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Mayhem in Manchester
Date: April 4, 1998
Location: Nynex Arena, Manchester, England
Attendance: 19,600
Commentators: Kevin Kelly, Michael Cole
Now THIS is a rare one. In America and England you can only find a one hour (out of two and a half) VHS release of this. However, through the magic of the internet (and searching on and off for over two years) I have the full show. Most of the matches are clipped beyond belief and there's a reason: this is one of those shows that is a house show called a PPV, making it not very good. Let's get to it.
This is a week after Mania 14 and Austin's first major title defense, against HHH. Also we have Taker vs. Kane if you're wondering what to expect.
The opening video is about everyone being in Manchester and signing autographs plus a video from Summerslam 92 (called 91 here by that lunkhead Cole).
Oh yeah this looks like a house show.
Jeff Jarrett vs. Brakkus
Brakkus is European....I think. Yep he's German. He's a big power guy that was also in ECW for a bit and was completely hated there because he was a big power guy. His name is pronounced Brock-us. Jarrett is still in the country singer era here but thankfully there's no Tennessee Lee. The following shouldn't shock anyone but probably will: Jarrett stalls. He hides in the corner, he walks around outside a bit, he does the laying on the ropes in the corner.
The final of those makes Brakkus come at him...and Jeff stalls some more. I can see why this was clipped. Brakkus finally gets his hands on Jarrett and I can see why he was never around that much: the guy isn't very good. He tosses Jeff around and Jeff's selling makes the really basic moves look a lot better than they really are.
Jeff stalls.....again, this time by hitting the floor. Shouldn't he try hitting the muscleheaded German? Back in and Jeff gets a shot in to the ribs and tries one of his old favorites: a rake to the eyes. It's an old trick but it still works, letting Ja-double r-e-double t take over and get in some shots. You can tell it's a Jarrett match with some length because he's able to get that sleeper of his in. It's an old standard of his.
Brakkus (what kind of a name is that anyway?) fights out of it and hits some bad clotheslines. They're more like forearm smashes to the chest but whatever. He sets for a left handed chokeslam but turns it into a gorilla press. Brakkus looks like he's laboring to get through every single move he's trying. In a pretty stupid ending, Brakkus tries an atomic drop but Jeff lands on his feet and pulls the leg out for the figure four. No leg work or anything, just the figure four for the tap out.
Rating: D. Ok so let me make sure I've got this straight: the German dude is on a European show and he loses to a country singer on a show that no one is going to see for the most part? The match was bad on top of that as Brakkus clearly was there because he looked good in a pair of trunks. Nothing to see here and a bad opener.
DOA vs. Godwinns
Good reaction for Skull and 8-Ball. This is billed as a strap match on everything I can find but there are no straps in sight. Henry and we'll say that's 8-Ball starting us off. Kelly and Cole (what an announce team) can't tell us anything about which is which either. We get one of those matchups where both guys are all like BRING IT ON and they collide a few times with no one getting a real advantage.
Instead they slug it out a bit and 8-Ball takes over. Things break down quickly and it's off to Phineas who gets beaten back by double teaming. Phineas goes with a knee to the stomach to take over and then CLUBS, yes CLUBS I SAY the back of Skull to put him down. The Godwinns are just boring on offense and they would be even less interesting when they became Southern Justice soon after this.
Phineas beats on Skull using the power game and the fans don't care. It's a weird case where they like DOA but don't hate the Godwinns. Hey look, more clubbing shots to the back. It had been a full minute since we had seen that so we better get a few more in to make sure things didn't get interesting. We hit the ropes and Skull gets a clothesline to put Phineas down.
Henry gets the tag but the referee didn't see it. Not that it matters but he didn't. With the referee not paying attention Henry comes in with a big weightlifting belt and he pops Skull with it to stop the momentum. Phineas comes in (again illegally) and is slammed by his partner onto Skull for two. Sunset flip by Skull gets no count because THIS REFEREE SUCKS.
Now it's time for Henry to beat on Skull a bit because one pig farmer beating on him isn't enough so let's have ANOTHER pig farmer beat on him. Henry was an interesting case as he was brought in as a villain but no one really could explain why he was a villain. He didn't do evil things but was facing faces. Why would a pig farmer be evil? Eh it was 94-95 WWF so logic didn't really apply.
Phineas tries to come in again and the referee ACTUALLY STOPS HIM. In the ensuing chaos, 8-Ball comes in with the strap. The referee is like cool man, with the announcers even pointing out that it's pretty stupid. Henry is like whatever man and hits the Slop Drop (reverse DDT) for the clean (kind of) pin.
Rating: D+. It was a little longer but that doesn't make it better here. I guess the strap stipulation was assumed because it was used more than once. It appeared to be a normal tag match but with an incompetent referee. Not much to see here, especially with a lack of talent. The LOD would feud with the Godwinns soon after this and it would be so boring it was hard to believe.
Sable likes being in England and was REALLY popular at this time.
Marc Mero vs. Justin Bradshaw
This was during the period of Sable is the star but Mero thinks it's him and is jealous. Bradshaw is just a cowboy and used to be part of the Blackjacks but Barry Windham either had already or would break the team up very soon. Mero goes after Bradshaw and it doesn't work. The future rich and heel and not entirely a cowboy JBL smiles at him and slugs Mero to the floor.
Mero was a guy that got to where he was a few years too early. He's a guy that could have been awesome in an MMA style character as he could wrestle and box, which is something that is popular in the UFC today. This is a lot like the opener but with a better big power guy instead which is a nice change of pace from Brock-us.
Mero gets a shot in and takes down Bradshaw. He wasn't much but he had a great punch. However there's not much else he can do after that and it shows here. Mero just isn't the kind of guy you want to have in control for most of a match as he doesn't have the offense to sustain any kind of length of time in control if that makes sense.
Bradshaw avoids an elbow drop and then another one as well. He gets up and starts using his basic power game to take over. JBL is nowhere near what he would become but he's getting there a step at a time or so. They go off the ropes and Bradshaw gets in a big elbow and is already calling for the Clothesline. Mero ducks and tries the TKO but gets caught by the Clothesline for the pretty big upset pin.
Rating: D+. Mero is just boring, which I think is the right idea. Sable had been sent to the back pre-match so there wasn't even anything to look at here. Remember how I said that these British shows were pretty boring? I'd like to introduce you to exhibits 1-3 so far, as this was probably the second best match of the night. Terribly boring show so far.
The Rock/D'Lo Brown vs. Ken Shamrock/Owen Hart
Owen is still a few months away from joining the Nation so he's safe here. Shamrock was chasing Rock's IC Title pretty hard around this point and the Nation is on the brink of breaking up. Shamrock and Brown get us going and Kenny Boy takes him into the corner and hammers away, sending Brown to the floor. Back inside he wants to wrestle but Brown isn't a nice person as he hammers away.
Shamrock is like cool man and pounds away with kicks and punches. Off to Owen as Brown is in a t-shirt for some reason. Owen works on the arm after a monkey flip. Brown tries to monkey flip Brown and that just isn't happening. Rock hasn't been in yet and Brown is getting beaten down pretty easily. Shamrock comes in with a fisherman's suplex and la majistral for two each.
Shamrock screws up a bit, accidentally doing a spot where he's got Brown in trouble and pushes him towards the corner to tease him like he'll allow a tag. The problem is he's teasing him towards Owen, not Rock. Rock: Bring him to me you dumbass! Rock finally gets the tag and we head to the floor with Shamrock in control at first but they brawl into the crowd. And scratch that as they're back in the aisle already. Back in and it's off to Owen and Brown with a small package getting two for Owen. Brown gets in a small bit of offense but it's back to Shamrock and he's not in a good mood so the ankle lock ends it fast.
Rating: C. Not a bad match here and something that you would have seen at almost any house show around this time. Shamrock making Brown tap is a fine way to end this although I'd like to see it get more than six minutes. This on a regular PPV would have been ripped to shreds but on a house show like this it was fine.
Cactus Jack vs. The Artist Formerly Known as Goldust
What an odd pairing. Goldust tries a left handed handshake to start but Foley drills him and sends him to the floor. This should be a lot better too as Goldust knows how to get through a basic match a lot better than Brakkus or Bradshaw at this point. A sunset flip doesn't work and Foley keeps the advantage. Cactus speeds things up again and Goldust isn't sure what to do with him.
Luna is on the floor screeching a lot and getting on my nerves in general. Goldust gets in a few shots but can't keep any kind of advantage. At least he looks somewhat human tonight. We get a chinlock put on pretty early on in the match, especially by Foley standards but maybe the bumps were starting to catch up to him at this point.
In a move that was rather obvious, Luna trips up the future (and I believe former) Dude Love to let Goldie put him on the floor. Jack is like dude no way am I getting beaten up by a guy that looks like the naked Oscar statue and he tries to suplex Goldust to the floor. After about three attempts Foley needs a bit of a rest so Goldust clotheslines him on the top.
Things slow down a bit now as Goldie pounds away a bit in the corner. You might even say he's stomping a mudhole. You might say that but you would probably be slapped with a gimmick infringement lawsuit. And now let's hit that chinlock. I mean let's REALLY hit that chinlock as we've been in it for a good minute and a half now. Make that three minutes. Foley fights out of it for a bit but never mind as let's go right back to it.
You can tell they're not all that interested in having this match and the fact that we've had nearly five minutes in a chinlock kind of proves that. Foley gets bored too and fights up in his comeback. Goldust is in big trouble but he goes for the double arm DDT too close to the ropes and Luna pulls Goldie out. The referee again is like yep that's cool with me. Foley tries to suplex him back in and it's Wrestlemania 5 all over again for the cheap pin.
Rating: C-. I'm almost giving it a higher grade out of pity. These matches have been so boring this first hour or so that I'm willing to give almost anything a good grade at this point. Not a bad match but they're just so cookie cutter style and dull that I can't say they're good. I'm REALLY hoping the last three are better than this because they can't be much worse.
Foley puts Goldust in the Claw, drawing in Luna which draws in Sable for a catfight. This goes on for awhile.
Tag Titles: New Age Outlaws vs. Legion of Doom
This is probably just a practice run for Unforgiven where the champions (Outlaws) retained in a double pin. Animal vs. Billy to start. Those shorts never worked on Animal, like at all. Animal tries to wrestle for a bit and when he realizes that's really not his cup of tea (we're in England. It's tea) he goes to brawling. Well power brawling but still brawling. He knocks Gunn around and Gunn is like uh.....dang I wish I had those shorts.
He heads to the floor and kills some time before coming back in to see Animal again. Why in the world would you want to go in and face a big strong guy named Animal that wants to beat you up? Gunn tries to speed things up and is caught in a huge powerbomb and a clothesline that sends him to the floor. Hawk is like here have a clothesline and Gunn channels his inner Scott Steiner by doing pushups.
We slow things WAY down and Gunn makes the crowd hate him even more. It's not like it's hard as they're against the insanely popular LOD. He even gets a massage on his sore back from Road Dogg. It's off to the canine and Hawk and the big beats the mammal here. Roadie runs over and grabs Gunn's namesake so Hawk slams Roadie's head into Gunn's gun.
This has been one sided so far. Hawk finally misses a charge and let the beating begin. We get some classic old school cheating such as drawing Animal in while double teaming occurs. The fans are totally behind the LOD as you would expect. Let's hit that chinlock to eat up some time! This eats up a good while as we're in an old school style tag match formula, which makes sense as we have an old tag team in there.
Gunn sets for a vertical suplex on Hawk but bird boy looks a little dead. Since Gunn takes FOREVER to pull the trigger though, Hawk escapes and hooks one of his own, setting up the hot tag to Animal. And scratch that as after he gets in a few shots the Outlaws take him down and we're right where we were a few seconds ago but now with a better pair of shorts.
Billy claws at his face as Hawk is up very quickly. I know he never was big on selling but come on now. Double elbow puts Animal down for a delayed two. Animal busts out a dragon screw leg whip of all things and it's hot tag to Hawk. He cleans house and everything breaks down quickly. They set up Roadie for the Doomsday Device but, say it with me, Chyna comes in with the low blow for the DQ for the Outlaws to retain.
Rating: C+. It's an old school tag match which usually makes it a lot better than most matches would be. They played the formula to perfection and that's about all you can do most of the time. Hawk and Animal weren't much at this point and with no Sunny they were even less. By far the best match of the night so far and that isn't saying much as this was just pretty good.
WWF World Title: Steve Austin vs. HHH
Austin won the title a week ago so what do you think is going to happen here? The first of many title matches between these two but at this point HHH is just barely in the upper midcard and upper might be a stretch. This would be like a title defense against R-Truth before Truth got his semi-main event push. They do some basic stuff to start and Austin pops him with an elbow to take over.
This crowd loves it some Austin. HHH bails and stalls because that's what he does. HHH is European Champion here. They have a ton of time to work with here so this feeling out stuff is totally understandable. Austin channels his inner Piper with a poke to the eye. Not yet being the Cerebral Assassin, HHH tries to slug with Austin and I'll leave it up to you to figure out how that goes.
Austin fires off the Thesz Press and tries a Stunner (BIG pop but they wind up on the floor instead and we place chase the challenger. Austin grabs the arm (there's a new one) but HHH catches him with the knee to the face (called a boot by that lunkhead Cole) and goes after the braced knee. It goes around the post a few times and there's a chop block for good measure.
You can see a lot of Flair in HHH. As I say that, Kelly suggests maybe a figure four to end things and that looks like what the Game is going for. Austin escapes and we head to the floor again where Chyna gets in a shot to give HHH more of an advantage. HHH hooks a Figure Four and Austin is in trouble. After a LONG time in the hold, Austin gets the hold turned over and gets to a rope.
HHH is limping a bit but Austin can't even get up to limp. HHH kicks out the knee again....and again....and again. There's a side slam for two and off to a leg lock. Austin responds by using the good leg, the right one, to kick HHH in the head and face a lot and break the hold. Well if one leg doesn't work let's use the other one I guess. Austin is all fired up to the point where his knee doesn't hurt anymore.
He gets caught in a facebuster though and here comes the Game again. There's a double clothesline to put both guys down. Both guys are up at 9 and Chyna interferes AGAIN. HOW BLIND ARE THESE REFEREES??? Austin gets all fired up and starts his comeback but can't get the Stunner.
In a weird way this match is almost like the one HHH had against Khali in the Summer of 09. The only thing he can do to hope to win the title is hit his one big move, the Pedigree, and hope that it's enough. Other than that he has nothing that could possibly work and he knows it. To be fair though it's not like Austin is going to win with anything but the Stunner either so it kind of balances out.
HHH goes up top (???) but jumps into a punch to the ribs. Austin is all fired up now but gets caught with a knee coming out of the corner. HHH sets for the Pedigree but for absolutely no apparent reason, Chyna gets up on the apron to distract the referee. Austin goes old school with a catapult and down goes Chioda. Chyna comes in, low blow misses, Stunner, Stunner, pin.
Rating: B+. Solid stuff here and you can see the chemistry that was coming. This time though there was absolutely no chance HHH was winning, especially not a week after Austin won the title for the first time. Still though there was no one else to put him against so this was fine. Also the match was rather good so I can't complain there either.
Undertaker vs. Kane
Undertaker, in street clothes (looks a lot like he would as the biker) is jumped in the aisle by DX. Due to the beating Kane has a strong advantage to get things going with. All Kane through the first minute or two. Bearer is loving the fact that Taker is getting destroyed. There's a boot to Kane's ribs and the fans are getting back into it. Ok so maybe the back is a stretch but they're getting into it. Taker builds momentum with strikes of various sorts and hits a chokeslam out of nowhere. Kane of course sits up and walks into a tombstone....for the pin....after like four minutes....more on this in a second.
Rating: D+. The fans were into it and that's really all that matters. From what I can find Taker's luggage was lost so he had to wear the street clothes. That's all fine and good and if it's all you've got then it's all you've got. The match....yeah it's just not that good as you can only do much in the length of time they had. Not much of a match but the crowd popped big for the finish.
As for the length of the match, according to Wikipedia the match lasted 20 minutes. However, I can find no evidence of clipping the match down at all and no version that is longer. Also I've found multiple live reports from people in the arena that night that say that the match was indeed about 5 minutes long. I'm going to go with that as this is the best I can find.
Bearer and Kane walk out and Taker poses to end the show.
Overall Rating: D. I watched this and the clipped version (down to an hour) and trust me: the clipping is your friend in this case. Austin vs. HHH is good and other than that this show is boring. It's like a house show and that means it's just not interesting. More often than not that's what you would have on these shows: one good match and then a lot of stuff that no one cared about and no one wanted to see. Bad show and more of a footnote in history than a good show. Not worth seeing and good luck finding the whole one anyway.
Date: April 4, 1998
Location: Nynex Arena, Manchester, England
Attendance: 19,600
Commentators: Kevin Kelly, Michael Cole
Now THIS is a rare one. In America and England you can only find a one hour (out of two and a half) VHS release of this. However, through the magic of the internet (and searching on and off for over two years) I have the full show. Most of the matches are clipped beyond belief and there's a reason: this is one of those shows that is a house show called a PPV, making it not very good. Let's get to it.
This is a week after Mania 14 and Austin's first major title defense, against HHH. Also we have Taker vs. Kane if you're wondering what to expect.
The opening video is about everyone being in Manchester and signing autographs plus a video from Summerslam 92 (called 91 here by that lunkhead Cole).
Oh yeah this looks like a house show.
Jeff Jarrett vs. Brakkus
Brakkus is European....I think. Yep he's German. He's a big power guy that was also in ECW for a bit and was completely hated there because he was a big power guy. His name is pronounced Brock-us. Jarrett is still in the country singer era here but thankfully there's no Tennessee Lee. The following shouldn't shock anyone but probably will: Jarrett stalls. He hides in the corner, he walks around outside a bit, he does the laying on the ropes in the corner.
The final of those makes Brakkus come at him...and Jeff stalls some more. I can see why this was clipped. Brakkus finally gets his hands on Jarrett and I can see why he was never around that much: the guy isn't very good. He tosses Jeff around and Jeff's selling makes the really basic moves look a lot better than they really are.
Jeff stalls.....again, this time by hitting the floor. Shouldn't he try hitting the muscleheaded German? Back in and Jeff gets a shot in to the ribs and tries one of his old favorites: a rake to the eyes. It's an old trick but it still works, letting Ja-double r-e-double t take over and get in some shots. You can tell it's a Jarrett match with some length because he's able to get that sleeper of his in. It's an old standard of his.
Brakkus (what kind of a name is that anyway?) fights out of it and hits some bad clotheslines. They're more like forearm smashes to the chest but whatever. He sets for a left handed chokeslam but turns it into a gorilla press. Brakkus looks like he's laboring to get through every single move he's trying. In a pretty stupid ending, Brakkus tries an atomic drop but Jeff lands on his feet and pulls the leg out for the figure four. No leg work or anything, just the figure four for the tap out.
Rating: D. Ok so let me make sure I've got this straight: the German dude is on a European show and he loses to a country singer on a show that no one is going to see for the most part? The match was bad on top of that as Brakkus clearly was there because he looked good in a pair of trunks. Nothing to see here and a bad opener.
DOA vs. Godwinns
Good reaction for Skull and 8-Ball. This is billed as a strap match on everything I can find but there are no straps in sight. Henry and we'll say that's 8-Ball starting us off. Kelly and Cole (what an announce team) can't tell us anything about which is which either. We get one of those matchups where both guys are all like BRING IT ON and they collide a few times with no one getting a real advantage.
Instead they slug it out a bit and 8-Ball takes over. Things break down quickly and it's off to Phineas who gets beaten back by double teaming. Phineas goes with a knee to the stomach to take over and then CLUBS, yes CLUBS I SAY the back of Skull to put him down. The Godwinns are just boring on offense and they would be even less interesting when they became Southern Justice soon after this.
Phineas beats on Skull using the power game and the fans don't care. It's a weird case where they like DOA but don't hate the Godwinns. Hey look, more clubbing shots to the back. It had been a full minute since we had seen that so we better get a few more in to make sure things didn't get interesting. We hit the ropes and Skull gets a clothesline to put Phineas down.
Henry gets the tag but the referee didn't see it. Not that it matters but he didn't. With the referee not paying attention Henry comes in with a big weightlifting belt and he pops Skull with it to stop the momentum. Phineas comes in (again illegally) and is slammed by his partner onto Skull for two. Sunset flip by Skull gets no count because THIS REFEREE SUCKS.
Now it's time for Henry to beat on Skull a bit because one pig farmer beating on him isn't enough so let's have ANOTHER pig farmer beat on him. Henry was an interesting case as he was brought in as a villain but no one really could explain why he was a villain. He didn't do evil things but was facing faces. Why would a pig farmer be evil? Eh it was 94-95 WWF so logic didn't really apply.
Phineas tries to come in again and the referee ACTUALLY STOPS HIM. In the ensuing chaos, 8-Ball comes in with the strap. The referee is like cool man, with the announcers even pointing out that it's pretty stupid. Henry is like whatever man and hits the Slop Drop (reverse DDT) for the clean (kind of) pin.
Rating: D+. It was a little longer but that doesn't make it better here. I guess the strap stipulation was assumed because it was used more than once. It appeared to be a normal tag match but with an incompetent referee. Not much to see here, especially with a lack of talent. The LOD would feud with the Godwinns soon after this and it would be so boring it was hard to believe.
Sable likes being in England and was REALLY popular at this time.
Marc Mero vs. Justin Bradshaw
This was during the period of Sable is the star but Mero thinks it's him and is jealous. Bradshaw is just a cowboy and used to be part of the Blackjacks but Barry Windham either had already or would break the team up very soon. Mero goes after Bradshaw and it doesn't work. The future rich and heel and not entirely a cowboy JBL smiles at him and slugs Mero to the floor.
Mero was a guy that got to where he was a few years too early. He's a guy that could have been awesome in an MMA style character as he could wrestle and box, which is something that is popular in the UFC today. This is a lot like the opener but with a better big power guy instead which is a nice change of pace from Brock-us.
Mero gets a shot in and takes down Bradshaw. He wasn't much but he had a great punch. However there's not much else he can do after that and it shows here. Mero just isn't the kind of guy you want to have in control for most of a match as he doesn't have the offense to sustain any kind of length of time in control if that makes sense.
Bradshaw avoids an elbow drop and then another one as well. He gets up and starts using his basic power game to take over. JBL is nowhere near what he would become but he's getting there a step at a time or so. They go off the ropes and Bradshaw gets in a big elbow and is already calling for the Clothesline. Mero ducks and tries the TKO but gets caught by the Clothesline for the pretty big upset pin.
Rating: D+. Mero is just boring, which I think is the right idea. Sable had been sent to the back pre-match so there wasn't even anything to look at here. Remember how I said that these British shows were pretty boring? I'd like to introduce you to exhibits 1-3 so far, as this was probably the second best match of the night. Terribly boring show so far.
The Rock/D'Lo Brown vs. Ken Shamrock/Owen Hart
Owen is still a few months away from joining the Nation so he's safe here. Shamrock was chasing Rock's IC Title pretty hard around this point and the Nation is on the brink of breaking up. Shamrock and Brown get us going and Kenny Boy takes him into the corner and hammers away, sending Brown to the floor. Back inside he wants to wrestle but Brown isn't a nice person as he hammers away.
Shamrock is like cool man and pounds away with kicks and punches. Off to Owen as Brown is in a t-shirt for some reason. Owen works on the arm after a monkey flip. Brown tries to monkey flip Brown and that just isn't happening. Rock hasn't been in yet and Brown is getting beaten down pretty easily. Shamrock comes in with a fisherman's suplex and la majistral for two each.
Shamrock screws up a bit, accidentally doing a spot where he's got Brown in trouble and pushes him towards the corner to tease him like he'll allow a tag. The problem is he's teasing him towards Owen, not Rock. Rock: Bring him to me you dumbass! Rock finally gets the tag and we head to the floor with Shamrock in control at first but they brawl into the crowd. And scratch that as they're back in the aisle already. Back in and it's off to Owen and Brown with a small package getting two for Owen. Brown gets in a small bit of offense but it's back to Shamrock and he's not in a good mood so the ankle lock ends it fast.
Rating: C. Not a bad match here and something that you would have seen at almost any house show around this time. Shamrock making Brown tap is a fine way to end this although I'd like to see it get more than six minutes. This on a regular PPV would have been ripped to shreds but on a house show like this it was fine.
Cactus Jack vs. The Artist Formerly Known as Goldust
What an odd pairing. Goldust tries a left handed handshake to start but Foley drills him and sends him to the floor. This should be a lot better too as Goldust knows how to get through a basic match a lot better than Brakkus or Bradshaw at this point. A sunset flip doesn't work and Foley keeps the advantage. Cactus speeds things up again and Goldust isn't sure what to do with him.
Luna is on the floor screeching a lot and getting on my nerves in general. Goldust gets in a few shots but can't keep any kind of advantage. At least he looks somewhat human tonight. We get a chinlock put on pretty early on in the match, especially by Foley standards but maybe the bumps were starting to catch up to him at this point.
In a move that was rather obvious, Luna trips up the future (and I believe former) Dude Love to let Goldie put him on the floor. Jack is like dude no way am I getting beaten up by a guy that looks like the naked Oscar statue and he tries to suplex Goldust to the floor. After about three attempts Foley needs a bit of a rest so Goldust clotheslines him on the top.
Things slow down a bit now as Goldie pounds away a bit in the corner. You might even say he's stomping a mudhole. You might say that but you would probably be slapped with a gimmick infringement lawsuit. And now let's hit that chinlock. I mean let's REALLY hit that chinlock as we've been in it for a good minute and a half now. Make that three minutes. Foley fights out of it for a bit but never mind as let's go right back to it.
You can tell they're not all that interested in having this match and the fact that we've had nearly five minutes in a chinlock kind of proves that. Foley gets bored too and fights up in his comeback. Goldust is in big trouble but he goes for the double arm DDT too close to the ropes and Luna pulls Goldie out. The referee again is like yep that's cool with me. Foley tries to suplex him back in and it's Wrestlemania 5 all over again for the cheap pin.
Rating: C-. I'm almost giving it a higher grade out of pity. These matches have been so boring this first hour or so that I'm willing to give almost anything a good grade at this point. Not a bad match but they're just so cookie cutter style and dull that I can't say they're good. I'm REALLY hoping the last three are better than this because they can't be much worse.
Foley puts Goldust in the Claw, drawing in Luna which draws in Sable for a catfight. This goes on for awhile.
Tag Titles: New Age Outlaws vs. Legion of Doom
This is probably just a practice run for Unforgiven where the champions (Outlaws) retained in a double pin. Animal vs. Billy to start. Those shorts never worked on Animal, like at all. Animal tries to wrestle for a bit and when he realizes that's really not his cup of tea (we're in England. It's tea) he goes to brawling. Well power brawling but still brawling. He knocks Gunn around and Gunn is like uh.....dang I wish I had those shorts.
He heads to the floor and kills some time before coming back in to see Animal again. Why in the world would you want to go in and face a big strong guy named Animal that wants to beat you up? Gunn tries to speed things up and is caught in a huge powerbomb and a clothesline that sends him to the floor. Hawk is like here have a clothesline and Gunn channels his inner Scott Steiner by doing pushups.
We slow things WAY down and Gunn makes the crowd hate him even more. It's not like it's hard as they're against the insanely popular LOD. He even gets a massage on his sore back from Road Dogg. It's off to the canine and Hawk and the big beats the mammal here. Roadie runs over and grabs Gunn's namesake so Hawk slams Roadie's head into Gunn's gun.
This has been one sided so far. Hawk finally misses a charge and let the beating begin. We get some classic old school cheating such as drawing Animal in while double teaming occurs. The fans are totally behind the LOD as you would expect. Let's hit that chinlock to eat up some time! This eats up a good while as we're in an old school style tag match formula, which makes sense as we have an old tag team in there.
Gunn sets for a vertical suplex on Hawk but bird boy looks a little dead. Since Gunn takes FOREVER to pull the trigger though, Hawk escapes and hooks one of his own, setting up the hot tag to Animal. And scratch that as after he gets in a few shots the Outlaws take him down and we're right where we were a few seconds ago but now with a better pair of shorts.
Billy claws at his face as Hawk is up very quickly. I know he never was big on selling but come on now. Double elbow puts Animal down for a delayed two. Animal busts out a dragon screw leg whip of all things and it's hot tag to Hawk. He cleans house and everything breaks down quickly. They set up Roadie for the Doomsday Device but, say it with me, Chyna comes in with the low blow for the DQ for the Outlaws to retain.
Rating: C+. It's an old school tag match which usually makes it a lot better than most matches would be. They played the formula to perfection and that's about all you can do most of the time. Hawk and Animal weren't much at this point and with no Sunny they were even less. By far the best match of the night so far and that isn't saying much as this was just pretty good.
WWF World Title: Steve Austin vs. HHH
Austin won the title a week ago so what do you think is going to happen here? The first of many title matches between these two but at this point HHH is just barely in the upper midcard and upper might be a stretch. This would be like a title defense against R-Truth before Truth got his semi-main event push. They do some basic stuff to start and Austin pops him with an elbow to take over.
This crowd loves it some Austin. HHH bails and stalls because that's what he does. HHH is European Champion here. They have a ton of time to work with here so this feeling out stuff is totally understandable. Austin channels his inner Piper with a poke to the eye. Not yet being the Cerebral Assassin, HHH tries to slug with Austin and I'll leave it up to you to figure out how that goes.
Austin fires off the Thesz Press and tries a Stunner (BIG pop but they wind up on the floor instead and we place chase the challenger. Austin grabs the arm (there's a new one) but HHH catches him with the knee to the face (called a boot by that lunkhead Cole) and goes after the braced knee. It goes around the post a few times and there's a chop block for good measure.
You can see a lot of Flair in HHH. As I say that, Kelly suggests maybe a figure four to end things and that looks like what the Game is going for. Austin escapes and we head to the floor again where Chyna gets in a shot to give HHH more of an advantage. HHH hooks a Figure Four and Austin is in trouble. After a LONG time in the hold, Austin gets the hold turned over and gets to a rope.
HHH is limping a bit but Austin can't even get up to limp. HHH kicks out the knee again....and again....and again. There's a side slam for two and off to a leg lock. Austin responds by using the good leg, the right one, to kick HHH in the head and face a lot and break the hold. Well if one leg doesn't work let's use the other one I guess. Austin is all fired up to the point where his knee doesn't hurt anymore.
He gets caught in a facebuster though and here comes the Game again. There's a double clothesline to put both guys down. Both guys are up at 9 and Chyna interferes AGAIN. HOW BLIND ARE THESE REFEREES??? Austin gets all fired up and starts his comeback but can't get the Stunner.
In a weird way this match is almost like the one HHH had against Khali in the Summer of 09. The only thing he can do to hope to win the title is hit his one big move, the Pedigree, and hope that it's enough. Other than that he has nothing that could possibly work and he knows it. To be fair though it's not like Austin is going to win with anything but the Stunner either so it kind of balances out.
HHH goes up top (???) but jumps into a punch to the ribs. Austin is all fired up now but gets caught with a knee coming out of the corner. HHH sets for the Pedigree but for absolutely no apparent reason, Chyna gets up on the apron to distract the referee. Austin goes old school with a catapult and down goes Chioda. Chyna comes in, low blow misses, Stunner, Stunner, pin.
Rating: B+. Solid stuff here and you can see the chemistry that was coming. This time though there was absolutely no chance HHH was winning, especially not a week after Austin won the title for the first time. Still though there was no one else to put him against so this was fine. Also the match was rather good so I can't complain there either.
Undertaker vs. Kane
Undertaker, in street clothes (looks a lot like he would as the biker) is jumped in the aisle by DX. Due to the beating Kane has a strong advantage to get things going with. All Kane through the first minute or two. Bearer is loving the fact that Taker is getting destroyed. There's a boot to Kane's ribs and the fans are getting back into it. Ok so maybe the back is a stretch but they're getting into it. Taker builds momentum with strikes of various sorts and hits a chokeslam out of nowhere. Kane of course sits up and walks into a tombstone....for the pin....after like four minutes....more on this in a second.
Rating: D+. The fans were into it and that's really all that matters. From what I can find Taker's luggage was lost so he had to wear the street clothes. That's all fine and good and if it's all you've got then it's all you've got. The match....yeah it's just not that good as you can only do much in the length of time they had. Not much of a match but the crowd popped big for the finish.
As for the length of the match, according to Wikipedia the match lasted 20 minutes. However, I can find no evidence of clipping the match down at all and no version that is longer. Also I've found multiple live reports from people in the arena that night that say that the match was indeed about 5 minutes long. I'm going to go with that as this is the best I can find.
Bearer and Kane walk out and Taker poses to end the show.
Overall Rating: D. I watched this and the clipped version (down to an hour) and trust me: the clipping is your friend in this case. Austin vs. HHH is good and other than that this show is boring. It's like a house show and that means it's just not interesting. More often than not that's what you would have on these shows: one good match and then a lot of stuff that no one cared about and no one wanted to see. Bad show and more of a footnote in history than a good show. Not worth seeing and good luck finding the whole one anyway.