wrestling / Video Reviews
Dunn’s Countdown To WrestleMania: WrestleMania XV
As with all things wrestling, you can head to Wrestletapes.net and pick this up.
This is the WWF’s first attempt at DVD and let’s just say results are mixed. The video is vastly superior to the WWE DVDs of today with little to no authoring problems. The audio, however, is terrible and the chapter selection is a little screwed up.
This was a result of the bizarre first few months of the Hardcore title that got anyone who touched it over with the crowd. Oddly enough, all three of these guys were darlings to the “smart” crowd — especially Holly! Typical triple threat stuff to start. Two guys team up and then turn on each other. Once they take it to the outside, though, it picks up. Holly suplexes Snow on the outside mats. Snow beats on the other two with a hockey stick. Gunn hits him with a food tray and then breaks the stick over Holly’s back. Snow lowblows him with a broomstick and gets all Jet-Li. Snow clotheslines Holly with the broomstick and beats Gunn down with it. Snow does Poetry in Motion off a chair into Gunn, prompting an ECW chant. He tries again, but Holly gets out of the way. Al grabs Head and levels both guys. He sets up a table in the corner. He and Holly tease a corner whip to the table, but Billy Gunn WHACKS Holly over the head and sends Snow through the table. Gunn gets the Fameasser on Snow to a chair. Holly hits him with a chair and covers Snow for the win and the hardcore title. Goofy garbage fun. *3/4
Ivory is sporting a bandage from her cigar burn by Terri Runnels. Don’t ask. I don’t care what people say, Test was really cool during this stage of his career. He has an interesting shirt that reads, “Guns don’t kill people. I kill people.” Of course, Columbine was a few weeks away so you wouldn’t see that again. Test clotheslines Owen out of the ring, setting up D’Lo and Jarrett. D’Lo hits him with a flying forearm as the crowd chants “Nugget” at Owen. Test comes in and gets a gutwrench powerbomb for two. See, that’s a rookie mistake. That should never be your first move. Owen locks in the Sharpshooter, but D’Lo makes the save. D’Lo with the legdrop on Owen. D’Lo no-sells a knee from Jarrett, but Owen hits him with a spinning wheel kick. D’Lo comes back with a clothesline on both men. Jarrett gets caught with the Rydien Bomb, but Owen makes the save. Debra and Ivory get into it on the outside. D’Lo goes for the Running Powerbomb, but Owen comes off the top and missile dropkicks him. Jarrett rolls into a jackknife for the win. D’Lo and Test get into it because Test was on the outside with Debra, Ivory and PMS. Too short to be worth much, but they did manage to pack a lot in there. **
Gorilla Monsoon is one of the judges and looks just horrible. He wouldn’t last much longer. Gunn looks a lot like Randy Orton here. Butterbean catches him with a right and staggers him. He moves in and knocks Gunn down. Gunn says he’s okay, but Butterbean moves in and LEVELS him with a right cross. And that’s the end of Bart Gunn (0:35). [No rating]
They were still looking for a name for Wight here, finally settling on “The Big Show” Paul Wight here after they tried several copyrighted names that couldn’t be used. I guess it worked. Mankind tries to stick and move, but Show knocks him to the outside. Mankind goes for the Kobashi Driver on the outside, but Show pushes him into the ringsteps. To the inside, Show chops him and delivers a Russian Leg Sweep. Show misses a swing. Mankind slaps on the Socko-assisted Mandible Claw. Show keeps fighting out of it, but Mankind keeps reapplying the hold. Show finally picks him up on his back and SPLATS him down to the canvas. To the outside, Show hits him with a chair. Back inside, Show sets up a pair of chairs and chokeslams Mankind through them, drawing the DQ at 6:50. Vince McMahon comes out and yells at Big Show for ruining the master plan. Vince makes the mistake of slapping him, so Wight knocks him out with a right hand. I get the angle, but that doesn’t make the match any better to watch. 3/4*
Ryan is Alicia Webb, playing Ken Shamrock’s sister (and doing him behind the scenes). She wound up screwing Val, Billy Gunn, and Golddust, pissing off Shamrock. Shamrock and Dogg start out. Roadie catches him with a dropkick and tags Golddust. Golddust pounds away and sends Shamrock to Val’s corner. Val tags in but attacks Shamrock for poops and giggles. Lawler gets in a Pat Patterson inside joke about the night he won the Intercontinental Title. Golddust and Val botch a superplex, but Val covers with a bulldog off the top for two. Val and Goldie collide, and they do the thing where Val falls and headbutts his crotch. Road Dogg sneaks in and DDTs Val behind the ref’s back. Golddust rolls into a cover for two. Shamrock distracts the referee, allowing Roadie to come in and jump Val. Road Dog blocks a Northern Lights and gets the Shake, Rattle & Roll. The director gets distracted by the love/hate antics of the Meanie and Ryan. Shamrock locks the anklelock on Val, but he makes the ropes. They take it to the outside and fight up the aisle where they both get counted out. LAME! That leaves Roadie and Goldie. Shamrock destroys them and screams a lot. Ryan accidentally grabs Golddust’s ankle, distracting him. He gets a powerslam, but Roadie rolls through for the win at 9:47. Sloppy, with no flow. Just a bunch of strung-together spots. **
The San Diego Chicken comes out and attacks Kane. It turns out it’s Pete Rose, trying to get revenge from last year. He doesn’t have much luck here either, getting Tombstoned once more. Triple H sneaks in from behind and lowblows him. Kane shoves him away after some mounted punches. Triple H backdrops him to the floor, but Kane lands on his feet and pulls him out. Triple H whips him into the ring steps. Cole talks about how this is a mismatch…in Kane’s favor! Think on that one for a bit. Triple H takes him over and slams his face against the announce table. Kane catches him on the ringsteps and crotches him with a chokeslam on the barrier. Kane rams Hunter’s ribs into the ringpost. Back in, Kane whips Hunter to the turnbuckle. They fight around the ring…yadda, yadda, yadda. Kane throws him over the top and comes out on him with a running plancha! Seriously?! Kane goes up, but Triple H desperately grabs him and tosses him to the center of the ring. A facebuster staggers the big guy, and a high knee puts him down. Chyna makes her way down to ringside. Hunter slips out of a Tombstone. Kane charges with the steel steps, but Hunter kicks them back in his face. Hunter trips him up, and Kane goes facefirst to the steps. Triple H clotheslines him over the top. He goes for the Pedigree on the ringsteps, but Kane backdrops him to the floor. Kane gets the chokeslam, so Chyna gets up on the apron with a chair, asking to finish Hunter off. If you don’t know what happens next, you haven’t watched a Russo-booked show. Yes, Chyna waits for him to turn his back and then SMACKS him with a chairshot for the DQ at 11:33. Hunter and Chyna doubleteam Kane, and Triple H Pedigree’s him into the steel chair. DX reunites, if only for a half hour or so. Match was pretty bad. It amazes me how good Triple H would become a year later. Also, count how many times Michael Cole says “so to speak” on commentary. *
Sable gets on the mic and taunts us with her body. Good god, don’t let her talk. Tori has a sort of Giant Gonzales uni on. I would recap this, but there aren’t any wrestling holds to recap. Sable tosses her to the outside and poses. She jumps onto her off the apron as Cole notes what a great wrestler Sable is. Tori takes her down and punches her in the face. A pair of corner clotheslines send Sable down. Tori catches her with a sunset flip. They get all Flair-Steamboat on us, and Tori accidentally takes out the referee. Tori flips out of the Sablebomb and goes for her own, but Nicole Bass jumps in the ring and press slams her. Sable grinds a little and finishes Tori with the Sablebomb at 5:06. I don’t give negative stars. O
Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco attack X-Pac from behind. Cole says this is about X-Pac’s way of life versus Shane’s way of life. I don’t even know where to begin on that one. Shane celebrates after getting a leapfrog, but X-Pac spinkicks him. Shane avoids the Broncobuster and runs. Test attacks X-Pac from behind and crotches him on the ringpost. X-Pac just makes it in. Shane gets cocky and slaps X-Pac around. He misses the Corporate Elbow, though. Test distracts the ref while Shane gives X-Pac a lowblow. Shane takes Test’s belt and whips X-Pac with it. Shane goes up, but X-Pac dropkicks him and crotches him on the top rope. Test pulls X-Pac to the outside, but the Pac dodges his charge. X-Pac kicks the crap out of Shane and gets the Broncobuster. Test sneaks in and levels him with the Euro belt. Shane chokes him down with a boot but misses the Broncobuster. X-Pac with the spinning wheel kick on Test. He gets the Broncobuster on Test. Triple H runs down and pulls Test out. Chyna distracts the ref long enough for Hunter to sneak in and turn on X-Pac with the Pedigree. Shane covers and gets the win at 8:41. The Corporation beats down X-Pac, until Kane makes the save. This, of course, would lead to X-Pac and Kane forming a successful team for the rest of the year. It’s not that surprising now, but at the time, Shane McMahon putting on a pretty good match was shocking as hell. I could have lived without the overbooking, but this wasn’t bad at all. **3/4
Hell indeed. Bossman’s big advantage was that he wasn’t afraid of Taker because they were inside a cell. They trade blows, and Taker gets two off a clothesline. Bossman comes back with a neckbreaker. Taker takes him down and hammers him. Taker kicks him to the chainlink and rams him into the cell’s post. Bossman chains Taker to the cell and hits him with his nightstick. The cuffs break as Taker falls down. Philly fans love that. Taker gets cut open. Taker hits him with a chairshot and wanders around. He javelins Bossman into the cell. Back in the ring, Taker hits a flying clothesline for two. Taker goes up but can’t hit the Ropewalk forearm because of the roof of the cell. Bossman crotches him, and they slug it out again. Bossman wins but takes a shot to the balls. I guess he really didn’t win, then, did he? Taker mercifully finishes with the Tombstone Piledriver at 9:46. After the match, The Brood makes their WM debut and hang the Bossman from the cell. I’ve heard this called the worst match in Mania history, and while it’s certainly awful, I don’t know if I’d go that far. It’s not even the Undertaker’s worst Mania match. It didn’t help the heat, though, that they were both heels…even in Philly. 1/4*
Commissioner Shawn “Crockett” Michaels interrupts and removes Vince McMahon as special referee. He also screws up his promo, tipping the end of the match. Austin and Rock fight up in the crowd, which seemed to be required from 1997-2000. They fight all the way to the staging area where Austin tosses him into the railing. Austin tries a piledriver, but Rock backdrops him into the lighting track. Austin comes back and stomps his nuts. Austin chokes him with an extension cord and whips Rock into the WrestleMania entrance sign. Back to the announce position, Rock gives him the Aquafina Mist! Austin Snake Eyes him on the ring barrier and gives him an elbow through the Spanish table. Another one breaks the table completely. Austin returns the Aquafina spray, and they get back in the ring. Rock rolls through and wraps Austin’s leg around the ringpost. Back in, Rock gets the Rock Bottom out of nowhere. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Rock grabs a chair, but Austin grabs it away from him. Austin swings but takes out the referee! Austin blocks a chairshot but can’t get the Stunner. Rock wears him out with the chair and takes him down with a chairshot. Tim White comes in and counts two. Rock settles things down with a chinlock. Austin fights out of a chinlock but runs into a Samoan Drop. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Rock gets pissed at the ref and takes him out with a Rock Bottom. He turns and runs into the STONE COLD STUNNER! Rock, of course, does his usual oversell. Earl Hebner runs down. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! McMahon comes back down and distracts Austin in a play on the Royal Rumble finish. McMahon decks Earl Hebner and joins the Rock in stomping Austin down. BUT WAIT! THERE’S MANKIND! Mankind smacks Vince out of the ring and replaces Earl Hebner. Austin gets two off a schoolboy and hits the Thesz Press. Rock comes back with the Rock Bottom. The Corporate Elbow misses, though, and Austin counters another Rock Bottom to the Stunner for the win and the title at 16:52! I’m sure my rating may seem a little high to some, but there is a difference between overbooking and epic booking. This is the one place on the card (and only place) that Russo managed to tie everything he’d been doing for the past few months together in a coherent way. It doesn’t match up with their WMX-7 match, but it’s still a good Mania main event. ****
Final Thoughts: OMG, WTF, LOL, Russo is t3h suXXors when he doesn’t have someone over him to edit his work. Only the European title and World Title matches even hit the average mark. That’s 2/10. Not any kind of good there. But it’s all about angles in 1999, you say. You wanna try deciphering any of the angles based solely on this PPV? I was an avid watcher of Raw and I can barely recall what people were doing with other people and why they were feuding. That just goes to show you that Crash TV worked best in the short term and only in the short term. Oh well, Vince probably doesn’t care about my recommendation, since he’s probably bathing in the cash he made from this show.
Thumbs down here.
J.D. Dunn
