I didn't forget it.

I'd like to forget it.

Sorry about WK. I uploaded it right after I posted but it failed and I honestly forgot about it. Will get it on there and get back to you.

WWF WRESTLEMANIA III



March 29, 1987

Detroit, MI

Personal History/Recollection of Event

Having started watching wrestling in 1989, during the run-up to WrestleMania V amidst the Mega Powers explosion, this was before my day. It was many years before I knew that Andre the Giant had ever been a babyface…at least not the neutered one being insultingly trotted out as a mascot for the Bushwhackers during the end of his WWF run. Not due to any long-term plan, but I watched the first five WrestleManias in reverse order, renting them from the local video store (I didn't see any PPVs live until 1995).

WrestleMania V I was immediately familiar with because I had followed the build. WrestleMania IV had some people I didn't know, but I loved the event since it was the prequel that introduced the title reign of Randy Savage and the beginning history of the Hogan/Savage stuff. I rented both of those tapes many times and loved them both during my childhood, only ever fast-forwarding through Jake Roberts/Rick Rude at WM IV and Roddy Piper/Brother Love/Morton Downey Jr. at WM V.

It took a while for me to bother with WrestleMania III, and when I did it was pretty foreign to me. Obviously I knew Hogan, Andre, and Randy Savage. I only knew Ricky Steamboat from that one match he lost to Greg Valentine at WM IV. Many other questions arose as I watched this show. "The Rougeau Brothers were good guys?" "The Hart Foundation and Brutus Beefcake were bad guys?" "You mean Haku wasn't always the King?" "Why are they saying that this was Roddy Piper's last match?" "Why is the lighting so bright? This doesn't feel as good as watching wrestling held in a depressing and poorly-lit casino." Okay, taking some artistic liberty with that last part, but I really did prefer the feel and the arena for WM IV and WM V.

Objectively there's absolutely no question that Mania III is miles better than WM IV and WM V, and as an adult I learned to far prefer it, but as a kid it was just not relatable to me, and I didn't like it all that much because of it. When I was very young, Steamboat-Savage didn't stand out to me at all. I remember coming around to loving it during high school, just because I randomly recall my friend saying that we should probably watch that match one more time before returning the tape to the video store. In any case, I did rent this a few times during my childhood for a change of pace from the more current shows of the time, so it was a vague piece of my wrestling knowledge growing up. I think my most prominent memory of it was King Kong Bundy bodyslamming a midget. Also I remembered being bored by Hogan vs. Andre.

Event

We are in the Pontiac Silverdome, and the cameras pan the massive crowd as Vince McMahon stands in the middle of the ring wearing a tuxedo complete with tacky-but-mercifully-subtle floral texturing and a loud red bowtie.



He welcomes us to the event and hands the floor over to Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, who belts out a nice, albeit overly long rendition of "America the Beautiful" from a ringside piano.



Aretha is a lovely singer, but from recollection I don't think she matched Ray Charles's work from the year prior.

Gorilla Monsoon welcomes us to the event, introducing his broadcast partner Jesse Ventura as well as celebrity guests Bob Uecker and Mary Hart.



After the usual pre-event banter, Gorilla sends us to the ring, where the teams in our opening match have both received jobber entrances and await Howard Finkel's introduction.

Can-Am Connection vs. Bob Orton & Don Muraco (w/ Mr. Fuji): RIP Mr. Fuji. It's a shame that he, too, has joined the ranks of the death toll for this event. Muraco and Rick Martel kick things off at the biggest Mania to date, with Martel throwing a shoulderblock that pops the crowd and pisses The Rock off. Martel dodges a corner charge, hits a hip-toss and then…something of a bodyscissor takeover? Gorilla calls it a "nice maneuver," and I have to give him a pass on this one since I don't know WTF to call it either. Tom Zenk takes a blind tag, the Can-Am guys hit a double monkey-flip on Muraco, and then a double hip-toss on Orton. Fuji's guys take a moment to regroup before re-entering.

Orton fares no better upon return, taken down by a Zenk armdrag. Zenk with a corner smash and another armdrag. Orton finally gets free and slaps on a full nelson, but Zenk counters into his own full nelson. Muraco's attempt to run interference backfires, as he hits his own partner…ref slow to count the ensuing pin, and Zenk only gets two. Tag to Martel, who enters with a second-rope elbow. The usual face/heel roles are reversed here, with the faces dominating and Orton properly isolated. Orton finally manages a tag, and after a moment Muraco finally gets an advantage when Orton lands a cheap knee from the apron. Orton tags back in, fist-drop off the second rope, two-count. Big mid-ring collision between the two, and both manage to tag out. Martel comes in fired up, sending Muraco hurtling out over the top rope. All four back in the ring a moment later. Can-Am whips the heels into each other, they hit a double dropkick, and they score the pin when Martel hits a running cross-body on Muraco as Zenk trips Muraco from behind simultaneously.



Jesse is mad that referee Joey Marella let Can-Am double-team for so long, a talking point he would become obsessed with when The Rockers came along during the next couple of years. Nice hot atmosphere for this match - it's kind of great to see a tag team THAT happy to just score a win, even in a non-title match - but the action here was not good.

Result: Can-Am Connection via pinfall
Rating: 3/4*

We see the build for the upcoming match between Hercules and Billy Jerk Haynes. Haynes came out on weekly TV and said he could escape the full nelson, but this led him to get attacked from behind by Herc before getting beaten down by the move. Both guys use the full nelson as a finisher.

Mean Gene is backstage for a word with Bobby Heenan, sequin-laden jacket and all, along with Hercules. Herc actually cuts a promo as if he's the god Hercules, talking about bringing down the pillars of Rome thousands of years ago and causing Atlas and Samson to cower at his feet. Man, he's gone from literally defeating Atlas to fighting Billy Jack Haynes in a random midcard match? By next year he's just going to be eating a meatball sub at WWF New York.



Billy Jack Haynes vs. Hercules (w/ Bobby Heenan): Haynes is an Oregon native and is decked out as always in Oregon Duck green and yellow, so right away I'm firmly in Hercules's corner. The two stare down. They get into a collar-and-elbow tie-up, work their way into the corner, and as referee Dave Hebner tries to enforce a break, Hercules gets a cheap knee in to take advantage. Herc misses on a corner charge, allowing Haynes to land a couple of chops and then a press slam. Haynes goes for the full nelson early, but Hercules frantically scrambles away to the ropes as the crowd gasps. I always love big reactions like that to attempted finishers, where the unspoken subtext is that it's game over if the hold gets slapped on.



Haynes lays in chops and punches, beating Hercules into the corner. Executes a corner whip, but Hercules comes back out of the corner with a great, stiff clothesline to put Haynes down hard. Irish whip and a backdrop. Hercules continues the methodical offense, punishing him by whipping Haynes from one corner to the next; Haynes sells back problems just on impact. Vertical suplex by Hercules, but he pulls Haynes up on two and says that he wants the full nelson. Haynes fights his way back up with a couple of punches, but he goes for a suplex and his back gives out. Hercules quick to capitalize with a backbreaker that directly targets the body part that just collapsed. He hits a press slam, which causes Gorilla to say, "Oh, I thought he was going to go for a press slam of his own." I don't know what Gorilla decided that was.

Hercules slaps on the full nelson, but Monsoon notes that he doesn't have the fingers locked behind, and the move isn't fully on…he doesn't have a great grip, but Haynes starts fading anyway. Hebner drops the arm once, twice, and…no. Haynes with the adrenaline, but as he gets back up Hercules beats him back down. They run the ropes and clothesline each other. Upon regaining their respective feet, Haynes hits an atomic drop and then a running clothesline, but he's clearly favoring the back after each move. Billy Jack drops the leg, drops the fist, and goes for his own full nelson. He gets the fingers fully locked, but they're too close to the ropes…Herc manages a rope break, and as he holds onto it, they both spill out to the outside of the ring. Haynes cluelessly puts the full nelson on out there as well, causing both men to get counted out. Worthless ending, but a fun little power match.



Result: Double Countout
Rating: **1/2

Bobby Heenan kicks Haynes from behind after the bell, baiting Haynes into stalking him around the ring. As Haynes realizes he's been counted out, he gets in Dave Hebner's face, and Hercules capitalizes by blindsiding him with his chain and then continuing to hit him, busting Haynes open.



Hercules with a full nelson on the bloodied Haynes before flinging him aside and leaving with his arm raised. Jesse says "he won the match after the bell." Of note, the combatants tonight are going to and from the ring via those old-school mini-rings that cart them up and down the aisle.



Mean Gene is with King Kong Bundy, who cuts a quick promo alongside his midget partners. He threatens to squash the midgets on Hillbilly Jim's team if they get in his way.



Hillbilly Jim, The Haiti Kid, & Little Beaver vs. King Kong Bundy, Lord Littlebrook, & Little Tokyo: As per usual on the WWE Network, "Don't Go Messin' with a Country Boy" is bastardized, and we just get random banjo picking. The Haiti Kid and Little Tokyo start, with Tokyo countering an atomic drop into a side headlock takeover. Little Beaver and Lord Littlebrook run in illegally, and Beaver and Haiti Kid temporarily combine to slap a star on their opponents. We reset at Little Tokyo vs. Little Beaver. Beaver with a thumb to the eye, and Tokyo tags Littlebrook. Monsoon calls these two "two of the greatest of all time." Tokyo tags out to Bundy. Beaver actually faces him down and dropkicks him before scurrying through Bundy's legs and tagging Hillbilly Jim in.

Bundy throws hammering blows at Jim. Jim ducks a clothesline and throws one of his own, then drops an elbow. Jim's midget partners try to pile on to help with a pin, but that's obviously a no-go. As Bundy slaps on something of a bearhug, Little Beaver again runs in and slaps him hard across the head with his moccasin. Bundy is pissed, but has to take out his frustration on Hillbilly. As he continues the offense, Beaver again runs in illegally, again pesters Bundy with attacks from behind, and Bundy has finally had enough. He bodyslams Little Beaver and then drops an elbow on him, causing a disqualification.



This was rushed and doesn't hold up as entertaining, but I think the sheer novelty of midget wrestling caused me to enjoy watching it as a kid.

Result: Hillbilly Jim, The Haiti Kid, & Little Beaver via DQ
Rating: 1/2*

After the match, Bundy goes as if he's going to drop a splash on Little Beaver, but even Bundy's partners intercede and stand in the way to stop him. A frustrated Bundy leaves alone.

Little Beaver died in 1995 at age 60. Bundy had the following to say in an interview a few years later.

The guy died of emphysema, so unless there was a lung injury here that caused problems, I'm guessing that Bundy doesn't have any culpability.

Gorilla sends it backstage to Mary Hart, there to interview Miss Elizabeth. Before Liz can answer anything, Randy Savage comes bursting onto the scene, blocking Liz from talking and saying that he'll answer everything himself. Mary Hart takes umbrage, but Savage forces Liz to exit stage right without ever really saying anything.



We see the build for King Harley Race vs. Junkyard Dog, and then we get a quick promo from Harley Race backstage.

Loser Kneels Before Winner - King Harley Race (w/ Bobby Heenan & Fabulous Moolah) vs. Junkyard Dog: Seconds into the match, Heenan baits JYD into chasing him around the ring, leading him into a Harley Race ambush. The Dog comes back with a headbutt that puts Race down, but Race knocks him to the outside and actually attempts a headbutt from the apron to the floor that misses. JYD brings the King back in the hard way, flinging him over the ropes back into the ring. He then sends Race tumbling back over the top rope on the adjacent side. Upon Race's return, Junkyard slaps on an abdominal stretch. Race hip-tosses his way loose, but hurts himself while dropping another headbutt. JYD flings Harley into the corner; he bumps out over the top again. After Race returns inside, he's able to capitalize on a Heenan distraction to hit a belly-to-belly suplex, and scores the narrow three-count after JYD nearly kicks out.



While I credit Race for trying to bump his way into something watchable, this was pure trash and is always one of my least favorite parts of WrestleMania III.

Result: King Harley Race via pinfall
Rating: 1/4*

Pursuant to the stipulation of the match, Junkyard Dog is obligated to bow to the king. After hesitation, he does actually bow, but then when Race turns his back, JYD grabs a chair and waffles him with it. He steals and puts on Harley's king robe and leaves to The Great Gate of Kiev as the live crowd pops for him. Gorilla Monsoon calls this a "moral victory." The WWF/WWE model of how to be a babyface is one thing that they've been consistent about for decades.

Vince McMahon conducts a backstage interview with Hulk Hogan. "To beat me, man, you have to beat every Hulkamaniac, every little Hulkster in the world, everyone who plays it straight…all the ones who don't take any shortcuts, brother." Today I learned that steroids are not a shortcut. Anyway, pretty standard Hogan promo. Hulkamania going to run wild on Andre, etc.



We get a very brief promo with the Dream Team (Brutus Beefcake and Greg Valentine), Johnny Valiant, and Dino Bravo. Bravo is completely unintelligible. I guess I don't remember that always being the case, but frankly I could easily just have a bad memory on this point…Bravo was around for years and never once caused me to care even slightly either way about him. In that way, he was kind of like a clearly inferior version of Jeff Jarrett.

The Rougeau Brothers vs. The Dream Team (w/ Johnny Valiant & Dino Bravo): Beefcake and Raymond Rougeau start. Raymond throws an atomic drop, quickly tags to Jacques, and we see a double dropkick. Beefcake scrambles out with a tag to Valentine. He and Jacques trade fists, Raymond makes a blind tag in and hits a cross-body to get a two-count. Tag back to Jacques, who connects on a jumping elbow. A subsequent cross-body off the second rope misses though, and Valentine goes to work with elbow-drops. Jesse Ventura with a nice bit of color, enhancing a subtlety in the match: "I love the way the Hammer drops elbows. I mean, he measures guys…those are teeth-rattlers." Slams Jacques, tag to Brutus, and Brutus enters with a series of stomps. Drops a forearm and records a two-count. Tag to the Hammer, who enters off the ropes and gets a blow in while Beefcake transitions it into a backbreaker.

The announce team is interrupted by Bobby Heenan, who declares that he is 2-for-2 tonight. He waves off Gorilla's protests in pointing out that Hercules didn't win and that neither did Bundy. Heenan, in reference to Bundy: "I wasn't out there for that match! I don't deal with midgets." Raymond has a sleeper on Valentine. Beefcake tries jumping off the ropes from behind to break it up, but Raymond releases the hold and Beefcake inadvertently hits his own partner. The Rougeaus set up the double-team finisher, the Raymond bearhug into the Jacques seated senton, That looks like it's it, but the referee gets distracted, Dino Bravo runs in with a cheap shot off the ropes, and the Hammer ends up on top for the three-count.



Result: Dream Team via pinfall
Rating: **

And now we get the really weird start of a face turn, one that makes no sense and especially makes the booking of that finish make zero sense. After the match, for no discernible reason, there's dissension between the Brutus Beefcake and the rest of his allies. Johnny V, Greg Valentine, and Dino Bravo leave him behind. Jesse Ventura calls Beefcake an idiot and wonders what he's so upset about. This right here was actually the end of the Dream Team. So we got a break-up that makes no sense, and because of that…why the hell did they go over? You're preserving heat for a team that no longer exists? You're having them break up over almost losing, instead of over actually losing? Beefcake is the one who is upset because he accidentally hit his own partner? This is one of the more nonsensical pieces of booking that you'll find in the annals of WrestleMania history.



Here's our build for Roddy Piper vs. Adrian Adonis, featuring a beatdown on The Flower Shop, Adonis's regular interview segment, and then another on Piper's Pit. This is advertised as Piper's retirement match, win or lose. The loser will have his head shaved.

Hair vs. Hair - Adorable Adrian Adonis (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. Rowdy Roddy Piper: Unlike the rest of tonight's competitors, Piper runs to the ring, apparently a result of his mini-ring failing. It was kind of one of those perfect accidents though, as it went with Piper's personality to forgo a ride to the ring in favor of a run. Piper and Adonis get off to a fast start, trading fists. Piper breaks out his belt and whips Adonis with it, then is going to take a run at Jimmy Hart when Adonis attacks him from behind. Adonis now has the belt, and gets his licks in as well. Piper reverses a corner whip, causing Adonis to go tumbling out over the top. Roddy pulls him back in, pulling Jimmy Hart with him, and he knocks their heads together before sending them both out over the top together. The crowd is molten hot for this one.



Upon Adonis's return, Piper throws punches, whips him into the opposite corner, then again gets Jimmy involved by flinging him back into Adonis. Hart is resilient though, managing from the floor to trip Piper and create an opening for Adonis to attack and get the advantage. Adonis works Roddy over with punches, then stomps him down and out of the ring. He rams him into a ringside timekeeper's table, and Piper is on dream street as Jimmy Hart actually lands a cheap shot amidst a referee distraction. Piper returns to the ring and takes more punches, but gets an adrenaline rush and defiantly tells Adonis to bring it on. Adonis lays another trap though, standing back and again distracting referee DaveHebner, allowing Jimmy Hart the opening to spray Piper in the eyes with whatever substance was in the spray bottle. A blinded Piper falls into an Adonis sleeper, this being Adonis's finisher. Adonis pulls him down to the mat; despite Piper's best efforts to fight his way out, he gradually fades. As Hebner goes to raise the arm three times, Adonis actually releases the hold prematurely, thinking he's won. The arm hadn't dropped three times.



As Adonis is celebrating a victory that hasn't actually happened, Brutus Beefcake suddenly runs in to revive Piper. Piper gets up, blindsides Adonis, and throws on his own sleeper as the crowd loses their ****. Adonis's arm drops three times, and Piper stands victorious in his retirement match.



This has always been one of my favorite Piper matches. The atmosphere was tremendous, the story was simple but good…it was one of the really good matches of the early WrestleMania years.

Result: Rowdy Roddy Piper via submission
Rating: ***1/4

After the match, Piper subdues Jimmy Hart while Brutus Beefcake busts out the scissors and cuts Adonis's hair. Beefcake's face turn, as abrupt and nonsensical as it was, is complete, and his "Barber" gimmick is born. For Ed Leslie to have gotten this rub from Piper, and then to go on to get an endless series of rubs from Hulk Hogan, is entirely undeserved, but I would be lying if I said I didn't mark out for Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake as a kid.



Adonis comes to, Piper shows him his reflection in the mirror, and Adonis goes nuts, punching the mirror and then scrambling around and chasing Piper for a bit before giving up and leaving in disgrace. Some idiot fan interrupts Piper's celebration to congratulate him, and security runs the fan off while Piper leaves victorious.

Jesse Ventura gets his own special in-ring introduction before the next match, taking the time to shake hands with Jimmy Hart, Bret Hart, Jim Neidhart, and Danny Davis. Mary Hart and Bob Uecker are going to hang out with Monsoon on the call for a moment.

The Hart Foundation & Dangerous Danny Davis (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. The British Bulldog & Tito Santana: This is apparently Danny Davis's in-ring debut, as Gorilla notes that Davis has been suspended as an official "for life plus ten years." He would of course go on to officiate again. The Bulldogs bring their bulldog Matilda into the ring, and she clears the heels out. We get going with the match now, Tito Santana taking on Bret Hart. They scuffle for a moment, but quickly tag out to Davey Boy Smith and Jim Neidhart respectively. Smith knocks the Hart Foundation's heads together, then pulls him over to the corner, where Dynamite and Tito get their shots in. Neidhart powers Tito back into his corner, allowing Bret Hart and Danny Davis to choke Tito simultaneously. The quick tags continue, as Santana is able to scurry over and tag Davey back in.

Bret Hart misses on a second-rope elbow. Davey tags Dynamite. Dynamite picks Bret up by the hair and drops him, then flings him into the corner for the chest-first bump. The Hitman fights back, throwing a series of punches in the corner. Dynamite tries to execute a suplex, but a cheap shot from Neidhart stops that; Neidhart tags in and applies a camel clutch. Anvil hits a backbreaker, then tags in Bret for a second-rope elbow. Finally a tag to Danny Davis for his first legal appearance. He stomps an already-fallen Dynamite twice, then immediately tags back out to Bret with a big self-satisfied smirk on his face, drawing huge heat from the crowd.



After Bret lays in some shots, it's Anvil time again for more punching and kicking. Matches featuring quick tags can be fun, but these guys are basically just tagging to have a fresh man in throwing punches, stomps, and kicks. Mostly not much entertainment value to be had. The heels keep Dynamite isolated, but a big opening is finally created when the Hart Foundation slingshots Davis into the ring for a splash, causing him to land on Dynamite's raised knees. Hot tag to Tito Santana, who unloads the lefts and rights on Davis. Backdrop. Tito knocks the Harts off the apron, then hits the flying forearm on Davis. Instead of going for a pin, he straddles and punches Davis. Goes for a figure-four, but the Anvil runs in illegally to blindside him and prevent the hold. Davey Boy tags in; Davis does not tag out. Davey with a clothesline. Hits a jumping piledriver, but instead of going for the pin he picks him up and executes a delayed suplex. Big running powerslam, but Neidhart breaks up the pin.

All six men in the ring after the pin break-up. Amidst the chaos, Jimmy Hart feeds the megaphone to Davis, who clocks Davey Boy with it and records the upset pin.



Result: Hart Foundation & Danny Davis via pinfall
Rating: *1/2

Andre the Giant and Bobby Heenan are backstage with Mean Gene Okerlund. Heenan declares that Hulkamania is dead, and that the door is going to be slammed shut tonight.



"The Natural" Butch Reed (w/ Slick) vs. Koko B. Ware: Jesse Ventura compliments Slick's wardrobe. Monsoon says that Slick doesn't have $39 worth of stuff on. Jesse says, "Haha, wait a minute: he is ready for downtown Detroit." No retort by Gorilla for that one. After a couple of non-starts, Reed gets a hold of Koko with a couple of right hands. Koko comes back at him with a dropkick that knocks Reed over the top to the floor. Upon Reed's return, Koko throws an irish whip and a punch to the gut. He just gives up size and power to Reed though, as Reed puts him back down and methodically punches and stomps away to assert his physical dominance. Corner smash by Reed. Koko reverses a corner whip, then throws a hip-toss. Series of straight lefts by Koko, a dropkick, and just a two-count. Small package by Koko gets another two. Reed reverses an Irish whip, Koko comes back at him with a cross-body, Reed rolls through and ends up on top, then scores the three-count.



Result: Butch Reed via pinfall
Rating: 1/4*

Koko B. Ware, obviously having read the babyface handbook before coming out, adds to the running tally of babyface sore losers, as he blindsides Reed after the bell. Slick is in to defend his man, attacking Ware with a cane, but here comes Tito Santana. He goes after Slick, ripping away at his shirt. Slick gets away, and then Santana and Ware hit a double dropkick on Reed to knock him from the ring.

We see the build to Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat, wherein Savage hit Steamboat in the throat with a ring bell and caused him career-threatening injury. Steamboat managed to come back, and we have an Intercontinental Title match. We get a backstage promo from Savage…pretty standard Macho Man promo.

In getting ready to start this match, I considered just taking the writeup from my Meltzer thread, having done it in there, but I discovered that I just copy/pasted that writeup from my Savage tribute thread, where I did a less complete writeup without my own gifs. That settles it; I'll do the full job this time.

Intercontinental Title - Randy Savage (c) (w/ Miss Elizabeth) vs. Ricky Steamboat (w/ George "The Animal" Steele): Champ out first. Savage gets a noticeable pop for his entrance, one that Gorilla acknowledges with a note of surprise in his voice. He would become a big-time babyface before very long.



Steamboat's "Sirius" entrance is unfortunately neutered in favor of generic theme music; Sirius was a really tremendous theme for him.

Collar-and-elbow tie-up to start. One stalemate, and the second tie-up leads to Steamboat hip-tossing Savage to the mat out of a waistlock. Savage bails out of the ring to pull Liz away from the encroaching Animal Steele. Upon re-entry, he misses on a clothesline, falls victim to a couple of deep armdrags, and the Dragon holds him up in a choke and flings him down. Savage leads him on a cat-and-mouse chase around the ring, and gets the advantage with an ambush. Chokes Steamboat across the top rope, then jerks the rope back to put him down. One-count. Measured standing elbow by the Macho Man. He misses on a corner charge, allowing Steamboat to cinch in a wristlock and actually pull him up off the mat by the wrist to slam him down. He hangs Savage's arm across the top rope, then continues the limb work, executing an arm-wringer and then hammering down a couple of times. Savage fights back with a handful of hair, sending Ricky into the ropes and then elbowing him on the way back. He sends the challenger sprawling out over the top to the floor.

Savage blocks re-entry once, gets backed down by referee Dave Hebner, but is right back on the defensive on Steamboat's second re-entry attempt, leaning Steamer back across the ropes and directing an elbow at the recently-injured throat. He stomps away, sending the Dragon from the apron back to the floor. He finally allows him a rough re-entry with a snapmare over the top rope to the inside. Lands an elbow and gets a two-count. Jumping knee-drop gets another two. Savage's firm grip of control finally gets loosened when Steamboat blocks a corner smash and hits one of his own. Dragon reaches down and finds the energy to punch and chop away, actually causing Savage to get tied up in the ropes. He takes advantage and hits Savage a couple of times over the protest of Jesse Ventura, but Savage ends up kicking upward and then getting loose from the ropes. Cross-body by Steamboat gets two. Deep armdrag, shoulderblock with an immediate pin gets two, another shoulderblock and insta-pin, still only two. Gorilla marvels, "Look at the speed of these two!" And therein really lies a big part of the magic of this match; the individual spots taken on their own are nothing mind-blowing, but these two operated at a ridiculous pace that just blows everything else on the show out of the water.



Savage finally slows the Dragon down, sidestepping a third consecutive shoulderblock attempt and then driving a hard jumping knee into the back. After he takes a moment to recover, he sends Steamboat out over the top. Steamboat skins the cat, but upon his attempted re-entry, Savage is right on the spot to finish the job with a follow-up clothesline. I wonder why that particular spot seems to never happen, where the person slowly flipping back in gets savaged for his efforts.



The Macho Man stalks the challenger outside the ring, driving another running knee into the back and causing Steamboat to go spilling over the guardrail. As Savage goes back inside, Hebner reprimands him, and Jesse loses it over the fact that the referee didn't take that opportunity to count Steamboat out. Not only that, but Steele goes over to help Steamboat up and into the ring, something that Gorilla was railing against earlier when heel managers were doing the same. Jesse angrily calls out the hypocrisy as only Jesse could. "I've already counted to 20!" As Steele rolls Steamboat back in, Savage promptly dumps Steamboat out on the opposite side of the ring. He goes to the top rope and connects on the big axhandle from there. When Steamboat returns inside, Savage is on the spot with another top-rope axhandle. Running elbow downs the Dragon for a two-count. He hangs Steamboat across the top rope, jumping out of the ring in the process, but scurries quickly back in for a pin attempt, having to settle for another two.

Weird commentary moment here from Gorilla, who has otherwise been stellar in this match. Referring to the hanging across the top rope, he says, "That could have been a disqualification too Jess, that kind of a clothesline." Jesse: "For what?!" Gorilla: "…Deliberate." Jesse: "'Deliberate'? Of course it's deliberate! What, do you think he fell into it by accident?" Gorilla: "No, but it's a deliberate attempt to put a guy out of commission, and that could be…construed as a disqualification." Good one, Monsoon. Savage with a vertical suplex. Two. Steamboat tries to fight back with chops, but gets stopped when Macho goes to the eyes. Gutwrench suplex by Savage gets another two as Jesse gripes about Hebner being out of position. Steamboat throws a jab from his knees and continues flailing with punches. He flips out of an atomic drop attempt and tries to backdrop Savage, but gets kicked in the face. After landing that boot, Savage tries to follow up, but takes a high backdrop out of the ring.



Now it's Jesse lobbying for a disqualification for sending Savage out over the top, apparently thinking that they're playing under NWA rules. This basically allows Gorilla a recovery from the earlier idiocy, as he says they should call it even after the earlier spot. Steamboat out to the floor. He rams Savage face-first into the apron, rolls him inside, then scales the ropes and connects on a karate chop off the top. The crowd strangely falls hard for a false finish on that move when Savage's foot gets onto the bottom rope before three. Steamboat with an Irish whip and a chop. Two again. From a standing position, he drops a couple of chops to the face, then knocks Savage from the ring. Savage attempts to get a breather, Steamboat follows him around the ring as Savage re-enters, and Steamboat goes back in with a sunset flip. Two. Savage misses a clothesline, Steamboat with a schoolboy, two-count. Rolling thunder gets another two as Jesse declares this to be one of the greatest matches he's ever seen. Steamboat slams the champion, then catapults him into the corner, causing Savage to hit the post. Roll-up by Steamboat for another two. Subsequent roll-up gets countered by Savage, who hooks the tights and gets a believable near-fall.

Steamboat lays in some right hands, but Savage pulls Steamboat by the tights into the corner. Gorilla calls it a "leverage move." Both men go for a corner whip, reversal, re-reversal, re-re-reversal, and finally Hebner gets caught in the way and gets bumped. Mid-ring collision where both clothesline each other, Savage seeming to get the better of it. Macho Man hits the flying elbow off the top. He gets the visual pin, but Hebner is out of commission. Savage leaves the ring and commandeers the timekeeper's bell. He threatens to do again what he did to injure Steamboat months ago. Steele grabs it away once, then when Savage gets it back, Steele shoves Savage off the top rope into the ring. Gorilla says that he thinks that the bell hit Savage in the head upon impact, which totally didn't happen, but I'm guessing from the comment, and from the context of the spot, that it was supposed to. Savage slowly gets up, goes for a bodyslam, Steamboat counters into a pin and scores the win to ship the Intercontinental Title. The crowd loses their **** as Gorilla yells, "History is made!" Ventura is pissed and rages about this being a miscarriage of justice.



This is, and will always be, the godfather of what workrate would go on to become in the WWF. It absolutely dwarfed the efforts displayed in every other match the company was doing. It was also wonderful storytelling, the crowd atmosphere was elite, the commentary was fantastic despite my little gripes about it…it would ultimately be surpassed by some other five-star matches in the future, but it set an incredible standard. And frankly, for my money it may have been the only five-star match in the company until Bret Hart and Owen Hart, then Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon later in the night, did the deed twice in one night seven years later at WrestleMania.




Result: "…and NEW Intercontinental Champion," Ricky Steamboat via pinfall
Rating: *****

Here's a backstage interview with Jake Roberts, who is flanked tonight by Alice Cooper. Cooper was really a pitch-perfect celebrity pairing for Jake. They show the footage of Jake getting legitimately ****ed up by Honky Tonk Man's guitar in The Snake Pit. Roberts cuts a very nice promo here, talking about how Honky really messed up by not finishing the job, since Jake is still walking. We get a pre-taped interview with Honky and Jimmy Hart as well.

Jake "The Snake" Roberts (w/ Alice Cooper) vs. Honky Tonk Man (w/ Jimmy Hart): Strangely, Honky's music is neutered here as well. It's plastered all over his other appearances on the Network, so I don't know what the deal is. Maybe he wasn't using "Cool, Cocky, Bad" yet? That's probably it. Roberts blindsides him upon his ring entrance, beating away on him while Honky is still in the full jumpsuit. Jake finally knees him out of the ring. Honky tries to shed his outfit, but only gets halfway done when Jake catches up with him and keeps the attack going. He rips Honky's outer pants away, then relentlessly continues the attack, slamming Honky on the floor before returning him inside. He whips him into the corner, but Honky raises a knee to hit Jake on the ensuing corner charge. Jake still manages to keep attacking, hitting a short clothesline. He goes for the DDT, but Honky scurries away and gets all the way out of the ring.

Out on the floor, Honky reverses a whip, and Jake hits the post. As Honky returns inside, Alice Cooper tries to help Jake back in, drawing the same protest back out from Jesse. Gorilla concedes the point this time. Honky blocks the Snake's re-entry attempt. He finally pulls him back inside, then slams him and hits a fist-drop off the second rope. He signals for Shake, Rattle, & Roll, his swinging neckbreaker finisher, but he doesn't go for it. He throws punches instead as the commentators call him out for not capitalizing. Back elbow and an elbow-drop. He goes for the Shake, Rattle, & Roll, but Jake counters into a backdrop. Honky recovers faster than Jake, and mounts him in the corner, but Jake lands an atomic drop. Jake lands some punches and kicks, Irish whip into a backdrop, and he punches Honky out halfway through the ropes. More punches by Jake. He goes for the DDT, but Jimmy Hart grabs his foot, and Honky is quick to capitalize with a schoolboy, combined with a grab of the ropes for leverage, and he scores the cheap win.



This one started fast, but became dull quickly. Honky was really good at drawing heat, but he was not an enjoyable wrestler to watch from bell to bell. Good thing he was just about to turn around and take the Intercontinental Title from Ricky Steamboat.

Result: Honky Tonk Man via pinfall
Rating: **

Jake goes for a vicious guitar shot on Honky outside the ring after the match (this is compulsory because he's a babyface who just lost), but Honky ducks and Jake breaks the guitar over the ringpost with a ton of velocity. Honky escapes up the aisle. The Rougeaus are the only babyfaces tonight to get pinned and not pull some **** over it after the match. Alice Cooper and Jimmy Hart set to square off in the middle of the ring, but Jake does not approve of a fair fight, so he grabs Jimmy from behind and holds him as Alice Cooper brings Damian out of the bag in the corner and keeps threatening Jimmy with it.



Jake eventually releases the hold, takes the snake, and cuts the foreplay off by just throwing the snake on poor Jimmy. Honky returns to the ring to pull his manager to safety, and they both take off up the aisle together.

Howard Finkel introduces Mean Gene Okerlund to the live crowd. Gene announces that they've set a world indoor attendance record at this event. "Give yourselves a round of applause." That line will never not annoy me. I don't really get why Fink didn't just make that announcement himself.

Before the next match, Nikolai Volkoff attempts to sing the Russian National Anthem, but is rudely interrupted by Hacksaw Jim Duggan, who chases Volkoff, the Iron Sheik, and Slick out of the ring with a 2x4. "Volkoff, understand one thing: you're not singing that Russian National Anthem, because this is the land of the free…" That's a strange "because," Jim. With no real justification, he then just hangs around at ringside for the next match.



Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff (w/ Slick) vs. The Killer Bees: This match starts with a four-way free-for-all. Things finally settle down a bit, with the Bees isolating Sheik with frequent tags and double-teams. Jumping Jim Brunzell hits the big signature dropkick, causing Volkoff to have to come in for the save on the ensuing pin attempt. Match devolves back into chaos for a moment, but now it's the heels' turn to start a heat segment, with Brunzell in a compromised position. Sheik hits a standing axhandle and records a two-count. Volkoff tags in and slaps on a bearhug. After Brunzell breaks the hold, Sheik tags in and hits a gutwrench suplex for another two. Brunzell gets free with a high knee, but the referee can't see the subsequent hot tag, as he's distracted by Volkoff. Sheik slaps the camel clutch on Brunzell. Nowhere for Brunzell to go, and Jim Duggan just charges into the ring and wallops Sheik with his 2x4 to trigger the obvious disqualification.



Result: Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff via DQ
Rating: 1/4*

Duggan gets on the mic and yells, "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. If you two don't want to play by the rules, neither do we." I see that Jim has graduated from our constitutional freedoms to the Old Testament since the beginning of the match.

Here's another quick backstage interview with Andre the Giant and Bobby Heenan. Heenan is jacked and ready to go.

Monsoon sends this to a video package of the build to Andre vs. Hulk Hogan, calling it "literally a brother vs. brother match." No, Gorilla. We see footage of Andre pouring champagne on Hogan and congratulating him when he first won the WWF Title. We see footage from a later Saturday Night's Main Event, when Hogan saved Andre from a beatdown by King Kong Bundy and Big John Studd. We see a later episode of Piper's Pit, where Hogan is lauding Andre for being the real champion of superstars, at which point Andre sort of leaves abruptly. Weeks later, Andre showed back up on the Piper's Pit, shockingly flanked by Bobby Heenan, to challenge Hogan to a title match. He rips Hogan's shirt off his chest and walks off. Hogan is despondent, but resolutely accepts the challenge. That brings us to today.



We get another backstage interview with Hulk Hogan. He's worried for the 90,000 Hulkamaniacs. He clarifies no, not the ones in attendance; the ones outside the Silverdome. Then he says he's not worried about the TV or closed-circuit audience. So uhh, what the hell? He thinks there are 90,000 people just chilling directly outside the stadium? And what he's worried about is the tremors of the earth when he slams Andre the Giant. I don't get why that's a greater threat to people outside than inside the dome.



Before our main event, we see Bob Uecker introduced to the live audience. He's our guest ring announcer. He introduces Mary Hart as the guest timekeeper before launching into the match introductions.

WWF Title - Hulk Hogan (c) vs. Andre the Giant (w/ Bobby Heenan): As Andre enters, Gorilla says that Andre has been "literally brainwashed" by Bobby Heenan. Gorilla really has problems with the word "literally." Jesse Ventura gives the tale of the tape, giving the relevant measurements of each of the combatants. I always loved that touch; it added something to the big feel of this, the biggest match in company history up to this point. That's really a distinction that likely still holds up today.

As the bell rings, Andre and Hogan stare down in the middle of the ring. Hogan is verbally unloading on the Giant, but we don't know what he's saying.



Andre is finally going to break the staredown with a punch, but Hulk blocks and throws a couple of his own before nearly falling victim to an almost-immediate loss. Too early, Hogan goes for the bodyslam, fails miserably, and Andre falls on top. 1, 2, and very nearly three, as Hogan barely slips his shoulder out to avoid losing in a quick squash.



After bickering a bit with referee Joey Marella, Andre goes to work, hammering blows on Hogan's now-injured lower back as the announcers talk about what grave danger Hulk is already in. Andre throws a couple of bodyslams, further causing a jolting impact to Hogan's back. The big man steps on, and walks over, the champion. He executes corner whips from one end of the ring to the other, then throws multiple shoulderblocks in the corner. Gorilla: "Champ's gotta get out of that corner. He's getting crushed in there." Hogan does dodge a headbutt attempt by Andre, slipping out of the corner and starting to launch the comeback. He hits a couple of rights, a couple of running forearms, and he fights the woozy Giant into the corner for some chops and a 10-count of corner smashes. The comeback is put down with authority though, as Hogan's corner charge runs straight into the huge boot of Andre. Hard knife-edge by Andre, who then slaps on a bearhug.



He puts as much torque as he can on it as Heenan screams, "Ring the bell! Ring the bell!" Sorry Bobby, but you have to say the magic word if you're going to get a timekeeper to ring the bell before a submission actually happens. Hogan struggles at length in this hold. As he begins to fade, he draws on energy from the cheering crowd and punches his way loose. Running shoulderblocks stagger the Giant, but Andre still never loses his feet. On the third go, Andre puts him down hard with a knife-edge chop. Andre with an Irish whip and a big boot that sends the Hulkster out through the middle ropes.

The brawl goes outside, and we hear Joey Marella counting loudly, as they seem to tease at a double countout. Say what you will about Vince McMahon, but he isn't THAT insane. Andre misses a headbutt attempt and runs his head into the ringpost. Hogan goes and picks up the mat in one area, exposing the concrete floor. He makes as if he's going to try a piledriver, but Andre backdrops his way out of it with relative ease. The wrestlers go back inside, as Jesse expresses his relief that there won't be a countout.

Hogan throws a running clothesline that finally knocks the big man off his feet for the first time in the match. Hogan, sensing that the dam just broke, begins to hulk up. He motions as if he's summoning all the strength that he can possibly muster. He waits as Andre staggers to his feet, and…



…he delivers the biggest bodyslam in the history of the business, drops the big leg, and records the pinfall. Incidentally, big thumbs down in the direction of the producer who cut away from the hard camera angle upon the impact of that bodyslam. I feel robbed to never be able to see the full crowd reaction to that. In any case, Hogan stands triumphant in celebration of the huge win, even more a made man today than he was the day that he first won the belt.




It's a weird match to try to rate. There can be no reasonable dispute of the fact that it fully accomplished what it set out to accomplish. It thrilled the world; it worked. Really, the story of the match was coherent as well, so it was psychologically sound. But Andre's body was already well into breakdown, and he just couldn't do much of anything in the ring here, so the action leaves quite a bit to be desired. Still, I think it's a somewhat enjoyable match for what it is, and of course the bodyslam is one of those iconic moments that you couldn't tell the story of the history of wrestling without. There's basically no star rating I would feel great about; all I really know is that Meltzer is wrong to give it a bunch of negative stars; by no measure was it that bad even if you remove all consideration of atmosphere, history, etc.

Result: Hulk Hogan via pinfall
Rating: **

Hogan gives the fans the big posedown in the ring, and the fans love every second of it. Gorilla declares that "this has been a happening." Jesse, through clenched teeth, declares that he has no choice but to tell it like it is and give credit to Hogan for doing the seemingly impossible. Gorilla and Jesse take us through the replays, they recap the show - Jesse reiterates that Macho Man got robbed earlier - and they send it to a recap of the event (in stills) as the sounds of Aretha Franklin singing "America the Beautiful" provide the backdrop.

Overall Thoughts: The show provided two of the most legendary matches in the history of the company, one for its workrate and another for its larger-than-life scope. Plus we saw the last-ever match of Roddy Piper! … The high points delivered, the garbage was mercifully short, and a lot of the other filler was at least acceptable. This is a great show.

Alright, let's spin the wheel so that I know what I'm doing next for this thread.

Here's the current nomination list...people can feel free to toss out new choices at any time.

Great American Bash '89
Beach Blast '92
Backlash 2004
King of the Ring '94
SummerSlam '02
ECW Heat Wave '98
ECW One Night Stand
NXT R-Evolution

I will now head over to random.org.

We jump straight from the oldest show on the original list to the most modern, as we fast-forward over 27 years. NXT R-Evolution gets the next writeup ITT.

writeup as always

HISTORY IS MADE is barely outclassed by "and .... NEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW" for me as the internal dialog when daydream about wrestling, but man that is so good.

Agree entirely about negative stars being silly. They set out to tell a story, told it well, and the crowd ate it up.

Great writeup.

It's funny how so many of the things we complain about today (nonsensical booking, faces doing heelish things, terrible commentary, champ out first) are well represented here.

Yeah great write up as always but I had no idea Melzter gave it negative stars and agree he's just being dumb. How can you not rate the storytelling and moment of the bodyslam at least 1 star.

Right. I don't do negative stars myself, but even if a person does, to me there has to be something worse about the match than just some boring action. I could only arrive at negative stars if it was terrible action AND terrible booking AND terrible crowd atmosphere or some combination like that. When the action is the only indictable thing about a match, I can't see it, particularly when the match is only 12 minutes long and thus isn't some horrible slog to get through even if not entertaining. But it's clear from following Meltzer's ratings over time that he's almost entirely a workrate guy.

Anyway, having poked around, here's a snippet from Scott Keith that might revise things a bit:

The notion of ever being able to revise your rating by five freaking stars on rewatch is pretty goofy. Shades of Christopher Walken on SNL being asked how many people live in his apartment. "I'd say maybe 80. ... Seems high, doesn't it? Not 80; how about four. I don't know...I'm so bad at guesstimating." but if this is accurate by Keith and the one star is officially Meltzer's rating, I probably wouldn't really bat an eye or make mention of it.

Epic show, epic writeup.

Honky was in fact not using Cool Cocky Bad yet, the Piledriver album wasn't released until later in 1987.

I'll always think negative stars are kind of pointless since they ruin your whole system. If you set your benchmark at 0 - 5 stars and start introducing negative stars then why not just set your benchmark at 0 - 10? Does that mean all the 0 star matches are now average? Just rate it 0 and call it a dud. I honestly don't take much notice of Meltzer ratings though so if it was a one time thing then I obviously get his point.

I think 1 or 2 is about right for Hogan/Andre but it's definitely not a 0 star match.

Negative stars are matches that are offensive to watch. Pretty sure every Kelly Kelly match was -5* and well deserved.

I never understood the Andre/Hogan -4* rating. I always enjoyed watching it.

NXT TAKEOVER: R-EVOLUTION



December 11, 2014

Winter Park, FL

Personal History/Recollection of Event

I…remember the beginning and end of the show. And I remember really, really liking the show. I think this is actually the show that, at least for a time, got me to start watching NXT weekly. That didn't keep up, but I at least credit this show for getting me motivated enough to do it for a while. Anyway, as I go through this, I'm not fully sure how much I'll remember. I didn't watch it live, and when it comes to modern content, there's just so damn many shows that happen that they don't occupy a bunch of my memory. This one at least stuck in my head enough for me to know that it was a really good show, and a worthy nomination for this thread. This will be my second viewing ever of the event; I don't think I even went back and revisited any individual parts or anything.

Since I wasn't a regular viewer of the TV show, and since I have never been a fan who followed the indies, I think I was mostly just getting first exposure to these wrestlers. The viewing will feel a bit different now that I'll be far more familiar with a lot of them due to so many being called up by now.

Event

We start on a video package that starts by hyping the debut of Kevin Owens. It segues into various wrestlers calling this event "their evolution," all of them now stars on the main roster: Neville, Sami Zayn, Charlotte, Sasha Banks, Finn Balor, and Baron Corbin.

Kevin Owens's entrance theme hits, and the silence is deafening until the Titantron clues the fans in to who is coming out. At that point we hear a big pop, and a chant of "Fight Owens Fight" quickly breaks out. Owens sells this as his big moment, as he emerges from the back and then takes the whole scene in, acting emotional about his arrival on his biggest stage yet.

Rich Brennan, Corey Graves, and Alex Riley are our announce team, and they welcome us to the show.

Kevin Owens vs. CJ Parker: As soon as the bell rings, Owens ambushes Parker, splashing him in the corner and then hitting his signature cannonball senton. Parker goes outside, and Owens hits an over-the-top somersault plancha to the floor. Seemed like he hit the metal ramp really squarely, but he does connect with Parker as well.



Parker rolls back into the ring, but is immediately backing down and begging off. Owens remains aggressive, beating on him in the corner until the referee pulls him off. Parker takes advantage of the distraction by coming bursting out with a spinning heel kick that catches Owens flush across the face. He throws some kicks and stomps, but misses on a back splash. As Owens tries to back him down, Parker connects on a stiff palm strike and then gets a near-fall. Parker takes a run at Owens in the corner, connecting on a jumping double knee, but KO comes launching out with a hard clothesline that turns Parker inside out. Owens is busted open now, clearly from that vicious palm strike. He hits sort of a pumphandle backbreaker, then a moment later hits the pop-up powerbomb to score the pinfall.



Result: Kevin Owens via pinfall
Rating: ***

After the match, Rich Brennan asks Corey Graves about his injury situation. Graves said that he's had some bad luck with concussions and had to hang the boots up, but WWE has offered him the chance to continue in the business as a broadcaster. Big tip of the cap to WWE for recognizing a good potential broadcasting talent when they see one, especially as Graves certainly does not fit the mold of what they've historically liked their announcers to look like.



Neville is shown backstage, preparing for his main event against Sami Zayn later. Sami is putting his career on the line in the NXT Title match later. Neville is shown in a pre-taped interview saying that he wishes Sami hadn't done that, and that he tried to talk him out of it, but that he's not going to feel responsible for ending his career later when he beats him.

Here's a hype video that features the Lucha Dragons. I gather that there was no particular build for this upcoming title defense.

NXT Tag Team Titles - The Lucha Dragons (c) vs. The Vaudevillains: Sin Cara and Simon Gotch kick things off. Gotch reverses a whip, but Sin Cara springboards off the ropes for a cross-body, then runs and throws kind of a weak asai moonsault from the opposite ropes. Tag to Kalisto; Sin Cara throws him on top of Gotch in a double-team before exiting. Two-count recorded by Kalisto. Tag back to Sin Cara, who enters and promptly throws a standing dropkick. Kind of a powerbomb/driver move by Sin Cara gets a one-count. When Sin Cara tries for a backslide, Gotch makes a blind tag to Aidan English. English gets bumped off the apron right after the tag, but then yanks Sin Cara out to the floor, causing the back of his head to impact the outside area where the ramp meets the mats.

English rolls Sin Cara in and records a one-count. I like the use of one-counts here…not every damn cover should be a two-count. Stomp, stomp, knee-drop. English slaps on kind of a nerve hold, then stands up and tags Gotch. The Vaudevillains throw simultaneous forearms, Gotch makes a cover, again just one before the kickout. English back in, simultaneous chops by the challengers, again just a one-count, but the Vaudevillains have established control. English pulls Sin Cara out of the ring, then catches Kalisto off-guard with a trip that causes him to slip and hit hard on the apron. As Kalisto comes raging into the ring, he gets held back by the official, and the heat segment on Sin Cara continues.

Gotch blocks a Sin Cara hot tag with a back suplex. English returns inside and gets back to stomping. Cover, one-count. While I appreciate that these covers aren't getting the respect of a two-count, I can't say that I understand why the Vaudevillains keep attempting them after simple strikes that are significantly less than even basic transition moves. English sets Sin Cara up on the top rope, but Sin Cara fights off both Vaudevillains from there, leaps over English's head into a forward roll, and Kalisto finally gets the hot tag. He springboards inside with a cross-body, kicks Gotch off the apron, corkscrew cross-body off the ropes. Sin Cara and Gotch both in now, and we see four-way action. Gotch gets knocked to the outside, and the Lucha Dragons double-backdrop English out onto him. Double over-the-top plancha by the Dragons…English throws Gotch clear and takes the brunt of both dives himself.



Despite the Dragons delivering the move, Gotch is the only one to escape the wreckage of the spot, and he tries to rush in and take advantage. He sends Kalisto inside, but as he goes for a waistlock, Kalisto reaches back around Gotch's neck, flips behind, delivers the Salida Del Sol, and scores the pinfall.



This was a pretty dull affair, with only brief spikes of interesting action. Sin Cara more or less sucks, so watching him take really basic offense from the Vaudevillains is not the recipe for compelling television.

Result: Lucha Dragons via pinfall
Rating: **1/4

Sasha Banks is shown getting ready for her title match later, flanked by her then-sidekick Becky Lynch.

Baron Corbin vs. Tye Dillinger: During his entrance, the announcers note that Baron Corbin has been beating everyone in record time, with his longest match to date being 22 seconds. As soon as the bell rings, the Full Sail fans start counting up from one. They're counting too fast if those are meant to be seconds, but whatever. Corbin hits a snake eyes on Dillinger, a big boot, and then, as NXT wrestler Bull Dempsey is shown watching on, Corbin hits the End of Days to win the match.



Result: Baron Corbin via pinfall
Rating: N/A, too short

Corbin and Dempsey have a staredown at ringside, but Corbin walks away without further incident.

Sami Zayn is shown backstage, a bit stressed about the match to come. Enzo and Big Cass are offering him well-wishes, Zayn is sharing a knowing glance with his friend Kevin Owens on a nearby bench, when they go to a pre-taped interview with Sami…he says in that interview, "everyone reaches a point where it's just sink or swim." He says he's taken away his safety net.



Hype video for the coming tag match. The Ascension beat Itami down 2-on-1 on multiple occasions, and finally Itami recruited Finn Balor to even the score. This video vaguely reminds me of the fact that The Ascension was actually treated seriously down in the minor leagues, and only became a complete joke after they got called up.

The Ascension vs. Finn Balor & Hideo Itami: After the extensive Balor entrance, The Ascension charge into the ring, and we start on four-way brawling. Itami and Balor beat down the Ascension in opposite corners, then break back and dropkick the other guy's man in the opposite corner. I guess that was just pre-match stuff, because the bell doesn't ring until Viktor re-enters and Itami dropkicks him. Quick one-count, and a tag to Balor, who launches in over the top and stomps Viktor. Corner whip and a hard chop to follow. Two-count. After the next corner whip, he runs into Viktor's knee. Tag to Konnor, who comes in and throws a right, but quickly eats a big standing dropkick by Balor.

Tag to Itami. Couple of chops and a series of kicks, but he gets hit by a high-impact flapjack on the way back.



Itami kicks out on two, but is now compromised, and Viktor enters to try to capitalize. After a European uppercut, he records a two-count, then wrenches at Itami's neck. Tag back to Konnor, double shoulderblock by the Ascension. Two again. Itami escapes out of a slam attempt and throws a spinning kick, but Viktor cuts off the hot tag attempt and stomps repeatedly at his diminutive opponent. Two-count. We're sort of falling victim to another formulaic and dull heat segment here, as that earlier flapjack is the only good-looking spot the Ascension has done so far, and they're not working any particular body part in order to tell a coherent story. Lots of "super-basic move --> pointless cover" sequences. Chinlock by Viktor. Itami kicks his way loose, but doesn't create enough separation for a tag attempt. Konnor tags in as Viktor holds Hideo in the corner, and Konnor throws a hard running clothesline. Tag again.

This is pretty heatless as well, as the Full Sail crowd occasionally pipes up with chants, but they're only getting about 25% participation, and the rest of the crowd is being utterly silent. Viktor telegraphs a missed corner lunge a mile away, running shoulder-first into the post. Konnor runs around and heads off the tag by knocking Balor off the apron. Viktor drags Itami back to the opposite corner, and Itami's attempts to tag out are set back to square one. Heat segments really should sometimes result in heel tag teams just isolating someone to death via five minutes of double-teaming, but I don't know that I've ever really seen that in WWE. Sort of a version of that in Bret/Owen vs. Quebecers at Royal Rumble '94, but not exactly. Anyway, Itami kicks Konnor in the face to counter a backdrop attempt, and it finally allows him to hot-tag Balor.

Balor hammers both Konnor and Viktor, knocking Konnor to the floor, then hitting an enziguri that also knocks Viktor to the outside. Big over-the-top dive by Balor hits both of The Ascension. Crowd responds by engaging in a douchey "NXT" chant. Itami rolls Viktor back inside, goes for a double stomp off the top, but misses. Brainbuster suplex connects, but Konnor saves the pin. Itami clears Konnor back out. Viktor ducks a kick from Balor and hits an STO, but this time Itami makes the save. Itami sets up for the GTS, but Konnor interrupts and sends Itami out through the ropes. Itami drags Konnor out as the Ascension sets up a double-team, and Balor hits Viktor with a Pele kick. The faces finally ship it with a (somewhat) simultaneous double stomp off the top.



This match pretty much sucked.

Result: Hideo Itami & Finn Balor via pinfall
Rating: **

Renee Young is backstage for an interview with Roman Reigns. She congratulates him on the ridiculous Superstar of the Year award that he won at the recent Slammies. Reigns cuts a quick but bad promo about how he's going to become the first NXT alumni (sic) to win the WWE World Title. Daniel Bryan was an NXT alumnus, but whatever.

After we see Ric Flair give a good luck embrace to Charlotte backstage, we see a Charlotte-Sasha hype video. Basic friends-turned-enemies build. It's clear that Sasha is the heel here, but Charlotte hardly comes off as a babyface in the hype video. Apropos of nothing, I think that Becky Lynch was hotter when she had darker hair.

NXT Title - Charlotte (c) vs. Sasha Banks: Charles Robinson is actually officiating here. Didn't know he did any NXT work. Charlotte actually draws more boos than cheers in the pre-match introductions, so if she's a babyface here then she wasn't succeeding at it. Sasha taunts Charlotte into the ropes and gets in a cheap shot as the referee is backing Charlotte down. Thesz press and a series of punches by Charlotte, who picks her opponent up and smashes her into the nearby corner a couple of times. She blocks Sasha's chop attempt and then throws a hard chop back, beating her from one corner to the adjacent one. Sasha tries to get a breather, but Charlotte cuts her off, which actually baits Charlotte into getting blindsided by Sasha outside. Sasha rams her into the steel steps, then rolls her back in and records a two-count.

Fans are pretty dead here, basically just murmuring in an unimpressed way. Clearly these women weren't a tenth as over as they would become, and so far it doesn't look like they were as good before either. Sasha sets Charlotte up on the second rope and drops the knees on her stomach there. Another two-count. She snapmares Charlotte back down to a seated position, then mockingly does the Flair strut toward her before gearing up to insultingly slap her across the face, leading Charlotte to roll her up and record something resembling a two-count.



Sasha hits the backstabber and transitions it into a surfboard. Charlotte is able to fight her way free, tries to back Sasha into the corner, but Sasha rips her down by her hair with authority. Two-count. The challenger locks Sasha into a headscissor, trying to work her over into a submission that won't happen. Charlotte finds a way to power her way up to her feet with Sasha on her shoulders, then completes the electric chair drop. Both women stay down until an 8-count, but finally find their feet. Charlotte blocks a right and lands a couple of clotheslines and a chop. Nice sequence here as Charlotte seems to go for a suplex, but hangs on as Sasha lands behind and then transitions it into a neckbreaker. Two-count.



Charlotte charges Sasha at the ropes, but Sasha sidesteps and sends her through to the floor. Running cross-body dive to the floor by Sasha connects, though she doesn't get all of it. Stupid "NXT" chant crops up for a second. Sashas returns the champion inside and gets another two-count. The two trade right hands back and forth, then Sasha goes lower with a couple of knees. As she tries to go off the ropes, Charlotte catches her hard with a spear. She waits too long to follow up though, and ultimately rams herself face-first into the boot of the lying-down Sasha. Sasha goes for another backstabber, but Charlotte blocks. Charlotte goes to lock in the figure-four, but Sasha counters into a small package for two. Sort of a neckbreaker by Sasha for another two. She tries for two more covers in a row without an additional move, then screams in frustration that she can't keep the champion down. The fans are a lot more into this thing now than they were earlier.

Gourdbuster by Charlotte. To the top rope, she goes for the moonsault, Sasha rolls away, Charlotte lands on her feet and hits a front-flip backsplash. Sasha's foot on the ropes to break the pin at two. Charlotte sets up as if for a splash mountain, but Sasha escapes behind and rams Charlotte into the corner. Sets Charlotte up on the top rope for a potential superplex, but Charlotte counters into a front suplex from there. She maintains her perch on the top rope, executes the Natural Selection from there, and that's our pinfall.



Pretty good match, but they would surpass it a bunch of times in the future.

Result: Charlotte via pinfall
Rating: ***

Hype video for the Neville/Zayn main event. As alluded to earlier, the story is that Zayn keeps coming close but being unable to win the big one. Love the spot from a prior weekly show where Neville offered a handshake and Zayn responded by slapping him and saying that he's sick of being expected to be the good guy who shows good sportsmanship. This is a face vs. face match, but Sami sets up as the clear sentimental favorite for the crowd.

NXT Title vs. Career - Adrian Neville (c) vs. Sami Zayn: After entering, Sami squats in one corner, and does a great job of conveying pre-match emotion with his facial expression. Some combination of feigned calm mixed with "welp."



Fans chant "Sami" before the match and openly boo Neville during the introductions. I'm actually not 100% on Neville having not been a heel here, but I think he's more functional heel than actual heel. We'll see how the match gets worked. The bell rings, the fans throw up a loud "let's go Sami" chant with a smaller contingent echoing with "Neville sucks." This type of crowd participation I can get behind.

The wrestlers circle each other tentatively. Neville with a takedown into a front face-lock. Zayn counters into an armbar, Neville re-counters into one of his own, they continue the chain wrestling with dueling side headlock takeovers and kip-up escapes before resetting. Tie-up into an armbar by Sami, but Neville regains the advantage, wrestling Sami down to the mat and cinching in a chinlock. Zayn back up to his feet, they trade hammerlocks. Neville grounds the challenger again, holding him in an armbar. As Zayn gets back up, Neville executes a throw before continuing to crank on Zayn's elbow. Zayn escapes, tries to execute an arm-wringer, but Neville flips out and again we have a reset. Well-executed chain wrestling early.

Zayn with a corner whip. Neville flips into the opposite corner, baits Sami into a missed charge as he bails out to the apron, then throws a shoulder at Sami's midsection before flipping over him back into the ring. He tries his own move off the ropes, but Zayn hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker that causes Neville to roll outside. Zayn to the apron for a split-legged moonsault. Connects, lands on his feet, and slips into the ring to preen a bit.



Neville waits out a 9-count before returning inside to duck the countout. He tries a clothesline, but Sami dodges and hits a high-impact jumping heel kick. One-count. Zayn smashes Neville into the turnbuckle before rolling him up in a magistral cradle that gets another one-count. Another corner smash by Zayn, but he eats a forearm on the follow-up, and Neville puts the challenger down for a quick cover and a one-count. Snapmare and a seated dropkick by Neville. Locks in a reverse chinlock, but Zayn armdrags his way out of it. Stiff European uppercut by Neville gets a two-count. The champ executes a few knee-drops in a row, gets another two-count, and continues to assert control with a face-lock. Zayn jars his way free by ramming Neville into the corner, but Neville stuns him and promptly hits a front dropkick off the second turnbuckle. Two-count, and Neville gives some static to the referee about the count this time.

Neville hesitates in front of a kneeling Zayn, then insultingly grazes him with his boot a few times. Zayn fights back with a chop, but Neville puts his opponent back down with a series of kicks. Zayn keeps fighting, hitting a clothesline and then kind of botching a launching dropkick spot. Still, Neville goes to the outside. Sami teases like he's going to jump out after him, but when he gets a running start off the ropes Neville is already back inside to take him down with a hurracanrana. Zayn to the outside, Neville winds up for a jump outside, but Zayn quickly scampers back into the ring, throws a backdrop that sends the champ all the way to the floor, then quickly follows up with a dive over the top rope to the floor.



Zayn slowly recovers, rolls Neville back inside, then re-enters with a cross-body off the top. Two. Neville escapes behind on a suplex attempt, the two battle for the advantage over a waistlock, Neville runs off the ropes and jumps backward into Sami, but lands on his shoulders, which Sami transitions into a blue thunder bomb.



Just a two-count, of course. After a "this is awesome" chant dies off, we get another "Sami Zayn" chant. Neville hits a jawbreaker that staggers Zayn back. Running uppercut by the champ. He runs back to a corner, Zayn charges in, but Neville hits a hard boot to the face. German suplex into a bridge by Neville gets another two. Zayn blocks a powerbomb attempt, Neville tries to put him in his place with an uppercut before trying again, but Zayn just blocks again. Third time is a charm, as Zayn springboards off the ropes over top of Neville, but Neville kicks him in the guts and shows his determination by planting Zayn with a sit-out powerbomb.



Neville shows frustration with the official after another two-count. He throws rights at Sami, but Sami gives him some "bring it on" attitude, and they trade punches back and forth. Neville with a kick to the gut, but Zayn hits a clothesline that turns Neville inside out. He goes for the helluva kick in the corner, but Neville sidesteps and kicks Zayn in the face. Up to the top rope Neville goes. Attempts the Red Arrow, but Zayn gets the knees up and Neville suffers a rough landing. Zayn quickly slaps on some sort of octopus submission that the announcers knew a name for. In any case, Neville forces a rope break.

Zayn goes for a powerslam of sorts, Neville counters into a victory roll, Zayn kicks out on two with some authority, and it knocks Neville back into the referee for a lame ref bump. Zayn shows concern for the official as Corey Graves protests that this is not the time for Sami to show sympathy. Sure enough, Sami turns back around and gets his face caved in by a big superkick, then gets planted by a reverse hurracanrana that impacts his head on the mat. Referee revives in time to count…but only to two. I don't know that I ever would have bought that false finish, but I still like the idea. And props to Graves, whose resigned groan after the superkick and rana really did sell it as well as possible.



Slow recovery time for both men. Zayn lands a right. Neville staggers, then throws one of his own. Neville misses on a roundhouse kick, and Zayn hits two consecutive German suplexes before holding on for…sort of a release half-dragon suplex. Nice. Zayn again for the helluva kick attempt, but again Neville dodges by rolling outside. Sami slips out on the adjacent side, then jumps through the corner ropes and latches on for the DDT on the floor. I often think that spot is too contrived in spite of its obvious athletic impressiveness, but it was pretty well-done here.



Rolls Neville back inside. Neville staggers into the corner. Zayn finally connects on the helluva kick, but the referee is caught in close and bumped upon impact. The announcers say that Neville pulled the official in to cause that. Zayn is despondent. As the ref is still down, Neville grabs the title belt and brings it into the ring. Zayn ambushes him with a kick to the head, and then has a decision to make. He looks down at the belt, trying to decide whether to use it as a weapon. The fans on the hard camera side are waving "no" and trying to talk Zayn out of it. Zayn slowly bends down to pick it up. Fans don't want him to use it. Zayn gains some partial resolve to apparently do it, and squares back with the belt. Graves: "You got a clean shot, you've gotta take it, Sami Zayn! This is not the time for morals!" Zayn continues to look conflicted. Rich Brennan pleads from the babyface side, "Not like this!" Zayn, anguished, loses his nerve and drops the belt. Neville scurries in for the schoolboy and gets a great near-fall, punctuated by Brennan groaning and Graves yelling angrily that Sami is getting what he deserved before the kickout blows up both commentary reactions.



As the ref revives, Zayn hits the exploder into the corner, then rares back, sprints from one corner to the other, connects with a stiff helluva kick, and makes the cover to win the NXT Title and save his career.



****ing fantastic match. I remember it being great, but this match takes a run at five stars. Excellent ringwork, perfect storytelling, a great morality play for the Sami Zayn character. WWE's booking of him on the main roster has killed a lot of my interest in him as of late, so this was a useful reminder of just how awesome Zayn can be if given great material to work with. Loved this so much.

Result: Sami Zayn via pinfall, new NXT Champion
Rating: ****3/4

In teras,l Zayn accepts his hard-fought title belt as the live crowd showers him with love. After a couple of minutes, the NXT locker room empties out to congratulate Zayn, led by his old friend Kevin Owens, who gets in the ring and gives him a big emotional hug.



More hugs for Sami from around the locker room. Jason Jordan and Wesley Blake (I think) hoist Zayn up on their shoulders, other wrestlers applaud, confetti drops from the ceiling.



Adrian Neville has finally revived. Zayn's music stops as they face off. Zayn puts the belt down and slowly offers a handshake. Neville kicks his hand away and brings him in for a hug.



The wrestlers continue to pay tribute to Zayn, then slowly trickle out and let him have the ring to himself to hoist the belt a couple more times for the fans. He leaves the ring slowly, taking a seat on the apron and soaking in his moment with the belt that signifies his big win. Kevin Owens comes back in for one more embrace as the announcers exchange pleasantries. The show throws up its closing graphic in the corner, and on this feel-good note we're off the air.



Oh wait, there seems to be a bit more.




Kevin Owens obliterates his friend with a slam down to the guardrail and a powerbomb into the apron. William Regal shoves him angrily in the middle of the ramp, but Owens walks on by. Regal calls furiously for medical help as he and some officials attend to Zayn.



And with THAT less-happy scene, we're off the air. Really was a pretty great ending, particularly the way they sold the show as being over before throwing in that twist.

Overall Thoughts: I was ready to chalk this up as a show that really wasn't that great and didn't hold up that well even just two years later, but damn if that Zayn/Neville match didn't go a long way to make sure that I was really glad that I sat down and watched this. I would still tend to say that you could just watch that match and skip the rest of the show, but again I'm just stunned at how pristine this show was from the time Sami Zayn started his entrance until the time the show finally faded out for real.

And now I head back to random.org for whatever will be my next assignment. Here's the latest list. Again, nominations are always open.

Great American Bash '89
Beach Blast '92
Backlash 2004
King of the Ring '94
SummerSlam '02
ECW Heat Wave '98
ECW One Night Stand

Alright, looks like we're going to get extreme. Somehow I had decided that there was only one of these, since...well, it's a one night stand. But I guess if we're going to have a bunch of World War 3s, I shouldn't try to apply logic like that. Obviously 2006 must have been the intent here, so that's what I'm doing.

Oh, eyebooger said the first one. Okay, that's 2005. Will do that. Don't think I've seen a second of it.

I remember the show being incredible, but honestly I can't find anything in there besides the first match and last match that really fits how highly I initially regarded the event.

Beginning and end are amazing pieces of storytelling though.

Thanks for the writeup. Well done.

LKJ, did you watch ECW at least semi-regularly in the mid/late 90s?

Either answer would be an interesting viewpoint from which to gauge your writeup.

One thing I took away from doing WM III and NXT R-Evolution in short order is a contrast in how much better a match can be while not being as flashy when it comes to in-ring work. Obviously pretty much every NXT match today provides superior technical ringwork to every WM III match that wasn't Savage-Steamboat, but when a match lacks a compelling or even coherent story (see: Ascension vs. Itami/Balor), I don't think it's much better than a low-workrate early WWF match. I've seen the flipping, most of the spots aren't new anymore...Rey Mysterio Jr. and the other WCW cruiserweights took the novelty out of a ton of spots in the 90s, and while big spots can still be enjoyable to watch, the magic is certainly gone and they absolutely need the other elements in order to be a truly fun watch.

Give me Billy Jack Haynes vs. Hercules at WM III over Lucha Dragons vs. Vaudevillains, NXT R-Evolution, workrate be damned.

With regard to ECW, I started getting weekly TV in late '95 or so, and usually watched it. I enjoyed it enough to watch, but wasn't a big fan. My preference was something like WWF >>> WCW > ECW. Liked Raven, liked Shane Douglas, liked Taz, liked The Eliminators, liked Sabu. Sandman felt too lowest-common-denominator even for young me, though I loved the Metallica song. Have said it a million times, but never ever understood Tommy Dreamer's popularity for a second. It was less that I thought he was awful than that I thought he was the most boring human being to ever travel through a birth canal, but I didn't think that he was good either. Didn't really take to the Dudleys until they went to WWF. There were some other worthless wrestlers kicking around like The Pitbulls that I didn't like. Didn't like the obnoxious crowds. Loved Joey Styles.

I dunno; I'm interested to watch this event because I think I can enjoy the nostalgia factor enough to get into the event even though I gather that I fall on the negative side of ECW opinions on this board.

LKJ I PM'd you the WK9 youtube link if you're still interested. Sorry it took so long, the reason was me being an idiot. It kept failing and I had no idea why until I found out I needed to verify my account a second time to upload long videos. I re-watched some of it and had forgot how glorious JR calling Okada's dropkick was.

With that said, I nominate Wrestle Kingdom 11, let me know if you want that upped. :P

Thanks Kabong.

Is WK11 the one that just happened, the one with the match that Meltzer broke his rating scale for?

Yes.

Yeah, it's 6 hours long and it's not solid the whole time but it's very good and the last 4 matches are all great to "goat".

Plus there's a brief surprise appearance from a MNW thread favorite.