You had a recollection of the Valentine/Garvin submission match?

If you did, that's amazing and terrifying at the same time.

I still remember Garvin's weak appearance as guest ring announcer for a Valentine match at SummerSlam '89. He kept trying to include jabs in every line of the introduction, and they were all stupid.

"He CLAIMS to be from Seattle, Washington." SICK BURN, Ron.

Yeah, I actually did. Some things you just can't erase.

You know, Ron Garvin is one of those guys where I don't think anyone would have missed anything if he'd never gone into wrestling.

WWE Tag Titles, tournament final: Bob Holly & 1-2-3 Kid vs. Tatanka & Bam Bam Bigelow
(Go to 1:32:30 on video.)

* I bet you thought Bret/Diesel would be the final match from this card on this chronology, and didn’t see this match coming. It averaged 3.25 stars. It’s another Tatanka appearance on the chronology! Poor Bob Holly, who was a legit tough guy (which may not have been known at this point), having to do that Spark Plug gimmick. Tatanka dominates Holly until getting caught by a headscissors takedown, and Holly hits a couple nice dropkicks (the first one specifically). Bam Bam tags in and tosses Kid around, before Kid counters a power move with a hurricanrana. Bam Bam quickly hits an enziguiri. After a couple minutes, Kid rallies again against Bam Bam, hitting a standing dropkick right in his mush, but Bam Bam slams Kid head-first to the mat, then hits a vertical suplex. Bam Bam charges Kid and gets backdropped over the top to the floor, which is pretty stunning since you don’t expect a big guy to take that bump. Kid sets up for a slingshot dive to the outside on Bam Bam, but Tatanka cuts Kid off. Kid back flips out of Tatanka’s atomic drop/back suplex attempt and dropkicks Tatanka from behind and into Bam Bam on the apron. Kid and Holly both come off the top with crossbody attempts, and both get caught. But they both slip out the backdoor and shove Bam Bam and Tatanka into each other (and yes, it was absurdly telegraphed). Holly rolls up Tatanka for two, then hits another sweet dropkick for two. He hits two clotheslines, but Tatanka ducks a third and Bam Bam pulls the top rope down, sending Holly crashing to the floor. Bam Bam goes to work outside as Tatanka baits Kid. Back inside, Tatanka slams Holly, drops an elbow, hits a clothesline, hits two more basic slams and then a powerslam for two, with Tatanka moving as Kid tries to make the save but drops an elbow on Holly instead. Bam Bam holds Holly as Tatanka comes off the top, but he hits Bam Bam with the flying chop of doom. For no reason at all, Kid leaves his corner to get into it with Tatanka, and so Holly has no one to tag when he makes it to the corner and Bam Bam splashes him from behind. Bam Bam appears ready to go for a falling headbutt but Holly botches it by moving (trying to make a tag in the wrong corner) and Bam Bam has to simply stomp him before tossing him to the outside. Holly shoulderblocks Bam Bam from the apron and springboards over with a sunset flip but Bam Bam grabs the ropes and drops onto Holly. Bam Bam hits some kind of leaping kick to Holly’s head for two. Tatanka tags in and hits a gutwrench suplex, then whips him to a corner and follows with a clothesline. Tatanka does not like going for pins, apparently. Tatanka and Holly wind up trying to crossbody each other and end up in a stalemate. Holly makes the hot tag to Kid, who hits Bam Bam with a spinning leg lariat, then an awesome top-rope dropkick. He dropkicks Tatanka off the apron, then slingshot somersaults onto him. A top-rope crossbody on Bam Bam gets two before Tatanka makes the save. Holly dropkicks Kid to the outside. Bam Bam gets control on Kid, presses him overhead and tosses him all the way to the floor. Tatanka tosses Kid back in, Bam Bam slams him, and this is where things get weird. Bam Bam climbs up top for a moonsault while Tatanka enters the ring and runs off the rope, causing Bam Bam to lose his balance and fall to the mat, hitting the back of his head and knocking himself out. Holly takes out Tatanka, and after an eternity Kid crawls over to Bam Bam for the 3.

OK, so this wasn’t terrible, but 3.25 stars?!? No way. People confused “long” for “good” here but it went at least five minutes too long and there wasn’t much memorable. It’s 2.5 stars for me, maybe 2.75 but it’s not 3.

ANTIDAN’S MOSTLY MEANINGLESS WWE PPV MATCH RATINGS (3+ stars):
5 — Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart, Wrestlemania X (1994)
5 — IC Title, ladder match: Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels, Wrestlemania X (1994)
5 — IC Title: Bret Hart vs. British Bulldog, Summerslam 1992
4.75 — IC Title: Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat, Wrestlemania III (1987)
4.5 — Semifinals: Bret Hart vs. Mr. Perfect, King of the Ring 1993
4.5 — IC Title: Mr. Perfect vs. Bret Hart, Summerslam 1991
4.25 — WWE Title, cage match: Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart, Summerslam 1994
4.25 — The Royal Rumble (1992)
4.25 — WWE Title: Ric Flair vs. Randy Savage, Wrestlemania VIII (1992)
4 — WWE Title: Hulk Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior, Wrestlemania VI (1990)
4 — Retirement Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. Randy Savage, Wrestlemania VII (1991)
4 — IC Title: Roddy Piper vs. Bret Hart, Wrestlemania VIII (1992)
4 — Brain Busters vs. Hart Foundation, Summerslam 1989
4 — Rockers vs. Orient Express, Royal Rumble 1991
4 — WWE Tag Titles: Steiner Brothers vs. Heavenly Bodies, Summerslam 1993
3.75 — Semifinals: Owen Hart vs. 123 Kid, King of the Ring 1994
3.75 — IC Title: Rick Rude vs. Ultimate Warrior, Summerslam 1989
3.75 — Tag Team Survivor Match: Demolition, Brain Busters, Bolsheviks, Rougeau Brothers & Los Conquistadores vs. Powers of Pain, Rockers, British Bulldogs, Hart Foundation & Young Stallions, Survivor Series 1988
3.5 — WWE Title: Randy Savage vs. Hulk Hogan, Wrestlemania V (1989)
3.5 — WWE Title: Randy Savage vs. Ultimate Warrior, Summerslam 1992
3.5 — WWE Title: Bret Hart vs. Razor Ramon, Royal Rumble 1993
3.5 — WWE Title: Bret Hart vs. Diesel, King of the Ring 1994
3.5 — WWE Title: Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels, Survivor Series 1992
3.5 — WWE Title: Randy Savage vs. Shawn Michaels, UK Rampage 1992
3.5 — Final: Bret Hart vs. Bam Bam Bigelow, King of the Ring 1993
3.5 — IC Title: Diesel © vs. Razor Ramon, Summerslam 1994
3.5 — The New Foundation vs. The Orient Express, Royal Rumble 1992
3.5 — Tag Team Survivor Match: Demolition, The Islanders, The Hart Foundation, The New Dream Team & The Bolsheviks vs. Strike Force, The Rougeau Brothers, The British Bulldogs, The Young Stallions & The Killer Bees, Survivor Series 1987
3.5 — Rockers & Tito Santana vs The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers & Rick Martel, Summerslam 1989
3.5 — Rockers vs. Haku/Barbarian, Wrestlemania VII (1991)
3.25 — WWE Title: Diesel vs. Bret Hart, Royal Rumble 1995
3.25 — WWE Title, submission/”throw in the towel” match: Bret Hart vs. Bob Backlund, Survivor Series 1994
3.25 — WWE Tag Titles, Demolition vs. Hart Foundation, Summerslam 1988
3.25 — Bret Hart vs Doink/Jerry Lawler, Summerslam 1993
3.25 — WWE Tag Titles: The Quebeckers vs. Bret & Owen Hart, Royal Rumble 1994
3.25 — IC Title: Shawn Michaels vs. Tatanka, Wrestlemania IX (1993)
3.25 — The British Bulldogs vs. The Rougeau Brothers, Summerslam 1988
3.25 — WWE Women’s Title: Alundra Blayze © vs. Bull Nakano, Summerslam 1994
3 — IC Title: Ultimate Warrior vs. Rick Rude, Wrestlemania V (1989)
3 — IC Title: Razor Ramon vs. Jeff Jarrett, Royal Rumble 1995
3 — Steiner Brothers vs. Headshrinkers, Wrestlemania IX (1993)
3 — WWE Tag Titles, Dream Team vs. British Bulldogs, Wrestlemania 2 (1986)
3 — Elimination Match: Ric Flair, Ted DiBiase, The Mountie & The Warlord vs. Roddy Piper, Bret Hart, British Bulldog & Virgil, Survivor Series 1991
3 — Million Dollar Title: Ted DiBiase vs. Virgil, Summerslam 1991
3 — Shawn Michaels vs. Rick Martel, Summerslam 1992
3 — IC Title: Shawn Michaels vs. Marty Jannetty, Royal Rumble 1993
3 — Smoky Mountain Tag Titles: Rock ‘n’ Roll Express vs. Heavenly Bodies, Survivor Series 1993
3 — Best 2 of 3 Falls: Dino Bravo & The Rougeau Brothers vs. Jim Duggan & The Hart Foundation, Royal Rumble 1989
3 — Mr. Perfect vs. Blue Blazer (Owen Hart), Wrestlemania V (1989)
3 — King Haku vs. Harley Race, Royal Rumble 1989
3 — The Royal Rumble (1990)

I mean I don't know how to have a top five lamest finishers of all time list without the Garvin Stomp, so there's that.

I don't think the Garvin Stomp was his finisher. See, he lifts right out.

What was his WWF finisher then? The figure-four? Sure seemed like the Garvin Stomp was his finisher. Maybe it was just a post-match ritual.

I thought it was his setup move, I remember him finishing with the figure four as a middle finger to Valentine.

I never thought I would watch a Ron Garvin match again, but thanks to this discussion I now am.

In the one Garvin vs jobber WWF match I found, he finishes the opponent with what Ventura calls the "Garvin leglock" which is basically a sharpshooter.

I meant to put this in the last match writeup ... doing this chronology gave me a LOT more respect for Sean Waltman as a worker. He's one guy I had definitely underrated historically, probably because I mostly remembered XPac Waltman which was meh.

I remember being 11 (1991) and watching Global on ESPN when Waltman was the Lightning Kid (and I think still a teenager), and he was pretty awesome then, too.

WRESTLEMANIA XI (1995)
Location: Hartford (Conn.) Civic Center



Note: The Jarrett/Razor IC title match and the Bam Bam/LT match were close to the cut here, but not quite. Given we just had Razor/Jarrett at Royal Rumble, I didn’t seriously consider that one. On the other hand, LT really impressed me back when I watched this live and I did think about waving the 3-star cut line and putting that one on here (it averaged 2.5 stars). But ultimately … nah. That leaves one match that did make the cut, at exactly 3 stars ...

WWE Title: Diesel © vs. Shawn Michaels
(Go to 1:33:00 on video.)

* A little side note on this one: Diesel entered this match as the babyface (after HBK turned on him months earlier) and HBK the heel. According to Bret Hart (during the Bret/Shawn rivalry DVD), Diesel was supposed to come out of this match as the star, but HBK wrestled a more babyface-like aerial style and “stole” Diesel’s shine, which the big wigs didn’t expect or want. Let’s be honest, it’s not that hard for HBK to outshine Diesel, but in any case, it wasn’t much longer before HBK was on the rise (becoming the champion a year later) and Diesel was on his way to WCW. In my typical fashion, that wasn’t a “little” side note.

Diesel backdrops HBK over the ropes to the floor before the match even starts. It quickly becomes the expected battle of HBK’s speed vs. Diesel’s size/strength. I could watch HBK get backdropped all day (in fact, someone should make a youtube video of all the awesome backdrops HBK has taken, in rapid-fire style). HBK does a flaip flip over the turnbuckle and to the floor, where he apparently is unhappy with a photographer and drags him a few feet by his shirt. I wonder if that was planned or just HBK being his typical mid-90s douchebag self. HBK trying to suplex Diesel is hilarious, like that’s going to happen. Diesel hits HBK with a knee lift and HBK’s supposed to go flying over the top rope to the outside but doesn’t quite make it, which is an unusual botch for him, if only a very minor one (the move still looked good). When HBK does finally fall through the ropes to the floor, his feet catch the second rope and Diesel kicks him off, with HBK landing right on his head. Ouch. There are several points in this match where HBK seems unsure of what to do and the match drags a little. HBK tries a sunset flip but Diesel powers him up with a double choke hold before crotching him on the top rope. Diesel misses with a big boot and HBK hits a “Cactus clothesline” to send them both outside before HBK skins the cat back inside. He then climbs to the top and launches all the way out onto Diesel with an awesome flying crossbody. That’s the kind of high-spot babyface move that made HBK the star of the match. Diesel misses an elbow on HBK on the outside and slams his own ribs into the post, selling the injury. HBK comes off the apron with a splash on Diesel on the floor. A couple shaky minutes later, HBK comes off the second turnbuckle with a flying bulldog for two. Diesel reverses a whip to the corner but HBK jumps to the second turnbuckle and flies off with a back elbow for two. HBK goes to the top and hits a huge flying elbow to Diesel’s lower back, getting cheers from the crowd (oops) and a two. Diesel throws HBK off twice to counter DDTs, then whips HBK to the corner. Again, HBK leaps to the second turnbuckle and tries to leapfrog the charging Diesel, who catches him. He goes for snake eyes, but HBK slips out the back and shoves Diesel into the corner, then applies a sleeper. Diesel’s arm drops twice but he rallies and slams HBK into the corner. He whips HBK to the opposite corner and follows in with a clothesline, then does it again before hitting snake eyes. HBK falls across the second rope and Diesel drops his weight on him. HBK gets whipped again to the corner, against does the flair flip, and Diesel punches him off the apron to the floor. Diesel pummels away inside and outside the ring. According to the announcers (Vince and Lawler), the referee went outside to keep Sid from interfering and twisted his ankle (none of this is seen, good job guys!), and so he’s out of the picture when HBK hits sweet chin music inside the ring and makes the cover. Sid then cuts off the top turnbuckle pad, but Diesel counters HBK’s intentions with a back suplex. Somehow HBK revives first and make a cover for two, huh?!? HBK comes off the second turnbuckle trying for another flying bulldog but Diesel turns it into a side suplex. Diesel slingshots HBK toward the exposed turnbuckle but the move happened far enough away from the corner that HBK didn’t make it, instead slamming face-first into the second turnbuckle. Diesel rallies again, hitting a big boot. It’s more than a little goofy seeing a big 7-footer doing the babyface pump-myself-up rallies. Diesel hits a terrible-looking jackknife (HBK basically landed on his feet and fell backward) for the pin to retain.

Bret is exactly right about this match. Diesel did not look good here, he did not come off strong at all, and even though HBK hit some great high-flying highspots, he was off his game at other times, too. I don’t even think this is worth three stars. I’ll give it 2.75.

I remember HBK's stunts in that match basically threw all of the planned post-Mania booking into the trash. They had to turn him face the very next night, which allowed him to take over Bret's spot as #2 babyface and steal the show every night while Diesel floundered at the top with the **** sandwiches they were throwing at him all summer. Very cunning.

I'm trying to figure out how I typed "Flaip flop" when the P is nowhere near the R.

That face turn the next night for HBK was just terribly executed. The crowd had no idea how to react and in that case it was pretty understandable.

That pretty much summed up WWE in 1995: "Terribly executed."

(I know I'm foreshadowing, but see King of the Ring 1995 for examples.)

Basically HBK and Sid got in a squabble with neither really acting like a babyface about it, and then a week later the WWF had to all but say, "That was a face turn for Shawn Michaels, you see."

I didn't think it was too bad, except that the important part -- Sid powerbombing HBK (and nearly killing him) and Diesel making the save -- happened during a commercial break and they had to spend the next segment recapping it. That would never, ever happen today.

IN YOUR HOUSE (1995)
Location: The Oncenter, Syracuse, N.Y.


Bret Hart vs. Hakushi
(Go to 5:25 on video.)

* The first In Your House was not a real memorable affair (that tends to happen when Diesel/Sid is your WWE Title main event) but it had a pretty solid opener between Bret and Hakushi, averaging 3.75 stars. A couple minutes in, Hakushi hits a flying shoulderblock for a nearfall, then works over the arm. Bret gets two with a counter and a rollup, then hits an arm drag and works over the arm. A botch causes Bret to have to elbow Hakushi in the back of the head, and a series of arm drags leads to Hakushi taking a breather outside. He gets back in and takes control with a series of blows. Bret blocks a turnbuckle slam and turns the tables momentarily, but Hakushi reverses a whip to the corner and Bret takes it chest first. Hakushi slams Bret and comes off the second rope with a Vader Bomb-style splash for two. Hakushi pounds on Bret in the corner, then charges across with a Bronco Buster before taking time to taunt the crowd. Bret counters a move and tries to run Hakushi off the ropes for a rollup, but Hakushi drops down and Bret goes flying through the ropes (getting hung up a bit) to the floor, where Shinja (the manager) gets involved. Things get boring for a bit (OK, it’s been mostly boring so far anyway) as Hakushi and Shinja heel it up. Hakushi hits a springboard back elbow into the corner. Bret tries to rally but Hakushi reverses a side suplex attempt into his own tilt-a-whirl backbreaker (mostly whiffing on the backbreaker part) for two. Hakushi goes up top and hits a diving headbutt for two. Hakushi goes to the apron and jumps onto the top rope, then springs off with a diving headbutt but Bret moves. Bret goes into his typical late-match moves with a russian leg sweep, a bulldog, a side backbreaker and a second-rope elbow. He goes for the sharpshooter but Shinja distracts Bret from the apron and Bret punches him off. Hakushi tries a sneak attack but Bret hits a reverse atomic drop and a clothesline that spins Hakushi 270 degrees and he lands face-first. That’s the first thing all match I actually got excited about. Hakushi sells it like he was knocked out as Bret gets him up and pounds away. He runs off the ropes and gets tripped by Shinja, then quickly gets up and launches through the ropes to the floor on Shinja in a sweet spot. Bret gets back inside but takes a dropkick for two. Bret blocks a suplex attempt, then suplexes Hakushi up and over the top rope to the floor, tumbling out with him in another awesome spot. This has picked up greatly since the sharpshooter attempt. Shinja keeps Bret from getting back in the ring, and Hakushi comes off the second rope with an Asai moonsault, which I remember being pretty stunning in 1995. Bret struggles back to the apron and Hakushi tries to suplex him into the ring, but Bret lands on his feet behind Hakushi. Bret goes for a German suplex, Hakushi counters and goes for his own German, but Bret blocks and rolls forward, locking Hakushi into a tight cradle for the pin.

The first 10-12 minutes of this match are nothing to write home about and I was worried that this wouldn’t even get 3 stars, but the final 5-6 minutes were fantastic. It’s either 3.5 stars or 3.75 but 3.5 feels more correct to me.

KING OF THE RING (1995)
Location: Corestates Spectrum, Philadelphia


Note: Holy Mother of God, Mabel won this year’s King of the Ring title. I’m pretty sure the whole wrestling world gladly forgot all about it within six months. This PPV sucked balls, maybe the worst one WWE ever put on (seriously), and (you won’t believe this!) the Philadelphia crowd took a dump on it, too. I had to reach to find anything to review here, but I read enough good things about one match, that even though it only graded out at 2.5 stars, I’m giving it a shot:

Quarterfinals: The Roadie vs. Bob Holly
(Go to 22:05 on video.)

* Holly starts fast with a belly-to-belly suplex on the charging Roadie for two. Two shoulderblocks, a sunset flip and a small package each get two before Roadie bails out. Back inside, Roadie slaps Holly, then the ref for some reason stops Holly’s retaliation punch and Roadie decks him. That was odd. The two wind up running the ropes and Holly scores on a shoulderblock, then Holly reverses a hip toss only to have Roadie block Holly’s hip toss, but Holly scores with an arm drag instead. Then he hits a hip toss and a slam for two. Roadie leapfrogs Holly, then counters Holly’s hurricanrana attempt into a nasty powerbomb! This has been fantastic so far. Roadie whips Holly hard to the corner, then does it again before strutting. He drops two elbows, then a snapmare leads to a chinlock. Holly rallies and turns Roadie’s knee-to-the-midsection attempt into a rollup for two. Roadie comes back with a nice clothesline, then does more celebrating before going back to the chinlock. Holly rallies again but takes a boot to the gut. Roadie sets up for a piledriver but Holly counters with a backdrop. He can’t capitalize and Roadie is first up. He whips Holly off the ropes and goes for a side suplex but Holly counters with a nice spinning headscissors takedown. Holly ducks a clothesline and hits a nice dropkick. The rally continues with three right hands for two. A powerslam gets two. Roadie begs off, then kicks Holly in the gut and sets up for a superplex. Holly punches out of it and sends Roadie to the mat, then comes off the top but eats a boot to the face and Roadie gets three (even though Holly accidentally rolled his shoulder up!).

Aside from the final pinfall botch, this was a fantastic match! Yes, it’s mostly basic stuff, but it was done at high tempo and was very entertaining. Honestly, it was better than Bret Hart/Hakushi (which makes me think I scored that match too high ... I’m going to re-rank that one at 3 stars). This gets 3.25 stars from me and I don’t feel bad about it at all.

It's hilarious how much those last two matches are causing me ratings issues. I enjoyed Roadie/Holly much more because the whole match was entertaining and not just the final five minutes, BUT the final five minutes of Bret/Hakushi were obviously far superior to anything in the Roadie/Holly match. I think I'm going to rate them both 3.25 stars and be done with it.

IN YOUR HOUSE 2 (1995)
Location: Municipal Auditorium, Nashville, Tenn.


123 Kid vs. Roadie

* This is the first match on the card and averaged 3.25 stars. Given how much I liked Roadie/Bob Holly, and how much I’ve enjoyed remembering how good Waltman once was, I’m a little excited for this one. Kid attacks Roadie in the aisleway, but Roadie gets the jump on Kid back in the ring. Kid tries to do a front roll while Roadie did a leapfrog but Kid’s leg catches Roadie’s leg and Roadie takes a tumble in a semi-amusing botch. Kid takes him to the corner and tags him with a series of kicks. Roadie reverses a whip to the corner, but Kid catches Roadie with a headscissors takedown that sends Roadie through the ropes and to the floor. Roadie staggers around in a daze on the floor and it looks like Kid is waiting for him to get to a certain spot, then Kid has had enough of waiting and slingshots over the top rope, unleashing a flying thrust kick on Roadie’s head and shoulder. Back in the ring, Kid hits a couple more nice kicks in the corner, then whips Roadie to the other corner and follows in with a splash (again, I’m not sure that was the intended outcome). Kid whips Roadie to the other corner but Roadie catches Kid with a powerslam. Roadie dumps Kid to the floor, then comes off the apron with a nice clothesline. Roadie then lifts Kid up in an atomic drop position and crotches him on the ring post — with Kid’s head actually (and probably accidentally) slamming the post, as well — to a pretty big reaction from the crowd. Back inside, Roadie lifts Kid high in the air and dumps him face-first, then drops two legs. He launches Kid in a big backdrop, then showboats before covering for two. After a chinlock, Roadie snap mares Kid and goes to the top, but he awkwardly misses a kneedrop/splash as Kid moves. Kid rallies and hits a sweet spinning leg lariat for two. Kid whips Roadie to the corner and follows in with a dropkick, then slams him and goes up top for a frog splash (yes, a frog splash!) for two. Kid whips Roadie off the ropes, Roadie ducks a clothesline, then reverses Kid’s hurricanrana into a sitdown powerbomb for two. Roadie whips Kid to the corner, then charges in but Kid moves and Roadie slams his shoulder into the post (not at full speed). Kid goes up top but Roadie gets to the rope and Kid crotches himself. Roadie then hits an awkward and sloppy (and probably, for the Kid, super scary) piledriver from the second turnbuckle for the win.

This was a solid match with some good spots, not a lot of dead time and a somewhat surprising ending. The WWE was trying to push Roadie in preparation for a feud with Jarrett. More on why this didn’t happen later. I’ll give this 3 stars.

IC Title: Jeff Jarrett © vs. Shawn Michaels
(Go to 49:30 on video.)

* Here’s the match of the night, averaging 4.25 stars. As always with a Jarrett match, I’m skeptical, but it is against HBK, so we’ll see. Jarrett comically oversells HBK’s first right hand. Jarrett hits an arm drag and celebrates with his strut. They exchange arm wringers, then HBK whips Jarrett to the corner but Jarrett put on the brakes, leapfrogs HBK and nails a right hand, forcing HBK to take a breather outside as Jarrett lays on the top ropes in the corner to mock him (which was a pretty nice touch). The pace so far is SLOW. HBK blocks a hip toss, Jarrett does some gymnastics, says, “Now I got it!”, then HBK pokes him in the eye, which made me laugh. Jarrett blocks a hip toss, HBK does gymnastics, then HBK ducks a clothesline. Jarrett whips HBK to the corner but HBK leapfrogs the charging Jarrett, then plants him with a right. A hip toss later, HBK hits the Cactus clothesline, then skins the cat back inside and does the Jarrett strut to a pop. Good stuff. But then it slows as Jarrett milks his time on the outside. HBK finally goes out and gets him, but Jarrett catches him coming off the top with a punch to the gut. HBK winds up laying on the second rope and Jarrett drops down on him. HBK puts on the brakes by hooking the ropes to avoid a Jarrett dropkick. Roadie tries to interfere but HBK stymies that, then tosses a charging Jarrett over the top rope into Roadie to a big pop. HBK then goes to the top and flies to the outside with a crossbody onto both of them. Jarrett reverses a whip to the corner, HBK leaps up to the second turnbuckle, then fakes a diving crossbody as Jarrett drops to the mat. Jarrett things HBK crashed and burned, then sees HBK as he does leap off. Jarrett ducks but HBK turns it into a sunset flip attempt, then moves in time to dodge Jarrett’s right hand. HBK charges Jarrett in the corner but Jarrett backdrops him over the top to the floor. Jarrett slams HBK into the steps twice, then sends him back inside. Jarrett lifts him up in a suplex, then drops him face-first for two. Jarrett applies an abdominal stretch and Roadie helps him apply more leverage but the ref catches it the third time and kicks their arms apart, allowing HBK to hip toss out of it. HBK ducks his head early and Jarrett hits a DDT for two. Jarrett and Roadie heel it up with rope chokes, but HBK moves and Jarrett accidentally splashes Roadie across the rope. HBK rolls him up for two. Jarrett reverses a whip to the corner and HBK does the Flair flip to the floor. Jarrett occupies the ref as Roadie runs off the apron with a sweet clothesline on HBK, who just beats the count back inside. Jarrett goes up top and hits a crossbody but HBK rolls through for two. Jarrett, after a half-botch, tries a crucifix, then a sunset flip but HBK hits a right and drops down for two, with Jarrett reversing into the sunset flip for two. Jarrett then hits an amazing standing dropkick right into HBK’s mush, maybe the best dropkick of the entire chronology so far, for two. Jarrett misses a back elbow and a clothesline before hooking HBK in a sleeper. After a two-count, HBK gets to his feet and hits Jarrett with a nice back suplex. HBK slowly makes his way over for a cover and two. HBK keeps the rally going with an absolutely sick flying clothesline off the ropes and kips up to his feet in one motion, that is absolutely absurd. I replayed that three times. HBK whips Jarrett to the corner and catches him coming out with another clothesline (or maybe a flying forearm, hard to tell). He goes to the top, facing the crowd, and comes off with a double axehandle for two. A slam sets up the elbow from the top (he almost makes that elbow look too easy, and thus not painful enough ... minor nitpick, I know), but a nonchalant cover gets only two. HBK whips Jarrett to the corner and charges, baseball slides to the floor when Jarrett raises his legs up, then pulls Jarrett’s legs out and crotches him on the post. HBK goes up top again, but while the ref checks on Jarrett, Roadie interferes and crotches HBK on the turnbuckle. Jarrett hits a second-rope superplex, then goes for the figure four, but HBK reverses into a small package for two in a sweet false finish. Jarrett quickly hits a kneebreaker and goes for the figure four again, but HBK kicks him off and he slams into the ref. HBK starts calling for sweet chin music but Roadie enters and clips him from behind. Jarrett goes up top as Roadie revives the ref, and hits a flying crossbody but only gets two. HBK reverses a whip and Roadie, thinking HBK is coming, trips up Jarrett unknowingly. HBK then hits sweet chin music for three and the title.

This was a really, really good match, better than I expected even with the rave reviews. There were tons of counters early so you never knew what was about to happen, some of the early psychology was enjoyable (both guys taunting one another with their own signatures), and the entire last half of the match is spot-on. It’s 4 stars for me.

Note: The aftermath on this one is interesting. Jarrett was supposed to go on and feud with Roadie, who was the “real” singer of Jarrett’s song and would expose Jarrett. But Jarrett was pissed he had to job to HBK, took his ball and went home before finishing the post-match angle that was supposed to happen, leaving the announcers scrambling.

It looks like WWE/Youtube finally dropped the banhammer on the guy who was posting all those full PPV vids. That sucks.