So a couple of weeks ago, I had someone write to me and ask why I didn’t do the UK PPV from late ’97.  A fair question and the simple answer to it is because I don’t own any of the UK PPVs.  Not to slight any of my UK readers, but since typically nothing ever happened on these shows, I never bothered to buy them.  Plus, if something did happen, I would just reference it in one of my other reviews.  But if there is a large group of you out there who would like to see me review these shows, all it takes is for someone to offer me a deal to obtain the shows.  Until then, you will all have to suffer with my USA bias.
 

The UK PPVs did get me thinking about how I could change things up with this column.  Since we are getting closer and closer to modern day, I’m not quite sure of what value these reviews will become.  So what I might end up doing is reviewing some of the WWE multi-disc releases that have come out recently.  I would do a review of the 

story/show that the disc features, plus a review of all the matches that are included as extras.  For matches that I’ve already reviewed, I’ll probably just do a C&P job, but would do fresh reviews for ones that weren’t on a WWE PPV.  So if you like this idea, give me some suggestions as to which DVDs you think would be good for me to do.  

And now, as Ed Sullivan used to say, on with shoe…

OOld Tyme Rasslin Revue for WWF In Your House: Unforgiven 1998

Emanating from the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, NC

Your commentators are Jim Ross and Jerry “the King” Lawler

6 man tag team match: Farooq, Ken Shamrock, and Steve Blackman vs. The Nation of Domination

Let’s do a quick status check on the face team:  Farooq was forced out of the Nation about a month ago since there wasn’t any room for him at the top with The Rock and his ego.  Shamrock can’t seem to let go of his feud with The Rock, despite numerous opportunities to finish it.  And Steve Blackman is there as a token face to simply fill out the team.  The Rock, D’Lo Brown and Mark Henry are the three Nation members who will be in action here.  D’Lo kicks things off with Blackman.  Neither man gets an advantage, so Blackman tags Shamrock.  Shamrock doesn’t do much and then tries to tag Farooq.  At first, Farooq refused, but then reluctantly goes in.  D’Lo tries claiming that he’s not a bad guy and there’s no need to fight.  This, of course is followed by a sucker punch to Farooq.  Farooq, however, catches D’Lo with a spinebuster and then begins to whip him with a strap.  Now it’s Blackman and Henry in there and Blackman gets manhandled.  A modified powerbomb by D’Lo gets 2 on Blackman.  D’Lo catches Farooq with his head down and plants his face.  This leads to a mini face-in-peril scene with Farooq.  Blackman gets tagged back in, but soon he’s playing Ricky Morton.  The Rock gets caught in a sloppy inside cradle by Blackman for 2.  The Rock hits the People’s Elbow, which is finally starting to generate a response from the crowd.  D’Lo goes for the moonsault on Blackman, but comes up empty.  Both men tag out and now it’s Farooq going to town on The Rock.  Now Farooq begins to take on all the Nation members.  With everyone now out of the ring, The Rock hits Farooq with a DDT and covers, but only gets 2.  Farooq comes back and nails The Rock with an ugly Dominator and picks up the victory.

Bottom Line: This could have been a good opener, but was doomed by poor organization.  This was just a bunch of guys hitting random moves on each other.  Plus, you’ll never get crowd support when Blackman is your face-in-peril.  The most over face, Shamrock, was barely involved in the match and that’s not a good thing.  The finish is perfectly acceptable except that a Farooq/Rock feud isn’t very appetizing since Farooq can barely move around the ring.  * ¼

- CRASH!  What’s this?  The champion has decided to come out early and he doesn’t look happy.  Austin grabs the microphone and the timekeeper and takes them in the ring.  He tells Mark Yeaton that if Vince McMahon tells him to ring the bell, he’ll beat him within an inch of his life.  A pretty frivolous segment, but having the champ come out this early was a pleasant surprise.

WWF European Championship Match: Triple H (champ) vs. Owen Hart

The European title being defended on back-to-back PPVs?  Be still my heart!  A sign in the crowd says, “Playboy needs Chyna”.  Gee, thanks for that suggestion.  Speaking of the Amazon, she has been forced to be in a cage above the ring for this match after her involvement in last month’s Wrestlemania.  As Chyna’s being locked in, Owen jumps HHH from behind.  The two brawl in the aisle and Owen eventually throws HHH into the cage.  Both men get in the ring long enough for the bell to ring before they are back out brawling by the announce tables.  Owen mounts HHH in the corner, but then HHH drops him across the top turnbuckle.  A kneelift by HHH puts him in control.  As HHH places Owen in a chinlock, we see Chyna pull a file out of her boot.  Owen is whipped HARD, sternum-first, into the turnbuckle and HHH gets a nearfall afterwards.  Crowd has been very quite for this match thus far.  Owen gets a sunset flip for the count of 1.  A missed charge by Owen causes him to ram his shoulder into the post.  A facebuster by HHH gives him a nearfall.  Now he locks on his third or fourth lengthy resthold.  Owen escapes and hits HHH with a German suplex for 2.  As Owen delivers a belly-to-belly suplex to HHH, we cut to Chyna, who has managed to bend one of the bars.  Owen nails HHH with an enziguri.  That gets 2.  After connecting with a piledriver, Owen goes up and hits a big elbow.  Before covering, he spots Chyna, who is hanging on the outside of the cage.  The distraction allows HHH to knee Owen from behind.  HHH goes for a powerbomb, but Owen reverses it into a DDT.  Owen locks HHH in the Sharpshooter, but now the cage is being lowered.  We see a few seconds later that it was Road Dogg who lowered the cage.  Chyna hops down and Owen releases the hold to go over by her.  Once again the distraction allows HHH to attack Owen from behind.  HHH attempts the Pedigree, but Owen reverses it into a slingshot.  Now Owen hits HHH with the Pedigree.  He covers, but the referee is still preoccupied with Chyna.  This allows X-Pac (the former 1-2-3 Kid, who joined D-X the night after Wrestlemania) to come through the crowd, into the ring and hit Owen with a fire extinguisher.  The referee comes back in time to see HHH cover and he gets the win.

Postmatch: Michael Cole interviews Owen in the aisle and asks him if D-X has his number.  Owen says this is bullsh*t and enough is enough.  Looks like someone’s channeling their inner Bret.

BL: What a bore this was.  That’s so sad to say too when the match involves these two.  Those lengthy restholds really ruined things.  The silent crowd didn’t help matters either.  The finish was booked as it probably should have, but after the rest of the match, it didn’t have the impact it should have had.  * ¾

 “Bonus” Match: The Rock N Roll Express vs. The New Midnight Express

Doesn’t ‘bonus’ usually refer to something good or positive?  I’m sure the crowd will wake up for this one.  A shoulder-tackle by Gibson knocks Bodacious Bob to the outside to get us underway.  The Midnight Express try a double-team move on Morton, but it backfires.  They try it again and once again they are unsuccessful.  The Midnight Express argue with each other and Cornette cools them down.  Bombastic Bart grabs Bodacious Bob’s arm, as he locks Morton in an abdominal stretch, but the referee catches them and puts an end to it.  Cornette, angered over this, gets in the ring and wants to fight the referee.  Tim White actually throws a couple of punches in Cornette’s direction, which forces Cornette to run away in fear.  What the hell is going on here?  Cornette trips Morton coming off the ropes to give his team an advantage.  The Midnight Express have now isolated Morton on their half of the ring.  Morton is now playing the role of…um, damn, what’s the name of the guy who’s known for always playing the face-in-peril role in tag matches?  Oh well, I’m sure it’ll come to me later.  Bodacious Bob misses a top rope legdrop, which allows Morton to tag.  All four men in now and the faces are in firm control.  With the referee distracted, Cornette tries to attack Gibson, but gets caught.  Gibson rolls up Bombastic Bart, but Bodacious Bob hits him with a bulldog from behind.  Bombastic Bart covers and scores the 3 count.

BL: What an utter waste of time.  Well past their prime, the Rock N Roll Express have no business still being on PPV matches.  Beating a couple of fossils like them does nothing to improve the Midnight Express’ status.  I dare you to find a redeeming quality about this match.  DUD

- Dok Hendrix interviews Luna about her upcoming Evening Gown match with Sable.  Luna says that by the end of the match, she’ll leave Sable in the middle of the ring like a newborn.  If she means newborn as in crying and pouting until she gets what she wants, then I would say she’s go a pretty good chance of having that guarantee come true.

Evening Gown Match: Sable vs. Luna

Winner is the woman who strips her opponent completely of her evening gown.  I’ll spare you the specifics of what happens and just go straight to the, ahem, climax.  As Sable begins her comeback, Marc Mero comes out to try and stop the match.  The distraction allows Luna to strip Sable of the rest of her garments and win the match.

Postmatch: Sable gives Luna the Sable Bomb and then strips her of her dress.  She then chases her under the ring and comes back out with her undergarments.  Luckily, Goldust has his robe with him, so we don’t have to witness that horrific sight.

BL: Not much to say here.  It’s women getting nekkid.  As for match quality, I’ll give it an F.  For titillation factor, I’ll give it a DD.  Oh, I’m so witty.

- Now Vince McMahon comes out, flanked by Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco, and in typical Vince fashion, tells a whole lot about a whole lot of nothing.  He ends it with a warning that he won’t be responsible for what happens tonight, if “Stone Cold screws Stone Cold”.  Did a big match get cancelled or something, because we’ve had a whole lot of filler thus far.

WWF Tag Team Championship Match: The New Age Outlaws (champs) vs. L.O.D. 2000

Road Dogg claims that they’ve brought legendary UNC basketball coach Dean Smith out of retirement to help them in this match, but Badd Ass brings out a blow-up doll in a UNC shirt.  Most would find that offensive, but since I’m now a member of the Wolfpack, I find it damn funny.  Badd Ass and Animal square off to begin and Animal gets the early advantage.  Now it’s Road Dogg and Hawk’s turn, but the end result is the same.  Road Dogg looks for comfort from Badd Ass, but Hawk attacks them both.  It’s been all L.O.D. thus far.  Hawk fucks up a slam attempt by dropping Badd Ass prematurely and then does the spot again.  How embarrassing!  A powerslam by Animal gets 2 on Badd Ass.  L.O.D. set Road Dogg up for the Doomsay Device, but Badd Ass clips Animal before they can complete the move.  Now the Outlaws have isolated Animal and continue to work over his leg.  A Rocker Dropper by Badd Ass gets 2.  When Badd Ass goes for a piledriver, Animal blocks it and backdrops him.  A legdrop by Animal allows him to tag Hawk.  Hawk comes in and beats up both Outlaws.  Hawk connects with a big splash from the top rope and covers, but the referee is distracted.  Badd Ass comes in and nails Hawk in the back of the head with a tag belt.  Road Dogg covers, but Hawk kicks out at 2.  Road Dogg tries to hit Hawk with the belt, but accidentally nails Badd Ass instead.  Hawk connects with a German suplex.  The referee counts 3 and it’s over.  The L.O.D. think they’ve won it, but the referee counted Hawk’s shoulders down on the pin and declared the Outlaws as still champions.

Postmatch: Angered by that decision, L.O.D. hit the Doomsday Device on the referee.  Oooh, big tough guys beating up on a referee.

BL: Once again, we’ve unnecessarily protected L.O.D.  Just job them out already.  As for the match, fundamentally there was nothing wrong.  However, once again we’ve suffered through another snoozefest.  These two teams just do not work well.  Thankfully, this would be L.O.D.’s last chance at any prominence.  *

- Now we get a “mini-concert” as Jeff Jarrett performs with country western group Sawyer Brown.  This was really pointless as it wasn’t bad, per se, but Jarrett is a heel, so why should anyone cheer it?  Truthfully, the only reason this is here is so the ring crew can prepare for the Inferno match.  With all the other filler we’ve had this evening, this was really unwanted.

Postsegment: As Jarrett begins to brag, Steve Blackman comes out and attacks him.  Then Tennessee Lee nails Blackman with a guitar.  The whole scene ends with Jarrett applying the figure four leglock and then leaving Blackman in pain.

- There’s now a video package for the Undertaker/Kane match.  No need to comment on this as it’s basically the same package as last month only now with clips of flames interspersed within it.  Creative, this was not.

Inferno Match: The Undertaker vs. Kane

Just in case you don’t know, in an Inferno match, the ring is surrounded by flames and the first person to set their opponent on fire wins.  Taker decides against the rope-a-dope strategy he used last month and goes right after Kane here.  Both men exchange punches to the face.  Taker goes up for the ropewalk and as he connects with it, the flames magically leap up.  Kane catches Taker going for a corner splash and drops him across the top turnbuckle.  Trapped in the corner, Taker’s face gets dangerously close to the fire.  Paul Bearer tosses Kane a chair, which he cracks over Taker’s skull.  Taker fights back with a series of kicks, but Kane quickly knocks him back down.  After some sluggish offense by Kane, Taker rallies with a Russian legsweep and a big legdrop.  Both men go for a chokeslam, but only Kane hits one.  However, Taker is back up quickly and now hits a chokeslam of his own.  Now both men boot the other, sending both to the mat.  Taker goes for a big clothesline, but misses and nearly rolls into the flames.  Kane tries going up top, but Taker crotches him.  Taker, then, suplexes him from the corner.  Kane is thrown over the top rope and to the floor.  This causes Kane to decide he wants to leave.  As he walks down the aisle, Vader, who we haven’t seen since Kane attacked him with the wrench two months ago, jumps him and brings him back to ringside.  As they battle, Taker leaps over the ropes and lands on Kane.  Big pop for all of that.  Bearer hits Taker with a chair, but he no-sells it and grabs the weapon.  Taker then nails Kane with the chair twice.  With Kane down, Taker stalks Bearer up onto the stage Sawyer Brown used and attacks him with some of their musical equipment.  When Taker comes back to ringside, Kane tries attacking him with a chair.  However, Taker boots him, causing him to fall back and have his hand land in the flames.  Kane, with his hand and arm on fire, runs to the back and Taker is declared the winner.

BL: This is one of those “sounds better on paper” matches.  Or maybe it’s just that this match should have been with better wrestlers.  Because even a ring of fire will not mask the slow lumbering action by these two.  The match wasn’t without its moments, but overall it just wasn’t very exciting.  The finish especially, came off looking bad as Kane had to take a while to put on the stuntman glove and then his casual falling into the fire looked really dumb.  The poor execution and lack of drama in the finishes of Inferno matches are the main reason why they aren’t seen more often.  * ½

- The main event scene started getting really good at this point and the video package highlights why.  After Wrestlemania 14, Vince tried getting Austin to be a corporate-friendly champion, but that didn’t go so well.  This culminated in a Vince vs. Austin match on RAW (which is the defining moment of when RAW took over Nitro in the ratings).  The match never got underway, however, as Dude Love came out to play peacemaker and then inexplicably attacked Austin.  Even more interesting is the fact that the following week, Dude Love was named #1 contender.  Now Vince is saying that something catastrophic will happen tonight.  Austin believes this means Vince will screw him out of the title like he did Bret Hart at Survivor Series.  The stage is set, but who knows what will happen.  Ahh, the good ol days, where everything that happened wasn’t so damn apparent.

WWF Championship Match: “Stone Cold” Steve Austin (champ) vs. Dude Love

Dude jumps Austin from behind, as he was handing the referee the title and we’re underway.  Austin comes back and knocks Dude out of the ring.  Back inside, Dude gets hit with the Lou Thesz Press and the FU elbow.  It’s been all Austin for the past couple of minutes and now Dude is reconsidering wanting to fight.  As Dude walks away, Austin clotheslines him from behind in the aisle.  The two fight on the stage until Austin hiptosses Dude to the floor.  Austin’s momentum is finally halted when he misses a legdrop.  Dude goes on offense with a running bulldog.  As Dude locks on a resthold, Vince and the Stooges (Patterson and Brisco) stroll on down to ringside.  Smart move to have them come out during the non-action.  Vince sits down at ringside and then nods at the timekeeper.  Austin escapes the hold, but goes over right away to flip off Vince, which allows Dude to cradle him for 2.  Austin begins to work over all of Dude’s appendages on the ringpost right in front of Vince.  On the floor, Austin tries to piledrive Dude, but gets backdropped instead.  After getting his head rammed into the guardrail, Austin gets baited by Vince to allow Dude to clothesline him from behind.  Inside, Dude locks in an abdominal stretch and Vince tells the timekeeper to ring the bell, but Austin quickly reverses the hold and Vince takes back his order.  On the floor, Dude tries to suplex Austin, but that’s blocked and instead Austin suplexes him onto the steps.  Ow, that looked painful!  Back in the ring, Dude catches Austin with a swinging neckbreaker.  Dude tunes up the band for Sweet Shin Music, but Austin blocks it.  Then, Dude tries to clothesline Austin, but accidentally hits the referee instead.  A Stunner attempt is blocked by Dude, who then applies the Mandible Claw.  Austin tries fighting out of it, but Dude goes low.  Dude applies the Claw again, as Vince tries to revive the referee.  After knocking Dude to the floor, Austin goes for a chair, but Vince won’t let him use it.  Dude grabs the chair and charges, but Austin elbows the chair into his face.  As Vince checks on Dude, Austin grabs the chair and blasts Vince with it.  However, it’s unclear whether he wanted to hit Vince, or if he wanted to hit Dude and missed.  Regardless, Austin grabs Dude, takes him in the ring and Stunners him.  With the referee still down, Austin counts his own 3 count.  Cue Austin’s music.  Austin leaves as the Stooges come out with paramedics for Vince (How about for that referee?  He’s been down for 10 minutes from a simple clothesline!)  As they give Vince the stretcher job, Brisco tells Howard Finkel that Austin has been disqualified for striking a WWF official.  Show ends on a somber note with J.R. pondering what actions will be taken against Austin.

BL: What a bizarre way to end the show.  It’s tough to generate the sympathy card for someone who’s going against the #1 face.  While it may make you want to turn in to see what happens the following night, it made for a dull finish to an otherwise hot match.  As for the match, it was a solid brawl, but it lacked the proper drama.  Even with Vince’s presence, you never felt Austin was in danger of losing.  However, that problem would be solved next month.  ****

Final Thoughts: I think the fact that this show kicked off the Austin/McMahon feud clouded my judgment, because watching it again, this one is a dog.  Aside from the main event, nothing else makes it over two stars.  And as for that main event, their rematch the following month is way better than this one.  Plain and simple, I can’t give you a reason to check out this show.  Oh well, they can’t all be winners.

Next time, find out why Shawn Michaels wasn’t the only one to lose his smile.

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