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Csonka Reviews WWE’s Attitude Era Vol. Two DVD Set (Disc Two)
Loading...In the spirit of full disclosure, the following DVD set was provided to 411 by WWE for review purposes.
DISC Two REVIEW
Becoming a Pimp : The Godfather says he and D’Lo were hanging out in the Nation while the Nation was being used to build the Rock. He and D’Lo weren’t even wrestling for months, so he started thinking of a something to do and his wife helped him. He discusses starting with the Godfather hat, changed his clothes and people started calling him a Pimp. His wife came up with the whole Godfather look. He had over 150 vests and tried not to wear the same one twice. He wasn’t a voodoo guy, he wasn’t an MMA fighter, but the Godfather was as close to being himself as he could get (because he does own a strip club).
Godfather & Val Venis vs. Mark Henry & DLo Brown – Rock Bottom • December 13, 1998: Henry and D’Lo has PMS (Jacqueline & Terri Runnels) with them. This went about six minutes, and was painfully bland at times, and simply bad. When D’Lo and Val had some chances I felt it would turn around, but it was way too much Godfather and Mark Henry. This was a PPV opener, and among the dirt worst of them. FYI, it didn’t get better after this on this particular PPV, as the next match was The Headbangers vs. Kurgan & Golga. Let that marinate, may have actually been worse than this match, but they were both pretty shit. [½*]
Triple H w/Chyna vs. Edge – RAW • January 11, 1999: It was fun while it lasted, which was only three minutes. Triple H won clean with the pedigree, the Brood ran in post match as did DX, Road Dogg got the blood bath. [NR Under Three Minutes Long]
Bloodbath: Edge discusses the bloodbaths, and noted that he enjoyed the way that JR described it. Edge said he researched for the role in the Brood and bought a vampire encyclopedia. The Brood was cool and hip wit the best entrance and music. No one liked getting the blood bath. He says it was a big rib because the stuff was always cold, and colder if the stagehands didn’t like you. The Bloodbath would ruin guys gear and boots, so they would wear their worst stuff when they were about to get it. Edge always got to pour the “blood” while Gangrel and Christian would beat down the victim as he had to search under the ring for the bucket of blood.
Kane’s Career on the Line: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Kane – RAW • March 1, 1999: Earlier in the show Vince had fired Kane and was going to send him off to the insane asylum. Fellow corporation member Chyna spoke up for Kane, so Vince made the match with Kane, and according to commentary, Chyna’s careers on the line. Crowd is insanely loud for Austin. For the most part this was the typical, fun, Austin brawl. It’s nothing great, but the crowd loved Austin so much here and was into just about everything he did. Kane… not so much. No fucks were given while Kane was on offense. One thing that annoyed me during this time was reports of guys bitching about selling for Chyna, meanwhile, the biggest star in the business Steve Austin is selling for her with no hesitation. Going back to the crowd being so into Austin, just the TEASE of the stunner blew the roof off of the place, let alone when he hit it. We got a ref bump, more of Chyna’s involvement, “The Big Nasty” Paul White (Big Show) with his beautiful mane of hair, chair shots and low blows. The Big Nasty got involved and took out Kane by accident, so Austin just bailed. Austin did some really good stuff to make you care about Kane, but it went nearly 14-minutes for no finish, which is frustrating. [**½]
Hardcore Championship Match: Hardcore Holly vs. Bad Ass Billy Gunn – RAW • March 15, 1999: This was from the Raw where Russo got all weird and felt that people thought that they knew where everything was going. So usual hardcore wrestler Road Dogg won the IC Title, and Billy Gunn (who was positioned in the IC ranks) won the Hardcore Title on this show. This was also the show where JR has the rebel announce table and Dr. Death standing guard for him as he offered alternate commentary. JR had been off due to a bout with Bells Palsy, and the gimmick they played up was that he wasn’t wanted and had Doc as his bodyguard and crashed the show.
A lot of the typical garbage for these kinds of matches, but damn Billy Gunn sold Holly’s offense like he was Steve Austin and it was fun. The guy did his job well. Holly argue over a near fall, and Gunn press slammed him over the top and he ruined JR’s table. Gunn hit the fameasser on a chair and won the title at about 7-minutes. [**½]
Wild and Crazy Guys: Rock discusses growing up in he business with Triple H. They were wild, and crazy at times on the road. They were up all night, one time they had double protein shakes, and then… 4AM, they went to the gym. That’s how wild they were. By 7AM, they were eating egg whites. He says he loves Triple H, “that’s my guy”.
Handicap Match: The Big Show vs. Triple H & The Rock – RAW • April 5, 1999: This was after Triple H turned on X-Pac to join the Corporation, and the Rock had stolen the Smoking Skull belt from Austin. Show had left the Corporation the week prior, because “he can’t be bought”. Unless they buy your house that is, because then they end up owning you. Show controlled early until Shane and Chyna got involved, which caused a DQ at about 5-minutes. The work was actually good and simple, it worked for what they wanted to accomplish. All four beat down Show, and laid him out with the belt shot. The crowd goes bat shit as the glass breaks and Austin runs wild on Rock and Triple H. Great atmosphere. Shane was a dick and put the image of the Smoking Skull belt on the Titan Tron. Austin has Show pull the Tron down, with wacky sound effects, and Austin then cuts apart the screen on the Tron and drank beers with Show. [**]
Pimpin’ Ain’t Country: Godfather is a big country music fan, and was riding with Taker and Yoko. He played his country in the car; Yoko took the cassette and threw it out the window, and then asked him, “Has anyone told you, you’re black?” He still listened to his country music.
Intercontinental Championship Match: Goldust © vs. Godfather – RAW • April 12, 1999: The Big Bossman was set to challenge for the title, but the Godfather made his way to the ring with the Ho Train and negotiated himself into the title match. Bossman, a hell of a businessman, takes all five ho’s for the entire night. Goldust is in better shape in 2014 than he was here. Once you got past the gimmick, Godfather was shit in the ring. Slow, his timing was off and Goldust had to do a lot to keep this from going off the rails. Goldust removed the turnbuckle pad, and because he did that, he’s the one that got slammed into it. Goldfather wins and captures the title in about 4-long minutes. The ho’s bailed on the Bossman and returned to the ring to celebrate with Godfather. Also, 90% of the ho’s they used back then were very attractive. [*]
The Hardy Boyz vs. Edge & Christian – Shotgun Saturday Night • April 17, 1999: Michael Cole and Jim Cornette on commentary for this one, and are great. They stay focused on the match and the stories surrounding the Brood at this time. What a concept. This is still the Hardy Boyz working in their OMEGA tights, so we’re still pre-Michael Hayes and pre-Team Extreme. They were jobbers the prior year until the surprise win over Kaientai on Heat. We’re a little under three months from their first tag team title victory. Edge & Christian won in a fun little six-minute match that in no way hurt the Hardy’s. [**¾]
Casket Match: The Rock vs. Undertaker – RAW • May 17, 1999: The Rock has a “broken arm” here. This was the time period where Taker was noticeably injured, working through groin injuries I believe. During the match the Union and Ministry brawled backstage. Triple H got involved and crushed Rock’s arm with the sledgehammer. Taker put Rock in the casket and won in 4-minutes. This was more of an angle than a match. They locked Rock in the casket, toppled it over and Triple H destroyed the casket with the sledgehammer. BAH GAWD THERE’S A HUMAN BEING IN THERE DAMNIT! Rock and Triple H had a match scheduled for the PPV that coming weekend. [*]
Intercontinental Championship Match: Jeff Jarrett vs. Test – Sunday Night Heat • June 13, 1999: We got a ref bump two-minutes in, Shamrock ran out and laid out Jarrett with a belly to belly, he rolled Test on him and Test wins the title in under three minutes. [NRUnder Three Minutes]
