[2001-03-18-WWF-Sunday Night Heat] Dean Malenko vs Crash Holly

[GSR]

The Light Heavyweight title is on the line, although Michael Cole is more interested in talking about some ninjas in the back who’re looking for Kaientai.  It’s only when Crash catches Malenko with a deep powerslam for a two count does he turn his attention to the match in progress.  The champion sends Crash between the turnbuckles, shoulder first into the ring post.  Molly continues to be great selling at ringside.  Seated abdominal stretch, Malenko trapping Crash’s other arm with his left leg so that he’s pretty much helpless.  Crash does fire off some shots prior to being dumped on the belly to back, those shots taking something out of Malenko.  He sits the challenger upstairs for a superplex, but Crash blocks the attempt and shoves him backwards to the mat.  Missile dropkick.  Crash picks up a handful of near falls before Malenko rolls through on the sunset flip and locks in the Texas Cloverleaf.  Molly is up on the apron and he lets go of the hold to lay a kiss on her.  I know he has this sort of “ladies man” gimmick, although it’s more like some sort of sexual predator with the way he forces himself on the women.  Crash gets clotheslined to the outside and grabs the title belt, bringing it back into the ring with him.  As the official tries to pry it away from him, over on the other side of the ring, behind their back, Molly hits the Molly-Go-Round.  Crash quickly lets go of the belt, Oklahoma roll and we have ourselves a new Light Heavyweight champion.

The wrestling was solid and the crowd popped for the Molly-Go-Round and even bigger for the title change.  Will this lead to a new philosophy when it comes to the Light Heavyweight title?  The jury’s out on that one.  I really like Tazz on commentary too, the guy has improved an awful lot since we first saw him in that position last year.