wrestling recap

Wrestling Recap: Goldberg vs. DDP (Halloween Havoc ’98)

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The Date: 25 October 1998
The Venue: MGM Grand Garden Arena; Paradise, Nevada
The Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, and Mike Tenay
The Referee: Mickie Jay
The Stakes: Singles match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship

The Build-Up:
World Championship Wrestling (WCW) gets a lot of flack for not building more original, home-grown stars; one of the principal reasons they took a commanding lead in the “Monday Night Wars” against the then-World Wrestling Federation (WWF) was because they lured over big-name stars like Hulk Hogan and “Macho Man” Randy Savage with lucrative contracts to cash-in on their mainstream popularity. However, there are actually many home-grown WCW stars: “The Icon” Sting was unquestionably the heart and soul of the company, “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair their most prolific link to the glory days of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), Diamond Dallas Page/DDP their most inspirational story of a journeyman wrestler becoming a beloved figurehead, and Bill Goldberg easily their most successful home-made talent. After an injury saw his American football career come to an end, Goldberg transition first to powerlifting and mixed martial arts before being persuaded by Sting and Lex Luger to train at the WCW Power Plant. Impressed by the big man’s physique and intensity, WCW head honcho Eric Bischoff rushed Goldberg to television and booked him on an unprecedented winning streak that saw him amass an alleged win 173 consecutive wins (though the number was actually closer to 156) using a very simple formula of hitting a couple of big moves, including performing his finisher, the Jackhammer, on the seven-foot Giant! In contrast, DDP was a late bloomer, having started as a manager before transitioning to an in-ring career at the relatively late age of thirty-five. Page hit his stride when he famously rejected joining the New World Order (nWo) super stable and cemented himself as WCW’s top babyface, scoring WCW Tag Team Championship and United States Championship victories with his signature Diamond Cutter, which he boasted he could hit on anyone, anywhere, at anytime. Goldberg’s impressive (if inflated) winning streak eventually saw him dethrone “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship on one of the most successful (if controversial) episodes of WCW Monday Nitro in 1998. After DDP earned the right to challenge for the championship at Halloween Havoc by winning a War Games match the previous month, the stage was set for these two icons to collide but it wasn’t all plain sailing. Goldberg disagreed with DDP’s ideas for the match and WCW came under fire when the pay-per-view overran its allotted timeslot, meaning paying viewers didn’t get to see the main event bout and had to settle for a re-run on the following episode of Monday Nitro.

The Match:
As I’ve detailed before, I wasn’t lucky enough to grow up watching WCW or WWF; I wasn’t able to get into wrestling until early-2000, and by then all I could really watch were WWF pay-per-views, so my knowledge of WCW was limited to magazines and videogames. Still, competitors like Goldberg and DDP definitely stuck out for me, primarily because they had a lot of media attention and featured in one of my first real experiences of WCW, the ill-fated Ready to Rumble (Robbins, 2000). I didn’t really get to see DDP in action until he was inexplicably cast as the Undertaker’s sadistic stalker during the botched “Invasion” angle, a decision which meant DDP’s WWF and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) career never reached the heights of his WCW fame. Similarly, I wouldn’t get to see Goldberg in action until he arrived in WWE in 2003 for a lacklustre run that saw him put on one of the worst performances in wrestling history, and later further tarnish his reputation with a series of questionable performances following his Hall of Fame induction. Still, I’m always excited to watch WCW biggest stars perform at the height of their career and popularity and to see them booked correctly, especially as this is considered one of the best matches in either man’s career. There was a moment of trepidation as the bell rang; at this point, Goldberg has amassed a winning streak of 154 and his matches were short, sharp affairs that played to his strengths as a powerhouse. DDP, meanwhile, was more of a technician and a wily competitor, though neither man backed down or showed any fear; this was undoubtedly a match with high stakes for both since it meant a championship reign for DDP and another feather in the cap of WCW’s brutish superstar. After a spot of jaw-jacking, the two men locked up, with DDP being easily overpowered in the early going; Goldberg repeatedly tossed him into the far corner with little effort and DDP, realising that tenacity alone wouldn’t win the day, changed tactics, stalling for time and then took the big man down with an arm drag before goading him into charging the two of them through the ropes and to the outside.

It took some time for Goldberg to play to his strengths and he ended up injuring himself as a result.

The crowd grew a little restless as the two men stalled some more and clambered back into the ring; DDP went back to basics, slapping on a headlock, only for Goldberg to surprisingly wrestle his way out of it with a wrist-lock takedown and then counter DDP’s attempts at a trip with an impressive standing back flip! DDP’s efforts to rile Goldberg up resulted in the big man losing his cool and pummelling the challenger with some stiff shots, slamming him to the mat with an overhead throw, and then locking in a cross armbreaker on the canvas. DDP easily reached the ropes and stunned Goldberg with a jawbreaker before laying in some forearms and working over Goldberg’s arm and shoulder; however, he found himself tumbling outside when Goldberg easily threw off an attempted Diamond Cutter. Once DDP hopped back into the ring, Goldberg went back to the wrist lock and, this time, DDP countered with a drop-toehold before being bashed to the outside again with a shoulder block. A jawbreaker over the ropes and a spinning neckbreaker saw allowed DDP to press the attack, tossing Goldberg into the corner and scoring a two count off a Russian leg sweep. DDP put the pressure on with a front facelock to give both men a chance to rest, but Goldberg soon fought back with some stiff knee strikes to DDP’s ribs and that weird spinning takedown thing he liked to do. Goldberg followed up with a modified suplex and a nice sidewalk slam, but a lackadaisical cover saw DDP easily kick out. Goldberg then punished DDP with another cross armbreaker but, clearly having run out of moves, paid the price when he tried for another sidewalk slam as DDP countered with an awkward, but effective, headscissor takedown! Goldberg popped right back up, however, and delivered a sidekick (thankfully not to DDP’s head…) but crashed and burned on a Spear attempt when DDP wisely flipped out of the way and caused the champion to charge shoulder-first into the ring post and spill to the outside.

Both men hit their signature moves but it was the undefeated Goldberg who eventually came out on top.

The two milked the moment to take a breather before DDP took Goldberg down with a big top-rope clothesline for a two-count; despite favouring his right arm, Goldberg planted DDP with a uranage-like slam (that honestly looked like DDP countered into a DDT). Although DDP got to his feet first and called for the Diamond Cutter, he got absolutely blasted with Goldberg’s trademark Spear, much to the delight of the crowd, but Goldberg couldn’t capitalise thanks to his shoulder injury from the ring post. This also meant he struggled to lift DDP for the Jackhammer and, when he finally did, the challenger slipped out of it and planted him with the Diamond Cutter. However, exhaustion also meant that DDP couldn’t immediately follow-up so Goldberg easily kicked out. It was at this point that the crowd really came alive, just in time for Goldberg to counter DDP’s suplex into a Jackhammer and score the three count in the blink of an eye! Having been taken to his limit, Goldberg helped DDP to his feet and showed him respect before celebrating his win to a chorus of cheers. However, I have to say that I wasn’t massively won over by this; Goldberg was always at his best when he played to his strengths, which meant power, power, and more power. There were times here where he looked lost and his limitations showed, such as him struggling to respond to DDP’s attempts to get him up and him going for the same moves. It wasn’t massively glaring but it makes DDP’s efforts to carry Goldberg to a more competitive match even more obvious; Goldberg, didn’t exactly press his attack, or overpower DDP enough for me to believe that Page was too beat up to make a cover, especially as DDP did a lot of stalling throughout the match. I appreciated the attempt to showcase Goldberg’s more technical abilities, but his physicality could’ve been played up more, maybe with a few more hard shoves and that military press slam he liked to do. In the end, it was a decent match, potentially the best of Goldberg’s career at that point, but I could feel the crowd getting restless throughout and I echoed those sentiments and was just waiting for a little more action from both men.

The Aftermath:
Although this wouldn’t be the last time Goldberg and DDP faced off against each other, it did mark the end of their feud; by the next month’s pay-per-view, DDP was once again the WCW United States Champion and was busy feuding with Bret “Hitman” Hart. Although Goldberg wasn’t on the show, he did headline Starrcade the following month, where he lost the WCW Championship and had his winning streak snapped in controversial fashion by “Big Sexy” Kevin Nash following interference from Scott Hall and a taser. Goldberg and DDP wouldn’t face each other again until April 1999, where they battled for the WCW Championship on an episode of WCW Monday Nitro, this time with DDP as the champion. They battled each other sporadically throughout 1999, with their final match being a singles bout at Fall Brawl 1999, which Goldberg again won. As far as I can tell, they never crossed paths when in WWE and, with DDP officially retired and committed to helping wrestlers and others improve their lives through his DDP Yoga, I can’t imagine that we’ll ever see these two locking up in a match ever again.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Are you a fan of Goldberg’s match against Diamond Dallas Page at Halloween Havoc? Do you agree that it’s one of their best matches or do you think it’s over-rated and prefer a different bout of theirs? Were you a fan of either man during their WCW days? Which of their matches and moments was your favourite and what did you think to their career outside of WCW? What’s your favourite Halloween Havoc match or event? Whatever your thoughts on Goldberg, DDP, WCW, and Halloween Havoc, I’d love to see them in the comments.

Wrestling Recap: Kane vs. Jericho (Armageddon ’00)

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The Date: 10 December 2000
The Venue: Birmingham–Jefferson Civic Center; Birmingham, Alabama
The Commentary: Jim “J.R.” Ross and Jerry “The King” Lawler
The Referee: Theodore Long
The Stakes: Last Man Standing match to conclude rivalry

The Build-Up:
On October 5th, 1997 (the day after my twelfth birthday, which sadly clashes with Global James Bond Day), Glenn Jacobs made his dramatic debut as Kane, the scarred, monstrous younger half-brother of the Undertaker. Following this, Kane ran wild throughout the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) as a monstrous “tweener” who attacked bad guys (“heels”) and good guys (“faces”) alike, primarily brawling with his brother and being embroiled in WWF Chairman Vince McMahon’s vendetta against “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. Although Kane always received his fair share of cheers for the amount of ass he kicked, he cemented his status as a face after suffering a betrayal at the hands of his friend and tag team partner, X-Pac, which led to him firmly setting his sights on the WWF Championship, held by Triple H, after returning from an injury in mid-2000. However, while a team up with his brother was teased, Kane would turn on the Undertaker, don a bad-ass new vest attire, and embark on a renewed path of destruction, bolstered by his newfound ability to vocalise his hatred of the world and all things beautiful. Eventually, this led to him crossing paths with “Y2J” Chris Jericho, a high-flying former WWF Intercontinental Champion who earned the Big Red Machine’s rage after accidentally splashing him with hot coffee in a backstage segment. Despite swiftly enacting revenge on Jericho, and coming out on top in their last two pay-per-view bouts, Kane’s anger at Jericho only exacerbated when Y2J cost him the WWF Hardcore Championship and attacking him with a steel chair the month before. Having found a fury awoken inside himself, and frustrated with Kane’s constant attacks, Jericho went to then-WWF Commissioner Mick Foley and out-right demanded one last match with the Big Red Machine here, a Last Man Standing match, to finally put their differences aside once and for all.

The Match:
Of course, Armageddon 2000 was also the night of the infamous six-man Hell in a Cell match for the WWF Championship. That match, and this one, would (in storyline) cast a great deal of controversy onto Commissioner Mick Foley, since Vince McMahon wasn’t pleased that Foley had sanctioned eight of his top stars to compete in dangerous and potentially career shortening matches. However, both the video package and J.R. and The King emphasise that Jericho not only wanted this match, he literally begged for it; pushed to the edge by Kane’s constant assault, Jericho was eager to put an end to the Big Red Machine and had become increasingly violent, attacking Kane with repeated steel chair shots in the build-up to this match, and the story heading in was that Y2J was the plucky underdog and Kane was the unstoppable monster, and that something naturally had to give in this Last Man Standing match. This match also came when both men were, arguably, at the peak of their careers; Jericho was still riding a wave of popularity and early success following his memorable debut, and Kane was absolute hench as fuck at this time, sporting probably my favourite look of his and apparently reinvigorated by his recent main event push. Fittingly, given the intensity of this feud so far (which, despite quickly escalating into Kane wanting to disfigure Jericho’s face, we’re constantly reminded all started over a hot cup of coffee), the two begin the match by brawling on the entrance ramp. With no disqualifications or count outs in effect, both men were free to do whatever they wanted in order to pummel the other until they were physically unable to answer the referee’s ten count, and Kane immediately took full advantage of that to batter Jericho out to the backstage area where (after a brief, awkward period of dead air) he tried to end Jericho’s life by hurling an equipment box at his head!

Chris Jericho was constantly on the back foot thanks to Kane’s raw power.

Luckily, Jericho dodged out of the way (and similarly avoided having his head caved in from a massive shovel shot) and (after the two take pot shots at Mideon, who randomly wandered into the fight), Jericho threw sawdust in Kane’s eyes and slipped out of a running powerslam to send the Big Red Machine into the ring post. Jericho quickly followed up by slamming Kane’s face into the steel steps and then rolling him into the ring, where (oddly, considering the stipulation) the majority of the main action took place. Constantly on the defensive thanks to Kane’s sheer size and strength, Jericho pressed his advantage by knocking his opponent down with a back elbow off the top rope, countering a back body drop, and even clotheslining Kane out of the ring. However, Kane, nimble as a cat, did that awesome spot where he landed on his feet and then caught Jericho in mid-air, clamping down on a bearhug and running Y2J spine-first into the ring post before finally dumping him on the thin outside padding with a running powerslam. Kane then gave Jericho a receipt for smashing his face into the steel steps, and then continued to work Jericho over in the ring, focusing on the spine with stomps, backbreakers, and shoulder thrusts into the corner. Despite the brutal assault, Jericho not only refused to stay down but also scrambled and clawed his way back into the fight, desperate to mount a comeback; Kane easily shut him down with a huge one-arm toss and then applied that awesome choke hold where he held his opponent by the throat and stretched him across his back. While J.R. rightly pointed out that submissions are irrelevant, Kane’s strategy was clearly to punish Jericho and to choke him out so he couldn’t make it to his feet. This led to the first ten-count of the match; Kane stalked the ring, stunned that Jericho managed to beat the count, and the crowd was suitably worked into a frenzy as they cheered for Y2J to get back into the fight. However, when he tried to do so with a back spinning heel kick, Kane snatched him out of the air (almost dropping him) and slammed him to the mat and had his Lionsault rudely interrupted when Kane got his knees up and then fell victim to Kane’s mental top-rope diving clothesline.

Chris Jericho enduring Kane’s assault and ultimately overcame him using his feisty wiles.

After milking the ten count, Kane continued overwhelming Jericho with huge haymakers and, when Jericho defiantly got to his feet and asked for more, Kane delivered an absolutely massive One-Handed Chokeslam and was driven to a frenzy when Jericho somehow staggered to his feet as the referee counted to nine. Incensed at Jericho’s tenacity, Kane snatched a steel chair from ring side, rammed it into Jericho’s ribs, smashed it over his spine, and signalled his intention to put an end to Jericho’s insolence with a Tombstone Piledriver to the chair. However, Jericho escaped and blasted Kane with a low blow before felling him with a DDT. Seizing the chair for himself, Jericho finally turned the tide with a sickening shot right to Kane’s unprotected head; he with a flying forearm, a top rope missile dropkick, a bulldog, and then finally hit the Lionsault onto Kane after laying the chair across Kane’s abdomen (which, naturally, hurt Jericho just as much as Kane). However, Kane did his trademark zombie sit-up at the count of nine and then shut Jericho down with a big boot to the face and military pressed Y2J out of the ring. The two brawled back up the ramp towards the cars and stage decorations surrounding the entrance; there, Jericho was (eventually) able to cause Kane to crash onto (but not quite through) a nearby table with a facebuster. Hurt and desperate from Kane’s brutal and relentless assault, Jericho resorted to utilising his surroundings to his advantage; as Kane staggered to his feet, Jericho caused a wall of barrels to come crashing down onto his opponent, effectively burying and pinning him down and ensuring that the Big Red Machine couldn’t answer the ten count. Although Kane’s gloved hand popped out from between the barrels (and he could have easily just crawled out the other side), Jericho kicked it away and was declared the winner, finally overcoming his monstrous opponent and putting an end to their rivalry.

The Aftermath:
I was well into this feud at the time; I’d only been into wrestling for just over a year by this point but Kane had firmly become my favourite wrestler and I loved seeing him absolutely manhandle Jericho in this rivalry. The actual match wasn’t really anything that great; it was a fairly standard big man vs. little man match that was designed to put over Kane’s immense strength and Jericho’s tenacity, but it did this very well and I think the two worked pretty well together. Despite the fact that Jericho had been on the losing end of their matches and most of their segments prior to Armageddon 2000, this match marked the end of their heated rivalry. Over the next few weeks, both men went their separate ways, with Jericho restarting his epic rivalry with Chris Benoit over the Intercontinental Championship and Kane switching back to being a fan favourite soon after. This feud, and match, also marked Kane’s detour into the Hardcore division, which led to a pretty entertaining triple threat match for the belt at WrestleMania X-Seven following Kane’s mammoth performance at that year’s Royal Rumble. This wouldn’t be the last time Chris Jericho and Kane crossed paths; the two would battle one on one a couple of times in random, throwaway matches and often face off for the Tag Team Championships, but they would never again enter into a prolonged feud with each other. Instead, each man pursued their own individual World Championship goals but, despite competing in Elimination Chamber and Money in the Bank ladder matches, never went head to head for the company’s top prize.

My Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Great Stuff

What did you think to the bout between Kane and Chris Jericho at Armageddon 2000? How would you rate it compared to their other bouts and what did you think to their feud in general? Were you a fan of the ending to this match? What did you think to Kane’s look and presentation during this time? How are you celebrating Kane’s debut this year, what are some of your favourite matches and moments from Kane’s long and complex career, and what dream match would you have liked to see him involved in? Whatever your thoughts about the Big Red Machine, leave a comment below.

Wrestling Recap: Edge & Christian vs. Dudleyz vs. Hardyz (SummerSlam ’00)

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The Date: 27 August 2000
The Venue: Raleigh Entertainment and Sports Arena; Raleigh, North Carolina
The Commentary: Jim “J.R.” Ross and Jerry “The King” Lawler
The Referee: Jim Korderas and Tim White
The Stakes: Triple threat Tables, Ladders, and Chairs (TLC) match for the WWF Tag Team Championships

The Build-Up:
For many, myself included, the year 2000 was a peak time in wrestling, particularly in the then-World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Coming out of a widely criticised WrestleMania, the company really hit its stride after riding the surge of popularity following the engaging rivalry between WWF chairman Vince McMahon and the renegade “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. With Austin out with a serious neck injury, the WWF strapped the proverbial rocket to the Rock, who reigned as a super-popular fan favourite champion in the main event, but their undercard wasn’t exactly slouching, either. The tag team division, already full of some colourful characters, hit a new pinnacle with the many contests between Matt and Jeff, the Hardy Boyz, and Edge and Christian that stretched back to each teams’ time in the Brood stable. By this point, the two had already engaged in death-defying ladder matches but their rivalry reached new heights when Bubba Ray and D-Von, the Dudley Boyz, brought their own brand of hardcore action to their matches, specifically in the form of tables. The three teams had already clashed at WrestleMania earlier that year in a triangle ladder match that saw Edge & Christian utilise their trademark chairs (with the two being known for a double chair shot to the head known as the “Con-Chair-To”) and the Dudleyz had made a name for themselves by driving WWF Superstars, particularly women, through tables, much to the delight of the crowd. With the rivalry between the three only intensifying, WWF commissioner Mick Foley ordered Edge & Christian to defend their WWF Tag Team Championships against both teams in this, the first-ever TLC match, in which the competitors must scale a ladder to claim the belts like in a traditional ladder match but could also utilise steel chairs and tables for additional carnage.

The Match:
Edge and Christian hit the ring first and then wisely bailed as their opponents followed; the Hardyz were so desperate to throw hands with the Dudleyz that they rushed to the ring before Howard Finkel could finish his introductions. Edge and Christian tried to take advantage by attacking them with all with steel chairs, but the Hardyz intercepted them, relieving them of their chairs so they could use them against Bubba, D-Von, and Christian. However, while Bubba took a chair right to the face courtesy of Matt, he immediately got a measure of payback by knocking Jeff out of the air with a chair shot as he went for the Hardyz’ patented Poetry in Motion. Edge then caused Matt to take a powder following a clothesline and he and Christian worked over D-Von, with Christian using a steel chair to hit a big crossbody in the corner and then sending D-Von face-first into it with a drop toehold. The guys paired off and stomped at each other for a bit to buy Edge the time he needed to slip outside and bring the first ladder of the match into play; he slammed Bubba into it, but the damn Dudley easily sidestepped a running charge and sent the ladder back into Edge’s face using the ring ropes. Bubba then planted Christian with a DDT and, as the crowd chanted “We want tables!” over and over, climbed up the ladder to make a try for the belts. The Hardyz intercepted him, however, and planted him with a powerbomb-like slam off the ladder; while Matt beat down Christian, Jeff started a climb of his own only to face opposition as D-Von set up his own ladder right next to the first one. Both men were so distracted fending the other off and climbing for the belts that they were easily caught from behind with Edge, who took them both down with a double Russian leg sweep of sorts.

The action and the stunts built beautifully in the early going as the teams utilised their signature weapons.

Christian then tried to take advantage, climbing both ladders at once, but Bubba shut him down with authority by landing a big-time Bubba Bomb off the top rungs of the ladder! Jeff then took a hellacious bump when he tried climbing a third ladder only to be toppled off by Edge onto the other two ladders, which were stacked up on the mat, the impact of which also smashed the ladder into Matt and Bubba’s faces, as well. Edge and Christian went for the Con-Chair-To on Jeff, but he managed to drop to the mat at the last second; Bubba then went nuts with a ladder, running it right into the champions and using it to smash a steel chair back into Jeff’s face. To the absolute delight of the crowd, Bubba and D-Von hit their Wassup! headbutt to Edge’s groin and Bubba demanded that D-Von “Get the tables!!” Unsatisfied with the selection under the ring and suspiciously avoiding the tables already set up at ringside, D-Von retrieved a table from the entrance ramp and set it up in the ring as Bubba beat on Matt, Jeff, and Christian before the two successfully drove Christian through the wood with their Dudley Death Drop (3D) finish to a crescendo of applause. The Dudleyz then went outside and created a four-table stack right next to the ring but, before they could do anything with this structure, Edge attacked with a steel chair, cracking both right over the head (!) before Matt planted him with the Twist of Fate. The Hardyz then added to the assault by hitting stereo leg drops to a prone Edge from a nearby ladder set up in the ring corner. Matt then awkwardly sandwiched Edge between a ladder before launching Christian off the top rope and onto it, which had to absolutely suck for his ribs. Meanwhile, on the outside, Jeff laid Bubba over a table and went for a Swanton Bomb off a massive ladder only to crash and burn when Bubba rolled off the table at the last minute!

After putting their opponents down with some big spots, the champions retained their titles.

Matt brought the twenty-foot ladder into the ring and (eventually) made a climb for the belts. However, after Edge, Christian, and D-Von intercepted him, and all four men went crashing to the mat after Christian planted Matt with a reverse DDT and Edge and D-Von fell to the top rope. Shaking off the effects of a brutal chair shot to the head, Bubba stumbled into the ring and started climbing, only for Edge and Christian to tip the ladder over and send him crashing through the four-table stack on the outside! With the field clear of their opposition, Edge and Christian went for the belts only for Lita to interrupt their climb by dumping them crotch-first onto the top rope! Encouraged by Lita, Matt desperately set up the ladder and briefly brushed the tips of his fingers against the belts before D-Von went him careening through two tables stacked up outside the other side of the ring! Edge then Speared Lita on the outside, nearly cracking her head open on the edge of a ladder in the process as Jeff and D-Von competed to grab the championship belts. Both men grabbed onto them as Edge pushed the ladder out from under them and frantically kicked at each other while dangling high above the ring. D-Von was sent crashing to the mat, but Jeff refused to let go. Edge and Christian solved this problem by swatting Jeff out of the air with a ladder and, with all their opponents unconscious or incapacitated from their falls, the champions successfully climbed the twenty-foot ladder and retrieved their belts. This was, in a word, carnage; but controlled carnage. So much could’ve easily gone wrong, but it came together really well, even with a couple of awkward moments here and there as the guys prepared tables and ladders for later spots. There wasn’t much chair action here but, in a match involving ladders and tables, it makes sense to focus on these aspects and the crowd was super into all the big spots and, though livid that Edge and Christian walked away with the belts once more, clearly appreciated all of the death-defying action crammed into these twenty minutes.

The Aftermath:
Of course, this wouldn’t be the last time these three teams fought. They brawled the very next night on Raw is War and the Hardyz defeated the Dudleyz to become the number one contenders soon after. While the Dudleyz were side-tracked with teams like the Acolytes Protection Agency (APA) and the Right to Censor, the Hardyz beat Edge & Christian for the belts at Unforgiven, only for the wily Canadians to briefly outsmart the brothers by assuming the guises of masked lucha libres. The storylines then converged at the 2000 Survivor Series, where the Hardyz and the Dudleyz joined forces against the Right to Censor and Edge & Christian in a winning effort. Though Edge & Christian were able to regain the belts by winning a Fatal 4-Way match at Armageddon, the Dudleyz then defeated the Canadian duo (despite nursing storyline concussions) at the Royal Rumble event and successfully defended them against not just Edge & Christian but always the Undertaker and Kane at No Way Out at the start of 2001. The stage was thus set for another TLC match at WrestleMania X-Seven, this one even more chaotic than the last and featuring run-ins from not only Lita, but Rhyno and Spike Dudley as well, though Edge & Christian again came out on top as the champions by the end.

The TLC match became a staple of WWE programming over the years.

Over the next few years, the paths of these six men would regularly cross; even when pursuing singles glory, the three teams would butt heads in the ring, clashing or competing in eight subsequent TLC matches over the next ten years or otherwise utilising tables, ladders, and chairs as they fought for pride, vengeance, or championship gold. The TLC match evolved slightly as time went on, with the match occasionally allowing pin fall victories and shifting away from tag team action to primarily be used in singles matches for the various World Heavyweight Championships. The match even got its own annual pay-per-view slot, featured little persons competing in a “WeeLC” match, was used to unify the World Heavyweight and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Championships, and Kane once even captured the World Tag Team Championships all by himself on the first-ever Raw broadcast of the stipulation. The WWE’s first-ever women’s TLC match took place at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs in 2018; this was a triple threat match for the SmackDown! Women’s Championship but, at the following year’s event, the first-ever women’s tag team TLC match took place.

My Rating:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Fantastic

What did you think to the first-ever TLC match? Were you into the rivalry between these three teams? Which team did you want to see win and were you annoyed that Edge & Christian escaped with the belts? Were you impressed by the death-defying action in the match? Which TLC match is your favourite? Which of the matches featuring Edge & Christian, the Hardy Boyz, and the Dudley Boyz is your favourite? What are some of your favourite SummerSlam matches and moments? Whatever you think about these teams, the TLC stipulation, and SummerSlam, be sure to share them below or comment on my social media.

Wrestling Recap: The Outsiders vs. Sting, Savage, & Luger (Bash at the Beach ’96)

Dr. K8 Comments

The Date: 7 July 1996
The Venue: Ocean Center; Daytona Beach, Florida
The Commentary: “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes, Mike Tenay, Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, and Tony Schiavone
The Referee: Randy Anderson
The Stakes: Six-man tag team match to repel the Outsiders’ invasion

The Build-Up:
On 4 September 1995, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) changed the shape of the wrestling industry by airing the first episode of WCW Monday Nitro, a weekly broadcast that included the unexpected WCW debut of Lex Luger and kicked off the start of the “Monday Night Wars” as the show ran in direct competition to the World Wrestling Federation’s (WWF) Raw is War. Over the course of a staggering eighty-four weeks, WCW would dominate this ratings war thanks to signing a number of wrestling’s biggest names to lucrative contracts; two of the most prominent of these were Scott Hall (formerly WWF’s Razor Ramon) and Kevin Nash (formally Diesel), who regularly gatecrashed WCW programming to declare war on the organisation, assumedly as “Outsiders” sent explicitly by the WWF to disrupt WCW. Though this was later downplayed to avoid legal issues, the two constantly hassled WCW Executive Vice President Eric Bischoff and goaded him into forming a three-man team to face the duo and their mysterious “third man” at Bash at the Beach. A random drawing saw Sting, Lex Lugar and “Macho Man” Randy Savage chosen to oppose the Outsiders, but Hall and Nash refused to reveal the identity of their third man until the show; although Sting was initially said to be up for the big turn, the mystery man turned out to be the legendary Hulk Hogan, whose act was becoming a bit stale by that point. Hogan’s turn to the dark side legitimately shocked the wrestling world and reinvigorated his career; rechristened “Hollywood” Hogan, the once colourful wrestling hero led the New World Order (nWo) in hijacking WCW’s programming as the WCW World Heavyweight Champion, eventually leading to a year-long storyline where Sting underwent a complete character change to oppose Hogan in their infamous Starrcade match. While the nWo eventually outlived its welcome, there’s no denying the impact this match had on the wrestling industry; it made WCW must-see television and forced the WWF to undergo a dramatic change of attitude to outpace and ultimately dethrone their competition and it all started here with this iconic three-on-two tag team match.

The Match:
I find it interesting looking back at the Outsiders’ arrival in WCW; even Michael Buffer’s introduction hypes up how the duo threatens the sanctity, the very existence, of the company, which I find a little amusing. You’re seriously telling me that two men are really that much of a threat? Admittedly, I haven’t watched the weeks leading up to Bash at the Beach but it seemed all the two did was interfere in matches, attack a few wrestlers, and accost Bischoff while claiming to have a third man in their posse. These days, an invading team would be at least three men to start with, if not six to eight, and would constantly disrupt programming, attacking everyone and destroying the ringside area, but back then all it took was a former bodyguard-turned-disappointing World Champion and an upper mid-carder with a tragic drinking problem to threaten the stability of one of the biggest wrestling companies in the United States at the time. After weeks of speculation and anticipation bout the duo’s third man, Hall and Nash sauntered to the ring by themselves; even I, with little exposure to WCW or even the WWF back in my fledgling wrestling fan days, was aware of the nWo and Hulk Hogan’s turn to the dark side thanks to WCW’s Nintendo 64 videogames, which featured “Hollywood” Hogan and his black-and-white cohorts in prominent roles, but WCW were determined to drag the reveal out for maximum impact. Naturally, the commentary team were more than a little biased towards the WCW competitors and “Mean” Gene Okerlund was less than impressed at their lack of a partner; however, the duo was completely unfazed maintained their arrogance even in the face of the two-on-three disadvantage they would be in throughout the match.

With Luger taken out, the Outsiders worked over Sting’s ribs and cheated for an advantage.

Sting, Luger, and Savage came to the ring together, so united as a team that they even wore matching face paint, and things quickly got tense as Luger and Hall got into a slanging match all while the commentary team bickered distrustfully amongst themselves since the Outsiders had done such a good job of sowing dissension throughout WCW. Hall and Luger started the match; Hall disrespectfully tossed his toothpick in Luger’s face, earning him a good ol’ slap to the jaw and a forearm shot across the forehead despite beating on Luger in the early going. Luger was all fired up, even taking a cheap shot at Nash, but Sting was forced to save him from a Nash headlock with a Stinger Splash in the corner. Unfortunately, Luger bashed his head on the ring post, evening the odds as doctors stretchered him away. Regardless, Sting went after Hall in a flurry, bashing his head off the mat, planting him with an Inverted Atomic Drop and a facebuster, but Hall was able to counter Savage’s top-rope axehandle with a shot to the gut. Rather than tagging out, Hall goaded Sting, distracting the referee and allowing Nash to hit Savage with Snake Eyes, but he immediately recovered to clothesline Hall to the mat for the first near fall of the match. Hall tagged in Nash; Savage (accompanied by Rhodes’ shouts of “Who be bad now?!”) used his quickness at first but the big man shut him down with some slow shots and a big body slam. Thankfully, Savage avoided an elbow drop and tagged in Sting, but he immediately took a beating in the corner from some repeated elbow strikes before being choked by Nash’s long, unstable leg. Sting countered a whip into the opposite corner and floored Nash with a dropkick but couldn’t get him over for a sunset flip pin and ate a lifting choke for his troubles. Hall tagged back in, hitting his trademark Fallaway Slam for a two count, but Nash came back in for a Big Boot and starting working over Sting’s ribs. Sting was able to duck under a clothesline and hit a low dropkick to bring Nash to the mat, but Hall tagged in to cut off both his opponents before dropping a bunch of elbows before wrapping the Stinger up in the Abdominal Stretch (with an assist from Nash) to really milk the crowd. Even when Nash slipped in behind the referee’s back to take over the hold and continue to work over Sting’s ribs and Sting was able to break free, he was too hurt to make the tag and got cut off again by Hall, who scored a two count of a clothesline.

Savage’s comeback was cut short by Hogan’s shocking turn and the infamous formation of the nWo!

After a brief sleeper hold, Hall dumped Sting to the outside, where Savage threatened to attack Nash with a steel chair when the Outsider made a move towards Sting. Back in the ring, Sting continued to play “face-in-peril”, eating a big Sidewalk Slam from Nash but kicking out at two, who was so frustrated that he rammed Sting’s head into the corner. Sting finally started to mount a comeback with a bunch of punches and leapt at the big man with a standing crossbody to tag in Savage. The crowd erupted as the Macho Man took out Hall, smacked his head into Nash’s, and started pounding away on Nash, landing repeated top-rope axehandles on Hall. A shot to the balls shut down Savage’s assault, however, leaving all four men lying; the crowd erupted again as Hulk Hogan came to the ring, presumably to help his fellow WCW teammates out, but instead chose to Hogan hit the Atomic Leg Drop on the prone Savage, twice, before high-fiving Hall and Nash. Hogan tossed the referee from the ring, hit another Atomic Leg Drop on Savage and then pinned the Macho Man as Hall made the three count. The crowd wasn’t really sure how to react at first but, as the smirking trio celebrated, cups and other trash started to fill the ring; one enraged fan even tried to rush them, only to be rightfully beaten down as a result. In the aftermath, Okerlund demanded answers from Hogan, who cut a scathing tirade against WCW, its fans, and heralding the birth of the “New World Organisation”. Finally having had enough to the fans and the businessmen taking his fame and popularity for granted, Hogan vowed to tear WCW down and destroy everything in his path to dominate the industry, with the three men absolutely revelling in the crowd’s disgusted reaction. Honestly, the match wasn’t too much to shout about; it was a fairly standard tag team bout, with the bad guys cheating for an advantage and setting up Savage for a big hot tag, but the ending is what makes it truly memorable. Once Hogan came to the ring, I think you could probably guess that he was going to turn (Heenan screaming “Who’s side is he on?!” didn’t help…) so it might’ve been better if he’d come out alongside, say, Luger to cast a bit more doubt over him and the after match promo was a bit long-winded, but there’s no denying that this marked a significant turning point for all involved.

The Aftermath:
Of course, this event saw the birth of the nWo and Hogan’s transformation into the arrogant, embittered “Hollywood” Hogan. The nWo immediately reinforced their message over the next few weeks by brutally assaulting WCW wrestlers after their matches and backstage, before establishing their dominance when Hogan captured the WCW Championship from the Giant at the next pay-per-view event, Hog Wild. Soon enough, the nWo became the hottest thing not just in WCW but the wrestling world; audience tuned in every week to see what they’d get up to next, who would join the increasingly growing group, and bought their t-shirts and merchandise by the thousands. The nWo proved so popular that Bischoff proposed giving them their own television show, but this fell through and an nWo-centric pay-per-view proved less than successful. As established, during the nWo’s first year, their greatest threat loomed in the rafters as Sting bided his time before challenging Hogan, but Hogan’s revived career wouldn’t be so easily upended. Even as the nWo splintered into other factions and began to wind down, WCW continued to milk the group for all it’s worth; they were such a prominent faction that, when Hogan, Hall, and Nash finally returned to the WWF in 2002, they were brought in as the nWo for a short-lived and poorly-handled revival. Although the group was officially disbanded later in 2002, they continued to make sporadic appearances; generally represented as the original three, sometimes alongside their “sixth member”, X-Pac, the nWo bizarrely defended Sting during his WrestleMania match against Triple H and were inducted into the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Hall of Fame in 2020.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

What did you think to the clash between WCW’s defenders and the invading Outsiders? Were you excited by Hall and Nash’s shocking appearance in WCW at the time? Who did you think the third man was going to be? What was your reaction when it turned out to be Hulk Hogan? Were you a fan of the nWo and, if so, who were your favourite members of the super group? What are some of your favourite matches and moments from WCW’s Bash at the Beach pay-per-views? Whatever your thoughts on the nWo, Bash at the Beach, and WCW, feel free to voice them below.

Wrestling Recap: Money in the Bank Match (WrestleMania 21)

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The Date: 3 April 2005
The Venue: Staples Center; Los Angeles, California
The Commentary: Jim “J.R.” Ross and Jerry “The King” Lawler
The Referee: Earl Hebner
The Stakes: Six man ladder match for a chance to cash-in on a World Heavyweight Championship at any time within a year

The Build-Up:
Since World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has largely dominated the wrestling landscape, it’s no surprise that the WWE has been at the forefront of creativity, whether with their celebrated Superstars, their impact on pay-per-view entertainment, or the creation of memorable matches. Since 1993, Superstars were given a first-class ticket to a World Championship match at WrestleMania by winning the annual thirty-man Royal Rumble match, and the company had been awing fans with their ladder matches since 1992, with their Tables, Ladders, and Chairs (TLC) matches being some of their most hotly-contested spectacles. It was long-time veteran “Y2J” Chris Jericho who first came up with the idea of combining these concepts in the “Money in the Bank” ladder match, originally pitched as a means to get more names onto the WrestleMania 21 card, which, in its original inception, saw six men vying for the chance to grab a briefcase that would be their ticket to a championship match. At the time, the WWE was in the midst of their first brand split and only competitors from the Raw brand were involved in the match but, in time, the number and variety of the competitors would increase. There were a number of moving parts involved heading into the match: all of the competitors had crossed paths both in the past and recently, with Jericho and Christian having been at odds with each other since WrestleMania XX, Christian was finally finding his feet as an amoral, egotistical singles star alongside his muscle, Tyson Tomko, and his storyline brother, Edge (who was originally reluctant to be in the match), was just starting to explore his own path as a reprehensible bad guy. Also involved were Chris Benoit (a dependable hand who had spent most of the year in the main event scene as the World Heavyweight Champion), Kane (still in the midst of a run as an unmasked psychopath), and rising star Shelton Benjamin, who was not only the Intercontinental Champion at the time but who had also made an impression by besting Triple H in what should have been star-making performances Raw.

The Match:
I’ve always enjoyed ladder matches; they can be extremely gruelling and impressive bouts, especially the tag team and TLC contests that the WWE perfected between 1999 and 2002. The idea of putting some of the best and most physically impressive up-and-comers in a ladder match alongside some reliable hands with a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship on the line was already a great prospect, but the very idea of a Superstar being able to cash-in that briefcase anytime, anywhere really added some much-needed spice into the main event scene. However, I have to say that I think I preferred it when the Money in the Bank ladder match didn’t have it’s own pay-per-view event; it makes sense, of course, since the King of the Ring, Survivor Series, and Royal Rumble matches all got their own events but I think it very quickly diminished the spectacle of the match and the entire concept since you suddenly had annual Money in the Bank pay-per-views running with at least two of the matches on the card, which I do think is a bit of overkill. These matches could easily be spaced out over the year, taking place on WrestleMania or SummerSlam or even special editions of Raw or SmackDown! since it’s a great way to get some names on a card and under the spotlight without draining the crowd with multiple matches in one night. Following the entrances (which included a fantastic visual of the ladders around the entrance ramp bursting into flames when Kane came out), Jericho, Benoit, Christian, and Shelton put aside their differences to intercept Kane on the aisleway in a blatant attempt to target the biggest man in the match, only to be summarily manhandled by the Big Red Machine.

Chaos ensued in the early going, with the ladders and the agile Shelton stealing the show!

This pack mentality continued at ringside as Benoit and Shelton worked together to take Kane out with a double suplex, while Jericho caused a ladder to smack Christian right in the face in the ring before getting into it with Shelton. The youngster ended up eating the canvas off a facebuster and then Jericho successfully fended off Benoit and Edge with a dropkick to the ring apron before he, Christian, and Shelton took it in turns to dive onto the two, though of the three it was Shelton who impressed the most with his running senton splash from the ring to the competitors outside. Not to be outdone, Kane then took all of them out with a diving clothesline of his own before heading into the ring and swatting Edge and Christian with a ladder. Jericho ended this assault with a Missile Dropkick off the top rope and then used the same ladder to brutalise Shelton and Edge before he (and the ladder) got planted with a German Suplex by Benoit! Benoit retrieved the ladder and managed to counter Kane’s Chokeslam into a Crippler Crossface; however, he took a ladder shot right to the face from the Big Red Machine when he had the same hold locked in on Edge and ended up having his left arm pulverised by the ladder courtesy of Kane. Edge put a stop to the assault with a Spear and then rekindled his old partnership with Christian to crush Kane between two ladders before both men were downed by a springboard clothesline from the agile Shelton Benjamin. Although Shelton was able to hit a spin kick on the ladder to take Christian out of the equation, he got hurled into another ladder by Edge but immediately got a little payback by countering Edge’s Spear into a flapjack into the same ladder! Shelton followed this up by crushing Edge against the ladder with a huge Stinger Splash, clearing the ring and allowing him to make a climb for the briefcase; unfortunately, Jericho intercepted him from the other side of the ladder and the two got into a slugfest. Christian, Benoit, and Edge then joined the party, scaling ladders of their own to duke it out up high, each one making a desperate reach for the briefcase, until Christian sacrificed his spot to drive Benoit’s arm into the canvas, Jericho plummeted from his ladder, and Edge was sent crashing off the top courtesy of Shelton’s signature T-Bone Suplex Slam!

The opportunistic Edge bypassed the athleticism of his foes to steal the briefcase for himself!

Chris Jericho recovered first but Christian intercepted him before he could climb, earning him a good old boot to the back of his head for his troubles. This led to the undeniable highlight of the match as Shelton ran up an angled ladder and clotheslined Jericho from the top of another ladder as he was reaching for the briefcase! Absolutely unreal stuff from Shelton here; it boggles my mind that he didn’t get more of a push towards the main event, or a World Championship run! Unfortunately, Christian was on hand to bash Shelton off the ladder with one of his own; Kane then booted the ladder in Christian’s face and tried to murder Shelton by Chokeslamming him out to ringside, but the youngster’s boot got tied up in the ropes and Christian’s “Problem Solver”, Tyson Tomko, took Kane out with a boot before he could do any more damage. Tomko then set up a ladder and gave Christian a boost towards the briefcase, but Kane simply shoved the ladder over and sent Christian spilling onto his bodyguard on the outside! Kane then made a play for the briefcase but he and Jericho ended up toppling to the top rope during their struggle; Benoit then returned to the ring and, despite his bad arm, was able to set up a ladder, scale it, and drop head-first onto Kane’s prone body with his trademark Diving Headbutt that busted open the stitches above the Rabid Wolverine’s eye! Benoit then hauled himself up another ladder and frantically fought off Kane’s attempt at a Chokeslam with repeated headbutts. Although this worked, Edge came out of nowhere with a sickening chair shot to Benoit’s injured arm! Benoit tumbled from the ladder and, with the field clear, Edge was able to scale it, unhook the briefcase, and steal the victory for himself to a chorus of boos! Man, I have to say, this was a hell of fun match; I think the only things that let it down were the short length (though this did add to the entertaining chaos) and the fact that Edge and Benoit kinda disappeared for a bit in the middle there. As weird as it always is seeing Kane in this kind of match, he really held his own; I think a bit more could’ve been done with the other guys ganging up on him, but he definitely made an impression with his power game. The star of the show was, of course, Shelton Benjamin; his agility and innovative offense was absolutely riveting at the time, and it really is a shame he didn’t get a proper run at the top. Everyone else was, of course, brilliant and played their parts well; the match even benefitted from the ladders actually behaving and this really set a high standard for other Money in the Bank ladder matches to follow.

The Aftermath:
Most of these guys would continue to mix it up in matches together over the following weeks and months; Chris Jericho unsuccessfully challenged Shelton Benjamin for the Intercontinental Championship at Backlash the following month and Edge scored a big victory at that same event by blasting Chris Benoit with a brick to win their Last Man Standing match. A few months down the line, at Vengeance, Chris Jericho and Christian were challenging for John Cena’s WWE Championship and Kane was embroiled in a feud with Edge that had somehow resulted in the Big Red Machine becoming the heroic avenger after he was betrayed by Lita, a woman he had blackmailed into a relationship and all-but-raped! This of course leads me to the man who benefitted the most from this match; Edge’s victory saw him become an unhinged, despicable character on Raw, one who stole Lita away from Kane and delighted in flaunting their highly sexual relationship on a weekly basis. He even made a chump out of former friend Matt Hardy, who made a dramatic return to the company to get into it with Edge despite the real-life animosity between them as Lita had been sleeping with Edge behind Matt’s back! Edge cemented himself as a top heel on Raw but held onto the Money in the Bank briefcase for about eight months; although he could’ve cashed in his contract at any time, he wisely chose to do so at the conclusion of the 2006 New Year’s Revolution pay-per-view, which saw him blast WWE Champion John Cena with two consecutive Spears to capture his first World Championship. Unfortunately, Edge wouldn’t get to defend the belt at WrestleMania 22 as he lost the title to Cena via submission only one month later; instead, Edge went on to have a brutal hardcore match against Mick Foley that further established him as a top star. Of course, this wasn’t the last Money in the Bank ladder match; the first interpromotional version was held at WrestleMania 22, it was upgraded to an annual pay-per-view event in 2010, and the first-ever women’s Money in the Bank match took place in 2017.

My Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Great Stuff

What did you think to the inaugural Money in the Bank match? Did you like that Edge won the match or would you have liked to see someone else take the win? Were you impressed by Shelton Benjamin’s physicality and would you have liked to see him get a World Championship run? Which of the competitors was your favourite? Were there any competitors you would’ve liked to see included in this first match? What’s your favourite Money in the Bank match? Whatever your thoughts on the Money in the Bank match, share them below or leave a comment on my social media and be sure to check out my other wrestling reviews!

Wrestling Recap: A McMahon in Every Corner! (WrestleMania ’00)

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The Date: 2 April 2000
The Venue: Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim; Anaheim, California
The Commentary: Jim “J.R.” Ross and Jerry “The King” Lawler
The Referee: Earl Hebner
The Stakes: Fatal-four-way elimination match for the WWF Championship

The Build-Up:
On March 31st, 1985, Vince McMahon changed the face of the wrestling landscape forever by bringing together the biggest names in wrestling (alongside a number of celebrity guests) for the very first WrestleMania, a pay-per-view extravaganza that became the hottest event of the calendar year for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and what better way to celebrate than by looking back at one of the event’s most historic matches. By the late-nineties, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) was clawing back to prominence after being beaten in the weekly ratings by World Championship Wrestling’s (WCW) Monday Nitro for nearly two years. Amidst the adolescent antics of D-Generation X and the violent rivalry between the Undertaker and Kane, fans were caught up in the rivalry between the loud-mouthed, anti-authority “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and WWF Chairman Vince McMahon. Unfortunately, Austin was written off television using a hit-and-run angle so that he could get much-needed neck surgery, and the main event scene of the WWF came to be dominated by Triple H. Triple H became an extremely powerful figure, both on- and offscreen, after marrying McMahon’s daughter, Stephanie, and throwing his weight around as WWF Champion, crushing those with either his political power, his trusty sledgehammer, or his buddies in D-X. After Cactus Jack failed to unseat Triple H, costing the man behind the persona, Mick Foley, his career in the process, the people’s last chance laid, fittingly, in the People’s Champion himself, the Rock. However, the Rock’s path to the WrestleMania main event was disputed by the Big Show following a botched finish to the Royal Rumble; the Rock’s attempts to regain his championship match were further thwarted when the Big Show aligned himself with Vince’s son, Shane, so Vince returned to the Rock’s corner to get a measure of payback against his children. Although Chris Jericho was initially scheduled to be added to the WrestleMania main event, Linda McMahon entered the fray and announced that she would accompanying Mick Foley to the ring at the Showcase of the Immortals and the sage was set for a fatal-four-way with a member of the McMahon family in every corner!

The Match:
I should say that, while many fans and critics out there don’t think too much to this match (or this WrestleMania, there’s a very good reason that I’m choosing to review it; this was the very first WrestleMania I ever watched, and I had just started really getting into wrestling just prior to the Royal Rumble, so I was all about Mick Foley, Triple H’s dominating run as champion, and the intrigue surrounding these larger-than-life competitors. As such, considering the emotional ending to their Hell in a Cell bout at No Way Out, I was fully onboard with J. R.’s call that Foley was the “sentimental pick” for this match and had absolutely no qualms about seeing him added to the contest so close to his “retirement” because it just added a lot more emotional stakes to the match after seeing him push Triple H to the limit as Cactus Jack and knowing it could very well be his last shot at reclaiming the WWF Championship. Arguably, if there’s anyone that people didn’t seem too interested in seeing in this match, it’s the Big Show; the mammoth Paul Wight had already switched alignments a handful of times by this point, and been the WWF Champion himself and, despite the allure of his size and strength, just wasn’t as beloved, hated, or revered as the other three competitors so he kind of stands out a little bit. Once the Rock comes out, it’s pretty clear who the crowd is really behind; despite being accompanied by the hated Vince McMahon, the Rock was firmly entrenched as the most popular star on the roster at this point and the people had been begging to see him dethrone Triple H ever since he won the Royal Rumble. And then, of course, there’s the champion himself; Triple H’s big run at the top wasn’t quite as self-serving as his later reign of terror, but he had gone out of his way to make sure that he was the most hated man in the WWF at that point; from throwing his weight around, stacking the deck at every turn, to firing and the retiring Mick Foley, Triple H had every advantage at his disposal, to say nothing of being physically capable of going toe-to-toe with any man, especially each of his opponents in this match.

Despite his size and strength, the Big Show is the first to go after the others team up against him.

With no count-outs, time limits, or disqualifications in effect, and three former World Champions gunning for him, Triple H was at a distinct disadvantage here; not only did he not have to be pinned to lose the belt, he could also be eliminated from the contest entirely if he wasn’t careful, and the four wasted no time in pairing off for a slugfest that saw the Game renew his rivalry with Foley and the Rock and the Big Show go at it in the other corner. Hyped up on adrenaline and emotion, Foley was able to beat Triple H down in the corner and hit his running knee spot, but both men were soon floored by a double clothesline from the Big Show, who showcased his physical dominance in the early going by manhandling each of his opponents indiscriminately with headbutts, tosses, and huge Gorilla Press Slams. Foley’s attempt to choke out the Big Show left him crushed beneath the giant’s weight, and he easily shut down the Rock’s offense with a sidewalk slam, but surprisingly Foley saved the Game from falling victim to the big man’s patented Showstopper chokeslam with a kick to the nuts. Triple H, the Rock, and Mick Foley then got on the same page to pummel the Big Show and finally knock him down for a group stomping. It’s Foley who breaks up the alliance, attacking Triple H and sending himself and the Game to the outside with his Cactus Clothesline; while the Big Show overpowers the Rock on the inside, Foley attacks Triple H with a steel chair in front of the announcers, then wallops the big man across the spine in retaliation for Shane tripping the Rock. Stunned by the shot, the Big Show lumpers right into a Rock Bottom and is summarily eliminated from the match.

It wasn’t long before Rock ‘n’ Sock Connection were battling for victory.

Triple H offers to join forces with each of his two opponents to take out the other, and ends up getting suckered in by the Rock as a result; the former WWF Tag Team Champions stomp the shit out of Triple H, smacking him back and forth between them and flooring him with a double clothesline before dumping him to the outside. Every time Triple H attempts to mount a comeback, the Rock ‘n’ Sock Connection shut him down, but Triple H is wily enough to duck a shot from the Rock that sees Foley get blasted in the head with the ring bell! Triple H follows up by running the Rock into the steel ring steps to turn things around, dropping the Rock chest-first on the barricade, but he’s left cowering in ear with Foley pulls out his trusty barbed wire 2×4! Thanks to a kick to the dick, Triple H fells the former Hardcore Champion and then uses Foley’s own weapon against him; thankfully, the Rock interrupts before Foley can get too shredded, giving Mick the opportunity to hit the Double-Arm DDT and pull out Mister Socko for the Mandible Claw. The Rock then smashes the WWF Championship over Triple H’s face, but Foley interrupts the People’s Elbow by slapping the Mandible Claw on the Rock (which a vocal majority of the crowd are not happy about) and this dissension allows both men to fall victim to a double low blow form the Game. The Rock and Triple H make it to their feet first, and Vince surreptitiously slips a steel chair into the ring for the Rock to use, but nearly has a heart attack when Foley attacks the Rock and almost scores a pin fall off the Double-Arm DDT. Foley’s momentum is cut off, however, when he charges at the Rock with the chair and gets a face full of steel for his efforts, but Triple H breaks up the Rock’s pin attempt (which the announcers question and hastily try to explain as the Game wanting to personally eliminate Foley from the match).

After injuring himself on a risky move, Foley is eliminated and Triple H focuses his wrath on the Rock.

Triple H then clotheslines the Rock down and he and Foley agree to team up to eliminate the Rock and then settle their score, which the crowd also isn’t happy about. Suddenly fending off two men at once, the Rock is pummelled by the unlikely duo’s attacks and double teams but refuses to let himself be pinned to the mat. Foley knocks the Rock to the outside, smashing the Brahma Bull in the face with the steel stairs and leaving him helpless as Triple H lays him across the Spanish announce table. Foley ascends the nearest turnbuckle and absolutely crashes and burns on a diving elbow drop, momentarily taking himself out of the match and leaving Triple H to quickly cover up by smashing the Rock through the table himself. With the Rock incapacitated at ringside, Triple H is infuriated when the injured Foley still manages to kick out of a Pedigree s he smashes the former King of the Death Match over the head with a steel chair and finally puts his dreams to rest with a devastating Pedigree to the chair. The crowd is a sea of boos at seeing their beloved hero eliminated, but applaud his efforts, continuously respectful of his tremendous effort and the sacrifices he made not just throughout his career, but also in this match. Before he leaves, though, Foley clocks Triple H in the head with the barbed wire 2×4, busting him open in the process and allowing the match to boils down to, arguably, the two men who should’ve had the main event to themselves all along: The Champion, Triple H, and the people’s last, best hope, the Rock. After kicking out of a pin fall attempt, Triple H gets decked by the Rock’s signature right hands, and then clotheslined to the outside after a brief miscommunication; the Rock forces Triple H up the aisleway for a brawl on the concrete and, naturally, out into the crowd and back over to the announce table. Triple H uses a steel chair to smack the ring steps into the Rock’s face and pin him to the floor, attacking the steps with the chair to increase the pressure, and then plans the Rock with a piledriver onto the other steel steps! Despite J. R.’s pleas to stop the match, and that such a spot probably should’ve been the finish, the Rock not only kicks out of a pin attempt but even fires up enough to go for a Rock Bottom! Triple H countered out of it but was toss over the top rope and back to the outside when the Rock countered the Pedigree!

Vince screws the Rock out of his victory, but the People’s Champ gets the last laugh on the McMahons.

The two brawl at ringside and through the crowd a bit more, an exchange that sees the Rock slam Triple H to the padded floor with a spinebuster and then smash Triple H through the remaining announce table with a beautiful suplex! When Triple H trips the Rock into the ring steps with a drop-toe hold, Vince attacks the Game and ends up being smashed in the head by a television monitor courtesy of his son. The two McMahons brawl at ringside and Vince gets busted open from a chair shot to take the focus off the ring and give the competitors a chance to catch their breath; this results in the Rock exploding with a series of punches and scoring a near-fall off a DDT and that cool twirling powerslam he used to do around this time. Triple H turns things around with Foley’s 2×4, but the Rock is able to slingshot the Game into Triple H and then plant the champion with a Rock Bottom. Unfortunately, the Rock is too fatigued to capitalise, but is saved from Shane’s chair shot by a returning Vince, who slaps his son around to thunderous applause. Vince grabs the chair and prepares to hit Triple H, but psyche! The WWF Chairman stuns the crowd, and Stephanie, and smashes the chair over the Rock’s head instead! When the Rock kicks out of the pin fall, Vince is infuriated and hits the People’s Champion again, harder this time, and Triple H finally snags the three count, becoming the first heel to ever successfully defend the WWF Championship at WrestleMania. The Rock is left a quivering, beaten mess, the crowd is so pissed off that they’re throwing trash in the ring, and Vince embraces Stephanie and Shane to birth a new alliance in the WWF. Angered at the betrayal, the Rock hits the ring and plants all three McMahons with Rock Bottoms and then hits the People’s Elbow on Stephanie to placate the crowd somewhat.

The Aftermath:
Naturally, the Rock wasn’t finished with Triple H following the end of this match; over the next few weeks, the People’s Champion was continuously on the backfoot as the combined forces of the McMahons and D-X conspired to beat him down at every opportunity. Although the Rock was able to earn a one-on-one shot at Triple H at Backlash, the McMahons stacked the deck against him by naming Shane as the special guest referee and Vince’s stooge, Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco, in supporting roles. This led to Linda announcing that Steve Austin would be in the Rock’s corner at the event; although the Texas Rattlesnake wouldn’t show up until literally the very last minute during the match, his appearance not only helped the Rock to defeat Triple for the WWF Championship but also result in one of the most lauded and financially successfully pay-per-views of the year. The Rock’s issues with Triple H and the McMahons continued for a few months, with Triple H regaining the belt thanks to the return of the Undertaker, and the Rock continued to be pestered by Shane even as he faced new challengers like Chris Benoit.

Each competitor continued to play a pivotal role in the wrestling for years to come following this match.

The Big Show slid down the card after this and was reduced to a impersonator gimmick before being taken off TV completely so he could lose weight; he would make a dramatic return at the 2001 Royal Rumble, languish in the Hardcore division for a while, before finally getting renewed push to the top when he was paired up against rookie Brock Lesnar. Triple H saw out the rest of 2000 feuding with Kurt Angle and the Undertaker, before a horrific injury saw his power team with Austin disrupted. He returned to the ring to main event WrestleMania X-8 and remained in the main event picture scene for years thanks to his time in Evolution and feuds with Shawn Michaels and John Cena and transitioning into an authority figure. As for Mick Foley, he was soon back on TV as a beloved authority figure and mainly acted as a comedic figurehead or special guest referee. Foley returned to the ring in 2004 to team up with the Rock against Randy Orton, Ric Flair, and Batista of Evolution; Foley’s in-ring return was specifically to help sell Orton’s “Legend Killer” gimmick but he had a number of notable matches in the years after this against the likes of Edge, Ric Flair, and Terry Funk and Tommy Dreamer in WWE, and against such names as Scott Steiner, Sting, and Kevin Nash during his time with Total Nonstop Action (TNA).

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Did you enjoy the main event of WrestleMania 2000? What did you think to the a McMahon being in every corner? Who was your pick to win this match at the time? What did you think to Mick Foley returning to the ring so soon after his retirement? Would you have liked to see Chris Jericho in this match? Did you agree with the finish? How are you celebrating WrestleMania’s anniversary this year and what’s your favourite WrestleMania moment? Drop your thoughts below by signing up or leave a comment on my social media to let me know what you think about WrestleMania 2000 and check back for more wrestling content throughout the year.

Wrestling Recap [3:16 Day]: Austin vs. McMahon (St. Valentine’s Day Massacre)

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“Talk about your psalms, talk about “John 3:16”…
Austin 3:16 says I just whupped your ass!”

With those immortal words, spoken by the legendary pro wrestler “Stone Cold” Steve Austin after winning the King of the Ring tournament on 23 June 1996, a momentous wrestling career unfolded that would see everyone’s favourite beer-swigging, finger-gesturing anti-hero become not just an industry icon but a mainstream icon as well. Here’s to yah, Steve!

The Date: 14 February 1999
The Venue: Memphis Pyramid; Memphis, Tennessee
The Commentary: Michael Cole and Jerry “The King” Lawler
The Referee: Mike Chioda
The Stakes: Main event steel cage match to decide Austin’s WrestleMania fate

The Build-Up:
Ask any wrestling fan and they’ll tell you about the ratings war between the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and one of the greatest feuds of the WWF’s “Attitude Era”: the rivalry between the loud-mouthed, anti-authority “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and WWF Chairman Vince McMahon. After the infamous “Montreal Screwjob” saw Bret “The Hitman” Hart leave the WWF, McMahon’s evil “Mr. McMahon” authority figure frequently clashed with Austin’s rebellious ways. McMahon consolidated his power by ensuring that The Rock captured the WWF Championship and reigned supreme as the “Corporate Champion”, and personally ensured that Austin’s goal of recapturing the belt at WrestleMania XV: The Ragin’ Climax wouldn’t come to fruition by winning the annual Royal Rumble for himself! However, as he was a businessman and figurehead rather than a full-time wrestler, McMahon’s victory was forfeited and Steve Austin was awarded the WrestleMania XV match by default. Enraged, McMahon had only one option left; he goaded Austin into getting what he really wanted, a one-on-one match with the WWF Chairman (inside a steel cage, no less!), if Austin would put his WrestleMania opportunity on the line. Thus, after months of drama, tension, and confrontations between the two, the stage was finally set for Steve Austin and Vince McMahon to face-off for the first time.

The Match:
It’s easy to forget these days, in an era where World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) likes to push that crowds have mixed reactions to their top guys, just how absolutely white-hot Steve Austin was back in the day; anticipation would build in arenas to a fever pitch and then the people would literally explode into rapturous applause and non-stop cheering once they heard that familiar glass shattering, and that was more than evident in this match when Austin made his way down to the ring. Interestingly, as unanimous as the crowd’s support for Austin was here, they don’t exactly descend into a chorus of boos for Mr. McMahon’s entrance; instead, there was largely a feeling of apathy, potentially because they were just itching to see the WWF Chairman finally get his ass handed to him despite the fact that he was jacked up to the nines! Something else worth noting here is that this is the old black-bar cage, before the WWE switched to the much safer and more forgiving mesh-style cages, which not only makes it a lot easier for the competitors to climb (Austin perched himself at the top of the cage to beckon McMahon in) but also much more hazardous to their health.

McMahon taunted Austin and they brawled at ringside before the chairman crashed through the announce table!

Of course, Austin was practically frothing at the mouth as McMahon approached the cage, desperate for his hated rival to get into the ring, but McMahon purposely made him wait by loitering at ringside and taking his sweet time to enter. Naturally, this whipped the crowd into an uproar and incensed Austin, who chased the chairman around the ringside area before the two get into a bit of a slap fight on the cage wall. After toying with each other for a bit, Austin took a tumble to the floor and seemed to twist his ankle. Delighted, McMahon left the cage to try and capitalise on Austin’s injury, only to walk right into a trap! Austin decked McMahon with a clothesline and pummelled him across the announce table, slamming him into the steel cage, and then choking him out with a piece of extension cord. Firmly in control, Austin dumped McMahon over the barricade and put a beating on him in the crowd, refuelling with a cheeky brewski before running McMahon into the steel stairs. McMahon mounted a comeback, however, with a cheap shot and then lured Austin into the crowd for a brawl. McMahon tried to escape amidst the sea of people, but Austin caught him and dragged him back to ringside, slamming him into the barricade and the cage bars over and over, yanking the boss down from the cage when he tried to climb to safety and stomping right on his crotch. When McMahon tried one more time to climb into the ring and escape Austin’s wrath, Austin followed him and, after a bit of back and forth, knocked Vince from the cage and sent him crashing through the Spanish announce table!

McMahon continued to goad Austin and was left a bloody, beaten mess as a result.

Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler prattled on about how shocked and concerned they were at how quickly the match had turned brutal, and the doctors and referees rushed down to ringside to strap Vince onto a stretcher; when Howard Finkel tried to announce Austin as the winner by default (despite the match not having officially started yet), Austin cut him off and demanded that the match continue. Austin commandeered the stretcher and drove the helpless McMahon into the steel cage, pummelling him with the back board, and finally tossing him into the ring so the match can officially begin. The minute the bell rang, Austin wrecked McMahon with a clothesline, ripped off his neck brace, and decimated the defenceless chairman with repeated second-rope elbow drops. Seemingly satisfied, Austin went to leave via the door but McMahon goaded his rival back into the ring by flipping him the bird, receiving Austin’s trademark mudhole stomps in the corner for his troubles. However, McMahon managed to turn things around with a low blow and tried to clamber out of the cage, but Austin recovered fast enough to stop him and fling him back into the ring from the top of the cage wall. The crowd was loving it as Austin rammed McMahon into the cage wall over and over, busting him open and leaving him a bloody mess, but Vince continued to flip Austin off and stop him from leaving the ring. Incensed, Austin returned to the ring and left the chairman a bloody, crumpled heap.

Things come to a blessed and dramatic end when Paul Wight accidentally awarded Austin the victory.

The glorified brawl started to drag a bit as McMahon was completely helpless and fell victim to a big Stone Cold Stunner. However, Austin was so distracted with taunting his bloodied foe that he didn’t notice Paul Wight literally bursting up from under the ring right behind him! The massive giant manhandled Austin, launching him into the cage walls and helping McMahon to his feet so he can taunt his surprised rival. McMahon demanded that Wight throw Austin into the cage wall one more time, desperate for some retribution, but this proved to be his downfall as Wight’s throw was of such force that the cage wall breaks open, which allowed Austin to tumble out to the floor and be declared the winner. Wight was seething and McMahon was absolutely distraught that his grand plan had failed; Austin won the match and secured his WrestleMania championship match after a pretty lacklustre contest. Obviously, I don’t expect too much from Vince McMahon; the guy’s built and clearly know how to take a bump, but his role in his matches is simply to wind up his opponent (and the crowd), take as many cheap shots and shortcuts as possible, and to get the living shit kicked out of him and that’s definitely what happens here but it’s also a whole lot of stalling and mindless brawling. The match really didn’t do too much with the steel cage, and the guys were hardly even in it that much, so the gimmick ends up being a prop for some blood and Austin’s dramatic victory at the end. I think that match might’ve been paced a bit better if we hadn’t had the whole stretcher spot and the longer brawl in the crowd, and this was little more than a drawn out beatdown of a largely defenceless middle-aged man notable primarily for being their first time in the ring together and Paul Wight’s big debut, meaning that you could probably just watch a five minute highlight and see everything this match has to offer.

The Aftermath:
St. Valentine’s Day Massacre would end up being the last In Your House event as the WWF changed to permanent pay-per-view names with Backlash the following April, and the In Your House concept wouldn’t be seen again until 2020. Of course, the big story coming out of this match was the addition of Paul Wight to McMahon’s Corporation stable; soon renamed the Big Show, Wight began a tumultuous career flip-flopping between being a good guy and a bad guy depending on the situation and storyline. The Big Show ended up getting into a rivalry with Mankind over which one of them would be the special guest referee for the WWF Championship match at WrestleMania XV, with Mankind winning the match by disqualification and the Big Show seemingly turning against McMahon after being berated for his loss. Austin, of course, went on to have the first of three WrestleMania matches against the Rock, capturing the WWF Championship in the process, and continuing to feud with the Rock, McMahon, and the Corporation in the months that followed. McMahon’s issues with Austin would continue to escalate, leading to the WWF Chairman forging an alliance with the Undertaker to try and get the belt off the Texas Rattlesnake, which ultimately saw McMahon being forced off WWF television for some time as he continued to put more and more on the line in an effort to out Austin. Ultimately, their feud would be abruptly cut off after Austin took time off for neck surgery, but their paths would continually cross as they entered an ill-advised alliance and butted heads continuously even after Austin’s official in-ring retirement.

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

What did you think to the contest between Steve Austin and Vince McMahon at St. Valentine’s Day Massacre? Which of their encounters, matches, and moments is your favourite? What did you think to Paul Wight’s shocking debut? How are you celebrating 3:16 Day this year, what are some of your favourite matches and moments from Austin’s illustrious career, and what dream match would you have liked to see him involved in? Whatever your thoughts, share them below or drop a comment on my social media to let me know what you think about “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.

Wrestling Recap: Royal Rumble 1988

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The Date: 24 January 1988
The Venue: Copps Coliseum; Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
The Commentary: Vince McMahon and Jesse “The Body” Ventura
The Stipulation: Twenty man over the top rope battle royale
Notable Competitors: “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan (Winner), Bret “Hitman” Hart (#1), The Junkyard Dog (#20), and The One Man Gang (Most Eliminations)

The Build-Up:
Considering how dominating the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has been in the industry, it should be no surprise that the company has been at the forefront of creativity; from their celebrated Superstars, impact on pay-per-view entertainment, to the creation of genre-defining match types. By 1988, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, as it was known then) had already stepped into the mainstream after taking a massive gamble with their inaugural WrestleMania event and added the annual Survivor Series event to their calendar. To see in the new year, WWF chairman Vince McMahon produced the first edition of another annual event, the Royal Rumble, which was headlined by the titular over-the-top-rope battle royale. The match concept was the creation of the legendary Pat Patterson and has since become a trademark event of the organisation, with winners now going on to challenge for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania, though this aspect wouldn’t be introduced until the 1993 event. After trialling the concept at an untelevised house show, which was won by the Junkyard Dog, there was little rhyme or reason for the match’s debut beyond producing another pay-per-view and showcasing a bunch of WWF’s superstars in one big brawl and, as such, no real storylines leading into the titular match.

The Match:
Generally speaking, I quite enjoy a good Royal Rumble match; it’s a great excuse to debut or bring back wrestlers and can be a lot of fun with the right people in there. They can be difficult to book, however, and often the middle part can get bogged down with tag teams of B- or even C-list lower-card wrestlers who no one’s ever going to believe will win the match. For me, winning the Royal Rumble should be an accolade reserved for the company’s biggest star, preferably their biggest fan favourite; the event itself marks the first step on the Road to WrestleMania and should therefore represent a significant step up in quality. That’s not always the case, of course, and sometimes it feels like the event just takes place because it’s January and that’s what’s supposed to happen. Consequently, I was intrigued to go back to the Rock ‘n’ Wrestling era and see what the inaugural Royal Rumble was like considering this period of wrestling can be a bit hit and miss in terms of match and wrestler quality and that the event didn’t have the WrestleMania stipulation tied to it. Legendary ring announcer Howard Finkel ran down the rules of the match (competitors enter the ring in two minute intervals, are eliminated after being thrown over the top rope, and the last man standing is the winner) while Bret Hart and Tito Santana were in the ring, who were introduced as though it was a one-on-one match rather than simply running to the ring and getting into it like these days.

Bret, Neidhart, Santana, and the Snake all got the match off to a pretty hot start.

Additionally, when the bell rang, the two went at it like it was a single match, pulling off actual wrestling moves as though wearing each other down for the pin fall rather than trying to heave each other over the ropes. Butch Reed came in at number three and initially targeted Bret before teaming up with him to put a beating on Santana; at least, until Butch accidentally nailed Bret. Luckily for him, fellow Hart Foundation member Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart came in next and the three of them desperately tried to force Santana out of the ring but he maintained a death grip on the ropes and refused to go over. Thankfully, Jake “The Snake” Roberts came out at number five to even the odds, dumping Butch for the first elimination of the match and attacking both Bret and Neidhart with a flurry of punches to the absolute delight of the crowd. Neidhart was able to interrupt a double DDT attempt on Bret by Jake and Santana and the former took the brunt of the Hart Foundation’s retribution thanks to a jumping piledriver from Bret. Harley Race was in next and also got in on the action against Jake, dropping a couple of elbows while Neidhart held the Snake helpless on the mat. Jim Brunzell was out next as Neidhart sold a beard pull from Jake (!); things slowed down a little as the guys tried to heff their opponents out of the ring but picked up considerably when Sam Houston sprinted to the ring and went right for the Hart Foundation but, unfortunately, Santana’s time in the match came to an end with the boys in pink tossing him out.

Things slowed and became less exciting as the ring filled up, despite Bret’s stand-out performance.

The ring really started to fill up as Danny Davis and Boris Zhukov came to the ring; slow, plodding, confused offense was the order of the day here as guys half-heartedly went at it in the corner, against the ropes, or wandered around aimlessly trying to catch their breath. There was a bit of excitement as Don “The Rock” Muraco and Nikolai Volkoff argued at ringside over the number eleven spot; Muraco simply nailed Volkoff and took to the ring to attack the Hart Foundation and, by the time Volkoff was allowed into the ring, his tag team partner, Zhukov, had been muscled out by Jake and Brunzell. Harley Race was next to be dumped and, as he was leaving and the others paired off again, the crowd exploded to life when “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan came to the ring (carrying his trademark 2×4) at number thirteen, having a brief altercation with Race along the way. More miscellaneous brawling, striking, and grappling in the corners and against the ropes followed, however, and the excitement took a nosedive as Ron Bass lumbered to the ring. Brunzell was thrown out shortly after thanks to Volkoff. B. Brian Blair, Hillbilly Jim, and Dino Bravo all joined the fray and, in the process, both Neidhart and Houston were sent packing, with the latter being muscled out by Ron Bass. The Ultimate Warrior raced to the ring and immediately started throwing chops and, in the chaos, Muraco was able to toss Bret from the ring, ending his run at almost twenty-six minutes.

In the end, Duggan outsmarted the One Man Gang to win the first ever Royal Rumble.

Again, the action slowed down and only got slowed as the One Man Gang plodded his way to the ring; the big man made an immediate impression, however, by tossing out not just Blair but also Jake Roberts with a surprising and disappointing amount of ease. The final entrant in his twenty man version of the match was the Junkyard Dog; shortly after he got into the ring, Volkoff was tossed and then the One Man Gang struck again by getting rid of Hillbilly Jim while Bravo took out the Ultimate Warrior with no fuss or fanfare. The Junkyard Dog didn’t last too long either before he was taken out by Bass, who was himself eliminated by Muraco, meaning the final four were Muraco, Duggan, Bravo, and the One Man Gang, an odd selection considering the likes of Bret Hart, Jake Roberts, and the Ultimate Warrior had been in the match. The Rock and the Gang squared off while Bravo and Duggan fought on the other side of the ring; Brave and the One Man Gang worked together to attack both men, with Muraco desperately using his speed to hold them off but a distraction from Frenchy Martin saw him on the back foot and then nudged over the top rope from a weak-ass One Man Gang clothesline that looked as though it would miss and/or take Bravo out as well, but it didn’t. Left alone in a two-on-one situation, Duggan fought back valiantly but looked to be overwhelmed following a double clothesline; however, as he was held helplessly by Brave, he managed to slip away and cause the One Man Gang to accidentally take out Bravo at the last second. Duggan and the One Man Gang brawled for a bit, with Duggan taking a beating against the ropes but, in the end, brains got the better of brawn as Duggan ducked and yanked on the ring ropes as One Man Gang charged him, sending the big man spilled to the outside and becoming the first-ever Royal Rumble winner to an explosive reaction. It may seem like an odd choice to have Hacksaw win the Royal Rumble considering some of the star power featured in the match, but the crowd were absolutely into his win and it’s not like he ended up headlining WrestleMania for winning so it was just a nice feather in the enthusiastic big man’s cap.

The Aftermath:
The main story heading into The Main Event that came out of this event was the WWF Championship rematch between Hulk Hogan and André the Giant but there was some fallout for Duggan following his big win. He and the One Man Gang went at it in a singles match at the same event, with Duggan coming out on top, though he ended up battling Bad News Brown to a double disqualification by the time WrestleMania V rolled around later that year. The Royal Rumble event ended up setting a record as the highest-viewed wrestling program on cable television and would go on to become a yearly event for the company; by the next year, the match was expanded to include the now traditional thirty men and, by 1993, the WrestleMania championship shot had been added and the match has since become one of the WWE’s most anticipated annual events.

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

What did you think to the inaugural Royal Rumble match? Did you like that Hacksaw Jim Duggan won the match or would you have liked to see someone else take the win? Which of the competitors was your favourite? Were there any competitors you would’ve liked to see included? What’s your favourite Royal Rumble match? Whatever your thoughts on the Royal Rumble, share them below or leave a comment on my social media.

Wrestling Recap: Elimination Chamber Match (New Year’s Revolution ’05)

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The Date: 9 January 2005
The Venue: Coliseo de Puerto Rico; San Juan, Puerto Rico
The Commentary: Jim “J.R.” Ross, Jerry “The King” Lawler, and Jonathan “The Coach” Coachman
The Referee: “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels (guest)
The Stakes: Six-man Elimination Chamber match for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship

The Build-Up:
By 2005, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) was the undisputed top dog in the sports entertainment industry; having bought their competition and become an indomitable multimedia juggernaut, the company decided to split their now bloated roster into two distinct brands, with both Raw and SmackDown! receiving their own exclusive wrestlers, belts, and creative teams. Under Paul Heyman, SmackDown! became known as the “wrestling show” and delivered quality matches and storylines thanks to the efforts of the fabled “SmackDown! Six”, rising stars like John Cena, and the brand-exclusive Cruiserweight division. In contrast, Eric Bischoff’s Raw was more about over-the-top storylines and was largely dominated by Triple H’s “Reign of Terror” that saw him maintain a stranglehold on the World Heavyweight Championship, backed up by his Evolution allies (“The Nature Boy” Ric Flair, Randy Orton, and Batista). Though this led to a fondly remembered feud against Triple H’s former D-Generation X running buddy Shawn Michaels and saw Chris Benoit finally capture the big one on the grandest stage of them all, it also included controversial storylines involving Kane and a disastrous main event run for Randy Orton that would lead to him adopting a “Legend Killer” gimmick but also saw his big WrestleMania coronation being usurped by Evolution’s enforcer, Batista, who gained unanimous fan support around this time. After a championship match between Triple H. Chris Benoit, and Edge ended in a double pin, the World Heavyweight Championship was declared vacant and Bischoff had the six top challengers vie for a place in an Elimination Chamber match to battle for the belt. This was only the third Elimination Chamber match so the concept was relatively new in the WWE; it debuted at the 2002 Survivor Series and forced four men to waiting in “bulletproof pods” as two others fought in the ring, with each participant joining the match at random at regular intervals, with wrestlers being eliminated by pin fall or submission until only one is left standing. The two main storylines heading into the match revolved around Triple H; Batista was showing signs of independence and had earned himself the final spot in the match, which angered The Game as he’d already been slighted by Orton and was concerned about Batista’s loyalties. Shawn Michaels being named the special guest referee also threw Triple H of as he wasn’t expected to be impartial given his bloody history with The Game. Chris Benoit’s presence was another thorn in Triple H’s side since The Game had suffered numerous losses to him and Triple H’s years of domination and oppression meant he had few allies heading into this bout.

The Match:
I remember this period of wrestling; I gather many look back on Triple H’s time with the belt more fondly now and it’s true that he eventually made some of the WWE’s biggest stars, but at the time it was absolutely frustrating to watch. What made it worse was that Chris Benoit had already knocked him off the perch (well, technically HBK and Goldberg had also beaten him for the belt but that’s neither here nor there…) and it seemed we were due some fresh faces in the Raw main event scene, but Triple H kept getting involved, basically meaning that the story leading up to WrestleMania 21 was basically the same as the previous year’s WrestleMania XX, only this time it would be the up-and-coming Batista rather than the veteran Benoit finally getting his due. The Elimination Chamber concept also hadn’t been run into the ground; the massive, dangerous steel structure had a real ominous feel to it at this point and the match is still perhaps the most inventive and interesting of the modern era despite becoming an annual event, often without any real storyline justification for it. Edge was the first man to enter a ring pod; this was the start of Edge’s push towards the top of the card and I was all for it. He had proved himself in tag team matches and runs with the Intercontinental Championship and was a much-needed fresh face in the main event scene, but he was edging into tweener territory here due to his problems with HBK. Triple H was out next and was practically livid at having to be locked into a pod by one of his worst enemies and then got into a slanging match with his former protégé, Randy Orton, when he came to the ring looking to regain the championship, though it was pretty clear that he’d lost a lot of the bite and appeal he’d had before turning against Evolution. In comparison, the crowd was much hotter for Batista, who had not only won the right to be the last man to exit his pod but had also vowed not to let the championship slip through his fingers if push came to shove. With the four sealed in their pods, it was up to Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit to kick the match off; these two were no strangers to each other by any means and could always be relied on to put on a clinic. I’ll give this to the creative team, they certainly had a lot of bad blood and crossover going on in this match; everyone had issues with each other and a reason to fight beyond just wanting to be the champion, which made for quite the powder keg as the match got underway.

What started as a wrestling clinic soon broke down into a brutal brawl using the steel trappings of the chamber.

Benoit and Jericho locked up with a series of takedowns, reverses, and tentative holds; Jericho’s attempts to take control were emphatically shut down by Benoit’s patented knife-edge chops and, when Y2J returned the favour, Benoit responded by tripping him into a Sharpshooter attempt. After fighting off the Walls of Jericho, Benoit landed a massive German Suplex, but Jericho managed to slip out of a Crippler Crossface attempt and score a couple of near falls. Benoit cut Jericho off when he went to the top rope and brought the first-ever Undisputed Champion crashing to the mat with a Superplex that saw both men struggling to recover as Triple H entered the match. Triple H went right after Benoit, beating and stomping on him in the corner and wiping out with a couple of hard whips into the corners for a two count while also taking out Jericho with his signature jumping knee strike. Jericho soon laid in the chops to The Game, though, before being taken down by a clothesline; Triple H brutally tossed Benoit out onto the steel platform surrounding the ring and ran him face-first into the thick steel chains that made up the chamber’s walls, busting him open and creating a gaping target for Hunter’s assault. Regardless, Benoit was still able to kick out at two so Triple H went for the Pedigree but, oddly, Jericho interrupted the move rather than potentially remove an obstacle from the match and then reversed another Pedigree into a back body drop that sent Triple H to the steel on the outside. Another slam continued to work over Triple H’s back and a suplex brought him back into the ring for a near fall before Edge joined the party. Edge wasted no time in taking advantage of his wounded opponents, hitting Spear-like moves on Jericho and Triple H before planting The Game with the Edgecution for a close two count and even planting Benoit with an uncharacteristic belly-to-belly suplex! Jericho tried to steal a pin, but Triple H kicked out, then Edge took a tumble to the outside courtesy of a Jericho dropkick but Y2J’s momentum was summarily cut off when Edge raked his eyes and launched him into the chain wall with a catapult and then did the same to Triple H after The Game tried to hit him with a Pedigree out on the steel!

As the match escalated, even HBK fell victim to the competitors and unlikely alliances emerged…

A diving clothesline to Benoit scored Edge a two count, then he feverishly fought out of a Crippler Crossface attempt before being knocked down by an enziguri from Jericho that was also only a two count. The bloodied Jericho and Triple H then went at it, with The Game landing his patented spinebuster for a near fall and Benoit getting the same result with a lovely Northern Lights Suplex to Edge. Triple H finally nailed the Pedigree on Jericho but was too out of it to capitalise; Orton then entered the match like a house on fire, smacking Edge’s head off the chain and leaped at Triple H with a crossbody off the top rope. Orton continued to beat Triple H down to a fair amount of applause (though they mainly chanted for his finisher…), tossing him to the outside and running him into the chain wall, slamming him with his beautiful snap powerslam, and even planting Jericho with an RKO out of nowhere! However, when he tried that shit on Benoit, he got tied up in a version of the Crippler Crossface; Triple H taunted Orton as he struggled in the hold, so Benoit hit ‘Select’ to change targets and locked a Sharpshooter on The Game, only to be hit by an RKO! Edge then tried to take Orton out with a Spear but the future Legend Killer dodged out of the way and caused HBK to take the attack instead! Consequently, there was no referee to count the pin when Edge did hit the Spear on Orton; incensed, Edge manhandled HBK and slapped him, which earned him a dose of Sweet Chin Music and left him wide open for a Lionsault from Jericho and a subsequent elimination. Benoit then saved Jericho from another Pedigree by blasting Triple H with three German Suplexes in a row; Benoit then clambered on top of a chamber pod to land a humongous diving headbutt to Triple H! He and Jericho then called back to their days as a tag team by locking in both the Walls of Jericho and the Crippler Crossface on The Game but, luckily for him, the timer ran down and Batista finally emerged from his pod after an awkward delay that I can only assume was unintentional.

Batista’s path of destruction was cut off by Orton but he was still instrumental in Triple H winning the match.

Batista’s first act was to save his mentor; he fought off Jericho and Benoit with ease, launching them out of the ring and drilling Orton with a spinebuster. He then went face-to-face with Triple H in a tense showdown that had the crowd absolutely begging for them to go at it but the two were jumped by their opponents before they could come to blows. Batista took out a camera man by Military Pressing Jericho into the poor bastard then hoisted Orton up in a wonky looking chokehold before Benoit attacked his knee and brought him to the mat. Orton and Benoit then temporarily joined forces to put the pressure on Batista before Triple H got back into the thick of it by picking each man off; he launched Orton into the chain but then got slammed into the platform by a facebuster courtesy of Jericho that properly got the blood gushing. After a bit of brawling, Benoit was emphatically shut down with a spinebuster from Batista, who then hit a spinebuster on Jericho onto Benoit that allowed him to eliminate the Rabid Wolverine. Jericho was next to go after being decimated by the Batista Bomb, meaning the match came down to a contest between Evolution! Orton struck first, tossing Triple H to the steel platform and smashing Batista off the steel before being launched into the chains from a Triple H catapult that busted him open. Triple H and Batista worked over the bleeding, helpless Orton relentlessly; despite the merciless beating, Orton continued to kick out of their pin attempts, frustrating both men. Although a lengthy onslaught clearly designed to pain Orton as a resilient underdog, this actually worked for the crowd, who were fully behind Orton as he mounted a comeback with some strikes and, indeed, when he hit a low blow and a huge RKO to eliminate Batista, the crowd came unglued! Triple H and Orton then fought on the outside, where Orton repeatedly threw him into the chain wall before hitting another massive RKO. Unfortunately, HBK was busy trying to get Batista and Ric Flair out of the ring so there was no pin fall. In the chaos, Batista blasted Orton with a clothesline; this was enough to leave Orton prone for a Pedigree that awarded Triple H yet another championship victory.

The Aftermath:
J.R said that Batista “dominated” the match but that wasn’t quite true, though it should have been; since the match went so long without any eliminations, I would’ve had Batista be the one to eliminate everyone before being upset by Orton to better paint him as this unstoppable force. Although Evolution celebrated the win, with Batista hoisting Triple H onto his shoulders, it was clear from the footage that The Game could’ve prevented Batista’s elimination and chose not to, a wrinkle that only added fuel to their issues going forward. Orton would win the right to challenge Triple H at the Royal Rumble but, where he came up short, Batista (eventually) emerged as the winner of the Royal Rumble itself. Although Triple H and Ric Flair tried to convince him to challenge JBL, Batista dramatically revealed that he’d had enough of being Hunter’s lackey and their manipulation; Batista went on to capture his first World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 21 and begin his own ascension to mainstream success that remained intrinsically linked to his former mentor. Despite the good reactions he got here, Orton’s time as a fan favourite was largely a dud; to get himself back on track, he decided to challenge the Undertaker at WrestleMania 21. Although unsuccessful and injured in the bout, he did score victories over the Deadman thanks to help from his father, “Cowboy” Bob Orton, during the feud, which took up most of his 2005. Blaming HBK for his loss, Edge got into a short feud with Shawn Michaels that was over with by WrestleMania 21; there, HBK battled Kurt Angle in a dream match and Edge won the first-ever Money in the Bank ladder match, which also included Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit; Edge cashed in the briefcase at the following year’s New Year’s Revolution to win his first World Heavyweight Championship. Although the WWE would continue to produce Elimination Chamber matches, there would only be two more New Year’s Revolution events; the pay-per-view was cancelled in 2007, though the branding was briefly revived for a series of house shows in 2020.

My Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Great Stuff

What did you think to the third-ever Elimination Chamber match? What did you think to the match concept? Were you a fan of Randy Orton’s face turn and would you have liked to see him win it? Did you like the narrative surrounding Batista and were you excited to see him break out on his own? What did you think to Triple H’s reign with the World Heavyweight Championship What’s your favourite Elimination Chamber match? Were you a fan of the New Year’s Revolution event and would you like to see it revived? Whatever your thoughts on the 2005 Elimination Chamber and its participants, share them below or leave a comment on my social media.

Wrestling Recap: Hollywood Hogan vs. Sting (Starrcade ’97)

Dr. K7 Comments

The Date: 28 December 1997
The Venue: MCI Center; Washington, D.C.
The Commentary: “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes, Mike Tenay, and Tony Schiavone
The Referee: Nick Patrick (with Bret “Hitman” Hart as the guest official)
The Stakes: Main event singles match for the WCW Championship

The Build-Up:
On the 27 May 1996 edition of WCW Monday Nitro, Scott Hall (the former Razor Ramon) gatecrashed the broadcast and declared war on World Championship Wrestling (WCW). He was soon joined by Kevin Nash (formally Diesel) and, together, they began interrupting WCW programming and challenging the company to assemble a three-man team to face them and their “third man” at Bash at the Beach. Though Sting, Lex Lugar and “Macho Man” Randy Savage opposed these “Outsiders” at the match, they (and the entire wrestling world) would be stunned to find the duo’s partner to be none other than Hulk Hogan, who turned his back on the fans and WCW to form the New World Order (nWo). Reinvigorated by this heel turn and rechristened “Hollywood” Hogan, the once colourful wrestling hero led the nWo in hijacking WCW’s programming and capturing the WCW World Heavyweight Championship from The Giant at Hog Wild. Tensions were raised between the WCW defenders when Sting appeared to join the black and white supergroup, leading to him walking out on his WCW team mates at Fall Brawl for being so easily deceived by the fake nWo Sting. The next night on Nitro, Sting cut a scathing tirade against his doubters and then disappeared into the rafters for almost a year, adopting a trench coat and black and white face paint inspired by The Crow (O’Barr, 1989; Proyas, 1994) and refusing to speak. As more and more names jumped on the nWo bandwagon, WCW took a commanding lead in the “Monday Night Wars” and the nWo became the hottest storyline in professional wrestling. Now a dark avenger, Sting would occasionally test the loyalty of the in-ring competitors by offering them the chance to attack him with his signature baseball bat and would often rappel to the ring and attack the nWo in an emphatic statement of defiance but repeatedly refused to re-sign with the company unless he was granted this infamous one-on-one match against Hogan at Starrcade for the WCW Championship!

The Match:
Although I’d been aware of wrestling as a kid since Hulk Hogan was just that big of a multimedia icon, I didn’t actually start properly watching it or getting into it until around 1999 and 2000, and even then my experiences were limited to the Nintendo 64 videogames since I didn’t have the channels that carried the two main promotions. Consequently, I’ve always been somewhat fascinated by WCW; while many have talked at length about how bad the company got in its latter years, I actually quite enjoy watching the odd WCW match or pay-per-view here and there when I get the chance since the presentation was so different to the then-World Wrestling Federation (WWF). As a massive fan of The Crow and supernatural wrestlers like Kane and the Undertaker, Sting naturally caught my eye; his whole presentation during this time really spoke to me and I’ve always gone out of my way to try and catch up with his career highlights once DVDs of his matches started to be produced. I mention all this simply to say that I don’t have the benefit of having lived through some of WCW’s biggest or most infamous moments as they happened; the Monday Night Wars didn’t really exist for me as I could barely watch WWF programming as it was, so there wasn’t a choice for me, and they ended soon after I started watching anyway, so I generally tend to watch these old WCW matches in an isolated bubble rather than from a position of nostalgia. One of the things I really enjoyed about WCW is that they featured legendary boxing announcer Michael Buffer as the intro man for their main events; his delivery, his explanation of the competitor’s and their stories, the way he rattled off the wrestler’s accomplishments and nicknames and, of course, his signature cry of “Let’s get ready to ruuu-uuu-mblll-llle!” really helped to sell WCW’s main event bouts as a big deal.

The long-awaited clash between Hogan and Sting was a highly anticipated contest with major stakes.

First to the ring was the WCW Champion himself, the devious and sly Hollywood Hogan and, I have to say, I always hated the nWo’s theme song; though iconic, the tune is grating and annoying and probably one of my least favourite entrance themes in all of wrestling. As for Hollywood Hogan, I have to give the man props for his dramatic reinvention; Hogan was a household name, a hero to kids and fans everywhere, and to turn his back on that and take on this villainous persona was a hell of a gamble, but one that absolutely paid off for the aging Hulkster, who became more relevant than ever before simply by swapping his red and yellow duds for black and white and acting like an absolute underhanded jackass who relied on cheating, cheap tactics, and his running buddies to protect his spot at the top of the WCW pantheon. After a year away from in-ring competition, the audience was hyped to a frenzy at the anticipation of seeing Sting make his entrance; accompanied by lightning flashes, a light show of his painted face, and an ominous introduction, Sting sauntered to the ring with his trademark baseball bat, his face a stoic mask of implacability even as his pyro (and the audience) exploded around him. The commentators did a great job of hyping up how Sting, once the colourful, energetic heart and soul of the company, had been changed by Hogan’s arrival and the betrayal he suffered from the fans and his peers. Though his blank visage barely twitched during his entrance, Sting made a big show of making his intentions absolutely clear by repeatedly pointing his baseball bat at Hogan. However, Sting immediately let Hogan know exactly what he thought of him by delivering a quick bitch-slap to the Hulkster after Hogan shoved the Stinger and threw his bandana at him. This riled Hogan up so much that he retaliated by…pacing around the ring, threatening the camera crew, and hurling abuse at the crowd to further milk the anticipation for their inevitable lock up.

The match gets off to a slow, uninspired start as the two stall and plod around the ring.

Hogan further stalled for time after Sting got the better of their first exchange in the corner, but quickly became the aggressor after luring Sting in with the promise of a test of strength and blindsiding him with a gut kick that, in all honesty, Sting really should have seen coming. Hogan then started pummelling Sting with right-hands and repeatedly taunting him with growls of, “Come on, “hero”!” and Sting was quickly overwhelmed by Hogan’s patented offense of punches, eye pokes, splashes in the corner, and the ever-devastating back rake! A quick body slam took Sting to the mat, but the painted-up warrior easily avoided Hogan’s three attempts at an elbow drop and send the architect of the nWo tumbling to the outside of the ring with a sudden dropkick. After stalling again on the outside, threatening fans and really dragging this anticipation out, Hogan eventually returned to the ring and then put the Stinger in a headlock. Just as the crowd started to become restless (I think I even heard a brief “Boring!” chant), Sting got out of the hold, leapt over Hogan’s charging body, and sent him tumbling outside again with another dropkick. More stalling followed before the two locked up again; this time, it was Sting who put on the headlock right as Schiavone claimed that Sting had “never looked better”, a bold statement considering how disappointingly slow and lethargic the match had been up until that point. Although he managed to shut down Hogan’s attempt to power out of the devastating headlock, Sting wasn’t able to avoid Hogan’s clothesline; despite wasting time and energy hurling abuse at the fans, Hogan was then able to further press his advantage with a suplex…but Sting completely no-sold it, much to the delight of the fans. Stunned at Sting’s…well, I guess “resilience” is as good a word as any, despite it being a little too generous since the match was a complete snooze-fest…Hogan then found himself on the receiving end of a battering in the corner.

Although Hogan clearly wins this mess of a contest, Bret Hart ensured Sting got the big victory.

Realising that Sting isn’t to be underestimated, Hogan again went for the eye poke and then dumped Sting to the outside, where Hogan smacked his foe’s face off the ringside table and then smashed Sting over the back with his own baseball bat (which, somehow, didn’t result in a disqualification). After smacking Sting into the ring post and off the apron, Hogan wily dodged out of the way of an attempted Stinger Splash, which resulted in Sting crashing into the metal barricade right on his ribs. Winded and hurt, Sting was helpless to stop Hogan from crotching him over the barricade. With Sting little more than a lifeless sack of potatoes, Hogan easily dropped him in the ring and planted him with his patented Big Boot. Hogan then taunted the crowd, landed his patented Leg Drop, and Nick Patrick counted an empathetic three count. Despite the fact that Hogan clearly (and with a ridiculous amount of ease) just pinned WCW’s would-be saviour, the ring bell never sounded and Hogan wasn’t named as the victor (even though he clearly was…) because Bret Hart interjected himself into the proceedings to keep another screwjob from happening…even though there was no screwjob here. Hogan pinned Sting clean as a whistle; it wasn’t even a fast count, so there’s no controversy to call into question. Regardless of logic and fact, Hart used his authority as a WCW referee to restart the match; he laid out Nick Patrick, tossed Hogan back into the ring, and the match finally got a jolt of energy as Sting fired up and went nuts on Hogan. He whipped him into the corner, crushed him with the Stinger Splash, fought off the nWo’s Buff Bagwell and Scott Norton, and then hit another huge Stinger Splash in the opposite corner, all as the crowd leapt to their feet in thunderous applause. Hogan staggered to the mat and Sting wrapped him up in the Scorpion Deathlock; with the submission move firmly locked in, Hogan had not choice but to tap out and WCW wrestlers rushed to the ring to celebrate Sting finally wrestling the WCW Championship from Hogan’s hands.

The Aftermath:
Sadly, though, as exhilarating as those last five minutes were, this was a dreadfully painful match to sit through; considering all the emotion heading into it, I would have expected a much faster, more aggressive affair but, instead, Hogan completely dominated Sting and even won the damn match! Even though the crowd popped hard for the last five minutes, and the ending was framed as this big moment, the match was a complete mess of stalling and plodding offense as the two men just didn’t gel well together in the ring. To make matters worse, the botched finish meant that the WCW Championship ended up being vacated, necessitating a rematch at Fall Brawl VIII, which Sting won. Sting’s title run didn’t last long, however; he dropped the belt to Randy Savage in April, and Hogan regained the belt the day after. Additionally, despite this victory for WCW, the nWo storyline continued with a vengeance; the group even split into two factions, one of which Sting joined! Hogan would recapture the WCW Championship for the fifth time (under controversial circumstances) when the group reformed in early 1999, and this wouldn’t be the last time Sting and Hogan shared a ring together even after WCW went defunct. Both men eventually found themselves in Total Nonstop Action (TNA) and facing off in match comparable to this one at Bound for Glory 2011 and Hogan (and the nWo) even bizarrely tried to help Sting in his big WrestleMania match against Triple H during Sting’s disappointing run in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

What did you think to the long-awaited match between Sting and Hollywood Hogan at Starrcade 1997? Were you excited to see Sting return to the ring at the time? Did the constant stalling and screwy finish bother you? What did you think to the nWo storyline and do you think it should’ve ended here? Were you a fan of Sting’s “Crow” persona and what are some of your matches and moments of his? Which era of WCW, or Sting’s career, was your favourite? Whatever your thoughts on Sting, and this match in particular, voice them below.