Ryan's Dive into '95 - Part 37 (9/10 - 9/16)

"Shawn Michaels beat the big guy with the superkick that would not win a green belt at the local YMCA." Also, ECW Gangsta's Paradise and Triple Crown title action!

If you haven’t read it already, please check out my introductory article that explains what this series is all about. As a reminder, footage is sourced from the Goodhelmet 1995 Yearbook, unless otherwise stated.

How ya now?

After last week’s epic debut of WCW Monday Nitro, the first REAL battle in the Monday Night Wars is upon us as RAW returns from a tennis-related hiatus and goes head-to-head with Turner. It’s a live Nitro vs. a taped RAW. Who will come out on top?!?

Aside from that, we have some other awesome stuff. We have a Triple Crown title match to kick things off, and we look at ECW Gangsta’s Paradise, featuring one of my favorite ECW matches and some major debuts. The USWA does something I hate, plus, other stuff!

Well…

SEPTEMBER 10th

AJPW Summer Action Series II 1995, Night 17

We start off the week with a huge title match that comes at the end of the second Summer Action Series for AJPW.

Triple Crown Championship: Mitsuharu Misawa (c) vs. Akira Taue - These two had a couple of amazing matches in this year’s Champion Carnival, with the finals being one of the very best matches of the year, and likely Taue’s best ever singles match. Taue earned this title shot after winning the Contendership League that took place during the previous Summer Action Series a couple months prior. This is Misawa's second defense for this reign.

Things start FAST with counters and an elbow suicida within the first minute or so. After Taue blocks some signature offense, Misawa hits an elbow and a tiger driver for a close two! Misawa keeps up the advantage until Taue dodges a pescado and dropkicks Misawa in the leg. Taue continues to kick Misawa's leg out of his…uh, leg.

Misawa fires back, but Taue gets a Nodowa Otoshi for two! Misawa hits an elbow, but Taue blasts him with a trio of big boots for two. Taue then dumps Misawa face-first on the turnbuckle padding, going after his old orbital bone injury. Misawa eats a DDT but escapes a Nodowa…but doesn't escape a dropkick! Suicide dive by Taue! He threatens a Nodowa off the apron, but Misawa blocks, so Taue shoves him into the guardrail.

Back in, a powerbomb gets two! Misawa blocks another attempt, but eats a boot to the back of the head for his trouble. Misawa roars back with a series of elbows and a German suplex for a near-fall. Taue regains the lead with a legsweep, then looks for a Nodowa off the apron to the bare floor, but Misawa again denies him. Misawa smashes Taue with an elbow but is too knackered, so Taue regains the upper hand and slaps on a scorpion deathlock.

Misawa makes it to the ropes to break, but he immediately takes a release German and a DYNAMIC BOMB…FOR TWO! They slug it out with Taue hitting a big boot, but Misawa comes back with a release German! Misawa BLASTS Taue with a running elbow for two! Taue elbows out of a German and hits an enzuigiri, but Misawa escapes a Taue German. Taue absorbs an elbow and gets a Nodowa for two! Taue hits another enzuigiri, but Misawa comes back with an elbow…but Taue stops that rally with a kick to the leg!

Dynamic Bomb…but Misawa hurricanranas out! Misawa unloads the firearms and elbows, then rocks him with a release German suplex! Taue rallies back with headbutts and fucking LAUNCHES Misawa with a German suplex…but Misawa pops up and NAILS Taue with a rolling elbow! Good lord!

Misawa hits a back elbow, then another BRUTAL rolling elbow for the three! Misawa retains!

****1/4 - These lads went out and had themselves a WAR. There was no feeling-out process to be found here. Misawa and Taue just went out there and threw bombs at each other for 20 minutes, with some leg work from Taue to slow things down. This was paced quite well overall, and the last few minutes were something to behold.

Taue implemented a slightly different strategy this time. He went after the orbital bone as he had in prior matches, but he also went after the leg to try to take away some of Misawa's agility-based offense and to subvert his expectations of Taue’s game plan. Didn't work, but had to try something new, right? This didn't approach the level of the Champion Carnival finals as it didn't feel as epic or layered, but it's still terrific.

WWF Action Zone

This is actually the first episode of the new magazine-style format of Action Zone, eschewing enhancement matches for recaps, promotion for future shows, fluff pieces, and the occasional feature match. Also, new logo! This kinda undermines the ‘Action Zone’ name, though.

We get…sigh…a music video for “I Love You”, as sung by Harvey Wippleman for his on-screen beau, WWF Women’s Champion Bertha Faye. The actual name of the song ended up being “Sweet Lovin’ Arms”, but the video here was named “I Love You”. I nearly got whiplash when this showed up immediately after that AJPW match.

The song is a country-style ballad and is…not the worst thing I've ever heard. I'm not gonna do “MUSIC BREAK!” and throw it to Recording Studio Homer or anything, but “BERTHA FAAAAYYYYYEEEE” is mildly amusing. We don't get the whole song, but if you're hankering to hear it, it's on Apple Music, or, if you still listen to CDs like a caveman, it’s on WWE Anthology.

God damn, though, The Fed treated Rhonda Sing like shit. Because of her size, she was presented as an absolute monster in Japan and elsewhere in the world. An 18-year veteran at this point, Sing was the first Stampede Women’s Champion and a former WWWA World Single Champion, among other accolades.

However, when she ended up in The Fed, because she wasn’t skinny and blonde, Vince booked her as comic relief. He told her not to use any of her power moves (so she doesn’t look stronger than some of the male wrestlers) and paired her with the scrawniest guy available in a trailer park romance. According to Wippleman, they didn’t get along at all, and both hated the gimmick.

Faye sadly passed away in 2001. As one more slap in the face, on the RAW 10th Anniversary special in 2003 (which itself was an ungodly pile of shit), she was left out of the “In Memoriam” video, but they made damn sure to include her in a “Stupid Gimmicks” montage, along with Luna Vachon, Hakushi, The Natural Disasters, Waylon Mercy, and Tatanka (a SHOOT Native American) for some reason. Crack?

Also, Shawn Michaels, when putting over modern “Divas”, felt the need to take size-related jabs not only at Bertha Faye, but also Bull Nakano, one of the greatest wrestlers ever. Absolute dickhead behavior from Shawn, but that shouldn’t surprise.

SEPTEMBER 11th

WWF Monday Night RAW

Alright, back to some Monday Night Wars as The Fed goes head-to-head with WCW for the first time on Monday night. As mentioned in last week’s review, this is a taped show.

It's a new era for RAW as we get a brand-spanking new intro, with helicopter footage of a bunch of dudes brawling it out on top of Titan Tower while Shawn Michaels dances atop the RAW set. Some of the footage of the police hurrying to the scene and the crowd running up to the fence was actually reused for the D-Generation X entrance video. They apparently spent hours and hours trying to get everything the way they wanted (likely issues with the helicopter shots) and ended up getting police complaints. The WWF sank around $100,000 into this. It’s pretty cool overall, but too blurry in places to make out what is going on.

We join the freshly-turned British Bulldog vs. Razor Ramon in progress. Davey Boy is rocking the short hair and longer tights. The short hair immediately reinvigorates his presentation. He officially has Jim Cornette as his manager now.

Razor blocks a powerslam and falls on top for a close two, then hits the Sack of Shit. Referee Tim White gets bumped, and Ramon hits the Razor's Edge. However, Dean Douglas HA HA comes off the top and onto Razor, then fends off the 1-2-3 Kid with a front suplex onto the ropes.

Bulldog hits a groggy Ramon with the powerslam and goes for the cover…but the Kid comes off the top rope to break it up…but lands on Razor instead! Razor is disqualified because of the Kid's interference!

Bulldog abuses the Kid after the bell, pressing him throat-first onto the top rope. Waltman bumps off of that huge.

There wasn't much to the actual wrestling based on what was shown, but the ending was chaotic as hell and Bulldog didn't exactly look like a worldbeater. Like, he could have at least got the pinfall after the Douglas interference instead of the lame DQ, especially if they were looking to set him up as a future challenger for Diesel. It did further the Razor/Douglas feud (for better or worse) and set up the angle with Razor and the Kid that follows. The 1-2-3 Kid looked like a giant loser here, but that plays into what ensues.

We send it over to Vince McMahon who is in the ring with Razor and the 1-2-3 Kid. Jerry Lawler repeatedly talks over this, which is REALLY goddamn annoying.

Vince asks about the Kid costing Razor the match with Bulldog, but the Kid fires back, asking Razor about HIM costing the Kid a recent match with Douglas. Kid accuses Razor of treating him like a small child and challenges him to a match NEXT WEEK. Ramon tells McMaing that he made the Kid famous, then accepts the challenge.

This would be the start of the 1-2-3 Kid's eventual heel turn on Razor and membership in Ted DiBiase’s Million Dollar Corporation. We'll see how it plays out over the next several weeks.

We check in with Goldust overlooking Hollywood at night. He quotes “Night of the Living Dead” and cuts a promo on The Undertaker and his Creatures of the Night. He has a nice gold hat this time!

He promises to cast the darkness out of the World Wrestling Federation. Hey, that's a feud that actually ended up happening for a good chunk of 1996. It was quite bad.

We pick things up near the end of Shawn Michaels (c) vs. Sycho Sid for the WWF Intercontinental Championship. Sid kips up out of a headscissors and chokeslams Shawn. Hell yeah!

Shawn escapes the powerbomb and mounts his usual comeback. As Eric Bischoff infamously revealed earlier in the night on Nitro, Shawn “beat the big guy with the superkick that would not win a green belt at the local YMCA”. Three, to be exact: One to the gut, one to knock Sid into the ropes, and one more to put him down. Shawn retains and strips to celebrate. That is pretty much it for Sid as any kind of upper-card threat for this run.

WCW Monday Nitro

On the other side of the battlefield, we get a much smaller selection of footage this go-round. We start off well with “Macho Man” Randy Savage plugging Slim Jims! SNAP INTO IT!

“Mean” Gene Okerlund brings Ric Flair to the ring for a chat. Flair says that Arn Anderson is back at his hotel room calling his wife and son (Brock?), then again talks about their history together. Flair says there's no road Arn couldn't walk when the Nature Boy was walking with him.

Lex Luger then comes out, and Flair puts over his size and musculature. Luger says that some things never change and that Flair is too much, then leaves. Flair tells Hulk Hogan that he's going down to Luger TONIGHT. The Luger walk-in was…odd.

We now cut to Hulk Hogan, Sting, Lex Luger, Randy Savage, and Jimmy Hart in the ring with Mean Gene. This takes place after the much-hyped Hogan vs. Luger WCW title match where Hogan won via DQ in about five minutes after Dungeon of Doom interference.

Vader is finally written off as an on-screen character, so Hogan's team is short a man for WarGames. Hogan and Savage question where Luger’s loyalty lies as the Dungeon did not go after Lex. Sting goes to bat for his friend and votes Luger to be on the team.

Savage rebuts and questions Sting and Jimmy Hart not getting attacked by the Dungeon, either. Hogan finally asks Lex to join, and Luger accepts on the condition that he gets another title match.

Oh, some of the stuff that was teased last week? Randy Savage pinned Scott Norton with the elbow, and Sabu got himself DQed against Alex Wright for being too insane. I'm not going to do “Other stuff that happened” for weekly TV shows, but I figured I should tie up those loose ends.

This show was chiefly famous for Bischoff's insane potshots at the competition, not only with the “superkick” line that gave away the results of the WWF’s main event, but playing up Luger leaving The Fed and him not being the last guy to jump ship. Turner bigwigs actually weren’t keen on this approach because you’re basically acknowledging and advertising the competition.

Bischoff told them he’d play nice, which SO did not happen. The ‘giving away the results’ tactic in particular would bite them in the ass in January 1999.

In the first head-to-head encounter, Nitro's 2.5 rating beat out RAW's 2.2 rating.

SEPTEMBER 12th

ECW Hardcore TV

We start off with a music video for the Raven & Stevie Richards vs. The Pitbulls feud. It's clips of their skirmishes interspersed with the actual music video for Filter's “Hey Man, Nice Shot”. Great song.

The only issue is the almost nauseating stretch-and-shrink effects used on the wrestling footage during the chorus. Stop getting cute with the Video Toaster, guys!

We'll see the big blowoff to this rivalry later in this article, and it's a DOOZY.

We kick it to Cactus Jack backstage. He discusses the hardships of Ray Stevens, Harley Race, and Dynamite Kid, citing them as the original hardcore wrestlers who gave much of themselves but have nothing show for it other than poverty and poor health. Jack is going IN on the ECW fans and their perceived cavalier treatment of the workers.

“How many of you shed a tear for Eddie Gilbert?”

He circles back to Tommy Dreamer, saying him and Raven gave Dreamer an out, and wants Tommy to join them. Jack only wants the best for Dreamer.

Yet another excellent promo here. Not as batshit crazy as last week’s “I hope my war vet uncle died a horrible death” promo, but Foley continues to tap into a dark, truthful place and deliver some arresting work on the mic. Foley’s had an incredible year on the stick, but we're just getting into the REALLY good stuff now. We’ll see THE Cactus Jack ECW promo next week.

SEPTEMBER 16th

USWA Championship Wrestling

We’re walkin’ in Memphis this week with arena clips of Jerry “The King” Lawler (c) vs. Jesse James Armstrong for the Unified World Heavyweight Championship. Armstrong beats down the King and dances at lot. Armstrong's manager, Brandon Baxter (who was only 18 at this point), freely interferes.

Beating and stalling resumes until Armstrong crotches himself on the ropes. THE STRAP IS DOWN and Lawler unleashes the punches. The ref is bumped, naturally. Roadie misses a splash off the top and Lawler gets a visual pinfall, but Baxter interferes.

Baxter tosses a chain (take a drink) to Armstrong who blasts Lawler with it. Armstrong goes for the cover, but COREY MACLIN runs in and breaks it up! The match is tossed out at this point.

Lawler takes out Armstrong as Maclin punches out Baxter! In Memphis, even the ANNOUNCERS throw good worked punches.

It was pretty fun watching Maclin get sweet revengeance on Armstrong for last week's physicality. It's so weird watching Road Dogg wrestle shirtless because you never really see that.

We now get more clips of hot Midsouth Coliseum action, this time of the Heavenly Bodies vs. PG-13 in a “Boyz N The Hood” street fight. Doug Gilbert is the special guest referee here.

Gilbert refuses to count pinfalls for the Bodies or counts extremely slowly, counts fast in favor of PG-13, and accosts the Bodies throughout. Wolfie D piledrives Tom Prichard, but Tracy Smothers clobbers him with the Confederate flag. Prichard covers, but Gilbert dinks him with a hubcap and rolls Wolfie on top for the pin.

Smothers and the Bodies beat the USWA contingent down after the match until back-up arrives. This comes in the form of Brian Christopher, Steve Doll/Steven Dunn, and the ex-Phantasio, Spellbinder!

I wish Spellbinder would have made that match disappear because the whole deal sucked. The bullshit with Gilbert's officiating was bass-ackwards. Babyfaces should have to overcome crooked officiating, not benefit from it. Enforcing the rules and threatening disqualification in a STREET FIGHT is also really dumb. This did NOT mamma the mia.

WCW Saturday Night

This week on The Mothership, we go to a video package recapping the Arn Anderson vs. Ric Flair saga ahead of tomorrow's Fall Brawl showdown. The narrator tells the story of Flair using Arn as a shield, while at the same time losing his luster since the arrival of Hulk Hogan.

Again, I like that this feud is much more grounded and realistic than the cartoony Dungeon of Doom stuff. I’m curious to see how the match holds up as it’s been many moons since I’ve seen it last.

Speaking of cartoonish, we have Hulk Hogan cutting a promo in front of his many motorcycles.

Hogan is READY FOR WAR against the Dungeon of Doom. He plans to ride the motorcycle the fans gifted him to Fall Brawl. The name he assigns the hog? “Black Beauty”. Something tells me that wouldn't be his favorite motorcycle nowadays.

When he gets five minutes alone with Kevin Sullivan, he plans of tying him to the back of his motorcycle and dragging him all over Asheville, North Carolina. Hopefully it goes better than this:

Hogan also calls out The Giant before ending with the usual.

ECW Gangsta's Paradise

We close things out with another ECW supercard. This show ended up being noteworthy for some significant debuts and a couple of famous matches.

As an aside, I do wish someone would have made a parody of this show called “Amish Paradise” with Roadkill in the feature match.

ECW World Tag Team Championship, Double Dog Collar Match: Raven & Stevie Richards (c) vs. The Pitbulls - It’s titles vs. partnership as The Pitbulls must disband if they lose. These guys have been feuding quite a while, with Raven and Richards managing to escape with the titles time and time again, so it’s come down to this.

The Pitbulls come out to “Thunder Kiss ‘65” by White Zombie. You know what that means: MUSIC BREAK!

That band had a stranglehold on ECW as several wrestlers used White Zombie songs as theme music, and the company even used “Thunder Kiss ‘65” for their syndicated show. White Zombie ruled.

Richards doesn’t come out initially due to ‘breaking his arm’ in a six-man tag the prior night. As it’s basically a handicap match at this point, Beulah requests that the match be made two-out-of-three falls to compensate.

Raven chains himself to Pitbull #2, and we are ready to rock.

FIRST FALL: Pitbull #2 beats the snot out of Raven and hangs him over the ropes while Pitbull #1 runs to the back. #2 smashes Raven with a chair while #1 returns with a bloody Stevie! Raven brutally piledrives #2 through a table for the pin and the first fall!

SECOND FALL: Raven and Richards double-DDT Pitbull #1, but Pibble #2 makes the save. Stevie Kick gets a couple of near-falls as another table is introduced. Richards is super-bombed through it for the pin and the second fall!

THIRD FALL: Everybody brawls on the floor as Stevie is looking particularly gruesome.

Pitbull #2 and Raven head back in as ANOTHER table is set up. The ref is bumped, and The Dudleys storm the ring to assail the Pitbulls! They help Raven and Richards set up their own superbombs on the Pitbulls! Finisher theft!

THE PITBULLS NO-SELL! FUCKING BEAST. They DDT everyone at once! Dudley Dudley and Dances With Dudley each eat superbombs! They try to superbomb Raven through a table, but his head barely catches the edge of it! Jesus Christ. Raven somehow kicks out at two.

Raven takes out #2 with an ether-soaked rag! That was apparently a jab at Jim Cornette's recent use of that ancient trope in his Smoky Mountain booking. Petty as fuck; I love it. Raven drops a leg on #2, who is on top of two tables! The top one doesn't break, but a hip drop puts him through the second.

Stevie gets crotched on the top rope, then gets suplexed through a table! Raven uses the chain to break the cover. The paramedics tend to Pitbull #2 as Francine comes out and gets into a *high-pitched scream* CATFIGHT with Beulah! Raven DDTs Francine!

Pitbull #2 is stretched out, so Tommy Dreamer comes out and chains himself to Raven! Dreamer hauls off on Raven as the crowd goes bananas! Knee to the penis and a DDT! Dreamer covers for the pin! We have new champions, and Dreamer finally gets a pinfall over Raven!

…but NOT SO FAST! Troubleshooting official Bill Alfonso comes out and nullifies the decision because Dreamer is not a legal participant! The pinfall on Raven will NOT go down in the record books!

“The Extreme Commissioner” Tod Gordon comes in to give Alfonso the business, but Fonzie shoves him out of the ring. Big Dick Dudley hobbles out and chokeslams Tommy Dreamer! As we established last week, Alfonso outlawed the chokeslam so that 911 won't be able to do it to him, something the fans have been dying to see since Fonzie first showed up. Alfonso lifts the ban so he won't have to fire Big Dick.

“Frankenstein” by the Edgar Winter Group hits, and HERE COMES 911 to hit the MOTHER OF ALL CHOKESLAMS! RAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!

They milk the hell out of this moment, with 911 holding Fonzie up for a LONG time before slamming him down. The crowd is going absolutely ballistic! As am I! I can run through a wall right now.

Pitbull #2 comes back and perches on the second turnbuckle. The faces put Raven in #2's arms, then stack Stevie on top of Raven’s shoulders! DOUBLE SUPERBOMB!

Tod Gordon counts the pin! The Pitbulls FINALLY win the tag belts and can remain a team!

***** - I am probably overrating this match by quite a bit, and I really don't give a shit. This is such a “vibes” match. The actual wrestling/brawling was pretty enjoyable with all manner of table spots and a bloody Stevie Richards, but it was a bit sloppy at times; The Pitbulls have rarely been accused of being stellar bell-to-bell workers. However, that matters very little given how much sheer FUN this match is. This is an absolute blast, especially if you've been following along with the major story beats like I’ve been able to do in this series.

This whole thing is an absolute dog and pony show, but in the best possible way. It was impressive how they were able to integrate so many ongoing storylines into one match with multiple payoffs and not make any of it feel ham-fisted. It was brilliantly laid out, with impeccable timing and the drama steadily building into an incredibly satisfying conclusion that sent the Philadelphia faithful into a frenzy by the time the bell rang. This was also a masterclass in disguising the weaknesses of some of the more limited talent on the roster.

This is the quintessential “ECW” match, with everything people love (or hate) about ECW distilled into one 20-minute match.

Rey Misterio, Jr. vs. Psicosis - Are you ready for EXTREME lucha libre?!? Both guys are making their ECW debut as Paul Heyman is looking to fill the match quality void left by the recent departures of Eddy Guerrero, Dean Malenko, and Chris Benoit. Much like those guys, Rey and Psicosis, along with Juventud Guerrera, would end up in WCW before too terribly long.

Rey gets an armdrag to start, so Psicosis works over the arm a bit, holding onto a hammerlock through multiple attempts to break. Fast-paced action follows with Rey coming out on top, but Psicosis comes back with a powerbomb (called a “tiger bomb” by Joey Styles) and a HIGH flapjack. Psicosis runs Rey sternum-first into the turnbuckle, then hits Snake Eyes and a running dropkick to the corner.

Psicosis continues working on top, hitting a split-legged butt splash in the corner, but missing another one. The springboard hurricanrana that would end up being the West Coast Pop from Rey gets two! Cartwheel into a ‘rana, then a flying headscissors from Rey! They fight on the apron, where Rey launches Psicosis into the post face-first, which the crowd loves. Psicosis heads back in and Rey attempts a corner splash, but ends up lawn-darting onto the turnbuckle instead.

Psicosis knees Rey in the junk and hits a guillotine legdrop for two. Another powerbomb from Psicosis nets a two-count, then he hits a spinning heel kick to send Rey out. Psicosis goes for a tope suicida, but Rey whacks him in the head with a chair to counter!

That earns an “AY DIOS MIO” from Joey.

¿Es esa fiesta privada?

Despite Joey being a dope with some move names, he does a good job talking about the experience of both guys. Psicosis goes after the quadriceps with dropkicks, then hits a twisting senton for two! Psicosis ends up on the outside after missing a flying knee, and Rey fakes him out with the future 619, then follows with a springboard plancha into the crowd! Back in, Rey catches Psicosis with a double-jump Frankensteiner for the three!

***1/4 - They've done better before and will do much better after, as this was a condensed version of their usual match with some ECW flavor sprinkled in. However, this was a really fun exhibition that immediately got both guys over with the ECW fans and introduced a lot of crazy stuff you didn’t see in America at the time. You can see why Rey and Psicosis took this match around the world.

We cut to The Public Enemy and The Gangstas in a verbal confrontation backstage. Once that ends, the camera pans to Joey Styles and…STEVE AUSTIN?!?

It’s STEVE-A-MANIA, BROTHER! Fresh off his WCW firing, Austin does a hilarious Hulk Hogan impression, back when that kind of thing wasn’t old hat. He takes jabs at Hogan's backstage influence that likely resulted in Austin not being elevated beyond the midcard in WCW.

After Johnny Grunge joins in for a bit, Austin rips off his shirt and says he ain’t doing this shit anymore because this lame stuff isn't going to cut it!

Austin had only been famously fired from WCW earlier this week. He had torn his triceps in Japan and had been out for six months. A combination of the injury, Austin not getting along well with management, and not being friends with the right people in the locker room, led to Austin getting his walking papers from Eric Bischoff.

Austin was a member of Paul Heyman's Dangerous Alliance stable in WCW, so Heyman was aware of Austin's talents and brought him into the ECW fold. Austin was still injured at the time, so he could only do promos. Knowing the acrimony Austin had for his former employers, Heyman gave him free reign on his promos. That led to some legendary stuff that ended up getting him noticed by the WWF.

This was one of those ECW segments that continued to grow in legend after Steve Austin became one of the biggest stars in the history of the business.

Other stuff that happened:

• Bull Pain pinned Broad Street Bully after a DDT off the ropes.

  • Pain is the former Psycho of the Texas Hangmen tag team that spent much time in several North American companies, notably AWA and WWC in Puerto Rico. He also spent many years as an enhancement talent for the WWF and WCW.

  • Pain also took up space during many an IWA: Mid-South “King of the Death Match” tournament in the 2000s and had a bizarre two-show CHIKARA stint as Vin Gerard's heavy in 2008. That was weird.

• The Dudleys (Dances With Dudley and Dudley Dudley) defeated Chad Austin and Don E. Allen after a top-rope splash from Dudley Dudley.

  • Big Dick Dudley, Chubby Dudley, and Sign Guy Dudley were at ringside for the Dudleys.

  • Dudley.

• Hack Meyers defeated JT Smith via countout after Smith fell off the top rope and through a table at ringside.

  • Smith was in the midst of his new “botches moves” gimmick where he would deliberately blow spots.

• The Eliminators & Jason defeated The Steiner Brothers & Taz after Jason pinned Taz (!) after 2 Cold Scorpio interfered and kicked Taz in his injured neck.

• In the main event, The Public Enemy & Mikey Whipwreck defeated The Sandman, 2 Cold Scorpio & New Jack in a “Gangsta’s Paradise” match when Mikey pinned Sandy after a triple suplex from the babyfaces and a top rope splash.

  • A “Gangsta’s Paradise” match is basically a cage match with weapons.

  • Mustafa Saed was slated for the match, but had been arrested prior to the event. 2 Cold Scorpio took his place.

---

Well, that was a hell of a week. A great Triple Crown title match, Cactus Jack on the mic, one of the best ECW matches ever, Rey and Psicosis winning over Philly, and STEVE-A-MANIA win the week. WCW taking the first head-to-head meeting in the Monday Night Wars, Bischoff bringing the petty bullshit, Corey Maclin throwing better punches than most actual wrestlers, and I make jokes about Hulk Hogan! Only the crappy Doug Gilbert referee stuff drags it down.

NEXT TIME: We'll have an even BUSIER week. WCW Fall Brawl, a GAEA street fight, more Monday Night Wars, GARY SPIVEY, “Cane Dewey”, AAA and CMLL action, and MORE!

Smell ya later!