Kevin Ridge

Ross wanted the Stone Cold era to begin badly. I hated the nugget reference for Owen. It didn’t make this clip but they would move the poker game outside the ring during matches. Headbangers got destroyed. I'm waiting for Sting to show up and hit Michaels in the balls with a baseball bat. Owen does makes a quick appearance and gets a few blows in on Michaels before escaping through crowd.

Sunny is the champion of making the most possible appearances on yearbook without doing anything of note.

It is heel in the works Vince but he is wisely not over doing it yet as talks about the concern for safety of WWF fans when Austin drove the truck down which the crowd loved. I like that they did things gradual from concerned owner to evil boss.

This was just average. I do like Liger’s flexing taunt. Crowd loves Takaiwa’s multiple powerbombs combo. I worry what to expect from the major Japan feds on later yearbooks.

The early back and forth going for takedowns/submission was good. The finish was quick but I was about to complain how guys seemed to always get up and beat the count on these early type KO’s but Sakuraba doesn’t! With the referee counting the 10 so fast it’s hard to have the drama like traditional pro wrestling where you can milk it good on someone trying to get up in time. I still prefer early Sakuraba in Pride to these.

JR wants does a pre match interview with Shawn and wants to know why he doesn't respect Shamrock. Michaels calls Ross a "tub of goo" a couple times. JR thanks him for his time. Fink mentions a one hour time limit which I thought they stopped using years ago. Triple H gets beat up on the outside by Shamrock but Chyna takes out Shamrock by both running him into the ring post and then bodyslamming him. Ross spends a lot of time running down Michaels character. Standing two feet away, Earl Hebner complete ignores Michaels doing an eye poke. Then Shamrock almost breaks his neck just running the ropes! Ah, that was just left off what we see on edited version. Shamrock goes for the anklelock and DX interferes immediately. Lack of crowd heat for whole match as nobody seemed to believe Ken would win. Owen attacks Michaels! I think Owen was trying to stick both thumbs up Michaels' nose.

Having the Nation out there did give Rock the advantage to get the better of Austin for the time he did. Stunner on DLo on top of the pickup truck was a memorable spot. Not a long match but action packed. Austin doesn’t even take his jacket off until the match is over. No crowd reaction for Rock’s two people’s elbows.

Goldust was great reading from from book while doing different voices. The character is just really weird and Luna fits right in.

They were making him a bit more serious before he left ECW. Then he went completely goofy again in WCW before coming back to ECW. He wants to thank the ECW fans for making him a superstar and closes out the interview by tripping as he walks away. I don’t know if that was a nod to his previous comedy self but it didn’t fit the more serious Richards in this promo.

The mat work was indeed very excellent as they kept things interesting on the ground. Did feel short with elimination tournament rules that took a fall away.

Fans aren’t booing Taue when he did his dropping opponent on top rope move. Nothing for a second attempt later in match. Taue takes a Misawa forearm and flies out of the ring link he is sliding head first into second base. Kawada and Taue are the best tag team going to me. Better as a team than Misawa/Akiyama. The tag at the end never happened and Taue/Kawada just overwhelmed Akiyama. That finish in the US would be hinting at a team breaking up with Misawa standing on the apron and not trying to make the save at the end. Got to let the kid fight his own fight at times.

Those aren’t the thickest gloves as far as protection so it’s impressive to see them really lay into each other. They gone from the primary open hand slaps of UWFI to now using gloves. Good stuff from both guys. Sakuraba isn't showing the charisma like he does in Pride.

This feels way too familiar. Nobody helps out the WCW guys and security is nowhere to be seen.

I want to see Hogan versus this lady at Starrcade. The camera focuses in on fans wearing the Sting masks as Hogan talks. Hollywood gets upset and gets in the face of an old lady in front. He was great but she was just as good. Has to be seen.

Why even cheat to win? No need to protect a guy like Neidhart. He gets beat up more post match. Ross talks about how original DX are when they spray paint Jim’s back. So unprofessional Shawn was with the lollipop in his mouth while in the anklelock finisher of his PPV opponent. Not the best sell for the PPV.

HHH was so horrible on the mic. He just hadn’t found his voice yet. Shawn misses Bret! He doesn't seem right during this segment just sitting in the chair. Ross plugs on the hotline about the latest WWF star threatening to quit.

Lawler did his best to get in as many Mexican jokes in the short segment. Lawler versus Sunny in the finals! I am not shocked that she is involved in this.

Dustin does play the Goldust character up big when he's pushing buttons. His look here was one of the alternative outfits for him in one of the video games that came out in late 90's. Well he didn't have the gag in his mouth.

I tried watching the full thing but it was as poor as I Remember. They were pretending to be Hogan/Andre the Giant with Douglas going for powermoves but not being able to lift Bigelow. They stretch this out for 30 minutes. Lots of Bigelow doing a move and then just standing there and looking at the crowd. Dude, your title is on the line. Styles tried to spin it that Bigelow wanted to end Douglas' career more than anything. I wasn't buying that as there wasn't the built up hate in this feud to be going in that direction. Not good.

I love that piledriver spot on RVD. The atmosphere from the Arena is not translating to the other venues that have hosted PPVS. This got really overbooked with the referee stuff though I did laugh at the double DDT on Jeff Jones followed by a taunt from each referee. Beulah didn’t connect well on her low blow shot on Alfonzo. Richards showing up overshadowed Dreamer getting beat up as fans were cheering Stevie instead.

The video producers love November. The banner fire almost got a piece of RVD too.

Enjoyed this and I’m glad to see some Dandy in WCW make it on set. Rey is never in danger of losing but Dandy looked like a solid opponent.

FMW has been getting away from the gimmick/death matches. Chairs still get involved but only rarely in match. This match did feel like it was part of the current AJPW Tag League as a match that gets slightly out of control but still has all the close falls at the end.

Taue was treating Akiyama like Kikuchi the way he was throwing him around. I think 1997 has had the most table breaks for Japan compared to all other yearbooks combined. I figured we were getting a draw with the teams involved so was pleasantly surprised to see a decisive win. Nice aggression by both Kawada and Taue.

Oh, I wish we got some Bradshaw versus Hansen highlights instead. Or Bradshaw versus the FMW guys.