WWF Monday Night Raw 15/08/1994

Owen Hart vs 1-2-3 Kid

Bret vs Kid from a few weeks earlier is the best Raw match we’ve seen so far in 1994, but this isn’t too far off. Owen is so smug at the start of this match, utterly slappable face. He charges Kid from the get go, but runs into a leg lariat, then misses a corner charge at full speed. Kid gets a good chunk of control on a man who is the current #1 contender to the world title, as Owen is unable to shake him off from a headlock, before Kid sends him out of the ring with a dropkick. Kid continues by baseball sliding Owen into Jim Neidhart at ringside, then hits a huge top rope cannonball to the floor. Owen takes over by suplexing Kid from the apron to the floor in a huge bump, Kid’s ankles clipping the railings on the way down. Owen zones in on Kid’s back at this point, hitting two slams into the ringpost, then hitting some lovely looking offence to the spine. Vicious kneedrop, lovely second rope elbow and a ridiculously high elevation backdrop. However, he misses a top rope kneedrop, really crashing down, and Kid takes full advantage. He kicks Owen’s leg away, ties it in the ropes, then locks in a half crab after ducking an enzuigiri. This lures in Neidhart for the save and the unlikely 1-2-3 Kid DQ win. Not sure how this ending makes sense with the upcoming PPV match, as the steel cage meant Neidhart interference was impossible and the next world title contender really should be winning these matches, but the match itself was really good.

Duke “The Dumpster” Droese vs Nick Barberi

Short squash joined in progress with a big Droese slam. Barberi gets a little shine as he hits Dumpster with a few milky elbows, but Droese levels him with a beautiful clothesline. Leaping elbow, which is actually Droese’s least impressive move in this match, gets the three.

Kwang vs Tony Roy

Barely goes two minutes, Kwang clubs Roy down, standing leg lariat then hits a spinning kick for the three. Pointless, though the finishing kick does look good.

Mabel vs Raymond Roy

Not the best Mabel squash, doesn’t really show off his speed or agility. Big necksnap did look good, but we only get a few slams before Roy gets smooshed by a corner splash and a second rope elbow for the win. Some of his best offence, like his full weight belly-to-belly suplex, was sadly missing.

Jeff Jarrett vs Scott Taylor

Another ludicrously short squash, though Jarrett still find time to let Taylor get a few nearfalls. Jarrett’s main character trait is his cockiness, so it makes sense that he’d underestimate his opponent. Taylor misses a crossbody though, and Jarrett zones in on his leg straight away. Figure four gets the quick win. Post match, Mabel comes out to set up their Summerslam match, and Jarrett takes full advantage of the refs stopping Mabel getting in the ring, with big overblown chicken gestures and lying on his back to show the big man how unconcerned he is. Glorious.

WWF Monday Night Raw 18/07/1994

Diesel vs Lex Luger

This is one of those matches that starts off feeling pretty pedestrian, but really drew me into it by the end. There’s nothing fancy, with Diesel in particular very much going through his routine, but they work in enough nearfalls and a hot ending to make it work. I thought Luger was terrific here, hitting a lovely powerslam before taking a big spill to the floor to give Diesel control. Hard not to chuckle at Jim Ross and Randy Savage praising Diesel’s “technical skills” because he can lock on a sleeper. Lex earns a series of two counts on his comeback, with a second rope clothesline coming closest. There’s also a very close fall for Diesel, as Shawn Michaels superkicks Luger as he goes for the torture rack following a ref bump. Sadly, we get a cop out ending, as Razor Ramon comes down and all four men fight for a double DQ.

Mabel vs Austin Steele

Fun squash, with Mabel showing off his strength. Nice overhead suplex, big corner splash and a Bossman Slam get the win.

Owen Hart vs Reno Riggins

As the #1 contender to the world title, Owen maybe gives Riggins a bit too much offence here. Then again, it helps the story, as Owen gets frustrated at Riggins keeping up with him and starts putting in nastier blows. A slick belly-to-belly leads to the sharpshooter for the win.

Thurman Plugg vs George South

This is a pretty by the book squash. Liked the early spot where South went for a leapfrog, only for Plugg to stop and kick him in the stomach. Plugg has pretty basic offense here, but it’s all executed well enough. Top rope crossbody, with good height, gets three.

Bam Bam Bigelow vs Gary Sabaugh

This was one of the better Bigelow performances, as he lays waste to Sabaugh. His corner splash is fast and painful looking, and a standing enzuigiri looks decent. However, Bigelow ends up winning with the worst looking move in the match, a Million Dollar Dream turned into a shitty bulldog. I think he quickly dropped this move, and with good reason. 

WWF Raw 23/05/1994

Owen Hart vs Doink the Clown

This is a King of the Ring qualifying match. Really great Owen performance here. He’s suitably aggressive at the start, jumping Doink at the bell, hitting big upper cuts, and cheating with chokes and eyepokes. Doink is pretty generic by comparison, and relies on Dink outside the ring to give his performance some colour. Dink is a pretty irritating little twat, it has to be said. Honestly, the clowns are so unlikable, it makes it hard to feel bad for Doink when Owen goes after his leg, wrapping it around the ringpost. Owen also hits a perfect belly-to-belly suplex. Doink makes a brief comeback that gets stopped by Jeff Jarrett kidnapping Dink. This distraction lets Owen kip up and roll up Doink to win. Love that Owen kipped up to do the roll up, so wonderfully cocky, and I love that Jarrett let Dink go as soon as Doink lost – can’t blame him for not wanting to be stuck with the shitty little clown.

Duke Droese vs Barry Horowitz

I’m sure this wasn’t the aim of this bout, but I left it thinking Horowitz had a great performance. He bumps around to make Droese look more powerful than he probably was, and his control section on the arm was really fun. Dug him wrapping the arm around the ropes, then giving the ropes a kick. For his part, Droese was fine, nice power moves, but he’d look a touch lost between moves. His spinebuster looked good, and his finishes it with an elbow that looked far worse than the Trash Compacter that he’d later use.

IRS vs Gary Sabaugh

This is really dull. Sabaugh is the former Italian Stallion, but this is a one-sided squash for IRS, and he’s a terrible squash worker. His offence is really basic, and whilst there’s been many a good in-ring story told with not many moves, a squash needs something more interesting to carry the bout along. Not IRS hitting short back elbows, then going to the mat for extended hammerlocks and chinlocks. A brief Sabaugh comeback ends with a stungun, and IRS hits a basic clothesline to win. Waste of time.

Nikolai Volkoff vs Matt Hardy

I liked far more of this than I should have. Volkoff is old and pudgy, and he unleashes some of the weakest looking strikes in this match, but he also works a fun match section to start the bout, he avoids a springboard crossbody by casually walking out of the way, he hits  nice butterfly suplex and wins with a nice Boston crab. I dug this. 

WWF Raw 16/05/1994

Very brief episode of Raw this week. A lot of time is spent on the Earthquake/Yokozuna sumo bout which ends this broadcast. Couple of fun matches though...

Bam Bam Bigelow vs Sparky Plugg

Nothing makes a wrestler sound less threatening than Vince repeatedly referring to him as “Sparky”. I’ve not really enjoyed Bigelow on these old Raw’s, but this was pretty good. They worked a simple cat-and-mouse match, with the future Bob Holly using his speed to try and evade Bigelow. His hope spots are interspersed nicely, and I dug some of Bigelow’s offense here. His shots to the kidney with Holly trapped in the corner looked vicious. Plugg makes his comeback by avoiding a Bigelow corner charge, and hits a nice flurry of moves – bulldog, DDT, top rope crossbody – for two. Luna trips him as her runs the ropes, and this leaves him prone for a slingshot headbutt to give Bigelow the win. Best that both guys have looked in 94 thus far.

Diesel vs Mike Moraldo

Moraldo is a jobber with a thinning mullet, but he’s pretty fun here. Throws a few mean punches before letting Diesel hurl him over the top to the floor in a big bump. He also eats Snake Eyes with a big chest bump before the Jackknife gives Diesel the win.

Owen Hart vs Tony Roy

Owen looks great here, moving swiftly and with nice looking execution. His gutwrench suplex looks terrific. Loved Owen sitting back with a chinlock and having to be stopped by the ref from hitting Roy in the head with a clenched fist. Roy gets a brief flurry, but misses a dropkick and Owen immediately locks in the Sharpshooter to win. Loved Owen going straight to victory the moment he’s in the briefest trouble

WWF Raw 25/4/1994

Jeff Jarrett vs Razor Ramon

Non title match here, with Razor still holding the gold. Jarrett goes for some smart controls early, sliding to the floor and suckering Ramon out to be attacked. Jarrett shows a few nice bits, including a neat diving fist drop. Annoying ad break clip returns with Ramon hitting a sunset flip, and I liked that Jarrett tried to block it, only for Razor to physically hook the arms with his legs to pull him over, instead of Jarrett toppling for no reason. Ramon makes a comeback, which draws out Shawn Michaels. Razor beats him up handily, but Diesel comes out to draw the DQ. Was pretty good until the non-ending.

Bam Bam Bigelow vs Tony Devito

Bigelow remains a pretty dull squash worker, with lots of dead time between his moves. Just nothing compelling despite his execution being fine. An enzuigiri and a headbutt get the win

Heavenly Bodies vs John Paul & Jason Headings

Paul feels like a guy higher on the jobber tier, so he doesn't get totally punked out, looking semi-competitive until he's hit with a double superkick by the Bodies. Del Ray hits a lovely sitout powerbomb on him before Headings comes in. Headings' first act is to grab Pritchard, rush into the corner with him to allow a Del Ray "blind tag", then go to the centre of the ring for an Irish whip. Just looked very amateur, and the Bodies should have known better. They make up for it by blitzing Headings with some fun double-teams: Pritchard back suplexes Del Ray onto Headings, they nail him with a combo powerbomb/neckbreaker and finish the job by Pritchard holding Headings in place for a Del Ray moonsault press.  

1-2-3 Kid vs Duane Gill

Kid squashes are always fun, as they actually feel like competitive bouts. Here, Gill gets to throw Kid from the ring and knock him back down as he tries to climb back in. I like that Kid retorts by using a springboard clothesline to get in, using offense as an opening. Nice leg lariat gets the win.

Owen Hart vs Rich Myers

Really vicious Owen showcase here, with some nice punches and stiff headbutts thrown. Also, loved the bulldog, where it looked like he really was trying to drive Myers’ face into the mat. Nice stuff, ended with a sharpshooter. Owen is up there with Jarrett and Kid as the best of these 94 Raw squash workers.

WWF Raw 27/03/1994

Lex Luger vs Rick Martel

Luger is coming off his controversial loss at WM10. Pretty high paced to start, with Luger showing some real fire in his punches. Loved some of Martel’s in-ring stooging, turning around lost on a criss-cross in time to get bulldozed by a Luger shoulderblock. Sadly, things slow down at this point, as both guys decide to apply long headlocks. Luger actually works his, but Martel locks in 3 dull headlocks. His control doesn’t get any more inspired, with a few boots and blows. Luger blows landing on his feet off a backdrop, but hits a powerslam and the torture rack for the win.

Owen Hart vs Mike Freeman

Perfectly fine squash, as Owen schools Freeman on the mat. Some nice little touches, with Owen hitting a nasty stomp to the prone elbow on Freeman. Owen gives Freeman one or two hope spots, but nails a lovely looking bulldog and locks in the sharpshooter for the win.

Doink vs Eric Cody

The problem in the early days of Doink post-Matt Borne, is that the replacement Doink would try and replicate Borne’s mat skills to maintain the same style. However, he was nowhere near as capable as Borne, so you’d get periods of Doink holding armbars as if he was the new Ricky Steamboat. This is largely dull, bar Dink coming in to run over Cody’s prone body, which the ref seems to deem perfectly fine. A bit of token armwork and a slam seem to render Cody totally incapable of movement and the Whoopee Cushion gets the win.

1-2-3 Kid vs the Black Phantom

Fun little match, as Kid’s small stature means this is worked a bit more evenly than the usual squash. Black Phantom gets to show a bit with a nice short back elbow and a committed headfirst dive into the turnbuckle. Kid takes a big bump, almost landing on his neck on a missed dropkick. 1-2-3 Kid comes back with a lovely running dropkick in the corner, and a moonsault crossbody gets the win.

Crush vs Ray Hudson

Crush has been surprisingly fun in squashes in 94. Loved him grabbing a running Hudson by the throat with a swift chokeslam, and a thrust kick to the jaw looks vicious. Knee drop gets the very quick win.

WWF Raw 07/03/1994

The Smoking Gunns vs Owen Hart & Crush

All four guys cut quite a quick tempo to start, including Bart Gunn hitting a moonsault crossbody on Crush, which looked good. The Gunns do a few bits here that I really liked, with Billy trying to take Crush over with a crucifix and, when Crush proved to be too strong, transitioning to a sunset flip instead. Loved Owen tagging in, but his ego causing him to rush into a hiptoss right away. Owen takes over with a leg lariat on Billy, but we miss almost the entire heat section due to commercial break. We actually come back right on the hot tag. Terrific. The end sees Crush clip Bart’s leg as he has Owen up for a powerbomb, and Owen locks on the Sharpshooter for the win. What we saw was fine, but they really missed the heart of the match.

Virgil vs Jeff Jarrett

Man, whoever laid out this match deserved firing. Virgil takes 80% of this match, which is ridiculous considering which of the two was getting a push, and it’s not even compelling domination. It’s mostly Virgil working a wristlock on Jarrett with nothing to pop the crowd. The only entertaining thing about Virgil’s domination is Jarrett’s stooging: yelling “I got him” before Virgil reverses a hammerlock, and having this hilarious look of total shock as he goes over on a sunset flip. JJ breaks the wristlock and things speed up a bit….for 30 seconds before Jarrett DDT’s Virgil for the win. A match that helped no-one.

Doink vs “Iron” Mike Sharpe

In many respects, the comically loud Sharpe is the perfect foil for the hijinks of Doink. Sadly, there is very little of note to this squash, as a missed corner charge by Sharpe leads to the Whoopie Cushion for the Doink win. Missed opportunity.

IRS vs Matt Thomas

An IRS squash is not the exciting main event that would have kept me tuned in in 1994. Thomas looks in good shape, but isn’t much cop in the ring, as IRS holds his hand through an armwringer reversal before Thomas almost botches a roll-up. Not that IRS’ offence is much better. He works a dull abdominal stretch section that goes on too long, before pointlessly working over Thomas’ leg for about 30 seconds. I say pointlessly, as the very next move after releasing the leglock is the matchwinning clothesline. Not a good episode of Raw.

WWF Raw 07/02/1994

The Smoking Gunns vs Barry Horowitz & Reno Riggins

Decent little squash to start the night. Riggins and Horowitz are upper-tier jobbers, so they get a little offence to start, hammering Billy in their corner. I loved the Bart Gunn top rope crossbody off the tag which took out both opponents. The Gunns control with a few nice double-teams, nothing mindblowing, but good basic teamwork. They finish with Billy Gunn hitting a top rope elbow on Riggins as Bart held him in an Argentine backbreaker.

Owen Hart vs John Paul

Great work by Owen in this match, his first on Raw since the heel turn. He highlights his new found aggressiveness with some sharp back elbows and uppercuts, which distance him from his old persona. After a lovely backbreaker, he locks in the Sharpshooter for the win.

 

IRS vs Marty Jannetty

Quick tempo to start, as Marty sends IRS from the ring after getting attacked from behind. Jannetty takes a huge bump on the floor after getting sent into the ringpost, but seconds later hits a lazy sunset flip into the ring, with the post bump seemingly having no effect. The Quebeccers come out as we go to break, continuing the Jannetty/Johnny Polo beef, but have been sent to the back by the time we return. IRS makes sure to work in a lengthy abdominal stretch and that spot when he jumps off the top rope onto his opponent’s outstretched foot to make sure I don’t enjoy myself. Marty makes his comeback as a whole load of people come out to the ringside, as Polo is followed by Razor Ramon, who is followed in turn by a returning Quebeccers. This leads to a ref distraction where Polo pushes Marty as he leaps into the ring, and IRS wins. Jannetty and Razor clean house to lead to a tag title match in two weeks time

Thurman “Sparky” Plug vs Duane Gill

Poor old Bob Holly. He’s in an awkward position where he’s kinda portrayed as a high flyer, but he doesn’t do that many high flying moves, so he hits a lot of dropkicks and quick armdrags to show he has speed. I dug the spot where Gill tried to outsmart Plugg by springboarding himself out of the ring, only to meet a punch to the face on the ring apron. Plugg hits a nice powerslam and finishes with a top rope kneedrop (“he calls that the Overhead Cam”, a wretched finisher name)

Crush vs James Thornberg

Surprisingly fun. I loved it early when Thornberg hit two no-sold clotheslines, and Crush grabbed the third and yanked him to the mat for a Fujiwara armbar. Crush’s offence is ok, with a few nice kick combo’s thrown in, and he hits a legdrop for the win.

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 Raw 17/01/1994

Owen Hart vs Terry Austin

Decent little Owen showcase here. In many respects, this is quite the feather in Owen’s cap as he manages to look good in victory, whilst still having to compete against a guy who isn’t able to properly bump for a monkey flip. Owen hits a lovely crisp knee drop early, whilst an enzuigiri nearly beheads Austin. Missile dropkick and the Sharpshooter given Owen the win.  

Tatanka vs George South

You can tell South is veteran enhancement talent, as he knows how to make a guy like Tatanka look good. South stooges about for Tatanka, taking nice bumps and gurning to get reactions from the crowd. Tatanka is still pretty green here, but he’s got good energy and hits a series of chops, with the final top rope tomahawk chop getting him the victory.

Diesel vs Scott Powers

The pudgy Powers gets the briefest run of offence, hitting a dropkick on Diesel, before getting beaten down the rest of the match. I liked Diesel’s backbreaker here, dropping Powers suddenly onto his knee. The rest was pretty by the numbers, as Diesel hits the big boot and an elbow drop to win.

Randy Savage vs IRS

Crush is on commentary, and given his lack of love for Savage, you can predict that he might get involved here. They brawl pretty much as soon as Savage is in the ring, and cut a surprisingly high tempo for an IRS match. Huge bump by Savage, as he gets hurled over the top rope to the floor. Savage’s comeback is cut off by the break, and we return to IRS still in control and still showing actual aggression. Savage continues to bump big, hurling himself chest first into the turnbuckles then, when he stupidly decides to confront Crush on the floor, IRS flings him into a ring post. At this point, IRS does slow things down a bit too much, with three chinlocks and an abdominal stretch killing too much time. IRS is pretty good at cutting off Savage’s comebacks, but one last comeback sees Savage going to the top rope for the elbow, before the predicted Crush interference causes him to pick up the DQ win instead. A big melee with Lex Luger, Yokozuna, Bret Hart and more sees us to the end of the show.

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.