the ropes and connects on a back elbow. He threatens the Mandible Claw, but Lawler sees it coming and bails out through the middle ropes. As the King re-enters, he sneaks a foreign object into his hand and nails Mankind with it a couple of times before returning it to his trunks. He dumps Foley out through the middle. Lawler won't let Foley back in lightly, attacking him on the apron and smashing him into the corner. Lawler again manages to sneak the foreign object out, away from referee Jack Doan's view, and gets another couple of shots in.

The King does some biting and clawing, and keeps going back to the foreign object, which seems to carry a lot less force than the average foreign object. Mankind finally fights back, smashing Lawler into the guardrail outside. He beats him down near the steps, then rares back and charges, ramming himself into the steps when Lawler moves. He takes back-of-the-head bumps next, as Lawler flings him backward into the rail a couple of times. The King executes a pretty soft-looking piledriver on the floor, then rolls inside to await the countout that obviously isn't coming. As Mankind gets back up to the apron, Lawler throws a surprisingly good-looking dropkick to knock him back to the floor.

Mankind makes his way back inside, and eats another piledriver. Lawler with the arrogant cover, and he only gets a two-count. Lawler hits Mankind again with the foreign object, but Mankind battles back, knocking Lawler down and then dropping a leg. Corner smash by Mankind, dropping Lawler to the seat of his pants and allowing Mankind to execute a running knee smash in the corner. He backdrops the King and then whips him into the corner. Lawler fights back with a horribly-botched swinging neckbreaker. King up to the second rope, drops the fist from there, and goes for a third piledriver. Mankind blocks this one, countering into a backdrop. As Lawler tries to pull him over in a sunset flip, Mankind reaches down with a Mandible Claw, it's on, and this one is mercifully over. Horrendous match.



Result: Mankind via submission
Rating: 1/4*

Todd Pettengill is backstage with Brian Pillman, who is wearing an Austin 3:16 shirt with the "3:16" crossed out. I don't actually know what crossing the numbers out does; it still looks like a pro-Austin shirt. Pillman says that he's here tonight to "give his support to the family," and "to see the Boy Toy violate that rat's ass." As he says that, Austin comes into the view behind him, ****-eating grin on his face.



He waits for a moment before attacking Pillman from behind, ramming him into a backstage table and then sending him into the bathroom and sticking Pillman's face in a toilet.

Crush (w/ Nation of Domination) vs. Goldust (w/ Marlena): During Goldust's entrance, JR says, "Goldust of course the son of the legendary American Dream, Dusty Rhodes, the Stardust himself." Wat. So, there's about a 1% chance of this match being anything but boring dog****. Crush lands a right hand and then dumps Goldust outside the ring. He stalks after him, but Goldust fights back, throwing fists and then slamming Crush into the steps. He returns the ex-con inside and whips him into the corner. Corner mount, trademark 10-count punctuated with a kiss, and then a jumping clothesline. Crush reverses an Irish whip, but lowers his head and enables Goldust to counter with a swinging neckbreaker. Two-count. Now Crush reverses a corner whip, and the hard impact sends Goldust to the mat.

Another corner whip by Crush, and a belly-to-belly as Goldust staggers out. Stomp, stomp. Crush works the small of his opponent's back with axhandle blows. Goldust fights his way back up with uppercuts, goes for a slam, but his back gives out and Crush falls on top for a two-count. Backbreaker by Crush. I'll say, this match isn't completely horrible; they've settled into a coherent story, as Crush continues the back work as he wrenches upward on a camel clutch. Goldust draws on the rallying crowd to try to get up, but Crush stands up and jumps down on his back. Crush settles that clutch back in as Jim Ross gives a shoutout to Gorilla Monsoon, apparently going through health problems at this time. Goldust again tries to get free, Crush again stands up and tries to jump down on the back, but a resourceful Goldust quickly flips over and knees Crush in the crotch on the way down.



Goldust ducks two clotheslines, running off the ropes, but Crush picks him up into a press slam and then drops him into a gutbuster, notching a near-fall from there. Irish whip and a back elbow by Crush, who has noticeably gotten almost all of the offense in this match. Crush drops the head too early on a backdrop attempt, Goldust delivers an uppercut and starts the babyface comeback, simulating the Dusty Rhodes bionic histrionics as he knocks Crush to the mat. Out on the floor, Clarence Mason and D-Lo Brown begin to accost Marlena, and Goldust spots the trouble and bails from the ring. He attacks D-Lo, but unsurprisingly Crush then attacks Goldust from behind. He returns the action inside, but Goldust counters him with a DDT and abruptly scores a pinfall.



Result: Goldust via pinfall
Rating: **

Backstage, Dok Hendrix is with the Legion of Doom and Sid. Animal asks Sid if he can trust him to be there for a tag. Sid says of course, and they all affirm that they each hate the Hart Foundation.

Next, Todd Pettengill is with British Bulldog, Owen Hart, and Jim Neidhart. Owen forces Todd to hold his Slammy while he talks. There's nothing else of note from this promo.



The Hart Foundation vs. The Legion of Doom & Sid: No Brian Pillman or Bret Hart at ringside for this occasion, at least to start the match. Jim Ross says, "The late Kerry Von Erich once said that Sid was the toughest man he ever faced." I'm definitely assuming that to have been a line that Von Erich uttered while in kayfabe. Or while standing on the pitching mound.

Owen Hart and Animal start off. Side headlock by Owen, but Animal picks him up and flings him across the ring like a rag doll. Owen goes back to the side headlock, but again gets slammed on his back for his troubles. Animal misses with an elbow, the two botch an exchange thereafter, and they reset. Animal reverses a corner whip and then throws Owen up high, allowing him to slam to the mat again. He monkey-flips Owen into the corner with Hawk and Sid, who add some offense, and Animal gets a two-count after a powerslam. Tag to Sid, who enters with an axhandle off the second rope. Owen rakes Sid's eyes, lays in a side headlock, but then goes down hard when he releases and attempts a shoulderblock off the ropes. Owen offers a test of strength, but upon Sid's acceptance, Owen takes the funny chicken**** heel route of tagging Davey and then offering up Davey instead for the challenge that he himself just made.



Bulldog now wants the test of strength, and again Sid is willing. They lock fingers, but Davey is quick with a kick to the gut, followed by a delayed suplex. Immediate no-sell by Sid, who pops up and knocks both Owen and the Anvil off the apron. He executes an arm-wringer on Bulldog and then tags Hawk. Hawk beats Bulldog into the Hart corner, and Bulldog tags Neidhart.

Collar-and-elbow tie-up between Hawk and Neidhart, and a mid-ring collision ends in a stalemate. They throw punches and kicks at each other, but they're both going full Scott Norton and pretending not to notice the blows being thrown by the other. Neidhart finally beats Hawk back into the corner, whips him to the opposite side, but runs into a big boot following him in. Hawk to the top rope for a big flying clothesline, knocking the Anvil down for a two-count. Animal tags in momentarily, but Sid takes the tag seconds later. The faces engage in a 3-on-1 as Davey and Owen try to get in and help, but just gets pushed out of the ring by referee Earl Hebner. Hawk dropkicks Anvil to the mat. Anvil gets up and feigns a reset, but then tags to Davey. Davey with a piledriver, but Hawk no-sells and pops up with a clothesline. Two-count. Tag to Animal. Animal carries Bulldog over toward the ropes, but Owen makes a blind tag and ambushes Animal with a spinning wheel kick. The other faces come into the ring, and Hebner is busy tending to them when the Anvil busts out a steel chair and hits Animal.



As things settle back down, Owen tags Anvil and slingshots him in for a flying shoulderblock. Pin attempt ends in a rope break. Animal gets a visual pin on a sunset flip, which is strangely a particularly strong pinning combo whenever the referee is distracted, as Hebner is here by Davey. Neidhart gets back up and tags Owen, who enters with a missile dropkick. Two-count. Owen baits Hawk into the ring, Hawk bites on it, and the Harts now take their turn to triple-team Animal while the referee is again distracted. Bulldog tags in, and the brothers-in-law execute a double clothesline. Scoop slam by Davey, who climbs to the second rope but jumps into a powerslam by Animal. Animal tries climbing the ropes, but Bulldog chases him up there and hits a superplex. Two. Tag to Anvil. JR says that Diana Hart is participating in the Mrs. Calgary contest tonight. Anvil with a snapmare and a reverse chinlock.

Animal eventually fights his way to a vertical base and breaks the hold, but Neidhart drives a knee into the gut to keep control. He whips Animal into the corner, then Owen comes in illegally and Anvil whips Owen into Animal for a diving shoulderblock. Owen has just magically become the legal man, as he continues the heat segment on Animal. Owen jumps on his back with a sleeper, Animal starts to fade, but he finds enough adrenaline to keep his feet and hot tag to Hawk. Hawk climbs to the top but misses, Owen tags Bulldog, Bulldog misses with an elbow, but then trips Hawk…he tags Owen, who tags Anvil, and Hawk clothesline them both. Hotter tag to Sid. He cleans house on all of the Harts, the LOD comes and joins the fray, and the action is going six ways. Sid dumps Owen, the legal man, out of the ring, but then loses track of him. As Sid goes to powerbomb Davey, Owen has scurried his way back up onto the apron, then to the top, and he dives off for the sunset flip off the top. The execution gets botched, but the sunset flip ultimately succeeds in getting the pinfall.



Result: Hart Foundation via pinfall
Rating: **

After Jim Ross calls Mankind "the sentimental favorite" and picks him to win the King of the Ring final, Vince sends it to a video recap of Steve Austin winning the tournament last year.

Todd Pettengill is with Mankind backstage. Mankind admits that he's banged up after the first match, and he's selling a neck injury hard as he says so, but says that Hunter Hearst-Helmsley better be driving a train and better be willing to run him over in order to win.

King of the Ring Tournament Final - Mankind vs. Hunter Hearst-Helmsley (w/ Chyna): JR: "Helmsley is a blue blood. Mankind has…lost blood. All over the world." Helmsley with a side headlock. Mankind counters into an arm-wringer, Helmsley smacks him upside the head in mid-move, and they reset. The same basic sequence replays itself again. On third lock-up, Mankind sends HHH into the ropes and connects on a back elbow. He stomps away repeatedly, slams Hunter into the top turnbuckle, then rips away at his face. Irish whip, but Helmsley holds onto the ropes and rolls out of the ring, wanting to take a powder before continuing.

Hunter rakes the eyes and follows with right hands, then kicks Mankind repeatedly until he knocks him through the ropes to the floor. Mankind drags him out under the ropes, and the brawling continues out there, as Mankind slams Helmsley into the guardrail (read: practically a whole foot away from the guardrail, but Helmsley sells). Mankind returns inside to await his prey, then tries to prevent HHH's re-entry by attacking him on the apron. He finally drags HHH inside, mounts him in the corner, and starts a 10-punch before HHH picks him up and drops him face-first on the buckle.

JR: "The last time these two men met, Chyna with some low blows, Mankind was talking like Kerri Strug, the little Olympian, for about two or three days…there was that low blow from Chyna…in other words, his voice was rather high-pitched."
Vince: "Uhh, yeah, got it, JR. Thank you."
JR (mumbling): "Don't know where I'm going here."

HHH kicks away at Mankind in the corner, then whips him to the opposite side before executing a swinging neckbreaker. He positions Mankind's neck over the ropes and then drops a hammering blow down toward the apron, working that injured area. Mankind gamely tries to fight back, getting the better of a punching exchange, but he rares back with a running start and Hunter picks him off with a running clothesline of his own. Helmsley runs distraction on the referee as Chyna lands a cheap punch from the floor. As H goes to follow up, Mankind kicks backward with a low blow to halt his momentum. The referee seemingly didn't see it. Series of rights by Mankind, who gets a running start and dives at Hunter, but ends up twisting his own injured neck up in the ropes.



Referee Mike Chioda gets him untied fairly quickly, and Mankind goes into recovery on the floor. As he starts to regain his feet though, HHH connects on a hard baseball slide, then slams Mankind face-first into the steps. He rolls the heavily-compromised Mankind back inside and then drops a running knee into the back of the neck. And again. Now he twists violently at the bad neck a couple of times. Mankind still won't quit, catching the follow-up attempt and executing a stun gun that hangs HHH across the ropes. After getting a two-count, he again hangs Helmsley's neck across the top rope. Seems to go for an inverted atomic drop, but seems to lose his grip and HHH sort of slams Mankind's face into the mat. It was tough to tell whether that was a botch or a designed mess, but I actually tend to vote for it being the latter, like it was an injury sell.

Mankind lays in the punches in the corner, gets a running start, and slams the knee hard into the cranium. He gets Helmsley hung back up in the tree of woe, and comes jumping in with the hard blow to the face. He dumps Hunter through the middle ropes, tries to follow with a baseball slide, misses, but ends up executing a backdrop on the floor.



Mankind drops the elbow off the apron. He rolls Hunter into the ring and executes a double-arm DDT. He goes for the pin, but Chyna distracts Mike Chioda for long enough that the eventual count only gets to two. Mankind rips out his hair in frustration. HHH goes for the Pedigree, Mankind counters into a backdrop, HHH tries to re-counter into a sunset flip, but Mankind reaches down and slaps on the Mandible Claw. Chyna reaches in and brazenly yanks Mankind off her man and out onto the floor. Mike Chioda plainly knows she did it, but he just yells at her and the match continues. As Mankind tries to re-enter, Helmsley hangs the back of Mankind's neck hard across the top, sending him violently back to the floor.

As Mankind comes back in, Hunter rips his mask off and disdainfully tosses it away. He scales the ropes, but as he reaches the top, Mankind reaches up and temporarily latches on the Mandible Claw again. Helmsley punches his way loose. Mankind with an inverted atomic drop, a clothesline, and a pin for a two-count. He clotheslines HHH out over the top, carrying himself over as well. Both are slow to recover, but Mankind is up first. He climbs to the apron, then goes for a reckless flying back elbow that comes up empty when Chyna pulls Helmsley to safety, causing Mankind to take a nasty head and neck bump into the guardrail.



Mike Chioda again reads Chyna the riot act, but this was before manager ejections were very common, and that doesn't happen here. HHH sends Mankind hard into the steps. Then he clears off the announce table and sets Mankind up on it. Pedigree on the table, which only slowly gives way underneath. HHH heads back inside, Mankind eventually finds the will to follow him, but as he gets up on the apron, Chyna breaks the royal scepter over Mankind's back while Chioda is tied up with Helmsley.



As Mankind is staggered, Helmsley gets a running start and hits a high knee that sends Mankind hard into a photographer on the floor. HHH rolls him in, drags him to the middle, goes for a lax pin, but Mankind manages a kickout on two. HHH with the Pedigree, and that's finally enough. 1-2-3, and HHH takes down the King of the Ring crown that he was originally booked to win the year prior.



This wasn't always a riveting match, but the climax was compelling and the story was a very well-executed one. You couldn't really book this better for the purpose of really putting over the new Mankind face turn, and you get plenty of additional heat on the new KOTR in the process.

Result: "...and NEW King of the Ring," Hunter Hearst-Helmsley via pinfall
Rating: ***

Todd Pettengill comes into the ring, and Chyna attacks him and throws him down. People, this is not the time for a Chyna face turn. Pettengill recovers and delivers the king robe to HHH. He puts it on, then accepts the crown, but instead of putting it on, he uses it as a weapon to attack Mankind further with, leaving his fallen opponent on the brink of unconsciousness.



After HHH and Chyna begin to leave, Mankind continues to try to get at them, now crawling on his hands and knees up the ramp after them. This was just such a good example of "babyface loses valiantly, never gives up."



We're sent to a video montage of the build to the Shawn Michaels vs. Steve Austin match. Watching it in recap form, I do have an even greater admiration for the story that had been told between these two…considering that this wasn't even scheduled to be a match (yet), it doesn't feel forced that we're already about to watch it happen.

Before the next match, the full Hart Foundation comes to the ring. Bret Hart says that he's on the verge of no longer being a cripple, and the time is coming for retribution. I can see now that Pillman has something written below the crossed-out "3:16" on the Austin shirt, though I can't make out what it is. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt that it does make sense after all. Bret Hart says that his group is issuing a challenge to any five wrestlers in the WWF who want to cross the border and fight the Hart Foundation at Canadian Stampede. Bret's promo was a bit on the bumbling side. He heads to ringside to purportedly join in on commentary, but Gerald Brisco and other officials step in and say that the whole Hart Foundation is going to have to go away for the next match, Bret included.



Dok Hendrix is backstage with Steve Austin. Austin says that he doesn't want to cripple Shawn Michaels, he wants to keep him around to keep the Tag Team Titles, but that if Michaels forces him to escalate the situation then he'll do it. As Austin exits the promo area, he crosses paths with the Hart Foundation in gorilla, but the confrontation just consists of Austin throwing up a middle finger and then shrugging the situation off and heading to the ring.

As Austin completes his entrance, Shawn Michaels is next up with Dok. Michaels just explains what the audience already understands, the underlying conflict and contradiction of facing his tag team championship partner. Okay.

Steve Austin vs. Shawn Michaels: The two face off in the middle of the ring, exchanging some harsh words that the mic doesn't pick up. They back into opposing corners, circle each other, and the opening bell rings. Austin with a side headlock, releases off the ropes, and puts Michaels down hard with a running shoulderblock. He punctuates the blow with a double bird. As this happens, you can see in the background that a mentally-challenged dude has made his way over the rail somehow, and security has a hold of him. Austin looks over and shows concern at the situation, then Michaels bails out of the ring, hollering "hey!" and going to intercede in the situation. He seems to want to calm security down and make sure that they're not being unnecessarily rough with the fan, who looks very confused with the situation he's found himself in. Suddenly Austin turns up in the shot and yanks Michaels back into the fray; the two throw punches at each other, and Austin rolls Michaels inside.

Michaels throws an armdrag, then punches Austin to the mat and returns the double bird from earlier. Michaels bails out of the ring again, where security is still dealing with the guy that the announcers reference as being a Special Olympian. Michaels makes security stand down, and just escorts the fan up the aisle himself until a woman - likely the fan's mother - catches up with the situation and takes him the rest of the way up.



Seems like a stand-up move by Shawn, who could have just turned a blind eye and let security deal with the situation (clearly what Austin wanted to do). You couldn't really tell on the broadcast whether security was doing anything wrong, but you would guess maybe so from Michaels's reaction. Anyway, back to the match.

Austin sits on the middle rope to purportedly help Michaels back into the ring, but Michaels isn't taking the bait; Austin eventually gives up and goes inside. After the reset, Austin repeatedly wrings HBK's arm. HBK reverses the arm-wringer and executes a side-headlock takeover. Austin regains his feet, runs Michaels toward the corner, but Michaels keeps his grip on the headlock and carries Austin back down to the mat after pushing off the turnbuckle. Austin gets free, Michaels runs the ropes but rams hard into a back elbow by Austin. Austin mocks Michaels with Michaels's signature pose, attempts to return to the attack, but Shawn counters back into the advantage and cinches in a reverse chinlock.

Austin regains a vertical base, Michaels keeps hold with a side headlock, eventually releases into a running shoulderblock, then whips Austin into the ropes…Michaels goes for a Thesz press, Austin counters into an inverted atomic drop, then clotheslines Michaels hard over the top, which prompts Michaels to go into a weird oversell that would foreshadow his Hulk Hogan match years later.



Austin heads outside, puts Michaels back down with a hard right, then returns to the ring and drags Michaels in with him, suplexing him from the apron to the inside. Michaels falls behind, rolls Austin up, and gets a near-fall. HBK with a drop toe-hold into an armbar. Vince reports that Mankind is backstage refusing medical attention from the earlier match. Back in this match, Austin reaches a rope break and slides outside for a quick breather. Stone Cold comes back inside and offers a test of strength. Michaels is hesitant, but Stone Cold goads him and then takes the opportunity to land a cheap kick to the gut, helping him power HBK quickly to his knees.

Michaels fights his way back to his feet and executes a backdrop, but after a failed pin attempt he misses on an elbow. Austin inadvertently knocks the cameraman off the apron as he bounces off the ropes, causing us to lose a couple of seconds of the next sequence, but we return to another view with Michaels in control of an armbar. Austin breaks it with an Irish whip, misses with an elbow, but connects on a Thesz press and throws a flurry of punches. After crowing a bit, Austin returns for more punches and finds himself in a surprise pinning combo for a near-fall. The two trade pinning combos from there until Austin blocks a backslide attempt and proceeds to dump Michaels violently over the top to the floor.

As Shawn gets up on the apron, SCSA hangs him repeatedly against the top rope before getting a running start and knocking him from the apron into the guardrail. Austin bails to the floor and pulls up some of the ringside mats, which Vince, disgusted, says "will change the whole complexity (sic) of the match." Austin picks Shawn up and dumps him on the guardrail, takes a moment to break the referee's count and then returns to work, dragging Shawn toward the exposed floor. Once there, Michaels fights back with punches, but Austin sends him into the steps and then sort of press-slams him into that exposed floor.



HBK works his way back inside, ducks a Stone Cold clothesline, but he goes for a flying forearm and misses entirely, rolling out of the ring. Austin goes out, returns Michaels inside, and nearly falls victim to a surprise small package. Austin goes back on the attack with a snapmare and a second-rope elbow from over halfway across the ring. Two-count. The Rattlesnake slaps on a headlock and works Michaels over with it, occasionally cheating by reaching his feet out for rope leverage. Referee Tim White eventually catches him at it and breaks the hold. Michaels and Austin trade fists, Michaels staggering Austin with a run of them and then flinging Austin through the ropes to the floor. Shawn continues the offensive with a baseball slide that connects to the floor. He suplexes Austin inside, Austin lands on his feet, Irish whip, Shawn comes back with a flying forearm that connects, he backdrops Austin, inverted atomic drop, corner whip, and the momentum ends resoundingly when Michaels comes up empty on a corner charge and rams his shoulder hard into the post.

Austin drags Michaels back in, exposing half his ass in the process. He whips Michaels into the corner, Michaels jumps up the turnbuckle, cross-body into Austin, Austin rolls through for a near-fall. Big clothesline by Austin for another near-fall. Michaels reverses a corner whip and sends Austin into Tim White for a ref bump. Austin regains his feet and hits a Stunner, but Tim White is still out, and Austin has to settle for the visual pin. A frustrated Austin picks White up and stuns him. Michaels hits a superkick on Austin, of course Tim White is again not around to count since he just got stunned, and now referee Mike Chioda runs down and tries to revive White.



As Chioda tries to explain the situation to White, Michaels superkicks Chioda. Michaels now goes back to trying to pin Austin, who is still down from the earlier superkick, but Austin kicks out on two after that long delay. Senior referee Earl Hebner shows up now, and he calls the match off. I suppose they're calling this a draw even though the legit kayfabe decision should clearly be Michaels via DQ. Sure enough, the word comes down that both men were disqualified.

Result: Double DQ
Rating: **3/4

Officials separate the two men at first. They eventually get in each other's faces and exchange some unpleasantries, but they're done fighting each other for now…they ultimately head up the aisle in tandem, maintaining a suspicious glance at each other before heading their separate ways.



Todd Pettengill is with Faarooq and the Nation of Domination backstage. After cuing footage from the go-home Raw, he asks Faarooq to comment. Faarooq promises that history is going to be made tonight, because we're looking at the WWF's first black champion.

After Faarooq's entrance, Dok Hendrix is with The Undertaker and Paul Bearer. Taker is about to start a promo when Bearer cuts him off with "zip it, Lazarus," and starts to dress Undertaker down and scream at him that as long as he holds a secret over Taker's head, Taker will do what Bearer says, when he says it. Taker just walks off toward gorilla while Paul is still browbeating him.

WWF Title - The Undertaker (c) (w/ Paul Bearer) vs. Faarooq (w/ Nation of Domination): Once in the ring, Bearer is still hassling Taker, and it creates enough of a distraction that Faarooq is able to get the jump from behind before the bell. The early advantage doesn't last long, as Taker comes back and flings Faarooq into the corner and beats him down. Taker misses on an elbow, but no-sells, sits up, and continues the onslaught. After an uppercut he makes a pointless cover; after the kickout, Taker comes off the ropes and runs into a Faarooq powerslam. Two-count. The referee gets tied up with D-Lo Brown, and Crush and Savio Vega add a bit of a beating when Taker gets too close to the ropes.

Faarooq whips Taker into the corner, but runs into the big boot as he follows him in. Undertaker winds up Faarooq with an arm-wringer, walks the top rope, and instead of dropping the hammer, he flies backward into several Nation members to take them all out.



He takes the fight to each of them, putting them all down before returning toward the apron. Faarooq tries to attack him there, but Undertaker counters and hangs him along the top rope, then enters and covers for a count of two. The champion sets up again with the tightrope walk, but this time the Nation runs interference and causes him to fall crotch-first on the top rope during another referee distraction. Faarooq with a suplex and a lateral press for a two-count. He distracts referee Earl Hebner, and again some of the Nation members get their shots in from the floor. Faarooq dumps the dead man outside, follows him out, picks up the steel steps and goes charging in Taker's direction, but Taker lifts the big boot and sends the steps back into Faarooq's face.

The action is back inside. Some knee lunges and a right hand by Undertaker. Taker goes for a backdrop, but he telegraphs it and Faarooq is able to stop short and piledrive him. Slow on the cover to follow up, and he only gets two. He locks in a chinlock on Undertaker and adds the rope-leverage cheat for a bit. Taker slowly works his way back up, to his ass, to his knees, and eventually to his feet, where he desperately executes a jawbreaker to break the hold with authority. Undertaker goes for a running splash, but Faarooq gets his knees up and catches Taker in the gut. The challenger gets up and goes for the Dominator, but Taker blocks and then backdrops him. The champ misses a legdrop. This crowd is completely dead after being really lively for the HHH-Mankind and Austin-Michaels matches.

Faarooq gets up to the middle rope and goes for a cross-body, but Undertaker counters into a powerslam. Corner smash and a couple of knee lunges. Faarooq reverses an Irish whip, Undertaker tries a diving attack on the way back, but Faarooq ducks it and it misses completely. Suddenly there's Nation infighting going on outside the ring, and we don't have any idea what started it. Crush shoves down Clarence Mason, now Savio gets in Crush's face, and as Faarooq gets up and slams Undertaker, he gets distracted and attends to the rift within his group. He turns back around into a Tombstone, and that will do it.



Result: The Undertaker via pinfall
Rating: *1/2

After the match, Bearer demands that Taker continue beating on Faarooq. Taker doesn't want to, but he follows Bearer's orders and chokeslams Faarooq. He's going to walk off, but Bearer demands that the beating continue. Taker reluctantly does it again. This seems like an odd segment when Faarooq isn't turning face or anything. Taker accedes to a demand for a third chokeslam. Here's Ahmed Johnson, who actually gets in Undertaker's face, in unexpected apparent defense of Faarooq. He puts the badmouth on Undertaker, who finally gets fed up and swings at him, but Ahmed ducks it and hits a Pearl River Plunge, leaving Taker laid out in the ring.



A dumbfounded Paul Bearer just watches helplessly. Taker eventually sits up and gets in Bearer's face, causing Bearer to scurry out of the ring with the WWF Title belt…Undertaker stalks him toward the back as the show goes off the air.



Overall: This was okay. The Mankind-HHH match was the highlight, even if it wasn't particularly a classic or anything. Lots of fairly dull wrestling, but the show had decent creative direction.

Miss this thread, it needs an update!

I actually did start working on the next writeup not long ago. Thread still not fully dead yet.

June 9, 1997

RAW

Hartford, CT

We are greeted to the arena with the sound of "OHHHH WHAT A RUSH!" The Legion of Doom enters shoulder-to-shoulder with Ahmed Johnson, who we last saw rescuing his long-time enemy Faarooq from gratuitous post-match violence at the hands of The Undertaker.

They're apparently going to face off with the main three members of the Nation of Domination. Faarooq raises his fist in salute upon arrival at ringside, and Savio doesn't join, which continues the storyline that these men are not on the same page. They exchange some harsh words before proceeding into the ring.

Legion of Doom & Ahmed Johnson vs. Faarooq, Savio Vega, & Crush (w/ Clarence Mason & D-Lo Brown): Hawk vs. Savio to start. Mid-ring collision ends in a stalemate before Hawk throws a hip-toss, a dropkick, and then whips Savio in the corner for a running clothesline. The fight spills outside for some fisticuffs, and upon return Savio gets momentary control. He whips Hawk off the ropes, but ducks too early and eats a boot. Hawk tags Animal, who enters with a kick and a shoulderblock. Savio tags Crush. Couple of mid-ring collisions end in no result, but Animal breaks the stalemate with a shoulderblock and a dropkick that sends Crush outside; Hawk drops to the floor and adds a cheap shot.

Crush re-enters and tags a reluctant Faarooq. As Faarooq is coming in, Ahmed asks to come in too, which Animal obliges. Faarooq misses with a clothesline, then the two trade flurries of punches. Faarooq blatantly telegraphs a backdrop, and Ahmed hits him with a jumping axe kick. Faarooq finds himself in enemy territory, and the LOD double-team him as Ahmed runs distraction on referee Mike Chioda. Animal enters, hits a powerslam, gets a two-count, tags back out to Ahmed. Patented terrible spinebuster. Faarooq crawls over to try to tag out, and both Crush and Savio are turned around and conferencing with Clarence Mason, so they miss the opportunity.

Clothesline by Hawk, and a fistdrop. Animal and Ahmed get their turns at the Nation leader as well…Faarooq finally manages to roll out under the bottom rope for a brief respite. He confronts Crush and Savio, but the LOD interrupt the argument by sandwiching the Nation members from opposite sides. Faarooq is returned inside for some triple-teaming, which Mike Chioda liberally allows. It culminates in a Pearl River Plunge, and Ahmed scores the three-count as Crush and Savio abandon Faarooq in the ring.



Result: Legion of Doom & Ahmed Johnson via pinfall

Vince McMahon and Jim Ross welcome us to ringside. They say we'll be seeing Steve Austin vs. Brian Pillman tonight, as well as Owen Hart vs. Sid. Up next, British Bulldog will be defending the European Title against Goldust, and we'll also get a word from new King of the Ring Hunter Hearst-Helmsley.

After the break, it looks like the word from HHH will come before the European Title match. Vince McMahon introduces Helmsley, who is flanked as always by Chyna. Vince congratulates him, but then asks why he went to the extent he did in beating Mankind down after he had already won last night. HHH's response to Vince: "A year ago, you know and I know, this should have happened then. I should have been the King of the Ring a year ago. But because of you and your politics, I never got my shot, did I? No I didn't. Why? Because of your games, because of your politics." It's like we're watching the beginning of the Godfather trilogy, when Michael was still declaring that he would never become a man like Vito. He continues: "What I did last night was take my destiny, my career, into MY hands, out of yours, because you couldn't get the job done." He declares that this ring is now "my house, my backyard." And in this moment, Paige and Roman Reigns were created.



As HHH prattles on, Mankind interrupts him from the Titantron. He wants a rematch. HHH tells him that he loved every second of what he did to Mankind last night. Says that he loved it when Mankind kept getting back up, because that meant he could do more to him. He says he doesn't think Mankind deserves anything, let alone a rematch, but he asks for Chyna's opinion. She says, "Mankind, I think you should come down here, in the ring, right now, and kiss my ass." Mankind unblinkingly says, "It's your lucky day, because I'm a good kisser!" and exits the Titantron stage. He charges the ring, but HHH takes his crown and beats him down with it before leaving. Mankind puts the broken crown on in mockery of Helmsley as HHH and Chyna back away.



European Title - British Bulldog (c) vs. Goldust (w/ Marlena): After the two lock up to a draw, Bulldog throws a hard shoulderblock before both men reset. Side headlock by Bulldog, who runs the ropes but ends up eating an armdrag. Bulldog gets up angrily and kicks the challenger in the gut, then smashes him into the turnbuckle. Irish whip, Goldust ducks a clothesline, then hits a flying clothesline of his own. His follow-up right hand is blocked by Davey, who fires back with his own punch and another turnbuckle smash. Delayed suplex.

Bulldog ducks too early for a backdrop and takes an uppercut. Running clothesline by Goldust, corner whip, and a double axhandle as Davey Boy staggers out. Bulldog retakes control, hits a corner whip, tries for the running powerslam, but Goldust counters into a DDT. Goes for the pin, Bulldog easily gets his foot on the bottom rope, but referee Tim White counts to three. White realizes his mistake and waves the pinfall off, restarting the match as Raw goes to break.

Back from commercial, Goldust hits several punches to the Bulldog's stomach, but his attempted elbow-drop comes up empty. Bulldog pins for a two-count. Snapmare into a reverse chinlock by the champion. Goldust fights his way back to a vertical base, but Bulldog puts him back down to the mat with a knee to the abdomen. After a taunt to the crowd, Davey cinches that chinlock back in. This hold stays on for a while until Goldust finally finds the will to get back up. He dodges a clothesline by Bulldog, connects on a flying cross-body, but the momentum carries him outside the ring. Bulldog, follows, the two brawl there, and it's immediately obvious that this is headed for double countout…and there it is.



Result: Double Countout

After the match is over, Bulldog slams Goldust into the steel steps. Marlena steps in and slaps Bulldog across the face. He looks threateningly at her, and she does it again. He shakes it off and goes to get a chair to attack Goldust with, but she kneels in the way to stop Bulldog from swinging that chair. As Bulldog hesitates, here's Ken Shamrock with a belly-to-back suplex from behind. Shamrock sheds his shirt, and the two stand off. After a bit of grandstanding, Bulldog shrinks away from Shamrock and leaves.



As the show goes to break, Vince teases that there's something going on in the Nation locker room, and we'll find out more after the break.

After commercial, Dok Hendrix is posted up outside the NOD locker room, and there's a commotion going on behind a locked door. Suddenly Faarooq emerges, saying that he's got something to say and is going to go to the ring to say it now. Dok tries to follow up with Savio and Crush. Savio yells incoherently at Faarooq. Crush threatens Dok and forces him to go away.

In the ring, Jim Ross interviews Faarooq. Faarooq says that he picked up Savio when he was "literally picking jalapeno peppers." He tells Savio, "Your ass is fired as of today." He turns his attention to Crush and fires him too.



Then he fires a few of his nameless background dudes who are in the ring with him. He says he has one firing left to do, and D-Lo Brown reacts like it's going to be him, but instead Faarooq swerves them and says, "D-Lo…hold the rope open for Clarence." He tells Clarence, "Get to steppin'."



Faarooq vows that from this day forward, you're going to see a new Nation. He says that he wants the two people he hates the most - The Undertaker and Ahmed Johnson - to be his first victims. He challenges them to a tag match next week.

After commercial, we briefly see Marc Mero talking inaudibly to Sable backstage. He appears to be talking down to her, but we can't hear him.

Back in the arena, we see Paul E. Dangerously and Tommy Dreamer descending the steps in the crowd before moving on to the next match.

Doug Furnas & Philip LaFon vs. The Headbangers: They're still pushing the "boring" gimmick with Furnas & LaFon, who now walk out to no music and have the ring announcer say that they demand that they be introduced as the most exciting team in the WWF. It's mildly amusing, but I don't know this can really be expected to get over. (Spoiler: it didn't.) LaFon shoulderblocks Mosh to the mat. Mosh throws armdrags while the fans break out in an "ECW" chant, surely owing to the presence of Heyman and Dreamer. Furnas and Thrasher both tag in. The Bangers double-team Furnas and lay him out with a flapjack. Thrasher with a side salto and a cover that Mosh has to break up. LaFon re-enters, and he and Furnas go back to the double-team, performing a double stun gun.

Furnas with a belly-to-belly, then a tag to LaFon. Corner whip, clothesline in the corner, then a spinning kick to the back of Mosh's head. Snap suplex, and a tag back to Furnas. Big standing dropkick by Furnas gets a two-count, pin broken up by Mosh. Furnas baits Mosh into the ring to distract the referee, enabling a shot from the outside by LaFon. Furnas and LaFon tag back and forth, continuing the heat segment. Furnas with a hurracanrana into a pin, again Thrasher breaking things up. LaFon comes in to neutralize Thrasher, they fight outside, Mosh attempts a pin back inside the ring, LaFon scurries up to the top and tries to break things up with a splash off the top, but sort of botches it by landing on his feet, and in any case he just lands on his partner, allowing Mosh to score the pin.



Result: Headbangers via pinfall

Jerry Lawler is backstage with "Mr. Monday Night" Rob Van Dam. Lawler threatens Paul Heyman, saying that when he and RVD are down at the ring later, if Heyman or Dreamer run interference "there will be hell to pay."

After some recapping and the second-hour opening credits, we start hour #2 with some broken glass; Steve Austin comes to the ring for an interview with Vince McMahon. Vince says, "You've done some dastardly things, but maybe none more dastardly than you did last night." Cue clips of Austin jumping Pillman from behind last night and stuffing his head in a toilet. That's…not even the most dastardly thing he's done specifically to Brian Pillman. Remember, he once took Pillman's already-shattered ankle, stuck it in a folding chair, and tried to make sure he was crippled for life. Anyway, Austin says that he's proud of what he did last night, and says that the only thing he's sorry for is that the toilet wasn't full of crap. He threatens what he's going to do to Pillman in their match later.



Vince brings up Bret Hart's challenge from last night, when he laid out an open challenge to take on whatever five wrestlers would step up to face the Hart Foundation at Canadian Stampede. Austin says he wants to be the first to volunteer for that spot. He finishes out a fairly generic promo; in any case, he's officially in for the main event at Canadian Stampede.

In advertising the matches for the rest of the evening, Jim Ross mentions about Pillman vs. Austin, "They were once the Hollywood Blondes, now they're battling right here tonight." I don't remember that team name after getting mentioned on WWF TV.

Rob Van Dam comes to the ring, flanked by Jerry Lawler, and Tommy Dreamer and Paul E. Dangerously do a bunch of barking from their ringside seats. It doesn't come to anything more than some nasty words until the show cuts to commercial break.



Rob Van Dam (w/ Jerry Lawler) vs. Flash Funk: Kind of funny that the angle here is that RVD is a huge sellout for trying to leave ECW to work in WWF, and now you casually throw in Flash Funk as a babyface on the opposite side when he actually made the jump from being 2 Cold Scorpio in ECW to playing this very lame Flash Funk gimmick in WWF. I hasten to add that I'm all for "selling out" if that just means moving up to a better job with a bigger paycheck, but who is the actual sellout in this match?

Flash and RVD trade shoves and forearms until Flash hits a spinning heel kick. Jerry Lawler joins in commentary and sells a ****ed-up voice, saying the Mandible Claw last night caused an infection. I like that. Flash knocks RVD to the outside and hits a pescado over the top to the floor. As Funk tries to bring Van Dam back in, Van Dam carries the action back over toward the apron and hangs Funk over the top. RVD follows with a big somersault plancha over the top that largely misses, but gets sold as a hit. He rolls Funk back inside, connects on a rolling thunder, but Funk fights back with a series of rights that staggers Van Dam back into the ropes. Spinning heel kick by Funk gets a two-count.

Corner whip by Funk. Kind of a falling slam sets Van Dam in the middle, then Funk hits a top-rope moonsault for a close false finish…Van Dam kicks out on 2.5. RVD dodges a kick, hits his own spinning back kick, then a weak standing moonsault for two. Van Dam counters into a powerbomb, rolls through into a pin, and another two-count. We continue with the back-and-forth, as Funk hits an enziguri, but then runs into Van Dam's boot on a corner charge. RVD quickly follows with a split-legged moonsault and records the pinfall.



Result: Rob Van Dam via pinfall

As Lawler gets up crowing, Heyman jumps the rail and attacks him. Dreamer and RVD join the fray, and officials desperately try to break up the fracas. Vince does the sensible kayfabe thing and rages at Heyman and Dreamer for jumping the rail, saying that no matter what you think of Jerry Lawler, ECW guys have zero right to jump the rail at a WWF event. The brawl eventually gets broken up.

After the break, Ken Shamrock comes out and joins the commentary table for the next match.

Owen Hart (w/ Jim Neidhart and two Slammies) vs. Sid: Sid is second to enter, and Owen jumps him from behind before the bell. He rips Sid's vest off and blatantly chokes him with it until referee Mike Chioda is able to step in and get it away. Sid gets the advantage back, hitting a big boot and then shoving Owen violently over the top with a one-handed choke shove to the floor. Neidhart runs distraction on Sid, allowing Owen just enough of a window to trip Sid from the floor and drag him to the post, where he and Neidhart take turns distracting the official and bashing Sid's leg into the corner. Incidentally, Shamrock is doing a brutal job on commentary, repeatedly protesting "that just isn't right!" without any variation anytime Owen and Neidhart do something shady.

Owen continues to target the newly-injured leg of Sid, tripping him and then twisting the leg from a seated position. He wrenches the big man's leg and goes for the Sharpshooter, but Sid has enough to power him off. Now Sid is no-selling the shots to the leg, hammering back at Owen. However, his corner charge comes up empty, and Owen hits a missile dropkick off the top. Sid goes rolling out of the ring, where the Anvil gets back to work on him. Ken Shamrock recommences the obnoxious whining about unfairness, and then finally has enough; he throws down his headset, chases down the Anvil, and hits a belly-to-belly suplex on the floor.

Back on the inside, Owen goes for a pin, but Sid kicks out on a close two. With Owen's help now taken out by Shamrock, the babyface comeback is on, and Sid scores the pin after a chokeslam.



Result: Sid via pinfall

Sid and Shamrock shake hands. I wonder if the initial plan was for Sid to be on the Canadian Stampede team.

We see a recap of some recent brawling between Steve Austin and Brian Pillman on Shotgun Saturday Night.

Sable comes out to model a shirt for a while, but at the end gets interrupted by Marc Mero, who sternly pulls her backstage.

Vince and JR talk about JR's sitdown interview with Mankind, and JR says that he has never felt so helpless as he did at the end of this interview. He says, "Frankly, I wish I hadn't taken the assignment." And on that note, we're onto this final segment of the sitdown interview.

JR asks Foley why Cactus Jack never came to the WWF. Foley says that he would have set the WWF on its ear. "When you look at Mankind, you're seeing somebody - every time I put on the Mandible Claw, in my mind that's Vince McMahon, and I'm saying, 'WHY DIDN'T YOU TAKE ME WHEN I WAS GOOD?! WHY DIDN'T YOU TAKE ME WHEN I WAS YOUNG?!'" Foley expresses jealousy of Shawn Michaels. He says that they had the same dream, but asks, "Why does he look like he does, and why do I look like this?" He continues: "I wish him and a lot of the other WWF superstars nothing but trauma and personal tragedy in their personal and professional lives. Does that make me a bad person? I'd like to see the suffering from the other side…and I'd like to cause it."



JR asks him if he's ever been diagnosed with a multiple personality disorder. Foley says that he doesn't believe in doctors, and that the body heals itself. Ross takes a tougher line: "Don't you think that it's about time in your life that you look squarely in the mirror and accepted personal responsibility for who you are? Don't you believe that you yourself have caused, brought on, all these problems?" Foley naturally takes umbrage. "I think it's time for you to start doing your damn job. I think it's time for you to end the façade of journalistic integrity. You know what you tell the people, week in and week out? You say, 'Look at Mankind; I don't even know if he feels pain, or maybe he likes pain.' You're a powerful man, Jimmy. You have got the ability to reach a lot of people to spread the truth, and you neglect to do it. Let me ask YOU a couple of questions. What is it about pain that I love?"

As JR visibly squirms, Foley punches himself in the face multiple times, saying that he feels pain just like everyone else, and that it hurts. "Is it when I can't get up when my little boy says 'Daddy, I want to play ball'? And I can't do it? Is that where the fun starts? Is it where a doctor injects a 12" needle into a disc in my spine so I can wrestle one more day? Whoopee! Let the party begin! I can't believe you sit there and ask me those questions. Do I bring it onto myself? I haven't done a damn thing to you! All you've done to people is mislead them, and let them think that I'm having the time of my goddamn life!"



Foley has stood up during this rant. Now he swipes at Ross's hat, grabs him by the collar, says he wants to smack him, and he slaps on the Mandible Claw, disabling Ross. Foley softens and says, "Jimmy…Jimmy…" as he tries to revive him. Then he calls for help. Thus ends the multi-part interview.



Back in the arena, JR says that he thinks it's totally wrong for a wrestler to ever put his hands on a broadcaster, but at the same time he adds that he thinks he has to take some professional responsibility for where that interview went. I've always found that ending to this interview to be very, very odd while they're in the middle of executing a face turn for Mankind. I get that the point is that he was a pitiful, tortured person even in that moment, but that's probably too subtle of a point for the average wrestling fan to latch onto. In any case, elite performance by Foley throughout the interview.

RockaBilly (w/ Honky Tonk Man) vs. Bart Gunn: The Smoking Gunns are still exploding, I see. JR and Vince acknowledge these two as kayfabe brothers. Billy takes the fight to Bart early, but Bart reverses a corner whip and then slams Billy to the mat before clotheslining him out over the top. Billy trips Bart from the floor and drags him outside, getting in some shots before rolling Bart back in. Billy eats boot on a corner charge, but counters shortly after with a clothesline. Some showboating and then a two-count. Bart ducks a clothesline before kicking Billy in the gut and executing a facebuster. Back elbow, then an Irish whip, but Billy stops short and hits a fameasser. Picks him up, hits the Shake, Rattle, and Roll (Vince just calls it a swinging neckbreaker), and scores the pin to end as heatless of a match as you'll ever see.



Result: RockaBilly via pinfall

Brian Pillman enters for our main event. Steve Austin is out next, but he gets jumped from behind by Owen Hart, Davey Boy Smith, and Jim Neidhart.



They lay Austin out in the aisle as officials try to pull them off. Suddenly Mankind runs out and attacks the assailants, then goes into the ring and has a go at Pillman. With Austin incapacitated, I guess we're subbing in Mankind for an impromptu match (and another WWF bait-and-switch after promising Austin-Pillman all night).

Brian Pillman vs. Mankind: After a commercial before we really get into the match, Mankind runs into a boot on a corner charge, but continues the attack regardless, beating Pillman from one side of the ring to the other. Back elbow. He dumps Pillman from the ring and chases him down with a clothesline from behind. Pillman counters with a back suplex on the steel ramp. Now at the advantage, Pillman dumps Foley back inside and chokes away at him. The two slap, choke, and brawl back and forth as they roll around on the mat. Finally back up to a vertical base, Mankind executes a corner whip, but comes up empty charging in after him. These guys are not doing anything interesting…they're mostly just scratching and clawing at each other.

JR starts talking about how the fans can't really get into this, speaking of how Mankind's crowd reaction is still very mixed. Vince speaks of how we're all so disappointed that we're not getting Pillman vs. Austin. I love it when he tries to commiserate with the fans about how the company has let them down. I'm guessing neither man would really like to be finding themselves outright apologizing for this match, but it's terrible and they're right that the crowd isn't into it at all. Inverted atomic drop by Mankind, then a running boot to the face. Double-armed DDT connects. Mankind signals for, and slaps on, the Mandible Claw. The Hart Foundation runs in and attacks for the schmozz.

Result: No Contest

Austin comes limping back to the ring. Enter Ken Shamrock as well. Shamrock and Austin hold the ring while Mankind recovers in one corner; the Harts tuck their tails and head for higher ground. Suddenly Austin attacks and stuns Ken Shamrock, flipping off both Shamrock and Mankind before exiting the ring as the show goes off the air.



Overall: Solid, if unspectacular, episode. Points deducted for busting out the bait-and-switch for the main event.

Props to Burdz, who surely caused that writeup to go up sooner than it would have if not for the bump.

lol'ed.

There was discussion of what the original team was supposed to be on the Canadian Stampede edition of TLF but I completely forget if it was Sid.

The KotR 97 edition of TLF has some good reading from Mick's book about the ending of that interview. Getting in JR's face and the mandible claw at the end was not scripted. He felt the moment called for it, so he did it. Vince was in the studio producing it and he said it was one of the very best segments he'd ever seen.

I have a copy of Mick's (first) book from my local library, but just haven't delved into it yet. Looking forward to it.

I do like that end to the segment better after knowing that tidbit. Probably the biggest problem with it is that it was, even in kayfabe, all taped about a month before, and in between JR has been instrumental in championing the Foley face turn. But, whatever...setting aside booking concerns, as a stand-alone piece of art that interview is a masterpiece.

You haven't read Have a Nice Day?

It's an excellent book.

The lack of Kindle edition has long been an impediment since that's my preferred reading medium. I know that the book's supposed to be tremendous.

I was mistaken about this. I'm listening to TLF SummerSlam 97 now and this is referenced at the 11:55ish mark. Sid was scheduled to work that match but due to a car accident in Canada, he was replaced by Goldust. The car accident also ended the careers of Lefon and Furnas. Flash Funk was also hurt in the wreck.

+1 on Mick's first book being great. I enjoyed his second as well. Those and Bret's book are the three best imo. I haven't read many though. Those along with Vince's "Sex and Headlocks", Austin's "Cold Truth", Rock's "insert title here".

June 9, 1997

NITRO

Boston, MA

After the opening credits, we land at the broadcast desk, featuring Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyszko, and Mike Tenay. Tony says that it is official that Hulk Hogan and Dennis Rodman will be teaming up at Bash at the Beach against a yet-unknown team. Schiavone continues on to say that Hogan is here tonight, as is Lex Luger.

Suddenly the camera is in the back for a limo arrival of Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth. Liz emerges, but as Savage was about to come out as well, Diamond Dallas Page comes charging in, kicks the limo's window in (chalk up another one in the "wrestlers not as dumb as Goldberg" category), and opens the door to go in after Savage when Liz comes up and pretends to sort of slam the door on DDP, who sells it like he just got shot. And the limo drives off. Weird segment.



Before the curtain-jerker, Tony Schiavone mentions that tonight's main event is The Outsiders vs. Roddy Piper and Ric Flair.

Ultimo Dragon, Super Calo, & Juventud Guerrera vs. Psicosis, La Parka, & Silver King: Psicosis and Ultimo open up as Tenay reminds us that under lucha rules, a wrestler can basically tag out by leaving the ring. Clothesline by Psicosis, who stomps and hammers at the Dragon. Off a corner whip, Dragon executes a headstand in the corner, but botches and falls off. Psicosis tries to recover things by following up quickly, whipping Dragon into the opposite corner and then leaving the ring violently after he comes up empty on a corner charge. La Parka enters for him, hitting a running knee on Calo. The two trade backdrops, Calo hits a reverse hurracanrana and then another backdrop. He monkey-flips La Parka out of the ring, then hits that beautiful diving head-first splash to the floor.

Juventud and Silver King enter from opposite sides; Silver King hits a crescent kick before tagging Psicosis. Or…just high-fiving him for the kick? Yep, they pretend that wasn't a blatant tag. Silver King with a corner whip and an empty corner charge; on Juvi's follow-up, Silver King backdrops him to the apron, but Juvi quickly scales the ropes and hits a flying headscissor takeover from there. Rope-running sequence concludes in Guerrera felling King with a shoulderblock. Silver King tries to launch a running Guerrera, but Guerrera hits a great downward dropkick on the way down. Enter Ultimo and Psicosis.



Dragon hits his signature kick series, then drags Psicosis back toward the middle as Psicosis was looking to quickly tag. Juvi tags in and hits a springboard legdrop, but La Parka breaks up the pin. Guerrera spinning back kick on La Parka, and a tag to Calo. Calo with an Irish whip, La Parka counters into an armdrag, positions around, and a belly-to-belly suplex. Psicosis launches into the ring with a legdrop. Several men enter, and we have chaos, as basically everyone besides Ultimo Dragon is in the ring; Ultimo is just chilling on the apron. La Parka and Psicosis double-team Calo, knocking him to the floor. Now enters the Dragon, who kicks La Parka to the mat, trades countermoves with Psicosis before hitting a big hurracanrana, but Psicosis rolls through for his own pinning combo that makes for a very believable false finish; Ultimo kicks out at 2.5. Dragon baits Psicosis into charging him, then launches him over the top. La Parka dumps Ultimo out. Then he dumps Silver King into their own partner, Psicosis.

Big over-the-top somersault plancha by Calo. La Parka with a chair springboard into the increasing mass of bodies on the floor. Juvi sets up a chair as well, but ends up baseball-sliding it into La Parka. Then a springboard plancha to the floor. Dragon and Psicosis go back inside, Dragon hits the spinning hurracanrana, slaps on the Dragon Sleeper, and referee Mark Curtis calls for the bell.



Result: Ultimo Dragon, Super Calo, & Juventud Guerrera via submission

I loved these lucha spotfests back in the day, but they did not age well. Not that this was terrible or anything, but it's just all a bit goofy and contrived.

After the bell, La Parka ambushes Super Calo with a wooden chair and lays him out.

Cue Gene Okerlund at the top of the ramp, who brings out Lex Luger. Luger says that he and the Giant have signed their names on a dotted line for a tag team match with Hogan and Rodman for Bash at the Beach; they want to be the opponents. Luger then brings up the fact that Hogan hasn't defended his title since February, and says that JJ Dillon has granted him a match with Hogan tonight. He didn't actually say it was a title match, but if it's not then what does Hogan's lack of title defenses have to do with anything?



They kick it to a pre-recorded interview Mike Tenay conducted earlier today with Ric Flair and Roddy Piper. Piper cuts some nonsensical manic promo on The Outsiders. Flair adds on his usual shtick. Nothing to see here.

Alex Wright vs. Chris Jericho: Wright evades a tie-up and tries for a quick roll-up that gets a one-count, at which point he gets up and does the Roll Safe "I'm so smart" point to the head. They tie up now, Wright with a side headlock, and as Jericho tries to get loose Wright holds on and hits a facebuster. Back up into a side headlock; Wright breaks away and hits a shoulderblock before taunting, but Jericho rudely interrupts the taunting with a hard clothesline that sends Wright spilling out, and Jericho hits a springboard dropkick that leaves Wright sprawled out on the floor.

Wright trips Jericho from the floor, then drops a jumping fist to Jericho's throat before hammering away. Jericho, groggy, gets back into the ring, but Wright is on him with a European uppercut and a number of stomps and punches in the corner. More time-wasting taunting by Wright. The recovery time allows Jericho to hold his own in a trade of punches, but Wright ends up getting the better of it and putting Chris down. Suplex into a pin by Wright, but Wright releases before referee Randy Anderson can start a count. Wright continues wasting time as he heads up top, and Jericho rolls out of the way of a big jumping knee. Even after a big blow like that though, Wright is right back on his opponent with a jumping back kick. It's odd that Wright has been quite so dominant here.



Wright with a corner whip and a running back elbow to follow. Hits a front slam on Jericho, jaws at the fans a bit, then slingshots his way from the apron to the ring for a splash that gets two. Jericho surprises him with a sunset flip that gets his own two, but Wright is back on the attack, cinching in a reverse chinlock, almost a sleeper. Jericho works his way up to a vertical base and hits a back suplex. Again though, Wright is able to head things off before Jericho gets on a roll…he gets Jericho back down in a headlock down on the mat. He gets caught leveraging with the ropes, but Randy Anderson for some reason doesn't force a break. Wright breaks on his own a moment later, stomping away. Jericho offers some resistance, but Wright clotheslines him back down. Pins Jericho for a two-count, then gets caught bitching at the official, as Jericho capitalizes with a schoolboy that nearly ends the match.

Camel clutch by Wright. Jericho works his way loose, but Wright continues attacking. Jericho finally turns the tables when he gets his boots up on a corner charge, then he hits a missile dropkick from the second rope. Crescent kick by Jericho, who finally has the momentum. Wright reverses an Irish whip, but Jericho still hits a butterfly powerbomb that nearly gets a three-count. He whips Wright into the corner and clotheslines him there, then hangs him upside down in the tree of woe. Jericho with a baseball slide that connects. Wright begs from his knees in the corner, and Jericho is a bit slow following up, eventually allowing Wright to catch Jericho with a punch to the gut. He whips Jericho into the opposite corner, Jericho launches out with a cross-body, but Wright rolls through and scores the pinfall despite his feet being clearly up on the ropes.

I had hopes for this match, and they gave the two plenty of time, but there just wasn't much here.



Result: Alex Wright via pinfall

Malia Hosaka vs. Akira Hokuto (w/ Sonny Onoo): Corner whip and a follow-up clothesline by Hokuto, who executes a couple of hairdrags that send Hosaka flying across the ring. Hokuto strangles her across the top rope for a bit. Hosaka with some token offense, hitting a cross-body on the mat and then another from off the ropes, but Sonny Onoo gets up on the apron to distract her, leading Hokuto to attack from behind and hit a brainbuster to end the match. Basically a jobber squash.



Result: Akira Hokuto via pinfall

Hokuto hits another brainbuster after the match, causing Madusa to come running out. She grabs Hokuto and hits three German suplexes in a row before chasing both Hokuto and Onoo out.



Tony Schiavone says that he has gotten word clarifying that Hogan vs. Luger tonight will not be a title match.

After commercials, Mean Gene welcomes the Steiner Brothers to the interview area. As he greets them, he accidentally calls Rick Steiner by his real name, "Rob." They don't get far into this interview before Harlem Heat and Sister Sherri turn up in street clothes to confront the Steiners. After some generic trash-talk, the teams come to blows and brawl in that vacant area near the top of the ramp. Officials eventually come out and stand in the middle, breaking things up.



Before the next match, after Konnan is the first entrant, Mongo McMichael is entering with Debra when Kevin Greene attacks from behind and inadvertently creates kind of a hilarious visual, as it seems like he overshoots, nearly knocks over Debra, and for some reason Debra's huge smile is totally unaffected by this attack.



Mongo ends up getting the better of this exchange, dropping Greene along the guardrail before resuming his ring entrance. Greene attacks from behind again, but officials keep this fight from getting much further.

We pan to the ring, and find that Konnan has been laid out, and there's a broken broomstick alongside him. Wat. He was ambushed by a mystery person, but it happened in broad daylight in the middle of the ring and we don't have any idea who it was? That's weird. Anyway, we're not going to be "treated" to this match.



After the break, enter Eric Bischoff and Hollywood Hulk Hogan. Bischoff tells JJ Dillon that he has just two words for him: "Bite me." Not the two words I was conditioned to expect, but we're not quite that far in 1997 yet. Bischoff says that nobody is going force Hogan to wrestle before he wants to. Hogan says that he's not going to bore the fans with a match where he just outclasses some loser. Instead, he's going to pose. Lovely.

However, here comes Lex Luger. He steps in and confronts Hogan. Hogan taunts Luger for a while, calling him a Hogan wannabe. Bischoff continues disparaging Luger until Luger finally gets fed up and attacks Bischoff, kicking off a fight between he and Hogan. Referee Randy Anderson comes running into the ring, calls for a bell, and I guess we're going to get a match.

Hulk Hogan vs. Lex Luger: As Hogan holds his head outside the ring, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and Syxx run down to ringside. Hogan regains his nerve and enters, hitting a running clothesline and then dropping multiple elbows on Luger. Choke, rake of the back, and a turnbuckle smash. As Luger starts to fight back, they send it to commercials.

Back from break, Hogan is raking the back again, seemingly holding the advantage. He executes a back suplex and records a two-count. Scoop slam, but his elbow-drop misses. Luger slams Hogan, then finds himself fighting off the supporting now members as they try to get into the ring. He fights them off, puts Hogan in the Torture Rack, and Hogan submits surprisingly quickly.



Result: Lex Luger via submission

As soon as the match ends, the beatdown is on, as Hall/Nash/Syxx enter the ring and overwhelm Luger. Hogan drops the leg several times. The nWo stands over Luger and gloats.



Bischoff jumps on the mic and seems to suggest that they would accept the challenge of Luger and Giant for Bash at the Beach, though it wasn't totally clear.

After commercial, Mean Gene is in the ring with JJ Dillon. Dillon first moves to address Randy Savage over last week's actions, fining him $50,000 for his attack on Dillon. He said that he considered suspending Savage as well, but he doesn't want to give Savage an escape from the forthcoming match with DDP. However, he is changing the stipulations for this coming match. He says that Savage vs. DDP will be an unsanctioned, no-DQ, no-countout, falls-count-anywhere match.

Savage interrupts from his spot up in the crowd, telling Dillon that he'll rack up another $50,000 fine this week for what he's going to do to him. Enter DDP, who jogs to the ring and grabs the mic from Mean Gene. He challenges Savage to come fight him right now. Savage says, "That's the dumbest move you've ever made. Your time is ending right now."



He descends through the crowd and jumps the rail. Page jumps on him outside the ring, and the two start brawling on the floor before officials pull them apart. They're really overplaying this pull-apart stuff tonight on the go-home show to the Great American Bash.

I can see from the search bubbles that the next match gets a fair bit of time, so I'm interested to see who I'm going to get to watch.



****. Thankfully my spirits picked up a bit when I heard who his opponent was.

US Title - Dean Malenko (c) vs. Jeff Jarrett: Jarrett jaws at Malenko a bit before the bell. They tie up, Jarrett powers Malenko to the mat, they go back and forth with holds and counterholds, Jarrett eventually releasing a side headlock and hitting a shoulderblock. As he continues running, Malenko goes for a leapfrog, but Jarrett stops short and taunts. Second tie-up leads Jarrett into a side headlock, Malenko runs him into the ropes and rolls him up for two. Another small package for a two-count. Jarrett attempts a sunset flip, Malenko sits down and turns it into a third straight pinning combo for another two-count. After a reset, Jarrett and Malenko struggle over a waistlock, as Malenko breaks away and slams him. The crowd gets up and notices someone coming; it's Debra McMichael making her way down to the ring. On that note, the show goes to break.

Upon return, Malenko is working Jarrett down in the corner with stomps. As Jarrett regains his feet, he whips Malenko off the ropes and slaps on a sleeper, broken up by Dean when he backs into the corner. He temporarily has his own sleeper on, but Jarrett counters into a back suplex. Jarrett throws a few punches in the corner, goes for an Irish whip, Dean reverses, but Jarrett stops short and hits a DDT that merits a long two-count. Malenko shakes off the DDT and regains his feet, clotheslining Jarrett down. Follows with a delayed brainbuster and gets his own two-count. An exhausted-looking US Champion dumps Jarrett to the floor, seemingly to get his own breather. Before long though, he follows Jeff out and rolls him back in. After a scoop slam, he wrenches Jarrett's leg into sort of a half-crab, and as Jarrett reaches for ropes, Malenko grabs that arm as well.



Malenko voluntarily releases the hold and transitions into a spinning leg hold. For some reason Dean lets go of that as well, but upon getting him into a vertical position he whips him off the ropes and connects on a great-looking jumping heel kick. Only a rope break saves the ensuing pin attempt. On a following Irish whip, Jarrett counters into a tombstone and plants Malenko, but can't follow quickly with a pin attempt. He eventually gets up and slaps on the figure-four. Malenko is square in the middle of the ring, but he manages to turn the hold over to get loose. As he limps to his feet, Jarrett clobbers him with a running lariat. The back-and-forth continues, as Malenko gets his feet and kicks Jarrett's leg out, then hits a butterfly powerbomb into an attempted Texas Cloverleaf that Jarrett counters into a surprise small package for a near-fall. Backslide by Dean gets another two. Swinging neckbreaker by Jarrett gets two of his own.

Jarrett whips Malenko toward the corner, Malenko floats over the ropes and goes to the top, but Jarrett counters his top-rope axhandle. He returns Dean to the top and executes a superplex. Suddenly we see Eddie Guerrero, arm in sling and wearing street clothes, hopping over the guardrail. As Debra runs distraction, Eddie goes to the top, hits a frog splash, and disdainfully drops his sling on Malenko before leaving. That's…not a great cover-up of his interference.



Still, Malenko is out. Jarrett slaps on the figure-four again, and this time Malenko has to cave in and tap. We have a new (****ty) US Champion. Objections to any and all Jeff Jarrett pushes aside, this was a good match, pretty clearly the best of the night.



Result: Jeff Jarrett via submission, new US Champion

Mean Gene is with Jimmy Hart at the top of the ramp, and the Faces of Fear come join. Gene says that Jimmy has kept putting wrestlers in front of Chris Benoit with the promise of him getting to face Kevin Sullivan if he succeeds. Jimmy proudly introduces his "third and final step": it's finally Sullivan himself, as Sullivan emerges through the entrance with Jacqueline alongside. Gene asks where he's been. Strangely, Sullivan acts like a face for a moment, saying that he's "home again" in reference to Boston and pandering to the fans because he's a local (he doesn't really answer the question). He says that he never asks anyone to fight his battles for him, but sees that Benoit is facing "the baddest man in (sic) the planet, Meng" at the PPV. Sullivan says that he knows Benoit is in the middle,a nd challenges him to come out, asking Meng and Barbarian not to touch him.



Benoit emerges. The two trade some stiff-looking punches. Eventually Sullivan's comrades lose their restraint and jump in to turn this into a beatdown as Nitro goes to break.

The Outsiders (w/ Syxx) vs. Rowdy Roddy Piper & Ric Flair: All four take a run at each other after the bell, Flair/Hall and Piper/Nash pairing off and brawling. Nash gets Piper down for long enough to double-team Flair with Hall. The Outsiders at the early advantage as referee Mark Curtis tries to get things under control. Nitro goes to break.

Upon return, Hall has Piper in a compromised position and makes the tag to Kevin Nash. Nash does his knee lunges in the corner, then throws a forearm and chokes Piper with the big boot. Nash baits Flair into the ring and continues the beatdown, Hall now (illegally) taking over with the attack on Roddy. Piper tries gamely to fight back, but can't manage to escape enemy territory. He does hit a blatant low blow to put Nash on the mat, but Hall is in to stop him from tagging. Now a low blow to Hall. Piper seems to be on the verge of a tag, but Syxx pulls Flair down to the floor, and those two start fighting. Syxx winds up in the ring, Flair follows, things break down, and Mark Curtis calls for the bell. Probably should be a DQ of The Outsiders, but I think they call these types of endings no-contests.



Result: No Contest

The occasional Horsemen, Jarrett, Mongo, and Benoit hit the ring to try to help Flair. Enter Buff Bagwell and Scott Norton for the nWo. Here's Kevin Greene, who is seemingly just out there on an unrelated beef to try to get at Mongo. Those two fight up the aisle. Harlem Heat emerge at the top of the ramp, but the Steiners jump them from behind. A moment later, we suddenly see Wrath and Mortis beating on Glacier. And after a while, a lucha fight breaks out. This forced many-way brawling is supposed to make for some sort of compelling go-home sequence for Great American Bash, but it's pretty worthless IMO. Of course, Tony Schiavone says, "This is the wildest night that our sport has ever seen." Every time I repeat one of those Tony lines I feel compelled to add that I'm not joking or otherwise making that up. ****ing Tony.

The announcers eventually lay out while Benoit/Sullivan and DDP/Savage are added to the brawl. Tony gets back on the mic as Sting randomly descends from the ceiling, threatening the nWo with his bat. After a lengthy standoff, Nash and Norton come out and take a bat attack for their efforts. Bagwell too. We end on a strange spot where Sting attaches himself to DDP and they both soar up to the ceiling of the arena. Whatever.



This ending was a total mess, but what else can you expect from the wildest night the sport has ever seen?

Overall: Not a bad episode all in all, though it didn't do a thing to increase my interest in the forthcoming Great American Bash.

Ratings for 6/9/97: Nitro 3.4, Raw 2.2
Ratings Running Score: Nitro 66-17-2

Better Show: Pretty close, but I'm inclined to give the night to Raw despite its bait-and-switch main event. The best part of Raw was the Foley interview; the best part of Nitro was the Malenko-Jarrett match. Inclined to give it to Raw on that front, and also because the blatantly formulaic nature of this Nitro became annoying.
Better Show Running Score: Nitro 56-29

Match of the Night: Dean Malenko vs. Jeff Jarrett

I just can't believe Alex Wright was still a thing in 1997.
Also pretty funny to have the main event announced as that tag match when there was a Luger/Hogan match on the card.
Not much of the lucha stuff holds up nowadays. I go back and watch the 95 ECW stuff with even Malenko and Guerrero and I'm sure that for the time it was great, but now it's boring. Same for the much hyped Michanoku Pro matches from 97 in ECW along with the Tajiri, Super Crazy matches. Funny enough, I find the matches that hold up the best include Rey Mysterio.

I've found the Malenko and Guerrero stuff to mostly be pretty compelling during this thread, as both of them told psychologically-sound stories and weren't just reliant on high spots. I can't help but feel positive about Dean's '97 work at the moment since I just watched him put on a good match with Jeff ****ing Jarrett.

To me it's mostly just the pure spotfest stuff that doesn't hold up, because none of it looks remotely novel or unique anymore, and the entire watchability of the match is reliant upon the viewer being wowed by the acrobatics.

Can't say I'd have ever seen Hogan losing clean by submission during this era. How many times has he tapped out overall, besides this & vs. Angle at KOTR?

Yeah I was caught off-guard by it too, and it seems kind of stupid here. If you're going to do it, give Luger the triumph through the end of the segment; don't just instantly do the "get the heat back" thing here. It's basically like he insta-tapped and nobody felt significantly better off for it by the time they went to the next commercial break.

It was also just a goofy premise in general. "The WCW Executive Committee finds that Hulk Hogan has gone too long without defending his title...so he must compete in a non-title match."

Are there any in depth Monday Night Wars documentaries? I know there's a WWE special but I have to imagine since Vince is behind it it buries WCW as much as possible

I can't think of any off the top of my head. If you ask Da Meltz on Twitter, he'd probably respond to you.

edit:There's a book, The Death of WCW by Bryan Alverez

edit 2: I just went through the top 100 docs on XWT (wrestling torrent site) and only found WWE produced stuff for the MNW's.

I've read the book, thanks though!

It would be really hard to do a documentary with zero availability to footage, and almost zero availability to wrestlers that were integral during that time

WCW GREAT AMERICAN BASH '97



Moline, IL

Our opening montage lays out some patriotic platitudes before hitting quickly on Savage vs. Page II, which we'll have as our main event tonight.

Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, and Dusty Rhodes welcome us to the broadcast. Dusty calls Savage and Page "mirror images of each other." Wat. Anyway, it's time for our opener.

Respect Match - Psicosis (w/ Sonny Onoo) vs. Ultimo Dragon: Tony basically clarifies that "respect match" means nothing at all, just that Psicosis is here to teach Ultimo some respect. Are there non-respect matches? Mike Tenay joins the desk for the call on this opener.

Dragon throws an armdrag that sends Psicosis sprawling out of the ring. Early signs of a good crowd, as they popped pretty big for a simple armdrag. Psicosis re-enters, the two trade hold-for-counterhold until Dragon executes a front-flip and then throws another armdrag that causes Psicosis to again take a powder. Psicosis re-enters, the two engage in a rope-running sequence, Psicosis stops short of Dragon's leapfrog attempt and lays him out hard with an uppercut. A moment later, Dragon scores similarly, stopping short of Psicosis's drop-down and dropping a crisp elbow on him. This crowd likes Ultimo more than most WCW crowds did.

Dragon chops Psicosis in the corner. Psicosis with a corner whip, Dragon does a headstand in the corner, donkey kick out to Psicosis, then he hits his series of signature kicks. Crowd pops so hard for that that I actually went to Google to find out if Ultimo was actually from Illinois or something…but no, he's from Japan. After another rest period outside the ring, Psicosis comes back in, but Dragon attacks quickly, whips him off the ropes before executing a spinning fireman's carry from which he drops down, cranking Psicosis's back. That move probably has a name, but…



Irish whip by Dragon, but Psicosis stops short of a backdrop and kicks Dragon in the face. Corner whip and a clothesline by Psicosis. Irish whip, drop-down, and a dropkick by Psicosis, but his ensuing charge is countered into a backdrop onto the apron, and Dragon knocks him to the floor from there. Dragon misses on an attempted pescado, seeming to wrench his knee on a bad landing. As Psicosis returns inside and distracts the official, Sonny Onoo lays in a bunch of kicks on his former protégé.

Psicosis connects on a baseball slide, then rolls the Dragon back in. He sets Ultimo along the middle rope, then executes a guillotine legdrop off the top from there, sending Ultimo back down to the floor. Psicosis rolls him in, whips him into the corner, and lays in multiple elbows. Irish whip into a drop toe-hold, magistral cradle, and Psicosis gets a very close two-count on Dragon. After questioning the count, he returns to the attack with a backbreaker. Two-count. He dumps Dragon to the floor and runs more distraction to allow Onoo to do further damage, but Ultimo no-sells. He's going to suplex Onoo on the floor when Psicosis attacks from behind, laying Ultimo out. He rolls Dragon back inside; Irish whip, but Dragon lands on his feet out of a backdrop, hits some more kicks, whips Psicosis into the corner, connects on a handspring back elbow. Dragon does a headstand and scissors Psicosis's head, leading to a contrived spot where the two roll together from one side of the ring to the other, then Psicosis suddenly gets launched out over the top (read: he jumps over the top for no particular reason, but it's meant as a sell job).

Dragon with an Asai moonsault to the floor. It connects, but Dragon is hurt upon impact as well. Ultimo is up first, rolling Psicosis inside and hitting a brainbuster that gets him to a two-count. Ultimo with a tombstone. Again, close two-count. Psicosis reverses a corner whip, charges, Dragon backdrops him onto the apron, but Psicosis lands on his feet, scampers up the ropes, and hits a big spinning wheel kick off the top that sends Ultimo hurtling back out to the floor. As he gets up, Psicosis hits a big suicide dive over the corner of the ring to the floor.



Psicosis quickly recovers and rolls Ultimo in. Ultimo counters off an Irish whip into a hurracanrana, attempts a pin, Psicosis reverses into a pin of his own, and gets another near-fall. Dragon reverses a corner whip, Psicosis climbs the ropes and tries to jump back off, but runs into a Dragon dropkick. The spot leaves both slow to get up, but Dragon is able to set Psicosis up for the spinning hurracanrana off the top. As Dragon attempts to go for his finishing tiger suplex, Onoo gets up on the apron and distracts Dragon into dropping the move. Psicosis takes advantage, attacking from behind, then climbs the ropes and connects on a missile dropkick. Slow cover only gets two. And by two I mean the ref totally smacks the mat for a third time and then pretends that he didn't. Onoo is back up on the apron for the lame heavily-telegraphed finish where he accidentally hits his own man. He inadvertently roundhouse-kicks Psicosis after Dragon reverses an Irish whip. Psicosis staggers backward into the Dragon Sleeper, and that's all she wrote.



Result: Ultimo Dragon via submission
Rating: ***

#1 Contender Match - Harlem Heat (w/ Sister Sherri) vs. Steiner Brothers: As this one kicks off, Tony notes that one of these teams really needs to win by pinfall or submission. He says that a win by countout would be a win, but it wouldn't really draw the favor of the championship committee. WTF? This is officially designated as a #1 contender match. That should mean that any win works. Anyway, I think that was just Tony improvising with a hypothetical in order to sound smart; I'm guessing one team will probably win by pinfall.

Scott Steiner and Stevie Ray kick things off. Steiner with a takedown from behind; he pounds on the back of Stevie's head before getting up voluntarily and backing away. Stevie blocks a hip-toss and throws one of his own. Side headlock by Scott…off the ropes, and a mid-ring collision ends in a stalemate. Corner whip by Scott, but he runs into an elbow as he charges in. Stevie with an Irish whip and a big boot. Stevie goes for the exact same spot, but Scott counters into a suplex as Booker T enters…Rick fights Booker off, and the Steiners hold the ring.

The match resets with Rick Steiner squaring off with Stevie Ray. Rick reverses an Irish whip and executes a throw on the way back. Again the Steiners send the Heat outside and hold the ring. Booker T tags in to become legal for the first time. He ties up with Rick, the two drift toward the Steiner corner, and Scott tags in. Booker offers a test of strength, Scott accepts, but Booker separates them with a kick before slapping on a full nelson. Can't say I remember ever seeing Booker use that hold. Scott summons adrenaline and powers his way out. Booker drives a knee into Scott's gut to put him back down, but Scott foils his ensuing backdrop attempt with a boot to the face. Steiner butterfly suplex gets a two-count. Tag to Rick.

Rick blocks a suplex and throws his own. Two-count. Tag back to Scott, who executes a press slam and then transitions into a botch where he tries to jump into Booker T's boot but comes up short and then just sort of lunges his face into Booker's boot anyway.



Booker with the spinaroonie into the Harlem side kick. He's nearly as slow to get up as Steiner, but he charges the ropes and hits a clothesline that carries both men out over the top. On the floor, Scott reverses a whip into the guardrail, then sends Booker back in and attempts a cover that gets another two. Tag to Rick. Booker reverses an Irish whip, but in doing so he sends Rick into Stevie Ray on the apron. The referee is distracted by Scott Steiner, and Stevie takes this opportunity to powerslam and clothesline Rick out on the floor. He rolls Rick back in, and we're finally in something resembling a heat segment.

Stevie tags in and runs his version of an offense as the Heat isolate Rick for several minutes. Rick creates a window by countering Stevie into sort of a slam…he slowly, slowly makes his way over and gets the hot tag to Scott. Scott wails on both of the Heat, hitting a big belly-to-belly on Booker, causing Stevie to have to break up the pin. That draws Rick in, and all four go at it. Scott sets up Booker on the top rope and hits a frankensteiner from there, but as this happens we see Vincent (of Lonely Virgil fame) sprint into the picture. He runs into the ring and drops an elbow on Booker T, causing referee Randy Anderson to signal for the disqualification. Vincent smiles, knowing that he just caused the Heat to win by DQ. Err, so I guess Tony's hypothetical does come into play?



Whatever; this match sucked and I'm glad it's over.

Result: Harlem Heat via DQ
Rating: *

The Steiners pull Vincent into the ring and beat on him for a bit, with Rick hitting the bulldog from off the top rope, then throwing Vincent's nWo shirt on top of him and spitting on it for good measure.

Konnan vs. Hugh Morrus: Maybe this one is a non-respect match? Whatever it is, I don't want to watch it, but here goes. The two jaw a bit in mid-ring before coming to blows, Morrus putting Konnan down with a running clothesline. Stomp, punch, punch, corner whip. Konnan counters by jumping behind, but Morrus alertly spins around and dropkicks him. Leg-trip sends Konnan down, but Konnan throws punches from his back to take the fight back at Morrus, and then he dumps Morrus to the floor, following him out and flinging him into the steps. He returns inside, and Morrus eventually follows suit, but Konnan hits him during his re-entrance with a low dropkick. Forward roll into a clothesline by Konnan, lax cover gets two. Reverse chinlock.

Konnan releases and hits a seated dropkick. And another one. He locks in a modified STF…and by "modified," I mean he seems to not actually know how to do the hold, so he's just kind of randomly tugging and pulling. Morrus gets a rope break and then fights back, sending Konnan out of the ring and returning the favor with the violent fling into the steps. Back inside, Morrus with an Irish whip and a jumping, spinning clothesline. Two. Morrus locks in sort of an octopus. Konnan gets an arm free, but Morrus maintains an armbar. He returns the both of them to a vertical base, Konnan blocks a hip-toss, but Morrus transitions into a gutwrench suplex. Two again. Konnan counters a backdrop attempt with a boot to the face. He starts to lock in a stump puller, but he can't really get Morrus's body into it, and he settles into a grounded headscissor instead, eventually transitioning into a cross-armbar.

Morrus regains his feet and attempts an armbar, but Konnan boots himself loose. Roll-up by Konnan gets two, and Morrus thumbs the eyes to regain control. Scoop powerslam by Morrus, minus the power. He slowly scales the ropes to go for his big moonsault, but he takes too long, and Konnan knocks him off the ropes, causing Morrus's head to hit the top turnbuckle hard. Back suplex into the Tequila Sunrise (half-crab) finishing hold, and Morrus is out cold. The referee drops his arm three times and calls for the bell.



Result: Konnan via submission
Rating: *1/2

Mean Gene is at the top of the aisle. He shills for his hotline and then calls out…Public Enemy? Why would they get a PPV promo? They carry out a table and set it up, because that's literally their only trick. They question why Harlem Heat would deserve to be #1 contenders, and they say they're being overlooked. I don't remember cutting very many promos, but this is, unsurprisingly, all kinds of obnoxious.



Wrath (w/ James Vandenberg & Mortis) vs. Glacier: As a stipulation of this match, Mortis has to be handcuffed to one of the ringposts. Tony: "So far, in the wars of WCW, Glacier is undefeated. … But Glacier being undefeated, that does not mean he's unbeaten. He's been beaten many times by Wrath and Mortis." I get what he means, but…oh, whatever.

Wrath and Glacier lock up. Wrath powers him into the corner and beats on him aggressively, forearms and kicks and chops. Glacier eventually dodges a punch and turns Wrath around, hitting a series of palm strikes. Back kick by Glacier, then an Irish whip. Uppercut, a back kick, and a jumping kick knocks Wrath over the top to the floor. Pescado by Glacier connects, and he straddles Wrath and throws a few rights. Glacier gets distracted by Vandenberg, but sees Wrath getting up and heads back over to plant a superkick on him. Wrath appears to be hurt, but seems to bait Glacier back in, and he's able to turn the attack back on him, slamming him into the guardrail. However, Glacier reverses a whip and sends Wrath hard into the steps.

Glacier drops a chop from the apron to the floor, then returns the big man inside. Pinfall attempt gets a two-count as Wrath gets a foot on the ropes. Glacier hits kicks and chops in the corner, whips him to the opposite corner, and Mortis finally plays a role as, despite his handcuffs, he pulls Wrath clear of Glacier's running splash attempt in the corner. As Glacier is distracted, he turns around into a big powerbomb attempt by Wrath. He attempts to counter, but Wrath re-counters by dropping Glacier throatfirst along the top rope.



Wrath with a series of boots in the corner, then a snapmare into a reverse chinlock. This hold goes on for a while, but Glacier eventually regains his feet. Glacier runs the ropes, ducks two clotheslines, but his attempt at a flying cross-body comes up totally empty and sends him sliding out to the floor. Wrath with a running somersault attack from the apron. He rolls Glacier in, he climbs to the top rope, and hits a big flying clothesline from there. Instead of capitalizing, Wrath wastes time staring into the camera, then only attempts a cover with one foot…naturally that doesn't end it. He insultingly slaps downward at Glacier, eventually causing Glacier to reach up and slap on a nerve hold.

Wrath is affected by the nerve hold, but fights his way loose and then hits a front powerslam toward one corner of the ring. He sets up on the second rope, but again takes forever, and comes up empty when trying to drop the elbow from there. Glacier with an Irish whip and a backdrop. Spinning back kick by Glacier, jumping back elbow, and a two-count. As Glacier goes to follow up, Wrath smacks him the abdomen, then hits a big side salto. Wrath back up to the top. Glacier, stumbling to his feet, accidentally knocks Nick Patrick into the ropes, but that luckily crotches Wrath, and that break opens up a chance for Glacier to go meet his opponent up along the top rope. Superplex by Glacier. Mortis gets up on the apron, Glacier knocks him off, but the distraction allows Wrath to sneak up behind and hit a back suplex. Now Vandenberg is on the apron, distracting Nick Patrick. Mortis throws a chain into the ring, purportedly for Wrath's benefit, but he overthrows it; Glacier goes and picks it up. With Patrick still distracted, Glacier wallops Wrath with the chain. Cryonic kick, Patrick turns around, and Glacier scores the three-count.



Result: Glacier via pinfall
Rating: **1/4

Vandenberg gets Mortis loose, Mortis blindsides Glacier with the chain of his handcuffs, and now they cuff Glacier to the ropes. He's a sitting duck now, and Wrath and Mortis converge, double-teaming him with impunity in the corner as Vandenberg directs traffic. Officials pour in and eventually break things up.

Title vs. Career - Akira Hokuto (c) (w/ Sonny Onoo) vs. Madusa: In case this match didn't look hopeless enough on paper, Lee Marshall has joined the announce booth for the occasion. I'm astounded that some kid actually brought a homemade sign specifically to pull out for this match:



At the start, Madusa lets her guard down, and Hokuto makes her pay with a hard strike across the face. Hokuto whips the challenger across the ring by her hair. Madusa fights back from her knees, but upon regaining her feet, Hokuto violently whips her across the ring by the hair again. She blatantly chokes at Madusa, drawing a light reprimand from the referee that doesn't slow her down. Hokuto continues with a chinlock, then pulls at the hair repeatedly. Decent-looking piledriver by Hokuto. She sends Madusa into the ropes, but Madusa counters on the way back, jumping and slamming Hokuto down by the back of the head. Madusa off the second rope with a missile dropkick. And another from the adjacent corner. 1, 2, foot on the ropes.

Madusa corners Hokuto and throws a series of jabs. Snapmare, and then Madusa jumps downward on the neck of the champion. As she goes to follow up, Hokuto stops her with a chokehold and retakes the offensive. More choking still. If you ignore the piledriver, Hokuto appears to be modeling her offense on late-80s Andre the Giant. Kind of a gutwrench throws by Hokuto, then a spinning toe-hold, but Madusa winds up in the ropes and the referee forces a break. Madusa gets up and kicks her square in the boob. Tony: "That kick…was on target!" She continues with a series of kicks, reminiscent of the signature kick sequences that Ultimo Dragon does except a billion times worse. Snapmare by Madusa, but Hokuto catches her into a surprise small package and nearly gets the fall. Corner whip by Hokuto, Madusa flips onto the apron, then scales the ropes and attempts an axhandle. She seems to connect, and yet somehow she's the one who gets damaged by the move; she's selling a blown-out knee.

Hokuto quickly moves to capitalize, hitting a single-leg atomic drop on the bad wheel. She sets up slowly on the back of Madusa's legs, tweaking her knees and after a ton of effort, gets her up in an overhead surfboard.



She appears to be on the verge of submission, but for some reason the referee forces a break. Northern lights suplex by Hokuto gets another near-fall. Hokuto climbs the ropes, briefly wastes time with a taunt, and Madusa suddenly scampers up with a headstand into a headscissor takeover off the ropes. She returns to limping, but then hits a powerbomb without issue before showing more leg pain. Dude, you don't just get to sell injuries between moves and ignore them while executing moves. Hokuto sets up Madusa on the top rope and pounds her home with a superplex. Lax cover gets two. Single-leg hold by Hokuto leaves Madusa writhing in pain. Madusa fights valiantly, keeps refusing to quit, and eventually gets to the ropes. Hokuto up top for the missile dropkick, but Madusa dodges. She goes for the big German suplex finisher, but during the count Sonny Onoo reaches in and pulls her bad leg out to break the pin.

Hokuto keeps working the bad leg. She climbs to the top for a splash attempt, but falls on the raised knees of Madusa. Madusa, crippled, desperately makes her way to her feet and hits a running clothesline. Two-count. She goes for an atomic drop, and her leg buckles underneath her. Brainbuster by Hokuto finally wins this one, retiring Madusa (for now). Really ends up being a decent little match from a storytelling perspective, even though much of the move execution was pretty bad.



Result: Akira Hokuto via pinfall
Rating: ***

Madusa, having just been retired, is left sobbing in the ring as Hokuto and Onoo exit stage left. As the referee and a trainer come down to help her to the back, she's still in tears as Mean Gene comes out to try to grab a word. Gene traipses alongside as she is gingerly helped to the back, and he starts talking: "Chuck, what's the status of this left knee? You know, about eight years ago, Wendi Richter blew that same knee out, and I've got a feeling the same thing happened here tonight. … Can I get an answer? … You know, maybe that shouldn't be a consideration due to the fact that her career right now is over, it's history, it's toast for this young lady!" WTF Gene, is this a heel turn? This is cold-blooded. "Madusa, do you realize what's happened here tonight?? This is something…you put your career on the line! Do you have any idea as to the gravity of that?" She pushes away his microphone. Fans actually start chanting "leave her alone." He gives up on getting any word from her.



Death Match: Chris Benoit vs. Meng: Benoit is out first, Meng out second, and this one starts with an exclamation mark as Benoit greets Meng with an awesome suicide dive to the floor.



Benoit beats on Meng, turns to Jimmy Hart, and Hart scurries all the way to the back, apparently no longer interested in hanging around for the proceedings. Benoit flings Meng into the ring, climbs to the top, and drops a headbutt. Straight into the Crippler Crossface, but doesn't quite get it fully locked in…Meng powers his way to his feet while still in the hold, sets Benoit on the turnbuckle, and throws him violently from the top to the mat. He pursues, Benoit with an attempted trip, and then he stands up and plants a front kick in Meng's face. Back to trying for the Crippler Crossface…he gets it on, but very near the ropes, and the rope break is inevitable (despite there being no particular rule in place that should cause Benoit to actually respect the rope break).

Back to a vertical base, the two trade punches and kicks, Meng winning the exchange with a spinning kick to the back of Benoit's head that sends him flipping to the mat. Meng powerbomb attempt, Benoit falls behind, runs toward him, slides to the floor, climbs back up to the apron, and sort of botches an attempted suplex to the outside…I think maybe that was an intentional counter rather than a botch, but either way they kind of both messily fall down. Benoit returns Meng inside, jumps to the top, but then Meng takes out Benoit's legs and Benoit falls upside down into the tree of woe. Meng cracks him in the head with a kick before referee Nick Patrick finally gets Benoit's legs loose.

Benoit slowly regains his feet to fairly easily beat the 10-count. The two trade chops, but again Meng is the bigger and stronger man, and he puts Benoit down. Whips Benoit off the ropes and hits something of an Alabama Slam on the way back, as Benoit's head collides hard with the mat. Dragon sleeper by Meng. Benoit jars his way loose and continues fighting, throwing a series of chops that staggers Meng into the corner. Whips him to the opposite corner, but runs into Meng's knee on the follow-up. Scoop slam by Meng, who climbs to the top. Connects on a big splash from there, but Nick Patrick has to remind him that there are no covers in this match.



Benoit beats the count to his feet, but Meng immediately plants a kick to the face that sends Benoit sprawling to the floor. Meng eventually follows him out and attempts a whip to the guardrail, but Benoit reverses it and Meng takes the guardrail instead. Benoit returns him to the ring and hits a German suplex. Nick Patrick gets to an 8-count before Meng regains his feet. Benoit is Johnny-on-the-spot with another German, this time a release German. He again greets Meng with an attack as soon as Meng has his footing, knocking him to the floor. Meng rolls in, Benoit throws a couple of punches, but they are of limited effect and Meng jolts him with an inverted atomic drop.

Tongan Death Grip by Meng. Benoit tries punching his way loose unsuccessfully. He runs toward the ropes and jumps over them to the floor, finally managing to break the hold that way. Meng follows him out, and we're in another chopping exchange; Meng wins this one too. They return inside. After a brief reverse chinlock, Meng puts the boots to Benoit's skull one more time. Snapmare into another chinlock. After a resting period, Meng relinquishes the hold and continues the attack. Stomp, forearm, big back suplex. Meng goes for another splash off the ropes, this time the second rope, but Benoit rolls out of the way.

Arm-wringer by Benoit, takes Meng down into our third attempt at a Crippler Crossface; Meng again manages a rope break before long. Still, 10 seconds later Benoit gets his hold applied once again. Benoit lets up on the hold, and Meng is back up to his feet and throwing punches. He attempts the Tongan Spike but misses, Benoit sweeps the leg, and we're in the Crippler Crossface once more. They always book Meng so strongly that, even in his role as a heel who is acting purely as a roadblock before the babyface can get to the stable leader, I just don't buy for a second that Meng will voluntarily submit. He's in this hold for quite a while, and I do start wondering if a pass-out is possible, but…oh wow, Meng actually does apparently give up while he was still barely conscious. Nick Patrick calls for the bell, and this one is over.



Result: Chris Benoit via submission
Rating: ***

After the match is over, Tony says that he's pretty sure that Meng passed out instead of giving up. Tony is wrong. They do some good post-match stuff here where the announcers go on and on about how incredible it is that Benoit was able to score a submission victory, and then they marvel as Meng is carted out, which they say they've never seen happen to him. This does well to put over both men. As they kick it over to Mean Gene, Meng actually struggles his way off of the cart and they have to go to a lot of effort to return him to the stretcher.

Gene teases the hotline, saying that someone will be on Nitro in Chicago tomorrow who has had significant problems with his current organization. Dennis Rodman? This shill job seems to be all they were going to Gene for; he just does that and sends it to a promo for Bash at the Beach.

Mongo McMichael (w/ Debra) vs. Kevin Greene: Greene, out second, makes his way to the ring in a full sprint. Mongo tries to greet him on the apron, but Greene fights him off, hops over the ropes, and tackles Mongo. He backs up to get a running start for a clothesline, connects, and Mongo bails to the outside to regroup. Mongo baits Greene over, trips him and drags him out, and goes on the attack outside. Tony notes that, as we're in Illinois, you would expect Bears legend Mongo to get more crowd support, but the fans seem to be firmly behind Greene even here. There are a few fans in Carolina Panthers Kevin Greene jerseys at ringside, and as Mongo gets too close one old lady whacks him with her purse. Oh, Dusty says that's Greene's mother. I've always thought it was incredibly foolish to have worked moments where ringside fans just feel free to attack the heel. Until Mongo sold it like he got shot, I didn't know whether it was a work or not.



Greene sends Mongo inside, goes and checks on his mother, then re-enters and gets ambushed on the way in by Mongo. There is an audible "Mongo" chant that starts up here, so some of that pro-Bears sentiment is coming through. After a series of kicks and stomps, Mongo wish an Irish whip, Greene reverses, but McMichael hits a neckbreaker on the way back. After the next Irish whip, Greene comes back at McMichael with a Thesz press, and throws a few punches. Greene tries for another running start, but runs into a tilt-a-whirl slam. Mongo, who never became a good worker, was clearly way out of his element in trying to carry a non-wrestler to something watchable here.

Greene mounts Mongo in the corner, punches to the crowd count of eight, but Mongo carries him out into an inverted atomic drop, and then throws an ugly dropkick that gets a two-count. Mongo throws punches in the corner and chokes a bit…referee Randy Anderson backs him out, and it creates an opening for Greene to launch himself into a forward donkey kick, and then he climbs to the top and connects on a flying shoulderblock. 1, 2, foot on the ropes. Greene sends Mongo out to the floor with a clothesline over the top, then follows him out and bodyslams him on the floor. He returns Mongo inside, squabbles with Debra for a moment, then baits Mongo into missing an elbow as he false-starts his next entry into the ring; actually kind of a fun bit of psychology there.

Corner whip by Greene, Mongo dodges the ensuing charge, and suddenly Debra is up on the apron to distract the referee. Here's Jeff Jarrett, who hammers Mongo with his own briefcase, apparently inadvertently though it looks intentional (worked intentional, I mean)…ARE WE STILL ****ING DOING THIS? How the hell long did this Mongo/Jarrett dysfunction go on? Anyway, that enables Greene to score the pin as Jarrett just walks to the back.



Result: Kevin Greene via pinfall
Rating: 1/4*

They cut to the back and show Madusa still agonizing over her injury, being worked on by the trainer. Tony: "If she needs major reconstructive surgery, you're talking about not being able to compete. I mean, I know her career's over, but that will put you down for eight months." I get the feeling Tony has seen how losses in retirement matches tend to work out.

Tag Team Titles - The Outsiders (c) (w/ Syxx) vs. Ric Flair & Rowdy Roddy Piper: Hall and Flair will kick things off. Hall tries to bait Flair by flicking a toothpick in his face, but Flair plays it cool and goes into a lockup. Hall wins the initial exchange, wrestling Flair into the corner and laying in his punches, but Flair turns it around, gets his own flurry in, and Hall bails out of the ring as the crowd pops big. After a regroup with his buddies, Hall returns inside, whips Flair into the corner, Flair flips over the corner onto the apron and eats a big boot from Nash. Hall pulls him inside and covers for an early two-count.

Flair blocks a right hand, throws a punch and some chops, but Syxx runs distraction and allows Hall to take Flair's head off with a hard clothesline. Near-fall. Hall tags in Nash, who chops his crotch in Piper's direction before focusing in on Flair, cornering him and throwing his knee lunges and forearms. Big side slam gets another two-count. Snake eyes, and Hall hits a clothesline from the apron. Nash showboats a bit much, and when he finally goes to resume his offense, Flair catches him with a low blow to take him down to the mat. Hot tag to Piper. Hall and Nash both sell for a one-on-two, and Piper slaps the sleeper on Hall. Hall fights his way out by lifting Piper and crotching him along the top rope.

As Piper tries to recover and make his way over for a tag, Nash starts to come in illegally to distract Mark Curtis, baiting Flair into the ring. Flair grabs referee Mark Curtis and drags him over to his corner, but amidst the distraction Syxx comes in and levels Piper with a spinning heel kick.



Flair chases Syxx down outside the ring, begins hammering on him and fights him all the way up the aisle. At least for the moment, he has left Piper alone with the Outsiders. Hall finally rolls over to pin Piper, but can only get the near-fall. Piper heads over to try to get a tag, but only now does he discover that his partner is MIA. Nash tags in, he and Piper trade punches, but the big man overwhelms Piper and leaves him crawling on the mat. They pan to the top of the aisle, still no sign of Flair. The Outsiders double-team Piper with impunity. Piper taunts the Outsiders with a "bring it on" motion, but he's plainly outmatched despite his best efforts. Hall clotheslines Piper from the apron, knocking him into a big boot from Nash. Tag to Hall, Razor's Edge (Tony calls it "the nWo Drop"), and this one is over.



Result: The Outsiders via pinfall
Rating: *

As we head to our main event, Michael Buffer is in the ring to make our introductions. He says, "In the history of professional wrestling, there have been many grudge matches…but none like what we are about to witness here tonight." I would like to think that someone in the back bribed Buffer to say that as a rib on Schiavone.

Falls Count Anywhere Street Fight - Randy Savage (w/ Miss Elizabeth) vs. Diamond Dallas Page (w/ Kimberly): Savage is out first, and DDP's purported intro starts next, but as Kimberly makes her way to the top of the aisle, DDP slips in from behind Savage and ambushes him from behind. Repeated shoulder lunges by Page, an attempt at a Diamond Cutter really early, and Savage scurries out of the ring. Page connects on a pescado to the floor, but as he gets up celebrating he doubles over, favoring his injured ribs. Savage is the first up between the two, and he kicks at those ribs. DDP blocks a guardrail smash and smashes Savage in himself. As Savage tries to run away and hide behind Liz, DDP flings Liz aside as Tony and Dusty cheerlead his decision to do so.

They're back inside now, DDP misses with one clothesline but connects on the next. Up to the top rope, flying clothesline from there. He's clutching his ribs, but soldiering forward. He dumps Savage out over the top, eventually follows, but Savage rakes his eyes and then clotheslines Page over the guardrail into the crowd. Savage hops the guardrail, drops DDP on top of it, and they're going to fight further into the crowd. Savage makes as if to slam DDP into a concrete wall, but Page blocks and slams him into it instead. DDP picks up a crutch, lies in wait behind an arena door, and plunges it hard into Savage's guts when Savage unsuspectingly walks through.



They brawl back through the crowd and back over the guardrail, returning to the ringside area. Savage throws Page hard into the steel steps. As Savage goes back into the ring, Liz slips him a bunch of cocaine. It's like a more adult version of slipping Popeye a can of spinach.



Anyway, Savage gets up and flings the white powder into DDP's face, then breaks some sort of black sign over Page's face directly after. Savage stomps away, then sets to unraveling the tape around Page's ribs as he continues kicking at the injured area. As the referee takes exception, Savage turns and spits in his face. The referee wipes his face and continues expressing his displeasure to Savage, leading Savage to clock him in the face and then piledrive him. Props to the referee for taking a strong piledriver.



Page has been afforded some recovery time by Savage's frolic and detour, so he starts fighting back from his knees. He headbutts the Macho Man to the mat, but Macho is actually the first to regain his feet. He lands some punches on Page, then goes to choke him, as referee Mark Curtis hits the ring as the apparent replacement. Savage has no use for Mark Curtis; he flings him out of the ring. Page fights back, executing a corner whip, but he runs into Savage's boots on the way in. Running clothesline by Savage. Another big clothesline now, sending DDP out over the top to the floor. As Savage follows him out, Kimberly gets in the way, and Savage corners her and appears to be ready to hit her as well. Tony, who earlier praised DDP throwing Liz out of the way: "That is a lowlife right there." I mean, he's certainly right this time, but the double standards of babyface announcers never cease to amaze. Enter Nick Patrick, who intervenes on Kimberly's behalf and stands in Savage's way. Savage surprisingly backs down.

The Macho Man follows Dallas up the aisle, driving a knee into the back. Patrick follows the action, and I guess he's our referee now. Page throws Savage into a picnic area that had been set up for some VIP fans, sending the fans scattering.



DDP uses the various props that have now been afforded to him, putting him through wooden tables and hitting him with a BBQ grill. After exhausting the new scenery, they head back up the aisle and back into the ring. Incidentally, this "falls count anywhere" thing doesn't seem to be mattering much; nobody has attempted a cover in this match. Page drags Savage crotch-first into the ringpost. Hits the pancake next, then makes the diamond signal to the crowd. As he picks Savage back up, Savage desperately hits a jawbreaker that sends DDP flailing to the outside. Another strong throw into the steps. Macho picks up a mat to expose some concrete floor. He sets up as if to piledrive Page on the concrete, and Nick Patrick physically involves himself again, stopping the move from getting going. This of course provokes another referee attack by Savage.



Savage turns his aggression to the ringside photographer. Savage slams down the camera like he's Santino Corleone, and then attacks the photographer himself. Page hits Savage with a steel chair. Back into the ring, Savage stops DDP in his tracks with a low blow. He goes for a suplex, DDP counters, Diamond Cutter plants Savage in the middle of the ring. DDP is very slow on the cover, eventually rolls over onto Savage, but as Nick Patrick has returned inside to make the count, here comes Scott Hall, who stomps on Nick Patrick's head to stop the count. That's an innovative way to break up a pin. Hall tries to hit DDP with his title belt, but DDP ducks and hits an inverted atomic drop. He punches Hall to the mat, but by now Savage has recovered and does hit DDP with Hall's belt. Hall goes for the Razor's Edge, struggles to keep him up, but ultimately connects. Hall helps Savage to his feet, Savage climbs the ropes, plants the flying elbow squarely into DDP, and Nick Patrick wakes up and counts to three.



This match was a lot of fun. Great showing by both men.

Result: Randy Savage via pinfall
Rating: ***1/2

They scurry off the air from there, seemingly feeling time pressure even though the Network rendition appears to only run just short of 2:50. Our final shot shows Savage, Hall, and Liz celebrating in the ring.

Overall: This show was alright. There was nothing great, but there was some solid stuff interspersed among some garbage, and the main event delivered a fun capper to the evening. I'll take it, I guess.

June 16, 1997

NITRO

Chicago, IL

This week's cold open features a limo arrival as the nWo music blares through the arena. Randy Savage, Eric Bischoff, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Hulk Hogan, and finally Dennis Rodman emerge from the vehicle. Larry Zbyszko says, "Hey! It's Denise Rodman!" Clever as always, Larry. ****ing idiot. Anyway, we watch them saunter through the backstage area and all the way through the entrance area to the ring.



I guess it's just Bischoff, Hogan, and Rodman who came to the ring. It's like the rest of the nWo got lost along the straight line from the limo to the ring. After some preening, Hogan calls out Lex Luger and The Giant, and says that if they have the guts to come out right now, Rodman will beat them both up by himself. Bischoff hands the mic over to Rodman. Rodman seems to refer to "The Giant and Lex Luthor." Hogan calls their upcoming Bash at the Beach nemeses out again, but then the nWo music hits and I guess the pointless opening segment is over.

To the announce desk, where Tony Schiavone is flanked by Mike Tenay and Zbyszko. Tony runs down some of our results from the Great American Bash last night before sending it to the ring.

Mortis (w/ James Vandenberg) vs. Glacier: Mortis enters first, then ambushes Glacier during Glacier's subsequent entrance. He flings Glacier into the ringside guardrail, but when he tries to follow off the apron, Glacier yanks him off and crotches him along the steel steps. He rolls Mortis inside, but on his own way in, Vandenberg grabs the leg to cause enough of a distraction to enable Mortis to hit a sucker-punch. The two combatants trade blows, Mortis getting the better of the exchange as he beats Glacier down in the corner, but then he wastes a lot of time on taunting.

The camera shows that Wrath has arrived at ringside in support of Mortis as Wrath drops a leg on Glacier from up on the ropes. Wrath climbs up to the apron, Glacier reverses an Irish whip, collision between Mortis and Wrath, and Glacier finishes Mortis off with the Cryonic Kick.



Result: Glacier via pinfall

Just as with last night at GAB, Mortis and Wrath promptly wreck any chance of Glacier enjoying his win, as they begin the double-team. Here's Ernest Miller to even the score; he and Glacier end up clearing the ring and holding Wrath and Mortis off.



Cut to Mean Gene at the top of the aisle. Fresh off his cruel badgering of her in the direct aftermath of her losing her career to a retirement match, he brings out Madusa for an interview. She says she came out to say that last night is the end of her wrestling career. "I am a woman of my word, and it was career vs. title last night, and I ended my career." She does a HORRENDOUS job of fake crying through the rest of a promo, finally cutting off while feigning that she is overwhelmed with emotion. Mean Gene drily calls it "a very touching moment."



Before the next match, we see footage from last week's Nitro, when Eddie Guerrero emerged from the crowd to cost Dean Malenko his US Title. Jeff Jarrett won after Eddie hit a frog splash.

Malenko comes out for a match and calls for Eddie to get out there, but he gets a different Guerrero emerging and walking to the ring.

Dean Malenko vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.: Malenko takes the fight aggressively to Chavo, beating on him in the corner. Chavo throws an armdrag and a dropkick. Dean reverses an Irish whip, but Chavo hits a headscissor on the way back. Malenko swats a follow-up dropkick aside, executes a corner whip, clothesline to follow, and then he ducks out of the ring to elbow the back of Chavo's leg. He drags Chavo outside, drapes that same leg over the guardrail, and hits a targeted dropkick. He whips him into the guardrail, throws him in, and resumes the attack inside the ring.

Chavo catches Malenko off-guard with a sunset flip, but Malenko kicks out and then levels him with a clothesline. Delayed suplex. Malenko goes half-ass on the cover, seemingly looking around for Eddie during the pin attempt. Chavo obviously kicks out. He sends Dean off the ropes, then they do a botched sequence on the way back, and Malenko just falls on top into a pin attempt to try to salvage the spot. After the kickout, Malenko hits a pancake. As he cinches in the Texas Cloverleaf, Eddie Guerrero shows up at the top of the ramp. Chavo submits as Eddie just stands and stares.



Result: Dean Malenko via submission

Rather than help his nephew, Guerrero just continues with an icy stare toward the ring, then eventually smirks and walks back into the locker room.

Before the next match, we see footage from last week, when La Parka beat down Super Calo after a lucha six-man encounter.

Super Calo vs. La Parka: Calo baits La Parka and then sidesteps his jumping attack at the start, but La Parka sticks with it and turns Calo inside out with a clothesline. Calo reverses a corner whip, La Parka launches out from the ropes and jumps behind, then kicks Calo squarely in the face to record an early two-count. Shoudlerblock by La Parka. Calo with an armdrag, a monkey-flip, another armdrag off a springboard, and finally an armdrag that sends La Parka sprawling outside. Calo immediately follows, getting a running start and then WTF, launching into about the third ****ing row of the crowd, incidentally catching some of La Parka along the way.



Calo, undeterred, goes back inside to get another running start, this time takes a baseball slide outside while La Parka enters, and when he follows inside, La Parka puts him down hard with a clothesline. La Parka boots Calo in the skull, then covers for a two-count. He hangs Calo up in the tree of woe, then leans backward and grabs him, walking forward and then hitting an Alabama slam. After another two-count, he goes for a twisting moonsault off the top, but comes up empty when Calo moves. Calo flips La Parka down by the head, then sets him up on the top turnbuckle. Super reverse hurracanrana off the top, and unexpectedly that's enough for the three-count. I'm awfully surprised that Calo went over here.

Result: Super Calo via pinfall

La Parka, not loving the result, attacks Calo after the match and breaks what looks like a non-gimmicked non-folding chair over Calo. Good grief.



Mean Gene brings out Lex Luger and The Giant for an interview. So they're here. Why didn't they take up that opportunity for a handicap match against Rodman earlier? Mean Gene says that Hogan and Rodman are saying "no go" to a match at Bash at the Beach. Wait, what? I don't remember that happening at all. Luger seems confused too. He just says they have a contract, and when Gene repeats that they're saying no, Luger just hand-waves it away and says he's sure they'll honor it. Then he launches into the promo he was obviously planning on cutting. It's a basic hype promo until Luger challenges Hogan and Rodman to fight them right here tonight.

After the commercial break, Tony says the challenge has been made and the challenge has been accepted: Luger and The Giant will face Hogan and Rodman tonight. I'm still very confused as to what Gene was talking about in terms of Hogan and Rodman refusing to wrestle at Bash at the Beach.

The Amazing French Canadians (w/ Col. Parker) vs. Harlem Heat (w/ Sister Sherri): The Canadians start into their singing of the Canadian National Anthem, then they drop the mics and go and attack an unaware Harlem Heat. Booker T ends up the legal man, and Jacques Rougeau dumps him to the floor. Carl Ouellet continues the attack outside, ramming Booker into the guardrail before sending him back inside so that Rougeau can continue the offense. Tag to Ouellet, and Rougeau sends him hard into Booker in the corner in a double-team maneuver. Second-rope splash by Ouellet gets a two-count. Tag to Rougeau, and another double-team move by the Canadians continues what has essentially been a heat segment from the start.

Booker ducks a clothesline and makes the lukewarm tag to Stevie Ray. Stevie takes it to both Canadians; he boots Jacques out of the ring, then tags Booker. They execute the double-team Heat Bomb on Ouellet, and they have the visual pin, but referee Nick Patrick is tied up with some squabble between Sherri and Col. Parker. Jacques re-enters, smacks Booker T over the head with Col. Parker's boot, and I thought we were going to get the cheap finish. Instead, Booker does kick out on two and a half. Booker tags Stevie, Stevie holds Jacques up, Booker hits the Harlem side kick, and Stevie records the pinfall.



Result: Harlem Heat via pinfall

Mean Gene is with JJ Dillon, who confirms that there has been a challenge and an acceptance between Luger/Giant and Hogan/Rodman. The Heat and Sherri bust in to demand some answers; they want to be #1 contenders for the Tag Team Titles. Dillon acknowledges that the Heat did win under conditions where a win would make them #1 contenders, but calls the win "tainted" and says that it's obvious that the nWo was trying to manipulate the tag-team rankings. The Heat and Sherri throw a fit, but Dillon orders a rematch between the Heat and Steiners for next week.

Here comes Vincent, who was the one who handed the Heat their DQ win last night at GAB. He called last night "an early Christmas gift." The Heat attack him, and are still wailing away on him as Nitro goes to break.



Bobby Heenan subs in for Larry Zbyszko as we enter hour #2.

Cruiserweight Title - Syxx (c) (w/ Scott Hall & Kevin Nash) vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.: Syxx lands a couple of kicks, then launches Rey off an Irish whip and lets him drop to the mat. Snapmare takeover, couple of running snap-legdrops, and now Syxx lays the challenger in the corner near Scott Hall, who taunts him openly and drops ashes off his cigar onto him. Syxx with bronco buster, slightly varied from what would become the norm since Rey is face-down. The champ slams Mysterio to the mat, climbs to the top rope, and misses with the big cannonball drop; basically Mysterio's first point of the match.

Mysterio on the comeback now, as he takes Syxx down with a flying headscissor. Syxx reverses a whip, Rey juts his legs out and executes another headscissor takeover that sends Syxx out of the ring. Rey climbs to the top and hits a nice somersault plancha to the floor.



Rey returns inside, Nash distracts him for a moment, and when he returns his attentions to Syxx, Syxx is now on the apron; he throws a shoulder between the middle ropes to stun Rey, but when he tries to follow with a flip into the ring, he misses. Rey to the top, hurracanrana off the top into an attempted pinning combo, but Hall and Nash come inside to lure Mysterio into standing up and defending himself. They both sell for the little man, as he knocks both of them out over the top rope with kicks, but Syxx has regained his wits…he knocks Rey's block off with a spinning heel kick, slaps on the Buzzkill, and this one is over.



Result: Syxx via submission

Kevin Nash of course has to get his heat back, so he comes back in and hits the Jackknife on Mysterio. He grabs a mic: "Just like on Discovery Channel, people. Survival of the fittest. He found out, just like Flair and Piper found out…the Wolfpack is the strongest beast in the jungle." Hall gets on the mic, taunts Flair and Piper some more, and then calls out "a real icon," Macho Man Randy Savage. Enter Savage and Miss Elizabeth. Hall and Savage taunt DDP for a bit, coming off of Savage's win in the main event last night.

We hear DDP's voice, and eventually locate him up in the rafters alongside Kimberly. DDP says, "You proved last night, you couldn't get the job done by yourself." Hall interjects, "No, you did the job." Man, while Hall is easily my favorite from that kliq group, any of them trying to score cheap points with insider terms is so obnoxious. Page just ignores it and keeps going on his promo. He says that as long as Hall and Savage are teaming up, he has made some calls and has landed a tag team partner to take them on. Page says, "You know who it is." Kimberly smiles and looks up at the ceiling. They're plainly alluding to it being Sting. (It isn't.)



Ultimo Dragon vs. Chris Jericho: Sonny Onoo tries to cut Jericho off on the way to the ring and offer him some sort of envelope. Then he tries to get a selfie with him on his disposable camera, and Jericho violently shoves him to the ground before proceeding to the ring.

Side headlock takeover by Ultimo, into a headscissor by Jericho, Ultimo kips up out of it and resets. Ultimo reverses a whip, Jericho goes behind, leapfrogs, and they have an awkward, botchy mid-ring collision. Jericho drops a leg and gets a two-count. Delayed suplex by Jericho. Two. He transitions into a standing surfboard. Dragon gets up and forces a rope break; Jericho breaks the hold, but chops away at him. Backdrop, Dragon falls on his feet behind, and hits his series of signature kicks. Snapmare, and another stiff kick to the back. Irish whip and a dropkick by Dragon. Jericho backdrops him to the apron, then launches off the second rope with a dropkick that knocks him to the floor. Jericho back up top, hits sort of a missile dropkick to the floor from there.

After a recovery period, Dragon re-enters, Jericho hits a lariat and records another two-count. Corner whip, Jericho follows him in, Dragon sets him on the top turnbuckle, sets for the spinning hurracanrana, Jericho elbows his way loose, tries repeatedly for the superplex, but Dragon blocks and hits a front superplex of sorts. Quick magistral cradle gets a near-fall. Ultimo goes for a hurracanrana, and Jericho hits him with a double powerbomb, impacting him once, resetting, and flinging him down on the second go. Two-count. The two fight with holds and counterholds over a pinning combo, both scoring two-counts, then Dragon abruptly breaks out the tiger suplex to score the win.



Result: Ultimo Dragon via pinfall

After commercial, Mean Gene is at the top of the ramp; he brings out Rowdy Roddy Piper. Piper addresses the chatter about Ric Flair abandoning him in the middle of the match last night: he says that he doesn't believe that happened, but he wants to hear it from Flair himself. Enter Flair. "Hottt Rod! Woo!" He jokes, "You won the match, didn't you?" Piper laughs and says, "It was awful lonesome out there." He says he couldn't find him when he got back to the locker room last night. Flair says that Piper is his friend for life, and he assures him that when he got to the back, he promises that he was caught up in the fight of his life with Syxx. Piper accepts his explanation, says, "That's good enough for me." They leave together as friends.



Buff Bagwell & Scott Norton vs. Jeff Jarrett & Mongo McMichael (w/ Debra): Please be short. Mongo and Norton are going to kick this thing off, just to really maximize workrate. Norton lands some kicks, corner whip, running splash in the corner. Elbow, chop, knee lunge. Mongo hits a bulldog, then hits a running clothesline out of a three-point stance. Norton is actually sort of selling for Mongo of all people. Enter Jeff Jarrett. Norton reverses a whip and hits a hard jumping shoulderblock. Smashes Jeff into the turnbuckle, then pulls him into the corner so that Buff can run some extra interference. Norton gets Jarrett up on his shoulders, Jarrett goes behind, hits a back suplex, but immediately gets caught in mid-air on his follow-up. Norton slams him into the corner and Buff tags himself in.

Bagwell with a standing dropkick. Jarrett goes for a sunset flip, but Bagwell holds up and punches down. Inverted atomic drop by Jarrett, then a swinging neckbreaker. He drapes Buff along the ropes and drops a leg there. He taunts a bit too long, allowing Buff to gouge the eyes and fight back. Corner whip by Buff, runs into Jarrett's boots on the follow-up. Scoop slam by Jarrett, and a fistdrop off the ropes. Bagwell reverses an Irish whip and hits a clothesline. He tries unsuccessfully to bait Mongo into the ring, then tags Norton back in. This match is already too long.

Bagwell and Norton start to isolate Jarrett, but Jarrett counters a backdrop attempt with an uppercut. Bagwell again tries to bait Mongo into the ring with a sucker-punch, and this time Mongo comes charging in. He and Jarrett double-team Buff with a double backdrop. In celebration, Jarrett asks Mongo to strut with him. Mongo seems to agree, then he waits and attacks Jarrett from behind, then tombstones him into the mat.



The pro-Bears crowd pops big for Mongo's turn. Mongo looks into the camera, yells that he watched last night's tape, and says that he's leaving Jarrett to the wolves. Debra, who seemed conflicted and even pro-Jarrett for a long time, is fully on Mongo's side…they smile for the cameras as they walk up the aisle, and the nWo records the pin off of Mongo's tombstone.

Result: Buff Bagwell & Scott Norton via pinfall

Tony declares, "We've seen a definite split here!" We've seen about 10 "definite splits" between these guys; please let this actually be the one.

It's time for our main event, where they claim they're giving away the Bash at the Beach main event on Nitro tonight for some reason.

Hogan and Rodman come out for the match, they taunt Luger and The Giant on the mic for a while. After a commercial break, Luger and The Giant still have not arrived. Rodman says they're wasting their time, and they're leaving. As they make their way back up the aisle, Luger's music hits, and Luger and The Giant come out for the match. Hogan and Rodman return to the ring.

Hulk Hogan & Dennis Rodman vs. Lex Luger & The Giant: Wait, this is actually happening? I applaud the lack of bait-and-switch that I was expecting, but WTF are they doing? The bell rings, and we're off. Before much of anything has happened, the fans start littering the ring with trash. Weird. Giant picks Rodman up in a big choke overhead, Hogan attacks from behind and causes him to let Rodman go. Rodman smacks The Giant from behind with Hogan's title belt, putting The Giant's lights out. Enter the Wolfpack. Okay, so technically this match sort of happened, but not really.

Result: No Contest

At least the trash coming into the ring makes sense now, as it's getting thick in there during the beatdown. Savage joins the fray as the nWo stands over the fallen Luger and Giant and celebrates. Another completely worthless nWo ending to Nitro.



As always, **** everyone who ever cheered for Kevin Nash. And we're off the air.

Overall: Some half-decent midcard action, but very little of this show had any point at all. Not impressed.

Have only read that but, I remember this. Mostly because of the name on this video.


tbf, it's pretty good

Savage looks so awkward in this scene. Nash is an idiot.

Ah, so that's when Voodoo Child came in. That isn't on the WWE Network version; they just use that basic nWo porno music. Big difference in the quality of entrance.