[1995-06-25-WWF-King of the Ring] Diesel & Bam Bam Bigelow vs Sid & Tatanka

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Erm, this isn't the KOTR main event. This is the In Your House main event with Diesel vs Sid from the next month.

[goodhelmet]

Well shit... ooops

[El-P]

Awful match. Tatanka had become fat and lazy by this point. Diesel vs Sid was the worst feud of the year. Just god awful boring stuff. Bam Bam was so wasted in the middle of all this after doing a great job with L.T.

[Tim Evans]

That's a lot of lumberjacks at ringside. Shawn has to take the glory though and dive onto them. I forgot about Erik Watts being in WWF at the time?

[Smack2k]

This was the Main Event of KOR 1995...the Diesel vs. Sid matches were the month before and the month after this.

[PeteF3]

Okay, right, THIS ends the worst PPV effort in WWF history. Well, not this--the actual tag match. Not that I feel any effort to fire up the Network to watch it. Diesel power bombs Tatanka, he calls out Sid, Sid walks off. When you have a guy with a heavy metal serial killer vibe like Sid, you definitely want to push him as a 1990's Honky Tonk Man. Especially when he's a challenger as opposed to the champ.

[Robert S]

Notable things to add:

• Nash could care less about this feud, in the pre-match promo he meant (on the question if his elbow is close to 100% due to the surgery) that even 50% would be enough to deal with Sid; Bigelow tries to safe that doing some Steiner math (something along the lines that they are both 110% motivated which adds up to 220% motivation). Nash also calls Tatanka "Pocahontas" in the pre-match promo.
• They blew a false hot tag: Sid has Bigelow in a front facelock, Bigelow pushes Sid towards his own corner, Tatanka comes in etc., you know the deal. But Earl Hebner sleeps on Tatanka entering the ring (I guess Tatanka is also a bit late) so the tag from Bigelow to Nash happens right in front of his face, ergo Nash has to come in. They found a good way to deal with it, though (Nash throws an elbow drop on which he sells his elbow and tags out immediately, Bigelow goes straight back into FIP until the real hot tag a couple of minutes later).

[Superstar Sleeze]

Diesel & Bam Bam Bigelow vs Sid & Tatanka - WWF King of the Ring 1995

The peak of Bam Bam Bigelow’s babyfaces run but if I was him I would’ve been doing all I could stay heel. The babyface side was Diesel, Bret, Taker, Shawn, Razor, Bulldog & Luger that was a murderer’s row he was not overcoming. Him vs Taker at Summerslam was what h should’ve been pushing for and then onto Bret or hell win the KOTR and main event Sslam against Diesel. Turning babyface was dumb. I say this as not a big Bam Bam fan. This is probably Tatanka biggest match or against Shawn at Mania IX. He is another guy who has shown me nothing. The story of the match is Diesel hurt his elbow the month before against Sid. How will the elbow hold up? In a classic “You’re Fired/I Quit” situation, Bigelow is out of the Million Dollar Corporation and wants revenge on them.

At 17 minutes and change, the match exceeds my expectations. I would safely say it is good, not much more than that. I was surprised how early they went to the elbow. Diesel & Bigelow rush the Ring and clear the heels. Diesel gets one good move on Tatanka but wanders too close to Sid who kicks the bad elbow and wrenches on the rope. I kinda get it they want Diesel to be the house of fire so you don’t want his heat segment in the back end. BUT I think the tension is when do the heels get a hold of the elbow and they blew it off too early. However there’s many ways to skin a cat while they didn’t choose my way, I think the match still was good.

They work over the elbow tight stuff. Nothing revolutionary but a good grind. Sid misses a leg drop. Diesel tags out. Let’s see what Bam Bam can do as a babyface. Solid hot tag. Dropkick, DDT, clotheslines. The top rope diving headbutt is a good punctuation mark. Sid catches up top and hits a chokeslam from the top. Great transition! They clubber Sid. Sid’s boots look good. Chinlocks. Diesel tags in. Nash is clearly the best worker in this match but the whole point of the match is that he has to stand on the sidelines because he is injured and it is hurting the match.  Nash elbow drop but he hurts the bad elbow. Tag out to a Bam Bam that has not had enough time to recuperate which is a cool wrinkle. Tatanka works him over with clubbering and chinlocks. Bam Bam hulks up. Mid ring cross body collision levels the playing field. Bam Bam hits this crazy somersault splash on Tatanka where he almost breaks his neck that’s his big high spot. Diesel comes in and steam rolls Tatanka. Tatanka is a fucking load and the Jacknife becomes more of a gut wrench. 1-2-Diesel picks him up because he wants SID!!!! Well Sid don’t want none and just walks away lol. Diesel drops an elbow to win. Very anticlimatic ending to probably the worst WWF PPV ever. 
 

That finish was terrible on so many levels. I think there’s plenty of ways for Sid to not eat the pin, have the faces go over that doesn’t make Sid look like a massive bitch. If there was ever a match where layout overcomes the mediocrity of the performers it is this match. This speaks to the Power of Psychology and how it can really make things very easy. You run this exact same match but with four awesome wrestlers and this is probably a classic. It is such a cool and interesting layout. These four were competent enough to execute it to the point where the match never dragged and it was entertaining & interesting. Long Live Psychology! ***