GSR

Hack looks unrecognizable to when he was in ECW; in fact he looks younger here than he did five years ago. Scoot Andrews is going solely by the ‘Back Nature Boy’ name, which leads to Chris Cruise and Stan Lane talking about how Stan is the only wrestler to have been trained by Ric Flair. Hack with a standing side headlock, Scoot shoots him off and a hip toss followed by a dropkick. Flying crossbody for two. Knee to the mid-section by Myers, he whips Scoot into the turnbuckles, only to run into a back elbow. As the ‘BNB’ rushes him, Hack with a scoop powerslam for two. Running elbow smash for another near fall, and as Myers complains to the official about the count, Scoot schoolboys him for a two of his own. A big left drops Andrews, Hack with another whip to the corner, however as he charges, the ‘Black Nature Boy’ moves out the way and he crashes into the turnbuckles. Legdrop off the top doesn’t connect and Scoot kicks out of the ‘Rude Awakening’ neckbreaker. Northern Light suplex still can’t put his opponent away. As Hack is choking him in the corner, out to the ring walks Dan Severn. The camera cuts backstage to Barry Darsow (in Blacktop Bully guise) telling ‘Al’ that Dan Severn is in the ring and he better get out there and get him “show him you’re not a jabroni!”. The match itself is a no-contest as Severn takes out Myers with a reverse guillotine choke and then slaps a Fujiwara armbar on Scoot. ‘Al’ is a masked Al Greene (I thought he was under contract to WCW at this point?) and he’s taken the Bully’s advice, but immediately gets speared and put in a kneebar/heel hook submission. Okay action, but it never felt as though it was going anywhere and the appearance of Severn and subsequent non-finish to the match explains why. I’m guessing they’re pushing ‘the Beast’ as an MMA killer, and although he made all three men here ‘tap’, only the Fujiwara armbar looked anywhere near effective. The other two submissions looked pretty weak with laughable selling and arm flapping from Myers and Greene.

Pre-match interview from Weed, and he’s so confident that he can beat Black Dragon that he’s going to put his disgusting looking dreadlocks on the line. Weed, as you might imagine, does a ‘stoner’ gimmick and cuts the interview as if he’s high, gets the name of his opponent wrong and then takes some chocolate from the interviewer because he’s got the munchies. Just as the match is about to begin we go to an advert for the ‘House of Pain’ wrestling school, and return as Weed hits a sloppily executed frankensteiner. Dragon takes him off his feet with a lariat, then a Michinoku Driver followed by a Lionsault for two. He ties Weed in ‘the tree of woe’ and a baseball slide dropkick to the face. Whip to the corner, and as Dragon comes charging in, Weed leaps up and tries to hooks Dragon’s arms with his own legs for a sunset flip roll up, but makes a complete hash of it so Dragon drills him with a right instead! Snap suplex for two. Scoop slam and Dragon goes for the Vadersault off the middle rope, however the camera cuts to a shot of the crowd so we completely miss seeing Weed getting his knees up. He fires back on his opponent and drops him with a flying clothesline. An awful looking handspring elbow, before heading upstairs, but Dragon is up to his feet and swipes his legs out. Suicideplex, shooting star press and its bye bye to those dreadlocks! Well I’d be giving the ‘House of Pain’ wrestling school a miss if Weed is typical of the kind of wrestler that they produce! He wasn’t good at all, blew a simple sunset flip and his handspring elbow looked like horse shit. Dragon seems competent (plus there were some decent looking clips of a previous match he had against Tony Kozina that aired prior), so I wouldn’t mind seeing him against someone better than Weed. No idea who he is mind; although the commentators talk about him beating Ultimo Dragon in Japan, and being the only Gaijin deemed fit to carry on his tradition. Don’t know if that is the truth or a little bit of creative license. The match itself was effectively a squash, and negative marks for whoever edited this together and thought shots of the audience is what we wanted to see as opposed to the actual wrestling action.

Erik Watts & John Zandig are up there as one of the most random tag teams ever. Watts and Rogers kick this one off, with Watts backing him into a corner and then patting him on his head which Rogers takes exception to. He drops to his knees as he continues to mock Rogers’ height, and Tommy responds with a kick to the mid-section followed by a bulldog. Zandig comes in to help his partner, but Rogers nails him with a dropkick as the heels bail to the outside. Pearce and Zandig continue where their partners left off and Zandig drops Pearce with a DDT. Irish whip is reversed, high hip toss by Pearce before levelling Zandig with a dropkick. He wants no more of this, tagging back to Watts. Pearce and Rogers utilize some quick tags as they go to work on the left arm of Watts. Double team suplex for two. Leapfrog by Watts, but on landing he’s hobbling and clutching at his knee. It’s just a ploy though to catch Rogers off guard, and he does some jumping jacks to prove the point. He misses the splash in the corner and Rogers pulls out the old Arn Anderson spot of feigning a right, and then hitting the DDT when Watts tucks his head to avoid it. Hot tag to Pearce and all four men are in the ring. Monkey flip on Zandig by Rogers, however when Pearce goes to do the same to Watts, he holds on to the ropes and ‘Scrap Iron’ goes flying backwards. Rogers breaks up the subsequent pin, but as the official tries to get him out of the ring, Zandig drops an elbow to the back of the head of Pearce, puts Watts on top and the heels get the win. So what’s the score with WXO? Chris Cruise and Stan Lane on commentary, production values on a par with ECW and a hot, enthusiastic crowd (plants/actors?). Considering I went in expecting the worst with a team of Zandig and Erik Watts, I was pleasantly surprised and thought this was a fun little tag match. Zandig’s involvement was kept to the bare minimum with Watts working the majority and looking good mixing in both comedy and shtick. Long control section from Pearce and Rogers, who made a fine little team, before a brief heat segment and the finish. Enjoyable fare with bonus points for the Arn Anderson DDT spot.

Frankie Lancaster was the only one I was 100% certain of as one half of The Heartbreakers. I thought his partner had a look of Doug Williams about him, but surely not? I don't think the commentators actually even referenced The Bodies by their names at any point during the match, just referring to them as that. Again I thought one might have been Ace Steel, but I wouldn't be putting any money on it.

I watched this over the weekend after discovering the 'recent additions' the end of last week. I'm in complete agreement with Loss and was amazed by how much I enjoyed it. More detailed write up to follow at some point, but comfortably the best of the four newer matches I've watched so far (this, Black Dragon/Weed, the ECCW tag and Scoot Andrews/Hack Myers).

No more American Dragon, meet Bryan ‘the Dragon’ Danielson. Huge shoulder charge by Cade and a clothesline folds Dragon up like an accordion. He ducks under a big boot, crossbody, but Cade catches and launches him overhead with a fallaway slam. Twisting suplex for a two. Dropkick to the leg by Dragon as he looks to ground his much taller opponent. Indian deathlock, with a hip swivel for the audience before arching back to grab the chinlock, however Cade is able to inch his way over to the ropes for the break. Danielson traps Cade’s leg in the ropes and gives it another dropkick. A couple of cool submission attempts; firstly Dragon counters an attempted backdrop with a sunset flip before transitioning to a kneebar, and then an ankle lock off a Russian legsweep, but on both instances Lance was too close to the ropes. Cade blocks the Dragon suplex, switches position and a huge release German that Danielson lands on his head from. Legdrop for two. Dragon catches his opponent’s leg and a dragon screw leg whip, or a ‘leg arm drag’ as Shawn Michaels calls it! Cade takes to the floor only to get nailed by a baseball slide dropkick. Asai moonsault, or as HBK calls this, an ‘enziguiri moonsault’! The two of them go at it on the outside and Cade reverses the whip into the guardrail with Danielson being the one who crashes into it. Running pumphandle slam on the arena floor. They return to the ring and Cade sits Dragon on the top turnbuckle. He’s looking for a chokeslam, but Danielson tees off with a series of elbows to the head and then hits a somersault reverse DDT. Flying elbow off the top for two. Irish whip, but Cade keeps hold of the arm, snatches Dragon around the neck and a super high chokeslam for the win. What impressed me most about this was how completely different Danielson wrestled this to that Fancam from just over a week ago. There he targeted and focused all his attention on Cade’s arm, here it was all about the leg. In this project I’ve watched quite a few matches between wrestlers where they would do a match on a house show and then repeat it on TV, or go from town to town doing the same match in each town. Here you’ve got an 18 year old kid mixing it up and working a totally different match to the one he had on a house show with the same opponent. He bumped huge for Cade including on the finish and I also thought Cade showed more and looked more a prospect here than on that house show. Not as good as last week, but still a very good match.

Bolin Services are in the ring ready to face ‘the United Forces of OVW’, but when Nick Dinsmore comes to ringside he’s all alone and there’s no sign of Trash or McCullough. Kenny Bolin finds it all quite amusing that he hasn’t got any backup and wonders where ‘Trailer Park Goof’ or his girlfriend, The Damaja are? He says that they’re going to have to toss a coin to see who has the pleasure of coming down there and kicking his ass. However while they’re distracted by Dinsmore on the arena floor, from the opposite side comes Trailer Park Trash and Russ McCullough who attack Bolin Services from behind. All six men are in the ring, but ‘the United Forces of OVW’ quickly get Conway and Black out of there leaving Mark Henry all alone. They whip him into a McCullough big boot, and even though Dinsmore and TPT cover him together, he presses both of them off him. Trash with a double axe handle off the top, but Henry catches him in mid-air and plants him with a spinebuster. Top rope splash by Mr Black and McCullough is in to break up the pin. After missing an elbow he’s able to make the tag to Dinsmore who singlehandedly takes it to Bolin Services until Jerome Croney enters the ring and throws powder in his face for the DQ. Post-match triple team on McCullough and a big splash by Henry, another top rope splash from Mr Black, followed by a frog splash by Croney, as Bolin then counts a pin for him on Big Russ. Dinsmore is back to his feet and going after Bolin Services when they are joined by The Collector turning the advantage back in their favour. Dean Hill wonders if anyone can stand up to them, to which Jim Cornette responds if only The Damaja was healthy, maybe he’ll be the saviour of OVW... I didn’t mind the actual few minutes of in ring action we got, but it’s negated by Jim Cornette’s high pitched screaming for the duration and that atrociously lame finish.

Brandon Baxter knows why all the fans came to the arena today, why everyone is watching on TV today, and that’s to see himself and Seven. Randy Hales didn’t see fit to book them on the card today, so he’s issuing an open challenge to anyone in the dressing room for Seven’s TV title. Dave Brown then says that he isn’t in fact the TV champion and that he just stole the belt a couple of weeks ago outside the studio. The challenge is answered by Derrick King who’s not in ring wear and will be wrestling the match in jeans and boots. King escapes the early press slam attempt and starts firing back at Seven. Irish whip is reversed, King ducks the clothesline and a spinning headscissors, driving his opponent head first into the canvas. A pair of dropkicks send Seven tumbling over the top rope and to the outside, where King then catches him with a plancha from the top turnbuckle. Back inside and he staggers the big man with a couple of rights, but as he hits the ropes, Baxter clobbers him in the back, pulls him to the floor and throws him into the ring post. Running lariat in the corner, and after a second clothesline turns King inside out, Seven tries to pin him with just one foot on his chest. Neckbreaker, and another lackadaisical cover doesn’t get the job done. King blocks the superplex, pushes Seven backwards and nails him with a missile dropkick. ‘Rude Awakening’ neckbreaker, he goes for the superkick, however Seven pulls the official in the way and he hits him instead (this looked pretty bad as you clearly see King change trajectory to make sure he hits the ref). Facebuster and here come The Regulators to help out their fellow Cartel member. Michinoku Driver by Rob Harlem, Seven with ‘the Redemption’ (a chokebomb), when Buddy Landell of all people makes the save. He’s soon followed by Wolfie D, Ali, Blade Boudreaux, Alan Steel and Koko B. Ware and we’ve one almighty schmozz as the show goes off the air with the fight still going on. King hasn’t had the best of months so far but I liked this one up until the final minute or so. The ref bumps and non-finishes are getting tiresome and things aren’t made any easier when the ref bump looks so unnatural. The Buddy Landell appearance was a surprise but I’m guessing that he’s not long for Power Pro.

RF Fancam footage of a TWA house show! Dragon looks so young without his mask and it looks like he’s misplaced his gear as he’s wearing tracksuit bottoms. He cuts a perfectly fine little heel promo on the fans until he’s interrupted by Lance Cade’s entrance music. Match is for the TWA television title currently held by Cade. They work the opening around a wristlock, and when it looks like Dragon might escape, Cade decks him with a right causing him to complain to the official about the closed fist. Lance with a side headlock, Dragon shoots him off and an aggressive shoulder charge by Cade. Fireman’s carry takedown, but Cade escapes the armbar by just launching Dragon across the ring. High hip toss and a side slam for two. Whip to the corner, but Dragon gets a foot up on his charging opponent. He goes for a crossbody off the middle, however Cade catches, then dumps him with a fallaway slam. Dragon ducks a clothesline, grabs a hammerlock and rams Cade shoulder first into the turnbuckles. Dropkick to the shoulder, and a belly to back with that left arm trapped behind is back so all his bodyweight falls on it. Lovely little armbar submission and Cade is able to get a foot over the bottom rope for the break. Running forearm in the corner. Northern Lights suplex by Dragon, but he then flips over and transitions to an armbar, again forcing Lance to scramble for the ropes. The two trade nasty sounding chops and a stiff lariat by Cade takes Dragon off his feet. RF zooms in on Danielson’s chest and you can see the discolouration and broken blood vessels courtesy of those chops. Scoop powerslam and Cade with a flying clothesline off the top for two. Quality floatover into another armbar submission, but again Lance is too close to the ropes. Dragon kicks him to the arena floor and takes him out with a suicide dive. Snap suplex, top rope elbow and Cade is able to get a shoulder up in time. He avoids a second running forearm and a pumphandle slam for two as neither man is able to put the other away. Cade goes for a lariat, but Dragon pulls the referee in front of him and he takes the full brunt of it. He’s looking for the Vertabreaker when out runs Spanky who nails him with a missile dropkick. Spanky stomps the official to wake him up and Cade with a chokeslam to retain his TV title. Dragon looks so much like a backyarder in what he’s wearing here, but that is until the match starts and you can see he’s clearly anything but. It was masterful the way that he targeted that arm and shoulder; utilising a wide and varied array of offense along with some lovely transitions and counters into the submission attempts. The action between them was stiff and physical with Dragon’s chest especially showing the effects. My lone criticism would be on Cade’s punches, and when Dragon had to bump and feed for him it didn’t look the best. Still it was great to see him in a house show environment as opposed to TV where he was given longer to work and he absolutely rose to the occasion. Highly recommended.

I was going to say that if you watch this skip to about 7’30’’ as there is no sound and it’s all mic work up to there. That is until I watched the rest of the match and the finish is missing so, DO NOT BOTHER TO WATCH THIS PERIOD! You have been warned. The cameraman had changed position from the previous three way and is now stood in the Quartermaine/Peskin corner, pretty much right behind the man on the apron. Only about five minutes in does he realise it might be advantageous to move, or he’s just had enough of looking at the wrestler’s backs! Capone works the majority of the match for his team and doesn’t look good, with low lights including an ugly exchange when working a suplex reversal and some super slow roll up pin attempts. It’ll be interesting to see how he does against Barry Horowitz tomorrow. We don’t see much of Rogers, but he botches a springboard in one of his two visits into the ring. After an Irish whip, the video cuts right to the bald guy (who I think is Quartermaine) exiting and picking up a beer while his partner is crawling about in the ring and Capone and Rogers are nowhere to be seen. Again, don’t waste your time watching this.

‘Honest’ Eddie Edwards officiating again and hopefully he doesn’t repeat his performance from last month. Jaguar is accompanied by Sir Ronald J. Niemi again along with a valet called Gabrielle, while Blade has Shorty in his corner. Niemi cuts a promo that you can’t fully make out, but he calls the audience “leather wearing faggots” and references Tyree Pride, Tony Atlas and Mark Lewin. Blade attacks Scoot from behind and nails him with some pretty flimsy looking kicks. Nice escape out of a wristlock, but Scoot then rolls him up off a hammerlock and Jaguar is forced to break up the pin. It looks like he and Blade are going to work together, until Ric quickly double crosses him. Andrews with a dropkick to Blade and a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker on Jet. He ducks under a Blade spinning heel kick, but then telegraphs a backdrops and Jaguar drops him with a DDT. Tornado DDT to Scoot, however Blade is over and the pair of them counter the attempt into a sit-out powerbomb on Jet. ‘Rude Awakening’ neckbreaker by Scoot to Blade as he’s sat on the top turnbuckle. Jaguar with a lariat followed by a frog splash, but Blade is back to his feet to put a stop to the count. Superplex on Scoot, and another cool little three person move as Jet gets under Blade and powerbombs him as he’s delivering the superplex. As Blade beats on Jaguar in the corner and with the official having no luck in getting him to break, Gabrielle gets in the ring and jumps on his back, which in turn brings in Shorty to help her man. We get a really uninspired looking catfight as Jet and Blade stop their fighting to watch the women, while the crowd chants “show us your tits” at them. They eventually kinda just stop and Scoot with a double Russian legsweep to his opponents. That awesome ‘pumphandle driver’ to Jet, and Scoot sets up a table that Blade had just slid into the ring. Niemi gets involved and clocks Andrews over the back with his briefcase and he happens to ‘collapse’ perfectly onto the table. Blade with a ‘swanton’ from the balcony or higher (he just literally falls from the ceiling!) putting him through the table, but Jet is the one who crawls over to make the cover while Ric is recovering and gets the win to retain his IPW title. As I was watching this I was thinking how Ric Blade appeared to have reigned it in here, then he goes and does that nutty ‘swanton’ from who knows where! This wasn’t perfect by any means, but it didn’t overstay its welcome and there was some cool stuff in there like the three person spots. I actually thought Blade worked better with Jaguar (despite that nice opening wristlock sequence) as Scoot and Blade looked clunky at times. The catfight was terrible and the sole reason that Jaguar now had this valet seemed to be so it would give Shorty something to do for a change. The finish was really contrived, and whilst I can live with the blatant interference by Niemi (Edwards was the ref after all and although he called this down the middle, last time we saw him he was associated with Sir Ronald), Scoot falling perfectly on the table and Blade just leaving the action after he’d slid it into the ring (not even setting it up) to climb to wherever was stretching kayfabe a bit.

Backstage interview where we learn that disqualifications and count outs will count as falls in the Iron Man match at Judgment Day. Rock then alludes that Shawn Michaels might be in collusion with Triple H, as he reminds everyone that the last time he was in the ring with him HBK cost him the WWF title. He goes on to warn him that whatever he’s got planned, whatever he’s thinking of doing, The Rock never forgets! D-X are out followed by the rest of the lumberjacks; Test, Albert, Big Bossman, Bull Buchanan, Gerald Brisco, Pat Patterson and finally Vince and Shane McMahon. Brisco is like Tim Sylvia at a UFC event, proudly wearing the Hardcore title around his waist! Rules of this one, the brainchild of Mr McMahon to try and weaken the Rock before Judgment Day, are that you have to put your opponent(s) through a table to get the win. Rock whips Bubba into the ropes and T&A grab his ankle distracting him. He clotheslines him over the top rope to the floor, but instead of throwing Bubba straight back into the ring, all the lumberjacks are around to beat and stomp on him. Eventually they roll him back in, and Bubba reverses the Irish whip before hitting a side slam. ‘Wassup’ and Mr McMahon is liking what he’s seeing. Rock ducks a lariat, clotheslines D-Von over the top and he gets the same treatment as his partner. As Bubba rushes in, Rock sends him to the floor again where he receives more of the same. Rock decks Triple H, but gets pulled to the floor by X-Pac and then attacked by the lumberjacks. When the three of them are back inside they all look at each other and decide to forget the match and go after the lumberjacks instead. Double suplex by the Dudleyz to Albert on the metal ramp way, as Rock uses an electrical cable to choke HHH. Road Dogg and X-Pac are around to help their leader, while on the opposite side D-Von puts Test through a table with a splash off the top to the floor. As Bubba is about to come off the middle with a splash to X-Pac, Tori ow blows him and Pac with an ‘X-Factor’ through the table. It’s D-Von’s turn next as an assisted powerbomb sends him through one. The five on one odds are too much for the Rock, and finally Triple H uses his own move against him, ‘Rock Bottoming’ ‘the Great One’ through a table as Mr McMahon declares D-Generation X the winners. Only a couple of minutes of action before the match breaks down with the participants going after the lumberjacks. Probably more angle than match to be fair, with Triple H and ‘the Regime’ looking strong and leaving their opponents laying going into Judgment Day.

The Big Valbowski heads to the ring and says for the past two months he’s been supressed by the most repressive regime in the history of the WWF, the McMahon-Helmsley regime. Week after week he’s arrived at the arena only to hear the words “Val, we just don’t have any plans for you”. Tonight he’s decided to take things into his own hands, to make his own plans, and issues a challenge for next Monday on Raw to whomever the Intercontinental champion is after Judgment Day. Chris Benoit walks out and takes exception to the word “whomever”, as there is no doubt in his mind that after Judgment Days he will be the Intercontinental champion. He tells him he can have that title shot, but says they can do it right here, right now! Just as he steps into the ring, they’re interrupted by Chris Jericho. Y2J says that while Benoit is on the way to retaining that Intercontinental championship, he may run into a roadblock, a wall; because after he experiences the ‘Walls of Jericho’ he won’t have to worry about that championship as ‘the Crippler’ will become the crippled. Now Bob Holly is joining the party as Michael Cole informs us that he’s scheduled to be Chris Benoit’s partner in a tag team match against Chris Jericho and a partner of his choosing. Bob’s not too happy that Venis is issuing challenges and thinks that he should be the one facing the winner on Monday night, not him. Y2J cuts him off and says that since Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley wants him to choose a tag partner, and since Val is so unhappy, he’s choosing him and then runs straight for Holly. As Jericho and ‘Hardcore’ trade blows on the arena floor, Venis and Benoit go at it inside. Reverse atomic drop followed by a lariat by Val for two. Scoop powerslam and Holly is in to break up the pin. Benoit blocks the suplex and counters with a snap suplex of his own. Double clothesline sees both men go down. Val makes the tag and Y2J with a bulldog to ‘the Crippler’. Running back elbow, Lionsault and again Holly breaks up the count. A clothesline by Val sends ‘Hardcore’ and himself over the top rope and to the outside, while in the ring Jericho with a single leg trip on Benoit from where he transitions to ‘the Walls’. Holly cracks Venis over the head with a chair and then nails Y2J with it for the DQ. As Benoit is about to leave, Holly turns on his own partner and a horrendous looking chair shot to the side of his head. Full force and ‘the Crippler’ didn’t even put his hands up to protect himself. ‘Hardcore’ repeatedly hammers away at his leg with that chair as Benoit is left in agony grasping at his knee and having to be carried out of there on a stretcher. Not much of a match, but I like what we saw of Benoit and Venis working together, even if it did feel kinda forced adding him and Holly to the Jericho/Benoit mix. That chair shot to ‘the Crippler’ was horrific, and every bit as bad if not worse than some of those Ian Rotten delivered ones. The finish with Holly attacking his leg seems to be giving him a ‘weak’ spot prior to their upcoming submission match.

Saturn rushes Eddy and suplexes him over the top rope to the outside leaving Chyna all alone. She gets in a shot on both before Perry takes her off her feet with a clothesline. They look for a double team, but as Saturn heads to the top, Eddy gives him a shove and he falls to the arena floor. Handspring elbow by Chyna on Malenko. Guerrero with a leg lariat, but as he steps out onto the apron for a slingshot senton, Saturn pulls him down to ringside where he holds him in a full nelson for a Malenko baseball slide dropkick. Nice gutbuster, however Eddy counters the pumphandle into a roll up for two. Saturn with a flapjack and a big top rope elbow for a two of his own. Over the shoulder backbreaker before driving Eddy chest first into the turnbuckles. Guerrero blocks the superplex and responds with a face first version followed by a great leaping huracanrana. Hot tag to Chyna and her offense looks dreadful as she’s singlehandedly taking care of what is left of the Radicalz. DDT to Malenko, and now all four of them are in the ring fighting in opposite corners. Saturn reverses the Irish whip and Eddy crashes into Chyna. She gives him a back kick low blow, thinking its Perry and not him, which allows Saturn to hit a brainbuster for the win. Watching Malenko and Saturn together I’m reminded of when both teamed with Benoit, and the difference is like night and day when they were with him as opposed to each other. There’s just no connection with the audience with this pairing. I kinda feel sorry for them as ‘the Crippler’ has long passed them, and to be fair, so has Eddy. While they came in with such a fanfare opposing the likes of Mick Foley, the Rock and Rikishi, now they’re being ‘womanhandled’ and struggling to deal with Chyna. She looked seriously bad here and everything she does, from throwing a forearm to throwing a clothesline to executing a bodyslam, just looks awkward. Saturn with the surprise pin on Eddy days out from Judgment Day, although the likelihood of either getting a win in the three way there is extremely unlikely.

Quick dressing room interview from Ali where he says that Wolfie D has pushed him to the limits, and he won’t get out of the studio today. “Your behind is mine” and he’s not bothered about no title either. Battle Royal Battle Royal for a shot at Wolfie D’s MPPW title and Ali isn't in it because Brandon Baxter invoked the 30 day clause after he had the title match last week. As Alan Steel makes his way out for the Battle Royal he’s followed by Lance Jade, who has his face covered with a towel which is presumably to cover up the burn from that fireball. Jade tries to apologise to him, but Steel wants no part of it. The rest of the participants are the Spellbinder, Rob Harlem, Deon Harlem, Derrick King, Seven, Havok, The Aristocrat and Blade Boudreaux. A nothing Battle Royal which saw most of the eliminations be via wrestler (1) running or swinging at wrestler (2), wrestler (2) backdrops wrestler (1) over the top rope. Seven’s elimination looked especially bad, and he then pulled his eliminator, Spellbinder, under the bottom rope and he’s not seen again. Steel ends up getting the win after eliminating Deon and Jade again tries to apologise, and again he brushes him off. Wolfie D vs Alan Steel Steel is out for his title match and you know who is still trying to apologise. Wolfie charges at ‘All That’ as soon as he enters the ring, but Steel darts out the way and peppers him with rights. Whip to the corner is reversed, however Steel leaps to the middle turnbuckle and catches Wolfie with a flying back elbow. Swinging neckbreaker for two. Steel slaps on an armbar, but Wolfie grabs him by the hair and backs him into the corner where he unloads with an array of strikes. ‘All That’ escapes a suplex attempt and shoves Wolfie through the ropes to the outside, before landing a double axe handle off the top to the floor. He rolls Wolfie back inside, heads upstairs, when Jade climbs up on the apron trying to tell him something. The delay allows Wolfie to fall into the ropes causing Steel to crotch himself, and from there he hits a superplex for two. Doctor bomb for another near fall. Steel counters the spinning powerbomb with a hurancanrana and levels Wolfie with a flying clothesline. Bulldog off the middle, however the referee is too close to the action and he gets taken out by Steel’s swinging legs. Top rope splash three-quarters of the way across the ring, ‘All That’ makes the cover but the official is still down. Jade is in the ring, seemingly trying to wake him up, when Steel sees what’s going on and gives him a shove thinking that he’s interfering. Steel drags the referee over, but at the count of two Jade drops an elbow on him. He then pulls the towel off to reveal that there is nothing wrong with him at all. Steel with a spear and a bit of ground and pound on Jade, but Wolfie wallops him over the head with his shin guard. Spinning powerbomb and the official comes around to counts the three. Ali attacks Jade and Wolfie post-match, but very quickly Wolfie cracks him with the shin guard too. Jade hands him a fork and he’s about to stab Ali with it, when he reverses position and it looks like Ali uses the fork on him as the show goes off the air. Good short match between these two. Quite a bit going on here what with the match itself and the respective feuds of the participants against Lance Jade and Ali interwoven with it. Steel/Jade seems to be coming to a head, while the use of the fork has added a more violent dimension to Ali/Seven.

Funny little backstage vignette as Edge and Christian charge a young fan $5 for an autograph, and then another $10 for a Polaroid where they end up blocking him out of the picture! When Kevin Kelly asks what they’re doing, they say they’re just trying to get close to their fans...but the people here in New Haven are pretty simple and don’t have a clue what’s going on. It’s the easiest money they’ve ever made! Quick in ring promo where Edge says although their fans like and respect them, they can’t seem to garner that same respect from the rest of the guys in the back. Christian continues that they look at them with envy, anger and rage; that is bar one man who shows them the respect they deserve. It’s with great honour that he introduces that man to them, Kurt Angle! Chris Jericho is still over huge with the audiences. Matt hot shots Edge on the top rope and a belly to back suplex. Tag to his brother, ‘poetry in motion’ and Y2J follows up with a running bulldog. Jeff goes for a wheelbarrow, however Edge counters and pancakes him to the canvas. ‘Three Amigos’ by Christian, ending with a face first suplex instead of a regulation one. Edge with a double axe handle off the middle, but Jeff gets in first with a dropkick to the chest. Hot tag to Jericho who takes it to team ECK. Double powerbomb on Christian before Edge clocks him from behind and tosses him to the arena floor. The referee is distracted by Matt and Chris Benoit rushes out and drops Y2J with a lariat. He throws him back inside and a spear by Edge for a super close near fall. Jericho leaves the in ring action to chase after ‘the Crippler’ and the two of them go at it on the entrance ramp way. Kurt counters the ‘twist of fate’ with a Northern Lights suplex, but Jeff then breaks up the cover with a ‘Swanton bomb’. As the official tries to get him out of the ring, Christian nails Matt with the ring bell and Angle makes the cover for the win. He then sprints from the ring to go and help Benoit against Jericho as a bunch of officials are having no luck in separating them. Short TV match but nothing wrong with what we got here. The Edge & Christian heel personas are continuing to develop and they make a great trio with Kurt Angle (Christian being the unheralded glue to the team). Benoit’s interjection builds things nicely on the way to Judgment Day and their submission match. Really liked that ‘Swanton’ to break up the Northern Lights suplex.

The ‘D-X Regime’ are out, and first of all Triple H starts by making fun of what happened to Earl Hebner, something that could’ve been avoided if he’d just kept his nose out of their business! He gets Kevin Dunn to roll the footage of the beating they gave him, and wants that to be a warning as to what happens when you cross the McMahon-Helmsley regime. He turns his attention to The Rock and it will all come to a head at Judgment Day, only this time there will be no Steve Austin, no Linda McMahon and no Earl Hebner. It will just be the two of them, and to up the ante, to find out “who the man” is, he challenges him to a 60 minute Iron Man match, where the person with the most falls at the end of sixty minutes will be the undisputed WWF Heavyweight champion. ‘The Game’ hands the mic over to Vince McMahon, and as soon as he starts to speak he’s interrupted by ‘Break Down the Walls’. Jericho insults Shane, Stephanie and Vince (everything he did was to make up for the fact he had a small penis!), and the latter responds that there’s not a damn thing he can do to stop them from coming up there and kicking his ass! As ‘the Regime’ head out to go and get Y2J, he’s joined by the Dudleyz, Big Show and Rikishi, at which point they have second thoughts and return to the ring. Vince then informs Jericho that he’ll be defending the Intercontinental title against Kurt Angle and guarantees that he will not be leaving this building with that belt. Shane tells Show that one way or another tonight they’re going to settle things, and then Vince finally addresses the Dudley Boyz and Rikishi. The Dudleyz will face Gerald Brisco in a tables match, and Rikishi will take on the first ever Intercontinental champion, Pat Patterson. Brisco and Patterson are not too enamoured with that announcement, but Vince says if people think he’s gone crazy, remember there is a fine line between insanity and genius, and before the night is over, everyone in this arena will once again know of his superior mental acumen! Chris Jericho vs Kurt Angle (WWF Raw 5/8/00) Kurt Angle is honoured the McMahon-Helmsley regime has picked him to take the Intercontinental title from Chris Jericho tonight, while on a personal note he is privileged to defend the honour of Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley; a woman with class! He tells Jericho that when he insults Stephanie, he insults everything that is good about society. Shoulder tackle by Angle, but he then runs into a Jericho back elbow. Y2J lights him up with some chops and Angle is forced to go for the eyes. Whip to the corner is reversed, and as Jericho rushes at his opponent, Kurt lifts and then drops him ‘snake eyes’ onto the top turnbuckle. He’s too slow on the follow up, and Y2J backdrops him over the top rope and to the outside. As he’s up on the apron, a springboard dropkick sends him careering back to the floor. Angle avoids the baseball slide, but when he charges, Jericho sidesteps out the way and shoves him into the ring steps. He rolls back into the ring and heads upstairs, however Angle is quickly to his feet and lands a belly to belly off the top for two. Reverse chinlock as he tries to slow the champion down. Jericho escapes via some elbows to the mid-section and when Angle telegraphs a backdrop, Y2J with a double underhook into a backbreaker for a near fall. Spinning heel kick soon followed by a bulldog for another two. Overhead belly to belly by Angle. Jericho escapes the ‘Olympic slam’, double leg takedown into ‘the Walls’ and Kurt is forced to tap. Chris Jericho vs Big Show (WWF Raw 5/8/00) Shane McMahon is watching the end of Y2J/Angle when he’s confronted by an angry Big Show. Shane tells him that this is what he wanted though; he doesn’t to see Showkishi or Shownan the Barbarian, he wanted to piss him off, bring out the guy he knows, the guy he took to Wrestlemania! He continues to sweet talk him and says that tonight he’ll be facing Chris Jericho for the Intercontinental title and with Shane O’Mac in his corner, he can be a champion again. Shane accompanies Show for the title match, and he’s all business, there’s no joking around here. Jericho tries to use his speed to keep out of Show’s grasp, but foolishly attempts an Irish whip and ends up on the receiving end of a clothesline. Thrust kick and Y2J goes tumbling through the ropes to the outside. Big press slam over the top rope and back into the ring. Jericho avoids a charging Show and he goes crashing into the turnbuckles. Missile dropkick, Lionsault and a huge kick out at two. Show with a military press slam, he signals for the chokeslam, when some VT plays on the big screen. It’s the video of Shane and Show from earlier in the night, and after Show left the room, Shane is on the phone saying how he’s got him brainwashed and has got the Big Show completely wrapped around his finger. Show turns to Shane, says “your ass is mine!” and chases him all the way to the back with Shane having to flee the arena in a limousine, giving Jericho the victory by count out. Chris Jericho vs Chris Benoit (WWF Raw 5/8/00) Stephanie is not happy that Jericho is still the I-C champion and says to Vince how he guaranteed that Chris Jericho would no longer be the champion. Vince then announces that he will be defending the title yet again tonight, this time against Chris Benoit. As Lilian Garcia is making the ring introductions, she’s interrupted by “the self-appointed, troubleshooting referee who will be on the outside” Triple H. Jericho is straight in with a drop toe hold and a flurry of knife edge chops, knees and rights in the corner. Benoit ducks the spinning heel kick and fires back with some chops of his own. Y2J with a running back elbow to the face dropping his opponent. Lionsault, ‘the Crippler’ rolls out the way but Jericho lands on his feet and then hits the spinning heel kick. Benoit takes to the floor for a brief rest bite and when he’s back on the apron Jericho looks for the springboard dropkick, however ‘the Crippler’ has it scouted and shoves him off the top sending him crashing into the ringside barricade. Snap suplex on the arena floor. Belly to back for two. Jericho fights his way out of the seated abdominal stretch submission, only to miss a dropkick as Benoit hangs onto the ropes. Catapult and Y2J goes head first into the turnbuckle. ‘The Crippler’ puts the boots to him as Jericho crumples in the corner. He continues to ignore Mike Chioda’s count and the official has to drag him away. The pair of them exchange shoves, and after Benoit’s drops Chioda, Triple H is in to reprimand him about putting his hands on the official. Now these two are nose to nose and shoving each other, but things aren’t as they seem as ‘the Game’ slugs Chioda, hurls him from the ring and tells Benoit to go get that Intercontinental title. As ‘the Crippler’ turns around he’s immediately nailed with a missile dropkick for two. Northern Lights suplex by Benoit. Jericho blocks the third rolling German and counters into a roll up before transitioning to ‘the Walls’. Y2J’s got if fully locked in, when out wanders Stephanie and Triple H forgets about the match to go and see his wife, missing seeing ‘the Crippler’ tap. Jericho lets go of the hold and slaps HHH who responds by clubbing him in the back of the head. Benoit with the crossface and Triple H immediately calls for the bell even though he never gave up, screwing Jericho out of the title. The Regime are out and assault Jericho until Rikishi, Too Cool, Big Show and the Dudleyz run them off. Jim Ross then has a great line about how these men in the ring showed no fear of the McMahon-Helmsley regime, but they just may have committed career suicide.

A pre-match coin flip determines that Eddy’s European championship will be on the line tonight. Jericho gets the better of the opening salvo, finishing up by clotheslining Guerrero over the top rope and to the outside. It looks like he’s had enough of this already, heading up the aisle and to the dressing room, when Chyna grabs him and pushes him back towards the ring. He lands a boot to the mid-section and a quick powerslam for two. Whip to the corner, but as he runs at Jericho, Y2J elevates him up and over, sending him crashing into the turnbuckles. A series of hard knife edge chops, a suplex, and Jericho tries to pin his opponent with a single foot on the chest. Spinning heel kick sends Eddy tumbling to the floor. He avoids the baseball slide, but Y2J then chases him around ringside only to get blindsided by a Chyna clothesline. Guerrero heads upstairs, however he’s too slow on the climb and is joined by Jericho who hits a suicideplex. Eddy sidesteps a lariat in the corner and unloads with elbows and a cracking uppercut. After sitting Y2J on the top turnbuckle, he brings him back down with a huracanrana. Gori special dropped into a pin, before they run through a series of counters and reversals (the Guerrero/Malenko stuff). Abdominal stretch by Eddy and Jericho’s able to power his way out of it. Guerrero then counters the powerbomb with a lovely sunset flip for a near fall. Inverted Gori special, but Y2J is able to reverse the hold and apply it to Eddy. As Guerrero clambers his way up onto Jericho’s shoulders, Y2J slams him face first to the canvas. Neither a bulldog nor a flying forearm are able to get the job done as Eddy kicks out at two after both. Jericho is again looking for that powerbomb, but this time Eddy with a headscissors taking them both over the top rope and to the arena floor. As the official checks to make sure he’s okay, Y2J crawls back into the ring, and sensing an opportunity, Chyna drops him with a DDT. Yes! It’s not the finish this time as Jericho is able to raise a shoulder. Double powerbomb, Lionsault, but Chyna is on the apron distracting referee Tim White. Springboard dropkick to Chyna, however Eddy grabs the European belt that she’d just thrown into the ring, KO’s Y2J with it and retains the title. Third good match between these two in the space of a month and some lovely smooth stuff here such as the sunset flip counter to the powerbomb and the Gori specials. Crowd were much more into this than Benoit/Angle which makes me think the reaction to that one had to be down to the ‘heel vs heel’ dynamic. Eddy with the pin cementing his position at the top of the upper/mid-card position.

Jeez, Benoit’s eye looks like hell after that match against Chris Jericho on Smackdown. Funny promo from Angle on his way to the ring, saying how he’s been in the UK all week long and the children here are pale, weak, unhealthy and uneducated. He couldn’t understand one word they were saying and thinks they need to learn the universal language, American! Before saying how so many times in the past the USA has come to the UK’s rescue, like in World War II when we saved you from the Germans! Crash Holly makes his way out after the wrestlers and joins JR and ‘the King’ on commentary. He says that he came here to fight an Englishman, but is having a little trouble finding one. Shoulder tackle and snap suplex by Benoit for two. Drop toe hold, but as ‘the Crippler’ charges, Angle lifts him up and hot shots him on the top rope. Angle goes after that badly bruised eye and Benoit rolls out the ring to the floor. JR mentions that he could be competing with a cracked cheekbone and even a broken nose. Benoit starts to fight back with some forearms, however Kurt stops him in his tracks with a glorious overhead belly to belly. A lariat and ‘the Crippler’ reaches out for the ropes to break the pin. Benoit reverses a whip to the corner and Angle goes crashing chest first into the turnbuckles. Rolling German suplexes for a close near fall, while ‘the King’ tells Ross not to say German here in the UK. Don’t worry yourself King, it’s not the 1970s! ‘Crippler crossface’, Angle grabs the official’s hand and uses that to poke Benoit in the eye with, causing him to let go of the submission. Belly to back suplex, but he misses the diving headbutt as Kurt moves out the way. Angle’s back on that eye, ducks a pair of swinging blows and hits the ‘Olympic slam’ for the win. I don’t know if it was because the match was heel vs heel, but the crowd seemed pretty flat here after Angle’s promo. Again, not sure if it was due to the state of Benoit’s eye, but this went less than seven minutes which seems awfully short for a PPV bout between these two. Nothing wrong with the work but if felt as though they were both on auto pilot. Nice clean finish with Benoit temporarily blinded after Angle went for the eye and then being surprised by the ‘Olympic slam’. I though Crash might have some involvement after talking about wanting someone to fight, but he stayed at the commentary desk throughout.

LIWF stands for Long Island Wrestling Federation and we get an interview that looks straight out of 1995 ECW with the way it’s shot on the street. ‘King of the Ladder matches’ Papa Don says that he’s going to take Homicide’s ‘All Borough’ title and make him his bitch! While John Shane (the number one manager in the LIWF!) stumbles over his words but will be handcuffed to the 6’8” Slugger to prevent him from interfering in the match, something that he’s not too keen about. This is a low rent fed and Slugger looks like a reject out of the No Limit Soldiers with those fatigues he’s wearing. Papa’s got some nice sounding chops. He makes the cover after a neckbreaker and the referee starts to count, but stops at two and points out that you can only win by retrieving the belt that’s above the ring (that looks like a genuine spot to confirm the rules to the crowd as opposed to him forgetting). Papa’s not happy he stopped counting and shoves the official who shoves him back. They’ve clearly been watching their Earl Hebner spots as Don bumps for him! Homicide repeatedly rolls out the way of a trio of falling headbutts and then hits a succession of elbows from the canvas, middle and top turnbuckles. He gets a two count as someone from the crowd shouts “it’s a ladder match ref!” Exploder suplex by Papa and he goes outside to collect the ladder. After putting them on the apron he stops to say something to one of the fans, that’s long enough for Homicide to get back to his feet and dropkick the ladder into him when he turns around. He places the ladder in the corner across the bottom ropes, but what he had planned we’ll never know as Papa with a drop toe hold on the charging Homicide sending him crashing head first into them. Clothesline over the top to the outside. He rests the ladders on the top rope, runs up them, but comes up short on his dive completely missing his opponent. Homicide with a quick thinking suplex on the metal ramp way to try and put a stop to those “you f*cked up” chants. Back inside and Papa slams Homicide onto the ladder before coming off the top with a big splash. He starts to climb the ladder, slowly, but a Homicide top rope flying clothesline puts a stop to that. Now it’s his turn to try and grab that belt, however as he’s climbing Papa gets underneath and powerbombs him off the ladder. Don has another go at retrieving the title, but stops half way up and dives at Homicide who catches him with an ‘Ace Crusher’ in a very unnatural looking spot. He props the ladder up in the corner and powerslams Papa into it. Homicide collects a second ladder from underneath the ring and this one is about twice the size of the original. An ugly looking collision sees the two of them run into each other. Papa throws a chair at Homicide (presumably for some kind of ‘Van Daminator’) but then turns to the crowd and when he turns around, Homicide throws it back at him and kicks it in his face after he’s caught it. Don blocks a suplex onto the ladder and counters with a Russian legsweep onto it instead. A superplex while stood on the bent ladder doesn’t come off as it collapses whilst he’s climbing. Diving headbutt off the top, but Papa hurts his own head in the process. There’s not much in the way of selling here as Papa is right back up after being squashed under a Homicide senton onto the ladder, replying with a ‘death valley driver’. He sets those ladders up and they go all the way to the roof of the building by the look of it. STF by Homicide, Papa taps but no submissions here! Crazy assed cannonball through the middle and top ropes putting Don through a table that he’d propped against the wall and laid him on. A bunch of randoms then show up and attack Slugger. They get the keys to the handcuffs off the ring announcer, free ‘the Sure Thing’ and cuff Slugger to the bottom rope, beating on him in the process. For some reason they leave Homicide be, ‘Cop Killa’ and he climbs the ladder to grab the ‘All Borough’ title belt. Now the match is over the randoms jump on Homicide until Slugger somehow frees himself and makes the save, dishing out a trio of poor looking chokeslams culminating with one on Johnny boy. Da Hit Squad, Low Ki and a bunch of others are out to celebrate with Homicide, and as the randoms leave it turns out one is Julius Smokes. Yeah, yeah, yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah! I said after the West Side Playaz/Massaro & Frantz tag that there is an issue where these indie promotions feel as though they have to go long, and here is another prime example of that. This goes around 28 minutes for the match itself and probably should’ve been around half that at the most. It didn’t flow well at all, there was little in the way of selling after a big move and this was way too co-operative between the wrestlers. You had Papa on more than one occasion blatantly time wasting to make sure Homicide was ready for the next spot (when he placed the ladders on the apron, the Van Daminator, the blatant slow climbing) and that Ace Crusher was ludicrous. The ending was flat out weird with ‘the Sure Thing’s’ men attacking Slugger to free Shane from him, but then just letting Homicide to go on his merry way, collect the belt and retain the title.

An APW match with good lighting, decent production values and a hard cam positioned at a nice angle; this bodes well! A slow opening as the two teams feel each other out. LeGrande cartwheels out of a stunner, and a thrust kick to the head of Massaro for two. Frantz blows a ‘tilt-a-whirl’ move, but at least has the common sense to try and turn it into something else, forcing Boyce to grab the ropes for the break. They go straight back to that spot they’d previously blown, ‘tilt-a-whirl’ backbreaker by LeGrande and Frantz replies with a flying headscissors. It’s not going well for Jardi as he then botches that convoluted wristlock takedown where he’s meant to bounce and spring off the top rope. The WSP look to isolate the left arm of Massaro and Thompson with a single armed DDT. LeGrande keeps hold of the arm and climbs to the top turnbuckle, but Vinny gives him a shove and he falls to the arena floor. Jardi is around and throws him into the ring post before tossing him back inside. Slingshot senton and a split legged moonsault for two. Plenty of double teaming behind the official’s back as they continue to get the heat on LeGrande. ‘Fameasser’, but Boyce is able to kick out before the three. Big running powerbomb by Massaro. Boyce ducks the roaring elbow, spinning heel kick and he’s finally able to make the tag. Make that three blown spots for Frantz as he messes up a belly to belly. Scoop powerslam on Frantz and then Thompson counters a Massaro German suplex with a stunner. As Jardi and Vinny take to the outside to gather themselves, Thompson backdrops LeGrande over the top and out on to them. Frantz avoided most of the impact and as Thompson is out to check on his partner, Jardi with an awful looking shooting star press to the floor where he doesn’t rotate enough and lands head first on the wrestlers! Boyce with a superkick to Massaro and Frantz is in to break up the pin. DDT by Jardi, Thompson breaks that up and so the series continues with Thompson’s torture rack airplane spin into a neckbreaker being the highlight. Emerald Frosien, double underhook DDT, Samoan drop, ‘Rock bottom’, it’s a constant stream of hitting a finisher and then their partner making the save. After Massaro hits a pumphandle into a Rikishi driver on LeGrande, he calls for Frantz to pass him a ladder. This one isn’t the biggest and only stands about a foot above the top turnbuckle. Thompson reverses an Irish whip and a 3-D on Vinny. LeGrande with a ‘swanton bomb’ off the ladder and the Playaz get the win. My least favourite APW match to date, and it started off so promising with the increased production values. I’m not sure what the thinking is with some of these indie promotions, but it’s as though they have to go twenty to thirty minutes long. As a result, the opening was too slow and plodding and we then got an overly long heat section on LeGrande. At times this was very similar to the March match, and again I thought Thompson was the standout. Not sure what was up with Frantz but he badly blew four spots at least. We had the same escalation of saving all the big and double team moves for the final stretch, but that became move, partner breaks up the pin, rinse, repeat; I just became numb to it all and zoned out.

The McMahon-Helmsley regime arrive at the arena and they’re here in force tonight, as not only is there D-X, but also Vince McMahon, Shane McMahon, Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco as well as the women. ‘The Regime’ heads out in front of the crowd and Vince starts talking about the town they’re in, Richmond, VA. As it’s the hometown of Earl Hebner, the man reinstated by his wife Linda, the man who counted Triple H’s shoulders to the mat when he lost the WWF title, he thinks it’s only right that he returns to the ring tonight. He’ll not be returning as a referee though. Tonight he’ll be having his very first match, and if he disobeys his orders that means he will have breached his contract and he’ll be fired again, only this time he will stay fired. It won’t be fair for Earl to have to face singles competition in his very first match, tonight he will have a tag team partner, The Rock, and they will face X-Pac & Road Dogg & Triple H in a handicap match. He goes on to announce that this match will be for the WWF World title, and if either Rock or Earl get pinned, The Rock will lose the belt. Mr McMahon is supremely confident with those stipulations, and even goes on to say that history will be created in Richmond, VA and a new World Wrestling Federation champion will be crowned! Backstage interview, and Kevin Kelly doesn’t know how The Rock is going to be able to get out of this one with the way the McMahon-Helmsley era are putting the screws on him. The Rock doesn’t say much (although when you’re dripping in charisma you don’t need to), but does close by talking about rolling X-Pac, Road Dogg and Triple H up into a ball and shoving them up their candy asses! Triple H has his arm in a sling, and the odds are stacked even more against The Rock/Hebner duo as there is a grand total of six people in the corner of the D-X team. Rock hammers away at the Road Dogg. Whip to the corner, Dogg stuns him with a back elbow, but Rock then levels him with a clothesline. Thumb to the eyes and he pulls Rock into their corner so they can double team him. Rock fires back on X-Pac and a tilt-a-whirl slam. He makes the cover, Road Dogg is in to break it up, but Rock moves out the way and he drops an elbow on his own partner. Triple H with a lariat and a right hand to ‘the Great One’. Rock reverses things and unloads with some strikes of his own, before dragging ‘the Game’ over so Earl can slap him (to a huge pop!). He tears off his sling and concentrates his attack on that injured arm. Triple H ducks under a swinging blow and a neckbreaker stops Rock in his tracks. As X-Pac goes to town on him, Earl is in to try and help his partner. Referee Mike Chioda sees him coming though and as he tries to get him back on the apron, it just allows D-X to double team him some more behind the his back. A bodyslam by the Road Dogg followed by a ‘shake, rattle and roll’ kneedrop for two. X-Pac with a spinning heel kick and a clothesline sending Rock over the top rope and to the outside. With ‘The Regime’ doing their best to distract Chioda, HHH attacks ‘the Great One’ on the floor and rams his head into the ring post. Pac and Dogg goad Hebner to get in the there with them, but he wants no part of the two-on-one odds. He drops down off the apron, however backs right into Triple H who tosses him into the ring. Before they’re able to do anything to him though, The Rock is back and clears the ring with X-Pac taking a wild bump over the top rope to the arena floor. DDT on the Dogg and as the Regime try to get involved, a spinebuster to Shane. Patterson and Brisco are up on the apron but they both get felled (Patterson especially making the most of his moment!). As ‘the Game’ is about to involve himself again in the action, out comes Chris Jericho who pulls him to the floor and starts pummelling him. Vinnie Mac is around to help his son-in-law and Chioda has completely lost control as he’s trying to separate them and maintain order. Inside, and X-Pac is about to crack Rock over the back with a chair when Earl low blows him. ‘Rock bottom’ on Pac and Rock retains his World title. D-X jump the Rock and Triple H lays him out with a pedigree while the McMahons hold Earl back (Y2J is apparently out of it at ringside at this point although we don’t see what happened). The McMahons then throw Hebner into the ring and after a couple of big rights from ‘the Game’ he’s bleeding from the mouth. The assault doesn’t stop there as Triple H pedigrees him onto a steel chair. Big Show and Rikishi try to make the save, but despite a bit of success, the numbers are too much. It’s only when the table carrying Dudleys arrive do the ‘DX Regime’ retreat out of there. Patterson and Brisco are too slow mind and Rock grabs the pair of them from ringside and launches them both into the ring. Stinkface on Patterson, superbomb through a table on Brisco and the EMTs are out to wheel Earl out of there on a stretcher. Fun match and much better than I expected. Smartly booked to keep Earl out of there until the finish, so it was ultimately a ‘three on one’ bout. X-Pac is someone who I’ve really been enjoying in the rewatch and that was no different here. Rock defies the odds to retain his World title, and we have a lengthy and intense post-match beatdown with Earl busted up and bleeding from the mouth to put the heat back on DX. Pretty big moment for the Dudleys here in the mix with the top players and ultimately being the ones who put an end to the attack.

Richmond’s own Earl Hebner getting an entrance again! Jericho and Benoit are forehead to forehead like rutting stags! They trade slaps, double leg takedown by ‘the Crippler’ and the pair end up rolling to the outside. They’re straight back in the ring though and Benoit with a short lariat. Flying forearm by Y2J, then the two just trade blistering knife edge chops. Jericho is the first to want out of that and goes to ‘the Crippler’s’ eyes. Tiger driver, but as he goes for the Lionsault, Benoit snatches him off the ropes and hits a trio of rolling German suplexes for a near fall. Jericho with a spinning heel kick busting ‘the Crippler’s’ nose in the process. As a receipt, Benoit then just destroys him with more chops. Whip to the turnbuckles, but Jericho gets an elbow up to his charging opponent. Missile dropkick off the middle and a bulldog for two. Great roll up counter off the attempted stomachbreaker by Y2J for another close count. Belly to back suplex by ‘the Crippler’ who then heads upstairs for the diving headbutt, however Jericho falls into the ropes causing him to crotch himself (and he does this bump so well). Jericho is up with him for the superplex, but Benoit with some rapid fire headbutts and Y2J falls backwards to the canvas. Sunset flip off the top, Jericho rolls through though and he’s looking for ‘the Walls’. A stiff kick to the face puts a stop to that, and Benoit counters into the crossface. Jericho fights his way out and then Benoit picks him up for another belly to back, only this time dumping him over the top rope and to the arena floor. Hebner prevents him from going out after him, and after exchanging words they get into a shoving contest. Earl comes out on the wrong side of that one and takes a spill through the ropes and to the outside. Still distracted by Hebner, Jericho clocks Benoit with the I-C title, Lionsault and Earl ducks back in to count the fall and we have a new champion. Great TV match. The physicality and intensity was there as usual with these two, but there felt like an added edge, stiffness to things. The chops they were throwing were just brutal and you had Jericho busting Benoit’s nose, kicks to the face and knee strikes too. As well as that there were some real nice counters such as the rolling Germans off the Lionsault, the roll up off the stomachbreaker that were new. Earl Hebner was again trying to show his authority, probably too much, but at least Benoit didn’t bump for him off a shove and it was he who took the spill. Even the non clean finish for the title change didn’t bother me after the match they’d put on and protects it Benoit at the same time.

Edge and Christian make their entrance via the ramp way as opposed to coming through the crowd. Edge realises that everyone is disappointed that they didn’t do that “mysterious running through the crowd thing”, but ever since they won the WWF tag titles, it’s become a bit too much! He doesn’t want all their fans to think they’ve turned their back on them though, so for the next five seconds they will generously pose for those with the benefit of flash photography! Rikishi and Show answered their open challenge and Show is still doing the impersonation gimmick. ‘Showkishi’ calls on the champions and drops them both with a headbutt. He whips Edge into the turnbuckles, then Christian and squashes them both with a running splash. Rikishi continues where his partner left off, and Edge just about avoids being on the receiving end of a sit down splash when attempting a sunset flip. Double clothesline to the champs. Show presses Christian and throws him at Edge. Big boot and he signals for the chokeslam, however Edge clocks him with the ring bell for the DQ. Rikishi drops the two of them with thrust kicks and they position them for stereo Bonzai splashes, but Edge and Christian are able to roll out the ring in time. As they head to the dressing room they’re met by Road Dogg and X-Pac who drag them back to the ring. A pair of ass first splashes in the corner and stereo stinkfaces on the champions, before Rikishi and ‘Showkishi’ dance, with Show even busting out a Rick Rude hip gyration. Not a lot to this before the DQ finish. Edge and Christian were in the ring for the duration of the match, always two against one, and I think they got one offensive move in (Christian’s dropkick to a seated Rikishi after he missed the sit down splash). Don’t really know what the purpose was, unless it was for Show to cosplay again, as the match didn’t benefit the champions at all.

Tazz promises to turn Benoit’s frown upside down! There’s no hanging around as ‘the Crippler’ goes straight for his opponent. Tazz reverses the Irish whip, Benoit shoots through his legs and a snap suplex. Another reversal, Tazz grabs him for a head and arm suplex, but Benoit with a series of headbutts to break his hold. A couple of knees to the mid-section, however the left is blocked and Tazz with a Northern Lights suplex. The two of them trade stiff chops when out walks Perry Saturn. Tazz is briefly distracted by him before returning to the match in hand. He goes to kick Benoit in the stomach, but ‘the Crippler’ catches his leg and hooks a Fisherman suplex for the win. Tazz attacks Saturn after the match, and as they go at it on the floor Bob Holly strolls out to ringside. As Benoit celebrates his win he’s jumped by Holly, who lays him out with a Falcon Arrow before taking out both Tazz and Saturn with a flying clothesline. Wow, this was even shorter than the match they had last month and Tazz jobbing to a Fisherman suplex? When has Benoit ever beaten anyone with a Fisherman suplex? Someone’s stock has plummeted big style.