WCW Thunder 22/01/1998

Scott Steiner vs Konnan

Only a brief taster of a match, with Steiner basically running over Konnan for two minutes before the NWO run in. Still, it’s fun to watch Steiner hurl Konnan about with a t-bone suplex and a big press slam before the hubbub.

Chavo Guerrero Jr & Super Calo vs Silver King & La Parka

This was a blast, as much fun as you’d expect from these guys given 5 minutes. La Parka sets the tone early when he bumps onto his head when he gets legswept into the ropes. Calo gets briefly worked over, with Silver King draping him off the apron to allow Parka to hit a pescado stomp in a nutty spot. Silver King drops him with a big Eye of the Storm. Calo makes the tag after an awkward double enzuigiri spot where Calo has boots from both Parka and King, they both try an enzuigiri and you can’t tell who is supposed to have been hit. I assume that Calo is supposed to have ducked as he brings Chavo in, who looks great. He moves so well, culminating with him taking out Parka with a suicide dive and Calo pins King after a top rope flying headscissors.

Marty Jannetty vs Dean Malenko

So this was an unexpected little gem. I mean, both guys are capable of great things, but it’s as if the stars aligned to catch them both at their best. You’d probably not think of Marty Jannetty as a great matworker, but here he is keeping up with Malenko in a competitive opening section. Neither gets a sustained run of control, as there’s always a stiff punch or a well-timed kick to break things up. Loved Malenko hitting a series of shoulder barges in the corner, only for Marty to lift a big knee to smack Malenko in the face. Malenko hits a neat low angle crossbody and Marty gets a nearfall with a victory roll, before Malenko is able to escape a Rocker Dropper, hit a double underhook powerbomb and lock in the Texas Cloverleaf for the win. Great stuff.

Goldberg vs Kendall Windham

Fun squash, with Goldberg surprising Windham from the bell by snatching a leg and locking in a rolling leglock. Windham hits a lovely big punch and a clothesline, but Goldberg hits the spear and the Jackhammer to win.

Rey Mysterio Jr vs Eddie Guerrero

Only brief, but you give these guys a few minutes and they’ll still give you gold. They cut a quick pace from the start, Rey sending Eddie to the floor with a tilt-a-whirl armdrag. Rey is wearing a kneebrace, so Eddie trips him from the floor and hits a slingshot senton onto the knee. Eddie keeps focus on the knee to wear Rey down, before hitting a big brainbuster. Rey sends him to the floor and hits a big tope con hilo, but Chris Jericho comes out to attack for the DQ…

Chris Jericho vs Chris Benoit

In a nice little block of TV, Jericho and Eddie beat down Rey, drawing out Benoit who was due to face Jericho later on in the show. Eddie sees him and swiftly leaves, leaving Jericho to turn around face to face with an angry Benoit who attacks to start the match. Jericho plays a cat and mouse game, constantly fleeing the ring to try and lure out Benoit. Eventually, he fakes a knee injury, allowing him to pull Benoit into the corner, hitting his head on a turnbuckle. Jericho hits the Lionsault (no cover), a surprisingly nice forearm and a top rope superplex, but Benoit lands on his feet on a back suplex and gets a surprise German. Dig Benoit, while still recovering, using Jericho’s momentum against him, avoiding a charge and letting Jericho essentially stungun himself. Benoit ducks a clothesline, and locks in the crossface, with Jericho tapping before the hold is even applied. A glorious piece of cowardice, with his cruiserweight title match in two days.

Rick Martel vs Saturn

This was set up by Saturn throwing Martel through a plate glass window earlier in the night, so Martel is fired up from the start, rushing the ring, sending Saturn to the floor and hurling him into the steps. Martel is such a good fired up face, it makes you wonder why his most well-known WWF run saw him primarily as a heel. Saturn needs a Flock distraction to get back into it and, when Martel jars his shoulder on a corner charge, Saturn goes right into a Fujiwara armbar. Really liked Saturn’s focus on the injured shoulder, locking in a cross-armbreaker. Also liked Martel reversing it into a Regal Stretch, but not being able to properly hold a crossface due to his arm hurting. Saturn goes for some quick pins, including a nice Rings of Saturn into a pinning combination, but Martel rolls through a sunset flip and locks in the Quebec Crab to win.

Scott Hall vs The Giant

It’ll come as no surprise to learn this ends with outside interference. What we do get is pretty good, and it’s an unselfish performance by Hall to let Giant look so good. He gets hurled from the start after cockily getting in Giant’s face, he gets picked up and placed on the top rope after trying a front facelock, and his attempt at a top rope move sees him caught in a big bearhug. We’ve seen Big Show for years, and by now have a good idea how big he is, but it’s still impressive to see him ragdoll a guy the size of Hall. We get the inevitable melee of faces, with Hogan, Nash, Luger and Savage all getting involved, but the ref doesn’t throw the match out until Giant chokeslams Hall and Nash breaks the count, drawing a DQ. Hall basically let Giant destroy him here.

WCW Thunder 15/01/1998

The Steiner Brothers & Ray Traylor vs Black Cat, Ohara & Gedo

Fun little six-man that also continues the Scott Steiner slow burn heel turn. Liked Traylor’s slight variation on his rope-mounted uppercut, this time just popping Black Cat as he nears the ropes. Scott gets a huge pop when he tags in and he basically demolishes the opposition solo, ignoring Rick’s attempts to tag in. Huge suplex to Ohara is followed by a Tiger Bomb and Steiner Screwdriver on Gedo for the three.

The Cat vs Yuji Nagata

Genuinely think if 1998 Ernest Miller came along now, the WWE would push him to the moon. Real fighting credentials and insane charisma? Give him a year at the Performance Centre and he’d be made. The commentary team mention a rumoured WCW karate division that thankfully went nowhere. Short but sweet little match. Miller hits a big superkick at the bell for an early two count, but is soon eating a bunch of nifty suplexes from Nagata. The Cat hits a really nice short lariat and a top rope Feliner to win.

Chris Jericho vs Eddie Guerrero

Interesting, as Jericho is just turning heel so this is a heel vs heel match. Not as long as you’d hope for, but they squeeze some really good stuff into this. Love Jericho throwing Guerrero through the air for a high elevation stungun, as well as Eddie out-heeling Jericho by grabbing the ropes on an abdominal stretch. They maintain a really high pace throughout, Eddie escaping a powerbomb and whipping into a sunset flip with real pace. A sloppy looking Gory Special that drops Jericho on his head is the only down point, before a great ending sees Guerrero try a hurricanrana, only for Jericho to shift weight and hold him down in a Liontamer for the victory. Really good stuff here.

Rey Mysterio Jr vs Juventud Guerrera

This, however, is even better. They get nearly 10 minutes to fill here, and they go all out and both look tremendous. Guerrera largely controls the match with Rey making well-timed comebacks. Loved Rey’s early flip dive, before he bumps enormously after taking a slingshot to the floor. Juvi follows with his own insane dive. Juvi looks great in control, hitting a nasty looking drop down muscle buster and ramming Rey’s head into the ring apron by swinging him down violently over the ropes from the ring, sending his head upwards through the ring apron. Juvi reverses a diving rana attempt into a powerbomb, but Rey avoids the 450 and hits a quick rana for the win and the cruiserweight title.

Diamond Dallas Page & Lex Luger vs Kevin Nash & Randy Savage

This is a handicap match, as DDP is on crutches and gets taken out by Hulk Hogan before the match even starts. This gives the NWO team control, but dissention between Savage and Nash basically derails them throughout. Luger especially benefits as Savage goes to hit the axe handle from the top on Nash outside, allowing Luger to instead slam Savage to the mat. He runs riot, hitting flying forearms on both Nash and Savage, even getting to put an interfering Hogan in the rack before the numbers game builds up and we get a huge melee to end the show with Sting, the Giant and the whole NWO all involved.

WWE No Mercy 2007

I'd never watched this show before, but the recent announcement of the returning Punjabi Prison match made me realise I'd never actually seen one before. So, hoping to use the hype for the returning match to pad up the reading figures for this blog, I decided to give it a watch. No-one warned me about THREE Triple H matches though...

Triple H vs Randy Orton

Right, I don’t want to get onto a “slagging Triple H” off thread right at the start of the show, but there are a select band of wrestlers I’d be happy to see wrestle three times in one night and HHH is not one of those guys. The challenge is to have three interesting matches on the night, and unfortunately you suspect he must have been saving the interesting stuff for later in the night. Honestly, if I told you to close your eyes and imagine a 10 minute HHH/Orton match, you’d almost certainly picture this match move-for-move. There are a few positives: I liked the big clothesline and double-sledge to the back of the head that HHH hit, Orton had great timing kicking the ropes into HHH’s crotch before hitting the draping DDT and HHH locking in a figure-four after Orton misses a kneedrop is a logical move. Also, the ending was a nice change – no finishers, Triple H gets the pin from a roll-up after Orton missed a corner charge.

Jeff Hardy, Paul London & Brian Kendrick vs Mr Kennedy, Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch

This is billed as a bonus match, and it’s a nice little 8 minute match. Wisely, they largely leave Kennedy out of this, only really featuring at the end. Murdoch seems especially inspired here, really liked him countering Hardy’s sitdown jawbuster by simply not going down with him and instead booting Hardy in the face. Kendrick becomes face-in-peril after Murdoch opens up the ropes, sending Kendrick tumbling to the floor. The heat on Kendrick is brief due to the match length, but he hits a wild leaping DDT on Cade to make the hot tag. Hardy basically dumps Murdoch on his head with a gourdbuster, and everything breaks down, leaving Kennedy and London in the ring. Kennedy takes the win with the leaping Finlay roll. Good little sprint here.

CM Punk vs Big Daddy V

Nonsensical stuff here. V looks great dominating Punk to start, smothering him on the mat and wailing away with crossfaces. When Punk does escape, he’s quicker getting up so can hit V in the head with some (admittedly crap) kicks to the head…and so Matt Striker leaps in to beat him down for the DQ. This costs his charge the ECW title, doesn’t make any sense. Waste of time match.

Triple H vs Umaga

Because Vince is a bastard, he puts HHH into another match to defend his title. This is a lot better than the opener, they keep it brief and actually tell a decent story. An early HHH DDT looks like shit, with Umaga falling to his knees with his head nowhere near the mat. Umaga hits HHH in the ribs with a thrust kick, and from that point on has a focal point. A Samoan Drop and a series of big strikes highlight this plan, and HHH does a nice job of selling the damage. Umaga locks in a bearhug, continuing the focus, though I’m not a fan of HHH using an eyerake to escape when he’s a face. The end doesn’t hurt Umaga either, as HHH takes advantage of one mistake – a missed corner charge – and quickly hits the Pedigree to retain. This was a fine little match.

Finlay vs Rey Mysterio

When you’ve got two guys who were pretty much the best in the world at the time facing each other, you go in with pretty high hopes. I’d say that these hopes weren’t fully met, but that’s due to the booking rather than the performances of both men. Love Rey’s fluidity early on. It’s not just that his spots look impressive, but also that everything flows in a way that makes sense, each move follows on logically from the one he’s just hit. For example, he hits a slingshot dropkick into the ring on a sat-down Finlay, which positions him perfectly to hit a slingshot splash. Finlay takes over in a lovely way, avoiding a Rey sunset flip powerbomb to the floor by grabbing the ring apron and pulling it up over Rey’s head to pummel him. From there, Finlay slides Rey shoulder first into the ringpost, and from there works over the shoulder. Loved him stopping Rey’s momentum on a flying headscissors to turn it into a shoulderbreaker. Mysterio’s comeback is really nicely done and he kind of peppers Finlay with offence until Finlay tumbles backwards from the ring apron with a sickening thud. This ends up being the end of the match, with the referee throwing up an X for the match stoppage. They really blow the end though, as Finlay is faking the injury to jump Mysterio, and the camera zooms in on Finlay’s face to show this. Even odder, Cole acknowledges the faking, but then continues to pretend Finlay is actually injured, thus blowing all the suspense. Unsurprisingly, Finlay jumps off his stretcher and attacks Rey. Match was really good until the hokey ending.

Candice Michelle vs Beth Phoenix

This is really interesting, as the match itself is very much not good, but there are some really good bits mixed in. Candice, for example, hits really shit kicks and can barely run the ropes, but she pulls off this cool little roll-up and works a nice short-arm scissors. Michelle also hits a decent crossbody. Phoenix is really good at working the size difference, but the match is a bit too clunky and they both seem a bit lost in between moves. Phoenix wins with a cradle suplex.

Batista vs The Great Khali

So, the rules of the Punjabi Prison match are that there are two big cages, with the inner cage attached to the ring. Each side of the ring has a door that can only be opened once and is padlocked after 1 minute. If all four doors get padlocked, you have to climb out. The winner is the guy who successfully escapes both the inner and outer cage.

This isn’t a match you’d technically call “good”, but it’s an enjoyable spectacle for the most part. The limits on the door opening times are, I assume, designed to add some psychology as you can’t just open doors willy-nilly, but Khali pretty much blows that by calling for the first door less than a minute in. Batista pretty much bumps around like a loon for Khali here, and this may be what carries the match. There’s a nice tease of the Batista Bomb when Khali tries a ten count in the corner, and the spinebuster Batista hits on Khali looks good. Less good is Khali attempting to crush Batista under the weight of the final cage door when he realises that they aren’t going to be able to walk out – it looks really terrible despite Batista doing his best to make it look painful. Batista takes a huge bump from the cage when they both try climbing out, which gives Khali a huge lead, and this means that Batista also has to take the biggest risk by leaping from the top of the inner cage to the outer, which would have been a nasty bump if he’d missed. Luckily, he makes it and touches down first to win this fun, but nonsensical, match.

Triple H vs Randy Orton

This is, thankfully, the final HHH bout of the night and is a last man standing match. Orton goes right after HHH’s injured ribs to start. Really nicely done too, he’d hit a rib, then take advantage of HHH recoiling to blast him in the face a few times. Then, when HHH would start to cover his face, back to the ribs again. Orton continues the rib work with a backsuplex on the barrier, then brilliantly locking in a bodyscissors on the ribs whilst choking HHH with a cable. Nice spot. Orton shows great poise here, standing by passively whilst the ref counts, but as soon as HHH even moves an arm, he changes stance, getting ready to strike. HHH gets his moments to shine as he throws Orton through a table on a missed RKO and then hits a spinebuster on the floor for a close call. They start hitting bigger and bigger shots that should really finish it, considering both guys had barely been making an 8 count earlier. The RKO on the open chair would have been an acceptable finisher, and it does start to get towards overkill by the end. HHH hitting a chairshot with Orton’s head held in the “V” of the ringsteps looks shit, as he’s obviously not hit him. Eventually, Orton hits the RKO on the announce table to finish it. This was actually a pretty good match for the most part, but honestly you could have put anyone in the HHH role, as Orton’s character work and match timing were spot on here.

Rey Mysterio Jr: Before They Were Stars

Going into this DVD, I had pretty high expectations. Rey Jr is someone I've always been a big fan of, someone I'd rank amongst the 5 best wrestlers of all time. Thus a compilation of Rey's Mexico work sounded pretty appealing. I'm no expert on Lucha, but there's plenty I do like, so I thought this might be pretty fun. One thing I wasn't expecting was the terrible quality of the footage. It's mainly handheld footage, which I don't have an issue with on the whole, but it's pretty grainy in places and the camera has a habit of jumping all over the place. Worse, the sound is all overdubbed, so there's a constant disconnected cheering sound, with no noise for any bumps or moves. There's also terrible commentary from Manny Peoples and ex-XPW doofus Kriss Kloss, which is inane and often unbearable. But are the matches any good....?

Rey Mysterio Jr & El Torrero vs Jerry Estrada & Negro Azteca

We’re joined early in progress, with the rudos working over Rey in the ring. The ref is pretty lenient, it has to be said, as there is a liberal use of weaponry in the ring as they work over Rey’s leg with a chair. Rey sells the heck out of it too, limping and not even being able to run across the ring. We clip to Rey still getting worked over, with Torrero being useless as a partner. He doesn’t get involved, and when he does, he generally gets beaten up. The rudos lock in stereo submissions for what is clearly the first fall (both technicos are clearly gesturing to give up, the holds both get released suddenly and the rudos casually walk around the ring rather than keep attacking their opponents), but Kloss and Peoples don’t seem to notice this. Indeed, when Torrero hits a shitty rana on Estrada for the three count minutes later, both sell it as being the first fall in the match. We get MORE leg work on Mysterio, who shouldn’t even be able to walk at this stage, before he’s casually allowed to tag out to Torrero. Being useless, he gets worked over some more and thrown into the crowd, allowing the heels to keep working over Rey with weapons, until eventually the ref decides to disqualify the rudos. Seems pretty odd, given that they’d been doing the same thing all match, but I was just glad this was over.

Rey Mysterio Jr vs Juventud Guerrera

This promises to be a lot better. We get some basic matwork and roll up attempts in the early going, with Rey being just slightly ahead on points. Mysterio hits a lovely springboard into a headscissors, but makes the mistake of only trying for more high-flying moves and gets caught as Juvi reverses a rana into a powerbomb for the first fall. Rey doesn’t seem discouraged though, as he goes back to his slight speed advanatage early in the second fall, sending Juvi outside and hitting a huge flip dive. Rey leaps from the top rope to hit a Dragonrana for the equalising fall. Guerrera seems a little more focused now, as he nails Rey with a nasty looking brainbuster for a two count. We clip, sadly, and when we return Rey is back in control, nailing an Asai moonsault to the floor. Juvi misses a top rope splash, but is able to retain control. However, he makes the same mistake Rey did earlier, by trying the same move too often. Here, Juvi hits two tilt-a-whirl backbreakers, only for Mysterio to reverse the third into a pin for the winning fall. Pretty spotty stuff, but I liked the logic of the match-winning fall.

Rey Mysterio Jr & Octagon vs KGB & Pentagon

A little bit of internet research tells me that KGB is Tom Howard playing Russian. He’s much bigger than anyone else in the bout, and fair bosses the opening stages of the match. The rudos have another Russian wrestler outside the ring, and it’s fair to say he’s not shy about getting involved, possibly because he knows the ref will do nothing about it. KGB basically hurls Rey Jr about like a ragdoll, leaving Octagon and Pentagon in the ring. Pentagon seems to be trying to unmask Octagon, and this is seemingly enough to get Octagon to concede the first fall. Even Kloss and Peoples seem baffled. Second fall sees more of KGB’s impressive strength, as he continues to dominate Rey, and he survives aerial attacks from both technicos by catching them in midair. His strength doesn’t extend to his own teammate though, as some miscommunication sees Pentagon barrel him over, and Rey hits a quebrada on Pentagon for the fall. Has to be said that there are lots of outside the ring goings on, as a lady at ringside tries to help the technicos by stalking the rudo entourage with a chair, though she never actually uses it. The final fall sees a rather tepid sequence between Octagon and Pentagon, with one of the entourage just running into the ring in full sight of the ref to break up pinfalls. We clip to what look like the best parts of the match, as Rey and KGB work a really fluid looking big man/little man section, before Pentagon abruptly rolls up Octagon for the win.

Rey Mysterio Jr, Super Calo & Leon Negro vs Juventud Guerrera, Psychosis & Halloween

This match was a whole heap of fun, pretty much non-stop action. We get a fun opening sequence which ends with Rey hitting a big flip-dive on Juvi. Calo looks really good throughout here, looking really fluid on attack and never missing a beat before fighting the next person to enter the ring. The rudos take over as Psychosis hits a missile dropkick to the back of Rey’s neck. Loved a 450 legdrop Guerrera hits. The technicos take out Halloween and Juvi, leaving Negro alone with Psychosis, and Psy quickly finishes him off with a corkscrew moonsault.

Rey Mystero Jr vs Juventud Guerrera

This one seems to have a bit more hate behind it, as both guys spit at each other at the start. This kicks into a high gear pretty quickly as Rey sends Juvi to the floor with a huge bump, and follows him out with a springboard plancha. Juvi gets sent outside again, taking the Fuerza bump to the floor, and Rey again follows him with an Asai moonsault. Juvi is able to springboard in with a sloppy looking leg lariat and nails a Dragon suplex for the first fall. Juvi misses a corner charge to give Rey control of the second fall and Rey ranas Juvi out of the ring onto an accompanying Halloween. Rey hits a top rope rana and a gutwrench powerbomb to even the sides. Rey is in the ascendancy to start the third fall, but misses a corner charge of his own. Juvi misses a legdrop and we head outside the ring where Rey levels him with a chairshot. This is the opening for all chaos to reign. Halloween tries to hold Rey in place for a plancha, but unsurprisingly Rey moves to allow Juvi to barrel through his friend. This seems to be the cue for a whole plethora of run ins. The mass group of technicos hit dives to take out the rudos, but the rudos recover quicker and pile on Rey in the ring. Konnan comes out with a bat to take out the rudos and Rey levels Juvi with the bat and a superfluous quebrada for the win. Pretty good fun, even if the run in’s were over the top.

Rey Mysterio Jr, Super Calo & Leon Negro vs Los Hombres De Ex

Yep, that’s a team of X-Men themed wrestlers. This is face vs face, so this all seems a bit too much of an exhibition. Lots of co-operative looking sequences (though the Gambit/Calo bit looked pretty sloppy, all of which was on Gambit). There’s a bit where everyone goes in the ring and misses sentons before a huge dive series on the outside, which was pretty fun. This leaves both Gambit and Calo in the ring and both men get their shoulders counted down as Calo leans right back with a Mexican surfboard. While the two referees argue over who the winner is, a load of rudos including KGB come to the ring and beat everybody up. I didn’t love this, and it’s a pretty poor way to end the DVD.

No Mercy 2006

Gregory Helms vs Matt Hardy
Both guys fail to get an advantage early on, which backs up JBL's claim that they are like carbon copies of each other. Thus Helms has to use aggressive tactics to take over, with a vicious kick to back. Hardy fires back, and nails a pescado to the outside. Helms comes backwith a 2nd rope legsweep. I really like the palpable send of hate here, as inbetween moves both guys are happy to lay in a nasty blow, like Helms punching Hardy in the back following a failed pin attempt. A nice meaty mid-ring slugfest even has JBL going "Wow" as Hardy floors Helms with a big right. Hardy gots for the Twist of Fate, but Helms reverses to hit a neckbreaker. He nails the same moves two more times, but is caught going up top with a Side Effect. Hardy then copies Helms by hitting 2 more Side Effects, but also like Helms makes the mistake of going up top and meets knees on a moonsault. Carbon copies, see? I really like the way this is so back and forth, rather than one man maintaining an advantage, as it again backs up how even they are. Helms nails a top rope Shining Wizard, but Hardy gets a foot on rope. The ending is pretty choice too as it plays back to the Smackdown matches that had lead here. In those, both had picked up wins via low blows when the ref was distracted. Here, the referee moves out of the way as Hardy is pushed towards him, but Matt blocks the low blow attempt from Helms, and nails the Twist of Fate to win. Really hot opener.

Brian Kendrick & Paul London vs KC James & Idol Stevens
Both teams have females management: Ashley with Kendrick and London, and Michelle McCool with James & Stevens. Interesting that Stevens is the only one of the 6 still on WWE TV. Londrick dominate proceedings early, whilst JBL heavily puts them over on commentary. Stereo dives pop the crowd. However, London takes a nasty bump getting pushed off the top by James to give the heels advantage. Stevens and James take it in turns to lock holds on London on the mat, building up some crowd sympathy. They also work a proper heat section on London, holding him by the leg in their corner to stop him getting the tag to Kendrick then, when London looks like getting the tag, knocking Kendrick off the apron. I love it, and so does JBL. Kendrick gets the hot tag eventually, but his Sliced Bread attempt is blocked by Stevens shaking the rope as he tries it. London takes Stevens out in turn with an insane suicide dive. These two teams just have terrific chemistry together, and you wonder why Stevens and James didn't last on the main roster. Londrick get the win after a frantic final few minutes, hitting Sliced Bread on James, followed by a London shooting star from Kendrick's back for the win. Great match.

MVP vs Marty Garner
This is MVP's debut. JBL is apoplectic. MVP's arrogant strutting is quite enjoyable, but this is obviously a squash. Garner doesn't really get any offence in before MVP nails him with a vicious lariat and the Play of the Day to win. The ranting from JBL is the most entertaining thing about this match.

The Undertaker vs Mr Kennedy
Slightly hard to find the Undertaker as intimidating as usual as his fake tan starts running down his head at the start of the match. Taker starts working over the arm of Kennedy early, with him hoisting Kennedy up in the air by the arm being particularly impressive. Kennedy manages to block Old School by armdragging Taker off the top. Kennedy's selling of the arm is remarkably consistent, though he does try punching Taker with the bad arm which leads to Taker Flatlining him. In the midst of all the arm-offence, Kennedy does manage to take a turnbuckle pad off. When he does get on offence, Kennedy is nicely vicious, but makes the mistake of trying to get his breath back, giving Taker time to regain control. You get the impression Kennedy is putting in some real effort here, knowing what an opportunity this match is. Certainly, he seems a lot less half-arsed as he has done in recent years. Problem is that when Kennedy is on offense, it's a bit dull. His offence here is mainly based around kicks and hammering Taker in the corner. It's done with intent, but doesn't exactly enthrall the audience or myself. Piledriver from Kennedy (daftly called a Tombstone by Michael Cole) gets 2, and Kennedy reacts by pounding Taker in the face in frustration. It's like he's really selling the story of the match well (cocky upstart desperate to beat legend), but his offence isn't good enough to match up. In the middle of his hottest spell of offence, he puts on a resthold and the match cools down again. Taker hits a chokeslam, but Kennedy is able to reverse the Last Ride and ram Taker's head into that exposed turnbuckle. I'd forgotten all about that, which made for a nice little surprise. Swanton Bomb gets two for Kennedy. Kennedy tries to nail Taker with the US title, but Taker blocks it and uses it on Kennedy instead, giving Kennedy the DQ win. All that for such a shitty finish. Really out of nowhere considering Taker had just done the zombie situp and looked ready to win. Story of the match was better than the work within.

Rey Mysterio vs Chavo Guerrero
This is a falls count any match. We get some brawling to start, though it really isn't either mans forte. After a nasty dual bump to the floor from the top rope, Chavo takes over on the outside, which works because he's a bit better at looking aggressive. Rey hits a rana from the ring entrance, but it's really stifling to both guys to work this kind of match. A lot of the offence on the outside involves finding different ways to hurt the opponent on the guardrails, which these two are better than. At least Chavo catching Rey in a wheelbarrow and swinging him into the barricades and chairs is fun. After some mediocre brawling in the crowd, Rey hits a 619 from a staircase and pins Chavo following a crossbody the same stairs. Not the best match from these two.

William Regal vs Chris Benoit
Regal has been involved in some backstage hijinks trying to find Finlay and getting himself in trouble, leading to Teddy Long booking him against a mystery opponent. This is Benoit's return match following an extended break. Some of the opening matwork is superb, as both guys make it look like they're really working for the holds. They exchange blows and Christ, Benoit's chops sound like gunshots. You can hear the connection when Benoit headbutts Regal, which is unnerving in hindsight. Regal is busted open from this. They continue in much the same manner as you'd expect, with battles over matwork and some nasty stiff shots. Benoit even chops Regal directly on the head wound. Benoit hits a Dragon Suplex on Regal and locks in the crossface to win. Typically good match from these two as you'd expect, but with some of the stiffness involved, quite hard to watch with the knowledge we have now.

King Booker vs Finlay vs Batista vs Bobby Lashley
This is a fatal-fourway match for the World Heavyweight title. Finlay wisely bails early to let the faces dominate Booker, though he swiftly returns to help the King isolate Batista. Predictably we soon get segments when two guys are down, from moves which normally wouldn't stun them, leaving two men to go at it. Booker vs Lashley actually works well thanks to Booker selling and making Lashley look decent. Finlay soon turns on King Booker and then takes out Batista leaving him 1-on-1 against Booker. Finlay starts to dismantle Booker, then takes over on Batista when he returns. Got to love Batista trying to break an armbar by Samoan dropping Finlay, only for Finlay to hold on to the arm and retain the hold. Even better is Lashley trying to make the save, only for Finlay to start working on his leg. Lashley still moves around the ring really awkwardly, which makes his offence look a bit weaker than it should, so it's quite funny when Hornswoggle appears from nowhere to punch him in the nuts as he prepares to hit a Spear. We get to a point where we've got Batista vs Lashley left in the ring, which gets almost no reaction until Dave spears Lashley. Clearly they don't care about Lashley. That said, their segment is quite fun, as two massive men throw bombs at each other, including a nice overhead suplex by Lashley. Big Dave soon takes everyone down with spinebusters, then Batistabomb's Finlay, but Lashley comes out of nowhere with a huge spear on Batista and Booker steals the pin. Seems like a bit of a dick move by Lashley really. None of this was dull, and some of it was even good, but none of it was memorable. Really, there was no match structure, just decent segments bolted together.

The Best of Mikey Whipwreck

Digging through some old tapes, I found this Mikey compilation I bought about 10 years ago. For the most part, it's his best known matches from ECW, rather than his best matches, but there are a few gems here...

Mikey Whipwreck vs the Pitbull
An ECW TV title match, with Gary Wolfe defending against the highly mismatched Mikey. The Pitbull basically destroys Mikey, sending him crashing to the mat with a standing enzuigiri. Mikey flies over the top rope from a clothesline before getting catapulted over a safety rail. Back in, Whipwreck takes a belly to belly and a powerbomb before the Tazmaniac turns up on the apron to distract Pitbull. Taz takes a kick to the head, but avoids a second one, causing the Pitbull to crotch himself. Mikey rolls on top of the Pitbull and, even though Wolfe raises his shoulder on two, gets the win and the TV title. Basic squash, but a fun angle at the end.

Mikey Whipwreck & Cactus Jack vs the Public Enemy
Terry Funk missed his flight, so Cactus picks a reluctant Mikey to be his partner. Whipwreck tags out right away, and runs off to the back. This leaves Jack on his own to get beaten up, but Whipwreck actually comes back with a small piece of plywood which he uses to clear the ring. Mikey’s first bit of offence is being used by Cactus as a weapon, getting whipped into Rock, before being used as a battering ram to send the Public Enemy to the floor. Mikey actually dominates Grunge in the ring, but is soon getting pummelled again following a DDT onto a steel chair. Whipwreck is face in peril and takes a trademark battering, including a huge powerbomb by Rock and a piledriver from Grunge, but Whipwreck manages to keep kicking out. Mikey is unconscious, so Jack brawls with TPE in the crowd whilst Mikey starts to recover. Back in the ring, Rock moonsaults Jack through a table before going back to Mikey. TPE go for the Drive By, but Jack manages to crotch Rock on the top rope allowing Mikey to cover for the three. Another match that is focused on the angle, but the action was plenty of fun.

Mikey Whipwreck vs the Sandman
This is for the ECW title, and Steve Austin joins us before the match to cut a blistering promo to essentially declare himself the next ECW champ. The big problem with this match is that neither guy really sells much, despite the fact they keep hammering each other with ladders. Indeed, Mikey takes a real beating here, including a Fameasser onto the ladder, but still keeps on getting up. At one point, Sandman props a ladder up on the railings and barrels out with a tope to seesaw the ladder into Mikey’s face, which should have killed Mikey off for good. Instead, Sandman misses a slingshot elbow and Mikey hits a top rope splash onto the Sandman, and a ladder, for the title. Too spotty to be any real good.

Mikey Whipwreck vs Rey Mysterio Jr
Sadly, this is all clipped, making it more of a highlight reel. We do get to see an insane Mysterio tope before it cuts to Mikey winning with La Majistral.

Mikey Whipwreck vs Steve Austin
This was scheduled to be the Sandman taking on Mikey, but Austin beat up Sandman en route to the ring and took his place. Austin is clearly dominant here and, unlike the Sandman match, this provides the match with some structure. Some fans chant “Hogan”, so Austin hits a big boot and legdrop for two in a fun spot. Mikey takes some huge bumps, including a monster over the top rope to the floor. The Stungun gets two for Austin before Mikey wins with a sunset flip. Decent enough.

Mikey Whipwreck vs Taz
This is from Raw in 97, and is a total Taz squash. Mid-match, Sabu dives from the Raw sign onto Taz’s entourage, so Taz responds by throwing Whipwreck over the top rope onto Sabu. Tazmission earns an easy win, but this is a fun curio.

Mikey Whipwreck vs Kidman
Mikey’s WCW debut, and it’s a PPV title match. It was all downhill from here. That said, I liked this more than any previous match on the tape. Mikey plays heel here and, being bigger than Kidman, bullies the smaller guy, which provides a nice change of pace. Mikey’s different attitude allows him to show some nasty looking offense, including wheelbarrowing Kidman face first onto a safety rail. Mikey even gets to reverse a headscissors attempt and powerbomb Kidman! Kidman does get to pop the crowd with a few high spots, including a nice crossbody to the floor, but Whipwreck pops up on a SSP attempt, sending Kidman crashing to the outside. Whipwreck continues to dominate, with a swank top rope clothesline and a monstrous top rope belly to back suplex both getting two counts, before Kidman reverses a powerbomb and hits the SSP for the win. Kidman gave loads to Mikey here, and let the scruffy looking guy most of the fans didn’t know look like a killer. Mikey wasn’t as flash as the other WCW cruiserweights of the time, but his offence looked like it really hurt and he could’ve had a great run as a cruiserweight dick bully. Sadly, he’d be jobbing to Scotty Riggs by the next PPV.

Mikey Whipwreck vs 2 Cold Scorpio
Or 2 GOLD Scorpio as he’s referred to here, putting both the TV title and the tag titles on the line. This starts pretty evenly, but once 2 Cold takes control he starts to decimate Mikey. After getting one or two hope spots, including a flying headscissors and a pescado, Whipwreck misses a crossbody and the Scorpio onslaught is on. Scorpio blitzes Mikey, hitting a tombstone, a moonsault, a powerbomb and a moonsault legdrop, but picking Mikey up on two to be a dick. The ref gets bumped following some brief Mikey offence, but Scorpio is soon well in control with a superkick and another powerbomb. However, his cockiness comes back to haunt him as Cactus Jack takes advantage of the ref bump and knocks 2 Cold off the top rope before hitting the double-arm DDT to allow Mikey to grab the gold. More angle than good match, though cocky Scorpio was a lot of fun to watch.

Mikey Whipwreck vs Sabu
Sabu is wearing a neckbrace. Wonder how much this will affect him. In the early stages, he actually acts like it is, grounding Mikey and positioning his body to stop him reaching the ropes. This is sadly the one time he acts like his neck hurts, as his next move is to hit a top rope rana on Mikey. From this point on, Sabu says “fuck it” and forgets that he’s got a neck injury, using a chair to dive on Whipwreck on the outside. To his credit, Mikey doesn’t forget Sabu has a neck injury, hitting him with a DDT, an enzuigiri and then ripping the neckbrace off before elbow dropping Sabu through a table on the outside. Mikey goes for a countout win, but Sabu doesn’t even hint at building tension, getting in on a 4 count. Sabu gives up all pretence of selling, hitting Mikey with continued highspots, before hitting him with a DDT through a table on the floor. Back in, this gets the win. Mikey tried, but Sabu was awful here.

Mikey Whipwreck & Tajiri vs Simon Diamond & Johnny Swinger vs Tommy Dreamer & Jerry Lynn
This is a triple threat elimination match. I liked the opening section which saw Lynn and Tajiri in a blistering sequence whilst Simon just knelt on the mat open mouthed. It soon breaks down into a brawl and the camera man follows Tajiri and Dreamer through the crowd. Being handheld, this becomes impossible to follow. After what feels like forever, the action returns to the ring, where all four faces dropkick chairs into Simon and Swinger’s faces. Dreamer hits Mikey with the DDT, but CW Anderson pulls him out of the ring. This distraction allows Simon and Swinger to eliminate Dreamer with the Problem Solver. They then try a Doomsday Device on Tajiri, but he spits green mist in Diamonds face, leaving him prone on the top rope for a Whippersnapper, which gets the win. Too messy to be any fun.

Mikey Whipwreck & Tajiri vs the FBI
This is essentially a squash for the vast majority of the match. That said, a Guido/Tajiri sequence at the start of the match is terrific. The chemistry between Whipwreck and Tajiri is incredible here, as the decimate Guido and Mamaluke with double teams. I also dug the use of a table here, using it to slide chairs to the outside of the ring into Big Sal to stop him interfering. Whipwreck hits a vile looking one-man conchairto on Guido busting him open. The FBI get granted a small heat section until Mikey reverses a Mamaluke flying headscissors into a stungun to make the hot tag to Tajiri. Tajiri is so fucking good, everything he does is here is gold. Mikey hits a Whippersnapper through a table on the outside (which makes no sense as he goes through the table first), but inside Guido takes advantage of Big Sal distracting Tajiri to hit a Tomikaze onto a chair for the win. Plenty of fun.

Mikey Whipwreck vs Little Guido
This is from Border City Wrestling, and is billed as Mikey’s last match, which would last two years. They play a lot of this for comedy, with Guido stooging for Mikey’s offence, including getting hit with comedy weapons like a plastic sword and a straw doll. Guido sells a custard pie to the face as death. The match is pretty enjoyable given the context, though Mikey is noticeably not as smooth as Guido in the ring. Mikey mists the ref by accident, meaning a Guido Tomikaze doesn’t get counted. A second effort gets a 3 count, but the ref then spots Whipwreck’s foot under the rope. A top rope Whippersnapper through a table (still makes no sense) gets the win for Mikey.