The Wrestling Thread

[DomDom]

WWE Wrestlemania XV

This is a Vince Russo show. Just a warning. Oh, and I love how Boyz II Men get booed.

Billy Gunn © vs. Al Snow vs. Hardcore Holly - WWE Hardcore Championship

In a stupid bit of Russo logic, they decided to have Road Dogg win the IC Title and Gunn win this one. This match is a bit dull for a hardcore match around this time. A lot of the matches, especially in 1999, had a lot of fun spots in them and adapted to the rules really well. Whereas this was about as bog standard a weapons-fest as you could ask for. Disappointing. **

Owen Hart and Jeff Jarrett © vs. D'Lo Brown and Test - WWE World Tag Team Championships

It's hard not to enjoy a match where everyone in it basically just runs through everything in their arsenal for a few minutes. That's basically all this match is. Not much substance to this, but f**k it, it's loads of fun. **3/4

Bart Gunn vs. Butterbean

This is the Brawl for All thing that WWE were doing. I'm not entirely sure what this was supposed to accomplish. All it did was provide us with a lot of amusement in seeing Bart Gunn getting knocked out. Which I suppose makes it worth watching. N/A

The Big Show vs. Mankind

The winner of this one will be in charge of the main event between The Rock and Steve Austin. In a spot which beats the dumpster spot the previous year, The Big Show drops every single bit of his weight on Mankind to break the Mandible Claw. One of them spots which make you want to throw up even more every time you watch it. Horrible. The match is a damn fun match. Mankind constantly looking for the home runs because The Big Show is such a b*****d to beat. The Big Show showing that he just doesn't care about what gets thrown at him, and gets DQed because he just wants to do damage. ***

Post-match, Vince McMahon comes to the ring. He's not a happy man because The Big Show has been DQed. So The Big Show wants to Chokeslam Vinny Mac. He decides against it, but Vinny Mac doesn't learn his lesson and he gets creamed. HA!

Road Dogg © vs. Ken Shamrock vs. Val Venis vs. Goldust - WWE Intercontinental Championship

Ryan Shamrock and The Blue Meanie are at ringside. That's a bit of a contrast right there. Ryan Shamrock was involved in all sorts of utter shite around this time. This match is alright I suppose. The issue between Val Venis and Ken Shamrock made for some fun times between the men, and also led to a Shamrock snapping which is always fun. The final section between Dogg and Goldust is just dull as f**k really, and is summed up by a Powerslam winning the match. **3/4

Kane vs. Triple H

Certainly one of the highlights of this Wrestlemania was the DX saga. There was all sorts of "who's side is everyone on?!" stuff going on. Also pre-match, Pete Rose eats another Tombstone. It's amazing how much of this match is spent on the floor. Kane is rightly pissed because he got shot with a flame thrower. Not a sentence I get to type on every Wrestlemania review there. HHH to his credit tries to hang with him, sort of channeling the proper badass HHH which would evolve a few months later. The big thing coming out of this match is Chyna coming and helping HHH. This isn't the end of that story though. The match itself is a decent enough two sided battle. **3/4

Sable © vs. Tori - WWE Women's Championship

This isn't very good. The match is very much the Sable show and Tori hardly gets anything. The fans shit on this match. Probably because it's pretty bad. Big Nicole Bass appears and that's the end for Tori, and my misery. DUD

Shane McMahon © vs. X-Pac - WWE European Championship

Shane McMahon has Test with him at ringside and the Mean Street Posse at the front row. Oh, and Patterson and Briscoe attack from behind at the start just for good measure. This match is all sorts of entertaining for all sorts of reasons. Shane McMahon was wonderful as the wee p***k who wanted no part of the match, and he had all sorts of help to make sure he kept taking control of the match back. X-Pac keeps on coming back into the match and the comebacks and beatdowns are brilliantly timed. Also amazing that you think X-Pac is overcoming the very worst, and he has no idea what's coming in the form of his DX "buddies" turning their backs on him. It's a terrific example of amazing overbooking. ****

The Big Bossman vs. The Undertaker, Hell in a Cell Match

Cole: "You could get a finger caught in there."

Probably the most shit on Hell in a Cell match ever. With good reason as well. The Undertaker at this point wasn't very good, and Bossman was the best part of 10 years beyond his best years. Some people put it down to the expectations of people flying off and through the cell. I put it down to the match being a boring as f**k slugfest. The fans start shitting on it during a particularly crap two minutes of Taker wandering and punching. This is dire stuff. DUD

The post-match gives us a terrific visual as The Undertaker hangs The Big Bossman from the cell.

The Rock © vs. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin - WWE World Heavyweight Championship

I won't get into it, but the referee at the start of this is a normal WWE official, and as the match goes on, things on that count just get mental. A good mental though. This is a cracking example of the usual Austin main event brawl. There was very rarely a dull one of course, but this one had the advantage of a couple of cracking moments, and the insanity which always revolved around McMahon/Austin centered brawls. The Rock just blatantly being a dick is fun too. The referee fun also added some drama to some nearfalls and made an almost inevitable ending seem just a little bit less predictable. In the end it was all about Austin getting the win, but this was a big blockbuster of a brawl and worth every minute of the ride. ****1/4

Another one of them ones where repeat viewings are very kind to the show. Even with a couple of DUD ratings on there, there's lots to appreciate. Nonsense was the order of the day much of the time, but in hindsight, some of it comes off really well. Thumbs up.

[Meathead]

Just in case any of you haven't seen this yet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs3AlYyudyI

[DomDom]

WWE Wrestlemania 2000

The Godfather and D'Lo Brown vs. Bull Buchanan and The Big Bossman

Ice-T is doing the song for the pimps that was on the Aggression CD that WWE brought out. Poor. I always thought that Bull Buchanan was destined for much bigger things than he would go on and do. He pulls out some cracking stuff in this match. He's the highlight of the match though as this is pretty much a by the numbers formula tag team match. Doesn't help that things break down near the end too. The Brown/Godfather team was a desperate attempt to give Brown something to do, and they'd try this for some time before finally giving up. Pretty boring opener, if inoffensive. **

Hardcore Battle Royal - WWE Hardcore Championship

Basically, whoever has the last pin for the title at the 15 minute mark is the official new, or retaining, hardcore champ. Crash had to be the most resiliant wrestler of the 00s. Lost a lot, but the wee fucker didn't know when he was down and out. If one good thing came out of the 24/7 hardcore days, it was Crash Holly. Plenty of cracking blade jobs on offer here, including a Muta scale challenger from Pete Gas, and Crash bleeding buckets. The Acolytes bring all sorts of fun to this match, crowing folk with weapons left right and centre. Viscera gets a 2x4 broken over his HEAD, which is just vicious. I always go through phases of both liking and hating this match. I'm on the liking it side for the purposes of this review. There's just all sorts of fun to be had, with loads of cracking moments. ***1/2

T&A vs. Steve Blackman and Al Snow

Al Snow has been looking for a gimmick for them, and so he has Head Cheese. What does he have to illustrate this? A midget wearing a cheese suit. T&A have Trish Stratus. Who wins that battle? If you've ever wanted to see a match which asks "why do you have the tag formula match?", look this one out. These four guys seem to have no idea what direction to put this match in. So many times four guys are in there and pretty much falling over each other. Guy out, guy in, botch a spot here and there. Jim Ross even comments on the fact that this match is clearly not very good. Although Snow does bust out a rather nice Asai Moonsault in this one. So yeah, I think if you look back, this is one of the worst matches in Wrestlemania history. DUD

Steve Blackman gives the cheese midget a beating after the match which is just about the only redeeming factor this one has.

The Dudley Boys © vs. Edge and Christian vs. The Hardy Boys, Ladder Match - WWE World Tag Team Championships

While Edge, Christian and The Hardys revitalised the ladder match, the addition of The Dudleys to this match took the match to a new level, just like they promise pre-match. I can never decide if I like this or TLC II more. For me, this match is every bit as brutal and crazy in it's offense as any of their other matches. What I love about it as well is that things just gradually go from bad to worse, as the six men try to top what came before. It's just a constant wave of absolute fucking madness. Where I think Mania X-7 matches it is that the pace is just frightening in that one, where as this one has more of a build, but it also feels more dramatic as a result. So yeah, this match gets an easy perfect score, and one of the all time great spotfests. *****

Terri Runnels vs. Debra - Catfight

Yeah.

Eddie Guerrero, Perry Saturn and Dean Malenko vs. Chyna and Too Cool

This was during a really long storyline with Eddie pretty obsessed with Chyna. Probably don't need to mention this, but I strongly recommend Scotty 2 Hotty vs. Dean Malenko from Backlash 2000. If you ever want to hear 20,000 people scream at a match ending, turn this on. They didn't let Eddie/Chyna dominate the match, which while in hindsight was probably a good idea, meant that the fans weren't as into this as they could have been. The fans love all of the babyface team though, so it wasn't as if the place was dead, and for the final stretch the fans loved it. It was a naw bad match, if a bit messy in times. **1/2

Kurt Angle © vs. Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho - WWE European and Intercontinental Championships

Angle has both titles and has to defend each one seperately against the same two guys one match after the other in a triple threat match. I would have loved to have seen a triple threat one fall match between these three guys in 2004 when they were all main event players. This was a good midcard three way between them. The action was absolutely constant. Not a dead moment in the match at all. Apart from in the crowd, who were acting like they were watching a Jinder Mahal match. The main nice touch is that Angle has some justified moaning about the fact that he wasn't pinned and didn't submit for any of the decisions. All in all, it's not a bad match. ***1/2

X-Pac and Road Dogg vs. Kane and Rikishi

The main fued in all of this was the Kane/X-Pac fued which had been running since the tail end of 1999. Not much wrong with this. It's a bit rushed, but all four men bust a gut to keep things entertaining so fair play for that. **1/4

We have a post-match dance with a big chicken, who we are led to believe is Pete Rose. Rose used it as a decoy though and comes into the ring and takes a Chokeslam and Stink Face. Unfortunately, that was the last time we'd have that tradition.

Triple H © vs. The Big Show vs. Mick Foley vs. The Rock - WWE World Heavyweight Championship

There's a McMahon in every corner for this one. Who's in who's corner is pretty irrelevant in the end. The match before The Big Show gets eliminated is a lot of fun and just the four guys going at some place. When we're down to Rock/HHH/Foley though, there's a lot of treading water. The match seems to revolve around the alliances and double crossing between the three men and everything in between is just waiting for the next big moment in the match to happen. As you might expect though, when we get down to The Rock vs. Triple H, the match hits a whole new level, and you could tell watching it that these guys were going to be putting on a hell of a show in the coming months. Just an absolute war. The match ends with a massive McMahon family screwjob on The Rock which works brilliantly as the fans pelt the ring with rubbish. Glorious ending to a disappointing at first, but incredible by the end match. ****

Shane McMahon comes into the ring and there seems to be a bit of friction and The Rock hits the ring and Shane sides with his dad. The Rock goes nuts on the McMahon family and Stephanie checks on her dad and The Rock isn't done yet. Stephanie gets up and gets in The Rock's face and slaps him. That isn't the smartest thing to do. ROCK BOTTOM ON STEPHANIE !!! The arena goes fucking CRAZY.

That PPV ending is a bit special, isn't it? The show itself is full of ups and downs. Some proper shite on here, but I genuinely think that PPV ending is worth playing good money for on it's own.

[DomDom]

Mick McManus has died aged 85. Not gonna pretend I was a massive fan and seen all of his work, but it's clear the guy played a major part in British wrestling, and this is a loss for sure.

Edited May 22, 2013 by DomDom

[Christophe]

Mick McManus has died aged 85. Not gonna pretend I was a massive fan and seen all of his work, but it's clear the guy played a major part in British wrestling, and this is a loss for sure.

Uncle of snooker player Alan

[Shuggie_Murray7]

Wasn't he 93?

Anyway, sad to hear.

I do recall watching a scintillating match between McManus and Johnny Saint. If it's on Youtube, it's worth a watch.

[DA Baracus]

Mania 2000 was a good one. It set things up perfectly for Backlash 2000, which may just be my favourite ever PPV, featuring my favourite match ever (the main event). I think on the Raw the night after Mania 2000 it was HHH/Rock in a cage for the title, and it ended up with the McMahon's utterly rat packing Rock and Rock doing a massive blade job. I love how ridiculously they stacked the deck against Rock, even including Patterson and Brisco in it all, especially how stacked the main event of Backlash 2000 is.

Looking forward to the review of Mania X17 (why is it always referred to as such, instead of XVII?)

[DomDom]

Wasn't he 93?

I've seen both 85 and 93. I'll just settle for "he old".

And yeah, the Backlash 2000 main event is pretty special. I think the iron man tops it, but only just. Both of them are pure drama. I think the most comparable match is Steve Austin vs. Dude Love from Over the Edge 1998.

[TheGreenMonster]

The WWE have a meeting today with the NFL players association today according to Jim Ross, they are hoping to strike up relationship with them that will lead to NFL players that don't get contracts with teams being given the chance to tryout for the WWE.

[DomDom]

The WWE have a meeting today with the NFL players association today according to Jim Ross, they are hoping to strike up relationship with them that will lead to NFL players that don't get contracts with teams being given the chance to tryout for the WWE.

Terrific idea if you ask me.

[cilitbang]

Is anyone going to the event "WrestleZone at the beach ballroom in Aberdeen 1st June? Billy Gunn and jim Duggan are making apperances so wondering if anyone else in the area is heading to this.

Also, im quite new to Aberdeen so like whats the best way to get to the beach ball room from the city centre if anyone knows.

Link for anyone that care..

http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/Venues/bb/ven_bb_whats_on3.asp

[forehead7]

Terrific idea if you ask me.

I agree, you look at guys like Roman Reigns or Titus O'Neill who look like those types.

I guess they're hoping they'll find one who can talk as well as do the physical side.

[DomDom]

I agree, you look at guys like Roman Reigns or Titus O'Neill who look like those types.

I guess they're hoping they'll find one who can talk as well as do the physical side.

Probably the plan. Chances of finding the complete package will increase a fair bit now.

[KD1711]

Probably the plan. Chances of finding the complete package will increase a fair bit now.

Was The Rock not a footballer too?

Great idea from WWE though.

[cdhafc1874]

Probably the plan. Chances of finding the complete package will increase a fair bit now.

Was The Rock not a footballer too?

 

Great idea from WWE though.

Yup, Rock was an American Footballer in high school/college.

WWE should be able to pick up a mixture of lean, quick guys + massive bruisers a la Big E - whether they end up with an end product is up to them but good idea certainly.

[PrestersKTID]

Dat ass.

I concur. AJ

[DA Baracus]

Is anyone going to the event "WrestleZone at the beach ballroom in Aberdeen 1st June? Billy Gunn and jim Duggan are making apperances so wondering if anyone else in the area is heading to this.

Also, im quite new to Aberdeen so like whats the best way to get to the beach ball room from the city centre if anyone knows.

Link for anyone that care..

http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/Venues/bb/ven_bb_whats_on3.asp

Just fire down Beach Boulevard. Walk up Union Street towards King Street. Fire over the pedestrian area (the area with Blackfriars, RS McColls, VSA place etc) and you'll see a big roundabout. Beach Boulevard is straight over it, or the road that leads to the retail park and Codonas. Just walk all the way up it, and the Beach Ballroom is to your left. Will take 15 mins at the most.

You could also walk to Pittodrie, go over the hill near the Dick Donald stand and you'll be able to see the Beach Ballroom.

[KD1711]

14 years ago today since Owen Hart passed away. Used to watch it every Saturday on Sky 1, about 7 years old at the time, and can remember JR telling the crowd that it wasn't part of the show and looking. Mental how the time goes.

[DomDom]

WWE Wrestlemania X-7

Widely recognized as the greatest PPV of all time, this is main evented by an absolute monster of a match with The Rock and Steve Austin in Austin's home state of Texas.

Chris Jericho © vs. William Regal - WWE Intercontinental Championship

Regal is the commish of WWE at the time, and Jericho is basically a pain in his arse. One of the more understated angles with a guy in a position of power. On the Smackdown before this, Regal attacked the shoulder of Jericho, and sure enough, Regal goes after that injury the first chance that he gets. Jericho never forgets about the shoulder either, which is a nice wee touch, and it doesn't dilute the excitement of the final stretch either. It's what an opener should be. Lively enough to get the crowd into things, but not a show stealer. **3/4

Right to Censor vs. The APA and Tazz

The RTC had some badass theme music, didn't they? The pace of this one is pretty frantic. Nobody spends too much time in the ring. Tazz takes something resembling the usual tag team beating, but it's really short. It's basically all six men coming into the ring and landing most of their big moves. Which means this is a lot of fun, while being too short to be anything else. **

Raven © vs. The Big Show vs. Kane - WWE Hardcore Champion

Every truly classic PPV needs something for everyone. This is part of that formula. This satisfies the good fun brawl part of that, with things not being overly serious. Not that the match doesn't have moments of severe brutality. Raven getting thrown through a window is spectacular no matter how many times you watch it. The golf buggies bit is class no matter how many times you watch it. Kane on a golf cart + a referee = class and this also leads to another quite brutal moment with Raven getting run over. There's quite a bit of the wandering about which the backstage and crowd brawling hardcore matches had a bit much of, but all in all, this is a real fun battle. ***1/2

Eddie Guerrero © vs. Test - WWE European Championship

This is one of them matches where one of the guys in the match just throws nothing but home run shots in an attempt to win things early. Eddie manages to keep himself in the match and that gives the match something to build on. Disappointingly they editted out Eddie Guerrero falling out of the ring while Test was caught in the ropes. Both guys seem to forget about the knee stuff midway through the match, which takes a wee bit away, but they manage to put together a pretty good midcard match. This match reminded me of just how brutal Test's Big Boot looked. ***

Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit

Kurt Angle puts down the audience pre-match in absolute style. They take particular exception to being called "yee-haws". Terrific. The early going of the match is to make Benoit the better man on the ground, and have Angle be deseperate to get out of that situation. When the match breaks down because of that, you can see Angle wasn't quite as complete as he'd be a couple of years down the line, although he is OVER with this crowd. The match develops into a bit of a proper battle between the two men, with counters and counter-counters and a great two sided war. To think that this match would be bettered a number of times just goes to show just how good these guys were. ****1/4

Ivory © vs. Chyna - WWE Women's Championship

Chyna squash. Nothing to see here. N/A

Vince McMahon vs. Shane McMahon, Street Fight

The lead up to this was a bit on the overstated side, but it all led to a hell of a climax that made the whole thing worth it. To give you an idea of how this is, the match has Foley as the referee, and will involve Trish and Stephanie at some point, and of course, the absolute masterstroke of the match with Linda McMahon. Vince and Shane are almost supporting players at times in the match, but both guys' performances can't be ignored, as they put on a cracking performance, as both men always tended to do. That moment when Linda McMahon stands up is glorious place. I don't think anyone suspected that there'd be a time that Linda McMahon getting out of a wheelchair would cause one of the biggest pops on the best PPV ever. That's another example of just how good what this lot was doing really was though. Is it perfect? No. Seek it out though. ****

NOTE: I watched that Linda McMahon moment about five times on this watch. It's amazing.

The Dudley Boys © vs. Edge and Christian vs. The Hardy Boys, TLC Match - WWE World Tag Team Championships

As I said last time, I'm not sure if I prefer this one. The match the year before had a much clearer structure to it than this, and the escalation was brilliant. This one doesn't take long to go full scale mental, but the truly great thing about this match is just how mental the pacing is. You're hardly given any time to breathe between the big spots, and believe me, the big spots are fucking big. None bigger than the famous Spear that brings Jeff Hardy down from the belts. The involvement of Spike Dudley, Rhyno and Lita adds to the match as well. I suppose it just adds to the theme of the night which seems to be insanity. This is a truly spectacular match. *****

Gimmick Battle Royal

Mean Gene Okerlund is at ringside for this along with Bobby Heenan. Basically you throw a bunch of old timers in there and see what happens. I'm not a big fan of battle royals, but this one at least has the charm of all of the old names in there. So yeah, this just adds to a fun show.

Triple H vs. The Undertaker

This match has Motorhead playing HHH's theme music. Which is a cool idea if Lemmy actually knows the fucking words. But it appears he doesn't. Surprised they didn't edit this shite out of the DVD release. Before the referee knock out, which is absolutely ridiculous btw, this match was actually a cracking wee match. But then we head into tedious crowd brawling to set up a big bump that doesn't look particularly nasty and that drags this match way down for me. The section after they get back in the ring where they fight over the sledgehammer while the referee is STILL down on the canvas isn't up to much either. The match does pick up again towards the end thankfully, but this is nowhere near what they would do in later years. **3/4

The Rock © vs. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin - WWE World Heavyweight Championship

The pop for Austin in the intros is crazy, which is to be expected since this bad boy was in Texas. Things got very heated between these two guys just previous to the PPV and both guys just completely unload on each other right from the word go. A lot is made of Austin saying that he "needs" to beat The Rock, and rightly so, as the ending of the match is the ultimate example of just how desperate he was to beat The Rock for the title. This match also channels the Hart/Austin match from 13 in the way that Austin does the Hart role of doing just about anything he can to put The Rock away and losing his mind in the process. I don't like the ending much. I get it of course, and not sure I'd have it any other way, but it takes the steam away from what was an absolute fucking thriller of a match, and thus I'm going to take points away for it. Make no mistake though. This is a stunning main event to a stunning PPV. ****3/4

Is this PPV worth the hype it gets? Of course it fucking is. It's top to bottom solid, and the big matches deliver in the best way you could imagine, apart from HHH/Taker which is a big disappointment, but not a bad match and thus doesn't bring the standard of the PPV down.

I've never seen Wrestlemania X-8.

[forehead7]

WWE Wrestlemania X-7

Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit

Kurt Angle puts down the audience pre-match in absolute style. They take particular exception to being called "yee-haws". Terrific.

Just found it on youtube, "Oh and by the way, people, lose the freaking cowboy hats. You're not seven years old anymore. PLEASE". And then Heyman proceeds to tease JR about his cowboy hat. Love it.