Matt D

A few things about the match, most of which I've said before. 1.) It was Martel's debut to the territory really. He came in very shortly before the Race matches and the way that they build him up as a babyface in the first quarter of 1980 is really incredibly well done. Here, though, he was new enough it was almost felt like Crockett sending a Magnum vs Flair match to help prop up another territory's big show. There's not even the proximity to Canada connection since he was billed from France. 2.) Frank Bonnema basically explains/rationalizes, at length, the neverending armwork as "control" and while I really like him as an announcer in general, that's one of the best things i've ever heard an announcer do. 3.) I think it says a lot about both Race and Martel (at this early point in his career) when you look at how they chose to work this match relative to the big matches that Martel would have later in the year and then later on in the AWA. EDIT: I'm not sure what else I'd REALLY suggest from Portland in 1980. Past the matches listed (though the Midget match is a bit slight since we don't have much of it). If you're going to watch that then you should watch the June 14, 1980 Battle Royal too). So much of what worked for it for me was to see it in context and how things led into each other and how Buddy would deal with different situations even if they weren't meant to be MOTY whatevers. I realize I haven't seen that six man vs Lightfoot/Youngblood/Cortez which I didn't realize existed, so I'm excited to track that down someday and see some babyface Cuban. I guess if I had to suggest one more 1980 match from Portland I'd go with Rose/Wiskowki/Fidel Cortez vs Sheepherders/Jonthan Boyd - 2/3 Falls - July 19, 1980

I finally caught up too. Fun show, unsurprisingly. And it could have been another hour easily. How much TCW footage is out there?

Ironically, this is why I never watch those long hyped NJPW main events from the last year or two.

Three sentence reviews: Goldust/Snitsky vs Spirit Squad - 5/16/06 This was surprisingly good and people should watch it. Goldust played FIP almost as well as I've seen him in the 00s, making the Spirit Squad look really formidable and getting the crowd super into the hot tag. Snitsky played his role well and the crowd was pretty hot and pissed off after the clever interference finish. Dustin Rhodes vs Jeff Jarrett - Nitro - 3/12/01 This is really a non match, but in some ways it's worth looking at. It's three minutes of Dustin really beating on Jeff after a novel use of Jarrett's pyro to enter the ring. He looks as good as I've seen him in this period though and I do think he and JJ have chemistry. Dustin Rhodes vs Jeff Jarrett - TNA Weekly PPV - 2/4/04 Probably the best TNA match I've ever seen which isn't saying much because I've seen about ten TNA matches and wouldn't call this great even if it is VERY worth watching. It doesn't actually have a heat segment which means it can't really be that good of a match but it does have Dustin beating Jarrett ALL around the Asylum (?). It ends begins with a ball gag and ends with the TNA main event bullshit from that era but the stuff in the middle has some really good face-beating-heel stuff by Dustin that got the crowd very into things by the end. Dusty Rhodes Jr. vs Justin Credible - World 1 - 4/8/04 This had some of the same arena brawling but with more weapons and at 2/3rds speed. It was in front of a fairly small crowd so I can't blame them too much. I wouldn't go out of my way for it though it's kind of fun to see Dustin toss trashcans at people and work as Dusty Rhodes Jr. Black Reign stuff: I thought this might be good because it's Dustin. Even fat Dustin would have the psychology down. I didn't hate Rellik/Reign vs Kaz/Young but really, best to avoid all of this.

I don't buy the yearbooks since it's not really how I like to consume wrestling, but I think five, ten years down the line, when the next generation comes into things, they're going to be really valuable. Not perfect, but really valuable in order to help educate the kids in a way they wouldn't get otherwise.

Wires crossed there. That was the other guy. I'm just connecting years worth of mildly irritating dots instead of looking for any actual content or meaningful discussion. I'll actually bow out of it in a moment since PWO is too nice a place for this sort of thing.

Overcompensating in a terribly pandering way due to your geographically driven feelings of insignificance?

It would probably be more productive if someone other than you made that point though.

What's the actual week we're looking at, because Zayn/Kruger 2/3 Falls was on the 1/1 NXT I think and is worth a look. It's not as good as the best of the 2013 NXT output but it has weeks of build, is, sort of the climax of years of Kruger's character development, shows that NXT has sort of claimed the 2/3 falls match as a trademark and is totally willing to change it up. The match itself was really well paced with what I thought was a very strong second fall. Good logical transitions, good looking offensive from both guys, nice finish. I don't think we'll remember it much in ten years, but for the week, sure.

Neidhart was using a cobra clutch he called the ANVILIZER

I just want to see Rowan/Harper/Bryan vs Goldust/Cody/Rey. Is that a vote option?

The problem is that if there is an established opinion that is one way or the other, oftentimes if you disagree you're seen as just aiming to be different so you stand out. I'm still going to post what I think of the show, but I am really hoping to avoid that. You must be new to PWO, Loss. You can say what you want here so long as you're willing to listen to others and back it up.

Don't worry; Dylan lives here.

I'm really curious what every wrestler ever thought about the Von Erichs' partying.

When I'm watching random things from the 90s, I often jump in to see if it was covered on a yearbook to see everyone's thoughts (because even in the ones with not a lot of people commenting, you still get Charles' and I value his on this stuff). In that regard, it's an amazing resource.

You are actually quite good at getting close to the best possible interview you can get in these scenarios, I think. A lot of that WWF stuff is actually easy to find, be it in his shoot interview or others, so this was a great and fresh read.

The novel is even better.

Random quick reviews. I'm just going to burn through a few things I haven't hit yet or that i want to see. Goldust vs Marc Mero - Raw - 7/1/96 I've seen next to no face Mero in WWF. What the heck is his gimmick? Coked out? I'm going to go with coked out. Austin is guest commentating. Sloppy, fast-paced stuff to begin until Dustin dives out to take a break. Rinse and repeat, though the second time around it looks better. Marlena goes near Sable on the outside, Mero goes out, Dustin goes out, Mero chases Dustin back in. Dustin catches him in the way in. Transition. While they play up the Marlena/Sable stuff Dustin has on yet another rear chinlock. Hope spots, cut offs, taunting, chinlock. Pretty sloppy roll forward pin hope spot nearfall. Dustin's stuff looks pretty good during the heat segment but it's sure not compelling. Fiery comeback ends with Mero distracted by Marlena and Sable and eating a Curtain Call. It's WWF Wrestling by numbers and the execution is adequate but not strong enough to put it ahead of the pack. Past the shine, the first transition, and the Marlena/Sable extracurricular, it'd be a perfectly fine early card WWF House show match from 1985. Goldust vs Marc Mero - Summerslam 1996 The shine is pretty good. Goldust turns on the athleticism early on. They move into an arm control section which is mainly good for Dustin's selling. Dustin elbows out of a hammerlock and it's back and forth for a minute but he takes over with a drop down punch then a back body drop over the top that's pretty nasty. Pretty good heat segment with some nice outside stuff. Goldust goes to the chinlock but it's a signal for Mankind to come out to menace Sable and Dustin switches it up a bit in the ring while it's going on so it's not all that bad. Mero fights up and Goldust cuts it off with a big knee and follows up with a few minutes of work on the ribs. Mero comes back with an abrupt back elbow off the second rope and goes ahead to hit a lot of his spots, including the Badd Day. It's all pretty dead at this point. Mero hits a lot of stuff without much drama, all to lead up to the Wild Thing (shooting star press) debut. Marlena has the ref distracted though, which allows for the countout. It's another one of those cases where the timing of Marlena distracting is a little weird. Anyway, Goldust comes back and hits a rather dangerous looking Curtain Call for the win. Post match Dustin menaces Sable and Mero gets his heat back. It would have been a really good Raw match but it was more of a mid point of the feud than the end of it so it was just okay for a Summerslam match. Dustin looked good and it WAS better than the actual Raw match (though that might have had a better shine). It was just paced weird. Goldust vs The Stalker Barry Windham - Raw - 10/21/96 This is a set up for Survivor Series. Hunter and Crush are out with him. Windham has Mero, Henry, and Rocky with him. I know how these go. Five minutes. Brawl with everyone at the end. Steve Austin on the phone to talk about his own stuff to go to Brian Pillman's house. Meanwhile, the guys in the ring have come to work. Windham is broken down and reminds me way too much of Mulligan, but he's running the ropes better than you'd think. They're laying it into each other fairly well and when they come back from the commercial break, both guys selling, you buy it. Shortly thereafter it all breaks down. It's a shame that we didn't get a little more because it was probably the best you could hope for given the conditions. Goldust vs Jerry Lawler - Raw - 12/30/96 I'm pretty sure this was set up by a King's Court where Goldust fully turned face. HHH and Honky are announcing with Vince, which is sort of surreal. This is more of an angle than a match as they were early into the HHH/Goldust feud that would go all the way to Mania. Lawler knows he only has a couple of minutes and he actually starts quickly. Great looking offensive, playing to the crowd like no one else, using their response as a distraction to lead to the transition. Dustin is working as a basic babyface, not playing up the gimmick much at all, but Lawler vs a 94 styled babyface Dustin is still pretty great. Unfortunately, we just get a snippet of it before HHH kidnaps Marlena, Mero tries to make the save and Dustin leaves the ring. Ah well.

Looking back a second before we move forward. It looks like the biggest thing we missed in the missing summer 1981 footage was the Destroyer face turn and feud with Buddy. We also missed Princess Victoria and Velvet Mcintyre coming in, but it seems like they didn't work mixed matches with Buddy but with Stasiak instead. They're moving on with the Borne/Rose match post-real life incident, but I'm almost certain the match was going to end with either Rose or Borne under the management of the other. Pretty sure the plan is changed to a Loser Leaves Town match. Rose and Stasiak won the tag belts. Regal's belt was held up in the "Army in a Cage" match after Borne came out but I think Regal got it back. I'm sure you'll all be glad to know that Buddy has some lotion that lets him break the Masterslock. They've been building him up to a title shot vs Regal. Buddy Rose vs King Parsons - One Fall - 11/7/81 Sandy Barr has a great ref's shirt, yellow with a wrestler guy on the back and BARR written out. Rocky Johnson ("the highest ranking black wrestler in years. At one time had seen him ranked at 4th") has come in, so this is all set up for that. Buddy prays in the corner to start and the fans grumble. Initial top wristlock up is won by Parsons. Buddy complains about the hair. Granny at ringside is pissed. Repeat. I've never noticed Parsons crazy chest tattoo before. Top Wristlock for a third time. This time Buddy goes for the hair and Barr catches it. Buddy garners some heat after the break. A Rose front headlock is reversed with Parons placing him on the top rope. Parsons rears back and Buddy falls off the top to the floor. When he comes back in he claims a tights pull. Rose full nelson is reversed by a Parsons butt thrust. Parsons does a full nelson of his own. Buddy sells it well and goes for the butt thrust too and then leaning forward but Parsons is ready and doesn't break the hold. Buddy drops out of it and rolls but ends up right back in it. I don't know if anyone works these full nelson spots better than Buddy and it's been a while since we've seen them but it's weird to me that he's doing it when Masters is in the territory using the hold as his finish. Buddy finally grabs the leg to get out and then, after getting kicked off a figure four attempt and into the ropes, manages a pretty lame cartwheel and the subsequent taunting. He then turns around right into a dropkick. After a kickout, Buddy takes a powder. Buddy comes back in and gets trounced in a greco-roman knucklelock exchange, this time saying that Parsons was twisting his finger or that the tape on the wrists was illegal or something. The fans are getting increasingly annoyed. Good opening comedy stuff here with a couple of new twists. It ends with Buddy cheapshotting Parsons against the ropes and taking over with the big back elbow. He chokes on the top rope and hits a big back body drop (which Bonnema makes sure to point out that he calls a shoulder throw no matter what anyone else calls it). Buddy plays King of the Mountain but Parsons comes back with a headbutt. You can tell they were planning on Sing staying around since they had talked up previously a battle of the headbutts between them. Buddy sells a punch to the gut off the rope huge. Great over the top sell/bump. Parsons follows this with a flying butt butt. They do a nice bit of roperunning into a ref bump. Buddy follows up with blatant cheating, an extended choke over the top rope. The fans are starting to get restless with one getting too close to the ring when Rocky Johnson comes out of nowhere to save Parsons and knock Buddy out of the ring. Barr recovers in time to count out Rose (who makes a show of it, at least, grabbing the rope at the last second). Parson picks up the win. Fun comedy stuff early. A good ref bump. A nice debut for Johnson. This was functional but did what it was supposed to. I like Parsons in Portland. Buddy Rose vs Rocky Johnson - One Fall - 11/7/81 Later in the night, Johnson debuts vs Stasiak with a quick win. It's brisk but enjoyable as Stasiak's grumpy old man demeanor works well with Johnson's stylized moves. Post match, Rocky Johnson tells Don Owen he wants Buddy right then and right there. Owen says sure, and if Buddy refuses he loses his loser leaves town match vs Borne. You can almost tell that they're switching the focus from Borne to Johnson here. I could be wrong since the results from this era are a little sparse. It's weird because Meltzer in both the Borne and Rose bios made a bit deal about how the Borne/Rose feud only picked up after the incident and it's been the exact opposite. Just one big blow off, it seems. Anyway, Buddy's livid, but he has to take the match. Johnson is, of course, immediately over. Buddy immediately slides out under the bottom rope instead of locking up. Fans chanted "We Want Rocky(with Rocky somehow one syllable)" in the Stasiak match. Here, they go all out with the "Rocky, Rocky" chant. Great punch sequence early on. Johnson blocks a barrage and then jabs his way back, ending with a huge wind up and a great Buddy bump/slump into the corner. This match is definitely a showcase for Johnson, who lands out of a monkey flip on his feet. Buddy Rose is as good as anyone in the history of wrestling of putting over another wrestler's attributes and spots with his own body language and reactions. Moreover, he makes everything Johnson is doing look so easy and simple. They work a sequence where Johnson puppets Buddy up and down with a wrist lock. Finally, though, Buddy gets an eyerake in the corner and starts grinding away. This match is all about getting his opponent over in is debut night, so when Rocky kicks out, Buddy goes flying. He finally gets in a cheapshot to take over and starts on the back. A few shots in, Rocky ends up in a bear hug. They work it well, with Rocky selling hard and every time he's about to get a shot in, Buddy cinches it up more. Buddy whips him into the corner hard and locks the bearhug back on. So far as bearhugs go, this is really good. They draw out the final elbow smash that gets him out. Immediately thereafter Buddy goes right back to the back and sets up for the Robinson backbreaker. Johnson floats over and hits an O'Connor Roll off the rope with a nice back bridge for the win. Johnson makes sure to sell the back post-match. Buddy complains about the trunks. That's how you debut a hot new babyface. (that is despite some guy flashing his shirt open in front of the camera, causing Bonnema to randomly go "And Idiots Are now walking In front of the camera.")

In some ways they made their own bed on it though.

Smackdown 1/3/14 Cody and Goldust vs The Wyatt Family - I'm curious what people will think about this match. There's a smaller Goldust FIP and a longer Cody FIP including an extended Rowan control section. I though Rowan's stuff looked pretty good in general. His clubbering/brawling is a lot better than it used to be (he had a good stretch with Goldust) and he's begun to use a number of unique moves that make a lot of sense for his character and work really well for a heel control section, specifically the fists to the temples, the claw/throw, and the outright face pulling. This is one of the better performances from Cody in a FIP position that I've seen. His emotive selling runs the gamut, though. Sometimes (like in the holds) it's pretty good but the fish-eyes/open mouth when he takes a bump gets a little old. Up until now, Goldust has mainly been using the Code Red as a big late match house-cleaning move or for a near fall but here he used it in order to set up the end of his FIP and I thought that was a great use of it. Cody's flip over sunset flip works best as a hope spot too (and he's mainly used it after a hot tag lately). Harper showed great presence as usual, maneuvering Rowan back into the ring at one point and catching a really nice Cody dive (and the moonsault) perfectly. I think maybe his big power moves can be a little too big; case in point this time, the sitout powerbomb. Goldust broke it up instead of Cody kicking out but I think that's the sort of move to be used more sparingly in the current environment. The gator roll is a really great move to immediately follow a comeback cutoff. Dustin works the crowd like no one in wrestling today. I liked the finish because it felt different than a lot of what we've gotten recently. Good start to the year. Usos/Shield got more time than I was expecting but wasn't as fun as the Usos vs Wyatt's sprint from a couple of weeks ago. I haven't seen the main yet.

My fantasy booking is basically along the same lines. I think I put it in one of the Armchair Booking threads. I'm desperate for Bryan/Lesnar, but I realise it's a long shot and I'm not unhappy with most of the other options. I really wanted the December PPV vs Hunter leading to the Rumble berth yeah. Granted, I also wanted them not to run Orton vs Bryan at all after Summerslam.

Do we need more elaboration of the Honky Tonk/Macho issue that apparently cost him the title? I know there was some real dissection of that here recently and why it was factually unlikely that he was ever in line for the title. I don't have time to track it down now though.

This is an elaborate trap for Parv, right? Oh just ask him for good Sid stories.

Goldust handhelds #1 Goldust vs Yokozuna - 8/4/96 - Ottawa This is not the best VQ you will see this week. Goldie makes an open challenge to everyone since Ahmed Johnson isn't there. He calls everyone chicken-shit, gets a ton of heat and the place comes unglued when Yoko comes out. Dustin rolls out while Yoko comes in and then rolls in to attack him from behind. He gets a few shots in. Yokozuna no sells and strikes back to the crowd's delight. Dustin rolls back out and starts to the back. He heads back and complains about the count, about Yokozuna, about the ref, about everything. Nice heat-garnering. He rolls in and asks for the handshake and they milk it for all its worth. Yoko refuses. They lock up and do a bit of rope running (well Dustin, does). He runs into an elbow and rolls out to the floor, taking a pratfall and stalling some more. Finally Dustin comes back in, lures Yoko into the corner, and eyepokes to take over. Dustin is all punches and clubbering here, making good use of Yoko's broad back to do some drumming. Two clotheslines stagger him. Since this is a babyface Yokozuna match, the third one knocks him down. Goldust follows up with a blatant low blow stomp and the chest taunt. Lots of booing. Dustin's trying to keep the heat segment compelling here, throwing in a knee along with the punches but he's very limited on what he can do to the big guy here. Finally, he looks exasperated and goes for a headbutt. Yoko's head is too hard. Goldust falls over and we get our comeback. A few strikes, a samoan drop, a legdrop and a pin. I would sum this up as pretty decent stalling followed by an uninspired heat segment. Ultimately disappointing. Mankind/Goldust vs Undertaker/Shawn Michaels - 9/29/96 - MSG - Handheld Again, not great VQ. Kind of interesting pairings though. Undertaker in the ring as Sexy Boy is playing is kind of surreal. Thankfully it's short lived as the heels try to ambush. Babyfaces fight back. Undertaker is brawling with Mankind on the floor. Michaels is doing a corner ten punch on Goldust. They do a cute spot out of it. Mankind temporarily disposed of Taker (I think by reversing a whip into railings/stairs/etc). Shawn is beating Goldust around the ring and mounts another corner. Mankind comes in and stalks Michaels who leaps back off the second rope with an axe-handle only to turn right into a great Goldust punch. Mankind plays King of the Mountain, keeping Taker out as Goldust really beats the snot out of Michaels. This is a chaotic scene. Mankind adn taker end up brawling back on the outside as Goldust keeps on Michaels. Taker makes it back in first and flips Goldust around. After a moment of begging we get the double choke toss and a crazy Michaels dive over the top to Mankind. The ref is exasperated. Taker is tossing Goldust from pillar to post. The ref finally gets Michaels into his corner and Mankind slinks to his. By this point we've moved past the initial beating/brawling into something resembling a shine. Taker is hitting Dustin with some big power moves and Dustin is bumping and selling for him. they move on to arm control stuff, then quickly into Michaels/Dustin rope running, ending with Michaels eating the drop down punch. They fake a transition with Mankind tagging in but Michaels makes it to Taker immediately and they do a bit of a reset, going back to the arm offense and Old School. I think Taker actually looks really good here. Mankind eats his stuff well, and his timing on some things (like choking Goldust after no-selling a cheap knee from the outside off the ropes, and turning to take a Mankind clothesline over the top), is very good. Yes, he no sells a lot of it, but it's a balance. I think there's an inherit value in the heels getting to do it to him in the first place. It makes you feel like they have the advantage and are a force. They're on offense and while they're not scoring a goal, the ball's not on their side of the field either. Taker holds his own on the outside until Michaels complains, gets taken out by the ref and Bearer comes out of nowhere with an urn shot. The ref goes to check Bearer and Mankind uses the distraction to utilize a chair. One thing I'll say about Shawn is that he's a great Robert Gibson in the corner when his partner's getting killed. Goldust and Mankind's offense on taker looks good. Taker's a fascinating case to me, because he can sell effectively by just laying still and dead in the ring. That would bore most crowds if it was someone else, but it means something specific to them if it's taker. His punching from his knees flurry on Mankind hope spot is pretty great too (the cut off was a really well timed neckbreaker). Something happens on the outside I can't quite make out (Lothario? Pulls Bearer off the apron?), but in the chaos, Taker makes the hot tag and Shawn comes in and cleans house on Mankind and Goldust first with a chair and then with the forearm/kip uip/axehandle. He strikes up the band but gets nailed from outside by Goldust and then cut down by Mankind in a nice spot that sends him out. This is immediately followed by the plunge on the outside. Undertaker tries to cut in but Goldust uses the ref as a shield and we get our second heat segment. I think Dustin and Michaels have pretty good chemistry and Dustin and Foley work together well as heels, so this is all pretty good. I particularly loved Foley's diving side headbutt/elbow while Michaels was in the tree of woe. Michaels gets a hope spot nearfall out of some questionably timed rope-running, gets cut off and Dustin slaps on the ol' rear chinlock. I will say that he works it better than he did a year ago at this point, from what I can tell. it's pretty tedious though, and my least favorite thing about heel Goldust. In a vacuum, though, it works, and it works here because he's good at feeding Michaels' comeback and then cutting it off. His pacing/timing/variation/execution of hope spots/cutoffs is probably my favorite thing about him as a heel. I love the next sequence. Micheals ends up in the tree of woe again, but sits up as Foley goes for the dive. Foley recovers first and goes for the Mandible Claw but he's shaken enough that Michaels can toss him into Goldust on the apron. Michaels did such a good job in this after a pretty solid heat segment that you're clamoring for him to make the hot tag and it's painful when Dustin breaks it up. He cuts him off at the last second, and sets up Michaels for a Superplex. Michaels fights back only to have Foley grab his leg from the apron. He kicks him off and hits flying clothesline to Foley on the apron that's pretty cool visually. Dustin tags in but can't stop the hot tag. Taker cleans house. I really like Dustin's sell of the big boot. Mankind blatantly calls a "neck drape over the top rope from the outside" spot which Taker just walks into. Weird. It's just a set up for Dustin recovering enough to jump off the top into a choke an the fans are chanting "Rest In Peace" so I guess it was harmless. Chokeslam. Tag to Michaels. Elbow off the top. I really hate the Elbow off the top as the SCM set up. Dustin ducks it though, which I didn't expect at all. We get a (let's say unique) finishing sequence with Dustin taking Shawn out with a clothesline, doing the fondling pin on Shawn, tossing him into the corner and setting up for the Curtain Call. Shawn floats over, kisses Goldust, and hits the SCM. This was probably one of my favorite Michaels performances from 96 that I've seen. There was a lot to like and I thought the heat segment on him was really quite good. Dustin plays his role well, though I don't think it's anything that stands out that much. As a set up for the next match: Goldust vs Sid - Raw - 10/7/96 Sid is probably one of the top five over babyfaces in the history of the WWF. He was a babyface for so short a time in his three runs but the fans respond to him in such a massive way. This is to build him up for the match vs Vader at the next PPV. I liked it a lot, actually, though it's ultimately as slight as you'd expect for a glorified squash. It's still a pretty good, straightforward, five minute match. They fit a lot of stuff in and some of it (like the slapfest) was pretty compelling. Mankind/Goldust vs Sid/Undertaker - 10/25/96 - Indianapolis - Handheld So, just like the last match, just Sid instead of Shawn? Oh good, there's no time limit. Lots of ambient noise but it sounds like Dustin has a ton of heat here. Mankind brings Goldust flowers and it's all something else. I kind of love this team. The camera pans away from Dustin/Mankind as the bells start to toll which is a shame, since Dustin had put his hands over his ears and was jumping up and down. Brawling to start. Goldust eats Takers punches well. They clear the ring and the fans chant like crazy for Sid. Dustin back in and I love the dumbfounded way Sid sells Dustin's punches. He's like a punch out character. Whomp whomp whomp. It doesn't last long. Sid throws him around the ring and they start the arm control stuff. Dustin is hamming it up, screaming for Mankind and it's great. I've never seen him sell so broadly during this period. He's crashing about for Taker. Transition is a blind tag and Mankind nailing Taker as he swiped for Bearer over the top rope. Heels cut off the ring and grind Taker down. Goldust is great in this match. After a swinging neckbreaker cut off, Taker sits up anyway. Goldust's reaction is to go nuts and run around him to tag Mankind. Taker sits up again and Bearer hands Mankind ashes. Taker knocks them into Foley's face and makes the hot tag. Sid's goofy hammer punches are way too much fun. He goes fo rthe power bomb on Foley but Dustin gets him with a double axe handle from behind. He goes for the choke slam on Goldust but Foley comes off the second rope towards him. He catches him in a choke too but Goldust and Mankind hit the DOUBLE LOW BLOW KICK. There's an element to this of the referee being totally unwilling to DQ the heels since they're so bizarre and crazy. They're getting huge amounts of heat for choking/dismantling Sid. Eventually Foley either hits him from the outside in or hits himself as the chair bounces off the ropes. I can't tell and ultimately it doesn't matter. The fans chant for Sid. Goldust grounds him with the reverse chinlock but Mankind has to rush in. Goldust holds him. Mankind hits him. The fans get more and more riled. Foley gets on the mandible Claw but sid POWERS OUT. Goldust nails him from behind and Taker's had enough, rushing in as everything breaks down. Everyone ends up on the floor but Goldust rolls in after Sid and cuts him off. He follows it up by stalking up Sid's prone body and uh, ending up in the testicular claw. The fans pop huge and amazingly this is somehow just a hope spot as Sid goes for a legdrop instead of making the tag and misses. Foley gets a chair, gives it to Goldust who tries to slam it into Sid in the corner. Sid gets his foot up, makies the hot tag. Taker lifts the chair up between Goldust's legs. I have to admit Dustin probably should have sold this a bit more. He's reversing an irish whip the next second only to get flying clotheslined. Sid tags back in, hits a lame pile driver, and it all breaks down again. Taker and Mankind fight down the alley. Whatever happens in the ring we miss, but it ends with Dustin doing a ten punch on Sid in the corner, followed by fondling and the same inverted atomic drop they did in the TV match. This sets up the choke slam and the pin. God was Sid over. Anyway, this was another pretty good tag. Mankind and Goldust made for very solid partners and this was as good as I've seen Dustin look in 96 other than maybe one of the Shawn matches.