Hello there loyal readers. You are my loyal readers, right? In this series I attempt to provide an alternative view point to a specific topic. My subject this time is none other than the WWE “The Phenom” himself, The Undertaker.
With WWE WrestleMania 26 fast approaching I began thinking about the Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels rematch. A lot of speculation is going on as to whether HBK can end the Taker’s 17-0 streak, or will this be the last hurrah for the Showstopper. To me, there is no doubt how this one will end. This match is being booked as a test of wills. And when it comes to imposing his will, in my opinion, the Undertaker stands alone.
For nearly twenty years now, the Undertaker has been one of the driving forces in the WWE. From his days as the Dead Man, to “the conscience of the WWF”, to leader of the Ministry of Darkness, to the American Bad Ass, to Big Evil, to WrestleMania legend, one thing has remained the same. The Undertaker looks out for the Undertaker. Other than the fact that he portrays a dark persona, I don’t see the attraction that people have for him. I am not an Undertaker fan, can you tell, and here are my top reasons why.
#5 – He Never Ever Breaks Character
I understand and I can certainly appreciate the art of selling your persona to the fans. I still remember being at a NWA match at the Philadelphia Civic Center in the late ‘80s and having someone show me a picture they took back stage of Ric Flair, Sting, and Lex Luger posing with their arms around each other and smiling. The problem was that they were all feuding at the time and I remember how disillusioning it felt to see them break character like that. So I get it. But Undertaker takes it to a whole new level. I have never seen him any other way, except for when he was “Mean” Mark Callous in WCW before becoming the Undertaker. To me, the moment that took it too far was the night of May 24th, 1999. That was the night of the Owen Hart tribute, Raw Is Owen. The show started with all of the wrestlers standing on the entrance ramp for the ten bell salute. All except for the Undertaker, who was leading the Ministry at the time and didn’t want to break character. Even Steve Austin, who was nearly paralyzed by Owen, came out at the end to toast Owen and left us with the moving and lasting image of that lone beer can left in the ring for Owen.
#4 – He Never Loses A Feud
Name me one feud he has had that he has lost. The closest he has come is with Mankind back in 1996, almost fifteen years ago. Even when he loses individual matches, they are quickly followed up by Taker getting his revenge and rendering the previous victory all but irrelevant. I know the fashionable thing is to bash Triple H for all the people he has supposedly “buried”, but please tell me just who has the Undertaker ever elevated. Who has ever gotten the last shot in with him? Because it is so rare for Taker to do the job for an opponent, when it does happen it seems somehow grander and more epic. Part of the reason that the series of matches he had with Batista in 2007 were so good was that an opponent was finally allowed to hold his own against him.
#3 – In Ring Work
Let me clarify this one right away. When he wants to, the Undertaker has some of the most impressive moves and agility for a man his size that has ever been seen. WHEN HE WANTS TO. He basically took off the first part of the last decade and was sleepwalking through matches. He was out of shape, injury prone, and lazy in the ring. How many careers did he almost end by not being able to cleanly execute his “Last Ride” finisher? For the last few years he has improved his work rate to a much more consistent level, but still takes nights off in my opinion. Say what you will about the limited move sets of a John Cena, or the backstage politics of a Triple H. One thing you cannot slight them on is the consistent effort they put out in the ring.
#2 – He No-Sells Like No Other
Does this really need explanation? People love to trash Hulk Hogan for ruining guys by no-selling their finishers, which of course he does. But why should the Undertaker get a pass. I can see a need for it back in the early ‘90s when he was supposed to be this unstoppable zombie like monster. But now? Why should I believe that a finisher that can take out any other wrestler is worthless against a balding wrestler in his mid forties? And as usual, Undertaker takes it too far. You want to sit up from one finisher, fine. But he can get up from multiple finishers. How does this guy ever lose?
#1 – The Streak
17-0. It sounds so absurd to me to even write that. Could any other wrestler get away with being undefeated on the biggest stage of the year for that long? Triple H catches hell just for being in the main event every year, which by the way he is not this year. John Cena is vilified for, well, just being John Cena. And yet Taker is built up for his extended run of excellence. If you have read any of Justin Henry’s amazing WrestleMania recaps you’ll see that most of the matches Undertaker has had at WrestleMania have been mediocre to downright awful. Yet year after year he goes over whoever is put in front of him.
Well there you have it. Another myth debunked, another fraud exposed. I hope HBK wins to end the Undertaker’s streak , I really do. But I just don’t see it happening. Because when it comes to protecting the aura of the Undertaker, Mark Calaway will never rest… in peace.
Vince DeHoratus lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two kids. He has been a life long wrestling fan and he has passed that love onto his son. Though not quite yet “middle aged and crazy”, he is fast approaching it.
-So this was a bit like the end of an era for years truly. I was graduating high school in just three months, making this the first WWE WrestleMania of my adult life. The last time WrestleMania resided in Toronto, I was in kindergarten. Now, I was a high school senior, and the big event’s back at the Skydome in Toronto, Ontario, this time on March 17, 2002. Weird how things end up in life.
-Your hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler, whose knees are still worn out from the groveling he had to do to reclaim his old job. The event looks like a hybrid of WrestleManias VI and X7, which is my way of saying it’s like X7, but with a darker lighting scheme. The atmosphere’s nice, I’ll give em that.
-The story is that WWE, at the end of the Attitude era, bottomed out with a botched WCW Invasion angle, and is now relying on a new crazy scheme: bringing back the New World Order. This is annoying to 18 year old Justin, because he doesn’t really want to live in the past, and it’s annoying to 26 year old Justin, because every time he types ‘NWO‘ in Microsoft Word, it changes it to ‘now’, and I usually forget to change it back. It’s annoying because there’s nothing ‘now’ about the New World Order.
-Here to sing “Oh Cana—“, er, nevermind, here’s Saliva to sing “Superstar”. Well, I do enjoy me some Saliva, and this was their “free” era. That’s when a band’s first one or two albums phenomenally rock your world, and then they “branch out” and listen to the corporate agents, who streamline their sound to try and make it more mainstream. Blood Stained Love Story says hi. Song goes on a bit long, but I do enjoy Josey Scott yelling “GET YOUR ASS UP OVER YOUR SHOULDERS!”. If I could contort my body like that, I’d be more popular at parties for sure.
-Nice opening video with the main event guys talking about what WrestleMania means to them. Scott Hall has comments too.
-The show kicks off, much like last year, with the Intercontinental Title match with, much like last year, William Regal defending against, much like last year, a long haired IWC idol who is apparently never pushed enough. In this case, it’s Rob Van Dam.
-Funny moment, as Regal goes for his now-trademark brass knux from the onset, and RVD kicks them out of his hand. They flew pretty far, and I wonder how long we as fans would have talked about the “fan getting hit with flying knux” story on the net had it happened.
-I remember bracing myself for the swerve in this match, since I was HYOOOOGE RVD mark and wanted so badly to see him win the IC Title, to become a “legit” contender. Now they just put the IC Title on whoever Vince has a crush on this week and the whole thing is moot. Here, Drew, looks good on ya!
-Just tremendous see-saw stuff, albeit rushed. That’s carny for “we only have, like, seven minutes, so let’s get about 40 moves in and hope that it looks good”. Don’t worry guys, it does.
-RVD tries for the catch-the-foot-throw-a-roundhouse spot, but Regal hits a SICKENING half nelson suplex that spikes RVD on his head, and Van Dam rolls to the floor awkwardly. I think we all thought RVD was dead here. That’s because we all forgot that RVD was a combination of Gumby and Drugs Delaney. He’ll be fine, just roll the man a little something something.
-Regal tries to finish with a second pair of knux, but RVD lands a roundhouse, and then lands the Five Star for his first IC Title. Hope you liked this match, because you won’t see the IC belt defended until WM25. You also won’t be seeing Regal on this tour until….well, ever. Man hasn’t had a Mania match since. What’s up with that? Seriously, great match to kick things off, though.
-Christian mocks DDP’s grin. Hey Christian, if you really wanna hit him low, you should point out how you learned to read thirty years before he did.
-After bashing Toronto to ensure that he doesn’t get cheered, Christian arrives to face Diamond Dallas Page for the WWE European Championship. The gimmicks in play here include Christian portraying a compulsive whiner prone to tantrums, and Page was a smiling motivational speaker whose smile scared children. So if you were a fan of Celebrity Deathmatch, imagine Kanye West taking on an anti-matter Matt Foley.
-Wow, JR plays the “DDP was at WrestleMania VI in this building as a limo driver” card. So when Edge watched Rhythm and Blues come out to sing, I’m sure he thought “One day, my kayfabe brother is going to fight that chauffer while I tangle with a man who sounds like Tone Loc with dreadlocks over a bottle of shampoo! Gonna be SWEET!”
-The whole point of the match is that it’s a six minute backdrop to provide Christian a chance to have a tantrum and thus validate his character. I dunno, that’s more of a Backlash-No Mercy concept, I think. I like my WrestleManias to have a little more substance. It was hard to take Christian seriously at this point anyway, since he resembled a male version of Shannon Moore.
-Christian nearly has a meltdown of Ozzie Guillen proportions after Page kicks out of the falling reverse DDT. He stops himself, but can’t stop himself from eating the Diamond Cutter for the pinfall loss. Christian finally does spaz when Page points out that he lost in front of 68,000 fans, and JR screams for someone to get Christian a diaper. No problem, unless Hulk’s being stingy with his.
-The Rock is backstage, and he abuses Jonathan Coachman into saying his prayers. Isn’t it funny how Coach is universally reviled by the majority of marks and smarks alike, yet he and Rocky among the select few on this show (excepting Trish Stratus as well) that can leave wrestling and never have to look back? Coachman’s with ESPN and likely earning in the six figures to tell us why Danica Patrick and Lebron James will always be important, and we should be proud of The Coach. He made it. So many others haven’t.
-In an odd choice for a match, Maven (of Tough Enough fame) defends the WWE Hardcore Title against Goldust. In essence, Goldust pummels Maven with weapons that have been spray painted gold (trash can, shovel, etc) until Spike Dudley runs in and steals the pin to become champion. Then Crash Holly gives chase, then Maven, then Goldust, yada yada yada.
-To waste some more time, here’s Drowning Pool to perform “Tear Away”, while, as Lillian says they “tell the story of tonight’s main event”. Like the guys who sang “Bodies” could give a damn that Chris Jericho’s limo hit a dog. For those who believe that WWE only began to insult the crowd’s intelligence recently, boy have I got news for you.
-Backstage, the Hardcore shenanigans continue, which sees Al Snow drive a go-cart into a stack of boxes that were there for some reason, and The Hurricane fly in on a rope and thrust kick Spike to win the title. Then Hurricane runs off. Because he hears sirens.
-Next we have Kurt Angle vs. Kane, which is a feud I barely remember. Angle does, however, insult the fans for the Canadian pairs skating team controversy. Angle can take any sign of the times and just roll with it for the easy cheap heat. Here’s the question: given how divided America was during the Vietnam War, if Angle had wrestled in the sixties, which side do you think he would have been more likely to antagonize? Makes you think, doesn’t it?
-Angle attacks with the ring bell! I can see Angle playing Savage, but Kane as Steamboat? A little odd, to say the least. Unless Kane was a “fire breathing dragon”.
-For a monster, Kane’s sure giving Angle a ton of offense. See, I like these matches, because the dark-side loving marks who cheer for Kane will appreciate Angle as a gut-stomping villain who can take the fight to anyone, and the smarks who revere Angle can appreciate Kane for keeping up in a good match with such a talented pro. Everyone wins.
-It’s a shame that Kane’s been reduced to being nothing more than a chubby trial horse for the kiddies on Smackdown to work their craft on. He’s keeping pace with Angle, with a minimum of hoss silliness.
-Kane tries for a chokeslam, but Angle fidgets with Kane’s mask to throw him off his game. So when Jericho did it to Rey, he’d gotten the idea from Angle. Thieves….are….HYP-o-crites…..
-After Kane kicks out of the Angle Slam, Angle tries the Ankle Lock about 400 times to no avail. Jeez, get a clue, Kurt, he’s not up for tapping tonight. Angle ultimately counters a chokeslam into an awkward cradle and pulls the ropes for a poor excuse for a pinning combo, yet he gets the win off of it. Really good match and one of Kane’s best ever, but the ending did no favors. Fun while it lasted, though.
-Instead of trying to leave the building with the Hardcore Title, Hurricane tries to hide amongst the Godfather’s ho’s. You can LEAVE, Gregory, it’s not like Bill Watts is running the show!
-Highlight package for the Undertaker vs. Ric Flair street fight, with two noticeable occurrences: one is La Resistance’s theme playing for part of the video, and the other is a fan that Ric Flair accidentally assaulted played by…..Paul London! That’s not realistic at all. He wouldn’t have been allowed into the building with after a proper cavity search.
-Flair, who has a knack for storytelling, immediately attempts to pound Taker into oblivion for attacking his son, his friend Arn Anderson, and for making him hit Paul London. London was trained by Shawn Michaels, and lord knows Flair would NEVER do anything to upset Shawn.
-It doesn’t last long, as Taker seats Flair at ringside and unleashes a nasty gusher from Ric’s forehead, just pounding the cut until it looks like Flair’s going to be emptied at any moment. Nobody can empty Flair quicker than the Internal Revenue Service, but Taker’s a close second.
-Taker punching. Taker punching. Taker punching.
-After a seesaw slugfest, Flair manages to retrieve a lead pipe from Undertaker’s motorcycle (yes, he was still a biker at this point), and bashes the Dead Man to bust him open. Well, it’s a minor wound, but Lawler still believes that Taker’s papercut is a worse gash than Ric Flair’s forehead, which looks suspiciously like a bowl of tomato soup. Lawler also believes that he could attract the same women he gets now without millions in the bank, so let’s not go and shatter his delusions.
-Ross on Lawler’s prior assessment: “Are you drunk?”. I hope he is. Gives Jake Roberts someone to play cards with.
-Arn Anderson slides in to hit Undertaker with a Spinebuster, which I marked like a mofo for, but it can’t keep Taker down. Because Undertaker is not Firebreaker Chip.
-After Taker disposes of Arn, he takes on a figure four from Flair, but he goozles his way free. Flair won’t take the Last Ride, so Taker’s all “screw it” and lands the Tombstone for the win. A damn good match that’s lost amongst the Rock/Hogan hoopla, and I loved the intensity throughout.
-Afterward, Taker raises ten fingers, one by one, on the apron to mark his milestone. Has anyone else even WON ten matches at WrestleMania, let alone in a row? I think Shawn’s won maybe 6 or 7. Good stuff.
-Booker T cuts a promo to prove his stupidity. I always liked that in WWE that we’ve never been allowed to have a black character that’s displayed a ton of intelligence and intuition, outside of maybe Faarooq in the NOD days. And yet, Vince is there to paste the Martin Luther King montage on Raw every January. Perplexing.
-Edge realizes his dream of wrestling in Skydome at a WrestleMania! YAY EDGE!
-Said dream entails of: a disinterested crowd, Edge nearly breaking his neck on a top rope hurrachanrana, a badly blown Spinarooni attempt, and a win over Booker T in a match that was contested over a bottle of shampoo. But he’ll always have a the dream.
-Here’s an idea: why not have Booker feud with Page over who brought the WCW Invasion down, then do a six man tag: Edge and the Hardyz vs. Christian and the Dudleyz, TLC for the European (if Christian has it) and Tag Team Titles? You can stick Billy and Chuck and the APA on the pre-show or something. Flows better, doesn’t it? I think so.
-Meanwhile, Mighty Molly bashes The Hurricane with a frying pan to become Hardcore Champion. What a team: devoted missionary and violent drunk. It’s like the plot of Hancock, except….somehow better?
-And now for an interesting one: Stone Cold Steve Austin takes on Scott Hall of the New World Order. Austin was none too happy about being shunted down the card to feud with a chronic drunk (oh, the irony), and actually walked out the following day, not returning for a couple weeks.
-Brutal slugfest to begin things, and Kevin Nash earns his money for the year by removing the turnbuckle pad. That was very risky of him to do, since that’s his GOOD triceps that he used.
-Austin is bumped to the outside, and has to bear the brunt of a Nash onslaught. Hit his leg, Steve, that tends to work.
-Back inside, Austin hits Hall with a spinebuster, Then he follows up with a Stunner, but Nash pulls the ref out and clobbers him. Outsiders double team and Hall gets a chair, but Austin manages to Stun both men by himself. Way to keep those nWo t-shirt sales strong, guys.
-Another ref comes in and Nash drops an elbow on him. What’s up with Nash….and doing moves and stuff? Crazy.
-Nash is lulled from ringside by the promise of free Revlon, so Austin finishes Hall off with two Stunners for the win. This did nothing for Hall, who has to be a ruthless invader, and nothing for Austin, who was proving to no longer be the main event star. Decent match, but came at a heavy price.
-This leads to the fatal fourway for the WWE World Tag Team Titles, as Billy & Chuck (pre-Rico) defend the gold against the APA, Dudley Boyz, and Hardy Boyz. As a bonus, Saliva plays the Dudz new music live, and Josey Scott gets to grind with Stacy Keibler. Lucky punk.
-Just your standard multiple team fare, without the fun of broken tables and JR freaking out. In fact, APA eats an early elimination after a 3D. Remember when Bradshaw was just midcard fodder? Shhh, no one’s supposed to know that.
-Jeff Hardy was looking AWFUL here. Imagine if Sheamus was a fifteen year old raver, and you get Jeff in 2002. Even JR has to note how sickly pale he looks. Maybe he’s a Make-a-Wish kid, because he just got to slap Stacy’s butt as she tried distracting him with a wedgie, following up by kissing her. Well, that was MY wish too.
-After D-Von crashes through a table at ringside, Bubba Ray falls victim to the Hardyz finish. The crowd’s scared that Billy & Chuck may survive with the belts. Who says Canada’s not judgmental?
-Sure enough, a Fame-Asser/belt shot combo is enough to keep Jeff down for Billy & Chuck to retain. Bland match, and the crowd wasn’t into it, other than rooting against the champs. Let’s just move on.
-So backstage, Hulk Hogan calls off the Outsiders in regards to his match, and Christian nails Molly with a door to win the Hardcore Title. Just getting these out of the way, because I’m giddy about what’s next.
-And here it is: the match that changed everything.
-WWE’s pro-youth stance was shattered on this night. All of the pandering that Vince McMahon has done from 2002 onward in regards to nostalgia acts and milking out-of-date gimmicks for all they’re worth can be traced back to this match. Hollywood Hulk Hogan vs. The Rock, in a match between a 48 year old has been who had been absent from WWE for nearly nine years, and a 29 year old man who was becoming world famous, and was a great ambassador for the industry.
-So Toronto booed the kid and cheered the old guy. But hey, didn’t we all?
-JR has the balls to call this a “mixed reaction”. JR also called the Grenada conflict “evenly matched”.
-Hogan shoves Rock down a couple of times and poses, and the crowd reaction is INSANE. My brother and I joined in as Hogan went all eighties-y on us and we marked out like we were kids. And I was 18, thus having no excuse.
-Rock comes back and takes Hogan down, and the crowd boos. No wonder Vince Carter quit on this city.
-AXE BOMBER!!!! He beat Stan Hansen with it! But Rock’s no Stan Hansen. Like Rock would ever drop a midcard title to Lex Luger.
-Hogan’s doing the most elementary of moves (abdominal stretch, backrakes, 10 punches in the corner, forehead bite) and the fans are losing their mind. I think if 70,000 fans cheered Miss Jackie vs. Trish Stratus, I could get into that, too. Not that this match here sucks or anything.
-Rock chops away, and then cups his hand to his ear to mock Hulk. Fans boo lustily. I’m enjoying myself far too much.
-Hogan chokes the #1 babyface in the world with his wristtape, and the fans begin chanting his name. Not Rock’s name, but Hulk’s name. Do you think this annoyed Rock any, or do you think he was busy trying to remember his lines for the Rundown?
-The fight spills to the floor and Hogan clears off one of the tables, but it doesn’t get used. Rock tries to use a chair, but has it taken away. I nominate this for “best alleged hardcore match in wrestling history”, next to any Steve Blackman Hardcore Title defense.
-Ref bump, and Rock takes Hogan down with a spinebuster and sharpshooter. Hogan taps, which doesn’t count. You may be noticing a trend in this era.
-HULK BOTTOM! IT GETS 2! And it’s Yappapi strap time, as both men exchange shots with the weapon. Rock gets the upper hand and hits Rock Bottom….BUT HULK KICKS OUT! HE’S HULKING UP! THIS PLACE IS INSANE! 3 PUNCHES! BIG BOOT! LEGDROP! BUT ROCK KICKS OUT! PANDEMONIUM!
-Hogan misses a second leg drop, and then Rock lands two Rock Bottoms and a People’s Elbow to win one HELL of a fun match. Afterward, Hulk shakes Rock’s hand, and the Outsiders attack Hulk for being a turncoat. After Rock and Hulk run them off, Rock has Hogan pose for the fans like old times, andwhat a moment that it was. The two men walk off together, with Hogan endorsing Rock as the modern day star. I can’t speak enough about how great this was, and I still got giddy eight years later watching it. If you haven’t seen it, do it.
-What do you mean the show’s not over?
-Crowd for X8: 68,237. Thank you, Howard Finkel (#18!)
-Now for the Women’s title match, which is just dead in the water. Jazz defends the gold against Trish Stratus and Lita. The only thing that’s notable in the early going is that Trish has a maple leaf on the back of her tights. Alright, I’m kinda interested now.
-Crowd is dead, except when Lita wrenches her knee in the turnbuckle. If they were banking on hometown girl Trish to keep the fans alive till the main event, well Jasper, they thought wrong.
-Trish goes off the apron and Jazz spikes Lita with the Jazz Stinger for the win. No offense to any of these three women, since I have no issue with any of them but…..NEXT.
-Christian tries to make his escape with the Hardcore Title, but is pinned by Maven outside, who then absconds with Christian’s ride to the hotel. Well, that was just utterly pointless, wasn’t it?
-And now, the death march commences.
-Chris Jericho defends the Undisputed Championship against Triple H. The storyline here was…..Triple H won the Royal Rumble and uhh….Chris Jericho was champion so uhh…..they have a match. Oh, and Hunter was divorcing Stephanie, and they fought for custody of the dog. So Stephanie sided with Jericho and Jericho’s limo accidentally backed over the dog. Jericho, the most important champion at the time, was also walking the dog because Stephanie told him to.
-I’m going to need a moment to re-cope with the reality of that statement.
-Drowning Pool is here to play their rendition of “The Game”. Dear Drowning Pool, you’re not Lemmy. Sincerely, everyone with taste. Dave Williams, the singer of Drowning Pool, died months later of heart failure on the band’s tour bus. Hey Marc Mero, there’s somebody you forgot to put on your “wrestling deaths” list. It’s ok, you can have this one for free.
-Oh, right, the other story is that HHH is still hurting from his prior quadriceps injury, and Jericho’s looking to exploit that. Wow, look, the first part of the main event that HASN’T annoyed me. The crowd is too dead to be annoyed. Hogan wore em out. Maybe TNA should just move to Toronto?
-Hunter slams Jericho from the top rope to ringside. Well, alright, that was cool.
-Hunter and Jericho take turns working each other’s legs, which is not really the way to go if you’re trying to resuscitate the crowd. Stephanie screeching isn’t really helping matters either.
-Jericho saves Stephanie after Hunter brought her in the ring. What he wouldn’t have gave to break character for just one second. Disappointment as a champion, eh? Poor Jericho.
-Jericho and Hunter try and re-enact the Walls of Jericho on the table spot that helped injure Hunter in the first place, but Hunter ends up going through a table instead. Well, at least the psychology is sound.
-Jericho ultimately locks in the Walls inside the ring, but Hunter avoids passing out. Triple H is a better man than us all.
-After Hunter DDT’s Jericho onto a chair, Stephanie interjects herself one time too many, and Hunter makes her eat a Pedigree in the middle of the ring. Crowd kinda cheers that one. For someone who had needed comeuppance for a long time, they can’t go crazy for that? Man, Hulk must be like roofies or something.
-Jericho tries his own Pedigree, but Hunter sends him to the buckles. Jericho’s rebound dive falls onto a kick, and Hunter spikes him with the Pedigree to win the Undisputed title. Technically, the match was pretty good, but the lack of emotion from the fans, and Hunter’s slow pace selling the injury made this hard to want to invest into. If the rumors about Jericho being buried by the office over his title reign are true, then he probably wishes he didn’t put in the effort. Not that it seemed worth it anyway. Weird end to a generally weird show.
-CYNIC SAYS: Well, forget about topping last year’s effort right off the bat. I wouldn’t say anything on this show was terrible, so let’s look for some middle ground here. Rock-Hogan is a must-see, and Taker-Flair, Angle-Kane, RVD-Regal, and Jericho-HHH I’d rank as good. Everything else is going to go based on your personal tastes. For me, too many short matches featuring good competitors.
So it’s not a bad show, by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, it was fun in a lot of parts. Sort of like an All-Star game that doesn’t quite live up to the hype: it doesn’t suck, but it was fun to see all the stars.
So let’s go with that.
When he isn’t watching WWE, TNA, or his beloved Philadelphia Eagles and Phillies, Justin Henry can be found writing. It is his passion as well as his goal in life to become a well-regarded (as well as well-paid) columnist or author. Subscribe to The Cynical Examination, his wrestling blog, at http://www.facebook.com.
-For the remaining nine reviews, since they’re all 4 hours (and one is 5), I’ll be chopping out a little bit of quantity to make it my standard 4000+ word format. Which is a shame because for this show, I want to rant forever.
-Who was the April Fool on April 1, 2001 as we come to you from the Reliant Astrodome in Houston, TX for WWEWrestleMania X-Seven? Well, Vince had just bought WCW so they were finished, and ECW was days away from its bankruptcy hearing, so the biggest non-fool was Vince. Wait, why am I wasting time? I only have 4000 words to tell you that this is the greatest wrestling show in the history of time, so let’s just do it!
-Your hosts are Jim Ross and Paul Heyman, who had taken over for Jerry Lawler one month prior when Lawler quit the company. He quit in protest because WWE fired his girlfriend, the one who three months later ran off with an indie guy and publically disgraced “The King”. Boy, you can imagine THAT was embarrassing.
-No America the Beautiful or national anthem. Given the events that occurred five months later, do you really think WWE is a patriotic company, or just cashing in on jingoistic trends? You can guess my point of view.
-We start with the IC Title match, as Chris Jericho defends against then-commissioner William Regal. Jericho besmirched Regal by peeing in his tea, so Regal besmirched him back by kicking the snot out of him. That’s exactly how Magnum TA and Tully Blanchard got started.
-I miss the days before Regal discovered tanning, when every babyface opponent he had would light him up with chops just to redden his chest. Hunter can try that now with Sheamus, to see if the chest will match the hair.
-A lot of fan pinfall attempts, which leads one to think that this isn’t going to be a very long match. Everybody get your stuff in now!
-Regal slams Jericho into the exposed turnbuckle a couple of times, but Jericho basically shakes the pain off and hits the run-up enzuigiri. Of the eleven matches on this card, I think this is definitely the best opener choice. You can cut it short, and nobody gets upset about it. It’s also two pros that can bring the massive crowd to life in the early going, so good choices all around.
-Jericho lands a lionsault and remembers that his shoulder’s supposed to be hurt before covering Regal to keep the gold. Good seven minute opener that did what it had to do, and we’re off to a good start.
-Shane McMahon arrives in a limo. Forget Triple H and Stephanie, is Shane the biggest Jericho hater in the McMahon army? He can’t even show up in time for his match on the biggest night of the year, and he owns STOCK in the company!
-Next up, in a moderate “Get everybody on the show” attraction, Tazz and the APA take on Right to Censor members Val Venis, The Goodfather, and Bull Buchanan. Remember when Bradshaw used to have to get heat with his patriotic Texas boy suck-up rants? He has to namedrop Nolan Ryan here to get the crowd behind him, even though he’s fighting three tools in dress clothes who want to get rid of sex and violence. Tough times for JBL.
-Match is basically just an exhibition to keep the crowd noise on life support as we progress into the bigger matches. The only real spot of note is Tazz missing the top rope on a whip because he’s about 4′7”. Tazz can speak in that angry voice all he wants, but I still laughed.
-Bradshaw finishes a quick one with the Clothesline From Hell on Goodfather. At least the faces won, which keeps the fans happy. Can you believe that on the face team, you have a WWE Champion, WCW Champion, and ECW Champion? I couldn’t believe it either.
-Just a quick side note: the greatest character in wrestling history is comatose Linda McMahon. Seriously, she’s so lifeless, how does she DO it? Oh, that’s just how she really is?
-To give the crowd a violence appetizer before TLC later, Raven defends the Hardcore Title against Kane and Big Show. This is notable because Show’s late getting to the ring, and JR goes on a worked-shoot tangent about how Show can’t make a living off of potential, that he has to get it done in the ring. Man, when a guy who’s known for making barbecue references in every third sentence calls you a lazy mook, then maybe you should get ye a treadmill.
-After brawling backstage through the sea of people, Kane and Raven keep the tempo alive while Show sulks behind. Alright, JR, you were right.
-Show tries to lock himself and Raven in an enclosure, but Kane just rips the door off. Hey Show, if Kane can tear off the Hell in a Cell door, this should be a cinch. For a bonus, Kane throws Raven through a window. That’s enough to earn Kane the Mike Mizanin “I Came to Play” award.
-Then comes the golf cart chase, as Raven tries to drive off and he and Show barrel into the chain link fence, then Kane follows with the referee and proves to be a smooth driver, not unlike Mike Myers in the original Halloween. Then he runs over Raven’s leg. Well, ouch.
-Finally, Raven gets put out of his misery when the fight spills back onto the stage, and Kane kicks him and Show off through a side platform. Then Kane leaps off and covers Show for the win and the title. It seemed like it was just going to be filler at first, but it turned into quite the exciting little match. I enjoyed it.
-Kurt Angle’s too busy watching a match with he and Chris Benoit to have seen Raven’s effort in the last match. Well, that’s just selfish. Also, The Rock arrives now, just to spite the undercard. Screw Bull Buchanan, who’d he ever beat?
-Up next is the European Title, as Test defends against Eddie Guerrero. Hoo boy, is this match just plain creepy now. At least Perry Saturn’s hat cheers me up.
-Eddie does what he does best, and he sells for Test and his power display. Question: Why do we refer to Eddie Guerrero as “Eddie” but Chris Benoit as “Benoit”? Is it because “Guerrero” is too complicated to spell for some people? It’s a surname, for chrissakes, let’s just learn it. GUERRERO does what he does best. There, I broke the habit.
-Now to spice things up a bit, Test gets his ankle caught in the ropes, and they have to spend 60 seconds figuring out how to free him, getting a big ovation when they finally do. It’s the biggest pop Test got post-1999, so it’s definitely a banner night for all.
-Dean Malenko runs out to speed things things along, since he wants to see the Benoit/Angle match, so he helps Saturn distract Test, allowing Guerrero to hit Test with the European title for the win and the gold. Decent match, but just was there to get everyone involved. First heel win of the night.
-Mick Foley promises to call tonight’s Vince and Shane match right down the middle. Yeah, like Mick has a reason to be biased against Vince.
-Now for something a little more serious: Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit in a straight up one on one match. This is the first time in WWE history that I can recall two men doing the mat-wrestling stalemate sequence to begin a match, and getting a tremendous ovation for it. I like the story here, as Benoit keeps scaring Angle with the Crossface, and Kurt’s nerves lead to him falling into other Benoit moves. The psychology’s always sound with these two.
-Angle takes control, dominating Benoit on the outside and then pummeling him with suplexes inside. They were really beginning to get Angle over as a mat machine, you know, before he and Austin became unlikely best friends. Badges?
-Angle gets his belly to belly suplexes, and Benoit comes back with the rolling Germans. I think we have the first match of the night candidate. Sorry, Raven and Jericho, you’re out of the running.
-Now for a staple of WWE at the time: mind-screw submission holds, as Benoit applies Angle’s own anklelock, and Angle manages to get his own version of the Crossface. Crowd’s enjoying themselves too. Maybe there’s hope for Daniel Bryan yet.
-After a ref bump, Benoit gets Angle in his own Crossface, and Angle of course taps without an official. Story of Benoit’s life. As Benoit goes to maybe blow a snot rocket on the dead ref, Angle gets an Angle Slam for 2. After Benoit gets the diving headbutt, but when Benoit tries for a German, Angle goes low and gets a complicated rollover to win. Great match, and it told the characters’ stories to a tee: one is great, but the other is greater when he cheats. I’m enjoying myself all over again.
-Psuedo intermission segment where the following happens: Kamala destroys Regal’s office, footage is shown at the Fort Hood rally (RIP to those who perished in the recent shooting), and Benoit beats up Angle backstage and makes him tap.
-Ivory defends the Women’s title against Chyna, and since I have disdain for both performers, let’s just say that Chyna dresses like some demented version of a Bratz doll and beats Ivory in three minutes to win the title. Remember when Chyna said that belt was beneath her? So do I. She’d be gone within months to realize her true calling: incomprehensible walking meltdown for the Howard Stern fringe crowd. Always good to see someone realize their potential.
-Vince promises that tonight, we’re going to get “shocking”. I hate it when he promises surprises. He’d be a great evil dad in horror movies, though. “You wanna go for a ride? I’ll take you….for a ride….heh heh heh heh….”
-So it’s Vince and Shane in a street fight, which began when Shane defended Linda’s honor after Vince cheated on her publicly with Trish. Stephanie sided with Vince because of the whole Elektra complex. Shane then bought WCW before his dad could, just to show that he could run something as doomed to fail as the XFL. Foley’s the ref, just because. Linda’s in a wheelchair doing her best acting over. Trish is here too. Got all that?
-Shane gives a shoutout to his WCW homies in the skybox. LANCE STORM! HE FINALLY MADE IT TO WrestleMania! I wonder if he’s writing down notes on how horrible this show is. He’s like Comic Book Guy with a six pack.
-The brawl spills to the floor, where Shane bashes his dead with a metal sign, and then some SICK shots with a kendo stick that was under the ring. Good God, can Vince take a beating or what? Say what you will, but in these matches, he seems to have some sort of endurance level that can’t be obtained by mere mortals. I mean, Shane is just PASTING him, not even holding back. I’m loving it.
-Know who’s needed in the skybox? Ted Turner, just so he can mark out TOO hard when Shane beats his dad with assorted weapons. That would be a hallmark moment.
-By the way, Heyman’s unabashed devotion to cheering Vince is insanely funny, and it sounds like the ranting of someone who desperately needs money. Funny because it’s true.
-So Shane wipes out through the Spanish commentary table as Stephanie pulls her dad off of it. Shane gets to play dead for the next five minutes or so as Trish brings Linda out in the wheelchair. Now comes the fun stuff.
-Trish slaps Vince to signal a face turn, and then she and Stephanie get into a fun catfight that Foley tries to break up. Scrooge. Trish finally chases Steph to the locker room, and that’s when Vince spots Linda at ringside. His mouthing of a certain obscenity is a great moment.
-Vince smashes Mick with a chair as Foley tries to get Linda to safety. He brings Linda inside and sits her in the corner, so she can watch as he punishes Shane further. After landing a couple trash can shots, Vince gets cocky before doing the third, and is oblivious to Linda standing up (to a CRAZY pop). Vince turns and she kicks him right in the Genetic Jackhammer. Then Foley beats Vince up, and then Shane lands the Shane Terminator (corner to corner dropkick, into a trash can into Vince’s face) for the win. THIS is the template for “overbooked crap” that we need more of. Just insanely fun stuff, and it still holds up even today. Hell, the whole SHOW is holding up.
-Backstage, Undertaker warms up for his eventual match by shadow boxing. That’ll work off the pork rinds if you do enough of them.
-In case that the last match wasn’t enough of an insane spotfest, here’s something to take things up another notch: the Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match between Tag Team Champions The Dudley Boyz, The Hardy Boyz, and Edge and Christian. Difference between this and last year is that this year, there’s no crappy show to have to kick into high gear.
-Much like last year, they get the poetry in motion and the Wazzzzzup drops out of the way, just to get to the bigger stuff in a flurry. I wholeheartedly support this idea.
-Here’s a sick one for you: both Hardyz slide into a ladder, knocking the Dudleyz against the guardrail. I have to say, the dark sky peeking in through the dome makes it feel like that this match is taking place at WrestleMania VI. I’d love to see the Rockers, Harts, and Demolition in one of these matches. Crap, I just blew my own mind.
-“D-VON…..GET THE TABLES!” And with that, a two wide, two high stack of four tables is set up in the aisleway. Anyone else think they’ll get used? I do.
-And just like last year, all six men climb a set of three ladders for a race-spot, and all six men tumble off in painful fashion. It was times like this when WWE really knew their audience.
-To add a new wrinkle to this year’s match, all three teams have an ally that makes his or her presence felt. As Edge climbs to get the belts, Spike Dudley runs in and nails him with the Dudley Dog. After Spike gives Christian one as well, Rhyno comes in and accosts Jeff Hardy on behalf of E&C. Then Edge tries going up again, and Lita runs in to pull him down. Jim Ross utters “Lita….jerkin’ Edge off” and then pauses before saying “the ladder!”. I’m immature, I know, but what are you going to do about it?
-Lita creams Spike with a sickening chair shot and then removes her top, just get hit with 3D. Anybody else miss her protruding thong?
-Jeff decides that now is a good time to be insane, as he uses the painter’s ladder to Swanton off and put Rhyno and Spike through at ringside. That whacky Jeff, always living for the moment.
-Then with Bubba and Matt on another painter’s ladder, Rhyno shoves it, sending both men flying through the table tower in the aisle in what I feel is the greatest table bump EVER. Prove me wrong, readers.
-Finally, Edge prevents D-Von from climbing, and Rhyno lifts Christian in an electric chair lift, pushing him up the ladder so that he can grab the belts for the win. Off the charts insanity that topped last year’s match, and the truncated length definitely helped. Great effort from everyone involved.
-Howard Finkel (#17!) announces the crowd at 67,925 which makes me feel all nostalgic for 1990 and WrestleMania VI. Then Limp Bizkit’s “My Way” plays. Well, that ruined the feeling. Still, it’s Fred Durst’s best song, so huzzah.
-And now for the gimmick battle royal, with Mean Gene Okerlund and Bobby Heenan returning to do commentary. The participants are The Bushwhackers, Duke Droese, Iron Sheik, Earthquake, Doink, The Goon, Kamala, Kim Chee, Repo Man, Jim Cornette, Nikolai Volkoff, Michael PS Hayes, One Man Gang, Gobbeldy Gooker, Tugboat, Hillbilly Jim, Brother Love, and Sgt. Slaughter. Somewhere, RD Reynolds had a tear in his eye. And it wasn’t because he knew he’d one day employ Blade Braxton.
-What follows is three minutes of bad brawling, but who cares? It was FUN. Sheik finally wins it after dumping Hillbilly, and then Slaughter runs in to apply the Cobra Clutch on the winner. Watch out Slaughter, he’ll do a Youtube shoot on you for that one.
-Hooray for the patron saint of camelclutchblog.com. YOU VILL BE HUM-BELLED!
-MOTORHEAD! Sure, Lemmy can’t do the words to Triple H’s theme right, but it’s ok. Chill-inducing rendition of “The Game”, as we lead into the semi-main event of The Undertaker and Triple H, streak vs. nostrils. The feud featured Hunter’s most bad ass moment ever, when he took Taker down backstage, put a chair over his throat, and then sat on it while taunting him. Good stuff.
-Spanish announce table #2 goes in a hurry, thanks to HHH. Good to see Hunter keep his dad-in-law’s pro American stance alive.
-Back inside, after a SMALL ref bump, Taker is pissed when Mike Chioda counts slow, so Taker simply destroys him and knocks him out. With an elbow drop. For 10 minutes. If you heard two sounds of gunfire at this point, that was tranq darts being fired at Cornette backstage and Storm in the skybox. Just shut up, you two.
-The two men then brawl through the crowd and over to the production tower, which is a unique situation for a wrestling match. The two men fight in there, and Undertaker proceeds to chokeslam him out of it. SICKNESS! Well, until they show the replay, where Hunter landed on about 7 feet of padded foam. Eh well, looked nice at first.
-Back to the ring after the extended crowd brawl, and Chioda is still out. That was some elbow drop.
-After some tomfoolery with the sledgehammer, Taker is unable to connect after a low blow. Then to get all nostalgic, Taker lands a tombstone for 2. CHIODA’S ALIVE! I’m relieved.
-Taker then tries for the Last Ride, but Hunter grabs the sledge and bashed the Dead Man’s scalp on the way up. He busts him open, but it only gets 2. Hunter then tries to punch Taker in the corner, but puts himself in position for his Last Ride to make Taker 9-0. Really great brawl, as you’d expect from these two. Ten matches in, and I haven’t even stopped for a piss break. And I’m watching this at 11 PM at night, with work the next day at 1 PM. Ya rly!
-Austin-Rock highlight package set to “My Way”. Austin said he HAD to win this match. Question is, just what will Austin do to ensure victory?
-Crowd is 80-20 in favor of Steve Austin, who is the home state hero. The Rock was the WWE Champion, and you wondered how they were going to end this. I’ll bet nobody watching guessed it right.
-Finkel did announce that it was no DQ, which is apparently shocking. You mean after a match where Taker flagrantly beats up the referee, they just threw the rulebook out? Absurd!
-Both men slug it out early and they bust out the classic moves, namely Austin with his Thesz press and middle finger elbow. You can sense the desperation from Austin here.
-They brawl into the crowd, like everyone else has done tonight. I think even Finkel and timekeeper Mark Yeaton went over the railing at one point.
-Austin dominates in the early going, which is consistent with the “I need to win” motif that he has, believing that it’s all over for himself if he loses. It’s those subtle character hints that WWE does better than anyone else. Are you listening, Dixie?
-Austin gets a superplex for 2 and then removes the turnbuckle pad, but Rock comes back to shift the momentum. They fight to the outside and Austin busts him open with the ringbell. Austin’s not going down without a fight.
-Austin works the cut as much as he can, and brings Rock back in to try and bash him into the exposed buckle, but Rock blocks and fires with lefts and rights to stop Austin in his tracks. After the two men jostle for control, it’s Austin who, ironically, eats the steel buckle. Then Rock repays him by waffling him with the ring bell. Tremendous, cerebral stuff, with a big time feel.
-With Austin now bleeding and Rocky now firmly in charge, the champ works the open cut and both men are fighting to stay alive. On the outside, Austin shifts the momentum yet again and slingshots Rock into the post, before bashing him with a TV monitor. At this point, the eventual winner was still not evident.
-Austin tries for a Stunner, but Rock takes him down and slaps on the sharpshooter. Reminiscent of four years earlier, Austin is bloodied, but will not give up. Austin uses the ropes for escape, and then wraps Rock up with his own Sharpshooter. The implied one-upsmanship on display here is incredible, and is a testament to both’s men abilities.
-Austin manages to get a Million Dollar Dream, but Rock uses the Bret Hart pushoff counter to get 2. Then Vince McMahon comes to ringside. But….but why?
-Rock takes down Austin with a spinebuster and then lands the People’s Elbow, but it only gets 2 when….Vince breaks up the pin? This was all so fresh and baffling. Why would Vince be helping Austin in the World Title match?
-Then after Austin lands a Rock Bottom on its owner, he gets 2, and then gives Rock an emphatic low blow. Then Austin….requests a chair from Vince? Vince….obliges?
-From here, Austin and Vince proceed to double team Rock in a truly surreal sequence. After Rock manages a kickout, he gives Austin a Rock Bottom, but Vince prevents a count. Rock pulls Vince into the ring, but Austin stuns Rock, getting only 2! AMAZING.
-Now we get the big finish: Austin destroys Rock with chair shot after chair shot while Vince barks out encouragement. In all, Rock takes about two dozen chair shots to the chest, gut, back, and hips as his body just simply gives out and Austin pins him to win the title. Austin and Vince celebrate with a beer, a handshake, and then Austin lays out Rock with the title to pull the trigger on his shocking heel turn. Excellent match to cap off an excellent show and, although the heel turn proved to be ineffective, the concept was interesting, and it added a new dimension to the character’s psyche: Austin felt his end was coming soon, and he had to do everything he could to hold his main event spot to prevent becoming an afterthought. Brilliant idea, but it just didn’t work.
-Limp Bizkit plays us out of here with a beautiful montage to “My Way”. I have to say, that might be my favorite WrestleMania song ever. And I HATE Fred Durst!
-CYNIC SAYS: Ho. Lee. Crap. I don’t think Vince McMahon, even with a perfect roster and a huge wave of momentum, could ever top this show. It was perfect from start to finish, and everything had a purpose. Those purposes were thusly served to perfection. Four matches you could make an argument were four stars are better: the technical masterpiece (Benoit/Angle), the wild soap opera (Vince/Shane), the insane spotfest (TLC), the mano y mano brawl (HHH/Taker), and the battle of the larger than life immortals (Rock/Austin).
This show is regarded as the end of the Attitude era, but what a way for it to go out. WWEE has not seen heights like this since, and although it may again one day, it’ll take a lot to convince me that it’s as good as this card. What’s left to say?
Oh, I know.
POSITIVE. FIVE. STARS!
When he isn’t watching WWE, TNA, or his beloved Philadelphia Eagles and Phillies, Justin Henry can be found writing. It is his passion as well as his goal in life to become a well-regarded (as well as well-paid) columnist or author. Subscribe to The Cynical Examination, his wrestling blog, at http://www.facebook.com.
I realize that as I write this there is probably thousands of blogs floating around the World Wide Web regarding their own personal thoughts on last night’s first official shot to the restart of the Monday Night Wars in the world of wrestling. For what it’s worth it really wasn’t anything extremely special unless you don’t read any internet reports or even camelclutchblog.com as Rob Van Dam showed up on TNA Impact. Besides that it was very little bang in both shows that made us go “the Monday Night Wars are back!”
Taking a look first at TNA Impact where I have been pretty critical on the product lately in my blogs and on “The Still Real to us show.” I’ve been pretty critical of the product lately because of the things Hogan & Bischoff have done with the organization since they took over as it continues to look like a Hulk & friends expo more then anything. The main event they had setup for their first official Monday night show wasn’t all that appealing either.
TNA heavily promoted the “first five minutes” of their show were a “must see.” They didn’t tell us why they just told us to be there. Well if you went to TNA first you got the main event match in the first 5 minutes. You saw the return of Flair and Hogan in the ring. The match itself was dreadful and both legends are showing their age in the ring. The return of Sting was cool but a heel turn never works for Sting because no matter what he does the fans love him. I find it strange that in recent months Hogan & Bischoff have buried/re-packaged guys like Jarrett, Sting and Foley, three guys that were focal points for the organization in the last year.
For some reason TNA creative thought they would pull on the ol’ heart strings if Brooke Hogan cried and pleaded with her father not to wrestle. It did nothing for me. If they want to make me feel sad for Brooke Hogan make me listen to her album from front to back then I will feel a drop of sadness for Brooke Hogan.
Unsurprisingly Rob Van Dam closes his open door relationship with WWE to sign with TNA as was reported all last week within all the smart marks of wrestling. How do they debut Rob Van Dam? They give us a dream match in less then thirty seconds with Sting vs. RVD. When you heard RVD’s music come on as Sting awaited his opponent fans were popping in the living rooms as they finally got a match that they have waited to see on free TV.
Then the amazing booking of Vince Russo kicked in and we got a kick to the head, a rolling thunder and a three count. I was more pissed then anything else because it was a waste of time and a throw away match for two legendary wrestlers people want to see actually wrestle. The beat down of RVD left me scratching my head as there was no mention of RVD’s beat down for the rest of the show. Nice to see RVD was a pawn in a Hogan angle.
One of the only good things I saw out of Impact was the way they made Eric Young look last night. The fire and fight they made him have when he took on Sean Waltman was pretty awesome. Despite not being on the show for a whole lot of time I would give Eric Young the MVP, along with the X-Division match for last nights show as he showed the fire the TNA locker room once had.
One random thought from last night’s show was how many commercial breaks and promos they had. I understand ad revenue but damn it was pretty boring and hard to watch. The Nash/Young stuff with Waltman/Hall was dragging for too long. By the way who see Nash turning on Young or even vice versa to give Waltman & Hall contracts? Props to the TNA Impact zone fans for chanting “Hall is wasted.” Chant of the night.
Then to finish the show we get the Main Event again with Earl Hebner as referee for no reason what’s as ever as they brought him back after another “screw job” from a few weeks ago. Also don’t make me feel bad for the Hulkster when he’s taking to Bubba the Love Sponge. The guy doesn’t belong in wrestling and it’s sad that TNA sided with him after the years of service Awesome Kong gave the company.
Flair and Hogan showed their age yet again in this match. They look much slower then they did in their recent WWE runs and it was sad to see. But what do you expect out of a 60 year old and a man in his late 50s. Abyss/Hogan win and Abyss gets a title shot. Ok.
On the other side of the wrestling spectrum, the WWE and Raw has been fun to watch in recent weeks as they have really done a good job building toward Wrestlemania 26. Last night’s show may have been one of their least entertaining shows in weeks but still got a lot done to further expand their storylines which TNA did not do a good job of. Like Doug Williams vs. Shannon Moore for the X-Division Championship, ok why? Because Jeff Hardy signed that is Shannon Moore’s bonus?
The Undertaker/HBK stuff has been great in recent weeks with little physical confrontation to set up this match. They made sure the match at Wrestlemania 26 will not end in Disqualification and someone actually has to win the match. I have my suspicious on how it will end but either way Undertaker/HBK at Wrestlemania 26 is huge and the booking has made it feel that way.
I don’t like when the WWE gives away PPV matches on free TV, I don’t like it even more when it’s a Wrestlemania 26 match. The tag team match did nothing for me. I understand that they need to start building this match and it was nice to see they added it on Raw instead of just focusing it on Smackdown but the match itself did nothing for me.
As we have talked about a lot of “The Still Real to us show,” Eric Gargiulo and I have no idea where the Randy Orton/Legacy thing is going as we get closer to Wrestlemania 26. Is Orton a face? Is he a tweener character now? I have no idea and I feel that way even more from watching Raw. The fans cheered for him so the face ball is in his court. I’m hoping creative will have a good ending to this confusing build towards Wrestlemania.
Sheamus vs. Triple H is official for Wrestlemania 26 and I’m actually looking forward to this match. I think this will give Sheamus the opportunity to move in the step forward of being taken seriously as a main eventer in the fans eyes. I was also happy with Evan Bourne being the final participant for the “Money in the Bank” ladder match as Eric Gargiulo was right on the money (no pun intended) with his prediction for the last spot in the match.
As for the Main Event match it was “eh.” McMahon being in the main event was funny as it was definitely counter programming to TNA’s main event with the battle of the senior citizens. I didn’t really expect anything out of this match; the stuff with the gauntlet was interesting and made sense for wrestlers face or heel to do it because Vince McMahon is the boss. I hope something comes out of this for Mark Henry or Kofi Kingston as they were the only two to stand up to Vince McMahon.
This was probably the lowest of all the great stuff Cena & Batista have been doing lately in their build for the main event match for Wrestlemania 26. Batista lays out Cena again and continues to make Cena look like the guy that won’t “give up.” I have a feeling things will change next week with Steve Austin in charge of Raw.
With that being said next week’s Raw looks great with Stone Cold Steve Austin as the guest host. I love the “Wrestlemania rewind” stuff that WWE has done the past couple of years on Raw and this coming Monday should be fun to watch. Already three huge matches have been announced as Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho (possibly for the last time ever), Triple H vs. Randy Orton and John Cena vs. Big Show. Add the Bret Hart/Vince McMahon contract signing with Steve Austin overseeing it and we have a jammed packed show for next week’s Raw.
As for TNA they will be taped as they will be taping their next Monday show on Tuesday March 9th. That will take away from the rating for the show as some fans will read the spoilers and rather watch the action packed live Raw for next week. That will hurt the numbers at least for the second week of the Monday Night Wars.
As for both shows overall I really didn’t feel like there was a winner or a loser. Both shows were just kind of “eh.” I lean more to the WWE side because I don’t like what Hogan & Bischoff have done with TNA already as I have stated on past blogs and during “The Still Real to us show.” The ratings will obviously raise the hand of one winner but I don’t think the TNA rating for this past Monday will match or be better then the one from January 4th. TNA still clearly has some work to do before they reach the same level as WWE.
Jeff also co-hosts “The Still Real to us show” with Eric Gargiulo which can be available at www.wheelhouseradio.comand can be downloaded in the “Real Guy Radio” section of the site. There you can also download many different shows including “The Wheelhouse”, “24 on 24″ and “Lost: Smoke Monsters and You.”
If you would like to subscribe to “The Wheelhouse” on iTunes simply subscribe for free at iTunes by typing in “Wheelhouse Radio!”
-Where were you on March 29, 1998, when WWE WrestleMania XIV emanated from the (since renamed) Fleet Center in Boston, Mass? If you’re like me, you were watching the show. If you’re not like me, then you’re….well, not like me. I’m not here to discriminate against you. That’s Bill Watts’ job.
-WWE WrestleMania XIV was to the Attitude Era what Woodstock was to the sixties counterculture movement. It was a landmark moment that symbolized the era better than anything else. The show I am about to review in tidbit form was not the all time greatest show ever. It may not even be in the top five. However, it remains memorable because it did just about everything right. In a time when WCW was becoming more stale than a loaf of bread found in the remnants of Hitler’s bunker, the WWE was picking up serious steam with the elements of shock TV, fresh characters, and a stylistic approach to producing television. Of course, it didn’t hurt that Vince McMahon would soon throw himself out there for fans to boo with impunity. We never bought the smiling babyface act for a minute.
-Your hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler, who are starring in WWE Films new adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, wherein Ross seeks a new facial structure, and Lawler seeks the ability to actually care about the product he is paid to put over. The 2010 version of Lawler is more disinterested than Adam Lambert at the Vegas Bunny Ranch.
-Not featured on the actual televised version of the show was Chris Warren and the DX Band playing America the Beautiful in their nu-metal punkish style. It was done before the event so as to not offend any customers at home. What would then follow was a show that featured blood, sexuality, overt violence, and Shawn Michaels’ butt crack. But you know, at least there was no punk band playing an American anthem. That would have been taking things too far.
-The opening act is a fifteen team battle royal where the winners get a shot at Backlash, also known as “WrestleMania Rehash Sunday”. The roster for this match is the KFC Famous Bowl of the WWE KFC menu, in that it’s just the extras. It includes two teams of Los Boricuas, The Truth Commission, Bradshaw and Chainz, two Nation of Domination teams, The Quebecers, the freaking Rock n Roll Express, The Headbangers, Too Much, DOA, Steve Blackman and Flash Funk (The Black Men?), The Godwinns, The New Midnight Express, and the returning Legion of Doom, who have 2 additions: Sunny, and space helmets. Because, you know, that was all they were missing: a bitter diva with weight problems and fiberglass space helmets. Hold me back.
-You know this match is important when the show begins during the intros with more than half the teams in the ring. That’s Vince slang for “Let’s get this crap over with”.
-Sunny looks hot here. Of course, if you froze my dad in 1977 and woke him up now and he wanted to see Sally Struthers, he’d make the same face I’d make when I saw Sunny in XPW. That was when Sunny became Moony, because she definitely had the craters to earn such a name.
-I’d list the eliminations, but since the cameras can’t even keep up, I’ll leave it as an exercise to you to do a web search. Go to www.crappyopeningmatches.com. The final four teams are DOA, Godwinns, Midnights, and LOD. All I have to distract me are the jiggling breasts and bulbous buttocks at ringside. Yeah, Jim Cornette was getting out of shape at this point.
-So it comes down to the geezerly LOD and fake Midnights, and LOD wins to justify the cost of the space helmets. The real winner was Ricky Morton, who made it the entire night without getting arrested for failure to pay child support. Attaboy, Ricky, you mulleted coot!
-Earlier this weekend, a fan got the chance to meet 2 Cold Scorpio. If I was the kid, you know me, I would have definitely asked “So, was the rumor in Foley’s book true?”. If 2 Cold took time to prove the anecdote correct for the kid, would that have made the kid’s life or traumatized him? That’s open for debate.
-Next up, the WWE Lightheavyweight Championship is on the line as Taka Michinoku defends against Aguila, which is the Spanish word for “huge jobber whose entrance is not televised”. This match has promise and will blow away anyone who sees it for the first time. Except for Vince, who has zoned out and is daydreaming about riding a two seater bike with Triple H on the next warm, sunny day.
-Sidenote: how many smarks in this era do you think played their Firepro wrestling game with Taka vs. Rey Mysterio, dreaming of the day they’d face off? That’s a lot of disappointed college library supervisors.
-Taka lands his super awesome running springboard suicide dive, and Aguila would later come back with an insane corkscrew plancha. Crowd is into these crazy spots, but Vince has his eyes closed with his fingers in his ears and is singing “Stand Back” at the top of his lungs. What a poor sport.
-You know, I’m almost sad that Brian Christopher wasn’t out here to do his racist commentary bit, where he uses offensive words for Japanese people and has to be corrected by JR. It always seemed as if Brian wasn’t even saying them in character, rather he truly believed that they were appropriate names for said people. No wonder Lawler refused to claim him as a son. When JERRY LAWLER is ashamed of you….
-Taka spikes Aguila with the Michinoku Driver for the win. The two men shake hands and hug afterward, because WWE Attitude was all about love and respect and honor. 2 years later, Aguila would unmask and begin doing the nasty with Lita, while Taka’s ring entrance involved bad Japanese dubbing. Such a progressive time period.
-In a taped bit, infamous mistress Gennifer Flowers interviews Intercontinental Champion The Rock. You know you’re an A-Lister when they bring in a glorified call girl to interview you. Tune in to Raw tomorrow night when Ken Shamrock gives his rebuttal to interviewer Amy Fisher.
-Here’s Chris Warren and the DX Band to play Triple H to the ring. I guess the budget wasn’t deep enough to get Motorhead, so here’s a song sung by a man who looks like what Jeff Hardy will resemble at age 40 when the meth turns his bones to dust. D-GENERAYYYYYYYTION!!!!!!!
-Trips defends his European Title against Owen Hart, in a match where Chyna must be handcuffed at ringside to then-commissioner Sgt. Slaughter. Chyna and Slaughter handcuffed together? It’s like an outtake from Hell from the movie Exit to Eden.
-You know Owen’s feeling jaunty because he hit a hurracanrana and it’s after 1992. Maybe he’s just trying to bore Russo with wrestling so that he can get fired and go to WCW. Maybe.
-This is a weird time period for Hunter as he still has his sissy boy hairstyle, but was beginning to develop his body. And by ‘develop’, I mean he got breast implants. He looks like some dainty version of Super Macho Man from Mike Tyson’s Punchout. In other words, Stephanie has a thing for macho men. Just saying.
-HHH lands the so-called “Harley Race knee” to Owen. It’s not really a Harley Race knee unless you’ve drank 4 beers and got stabbed by a fan before the show. So Hunter’s really just a wimp.
-Owen crotches HHH, but not hard enough to prevent the spawn of Satan from being passed on. You fail, Owen. I love you, but you fail. Speaking of fail, this was a weird face turn for Owen, as we had no real reason to cheer him other than he hates DX. Then again, we were supposed to cheer Val Venis for speaking the wives of other men, so the whole time period was screwy. Pun intended.
-Owen with the Sharpshooter. RING THE F—oh wait, it’s on somebody who Vince likes. Damn it all. Chyna helps Hunter get to the ropes and then blinds Slaughter with some powder she happened to have on her. That powder would later come in handy when she realized that she was shacked up with X-Pac and needed to escape life for a spell. After a low blow on Owen, Hunter hits the burial device (aka Pedigree) to keep his European title. Good match, however, though Slaughter was just useless. Even the crowd mocked him and rightfully so. It’s what he gets for trying to mold Greg Gagne against our best wishes.
-Now for a match that everybody seemed to have low expectations for. It’s the mixed tag match pitting Marc Mero and Sable against Goldust and Luna. Sable and Mero had a rather typical love story going: guy meets girl, guy falls in love with girl, girl gets jumbo implants and the fans fall in love with her, guy turns into a jealous mess, guy eventually leaves her for Kevin Sullivan’s on screen ex-girlfriend. And really, nobody wants that.
-This is the match that solidified Sable as an icon in WWE canon, as she wants to rip Luna to pieces for weeks of physical torment. After Mero and Goldie set the table, Sable finally gets Luna inside and beats the Hell out of her to an ungodly pop. Even an undertrained bimbo was outperforming WCW’s main eventers, and fans noticed.
-Fun note: CCB writer Brett Clendaniel called me after viewing a copy of the show and swore up and down that Luna’s boob popped out during Sable’s beal across the ring. I scoured the internet for days, trying to find Luna’s breast. In an unrelated note, Brett and I were both 14 and still virgins. Unrelated, of course.
-What’s weird is that the crowd doesn’t want to cheer Mero, but they almost feel goaded into it as he’s Sable’s partner. When he beats down Goldust and avoids Dustin’s charge that leads to him running into Luna, the crowd loves it. I love those weird and temporary de facto face turns. It’s like when Jesse Ventura would praise a babyface and you’d feel validated somehow.
-The crowd just absolutely loses their mind when Sable powerbombs Luna. It was the Rick Pitino/Pete Carroll era of Boston sports, so they’ll take what they can get.
-Sable ends it with the TKO. Mero’s overcelebrating next to Sable’s overdone scorn is a riot. It’s a shame that Mero’s career ended up being cut short later in the year, because he was feeling this jealous heel schtick. Sort of like Randy Savage with an extremely nasally voice. Good match too, oddly enough.
-Did I mention that angry Sable is hot? Like, incredibly piping hot? I think that’s why somebody defecated in her bag backstage, just to see her face. Not all angry women can be hot, however. I hold up Donita Sparks as exhibit A.
-Next up, the Intercontinental Title match with The Rock defending against Ken Shamrock. Rock brings Nation of Domination members Kama Mustafa, D-Lo Brown, and Mark Henry with him, with Faarooq nowhere to be seen. This was during the struggle for leadership between Rock and Faarooq, which sounds weird today. In later years, Rock would become the most charismatic star in wrestling history, whereas Faarooq was relegated to saying just one word per promo. Weird.
-Wait, before the match, we have a time wasting segment where Tennessee Lee (formerly Col. Robert Parker) introduces Jeff Jarrett and Gennifer Flowers. Flowers is just here to proclaim Jeff Jarrett “great”. So it’s a segment to stroke Jarrett’s ego and waste everyone else’s time? Oh well. Better one segment than the first five years of TNA.
-So Shamrock and Rock do the “required brawl”, which entails of fighting all around the ringside area with no mind paid to countouts or DQs, and they eventually make it back to the ring to brawl some more. History was kind to Ken Shamrock, since he had a couple great matches and is a respected fighter, but, let’s face it, without the right opponent, he was nothing special. At least he’s one up on Lashley on promos. Then again, so is former WCW interviewer Scott Dunlap.
-Rock hits the People’s Elbow to a lukewarm reaction. Either it’s 1998, or Vince booked the show in Anaheim again. Nope, 1998.
-Rocky PASTES Shamrock with a chair shot, which doesn’t top the one he gave Shamrock on Raw the previous month that was directly to the face. That was the greatest chair shot of all time, next to the one Randy Orton gave Mick Foley at the 2004 Royal Rumble. We really need a list for this. 1 is Rock hitting Shamrock, 2 is Orton hitting Foley, 3 is any Terry Funk chairshot, and 750,000th place are the ones Lance Storm gave Rob Van Dam at Barely Legal.
-Shamrock makes Rocky tap to the ankle lock in under five minutes to win the title. However, afterward, Shamrock cleans house of the NOD members and several officials to have the decision reversed. Shamrock reapplies the ankle lock and Faarooq runs out for the save, but changes his mind and walks off to a nice reaction. As Rock is stretchered out, and the decision reversal is announced, a near comatose Great One raises his title on the gurney. Always classic. Shamrock runs over and pummels him some more, since he’s in a fit of rage. Also classic. Hey, for five minutes, it was fun. Let’s do it again sometime.
-Now to up the violence quotient a little bit, we move on to the Tag Team Title match with the New Age Outlaws defending against Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie. It’s a dumpster match, where both losers must be placed in a dumpster with both lids shut. It was originally to have been a barbed wire match, but the PPV carriers were mortified and refused to allow it. Which is probably just as well, since if Billy Gunn gets gashed enough times, he may actually bleed out his remaining charisma. Good thing Road Dogg has it in spades to spare.
-First truly sick spot is Cactus trying a flip attack off of the apron and missing Dogg, instead hitting the side of the dumpster. C’mon, Mick, you can bump harder than that. Collette needs a new piano!
-Mostly it’s lunch tray shots being exchanged, which is a 7 on WWE’s hardcore scale, but about a 3 on ECW’s hardcore scale. But if the fans had brought the trays themselves, then the smarks would call it EXTREME. E-C-DUB! E-C-DUB!
-The Outlaws slam the dumpster lids on both Cactus and Chainsaw’s heads to allow Lawler to make the timeless “Terry Funk gets hit by the toilet seat lid when he gets a drink” joke. When I say “timeless”, I mean that I can’t recall a time when it was witty.
-Billy’s got a nice blood mustache going, which equates him to the Hitler of pro wrestling, in that I think he’s evil and repulsive. Actually, no, that’s insulting. Hitler could get thousands of people on his side, whereas Gunn can’t pop the Impact Zone.
-Cactus applies dual Mandible Claws to both Outlaws, and it’s good that the Outlaws are facing each other eye to eye so that Road Dogg can use his hands to teach Gunn how to sell. How far gone must Bart Gunn have been to be the less interesting half of the Smoking Gunns?
-And now to make things just a little bit sicker, Cactus and Gunn go falling off of a ladder from the ring into the dumpster, which just looked nasty. Then, after Gunn climbs out, he and Dogg tandem powerbomb Funk into the dumpster, which led to a deeply purple bruise that encompassed Funk’s entire hip, as was seen late in the match. Funk didn’t even know he was hurt, according to a shoot interview with Gunn. Seriously, how can you not love Terry Funk? The man’s probably been dead 10 years and doesn’t know it.
-The fight leads backstage to where a cooler of Powerade gets knocked over (cheap crap) and Cactus knocks out both Outlaws onto a pallet, which Terry Funk then elevates with a forklift(!), then drives it to a second dumpster, where Cactus rolls them off into for the win and the gold. Terry’s madman laughter afterwards is frightening if you’ve never seen him before. Having watched him for over 20 years, it’s just merely kinda frightening. Great brawl.
-And now, a family rivalry as Undertaker’s streak is on the line against his charred brother Kane. If you don’t know the story, Undertaker burned down the mortuary as a kid and killed his parents and, presumably, his younger brother Kane. However, Kane lived and managed to get his degree in oral hygiene, before Paul Bearer (Kane’s dad) convinced him to wear a leather mask and pretend to be a burn victim. Kane liked the mask because it impressed women, especially a dead cheerleader that he fell in love with. Undertaker was so disheartened by the whole thing that he now dates a corpse himself named Michelle. At least, I THINK that’s how the story goes.
-Update for this show: Undertaker is a face. Kane is a heel. They currently hate each other. Expect updates for all ensuing WrestleManias.
-Now for another guest: Pete Rose, who insults Boston baseball fans and gets Tombstoned by Kane. Kane later inducted Rose into the WWE Hall of Fame, because they are true professionals. Except one’s a pyromaniac and the other gambles. But we can’t all be winners.
-#14 for Finkel. Go Fink.
-Taker makes his entrance amongst the druids and the fight be on, yo. Kane was still green at this point, but Taker’s reigning him in through the brawl nicely. At least Kane looks believable out there.
-Kane batters Taker on the floor with the ringsteps. I love in the Attitude era when they would use weapons liberally, but had to especially announce some matches as having no DQ’s. Russo, that’s brilliant!
-Did I mention that Paul Bearer eerily resembles Oliver Humperdink at this point? It’s worth noting.
-Now for a famous moment, as Taker clears the top rope with a dive and overshoots Kane, crushing the Spanish announce table. It could have been much worse than that. Jimmy Snuka’s kid could have failed to catch him here too.
-Back in the ring, Kane lands a Tombstone for 2. Dun dun DUNN.
-Taker then says “To Hell with this” and lands three tombstones to put his brother away and make it to 7-0. Oh, and Kane attacks him afterward, but I believe that this was the end of the feud and they never crossed paths again. Solid match, all things told.
-And now for the big one: Shawn Michaels defends the WWE Title against Stone Cold Steve Austin. The big story here is that Michaels’ back was completely shot and it’s a near miracle that he had the match that he did. I’ll explain in further detail as we get there.
-And now for the big celebrity involvement: guest outside enforcer Mike Tyson, who is fairly subdued here, oddly enough. He had joined DX to further stack the odds against Austin. Austin was overcoming odds when Cena was still studying for his midterms. Take that, Mr. Hustle, Loyalty, Respect.
-Tyson comes out first to major boos. Austin is shown walking in the backstage corridor and gets a scary pop. Then Shawn makes his way to the entrance way with Hunter and Chyna and says to the camera: “This is for you, Earl”, referencing Earl Hebner, who had a stroke days before. Earl had a stroke and Shawn’s back was kaput. Anyone sense the hand of karma?
-The match begins in chaotic fashion with Austin taking Shawn down and pummeling him. After getting whipped early, Shawn tries to escape to the floor, but Austin grabs the tights and exposes half of his butt to the world. Then, for a bonus, Austin backdrops Shawn to the floor and Shawn’s butt cheeks hit Hunter in the head. Well, I think that establishes the pecking order of the Kliq once and for all….
-Hunter interjects himself and he and Chyna find themselves ejected. If only Hunter got tossed everytime he’s tried to eject himself. Booker T may still have his passion.
-And now for more random brawling, as Shawn and Austin fight to the DX bandstand, and Austin gets hit by a cymbal. Would you have laughed if the ref disqualified Shawn then and there, five minutes in, and Shawn kept the belt? Yeah, me either.
-Then we have the telltale moment: Austin knocks Shawn off the apron, and Shawn awkwardly lands against the commentary desk, leading to him puffing his cheeks and bugging his eyes in serious pain from his back just dying. Even if you hate Shawn for all of his hypocrisy, it’s hard not to feel for him at this moment. All the times he’s tried to play Superman and steal the show, and it was all summed up in one moment. Poor guy.
-Shawn’s carrying on, though, and he even backdrops Austin over the rail, which had to be tough enough, considering he’s walking at a snail’s pace and wincing the entire way. Knowing the full story now, the match is hard to watch, especially 12 years later when he’s STILL WRESTLING. The man has no peer. Seriously.
-Now it settles down, and Shawn uncharacteristically slows his pace and begins to pound Austin with punches, followed by working the knee. He’s struggling to even get his breath. I wouldn’t be surprised if Vince came running down the aisle with a morphine needle right now. I wouldn’t blame him, either.
-Tyson throws Austin back into the ring, giving him a wedgie in the process. Shawn takes out Austin’s leg and applies a figure four as the match begins to crawl, yet is still flowing without fail. Christ, even when Shawn’s near death, he’ll hit at least a four star rating. If I sound like I’m kissing up to the guy, trust me, I am.
-Referee Mike Chioda gets taken out, and Shawn catches Austin with a horrible flying forearm. After he kips up, he lands the Savage elbow (HOW?!) and then begins the stomp. He tries to throw Sweet Chin Music, but Austin catches the boot. A series of reversals later and Austin plants him with the Stunner. Tyson slides in and counts to three (rather quickly) to give Austin his first World Title. Shawn’s injury accounted for, this was a damn incredible match, and I give Shawn all the credit in the world for finishing.
-Afterward, Austin and Tyson celebrate, and we get a symbolic torch-passing moment: Shawn whines about Tyson siding with Austin, so Tyson drills him with a hard punch, and lays Austin’s shirt over his face. Goodbye Heartbreak Kid, hello Texas Rattlesnake. Shawn would not wrestle for the company for over four years after this, but if his career had ended here, he did it as he does best: stealing the show, even with the odds against him. As for Austin, the best was yet to come.
-CYNIC SAYS: The first two matches were basically “filler” in Vince’s eyes: the useless midcarders and the light weights had their moments. From there, it was the Attitude all star team, putting on an exciting and era-defining show. The topper: the babyface hero won in the end without chicanery, which was big when you consider that Starrcade 1997 ended with an indecisive Hogan/Sting match that SHOULD have been decisive.
This show is a hallmark moment in wrestling history, one that helped lead Vince’s army into a comeback, crushing WCW beneath their wheels and never looking back. Truly, this was the highlight of the Attitude era.
For a low light of the Attitude era, well, wait till I do my next rant. If you dare reading it.
When he isn’t watching WWE, TNA, or his beloved Philadelphia Eagles and Phillies, Justin Henry can be found writing. It is his passion as well as his goal in life to become a well-regarded (as well as well-paid) columnist or author. Subscribe to The Cynical Examination, his wrestling blog, at http://www.facebook.com.
-What makes this show fascinating is that my brother’s senior trip to Florida began the day before the event, and he didn’t make it home until Wednesday night afterward. He had just got back into WWE after his 18 month WCW love-in not long before the show, and was bummed that he missed it. You know you’re a mark when your parents go to the airport to get him and you stay up until he gets home at 11:30 PM on a school night so you can blurt out the results to him.
-So for those of us not in Florida for the Disney trip (like 13 year old me), let’s go back to March 23, 1997 to the Rosemont Horizon in Chicago, IL. The tagline for WrestleMania XIII was “Heat”. I found that appropriate, since about 60% of the performers on this card should have been relegated to the Sunday night jobber show.
-Also of note, on the pre-show, Billy Gunn defeated Flash Funk. Wait, my apologies. That actually WASN’T worth nothing. Again, my bad.
-Our hosts tonight are Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, and Jerry Lawler. This was the final commentary performance at the big event for Vinnie Mac, as he would go on to become perhaps the greatest heel in wrestling history. That’s like Joe Buck quitting broadcasting to become a Colombian drug baron. I’m all for it, too. Well, the part where he quits broadcasting, anyway.
-To open the show, we have a four tag team train wreck where the winners get a shot at the WWE World Tag Team Titles. The teams vying for the chance are The Godwinns, The Headbangers, The New Blackjacks, and Doug Furnas and Phil Lafon. And….yeah. I’m supposed to pick a winner out of THIS group? Between the outdated cowboys and farmers, and the bland-but-talented Furnas and Lafon, I’m almost forced to cheer the Bangers, who are at least playing a gimmick suited for the late 90’s, and have a unique charm to them. And even THEN, I don’t buy them as a serious threat. Already, I’m miserable.
-Quick, spot the future World Champion heel. Give up? It’s the boring stiff with the mustache! No, the other one. Yeah, that one.
-The only fun spot so far is both Headbangers being tagged in and then slam dancing into each other. The Dead Kennedys would be so proud. Usually these days when you can’t figure out what to do with your wrestlers, you stick them in the Money in the Bank match. Back then, it was “top contender” Hell. Not a good choice for an opener.
-Hey, good news, The Blackjacks and The Vanilla Workrate Connection have just been double DQed. That should speed things along a little more.
-I have to say, I know I bring up underrated talents a lot, but I always had a soft spot for the Headbangers. They may not have been the best, but they were interesting in a time period where not many wrestlers were. They’d sell for anyone and the fans seemed to like them, even as heels.
-Now for a semi famous spot: The Headbangers perform a rocket launcher to the floor onto Henry Godwinn. Sayeth Vince: “He threw him like he was a dart!”. The only thing that keeps it from being in the annals of great WrestleMania moments was…..that it was done by the freakin’ Headbangers.
-Finally, Phineas takes a flying sit down thingie for the the loss, making the Headbangers #1 contenders. Remember when wearing a Marilyn Manson shirt meant that you were with the times? Maybe the Hart Dynasty should wear shirts depicting Muse. Or not. Not the opener I was hoping for, but what could I expect?
-Just to show how out of touch Uncle Vinnie was, here comes the Honky Tonk Man to do commentary on the next contest. Yeah, like fans from 1997 are going to understand why Honky was so important in the 1980’s. A match ago, we had two men who worshipped Manson and Tool and Gravity Kills. Now we have an Elvis impersonator from 1988. Gag me.
-So it’s the IC Title match with The Sultan challenging against….Rocky Maivia. Yes folks, that would be The Rock himself, albeit as a smiling lovemonger with a positive attitude. Seriously, if you watch this match, you can’t even believe it’s him. It’s like he was possessed by aliens who commanded him to suck and suck royally.
-Remember when the Sultan ran over Austin to impress Rocky? Oh wait, that comes later.
-As Rocky works in his dad’s 1981 offense, I have two questions: One is what the Hell was that thing that Sultan wore on his head? Not the face mask, but the hat. It was like a velvet Hershey’s Kiss. The other is why have we never gotten a dual promo from The Rock and The Iron Sheik, who is seconding Sultan? Could the universe handle that level of awesomeness? Probably not.
-Funny, Sultan seems to be dominating this match. Maivia was pretty much being prepped to be the star of the future, and yet Sultan is taking pretty much 80% of this match. And it all sucks. At least get it up to three years later when Rock could be free to to be Rock, and Sultan was dancing and…umm…wearing a thong? Okay, maybe we’re better off in 1997….
-And umm…..Rock wins with a roll-up? That’s the whole match? IF YA SMELLLLLL-LALALALALALALALALAAA! Well, something smells, and I don’t think many fans like it. Sultan, Sheik, and Bob Backlund beat Rocky down afterward, and Sheik locks on a Camel Clutch (henceforth referred to as a “camelclutchblog.com“) to humble The Great One, but Rock is saved by 96 year old Rocky Johnson. Johnson takes his shirt off, which is enough to scare the three hooligans away. See, had The Rock waffled his dad with the IC Title and then dropped the elbow on him, he’d have been a megastar THEN. But alas, we had to wait.
-Pettengill interviews Ken Shamrock of the “ultimate fighting world”, as Shamrock is the guest referee for tonight’s big submission match. We get a sampling of Shamrock’s expertise on submissions with a video package of him dismantling Billy Gunn on a recent Raw. They could have shelved the first two matches on this show and had Shamrock destroy Gunn for 45 minutes. Would ANYONE have objected?
-Dok Hendrix interviews Triple H, and apologizes in advance for ruining his wedding reception.
-So now it’s Goldust and Triple H one on one in a match rooted in a story where HHH made a pass at Marlena, and Goldust flipped. Here’s the brilliant part: HHH whispered something to her and we never heard what it was. When Marlena was asked about it in a WWE chat, she kayfabe responded that she can’t even repeat it, because for Goldust to see or hear it makes him murderously angry. See? Instead of giving a lame answer, the story has a mystery to it, forcing you to make your own theory. How Hitchcockian! Good stuff.
-Remember in the WrestleMania 12 rant when I said that HHH was a midcarder at this point, despite his claims? Well, he’s in the third match of the show and he just got kissed by Goldust. Yep, that Hunter, always a main eventer.
-Triple H unzips Goldust’s jumper and then chops away on him. Either the gold suit is heavily padded, or Hunter just longs for the feel of another man’s chest. I’m not implying anything, I mean, we’re all God’s children, right?
-This thing is dragging like Frankenstein’s foot, and I’m just glad that Marlena’s here to give me something to look at. She was really something in the days before she forgot how to digest food.
-Hunter hooks an abdominal stretch and JR references oft-forgotten wrestler Wilbur Snyder, prompting Vince to go “WILLLLLLL-BUUUUUUUR” in Mr. Ed’s voice. Way to know your audience, V-Mac.
-This match is so boring, that I have no choice but to acknowledge wrestlecrap.com poster Ultimo Chocula, who responded to my post and gets a free mention. Good on you, Choc. Now, back to the crap at hand.
-Goldust lands a butt-butt on Hunter. Make your own joke here, I’m already disheveled.
-Chyna (yes, she’s here or it’s here or….) stalks Marlena around ringside and manages to corner her on the apron. Hunter knocks Goldust into her, sending her flying into Chyna’s clutch, who does a primo job of ragdolling and manhandling her. Yes, I used “manhandling” for a reason. Goldust eats a Pedigree to put HHH in the Mania win column. God, that was long and boring.
-You know, I really think Goldust and Marlena could have been a good low rent version of Savage and Liz. They had the crazed-but-likable male/alluring and innocent female dynamic going. Granted, it’s hard to top Savage and Liz, but you could have done worse by trying to mold these two after the original golden couple.
-Now for something that might break things out of the doldrums. It’s the Tag Team Title match with Davey Boy Smith and Owen Hart defending against Vader and Mankind. What made this interesting is that both teams were comprised of heels, though Davey was leaning toward turning face, mostly due to annoyance at Owen’s constant cheating, as well as Owen’s underlying jealousy of the Bulldog’s European title. Hey, for 1997, that’s pretty deep. Usually, we get stuck with “Faarooq hates white people so he’s imitating Louis Farrakhan”.
-Hey wait, wasn’t Vader just friends with Owen and Davey for, like, a year? Now they’re enemies? The continuity police may wish to investigate. That and about 4000 other infractions.
-Everyone’s getting their work in: Owen’s providing the quickness and taking bumps off of Vader, Bulldog’s using his power moves, Vader’s clubbing as he always does, and Mankind’s bumping for everybody. The fans are kinda confused, though, but they seem to have caught on that Davey’s the closest thing to a babyface here. Still, what a badly booked angle for the biggest card of the year.
-Owen becomes the heel in peril(?) and Davey prepares himself for the hot tag. I think they may have made a mistake in not having Owen turn on Davey here. Actually, wait, I just realized that it wouldn’t have worked. If you don’t know why, the answer rhymes with Art Soundation.
-So it turns into a double countout after Mankind gags Bulldog on the floor with the Mandible Claw. Well, that does nothing for anybody. I understand that for all four men, you had to keep them strong, since they all had value. For Owen and Davey, they had to remain strong to be Bret’s under bosses in the Hart Foundation relaunch, and Vader and Mankind were going to have to be strong so that they could be fed to the Undertaker for his title run. So I guess the real question is why have them face each other at all on the biggest event of the year? It’s a mystery.
-And now, I present to you the all time greatest match in WWE history. Throw in Capitol Sports while we’re at it. But first, we have a video and some backstory to establish.
-Bret Hart vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin. Basically, while Hart was away for the summer and fall of 1996, Austin was branding himself quite the monster heel. After becoming a character unlike any ever seen in WWE history, Austin began to garner a cult following for his foul mouth, violent antics, and utter disdain for everyone, including his fellow heels. He began to call Hart out in September, trying to goad Bret back to the company when he was on sabbatical, possibly considering going to WCW or even retiring. Austin managed to rope him back in and faced him in a great match at Survivor Series with Hart narrowly winning. The difference was that while before, Bret was considered a hero to millions of fans,the the new “Attitude” like the one displayed by Austin was the hotness du jour. Hart’s heroics were old hat, and many of his fans had shifted their sensibilities Austin’s way. Bret began to display signs of whining and bitterness, while Austin’s stock rose every day. And it boiled down to this: a submission match to see who the better man really was. If Bret wins, it shuts Austin up for good. If Austin wins, it could very well be the end of Hart, who will have been beaten by the young lion in his own game.
-I think that’s more story than the first four matches combined.
-As mentioned earlier, Ken Shamrock is the guest referee. Last I heard, he took steroids before his fight with Bobby Lashley JUST so he could be suspended and duck the match. Hey, high voice or not, I ain’t messing with Lashley.
-Austin gets the famed “glass shatter” entrance stunt that would appear in the WWE Attitude video game. That’s quite the sizable pop he gets as well. Hart’s pop is great as well; I’d say it’s about 70-30 for the Hitman.
-It’s a slug fest to start and it quickly spills to the floor, as any six month long feud would tend to cause. Immediately, Austin takes a smacking bump right into the post. Austin responds by crotching Bret on the guardrail. This is gonna be ugly.
-Now for a hallmark of any Attitude era show, as the match spills amongst the people. It’s not often you see Bret Hart brawling in the audience, but this era made some serious cosmetic changes to a lot of characters. Bret brings Austin back, flings him over the rail, and then pounces on him with a diving elbow. The tide turns, however, when Bret goes flying hard into the ring steps and actually dislodges them. So far, so good.
-We get back inside the ring, and Hart’s strategy becomes more than apparent: go for the leg. Bret begins some barbaric tactics to ravage Austin’s leg, and things are going swimmingly, until Austin drops him with a Stunner out of nowhere. However, pins don’t count here, but the move does buy Austin a moment to recuperate.
-The crowd’s really shifting Steve Austin’s way at this point. Bret tried to keep up with Austin in the donnybrook, but the fans compared them side by side and said “Yeah, Austin’s our guy”. This will be interesting down the stretch.
-The Stunner wasn’t enough to keep Bret Hart is dead, as he methodically goes back to the knee, and applies his amazing ringpost figure four. Austin’s not quitting however and Bret breaks the hold.
-Bret Hart brings a chair inside and decides to recreate one of Austin’s greatest inventions: the Pillmanizer, in which one wraps another man’s ankle inside the seat of a steel chair and then stomps it to crush the bone. It’s named for Brian Pillman, who was the first victim of such a tactic, and a naming honor that I’m sure thrilled the late Loose Cannon. Bret wraps the ankle and then goes up top, but Austin springs to life and smashes Hart with the chair. Lawler’s cry of “IT’S WrestleMania, BABY!” makes me smile for some reason. Austin lands another deadly shot with the chair, and the crowd is TOTALLY buying Stone Cold.
-Austin embarks on a relentless assault, punishing Bret’s back and then by locking Hart into his own Sharpshooter. Lawler remarks about having to submit to your own hold and then Vince, eerily, retorts “Hey, it could happen. It’s just that painful”. Anybody else pause when they heard that?
-After Bret refuses to give in, the action spills outside, where Hart whips Austin into the rail, and it opens up maybe the most famous blade job in wrestling history, as Austin is just gushing all over ringside. Hart pounds the wound and blood is everywhere. Back inside, Bret uses the chair to rip apart Austin’s knee, and Vince foreshadows the heel turn by pointing out just how low Bret’s fallen. Bret’s heel turn, not Vince’s heel turn, for the record.
-What do you do if you’re Austin? Kick Bret in the nuts, duh. Good kick, too. I think I could feel Julie smirk.
-Austin bathes in more than blood, as the fans shower him with cheers during the mud hole stomping sequence. JR proclaims that Austin’s a stud, and I can’t disagree. You could sense watching this match that something very special was happening.
-Austin goes out to retrieve an extension cord in order to choke Bret on the apron. As he wraps the cord around the throat, Bret grabs the ring bell (which was nearby) and wallops Austin in the head. With Stone Cold disoriented, The Hitman locks on the Sharpshooter in mid ring, while Austin continues to bleed.
-Steve Austin refuses Shamrock’s inquisitions on possible surrender, and then tries to power his way free from the hold by nearly pushing Bret off. And THERE is your iconic image of a wracked Austin screaming with blood pouring down his face. Hart falls, but holds onto the legs and stands up, keeping the hold latched. Austin soon passes out from the pain and blood loss to give Hart the win.
-Afterward, Hart continues to attack and Shamrock harshly throws him off. Kenny wants to fight Bret, who merely walks away to a chorus of boos. Meanwhile, Austin pulls himself up, hobbling all the while and Stuns the first referee who tries to assist him. Austin walks away under his own power, never having given up, while the fans cheer and chant “AUSTIN”. Ladies and gentlemen, THAT is the greatest example of making a star. You’ll never see it done better than Stone Cold Steve Austin on March 23, 1997.
-POSITIVE. FIVE. STARS.
-What do you mean that it didn’t end the show?
-Faarooq cuts a promo with the Nation of Domination around him. Yes, he does in fact say more than just “DAMN!”. That’s actually what he said when he was told he was going to play an Islamic militant, I think.
-It’s a Chicago Street Fight with Faarooq, Crush, and Savio Vega of the Nation taking on Ahmed Johnson and native sons The Legion of Doom. Early in the brawl, the faces clean house and beat up some nameless thugs in suits. Out of the six men in this match, the only one still employed two years later was Faarooq. Even odder, one of his lackeys was also still employed: a young D-Lo Brown. Kinda funny who makes it in life. Until he broke Droz’s spine into a million pieces, of course.
-While things completely break down in chaotic and disorganized fashion, I have to note that it was pretty wise putting Crush and Savio in the mock Islamic radical group. You know, you gotta shoo away any potential racial overtones by having the white Hawaiian and the snarling Puerto Rican with the black militants. This way, it seems just a TAD more innocent.
-Ahmed hits a somersault over the rail. No, I haven’t been eating white out.
-Animal and Crush go at it, and I’m the only person who remembers that they were the new Legion of Doom for about 3 weeks in 1992 after Hawk quit. Even Animal and Crush themselves don’t even remember that.
-Animal tries to piledrive Faarooq through the table and then wusses out, instead doing a lame pratfall when he realizes that it was gonna hurt bad. Way to expose the business, Joe.
-Here’s some fun: Savio Vega wraps a noose around Ahmed’s neck and tries to hang him from inside the ring. Maybe it’s my ignorance talking, but I think that’s the first time there’s ever been anything remotely racist in professional wrestling. I’ll wager my Saba Simba trading card that I’m right.
-Why is THIS match following Bret-Austin? Two violent matches in a row? Besides, this is the only other match of the night that I really liked. Why not put this match earlier in the card to set the tempo and get the crowd pumped up? WWE was really on the cusp of striking WCW in the face at this point, but they kept getting things backward, and muddling some minor details. It would be a full year before they’d contend, too. That’s kinda what TNA is like right now, so given history, don’t count the Orlandophiles out of the war just yet.
-Long story short, Crush eats a Doomsday Device and then is nailed with a 2X4 to end it. Also, D-Lo and Nation rappers PG-13 get destroyed post-match. Way to strike a blow for racial equality! Coming up next: Ahmed Johnson destroys MOVE headquarters with a 2X4.
-And now for the alleged main event, as Sycho Sid defends the WWE Title against The Undertaker. And here comes Shawn Michaels and his career ending knee injury to do commentary. Look at Shawn bounce down the aisle! Ah, the miracles of Mighty Putty.
-To further drive home Bret Hart’s new bad attitude, he comes out to yell at everyone (even using the word “pussyfoot”) before Sid powerbombs him. That’ll learn em.
-What follows is the most boring twenty minute match in the annals of WrestleMania history, one that is only fascinating because Michaels sits on commentary and runs his mouth about Bret while using a lame knee inury to avoid dropping the title legit. As a penance, Shawn was forced to age 35 years over the next 12.
-As Sid and Taker exchange the most basic of offensive slugs, Vince suddenly announces that the match is No DQ. Making up rules in mid match? Russo, that’s brilliant!
-Brawl. Brawl. Brawl. Table gets broken. Brawl. Brawl. Brian Griffin should be narrating this match for blind people. Except he would say “It’s over. A lot of people look relieved”.
-With Taker down, Sid would like to remind all of us to go visit camelclutchblog.com for all of the latest on sports, wrestling, MMA, American Idol, and life. In other words, he put Taker in the Camel Clutch. I hope this reference catches on. I’m trying, Eric.
-My word, this match is booooooooooring. Was there a dare in the office to make this match a reality? First, drunk JR said “Let’s put SID in the main event!”. Then drunk Brisco said “Let’s make him work 20 MINUTES!”. Then drunk Vince said “And he’ll face Taker so the pace will be SLOWER THAN USUAL!”. Then there was laughter, followed by drunk Patterson saying “I love you guys!” and the party came to an abrupt end. That Pat, what a buzzkill.
-Sid hits a pair of double axe handles! Amazing! I guess I have to rank it above a DUD now.
-Bret comes back out with a chair and hits Sid, because you can never have enough Bret. Except for his brother Bruce. Yes, Bruce seems to have had enough Bret for one lifetime.
-Sid manages to choke slam Undertaker and then signals for the power bomb, but Bret comes back out. He throats Sid across the apron, and the champ falls victim to the Tombstone to give Undertaker his second WWE Title. Horrible match, and Bret’s interference was moot, since Bret and Sid never wound up facing off. Still, Taker deserved the gold after the horrible angles he was forced to work over the years. So it definitely has a happy ending.
-CYNIC SAYS: Oh man, did Bret and Austin ever save this one. Without their contribution, it EASILY is the worst WrestleMania ever. Thankfully, they had the best match of all time, and that’s counting everything, not just WrestleManias. Both singles titles matches sucked, and the roster felt so thin that you could slide it through a car window to jimmy a lock with. I can’t believe this helped lead to the Attitude era, because fans today would piss all over this show.
So check out the submission match for sure, and the street fight as a curiousity. Everything else, feel free to avoid at all costs. But it’s not like you needed my permission. Just use common sense.
When he isn’t watching WWE, TNA, or his beloved Philadelphia Eagles and Phillies, Justin Henry can be found writing. It is his passion as well as his goal in life to become a well-regarded (as well as well-paid) columnist or author. Subscribe to The Cynical Examination, his wrestling blog, at http://www.facebook.com.
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