Tag Archives: Stone Cold

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews the 1997 WWF Royal Rumble

1997 WWF Royal Rumble
January 19, 1997
San Antonio, TX

Let’s be clear, the WWF was in trouble.

While things seemed bad in the latter half of 1996 ratings wise, it only got worse when Bret Hart returned to the WWF. It wasn’t Bret’s fault as he instantly became an entertaining top guy on the show once again. The issue was ratings didn’t jump the way Vince McMahon expected them to with Bret’s return. WCW was still kicking the WWF’s ass in the ratings. Vince began changing things up at Survivor Series. Stone Cold Steve Austin looked like he had some potential after a great match with Bret at Survivor Series and was seemingly in line for a push. Also, Sycho Sid had won the WWF Title from Shawn Michaels at the same show.

Sycho Sid will always have an interesting place in pro wrestling history. On one hand he was a big star who main evented two Wrestlemanias (with Hulk Hogan and Undertaker no less) and a Starrcade. He had a monster look and sometimes had really good promo skills (and sometimes not). But the fact of the matter is he often never drew big money as a top guy. His run in the WWF in ’92 didn’t help the company. Same for his run in ’95. We just talked about how WWF was in trouble with him on top in ’96-’97. His WCW runs didn’t help either as he didn’t draw in ’93 and did nothing to help WCW in 1999 and 2000. The truth is Sid was probably a little too late for his time. Had he became a big star in the late 80s, he could have drawn huge money with Hogan. 1992 was too late.

Shawn Michaels had also been a questionable draw, although I blame how he was booked in 1996. Fans wanted the cocky, arrogant Shawn of ’94-’95. Not the good guy who had his old trainer in his corner. Shawn helped turn the company around big time in 1997 when he turned heel. It’s a shame his back went out before he could really enjoy it.

Nonetheless, this Rumble on paper could have been huge. Vince had apparently decided that the WWF could still sell out a huge stadium (which they didn’t, they had to paper it big time) with a Royal Rumble match and hometown Shawn’s return title match against Sid. Would this spark the turn around the WWF needed in 1997?

The Card

One thing I’ll always remember in 1997 are the black and white promos. A lot of those were awesome, especially Summerslam ‘97’s.

I don’t necessarily care for the “Shawn Michaels” has grown up story either. Aren’t you saying he wasn’t a man before Survivor Series then?

Intercontinental Championship
Goldust vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley©

Storyline here is that HHH made a pass at Marlena, which led to a face turn that honestly ended the peak of Goldust. Such an awesome heel became a lukewarm babyface. (Interestingly, the opposite happened with Mankind).

I totally forgot about Mr. Hughes coming back here as HHH’s butler. That didn’t last long.

Goldust just slams the steps on HHH’s back. I know the steel steps is usually a questionable object in regards to DQs…but that should be a DQ.

The psychology of the match seems to revolve around using the steel steps, which is odd.

Also what’s not working in this match is the contrast in styles. As a face Goldust is just wrestling a too slow paced of a style and it’s leading to a boring match.

We get a mid-match interview with some country singer. The heck?

HHH retains by pin in 16:50. Hughes slides in the IC Title and distracts the ref, but Marlena gets onto the apron. HHH kisses Marlena, but Goldust gets the IC belt and nails HHH. Hughes pulls HHH out of potential pin, then distracts the ref again. Goldust shoves a cigar in his eye…but then gets Pedigreed for the HHH win. Really boring 17 minutes here. Hughes wouldn’t last much longer either as Chyna would debut soon.

Ahmed Johnson vs. Faarooq

In another situation that killed the overness of someone who was hot in 1996, Ahmed Johnson got his kidney attacked by Faarooq. This was Ahmed’s comeback. Faarooq already went through a gimmick change while Ahmed was out (from Spartacus to leader of the Nation of Domination).

We get a brawl for a few minutes with Faarooq taking control and focusing on the kidney.

Faarooq flying off the top into an Ahmed Johnson powerslam was an unexpectedly good spot.

Ahmed Johnson wins by DQ in 8:48.. Ahmed gets the upper hand and the Nation runs in for the DQ. Other than the powerslam, this was pretty bad. The aftermath is pretty cool though as Ahmed Pearl River Plunges a random Nation member through a table. Still, this feud pretty much ruined Ahmed Johnson’s career. He would never get out of it, battling them all throughout 1997 (and joining once), then leaving the WWF in February ’98.

The Undertaker vs. Vader

The story here mostly revolves around Jim Cornette as he was on the verge of losing Vader as a client. Undertaker had also Tombstoned Cornette.

This is one of those matches that doesn’t make a lot of logical sense. Why would Taker and Vader go at it right before the Royal Rumble? It’s not like there’s a title on the line or anything, and they’re both in.

JR mentions Undertaker hasn’t done well at the Royal Rumble since his first one in 1993. Pretty sure he was in the 1991 and 1992 ones. He’s also only 1-2 at the Rumble in singles matches and one of those losses was by DQ.

Vader being surprised that Undertaker sat up from a few early knock downs is stupid.

Undertaker throws a Rocker Dropper out there which is pretty awesome.

Match really slows down when Vader takes control. We get some restholds.

Vader off the turnbuckles and Undertaker powerslams him mid jump! Wow! Tops the spot from the Ahmed-Faarooq match.

Undertaker sits-up from a Vader Powerbomb. Thing’s never been the same since Hogan got up from it.

Paul Bearer shows up as Undertaker chokeslams Vader.

Undertaker tries some crazy jump off the stairs onto Vader and the railing, but Bearer moves Vader.

Vader pins Undertaker in 13:19. Bearer nails Taker in the head with the urn and Vader drops the Vader Bomb for the win. Finish really seemed messy once Bearer showed up and the crowd surprisingly wasn’t really into it. Vader needed to win too after the problem with Shawn at Summerslam and never getting a big win after that. Match overall was okay, but they’d have a much better match at the Canadian Stampede six months later. Bearer leaves with Vader, and Undertaker chokeslams a referee.

The British Bulldog is going to win the Rumble because “HE’S BIZARRE!” Always makes me laugh.

Hector Garza, Perro Aguayo and Canek vs. Jerry Estrada, Heavy Metal and Fuerza Guerrera

This was done to draw tickets in San Antonio since it was so close to Mexico. I get Vince is trying to keep up with WCW here, but this wasn’t even close.

Aguayo pins Metal in 10:56. Double foot stomp and an elbow wins. Aguayo barely even hits the stomp. This was awful and the crowd didn’t care one bit (and I think pop at the end because they’re glad it’s over). Just a bunch of moves for 10 minutes and not exciting ones at that. Even Vince sounded bored.

Royal Rumble

I think the smart money was on Bret Hart here.

Finkel tell s us 60K people are in the house. Only about 40K paid though.

Crush is #1 and Ahmed Johnson is #2 to continue the Nation-Ahmed rivalry.

So the clock and music isn’t working, so the Fake Razor Ramon is #3. Ahmed gets rid of him quickly. What a horrible gimmick that was.

Faarooq comes down and Ahmed jumps over the top rope and eliminated himself. #4 is Phineas Godwinn.

Stone Cold is #5 and gets a bit of a pop. While he was getting higher up the card, he wasn’t anything resembling a favorite.

PIG gets rid of Crush…but he also gets a Stunner and Austin’s alone.

#6 is Bart Gunn. Bart botches a rocker dropper…and Austin gets rid of him quickly. Austin does some push-ups to get some heat.

Jake “The Snake” is next at #7!

Jake dominates Austin, but when he goes for the DDT Austin dumps him. Great start for Stone Cold as The British Bulldog makes his way down at #8. Bulldog kicks Austin’s ass and ends his dominance.

#9 is Pierroth from AAA. There are a few Mexican stars in this one.

The Sultan is #10. He’d run Stone Cold down nearly three years later!

#11 is Mil Mascaras. He gets a bit of a pop. He already blows a belly to belly from the Sultan. For the record I hate Mascaras after reading about him in Mick Foley’s book. You see a lot of Mascaras’ selfish tendencies in this Rumble alone.

#12 is HHH. Bulldog takes out the Sultan.

#13 is Owen Hart. He eliminates his teammate Bulldog which was the start of an angle that never really went off when the Hart Foundation came together.

#14 is Goldust and he tries to go for HHH…but Austin cuts him off.

Mascaras pulls Austin’s ears from his head…which is unique I guess.

#15 is Cibernetico, another AAA star.

#16 is Marc Mero.

Cibernetico gets eliminated off-screen by Mascaras I think. Mascaras then takes out Pierroth too. Mascaras, showing he doesn’t even need to job in the Rumble, goes to the top rope and dives onto Pierroth on the floor, eliminating himself. Can’t say I’m surprised. Fans boo too, as Mascaras was a legend somehow.

Goldust takes out HHH, revenge for earlier.

Latin Lover is #17. With one superkick he is already the best Mexican in this thing.

Owen takes out Goldust. Not surprised HHH and Goldust got short runs considering they wrestled earlier.

Faarooq is #18 and he takes out the Latin Lover. Ahmed Johnson runs in and chases Faarooq off over the top rope. Huge pop for that too!

Owen tries to get Mero out…and Austin dumps them both! Austin’s alone again as Savio Vega comes in.

Austin gets beat up…but again gets an elimination anyway as he takes out Vega! Austin is all alone again.

Double J Jesse James is #20. Austin makes quick work of him and he’s gone.

One of the greatest moments in Rumble history here: #21 is Bret Hart and the look on Austin’s face is an absolute classic. Fans have finally gotten into it and Bret and Austin go at it!

Another great moment. Jerry Lawler is #22…and he starts a sentence, gets knocked over the top rope by Bret…then finishes the sentence! Great stuff.

Fake Diesel is #23. JR still tries to put him over, although as not as badly as he tried at Survivor Series.

Terry Funk is #24 and he jumps the gun. It’s interesting to see where these four men would be by the end of the year. Funk spent most of ’97 as ECW World Champion, Bret was in WCW, Austin was just about to become the biggest star in the WWF and Diesel would be Kane.

Funk with an awful piledriver on Bret.

To add to the interesting people in the Rumble…#25 is Rocky Maivia. Of course, he would become 1b. to Austin in biggest WWF star within a couple years.

Mankind comes in at #26. Just loads of potential here with two legends Hart and Funk.

I like how Funk and Mankind go at it. This seemed like a nod to smarks looking back at it.

#27 is Flash Funk. Here’s another gimmick that just didn’t make it.

#28 is Vader. No surprise with the late number. Taker hasn’t even come out yet.

Henry Godwinn is #29.

Undertaker is #30 and the lights even go out for his entrance.

Taker levels Vader and again the crowd gets into it.

Vader fall away slams Flash over the top for a pretty great elimination.

Lawler on commentary is great. He’s nearly euphoric as Rocky nearly gets Bret Hart out.

Undertaker takes out Godwinn. That leaves Mankind, Taker, Bret, Austin, Rocky, Vader, Diesel and Terry Funk. Quite the mix of legends and future stars here.

Mankind Mandible Claws Rocky out.

Stone Cold Steve Austin wins in 50:29. Mankind gets rid of Funk and Taker boots Mankind off the apron. Funk and Mankind go at it on the outside and Bret eliminates Austin to a huge pop. Refs don’t see it…and Austin comes back in and takes out Vader and Taker. Bret takes out Diesel and Austin dumps Bret to win in what may be one of the best Royal Rumble finishes ever. Bret is irate (2nd time a top babyface attacks a referee tonight) and asks Vince what he’s going to do about it, which is a bit of a worked-shoot as Vince was still seen as the commentator here. This would fit perfectly with Bret’s rivalry with Austin and upcoming heel turn. Bret Hart was on fire in 1997 all the way through Summerslam and this was no exception.

The match itself was good but not great. The beginning was pretty slow, but Austin’s presence really made for a good Rumble. His story of not only being the guy who came in at #5 to win at the end but also the guy who’ll do anything to win was a great one. Sometimes the action around Austin was pretty slow, especially in the middle. But everything from Austin taking out Owen and Mero to the end was pretty good. I thought King of the Ring ’96 was a star making performance from Austin. This was a star confirming performance. Crowd popped too when Austin won.

WWF Championship
Sycho Sid© vs. Shawn Michaels

Sid beat Shawn for the title at Survivor Series. Of course, this is where Shawn “grew up” by tending to Jose Lothario as opposed to trying to win the title. Still don’t like that storyline.

Shawn was allegedly sick as a dog for this as well.

We start off pretty fast but it doesn’t take long for Sid to take over and slow things down with a barehug and a chinlock.

Shawn’s comeback is pretty great. Awesome bodyslam on Sid.

Sid powerbombs HBK on the outside. While it didn’t look great, it still did the job.

Jose and Pete Lothario try to attack Sid and Sid grabs both by the throat. For some reason Shawn has gotten up quickly from the powerbomb so Sid has to let go.

Ref bump and Sid gets a chokeslam. HBK is out…but there’s no count of course. Interesting spot to do there.

In a great piece of symmetry from their Survivor Series match, HBK nails Sid with a TV camera twice.

Shawn Michaels regains the title at 13:49. Superkick finishes Sid off. Decent main event that was pretty slow, but picked up at the end. The finish was brilliant. I did like their Survivor Series match better though. Randomly, Bret Hart gave Shawn a lot of credit for this match, saying he did such an awesome job against Sid and a better job than he ever could. This is the only time I really buy the Jose Lothario deal too, since this is HBK’s hometown.

The 1997 Royal Rumble PPV is a show that’s greater than the sum of its parts. None of the short-term plans went off at all. Bret was supposed to get the title shot back at the February PPV and face Shawn at Wrestlemania. Of course, Shawn would vacate the title instead with the infamous “Lost My Smile” promo. Bret would win the title for a night, then Sid would win it so he could face Undertaker at Mania and Bret could continue his feud with Austin. Shawn would come back in May and his problems with Bret led to the Montreal Screwjob.

Yet, Shawn’s victory, Austin’s rise and Bret’s hint at a heel turn (even if it wasn’t even decided yet) all were major storylines that went off well. Austin’s star confirming performance was absolutely fantastic. Also, interestingly the 1997 Royal Rumble provides a snapshot of current stars and future stars, as well as guys who really couldn’t get to the next level. It saw established guys like Bret and Undertaker. It saw future stars like Austin, Rock, HHH and Kane. It saw guys who unfortunately never could get over the hump in one way or another with Vader, Ahmed Johnson and Marc Mero. It saw legends like Terry Funk and Jake The Snake. Yeah, it’s not a great Rumble…but it definitely worked.

Now only if the undercard was any good.

Final Grade: B

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews Summerslam ’99

WWF Summerslam ‘99
August 22, 1999
Minneapolis, MN

There’s an argument to be made that right here, at this point, we were at the highest level the WWF would ever be. RAW Ratings were out of orbit. PPV buys were huge. The WWF was beating down WCW Nitro so badly Eric Bischoff was weeks away from losing his job. Vince McMahon was only a couple of months away from the WWF going public. Some argued that Stone Cold Steve Austin was a level above what Hulk Hogan was in the 80s. Other WWF stars began to transcend wrestling. The Rock was climbing fast toward megastar status. Mick Foley wrote a New York Times Best Seller. To say the WWF was riding high here was an understatement.

But there were some cracks in the armor as well. Stone Cold’s body had slowly begun to betray him. The Undertaker’s knees were going out on him. Foley’s body was pretty much at the point of done.

Would Summerslam ’99 be a continuation of the dominance the WWF had shown over the last year and a half…or would the wheels begin to fall off here?

The Card

We go over a year and a half of The McMahons screwing Stone Cold to explain why Jesse Ventura is our referee tonight.

Ventura and Triple H go face to face right away in the back. Ventura lays down the law, and HHH says he’ll break every rule.

We get some Y2J after that with ”Harold” Finkel. Jericho was hilarious in his early WWF days.

Intercontinental Championship and European Championship
D’Lo Brown (Both Champs) vs. Jeff Jarrett

Jarrett comes out with Debra and wow at Debra. Jarrett gets awesome heat when he sends Debra to the back…and then D’Lo brings her back out!

I don’t want to spoil it here, but there’s some really smart booking going on. JR on commentary brings up that Jarrett doesn’t want to win by countout when D’Lo was on the outside…just as Debra was looking to help D’Lo up.

The crowd is super hot for D’Lo. Huge reaction on the running powerbomb.

Jeff Jarrett pins D’Lo Brown to win both titles in 7:28. Debra and Jarrett distract the ref…allowing Mark Henry to run in and betray D’Lo with a guitar shot. Jarrett gets the win…and it turns out Debra, Jarrett and Henry were all on the same page! Jarrett would hand the European title to Henry. Fun opener with a good story and a great crowd! Strange how both men wouldn’t have much of a WWF career left. Jarrett would bolt for WCW in two months…D’Lo sadly accidentally paralyzed Droz, and was never the same.

Michael Cole interviews a wooden Edge and Christian. Of course, both would end up being great on the mic.

Tag Team Turmoil

The winner of this would become the #1 Contender to the Tag Team Title.

Edge and Christian begin against The New Brood…Matt and Jeff Hardy.

Something the Attitude Era did was create stars. Matt and Jeff were outright jobbers until 1999.

Fun start, although the match so far is a bit slow considering the four men in the ring.

Screw the start. Edge spears Jeff Hardy by jumping off the barricade just as Jeff was jumping off the other side. What? Matt comes off the top to the outside with a moonsault for good measure.

Christian pins Matt to eliminate the Hardys…and Mideon and Viscera are next. Can’t we just have the Hardys again?

We last saw Viscera at Summerslam when he was Mabel and in the WWF Title match. Crazy how much changed in four years.

I always thought Vis’s spin kick was awesome.

Viscera accidentally avalanches Mideon, then Edge and Christian double dropkick Vis out. Spear to Mideon, and Edge gets the pin. Prince Albert and Droz are next.

Not much here…Edge gets the Downward Spiral for the win. Acolytes, the favorites, are next.

The Hollys come out early, and Bradshaw takes out Christian with the Clothesline From Hell and we get a heel vs. heel finale. What a disappointing finish. I like both teams, but running it with one face team (E and C) means they needed to get to the end.

The Acolytes win when Faarooq pinned Hardcore Holly in 17:27. The Hollys argue and that leads to the spinebuster. This was fun with Edge and Christian…but after that who really cared?

I’m pretty sure the whole Al Snow think jumped the shark when he started talking to other things other than Head.

Road Dogg here…but it’s Y2J time!

Jericho was crazy over. The crowd goes nuts for the countdown.

Jericho wrote in Undisputed that this was his first great segment…and he’s 100% right. Jericho’s absolutely awesome here.

This would lead to Jericho’s WWF debut match at Smackdown…which was a bit of a let down (as was Jericho up to Survivor Series).

Hardcore Championship
Big Bossman© vs. Al Snow

One of the most creative starts to a match…Al Snow jumps up on the set and dives onto Bossman as soon as he goes through the curtain. Nice!

Road Dogg does an on the scene commentary that’s more annoying than not to be honest.

Bossman just grabs a random guy’s crutch to hit Al Snow. That’s a great heel move.

Match goes all the way across the street into a bar. Have to say, this is pretty fun. Maybe I just haven’t seen one of these in a while.

Al Snow pins Bossman to win the title in 7:25. Bossman takes a shot a Road Dogg and Road Dogg responds with a nightstick shot to Bossman to let Snow win the title. For some reason The Blue Meanie and Stevie Richards attack Snow. Hell if I remember why.

Women’s Championship
Ivory© vs. Tori

I think Tori’s pretty bad as a wrestler, so I don’t have high hopes here.

Eat your heart out Cesaro…Ivory with a big swing!

Ivory retains by pin in 4:11. Some weird finish with a flying sitting drop. Ivory tries to disrobe Tori, but Luna makes the save.

Lion’s Den Match
Ken Shamrock vs. Steve Blackman

While I didn’t realize it then, Shamrock being this far down the card should have been a sign that he wasn’t long for the WWF (this was actually his last PPV match).

The Lion’s Den is a UFC style octagon.

I don’t really like the idea of this match. A No DQ match would have been fine.

Ken Shamrock wins by KO in 9:05. A few Kendo Stick shots take Blackman out and the ref counts him out. I didn’t really like this at all. I don’t even remember what else Blackman did until “Head Cheese” in early 2000. If Shamrock was leaving, he should have put Blackman over.

”Love Her or Leave Her”
Shane McMahon vs. Test

Is Test wins, Shane stays out of Test and Stephanie McMahon’s relationship. If Shane wins, Test and Steph break up. No option for “Steph marries HHH instead though”.

Test opens by taking Shane down with tons of aggression. Where was that during the rest of Test’s career?

The Mean Street Posse get their own couch in the crowd! This matters because Test tosses Shane into all three of them which was a pretty funny spot.

Did Shane just bust out a Sky Twist Press? Holy hell!

I believe this was the debut of the flying Shane elbow off the top through the Announcer’s Desk…and it’s pretty awesome. A perfect hit.

Patterson and Brisco come out and own the Posse. Brisco with an awesome street sign shot!

Test pins Shane McMahon in 12:14. I would have bet money after this one that Test was set for multiple World Titles in his future. Somehow…this was the peak of Test. He only went downhill from here. In retrospect, Shane’s “richest backyard wrestler” shtick probably carried this. Nonetheless, this match was really good. In a lame twist, Shane would ignore this stipulation on Smackdown.

World Tag Team Championship
Kane and X-Pac© vs. Big Show and Undertaker

I never really got into the whole Taker controlling Big Show deal when Show chokeslammed Taker through the ring once, but whatever.

I did enjoy the Kane-X-Pac tag team though, if just for Kane’s character development. It gave him something past being Undertaker’s brother…even though it didn’t completely work and ultimately weakened Kane’s character. At least they took a chance and tried.

Lawler with a great line: “I’ll never forgive that idiot X-Pac for taking this monster and making him a human being.” Not a bad point there.

Kane debuts the “road” jersey here, which is a look he should have went with for the rest of his career honestly.

I think it was obvious at the time that Taker and Show were winning…and I think having the Acolytes win earlier was supposed to give fans the idea Kane and Pac were winning.

One of the bigger surprises of the match is Kane playing face in peril. Match is surprisingly working since we have Big Show, Kane and 1999 Undertaker in here.

Undertaker just turned X-Pac into a wishbone. Ouch.

Undertaker and Big Show win the title in 12:00. Big Show actually gets the chokeslam, but Show does a one foot on the chest cover and Taker is livid when Pac kicks out. Taker shows him how it’s done with a Tombstone. So much better than it had any right to be. Multiple stories worked out here concurrently. X-Pac forced a tag late to try to prove he could hang with the three monsters. Undertaker continues to “teach” the Big Show. Well done all around.

Kiss My Ass Match
The Rock vs. Billy Gunn

Billy Gunn brings a”full-sized” lady for the Rock to kiss on the ass when he loses.

Rock is megaover, of course.

The first half of this is pretty dull. Some fighting down the ramp but nothing really inspiring going on.

It does pick up back in the ring, especially with a nice neckbreaker counter from Gunn.

Pretty good set-up for the Fameasser…but the match goes downhill after that.

Gunn brings in the woman, but Rock counters and Gunn’s face goes in her ass. Great.

The Rock pins Gunn in 10:11. Rock Bottom, People’s Elbow. That goodness that’s over. Match was getting kinda good too. Gunn would be back in the midcard with the Outlaws in a few weeks (and was a good guy for some reason again right after this).

WWF Championship – Jesse Ventura is the Special Referee
Stone Cold Steve Austin© vs. Triple H vs. Mankind

There was a pretty convoluted story to even get to this point that had Chyna as the #1 Contender. Less said the better. I don’t even know storyline wise why Mankind was added either, although backstage there were two possible reasons (I’ll get into that later). According to the video, Mankind won it from Chyna. Works I guess. HHH and Mankind then did the pinning one another at the same time deal (which a variation was used for Summerslam 2000 as well) to get our triple threat.

In case anyone was wondering, Stone Cold was still the most over man in wrestling by far. His pop is nuts.

THe early Austin-Mankind partnership is a nice flashback to their tag title run two years prior.

The story begins…HHH whacks Austin in the knee with a chair.

Mick Foley, nutcase that he is, decides to bust out his somersault crack smash off the apron…and he misses. Jeez Mick.

Ventura refuses to count for HHH after HHH uses a chair. Ventura’s a great ref here. As a bonus, Ventura tosses a middling Shane McMahon, and adds the quote “that was for your old man you bastard!”

Mankind wins the title when he pinned Austin in 16:24. HHH gets the Pedigree, but Mankind knocks him away and hits a Double Arm DDT on Austin for the shocking win! HHH proceeds to destroy Austin’s leg with a steel chair. For all intents and purposes, the HHH Era began right here…and the Stone Cold Era as we knew it was over.

Match was really fun all in all. Mankind’s title win is the result of either one or both of these scenarios: Austin didn’t want to job to HHH and/or Ventura wanted to raise the hand of a face at the end. I believe it’s the latter, especially since Austin goes down to HHH at No Mercy ’99 (and No Way Out 2001). HHH would beat Mankind for the title the very next night.

A really up and down PPV, but I definitely enjoyed the ups. I liked the opener. I liked most of the tag turmoil. Jericho was fun. The Hardcore Title match was fun. Test vs. Shane was very good as was the main event. I didn’t care for Shamrock-Blackman or Rock-Gunn though.

Historically, somehow this PPV is forgotten. It’s crazy because again, this is basically where the HHH Era begins and the Austin Era ends. Sure, Austin would still be in the main event until Survivor Series, and his 2000 comeback was entertaining, but Summerslam 1999 was the end of Stone Cold as THE MAN. From each point forward you could either argue The Rock (who’s late surge stole him many Most Popular Wrestler of the Year Awards) or HHH as the man.

Overall, this was still enjoyable.

Final Grade: B

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews: WWF Wrestlemania X7

WWF Wrestlemania X7
April 1, 2001
Houston, TX

It’s over.

Good bye WCW. It was a good run and you put on a great effort, but the WWF has won. When the last Monday Nitro basically became a commercial for Wrestlemania X7 it was over for good.

The WWF set one of the truly great stacked PPV cards of all time for Wrestlemania X7. They were fortunate as unlike last year, no top guys were injured. Last year the WWF was missing The Undertaker and Stone Cold. For Mania X7, they have both. The WWF also did an effective job making new stars, evident by Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit’s run in the latter half of 2000. The WWF owns the wrestling world now. Things can only get better from now on, right? (Hindsight says…ha!)

Let’s talk a little bit about Stone Cold.

Is he as popular as he once was? Is he on the way down? Is he stale? Why are ratings not as strong? Why didn’t his comeback lead to another big ratings streak?

All great questions. At the end of Wrestlemania we’ll see how Vince answered them.

The Card

Houston Astrodome is packed. This is also the first Wrestlemania promo where I really felt the epicness of the event.

Limp Bizkit’s “My Way” was a perfect fit for this event.

Paul Heyman, replacing the temporarily departed Jerry Lawler here, says ECW about three minutes into the broadcast. I chuckled.

Intercontinental Championship
Chris Jericho© vs. William Regal

It was an interesting time for Jericho. After spending last summer as nearly a top guy, Jericho found himself back in the midcard…at least for now.

Regal was still a relative newcomer, debuting in September. But, we are also at the beginning of perhaps Regal’s best work, as he was clean at this point and a great heel as the Commissioner.

This was the feud that had Jericho peeing in Regal’s tea. A legendary moment if there ever was one. This also had Jericho running in on Regal when he was dressed as Doink.

Fast start, probably because they know they only have about 8 minutes for this.
Jericho almost overshoots Regal on a flying bodypress to the outside. Would have been a bad start to Mania there.

Double underhook suplex on Jericho from the top. Nice move from our Commissioner!

Regal’s STF makes me wonder how WWE ever thought John Cena could pull it off.

Chris Jericho retains by pin in 7:08. Lionsault out of nowhere gets the win. Crowd even seemed surprised. They tried to jam a 15 minute match into an 8 minute match, and while it wasn’t a bad match, it was nothing special and a bit disappointing.

Shane McMahon arrives in a WCW limo!

Bradshaw explains just how important this match in Texas is by going over historical events that took place in the Astrodome. Six man tag is next.

The APA and Tazz vs. The Right to Censor

I don’t recall how Tazz got involved, but the APA and RTC didn’t get along for obvious reasons.

Weird botch when Tazz gets whipped into the ropes and just falls into them and rockets back. Quite strange there.

The APA and Tazz when Bradshaw pinned the Goodfather in 3:52. Clothesline From Hell wins it. Just a way to get the guys on the card and to pop the crowd early on. This would be the end of the RTC (well, Undertaker would end them for good a week later) and virtually the end of Val Venis, Goodfather, Steven Richards and Bull Buchanan. None of these four would ever regain the popularity they had before.

Trish Stratus rolls Linda McMahon into the Astrodome, and Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley says she’s late. I kinda forgot about the whole Linda in a catatonic state thing.

Hardcore Championship
Raven© vs. Big Show vs. Kane

While a step down for both Kane and Big Show, Kane it seemed to work for while it just seemed like something for Big Show to do. Show would be stuck in mid and even lower card hell until Survivor Series 2002.

Big Show never even gets to the ring as we’re fighting in the crowd now.

Raven pops up out of nowhere to attack Kane. The story of this match will be Show and Kane going at it, and Raven attacking out of nowhere.

Kane tries to throw Raven through a wall. Ouch.

Smartest move of the match: Big Show locks himself, Raven and the ref in a cage with Kane out. Kane rips the door off its hinges anyway.

Raven gets thrown through a window by Kane. Crowd responded to that for sure.

Show and Kane actually go through a wall this time. Raven attacks. One thing I didn’t like about this match: Raven basically no sells being thrown through a window.

Raven nearly gets run over by a golf cart. I hope he got a good paycheck for this match.

Kane wins the title by pinning Big Show in 9:17. Big Show presses Raven over his head to throw him off the stage, but Kane boots him and they both go flying off. Kane follows with a flying legdrop and wins the title. Garbage wrestling, but it was well done garbage wrestling. This is one of my favorite Hardcore title matches in the history of WWE. Shame they went back to 24/7 soon afterwards. Paul Heyman also somehow makes Raven look like a million bucks on commentary, which is a bonus.

Kurt Angle angrily watches over his tapping out to Benoit. Edge and Christian joke around, but Angle’s serious. Alliances like Angle, Edge and Christian are just things you don’t see in wrestling anymore. They aren’t a team, but they work together and are friends.

European Championship
Test© vs. Eddie Guerrero

No one cared about Test at this point. He had just come off the T and A run, which got Trish over more than anyone else.

Unfortunately, Guerrero was on his way down too. Personal problems had been catching up with Guerrero and he wouldn’t last much longer.

Perry Saturn seconds Guerrero and has a ridiculous hat on. It would only get more ridiculous for Saturn as 2001 went on.

Test actually gets a decent pop. Maybe he was cared about here and I didn’t remember.

Test gets his foot caught in the ropes. I don’t think it was intentional. Guerrero gets him out.

Ref definitely saw Saturn interfere there.

Eddie Guerrero wins the title by pin in 8:30. Test has it won with a big boot, but Dean Malenko pulls him off. Guerrero hits Test with the European title for the win. Match wasn’t bad, it really looked like Eddie Guerrero was doing just about everything to make it good. Test would get a strong push in 2001, but by 2002 it was pretty much over for him as a top guy. Guerrero would fall apart…but then get his life together in 2002 and go on a great three year run. Still, in the long term this match meant nothing.

Mick Foley is the king of the cheap pop.

Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle

There wasn’t much of a story here, it basically spawned from Angle being shut out of the world title picture and Benoit and Jericho’s feud running its course. Most recent storyline between them: Benoit made Angle tap out on RAW.

Angle runs down Texas. Brilliant mic work.

We get a straight wrestling match to start. It’s an interesting way to start as 2001 didn’t have a lot of that.

Predictably, Angle takes the first liberty. Amazing how the can make a punch a heel move, but here it is.

This whole match is the prototype from their amazing Royal Rumble 2003 match. The biggest difference? The fans didn’t truly trust Benoit as a good guy yet.

Angle taps to the Crossface! But there’s no referee. That guarantees this program would continue (and it would be great).

Kurt Angle pins Chris Benoit in 14:04. Angle gets a crucifix pin after a sequence, and holds the tights for the win. Finish makes sense to continue the feud, but it was a pretty cheap win for Wrestlemania (next year would be worse). This is a very good match, but they would have better.

Kamala has invaded Regal’s office! Great stuff.

Great line from Heyman. JR: “Why aren’t you in the gimmick battle royal?” Heyman: “What, you want me to bring my telephone in the ring?”

Benoit attacks Angle post-match, and Angle taps out again!

Women’s Championship
Ivory© vs. Chyna

This is the ending of the Chyna broke her neck angle. Considering Chyna is considered equal to the men, there’s not a chance in hell Ivory wins.

Chyna wins the title by pin in 2:38. Chyna begins the burial of the division here. Shame she went crazy, as she was still mega over. Chyna finished with a Gorilla Press Slam, which I wonder was a reference to Warrior going over HHH at Mania XII (or a shot at HHH).

Street Fight: Mick Foley is the Referee
Mr. McMahon vs. Shane McMahon

Vince foreshadows his alliance with Stone Cold in a quick interview with Cole.

I always wondered how Shane got away with being a momma’s boy without being booed for it.

This was also the famous feud where Shane showed up on Nitro and stole WCW.

Shane absolutely destroys Vince…until Stephanie pulls Vince off a table than Shane was flying towards.

That’s all it takes for Trish Stratus to wheel down the comatose Linda McMahon!

Trish turns on Vince! Trish beats up on Stephanie afterwards.

Trish chases Stephanie away, and Vince takes Foley out with a chair (including a chair shot to the back of the head, which Foley wasn’t expecting). Vince rolls the comatose Linda into the ring.

Of course Linda awakens and kicks Vince right in the jewels.

Shane McMahon pinned Mr. McMahon in 14:12. Shane-Terminator (ECW’s gone a month and already we’re stealing moves) puts an explanation mark on a very entertaining street fight. Sure, it’s not really the best “match”, but it was fun all the way. Also, if you’re into the McMahon storylines, you would have loved all of this, as I did.

This is already a pretty great show…and we’re only half way through!

World Tag Team Championship: Tables, Ladders and Chairs
The Dudley Boyz© vs. Edge and Christian vs. The Hardy Boyz

At No Mercy ’99, Edge and Christian along with the Hardyz changed the Ladder Match game with their tag team ladder match. At Wrestlemania 2000, the Dudleyz were added. Summerslam was the first official TLC match. All these matches were amazing and stole the show. There had also been lesser known matches in-between, such as a Tables match with the Dudleyz and Hardyz at the 2000 Royal Rumble, for example.

It doesn’t take long for E and C to introduce the ladder and take out the Hardyz!

Something you don’t see in a lot of multi-man ladder matches anymore: build up. We get some minor knockdowns off the ladder early on here.

The Hardyz bring it to the next level by doing their legdrop/splash combo onto Christian off a pair of ladders.

The Dudleyz build a table fort on the outside…back when we may have not realized they would be involved in the finish.

Spike Dudley runs in and hits a Dudley Dawg on Edge off a ladder, then hits Christian with one from the ring to the floor.

Here comes Rhyno!

GORE GORE GORE!

Now Lita’s here! She stops Edge from getting the belts.

Lita breaks a chair over Spike’s head…but then gets the 3D!

Jeff Hardy relives his moment from last year with another 20 Foot Swanton Bomb through a table on the floor!

I believe the hanging off the belts spot was invented here. Jeff Hardy almost hopsteps ladder to ladder to ladder, but the ladder gives. Still ridiculous.

Jeff Hardy in another famous spot, he ends up hanging off the belts…and Edge spears him off a ladder! Crazy. Just crazy.

Rhyno comes in and sends Matt and Bubba through the table fort create earlier off a ladder.

Edge and Christian win the title in 15:47. After that, Rhyno helped Christian up the ladder to get the belts. In my opinion, this is still the greatest multi-man ladder match in history. Innovative spots, crazy bumps, excellent use of Rhyno, Lita and Spike. Just crazy. 2001 is where WWE would oversaturate the ladder match though. Hell, they gave away a TLC on Smackdown two months later (that was also insane).

It’s a shame this match meant nothing in regards to the titles though. The Hardyz were supposed to win, but it was switched when it was decided Undertaker and Kane were getting the belts for Backlash, so heels needed to win.

Still. Amazing.

Gimmick Battle Royal

I won’t get into all the gimmicks, but Doink gets a huge pop. And of course the Gobbledy Gooker. Hillbilly Jim did as well.

The Iron Sheik wins in 3:07. Sheik last gets rid of Sgt. Slaughter. Slaughter with a post-match attack. It was horrible, but that’s the point. It was just a fun battle royal with all the old timers. Bobby Heenan seemed like he had more fun on commentary than he had in years.

The Undertaker vs. Triple H

The story was simple. HHH beat Austin at No Way Out and pointed out how he beat everyone that there is to beat. Undertaker told HHH he “ain’t ever beat me”.

HHH Motorhead Live entrance is pretty awesome.

JR brings up that Taker is 8-0 at Mania at this point. Probably the earliest mention of the Streak, other than a 4-0 mention at Mania XI.

This match had no waiting out period. Taker and HHH are just beating the hell out of each other right away. Well, Taker is at least.

It only takes about five minutes, but we have a sledgehammer!

The referee is bumped and Taker gets a chokeslam…but the ref only makes a 2 count. Taker then beats up the ref…and the brawl all over the arena is on!

They end up fighting in the tech/computer area, which is something you don’t see every day. It leads to some awesome visuals, especially when HHH hits Taker with the chair. It feels like a real fight with spectators surrounding them.

Speaking of cool visuals, Taker chokeslams HHH off the tech area, which is like a 10 foot drop (although a replay shows the soft landing for HHH). It looked like Taker dropped HHH off the face of the earth. The moment HHH is up in Taker’s grasp is awesome. Taker comes flying off with an elbow drop for good measure!

We get a Tombstone, which had just become special…but the ref is still gone (way for there to be no 2nd ref!)

In perhaps the forgotten great near Streak-stopper, Taker lifts HHH for the Last Ride, but HHH brings the sledgehammer with him and just whacks Taker in the head with it. I was amazed when I was younger that didn’t finish it.

Undertaker pins HHH in 18:57. HHH makes the mistake of corner punching Taker, as that leads to the Last Ride and 9-0. Just a great knock down drag out brawl. Easily the best Undertaker match of the early American Bad Ass era, at least until Mania X8.

We still have the main event left!

WWF Championship
The Rock© vs Stone Cold Steve Austin

Of course, the promo video for this may be the best over. (Limp Bizkit’s “My Way”).

Austin gets a huge pop and The Rock gets booed for the 1st time as a top babyface…although it wouldn’t be the last time.

Again, no wait period! Austin and Rock tear right into one another!

Kind of a funny moment, but Rock is on the announce table trying to get back to his feet, and the table just falls apart.

In all seriousness, this is an amazing brawl.

Rock explodes out of the corner and nails Austin with a clothesline and the crowd boos the shit out of him. It’s Austin’s crowd in his home state!

There’s something brilliant about having a bloodied Austin trapped in a Sharpshooter at Wrestlemania.

Another amazing idea: Austin busting out the Million Dollar Dream! And JR explains why it’s a big deal!

Here comes Vince!

Rock gets the People’s Elbow, but Vince pulls the Rock off. Some fans boo, realizing what’s about to happen.

It becomes official once Austin asks McMahon for a chair.

Stone Cold wins the title by pin in 28:07. In another genius finish, The Rock, who was getting booed out of the building earlier, gets some big cheers as he survives Austin’s onslaught. Austin pounds The Rock with a chair some 16 or 17 times and gets the pin. Austin and Vince shake hands, which basically marked the end of the Attitude Era and the last boom period in professional wrestling. Great great match. Arguably Austin’s last great match, although I like the Mania XIX match too.

This was the perfect match: two of the biggest wrestling stars of all time at the top of their games. It wasn’t like Hogan-Andre because Andre wasn’t in his prime. It wasn’t like Hogan-Warrior because Warrior wasn’t a sure thing and it was treated like Hogan was passing the torch. It was two guys at the very top of wrestling going toe to toe at the height of wrestling’s popularity at the WWF’s biggest event of the year.

And yet, that’s what makes the ending such a disappointment. Wrestlemania X7 is perfect with the hometown hero completing his comeback and winning the WWF Title. Instead, we got a shocking heel turn that no one wanted. No doubt, Austin was a great heel, but he was a once in a lifetime babyface. The WWF hasn’t reached the level they were at here since. The real Stone Cold was gone, as Austin devolved into a (still entertaining) comedy heel with a serious side to him. Austin wrote in his book about how he thought about just calling an audible when he saw the crowd reaction, realizing that Stone Cold still had the potential to be an elite top face. The finish also showed stubbornness, as Vince had to know he had to change plans after acquiring WCW.

Look, if you have any issues with this show, pro wrestling is not for you. I once thought Wrestlemania XX was the superior show, but really, it’s not. This is perfection, sans the ending. It’ll have to go with 99.9% then.

Hands down, the greatest professional wrestling PPV ever.

Final Grade: A+

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews the 2001 WWF Royal Rumble

Royal_Rumble_2001

WWF Royal Rumble 2001
January 21, 2001
New Orleans, LA

It’s over.

WCW didn’t really believe it to be so, but at this point it really was. The WWF vs. WCW war hadn’t really mattered to the WWF in over a year. WCW then proceeded to put on one of the worst years, if not the worst year, that a major wrestling promotion had ever put together. While WCW would have some strong moments in 2001 before its demise, it was way too little and way too late.

Meanwhile, the WWF was riding high. New stars such as Kurt Angle had really hit their stride. The WWF was also pushing the hell out of former WCW stars Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit, and even taking chances with guys like Rikishi. The WWF had all of that talent while also having their mainstays be at the very top. Stone Cold, HHH, Undertaker, Kane and The Rock were still at the top of their games. While that wouldn’t actually remain viable forever (not enough top spots), at this point the WWF was simply rolling.

Then again, there was some small concerns. Ratings in December were low comparing to past years, and that’s with the ultra-hot Austin comeback. Shouldn’t be a problem on the Road to Wrestlemania though…right?

The Card

WWF World Tag Team Championship: Edge and Christian © vs. The Dudley Boyz

From 2000 on, it’s just safe to assume the Hardyz, E and C and Dudleyz were feuding with one another. The con-chair-to was an awesome move. Shame we won’t ever see it again, although it’s for the best.

I always thought the chemistry between the three teams was awesome…especially since the Dudleyz adapted to the WWF style practically instantly.

This whole match revolves around the Dudleyz having concussions. My how times have changed.

Edge and Christian miss the con-chair-to and D-Von hot tags Bubba! The crowd is very into all of this.

“D-VON! GET THE TABLES!”

The Dudley Boyz win when D-Von Dudley pins Edge in 9:59. Edge and Christian go for the Dudleyz’ WASSUP! Headbutt, but it’s reversed. Edge eats the 3D, and the Dudleyz win the title! Crowd pops huge for a very good opening match. Chemistry was just perfect with these teams.

Drew Carey is here! I think he’s promoting a PPV or something. He talks to HHH and Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley and promotes his PPV.

Crash Holly then threatens The APA about the Rumble. Good for a laugh.

WWF Intercontinental Championship: Chris Benoit © vs. Chris Jericho

Their entire promo video is just them beating the hell out of one another throughout 2000. Sounds good to me.

Benoit and Jericho just go at it right away. No time to waste here.

One of the most cringeworthy moments I’ve ever seen: Benoit goes for a tope…and Jericho whacks him right in the head with a chair. Worse when you think about what ultimately happened with Benoit. What a sick spot.

This is just hard hitting stuff back and forth, not a lot of flying. It’s an old school ladder match and it’s awesome.

Ridiculous ladder teeter-totter spot that got Benoit in the face. Jeez.

Walls of Jericho on top of the ladder!

Benoit misses a top of the ladder diving headbutt. Sick.

Chris Jericho wins the title in 18:48. Jericho nails Benoit with a chair, then shoves him off the ladder and over the top. It’s enough time for Jericho to grab the IC Title. Great great match. One of the best ladder matches of all time. It’s forgotten because of the Benoit deal. Hard hitting, great spots and a great crowd. 2/2 so far tonight!

Drew Carey hits on Trish Stratus…but here comes Vince! Vince isn’t happy…so he has Drew enter the Royal Rumble! When Trish says it would impress her…Drew goes for it!

WWF Women’s Championship: Ivory© vs. Chyna

Storyline here: The Right to Censor injured Chyna’s neck…and Chyna wants revenge.

It may have been fun to see Chyna destroy Ivory at the time, but in retrospect this killed the Women’s title until Trish revived it at the end of the year.

Ivory retains the title via pin in 3:32. Chyna goes for her cartwheel elbow, but goes down and holds her neck. Ivory pins her. Chyna is stretchered out. Really a glorified angle. Chyna would crush Ivory two months later anyway.

Drew Carey meets Kane. Kane should be afraid.

WWF Championship: Kurt Angle© vs. Triple H

Weird match here. HHH and Angle had feuded in 2000 in the love triangle storyline, but we got past that randomly in the last couple of months…and HHH had turned heel on Stone Cold. Suddenly HHH is the #1 contender causing Angle to think he’s against the McMahon family…but he’s still a heel and enlists Trish to help him, which infuriates Stephanie (well that and Vince’s flirtations with Vince). Still, both are heels, and the match actually feels like a backdrop of the Steph-Trish feud sadly.

As a result, except for some early “Angle Sucks” chants, the crowd really isn’t into it.

HHH works on the knee, even using a chair against Angle’s knee against the post. This makes Angle the face of the match then?

HHH with a strange Indian Deathlock. He had been using the Indian Deathlock in late 2000, notably against Benoit at No Mercy 2000.

Trish breaks up a Figure Four, leading to a Steph-Trish catfight…and the crowd goes nuts.

Razor’s Edge! Angle kicks out.

Moonsault from Angle! HHH survives though.

The crowd is on HHH’s side now.

Ref gets taken out…twice! HHH has it won…

Kurt Angle retains by pin in 24:16. Stone Cold comes out and beats the hell out of HHH…and hits him with a Stunner. Angle gets the pin. While this is a very good match, the Trish-Steph angle was distracting, and we didn’t even get remotely a good finish. I mean, I know Angle is a chicken-shit heel, but he really struggled to beat anyone during this reign…this match included.

The Royal Rumble

#1 is Jeff Hardy. #2 is Bull Buchanan.

#3 is Matt Hardy, pretty much ending the Bull Buchanan run.

The Hardyz oddly don’t wait for the next guy and go at it after dumping Bull.

#4 is Faarooq, who fends for himself pretty well for a minute before getting eliminated.

#5 is Drew Carey! Carey watches on the outside…and the Hardyz eliminate each other at the same time! Drew wins!

#6 is Kane. Kane slowly walks around the ring and Drew begs him not to hurt him. Drew hilariously offers money, but Kane says no. Kane is about to chokeslam drew, but #7, Raven saves him with a kendo stick shot. Drew eliminates himself.

It’s a Hardcore Rumble!

Al Snow runs in early and attacks Raven he confirms himself to be #8 shortly.

Raven takes a bowling ball to the nuts. Ouch.

#9 is Saturn. Interestingly, Saturn’s titantron has the same style that would be used for Chris Jericho’s Save.Us campaign later.

#10 is Steve Blackman as the Hardcore Division keeps coming out.

#11 is Grandmaster Sexay. It would be his last appearance until 2004.

Kane literally has a “fuck this moment”. Trash can shot knocks out Grandmaster. Blackman is next. Then Al Snow. Raven goes afterwards….then Saturn as well. Kane has cleaned house!

#12 is The Honky Tonk Man! He wants to sing his song. He does so, before Kane whacks him with a guitar and throws him out.

#13 is The Rock. Business has picked up!

#14 is The Goodfather! Goodfather never recovered from his RTC heel turn sadly.

And Rock takes out the Goodfather. That was fast.

#15 is Tazz, and he lasts less time than the Goodfather does. Kane knocks him out in about 5 seconds.

#16 is Bradshaw. He actually kicks some ass and takes Rock out with a clothesline.

#17 is Albert.

#18 is Hardcore Holly. Five guys in there now.

GETTING ROWDY! #19 is K-Kwik. Amazing that Killings never really got higher than this spot other than his heel run in 2011.

#20 is a Right to Censored Val Venis. It seems like we are just waiting for someone to clean house here.

#21 is William Regal. Test follows at #22, and dumps Regal.

Business picks up now as The Big Show returns and is #23. Show was last seen in July after being sent to OVW to lose weight (which he didn’t do, for the record). He chokeslams everyone in sight and gets rid of K-Kwik and Test. The Rock counters the chokeslam and out goes Show.

Big Show drags Rock under the ropes as #24, Crash Holly gets in. Big Show chokeslams The Rock through the Announcer’s table before leaving.

Undertaker is #25, and he and Kane clean out the ring…and DON’T attack one another (see Hardyz, it works!). Scotty 2 Hotty comes out in total fear, and is promptly chokeslammed and eliminated.

#27 is Stone Cold Steve Austin, leading to one of my all time favorite Rumble moments. Taker and Kane in the ring where Stone Cold comes down with no fear. HHH ruins the moment though by attacking Austin. Austin doesn’t make it to the ring. Rock gets back in and fight Taker and Kane.

#28 is Billy Gunn. Gunn gets some good offense in, probably the last good offense he’d get in until 2013.

#29 is Haku. Haku is the current WCW Hardcore Champion! You knew it was a death knell for WCW when the WWF didn’t even acknowledge that they stole Haku.

#30 is Rikishi. Rikishi sees Austin trying to get back to the ring and tries to take advantage, but Austin springs into action and attacks! Anyway, Rikishi, Gunn, Austin, Rock, Kane, Haku and Undertaker are the final seven.

Austin dumps Haku.

You can see there is a little Austin fatigue at this point. It’s not that Austin couldn’t be a top draw, but his out of nowhere attack of Rikishi would have gotten a huge reaction before. Now, it’s just something Austin did.

Rikishi superkicks Undertaker out!

Rikishi goes for a Banzaii Drop, but Rock knocks him over the top rope. Really bad showing from Rikishi here kayfabe wise. All that hype for #30 and he ended up lasting 5 minutes?

Austin, Gunn, Kane, Rock is the final four. One of these is not like the other.

Gunn hits Austin with the Fameasser…then Austin throws Gunn out just like that. Down to three.

Austin and Rock have locked eyes. These two went at one another at Armageddon the month prior as well.

Austin and Rock going at each other here was a huge deal. It was funny when WWE tried to replicate it with Orton and Cena in 2011.

Austin and Rock keep going at it and Austin even gets a Stunner. Austin tries to dump Rock, but Rock counters and tries to dump Austin. Kane comes from behind and tries to dump both, but only succeeds in dumping Rock (the record setting 11th elimination).

Stone Cold wins the Royal Rumble at 61:55, last eliminating Kane. Austin and Kane go at it, and Kane grabs a chair. Austin gets the chair though and whacks Kane a few times, before clotheslining him over the top for the win. Very good Royal Rumble. Had some slow moments…but clearly had its moments as well.

A really good PPV here. Only one match was lacking, and it only lasted three minutes. Everything else ranged from awesome (the IC Ladder Match) to very good (the WWF Title match). Historically this was Austin’s last great babyface moment of the Attitude Era, and Kane got a historical accolade that took 13 years to beat. Kane did kinda get wasted though after this.

Royal Rumble really had some good stuff. Comedy with Carey, Honky Tonk and Scotty 2 Hotty. Kane’s reign of terror. The hardcore part of the Rumble. The Austin-Rock staredown. The Big Show comeback (it got a good pop and he was a main guy always before this).

The entire show did provide good build-up for Wrestlemania as well. Can’t go wrong there.

Final Grade: A