WWF Prime Time Wrestling 07/07/1986

The Crush Gals (Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka) vs Leilani Kai & Black Venus

Well then! Wasn’t expecting to see the Crush Gals pop up on an episode of Prime Time. This was a really neat curio, and all four ladies put in a good showing. Loved the slingshot Asuka used to send Kai faceplanting into the mat. I’d seen Venus before on a LPWA DVD, and I thought she looked better here. Nice stiff shots to the stomach and a neat straight jacket sleeper with a boot to the spine. Nagayo has a real fighters stance, looks like she’s alert for an opening at all times. Kai does nothing fancy here, but she’s just full of nasty heelish shots that create sympathy for the faces. Things heat up at the end, with the Crush Galls hitting nice looking kicks to Venus and Asuka finishes her off with a German suplex. Nice to see.

Billy Jack Haynes vs Frank Marconi

This is joined in progress, which is a relief as what we do get is terrible. Haynes holds a long chinlock, peppered with the odd clubbing blow. Actually comes across quite heelish, and it’s notable that he gets a few boos after his full Nelson win.

Harley Race vs SD Jones

Interesting showcase for Race here, felt like he was trying to keep Jones strong. Despite Race dominating proceedings, Jones gets to kick out of a lot of Race’s offence. High knee and a piledriver -2. Gut wrench suplex – 2. Race keeps going for pins after every move, with Jones kicking out, before a big powerslam gives him the victory.

Pedro Morales vs Barry O

Barry O gets a surprising amount of control in this match, given their respective statuses in the WWF. Morales was on the downward straight of his career, but he was still a former world champion and Barry O was basically a jobber. O has nice offence, big clothesline and a running chop to the neck. Morales takes a ridiculous bump to the floor, getting hurled by O over the top rope straight down. Loved O conducting the crowd as they started a “Pedro” chant. Morales looks great on the comeback, lovely energy and he’s got a range of nice blows. Lovely big backbreaker gives him the win.

Lanny Poffo & George Wells vs Johnny K-9 & Rusty Brooks

After watching this match, I decided to Google K-9, and man that’s an utterly baffling tale. Fun start, Brooks is a big slobbish fat guy who bumps about for Poffo’s hiptosses. Poffo hits a springboard plancha to the floor on K-9 which looks wild for the time. Poffo and Wells just wear down K-9 with quick tags and nice offence – Poffo hits some nasty looking grounded punches which felt quite out of character, before Wells pins him with a shoulderblock.

The Hart Foundation vs The Killer Bees

This was a great way to end the show, nicely competitive tag bout with both sides feeling like potential winners. The Bees control early with some nice double teaming on Neidhart, working over his legs. Nicely, they continue this policy when Bret gets tagged in, going for his legs too. Loved their double spinning toehold. Blair becomes face-in-peril after getting booted in the back running the ropes, and the bulk of the match sees him getting worn down. The Harts cheat really effectively, with some nice double teams and good timing on their distraction spots or rushing the face corner just before Blair can get there. We get a nice false tag after Blair reverses an Irish whip to the corner (including a trademark Bret bump) as Neidhart distracts the ref. When Anvil accidentally hits Bret, the crowd explode and the hot tag gets a terrific reaction. Brunzell looks great coming in, nails a lovely big dropkick, but Anvil clubs him in the back of the head running the ropes to get the cheap win.

WWF Prime Time Wrestling 30/06/1986

Pedro Morales vs Bob Orton

Solid match, though neither guy feels like they’re really stretching themselves. Orton is on the defence early, with a big goofy sell of a slam and of an atomic drop. A good chunk of this match is built around punches, but luckily both guys have neat looking strikes. Orton sends Morales to the floor with a lovely flurry and slams him onto the concrete. Morales shows some fire when he fires back with a nice range of punches himself. Orton tries to suplex Morales to the floor, but settles for crotching him on the top rope instead, drawing the DQ. Nothing bout, but enjoyable enough.

Nikolai Volkoff & the Iron Sheik vs Danny Spivey & Corporal Kirschner

This was a very poor bout. Crucially, Kirschner is really bad here, looking really lost in the opening matwork. Sheik would take him down, then just roll over to try and give the impression that Kirschner had reversed it. They heels work the heat on Corporal with Spivey yet to get in the ring. It’s a brief heat, though they force in a false tag in those few minutes. Spivey gets tagged in, not exactly a house of fire and is soon locked in a really poor abdominal stretch by the Sheik. It’s so bad that both Gorilla Monsoon and Lord Al call him out on how bad it looks. Sheik does hit a cracking gutwrench suplex moments later, so it’s not all bad. Kirschner gets tagged back in, looking barely trained with some awkward bumping, before Sheik “loads the boot” and gets the pin following a kick to the gut (with Kirschner selling it with a front flip bump, fair play for that). Terrible stuff.

Hercules vs George Wells

On the other hand, this goes less than 5 minutes and is really great. Herc keeps it simple, but his punches look crisp and he hits some great driven knee drops. Just nice connection. Herc goes up top, and Wells catches a crossbody and nails a backbreaker. He immediately misses a corner splash and Herc drives a forearm into his face for the win. Good, simple stuff, executed really well, with one super impressive strength spot by Wells midway through.

Bret Hart vs Jim Brunzell

Delightfully, this is really neat too. Bret reverses an early wristlock to a headlock by yanking the hair, then really works the hold, keeping it locked in despite getting whipped to the ropes. Brunzell starts working the arm, yanking it on the mat whilst forcing Bret’s head away with his boot. Bret turns the tide with a lovely knee to the gut, and proceeds to wear Brunzell down by wearing down the torso, nailing headbutts and boots. Lovely spot where Bret ties Brunzell in the ropes and charges, but Brunzell escapes and Bret gets tangled up at extreme speed. Brunzell bites Bret’s nose, returning a move from Bret earlier, and gets a great nearfall off an O’Connor roll. Brunzell gets the win with a sudden backslide. Really good stuff.

King Kong Bundy vs Hillbilly Jim

Very brief match, but nothing much to complain about. Two big lads hitting hard-hitting, yet unrefined bombs. Hillbilly avoids what looks to be an unlikely Bundy dropkick early doors, but meets boots in the corner. They do some shtick where Bundy won’t let Jim back into the ring, before Jim gets the boots up on an avalanche. Jim gets a few moves in, but makes the mistake of trying to whip Bundy into the corner. Of course, he reverses it and nails the Avalanche, then hits a huge splash for the win.

Sivi Afi vs Ron Shaw

This puts an end to the “really good stuff” run, though I kind of liked Shaw here. Big goofy looking guy, but he moved well, looked athletic on a leapfrog and nailed a big jumping knee. His back breaker was pretty soft though. Afi doesn’t do much here, few headbutts and a lot of armbars held from armdrags, before a top rope crossbody gets the win. Meh.

Big John Studd vs Paul Orndorff

Orndorff is wearing a protective cast on his right arm, which features prominently in this match. Studd is sluggish, but Orndorff is fired up and works around the fact you can’t do much with Big John by milking the most from every shot he hits. Studd catches him on a crossbody and roughly slams him in the corner, but then bizarrely goes to the top rope, predictably eating a cast shot to the stomach on his way down. Studd hits a sloppy looking atomic drop and telegraphs Orndorff skinning the cat by clearly talking to him and gingerly throwing him over the top rope. Orndorff hits Studd with a flurry of neat shots and nails him off the top with his cast, but Heenan comes in to break up a bodyslam, earning the DQ win for Orndorff. Great performance by Mr Wonderful.

WWF Prime Time Wrestling 16/06/1986

Bret Hart vs Sivi Afi

Better than the match they had a few episodes earlier, there was nothing blown here and Afi looked to keep up with Bret better here. Fun opening section with Bret holding onto a headlock on Irish whips by grabbing Afi’s hair. Afi hits a nice crossbody, but Bret takes over by brilliantly catching a leapfrog into an atomic drop. Enjoyed Bret sending  Afi to the floor, not letting him in by booting him off the apron only for it to be paid off by Afi coming back in with a sunset flip for two. Didn’t like Afi’s “flying headbutt” he hit on a standing Bret, before he hits a top rope corssbody, but Bret is clearly waiting and rolls through to get the win. Good stuff.

Jim Neidhart vs Lanny Poffo

Poffo starts off with a really terrible poem, so bad he deserved to get jumped at the start by the Anvil. Hilarious spot where Poffo skins the cat, and turns around right into an Anvil forearm that instantly decks him. Neidhart’s offence looks good here, with Poffo seemingly happy to make everything he does look killer. Even an Irish whip into the corner looks bone rattling. Poffo makes a nice little comeback with a killer dropkick, and I liked him dropping to the mat, dragging Neidhart down by the beard. Moonsault gets him two, but Poffo spends too long going for a senton which misses and Neidhart hits a 2^nd rope forearm for the win.

Tony Garea vs Iron Mike Sharpe

Since I’ve started watching Prime Time, Tony Garea has been a constant disappointment in the ring. In contrast, Mike Sharpe has been a constant source of stooging joy. This match is pretty par for the course for both men. Sharpe is great from the start, acting befuddled by an armdrag, missing a dropkick and getting slingshot into the corner. Garea isn’t very interesting on offence, so Sharpe’s performance is needed to keep this on track. Garea goes for a good few pinfalls, but also does things like lock on a long abdominal stretch to kill the momentum of the bout. In contrast, Sharpe’s clubbing blows look good and it’s a nice surprise when he ducks a corner charge, sending Garea into the turnbuckles and leaving him prone for a roll up from Sharpe for the rare victory.

Hercules vs Scott McGhee

On the subject of people who’ve been surprisingly good, Hercules really impressed me in the tag match on the previous episode, and he looked good here too. Far better movement than I remembered him having, working a satisfying quick sequence with McGhee and bumping big for dropkicks. He also hits a nasty looking stun gun on McGhee, basically just hurling him head first at the ropes. McGhee also looks good, really liked his belly to belly and his top rope kneedrop. Genuinely enjoyed this bout, Herc even looked good on the ending as he catches McGhee, hits a back breaker and smoothly rolls into the pin. Pleasant surprise.

Big John Studd vs Jim Powers & Rick Hunter

Basic squash used as the backdrop to a Studd/King Tonga angle. Both guys try to slam Studd early, with the $10,000 slam challenge being offered pre-match by Bobby Heenan. Neither succeed, and Hunter gets pinned after a Studd slam. Post match, Tonga comes in, having been rebuffed pre-match by Heenan, and successfully slams Studd to a huge pop.

Johnny Valiant, Greg Valentine & Brutus Beefcake vs Davey Boy Smith, Pedro Morales & Danny Spivey

Real mixed cast on that face team. Really enjoyable six-man tag, it’s really a formula that’s very hard to mess up. Valentine, being by far and away the best worker on his team, works a good percentage of the match, and has to eat offence from all three faces early doors. Valiant in particular is mainly used as a tool for distraction. Davey Boy ends up the face in peril, with the idea being that the Dream Team want to weaken him for a future tag title rematch. The heel control is basic, but fun, with distractions, chokes and double teams being really well worked to keep Davey Boy in their corner. Loved how it backfired in the end, as Morales gets fed up with all the cheating, stomps on Valentine as he locks on a figure four, and gets Smith to the face corner for the tag. In the ensuing chaos, Pedro hits a backbreaker on Valiant and Davey Boy gets the win. Good, crowd pleasing match.

WWF Prime Time Wrestling 02/06/1986

Don Muraco vs Danny Spivey

Not the exciting opener you might hope for to kick off this episode. Muraco is really happy to stall and waste a lot of time at the start of the bout, to the point that I’m quite happy when an impatient Spivey just says “fuck it” and stomps him as he gets in. Muraco takes control after hurling Spivey through the ringside barriers, then controls him with some very methodical offence. The best stuff in this bout comes from Spivey, and I liked his comeback punches which are quite fired up. The end sees Spivey try to suplex Muraco back in from the apron, but gets cradled for the win.

Tony Garea vs Mr X

Mr X is a masked Danny Davis. This is a truly terrible bout, controlled for the vast majority of it by Mr X holding a headlock. At one point, you can actively hear the crowd groan when X cuts off an attempted comeback and goes for another headlock. Garea gets the odd comeback, but X will always cut it off almost straight away, often by hitting Garea with a knee as he charges in. As a positive, Mr X does hit a nice legdrop, but this is mostly boring nonsense. Garea eventually gets the win with an O’Connor roll.

Lanny Poffo vs Psycho Capone

Really odd match. Capone looks like a scrawny “Double J” era Jeff Jarrett and this is strangely uncooperative in places. Poffo is mainly in control here, breaking an arm wringer with a big boot that he nicely holds in Capone’s face. Poffo does some nice 80’s high-flying hitting a flipping second rope senton and a moonsault. This should be the end, but Capone awkwardly kicks out. There’s a bit of confusion, before Poffo hit a slingshot senton to win. Basically a Poffo squash with Capone getting up quickly after some moves. Very strange.

King Tonga vs Tiger Chung Lee

This is JIP with some nice bits, but also some dull bits. Both work leg control sections that are pretty dull, neither guy seems to want to do anything more than hold the opponents foot. Better are the strikes from both men. Nice leaping enzuigiri from Tonga, vicious kicks to the face from Chung Lee and both men laying into each other aggressively. Tonga picks up the win with a big thrust kick.

The British Bulldogs vs The Hart Foundation

Real prick tease of a match. This barely goes five minutes and has a shitty ending, which is really annoying as the match was shaping up to be really good. The familiarity the four men had with each other means that there’s no holding back on some big shots. Bret hits some lovely looking European uppercuts in the corner on Dynamite and commits to missing a massive second rope elbow, and I’m getting pretty excited about this match…then the Harts hit the Hart Attack mostly behind the refs back, he turns around and disqualifies them. Just a baffling, bullshit end to a fun match.

Ted Arcidi vs Big John Studd

And of course this ended up being twice the length. The amount of time they spend stalling, dithering about a test of strength then working the test of strength is longer than the whole tag match. At times, there’s not a single bit of motion on screen as they linger in the same position working the test of strength. Eventually, they do a bit of fighting, with Arcidi gassing himself out after a series of soft looking forearms. He grinds down Studd with a series of running ax handles, the logic of which I quite like, before Studd boots him outside, seemingly to let him catch his breath. Studd keeps preventing Arcidi from getting in, before Arcidi drags him out and they “brawl” to a double countout. Yep, not even a clean finish on this stinker.

WWF Monday Night Raw 11/07/1994

Bret Hart vs 1-2-3 Kid

This is a really great match, with Bret putting in a real world champion’s performance. Bret subtly puts over Kid right from the start, bumping to the mat for an arm-wringer after one of his own doesn’t down the Kid. Bret is also the first to hit a few nasty blows, hitting a short back elbow to kick the match into the next gear. He also hits a few brutal looking European uppercuts in the corner, almost telling Kid that he may have won the early mat stages, but he needs to do more than that to win the title. I appreciated Jim Ross on commentary continually putting over that even Bret’s cheaper looking shots are “legal manoeuvres” as this is still a face vs face match. Bret reverses a crucifix to a big Samoan Drop for three, but Kid’s foot is on the rope and Bret gets it restarted. Bret is in firm control after the restart, planting Kid with a DDT and a full-on bulldog. Kid starts getting more success with high risk moves, hitting a lovely corner dropkick and a moonsault press for two. Kid only glances Bret with a cannonball from the apron, so it’s no surprise Bret is first into the ring. Kid misses a cannonball into the ring and an attempt at a missile dropkick is caught into a Sharpshooter for the win. Really great performance by both here, Bret put in a real “ace” performance.

Crush vs Matt Hardy

Quick little squash. Hardy evades some early blows by flipping out of the way, but eats a huge superkick. A backbreaker gives Crush the win.

Razor Ramon vs Barry Horowitz

Really fun match. The opening armwork was nice, Ramon forcing the bicep over his knee whilst Horowitz actually looked like he was trying to find openings to escape. The fallaway slam from Ramon looks huge and Razor then gestures for the Edge…only to hook Horowitz in a small package for the win. Have to love Ramon’s shrug to the camera after fooling the audience.

IRS vs Ray Hudson

IRS squashes are the worst, but thankfully this was the least worst one I’ve seen so far. IRS actually starts with some aggression, hitting a decent corner elbow and a legdrop. Of course, things slow inevitably down as Irwin hooks an abdominal stretch and an interminable leglock, but it started well. STF gets the win.

WWF Prime Time Wrestling 19/05/1986

This episode features matches from Toroto’s Maple Leaf Gardens, with a cool ramp to the ring adding a bit to the matches.

Adrian Adonis vs Danny Spivey

The early parts of this are all about Adonis’ selling. Even at this stage of his career, he takes a 360 spin from a Spivey shoulderblock and then comically stumbles from the ring. Spivey really brings the early parts down with a loooong headlock sequence. Hart and Spivey conspire to blow a trip spot. I like that neither guy is afraid to bump on the hard entrance ramp, but there seem to be a few communication issues – Spivey’s running bearhug didn’t look like a move he was going for. The end sees Spivey slam Adonis from the top rope, but Adonis rolls through into a cradle for the win.

Tiger Chung Lee vs Don Kolov

Bizarrely, I’ve only heard of Kolov for the first time today thanks to the Santino Marella “Where are they now?” WWE video, where he has the “Don Kolov Arena” as part of his training academy. This does nothing to further his legacy, as this is a jobber vs jobber match with neither guy doing anything to suggest they deserved a better spot on the card. Both guys get booed due to their foreign-sounding names, though Kolov is supposed to be the face. This is really slow, though Kolov shows a little fire on his comeback. Chung Lee gets the win with the move of the match, a nice jumping tombstone.

Bret Hart vs Jim Brunzell

This is the first of two “Hart Foundation vs Killer Bees” matches on this card. Being in Canada, Bret gets a minor pop and Brunzell actually comes off as a bit heelish as he smacks Bret’s leg into the ringpost. Bret takes over after breaking a figure four attempt with an eye poke, before working over Brunzell with a headlock spot. Unlike Spivey, Hart can actually make this spot interesting, allowing Brunzell to come close to breaking it, before a hair pull sends him back down again. Brunzell fires back with a shitty weak clothesline before pummelling Bret with some close punches to the face. Bret fires back and crotches him on the top rope….for a DQ? Terrible ending to a fun match.

Jim Neidhart vs B Brian Blair

This is worked as strength vs speed, with Blair frustrating Neidhart with his movement. Like the Bret match, Neidhart decides to work a long chinlock section, though not as cleverly. Also like the Bret match, a Killer Bee works a bit heelish and actually gets booed as he grinds Neidhart’s eyes over the top rope. Neidhart goes for a shoulder charge and Blair evades it with a sunset flip for the win. This was fine.

There’s a “classic” midget match shown, but it’s clipped and it’s shit, so we’ll skip past it.

Scott McGee vs Johnny K-9

This starts poorly with McGee working the arm in an uniteresting way, but it soon picks up with good effort from both guys. This is a nice contrast from Chung Lee/Kolov, as two lower card guys try and win over the crowd with their work. Liked K-9’s diving headbutt and I dug the strange chokeslam/STO type move McGee hits. McGee throws a string of nice uppercuts and hits a German suplex to win. This was short, but I liked both guys more coming out of it than going in.

Hoss & Jimmy Jack Funk vs George Wells & Lanny Poffo

My happiness at seeing a Funks match promised is instantly dissipated by the presence of Jimmy Jack instead of Terry. The faces frustrate the Funk team early, until Jimmy Jack knees Wells in the back during a criss-cross. Nice teaming by the Funks – even when Wells breaks a sleeper with a jawbreaker on Jimmy Jack, he’s still able to reach for the tag with his arm hooked around Wells’ neck. Poffo gets the hot tag and shows some nice energy, but he’s soon face in peril. Dory makes the most of the entrance ramp, suplexing Poffo outside from the apron, dropping him on the ramp in a form of brainbuster. Wells gets the hot tag, and shows nice strength, catching a Jimmy Jack crossbody into a backbreaker. However, he misses a corner splash, flying headfirst into the turnbuckle, and Jimmy Jack hits a powerslam for the win. Pretty decent stuff, though it’d still have been preferable to see Terry instead of the fake Funk. 

WWF Prime Time Wrestling 12/05/1986

George Steele vs Jim Neidhart

This isn’t a match up that really appeals, but this is surprisingly not too bad. Liked the opening where Neidhart suckers Steele to chase him outside and ends up with Steele tangled up in the ropes. This is a really short match, which is probably for the best, as Neidhart goes to get a chair from outside, gets stopped by the ref and in the melee Steele hits him with a loaded fist for the win.

Bret Hart vs Sivi Afi

There’s a noticeable gulf in quality between these two here, Bret being clearly a step or two ahead of Afi. An early O’Connor roll is blown, but at least we return from an ad break with Bret in control. His offence looks really good here, loved how fluidly he goes from dropping a 2^nd rope elbow into a pinfall. We get a “Samoan man has a hard head” spot as Afi no-sells a shot to the turnbuckle and rams his own head several times, but aside from that he contributes little. He looks like he’s not really sure how to run the ropes, always going from odd angles. A flipping senton looks more like he’s doing a forward roll, but Bret suddenly catches him with a great-looking backbreaker for the win.

Iron Mike Sharpe vs Corporal Kirchner

Hard to say how I felt about this one, wasn’t a particularly bad match, but nothing about it really stands out. It just…happened. Sharpe continues to be fun at stooging about, leaping about to put over the power of Kirchner’s hammerlock and taking a hilarious fall into the announce table. Sharpe isn’t as much fun on offence – he’s plodding and slow, with big pauses in between blows. Kirchner seems pretty athletic and moves well, but doesn’t do anything to convince he can put a match together. A nice Samoan drop gives the Corporal the win.

Jake Roberts vs Scott McGhee

McGhee is pretty generic on offence, all pretty simple bodyslams and decent punches. Jake’s movement really stood out, loved the way he doesn’t so much climb in the ring as he slinks in. Jake hits a nice stomachbreaker and I dug the mindgames as he held McGhee in a chinlock and slowly dragged him towards the snake bag in the corner. McGhee fires back and looks really good in the process – nice looking back suplex that hits with real impact and a decent second rope kneedrop. Roberts hits a DDT from out of nowhere to win. The post-match ‘snaking’ sees McGhee coughing up blood in a nice twist.

Tony Atlas vs Hercules

This is JIP and we’re instantly into a test of strength spot. Hercules is pretty sluggish in control, which really contrasts with Atlas, who looks fired up on his comeback. Herc locks in a pretty mighty looking torture rack before Atlas gets the win with a sunset flip. Too short to be offensive, at least.

The Killer Bees vs Nikolai Volkoff & the Iron Sheik

Pretty decent match to end the show, it’s a formula tag team match and they interestingly keep Volkoff out for the majority of the bout. The Bees work well in the early stages, isolating Sheik and making quick tags. Brunzell and Blair both spend time as the face in peril, and I liked how, when Brunzell did get to make a small comeback with a sunset flip, Sheik instantly come in to distract the ref and prevent a count. Blair gets locked in the Camel Clutch and gets to hold on a surprisingly long time before Brunzell makes the save. Brunzell gets the hot tag, and looks pretty fired up when he get’s on offence. He locks a sleeper in on Sheik, but Volkoff nails him from behind which gives Sheik the win. Just a nice, solid tag match.

WWF Prime Time Wrestling 05/05/1986

The Funk Brothers vs Ivan McDonald & Jeff Gripley

Mildly disappointing squash, with the Funks not looking as impressive as you’d hope. It’s not so much their execution, as I dug Terry’s headbutts whilst holding onto the hair of Gripley, it’s more to do with the layout. The Funks seem to have Gripley done, after a big piledriver by Dory and a neckbreaker by Terry, but then Dory just puts him into an armbar. Feels odd after two moves designed to impact the neck, and it’s not like they’re building to anything with it – just feels like padding to draw out the match time. In the end, Terry works over Gripley’s leg and Dory locks in a Texas Cloverleaf to win

Bobby Heenan vs Sal Bellomo

My old nemesis Bellomo, here a clean shaven face, is put into an odd situation, facing off against Heenan in a rare match that he hasn’t been coerced into. Even more oddly, Heenan gives a clean handshake to start. I enjoyed this more than I expected, as both guys exchange some cheapshots despite the handshake, and both are bumping big. Bellomo takes a backdrop bump bigger than all the ECW one’s I’ve seen so far combined. I also liked Bellomo’s JYD headbutts in the corner from his knees. The end sees Heenan sit down on a sunset flip for the clean win. Man, Bellomo was low on the jobber chain here.

B Brian Blair vs Iron Mike Sharpe

No complaints with this one, really enjoyed it. Sharpe is so fun to watch, allowing Blair to make him look a total goon on a criss-cross and fleeing into the crowd to regroup after a flying headscissors. He’s also got these great looping punches. His backbreaker is sloppy, but Blair seems to be a big bumper to compensate for Sharpe’s lesser offence. Really enjoyed the spot where Sharpe refused to let Blair back into the ring, so Blair crawled underneath to surprise him from the backside. Thought Blair looked really good here, just crisp looking offence, nice punches and it kind of man me want to see more of a guy I’d previously barely registered. The ending was a disappointing double-count out, but this was fun.

Lanny Poffo vs The Gladiator

Gladiator is a pudgy guy in amateur wrestling tights and a faux-Kendo Nagasaki mask. Just a generic 80’s jobber costume. This is worked one the mat for the most part, and is quite nicely competitive there. Loved Poffo trying to escape by rolling out of an armbar, but remaining grounded. The Gladiator tries to change the style by punching Poffo in the corner, but he’s soon slammed and takes a moonsault for the Poffo win. If it ain’t broke, shouldn’t have fixed it…

Donna Christanello vs Linda Gonzalez

Christanello has one of those surnames that I’ve seen countless different spellings off, so apologies if I’m wrong. This is also worked primarily on the mat, but you don’t get the impression either lady is technically proficient, and instead it’s just something to do before being told to end the bout. I at least appreciated Donna pulling the tights of Gonzalez to give her leverage on a leglock. This isn’t very exciting, despite Gonzalez’s impressive bumping off a dropkick, and it’s a relief when Linda picks up the win with a decent bridging O’Connor roll.

Tony Atlas & Tony Garea vs Steve Lombardi & the Menace

The Menace is the least threatening jobber name I think I’ve heard. Lombardi really looks poor here, messing up a knee-to-the-gut sequence with Garea and having to readjust his footing so as not to arrive too early for an Atlas monkey flip. Atlas looks good here though, really nice agility, and his press slam and splash gets the win over the Menace. This was short and a bit pointless.

The Hart Foundation vs Ron Dee & Mario Mancini

The Harts look great here, really nicely executed squash. Bret nails a sharp looking back elbow on Mancini and Neidhart follows up with a big slam. Just competently breaking down the jobbers. Dee only tags in at the end, and is almost immediately met with a killer Hart Attack, as Anvil whips him off the rope and lifts him JUST in time for the Bret clothesline. Perfect timing, made the move look even deadlier.

Ted Arcidi vs Chuck Simpson

Not much to this. Arcidi can’t really do much, and for such a muscly guy, his power spots looked pretty lame. A beal across the ring on Simpson looked more like his opponent stumbling over his feet. Arcidi doesn’t have much offence, beside a nice clothesline, and Simpson doesn’t bump well enough to compensate. An overhead backbreaker gets the submission to not much reaction.

King Kong Bundy & Big John Studd vs Jim Powers & Mike Saxon

On commentary, Vince is very keen to highlight that Saxon isn’t Michael Jackson. Another disappointing squash, sadly, as the big lads are mainly content to whip Saxon into the ropes and let him run into them. I did love how nasty Bundy’s kneedrop looked, just a big weight falling directly onto Saxon’s chest. Studd contributes little, until an assisted avalanche and an elbow gives Bundy the three (or five). Powers was barely involved.

WWF Philadelphia Spectrum 27/08/1988

Decided on a whim to watch one of the old house shows put on the WWE Network in the Old School section. Sadly, I was lied to, as the blurb promised me a Powers of Pain match that isn't show which I'd have been into. Still, the remaining matches were a fun hour of wrestling...

The Hart Foundation vs The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers

Fun little tag bout here. Loved the opening stages, with the Harts both getting to outsmart the Rougeaus when running the ropes – Anvil hitting a dropkick on a leapfrogging Raymond and Bret stopping short on a monkey flip to drop an elbow on Jacques’ head. The commentary suggests that the Harts are just off their face turn, so it’s no surprise they’re a little heelish with some of their actions in this, Bret casually whipping Raymond in the head with the tag rope in their corner. The Rougeaus take over by tripping Bret as he runs the ropes, and they run a masterclass in making things work to their advantage, continually luring Anvil into the ring as a referee distraction, allowing them to double team Bret. Bret gets a few hope spots and we get a false tag before the real hot tag, Bret managing to block a monkey flip that Jacques celebrates too early. We get a melee, in the midst of which Bret piledrives Raymond but takes a cheap elbow from the ropes by Jacque to give the Rougeaus a surprise win. Good formula tag team match here.

Randy Savage vs Ted DiBiase

Savage starts this one like a man possessed, attacking DiBiase before the bell. It’s this mania that allows DiBiase a chance to take over, Savage running headlong into a boot in the corner. DiBiase tries to wear down Savage methodically, with chokes and drilled short punches to the head. Savage seems to build up little bursts of energy, allowing him to make supercharged comeback before a DiBiase blow stops him dead. When Savage is able to put a run together, however, he’s hard to contain, and I loved the whiplash clothesline he gives DiBiase, basically yanking him to the mat by the throat. DiBiase tries to calm the storm with the Million Dollar Dream, but when Savage makes the ropes, he relies on Virgil to remove a turnbuckle pad. This backfires, however, as another burst of Savage energy sees him block and ram Ted into the steel, only for Virgil to break up the pin for the DQ. Shitty end to a decent match.

Jake Roberts vs Rick Rude

I quite liked this, though it’s easy to see they’re both in house show mode. I actually really loved the early stages, with Jake grabbing onto a headlock for dear life, refusing to be whipped off the ropes, and even maintaining it when given a back suplex. Eventually, Rude breaks free and rams Roberts shoulder first into the ringpost outside the ring. This gives Rude the shoulder as focal point, and he works this over with a hammerlock and armbar on the mat. Rude holding onto the hammerlock for ages isn’t as interesting as Roberts maintaining the headlock, though I did like Rude managing to low blow himself by jumping crotch-first onto Jake’s shoulder. Liked Jake’s selling on the comeback, taking off his wrist tape to improve circulation on the bad arm, and wincing after hitting the short armed clothesline. Bizarrely, Jake somehow hits the DDT on top of the referee, putting him out. Rude hits the Rude Awakening, only to find the ref still out, and when he comes to Jake’s foot is on the rope. They head outside, and Rude manages to beat the count to win. Crappy ending to a fun match. Not a classic, but even taking it easy, this was still fun.

WWF Raw 18/04/1994

Bret Hart vs Kwang

Non-title opener to kick things off. Really good little match, especially considering the respective card position of the two. Loved Bret avoiding a corner charge at the last split second, timed to perfection. Bret takes a big spill to the floor to give Kwang control, really heavy landing. Kwang is decent on offence, working in his killer running corner kick and though he slows things with a nerve hold, he at least has the decency to work the shoulders over with some big blows first. Kwang cuts off Bret’s comeback’s nicely with some throat chops that look vicious. Bret sidesteps a back bodydrop attempt, hits a side Russian legsweep and locks in the Sharpshooter for the win.

Jeff Jarrett vs PJ Walker

Love watching these Jarrett squashes. He’s totally in control of his character and knows how to play it into these matches. He’s so cocky, swaggering about after cheapshotting walking, posing after hitting basic moves. Love him doing a little pose before missing an elbow, then getting up angrily to stomp Walker due to his embarrassment. Slingshot suplex is followed by a spike DDT for the win.

The Steiner Brothers vs Mike Khoury & Barry Hardy

Aggressive side of the Steiners shows here, not just because they decimate their opponents, but the manner in which they do it. Big crossfaces thrown by Rick, Scott beating up guys as they try to climb into the ring, just a nastier side shown. Obviously, on top of that, there’s some big bombs thrown. Big Dragon suplex and a top rope Samoan drop by Scott, massive clothesline and a top rope belly-to-belly by Rick. Scott finishes it with a Steiner Screwdriver. Lovely stuff.

Earthquake vs Mike Bell

Bit of comedy to start, as Bell is too short for a test-of-strength, so climbs to the second rope…only for Quake to just throw him off. From there, Quake blasts him with two dropkicks, a slick belly-to-belly suplex, a legdrop and the big splash for the easy win.

IRS vs Major Yates

IRS isn’t a fun squash wrestler. Bit of token leg work to kick things off, followed by some plodding offence. IRS locks in a chinlock, before going back to the injured leg and locking in an STF for the win. Might have been better if he’d focussed his offensive run to concentrate on Yates’ leg, this was pretty dull. 

WWF Raw 21/2/1994

The Quebecers vs Razor Ramon & the 1-2-3 Kid
You may remember from the last episode of Raw that this was supposed to be Marty Jannetty teaming with Razor, but in classic Marty fashion he'd been fired at this point. There's some fun stuff in this match, and the Razor/Kid tandem are portrayed as the more dominant throughout. Loved some of the early double-teams, including Razor using the fallaway slam to hurl Kid onto Pierre. They also neutralize the Johnny Polo threat early, as his receipt for interfering at the start is taking a Razor's Edge on the floor. I loved some of Razor's work here, including very deliberately sliding to a stop with his fist out to lowblow Pierre off a leapfrog. Hilarious spot. Diesel comes out to distract Ramon and the Quebecers finally work some heat on Kid after a gnarly looking double-team flapjack. The Kid makes the Quebecers offence look terrific, especially when Pierre hits a big corner avalanche. Razor hits the Razor's Edge on Pierre following the hot tag, but Shawn Michaels comes in to cause the DQ and cost Ramon/Kid the titles. Necessary screwjob ending to a fun match. It actually works to have the Quebecers look weak going into Mania, as you buy a silly team like Men On A Mission as having a chance against them.

Bret Hart vs Tom Pritchard
Nice to finally see Bret on an old Raw, and this is a fine TV match. Loved the opening matwork, where Pritchard was allowed to look good, but Bret was clearly portrayed as being better, reversing Pritchard's armbars and working the arm with some nice shots. Pritchard is able to come back, grounding Bret with a headlock and wearing him down with a knee to the spine. There's some external stuff where Randy Savage prevents Jim Cornette interfering, which allows Bret to come back. Loved Bret mixing up the "5 Moves" by locking Pritchard up for a suplex, and swiftly going for a small package instead. The ending features some outside inteference, but in a way that I loved. Some Cornette inteference on the floor creates an opening for Owen Hart to come down. Owen picks up Bret from the floor and throws him back into the ring, hilariously saying to the camera "He always needs my help getting up". However, as Owen heads back down the aisle, Bret has managed to lock Pritchard in the Sharpshooter for the submission. Owen gives this great disbelieving as Bret beckons him to the ring, really builds up the Mania match. Really enjoyed this.

WWF Royal Rumble 1994

Last year, I did a super-topical Royal Rumble post on the day of the event, so decided it'd be an idea to do one again this year. As I'm in the middle of my 1994 Raw project, I thought it'd make sense to do the 1994 Rumble, the first one I watched when my parents got Sky

Tatanka vs Bam Bam Bigelow

This was supposed to be Tatanka vs Ludwig Borga, but Borga was injured. Probably an upgrade to get Bigelow here, with the result being a decent little PPV opener. It kicks off at a high tempo, as Bigelow tries to jump Tatanka before the bell, but Tatanka uses his speed to avoid the attack, and manages to take control. Nice DDT by Tatanka, but he misses a big crossbody. Bigelow hits a corner splash on Tatanka, getting real nice speed on it. Bam Bam slows things down with a bearhug, but it’s a bit embarrassing as he initially tries to hold Tatanka in the air, but has to put him down right away. Bigelow doesn’t even bother working the bearhug, so it’s a dull period of the match. There’s a double crossbody spot where both guys fly into each other at full speed. Bigelow stops Tatanka hulking up with an enzuigiri, which is a nice touch, but he misses a moonsault. Tatanka hits a top rope crossbody for the win.

Bret Hart & Owen Hart vs the Quebecers

I was interested to revisit this match because, as memorable as the match-ending angle is, you don’t really hear much said about the match. On the whole it’s quite fun, though not as memorable as you’d hope from these two teams. I really liked Jacques’ heeling it up after Owen gets the best of him, hugging Pierre and cowering on his knees. Bret going for flash pins early makes sense, given that he and Owen still had the Rumble to come. The Quebecers briefly get control of Bret, and Owen keeps doing more harm than good by trying to get in the ring, as it draws the attention of the ref away from the Quebecers cheating. This is an ongoing theme throughout the match, which builds up Owen’s hot-headedness and desperation to win for the final angle. Loved Owen’s beautiful overhead belly-to-belly on Pierre when he does get in. Then the big match-changing spot occurs, as some Johnny Polo interference causes Bret to crash through the ropes to the floor, injuring his leg. The Quebecers focus on this injury, including a nasty looking leap off the ringsteps to the knee. All the time, an impetuous Owen is trying to get to Bret and distracting the referee. Even as Owen brawls with Pierre, Jacques is hitting Bret in the leg with a foreign object. Pierre goes for the top rope cannonball to the leg, but Bret moves just in time. Bret opts to try the Sharpshooter rather than tag Owen (a stupid move, though you could justify it by pointing out that Bret is the wrong side of Pierre), but can’t hold the move due to his injury. The ref instantly calls off the match (though the Fink is keen to point out “Bret Hart DID NOT submit” on his announcement), and a furious Owen kicks out Bret’s leg. Fun match to start off a great angle.

Razor Ramon vs IRS

Both guys exchange some nice punches early, nicely surprised by IRS. Razor takes a huge bump over the top running the ropes. I was really happy to see someone reverse the “heel leaps off the top rope to hit unknown move, only for the face to get his boot up” trope, as IRS grabs the foot and hits a big elbow to Razor. Unfortunately, this is the highlight of IRS’ offensive run, as the rest is pretty pedestrian. It also includes a really long chinlock. A ref bump sees the end, as Shawn Michaels runs in to level Razor with his phony IC title, and after a loooong time, IRS crawls over to cover Ramon for the win. However, a 2^nd ref comes in to advise what happened and the match gets restarted. Rather unfairly, as IRS is still celebrating his win on the 2^nd rope, and he gets planted with a Razor’s Edge for the victory. An uneventful bout.

The Undertaker vs Yokozuna

Another match that’s more famous for the post-match angle. The match itself is pretty lacklustre, and painfully slow. After the two exchange some chairshots outside the ring, Yoko thinks a clothesline is enough to conquer the Undertaker, so really takes his time putting him in the coffin. It’s not. Taker hits a sloppy chokeslam, that looks more like Yoko slipping on a banana, and a big DDT to roll Yoko into the casket. You can see Taker desperately killing time for the first outside attacker to stop him closing the lid, before Crush turns up, followed by the Great Kabuki, Tenryu, Bigelow, Adam Bomb, Jeff Jarrett, both Headshrinkers and Diesel. We all know what happens next (urn blows green smoke, heels close Taker in the coffin, Taker talks to the audience from the coffin and rises to the ceiling), but the boring match is often forgotten about as a reason to hate this whole deal.

Royal Rumble

Scott Steiner and Samu start off, which is pretty fun as neither is afraid to lay in their blows. Owen is brought back as an early entrant, earning major heat. The heel turn definitely worked. Diesel gets his first vestiges of a big push, as he gets to go on an elimination spree. He clears the ring (with Owen’s elimination getting a big pop, and clears the ring one-by-one of the next entrants…Bob Backlund, Billy Gunn, Virgil (much to the delight of Ted DiBiase on commentary). This conveniently gives enough time for them to cut to the back where Jim Cornette’s hired guns Tenryu and Kabuki are beating up Lex Luger. Back in the ring, Randy Savage comes out and is a big enough star that Diesel doesn’t get to eliminate him. We get glimpses of a potentially great Savage/Jarrett match, which I don’t think ever took place (but I’d love to be wrong), but Jarrett is quickly eliminated. Loved the ferocity of Savage’s attack on an entering Crush, you can really feel the hate between the two. Savage gets eliminated, and we get a Diesel/Crush segment. Doink enters and stands back, laughing at the two heels fighting, until they look over and spot him. They rightly batter him, then present him on a platter for an entering Bam Bam Bigelow. Bammer hurls him over the top to the floor. Loved that.

Shawn Michaels soon enters and, after facing off with his bodyguard Diesel, shakes hand with him. However, Shawn does nothing to stop his friend being eliminated, setting the tone for a year of tension between the two. Both Mabel and Mo from Men On A Mission end up in the ring at the same time, but seem to be idiots as they barely work together. You’d think Mo would be desperate for Mabel to help him. Instead, when all the entrants gang up on Mabel, Mo is left standing idly by like a moron until Shawn attacks him. The way Mo was just gormlessly staring, he needn’t have bothered. Luger comes out to a decent pop and swiftly eliminates the useless mercenary Kabuki. Tenryu is out next and, though he’s also being paid to make sure Luger doesn’t win, he doesn’t actually spend much time fighting Lex, which was surely the point of him entering. A non-entrant is believed by the commentary team to be Bret. Bret does come out a couple of entrants later, earning a massive pop. However, he gets no offence on getting in, as Crush goes right to the leg. I liked the continuity of Marty Jannetty going right after Michaels upon getting in the ring. Reminds me of how Tito and Martel would always square off in the Rumble. Somehow, fucking Mo is still around at the end of the Rumble, and takes a shitty elimination – he gets superkicked while facing away from the ropes, then spins round and dives over the top. So bad. The final four is Bret, Lex, Michaels and Fatu, going down to just Bret and Lex as they simultaneously eliminate the other two. The two exchange blows and both end up going over at the same time to be crowned joint-winners. A memorable end to a decent Rumble match.

WWF Royal Rumble 1988

So, the WWE Network finally hit the UK, and so I decided it would make sense to make my next review something from the huge databases of shows available to me. I then decided that, hey, tonight is Royal Rumble night....why not review the first ever edition? This was broadcast on TV, rather than PPV, and there are a few interminable filler sections like "Dino Bravo lifting weights for 20 minutes" which drag, but this blog is solely about the matches, and thankfully there were a few good ones on offer here.

Rick Rude vs Ricky Steamboat

I like the way the match starts with Steamboat skinning the cat to avoid getting thrown over the top rope, and instead throws Rude out, acting as a preview for the forthcoming Rumble. They work a test-of-strength spot, and I love Ventura’s commentary, pointing out Rude has the strength advantage, but Steamboat escaped due to his speed and ability. Steamboat controls by working the arm of Rude, which affects Rude’s ability to use it to pose later in the match. Brilliant. Rude isn’t quite the finished package at this point, with a few blows looking a bit milky. Rude manages to slam Steamboat on the floor outside the ring, and inside holds a camel clutch to continue his focus on the back. Slightly blown moment as they do the “three arm drop” spot, only for Steamboat not to keep his arm up on three, needing a fourth raise from the ref. Steamboat gets a few close nearfalls off a succession of roll-ups, but a crossbody is prevented as Rude pulls the ref in front of the flying Steamboat. Rude hitches an over-the-shoulder backbreaker and thinks he’s won as the ref calls for the bell, but it’s actually a DQ win for Steamboat. Decent enough opener.

The Glamour Girls vs the Jumping Bomb Angels

This is 2/3 falls for the WWF Women’s tag titles. Vince helpfully doesn’t know the names of either Bomb Angel until after the first ad break, so refers to them as Red Angel and Pink Angel throughout. The Glamour Girls (Leilani Kai and Judy Martin) are bigger and stronger than the Angels, but the Angels are able to control the early going due to their speed advantage, at one point downing both Glamour Girls with stereo figure-fours. They continue to work over Kai, leading to an amusing tug of war spot, as Martin tries to pull her partner back to their corner. Martin is pretty deadly when she does get in the ring, and she throws Yamazaki over her shoulders from a powerbomb position for the first fall.

Second fall sees Kai continuing the domination of Yamazaki, but misses a splash to allow the hot tag to Tateno. Martin tries the same move that won them the first fall, but Tateno is fresher and reverses to a sunset flip for the equalising fall.
The final fall sees the Girls dishing out some pretty nasty looking blows to consolidate their power advantage. Kai hits a pretty swanky looking butterfly suplex, but this gets outdone when Tateno tags herself into the match, as she hits a bridging butterfly suplex on Martin for two. The Bomb Angels are smart, and don’t let Martin get anywhere near a tag, before finishing her off with a stereo missile dropkick for the victory. This was really fun, with some of the Angels offence way ahead of it’s time for this audience. The Glamour Girls looks great here too, really tough in offence and I think their contribution to this match often gets unfairly overlooked.

Royal Rumble

So, here is the first Rumble, albeit one with only 20 men, and for historical purposes, the first two entrants (already in the ring) are Bret Hart as entrant #1 and Tito Santana for entrant #2. A couple more first sees Santana being the first man to be double-teamed as Butch Reed helps the Hitman wear him down, and Reed goes on to be the first man eliminated when Jake Roberts sends him over the top . It’s fun to see how even guys like Sam Houston and Jim Brunzell get big reactions from the crowd as they enter. I love the disgust in Vince’s voice as Danny Davis enters the match. Ventura does his best throughout the match to put over Bret Hart’s endurance, which Vince barely acknowledges. There’s an odd moment as Nikolai Volkoff jumps the gun, running down the ring right on the heels of Don Muraco, and has to be held in place by the referees until another two minutes go by. It soon becomes notable how they’ve stacked the running order for the Rumble – the early entrants are all guys with high stamina, like Bret, Santana, Houston and the Killer Bees. As we continue, the second half sees bigger guys like Volkoff, Dino Bravo, One Man Gang and the Junkyard Dog come in. Bret, in fact, last until the 18^th entrant (the Ultimate Warrior) is walking to the ring. It’s odd to see the Warrior at this stage, where he’s just another guy rather than THE guy. Despite the crowd chanting for the DDT all night long, Roberts gets thrown out without getting to hit it, though Duggan uses the 3 point stance to send Davis out. The final four sees Bravo, Gang, Muraco and Duggan in the ring. The heels gang up on Muraco, with Bravo holding the Rock in place for Gang to clothesline out. This leaves them 2-on-1 on Duggan. They try the same trick (having established it works, possibly the only time in Rumble history that a heel HASN’T hit his partner with that move), but predictably Gang accidently sends Bravo out instead. Gang charges Duggan, who drops down with the top rope to send Gang out and pick up the win. Not as finely polished as future Rumbles, but still pretty fun.

The Islanders vs the Young Stallions

A curious choice of main event. The Stallions and the Islanders were two of the final three teams in the big Survivor Series tag the past November (along with the Killer Bees), so there is some history three. This is 2/3 falls. The Stallions out-wrestle the Islanders early on, and by avoiding a double-cross from a Tama fake handshake, outsmart them too. A weird botched-looking hiptoss by Haku gives the Islanders control on Jim Powers. The heat section on Powers is pretty brief, before Roma tags in. This is pretty much a storm in a teacup, as Haku pulls the top rope down, sending Roma to the floor, injuring his leg for a countout first fall to the Islanders.

The second fall comes after a break and an interview with Andre, as Vince tells us that trainers have been looking at the leg of Roma. Roma has to start the next fall, being the loser of the previous fall, and Tama goes right for the obvious weakspot. Roma is in such trouble, he willingly causes more pain to his leg just so he can get to make the tag to Powers, by lifting his knees on a Haku splash. Powers has a brief offensive flurry, but it can’t last forever and soon the Islanders are in control. The booking is interesting, as they need to promote the Islanders (who are feuding with the British Bulldogs at this point), but clearly was to protect the Survivor Series-winning Stallions too. Hence the leg injury to make the Stallions look plucky and courageous in the face of great odds. Powers gets a few hope spots too, with a nearfall from a small package being close. Powers eventually gets to make the lukewarm tag to Roma after a weird botched dropkick from Haku (that actually kinda connected), but Roma manages only a few blows before Haku sweeps his leg out. A top rope splash onto the leg sets up a single-leg crab on Roma that gives him no choice but to submit. Pretty decent bout.

 

WWF Mega Matches

Back in the early 2000's, before YouTube and discovering the indies, it was always a massive treat to discover wrestling on sale for cheap, no matter what it was, and those rare days where some wrestling would turn up in Cash Generator were an absolute joy. I still fondly remember finding 3 ECW PPV's on tape at £3 each, and snapping them up even though I wasn't a huge ECW fan. This tape I bought and watched it in full once, before it went into the small hamper I have of wrestling tapes and sat there until this week. Let's give it another watch

Tito Santana vs Earthquake
Tito goes into this match with the dirt-worst game plan possible, which is to totally underestimate the power of Quake. He tries go-behinds that see him rammed into the corner, tries shoulderblocks that he clearly is never going to win and gets caught by the big man when he tries a crossbody. He does try to work a body part but, despite having used a figure-four as a past finisher and knowing that working a leg would make it hard for Quake to support his weight, he instead decides to work the arm. This, of course, leave the other arm free, so Quake clubs him down and starts to go to work on Tito. Quake seems to be in "methodical house show" mode here, so his attack is pretty unexciting. I did like Tito managing to escape a bearhug by climbing the turnbuckle, whilst still in Quake's arms, to get better elevation. Flying forearm only gets two, so you know Quake is getting pushed here. A missed Tito dropkick sets up the usual finishing sequence for Earthquake, but Tugboat comes in before the seated splash to attack and give Quake the win by DQ. Dino Bravo and Rhythm & Blues enter the ring (to save the heel from an unprompted 2-on-1 assault mind you; Quake hadn't broken a single rule all match) before Hacksaw Duggan makes the save for Tito and Tugger with the 2x4. Lord Alfred Hayes describes this as a moral win for Tito. What the fucking fuck? Match was pretty dull.

Bobby Heenan vs Big Boss Man
You know this isn't going to be much of a match, but you also know this should be fun. Heenan is gold on the mic to start, begging Boss Man's forgiveness for all his mother jokes, saying he'd sent roses to Boss Man's mother and saying she was on the phone in the back to ask Boss Man not to fight the Brain. This is clearly gearing up to an ambush in the back (not picked up on by the announcers), and Boss Man thinks about leaving the ring, before quickly decimating the Brain in 30 seconds, pinning him with a foot. Mr Perfect tries to save his manager (so you know there was a backstage assault plan), but fails and Bobby gets a ball-and-chain dropped on his chest. Fun deal.

Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs Sgt. Slaughter
Not much to this one. Slaughter takes a few nice bumps off Duggan's big goofy punches, before a flag to the back from General Adnam gives him the advantage. Slaughter looks to be maintaining focus on the back by hitting a backbreaker, but Duggan soon recovers and makes an abrupt comeback. Three point stance is interrupted by Adnam grabbing his leg, and Hacksaw chases him away to lose by DQ. Pointless.

Bret Hart vs the Barbarian
I like both guys, so this should be decent. Bret oddly goes against his usual logical instincts and decides to try and hiptoss the Barbarian, which fails, and this allows Barbarian to dominate with some power moves. Bret uses his speed advantage to avoid a 2nd rope elbow, and the Hart Attack clothesline is counted as a three in a botch by the slow, doddery old ref. He's terrible all match. Barbarian hits a lovely powerslam for the comeback, but when he drops down to counter a sunset flip, Bret in turn reverses that into a winning pinfall. Another match that's way too short on this tape.

Rhythm & Blues vs the Bushwhackers
By way of contrast, I'd prefer this match to be kept short. I've no idea why poor old Rhythm & Blues were forever paired with Luke and Butch. Valentine nails a lovely clothesline on Luke to take over, and the match is bearable when Valentine and Honky are in control. Butch comes in to break up a fair pinfall, then gets annoyed when Honky comes in to send him out to the floor. This seemingly makes it fair for Butch to level HTM with a guitar for the DQ. I fucking hate the Bushwhackers.

Hulk Hogan vs Dino Bravo
Earthquake is in Bravo's corner, so the Big Bossman is announced for Hogan's corner. This leads to a hilarious over-reaction by one girl in the crowd, who repeatedly shrieks with excitement. Scary. The match isn't much to speak about, though Hogan does his best to make it interesting. I did love him levelling Bravo with a single chop. Some Earthquake interference gives Bravo the advantage, and he keeps interfering throughout the match, with Bossman's only attempts to stop him being to slowly wander over, by which point the damage is done. Even Sean Mooney points out how useless the Bossman is here. Bravo's offence is really dull, all chokes and punches, and the only thing stopping a bearhug being tedious is how well Hogan sells it. Hogan has the smarts to nearly break it, before letting Bravo sinch it in again, to keep the crowd into the match. Bravo hits his finishing side suplex, but Hogan kicks out on two, Hulks up and swiftly hits the big boot and legdrop to win. Poor match.

Haku vs the British Bulldog
This must be early in the Bulldog's comeback, as he's only billed as "Davey Boy Smith" here. We come in joined in progress with Bulldog holding a sleeper. We've got two big lads who can move here, highlighted by a nice crossbody and a crucifix by Smith. He also takes a huge bump from a back bodydrop. Haku is pretty methodical here, and holds Smith in two consecutive restholds for a little bit too long. Bulldog gets little comebacks, but Haku is pretty good at cutting them off. Bulldog at one point breaks a sleeper, but ends up being hurled upside down to the corner. There is a midring collision, where Davey Boy somehow recovers quicker, despite being beaten up for the past 5-7 minutes. Davey locks in a sharpshooter, but Bobby Heenan pushes to rope to Haku to force a break. Bulldog sends Haku flying with a back bodydrop of his own, and the running powerslam gets three. Nice to get a decent length match here.

Randy Savage vs Hacksaw Jim Duggan
There are a lot of smoke and mirrors in this match, but I don't really think they needed the help. Both guys put in a really good effort in the match. I loved Duggan's big punches early on, which Savage sells big time. Sensational Sherri attacks Duggan to give Savage an opening, and I love Duggan's selling here. Not only is he not afraid to sell for a lady, he also does a great job of making Savage look good. There is a great bit where Duggan slowly gets to his feet, getting fired up, only to turn into a top rope ax handle by Savage, and this leads up to Savage trying again a few minutes later, only for Duggan to be ready with a clothesline to the gut. Savage takes two big bumps, one from the ring to the floor then one from the floor over the guardrail. Hacksaw levels him with a chair, which doesn't draw a DQ somehow. The big knee only gets two after Sherri distracts the ref, but Duggan is smart enough not to take his eye off Savage as he yells at her, and avoids a sneak attack. Savage misses the top rope elbow, but the three point stance from Duggan sends the Macho King to the outside. The ref gets bumped, giving Duggan a visual fall, before Savage levels him with a weapon. A slow count from the ref means this only gets two as the drama gets cranked up, before Savage pins him with his feet on the rope to win. Really good match, with great effort from both men.

Randy Savage vs the Ultimate Warrior
This is a cage match, though they battle outside the cage at first, following a misguided attempt at a sneak attack by Savage. Warrior wipes the floor with him. I would be remiss in not mentioning how fucking unbearable Brother Love is on commentary. The opening stages are so slow, as Savage hurls Warrior into the cage with a handful of trunks, then both guys get VERY slowly to their feet. A double clothesline spot puts both down, and they act like they've worked an iron man match when we're only 5 mins in. Savage wears Warrior down with chokes and eye rakes, before the top rope elbow only gets two. Warrior fires back with the usual, but the splash hits knees. Suddenly, the match is nearly over as Savage climbs almost all the way out, only for Warrior to grab him by the hair. Sherri comes in to interfere and bang, Savage falls to the floor a victor. Terrible match, with no real drama or pacing. After, Warrior beats up Savage and looks to be about to beat Sherri before a sudden cut.

WWF The British Bulldogs

This is a VHS release from the mid 80's designed to showcase then tag champs the British Bulldogs. Aside from some less-than-fascinating footage of Davey Boy Smith and the Dynamite Kid working out, the content is almost all match footage, which should be good. Which SHOULD be good. Unfortunately, whoever selected the matches really wanted the Bulldogs to look like crap.

The British Bulldogs vs Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff
This is from late 85, at a time when Beefcake and Valentine currently held the tag-titles. Sheik and Volkoff don't really give the Bulldogs much offence here, but what little we get is pretty spectacular. Sheik's offence looks particularly milky here, while Volkoff at least looks committed with his clubbing blows, and he has a nice way of cowering off on the moments when the Bulldogs are on offence. Dynamite Kid soon becomes the face-in-peril, where Volkoff has one particularly impressive spot when he holds Kid off the ground in a choke with one hand, high over his head. The Bulldogs finally get a bit of offence when Sheik hits Volkoff by accident and Davey Boy gets two on a running powerslam on Sheik. However, Sheik is soon back on offence, leading to the camel clutch, which Kid breaks. Volkoff goes for a slam on Smith, but Dynamite gets a missile dropkick, which leads to Davey Boy landing on top for the win. Not a particularly good showcase for the Bulldogs here.

Dynamite Kid vs Bret Hart
Man, this gets good straight away, with the opening sequence so good that they go to a replay of it within two minutes of the match starting. Kid then hits Bret with a beautiful snap suplex before we get some clipping. On return, the two men are still trying to outwrestle each other to gain superiority. Bret finally takes control, including slamming Kid onto the concrete floor outside. Bret keeps control over Kid, but Kid manages to absorb the offence and keep hitting flash pins on Bret for two counts. Hart soon gets frustrated by this and chokes Kid before tying him in the ropes, but Dynamite avoids a crossbody, leaving Hart caught up in the ropes. Kid absolutely folds Bret in two with a back suplex and starts to work over the Hitman. It's great just how fluid Dynamite is here, everything looks perfect, including how smoothly he goes from offensive maneuvers to pinfalls. Bret takes control and throws Kid outside, which somehow warrants a replay. When we comes back, Kid has rolled up Bret for the win. Really fun match which they manage to almost run with shitty production errors. Anvil attacks Dynamite after the match, only for Davey Boy to make the save, This leads to...

Davey Boy Smith vs Jim Neidhart
The battle of the powerhouses. Davey Boy tries to take the Anvil down by running off the ropes, but this ends in a stalemate, so instead Davey downs the Anvil with a single-leg takedown. This pretty much sums up the match- Neidhart uses his strength to take control, but Davey Boy comes back by using his superior speed and matskills. Sadly, the match only goes a few minutes, before the Anvil drops Smith facefirst on the top turnbuckle from an attempted avalanche, and picks up the win. A bit pointless.

The British Bulldogs & Capt Lou Albano vs Greg Valentine, Brutus Beefcake & Johnny Valiant
As a WrestleMania 2 preview, the two teams meet with their managers in a 6-man tag. The first thing this match does is remind me that, as badass as Greg Valentine was, he was more than happy to stooge around to make his opponents look good. Here he flops around on missed elbows and bounces for atomic drops that make the Bulldogs look even better. However, Valentine is also happy to match both Bulldogs blow for blow, which makes the decision to have the Hammer do most of the work for his team a sensible one. There are moments when the match threatens to become a bit of a mess - the first Bulldog hot-tag is an anti-climatic moment that the fans barely notice following a brawl between all six men - but things just about keep together. Beefcake possibly spends less time in the ring here than Valiant, but he does hit a nice vertical suplex for two. The Hammer then hits an odd piledriver on Kid that ends up almost like a tombstone for two. Hot tag is made to Davey Boy, and it's Valiant who ends up bumping like a pinball for him, getting huge air on a back bodydrop and getting caught with a big running powerslam for two. All six men end up in the ring, but Valentine and Valiant get taken out, and Beefcake is rolled up for three. Beefcake must be pretty low on the pecking order that he took the fall instead of his manager.

The British Bulldogs vs The Dream Team
Sadly it's only the last two minutes of the WrestleMania 2 match. This does mean I still got to enjoy Davey Boy holding up Valentine one-handed for the running powerslam and Beefcake slamming Smith on a hammerlock in an insane bump, before the Bulldogs win the tag titles following a clashing of heads between Dynamite and Valentine

The British Bulldogs vs The Moondogs
Fun little match here. The opening shows the Bulldogs matching strength with the Moondogs, before taking control on Spot with some dropkicks. Clip to the Moondogs dominating Davey Boy. The match takes on a pretty solid formula tag match from this point, with the Moondogs keeping Davey Boy down and cutting the ring in half. Rex hits a big splash for two before Spot and Smith clash heads. Davey Boy tags Kid, but only on a false tag, allowing the Moondogs to keep control. A second-rope splash from Rex hits Davey's knees and Davey Boy then suplexes Spot to get the hot tag to Dynamite. Kid is like a whirling dervish as he dominates both Moondogs, before Rex throws him out of the ring. In a cool finish, Rex and Davey Boy brawl in the ring, allowing Kid to fly over them from the top rope onto Spot for the win. Plenty of fun and the best the Bulldogs have looked as a team thus far, might well have been even better without clipping.

Davey Boy Smith vs Greg Valentine
We kick off with even more Valentine stooging, this time taking a Flair flop off some Davey offence. Awesomely, DBS locks in a Sharpshooter on Valentine, though Monsoon and Hayes on commentary don't think the move can work as it doesn't allow you to sit all the way back. Funny how things change. Davey keeps control with more matwork. Clip to some Valentine control before DBS hits the running powerslam for 2. Valentine shows his experience advantage by luring smith to the floor before ambushing him on his way back into the ring. Valentine gets the figure four, but Davey Boy powers his way to the ropes. Valentine comes off the second rope with a blow to DBS' head, which is enough for the win. A bit short, you get the impression that all the clipped matches would be pretty good if shown in full

Dynamite Kid vs Brutus Beefcake
Short and sweet. We start with the two exchanging wristlocks, which goes as well as you'd expect for Beefcake. Beefcake uses his size advantage to get control and looks alright, especially a nice stalled suplex. Beefcake throws Kid outside and tries to suplex him in from the apron, but Kid escapes and rolls him up for the win. About 5 minutes of match tops, but everything looked good.

The British Bulldogs vs King Kong Bundy & Big John Studd
So far on this Bulldogs showcase, we've seen them win a 6 man via roll-up, get beaten down for most of the Sheik/Volkoff match, Davey Boy lose two singles matches and Dynamite win his two singles matches via roll-up. Is it likely they'll be allowed to look good in the last match? The early signs are promising: they use their comparative speed and skill as double-teams to control Studd in the early stages, but soon, when going one-on-one with Studd, Davey Boy becomes face-in-peril, as the two monsters dominate. In fairness, Studd and Bundy pull off their roles expertly, looking like beasts and clubbing away at Smith. Soon, however, Dynamite runs in and puts Studd in a sleeper. Bundy runs in and, in the ensuing melee, Studd pushes over the ref to give the Bulldogs a cheap win by DQ. Just to compound making the Bulldogs look like shit, the final shot of their showcase video has the screen freeze on a shoving match between Studd and Bundy. Rule Britannia indeed!

WWF Fan Favourites

This is an VHS that the WWF released in late 89/early 90, with the premise being that each match is one requested by a fan. We get a clip before each match of an unenthusiastic fan saying that wrestler A vs wrestler B would be a classic match, before we cut to the action. Let's see what we get.

Brooklyn Brawler vs Koko B. Ware
I'm sorry, there is no way I buy anyone wanting to see this match. I am especially sure no-one wanted to see a match that was 80% Brawler offence. Koko at least brings some high energy (sorry) early on, busting out a pretty nice flying headscissors, but Brawler has nothing to offer on offence, bringing stomps, chokes and rope-burns to the party. At one point Koko fires back with a sunset flip, which wakens the crowd, but Brawler soon puts a stop to that nonsense by putting on a chinlock to silence. Even Tony Schiavone and Lord Alfred can't say anything positive for Brawler, with Lord Al commenting on his "ponderous" offence. Koko eventually comes back with a nice facebuster from the corner and a killer Ghostbuster to win, but it's too late to save this abortion.

Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs Dusty Rhodes
An altogether more fun match. Both guys are experienced enough to know how to get a reaction from the crowd without putting too much into the match. In this case, both get the crowd into it via their selling. The Hammer sells Dusty's blows in a punch-drunk, groggy manner, while the Dream manages to incorporate a little dancing into his selling, showing his attempts to keep himself in the match. Both men are heavy hitter, and a punch exchange in the corner is particularly fun. Valentine is wearing his shinguard (called the Hartbreaker) to help with his figure four leglock, but it's Dusty who threatens one first, a nice holdover from his days feuding with Flair. Neither man actually gets to put it on, as the end comes from Ronnie Garvin coming out to prevent Jimmy Hart interfering, allowing Rhodes to roll-up a distracted Hammer for the win.

The Twin Towers vs The Hart Foundation
This should be good. The opening stage sets the scene, the Anvil trying a power battle with Boss Man, but failing to budge him on two shoulderblock attempts. Instead, he levels him with a dropkick, adapting his game. Akeem tries it with Bret, and, following a sitdown on a sunset flip attempt, starts to dominate the Hitman. The Twin Towers use their size advantage to control Bret and are plenty of fun to watch in the process, both being blessed with physical charisma and good speed for men of their size, highlighted by a sweet double avalanche in the corner. The Towers dominate Bret and the heat section is really well worked. They throw in 4 or 5 different hope spots before Bret finally gets the hot tag to a huge pop. The Anvil looks great on the hot tag, nailing Akeem with some solid shots, before resorting to using his relative speed for a double dropkick with Bret. It breaks down with all four men outside the ring (Bret even hits a pescado on Boss Man), but Akeem rolls in to beat the count and win. Afterwards, the Harts beat up Slick to regain their heat.

Mr Perfect vs Tito Santana
Two men who share real chemistry in this one. Because he's looked back on so fondly for his bumping ability, I sometimes forget how fluid Mr Perfect was on offence, and he looks really good here, aided by some consistent selling by Santana. Perfect dominates a lot of the offence in this match, but is soon bumping like a demon for Santana. Like with Perfect, I'd forgotten how good Tito was on offence, here showing real aggression as he pounds away at Perfect on the mat. Rick Martel comes out to run interference on Tito as I ponder back on the days when feuds were so well paced that they could afford to dedicate video space to it, safe in the knowledge the feud would be ongoing by the time the tape was released. Tito hits the flying forearm, but Martel puts Hennig's foot on the rope. He then distracts Tito on a figure four attempt, allowing Perfect the time to roll Santana up for the win. A bit short, but a fun bout.

Million Dollar Man vs Jimmy Snuka
The match begins with DiBiase trying to buy his way out of the match, which Schiavone takes great offence to, as it's a match the fans want to see. They shouldn't, because this really isn't very good. DiBiase does his best to bump hugely for Snuka in the opening stages, but Snuka really drags the match down by stopping...inbetween...every...move. DiBiase gets on offence, which is better simply because he doesn't take half an hour to do every move, though Snuka does take an odd bump over the top for a DiBiase clothesline, which looks awkward. The ending comes when Virgil distracts Snuka on the apron, but Snuka avoids a DiBiase attack from behind to roll him up for the win.

Hacksaw Jim Duggan & the Ultimate Warrior vs Andre The Giant & Ravishing Rick Rude
So much fun. Honestly, this is everything a throwaway tag match should be. We kick off with Warrior and Duggan doing each other's signature poses, which is cool, before we get into the action. Make no mistake, this isn't a "moves" match, but it is based around entertaining fans, which it does very well. An early spot sees Rude accidentally clothesline Andre into the ropes (and sells his arm afterwards too!) before getting used as a battering ram on the Giant by the faces. This is also one of the best uses of Andre I've seen from this era- here he's booked as a monster, gleefully stalking Duggan while he's injured. Andre taunts Warrior by doing his rope-shake pose, taunts Duggan by yelling "HOOO!!" while sitting on him and even copies Rude's hip swivel, all with a big grin plastered on his face. The ending is pretty predictable, Duggan belting Rude with the 2x4 while the ref is distracted, which leads to a Warrior splash for the win, but it's impossible to watch this and not be entertained. Good stuff.

WWE's Most Incredible Steel Cage Matches (Disc 2)

The long awaited follow-up to my September look at the first disc. This has more matches on, at least two of which are stone-wall classics.

Magnum TA vs. Tully Blanchard
This is for the US title and is an “I Quit” match. It’s also fucking brutal, in the best possible way. Both guys absolutely lay into each other in a vicious, hate-filled way, and it’s glorious. Tully busts open TA early doors and tries to gets a quick submission, which leads to the awesome visual of TA slowly powering his way out, rising to his feet in agony with blood pouring down his face. Soon Tully is bleeding from the arm after being thrown into the cage shoulder first, and Magnum claws away at the wound like a feral animal. It’s not a “moves” match, and it absolutely shouldn’t be, as it tells the viewer so much more when you’ve got two guys on their knees just slugging away at each other. Another highlight soon follows as Tully screams into the mic for TA to quit, only to greet Magnum’s refusal by bludgeoning his forehead with the mic and asking him again. The ending is fitting as well, with Tully smashing a wooden chair and trying to stab TA with a splinter, only for TA to get control of the splinter himself and stab Tully in the eye with it for the submission. Just an all-round brutal, violent brawl full of hate and venom that feels more brutal than anything I’ve seen in mainstream wrestling in the last few years.

Ric Flair vs. Dusty Rhodes
Sadly, with modern-day mental Flair, you forget how cool the Nature Boy looked in the 80’s, though the fact his kneepads don’t match his tights is a major fashion faux-pas. The early parts of the match are quite cautious, with Tony Schiavone selling the story that both men knows the other too well to take any chances. Big Dust stays one step ahead of Flair, until Flair takes advantage of the slightest opening and goes to work on Rhodes. At this point, about 5 minutes into the match, we have our first bit of offence based around the cage as Flair throws Dusty into the walls, and the reaction from the crowd shows it was a clever idea to hold it back. Being the Dirtiest Player In The Game, Flair is in his element at this point, grinding Rhodes face first intro the cage. Flair works over Dusty’s legs, as the commentators remind the audience about Rhodes’ broken ankle the previous year, which is the exact part of the leg that Flair works on. I adored the way Big Dust broke the eventual figure four by flip, flop and flying into a reversal. Now Dusty throws Flair into the cage for the first time, which pops the crowd impressively. The ending doesn’t quite gel as much as the earlier parts of the match, with it not seeming as well structured outside of Flair’s desperate attempts to escape a resurgent Dream. Dusty catches Flair in a small package for a slightly anticlimactic three.

The Andersons vs. the Rock’n’Roll Express
A curious choice for the set, as it’s pretty much structured as a regular tag match that just happens to be in a cage (to keep the Horsemen out, we’re told on commentary). These two teams seem perfectly matched, with the Anderson’s happy to pick one opponent to focus on and find a body part to work over, while the Express are renowned masters of selling and building sympathy. The R’n’R’s take advantage from the get-go with some high-velocity offence, but their over-exuberance comes back to haunt them as Gibson charges into a corner and whacks his knee on the cage. This gives the Anderson’s their opening, and Robert Gibson is soon playing Ricky Morton as Ole and Arn work over his knee like a flock of vultures. Of course, you can’t have Morton not playing Morton for long, and the hot-tag leads to a very brief spell of offence before the Anderson’s work over Morton’s arm (Ole even rubs his hands in glee as he prepares to leap from the top onto Morton’s arm). The heat section continues until Morton gets a two from a roll-up. Gibson and Arn both get involved, which leads to Gibson dropkicking Ole as he tries to slam Morton, allowing Morton to fall on top for the win. Fun formula tag match with a rather abrupt ending.

Owen Hart vs. Bret Hart
I can still remember watching this match when I was 12 and going absolutely nuts for it. It’s still, for my money, the most perfectly executed cage match I’ve seen. Straight away, you can feel the hate from both guys, Owen attacking right at the bell and both seem to be working quite snugly with their punches. The match works so well because both guys do realistic things during the match- both try for the door repeatedly because it’s the smart thing to do, but both will try to climb the cage if they’re far from the door. When they try and escape through the door, both Bret and Owen are frantic in their actions, clawing desperately at the apron, the ringsteps or the cage itself in a vain bid to get out, while the other clings to their foot for dear life. When they climb over the top, it’s perfectly timed so each attempt feels like it’s going to be the one that ends the match, only for the opponent to get there JUST in the nick of time. In amongst the escape attempts, we also get some beautifully executed wrestling. In one highlight, Owen hits Bret with a missile dropkick, before kipping up and leaping for the cage in a fairly fluid movement. Owen also hits Bret with a beautiful piledriver. Bret returns the favour later by superplexing Owen from the top of the cage. Both guys also get to lock in the Sharpshooter right at the end, with Bret using the reversal 3 years before Montreal. The ending sees both guys fighting on the outside of the cage, before Owen’s legs get stuck in the bars allowing Bret to leap to victory. Owen, realistically, was never going to win this match, as he wasn’t established as a main event talent. However, this match really put him on the map in my 12 year old eyes, as he came THIS close to winning and only lost to Bret due to a freak accident. At the same time, Bret looks like he earned his victory, so the match made both guys look top drawer. You can’t ask for much more than that.

Mankind vs. Triple H
From Summerslam 97 in the classic blue-bar cage. Triple H dives for the door from the get-go, and nearly escapes. This sets the tone for the early part of the match, where Mankind is dominant in his kind of setting, with only the interference of Chyna keeping HHH in the match. Chyna climbs the cage to low-blow Mankind as he tries to escape, which allows Triple H to suplex Foley from the top of the cage. It even looks like a sloppy throws from the top, which looks realistic and painful. With this new-found advantage, HHH decides not to escape and instead punish Foley, ramming him into the cage repeatedly. Both guys take big bumps for each other, with HHH being backdropped into the cage to give Mankind control. He tries to escape, but Chyna slams the door on his head (which Foley describes in his book as being unimaginable pain). Mankind reverses a pedigree into a slingshot, firing HHH into Chyna, who was hanging off the cage. A double-arm DDT on a chair looks to have won the match for Mankind, but he decides to hit an elbow from the top of the cage instead of escaping, before narrowly winning a race to the floor as Chyna tries to pull HHH from the cage. It would be remiss of me to not mention Chyna almost blowing the ending by trying to pull HHH out before Foley hits his big elbow. Really good match, which let Mankind look good after putting HHH over at King of the Ring, with the story showing that this match style suited Foley more AND gave the fans huge bumps which made sense in the context of the match.

Shawn Michaels vs Marty Jannetty
This is a Coliseum Video match and, to be honest, it shows. Both guys look very sluggish, and it doesn't really kick off until the ending stretch of the match. In fact, the most entertaining thing about the match is the commentary by Gorilla Monsoon and Johnny Polo. Polo starts off by calling Michaels pudgy, before Gorilla starts to pop off at everyone from ref Bill Alphonso, who commits the crime of counting pins in a cage match, to the director for zooming in too close to the action. Meanwhile, Michaels puts a chinlock on Jannetty to no reaction from the crowd (described by Polo as a "stunned silence"). Eventually, things begin to heat up with the escape attempts, with a slugfest on top of the cage popping the crowd before Jannetty hurling HBK from the top to the mat below. Jannetty tries to climb out, only to be stopped by Diesel, giving Michaels the time to escape from the door for the win. Tedious match made better by the commentary.

Edge vs. Kurt Angle
Taken from Smackdown in 2002. Kurt is wearing a wig following his defeat in a hair vs. hair match to Edge. Curiously, they start with a little chain wrestling before getting down to the business of ramming each other into the cage. Edge is the first to throw Angle into the cage, but stupidly decides to spear him and predictably spears the cage instead. Angle takes control, hurling Edge into the cage, and then pulling Edge's bleeding head off the canvas by the hair in a nice visual. This is in the build-up to the superlative Smackdown 6 period, so both guys are on fire here, with Angle bumping huge to make Edge look good, especially from a top rope back suplex which sends Angle halfway across the ring. An Angle Slam from the top rope allows Kurt to escape the cage, but the ref has been bumped and Hulk Hogan comes to assault Angle and throw him back in the ring to continue the match. Angle and Edge slug it out on top of the cage, which leads to an innovative spot where Angle drops down groin-first onto the open cage door. Back inside, a top rope spear gets the win for Edge. As would become common in 2002, this was a PPV quality match given away for free on TV and as such isn't as well remembered as it should be. The Hogan interference is odd booking (the face cheating to win) but the crowd loved it so it doesn't really matter.