This is a one-off PPV filmed in Australia in the year 2000, headlined by Curt Hennig and basketball player Dennis Rodman. This used to be shown on the Wrestling Channel in the UK on a semi-regular basis 8 years ago, so I've got fond memories of it, despite a lot of it being terrible. The version I'm reviewing is sadly the German commentary version available on YouTube, so I'm not totally clear on the rules in all the matches.
The Public Enemy vs the Legion of Doom
This is for the tag titles held by the PE, and is a
double-elimination table match. Rocco Rock looks to be in decent shape, which
puts him ahead of the other competitors in the bout. He takes a nice 360
clotheslines bump early as if to highlight this point. In contrast, Hawk hits a
diving shoulderblock which sees him barely leave the mat. The key issue with
this match is that everyone seems to move in a hesitant slow motion, making
everything seem tentative and fake. Guys seem to be bumping gingerly. I know
you aren’t supposed to get hurt on bumps, but the audience is at least supposed
to believe you are. The Enemy work heat on Animal, before isolating Hawk off
the hot tag. Rock hits a nice flip dive through a table to eliminate Hawk, but
an attempt on Animal sees him move, causing Rock to take a nasty landing. Back
in the ring, an awkward series of events sees Animal “spear” both members of
the PE through a table in the corner (with Grunge tottering backwards
embarrassingly) to win the match. Rock looked decent here, the rest were clumsy
and inept at best.
Brute Force vs the Barbarian
This is a hardcore match. Brute Force is Brutus Beefcake
under a non-copyrighted name. Brutus attacks Barbarian from the bell with a bin
and attempts to choke him out with a broom, but a low blow turns the tide in
Barbarian’s favour. Barbarian isn’t afraid to lace in the chops in the corner.
They brawl outside the ring, culminating in a clumsy spot when Barb seems to
give Brutus an atomic drop using the guard rail. That’d be a great spot if it
was intentional, but it doesn’t feel like that’s the case. Really, this match
is just two guys hitting each other with weapons, with control alternating back
and forth at random. Still, fair play to Brutus who really does his part in
keeping the crowd into the match, really works the audience. Beefcake gets a
series of 2 counts, first off a terrible looking stunner, then off a DDT and a
piledriver. I suspect the English commentary would attribute this to the
Barbarian’s “hard head”. Beefcake tries a bin shot from the top rope, but as he
leaps, Barb boots the bin lid into his face for the three count. Not a great
match.
Sweet Destiny vs Brandi Wine
Destiny is accompanied by Australian boxer Joe Bugner,
whilst Wine has a short-haired Typhoon, going under the name Sugar Daddy.
Destiny is (slightly) better known as Little Jeanne of “feuding with Molly
Holly on WCW Saturday Night in 99/2000” fame. She was always a decent worker in
those matches, and this is the best match of the night so far. It’s not always
pretty – Destiny kinda only glances Brandi with a top rope crossbody – but both
girls work hard and take some nice looking bumps. Destiny takes the best
looking bump, landing in the railings with some real oomph. Wine hits a poor
looking powerbomb, but Destiny’s handspring rana is pretty choice. We get the
inevitable face-off between Bugner and Typhoon in the ring, ending with Bugner
nailing a straight punch to the face, before Destiny hits a top rope superplex
to win. Good enough.
One Man Gang vs Tatanka
Tatanka is defending the “International title” here. This
match is strange, in that there’s nothing technically wrong with it, but it’s a
deeply uninteresting match. Which is odd, as I really like both guys. OMG in
particular works hard to make this good, jawing with the crowd and drawing
great heat, causing a deluge of rubbish to be hurled into the ring at one
point. Heck, he even takes a big bump by getting slammed off the top rope,
which I didn’t expect from year 2000 One Man Gang. For his part, Tatanka throws
some nice chops and sells OMG’s offence well, but this match just drags on. It’s
almost 20 minutes, which is an insane length for OMG in 2000. If this had been
condensed down by even 5 minutes, this could have been really fun. As it is, we
sit through a slow match to get a bullshit ending. Tatanka gets a visual pin on
Gang following a top rope chop, but the ref has already been bumped. As Tatanka
checks on him, Gang pulls out some brass knucks (making sure to raise them high
for all the crowd to see, nice touch) and punches him out to win the title.
Curt Hennig vs Dennis Rodman
Hennig is working face here, defending the I Generation
world title in a street fight. Rodman doesn’t get much offence in here,
believably, but he does win me over with his effort. Rodman cheap shots Hennig
from behind to start, and busts him open with the belt, which is a realistic
way for a non-wrestler to take over on someone like Hennig. This doesn’t last
long, before Hennig is in control and works him over outside. Rodman takes an
impressive bump, getting hurled over the Australian announce table, before
Henning drives him through it face-first. Back in the ring, Henning stomps on
Rodman’s cock, before locking in a camel clutch (only actual wrestling hold of
the match) and laying in some big chops in the corner. Rodman strangely escapes
from the corner by giving the ref a headbutt, and after another tussle with
Hennig, throws the recovered ref from the ring. This prompts a bullshit DQ
finish in the street fight main event of a one-off PPV, but I guess both guys were supposed to be protected by
it. Not a great match, but strangely entertaining up to that point, despite it
being worked as an extended squash for Hennig. Probably still match of the
night.
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