WWE SummerSlam 2013

WWE SummerSlam 2013

Los Angeles, CA - August 2013

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, the WWE Champion was John Cena, the World Heavyweight Champion was Alberto Del Rio, the Intercontinental Champion was Curtis Axel, the United States Champion was Dean Ambrose, the WWE Tag Team Champions were Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins, and the Divas Champion was AJ Lee.

I remember really enjoying this pay-per-view when I watched the night of, so I was curious if it still held up 10 years later...

The show starts with The Miz welcoming the crowd to the show, hyping up tonight's double main event - CM Punk vs. Brock Lesnar and Daniel Bryan vs. John Cena (with Triple H serving as the guest referee). Before he can announce he participants of the opening contest, Fandango and Summer Rae show up to cut him off, dancing around as was their gimmick.

We then get JoJo (announced as being from Total Divas) singing the national anthem. WCW did this better when they'd let Maxx Payne shred it out on his guitar.

Bray Wyatt has his debut match against Kane in the opener. While there are flames around the ring, this isn't necessarily an "Inferno" match because the flames are there to keep Bray's "brothers" - Luke Harper and Erick Rowan - out of the ring rather than as a means to end the match (a traditional Inferno match can only end when one competitor is lit on fire). I would've thought that Bray had already competed on Raw or at any another PPV by this point, but in hindsight, it makes a ton of sense to load this match up with literal "sizzle" to hide the fact that Wyatt, while certainly not terrible in the ring, was certainly nothing special. Also, at this point, there are some missing elements - the spiderwalk is nowhere to be seen, he was years away from adopting the Mandible Claw, and I'm not sure he was even busting out his uranage yet (though, even if he was, it'd be near impossible for him to apply it to Kane). Harper and Rowan eventually interfere, allowing Wyatt to hit the Sister Abigail and score the win. Not a very good debut and the post-match angle - which saw the future Bludgeon Brothers drop the steel steps on Kane's neck (but not really, they clearly slammed down on him with the part of the steps that would go around his neck and not onto it) was terribly shot and executed. If you're going to do a post-match angle like that, do something that at least looks cool. Heck, even an "abduction" would've worked better. (1.5/5)

Next up - Damien Sandow vs. Cody Rhodes. Sandow had won the Money in the Bank Briefcase in June or July (I don't recall) by turning on Cody Rhodes, who had been his tag team partner. Rhodes was now the babyface, but was obviously not nearly as over as he is right now in 2023 when he's easily among the top 3 babyfaces on the roster. I forget what happened with Sandow and his briefcase, though I know his cash-in was unsuccessful and that, aside from being The Miz's stunt double, he went on to achieve very little in the WWE (or Impact, for that matter). This isn't a bad match, but feels like something you'd find on SmackDown rather than on a major PPV event as there's not a ton of fan interest. Better than the match before it, but that's not saying much. (2/5)

The World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio defends his title against Christian in the next bout. I've never been a big fan of ADR, but I'm a big Christian "peep" and, with seemingly every year that passes and more of his work I see, I only become a bigger admirer of his work. Here, he takes a crowd that seems maybe a bit bored with the show so far and pulls them, step-by-step, up to a fever pitch (and a well-earned "This is Awesome" chant before audiences would do that for nearly anything) as they built towards a very good finishing sequence. Hard-hitting, good back-and-forth that feels organically paced and not "your turn/my turn," Del Rio getting to show his toughness - this is a very good match that makes me wonder if it is Christian, not Mysterio or CM Punk or John Cena - that was his greatest WWE opponent in terms of delivering quality matches. Like a few other matches on Christian's resume, what jumped out at me when I looked at the match times was how much of a battle this felt like despite the match only going 12-and-a-half minutes. Good selling of the arm damage by Christian helped do that. A very good match that, given a few more minutes and maybe a little bit less of a predictable finish (Christian's odds of winning this were very low as Del Rio was going through yet another, arguably failed, major push to be seen as a true top guy) and this might've really been considered a classic. (3.5/5)

Brie Bella vs. Natalya followed. This was better than I thought it would be, considering that Brie Bella was the lesser of the two Bellas in terms of wrestling acumen (though, at this point, I'm not sure Nikki had really stepped up yet). The crowd gives absolutely no shit about this match, chanting for JBL, Michael Cole, and Jerry Lawler in the middle of it and then demanding tables at another point, clearly just trying to "pop" themselves. Bella and Nattie didn't put on a clinic or anything, but there were some good spots in this - specifically a great apron-pull from the heels on the outside that caused Nattie to take a nasty fall, a quality and well-executed Sharpshooter counter from Brie later on, and an impressive fireman's carry lift from Nattie. Compared to some of the Diva matches I've reviewed from years prior, this was not terrible at all and felt like a competitive, athletic contest without overstaying its welcome. (2.5/5)

One half of the show's double main event was next as CM Punk took on Brock Lesnar in a No DQ match billed as "The Best vs. The Beast." I remember watching this for the first time live and enjoying it, but being so caught up in the Daniel Bryan storyline that I didn't really appreciate just how good this was. Watching it a second time, I was much more focused, knowing that this match had taken on a reputation as arguably among the top 3-5 matches either guy ever had (which is saying a lot for guys this decorated, regardless of the various controversies that surround their careers). As others have written, what sets this match apart from the rest of Lesnar's post-2012 run is that he is incredibly giving throughout. Yes, he dominates for large stretches and puts a serious beating on Punk, but he also allows Punk multiple times to shine, show his toughness, and get is own strategy over, going for headshots via running knees, putting his own body on the line multiple times with dives and splashes, trying to soften the Beast with devastating kicks and submissions, basically just trying to outlast and survive Brock's onslaught long enough to wear him down and maybe score a lucky GTS. The strategy and story works because, though there was little doubt that Lesnar wasn't leaving with his arm raised, we do get a well-executed nearfall in which it is made fairly clear that Punk had him beat until Heyman's interference. From there, a match that had been - up to that point - just an absolute war of physicality with a few hardcore elements (use of the top of the table by Brock, steel steps, a chair) turns into more of the type of modern "blockbuster" match with heightened drama courtesy of Paul Heyman's repeated involvement, a handful of excellent false finishes, and some really nifty and cringe-inducing weapon usage that show that even if shots to the head are outlawed, Punk and Lesnar were willing to get creative to get over the viciousness of a simple steel folding chair. Its hard to find a real "flaw" in this match aside from the inevitable logic flaw that all wrestling matches, and especially No DQ matches, have: that no human could actually survive the beating they withstand for 30+ minutes in a "real" fight, that even a match like this, with so many punishing moves and hard hits, takes undeniable cooperation between its combatants. Yes, that's pro-wrestling. And this match is pro-wrestling at its finest and most brutal without sacrificing story, drama, or having to go to grotesque extremes. (5/5)

Kaitlyn and Dolph Ziggler took on AJ Lee and Big E in the next match-up. I wasn't watching WWE religiously back then, but I followed it enough to know the big names and the major storylines and I still have zero recollection of who Kaitlyn was. I also don't remember the specifics of the Ziggler/AJ Lee split and, based on audience reactions, I'm not sure even the crowd knew who to cheer for here as there doesn't seem to be crowd support for either team specifically. Still, this doesn't overstay its welcome and Big E looks much, much better than I remember him being this early in his run. Passable TV-quality match that served its purpose of bringing the crowd down a little after the previous match and getting them prepped for the main event. (2.5/5)

Main event time - Daniel Bryan challenging John Cena for the WWE Championship with Triple H as guest referee. This match is a bit polarizing - either you think it might be one of the best matches ever, a 5-star classic that shows just how good both Cena and Bryan could be at their peak, or you think it is just an 4-4.5-star match that is slightly imperfect due to a handful of near-botches and Cena not selling his elbow damage enough. What you find are many respectable wrestling fans or critics who don't think is a tremendous, must-see match and probably one of the top 10 WWE Championship matches in company history. I'm not going to go into too much detail about why I fall into the former category, but to me, this match is a masterpiece with nary an element or moment I don't love. I love that Triple H is a non-factor for the entire match aside from, as the commentators note, letting the two combatants clash and not trying to stop things when Cena looks like he might be injured. I like how Cena, at first, wants to try to outwrestle Bryan, but then ultimately choose to use his strength to try to ground the challenger. I love that Bryan is relying on his bread n' butter - strikes and submissions and some brilliant suplexes using leverage - but that he sometimes gets overexcited and ends up eating a Cena clothesline to stop his momentum. I like that this match doesn't feature any excessive weapons or table spots, but is mostly fought inside the ring with neither guy grabbing tights or holding onto a rope or inadvertently undoing a turnbuckle pad. I like that Cena doesn't tease any sort of real heel turn here, wrestling the match straight-up. I love that the match ends with the "creation" of a new, devastating finisher move for Daniel Bryan that immediately pops the crowd and feels believable as a means to put down one of the most decorated WWE wrestlers ever. I love how much the crowd is behind Bryan from beginning to end, that this match really does feel like a "Passing Of The Torch" moment. The only thing that saddens me a bit is that, as far as I remember, we never got to see these two guys try to top what they did here as their chemistry is undeniably great. It is rare that the same wrestling show features two Match of the Year candidates, but SummerSlam 2013 does. (5/5)

...And then we get the post-match. After Bryan celebrates his championship win, Randy Orton shows up - Money in the Bank briefcase in hand - and teases a cash-in before turning his back to the champion. Triple H then hits Bryan with a pedigree, allowing Orton to come in, make the pin, and leave the show with the WWE Championship. At the time, I hated this angle and wished, if it had to happen, it would've happend on Raw. Looking back, I do see why this angle happening at the end of the night made it a bigger deal, but I still disliked the storyline. Over the next few months, my disfavor for it would prove to be true as the company cooled off on Bryan considerably, having him continue to lose Championship matches to Orton, fall back into the midcard by December, briefly join the Wyatt Family, and not even be included as a participant in the 2014 Royal Rumble match before the crowd support became so overwhelming that they had to insert him into the WrestleMania XXX main event. The WWE stans will always say "That's how the story was supposed to go," but those of us who remember it vividly know that not to be true. No point awarded for the first major misstep in the booking of Daniel Bryan post-championship victory.

With an all-around Kwang Score of 3.14-out-of-5, the 2023 edition of SummerSlam is imperfect and certain matches fall a touch short - the Sandow/Rhodes match and the opener, most noticeably - but Cena/Bryan and Punk/Lesnar is an undeniably awesome combo of main event matches that absolutely deliver and the Christian/Del Rio match is arguably Del Rio's best singles outing in an uneven WWE career. Throw a better women's match on this show and you might have an all-timer, but for what it was, this was a strong show and worth checking out.

FINAL RATING - Watch It

WWE SummerSlam 2023

WWE SummerSlam 2023

Detroit, MI - August 2023

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into tonight's show, Roman Reigns was still in the midst of a record-shattering WWE Universal Championship run, the World Heavyweight Champion was Seth Rollins, the United States Champion was Austin Theory, the Intercontinental Champion was GUNTHER, the WWE Raw and SmackDown Tag Team Champs were Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, Asuka was the SmackDown Women's Champion, Rhea Ripley was the RAW Women's Champion, and the Women's Tag Team Champions were Chelsea Green and Sonya Deville.

Ricochet vs. Logan Paul was the night's opening contest. I liked that they started with some actual wrestling before getting to the fireworks display of high-flying. Logan Paul makes for a fantastic arrogant heel and drew tremendous heat from the Detroit crowd, taunting Rico's real-life fiancee Samantha Irving, stealing Braun Strowman's powerslam, and then performing the "Hogan Paul," a Big Boot-Legdrop combo. Logan Paul went for a Spanish Fly off the apron, a move I'm not necessarily sure could even be performed, and both guys landed somewhat awkwardly on their feet. Ricochet then hit an actual Spanish Fly, but neither guy really sold it as Paul swiftly got back into the ring and then hit a Buckshot Lariat from the ring to the floor. Paul followed it up with a huge crossbody splash-into-a-standing moonsault. After Paul went into the ringpost, Ricochet stood him up on the top rope to hit him with a swinging neckbreaker off the top that could've went all sorts of wrong. Rico rallied from there, hitting a series of signature moves, including his ridiculous springboard clothesline. Ricochet seemed to have it sewn up when he went off the top with a moonsault, but Logan Paul caught him and spun him around into a perfect tornado DDT for 2. Ricochet recovered and went for the Shooting Star Press, but Logan got his knees up for another nearfall. Paul hit a reverse powerbomb after a series of counters and hit a springboard frog splash for another big nearfall. Ricochet got the momentum back and hit a series of sick moves, including a springboard moonsault, but Paul wouldn't stay down either. Ricochet went back up to the top, seemingly for his 450 Splash, but Paul rolled out of the way. A buddy of Paul slipped some brass knuckles onto "The Maverick," enabling him to hit a big right hand for the W. I liked that the heel had to cheat to get the win against an opponent who had taken every one of Paul's best pieces of offense - classic heel vs. babyface booking that didn't hurt Ricochet as badly as it could've. The real question is whether Ricochet is going to get to follow up a spotlight match like this with something else on Raw or if he's just going to fade back into irrelevancy (which would be a shame because this match definitely showed he's capable of putting on highly-entertaining matches). (3.5/5)

Somehow, this match was followed by what I perceived to be the 2nd biggest match of the night - Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar. There had been speculation that this match would have a rare stipulation, with a Bullrope Match being tossed about online, but these two didn't really need anything special to give this a Big Fight Feel. Rhodes went right after Lesnar before the bell even rang, trying to catch the Beast off guard. Rhodes it a series of Disaster Kicks, but Lesnar was able to block his third attempt and bulldoze Rhodes into the corner. Rhodes hit a dive to the floor, his attack wisely seeming to focus on using the ropes and maintaining distance from the former UFC Heavyweight Champion. Lesnar used his power to cut off Cody's offense and maintain control, though, launching Rhodes across the ring with an overhead belly-to-belly early on. Lesnar hit a snap suplex and then a pair of release Germans that sent Cody to the floor to recuperate. Rolling back into the ring, Cody ate another release German before getting tossed back to the floor. Cody made his way onto the apron but Lesnar shoved him back to the floor, yelling at him to stay down. When Cody came back in, Lesnar shouted in his face and then delivered another snap suplex before rolling Rhodes back out to the floor. I'm sure this isn't the first time a match has been built around one guy practically daring another to step in the ring with him, essentially working towards a count-out finish rather than a pinfall or submission, but its nothing something you see often and felt fresh to me. Lesnar hit an F-5 on the floor, but even then Rhodes wouldn't stay down, dragging himself back into the ring at 9.5. Rhodes came back swinging, but Lesnar delivered another release German and then an F-5 through the announcer table that drew an audible "Holy Shit" chant. Rhodes beat the count again, though, much to Lesnar's surprise. Lesnar delivered what must've been his dozenth suplex, but Rhodes was able to pull off the padding of a turnbuckle before he got launched across the ring. Cody was able to use the post and the steps to go after Lesnar's shoulder and then hit a Disaster Kick and a Cody Cutter to bring the Beast to his knees. Cody hit another Codycutter, this time off the top rope, for 2, the American Nightmare getting a second wind. Rhodes went for the Cross Rhodes, but Lesnar locked in a nasty Kimura Lock. I was wondering when that would come into play. Rhodes got to the bottom rope, but as the commentators noted, he'd sustained a considerable amount of damage to get there. Lesnar went for an F-5, but Rhodes countered it by sending him into the exposed turnbuckle and then applying a Kimura Lock of his own! Lesnar sold it expertly but Brock fought out by getting to his knees and driving Rhodes into the mat. Brock went for another F-5, but Cody escaped and delivered 3 consecutive Cross Rhodes to get the clean pinfall victory. A decisive, emotional victory for Rhodes and a crowd-pleasing finish. I'm not sure I'd call this "must see," but it was very good and Lesnar did everything possible to put over Rhodes, including shaking his hand and holding it up in celebration. (3.5/5)

The Slim Jim Battle Royale was next. There was very little doubt of who was going to win this one (considering who Slim Jim's new spokeswrestler is), though I did like seeing a few guys - namely Bronson Reed and Omos - get some spotlight moments. The crowd was very much behind LA Knight as the numbers thinned out, but there was also a lurking suspicion that for whatever reason, they might actually book one of their most popular, freshest talents to look like a buffoon for no apparent reason. Fortunately, Triple H made the right call and gave Knight the crowd-pleasing W in a nicely booked battle royal that didn't overstay its welcome and played on a whole slew of on-going storylines in a nice way. Solid. (3/5)

Ronda Rousey vs. Shayna Baszler followed. This was a big disappointment to me as I really liked how their feud played out and expected these two to put on a very physical, very intense match. I must've missed it, but were they promoting this as an "MMA Rules" match all along? I don't watch the weekly TV, but if so...yeesh. Bad idea. And a bad idea in execution too as Rousey and Baszler had to build this match around grappling and strikes instead of, y'know, doing the thing that they've both gotten pretty darn good at: pro-wrestling. This match needed Rousey and Baszler to focus on a story - the way Lesnar and Rhodes did earlier in the night, the way Ricochet and Logan Paul did in the opener - instead of being hamstrung by a gimmick that prevented rope breaks from stopping submission holds and didn't allow someone to win via pinfall. There was an audible "Boring" response early on and, at a certain point, I could've sworn they were piping in "white" crowd noise as it sounded very artificial on Peacock and nothing Rousey or Baszler did seemed to pop the audience or cause the audience to boo. It was just loud "white" crowd noise if that's a thing (?), probably intended to cover for the fact that this was just not getting over with the Detroit fans. I didn't like the brief ref stoppage segment. I didn't like Baszler putting Rousey to sleep in anti-climactic fashion. I didn't like that this match didn't play to what the strengths of these two is in 2023, incorrectly having them try to work a match like they were still the athletes they were in 2013. This seemed like it wasn't produced or "agented" by anyone either or was almost designed to make it clear how much better pro-wrestling is than MMA...only this was a staged MMA fight and it was on the company's own pro-wrestling show, so the only real losers are the fans. Not good at all. (1.5/5)

The WWE Intercontinental Championship was on the line next as GUNTHER defended his gold against Drew McIntyre. A very physical and taxing match that delivered everything that fans were expected, but maybe could've used an additional 4-5 minutes to really cement it as a true classic? GUNTHER and Drew tore into each other with chops and lariats and double dropkicks and I was genuinely surprised by GUNTHER kicking out of the Claymore. I really liked the finishing sequence too as GUNTHER knocked Drew off the top rope and McIntyre crotched himself and then fell prey to a big splash, another lariat, a powerbomb, and then a very strong jackknife cover in relatively rapid succession. THAT's how you end a match clean without shitting on your opponent one single bit as Drew put on a valiant effort but GUNTHER took advantage and orchestrated a series of big moves, tied together with no wasted motion, to secure the victory. Again, I wouldn't necessarily call this an all-timer, but it was definitely way better than what came before it and arguably, from a pure wrestling standpoint, an easy Match of the Night contender. (3.5/5)

The World Heavyweight Champion, Seth Rollins, defended his title against Finn Balor in a rematch from Money in the Bank. The crowd sang along with Rollins' entrance as usual, but Balor cut them off during the post-introduction reprise and went right on the attack. Trading blows to start things off, I appreciated Corey Graves explaining why Balor had the word "Seven" written on his right shoulder (a reference to the seven years since Balor last won a World Championship). Balor worked on Rollins' arm in the opening minutes, applying a nice variety of holds to give this match a different flavor than what had come before it (I particularly liked Balor bust out a Russian Leg Sweep-into-a-Fujiwara Arm Bar combo that I'm not sure I've seen before). Rollins fought back, though, grabbing Finn by the beard to deliver a series of headbutts and then a bunch of boots to the face before landing a nasty clothesline. Rollins went for the Pedigree, couldn't get it, but hit a Falcon Arrow for 2. Rollins followed it up with his signature hat trick of planchas, sending Balor crashing into the announce table. Balor regained control not long after, sending The Architect (does he still go by that?) into the post shoulder-first and in a great callback to their match at SummerSlam seven years ago, Balor hit the Champ with a powerbomb-into-the-guardrail. Of course, instead of letting that moment sink in, they went right into the next sequence - what a waste of what should've been a big moment - with Rollins somehow powering out of an armbar (injured shoulder and all) to hit two buckle bombs in a row. After a frog splash from Rollins, Balor seemingly started coughing blood to add even more drama to a match. They sprinted through the next half-dozen moves, including a Balor front dropkick, a superplex and double stomp, all of which looked terrific but tended to negate itself within split seconds as they went into their next elaborate sequence. Priest showed up and decked Rollins behind the ref's back, but even this interference couldn't lead to a Balor victory (following a pedigree). Priest waved in Dominik and Rhea, who drew massive heat and went to work distracting the referee. Priest offered the briefcase to Balor, but Finn refused it. Rollins hit the Curb Stomp, but Balor miraculously kicked out! The miscommunication led to Rollins launching himself to the floor to take out the rest of Judgment Day, but this allowed Balor to hit the Sling Blade, the front dropkick, and then the Coup de Gras...but only got 2! Again, the speed at which they worked through all of this was phenomenal, pausing only to play up Priest's involvement. Rollins ended up hitting a Curb Stomp onto Rollins onto the briefcase to retain the title while Priest looked on. I liked this match more than their Money in the Bank one and, as I've written countless times before, even the biggest Seth Rollins hater would have to admit that in terms of execution, agility, and impact, the guy is a supremely talented wrestler. This wasn't worked the way I would've wished - they really needed to pause and take some beats between some of these ridiculous sequences - but they never lost the crowd and they did eventually hit a crescendo at the end of the match that was very dramatic and suspenseful. Well above average, but still not something I'd consider truly great. (3/5)

The SmackDown Women's Championship was up next as Charlotte Flair and Bianca Belair challenged Asuka in a triple threat match. The crowd was a bit muted early on for this despite some good action, possibly a bit burnt out from the suspense of the previous match. To my eyes, Flair looked like she might have thinned out a touch, which has only made her quicker. Speaking of Flair, she's no stranger to triple threat matches having had two very famous WrestleMania ones (among others), but the story coming into this wasn't as personal as it could've/maybe should've been. Part of the blame, in my eye, is the way that they reshuffled the deck following WrestleMania and Night of Champions (as Flair, who had been the SmackDown Women's Champion dropped her title to Rhea Ripley, a Raw superstar, while Belair dropped her title to Asuka, who I believe was mostly on the Blue Brand by that point). If Brock Lesnar's matches were once known as "Suplex City," this match could've been dubbed Moonsault Town or Big Bootville because there was a ton of em' thrown around by Charlotte and Belair. At one point, Belair took a nasty fall and seemingly injured her ankle/knee, with medical staff showing up as she cried on the floor in pain. In the ring, Asuka delivered a superplex as Belair was helped down the aisle. The crowd cheered as she was escorted to the back, the audience (or at least segments of it) seemingly believing that the injury was legitimate...only for Belair to rush back to the ring to stop Flair's Figure 8 with an absolutely insane 450! I wish they hadn't done all that phony melodrama to get to that spot because they didn't need it to get there and it would've been just as incredible without it. Flair eventually got the Figure 8 onto Belair, but this time it was Asuka's mist that cost her to lose control of the move as Bianca then rolled up Asuka to win the title. Most of this match just kinda happened in front of an audibly tired crowd and I wasn't a fan of the fake injury stuff, but the finishing minutes were excellent and the post-match IYO Sky cash-in got a massive pop that, at least in front of this crowd, seems to have positioned Sky as the division's new top babyface (even if Damage CTRL is still a heel act, right?). (3/5)

Main event time - Roman Reigns defending the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against "Main Event" Jey Uso in a Tribal Combat (No DQ, No CO) match. I've really enjoyed most of Roman Reigns' matches over the past 1000+ days as he is typically wrestles a slower pace, builds his match on drama (but does it well), and has gotten very good at making it seem like the challenger may just squeak out a victory - especially when its been someone that the audience is fully behind like Sami Zayn, Drew McIntyre, or Cody Rhodes. This match, unfortunately, didn't quite have those elements working for it. As popular as Jey Uso might be and as much as it was conceivable that Roman would want to "make" his cousin at SummerSlam, few could've truly expected him to leave with the WWE Championship. Similarly, while Roman's deliberate pace is often a nice breath of fresh air after a whole show of wrestling matches conducted at breakneck speed (and this show had more than enough of that), this match seemed a little too slow, possibly because Jey Uso - as sound a performer as he is - has rarely been put in the position of having to carry a 20+ minute singles match without the benefit of being able to put his foot to the gas every now and then. Here, the quick offense, impressive high-flying, and barrage of false finishes that have made the Usos arguably the greatest WWE tag team in history were sorely lacking. Then you get to the booking - and not just the final screwy heel turn from Jimmy Uso - but the way that the match devolved into a 2-on-1 beatdown for its final stretch, straining the credulity of a match that was already built on a somewhat faulty premise that a career tag specialist could defeat the most dominant WWE Champion of the past three decades. Had this match been worked more at Jey's pace, especially in the early going, things might've been different. Had Solo Sikoa been somehow rendered unable to assist Roman for the final third, things might've been different. But this match didn't tell those stories and underwhelmed instead. (2/5)

After an all-time great show last month (Money in the Bank 2023), the otherwise strong SummerSlam suffered from two disappointing matches, specifically the underwhelming Baszler/Rousey match and the poorly-planned Uso/Reigns main event. Everything else on the show was good-to-great, though there was no single match I'd consider "must watch" aside from possibly the Cody Rhodes/Brock Lesnar match for historical sake (it certainly seemed like a "torch passing" moment with its supposedly impromptu post-match handshake). The Battle Royal was better than it had any right to be and the opener absolutely delivered. Plus, by relegating Kid Rock to the pre-show "cold open" segment, the WWE wisely didn't subject anyone watching at home in attendance to actually having to hear his awful music. With a Kwang Score of 2.88-out-of-5, this show didn't deliver all the way through, but there were matches and segments worth checking out.

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

ECW Barely Legal 97'

ECW Barely Legal 97'

Philadelphia, PA - June 1997

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into tonight's show, the ECW World Heavyweight Champion was Raven, the World Television Champion was "The Franchise" Shane Douglas, and the ECW World Tag Team Champions were The Dudley Boys.

The very first ECW pay-per-view kicks off (after an introduction from Joey Styles) with The Eliminators challenging The Dudleys for their ECW World Tag Team Championships. I was surprised to learn that Joel Gertner was already part of their act, misremembering him as showing up sometime later. Gertner's pre-match shtick also isn't nearly as long and crowd-pleasing as it would become. I was expecting this match to feature much more back-and-forth action, but this is practically a squash as The Eliminators just destroy every single member of the Dudley squadron, starting with an awesome Total Elimination on Sign Guy Dudley. This match never actually "starts" in the traditional sense (meaning guys actually go to their corners and we get legitimate tags), but as an introduction to the type of action that ECW offered, it was a really fun way to kick off the show and The Eliminators' offense was incredible. I must admit to not having seen a ton of the Eliminators' work, but this made them look like the legitimate best tag team in America at the time as I can't really think of a single US tag team that was doing such cool tandem maneuvers. At under 7 minutes, this doesn't overstay its welcome, but it also doesn't offer enough of a story to be something worth seeking out. (2.5/5)

Next up - Lance Storm vs. Rob Van Dam. Before the bout begins, Chris Candido comes out with his arm in a sling and says that even though he can't compete tonight (he was advertised as Storm's opponent), he is still going to make an impact at some point in this show. Okay, sure. RVD comes out to audible "You Sold Out!" chants from the ECW crowd as he had been showing up on Raw around this time as "Mr. Monday Night," a gimmick that didn't really make a ton of sense to me at the time or even now. In another case of me misremembering things, I had no idea that Lance Storm was already in ECW in 97'. Anyway, this is actually an arguably better match than their match at the Guilty As Charged PPV in 99' as Rob Van Dam, while less over with the crowd, is also less reliant on his signature moves and "getting his shit in." This feels a bit more like an RVD showcase than a true back-and-forth match, but that's not necessarily a bad thing as RVD's moves were very fresh and less predictable back then (and the crowd responds to it all). I liked that Van Dam's usage of the chair throughout the match came across as more wild and vicious than it would later be (when some of the set-ups became pretty convoluted and would hurt him just as much as it hurt his opponent). Speaking of chairs, Lance Storm's two chair shots are laughably bad and hesitant, but the fact that they are so weak kinda makes RVD's Van Daminator look even more vicious. Not at the level of must-see, but plenty entertaining for a 10-minute bout. (3/5)

Taka Michinoku, Dick Togo, and Men's Teioh (the Japanese version of the bWo) took on Gran Hamada, Masato Yakushiji, and The Great Sasuke in the next contest, a match essentially "borrowed" from Japan's Michinoku Pro promotion. At this point, none of these guys were even close to being household names in the US as not even Taka Michinoku had made his WWE debut yet (in fact, among mega-wrestling fans, Sasuke was the most well-known due to tape traders fawning over the first Super J Cup tournament, which Sasuke had won by defeating The Wild Pegasus [aka Chris Benoit] in the final). It didn't really matter how much or how little fans were aware of these teams because the match they put on is an absolute clinic, comparable only to the very best of what WCW was offering in their cruiserweight division. Yakushiji's Power Ranger-inspired garb gets some laughs from the audience at first, but his resiliency wins over the crowd. I really loved Taka, Togo, and Teioh's taunts and triple-team maneuvers and its really unfortunate that their run in the WWE together fizzled out. Imagining what that trio would've been like in today's AEW, for example, is real "dream match" fodder, but back then, their peak was either trying to chop off Val Venis' dick or getting squashed by the Oddities at SummerSlam 98'. Gran Hamada was the veteran worker of the bunch but he doesn't slow his team down one bit. Its incredible that he was 47 years old in this match and would go on to wrestle for another decade-plus. The fun of this match too - not just for myself but for the fans watching at the time - is that unless you were super familiar with all of these guys' various finishers and signature moves, the false finishes were all terrific and many seemed like would-be match-enders (including Taka hitting his Michinoku Driver). Nowadays, you can expect a dozen false finishes before you get to the "real" finish, but back then, and especially with a match like this, it was practically impossible to predict which way it would go. I could see some fans not liking the "exhibition style" match, but the heels did enough taunting to make this feel more than just a competitive contest and actual part of a genuine rivalry that was being played out on foreign soil. Worth checking out. (4/5)

The somewhat infamous Television Championship match is next as "The Franchise" Shane Douglas defends the title against "Pitbull #2" Anthony Durante. Before the match, Douglas provides some context via a lengthy promo to draw more heat and let fans know that the man whose neck he'd broken - "Pitbull #1" Gary Wolf - was sitting in the front row. Douglas also mentions the masked man that had been tormenting him and that everyone by this point knew to be "Ravishing" Rick Rude. The match itself isn't terrible, but at over 20 minutes, it is at least 10 too long for how limited Durante is and for how somewhat "generic" Douglas is - and I don't say that as a knock against Douglas, who was more seasoned and capable than most on the roster, but was also not the flashiest or the most hardcore or the most high-flying guy in a company that often benefitted tremendously from having guys who were those things (and would simply "play the hits" for 10 minutes before the audience could recognize that the matches didn't have much logic). Here, Douglas tries to lead Durante through a match that - aside from the use of weapons and table breakage - wouldn't necessarily be out of place in one of the mainstream companies. But the ECW fans only have so much patience for front facelocks and camel clutches and repeated atomic drop-into-clothesline sequences. The previous match filled 20 minutes with breathtaking aerial maneuvers and hard-hitting action, while these can't seem to fill 5 minutes with anything fresh or exciting (and the audience notices it too, spending most of the match chanting derogatory comments about Francine). Simply put, this match overstays its welcome and then just sorta ends with a thud as Douglas gets the relatively clean win. During the aftermath, we do get the arrival of "Ravishing" Rick Rude and the unexpected face turn of "Primetime" Brian Lee, who had been a part of the Triple Threat stable. Its a crowd-pleasing moment and maybe the best part of this entire segment. (2/5)

After some promos from Raven and Taz, its time for one of the night's main events - Sabu vs. the aforementioned Taz in a grudge match. At the time, this was a huge "event match" for not just ECW fans, but any US wrestling fan with even a little bit of knowledge of the independent scene through the Bill Apter mags. Taz and Sabu were arguably the most well-known ECW characters (along with Raven and The Sandman) and both had a tremendous aura and mystique. They start things off with a staredown and the crowd is absolutely lit and I'm not sure they ever quite hit that peak again. Its not that the match doesn't feature some awesome moments - Taz countering Sabu's attempt at a Tornado DDT by dropping him through a table, Sabu busting out a Tazplex, the way they work the Tazmission attempts - but the hype for this match was so incredible that it may have just been too high of a bar to reach for guys that were very good at a specific style but not necessarily fully masters of telling a grand story in the ring. To be fair, not everyone is Bret Hart or Ric Flair or Shawn Michaels or Mick Foley, but there's just something missing here that makes this match just good and not the all-time classic that I think many fans were hoping it would be. The match goes a bit long, but isn't nearly as exhausting a watch as the previous bout, mostly because both Sabu and Taz were hugely over with the crowd. The post-match angle sees Taz and Sabu showing some class and shaking hands until Rob Van Dam shows up, sucker punches the Human Suplex Machine, and then participates in a beatdown that eventually leads to Bill Alfonso revealing that he has been in Sabu's corner all along (which made no sense considering that Alfonso didn't do anything during the match to help his new client). I kinda wish they had had Alfonso's interference play into the finish as that would've been a much more dramatic and shocking way to end this, but I'm guessing that Taz wanted the clean win to establish himself as the better wrestler? The story suffers a bit from wanting that clean ending, but I can also see not wanting to screw over the crowd with bullshit shenanigans. Regardless, a good match, but not a great one. (3/5)

The first half of the double-ECW World Heavyweight Championship match is next as Terry Funk, The Sandman, and Stevie Richards (in full "Big Stevie Cool" bWo form) compete in a Threeway Dance to find out who will challenge Raven immediately after. This is a sloppy mess of a match with only brief moments of psychology, but this is exactly the type of match that the fans in attendance were expecting and craving by this point. It is bloody. It is loaded with weapons. At one point, a ladder practically gets launched into the crowd and could've seriously injured a fan. Terry Funk is still mesmerizing, but his first moonsault (off the ladder) onto Stevie is a big whiff and there are other moments - including Richards nailing The Sandman with a superkick while he has a trashcan on his head - that don't necessarily "pop" the way they should. Credit where its due, these three guys took some big risks by incorporating so many weapons and trying to be innovative with the use of "see-saw" stuff, but to really nail that style (as the Hardys and Edge and Christian would in the WWE), you need a level of athleticism that nobody in this match had. (3/5)

Main event time - Raven vs. Terry Funk for Raven's ECW World Heavyweight Championship. This isn't so much of a "match" as Terry Funk is super beaten up before the bell even rings and is bleeding profusely. Still, as a match/angle, it is entertaining and an excellent way to cap off the show. Despite not needing their assistance, Raven can't help himself from enlisting his flunkies (the Raven's Nest), including AJPW performer Reggie Bennett (there was no way that most fans watching this show would have any idea who she was), to run interference and get involved when Funk was already a bloody mess. Bennett hits an awful sit-out powerbomb, but the crowd is so into everything that it doesn't really matter. Raven calls out Tommy Dreamer, who was on commentary and refusing to intervene because his mentor had told him not to, which leads to the return of Big Dick Dudley. Dudley looks like he may chokeslam Dreamer off the stage and through a bunch of tables, but Dreamer counters it with a piss-poor chokeslam of his own. Again, it looks like shit but the crowd is so excited by all the craziness that they chant "ECW!" anyway. Dreamer makes his way to the ring and nails Raven with a DDT. I'm guessing Raven wanted a quicker pinfall because he's forced to sell the damage for a tad longer before a referee shows up and counts 1...2...kickout? But the bell rings anyway. Funk immediately hooks Raven up in a small package and gets the victory. What was with that kickout/bell ring screw-up? Anyway, this entire "match" is saved by the electric crowd and the smart booking of letting Funk get the feel-good win to end the show. (2.5/5)

A Kwang Score of 2.86-out-of-5 might not seem like much - but, remember, this show took place in 1997, a year when both WCW and WWE often struggled to piece together entire cards that were consistently good from top-to-bottom. While WCW had a string of good shows in the late winter/early spring of 97' (UnCenSored 97', for example), the WWE's Kwang Scores around this same period hovered in the 2-and-a-quarter range, "supercards" in name only that were often saved by a good performance out of Steve Austin, Bret Hart, or Mick Foley. The point is - a 2.86 was a damn good score for any company's pay-per-view, let alone a company with a roster like ECW's. Obviously, it helped tremendously that Heyman was wise enough to bring in some ringers from Japan, but this show also featured every other superstar Heyman had at his disposal, making sure that the Philly faithful got to see Taz, Sabu, Raven, Terry Funk, the bWo, The Sandman, The Eliminators, and, for better or worse, Shane Douglas and the Pitbulls in all their glory. Plus, they even found time to spotlight the next wave of rising ECW stars in Rob Van Dam, The Dudleys (despite getting buried in the opener), Chris Candido, and Lance Storm. Unfortunately for ol' Paul E., this "Dream Team" era of ECW getting nationwide exposure on PPV was rather short-lived as, by the end of the year, a number of the show's best performers and most over characters would find themselves in WCW. In a weird way, this show is the peak of ECW in that sense - the company's greatest triumph but also the moment when the ball started to roll down the other side of the mountain that Paul E. had climbed. If only that darn Douglas/Pitbull II match hadn't eaten up 20 minutes, this might actually be considered a Hennig Level production, warts and all. Still, for what it is, its essential viewing for any true student of the wrestling game.

FINAL RATING - Watch It

WWE In Your House: Rock Bottom

ECW In Your House: Rock Bottom

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada - December 1998

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, the WWE World Champion was The Rock, the World Tag Team Champions were the New Age Outlaws, the Women's Champion was Sable, Ken Shamrock was the Intercontinental Champion, The Big Bossman was the Hardcore Champion, X-Pac was the European Champion, and Duane Gill was the Light Heavyweight Champion. 

In Your House: Rock Bottom starts off with The Rock cutting a promo to welcome viewers. This reminded me of the way ECW pay-per-views opened. We then head to the ring for Val Venis and The Godfather vs. Mark Henry and D'Lo Brown. Lots of sexual innuendo from the commentators, but there's some decent action too. I liked the finish - which saw Terri Runnels interfere by pulling Venis' trunks down, leading to a big splash from Henry for the win. Even when I was 14 I found the Venis and Godfather acts to be obnoxious, trashy, and pandering. The acts haven't aged any better since. At least it didn't go too long. (1.5/5)

Next up - The Headbangers vs. Golga and Kurrgan of The Oddities. Who thought this would be worthy of a PPV? I'm not even sure this would be worthy of an episode of Sunday Night Heat. Unlike the opener, this one does go too long - a whopping 7 minutes. I enjoy seeing Golga work just because I'm a John Tenta fan, but this is considerably less fun and less heated than The Oddities' showcase match at SummerSlam against Kaientai. (1/5)

Owen Hart got a huge reaction from the Vancouver crowd as he made his way down the aisle to take on Steve Blackman. I was surprised to see that, already in December 98', Owen was doing Blue Blazer stuff as I misremembered that storyline happening in the spring of 99'. Anyway, Owen Hart takes some outstanding bumps in this match, including one on the arena floor that looks absolutely gnarly. I wouldn't necessarily call this a carry job because Blackman is decent enough, but the best parts of this match are 100% the work of Owen. Sadly, he does not seem super enthused to even be involved in this match. I'm not sure it was the wisest decision to have these guys go 10 minutes and the finish is a real disappointment. Maybe the way this was booked is what made Owen seem so dissatisfied? (1.5/5)

The show continues with six-man tag action as The Brood (Edge, Christian, and Gangrel) take on The JOB Squad of Al Snow, Hardcore Holly, and 2 Cold Scorpio. There is a ton of effort shown by everyone involved, but its not enough to save this match from a crowd that couldn't care less and had no emotional investment. Some of 2 Cold's offense is particularly good, but there was simply no way he was going to get over in 1998 without a decent gimmick and stronger mic skills (neither of which he was blessed with). (2/5)

The next match was billed as a Striptease Match - Jeff Jarrett fighting to keep his Debra's clothes on and Goldust competing to stay clothed himself. The crowd is very into this match and a ton of that credit has to go to the stipulation as they bite on every single Goldust nearfall and boo every time Jarrett looks like he may steal the victory. In terms of in-ring action, these two were also among the best hands that the company had on their roster at the time so they cut a good pace and tell a logical story. I thought the false finish involving Debra whacking Goldust with a chair was poorly timed, but I'd put the onus on Debra. Jarrett ends up getting the W with a not-so-great Stroke (though I believe it was called something else at this point), but instead of Goldust having to strip, Commissioner Shawn Michaels shows up and DQs Jarrett (after Jarrett goes to the back). HBK gives a spiel and the fans get what they want (sorta) as Debra strips down to a bikini. Before she can take off anything else, the Blue Blazer and Jarrett both come to the ring and cover her up. This was lowest denominator stuff, but at least the wrestling was better than most of the matches that came before it. (2.5/5)

Whoever thought Ken Shamrock and Bossman vs. The New Age Outlaws needed to go for damn near 20 minutes should be tried for war crimes. Just an absolute slog of a match built around multiple front face-locks and Road Dogg playing the face-in-peril for extended heat segments from Shamrock and Bossman. The crowd isn't interested and Shawn Michaels, who is back at ringside, seems even less so (aside from the few times he chastises Billy Gunn on the outside like a worse version of Johnny Polo). I'm surprised that the audience didn't boo these guys out of the building, but the Outlaws were over enough as part of DX that, while the match deserved it, they skate by from the goodwill. Shamrock and Bossman were a bad pairing, which is unfortunate because Bossman, in his prime, was a very dependable worker. By this point, he seems perfectly fine just going through the motions rather than developing real chemistry with his teammate. Among the worst 20 minutes I've spent watching wrestling this year. Oh, and the finish is a bit screwy as Shawn's interference backfires. How clever. A half-point awarded for a huge one-armed hiptoss slam that Shamrock hits at one point. (0.5/5)

The WWE Championship is on the line in the next match - Mankind vs. The Rock. At Survivor Series, Mankind had been screwed out of the WWE Championship in somewhat of a double-turn angle that saw Foley, who believed he was Vince's "pick," end up on the receiving end of a "Montreal Screwjob sequel" finish that saw the Corporation's true choice - The Rock - turn heel. By this point, Foley was a babyface, but he was still playing it a bit as a tweener whose only real goal was to become WWE Champion (even if that meant sucking up to the boss). Before the bout begins, Foley attempts to "settle things" with Vince without having to actually fight for the Championship (not necessarily a very heroic babyface thing to do). The pre-match business is as confusing as it sounds and seems like just a way to stretch the show out, but things get much better once the bell rings. This is definitely not the best Mankind/Rock match ever, but its certainly the best match on this show, in large part due to the effort by Mankind, who takes one of his trademark insane bumps from the top rope all the way to the floor at one point. It is a sickening, sickening bump for a guy his size, which is why you can still watch a Mankind match from 20 years ago and get a visceral reaction from it more than, say, seeing countless smaller athletes performing similar moves today. The Rock holds his own, but was not quite fully there yet, still missing a few key signature moves that would soon make him a star nearly as big as Austin (and, eventually, arguably even bigger). I didn't like the finish too much as Foley ends up getting the W - even Vince declares him the winner - but Vince denies the title change because The Rock "passed out" from the Mandible Claw and was never pinned or submitted, which is just an awful "gotcha" finish. I get it - Vince, as the company owner, has the power to do whatever he wants...but there has to be some sort of internal consistency to having that power or else Vince could just declare winners and losers at any time whenever he wanted and there would be no reason his nemeses - like Austin or Foley or whoever - could ever win a match (because Vince would always have the power to just reverse the decision). Anyway...Foley brought the goods here but I wouldn't consider this "must see." (3/5)

Main event time - Steve Austin vs. The Undertaker in a Buried Alive Match. Austin has gone on record with saying that he and Taker never had a truly great match on PPV despite several very good angles and segments over the years. Their SummerSlam match was marred by a mid-match concussion suffered by Stone Cold and this one, while perfectly okay, is still just okay. Saddled with a stipulation that prevents them from really working a true back-and-forth match, most of the action occurs in the aisleway and in the crowd. I mean, there's almost no reason they do any of the match in the ring aside from the fact that not doing so would've likely led to huge boos from the paying audience. Austin and Taker do some good brawling and the crowd is very into it, but a match like this lives or dies by its finish because the premise. Here, we get the expected appearance of Kane - who had been feuding with Taker for over a year at this point - as he pops out of the burial grounds after some overdramatic pyro while Austin is off-screen forcing some unseen backstage worker to bring out a backhoe/excavator. It takes a Stone Cold Stunner and then a Tombstone Piledriver (how fitting) to put Taker in the ground and then its a couple of minutes of just watching him get buried before Hebner calls for the bell and declares Austin the winner. Its that unfortunate-but-necessary lag between Taker getting tombstoned and visually losing the match and the backhoe doing its job and Hebner declaring a winner that kills much of the celebratory mood for me (though Austin was so over with the live crowd that just seeing him swig beers earned massive pops). As a "spectacle match," this was fine, but nothing more than that. (2.5/5)

I wouldn't call In Your House: Rock Bottom the worst WWE pay-per-view ever - if nothing else, Mankind/Rock is a solid continuation of their food and serves as a good warm-up to their Royal Rumble match and, generally speaking, the right guys won and lost on this show - but its certainly not as good as something people paid money to see should be. With a pretty putrid 1.81-out-of-5 Kwang Score, only the biggest and least discerning Attitude Era fan could possibly enjoy this.

FINAL RATING - DUDleyville

ECW Anarchy Rulz 2000

ECW Anarchy Rulz 2000

St. Paul, MN - October 2000

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, the ECW World Heavyweight Champion was Justin Credible, the Television Champion was Rhyno, and the ECW World Tag Team Champions were Little Guido and Tony Mamaluke, the FBI. 

After the usual introduction by Joey Styles and Joel Gertner, Anarchy Rulz 2000 kicks off with Danny Doring and Roadkill vs. Christian York and Joey Matthews. Matthews would go on to greater fame as Joey Mercury in the WWE. Doring and Roadkill had gotten over as a babyface tag team with the ECW crowd and, having now watched most of their PPV matches, they are a much better tandem than I initially thought. This is a "good enough" match, but there's not a ton of heat because both teams are babyfaces. After the match ends, Simon Diamond and Johnny Swinger show up to beat down the good guys. Nothing special and a bit underwhelming considering some of the hot openers ECW had put on in their previous few shows. (2/5)

Next up - Joel Gertner vs. Cyrus...only instead of that match, it somehow turns into Kid Kash vs. EZ Money. EZ Money was backed up by Chris Hamrick, Julio Dinero, and Elektra. The story here is that if Kash (selected by ECW authority Spike Dudley) can beat Money, then Gertner will get his match with Cyrus. That sort of stipulation always telegraphs who is going to win, but what really mattered here was that Kid Kash got to shine again. At this point, he was one of the few "must see" talents in ECW and it is a bit remarkable that he never really got a major push in the WWE as his offense looked terrific. I wouldn't go out of my way to see this match, but it is above average and Kash's double springboard front-flip splash to the outside is an excellent spot. EZ Money stood out less, but as the heel, that could be expected. A solid 10-minute bout. (3/5)

After the match, the heels beat up on Kash and Spike Dudley, so out comes The Sandman to a huge pop. The Sandman canes the bad guys and then, in a scene that certainly wouldn't fly in the WWE of today, pours a can of beer all over Elektra's chest and rubs Gertner's face in it. This leads to Cyrus vs. Gertner, which isn't really much of a match but also doesn't eat alot of time and ends with another crowd-pleasing moment. I liked that Gertner's body was painted like Kamala's (he had been hinting that he'd been in training for this match with a legend). Its near impossible to rate a "match" like this because it wasn't designed to be a competitive bout and neither Cyrus or Gertner were capable of actually pulling off anything resembling a real wrestling bout, but the addition of The Sandman made this a fun segment overall. (+1)

With this show going pretty well up till this point, it was time for something shitty: Da Baldiez vs. Balls Mahoney and Chilly Willy. But wait...they go less than 10 minutes, there are two cool hardcore spots in the crowd, and Balls Mahoney absolutely brains DeVito with a chair, so this is not nearly as bad as I expected. Maybe Da Baldiez were somewhat competent when they weren't saddled with having to carry New Jack? Now, to be clear, there is still not much psychology or realism in this match as seriously violent spots are barely sold (including Mahoney getting staple-gunned in the eye, standing up to take two chairshots, and only then, after the match, selling that he might be half-blind), but ECW, at its best, was always a bit of a variety show and - as we'll see with the next two bouts - this match fit nicely as the show's requisite super-violent "garbage" match. (2/5)

After some interviews (and Lou E. Dangerously attacking Joel Gertner), we get Steve Corino (with Dawn and Jack Victory in tow) against CW Anderson. Both guys were ostensibly heels but Corino was showing glimmers of being a babyface as he had proven himself to be one of the most entertaining acts in ECW and had also stopped being 100% "old school." I'm not sure Corino ever became a full-fledged good guy in his ECW run, but this match shows that he absolutely could've been as he shows a ton of fire, taking a beating but never "dying," and some of his offense is wonderful, crowd-pleasing stuff (an atomic drop into the spine of a chair, devastating suplexes, cribbing Dusty Rhodes' Bionic Elbow but putting his own spin on it). Speaking of CW Anderson, he really shined here too and while his gimmick is pretty cringe, he does do a good job of getting heat. This match is about as good a match can be without necessarily being "must see." (3.5/5)

Rhyno defended the ECW Television Champion against Rob Van Dam in the next contest. The story going into this match was that RVD had never actually lost the title (he had had to vacate it due to injury). RVD was immensely popular in ECW and, at the time, his mix of martial arts-inspired kicks and risky high-flying made him stand out considerably, but his matches tended to be criticized for being "spotfests" and lacking much logic (long-term selling, escalation of offense, lots of weapons-based offense that would hurt him just as much as his opponent). Here, though, he has to adjust his style away from flashy exchanges and the match is all the better for it. This is still an ECW match - weapons, brawling in the crowd, piledriver through tables onto concrete floors only eliciting a nearfall - but it does have some structure and escalation. The finish was a bit too wonky as Justin Credible showed up to distract Van Dam (I'm not sure if there was a storyline reason for this or not, it's never really explained on commentary) and while Van Dam hit the Van Terminator, Rhyno pulled Alfonso in front at the last possible moment to take the chair shot. Rhyno got to retain the title and RVD got to look strong, but I would've preferred a cleaner ending and the audience clearly hated seeing the most popular guy on the roster take a screwjob loss. (3/5)

Main event time - Justin Credible vs. Jerry Lynn for Credible's ECW World Championship. I'm not sure why Credible gets an extended entrance - or even why the challenger comes out second (aside from this match being in front of Lynn's hometown crowd) - but that's how things start. Credible and Lynn do some good, solid wrestling to start things out. Nothing too offensive, but nothing special. Things pick up once the action spills out to the floor and we get more involvement from Francine, who gets a ton of heat, but in an effort to deliver a World Championship/main event-caliber match, Credible's "heat" segment goes way too long. The problem here is that while Lynn was a spectacular wrestler, that was the entirety of his gimmick. Credible, meanwhile, was just a generic heel that did generic, one-note things to draw scorn from the crowd. Then, we get at least 3-4 "swerve" finishes including a ref bump, an evil referee refusing to make a fair count, multiple failed fast counts (if the referee is so corrupt, why does he even acknowledge Lynn's kickouts?), and, finally, a run-in from New Jack that evens the odds and allows Lynn to get the W. Lynn's victory is a feel-good moment for the fans and it was a wise move to let the show end in such a joyous fashion, but I really wish he had captured the title from a more interesting villain and not the generally unremarkable Credible. (3/5)

With an overall Kwang Score of 2.92-out-of-5, the 2000 edition of Anarchy Rulz was one of the more consistently good ECW shows from start to finish. Unfortunately, though, it lacked a single match that was truly great, though it is often the case - especially for ECW pay-per-views - that those type of matches tend to happen on shows that are far more hit-and-miss. This show may not blow you away at any point, but it also won't bore you for long stretches. The feel-good ending also helps an otherwise so-so main event. If you're at all a fan of latter-day ECW, this is the show to check out, even if its clear that the company was on its last legs by this point. 

FINAL RATING - Watch It

WWE Great American Bash 2004

WWE Great American Bash 2004

Norfolk, VA - June 2004

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, the World Heavyweight Champion was Chris Benoit, the WWE Champion was Eddie Guerrero, Randy Orton was the Intercontinental Champion, the United States Champion was John Cena, the Cruiserweight Champion was Rey Mysterio Jr., La Resistance (Rob Conway and Sylvain Grenier) were the World Tag Team Champions on Raw, The Dudley Boys were the WWE Tag Team Champions on SmackDown, and Trish Stratus was the Women's Champion. 

The pre-show video package is ridiculous, but also sets the stage well for a show that mixes so many somewhat weird, very 2004 storylines: Cena in Word Life mode but already showing lots of the character he'd become within the next year, The Undertaker feuding with Paul Heyman (and the Dudley Boys??), and JBL in the role of the company's top heel seemingly out of nowhere (he'd still been doing APA shtick just a few months prior to this show). 

Speaking of John Cena, he defends his United States Championship against three other superstars to start the show: Booker T, Rob Van Dam, and Rene Dupree. Before the match, Cena delivers one of his super-cringey raps. I'm not sure if what The Acclaimed do in 2023 is that much better, but its better enough. This match was an off-shoot from the on-going Kurt Angle/John Cena feud. At the time, Cena was not known for being a great in-ring worker, but he wasn't getting "You Can't Wrestle!" chants directed towards him like he would in 05'/06' either. This match is worked a bit oddly as Cena gets dumped to the floor early and then disappears, turning the match into essentially a 1-on-1 bout between RVD and Dupree for awhile as Booker T just watches from the floor. Working the match "gauntlet style," with only two guys working at any given time and the other two just watching from ringside - "waiting for an opportunity" - is an interesting choice and, arguably, a bold one as it blatantly exposes that, in your typical multi-man match, the same structure exists but the wrestlers at least pretend to be selling on the outside. Anyway, once Van Dam gets eliminated, Dupree and Booker work on Cena and the match becomes more of your "traditional" triple threat match as the heels' arguing ends up costing them the advantage. Booker T eliminates Dupree after he eats an F-U/Attitude Adjustment and then gets to work on Cena, applying a headlock to try to wear him down. Cena rallies and hits the Five Knuckle Shuffle but its not enough and the battle continues with these two going into a pretty nifty finishing sequence that sees Booker almost win with a roll-up before eventually falling prey to the AA. Not a "must see" match or anything like that, but not a bad opener and a good spotlight match for Cena, a guy who, within a year, would be the top guy in the company. (3/5)

Backstage, Kurt Angle, who had become SmackDown General Manager somehow, is with Charlie Haas and Jackie Gayda, hyping up his new protege, Luther Reigns. Angle sets up a match between the two for later in the evening.

Cut to - Sable cutting a promo in a hot tub. Sable is obviously a beautiful woman, but her return in 2004 was weird and so was her delivery in this short segment.

Back to the ring we go for Haas vs. Reigns (Luther, not Roman). Reigns had potential as he had size, muscles, and wasn't *that* awful in the ring. Haas is clearly the better worker and is doing much of the heavy lifting of keeping this match on track, but its not as if Luther Reigns is lost out there. If anything, I wish Reigns was a bit more dominant and leaned more on his power advantage rather than bothering with submission holds. Haas deserved to get offense in and showcase his own talents, but Reigns would've looked stronger by winning a shorter match (and it also would've helped hide the fact that he looked totally gassed by minute 5). Decent enough for what it was, but not a PPV worthy match. (2/5)

JBL cuts a promo, talking about his match against Eddie Guerrero at Judgment Day and how it led to tonight's Texas Bullrope rematch.

Chavo Guerrero challenged Rey Mysterio Jr. for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship in the next bout. As expected, these two worked a crisp pace with lots of counters, reversals, and fast-paced action. I liked how both men targeted their opponent's arms and consistently went back to it to build a story, with Mysterio's offense looking particularly fierce and more vicious than one usually gets from him. Chavo wisely changed gears after dropkicking Mysterio off the apron and to the floor, targeting Rey's knee instead once he saw that he was hurt. Guerrero's control was really good but this crowd just didn't care as much as this match deserved, getting quiet at times despite the excellent effort and performances by both competitors. I loved one particular moment when Chavo went to whip Rey into the corner and Mysterio couldn't even make it to the ring before his knee buckled, leading to a textbook standing suplex from Chavo. From there, Chavo kicked out Mysterio's legs from under him as he went to the ropes, causing Mysterio to do multiple backflips. These spots popped the crowd but, moments later, they'd get quiet again and I'm not exactly sure why as, again, everything Mysterio and Chavo did was executed so well (especially Mysterio's hope spots). Rey ended up in the Tree of Woe but when Chavo went for a splash in the corner, Mysterio dodged him and then hit a huge sitting senton from the top rope all the way to the floor (which did cause a few audible audience members to chant "Holy Shit"). Back to the top rope they went, both men ending up landing hard, face first back into the ring. Mysterio continued to sell knee damage as he went into a series of signature offensive moves, Chavo eventually cutting him off with a backdrop to the apron. Mysterio hit another seated senton but only got 2 and ended up getting dropped by a Gory Bomb. Chavo only got a 2-count from it and the war raged on as Chavo stomped on Mysterio's left knee. An enziguiri from Rey led to a 619, but Rey's attempt at a West Coast Pop led to Guerrero catching him in a half crab, the submission drawing a huge reaction from the audience. Mysterio eventually got to the bottom rope and Chavo was forced to break the hold as Chavo drew loud "Chavo Sucks" chants from the Norfolk crowd. Chavo went for another Gory Bomb, but this time Mysterio countered it into a sunset flip and got the 3. A hotter crowd could've made this maybe an all-time great but, for what it was, it was an excellent match and maybe even the best one of Chavo's career (that I've seen). (4/5)

Back in the hot tub, Billy Kidman, Funaki, and Jamie Noble are hanging with Torrie Wilson. This was just an excuse to see Torrie Wilson in a bikini. Her and Kidman were married at the time.

Kenzo Suzuki (with Hiroko) vs. Billy "The Ass Man" Gunn next. This was one of Gunn's last matches in the WWE before getting released and going to TNA. I was surprised to learn he'd lasted so long with the company after the Billy & Chuck run, to be honest. Anyway, Suzuki had a cool entrance, but its fairly clear that he was just not very good in-ring and some of his offense is outright goofy. Billy is competent enough to make this work, but I'm not surprised that Suzuki didn't make it very far in the company despite the strong push. Suzuki's exaggerated facial expressions and mannerisms are just too goofy to have ever worked and building your matches around nerve holds didn't exactly make for thrilling matches. Suzuki hit a nifty Shining Wizard (which was a bit of a shocker) but only got 2 off it before Gunn came back with an equally great-looking tilt-a-whirl powerslam. Gunn called for the Fameasser, but Suzuki resisted it and then hit a reverse DDT-into-his-knee, which was not as good a finish as the Shining Wizard he hit. Not a PPV-worthy match. (1.5/5)

Backstage, Paul Heyman has Paul Bearer tied up and gagged. Again, watching a show like this really is a trip compared to what the WWE was like even just 3-4 years later (when things got noticeably more PG) and, to a lesser extent, what it was like 3-4 years earlier when the roster was much more star-studded and not divided into separate brands, which is the real reason why acts like Luther Reigns and Kenzo Suzuki ended up on PPV despite not even being successful TV characters. 

Sable took on Torrie Wilson in the next match. I thought this would've been somewhat of a squash with Torrie Wilson getting the W (as Sable would be leaving the company in August), but Sable controls most of the match, actually applies a few wrestling holds, and gets the sneaky pinfall victory due to the referee not being in correct position to see that Sable was not only pulling Wilson's tights but that Wilson's shoulders were nowhere near the mat. This match also went 6 minutes, which was at least 2 minutes longer than I expected. This felt more like something you might see on TV than a PPV-worthy contest, but isn't that true for a bunch of this show? (1.5/5)

Backstage, Dawn Marie is by the jacuzzi and talking with Rene Dupree. Nunzio (Little Guido of ECW fame) shows up with Johnny Stamboli (aka Johnny The Bull aka Rellik) in tow. Hilarity does not ensue.

Back to the ring we go for Mordecai vs. Hardcore Holly. Mordecai was a bizarre character portrayed by Kevin Thorn who had come to the WWE to "purify" it by taking out people he believed to be sinners. Its not clear what Holly's sin was, but he was Mordecai's first target. The rumor was that Mordecai was being set up for a major push as a potential foe for the Undertaker but that never came to pass. I wouldn't call Holly an uneven wrestler, but I would say that I've never found him to be good at knowing his role. While it may not have taken much to overshadow Mordecai, Holly doesn't seem to go out of his way to make the newcomer look particularly strong. Instead, its Holly's offense that looks most devastating and its Holly's toughness that comes across rather than anything special about Mordecai. Is that Holly's fault? Maybe not...but it certainly doesn't get the job done if the purpose of this match was to establish Mordecai as anything more than a lower midcarder. (1/5)

Alright, here we go with the first our double main event - Eddie Guerrero defending the WWE Championship against John Bradshaw Layfield in a Bullrope Match. At the previous SmackDown PPV, Guerrero had bled an all-time gusher and had gotten himself disqualified against JBL to retain the title. This led to JBL demanding a rematch under a stipulation of his own choice. The rules of this match are fairly straightforward, though it takes a minute for Tony Chimel to get through them. JBL and Eddie Guerrero seem to be having a blast destroying each other in this match, pulling out all of the classic Bullrope Match tropes from when this sort of stipulation was commonplace in 'rasslin' territories across the southwest. Both guys wisely tag corners in the early going to establish the rules of the match before this gets into the violence. JBL gets cut on the outside early, which gives Guerrero a target for his offense. I really liked JBL's crafty tactics to prevent Guerrero from tagging the corners throughout the contest as they were highly effective and draw huge reactions from the crowd. JBL eventually gains the upperhand by pulling Guerrero from the top rope all the way into the Spanish Announce Table on the outside in a spot that draws a loud "Holy Shit!" chant from the crowd. The table doesn't break so JBL powerbombs him through it. This leads to the final struggle as Eddie prevents JBL from tagging all three using everything he's got, including hooking his whole body around the bottom rope (just as JBL had done earlier). The finish sees both guys tagging 3 corners and then, as JBL is about to get the fourth, Eddie launches himself into him with a splash and tags the corner himself. The crowd goes wild and Eddie's music plays, but his celebration is cut short as Kurt Angle demands they go to instant replay and its clear that JBL crashed into the corner before Eddie tagged it, thus making him the winner. Eddie's disappointment and then the crowd chanting for him is a nice way to end things, but this was a definite downer and, at the time, a somewhat controversial booking decision as JBL was not seen by many as a credible main event-level guy. I think its safe to say that, with this match and their Judgment Day match and a highly-rated SmackDown match I've never seen, Eddie was easily JBL's best opponent. Maybe not "must see," but not far from it. (3.5/5)

Main event time - The Undertaker vs. The Dudleys in a 2-on-1 handicap match. The story coming into this match was that Paul Heyman wanted the Undertaker to join forces with him and had kidnapped Paul Bearer in order to force the Undertaker to become his minion. In order to make sure the Undertaker "did the right thing," he had brought the Dudleys into the mix and also put Bearer in a large glass case that would slowly be filled with concrete until the Undertaker agreed to join Heyman. Its not necessarily clear what Heyman was going to do with the Undertaker as his new monster, but it didn't really matter because having monsters at his disposal was kinda Heyman's shtick in the years between 2002 and 2004 (starting with Lesnar and then Big Show). Anyway...the Dudleys were the WWE Tag Team Champions, but their run in the WWE was coming to a close as they had basically done it all in the company and didn't have any mountains left to climb (they'd be released and head over to TNA about a year after this). There was lots of starts-and-stops to this match, but I wouldn't necessarily say this more of an angle than a match because there was quite a bit of action too. The Dudleys knew their role and bumped and sold for the Deadman when they needed to. The crowd clearly wanted to see the Dudleys bust out the tables - which could've been a cool way to lead to the finish - but, instead, this is a straight-up match and eventually The Undertaker gets the relatively clean win when Paul Heyman distracts Bubba. In a relatively famous moment, The Undertaker ends up burying Paul Bearer in the concrete after the match anyway, which was a nice way to "kill off" the Bearer character. A bit boring, but not too terrible. (2.5/5)

Great American Bash 04' is maybe the most 04' PPV of all 04' (I say "maybe" because I honestly haven't seen every PPV from 04'). The JBL/Guerrero match is, at the very least, very good and the opening contest provides an ample spotlight from then-rising superstar John Cena, but its clear from the rest of the card just how thin the SmackDown roster had become after the departure of Lesnar, Angle's injury, and both Chris Benoit and Edge leaving the Blue Brand to go to Raw (one via the Rumble and the other via March's Draft). With Booker T and RVD in need of some rehab and not seeming too high on Vince's priority list for big pushes, much of this show is built around a trio of failed gimmicks - the young Frenchman Rene Dupree (who gets more screen time than Cena), the bizarre Mordecai, and the foreign heel throwback Suzuki, none of whom ended up being remotely successful. Though the wrestling on this show may not be riveting, it is at least interesting to see the crap the WWE was throwing at the wall at the time. With a Kwang Score of 2.38-out-of-5 but at least two matches in the good-to-great range (the Bullrope and Cruiserweight Championship matches), this show earns a...

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

WWE St. Valentine's Day Massacre

WWE St. Valentine's Day Massacre

Memphis, TN - February 1999

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, the WWE Champion was Mankind, the Women's Champion was Sable, Jeff Jarrett and Owen Hart held the WWE Tag Team Championships, the Intercontinental Champion was Ken Shamrock, X-Pac was the European Champion, and Duane Gill was the recognized Light Heavyweight Champion. 

St. Valentine's Day Massacre starts off with Goldust vs. Bluedust (aka the Blue Meanie) in what was essentially a squash match that goes under 3 minutes. Goldust looked better in these 3 minutes than I remember him being in 99', but by this point, he had fallen very low on the card and the Goldust character needed something new and fresh that I'd argue Dustin didn't find until he started teaming with Booker T several years later. (1/5)

Al Snow defended the WWE Hardcore Championship against Hardcore Holly in the next match. I feel like these two fought this same match multiple times in 99' and 2000 and I was never into any of them. There's all sorts of weapon shots in the match, including a stiff chair shot early, and they end up all the way in the river at one point, but this style of wrestling isn't my cup of tea. I'll give credit where its due and admit that there was escalation of violence as the match wore on - from outside the ring, to the back, to the riverbank, and then onto the concrete - but this sort of match makes 10 minutes feel like 20 to me. (1.5/5)

Talking about a match going half as long as it feels - Mideon took on The Big Bossman in the next match. I have no clue why this match was put on PPV or why Mideon was able to get any offense in at all. Bossman should've dominated this match to make him look strong for his impending Hell in a Cell match against The Undertaker, but instead, he and Mideon have an actual wrestling match which, predictably, garners chants of "Boring" from the crowd before it wraps up. After the match, the Ministry comes down, beats up on Bossman, and then abducts him. It was a cool angle, but it should've happened after a much shorter match that made Bossman look like a real threat. Also, this felt like a heel/heel match even if the Ministry were "tweeners" at this point. (0.5/5)

In a second heel/heel match in a row, Owen Hart and Jeff Jarrett defended the WWE Tag Team Championships against D'Lo Brown and Mark Henry (who was fully into his Sexual Chocolate gimmick). I'm guessing that Brown and Henry were supposed to be the babyfaces because Hart and Jarrett were more dastardly, but they'd spent so much time in the Nation of Domination that it was hard to see them in that light (and the crowd clearly didn't). Brown and Henry are backed up by Ivory, who is cast as the equalizer against Debra McMichael. Their interactions in this match are really poor. Owen, Jeff, and D'Lo were all fine in the match and Henry's weaknesses (he was still just a few years into his career) were covered well, but this was not a strong match or anything worth seeing even if you're the world's biggest Owen fan. (1.5/5)

The next match is for the Intercontinental Championship and features Billy Gunn as the guest referee - Ken Shamrock defending the title against Val Venis, who had seduced Shamrock's kayfabe sister, Ryan. This is one of the more well-known and tawdry storylines from the Attitude Era and, in the time of a somewhat nascent internet, one that was also dissected quite a bit online as fans first wondered if Ryan was his actual sister (she was not) and then, over the next several weeks/months, learned that Ryan was, in reality, dating Ken Shamrock and that Shamrock reportedly turned down a Vince-proposed angle in which it would be revealed that Ken and Ryan had an incestuous relationship on-screen (or that Ken Shamrock lusted after his own sister). Regardless, the Intercontinental Championship and its importance took a major backseat to all the storyline nonsense. Venis was over with the crowd - or at least his entrance and in-ring salutation ("Hello Ladies!") was - but this match had zero heat by minute 4 or 5. The audience doesn't quite shit on it, but the indifference is palpable. I liked Billy Gunn's purposefully-bad refereeing, but a little goes a long way on that and, in a match went 15+ minutes, it got a bit tiring. I'm going to go ahead and give an extra point for the Ken and Ryan exchange on the outside as, among my friends, Ken Shamrock audibly instructing his "sister" became one of our longest-running in-jokes, a meme 20+ years before such a thing existed. Aside from that moment, that comes fairly close to the end of the match, this is one I'd actively avoid. (2/5)

Chyna and Kane take on DX's Triple H and X-Pac in the next contest. The Chyna/Kane/Triple H saga, which saw Chyna turn on DX to join the Corporation in late January/early February (?) and then led to a double-turn at WrestleMania (where Triple H would also join the Corporation and Kane would effectively be thrown out) doesn't make any sense if you plot it all out week-to-week. One would have to believe that Triple H and Chyna, who were secretly pulling a long con on X-Pac and Kane for no apparent reason, would willfully hurt eachother and physically fight for weeks and weeks just to fool their tag team partners/opponents/the fans so that they (specifically Triple H) could...win a random, non-title, no-stakes wrestling match against Kane at WrestleMania? But on this night, in front of this crowd, and without having to worry about any of it making sense, these four performers put on an absolutely great match. If the previous 15-minute bout had zero heat, this one has the crowd going crazy from beginning to end. I loved how dominate Kane was at times and that it often took double-teams to bring him down. This was Kane-as-Jason Voorhees, the best role he ever got to play but not always one that I found riveting. Here, it works. I love how Triple H sold for him. I thought X-Pac did a wonderful job holding the match together in certain ways and him striking Shane (who was on commentary) was a great touch. This one never got boring, never really slowed down, but also wasn't so wild that it could be considered a "spotfest" or rushed. They milked the Chyna/HHH moments perfectly and the crowd exploded when he finally got some offense on her. The finish was the right level of messy, though I do wish it had been executed a bit "tighter" as Triple H had to sell the chokeslam for at least 1-2 beats too long in my eyes. All in all, though, a really, really strong match and a hidden gem that I've seen very few people ever mention as a great - and somewhat historic (the commentators note that its the first time a woman has ever competed against men in a match that wasn't "mixed tag") - contest. (4/5)

The next match saw Mankind defend his WWE World Championship against The Rock in a Last Man Standing match. Its been so long since I've read Foley's first two books that I can't quite remember what was going on backstage at the time and if his feud with The Rock had always been designed to be multiple matches (with multiple title changes). On one hand, their familiarity with each other created a dynamic and chemistry that resulted in some excellent TV. On the other hand, after the brutality of the I Quit match they had at the Royal Rumble the previous month and the cinematic quality of their Halftime Heat match (which, if I'm not mistaken, was fought under Falls Count Anywhere rules), there wasn't much territory on the hardcore map that these two hadn't already traversed (its also worth noting that, earlier in the show, Al Snow and Hardcore Holly had also had a lengthy match with loads and loads of weaponry and atypical locales). Still, Mankind puts in a strong effort to deliver on the promise of the match - which was basically impossible after what they'd done at the Rumble - and takes at least two absolutely nasty bumps in this match. The first is a nasty back suplex on the concrete floor as they brawl their way through the arena. The second is a back body drop off of one of the announce tables that, in a scene similar to what he and HBK had done at Mind Games, his legs land awkwardly on a number of chairs. Its a terrific bump that isn't quite captured as well as it could've/should've been by the cameras (and one that I'd completely forgot about, but won't likely forget anytime soon). The Rock's performance leans much heavier on the comedy shtick as he sits down for some commentary at one point and sings "SmackDown Hotel" mid-match, but when he has to bring the fire, he does. I wish the commentary team had noted how much his antics were actually costing him as, for example, when impersonating Elvis, his singing effectively distracts Earl Hebner from counting Foley down. The finish was a legit shocker as I had a false memory of The Rock leaving this one with his arm raised. All in all, an above-average match but one that got forgotten over time because of the higher profile and higher level of brutality of their previous three matches. (3/5)

Main event time - "Stone Cold" Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon in a Steel Cage. This is about as one-sided as a main event could be, which made sense considering that Austin was the ultimate ass-kicker and McMahon, despite looking like a million bucks, was a cowardly blowhard. The performances of both guys are on-point and the crowd eats up everything that Austin does, but I wouldn't call this a "great" match in that there's really not much suspense to any of it. In a weird way, as much as it makes 100% sense that Austin would completely control and outsmart McMahon from beginning to end, the fact that McMahon has seemingly no backup plan or help from the multiple wrestlers he has working under him in the Corporation (not to mention the Stooges or his son Shane), lacks that same level of logic. This match is mostly remembered, though, for two things: the tremendous bump that Vince McMahon takes off the cage and through a table and the debut of Paul Wight (who would be dubbed "The Big Show" within a couple weeks of this show). The Vince bump is a cool spot, but personally, I was more impressed with the smart ways they stretched this match out by having Austin essentially refuse to win multiple times - first by stating that, because the match had never formally begun, McMahon getting wheeled out on a stretcher "didn't count" and, later, by having Austin return to the ring multiple times when he saw that Vince was not yet down for the count and still flipping him off. I've seen some people call this an all-time classic, but this falls short to me just because of the lack of drama or suspense. (3.5/5)

With a Kwang Score of 2.13-out-of-5, St. Valentine's Day Massacre is not a show worth checking out as a whole. However, on the positive side, its very easy to find the parts worth watching: just fast forward to the last 80-90 minutes (and if you time it just right, you'll even catch the wonderful "Slap Me" moment from the otherwise boring Shamrock/Venis match). The DX tag is a ton of fun, the Mankind/Rock Last Man Standing Match is better than you probably remember it being, and the main event - while not quite essential viewing - holds up as an above-average piece of sports-entertainment. Too bad the first half of this show is generally terrible.

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