Screen Caps from WWF Prime Time Wrestling: Ultimate Challenge Special
The Audit: WWF WrestleMania XI Review
(Editor’s Note: This review was originally written April 4th of 2014.)
With WrestleMania XXX week now upon us, I thought I’d Audit another Mania in it’s honor. A lot of people have been complaining about the build to this year’s WrestleMania event, and the feeling is that the show doesn’t feel “BIG”. So what I’ve decided to do is go back in time and review a WrestleMania that wasn’t exactly ‘one of the best’. Hopefully by the time I’m done Auditing this WrestleMania below, both you and I will have a new found appreciation for WrestleMania XXX. I can almost guarantee I will.
WWF WRESTLEMANIA XI
“LT vs. Bam Bam”
It was April 2, 1995 from the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, Connecticut. The gate was something like 16,000 or so fans, which barely topped any of the three locations from WrestleMania II, and is credited as beating the WrestleMania VII crowd by a couple hundred people. Which, by quality alone is pretty sad, because Mania VII would blow this shit out of the water if you ask me. We stick with the three hour format, and only seven matches on the card. Well, that must mean the matches are going longer, which should mean QUALITY right?????? Right????? Well let’s take a look at the card…..
* NFL Legend Lawrence Taylor vs. Bam Bam Bigelow
* WWF Heavyweight Champion Diesel vs. Shawn Michaels
* Bret Hart vs. Bob Backlund in an ‘I Quit’ Match (Special Referee Appointed)
* Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett vs. Razor Ramon
* Tag Team Champions Smoking Gunns vs. Owen Hart and a Mystery Partner
* The Undertaker vs. King Kong Bundy
* Lex Luger and Davey Boy Smith vs. Jacob and Eli Blu
Plus, Pamela Anderson, Jenny McCarthy, Nicholas Turturro, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, LT’s “All-Star Team”, Salt-n-Peppa, and more!
That doesn’t look very promising, maybe they’ll surprise me.
* In the dark match, well no, there wasn’t a dark match. That’s just how low on talent the WWF was at this point. Now you see why Diesel was champion for an entire year?
The show begins with an opening video package highlighting the first ten WrestleMania events, some faulty microphone work as Vince tries to announce Special Olympian Kathy Huey who sings a rendition of “American the Beautiful”. This was originally slated to be the ska/funk/punk rock band “FISHBONE”, but story goes after Vince got wind of their rendition he axed them for the Special Olympian. Essentially Fishbone got paid to stay home. Makes me wonder even more how the hell the DX Band slipped through the cracks only a few years later.
Once Kathy is finished, Vince welcomes us to WrestleMania, but not in his usual screaming, shouting, jovial, pumped up way. Instead, he says it calmly, almost like he knows this shit is going to bomb. Vince & Lawler are at ringside for commentary, I can’t get over how uninterested Vince sounds compared to usual. But he had to love the ridiculous press, media, and paparazzi, at ringside for the evening. It’s actually quite ridiculous as two sides of the ring are filled with press on the outside, taking up so much room that if I paid for a ringside ticket I’d be flipping out. Everyone was there for LT.
(Notes going in: To call the tag division stale at this point would be an understatement. This would be the night Vince decided to try and revive the division by taking solidified singles stars and sticking them in teams to try and rejuvenate the division. Basically, the opposite of what they would normally do, taking teams and splitting them up to create stars. The Blu Twins (Ron & Don Harris) were still relatively new to the promotion with Dutch Mantell working as their manager, “Uncle Zebekiah”. Luger and Bulldog, as big name stars as they were, were going nowhere fast due to the depleted heel roster to work with. So McMahon slaps them together as a new team, and I do believe this is their first televised match as a full time team, complete with their own brand new theme music and tag team name, ‘The Allied Powers’. What you’re looking at here is two top level babyfaces battling two mid-card heels that had accomplished nothing at this point, or any point for that matter. But Vince loved the big guys, so they make the show.)
The Allied Powers (Lex Luger and Davey Boy Smith) vs. Jacob and Eli Blu (with Uncle Zebekiah)
When this match was announced, Luger and Smith weren’t even an established team. I believe this is their first televised match as a team. They’ve now been labeled the ‘Allied Powers’ and come to the ring with a new theme that mixes Smith’s “Rule Britannia” with Luger’s “Made in the USA” theme. The Twins try and jump the Powers, but that doesn’t work out too well. Some shitty timed double team spots by Luger and Davey follow to clear the Blu’s from the ring.
The match gets going and Davey starts right away with a delayed suplex for 2. Smith ducks a double clothesline from the Twins, but nails both with his own clotheslines. Smith comes off the ropes but runs into a knee from the Blu on the apron. The Twins take over control. Smith with a small package, but the referee misses it because of Lex, and the illegal Blu breaks it up to make the save. The Twins stay on Davey with a double Big Boot. Smith keeps fighting back, but the Blu’s keep making both legal and illegal switches.
Eli Blu misses something off the middle rope and Smith makes the hot tag to Lex. Jacob tags in as well. Luger with his usual offense, repeating moves he did at the opening of the match, clothesline, powerslam, it’s like the opening all over again. Lex nails the illegal steel plated forearm of doom and goes for the cover, but Eli breaks it up. That brings Davey in. While the referee forces Smith out, Eli replaces Jacob in the ring. The illegal, yet fresh Blu Twin, sets Lex up for a piledriver, but fails to notice Luger has tagged in Davey Boy. While Eli bends over to hook Lex, Smith comes off the top rope with a sunset flip for the pin in 6:40.
Winners: Lex and Davey
After the match, Jim Ross tries to interview the losers, Zebekiah and the Blu Twins, in the aisle way. Zebekiah says they were robbed by the big city folk. The lighting doesn’t work for the interview and this entire thing is conducted in the dark.
(Post Match Thoughts: The WWF was trying to revive the tag division by using big names, but that doesn’t make a good match. When you want to get over two muscle-bound heroes you don’t stick them out there with guys much larger than them. Match looked awkward at times, wasn’t good at all. 1/2* at best)
Next, we go to the back with tonight’s roving reporter, Nick Turturro from NYPD Blue. He’s with Jenny McCarthy and the Million Dollar Corporation in the background. There’s no audio so they have to cut away as Kama starts to walk up to McCarthy. Remember this for later when they redo this exact segment with the same exact mannerisms. Wrestling Fake? Noooo!
(Notes going in: This feud had basically been a war of words up until Royal Rumble 1995 when Jarrett basically stole the WWF IC Championship from the Bad Guy thanks to the aid of the Roadie. Now Ramon is back for revenge, and his IC Championship, but he isn’t alone this time. Razor brings his buddy the 1-2-3 Kid to ringside to act as a second to thwart off any potential interference from the Roadie in this rematch.)
WWF Intercontinental Championship Match
“Double J” Jeff Jarrett (with Roadie) vs. Razor Ramon (with 1-2-3 Kid)
A pissed off Razor rushes the ring, forcing all of the pain in the ass members of the press to spread out of the way so he can get inside. Jarrett with a swing and a miss and Razor goes to town before posing with the Kid for some pyro work. Now keep in mind the bell has sounded before the pyro, or the referee taking the belt. Razor with some quick pin attempts, and then clotheslines Jarrett to the floor.
Back in the ring, Jarrett fakes a reverse body block and hits a sunset flip off the second rope, but it doesn’t work. Jarrett almost collides with Roadie on the apron, but he puts on the brakes. Razor sends Jarrett into Roadie anyway, and then rolls Jeff up for a 2 count. Ramon picks Jarrett up for the Razor’s Edge, but Roadie grabs Jarrett’s foot to save him. Jeff tries fleeing ringside, but the 1-2-3 Kid rolls him back in. Jarrett has a short bit of offense before crotching himself. Razor then knocks Roadie off the apron and tosses Jarrett over the top rope and back outside.
Jeff steps back in the ring and takes over with a neckbreaker, and then his game is on. Jeff with some strutting and some wrestling, working on the back of Ramon. Razor catches a foot, Jeff misses an inzuigiri, but Jarrett stays on top with a chinlock. Razor escapes and counters with a backslide for 2. And Jarrett right back on top of things. Razor fights back with some punches, but Jarrett locks on the sleeper.
Ramon escapes the sleeper pretty quickly, but Jarrett goes back to the chinlock. Ramon escapes that with a back suplex. These guys are moving through this match pretty fast, the rest holds are fast, as are the selling spots on the mat. Seems liek they’re trying to squeeze in more than the time they’re being allowed. Both men go down at the same time twice in a row.
Both men trade punches, Jarrett tries a body block but Razor catches and delivers a fall away slam for 2. Spinning punch by Ramon. The 1-2-3 Kid tries to post Jeff Jarrett’s crotch in the corner post, but Jarrett kicks him backwards into the steel railing. Razor comes off the second rope with a bulldog, but misses and blows out his knee. Jeff Jarrett capitalizes with the Figure Four! Roadie assists with leverage behind referee Tim White’s back. Ramon won’t quit and he won’t stay down for a pin. Razor finally turns the hold over! Ramon reverses the Figure Four!
Jarrett releases the hold, and now both men are hobbling. Jarrett misses a wild punch and Razor counters with a Back Suplex Off the top rope! Ramon calls for the Razor’s Edge. He picks Jarrett up again, and this time Roadie hits the ring and clips the leg of Ramon right in front of the referee for the DQ after 13:32.
Winner: Razor Ramon on a DQ
Directly after the bell, the 1-2-3 Kid slides into the ring to even the odds, nailing Jarrett and Roadie with all sorts of spin kicks. Jarrett finally attacks the Kid while he’s busy with Roadie. Jeff takes the Kid down and applies the Figure Four while Roadie assists. Ramon is back up and he attacks Jarrett. Jeff and the Roadie take off, but not before they grab the IC Title. Jarrett loses by DQ, but retains the title. What a payoff.
Jim Ross interviews Jarrett, who has a busted nose, in the aisle. Jarrett says Razor is nothing, and Jeff is still the champ!
(Post Match Thoughts: This was actually better than I remembered, thankfully. I don’t know that this match is going to save this show, but the guys came to wrestle and had a decent match. The DQ finish was shitty for a Mania PPV payoff. The Kid’s interference and stupid jacket were distracting at times. Roadie pulls Jeff to safety twice. Too much outside bullshit for me, but the guys did okay. **1/2)
Remember that interview from earlier with Nick Turturro, Jenny McCarthy, and the Million Dollar Team? They redo the thing, with the only difference being King Kong Bundy missing because his match is up next. Kama steps up to Jenny (AGAIN), Sid & Shawn Michaels also join the segment. Ramblings from Sid. Shawn will be champ. Sid is just ‘Psycho’.
– Barry Didinski (remember him?) shills the WrestleMania XI merchandise. Sell those shirts!
– Todd Pettingill is at ringside to interview former Chicago Bear Neil Anderson about the LT/Bigelow match. Obviously, Anderson is behind LT.
(Notes going in: As part of the 1995 Royal Rumble event, the Undertaker was challenged by Million Dollar Corporation member Mike “Fake IRS” Rotunda. During the match, King Kong Bundy, another Corporation member, interfered and enabled the Corporation to steal The Undertaker’s urn, which was said to be the source of his power. After the Undertaker finished his business with Rotunda, he would seek revenge on the Corporation, namely Bundy, for stealing his urn. This would be that opportunity.)
Our referee for the match is MLB American League umpire Larry Young. With the MLB on strike the year before, Young is getting a spot here on WrestleMania for no real reason other than to add to the “star power”. Young would resume his MLB career with the 1995 season.
The Undertaker (with Paul Bearer) vs. King Kong Bundy (with Ted DiBiase)
DiBiase brings the urn to ringside. Bundy tries a back jump, but Taker steps aside. Taker all over Bundy and delivers Old School, when it was still fairly New School, very early in the match. Undertaker with three clotheslines to take down Bundy for the first time. Bundy comes back with a clothesline that knocks Taker out of the ring, but the dead man lands on his feet and snatches the Urn from Ted DiBiase and hands it back to Paul Bearer. DiBiase starts to walk towards the back, waving for Kama, who takes the urn back from Paul Bearer. Undertaker goes after Kama, but Bundy jumps him from behind.
Jim Ross interviews Kama in the aisle right in the middle of the match. Kama says he’s melting down the urn into a chain so that he can wear it. How stupid. Bundy remains in control of Undertaker, slamming him and dropping a knee for 2. Chinlock for Bundy. Bearer tries to rally the crowd, but this crowd is mostly dead. Undertaker escapes, but Bundy follows up with the AVALANCHE! But the Undertaker no sells, and hits Bundy with a big boot, a huge bodyslam and the flying clothesline for the win in 6:37. Bundy just walks off afterwards all pissed off. Way to sell, lardy.
Winner: Taker 4-0
(Post Match Thoughts: This was boring, not necessarily the worst thing ever, nothing really got flubbed, but the match was bad. I don’t think anyone expected a barn burner, which is why they got 6 minutes, which was still about 4 minutes too long for me. Better than Giant Gonzalez, yet not quite as good as the Superfly squash. The Undertaker’s streak of Mania squashes continue. With Bundy doing a job to a clothesline I did like that they added the big slam beforehand. This match gets 1/4* for not being as bad as it could have been. Might have even given it 1/2* if they had cut out that chinlock shit and went right into the Avalanche spot.)
– Nicholas Turturro, our roving reporter for the night, is still looking for Pamela Anderson. As of yet, she is nowhere to be found! Instead he runs into LT’s All-Pro team. For some reason, each NFL player has a specific grudge with individual members of DiBiase’s corporation. Steve McMichael wants Kama, Reggie White wants King Kong Bundy, Chris Spielman wants Tatanka, Carl Banks wants Nikolai Volkoff… for some reason.
– Turturro then stumbles upon some goofy crap with Bob Backlund playing chess with Jonathan Taylor Thomas of ‘Home Improvement’ fame. Backlund becomes distracted and JTT calls checkmate. Bob loses to the 13 year old and throws a tantrum on today’s youth. Damn whippersnappers.
– Todd Pettingill is at ringside with George Martin, the former Giant. Martin used to play with LT. Martin is fully behind his former team mate.
– In Your House Promo. They’re giving away a house! It’s in a wealthy area, all you have to do is pay the gift taxes, the land taxes, and the bills. Good luck!
(Notes going in: I don’t even know how to explain the way this match was booked. Somehow, Owen Hart by himself, was given a tag team title shot along with a partner of his choosing. Owen would decide to name his mystery partner at the event, and no sooner. Speculation would go on for a few weeks as to who the Rocket’s partner would be. Jim Neidhart? One of his brothers? An ex-star making their return? I’m still trying to figure out how Owen just randomly got a tag team title shot with a partner of his choosing, without even earning a contention spot. That’s wrestling folks.)
Enough of the bullshit, Owen announces his partner is…… YOKOZUNA! And that makes sense on no level of booking, other than once again they’re trying to revive the tag division by sticking established stars together. Yoko had been gone since Survivor Series ’94 when he lost to the Taker. I think he was supposed to lose weight or something. Well, he didn’t.
The Gunns are surprised, they had a list of potential opponents, but Yoko wasn’t one of them. But that’s okay, they’re still going to go out there and successfully defend their tag team titles. Sure guys.
WWF Tag Team Championship Match
The Smoking Gunns (Billy and Bart Gunn) (c) vs. “The Rocket” Owen Hart and Yokozuna (with Mr. Fuji and Jim Cornette)
Since their beginnings in 1993, Billy Gunn’s mustache has creeped me out. Billy and Owen get things going. Owen with some good stuff on Billy and Bart. Yoko tags in but misses an elbow on Bart. Bart tries to capitalize, but Yoko is too big. Owen tags in and the challengers have the advantage.
Bart comes back with the hiptoss armdrag routine, and the Gunns nail Owen with a double Russian Legsweep, and a Double dropkick takes Yokozuna out of the ring! The Gunns work on Owen now with a back suplex and neckbreaker combination move for 2. Owen takes the chest bump into the corner buckles. The Gunns then land the ‘Sidewinder’ finisher, which is a Side Slam and elevated legdrop combination, but Yokozuna distracts to prevent a fall.
Owen makes a blind tag and drop toe holds Billy down while Yoko comes in with a Legdrop to the back of Billy’s head, and that woke the crowd up a little. Owen rams Billy’s back into the ring post outside before handing him back to Yoko. Doesn’t take long for Yoko to go to the nerve hold. Billy is about dead from the nerbe hold when he fights his way free. Owen tries to keep his team in control with a missile dropkick, but Billy ducks and Owen dropkicks Yoko down!
Billy makes the hot tag to Bart and the crowd doesn’t even make a noise. Owen tries to pull the rope down during a spot, but the spot is too early and Bart doesn’t take the bump. Bart drops Owen and Yoko, tag back to Billy. They try the spot again and this time Owen pulls Bart out to the floor. Yoko hits Billy with a belly to belly suplex and drags him to the corner. Bart tries to prevent the Banzai drop, but gets backdropped out of the ring. Banzai drop on Billy Gunn, and instead of going for the Sharpshooter, Owen just covers the dead Billy Gunn for the easy win after 9:42, and Yoko is winded.
Winners: And Newwwwww Tag Team Champions, Owen and Yoko
(Post Match Thoughts: The pairing of Yoko and Owen made no sense on paper, other than to take two more legit players and stick them into a tag team. Brilliant stuff. Funny how your real teams like the Gunns and Blu Twins are jobbed out to these new superstar tandems. I was never really a Gunns fan so I didn’t mind the title loss. I liked the deal with Owen playing up letting Yoko be the heavy, literally. Match was actually somewhat okay, but Yokozuna was clearly out of ring shape. **)
– A brief look at the original version of WrestleMania Axxess. This event supported the 1995 Special Olympics.
– Todd Pettingill is backstage with Bam Bam Bigelow. Bigelow is ready for his fight, this is his world, not LT’s. He knows he has the Million Dollar Team to take care of the All Star Team. LT doesn’t have a prayer.
(Notes going in: This feud really kicked off back in the summer of 1994. Bret Hart was defending his WWF Ttitle against Bob Backlund. Bob thought he had won the title, only to find out the match was continuing, and Bret scored a surprise pinfall, which ultimately led to the heel turn of Mr. Backlund. Bob would eventually defeat Bret at the 1994 Survivor Series with help from Owen Hart, where Backlund would regain the WWF Title after over a decade. Bob would lose the championship later in the week to Diesel, but he would continue his issues with Bret, even interfering in a championship match between Bret vs. Diesel at the 1995 Royal Rumble. This is the blow off match to a long running feud, where the loser is supposed to say the word “I QUIT”. There was much mention to the fact that Bret nor Bob had ever quit a match prior to this one. Of course, Skaaland had thrown the towel in for Bob all those years earlier, but Backlund had never submitted. The same can be said for Bret. At the very last minute, a special referee was named for the match, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper was surprisingly announced as the referee for this match right before the match was to begin.)
– Unannounced, unadvertised, and likely a last minute addition, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper returns as a special guest referee for the second WrestleMania in a row. In this match Piper will have a microphone (bad idea) while the match is going on, waiting for someone to say the words “I Quit”. Can Roddy shut up long enough to let us enjoy the match? Let’s find out.
“I QUIT” MATCH – Guest Referee Roddy Piper
Bret “Hitman” Hart vs. Mr. Bob Backlund
As the bell sounds Bret goes right after the man who took his WWF Title. Bret starts to work over Backlund and Roddy shoves a microphone in his face to ask him is he quits. That’s great, it begins now. Piper gets that damn microphone and it’s all over, asking people if they quit every 5 seconds for the rest of the match. Bret locks in a Furgure Four, Backlund hangs on and reverses the hold. The two wind up in the ropes for a break. Bret works on Backlund’s leg, while Piper keeps asking Backlund if he quits, even when he’s not in a quitting position. So fucking irritating. Bob finally takes over and IMMEDIATELY Piper wants to know if Bret quits. Come the fuck on Piper, Backlund JUST started getting the heat, you know better than to ask him if he quits yet. Piper even asks Bret if he quits after an IRISH WHIP. Fucking stupid.
Lawler reminds McMahon of the WrestleMania VIII match between Bret and Piper, wondering if maybe Piper might be looking for a little revenge tonight. Bob locks in a Fujiwara armbar and turns it into a chicken wing hammerlock, then right back to the Fujiwara. Piper asks Hart if he quits again, Bret responds “Hell No” in irritating fashion. For those who missed it, Roddy reminds us he said no. Bob turns thing into a simple standing armbar, but Piper still keeps asking, and asking, and asking. Bret counters out with a slam and then…
Mercifully, the original live version cuts out here and we miss the entire rest of the match.
However, this needing to be a detailed Audit, I’ve moved over to the WWE Network version of this match to finish it up.
So Bret escapes an armbar with a slam and takes over on offense. Backbreaker and elbow off the second rope by Hart. Bret goes for the Sharshooter, but Backlund gets to the ropes before it can be put on. Hart misses a shoulder charge in the corner and Bob Backlund goes for the Cross Face Chicken Wing to capitalize. Bret holds onto the rope to try and block it, but Bob pulls him off. Backlund hooks the hold but can’t take Bret down. The Hitman ends up reversing the chicken wing hold and taking Backlund down to the mat. Backlund screams every time Piper asks him if he quits, NEVER saying the words “I Quit”, but Piper calls for the bell anyway. Even the announcers can’t ignore Piper’s shitty officiating. This thing is over in 9:34.
Winner: Hitman Hart
Jim Ross interviews Backlund after the match. Bob says he has seen the light. What a goofy bastard.
(Post Match Thoughts: What asshole thought to give Roddy Piper a microphone during a match? “Wudda ya say?”. What do I say? You’re fucking irritating, you screwed up the finish of the match, and for the second year in a row you made a terrible referee. Match was actually okay, not very good at all, but okay, because it was much shorter than the Survivor Series match. But you mean to tell me that they couldn’t come up with something better than this for Bret Hart at WrestleMania? Talk about dropping the ball. Piper really detracted from the match, but the match wasn’t all that good to begin with. I’m sure Hart was so happy with this shit. Hart didn’t even use most of his signature moves here, it just felt like “okay, let’s just get this shit over with”. *1/2)
– Diesel stands by backstage, waiting for Todd Pettingill who isn’t even there. God, this show is all fucked up. Nothing is going right. Diesel flubs his promo, gets mad at himself and starts cutting a typical yelling promo to cover it up. Diesel says he will retain.
(Notes going in: This history goes back to 1993, when HBK brought Diesel in as his bodyguard. Things started falling apart in the summer of 1994 when Shawn accidentally superkicked the big man at SummerSlam ’94. A similar situation would take place at the 1994 Survivor Series which would lead the split of the two long time good friends. Shawn would interfere during Diesel’s championship match vs. Bret Hart at Rumble ’95, only to turn around and win the Rumble match later in the evening in order to win this championship match as part of WrestleMania. If anything is going to save this show, this is the match, and Diesel is in it so that’s saying a lot.)
Vince hooks up with Nicholas Turturro one last time. Pamela Anderson is still missing, Turturro claims she has left the building due to an argument with Shawn Michaels. Things have been shifted around because of Pamela’s bitchiness with Turturro now acting as ring announcer for the match, Jonathan Taylor Thomas as time keeper, and now Jenny McCarthy is the escort for Shawn Michaels as he makes his way to the ring.
Here comes Big Daddy Cool, but he’s not alone! Diesel motions for someone to follow him out, and it’s Pamela Anderson! That dirty hepatitis infester hussy! That was not in her Royal Rumble / WrestleMania contract at all! Honestly, by 1995 I would have been happy with McCarthy instead anyway. Anyway, Pam accompanies Diesel to ringside, and both her and McCarthy miss the point of being on opposite sides of the match as they pal up and sit together next to super bodyguard Tony Garea. Keep an eye on the press in this match.
WWF Heavyweight Championship Match
Diesel (c) vs. “Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels (with Sid)
Michaels tries to jump Diesel before the bell, but gets backdropped out of the ring. Diesel poses with Pamela Anderson and pyro before we get things going. The media is in full effect here, surrounding the ring, and as you’ll see shortly, getting in the way at every turn. Michaels with some nice speed running the ropes early in the match but it comes to an end with a single blow from Diesel.
Shawn tries to work the arm of Diesel, but gets tossed around the ring for his troubles and takes a high ass backdrop before getting throws upside down out of the ring. Shawn lands on one of the press photographers and HBK gets PISSED. Shawn drags the photographer into the aisle and you can tall Lawler loves it. Fucking media. Sid distracts Diesel so Shawn can attack, but it doesn’t work. Diesel is ready, but Big Daddy Cool misses a charge in the corner. Shawn repeatedly tries 10 punches in the corner but keeps getting thrown off. Diesel tries a press slam, but sucks at it, Michaels escapes anyway. Diesel reverses a suplex and hits a kneelift that sends Shawn back outside.
Sid distracts Diesel again while Shawn recovers. Michaels slides through Diesel’s legs to get back in the ring like he’s Marty Jannetty. Shawn tries a sunset flip, but Diesel yanks him up into an elevated choke and drops Shawn crotch first across the top rope. Shawn retaliates with a clothesline that takes them both over the top rope, but Shawn skins the cat back inside and lands a flying body block off the top rope to the outside on Diesel. The press are starting to get wise, and getting the hell out of the way.
Shawn with a baseball slide on Diesel. Lawler claims Pam Anderson is worries, so the camera catches a picture of her and she’s not even paying attention, but rather smiling and waving at the fans. What trash. Shawn misses a second baseball slide, Diesel tries to ram Shawn into the post, but Michaels winds up reversing things and Diesel goes down on the floor with a rib injury. Michaels hits a running splash off the apron to the floor. A simple spot like that and Shawn made it look great.
Things slow down now as Shawn keeps the big man grounded. Shawn steals a page out of his buddy Razor’s book with a bulldog from the second rope, that only gets 2. Diesel reverses a whip in the corner, but Shawn counters with a springing back elbow again for 2. With Diesel on his stomach, Michaels with a flying elbow off the top rope into the ribs of Diesel for yet another 2.
Diesel counters a front face lock twice with backdrops. Shawn tries to go up and over Diesel, but the champ catches him for Snake Eyes, but Shawn slides out and shoves Diesel’s ribs into the corner buckle. Shawn goes to a sleeper hold. They do the three arm raise routine, Diesel keeps his arm up on three, and powers his way out of the hold by driving Shawn backwards into the corner. Diesel comes back with elbows and clotheslines, the big Snake Eyes, and the legdrop to the back of the head as Shawn lays over the second rope.
Diesel with an Irish whip and Shawn flips out of the ring to the floor. Shawn begs away, Diesel catches him and pulls him around by his tights. Michaels gets Diesel to follow him outside again, the official follows them out and twists his ankle. The referee goes down. Meanwhile, back in the ring Shawn hits the SUPERKICK, but there’s no referee to make the count! Come on ya damn referee! Shawn had the match won, but Earl Hebner fucked it up. Maybe that’s why Earl helped Shawn at Series 97, to make up for it. Sid throws Hebner in the ring, but Earl’s too late and Shawn only gets a 2 count.
Sid exposes a corner buckle for Shawn to use, but Diesel counters with a back suplex. Shawn covers Diesel for a near fall and goes to the second rope but Diesel catches him with a side slam. Shawn is up first, but Diesel slingshots him into the corner with the exposed turnbuckle, the only problem is, they are so far away that Shawn has to bump off the middle rope buckle and not the exposed steel on the top rope. Shitty. Diesel revs his engine after a Big Boot and hits the Jackknife Powerbomb with Shawn over rotating and taking the bump straight down in a seated position on his ass for the finish in 20:32.
Winner: Big Daddy Cool
Diesel calls all the celebrities in the ring for a final celebration.
(Post Match Thoughts: What can I say. It was a good match, and Shawn made the media think twice about trying to take over ringside. The first half of the match was nonstop Shawn making things look good. As things slowed down, you could tell Diesel was starting to get winded, but he worked through it. The finish was a little botched by Shawn missing the exposed turnbuckle, but it really wasn’t a necessity for the finish so it didn’t screw things up too much. I liked them adding the Superkick spot where Shawn should have won, that keeps him in the running for a potential rematch after getting screwed. Diesel wins to continue this almost all baby face winner card. Shawn really worked his ass off out there on the offense and in bumping, and credit to Diesel for keeping up for the most part. As for the ass bump during the powerbomb finish, Diesel claims Shawn did it on purpose because he was jobbing. ***3/4)
– Shawn Michaels is now backstage, and he is pissed off. He had that match won, Diesel was down by the Superkick, but the referee was down. He got robbed! Sid talks about more than one referee in other sports championship games, but the one they had tonight screwed HBK. Shawn says he shouldn’t even have to do this again, but he wants a rematch to get the title that’s rightfully his.
(Notes going in: Like most of the matches on this show, the storyline stems from the 1995 Royal Rumble. Bigelow had just done a job to the 1-2-3 Kid as part of a Tag Team Title match. Lawrence Taylor was sitting ringside, as a guest of Diesel. LT was seen laughing at Bigelow for losing to the scrawny Kid, something Bam bam took exception to. Bigelow ended up shoving LT down in the crowd, and Taylor popped back up wanting a piece of Bam Bam. While LT was held back, Bigelow left ringside in a rage. The following week on Raw, Bigelow was to apologize to Taylor during a ‘via satellite’ interview between the two. Instead, Bigelow would challenge LT to a wrestling match, which ultimately ended up at WrestleMania. The storyline was that Diesel trained Taylor, while LT would be backed by several NFL “All-Pro” friends to counteract Bigelow’s Million Dollar Corporation. Diesel was his trainer? Oh no, I might as well write this shit off now. To build things up further, LT would kiss Bigelow on the cheek in the matter of an insult as part of the WrestleMania Press Conference, and during a “WrestleMania Workout” session in NYC the two men would come to blows as they tried getting at each other. The WWF worked hard to keep the suspense going for the media.)
– Salt-n-Peppa and their DJ Spinderella get it on as they sing a version of “Whatta Man” for Lawrence Taylor. Out first is the Million Dollar Corporation of King Kong Bundy, Tatanka, Nikolai Volkoff, Kama, Mike “IRS” Rotunda, and Ted DiBiase. They must be rushing on time because the entire team jogs to ringside, even Bundy and DiBiase, who both look weird running to the ring. Out next is LT’s All-Pro team of Carl Banks, Ken Norton, Chris Spielman, Rickey Jackson, Steve “Mongo” McMichael, and captain, the late Reggie White. The wrestlers try and start shit with the football players, and the NFL’ers take some shots at the WWF stars.
Bigelow is out first and he legit scares S&P on the way to the ring. Kind of funny as Salt comes back, trying to play it off. Then it’s LT with his glory hound of an agent, God that guy irritated me, had to make sure he got in every shot with LT from the Rumble onwards. The media is all around the ring for this one. This is a press fiasco of epic proportions. If you’re a fan sitting on the floor, and paid all that money, then you’re pretty pissed off right now. Vince should have known better, but he wanted that media coverage.
Lawrence Taylor (with the All-Pro Team) vs. Bam Bam Bigelow (with the Million Dollar Corporation)
We have a stare down and Bigelow shoves LT before the match. Pat Patterson is your special referee for the match and he takes FOREVER to go over the rules of the match. LT finally just slaps the shit out of Bigelow and the match begins. LT tosses Bam Bam to the ropes and levels him with a blow that knocks Bigelow to the floor.
Bam Bam is pissed and tries to jump LT in the corner but misses. LT dodges the attack and hits a Bulldog for 2! Crowd pops for that. Hiptoss by LT and Bigelow goes out to consult his Million Dollar Corporation members. LT jumps over the top rope to the floor and goes after Bigelow on the floor. Lots of pushing and shoving between all the stars at ringside.
Back in the ring, Bigelow takes over on LT, a simple bodyslam gets a big gasp from the crowd. LT moves from a headbutt and hits a shoulder tackle. LT tries a second shoulder, but Bigelow grabs him in mid air and drives him to the corner. Bigelow applies a Boston Crab, but something happens and Bigelow loses balance and it gets turned into a shitty looking leglock. LT goes for the ropes, but Bam Bam drags him back to the middle of the ring. Taylor finally crawls to the ropes for a break.
Bigelow drags LT back to the middle for another leglock, allowing LT to continue to get his wind back. LT makes it to the ropes a second time. Taylor fights back with a shoulder block and a back suplex to take Bigelow down. Bam Bam is still up first and he lays in some headbutts to the body of Taylor. Bigelow goes to the top rope for a Moonsault and he connects! Bigelow sells it like he hurt himself. I don’t know if LT was supposed to move or what happened there, but Bigelow sells an injury and makes a delayed cover, and LT kicks out on 2.
Bigelow goes for a backdrop, but LT counters with a Jackknife Powerbomb. LT falls backwards with the move so it looks screwy, when I first watched this match I didn’t even know WTF it was until Vince said it. Taylor covers for 2. Bigelow comes back with a Ghetto Blaster looking kick to the back of LT’s head. More headbutts from Bigelow, and he connects with his finisher the Diving Headbutt! But LT kicks out on 2. Are you serious? A celebrity kicks out of a finisher?
LT all of a sudden has a second wind, he slugs Bigelow with two big shoulder tackles, then climbs to the second rope.
LT blasts Bigelow with a flying shoulder tackle from the second rope and scores the 1-2-3 after 11:41.
Winner: LT, the mighty, mighty good man
A blown up LT gets the win. I can’t tell if he has a rib injury, or he just can’t catch his breath. He’s sucking wind pretty hard. His All-Star team holds him up, but he sits hunched over.
We see DiBiase verbally assaulting Bigelow on his way to the back. Ted lets Bam Bam have it for losing to a football player.
The team has to carry LT from the ring to the stage where Salt-n-Peppa performed. S&P celebrate with LT and his All Star Team as S&P sing us off the air. What a mighty, mighty good man.
(Post Match Thoughts: I will say this, for a non-wrestler, LT performed quite well during the first half of this match. I’m not saying he looked like a wrestler, I’m just saying he looked like a celebrity who held his own and kept up with the layout of the match. It was clear LT was blown up for the second half of the match, and all the ground stuff started to get a bit boring, but honestly this whole thing was over quicker than Hulk vs. Andre so it was done before it had time to suck. It wasn’t a classic match by any stretch, but LT did hold his own. I don’t know how much they went over this match, but having Pat Patterson in the ring to help guide them through was a brilliant decision by those involved. I won’t rate this match based on a regular wrestling match, but rather I’ll take into consideration what it was and who was involved, that being a non-wrestler. I’ve seen so many celebrity matches go a lot worse. I’ll give them **3/4 for their troubles.)
THE FINAL AUDIT: Before I took on this Audit, I had thought about covering WrestleMania X. With 30 coming up, I thought 10 would be a nice round number, but I felt it was too easy with two stellar matches on the card. Then I thought about doing WrestleMania XII, the Iron Man Match and all that jazz, but again I thought, too easy. Instead, I took on a Mania that I haven’t viewed since it’s original airing, or thereabouts. I remembered it as being bad, and I was right. If you can salvage one thing out of this show it’s the World Title match. My general thoughts as I started this task was that at the end of the show, no matter how much I was worried about WrestleMania XXX possibly being bad, I KNEW I’d have new hopes for WM30 after I watched this night of shit. From audio issues, to lighting issues, to interviewers not even being where they needed to be when the camera cut to them, this show was the drizzling shits. After watching this, WrestleMania XXX will be great, no matter what. So when you’re watching Mania XXX this Sunday, don’t sit there shitting on the show, be thankful you’re not watching WrestleMania XI.
You’ve got 7 matches on the card, and only one of them reached 3 stars or better. They made up for the lack of good wrestling with the fact that they put over the babyfaces in 6 of the 7 matches. Even though Razor and Jarrett half way tried, and LT did the best he could, only one match on the entire show was really good enough to consider as a quality match. This was painful to make it through, and I can’t imagine how bad it would have been had this been a 4 hour event. I have to give this one a thumbs down, maybe a 3 out of 10 rating, that’d be around a D- for me. This was when the WWF (and wrestling in general) had reached the pinnacle of it’s decline. It shows. Hard to believe they could put on something this bad, and God knows why they stuck Bret in a shitty situation instead of throwing him in there with someone to add a second quality match to the card. Not only does this WrestleMania fail the Audit, I’d have to rate it near, or maybe even at the bottom of the barrel as far as WrestleManias go. Sorry fans, but WrestleMania XI has been rejected!
I’ve gotten several reader requests for events they want to see reviewed during my “Request Month” of April. However, since I made this WrestleMania week review for the first week of April, and given that I have decided to MAYBE Audit WrestleMania XXX for next week (depending on how good/shitty it is), I have decided to expand “Request Month” to “Request MonthS”, there’s an ‘S’ at the end there in case you missed it. I’ll be taking your requests for the remainder of April and all of May! Just please, no WrestleMania requests! I’m over WrestleMania Audits for a while. We’ve got some good WCW and WWF picks coming your way already, but I’m still taking requests, so keep them coming… Til’ next time this is the REAL IRS, Ian R. Singletary, catcha later, tax cheats!
Hardcore History Episode 1: ECW 04-06-1993
ECW Hardcore History: Episode 1 – April 6th, 1993
Introduction:
Welcome everyone to a new feature right here at Crazy Max. We are going to go back in time to relive the revolution that would be known as Extreme Championship Wrestling. I am a huge fan of the promotion and really enjoy watching it again and again. Something about the characters and the rebel attitude that the show possessed has stuck with me from the first time that I have watched it. Therefore, it just feels right that we get something going with one of my favorite promotions of all time. Sit back relax and enjoy as we go back and relive this Hardcore History starting with the first episode of what would become Hardcore TV.
Show Opening:
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The show opens up with Jay Sulli and Stevie Wonderful ringside for the inaugural edition of ECW television. Stevie Wonderful starts by trying to get the crowd hyped for the show. Sulli then brings out the president of the ECW Tod Gordon. He brings out the ECW Television title. He announces that the ECW TV Title tournament will start tonight right here on Sports Channel.
Tod Gordon then says we are going to add a third man in the booth and it is none other than the living legend himself…..Eddie Gilbert. Gilbert comes out and says its a pleasure to be in the commentary booth. Gordon said he is not going to put up with Gilbert’s shenanigans and announces the actual third man in the booth and its non other than the living legend Terry Funk!!! Gilbert is heated and says that legends are old men and Funk isn’t that. Funk says that when you run in my old gang then you have to be tough. Funk then says if you want to prove how tough you are then get in the ring. Funk said how bad would it look if this old man kicked his butt. Gilbert then walked off as Funk cut a promo on the fans.
Funk says the Eastern Championship Wrestling is in the HC section of the United States and HC stands for hardcore fans. How corny is this shit. Funk says that some of these guys you may have never heard of but they will give you all they have in this wrestling ring. Gordon says its a pleasure to have Terry Funk here in the ECW. Funk takes it to commercial as we cut this opening segment.
Match 1: ECW Tag Team Title Match: Super Destroys vs. Hell Riders
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The Super Destroyers are doing some sort of hand shake crap in the corner as the Hell Riders come charging at them to get this match under way. They brawl in the corner for a little bit before the Super Destroyers get the advantage. The Destroyer 1 does a terrible knee to the midsection then throws HD down to the mat. They make a tag and both guys beat up on one of the Hell Riders. They then pick him up and drop him to the mat. They take frequently and keep HD isolated in the corner for a period of time.
The Destroyer gets bored and throws HD Rider into his corner so he can tag in EZ Rider. How creative are these names. My goodness can we get to 1996 ECW yet? The Destroyers control the match and they pull up their opponents to inflict more damage. They then power bomb EZ Rider and do a front flip to get the 1-2-3 count. The Super Destroyers are your winners.
After the match Terry Funk gets in an interview with Hunter Q. Robbins as well as the Super Destroyers. Funk calls him Hunter Q. Robbins the turd instead of the third. Hunter gets upset and starts yelling. Hunter says that when Funk is in the presence of greatness he will show him some respect. Hunter tells Funk that he will address him as Hunter Q. Robbins the third then Funk turns around and calls him the turd again. Funk says he has had enough of this moron as we cut to the next segment.
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Recap:
Theres not much here to recap. This was your typical squash match and to be honest both teams looks like total garbage. The Super Destroyers, like most members of the roster at this time, were pretty terrible in the ring but they were big so they got pushed. They dominated the match and had terrible offense throughout. This is a dud and not worth watching.
Highlight video on the Sandman:
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This is just a music video featuring the ECW Heavyweight Champion. It shows him in matches from his Memphis days it appears. They show some clips of him vs. Jerry Lawler and some others. I am watching the network version so it is some cheap ass dubbed in music I’m sure that is going over top of the original music which makes this worse than it probably was originally.
ECW TV Title Tournament Quarter Finals: Tommy Cairo vs. Salvatore Bellomo
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Before the match starts Funk interviews Tommy Cairo. Cairo says ECW and Sports Channel is a tag team meant to be. Cairo then says whenever he comes to town everyone goes down. Cairo starts off the match with a arm drag to Bellomo and Bellomo says that Cairo held the trunks. The ref admonishes Cairo and says not to do it again. They repeat the same move again and Bellomo gets up and stomps up and down in a cry baby fit.
Bellomo gets Cairo in a standing arm bar but Cairo uses his strength and throws him down to the mat. Bellomo gets frustrated and starts throwing the haymakers on Cairo. Jay Sulli’s terrible play by play “thats a major test of strength and I wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t see it.” Joey Styles needs to get here as soon as possible. Bellomo does an arm drag of his own and then gets Cairo in an arm bar. Bellomo backs Cairo into the corner but Cairo starts throwing some lefts and rights and backs Bellomo off.
Cairo whips Bellomo into the corner as he follows him in and hits Bellomo with an uppercut to the face. Bellomo gets Cairo in another arm bar and drops him to the mat. Bellomo starts fighting dirty and rakes the eyes as he drives Cairo back into the corner. Cairo reverses it on Bellomo and starts laying in the right hands. Cairo comes charging in but Bellomo gets the boot up and nails Cairo with it. Bellomo goes for the cover and gets a 2 count.
Bellomo just lays on Cairo and is basically doing nothing. Both guys get back up and Bellomo punches and head butts Cairo. Cairo hits his own right and then charges with a cross body. The Cosmic Commander distracts the ref as Johnny Hotbody comes out to help Bellomo. Hotbody comes off the top rope and nails Bellomo instead of Cairo. Bellomo rolls outside of the ring and gets counted out. Tommy Cairo is your winner and moves on to the second round of the ECW TV Title Tournament.
After the match Johnny Hotbody attacks Tommy Cairo. He goes up to the top rope and goes for an elbow drop but Cairo moves out of the way. Cairo gets up as Hotbody tucks his tale and runs off. They then show the bracket for the ECW TV Title Tournament and show that Tommy Cairo moves on and will face the winner of Jimmy Snuka vs. Larry Winters.
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Recap:
Like most of these matches on these early shows, it is the complete dumps. Cairo isn’t terrible but he needs help to look good. Bellomo was just a gimmick and was garbage in the ring. We had the Grand Wizard rip off on the outside and he didn’t do much to enhance the match or his guy Bellomo. Johnny Hotbody looked like some random bum off the street but I guess this is the type of talent you can get when you are just starting out. This match was very basic and not much to it. No real moves and just a bunch of strikes. Hotbody causing Bellomo to lose the match I’m sure is something that was done for later on but I guess we will find out what that is. All in all just skip this match there is absolutely nothing to see here at all.
Special Challenge Match: Rockin’ Rebel vs. Tony Stetson
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Before we get started here I just have to say Rockin’ Rebel’s mullet is amazing and epitomizes late 80s early 90s. Anywho, we start the match with an arm drag by Stetson to the Rebel who complains that Stetson grabbed his hair. Rebel gets up and gets arm dragged two more times. The second time he gets arm dragged into the ropes and lands on the back of his neck. They get in a collar and elbow tie up and Rebel gets Stetson in a head lock. Rebel goes off the ropes and hits Stetson with a shoulder block. Stetson ends up getting Rebel in an arm bar and he picks him up and gets him in a backdrop as he holds on to the arm bar. Stetson drops some knees to the left arm of the Rebel.
Rebel double reverses Stetson’s irish whip and he throws him into the turnbuckle. Rebel drops an elbow then nails Stetson with a pretty nice looking drop kick. Rebel snap mares Stetson then gets him in a reverse chin lock as the crowd gets anxious and starts booing the Rebel. Rebel hits Stetson with a flying elbow. Rebel then picks up Stetson with a side slam and he goes for the cover and gets a 2 count.
Rebel picks up Stetson and throws him into the ropes and attempts a back body drop but Stetson grabs him by the head and slams him into the mat. Stetson hits a flying forearm then goes up to the top rope and nails the Rebel with a leg drop off the top rope and he gets a 2 count afterwards. Stetson was talking to the ref while Rebel trips up Stetson and gets him in a pin as he puts his feet up on the ropes. Your Winner is the Rockin’ Rebel.
After the match Jay Sulli interviews the Rebel. Rebel says that he is coming after the Sandman and he is ready for him right now. Rebel says he is the number wrestler in the business and he wants his belt. Rebel says the number 1 wrestler doesn’t wear a belt but he soon will be then he does a poor mans Ric Flair woo.
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Recap:
This match wasn’t to bad. Stetson got in some nice offense and they moved at a pretty good pace. The post match interview was brutal because the Rebel would talk normal then yell one word then start talking low again. This is probably the best match on the card but that isn’t saying much at all.
Interview: Jimmy Snuka
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Jay Sulli interviews Jimmy Snuka and he says he is happy to be here at the TV and the college. Snuka says he signed a contract. Snuka then says he wants to bring out somebody that everyone will love and enjoy and its Eddie Gilbert. Eddie comes out and says that Hot Stuff International is alive and well and that Snuka is the first acquisition. Gilbert says that Snuka is going to be the first ECW Television champion.
ECW TV Title Tournament Quarter Finals: Jimmy Snuka vs. Larry Winters
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The match starts with both men circling each other. Snuka kicks winter in the midsection then he double chops the trap area of Winters. Snuka then puts the boots to Winters and starts to choke him with his boot over the bottom rope. Snuka distracts the ref as Gilbert lays in a right hand to Winters. Snuka starts choking him with his boot again. Snuka distracts the ref again as Gilbert chokes Winters again. Snuka then back drops Larry Winters and falls on his ass himself.
Snuka throws Winters off the rope and Snuka nails him with a vicious chop. Snuka throws Winters into the corner and follows him in with big time clothesline. Snuka then winds up and nails Winters with another vicious sounding chop. That sounded brutal. Snuka rakes the eyes with his boot. Winter gets up to the middle rope and Snuka chokes him over the middle rope. Snuka distracts the ref one more time as Gilbert paint brushes Winters as he lays on the middle rope. Snuka throws Winters into the rope and goes for a backdrop but Winters hits him with a boot then a right hand.
Winters drivers Snuka into the corner and lays in some boots but Snuka hits him with an eye rake as he regains control. Snuka hits another chop. Snuka throws Winters into the ropes and hits him with a cross body then a drop kick. Winters hits Snuka with a arm drag then a leg drop. Winters goes for the cover and gets a 2 count. Gilbert climbs up to the middle rope to distract the ref as Winters hits Snuka with a backdrop. Winters goes over and decks Gilbert. Winters then runs into the ropes and Gilbert trips him up. Snuka picks up Winters and hits him with a backbreaker. Snuka then goes up to the top rope and nails his flying splash off of the top rope for the win. Jimmy Snuka is your winner and moves on to the second round of the ECW TV Title tournament.
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Recap:
Snuka basically dominated the match up from the bell but Winters eventually got some nice offense in. Snuka can barely move at this point and he even fell on his ass doing a back drop. The only thing Snuka was good for at this point was name value so I guess you got that out of him. Winters is not very good either so there is nothing to see during this match.
Show Ending:
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We come back from commercial to Funk and Sulli standing ringside. Funk said there are things we can improve on and that the fans shouldn’t give up on them just yet. Bellomo runs out to the ring and says that he wants to get in the ring and have another match. Bellomo gets in the ring and beats the brakes off a jobber. He hits him with a few punches and slams then gets the 3 count. The match was over before it even started. Funk and Tod Gordon then talk about the upcoming show. Next week we will see the quarter finals of the ECW Title Tournament. Sandman will also be on the show next week.
We then get a ECW Special Announcement where they are encouraging fans to send in cards for a dream match that they want to see. Stevie Wonderful then tells us we will see Glenn Osbourne vs. Johnny Hotbody and Eddie Gilbert vs. JT Smith in the ECW Television Title Tournament. He also says that Sandman will make his first appearance on ECW Television. Terry funk will also be back live on ECW.
Show Recap:
If you haven’t gotten the hint yet throughout the review then I guess we can go ahead and sum it up for you here. This show is terrible. I’m assuming they did what they could with the talent that they had at their disposal but the action itself just isn’t very good. The guys looked lazy and not really into it. Funk was trying his hardest to hype up the show but it just wasn’t working. It’s amazing how ECW turned into what it did after watching this episode. The only real reason to watch this show is to see the first ever ECW show on TV and thats about it. Once you seen it once you will never want to see it again and I have a funny feeling that this is how it is going to be going forward. At least until Paul Heyman takes over.
Well this has been episode 1 of ECW Hardcore History. I promise you these will get better as the shows get better so continue to stick with us here at Crazy Max as we delve into the vault and review and enjoy the greatness that is ECW.
WWF Monday Night Raw 1998 Listings
Monday Night Raw: 1998
Just a quick heads up to note. I have listed all matches, interviews, and angles that played out on these events, the only thing I haven’t added is the winners of the matches, which in most cases is obvious.
01/05/98
Promo by Stone Cold Steve Austin
Ken Shamrock vs. Farooq (Austin stuns Shamrock & the Rock after the match)
Promo by Jim Cornette
NWA North American Heavyweight Title Match: Jeff Jarrett vs. Barry Windham (Austin stuns Jarrett after the match)
Promo by Ken Shamrock
D.O.A. vs. Truth Commission
In Ring Promo by Triple H w/ Shawn Michaels & Chyna (Owen Hart interrupts the promo)
Owen Hart vs. Savio Vega
Promo by Paul Bearer
Stone Cold Steve Austin attacks Mark Henry backstage
Marc Mero vs. Tom Brandi (Austin comes out and stuns Marc Mero)
Goldust (As Shaft) vs. Flash Funk
Highlight of Steve Blackman
Highlights of what has happened between Cactus Jack/Chainsaw Charlie & the New Age Outlaws
New Age Outlaws vs. Head Bangers
Promo by Don King talking about the negotiations between Mike Tyson and the WWF
In Ring Promo by Shawn Michaels (He calls out Undertaker)
01/12/98
Promo by Degeneration-X
New Age Outlaws vs. Head Bangers vs. Godwinns vs. Truth Commission
Highlight video on the Legion Of Doom
Interview w/ Stone Cold Steve Austin
Kurgan vs. Timmy Cicero/Lance Diamond
Owen Hart attacks Triple H in his limo
Vader vs. Marc Mero (Before the match Mero calls out Sable and it is Goldust dressed up as her)
Degeneration-X returns in the limo but there is no Owen Hart
Ken Shamrock/Mark Henry vs. The Rock/D-Lo Brown (Mark Henry trades on Shamrock and joins the Nation)
Interview w/ The Rock & the Nation Of Domination
In Ring Promo by Degeneration-X (Owen Hart interrupts the promo)
Rock N’ Roll Express vs. Skull/8-Ball
Promo by Cactus Jack
Mankind vs. Goldust (Goldust is dressed as Dude Love) (Austin comes out and stuns both men)
Interview w/ Vince McMahon
Savio Vega/Jesus vs. Taka Michinoku/Scott Taylor
Interview w/ Degeneration-X (Undertaker interrupts the interview) (Degeneration-X attacks Undertaker. Kane makes the save)
Live Royal Rumble entrant drawing (A brawl ensues)
01/19/98
In Ring Promo by Paul Bearer
Interview w/ Degeneration-X
Nation of Domination vs. Disciples of Apocalypse
Marc Mero vs. Tom Brandi
Degeneration-X on the look for the Undertaker
Footage of Mike Tyson arriving at the arena
Cactus Jack/Chainsaw Charlie vs. Quebecers
Degeneration-X asking the midgets if they have seen the Undertaker
NWA North American Championship Match: Jeff Jarrett vs. Blackjack Bradshaw
Shawn Michaels dresses up as Undertaker and descends to the ring
In Ring promo by Degeneration-X
Owen Hart/Taka Michinoku/Head Bangers vs. Los Boricuas
Interview w/ Owen Hart
The Rock vs. Ahmed Johnson
WWF Tag Team Title Match: New Age Outlaws vs. Godwinns
Confrontation between Stone Cold Steve Austin & Mike Tyson
01/26/98
Ken Shamrock vs. Mark Henry
Footage of what happened after the Royal Rumble went off the air
Road Warriors vs. Jeff Jarrett/Barry Windham
Promo by Degeneration-X
Vader vs. Goldust (Dressed as Vader) (Kane comes out and attacks Vader)
Promo by Mick Foley and Terry Funk in the ring before the show starts
New Age Outlaws vs. Cactus Jack/Chainsaw Charlie
Highlight video on Taka Michinoku
Brian Christopher vs. El Pantera
Interview w/ Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie (Degeneration-X interrupt the interview while the New Age Outlaws attack both men)
Head Bangers vs. Quebecers
European Championship Match: Goldust (Dressed as Hunter) vs. Owen Hart
Footage of all the news coverage of Mike Tyson being with the WWF
Promo by Don King
In ring promo by Stone Cold Steve Austin
02/02/98
State of the Union address by Degeneration-X
In ring promo by Degeneration-X (Stone Cold Steve Austin interrupts them)
Interview w/ Mick Foley and Terry Funk
Cactus Jack vs. Chainsaw Charlie (New Age Outlaws send the dumpster off the stage)
Interview w/ New Age Outlaws (Degeneration-X interrupts the interview)
European Championship Match: Owen Hart vs. Billy Gunn
Update on the condition of Cactus Jack and Terry Funk
Marc Mero vs. Mosh
Interview w/ the NWA and Bradshaw at the same time
Vignette on Tiger Ali Singh
Farooq vs. Chainz
Jeff Jarrett/Barry Windham vs. Bradshaw/Flash Funk
Wink Collins talks about Wrestlemania. Kane comes out and attempts to chokeslam him. Vader comes out and interrupts.
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Road Dogg (Degeneration-X comes out and attacks Steve Austin)
02/09/98
In ring promo by Stone Cold Steve Austin (Degeneration-X interrupts the promo)
Road Warriors vs. Jeff Jarrett/Barry Windham (Sunny is the guest ring announcer)
Pierre vs. Henry Godwinn
Chyna tries to get the Los Boricuas to retrieve the stolen WWF title from Steve Austin
Taka Michinoku/Aguila vs. Brian Christopher/El Pantera
In ring promo by Kane and Paul Bearer
The Rock/Farooq vs. Ken Shamrock/Chainz
A vignette on Stone Cold Steve Austin
Highlights of the Wrestlemania 14 press conference
Steve Blackman vs. Recon
Promo by New Age Outlaws
Footage of the Los Boricuas searching for the WWF title. Steve Austin locks them in a room in the back
Goldust (Dressed as Marilyn Manson) vs. Thrasher
In ring promo by Degeneration-X (Shawn Michaels calls out Steve Austin and he comes out)
02/21/98
Road Warriors vs. Quebecers
Highlight video on Chyna
Ken Shamrock vs. Sniper
Interview w/ Sniper and Recon
Interview w/ Marc Mero and Sable
Promo by Jim Cornette
NWA Tag Team Title Match: Rock N Roll Express vs. Head Bangers
Interview w/ Stone Cold Steve Austin
European Title Match: Owen Hart vs. Jeff Jarrett
Highlight video on Michael P.S. Hayes
Kane comes out and attacks Michael P.S. Hayes
Taka/Michinoku/Aguila vs. Brian Christopher/Pirata Morgan
In ring promo by The Rock and the Nation Of Domination
Farooq vs. Steve Blackman
A vignette on Stone Cold Steve Austin
Interview w/ D-Lo Brown
Cactus Jack/Chainsaw Charlie vs. Goldust/Marc Mero (Sable’s boobs fall out)
02/23/98
WWF Tag Team Title Match: New Age Outlaws vs. Road Warriors
Ken Shamrock vs. Jeff Jarrett
Interview w/ Jeff Jarrett where he says he and Cornette need to go there separate ways
Interview w/ Animal (Hawk attacks Animal again)
D.O.A vs. Truth Commission
Interview w/ Degeneration-X from Shawn Michaels home
Taka Michinoku vs. Barry Windham (Kane comes out and attacks Taka)
Interview w/ New Age Outlaws (Cactus Jack & Chainsaw Charlie attack there car)
Promo by Goldust acting like Dusty Rhodes
Goldust (Dressed as Dusty Rhodes) vs. Bradshaw
Interview w/ Goldust
Interview w/ Road Warrior Hawk
The Rock vs. Steve Blackman
Interview w/ Luna
NWA Tag Team Title Match: Rock N Roll Express vs. Head Bangers
Promo by Pete Rose
Highlight video on Stone Cold Steve Austin’s road to Wrestlemania
WWF European Championship Match: Owen Hart vs. Marc Mero
03/02/98
In ring promo by Degeneration-X (Stone Cold Steve Austin interrupts the promo)
In ring promo by the New Age Outlaws
WWF Tag Team Title Match: New Age Outlaws vs. Skull/8-Ball
Highlights of what has happened between Sable and Marc Mero
Marc Mero vs. Tom Brandi
WWF European Championship Match: Owen Hart vs. Mark Henry
Interview w/ Chyna
Head Bangers/Taka Michinoku vs. Rock N Roll Express/Barry Windham
Interview w/ Mike Tyson (Degeneration-X interrupts the interview. Mike Tyson joins Degeneration-X)
Steve Blackman vs. Kama Mustafa
In ring promo by Jeff Jarrett and Tennessee Lee
Jeff Jarrett vs. Flash Funk
Interview w/ Degeneration-X and Mike Tyson
Highlights of the demise of the Legion Of Doom
Confrontation between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Kane (HBK Sweet Chin Music’s Austin)
Kane attacks Mark Eaton after a 10 bell salute for Undertaker (Undertaker returns)
03/09/98
The Rock/Farooq vs. Steve Blackman/Ken Shamrock
In ring promo by Triple H (Shawn Michaels joins the promo via satellite)
WWF European Championship: Owen Hart vs. Barry Windham
Interview w/ Kane and Paul Bearer
Brian Christopher vs. Aguila
In ring promo by Stone Cold Steve Austin, He Calls out Vince McMahon
Cactus Jack/Chainsaw Charlie vs. Quebecers (After the match Road Dogg comes out and cuts a promo)
In ring promo by Kane and Paul Bearer, Undertaker interrupts the promo
Marc Mero vs. Goldust (Luna and Sable are handcuffed)
Interview w/ Goldust and Luna
Interview w/ Mike Tyson
Triple H vs. Savio Vega (Shawn Michaels Sweet Chin Music’s Stone Cold before the match could start)
03/17/98
Interview w/ Ken Shamrock. The Rock interrupts the interview
Ken Shamrock vs. D-Lo Brown (If Shamrock beats D-Lo in under 2 minutes he gets a shot at The Rock tonight)
In ring promo by Sable
Jeff Jarrett vs. Tom Brandi
Interview w/ The Rock
Highlight video on Shawn Michaels
Head Bangers vs. Rock N Roll Express/Jim Cornette
Kane comes out and attacks the Phoenix Suns Gorilla
Chainsaw Charlie vs. Billy Gunn
Promo by Luna
Interview w/ Vince McMahon
Highlight video on Mike Tyson
Highlight video on Stone Cold Steve Austin
Triple H confronts Owen Hart at the announce table
WWF European Championship Match: Owen Hart vs. Triple H
Sable vs. Luna (Kane comes out to attack Mero and Sable. Mero leaves Sable in the ring by herself. Undertaker makes the save)
03/23/98
Interview w/ Stone Cold Steve Austin. Sgt. Slaughter interrupts the interview. (Austin stuns Slaughter)
Cactus Jack/Chainsaw Charlie vs. Quebecers
Jeff Jarrett vs. Steve Blackman
Highlights of what Kane did last week on Raw
Promo by Undertaker on location from his parents “grave site”
In ring promo by Kane and Paul Bearer (Kane catches a camera man on fire)
New Midnight Express vs. Skull/8-Ball
In ring promo by Degeneration-X and Mike Tyson
Farooq vs. Chainz
Highlights of the feud between Bradshaw and Windham
Barry Windham vs. Bradshaw
WWF Magazine award presentation for Sable. Luna attacks Sable from behind and rips her evening gown
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The Rock (After the match Degeneration-X comes out and cuts a promo)
03/30/98
Vince McMahon gives Stone Cold Steve Austin the new WWF Title Belt (Austin stuns Vince)
Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco attend to Vince McMahon backstage
Legion Of Doom vs. Jose/Jesus
Kevin Kelly announces that Vince McMahon has called the police on Stone Cold Steve Austin
Highlight video on the WWF superstars
Kurrgan vs. Chainz
Footage of the police arriving at the arena to arrest Stone Cold Steve Austin
Jeff Jarrett vs. Aguila
Footage of Stone Cold Steve Austin being arrested
In ring promo by Vince McMahon
Promo by Triple H
Interview w/ The Rock and the rest of the Nation Of Domination
Recap of what has happened so far during Raw
The Rock/Farooq vs. Ken Shamrock/Steve Blackman
The Rock has the Nation of Domination attack Farooq and kicks him out of the Nation
Highlights of Pete Rose getting tombstoned by Kane from Wrestlemania
In ring promo by Triple H and Chyna where he introduces X-Pac as a new member of Degeneration-X
Slam Of The Week: Footage of Sable powerbombing Luna from Wrestlemania
Vignette on Val Venis
Marc Mero vs. Taka Michinoku (Before the match Luna challenges Sable to an Evening Gown match) (After the match Taka Michinoku gets attacked by Club Kamikaze)
New Midnight Express vs. Head Bangers (After the match Dan Severn attacks the Head Bangers)
Promo by Stone Cold Steve Austin over the phone from jail
Promo by Kane and Paul Bearer
New Age Outlaws vs. Cactus Jack/Chainsaw Charlie (At the end of the match the New Age Outlaws join Degeneration-X)
04/06/98
In ring promo by Vince McMahon
Highlight video on Dan Severn
Dan Severn vs. Flash Funk
In ring promo by Degeneration-X
Degeneration-X raises hell backstage
Steve Blackman vs. Brian Christopher (After the match Jeff Jarrett nails Blackman with a guitar)
Degeneration-X pisses on the D.O.A. motorcycles
In ring promo by Cactus Jack
Footage of the Nation of Domination attacking Farooq earlier today
WWF Intercontinental Title Match: The Rock vs. Owen Hart
In ring promo by Vince McMahon where he brings out the “politically correct” Stone Cold Steve Austin
In ring promo by D.O.A
Highlights of Luna challenging Sable to an Evening Gown match from last week’s Raw
Luna vs. Matt Knowles
Vignette on Val Venis
Ken Shamrock vs. Marc Mero (The Nation of Domination attack Shamrock)
Interview w/ the Undertaker (Paul Bearer and Kane interrupt the interview)
Degeneration-X vs. D.O.A (After the match DX gangs up on D.O.A and then LOD 2000 makes the save)
04/13/98
In ring promo by Stone Cold Steve Austin (He calls out Vince McMahon)
Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco talking Vince McMahon into accepting the match
Chain Match: D.O.A vs. Los Boricuas (Degeneration-X interferes and attacks D.O.A and the Boricuas)
Pat Patterson, Gerald Brisco, & Shane McMahon are still trying to talk Vince McMahon into accepting the match
In ring promo by Vince McMahon where he accepts Stone Cold’s match
A tag team match was supposed to take place but Undertaker interrupts the match and destroys all four men
In ring promo by the Undertaker where he calls out Kane
Footage of Jim Ross trying to talk Vince McMahon out of accepting the match with Stone Cold
Jeff Jarrett vs. Taka Michinoku (Club Kamikaze attacks Taka)
Interview w/ Stone Cold Steve Austin
Vince McMahon trains with Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco
In ring promo by Farooq where he calls out The Rock and Nation of Domination (Farooq/Shamrock/Blackman brawl with the Nation)
In ring promo by Terry Funk where he introduces Too Cold Scorpio as his new partner
Terry Funk/Too Cold Scorpio vs. Quebecers
In ring promo by Luna (Goldust comes out dressed as Sable and Luna strips him of his evening gown) (Sable and Luna brawl as well)
Ken Shamrock/Steve Blackman vs. New Midnight Express
Interview w/ Vince McMahon
Undertaker comes out and attacks the Head Bangers (Kane comes out and confronts the Undertaker)
Vignette on Val Venis
Owen Hart vs. Billy Gunn
WWF Championship Match: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon (Dude Love attacks Stone Cold and joins Vince McMahon)
04/20/98
Kevin Kelly reports from the cemetery
Love Shack w/ Dude Love: Vince McMahon is his guest
Long Island Street Fight: Farooq vs. Kama
Backstage scene with Degeneration-X
Interview w/ Sawyer Brown front man Mark Miller
In ring promo by Degeneration-X where they squirt the crowd with a super soaker (LOD and Owen Hart confront Degeneration-X)
Highlight video on Dan Severn in UFC
Another report from Kevin Kelly at the cemetery
Dan Severn vs. Mosh
Kevin Kelly is giving us a report from the cemetery when the Undertaker confronts him asking where Kane and Paul Bearer are
In ring promo by Luna
Goldust vs. Bradshaw (Club Kamikaze attack Bradshaw)
In ring promo by Stone Cold Steve Austin
Terry Funk/Too Cold Scorpio vs. New Midnight Express
Vignette on Val Venis
Interview w/ Sable
Interview w/ Vince McMahon
Triple H/New Age Outlaws vs. Legion of Doom/Owen Hart
Promo by Kane and Paul Bearer (They light Undertaker’s fathers casket on fire and Kane chokeslams Undertaker into his mother’s casket)
Dude Love vs. Steve Blackman (After the match Austin comes out and attacks Dude Love and Vince McMahon)
04/27/98
Promo by Degeneration-X where they proclaim war against WCW
Owen Hart/Ken Shamrock vs. The Rock/Mark Henry (Owen Hart joins the Nation)
Love Shack w/ Dude Love
More footage of Degeneration-X’s assault on WCW
Terry Funk/Too Cold Scorpio vs. Head Bangers
More footage of Degeneration-X’s assault on WCW
In ring promo by Vince McMahon
More footage of Degeneration-X’s assault on WCW
Highlights of Jeff Jarrett attacking Steve Blackman from Unforgiven
Jeff Jarrett vs. Bradshaw (Club Kamikaze attack Bradshaw)
Confrontation between Dude Love and Vince McMahon
In ring promo by Degeneration-X
New Age Outlaws vs. D.O.A
Undertaker vs. Barry Windham
Promo by Undertaker after his match where he calls out Kane
Interview w/ Goldust and Luna (Dude Love attacks Goldust)
In ring promo by Degeneration-X
Dan Severn turns on Jim Cornette
Interview w/ Stone Cold Steve Austin
Vignette on Val Venis
Marc Mero calls out Sable
WWF Championship Match: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Goldust
05/04/98
Love Shack w/ Dude Love where he calls out Vince McMahon. Stone Cold Steve Austin comes out and destroys the Love Shack set.
The Rock/Owen Hart vs. Steve Blackman/Farooq
Highlight video on Gerald Brisco
Vignette on Edge
In ring promo by Degeneration-X (Legion of Doom interrupts the promo)
Dan Severn vs. Savio Vega
Backstage footage of Jerry Lawler and Paul Bearer talking about Undertaker’s mom
Jerry Lawler issues an apology for his conversation with Paul Bearer being aired on television
Highlight video of Sable working out
Jeff Jarrett vs. Marc Mero (Steve Blackman attacks Jeff Jarrett before the match starts)
Degeneration-X vs. Legion of Doom/D.O.A (LOD and DOA brawl during the match)
Footage of LOD and DOA brawling in the backstage area
Kane vs. Goldust (Undertaker attacks Kane & Paul Bearer)
Highlight video on the friendship between Cactus Jack and Terry Funk
Vignette on Val Venis
No Holds Barred/Falls Count Anywhere Match: Mick Foley vs. Terry Funk
05/11/98
In ring promo by Vince McMahon where he calls out Dude Love
Footage of Degeneration-X’s assault on WCW headquarters
Interview w/ Al Snow
Vader vs. Barry Windham
Interview w/ Stone Cold Steve Austin
Hawk vs. Skull
More footage of Degeneration-X’s assault on WCW
Vignette on Edge
Footage of Bradshaw trying to teach Taka how to drive (Club Kamikaze attack both men)
Farooq vs. Jeff Jarrett (The Nation attacks Farooq while Jarrett attacks Blackman)
Brisco Brother body shop commercial
In ring promo by Stone Cold Steve Austin (Vince McMahon interrupts the promo)
Vignette on Val Venis
Confrontation between Sable and Marc Mero
Undertaker attacks Jerry Lawler (Kane and Paul Bearer comes out and cuts a promo)
More footage of Degeneration-X’s assault on WCW
In ring promo by Degeneration-X (Owen Hart interrupts the promo and challenges Triple H)
Triple H vs. Owen Hart
Promo by Dustin Rhodes where he burns his Goldust attire
Highlights of Mick Foley vs. Terry Funk from last week’s Show
Terry Funk/Too Cold Scorpio vs. Kai En Tai
Stone Cold Steve Austin/Vince McMahon vs. The Rock/D-Lo Brown
05/18/98
In ring promo by Vince McMahon and Dude Love (Vince McMahon calls out Dustin Runnels)
Val Venis vs. Too Cold Scorpio
Footage of Stone Cold Steve Austin trying to get into the building (Austin attacks the security guard that is supposed to keep Austin out of the building)
In ring promo by Stone Cold Steve Austin (Vince McMahon interrupts the promo)
Vignette on Edge
In ring promo by Sable where she calls out Marc Mero
Terry Funk vs. Marc Mero
Legion of Doom vs. D.O.A
Footage of Paul Bearer and Kane getting DNA tested
Dude Love vs. Dustin Runnels
The police arrest Stone Cold Steve Austin
Kai En Tai vs. Head Bangers
WWF Tag Team Championship Match: New Age Outlaws vs. The Rock/Owen Hart
The police release Stone Cold Steve Austin
Interview w/ the Doctor who did the DNA testing between Kane and Paul Bearer
Kane and Paul Bearer come out and cut a promo (Undertaker attacks Kane and Paul Bearer)
Street Fight: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Pat Patterson/Gerald Brisco
05/25/98
In ring promo by Vince McMahon (Stone Cold Steve Austin interrupts the promo. He has Vince McMahon arrested)
Legion of Doom/Droz vs. D.O.A
Backstage footage of the police arresting Vince McMahon
Owen Hart vs. Dan Severn
Vignette on Edge
In ring promo by The Jackal with Crackhead Bob and Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf from the Howard Stern show. The Jackal introduces the Human Oddities
Golga vs. Thrasher
Vader vs. Jeff Jarrett
Stone Cold Steve Austin makes Vice McMahon apologize to him so he won’t be arrested
In ring promo by Vince McMahon
Promo by Degeneration-X at an airport
Taka Michinoku vs. Dick Togo
Another promo by Degeneration-X at an airport
Farooq vs. Marc Mero
Highlight video on Pat Patterson
“Triple H” fly’s over WCW’s show and they leave messages in the sky
The Rock vs. Triple H (Farooq comes out and piledrives The Rock on the stage)
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The Undertaker (Vince McMahon is the special referee) (The Undertaker chokeslams Vince McMahon. Kane comes out to save Vince McMahon. Undertaker and Kane brawl) (Austin comes out and attacks Vince McMahon and The Stooges)
06/01/98
Photo stills of Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Dude Love from Over the Edge
In ring promo by Mick Foley where he calls out Vince McMahon
Interview w/ Legion of Doom and Puke
Chicago Street Fight: Legion of Doom/Droz vs. D.O.A
Val Venis vs. Papi Chulo
In ring promo by The Undertaker (Undertaker calls out Vince McMahon who comes down to the ring and confronts The Undertaker)
King of the Ring Qualifying Match: Steve Blackman vs. Marc Mero (Marc Mero introduces Jacqueline as his manager)
Footage of Stone Cold Steve Austin on Mancow’s Radio show
Vignette on Edge
6-Man Elimination Match: Degeneration-X vs. Nation of Domination
Footage of Vince McMahon, Kane, and Paul Bearer talking amongst each other
King of the Ring Qualifying Match: Jeff Jarrett vs. Farooq (Tennessee Lee introduces Southern Justice)
Highlight video on Vince McMahon
WWF Light Heavyweight Title Match: Taka Michinoku vs. Sho Funaki
Interview w/ Kane and Paul Bearer
King of the Ring Qualifying Match: Terry Funk vs. Mark Henry
The Undertaker vs. Kane (#1 Contender’s match for WWF Title)
06/08/98
In ring promo by Vince McMahon and the Stooges
King of the Ring Qualifying Match: Ken Shamrock vs. The Godfather
Footage of Degeneration-X in New York City
Marc Mero/Jeff Jarrett vs. Steve Blackman/Farooq
More Footage of Degeneration-X in New York City
King of the Ring Qualifying Match: Owen Hart vs. Too Cold Scorpio
Droz vs. Chainz (Undertaker comes out and attacks both men)
In ring promo by Degeneration-X (Legion of Doom interrupt the promo)
Vignette on Edge
Vader vs. Mark Henry (Undertaker comes out and attacks both men)
Footage of Marc Mero vs. Sable from Over the Edge
King of the Ring Qualifying Match: Dan Severn vs. D-Lo Brown
Tribute video on Sable
Val Venis vs. Dustin Runnels (Undertaker comes out and attacks both men)
Undertaker attacks Sgt. Slaughter backstage
WWF Tag Team Title Triple Threat Match: New Age Outlaws vs. Legion of Doom vs. D.O.A
Vince McMahon receives the Humanitarian of the Year Award (Kane and Mankind attack Austin)
06/15/98
Sable comes out and says that Vince McMahon brought her back and she introduces him. (Stone Cold Steve Austin interrupts Vince McMahon) (The Undertaker comes out as well as Kane and Paul Bearer)
King of the Ring Qualifying Match: The Rock vs. Vader
Degeneration-X “Droppin’ Knowledge”
Vignette on Edge
Jeff Jarrett vs. Droz
More of Degeneration-X “Droppin’ Knowledge”
Val Venis vs. Chainz
Interview w/ The Undertaker
More of Degeneration-X “Droppin’ Knowledge”
Marc Mero vs. Dustin Runnels
More of Degeneration-X “Droppin’ Knowledge”
King of the Ring Qualifying Match: Triple H vs. X-Pac
In ring interview w/ Al Snow (Al Snow attacks Jerry Lawler, who was interviewing him)
Interview w/ Stone Cold Steve Austin
Owen Hart/Mark Henry vs. Ken Shamrock/Dan Severn
Tag Team Royal Rumble for #1 contender ship for the Tag Team Titles
Hell In A Cell: Stone Cold/The Undertaker vs. Kane/Mankind
06/22/98
In ring promo by Vince McMahon and Kane
King of the Ring Quarterfinal Match: Ken Shamrock vs. Mark Henry
Interview w/ Ken Shamrock after his match
X-Pac vs. Dustin Runnels
In Ring Promo by Jerry Lawler where he calls out Al Snow
King of the Ring Quarterfinal Match: Jeff Jarrett vs. Marc Mero
Interview w/ Jeff Jarrett after his match
Kane vs. Road Dogg
Interview w/ Paul Bearer from his home (The Undertaker attacks Paul Bearer)
Edge vs. Jose Estrada
King of the Ring Quarterfinal Match: Owen Hart vs. Dan Severn
King of the Ring Quarterfinal Match: The Rock vs. Triple H (After the Match DX and the Nation brawl)
In ring promo by Mankind before his match with Billy Gunn
Mankind vs. Billy Gunn
After the match Mankind goes to the back to look for Kane
In ring promo by Stone Cold Steve Austin (Kane interrupts the promo and blood falls all over Stone Cold Steve Austin)
06/29/98
In ring promo by Vince McMahon (Stone Cold interrupts)
Steven Regal vs. Droz
Interview w/ Ken Shamrock (Owen Hart then Triple H interrupt the interview)
Brawl For All Tournament: Steve Blackman vs. Marc Mero
Interview w/ Kane
Val Venis vs. Dick Togo
Interview w/ Stone Cold Steve Austin
King of Kings Contest: Triple H vs. Owen Hart vs. Ken Shamrock
Interview w/ The Undertaker (Vince McMahon interrupts the interview)
Brawl For All Tournament: Bradshaw vs. Mark Canterbury
Legion of Doom introduces Paul Ellering as their manager again (D.O.A interrupt the promo and Ellering trades on the Legion of Doom)
Interview w/ The Undertaker
WWF Title Match: Kane vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin
07/06/98
In ring promo by The Undertaker (Steve Austin interrupts the promo) (Vince McMahon also interrupts the promo)
Brawl For All Tournament: Savio Vega vs. Brakkus
Ken Shamrock vs. Jeff Jarrett (Mabel attacks Ken Shamrock)
Vader vs. Bradshaw
D.O.A vs. Head Bangers
Terry Funk vs. D-Lo Brown (Undertaker comes out and attacks D-Lo, Godfather, and Funk)
In ring promo by Vince McMahon where calls out Mankind, Kane, and Undertaker
Brawl For All Tournament: Hawk vs. Droz
In ring promo by Miss Jacqueline and Marc Mero (Sable interrupts the promo)
Val Venis vs. Dustin Runnels
In ring promo by Degeneration-X (They are dressed up as the Nation of Domination)
Ken Shamrock vs. Mabel
#1 Contenders Match: Undertaker vs. Kane vs. Mankind (Undertaker is dressed as Kane and wins the match)
07/13/98
Undertaker vs. Vader
Brawl For All Tournament: Bart Gunn vs. Bob Holly
Backstage promo by the Nation of Domination (Owen Hart attacks Jason Sensation and Degeneration-X makes the save)
The Rock/Owen Hart vs. Triple H/X-Pac
Marc Mero vs. Steve Blackman
WWF Tag Team Title Match: New Age Outlaws vs. Kane/Mankind
Degeneration-X talks to Vince McMahon backstage about being screwed out of the Tag Titles
Kaientai vs. Taka Michinoku/Too Much
Promo by Val Venis after the match (He shows a video of him and Mrs. Yamaguchi Son’s wife in a “film”)
In ring promo by Vince McMahon where he calls out The Undertaker (Steve Austin interrupts the promo)
Brawl For All Tournament: Dan Severn vs. Godfather
WWF Tag Team Title Match: Kane/Mankind vs. New Age Outlaws (Austin and Undertaker take out Degeneration-X, the Nation, Kane, and Mankind to end the show)
07/20/98
In ring promo by Vince McMahon (Vince McMahon calls out the Undertaker)
WWF European Title Match: Triple H vs. D-Lo Brown
D-Lo Brown celebrates his European Title victory backstage
Brawl For All Tournament: Steve Williams vs. Pierre
Promo by Yamaguchi San and Kaientai (He “punishes” his wife) (Val Venis makes the save)
Animal vs. Skull
Jeff Jarrett vs. Steve Blackman
Michael Cole tries to get an interview with Undertaker but he leaves the building
Report from Michael Cole stating that the Undertaker said “he will see you Sunday”
Interview w/ Stone Cold Steve Austin (Vince McMahon interrupts the interview)
Owen Hart vs. Farooq
Interview w/ Kane, Mankind, & Paul Bearer
In ring promo by Marc Mero and Jacqueline (Jacqueline calls out Sable)
Shawn Michaels comes out to do guest commentary
Footage of 8-Ball vs. Scorpio in the Brawl for all Tournament
Interview w/ The Rock and the rest of the Nation of Domination
WWF Intercontinental Title Match: The Rock vs. X-Pac
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Kane/Mankind
07/27/98
In ring promo by The Undertaker (Vince McMahon interrupts the promo) (Stone Cold Steve Austin comes out as well)
D-Lo Brown vs. Vader
Droz’s World vignette
Brawl For All Tournament: Bart Gunn vs. Steve Williams
In ring promo by Owen Hart where he issues an open challenge (Jason Sensation comes out)
Owen Hart vs. Dan Severn
Farooq/Scorpio vs. D.O.A
WWF Intercontinental Title Match: The Rock vs. Triple H vs. X-Pac
Interview w/ the New Age Outlaws
Brakus vs. Jesus
Footage of Val Venis and Yamaguchi San’s wife in the shower
Val Venis vs. Brian Christopher (Kaientai challenges Val Venis to a match next week)
Legion of Doom vs. Mark Henry/The Godfather
Trophy presentation for the Fully Loaded Bikini Contest winner (Vince says that body paint doesn’t constitute a bikini and that Jacqueline won)
Interview w/ Sable (She calls out Vince McMahon who comes out and confronts Sable) (Sable flips Vince McMahon off and takes her shirt off to reveal her Raw bikini)
WWF Tag Team Title Match: Stone Cold Steve Austin/Undertaker vs. New Age Outlaws
08/03/98
In ring promo by the Nation of Domination (Rock calls out Austin and Undertaker and they brawl inside the ring)
Golga vs. Marc Mero
Interview w/ Dan Severn
Brawl For All Tournament: Scorpio vs. Godfather
Interview w/ New Age Outlaws
Promo by Legion of Doom (Hawk apologizes for his behavior on last weeks show)
Promo by Jeff Jarrett and Tennessee Lee
Jeff Jarrett vs. Hawk (After the match Southern Justice attacks LOD)
In ring promo by Vince McMahon (He calls out the Undertaker) (Steve Austin also comes out)
Interview w/ The Rock and Owen Hart
Triple H vs. X-Pac
Val Venis/Taka Michinoku vs. Kaientai (Taka trades on Val Venis)
In ring promo by D-Lo Brown
WWF European Title Match: D-Lo Brown vs. Dan Severn (Edge attacks D-Lo Brown after the match)
Footage of Kaientai attacking Val Venis in the backstage area
In ring promo by Tiger Ali Singh (He says he’ll give any woman $500 for each piece of clothing a woman will take off)
WWF Tag Team Title Match: Stone Cold Steve Austin/Undertaker vs. The Rock/Owen Hart
Footage of Kaientai “chopping off” Val Venis’s Big Valbowski
08/10/98
In ring promo by Mankind (He calls out Vince McMahon) (Kane interrupts the promo) (Vince McMahon tries to unmask Kane to show that it’s Undertaker. Undertaker comes out and tries to attack Vince but Mankind attacks the Undertaker)
Jacqueline vs. Luna
Backstage report on Steve Austin and Undertaker by Michael Cole
Brawl For All Tournament: Droz vs. Savio Vega
Interview w/ Chyna
Hawk is walking to the ring and he falls down on the entrance ramp
Southern Justice vs. Legion of Doom (Hawk can’t wrestle so Droz comes out to team with Animal. Jeff Jarrett comes out and nails Droz with a guitar and he cuts Droz’s hair)
In ring promo by Degeneration-X (Chyna mooned the crowd)
Interview w/ Stone Cold Steve Austin
Bart Gunn confronts Jim Ross
Vader vs. The Godfather (Vader accepts the offer of the Godfather to take the Ho’s instead of fighting) (Bart Gunn knocks out Vader then attacks the Godfather)
Promo by Dustin Runnels
Joint Press Conference by Val Venis and John Wayne Bobbitt (Val Venis dumps Mrs. Yamaguchi)
Brawl For All Tournament: Bradshaw vs. Marc Mero
Interview w/ Undertaker
WWF Tag Team Title Match: Steve Austin/Undertaker vs. New Age Outlaws vs. Kane/Mankind vs. Rock/D-Lo Brown (Shamrock attacks Owen Hart before the match and takes him out of the match)
08/17/98
Stone Cold Steve Austin tries to get into the office of Vince McMahon but the door is locked
In ring promo by Stone Cold Steve Austin (He Calls out Vince McMahon)
Ken Shamrock vs. Dan Severn vs. Owen Hart
Brawl For All Tournament: Bart Gunn vs. Godfather
Footage of Ken Shamrock and Steve Blackman looking for Owen Hart and Dan Severn backstage
Backstage update by Michael Cole where he says that Dan Severn is Owen Hart’s trainer for the Lions Dens Match at Summer Slam
Gangrel vs. Brian Christopher
Interview w/ Ken Shamrock and Steve Blackman
Backstage interview w/ Degeneration-X (The Nation attack Degeneration-X and they all brawl backstage)
D.O.A vs. Scorpio/Farooq (During the match Jerry Lawler interviews Bill Clinton)
Street Fight: Degeneration-X vs. Nation of Domination
In ring promo by Tiger Ali Singh (An American gets $500 bucks to lick the crud between Abu’s toes)
Footage of Sable working out backstage
Arm Wrestling Match: Sable vs. Jacqueline
Interview w/ Val Venis
Droz’s World vignette
Brawl For All Tournament: Bradshaw vs. Droz
Footage of Al Snow and Head at a bar
Promo by Dustin Runnels
In ring promo by Sable (She challenges Jacqueline to a match but Jacqueline says they will fight her and anyone she can find in a tag match at Summer Slam)
Gauntlet Match: Val Venis vs. Kaientai (During the match Jerry Lawler interviews Bill Clinton again)
Kane comes out dressed as the Undertaker (Austin comes out and Kane attacks Austin) (Austin puts Kane in the hurst and Undertaker is driving the hurst)
08/24/98
Footage of Undertaker and Kane entering the building together
In ring promo by Undertaker and Kane (Vince McMahon interrupts the promo) (Paul Bearer comes out as well) (Undertaker attacks Paul Bearer. Mankind comes out to make the save but Undertaker and Kane attack him) (Steve Austin comes out as well)
Ken Shamrock vs. Dan Severn (Owen Hart attacks Ken Shamrock while Steve Blackman makes the save)
In ring promo by Mankind (He rides down the ramp on a stretcher)
Highlights of Undertaker vs. Mankind’s Hell in a Cell match at King of the Ring
Kurrgan vs. Marc Mero (During the match Jacqueline attacks Sable)
X-Pac pees in the cowboy boots of Jeff Jarrett
New Age Outlaws vs. Southern Justice (After the match Jeff Jarrett and Southern Justice attack and shave the head of a camera man)
Hell in a Cell: Kane vs. Mankind (Austin comes out from under the ring and attacks Kane)
In ring promo by Undertaker
In ring promo by Chyna where she calls out The Rock (Mark Henry was about to kiss Chyna but Shawn Michaels makes the save)
Val Venis vs. Taka Michinoku (Triple H comes out and attacks both men)
In ring promo by Triple H
Hype video for Stone Cold Steve Austin and Undertaker’s Highway to Hell
X-Pac vs. Gangrel (Jeff Jarrett comes out and hits X-Pac with a guitar) (Edge attacks Gangrel after the match)
Backstage footage of Undertaker pushing a casket towards the ring
Footage of how Bart Gunn made it to the finals of the Brawl For All Tournament
Brawl For All Tournament Finale: Bart Gunn vs. Bradshaw
Interview w/ Vince McMahon
In ring promo by The Undertaker (Vince McMahon interrupts the promo) (Undertaker chokeslams Vince McMahon) (Kane attacks Steve Austin while the Undertaker watches)
09/05/98
In ring promo by Vince McMahon (Undertaker comes out and chases Vince McMahon out of the ring)
Ken Shamrock/Steve Blackman vs. D.O.A (Undertaker and Kane attack Steve Blackman)
Backstage footage of Val Venis and a woman having “sex” in the bathroom stall
Footage of what happened between Mankind and Kane from Summer Slam
Val Venis vs. Vader (Undertaker and Kane come out and attack both men)
Interview w/ The Rock and Mark Henry
Backstage promo by New Age Outlaws
WWF Tag Team Title Match: New Age Outlaws vs. The Rock/Mark Henry (Chyna attacks Mark Henry)
In ring promo by Tiger Ali Singh (They have a woman French kiss Baboo after he eats a can of sardines) (Undertaker and Kane attack Singh and Baboo)
Southern Justice vs. Head Bangers
WWF European Title Match: D-Lo Brown vs. X-Pac (Jeff Jarrett attacks X-Pac)
Undertaker and Kane come out to attack D-Lo Brown but The Rock makes the save (D-Lo Brown leaves the ring to let the Rock get destroyed by Undertaker and Kane)
Edge vs. Marc Mero (Gangrel attacks Edge) (Undertaker and Kane attack Marc Mero)
Interview w/ Al Snow
Oddities vs. Legion of Doom/Droz
WWF Attitude vignette
Undertaker and Kane attack a backstage worker
Too Much vs. Los Boricuas
Jeff Jarrett vs. Too Cold Scorpio (X-Pac attacks Jeff Jarrett) (Undertaker and Kane attack Scorpio)
09/12/98
Jeff Jarrett vs. Edge
Bradshaw vs. Droz
Marc Mero vs. Miguel
Interview w/ The Oddities
Interview w/ D.O.A
Oddities vs. D.O.A
In ring promo by The Rock
Southern Justice vs. Too Much
Interview w/ Head Bangers
Mark Henry/D-Lo Brown vs. Head Bangers (Chyna attacks Mark Henry)
Degeneration-X vs. Kaientai
09/14/98
In ring promo by Vince McMahon, Undertaker, and Kane (Stone Cold Steve Austin interrupts the promo) (Austin attacks Vince but Undertaker and Kane attack Austin)
Road Dogg vs. Jeff Jarrett
Interview w/ The Rock
The Rock vs. Kane (Undertaker attacks the Rock while Mankind comes out and hits Kane with a sledgehammer)
In ring promo by the Undertaker (Undertaker challenges Mankind)
Interview w/ Mankind
In ring promo by Dustin Runnels (Val Venis interrupts the promo) (Val Venis shows off his new video titled “The Preachers Wife” starring Terri Runnels)
Vignette on “A Man’s Man” Steven Regal
WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Triple H vs. Owen Hart
After the match Mark Henry challenges X-Pac and Chyna to a match
The Undertaker vs. Mankind (Undertaker was going to hit Mankind with a sledgehammer but The Rock attacked Undertaker to prevent it from happening)
Edge vs. Gangrel
X-Pac/Chyna vs. Mark Henry
Evening Gown Match: Sable vs. Jacqueline
WWF Championship Match: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Ken Shamrock (Undertaker and Kane attack both men. Rock and Mankind make the save)
09/21/98
In ring promo with Vince McMahon, The Rock, Mankind, & Ken Shamrock
Jeff Jarrett vs. Billy Gunn
Interview w/ Vince McMahon
In ring promo by Stone Cold Steve Austin
Oddities vs. Head Bangers
Interview w/ Undertaker and Kane
WWF Women’s Title Match: Sable vs. Jacqueline
Stone Cold Steve Austin/Billy Gunn vs. Undertaker/Kane
Southern Justice vs. D.O.A
Interview w/ Vince McMahon
Boot Camp Match: Al Snow vs. Sgt. Slaughter
Interview w/ The Rock
Owen Hart vs. Val Venis
Val Venis introduces his new video titled “Something About Terri” featuring Terri Runnels
WWF European Title Match: D-Lo Brown vs. X-Pac
Interview w/ Mankind
#1 Contenders Match: The Rock vs. Mankind vs. Ken Shamrock (Undertaker and Kane attack all three wrestlers)
Steve Austin comes out and attacks Vince McMahon in the aisle way
09/28/98
In ring promo by Vince McMahon
WWF Tag Team Title Match: New Age Outlaws vs. Southern Justice
Owen Hart vs. Dan Severn
Al Snow vs. Vader
6-Man Elimination Match: D-Lo Brown vs. Edge vs. Gangrel vs. Marc Mero vs. Jeff Jarrett vs. Droz
In ring promo by Vince McMahon where he announces the WWF champion (Stone Cold interrupts the proceedings by driving a Zamboni down to the ring and attacking Vince McMahon)
Stone Cold Steve Austin gets taken out of the arena by the police and was arrested
In ring presentation continues with Vince McMahon, Undertaker, and Kane in the ring (Vince announces that Undertaker and Kane will fight for the WWF title at Judgment Day) (Undertaker and Kane attack Vince McMahon after he flips them both off)
Mark Henry vs. Farooq (Chyna is the special referee)
Footage of Vince McMahon being taken out in an ambulance
Interview w/ Ken Shamrock
Oddities vs. Head Bangers
Backstage promo by The Rock
WWF European Title Match: X-Pac vs. Val Venis (After the match Val Venis and Terri are making out in the ring and Goldust’s music starts playing)
Interview w/ Mankind
Undertaker/Kane vs. The Rock/Mankind/Ken Shamrock
10/05/98
WWF European Title Match: X-Pac vs. D-Lo Brown
Footage of Vince McMahon at the hospital
In ring promo by the Head Bangers (They challenge ICP to a match)
Head Bangers vs. ICP
Footage of Vince McMahon in the hospital with Mankind
Vader vs. Marc Mero (Jacqueline calls out Sable for a match. Sable gets in the ring and Jacqueline cuts Sable’s hair)
More footage of Vince McMahon at the hospital
Vignette on “A Man’s Man” Steven Regal
Owen Hart vs. Edge (Owen comes out in street clothes and cuts a promo where he apologizes for hurting Dan Severn. He walks out of the building and says he’s done.)
Kane vs. Ken Shamrock
Backstage segment featuring Val Venis and Terri
Val Venis vs. Gangrel (After the match Val Venis is delivered a golden letter. Goldust also cuts a promo without showing up)
More footage of Vince McMahon in the hospital
Jeff Jarrett vs. Al Snow
Road Dogg vs. Mark Henry
More footage of Vince McMahon at the hospital (Stone Cold comes in as a doctor and attacks Vince McMahon)
Undertaker vs. The Rock
10/12/98
Backstage segment where Vince McMahon arrives at the building driving his Corvette
New Age Outlaws vs. Animal/Droz (D.O.A attack Hawk who was doing commentary and the Head Bangers attack Road Dogg with a boom box)
WWF Intercontinental Title Tournament Match: Ken Shamrock vs. Steve Blackman (After the match Blue Blazer attacks both men)
Highlight video on Goldust
WWF Intercontinental Title Tournament Match: Val Venis vs. Marc Mero
Backstage segment showing Paul Bearer arriving to the arena
Interview w/ Sable (She attacks Jacqueline in the backstage area)
Interview w/ Mankind
Mark Henry recites a poem to Chyna
WWF Intercontinental Title Tournament Match: Mankind vs. Mark Henry
Backstage footage of Stone Cold Steve Austin arriving to the building driving a cement truck
WWF Intercontinental Title Tournament Match: Jeff Jarrett vs. X-Pac
Stone Cold Steve Austin pours cement into Vince McMahon’s Corvette
In ring promo by Stone Cold Steve Austin (Vince McMahon interrupts the promo)
WWF Intercontinental Title Tournament Match: Ken Shamrock vs. Val Venis (After the match Goldust comes out and attacks Val Venis)
Backstage segment where Vince McMahon looks at his limo (Mankind tries to find Vince McMahons briefcase out of the cement filled Corvette)
Backstage promo by The Rock
WWF Intercontinental Title Tournament Match: Mankind vs. X-Pac
WWF Intercontinental Title Tournament Finals: Ken Shamrock vs. X-Pac
Stone Cold Steve Austin/The Rock vs. Undertaker/Kane (Big Boss Man comes out and attacks Austin)
10/19/98
Promo by Vince McMahon with all of the wrestlers standing in the ring
Footage of Degeneration-X hanging out with Motley Crue
Ken Shamrock vs. X-Pac (During the match police come down and arrest Chyna)
Police talk to Stone Cold Steve Austin outside in the parking lot
Head Bangers vs. Legion of Doom
Mankind tries to cheer up Vince McMahon in the backstage area
In ring promo by Undertaker and Paul Bearer (Kane comes out and challenges Undertaker to a casket match)
Backstage segment with Vince McMahon and Mankind
Jeff Jarrett vs. Steve Blackman (Debra comes out as Jeff Jarrett’s manager) (Blue Blazer comes out and attacks Steve Blackman)
More of Vince McMahon backstage (He receives a phone call from Steve Austin)
Vince McMahon tries to leave the building but Steve Austin kidnaps him
Backstage segment with Steve Austin and Vince McMahon
The Rock vs. D-Lo Brown (After the match Mark Henry and D-Lo Brown attack The Rock)
Backstage segment with Steve Austin and Vince McMahon
In ring promo by Tiger Ali Singh (Tiger will pay $500 to a fan who can swallow a kielbasa whole) (Godfather comes out and interrupts the proceedings)
Backstage segment with Steve Austin and Vince McMahon
Mankind vs. Val Venis (Mankind and Ken Shamrock brawl after the match) (Goldust cuts a promo after the match as well)
Casket Match: Undertaker vs. Kane
Steve Austin pushes Vince McMahon out to the ring and forces him to re-hire him (He then takes a gun and shoots it off and it says Bang 3:16)
10/26/98
Promo by Vince McMahon (Steve Austin interrupts the promo)
WWF European Title Match: X-Pac vs. Steve Blackman (Steven Regal attacks X-Pac)
The Rock vs. Droz
Interview w/ Stone Cold Steve Austin
Performance by Motley Crue
Kane vs. Gangrel (After the match Edge comes to save Christian and Gangrel and joins the Brood)
In ring promo by Stone Cold Steve Austin (Vince McMahon interrupts the promo) (Shane McMahon also comes out and says that he hired Stone Cold Steve Austin back)
Godfather vs. Tiger Ali Singh
Interview w/ Vince McMahon
Oddities vs. Kai En Tai
Interview w/ Ken Shamrock
Goldust vs. Marc Mero (After the match Sable comes out and challenges Jacqueline)
Interview w/ Mankind and Al Snow
WWF Tag Team Title Match: New Age Outlaws vs. Mankind/Al Snow
I Quit Match: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Ken Shamrock
11/02/98
In ring promo by Shane McMahon (He brings out Stone Cold Steve Austin)
Footage of Vince McMahon lecturing Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler during the break
New Age Outlaws/X-Pac vs. Brood (Kane comes out and attacks all six men)
Interview w/ Vince McMahon
Hawk vs. Droz
Vince McMahon and Big Boss Man confront Jim Cornette backstage
Mankind/Al Snow vs. Oddities
Vince McMahon confronts Shaq backstage
Footage of Mankind looking for Socko backstage
Steven Regal vs. Goldust (Kane comes out and attacks both men)
Backstage segment where Vince McMahon hands Mankind the WWF Hardcore Championship
WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Ken Shamrock vs. The Rock (Before the match Vince says that if the Rock doesn’t win he won’t be in the Survivor Series Title Tournament)
Jeff Jarrett vs. Val Venis (Blue Blazer comes out and attacks Val Venis)
Backstage segment where Vince McMahon tells the cops to arrest the Rock
Mark Henry/D-Lo Brown vs. Head Bangers (Kane comes out and attacks all four men)
The police arrest the Rock backstage
In ring promo by Owen Hart (Dan Severn comes out and joins the promo) (Owen attacks Severn and Steve Blackman makes the save)
Footage of Severn getting taken away in an ambulance (Blackman attacks Owen Hart and the Blue Blazer makes the save)
Big Boss Man attacks Gerald Brisco, Pat Patterson, and Sgt. Slaughter inside the steel cage (Austin comes out and attacks Big Boss Man) (Shane McMahon comes out and Vince tells Boss Man to stop) (Undertaker comes out and attacks Austin) (Kane comes out and attacks Undertaker with Austin)
11/09/98
Undertaker vs. X-Pac (Kane comes out and attacks and throws a fireball into X-Pac’s face)
Backstage segment with doctors trying to help X-Pac
Val Venis vs. Steve Blackman (Owen Hart & the Blue Blazer attack Blackman)
Mankind gets a makeover backstage
Road Dogg vs. D-Lo Brown vs. Mosh
Backstage promo by Jeff Jarrett and Debra McMichael
More of the makeover on Mankind
Jeff Jarrett vs. Goldust
Highlight video on Jesse Ventura
Interview w/ The Rock
Goldust attacks Jeff Jarrett backstage (Blue Blazer attacks Goldust)
WWF Hardcore Title Match: Mankind vs. Ken Shamrock
Footage of the doctors helping the Rock backstage
In ring promo by Stone Cold Steve Austin (Big Boss Man interrupts the promo)
More footage of the doctors working on The Rock backstage
Interview w/ Vince McMahon
Al Snow vs. Baboo
Highlight video on Sable working out for her match
Vince McMahon goes into the Rock’s locker room to check on his status
Kane vs. Edge (Kane takes out all three members of the Brood and after the match he attempts to catch them on fire) (While Kane is leaving the ring he chokeslams a fan)
Promo by Vince McMahon (Shane McMahon interrupts the promo)
Big Boss Man was going to attack Shane McMahon but Steve Austin makes the save
The Rock vs. Mark Henry
After the match The Rock gives Vince McMahon the Rock Bottom
11/16/98
In ring promo by Vince McMahon where he introduces The Rock as the new corporate champion (Steve Austin interrupts the promo)
New Age Outlaws vs. Oddities
In ring promo by Ken Shamrock where he challenges Big Boss Man to a match
Val Venis vs. Mark Henry (Chyna returns and after the match Mark Henry cuts a promo)
Backstage segment with Vince McMahon and the Corporation
Goldust/Steve Blackman vs. Jeff Jarrett/Blue Blazer
Godfather vs. Steven Regal
Footage of Kane attacking production workers backstage
Backstage segment where Vince McMahon pumps up Big Boss Man
WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Ken Shamrock vs. Big Boss Man (After the match Vince McMahon comes out to recruit Ken Shamrock to the Corporation)
Brood vs. Legion Of Doom (During the match Hawk climbs the Titan Tron)
Animal and Paul Ellering attempt to talk Hawk down from the Titan Tron (Droz climbs to the top of the Titan Tron and pushes him off)
In ring interview w/ Sable where she receives the WWF Women’s Title (Shane McMahon interrupts the interview)
Footage of the Stooges looking for Mankind in the boiler room (Mankind attacks all three men)
WWF World Title Match: The Rock vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin (Undertaker comes out and hits Steve Austin with a shovel)
11/23/98
In ring promo by Vince McMahon where he introduces Shawn Michaels as the new Commissioner
Interview w/ The Oddities
Head Bangers vs. Oddities (ICP joins the Head Bangers)
Highlight video on Kane
Blue Blazer vs. Steve Blackman
Footage of Stone Cold blacking out at a show in San Jose
Brood vs. D-Lo Brown/Mark Henry (Chyna comes out and distracts Mark Henry then she tells him that she will go on a date with him)
Footage of Stone Cold Steve Austin at the hospital
Goldust vs. Marc Mero (Terri and Jacqueline come out and attack both men and join forces)
Interview w/ Steve Austin at his hospital
WWF Hardcore Title Match: Mankind vs. Ken Shamrock vs. Big Boss Man
Footage of the Undertaker attacking Steve Austin at the hospital
Footage of the Undertaker burying Steve Austin at a grave site (Undertaker says he is going to embalm Austin alive)
Godfather vs. Tiger Ali Singh (Regal comes out and attacks Godfather and Val Venis makes the save)
Backstage confrontation between the McMahons, Rock, and Shawn Michaels
New Age Outlaws vs. JOB Squad (Holly and Scorpio)
Footage of Undertaker and Paul Bearer embalming Steve Austin alive (Kane saves Steve Austin)
WWF World Title Match: The Rock vs. X-Pac (Shawn Michaels hits X-Pac with a chair and joins the Corporation)
11/30/98
Steve Austin comes out and attacks the Head Bangers and ICP
In ring promo by Stone Cold Steve Austin
Footage of Mark Henry getting ready for his date with Chyna
Footage of Steve Austin looking for the Undertaker backstage
New Age Outlaws vs. Brood (Gangrel/Edge) (After the match Boss Man and Shamrock attack the Brood)
More footage of Steve Austin looking for the Undertaker backstage (Undertaker and Paul Bearer lock Austin in a room backstage)
More footage of Mark Henry getting ready for his date with Chyna
In ring promo by the Undertaker and Paul Bearer (Kane interrupts the promo and both men brawl with each other. Undertaker calls out for the white coats to take Kane out)
More footage of Mark Henry getting ready for his date with Chyna
Footage of Mark Henry and Chyna on their date
In ring promo by X-Pac (He calls out Shawn Michaels and he comes out)
More footage of Mark Henry and Chyna on their date
Jeff Jarrett vs. Goldust (Owen Hart attacks Goldust then Steve Blackman comes out dressed as the Blue Blazer and attacks Owen Hart)
WWF Hardcore Title Ladder Match: Mankind vs. Big Boss Man
Undertaker and Kane brawl backstage (Undertaker was going to put Kane in a body bag but Austin nails Undertaker with a shovel)
Duane Gill vs. Marc Mero (Mero said if he can’t beat Gill then he would leave the WWF)
More footage of Mark Henry and Chyna on their date
WWF European Title Match: X-Pac vs. Ken Shamrock (Boss Man came out to help Shamrock win but Triple H comes back and attacks Ken Shamrock)
Footage of Paul Bearer and the White Coats taking out “Kane” in a body bag
More footage of Mark Henry and Chyna on their date (3 guys hit on Chyna and Mark Henry attacks all three men)
Val Venis vs. Tiger Ali Singh (Terri comes out and low blows Val Venis) (The Acolytes come out and attack Singh and Baboo)
Footage of Paul Bearer sending off the Undertaker in the ambulance
Promo by Shane McMahon (He calls out Sable)
The Rock vs. Al Snow (After the match the Corporation attacks Mankind)
Steve Austin and Kane take Paul Bearer into the ring where Austin cuts a promo
Austin and Kane then take Paul Bearer outside and throws him down into a sewer
12/07/98
In ring promo by Degeneration-X (Triple H calls out the New Age Outlaws to see if they are with DX or if they are with the Corporation)
New Age Outlaws come out dressed in suits and are acting like they are a part of the Corporation (They bring out Shawn Michaels and he interrupts Triple H’s promo)
Backstage promo by Triple H, X-Pac, and Chyna
Jeff Jarrett vs. D-Lo Brown
Footage of Steve Austin talking to Tony Garea backstage
Brood vs. Head Bangers (Luna comes out and attacks Mosh. The Oddities come out and help Luna attack the Head Bangers)
Footage of Mankind laying backstage on chairs
Footage of Vince McMahon yelling at Paul Bearer backstage
Owen Hart vs. Goldust
Acolytes vs. Val Venis/Godfather (The match doesn’t occur because they brawl outside before the match can start)
In ring promo by Stone Cold Steve Austin (Undertaker interrupts the promo with a promo. He also catches his logo on fire)
Backstage promo by Mankind
Steve Blackman vs. Tiger Ali Singh (Owen Hart attacks Blackman after the match)
Footage of Mankind walking into Stone Cold’s locker room
Mark Henry vs. Droz
Footage of New Age Outlaws, Shawn Michaels, Ken Shamrock, and Big Boss Man talking backstage
No Holds Barred Match: Triple H/X-Pac vs. Ken Shamrock/Big Boss Man (New Age Outlaws “trade” on the Corporation and rejoin Degeneration-X)
Stone Cold Steve Austin/Mankind vs. The Rock/Undertaker (After the match they tie Austin to the Undertaker symbol and raise him into the air)
12/14/98
In ring promo by Degeneration-X where they are portraying the Corporation (The Corporation interrupts the promo)
Val Venis/Godfather vs. Edge/Christian
Goldust vs. Blue Blazer (Steve Blackman comes out and unmasks the Blue Blazer)
Degeneration-X and the Corporation have a confrontation backstage
Mark Henry/D-Lo Brown vs. Scorpio/Bob Holly
WWF Tag Team Title Match: New Age Outlaws vs. Big Boss Man/Ken Shamrock
In ring promo by Vince McMahon and Shane McMahon (Mankind interrupts the promo and challenges Vince McMahon)
Guitar on a Pole Match: Jeff Jarrett vs. Steve Blackman
Tiger Ali Singh is in his locker room talking to Patterson and Brisco because it says Blood Bath on his wall
Vince McMahon and Shane McMahon talk backstage where Vince says he will fight Mankind
Tiger Ali Singh comes out and the Brood gives him a blood bath
No Holds Barred Match: Mankind vs. Kane
Vince McMahon comes out and challenges Mankind to a match in the parking lot which Mankind accepts
Footage of Kane being taken out in a strait jacket
Parking Lot Brawl: Mankind vs. Vince McMahon (The Rock attacks Mankind and Rock Bottom’s him on the car)
WWF World Title Match: The Rock vs. Triple H (Test debuts and attacks Triple H)
12/21/98
Vince McMahon leaves Raw up to Shane McMahon
In ring promo by the Corporation (Degeneration-X and Mankind interrupt the promo)
D-Lo Brown and Mark Henry talk backstage
Al Snow vs. Gangrel (Al Snow receives a blood bath)
WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Ken Shamrock vs. Billy Gunn (After the match HBK comes out and says the match was a non-title match so Ken Shamrock keeps the Intercontinental title)
In ring promo by Hawk (Droz interrupts the promo and he attacks Hawk while Animal makes the save)
D-Lo Brown and Mark Henry talk some more backstage (Terri and Jacqueline invite Mark Henry into there locker room)
Steve Blackman vs. Blue Blazer (Owen Hart comes in and attacks Steve Blackman. Goldust makes the save and they unmask the Blue Blazer again)
Backstage segment with Mark Henry, Terri, and Jacqueline
WWF Hardcore Title Match: Big Boss Man vs. Road Dogg
More of the backstage segment with Mark Henry, Terri, and Jacqueline
A vignette on Jeff Jarrett
Backstage segment where Pat Patterson, Gerald Brisco, and Shane McMahon have a confrontation
More of the backstage segment with Mark Henry, Terri, and Jacqueline
Acolytes vs. J.O.B. Squad (Scorpio/Holly)
Mankind vs. Shane McMahon (The Corporation attacks Mankind and Degeneration-X makes the save)
A WWF Attitude vignette featuring Freddie Blassie as Santa Clause
Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco talk backstage
D-Lo Brown tries to get Mark Henry to come out for their match but he is locked in the locker room
Head Bangers vs. D-Lo Brown (Mark Henry is still trapped in the locker room)
Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco talk backstage some more (Vince McMahon arrives back at the building)
The Rock/Test vs. Triple H/X-Pac (Kane comes out and attacks Degeneration-X and joins the Corporation unwillingly)
12/28/98
Footage of the Corporation arriving in the building (They also search the boiler room for Mankind)
WWF Hardcore Title Match: Road Dogg vs. Val Venis
Vince McMahon comes out with the Corporation and cuts a promo and tells Road Dogg he will fight Mankind in a Hardcore Title match later on tonight
Backstage segment where Vince McMahon talks to Kane
Edge vs. Al Snow
Footage of Sable getting ready to defend her WWF Women’s title
WWF Women’s Title Match: Sable vs. Spider Lady (Before the match Tori tries to get at Sable in the ring)
WWF European Title Match: X-Pac vs. Big Boss Man
Footage of Vince McMahon training for the Royal Rumble
Jeff Jarrett/Owen Hart vs. Goldust/Steve Blackman
The Acolytes attack Dennis Knight and stuff him in the trunk of his own car
WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Ken Shamrock vs. Triple H (DX and the Corporation brawl after the match)
Interview w/ Billy Gunn
In ring promo by Mark Henry and D-Lo Brown (Terri and Jacqueline interrupt the promo) (Chyna also interrupts the promo)
Highlight video on the year that was 1998
The Corporation attacks the Godfather
Kane vs. Billy Gunn
WWF Hardcore Title Match: Road Dogg vs. Mankind
In ring promo by Vince McMahon (He calls out Shawn Michaels) (Vince fires Shawn then Shawn hits Vince with Sweet Chin Music)
WWF Monday Night Raw 1993 Listings
Monday Night Raw: 1993
Just a quick heads up to note. I have listed all matches, interviews, and angles that played out on these events, the only thing I haven’t added is the winners of the matches, which in most cases is obvious.
01/11/93
Yokozuna vs. Koko B. Ware
Steiner Brothers vs. The Executioners
WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Shawn Michaels vs. Max Moon
The Undertaker vs. Damian Demento
01/18/93
Mr. Perfect vs. Terry Taylor
Marty Jannetty vs. Glen Ruth
Ric Flair vs. Tito Santana
01/25/93
Macho Man Randy Savage vs. Repo Man
Kamala vs. The Brooklyn Brawler
Career Ending Match: Mr. Perfect vs. Ric Flair
02/01/93
Tatanka vs. Damian Demento
High Energy vs. Mike Sharpe/Von Krus
Doink vs. Typhoon
Yokozuna vs. Tony DeVito (During The Match Jim Duggan Phones In)
Lex Luger vs. Jason Knight
02/15/93
Steiner Brothers vs. Glen Ruth/Bobby Who
Yokozuna vs. Ross Greenberg
16-Man Battle Royal
Brutus Beefcake vs. Ted DiBiase
02/22/93
Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Scott Taylor
Shawn Michaels/Beverly Brothers vs. Tatanka/Nasty Boys
Crush vs. Terry Taylor
The Undertaker vs. Skinner (Show Ends Before The Match Is Over)
03/01/93
WWF Title Match: Bret Hart vs. Fatu
Doink vs. Koko B. Ware
Lex Luger vs. P.J. Walker
Steiner Brothers vs. Duane Gill/Barry Hardy
03/08/93
Money Incorporated vs. Tito Santana/Virgil
Tatanka vs. Phil Apollo
Papa Shango vs. Mike Edwards
Bob Backlund vs. Tony Demoro
Mr. Perfect vs. Rick Martel
03/15/93
Razor Ramon vs. Mike Greenberg
Typhoon vs. L.A. Gore
Bob Backlund vs. Papa Shango
The Headshrinkers vs. The Nasty Boys
03/22/93
The Bushwhackers vs. Damien Demento/Repo Man
Tatanka vs. Reno Riggins
Money Incorporated vs. Scott Frtiz/Jeff Armstrong
Doink vs. Kamala
03/29/93: March To Wrestlemania 9
Rob Bartlett Is At The Manhattan Center By Himself
Yokozuna vs. Randy Savage
Mr. Perfect vs. Skinner
The Undertaker vs. Bam Bam Bigelow
04/05/93
Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Virgil
Bob Backlund vs. Kim Chee
Damian Demento vs. Jim Brunzell
Steiner Brothers vs. Beverly Brothers
Jerry Lawler vs. Jim Powers
04/12/93
Scott Steiner vs. I.R.S
Tatanka vs. Von Krus
Papa Shango vs. Scott Taylor
Friar Ferguson vs. Chris Duffy
04/19/93
Razor Ramon vs. Virgil
Giant Gonzalez vs. L.A. Gore
Tatanka vs. Art Thomas
Money Incorporated vs. The Beverly Brothers
Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Phil Apollo
04/26/93
Mr. Perfect vs. Damian Demento
Lex Luger vs. Crush
Mr. Hughes vs. Jason Knight
Typhoon vs. Von Krus
05/03/93
WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Shawn Michaels vs. Jim Duggan
Doink vs. The Kamikaze Kid
Bob Backlund vs. Dwayne Gill
The Headshrinkers vs. Jay Sledge/Jim Bell
Kamala vs. Rich Myers
05/10/93
King Of The Ring Qualifying Match: Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Typhoon
Yokozuna vs. P.J. Walker
Mr. Perfect vs. Mike Sharpe
WWF Intercontinental Title Lumber Jack Match: Shawn Michaels vs. Jim Duggan
05/17/93
Smoking Gunns vs. Glen Ruth/Tony Yadja
Razor Ramon vs. The Kid
Tatanka vs. Scott Taylor
Yokozuna vs. Kamala
WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Shawn Michaels vs. Marty Jannetty
05/24/93
Mr. Perfect vs. Doink
Money Incorporated vs. Mike Bell/Tony DeVito
Crush vs. Bobby Who
Adam Bomb vs. Phil Apollo
05/31/93
WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Marty Jannetty vs. Bam Bam Bigelow
Steiner Brothers vs. Rich Myers/The Executioner
Mr. Hughes vs. Bert Centeno
Jim Duggan vs. Mark Thomas
Razor Ramon vs. Tony Roy
06/07/93
Shawn Michaels vs. Ross Greenberg
Adam Bomb vs. Tito Santana
Tatanka vs. Peter Weeks
Rick Steiner/Billy Gunn vs. I.R.S./Fatu
06/14/93
Mr. Perfect vs. L.A. Gore
Doink vs. Marty Jannetty
Owen Hart vs. Dan Dubiel
Jerry Lawler vs. Mark Thomas
06/21/93
Steiner Brothers vs. Barry Hardy/Reno Riggins
2/3 Falls Match: Marty Jannetty vs. Doink
Mr. Hughes vs. Bobby Who
Razor Ramon vs. 1-2-3 Kid
06/28/93
WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Shawn Michaels vs. Kamala
Smoking Gunns vs. Mike Sharpe/Barry Horowitz
Adam Bomb vs. P.J. Walker
Crush vs. Bastion Booger
07/05/93
1-2-3 Kid vs. Blake Beverly
Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Joey Maggs
The Undertaker vs. Samu
Mr. Perfect vs. Brian Costello
07/12/93
WWF Title Match: Yokozuna vs. Crush
The Headshrinkers vs. P.J. Walker/Aaron Ferguson
Tatanka vs. Brooklyn Brawler
Mr. Hughes vs. Tony DeVito
Adam Bomb vs. Scott Amati
07/19/93
WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Shawn Michaels vs. Marty Jannetty
Men On A Mission vs. Rich Myers/Hank Harris
Bastion Booger vs. Scott Despres
1-2-3 Kid vs. Chris Duffy
07/26/93
Promo By Doink Before The Show Starts
Bret Hart vs. Bam Bam Bigelow
Mr. Hughes vs. Ross Greenberg
Smoking Gunns vs. Barry Hardy/Glen Ruth
Doink vs. Phil Apollo
08/02/93
Interview w/ Randy Savage
Steiner Brothers vs. Duane Gill/Barry Horowitz
Who Is Lex Luger The Interivew Part 1
Adam Bomb vs. Tony Roy
“Macho Man” Randy Savage vs. Doink
Summer Slam Report
Phone Interview w/ Ted DiBiase
Highlights Of 1-2-3 Kid vs. Ted DiBiase From Wrestling Challenge
Interview w/ Jim Cornette
Mr. Perfect vs. Barry Hardy
The Video Of “USA” By Jim Duggan From The Wrestlemania Album
Highlights Of The Lex Luger Call To Action Campaign
08/09/93
Tatanka vs. Mr. Hughes
Who Is Lex Luger The Interivew Part 2
The Bushwhackers/Macho Midget vs. The Brooklyn Brawler/Blake Beverly/Little Louie
Contract Signing For The WWF Title Match At Summer Slam Between Yokozuna And Lex Luger
Razor Ramon vs. Dan Dubiel
Summer Slam Report
Heavenly Bodies vs. Bobby Who/Mike Bucci
The Video Of “Speaking From The Heat” By Randy Savage From The Wrestlemania Album
08/16/93
Ted DiBiase vs. 1-2-3 Kid (During The Match Razor Ramon Phones In)
The Headshrinkers vs. Mike Khoury/Dave Moraldo
Summer Slam Report
Marty Jannetty vs. Bastion Booger
Interview w/ Money Incorporated
Men On A Mission vs. Mike Sharpe/Barry Horowitz
Who Is Lex Luger The Interivew Part 3
Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Rich Myers
The Macho Midget Comes Out With 4 Women
The Video Of “Summer Slam Jam” From The Wrestlemania Album
08/23/93: Summer Slam Spectacular Recap
WWF Tag Team Title Steel Cage Match: Steiner Brothers vs. Money Incorporated
Promo By Heavenly Bodies And Jim Cornette
The Kings Court With Jerry Lawler: “Elvis” Is His Guest
Interview w/ Bret Hart
Interview w/ The Undertaker. Giant Gonzalez Interupts The Interview
Who Is Lex Luger The Interivew Part 4
WWF Title Match: Yokozuna vs. Jim Duggan
Interview w/ Yokozuna, Mr. Fuji, And Jim Cornette
A Musical Tribute To Lex Luger
09/13/93
WWF Tag Team Title Match: Steiner Brothers vs. The Quebecers
Mr. Perfect vs. Tony DeVito
Highlights Of Ludvig Borga Confronting Lex Luger At Summer Slam
Razor Ramon vs. The Executioner
Interview w/ The Quebecers And Johnny Polo
Highlights Of Randy Savage And Bobby Heenan On The Jerry Lewis Tele-thon
Doink vs. Rich Myers (During The Match Crush Phones In) (After The Match Heenan Tries To Get Doink To Throw The Water On Vince And Savage But He Dumps It On Heenan)
09/20/93
Highlights Of The Quebecers Winning The Tag Team Titles From Last Weeks Show
Scott Steiner vs. Pierre
Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Laverne McGill (During The Match Crush Phones In)
Interview w/ Bret Hart
Mr. Perfect vs. Mike Bell
Promo By Ludvig Borga
Interview w/ A Fan Who Ask’s His Girlfriend To Marry Him
I.R.S. vs. P.J. Walker (Razor Ramon Costs I.R.S. The Match)
Interview w/ The Quebecers And Johnny Polo
09/27/93
Jack Tunney Announcement Where He Suspends Shawn Michaels
Tatanka vs. Rick Martel
Joe Fowler Announces The 20 Participants In Next Weeks Battle Royal
Ludvig Borga vs. Phil Apollo
Jimmy Snuka vs. Paul VanDale (During The Match Crush Phones In)
Highlights Of P.J. Walker Defeating I.R.S. From Last Weeks Raw
Interview w/ I.R.S.
The Quebecers vs. 1-2-3 Kid/Barry Horowitz
10/04/93
20 Man Battle Royal To Determine The Two Intercontinental Title #1 Contenders
Heavenly Bodies vs. Mark Taylor/Scott Thomas
Highlights Of What Happened Between Doink, Bam Bam Bigelow, And Luna Vachon On Superstars
Doink vs. Corey Student (After The Match Bam Bam Bigelow Comes Out And Destroys Doink’s Wagon)
Highlights Of The 20 Man Battle Royal
10/11/93
WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Razor Ramon vs. Rick Martel
The Headshrinkers vs. Tommy Morrison/Sid Curtis
Owen Hart vs. Scott King
Interview w/ Ludvig Borga. Lex Luger Interupts The Interview
Adam Bomb vs. Ross Greenberg
Rock N’ Roll Express vs. Duane Gill/Barry Hardy
10/18/93
Steiner Brothers vs. P.J. Walker/Tony DeVito
Mr. Perfect And Diesel Go Back And Forth On Whether Or Not You Should Vote Yes Or No On Reinstaing Shawn Michaels
I.R.S. vs. Scott Taylor
A Vignette On Jeff Jarrett
Tatanka vs. Mike Sharpe (Before The Match They Show The Confrotation Between Tatanka And Ludvig Borga From Superstars)
Survivor Series Report
Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Dennis Diamond
Diesel Pleads To The Fans To Vote Yes To Reinstate Shawn Michaels
The Savage Crush Summit
10/25/93
Highlights Of The Savage Crush Summit From Last Weeks Show
Crush vs. Phil Apollo
Promo By Johnny Polo
1-2-3 Kid vs. Marty Jannetty (After The Match 1-2-3 Kid And Marty Jannetty Beat Up Johnny Polo)
A Vignette On Jeff Jarrett
Ludvig Borga vs. Mike Bucci
Interview w/ Ludvig Borga
Men On A Mission vs. Todd Mata/steve Greenman
Survivor Series Report
Promo By Ray Combs Talking About The Family Feud Match At Survivor Series
Diesel vs. Dan Dubiel
11/01/93
Interview w/ Bastian Booger While He Is Eating Raw Food
Razor Ramon vs. Bastian Booger
Survivor Series Report: They Show Highlights Of The Foreign Fanatics Injuring Tatanka From Superstars
Interview w/ The Foreign Fanatics
Mr. Perfect vs. The Executioner
A Vignette On Jeff Jarrett
Smoking Gunns vs. Well Dunn
A Phone Interview w/ Randy Savage
Adam Bomb vs. Virgil
Promo By Ray Combs Talking About The Family Feud Match At Survivor Series
11/08/93
Promo By Ludvig Borga Before The Show Starts
Promo By Scott Steiner Before The Show Starts
Ludvig Borga vs. Scott Steiner
A Vignette On Jeff Jarrett
Men On A Mission vs. Corey Student/Steve Smith
Survivor Series Report: Promo By Bret Hart. Highlights Of What Doink Did To The Headshrinkers On Superstars
Interview w/ The Quebecers
Crush vs. Dan Dubiel (Savage Throws McMahon Down And Attacks Crush)
Rick Martel vs. John Paul
Bob Backlund vs. Barry Horowitz (During The Match Savage And Crush Brawl All The Way Outside)
11/15/93
Highlights Of Randy Savage And Crush Brawling From Last Weeks Show
Razor Ramon vs. Brooklyn Brawler
Promo By Crush
The Headshrinkers vs. Mike Bucci/Mike Moraldo
Highlights Of The All Americans Announcing The Undertaker As Their New Partner From Superstars
Lex Luger vs. Pierre (Lex Luger Knocks Pierre Out With His Elbow And Eliminates Him From The Survivor Series)
Diesel vs. Sid Garrison
Survivor Series Report: Highlights Of What Doink Did To Bastian Booger From Superstars
A Vignette On Jeff Jarrett
11/22/93: Survivor Series Showdown Recap
WWF World Heavyweight Title Match: Yokozuna vs. Bret Hart
Survivor Series Report: Highlights Of What Doink Did To Bam Bam Bigelow From Superstars
I.R.S. vs. Marty Jannetty
Reo’s Roundup: Interview w/ Shawn Michaels
11/29/93
Steiner Brothers vs. Mike Khoury/Reno Riggins
A Vignette On Jeff Jarrett
Razor Ramon vs. Diesel
Bam Bam Bigelow vs. John Crystal
Highlights Of Doink Receiving Dink As A Present From Wrestling Challenge
Vince McMahon Announces The Superstar Of The Year
Highlights Of What Happened Between Owen Hart And Bret Hart At Survivor Series
Owen hart vs. Chris Duffy
Interview w/ Owen Hart
Ludvig Borga vs. Scott Taylor
Interview w/ Razor Ramon And 1-2-3 Kid
12/06/93
Promo By Shawn Michaels Before The Match Starts
Shawn Michaels vs. 1-2-3 Kid
The Quebecers vs. Mike Walsh/Bert Centeno
Interview w/ Owen Hart
Doink vs. Tony DeVito (Dink’s Raw Debut)
A Vignette On Jeff Jarrett
Crush vs Tony Roy (During The Match Randy Savage Phones In)
Gorilla Monsoon Comes Out And Gets Bobby Heenan And Throws Him Out Of The Building. Heenan Start’s To Cry Since It His Final Appearance In The WWF For 7 Years
12/13/93 (Jim Cornette Is The Guest Commentator In Place Of Heenan)
Highlights Of Gorilla Monsoon Throwing Bobby Heenan Out From Last Week
Randy Savage vs. Fatu
Promo By Todd Pettengill Talking About How Randy Savage Deserves To Be On WWF Mania
Smoking Gunns vs. Jim Massenger/Steve Smyth
Highlights Of Shawn Michaels Attacking Razor Ramon From Last Weeks Show)
I.R.S. vs. Todd Mata
Happy Holidays Commercial From The WWF
The Undertaker vs. J.W. Storm
A Vignette On Jeff Jarrett
Rick Martel vs. Tim McNeany
Highlights Of The Interview w/ Owen Hart From Superstars
Bret Hart vs. Brooklyn Brawler
12/20/93 (Shawn Michaels Is The Guest Commentator)
Highlights Of Ludvig Borga And Yokozuna Injuring Tatanka Two Months Ago On Superstars
Promo By Tatanka Before The Show Starts
Jeff Jarrett vs. P.J. Walker
Men On A Mission vs. Duane Gill/Barry Hardy
Royal Rumble Report
Promo By Ludvig Borga
Ludvig Borga vs. Tatanka (Yokozuna Interferes In The Match. Lex Luger Makes The Save And Bodyslams Yokozuna Again)
Adam Bomb vs. Mark Thomas
A Vignette On Thurman “Sparky” Plugg
Highlights Of Owen Hart’s Challenge To Bret Hart And Bret Hart’s Response To Owen’s Challenge
Owen Hart vs. Mike Bell
Promo By The Undertaker And Paul Bearer At Undertaker’s Workshop
The Headshrinkers vs. Phil Apollo/Jerry Seavy
12/27/93 (The Quebecers Are Guest Commentators)
Highlights Of Ludvig Borga vs. Tatanka From Last Weeks Show
Lex Luger vs. Barry Horowitz
Highlights Of Johnny Polo Interfering In The 1-2-3 Kid vs. Marty Jannetty Match From Several Months Ago
Interview w/ Johnny Polo
Johnny Polo vs. Marty Jannetty
Happy Holidays Commercial From The WWF
Doink vs. Spike Gray
Royal Rumble Report: Promo By Bret And Owen Hart
Crush vs. Mike Moraldo
Promo By The Undertaker And Paul Bearer At Undertaker’s Workshop
Promo By Alundra Blayze
Promo By Heidi Lee Morgan
Highlights Of The Alundra Blayze vs. Heidi Lee Morgan WWF Women’s Title Tournament Final Match
A Vignette On Kwang
Razor Ramon vs. Derek Domino
THE AUDIT: STARRCADE 1987 REVIEW
[spacer height=”20px”]This is Ian R. Singletary your resident I.R.S. man, returning in time for the holidays to Audit and review some more big events from years gone by. It’s that time of year here in the States. TURKEY TIME! Thanksgiving is right around the corner and that can only mean a few things.
1. I get to cook a 30 course meal for 10 hours.
2. Football all day and night.
3. I’ll reminisce about how much I miss the original Survivor Series tradition.
4. Us old school fans also remember the early years of Starrcade!
With all of that said, I’ll be reviewing some of the earlier WWF and NWA Thanksgiving events over the next couple of week. I’ve already had my Series ’87 review bumped up to the front of the site to get things rolling, so in the interest of fairness I’ll trade off here and review a Starrcade in this edition. And how ironic with the Thanksgiving holiday upon us that I select the FINAL NWA Starrcade to air on the traditional holiday, all thanks to one Vincent Kennedy McMahon. You can read all about the WWF vs. NWA war and what led to this being the final Starrcade on Thanksgiving by checking out a great article I strongly recommend written by Crazymax’s own, Cmax Jack, RIGHT HERE!
AND NOW…
THE NWA & JCP PROUDLY PRESENT….
STARRCADE ’87
“CHI-TOWN HEAT”
*** GLORY BOUND ***[spacer height=”20px”]
[spacer height=”20px”]
Two sub-titles? Must be a double special PPV.
Full card listed below.
* NWA World Champion Ron Garvin vs. Ric Flair (Steel Cage)
* U.S. Champion Lex Luger vs. Dusty Rhodes (Steel Cage)
* NWA Tag Team Champions Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard vs. The Road Warriors
* NWA TV Champion Nikita Koloff vs. UWF TV Champion Terry Taylor (Title Unification)
* U.S. Tag Team Champions The Midnight Express vs. The Rock & Roll Express (Scaffold Match)
* UWF Heavyweight Champion Steve “Dr. Death” Williams vs. Western States Heritage Champion Barry Windham
* Sting, Michael Hayes, Jimmy Garvin vs. Eddie Gilbert, Rick Steiner, Larry Zbyszko (6-Man Tag)
And now ladies and gentlemen, we travel back 30 years!
TO…..
[spacer height=”20px”]
It’s Thanksgiving, November 26, 1987 and Crockett moves the PPV version of the big event out of their homestead area of the Carolinas to the unusual choice of Chicago, IL and the UIC Pavilion. While there are two other towns running Starrcade matches on this evening (New Orleans and Greensboro) before showing this PPV via Closed Circuit TV, the matches from those events would never make air. Making the Chicago portion of Starrcade ’87 the place to be.
The show kicks off with your announcers JIM ROSS & TONY SCHIAVONE sitting at a desk far from ringside. They’re hardly on the air for a few seconds before they throw to ringside and a few bars of “BADSTREET, USA” begins to play as Sting and the future Freebirds 2.0 hit the ring. Their opponents are already waiting inside for a fast opening intro. One of my favorites, Tom Miller is the ring announcer.[spacer height=”20px”]
(6-Man notes going in: Crockett had purchased the UWF from Bill Watts at the beginning of 1987, but refused to allow the talent there to look better than his home grown JCP talent which quickly hurt the brand. By this point in the year Crockett was completely phasing out the UWF, the syndicated show was all but done, and the titles were quickly becoming absorbed into the NWA. Sting had just recently turned face against his former partners Gilbert & Steiner in the UWF. Everyone else was just “big name” filler here. In fact, Michael Hayes had only returned to the NWA the month prior, and Zbyszko had only shown up with Baby Doll on NWA TV a couple of weeks before the PPV.)
Sting, Michael “P.S.” Hayes, “Gorgeous” Jimmy Garvin (w/ Precious)
vs.
“Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert, Rick Steiner, Larry Zbyszko (w/ Baby Doll)
As the match starts Ross explains Sting recently leaving Hot Stuff International. Apparently Sting hand picked Garvin as Hayes as his partners here, while Gilbert went and found Zbyszko to even the odds. Wouldn’t Sting have found ONE partner to combat Steiner and Gilbert? Sorry for trying to use logic.
Off to the match and it’s Steiner and Sting, former buddies to start off. Rick immediately catches Sting with a pair of Steinerlines, before they were called Steinerlines. Rick goes for a third one but Sting ducks out of the way and Steiner goes flying the the floor. STING WITH A FUCKING PLANCHA OVER THE TOP ROPE. Sting clears the top rope and comes flying out onto Steiner and the crowd is bat shit crazy early on. Only problem is the shitty camera man misses most of the dive. Fucking Crockett producers. Back inside it’s STING OFF THE TOP ROPE WITH A DROPKICK on Steiner! Then the future Freebirds catch Gilbert and Zbyszko coming in with dropkicks as well. And all 6 men pair off into separate corners. The heels get triple whipped into each other and all three of them are sent to the floor. The faces fire the crowd up as they’re finally filing in and filling the seats.
Garvin and Hayes have their way with Steiner as well, ending with Garvin landing a high backdrop on Rick. Steiner finally tags out to Larry Land. Now the faces have some fun with Zbyszko as well, and Larry takes some nice bumps before tagging in Hot Stuff. It’s more of the same as the faces work over Gilbert. STING FINALLY GETS HIS HANDS ON EDDIE! Gilbert wants a time out but it ain’t happening. Eddie manages to slip away and tag Steiner back in. Rick quickly finds himself on the wrong in of a Jimmy Garvin sunset flip for 2. Steiner powers Garvin back into the heel corner and the heels take control as Tom Miller announces 7 minutes gone.
The heels dominate Garvin the next several minutes. Steiner hits a nasty powerslam for a 2 count. Rick misses a charge into the corner, but tags in Zbyszko before Garvin can tag out. Larry locks in an abdominal stretch as Tom Miller announces 10 minutes gone. Almost as if it were a cue (wink) Garvin breaks the stretch and begins to fight back. HOT TAG TO STING. Sting unloads on all 3 heels, before the referee gets distracted by Steiner and Sting gets double teamed. Gilbert takes over on his one time friend and illegally tosses Sting over the top rope to the floor behind the referee Mike Figueroa’s back. That should be a DQ but the ref misses it. Back in the ring Gilbert covers for 2. Larry tags in and tries for a suplex, but Sting reverses. With 12 minutes gone, Steiner tags in to prevent Sting from tagging out.
Rick locks Sting in a sleeper but Sting uses momentum to drive Steiner face first into the top buckle for the break. Zbyszko tags in and gets whipped face first into the corner buckle. 2 MINUTES REMAIN!!!! Sting HOT TAG TO MICHAEL HAYES! This crowd is HOT!
Hayes & Gilbert are the legal men, but everyone enters the ring. The faces pair off with the heels in 3 corners and mount them for punching fun. Hayes lands a BULLDOG on Zbyszko that Larry takes on his forehead for an awesome bump. Hayes covers, Larry isn’t the legal man, but apparently that doesn’t matter. THE REFEREE COUNTS! 1———-2——-Larry’s foot is on the ropes! Hayes locks in a sleeper on Larry, but Gilbert comes off the top to break the hold. ONE MINUTE REMAINS!
Steiner tags in, BELLY TO BELLY on Hayes gets a 2 count. Gilbert now back in, back and forth with Hayes. Michael with a sunset flip. 1…………..2………DING DING DING DING DING DING DING. The time limit has elapsed!
End Result: A 15:00 Time Limit Draw
A STINGER SPLASH ON RICK STEINER just after the bell. This match is a draw as the fight continues on the floor. And this crowd really hates Zbyszko.
(Post Match Thoughts: While it was crazy noticeable that there were like 10 fucking people in the ENTIRE LOWER LEVEL of the arena facing the hard camera as the match got started, it was nice to see the arena filled by the middle of the match. I had forgotten how great of a bumper Zbyszko was until I saw this again. Jimmy Garvin came to work, he hadn’t yet allowed Michael Hayes to suck his work rate out of him. Give that another year or two. Sting was still VERY green, but it was evident he was getting over at the speed of light since his recent face turn. I didn’t really understand the point of doing a draw here but this was a good solid opening match. Would have been better if they had had someone go over, but as you’ll quickly see this won’t be the last questionably booked outcome on this card. Not by a long shot. Match was good but felt rushed. Would have liked to seen this go another 5 minutes. Not a great idea to kick off a PPV with a non-finish. Still an easy ***)[spacer height=”20px”]
– Missy Hyatt is backstage. Wish I was in her backstage. Hyatt just watched her hubby Hot Stuff compete. Missy has about 3 sentences and throws it back to ringside. Well that may be the most pointless “interview” segment of all time. And this is all we see from Missy for the rest of the night. Okay then. Welp, back to the ring.[spacer height=”20px”]
(UWF Title Match notes going in: This here was being looked at as the battle of two of the top baby faces in the company. The fans were eager to watch two of there favorites go at it in a clean and scientific match up.)
UWF Heavyweight Championship Match
Steve “Dr. Death” Williams (c) vs. Barry Windham
It should be noted that Windham is the Western States Heritage Champion here. What does that mean? A whole lot of nothing. Just another of the many useless title belts floating around Crockett in the mid 80’s. Barry’s belt isn’t on the line here. They start off with Windham taking a HIGH hiptoss. Doc grabs Barry in a military press and reps him up and down over his head. Windham slides behind Doc to escape the press slam and hooks a rolling cradle for 2. Fun opening sequence.
The two men try their hands at mat wrestling, something Doc would have murdered Windham at in real life. Instead it’s pretty much a stalemate with both men rolling to the floor to break. Back in the ring it’s Doc with a BACKDROP DRIVER! But Windham basically no sells it and rolls onto his feet. Barry shows some impressive strength by lifting the dead weight Williams for a gut wrench suplex. Doc hooks a headlock, Windham counters with a back suplex but Williams never releases the hold. After a super hot first match, the crowd is dead here with a smattering of catcalls and guys shouting “boring”.
Dr. Death shoots Windham into the ropes and there’s all sorts of miscommunication here between the two. Ultimately this leads to Williams attempting a leapfrog but Windham running head first into Doc’s Deathballs. The crowd responds with a collective OHHHHH when Windham accidentally headbutts Williams in the nether region. Doc rolls around in pain while Windham looks concerned and allows him to recover. Ross points out Barry isn’t going in for the kill. Windham won’t allow the referee to count Doc down. What a true sportsman.
Williams is back to his feet. Five minutes now gone. Barry hooks a headlock but Doc escapes. Windham hits the ropes, picks up momentum, and he goes FLYING towards Doc. But Williams ducks and WINDHAM GOES FLYING OVER THE TOP ROPE TO THE FLOOR. A nasty bump. Windham is hurt but her crawls back into the ring. But unlike Windham, Doc takes immediate advantage. As soon as Barry can crawl through the ropes, Williams hooks an Oklahoma Roll and takes the shady victory after 6:50. The crowd makes little noise, surprised at the random and abrupt finish.
Winner: Dr. Death
(Post Match Thoughts: What the FUCK kind of finish was that??? And less than 7 minutes in? The match had barely got going and then it was over. So this match was supposed to plant the seeds for Dr. Death’s SUPPOSED eventual heel turn. Windham was the gentleman, allowing Williams to recover after the accidental low blow, but Williams took advantage of Barry’s injury when he bumped out to the floor. But nobody in the crowd “got it”. It seemed awkward and almost looked like a legit injury was affecting one of them. I sure as hell didn’t get it the first time I watched this back in like 1989 on VHS. It was just poorly done shit booking, and the announcers were clearly unaware of the selling points here. This was a super short match that had a quick beginning and a quicker ending, no substance in between. 1/4* if for nothing else Barry’s sweet bump to the floor. But still this was a nothing match from two of the top stars in the business at the time.)[spacer height=”20px”]
(Scaffold Match notes going in: It was such a success the first time around that JCP decides to bring the Scaffold Match back the very next year. The Midnights return to the steel structure with new, but familiar, opponents. Long time rivals the R&R’s and the MX are no strangers to one another having spent years feuding. This is just another chapter in their storied rivalry. To win this match you must send both of your opponents crashing from the scaffold to the floor below.)
“SKYWALKERS II” SCAFFOLD MATCH
The Rock & Roll Express
vs.
The Midnight Express (w/ Cornette & Big Bubba)
The Midnights are the current U.S. Tag Team Champions, but this match is non-title. With Bubba back from the UWF he’s back to the full time bodyguard of Mr. Cornette. Problem is Bubba was just starting to get pretty good in the ring during his UWF run. He should probably go somewhere else that will appreciate him more. 🙂 So the first Skywalkser match at Starrcade ’86 featured the Road Warriors vs. The Midnight Express of Eaton and Condrey. This year it’s the R&R’s taking on the new Midnights of Eaton and Stan Lane. Bobby Eaton kisses Cornette goodbye as he ascends the steel structure. Gibson makes it to the top first for his team. As the Midnights get to the top of the Scaffold, BIG BUBBA ROGERS ATTACKS RICKY MORTON! Bubba has Ricky Morton in the ring and hits a NASTY BOSS MAN SLAM / BUBBA SPIKE. He killed Morton!!! Mwahahaha
Gibson is left on the scaffold to fight alone as he and Lane go at it. Eaton joins in as the MX double team Gibson while Morton lays in the ring. And now Bubba begins to climb the scaffold as well! Rogers makes it to the top rope, when MORTON STEALS THE TENNIS RACKET! Morton takes Cornette’s Tennis Racket and Ricky beats Bubba Rogers with the racket, knocking Rogers off the ropes and back into the ring.
Now Morton climbs the scaffold with the racket! Gibson is busted open as he’s paired with Lane. Morton beats on Eaton with the racket. Eaton throws powder into the eyes of Morton. The MX have the R&R’s in trouble. Lane holds Gibson while Eaton takes a cheap shot. They try the spot again but Gibson ducks. Eaton is SUPPOSED to hit Lane here, but everyone involved sort of half shits their pants and grab hold of the scaffold for balance.
Eaton and Morton take turns beating each other with the racket. Eaton gets busted open. Beautiful Bobby drops Morton with the racket and then goes after Gibson. Robert Gibson grabs a loose piece of the railing and cracks it over Eaton’s head. The tennis racket goes falling into the ring. Meanwhile, Morton and Lane go at it, with Stan hanging under the scaffold and clinging to the ladder.
Cornette with an awesome toss of the racket back up to Eaton who also makes an awesome catch. Eaton beats the crap out of Gibson with the racket, then Gibson retaliates with his own racket beating on Eaton. Morton climbs down to the under carriage of the scaffold on the ladder and forces Stan Lane to monkey bar his way under the scaffold to the middle of the ring. Lane loses his grip and takes a bump off the scaffold to the mat below. Lane sells his knee heavily from the bump.
Cornette checks on Lane, while Bobby has control of Gibson. Unfortunately, Morton comes to the aid of his partner and the R&R’s begin double teaming Bobby with the racket. Pushing him over the edge of the scaffold and eventually EATON FALLS TO THE MAT! The match is over after about 10:25.
Winners: The Rock & Rolls.
Following the match, an angry Cornette sends Big Bubba up onto the Scaffold to deal with Ricky Morton. With Gibson already off the scaffold it’s one on one with Bubba staring across the scaffold at Morton. As the two men meet in the center of the scaffold Bubba taunts Morton. Ricky looks a little worried but doesn’t back down. Finally Morton NUTCHECKS Big Bubba. I shit you not. Morton taps the balls of Rogers to drop the big man. What a hero. Morton then scurries down the scaffold and takes off with the monster Rogers looking like a bitch.
(Post Match Thoughts: For a scaffold match these guys did everything they could without attempting to die. Eaton and Gibson bladed in hopes to “enhance” the match but in this instance it felt unnecessary. The addition of the involvement of Bubba, the racket, the loose railing, and of course the bumps to the mat kept the match enjoyable for what it was. ***)[spacer height=”20px”]
– Bob Caudle interviews Michael Hayes, Jimmy Garvin, and Precious. Surprisingly, Hayes says nothing. It’s Garvin who controls this promo. Garvin says he and Hayes are looking for the World Tag Titles. Garvin gives a shout out to booker Dusty and his “brother” Ronnie Garvin and their matches later tonight.[spacer height=”20px”]
– Bob Caudle interviews Dr. Death. Doc says Windham had his chance in the match and failed to capitalize. Well the Doc capitalizes, just like his Sooners. A bunch of rambling follows. Makes no sense. Typical Doc promo.[spacer height=”20px”]
(Notes Going In: This match is another step in the direction of Crockett absorbing the UWF into his NWA. The idea here is simply to unify two title belts and condense the insane amount of titles currently being held in the NWA.)
TELEVISION CHAMPIONSHIP UNIFICATION MATCH
NWA Television Champion – Nikita Koloff
vs.
UWF Television Champion – Terry Taylor (w/ Eddie Gilbert)
Referee here is Earl Hebner. Koloff starts off the match no selling everything. What else is new? Terry spend much of the first several minutes trying to fight his way out of wristlocks and armbars to no avail. Terry escapes a couple of times and takes a powder outside to talk with Hot Stuff, but reenters the ring and winds up right back in the same situation. I’ll give Koloff one thing here, he’s doing everything with a lot of energy and aggressiveness. Though he’s not doing a whole lot outside of holding Terry’s arm. Taylor finally has enough, and after talking with Gilbert yet again, Terry climbs back inside and shoves Koloff. Nikita SLAPS Taylor right back. BACKDROP on Terry gets a 2 count and Taylor once more rolls outside of the ring but Nikita drags him back in by the hair. Again Nikita goes on the offense, but he runs into a knee of Terry and Taylor with a quit roll up pin and uses the ropes for leverage but only gets a 2 count. Koloff right back on top with a hammerlock. TEN MINUTES gone and Koloff has dominated the entire match.
Terry continues chea heel tactics to try and gain some offense, but Nikita continues to no sell. Nikita drives Terry down with a chokeslam thingy. Nikita goes for the finish, but Taylor ducks and KOLOFF MISSES A RUSSIAN SICKLE and clotheslines the corner buckle. Nikita injures his shoulder and Taylor FINALLY goes to work. Terry immediately takes Koloff to the floor and works over his shoulder. Back inside it’s more shoulder work on Nikita. Gilbert even gets in a few good licks on the Russian. Kneedrop gets 2 for Terry but Koloff powers out. Taylor continues his work on the left arm. Koloff blocks a sunset flip attempt by drilling Terry with a right hand. Taylor tries a suplex, but Koloff reverses that as well. 15 MINUTES GONE in the match.
And Nikita starts his comeback by mounting Taylor with punches in the corner, but Terry counters out of it with an inverted atomic drop. Taylor argues with referee Hebner and Nikita sneaks in a school boy for a near fall. Terry back up and tries a piledriver, which Nikita also reverses into a backdrop. Koloff back on the offense and Taylor takes off. Nikita chases Terry around ringside and Taylor catches Koloff with a well placed knee as he tries to get back in the ring. Then Eddie Gilbert with a CHAIR to the back of the knee of Koloff! Earl Hebner misses the interference, and Taylor takes advantage by applying THE FIGURE FOUR on Nikita! Hebner counts Koloff’s shoulders down repeatedly for a count of 2. Finally, Taylor releases. Koloff hangs over by the ropes as Eddie Gilbert gets in some more cheap shots. Koloff pulls Eddie onto the apron. Taylor comes charging, but Nikita moves. TAYLOR NAILS GILBERT INSTEAD! Terry turns around right into a RUSSIAN SICKLE!!!!! 1……..2……….3. That’ll do it after about 17:36.
Winner: Nikita Koloff
(Post Match Thoughts: We’re less than 3 months away from the big TWIN REFEREES angle on NBC, but as you can see Earl Hebner hasn’t left the NWA yet. Nikita unifies the TV Title belts. I could have done without the first half of this match. The story of the first half was OK but it dragged out with Koloff holding the arm for simply way too long. Taylor tried several short comebacks early on and it looked like Koloff was LEGIT not having any of it. Once they got to telling the real story of the match things got much better. Nothing here was terrible though, just wish Nikita would have let Taylor do more in the early going. ***1/4) [spacer height=”20px”]
– Now we go backstage with Magnum TA & Jack Gregory for no real reason. Magnum puts over the insane dive Sting did early on the show. Unfortunately nobody at home got to see it because of shitty production and cameras not being where they should. Magnum talks up the upcoming titles matches. And now back to the ring.[spacer height=”20px”]
(World Tag Title Match notes going in: These teams are no strangers to one another, having even been on opposing teams at the first ever WAR GAMES earlier in the year. This time it’d be a little different, the World Titles are on the line, but this was the Roadies “home coming”. Having always been billed as being from Chicago it seems like the Warriors are getting ready to dethrone the Horsemen here tonight. Arn & Tully have just won the belts from the Rock & Rolls back in September and don’t seem too eager to give up, but everything seems to be weighing in the Roadies favor here in their hometown.)
NWA WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard (c) (w/ JJ Dillon)
vs.
The Road Warriors (w/ Paul Ellering)
This match get hot in a hurry. Arn lays a shot into Hawk and climbs to the top rope. Hawk catches Arn on the top rope and grabs him off in a military press and walks to the middle of the ring before slamming Anderson to the mat. Arn quickly rolls to the outside to regroup with Tully & Dillon. Arn gives it another go with Hawk, hooking a headlock, but Hawk comes right out with a top wristlock that sends Anderson down and to the outside again. And now Tully will give it a go with Hawk. And right away Hawk clotheslines Tully out of his boots and Blanchard tries to bail. But Animal is waiting outside and presses Tully back into the ring!!! Awesome shit. Tully tries to run away and take a count out but Hawk catches up with him and feeds him to Animal in the ring.
Tully catches Animal with a shot and climbs to the top rope. Tully comes flying off the top, but ANIMAL CATCHES HIM WITH A POWERSLAM! Nice. And clotheslines for both Horsemen cause the champ to retreat yet again. Arn & Tully try a double team on Hawk in the corner, they double Irish whip him but Hawk comes bouncing out with a double clothesline on the champs and a 2 count on Tully. The Roadies continue to have their way with Tully and Arn. Animal press slams Arn. Hawk goes to press slam Tully, but ARN CLIPS HAWK’S KNEE!!! And NOW the champs go to work!
The Horsemen immediately attack the knee of Hawk. Tully is even able to sneak a cheap shot with a steel chair. Hawk repeatedly tries to fight back but can’t make the tag. Tully locks in the Figure Four on Hawk. Hawk won’t submit so Arn is tagged back in. Anderson locks in a double knuckle lock on Hawk but winds up catching a knee to the balls. Hawk hot tags Animal! Animal comes in on fire on Arn, but Tully trips him up from the floor. Hawk chases Tully into the ring and he bumps into referee Tommy Young causing the ref to take a bump to the floor.
Animal backdrops Arn Anderson over the top rope to the floor and the Roadies take it to Tully. Double clothesline on Blanchard!
DOOMS DAY DEVICE ON ARN ANDERSON!!!!!! WE’VE GOT A NEW REFEREE!!!
1…………2…………3!!!!!!!!!!
The Road Warriors have done it in a time of 13:26! The Roadies have won the fucking titles in their hometown. The crowd explodes! What a great feeling.
What a great match—Hold the fucking phone.
Tommy Young is back up in the ring. What’s he doing? AWWW HORSE SHIT.
Tommy Young saw Animal backdrop Arn over the top rope. He’s REVERSING THE DECISION.
Tomym Young disqualifies the Road Warriors. The Dusty finish. Who’s the booker again?
Winners: The Road Warriors
Winners: On a DQ, Arn & Tully
(Post Match Thoughts: Many people have stated that this choice booking killed the town of Chicago for the NWA for many years. I don’t have gate records in front of me to prove that but I sure wouldn’t be surprised. It’s like Dusty was just TRYING to piss off the locals with this booking. You put the hometown boys in a title match in their hometown. Not only do you not give them the belts, but you tease the fans by declaring them the winners before taking it away. Just WOW. Holy fuck balls. If you didn’t want the Roadies as champs, that’s fine, why not just book them in a different match? As for the match itself, it was good from beginning to end. A bit short for my taste but still good. The crap finish holds this back from getting a slightly better rating for me. Still ***1/4)[spacer height=”20px”]
– To the back with Magnum TA & Jack Gregory. We’ve got to fill some time while the cage is being put up so they discuss the screwy finish to the previous match. Nikita Koloff shows up to talk about being the unified TV Champ and still has his eyes on the World Title. James J. Dillon pops in next to talk about Arn & Tully retaining, Flair going for the World Title, and the next match involving Luger vs. Dusty. JJ and the Horsemen exude confidence tonight.[spacer height=”20px”]
(US Championship Cage Match Notes Going In: You want notes? Dusty was the booker, bay-bay. That’s all you gots-ta know. Why a cage? Why not? If you will.)
U.S. Championship – Steel Cage Match
“Total Package” Lex Luger (c) (w/ JJ Dillon)
vs.
“The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes
An added stip here is if Dusty loses, he’s out of the bidness, fo’ 90 days, if you weeell. We’ve also got Mid-Atlantic wrestling legend Johnny Weaver acting as the keeper of the key for this match. Weaver will hold onto the key that unlocks the cage door, but there’s no roof on the cage so theoretically someone could just climb over. But whatever. Also, for some reason in recent weeks Dusty has booked himself to now be the master of Johnny Weaver’s old hold “the Weaverlock” (AKA the friggin’ sleeper hold). So you can best believe we’ll see that come into play. Ross and Schiavone sell the Weaver Lock early on in the match as if it were a DDT or an RKO, as if you could just hit a sleeper out of nowhere. But again, whatever.
Earl Hebner is the ref for this one. Lex tries to send Dusty into the cage early, but Rhodes blocks and catches Luger with a bionic elbow that Lex barely sells. Bet Dusty loved that, LOL. Dusty goes into the stick and move jab routine followed up by some flip, flop and fly action that finally drops Lex. Rhodes teases the Weaver Lock but Luger gets to the ropes. Luger drills Dusty with a tackle and Dusty jiggles all over the mat. Good God, it’s become apparent how much fatter Dusty has gotten at this point in his career. This is followed by another Weaver Lock teaser when Rhodes locks in the hold but Lex gets to the ropes quickly.
Luger makes a brief comeback but misses a big elbow drop and Dusty goes to an ARMBAR. A very boring armbar, followed by an equally ZzZzZz hammerlock. Lex finally escapes and takes over and shows off his vast arsenal of moves by delivering a series of “exciting” stomps. Luger sends big Dust into the cage and Rhodes finally gets to slice his forehead open. I’ll give it to Dusty, he waited much longer than I figured. Luger drops a big elbow for 2. Dusty fires back with a dropkick, kind of, but Luger is right up and Lex picks up Rhodes for a backbreaker. Lex scoops Rhodes up for the Torture Rack but stumbles into the corner and Dusty escapes. This eventually leads to a Luger armbar on Rhodes. A very loooonnnnggg armbar on Rhodes. Dusty’s blade job sucked tonight, BTW.
Rhodes finally decides to start no selling Luger, and Dusty makes the comeback with another flip, flop, fly, and quite possibly the shittiest DDT I’ve ever seen gets a 2 count. Luger gets up and misses a clothesline and DUSTY LOCKS ON THE #WeaverLockOuttaNowhere . Meanwhile, JJ Dillon knocks out Johnny Weaver on the outside. The MANAGER knocks out the key keeper? Well don’t that beat fuck all.
Dillon grabs the key to the lock and goes to unlock the door. This draws the attention of Earl Hebner who comes over to argue with Dillon. Even though the CAMERA ONCE AGAIN COMPLETELY MISSES A PIVOTAL SPOT IN A MATCH, I CAN ONLY PRESUME LUGER RUNS HIMSELF INTO HEBNER, KNOCKING HEBNER DOWN AND ESCAPING THE #WeaverLockOuttaNowhere in the process.
Both guys are down, Dillon tosses a STEEEEEEL CHAIR into the ring. Lex goes to bend over to pick up the chair, but Dusty catches him with a second SHITTY DDT onto the chair. Rhodes steals the win after 16:22.
Winner: New Champion, Dusty Rhodes
(Post Match Thoughts: What were you expecting? The challenger was also the booker. I tolerated Dusty’s booking of himself throughout 1986 and some of 1987 but at this point he had just gotten out of hand and was in the worst shape of his life. The sad part is, he’d continue to put himself in positions he didn’t necessarily need to be in. Dusty would continue to align himself with the most over faces, feud with the top heels, and even eventually turn the Roadies heel for the sole purpose that he could feud with them because they were so over. The fact is, we’d have to deal with another year of this Dusty booking before Turner and company had enough and removed him of his duties.
As for this match. The first minute was fun, followed by about 14 minutes of NOTHING, followed by another minute or so of a good finish. This was pretty poor. The crowd heat and the decent finish helps a little but I could do without watching this ever again. *3/4)[spacer height=”20px”]
(World Championship Match Notes Going In: Garvin took the title from Flair back in September, Ric gets his rematch in a cage here tonight. I’d go into more “insider” details here but we’ll get into that during the post match thoughts to refrain from causing any spoilers here for those who are reading about this show for the first time. Going into this match I was familiar with Garvin’s background in Knoxville and all points in between. I knew Ron was a very accomplished worker and we all know Flair’s abilities. As a young fan at the time Crockett told me Garvin was championship material and I bought what I was fed.)
NWA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP – STEEL CAGE MATCH
“Hands of Stone” Ron Garvin (c)
vs.
“Nature Boy” Ric Flair (w/ JJ Dillon)
One thing to note here is during the introductions Flair is cheered far more than the baby face Garvin. Ron throws his customary towel into the crowd and some guy gives a high five to his buddy for catching the towel infested with Garvin’s DNA. And heeeere we go.
It’s a chop fest back and forth to start. A very STIFF chop best. DAY-UMN that’s some nasty chopping by Garvin especially. Ric does the Flair flop early and the crowd begins a LOUD “GARVIN SUCKS” chant. Nice. Ron catches Ric with a backdrop and works an armbar. Garvin drops Flair to deliver THE GARVIN STOMP! F-YEAH!
More chops from Garvin but FLAIR WITH A LOW BLOW right in front of referee Tommy Young but there’s NO DQ. Ric hits a kneedrop for a 2 count and begins to go to work on Garvin’s leg. The CROWD POPS LOUD for the Figure Four when it’s applied to Garvin. Flair uses the ropes for leverage but Garvin won’t quit. Ronnie eventually rolls over to reverse the hold, but Flair gets in the ropes to break the hold.
Ric goes back to Garvin’s knee. The crowd WOOOO’s with Flair. 10 minutes have elapsed. Garvin blocks going into the cage several times before he whips Flair face first into the cage a couple of times. Garvin grades Flair’s face against the cage and gnaws at Flair’s forehead as Ric is busted open. Both men fight to the top rope but Ron knocks Flair off. More nasty chops by Garvin. Flair gets back on the top rope but Garvin slams him off. NOW GARVIN APPLIES THE FIGURE FOUR.
Flair finally gets to the ropes and Tommy Young forces the break.. WHY?? There’s no DQ. The two men trade more chops as 15 minutes elapse in the time limit. Garvin goes to the top rope. High Cross Body by Garvin. 1……….2……… Flair kicks out!
Garvin counters a hiptoss with a backslide 1……2….. Flair out again!
Garvin chops the soul out of Flair’s body. Oof. Both men climb back to the top rope. They trade shots, Garvin with a head butt and Flair falls crotching himself on the top rope.
Garvin goes for the same move he won the title with. SUNSET FLIP OFF THE TOP ROPE! Flair drops down on top and grabs the ropes for leverage! 1…..2… Tommy Young catches Flair and makes him break! Garvin complete the sunset flip. 1……………2……… Flair kicks out!
Garvin mounta Flair in the corner for some punches but Ric drives Garvin backwards into Tommy Young!
THIRD STRAIGHT FUCKING MATCH WITH A REF BUMP, DUSTY. Second bump by Young. Ugh.
GARVIN CONNECTS WITH THE HAND OF STONE! FLAIR GOES DOWN! GARVIN COVERS. BUT THERE’S NO REFEREE!
Wait, Young sees the cover! 1…………..2…………………FLAIR KICKS OUT!
Garvin charges at Flair with a Thesz Press. Flair catches him and stagger backwards, bouncing Garvin head first into the cage! Down goes Ronnie! Flair covers 1…..2…..3!
Flair gets the win and the crowd loves it after 17:39 of stiff rasslin.
Winner: And newwww 5 Time, 5 Time, 5 Time, 5 Time, 5 Time Champion, Ric Flair
(Post Match Thoughts: So this story has been done to death but I have a different take than the propaganda that’s been spread in the dirt sheets and on the net over the past 30 years. The story goes… Flair had wanted to drop the belt to someone in order to regain it here on PPV. Story also goes that the problem was most of the faces that were being looked at for this spot refused because they felt they would look weak dropping the title back 2 months later here at Cade. Garvin had no issue with this and so he basically was handed the belt on a silver platter back in late September. I’ll go along with all of that. But here is where my opinion differs from the “know it alls” out there pushing their own agenda.
Many people crap all over Garvin’s “run” as champion, blaming him for the downfall of the NWA and the house gates, and everything else that was wrong with the company at this point. I think most of these people read a certain someone’s newsletter and have been brainwashed into repeating this as fact. I’m not saying Garvin should have been World Champion, but I am saying HE HELD THE BELT FOR TWO FRICKIN MONTHS. Cummon people. That doesn’t kill a company. Flair got it back here and that didn’t change anything business wise at this point. Garvin as champion was hardly the biggest problem with JCP at this moment, and even if it were you can only blame the BOOKER.
Another thing I have to crap on is the old newsletter story that none of the heels would work with Garvin while he was champ because they didn’t want to job to a guy that was jobbing the title back to Flair 60 days later. That too has been proven false. Garvin not only worked plenty of singles matches with the likes of Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, and Bubba Rogers, but he worked many tag matches as well as a headliner, and he defeated Ric Flair SEVERAL TIMES on the house shows during his 2 month reign as champion. Should Garvin have been champion? Maybe not. BUT he didn’t kill JCP. In my opinion, that again would be the booker. And you’re telling me Barry Windham would turn down a 2 month run as champion because that would somehow “HURT” him? GTFOH… Look it up.
Now to summarize this match quickly. Garvin dominated a good chunk of the match, which was probably good considering the crowd was cheering for Ric. But DAMN those chops. Woof. Nothing spectacular by the way of a wrestling match here, but these guys really laid it in and I have to respect that first and foremost. A good 100 chops thrown and every one of them were nasty. Flair worked Garvin’s leg, Ronnie just took it to Flair like it was a fight. I liked them using the Cade ’83 Flair/Race finish and the Flair/Von Erich Parade of Champions finish as teasers here. More false finishes with Garvin landing the sunset flip off the top and then dropping Ric with the KO punch. The only thing that stuck out to me was how Garvin just completely stopped selling his leg in the later part of the match. That, and the finish. Garvin hitting the cage looked real weak. Even still, ***1/2)[spacer height=”20px”]
THE FINAL AUDIT
Nothing here was above 3 1/2 stars making the action range from yuck (Windham/Williams, Dusty/Luger) to slightly above average. The problem here was the booking more than the matches. Three ref bumps in 3 straight matches, the “Dusty” finish to the hometown Roadies, Dusty getting a belt he didn’t need, Flair losing the belt to win it right back just “because”, the 6-man going to a draw, the weird finish to Windham vs. Doc that went nowhere. Then you take two teams that could given you a 4 or 5 star match any day of the week but stick them on a scaffold. I don’t need Cody Rhodes scolding me for having my own opinion, but I have to question the booker here. I don’t know.
While some of the matches were decent, and several titles did change hands, this still really felt like a throw away, or stand alone show. Yes, titles changed hand but none of these matches led to anything beyond this show. Nothing was “must see”, though there were 3 or 4 decent matches I felt were fine to sit through. This show wasn’t great, it wasn’t the worst, it was just bland. It was just… “there”. This show breaks even with me. If you watch it I think you’ll find enough stuff to somewhat enjoy yourself. If you don’t watch it you won’t be missing much. On a scale of 1-10, I’m comfortable giving this a 5 or maybe a 5.5, which loosely falls in the D+/C- range for me. If this were a true tax return, it wouldn’t owe any money, but it wouldn’t be receiving a refund either. In one word I’m — Indifferent.[spacer height=”20px”]
THE AUDIT: SURVIVOR SERIES 1987 REVIEW
The Audit: Survivor Series 1987
The things a savvy businessman will do.. It’s the fall of 1987 and the owner of the WWF, Vince McMahon, has decided to create his own Thanksgiving night tradition in order to compete with Jim Crockett Promotions “Starrcade” event. JCP was getting ready to produce their very first PPV titled Starrcade ’87 “Chi-Town Heat”, and Vince was having none of it. McMahon produced the Survivor Series PPV in order to compete, and ultimately screw with JCP.. McMahon threatened PPV providers by informing them that if they chose to air Starrcade over his Survivor Series that he would pull all future PPV’s from their pay-per-view service, which would include the annual WrestleMania event. The result, most pay-per-view providers went with the already established WWF over the PPV upstart NWA (JCP). Enough with the history lesson, let’s get down to why you came here, it’s time for the very first AUDIT of the 1987 WWF Survivor Series..
I’m Ian R. Singletary, your very own I.R.S., and I’ll be auditing some of your favorite, and maybe not so favorite wrestling events throughout the annals of time. I’ll dig deep inside each event and cover it from top to bottom, before giving it my final stamp of approval, or cite it’s failure to deliver.
In case you’re wondering, I only try to review the original live versions of the PPV’s in order to give the most complete recap of the event in it’s original form. Coliseum Video versions are chopped all to hell, and I’m not a fan of the Anthology versions because of all the theme music edits.
The Preshow…
– We start things off with the 30 minute Survivor Series Countdown/Preshow. Remember when these things were actually GOOD and had you hyped up for the event? It’s hosted by Bobby & Gorilla on the Prime Time set so it’s one of the better preview shows in my opinion. These guys were the best!
– After the opening video hyping the main event (and still promoting Billy Graham as a part of Hogan’s team) they spend about 9 minutes on the Hulk Hogan vs. Andre feud, highlighting their last showdown at WrestleMania III.
– They move on to spend the next 8 minutes or so discussing the Savage vs. Honky Tonk feud, highlighting the Saturday Night’s Main Event altercation where Honky shoves Elizabeth to the mat and smashes the guitar over Macho’s skull. GREAT STUFF for the times. Hell, that’s better heat and story than anything they’re putting out now. How the hell they got Savage to agree to let Liz be shoved down by anybody other than himself is beyond me. I would have assumed Randy would have wanted to rip Honky’s ass open and let brother Lanny make a deposit.
– Next, they spend almost TWO WHOLE MINUTES plugging the ladies match. A clip is shown of Sherri Martel defeating The Fabulous Moolah for the Women’s Title in Houston back in July. Sherri is clearly the babyface in the title match. Moolah attacks the referee after the bout and tries to attack Sherri before Martel blasts her in the back with the title belt to the roar of the fans. Sherri immediately went heel after her title win, proclaiming herself “The Sensational” Sherri on TV. They announce the captains of the ladies teams as Moolah & The Sensational Sherri and leave their partners to your imagination. In reality, I’m sure they had NO idea who the hell half the girls were going to be in this match until after production of this preshow. In the highlight of the countdown, Bobby Heenan let’s out a couple of good one liners, as only he can do. In the spirit of good old sexism, Heenan exclaims “There’s going to be 10 ladies in the match? That means there’s going to be 10 households without tradition!”. Heenan was gold.
– Gorilla explains the rules of the 20-Man Tag Team Series match involving all 10 tag teams of the WWF. You know the drill, if one member of a team is eliminated, they’re both sent back to the dressing room. This preshow was obviously produced a while back, as the Hart Foundation are referred to as the champions even though they had lost the belts to Strike Force on TV back on November 7th, which was 3 weeks prior to this airing. To hype the match, they show a clip of the Harts defeating the Bulldogs for the belts, which happened way back at the beginning of February. They give this big match a whopping 3 minutes of build, spending more time discussing the size of Boris Zhukov’s head than any of the rivalries or back stories involved.
– We go back to the Hogan & Andre match. Another 6 minutes of the preshow is dedicated to Hogan & Andre interviews from television. Hogan REPEATEDLY calls the show “Survival Series” on at least 4 occasions during his promo. You’d think the champion of the company could at least get the name of the show right. Hulk ignores the fact that he even has a team, dubs himself a survivor, and whatcha gonna do? Then, for absolutely no reason whatsoever, Viewers Choice sneaks in a promo for the Grateful Dead “New Years Concert” (WTF?) over top of Bobby Heenan talking. With the odd start time of 7:30pm Eastern, Gorilla encourages us one final time to ORDER THE EVENT, DAMMIT!
You got it Gorilla!
And with that, it’s time for the Survival Series, BROTHER!
The Event…
The event emanated live from just outside of Cleveland in the suburb of Richfield, OH in the old Richfield Coliseum, at the time the home of the Cleveland Cavaliers. It’s Thursday, November 26th, 1987, it’s Thanksgiving, and it’s THE SURVIVOR SERIES!
A lot of people refer to this as the “1st Annual” event, but by definition that makes no sense. In order to be an annual the event must happen at least twice. Instead, we’ll call this the INAUGURAL WWF Survivor Series.
The show opens with a shot of the sold out arena and a very LOUD crowd. Howard Finkel introduces Jesse Ventura & Gorilla Monsoon as the announcers for tonight’s event.
If my memory serves me correctly, this is the only PPV where both commentators got an introduction, complete with an entrance to their podium. The duo briefly squabble to let it be known just who the face and heel of the announce team is, as if there was ever a question. I enjoyed the tandem of Gorilla & Bobby on Prime Time, Wrestling Challenge, and on the early 90’s PPV’s that they did together, but I also thought Monsoon & Ventura complimented each other very well. Based on comments made by Jim Ross some years later, it didn’t sound like Gorilla & The Body got along very well, or at least they had very little to do with each other outside of PPV broadcasts. For as many “Wrestling Observer: Worst Announcer of the Year” awards that Monsoon “won” back in the 1980’s, I personally always enjoyed his stuff.
A very brief, and I DO MEAN BRIEF, opening video plays before the announcers run down the card and explain the rules of the Elimination Matches.
And we’re off to our very first Survivor Series promo with “Team Honky”.
Did you ever notice that every promo in this particular Survivor Series features everyone on each team yelling, jumping around, flailing their body parts uncontrollably, slapping each other on the backs, shoulders, or chests, etc. If I didn’t know any better I’d say someone laced the turkey and the pumpkin pie with mounds of cocaine. Twuz the times, after all. The producer (Vince?) must have instructed everyone to act overhyped to pump up the fans. In an odd way, it worked. Honky is the only one who talks directly into the microphone as he tries to shout over his team. HTM promises to Shake, Rattle, & Roll Elizabeth if she gets in his way. You see, in the 1980’s you could beat up on a woman and it could still be considered “kid friendly” programming. An odd note is the positioning of the team for the interview. Even though Jimmy Hart is Honky’s manager he’s hidden behind everyone, while Bobby Heenan is put in the front on the opposite side of the men he manages. Eh, no matter, there’s enough Jimmy Hart on this show as is. Honky calls his team, “The Greatest Team Ever Assembled”, pretty low standards there Honk.
The heels make their way to ringside to the King’s theme before their captain, Honky Tonk Man, gets his own entrance. If you look closely, you’ll see Harley Race attempting to dance when Honky enters the ring.
Up next, it’s time to hear from Team Macho. We’ve got Ricky Steamboat making stereotypical 1970’s karate noises and fighting stances, Jim Duggan pretending to use his 2X4 as a shotgun, and I have NO IDEA what the fuck Brutus Beefcake is doing by the time Savage enters the screen, with scissors in his hand no less.
How ironic is it that Jake Roberts is acting the LEAST coked up of the bunch!
Steamboat leads the team into battle, with Savage & Miss Liz following the troops out.
(Notes going in: I was hyped for the event. I’d seen elimination matches in the past but none of this magnitude and size. The sheer volume of the names involved in these matches was enough to make anyone salivate. I did have some concerns going into the opening match based on prior storylines. Honky had just come off a feud with Jake, stole the title from Steamboat, and pissed off Mach, so he had his share of rivals in this match. I was more concerned with why on Earth Ricky Steamboat would agree to team with Savage who had just crushed his larynx less than a year ago. I mean seriously, that was a big deal when it happened, then when they announced that the two were teaming it blew my mind. Then of course, there was Jake who DDT’d the Dragon on the floor of this very Coliseum at a SNME the year before. Then I remembered, it’s wrestling, and to stop questioning logic and just enjoy the show!)
Intercontinental Champion The Honky Tonk Man, “The King” Harley Race, Hercules, “Outlaw” Ron Bass & “Dangerous” Danny Davis
(accompanied by Jimmy Hart & Bobby “The Brain” Heenan)
VS.
Randy “Macho Man” Savage, Jake “The Snake” Robertson , Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake & “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan
(accompanied by Miss Elizabeth)
This was more or less you’re semi-main event, or “Intercontinental” match” Jim Duggan
(accompanied by Miss Elizabeth) the card. The baby faces had the much stronger team based on name value, but the match was still very competitive. Besides Honky’s issues with half of the opposing team, the other big feud going on inside this match was between Hacksaw & Harley Race.
The first match of the Series kicks off with Beefcake & Hercules going at it. Herc has dropped the Hernandez, but isn’t quite “Mighty” yet. The Barber tries a Sleeper early on and Hercules makes the tag to Danny Davis. The wrestling referee is brought in the hard way and the entire baby face team (besides Duggan) take turns beating on Davis. Danny is finally able to tag out to the King. We get a glimpse of what could have been a HELL of an NWA World Title match a few years earlier when Race & Steamboat go at it. The Dragon refuses to be dumped out of the ring, skinning the cat, TWICE, and tossing the King out of the ring. Harley reenters and lands his Belly to Belly Suplex finisher on Steamboat, but the Dragon kicks out and tags to Hacksaw! The crowd erupts as Hacksaw comes in and goes to town on Harley, crowning the King with several punches before clotheslining him out of the ring. Duggan follows Race outside and the two trade punches until they’re both counted out 4:33 into the match.
A quick note before I forget to mention it, the early Survivor Series PPV’s featured two referees, one in the ring and one outside. They utilized the outside ref quite a bit in this particular PPV, they were quite active in the matches. Duggan spent a whole 30 seconds in the match, probably just as well. The action continues momentarily. The next elimination isn’t too far behind. Randy Savage makes a blind tag to Beefcake behind the Outlaw’s back and then whips Bass into the ropes. Savage drops down, Bass jumps over him and runs right into a HIGH KNEE from the Barber, and Beefcake pins the Outlaw at 6:58.
The next few minutes features the heel team working over The Barber. Beefcake ducks a big right from Honky, and counters with an Atomic Drop. Brutus makes a comeback while the announcers talk about what a mistake it is that he’s not tagging out. That proves to be true when Beefcake tries to come off the ropes but Danny Davis nails him from the apron with a knee in the back DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF THE REFEREE WHO HAS TO PRETEND HE DIDN’T SEE IT! Brutus stumbles forward and right into the Shake, Rattle & Roll Neckbreaker – and Honky gets the pin to even things back up at 10:47.
Savage tries to go after Honky but is caught off guard by Hercules. Jake gets the tag but is worked over by Honky & Hercules. When Danny Davis is tagged in, Roberts starts to no sell his offense, fights back with token “Snake” offense and nails the DDT to put an end to Dangerous Danny’s night at 15:06.
Immediately after the elimination of Davis, Hercules catches Snake with a nice looking flying clothesline. Hercules & Honky spend the next 5 minutes working over Roberts. Jake’s been in here WAY too long, something like 8 minutes straight. Roberts breaks a chinlock from Hercules with a jawbreaker and finally makes the tag out to the Dragon. Token Steamboat offense follows and he slams Hercules in position and tags to the Macho Man. Savage goes straight to the top rope and delivers the FLYING ELBOW on Hercules to make things 3 on 1. Hercules is eliminated at 20:56.
And wouldn’t you know it, it comes down to Honky against the three men he’s had issues with this year. It’s almost like it was written that way. Jake, Savage & Steamboat all get a little payback on the “Greatest Intercontinental Champion of all time”. Savage delivers a top rope double axe handle followed by an atomic drop which sends Honky out of the ring. HTM hits the floor, starts walking to the back and doesn’t look back. He takes a deliberate count out to avoid doing the job at 23:38. The fans are happy, I guess that counts for something.
Your Survivors: The Macho Man, The Dragon, and the Snake!
Post Match Thoughts: I would have liked to seen Duggan & Race go at it a little more before they took the double count out, but I thought their elimination was smartly played. Was surprised to see Hogan’s buddy Bruti do the job. Beefcake was one of those guys who generally got away without ever having to do PPV jobs. Seriously, think about it for a minute, this may be the only time he was pinned in all of the WWF PPV’s he was ever on. I liked the idea of the heels cutting the ring in half and wearing down one opponent, but Jake Roberts was an odd choice. Steamboat makes a much better face in peril IMO. Jake was just in there for far too long of a stretch, given that this match started off with ten men NOBODY had any business in the ring for 8 minutes straight. It started to drag when Herc put Snake in the chinlock, but they went right to the hot tag afterwards to keep the crowd hot. Unlike the current norm where the IC Champion is automatically jobbed out to everyone, they actually protected the champion and the title back in the day. Honky didn’t even do a job here against THREE top baby faces in a tag team situation. I’m not defending the finish of the match, because personally I’m not a fan of screwy finishes on PPV and I think Honky taking the pin would have popped the house BIG TIME and wouldn’t have hurt HTM at all. But think of it this way, at least he left with major heat for the upcoming IC Title match between Honky & Macho on “The Main Event”. Other than Beefcake, everyone that was usually protected from taking televised pins was protected here. For this being the first match on the first Series, these guys did a perfectly acceptable job of giving us a solid match, not a great match, but a solid one with a lot of action. Would you expect anything less from a list of talent like this? A good solid average match gets ***, but this one will get **3/4 due to the count out finish.
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To the back we go with Craig DeGeorge standing by with Team Andre the Giant. This team is the most subdued of any of the team interviews on the PPV. Other than Butch Reed shouting there really isn’t a lot to make fun of here. It’s a short promo with comments from the Brain, the Slickster & Andre. Bobby casually refers to Hogan as a “300 pound turkey” without making reference to the holiday, it’s the first time I caught the reference, that’s just how smooth he was on the mike. Andre proclaims that he’s here for one reason, TO TAKE HOGAN’S SOUL!!! WTF is that about? Is he the precursor to the Undertaker? At the beginning of the year his one reason to be here was to take the WWF Title, now he’s stealing souls? Is that where he’s been since WrestleMania III, playing the grim reaper? Eh, who am I to question Andre the fucking Giant. It was a short promo, but it was good.
If you’re wondering why one of the main event teams cut a promo this early on in the show, it was to kill time while the ladies entered the ring for the next match. Yes, they all receive jobber intros!
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(Notes going in: Certainly unique for the period, but the WWF needed to fill the time. Going into this, I thought we’d be seeing a lot of rest holds and the usual token American Lady Wrestler spots that tend to bore me to tears. Little did I know at the time that the Bomb Angels had already been working with the Glamour Girls for months prior in Japan as well as the States. Dawn Marie JOHNSTON, not to be confused with ECW/WWE’s Dawn Marie (and believe me, there’s no confusion to be had), also wrestled extensively in Japan for the last couple of years as well. Factor in Velvet McIntyre, one of the best lady wrestlers of the 70’s/80’s, and Sherri who was pretty decent herself, and this match actually has potential!)
WWF Woman’s Champion The Sensational Sherri, Donna Christianello,
The Glamour Girls (LeiLani Kai & Judy Martin), & Dawn Marie
(accompanied by Jimmy Hart)
VS.
The Fabulous Moolah, Velvet McIntyre, Rockin’ Robin,
The Jumping Bomb Angels (Noriyo Tateno & Itsuki Yamazaki)
Some quick back story, not that there is much. The Glamour Girls & Bomb Angels were already working the house shows and being groomed for a Women’s Tag Title feud over the next several months. Sherri had defeated Moolah for the Women’s Title back in the summer, and Moolah finally returned several months later to exact revenge by way of a tag team survival match… Makes sense doesn’t it? When announced, Moolah receives a mixed, if not negative reaction from the crowd. Well, that’s because she was never turned face. I guess the WWF figured sticking her on the face team against the evil Sherri would be enough. The only other bit of trivia I have for this match is that it was rumored that Debbie Combs was planned to be the fifth member of the face team before being replaced by Rockin’ Robin within the last few weeks leading up. The WWF Program Mags at the time were hyping Combs, and she was working with Sherri on the house shows as late as the beginning of November. Combs then disappears and Robin enters, green as grass. Robin is the sister of Jake Roberts (and Sam Houston), so perhaps he pulled some strings to get her in the door.
Jimmy Hart has a jacket for everything, even the Glamour Girls. Sherri decides to start the match by attacking Velvet. McIntyre fights the champ off and tags in Moolah. The crowd is booing the captain of the face team while the announcers proclaim Moolah the nastiest lady wrestler in history. She’s really getting over as a face, but not really. Moolah unleashes a short attack on Sherri before Donna Christianello is tagged in. Donna has to be pushing 45 at this point but I’ll give her credit, she’s not shy of taking bumps. We get a short taste of what the Bomb Angels are about before, Velvet is back in and she wraps Christianello up in a Victory Roll for the first elimination at 1:57.
Kai attacks Velvet right after the elimination but McIntyre introduces the WWF world to a flying huracan rana out of the corner. A tag to Rockin’ Robin and she gets her first piece of action. Robin gets tossed around, mistiming spots, hitting the ropes awkwardly, and taking a face bump on her back. She’s in there with pros though and they cover it all pretty well. Dawn Marie isn’t given much time to shine, Robin hits her with a clothesline near the throat and finishes Dawn Marie off with a body block at 4:12.
The Glamour Girls try to put a beating on Robin, but Yamazaki tags in. Itsuki wakes the crowd up when she bridges to her feet out of a pin fall cover, then leapfrogs over Martin and turns it into a sunset flip, then turns a body scissors into a victory roll. Yamazaki follows all of that up with a pair of high knees to Kai and the crowd comes alive. Even Gorilla & Jesse sound genuinely entertained. The entire feel of the match changes, the pace picks up, these girls are getting physical, and not just pull your hair physical either. Nobody in the United States had seen anything like this at the time from women, and they were eating it up. Tateno tags in and comes off the top rope with a flying arm drag on Kai. It’s like we’re watching a completely different match, and I’m NOT complaining! Sherri’s brought in and takes a butterfly suplex from Tateno. Now a tag back to Robin, perfect timing too because they had the crowd popping at a peak. Robin continues to look terrible, landing an AWFUL looking monkey flip on one of the Glamour Girls. Sherri tags back in and I think the heels decide it’s time to get this girl out of the match. Sherri slams and vertical suplexes Robin before pinning her with ease at 6:55. Now if we can get Moolah out of there we might be on to something!
We get some fast paced stuff with a lot of the girls after the Robin elimination. Velvet continues to look good with the leverage moves and tilt awhirl cross body on one of the Glamour Girls. Moolah tries her hand at the Girls as well, but finds herself in trouble. As Moolah gets in the ring I can’t tell if the fans are booing or chanting “Moolah” in a mocking manner. Either way, Moolah is the most un-over person in this match, and after having seen what the Angels & Velvet can do the fans have no desire to watch Moolah and her 1950’s arsenal. I’m not saying that what Moolah was doing wasn’t believable, in fact she worked very snug, she just works a different style. Moolah brings Yamazaki back into the match but the Glamour Girls continue on the offense. Sherri joins in on the fun against Yamazaki. Itsuki manages to tag in Tateno, but apparently she wasn’t supposed to and they ignore the tag and Moolah comes back in. Moolah works over Martin, but is caught off guard and takes a double clothesline from the Glamour Girls. It’s a unique double clothesline in the fact that Kai was on the apron while Martin was in the ring as the hooked hands and took Moolah out. Martin got the pin at 10:55. I’m not digging into results, but this might be Moolah’s last real match with the WWF. I’m not counting whatever nonsense that took place in the Attitude Era.
Now we’re cooking, the six best women in the match are left to shine. The baby faces work over the leg of Martin, McIntyre grabs a Boston Crab. Judy manages to escape a submission, tags to Sherri. Sherri just about dumps Velvet on the back of her head and neck with a gut wrench suplex, and we’re right back to more Glamour Girls vs. Bomb Angel action! Kai hits Tateno with a picture perfect butterfly suplex that gets two. The time keeper actually rings the bell to signal an elimination, the crowd boos loudly, and the referee waves it off and the action continues. Velvet & Sherri are back in the ring and McIntyre lands a Giant Swing before executing a Victory Roll on the Women’s Champion for the big win at 14:56.
The Angels and Girls battle it out some more while Velvet sells her back outside the ring. I’m not sure if Velvet is just really dedicated to selling or if she’s really hurt, but I’m thinking the latter. McIntyre returns to action to do her part, trying for her third elimination of the night using the Victory Roll once again, but this time Kai counters and turns it into a Slingshot Ocean Cyclone Suplex at 17:24. Another great move!
And now, we’re down to Jimmy Hart’s Glamour Girls and the Jumping Bomb Angels. Martin catches Yamazaki with a knee in the back as she’s coming off the ropes. Kai slams Itsuki and goes to the top rope, but misses a flying splash! Yamazaki tags to Tateno, who goes straight to the top rope and hits Kai with a High Cross Body Press for the elimination at 18:38.
Judy Martin rushes in to attempt to take over, but she ends up taking a double backdrop by the Angels. Jimmy Hart jumps up onto the apron to run a distraction, but it doesn’t work. Tateno DROPKICKS Hart off the apron, and Yamazaki comes off the top rope with a FLYING CLOTHESLINE on Martin for the final elimination at 20:17!
Your Survivors: The Jumping Bomb Angels
Post Match Thoughts: This was better on so many levels than what I originally expected the first time around. Lots of great, innovative offense and most of the girls weren’t afraid of working snug. It was far better than any house show opener, that’s for sure. The dead weight was eliminated early and things really picked up once the Bomb Angels tagged in. The crowd was accepting of the match, but after the initial display by Yamazaki they fell in love with the Angels. The fans seemed to wake up and become more invested in the match when the pace started to pick up. We got just enough taste of the two ladies teams here to have us interested in their match at the Royal Rumble, which also didn’t disappoint. Elsewhere, Velvet looked like she might have injured her back LEGIT but she was a trooper, getting the pin over Sherri on PPV put Velvet in a spot to be a contender for the title. After decades as a heel, the fans just weren’t buying into Moolah as a face, and she barely had much interaction with Sherri. It was a smart move to put someone with the name value of Moolah in the captains spot to sell the match, but this match was clearly not about her. Really good ladies match for so many American women to be involved. I’d rate this on the same level as the men’s match that came before it. With the great finish it gets a full ***
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We go to the back where Craig DeGeorge is standing by with The Hart Foundation and their team. Bobby Heenan is again positioned in the front, in front of the team captains no less. Then again, it is Bobby Heenan so all is forgiven. If you thought teams of 5 were hard to keep up with in the interviews, try watching 10 men after they’ve just snorted enough coke to make Tony Montana jealous. The Islanders hug, Smash wants a high five from everyone, the entire team is shouting, even Greg Valentine has a little personality. You know there’s trouble when Jim Neidhart is your go to guy for an interview after Bobby Heenan. Finally, Jimmy Hart stumbles into the picture. Hart is all shaken up after what the Bomb Angels did to him. Funny little note, while Jimmy is ranting and raving he switches jackets from the Glamour Girls getup to a Hart Foundation coat. Craig DeGeorge notices that the Bolsheviks are missing. Is it sad that I totally missed that but I was wondering where Johnny V. was? Heenan informs DeGeorge that the Bolsheviks are in the ring and ready to sing the Russian National Anthem. BUT WHERE IS JOHNNY V. DAMMIT?!?!?!?!????
As The Brain promised the Dr. of Style Slick stands in the ring with Nikolai Volkoff & Boris Zhukov for the Russian Anthem. Jesse Ventura gets up to pay respect to the singing, Gorilla refuses to join in. The Demolition theme begins to play and here comes the four remaining teams – The Demos w/Fuji, The Harts w/Hart, The Islanders w/Heenan, and The (New) Dream Team…. HOLD ON A FUCKING MINUTE!!! THERE’S JOHNNY V!!!! So why the hell wasn’t he in the promo backstage? Might have something to do with this being his last night in the company. YUP, “Luscious” Johnny would be gone following this PPV and the Dream Team would go their separate ways, Valentine with Jimmy Hart, and Bravo with Frenchy Martin.
We go to Mean Gene Okerlund who’s conducting the babyface interviews as he stands by with Strike Force and their entire team. We hear from both Tito & Martel. How’s this for a shock, the BULLDOGS & ROUGEAUS are standing next to each other and having conversation, or at least pretending to. I don’t think anybody really knows what anyone is saying in these crazy ass promos. Just think, a year from now the Rougeaus would be eliminated from the Series match early on to avoid any shoot altercations from the Bulldogs on their way out of the company. The highlight of this interview for me is Jim Brunzell flapping his “bee wings” in the late seconds of the interview.
All teams enters the ring to the British Bulldogs theme, except Strike Force who get the “Girls in Cars” instrumental. Why didn’t everyone just enter to the captain’s theme?
(Notes going in: Now we’re cookin! 20 Guys, 10 teams. When one team member is eliminated, both members must leave the ring. A unique concept and the sea of humanity in the ring is quite a spectacle as the teams start to settle in. I’m not going to lie, looking at all this talent in the ring at once has me hyped to watch this match. This may be the only time FIVE managers stood at ringside together as well. The Harts stole the belts from the Bulldogs, and Strike Force had just recently dethroned the Harts so we’ve got some tag team rivalries going on.)
The Hart Foundation, The Islanders, Demolition,
The Bolsheviks, The (New) Dream Team
(accompanied by Jimmy Hart, Bobby Heenan, Mr. Fuji, Slick, Johnny V.)
VS.
WWF Tag Team Champions Strike Force, The British Bulldogs,
The Rougeau Brothers, The Killer Bees, The Young Stallions
We kick things off with Volkoff & Martel in the ring. Nikolai holds Martel in the air with a one handed choke, pretty impressive. Santana & Zhukov are tagged in by their partners to take things over. Zhukov has only been with the WWF for a couple of months so he’ll likely be protected here, or maybe not, FLYING FOREARM BY SANTANA! Booyah, and the Bolsheviks are gone in only 1:57. Well that was a surprisingly fast elimination given the amount of guys out there. Maybe if Nikolai wanted to last longer he wouldn’t have tagged his jobber partner. After all, Boris is no Iron Sheik. Random Thought: Oh, if only the Sheik hadn’t got caught with all that weed & cocaine, he could have broke Brian Blair’s back, fucked his ass, made him humble. Random Thought #2: Speaking of cocaine, the Iron Sheik would have been a big hit on this show in the promo segments.
Ax ambushes Tito immediately after the Zhukov elimination. Some good offense from Ax, but Santana is able to tag to Jacques Rougeau. Jacques looks specifically good early on, but the tags start picking up with over a dozen tags being made. Just that quick, everyone on both teams have been tagged in besides Valentine, Bret Hart & Raymond Rougeau. I’m surprised they didn’t use this quick tag spot before ousting the Bolsheviks. There’s a short, but stiff altercation between Haku & Dynamite Kid during this mix. Jacques Rougeau winds up back in the ring with Ax and counters a backdrop with a back flip over Ax’s back. Jacques attempts a reverse cross body from the middle rope but Ax ducks out of the way. Even when he misses Jacques is looking good tonight, but it’s irrelevant now as Ax takes advantage of Jacques failed attempt and covers the Rougeau brother for the elimination at 5:49. RAYMOND ROUGEAU NEVER EVEN TAGGED INTO THE MATCH! With all those quick tags, there’s just no excuse for that.
One thing I have noticed is that EVERY man in this match is on their game. Everyone is looking good, lots of energy to be had by all. Dynamite snap suplexes Ax to begin the next fall. Some more quick tags take place. There seems to be some confusion between Neidhart & Jimmy Powers and the result is Jimmy taking a double team move from the Anvil & Haku that could have ended bad. The heel team works over Paul Roma, and then the Dynamite Kid. Dynamite ends up on the apron in the heel corner and Demolition pound on him relentlessly. Next thing I know, a bell rings and Gorilla Monsoon says that Smash shoved the referee. The camera position is bad unless you know what you’re looking for. Demolition are DISQUALIFIED at 9:11. That was out of nowhere, no build to it, no particular reason behind it other than to save Demolition from being pinned. It was a little early to get rid of a team of their caliber, the DQ could have easily worked later in the match when things were getting more “desperate”.
Bret Hart hits the ring for the first time with a PILEDRIVER on his Stampede cohort, Dynamite that gets a 2 count. Hart misses a shoulder charge into the corner post and Dynamite makes the tag to Jimmy Powers. Because I know when I’m in trouble that’s who I’m going to tag in. Tama has fun no selling Jimmy Powers while Ventura continues to pronounce his name TOMA. Gorilla finally corrects Ventura on the pronunciation of TAMA, he’s only been using that name FOR A YEAR! Martel tags in and locks TOMA in a Boston Crab but doesn’t notice that Tama has tagged to the Anvil. Neidhart comes in and drills Martel in the back of the head with a clothesline. Santana tags in a HITS THE ANVIL WITH A FLYING FOREARM! ONE, TWO, Bret Hart breaks it up with an elbow drop off the middle rope into the back of Santana. Anvil rolls over on top and gets the cheap pin over half of the Tag Team Champions at 12:04.
The next 5 or 6 minutes are reserved for beating the crap out of the Young Stallions. Wish I could have been in on that! After Powers & Roma are done doing what they did best, things pick up when Bret Hart & Davey Boy get in the ring. Smith hits Bret with a press slam, then a minute later Smith hits Haku with the running powerslam that get him a 2 count. Three years later that’d be a finisher buddy! Smith hits a suplex on Haku and Dynamite comes off the middle rope with a Diving Headbutt! The Kid actually sells the move like he hurt himself, that’s just how tough Haku was/is. Ventura notes that you don’t go to the head of a “South Island Boy”. Haku gets to his feet and nails Dynamite with a Thrust Kick to eliminate the Bulldogs at 19:57. Seriously, they eliminated all those other teams early so we could get a stretched out Young Stallions beat down clinic, and as fun as that sounds to watch, it wasn’t. That leaves nobody of interest on the baby face side of things. For those who have only seen the Coliseum Video version of this match, they’ve never seen the Bulldogs elimination. That’s right, Coliseum Video does a chop job that includes the omitting of the Bulldogs elimination! Inexcusable IMO.
With so many talented teams going out so early, this match can’t last much longer, right??? RIGHT???
A year or two ago the Bees may have been relevant in this position, but at this point in their tenure, not so much. Ventura predicts the Stallions will be eliminated soon and the Bees will take a walk ala Honky Tonk Man. Now that would have been cool. Powers takes another ass beating by the Dream Team, and then the Harts. Bret ties Powers in the tree of woe and Jim Brunzell has had enough as he rushes in to attack the heels. Brunzell only causes a distraction and Powers takes even more punishment. Dino Bravo hits the Side Suplex on Powers and tags to Valentine. Greg attempts the Figure Four but powers kicks him off. Valentine goes after Powers again as Jimmy gets the tag to Paul Roma. I assume Greg is supposed to be oblivious to the tag being made as he tries to put Powers in the Figure Four again, and as Valentine bends down to hook Jimmy’s leg, Roma comes off the top rope with a Flying Sunset Flip to pin the Hammer at 23:39. This was a huge upset when watching it at the time. The spot was good, very fluid, but the way the Hammer was hooking Powers as Roma came over top made it even more realistic. So long Johnny V, thanks for coming. At least he gets a PPV payday on the way out, whatever that would have been in those days for the 6th ranked manager in the WWF.
Now down to 4 on 4 with the tide turning back and forth. Roma hits the Hitman with a Jerry Lawler flying fist for 2. Roma actually takes the heat TWICE during this period of the match. Ventura still insists on referring to Tama as TOMA. Roma hits an awkward looking armdrag on Haku and decides to hold onto an armbar. Yeah, that’ll get shit done at this stage in the match. Haku gets right up and hits an impressive standing dropkick on Roma. Gorilla comments that he’s like to see the Anvil do that, and the next thing you know NEIDHART also hits Roma with a dropkick. Neidhart powerslams Roma but Paul kicks out again. A hot tag to Brunzell while Bret’s in the ring, it looks like there’s some miscommunication and the guys collide and fall to the mat. For no reason, heels and faces both start to enter the ring and wouldn’t you know it, the referee chooses to argue with the faces. Brunzell scoops Bret up in a slam, Tama dropkicks Bret in the back to send Hart crashing down on Brunzell, but Jumping Jim uses the momentum to roll backwards and end up on top of the Hitman and eliminate the Harts at 30:27!
Brunzell celebrates the elimination and is attacked by the Islanders. Jumpin Jim gets worked over on the mat. Blair tags in and he gets more of the same. The Young Stallions are given some offense, Roma hits a nice looking powerslam on Haku, but Tama breaks up the pin. Blair tries to help Roma, but it distracts the ref and the Islanders double team Paul. Blair tags in and takes another beating. The Islanders are just beating the crap out of all four of their opponents. Brunzell gets a hot tag and nearly drops Tama on his head with a backdrop. BRUNZELL WITH THE DROPKICK ON TAMA! ONE, TWO, Haku breaks it up! The Stallions enter the ring to fend off Haku while the ref intervenes. Meanwhile Brunzell tries a sunset flip on Tama, but Tama gets to the ropes to prevent falling back. At that very moment Brian Blair just happens to put on the BEE MASK and just happens to be standing on the apron right where Tama is located! Blair slingshots in over Tama and replaces Brunzell in the sunset flip spot. With the mask on the referee has no idea it’s Blair (the illegal man). Brunzell crawls out of the ring and the Bees get the pin fall over Tama in cheating fashion at 37:14.
And the two most improbable teams (other than the Bolsheviks) wind up the Survivors of the match! The Bees celebrate what would be their last relevant victory in the WWF as they survive the match along with…..The Young Stallions.
Your Survivors: The Young Stallions & The Killer Bees
Post Match Thoughts: This was the most unique concept on the PPV, and with so many guys involved it had the most action. The order of elimination and the timeframe of some of the eliminations were questionable. Several very good teams were eliminated much earlier than needed. If you’re going to give a match 40 minutes, there’s no reason to oust nearly half of the field only a third of the way into the match. That left room for several 5 or 6 minute beat downs on the Stallions. My only suggestion would have been to have a lot more quick tagging when the match was getting started, prolonging some of the eliminations, rather than creating large spaces of time later on when fewer teams were out there. Unless he was injured, and based on results from around this time it doesn’t appear so, there was no excuse to keep Raymond Rougeau from tagging in at least once, just seemed odd to me. I think I would have rather seen Ken Patera & Billy Jack Haynes in there instead of the Stallions. Patera & Haynes were feuding with Demolition at this time so it could have worked. The story goes that Vince chose the Young Stallions as Survivors to prove that “anything can happen at the Survivor Series”. It was supposedly done to show that with so many guys in the ring that the outcome would be unpredictable. Jim Brunzell went on record to state that the Bees were given this token win as a way to make up for them never winning the Tag Team Titles. Supposedly Vince had promised the Bees the Titles at one point, and it never came to fruition. Brunzell claims their win here was Vince McMahon throwing them a bone. I really didn’t mind the Bees surviving, but I would have rather seen them as the underdog survivors in place of the Stallions. Powers would never do anything remotely as successful as this match again, Roma would have a year of “Glory” in 1990-1991 before heading off to WCW in 1993. The Bees would be split up in less than a year, and Blair gone from the promotion. This was the WWF’s first crack at this type of match and it was perfectly acceptable. For all the little things they could have done to make it even better, nothing was “bad” and everyone showed up with their working boots on. Everyone tried hard, worked hard, everyone was on their game. The extended Y.S. beat downs were a little much, but for what it was and what it could have been I’d gladly give this match ***1/4 . This would be the prototype for the 1988 match, which they perfected.
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Let’s shill a little merch! Buy the WWF Survivor Series t-shirt and program! Mean Gene assures us it’s great quality!
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After all that action, it’s intermission time at the Richfield Coliseum, and so at home we’re treated to a 6 minute special of spending Thanksgiving with “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase. Ted takes us from a chauffeur driven Bentley to his home for Thanksgiving dinner, as only he can do.
During the promo Dibiase reminds us of some of his devious acts since coming to the WWF. Forcing the future Rob Van Dam to kiss his foot for $100, making a woman (Linda McMahon?) bark like a dog, refusing to pay a kid for coming up one pushup short… Whoever came up with some of these segments was a genius. I’ve never seen anything more heelish than kicking the basketball out of a little boy’s hand as he goes for his 15th dribble to earn $500. The crowd ate that shit up, it was pure gold! Let us not forget when Dibiase paid the owner of a public pool to evacuate all the children so that he could have the pool all to himself. The kicker to that vignette was that Dibiase didn’t even get in the pool, he simply lounged beside it. Ingenious classic stuff! What a great asshole character. I had almost forgotten how good the Million Dollar man character was during the initial push. Ted finishes this extended promo with a ride in one of his fancy “toys”.
As Dibiase finishes the final part of the segment in his car, the audio sounds perfect, no wind, no noise, obviously the audio was dubbed over the initial outdoor take.
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The announcers spend another 6 minutes recapping the PPV up until now and hyping the main event. Jesse Ventura finds it necessary to explain that Richfield is a suburb of Cleveland for the 50th time on the show.
Still time left in intermission? Okay, let’s throw in a Honky Tonk Man interview!
Craig DeGeorge stands by on a stage where he brings out the IC Champ HTM and manager Jimmy Hart. Honky makes a challenge to the Hulkster, Title vs. Title, we’d get that match eventually but it’d be Honky’s predecessor as IC Champ, The Ultimate Warrior, that would be in there with the Hulk. HTM then says he’s through with the Macho Man and plans to move on. However, Gorilla suggests that Macho isn’t finished with the HTM. This interview really didn’t serve as much of anything other than time filler and to get Honky some more TV time after his loss.
——————————————————————————————
It’s main event time! Rick Rude’s original “Stripper” music hits and he and King Kong Bundy make their way down. There’s something not right about KKB entering the ring to stripper music. Out next are Butch Reed and the OMG to Slick’s “Jive Soul Bro” theme. The Brain then gets on the mike and introduces the captain of the team, the Eighth Wonder of the World, Andre the Giant!
Mean Gene stands by with Hulk Hogan and his team.
Dear God, the longer this show goes is the more fucked up these people get. Gene gets a one liner from everyone on the team including Bam Bam Bigelow who says it’s time to “burn the building down”. Shit like that will get you fined or fired these days. Hogan calls Orndorff the most unpredictable man on the team, so at least they’re playing into their past instead of ignoring it. Hogan starts to walk towards the camera and walks away in a Ultimate Warrior meets Zombie type of hybrid. Hulk then charges back across the screen and nearly tackles Bam Bam Bigelow out of the screen.
I want some of what they’re having! Jesus Christ!
Out comes team Hogan. Bam Bam Bigelow & Humperdink lead the charge. Bigelow was over huge, and in record time. Hulk made sure he put the kibosh on that real fast. The Coliseum crowd is LOUD by the way and Hogan hasn’t even come out yet. This crowd has certainly delivered and I can see why they came back for a second year in 1988. Patera is out next sporting a gaudy arm brace due to the injury he sustained earlier in the year that pretty much killed his comeback. Muraco spares no expense on his wardrobe as he follows in a blue sweatshirt, and then “Mr. Wonderful” rounds out the first four. We wait a moment before “Real American” begins to play, Vince’s way of building up anticipation. It worked. Crowd goes nuts as Hogan totes a giant American flag to the ring. That’s sort of an odd fit. I guess either he’s paying homage to Thanksgiving or he’s declaring war on France for harboring Andre. Did I mention this crowd is insanely loud? Jesse Ventura points out to Gorilla that “that same, evil, nasty Joey Marella” is the referee for this match, making reference to Marella being the referee for the Hogan vs. Andre match at Mania 3.
(Notes going in: Your feuds here are more spread out. You have Don Muraco replacing the spot of his soon to be manager “Superstar” Billy Graham due to an attack by the OMG & Reed taking out Graham. There’s no doubt the Hulkster was having orgasms about getting to team with his long time idol, but in reality Graham just couldn’t get past a hip injury that had him sidelined the past couple of years and was unable to remain an active wrestler. The WWF tried to build off Graham’s gimmick by introducing Muraco as his replacement out for revenge. Patera had his back story with the Heenan Family after being a “jail bird” and all, so he made a good choice as a Hulkamaniac for this match. Rick Rude made his WWF debut over the summer of 1987 as a member of the Heenan Family. When The Brain started favoring Rude over his other physical specimen Paul Orndorff, Mr. Wonderful AGAIN fired Heenan as his manager and turned back baby face to feud with Rude. As a fan at the time I questioned the reality of Orndorff teaming with Hogan, the man he betrayed just a little more than a year earlier, but throughout history you’ll note a trend of guys who turned on the Hulk and was welcomed back with open arms. Then we move to the captain’s of the teams. You know the history there, Andre turned heel at the top of 1987 to feud with his former best friend Hogan (sound familiar?) with a match that culminated at the legendary WrestleMania III event in Pontiac, Michigan. The near fall from WM3 when Andre fell on top of Hogan during a failed slam attempt was used to push this match and their eventual return title match at The Main Event. The Giant had made it clear he is here for the champion’s soul. This would be their first televised meeting since Mania 3, Andre’s first match in 7 months, so the hype was there to make this a meaningful showdown.)
Andre the Giant, King Kong Bundy, “Ravishing” Rick Rude,
The One Man Gang, “The Natural” Butch Reed
(accompanied by Bobby “The Brain” Heenan & Slick)
VS.
WWF Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan, Bam Bam Bigelow, Ken Patera,
“Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff, “The Rock” Don Muraco
(accompanied by Oliver Humperdink)
Muraco is ready to start things off with Rude. The Rock is looking extra vascular, he really is trying to fill the shoes of the Superstar. The two men trade blows with Muraco gaining favor. BOTH Bigelow & Orndorff tag in at the same time, and Bam Bam has to step back out of the ring in an embarrassing moment. Orndorff tags in and takes it to his Heenan Family replacement Ravishing Rick. Paul then gives it to Hogan! Hulk with a clothesline, a series of rapid fire elbowdrops, and a slam before giving it to Bam Bam who hits a big headbutt and a press slam before turning it over to Patera. Ken comes right in and nails Rude with his arm brace, but Rick makes it to his corner to tag to Butch Reed. The Natural has his troubles with Patera, as well as Muraco. Muraco throws a frickin dropkick on Reed! Then Orndorff comes in and answers that by throwing two dropkicks on Reed! The Natural reverses an Irish whip to the corner but misses a charge and Orndorff tags in the Hulk. Hogan & Orndorff shoot Reed into the ropes for a DOUBLE CLOTHESLINE and Hogan lands a LEGDROP to eliminate Reed in 3:06. Well that was a good way to keep those fans rowdy, but it sucked for Reed who didn’t get in a lick of offense.
While Hogan celebrates with his partners and high fives with Kenny Patera, ANDRE steps into the ring to take him on. We’re going to see it! We’re going to see it! It’s Hogan vs. Andre for the first time since WrestleMaaa. Wait, referee Marella says Hogan’s high five to Ken Patera constituted a tag. STUPID! This wouldn’t be the first time Hogan used this gimmick, they used this spot in the Hogan/Mean Gene vs. Fuji/Animal Steele match back in ’84 so it’s likely a Hulk idea. The crowd isn’t happy, Hogan isn’t happy, and Patera apparently fails to realize that all he has to do is TAG HOGAN back in, so we’re forced to wait for the showdown. Andre tags back out, he has no interest in the Olympic Strongman, so we get King Kong Bundy for the first time. Ken shows more energy here than he does for the rest of his tenure in the company, even dropping Bundy with a clothesline. Orndorff & OMG take over for their teams, Paul lands a series of bunches but runs into a knee from the Gang in the corner and a tag is made to Rude. Ravishing tries to take advantage but Orndorff stays on the offense, tagging to Muraco. We wind up with OMG & Muraco in the ring, Gang misses an avalanche in the corner and MURACO DOES THE MORTON ROLL and tags to Patera! Patera goes nuts on the Gang with kicks, punches and a fucking BODY BLOCK! Jesus, EVERYONE came to work tonight! With Ken in control OMG goes to his eyes and takes Patera to the heel corner where the team works Ken over. Patera finally frees himself from the corner and fights back, both men go for a clothesline at the same time, but it’s OMG’s girth that wins the battle as he falls forward on Patera for the pin at 8:45. The finish looked a little botched, but given the Gang’s size it worked.
Hogan comes right in and clotheslines the Gang into the corner, then tags in Bigelow. Hulk & Bam Bam hit a DOUBLE BIG BOOT on OMG! Gang & Bigelow crack heads and both go down. They both make tags, to Rude & Orndorff respectively. Paul with a suplex, his patented elbow, and he launches Rude into the air with a backdrop. ORNDORFF CALLS FOR A PILEDRIVER when Bundy steps in and clobbered him in the back of the head. When Paul gets up to go after Bundy, Rude rolls Paul up from behind and hooks his trunks for the elimination at 10:25. Was hoping we’d see more from Orndorff here but the fact is he would be leaving the WWF by the first week of January ’88.
Rude decides to celebrate the pin by posing for the crowd. Muraco surprises him with an atomic drop and clothesline. Bigelow tags in and hits a variation of the thrust kick! Damn that guy was good. Hulk tags in with a HIGH KNEE? Wow. Tag back to Muraco, Hulk whips Rude into the ropes and drops down. Rude jumps over Hogan and runs right into a POWERSLAM from Muraco! For the guys involved, this was a pretty good spot. Rude does the job to the powerslam at 11:20 and we’re back to even at 3 vs. 3.
Muraco has to fight off Bundy, dodging a kneedrop. Muraco then tries a powerslam on OMG but the Gang falls on top with a 2 count. The Gang throws Muraco right into a head butt from Andre on the apron and the Rock takes a bump. Honestly, the headbutt looked like it missed completely, but whatever. Muraco bumps for the headbutt and the Gang hits the 747 Splash to eliminate Muraco at 12:56.
Bigelow replaces Muraco, trying a sunset flip on the Gang, but OMG sits down on his chest. OUCH! The Gang & Bundy proceed to take turns working over Bigelow. The heels try several pin falls but Bammer just keeps kicking out! And now FINALLY THE GIANT TAGS IN! Andre goes for a punch on Bigelow, but Bam Bam tucks and rolls to his corner to tag in the Hulkster! AND NOW IT’S TIME! HULK VS. ANDRE! They waste no time trading chops and punches. Hogan rams Andre into the turnbuckle and knocks the Gang & Bundy off of the apron! Hogan stuns the Giant with a pair of elbows and starts to run off the ropes when he’s tripped up and pulled outside by Bundy! Hogan goes Superman, as he fights off both KKB & OMG and BODYSLAMS both men on the floor! And you thought John Cena had superpowers? By the time Hogan is done slamming Bundy, referee Marella has counted the Hulk out of the ring to eliminate him from the match at 18:05. Talk about a surprise. That spot was pretty surprising for the times.
After a runaround with the officials, Hogan finally leaves the ring in sore loser mode. And now it comes down to Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Three. Bigelow handles Bundy, hitting an impressive standing dropkick! KKB reverses a whip into the corner, but misses his Atlantic City Avalanche in the corner and takes a bump. Bigelow is already on the apron to capitalize with a SLINGSHOT SPLASH into the ring on top of Bundy for the 3 count at 20:32. Bundy was another guy who was gone within the next couple of months to try his hand at acting.
The Gang steps in and takes over on Bigelow. After dropping Bam Bam with a clothesline, the Gang just lays on him in an awkward way for an uncomfortable amount of time. I’m not sure if they were going over the finish or what the deal was. The OMG throws Bigelow into a boot from Andre and then the Gang climbs to the top rope. OMG! OMG misses a splash off the top! (see what I did there?) Bam Bam is quick to roll on top and make the cover to eliminate the Gang at 22:52.
Andre steps in and immediately puts a beating on Bigelow. The Giant tries to throw Bigelow off the ropes but Bam Bam holds on. The Giant comes after Bam Bam three times and every time Bigelow somersaults out of harm’s way. Bigelow charges at Andre but the Giant moves out of the way, the timing was pretty shitty on this spot but it was passable. Andre works on Bigelow’s back in the corner before he takes Bigelow over with a SINGLE underhook suplex. Sloppy and dangerous, but effective looking. Andre covers and pins Bigelow to survive at 24:07.
Sole Survivor: Andre the Giant
Andre has little time to celebrate before the biggest sore loser in the history of professional wrestling returns to ringside. Here comes Hulk Hogan with the WWF Championship belt and he cracks Andre with the title twice to send him out of the ring! Hulk then spends what feels like an eternity posing for the fans. So not only does he steal the spotlight from the Giant’s big moment, but he doesn’t even bring Bigelow back into the ring to put him over. Glory hound.
Post Match Thoughts: Even with the loss to Andre, Bigelow did more than most could have ever done. He came out looking great having beaten two out of three monsters. It was clear Bam Bam was being built up to be the next super being of the squared circle, perhaps the next big monster to turn on Hogan and draw money down the line. No matter how you slice it, Bigelow had the look, the ability, and he was over as all hell. Bam Bam was something special during this run, it’s just a shame all sides let it fizzle out by the spring of ’88. No real complaints here, given all of the larger sized guys put in this match it moved surprisingly well and as I already stated everyone came to work, which is always a plus. We get just a taste of Hogan vs. Andre here, which was done to build to the title rematch at “The Main Event” on NBC in January. I don’t think anyone expected to see Hogan take a pin here, and even in his elimination he made sure he looked like a star, slamming two 400 plus pound monsters while being counted out. Bigelow was the MVP of the match and came out looking like a star, but Hogan was clearly the number one. With so many guys in this match that are usually slow, plodding, or immobile, I have to give this match *** for how hard everyone worked.
To the back we go for one final interview. Mean Gene standing by with The Brain and the Giant.
EVEN MORE HOGAN POSING FOLLOWS!
Gorilla & Jesse close the show, Hogan’s music continues to play us out while we look as pictures from tonight’s event. And that will conclude the 1987 Survivor Series![spacer height=”20px”]
The Final Audit
Nothing on the show was bad. I can’t think of the last time we could say that about a PPV. Everything was good and solid. This was only the WWF’s second Pay-Per-View that would go on to become an annual event. Everyone worked hard to make this show successful, and for the first time out there I felt every match did a good job of entertaining. I’m glad they came up with the 20-Man Tag Team Survival Match, I really miss those things because the action and eliminations are a great time. The women delivered above and beyond all expectations, today that would be torture to watch with the current Diva product trying to go 20 plus minutes. They even managed to fill the intermission by building up what would become the top heel in the WWF for the year 1988. Those DiBiase skits were the best. The Honky Tonk Man interview felt like complete filler, but that’s the only complaint I have about the entire show, and it was short. They did a good job keeping the fans entertained while they built towards “The Main Event” special coming up on NBC.
On a rating scale of one to ten, ten being top notch, I can easily give this event a 7.5, a Solid B- and that’s nothing to be ashamed of.
