______________________________________________________________________ I do not offer subscriptions to a mailing list! I do not e-mail images! ______________________________________________________________________ Well, the start of lectures got the better of me. I have one lecture class with 320 students. I'm putting summaries and extra problems on the web for them, which has been sucking up a lot of time. Anyhow, apologies to everybody who has e-mailed asking if I'm alive. ______________________________________________________________________ - WCW had Fall Brawl on this past Sunday, 09/17/2000. Going into the show, it was hard to feel all that optimistic about the product, despite a surprising ratings surge over the past couple of weeks. Heck, they even had an okay match on TV this past week with Sting vs. Jeff Jarrett, made silly by having three falls take place in twelve minutes. Still, the hottest program heading into the show was Goldberg vs. Bret Hart, with their TV confrontation being pretty strong, because, as always, Hart is great when what he does is based in reality instead of soap opera. But that's not leading to a match is it, and it's the only match idea that seemed hot heading into the show. Perhaps strong work would still make the show worthwhile, I thought. * Elix Skipper beat Kwee Wee to retain the Cruiserweight Title: Both of these guys are really green when it comes to everything except trying a few of their routine spots. No sense for psychology, transitions, or building a match. Skipper showed great balance at times. All I could think was that WCW really needs a farm system. I'm not saying that these guys stunk, because they didn't. They sure tried really hard, which makes their middling match with obvious lack of depth so much better to watch than a middling match involving the old farts that don't bother to try. Major Gunns was at ringside with Skipper. The question of the night, to be answered later, was whether she would reveal herself to allied with the Canadian squad after all, along with Jim Duggan, who would surely turn heel as well. Skipper hit an Asai moonsault off the top rope, laying out the camera man as well. It was pure spot stuff, in the sense that Kwee Wee stood there for a while waiting to catch his buddy. But, hey, that sort of stuff didn't stop the Hardy Boyz from getting over in the WWF. Skipper tried for his finisher, but Wee hit a power bomb. Natural Born Juicers came out on the rampway to watch the match. Late in the match, Skipper was destroyed on the floor. As the referee checked on him, Mike Sanders ran in to whack Kwee Wee. Wee still managed to roll through a cross body for a two count that drew a small reaction. Skipper dropped into a bridge to avoid a clothesline, which looked cool, and hit his finisher in short order thereafter. An okay opener, I guess. Nothing special, but filled with effort. But as we have learned from years of ECW wrestling, effort alone doesn't make good wrestling. * Three Count beat Chavo Guerrero Jr. & AWOL & Lash Leroux: Before the match, Three Count performed and did their shtick to boos. If they were handled correctly, they could get over. But when guys like Kronic get away with treating them the way they did this past week, that doesn't seem likely. Chavo was by far the best wrestler in the match. More greenish stuff in this match, with some good spots. The six man format helped mask the inexperience of these guys, since it was okay to do a couple of spots and then tag out. AWOL is so bad. They should bring back Ron Reis to team with him and program the team with Kronic & the Harris Twins. Somehow, Karagias seemed better than usual. Shane & Shannon hit some nice spots and some sloppy spots. Okay, they tried really hard again, and it didn't drag. There was a series of topes, with AWOL taking a bump off the apron through a table. The match actaully picked up at this point, since Chavo got to be alone in the ring with Three Count, working some really good spots. When Lash & AWOL got involved again, it dipped, but, man, Chavo was great. Lash got the pin after some more fast stuff in the ring. * Harris Twins beat Kronic in a first blood chain match: The Harris twins gained some respect from me this past week for being professional with Rey Misterio Jr. & Juventud Guerrera. Heck, they actually had an okay match, largely because they sold for the smaller guys. The size difference was ridiculous, but I found myself overlooking it as that match wore on. While a Harris would bump for a dropkick from Rey or Juvi, you just know that a Kronic member would swat that move away or not sell it at all. Anyhow, Kronic requested that this match be a "we refuse to lie down" match, er, I mean a "first blood" match. The bout was brutally bad. They walked around ringside, brawling sort of. Mark Madden suggested that the crowd silence was due to disbelief as opposed to disgust. The referee bumped. Ron Harris was bleeding on the outside, but nobody could call it. He grabbed a barbed wire bat and whacked both Kronic members. As Madden said that Ron was just covered in cranberry juice, Scott Hudson said "Do you think he's got his period?" Hudson needs an anatomy lesson; imagine if women juiced from the forehead once a month for a short span. Of course, Adams bled, the referee recovered, and they unjustly lost the match. That finish was clear from the start. * Lance Storm beat General Rection to retain the Canadian/US Title: It should have been clear that Duggan was turning, but I still expected it to come as a surprise. The problem, of course, is that the turn wouldn't lead to any good matches. Storm invited the Buffalo fans to drive to Kitchener for Nitro the next night. The Kitchener Aud is less than 30 minutes from my house, but I just couldn't imagine driving there to see Nitro. A live Nitro broadcast must be so painful to sit through. Now, don't think that that's a pro-WWF comment, 'cause I can't imagine sitting through a live RAW in an arena either. Rection came out along, while Storn had Gunns in his corner. Gunns cheered for Rection, and Duggan came out to work as the outside enforcer. The commentators really pushed that Rection is on the verge of becoming a superstar. Storm worked hard and great as usual. Match seemed to have good heat, but by the five-minute mark they seemed to be working as if they were at the 20-minute mark. That still upsets me even though it's standard these days. They did a few good suplex reversals before Lance hit a dragon screw leg whip, with Rection not knowing how to take the bump. With the referee distracted by Gunns, Rection climbed to the top for a moonsault, and Jim Duggan urged him on on the apron, of course nailing him with his board. Duggan revealed a Canadian t-shirt afterwards. Duggan beat up the MIAs as the ran in. The commentators put it over huge. Gunns acted like she didn't want to leave with the Canadian squad. * Natural Born Thillers no contest the Filthy Animals & Big Vito & a mystery partner in an elimination tag match: Before the match, Gene Okerlund swore his ass off while interviewing the Thrillers. With the Thrillers in the ring, we cut to the back to see the Animals arrive. The mystery partner had a towel over his head as he walked to the ring, as they masked his identity. It was Paul Orndorff; what they hell is he doing to keep his body looking like that at his age? Juvi seems to have found some fire again. I would never blame him for losing his desire, considering what his promotion has been up to. Lots of fast action and tags early on, again masking the inexperience of the heel side, in this case. It came down to Paul Orndorff & Rey & Tygress against all of the Thrillers except Reno. Orndorff got to kill them for a while. It was actually pretty good storyline stuff, but I felt sort of bad for Juvi's world championship status. Orndorff collapsed while trying a piledriver and didn't move afterwards. The remaining crew worked around a prone Orndorff. Rey got to lay out a lot of guys. Suddenly, Charles Robinson signalled that the match had to be stopped to get Orndorff out of the ring. As Orndorff was stretchered out to applause, the Thrillers were even looking after him. It sure seemed like the finish should have been that Kwee Wee get involved for revenge. * Shane Douglas & Torrie Wilson beat Billy Kidman & Madusa in a scaffold match: Before the match, Shane backed off of his TV offer to reimburse everybody if he didn't throw a member of the other team off the scaffold. They had a sophisticated scaffold structure that was elevated by motors. They went pretty high. It was wide enough that they did a few spots without worry, but this wasn't a wrstling match. The match would end when one team member got across and down the other side. As the men fought, the women started down the appropriate ladders. As Madusa went down, Douglas went over and kicked her off, so she took the Nestea plunge a la Shane McMahon off the side. It was nowhere near as spectacular a bump as Shane because she clearly landed on a mattress. Kidman was dumped off the scaffold as well, bumping through a staged platform, also looking a bit lacklustre as bumps in a match of this sort go. They replayed the bumps, which looked pretty safe. I'm not sure what the point was. The match was hurt because we expected a bump off the top, and hence expected it to be outlandish. Compare that to a more generic match where we don't expect such a bump, so a safe bump like this stands out as out of the ordinary. * Mike Tenay visited David Flair. He's a nut again. Yeah, that was so successful last time around. David suggested that his brother Reid might be the father. Tenay again suggested that the father might be Ric. Is this story line going to lead to a program of great matches? Yeah, I thought so. David beat up the mail man, putting the figure four on him on the front lawn. That was a funny visual, but this was so stupid. * Sting beat El Vampiro & Great Muta in a triangle match: Insane Clown Posse did the commentary, which was funny for about one minute, IMO. Vamp had a new ring outfit. Sting sold the whole way for Vamp, occasionally taking control on Muta. It was explained that Muta had to prove himself in this bout. He did a few nice moves. It wasn't a triangle match, but a two-on-one, and as such it wasn't particularly exciting. Muta hit the moonsault, but Vamp pulled him off. That led to Muta & Vamp brawling, with ICP breaking them up. Sting grabbed his bat and whacked all four heels. Scorpion death drop on Muta without any other build up for the pin. Bad throwaway match. Afterwards, Sting pulled Muta to safety. * Mike Awesome beat Jeff Jarrett in a bunkhouse match: Before the match, Awesome brought out Gary Coleman as one of his favourite 70s stars, with Coleman saying he was an 80s star. Awesome's gimmick is a career killer that might be overcome by Awesome's work ethic. The ring was filled with objects: a barbed wire table, a strap, a bull rope, etc. More weapons were at ringside. Thankfully, Awesome came out in normal ring garb, instead of that horrible blue suit. He brought out another table. They did a dueling chairs spot. It was pretty much a weapons match without New Jack's music or fans chanting "ECW!" Awesome took a back drop off the top through a table. Awesome reverse-whipped Jarrett into the barbed wire. He scored a two off a power bomb, but missed a frog splash. Some Buffalo Bills hopped the rail to go after Jarrett. Jarrett didn't back down, but he sold for them. Awesome recovered, hit a power bomb, and scored a two count, in a great spot. Gary Coleman ran in. After whacking Jarrett, he took a guitar shot. Sting ran in and laid out Jarrett, getting revenge for an earlier interview attack. Awesome scored the pin. * Scott Steiner beat Goldberg in a no holds barred match: They started hard and fast. Goldberg press slammed Steiner. I didn't expect much from these two, because I'm generally unimpressed with both of their matches, but this was a good match, perhaps because you could sense that the crowd was into it. Lotsa high impact stuff. They did that cool tombstone piledriver counter, with Goldberg hitting a powerslam out of it. Outside, Goldberg met the steps and a chair. Midaja came out in a weird-looking outfit, carrying a pipe. Goldberg bled. Steiner did an over-the-top belly-to-belly, but Goldberg hit the spear. As Goldberg seemed to be going for the jackhammer, Vince Russo ran in, using a bat on Goldberg. Goldberg kicked out at two. Since it was no DQ, run ins were okay. I hate that. Steiner half set up a table on the floor and slammed Goldberg through it. Steiner went for the recliner, but Goldberg crawled to the ropes. Midaja kicked GOldberg's hands off the ropes, so he stood up with Steiner on his shoulders and dumped him. Steiner put Goldberg on top, presumably for the frankensteiner. Midaja & Russo used their weapons on Goldberg. Steiner hit a belly-to-belly, with Goldberg taking a bad bump on the side of his head, but Goldberg still kicked out. Recliner, with Goldberg crawling to the ropes again. He dumped Steiner by jerking forward. Goldberg used Reno's neckbreaker on Steiner, rotating the wrong way, I think. As Goldberg went after Russo, Steiner whacked him with a pipe, for turnabout revenge I guess, knocking Goldberg out for the win. Damn good match, albeit too screwy for my tastes. * Booker T beat Kevin Nash in a cage match to regain the WCW Title: The cage was the usual wire mesh job, but it was attached to the ring posts, as opposed to the giant cage that encloses the ringside area. TSN ran an ad during Nitro this past week saying that Nash would be at Pizza Pizza; they gave hours, but didn't say what day. I'm not sure I would make the drive to Kitchener anyhow, although razzing him has more appeal than going to the Nitro taping. Match started at 10:34 EST. Booker works very hard, but it's hard to get a good (or, ha, great) match out of Nash. Nash dominated early, until Booker knocked him into the exposed turnbuckle. Still, he took a couple of moves before hitting a choke slam. They teased using the cage as a weapon. Nash took a head-first shot to the exposed turnbuckle and bladed. Booker used the cage to get out of a powerbomb, hitting a missile drop kick. The commentators pushed that Nash never bleeds, so Booker must be a great challenger. Nash took down his straps and went for the power bomb, but Booker flipped out of it, hit the book end, and scored the pin to win the title. What a joyous result that was. And Nash kept laying there to put Booker's finisher over. Okay match. I kept wondering if Nash's graciousness in this match had something to do with the rumoured return of Scott Hall to TV next week. Hall will surely come in to a babyface reaction, which means that Nash, if affiliated with him, would get a face reaction, which suggests that this finish -- the lack of help from Russo & co. -- can be used to turn Nash face. That's not what they need. I think it would be better to have Hall brought back to TV by Nash & Russo and then turn on them. We'll see. - The WWF had SummerSlam on Sunday, 08/27/2000. Going into the show there seemed to be some promise for quality wrestling. The main event -- Rock vs. HHH vs. Kurt Angle -- had potential, although, since their addition as standard wrestling fare, how many triangle matches have actually been awesome? And, of course, the fear had to be that the cheesy soap opera storyline would take over the actual match rather than unfold after the match. Still, I really like Kurt Angle, so, despite my general ambivalence for the inring efforts of HHH and (particularly) Rock, I was looking forward to the match. But, on paper, the inring wrestling highlight of the show sure seemed to be the women's thong match, no, er, the Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho match. Why they made this a two out of three falls match remains a major mystery, since they surely weren't going to give them the time needed for three awesome falls. Maybe they wanted to give them 20 minutes, though, I thought hopefully, and today's audience might need to have several short-duration falls rather than one longer fall. I dunno. Really, all explanation for the added stipulation seemed to point to story line elements, which could be a good or bad thing. Surely they had to let these two wrestle, right? Something inside me hoped that they'd have the balls to let these guys go 40 minutes and push it, no doubt deservingly, as the best match of the year to help get the two guys over. Well, with a "show me your grapefruits" kind of mindset I tuned into the PPV. The show opened to the sound of an opera, perhaps poking fun at the heavy soap opera flavour of the main event. Indeed, throughout the show and Heat before it they hyped the soap opera through the roof. Rundown: * Steven Richards & The Goodfather & Bull Buchanan beat Rikishi & Scott Taylor & Brian Christoper: I don't understand why the "Right to Censor" guys have music (okay, sound effects), an onscreen graphic, and interview time, given that they spout opinions that seemingly nobody in the promotion can agree with. Actually, I don't understand the point of the whole gimmick; it seems to cause more trouble than its worth. Jim Ross said that this was the first time we had seen Steven Richards in physical combat, 'cause I guess "Steven" is very different from "Stevie." Boy, Buchanan made Too Cool look really small. So did Goodfather. But the big guys sold for the little guys, making all the difference in the world. Godfather knocked over the hos that came out with the faces. The obvious spot to build to was Steven Richards getting stinkfaced by Rikishi, and sure enough everybody came in and the fallout seemed to be that spot. But Richards' guys saved him from it and Richards got a sneaky pin on Taylor for the win. The heat for the stinkface tease was tremendous. The wrestling was nothing special at all, but this was a good opener for turning on the crowd. * X-Pac beat Road Dogg: Yep, the potential DX split was the second match on the show, which actually is not that inappropriate when you think about it. The build for this has been sort of weird. They've accidentally screwed up each other and Road Dogg has even walked out on X-Pac. It all sounds a lot like things that have happened in that other soap opera story line, doesn't it? Jim Ross continued to repeat the line that these two were "the best or one of the best tag teams in the history" of the WWF. And they've never had a particularly good match. With that inring record, the Blu Twins might be another one of the best teams in the history of the WWF. Egad. And now WCW has them! Match kept suggesting that they each knew what the other was thinking because of their relationship. A couple of minutes into the match, as X-Pac hit the bronco buster on Dogg, a lone loud voice chanted "boring!" The crowd didn't really know how to react to the match, but seemed to embrace X-Pac as the heel at this point. X-Pac hit a low blow and used a pump handle slam for the pin. Match was way too short to be any good. X-Pac tried to reconcile afterwards by pointing out that they had determined who the better man is. Ooops. Road Dogg laid him out. Maybe they kept this one short so that Benoit & Jericho would have extra time, or so I hoped. * Eddy Guerrero & Chyna beat Val Venis & Trish Stratus, with Chyna winning the IC Title: If Eddy & Chyna scored the win over either member of the other side, the person scoring the pin would win the Intercontinental Title. Of course, Eddy & Chyna did a lot of "I hope you win, 'cause it would you make so happy" kind of stuff. Actually, Eddy's talk was hardly in clear English, because WWF fans apparently need racist characters. Hey, don't get mad, since Vince must think that's true. Either that or Vince is racist. Jim Ross pointed out that Val should never tag out, since Trish would surely lose his title for him. Eddy is awesome to watch. Chyna showed a lot of butt flesh. Chyna's inring work is still pretty bad. She really needs to work against Eddy Guerrero (or guys of his caliber) to look good. Val kept slamming her. He missed an elbow drop, but Chyna missed the tag. Another low blow, but Chyna couldn't capitalize. She tagged Eddy after a DDT. And Eddy turned things on again. With both guys down after a few seconds, Val actually tagged in Trish, who couldn't do anything. Chyna came in and clotheslined and slammed Trish. The guys brawled outside while Chyna destroyed Trish. Press slam and a cover for the win. Eddy lifted her up afterwards. They called Chyna "centerfold material" a few times because of the upcoming Playboy spread. Eddy was awesome in this match for the few minutes he had to do stuff, but overall it was pretty much a nothing match. * Jerry Lawler beat Tazz: They are trying to recreate Tazz as a thug, a street fighting bully. On Smackdown, he broke a passenger-side window, sending glass "into Jim Ross' eye." They showed Ross' marked-up face to get this over. Lawler attacked Tazz and took control for the first couple of minutes. Tazz is pretty bad outside (and even inside) the ECW framework. Since the match was a throwaway, I wondered more about whether Lawler would be back on commentary after a short break. Match was really uninspired. I think I have the same basic Lawler match on tape at least half-a-dozen times. One could argue that since Lawler hasn't shown that match to a wide audience in years, that's okay. Lawler hit a piledriver, but Tazz popped right back up. As Tazz yelled at Jim Ross, Lawler came up from behind, Lawler missed a wild punch, and Tazz hit the Tazzmission. Jim Ross abandoned his post and broked his mug in Tazz's expectant face. Ross called him a "son of a bitch." Hmmm, maybe they can bring Tazz back as a pirate. * Steve Blackman beat Shane McMahon to win the Hardcore Title: Shane acted afraid of Blackman during backstage interviews, running away when he saw Blackman. You know how when you inflate a balloon and leave it lying around for a week or so it sort of gets all saggy and deflates to the size of a tennis ball or so? And then when you squish it it sort of goes "Pfffffft" as it breaks open. Steve Blackman received that sort of pop as he hit the ring. They went into the crowd, which made some noise because they were on camera and because garbage wrestling is so darn invigorating. Back in the ring, Blackman used a tin foil garbage can lid on Shane. Blackman put a garbage can over Shane and whacked it with sticks and a kick. "We're not done yet," yelled Blackman. Jim Ross said, "Shane didn't want to hear that." And Herb to that list. As Blackman had Shane laid out, Test & Albert ran in. They all beat on Blackman. The crowd booed when they came in. These rules are so stupid. Blackman almost escaped the assault. "Blackman does the kind of stuff you just see in movies," Jerry Lawler said. Yeah, late night movies that lull you to sleep. They teased knocking a speaker over on Blackman, but missed it. Blackman laid out Test & Albert. Shane climbed the Titantron support, with Blackman following. Jim Ross said they were 50 feet in the air. Shane bumped through the platform and Blackman hit an elbow on him. I know this is the sort of stuff that is in vogue with current fans of sports entertainment (not fans of wrestling), but I could live without it, since it's all a way to mask lack of wrestling ability with a stunt man spot. Somebody is sure to ask whether the WWF should do angles with bodies dropping from great heights after the Owen Hart death. My wife just shook her head at how stupid the whole thing was. * Chris Benoit beat Chris Jericho: They called this a rivalry for the ages. The crowd wasn't all that into it, it seemed. They punched nonstop at the start to show how much they hate each other. Jericho took a bump into the post. More punching. When they did their first running of the ropes, Benoit hit a drop toe hold and floated into a step over toehold with a crossface, dropping that into an armbar. Instantly, he had established himself as the standard to which no other wrestlers on this show would rise. They worked a few simple spots before Benoit hit the crossface for the first submission in less than four minutes. Well, my hopes were nearly dashed by that lackluster fall. Benoit went for the crossface straightaway at the start of the second fall. Yeah, like what noteworthy two out of three falls match in North America has ended in two straight falls? Jericho made the ropes. Benoit put him in the tree of woe and stretched him. Benoit started working over Jericho's left arm. Kicks, stretches, post shots. Crowd chanted "Y2J." Jericho tried to sell that he couldn't even use his left arm. Benoit hit the german medley, but Jericho managed to make a roll through turn into the lion tamer for the equalizing tap out. Benoit's work in this match was so incredible, always about awesome wrestling at all the right times. Nine minutes gone. The speed of the falls is going to bring this match down, although one could at least argue that they each submitted in those first two falls because they knew that that wouldn't cost them the match, but being stuck in a submission move too long might make the remainder of the match impossible to bear. The commentators never made that point. They did some of the Flair-Steamboat near falls. Benoit did a great dragon suplex. Benoit got caught on top. Jericho hit a top rope rana, but ended up selling his left arm after the impact. The commentators said that the winner of this match would be right back in the title picture, which somehow made it seem important because the WWF Title has been made to mean something in recent times. Jericho hit a schoolboy for a two count, with Benoit rolling it over and grabbing the ropes for the pin. Really good match, although there was no need to make it three falls. Somehow I think a 14-minute one fall match between these two would have been a lot better than this rushed three fall match. * Edge & Christian beat Dudley Boyz & Hardy Boyz to retain the WWF Tag Titles: This was a tables, ladders, and chairs match, which on the surface makes it no different than many matches involving these guys. The difference was that the titles were suspended above the ring, with the winning team having to get the titles. I hoped that both belts were suspended from the same wire, so that one person would pull down both with one tug. Nothing was more senseless than the WCW ladder match last time around, where two items were suspended and each was pulled down separately. Well, the belts seemed to be hanging on separate cables. Oh boy. They did stunt men spots. They did some horribly-timed spots. Poor Edge was trying to squash Buh Buh on a ladder that was draped on the ropes. Buh Buh moved out of the way as Edge was just coming off the opposite ropes. Still, Edge ran several steps so that he could be hit with the ladder. Ugh. But they did bumps off the ladders. Yes, that means that this will be heralded as a match of the year. The commentators kept pushing that the ladders were too short to reach the belts. We had to expect that the ladder would be put on a table. D-Von headbutted Edge's crotch from the ladder. They got the tables. The crowd cheered, a crowd filled with wrestling fans. They brought folded tables into the ring, leaving set up tables at ringside. Christian took 3D through a table. The Dudleyz then stacked four tables, two upon two. Edge recovered with some chair shots. Matt did a legdrop off the top, as did Jeff. Thank god he didn't do a swanton bomb from the ladder. Matt launched Christian onto a ladd that had Edge sandwiched in it. Edge clearly had arms arranged to protect himself. Jeff did a swanton bomb through the tables at ringside. "Holy shit!" "ECDub!" Bigger ladders were put in the ring. Ah. With everybody laid out, Buh Buh groggily came back in the ring and climbed the ladder. Edge & Christian knocked over the ladder, with Buh Buh clearly launching himself into the stacked tables at ringside. I can't get all that excited about this stunt man stuff. Lita ran out, tipping over the ladder to crotch Edge & Christian. Matt climbed up the ladder. D-Von tipped the ladder and, sigh, Matt went through a bunch of tables as well. Edge speared Lita at ringside. Hmmm, didn't she have a title match scheduled for later on? D-Von crawled up the ladder, with Jeff on the other side. In the first really innovative spot in ladder matches since who knows when, Edge & Christian tipped over the ladder, leaving D-Von & Jeff Hardy hanging from the cables that held the title belts. Jeff kicked at D-Von, sending him to the ring. The champs used a ladder to knock Jeff down. The champs then climbed to the top and took down the belts. Well, it wasn't wrestling, but the excitement level built throughout this stunt man show, and it was entertaining for the most part. * Kat beat Terri: This was the first-ever thong stinkface match in the WWF. Al Snow and Perry Saturn seconded the Kat and Terri, respectively. Perry saturn wrapped a towel around Terri. The winner was the first women to use the stinkface on the other. Kat did the bronco buster on Terri. Perry shoved Kat down when the referee was distracted by Al Snow. Terri accidentally headbutted the referee. Kat used Snow's Head on Terri. Kat rubbed her spread butt cheeks in Terri's face. Al Snow lifted Kat up on his shoulders. She sat on his shoulders, straddling his head, with both of them raising their arms. Snow then turned her around for a few seconds before she chastised him. * Undertaker unmasked Kane: "It ain't gonna be pretty," said Jim Ross. This is the WWF's version of Hulk Hogan vs. Kevin Nash. The difference here is that the commentators carefully pointed out that this was going to be a bad match, maintaining their credibility unlike their WCW counterparts. Undertaker tried to unmask Kane. When he ripped off a part of the mask, we could see the mutated remains of burned scar tissue. No, actually, everything looked pretty darn normal. Undertaker used the steps and signalled that he was going to remove the mask. Jim Ross again said that a wrestler picked up another wrestler by the "head of the hair." Weird to hear the same slip up twice in different matches from Jim Ross. Kane bladed. Hmmm, mask removal and a crimson mask to cover the face? Kane rallied. Undertaker speared Kane. This match was bad. Undertaker almost removed the mask. Undertaker kicked Kane low and pulled off the mask. Kane walked out, Undertaker's music played, and the commentators questioned whether this match ever started. What a crappy nonfinish to a crappy match. * Rock beat HHH & Kurt Angle to retain the WWF Title: They played a lengthy soap opera review of the story line of this match. They even superimposed fireworks over the kiss. Angle did a prematch interview saying that he wished that he had kissed Stephanie McMahon earlier. This is a great angle to lead to HHH's babyface turn. HHH & Angle started brawling before the bell rang and before Rock came out. HHH cleared off the spanish commentators' table and drove Angle through it. It always annoyw me when they just toss the monitors off the table, obviously to spare injury. As HHH pulled out a sledge hammer to kill Angle, Rock came out to his music. I guess he didn't want Angle to get beat by HHH, since Rock would lose the title. Rock & HHH brawled in the ring and outside. The medics were out to look at Kurt Angle. The commentators tried to argue that Kurt was concussed. HHH took control on Rock. As they carted out Angle, HHH ran out to attack him. Rock attacked HHH. They finally got Angle out of there, with Stephanie coming out to see him off. Soap opera took control. Stephanie came to ringside even though HHH had told her to stay in the locker room. Stephnie missed a belt shot, hitting HHH. The idea seemed to be that HHH was in total control except when the soap opera distractions took control. HHH hit a neckbreaker and went after his sledge hammer. Rock took a hammer shot to his belly. Jim Ross actually tried to argue that a no DQ, no countout stipulation guaranteed that there was no cheap way out, when every match with those stipulations (see: Hardcore matches) features numerous runins and the screwiest finishes. Rock rallied with punches, but was cut off. Rock finally made the comeback with a superplex. We cut away from the ring during this intense scene, with Stephanie begging Kurt Angle to hit the ring to help HHH "for me." Match was actually sort of boring because these guys don't have a variety of offense. Angle made it to ringside with Stephanie. He tripped Rock. HHH hit the pedigree. As the referee counted the sure pin, Angle pulled HHH out and whipped him into the steps. Angle scored a two count on Rock and started working on him. Stephanie had her hands in her hair. Angle hit a belly to belly. Angle, with a year in the business, has a better variety of offense than the other guys in the match. Sheesh. Rock scored a two count. Angle knocked HHH off the apron when running the ropes. Rock hit the Rock Bottom, but HHH pulled Rock off of the sure pin. "Steph, gimme the hammer." As HHH bent over to pick it up, Angle went for it. Stephanie came in. In a contrived spot, HHH missed a punch on Angle, hitting Stephanie instead. Angle hit HHH with the hammer. Rock broke up the sure pin. Rock dumped Angle and hit the elbow for the pin on HHH. HHH and Stephanie were both laid out in the middle. And Jim Ross said that we wouldn't have a cheap win, if you'll recall. Angle came back in. He dragged Stephanie to the apron and carried her off. - I received some e-mail flaming me for being generally negative about most of North American wrestling. After all, the WWF is enjoying incredible success, with tremendous ratings, and, really, the combined wrestling ratings on Monday nights indicate a lot of interest. I can't deny any of that, but none of it has anything to do with good wrestling matches. My claim is that if you are a wrestling fan, this isn't a particularly good time. We are now experiencing a big decline from the heights of three-or-so years ago. Think about it. Back then, WCW delivered some incredible matches. Every TV show had some good or great wrestling. The PPVs had really strong undercards, in general. The problem, for which they have been paying the price for the past long while, is that they never elevated those great workers. Many of them left, and almost all of them have been so devalued that they now have limited value and need to be rebuilt. Nobody will argue that the different in WCW from then to now, based on wrestling quality, is immense. The weird thing right now is that all of the hyped programs don't even lead to matches. Bret Hart vs. Goldberg. David Flair's botched wedding, whether Ric or Vince Russo is the father. I have to confess I don't get it. But the WWF is awesome right now, right? Compare to the great time period of three-or-so years back. At that time, Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart headlined in the promotion. Even if ratings weren't as good as now, the wrestling was so much better thanks to those guys. Compare their ability to that of Rock & HHH, the top two in the promotion now. Sure, Rock & HHH are enjoying great appeal brought on by the surge in interest in the WWF's bawdy product. The acclaimed WWF matches of the past two years are all spotfests with no other dimension (compare to the well-rounded, spot-filled undercard matches of WCW years back) or garbagy brawls. ______________________________________________________________________ If you have any feedback regarding my web pages, please send me e-mail. Don't forget to delete the leading "x" from my e-mail address; that "x" is my web spider spam guard. ______________________________________________________________________