ECW Guilty As Charged 99'

ECW Guilty As Charged 99'

Kissimmee, FL - January 1999

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into the show, the ECW World Champion was Shane Douglas, the ECW Television Champion was Rob Van Dam, and the ECW World Tag Team Champions were Sabu and Rob Van Dam. 

The first ever Guilty As Charged PPV begins with a video message from Paul Heyman. He hypes up the night's show and talks about, unlike WWE or WCW, they're not going to bait-and-switch people and they're going to come right out and say what line-up changes are going to happen. Of course, telling people these updates after they had purchased the PPV doesn't mean anyone's getting a refund so...

To the ring we go for our opening contest - The Full Blooded Italians (Little Guido and Tracey Smothers) vs. Danny Doring and Roadkill. The match, oddly heel/heel, barely begins before Ian Rotten and Balls Mahoney show up and, after basically calling the competitors a bunch of homosexuals (not exactly a line that aged well 23 years later), turning the match into a 3-Way Dance. Guido and Smothers are almost always at least passable and they're no different here. I don't think their act would've ever worked in WWE or WCW at the time, but that's not to say it couldn't have been replicated with maybe someone in place of Smothers (who I'm guessing Vince saw as "too southern" considering his one run in the company was working as Freddie Joe Floyd). Doring is better here than he was at November at Remember and Roadkill also looks a bit sharper. Oddly enough, in terms of actual wrestling content, the heels shine brightest here while the Chair Swingin' Freaks come across as more one-dimensional. Eventually the babyfaces get the W to pop the crowd after around 10 minutes, which was the right amount of time for this match despite it being fought under elimination rules. Perfectly fine opener, but nothing special. (2/5)

After a promo from Terry Funk, we get an international face-off between Mexico's Super Crazy and Japan's Tajiri. These two - along with Little Guido - would go on to have many, many encounters, but if I'm not mistaken, this was their first in ECW (if not anywhere). Like the Mysterio/Psicosis and Dean/Eddie matches, this was all about showcasing talent rather than necessarily getting either guy's character over (something I'm not sure they ever actually accomplished over the next two years). In that respect, this match is a total success. What's fun about this match is that the crowd doesn't really have any reason to dislike or cheer either guy at the onset, but because Tajiri smiles more and Super Crazy tries to lead some chants in Spanish, they end up assuming clear face/heel roles as the match progresses. Both guys hit a bunch of the signature spots that would become their calling card, but I wouldn't degrade this by calling it a spotfest - the submissions look painful, the technical exchanges are convincing, the shots are stiff, the high-flying is well-executed, and there is progression and escalation of offense. I wouldn't call this "must see," but it was very, very good and I'd certainly recommend it to anyone who may have thought ECW stopped bothering with cruisers after WCW basically stole all of them away. (3.5/5)

John Kronus comes out to the ring. He was doing a lunatic gimmick, not too dissimilar to what Al Snow had been doing months earlier (at least to my eyes). Its a shame that the peak of the Eliminators team happened at a time when ECW did not have the exposure it would get from 97' onward as Kronus' career became a footnote in the career of Perry Saturn (the "forgotten" Radical). Former ECW referee Judge Jeff Jones shows up, makes a few jokes about the justice system in the US (including an OJ one that is at least few years late), and then welcomes his client...Sid! The crowd absolutely loses it, which isn't surprising considering that Sid had been off TV for most (all?) of 98' after leaving the WWE in mid-97'. As usual, he looked like a million bucks and the physical charisma that had carried him to the main event of WCW and WWE was still there. More than anything, Sid had star power that nobody else in ECW really had as even the company's most popular homegrown talents still often seemed like big fish in a small pond. Again, say what one may about his in-ring skills, by 99', Sid had main evented two WrestleManias and something like half-a-dozen other pay-per-views over the course of a decade when pay-per-views weren't always monthly affairs. Anyway...Sid comes in and just destroys Kronus. The only thing I don't like about this segment is that they go to the outside and Sid usually a chair, which is just unnecessary and Sid's chair shots don't look as hardcore as ECW's (highly dangerous) "norm." The crowd wants to see a powerbomb and they get it. I don't think Sid stuck around ECW too long - which is kind of a shame because his run in WCW wasn't all that great and it was fun to see him in this environ. For what this was, it wasn't perfect...but it was almost there and the crowd ate it all up. (3/5)

The Dudleys make their way down the aisle and cut a lengthy, lengthy promo. This had become the norm for them and eats up lots of time, but...there wasn't much in the way of innovation going on here. That being said, this might be the most tasteless of their pre-match promos (at least up to this point) as they really lay it on thick with the Disney references for the Floridians. They issue an open challenge and out comes longtime rivals New Jack and Spike Dudley. As one would expect, this is just a wild brawl, though there are some high points - specifically Bubba launching Spike into the crowd, a cool Mexican stand-off moment with the babyfaces holding guitars and the heels holding chairs, and a pair of 3Ds to end the match. After the bell is rung, Bubba cuts another promo running down all the other tag teams they've defeated and, in some cases, sent packing from ECW. I like how, while he's cutting the promo, they continue to put the beat down on New Jack, who just won't leave the ring and end the fight. Its a neat way to protect New Jack and show how much of a bad ass he is. The Dudleys call out Public Enemy, who were coming back to the company after what could only be described as failed runs in WCW and then WWE (the latter being infamously brief and featuring a near-shoot fight with the APA that is cringey to watch). Some reviewers really loathe this sort of match, but it was kept relatively short (under 10 minutes) and it was effective in making it clear that the Dudleys, even without the ECW Tag Team Championships, were still the top team in the company. (2.5/5)

Rob Van Dam was set to defend the ECW TV Title against Masato Tanaka, but because Tanaka is out, his challenger is Lance Storm (with Tammy Lynn Bytch in tow) instead. This match features some really strong action, but as was common for RVD, there are some lulls. Lance Storm has a reputation of being a boring wrestler, but he was quite good here in the delivery of his pre-match promo and then, as expected, his execution of some pretty stiff maneuvers, including a reverse DDT on the outside that looks like it legit concusses him. Maybe that's why there's a lull in the minutes that follow? RVD looks genuinely out of it and starts talking to himself/the audience and its not entirely clear what he's talking about (though it seems he's referencing that their not even halfway through the match yet). Anyway...eventually a chair gets tossed into the fray and then, in a surprising twist, Lance Storm gets the visual pin. I'm not sure other ECW stars on the rise like RVD would've been as willing to put Storm over, but really, throughout this match, Van Dam has really helped make Storm look like an absolute killer and maybe the best pound-for-pound wrestler in the company. Van Dam eventually wins with a german suplex, another twist that I liked but will admit came a bit of nowhere - especially in 2022, when basically no match ends until someone hits their finisher. (3/5)

Next up...a Stairway to Hell match (basically a Cane-on-a-Pole match) between Tommy Dreamer and Justin Credible. Heyman had been trying to push Credible as a major star in ECW, but it just never took as he's rarely mentioned in the same breath as any of the other "ECW Originals" despite being on so many ECW shows over the years (and being featured fairly prominently). I'm not sure why they didn't just book Funk/Dreamer for this show, but I'm guessing it was because the main event had been built up for so long that they didn't want to put another big marquee match on the card? Dreamer and Credible are fine brawlers and know how to use weapons, but because they are using weapons from around minute two, there's very little suspense or struggle over, y'know, getting the cane. I mean, who needs to bother when you can use a chair or ladder right away? There's some fun stuff with Credible's motley crew of hangers-on (Nicole Bass, Jazz, and Jason) too and I like that they didn't do the obvious and have Dreamer piledrive any of the women. There's a bit more of a story to this match than some of the wild brawls that came before it as Dreamer gets his arm banged up, but it doesn't really play into the ending. Speaking of the ending, the biggest spots of the match occur in the end with Dreamer doing a Diamond Cutter off the ladder and then also doing a nifty jumping DDT off the ladder too - neither of which required him to grab the cane (which he also did). The nail-in-the-coffin is a devastating and gnarly That's Incredible piledriver from Credible to Dreamer on the ladder that I can't believe Tommy had the balls to take as it was a move that could've so easily gone terribly, terribly bad for him. (There's also a Terry Funk run-in towards the end to further that feud.) This wasn't terrible and, on paper, should've made Justin Credible an even bigger and *ahem* more credible top guy, but it didn't. (3/5)

Main event time - Taz vs. Shane Douglas for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship. The build for this match was months and months long, which put Taz and Douglas in the rough position of having to deliver on a huge amount of build-up despite Douglas still being injured. This match has lots of detractors, but I found it to be a fun brawl even if this sort of thing had now been done to death (and better) by the WWE. This felt like a fight, but maybe not a title fight if that makes sense, more like a grudge match due to the amount of crowd brawling and the use of tables. The main reason this match seems to have such a bad reputation, though, is the overbooked finish. Instead of giving Taz a clean and well-earned victory to solidify him as the top guy in ECW (which wouldn't have even hurt Douglas too much considering the length of his reign and the fact that he wrestled this match in a cast), we get a Sabu run-in - which was admittedly cool - and then a Chris Candido run-in (and turn) on top of that. The Sabu run-in could've been saved for the post-match and would've been a perfect way to advertise the Sabu/Taz match at the next PPV (Living Dangerously 99') while the Candido turn fell flat with the live crowd when it likely could've been a bigger moment on ECW TV. This is better than its reputation, but did almost nothing for Taz, who really deserved the entire spotlight to be on him after how long this rivalry had gone. (3/5)

With a Kwang Score of 2.86-out-of-5, ECW Guilty As Charged 99' is a well-paced, mostly good wrestling show that I'd argue is a bit underrated mostly because it failed to live up to expectations. The main event wasn't the epic title fight that the storyline had been building to, but its a heated brawl and Sabu's return is undeniably thrilling. Tajiri/Super Crazy is excellent, RVD/Storm is good, and Credible/Dreamer is about as good as it possibly could be considering how bland Credible could be (even given every weapon under the sun to work with) and how bad some of Dreamer's matches had been in 98'. The Dudleys match is exactly what you'd expect, but its kept relatively short (unlike their pre- and post-matches) and seeing Bubba toss Spike into the crowd is still a sight to behold 20+ years later. Oh, and there's Sid. Sid, in this context, is awesome and different. Only the opener feels unworthy of being on a PPV, but isn't too offensive. What hurts this show more than anything else is that it doesn't feature a single truly great match (Tajiri/Crazy is close but lacks stakes and feels more like an exhibition of new talent than an important contest) and the main event doesn't deliver on the promise of the Taz/Douglas rivalry. 

FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote in Hand

ECW November to Remember 98'

ECW November to Remember 98'

New Orleans, LA - November 1998

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, Shane Douglas was the ECW World Heavyweight Champion, Rob Van Dam held the ECW Television Championship, and the World Tag Team Champions were the Dudley Boys. 

Coming off of the strong Heatwave 98' show, I was hoping November to Remember 98' would be another loaded card. Before the show starts, a video is shown of Jack Victory getting jumped by New Jack. This was very similar to what happened at Heatwave, but this time New Jack was hauled off by cops.

Back in the ring, Joey Styles runs down the card before getting interrupted by the returning Terry Funk. Funk comes in and basically cuts a heel promo on Styles and then Tommy Dreamer, angry that his former mentee didn't bother to call him up as back-up in his upcoming match against the Dudleys. A point awarded for Terry Funk being Terry Funk. (+1)

Speaking of Terry Funk, his cameo in the next match is another example of how just his presence can make something more exciting and entertaining. The match itself - Blue Meanie and Nova vs. Danny Doring and Roadkill - is nothing special...but Funk showing up in the early moments adds an extra air of danger at ringside and makes the "meat" of the match more interesting until they get to the final few minutes, which are actually quite good. Nova was known for his innovative offense and we do get to see a little bit of it. Blue Meanie had improved considerably from his previous appearance on an ECW pay-per-view to my eyes, but he was so green originally that its not like he's all of a sudden Dean Malenko out there. Doring and Roadkill are generic heels and I'm not surprised they didn't go on to do much when they eventually did make it to WWE. Terry Funk eventually puts himself through a table on the outside, which is ridiculous and makes no sense, but hey, he's Terry Funk, so it still somehow works. (2.5/5)

Next up - the FBI's Tracy Smothers took on Tommy Rogers. This was a weird match because the FBI were over and were a terrific gimmick, but Tommy Rogers felt really out of place in ECW and even his attempt to win over the crowd before the match was met with indifference. I'm guessing Paul E. thought Rogers would be welcomed as a bit of a hometown guy as this match was in Louisiana (a state familiar with Rogers from his days in the Mid-South territory), but he not treated like a big deal at all. Smothers is great - as usual - but this match could've used even more shtick from Little Guido and Tommy Rich as their comedy work was really what the fans wanted from there (despite Smothers and Guido still being able to "go" in the ring). This match goes 8 minutes but feels longer and was not at all "ECW" match, which means the crowd was not into it and didn't get behind Rogers. I liked Tommy's finisher, though, which Christian nicked. (1.5/5)

Afterwards, we get run-ins from the returning Chris Chetti and then Mabel (Viscera/Big Daddy V) runs out in an FBI shirt. This leads to an impromptu match against Spike Dudley because...ECW did shit like this. Its impossible to rate this 5-second segment as a real match so I won't.

Lance Storm vs. Jerry Lynn follows, but 90% of the attention of this match goes to Tammy Lynn Sytch (Sunny), who is serving as one of two guest referees (the other being Mikey Whipwreck). Storm and Lynn are outstanding wrestlers and they deliver a clinic, but this match really feels like someone trying to force-feed a child their vegetables while dangling a candy bar over their nose. The fans are respectful - to a point - but it is very clear that whatever Sunny is doing, that's where their eyes are going (probably because she's wearing a mini-skirt, a thong, and half a ref shirt). The intro to this match goes way too long and the amount of fuckery in the finish is almost unnecessary (and boy does Sunny nearly end up crippled when she attempts to take Whipwreck's signature neckbreaker). Neither Storm nor Lynn were known for their charisma (in fact, I'd argue that Storm was actually better served in WCW when they made being boring part of his gimmick), but because of how distracting Sunny's presence is, this match can't really get over on its own merit either. (2/5)

The ECW World Tag Team Championships were on the line next as The Dudleys took on the team of Masato Tanaka and Balls Mahoney. After the usual lengthy Dudleys intro, the babyfaces came out (with Axl Rotten leading the way) and they declare that the match is now going to be a Bourbon Street Brawl. Did anyone expect this to be just a traditional tag? They start with a little bit of actual wrestling, but they know what the fans want and we soon get some big splashes to the outside and chairshots galore. Sign Guy, Big Dick, and Joel Gertner all get involved, but the babyfaces won't stay down (despite Joey Styles repeatedly noting that they both suffered serious head traumas not too long before this due to chairshots). The crowd is VERY into this and pop big for every big chairshot and some of them are absolutely brutal. With Jeff Jones as the ref, you knew you were going to get shenanigans but because the action was so good, his treachery still comes "out of nowhere" and gets a great response. I really liked the Dudleys kicking out of Tanaka and Mahoney's finishes and Tanaka kicking out the 3D - it really put both teams over as super tough. Unfortunately, the actual finish, while it delivered a "feel good" moment, seemed like it was tacked on when they couldn't figure out a clean way to finish it and almost overshadows how good the rest of this was. I get that they were building for a RVD/Sabu vs. Dudleys re-match, but either Balls and Tanaka were worth putting the straps on cleanly or they weren't worth giving the titles to at all. This was a really fun, violent brawl. (3.5/5)

After a promo from Shane Douglas and the Triple Threat, Justin Credible and Jack Victory made their way down the aisle for their match against Tommy Dreamer and his mystery partner...Jake Roberts. Uh oh. Jake didn't even bother getting dressed in his wrestling gear so you can kinda tell he's not going to be doing much. He looks a bit thinner than he had during his last WWE run in 95'-96', but that's about the most positive thing one might say about him. This match is a total mess and not in a good way. If the previous match was a good example of a "kitchen sink brawl" still telling at least some semblance of a story and delivering cool moments, this match is the opposite of that. The best moment is Jake Roberts hitting a DDT on Nicole Bass, but there's nothing else particularly memorable or clever or interesting in this match despite it featuring run-ins from One Man Gang, Rod Price, New Jack (who had someone escaped police custody?), and Kronus. Nobody in this match looks good, but one can't deny that Tommy Dreamer was over and that the ECW faithful were into it. (1/5)

After the match, Terry Funk shows up and eventually attacks his former protege, Tommy Dreamer. This is followed by a series of promos to hype up tonight's main event - Shane Douglas, Bam Bam Bigelow and Chris Candido vs. Sabu, Rob Van Dam, and Taz. This is a continuation of the Taz/Douglas feud, but there was also some on-screen heat between Taz and Bigelow and Bigelow and Rob Van Dam (as well as Sabu and Taz), which really added to the intensity of the match. I wasn't expecting much out of this, especially after seeing multiple messy brawls on the same show, but this exceeded my expectations largely because of the personalities involved (and the fact that they worked this less as a "kitchen sink" brawl and like an actual six-man tag match). Sabu comes out in a neck brace, so he essentially plays the face-in-peril after hitting some of his signature offense. Rob Van Dam and Bigelow get some time in (and out) of the ring together but the big "must see" pairing was Taz and Douglas and they do a nice job of building to that moment. This, of course, leads to an interesting finish where Taz applies the Tazmission onto Douglas and looks like he's got the win only for Sabu to come flying off the top to take out both men and steal the W. Despite getting the team victory, Taz is obviously pissed that he was prevented from tapping out the champ and the babyfaces argue in the ring until the show comes to a close. As I wrote above, this match exceeded my expectations but wouldn't be on a shortlist of great ECW matches. (2.5/5)

With a Kwang Score of 2.16-out-of-5, this show is not going to wow with you with its wrestling quality or star power. However, there are some fun moments to enjoy if you're an ECW fan - the Dudleys/Tanaka & Balls match is wonderfully violent, the main event does a nice job of furthering the Taz/Douglas feud while also allowing Sabu to stick his nose into that storyline. Jake Roberts' involvement is disappointing and underwhelming, though I enjoyed Terry Funk's multiple appearances on the show. Still, with only one match worth your time - and still only really for fans of the genre - this show is a...

FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver

WWE Royal Rumble 97'

WWE Royal Rumble 97'

San Antonio, TX  - January 1997

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, Psycho Sid was the WWE World Heavyweight Champion, the Intercontinental Champion was Hunter Hearst Helmsley, and the World Tag Team Champions were Owen Hart and the British Bulldog.

The show kicks off with the Intercontinental Champion, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, defending the title against Goldust, who had only recently turned babyface and had a semi-infamous segment where Jerry Lawler called him a "queer" and he punched him in return. This match was solid but went a touch too long and really seemed to lose the audience after a fairly heated opening 7-8 minutes. As noted earlier, Goldust had only turned babyface semi-recently and it still hadn't been fully "exposed" that he was Dusty Rhodes' son (if I'm not mistaken, that would all come via a sitdown interview with JR later in the year) so the Texas crowd was not 100% behind him. Helmsley and Goldust have good chemistry and there are moments that get big reactions - I really like Hunter's selling of knee damage and the eventual spot with Marlena - but this dragged at times. As JR noted on commentary, Hebner's refereeing was highly questionable at times as he basically let these guys do whatever they wanted on the outside of the ring. There's a certain amount of leeway that happens in any wrestling match, but outright bashing your opponent's legs with the steps would typically be a DQ. (2/5)

The next match - Farooq vs. Ahmed Johnson - has a reputation as being awful, so I was actually a bit surprised how good the first few minutes were. Ahmed was still over and Farooq got a ton of heat doing the Nation of Islam rip-off gimmick. Farooq was no longer as quick and athletic as he'd been in WCW 4-5 years before this, but he was arguably a better seller and a bigger personality. Like in the opener, the referee opted not to call a DQ despite Farooq blatantly using a chair on his opponent. While the spot doesn't look too good, I'll also give some credit to these guys for dishing out something quite rare at the time - a bodyslam on the spine of the chair by Farooq to the Pearl River Powerhouse. When Farooq takes over, the match grinds to a halt and then veers into a rather convoluted, cartoonish mess when they get to a ridiculous electric chair spot that makes Farooq look like a total idiot (and like he may not have any feeling in his testicles?). There's an ugly spinebuster spot and then a DQ finish due to the Nation running in. The first 2-3 minutes of this match were spirited and fun, but they couldn't sustain it. An extra half-point for the post-match table spot (another thing that wasn't super common in WWE yet). Unfortunately, Ahmed's work from here on out only got worse as he was really never the same guy after the injury that sidelined him in 96' as his conditioning dipped noticeably. (1.5/5)

Next up - The Undertaker vs. Vader. This is one of those dream matches that, sadly, never lived up to its potential. By this point, Vader's confidence had been pretty broken and he was no longer the top heel that he was in WCW in the first half of the decade. Not only had Shawn Michaels famously chewed him at SummerSlam (and then, according to rumor, refused to drop the title to him at Survivor Series), but Bret Hart was also reportedly uncomfortable working with him because of his stiffness. I'm guessing as tough as Undertaker was, he wasn't super eager to get in the ring with Vader either as the Deadman, 10 years into his career, had already had his fair share of injuries and surgeries. Put all these ingredients together and you have the makings for a boring slugfest between two guys that weren't super motivated and were outright sloppy at times. The moments that you'd think would get a reaction - Paul Bearer's interference, Undertaker's various sit-ups, Vader's powerbomb and finishing splash - get big reaction, but that's like, what? 23 seconds out of a 13-minute match? Re-watching this many, many years later, I wonder if the plan was for them to have a rematch at WrestleMania XIII, but Vince switched things up when Shawn "lost his smile" (refused to drop the title to Bret). Another dud. (1/5)

After the match, the Undertaker had a bit of a temper tantrum and then yelled at Vince McMahon. People, myself included, sometimes forget how far the WWE was already going towards revealing that Vince was in charge of the WWE close to a full year before the Montreal Screwjob...

A six-man tag match follows pitting Canek, Hector Garza, and Perro Aguayo against the team of Fuerza Guerrera, Heavy Metal, and Jerry Estrada. At the time, I remember thinking how much less exciting these guys were than all the luchadores that were being featured in WCW at the time. I'm guessing that Konnan - and Eric Bischoff - knew that the younger, more acrobatic workers would stand out much more than the older, more traditional luchadores and they were 100% right as this match does not get any big reactions. It doesn't help matters to the viewers at home that nobody on the announce team has the slightest clue as to who any of these wrestlers were (this is why Mike Tenay was so useful to WCW). Also, unlike in WCW, we only get one real crazy dive and while its cool to see Aguayo hit a double stomp in 97' (decades before it would be widely used in the states), the audience is so indifferent that it doesn't register as a big deal at all. The story goes that Vince was nervous about filling the Alamodome (as he should've been - the show was famously "papered" after only selling an estimated 20k-40k seats out of a possible 71k) and thought that a partnership with AAA would help draw...but then probably forgot that to bring in the AAA fans, you might want to actually promote a major AAA match (which I'm guessing, by fan reaction, this wasn't). Weirdly enough, reading other reviews of this show, this match has its fans (maybe it would've come off better if any single one of them had been in attendance). (1/5)

The 1997 Royal Rumble match is next. These are always a bit hard to review because, unless they're really, really great (which this wasn't), they tend to all blend together. The 97' edition is not as star-packed as the ones from 90' or 91', but the WWE roster was in a rebuilding phase at this point after losing some of its biggest names in the previous year - Hall, Nash, Sean Waltman, Jeff Jarrett - and the massive loss of Hogan in the summer of 94' and Savage in December 94'. So, yes, Vince had to add a number of AAA stars into this match (including the notoriously selfish Mil Mascaras), but there are still quite a few big stars in the match and, though Bret Hart was heavily favored due to his on-going rivalry with Shawn Michaels (who was expected to win back the WWE Championship later in the night), its not like Bret didn't have to fight his way through some major main event stars. I doubt anybody expected Mankind or Terry Funk to win, but that didn't stop them from trying to steal the match with some wild brawling and some excellent near-eliminations by the Funker. The Undertaker might not have been at his physical peak, but he was maybe the most universally babyface in the company in 96' and into 97' (as Shawn's "pretty boy" image wasn't a winner with the older male fans, Bret wasn't around for most of 96', and Austin was still *technically* a rule-breaking heel). Speaking of the Undertaker, Vader had defeated him earlier in the show. Goldust, Triple H, and Marc Mero were all upper midcard fixtures, as were Farooq and Ahmed (who continue their feud in the Rumble). Rocky Miavia makes a respectable appearance, though nobody could've predicted that he would go on to be the biggest action movie star of the past 20 years. While the 99' Royal Rumble, for example, undoubtedly happened in a hotter time for the company, I'd still take this edition over it. This Rumble is played straight and feels like a genuine competition with competitors actually working like a victory here would be their ticket to WrestleMania. Aside from the Jerry Lawler spot, there's no comedy. There's no Gillberg. There's no cutesy Santino Marella bit. Fake Diesel and Fake Razor Ramon show up and neither one is treated like a joke (in fact, Fake Diesel is one of the final four). Though the match is remembered for Steve Austin's remarkable performance - and it is absolutely brilliant - people may forget that he doesn't dominate the early going and even fades into the background at times to allow Vader and Taker and Ahmed and Farooq to get showcased. Owen and Bulldog tease a break-up at one point. And the finish. Oh, the finish. Maybe just one or two spaces below Ric Flair's win in 91', I'd rank the finish of this Rumble as one of the best ever executed. Austin gets dumped out by the Hitman, but because the refs are so busy with the chaos between Funk and Mankind on the outside (if I'm not mistaken, Foley was pitching for the two to have a death match at WrestleMania that year), they miss his elimination and he ends up coming in and dumping everyone else out. The crowd's reaction is huge - a mix of cheers, audible shock, and boos that make it clear how money the angle was. The closing minutes alone push this from being a fairly average Rumble for its time to something slightly above. (3.5/5)

Main event time - Shawn Michaels challenging Sid for the WWE World Championship. The finish for this one was really never in question and, because of that, it seems like Shawn works even harder to make Sid look like a super powerful monster. That being said, Shawn definitely spaces out the big spots in order to stretch out a match that would've likely had more action had HBK not also been recovering from the flu (according to the commentators). This isn't nearly as good as the Survivor Series match, but that match exceeded most folks' expectations and the New York crowd was very vocal. The audience at the Alamadome wasn't nearly as interested overall and, while the whole idea of doing this event in San Antonio and building it around Shawn regaining the title was a decent pan, Vince really overestimated Shawn's popularity towards the end of his title run as well as the company's overall popularity (especially in the south, which was historically more welcoming to "classic" southern-style 'rassling rather than the WWE's brand of "sports-entertainment"). But even if the crowd had been more interested, this match relies on too many rest holds to stretch out its duration and the finish is poorly executed (Shawn using the camera to knock Sid out looks awful). Plus, at one point, Sid gets a clean visual pin, a moment that I'd consider wholly unnecessary as it only makes Shawn less likable and credible in front of an audience that wanted to cheer for him, but maybe were a little turned off by the Sexy Boy gimmick and increasingly irritable on-screen persona. Like at the previous In Your House, its somehow Sid that comes out of this match as the guy I'd want to cheer. Not a terrible match, but not good. (2/5)

I must've seen this show a half-dozen times after it happened as I had recorded it on VHS. The Rumble, as a whole, isn't great, but the finish is probably within the top 5 ever. Michaels/Sid isn't as good as their Survivor Series match, but that match has unique elements that could never have been replicated or even safely predicted. Even if Michaels had been 100% going into the rematch, the San Antonio crowd just wasn't really "there" for him as much as the hype needed them to be. The rest of the show features below average wrestling or, in the case of the opening bout, good wrestling that is stretched so long that it becomes bad. With a Kwang Rating of 1.83-out-of-5, Royal Rumble 97' should be in that DUDleyville range, but because of how great Austin and Hart's performances are (with nods also to Foley and Funk), I'm giving this a...

FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote in Hand

ECW Wrestlepalooza 98'

ECW Wrestlepalooza 98'

Marietta, GA - May 1998

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, Shane Douglas was the ECW World Heavyweight Champion, the ECW TV Champion was Rob Van Dam, and the ECW World Tag Team Champions were Lance Storm and Chris Candido. 

Context is important when reviewing pro-wrestling shows, especially ECW ones, and extra especially (is that a thing?) a show like Wrestlepalooza 98'. ECW was the "outlaw promotion" of the Big 3, but by 98', it was pretty clear that Paul E.'s favorite target was WCW. This is unsurprising. Vince had given ECW a spotlight on Raw in 97' and, conversely, used Paul E.'s creative mind to help him recast guys like Al Snow later that year (its not entirely clear what his contract status with the WWE, but I believe he was still technically getting paid by Vince while working in ECW). Meanwhile, Heyman's ire for WCW seemed to be based mostly on not only his own treatment by the company earlier in the decade, but also the company's "raiding" of his talent (most notably Stevie Richards, Raven, and Perry Saturn in 97', but also guys like Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Psychosis, Dean Malenko, Chris Jericho, Public Enemy, and countless others who Heyman unreasonably believed would stick with him despite much better deals with WCW).

Regardless, this show was billed as ECW putting on a show in "enemy" territory and kicks off with a fun tag match between The FBI (Tracy Smothers and Little Guido w/ Tommy Rich in tow) vs. the debuting team of Nova and The Blue Meanie. I think Joey Styles should've leaned a bit more into Smothers and Rich's history with the NWA considering the locale, but the FBI's gimmick was so over independently of their history that it didn't matter. Nova is competent in the ring. Little Guido is competent in the ring. Tracy Smothers is great at every aspect of pro-wrestling. Blue Meanie, aside from his killer moonsault, is not good. He doesn't really need to be good, though, because this match is mostly comedy and is loaded with some really goofy spots (including the referee bodyslamming both members of the FBI because he gets caught up in the nonsense). Traditional wrestling fans would find this all a bit too goofy, but wrestling is a variety show and I liked the Three Stooges hijinks. Unfortunately, when things get more serious, things get less interesting and drag a bit with some of the sequences looking noticeably sloppy. Even the dance contest in the opening minutes - a genuinely fun concept - is ruined a bit by nobody going fully over-the-top with it. (2/5)

At the Living Dangerously pay-per-view, Mikey Whipwreck returned after suffering a broken leg at the hands of Justin Credible, who was peeved that Whipwreck had ended his unbeaten streak. This led to a grudge match between the two here that might be the first Credible match that I've really liked. Credible throws himself into every big bump throughout the match and Whipwreck brings the intensity by going after the guy with rights and lefts and leg sweeps and whatnot rather than doing any of his usual high-risk high-flying. At one point, Justin Credible goes over the guardrail and lands on what looks to be a 13-year old kid. Why on Earth would you bring a middle schooler to an ECW show? I like that Whipwreck gets in a ton of offense and even gets to hit some moves on Credible's entourage but that Credible, who was getting a push, ends up with his arm raised cleanly. I wouldn't call this "must see," but its very good. (3/5)

Axl Rotten and Balls Mahoney challenge the ECW Tag Team Champions - Chris Candido and Lance Storm - in the next match. Candido and Storm still hated eachother so there's some fun with the pre-match shenanigans, but once the bell rings, they're both competitors and want to win (which is not the easiest dynamic to get across, even with the added threat from Paul Heyman that, if they were to try to screw each other, they'd both get fired). As Styles notes on commentary, Axl Rotten is actually a skilled technical wrestler and this match does mostly focus on that side of his game rather than the brawling and weapon-based offense that he and Balls Mahoney were more known for. The crowd is into some of this, but the minute they see a chest chop, they erupt into a "Free Ric Flair" chant, the loudest chant of the match. You almost feel bad for the competitors over it because they really work hard in this match, really trying to offer something resembling a traditional tag and not over-relying on weapons or blood or big spots. At a little over 10 minutes, it doesn't overstay its welcome and the finish makes sense and continues the Candido/Storm rivalry. Not bad at all. (2.5/5)

Before the next match, Joey Styles welcomes a slew of "hardcore legends" - The Junkyard Dog, the Masked Superstar, "Dirty" Dick Slater, and "Bullet" Bob Armstrong. JYD gets the biggest reaction and while the Masked Superstar was a huge deal in the 70s and 80s, I think the audience - even in 1998, even in Georgia - was a bit too young to really recognize how big the Masked Superstar was and would've probably reacted bigger to him coming out as one half of Demolition (though it would've made much less sense). Anyway, for all their WCW bashing, this came across as the kind of segment WCW put on their PPVs in the mid-90s.

Shane Douglas makes his way to the ring for an interview. He cuts a promo bashing the WWE - and more specifically Shawn Michaels and the Intercontinental Championship - and then goes after "Dick" Flair. Shane's point is that other wrestlers stay home when they're injured, but he's tougher than that and will deliver a great match later that evening. Taz interrupts him and says that, just like Michaels handed Douglas the IC belt years earlier, its time for Douglas to hand over the ECW Championship to Taz. Its an awkward segment because it comes across as Taz not wanting to beat Douglas straight-up. Taz ends up putting him in the Tazmission and Douglas clearly taps out, but before Taz can do any more damage, he's carried away by security. In the aisleway, he ends up brawling with Bam Bam Bigelow again. Eventually, Taz is put into a Cobb County Police car, he kicks out the window before getting driven off. Aside from the awkwardness with Taz demanding Shane hand over the title (a very heel perspective to have as it comes across as borderline cowardly), this was a good segment and a clear inspiration for the kind of stuff the WWE would be doing with Austin (and had already been doing) in the summer of 98' and on and on...

Bam Bam Bigelow waits in the ring for his opponent, New Jack. This is a really fun match, though, like any New Jack match, it doesn't really tell a story as much as its a garbage brawl leading to a big balcony dive. The fun here is that the guy New Jack is working with is Bam Bam Bigelow, who was very over in ECW and brought a real legitimacy to the company based on how big of a star he'd been in WWE. Bigelow and Jack trade weapon shots and Bam Bam seems to have no problem selling for the much less trained/talented New Jack. New Jack ends up a bloody mess as they brawl in the crowd and eventually Bigelow gets cut open too. New Jack was never going to win this match and I'm not sure he even goes for a pinfall the entire "contest," but he still looks tough for standing up to Bigelow and taking a ton of punishment. Eventually New Jack ends up on the balcony with a guitar and comes down onto Bigelow, but the spot doesn't look good as the guitar doesn't really connect that well and the most damage looks like it was done to New Jack's ankles as he lands on the concrete feet-first. Instead of doing something different, they really should've done "the usual" and had New Jack put Bigelow through a table or something - or have New Jack put himself through one. Bigelow basically shrugs off the guitar smash, lifts up a limp New Jack, and carries him into the ring to hit him with his finisher and end the match at well under 10 minutes. This was never going to be a mat classic, but what really hurt this was the flat finish. Everything else is sloppy but effective brawling and the crowd was super into it, which boosted things a little. (2/5)

After a video package, its time for The Dudleys to take on the team of Tommy Dreamer and the Sandman. While the other two tag matches on this show kept things *mostly* in the ring and followed traditional rules, this is an ECW brawl with anything and everything going. Joel Gertner's introduction gets cut off by the arrival of the babyfaces (who have a pre-match beer bash). I like how Sandman is selling his neck injury by struggling to drink a beer. Oh, the humanity. The big set piece in this match is part of the guard rail, which is a nice change of pace from the usual tables and chairs. Sandman gets taken out of the action after a bump that re-injures his neck and this becomes a 2-on-1 match. The Dudleys get a ton of heat for beating down Dreamer, which leads to a huge ovation when Spike Dudley runs out to even the score. Big Dick Dudley, Sign Gun, and Beulah McGillicutty all get involved and the crowd loves every minute of it. Sandman comes back into the fray and him and Dreamer get the big babyface victory after hitting stereo DDTs. This was in that good-not-great territory where its hard to point at any specific segment or stretch being boring or ineffective, but at the same time, it was just everything you expected and nothing more - which is kind of silly because Spike Dudley's run-in was a surprise. The issue here really is that ECW brawls like this one were fairly commonplace, so it usually took some real insane spots and weapon usage to make them feel "extra special." (2.5/5)

The next match is for the ECW Television Champion as Rob Van Dam defended the strap against his former tag team partner and best friend, Sabu. I'm not going to go too far into detail about the background for this, but one of the big questions was whether Bill Alfonso would manage RVD or Sabu. Before the match, Alfonso reveals that his plan is to manage both. Sure. The match starts with some fun technical, mat-based wrestling (though, its definitely not at the level that, say, Dean Malenko and Eddie Guerrero had busted out 4 years earlier in the same company). Then, Rob Van Dam grabs a mic and basically announces this was all a ploy and that they wouldn't actually wrestle each other and the fans are too gullible...but then Sabu "double-crosses" him by attacking him when his back is turned. Why did they do that? It just makes no sense and adds nothing to the match because Sabu doesn't really do anything else extra heelish and Rob Van Dam certainly doesn't work like a babyface who had been betrayed either. They just proceed to have the exact same kind of match as most people expected they would, a series of escalating high spots that are spread out with minutes of boring nonsense. I'm a bigger RVD fan than lots of other wrestling critics, but, at this point, he really didn't know how to build a compelling match from beginning-to-end (and maybe that's why he wasn't nearly as over as he would become in future years?). The fact that this goes for 30 minutes is wild because it really could've been shrunk down to 20, if not fewer. (1.5/5)

Main event time - Shane Douglas defending the ECW World Championship against Al Snow. This may have been the peak of Snow's entire career, but even this match does not come across as worthy of being the headline match on a PPV. Because of how long the Douglas/Taz rivalry had gone on, it also feels like a placeholder title match until Douglas was healthy enough to face Taz. Anyway...this match is nothing special but its not terrible either. The crowd is way more into chanting obscene things to and about Francine than they are the match itself. They botch what I assume would've been the big spot of the match (Douglas spinebustering Al Snow through 4 chairs) and there's really nothing else all too remarkable that happens. Towards the end, Candido and Bigelow show up and Al Snow takes them both out. I would've liked to see more of Snow being the underdog and overcoming the odds to build towards a false finish or two, but for whatever reason, the pieces and parts are there but don't add up to make for a satisfying, suspenseful match. (For example, when Snow does hit his finisher, it gets almost no response at all.) The other thing that doesn't make much sense is the post-match "celebration." It feels totally unearned because Al Snow, while he was obviously over with the ECW fans and was seemingly respected backstage, didn't win even a moral victory over the Triple Threat. It was just a weird scene that looked forced to my eyes. According to rumors, the plan was for Snow to win the title - mostly because Shane was injured - but I'm not sure I buy it (Snow wasn't given the W because, days before this event, the WWE re-hired Al Snow). (1.5/5)

With a Kwang Score of 2.14-out-of-5, Wrestlepalooza 98' is not a show I'd go out of my way to see. The main event feels irrelevant and undeserving of being a PPV headlining match. Sabu/RVD starts out as idiotic-but-entertaining and then just becomes tedious. The Dudleys/Dreamer and Sandman match is perfectly fine "garbage wrestling," but there's nothing really special about it despite the relative star power. Bigelow/New Jack had the potential of being a "curio dream match," but doesn't deliver. When Justin Credible has the best match of the night on a show, that's just a bad sign.

FINAL RATING - DUDleyville 

WWE In Your House 12: It's Time

WWE In Your House #12: It's Time

West Palm Beach, FL - December 1996

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into the show, Psycho Sid was the WWE World Champion, the Intercontinental Champion was Hunter Hearst Helmsley, and the WWE Tag Team Champions were The British Bulldog and Owen Hart. 

Flash Funk vs. Leif Cassidy is our opening match. I've been watching a fair amount of ECW recently, so seeing this match from December 96' had me thinking about some of their respective ECW highlights from 97'-98'. As 2 Cold Scorpio, Funk had had some good matches in WCW, so I can totally understand why Vince thought bringing him in would be a good idea, but this gimmick was just awful, especially as WCW was surging ahead in the ratings in large part because of how much more serious and "adult" their product was. Flash Funk was a gimmick that would've likely been more successful in 94', but in 96'? The audience was just not interested. What's most surprising about this match, though, is how much it isn't a real spotlight for Funk. Cassidy gets at least as much offense in and, at times, looks to be a much more versatile and aggressive competitor. There are some nifty spots, but Cassidy was seen as a jobber and Funk was a relative newcomer with a gimmick that only small children would enjoy. This was better and more competitive than I thought it would be, but I wish the crowd had cared more. (2.5/5)

Next up - Fake Diesel and Fake Razor Ramon challenging the WWE World Tag Team Champions, Owen Hart and The British Bulldog. When people talk about how lame the Fake Diesel and Fake Razor Ramon gimmicks were, they often undersell just how terrible this entire angle was. See, the Fake Diesel and Fake Razor weren't just bad gimmicks that came out a couple times - they were featured. They challenged for the Tag Team Championships on pay-per-view. The Fake Diesel went far in the 97' Rumble. This match gets 10+ minutes despite being a heel/heel encounter. Granted, Owen and Bulldog are subtly working as the babyfaces, but the crowd certainly isn't all-the-way behind them and pops pretty loud when Austin runs in to attack the Bulldog (the story goes that Austin/Bulldog was set for WrestleMania XIII before Michaels pulled out of the show in February). I liked the finish and Owen and Bulldog were competent enough to keep this moving, but this was just not anything that should've been paid for. (1/5)

Next up, a pretty cool segment featuring Ahmed Johnson and the Nation of Domination. This is a great example of Vince not having any idea what direction the WWE should be going in and just throwing everything against the wall. Earlier in the show, its Flash Funk and the Funkettes. Later on the same show, Farooq is backed by a group that splits the difference between the Nation of Islam and New Jack City and calls out Ahmed Johnson as an "Uncle Tom." And speaking of Ahmed Johnson, his promo before Farooq shows up is bad ass and crazy. A year earlier, the hype around Johnson was that he could potentially be a mega-star for the company, but watching a segment like this makes it clear how absurd that notion really was. Still, this was still bonkers in the best way. (+1)

The Intercontinental Championship was on the line next as Hunter Hearst Helmsley defended the title against "The Wildman" Marc Mero in a rematch from a few weeks prior. The air was really let out of the balloon in this feud when Mr. Perfect left the company after helping Helmsley win the title on Raw. Mero's run in 96' was not as successful as McMahon clearly hoped it would be and within the next year I believe he'd be turned heel. This is a good match, but just feels lifeless because, a bit like in the opener, the gimmicks and characters are just too corny. I might enjoy this version of Helmsley more than I do most of his main event work as he's basically cherry-picked the best spots of a half dozen all-time greats - Perfect's bumping, some of Regal's offense, early-90s Shawn heeling - and while none of it is very original, its all well-executed. I liked Mero better in WCW, maybe because he wasn't over-pushed or over-hyped? The finish of this match sees Goldust getting involved and essentially turning face by going after Helmsley (who had hit on Marlena). This same angle happening even just a couple years later would've led to a triple threat match, but those were ultra-rare in the US (the WWE wouldn't feature one until June 97' according to the internet). Not a bad match, but nothing super special. (3/5)

The Undertaker took on The Executioner in an Armageddon Rules match next, which basically followed the rules of a Last Man Standing (though you had to pin your opponent before the ref would start the 10 count). Considering Terry Gordy's ability at the time, the match's stipulations, and the Executioner's corny gimmick/appearance, this was a real test to see if The Undertaker could turn chicken shit into chicken salad. This is certainly no mat classic, but its not nearly as terrible as one might think. Taker - and whoever else produced this match - were smart enough to realize that they'd have to use a bunch of smoke and mirrors to keep fans engaged. And so we get Mankind coming down and getting thrown through the In Your House set (he ultimately ends up in a straightjacket too), Paul Bearer getting involved, and The Executioner getting tossed into the Gulf of Mexico (?). Its a busy 11 minutes and is successful in hiding how much of a flop The Executioner character was. (1.5/5)

Main event time - Bret Hart challenging Sid for the WWE Championship with Shawn Michaels on commentary. What's most surprising about this, watching 20+ years later, is how heelish Bret Hart's character already was by this time. In his pre-match promo, he comes across as completely obsessed with Shawn Michaels and almost arrogant about his ability to defeat Sid. He comes across as whiny in a way that I just didn't appreciate or really consider when I was a Hitman mark in 96'. Michaels doesn't exactly come across as super likable on commentary either, though, which leads me to believe that he too saw the writing on the wall for his own status as the top babyface and maybe the emerging star power of Austin? In the ring, Bret goes to work on Sid's lower back and has a clear strategy but also undoes the top turnbuckle early on, a very, very heelish thing to do. The psychology works because Bret had said he was willing to do whatever it took to regain the WWE Championship, but its still a noticeable change in moral character. I wish this was as good in the physicality and exchanges as the Bret/Diesel matches, but Nash was a better seller with a touch better offense too. Austin makes an appearance towards the end of the match and clips Bret's knee, but gets chased off by Bulldog. Again, because Bret hadn't really been fighting all that valiantly and was actually in control for much of the match, this doesn't really elicit sympathy as much as it might've had Bret actually made Sid look more dominant. Back in the ring, Bret uncharacteristically botches one of the big false finishes when Sid dumps him into the unprotected corner and Bret hits the bottom rope instead of the top. They repeat the spot because I'm guessing Bret thought it was integral to the match, but in the big picture, it really wasn't as the actual finish comes minutes later when the action spills to the floor, Sid pie-faces Shawn, and then Shawn gets up on the apron and ends up in a collision with Bret. Its a really well-executed sequence of events, but its not the most original finish in history and doesn't do Sid any favors. The post-match is fun too as we get even more Bret/Shawn drama. Its a shame these two didn't square off at WrestleMania XIII as the tension was absolutely there and I'm curious how it would've been booked from a heel/face perspective as neither guy was 100% supported by the fans but also not outright heels. (2.5/5)

As a time capsule, It's Time is a more interesting show than I remembered it being. Though its Kwang Score - a measly 2.3-out-of-5 - would suggest a show that is below average in the wrestling department, that belies some of the unique elements of the show. Bret Hart's heel work in the main event was something I completely forgot or, maybe more realistically, failed to see in my fandom back when I watched this as a 12 year old Hitman devotee. The Undertaker/Executioner match isn't good, but almost seems like essential viewing for any real Freebirds fan curious to see just how much the once-great Terry Gordon had deteriorated. The Ahmed Johnson/NOD segment is bonkers, but shows how much the WWE was already inching towards its Attitude Era facelift a full year before McMahon's famous speech. While this show isn't going to wow you with its wrestling, for fans curious about or even just nostalgic for the WWE's murky transitional phrase between the New Generation Era to the Attitude Era, this show is worth checking.

FINAL RATINGS - High Risk Maneuver

WWE Extreme Rules 2022

WWE Extreme Rules 2022

October 2022 - Philadelphia, PA

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into tonight's show, Roman Reigns was the WWE and Universal Champion, the Intercontinental Championship was held by Gunther, the United States Champion was Bobby Lashley, the RAW Women's Champion was Bianca Belair, the SmackDown Women's Champion was Liv Morgan, the Usos held both the RAW and SmackDown Tag Team Championships, and the team of Damage Control (Dakota Kai and Iyo Sky) held the Women's Tag Team Championships.

The show began with a 6-man Donnybrook - Sheamus, Butch, and Ridge Holland squaring off against Imperium (Gunther, Kaiser, and Vinci). Sheamus and Gunther stole the show at Clash at the Castle with a classic, vicious, highly physical match. This one was not going to be nearly as "straight up" but it still had a ton of promise and, for the most part, lived up to it and delivered as the show's hot opener. The crowd was very much into it and fully behind Sheamus, who might be more over now as a babyface than he ever was during his previous babyface runs. You knew that Sheamus and Gunther would shine and they did, but I liked Kaiser and Vince quite a bit here too as they did an excellent job of cutting off the babyfaces every time they looked like they might have the advantage. There were some good nearfalls and they did enough with the weapons without overdoing it - something that would've hurt the rest of the show - but I wouldn't necessarily call this an all-time great match and it may have even run a touch long as it got pretty close to 20 minutes of time. A strong opener to the show. (3/5)

After a backstage segment involving Miz and Philadelphia Flyer mascot Gritty, it was time for our SmackDown Women's Championship match - Liv Morgan defending the title against Ronda Rousey. This match had some awkward moments in it as Rousey, despite looking and being presenting as a major star, is still not super smooth in the ring and works much better against opponents who can really lead her from point A to point B. Unfortunately, Liv Morgan is not that level of worker and it showed here when things didn't go right and they seemed a touch lost. This match also suffered from maybe being a touch under-produced. In their first bout, Morgan came out on top when the referee missed her tapping and, instead, counted Rousey's shoulders to the mat. The story has never been that Morgan is actually as tough or talented as Rousey, but, here, she withstood arguably too much punishment and seemed to have no sort of real plan. This should've been a more character-driven match, but it was just your typical back-and-forth brawl with Rousey going from a dominating performance to selling damage in a way that felt very disjointed and unearned. Then, during the finish, Morgan couldn't help but smile as she "passed out," which was jarring and made no sense and cheapened Rousey's victory. I really wanted to like this match, but it was a disappointment. I will give an extra half-point for some of Rousey's attacks with the baseball bat, which did look devastating at first before she opted to then use it just to basically "spank" her opponent. (1.5/5)

Karrion Kross vs. Drew McIntyre followed in a Strap match. Karrion Kross has a cool entrance, but he is not a very captivating wrestler. Drew McIntyre is over enough that this wasn't a total dud and the crowd stayed with them, but this was definitely less heated than the previous two bouts. I'm not surprised that Kross got the W here as he needs some big wins to establish himself as a real contender and upper midcard guy, but I don't see him getting too far with so many other heels - Rollins, Gunther, Reigns obviously - doing really good work and getting much bigger reactions than him right now. McIntyre, meanwhile, feels like a guy who might benefit from some time off-screen as I'm not sure where he goes after losing here and suffering a much bigger loss at Clash at the Castle not too long ago. My last thought is that this match might've been funner had they actually wrestled it under the "traditional" Strap Match rules rather than making the match end with a pinfall. By having the match revolve around someone tagging all four posts, it would've added some variety to the card and they easily could've worked in the same finish (Scarlett blinding McIntyre with some sort of spray). Not a terrible match, but not great either. (2.5/5)

Bianca Belair defended her RAW Women's Championship in a ladder match against Bayley next. I'm a big fan of both competitors so I was excited to see what they would do with ladders. This was a physical match, but I kinda wish we'd have seen a touch more creativity and innovation as Belair is a tremendous athlete and Bayley has proven to be a great heel. Some highlights included Bayley hitting Belair with a sunset flip powerbomb into a ladder in the corner, an absolutely awesome running elbow from Bayley onto Belair on a ladder, and Belair hitting her finish on both of Bayley's lackeys - Io Shirai and Dakota Kai - at the same time. At one point, Bayley removed part of her knee brace but it didn't really seem to lead to anything. Belair eventually got the relatively clean win and I'm just left wondering where Bayley and the Damage Control stable go now that they've been thoroughly vanquished by Belair. It also seems like the audience wanted to see Sasha or Naomi return to either screw over Belair or help her beat Bayley...or maybe that was just me thinking it? This wasn't bad, but it wasn't a match I'd strongly recommend. (3/5)

Edge vs. Finn Balor in an "I Quit" Match was next. As expected, this one went looong and didn't really start cooking until well past the 10-minute mark. I get that Edge likes to build his matches this way, but no, I don't think it makes him "great" or "different." I think he just knows that lengthy matches will naturally take on an "epic" quality. The match became much, much more interesting and wild once Judgment Day showed up and then Rey Mysterio came down for the save and then Beth Phoenix got involved. I really liked how strong they made Judgment Day out to be by the end, but there's no way they're going to let them actually win this feud - which is a shame because Finn Balor and Damian Priest have a ton more upside in 2022 than Edge, who simply doesn't need any more accolades at this point in his career (while, one could argue, Balor and Priest deserved to be seen as higher level guys). I liked the finish too as it did protect Edge and make it clear that he is no longer the Ultimate Opportunist but now a family man. At damn near 30 minutes, this is the type of match that you can fast-forward till about halfway through and not feel like you missed much because, truthfully, nothing that happened in the first half really played into the ending at all aside from filling time and proving these two guys were tough and wouldn't say quit. A really great angle tacked onto a pretty unremarkable I Quit match. (2.5/5)

Main event time - Seth Rollins vs. Matt Riddle in a Fight Pit match. This is a somewhat new gimmick for the WWE as I'm not sure they've ever done a match like this on the main roster. The special guest referee was Daniel Cormier, a former UFC star who looked a bit like he might've taken up competitive eating after his shoot fight days ended. Just not at all intimidating if you, like me, are unfamiliar with his history. Seth Rollins came out sporting RVD-inspired gear, a nod both to the Philadelphia crowd and to Riddle's penchant for marijuana. Speaking of the Philadelphia crowd, they let Rollins and Riddle know that they really just wanted Bray Wyatt by this point of the night by chanting his name for awhile in the early going. There was lots of Rollins character work and while the crowd played along, I've kinda grown a little tired of it. I mean, we get it, you watched Asuka and stole some of her mannerisms and it got you more over...but are you gonna add anything to it? It just seems like something he does because it gets a reaction, not something he does because it fits with his character (at one point it did, but its been awhile now since he's been "One Screw Loose" Seth Rollins, right?). Riddle, meanwhile, came into this match all business, which I appreciated. I don't think it made for the most exciting match, but hey, that's what happens when you put two guys who rely on at least some high-flying offense into a match where there are no ropes or turnbuckles. Credit to Riddle and Rollins for the tremendous finish, which saw Riddle deliver an absolutely devastating senton off of the Fight Pit scaffolding. It looked absolutely nasty and like Rollins might've even had one of his ribs broken. Not a great match, but not terrible. I'm not sure it was the best match to close out the show, but without Reigns on the card, I do see how Rollins would be next in line to headline. Could've used some color. (2.5/5)

The biggest happening on the show came as the whole thing winded down as Bray Wyatt made his much-hyped and much-predicted return. This was a cool segment and while I'm not a huge Wyatt fan, I won't deny that at least a few hairs on my arm got raised by the presentation and the huge crowd response. One of the cooler moments of the year in wrestling, for sure. (+1)

With a respectable Kwang Score of 2.67-out-of-5, the 2022 edition of Extreme Rules wasn't an all-timer, but it was a fine show that featured some strong performances out of the Brawling Brutes, Imperium, and Bianca Belair among others. The main event was a bit of a letdown due mostly to the clumsy, awkward gimmick and Daniel Cormier's understandable confusion as to what exactly he was meant to be doing while Rollins and Riddle worked through a match that may have been better off just happening in a regular ol' cage. The return of Bray Wyatt was the biggest story of the night, though putting it at the tail end of the show also meant that the crowd was noticeably less engaged as the show wore on and Wyatt's appearance became the only thing they really wanted to see. With no single match that I'd consider exceptional, this show is really only for the current WWE fan.

FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver

ECW Heatwave 98'

ECW Heatwave 98'

August 1998 - Dayton, OH

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, Shane Douglas was the ECW World Heavyweight Champion, Rob Van Dam was the ECW Television Champion, and Sabu and Rob Van Dam were the ECW World Tag Team Champions. 

Heatwave 98' kicks off with Joey Styles in the ring - like all ECW pay-per-views I've seen - welcoming his special guest color commentator, the ECW Heavyweight Champion, Shane Douglas. There's a little bit of comedy with Francine pulling Styles' face into her breasts and then the usual pre-show video before its time for Justin Credible vs. Jerry Lynn in the finale of their "Summer Series." Over the past few weeks, I think I've seen more Justin Credible matches than I had in the 38+ years before it combined. I'm willing to admit that he's better than I thought he was - he's a great bumper and he knows how to irritate the crowd and he clearly is well-trained in how to work a match from beginning to end - but I wouldn't necessarily call him "underrated." Here, he's working with one of the most fundamentally sound workers in the US at the time in Jerry Lynn, one of the best examples of a guy that was able to get over almost purely on his in-ring work, which is not just sharp, but spirited and subtly flourished with character work. Watching Lynn, you get why you should be cheering for him as a babyface without him having to do much more than just deliver his offense and look determined to win. Credible, meanwhile, is an excellent scumbag, but isn't an interesting one, his fatal flaw as a character (especially in a company so loaded with over-the-top, somewhat bizarre personalities). This was a solid opener to the show and the crowd was very into it, especially once Jason, Chastity, and Nicole Bass got involved. Lynn was the better wrestler, but the right man won this match as Credible was in the midst of a sizable push plus that 2nd rope "That's Incredible" piledriver was a very definitive ending that didn't hurt Lynn one bit. (3/5)

Another "banger" of a match follows as Chris Candido takes on his tag partner/rival Lance Storm in a grudge match. Sunny is on hand for this match and was the centerpiece of this feud. Storm and Candido are both technically sound and this match builds up in intensity properly without having to rely on too many gimmicks or much weaponry. They trade chest chops, they play up Candido's damaged ear, and when Sunny gets involved, the crowd loses their mind (maybe too much as Sunny's involvement ends up distracting from the finish a bit). Other highlights included a terrific suplex to the floor from Storm to Candido and some classic "shtick" out of Candido after he gets blinded by some powder. We get another strong finish as Candido hits an insane Blonde Bombshell powerbomb from the top rope to win the match after Sunny hits Storm with a shot to the balls. I can see the argument that this match was maybe too similar to the match that preceded it in tone (and even in the finish used), but this was equally good and, again, the crowd was hot for it despite it being maybe a bit "straightforward" compared to what some people thought ECW was all about. (3/5)

Joey then sends us to a video showing New Jack getting assaulted in the parking lot by Jack Victory and the Dudleys. Joey says this video shows why the advertised New Jack/Jack Victory match has been cancelled for tonight. Did ECW ever put on a PPV where all the advertised matches actually happened?

Masato Tanaka vs. Mike Awesome is next, a match that made these two essentially "overnight sensations" in the US despite both having extensive runs in Japan prior to this. They'd go on to have several other matches against each other in ECW (and this wasn't even their first ECW match), but this was the one that got people talking and it still holds up nearly 25 years later. Awesome's high flying doesn't always look pretty, but in 1998, there really wasn't anyone else his size doing those spots regularly. Tanaka is fiercely tough, eating some nasty chair shots. At one point, Tanaka powerbombs Awesome out of the ring, through a table, and onto the concrete floor and it is just an incredibly painful looking spot. Tanaka brings him back into the ring and delivers a tornado DDT onto two chairs to get the well-earned win, but this match made both guys look like stars. Despite only going for a little bit over 10 minutes, this feels and is an absolute war. (4/5)

After a promo from Taz, its time for the ECW World Tag Team Champions, Sabu and Rob Van Dam, to defend their titles against the team of Hayabusa and Jinsei Shinzaki (who was known to most US wrestling fans from his work as Hakushi in the WWE a couple years prior). This was billed as a bit of a "dream match" as everyone involved was known for their high-flying and innovative ring work. The match doesn't quite deliver on that promise as it takes a while before it warms up and, truthfully, after watching so much of RVD and Sabu's work in 97' and 98' over the past few months, I've come to the conclusion that their biggest weakness wasn't their inconsistency, but their inability to "fill in the blanks" and string together a cohesive, coherent match. The big spots get reactions, look devastating, and were incredible for their time...but the downtime between them often feels aimless instead of furthering the match's story or raising the suspense. This match runs 20 minutes, but almost feels like 30, dragging in parts. I liked the finish, but I don't see this as the "classic" I'm sure many fans, especially 25 years later, wish it was. (2.5/5)

The Taz vs. The Triple Threat storyline didn't always make sense, but it damn sure made for some legendary and iconic moments in ECW history, especially in the career of Taz. On this show, he gets his rematch against the man who took his ECW Television Championship, Bam Bam Bigelow. At the last ECW PPV, Bigelow and Taz had famously crashed through the ring after a brutal fight so expectations were high for this. Bigelow and Taz waste no time after the bell, Bigelow delivering a powerbomb, Taz no selling it, brawling out of the ring, Taz attempting a dive off the entrance ramp into the crowd, more brawling in the crowd...this is an outright fight with neither guy backing down. I guess people could criticize the lack of selling, but because Bigelow and Taz were both established bad asses and they let the big throws and suplexes register, it feels more like one of those Japanese monster fights than, say, two guys taking turns just hitting their signature spots. Back in the ring, Taz hits a T-Bone Suplex on Bigelow that sends him through a table and you have to give credit to Bigelow for his willingness to take bumps like that from a guy who was considerably smaller than him (and very well might've dumped him on his neck). Back onto the ramp they go and Taz hits a tornado DDT that sends them both through the ramp! The callback to their previous match might've been kind of obvious, but damn if it didn't look wild. Bigelow climbs out first, but doesn't look too hot. Taz climbs out behind him looking like an absolute killer and jumps on his back, bringing Bigelow face down onto the ramp (that couldn't have felt good) and then makes him tap out with the Tazmission (though, on commentary, Shane Douglas notes that Bigelow wasn't tapping, he was reaching for the rope). This match only goes 13 minutes, but it is a really fun and physical 13 minutes and I enjoyed it. I'd go as far as to say that this should've been the main event because the crowd was very into it and it put over Taz huge as the next challenger for Shane Douglas' ECW World Championship. (3.5/5)

Main event time - The Dudleys vs. Tommy Dreamer, Spike Dudley, and The Sandman. Before the match begins, we get a lengthy, lengthy intro from Joel Gertner followed by an additional 5+ minutes of The Sandman and the other babyfaces drinking beers before the bell rings. This is the kind of thing that was over huge with the live crowd, but isn't exactly great viewing on re-watch. The most surprising thing about this match is that it actually starts with some honest-to-goodness wrestling and both teams actually playing by the rules a bit. It doesn't take too long before the match falls apart into the wild brawl that it becomes. Credit to Heyman here - aside from the previous bout and pieces of the Tanaka/Awesome match, they hadn't done too much fighting in the crowd or cartoonish "kitchen sink" weapons stuff. This match, for better or worse, does feel the "grand finale" a bit, a match designed to just get all the blood and violence you can without any semblance of a story or pesky "rules." Some highlights include Spike Dudley doing an insane splash from the top of a ladder in the ring all the way to floor (something that even today would warrant a "holy shit" when you consider the ring being 3 feet off the ground and then add another 20 feet and then think about how green and unprofessional some of the guys catching you are), a silly spot where all the babyfaces and the ref hit dropkicks on the heels in the corner, and Dreamer getting the "feel good" win with a DDT on Buh-Buh into a ladder. During the post-match, Jack Victory shows up and is then taken out by New Jack, who brings with him a shopping cart full of even more weapons. The faces eventually run the heels out of the ring and we get a post-match celebration to end the show, which is a cool visual and something the Dayton crowd wanted to see. (3/5)

I've seen this show get called the best ECW pay-per-view ever, but I haven't seen enough of them to know for sure. What I will say is that this show does offer some good variety in action, is practically "all killer/no filler," is sequenced well, and even the less successful matches (like the Tag Team Championships bout) are at least interesting and fought in front of an enthusiastic crowd. The show's Kwang score of 3.17-out-of-5 is well-deserved. You may not enjoy every moment of this show, but there's likely a whole bunch of things here you'll dig. 

FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote in Hand