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WWF Capital Carnage.

 

Gangrel Vs Al Snow: Lot of heads in the crowd. I love the Gangrel strut. I remember literally nothing about this match.

 

The Headbangers Vs The Legion of Doom: Animal and Droz are repping the Roadies, as this came right after the Hawk suicide angle. The Headbangers are pretty over in London. Droz tags himself in but immediately gets rolled up and pinned. Angle furtherer.

 

Val Venis Vs Goldust: These two go at it for the third straight show. Only 5 mins but this might be the best of the lot. Just short and intense. The ref blocks Goldust from delivering Shattered Dreams, allowing Val to roll him up for the pin. Goldust hits the ball kick after the bell anyway.

 

The McMahons come out to cut a promo. Shane calls Vinnie Jones (who I guess is there) gay. Vince insults the crowd by ragging on tea time. Tea time isn't a fucking thing. It's always interesting to see how Americans (or people from different countries in general) insult the British. As a Brit living in the states, I get a lot of jokes about tea time and the Boston Tea Party, like anyone in Britain gives a shit about those things. Vince moves on to more standard America is better stuff. Now that'll hit home. Good heat.

 

Tiger Ali Singh Vs Edge: I had no idea Singh was around at this point (I know he manages Lo Down later on). Why do they wheel him out for the UK shows? He cuts a promo dedicating this to his forefathers who were oppressed by the British Empire. Fair play. He actually wins this short match.

 

Sable and Christian Vs Marc Mero and Jacqueline: I guess this is Mero's last match after he lost to Duane Gill on Raw, and he and Jacqui have already broken up and are just fulfilling a contractual obligation here. Sable gets the win, but the most notable thing about this is Jacqui just straight up getting her tits out at the end.

 

Vinnie Jones is interviewed by Michael Cole in the ring. He acts like a massive chav twat, and gets cheered for it. Ugh. I hate Vinnie Jones.

 

Ken Shamrock Vs Steve Blackman: Another short nothing match really. Blackman really was boring. Bossman interferes to help Shamrock retain the IC belt.

 

Triple H Vs Jeff Jarrett: Triple H was supposed to be facing the Rock for the world title, but the McMahons changed things and put him in this match, and gave X-Pac the title shot instead. So, here's the battle of two future multi-time world champs, and the two poster boys for guys being pushed way harder than their talent merited. The finish involved Debra and Chyna both getting involved, and Hunter hitting the Pedigree for the win.

 

The New Age Outlaws Vs D'Lo Brown and Mark Henry: Before the match we get a vignette of D'Lo out and about in London, pretending to know the place intimately, but obviously not. It was pretty funny. This match was shaping up to be decent, but it ended rather abruptly with Billy pinning D'Lo after a shitty piledriver. I forgot how powerful Gunn was. He has a few impressive power spots here against Brown.

 

The Rock Vs X-Pac: This is decent but I was expecting something better. X-Pac is very over as a face, and performs well in the role. Triple H and Chyna come out to support Pac, but end up costing him the match after Trips attacks Rock, who had laid his hands on Chyna. Pac and Hunter then double team the Rock before Shamrock makes the save. That bit of booking seemed a bit backwards, but the fans were into the faces regardless.

 

Steve Austin Vs Kane Vs Mankind Vs The Undertaker: This has been built up as a big deal all night, although nothing seems to be at stake at all. Late changes see Brisco put in as guest ref, with Bossman as an enforcer. Patterson is time keeper, Shane ring announcer, and Vince on commentary. Vinnie Jones is also an enforcer, and JR is really putting him over as some sort of English legend on commentary. The fans are pretty into him too. This was right on the back of Lock, Stock, so I guess the height of his cultural relevance. Jones and Bossman get into it, and Briscoe gives Vinnie a red card, which is a nice touch. The match is a typical four-way cluster, with guys brawling everywhere, and alliances being teased and then quickly disintegrating. Taker probably looks the best in this. Austin pinned Kane after a stunner, with Earl Hebner making the count as Brisco has taken a bump. Jones came back out and kicked Bossman into a stunner, and the show ended, rather bizarrely, with Austin, Jones and Hebner all drinking beer together.

 

MOTN: I'd say Rock/X-Pac and would probably go 3 stars on that. I'll toss the main event 3 stars as well.

Show rating: A pretty mediocre show, with a lot of short throwaway matches. They seemed to make more of an effort than they did with future UK-only pay-per-views though. 2.5 stars.

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WWF In Your House: Rock Bottom.

 

Michael Cole has taken over on commentary for JR, and he sucks. No excitement or authority in his voice, and he regularly misses key in-ring action by talking about other stuff. It's amazing what a drop in quality his commentary is after Ross.

 

Mark Henry and D'Lo Brown Vs The Godfather and Val Venis: Man, the Godfather is the worst gimmick. A babyface pimp, who here gives his hos the night off by telling them they get to spend the night with Val. Talk about a busman's holiday. Terri and Jacqueline are out with Henry and D'Lo, and end up helping them get the win. Henry's splash used to look killer.

 

The Headbangers Vs The Oddities (Kurrgan and Golga): It pisses me off that the Headbangers are on every fucking show, yet I've only gotten one Kaientai match. This is short, but not as short as I'd like it to be.

 

Steve Blackman Vs Owen Hart: We're in Canada, so Owen is very over. Blackman is still pretty dull, but they have an alright match, until Owen gets deliberately counted out. I guess the Blue Blazer gimmick has started, which fills me with dread for obvious reasons.

 

The Brood Vs The J.O.B Squad (Al Snow, Bob Holly and Scorpio): King doesn't get the J.O.B Squad gimmick, and neither do I. Were they overtly referring to themselves as jobbers? Sounds like a bad idea all round, but this is Russo booking so shit like this is par for the course. I think the Squad are babys, but Edge is wrestling like a baby, so it's hard to be sure. The match pretty much sucks anyway. I always liked Al Snow, but this project is telling me that he really wasn't good at all.

 

Goldust Vs Jeff Jarrett: If Goldy wins, Debra must strip, and if JJ wins, Goldust must strip. That stip puts a lot more heat on this match than I wouldn't assume it would have otherwise. It helps the match too, which is decent. Lots of shenanigans allow Jarrett to win, but Commissioner Michaels comes out and reverses the decision because Debra hit Goldust with the guitar. So now Debra has to strip. She ends up liking the attention, of course, but Jarrett and the Blue Blazer come out to cover her up before it goes too far.

 

The New Age Outlaws Vs The Big Boss Man and Ken Shamrock: So, after that distinctly babyface move, Michaels is now out with the Corporation trying to screw the Outlaws out of the tag titles. This match goes on and on and on, with Road Dogg getting his ass kicked for what feels like an eternity. Billy gets the hot tag and ends up winning in pretty short order.

 

Mankind Vs The Rock: The Rock doesn't even get to headline his own ppv! Vince and Shane are out with the champ. Some decent brawling, but this is an Attitude-style title match where the bells and whistles actually detract from the match. Vince tells the ref to dq Mankind, but Mankind piledrivers him before he can signal for the bell. He then attacks Mark Yeaton before he can ring the bell. I love that the owner of the company can say the match is over, but without the physical act of the bell being rung, it will still continue. Finally Mankind puts Rocky down with the mandible claw and it looks like we have a new champ, but Vince says because the Rock never gave up, Mankind wins the match but not the belt. As bullshit finishes go, that's up there with the Flair/Luger blood stoppage.

 

'Stone Cold' Steve Austin Vs The Undertaker: Buried Alive match, Austin must win to qualify for the Royal Rumble. They brawl all around ringside and by the grave site. It isn't particularly compelling. These two just didn't have very good chemistry. Kane ends up interfering and tombstones Taker, and Austin comes out with a guy in a backhoe to fill the grave. This all happens very slowly. Show ends with Austin drinking beer.

 

MOTN: Oh boy. I guess the buried alive match was okay. I'd stop short at calling it good though. Maybe 2 and 3/4 stars.

Show rating: The show sucked, basically. Not a single match worth recommending, no interesting developments or memorable angles. 1.5 stars.

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Mark Henry and D'Lo Brown Vs The Godfather and Val Venis: Man, the Godfather is the worst gimmick. A babyface pimp, who here gives his hos the night off by telling them they get to spend the night with Val. Talk about a busman's holiday. Terri and Jacqueline are out with Henry and D'Lo, and end up helping them get the win. Henry's splash used to look killer.

 

Henry was pretty shit back in the day but I do remember my friends and I always thought it was impressive how much air he got on his big splash. Obviously injuries have taken their toll on him now so he can't get up that high but he used to look like has murdering guys with that big splash back then. Really impressive for such a big guy.

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The Brood Vs The J.O.B Squad (Al Snow, Bob Holly and Scorpio): King doesn't get the J.O.B Squad gimmick, and neither do I. Were they overtly referring to themselves as jobbers? Sounds like a bad idea all round, but this is Russo booking so shit like this is par for the course. I think the Squad are babys, but Edge is wrestling like a baby, so it's hard to be sure. The match pretty much sucks anyway. I always liked Al Snow, but this project is telling me that he really wasn't good at all.

 

Snow had his moments but you're right. He wasn't very good once he got to the WWF for the second time. He did have some very good hardcore matches with Road Dogg and Holly but anytime he had to do a straight up match, he didn't look very good. Was that because injuries had piled up on him by that point? He was probably in his mid-late 30's around this time which isn't "real-life" old but that's like 55 for a wrestler from that era when you consider all of the matches he probably had in crappy indy rings before he ever set foot in WWF or ECW.

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The big problem with Snow, I've found, is that nothing he does seems to matter. He's just doing stuff it seems for the sake of it. The Attitude Era undercard is certainly not conducive to having good matches, but Snow is just about the worst at making use of his opportunities (which are pretty ample, relatively speaking). You look at the other vets on the roster who were in a similar position, guys like Dustin and Jarrett, and they may not have been having good matches all the time, but they were at least able to weave some sort of narrative into their matches, and look like, given more time and opportunity, they could have good matches.

 

For the record, I think X-Pac is the best undercard guy of this era for making his throwaway matches mean something.

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The big problem with Snow, I've found, is that nothing he does seems to matter. He's just doing stuff it seems for the sake of it. The Attitude Era undercard is certainly not conducive to having good matches, but Snow is just about the worst at making use of his opportunities (which are pretty ample, relatively speaking). You look at the other vets on the roster who were in a similar position, guys like Dustin and Jarrett, and they may not have been having good matches all the time, but they were at least able to weave some sort of narrative into their matches, and look like, given more time and opportunity, they could have good matches.

 

For the record, I think X-Pac is the best undercard guy of this era for making his throwaway matches mean something.

 

That's true. He wasn't involved in anything worthwhile. I just think that injuries caught up with him at that point and once he started making money, he didn't really care to go any further than where he was.

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For the record, I think X-Pac is the best undercard guy of this era for making his throwaway matches mean something.

 

I see your X-pac and raise you a D-Lo Brown. In WCW, Malenko was the king of making random crappy matches on Nitro have some stakes.

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St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

 

So, into 1999 we go, starting with the best-named pay-per-view ever.

 

Goldust Vs Bluedust: I've no idea how Meanie got signed by WWF. This is a waste of Goldust, a nothing 3 minute match.

 

Bob Holly Vs Al Snow: This is for the vacant hardcore title, as I guess Road Dogg, the previous champ, was injured. These hardcore matches are the worst. Just walking around hitting each other with weapons shots, which the style of the match dictates they sell as having little impact. They end up outside the arena (of course), and briefly in a river, before Holly wins. The birth of Hardcore Holly, I assume.

 

Big Boss Man Vs Mideon: Christ, who thought to put this on ppv? Actually speaks a lot to this era, as it was the characters and not the matches that mattered (although this particular match got shit on by the crowd). No idea if the Ministry of Darkness are supposed to be heels or not. King talks about being surprised at their popularity, but there's no sense that they're babyfaces. Boss Man was the heel for this regardless, but wins, and then gets jumped and beaten down by the rest of the Ministry. This be confusing.

 

Owen Hart and Jeff Jarrett Vs D'Lo Brown and Mark Henry: Tag titles. Brown and Henry have Ivory in their corner to counter Debra. The Outlaws are no longer champs, and already the tag title scene got ten times better. Owen and Jarrett have really good chemistry, and Henry sells a guitar shot to the leg like a champ. Decent match.

 

Val Venis Vs Ken Shamrock: So this is the third Venis feud in the course of a year which comes about because he's fucked someone he shouldn't have (or shouldn't have in the opinion of someone, at any rate). This time it's Ryan Shamrock. I like how Venis actually has relationships with all the girls he makes films with. This is the ultimate "who the hell am I supposed to sympathise with here?" match. Shammy is positioned as the heel going into the match, as the overprotective brother, but then he wrestles the match more as the babyface. Venis, as always, is kinda nebulous in how he works, and not very likeable as a character. Ryan is a classic "Russo slut". Hey, if "Hitchcock blonde" is a thing, "Russo slut" can be too. Venis wins after Ryan gets involved, and is the new IC champ. Cole and King barely mentioned this was an IC title match, preferring instead to talk about the soap opera aspects of the angle.

 

Triple H and X-Pac Vs Chyna and Kane: Triple H calls Chyna a jacked-up bitch in a pre-match promo. Shane McMahon is out for commentary and is absolutely detestable. Totally distracting with his yelling. Chyna wrestling already feels like not a big deal. Probably because she sucks. She pins Hunter to further that storyline.

 

Mankind Vs The Rock: This was good, much better than the match last month, and better than the I Quit match too. Good brawling between the two, and Mankind sold a leg injury from an earlier attack by the Rock throughout the match (Rock could have zeroed in on the leg more during the match, but it was more a typical brawling WWF main event). Great spot where Rock grabs a mic mid-match and sings 'Smackdown Hotel' for the crowd, only for Mankind to slap on the mandible claw, with Rock still holding the mic up to his mouth as he screams in agony. Foley takes a ridiculous bump, being back bodydropped from the announce table so his head catches the corner of the table while the rest of his body careens into the timekeeper's table. Rock follows that up by dropping the steel steps on Foley from inside the ring. That looked really painful. I can understand the fan's shitting on the draw finish, but at least it looked good, and continued the feud.

 

Steve Austin Vs Vince McMahon: Cage match, billed as the end of their feud. Ha! Austin needs to win to get into the Mania main event. They start ouside the cage, brawl into the fans, with Austin kicking Vince's ass, and then do the famous spot with Vince falling through the table. That must have hurt like hell. In truth this goes on way too long, with the pre-match combined with the match itself. Really makes no sense that Big Show was under the ring the whole time, but took as long as he did to come out. Creative finish, but not the strong debut for Show that I would have booked.

 

MOTN: Rock/Mankind at 3.5.

Show rating: This was terrible for the most part. The tag match was the only worthwhile thing on the undercard, and then it came alive with the top 2 matches. 2 and 3/4.

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Bob Holly Vs Al Snow: This is for the vacant hardcore title, as I guess Road Dogg, the previous champ, was injured. These hardcore matches are the worst. Just walking around hitting each other with weapons shots, which the style of the match dictates they sell as having little impact. They end up outside the arena (of course), and briefly in a river, before Holly wins. The birth of Hardcore Holly, I assume.

 

I liked the hardcore division pre-Crash Holly. I thought a lot of the matches involving Holly, Road Dogg, Mankind and Snow were fairly well done b/c they were wrestling matches with the occasional weapons shot. The 24/7 thing was kind of entertaining but it got too cartoonish for me.

 

 

 

Owen Hart and Jeff Jarrett Vs D'Lo Brown and Mark Henry: Tag titles. Brown and Henry have Ivory in their corner to counter Debra. The Outlaws are no longer champs, and already the tag title scene got ten times better. Owen and Jarrett have really good chemistry, and Henry sells a guitar shot to the leg like a champ. Decent match.

 

Owen and Jarrett was such a weird thrown together tag-team but you're right, they were good together. What was the story behind them teaming? Was there ever any kind of on-screen explanation? I usually have a pretty good memory for things like that but I don't recall why or how they started teaming.

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Triple H and X-Pac Vs Chyna and Kane: Triple H calls Chyna a jacked-up bitch in a pre-match promo. Shane McMahon is out for commentary and is absolutely detestable. Totally distracting with his yelling. Chyna wrestling already feels like not a big deal. Probably because she sucks. She pins Hunter to further that storyline.

 

Shane was the absolute worst on commentary. He was like nails on a chalkboard. His voice was so annoying and I remember him randomly yelling, "booyah!" a lot when he was the commentator on Heat. And Chyna was terrible. I didn't notice it as much back then but when I rewatch her matches now, you can totally see whoever she's wrestling against basically just wrestling themselves for all intents and purposes.

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I'm happy to put D'Lo in the conversation. I've been very pleased that he's lived up to my fond memories of him.

 

Savio was also a guy who always seemed to have solid matches on these ppvs. Not much that truly stood out but it seemed like anything he was in was at least halfway decent.

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Owen Hart and Jeff Jarrett Vs D'Lo Brown and Mark Henry: Tag titles. Brown and Henry have Ivory in their corner to counter Debra. The Outlaws are no longer champs, and already the tag title scene got ten times better. Owen and Jarrett have really good chemistry, and Henry sells a guitar shot to the leg like a champ. Decent match.

 

Owen and Jarrett was such a weird thrown together tag-team but you're right, they were good together. What was the story behind them teaming? Was there ever any kind of on-screen explanation? I usually have a pretty good memory for things like that but I don't recall why or how they started teaming.

 

i don't really remember what lead to them teaming, but i do remember a poll on wwf.com asking what the team name should be. i remember "Canadian Country" being my favorite, so i continue to refer to the team as that.

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I think it had something to do with the return of the Blue Blazer. Wasn't Jarrett unmasked as one of the Blazers and for some reason, it resulted in Owen and him becoming tag partners?

 It started with the broken neck angle with Owen piledriving Dan Severn the way he did Austin. Owen was so distraught over it that it led to him "retiring". Shortly after, the Blazer shows up and everyone assumes it's Owen, who naturally denies the allegations. Aside from Owen and JJ playing the Blazer, Koko B. Ware also was under the mask, but was never unmasked. IIRC, Steve Blackman also played the Blazer and attacked Owen during a match after Owen came out of "retirement".

 

Not bad for pulling that straight from memory.

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Val Venis Vs Ken Shamrock: So this is the third Venis feud in the course of a year which comes about because he's fucked someone he shouldn't have (or shouldn't have in the opinion of someone, at any rate). This time it's Ryan Shamrock. I like how Venis actually has relationships with all the girls he makes films with. This is the ultimate "who the hell am I supposed to sympathise with here?" match. Shammy is positioned as the heel going into the match, as the overprotective brother, but then he wrestles the match more as the babyface. Venis, as always, is kinda nebulous in how he works, and not very likeable as a character. Ryan is a classic "Russo slut". Hey, if "Hitchcock blonde" is a thing, "Russo slut" can be too. Venis wins after Ryan gets involved, and is the new IC champ. Cole and King barely mentioned this was an IC title match, preferring instead to talk about the soap opera aspects of the angle.

 

 

 

 

I forgot to mention Billy Gunn is the ref for this one, and is probably the most unlikeable person in the match. Of course, he's the only one I'm positive was a babyface.

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Bob Holly Vs Al Snow: This is for the vacant hardcore title, as I guess Road Dogg, the previous champ, was injured. These hardcore matches are the worst. Just walking around hitting each other with weapons shots, which the style of the match dictates they sell as having little impact. They end up outside the arena (of course), and briefly in a river, before Holly wins. The birth of Hardcore Holly, I assume.

 

I liked the hardcore division pre-Crash Holly. I thought a lot of the matches involving Holly, Road Dogg, Mankind and Snow were fairly well done b/c they were wrestling matches with the occasional weapons shot. The 24/7 thing was kind of entertaining but it got too cartoonish for me.

 

Ah, we're totally opposite on this one. I enjoyed Crash's 24/7 stuff as silly undercard fluff, but I can't stand practically any other era of the hardcore championship (I remember liking Blackman's reign too).

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Val Venis Vs Ken Shamrock: So this is the third Venis feud in the course of a year which comes about because he's fucked someone he shouldn't have (or shouldn't have in the opinion of someone, at any rate). This time it's Ryan Shamrock. I like how Venis actually has relationships with all the girls he makes films with. This is the ultimate "who the hell am I supposed to sympathise with here?" match. Shammy is positioned as the heel going into the match, as the overprotective brother, but then he wrestles the match more as the babyface. Venis, as always, is kinda nebulous in how he works, and not very likeable as a character. Ryan is a classic "Russo slut". Hey, if "Hitchcock blonde" is a thing, "Russo slut" can be too. Venis wins after Ryan gets involved, and is the new IC champ. Cole and King barely mentioned this was an IC title match, preferring instead to talk about the soap opera aspects of the angle.

 

 

 

 

I forgot to mention Billy Gunn is the ref for this one, and is probably the most unlikeable person in the match. Of course, he's the only one I'm positive was a babyface.

 

 

That was such an odd feud. I remember hearing that Gunn was supposed to win the IC title at the Rumble but got hammered the night before and was running his mouth about it. He showed up the next day hungover and probably still drunk so they changed the finish to Shamrock retaining. Holly confirmed it in his book.

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WWF Backlash.

 

The Ministry of Darkness (Mideon and The Acolytes) Vs The Brood: 6-man tag action to start the show. Christian looks like the best worker in the match. This isn't very good. Viscera comes out and helps the Ministry win.

 

Al Snow Vs Hardcore Holly: Hardcore title. Typical hardcore match for the most part. For all my complaining about Snow, and the hardcore division in general, they did at least get me to buy into Snow's desperation to be the champ with the finishing stretch. I mostly liked that they both sold a superplex through a table like it was death. This finish is going to lead to an angle with Head being the hardcore champ, right? Snow was very careful to have it be only Head that was covering Holly. Pretty much confirmed with a post-match promo.

 

The Godfather Vs Goldust: Meanie is with Goldust now? Godfather is the IC champ? Ugh. This is a short comedy match. Goldust goes to throw powder in Godfather's eyes, but ends up blinding himself. He then starts beating up Meanie, thinking it's the Godfather, even giving him Shattered Dreams. Totally ridiculous, but pretty amusing, just for how long it goes on. Better than watching an actual match between the two anyway.

 

The New Age Outlaws Vs Owen Hart and Jeff Jarrett: This is probably the best Outlaws match I've ever seen. I wish this Hart/Jarrett team had lasted much longer. Like, years and years and years longer. Debra is just wearing a bikini with a jacket, because why not? This gimmick of Billy Gunn getting his ass out (and Road Dogg encouraging it) is woeful, and somehow over.

 

Mankind Vs The Big Show: Or, Mick Foley kills himself for our entertainment. This is a Boiler Room Brawl, and the reckless abandon with which Foley bumps around the boiler room is horrifying. At one point he smashes a pane of glass over Show's head, but the glass cuts his own hand, and for the rest of the match he's just leaving perfect blood red handprints around the room, which is a cool visual. Amazing that Show is basically just another guy so soon after his big debut. Foley wins, then Bossman and Test attack. Show helps fight them off for some reason. I'm obviously missing some context here. Foley cuts a really good promo afterwards, walking us through the boiler room and describing what happened. It felt more like something you'd see in ECW.

 

Triple H Vs X-Pac: So, Hunter has joined Chyna in the Corporation now, and this feels very much like the Triple H who would dominate in 2000. Shitty promo from Chyna about how they got X-Pac over, a point which Lawler later reiterates. Sounded weird hearing Lawler say that. A bit of a missed opportunity, this match. It went nearly 20 mins, but didn't really achieve the high level I hoped for. X-Pac sold well enough, and Hunter working over the neck with focused and varied offence was smart, but it felt a bit too methodical, when it should have been more vicious. I guess that's a problem I've had with Triple H a few times. Chyna interferes, so Kane comes in to even the score, giving a chokeslam to both, and then setting them up for Bronco Busters before leaving. Pac delivers the move to them both, but then gets hit with a Pedigree and pinned. Well, that was bullshit, after they set up the feel-good win. Probably won't be the last time I complain about a Triple H victory. Good match, but I expected better.

 

The Undertaker Vs Ken Shamrock: This was dire. Long and boring, and the silence from the crowd was only broken up by the occasional 'boring' chant. Weird, as this isn't the first Undertaker match from this era to be given this reception from the crowd.

 

'Stone Cold' Steve Austin Vs The Rock: Shane is guest ref, no holds barred. Typical brawl all around the ringside area, destroying the set and going though tables. The spot where The Rock gets a camera to film the fallen Austin, only for Austin to give him a stunner (seen in 'RockVision') is an all-time great spot, and huge kudos to whoever came up with that one. These two guys just have so much charisma at this point that it would be hard for them to have a bad match. This is much better than the Mania match. Shane tries to screw Austin, but Vince comes out and knocks Shane out with the smoking skull belt, and Austin retains. Very good main event.

 

The show ends with Taker abducting Stephanie in Vince's limo ("where to, Stephanie?"). Corny stuff. I love how disgusted JR is ("oh God, no!") before just going back to talking about how great Austin is.

 

Match of the night: Austin/Rock- 3.5. Outlaws/Owen and Jeff, HHH/X-Pac and the Boiler Room Brawl (just for Foley's effort really) all get 3 stars.

Show rating: Definitely better than recent efforts, though there are still a couple of stinkers on there. I'd say it's worth 3 stars.

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I wasn't a fan of the first one at all, although that at least looked like a real boiler room, where a character like Mankind might hang out. This one was really brightly lit, and it kinda takes away from the aura of the thing when there's this big kitchen in the background. But then Foley just started throwing himself into things, like only he can. They definitely did a good job gimmicking it then, because some of that shit looked really painful.

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Triple H Vs X-Pac: So, Hunter has joined Chyna in the Corporation now, and this feels very much like the Triple H who would dominate in 2000. Shitty promo from Chyna about how they got X-Pac over, a point which Lawler later reiterates. Sounded weird hearing Lawler say that. A bit of a missed opportunity, this match. It went nearly 20 mins, but didn't really achieve the high level I hoped for. X-Pac sold well enough, and Hunter working over the neck with focused and varied offence was smart, but it felt a bit too methodical, when it should have been more vicious. I guess that's a problem I've had with Triple H a few times. Chyna interferes, so Kane comes in to even the score, giving a chokeslam to both, and then setting them up for Bronco Busters before leaving. Pac delivers the move to them both, but then gets hit with a Pedigree and pinned. Well, that was bullshit, after they set up the feel-good win. Probably won't be the last time I complain about a Triple H victory. Good match, but I expected better.

 

Hunter wasn't using his My Time theme at this point was he? I remember he had some really generic rock music at the beginning of his heel turn and then some really shitty metal theme before he got My Time. I also remember he was wearing some stupid chain mail vest thing for a bit too. They certainly cycled through a lot of stuff trying to get him over during his initial main event push.

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