Randy Savage vs Chris Adams
Savage is aggressive from the off, blind-siding Adams, and
choking him with his bandana. Savage is all over Adams, stomping and picking
him up on pins. Adams gets some respite on the outside by Irish whipping Savage
into the ring post, and Lex Luger comes to the ring and levels Savage with a
chairshot, rolling him back into the ring for the Adams victory.
Rick Martel vs Louie Spicolli
This is the second match into Martel’s 1998 renaissance. Spicolli
starts the match by holding onto the ropes on an Irish whip, turns to the crowd
to point at his head to show off his intelligence, then turns around into a clothesline,
so this is already a five star match. Spicolli tries to punch his way back into
it, but Martel is fired up and hits a nice spinebuster into a Quebec crab for
the win.
Tenzan vs Ohara
Pretty straightforward bout. Both guys go heavy with the
chops, but Ohara hits a powerbomb before Tenzan hits a tombstone and a diving
headbutt to win. Very brief stuff.
Chris Jericho vs Ric Flair
Five minutes long, but they make the most of it. Nicely
worked opening sequence, with Jericho smoothly reversing a hiptoss into a
monkey flip. Flair cheats a few times in this match in endearing ways – first by
faking an ankle injury only to poke Jericho in the eye, followed by convincing
Charles Robinson to check the turnbuckle pads then hitting a low blow. Loved
the spot where Flair took his usual flip over the turnbuckle, only to be met on
the apron by a Jericho springboard dropkick. Jericho misses a missile dropkick
and Flair swiftly locks in the figure four to win. Good stuff
The Giant vs Meng
This was only a few minutes, but was very effective. Loved
the Giant hitting a huge powerslam on Meng. Meng is able to chop and kick away
at the Giant, wearing him down to the mat, but this advantage is temporary.
Giant gets back up, grabs a chokeslam (with Meng frantically trying to reach
him for a Tongan Death Grip) and gets the win.
Goldberg vs Steve McMichael
Another effective short match. Fun little big boys scrap,
with McMichael hitting Goldberg with a shoulderblock from the apron before the
match even starts. Goldberg looks like a beast, muscling about a huge guy like
Mongo with a press-slam into a powerslam. McMichael tries for Goldberg’s legs
with a series of chop blocks, but Goldberg blitzes him with a spear and the
jackhammer. Played to both guys strengths.
The Steiner Brothers vs Konnan & Buff Bagwell
Never felt like the Steiners were in jeopardy here. The NWO
team get a bit of control, including a Bagwell neckbreaker that Rick botches by
dropping down too early, but it doesn’t last long before the Steiners both hit
huge overhead belly-to-belly suplexes. Scott finishes Konnan with a top rope
Frankensteiner, much to Rick’s chagrin as he’d climbed ready to hit the top
rope bulldog. This was fine.
Scott Hall vs Ray Traylor
Hall shows Traylor no respect in this one, feigning fear and
slapping the back of Traylor’s head, so it’s fun to see Traylor lay into Hall
with some nifty punches. The ref gets bumped, allowing Hall to hit a belt shot
for two. Nice second rope bulldog also gets two, before Larry Zbyszko comes
out, distracting Hall, who turns into a Bossman Slam for the win.
Juventud Guerrera vs Ultimo Dragon
This was a fine little sprint, but what I really liked is
how logically and organically the spots flowed. For example, in one 30 second
period, Dragon misses a handspring elbow in the corner, allowing Juvi to put
him on top for a hurricanrana. However, Ultimo fights him off, sending him to
the floor and hitting a (barely hit) top rope moonsault. Nothing felt
contrived, everything felt in keeping with their moveset. Ultimo hit a nice
kick combo and a German suplex for two, but Juvi reverses a powerbomb attempt
to a big DDT. One Juvi Driver and a 450 splash later, and Juvi is the new
Cruiserweight champion. Dug all this.
Lex Luger vs Scott Norton
Too short to be worth anything, but it was all action for
the two minutes it lasted. Norton jumps Luger at the start, including basically
deadlifting Lex up for a backbreaker when it seems to be going wrong. Luger
survives the shoulderbreaker, and nails the Bionic Forearm and the torture rack
for the win.
Diamond Dallas Page vs Kevin Nash
Longest match of the night at nearly seven minutes. Less
pleasingly, most of those minutes are Nash’s plodding offence of clubbing blows
and wandering around. It’s a shame, as this started well, DDP using his smarts
to take the big man down after a blocked hiptoss, instead hitting a knee to the
gut and a swinging neckbreaker. Page is good at fighting from beneath, but he’s
given little to work with. Snake Eyes gets two for Nash, before DDP tries the
Diamond Cutter, luring in Hulk Hogan for the DQ win. Very skippable.
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