That's Just Bad Part 4: The Holy Grail of Bad aka late WCW

How could I do a serious about bad shows without looking at the king of bad shows that being WCW in its last 2 years of running? And boy did I pick a good one (if I do say so myself), Bash at the Beach 1999 taking place on July 11^th in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Now before I start I have to say that I’m doing this review from youtube as my TV and video player are refusing to work together so I might miss some stuff, only the matches are on there but we might get lucky and more will be included. We have Bobby & Tony on commentary (we both know who I don’t need to full name them)

Disco Inferno vs. Ernest Miller w/Sonny Onoo: Disco has to be one of the most unlikeable wrestlers ever and it’s so hard to get behind him as a heel or face. This feud was about dancing, just like every feud these 2 had with everyone. Miller getting good heat here, I sense some Tracy Smothers here during his pre-match promo. Pre-match dance off, Miller was better but that’s my view. Miller tries to jump start but Disco gets the better of him, he also stamps on his hat. Miller talking again on the outside comes in and threatens kicks but Disco takes him down. Disco hits both atomic drops and then runs off the ropes but then whips Miller off, bit of a mess up. Miller gets a kick and begins to choke Disco to start the heat. Onoo on the outside hits some amazing kicks. Miller hits a low blow when they get back in and the ref does nothing, guess that was ECW’s influence on them. Lots of kicks in this match as well as taunting. Disco starts fighting back to little reaction, hits the Austin second rope elbow he stole a lot of Austin. Disco goes for the Stunner sorry the Chartbuster but is hit with a kick, if Miller uses a wrestling move I’d go nuts. Disco hits Miller with a red shoe, I hated that gimmick, for a 2. Miller then puts a shoe on and kicks Disco for the win. If you like kicks this was your match. Nothing great here and Miller copies James Brown with the cape routine.

Rick Steiner (c) vs. Van Hammer for WCW TV title: Hammer here was doing the anti-hippy gimmick to recover from his hippy gimmick. Weird booking before we even start with 2 heels against each other. Rick’s solo run always seemed a bit random to me, very forgettable. A very bad pre-match promo from Rick where he says nothing. Lock up to start and Rick gets some cheap shots when they get to the corner. Hammer comes back with strikes which look awful. These 2 seem very awkward in the ring, Rick no sells a suplex and just hits Hammer to get the advantage. Rick DDT’s Hammer on the concrete floor and goes for a cover on the floor for what reason I don’t know. Hammer gets a low blow and Tony mentions “We’re 2 for 2 tonight”. Rick keeps no selling Hammer. Hammer hits Rick with a chair, still no DQ, and then a top rope clothesline for a 2. Rick hits 2 low blows in a row and the jumping bulldog for the win. Just an awkward bad match here with no one caring. Both these men didn’t deserve to be here in my view.

David Flair (c) w/Ric, Arn & Torrie vs. Dean Malenko for WCW US title: David was just given the title and looked completely stupid here, bad ring gear and in no kind of shape. David is even out with one of Ric’s robes and music, he was doomed from the start. Dean just takes the advantage from the beginning, out classing him with wrestling. David’s gimmick is that he sucks and can’t do anything, I wish that was a joke. Dean quickly gets the Texas Cloverleaf on, Arn spinbusters the ref and Dean knocks him down. Ric hits Dean with the belt from behind and David retains. So bad I don’t know how they thought this would work in the long run.

West Texas Rednecks (Curt Hennig, Barry Windham, Kendall Windham & Bobby Duncum) vs. No Limit Soldiers (Rey Mysterio, Konnan, Brad Armstrong & Swoll)-Elimination match: This is rap vs. country because a match decides that. This was a crappy feud from the beginning, such a waste of talent all round and why was Brad in the Soldiers? It came off so random. No mask for Rey here, boy does he have a babyface. Konnan says something, I must not speak gangster or Spanish. Barry is working in a shirt and shorts, he must have been concerned with his shape at the time. Rey & Barry to start. The WTR have the workers cowboy boots which I love. Barry gets some strikes in but Rey starts using speed and even hits a split legged moonsault. Curt tags in and he isn’t messing, Brad comes in and is really good with his offence but looked awkward taunting. Swoll comes in with Bobby and is just bad, this guy didn’t last long. Kendall hits a low blow when tagged in, that’s our 5^th tonight. It’s very back and forth, no real advantage yet. Konnan & Rey begin to do double teams, they come off as a good team here. Bobby is eliminated when Rey hits a springboard leg drop and Swoll struggles to get the pin, seriously bad and I hear he got a stupid amount of pay. Somehow Barry gets offence on Konnan but that doesn’t last long. Brad steals his brothers punching style unless all the Armstrongs did that and I missed it. They mess up a spot and Hennig gets the Perfectplex to eliminate Brad even though Rey broke up the pin. Konnan comes in and gets beaten up, heels finally looking dominate a bit. Konnan comes back with his rolling clothesline which I never liked and then his poor X-factor for a 2. Rey dropkicks Kendall into a crappy small package by Konnan to eliminate him. Barry no sells a jaw breaker from Konnan, seemed odd. Another rolling clothesline by Konnan, both fall to the outside and are counted out leaving it 2 on 1 in favour of the faces. Swoll getting the better of Curt, something which is sad to see. Swoll hits some bad palm strikes and Rey does a splash off of Swoll’s shoulders for the win. Just a massive mess here, even real workers couldn’t help here. Plus the Soldiers were out with 2 other guys who constantly attacked the rednecks, the faces were more heel than the heels in this match.

Junkyard Invitational: There are 15 men in this match so not going to list them off but the idea is these guys having a battle royal in a junkyard, first to climb out wins. Tons of cars, weapons and wide shots including an aerial shot. A car gets pushed off for no reason by the Public Enemy, which gets a big reaction from Tony. Jerry Flynn causes sparks on a car, Silver King jumps on Brain Knobbs on top of a van. They actually wasted Regal & Finlay on this match. This is extremely hard to keep track off, just random people getting hit by random weapons. Jimmy Hart is the highlight here just telling people to get each other while in an overly protected outfit. Horace Hogan is there and man does he sound like Hulk. Rocco Rock & Horace are the first to head to the exit but neither gets out. Hak throws Finaly into a truck of a car, Finaly jumps out before the car goes into the crusher (WHY!) and Finlay just walks to the gate and gets out for the win. A waste of time, money and effort here just endless random weapon shots and guys killing each other with us not being able to see it. So glad this was a one off.

Jersey Triad (Diamond Dallas Page, Chris Kanyon & Bam Bam Bigelow) (c) vs. Chris Benoit & Perry Saturn for WCW Tag titles: The Triad took the Freebird rule to the extreme as all 3 men could wrestle the match, one would be in the ring another on the apron and the other on the floor the two on the outside could switch places during the match. I loved this trio so much. This is sad as out of the 5 only 2 are alive and for a while some thought Saturn was dead as well. Saturn and DDP start by trading shots which DDP gets the best off when they go to the corner but Saturn comes back and knocks down all 3. Bigelow and Benoit in, Benoit hits a clothesline which I always loved as it looked so impactful. Saturn keeps trying a T-Bone on Kanyon who keeps blocking them, a rear waistlock by Saturn and I thought we’d get another low blow but no, Saturn finally gets the T-Bone after Benoit gets a chop. Benoit hits a snap suplex which looked so fast and then puts on the Liontamer which looked extremely sick here. Kanyon is taking so much from these guys just bumping his ass off. Benoit begins working on his leg and we get the double team wishbone spot, always looks painful. Saturn hits a top rope leg drop but DDP comes in and Saturn is pulled out, he follows Kanyon and blogs Bigelows surprise clothesline but DDP gets him off the apron in a nice spot. Bigelow gets the tag and a hanging suplex to begin the heat for the heels. Fans seem to be distracted here by something and are just cheering and booing something. Saturn catches Kanyon on the top and does a Super Belly to belly to get the tag. Benoit fights off 2 guys but DDP catches him with a top rope clothesline to cut him off, he then falls off the rope while taunting and goes nuts to the crowd. Kanyon catches Benoit, who was attempting a float over, with a sit out Alabama Slam. Bigelow uses a lot of headbutts but at least he did wrestling moves as well unlike Ernest Miller earlier. We get the facelock tag spot to little reaction, DDP then hits a sit out powerbomb for 2. Bigelow goes for his crooked moonsault but misses leading to Benoit tagging. Benoit & Saturn hit a top rope splash & headbutt combo but DDP comes off the top to break the pin. Fans are really getting into things now. Ref goes down by DDP’s feet and Kanyon throws powder into DDP by accident, who then diamond cutters Kanyon for a 2. A superkick/German combo on DDP for a 2. Ref goes down again and DDP brings in a trash can, he hits Benoit & Kanyon but him and Bigelow get a double team Diamond Cutter for the win. This got lots of time and was fantastic, the best match on the show and you can’t be surprised when you see who was in it.

Buff Bagwell vs. Roddy Piper w/Ric Flair-Boxing Match: Mills Lane aka “Let’s Get it On” is the guest ref here. This was one of Buff’s biggest pushes he ever got, very much a guy who had the look and not the skills. Buff brings out his Mum as his corner person, aww that’s so sweet excuse me while I gag a little. Lots of punching I mean a lot, not much to call here. Piper gets the first knock down, the only real highlight of round 1. Ric sprays Pipers gloves with something which causes Buff to be affected throughout the 2^nd round. Piper jumps to start the 3^rd round, Judy bites Piper and puts a bucket on his head leading to Buff hitting the Blockbuster for the 3 count win. Totally random and stupid, a waste of time but luckily it wasn’t too much time.

Kevin Nash (c) & Sting vs. Randy Savage & Sid Vicious for WCW World Title: How can a singles title be defended in a tag? Vince Russo that’s how! The story for this was beyond stupid the infamous hummer, fake Sting and Gorgeous George being kidnapped by Nash. They say Sting could win the title but they don’t explain how since he’s Nash’s tag partner. This was Savage’s short time repackage which I really liked. George, Madness & Madusa are with Sid & Savage, I didn’t know Madness was Molly Holly at first. Savage starts with sunglasses on and George moves over to Nash they don’t explain why really. I’d like to note that this match is split into 2 videos on youtube with the first having nothing happening until the last minute when Sting attacks Savage. Sid has always had the widest punches I’ve ever seen, Savage shows how to throw a real punch when he’s tagged in. We seemed to jump straight into the heat for this match. Nash’s first move is breaking up a camel clutch, a work horse that Nash. Sting hits a dropkick and just casually walks over and makes the tag to Nash. We get vintage Nash during his comeback and then he tags out pretty quickly. Sting misses a Stinger Splash on the rail and Sid then dumps him on the rail, then both girls push Sting into the post. Sting does his accidental low blow spot, it completely misses Sid but I don’t think he was complaining. Nash comes back in and hits a 2^nd sideslam to Sid, seriously he has so few moves. Sting hits Stinger splashes on everyone and then accidently hits Nash when going for Savage, he then gets hit by a chokeslam. George comes in hits a low blow, which Nash didn’t feel, then another. Sid slams Nash and Savage hits his elbow for the win. A very boring match in my view and I’d like to note that Savage would lose the title 24 hours later to Hulk Hogan, this was the 2^nd time that would happen to Savage.

Overall: What a mess this show was but that sums up WCW in 99. The only good match was the tag title match, a lot were either hard to watch or extremely overbooked but my guess is that that was due to Russo’s booking, who was famous for overbooking. Also I didn’t mention the crowd much as they really didn’t come into effect, they weren’t quiet at all but they just weren’t reacting much to anything.

Well that’s my review of Bash at the Beach 99. Keep an eye out for my final one in this series, another Bash this time the Great American Bash 2004!

That's Just Bad Part 3: So Where's My Show?

IWA Mid-South was one of the indies to watch in the mid 2000s, it used some of the best wrestlers and they put on some of the best shows. However in 2009 the company was a shell of its former self and this show “Turn Back the Clock” is a prime example of how things changed. IWA MS has a reputation for drawing pretty small crowds which I found was sometimes true but they had a spell of time where the crowds were pretty good, this is not one of those times. So let’s head back to May 3^rd 2009 for Turn Back the Clock.

Stephane Saint vs. Alexander Rudolph vs. C-Red: For those who don’t know C-Red is a manager for Da Soul Touchaz most of the time. The other 2 look like general indy guys, those 2 start by trading forearms. C-Red hits a nice back elbow on Rudolph, him and Saint do a very poor double hip toss to throw the other guy out. Rudolph pulls Saint out and slams him, then goes in and throws out C-Red. Very typical 3 way with one guy being thrown out and the other 2 doing a match. Saint and Rudolph seem to mess up a suplex spot, Rudolph then hits a poor knee to the chest of Saint for the win. Just a complete mess here that went 3 minutes.

Hunter Matthews vs. Alex Whybrow: Alex is better known as the late Larry Sweeney, who is looking pretty rough here, comes out in a Riberia steak house jacket, jeans and no shoes. Hunter jumps before the bell but Alex comes back quickly. Hunter is wearing the other indy style of outfit being a singlet and tights with stars. Alex gets a jaw breaker and gets a headlock. I should note that at this time Alex wasn’t working a lot of places and was in a down period of his career, I’m guessing he’s working here for the love of wrestling. Alex hits a nice suplex which gets claps from the 20-30 people in the crowd. Alex goes back to the headlock and yells “Take it Easy” every time. Hunter fights back and hits a weird dropkick, goes for a piledriver but Alex reverses to the 68 Comeback Special and top rope elbow for the win. Meh this wasn’t great, you got the feeling that Alex didn’t want to be there and it showed a bit.

Ninja Bill Open Challenge: Stupid gimmick comes out, literally the guy is dressed as a ninja. The referee he comes out with then rolls him up and counts the 3 himself. There was a point to this somewhere I swear.

Michael Elgin vs. Marshe Rockett: Remember the Soldier Boy dance? No one else did in 2009 but Da Soul Tourchaz didn’t drop it and wouldn’t until 2011! Trading arm locks to start, a very different Elgin to today’s a lot bigger. Elgin is using some lucha moves to reverse Marshe honestly didn’t expect that here. We get a break from the action when Marshe goes for an Ace Crusher and Elgin bails to the outside, when he comes back in he does a kick to the cut but Marshe comes back with a cross body and dropkick after being whipped.  Elgin catches a jumping kick and hits a backbreaker now that’s shades of today’s Elgin, this starts the attack on the back including a nice powerslam from Elgin. Elgin runs to Marshe, who is in the ropes, but he moves and we then get a dive from Marshe over the top to the outside but Elgin gets the offense right back including a body slam. Marshe reverses a suplex by landing on his feet and hits a neckbreaker. Marshe hits 3 stiff clothesline with Elgin not going down, he then gets the jumping kick to knock him down. Another Ace Crusher attempt is reversed and Elgin gets a weird cross armed brainbuster looking thing for a 2. Elgin catches Marshe on the top and hits a top rope Frankensteiner for a 2, Scott Steiner would be proud or pissed he seems like an angry man. Elgin goes for a powerbomb but Marshe floats over goes for another Ace Crusher is pushed off, he then catches a kick and finally hits the crusher for a 2. Elgin reverses a sunset flip attempt by rolling through and hitting a seated lariat for a 2. Marshe then catches Elgin on the top but he fights him off and hits an amazing elbow drop, he got some serious height for a 2. Marshe catches Elgin again on the ropes and hits a super Ace Crusher for the win. A really good match between this two, you could tell they wanted to work hard and this is potentially the best match on the card it got a lot of time and really put over both men, also bit of a surprise with Marshe winning.

Trauma vs. Will Venator: Will looks like a bad fat Billy Graham rip off, and Trauma is fatter. Trauma gets the advantage from the start, gets a spinebuster and splash in the corner. Hits some mean chops in the corner and then hits the Pounce for the win. A squash match in the simplest of terms which probably went 1 minute if that.

Yellow Dog vs. Jason Hades: In my tribute to Brain Pillman I mentioned that the Yellow Dog gimmick was originally his. Dog shakes paws with Hades and then pretends to pee on him after a double stomp, Hades rolls through and kicks him in the face. Dog reverses a sunset flip but rubbing his tail in the face but Hades quickly comes back with kicks. The Dog here is actually Jason Strife who if you remember ran the show were Davey Richards & friends bailed on a few months back. Dog comes back with a top rope cross body, tries to get the fans to woof and results in nothing. Hades tries to climb up Dog and hit a clothesline on the way down he just hit a clothesline. Dog does the Kurt Angle running top tope belly to belly spot for a 2. He attempts a jumping DDT and Hades tries the Killswitch but we get the Fish out of water spot, Hade then gets a weird half & half, half tiger suplex the other half pumphandle for the win. This 2 tried to do a lot in a short amount of time and it wasn’t bad but they can do better.

Jimmy Jacobs & Drake Younger vs. Dingo & Jim Fannin: This is the main event and we’re 37 minutes into the show! For those who don’t know Jim was a manager in IWA MS so it seems any manager can wrestle here. I’m surprised the other 3 showed up with how this show has gone. Jacobs shows off his Light heavyweight title which he just claimed back from Jim at a previous show. Dingo & Jim do the easy heel move of walking through the “crowd” which in this case was mostly chairs. The match begins with the ref finding a whole range of weapons on Jim, the best thing is Dingo’s excuses for each thing. Jim & Drake start but both tag quickly. The Jims were in a feud at the same as were Drake & Dingo. It’s been 10 minutes since the last match and there’s been nothing here. Jacobs gets a headlock and uses a chain, which he stole from Jim and Dingo pretty much no sold it, that’s a finish in some places. Jacobs gets a nice suplex and things speed up a lot. Drake gets tagged in and uses the chain as well follows that with a flapjack and a version of the Muta lock. Jacobs goes after Jim on the outside and Dingo gets a baseball slide and we get the Hennig neck snap back in the ring. Drake does a hanging suplex where he walks around the ring very impressive, Drake is very under-rated in terms of his wrestling ability. Dingo gets a jumping knee to a seated Drake and this results in a tag to Jim who proceeds to do very little except choke. Drake comes back with an O’Connor Roll and a school boy but is cut off with a boot. Dingo gets a single leg Boston crab Drake gets the rope but after the 4 he pulls him back out into the hold. Jim finally does a wrestling move with a reverse chin lock but it didn’t last long. Drake gets a capture suplex when Dingo goes for a kick. Then we get the spirit of Ricky Morton with the “hot” tag from Drake to Jacobs. Drake gets Dingo in a fireman’s carry and Jacobs hits a senton which made it look like Drake was going to crumble but he hung on and got a Samoan bomb for a 2. Jacobs gets the End Time but they fall to the outside. Jacobs gets the End time again but Jim passes brass knux to Dingo who punches Jacobs and Fannin gets the pin. This is the best we could get in this match and it was the best you could expect. The 3 actual wrestlers worked their asses off and the crowd were into it.

Overall: This show clocked in at about 1 hour and 4 minutes of action which is insane for an indy. The lack of crowd really hurt this show as did the lack of actual action. You really got the sense that a lot of guys didn’t care on this show, you could of put more experience people with younger guys and gave them a chance to help them learn but instead of we got guys just killing them off stupidly fast. After watching this I can see why crowd numbers decreased for this company as this is the best they can give us for a show, I’m not asking for the world here but this something that gives me a bit more would be nice. An hour is less than most films these days.

That's Just Bad Part 2: Reunion Show That Just Won't Stop

Funny story this review was meant to be Superbrawl 2000 but my video player decided to eat my tape, must be fates way of saving me from watching such a horrible show. Sadly this has affected my original list for this series of blogs greatly as I fear destroying more tapes. But fear not as I will come up with some shows, I feel a late WCW show is needed for this list. So the show at hand is Hardcore Homecoming held in the ECW arena 24 hours before WWE’s One Night Stand, a far superior show which I classed in my 15 greatest shows ever list. Basically the idea here is something Shane Douglas is still doing, using the ECW name without actually using it to make money. But to be far back in 2005 the fans wanted to see this more than they do now that the name has been ran into the ground. So let’s begin.

The opening video has a range of wrestlers and fans hyping up the show, a lot of the footage is a part of the Forever Hardcore documentary which is pretty good. Terry Funk tells a story that he was offered to go to WWE this weekend but he chose this show, probably shows why Funk kept wrestling for as long as he did. The show officially starts with Todd Gordon being introduced to the crowd, it should be noted that when a wrestler is introduced a lot of the time it goes into a split screen with a pre-recorded message from the documentary. The Arena is packed, looks like there’s no space at all. Todd does the typical thank you speech. Joey and Cyrus come out to start the show, fans just love Joey and pop to the “Oh my God”. Joel Gertner interrupts and does his typical dirty promo. Cyrus is being a face but quickly turns heel and Joel attacks.

Simon Diamond & CW Anderson vs. Chris Chetti & Mikey Whipwreck: Finally we get a match and apparently Joey is commentating alone, bit upsetting as I like him with Cyrus. I can see why CW got the Anderson name he looks so much like them and has a great spinebuster. We get the “Mikey pinned Steve Austin” point brought up early. Chetti looks like he’s just wearing his street clothes, he’s really showing the ECW spirit. Mikey getting some quick offence in and goes with the Whipper Snapper aka the Stunner but Simon get’s the tag as does Mikey. We get our first big move in the form of a Scissors kick by Chetti, fans popped with the near Spinebuster spot, the heels finally get the advantage when Simon clothesline Chetti from the outside. Double flatliner onto Chetti, looked like they didn’t know what to do at first. It should be noted a much better Philly crowd than for the King of the Ring show. CW does the Owen crouched spot to get Mikey in, I always wondered what would happen if they had actually hit that move it would of looked weird. CW gets a superkick on Mikey and that’s followed by the spinebuster, Chetti gets the Amityville Horror, then Simon gets the Simon Seires, and Mikey gets the Whipper Snapper for the win.

Tracy Smothers w/JT Smith vs. Blue Meanie: JT says random words. Thankfully Meanie is wearing a full t-shirt. Seeing these 2 face off shows how badly this show needed the other members if their groups. A lot of dancing, hat guy in the crowd is out of his mind. The ref bodyslams Tracy, him and the Meanie do a double clothesline and then both try to pin him one after the other. Tracy gets the mic “Everybody dies” one of my favourite lines ever. A dance off happens and an attack from behind. Meanie comes back with a bulldog and does the “people’s” leg drop. Meanie goes for a moonsault, JT hits him with a chain and Tracy pins him with his foot on the rope, which looked beyond stupid. I love Tracy but that wasn’t good to watch.

We randomly cut to sad music and pictures of wrestlers who had passed on, I’m guessing that’s their tribute. Gary Wolfe, Johnny Grunge and Tammy Sytch come out. Gary looked good at least. For such an emotional moment Tammy is playing it up like there’s nothing wrong and is enjoying it. Danny Doring & Roadkill come out because you know we need heels for a tribute. We get a beat down until 911 comes down and clears house, only hardcore ECW fans would get that. Grunge goes off the top onto Roadkill on a table, that was surprising. Didn’t get the point of this if I’m honest.

Kid Kash vs. 2 Cold Scorpio: Scorpio looks so goofy going around the ring. Kash came out acting like a face and then switches to heel in a matter of seconds. Starts with strikes, after hearing stories I wouldn’t want to be Kash. A very fast exchange of near moves leading to a standoff. A lot of fast chain wrestling, fans are very pleased with it. Scorpio really comes off more as an arrogant heel. Scorpio misses a plancha to the outside and Kash hits a plancha into a head scissors and then hits some mean sounding kicks. Scorpio goes off the ramp into the crowd, Kash follows with a heelio. Scorpio was just killing time near the apron for the ref to count 9, what I don’t get is they were outside for about 4 minutes and then there was a count for a random reason.  Back in and Scorpio hits a powerbomb, somersault leg drop and another from the top rope for a 2, again a cocky pin. Kash hits a merosault onto a standing Scorpio. A pele kick from Scorpio, always looked random to me AJ Styles worked it better. A Ricola bomb and 450 for the win by Scorpio. I wasn’t a big fan of this match but it was Ok, could have been worse.

Bad Breed (Ian & Axl Rotten) vs. Kronus & New Jack: Axl talks about his legendary status in ECW, well that’s 1 person who thinks it at least. The late Kronus looks very out of shape here, this was meant to be Saturn & Kronus but Saturn got injured. Ian attacks from behind and it starts 2 on 1. Ian hits a dropkick on a chair in the corner and Kronus is bleeding, yeah it’s one of those matches. We get a dual chair shot and then New Jack enters. What’s funny is that Jack and Axl claim they could have gone to WWE. Jack hits Ian with a chain and nearly stabs Ian in the face with scissors. Axl and Ian are bleeding. Random shots, stabs and low blows everywhere. Oh Jack is now bleeding, I’m surprised he lasted as long as he did. The sound suddenly goes weird and there’s an awful echo effect. A scaffold gets brought to the ring. Jack jumps off the scaffold onto Ian who’s on the table to “end” this. This was just a random meaningless brawl. After Jack cuts a promo aka swearing.

Jerry Lynn vs. Justin Credible w/Jason: It becomes very clear that Joey was using the same lines/jokes that he would at One Night Stand. Lots of stalling by Justin to start. Jason is constantly asking “What are you doing?” what a manager he is. Justin gets some nice sounding chops, Lynn’s don’t sound as good. Justin gets the advantage with strike while Lynn gets the advantage with wrestling, nice story telling here. Lynn hits a leg drop when Justin tries a shoulder block, a nice spot. Lynn runs off the apron and then runs on a table into a heelio onto Justin in the crowd. They come in and Lynn DDT’s Justin on a chair leading to him bleeding. That’s one of the things I hated about ECW you could of done that spot without the chair but I guess the blood would make less sense. Justin superkicks a chair into Lynn’s face. Justin pulls Lynn out of the corner from laying down into a powerbomb on a chair, I always liked that powerbomb. Lynn gets his sunset flip out of the corner but is caught in the Black Hole Slam soon after. As much as Joey talks about Lynn’s previous injured shoulder it’s playing little part in the match. Justin does his baseball slide crotched in the post move which just has to hurt. They seemed a bit confused during Lynn’s comeback in one spot but it lead to the Kryptonite Crunch. Jason’s a bit late swinging a chair to Lynn, That’s Incredible is hit for a near fall. Lynn hits the Cradle piledriver for a near fall. Jason just seems to be in the way here, Lynn hits a top rope Frankesteiner to the outside through a table but Jason pulls the ref out when a pin is attempted. Jazz then arrives and attacks Jason. They reverse tombstone attempts until Lynn gets a cradle version for the win. A very good match here probably the match of the show, these 2 could always work a good match.

Raven w/Blue Meanie & a Musketeer vs. Sandman: During Sandman’s entrance the interview from him talks about the entrance which in essence ruins the entrance, that and the fact they can’t actually play Enter Sandman. Raven cuts a promo, it’s pretty funny I’m a fan of Ravens. Sandman and Musketeer have a “sword” duel which Sandman wins. Raven attacks from behind with the mic. We get a “Johnny Polo” chant. Raven gets a suplex on a ladder on the outside then gets a leg sweep into the rail, a nice move. I should mention that Meanie is now a heel somehow, he was a face earlier. Sandman does a slingshot spot with the ladder and this results in Raven bleeding. Meanie throws powder into the eyes and we get the Evenflow DDT, this is 2 shows in a row where a man’s finisher is one of the weakest ever as Raven rarely wins with that in one go. Sandman throws Raven into a slated table after he tries for a bulldog. A rolling senton onto Raven who’s under a ladder he then hits a leg sweep and repeats the same senton on a table. Meanie misses 2 moonsaults and then hits one. We get the Terry Funk ladder spot from Sandman and a DDT but Donny Allen comes in, yeah I don’t know either. Mikey Whipwreck makes the save but hits the Whipper Snapper on Sandman leading to Raven winning. This was your typical Raven ECW match, lots of stuff to help the match get over.

Sabu vs. Terry Funk vs. Shane Douglas-No Rope Barbed Wire: Joey says Philly outlawed Barbed Wire match for years, lies as CZW and others have had those matches in the arena before this. A section of the documentary is shown talking about the original 3 way and the infamous Barbed Wire match in ECW between Sabu & Funk. Shane cuts his Franchise promo, he’s very dressed up I think he’s wearing 2 t-shirts. They do a 3 way tie up and then a 3 way headlock. Shane goes into the barbed wire first and Funk seconds later. Air Sabu into Funk, seconds later they both attack Shane. Sabu runs onto a chair and jumps over the wire onto the other two, if that had messed up it would of been seriously bad. They keep doing split screens here with both showing the same thing from different angles, it’s very annoying. All 3 men are bleeding now, there’s been a lot of blood. Sabu misses a chair he was going to run up and goes into the wire. Triple sleeper spot a tribute to their original match. Shane goes to pin both men and they kick out making him land awkwardly on the wire. Funk hits a Stunner, we’ve seen enough of those tonight. Shane drops Sabu on the wire from a suplex, a regular spot in these matches. Funk get’s his arm caught in all 3 strands of wire that’s followed by Sabu being hung in the wire in a sick spot. Shane hits the inverted Hennig role on Funk which always looks nasty. Shane knocks out 2 refs then there a ladder which he climbs the lights go out and Mick Foley appears, fans boo when Socko comes out but a Double Arm DDT brings them back. Funk gets a weird pin on Shane who kicks out and gets a chair in the face and is gone. Sabu goes for a sunset flip on Funk but he reverses it and sling shots Sabu to the outside. Funk tried to climb the ladder but it breaks, it was breaking under Shane as well. Arabian Facebuster by Sabu for the win. There you go, this just felt awkward at points. In terms of barbed wire matches I’ve seen better but it wasn’t awful and the fans were into it.

Overall: This to me shows why the ECW name should be left alone and this was 7 years ago. I’m not going to lie this was a good nostalgic show but it just wasn’t that great in the ring and it dragged, it was over 3 hours (on DVD) and it felt like so much more to me. And what I find funny is that WWE would show them how to truly do it just nights later. This show would go on tour and try to start a company, that last all of one tour I believe and just ended. You’d think Shane Douglas would learn. As a final verdict on this I’ll say that it’s not a show that you would turn off because it’s so bad, there is some good but you have to love ECW to find those bits.

That's Just Bad Part 1: Royally Screwed

A couple of months ago I decided to celebrate my 15^th year as a wrestling fan and reviewed 15 of the best shows I’ve ever seen. Well it’s time to look at the bad as I’m going to review 5 bad shows (I’m not sitting through any more) now I chose these shows from memory and by looking at the line up so they might end up better than I remembered. Now you may be thinking “Why do this?” well it’s simple: hardcore fan + internet =hate, or at least that’s what’s believed.

So the show I’m looking at today is King of the Ring 1995, 1995 was seen as one of the worst years for wrestling so let’s see if that’s true with this show. We open with Vince McMahon talking about Philadelphia, where this show is taking place. We get Stephanie Waind, who looks incredibly scary, telling us that we get a bonus qualifier as Razor Ramon was injured leading to.

Savio Vega vs. IRS: Man did Mike Rotundo get some mileage out of the IRS character. Oh on commentary we have Vince McMahon & Doc Hendrix aka Michael Hayes, always comes off as an odd team in my view. We start with Vega getting some near falls early, at this time I notice Hat guy and moustache guy from the ECW arena. This match is so important that we cut away to the other language commentators and miss something. Vega has a “SV” cut into the back of his hair, he walked around with that! IRS was going for an axe handle to Vega who was laying on the mat surprisingly he got a foot up, would of loved to see IRS hit that somehow as it made no sense. Vega hits a spinning wheel kick for the win. Basically this was all Vega, a squash really.

The PPV now begins, we get a brief intro by the commentary team and then we get Yokozuna w/Jim Cornette vs. Savio Vega w/Razor Ramon: Yoko beat Luger to qualify, Luger got counted out after he rescued the US flag because he just loves America so much. Savio cuts a promo in Spanish and then a typical hyper babyface promo. Yoko takes advantage straight away, does his elbow miss. Yoko was billed at 641 lbs here which apparently makes him the heaviest wrestler in WWE history as Doc says. Vega misses the wheel kick. We cut to a split screen of Owen Hart on the phone talking to fans, I’d prefer to watch that if I’m honest. We have the dreaded nerve hold by Yoko, Vega dances out or it looked like a dance he is Latino after all. Vega starts fighting back but Yoko cuts him off with a great looking throat thrust. Yoko misses a leg drop, I swear he missed more drops than he hit and I don’t blame guys for saying “No I don’t want him to land on me thank you”. Vega hits 4 clothesline and a wheel kick to knock Yoko down, Owen comes down and hits Razors ribs which results in nothing, way to sell a injury Razor. Vega throws Yoko into the steps and we get a countout win for Vega. Very slow but wasn’t too bad, this match was easy to get a pop from the crowd when Yoko missed his big moves. Backstage we get Jerry Lawler cutting a promo about his bad smelling feet, he’ll be facing Bret Hart in a Kiss my foot match later. A good promo from the King.

The Roadie w/Jeff Jarrett vs. Bob Holly: Why the Intercontinental champion Jeff Jarrett isn’t in this tournament I don’t know, he’s not even booked on the show. I’ll get this out of the way now I hate Bob Holly, quite the mullet on Bob. Bob gets a belly to belly to start as the Roadie runs into it. Lots of near falls to start, second time tonight we’ve started like this. Surprisingly fast paced from these 2. Oh Vladimir the super fan is also in the crowd. Roadie nails a powerbomb to get the advantage. Roadie is doing a lot of bad dancing here. Bob tries to get the crowd into things when fighting a chin lock, nothing happened. Double J is just insanely dressed, I like to think he wore that every day. A head scissors by Holly, didn’t expect that follows that with a nice drop kick. Fans aren’t really caring for this comeback. Bob jumps off into the foot of the Roadie, who was down, and Roadie gets the win even though it looked like a 2. Not a good match and that finish was awful made Holly look like a idiot. Tod Pettengill is backstage talking to Shawn Michaels hard to hear as the Million dollar man’s theme comes on, Todd looked incredible worried during this promo for some reason.

Kama w/Ted DiBiase vs. Shawn Michaels: 2 obvious Undertaker fan plants are in the crowd, overly gothic. Kama looking like Mr. T here with an overly big gold chain which was the urn melted down. We start with Shawn being quicker and getting some shots in. Doc puts over Shawn winning the Royal Rumble that year, did you know that’s the shortest rumble in history. Fans love Shawn here there so hot for this match, a nice change from the past 3. Kama gets a big sidekick and clotheslines him out to get the advantage, DiBiase gets some kicks in and Michaels is just rammed into the post back first. I can’t help but watch the 2 infamous ECW fans, they’re way too into the show it’s awesome. Joe Frazier is in the crowd, he looks confused. A lot of strikes by Kama but it suited his gimmick of the supreme fight machine. Kama places Shawn stomach first across the top turnbuckle and hits some punches which are sold great by Shawn. A Canadian backbreaker by Kama, that’s the first wrestling hold he’s used. Shawn gets a pin out of it and the fans gets up, we get the infamous Flair bump and Shawn lands outside looked great. 3 backbreakers in a row by Kama and a backbreaker hold which looks incredibly painful. Shawn finally comes back with a springboard forearm. We suddenly have a timer showing there’s 2:30 minutes left, the announcer they tells the crowd a wise move. Shawn hits a double axe handle, he’s getting the Cena treatment a little here with the women cheering for him and the men booing but only slightly. Kama rolls through a crossbody for a near fall, Shawn gets a crossbody and nearly gets 3 when the time runs out. Beautifully timed, a pretty good match that built very well. After the match you can see Shawn say “Bull S**t” and then hits a Sweet Chin music, why he couldn’t do that in the match I don’t know. The worst part about this, we only got 1 Shawn match on this show.

Undertaker w/Paul Bearer vs. Mabel w/Mo: Before this match we get a promo for Bob Backlund for President, he seemed out of his mind and uncomfortable at points. Taker’s entrance has to be the best ever, always looked amazing. We see the Taker fan plants again. Both men in purple that pleases me as it’s my favourite colour. We get a similar spot from earlier with Taker hitting repeated clothesline to knock him down. Taker then hits old school which at this time was called “What a move”. Mabel hits an awkward looking take down I think it was meant to be an Urinagi. Mable hits Taker as he’s trying to get in, looked awkward again and Taker is tied up by his foot in the ropes I don’t think that was planned. Mabel finally hits an ok move with a high belly to belly. A camel clutch by Mabel, Taker must have hated that fat guy sitting on him. Bearer is classic here really makes Mo look useless. Vince brings up Takers tattooed arms, he wasn’t even full sleeved here which looks odd to me. Mabel just sits on Taker for a pin, looked like he was just tired to be honest. Taker gets his boot up when Mabel runs in which is impressive as he was slumped down and still reached Mabels face. Mabel gets a piledriver, probably the only time he used it. Mabel misses an elbow drop, I think it’s a rule that big guys can’t hit elbows or be Irish whipped. The ref gets knocked down after Mabel reverses an Irish whip, see it’s a rule! Taker “chokeslams” Mable, Kama then attacks Taker. Mabel drops the leg and wins it. A shocking win in a pretty bad match, Taker was not the best worker here and Mabel never was. We get a recap of the Hall of Fame ceremony from the night before, this is so far away from the incredible ceremony we get the past few years. This was only the 2^nd true ceremony for the Hall of Fame, they had 1 in 1994 and the Hall opened with Andre being inducted by himself in 1993.

Savio Vega vs. Roadie: The 3^rd match for Vega in less than 1 and a half hours, he’s not selling it one bit. Jarrett cuts a promo for the Roadie, calls him Road Dog that may be where it started. Vega clothesline Roadie out who hits his face on the apron and then on the floor, I liked that spot. Roadie goes for a scoop slam but they crumble into a poor looking small package, that’s followed by a sloppy swinging neck breaker by Roadie. Roadie hits a flying headbutt, the fans wake up for the kick out for some reason. Savio begins to no sell and dance back, seriously those Latinos love to dance! Vega fires back up, the fans don’t though. Jeff trips Vega but Roadie bumps into Jeff and is school boyed for the win. Fans woke up for the finish but besides that this was pretty bad. We get a Spanish after match interview with Doc translating and making jokes, was this needed? We get a look at the crown, looks like you could get it from McDonalds.

Bret Hart vs. Jerry Lawler-Kiss my Foot match: We get a recap of the feud that started 2 years before when the King attacked Bret after he won the tournament. We get a promo from Bret, a very under rated talker in my book his talking was always seen as his weak point but I don’t think that’s the case. We get a promo from King going to the ring, another great one from him. Pyro for Bret, always came off as random to me he never played to it so it was an afterthought. Bret throwing punches early, they looked great Bret was a great puncher. Bret gets pulled into the step and we get “Burger King” chants, the first proper chant from the fans. King gets the piledriver early, he hits 2 more after some stalling. Bret kicks out, King’s piledriver must be the most ineffective finishing move ever he hardly ever wins with the thing. King takes his boot off, he has a overly done bad sock effect he had apparently not washed his feet, King hits Bret with the boot in front of the ref but then hides it for some reason. Lawler uses the boot again when Bret is hitting him, very Memphis style here. King hits his diving fist for a 2. Hakushi, remember him, suddenly run down but he hits King by mistake and run off. Fans are really up for this, we get the Bret series of moves you know the ones. Sharpshooter and the King quits, what was really nice is that the hard cam zoomed out to see the crowd get up for the finish. King kisses Bret’s foot by force and then is made to kiss his own, which was impressive. Probably the best match on this show not in terms of action, which wasn’t bad but the fans were so hot for this which helped since the crowd had sucked for most of the night so far. Bret had to be the MVP of 95 as he had some of the best matches with everyone that year.

Savio Vega vs. Mabel: Before we start we see the 2 previous Kings, the ones held on PPV. This is Savio’s 4^th match in less than 2 hours, something under sold by Vince on commentary. Vince brings up that Yoko was actually heavier than Mabel, why should Vega be worried then? This starts pretty much the exact same to the match with Yoko. We’ve seen the 2 rules of the big man in less than a minute. Vega dominating here which makes no sense for someone who is smaller and is meant to be more worn down. Mabel finally trips Vega into the steps to get the advantage.  A bear hug which looks like Mabel is sleepy and Vega is holding him up. Again no reaction to Vega fighting back, who booked this? Another bear hug on this is about 5 minutes of hugging. Oh now a chin lock by Mabel how exciting, Razor is getting the crowd into it a little thankfully he was there otherwise we’d get nothing. Fans chant “ECW” very loudly. Vega gets a school boy and then the wheel kick for a near fall, fans woke up to that. Vega kicks out a powerslam but then a splash ends it. A piss poor match and Mabel would go on to be known as one of the worst Kings ever. Looking back either man would of been a bad choice as Savio didn’t get over that night, the only other choice was Shawn to win but they wanted a killer heel for Diesel to face so they tried to make Mabel. After the match we get a long drawn out beat down by the heels and a drawn out coronation very boring although a fan hit Mabel in the face with trash, that was funny.

Diesel & Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Sid & Tatanka: We get a classic Sid promo, thankfully it was pre-recorded as this was a month or 2 after the infamous “We’re live pal”. It’s odd to think that Tatanka main evented a PPV, Bigelow did main event Mania that year which is even odder. Diesel is probably one of the most injury prone WWE champions ever, he’s coming into this with a bad elbow and later that year he hurt his back thanks to Mabel. Starts with the heels jumping the gun. Again very little fan interaction, a bad sign with your WWE champ in the ring. I will say a good addition to this is Kayfabe Commentaries Timeline of WWE 1995 by Kevin Nash, he adds a lot of details to his biggest year. Tatanka and Diesel start off, Sid gets a kick into the arm and the heat starts pretty much from the start with the heels working on the injured arm. Fans are chanting for Diesel, well some are at least. Diesel gets the tag after Sid misses a leg drop, nothing of note happened in between. Bigelow clears house and hits a top rope headbutt but DiBiase is distracting the ref. Sid chokeslams Bigelow off the 2^nd rope in a very good looking spot. Sid did nothing after, taunted Diesel to get him in and then tags out for Tatanka to go for the pin, what was the point of any of that? If I can say anything Bigelow is working his ass off, sadly no one else is. If Sid throws one more boot I’m about to boot my TV! We were meant to get the traditional face lock near tag spot however they messed up and we got an actual tag, Diesel did 30 seconds of work and went out again. They pretty much go straight back to the heat which tells me they messed up. Tatanka hits a nice jumping DDT on Bigelow. Bigelow finally gets the tag after getting an enzugiri, Diesel’s bad elbow is magically fine now. An awful looking Jack Knife but he pulls up Tatanka, Sid then leaves. An elbow drop by Diesel and that’s it. What a bad match, I understand the hate for Diesel now.

Overall: This crowd sucked! So much of the show was hurt by their lack of care not that they got an awful lot to cheer for anyways. A lot of it was just there and it wasn’t very good. Shawn and Bret worked extremely hard in their matches but besides that an extremely miss able show in my view. And if anyone asks why do I have this it came with King of the Ring 96 which was a pretty good show. At least this show tried to make a new star in Mabel shame he sucked and injured people.

Well cheers for reading if you did. Let me know what you thought of the show if you remember it or you could suggest a bad show for me to look at, I’m all for watching bad wrestling it makes me laugh.