Last Wrestling Match Watched 2.0

[Crippler]

I accidently deleted the old thread so i have to create a new one. Plus the old one was running quite slow at times. ONCE AGAIN I'M SORRY. If anyone remembers how many post they had before i deleted the thread i will add if for them

WWF In Your House 10: Mind Games - Shawn Michaels vs. Mankind (with Paul Bearer)

The Druids wheel him in a casket to ringside. Mankind starts with a quick backdrop and Cactus clothesline, putting both on the floor. He pulls up the mat, but Shawn dropkicks him to the concrete, then stomps on him. He heads back to the ring, and comes back out with a tope onto Mick. He then comes flying off the apron and viciously slams Mankind’s head backwards into the concrete. Man, that’s just SICK. Back in for a double axehandle and jabs. Flying elbow, and he warms up the band, so Mankind wisely runs away to the outside and rocks for a bit. Paul gives him the urn for comfort. It just cracks me up to see Mick get so completely in character here, considering what a goof he became later. Back in and Shawn absolutely pummels him in a kind of weird segment where he looked legitimately pissed off for some reason. Even the announcers comment on it. Mankind finally blocks a snapmare with a sort of judo choke (like the Tazmission, except not), and from there he tries to apply the Mandible Claw. Shawn escapes and Mick floors him with a right, then tosses him. He pulls the Spanish table out to a weird angle, but Shawn vaults over the table onto him and they brawl at ringside. Shawn suplexes him onto the stairs, right on his knee. Shawn clips Mankind’s knee on his way back into the ring, then drops him on the casket knee-first. He viciously works on it back in the ring, going borderline heel. Shawn gets a figure-four, Mankind reverses. Shawn dropkicks the knee again and uses a Hennig kneebreaker, drawing protest from Mr. Perfect himself at ringside. Half-crab, but Mankind breaks. Sunset flip gets two, but Mankind blocks a rana and drops him throatfirst on the top rope. Funny bit follows as Mick solicits some sort of pen or pencil from Paul Bearer and proceeds to stab himself repeatedly in the knee to get the feeling back. Shawn gets dumped to the floor, then back in for the running knee to the face. Mick rams him into the mat a few times, but Shawn hits a quick backdrop suplex to awaken himself. Slugfest goes Mankind’s way. Another slugfest ends with Shawn getting whipped to the corner and flipping into the Tree of Woe. Mankind drops a couple of elbows on him. Shawn gets up and Mankind boots in the mouth, down to the floor. Mankind charges but hits the stairs again. He gets up and Shawn hits a drop-toehold, sending Mankind face-first to the stairs. God, this is getting downright ugly. In a good way. Shawn gets back in first and they fight over a suplex on the apron. Mick wins, but Shawn lands on the apron. Mick charges him and crashes into the ringpost. Back in the ring, Shawn gets a powerslam for two. Mankind does the "head caught in the ropes" bit, but Shawn goes after him, he gets the Mandible Claw out of nowhere! Both men collapse to the floor, so Shawn uses a little strategy and grabs a chair. Mankind punches at him and Shawn blocks with the chair, then hits Mick in the hand with the chair, thus disabling the Mandible Claw hand. Michaels works on breaking Mankind’s fingers back in the ring. Shawn charges and takes an absolutely MAN-SIZED backdrop to the floor. Mankind drops a Cactus elbow for good measure, then slides out again and hits a swinging neckbreaker on the concrete. Shawn crawls in and Mankind legdrops him on the ropes as he comes in. Double-arm DDT gets two. Pulling piledriver gets two. Amateur-style rolling cradle (!) gets two. Mankind gets REALLY frustrated, pulling out his hair and tossing chairs into the ring. He tries to roll Shawn into the casket for some reason, but Shawn comes back. Flying forearm knocks Mankind down and a flying bodypress gets two. He goes up again but gets crotched. Mankind suplexes him off the top, through that Spanish table. That’s it, I’m declaring BOTH guys as nuts. The finish is then changed on the fly by Vince McMahon, as he relays the instructions to wrap things up to the battered guys. Mick grabs a chair and climbs to the top, but Shawn dropkicks it back in his face and covers, but Vader runs in for the lame DQ. I've said this MILLIONS OF TIMES but if it was not for the finish this would be a 5 star match. ****3/4

 

[Crippler]

WWF Raw is War 09/22/1997 - Falls Count Anywhere: Cactus Jack vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley w/Chyna

AHHHHHH The debut of Cactus Jack, in the WWF, in MSG no less. The video on the Titantron with Dude Love and Mankind doing a split-screen introduction of Cactus is great stuff. Jack immediately starts hitting HHH with a garbage can out of the entrance way, and Jack hits him with a neckbreaker on the floor for two. They head in and Cactus takes him out with a Cactus clothesline, but Chyna gets involved and slows Jack up. They brawl into the crowd and backstage, where Hunter slams him on the floor for two. Hunter thinks he’s won and heads back out, which gives Jack a chance to find a fire extinguisher and spray him with it. They fight back into the ring as the railing pays the price, and Hunter bumps out over the top again. Jack flies at him with the elbow, but he lands on a trash can instead and Chyna sends him into the stairs. We take a break and return with HHH using a mop in the ring and necksnapping Jack to the floor. Back in, Hunter spears him with a chair and they head to the apron, where Jack hits the post but recovers with a shot to Hunter’s post. He adds a sunset flip off the apron for two. Chyna tries a chairshot, but Jack catches it and he collides with her into the stairs. Cactus and HHH fight up the ramp and Hunter gets a backdrop suplex for two. He tries beating on him with a plastic trash can, but that’s pretty lame so he switches to a snow shovel instead. A table gets retrieved from backstage and HHH sets up for the Pedigree on it, but Jack goes low and finishes with a piledriver. Good brawl for TV and one great moment for Cactus Jack fans. ***

 

[Crippler]

WWE Raw is War 05/04/1998 - No Holds Barred, Falls Count Anywhere: Mick Foley vs. Terry Funk

This is Vince’s punishment against Dude Love, who dared to stand up to him, so now he has to beat his best friend to earn a title shot against Steve Austin. But he doesn’t want to be Dude Love anymore, so it’s just Mick Foley. Pat Patterson is the special referee, and Austin, on commentary, has an awesome "What the hell is this crap?" reaction to that. Funk slugs away to start and tosses Mick, then starts swinging the chair already. Mick is down and Funk slaps him around, so Mick gets all worked up and fires back with the chair. They head back into the ring and Mick gets the neckbreaker, and they quickly head out to the floor again. Mick gets another neckbreaker out there for two, while Austin gets pissed off at technical difficulties with his headset and takes it out on Jerry Lawler. Meanwhile, Funk sends Foley into the stairs, but runs into a boot. Or sneaker in this case. Mick tries a piledriver on the concrete, but Funk reverses out of it and tosses Foley into the crowd, taking out an innocent railing in the process. They fight over to a concession stand and beat up the hot dog guy, because why not? Funk hits him with the giant drink cooler and climbs into the stands, then moonsaults onto Foley below just because he’s a crazy old son of a bitch. Really, no matter how nuts New Jack may be, Funk is on a level all by himself. Foley is just pissed off now and drags Terry over to the table for a piledriver, and now they crawl under the stands and into the back. The camera can’t follow, so we take a break. See, now that’s a more natural way to take a break without having it seem fake. So we return with Mick beating on Funk near the bathrooms, and they head back into the arena again, fighting onto the ramp for a Foley DDT that gets two. Back into the ring, a Cactus clothesline puts them on the floor again, and Mick puts Funk onto the announce table while Austin enjoys a cold one. He elbowdrops a chair onto him and throws some "bang bangs" at Austin, and back in that gets two. Double arm DDT gets two. Piledriver and Mick grabs the chair again, adding one more on top of it for the pin. This was a mess, but it also had it's moments. *

 

[Crippler]

WWF In Your House: Over the Edge 1998 - WWF Heavyweight Title: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Dude Love

The match that established the Steve Austin Main Event Style forever, and is the template for every "anti-hero babyface vs. evil owner" match for the next…well, they're still doing it. The story is that Vince McMahon hates Steve Austin and doesn't think he's an appropriate champion for the WWF image. Mick Foley wound up dumping the Cactus Jack gimmick because the fans started chanting for Stone Cold right as he was recovering from a beatdown by DX, so he also has a problem with Stone Cold. The Undertaker is your special guest enforcer because he's the only one who A) hates Vince, and B) isn't afraid of him. The deck is considerably stacked against Austin here, with Vince filling in as the special referee, Pat Patterson in the role of guest ring announcer, and Gerald Brisco as the timekeeper. Vince establishes him right away, counting Austin's shoulders even though he has one up. Dude's partial plate falls out, so Austin stomps on it, prompting Lawler to quip, "Dude Love has lost his smile." They brawl on the outside, but Vince turns it into a No-Countout match. Dude grabs the Love Handle (the Mandible Claw), but Austin slings him into the "hangman" position in the ropes. Dude tosses Austin over the Spanish announce table and chokes him with a power cord, prompting Vince to turn it into a No-DQ match. Austin takes out Brisco while getting out of trouble and then clotheslines Dude over the railing. Brisco would be okay, though. He's tough. He's a wrestler. Dude hits a neckbreaker in the aisle, prompting a reminder that the match is (now) a Falls Count Anywhere. Yeah, in case you haven't gotten the joke yet, McMahon is changing everything on the fly in order to tilt the match to Dude Love. They brawl all the way up near the junked cars set up near the entrance, and Dude gets his sunset flip off a car to the concrete. Sick. Even sicker is his attempt to do the Cactus Elbow off the car to the concrete. Austin rolls out of the way and gets two. His head is busted open, but Austin fires back and beats Dude all the way back to the ring. Patterson trips Austin up from the outside, allowing Dude to hit a clothesline and the Cactus Knee in the corner. It only gets two, so Dude calls for a chair and beats Austin down with it. A Kobashi Driver on the chair gets two, but Austin blocks a charge and SMASHES the chair against Dude's head. Vince refuses to count, so Austin argues about it with him. Dude sneaks up with the chair, but Austin ducks out of the way, and Dude CLOBBERS VINCE! Oops. Stunner, and a second ref comes down, but Pat Patterson punks him out. Dude grabs the Love Handle, and Patterson tries to replace the ref, but Undertaker destroys him. Same with Gerald Brisco. Austin hits another Stunner and uses an unconscious McMahon's hand to count the three. This match illustrates the difference between “overbooking” and “heavily booking”. BUT GOD DAMN IT, IT WAS ALOT OF FUN ****1/4

 

[Crippler]

WWF King of the Ring 1998 - Hell in a Cell: The Undertaker vs. Mankind

Following the advice of Terry Funk, Mick decides to start the match on top of the cell, which proved to be a bad move on his part. Taker follows him up and they slug it out on the roof to start, and Mankind uses a chair to pound Taker down. The roof nearly gives way early as they fight to the other side of the cage, but it’s the famous moment as Taker tosses Mick off the cell and AS GOD IS MY WITNESS, HE’S BROKEN IN HALF! Things predictably grind to a halt at that point while Mick resists the urge to go into the light. Just for fun, watch the bounce that Mick takes off the table and wonder how he lived. They raise the cage as if the match is over and wheel Mick out on the stretcher, but he’s crazier than THAT. So he fights off the medics and climbs back up the cage again to continue, at which point Undertaker chokeslams him onto the roof, through the cage, and to the mat below where he hits a chair on the way down. There’s bad days and then there’s bad days. In his books, Mick credits that bump with doing the majority of the damage, and in fact it knocked him out and necessitated Terry Funk stepping in and stalling Taker until he came back to the land of living again. So Taker chokeslams Funk, giving Mick the chance to remember what country he’s in. And indeed, he manages to reverse the ropewalk and smile at the camera, giving us the iconic image of the tooth sticking out of his nose. He somehow manages to put Taker on the floor and he tries for the stairs, but his arm is gone and he can’t carry them. Taker uses them instead and smashes them into Mick’s head, apparently not having sufficiently made his point yet. He tries to follow with the suicide dive, but he misses and hits the cage, drawing blood. Back in, Mick piledrives him on the chair for two, finally recovered enough to make his own comeback. Legdrop on the chair gets two. Double-arm DDT and he retrieves a bag of thumbtacks from under the ring, back before it became a silly TNA cliché. Mick tries to knock him into them, but Taker catches him with a tombstone attempt, which Mick reverses to the Mandible Claw. Taker fights out of it and drops Mick on the tacks, and of course Mick rolls in them for effect. And Taker hits an additional chokeslam in them, then puts Mick out of his misery with the tombstone. This match is something else and eithet you love it or hate, it's one of those matches that it's hard to rate mainly cause i can never just have one rating for it so i've just spoted giving it star rating.

WWE Royal Rumble 2000 - Street Fight for the World Wrestling Federation Championship: Cactus Jack vs. Triple H

Staredown to start. Cactus is talking some junk and Trips looks bewildered. Finally, they just slug it out and Cactus gets the advantage. They trade turnbuckle smashes. Trips tries to cut him off but Cactus comes back with more rights and hits the bang, bang taunt. He wants the testicular charge in the corner but Trips rolls to the floor. Cactus follows with a baseball slide to the floor and hits a swinging neckbreaker. Triple H tries to crawl back in but Cactus nails a leg drop across his back and H goes back to the floor. On the floor, Cactus introduces Triple H to the stairs and the ringside table. Triple H finds the ring bell and nails Cactus with it. Back in, Triple H has got a chair and he's challenging Cactus to come in. Cactus tells him to go to hell and charges in and eats a brutal fucking chairshot right to the head. Trips celebrates and starts to untie the turnbuckle but Cactus gets back to his feet and takes Triple H down with a clothesline. Cactus places the chair on Triple H's face and then hits a leg drop on it for 2. H staggers to get to his feet but Cactus boots him to the floor. Triple H comes back with a hard forearm and some right hands of his own. He charges at Cactus who counters and backdrops him into the crowd. They aimlessly brawl through the crowd and down into the entranceway. Cactus gets a couple of wooden pallets and snap suplexes Triple H on to them. Cactus squeals like a pig for intimidation and then waffles Triple H with a trash can. Cactus whips Triple H into the a mock garage door about 10 times. I could swear I hear a "boring" chant and King tries to cover by saying it's a "Foley" chant. Eh, I doubt it. The problem is that they are brawling in a narrow tunnel and the majority of the crowd can't see it, although I'm sure they had to have some video screen. Cactus drags Triple H forward but he slips behind and nails a back suplex on a trash can. Cactus gets the advantage with some hands and hits the testicular charge right into the fucking stairs. That had to have murdered his knees. Cactus goes under the ring and goes the barb wire wrapped 2x4. The ref tries to reason and in the distraction Triple H goes low. He steals the 2x4 and hits Cactus with it four times: two to the gut and two to the back and it's not rubber tipped. He tries another but Cactus counters with a right to the gut and then low blows Triple H with the 2x4. Hebner takes the 2x4 away to large boos. Meanwhile. Cactus hits the double arm DDT to almost no reaction and both sell exhaustion. Hebner tells the SAT to put it under their table and provides the awesome visual of Hugo not knowing what to do with it. Cactus drapes the arm and that gets only 2. Cactus wants the 2x4 and threatens to take out Hebner. Hebner tells him where it is to save himself. Cactus goes after Hugo who pleads ignorance and he lays him out. Finally, someone gives him the 2x4 and he's back in the ring with it. Hebner tries to reason with Cactus and Triple H charges in but Cactus moves and Triple H takes out Hebner. Cactus then levels him to the head with the barb wire and the camera focuses on Cactus, so Trips probably blades (but it's tough to tell). Cactus hits the elbow drop with the 2x4 on Trip's face and the crowd ooos and ahhs. Cactus covers but only gets 2. As H staggers to his feet, we can see the blood already on his left leg that they focus on the next night on RAW but I have no idea where the gash came from. Cactus hits Triple H again in the head with the 2x4. Trips tries to escape and Cactus grinds the barbwire into his open wound and Trips wails in agony. Awesome. On the floor, Cactus continues working over the wound and tosses Triple H onto the announce table. Cactus preps a piledriver but Triple H counters with a backdrop through the EAT. Back in, Triple H hits some right hands. He preps the pedigree but Cactus counters with a slingshot into the turnbuckle and then a bulldog onto the barbwire. Perfect placement. Cover but only 2. Cactus clothesline and both on the floor. Cactus gets a head of steam but Trips hiptosses him into the stairs and holy fuck that had to hurt. Triple H then whips him into the stairs and Cactus eats it knees first and flips over. That bump always kills me. Back in, Trips clips the knee and now goes after the bad knee with the 2x4 a few times in a row. Psychology in a street fight. Triple H rolls to the floor and gets something from Fink and they are handcuffs in a nice callback to the match last year. Cactus struggles to fight back but Trips goes back to the knee and handcuffs Cactus. Triple H hammers Cactus with some rights. Trips gets the stairs and puts them in the ring. He tries to ram Cactus but he counters with a drop toe hold and Trips eats it facefirst. He tries to charge Cactus but he gets the boot up. Cactus then lands a headdrop as a low blow. Perfect placement again and then bites Triple H. That's close to the exact same sequence as the previous year but it worked both times. Cactus targets Trip's ear with another bite. Hebner pulls him off and Triple H clotheslines him down. Trips gets the chair and rams Cactus with a gutshot. He levels him on the back too and the back piece breaks but no one notices. When Triple H swings again, the piece comes loose and flies into the entranceway and the crowd gasps because they think it was shrapnel from Cactus's punishment, which I guess it is but not how they thought. Cactus rolls to the floor. Cactus is trying to escape to the locker room. Trips levels him with the seat of the chair right to his head. Cactus eggs him on for more and Trips preps another but Rock comes out and nails Triple H in the ring with a chairshot and leaves back to the locker room. That didn't make a lot of sense in terms of field of vision but in terms of the match's emotion it's gratifying. A cop comes and gets Cactus out of the handcuffs. Cactus is on a rampage and sends Trips into the announce table. This time, Cactus nails the brutal piledriver on the announce table but the fucker doesn't give. Triple H is a corpse and Cactus carries him into the ring. Cactus goes under the ring and pulls out a bag of something. Lawler starts calling it a sandbag which is funny. Cactus empties the bag and it's thumbtacks. Stephanie comes out to try to stop the match. Cactus isn't having it. He hits Trips with some rights hands but gets a head of steam and is backdropped on them. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh shit. Cactus then rolls INTO them to get to his feet. Ahhhhhhhhh. Triple H hits the Pedigree and immediately covers but the bastard kicks out at 2 and no one can believe it. Big "Foley" chant. Triple H then boots him to the gut and hits the Pedigree into the tacks and the crowd gasps again. Hebner has the clear away the tacks before he can make a count but that's enough to get the 3 and retain. Post-match, Triple H is stretchered out. Cactus recovers and is having none of that shit. He wheels the gurney back into the arena and tosses Triple H into the apron and back into the ring. He gets the barbwire 2x4 and hits Triple H one more time for good measure. This was an epic street fight that really put Triple H on the map as a bonafide big time star. The push was there before the match, but the way he busted his ass and went toe to toe with Cactus in a brutal environment really solidified his standing with the fans as a legit player. Cactus stepped up as well and really put Hunter over as he was nearing the end of his career (at the time anyway). The match itself was brutal and also had a nice homage to the year before with the handcuff spot halfway through. Cactus kicking out of the first Pedigree was great drama as well. Great match here that served its purpose on many levels. ****3/4 - *****

 

[Andrew]

Kobald vs. Sara Jay - CHIKARA Green Ice

 

[Andrew]

Alexander, Marquez & Suave vs. Banks, O'Shea & Vega - CHIKARA Green Ice


Match begins with O'Shea and Alexander. Quick lock-up before Alexander gets into a headlock as O'Shea reverses. Alexander manages a punch but O'Shea showing some great technique as both men get technical. O'Shea playing quite comedic here as he ducks a clothesline before rolling on the mat. A nice roll up for 2 from O'Shea. Both men get up as Alexander tosses O'Shea out of the ring. Vega storms into the ring as does Marquez, Vega with a nice hurricana. Lovely arm-drag by Vega but Marquez manages to punch him as Banks gets into the ring with a dropkick. Suave gets into the ring as Banks is showing some nice technical work which reminds me a bit of Human Tornado. A unique roll up by Banks gets a 1 count as he backflips whilst Suave ducks, nice sequence there. Alexander gets into the ring to help toss out Banks as O'Shea gets back into the ring with a double hurricana but Marquez sneaks into the ring with a stiff clothesline followed by an elbow drop. Marquez tags Alexander back into the ring but O'Shea manages a punch but Alexander blocks it before Marquez is tagged back into the ring as they work on O'Shea in the corner. O'Shea manages to punch both men before a hot tag to Vega as Vega manages a Stinger Splash before a lovely dropkick on Suave as Suave gets to the ropes. Banks does a blind tag before a lovely springboard arm-drag on Alexander. Banks is seriously like Human Tornado here, very entertaining to watch. Banks is looking for his finisher but Alexander does a lovely delayed Wheelbarrow suplex on Banks before Suave sends him to the outside. Vega gets into the ring but it looks as if he'll be the victim of a double tag move finish but he manages to reverse into a hurricana. But Banks on the top rope from nowhere pulls off a nice corkscrew towards Suave and Alexander. O'Shea throws Alexander into the ring and sets him by the corner before doing a somersault flip into him before grabbing the pin.

Fun tag match, technical spots.

3/5

 

[Andrew]

Brodie Lee vs. Fire Ant - CHIKARA Green Ice

Crowd chanting Boots to Faces and are behind Brodie Lee. Brodie looks for a big boot but misses as Fire Ant goes over the top rope with a suicide dive before going back into the ring with a somersault senton over the top rope. Fire Ant takes his time parading around the crowd before Brodie Lee kicks Fire Ant in the face as Brodie grabs Fire Ant before tossing him to a the side of the hockey rink. Wrestling inside a Hockey Rink… There's probably 200 people here maybe? Brodie rolls Fire Ant into the ring before getting on the apron and flipping over the top rope. Brodie does a backhand chop before trying to unmask Fire Ant as Fire Ant escapes as he springs off the ropes as Brodie does a nice dropkick.

An uppercut to Fire Ant as Brodie taunts before punching Fire Ant in the back. Brodie steps over Fire Ant's body a couple of times before picking him up for a backhand chop as Brodie locks in a cloverleaf before lifting him up and powerbombing him. Brodie does a nice Fisherman Suplex as he charges to the turnbuckle as Fire Ant moves out of the way but Brodie catches him with a nice vertical suplex but Fire Ant manages to counter! Fire Ant with a nice cross body from the top rope before Brodie is back on his feet, Fire Ant looks for a suplex but is unable to do so, a few chops before Brodie throws him up catching him in mid-air with a lovely german suplex.

Brodie grabs Fire Ant once again looking for a suplex as Fire Ant rolls him for 2 but Brodie gets to his feet before a huge powerbomb sees him win for 3.

2.5/5 - Brodie was facing a guy who's light as hell, I'd need to see him face a bigger guy before I can truly judge.

 

[Keith]

Curt Henning VS. Davey Boy Smith, Spring Stampede 1998
This was a poor match, as both were in the twilights of their careers at the time, and had had a number of injuries limiting their mobilty. It was also a fairly breif filler bout, with a poor finish, and Rude/Naidhart were handcuffed together at ringside which failled to create any interest for me. **

 

[Keith]

John Cena VS. Lord Tensai Extreme Rules Match, Raw 16/04/12
Just what you would expect from a short televised main event involving Cena and a big man the like of Tensai. Also apart from a spot involving the steps, nothing about it was extreme. **

 

[Crippler]

WWE Backlash 2004 - Intercontinental Title, Hardcore Rules: Randy Orton vs. Cactus Jack

Orton brings a trashcan full of weapons. Unfortunately for Randy, the barbed wire unravels from his 2x4. Jack runs after him, swinging like a madman. Orton drop toeholds him into the steps. They fight over Foley's barbed wire bat, and Orton hits him over the head with a garbage can. To the ring, Foley chokes him down and hits a running knee. He sends Orton to the outside with a sliding dropkick and neckbreakers him on the floor. Jack goes up to the second rope, but Orton scurries off up the ramp. Orton backdrop suplexes him on the ramp for two. Orton backslides him on the ramp for two more. He slams Foley's head on the ramp, but it still only gets two. Back in, Orton tries to use the barbed wire bat. Foley lowblows him and pulls out Mr. Socko. He lets the crowd vote whether he should use "Barbie the bat" or "Socko." Crowd votes for the bat. Jack drives the barbed wire bat down into his face, drawing blood. Cactus delivers the running knee to the corner. Orton scrambles for the ropes with a dazed look on his face. Jack puts the barbed wire bat between Orton's legs and legdrops it. SICK! Jack gets a gas can from under the ring and is about to light the bat on fire before Eric Bischoff comes out and threatens to cancel the PPV. Instead, Cactus goes to the other side of the ring and pulls out…a sheet of plywood wrapped in barbed wire. Run, Randy! Run! Cactus sets it in the ring, but Orton throws powder in his eyes and slams Jack into it. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Cactus gets his shoulder up. Orton sets the board up in the corner and whips Jack into it. He ups that by dropkicking Jack into the board. Orton reaches into a box, which has been sitting in the corner and pulls out…a bag of thumbtacks! Orton pours them out on the canvass. He sets up…wait for it…THE RKO! But Foley counters, slamming Orton INTO THE TACKS! If that doesn't make your butt clinch up, nothing will. Orton runs to the back, but Cactus Jack runs him down and tosses him off the entrance ramp through an equipment setup below. The refs try to keep him away while they scrape up Orton's carcass. Cactus takes out all the refs and follows Orton down with a Cactus elbow off the ramp into Orton's chest. ONE, TWO, THR-NO!! Orton rolls his shoulder. Cactus drags Orton down to the ring amidst "E-C-W!" chants. KOBASHI DRIVER! ONE, TWO, THRE-NOO!!!! Jack sets up the barbed wire plywood, but Orton grabs the barbed wire bat and wears the challenger out with it. Jack grabs Mr. Socko and counters another Orton swing to the Mandible Claw. Orton delivers a lowblow to break it up. Jack goes for it again, but Orton COUNTERS TO THE RKO!! ONE, TWO, THRE-NOOO!!! Jack stumbles around, right into another RKO this time onto the barbed wire bat. ONE, TWO, THREE!.

Proving once again that, if you need to create a superstar, Foley is your man. This was tremendously brutal and some epic storytelling as well. ****1/4 - ****1/2

 

[Chriss]

Cody Rhodes & Alberto Del Rio vs The Great Khali & The Big Show

 

[Crippler]

WWF Survivor Series 1991 - WWE Championship Match: The Undertaker w/Paul Bearer vs. Hulk Hogan

They lock up after thirty seconds of stalling and Taker shoves Hogan into the corner, but Hogan avoids a charge. More circling until Hogan slaps on a headlock. Taker gets out and takes Hogan down with a shoulderblock and he bails to cheers from the crowd. Hogan stalls on the outside for awhile before re-entering the ring. “HOGAN!” chants from the women and children. Taker GOOZLES him into the corner, followed by some creepy heavy breathing and eye rolling. Taker continues with the choking and face pulling all around the ring for a bit. Taker hits a slam, but misses an elbow. Hogan comes back and tries a slam, but he couldn’t slam Taker. Heenan ~ “HULKAMANIA IS DEAD, MONSOON!” Since Hogan couldn’t slam him, he resorts to eye-gouging and kicks below the belt. Taker won’t sell any of Hogan’s stuff. Taker gets clotheslined out to the floor, but he lands on his feet like always. He yanks Hogan out to the floor, where Hogan meets the steel steps and then gets choked out with a cable. Back in, we get more choking and then a face claw that lasted 2 ½ minutes! Just as it looks Hogan is going to make his come back, Taker nails him with a flying clothesline to more cheers than boos. Hogan no-sells the TOMBSTONE PILEDRIVER, and then hulks up. Hogan punches him until Taker finally falls to one knee. Hogan gets the silly body slam he couldn’t get before and here comes the NATCHA BOY, RIC FLAIR! Hogan tries the leg drop, but Bearer grabs his ankle as he comes off the ropes. Hogan sees Flair at ringside, and comes down and pops him. Hogan comes back in the ring and hits the big boot, but once again Bearer is there to grab a hold of his ankle to prevent the leg drop. While Hebner is busy trying to keep Bearer out of the ring, Flair gently sets a STEEL CHAIR into the ring where Taker delivers a TOMBSTONE PILEDRIVER. Flair pulls the chair out of the ring, and Taker pins Hulk to win his first championship to a HUGE face pop. That match was boring as hell, it was an uninspired brawling and lame resting. It’s like they were just stalling for time until Flair came out. *

 

[Crippler]

WWF Royal Rumble 1994 - Casket Match for the WWF Heavyweight Championship: Yokozuna (w/Mr. Fuji & Jim Cornette) vs. Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer)

They go face-to-face and Taker avoids Yoko and clotheslines him a bunch of times but the flying one floors him. Yoko flops to the floor where he wanders into the ringpost. Yokozuna rams Taker into the steel steps but gets no-sold. Back in the ring Undertaker hits the ropewalk forearm. Yoko ducks the flying clothesline and they wind up on the floor again where Yokozuna gets a chair; Taker seizes it and clobbers him with it. Taker rams Yoko’s head into the apron. Yokozuna finally gets some offense in via tossing salt into Undertaker’s eyes and uses the chair. Taker keeps getting up. Back in the ring Yoko levels Taker with a clothesline and try to roll him in the casket; Taker blocks and comes back. A Yokozuna belly-to-belly suplex puts Taker down… wait he immediately SITS UP and chokeslams Yokozuna and hits the running DDT. Taker gets Yokozuna in the casket but Crush; Mr. Fuji’s other charge, stops him and attacks the Undertaker. Taker casually destroys Crush so Genichiro Tenryu and Great Kabuki, guys Mr. Fuji brought in from Japan; offer their services attacking the Undertaker. Taker takes them out as well. Bam Bam Bigelow runs down and attacks the Undertaker. Yokozuna is still out in the casket as Mr. Fuji has stolen the urn from Paul Bearer. The four of them manage Undertaker to the casket but Paul Bearer gets the urn back and knocks out Fuji and Cornette with it; he raises it up and Undertaker wakes up and destroys all five men. Now, Adam Bomb slides in to offer help. Undertaker gets Yoko’s salt bucket and clobbers all six men with it. Jeff Jarrett tries to assist but he gets beat up too. The Headshrinkers come down and now there are nine guys beating on him… no wait Undertaker gets up and beats up NINE MEN all by himself. Here is Diesel to help and the Undertaker dispatches TEN TOP WWF SUPERSTARS rather handily. This is insane. Yoko FINALLY steals the urn from Paul Bearer and opens it and releases green smoke and the power of the Undertaker. Now all ten guys start hitting finishers and finally roll him into the casket for Yokozuna to retain the WWF title. Post-match, the fun begins… all of the heels wheel out the casket but green smoke bellows out of it. The Undertaker appears on the Titantron (in the casket) and rambles about how the spirit of the Undertaker cannot be extinguished and he will not rest in peace. The screen goes into reverse and the image explodes; the Undertaker levitates OUT OF THE TITANTRION and ascends up to the rafters of the building in the single most bizarre event in professional wrestling history. 1/4* At best

 

[Crippler]

WWF Wrestlemania XII - Diesel vs. The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer)

Diesel comes out and proclaims “I’m the shit, I’m tellin’ ya!” Slug fest to start. Diesel works Undertaker over in the corner. Cross corner whip. Diesel charges to eat boot and is knocked to the mat. Undertaker misses a leg drop. Diesel clotheslines him to the floor. He follows and they brawl. UT blocks a shot to the ring post and sends Nash into the stairs. They go into the ring. Nash telegraphs a backdrop and takes the uppercut. ‘Taker sets up the Tombstone, but Diesel slides out of it. He misses a clothesline off the ropes and takes a cross body for two. Undertaker keeps control with the ropewalk. Diesel hits the deck and Undertaker misses another cross body. He rolls to the apron. Diesel tries to bring him in, but is dropped throat first over the ropes. Undertaker goes back in to toss Nash to the floor and follows. UT misses a chair shot to hit the ring post. Undertaker is whipped into the guardrail. Diesel picks up ‘Taker and drives him back first into the ring post. He rolls into the ring to break the count out, then does it again. Diesel hits the ring. Undertaker tries to follow and is booted off the apron. Diesel pulls UT in and hits the big boot. Diesel tells Undertaker to get up. Diesel slugs away. Nice spot where Diesel ‘conducts the choir’ as they chant “rest in peace.” Side slam gets two. Snake eyes lands Undertaker across the ropes and Diesel hits the running straddle. Diesel works the Dead Man over in the corner. Cross corner whip. Diesel learned nothing from earlier and charges to eat an elbow. They brawl and both go for the big boot at the same time to knock each other down. We get to nine on the double count out before Undertaker sits up. Diesel pops up and gets a double axehandle to the back. He cinches in a bear hug. Undertaker breaks with a bell ringer. Diesel tries for a headlock, but Undertaker gets a belly to back suplex to break. Undertaker drops an elbow, but skips a cover. He goes up top for a flying forearm for two. Diesel blocks a backdrop attempt and hits the Jackknife. He stalls and taunts the crowd. He nudges the Undertaker with his foot and tells him to sit up, so he does. Diesel hits a second jackknife. He finally drops for a cover, but UT shoots a hand up. Diesel slugs him down. UT shoots a hand up again. Diesel slugs him down. UT shoots the hand up and makes his feet. Diesel gets a side slam. He thinks he’s back in control, but stands and turns around to go face to face with Undertaker. Flying clothesline by Undertaker. He gets a diving choke slam and both men are down. Undertaker signals for the Tombstone. He hits it 1-2-3. Some decent brawling by both guys, marred by a noticeable slow spot in the middle. **1/2