Emanating from the Gund Arena, in my hometown, Cleveland, OH

Your commentators are Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Mr. Perfect
 

So this is a special show for me as it was the first pay-per-view that I attended live.  Not only that, but I was able to get unbelievable seats (6^th row behind the announcers).  With these great seats, my brother and I got on TV a handful of times, which I’ll mention throughout the show.

 
Also, before we begin, I can give the “highlights” from the Free For All.  Throughout the show was the Bikini Beach Blast-off, which could have been the first real good use of T & A by the Fed.  Instead, they dumbed it down by resorting to tired gags used back in the 80s.  The match during the Free For All was Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Yokozuna, which is insulting as the previous King of the Ring winners all received high-profile matches at Summerslam.  Anyways, Austin wins with a rollup after Yoko went up for the Banzai Drop and the top rope snapped.  Match was short and only about ½ *.

Opening Match: Savio Vega vs. Owen Hart

An odd choice as an opener for 2 reasons: 1) Owen wasn’t curtain jerkin material at this point and 2) there was no real backstory to this match.  I’ll assume that since Owen was still wearing that wrist cast, he used it for nefarious means against Savio at one point and Savio wants revenge.  As Owen enters the ring we get Gutschmidt sighting #1.  This one is my brother Justin, who you can see jawing at Owen in his black beret while holding a sign.  He then quickly walks back to his seat, much to the appreciation of those who actually had front row seats.  Owen begins the match by trying to hit Savio with the cast, but the referee halts him in his tracks.  After some initial unsuccessful attempts, Savio is able to work on that injured wrist by ramming it into the turnbuckle.  Savio continues to work on Owen’s arm as we go to a splitscreen and see Jim Cornette in the back with Vader, as he prepares for his title match tonight.  A pair of armdrags by Savio lead to a cover, but only for 2.  A small, but vocal, section of the audience has gotten some “Owen” chants going, which you don’t hear too often.  Savio throws Owen chest-first into the corner and then rolls him up.  Owen kicks out at 2 and in the process sends Savio crashing shoulder-first into the post.  It’s now Owen who works on Savio’s left arm and shoulder.  An armbar takedown by Owen gets 2. Owen ties Savio’s arm in the ropes and hammers away on it.  Savio tries to fight back with a boot to the face, but he can’t stay on the offensive.  Clarence Mason begins to walk toward ringside as both men go for a spinning heel kick and miss.  A crossbody by Savio gets 2.  Owen stops Savio dead in his tracks with an enziguri.  That gets a nearfall.  A small package gives Savio another nearfall.  Savio whips Owen to the corner, but gets booted as he follows him in.  Owen pins Savio with his feet on the ropes, but Savio still manages to kick out.  As Owen argues with the referee, Savio rolls him up for 2.  Owen pops back up and nails Savio with the spinning heel kick.  That also only gets 2.  Savio gets whipped to the corner, but comes back and hits Owen with a spinning heel kick as he was charging him.  A reverse atomic drop and a pair of clotheslines by Savio have him fired up.  Savio gets a couple more nearfalls, but can’t put away Owen.  Owen catches Savio with his head down and hits him with a reverse neckbreaker.  A missile dropkick by Owen only gets 2.  Wow!  Owen goes back up top, but Savio gets up and crotches him.  Savio climbs up and hits a back suplex, but as both men came down, the back of Savio’s head landed right on Owen’s cast.  Savio gets up and as he approaches Owen, Owen nails him with the cast.  The referee was seemingly in a place to see that and call for a DQ, but nothing.  Owen goes over to the knocked out Savio, slaps on the Sharpshooter and easily gets the win.

Bottom Line: That was quite the fun match, moreso than I remembered.  It started off with some good psychology and moved into a series of nearfalls.  I thought the cast shot was unnecessary and that Owen should have just gone for the Sharpshooter after the suplex, but either way Owen picks up a victory, which is always a good thing.  It was nice to see Owen get some face reaction from the crowd too.  ***

- Justin “Hawk” Bradshaw suddenly comes out and begins yelling at Vince about something, which we can’t make out over Owen’s music.  He then storms away and clotheslines Savio from behind as he was being helped to the back by the referee.  Well that was rather pointless.  Some guys will do anything to get face time on PPV, I guess.  Oh wait, Jim Ross just revealed to us that Bradshaw is upset because he lost a tag match recently against Savio and Freddie Joe Floyd.  So that whole segment has now been upgraded from pointless to barely making a point.

- Todd Pettingil walks through the boiler room and does his usual horrible job in trying to describe how ominous it is down there.  He then runs into Mankind who cuts his usual creepy promo and also licks one of the pipes.  J.R. actually lightens the mood by asking “Was he licking that thing?” while Mankind is still speaking.  You gotta love it when someone is so committed to their character.

Four-way elimination match for the WWF Tag Team Championship: The Smoking Gunns (champs) vs. The Godwinns vs. The BodyDonnas vs. The New Rockers

The WWF decided that there just wasn’t a great enough suck factor by pitting any two of these teams against each other, so they just put all four into this match for one big suckfest.  For the uninformed, the New Rockers were Marty Janetty and Leif Cassidy, better known today as Al Snow.  Gutschmidt sighting #2: Once again, my brother makes it over to the front row before the match begins.  This time with his “Kiss Me Sunny” sign.  Sadly, she didn’t oblige.  Billy and Henry start things off and do nothing interesting, so naturally the “Sunny” chants begin.  After Billy gets planted face first into the mat by Henry, he rolls over and tags Zip, while Henry tags Phineas.  A criss-cross sequence by the two leads to both men stopping and tagging a Gunn.  Both Gunns try to tag a Godwinn, but they won’t let them.  So Bart just tags Zip and he goes against Billy.  Zip is a house of fire against Billy until he goes off the ropes and Janetty trips him.  Billy quickly goes over and pins him to eliminate the BodyDonnas.  No huge loss there.  Henry now in and he gets whipped to the ropes by Billy.  Cassidy takes advantage by nailing Henry as he was coming off the ropes and then tags into the match.  Cassidy pounds away on Henry and then tags Janetty.  Henry whips Janetty to the corner, but as he charges after him, gets booted.  The New Rockers and the Gunns now frequently tag each other to work over Henry.  Cassidy tries to clothesline Henry, but misses and hits Billy instead.  Henry hits Billy with a sideslam and covers, but the Rockers come in and try to break up the pin.  They attempt to hit Henry, but accidentally hit Billy instead.  As the Rockers and the Gunns argue, the Godwinns come up and give each pair a double noggin-knocker.  Cassidy sends Henry toward his corner where Janetty nails him.  Cassidy rolls up Henry, but Henry kicks out sending Cassidy into his corner where he crashes into Janetty.  Henry grabs Janetty, nails him with the Slop Drop and pins him to eliminate the New Rockers.  Bart in now and he works over Henry.  Henry gets whipped to the corner but boots Bart as he charges.  Both men go down after Henry hits Bart with a clothesline.  As both men get up, I pray Henry makes the hot tag to signal the beginning of the end, but sadly Bart stops him.  After a lengthy Ricky Morton session for Henry, the tide turns as Billy goes for a corner splash but Henry catches him and slams him to the mat.  Henry makes the tag to Phineas, who comes in and handles both Gunns.  As Phineas hits Billy with the Slop Drop, Hillbilly Jim tries to slop Sunny, which distracts the referee.  This allows Bart to come off the top rope and nail Phineas.  Bart puts Billy on top of Phineas and the Gunns get the pinfall.

Postmatch: Sunny comes into the ring and gloats.  She then gives us a gift by unveiling a huge photo of herself.  Aww, humility at its finest.

BL: Given the stips for the match, it seemed likely that the Gunns should have lost here.  However, looking at the alternatives, they probably made the right move in having them retain.  This could have been an interesting match, but they never got to explore any of the novel rules that were part of this match.  Instead, we got the same sub-standard performance from everyone.  *

- In a strange use of PPV time, we get a rather lengthy video of the wrestlers doing some PR activities in the city that weekend.  The whole video ends up being more of an advertisement for the city of Cleveland than anything else.  As a Clevelander, I enjoyed seeing the wrestlers interacting throughout my hometown, but for anyone outside of the city, I’m sure you were all thinking the same thing…”When are we getting back to the wrestling?

Sycho Sid vs. The British Bulldog

The Bulldog tries to use power early on but is unsuccessful.  Sid drops the Bulldog with a clothesline and follows it up with a slam.  The Bulldog rolls to the outside for a breather.  Once again, just like last month, Sid is crazy over with the fans.  The Bulldog catches Sid with a kick when Sid puts his head down and then hits Sid with the delayed suplex.  As that happens, we see Clarence Mason has made his way down to ringside again.  The Bulldog clotheslines Sid to the floor and then we get another shot of Cornette with Vader in the back.  As Sid tries to get back in, the Bulldog knocks him off the apron.  Sid gets back on the apron where the Bulldog grabs him and appears to try and suplex him back inside, but instead drops him across the top rope.  That gets 2.  Sid powers out of headlock and then whips the Bulldog to the corner.  He follows that with a corner splash.  After whipping the Bulldog again, Sid goes for another splash but this time comes up empty.  The Bulldog gets Sid up and plants him with the running powerslam.  As he’s about to cover, Cornette comes out and begins to yell at Mason, which distracts the Bulldog.  The Bulldog gets Sid up for another powerslam, but this time, Sid escapes and hits the Bulldog with a chokeslam.  Sid delievers the powerbomb to the Bulldog and gets the 1-2-3.

BL: A rather short affair that had no real substance.  The crowd support for Sid made it seem much more exciting than it was.  Even though, the Bulldog spent more time on offense, it felt like a Sid squash.  Both men could have been used more properly in my opinion.  * ¼

WILDman Marc Mero vs. Goldust

Storyline here is that Goldust has begun to have an infatuation with Sable.  However, I seem to recall rumblings that it was originally Marlena that was going to have an eye for Sable.  I didn’t know too much about the backstage stuff back then, so maybe someone can confirm or refute my thought on that issue.  A lockup to begin and Goldust backs Mero up to a corner.  Goldust slaps Mero and then uses the referee as a shield.  A couple of armdrags by Mero force Goldust to bail.  Mero hits Goldust with a crossbody and gets a nearfall.  After working a bit on Goldust’s arm, Mero whips Goldust to the ropes, but gets hit with an uppercut when he puts his head down.  Mero charges toward Goldust, but gets backdropped to the floor.  As Mero recovers on the apron, Goldust nails him, sending him crashing into the guardrail.  On the floor, Goldust picks up Mero and drops him onto the guardrail.  Back inside, Goldust gets a 2 count.  Goldust clotheslines Mero and covers again, but still no pinfall.  As Goldust gets a chinlock on Mero, Mankind makes his way down to ringside.  Remember, Goldust and Mankind have been partners in trying to take out the Undertaker recently and also just last week, Mankind came out during Mero’s match on Superstars and began calling Sable, “Mommy”, which naturally freaked her out.  Before Mankind can do anything but talk to Sable, referees escort him away from ringside.  Mero finally escapes the chinlock, only to be dropped with a knee to the midsection.  Goldust whips Mero to the corner, but he puts on the brakes and then flies backwards into Goldust.  Mero begins to comeback with a series of punches and a clothesline.  Goldust stops Mero in the middle of a 10-punch count and tries to dump him to the floor, but Mero forces both of them to fall to the floor.  Mero quickly gets up, goes back into the ring and then hits Goldust with a somersault plancha.  After hitting Goldust with a legdrop and a slam, Mero sets him up in the corner.  Mero goes up and hits the Shooting Star Press, which he dubbed the Wild Thing.  Mero covers, but Marlena distracts the referee long enough that when he finally comes over, Goldust is able to kick out at 2.  Goldust catches a charging Mero with an elbow, but Mero comes right back with a slam.  Mero goes to whip Goldust, but he reverses it and throws Mero into a corner.  Goldust grabs the dazed Mero and hits him with the Curtain Call.  That’s enough to get the victory.

Postmatch: As Sable tends to Mero, Goldust approaches her.  Goldust picks Sable up, but before he can do anything, Mero gets up and attacks Goldust, knocking him out of the ring.

BL: I really have to question the booking here as Mero could have really used the victory.  Not only did they not give Mero the win, but they also had Goldust kick out of Mero’s brand new finisher.  The match itself was slow to begin, but picked up nicely at the end until the unexpected finish.  ** ½

- A video package details how the attacks by Faarooq Asad on Ahmed Johnson have caused Ahmed severe kidney problems and forced him on the disabled list.  Ahmed was to have defended his Intercontinental Championship belt against Faarooq tonight, but with Ahmed out, Gorilla Monsoon made the decision to vacate the title and have an 8 man tournament begin tomorrow night on RAW.

Faarooq Asad interview

Yes, to fill the void of what would have been an Intercontinental title match, they take PPV time and have Todd Pettingil conduct an interview with Faarooq in the ring.  One wonders why they just didn't put Faarooq in a squash match or have the first match of the tournament here.  Faarooq, of course, doesn't say anything memorable and even the presence of his manager, Sunny, doesn't improve the situation.  In fact, the only thing notable is Gutschmidt sighting #3.  This is my first appearance as you can see me in the first crowd shot after the interview is over with.  I appear in the top right part of your screen wearing a maroon polo shirt.  There I am in complete mark mode giving the thumbs down sign and booing the man.  I waited my entire life to get on camera and what do I do, but the most clichéd pose of any wrestling fan.  Oh well, I'll still take my 15 minutes of fame, thank you very much.

- We get another video package and this one chronicles the feud between Jake Roberts and Jerry Lawler.  This basically was built around Lawler unrelentlessly making jokes about Roberts’ alcoholic past.  All the jokes are the kind that are extremely funny, but given the subject matter you feel awful laughing at them.

- Before the next match, Mark Henry, fresh off the Olympics, makes his way down to the ring for commentary.  As Henry approaches the announcers table, we get Gutschmidt sighting #4.  This final appearance has both my brother and I high-fiving Henry.  You'll notice I'm the one wearing the crown.  I was a Lawler mark, so sue me.

Jake "the Snake" Roberts vs. Jerry "the King" Lawler

Lawler comes out and does a lengthy comedy routine.  First, by ripping on Cleveland by wearing a Ravens jersey, which is funny because he's a noted Browns fan.  Then he goes into Jake again and actually brings out a couple of bottles of Jim Beam.  Jake finally makes his way to the ring and when he gets there, Lawler shows him what else he brought him; an extremely large bottle of champagne.  Fed up, Jake gets out the snake and wraps it around Lawler.  Lawler flees to the floor in fright.  Jake meets him out there and rams his head into the steps to finally start the match.  Inside, Jake hammers away on Lawler and then gives him a boot to the midsection.  The fight spills back onto the floor where Jake whips Lawler into the post twice.  Lawler grabs a fan's drink and throws it in Jake's face to slow him down.  Back inside, Lawler ties Jake in the ropes and then goes and grabs one of the Jim Beam bottles.  As Lawler approaches Jake, Jake boots him and then frees himself.  Jake tries for a DDT, but gets backdropped.  After Lawler misses with a fistdrop, Jake hits him with a short-arm clothesline and signals for the DDT.  As Jake tries the move, Lawler grabs the referee, preventing Jake from doing the move.  Jake argues with the referee, which allows Lawler to grab the Jim Beam bottle and nail Jake in the throat with it.  Lawler covers and actually scores a pinfall.

Postmatch: Lawler begins to pour the booze down Jake's throat, but Mark Henry eventually comes over and scares off Lawler.

BL: Once again, I'm dumbfounded by this booking decision.  As much of a Lawler fan as I am, even I know that there's no reason why he should be getting PPV wins.  And while Jake isn't some rising star, it was unnecessary to completely bury him like this, especially when he still remained with the company for a few months after this.  You could hardly call this a match as the majority of the time was not spent fighting.  DUD

- Yet another video package here and this one covers the Mankind/Undertaker feud.  This is getting excessive, but then again, I think I'd rather watch this than that last match.

Boiler Room Brawl: The Undertaker vs. Mankind

Paul Bearer comes out to the ring because the winner will be the one who emerges from the boiler room and obtains the urn from him.  Taker enters the boiler room and looks around for Mankind.  Mankind sneaks up behind Taker and hits him with a pipe.  Going for an early KO, Mankind tries to put the Mandible Claw on, but Taker blocks it and then nails Mankind with a trash can lid.  After having a brief advantage, Taker gets hit with a Stunner-like move by Mankind on a sawhorse.  As Mankind throws Taker into a boiler, the picture begins to go out as Vince apologizes for "technical difficulties".  We return to see Mankind attacking Taker with a garbage can.  Taker finally fights back with a metal pole.  As Taker stalks Mankind, Mankind stops him by opening a valve, which blows steam in Taker's face.  Mankind tries to use the garbage can again, but Taker kicks it into his face and then clotheslines him.  Taker grabs a wooden pallet and throws it at Mankind.  Mankind comes back by hitting Taker with a plastic tube and then uses it to give two lowblows.  That draws a big "ohhhh" from the crowd.  Mankind throws Taker into a garage door and then does his running knee into Taker's face.  With Taker down, Mankind climbs up a ladder and drops an elbow on him.  As Taker struggles to get up, we once again suffer "technical difficulties”, which draws large boos from the crowd.  Once the picture is back, we see Mankind setting up another ladder.  As Mankind climbs up it, Taker gets up and tips the ladder over, causing Mankind to come crashing down on some boxes and pipes.  Mankind gets up and goes after Taker, but Taker shoves him and Mankind falls back into some other boxes that sounded like they had glass in them.  As both men begin to head toward the exit, Mankind grabs a metal chain and nails Taker in the knee with it.  Mankind approaches Taker with a board, but Taker blasts him with a fire extinguisher.  Taker goes out the door first, but Mankind brings him back in, then closes the door on him.  Mankind then tries to barricade the door, but Taker plows it open.  Both men fight through the lockerroom as the other wrestlers cheer them on.  Mankind even throws a huge pot of hot coffee on Taker.  They finally make their way to the aisle where Taker hits Mankind with a clothesline and then nails him with a 2 x 4.  Taker throws Mankind into one of the TVs that were set up around the ring for the fans to watch this match.  Mankind stops Taker from getting into the ring and throws him into the steps.  After removing the padding, Mankind hits Taker with a piledriver on the exposed floor.  Both men fight on the apron and Taker heaves Mankind off causing him to fall right on the bare floor.  Ouch!  Taker enters the ring, drops to one knee and asks for the urn, but Paul Bearer won't give it to him.  Mankind gets in the ring and locks the Mandible Claw and Taker.  As that goes on, Bearer begins to laugh.  Mankind then goes over to Bearer, who begins to shine the urn for him.  Taker gets back up, but Mankind just applies the Claw again.  Mankind then picks up Taker, allowing Bearer to slap and kick him.  The final blow comes as Taker crawls toward Bearer and Bearer cracks him in the head with the urn.  Bearer then hands Mankind the urn to give him the win.

Postmatch: After Mankind and Paul Bearer leave, the lights go out and a number of druids come out and carry the Undertaker away.  I believe this would fall under The Rick’s definition of “gay spooky”. 

BL: A pretty good garbage match, especially for the time as nothing like this had really made its way onto WWF TV yet.  They certainly didn't win anybody over with the "technical difficulties" however.  As for the Bearer heel turn, it was a good move as it gave him something new to do and allowed this feud to continue without getting stale.  It's just a shame that it had to come on the night when so many other heels had already gained victories.

- Dok Hendrix talks to Jim Cornette and Vader.  Cornette says that just like how he promised Camp Cornette would win last month at International Incident, he promises that Vader will beat Shawn Michaels here tonight.  I noticed that he didn't attach that, "if I'm wrong, I'll refund everyone's money" to his promise.  Hmm, could that be a clue?

WWF Championship Match: Shawn Michaels (champ) vs. Vader

Vader strikes first by repeatedly punching Shawn.  Shawn is able to get Vader off his feet with a legsweep and then hits him with a dropkick.  Vader tries to throw Shawn out of the ring, but Shawn puts on the brakes and Vader's momentum causes him to fall to the outside.  Shawn hits Vader with a baseball slide. and then connects with a suicide plancha over the top rope.  In an interesting move, Shawn goes back into the ring and pantomimes ripping off a shirt ala Hulk Hogan.  Shawn tosses Vader back in, then hits him with a double ax handle.  A hurricanrana by Shawn and he seems to be in firm control of this match.  Shawn hops onto Vader's shoulders and flips him back out to the floor.  Vader catches Shawn flying out of the ring and plans him with a powerbomb on the floor.  Picking Shawn up like a sack of potatoes, Vader climbs up the steps and dumps him in the ring.  Vader now takes over by pounding Shawn in the corner.  Shawn is whipped to the corner, where he flips and flops, but comes back into the ring only for Vader to whip him to the other side, where he now flies to the floor.  Back inside, Shawn is back bodydropped by Vader.  Vader whips Shawn to the corner, but misses when he charges after him.  Shawn, though, can't recover as Vader immediately drops him with a clothesline.  Shawn charges at Vader, but Vader sidesteps him and throws him over the top rope.  Shawn hangs on and tries to hoist himself in.  Vader goes over and it looks like Shawn will pull Vader out with his feet, but instead Vader just hangs on, picks up Shawn and heaves him across the ring.  That gets a nearfall.  Shawn tries to comeback, but can't knock Vader down.  A sunset flip by Shawn is blocked by Vader, but when Vader tries to sit on Shawn, Shawn lifts his knees up.  Now Shawn drops him with a clothesline.  Going up top, Shawn comes down but doesn't really hit anything.  Not sure what went wrong there, but Shawn gets pissy about it.  Shawn hits Vader with a crossbody that sends both men over the top rope and to the floor.  On the floor, Vader whips Shawn into the apron and then press slams him on the guardrail.  Vader gets back into the ring right before the 10 count and wins the match.  Whaaa?  Jim Cornette then gets on the mic and says they don't want to win that way and has the match restarted.  On the floor, both Vader and Cornette get some shots in on Shawn.  Inside, Vader hits an avalanche and a belly-to-belly suplex, but can only get a nearfall.  Vader tries for a powerbomb, but Shawn punches his way out.  Shawn hits a flying forearm and then kips up.  From the top rope, Shawn hits the big elbow.  As Shawn goes to tune up the band, Cornette grabs his leg.  Shawn grabs Cornette, who tosses his racquet into the ring.  After knocking Cornette down, Shawn takes the racquet and uses it on Vader, which draws the easy DQ.  Ugh, give me a break!  But wait!  Once again, Cornette says he doesn't want to win that way and gets the match restarted again.  How did this guy suddenly gain so much stroke?  Shawn tries the sunset flip, but again it doesn't work.  Again, Vader tries to sit on Shawn, but Shawn moves out of the way.  Shawn hits another elbow from the top and then connects with Sweet Chin Music.  Shawn covers and Vader doesn't really kick out, but supposedly the referee says it way only a two count.  As Shawn goes for a bulldog, Vader shoves him off and into the referee.  Vader hits a powerbomb and covers, but no referee.  A second referee comes out, but Shawn kicks out at 2.  Vader drags Shawn over to the corner and goes for the Vader Bomb, but Cornette tells him to go all the way up.  Vader tries the moonsault, but Shawn moves out of the way.  Shawn climbs up, connects with a moonsault of his own, covers and gets a 3 count to actually end it.

BL: I didn't really care for all the false finishes.  But all the action was just outstanding.  Both men played to their strengths perfectly.  Seemingly, Vader should have gone over, but I haven't understood most of the booking that happened tonight.  So, instead of dwelling on that, I'll just appreciate the good job they did.  ****

Final Thought: A tough call here.  My being there gives me a biased positive outlook.  However, looking at this show objectively, it's not blow away great, but certainly has some decent matches.  Its faults come from some odd booking and the fact that most matches did not have a lot of backstory to them.  I also have to credit my fellow Clevelanders as they were pretty hot throughout the show.  In summary, not a fantastic show, but worth a look.

Next time, we see something extremely rare: something exciting happen during a Bradshaw match!

Until then, thanks for stopping by the OOld Tyme Rasslin Revue.