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Looked it up on Grahams site and it looks like Ice Train, Jim Powers, and Bobby Walker

In a lesser year, I might be tempted to put this at #100 on my best matches list. This is wonderful from Tenay running down Andersons amateur background, to Anderson getting pyro. The actual match is very Memphis but looks really clever and fresh in this setting as Jimmy Jett hands the knucks to Patrick and Patrick takes a great bump getting laid out with them. Bischoff is irate and has a legitimate case. I especially liked him talking about how Anderson was an official and should no better not to cheat. He ends up firing Jimmy Jett and Anderson does not have his job back. Perfect way to set up hour two of Nitro.

The commentary really tries to sell this as the biggest upset they have ever seen but it feels hollow and unjust. I did enjoy the assortment of talent that celebrated. Who was Teddy's charges at the time?

Dammit, I was hoping Loss didn't like this match so I could sound "cool" in how much I praised it. I really dig the Survivor Series 96 match to but this was a very good bordering on great match. Looking at the match listings and going on past memories, I had assumed this was a 7-8 subpar affair with Sid regaining his title in a fluky fashion. That was not the case here as they go 15 minutes with some great back and forth action and really build to a crescendo of the finish. Yes, Austin clocks Bret with a chair allowing Sid to hit the powerbomb and win the belt, but Sid was powering out of the sharpshooter that Ross put over on commentary. Bret did good looking strong and feeling screwed while not making Sid look weak. The end with Taker coming out with the staredown was a effective and we now have our top two matches set for Mania.

The obsession that Austin has for Bret really gets played up and carried over here. He attacked Bret a the beginning of the show and when Bret was going to the ring. The backstage brawl was going good and I was going to praise Sid for rushing in and looking menacing but then he started throwing the worst punches I have ever seen and all that good will evaporated. Gorilla in this era of WWF always looks out of context.

Goldust's mumbling, scattered promo was bizarre but I'm not sure if it was that effective. Marlena was better saying that he was all man from his golden head to his golden feet. HHH takes offense with this and we get his first fascination with water as he uses it here. Chyna swinging Marlena wildly due to their size difference was an effective way for her to make her debut.

I love the camera angle they use with Bret's entrance that literally follows him from the interview segment to the ring. The opening of this started hot and was real explosive with all these big personalities that have been yapping at each other finally getting physical. Vader busts his eye and the desperation is even better. Then they seem to lose their focus and the match came to a fairly big halt for me. Stuff was going on but it didn't have much rhyme or reason and it was just moves executed or outside brawling. I think this match looks worse in comparison to surrounding stuff in the year. There has been a lot of thinking man matches including a big one right before this match in Hash vs. Yama. This felt like a match with an ending sequence mapped out and instructions for the guys to fill in the 25 minutes before them. I also usually am not one to point out botches but both the stunner Austin gives Taker and Vader running into the timekeeper position are hilarious. Vaders superplex getting little to no reaction made me sad and he was the star of the match. The end result of Austin being obsessed with Bret and the screwing indirectly benefit Bret worked real well here and this still was a good match overall, but in the context of worldwide 1997 matches, this will not be a memorable one in the long term.

PTBN Daily Update! Greg Phillips looks at lackluster surprises in wrestling: http://placetobenation.com/and-the-crowd-goes-mild/ Place to Be Podcast Reviews King of the Ring 2000: http://placetobenation.com/place-to-be-pod...-the-ring-2000/ Kings of Sport has their latest podcast: http://placetobenation.com/the-kings-of-sp...ches-never-lie/ Kyle Warne reviews a noteworthy ROH episode: http://placetobenation.com/roh-tv-august-3rd-4th-edition/ Andrew Duvall has the fourth entry in his ambitious movie series: http://placetobenation.com/1000-films-you-...he-right-thing/ Check it out.

I let the booking going on sway me in regards to Flair being in MVP consideration.

I would like to see this in full for the opening minutes of mat work. What we get is pretty gritty as Hash wears out the leg of Yamazaki and Yama returns by killing Hash's arm. Hash's underneath work is very good as his limb feels completely comprised until he realizes he cant win without it and uses it anyway no matter how much pain it will cause. That was the catalyst for the whole match and he shortly puts Yama away with the brainbuster. Really nice story that was able to develop in this match.

Awesome informative thread. This is only a few steps off from Otani vs. Liger to me and was great in its own right. I like that Kanemoto came out of the gate and overwhelmed Liger because a. he may be weakened from the match a week earlier and b. he saw how the beginning of that match was a stallmate in a lot of ways and he was determined not to do that. Liger reverses a lot of the matwork that Koji throws his way here but Koji clearly dominates almost all of this match. Liger's build to the palm strike was fantastic. I do think Liger shouldnt have kicked out of that offensive flurry ending in a Koji moonsault and afterwards we get a little too much of the nearfall exchange stuff but it was still done very well and this is a great compliment piece to Liger vs. Otani and a great match as a standalone.

Never played this game and never really heard much about it in comparison to Fire Pro.

I liked the again analogies to tough times in his forefathers past that Terry references in these promos as he gears up for his last big run. I really wish this was it for him as an angle this stuff has been some of the best iteration of this kind of thing I have seen so far.

Sunny as an announcer is not good at all. I liked this match again as another 6-8 minute showcase studio match. King Reginald does not look good with his interference spot but he does allow Wolfie to pick up the win which even in this cheap condition surprised me.

This seemed pretty scrambled booking wise given what Shawn did. Do we know when exactly he told them day wise he was giving up the belt?

Tough for me to watch this in a vacumn like the Clash 10 heel turn. I hear the context of what Shawn is saying and its good but knowing what we know, I just cant buy it and him hugging Vince and JR downing on about this the toughest night he has ever had in this sport was too much. I like JR but anyone criticizing the "greatest night in the history of our sport" and TOny should look at some of Ross' calls around this time especially this one when you knew he thought Shawn was full of shit. All good buildup they have done for Shawn vs. Bret is squashed.

These two wrestling in this capacity is amazing and it is crazy how different they both act and look a mere three years later. Ending run was perfectly fine stuff and this was probably the best pop of Rocky's young career. In retrospect, its surprising they gave him this win only 2 months after he debuted.

This turned out a lot better than I would have imagined without Hogan being there live to mug it up with the fans. Piper lays out his reasons for accepting the match and Hogan acts like he is not worried at all about him even though we know that not to be the case.

Yeah this was much better than the stare down last week as you actually could convey that DDP was not backing down no matter what side Sting/ Savage were on. The Savage/DDP interaction is especially interesting considering where it will develop.

Even with all the hype Childs and Loss gave this match, I was expecting to be let down. I was wrong and it is either this/ Liger vs. Sano/ or Liger vs. Sasuke from July 94 as my favorite japan junior match of the decade so far. I really enjoyed how this match mixed in a heavyweight structure build and sprinkled in the junior spots. Otani really plays his role well. He is overconfident and cocky but sympathetic at the same time. Liger is a flawed character in this match to as someone who may be too reliant on certain aspects and unwilling to change with the times. THat narrative provided an engaging story to compliment the wonderful action. The finishing sequence may be one of the best I have ever seen and Otani really had to tow the line with those palm strikes from making it look ridiculous and goofy. My #2 match of the year and if this falls out of the top 7-8 this year, we are in for a loaded year.

Really unique set up and HHH coming out of the limo and spouting off something snooty worked in this setting. I think Taker wanted to rid the escaltor down but had to use the steps instead. Him coming through the crowd to get into the ring was a cool scene. Match doesn't have much to it but I do think these two have good chemistry with each other and the tombstone spot was a good way of using the unique setting.

Yes, glad you are here NWA Fan. One thing to discuss is that Crockett probably had more cages made than any other promotion. This looked different from the Havoc thundercage and both are different from the Wargames and Tower of Doom cage.

Check your PM Mookie. This was a great show guys. Mookie stats is especially interesting stuff to me. Being an accountant, I'm a numbers guy by nature but I love the anatlytical tinge Mookie acompanies his data with so its not just a blob of info. I would love to see something a Wrestlecon or something where they have a little session where Mookie can present some data like they do at the SABR conference.

I was hating this stuff as the hokey Memphis with the candle going out and the candles looking like they were about to take a bubble bath together instead of have an arm wrestling match. Things really heat up literally when Spellbinder creates a fireball and hits Christopher in a move that actually looked like it took quite a bit of skill.

Pillman looks real unhinged and pops some Jokes about Lance before setting down for commentary. The King is suprisingly quiet during this whole bit.