The 2BWE Video Project: Pages 12-18

In the second part of the Big Bad WWE Encyclopedia Video Project (a.k.a. the 2BWE Video Project for short), I will take a look at such luminaries of the ring like Andre the Giant, Antonino Rocca, and Ashley Massaro. If you want to review the guidelines of the project, than you can view the original post right here. Well, on with the show.

P12- Andre the Giant: Ultimate Warrior vs. Andre the Giant

This was one of the many matches these two had for Warrior's Intercontinental Title back in 1989, and I believe is from the October 29, 1989 card at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. The match starts with Andre standing tall in the center of the ring while Warrior runs around like a crazed man. Warrior charges, but Andre's ready for it and uses his size advantage to drag Warrior over to the corner. Andre then spends the next minute or so choking Warrior in the corner, making sure to break the ref's five count each time before going back to choking. Warrior tries to escape with a couple of toe kicks, but Andre just backs him into another corner and starts the process all over again. Andre keeps control with chokeholds and punches until Warrior throws a few chops at him. That doesn't do anything, but then Warrior karate chops Andre in the trapezoids which has some effect on him, and Warrior goes to work by choking Andre in the corner. Warrior with a running clothesline that sends Andre into the ropes. Andre looks to be trapped, but is able to escape just before the Warrior tries another clothesline, and instead Warrior takes a big boot to the torso. Both men get back up slowly, and Warrior does an awkward single leg takedown before choking Andre again. After this point, Warrior just brawls with Andre on the ground until the Giant is able to gain his bearings and slam Warrior into the mat before getting up very slowly. After a nerve hold, Andre confers with his manager Bobby Heenan at ringside, which gives Warrior enough time to recover and body slam Andre down. Warrior goes for a big splash, but Andre puts his arm up to block him and knocks Warrior back. Back up, Andre traps the Warrior in a bear hug for two minutes until Warrior finally gets out and tomahawk chops Andre in the head. After Warrior stuns him, he runs around the ring for 10 seconds before launching into Andre with a clothesline that knocks the Giant outside of the ring. Andre slowly gets back in while the Warrior winds up his arm like Daryle Lamonica warming up to throw a deep pass. He tries to catch Andre with a clothesline, but instead Andre pulls the ref into his path, so the poor ref is flattened instead. Andre grabs the Warrior by the back of his head and headbutts him twice and follows with an elbow drop. He covers, but the ref is slow to get up and when he does, he disqualifies Andre for putting him in the Warrior's path. At first Andre believes he's won the title, but is dismayed to find out that he's been disqualified. After the match, the Warrior clotheslines Andre from behind and takes his belt back, spinning it around like a helicopter. Well, at this point Andre couldn't move very well, and the Warrior isn't very good at his job, so this match was a struggle to get through. I'd give it a 0.5 out of 5.

P13- Andre the Giant: Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant- WWF Title

Yes, Andre's profile takes up two whole pages in the WWE Encyclopedia, but that's all right. Anyway, this match is from the television special The Main Event on February 5, 1988, and is the most watched match to ever air on television, as the show got a 15.2 rating, which is a higher rating than any series that aired on television last year. So this match was kind of a big deal, as it was the rematch from the two men's legendary Wrestlemania III match. Andre comes out with Ted DiBiase and Virgil. But before the match, an interview is shown with Hulk Hogan, who says that he has invested his assets of taking vitamins and saying prayers wisely in a profit sharing plan with all of his Hulkamaniacs, and that he will slam the Giant down again tonight. Hogan comes out and tries to come after Andre with the title belt, but referee Dave Hebner holds him back. The bell rings, and Andre takes his time, standing tall in his corner while Hogan works the crowd. Finally, Andre moves, and turns to DiBiase on the apron for some last minute advice. That gives Hogan the opening he needs, as he attacks the Giant and takes care of both DiBiase and Virgil with a noggin-knocker. He then gives both DiBiase and Virgil big boots that send them flying out of the ring, then catches Andre with a few punches that stagger the big man. Hogan gives Andre everything he's got, but just can't manage to knock Andre down. Hogan manages to knock Virgil down after he gets on the apron, but all the punches, kicks, clotheslines, and eye rakes he uses on Andre still fails to bring him down. Hogan climbs to the top rope, but the Giant catches him and launches Hogan off for a hard body slam. Andre goes for a diving headbutt, but misses, and Hogan is now back up. Hogan covers, but Andre chokes him instead and lets go before the count of 5. Andre is now in control, using chokes, slams, stomps, and other strikes to keep Hogan at bay. Andre knocks himself down after a big boot, and knocks Hogan to the outside of the ring, where Virgil quickly scoops him up and back in. More chokes and strikes by Andre, but the power of Hulkamania arises, and Hogan gets out of the choke hold and starts firing away in a renewed attempt to knock Andre off his feet.  He finally does it after a clothesline from the second rope, gives Andre the big legdrop, and covers, but the referee is distracted by Virgil. Hogan argues with the ref, but Andre grabs him from behind and headbutts him twice before delivering a sloppy looking suplex. Cover, but Hogan gets the shoulder up at two. However, the referee keeps counting, and we have controversy as Andre is awarded the match and the WWF Title. Hogan is in disbelief as Andre the Giant is awarded the title. Afterward, Andre is interviewed by Mean Gene Okerlund, where he says he (Andre) told us he would win the World Tag Team Championship. Whoops. He then surrenders the Title to Ted DiBiase as part of their agreement before the match, meaning that DiBiase has just bought the WWF Heavyweight Title. Say it ain't so. Hogan goes after them before the three men walk out of the ring, quite satisfied with what they have done. Meanwhile, another Dave Hebner comes out, and the two men start arguing. As it turns out, it was Dave's evil twin Earl Hebner that called the match, although at this point nobody knows which is which. One of the Hebner's slugs the other and kicks him out of the ring. He then pleads for mercy to Hogan, but the Hulkster is having none of it, so he gorilla presses him and throws the ref out of the ring over DiBiase and Virgil, knocking all three men to the floor. As it turns out, it was only the second most controversial call of Earl Hebner's career. Match wasn't too good from a pure wrestling standpoint, but the atmosphere was electric and the whole match had a big-fight feel to it, so overall I'd give it a 1.85 out of 5.

P14- Angelo "King Kong" Mosca: Angelo Mosca vs. Blackjack Mulligan

Angelo Mosca, the former CFL All-Pro defensive tackle turned wrestler, takes on Blackjack Mulligan in a brawl that took place in the Florida territory in 1983. The two men hate each other so much that their fight goes out of the ring and even out of the arena. Eventually, they pick up the fight in the back of a pickup truck. Mosca gets knocked out of truck onto the street, but gets up quickly and the two keep fighting on the street. The locker room empties to break the two up, but not before Mosca gets another shot in on Mulligan. Finally, after about 20 seconds, order is restored and all the wrestlers have successfully separated the two big men from ripping each other apart.  The video quality wasn't too sharp, but all in all it wasn't too bad and a good way to advance a feud, as it wasn't every day that two wrestlers climbed into the bed of a pickup to duke it out. I'd give it a 2.2 out of 5.

P14- Angelo Mosca Jr.: Ivan Koloff vs. Angelo Mosca Jr., Mid Atlantic Heavyweight Title Match

Angelo Mosca Jr. was basically the Dale Berra to Angelo Sr's Yogi Berra. Then again, Mosca wasn't quite as good in his field as Yogi was at baseball, but you get the picture. I believe this match took place on January 25, 1984. Angelo Mosca Sr. is on commentary with Bob Caudle for this match, and Koloff is accompanied to ringside by his manager Gary Hart. Koloff backs Mosca up and Irish whips him, but Mosca ducks a clothesline and then nearly gets a three count after a Sunset Flip. Mosca continues his dominance with two dropkicks and a cross body block that also draws a two count, and the fans are really behind Mosca in this match. Koloff backs up and takes a breather, only to continue to take punishment from Mosca in the form of a hip toss and an arm bar. Mosca then starts rolling with Koloff still in the arm bar, which you don't see too much of these days. Ivan finally gets out of it after two knees to the face, and keeps Mosca off balance with strikes before getting a two count after a knee drop. Koloff, ever the veteran, is not fazed by this and simply puts Mosca in a front headlock. Mosca is able to escape, but Koloff then slows down Mosca with a punch and then throws him out of the ring.  Mosca gets back in, and suddenly the video skips and the bell ring again, as the show took a 'TV timeout', in Bob Caudle's words, to make sure the conclusion is shown.

Back to action, Koloff snapmares Mosca and starts choking him, and follows that up by picking him up and throwing him hard against the ring ropes. Koloff then hits a backbreaker, and starts to concentrate his efforts on hurting Mosca's back by driving his knee into it, then by just grabbing hold of lower back and squeezing the muscles. Mosca eventually fights out and then tries to go for a Boston Crab. He can't so he does some weak looking catapult type move instead. Koloff goes to the eyes and gets back up, he tries a piledriver, but Mosca blocks it and then flattens Koloff with a back elbow. That gets a two count, so Mosca arm drags Koloff down, but after that he gets caught in a headscissors. Mosca flips out of it, then tries another hip toss but for some reason stops in mid move. I guess Koloff got an eye gouge in or something. Bearhug by the Russian Bear, and Mosca Sr. is starting to really get on my nerves from the commentary booth, as he keeps yelling "Go Ang" like every 20 seconds. Mosca cheats to win by using an eye gouge to get out of the hold, and the two kind of stagger around for a few seconds before Koloff somewhat back body drops Mosca out of a piledriver attempt. Mosca gets up and dropkicks Koloff, which gets a two count. Mosca then does a toe-hold, and follows that up with a basterdized version of the figure four, where it seems as if Koloff has to remind him to put his other leg over Koloff's foot to make the hold look better. Koloff gets to the ropes, but Mosca is undaunted and goes to work on the leg again. After Koloff gets out of the toe hold, Mosca covers, but to no avail as Ivan kicks out. Mosca slams Koloff and goes to the top rope, where he comes down on Koloff with a cross body block. Cover, and we have a new Mid-Atlantic Champion, as Angelo Mosca gets the three count and a hug from his father, who charges the ring after the bell has rung. Match started out strong, but started to peter out towards the middle, of Mosca's inexperience started to show. Still, I'd give it a 2.05 out of 5.

P14- Angelo Savoldi: Angelo Savoldi vs. Dr. Jerry Graham

I have no idea when this match took place, but I do know it took place in either the 1950s or 1960s and is from a show in Melbourne, Austrailia. The match starts with a rush as Savoldi charges Graham, and the two do a ring running spot which eventually slows down and stops. Graham shows off his high opinion of his intelligence by pointing to his head, and Savoldi responds by charging at Graham again, sending Graham scurrying to the apron. Graham tries a bearhug, but Savoldi slips out easy. Graham tries another hold, but Savoldi escapes again, and sends Graham flying out of the ring with a big right hand. Back in, Graham takes Savoldi by surprise with a spinning drop toe hold, and follows that up with a chinlock while he ties up Savoldi's legs with his own, in an STF type hold. Savoldi gets out of the hold by chomping down on his hand, which the crowd approves of. Savoldi gets a side headlock takedown for two, but Graham turns it around on him and starts choking him. While the ref grabs Graham to force him to stop, Jerry does, only to continue to choke Savoldi with his free hand behind his back, out of sight of the referee. Graham keeps punching and grabbing at Savoldi, which eventually ticks Savoldi off enough for Graham to back away into a corner. Savoldi has none of that, so he slugs Graham and throws him out of the corner with a beal. Savoldi stomps a mudhole in Graham and then throws him into another corner. The ref goes to pull Savoldi off, but that allows Graham to get a shot in and regain the advantage. Graham then tries to make friends with Angelo, but gets a right hand to the mush instead, so Graham goes to the ring apron to rethink things. The bell rings, signifying the end of round 1, so I guess this match will be done in five minute rounds.

Before round 2 begins, Jerry Graham goes to the announce table to express his displeasure at Savoldi and the fine people of Melbourne. Round 2 begins with Savoldi charging at Graham and hitting a few punches, only for Graham to turn the table and hit a wicked looking punch combo to the body. Savoldi is thrown hard into the corner and then falls down, allowing Graham an opportunity to choke him with his boot. Graham takes a while to get up to the top rope, but comes off quickly with a knee drop, and gets the first pinfall of the match. Well, I guess this is a two out of three falls match as well. Graham uses the break to once again dis the Australian people, wondering why the U.S. bothered to save them from the Japanese in World War II or something. The bell rings, and Graham manages to put Savoldi in a modified sleeper hold, and manages to hold onto to it for two solid minutes before biting Savoldi's cauliflower ear in the corner and letting go. While Graham is distracted by the ref, Savoldi uses the opening to fight fire with fire, and bite on Graham some. That infuriates the doctor, as he whips Savoldi into the corner, squashes him, and drops a knee on him. Graham goes up to the top again for another knee drop, but this time Salvodi moves. After a pair of running backdrops, Savoldi hits a running dropkick on Graham, covers, and gets the second fall of the match to even things up at one apiece. Both men go to the corner to recuperate, and after a minute, the bell rings to signal the next fall. Savoldi takes the advantage with an arm drag and twist, and goes to work on Graham with a spinning wrist hold. Graham wriggles out of it and grabs Savoldi with a headlock before whipping him into the ropes. After that, Graham rebounds with a shoulder block that knocks the smaller Savoldi down. But Savoldi is up quickly, and counters another attempted shoulderblock with an arm drag and twist of the arm. Graham retreats to a corner, only to get stomped on and pounded by Savoldi. After 30 seconds of this, Savoldi whips Graham into another corner and traps him by hooking each leg under a rope. Savoldi hits one charging shoulder block, but Graham gets the knee up on the second one and quickly covers, and that gets the three count and the third fall. After the match, Graham goes to announcer's table, and compliments Savoldi by saying he's the toughest Italian he's ever faced. Well, that was nice of him. Match was pretty decent, and a real interesting look at wrestling in the past. I'd give it a 3.1 out of 5.

P14- Antonio Inoki: Andre the Giant vs. Antonio Inoki 1983

What the hey? Another Andre the Giant video? Oh well. This video is a highlight reel of two wrestling legends in a New Japan match from May 6, 1983. Inoki starts off by trying to outrun the Giant, but gets caught with an overhand chop. Nevertheless, Inoki continues to run around the ring to tire his opponent, and then tries a shoulderblock, which does not go well for Inoki. Back up, Inoki kicks Andre low and then hits the enziguri to the head, and follows that up with a knee drop. The next clip starts with Andre with an ankle lock of sorts on Inoki. This continues for about 25 seconds until the next clip, which starts with Inoki fighting out of a bearhug with punches. He does, but Andre headbutts him with his massive truck tire sized head. Next, Andre takes down Inoki with a front facelock, but loses leverage on the hold and Inoki is able to sneak out and slip on a cross armbar. Andre gets back to his feet and throws Inoki out of the ring, then follows to deliver another headbutt. Next, Andre is choking Inoki in the crowd, and the bell rings, but both men go to the ring anyway. Andre shrugs off an Inoki dropkick, then whips Inoki to the ropes and hits him with the big boot on the rebound. Andre with a knife edge chop, and the ref raises Andre's hand in victory as Inoki must have been counted out. It was probably better that I didn't see the whole match, since it's more than likely worse than the action shown in this video. So, because of that, I'd give the video a 2.45 out of 5.


P15- APA (Acolyte Protection Agency): 1.28.02 - Trish and APA vs. Jazz and Billy and Chuck

This match from the January 28, 2002 edition of Monday Night Raw teams up then WWF Women's Champion Trish Stratus with the APA (Faarooq and Bradshaw) against Jazz and Billy (Gunn) and Chuck (Palumbo). The announcers inform us that in this match, women can legally fight men. Jerry Lawler shows his objectivity by booing Jazz as she comes out, while Billy and Chuck come out to the theme Billy used when he was known as "The One" Billy Gunn. I guess he was the one Billy Gunn because nobody else wanted to be Billy Gunn. Only kidding. Trish and Jazz start off, and after a tie up, Jazz slaps Trish in the face and knocks her down with a clothesline. After a shoulderblock, Trish is able to leapfrog Jazz, then catches her by surprise with a monkey flip before dropkicking Jazz out of the ring. However, Jazz proves she is the more aggressive of the two by dragging Trish out by the leg and slamming her face first into the apron. Back in, Jazz throws down Trish, then tries to suplex her, but Stratus is able to counter with a small package that gets two before Chuck breaks it up. Trish tries to slug Palumbo, but the punch is blocked and Chuck throws her back down. While Chuck celebrates, Bradshaw is tagged in, and he's mad, as Chuck takes a shoulderblock, a big boot, and a back elbow before retreating to his corner and tagging his partner in a suggestive manner. Bradshaw's not done, as he boots Billy off the ring apron. Bradshaw tries to powerbomb Chuck, but Billy breaks it up, and then catches Bradshaw with a dropkick. Tag to Chuck, and he's able to stifle Bradshaw with some punches and stomps. However, Bradshaw is able to reverse an Irish whip and back suplex Palumbo before tagging in Faarooq, and the two Acolytes shoulderblock Chuck, which draws a two count. Faarooq catches Chuck with a back elbow, but Chuck ducks (hey, that rhymes) a clothesline, then delivers a superkick straight to the mush. Well, it was supposed to be, but it was way off the mark and didn't come close to Faarooq's face. Even so, that gets a two count. Chuck runs into a spinebuster, than takes a diving headbutt. Billy comes in to break it up, and oh here go hell come as everybody's now in the ring except for Jazz, who is violently knocked off the apron by Trish. Trish and Chuck are left in the ring, and Trish fights off Chuck with some punches before attempting a huracanrana. Well, that's a bad idea, as Chuck powerbombs Trish and then covers her by barely holding her shoulders to the mat, as during this time he's supposed to be a 'nontraditional' male. Whatever the cover, it's good enough to get the three count. Afterward, Chuck has a look on his face as if he smelled a giant fart. This wasn't all that great, although Trish and Jazz weren't too bad. I'd give it a 1.44 out of 5.

P15- Argentina Apollo: "Arriba" Luis Martinez and Argentina Apollo vs. The Mongols

According to the WWE Encyclopedia, Apollo was a high-flying superstar who wrestled barefoot and teamed with Don McClarity to win the United States Tag Team Championship. This video is from Eddie Einhorn's IWA, a mid 1970s promotion that tried and failed to run against the NWA, and I have no idea what the exact date of this video is. Here, Apollo and his partner Luis Martinez are interviewed before a match with the Mongols, Geeto and Bolo. Apollo is not exactly Ric Flair on the mic, while Martinez is slightly better, but not great. Martinez states to the fans that all they've got to do is to "show that they're behind us, and let us give you all the action, action, and more action." Wow, that's a lot of action. The two partners also shake hands three times within thirty seconds. Also, Arriba is the victory cry, according to Martinez. Well, Arriba, then. To the match, where Martinez hip tosses one of the Mongols while the other one goes after Apollo. The Mongols go to work on Apollo with various strikes, while throwing Martinez out of the ring. The bigger Mongol (I don't know which one is which, and the announcers is too busy blubbering about nonsense to call the match) catches Apollo with a kitchen sink knee. The smaller Mongol, which I later find out is Geeto (while Bolo is the bigger one, and also would become Demoltion Ax), comes in and the two double team Apollo, but to little effect, as Apollo forces his way to his corner to tag Martinez. Oh here go hell come as all four men are in the ring. Martinez does an airplane spin to one, while Apollo has the other in an Argentinean Backbreaker. Sit down splash by Martinez, and the referee calls for the bell as Apollo has apparently submitted his opponent. The Mongols' manager, a big mountain of a man called George 'Crybaby' Cannon, comes in to complain about this decision, and in protest bounces the helmet he's wearing in the air and catches it at head level. What a bounce!  For that, this video gets a 2 out of 5.

P15- Ariel: Ariel ECW Debut

In this video, the woman who would later come out with Kevin Thorn and be the only interesting part about Kevin Thorn makes her ECW debut, and by golly what a debut it is, as she reads tarot cards to recap the past instead of reading the future. Those tarot cards must be specific to ECW, as they apparently tell of Rob Van Dam and Sabu invading the previous night's Raw. But wait a minute, the next tarot card tells of the future, as ECW's Rob Van Dam and Kurt Angle will face off against the team that would later on be known as Rated-RKO, Edge and Randy Orton. I guess if Ariel had kept reading, she would have seen the debut of Marcus Cor Von and Test and Bobby Lashley attempting to wrestle for the ECW Title. Well, I guess it's not a bad way to recap previous events by having a busty girl read tarot cards, so for that I'll give this a 2.15 out of 5.


P15- Armageddon: Mr. Kennedy vs. Undertaker, Last Ride Match, Armageddon 2006


This is a Last Ride match, meaning that to win the match, you must put your opponent in the back of a hearse and drive the hearse out of the arena. Coming into this match, Kennedy has two victories over the Undertaker, albeit in controversial fashion. Kennedy does his own ring introduction, per usual, and the whole time there's this one guy in the crowd that yells "You Suck" every three seconds. It gets quite annoying after about the thirtieth time he says it. The Undertaker's entrance takes up a little more than four minutes of time, which is also not unusual. The bell rings, and Kennedy does all he can to avoid getting hit by Taker, eventually ducking out under the bottom rope. He gets back in, and gets punched in the mouth and kicked out of the ring for his efforts. To the outside, where Undertaker slams Kennedy head-first into the ring steps, then hip tosses him onto the Spanish announce table. Undertaker continues to beat on Kennedy before launching him off the table chest first into the ring apron. Back in, Taker continues his assault by punching and choking Mr. Kennedy, who seems a bit overmatched this time. That is, until Undertaker misses a knee lift in the corner, and goes flying out of the ring, allowing Kennedy an opportunity to stomp the proverbial mudhole in the Undertaker. Kennedy goes on the apron and launches himself towards a now standing Undertaker, but he gets caught and driven spine first into the post. Undertaker scoops Kennedy up on his shoulder and carries him towards the hearse, but Kennedy slips out and pushes Taker into the hearse, then follows with more strikes. Kennedy continues to strike and slam the Undertaker into the hearse, before opening the back door. He puts Undertaker in (while audibly calling the next spot) the back of the hearse, but Undertaker is able to get out with a boot to the face. Undertaker continues to assault Kennedy by firing punches and slamming his opponent into whatever happens to be there before rolling him back in the ring. Actually, he sets Kennedy up over the apron and delivers his patented leg drop on the apron. Undertaker continues to batter Kennedy, then sets him up on the top turnbuckle and delivers a superplex. Undertaker then throws Kennedy over the top rope, while the "You Suck" guys yells, "save some for me, Taker!" Yeah, like your fat ass would be able to do anything with a guy like Kennedy, why don't you do us all a favor and shut up already. I give you a 0 out of 10.

Anyway, Undertaker scoops up Kennedy again to carry to the hearse, but in a last-ditch effort, Kennedy puts a sleeperhold on the Undertaker, and it works as Kennedy is able to get Taker on the ground. After 30 seconds of this, Kennedy believes he has the Undertaker asleep, so he lets go of the hold and drags the Undertaker in the hearse. He slams the door, but Kennedy has to sit and take a breather while the 'You Suck' guy screams 'NOOOOOOOOOOOO' at the top of his voice. He eventually goes to drive it away, but the Undertaker is waiting for him in the drivers seat and commences his beating of Kennedy. They end up around the announce table, and while Undertaker clears the table of its monitors, Kennedy grabs a steel chair and uses it to repeatedly jab Undertaker in the ribs. Back in the ring, Kennedy smashes the Undertaker in the back with a chair, then gives Taker two shots in the head with the chair. But Taker sits back up, and Kennedy decides to head out of the ring with chair in hand. Apparantly, Kennedy has had enough, so he attempts to escape the Undertaker by climbing up the wall set up for the pay-per-view, with Undertaker quickly following. Both men are now on top of the mock castle, which looks about 10 feet high or so. I am quickly corrected as Michael Cole informs me they are some 15, 20 feet in the air as Undertaker pounds away on Kennedy. Undertaker goes for a choke slam off the structure, but Kennedy kicks him down low, then uses Undertaker's moment of weakness to throw him off the structure. Yes, Taker probably landed in a padded area, but it still looked dangerous, especially with the camera focused so that it looked like Taker was flying into your living room, so to speak. Kennedy climbs down and the referee tries to stop him from further beating on the Undertaker while a hush has fallen over both the crowd and the announce booth. Kennedy does open the hearse door and drag the Undertaker, who hasn't moved, towards the hearse. Kennedy gets the Undertaker in, and gets in the driver's seat, where a camera is mounted. All of a sudden, the Undertaker sits up with an evil look in his eyes. He drags Kennedy out of the hearse, then sets him up to deliver the world famous 'Undertaker rights and lefts' combo. Kennedy ducks a steel chair shot and a swing of a lead pipe that shatters the hearse window, but he can't duck the next shot, a steel chair directly to the head. Kennedy is now busted open. Undertaker puts Kennedy on the roof of the hearse, which can't be good. As it turns out, it isn't good as Kennedy is chokeslammed hard on the hearse roof. To make matters worse, Undertaker then Tombstones Kennedy on the hearse roof for good measure. Undertaker puts Kennedy out of his misery by stuffing him in the hearse and driving out for the victory. Good match, not great, but good, with a couple of cool spots and at one point it looked as if Kennedy would win, so it wasn't a total squash. I'd give it a 3.45 out of 5.

P16- Antonino Rocca: Antonino Rocca vs. Lou Kim

Rocca was a huge wrestling star back in the 1950s, considered an innovator of the ring with his aerial tactics and fast-paced, entertaining style. In this match from 1952, he takes on Lou Kim, who I don't know anything about, but he has sideburns and a fu manchu, so he's probably at least better than Jim Powers. Rocca bounces around the ring on his bare feet, as I guess that's his thing. After some feeling out, Kim locks a bearhug on Rocca, but must break the hold. Rocca confounds Kim by dropping to the mat and rolling around in the ring, with Kim unable to catch him. He then leaps on Kim's shoulder and puts him in a headlock with his legs, but Kim is able to get to the ropes and places Rocca on the corner. Kim rocks Rocca with a few overhand chops to the back and the head, and covers, but Rocca's legs are under the ropes. Kim with a full nelson, but Rocca flips over his back into the ropes, then dropkicks Kim to tie him up further. After Kim escapes, Rocca does another running dropkick, and a third one ties up Kim into the ropes again. Kim eventually gets out on the apron, but is counted out as he can't return to the ring before the count. Rocca leaps in celebration. This was quite a different match to those of today, but I wasn't crazy about it, so I'll give it a 1.65 out of 5.

P17- Antonino Rocca: The Kangaroos and Dr. Jerry Graham vs. Antonino Rocca, Ricky Starr, and Miguel Perez

This video is from sometimes in the 1950s and features the original Kangaroos (Al Costello and Roy Heffernan) team up with Dr. Jerry Graham to battle Rocca, the ballet dancer/wrestler Ricky Starr, and the father of a future Los Borica, Miguel Perez. We start with Starr doing cartwheels all over the ring while Costello chases after him and eventually Costello falls face first into the ropes, allowing Starr the opportunity to jump on his back two times. Rocca decides to enter the ring and do the same while Heffernan chases after Starr. The Kangaroos double team on Ricky Starr some, then Costello puts Starr in a full nelson, but Starr flips him over his back and takes Costello down with a series of dropkicks, and after the fourth one, Starr covers and gets the first fall for his team. Rocca starts the second fall for his team, and repeatedly kicks each of the Kangaroos with a front kick to the face. We cut to Perez pounding away on Heffernan, then going to the other corner and swinging at each of his opponents. Cut to Graham giving Rocca a pair of bodyslams, but catching Rocca's feet in his face after the second one. Rocca then dropkicks Graham a few times before somebody interferes, only for Rocca to dropkick him into Graham. Cover by Rocca, and the ref counts to three to give his team the victory. After the match, Starr tries to get after the interfering party, but is eventually pulled off of him. I wonder how good the whole match was? As for what I saw, it was kind of silly, to be honest, so I'll give it a 1.35 out of 5.

P18- Armando Estrada: ECW 6/10/2008 Armando Estrada vs. Finlay


The former general manager of ECW, Armando Estrada takes on Finaly in this match on the June 10, 2008 edition of ECW. Finaly comes out with his 'son' Hornswoggle, and guess what, Mike Adamle is on commentary with the man he once referred to as 'the Taz'. What did I do to deserve this honor? Estrada was just fired from his GM role last week, so now new GM Teddy Long is forcing Estrada to fight Finlay and win in order to earn a contract. Estrada shows some moxie by going after Finaly before the bell, and starts the match raining blows on Finlay. Armando whips Finlay into the corner and charges, only to take a boot to the head. Finlay seems a bit ticked, as he comes after Armando with a pair of clothesline, then gives Armando a bodyslam and a sitdown splash for his troubles. To make matters worse for Armando, Finlay delivers his finisher, the Celtic Cross, and it proves to be a true finisher as it gets the three count. Finlay and Hornswoggle celebrate a job well done, but here comes Teddy Long. Estrada is lucky that Teddy likes him, as the new GM gives Estrada another match to earn his contract, this one against Colin Delaney, the very same man Armando put in matches against men twice his size in order to earn a contract. Delaney comes out, and Finlay being the guy that he is, canes Estrada in the back of the leg with his shillelagh. Delaney DDTs Estrada upon entering the ring, and gets the three count in about six seconds. Long still feels charitable, so he gives Estrada one more chance with a match against Hornswoggle. But Estrada's still down, and Hornswoggle takes this opportunity to scurry up the turnbuckles and deliver the Tadpole Splash to get the quick victory. The three Irishmen dance in celebration of their various victories, but Delaney makes the mistake of placing Hornswoggle's hat on Finlay, which results in a shillelagh shot to the face. Well, that made me laugh, and it also made Finlay crack a smile. Back to celebrating for the Finlays, and the video ends. Poor Armando. I'll give a 2.5 out of 5 just because I like Finlay cracking fools with his shillelagh.

P18- Arnold Skaaland: Superfly Jimmy Snuka and Arnold Skaaland vs. Lou Albano and Don Muraco, MSG, 12/26/1983

This match took place the same night Skaaland's other client at the time, Bob Backlund, lost his WWF Heavyweight Title to the Iron Shiek after Skaaland threw in the towel while Backlund was in the camel clutch. So Skaaland had a big night on this night. Here the match starts off with the then 58 year-old donning the tights and squaring off against big Don Muraco. Skaaland takes Muraco by surprise with a pair of arm drags, but Muraco is able to regroup and puts a headlock on Skaaland. Skaaland whips Muraco out of the position, then ducks for Muraco to leap over him. Muraco puts on the breaks to taunt the fans, but walks into a Skaaland body slam, and then 'the Golden Boy' decks a charging Albano for good measure. Back up, Muraco whips Skaaland, who uses the opportunity to hit Albano again, then small packages Muraco for a two count.  Tie up, but Skaaland ducks under and tags out to Snuka. Muraco headlocks Snuka, and then shoulderblocks him after an Irish whip, but Snuka gets the upper hand after a pair of leapfrogs and a karate chop to the throat, which sends Muraco bailing out of the ring. Back in, Snuka gets a one count after a flying headbutt, then puts Muraco in a chinlock. Snuka drags Muraco over to the other corner and forces the Magnificent one to tag in Albano, and 'The Guiding Light' squares off with his former charge. Snuka starts off with some strikes, but a low blow hunches Snuka over and allows Albano to punish Snuka with forearms. While Albano has the ref's attention, Muraco comes off the top rope and drives his knee into Snuka. After some more punches, Muraco is tagged in, and continues the punishment on Snuka with a pair of knee lifts. After a minute of Muraco dominating Snuka with strikes, Superfly sees an opening and fires at Muraco, eventually knocking him down with a headbutt. Snuka then karate chops Albano just because he can, but Muraco prevents any further punishment on Albano with a dropkick that knocks Snuka down. Albano's in, he delivers some of the worst strikes in the history of pro wrestling before tagging in Muraco again. Muraco hooks up Snuka in a full nelson and waits for Albano to strike Snuka, but Captain Lou takes forever and a day and Snuka ducks out the way so Muraco takes the force of the Captain's blow. Skaaland comes in and pounds away on Albano, while Snuka climbs to the top and flattens Muraco with a cross body block. Cover, and the ref counts three giving Snuka and Skaaland the victory. Snuka's not yet finished, and gives a double noggin knocker to Muraco and Albano before both men stagger out of the ring. Kind of a strange match, as a 58 year old manager was able to hold his own against Muraco and Albano got a lot of offense on Snuka. Not that good of a match either, but I guess the right team won. I'll give it a 1.25 out of 5.

P18- Ashley Massaro: Ashley Massaro on Raw

This video is from the March 12, 2007 editon of Raw. Ashley Massaro, the former contestant of Survivor:China and the second WWE Diva Search winner is talking about her signing of her Playboy cover at some store in New York. Not surprisingly, there's nothing but dudes in line. Then for some reason we get Todd Grisham interviewing Mick Foley. Mick is here to promote his book, The Hardcore Diaries (which I reviewed earlier). Mick plugs his book and his appearance of ECW when Ashley shows up to exchange her Playboy for Mick's book. Ron Simmons shows up, looks at the magazine, and says Damn. Later on, Ashley runs to the ring and spears Melina because I guess the two have an upcoming match. Well, at least this was short. 1.3 out of 5.

Well, that's all for now. Remember, if you have any thoughts about the matches reviewed above or about the 2BWE project itself, then feel free to leave a comment on this post. Also, if you have any ideas for future posts, then send me an e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com. Also, remember, Arriba is the victory cry.

Canon Wrestling Review: WCW Monday Nitro: April 17, 2000

This post comes thanks to one of the new features on blogspot, the stats menu. One of things that you can do with the stats feature is find out which search terms led a viewer to your blog. Well, according to the amount of people who have ended up here searching for the Wendy's Triple Baconator, I take it that a lot of people are hungry. Anyway, I saw that some reader ended up on the Canon Review because they searched for WCW Monday Nitro: April 17, 2000. So obviously, somebody wants more information about that particular show, so I figured, why not watch this here episode of Nitro and see how it is. Since it takes place during the Bischoff-Russo era, I have a strong feeling that it will suck, but I've been surprised before.

- It's the night after Spring Stampede 2000, and as such we get a minute and a half of still shots detailing last night's show. A lot of crap happened and Mancow wrestled Jimmy Hart, that's all I remember from that show. Your idiots in the booth tonight are Tony Schiavone, Scott Hudson, and Mark Madden. A whole bunch of confetti and red balloons drop from the ceiling, and security guards are shown blocking the main entrance in order to block the Millionaire's Club  from entering. Great, take the only people in the company that can draw off the show. Good strategy. Anyway, here comes Russo with his New Blood champions, Chris Candido (Cruiserweight Champion), Buff Bagwell, Shane Douglas (Tag Team Champs), and Scott Steiner (United States Champion). Russo gets on the mic, tells Jim Ross to kiss his ass, than introduces the new World Champion Jeff Jarrett, who also wishes for JR to smooch his backside. Jarrett expresses anger at not being asked to star in Ready To Rumble, which wouldn't make any sense since Jarrett was employed elsewhere at the time the movie was filming, than challenges Diamond Dallas Page to a Triple Cage Match straight out of the movie, which I'm sure everyone has seen at least 25 times, as it's just that great. Anyway, Eric Bischoff comes out with DDP's wife Kimberly, and the two go on to explain why Kimberly bashed her husband in the head with a guitar last night. Apparently, Kim is sick of being in DDP's shadow, and states that she's the real star of the Page family. Russo keeps talking while we cut to the parking lot, where DDP is calmly told that he's not allowed in the building tonight. DDP does not respond kindly to this, knocking out the unarmed security guards and heads to the ring. There's a riot squad around the ring, but they let DDP in without resistance. DDP gets a couple of shots in before the 5-on-1 advantage gets the best of him. Here comes the riot squad, and they start beating up the New Blood with nightsticks. They take off their helmets, and holy moly, it's Ric Flair, Sting, and Lex Luger of the Millionaire's Club! Who saw that coming? I think everyone did. Not the worst way to start, but it took a little too long to get going.

- To the back, where Bischoff chews out a group of New Blood wrestlers for not helping out earlier. Booker T takes exception, and the two exchange words before Booker and the rest leave in a huff. Hulk Hogan calls up Bischoff, and threatens him with a beating in five minutes. Shawn "The Perfect One" Stasiak and Curt Hennig wrestle each other in the first match of the evening. Ms. Hancock is out, for reasons unknown. Hennig hip tosses Stasiak a couple of times, but Stasiak uses punches and two body slams to take advantage. Hennig rolls out, Stasiak gets too close and Hennig pulls him out of the ring. Hennig chops Stasiak and bounces him against the guardrail and the announce table. Hennig sees Mark Madden, and does what any reasonable man would do and throws a cup of water in Madden's face. Unfortunately, the water does not short out Madden's mic, so I still have to hear him talk. Back in, Hennig Cartwheels out of an Irish whip! but Stasiak grounds Hennig with a clothesline. Stasiak uses a suplex to get a 2 count on Hennig, and goes to Irish whip Hennig, but that gets reversed and Stasiak ends up eating a kneelift for his troubles. Hennig with a running clothesline that catches both Stasiak and the referee. Perfectplex from Hennig, but there's no referee. While Hennig gets up to check on the ref, Stasiak digs out some brass knuckles out of his kneepad, and uses them to knock out Hennig. A Perfect Plant (kind of like an F-5, only Stasiak falls forward on his face instead of back) finishes Hennig off, and Stasiak gets the upset victory. Useless match that had no heat and did nothing for anybody. 1 out of 5.

- To the outside, where Hulk Hogan is surrounded by policemen blocking him from the building. Hogan gives the cops a Super Mega Stare, and the cops meekly back down for fear of suffering the wrath of Hulkamania. Apparently, Rockford, Illinois has the wimpiest police force in the United States. Hogan enters the building, seems to wander around as if he doesn't know where the entrance is, and the camera cuts to Stasiak stomping away on Hennig. Hogan, having found the correct way to go finally, comes out, saves Hennig from Stasiak's stomps and throws Stasiak out of the ring, and then we break for commercial.

- Back in the ring, Hogan has a microphone. He goes on about how he hasn't lost a step and is still the top dog and this and that, and challenges anyone in the back that wants to take his spot to come on down and get some. He then starts using his real name while running down Bischoff and Russo, so you know it's a SHOOT~! Hogan, or Terry Bollea as it were, claims that he has more heart than any other wrestler in the back. Well, that's sure to make him some friends. Hogan calls out Kidman, but Kidman shows up on the bigscreen and challenges Hogan to come back to the parking lot for a fight. Hogan rushes out, but he doesn't see Eric Bischoff and the notorious white Hummer. Uh oh.

- Mean Gene is with Jeff Jarrett, who has decided to put an open contract out, and the first New Blood member to sign it gets a shot at his World Title tonight. Hopefully it will be Shannon Moore. Jarrett then concludes the interview by calling Mean Gene a "Jurassic Slapass". Hey, that's my nickname! To the ring, where the Wall is going to wrestle Terry Funk for the WCW Hardcore Title. Yes, Bischoff and Russo's master plan to get the Hardcore Title is to send out The Wall. Funk slams a chair against the Wall's head to begin the match. Wall shrugs it off and throws Funk over the top rope out of the ring. Wall grabs the chair and heads to the outside, but takes a low blow. Funk uses the chair across the Wall's back, and climbs to the top rope. Moonsault press by Funk onto Wall, but that move didn't go quite as planned as Funk nearly lands on his on the outside. Ouch. Wall's up first and delivers a big boot to Funk. The two get on the announce table, and Wall piledrives Funk on the table, but it doesn't give at all and the two just fall off the table. Wall drags Funk around the outside, throwing him against one guardrail and slamming another guardrail against him. Further back, Wall finds a round cage, and uses it to slam the door on Funk's head a couple of times. Wall seems to be in control, until a bunch of tables mysteriously fall on Wall and knock him out. Funk puts a table on the Wall, double foot stomps through it, and gets the three count. A somewhat entertaining spectacle that was ruined by a crappy ending. I'll give it a 1.4 out of 5.

- To the back where Kronick demands a shot at the World Tag Team Titles tonight, but Russo denies them. Meanwhile, somebody signs Jarrett's contract, and when Jarrett sees who it is, he's not happy about it at all. Who is the mystery opponent? I bet it's The Artist Formerly Known as Prince Iaukea. Mean Gene is talking with DDP, who promises to gain revenge on Eric Bischoff for stealing his wife and will leave Mike Awesome laying tonight.

- Bob Probert's in the crowd tonight, watching the Mamalukes (Johnny the Bull and Big Vito) come out. In the back, Kronick is beating up the Harris Brothers, who were supposed to wrestle the Mamalukes but now they can't. What a shame, Kronick comes out instead and brawls with the Mamalukes. Full Nelson slam by Adams on Vito. Johnny the Bull does a flat-footed jump from the ring to the top rope, turns around and jumps back down, but eats a Bryan Clark chokeslam for his efforts. An F-5 from Adams onto Vito, and both Mamalukes end up taking Kronick's High Times finisher (double choke slam) before Adams gets the mic. He states that whoever faces them will end up in chronic pain and living a chronic nightmare, and Russo better give them a title shot or he'll find out what a chronic nightmare entails for himself.

- Vampiro comes out and grabs a mic. He says that Sting knows nothing about pain and that last night at Spring Stampede (where he came out from under the ring and dragged Sting down with him to presumably issue a beating) was only the beginning. At Slamboree, Vampiro promises to devour Sting. That starts Sting's music in the lights go out. The lights come back on just as Sting finishes his descent from the ceiling. Sting beats on Vampiro with his bat for a while, giving Vampiro a lesson in pain, as Sting put it. Sting finishes off with the Scorpion Death Drop to leave Vampiro laying in the middle of the ring. Sting proclaims WCW is his turf before leaving once again. Well, that made Vampiro look like a chump, building very little interest in their match at Slamboree since Sting just got his revenge right then.

- Hogan is still looking for Kidman, and asks some kids if they know where he is. Meanwhile, Jarrett moans and groans to Russo about his title match tonight against the mystery opponent. I bet it's Wade Barrett. DDP comes out as a fan holds up his book, Positively Page, which had recently come out around this time. His opponent is Mike Awesome, and the two waste no time as Page connects with a tornado clothesline and starts beating on Awesome in the corner. Irish Whip to the corner, but Awesome is able to springboard off the second turnbuckle with a back elbow, which almost gets a three count. A big splash from Awesome also gets 2. Irish Whip by Awesome, but Page is able to deliver a floatover DDT which also gets a two count. The two exchange clotheslines, and Page catches Awesome with a Uranage slam for a 2 count. Page eats a back elbow and goes to the outside, allowing Awesome to deliver a springboard lariat to the floor. Man, Awesome went a long way on that move. Awesome tries to give Page a standing splash against a guardrail, but Page moves and slams Awesome in the back with a chair. The announcers take this time to commentate about WCW's new lax disqualification rules. Back in. Page charges in with a chair, but Awesome slams his foot into the chair and into Page's face. A forearm to the chair in front of DDP's head sends Page to the outside. Chris Kanyon runs in, which gets a disqualifaction only half a minute after they talked about the new WCW's policy of letting fights go on. Kanyon takes a German suplex for his efforts, and Awesome goes to get a table. Kevin Nash's music hits, and Awesome waits for him to come to the ring. Instead Nash comes out of the crowd and attacks him from behind, before powerbombing Awesome through the table. Match was rushed, but if these two had 10 minutes they might of had a good match. Instead I'll give it a 1.5 out of 5.

- Tank Abbott is here, hopefully to beat up on Mark Madden again. Mean Gene is talking with the Tag Team champs, Shane Douglas and Buff Bagwell. What an odd combination. Bagwell and Douglas talk about their opponents at Slamboree, which are Lex Luger and Ric Flair, respectively. Douglas then calls Luger a jackass and challenges him to a match tonight, which Luger accepts, provided Vince Russo does not interfere. Tank Abbott is coming to the ring, and Mark Madden is throwing a fit for fear of taking another Tank beating. Abbott puts Madden in his place by yelling "Don't even look at me, fat ass". Ha, of all the wrestlers in the world, Tank Abbott is one of them. Tank goes on to explain that once again, until Goldberg comes back to face him, he will beat up another innocent person. This week's victim was to be part owner of the Chicago Blackhawks Bruce MacArthur, but before Tank could get started, Blackhawks' tough guy Bob Probert (perhaps the best fighter in NHL history) leaped over the rail and saved his boss. Security came out to break the two apart before anything could happen. Such a shame, because it would have been interesting to see those two go at it.

- Hogan asks Terry Taylor, who just arrived about 90 minutes into the show, where Kidman is. Taylor leads Hogan in Kidman's direction, and the fight may finally happen soon. Jarrett is informed by Russo that his mystery opponent still wants the match tonight, which greatly displeases Jarrett to the point where he calls Russo J.J. Dillion. Well, obviously that means that Jarrett's opponent will be Ole Anderson. Lex and Shane Douglas are out to have their match. Luger starts by punching Shane, and than spends the next minute or so using kicks, punches, and turnbuckle smashes all over Douglas, making the Franchise look like a jobber. Douglas finally gets a Russian legsweep and chokes Luger with a piece of tape. Irish Whip into the corner by Douglas, he charges, only to eat a boot to the face. Luger with a series of clotheslines, which brings out Buff, Buff comes out with his music and pyro going off during the middle of the match, distracting Luger and allowing Douglas to take advantage. Luger ducks a clotheslines and runs off the ropes, only for Bagwell to grab his foot. Luger drags Bagwell to the apron, but a low blow sends Luger down. While Bagwell preoccupies himself with Luger's manager Miss Elizabeth, Douglas whips Luger into the guardrail, near a fan with a Sting mask. The fan attacks Douglas with a bat, and reveals himself to be Ric Flair. The two go to beat on Shane inside the ring, and the ref calls for the bell. Russo comes out to drag off Douglas, and the three go to the back arguing about something. You know, for a show that is promising the promotion of the young guys, the young guys are sure taking a butt-whooping on this show. This was no different. I'll give it a 0.6 out of 5 and hopefully I'll forget that I ever watched this match.

- Hogan has finally found Kidman, after 1 hour of looking for him. He starts kicking Kidman's butt before Torrie hits him with a 2 x 4. That doesn't faze Hogan, so he grabs Torrie by the throat and backs her up against a post before Kidman makes the save. Kidman gets two punches on Hogan before Hogan just annihilates Kidman, throwing him against the wall and a plastic cart a few times before yelling that he will kill Kidman. Bischoff is seen hiding in the corner while Hogan picks up Kidman and throws him into a dumpster. Hogan sees Bischoff and goes after him. Bischoff goes in the Hummer, but it won't start, so he takes off up the ramp and out of the parking garage. Hogan decides to get in the Hummer and remarkably, it starts right back up. The hell? He then proceeds to ram the dumpster containing Kidman with the Hummer three times, which is probably illegal in most states. Hogan takes off in the Hummer up the ramp, presumably to commit vehicular homicide on Eric Bischoff. God, this is stupid. Kidman is then rescued from the dumpster and put on a stretcher by medical personnel. 

- Jarrett comes out to wrestle the mystery opponent. That man could be none other than Josh Hamilton. Oh wait, it's Scott Steiner, accompanied to the ring by three of his 'freaks', I suppose. The match starts, and Steiner goes to work on Jarrett in the corner. A clothesline and elbow drop follows by Big Poppa Pump, and Steiner then slams Jarrett with a gorilla press drop. After Steiner whips Jarrett into the corner, Jarrett gets the boots up into a charging Steiner, and starts stomping away at his opponent. Cross body block from the top by Jarrett, that gets a two count. He follows up with a dropkick, but Steiner reverses an Irish Whip and then catches Jarrett on his shoulder as Jarrett leaps in an attempt to dodge Steiner. Slam into the corner by Steiner, followed by a choke while Jarrett's in the Tree of Woe. Belly-to-Belly gets two for Steiner, and after the two exchange low blows, Steiner gets the advantage and puts Jarrett in the Steiner Recliner. Out comes Booker T, who scissor kicks Steiner, drawing the DQ and saving Jarrett's title in the process. Booker grabs Jarrett and says, "you're welcome, punk". That makes for the third DQ of the night, when the announcers had been talking all night about how WCW is going to let their wrestlers fight. Match wasn't long enough to mean anything and wasn't all that good anyways. I'll give it a 1.2 out of 5.

- Hogan's in the back with a pipe, he finally finds Bischoff, and Bischoff takes off running all the way to the ring, Hogan backs up Bischoff in the corner and starts threatening him, when Bret Hart comes out with a chair. Hart swings the chair, but the show goes off the air before we see who he blasts with the chair. Hopefully it's both of them.

This show was 31 flavors of suck. The matches didn't go very long, the interviews tended to drag, and their was way too much Hogan walking around cursing backstage. Plus the show did nothing for the New Blood except make them look like chumps, especially Kidman and Vampiro. This was just one bad wrestling show. I'll give it a 1.8 out of 10, and I recommend nobody go back and watch this tripe. Well, thanks for reading, and if you have any ideas for blog posts or reviews, or thoughts about this post, let me know about them either by e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com or by leaving a comment.


Kidman & Hulk Hogan Brawl 17.4.00
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A look at Wrestlers Before They Were Big-Time

As the old adage states, "you have to start somewhere". Well, these wrestlers who went on to achieve such incredible heights in their profession started out at the low end of the totem pole just like anyone else. For some, their potential was apparent even in their early years, for others, it took some polishing before they could reach the big time. So, without further adieu, here is a look at some big-time wrestlers when they were only small-time.

Video 1: Sterling Golden (Hulk Hogan) vs. Chick Donovan

This match takes place in Georgia Championship Wrestling and is from 1980, I believe. Before the match starts, Golden gets on the mic and stumbles through telling the crowd how bad-ass he is before stating that he will put up 1,000 dollars if anyone can get out of the Golden Squeeze. Donovan tries to tie up with Golden three times, but each time he gets thrown to the ground by the much larger Golden. Donovan changes tactics and sends Golden against the ropes after a dropkick, but gets caught with a big boot while charging into Golden. Golden uses his power to his advantage, using the backbreaker to get a two count. Donovan hits another dropkick that stunned Golden, but after taking a thrust to the throat, Donovan is whipped in and caught with the Golden Squeeze, which is a bear hug. Donovan sells it like death and gives it up, giving Sterling Golden a victory. Nothing more than a squash here, and not much of one either. I'll give it a 1.1 out of 5.



Video 2: Rob Zakowski in USWA Week 3

This video from 1992 features a match with Rob Zakowski (Rob Van Dam) taking on USWA enhancement talent Bill Rush. Rush has the build of a young Mark Curtis, while Zakowski/RVD has a blond mullet and is wearing plain blue trunks. Zakowski backflips into the ring, than starts the match with a couple of hip tosses before back flipping over a ducking Rush and hitting a dropkick on his opponent. Irish whip to Rush, Zakowski does a split and then monkey flips Rush on the rebound in a spot he would go on to do hundreds of times in his career. Zakwoski does a series of basic wrestling holds, like the armbar and side-headlock takedown, while the announcers compliment Zakowski not just for his speed but for knowing the basics as well. An eye gouge gives Rush the advantage for a few seconds, until Zakowski counters an arm-wringer with a series of quick kicks finishing with a leaping heel kick to the head. A backbreaker from Zakowski sets up his finisher, the split-legged moonsault. Zakowski nearly lands on his head, but does a last-second rotation to land the move perfectly and get the victory. Another squash, but this match had Zakowski showing off some skills and moves that weren't so commonplace in 1992. I'll give it a 2 out of 5.



Video 3: Jake Roberts vs. Shawn Michaels (UWF 1984)

It's the Heartbreak Kid as a kid taking on the veteran Jake "the Snake" Roberts, who also would go on to bigger and better things not long after this match. The video features no commentary, which is probably for the best. Michaels looks somewhat similar to Rob Zakowski in the last video, with a blond mullet and blue trunks. Tie up to start, and Roberts backs Michaels up against the ropes before making a clean break. Michaels surprises the veteran with a pair of hip tosses. Jake regains control with a headlock takedown. Back up, Michaels reverses an Irish Whip and ducks down, but Roberts stops himself and catches Michaels with a right hand. Another headlock takedown from Roberts grounds the youngster. Michaels is able to get up and whips Roberts into the rope, Jake leapfrogs Michaels, but takes a right hand for his efforts. This makes Roberts mad, and he backs Michaels into the corner and knees him in the gut. Big scoop slam from Roberts, who follows that up with a series of hair pulls. Roberts remains in control with brawling tactics, before Michaels starts firing back with some rights of his own. Michaels staggers Jake with a dropkick, than whips him in the corner to continue brawling with the Snake. Michaels tries to whip Jake out of the corner, but gets a kick to the gut and a brutal short-arm clothesline instead. Roberts hits his patented DDT, and the match is over. Short match, but not too bad, and Michaels got in more offense than I would have expected him to, making this a competitive battle. I'll give it a 2.35 out of 5.



Video 4: Leviathan (batista) vs. Brock Lesnar (OVW)

Two future world champions and MMA fighters (although I doubt Batista will have the success of Lesnar) square off in this Ohio Valley Wrestling match from 2000 or so. Batista is accompanied by his manager Synn and her slave, whose name I didn't quite catch, while Lesnar comes out on his own. After a couple of tie-ups, the match remains a stalematie until Leviathan catches Lesnar with a back suplex. The two brawl for a while before Lesnar slams Leviathan to the ground. Lesnar bounces off the rope, but a spinebuster from Leviathan stops him cold. Leviathan stays in control with a series of shoulder blocks in the corner and clubbing blows to the back. Leviathan whips Lesnar in the corner, but Lesnar rebounds with a cross body block that drew a two count. Leviathan takes back control with a kick to the gut, and uses more brawling tactics. A side salto slam from Leviathan gets a two count, and Leviathan than grounds Lesnar with a chinlock. Back up, Lesnar fires some elbows to the gut and bounces off the rope, only to get caught with a DDT from Leviathan. Leviathan keeps control until Lesnar reverses an Irish Whip into the corner and delivers an overhead belly-to-belly on his opponent. Clothesline from Lesnar, and another overhead belly-to-belly from Brock. Synn's subordinate gets on the apron to distract the ref while Lesnar plants Leviathan with a body slam from the Fireman's Carry position. But the ref is distracted, and Synn sprays a substance into Lesnar's eyes, giving Leviathan a chance to finish his opponent with the spear. That's what Leviathan does, as he gets the tainted victory. Post match, Lesnar clotheslines Leviathan and the back, slams Synn down to the mat, than grabs the other woman before Leviathan makes the save with a blow to the back. Leviathan stomps away on Lesnar while the referees and another wrestler unsuccessfully try to pull him off. The match wasn't terrible, but both men were awfully green here. I'll give it a 1.6 out of 5.



Well, I think I'll stop here for now. I hope that you have enjoyed this look back at some wrestlers back in the day before they hit the big time. Well, thanks for reading, and if you have any ideas for future posts on The Canon Review, or thoughts about this post, than let me know about them either by leaving a comment or e-mailing me at kthec2001@gmail.com.

The Canon Review of Starrcade 1994

After reviewing the brief WCW tenure of the Honky Tonk Man a couple of weeks ago, I found myself interested in watching more of World Championship Wrestling, circa 1994. This can't be a healthy interest, as most wrestling fans are not big fans of that particular time period, and for good reason. Well, I don't care, I'm going to watch and review Starrcade 1994 anyway. Starrcade 1994 is notable because the main event featured WCW World Champion Hulk Hogan taking on his best friend Brutus Beefcake, going by the moniker of "The Butcher" for some reason here. Yes my friends, WCW's biggest show of the year is main-evented by Brutus freakin' Beefcake. But wait, there's more, as the other big matches include Sting vs. Avalanche (John Tenta), Vader vs. U.S. Champion Hacksaw Jim Duggan, and in what was likely the match of the year, Kevin Sullivan wrestles Mr. T. This looks to be quite the show. Actually, I've seen it before, but that was like 10 years ago and besides, a show like this should be rewatched at least 9 times. So, in the words of Tazz, here comes the pain.

We open with a rundown of the card and the introduction of our announcers, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, and Gene Okerlund doing the interviews. Great, I'm going to have to suffer three hours of Bobby telling jokes and Tony refusing to laugh at any of them. Bobby makes some joke about Nashville being full of rednecks which Tony ignores and Gene chastises Bobby for. Aaron Tippin sings the national anthem, wearing a Tampa Bay Lightning jersey for some reason. After that, we see clips of Randy Savage promising to confront Hogan at Starrcade and Hogan accepting the Wrestler of the Year award from Pro Wrestling Illustrated magazine. After all of that nonsense, we are finally ready to start this show.

Up first is the first of tonight's "Triple Main Event", between Vader and Hacksaw Jim Duggan for Duggan's United States Championship. Duggan comes out ready to fight tonight, as he constantly beats Vader to the punch and keeps his opponent off balance for the first few minutes of the match with a variety of clotheslines and punches. Duggan even pulls out a cross-body block and bodyslams the 450 pound Vader at one point. Eventually, Vader takes control, and gets a two count after the Vader splash off the second rope. A short while after, Vader attempts the moonsault, but Duggan moves out of the way. Duggan gets back up, clotheslines Vader a couple of more times, and catches and slams Vader down after Vader jumped off the middle rope. Duggan's got the cover, but referee Nick Patrick is distracted by Vader's manager, Harley Race. Duggan goes into the three point stance and charges his opponent, but Vader throws Duggan into Race, who puts Duggan's 2 x 4 in the air and Duggan runs into it. Duggan's down, but Vader picks him up off the ground, and slams him face first with an inverted powerbomb type maneuver. That gets three, and Vader's the new United States Champion. Not a bad match, and Duggan got the crowd fired up early, even though a lot of people cheered when Vader eventually won. Too many clotheslines in this match, though, and Vader didn't seem all that interested, to be honest. I'll give it a 2.5 out of 5.

Mean Gene's in the back with the Faces of Fear (Butcher, Kevin Sullivan, and Avalanche). Sullivan's the only one that should talk, but everybody gets some mic time and Butcher ends up flubbing a couple of lines. Up next is a matchup of two young superstars. One of which would become arguably the biggest star in the business, while the other had a few years of employment, but by and large was out of the sport a few years later. It's Alex Wright vs. Jean-Paul Levesque, better known today as Triple-H. I suddenly became very sleepy while watching this match. A LOT of chin locks and mat wrestling that really goes nowhere. Levesque used a spinning wheel kick at one point, which I don't think he's done since. The end comes after Levesque whips Wright into the corner, Wright backflips behind his opponent, schoolboys Levesque and gets the victory. After watching the match, it was clear that Levesque was the better worker, but both men were very inexperienced at this point and the match basically killed the crowd dead. Afterwards, WCW kept pushing Wright as it's hot young superstar, while Levesque soon left WCW to go on to bigger and better things in the WWE. In hindsight, I think WCW might have made a mistake here. Match gets a 1.2 out of 5.

The next match is supposed to be the third Honky Tonk Man-Johnny B. Badd match, but HTM walked out on the company just before the show, so mercifully I am spared from watching that debacle. Instead we get Arn Anderson vs. Johnny B. Badd for Badd's television title. Heenan states that they should have bombed Nashville instead of Horishima, which just horrifies Schiavone. I guess Heenan's not a fan of the Music City. The match starts with a bunch of tie-ups, Badd pulls off a move, and Arn quickly backs away sequences. Johnny B. gets the advantage with a few punches, but Arn hits the spinebuster, but doesn't cover Badd because he's still dazed from the punches. From there, Arn takes over, using the abdominal stretch, and a sleeper hold. Badd gets out of the sleeper, puts on his own sleeper, but Anderson gives Badd the jawbreaker to get out of it. Both men get back up, and Badd counters out of an Irish whip with a nice-looking headscissors. He gets a couple of two counts, than attempts the sunset flip from the top rope. Badd hits it, but Anderson once again kicks out at two. Anderson rolls up Badd and has his foot on the ropes, but the referee saw it and gets Arn off of him. Arn thinks he's won for some reason, but Badd sneaks up behind him and uses the same finish as the previous match, a schoolboy that gets the three count. Anderson is in shock and Badd retains the TV title. Probably better than anything HTM and Badd could have put together, but I wouldn't go out of my way to watch this match again. I'll give it a 2 out of 5.

The Nasty Boys are presented with the 1994 PWI Award for Tag Team of the Year, which leads us into our next match featuring the Boys and Harlem Heat, who are accompanied by Sister Sherri. The match starts off as a brawl between the two teams, but quickly becomes an honest to goodness wrestling match. That's not really a good thing, though, as basically the Nasties do a lot of arm work on Harlem Heat, but that's quickly forgotten, so we basically got four minutes of mat wrestling for no real reason. Stevie Ray drags Jerry Sags out of the ring, and gives him a pump kick out in the aisle, giving Harlem Heat the advantage. However, Booker T's the legal man, so we have to wait for about a minute before Stevie drags Sags (hey, that rhymes) back to the ring. From there, Booker T delivers a scissor kick, but only gets two. Harlem Heat slows the match down even more, because clearly that's what this show needed, another slow match. Sags delivers a DDT to both men and gets the hot tag to Brian Knobbs, who gets in there and brawls with Stevie Ray. Sherri gets on the apron, goes to spray Knobbs with some sort of aerosol product, but she "accidentally gets Stevie Ray instead. I say accidentally because Knobbs ducked some five seconds before Sherri used the spray. Booker gets on the top, but Knobbs throws him off and Sags hit a big elbow drop. Cover, but Sherri dives off the top to break it up. Somehow, the Nasties see this and move, making Sherri land on Booker T instead. The ref calls for a disqualification, and the Nasties have Sherri cornered. They then stick Sherri's face in Sags' arm pit. Well, that's disgusting. After the match, both teams are shown in the back delivering promos about how they'll continue to fight or whatever. The promos looked very ECW-ish, if that makes any sense at all. This match kind of sucked, I'll give it a 1 out of 5.

Sting is presented with PWI's most popular wrestler of the year. We go to the back with Sting and Gene. Sting says he's tired of hearing everybody talk about what they're going to do at Starrcade, so naturally, he talks about what he's going to do at Starrcade. I wish he would have talked more, because up next we have Kevin Sullivan wrestling Mr. T. Sullivan comes out, and we get another ECW-style promo of Sullivan clawing at the wall backstage because he's crazy. Mr. T has decided to dress like a prisoner, with a black-and-white striped shirt and stocking hat on. T gets the first moves in, but Sullivan gets the advantage with some brawling. They go the outside, a cameraman trips over the stairs, and unfortunately for him, T and Sullivan decide to wrestle in the exact same area, so the poor cameraman is under Mr. T, who is getting beat down by Sullivan. It was actually funny, at least to me. Santa Claus comes out, somebody in the audience pulls off his hat and Jimmy Hart gives him a megaphone to put in his bag. Santa's actually Evad Sullivan, Kevin's "brother" and he wallops Kevin in the back with the sack. Mr. T covers, and wins the match. Evad celebrates with the fans outside the ring, but Kevin comes up from behind and beats him up. He takes Evad to the ring, and Evad's pants are falling off. Luckily, he had his wrestling gear underneath, or otherwise that would have been a quite unwelcome sight. Kevin piledrives Evad, takes Santa's belt off, and whips his "brother" in the face with the belt. That looked like it might hurt. The match gets a 0.3 out of 5, as T really couldn't do anything and well, it just sucked.

Hulk Hogan and Jimmy Hart are in the back with Gene. Hulk addresses both the Butcher and Randy Savage and promises to rip all of his opponents in half. Jimmy Hart says he'll never leave the Hulkster's side. Well, that turned out to be a lie, didn't it. Avalanche comes out for his match with Sting, and naturally, Sting follows. What transpires after this is one of the sloooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwweeeeeeesssssssstttttttt matches you will see. Avalanche does hardly anything and is blown up about five minutes in. All Sting can do with Avalanche is kick him in the leg and wait for Avalanche to get his breath back. Sting tried, but it just was not going to happen. Avalanche stalls a lot and does a bunch of side headlocks with the occasional leg drop or clothesline thrown in. Sting finally starts to get some momentium, knocking Avalanche down with a clothesline. He backs the 'Lanche into the corner and hits the Stinger Splash, but the referee was trapped behind Avalanche and he goes down as well. Sting turns over Avalanche for the Scorpion Death Lock, but Kevin Sullivan interferes. Sting has some success fighting them off, but the numbers are too much for Sting. Avalanche uses his patened sit-down splash on Sting, and goes for another one but Hogan comes out and chases his two enemies out with a chair. Sting wins by disqualifaction, marking yet another unsatisfying and cheap finish on this show. I almost fell asleep during this match at least twice, so I'll give it a 0.5 out of 5.

We see Jimmy Hart win the Manager of the Year Award from PWI. Whoop-dee-damn-do. We then get a recap of the events that led up to Hogan wrestling his best friend. See, a masked man kept attacking Hogan, and at Halloween Havoc, that man was revealed to be Brutus Beefcake. So, here we are. Butcher comes out with Sullivan and Avalanche, while Hogan comes with Jimmy Hart and a chair. Michael Buffer makes the introductions, which takes up about three minutes of time, Avalanche and Sullivan are sent to the back, and off we go. This match set the record for most back rakes used in a single match, as 80% of both men's offensive repertoire was the dreaded back rake. Hogan even pulled out the dreaded chest rake as well. Hogan uses a chair, but the match still continues. Hogan starts biting the Butcher, but again, the ref lets it go. Butcher does something, I don't remember, but it ends with a nerve hold on Hogan. Butcher then puts his patented sleeper on Hogan. Hogan's arm drops twice, but he just barely holds it up the third time. Butcher thinks that he's won, but he has not, and Hogan begins to Hulk out all over Butcher. Sullivan runs out, and Avalanche struggles to jog out. They both get blows from Hogan, so they hang out on the apron and watch Hogan legdrop Butcher for the three count. Afterwards, the three Faces of Fear surround Hogan, but here comes Randy Savage. Savage shakes Sullivan's hand, but WAITAMINUTE! Savge attacks Sullivan and teams with Hogan to run the threesome off. Savage shakes Hogan's hand and the two celebrate. To the locker room with a post-match interview with Savage and Hogan. They talk about this and that, but here comes Vader, who calls the Hulkster out. Chaos then ensues as wrestlers and security struggle to hold the two men apart. Looks like we've got a main event for the next WCW Pay-Per-View spectacular. I don't know what to give this match and I never want to see it again, so I'll just say a 1 out of 5 and leave it at that.

Well, that was not very good at all. Most of the matches either disappointed or sucked as much as you thought they would. The first match was the best of the night, and even that was just ok. So I strongly recommend you not watch this show unless you are having trouble falling asleep one night. I'll give the whole show a 2.4 out of 10. Well, thanks for reading, and if you have any better ideas for reviews than this, then for goodness sakes send them to me. You can send them either by e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com or by leaving a comment on the blog.

WCW Road Wild: August 8, 1998

WCW Road Wild 98 took me about five hours to watch, for various reasons. Some of which were beyond my control, others were because I felt like doing something else for a few minutes. But by golly, I did watch the whole show, and it was quite a show indeed. WCW Road Wild was held in Sturgis, South Dakota during the world famous Sturgis Bike Rally. Admission was free, and many fans could just ride in on their Harleys and sit on their bikes the whole show. The whole thing was an excuse for Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan to ride their motorcycles and attend the bike rally. Seriously, they held a wrestling card, charging nothing for tickets, just so they could be big shots at a motorcycle rally, yet people still wonder why WCW could fail. Maybe because of bonehead decisions like this. To their credit, it was a pay-per-view event, so it wasn't a total loss, I guess. Anyway, Road Wild 98 featured the one and only wrestling match of Jay Leno, who team with Diamond Dallas Page against Hogan and Bischoff in the main event. At least Leno is a much bigger name than future WCW Champion David Arquette, so that's something. On with the show.

Meng vs. Barbarian (w/ Jimmy Hart)

Our hosts for the evening are Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, and Bobby Heenan. Schiavone tries to look cool in a leather jacket, but fails. Tenay is wearing a denim jacket over a denim shirt. He couldn't have look more like a sex offender if he tried. Heenan is probably drunk. Our first match is between the Barbarian and Meng, in a battle to determine who is the best face of fear. Barbarian comes out with Jimmy Hart. This match had a lot of headbutts and chops. Barbarian did a swank belly-to-belly suplex off the top rope. Meng gets out at two, Meng hits a powerslam, but only gets a two. Jimmy Hart keeps climbing on the ring apron, and nobody ever reacts to it. Finish comes after Barbarian calls for a kick of fear, but Meng instead gets the Tongan Death Grip for the pin. Jimmy Hart and Hugh Morrus come in to beat on Meng. Hart dives off the top onto Meng with the worst body splash in the year of 1998, and Morrus grazes Meng with a moonsault. Jim Duggan (huh?) comes in for the save, and chases off everyone with his wood. Meng doesn't even thank Duggan for his assistance, the jerk. Best match of the night, and by that I mean it was the best match of the night so far.

Disco Inferno and Alex Wright (w/ Magnum Tokyo) vs. Public Enemy

Disco gets a few cheers, which is surprising because he's wrestling in front of a bunch of macho bikers. The crowd doesn't care for Wright, however. The announcers claim that Public Enemy will be fan favorites, because hey, who doesn't like a couple of fat white guys pretending to be black more than bikers. I am proven wrong, as TPE gets a nice reaction. The teams start out wrestling, and Disco and Alex dance a lot. At one point Wright hit a missile dropkick on Grunge for a two count, and the crowd couldn't care less. For some reason, Tokyo gets a trash can and Wright nails Rocco Rock in the back. Surely that's a disqualification, right? Nope, referee Mark Curtis changes it to an impromptu street fight.  The result is what one would think a hardcore match involving Disco Inferno and Alex Wright would be, dumb. I think this match set a record for most times somebody got hit in the back with a trash can. At one point, Wright walks off because Magnum accidentally hit him, then Magnum leaves, leaving Disco alone. Public Enemy sets up three tables on top of each other outside the ring, and pulls Disco up a ladder so they can set on the stack. Rocco climbs up a lighting rig, and drops an elbow on Disco through the three tables. Grunge has the drag him back in for the count. He covers Disco, but Magnum tries to break up the cover with a top rope splash, Grunge moves, Tokyo splashes Disco, and then Grunge gets the three count. Why they added that in the match, I don't know. This match was 15 minutes long and felt like an hour.

Match 3: Raven vs. Saturn vs. Kanyon (Raven's Rules, Falls Count Anywhere in Sturgis)

This match is to determine the superior single named wrestler whose name in with an n. Actually, Saturn hates Raven, Kanyon hates Saturn but supposedly is in cahoots with Raven. Raven tells Kanyon to get Saturn, but changes his mind a minute later and posts Kanyon. The first couple of minutes mainly consist of Kanyon and Saturn wrestling while Raven sits in the corner. Well, the other two wrestlers eventually have enough of this, so Kanyon dropkicks Raven in his junk. The two then team up on Raven. I mark out for the Total Elimination (finisher of Saturn's ECW Tag Team, The Eliminators), but nobody else seems to care. Raven kicks out at two just to further frustrate me. I don't care if the match is over 10 years old, I'm still angry about it. Eventually they go to the outside. There's some piledrivers and suplexes on the stage, but it seems as if everyone's just going through the motions. Heenan wishes an 18-wheeler with no breaks would come down the ramp. I guess Heenan's not a fan of any of these guys. They get back to the inside, Saturn gets a sleeper hold on Raven, Kanyon puts Saturn in the sleeper as well, but Raven counters with a jawbreaker, sending everyone down. They also do a stack superplex spot as well, but nobody seems to give a crap. Heenan says he wishes he was in the match so he could "give up and end it". Kanyon and Raven fight on the outside, Kanyon suplexes Raven, climbs up another lighting rig for a splash, but Lodi moves Raven out of the way. Raven comes back in, only for Saturn to hit a Death Valley Driver on him. Lodi comes in to break the three count, but Saturn disposes of him. Horace Boulder comes in with a stop sign, but puts the sign down to club Saturn. Wait, Horace has the sign, and Lodi has some cocaine (it's just powder, but considering what happens next, it would make more sense if it were cocaine). Horace goes to hit Saturn with the sign while Lodi tries to throw cocaine in Saturn's eyes, Saturn ducks, Horace stops, than the cocaine hits him and kicks in, so he hits Lodi about 10 seconds after Saturn moved. Horace tries again to stop Saturn, but hits Raven instead. Saturn then dumps Horace on his neck with a german suplex, before hitting another DVD on Raven for the three count. On paper, this match looked like it could have been good, but in reality, it was average at best. I still didn't hate it as much as Bobby Heenan did.

Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Psychosis (Winner gets a match for the Cruiserweight Title)

Nobody bothered to clean the cocaine out of the ring. These two have had a ton of great matches together. This wasn't really one of them. I don't know if it was the heat outside or the fact that Rey's just coming off of knee surgery or something else, but this match was about as slow-paced as Meng vs. Barbarian. Just not what you would hope for from two guys who you know can do so much better. There were a couple of cool moves towards the end, including an electric chair drop with a bridge from Psychosis, and a sweet springboard hilo from Rey. The end came with Misterio doing a springboard hurracanrana and dropping poor Psychosis right on his noggin for the three count. That looked like it hurt. Match was decent, but as I said before, these two have had much better matches than this.

Stevie Ray vs. Chavo Guerrero (WCW TV Title Match even though Booker T is TV Champion)

This match is for a title that neither man holds, as Stevie's brother Booker T is officially Television Champion, but Stevie has been defending it on his behalf, much to the bewilderment of the three idiots in the booth.  Chavo comes out with a leather vest and leather hat. I would call this his Chavo Guerrero Hard Gay look. Stevie comes out with a leather hat as well. Chavo tries to shake hands, but Stevie Ray doesn't want to. The match is just three minutes of Chavo running around dodging Stevie Ray. That is, until Stevie finally catches him and hits him with the "Slapjack" which is kind of like a pedigree, only Stevie lifts his opponent off the ground before driving him into the mat. Stevie gets the three count, promises more pain for Chavo, but Eddie Guerrero comes out to stop him. Stevie walks away. Chavo doesn't trust Eddy, though. Lee Marshall talks to Chris Jericho, and Jericho says some mumbo jumbo about he's going to whoop Juvi later on tonight, even though Deano Machino Malenko is the special guest referee.

Rick Steiner vs. Scott Steiner was scheduled, but Scott was hurt. Scott was pushed out in a hospital bed with an IV hooked up by Buff Bagwell. J.J. Dillon comes out and says that the match will take place at Fall Brawl, which doesn't please the live crowd any because they won't be there. Dillon says if Scott doesn't wrestle at Fall Brawl, he will be barred from wrestling, which causes Steiner to rise out of his bed. Whoopee.

Bryan Adams (w/ Vincent) vs. Steve "Mongo" McMichael

I've been trying to think of a match I'd rather not see, with the roster WCW had at the time. The only match I could think of is McMichael vs. Van Hammer, but even that might be more entertaining than this atrocity. I'm convinced this match was the result of a bet amongst the WCW Booking Committee to see who could book the worst possible match. I can't believe WCW charged people to see Mongo wrestle Bryan Adams. This match was as bad as you would expect. My favorite part was when they managed to mess up an entire sequence of moves. Adams screwed up a missed clothesline by punching Mongo in the gut, Mongo tries to shoulder block him but ends up short, and the whole mess ends with Mongo giving Adams a shoot DDT.  Another high point in the match is when Adams leg drops McMichael, walks around Mongo in a circle, and without any other better ideas, legdrops Mongo again. Schiavone tries to claim that Bryan Adams can wrestle, which I guess is technically true, but he sure as hell isn't any good at it. At the finish the ref is somehow kicked by Mongo while Adams is attempting a piledriver, Vincent gets on the apron with a chair. Adams holds Mongo, but Mongo ducks and Vincent gently taps Adams with the chair. Mongo hits the Mongo Spike on Adams (tombstone piledriver, in case anyone has forgotten) and gets the victory. This match sucked hard. It was so bad I nearly cried.

Chris Jericho vs. Juventud Guerrera (WCW Cruiserweight Title Match, Special Ref: Dean Malenko)

This was during the Jericho-Malenko feud where each man was getting huge reactions but neither man could get past the mid-card because WCW couldn't recognize a good thing if it punched them in the face. Anyway, Jericho manages to get some reaction out of the bikers saying that he drove his Honda motorcycle to Sturgis and that he doesn't want to wrestle in front of a bunch of weekend warriors. It's funny because it's true, but everyone revs up their bike, probably causing the poor bastards behind them to breathe in the exhaust fumes. Bunch of jerks. This match is better than the last match, which wasn't hard, as these two actually hit three moves without messing something up. Actually this was the best match of the night, even if Jericho was stalling big-time after about five minutes. Still, there were a lot of things to like about this match, including Jericho's gorilla press into a tombstone, and a brutal looking double powerbomb on Juvi that made Juventud bounce off the mat. Juvi comes back with a DDT, and then hits a Juvi Driver that nearly puts Jericho on his head, but luckily he adjusted at the last second. Jericho kicks out, and then counters a huracanrana with the Liontamer, but Juvi gets to the ropes. Jericho thinks he has the match won, and demands Malenko to raise his hand, but Deano won't do it. They wrestle into the corner, Juvi beats on Jericho, but Malenko pulls him away. Juvi inadvertently pokes him in the eyes, giving Jericho an opening to hit Guerrera with the Title Belt. Jericho gets Malenko's attention by slapping him, getting the ire of the referee. He eventually counts the pin, but Guerrera kicked out.  They end up in another corner, Jericho perched on the top rope. Dean pulls off Juvi, and for some reason Jericho kicks Malenko off. This allows Juvi to charge at Malenko, who hurls Juvi into the air onto Jericho to hit a huracanrana off the top rope. Guerrera covers, and gets the three count. Afterwards Jericho argues with Malenko, but he gets decked for his efforts. That was a good match right there, not a classic, but a lot better than most of this dreck.

Nine-Man Battle Royal: The Giant, Curt Hennig, Scott Norton, Scott Hall, (nWo Hollywood) Kevin Nash, Sting, Konnan, Lex Luger, (nwo Wolfpac), Goldberg (WCW)

Pinfalls and Top-Rope Eliminations both count in this battle royal. For reasons beyond my understanding, the crew at WCW decided to most of their big draws in the same match. It would have been a lot better for everyone if they just had Goldberg wrestle the Giant, and maybe put a tag match with say, Hall and Hennig vs. Nash and Sting in place of Mongo-Adams. As it is it's just a match that does nothing for a lot of these guys and isn't very good to boot. The focus was on Goldberg, as the announcers made a big deal about how Goldberg's never been in a battle royal, so his undefeated streak might end tonight. Also, Hall and Nash were in the middle of a feud that eventually would go nowhere, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. Goldberg eliminates Hall with a backdrop, and Nash decides to eliminate himself to go after Hall. Smooth move there, Kevin. Everybody punches everybody for a while, until Goldberg spears and eliminates Konnan. To the shock of the crowd, Hennig nearly eliminated Goldberg, but Bill fights out of it and dumps Hennig. Goldberg goes over and dumps both Sting and Norton over the top. So Sting, only one of their top three draws, at the least, gets treated as if he's just another faceless henchman. That's smart. Luger gets speared by Goldberg and the Giant eliminates him, leaving Goldberg and The Giant alone. The Giant chokeslams Goldberg, but Goldberg sits up like the Undertaker or something. He then spears the big man, and even puts The Giant in the Jackhammer, which nearly causes Schiavone to orgasm on air. Goldberg wins, eliminating six guys and looking unstoppable in the process, much to the delight of the bikers in the crowd. Match was what it was, neither all that good or all that bad.

Diamond Dallas Page and Jay Leno (w/ Kevin Eubanks) vs. Hollywood Hogan and Eric Bischoff (w/ The Disciple and Miss Elizabeth)

As far as matches involving celebrities goes, this wasn't the worst. It was far from the best, but it wasn't the worst. At the very least, it was better than Mongo v. Adams and Public Enemy v. Wright and Disco. Kevin Eubanks came out in a sleeveless shirt, and had some guns on him, I tell you what. The match was mostly Hogan vs. Page, they'd hit a few spots and go on from there. The announcers kept pimping Bischoff's karate background, but he looked so goofy with his kicks that I have a hard time believing he ever took a class, much less is some sort of karate master. Leno got in a few times, kept pointing to his chin (he must have pointed to it 30 times during the match) and did an arm twist on Hogan and hit Bischoff with a couple of punches that looked like crap. At the end, Bischoff holds Leno as Hogan tries to wallop Leno, but Leno ducks (I swear, they used that same spot, or at least a variation of it, in every single match on the show. It gets kind of old seeing the same spot for the 8th or 9th time). Anyway, Page clotheslines Hogan over the top rope. Eubanks comes in, hits Bischoff with a Diamond Cutter that actually looked halfway decent. Leno covers Bischoff and gets the three count. After the match, Hogan and Bischoff attack the faces, but Goldberg comes in and delivers a double spear to Hogan and Bischoff to make the save. Goldberg, DDP, Leno, and Eubanks stand tall in the ring, and that's the end of the show.

Well, that was an adventure. To my surprise, Jay Leno did not wrestle in the worst match in the show. Leno would go back to his day job, leaving WCW with a 1-0 record. Unlike Mongo and Bryan Adams, Leno was also able to hit all of his moves cleanly, even if some of them looked a little rough. This was not that great of a wrestling show. The only match I would recommend seeing is Jericho vs. Juvi, which was good, but not great. Overall, I'd give the whole show about a 2.4 out of 10. Thanks for reading, and if you have any ideas for future posts, than let me know via e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com. To end this post, here is a video of Jericho vs. Juvi, just in case you want to see it.


Juventud Guerrera vs. Chris Jericho-Cruiserweight title
Uploaded by Stinger1981. - More professional, college and classic sports videos.

WCW Monday Nitro: February 21, 2000

I got up somewhat early today, so instead of doing something productive, I decided to go on YouTube and watch an old WCW Monday Nitro. This episode is from February of 2000, which means that it will more than likely suck. Here is a recap of what I saw.

- This episode takes place the night after Superbrawl 2000, which was highlighted by Tank Abbott holding a knife to his opponent and threatening to kill him. At least that was the highlight for me. The show starts with Mean Gene Okerlund in the ring, ready to welcome "this man", whoever that is. Lex Luger comes out wearing a FUBU shirt, which is the exact moment FUBU became uncool. Luger tries to not stumble over his words and complains that he should have beat Hulk Hogan last night. Hulk Hogan comes out, says he and Luger should wrestle tonight and that he came prepared with an "18-foot high steel cage" hanging above the ring. So Hogan and Luger in a cage is your main event this evening.

- They show a clip of Jarrett hitting a wheelchair bound Kevin Nash with a guitar last week. Jeff Jarrett and the Harrises come out with four women that they show on screen for 2 seconds. You know, if you're going to pay these women to show up, you could at least give them a few more seconds of air time. Anyway, Jarrett complains he should have won the World Title last night against Sid and Scott Hall, he's got stroke, blah, blah, blah. He pulls out a contract stating that if he didn't win at Superbrawl, he gets a 1-on-1 match with the champion. It was signed by commissioner Kevin Nash, the same man Jarrett clobbered just last week. Huh? Jarrett concludes by saying he's going to unleash the Harris boys upon WCW tonight. Oh no.

- Backstage, Kidman can't find his camera, while Madusa, wearing Tommy Hilfiger overalls, is mad over her lack of a match this evening. She blames Oklahoma, then destroys the white board with all the matches on it.

- We finally have a match, as the camera-less Kidman comes out to face Lash Leroux. Kidman lands on his head after a Lash headscissors. The match ends abruptly as the Harris Brothers run out. They beat up on the two cruiserweights, and give Kidman the H-Bomb, which according to Mark Madden destroys everything within a 20 foot radius. How a crappy double choke slam can be that destructive, I have no idea. Anyway, the Harris brothers walk to the back yelling about something. Meanwhile, Kidman's camera catches Buff Bagwell trying to hit on The Maestro's girlfriend, Symphony. Buff is rejected, and tells Symphony not to mention any of this.

- Vampiro comes out, he lost to Kidman last night. Out comes Finlay in gray camouflage, and we have a match. The match is wild and wooly, as Finlay bashes Vampiro's throat into a chair on the outside. They get back in, and Vampiro takes the advantage. At one point, he basically dives back first into Finlay in some sort of reverse Thesz press. Vampiro motions for the Nail in the Coffin, but Finlay stiffly clotheslines him. Finlay however, gets rolled up after missing a charge into the turnbuckle, and Vampiro wins the match. Finlay does not like this turn of events, and tombstones Vampiro.

- Backstage, the Maestro is beating up on Buff, Buff is unhappy that The Maestro hit him in the face. Meanwhile, La Parka is reading a newspaper when Madusa propositions him.

- Mean Gene interviews Booker, who's upset over losing his music and his T (seriously, he lost the letter T to Ahmed "Big T" Johnson). He says he's ready for war against Big Vito. Vito and the rest of the Marmalukes come out. Disco is confused, because in the space of thirty seconds, the match has been changed to Booker vs. Disco Inferno. Disco then changes the match to a handicap match, Booker vs. the Marmalukes for their World Tag Team Titles. Booker answers by cracking Disco in the mouth, and the match is on. So we have one man fighting for the Tag Team Titles. OK then. Booker wallops on everybody for 90 seconds before Disco throws him off the top rope for the DQ. The Marmalukes are stomping on Booker. To make things even better, the Harris Brothers come out. They destroy the Marmalukes and give Disco the H-Bomb, then deliver an H-Bomb to Booker. The Harrises stand strong. Why WCW would put this much effort into building up a Tag Team that nobody would ever buy a ticket to see, I'll never know.

-To the back, where Mean Gene is standing with Terry Funk and Dustin Rhodes, who have a match with the two biggest bad asses in WCW, the Harris Brothers. Funk and Rhodes promise victory. Sid is shown, and says something in a psychotic voice. We get a recap of the Harrises' butt kicking tonight, and Harlem Heat 2000, with Big T in a pink jumpsuit is interviewed. Stevie Ray is not bothered by Booker's beatdown by the Harris boys, and Harlem Heat 2000 promise dominance or something.

- Oklahoma comes out as the WCW Cruiserweight Title Match graphic is shown. Everyone's favorite wrestling parody will be joining us for commentary. The Champion, The Artist Formerly Known as Prince Iaukea, comes out to ripoff of Purple Rain. It sounds better than most of the other theme songs. La Parka comes out, apparently he has lost 100 pounds and got breast implants. WAITAMINUTE! That's Madusa, who dresses as La Parka to anger Oklahoma or something. Oklahoma comes into the ring, unmasks La Dusa, only to get a few weak slaps for his trouble. La Parka comes out and hits Oklahoma with his chair. However, the Artist hits La Parka with another chair, and misses his finish (a jumping DDT off the top rope) for the three count. Well, that was a whole pile of suck. Where are the Harris Brothers when you need them?

- Ric Flair is with Luger while he trains. Flair says Luger is going to end Hulkamania before he gets cut off by the entrance of Terry Funk and Dustin Rhodes. The Harrises come out to the nWo theme song with Jeff Jarrett (apparently, they were the only three members of the mighty nWo). Jarrett blesses us by joining the commentary team. The Harris brothers beat on Funk for a while. Funk finally gets the advantage, but one of the Harrises knock Dustin down before Funk can tag out. Funk is not deterred, and puts the other Harris in a spinning toe hold. That gets Jarrett off the headset (thank God) with his guitar, but Funk meets him at the pass. Sid comes out to even the sides, and Jarrett hits some black guy with his guitar because, well, he had to hit somebody. Sid chases Jarrett off as Funk finally tags Rhodes in. Rhodes turns on Funk with a DDT because, well, why not? Jarrett speeds off in his car while in the ring, Rhodes brains Funk with a steel chair.

- Backstage now, Gene is interviewing Buff, who says he will get ruff with The Maestro. Meanwhile, Rhodes is beating up Funk outside as Funk was about the get into the ambulance. Rhodes gives him a few shots and Funk is left lying. While the paramedics are checking on Funk, Rhodes gets into the ambulance and drives off. Yep, Dustin Rhodes STOLE AN AMBULANCE! That's gangsta right there. Gene is in the ring, and he brings out Sid for an interview. Sid complements Jarrett on his wit, but promises to rule over him at Uncensored, where Jarrett's rematch will take place. Sid promises Jarrett that he will see him in hell, and hell will be Uncensored 2000. Sounds about right. Meanwhile in the back, Booker and Kidman are being separated from the Harris Brothers by security, and Ric Flair complements Dustin Rhodes for turning on Terry Funk, saying to Gene that tonight, Dustin Rhodes became a professional wrestler.

- To the ring, where we have Buff vs. Maestro. These two have no chemistry whatsoever, as Buff nearly misses a neckbreaker due to Maestro taking it too early. Buff takes control, then goes to the outside to talk to Symphony. This enrages the Stro, as he charges towards Buff. But Buff moves, and Maestro runs into Symphony, bumping her against the ring steps. Symphony sells the ring steps as if she's Hulk Hogan, and gets right back up. The Cat comes out, which distracts Maestro and the production team, as they miss Buff's blockbuster which ended the match. The Cat says that, since James Brown showed up last night at SuperBrawl, the Maestro must change his music due to a bet the two had. The Cat plays' Maestro new theme, which sounds like Notorious B.I.G. if he had Down's Syndrome. Maestro is angered by his new music, and chokes out the referee before the music stops playing, placating Maestro.

- Sid gets in his limo and speeds off to give chase to Jarrett. This despite the fact that Jarrett had a twenty minute headstart and Sid's in a limo. I guess it goes to show that Sid is dumb. A video package from last week's Saturday Night is shown, highlighting Janitor Jim Duggan's TV Title defense against Robert Gibson, and Lord Steven Regal's challenge to Duggan, saying that if he can't beat Duggan for the TV Title, he will retire from WCW. All of this for a title that Duggan found in the garbage.

- Hey, it's Bam Bam Bigelow. He comes to the ring, and The Wall jogs behind him and attacks Triple-B from behind. Bigelow threw a lot of moves at The Wall, including a top-rope headbutt and an enziguri, but Wall kicked out of every last one of them. Wall catches Bigelow on the top rope, and chokeslams him off for the surprise victory. According to Tony Schiavone, "The Wall is awesome!" Whatever you say, man.

- Hogan is beating on the side of a steel mesh fence, repeatedly screaming Luger, Luger, Luger. Hulk Hogan is psychotic, brother! Meanwhile, Ric Flair tells Arn Anderson and David Flair to step up their games. Why, I don't know. Anderson and David just stare blankly with the same bewilderment in their eyes as everyone watching at home. Gene is back with Hogan, who declares that he will be the man that escapes the cage, what ya gonna do, yadda, yadda, yadda. Flair and Luger are walking to the ring when they see Hogan's manager Jimmy Hart, getting water. They decided to push Hart into a bag of popcorn.

- Luger comes out with Flair, and they take turns kicking Jimmy Hart's ass down the entrance ramp. They beat on him some more until the show goes to commercial. When the show comes back on, Flair and Luger are still delivering a beating to Hart. Hogan finally comes out, there are a few chairshots and blow exchanged, nobody sells anything, and finally Flair is sent to the back and Luger and Hogan are in the cage. Hogan takes advantage, using his cast (due to Luger "breaking his arm") to his advantage. Luger takes advantage after slamming Hogan's head into the steel, and delivers his weak looking blows. Luger got Hogan up for a vertical suplex, and then puts Hogan in the Torture Rack. As Luger is about to walk out of the cage, Hogan Hulks up, and starts peppering Luger with blows. Flair comes out, chops Hogan to no avail, and gets the ol big boot leg drop combo. Miss Elizabeth (Luger's manager at the time) sneaks in a chair while Hogan continues the beatdown of Flair and Luger. Hogan takes off his weightbelt, but Luger finally sees the chair and smacks Hogan in the back with it. Flair takes the weightbelt and whips Hogan with it. Security comes in to try and break things up, but Luger takes care of security head Doug Dillinger, and then "breaks his arm" by weakly stomping on a chair which has Dillinger's arm in between the back and the seat of the folding chair. The show ends, with no man escaping the cage. How hard would it have been for Luger to quickly walk out to win the match? Did they really have to end it in a no contest? Stupid WCW.

Overall, this show was only good from an unintentional comedy standpoint. The best match was probably Vampiro vs. Finlay, and that match was short and sucked anyway. The Harris Brothers were in four different segments even though nobody in the history of wrestling has ever given a crap about them. The best part of the show was Dustin Rhodes stealing an ambulance. I'd give it a 2 out of 10. Remember, if you have any ideas for future reviews, then let me know at KtheC2001@gmail.com. Review ideas can be about anything, even oven mitts.