WWE – Bret Hitman Hart: The Dungeon Collection
Three-Disc Set
Released: March 5, 2013

This is a SLACKAMANIA/PDRMatt exclusive DVD review. My boy Slack handles the interview portions while I tackle all of the match recaps. I want to work on the first Bret Hart DVD set here pretty soon. In the mean time, I hope you enjoy the latest WWE Home Video offering based solely on one of my wrestling heroes and hopefully one of yours: Bret “The Hitman” Hart.

DISC ONE

A Real Privilege

Bret welcomes the fans to his Dungeon Collection and says it was a real privilege to do and went through hours and hours of footage to pick out rare and interesting matches including ones from Stampede and Japan. He thinks it’s a real treat for his fans.

My Backyard

Bret put over Stampede Wrestling, saying it was the perfect name for it with a great and rowdy fanbase. He praised Ed Whalen and said everyone loved him and what set Stampede apart was the different styles of wrestling seen on TV and the ethnic diversity. Bret said he learned even from a young age who the good and lousy wrestlers were and said he always studied wrestling even over schoolwork.

Bret On Dynamite Kid

Bret said at first Dynamite didn’t like him because he was a Mr. Know-It-All. Bret had his first series of 60 minute draws against him and they were grueling. Unfortunately these matches were not filmed or just in 5 to 10 minute highlight reels. Bret wished the fans could see the complete matches to see 2 young guys have long and grueling great matches especially the first 10 minutes. Bret says he genuinely means this: that Dynamite is the TRUE best there is, best there was, and the best there ever will be and if not for him guys like Shawn Michaels and Mr. Perfect would have never had their style (There’s someone else too hmmmmmmm). Bret said he feels bad for what has become of Dynamite as he is one of the real tragedies in wrestling.

• Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Champion Bret Hart vs. The Dynamite Kid – 2/3 Falls (Stampede Wrestling, December 1978)
  

We pick up 17 minutes into the match. Bret has taken the first fall. Not sure if this is where the second fall begins or not. While Dynamite had been a wrestler for a few short years at this point, Bret was actually just a rookie here. Both guys are just a little above average-looking guys, too. Looks like Bret was working the leg before we started watching, as Dynamite is selling the knee. He then kicks Bret in the knee and goes to work on the leg – stomping and wrenching the knee. You can already see shades of greatness from Dynamite as he takes a nice bump after a comeback one-legged flying forearm from Bret. Bleeding from the forehead, Dynamite gets back on Bret and grabs a half crab. Bret makes the ropes, but lies there long enough for Dynamite to come down from the second rope to stomp the back of his knee. Dynamite busts out the Mexican Surfboard almost twenty years before anybody saw that on the national scene. Once Bret gets back up, Dynamite goes for a dropkick and misses. Now Bret returns to the knee. Ed Whalen says this fall belongs to Dynamite and it’s hard to argue that point. Dynamite delivers a hiptoss, but Bret grabs an armdrag. Dynamite now just tries to wear out Bret with a chinlock. Bret escapes and hits a slam before dropping an elbow. Dynamite kicks back and starts choking Bret in the ropes. Bret lands an atomic drop, but Dynamite returns fire with a suplex that takes them both over the top rope crashing to the floor. The ref calls for the bell. I believe Bret wins via DQ due to Dynamite being the aggressor there. (13:28 shown) If we had saw this in full length, it would have gone a little over 30 minutes. You could already see that Bret understood the psychology of wrestling quite well while Dynamite did everything he could to sell a bump. While I’m sure that finish wasn’t fun for either guy, it certainly leaves things wide open for a rematch. **½

World Tour

Bret toured Puerto Rico and Hawaii before landing in Georgia in 1979. Bret said he was tanned and believed he was going to get a push, but politics make him cannon fodder for the stars.

Bret On Buzz Sawyer

Bret said Buzz wasn’t the most likable guy out there and that he had a lot of issues but was a great wrestler with amateur experience and was a bulldog. He said at times Buzz had flashes that looked like he could be one of the all-time greats. He wrestled Buzz in the following match just a few days into being in Georgia and Buzz had just arrived a few weeks prior and was early in his career. Bret said that while he was made into a jobber in Georgia and hated the politics, he learned a lot from the legends of the territory and proud to get the exposure there. He said he didn’t hate to lose he wanted pushed to make more money but that in retrospect he could see why he wasn’t as he was young and thin.

• Bret Hart vs. Buzz Sawyer – (Georgia Championship Wrestling TV, September 1979)
  

With both guys being amateur wrestlers, they essentially just do an exhibition. I will say the video quality of this match is about the worst of any match I’ve ever seen on WWE DVDs, but it doesn’t bother me. Just something I noticed. This is the “worked shoot” type of atmosphere I like. Some might find amateur wrestling too much like the apartment wrestling ads you used to see in Apter mags, but I’m a fan. I always liked watching the guys who could wrestle in the UFC over anybody else – like Randy Couture, Frank Mir, and Chael Sonnen. In professional wrestling, you halfway expect these things to turn from a friendly exchange of holds into a ‘rasslin match out of some kind of show of disrespect. It never really does. At one point, Bret shoves off an armbar and they do a shoulderblock sequence, but Buzz is right back on the arm. Bret controls the head in the second half of the match while some Georgia chick clearly not from the penthouse suites of Atlanta keeps cheering him on. Sawyer stops a headlock with a back suplex. They then come up and collide for a double-KO. Both try for a dropkick only nobody wins that battle. They each try for the quick rollup finish, but neither man can get the three-count as we come to the ten-minute time-limit draw. (9:46) Pretty enjoyable little match. Buzz Sawyer is a guy I wish I could see more of at some point. I think I really need to get more GCW and witness his feud with Tommy Rich to appreciate the guy. As for Bret, he would soon return to Stampede and become their biggest star before Stu sold the territory to Vince. **

A Lot Of Promise

Bret was humbled in Georgia (By Sheiky baby?), but returned to Stampede putting on 20 pounds and feeling great.

Bret On Leo Burke

Bret praised Leo as being a great locker room leader and many loved him. Leo was one of the first that seen star potential in him. Bret tells a story how Leo nearly broke his nose during an abdominal stretch and then did a knee drop on his face.

• Stampede North American Heavyweight Champion Leo Burke vs. Bret Hart – (Stampede Wrestling, January 1983)
  

Watching Leo Burke here, he kind of reminds me of Matt Borne. We catch up about ten minutes into this match. Burke is dropping knees and smashing Bret’s face in the turnbuckle – really just abusing Bret. In a humorous explanation of why Leo is such a bad dude, it appears Leo Burke has turned heel because of monetary inflation. That’s HILARIOUS to me. After a few minutes of this, Leo takes his time heading up to the top and gets slammed down to kickstart Bret’s comeback. Burke cuts him off with a sleeper, but Bret falls into the ropes. Another try at the comeback for Bret, but then Leo ducks a charge and Bret collides with the ref. To make matters worse for the ref, Burke knee drops him. Burke finds an international object in his tights, but Bret blocks the punch and drills Burke with a PILEDRIVER. Cover, but no ref. Wait, here comes another ref Cedric Hathaway to count the 1-2-3! (6:09 shown) Looks like we’ve got a new champ, but no! The original ref lowers Bret’s arm and decides to DQ Burke, which means no title after all for Bret. Short, but fun. **

The Best It Gets

Bret is in WWE now. He said he got his Hitman character off of 2 people, Dynamite and tennis legend John McEnroe. Bret said he loved working with Dynamite. They had only one televised singles match in the WWF, at the Capital Centre house show in September 1985. He felt it was a great match and received a lot of praise from guys like Randy Savage and Terry Funk.

• Bret Hart vs. The Dynamite Kid – (Capital Centre, 9/14/85)
  

This is the only time these two wrestled 1-on-1 in the WWF. In my early days of collecting matches online, this was one of my first introductions to Dynamite Kid. I had seen WrestleMania 3 and a Survivor Series appearance, but I had never seen him wrestle a singles match. Bret gets into his heel shtick early on complaining about hair pulling and bailing on the match to shout at the fans. Back inside, they start running the ropes as Dynamite catches a dropkick and catapults Bret into the corner. A knee drop to Bret causes him to roll out and regroup. After a walk around the ring, Bret returns inside. Dynamite catches a kick and spins Bret around for an atomic drop. Snap Suplex by Dynamite gets two. Bret counters a chinlock into a hammerlock, but Dynamite starts to run and drops to the mat, causing Bret to go flying out to the floor. Now Bret is IRATE. Back in again, Dynamite rolls through a wristlock and grabs one of his own. Bret is able to kip up and yanks Dynamite down to the mat by his hair. Bret buries a knee as Dynamite comes off the ropes and then lowers the boom on him. After some headbutts and such, Bret takes Dynamite to the floor for a slam on the concrete. Back inside, Bret delivers a backbreaker for two. Dynamite sneaks a sunset flip, but Bret escapes at two and makes him pay with a stomp the “mid-section”. Bret punishes Dynamite with a couple of lifters, but then Dynamite ducks one and backslides him for two. Dynamite lands a backbreaker, but can’t capitalize. Bret ties him in the ropes and charges him, but Dynamite moves at the last second allowing Bret to basically crotch himself in the ropes. HERE COMES DYNAMITE. He explodes on Bret with a running clothesline and then whips him in for the chest-first bump. Another knee drop gets two. Nice back suplex to Bret gets 1-2-NO! Now he lands a Flying Knee Drop for 1-2-NO! As Bret shoves Dynamite into the ropes, he drops to the mat only to cause Dynamite to trip onto the ropes as he comes back around. Dynamite tries a desperation O’Connor roll, but Bret hits the mat as Dynamite goes flying out to the floor. Turnabouts fair play, right Gorilla? Due to instant replay, we miss how Dynamite gets the rollup on Bret, but he does get the three-count. (12:27) Naturally, Jim Neidhart runs down to assist in beating down Dynamite, but Davey Boy Smith makes the save. How can anybody from 1985 in the WWF follow that? And yet, they have to because this wasn’t the main event. Just non-stop from bell to bell. ***½

Energy

Bret’s favorite house show arena to go to in the televised house shows was Philly. He said Boston was great too but nothing beat Philly as their fans were rabid and felt they could jump ya. It was like being at a zoo or the Wild West.

Bret On The Islanders

Bret said he watched the Spectrum match vs. The Islanders and loved it. He said he felt all 4 of them brought it that night and had a great match, but it was the fans that made it special. He said classics are not only just wrestling, but the stories, hot crowd etc. He felt the Islanders were in the prime of their career at the time of this match. He praised Haku as a total pro and Tonga Kid (Tama) was good too but unfortunately his career was derailed a few months after the Islanders broke up.

• WWF World Tag Team Champions The Hart Foundation (w/Jimmy Hart & Danny Davis) vs. The Islanders – (Philadelphia Spectrum, 3/14/87)
  

This is the first appearance in the Spectrum for the Hart Foundation since winning the tag belts back in January. It takes a little while to get started, but Haku and Neidhart begin things here. Anvil thinks he’s so tough, but then goes down after a throat thrust and chop. Haku wins a test of strength and dropkicks Neidhart down. Tama gets in a shot from the apron and that’s all the Anvil can handle right now. Tag to Bret, Haku superkicks him and follows up with an atomic drop. The Islanders make a wish on Bret as Tama tags in for the first time. Tama starts to chopping and sends Bret out to regroup with his team. Back inside, Anvil takes over for Bret. The Hart Foundation just can’t get anything going here. Bret even tries the old knee-in-the-back trick from the apron, but Tama stops that. Down goes Bret, but here comes the Anvil from behind. Now the heels take control and Tama is *your* Islander-in-peril. They cut the ring in half and Jimmy Hart and Danny Davis choke Tama when they get the opportunity. Tama gets a desperation sunset flip, but Bret tags Anvil on the way down to null any counting from the ref. Tama fights out of a chinlock by the Anvil, but runs into an elbow that takes him clear over the top rope to the floor. Back in, a backbreaker from Bret gets two. Tag to Anvil, he collides with Tama. Back to the feet, Anvil gets lifted up for a slam, but Bret dropkicks him back on top of Tama, but Tama rolls through on top of Anvil! A distracted ref counts 1-2-NO! Back to Bret, he charges into a knee in the corner. Tama crawls for the HOT TAG TO HAKU! Baaaack Body Drop to Bret. He punches Anvil away and then whips Bret into him. As Tama gets tagged in, Danny Davis appears on the apron and gets knocked out by Haku. Meanwhile, Tama levels Bret with a flying bodypress! While the ref is busy trying to get Haku and Neidhart out of the ring, Davis sneaks in and turns the cradle over into Bret’s favor. The ref then turns back around and counts the 1-2-3 as the tag champs retain. (18:24) Just good old-fashioned tag wrestling. ***¼

A Sign Of Respect

In 1989, they flew from the states to Italy for a tour. They had to wrestle that night so Bret was cranky. He went to find out at the arena who he was going to wrestle on the first night and he couldn’t believe it, it was Andre The Giant! He thought it was a joke!

Bret On Andre

Bret said Andre loved his drawings and they’d tell each other many jokes. Bret even used to joke on what he’d do to Andre if they ever wrestled. When he got the match he asked Andre what they would do out there and Andre just said relax. He said when he was down for an elbow he was hoping Andre wouldn’t be off by a couple inches ala Vader as it would really hurt. He joked to Andre after the match he had his shoulder up during the pinfall and wanted a rematch. He later found out from Pat Patterson that Andre requested the match and had the card changed even because he wanted to wrestle Bret one time. He felt honored by it.

• Bret Hart vs. Andre The Giant – (Milan, Italy; 4/10/89)
  

Okay, the video quality here might actually be equal to the earlier match with Buzz Sawyer. Anyways, Andre is EXTREMELY limited by 1989. He squashes Bret in the corner and steps on him down on the mat. He jaws with the Italian crowd a bit before turning around into a dropkick from Bret, causing him to fall back and get tied up in the ropes. All of a sudden, the quality of the footage gets a little bit better looking. Out of the ropes, and Andre chokes on Bret. Crowd starts to chant “Hogan”, but that feud has come and gone, folks. He grabs a chinlock, but again the Hogan chants get him all distracted. He applies a bearhug. Bret escapes over into the corner and raises a knee when Andre tries to shoulder-butt him. He starts headbutting and pounding Andre’s lower back to get him to drop. Unfortunately, Andre headbutts Bret to put a stop to that. Bret makes one last ditch effort to take Andre off his game, but then runs into a boot. An Elbow Drop by Andre is enough to finish off Bret, and pretty much anyone if you think about it. (6:30) Not much more than a squash, but there’s no way at this point in Andre’s life that it was going to be competitive. ¾*

Bret On Mr. Perfect

Bret liked and respect Perfect a lot. Those 2 were the workers of the WWF many liked to wrestle. Bret talked about how everyone was looking forward to their first ever match in the Philly Spectrum after WrestleMania V but it was a disappointment. They didn’t blame each other though and after a few tweaks clicked the next night in Toronto. Bret said that the Maple Leaf Gardens match was their first good match and led to many more to come. Bret said if he could back and wrestle anyone again it would be Mr. Perfect. He said even though they wrestled up to WCW that their real magic in the ring was in WWF.

• Bret Hart vs. Mr. Perfect – (Maple Leaf Gardens, 4/23/89)
  

A gem from Toronto. A day later, these two would meet in MSG, which is featured on the Mr. Perfect DVD AND in my June WWEClassics on Demand Showcase post. Basic Bret-Perfect stuff to start with both men taking turns shoving each other out of a tie-up. Bret controls with a headlock for a while and gets a few nearfalls (including a crucifix!) on Perfect just to get him all upset. They do the slam exchange where they kick each other away to prevent a pinfall. Bret clotheslines Perfect out to the ramp way, causing Perfect to take a long timeout. Back in, Perfect gets a cheapshot off a tie-up and hits Bret with a knee lift. Perfect sends Bret to the floor, culminating with a trip off the apron to the guardrail. Back inside, Perfect reverses a corner whip to send Bret into the buckles chest-first for 1-2-NO! They head to the ramp way again where Perfect slams Bret’s chest hard on the ramp. Perfect works a spinning toe hold, but Bret kicks him off into the corner. Bret goes to work on the arm with hammerlocks. Bret tries another crucifix, which naturally fails. Perfect falls back on top of him and starts kicking at the abs. Bret reverses an ab stretch, but Perfect hiptosses out. Bret kicks off an O’Connor roll to send Perfect on the floor. He takes Perfect out with a pescado and brings him back inside for a suplex. That gets two. Backbreaker and a flying vertical elbow hits when the bell rings. (20:00) Ahh! Don’t worry, Bret. You’ll get him in 1991. We see the same shenanigans pulled at MSG as Bret wants five more minutes, but Perfect makes the valid point that he couldn’t beat him in twenty minutes, so what’s another five minutes going to solve? Perfect pearl harbors Bret, but gets crotched up top and beat back to the locker room. This one has a little more crowd heat, but this was every bit as good as their MSG match a day later. ***½

DISC 2

Bret On The Twin Towers:

Bret talked about he always called the wrestler the gimmick they had when he met them so he always called Akeem Gang after the One Man Gang. Bret said OMG was a bookworm and would laugh so hard at his drawings. He said Bossman was a good guy and a big kid at heart. Bret chose this match as it was the only meeting between The Hart Foundation and Twin Towers and they wanted to go out there and have a special match. Bret talks about a sunset flip spot where OMG squashed him and it was the closest he ever felt to paralyzed as while it didn’t hurt he couldn’t feel himself at all for a bit. You can tell the move hurt and even the crowd ooohhhed at it. Does Al Snow get called Avatar then?

• The Hart Foundation vs. The Twin Towers (w/Slick) – (Duluth, MN; 5/17/89)
  

Anvil and Bossman start us off. Bossman knocks Neidhart down a few times with shoulderblocks, but then Anvil dropkicks him in the face. Tag to Bret, Bossman stops him with a backbreaker. In comes Akeem, he misses an elbow and takes a flying vertical elbow from Bret for two. Anvil trips up Akeem as he comes off the ropes, allowing the distraction and for Bret to jump on his back for a sleeper. Bossman breaks that up by clubbing Bret. Sunset flip by Bret, but then Akeem sits down on his chest, which is the dangerous spot Bret alluded to in the introduction. Bret is visibly out on his feet. Bossman Straddle connects. Tag to Akeem, he whips Bret in the corner for the DOUBLE SANDWICH AVALANCHE! Why doesn’t that hurt Bossman too? Just throw realism out the window on that move, I suppose. The Twin Towers now take turns wearing down Bret with bearhugs and chinlocks. Bret drops out of the way from a corner charge by both Akeem and then Bossman. HOT TAG TO NEIDHART! He whips Akeem into Bossman. Double Dropkick to Akeem! Tag to Bret, Anvil slingshots Bret into the ring from the apron for a splash. That gets two, but Bossman breaks up the pin. Anvil knocks Bossman out of the ring, and then Akeem knocks Neidhart out of the ring. He follows Anvil to brawl. Meanwhile, here comes Bret to take out Bossman with a pescado! This continues on, but Akeem runs Neidhart into the post, and makes it back inside to get the countout victory. (12:12) Afterwards, Slick gets handcuffed to the top rope while the Hart Foundation beats up the Twin Towers using Bossman’s nightstick, and eventually leaving with the handcuff key. What a bunch of jerks! Despite the injury, this was still another pretty fun match for what it was on this set. **¼

Greatest Supercard Of All Time

Bret feels the WWF/New Japan/All Japan Summit In April 1990 was the greatest supercard of all time. It was a big deal in Japan Many legends of Japan were on the card from the two rival Japanese promotions as well as the top stars of the WWF. The Japanese fans were familiar with the WWF stars through tours of Japan prior to arriving to the WWF or watching the shows as events like WrestleMania gained worldwide exposure. Bret said working in Japan was a struggle at times due to communication problems with the language and the Japanese didn’t care if they knocked out your teeth or not.

Bret On Tiger Mask II

On the card Bret and Savage were the only 2 guys that wrestled Japanese wrestlers. Bret talked about how he loved facing Tiger Mask early in his career in Japan and that facing Tiger Mask II was reminiscent of that He said Misawa was young and larger at the time and wasn’t as good as the original but in all fairness those were pretty big shoes to fill. He wanted to have the best match possible with him.

• Bret Hart vs. Tiger Mask II – (Tokyo Dome, 4/13/90)
  

From the WWF/AJPW Wrestling Summit show despite having Japanese commentary and Matt Striker/Josh Matthews alternate commentary for Classics On Demand the version on this DVD has neither. Tiger Mask II is Mitsuharu Misawa towards the end of his tenure as an incarnation of the Tiger Mask character. Seems like it would be a pretty rare thing to have any gaijin (in this case, Bret) to have wrestled both Tiger Mask I and Tiger Mask II. Early on, Tiger Mask works the arm a lot. Bret slips out of an armbar, but takes a dropkick to the floor. The crowd thinks it is time for a suicide dive from Tiger Mask, but he totally fakes them out and lands on the apron. Back to the arm for Tiger Mask. Bret backs Tiger Mask into the corner. Tiger Mask tries a crossbody out of the corner, but Bret rolls through for a two-count. Bret gets a chance to grab a chinlock. Tiger Mask escapes a headlock and makes Bret whiff a dropkick. He follows up with a catapult in the corner, but then chills out with a wristlock. Tiger Mask wants a crucifix, but Bret puts a stop to it and falls back on him. Tiger Mask escapes another chinlock and sends Bret to the floor to him with a plancha! Back in the ring, Tiger Mask grabs a cross armbreaker. Bret makes the ropes, but gets stuck in the armbar again. Bret feigns a knee injury off a leapfrog and then runs Tiger Mask over with a clothesline. Backbreaker gets two. Bret continues to knock Tiger Mask around before dumping him out to the floor so he can pose without interruption. Back inside, Bret hits a Russian Legsweep for two. Back to the chinlock. Tiger Mask comes back with a quick slam, but then Bret gives him a NASTY atomic drop. Suplex gets two. Another chinlock by Bret. When that doesn’t get the submission Bret wants, he changes over to an abdominal stretch. Tiger Mask reverses, but Bret takes him over with a hiptoss. Tiger Mask runs into a boot, but avoids a flying elbow drop from Bret. Tiger Mask climbs up top and hits a flying bodypress for 1-2-NO! The sternum-first bump earns Tiger Mask another nearfall as the time limit expires. (20:15) This one had a slow build, but never really picked up to anything all that special like you would imagine it should have. It had the feel of a short time-limit draw. **¾

Bret On Ric Flair

Bret had heard for years from many he respected that Flair was the top guy. He wondered how come he never came to WWE till 1991. He said he met Flair for the first time in Nashville when he was with WCW still and was very complementary towards Bret. Bret praises Flair as a wrestler and performer. but said Flair has no psychology and always wrestled the same exact match no matter who he was facing. The following match chosen was their first ever meeting.

• WWF Intercontinental Champion Bret Hart vs. Ric Flair (w/Mr. Perfect) – (New Haven, CT, 11/13/91)
  

The REAL world’s title is shown on camera and then we see a message that this match was taped prior to the ’92 Royal Rumble. Flair stalls a bit to start like only Flair can, but then gets stuck in a headlock. He shoves Bret back in the corner and gets smacked across the face for it. Bret goes for the SHARPSHOOTER and Flair grabs the ropes before getting into a shoving match with the ref. You know the drill. Flair slips out of the headlock this time into an overhead wristlock. He pulls Bret down by the hair to break up his bridge, but Bret kips right back up and chases Flair into the corner. More of that goes down with Bret continuing to kip up until he headbutts Flair. Cue the Flair Flop. Flair is wrestling more like ’96 Flair instead of classic Flair. He goes low on Bret and chops him in the corner. While Flair styles and profiles, Sean Mooney talks about how awesome a match between Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair might be. Alfred Hayes is certain the match will happen at some point. Bret backdrops Flair out of the corner and heads up for the ten-count corner punch. Oh, Flair counters with an inverted atomic drop. WHO KNEW! Flair Flop. Rolling Knee Drop connects. He covers Bret with his feet on the ropes for a few two-counts. Of course when he gives up on that, he tells the crowd to shut up. Chest-first corner bump follows, as Flair tries getting the win with his feet on the ropes. SHUT UP, YOU IN THE FRONT ROW! Bret wins a slugfest, but runs into a sleeper. Bret runs Flair off into the corner to get the break. Flair counters Bret’s headlock with a shinbreaker and applies the FIGURE-FOUR! He uses the ropes for leverage. Flair starts to slap Bret around and like every good babyface, it fires them up to reverse the hold. Flair tries to suplex to the floor, but that ain’t happening. Bret brings Flair back in with a suplex of his own. Flair chops Bret in the corner. He has enough of that and DOWN COME THE STRAPS! Bret fires back and whips Flair into the Flair Flip to put him on the floor. Bret slams Flair’s head on the guardrail and then brings Flair back inside. Flair begs off, so Bret quickly mounts him for a bunch of punches. Ha, Flair stands up and wants some more. Bret obliges and after getting up twice, Flair goes back to begging again. Backbreaker sets up the SHARPSHOOTER. Perfect comes over and drags Flair under the ropes for the break. Bret lets Perfect know he shouldn’t do that. Another backbreaker leads to a second SHARPSHOOTER. Now he’s got Flair in the middle of the ring. Perfect distracts Bret to bring him off Flair. Back over to Flair, he goes low and dumps Bret out. Back in, Bret flips out of a suplex and O’Connor rolls Flair for 1-2-NO! Flair-Steamboat backslide sequence ensues. Bret takes Flair to the floor. Flair tries a piledriver, but Bret backdrops out. Flair makes it back inside the ring, but Perfect pulls Bret off the apron to give Flair the countout victory. Ahh. (19:19) You knew there was no title change and I can’t see Bret going over Flair this soon in his WWF tenure, so it just had to be DQ or countout. Not as good as their Saskatoon title switch a year later as Flair seemed too stuck on doing the same old stuff he’s always done, but still very good. ***¾

Bret On The Undertaker:

Bret didn’t think at first the Undertaker gimmick would be successful, but admits he was wrong and enjoyed the character. Bret talked about how Undertakers character has involved and how early on he was like ”Frankenstein” in mannerisms and in the ring. Bret said Taker wanted to show what he could do in the ring as a wrestler especially against him in their feud in 97 and was thrilled he got to showcase it. Bret chose the following match because while he was still ”Frankenstein” here you could see him start to blossom. Bret mentioned how it was 2 young guys at the time that had tasted success and on the rise

• Bret Hart vs. The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) – (Madison Square Garden, 1/31/92)
  

An interesting time in the careers of both guys as they both had already tasted some success, and then already lost it. Bret winning the IC title back at SummerSlam, Taker winning the world title back at Survivor Series. After Bret gives a kid his shades who is being held by the BIGGEST WWF fan ever Vladimir, Undertaker pops Bret in the throat coming back inside the ring. Lots of menacing choking follows. Bret avoids a corner charge and starts up with an inverted atomic drop, several clotheslines, and a running dropkick to take Undertaker up and over the top rope to the floor. Bret isn’t satisfied though, as he flies out on top of the Undertaker. Finally, Taker is off his feet. Bearer serves as a distraction though as Taker sits up and jabs Bret. Taker makes Bret eat the steps before heading back inside. More choking ensues. Bret tries a sunset flip and when he can’t take the big guy over, he avoids a punch. He pounds Taker in the corner, but then Taker reverses a cross corner whip sending Bret in for the chest-first bump. Old School when it was New School connects on the external occipital protuberance for 1-2-NO! Jumping clothesline scores another nearfall. Taker now busts out the claw hold, which in his case is more like just grabbing your sinuses. Bret pulls Taker down after another shot at Old School. Inverted atomic drop and a Russian legsweep gets two. Suplex gets the same result. Taker sits up, but then Bret gives him a backbreaker. Meanwhile, Bearer distracts ref Danny Davis. Bret lands a flying clothesline on Taker before heading over to take care of Davis. With Bret all distracted, Taker knees him from behind. Boy, the crowd just SHRIEKS in fear when that happens. The ref goes down as well. Bret still manages the SHARPSHOOTER, but no ref. When Bret lets go to wake up Davis, Taker nails Bret from behind. The urn gets involved, which ends with Bret getting bashed in the face. Taker covers, the ref wakes up, and delivers the three-count. (12:25) This wasn’t your standard 1930s Universal Studios monster against another big lug. Bret worked this match smarter than probably any match the Undertaker had been in as this character. *½

Bret talks about doing double shots all over the world and how he would only sleep at the airport and on the plane and many other wrestlers did it.

Bret On Bam Bam Bigelow:

Bam Bam was Bret’s favorite big guy to wrestle and he’d seen or been in the ring with them all. He was super agile and coordinated for his size. Bret chose the following match to showcase Bam Bam’s skills.

• Bret Hart vs. Bam Bam Bigelow – (Milan, Italy; 4/25/93)
  

I really wish there was alternate commentary for these international matches. In a funny little bit, Bigelow first shows off his agility by doing a little roll to his left, and then misses a lunge on Bret where he falls flat on his face. They tie-up, but Bret gets shoved out to the floor. Back in, Bret grabs a headlock, then gets shoved off into the ropes where he is promptly run down with a shoulder tackle. Bret then uses his speed to surprise Bigelow with a dropkick. As Bigelow’s momentum brings him off the ropes, he tries for an elbow drop and misses. Bret now decides to work the arm. As Bigelow gets out of the armbar, Bret gets caught for a press slam, only Bigelow tips over and Bret scores a nearfall. Bret runs Bigelow out to the floor. He comes off the apron, but gets caught and driven back into the ringpost. Bret takes some time getting back on the apron, but then Bigelow grabs him and again drives Bret into the ringpost. Whoa, now Bigelow has picked up the stairs! This match is on the verge of being out of control now. Bret makes it back inside at the count of eight. Bigelow pounds the back and sends Bret into the corner a few times. Now he’s dropping headbutts on his lower back. One-armed vertical suplex might do the trick for 1-2-NO! Time for a bearhug. Bret rips at Bigelow’s face to escape, but then gets caught with a nice back suplex for two. Canadian backbreaker to Bret, but he flips out and lands on his feet to nail Bigelow with a back suplex of his own. Not quite as painful-looking, but a suplex nonetheless. Both men up at eight. Nice moment as Bret gets caught using a crossbody block. Bigelow sells it like he just might tip over, but then at the last second he maintains his balance and drops Bret with a backbreaker. I love little things like that. Here’s something you don’t see every day from Bigelow. The Butterfly Backbreaker you used to see Jericho do. Bigelow looks to end this with his Flying Headbutt, but Bret moves at the last second. HERE COMES BRET! Ten-count corner punch followed by the Russian legsweep gets two. Flying clothesline gets two as well. Flying bulldog, but then Bigelow kicks away the Sharpshooter. Bret escapes a quick bearhug, but Bigelow falls on top of him after Bigelow counters a back suplex for two. After a whip in the corner, Bret catches Bigelow charging in and delivers the victory roll for the 1-2-3. (20:38) While Bret’s comeback to win is identical to the one coming up at the King of the Ring, it’s still great psychology and a great story told from these two. ***½

DISC 3

Evolution At That Time

We all would love Evolution to reunite in WWE pls follow me. Oh wait, wrong Evolution there, sorry! Bret said wrestling was changing from Hulk and cartoon characters to athletes that were smaller in stature and can wrestle such as him and HBK as the stars.

Bret On Kevin Nash

Bret said he had seen Kevin Nash in horrible gimmicks in WCW and was only brought in to be HBKs bodyguard, but then the WWF decided to give him a monster push to the main event scene and faced him off with Bret at King Of The Ring 1994. Bret said Nash was very nervous going into the match but that he felt it was the start of something good. Bret talks about the PPV trilogy he had with Nash (KOTR 94, Royal Rumble 95, Survivor Series 95) and said the best match was Survivor Series 95 because he won back the championship, but he thinks this was their 2nd best match.

• WWF World Champion Bret Hart (w/Jim Neidhart) vs. Diesel (w/Shawn Michaels) – King of the Ring 1994
  

For starters, this was the surprise return of Jim Neidhart to the WWF. Step one in getting to the top of the WWF for Diesel first was winning the IC title belt. We’re in step two: a PPV world title match with Bret Hart. Art Donovan has no clue who any of these people are and need to be explained everything prior to the match. One of his more hilarious questions of the night ~ “Who is this guy [referring to Shawn Michaels] on the outside? Is he a wrestler?” Diesel corners Bret and pounds away before a boot choke. Bret avoids a running boot in the corner and delivers a headbutt to the groin area. Bret slips out of a slam and rolls up Diesel for two. Diesel misses an elbow drop, but goes to the eyes. Diesel chokes and runs his knee into the corner, setting up an easy gameplan for Bret. He applies a Figure-Four in the middle of the ring, but Diesel still reaches the ropes. Bret stays on the leg and hooks a spinning toe hold until Diesel kicks him off to the floor. Diesel gets tripped up and his knee posted. Shawn interjects himself momentarily and runs Bret down with a clothesline. Neidhart chases him around the ring, but the ref puts a stop to it. Back in, Diesel botches catching Bret for a bearhug. He recovers okay, though. Bret bites his way out and dropkicks Diesel out for a pescado, but he splats on the outside mat. Diesel rams Bret into the ringpost and brings him in for a HARD whip into the corner. Side Slam gets 1-2-NO! Diesel applies a backbreaker and then hits an elbow drop for two. HBK sneaks in another cheapshot with Bret up against the ropes right before a Bossman straddle (more Ray Traylor!) from Diesel. Shawn continues to be his awesome cocky self on the floor. Meanwhile, Diesel sends Bret into the corner for the chest-first bump. That only gets two. Diesel is PISSED at the ref, so Bret sneak attacks with a rollup for 1-2-NO! Diesel grabs a neck wrench and when Bret starts to come out of it, he gives Bret another backbreaker for 1-2-NO! From there, Diesel grabs a Canadian backbreaker while HBK unties the top turnbuckle. He doesn’t get it off completely though because of Jim Neidhart intervening. Somehow, Bret slips out of the backbreaker and grabs a sleeper! Diesel backs him into the corner, but runs into a boot. He grabs the sleeper again only to be backed into the corner once again. Diesel punches Bret INTO the ref, which is cool. That allows Diesel to expose the turnbuckle for real now. Bret blocks the smash and sends Diesel into the exposed turnbuckle instead. Bret proceeds to punch Diesel all around the ring until the big guy FINALLY collapses. Awesome! It takes THREE clotheslines to take Diesel back down. Russian Legsweep! Flying Elbow Drop gets 1-2-NO! Bret hits a bulldog from the middle rope and looks for the SHARPSHOOTER. Shawn’s on the apron and gets punched down for a nice Pillman guardrail bump. Bret hits a clothesline from the middle rope for 1-2-NO! They get into a backslide battle, but Bret kicks out of the corner and flips over Diesel into a small package for 1-2-NO! Diesel catches Bret trying to flip out of the corner. Bret shoves off the Snake Eyes attempt, but runs into a Big Boot. Diesel stands over Bret and motions for the Jackknife Powerbomb, but Bret’s just playing ‘possum and trips Diesel up into the SHARPSHOOTER! Ohhh, but Diesel’s in the ropes. Bret dropkicks Diesel out to the floor. Neidhart is standing by and hopes Diesel notices him. Diesel sends Neidhart into the ringpost while HBK runs in and BLASTS Bret with a title belt from behind! Diesel crawls back in the ring and drops an elbow for 1-2-NO! Diesel calls for the Jackknife Powerbomb one more time. Neidhart nails Shawn and jumps into the ring to clothesline Diesel after the JACKKNIFE POWERBOMB for the DQ. (22:41) Without a doubt, Diesel’s best match to date. Diesel and HBK continue the beatdown afterwards, but Jim Neidhart heads to the back “frustrated” with the ref’s decision. Great storytelling with Bret carrying Diesel to a great match in 1994 is really something to see. ****¼

Bret On Owen

Bret said Owen cared about having great matches especially early on in his push, but later in his career loved to be a prankster. Bret tells the story how their first series of matches at house shows pre WrestleMania were good but Owen was doing awesome aerial moves that were getting pops and had the crowd cheering for Owen. After several matches of these Bret and Owen scrapped their original plan for WrestleMania match as Bret feared a double turn as he was the bigger older brother etc. But they had a classic at WrestleMania with Owen acting like a brat and all and the MSG crowd was rooting for Bret to win. Bret mentioned how during his WWF title win that night how Owen had a stern look on his face post match but was so happy for him. He felt they had masterpieces of matches from WrestleMania on and kept getting better and better.

• Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart – No Holds Barred (Monday Night Raw, 3/27/95)
  

This is one of the last times they would ever face each other on TV. JR and Gorilla Monsoon are on commentary. Like Owen loves to do, he attacks Bret before the lights come back on. Bret makes his brother pay with a barrage of right hands in the corner followed by a hair slam. There’s a DDT and we go to the floor for some ringside brawling. Bret is in TOTAL control. Back inside, Bret beats Owen’s face up and then delivers a headbutt to the groin. Owen claws the eyes to avoid a backbreaker and delivers a headbutt to Bret’s groin. Inverted atomic drop to Bret. WOOO! Owen delivers the ENZIGURI KICK OF EXTREME DISCOMFORT! Back to the floor. Owen bounces Bret’s face off the steel steps. That’s just nasty. There’s a trip to the guardrail and we need a commercial break. AND WE’RE BACK! Chinlock is applied, but Bret breaks loose and delivers a crucifix for two. Owen sets up Bret in the tree of woe. While the ref is busy trying to loosen up Bret, Owen takes one of the turnbuckle pads off. Why the distraction? You can’t get DQ’ed. Anyways, the exposed turnbuckle smash backfires on Owen and here comes the Five Moves of Doom. Here comes the SHARPSHOOTER, but Owen thumbs Bret RIGHT in the eye. Awesome! Bret takes the chest-first corner bump for two. Here comes the Missile Dropkick, but Bret sidesteps and catapults Owen onto the exposed turnbuckle! Bret locks in the SHARPSHOOTER and it’s all over. (10:27 shown) Great, hard-fought match that didn’t need blood, chairs or tables to be violent. ***½

Bret On Pierre

Bret put over French-Canadian wrestlers such as Edouard Carpentier and the Rougeau brothers and how guys like Andre got their start there. He said Pierre was in that mold of great French Canadian Wrestlers. He talked about Pierre being stiff in moves but also safe with ya. He was proud of their matches especially the 2 they had at In Your House and RAW the next night and was very sore after them. The only negative thing was Bret didn’t care for the Jean-Pierre-Lafitte gimmick and thought the Bret/Jean-Pierre-Lafitte storyline was the worst he ever had in his career. (Pierre stole Bret’s jacket) ”I could have bought another jacket, it made me look pathetic” said Bret. However, he’s happy to include a match on the set.

• Bret Hart vs. Jean-Pierre Lafitte – (In Your House III)
  

This is all part of the pirate Jean-Pierre Lafitte stealing Bret’s jacket. Bret starts the match off exploding on Lafitte with a suicide dive. JR mentions the word tope! Way to go, JR! Bret rips his jacket off Lafitte and tosses him into the ring for more of a beating. Lafitte goes to the eyes, but misses a corner charge and gets taken down for some arm work. Lafitte comes back to block a hiptoss with a clothesline. He begins to stomp Bret a bunch in the mid-section and then beats Bret into the corner. Bret reverses the whip, but runs shoulder-first into the ringpost! Just to have a little more fun, Lafitte throws Bret into the ringpost once more. Now Bret takes the sternum first bump in the corner to move the ring about six inches, says JR. Lafitte runs into a backdrop that puts him on the floor, but he lands on his feet and yanks Bret out for a SICK toss into the steps. Back in, Bret punches back, but runs into a spinebuster for two. Bret escapes a chinlock and on the second time, he delivers a sunset flip for two. Side slam sets up a Flying Legdrop for 1-2-NO! It’s CANNONBALL SPLASH time! Too bad he completely misses it. Bret mounts his comes back with an atomic drop and a clothesline. Lafitte kicks Bret off the SHARPSHOOTER and puts him on the floor for a Somersault Plancha! Well, Bret moves out of the way as Lafitte hits the floor with NO protection or anything! What a crazy pirate. If that’s not enough, then Bret sends Lafitte crashing into the steps! Back in again, Bret sends Lafitte into the corner for the chest-first bump. Russian legsweep gets two. Small package gets another two. Backbreaker connects, but the flying vertical elbow drop gets blocked as Lafitte brings his foot up. Bret tries a crucifix, but Lafitte stands strong and counters with a Regal Roll! Cover, 1-2-NO! Off a corner whip, Bret tries to float over Lafitte and gets caught. With Bret holding onto the top rope, Bret uses momentum to shift his weight on Lafitte to make him fall over for 1-2-NO! Bret runs into a knee in the corner, so Lafitte tries the Ric Flair corner pin for two. After Lafitte yells at the ref, Bret nails him with a dropkick and goes for his running bulldog. Oops, Lafitte shoves him off into the corner for another chest-first bump. That gets another two for Lafitte. Bret shoulderblocks Lafitte into the ropes and charges only for him to move and crotch himself in the ropes. Flying headbutt from Lafitte misses and a double KO spot follows. As Bret lays on the mat, he grapevines Lafitte’s legs and turns him over for the SHARPSHOOTER! Bret wins. (16:38) Such a good match with lots of exciting twists and turns. Bret gets his jacket back and all is right with the world. ***¾

Time Off

After WrestleMania XII Bret took time off after 12 years of action. He spent most of his time in LA pursuing acting and got a part on the Lonesome Dove series. Many wondered if he’d ever to wrestling at the time and while not mentioned here WCW pursued him hard as well. Bret said he thinks he would have stayed in acting full time had his acting career took off.

Bret On Stone Cold Steve Austin

Bret says him and Austin came from the same mold and loved their craft. Bret saw Austin as a rising star and feels he was an important part in the evolution of the Stone Cold character. The following match on this set was Bret’s comeback match in 1996 (he still hadn’t returned yet stateside as he’d return against Austin at Survivor Series 96) Bret loved all his matches with Austin and they still reminisce about them to this day. Bret said Austin was a guy that made wrestling FUN in and out of the ring. After Perfect if Bret could go back and have another match with someone it would be Stone Cold.

• Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin – (Sun City, South Africa; 9/14/96)
  

Here’s certainly a rare one. We all think of the first-ever meeting between Bret and Austin came at Survivor Series, but in fact they had wrestled probably a half dozen times already before that match occurred. JR and Owen Hart have taken over commentary duties for this one. Since this is a battle over who is the better technical wrestler, there’s some basic mat stuff to start. Austin works a headlock, while Bret spends his time using the armbar. Austin changes his game plan with a test of strength. He gets the better of the exchange for the most part, but then Bret flips him over. Austin hits a Lou Thesz Press, but Bret hooks the arms with his legs and rolls Austin back for a nearfall. Bret wants the Sharpshooter, but Austin scurries to the ropes and slides out for a timeout. Back in, Austin escapes an armbar by yanking Bret down by the hair before giving him a low blow to ensure the tide had truly changed. He chokes Bret in the ropes a little bit and then whips him from corner to corner. Austin delivers a few elbows to the chest with Bret draped on the apron. To make things worse, Austin drops Bret on the cyclone-fenced guardrail. Back inside, Bret escapes a chinlock, but gets thrown back out to the floor. The floor mat comes up and Austin wants a piledriver on the EXPOSED CONCRETE, but of course Bret backdrops him over. Back in the ring, Austin counters a sleeper with a jawbreaker. Not a stunner, folks. Bret fires back with a clothesline and delivers a backbreaker for two. Russian legsweep delivers the same result. Austin blocks a suplex, but Bret counters Austin’s suplex by landing on his feet and rolling Austin up for 1-2-NO! Out goes Austin to the floor. Bret meets him out there with a pescado. Back inside, Austin reverses a whip and sends Bret in for the chest-first bump. That gets two. Austin wants a superplex, but Bret sends him down to the mat and delivers a TOP-ROPE vertical elbow drop. Sharpshooter? No! Austin has that hold well-scouted and thumbs Bret in the eye to avoid it. Austin wants a Stone Cold Stunner, but Bret slips out and hooks the arms to try for a backslide. With Austin overpowering, Bret kicks off the turnbuckle and flips back over Austin to catch him with a small package for the 1-2-3! (19:57) This is why I love wrestling. Bret and Austin are two of the master storytellers. You have to love a story that just builds and builds and builds like this from the ground up. ****

Simultaneously A Hero And A Rat

Bret says the most fun time of his career was the Summer of 1997 at the height of the Hart Foundation USA/Canada Feud.

Bret On The Patriot

Bret thought The Patriot was the perfect foil to the evil Hitman character especially since he was like a cartoon character. He thought his matches with the Patriot were good and liked the angles even more. He wished the USA/Canada feud lasted longer. He talked about how he didn’t want the bash the city of Pittsburgh in their feud as Pittsburgh is one of his favorite cities but Vince made him to get heat.

• WWF Champion Bret Hart vs. The Patriot – (In Your House: Ground Zero)
  

OH MY GOODNESS, Kurt Angle vs. Bret? Oh, nevermind. It’s just Del Wilkes. Boy, he looks JACKED. Bret plays the dirty rat to start by running Patriot’s eyes across the top rope and hanging him in the tree of woe (where the US flag is hanging) to put the boots to him. Patriot fires back with clotheslines and takes Bret to the floor where he regroups. Back in, Bret cowers in the corner so he can sneak attack Patriot, but that goes awry for him as he runs into a series of armdrags. Patriot works the arm for a while. Bret finally creates enough distance between them and kicks at his knee. He takes Patriot to school and gives this match that little extra something with the ringpost figure-four! Once ref Mike Chioda makes him break, he walks over to Vince to say something negative about America. Back inside, Bret starts softening up the Patriot for the Sharpshooter. Meanwhile, here comes Davey Boy Smith to cheer on Bret. The crowd starts calling for Austin. Russian legsweep gets two. Patriot counters a suplex for one of his own as he mounts a comeback. DDT scores a nearfall. As Patriot comes off the ropes, Bulldog trips him up, allowing Bret to come up behind him for an O’Connor roll for 1-2-NO! As they exchange punches, Bulldog gets up on the apron, so Patriot shoulderblocks Bret into Bulldog, knocking him down to the floor. Rollup by Patriot, 1-2-NO! Whoa, looks like Louisville thought it was over. UNCLE SLAM connects, but Davey Boy pulls Bret away before he can get pinned. Patriot starts to back Bulldog up the rampway, and here comes Vader to ensure that Davey Boy no longer gets involved tonight. Again, the crowd reacts to Vader like Austin has just arrived. Everybody stands to their feet. While the Patriot takes care of Bulldog, Vader whips Bret into the steps. Afterwards, he rolls Bret inside for the Patriot to finish him off. There’s the PATRIOT MISSILE! Cover, 1-2-NO! Bret stuns Patriot with a hotshot though as he falls on the second rope. Running Bulldog followed by the Flying Vertical Elbow Drop gets two. Patriot turns the tables on Bret in the corner and catches the ref with an elbow by accident. He still manages to nail Bret with another UNCLE SLAM. Delayed count gets a nearfall. Double-KO ensues. Bret tries to get the quick win over Patriot with an O’Connor roll and an inside cradle, but Patriot seems one step ahead. Patriot levels Bret with the chest-first bump and then applies the Sharpshooter. But you see, Del Wilkes, no one can put Bret in the Sharpshooter and win the match. Well, okay, maybe Shawn Michaels. Bret powers out and reverses the hold on Patriot to get the submission victory. (19:20) This took its sweet time to get going, but it turned out okay in the end. Bret can have a good match with virtually anyone. After receiving easily the biggest push of his career, Del Wilkes would retire a few months later when he suffered a torn tricep. Just to further the notion that Bret is in fact a complete dick, he chokes Patriot with the American flag until the WWF agents and referees clear him of the ring. Crowd wants Austin, but Austin doesn’t come. ***¼

Wrestling Injured

Bret got hurt during a match with Dean Malenko on Nitro in November 1998 and though in severe pain did MAD TV just a couple days later. Before surgery he wrestled and made several appearances in WCW due to the Canadian Nitros and events. The reason he puts the next match on this set is because he thought he had a great match despite the abdominal injury.

Bret On Booker T

Bret said Booker was strong and athletic which is a great combo to have. He didn’t enjoy many matchups in WCW but enjoyed the matches he had Booker. He actually designed a lengthy feud that had Booker T look good prevail over him and launch a new main event star, but it just made too much sense compared to WCW logic and they didn’t do it, they only had a few one-offs match wise.

• WCW U.S. Champion Bret Hart vs. Booker T – (WCW Monday Nitro, 1/25/99)
  

So Bret is saying he can’t compete tonight because he’s got a groin injury. WCW President Ric Flair says nah. Now we’ve got a match, but it’s non-title. Tenay reprimands Bret for complaining about a groin injury going on several weeks now, as if Tenay knows what it’s like to have a male crotch. Oh, but Booker T can be out of action for several months with a “knee injury”? Give me a break, guy! Bret stalls a little bit to start, but Booker can’t wait to his paws on him. Bret takes a clothesline and decides to head out to the floor. Back in, they get into a test of strength, and Booker works him down so he can stomp on his hands. You know the deal. Bret makes him pay by catching with a boot out of the corner. Inverted atomic drop is followed by a DDT. Speaking of groin injuries, Bret headbutts Booker between the legs. Bret goes heel by running Booker’s eye over the top rope and choking him in the corner. To the floor, Bret sends Booker into the guardrail. Back in again, Booker small packages Bret for two and then begins a comeback. Harlem Sidekick gets two. After that, Bret’s trick knee acts up all into Booker’s groin. Bret delivers a Russian legsweep before taking Booker to school working the left leg. He wraps up Booker in the Figure-Four as a message to Flair. WOO! Booker fades and gets his shoulders counted a few times, but ultimately reverses the hold. Commercial break? Okay then. When we return, Bret reapplies the figure-four. Again, Booker turns over the hold this time into the ropes. Backbreaker gets two. Now Booker ducks a clothesline and hits a Flying Forearm. Axe Kick! That break dance move that doesn’t have a name for it yet! Harlem Sidekick! Side Slam leads to the Harlem Hangover, but Bret moves out of the way. Bret heads out and retrieves his US title belt. He looks to come off the middle rope onto Booker, but gets the belt kicked back in his face. Booker T lands a superkick on Bret to send him outside. Booker follows him out and really wants to choke Bret with a camera cable. While ref Randy Anderson takes the cable away, Bret finds his US title again, and nails Booker in the face for the 1-2-3. (12:32 shown) This was pretty good, but Booker’s big comeback at the end really came out of nowhere. Not sure why Bret chose this match over the superior one they had in February either. ***

Bret On Sting

Bret says he misjudged Sting. He thought coming along with The Warrior and being one of WCWs top stars that he’d be difficult to work with and political but he was a total pro. Bret praised Sting on every aspect being nice, caring, and safe to work with in the ring. Bret also appreciates how Sting made him look good in the matches they had and let him go over in their matches. He wished he could have returned the favor and thinks a lengthy feud could have helped WCW, but once again WCW didn’t go that direction and when they did wrestle they had bad storylines.

• Bret Hart vs. Sting – WCW World Title Tournament Semifinals (WCW Mayhem 1999)
  

So just a little backstory, Hulk Hogan laid down for a heel WCW world champ Sting back at Halloween Havoc, which was scheduled to be the main event of that show. Sting faced Goldberg in the actual main event on the card and lost. Unfortunately for Goldberg, this match was deemed unsanctioned. However, WCW would strip Sting of the world title for attacking a referee after the main event, so JJ Dillon announced that a month-long 32-person tournament and the winner would become the new WCW world champion.

We are in Toronto for this one, so you can imagine how the crowd reaction is going to be. Sting is wearing a cut-off t-shirt, which makes me wonder what kind of shape he was in for this match. Real tense start as they tie-up strong and then stare each other down. Bret wins a slugfest and runs Sting’s eyes across the top rope. To the floor we go from some brief guardrail action near the announce table. Back in, Bret headbutts the groin and lands an inverted atomic drop. Sting goes to the eyes and takes over. He whips Bret from corner to corner, but Bret fires back with a stiff looking elbow. Suplex gets two. Sting finds a low blow right in front of the ref. Umm, DQ? Jumping elbow connects for two. Bret escapes a chinlock, but runs into a knee. We go to the floor again as Sting bounces Bret’s face off the announce table. He tries a Stinger Splash, but Bret moves at the last second, as that was always a good “miss” spot for Sting.

I’ve heard a lot of conspiracy theories involving a certain member of Destiny’s Child, but never *that* one.

Sting takes Bret hard into the guardrail before we go back inside the ring. Bret catches Sting coming in the corner with a boot. As he heads up top, Sting grabs hold of ref Mickey Jay. Even so, Bret still comes off the top onto both of them. Cue Lex Luger and Elizabeth. He has a ball bat and looks over Bret, but then decides to whack Sting in the knee. Bret gets up and takes the bat away from Lex. He beats him down and locks in the SHARPSHOOTER. Meanwhile, Mickey Jay stands up and rings the bell at 7:32. Huh? Bret wins via DQ, but being the man of integrity he is, doesn’t want to win that way. He wants the match to continue and gets his wish, because we are LIVE in TORONTO. Sting interrupts the Five Moves of Doom by avoiding the elbow drop. He slaps on the SCORPION DEATHLOCK, but Bret reverses into the SHARPSHOOTER for the win. (10:08) I agree with Bret here. There is a good story to be told between the Sharpshooter and the Scorpion Deathlock somewhere that was just never done. **

A Trip Down Memory Lane

Bret said before the concussion and stroke that he planned to wrestle full time for 2 more years and then do special appearances in matches and events like WrestleMania. Footage is shown of Bret looking at tapes and watching DVDs of various matches. He thanks everyone involved with the project to the wrestlers and even the referees. He said he thought at a time he had lost his history but with this DVD it showcases his history and he’s thankful for it.

Final Thoughts: A fun look back at Bret from the territory days to the height of the Monday Night Wars. The great thing about this set is its unreleased with all never before had matches on home video and many of the matches are rare. While Bret’s had more famous and classic matches there are some hidden gems and historical curiosities. You can tell Bret put in a lot of thought and research into this project and was satisfied. The only negative things were lack of Hart Foundation matches (only two) and a few matches had no commentary or not in English. It would have been nice to see Bret do some alternate commentary for those matches. Still a great journey of the career one of the best technical and popular wrestlers of all time. While this set isn’t for everyone, most fans will enjoy this collection as it’s a great complimentary piece to Bret’s 2005 Hitman DVD.

Also, if you own a Blu-Ray player, get the Blu-Ray edition as it has four additional matches with Yokozuna, the New Foundation, Hakushi, and Vader as well as more thoughts from Bret and an additional twenty minutes of stories. Thumbs up for Bret Hart: The Dungeon Collection.

Monday Night Raw
May 31, 1993
New York City
Manhattan Center

The current WWF champs were as follows:
World Champion: Hulk Hogan (4/4/1993)
Intercontinental Champion: Marty Jannetty (5/17/1993)
World Tag Team Champions: Money Inc. (10/13/1992)

Hacksaw Jim Duggan stands outside the Manhattan Center and dedicates this episode of Monday Night Raw to the U.S. Armed Forces. It’s Memorial day! What other choice does Jim have? HOOOOOOOOO!!!

Your hosts are Vince McMahon, Randy Savage, and Bobby Heenan.

• WWF Intercontinental Champion Marty Jannetty (w/Sensational Sherri) vs. Bam Bam Bigelow (w/Luna Vachon)
  

Marty is such a short-term IC champion, his graphic doesn’t even list him as the WWF Intercontinental champion. Sherri and Luna get into a brief cat fight before the match. While Jannetty backs Sherri away, Bigelow BUM RUSHES THE SHOW on him. Jannetty sells huge for the shoulderblocks and clotheslines Bam Bam throws his way. Not in Shawn Michaels overselling fashion either. Jannetty begins to stick and move as he lands a big flying double ax handle for two. Bigelow headbutts Jannetty back though and tries a backdrop, but Jannetty COMPLETELY flips out and lands on his feet. Unfortunately, he charges right into a bearhug. Once Bigelow has enough of that, he places Jannetty up on the top turnbuckle. When he goes to slug him, Jannetty kicks him back and tries the Super Calo floatover headscissors. It doesn’t go well. Old school flying headscissors happens, but it looks incredibly phony. Not sure why they are working this way. Looks like Jannetty wanted a victory roll, but Bigelow falls back for the electric chair drop. Commercials! When we come back, Bigelow has a chinlock clamped on the IC champ. To prevent a comeback, Bigelow hammers Jannetty back down. Jannetty starts up with the wild swings, but then Bigelow nails him with a standing dropkick. Avalanche by Bigelow gets two. Jannetty catches Bigelow charging at him with a boot and then a flying desperation clothesline. Cover, 1-2-NO! Superkick stuns Bigelow, a jumping clothesline sends him reeling, but a dropkick puts him down on the mat for 1-2-NO! Bigelow goes to the eyes and slams Jannetty. He picks him back up and delivers a nasty double underhook backbreaker. Jericho doing that move is one thing, but freaking BAM BAM BIGELOW is another. He goes for the falling headbutt off the ropes, but Sherri grabs his foot. As Bigelow grabs Sherri, Jannetty knees him out to the floor. Bobby – “Cheap shot!” A baseball slide from Jannetty sends Bigelow into the guardrail. Now Jannetty keeps things hot as he flies off the top onto Bigelow! Jannetty tries to return inside the ring, but Bigelow pulls him back out and throws him into the ringpost. He tosses Jannetty inside the ring, but takes a moment to look over at Sherri, which causes him to be counted out. (9:03 shown) This got a little messy when Jannetty started busting out the cruiserweight moves, but overall this was super fun. Jannetty is a VERY underrated guy, in my opinion. Afterwards, Bigelow attacks him and delivers a senton splash. That’ll rearrange your insides. ***

Hey, the late Dwayne Schintzius of the New Jersey Nets is in the crowd! Seems like an odd time to go to a “celebrity”.

Back in the ring, Sensational Sherri says she wants Luna Vachon right now! Once she gets a piece of Luna, Bigelow returns to grab Sherri while Luna beats on her. Tatanka runs out and makes the save. Vince – “He’s not even supposed to be here!”

• The Steiner Brothers vs. The Executioner & Rich Myers
  

Certainly not very difficult to tell the difference between these two jobbers. The eight-man from the KOTR gets a mention by Vince. The Executioner takes a pair of Steinerlines from Rick. Myers gets ran upside down into the corner. In comes Scott to throw Myers around. Rick applies a camel clutch and a reverse chinlock to kill time. Back to Scott, he hits Myers with a pumphandle slam. STEINER SCREWDRIVER SUPLEX is enough to end Myers, but they decide to put him away with the STEINER BULLDOG instead at 4:16.

Well I just wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t see it with my own eyes. The (former second-string) New York Giants running back Lee Rouson is found in the crowd here at the Manhattan Center.

WWF Mania commercial. That Todd guy is wacky!

• Mr. Hughes vs. Bert Centeno
  

Heenan brings up President Clinton who he refers to as Billy the Brain and feels that he is a “heck of a guy”. Hughes throws this ham-and-egger around for a while. There’s a powerbomb, but Hughes lifts him up at two. Our esteemed commentators mention that Harvey Wippleman is not with us tonight. Bobby says he’s out with the flu with a 118-degree temperature. Vince – “That’s too bad.” Mr. Perfect – who will be the opponent of Mr. Hughes in the opening round of the KOTR – will be playing in a celebrity golf tournament with Burt Reynolds, and Chicago Bears legends Walter Payton and William Perry. Okay, finally. The ANGRY BLACKMAN SLAM gets the win at 3:01.

Mean Gene brings us the King of the Ring Report. The KOTR is brought to you by ICOPRO: You’ve gotta want it. WWF Champion Hulk Hogan vs. Yokozuna, the King of the Ring tournament, and Shawn Michaels vs. Crush. Still no mention of the eight-man tag. Come on Gene, you’ve gotta want it!

This week on All-American Wrestling: Crush takes on Razor Ramon!

Promotional consideration brought to you by: ICOPRO, G.I. Joe toys, and Series 5 WWF figures.

• Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs. Bill Thomas
  

Since Duggan fake shoots Thomas with his 2×4 gun, Thomas pearl harbors Duggan hoping for a 1-2-3 Kid upset, I can only assume. That goes nowhere though as Duggan catches him trying a crossbody block and delivers a lame-o Oklahoma Stampede. Duggan follows that up with the Old Glory knee drop. Ten-count corner punch leads to a backdrop. He hammers down Thomas and pulls him up for a suplex. Big slam sets up the THREE-POINT STANCE for the win at 2:24. To suck the fun out of the room, Duggan leads everybody through the Pledge of Allegiance to the US flag. What a jerk. Even though it’s Memorial day, doesn’t anybody have the balls to boo this crap? Fine, I will. BOOOOO.

As we proceed, Vince tells us that Razor has now upped the ante over the weekend to $5000 for a rematch with who they are now calling the “1-2-3″ Kid. We get some pre-recorded comments where the Kid politely holds out for more money.

• Razor Ramon vs. Tony Roy
  

Thanks to Randy Savage, the crowd is all over Razor chanting “1-2-3″, which gets him all distracted. That allows Tony Roy to schoolboy him up for 1-2-NO! That just serves to further piss off Razor as he drills Roy with a Fallaway Slam. While mentioning that Razor Ramon faces Bret Hart in the first round of the KOTR, Vince calls the match they had back at the Royal Rumble one of the “all-time greats”. They are laying it on thick. The crowd starts that chant up again, as Roy sneaks in another rollup for two. Razor gets back on top of Roy with an abdominal stretch. Crowd wants the Kid now. Nasty Back Superplex sets up a just-as-nasty RAZOR’S EDGE for the win and quiet the crowd at 3:30.

Before we go, Yokozuna and Mr. Fuji head down to meet with Vince McMahon. How dare these Japanese people show up to RAW and wave their own country’s flag on Memorial Day?! Vince gets around to mentioning Hulk Hogan… and the crowd boos! On June 13, Yokozuna declares that Hulkamania will DIE. I believe history tells us that Yoko proves to be a man of his word. BANZAI!!!!!!

Apparently all this talk from Fuji and Yokozuna is bumming out Duggan, as he appears up in the crowd waving the American flag and getting the crowd to chant “U-S-A!”. And that’s how Monday Night Raw comes to a close on *this* Memorial day.

Next week: Adam Bomb meets his biggest challenge to date: El Matador! Plus, Yokozuna with Mr. Fuji will join us in Jerry Lawler’s King’s Court. In other action, an unnamed tag team combination of the eight-man tag that will go down at the KOTR will square off as well.

Monday Night Raw
May 24, 1993
New York City
Manhattan Center

The current WWF champs were as follows:
World Champion: Hulk Hogan (4/4/1993)
Intercontinental Champion: Marty Jannetty (5/17/1993)
World Tag Team Champions: Money Inc. (10/13/1992)

Up to this point in my RAW 1993 recaps, they have all been WWE 24/7 edits. For the next six episodes, these recaps will be experienced by me through the original USA network broadcasts. These are literally uncut, uncooked, and uncensored. Maybe you will be able to tell a difference, maybe not. Either way, enjoy!

Your hosts are Vince McMahon, Randy Savage, and Bobby Heenan.

• Mr. Perfect vs. Doink the Clown – KOTR Qualifying Match

During his entrance, Doink crawls under the ring apron. We go LIVE outside the Manhattan Center to Lord Alfred Hayes who is standing beside…Doink? Everyone is confused except Doink of course, who sprays Lord Alfred with water from his magical flower hanging there on his clown suit. Heenan has a good laugh about it. When we cut back to the ring, Doink crawls back out from under the ring – now with a flower in hand. This is their THIRD try to find a winner as the first two matches (one on Superstars and the other on Wrestling Challenge) ended in time-limit draws. Will tonight be the night? Doink attacks Perfect right as he jumps into the ring and then chokes him with his own towel. After Doink uses the towel to wipe himself down with it, Perfect gives him a towel-assisted clothesline. Now we have Perfect going after the knee. He posts the knee as we go to commercial break. When we come back, Perfect stalks Doink in the corner and puts the boots to him. Once the ref pushes Perfect back, Doink kicks Perfect away and throws him out to the floor to run Perfect into the ringpost. Back in, Perfect keeps Doink on the mat with a headscissors. They both end up in the ropes. Doink uses the ropes to get a good jumping stomp on Perfect, which jars the knee that Perfect worked on earlier. Doink wants a Fujiwara armbar, but Perfect does all he can to escape and then jerks on the bad knee. Good stuff. Holy crap, an Indian deathlock. Too bad it makes Perfect and easy target for an eye rake. They head back to the floor where Doink runs Perfect’s shoulder into the ringpost. Perfect takes out Doink’s legs to stop all that. He looks like he wants to fight, but he doesn’t want the match to end without a winner – AGAIN. Perfect rolls back in, but Doink grabs the weakened arm and wraps it around the post. Back inside the ring, Doink applies an overhead wristlock to do further damage and then he stomps a bent elbow on the mat. Ouch? Hammerlock slam on Perfect. Doink takes a moment to laugh about it and covers for two. More commercials! We return to see both men trading blows. Perfect ducks a big swing and delivers an atomic drop followed by a clothesline with his good arm. Doink yanks Perfect into the corner, but misses a clothesline of his own and takes a ride out to the floor. Wait a sec, here comes Doink the Clone. While no one except everybody on that side of the arena, our esteemed commentators, and all of us watching at home sees what is happening, they switch places while the original Doink hides under the ring. Oh, that Doink. Just as things look bleak, Doink the Clone telegraphs a backdrop to set himself up for the PERFECTPLEX! That scores the win. (11:41 shown) Immediately, the REAL Doink jumps in the ring and kicks Perfect in the face. A Double Doink beatdown ensues until Crush makes the save. What an epic TV match with fantastic storytelling. ***¾

Here is Mean Gene with *your* King of the Ring Report. He delivers on the participants of the tournament. We hear from WWF Champion Hulk Hogan and Jimmy Hart. Nice of you to join us, Hulk. With this match, he wants to make the naysayers who say his WWF title win at WrestleMania was a fluke look dumb, and says it in his most kayfabe of ways. Bottom line, he’s going to slam that big fat wad of sushi, ya’ll. Even with Jimmy Hart by his side, Hulk feels like an island unto himself at this point. No one seems to care about him one way or another.

Out comes Money, Inc. Before their match, DiBiase offers a lucky fan $100 to shine both his and IRS’s boots. After the fan does the deed, IRS takes $70 of his profit because its earned income. He still got paid $30 to barely shine two pairs of boots, and the kid walks away with a big smile on his face. Vince – “HE’S BEEN RIPPED OFF! HE’S BEEN HUMILIATED!” This guy was just in a WWF ring on Monday Night Raw with Ted DiBiase and IRS. I *think* he’s going to be okay, Vince.

Promotional consideration paid for by the following: ICOPRO (Tatanka: “You’ve got to want it.”), G.I. Joe toys (complete with live-action Cobra Commander and G.I. Joe members!), and new WWF figures (for you nerds out there, looks like series 5).

• WWF World Tag Team Champions Money, Inc. vs. Mike Bell & Tony DeVito
  

Onto the squash. First they ring Bell’s bell, and then he tags in DeVito. Vince announces the big eight-man for the KOTR as Money Inc will team with the Headshrinkers to take on the Steiner brothers and the Smoking Gunns. The WRITE-OFF on DeVito is enough to end this one at 3:59.

Join Todd Pettengill for WWF Mania! This guy is so ’90s hip, crazy, and cool! Saturday mornings at 10AM EST on the USA Network. Owen Hart meets Mr. Hughes in an EXCLUSIVE matchup! Make sure to set your VCRs, folks!

• Crush vs. Bobby Who
  

Bunch of power and agility moves from Crush. Heenan has some fun with Bobby Who’s name. There’s also mention of Crush wanting to get his hands on the now former IC champion Shawn Michaels, which foreshadows another match for the KOTR at Gene Okerlund failed to mention. The HEAD VICE is enough to take care of Bobby Who in 3:25.

Here’s an ad for All-American Wrestling hosted by Gene Okerlund and Bobby Heenan which airs Sundays at noon on the USA Network. This week’s EXCLUSIVE match: Bob Backlund takes on Bam Bam Bigelow.

Vince McMahon brings out Razor Ramon after his DEVASTATING loss to the Kid last week. Vince refers to the Kid as “that youngster”. The crowd starts to chant “1-2-3″ to piss off Razor. Don’t make him come out there! Moving on, Razor offers $2500 to the Kid for a rematch. Vince mentions the King of the Ring tournament where Razor will be facing Bret Hart in the first round. That cues Bret Hart to come down and stir the pot by saying that Razor can’t even beat a rookie, much less be the King of the Ring. Bret promises a victory over Razor, drops the microphone, and walks out of there.

After the break, we catch Bobby flipping through the channels again. Vince – “C-SPAN?! NOTHING IS MORE BORING THAN THAT!” Suddenly the feed goes snowy, and returns with Johnny Polo introducing his first acquisition: Adam Bomb!

• Adam Bomb (w/Johnny Polo) vs. Phil Apollo
  

This is the RAW debut for Adam Bomb and Johnny Polo. Before Adam Bomb, he was known as the Nightstalker to SMW fans where he had the most success to date before being hired by the WWF. Before Johnny Polo and after getting his start at the end of the territory days, he was known to WCW fans as Scotty Flamingo and held the Light Heavyweight title for a short time in June 1992. Polo is billed from West Palm Beach, has a string of polo ponies, and comes from a wealthy family. He’s another type similar to Crush – massive to do power moves, yet agile enough to do a dropkick. ATOM SMASHER (powerbomb) is enough to end Apollo at 2:35. I’m digging the Adam Bomb, and so is the Manhattan Center. He’s got a kind of Psycho Sid quality to him, but it doesn’t come across so much as a bad thing for some reason.

Next week: WWF IC champ Marty Jannetty meets Bam Bam Bigelow! Plus, you’ll see the Steiners in action. Mr. Hughes will be here. Maybe even Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Also, will the Kid respond to Razor’s challenge? We’ll find out soon enough.

Before we go, Bam Bam Bigelow offers some words before his big IC title match. Sensational Sherri will be in Jannetty’s corner, while Luna Vachon will stand by her main squeeze Bam Bam Bigelow. Well, that should make it… more interesting?

Monday Night Raw
May 17, 1993
New York City
Manhattan Center

The current WWF champs were as follows:
World Champion: Hulk Hogan (4/4/1993)
Intercontinental Champion: Shawn Michaels (10/27/1992)
World Tag Team Champions: Money Inc. (10/13/1992)

Your hosts are Vince McMahon, Randy Savage, and Bobby Heenan.

From WABC, we see Savage and the “new to the WWF” Smoking Gunns support a Special Olympian dead lifting some poundage.

Let Us Take You Back: Monday Night Raw, 5/10/93. The HBK-Perfect Manhattan brawl where Finkel’s windshield on his car gets a little messed up.

Over to live action, Lord Alfred Hayes is standing outside the Manhattan Center telling us he saw somebody showing up to the building in disguise. You won’t believe who it is! Hmm, what do you want to bet that this man in disguise has *something* to do with Shawn Michaels and/or Mr. Perfect?

• The Smoking Gunns vs. Tony Vajda & Glenn Ruth
  

This is the Gunns RAW debut. Bobby’s humorous reaction to the gun play before the match pretty much sums up my feelings on the recent gun control issue. People really just need to chill out. Vajda starts the match, but Ruth sells better for the Gunns, and works the rest of the squash. The Gunns have clearly watched a lot of the Midnight Express. For the finish, Billy backdrops Ruth into a piledriver (!!) from Bart at 3:43.

After the break, Vince McMahon brings out WWF IC Champ Shawn Michaels. He says he’s a man of his word and has accomplished what he has said he would. Shawn makes the mistake of saying he’ll defend the IC title anywhere, anytime, against anybody. That’s the cue for some stranger to jump the rail and hop in the ring. Oddly enough, neither Shawn nor Vince seem too concerned. Off comes the hat and sunglasses, it’s MARTY JANNETTY. He certainly has a score to settle with Shawn and challenges him to an IC title match – here tonight. HBK tries to get out of it naturally and backpedals what he just got through saying about defending his title. Nevertheless, Vince McMahon – who is just a commentator at this point – takes it upon himself to announce an IC title match for later in the show.

• Razor Ramon vs. The Kid

As Razor’s music hits, Vince gets in the line: “Anything can happen on Monday Night Raw.” He’s gone from the Kamikaze Kid to the Cannonball Kid. Now, he’s just The Kid. After being squashed on Raw the last two weeks by Doink the Clown and Mr. Hughes in two minutes each, the Kid now finds himself against Razor Ramon. He’s still Da Bad Guy here. I’m not being a funny mark here, I really mean that he’s still at this point a heel. Ramon throws Kid around to start. He works the ab stretch and catches Kid with the Fallaway Slam. Razor misses a corner charge, allowing Kid to break free and land a Moonsault Press for 1! 2! 3! (2:12) And the 1-2-3 Kid was born. In the following weeks, Ramon would offer more and more money to the Kid to get a rematch. As it turned out, Razor wouldn’t get his win back until 1996! ½*

• Tatanka vs. Scott Taylor
  

Tatanka chops Taylor inside the ring. Tatanka chops Taylor outside the ring. Just a real chopfest. Taylor gets in few shots, but it’s only so Tatanka can GO ON THE WARPATH. More chops. PAPOOSE TO GO finishes him off at 3:44.

• Yokozuna (w/Mr. Fuji) vs. Kamala
  

Sumo standoff to start. Kamala rocks Yoko off the charge and tries to knock him off his feet with head chops. Nothing doing though, as Yoko jabs the throat. As for commentary, Heenan tells Hogan that to look at what Yoko can do. Yoko hits the legdrop, but Kamala fights back. Fuji grabs Kamala’s leg as he comes off the ropes to distract him into a thrust kick. Avalanche, Buttalanche, and the BANZAI DROP ends Kamala. (3:42) Hmm, I’ve seen worse. The crowd was really behind Kamala here. ½*

• WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels vs. Marty Jannetty
  

Early on, Shawn starts up the turnbuckle smashes. Marty has enough of that and tries for a quick pin. Nothing doing. Next up, Marty flips out of a hiptoss and clotheslines Shawn to the floor. He follows up with a baseball slide and skins-the-cat for a pescado! As Shawn starts to leave, Jannetty brings him back into the ring as Shawn begs away. Marty telegraphs a backdrop, but then Shawn misses with SWEET CHIN MUSIC and takes a Japanese armdrag. Old school headscissors takedown gets two. Marty whips Shawn into the corner for the Ray Stevens bump that takes him back out to the floor. Once again, Shawn tries to leave this time with his IC belt in hand. Just as he reaches the curtain, Mr. Perfect backs Shawn to the ring. Commercials! After the break, Marty flips Shawn from the apron into the ring. He tries another old school headscissors, but Shawn falls back and drops Marty on the top rope. Mr. Perfect is still watching on from ringside to make sure everything stays real legitimate like. Bossman straddle to Jannetty. Shawn grabs a chinlock. As Marty starts to punch out, Shawn catches him with a dropkick. He tries another, but Marty catches him and delivers a catapult all the way to the post. HERE COMES JANNETTY! Big jumping back elbow followed by a powerslam gets 1-2-NO! Off a corner whip, Marty fakes a crossbody block out of the corner and then nails HBK with one anyway once he stands up for 1-2-NO! Shawn rolls through an O’Connor roll with a handful of tights to show off some extra flesh for 1-2-NO! Superkick to Jannetty! Instead of covering him, Shawn looks over and points at Perfect. Once Michaels gets up on the ropes yelling at him, Perfect throws his towel in Shawn’s face to make him lose his balance and slip back into a small package by Jannetty for 1-2-3! (8:56 shown) With the way things were headed as far as HBK-Perfect, this really threw a monkey wrench in those plans. ***½

Next Week: Mr. Perfect meets Doink the Clown in their (third) KOTR qualifying match!

Monday Night Raw
May 10, 1993
New York City
Manhattan Center

The current WWF champs were as follows:
World Champion: Hulk Hogan (4/4/1993)
Intercontinental Champion: Shawn Michaels (10/27/1992)
World Tag Team Champions: Money Inc. (10/13/1992)

While Shawn Michaels (complete with a VINTAGE WWF t-shirt) is running his mouth off about Hacksaw Jim Duggan outside the Manhattan Center hours before the show, Mr. Perfect stops by for a FIGHT that ends up with Shawn getting tossed onto Finkel’s Oldsmobile Achieva and doing some damage to the windshield. The WWF road agents pounce on the scene and attempt to separate the two. Good way to start the show off with a BOOM there.

Your hosts are Vince McMahon, Randy Savage, and Bobby Heenan.

• Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Typhoon – King of the Ring Qualifying Match
  

Since neither man can knock the other down with shoulderblocks, they settle for trading slams. Somewhere around this point, there appears to be some blood on the top of Bigelow’s head. Only Heenan seems to notice. Back suplex by Bigelow causes Typhoon to need to bail. Bigelow then runs Typhoon down the apron into the ring post – TWICE. No blood though. Back in as Bigelow grabs a chinlock, the cameras are becoming increasingly bored as they fade to black apparently falling asleep on this match. Oh wait, no it’s just an ad break. When we return and the cameras are awake again, Typhoon mounts his comeback. Bigelow ends all that noise as he avoids a corner charge. Bigelow delivers a fireman’s carry drop and follows through with the FLYING HEADBUTT to officially enter the King of the Ring. (5:26) This felt WAY longer. ¾*

• Yokozuna (w/Mr. Fuji) vs. P.J. Walker
  

Fresh from the Hart Dungeon, we’ve got a 19-year old Justin Credible in the ring here. This isn’t his first match on Raw. He took a beating at the hands of Lex Luger prior to WrestleMania. Our esteemed commentators discuss just what Yokozuna will do to Hulk Hogan at the King of the Ring when they meet for really the first time. Heenan believes Yoko is putting on even more weight to take on the Hulkster, who was actually slimming down at the time after the steroid trials. Legdrop, Buttalanche, and the BANZAI DROP ends poor P.J. at 2:12. Great reactions from the crowd for all three of Yoko’s signature moves.

• Mr. Perfect vs. Iron Mike Sharpe
  

Clearly just giving our two all-star lumberjacks a workout here. Perfect gives the plump RAW girl his chewing gum – and she likes it. Early on, a dropkick by Perfect sends Sharpe to the floor. Back in, Perfect turnbuckle smashes Sharpe to the count of ten. Rolling neck snap leads to some trading of chops. Looked like Perfect ended that with a kick to the balls. Not sure though. While Perfect grabs a sleeper, Heenan changes the channel on his monitor to see what else is on. PERFECTPLEX puts away Sharpe at 4:40.

• Mr. Hughes (w/Harvey Wippleman) vs. The Cannonball Kid
  

New week, same tights, and different name for the Kid. This is also the beginning of the short-lived Hughes and Wippleman relationship. You can probably imagine how this match goes. Hughes throws the Kid around before planting him with the ANGRY BLACKMAN SLAM for the win at 2:19.

• WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan – Lumberjack Match
  

Here are *your* flannelled lumberjacks: Terry Taylor, Mr. Hughes, Bob Backlund, Mr. Perfect, Tatanka, Typhoon, Bam Bam Bigelow, and Yokozuna (not enough flannel in the world to cover that guy). Apparently, Mr. Fuji is also a lumberjack. Duggan naturally tries to start a fight with Yokozuna. Much like last week, this crowd is REALLY pro-Duggan here. Shawn comes out walking on crutches because of what Perfect did to him at the beginning of the show. Perfect knows he’s not that hurt and throws Shawn into the ring to prove that he’s a liar. When HBK pops up to his feet to strike back at Perfect, Heenan claims that we’ve just seen a miracle. Awesome. Duggan is all over Shawn to start with RASSLIN moves like the atomic drop and a sloppy looking Oklahoma Stampede. Duggan rips off HBK’s 1990 (Warrior holds the strap on the shirt – that’s how I know!) WWF t-shirt and hits a suplex! What has gotten into Duggan here? And we’re back as Duggan starts up with the clotheslines and the typical Duggan offense. He throws Michaels out to the lumberjacks. The heels leave Shawn alone, but Perfect and Backlund carry him back to the ring. Commercials! When we return, Duggan is STILL in total control of this match. OLD GLORY knee drop misses and that looks to be the tide turner. Shawn takes his boot off and blasts Duggan in the face so hard, Duggan falls backwards into ref Bill Alfonso, so he didn’t see a thing. While the heel lumberjacks keep Duggan in the ring, Shawn hits the Bossman straddle. Duggan starts no-selling stuff, but HBK cuts him off as he runs into Shawn’s boot in the corner. Cover, 1-2-NO! Michaels slaps on a chinlock, which proves to be a big mistake as Duggan elbows out and mounts his comeback. Shawn flies off the middle rope into a slam for two. Duggan connects with the THREE-POINT STANCE and knocks Shawn clear out of the ring right in front of Taylor and Hughes, who just stand there. More commercials! After the break, Shawn misses a corner splash. Lucky for him, Bam Bam Bigelow distracts Duggan so HBK can nail him from behind. Shawn tosses Duggan out to Yokozuna, which is good for Shawn and BAD for Duggan. He gets a taste of the HUUUGE LEGDROP. So much for your face, Duggan. Yoko rolls him back in the ring. Just because he can, Shawn simply puts his foot on Duggan’s chest for 1-2-NO! Perfect is not down with such disrespect and runs in to knock Shawn away for the DQ. (13:07 shown) Afterwards, the lumberjacks begin brawling in the ring until Duggan cleans house by swinging his 2×4 all around. HOOOOOOOO! What is Iron Mike Sharpe doing out there? You weren’t a lumberjack in this match? Certainly a standout match in Duggan’s career since he doesn’t have that many of them outside of Mid-South. ***¼

Next week: Yokozuna vs. Kamala! There’s really much better stuff that airs. I promise.

Monday Night Raw
May 3, 1993
New York City
Manhattan Center

The current WWF champs were as follows:
World Champion: Hulk Hogan (4/4/1993)
Intercontinental Champion: Shawn Michaels (10/27/1992)
World Tag Team Champions: Money Inc. (10/13/1992)

Your hosts are Vince McMahon, Randy Savage, and Bobby Heenan.

• WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan
  

They kick off the program with a bang here with the first IC title match ever on RAW. I actually enjoyed Jim Duggan in this brief period more than I did at any other point in the WWF. He just seemed like he cared for the first time since he left Mid-South, which shown through in some of his matches. Crowd is SUPER behind Duggan. Shawn can’t concentrate with all this noise and takes a while to lock up. He sells big for Duggan’s clotheslines and punches. Shawn tries to leave, but Duggan carries him back inside as we go to break. When we come back, Shawn takes over on Duggan with heel offense. He works a chinlock, too. HBK wards off a couple comebacks, but eventually Duggan gets the better of him. Ten-count corner punch staggers Shawn into a big slam. THREE-POINT STANCE sends Shawn flying out of the ring. He tries to leave once more, but again Duggan has to stop him in order to win the belt. Instead of taking him back inside the ring like any smart person would do, Duggan knocks Michaels over the guardrail into the crowd, which gives Shawn the separation that he wanted. While he leaves through the crowd to save his IC title, Duggan hops back in the ring to win via countout. (11:08 shown) Not as fun as the upcoming lumberjack match. Shawn’s overselling was a bit annoying as well. I do miss the days where a match logically sets up a reason for a gimmick match instead of just having a gimmick match for the sake of doing something different. *½

Afterwards, Duggan thinks it stinks that the WWF has the rule that you can’t retain your title if you lose by countout. Well, of course *now* you would say that. He stages a sit-in until he gets to finish what he started with Shawn. The crowd tells him to just “take the belt”. He’s listening and reacting to what they are saying, but he’s not acting on it. Commercials!

After the break, Duggan is still sweating in the ring waiting for Shawn Michaels to return. He ain’t coming back, pal.

• Doink the Clown vs. The Kamikaze Kid
  

This is the Kid’s RAW debut. Although he’s the Kamikaze Kid, his tights still have lightning bolts and says “L. Kid” on the back. As for Doink, I just love the rough style of Matt Borne. Vince discusses Doink’s chances of qualifying for the King of the Ring. He took Mr. Perfect to two time-limit draws on the weekend syndies before squaring off in their third deciding match on May 24. May 1993 is one of my favorite months of Monday Night Raw just because everything felt episodic and as though they really had a plan for these shows. Every segment so far on the program meant something and was built upon for the next few shows. Even this reasonably regular squash turns out to be significant. Due to the Kid’s amazing dexterity, Doink finishes with a nasty STUMP PULLER at 2:07.

• Bob Backlund vs. Dwayne Gil
  

Looks like the on-screen graphic left off a letter there at the end. While discussing Luna Vachon’s appearance on WWF Mania, Bobby admits that he finds her attractive because he loves it when you can see a woman’s scalp. HA! Only one Bobby Heenan. Vince announces the Shawn/Duggan rematch next week will be a lumberjack match where the IC title is on the line. Savage immediately predicts a title change for next week. This is the longest squash of the night (OLD SCHOOL). Backlund powers out of a short-arm scissors to take us back to the 1970s. He gives us the double thumbs up and bridging cradles Gill for the win at 3:40.

After some commercials, Vince brings out Hacksaw Jim Duggan to get his reaction concerning his IC title rematch. He tells us what Vince had already announced during the last match, but at least now the crowd knows what’s going on. Basically from here, Duggan and Vince explain the rules and the psychology of the lumberjack match for the people who either have forgotten or never seen one before.

• The Headshrinkers (w/Afa) vs. Jay Sledge & Jim Bell
  

Captain Lou Albano comes out to do guest commentary. He and Bobby Heenan don’t seem to get along. Not sure what that’s about. They throw around Sledge for a while. In comes Bell, he takes a spike piledriver. As the former manager of the Wild Samoans, Albano speaks in complete gibberish to Afa telling him to play by the rules and just end this match. Nobody listens to Albano though. Double-team Stroke to Bell leads to the Flying Splash from Fatu over Samu’s shoulders for the win at 5:44.

To advertise the latest Coliseum Home Video release, “Smack ‘Em Whack ‘Em”, they show the Bushwhackers doing some home improvement stuff with Lord Alfred Hayes. Hilarity ensues.

• Kamala vs. Rich Myers
  

It is announced that Yokozuna – who put Jim Duggan on the shelf back in February – will be one of the lumberjacks next week. To be a thorn in Shawn’s side, Mr. Perfect has been chosen to be a lumberjack as well. YOU GOTTA TUNE IN! Poor Kamala is out here all by himself without a handler. Kamala splashes the back and does that thing where he bends the leg thinking he’s pinning the guy because he’s such a savage! Where’s Kim Chee when you need him? Finally, Kamala gets it right and turns Myers over for the win at 2:30.

And now they cut to a lady in the crowd eating a Mr. Perfect ice cream bar. Fantastic.

Before we go, Bobby Heenan grabs a quick word with the IC champ Shawn Michaels. Neither one of them think Jack Tunney’s decision is very fair. Not one bit, actually. When Bobby asks Shawn what he has planned, he takes the mic away and once he hears Shawn’s strategy, he advises Duggan to just stay home. I like it!

Next week on RAW: Jim Duggan gets a lumberjack match with Shawn Michaels over the IC title! Plus, Bam Bam Bigelow meets Typhoon to see who advances towards the King of the Ring. I think we all know who wins that one.

WCW: The Best of Monday Nitro – Vol. 2
3-Disc Set DVD Review
Released: February 12, 2013

It’s finally here.

DISC THREE:

• Kevin Nash & Lex Luger vs. The Giant & Hollywood Hogan (w/The Disciple & Bret Hart) – 6/1/98
  

So this is the “Loser Gets Sting” match. Nah, I keed. This is the night though when Sting decides where to stick his allegiance: WCW (borrrring, but would at least make sense), the nWo B&W (incredibly illogical, but this is WCW after all), or the nWo Wolfpac (exciting and hip!)? Lot of shenanigans to start. Luger wipes his apparently sweaty arm pits with Hogan’s ripped up t-shirt. Lex pushes off Hogan in the lock-up, delivers a shoulderblock, wins a test of strength, but then Hogan goes to the eyes to turn the tide. Luger reverses an arm wringer and tags in Nash. He doesn’t want Giant, he wants Hollywood. Nash hits Hogan with the knees in the corner and the running clothesline. Hogan answers back with one of his own and tags Giant. Nash nails him in the corner, but then takes a ride into the corner to get staggered into a big boot. Giant headbutts him down, but misses an elbow drop. Tag to Luger, and GIANT BEGS OFF. What. Luger pounds Giant in the corner, but there’s a whip reversal, and Giant nails Lex with a clothesline. Ugh, you’re just doing the SAME thing over and over again! Back to Hogan, they choke Lex in their corner. Nash lets his temper get the best of him and hurries in to help Luger. He punches away Hogan and goes after the Giant. What he doesn’t notice is that Disciple tosses Hollywood the big gold belt to wallop Nash. DQ! (6:40) Almost like a reflex or a Pavlovian response, the crowd immediately rises to their feet looking towards the entrance for somebody to run out. Instead, the camera goes wide as Sting descends from the rafters. He walks past Luger and heads into the ring to stand face to face with Hogan and the Giant. He takes off his awesome duster to reveal an nWo B&W t-shirt. Hogan and Giant appear to be WAY too overjoyed to think that maybe Sting could be swerving them. While Giant returns to choking Nash, Sting shakes Hogan’s hand and then pulls him in for a clothesline! With Hogan down, Giant swings at Sting only to then be picked up for a slam. Sting tries ripping the shirt off. Once he finally gets his torn, he’s got on underneath an nWo Wolfpac t-shirt. Screw WCW, apparently. Storyline-wise, it made absolutely no sense. Marketing-wise, it was probably the best thing they could have done with Sting at the time. Tony Schiavone calls the Wolfpac the strongest force in professional wrestling, bar none. REMEMBER WCW, TONY? WHO YA WORKIN’ FOR? ½*

Chris Jericho meets the real Goldberg: From 9/28/98. Another failed money-making opportunity in my eyes. In WCW whenever Goldberg was involved in feuds, the memorable ones at least were against perceived tough guys. He never really faced any heels that their sole mission in the ring was to get under your skin. Jericho tried to get Goldberg to face him at Fall Brawl, but Jericho brought out essentially a Gillberg in his place to try and further draw Goldberg into a match. This decision by the “powers that be” to not book Jericho in a squash match with Goldberg eventually led to the reason he left WCW for the WWF in 1999. This here was just a short segment to ultimately blow this off where Goldberg confronted Jericho and his Personal Security crew (one of whom looks like the inspiration for Kenny Powers). Of course if you watched WCW in those days, you’re aware of Ralphus. Anyways, Goldberg destroys two of Jericho’s security team, allowing Jericho and Ralphus make a quick getaway before they can get touched.Jericho is the kind of

• Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Eddie Guerrero (w/Spyder) – 12/21/98
  

Yes, Spyder the bodyguard. Apparently he doesn’t have a name yet because our esteemed commentators keep calling him Eddie’s bodyguard. How hard is it to come up with a name for a bodyguard? Anyways, this is during the LWO phase. Eddie is trying to get Rey Mysterio to play on his team, but he ain’t got time for all that. So why is this happening? Eddie wants to make sure Rey is weak for the triple-threat Cruiserweight title match at Starrcade because he wants Juventud who is LWO through and through to be their champion. Fisticuffs to start. Rey lucha armdrags to the floor. He wants to meet him with a dive, but Eddie ducks. Rey catches himself on the apron, but then Eddie yanks him off the apron onto the guardrail. Just to make this even worse for Rey, Eddie tosses him into the steps. Back inside, Guerrero nails the Hilo. He follows up with a snap back suplex before applying the classic Gory Special, essentially helicoptering Rey around. Rey eventually reaches the solace of the ropes and crawls out to the apron. Eddie wants a suplex, but Rey brings him out to the floor! Rey wants to make him pay with a whip into the guardrail, but Eddie reverses on him. Back in, Eddie backs Rey into the corner, and lifts him up onto the top turnbuckle for a headscissors. That gets two. Now Guerrero applies the MASK-RIPPING CAMEL CLUTCH. Always a great visual. Over to the corner, Eddie hammers down Rey. Nasty release German suplex does more damage to the back and neck. Guerrero punishes Rey by stepping on his face. You know how he does. He’s real methodical though, which gives Rey some time to recover. He fires back with a headscissors that takes Eddie to the floor. He wants a suicide dive, but Eddie hurries out of harm’s way. Now Rey starts clutching his bad knee, which Eddie targets for the next couple minutes. He locks in an STF as we go to break.

When we return, Guerrero has Mysterio in a reverse Gory special. Why not. Rey counter into a victory roll for two, and Eddie rolls back for a two count of his own. Brainbuster! He wants the Frog Splash, but Rey moves and Eddie rolls away. He then runs Rey down with a clothesline. Into the tree of woe, Eddie tries a dropkick and misses. Rey sits up and Eddie gets his balls posted. As Eddie regroups with his unnamed bodyguard, Rey hits them both with an awesome plancha! Back in, Guerrero swats away a springboard move. He charges Rey in the corner, but Rey moves forward and launches Eddie into the corner instead. Rocker dropper by Rey leads to a flying headscissors to put Eddie back on the floor! Rey baseball slides into Eddie and continues that with another headscissors. Back in, Rey lands a springboard somersault splash for two! Once he gets up, Rey charges right into a flapjack. Eddie drills him with a disgusting powerbomb for 1-2-NO! He tries for another one, but that fails and triggers the big Rey comeback. Headscissors everywhere! Ref Charles Robinson gets bumped. Eddie’s bodyguard grabs hold of Rey for Eddie, but Rey moves and Eddie nails his own bodyguard off the apron with a dropkick. Not a bad bump! Springboard X-Factor to Eddie! Here comes Kidman. He’s on the apron. Now Rey grabs Eddie for Kidman to nail him, but that backfires as Kidman slugs Rey! Whoops. Eddie schoolboys Rey for the 1-2-3. (12:21 shown) Well, that creates quite the problems as they head into Starrcade. Rey and Kidman were buds before, but now there could be trouble! Good TV match from both guys. After Starrcade, Kidman was still the cruiserweight champ, and he teamed with Rey to take on Eddie and Juventud next week on Nitro where they had another good one. ***

• Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Scott Hall (w/Disco Inferno) – Ladder Taser Match (1/25/99)

So the week before at Souled Out, Scott Hall went TASER CRAZY and stunned Bigelow in his ladder taser match with Goldberg, which happened as a result of Hall using a taser on Goldberg in order for Kevin Nash to beat him at Starrcade, blah blah blah. Bigelow challenged Hall earlier in the program to make this match happen. Hall comes out and accepts the challenge. Don’t sing it, bring it. Luckily for all of us, there’s a cable suspended from the ceiling that will hold the taser, just in case Scott Hall said yes, I’m supposing. By the way, Bigelow in 1999 is what Tensai was in 2012. Monster push right off the bat, then down to the midcard, then kept on falling down the card. Bigelow is in charge to start. Disco takes it upon himself to trip up Bigelow from the floor, which gets him ejected. As Bigelow goes after Disco, Hall attacks him from behind over by the ladder. Bigelow gets his head bounced off the ladder, but he stops Hall, and slams the ladder on him. Back to ringside where the ladder is leaned up against the apron, Hall reverses a whip on Bigelow to send him into the ladder. Back in, Bigelow takes back control as the ladder gets put in between the ropes. Hall falls off the apron and gets a piece of the ladder, which causes the other end to see-saw into Bigelow’s face. BOTH MEN ARE DOWN! Hall is up first, and slams the ladder on Bigelow. He even goes as far as to pillmanize Bigelow’s leg. That’s right, it’s a verb. Let’s go to some commercials.

With the ladder leaning in the corner, Bigelow whips in Hall and tries a butt splash, but Hall moves at the last second. Hall then *slams* Bigelow and rides the ladder down on top of Bigelow ala Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 10. They are using some of the same spots from that match, ya know. Hall sets the ladder over Bigelow (because its bad luck for somebody) and makes the climb, but Bigelow just stands up and turns the ladder over. Bigelow then proceeds to give Hall a Flying Headbutt off the ladder. Not any higher than the top turnbuckle like Tony wants you to believe, but somewhat of a cool visual nonetheless. Hall makes it up first though and legdrops the balls. He climbs the ladder, and comes off with an elbow drop. He climbs up again, but Bigelow grabs him and brings down Hall with a back suplex! Hall – “You alright, brother?” As the cameraman backs away, you can clearly see Hall is wearing one of his purple and yellow Razor Ramon elbow pads under his red and black Scott Hall oozing blood pad. Both guys make one more failed climb before they go to the finish. Bigelow grabs the taser, but Hall gives him a low blow just as he does so. Bigelow falls to the mat and still has hold of the taser. Meanwhile, Disco runs back down and hands Hall another taser! So we’ve got a taser standoff here. As Disco retreats to the back, he runs into a SPEAR from Goldberg! Now Goldberg charges the ring, and both men decide they want to tase him instead. As they rush him, Goldberg ducks and comes back around to SPEAR them both! (11:41 shown) No contest, I guess. The crowd is losing their minds right now. Goldberg grabs both tasers and starts zapping Hall and Bigelow. That brings out Scott Norton to save the day. Tony explains to us that Norton will meet Goldberg later tonight. Tony – “What an electrifying moment!” On that note, I would be changing the channel over to RAW now. Not a classic or anything, but certainly something different that you just didn’t ever see on Nitro. And what do you know, three weeks later, RAW has themselves a ladder match. Copying WCW much? GEEZ. **

• WCW U.S. Heavyweight Champion Bret Hart vs. Roddy Piper – 2/8/99
  

This is Piper’s first match since being in the Wargames at Fall Brawl. Even though Bret is hurt, WCW President Ric Flair brought Piper back as a mystery opponent for him near the close of the first hour. It should also be noted that Will Sasso from Mad TV is in the front row. Bret Hart made an appearance there and beat Sasso down with a chair before putting him in the Sharpshooter. Why? Because he’s a MEAN man, that’s why. I actually like the idea of a heel being a “special guest” on a program and then have him “go completely off the script” to put him over. Kayfabe it up, guys.

Big face-to-face staredown to start. Piper pounds Bret in and out of the ring. As much as I love Piper, what more did he ever really do? He teases stomping on Bret’s groin, which is the cause of his pain lately. Piper pokes the eyes, but Bret fires back with punches. As he goes to choke him in the ropes, Bret goes down apparently selling his groin problems. It looked like Piper kicked him in the balls, but he didn’t. Out comes trainer Danny Young to check on Bret. Next thing you know, Bret pops up and beats Piper down into the corner. While our esteemed commentators feel Bret is trying to fool us all, it STILL doesn’t mean his pain doesn’t come and go, right? Commercials! Bret unleashes the Russian legsweep, the headbutt to the groin, and a backbreaker for two. We go to the floor where Bret chokes Piper with a cable. While the ref is busy untangling Piper, Bret goes over and flips Sasso over the rail to beat on him. Once Piper is loose, he pulls Bret off Sasso and brings him back into the ring. Now Piper starts delivering a suplex and a back suplex! Where did *this* come from? They each get two. The “Roddy” chants begin. Bret tries to fight back, but that’s when Piper finds the SLEEPER. Oh, but Bret backs up into the ref as well. There’s a double-knockdown. As they come up, Bret finds a foreign object in his tights. By the way, Sasso is standing around ringside cheering on Piper. Roddy stops Bret with an inside cradle, but stands up into a LOADED right hand from Bret. With Piper down and out, Bret begins to drag ref Mickey Jay over to him. Unbeknownst to Bret, Sasso grabs hold of Mickey Jay’s leg, causing a tug-of-war over the ref. As Bret pulls, Sasso lets go, causing Bret to fall backwards into a schoolboy from Piper for the 1-2-3! (10:11 shown) What a pop! Perhaps it’s just a typical pop of the time and crowds just never react like this anymore. Who knows. Anyways, Roddy Piper gets his win back from Bret after putting him over at WrestleMania 8 and then also regains the U.S. title after being without it for nearly sixteen years. But don’t worry though, Bret would get his revenge on Will Sasso next week. I mean, it’s whatever. I’m sure if nothing else Will Sasso lived out some sort of dream of his and the whole Mad TV cast probably got a big laugh out of it. And yes, I *know* Will Sasso was in the WWF as the Stone Cold Steve Austin impersonator. *½

• WCW World Tag Team Champions Perry Saturn & Kanyon vs. Diamond Dallas Page & Bam Bam Bigelow – 5/31/99
  

So Saturn’s buddies Raven and Kanyon have been beaten up by DDP and Bigelow, which leaves Saturn no more friends and no choice but to face them in a handicap match. He ultimately has *no* choice, but he ain’t AFRAID. What a fall from grace for Bigelow though, right? Pretty much a main event guy feuding with Bill Goldberg to playing second fiddle in a tag team in just four short months! Anyways, he starts off with Saturn. Saturn decides to employ the stick-and-move strategy on Bigelow. When that works, DDP runs in only for Saturn to clean house on both of them. Nitro continues when we come back! When we return, Bigelow nails Saturn with a knee from the apron while DDP drills him with a clothesline. Hart Foundation 101, folks. The crowd gets on DDP’s case a bit. They keep Saturn on the mat for a while and work him over. Saturn reverses a whip, but DDP stops that and delivers a sitout powerbomb for two. Back to Bigelow, he applies a camel clutch. He moves over to the ropes, allowing DDP to choke on Saturn while Bigelow backs up the ref. Tag to DDP, he flies in with a clothesline for another two. Bigelow wants in again and tries the Flying Headbutt, but Saturn moves just in time. In comes DDP, he eats a superkick. Bigelow takes one and out to the floor he goes. DDP looks for the Diamond Cutter, but Saturn shoves him off into Bigelow for 1-2-NO! DEATH VALLEY DRIVER to DDP! Cover, 1-2-NO! No save from Bigelow. He walks in and takes a DEATH VALLEY DRIVER as well! Sort of anyways, but good enough. Everybody’s down. Here comes Kanyon! He’s got a hospital brace on his wrist. He *must* have just come from the hospital! Hot tag to Kanyon, DDP slugs him one time, and Kanyon goes down for the 1-2-3. (9:16 shown) Man, you talk about deflating a crowd. DDP just did it with one punch. They were hot, and then they were just pissed off. This was heading in the right direction, but man that finish. I tell ya, this was just another stepping stone towards ruining WCW for me. **

• WCW World Heavyweight Champion Randy Savage (w/Team Madness) vs. Hollywood Hogan – 7/12/99
  

Oh Randy Savage is world champion again? Time for Hogan to return on the scene. He went away from WCW at Spring Stampede almost teasing a face turn then, but here he is acting like a babyface even though he’s still in his “Hollywood” attire. If you listened to Eric Bischoff’s commentary in that last match, you could see it coming. I feel it’s important to note that this is the final time these two face each other. Savage punches Hogan to start, but then he refuses a turnbuckle smash, and punches Savage until he bails. In comes Madusa and Miss Madness to attack Hogan, but they take a DOUBLE NOGGIN KNOCKER. The crowd is eating this up. For some reason, that leads to Madness and Madusa getting into a pull-apart CAT FIGHT. Security takes them out of here. Back to what matters. Hogan scratches and claws and punches all over Savage. It’s what he does. Savage ends up bailing out to the floor, but Hogan follows him out to bounce his head off the guardrail. A chair gets involved and Hogan hits him across the back and one time to the head. Over to the announce table they go, Bischoff and Tony sit back and enjoy watching Savage get his head punched in as if it were a lap dance. Tony – “OHHHHH YEAH! That’s why we like it at ringside!” Heenan stays quiet. More ringside violence as Hogan takes off his weightlifting belt. Of course, Savage uses Gorgeous George as a shield to distract Hogan. He takes Hollywood over to the announce table, but the guys don’t seem to enjoy it as much. Back in, Savage begins to WHIP Hogan like a government mule. Oh wait, wrong show. Crowd starts chanting Hogan, but it does little good. The whippings will continue until morale improves – or at least until these people SHUT UP. Macho Elbow misses. You better believe Hogan is HULKING UP. Three punches, the Big Boot, and we’ve got company. Here’s Sid Vicious to pound on Hogan! He wants a Powerbomb, but Sting comes out to the aid of Hollywood Hogan. Well, so much for long-term planning and years of continuity thrown out the window. He takes care of Sid, but Savage wallops Hogan with a chain around his fist. Savage covers, but Kevin Nash in JEAN SHORTS pulls out the ref. He sticks Savage with the JACKNIFE. Hogan crawls over for the pin and gets the 1-2-3. (14:17) Ladies and gents, we’ve got the old World Heavyweight champion back. We got this one in FULL though, baby. Didn’t want you to flipping over to those other guys to see the Undertaker and Kane take on Big Show and Steve Austin. A lot of punches in that one too, I assume. ¾*

• WCW World Tag Team Champions Goldberg & Bret Hart vs. The Outsiders – 12/13/99
  

Turns out that the Outsiders jumped Bret Hart and it doesn’t look like he’s going to be able to compete tonight. Big Kev wants Goldberg to just come out and hand them the belts since they did him such a big favor by beating up the world champion heading into their match at Starrcade. He’s FREAKING Bill Goldberg. That’s not going to happen. Goldberg comes out with both belts, drops the tag belts in front of the Outsiders, and clotheslines them down. He cleans house on the Outsiders, allowing them to regroup. Back in, Goldberg fights off an armbar from Hall, and pumphandle slams him down. Tag to Nash, Goldberg levels him with a running shoulder tackle and then a slam for two. As Goldberg comes off the ropes, Hall nails him for the distraction, as Goldberg turns around into a boot from Nash. The Outsiders corner him with punches and boots. Hall holds Goldberg in place for the Bossman Straddle from Nash. As Hall hits a Chokeslam on Goldberg, here comes Bret Hart hurrying to the ring with a limp. He single-handedly fights off the Outsiders. He slaps the SHARPSHOOTER on Nash, but Hall breaks it up. Nash gets one of the tag title belts, but Bret still manages to keep Nash at bay, while Goldberg spears Hall. Goldberg is busy being Goldberg – psyching himself up and the crowd for the Jackhammer. Meanwhile, Nash nails Bret in the knee with the belt and covers him with his feet on the ropes for the 1-2-3. (6:20) Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve got our old World Tag Team Champions back. Goldberg finally gives Hall the JACKHAMMER, but it doesn’t matter. It’s all over. Goldberg checks on Bret until we close the show. Hmm, nobody seemed to like that finish either. ½*

• Sting vs. Vampiro – House of Pain Match (5/15/00)
  

This has got to be one of the few times a CAGE MATCH opens the show. The only way to win is to handcuff your opponent to the cage. Vampiro is convinced this will be Sting’s last match. Classic mistake from this “shades of gray” person. I know this DVD doesn’t include “Seek and Destroy” by Metallica, but I must mention what a great wrestling theme song that was for Sting. For some reason, Vampiro locks the door so Sting can’t get inside. Sting ends up having to walk up on the ceiling and bash it in with his ball bat to make it inside. He pounds away on Vampiro and almost immediately delivers the Stinger Splash. Vampiro takes Sting into the cage to calm him down. He slows down the action as he keeps Sting on the mat. When Sting gets to his feet, Vampiro kicks him down. He wants a flying headscissors, but Sting blocks with a powerbomb. Sting fires back with a flurry of clotheslines. He delivers an inverted atomic drop and throws him into the cage where he lands in between the ropes and the steel mesh. After some face grading, Sting handcuffs Vampiro to end the match. (5:48) Since Vampiro has nowhere to go, Sting gives him a couple Stinger Splashes before exiting the cage to celebrate with the crowd. Quite a hot crowd for such a poor time in the history of WCW. Then again, it was just the opener. *½

• Shane Helms vs. Shannon Moore (w/Evan Karagias) – 2/26/01
  

So, 3 COUNT EXPLODES here, as they split up to turn Helms face so he can be the next Billy Kidman, I suppose. Man, what a dumb group 3 Count was, huh? The only idea worse than this was the Spirit Squad. And just the *name* 3 Count is terrible to me. What could be worse than a wrestling-themed boy band? After some fisticuffs, Helms hits the Top Spin Facebuster on Moore. There’s a neckbreaker as well. Moore tries to come back with a ten-count punch, but Helms takes him down with a Running Ligerbomb, or a Sugar Bomb according to Scott Hudson. To the floor we go, Helms is on the move, but Karagias is there to stop him. He drops Helms JAW-FIRST on the rail. Back inside, Moore takes a ride out to the apron. He punches Helms back and then comes off the top with a corkscrew leg lariat for two. Helms fires back with the Sugar Smack (superkick). Helms lands a back drop, but Evan is there to pull him out to the floor. Meanwhile, Moore climbs to the top, and delivers the somersault plancha – only Helms is gone, and Karagias is left to take the bump! Back in the ring, Helms comes off the top with a flying bodypress for 1-2-NO! He wants the Vertebreaker, but here’s Karagias again. Helms forearms off the apron, but here’s Moore with a knee. He wants the Bottoms Up, but Helms slips out and lands the VERTEBREAKER for the win. (3:24) Too short, but not bad for what we got. The Cruiserweight champ Chavo Guerrero Jr. comes down to punk out Helms. Moore and Karagias join in on the fun to build towards the FINAL WCW PPV! *

• WCW World Heavyweight Champion Scott Steiner (w/Midajah) vs. WCW U.S. Heavyweight Champion Booker T – 3/26/01
  

Believe it or not, Booker T won his one and only WCW U.S. title from Rick Steiner at the final WCW PPV, which I’ve never seen. Tony announces that he first learned about the sale of WCW on Friday, but how it didn’t really sink in until Vince McMahon appeared on Nitro. Booker gets the crowd riled up while Scott Steiner gets REALLY annoyed. Early on, Booker wins a slugfest and nails Scott with a Harlem Sidekick for two. Steiner pushes him back into the corner for some elbows. Booker fires back with a clothesline and tries the ten-count corner punch. He gets about half way through when Scott powerbombs him down for two. To the floor, Scott swings his lead pipe at Booker up against the ringpost, but LUCKILY FOR THE SAKE OF BOOKER’S LIFE, he ducks out of the way just in time. Back inside, Scott hits the clothesline, kisses the bicep, and drops the elbow. Oh, it’s time for push-ups! After years of seeing him do this, Tony can’t believe Scott would take this moment in time to get in a workout. Spinning Belly to Belly Suplex gets two. Scott now pulls back on Booker’s arms. That brings about a comeback. AX KICK connects. Tony calls it the Ghetto Blaster, which I’m just now aware of that name. I’ve only seen a handful of WCW matches in 2000 and beyond. I wonder if Bad News Brown cared at all. Booker hits the flapjack and follows with that spinning break dance move up off the mat that WCW was never creative enough to market. There’s the Harlem Sidekick, leaving Booker with nothing else to do but the BOOK END. Steiner slips away and reverses to a bridging Northern Lights suplex for two! Scott tries another powerbomb, but Booker escapes and drops Steiner with the BOOK END for the 1-2-3! (5:09) Can’t really say he didn’t deserve to go out on top at the end of WCW after all those years. He was certainly not an ex-WWF guy or a proven old-school NWA guy, so it’s hard not to cheer for somebody like Booker. Match was nothing special. Really just a short match with an endgame to put over Booker. After this match, Scott Steiner would sit at home for 18 months collecting the rest of his AOL-Time Warner contract, while Booker T instead decided to climb another long ladder over at the WWF. *½

Final Thoughts: Well I think we can all agree that it’s a GOOD thing there is less of WCW 2000 on this volume than on the first. I’d rather see more of 1999 than more of 2000. A few odd choices here though, but it does leave a window of opportunity for a volume three if this one sells well.

I’d like to know a few additions that were left off that maybe you guys would put on the next volume if they decide to make one. Maybe you feel there shouldn’t be another set and you can just think of only a few matches they have missed on these first two volumes. If you haven’t check out the other discs from this set and the one before. Let me know what you think has been forgotten by the good people of WWE.

The current WWE champs are as follows:
WWE Champion: CM Punk (11/20/2011)
World Heavyweight Champion: Alberto Del Rio (1/11/2013)
WWE United States Champion: Antonio Cesaro (8/16/2012)
WWE Intercontinental Champion: Wade Barrett (12/31/2012)
WWE Tag Team Champions: Team Hell No (9/16/2012)
WWE Divas Champion: Kaitlyn (1/14/2013)

Your hosts are Michael Cole, a highly inebriated JBL, and Jerry Lawler.

• World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio (w/Ricardo Rodriguez) vs. The Big Show – Last Man Standing Match
  

Backstage, Bret Hart boosts Ricardo’s confidence that ADR can win by giving him a pair of shades. Suddenly, Ricardo is an eight year old kid again. Bret calls ADR the Mexican Bret Hart. WHAT. Show tries to keep the action nice and slow to start, but then ADR will start kicking him around and counter a powerbomb into a headscissors. ADR even busts out a flying seated senton ala Rey Mysterio to take Show off his feet. Cole tells us Del Rio wants to incorporate more of the lucha style into his arsenal. He pounds the arm a little bit and then thinks he’s going to get the Cross Armbreaker. Show lifts him with one arm and drops him to the mat. Del Rio gets a chair away from Show and beats him down. Show is up at six. ADR is waiting as he comes off the middle rope with the chair, but he flies down into a CHOKESLAM. After that, he’s up at nine, and then tumbles out to the floor. Show gives ADR a slam on the concrete, but then pays with a kick to the balls and then the head (on his shoulders). Show gets up at the count of nine. Over to the set, a light tube breaks loose and Show tries to break it over his back, but can’t! Now Show sets up a table and CHOKESLAMS ADR OFF THE SET! It’s like a 5-10 foot drop the best I can tell. Somehow, ADR is up at nine. Back to the ring, ADR slides out when he sees the KNOCK YOU THE FCK OUT punch is coming. Show tries to throw the steps at him, but misses. Ricardo BUM RUSHES THE SHOW, but gets thrown away like a rag doll. With ADR up against the barricade, Show charges, misses ADR, and goes flying through, which is a spot he’s done multiple times over the years. I believe he’s done it before at the Royal Rumble in a world title match as well. Again, Show is up at nine. Del Rio blasts Show a bunch of times with a chair, including a chair shot on the arm while its draped on steel steps. He even gets Show all disoriented with a fire extinguisher. Back inside, ADR applies the CROSS ARMBREAKER while Ricardo duct tapes the feet to the ropes. Once he feels he’s had the hold on long enough, he lets go of Show’s arm and lets the ref count to ten since Show can’t get up. (16:58) Much better than I remembered it being watching it live. The chokeslam off the set went a little far when you consider how tame the rest of the match was. It’s a thing where people will remember the moment more than they will the match itself. ***¼

In the back, Dolph Ziggler tells Matt Striker he’s choosing the #1 spot in the Rumble match because that’s exactly what he is. Striker reminds him of the insanity of that choice when you could go in at #30. Before Striker can begin to remind us of Chris Benoit and his Royal Rumble achievement, AJ interrupts and chastises him for doubting Ziggler’s ability, and then threatens him with Big E Langston. He gets on the mic and does a Walter Cronkite impression. Ziggler tells us his plans for WrestleMania: to win the Rumble, cash in his MITB briefcase to win the world title, and then unify the titles. That’s a TALL order, pal.

Yay old school Rumble promos! Somehow, it’s not the same. Antonio Cesaro, Prime Time Players, Randy Orton, John Cena (who cuts a loud Hulk Hogan promo), Wade Barrett, Sheamus, and Ryback.

On the pre-show, we see that US champ Antonio Cesaro defeated the Miz in no time with the Neutralizer.

• WWE Tag Team Champions Hell No vs. Rhodes Scholars
  

Doesn’t Cody just look like a guy trying to be Rick Rude for Halloween? Anyways, Rhodes and Bryan start us off. Headlocks and wristlocks are exchanged. Bryan catches Rhodes by the leg trying for a leapfrog and gets stuck in the surfboard. In comes Kane and Sandow. The tag champs concentrate on Sandow for a while. Kane boots Sandow to the floor and dumps out Cody so that Bryan can nail them with the suicide dive. Once that’s over, Sandow shoves out Bryan to start working on his back. He is *your* face in peril. He kicks Cody away and nearly gets a tag, but Sandow pulls him back. Canadian backbreaker on Bryan by Rhodes, but Bryan breaks loose. Bryan dives for the tag and gets caught by Rhodes, but counters *that* into a DDT. Hot tag to Kane, he hits the Side Slam on Sandow. He misses the Flying Clothesline, as Sandow blasts him with a swinging neckbreaker of sorts for two. Kane wants to double chokeslam the challengers, but they don’t let that happen, and then they give Kane a double suplex. After a blind tag, Bryan saves the day with a missile dropkick to Sandow. Rhodes gets shoved into a CHOKESLAM by Kane. With Cody gone, Bryan slaps the NO LOCK on Sandow for the tap out. (9:25) Fun little match. I just wonder what they are waiting on to put the belts on Rhodes Scholars though. **

Just when things are going great for Team Hell No, Vickie Guerrero drops by to reveal to them their Rumble match drawings. Bryan shows Kane his number, but Kane won’t show Bryan his. Hilarity ensues.

• The Rumble Match
  

Of course Dolph Ziggler is #1, but #2 is CHRIS JERICHO. No doubt, a huge ovation for Jericho. I just realized Jericho has tattoos now, and I don’t understand why. After a headlock and shoulderblock exchange, Ziggler tries to dump out Jericho. He lands on the apron and comes off the top with a sledge. Now Jericho throws Ziggler to the apron, where they end up fighting over to the top turnbuckle. Jericho ends up bringing him back inside with a superplex as Cody Rhodes enters at #3. They double-team Jericho, but he fights back. WALLS OF JERICHO on Cody, but Ziggler nails him from behind. Kofi Kingston is the #4 guy. He mounts Rhodes in the corner for the punches, but whiffs on the Trouble in Paradise to Ziggler. Ziggler wants to dump Kingston, but he bounces his neck off the top rope. Cole calls him the rubber band man. Kofi tries to dump Ziggler, Rhodes tries to dump Kingston, and Jericho tries to dump all three. That leads nowhere as no one gets eliminated. #5 is Santino Marella. He puts everybody out on the apron and celebrates like he’s the winner. Of course, no one is out. Once they decide to dump this idiot, he puts on the Cobra. Kingston charges and takes the stupidest move of all time because he’s a tool, but Jericho won’t sell that crap and chops Santino into a SUPERKICK from Ziggler. Rhodes decides to do the deed and gets rid of Santino for our first elimination. Drew McIntyre is the #6 entrant. When did he start looking like Lance Hoyt? He boots Kofi and tries to dump him to no avail. Ziggler tosses Jericho, but he dangles on the top rope ala Shawn Michaels. In comes Titus O’Neil at #7. Cody and Kofi work together on this guy, but they can’t handle him. Meanwhile, Jericho puts McIntyre on the apron and then springboard dropkicks him to the floor. Again, Ziggler and Jericho attempt to dump each other. Our second surprise entrant: GOLDUST. He’s your #8 guy and goes right after his little half-brother Cody Rhodes. When Ziggler interrupts, Goldust jabs him while Cody drops to the mat and gives him an uppercut. David Otunga enters in at #9. Nothing too interesting as the ring is filling up now. Another stooge by the name of Heath Slater drew #10. He doesn’t really make an impact either.

Here comes Sheamus at #11. He nails everybody and delivers Irish Curse backbreakers to Ziggler and Rhodes. Rolling Fireman’s Carry on Slater and then Jericho. Now Titus and Otunga get their chests pounded by Sheamus before getting eliminated. Tensai is #12. What a disappointment he turned out to be, huh? Who knew Albert would suck? Brodus Clay joins the fray at #13. He doesn’t do anything worth noting, but Goldust and Cody start mixing it up again. They fight on the apron where Goldust gets whipped into the ringpost and down onto the floor to eliminate him. Dustin can still take some good bumps. Next up, Rey Mysterio is #14. He dishes out 619s on both Jericho and Ziggler. He hits a flying splash to Jericho before Cody hoists him up on his shoulders to try and toss him out. Rey won’t go though. #15 is Darren Young. He helps a bundle of guys get rid of Brodus Clay. Kingston uses his legs to bring Tensai over the top to the floor. Ziggler comes up behind Kingston and forearms him off the apron onto Tensai’s back. Why would Tensai toss him down onto the Spanish announce table instead of the floor? Anyways, he does just that. While the refs try to clear Tensai of the ringside area, Kingston needs to figure out a way to get back into the ring without touching the floor. He can’t jump back onto the apron because it’s too far, so he asks for JBL’s chair. Meanwhile, NXT guy Bo Dallas is #16. Kofi then uses JBL’s chair as a pogo stick to reach the apron and get back inside the ring. I wish somebody would have hit Kofi with a baseball slide and eliminated him as he sat on the apron congratulating himself. Young does charge Kofi, but the top rope gets pulled down to send Young flying out to the floor. Since Kofi is still on the apron and not looking, Cody nails him with the Disaster Kick to finally eliminate Kofi. YEAH! Our third and final surprise entrant: THE GODFATHER comes in at #17. He hands the shades and chains to one ho, and hands his coat to the other ho. He slides into the ring and Ziggler dropkicks him out to the floor! He puts on the shades, the chains, and the hat, and leaves with a smile on his face and whores on his arms. #18 is Wade Barrett. He punches some folks and hits the Winds of Change on Sheamus. John Cena enters in at #19. I’m expecting some purging at this point. They all jump the guy, but even then he fights them off. Out goes Slater and Rhodes. Cena nearly eliminates Jericho, but Ziggler helps him out since he wants him for himself. By the way, Bo Dallas is still in this match. Damien Sandow comes in at #20.

Rey tries to eliminate Barrett with a headscissors, but they both hang on the apron. Barrett slides back in first and kicks Rey to the floor. Sheamus makes him pay by stomping him down in the corner. Meanwhile, Jericho attempts the Walls of Jericho on Cena. He finally applies the hold as Daniel Bryan makes his way to the ring at #21. He goes into kick mode and doesn’t stop until he completes his combo with a Buzzsaw kick on Barrett. Sheamus tries to help Bryan eliminate Jericho. He dangles again, but makes it back onto the apron. Here comes Antonio Cesaro at #22. He throws European uppercuts all around. By the way, Bo Dallas is still in this match. The Great Khali enters in at #23. Somehow, he doesn’t eliminate anybody. Speaking of a guy who eliminates people, Kane is in at #24. Nope, still nobody is gone. Now I’m just thinking of Ryback. Zack Ryder – who has a MILLION TWITTER FOLLOWERS – comes in at #25. ROUGH RYDER to Ziggler, but he can’t toss him out. Meanwhile, Bryan and Kane dump out Great Khali. Once that is achieved, Bryan eliminates Kane. Stunned, Kane stands there as Cesaro forearms Bryan off the apron into his arms. Bryan tells Kane to put him back in the ring, which triggers a YES-NO argument. Bryan reaches the apron with his hands, but then Kane just lets him fall to the floor. Randy Orton is your #26 guy. Clotheslines and powerslams for a select few. He hits the draped DDT on Ziggler and Dallas. Yes, Bo Dallas is still in this match. An RKO to Ryder serves as the stepping stone to him getting eliminated. Jinder Mahal enters the match at #27. Cesaro makes eliminating Cena a lot harder than it is with a gutwrench, so Cena ends up just giving him a backdrop to the floor. Here comes the Miz at #28. He gets into a brief scuffle with Cesaro in the aisleway. Sheamus gets rid of Mahal. In comes Sin Cara at #29. There are now ten guys in the ring. Bo Dallas takes care of that as he brings Wade Barrett over the top rope to the floor. Not quite the same effect as Maven eliminating Undertaker, but it’s something. Barrett then reaches in and pulls Dallas out when he’s not looking. When he stands back up, Barrett nails him with the LOADED RED ELBOW PAD. By the way, when will we be seeing Chris Hero? Okay, time for #30 Ryback. He immediately sends Sandow, Sin Cara, and the Miz. Jericho shuts this fool down with the CODEBREAKER. Lionsault to Cena! Sheamus charges Jericho, but gets dumped to the apron. Jericho nails him with the springboard dropkick, but Sheamus still hangs on. CODEBREAKER to Ziggler! Jericho charges him, but gets sent to the apron to allow Ziggler to SUPERKICK him to the floor. That’s 47:52 for Jericho. Now Orton is on fire. While Ryback eats the post, he drops Ziggler, Cena, and Sheamus with the RKO. Draping DDT on Ryback! He looks for the RKO, but Ryback shoves him off and clotheslines him out, giving us our final four!

Final Four: Dolph Ziggler, Sheamus, John Cena, and Ryback. Sheamus prevents the jumping DDT and puts Ziggler on the apron for the BROGUE KICK to send him packing. Dolph’s time is clocked in at 49:46. Cena and Sheamus double-team Ryback with a double suplex. They then try and take out each other, which Cena gets the better end of that exchange. He goes for the Five Knuckle Shuffle on Sheamus when Ryback interrupts with a clothesline. SHELL SHOCKED to Sheamus gets countered to WHITE NOISE. Time for the Brogue Kick, but Ryback catches him charging and sends him over the top to the floor. Now it’s down to Cena and Ryback. Feed Me More chants start up. Ryback nails Cena with a spinebuster and I start to hear some boos. He charges into the STF, which just makes it harder for Cena to toss this guy out. Ryback fires back on Cena and lifts him up over his shoulder to throw him out, but Cena gets free and shoves out Ryback for the win. (55:04) Definitely a lack of star power in this one. I did like seeing Chris Jericho, but Ziggler’s Flair ’92-type performance was a bit underwhelming. Plus, the ending could be seen a mile away and solidified that Rock was indeed leaving Phoenix with the belt. Nothing really bad about it, just a little underwhelming for a Rumble match, even though it’s still a fun watch. ***

In the back, the Rock cuts a LONG promo that would maybe pull on your heart strings if it weren’t for the fact that he would glance over at the prompter every now and then.

• WWE Champion CM Punk (w/Paul Heyman) vs. The Rock
  

With Punk’s legit bad knee, I wasn’t expecting a lot out of this. They trade blows to start and head to the floor. Rock clears off the Spanish announce table, but Punk puts it back together. Heyman gets involved and tries to jump the Rock. That’s enough of a distraction to help Punk clothesline Rock down. Should he use the SAT or not? Punk decides to not use it. Punk hangs Rock out to dry on the barricade to do more damage to the insides of the Rock after the recent Shield attack. Back in, Punk works a body scissors and then a form of an ab stretch on the mat. Rock fights out, but Punk cuts him off with a dropkick. He hangs Rock out to dry again – this time on the top rope. With Rock rolling to the apron clutching his midsection, Punk delivers a springboard dropkick to send Rock to the floor. Looks like Punk has hurt his knee again, as he comes off the top rope with an elbow smash. Back in, Rock immediately kicks at the taped knee. That’s when Punk yanks out Rock and gives him a suicide dive. Back in again, Punk misses the Springboard Clothesline to do further damage to the knee. Rock slams the knee to the mat and follows up with a Russian legsweep for two. They trade attempts at their finishers. Rock then wants the Sharpshooter, but Punk counters to the ANACONDA VICE! Rock won’t tap and counters to a cradle for two. DDT by Rock leads to a shot at the Rock Bottom, but Punk escapes into a crucifix. Rock rolls through *that* and locks in the Sharpshooter. He couldn’t possibly power out and reaches the ropes for the break. On the floor, Rock clears off the Spanish announce table, and this time he takes out the monitors. You KNOW it’s business time now. ROCK BOTTOM, but the table gives way before the move is really executed. That’s not good for anybody’s knees. Rock settles for a ROCK BOTTOM on the floor instead. Back in, Rock covers for 1-2-NO! They come up fighting, but Rock gets the better end of the deal. Spinebuster and just before the People’s Elbow, the lights go out. Michael Cole proclaims that the Shield – who are barred from ringside – have appeared to TRIPLE POWERBOMB the Rock through their announce table! Now the lights come up and nobody is the wiser. Punk and Heyman have huge grins on their faces. He rolls Rock into the ring and covers for the 1-2-3! Rock’s mom is confused, but Punk and Heyman are CELEBRATING! And that’s when Vince McMahon comes out and reminds us all that if the Shield showed up, that Punk would be forced to vacate the WWE championship. Rock won’t win that way. He wants to BEAT Punk. Since he is Vince’s biggest suck up, Rock gets Vince to restart the match. Punk destroys Rock in the corner and hits the running knee. Flying Elbow gets 1-2-NO! Rock pushes off the GTS, catches Punk with the Spinebuster, and delivers the PEOPLE’S ELBOW for the win and his eighth WWE title. (26:42) Not the epic it could have been. Rock is a great personality, but he’s not exactly known for having classic wrestling matches like CM Punk. He always had to be in the ring with somebody better than him to have a great match: Steve Austin, Mick Foley, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, few others. We just didn’t get CM Punk at his 100% that could have made this to the next level of greatness. ***¼

Final Thoughts: Nothing bad about it, just as average as average gets. “Thumbs in the middle” for Royal Rumble 2013.

TNA: Genesis
January 13, 2013
Orlando, FL
Universal Studios

The current TNA champs are as follows:
TNA World Heavyweight Champion: Jeff Hardy (10/14/2012)
TNA Television Champion: Devon (12/6/2012)
TNA X-Division Champion: Rob Van Dam (10/14/2012)
TNA World Tag Team Champions: Chavo Guerrero Jr. & Hernandez (10/14/2012)
TNA Knockouts Champion: Tara (10/14/2012)
TNA Knockouts Tag Team Champions: Eric Young & ODB (2/28/2012)

Your hosts are Todd Keneley, Mike Tenay, and Tazz.

• TNA World Tag Team Champions Chavo Guerrero & Hernandez vs. Joey Ryan & Matt Morgan
  

I do like Matt Morgan doing the Hulk Hogan circa 1980 gimmick. He’s got the chest hair trimmed just right and the gigantic golden robe. All he needs is Freddie Blassie in his corner. Although when you think about it, isn’t that just like Hulk Hogan to have someone in a fed that he carries a lot of influence in to look and act JUST like he did at one point? The first part of this match is all tag champs. Joey Ryan takes all their best double-teams. Chavo finally makes a mistake as Joey puts on the brakes and avoids a dropkick. Joey catapults Chavo into Morgan for a forearm. I always thought the Steiners should have done a version of that with the Steinerline. Morgan tags in for a few seconds before letting Joey back inside the ring, which causes an issue. Chavo catches himself in the corner, moonsaults back over Joey, and Ricky Morton rolls over for the hot tag. Hernandez avalanches and backdrops Joey. With the whole operation in shambles, Morgan tags himself in and suckers Hernandez back into his corner. Joey slaps him from the apron to draw his attention, which allows Morgan to run him over. Why does a seven-foot tall heel need to work so deviously? Anyways, they work over Hernandez with stomps and clotheslines for a while. Eventually, Joey runs at Hernandez and gets caught with a hotshot in the corner. Morgan prevents the ref from seeing the tag by sticking his leg through the ropes to draw the ref. When they switch behind the ref’s back, Morgan gets put back on the apron because the ref didn’t SEE their tag either. That proves to be very disconcerting due to Morgan thinking he had the pin, too. Hernandez fights out of a neck wrench and catches Joey with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. HOT TAG TO CHAVO! Edouard Carpentier roll, headscissors, and the Three Amigos to Joey. He wants the FROG SPLASH, but Morgan stands in his way with his arms crossed. A shoulderblock by Hernandez and a missile dropkick from Chavo won’t take Morgan off his feet. The tag champs charge into a double goozle, avoid the chokeslam, and DOUBLE DROPKICK Morgan over Joey for the school boy effect. Morgan bails out, leaving Joey to take a bad looking powerbomb by Hernandez, followed by a FROG SPLASH from Chavo for the win. (11:32) Nothing new here, just the standard formula tag stuff we’ve seen since Bound for Glory. I really wanted to see Joey Ryan and Matt Morgan get the tag titles here though. **¼

• Samoa Joe vs. Mr. Anderson
  

Mr. Anderson had nothing to do with the Aces & 8′s attack on Angle. Honest! I really enjoy Anderson’s theme music, by the way. Not sure why. They exchange words to start, and then Anderson throws his t-shirt in Joe’s face to get an advantage. Joe quickly turns the tables on Anderson by unloading on him in the corner, followed by a jumping enziguri. Snapmare, stiff kick, and the jumping knee drop continues the offense. On the floor, Joe gets yanked into the steps knees first. Back inside, Anderson lands a CM Punk-style swinging neckbreaker for two. Joe jabs back, but takes a dropkick to the knee, and then receives a chopblock for good measure. There’s another dropkick on the knee as Anderson takes Joe to school. WOO! He sits down on the knee one time too many as Joe kicks him out, and still delivers the Elbow Suicida. Oh, but he still sells the knee. Back in, Joe mounts his comeback with the inverted atomic drop, the jumping kick, and the running senton splash for two. Powerslam by Joe gets two, but Anderson goes back to the knee. Anderson picks him up for the Fireman’s Carry Slam, but Joe slips off his back and clamps on the COQUINA CLUTCH. Anderson drops down into a jawbreaker though, but charges into STJoe. He looks for the Muscle Buster as Mike Knox shows up holding a ball-peen hammer. That distracts Joe an awful lot. He turns back around to Anderson only to be met with the MIC CHECK for the 1-2-3. (10:45) And again, questions are left unanswered with the Aces & 8′s angle. **

• Kenny King vs. Christian York – #1 Contender to the X-Division Title Tournament Final
  

So it was Tyler Reks then who took a look at Christian York and went, “That’s the look for me.” As far as I’m concerned, Christian York is best known for working as a team with Joey Matthews on the tail end of ECW, and that’s about it. He was on the first TNA PPV, so there’s that too. KK already has a non-title victory over Rob Van Dam on Impact, so can he capitalize tonight and get another title shot? Shouldn’t he just get another title shot since he’s already beaten RVD – even though his feet were on the ropes when he won? That’s really anyone’s guess. Feeling-out process to start leads to a stalemate. In an X-Division match? NO WAY. Dropkicks and knee strikes from York follow. King dumps out York and wants the corkscrew pescado, but York moves and KK lands on his feet. York lands a headscissors off the apron, and we head back inside the ring. King counters a tornado DDT and kicks York off the apron to the floor. After slamming York’s face off the steps, he gets a two-count. King poses a little too much instead of going for the pin attempt. Tenay brings up Kenny King is a Chippendales dancer in Las Vegas. Keneley reminds everyone that Tenay is from Las Vegas as a jab. Now THAT would be interesting. Tenay reveals himself as a homosexual and joins forces with Kenny King much like Michael Cole and the Miz in 2010. I don’t know what this is called, but York hits a variation of a neckbreaker and a legsweep. They fight over a suplex that puts them both on the apron. York blocks the Handstand Kick and nails King with a rolling kick of his own. Back in, a Flying Double Stomp to the back of King gets 1-2-NO! King fires back with a spinning heel kick and lands the ROYAL FLUSH for 1-2-NO! York shoves off a superplex and delivers a flying bodypress, but King rolls through and gets his feet on the ropes for two! Ref sees what King is doing and stops the count. As King staggers into the corner after a Half-Nelson Suplex, he steps out of the way of the Dreamscape cannonball. Elijah Burke-style double knees to the chest of York gets two. They trade cradle pin attempts, but York blocks the La Magistral and gets the 1-2-3. (10:11) Hey, so far the most interesting match of the night. I liked the story in some places, at other times it seemed like they weren’t sure where they were going with it. Afterwards, King leaves York laying with the KING’S CORONATION, because his X-Division title match is next! **½

• TNA X-Division Champion Rob Van Dam vs. Christian York
  

RVD is all like, we don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, bro. York slaps him across the face all the same. Alright, it is GO TIME. Van Dam kicks him down for Rolling Thunder, but York kicks out at two. RVD applies the surfboard and then punishes York with a headscissors down on the mat. With York draped on the apron, RVD lands a slingshot legdrop. This is looking like a squash until York fires back with a flying knee strike. Springboard kick by RVD, but York sneaks a rollup for two. Stepover heel kick puts York back down for the FIVE-STAR FROG SPLASH, but he moves out of the way. Oklahoma roll by York gets 1-2-NO! RVD makes him pay as he staggers back into a crescent kick. RVD avoids a Half-Nelson Suplex and tries to crotch York on the top rope for a flying kick. I can’t believe it, but they go for it anyway even though it fails. FIVE-STAR FROG SPLASH, and they call it a night. (5:30) When will they get the belts off these old-timers? Not saying York is young, but he’s certainly not as stale since he’s had less TV exposure than RVD has over the last fifteen years. *

• Devon vs. Joseph Park
  

Not a TV title match since he doesn’t technically have a performer’s contract. Despite wrestling on the last six months of PPVs. This is Joseph Park’s first match as a WRESTLER, not as a LAWYER. Although he isn’t signed yet. I’m excited. I love the saxophone in Park’s music. Reminds me of Night Court. Devon uses verbal psychology and the most basic wrestling moves to try and shatter Park’s confidence to start. Devon even goes as far as to sitout with Park. As Devon gets to his feet, Park does a standing switch out of a headlock and throws Devon down. So Devon bails and freaks out. Back in, Devon settles for punches and kicks. Crowd is 90% behind Park. There is always that 10% there just to screw things up. Devon comes off the ropes and gets caught with a hiptoss and then an armdrag. He wants a splash, but Devon moves and takes the action to the floor as Park eats the steps. Back in, Devon exposes the turnbuckle. It doesn’t show that metal ring like you see in WCW or WWE though. Looks like just another turnbuckle pad underneath. Park avoids the turnbuckle smash, but takes a spinning back elbow instead. Devon misses a headbutt and takes a flying splash (awkwardly from the second rope) from Park for 1-2-NO! Park looks for an avalanche, but Devon brings up an elbow to block and smashes Park’s face on the “exposed” turnbuckle. That supposedly busts open Joseph’s nose, but you can’t really tell. There’s a little blood on his hands. He tries to make it flow, but it just won’t. Anyways, Park goes into ABYSS MODE and hits Devon with the BLACK HOLE SLAM. He wants the Chokeslam, but that’s when he snaps out of ABYSS MODE. Now he doesn’t even seem to know where he is. Devon runs up behind him and O’Connor rolls him for the 1-2-3. (11:17) I said it all last year – I love the Joseph Park character. I think it’s brilliant in many ways. They always manage to add something new to each of his matches and it keeps my attention. Who would have thought Abyss could get this over (with the TNA audience, that is) under any different type of character AND as a very sympathetic babyface? Not me, says I. Afterwards, Devon nails Park from behind. TESTIFY! **½

• #1 Contender to the TNA Knockouts Title Gauntlet Match
  

First up is Gail Kim vs. Miss Tessmacher. Pretty competitive start as Tessmacher wants to quickly put away Gail. Tenay and Keneley bring up the history of these two. They also mention how Gail is undefeated in gauntlet matches here in TNA. Meanwhile, Taz wonders if Tessmacher doesn’t use propane to power up her tushie shaking. Very insightful commentary from that guy, I tell ya. Yes, Brooke is hot. I cannot stand her offense, however. She gets a face slam out of the corner, but then Gail makes her EAT DEFEAT to send her to the showers at 2:43.

ODB is your next contestant. Gail meets her on the ramp only to get knocked down. Into the ring, ODB spanks Gail and avalanches her to set up the Bronco Muncher. She tries coming back with a crossbody block, but ODB catches her for a Fallaway Slam and the kip-up. Gail avoids the BAM before yanking ODB off the second rope. With ODB knocked silly, Gail rolls her up with an unnecessary handful of panties to advance at 5:54.

Two down, two to go for Kim. Here comes Mickie James. Gail is there to meet her with stomps, but Mickie fires back. She wants the Mickie-DT, but Gail shoves her back into the corner. Gail follows her in with a crossbody. They fight on the apron, but Mickie slings her back inside, and delivers a reverse neckbreaker. Enziguri by Mickie! She follows up with a Flapjack and a kip-up. Mickie heads up top, but Gail sees what’s happening and bails. Mickie goes over to meet her and delivers a headscissors from the apron. Back in, Gail grabs hold of ref Taryn Terrell to prevent Mickie from flying off the top. Once Taryn breaks free, Mickie sneaks a rollup on Gail, which Gail rolls through into her own pin with a handful of Daisy Dukes for another win at 9:03!

The final opponent is Velvet Sky wearing a super-hot cat suit. Like a boss, Gail Kim hides by the side of the ring to Pearl Harbor Velvet! She isn’t even done as Velvet gets thrown into the steps. Gail wants the countout win here. Reason #133 as to why she’s the best chick on the national scene today. This gets by our esteemed commentators , but Velvet is back in at the NINE count. Lots of back and forth nearfalls between these two. Gail even tries to steal the win, but Taryn is catching on. They get into a little argument, which allows Velvet some recovery time. IN YO FACE! So Velvet wins. (11:47) So after all that, Gail doesn’t win. This was entertaining, kept my attention, and they accomplished showing off all the differences among the Knockouts. **½

• James Storm vs. Christopher Daniels (w/Kazarian)
  

Winner of this one gets a TNA world title shot on the January 24 Impact. Perhaps I’ve just been watching entirely too much It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia lately now that the show is on Netflix, but Daniels and Kazarian definitely remind me of Dennis and Mac. By the way, Kazarian has an official manager’s license to be in Daniels corner. I for one, LOVE that. When was the last time you heard of anybody having a manager’s license? Probably not since the Gorilla Monsoon days of commentary. Speaking of commentary, Tenay mentions how this is the first 1-on-1 PPV meeting between these two, which Keneley finds fascinating considering how many years they have been in the company. Storm is all about the headlock to start. Daniels bails out, but Storm meets him for some guardrail action. Back in, Daniels begs off. That proves futile as Storm whips him in the corner and delivers a backdrop. Knowing he’s in trouble, Daniels grabs hold of Storm and backs him into the ropes so Kazarian can distract. While Storm is looking at Kazarian, Daniels snaps one of Storm’s arms on the top rope. He then knees Storm off the apron for the nice Pillman guardrail bump. Kaz seizes the moment and puts the boots to him. Back in, Daniels hammerlocks the arm and runs Storm into the corner. On the mat, Daniels stays on the arm. Storm punches back, but ultimately Daniels cranks on the arm, and then sends him down with a nice shoulderblock. Usually thought of just a knockdown move, but here it does extra damage to an already hurting arm. Daniels works an armbar in a couple different ways. Storm knees (yes, knees) his way out and blasts Daniels with a Russian legsweep. Now Storm wins a slugfest and delivers a reverse neckbreaker. Again, Kaz causes the distraction. Flying elbow connects for 1-2-NO! Just as things are looking up for Storm, Daniels grabs the arm for a stunner! Jumping clothesline gets two. However, Storm avoids a corner charge and hits the EYE OF THE STORM! Cover, 1-2-NO! Looks like Daniels tries a floatover out of the corner, but gets caught for an Alabama Slam, and then takes Closing Time! Storm looks for the Last Call, but Daniels ducks and lands the ANGEL’S WINGS for 1-2-NO! BME, but Storm brings up the foot to block. He delivers the backcracker and Closing Time once again to stun Daniels. Now he wants the Last Call, but has to settle for a LAST CALL to Kazarian! Next thing you know, Daniels runs over and hits the STO on Storm to get the win with his feet on the ropes! (13:24) I didn’t think this match would disappoint. Good effort from both guys. With that kind of cheap finish though, I don’t believe anybody thought he was exactly going to be any threat to Jeff Hardy on January 24. ***¼

Let Us Take You Back to Impact Wrestling on January 10. Bully Ray proposes to Brooke Hogan. I gotta say, when I saw her on Hogan Knows Best five years ago, I never thought she would be kissing – much less marrying – one of the Dudley Boyz. Needless to say, Daddy Hulk was less than pleased about this. The way their relationship appears to be, the guy probably wishes it was him.

Back to live action, Bully Ray and the soon-to-be Brooke Ray (?) head down to the ring. They invite everybody to watch them getting married Thursday night right there in the Impact Zone on Spike TV. This couldn’t possibly end badly.

• Sting vs. DOC
  

STING IS BACK! AGAIN! Oh boy! Big fight at ringside to start, which ends up going into the crowd where a couple Aces & Eights guys beat down Sting to turn the tide. Blind Earl Hebner is getting old and is even more blind than ever. You can’t expect this man to see what happens probably 20-30 feet away from him. Back to the ring, the match officially starts. Since DOC can’t get the immediate pin, he beats Sting back out to ringside for a ride into the steps. Inside the ring, Sting tries to kick down DOC at the knees. DOC makes him pay with a right hand and clamps on a chinlock. Sting fights out, but DOC decides to choke the man instead. When Hebner has enough, that allows Sting to chopblock DOC from behind. DOC tries to fight off the Scorpion Deathdrop, but it happens anyways. That gets two. Sting punches back and lands the Stinger Splash. Another SCORPION DEATHDROP gets the win. (5:53) Apparently the only people this crew can beat is Joseph Park, which isn’t really an accomplishment since he’s “not really a wrestler”. Aces & Eights surround the ring, but Bully Ray runs down with his chain wallet to scare them all away to show his continued support for Hogan’s buddies. This was not very good. You’re not getting anything new out of Sting anyways. *

• TNA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Hardy vs. Austin Aries vs. Bobby Roode – Triple Threat Elimination Match
  

Is it just me, or does it feel like Bobby Roode is kind of in the way in the main event scene? They don’t really know what to do with them, but they don’t want to drop him down to semi-main event. Roode and Aries work together to start as they BUM RUSH THE SHOW on Jeff Hardy. He stops the double-team and legdrops the groin on both guys. Eventually, Roode stops Jeff and slams his head back onto the mat. Even so, they telegraph a backdrop, allowing Roode to get dumped, and Aries to take the Reverse Powerbomb. Hardy brings Roode back inside for the Twist of Fate, but Roode shoves him off into the ropes, and lands the Double-R Spinebuster for two. Roode pounds away on Jeff. He runs into an elbow in the corner though. Hardy heads up top, but here comes Aries to trip him. Quick cover by Aries gets two. He wants rid of Hardy NOW. Aries delivers the flying European uppercut to Hardy’s back for two. In comes Roode, Hardy avoids a corner charge from Aries and whips Roode into him to set up Poetry in Motion for giggles. Off comes the shirt! The girls still squeal for this freak. Roode crotches Jeff up top as they return to the double-team game plan. However, they seem to be unsure of exactly who should dishing out the most damage on Jeff. Roode hits a superplex for two. After that, he puts Jeff up in the corner, then puts Aries on his shoulders for a possible Tower of Doom spot. Jeff fires back on Aries and knocks him off Roode’s shoulders with Whisper in the Wind! That actually looked really good. Fire up the Jeff Hardy comeback. He lays waste to both guys, but then tries a pescado on Roode that gets shoved by Aries, causing Jeff to crash and burn. Roode grabs hold of Jeff, but Jeff moves right as Aries delivers the Heat Seeking Missile to Roode!

Now Jeff is incensed! He runs Aries into the ringpost and the steps. With Aries up against the guardrail, Jeff jumps off the steps for Poetry in Motion. VINTAGE HARDY! Back on the other side, Hardy wipes out Roode with a pescado. Back inside, Aries cuts off the Swanton Bomb intended for Roode. He wants a suplex to the floor, but Hardy counters and drops Aries on top of Roode. Again, Hardy runs these two into each other. He wants Poetry in Motion again, but Roode counters that with the SPEAR. Cover, 1-2-NO! Rolling elbow by Aries gets two. Roode grabs hold of Jeff’s legs from the floor while Aries lands the IED! BRAINBUSTER to Hardy, 1-2-NO! Neither man can believe he kicked out. Roode wants Aries to hit the 450 Splash. Even with Roode holding his legs, Jeff spins out of the way of the splash. Roode decides to abandon the plan as he dumps Hardy and hits Aries with the PAYOFF for 1-2-NO! Aries starts unloading on Roode with elbow smashes, culminating with a rolling elbow for 1-2-NO! Roode prevents the Brainbuster and goes for the Spear, but Aries catches him running and hooks the LAST CHANCERY! Roode rakes the eyes and grabs the Crippler Crossface. Aries escapes and goes for the IED on Roode, but gets caught and placed up in the corner. Roode wants a superplex, but Aries claps the ears and delivers a missile dropkick. IED connects, but Roode flips out of the Brainbuster, and O’Connor rolls Aries for 1-2-NO! Aries backslides Roode while Hardy assists in the pin to eliminate Roode at 18:50. Aries is a little too slow with Jeff as the Twist of Fates just keep on coming. He hits one on Aries inside the ring and one through the ropes on the apron, which sacrifices himself as Jeff goes crashing on the floor. SWANTON BOMB to Aries is enough to give Hardy the win to retain the title. (20:21) Hardy got WAY too much offense in this one. For most of the match, Roode and Aries were on the same page, too. You know what would be interesting and different, TNA? Two heels ganging up on one babyface and they actually succeed in getting rid of him. In this day and age, the fans do like one of the heels more than the other, so most people would still go home happy. The match was pretty good, but Jeff Hardy looked way too strong and much smarter than the heels, which made them ultimately look weak. ***½

Final Thoughts: There was nothing really outright bad to point to here, but nothing really stands out. A couple good matches in the last hour kept this from being a total dud, so I’ll go with a solid ‘thumbs in the middle’ for Genesis 2013.

WWE TLC 2012

Dolph Ziggler puts his Money In the Bank briefcase on the line against John Cena. Plus, the Shield takes on Team Hell No and Ryback in a TLC match!

World Wrestling Entertainment presents Tables, Ladders & Chairs
Date: 12/16/2012
From: Brooklyn, NY

Matches:
1.)Team Rhodes Scholars defeated Rey Mysterio & Sin Cara in a number one contenders match
2.)WWE United States Champion Antonio Cesaro defeated R-Truth to retain the title
3.)WWE Intercontinental Champion Kofi Kingston defeated Wade Barrett to retain the title
4.)The Shield defeated WWE World Tag Team Champions Team Hell No & Ryback in a TLC match
5.)WWE Divas Champion Eve Torres defeated Naomi to retain the title
6.)WWE World Heavyweight Champion Big Show defeated Sheamus in a Chairs match to retain the title
7.)The Miz, Alberto Del Rio & Brooklyn Brawler defeated Heath Slater, Drew McIntyre & Jinder Mahal
8.)Dolph Ziggler defeated John Cena in a ladder match

Angle Developments/Notes:
1. All four men start off the match, which is apparently a tables match. I didn’t know that and I’m reviewing this twelve days after the fact. Mysterio head scissors Rhodes to the floor and toss Sandow t the floor. Cara and Rey slide a table into the ring. Rhodes is met with a table to the chest in the ring. Sandow suffers the same fate moments later. Cody slides Mysterio to the floor, which is a spot we see every match I feel like. Cara arm drags Cody after springing of the middle rope. Rhodes hits the Disaster Kick on Cara and Sandow sends Mysterio into the ring post head first. Mysterio and Cara are being dominated on the floor. They ram a table into the ring steps, which has Cara’s left leg trapped in it! Mysterio hits seated senton on Rhodes and a tornado DDT on Sandow. Cara hit a cross body and a twisting crossbody on the floor onto Sandow. Rey hits the 619 on Rhodes and goes to the top rope. Sandow crotches Rey on the top. Rey falls to the floor after having a table smashed into his head. Cara kicks Rhodes off the apron and kicks Sandow in the ring. Rhodes shoves Cara on a springboard attempt and Cara crashes through two tables on the floor to win the match! (***. A good start to the show. Sandow and Rhodes are a really good team and hopefully both men are going to have huge year next year.)

2. Cesaro works over Truth after the challenger screams USA at the champ. Truth nearly rolls Cesaro up a few times but can’t get the gold. Cesaro drops Truth with a back suplex. The fans are bored as Cesaro has a cobra clutch of sorts on Truth for several minutes. Truth gets his head rammed into the top turnbuckle several times but makes a comeback with right hands and a clothesline. Truth nails the champ with a scissors kick but only gets a two count. Truth spin kicks Cesaro for a near fall. Cesaro uppercuts Truth’s back and hits the Neutralizer for the win. (*1/2. A rather boring match, but the right guy went over. Cesaro has more to offer than Truth.) After the match, Striker interviews Cesaro. Cesaro shoves Striker away and says that he is a true international super power and claims to be the greatest WWE United States Champion of all time. He says that when they boo him, they are booing their own country. Cesaro continues by saying they have no respect for anyone including themselves.

3. The Miz comes out to host Miz TV. I personally hate this because it makes it feel like a television show instead of a pay per view. PPV’s should be matches not talking segments. Anyway, let’s see what he has to offer. His guests are 3MB. They are playing air guitar on one of the couches. Miz doesn’t get how they are a band. Mahal says they are a super group. Drew calls Jay-Z an idiot and claims they are better than him. Slater announced they were going to play live on RAW. Miz jokes that it will be the bathroom break for RAW. Mahal pokes fun at the Spanish announce team. Slater and company begin to threaten the duo. Mahal takes a shot at one guy. Drew shoves the other man down. Ricardo Rodriquez comes down and is ganged up on by 3MB. Alberto Del Rio runs out and attacks the band to make the save for Ricardo! The numbers get the better of Del Rio. Miz is shoved by Slater and he begins to hammer away on Heath! Miz is helping Alberto! 3MB are sent to the floor. Slater wants a six man tag for later on in the night. The challenge is accepted. Who will Miz and Alberto find for a partner? The fans hope for Ryder.

4. Wade opens the bout with a scoop slam and attempted a quick cover but didn’t even get a one count. Kingston hit a jumping back elbow for a two count on Barrett. Barrett clotheslines Kingston to the floor. Kingston rolls back into the ring to take Wade out with a suicide dive! Barrett stops Kofi with a kick to the midsection and hit a pump handle slam for a near fall. Wade follows up with a backbreaker to maintain control of the contest. Kofi runs into a tilt a whirl backbreaker for a two count. Barrett hit a middle rope elbow drop for a two count. Kofi fights back with a side Russian leg sweep. Kofi hits a dropkick and a leaping clothesline. Kingston delivers a leg drop but misses the Trouble In Paradise. Kingston hits the SOS and nearly wins the bout. Wade hits a spinning full nelson slam but can’t get a three count. Barrett rolls through a crossbody off the top but can’t get a three count! Barrett plants Kofi with a swinging side slam but only gets a two count! Kofi counters the Bull Hammer attempt and hits the Trouble In Paradise to win the match! (***1/4. I thought this was a really solid match. Kingston is growing on me and Barrett is as solid as ever. These two are part of the future for the WWE for sure and I look forward to seeing these guys rise up the ranks.)

5. WWE Champion CM Punk is hanging out in his own personal skybox. Paul Heyman tells everyone to forget about getting an update on the champ’s knee. Punk says it’s no one business. Punk says no one in the arena knows what it means to be a champion. He calls the fans dumb, just like Ryback. Punk says he is most dangerous man in the WWE. Punk would have broken every chair and table in New York. Punk is confident that the Shield will beat Ryback tonight but continues to say he is not associated with them. Punk believes his reign as champion is just getting started.

6. All six men start to brawl on the floor to kick off the match. Bryan is kicking Rollins in the chest over and over again. Ambrose is working over Ryback in the corner but that isn’t have much impact on Ryback. Ryback hits a Thez Press but is triple teamed by the Shield quickly. Ryback is dropkicked off the apron by Ambrose. Kane has gotten a ladder but Rolling sends it right into him quickly. Bryan is sent into the ladder but Ryback returns and kicks the ladder into the Shield. Roman whacks Ryback over the back with a chair to slow him down. Kane is back and works over Roman. Roman is sent into a ladder back first and Bryan dropkicks him against the ladder for a near fall. Kane throat thrusts Rollins as he jumps off the top rope. Kane puts Roman in a ladder and whacks a chair against the ladder several times because he can. Ambrose returns and plants Kane with a DDT onto a chair! Rollins rams a ladder into Ryback’s midsection and slams Ryback face first into the ladder. Ryback splashes Rollins and Ambrose against the ladder in the corner. Ryback delivers a snap suplex to both Ambrose and Rollins onto a ladder! Roman returns to the ring to help control Ryback with chair and ladder shots. The Shield looks to send Ryback through the announce table! They hit the triple team powerbomb sending Ryback through the table! Bryan hits a suicide dive on all three men! Ambrose scoop slams Bryan onto a chair and Rollins delivers another chair shot. The Shield sets up a table on the top turnbuckle. They send Bryan face first into the table. Ambrose and Rollins hit a superplex off the ladder on Bryan for a near fall. Kane shoves Rollins off the top and Kane hits a top rope leaping clothesline on Ambrose. Kane drives Roman down with a side slam for a two count. Kane choke slams Ambrose through a chair but can’t get the three! Roman spears Kane through the guard railing! The Shield piles a bunch of stuff onto Kane. Bryan has the YES Lock on Ambrose but has to let go but he puts it on Rollins. Bryan gets it on Roman was well but Ambrose makes the save. Bryan delivers several kicks on Ambrose and Rollins. Rollins leaps up and stomps Bryan’s face into a chair! Ryback is back up and makes the save. Ryback backdrops Rollins and kicks a chair into Roman’s face. Ryback sends Rollins over the top onto Ambrose on the floor! Ryback spears Ambrose and delivers a big clothesline. Ryback hits the Shell Shock on Ambrose but can’t get the three as the Shield makes the save. Ryback is near the entrance way brawling with the Shield. The Shield gets the better of Ryback as he is laid out with a ladder over his body. Rollins climbs a ladder while Ryback is laid over a table. Ryback gets up and Rollins tries to get away. Ryback yanks Rollins off and Rolling crashes through two tables! Roman powerbombs Bryan off the middle rope through a table and wins the match as Ryback is too late getting back to the ring. (****. A great match here that had plenty of spots and did a great job of establishing the Shield. This is how you introduce new guys to a promotion and get them over. Yeah, Ryback losing is not good, but again he wasn’t involved in the outcome. Ryback is losing steam, but the Shield is the buzz of the company now anyways.)

7. In order to kill the crowd, we get the Divas championship match. I don’t care about this and I’m sure nobody cares either. Eve wins with a swinging neckbreaker.

8. Sheamus wastes no time just hammering away on Show. Sheamus avoids a splash in the corner and continues to pummel the champ. On the floor, Show kicks a chair into the face of Sheamus. Sheamus fights back with a running shoulder block off the apron. Show knocks Sheamus down with a clothesline back in the ring. Sheamus gets a chair and begins to whack Show over the back in the ring. Sheamus hits a slam but Show kicks out! Sheamus comes off the top with a shoulder block assisted with a chair to knock the champ off his feet. Sheamus goes for a second attempt of the same move, but Show spears Sheamus in midair! Show splashes Sheamus in the corner to maintain his advantage. Sheamus low blows Show over the top rope. Show comes back with a choke slam but Sheamus kicks out at two. Show tosses four chairs into the ring and whacks Sheamus over the back with one. Show leaps off the middle rope to deliver a splash but Sheamus kicks out again. Sheamus hits the White Noise onto two chairs but Show pops his shoulder up at two! Sheamus misses the Brogue Kick and Show nails him with the knockout punch but only gets a two count! Show goes under the ring to get an enormous chair. Show whacks Sheamus over the back with it and wins the match. (**1/4. It wasn’t all that good but they did the best they could. It’s a big win for Show, as I was surprised that he won here. I think a chairs match has to be one of the most boring matches in WWE, but again, they did an okay with it.)

9. The Brooklyn Brawler is the mystery partner for Miz and Del Rio. So much for listening to the fans who wanted Ryder. Anyway, Miz hit the Skull Crushing Finale on Mahal and Brawler got the tag to put a Boston Crab on Mahal to get the submission win. Yep, that’s it.

10. The fans are strongly behind Ziggler to win this. Cena gets the early advantage with a hip toss and headlock. Cena follows up with a snap suplex and nearly botches a monkey flip out of the corner. Ziggler rams a chair into Cena’s midsection on the floor. Cena stops Ziggler in the ring with a flapjack. Ziggler drops Cena on the floor after hitting a baseball slide into a ladder. Back in the ring, Cena drives the ladder into Ziggler’s face. Cena is bleeding under his right eye. Cena drives the steel steps into Dolph’s face on the floor. Cena slides a table into the ring. Ziggler drops Cena throat first across the top rope and sets the ladder up. Cena stops Dolph and they trade blows. Ziggler has a sleeper hold on Cena, who is climbing the ladder. Cena is reaching for the briefcase but Cena passes out and they crash through a table! Cena stops Dolph from climbing the ladder and freaking press slams the ladder over the top to the floor, but Ziggler got off of it. Cena with a flurry of offense but Ziggler hits the Fame-Asser! Cena recovers and puts the STF on Ziggler. Cena keeps the hold on and Ziggler passes out. Cena catches Dolph on a slingshot but Ziggler breaks free to hit the Zig Zag! Cena slams Ziggler down and hit a five knuckle shuffle. Ziggler avoids the AA to hit a jumping DDT! Dolph gets the biggest ladder on the aisle way and slides it into the ring. Ziggler climbs the ladder but Cena makes his way up there as well. Cena head butts Ziggler off the ladder! Cena is by himself and could get the briefcase. Well, Ziggler recovers quickly to prevent Cena from reaching the briefcase. Cena is rammed face first into the ladder. Cena hits a hurricanrana to send Ziggler through a table in the corner! Ziggler absorbs a series of blows from Cena but headbutts him off the middle rope. Dolph hits a crossbody off the top but Cena rolls through and goes for the AA but Ziggler gets a chair and whacks him over the back several times. Cena ducks the superkick and hits the AA. Ziggler rolls to the floor but here comes Vickie Guerrero with a chair. AJ runs down and knocks her down with a shoulder block. AJ hits the five knuckle shuffle too. Cena has a ladder and climbs up to get the briefcase. Wait, AJ tips the ladder over and Cena falls over the top rope throat first. The fans exploded for that turn! Ziggler is baffled. AJ leaves and skips to the backstage area. Ziggler climbs up the ladder and gets the briefcase to win the match! (***1/2. A good match to close the show and a huge, much needed win for Dolph Ziggler. The turn by AJ Lee was unexpected and an association with Ziggler could be interesting. This is a statement victory for Ziggler, even though it wasn’t by pin or submission over the top guy.)

Final Thoughts:
A good pay per view to end the year for WWE. I can’t complain with the execution presented here. A thumbs up for WWE TLC 2012.

Thanks for reading. For more reviews head on over to WRESTLING RECAPS!