EL DANDY~! Tape Review-Comp #2: Great WWE/F TV Matches

-My GOD people loved the Jumbo. But you already knew that. The last 3-in-1 I’m assuming wasn’t up to par with the Jumbo greatness, but oh well, you can only do so much. I am here to tell you that these here are some very good TV matches that are worthy additions to many a wrestling collection, so here goes, as we start in the way back when, known as 1990 on THE MAIN EVENT~!

-SNME 1990-The Rockers vs. The Hart Foundation-My, oh MY what a treat. Bret and Jim are ready to tear the young punks a new one and they want a shot at Demolition for the belts as soon as they can. Man oh MAN the old awesome WWF heel and face promos are SO worth it. The Harts cut a heel promo without even being considered heels. I totally love this so far. Vince is on commentary. My love falls…but then Ventura is commentating so I’m loving it again. Marty and Bret start out FAST with a whole lotta counters, and then Shawn comes in with a Steamer crossbody off the tag which Bret rolls through for 2. Tag Marty, and they do a double kick and a double Russian Leg Sweep plus kip-up, so Anvil runs them both over. Man, Anvil could really rule it back then sometimes. Anvil tags in and runs Marty over. Then they run the ropes with Marty getting a drop toehold into a facelock. The way these two turn simple rope running into something much cooler just shows you how great these two teams were at the time. Tag Shawn, who tries to run into Anvil. No sir. They trade bodyslam attempts, and Shawn gets a GREAT dropkick for 2. Shawn gets caught and slammed and Bret is tagged in. Bret gets an atomic drop and a GREAT clothesline and kicks Shawn in the gut. Anvil whips Shawn in and Bret turns the team heel by kneeing Shawn as he comes off the ropes. Just like THAT. Great back body drop. Tag Bret, who gets a headbutt and punches and a snapmare and an elbow to the throat and Shawn is officially YOUR long-haired 80s Hair Band fan in peril. Tag to the rhino, who places shoulder into gut and repeats many times before he tags Bret in, who whips said rhino HARD into the gut of Shawn. Yep, this is getting great. Anvil covers for 2. Bret tags back in and Shawn sunset flips him for 2 before Demolition comes out and makes their presence felt. Janetty and Anvil are peeved as Bret works Shawn over, but even he gets distracted and Michaels dropkicks him over the ropes. Demolitions helps Bret up, but Bret wants none of it as we hit the commercial. Bret nails Shawn with an elbow as we come back. Bret takes Shawn to the buckles and then PASTES him with European uppercuts. Demolition is allowed to stay without interference. Shawn reverses a whip but eats BOOT, but Bret misses the second rope elbow. HOT TAG Janetty, who gets Bret with a back elbow. Now I know who Shane stole that move from. Nice powerslam into the superkick as he taunts both teams. Cover for 2. Bret reverses the Marty rollup, but gets Jack Briscoed for 2. Marty telegraphs and gets a swinging neckbreaker. Anvil tags in, but the Harts miss the Catapult. Tag Michaels, who misses the back elbow, but Anvil doesn’t miss the big tackle, which Shawn, of course, bumps 360 for. It gets 2. Anvil telegraphs and eats a back elbow for 2. Anvil reverses the whip, but can’t reverse the crossbody, so he tosses Shawn outside on the pin attempt. Demolition tries to help him back in, but Marty will have nothing of it and it’s total mayhem and a pier-six and it RULES. Double DQ and all that and all three teams are mad and ready to go at it, and I want the rematch between any of these three teams. I like me a Southern Tag like I just saw. ***Ѕ

-RAW from June of 94-WWF Championship-Bret “Hit Man” Hart © vs. The 1-2-3 Kid-Bret is your hero no matter if you’re from Canada or America or Mexico or Japan or the soon to be Czech Republic and Slovakia at this time. The 1-2-3 Kid is surprisingly spunky and stiff and got this shot somehow that I don’t remember. JR and STAN LANE~! are calling this. They shake hands. Kid gets a quick armdrag. They go to a knucklelock, and it’s really neat how Bret sells BIG whenever the Kid gets an offensive move. Like for instance, Bret gets his armwringer reversed and goes to his knees. That’s just neat. He goes to an armbar but Bret slams him down, so Kid kips up. Kid goes headlock to hammerlock as Bret goes for the snapmare, but the Kid holds on. Cool. Kid eats an elbow and Bret goes to the chinlock. A chinlock actually works, because the Kid needs to be grounded. They run the ropes and the Kid gets a monkey flip, and then hits a mule kick after Bret catches the kick. The Kid gets another spinning heel kick and Bret bumps outside. Clip ahead (I’m thinking it’s a commercial clip) to the Kid with an armbar. Bret tries to armdrag out, but Kid holds on. They run the ropes and Kid eats a knee to the kitchen sink. Bret with the kick to the stomach. Slam and legdrop. Bret then pastes the Kid with Euro Uppercuts that Regal and Finlay would look at and say, “This guy is good…” Facecrusher, and then some of those Bret elbows. You know, people say Benoit looks at lot like Dynamite, but watching Bret, and then Benoit, and then Dynamite, you really get a sense that they were all trained the same way (which they were), because that sudden burst when a move comes out really shows, especially in this match from Bret. Swinging neckbreaker gets 2. Back to the chinlock. See, the chinlock is a rest move, but it’s ALSO a grounding move, so it works. Bret continues to pound away, including another vicious Euro Upper. Then the Kid bumps huge to the corner off a whip. Kid ducks an elbow and gets a crossbody for 1. Bret gets a headbutt, and then reverses the Kid’s attempt at a Jack Briscoe rollup for 2. Clip to Bret getting a chinlock. Kid gets out and reverses a hiptoss into a backslide for 1. Bret with an elbow and a legdrop for 2. Bret with a SWEET DDT for 2. Slam, but Kid gets the foot up on the elbow drop attempt. Now Kid ducks another elbow and absolutely PASTES Bret with a spinning leg lariat. And then he kicks Bret from the corner and hits that corner kick combo, with Bret taking the spinkick like a MAN. Corner dropkick, and then a back crossbody gets 2. Kid gets a powerbomb (!) and then gets a guillotine leg drop for 2. Kid lariats Bret outside, but then overshoots Bret with a somersault plancha. Bret still sells it alright, though, and moves out of the way of Kid’s Senton Atomico. This is nuts from the Kid. Bret goes for the Sharpshooter, but Kid gets to the ropes. Bret with another great Euro Upper and looks for a superplex, but Kid reverses in midair for 2. Kid misses a corner dropkick, and gets a GREAT bulldog for 2. Bret goes up (!) and then gets tossed off. Kid looks for the Missile Dropkick, but Bret catches it, locks in the Sharpshooter, and Kid goes tap tap tappy. Everyone doesn’t like how Bret can have a “paint by the numbers” match like Ric Flair, but he absolutely had a ball in there with the kid, busting him up and then making the Kid look king-sized. It’s nice to see Bret stray away from the usual setup with his moves and try to actually use strategy to get a win. The Kid was a different wrestler than he was used to, and he did a great job of grounding him and then catching him when he made a mistake. The mish-mash in styles between the two wasn’t a problem, and the selling was very good. Kid bumped like hell for Bret and his power stuff, and Bret bumped and took the kicks from the Kid to make him look good. If compared to his other stuff, where one might say that he could do that against any opponent and it would look the same, this is one of Bret’s better matches because he was forced to do something a bit different. ****1/4

-RAW from late 96-“Stone Cold” Steve Austin vs. Vader-Bret is doing commentary at ringside and Austin is in full “I could give a boatload of crap less than what you think!” mode and he’s ready to win the Royal Rumble and totally hating Bret Hart. Vader has been demonsterized and I can’t believe Vince would do such a thing. Now all he is an agile big man. Vader gets the advantage with those Hammers in the corner. Austin eats a lariat. And then a Vader Attack. Austin then comes back with a Thesz press and goes nutso with punches and then knocks Vader out. He follows with what is probably the greatest double axehandle off the apron I’ve ever seen, as after he hits it, he just falls to the floor. Clip ahead to Vader raking Austin’s eyes. Replay shows Austin eating the steps. Vader beats on Austin some more and tosses him over the barricade. Vader tries for the chair, but Austin knocks him back over the rail. Back in, he eats another Vader Attack. Vader goes for the Vader Bomb, but Austin gets up and absolutely HAULS OFF with a nutshot. I mean HAULS OFF. Austin pounds away on Vader but Vader tosses him to the outside. And now, the reason why this match is so great. Hart gets up, runs over to Austin, clips the knee, and puts him in the Sharpshooter. And is Bret letting go? HELL NO. Vader then comes out and MAKES Bret let go by beating him up for causing the DQ as Austin crawls away. Bret then tracks him down and puts him in the Sharpshooter again. This is SUCH great TV. **Ѕ for the entire thing.

May 1997 RAW-WWF Tag Team Titles-Owen Hart and The British Bulldog © vs. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels-This is in the middle of one of the greatest feuds the WWF has EVER produced: Steve Austin vs the entire country of Canada. Well, in all actuality, it was Austin vs. The Hart Foundation, but in the end, at Canadian Stampede, it was, WITHOUT A DOUBT, Austin vs. Canada. Well, this is the WWF’s version of “Parejas Terribles,” putting mortal enemies Austin and Michaels together to take out a common enemy in the Hart Foundation. So here we go as Michaels just FLIES out with a plancha suicida and Austin is pounding away on Owen and such. They run the ropes and Austin nails Owen in the kitchen sink. FU Elbow…FU Elbow…FU Elbow…Bulldog stops the Sharpshooter…NOT! Austin with a slam and the second rope elbow for 2. Tag Michaels, who comes in with an axehandle and a shot for Bulldog. He works the arm, but Owen Owens out and goes to the eye. God knows I love me a thumb to the eye for no particular reason more than to be an ABSOLUTE DICK. Bulldog is in and he tackles Michaels HUGE. Michaels tries again, no budge, and then Bulldog is a leapfroggin…until Michaels goes to HIS eyes. I love it. Michaels with a rana and punches and then he runs the ropes and gets OWEN’S ENZUIGIRI for 2. Tag Austin, who pounds away, and gets Michaels to distract the ref, so he can go low on Bulldog. Austin mocks him and chokes away. Austin flips off a fan before tagging Michaels in. Michaels tags Austin right back in, but the heels cheat and Austin gets clotheslined from behind and now Owen works Austin over on the outside as Michaels tries to pull the champs off. The Foundation comes down to ringside as we take a break. We come back with Austin in the headlock as they run the ropes again, only for Owen to lock in the sleeper. So Austin counters with a jawbreaker. Hot tag for Michaels as he works over Bulldog with elbows and such. Michaels makes Owen Pillman himself into the rail. Dropkick for Bulldog. Bulldog then comes back with the most AWESOME PRESS SLAM, dropping Michaels so that he straddles on the top rope. That’s just so awesome. A-Train should steal that yesterday as opposed to dropping Benoit nearly on his head. Owen works Michaels over on the outside, but back in, Michaels comes back on Bulldog. Bulldog stops it with, YES, the thumb to the eye, and then catapults Michaels to the buckle for 2. Michaels does the big turnbuckle flip and then gets powerslammed for 2 as Austin saves. Austin and Owen go at it, but the ref takes Austin back as Owen gets a gutwrench and a legdrop for 2. Michaels fights out of the chinlock and they run the ropes, only for Owen to hit the AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME super-quick belly to belly for 2 as Austin saves. Owen pushes Austin, and then the heels cheat. Michaels comes back with a sunset flip on Bulldog, but Owen has the refs attention and it only gets 2. A SUNSET FLIP! This is sweet. Bulldog mows Michaels over with a lariat and then a legdrop for 2. Front chancery, which leads to the fake tag (duh), and Austin is so pissed he gets on the turnbuckle and lets EVERYBODY know about it. My GOD this is just absolutely NUCLEAR. Owen goes for a superplex as Austin flips off Bret offscreen. Shawn blocks and hits a crossbody for 2. Owen hits a BOSSSSSSSS Spinning Heel Kick and Michaels is DONE. TOE-TAGGED. Michaels to the corner, and he moves on Owen’s charge. HOT TAG AUSTIN, and this place absolutely EXPLODES. Big time ass kicking for Owen and Bulldog, especially for poor Davey Boy. Owen breaks up the Stunner, but Michaels rears back and BAM! SWEET CHIN MUSIC. Good night, Irene, Austin covers Bulldog, new champs, and now the brawl begins to a GINORMOUS pop. The Foundation comes down and whoops Shawn’s ass as Austin goes and gets the gold…and then he sees Bret up on the ramp…and spears him and whoops up on Bret’s injured knee. The Harts save, Austin escapes, Michaels is down, Bret is down, and my GOD this was just an absolutely NUCLEAR NUCLEAR MATCH with crisp, clean moves and just awesome execution of EVERYTHING. The best segment to ever air on RAW. ****3/4

8/11/97 RAW-Shawn Michaels vs. Mankind-From after Summerslam, this would be in that really weird period of Shawn being active and inactive. See, First, he was inactive for a while when he “Lost his smile…” and then he came back and won the tag belts with Austin (see above). After fighting against each other at King of the Ring, Michaels took more time off. Now, if I remember right, Michaels and Bret Hart got into a fistfight backstage that night at KOR and I guess Michaels was either told to take leave or took leave under his own guise. Anywho, this match gets on here for being one of the catalysts towards the foundation of the greatest group of rebels not named Kaientai Deluxe: Degeneration X. This is also a set up for the BIG OL BRAWL that would occur at the In Your House: Ground Zero PPV, as the Undertaker was pissed and DESTROYED Michaels…you know, before he destroyed him again at Badd Blood in Hell In a Cell. Mankind comes down with a trashcan and Michaels meets him by pummeling him into the ropes. Michaels nails Mankind with the can and then puts it over his head, and using a double axe off the top. Then, they put over the ECW PPV. Lawler: “Yeah, I’ll be in ECW. Extremely…Crappy…Wrestling. Then Mankind catches Michaels with the Mandible Claw. Michaels stops it with a low blow and heads out, but Michaels misses the Baseball Slide and gets nailed as JR plugs Hardcore Heaven ‘97. Vince: “What, are you announcing for them?” JR: “I should be!” This is fun stuff. Oh, quick recap of THAT story line: ECW was invading, Lawler goes to fight Dreamer and such. There. Michaels to the steps, and then a stungun to the rail. Mankind then gets bumped to the announcers table. Michaels then comes off the apron with an elbow as Mankind is getting up. NUCKING FUTZ. Mankind goes to the steps, and then they show the elbow again as Michaels pounds away. Back in, Michaels gets the diving elbowdrop and warms up the band. Sweet Chin Music ducked into the Mandible Claw as they roll outside. Michaels breaks it up by RAMMING MICK’S HEAD INTO THE POST. That’s absolutely CRAZED. Michaels DOES IT TWO MORE TIMES. Insanity. Then Michaels backdrops Mankind on the table. Now, HHH and Chyna make their way down as we clip the commercial and come back to Michaels taking Mankind’s mask off and playing with it. Michaels with the Psicosis bump in the corner. Mick misses an elbow drop and Michaels gets the sleeper. Mankind breaks it in the corner as Michaels is bleeding (kinda) and misses the corner splash. Michaels with a running elbow and then he gets the chinlock as we look at Michaels’ apron elbow again. Mick pounds out of it, but Michaels comes back and goes to the eyes. Michaels with his Ode to Kevin Nash boot choke in the corner. Mankind takes Michaels down and pounds away. BANG BANG! Mick pounds away and knees Michaels in the corner. CUE OMINOUS MUSIC: Here comes The Ravishing One: Rick Rude, as Michaels does his flip in the corner. He gets caught in the Tree of Woe, but pulls himself up to make Mankind miss. Michaels tries the axehandle again, but Mankind catches him with a right to the throat and then the Double Arm DDT for 2. HHH trips up Mankind, and then Rude absolutely PASTES Mick with a chair shot. This wasn’t the SLAP sound of the chair hitting hand. This was Rick Rude taking a SERIOUS chair shot to Mick’s head and Mick’s head going THUMP. Sweet chin music, good night everybody! A pretty freakin nutso brawl because Michaels and Mick were trying to outbump each other, I guess. ***Ѕ Michaels looks around the ring and is wobbly, and then, the Undertaker comes out RIGHT when the match is cut off. If I remember right, Michaels and D-X escape into the night. Just a freakin’ GREAT brawl.

5/21/01 RAW-WWF Tag Team Titles-Triple H and Steve Austin © vs. Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit-This is the infamous main event from one of the best RAWs of all time. It’s all about how this was set up. At the Judgement Day PPV the night before, Jericho needed a partner for the Tag Team Turmoil, and here comes Benoit, beating Edge and Christian to get a shot at whoever the Tag Champs would be, and that would be The Two Man Power Trip. So at the beginning of the show, Jericho comes out and mouths off because he’s Chris Jericho and Haitch and Austin don’t like it so they brawl and Benoit comes down and cleans house and it is ON. The backstage allure to this is that people wondered if Heyman, who had been looking for a new direction in the WWF, would be able to convince the writers to give the belts to the Canadians. For the record, this is the last match that HHH didn’t suck in. When Austin is just fuming and pacing around, he is at his BEST. It means he’s on and he’s ready to wrestle. Austin starts out by whooping Jericho’s ass and then missing two clotheslines, eating a Jericho crossbody for 1 and then a school boy for 1. Then Jericho chops away, but Austin tosses him, only for Jericho to skin the cat and come off with an elbow pat. Jericho works the arm but Austin goes to the eyes and uses the knee to fend Jericho off. Tag HHH, who gets chopped and pinballed. Tag Benoit, who comes in and stomps away and then gives HHH the big chop. HHH goes to the eyes and tags Austin, who proceeds to start off Chopfest 2001 with Benoit, and Austin loses. They run the ropes and Austin kneed in the kitchen sink. SNAP Suplex by Benoit. Superplex gets 2 as HHH saves. Jericho didn’t like that, so he comes in until the ref takes him back as the heels double team. Then Benoit is Superman with the red pants, fighting out of the corner and nailing Austin, but Austin comes back…with a thumb to the eye. That is BRILLIANT. Benoit gets the Crossface out of nowhere and Jericho hits the inside out dropkick on HHH off the apron. The ref takes Jericho back to the corner, and HHH, like a good heel should, gets the chair and breaks up the Crossface, knocking Benoit out. If this is Texas in 1985, it’s over. But it’s San HO in 2001, and it gets 2. The look on Austin’s face is great. He then proceeds to turn Benoit’s face into MUSH. Austin is fired up and choking and this match is just great. HHH pulls Benoit out and sends him to the steps. Austin covers for 2. Tag HHH as we see the replay of Benoit going into the steps like a MAN. HHH goes to the ribs and we get a shot of Steph…*shivers*. Benoit fights out of the corner, but then eats a facebuster for 2. Tag Austin, who goes low as HHH ties up the ref. Austin chokes and hits the straddle. He stomps away and gives Jericho a shot and then heel shenanigans abound. HHH is in and they are working Benoit’s ribs. And then OH MY GOD this gets Andersons-like with the assisted Cobra Twist/abdominal stretch. I’m LOSING IT. Hiptoss out by Benoit, then a tackle, but then HHH gets the sleeper as Austin flips off the fans. Benoit breaks out and hits the supersafe German and both men are down. If you don’t know what happens in this HEAT SEGMENT, go back and watch every Rock ‘N Roll Express match ever made, because it’s the blind tag and I LOVE IT. It just goes nutso from here. Austin whoops Benoit’s ass and then tosses him inside, where Hebner is trying to slide out to stop Jericho and Austin from fighting. The two legal men are inside, and Benoit eats a Pedigree. Then while Hebner checks on Austin, Jericho hits a missile dropkick and goes back to his corner, and that right there might be the greatest blind tag spot I’ve ever seen. The crowd is NUKED as Jericho tags in and launches lariats and Flying Jalapenos upon the champs. Austin goes for the Thesz Press, but Jericho catches him and puts in the wall. HHH comes in, and POP! goes his quadricep. HHH limps over and preps the table to Pedigree Jericho through it. Jericho reverses to the Walls on the table, and Benoit is inside, hitting the Swandive headbutt. No ref because he’s not the legal man and Hebner’s checking on HHH. Benoit says, “GET YOUR ASS IN HERE!” But then he eats the Stunner. 1…2…Jericho pulls Hebner out and goes after Austin himself. Bulldog, YES! Lionsault, NO! Austin tries for the Stunner, but he eats a back elbow and the Lionsault instead. Cover, and here’s HHH with the sledgehammer! Jericho moves, Austin gets nailed in the ribs. Benoit takes HHH outside, holds him, and Jericho covers again for the win, the belts, and an absolutely NUCLEAR pop from the San Jose crowd. JR almost has a heart attack. HHH is holding his torn quad. Austin is lying in the ring. Steph is crying like the bitch she is, and Jericho and Benoit are celebrating. What an outstanding match, and if pushed to say so, this might be the best 20 minutes that the company has produced on RAW in the last five years. ****Ѕ

5/24/01 SmackDown!-TLC III for the WWF Tag Team Titles-The Canadian Chrises © vs. The Dudleyz vs. The Hardyz vs. Edge and Christian-From three days after the Chrises win the belts on RAW. Vince is mad that HHH hurt his leg and that his daughter is mad and that Austin is mad and then they go and make it a four team TLC on free TV and my GOD am I happy to see this. You even get THE COMMERCIALS IN THE BEGINNING. This is fine television, I say. “Evolution” is the greatest movie ever…if you’re Seann William Scott. EVERYBODY works over the champs, but E and C get outside and grab the ladder. The Dudz and the Hardyz stop them and toss them, and then they go at it with each other. D-Von with a back elbow, but Bubba, like usual, gets the Senton to NOWHERE INPARTICULAR. Bubba gets nailed by the ladder, and D-Von eats Poetry in Motion. A try on Bubba, and Jeff eats the ladder. Benoit is in and he’s CHOPPING. And then Jericho cleans house with another ladder as Benoit hits the snap suplex on Bubba on the ladder. OUCH. The Chrises whip D-Von to the extended ladder in the corner and then E and C jump them. Ladderline for Benoit and he’s out. Jericho eats ladder off a double drop toehold. E and C go for the belts, but Matt powerbombs Christian off and meets Edge at the top. Benoit pushes them both into a hotshot off the ropes and then Bubba comes in and pounds away on Benoit. Everybody is outside fighting as Jericho puts Matt on a table. Benoit goes up top and FLIES OFF for the headbutt, but he totally misses Matt and goes through, injuring those ribs. Now, if you guys remember right, those ribs were semi-worked on during the tag match on RAW. So Benoit is in some pain, right now. Jericho and Jeff set up some ladders as the Dudleyz go up the other side for the belts, but D-Von gets knocked down. Bubba knocks Jeff off, and then Jericho bulldogs Bubba off the top. This time though, Bubba isn’t knocked unconscious, as Bubba would be in TLC IV, off the very same move. We get a replay of the headbutt as Tazz goes to check on Benoit. Benoit would be stretchered out. We get another look at the headbutt. MORE COMMERCIALS. After we come back (finally), we see Edge in the ring going for the belts, but Jericho gets to him and puts him in the Walls at the top of the ladder. Christian gets to him and knocks Jericho off into the turnbuckle. E and C go for it, but Bubba knocks Christian ALL the way to the floor (missed his straddle) and Matt knocks Edge off into his straddle. Now both the Z boys are in. D-Von comes up with a MONDO-SIZED hiptoss on Matt off the ladder, and then Bubba rips Jeff’s shirt off, chops his chest into ground beef, and superplexes him off the ladder. We get replays of Jericho’s bump, E and C’s bumps, and then the superplex. It’s carnage and then Benoit comes back out like the CANADIAN HERO HE IS and the crowd is going nutso. Benoit goes for the belts, but E and C comes in, and it’s Canadian on Canadian Violence and it’s great. The numbers are too much, though, and Christian stomps away on the ribs. E and C ready the Con-Chair-to, but Benoit blocks the head, so E and C go after the ribs. YES~! PSYCHOLOGY!!! IN A TLC MATCH!!! D-Von comes in and tosses Christian, and then it’s Wazzup time on Edge. “D-VON! GET THE PIECE OF WOOD HELD UP TOGETHER BY THIN STRIPS OF METAL!!!” We get a replay of the Con-Chair-to twice as the Dudz look to set up the table. Jericho comes in and plasters the Dudz, but then takes a SICK chairshot from Christian, unprotected as unprotected can be. Christian then looks for a splash on Bubba through the table, but D-Von gets up, stops him, and the Dudz hit the Super 3-D through the table, and Christian is GONE. The Hardyz pull out Bubba and Matt nails him with a TV monitor. Jeff has the REALLY BIG LADDER. Bubba takes a SICK unprotected chairshot, and Jeff does the leapfrog legdrop on Bubba THROUGH THE TABLE. Inside, Matt and D-Von look to go for the belts, until Matt nails him with a Super Duper Twist of Fate that D-Von is NOT AFRAID TO DIVE INTO HEAD FIRST. I mean REALLY. He even does convulsions afterwards. Jericho looks to stop Matt, but Jericho gets kicked off, so Jericho bounces right back into the ladder, knocking Matt to the floor after falling onto the ropes. Jericho climbs, but he was never close enough to the belts to begin with, so Edge hits a very contrived spear off the ladder. Benoit comes in, grabs the ladder, and after a slow climb, gets the belts to retain the titles. Benoit completes probably the greatest week I can remember a wrestler having, having an outstanding 2/3 match with Kurt Angle, winning Tag Team Turmoil, winning the belts the next night on RAW, and then being the one to grab the belts, with messed up ribs, in the first ever televised TLC match, ALL within three days (I think SD! was taped at the time…). A few minor quips, but this match is about as good a spotfest that you’ll see, and what’s even better is that with Benoit’s ribs, this match had PSYCHOLOGY! ****1/2

-7/9/01 RAW-Mike Awesome and Lance Storm vs. Chris Jericho and Kane-Most of you are looking at this and saying to yourselves, “Why is THIS match on here?” Proceed to remember the ending and go, “Ahhhhhhh…” EARLIER TONIGHT~!: It was supposed to be Taker in there but he got beaten up by DDP and Shane (The Stalker Angle) and his wife felt the BANG! and now Kane takes his place. For the record…Sara Taker…she’s a MAN, MAN! So Jericho, to show that he’s a team player, comes out and joins him to make it even. I love how Awesome and Storm got TOTAL jobber music. Brawl to start and the big men stay in. Kane gets a lariat and a sideslam. Storm eats a right and then Awesome eats many rights before Jericho comes in with the chops and a crossbody for 1. Jericho skins the cat (kinda) and hits an elbow pat off the top. He nails Storm but eats a big right from Awesome to put him down. JR and Heyman bring up THE THRILLSEEKERS~! Storm comes in and slides under Jericho, only to eat an elbow and a clothesline. Storm comes back, but his elbow misses and hits Awesome, and Storm eats a facecrusher. Awesome clobbers Jericho with a clothesline, though. Storm gets a lariat and tags Awesome in, who flapjacks Jericho. Jericho is now the FACE IN PERIL. Kick to the mush and an elbow gets 2. Storm tags in and misses a dropkick after those weak punches he throws, and then gets his knees up on the Lionsault. Strom drags Jericho across and tags Awesome, who procures the chinlock. Jericho fights out and looks for a double axehandle, but Awesome catches him with a belly to belly overhead for 2. Jericho eats a double lariat. Storm telegraphs and eats an enzuigiri, and the tag to Kane is made. Awesome is also tagged in, but he eats a big boot. Storm comes in and bumps HUGE on the back body drop. Corner lariat, powerslam, and flying lariat follow. It gets two as Storm saves with a dropkick. Jericho gives Storm a missile dropkick and looks for the Walls on Awesome, but Strom knocks him outside. Kane hits Awesome with a lariat as Storm ducks, but Jericho is back in to put Storm in the Walls, and as Kane tries to get Awesome with the Chokeslam…CUE THE OMINOUS MUSIC. All of a sudden, Tommy Dreamer and Rob Van Dam come down and start whooping on Kane and Jericho. Now Awesome and Storm help out as Jim Ross is clueless: “What’s this all about, Paul?” “You tell me!!!” Now the WWE locker room comes out to help…too bad it happens to be The Dudleyz, Tazz, Raven, Justin Credible, and Rhyno. To quote Paul Heyman: “FEEL IT, JR! FEEL THIS MOMENT FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE…FEEL IT!” And the six men, along with the other four, turn towards Jericho and Kane, and proceed to lay them out. Dreamer gives Jericho the Death Valley Driver. Van Dam with a Van Daminator for Kane. And then, Paul Heyman, at the request of JR, steps out of his commentating position, and he grabs THE STICK~!:

“Well…I guess it’s time now, JR, that you…want…the truth. So tonight, JR, I’m gonna give you the whole…damn…truth! I have been sitting, I have been sitting right there like a damn corporate sellout next to that damn pig, and I have been talking…I have been talking, about WWF vs. WCW. I have been spilling my guts about this InVasion, and it seems to me that everybody has forgotten about the Tribe…of Extreme. It seems to me that these men were too extreme for WWF vs. WCW. It seems that this man (points to Awesome) and this man (points to Storm) have left Shane McMahon’s WCW. It seems that these six men have left Vince McMahon’s WWF. It looks to me…that they have all joined…E…C…W. So Vince and Shane, anytime you guys want revenge, we’ll take on the WWF…we’ll take on WCW…we’re not hard to find! Because this InVasion…just got taken…TO THE…EX-TREEEME!”

The Impact Players reunite! Tazz does his badass pose. Raven does the crucifix. Heyman is laughing his ass OFF, and Vince and company, to prove that they are run by MONKEYS…destroys the angle before it even gets off the ground by joining them with WCW and then putting STEPHANIE in charge of ECW. One of the greatest angles and promos in recent memory…but in retrospect, all the hard work was wasted. ***Ѕ for the whole thing.

Conclusion-While there might be some glaring omissions (hey, some of those matches are HARD TO FIND, SO BACK OFF!), this is very cool because you get a feel for some of the major angles AND the better matches. Plus watching Benoit and Jericho win the belts is just plain COOL. Take a looksie, and for those who don’t know the deal with me and comps, email me and we’ll work something out. Next time, I don’t know. I’m getting some puro I need to review. Maybe we’ll get that, or another comp. We’ll see…