This is part 4 of the Big Bad WWE Encyclopedia Video Project, in which I attempt to watch a video of every single entry listed in the WWE Encyclopedia. In this edition, I get to see wrestlers such as Bertha Faye, the Bastian Booger, Battle Kat, and Beaver Cleavage in action. Lucky, lucky me. For more specifics about this project, then check out the link here. Not, onto the show.
P23- Barry Windham: Barry Windham vs. Arn Anderson
This match is from sometime in September of 1991, although I'm not sure of the exact date. Jim Ross mentions that these two used to be part of an elite organization, but refuses to state which organization that is. Windham gets right in Anderson's face, so Arn decides to slap him, and the fight is on. Windham with three right hands, and Anderson scurries out to the outside. Anderson tries a hammerlock, but Windham gets out of that with a back elbow. The video skips to later in the match, and Windham is working over Arn's leg to the point where Arn is limping. On the outside, Windham goes after Arn, but Arn gets the advantage and throws Windham into the steel post. Anderson, like a good Anderson does, works over Windham's arm now, yanking it into the ring post, and then stomping on his shoulder once they get back into the ring. Anderson continues the assault with an arm bar, and uses the ropes for leverage whenever the ref is out of position. After Windham declares that he will not give up, Anderson then tries to position Windham's shoulders on the mat, and gets a series of two counts before Windham finally gets out of it by kicking Arn in the face. Now up, Windham decides to kick at Arn's injured leg before whipping him into the ropes, only for Arn to rebound with a kick to Windham's bum shoulder. Arn with a hammer lock, but Windham gets back up and fires back at Anderson with a series of back elbows, then catches Arn with a sleeper hold after reversing an Irish whip. Both men fall face first to the mat, and neither me or Jim Ross is sure as to why. Back up, Windham is whipped into the ropes, and both men's heads bump into each other. Arn gets the advantage with a snapmare, then tries an attack from the second rope, only to take a pair of boots to the face. Windham tries a similar attack, and his clothesline connects. Cover, but Anderson's foot is on the ropes. A Windham powerslam also gets two, but Arn rakes the eyes and tries a piledriver. Windham is able to backdrop him, but Anderson holds on for a sunset flip and with the assistance of the ring ropes, holds Windham down long enough to get the three count. BUTWAITAMINUTE, Ron Simmons comes out and explains to the ref that Anderson was holding on to the ropes, so the match is restarted and amidst the confusion, Windham scores a quick rollup on Arn to get the three count. Good stuff here between two top-notch performers, though I wish it went longer. I'll still give it a 3 out of 5.
P23- Bart Gunn: Bart Gunn vs. Faarooq
The leader of the Nation of Domination takes on the future Mike Barton in this match from the January 20, 1997 edition of Monday Night Raw. Faarooq starts by knocking down Bart with a shoulderblock, then Gunn gets back up with a pair of armdrags sandwiched by a dropkick and takes Faarooq down. Gunn continues to work over Faarooq's arm as the show goes to commercial. Back from the break, Faarooq is now in control, and flattens Gunn with a spinebuster that gets a two count. Faarooq distracts the ref while PG-13 works over Gunn from ringside, then puts Gunn in a rear chinlock. Bart gets out of it and boots Faarooq in the head after an Irish whip, but then misses an elbow drop. Faarooq covers for a two count, then puts on the rear chinlock again. Faarooq gets tired of that and slams Gunn down, then goes to the top rope, only for Gunn to move out of the way of his flying attack and send Faarooq flying face first to the mat. Bart connects with a back elbow and a pair of clotheslines, then takes Faarooq down with a bulldog. Cover, but PG-13 puts Faarooq's leg on the bottom rope. Well, Bart's had enough of their antics, so he takes out both members, but gets knocked down by a flying axe handle from the apron by Faarooq. Crush comes over and rolls Bart back in, and Faarooq finishes the job with a Dominator to get the victory. Well, that wasn't very interesting at all. Not good and did nothing for anybody. I'll give it a 1 out of 5.
P23- Basham Brothers: Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero vs. Basham Brothers
The Bashams defend their World Tag Team Titles against the team of Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio in this match from No Way Out 2005. Eddie and Danny Basham start out, with Danny pointing to the S.O.D. on his tights, which stands for Sit on Down. Actually, it's referring to their positions as the Secretaries of Defense in JBL's Cabinet. Eddie, and the rest of us, are not in the very least impressed. The two do a sequence of holds which ends with Eddie putting an arm wringer on Danny and tagging in Mysterio who attacks the outstretched arm with a double axe handle. A quick leg drop after a snap mare gets a two count. Danny drives Mysterio into his corner and tags in Doug, and the two pound on Mysterio in their corner before Danny leaves. Danny chokes Rey with the tag rope while the ref is preoccupied with Doug, then Doug whips Rey in, which is a bad idea because Mysterio rebounds with a flying arm drag. Tag to Eddie, and he goes to work on Doug with some strikes before countering a backdrop attempt with a huracanrana. But Basham lands on his feet, and brawls with Guerrero before eventually tagging out to Danny, and the champs double team Guerrero in their corner. Danny applies a cross armed sleeper on Eddie, using Guerrero's own arms against him. Eddie is able to get out, and back suplexes Danny down. Doug gets in, and blocks Eddie's attempt to tag out by pulling him back towards the middle of the ring and elbow dropping him. He follows up with two more, which gets a two count. Doug whips Eddie into the corner, takes a boot to the face but quickly rebounds with a powerslam that gets a two count before Mysterio breaks it up. Doug tries a diving headbutt, but misses and Eddie tags out to Mysterio, who catches Doug with a seated senton and a twisting springboard body press to get a two count. Mysterio gets another two count after a bulldog, but Danny breaks it up. While the ref has his back turned, Danny switches with his brother, and flattens Mysterio with a clothesline. While Michael Cole slams the Bashams for cheating while making an excuse for Eddie's cheating because "its a family tradition" (how does he know that cheating isn't a Basham family tradition as well), the Bashams work over Rey in the corner with stomps.
Danny locks in a Full-Nelson on Mysterio, then takes him down and switches to a reverse bearhug. Back up, Danny continues to overpower the smaller Mysterio, and whips him hard against the corner. Danny jacks Guerrero in the jaw, and the ref has to hold back a fired up Guerrero while the Bashams double team Mysterio. A double hotshot gets a two count for Danny, and Mysterio tries to crawl under Danny's legs to get the tag, but Basham puts a stop to that by grabbing the ankle. Tag out to Doug, who lifts Rey onto the top rope, but Mysterio punches out of the predicament, then hits a beautiful moonsault press on Doug for a two count. But Rey still can't get the tag, and Danny gets the tag and puts Rey in a cravate hold before turning that into a rear chinlock. Mysterio tries to escape the Basham's clutches, but gets caught with a double team facebuster. Cover, but Eddie makes the save just in time. The Bashams go for another tag team, but Rey kicks away at both men, then uses his quickness to dodge them, and has them running around in circles, allowing Rey to get the hot tag to Guerrero. Guerrero takes on the Bashams with some dropkicks and clotheslines, then uses his trademark headscissors armdrag to take down both Bashams. That gets a two count on Danny, but Doug comes in and breaks it up, and the two get another two count after a double spinebuster. The Basham try a double suplex on Eddie, but Mysterio takes out Doug with a dive, and Eddie small packages Danny for a two count. Eddie goes to the outside and grabs one of the tag team titles, so Rey goes over to stop him while the Bashams pull off another switch with Doug now in the ring. Eddie thinks better and goes for the frog splash, but rolls through after Doug moves, then nearly gets the victory after a small package. Danny tosses the tag belt to Eddie, who then tosses it to Doug, which draws the referee's attention. While Doug proclaims his innocence and the ref takes the belt away, Rey tosses in the other belt to Eddie, who flattens Doug with it, and Mysterio takes care of Danny with a 619 on the ring post, allowing Eddie to cover Doug and gets the three count. Rather good match, not the greatest of all time but still very good. I'd give it a 3.25 out of 5.
P23- Bastion Booger: Bastion Booger vs. Tony Webb
In this match from the December 11, 1993 episode of WWF Superstars, the legendary Bastion Booger takes on the 260 pound Tony Webb. Webb offers Booger something to eat, it looked like an ice cream sandwich but I'm not exactly sure, but Booger refuses and whips Webb into the ropes. Webb tries a pair of shoulder blocks, but gets nowhere fast and then takes a clothesline to the mush. Booger does one of the worst dances in wrestling history, then throws Webb outside of the ring and follows. Booger with a big splash on Webb against the ring post. Back in, Booger with a power slam, then he repeats his dance before delivering a sitdown splash on Webb (with the camera focused on Booger's gargantuan butt the whole time) to get the victory. Afterwards, Booger reaches into a bag and eats a marshmallow. Well, that was disgusting. I'm giving this a 0.25 out of 5.
P24- Batista: Batista vs. Goldberg and Stone Cold
How can Batista possibly fight off the two most powerful bald men in wrestling history? This video is taken from the November 3, 2003 episode of Raw. Austin calls out Batista in the ring, and Batista doesn't waste much time getting there. The two men exchange punches, and Batista earns a knockdown, but Austin fires back and clotheslines Batista over the rope. Mark Henry comes in for no reason, except to take a Stone Cold Stunner. While Austin disposes of Henry, Batista comes back in and knocks Austin down with a big right hand. Batista goes to stomp a mudhole in Austin. Batista throws Austin into the ringpost, but WAITAMINUTE! Goldberg is coming, bad ankle in all with a steel chair in his hand, and Batista is waiting for him. Poor Mark Henry gets up just to take a chair to the head from Big Bill. Goldberg enters the ring, trades punches, then spears Batista on the rebound of an Irish whip. Goldberg then tries to Pillmanize Batista's ankle with a chair, but Ric Flair comes out, only to eat a spear. But it did allow Batista to escape, and he helps Ric to the back. Austin comes back to the ring to drink a few beers with Goldberg, but Goldberg refuses until he gets a match with Batista on the next episode. Well, Austin decides that that would be swell, so he makes the match and the two 'drink some damn beers', as Austin puts it. Well, it wasn't a match, but it was a fun angle featuring some big name guys, so I'll give it a 3 out of 5.
P25- Battle Kat: Battle Kat in Action
The masked alias of the late Brady Boone, Battle Kat wrestles Paul Diamond in this match from the November 18, 1990 edition of Wrestling Challenge. Battle Kat is decked out in a black cat mask and orange and purple tights. It is not the worst costume I've ever seen a masked wrestler wear, but I can see why Battle Kat didn't last too long. Kat enters the ring and does a couple of backflips to show off his acrobatic skills. Kat pounces towards Diamond and ties up to start the match. Kat shows off his superior skills with a headscissors takedown sandwiched between two armdrags, then comes off the second rope with a back elbow on Diamond. Diamond gets a slight advantage after a headbutt to the gut, but a Battle Kat leapfrog is followed by a superkick. Diamond gets back up, and the two do a rope-running sequence featuring a leapfrog from each men before Battle Kat does a weak looking Thesz Press leading with the knees, and somehow gets the three count even though he barely touched Diamond during the cover. Battle Kat backflips in celebration. Not much to say about this one, other than I can't see why Battle Kat wasn't given the strap at Wrestlemania VII. I'll give it a 0.6 out of 5.
P25- Battle Royal: Wrestlemania 21 Battle Royal
This is a 30 man battle royal featuring 15 stars from Raw and Smackdown, each men wearing the shirts of their show. The two shows square off, with Heidenreich and Hurricane leading the teams. Hurricane gives Heidenreich a Hurri-mask, so Heidenrecih becomes Hurrireich before decking the Hurricane. Now everybody starts to fight one another, and Oh Here Go Hell Come as it's very hard to keep track of what's going on. Hurricane's doing a ten punch move in the corner on Akio when Luther Reigns comes up, puts Hurricane on his shoulders, and dumps him over the top rope. William Regal and Tajiri try to toss Luther Reigns over the top, and eventually they get some more help and Reigns is out. Booker T knocks Viscera down with a big kick, and a number of Smackdown superstars hold Viscera down so Scotty 2 Hotty can deliver his big move, the worm. Chris Masters is apparently offended by this, as he goes into beast mode and eliminates Scotty, Funaki, Spike Dudley, and Billy Kidman in quick succession before Mark Jindrak comes over to duke it out. Charlie Haas gets thrown out by a number of Raw Superstars, and Masters puts the Masterlock on Nunzio and throws him under the ropes, meaning Nunzio is not out since he must go over the top. Raw has a big advantage now, but Heidenrich has had all he can take, so he rips the turnbuckle and then stomps on the mask Hurricane gave him earlier, then he clotheslines Val Venis over the top rope. Heidenreich then starts to go after his own teammate Booker T, but the Bashams talk him out of it, so Heidenreich settles for eliminating Simon Dean instead. Heidenreich's reign of terror continues as he eliminates Sylvan and then throws Rosey over onto the apron, but Rhyno gores Heidenreich in the back, which knocks Heidenreich into Rosey and Rosey out of the match. Rhyno gores Snistsky for some reason, then Hardcore Holly eliminates Rhyno. Tajiri puts one of the Bashams in a Tarantula while Booker T eliminates Conway and Regal eliminates both Bashams at the same time. Both teams regroup, and oh Here Go Hell Come again as they restart the fight with a wild brawl.
Holly hits an Alabama Slam on Regal, while Viscera backdrops Akio and poor Akio lands face first on the steps. Masters and Heidenreich continue their dominance by eliminating Holly and Regal respectively, and Tajiri stands up for his partner by misting Heidenreich. Paul London helps up Heidenreich, then enziguri kicks Masters as he held Booker T in the Masterlock. London goes to monkeyflip Tajiri, but gets placed on the top rope instead. A charging Heidenreich tries to save London, but Tajiri moves and Heidenreich inadvertently knee lifts London over the top rope and out of the ring. Heidenreich and Tajiri fight on the apron, and while Tajiri gets a kick to the head in, Heidenreich absorbs the blow and eliminates Tajiri, only to take a boot from his good friend Snitsky and get eliminated. Jindrak eliminates Snitsky with a monkey flip, and your final four are Jindrak, Viscera, Masters, and Booker T. While Jindrak knocks Viscera silly with a big left hand, Masters comes from behind and tosses Jindrak over the top. But WAITAMINUTE! Nunzio comes back in and climbs on Masters' back, only for Viscera to knock him off and Masters to press slam him over the top rope, meaning Booker T is alone with Raw's Masters and the 500 pound Viscera. Viscera flattens Booker T with a splash in the corner, and the two Raw superstars scoop up Booker and try to toss him over. However, Booker's not done yet, and he fights out of it. Atomic Drop to Masters by Booker, and he goes for the Harlem Sidekick but misses and gets hung up on the rope. Viscera charges, but Booker ducks just in time and Viscera can't stop himself from going over the top, leaving Booker and Masters in the ring. Masters tries for a Master lock, but Booker elbows his way out and then tries to catapult Masters out. That doesn't quite work as Masters holds on, but Booker then superkicks Masters out of the ring and wins the battle royal. Wasn't too bad of a battle royal, and Masters and even Heidenreich looked good in this type of environment, so I'll give it a 2.15 out of 5.
P26- Battman: Championship Wrestling from Georgia bonus footage
Well, I couldn't find a video of Battman in the ring, so I'll have to settle for watching the man behind the Battman gimmick, Tony Marino, compete as Devil Blue in this match against Terry Ellis from the February 23, 1985 edition of Championship Wrestling from Georgia. If you know of any video featuring Battman in the ring, well feel free to point it out to me. Devil Blue is wearing a blue mask, while Ellis is a doughy looking guy in red trunks. Devil Blue with an early advantage as he pounds Ellis down to the mat, and he follows up with a snapmare and a knee to the back. Blue with another snapmare, and he fish hooks Ellis while holding him in a chinlock. He repeats the process, only he decides to change it up a bit by using a head vice. Blue lets go, kneedrops Ellis, then puts him back in the head vice. Blue then tires of this, and starts raining blows all over Ellis, with forearms, stomps, knees, the works. Devil Blue puts on a Russian Sickle, but Ellis stays strong and gets up and out of the hold with some elbows. He then tries to slug it out with Blue, but a big right hand sends Ellis down, and Blue follows with a knee lift and an uppercut. Blue whips Ellis into the ropes, tries to put him in a cobra clutch, but they mess up the spot and it takes a while before Blue can get his grip and properly get the hold on him, and the hold wins the match for him. Well, this was quite boring, even for a squash match. I'll give it a 0.4 out of 5.
P26- The Beast: Cuban Assassin vs. The Beast
The Beast if Yvan Cormier, and he takes on the original Cuban Assassin in this match from Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling in 1999. For some reason, the Beast comes out to Rock n Roll part 2 by Gary Glitter. At this point, the Beast is about 60 years old, so I'm not expecting a five star classic here. The bell rings, and Cuban gets a punch in out of a headlock before letting go. Tie-up, and the Beast wins that exchange with a right hand of his own. After a Beast shoulder block, the Cuban Assassin bails to the outside to regroup. Back in, Beast continues to frustrate Cuban with a takedown by the head and a drop toe hold. Beast scores with an arm wringer, and Cuban must bail again to regroup. So far, Cuban's really doing all the work here. Assassin gets back in, and Beast tries another arm wringer, but Cuban gets out of it with a punch, and knocks the Beast down after two more punches. Cuban continues to work over Beast with punches and nerve holds. The ref constantly checks Cuban's fist for a foreign object, but doesn't find anything. For the next few minutes, the match goes as follows, The Beast gets out of the predicament somehow, then Cuban punches the Beast down, and then goes back to work on the mat. Finally, the Beast gets up and uses a series of punches to knock Cuban down. Beast bashes Cuban's head into the turnbuckle, but takes a boot to the gut after whipping Cuban into another corner. Cuban then Irish whips Beast into the ropes, but the crafty veteran comes back and hits a swinging neckbreaker on the Cuban Assassin, which is enough to get the three count. After the match, the Cuban Assassin complains to the ref, but to no avail. I'll be nice and give it a 1 out of 5.
P26- Beaver Cleavage: Beaver Cleavage promo
This is so stupid that it hurts. For a short time in 1999, the former Headbanger Mosh portrayed a character known as Beaver Cleavage, decked out in a beanie, a jacket and bow tie, and some shorts as well. He was based off of the character in the 1950s show Leave it to Beaver, but it was just weird seeing a grown man in this getup. In this clip, the Beaver has just sat down to eat some breakfast, but his Shredded Wheat is dry. But never fear, because Beaver's 'mother' is here, and by mother I mean a stacked blond woman in her mid-20s, with some milk. She asks if "mother's hairy beaver wants some of mother's milk". Well then. This was about as witty as a Bill Cowher stand-up routine. Of all the bad ideas Vince Russo came up with over the years, this would have to be in the top five. Still, it did have a hot blonde, and because I am shallow, I'll give it a 0.5 out of 5.
P26- Bertha Faye: Alundra Blayze vs. Bertha Faye
The Monster Ripper herself, Bertha Faye defends her WWF Women's Title against Alundra Blayze in this match from the October 23, 1995 edition of Raw. Bertha starts off with a big shoulder block, then shows off her power advantage with a press slam. A bodyslam and a pair of legdrops follow, but Bertha can only get a one count after the second leg drop. Bertha follows up with a pair of chest bumps in the corner, but Alundra comes back out of the Irish whip with a sunset flip that gets a two count. Bertha's up quick with a clothesline, and Alundra tries another sunset flip, but Bertha is ready as she sits down on it and gets a two count. Bertha continues to womanhandle Blayze, constantly thrawting Blayze's attempts to regain the advantage with punches, slaps, and takedowns. The video cuts, and suddenly Alundra is in control, and she scores three straight running clotheslines. Cover, but only a one count, so Alundrea tries to powerbomb the much larger Bertha Faye. Well, that goes as one might expect, as Bertha backdrops Alundra to the mat. Bertha slams Alundra and takes forever to climb to the second rope, which gives Alundra enough time to handspring onto Blayze and huracanrana her down off the ropes. Bertha's manager Harvey Wippleman (a future women's champion in his own right, don't ask how) gets on the apron and holds Alundra. But Alundra moves, and Bertha runs into her manager, allowing Alundra to get behind her and give Bertha a German Suplex with a bridge that gets the three count, making Blayze the new Women's champion. Bertha is not happy about this at all, so she goes after Wippleman, who scurries back to the back as quickly as possible. Well, that wasn't too bad, if a little short, so I'll give it a 1.75 out of 5.
P27- Berzerker: Ultimate Warrior and the Undertaker vs. Berzerker and Papa Shango
What a titanic tag team match this is. I mean, who would of ever thought that The Berzerker and Papa Shango would form a tag team? This match took place on June 3, 1992. Undertaker and Warrior have a staredown, but are able to catch their charging opponents with big boots, and then clothesline them over the top rope. Berzerker and Undertaker square off and trade blows, with Undertaker getting the better of that exchange, trapping Berzerker in the corner and then choking him. Berzerker moves out of the way of a charging Undertaker and dropkicks Taker over the ropes, but 'Taker lands on his feet and drags Berzerker out for some brawling on the outside. Berzerker gets his head slammed into the steps, and both men soon after enter the ring, and the Warrior is tagged in. Warrior slams Berzerker and continues to keep him off balance with clotheslines and running shoulder blocks. Shango gets a knee into the back of a running Warrior, and now he gets tagged in and Berzerker and Shango double team Warrior. Shanog hammers on Warrior, then tags out to Berzerker who does a series of shoulderblocks to the gut of Warrior in the corner. Irish whip, Warrior ducks a clothesline only to take a big boot from Berzerker. Berzerker tries to do something with Shango in the corner, but Warrior blocks it and bashes his two opponents' heads into each other. Warrior tries to tag out, but Berzerker recovers quickly enough to stop that and tags in Shango. Shango and Berzerker work over Warrior in the corner, then Shango flattens Warrior with a diving shoulder block. Berzerker comes in, traps Warrior's arms in the ropes and kicks him a few times before charging at him, but Warrior is able to backdrop Berzerker over the ropes and out of the ring. Undertaker gets the tag, and he stuns Berzerker with a few Asiatic Thrusts before Choke slamming him. That brings in Shango, but Taker is ready as he kicks him in the gut, whips him into the ropes, and catches him with a diving clothesline. Now both Shango and Berzerker try to double team Undertaker, but that doesn't go well, as Taker holds them by the throats and Warrior clotheslines both men from behind. Warrior with a diving shoulder block on Berzerker, followed by a running splash, and that's enough to get the pinfall. Well, at least it was short. I'll give it a 1.1 out of 5.
P27- Beth Phoenix: Royal Rumble 2009 Melina vs. Beth Phoenix
The second Women's Title match in this post, Phoenix comes in as the champion to defend against a woman that Bret Hart once called the best wrestler in the world. Phoenix comes out with Santino Marella, so I'm pretty sure he'll get involved at some point. Tie-up to start, but Phoenix will have none of that and throws Melina down on her face. Melina tries a headlock, Phoenix powers out and then bearhugs Melina. Melina gets out and tries to take Phoenix down with a dropkick, but that doesn't work, and Phoenix shoulder blocks her instead. Phoenix attempts a side slam, but Melina spins her way out of it and surprises Phoenix with an armbar. After a few seconds of this, Phoenix gets tired of it and just stands up and throws Melina into the corner. Melina tries a victory roll, but Beth dumps her off and Melina lands oddly on her side. Melina crawls to the corner, and Phoenix then takes a page out of Umaga's playbook with a running hip bump, which only gets a one count. Phoenix puts Melina on her stomach and tries to push Melina's own foot into the back of her head, and she succeeds in this quest, making Melina kick herself in the back of the head a few times. Well, I've never seen that before. Back up, Melina delivers a couple of kicks to Phoenix, but gets sideslammed and has to kick out at two. Phoenix presses Melina over her head, but Melina escpaes, and then messes up the next move before a bit of improvisation ends with Melina give Phoenix a jawjacker. Melina hits a few punches, ducks a clothesline and Sunset flips Phoenix over for a two count. Melina follows up with a double knee lift to the back and a running facebuster to get another two count. Phoenix backs Melina into the corner, only to take a boot to the face, followed by a seated senton. Melina tries for some bottoms-up type maneuver, but Phoenix escapes, chops Melina, but Melina comes back with a Rey Mysterio like roll up to get the victory and the Women's Championship. Not too bad, so I'll give it a 2 out of 5.
P27- Beverly Brothers: Beverly Brothers vs. Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake
The team of the Mega Maniacs face the men formerly and once again known as Mike Enos and Wayne Bloom, the Beverly Brothers, in this match from March 8, 1993. Beefcake and Blake Beverly start off, and Beefcake just has to strut before getting started. Actually, he does nothing and tags Hogan in. Tie-up to start, and Hogan wins that easily while Ross talks about Hogan losing weight in order to get quicker. Um, sure, whatever you say. Headlock by Hogan, Blake throws him off into the ropes only to take a shoulder block. Then Hogan and Beefcake decide to cheat so he thumbs Blake in the eye, and the duo does this a few times before Hogan gives Blake an atomic drop that sends him out of the ring. Beau comes in, and they repeat the sequence so both Beverlys regroup on the outside. Back in, Beefcake gets tagged in, only to take a knee to the gut and a scoop slam by Blake. Blake misses a couple of elbow drops, and Beefcake lands a few punches before tagging out to his protector Hogan, and the two do a Rockettes impression on Blake's poor face. Hogan continues to cheat with eye rakes and back rakes with a ten punch move in the corner mixed in there before tagging out. Double back elbow by the Maniacs, and Beefcake whips Blake again, but ducks and allows Blake to pound on his back and tag out to Beau. Beau connects with a double axe handle and some brawling tactics, then he gets the ref distracted, allowing Blake to choke Beefcake with the tag rope. Blake is tagged back in, snap mares Beefcake and goes for a diving headbutt, but misses. Beau is tagged in and goes to the top while Blake slams Beefcake down. He dives, but Beefcake gets a boot up. This allows Beefcake just enough time to get the hot tag to Hogan. Hogan hits three punches and a big boot on Beau, while Beefcake comes after Blake. With the ref distracted by Beefcake and Blake, Jimmy Hart tosses his megaphone to Hogan, who bashes Beau with it and gets the victory. Um, why exactly did Hogan have to cheat to beat the gosh darn Beverly Brothers? Post match, Hogan calls somebody a MFer, then the Maniacs pose for the crowd. This was dumb on many different levels. However, it's still better than Beaver Cleavage, so I'll give it a 0.8 out of 5.
Well, that's it for part 4 of the Big Bad WWE Encyclopedia Video Project. I'd like to give a shout out to the website http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/, as it has a valuable source in helping me find out the exact dates when the videos I've been watching originally took place. Also, thanks to all of the uploaders of the various videos I've been watching. Well, if you have any thoughts about the 2BWE Video Project, or anything else at The Canon Review, than I'd be more than happy to read them, so feel free to leave a comment of send me an e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com.
Showing posts with label Goldberg. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Goldberg. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
The 2BWE Video Project: Pages 19-22
In this installment of the Big Bad WWE Encyclopedia Video Project, I will watch a video of every entry found in the WWE Encyclopedia from pages 19-22. So get ready for some action featuring Avatar, Bam Neely, Baron Von Raschke, and the legendary B.B. For the guidelines of this project, see this post here. So away I go into some great and not so great pro wrestling action.
P19- Avatar: Avatar WWF Debut vs. Brian Walsh
This match took place on the October 23, 1995 edition of Monday Night Raw, and features the former and future Al Snow as Avatar. Avatar is a masked wrestler who puts his mask on only when he comes to the ring. Why he does that, I don't know. Avatar also has a costume that makes him look like one of those Karate Fighters figures from the 1990s. Tie up to start, and Avatar shows off his agility by going behind Walsh and taking him down with a leg drag. Walsh shows his agility by doing a kip-up to get back to his feet. Avatar does an arm-wringer, and the two men do a leapfrog sequence before Avatar kicks Walsh out of the ring in an awkward exchange. Avatar heads to the top rope, loses his balance, and then does a tope from the ring to the outside. Back in, Avatar attempts a moonsault, but misses as Walsh moves out of the way. Walsh with a pair of clotheslines, then he doesn't seem to know what to do next, so the two stand around for a few seconds before Walsh whips him into the corner, only to have Avatar come back with a clothesline of his own. Avatar hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and a standing moonsault, before finishing Walsh off by standing on his chest and doing a frog splash from that position, getting the victory. His job done, Avatar takes the mask off again. Not the best debut a wrestler's ever had, as Avatar and Walsh had no chemistry what so ever in the ring. I'll give it a 1 out of 5.
P19- Backlash: WWE Backlash 03- The Rock vs. Goldberg
The main event of Backlash 2003 and Goldberg's WWE debut. Rock comes out to a huge ovation even though he's supposed to be the heel in this match. To be fair, Goldberg gets a nice reaction as well. Rock stalls for a while as the crowd chants his name quite loudly. Then Goldberg gets a chant from the fans as the two still have a staredown. Finally, they tie up, and Goldberg violently shoves the Rock down to the mat. Rock gets up, regroups, and suffers the same fate after a second tieup, this time getting shoved out of the ring. The Rock gets back in, and slaps Goldberg in the face. Goldberg smiles, then fires back at the Rock with punches and knees before clotheslining Rock out of the ring. Rock stalls outside the ring for a long time before coming back in and catching Goldberg with a jawbreaker on the top rope, and then knocking him down with a clothesline. Goldberg counters an Irish whip, and hits The Rock with his own finisher, the Rock Bottom. Instead of going for the cover, Goldberg sets Rock up for a spear, but the Rock moves out of the way and Goldberg ends up spearing the steel post and falling out of the ring. Rock gets Goldberg back into the ring and applies the Sharpshooter. After about a minute of being in the hold, Goldberg finally inches his way to the ropes, forcing The Rock to break the hold.
After letting go, the Rock shoves the ref out of the way and blatantly punches Goldberg in the family jewels. Rock sets up for the Rock Bottom, only to take a surprise spear from Goldberg, and now both men are down. Rock's up first, but Goldberg blocks a punch with one of his own, and then powerslams Rock down hard on the mat for a two count. Rock stops Goldberg with a back elbow, and after a pair of clotheslines fail to fell Goldberg, Rock uses a charging spinebuster to slam Goldberg and does a kip-up, much to the delight of the crowd. Rock Bottom on Goldberg, and Goldberg just barely gets the shoulder up as most of the fans boo his kick out. Probably not a good thing that the crowd has turned on Goldberg like this. After taking a clothesline, Rock is able to catch the weakened Goldberg, still holding his shoulder, with a spinebuster and sets him up for the People's elbow. It connects, and Goldberg once again barely escapes the three count. Both men take a while to get up, and when the Rock does, Goldberg uses the opportunity to catch the Rock off guard and spears him hard. Rock takes a while to get up, while Goldberg is waiting for him in the corner to catch him with another spear, and eventually, he does. A Jackhammer follows, and Goldberg gets the pinfall and wins his first WWE match. Of about 13 minutes of match time, 8 or 9 minutes were nothing but stalling, not only making for a boring match but exposing Goldberg as a guy who can't put together a 20 minute match as he had neither the moveset nor the stanima at this time to do that. So, while this match is between two of the biggest names in wrestling over the past 25 years, it's not very good or particularly memorable. I'd give it a 1.5 out of 5.
P19- Bad Blood: La Resistance vs. Rob Van Dam/Kane Badd Blood 2003
In this match, Rene Dupree and Sylvain Grenier of La Resistance challenge for RVD and Kane's World Tag Team Titles. There's trouble brewing between the champs, as last week on Raw, Kane did not show up to save RVD from a double team beatdown by La Resistance. The Coach is backstage interviewing La Resistance, who are not happy about being in Texas, the state which gave us George W. Bush. Well, I spent four months in Texas once and it wasn't too bad, but then again I'm not French. Rene Dupree dedicates their match to a real president, France's Jacques Chirac. I'm sure he's on the edge of his seat watching this match. The champs come out separately, which Jerry Lawler sees as a sign that the two are not on the same page. Well, we shall see. RVD and Dupree start, and after breaking a tie-up, Dupree entertains the masses with his French Tickler dance. But the crowd or RVD does not seem impressed with Dupree's dance, which is their loss, frankly. Another tie up follows, and RVD goes behind and gets a quick two count after a rollup. Van Dam nearly takes off Dupree's head with a spin kick, but Dupree backs up against the corner to keep his head and dodge the blow. A shoving match ensues, and RVD catches Dupree with a spinning heel kick after that, then continues to dominate Dupree with a twisting body press from the second rope that gets a two count. Another two count follows after an RVD small package, and then he throws Dupree in the corner to give him a couple of shoulder blocks. However, Grenier gets involved and gives RVD a Snake Eyes from the apron, allowing Dupree to DDT Van Dam. Cover, but Kane comes in to break it up. While the ref backs Kane up, La Resistance double teams RVD, and Grenier draws a two after an elbow drop. Dupree gets tagged back in, and the two keep RVD grounded with brawling tactics. Dupree tries to keep RVD away from his corner, and after a jumping side kick, RVD tags in the Big Red Machine Kane. Kane hits any Frenchman that moves, then catches Dupree trying to come off the tope with a choke lift powerbomb, then gets a two count after a side slam to Grenier. Kane then clotheslines Grenier from the top, but Dupree breaks up the cover. La Restistance finally slows down Kane and delivers what was supposed to be a double-team maneuver but really was just a neckbreaker from Dupree with Grenier holding him in place for a split-second, but Kane sits right back up, and knocks both Resistance members down with a clothesline. Tag to RVD, and he catches Dupree with a side kick from the top rope. RVD with a baseball slide to Grenier to the outside, then backdrops Dupree over the top rope. Kane gets back up and grabs both La Resistance members by the throat, but he's unaware that Van Dam is coming from the apron with a flipping tope, so he gets taken out by his own partner. Meanwhile, La Resistance is unharmed, and they roll RVD back in and take him out with their version of Chronic's High Times move to get the victory and become new Tag Team Champions. Jim Ross calls this a Texas sized upset. Well, I guess so. Match was ok, although it wasn't anything special or memorable. I'd give it a 1.89 out of 5.
P19- Bad News Brown: Hulk Hogan vs. Bad News Brown
One of the baddest men to ever step in the wrestling ring, Bad News Brown takes on Hulk Hogan in a match that took place in the Meadowlands on September 11, 1988. Hogan comes out looking like a buffoon with a red and yellow Trojan war helmet on. Bad News takes advantage early by peppering Hogan with punches before the bell rings, and continues to dominate Hogan with punches, stomps, and by using Hogan's own T-Shirt to choke him with. Brown misses a couple of elbow drops, though, and Hogan rises to his feet to the delight of the crowd. Bad News takes a few punches and goes to the outside of the ring, and Hogan follows to give Brown another punch. Brown gets on the apron, and Hogan sends him back in the ring the hard way by pulling the ropes, slinging Bad News down to the mat. Hogan continues his assault with brawling tactics, but a Bad News headbutt slows Hogan's momentum, but he regains it after a boot to the face from the corner, and then sends shivers down Brown's spine with an atomic drop. Hogan misses an elbow, and Bad News goes to work on Hogan with a series of punches to the midsection. Brown continues to dominate Hogan with a series of strikes, and then body slams Hogan down. Bad News tries to show up the Hulkster by beating him with a legdrop, but Hogan gets out at one. Brown doesn't seem to mind too much, as he takes down Hogan with a Russian legsweep. Hogan reverses a whip into the corner, but Bad News rebounds with a clothesline that takes Hogan off his feet. Bad News sets Hogan up for the Ghetto Blaster (jumping kick to the head), but Hogan ducks, and then Hulks up on Bad News. Hogan follows up with a knee lift and a clothesline in the corner on Brown, then whips Bad News into the corner. News charges, but Hogan ducks and Brown ends up taking out the referee with a clothesline. While Hogan checks on the ref, Brown takes the war helmet (or war bonnet as Superstar Billy Graham calls it on commentary, and btw, Graham is not very good at commentary). and smashes Hogan with it in the back. Brown puts on the helmet and charges at Hogan, but Hulk moves, takes the helmet off Brown and then headbutts him while wearing the helmet. A legdrop follows, and the ref recovers enough to count to three, giving Hogan the victory. Not a bad match, although the ending kind of sucked, so I'll give it a 2.1 out of 5.
P20- Balls Mahoney: Balls Mahoney and Kelly Kelly vs. Kenny Dykstra and Victoria
This mixed tag match was originally shown on the December 6, 2007 episode of ECW. Apparently, Balls and Kelly had a thing going on at that time, which is just strange to me on so many levels. They face Lenny Dykstra's illegitimate brother (not really) and his partner Victoria. Balls and Kenny start the match, and Dysktra gets the advantage earlier by punching his way out of a headlock then dropkicking Balls down to the mat for a two count. Balls goes for his series of punches, but Dykstra ducks the big haymaker and quickly tags out to Victoria, which means Kelly must come in due to the rules of the match. Victoria predictably gets the advantage early, but Kelly takes her opponent by surprise with a tilt-a-whirl headscissiors. A Kelly Kelly clothesline gets a one count, and Kelly goes to work on Victoria's arm. After letting go, Kelly shoves Victoria back, which does not please Dykstra, so Kelly slugs him to shut him up. Victoria is able to catch Kelly with a clothesline, and uses stomps and simple wrestling holds to keep Kelly at bay. Kelly finally escapes the evil Victoria's clutches and tags in her 'boyfriend' Balls. I'm sure Kelly's parents must have been thrilled to find out their daughter is dating a 350 pound miscreant named Balls, even if it is only a storyline. Anyway, Balls comes in and takes care of Dykstra, getting a two count after his patented uppercut. Kenny gets out of a bodyslam and tries to hold Balls for Victoria to slap around, but Mahoney moves, Kelly takes care of Victoria with a huracanrana, and Mahoney small packages Dysktra for the three count. Post match, the happy couple celebrates while Dykstra and Victoria walk back in a bad mood. Well, I guess it wasn't too bad, so I'll give it a 1.25 out of 5.
P20- Bam Bam Bigelow: Bam Bam Bigelow vs. New Jack
This match is from Wrestlepalooza 1998, ECW's first show in Atlanta, Georgia and a show that my friend Sonny Bone attended in person, just for the chance to see New Jack in action. Before the match, Taz comes down and beats up Shane Douglas, forcing security to take him out back and drive him off in a car. While Douglas is being taken to the back, Bam Bam waits and here comes New Jack with a trash can full of plunder. They waste no time, as Bam Bam pounds away on New Jack and stomps on him in the corner. Bam Bam tries to hit New Jack with a guitar, but misses, and takes a plastic sign to his noggin instead. Assaults with a crutch and a cookie sheet follow from New Jack, and he tops it off by putting a Godzilla action figure between Bigelow's legs and whacking the figure with a hockey stick. Only in ECW, I suppose. To the outside, where New Jack gets the worst of a headbutt to Bam Bam, and then takes a chair to the back. Two chair shots to the head follow, and New Jack is now bleeding. To the crowd they go, as Bigelow throws New Jack over the guardrail and then slingshots himself onto New Jack. Further into the crowd they go, and Bam Bam decides to throw a bunch of chairs on top of New Jack before throwing him against a wall. Bigelow sets New Jack up against a guardrail and tries to splash him, but New Jack moves, and Bigelow rams into the guardrail instead. New Jack then goes back into the crowd, climbing the steps towards the balcony. New Jack finds a guitar on the balcony, and instead of playing the crowd a tune, he decides to dive off the balcony and hit Bam Bam in the head with it instead. Well, it hit Bigelow more in the shoulder than the head, but still, the crowd seemed to enjoy it. Bigelow is up first, though, and carries New Jack to the ring on his shoulder. One Greetings from Ashbury Park later, and Bigelow is the winner of this match. This wasn't exactly too good of a match, as the whole thing was built around one spot and the spot didn't come off exactly as planned. I'll give it a 1.1 out of 5.
P20- Bam Neely: Ricky Ortiz and Evan Bourne vs. Chavo Guerrero and Bam Neely
First there's Kenny Dykstra, now there's Bam Neely. Who's next, Harry Bird? I have no idea who Neely is, as I wasn't watching any wrestling during his reign of terror. According to the WWE Encylopedia, he's a former border agent who is from the same home town as Rick Rude. This match is from the August 5, 2008 episode of ECW, and is a result of a two on one beatdown that Chavo and Neely administrated on Ortiz during the previous week. Ortiz starts things off strong with some punches and a back elbow to Neely that makes Neely regroup on the outside of the ring. Back in, Neely and Ortiz exchange arm wringers before Bourne is tagged in an makes an immediate impact with by jumping off the top rope and stomping Neely's outstretched arm. Chavo comes in, attempts a back suplex, but Bourne escapes and sends Chavo down with a huracanrana. Bourne comes back with a Fujiwara arm bar, but Chavo gets up with his arm still locked in by Bourne. Tag to Ortiz, and he takes Chavo off his feet with a diving shoulderblock from the second rope that draws a two count. As Matt Striker informs us that Ortiz is the only WWE superstar to ever play in the XFL, Neely grabs Ortiz by the hair, regaining the advantage for his team and allowing Chavo to tag Neely in. Neely takes care of Ortiz with a barrage of blows to the back and torso. After a clothesline in the corner draws a two count, Neely tags Chavo back in, and he gets a two count after a European uppercut. Chavo puts Ortiz in a chinlock, but after 45 seconds or so, Ortiz is able to get up and delivers a back suplex to Chavo. Chavo tags Neely, and Ortiz is just able to reach Bourne for the hot tag. Bourne knocks Neely off his feet with a series of kicks, then goes off the top to deliver a pair of knees to Neely's face. Cover, but Chavo is there to break the count. Bourne dropkicks Chavo out of the ring, then ducks a Neely clothesline and gives him a lighting fast rollup, which gets the three count. Post match, Neely goes after Bourne, but Evan is smart enough to escape. Not too bad of a match, all in all. I'd give it a 1.95 out of 5.
P21- Barbara Bush [B.B.]: Michael Cole Interviews Barbara Bush about Ivory
Yes my friends, there once was a WWE diva who shared the same name as the first lady. Too bad she wasn't around longer, or they could have found another woman, call her Betty Ford, and have the two form a tag team. Anyway, Barbara's gimmick was that she was one of the paramedics, and one day she was just doing her job helping get a piece of food free from Miss Kitty's throat after a gravy match when all of a sudden, Ivory attacked her, ripped her shirt off and threw her into the gravy. Yes, that does sound ridiculous. Well, four days later, on the November 29, 1999 edition of Raw, Barbara's humiliation continued as she had to be interviewed by Michael Cole. Apparently, EMTs get their own theme music now. BB states that she was embarrassed to have her shirt ripped off on national TV, so naturally she challenges Ivory to an evening gown match where the winner must rip the clothing off the opponent. Um, ok then. Ivory comes out, and uses BB's initials against her by calling her bird brain. She then accuses BB of trying to make friends with the perverts in the crowd, and to prove her point Ivory takes off her jacket to a rousing reaction from the same perverts she just belittled. Ivory then cheap shots BB and for the second time, rips her EMT shirt off, which perhaps would be a sign not to challenge Ivory to an evening gown match. Well, that was fun. In the spirit of this video, I'll give it a big 2 out of 5.
P21- Barbarian: Hercules vs. The Barbarian
This match is from the May 8, 1989 episode of Prime Time Wrestling. At this time, Barbarian is still part of the Powers of Pain and is being managed by Mr. Fuji. Hercules comes out with a chain, and Tony Schiavone is one of the announcers, and every time I hear Schiavone calling a WWF match, it's just weird to me since he was the voice of WCW for such a long time. Anyway, the two stare each other down to start, and the ref physically separates them. A tie-up follows, and the ref has to separate the two once again as neither man wants to give an inch in this contest. The same thing happens again after both men try to choke the other, and finally it is Hercules that gets an edge by putting on a side headlock. Barbarian counters with a bearhug, but Hercules breaks the hold by forcing Barbarian's arms apart by using his own forearms. The two exchange some kicks to the gut and punches, before Barbarian nearly makes a big mistake by missing a wild punch giving Hercules an opening to slap the Full Nelson on, but Barbarian is able to keep the hold from getting sinked in and gets to the ropes. Barbarian takes control with a back elbow, and knocks Hercules down with a big boot. Hercules fires back with shots that at first have no effect, but he's able to stagger the Barbarian before knocking him down with a clothesline. Both men get back up, and Barbarian overpowers his opponent with a power slam. He then goes for a big splash, but Hercules sees it coming and gets the knees up. Hercules is red hot now, staggering the Barbarian with a series of lefts before using a right to knock him down, and then keeping him off balance with clotheslines and knee lifts. Hercules puts Barbarian up in the torture rack, but Mr. Fuji hits him on the ass with his cane. Well, that annoys Hercules, so he comes after Fuji. As you probably can guess, Barbarian sneaks up from behind to attack Hercules. A whip into the ropes by Barbarian, but Hercules counters with a cross body block that sends both men tumbling over the top rope. Neither man can get back in the ring in time, so the match ends in a double countout. Post match, Fuji tries to hit Herc with his cane, but Herc's ready and takes the cane out of Fuji's hand, then goes after the Barbarian and cracks the cane over his back. Match wasn't too bad, although the ending could have been better. I'll give it a 2.25 out of 5.
P21- The Barber Shop: Ric Flair and Bobby Heenan on the Barber Shop
The Barber Shop was an interview segment hosted by Brutus 'The Barber' Beefcake. As far as interview segments go, it was no Carlito's Cabana. This segment is from the September 22, 1991 edition of Wrestling Challenge, and what a challenge it is. Heenan comes out first with Flair's NWA Championship, not happy with Barber's condescending tone in introducing Ric Flair, so he decides to do it himself and introduces the real Heavyweight Champion of the World, Ric Flair. Flair says he, and not Hulk Hogan, is the real World Heavyweight Champion, and also has a message for Roddy Piper, as he seeks revenge for Piper spitting on Flair's belt earlier. Flair finishes by stating that until Hogan beats him, then the Hulkster will only be second best. Good stuff here, despite the presence of Brutus Beefcake. I'd give it a 2.6 out of 5.
P21- Baron Mikel Scicluna: WWWF TV Peter Maivia and Chief Jay Strongbow vs. Baron Mikel Scicluna and Moose Monroe
This match is from the October 22, 1977 episode of WWWF Championship Wrestling, to the best of my knowledge. Scicluna, a man billed as being from the Isle of Malta, is actually a WWE Hall of Famer, and I don't think I've ever seen him wrestle until now. I will say that he does have a sweet cape. Maivia, the grandfather of the Rock, by the way, and Scicluna start off for their respective sides, and the High Chief (Maivia) starts out strong with a beal to Scicluna and a blow for Monroe on the apron. While Maivia waits on Scicluna to approach him, Scicluna seems to have placed something in his right hand, and decks Maivia with it, stunning him. Scicluna continues to work over Maivia with his right hand, until Maivia gets over to his corner after a big punch and Strongbow tags himself in. Scicluna does the same to Strongbow, then puts the object back in his tights. Maivia sees this as an opportunity, so he comes in and oh here go hell come as both men work over Scicluna. Maivia and Moose head to the outside to fight, while Strongbow fishes into Scicluna's tights and takes the offending object out. By which I mean the roll of coins Scicluna had, not his penis. Maivia is now all fired up, and works over Scicluna until he tags out to Monroe. Strongbow comes in and decides what's good for the goose is good for the gander, so he uses the object to give a power boost to his punches on Monroe, then promptly hands it to Maivia once the ref starts to suspect something. Maivia then comes in to deliver more of the same, and eventually Moose tags out while Strongbow comes back in and is given the object again behind the ref's back. More blows follow, Maivia gets tagged in and does a snap mare on Scicluna followed by an elbow drop. The two exchange blows and tag out at the same time. Moose pulls out a rope and chokes Strongbow with it before the ref takes it away, but is unable to follow up as Strongbow dodges a punches, crawls under Monroe's legs, and tags out to Maivia. Maivia decks Monroe once, then hits him with a cross body block to get the three count and the victory for his team. Post-match, the winning team hugs while the losers bicker, and we get a shot of a young Vince McMahon at ringside talking about the manager of the year contest. Match wasn't too bad for what it was, and the crowd was really behind Strongbow and Maivia. I'd give it a 1.85 out of 5.
P22- Baron Von Raschke: Baron Von Raschke Part 1
This video here is part of a three part interview with Von Rashcke by two people calling themselves the Primadonns. Von Raschke comes out acting like a crazy man plugging somebody named Terry Eason's CD, then sits down to talk about such topics as how he got started in the business (the Baron was an amateur wrestler all throughout high school and college, then got into pro wrestling after spending a year as a teacher), some of the toughest wrestlers he ever encountered, how he learned his infamous Iron Claw hold, and a joke about midgets. Some interesting observations from Von Rashcke, who in spite of his in ring persona, comes across as a level-headed guy. If you want, check out part 1 right here:
P22- Barry Horowitz: Blue Blazer vs. Barry Horowitz 1988
A pat on the back is due for Barry Horowitz as he takes on Owen Hart, a.k.a. the Blue Blazer, in this match from the September 17, 1988 edition of WWF Superstars. Horowitz is wearing suspenders, while the Blazer has a feathered helmet on his mask to presumably look more like a bird. Horowitz removes his suspenders, the Blazer removes his headgear, and the match starts. The Blue Blazer starts with an arm wringer, runs to the ropes, backflips off the ropes and arm drags Horowitz to the mat. Horowitz gets up and comes out Blazer with a shoulder block. He tries again, but Blazer does a leapfrog and follows up with an arm drag and hold. A bodyslam follows, and Blazer then gets a two count after a Northern Lights suplex. Horowitz catches the Blazer with a savate kick, and then exclaims that 'now we go to school'. Who does he think he is, Ric Flair? Going to school seems to include a hard whip into the turnbuckle, followed by a knee drop that gets a two count. Horowitz attempts another whip into the corner, but the Blazer catches himself and then takes Horowitz down with a flying body press from the second rope that gets a two count. A suplex from the Blue Blazer follows, and he continues his aerial assault with a dropkick from the top rope. A pair of body slams follow, and Blazer finishes off Horowitz with a moonsault from the top rope that gives him the victory. For a four minute match, this was rather good, and made me curious as to what these guys could do given more time. As it is, I'll give it a 2.35 out of 5.
P22- Barry O: British Bulldogs vs. Barry O and Bret Hart
Hmm, one of these things is not like the other. This match is from the July 13, 1985 episode of All Star Wrestling and features Randy Orton's uncle, Barry O, teaming up with Bret Hart against two men Hart knows very well, the British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and the Dynamite Kid). Jimmy Hart is in the corner of Bret Hart and Barry O. Dynamite and Barry start, and Dynamite takes Barry down with a shoulder block. Dynamite then gets out of an arm hold with a back drop, but Barry comes back with a body slam. An elbow drop misses from Barry O, and Kid gives Barry an arm drag before tagging in Davey Boy. Davey also uses a shoulder block, and keeps Barry at bay with a dropkick and a pair of arm drags before tagging back out to Dynamite Kid. Dynamite gets a hold of Barry's arm, but O tags in Hart real quick and then catches the Kid coming off the ropes and holds him across his knee while Hart comes down with an elbow from the second rope. Hart brawls some with Dynamite, keeping the advantage with punches and hair pulls before tagging in Barry O. A big powerslam by Barry O gets a two count, as does a karate chop to the chest. Barry whips Dynamite to the ropes, but Dynamite leaps over Barry and tags out to Davey Boy. Smith hits a huge back body drop and follows with a powerslam, but Barry gets out at two. After some smashes into the turnbuckle, Smith tags in Dynamite, and he then picks Dynamite over his head and launches him onto Barry O to get the three count. But Hart's not done, as he attacks Davey Boy and throws him out of the ring before going after Dynamite. Hart gets a few shots in before Davey Boy comes back in to break it up. Not a bad match, although I do wonder why Barry O was in there instead of Niedhart. I guess they just wanted to do something different for a quick match. I'd give it a 2 out of 5.
Well, that's it for part 3 of the Big Bad WWE Encyclopedia Video Project. I'd like to give a shout out to the website http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/, as it has a valuable source in helping me find out the exact dates when the videos I've been watching originally took place. Also, thanks to all of the uploaders of the various videos I've been watching. Well, if you have any thoughts about the 2BWE Video Project, or anything else at The Canon Review, than I'd be more than happy to read them, so feel free to leave a comment of send me an e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com.
P19- Avatar: Avatar WWF Debut vs. Brian Walsh
This match took place on the October 23, 1995 edition of Monday Night Raw, and features the former and future Al Snow as Avatar. Avatar is a masked wrestler who puts his mask on only when he comes to the ring. Why he does that, I don't know. Avatar also has a costume that makes him look like one of those Karate Fighters figures from the 1990s. Tie up to start, and Avatar shows off his agility by going behind Walsh and taking him down with a leg drag. Walsh shows his agility by doing a kip-up to get back to his feet. Avatar does an arm-wringer, and the two men do a leapfrog sequence before Avatar kicks Walsh out of the ring in an awkward exchange. Avatar heads to the top rope, loses his balance, and then does a tope from the ring to the outside. Back in, Avatar attempts a moonsault, but misses as Walsh moves out of the way. Walsh with a pair of clotheslines, then he doesn't seem to know what to do next, so the two stand around for a few seconds before Walsh whips him into the corner, only to have Avatar come back with a clothesline of his own. Avatar hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and a standing moonsault, before finishing Walsh off by standing on his chest and doing a frog splash from that position, getting the victory. His job done, Avatar takes the mask off again. Not the best debut a wrestler's ever had, as Avatar and Walsh had no chemistry what so ever in the ring. I'll give it a 1 out of 5.
P19- Backlash: WWE Backlash 03- The Rock vs. Goldberg
The main event of Backlash 2003 and Goldberg's WWE debut. Rock comes out to a huge ovation even though he's supposed to be the heel in this match. To be fair, Goldberg gets a nice reaction as well. Rock stalls for a while as the crowd chants his name quite loudly. Then Goldberg gets a chant from the fans as the two still have a staredown. Finally, they tie up, and Goldberg violently shoves the Rock down to the mat. Rock gets up, regroups, and suffers the same fate after a second tieup, this time getting shoved out of the ring. The Rock gets back in, and slaps Goldberg in the face. Goldberg smiles, then fires back at the Rock with punches and knees before clotheslining Rock out of the ring. Rock stalls outside the ring for a long time before coming back in and catching Goldberg with a jawbreaker on the top rope, and then knocking him down with a clothesline. Goldberg counters an Irish whip, and hits The Rock with his own finisher, the Rock Bottom. Instead of going for the cover, Goldberg sets Rock up for a spear, but the Rock moves out of the way and Goldberg ends up spearing the steel post and falling out of the ring. Rock gets Goldberg back into the ring and applies the Sharpshooter. After about a minute of being in the hold, Goldberg finally inches his way to the ropes, forcing The Rock to break the hold.
After letting go, the Rock shoves the ref out of the way and blatantly punches Goldberg in the family jewels. Rock sets up for the Rock Bottom, only to take a surprise spear from Goldberg, and now both men are down. Rock's up first, but Goldberg blocks a punch with one of his own, and then powerslams Rock down hard on the mat for a two count. Rock stops Goldberg with a back elbow, and after a pair of clotheslines fail to fell Goldberg, Rock uses a charging spinebuster to slam Goldberg and does a kip-up, much to the delight of the crowd. Rock Bottom on Goldberg, and Goldberg just barely gets the shoulder up as most of the fans boo his kick out. Probably not a good thing that the crowd has turned on Goldberg like this. After taking a clothesline, Rock is able to catch the weakened Goldberg, still holding his shoulder, with a spinebuster and sets him up for the People's elbow. It connects, and Goldberg once again barely escapes the three count. Both men take a while to get up, and when the Rock does, Goldberg uses the opportunity to catch the Rock off guard and spears him hard. Rock takes a while to get up, while Goldberg is waiting for him in the corner to catch him with another spear, and eventually, he does. A Jackhammer follows, and Goldberg gets the pinfall and wins his first WWE match. Of about 13 minutes of match time, 8 or 9 minutes were nothing but stalling, not only making for a boring match but exposing Goldberg as a guy who can't put together a 20 minute match as he had neither the moveset nor the stanima at this time to do that. So, while this match is between two of the biggest names in wrestling over the past 25 years, it's not very good or particularly memorable. I'd give it a 1.5 out of 5.
P19- Bad Blood: La Resistance vs. Rob Van Dam/Kane Badd Blood 2003
In this match, Rene Dupree and Sylvain Grenier of La Resistance challenge for RVD and Kane's World Tag Team Titles. There's trouble brewing between the champs, as last week on Raw, Kane did not show up to save RVD from a double team beatdown by La Resistance. The Coach is backstage interviewing La Resistance, who are not happy about being in Texas, the state which gave us George W. Bush. Well, I spent four months in Texas once and it wasn't too bad, but then again I'm not French. Rene Dupree dedicates their match to a real president, France's Jacques Chirac. I'm sure he's on the edge of his seat watching this match. The champs come out separately, which Jerry Lawler sees as a sign that the two are not on the same page. Well, we shall see. RVD and Dupree start, and after breaking a tie-up, Dupree entertains the masses with his French Tickler dance. But the crowd or RVD does not seem impressed with Dupree's dance, which is their loss, frankly. Another tie up follows, and RVD goes behind and gets a quick two count after a rollup. Van Dam nearly takes off Dupree's head with a spin kick, but Dupree backs up against the corner to keep his head and dodge the blow. A shoving match ensues, and RVD catches Dupree with a spinning heel kick after that, then continues to dominate Dupree with a twisting body press from the second rope that gets a two count. Another two count follows after an RVD small package, and then he throws Dupree in the corner to give him a couple of shoulder blocks. However, Grenier gets involved and gives RVD a Snake Eyes from the apron, allowing Dupree to DDT Van Dam. Cover, but Kane comes in to break it up. While the ref backs Kane up, La Resistance double teams RVD, and Grenier draws a two after an elbow drop. Dupree gets tagged back in, and the two keep RVD grounded with brawling tactics. Dupree tries to keep RVD away from his corner, and after a jumping side kick, RVD tags in the Big Red Machine Kane. Kane hits any Frenchman that moves, then catches Dupree trying to come off the tope with a choke lift powerbomb, then gets a two count after a side slam to Grenier. Kane then clotheslines Grenier from the top, but Dupree breaks up the cover. La Restistance finally slows down Kane and delivers what was supposed to be a double-team maneuver but really was just a neckbreaker from Dupree with Grenier holding him in place for a split-second, but Kane sits right back up, and knocks both Resistance members down with a clothesline. Tag to RVD, and he catches Dupree with a side kick from the top rope. RVD with a baseball slide to Grenier to the outside, then backdrops Dupree over the top rope. Kane gets back up and grabs both La Resistance members by the throat, but he's unaware that Van Dam is coming from the apron with a flipping tope, so he gets taken out by his own partner. Meanwhile, La Resistance is unharmed, and they roll RVD back in and take him out with their version of Chronic's High Times move to get the victory and become new Tag Team Champions. Jim Ross calls this a Texas sized upset. Well, I guess so. Match was ok, although it wasn't anything special or memorable. I'd give it a 1.89 out of 5.
P19- Bad News Brown: Hulk Hogan vs. Bad News Brown
One of the baddest men to ever step in the wrestling ring, Bad News Brown takes on Hulk Hogan in a match that took place in the Meadowlands on September 11, 1988. Hogan comes out looking like a buffoon with a red and yellow Trojan war helmet on. Bad News takes advantage early by peppering Hogan with punches before the bell rings, and continues to dominate Hogan with punches, stomps, and by using Hogan's own T-Shirt to choke him with. Brown misses a couple of elbow drops, though, and Hogan rises to his feet to the delight of the crowd. Bad News takes a few punches and goes to the outside of the ring, and Hogan follows to give Brown another punch. Brown gets on the apron, and Hogan sends him back in the ring the hard way by pulling the ropes, slinging Bad News down to the mat. Hogan continues his assault with brawling tactics, but a Bad News headbutt slows Hogan's momentum, but he regains it after a boot to the face from the corner, and then sends shivers down Brown's spine with an atomic drop. Hogan misses an elbow, and Bad News goes to work on Hogan with a series of punches to the midsection. Brown continues to dominate Hogan with a series of strikes, and then body slams Hogan down. Bad News tries to show up the Hulkster by beating him with a legdrop, but Hogan gets out at one. Brown doesn't seem to mind too much, as he takes down Hogan with a Russian legsweep. Hogan reverses a whip into the corner, but Bad News rebounds with a clothesline that takes Hogan off his feet. Bad News sets Hogan up for the Ghetto Blaster (jumping kick to the head), but Hogan ducks, and then Hulks up on Bad News. Hogan follows up with a knee lift and a clothesline in the corner on Brown, then whips Bad News into the corner. News charges, but Hogan ducks and Brown ends up taking out the referee with a clothesline. While Hogan checks on the ref, Brown takes the war helmet (or war bonnet as Superstar Billy Graham calls it on commentary, and btw, Graham is not very good at commentary). and smashes Hogan with it in the back. Brown puts on the helmet and charges at Hogan, but Hulk moves, takes the helmet off Brown and then headbutts him while wearing the helmet. A legdrop follows, and the ref recovers enough to count to three, giving Hogan the victory. Not a bad match, although the ending kind of sucked, so I'll give it a 2.1 out of 5.
P20- Balls Mahoney: Balls Mahoney and Kelly Kelly vs. Kenny Dykstra and Victoria
This mixed tag match was originally shown on the December 6, 2007 episode of ECW. Apparently, Balls and Kelly had a thing going on at that time, which is just strange to me on so many levels. They face Lenny Dykstra's illegitimate brother (not really) and his partner Victoria. Balls and Kenny start the match, and Dysktra gets the advantage earlier by punching his way out of a headlock then dropkicking Balls down to the mat for a two count. Balls goes for his series of punches, but Dykstra ducks the big haymaker and quickly tags out to Victoria, which means Kelly must come in due to the rules of the match. Victoria predictably gets the advantage early, but Kelly takes her opponent by surprise with a tilt-a-whirl headscissiors. A Kelly Kelly clothesline gets a one count, and Kelly goes to work on Victoria's arm. After letting go, Kelly shoves Victoria back, which does not please Dykstra, so Kelly slugs him to shut him up. Victoria is able to catch Kelly with a clothesline, and uses stomps and simple wrestling holds to keep Kelly at bay. Kelly finally escapes the evil Victoria's clutches and tags in her 'boyfriend' Balls. I'm sure Kelly's parents must have been thrilled to find out their daughter is dating a 350 pound miscreant named Balls, even if it is only a storyline. Anyway, Balls comes in and takes care of Dykstra, getting a two count after his patented uppercut. Kenny gets out of a bodyslam and tries to hold Balls for Victoria to slap around, but Mahoney moves, Kelly takes care of Victoria with a huracanrana, and Mahoney small packages Dysktra for the three count. Post match, the happy couple celebrates while Dykstra and Victoria walk back in a bad mood. Well, I guess it wasn't too bad, so I'll give it a 1.25 out of 5.
P20- Bam Bam Bigelow: Bam Bam Bigelow vs. New Jack
This match is from Wrestlepalooza 1998, ECW's first show in Atlanta, Georgia and a show that my friend Sonny Bone attended in person, just for the chance to see New Jack in action. Before the match, Taz comes down and beats up Shane Douglas, forcing security to take him out back and drive him off in a car. While Douglas is being taken to the back, Bam Bam waits and here comes New Jack with a trash can full of plunder. They waste no time, as Bam Bam pounds away on New Jack and stomps on him in the corner. Bam Bam tries to hit New Jack with a guitar, but misses, and takes a plastic sign to his noggin instead. Assaults with a crutch and a cookie sheet follow from New Jack, and he tops it off by putting a Godzilla action figure between Bigelow's legs and whacking the figure with a hockey stick. Only in ECW, I suppose. To the outside, where New Jack gets the worst of a headbutt to Bam Bam, and then takes a chair to the back. Two chair shots to the head follow, and New Jack is now bleeding. To the crowd they go, as Bigelow throws New Jack over the guardrail and then slingshots himself onto New Jack. Further into the crowd they go, and Bam Bam decides to throw a bunch of chairs on top of New Jack before throwing him against a wall. Bigelow sets New Jack up against a guardrail and tries to splash him, but New Jack moves, and Bigelow rams into the guardrail instead. New Jack then goes back into the crowd, climbing the steps towards the balcony. New Jack finds a guitar on the balcony, and instead of playing the crowd a tune, he decides to dive off the balcony and hit Bam Bam in the head with it instead. Well, it hit Bigelow more in the shoulder than the head, but still, the crowd seemed to enjoy it. Bigelow is up first, though, and carries New Jack to the ring on his shoulder. One Greetings from Ashbury Park later, and Bigelow is the winner of this match. This wasn't exactly too good of a match, as the whole thing was built around one spot and the spot didn't come off exactly as planned. I'll give it a 1.1 out of 5.
P20- Bam Neely: Ricky Ortiz and Evan Bourne vs. Chavo Guerrero and Bam Neely
First there's Kenny Dykstra, now there's Bam Neely. Who's next, Harry Bird? I have no idea who Neely is, as I wasn't watching any wrestling during his reign of terror. According to the WWE Encylopedia, he's a former border agent who is from the same home town as Rick Rude. This match is from the August 5, 2008 episode of ECW, and is a result of a two on one beatdown that Chavo and Neely administrated on Ortiz during the previous week. Ortiz starts things off strong with some punches and a back elbow to Neely that makes Neely regroup on the outside of the ring. Back in, Neely and Ortiz exchange arm wringers before Bourne is tagged in an makes an immediate impact with by jumping off the top rope and stomping Neely's outstretched arm. Chavo comes in, attempts a back suplex, but Bourne escapes and sends Chavo down with a huracanrana. Bourne comes back with a Fujiwara arm bar, but Chavo gets up with his arm still locked in by Bourne. Tag to Ortiz, and he takes Chavo off his feet with a diving shoulderblock from the second rope that draws a two count. As Matt Striker informs us that Ortiz is the only WWE superstar to ever play in the XFL, Neely grabs Ortiz by the hair, regaining the advantage for his team and allowing Chavo to tag Neely in. Neely takes care of Ortiz with a barrage of blows to the back and torso. After a clothesline in the corner draws a two count, Neely tags Chavo back in, and he gets a two count after a European uppercut. Chavo puts Ortiz in a chinlock, but after 45 seconds or so, Ortiz is able to get up and delivers a back suplex to Chavo. Chavo tags Neely, and Ortiz is just able to reach Bourne for the hot tag. Bourne knocks Neely off his feet with a series of kicks, then goes off the top to deliver a pair of knees to Neely's face. Cover, but Chavo is there to break the count. Bourne dropkicks Chavo out of the ring, then ducks a Neely clothesline and gives him a lighting fast rollup, which gets the three count. Post match, Neely goes after Bourne, but Evan is smart enough to escape. Not too bad of a match, all in all. I'd give it a 1.95 out of 5.
P21- Barbara Bush [B.B.]: Michael Cole Interviews Barbara Bush about Ivory
Yes my friends, there once was a WWE diva who shared the same name as the first lady. Too bad she wasn't around longer, or they could have found another woman, call her Betty Ford, and have the two form a tag team. Anyway, Barbara's gimmick was that she was one of the paramedics, and one day she was just doing her job helping get a piece of food free from Miss Kitty's throat after a gravy match when all of a sudden, Ivory attacked her, ripped her shirt off and threw her into the gravy. Yes, that does sound ridiculous. Well, four days later, on the November 29, 1999 edition of Raw, Barbara's humiliation continued as she had to be interviewed by Michael Cole. Apparently, EMTs get their own theme music now. BB states that she was embarrassed to have her shirt ripped off on national TV, so naturally she challenges Ivory to an evening gown match where the winner must rip the clothing off the opponent. Um, ok then. Ivory comes out, and uses BB's initials against her by calling her bird brain. She then accuses BB of trying to make friends with the perverts in the crowd, and to prove her point Ivory takes off her jacket to a rousing reaction from the same perverts she just belittled. Ivory then cheap shots BB and for the second time, rips her EMT shirt off, which perhaps would be a sign not to challenge Ivory to an evening gown match. Well, that was fun. In the spirit of this video, I'll give it a big 2 out of 5.
P21- Barbarian: Hercules vs. The Barbarian
This match is from the May 8, 1989 episode of Prime Time Wrestling. At this time, Barbarian is still part of the Powers of Pain and is being managed by Mr. Fuji. Hercules comes out with a chain, and Tony Schiavone is one of the announcers, and every time I hear Schiavone calling a WWF match, it's just weird to me since he was the voice of WCW for such a long time. Anyway, the two stare each other down to start, and the ref physically separates them. A tie-up follows, and the ref has to separate the two once again as neither man wants to give an inch in this contest. The same thing happens again after both men try to choke the other, and finally it is Hercules that gets an edge by putting on a side headlock. Barbarian counters with a bearhug, but Hercules breaks the hold by forcing Barbarian's arms apart by using his own forearms. The two exchange some kicks to the gut and punches, before Barbarian nearly makes a big mistake by missing a wild punch giving Hercules an opening to slap the Full Nelson on, but Barbarian is able to keep the hold from getting sinked in and gets to the ropes. Barbarian takes control with a back elbow, and knocks Hercules down with a big boot. Hercules fires back with shots that at first have no effect, but he's able to stagger the Barbarian before knocking him down with a clothesline. Both men get back up, and Barbarian overpowers his opponent with a power slam. He then goes for a big splash, but Hercules sees it coming and gets the knees up. Hercules is red hot now, staggering the Barbarian with a series of lefts before using a right to knock him down, and then keeping him off balance with clotheslines and knee lifts. Hercules puts Barbarian up in the torture rack, but Mr. Fuji hits him on the ass with his cane. Well, that annoys Hercules, so he comes after Fuji. As you probably can guess, Barbarian sneaks up from behind to attack Hercules. A whip into the ropes by Barbarian, but Hercules counters with a cross body block that sends both men tumbling over the top rope. Neither man can get back in the ring in time, so the match ends in a double countout. Post match, Fuji tries to hit Herc with his cane, but Herc's ready and takes the cane out of Fuji's hand, then goes after the Barbarian and cracks the cane over his back. Match wasn't too bad, although the ending could have been better. I'll give it a 2.25 out of 5.
P21- The Barber Shop: Ric Flair and Bobby Heenan on the Barber Shop
The Barber Shop was an interview segment hosted by Brutus 'The Barber' Beefcake. As far as interview segments go, it was no Carlito's Cabana. This segment is from the September 22, 1991 edition of Wrestling Challenge, and what a challenge it is. Heenan comes out first with Flair's NWA Championship, not happy with Barber's condescending tone in introducing Ric Flair, so he decides to do it himself and introduces the real Heavyweight Champion of the World, Ric Flair. Flair says he, and not Hulk Hogan, is the real World Heavyweight Champion, and also has a message for Roddy Piper, as he seeks revenge for Piper spitting on Flair's belt earlier. Flair finishes by stating that until Hogan beats him, then the Hulkster will only be second best. Good stuff here, despite the presence of Brutus Beefcake. I'd give it a 2.6 out of 5.
P21- Baron Mikel Scicluna: WWWF TV Peter Maivia and Chief Jay Strongbow vs. Baron Mikel Scicluna and Moose Monroe
This match is from the October 22, 1977 episode of WWWF Championship Wrestling, to the best of my knowledge. Scicluna, a man billed as being from the Isle of Malta, is actually a WWE Hall of Famer, and I don't think I've ever seen him wrestle until now. I will say that he does have a sweet cape. Maivia, the grandfather of the Rock, by the way, and Scicluna start off for their respective sides, and the High Chief (Maivia) starts out strong with a beal to Scicluna and a blow for Monroe on the apron. While Maivia waits on Scicluna to approach him, Scicluna seems to have placed something in his right hand, and decks Maivia with it, stunning him. Scicluna continues to work over Maivia with his right hand, until Maivia gets over to his corner after a big punch and Strongbow tags himself in. Scicluna does the same to Strongbow, then puts the object back in his tights. Maivia sees this as an opportunity, so he comes in and oh here go hell come as both men work over Scicluna. Maivia and Moose head to the outside to fight, while Strongbow fishes into Scicluna's tights and takes the offending object out. By which I mean the roll of coins Scicluna had, not his penis. Maivia is now all fired up, and works over Scicluna until he tags out to Monroe. Strongbow comes in and decides what's good for the goose is good for the gander, so he uses the object to give a power boost to his punches on Monroe, then promptly hands it to Maivia once the ref starts to suspect something. Maivia then comes in to deliver more of the same, and eventually Moose tags out while Strongbow comes back in and is given the object again behind the ref's back. More blows follow, Maivia gets tagged in and does a snap mare on Scicluna followed by an elbow drop. The two exchange blows and tag out at the same time. Moose pulls out a rope and chokes Strongbow with it before the ref takes it away, but is unable to follow up as Strongbow dodges a punches, crawls under Monroe's legs, and tags out to Maivia. Maivia decks Monroe once, then hits him with a cross body block to get the three count and the victory for his team. Post-match, the winning team hugs while the losers bicker, and we get a shot of a young Vince McMahon at ringside talking about the manager of the year contest. Match wasn't too bad for what it was, and the crowd was really behind Strongbow and Maivia. I'd give it a 1.85 out of 5.
P22- Baron Von Raschke: Baron Von Raschke Part 1
This video here is part of a three part interview with Von Rashcke by two people calling themselves the Primadonns. Von Raschke comes out acting like a crazy man plugging somebody named Terry Eason's CD, then sits down to talk about such topics as how he got started in the business (the Baron was an amateur wrestler all throughout high school and college, then got into pro wrestling after spending a year as a teacher), some of the toughest wrestlers he ever encountered, how he learned his infamous Iron Claw hold, and a joke about midgets. Some interesting observations from Von Rashcke, who in spite of his in ring persona, comes across as a level-headed guy. If you want, check out part 1 right here:
P22- Barry Horowitz: Blue Blazer vs. Barry Horowitz 1988
A pat on the back is due for Barry Horowitz as he takes on Owen Hart, a.k.a. the Blue Blazer, in this match from the September 17, 1988 edition of WWF Superstars. Horowitz is wearing suspenders, while the Blazer has a feathered helmet on his mask to presumably look more like a bird. Horowitz removes his suspenders, the Blazer removes his headgear, and the match starts. The Blue Blazer starts with an arm wringer, runs to the ropes, backflips off the ropes and arm drags Horowitz to the mat. Horowitz gets up and comes out Blazer with a shoulder block. He tries again, but Blazer does a leapfrog and follows up with an arm drag and hold. A bodyslam follows, and Blazer then gets a two count after a Northern Lights suplex. Horowitz catches the Blazer with a savate kick, and then exclaims that 'now we go to school'. Who does he think he is, Ric Flair? Going to school seems to include a hard whip into the turnbuckle, followed by a knee drop that gets a two count. Horowitz attempts another whip into the corner, but the Blazer catches himself and then takes Horowitz down with a flying body press from the second rope that gets a two count. A suplex from the Blue Blazer follows, and he continues his aerial assault with a dropkick from the top rope. A pair of body slams follow, and Blazer finishes off Horowitz with a moonsault from the top rope that gives him the victory. For a four minute match, this was rather good, and made me curious as to what these guys could do given more time. As it is, I'll give it a 2.35 out of 5.
P22- Barry O: British Bulldogs vs. Barry O and Bret Hart
Hmm, one of these things is not like the other. This match is from the July 13, 1985 episode of All Star Wrestling and features Randy Orton's uncle, Barry O, teaming up with Bret Hart against two men Hart knows very well, the British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and the Dynamite Kid). Jimmy Hart is in the corner of Bret Hart and Barry O. Dynamite and Barry start, and Dynamite takes Barry down with a shoulder block. Dynamite then gets out of an arm hold with a back drop, but Barry comes back with a body slam. An elbow drop misses from Barry O, and Kid gives Barry an arm drag before tagging in Davey Boy. Davey also uses a shoulder block, and keeps Barry at bay with a dropkick and a pair of arm drags before tagging back out to Dynamite Kid. Dynamite gets a hold of Barry's arm, but O tags in Hart real quick and then catches the Kid coming off the ropes and holds him across his knee while Hart comes down with an elbow from the second rope. Hart brawls some with Dynamite, keeping the advantage with punches and hair pulls before tagging in Barry O. A big powerslam by Barry O gets a two count, as does a karate chop to the chest. Barry whips Dynamite to the ropes, but Dynamite leaps over Barry and tags out to Davey Boy. Smith hits a huge back body drop and follows with a powerslam, but Barry gets out at two. After some smashes into the turnbuckle, Smith tags in Dynamite, and he then picks Dynamite over his head and launches him onto Barry O to get the three count. But Hart's not done, as he attacks Davey Boy and throws him out of the ring before going after Dynamite. Hart gets a few shots in before Davey Boy comes back in to break it up. Not a bad match, although I do wonder why Barry O was in there instead of Niedhart. I guess they just wanted to do something different for a quick match. I'd give it a 2 out of 5.
Well, that's it for part 3 of the Big Bad WWE Encyclopedia Video Project. I'd like to give a shout out to the website http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/, as it has a valuable source in helping me find out the exact dates when the videos I've been watching originally took place. Also, thanks to all of the uploaders of the various videos I've been watching. Well, if you have any thoughts about the 2BWE Video Project, or anything else at The Canon Review, than I'd be more than happy to read them, so feel free to leave a comment of send me an e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
The Canon Review's Tribute to Kenny Kaos
Last night, while watching Kenny Kaos's finest hour when Rick Steiner handed him one of the tag team belts, I found myself thinking, hey, what if I watch a few of his matches and see if he's any good. Well, I'm pretty sure I know the answer to that already, but nevertheless, here is The Canon Review's tribute to the blond guy from the WCW tag team High Voltage, Kenny Kaos.
Match 1: High Voltage (Rage and Kaos) vs. Villano IV and Super Calo, WCW Pro, June 1, 1997
What a strange matchup this is, as two luchadores face off against the youngsters High Voltage. Four and Calo start off with the advantage on Kaos, but that changes once Kaos whips Calo into Rage, who promptly delivers an overhead belly-to-belly on Calo. High Voltage dominates for a minute, until Kaos misses an elbow in the corner which allows Calo to get the hot? tag to Villano. Villano beats on Rage and backs him in the corner, but Kaos catches him and puts Villano on his shoulder. Are they going to do the Doomsday Device? No, instead Rage springboards from the apron to deliver a spinning heel kick on IV while he's sitting on Kaos's shoulder. According to the announcers, that move is called the Power Plant, which makes no sense to me, but that's a very good finisher none the less. Rage gets the three and the two muscleheads celebrate. Rage in particular is just juiced to the gills in this match. Short match which I doubt anyone remembers, and I'm quite surprised it's on YouTube. I'll give it a 1.6903 out of 5.
Match 2: High Voltage vs. Disorderly Conduct (Mean Mike and Tough Tom) WCW Thunder, September 3, 1998
The great lost tag team of the 1990s makes a rare Thunder appearance against High Voltage. Tony Schiavone gives a shout out to all the kids staying up late to watch Nitro and Thunder, even though they have school the next day. High Voltage takes control early, as Rage uses a belly to belly suplex on one of the mean tough guys and other power moves as well. Kaos comes in, keeps it up, but eventually the veteran duo get Kaos in a compromising position with heel tactics. One of the Disorderly Conduct (I can't remember which one is which, to be honest, and the announcers are no help) tries to hold Kaos for a double team maneuver, but instead Kaos moves, and the Disorderly Conduct run into each other. Hot tag to Rage, who dropkicks both of his opponents with some good hangtime on those dropkicks. Rage gets one of the Conduct on his shoulders, and Kaos springboards from the apron to deliver a clothesline, which is kind of like the Doomsday Device but instead of diving off the top turnbuckle, Kaos springboards himself and then leaps from the top rope. According to an internet site, this move is called the Circut Breaker, but whatever it's called, it's good enough to get the win. Bobby Heenan and Lee Marshall were really putting over High Voltage during the match, and Heenan even compared them to the young Steiner Brothers. I think Heenan was drunk. This match was really a showcase for High Voltage, but it never did anything for them since WCW brass never seemed interested in giving them a push. Nevertheless, it was decent for what it was. I'll give it a 2 out of 5.
Match 3: High Voltage vs. The Steiner Brothers, WCW Monday Nitro, February 10, 1997
Well, since the comparison was made, why not see these two teams against each other. Scott and Rick come out to a big reaction. An interview is played before the match where the Steiners say they'll win some four way tag coming up at Super Brawl. Match starts. Scott takes control of Rage, but Rage clips him in the knee. Rage comes off the top, but gets caught and Scott overhead belly to belly suplexes him. Scott then lifts Rage up and Gorilla Press slams him. Tag out to Rick, and his future tag team partner Kaos is also tagged in. Rick stays in control to the surprise of no one, and Scott gets back in to powerslam Kaos into the corner. Tag back to Rick, who atomic drops Kaos, and follows with a Steinerline, but Kaos is able to tag out just before taking the move. Rage is in, tries a springboard senton from the apron, but gets caught and powerbombed by Rick instead. The two set Rage up, and Rick delivers his finisher, the bulldog off the top rope onto the opponent, which is on Scott's shoulders. Rick gets the pin and the crowd roars in appreciation. Pretty much a squash, but an entertaining one at least. I'll give it a 2.2 out of 5.
Match 4: Kenny Kaos vs. Goldberg, WCW Monday Nitro, April 12, 1999
I wonder who's going to win this match. Goldberg comes out and punishes Kaos with a few moves, including a leg submission and a gorilla press into a powerslam, which Heenan decides to call the Goldberg Slam. Holy moly, Kaos gets some offense in after a jawjacker against the top rope. He gets a couple of punches into the midsection and a fireman's carry into a slam that looked as if neither man knew what to do there. Kaos to the top, and he hits the guillotine legdrop! Come on Kaos! Kaos attempts a springboard clothesline, but gets swatted away like a fly by Goldberg. Damn it, he was so close! Goldberg takes control with a pumphandle suplex, spear, and the Jackhammer in rapid succession to get the win. Match was kind of sloppy, to be honest. I'll give it a 1.6 out of 5.
Finally, I would not be doing my due dillegence if I didn't include this video. Somebody, apparently a huge fan, decided to make a tribute video to the team of High Voltage, in the style of those "My Sacrifice" videos that the WWE made a few years back. It starts out well, but eventually it's a minute and a half of High Voltage taking a beating. Still, I found it entertaining, so check it out for yourself.
So, what did I learn from this? That Kenny Kaos is not a man to be trifled with, unless you are Goldberg. In all honesty, both Rage and Kaos had some of the tools to be good wrestlers, but never quite put the whole puzzle together and even if they did, it's unlikely that WCW would have given them a chance anyway. Oh well. Today Kaos no longer wrestles. I don't know what he does, but he isn't in wrestling as far as I know. I will say this, Kenny Kaos was better than a lot of guys to step into the ring for WCW.
Well, thanks for reading, and if you have any ideas for future posts, than let me know about them either by leaving a comment or by contacting me via e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com
Match 1: High Voltage (Rage and Kaos) vs. Villano IV and Super Calo, WCW Pro, June 1, 1997
What a strange matchup this is, as two luchadores face off against the youngsters High Voltage. Four and Calo start off with the advantage on Kaos, but that changes once Kaos whips Calo into Rage, who promptly delivers an overhead belly-to-belly on Calo. High Voltage dominates for a minute, until Kaos misses an elbow in the corner which allows Calo to get the hot? tag to Villano. Villano beats on Rage and backs him in the corner, but Kaos catches him and puts Villano on his shoulder. Are they going to do the Doomsday Device? No, instead Rage springboards from the apron to deliver a spinning heel kick on IV while he's sitting on Kaos's shoulder. According to the announcers, that move is called the Power Plant, which makes no sense to me, but that's a very good finisher none the less. Rage gets the three and the two muscleheads celebrate. Rage in particular is just juiced to the gills in this match. Short match which I doubt anyone remembers, and I'm quite surprised it's on YouTube. I'll give it a 1.6903 out of 5.
Match 2: High Voltage vs. Disorderly Conduct (Mean Mike and Tough Tom) WCW Thunder, September 3, 1998
The great lost tag team of the 1990s makes a rare Thunder appearance against High Voltage. Tony Schiavone gives a shout out to all the kids staying up late to watch Nitro and Thunder, even though they have school the next day. High Voltage takes control early, as Rage uses a belly to belly suplex on one of the mean tough guys and other power moves as well. Kaos comes in, keeps it up, but eventually the veteran duo get Kaos in a compromising position with heel tactics. One of the Disorderly Conduct (I can't remember which one is which, to be honest, and the announcers are no help) tries to hold Kaos for a double team maneuver, but instead Kaos moves, and the Disorderly Conduct run into each other. Hot tag to Rage, who dropkicks both of his opponents with some good hangtime on those dropkicks. Rage gets one of the Conduct on his shoulders, and Kaos springboards from the apron to deliver a clothesline, which is kind of like the Doomsday Device but instead of diving off the top turnbuckle, Kaos springboards himself and then leaps from the top rope. According to an internet site, this move is called the Circut Breaker, but whatever it's called, it's good enough to get the win. Bobby Heenan and Lee Marshall were really putting over High Voltage during the match, and Heenan even compared them to the young Steiner Brothers. I think Heenan was drunk. This match was really a showcase for High Voltage, but it never did anything for them since WCW brass never seemed interested in giving them a push. Nevertheless, it was decent for what it was. I'll give it a 2 out of 5.
Match 3: High Voltage vs. The Steiner Brothers, WCW Monday Nitro, February 10, 1997
Well, since the comparison was made, why not see these two teams against each other. Scott and Rick come out to a big reaction. An interview is played before the match where the Steiners say they'll win some four way tag coming up at Super Brawl. Match starts. Scott takes control of Rage, but Rage clips him in the knee. Rage comes off the top, but gets caught and Scott overhead belly to belly suplexes him. Scott then lifts Rage up and Gorilla Press slams him. Tag out to Rick, and his future tag team partner Kaos is also tagged in. Rick stays in control to the surprise of no one, and Scott gets back in to powerslam Kaos into the corner. Tag back to Rick, who atomic drops Kaos, and follows with a Steinerline, but Kaos is able to tag out just before taking the move. Rage is in, tries a springboard senton from the apron, but gets caught and powerbombed by Rick instead. The two set Rage up, and Rick delivers his finisher, the bulldog off the top rope onto the opponent, which is on Scott's shoulders. Rick gets the pin and the crowd roars in appreciation. Pretty much a squash, but an entertaining one at least. I'll give it a 2.2 out of 5.
Match 4: Kenny Kaos vs. Goldberg, WCW Monday Nitro, April 12, 1999
I wonder who's going to win this match. Goldberg comes out and punishes Kaos with a few moves, including a leg submission and a gorilla press into a powerslam, which Heenan decides to call the Goldberg Slam. Holy moly, Kaos gets some offense in after a jawjacker against the top rope. He gets a couple of punches into the midsection and a fireman's carry into a slam that looked as if neither man knew what to do there. Kaos to the top, and he hits the guillotine legdrop! Come on Kaos! Kaos attempts a springboard clothesline, but gets swatted away like a fly by Goldberg. Damn it, he was so close! Goldberg takes control with a pumphandle suplex, spear, and the Jackhammer in rapid succession to get the win. Match was kind of sloppy, to be honest. I'll give it a 1.6 out of 5.
Finally, I would not be doing my due dillegence if I didn't include this video. Somebody, apparently a huge fan, decided to make a tribute video to the team of High Voltage, in the style of those "My Sacrifice" videos that the WWE made a few years back. It starts out well, but eventually it's a minute and a half of High Voltage taking a beating. Still, I found it entertaining, so check it out for yourself.
So, what did I learn from this? That Kenny Kaos is not a man to be trifled with, unless you are Goldberg. In all honesty, both Rage and Kaos had some of the tools to be good wrestlers, but never quite put the whole puzzle together and even if they did, it's unlikely that WCW would have given them a chance anyway. Oh well. Today Kaos no longer wrestles. I don't know what he does, but he isn't in wrestling as far as I know. I will say this, Kenny Kaos was better than a lot of guys to step into the ring for WCW.
Well, thanks for reading, and if you have any ideas for future posts, than let me know about them either by leaving a comment or by contacting me via e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Canon Wrestling Review: WCW Monday Nitro: October 26, 1998
Earlier today, reader Ben W. and I were reminiscing about the time preliminary wrestler Kenny Kaos was suddenly given one half of the Tag Team Titles by Rick Steiner on an episode of Nitro. I liked thinking about it so much that I decided to watch that very show when it happened. So strap up and hold on tight, as we review the October 26, 1998 version of WCW Monday Nitro.
We start with dancing from the Nitro Girls and some fireworks. The usual gang of idiots are here, but before the show starts, Tony Schiavone has some bidness to take care of. See, the night before was WCW Halloween Havoc, and due to the fact that they went 20 minutes over schedule, some people did not get to see the conclusion of the show, which was the conclusion to that God-awful Hogan-Warrior match and the entire main event between Diamond Dallas Page and WCW Champion Goldberg. So, out of the kindness of their hearts, WCW has decided to air the entire main event unedited during the broadcast. According to Schiavone, the competition is claiming that this is a ratings ploy, but to prove those bastards wrong, the match will air at 9:00 eastern at the beginning of the second hour. Oddly enough, that's when the competition is supposed to start their show. Coincidence? Larry Zybszko says that technology is not perfect and if you think this is bad "wait until the KY2 bug hits in the year 2000". That sounds awful, thank goodness that didn't happen.
DANGER! HIGH VOLTAGE! Out comes Kaos to no reaction. He faces off against Stevie Ray of the nWo, who the announcers decry for having the gall to refer to himself as the "enforcer" of the nWo. Hey, that's Arn Anderson's name, come up with something else. Ray beats up Kaos both inside and outside the ring, and says something incoherent into the camera. Kaos comes back with a springboard clothesline, which brings out Buff Bagwell. Bagwell throws Stevie Ray his slapjack and distracts the referee long enough for Stevie to nail Kaos with it. Stevie than hits his finisher, also known as the slapjack (double underhook facebuster). How odd. Ray gets the three and the nWo puts the boots to Kaos. That brings out Rick Steiner with a T-shirt underneath his singlet to chase them off. Rick grabs a mic and says, hey Kaos, mind being my partner in defending the tag titles tonight? Kaos, not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, accepts. Of all the people Steiner could have chosen, he chose a guy that already got beat down by the nWo and hasn't won a match in about two years unless its against Lodi or somebody like that. Now the fans are treated to two Kaos matches in one night. That will bring in the ratings.
Next is the late, great Kanyon taking on the still living but merely average Prince Iaukea. Kanyon asks the crowd, "Who's better than Kanyon?" which gets a lot of responses but not the one Kanyon was looking for, so he kicks Iaukea in the gut and starts the match in anger. Kanyon is on offense for most of the match, but Iaukea gets a couple of moves in, including a backdrop out of an attempted piledriver on the stairs by Kanyon and a springboard senton on a standing Kanyon. Of course, the announcers are too busy talking about how Rick Steiner won the Tag Team titles last night against three men by himself. Kanyon could have taken a leak in the middle of the ring and they'd still be talking about Rick Steiner or the great decision made to air the DDP-Goldberg match on this show. Kanyon counters a backslide into the Flatliner, and pins his opponent for the three count. He then proclaims himself the King of the World, a la Leo DiCaprio in Titanic. Decent enough match, although not enough time was given to make it worthwhile.
The Nitro Girls are dancing around the announce table, which causes Tony and Mike Tenay to react like they've never seen a woman before. Gene Okerlund is in the ring, and he introduces the Four Horseman, which causes Tony to yell in the mic in approval. There's no Mongo McMichael here for some reason, but Ric Flair assures us that he'll be here later. Well, let's hope not. Flair goes on about how Eric Bischoff will fail in his attempts to block him from wrestling, which brings out a rather pale looking Bischoff. Bischoff says that he's made a mistake, that he's underestimated the fans love of Ric Flair and that we will see Ric Flair wrestle tonight. Flair says Hell yeah, bring out anybody and he'll take them on. The announcers are optimistic but cautious of Bischoff's true intentions.
There's a video shown of this week's winning Nitro Party, with a bunch of dumb wannabe frat boys acting like Konnan and Bagwell while watching Nitro. Stills are shown of last night's Kevin Nash vs. Scott Hall match, where Nash just walked away after powerbombing Hall twice. We go to the entrance ramp, where Alex Wright comes out to face Barry Horowitz. The announcers spend most of the match talking about what nice guys they are for showing last night's PPV Main Event. Wright, to the surprise of absolutely no one, is in control most of the match, although Horowitz counters a top rope dive from Wright. Horowitz does his patented pat on the back, before messing up his own top rope move. Wright hits the Rude Awakening on Horowitz and gets the victory. He then celebrates by doing his stupid dance. Match was short and not that great.
Lee Marshall announces the location of next week's Nitro, which I don't care enough to remember, and then we get a recap of last night's Hogan-Warrior match, which I believe was named the worst match of the year. The announcers have decided that the match was too graphic to show on the air even though some people didn't see the ending. It also sucked on ice. Anyway, Horace Hogan helped his uncle win a week after his uncle brained him with a steel chair, leaving 11 stitches on Horace's head.
Sick Boy comes out to be squashed by Wrath, who actually gets quite a good reaction from the fans. Sick Boy gets almost no offense in, and Wrath gets to show off his skills, including a slingshot shoulderblock and a bunch of power moves. Wrath sets up Sick Boy for the Meltdown (pumphandle slam), which gets a HUGE reaction from the fans. Wrath gives the fans what they want and gets the victory to the delight of the crowd. Match was a squash, but man these people were really digging Wrath at this time. Too bad he had to rug pulled out from under him a few weeks later.
The announcers remind us that Ric Flair will wrestle and that now is finally the time to show the Page-Goldberg match. Michael Buffer does the ring announcing for this match, noting that Page is from the Jersey Shore by way of the school of Hard Knocks, just like The Situation. Page comes through the crowd, while Goldberg comes out accompanying by a 10 man security force for reasons that are unknown to me even to this day. Match starts, and each man can't get an advantage, although it's clear that Goldberg is the superior athlete. Goldberg does a backflip to counter a Page leg sweep, which impresses everybody. For the first few minutes, Goldberg seems to be targeting the arm of Page, presumably to prevent him from using the Diamond Cutter. Goldberg retains control until Page does a headscissors out of a power slam attempt. Didn't think Page could do that move. Goldberg side kicks Page in the chest, backing him into the corner. He then goes for the spear, but Page moves and Goldberg slams his shoulders into the ring post. Goldberg's hurt his arm, which allows Page to hit a flying clothesline and then counter a spinebuster into a tornado DDT. Page calls for the Diamond Cutter, but Goldberg has none of that and spears Page to the ground. But it's with his bum shoulder. The two slowly get up, and Goldberg goes for the Jackhammer, but hasn't the strength to do it. He finally gets Page up, but Page counters with the Diamond Cutter! The crowd explodes after that, but Page doesn't have enough energy to make the cover. Page finally gets the cover, but only gets a two count. Page then tries a suplex, but unfortunately for him Goldberg is able to counter and use the Jackhammer on Page. Goldberg gets the win in what was his best match to date at this point, and may be the best match of his career. Great match, I would recommend it to anyone if you want to see good wrestling.
Now back to the crap. Gene catches up with Kevin Nash in his dressing room, which has two couches and a bathroom for some reason. Gene asks Nash why he didn't pin Scott Hall, but wait a minute, Hall is in the room as well. What's going on? Nash just wants his friend back, and Hall admits that last night he "hit a wall" and realized some things. Just when you think the two will become friends again, The Giant sneaks in and beats Nash up. Hall joins in, and eventually they pick up Nash and throw him through a wall. I guess Nash was the one that hit the wall after all.
A video of the Nitro Girls is shown, before we go back live to see the Nitro Girls dance. That was unnecessary, but I don't mind. The nWo Hollywood contingent comes out, with new member Horace Hogan. Somebody forgets to turn up the mic, so Bischoff repeats this stupid line three times: "Life is good when you're with Hollywood". Hulk Hogan gets the mic, says that when you wear the black and white you do it for life and that in order to do so, you must prove your loyalty by stabbing yourself in the heart in the name of Hollywood. The hell? Which brings us to Horace, as he "passed the test" last night and is given the nWo T-shirt and a nWo weightbelt. Hulk calls Horace the "most important, most valuable member of nWo Hollywood". It must be opposite day for the nWo. Strange promo.
Zbyszko is replaced by Bobby Heenan, and Tony wastes no time in expressing his displeasure about it. Watching these old Nitros is somewhat interesting now just because of the thinly-veiled comments both Tony and Bobby have for each other, as you can really feel the hatred between the two. Try watching a Nitro from say, 97 onward, and you'll be able to pick up on that rather easily. Anyway, Perry Saturn comes out, with a new vest that looks, um, interesting. He is followed by Eddy Guerrero who was the leader of the lWo at this time. This should be a good match, but Eddy at this point was burnt out, so we shall see. Saturn uses an overhead belly-to-belly early on, but Guerrero gains the advantage after dropkicking Saturn's knee. Guerrero then continues the attack on the leg. Guerrero does his trademark slingshot somersault, this time on Saturn's knee. After a few more moves, Saturn is able to gain the advantage after turning a tornado DDT into a Northern Lights suplex. From there, Saturn starts throwing around Eddy with his T-Bone suplex and a Falcon Arrow, which of course the announcers don't know the name of. Saturn signals for the DVD, which brings out lWo members Damian 666 and Hector Garza. Saturn has little problem fighting them off, overhead belly-to-belly suplexing both of them quite nicely. This brings out the rest of the lWo, including a guy who nobody knows. The unknown man, who btw is Eddy's close personal friend Art Flores, uses a sweet brainbuster on Saturn, setting him up for a frog splash by Eddy. The lWo celebrates the beatdown of Saturn. Decent match, could of been better if given more time, but what can you do.
Gene-O is at the entrance ramp, he brings out Judy Bagwell. The crowd is on the edge of their seats with anticipation over what Buff's mom will say. Judy is tired of Buff's actions, and says that he has disgraced the Bagwell name. Brother Jeff is pissed at Buff, I am sure. Mrs. Bagwell goes on to say that she loves Marcus with all of her heart, but she's had enough of Buff. Me too, and he's only been on the show for a minute thus far.
The Giant and Stevie Ray come out representing the nWo against the newly-minted tag team Champions Rick Steiner and Kenny Kaos. Just because Kaos has to wrestle twice doesn't make it okay to subject us to two Stevie Ray matches in one night. Where's Bryan Adams when you need him? Predictably, the nWo beats up Kaos something fierce, or as fierce as the 550 pound Giant can at this point. To call him unmotivated is an understatement. Rick gets tagged in, hits a Steinerline for what looked like a three count but was only two, but the nWo take over again. Double team coming, but Kaos distracts the Giant, allowing Steiner to backdrop Stevie Ray. Steiner then hits a dangerous looking bulldog off the top on Stevie Ray and the champs retain. Good for them, although things would get worse once Steiner decided to make Judy Bagwell a tag team champion a few weeks later. Match was awful, however it was short at least.
Fireworks go off to signify the third hour of Nitro and to wake up the crowd after that last match. Eric Bischoff has replaced Tenay on commentary, which is a lateral move as far as I'm concerned. Bischoff says that he is a man of his word and we will see Flair wrestle, and he delivers, sort of. Instead of a live match, we get clips from Flair vs. Hulk Hogan at Bash at the Beach 1994, with all of the clips shown to make Flair look bad against the Hulkster. Well, technically, Bischoff didn't lie, but it's still crap. Mr. T and Shaquille O'Neal were there at ringside and Hogan wins with a legdrop and celebrates with the two. Bischoff says that this just shows that Flair will always be second best to the Hulkster. He asks the announcers how Flair looked, and Heenan says not too good, which causes Tony to scream at him. I bet Heenan just wanted to pop Schiavone on many days.
The Cruiserweight Title is on the line in this next match, as Juventud Guerrera takes on the champion, Billy Kidman, whose normally white shirt is now an ugly shade of gray. Wash your shirt, Kidman. This match was quite fun, as they start out fast and just pick up speed from there. A lot of two counts and great looking manuevers by these two wrestlers packed into six minutes. The end comes after Juvi learns you can't power bomb Kidman, as he counters with a Tiger Bomb, setting him up for a Shooting Star Press, which he landed perfectly for once. Kidman gets the win and the crowd shows its appreciation. Back to the announce table, where a Sting and Macho Man video are both plugged. Heenan tries to steal one of the videos, but Tony catches him in the act.
The nWo music plays for the 293rd time tonight, and this time Scott Steiner and son of Judy Bagwell come out. Steiner asks if the ladies love him for his mind or his body, and to that I say what mind? Bagwell is angry at his mother, and says that women belong at home cooking and cleaning. Buff than implores his dad to put Judy back in her place. So now Buff hates all women? Steiner than calls out J.J. Dillon to set up a match between him and his brother. Dillon comes out, says something about it being late in the show so you can't have your rematch. Steiner then says that he's an honest man but he has lied. Okay. Instead, Steiner has two questions for Dillon. One, why did the referee that started the match last night didn't finish the match, and two, well we never get that far as Dillon gets beaten up for failing to answer the first one correctly. Security tries to break it up, but Scott puts Dillon in the Steiner Recliner while Buff runs interference.
The Warrior's music plays, which the announcers act like they've never heard before even though the dude's been in the company for three months by now. Warrior gets a pretty good reaction from the crowd, and then proceed es to speak about how Hogan is a chicken or something. Warrior proceeds to drop an S-bomb during the interview. I don't think you can do that. He says Hogan has opened the door to Warrior's hell, and that he is the gatekeeper. Well good for you Warrior. Hogan comes out, followed quickly by Horace and Bischoff, and not so quickly by The Giant. Horace attacks first but gets clotheslined out of the ring for his trouble. The Giant comes in, but sufferes the same fate, but that allows Hogan to clubber on Warrior from behind. Warrior recovers, delivers a flying shoulder tackle to Hogan, and the Warrior stands tall in the ring. He wouldn't be in WCW much longer after this, however.
There's a commercial for WCW Bashin' Brawlers that is shown. Hey, I used to have some of those. They would scream out whenever you put pressure on a body part, for example, if you twist their arm, they would say "OW, you're hurting my left arm" They only made one for the big names, like Page, Savage, and Hogan. If only they made one for Van Hammer. The nWo music plays yet again, bringing out Scotts Hall and Steiner. Lex Luger and Konnan come out, and we have a tag match that quickly degenerates into an all-out brawl. Luger squares off with Hall while Steiner and Konnan fight. It's interesting that whenever one pair goes to the outside, the other pair go back to the inside of the ring. Well, maybe not interesting. Eventually, Luger hits Hall with the bionic forearm and signals for the Torture Rack, but Steiner comes to stop that with a low blow. Konnan brings a steel chair, and crushes Steiner on the head with it. Luger than jabs Hall with the chair. The two teams keep fighting until commercial, and the match is eventually declared a no-contest. Meh.
Michael Buffer is here to announce the main event, a match for the U.S. Title between DDP and the Champion Bret Hart. Buffer gets Hart's name right this time, something he has struggled with before. The two trade moves for a while, and it's a good back-and-forth affair between the two. Hart starts to take control after a Russian Leg Sweep and a DDT on DDP, which the announcers seemed to find funny. Hart gets a two after the DDT, and starts freaking out on Mickey Jay, which gives Page the opening to hit the Cactus Jack clothesline and a pancake. Page goes up top, but Hart catches him and superplexs his foe down to the mat. Only two, Page small packages Hart for two, but the Hitman regains control with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Flying elbow off the second rope by Hart, but Page gets out at two, which causes Hart to call Mickey Jay's mother a whore or something. Page takes Hart down with a Fujiwara armbar, but instead of holding on, he just lets go. That was awkward. Page gets Hart in the corner, bashes his head into the turnbuckle, but Hart manages to mule-kick both Page and the ref in the jewels. Hart digs out some knucks, revives the ref, but Page suddenly catches him with the Diamond Cutter. On this night, that would be enough, and we have a new U.S. Champion. This does not please Hart, as he gets a chair and starts attacking Page's leg with it. He puts DDP in the sharpshooter, which cause Page to scream in agony. Hart eventually tires of that, and goes back to bashing Page's leg with the chair before Goldberg comes out just as the show was ending. Good match, not great, but good.
Overall, this show was made a lot better due to the airing of Page-Goldberg, but even so it was still just an average show. At least there were two good matches in the final hour in Kidman-Juvi and Hart-Page, but all the nWo stuff was either boring or just plain dumb. I'll give this show an overall score of 4.89 out of 10. Tomorrow at The Canon Review, we pay tribute to Kenny Kaos, for no good reason whatsoever. But until then, if you have any better ideas for reviews, than send them to me either by leaving a comment or by e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com. Here's some videos from this episode of Nitro.
We start with dancing from the Nitro Girls and some fireworks. The usual gang of idiots are here, but before the show starts, Tony Schiavone has some bidness to take care of. See, the night before was WCW Halloween Havoc, and due to the fact that they went 20 minutes over schedule, some people did not get to see the conclusion of the show, which was the conclusion to that God-awful Hogan-Warrior match and the entire main event between Diamond Dallas Page and WCW Champion Goldberg. So, out of the kindness of their hearts, WCW has decided to air the entire main event unedited during the broadcast. According to Schiavone, the competition is claiming that this is a ratings ploy, but to prove those bastards wrong, the match will air at 9:00 eastern at the beginning of the second hour. Oddly enough, that's when the competition is supposed to start their show. Coincidence? Larry Zybszko says that technology is not perfect and if you think this is bad "wait until the KY2 bug hits in the year 2000". That sounds awful, thank goodness that didn't happen.
DANGER! HIGH VOLTAGE! Out comes Kaos to no reaction. He faces off against Stevie Ray of the nWo, who the announcers decry for having the gall to refer to himself as the "enforcer" of the nWo. Hey, that's Arn Anderson's name, come up with something else. Ray beats up Kaos both inside and outside the ring, and says something incoherent into the camera. Kaos comes back with a springboard clothesline, which brings out Buff Bagwell. Bagwell throws Stevie Ray his slapjack and distracts the referee long enough for Stevie to nail Kaos with it. Stevie than hits his finisher, also known as the slapjack (double underhook facebuster). How odd. Ray gets the three and the nWo puts the boots to Kaos. That brings out Rick Steiner with a T-shirt underneath his singlet to chase them off. Rick grabs a mic and says, hey Kaos, mind being my partner in defending the tag titles tonight? Kaos, not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, accepts. Of all the people Steiner could have chosen, he chose a guy that already got beat down by the nWo and hasn't won a match in about two years unless its against Lodi or somebody like that. Now the fans are treated to two Kaos matches in one night. That will bring in the ratings.
Next is the late, great Kanyon taking on the still living but merely average Prince Iaukea. Kanyon asks the crowd, "Who's better than Kanyon?" which gets a lot of responses but not the one Kanyon was looking for, so he kicks Iaukea in the gut and starts the match in anger. Kanyon is on offense for most of the match, but Iaukea gets a couple of moves in, including a backdrop out of an attempted piledriver on the stairs by Kanyon and a springboard senton on a standing Kanyon. Of course, the announcers are too busy talking about how Rick Steiner won the Tag Team titles last night against three men by himself. Kanyon could have taken a leak in the middle of the ring and they'd still be talking about Rick Steiner or the great decision made to air the DDP-Goldberg match on this show. Kanyon counters a backslide into the Flatliner, and pins his opponent for the three count. He then proclaims himself the King of the World, a la Leo DiCaprio in Titanic. Decent enough match, although not enough time was given to make it worthwhile.
The Nitro Girls are dancing around the announce table, which causes Tony and Mike Tenay to react like they've never seen a woman before. Gene Okerlund is in the ring, and he introduces the Four Horseman, which causes Tony to yell in the mic in approval. There's no Mongo McMichael here for some reason, but Ric Flair assures us that he'll be here later. Well, let's hope not. Flair goes on about how Eric Bischoff will fail in his attempts to block him from wrestling, which brings out a rather pale looking Bischoff. Bischoff says that he's made a mistake, that he's underestimated the fans love of Ric Flair and that we will see Ric Flair wrestle tonight. Flair says Hell yeah, bring out anybody and he'll take them on. The announcers are optimistic but cautious of Bischoff's true intentions.
There's a video shown of this week's winning Nitro Party, with a bunch of dumb wannabe frat boys acting like Konnan and Bagwell while watching Nitro. Stills are shown of last night's Kevin Nash vs. Scott Hall match, where Nash just walked away after powerbombing Hall twice. We go to the entrance ramp, where Alex Wright comes out to face Barry Horowitz. The announcers spend most of the match talking about what nice guys they are for showing last night's PPV Main Event. Wright, to the surprise of absolutely no one, is in control most of the match, although Horowitz counters a top rope dive from Wright. Horowitz does his patented pat on the back, before messing up his own top rope move. Wright hits the Rude Awakening on Horowitz and gets the victory. He then celebrates by doing his stupid dance. Match was short and not that great.
Lee Marshall announces the location of next week's Nitro, which I don't care enough to remember, and then we get a recap of last night's Hogan-Warrior match, which I believe was named the worst match of the year. The announcers have decided that the match was too graphic to show on the air even though some people didn't see the ending. It also sucked on ice. Anyway, Horace Hogan helped his uncle win a week after his uncle brained him with a steel chair, leaving 11 stitches on Horace's head.
Sick Boy comes out to be squashed by Wrath, who actually gets quite a good reaction from the fans. Sick Boy gets almost no offense in, and Wrath gets to show off his skills, including a slingshot shoulderblock and a bunch of power moves. Wrath sets up Sick Boy for the Meltdown (pumphandle slam), which gets a HUGE reaction from the fans. Wrath gives the fans what they want and gets the victory to the delight of the crowd. Match was a squash, but man these people were really digging Wrath at this time. Too bad he had to rug pulled out from under him a few weeks later.
The announcers remind us that Ric Flair will wrestle and that now is finally the time to show the Page-Goldberg match. Michael Buffer does the ring announcing for this match, noting that Page is from the Jersey Shore by way of the school of Hard Knocks, just like The Situation. Page comes through the crowd, while Goldberg comes out accompanying by a 10 man security force for reasons that are unknown to me even to this day. Match starts, and each man can't get an advantage, although it's clear that Goldberg is the superior athlete. Goldberg does a backflip to counter a Page leg sweep, which impresses everybody. For the first few minutes, Goldberg seems to be targeting the arm of Page, presumably to prevent him from using the Diamond Cutter. Goldberg retains control until Page does a headscissors out of a power slam attempt. Didn't think Page could do that move. Goldberg side kicks Page in the chest, backing him into the corner. He then goes for the spear, but Page moves and Goldberg slams his shoulders into the ring post. Goldberg's hurt his arm, which allows Page to hit a flying clothesline and then counter a spinebuster into a tornado DDT. Page calls for the Diamond Cutter, but Goldberg has none of that and spears Page to the ground. But it's with his bum shoulder. The two slowly get up, and Goldberg goes for the Jackhammer, but hasn't the strength to do it. He finally gets Page up, but Page counters with the Diamond Cutter! The crowd explodes after that, but Page doesn't have enough energy to make the cover. Page finally gets the cover, but only gets a two count. Page then tries a suplex, but unfortunately for him Goldberg is able to counter and use the Jackhammer on Page. Goldberg gets the win in what was his best match to date at this point, and may be the best match of his career. Great match, I would recommend it to anyone if you want to see good wrestling.
Now back to the crap. Gene catches up with Kevin Nash in his dressing room, which has two couches and a bathroom for some reason. Gene asks Nash why he didn't pin Scott Hall, but wait a minute, Hall is in the room as well. What's going on? Nash just wants his friend back, and Hall admits that last night he "hit a wall" and realized some things. Just when you think the two will become friends again, The Giant sneaks in and beats Nash up. Hall joins in, and eventually they pick up Nash and throw him through a wall. I guess Nash was the one that hit the wall after all.
A video of the Nitro Girls is shown, before we go back live to see the Nitro Girls dance. That was unnecessary, but I don't mind. The nWo Hollywood contingent comes out, with new member Horace Hogan. Somebody forgets to turn up the mic, so Bischoff repeats this stupid line three times: "Life is good when you're with Hollywood". Hulk Hogan gets the mic, says that when you wear the black and white you do it for life and that in order to do so, you must prove your loyalty by stabbing yourself in the heart in the name of Hollywood. The hell? Which brings us to Horace, as he "passed the test" last night and is given the nWo T-shirt and a nWo weightbelt. Hulk calls Horace the "most important, most valuable member of nWo Hollywood". It must be opposite day for the nWo. Strange promo.
Zbyszko is replaced by Bobby Heenan, and Tony wastes no time in expressing his displeasure about it. Watching these old Nitros is somewhat interesting now just because of the thinly-veiled comments both Tony and Bobby have for each other, as you can really feel the hatred between the two. Try watching a Nitro from say, 97 onward, and you'll be able to pick up on that rather easily. Anyway, Perry Saturn comes out, with a new vest that looks, um, interesting. He is followed by Eddy Guerrero who was the leader of the lWo at this time. This should be a good match, but Eddy at this point was burnt out, so we shall see. Saturn uses an overhead belly-to-belly early on, but Guerrero gains the advantage after dropkicking Saturn's knee. Guerrero then continues the attack on the leg. Guerrero does his trademark slingshot somersault, this time on Saturn's knee. After a few more moves, Saturn is able to gain the advantage after turning a tornado DDT into a Northern Lights suplex. From there, Saturn starts throwing around Eddy with his T-Bone suplex and a Falcon Arrow, which of course the announcers don't know the name of. Saturn signals for the DVD, which brings out lWo members Damian 666 and Hector Garza. Saturn has little problem fighting them off, overhead belly-to-belly suplexing both of them quite nicely. This brings out the rest of the lWo, including a guy who nobody knows. The unknown man, who btw is Eddy's close personal friend Art Flores, uses a sweet brainbuster on Saturn, setting him up for a frog splash by Eddy. The lWo celebrates the beatdown of Saturn. Decent match, could of been better if given more time, but what can you do.
Gene-O is at the entrance ramp, he brings out Judy Bagwell. The crowd is on the edge of their seats with anticipation over what Buff's mom will say. Judy is tired of Buff's actions, and says that he has disgraced the Bagwell name. Brother Jeff is pissed at Buff, I am sure. Mrs. Bagwell goes on to say that she loves Marcus with all of her heart, but she's had enough of Buff. Me too, and he's only been on the show for a minute thus far.
The Giant and Stevie Ray come out representing the nWo against the newly-minted tag team Champions Rick Steiner and Kenny Kaos. Just because Kaos has to wrestle twice doesn't make it okay to subject us to two Stevie Ray matches in one night. Where's Bryan Adams when you need him? Predictably, the nWo beats up Kaos something fierce, or as fierce as the 550 pound Giant can at this point. To call him unmotivated is an understatement. Rick gets tagged in, hits a Steinerline for what looked like a three count but was only two, but the nWo take over again. Double team coming, but Kaos distracts the Giant, allowing Steiner to backdrop Stevie Ray. Steiner then hits a dangerous looking bulldog off the top on Stevie Ray and the champs retain. Good for them, although things would get worse once Steiner decided to make Judy Bagwell a tag team champion a few weeks later. Match was awful, however it was short at least.
Fireworks go off to signify the third hour of Nitro and to wake up the crowd after that last match. Eric Bischoff has replaced Tenay on commentary, which is a lateral move as far as I'm concerned. Bischoff says that he is a man of his word and we will see Flair wrestle, and he delivers, sort of. Instead of a live match, we get clips from Flair vs. Hulk Hogan at Bash at the Beach 1994, with all of the clips shown to make Flair look bad against the Hulkster. Well, technically, Bischoff didn't lie, but it's still crap. Mr. T and Shaquille O'Neal were there at ringside and Hogan wins with a legdrop and celebrates with the two. Bischoff says that this just shows that Flair will always be second best to the Hulkster. He asks the announcers how Flair looked, and Heenan says not too good, which causes Tony to scream at him. I bet Heenan just wanted to pop Schiavone on many days.
The Cruiserweight Title is on the line in this next match, as Juventud Guerrera takes on the champion, Billy Kidman, whose normally white shirt is now an ugly shade of gray. Wash your shirt, Kidman. This match was quite fun, as they start out fast and just pick up speed from there. A lot of two counts and great looking manuevers by these two wrestlers packed into six minutes. The end comes after Juvi learns you can't power bomb Kidman, as he counters with a Tiger Bomb, setting him up for a Shooting Star Press, which he landed perfectly for once. Kidman gets the win and the crowd shows its appreciation. Back to the announce table, where a Sting and Macho Man video are both plugged. Heenan tries to steal one of the videos, but Tony catches him in the act.
The nWo music plays for the 293rd time tonight, and this time Scott Steiner and son of Judy Bagwell come out. Steiner asks if the ladies love him for his mind or his body, and to that I say what mind? Bagwell is angry at his mother, and says that women belong at home cooking and cleaning. Buff than implores his dad to put Judy back in her place. So now Buff hates all women? Steiner than calls out J.J. Dillon to set up a match between him and his brother. Dillon comes out, says something about it being late in the show so you can't have your rematch. Steiner then says that he's an honest man but he has lied. Okay. Instead, Steiner has two questions for Dillon. One, why did the referee that started the match last night didn't finish the match, and two, well we never get that far as Dillon gets beaten up for failing to answer the first one correctly. Security tries to break it up, but Scott puts Dillon in the Steiner Recliner while Buff runs interference.
The Warrior's music plays, which the announcers act like they've never heard before even though the dude's been in the company for three months by now. Warrior gets a pretty good reaction from the crowd, and then proceed es to speak about how Hogan is a chicken or something. Warrior proceeds to drop an S-bomb during the interview. I don't think you can do that. He says Hogan has opened the door to Warrior's hell, and that he is the gatekeeper. Well good for you Warrior. Hogan comes out, followed quickly by Horace and Bischoff, and not so quickly by The Giant. Horace attacks first but gets clotheslined out of the ring for his trouble. The Giant comes in, but sufferes the same fate, but that allows Hogan to clubber on Warrior from behind. Warrior recovers, delivers a flying shoulder tackle to Hogan, and the Warrior stands tall in the ring. He wouldn't be in WCW much longer after this, however.
There's a commercial for WCW Bashin' Brawlers that is shown. Hey, I used to have some of those. They would scream out whenever you put pressure on a body part, for example, if you twist their arm, they would say "OW, you're hurting my left arm" They only made one for the big names, like Page, Savage, and Hogan. If only they made one for Van Hammer. The nWo music plays yet again, bringing out Scotts Hall and Steiner. Lex Luger and Konnan come out, and we have a tag match that quickly degenerates into an all-out brawl. Luger squares off with Hall while Steiner and Konnan fight. It's interesting that whenever one pair goes to the outside, the other pair go back to the inside of the ring. Well, maybe not interesting. Eventually, Luger hits Hall with the bionic forearm and signals for the Torture Rack, but Steiner comes to stop that with a low blow. Konnan brings a steel chair, and crushes Steiner on the head with it. Luger than jabs Hall with the chair. The two teams keep fighting until commercial, and the match is eventually declared a no-contest. Meh.
Michael Buffer is here to announce the main event, a match for the U.S. Title between DDP and the Champion Bret Hart. Buffer gets Hart's name right this time, something he has struggled with before. The two trade moves for a while, and it's a good back-and-forth affair between the two. Hart starts to take control after a Russian Leg Sweep and a DDT on DDP, which the announcers seemed to find funny. Hart gets a two after the DDT, and starts freaking out on Mickey Jay, which gives Page the opening to hit the Cactus Jack clothesline and a pancake. Page goes up top, but Hart catches him and superplexs his foe down to the mat. Only two, Page small packages Hart for two, but the Hitman regains control with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Flying elbow off the second rope by Hart, but Page gets out at two, which causes Hart to call Mickey Jay's mother a whore or something. Page takes Hart down with a Fujiwara armbar, but instead of holding on, he just lets go. That was awkward. Page gets Hart in the corner, bashes his head into the turnbuckle, but Hart manages to mule-kick both Page and the ref in the jewels. Hart digs out some knucks, revives the ref, but Page suddenly catches him with the Diamond Cutter. On this night, that would be enough, and we have a new U.S. Champion. This does not please Hart, as he gets a chair and starts attacking Page's leg with it. He puts DDP in the sharpshooter, which cause Page to scream in agony. Hart eventually tires of that, and goes back to bashing Page's leg with the chair before Goldberg comes out just as the show was ending. Good match, not great, but good.
Overall, this show was made a lot better due to the airing of Page-Goldberg, but even so it was still just an average show. At least there were two good matches in the final hour in Kidman-Juvi and Hart-Page, but all the nWo stuff was either boring or just plain dumb. I'll give this show an overall score of 4.89 out of 10. Tomorrow at The Canon Review, we pay tribute to Kenny Kaos, for no good reason whatsoever. But until then, if you have any better ideas for reviews, than send them to me either by leaving a comment or by e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com. Here's some videos from this episode of Nitro.
Friday, March 5, 2010
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
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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
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