Str8Shooter's Random WWE Network Reviews

[Str8Shooter]

Well seeing as I watch some old stuff on the Network quite often, and the PPV of the week seems to be dying off from lack of interest. I figured I might as well write some stuff down when I watch the shows and hopefully someone will give a shit

Without further adieu, I present Chi Town Rumble 1989!

NWA CHI TOWN RUMBLE
February 20, 1989
Chicago, Illinois

Russian Assassin vs Michael PS Hayes: This match was probably 10 minutes longer than it should have been. Even the jobber matches in old NWA were long lol. I’ll be honest I skipped parts of this match; it just wasn’t doing it for me.

Sting vs Butch Reed: It’s always cool to see surfer Sting, but he was still a bit green here probably. An okay match, although again it felt a little long. Butch Reed was nothing special, he was an alright brawler who would be more interesting in Doom later on.

Midnight Express vs Original Midnight Express: Seeing Paul E. and Cornette here was hilarious, they were both definitely from the 80’s here. That mullet of Heyman’s was impressive. Jack Victory takes the place of Dennis Condrey and didn’t do much of anything in this match but stand on the apron. Stan Lanes karate kicks were hilarious, not exactly the most intimidating. Decent match here, the crowd was into it near the end and the New Midnight’s send the oldies packing from NWA.

Rick Steiner vs Mike Rotunda: Scott Steiner’s debut in Rick’s corner! A far cry from Big Poppa Pump that’s for sure! This match was okay, Rick’s clotheslines were stiff as hell, Rotunda provided the technical wrestling. Kevin Sullivan comes out and threatens violence on Rick’s dog Spike, and surprisingly Rick doesn’t bite (see what I did there) and stays in the ring. Rick locks on a sleeper and falls to the ground with his shoulders down, and the ref counts, Rotunda wins the TV title and makes Rick look like a total idiot who pinned himself. Terrible finish.

Barry Windham vs Lex Luger: I always liked Windham, Lex not so much. Luger was alright in this match though, probably not as bad as I would have thought. He used some good power moves. Windham accidentally punches the post and damages his hand, rendering his Claw move powerless in a touch of good psychology. Windham hits the superplex and tries to pin Luger, but both mens shoulders are down. Luger lifts his up at two and wins the title. I can’t believe they had similar dumb finishes in back to back title matches, someone was asleep at the wheel booking these.

Road Warriors vs Varsity Club: Warriors are over as hell in their hometown. Typical tag match with two powerful teams, Hawk pins Sullivan with a top rope clothesline. I’m disappointed no Doomsday Device in this one, close but didn’t get it. For some reason I’ve never found Kevin Sullivan interesting on screen in anything I’ve seen him in.

Flair vs Steamboat: Some good technical wrestling to start this one, both guys strong point clearly. I found the commentary from JR interesting talking about the difference between the two, including Flair coming from a well off family and going to private school and Steamboat from a middle class family with public school education. It really got across the differences between the characters. It was weird to hear an audible “Steamboat Sucks” chant, Flair was Mr.NWA and clearly he had fans everywhere, even as a heel.

A great back and forth match, the crowd really picked up for this once sensing its importance and both guys had their working boots on. The finish was well done and Steamboat gets his big moment. The post match interview was fun too, with Steamboat having trouble opening his eyes thanks to the champagne shower.

Random Thoughts:

- Bob Caudle was oddly endearing as the backstage interviewer. Just something about an old guy with big glasses asking questions and having this goofy grin made me smile.

- I kind of liked how they would go from an interview backstage and suddenly both guys were in the ring and the match was ready to start. Maybe after sitting through long entrances over the years it was just refreshing.

- I liked young JR on commentary here, he upped his game for the later stages of the World title match too where you could almost hear the beginnings of Attitude Era JR coming out. Magnum TA was decent alongside, although he was kind of bland and didn’t provide much.

- Hiro Matsuda was maybe the most pointless manager of all time. I don’t even know why he was managing Flair and others here. He didn’t interfere or attempt to do anything. Strange.


MATCH OF THE NIGHT: Easily Flair/Steamboat, I knew it was good going into it, but it lived up to it. Both guys worked their asses off the dichotomy of the characters was easy to get across. The chemistry was there obviously.

[Messiah]

I might check this show out later. Looks like a damn good card with a Steamboat/Flair main event.

[Str8Shooter]

I might check this show out later. Looks like a damn good card with a Steamboat/Flair main event.

The main event was definitely the best of the show, the others were mostly alright. I'm actually going to watch Great American Bash 89 next, which is widely regarded as one of the best PPV's ever and probably WCW/NWA's best overall. So you may want to save it and watch that one

[Str8Shooter]

GREAT AMERICAN BASH 1989
JULY 23, 1989
BALTIMORE ARENA
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND

We kick things off and we’ve got a big Battle Royale going on! Some decent names in there, I see Sid! The Steiners, Kevin Sullivan, Ron Simmons, The Varsity Club, Pillman. What a strange idea, you have to throw people into the second ring first, and then they have to be eliminated from that ring to be gone. Did TNA book this!? Scott Hall is in there and I didn’t even recognize him! Eliminations were ridiculously fast and furious here, guys over the top left and right. Dr. Death is eliminated thanks to some outside help by his former partner Mike Rotunda, and Dan Spivey and his tag partner Sid Vicious are the final two!

Holla Holla Holla, Teddy Long is cutting a promo! He doesn’t want his two men fighting each other. There’s some random cuts in this match thanks to some issues with the original broadcast, but The Skyscrapers are splitting the 50,000 Battle Royale purse. That’s team unity.

“Wild” Bill Irwin vs “Flyin” Brian Pillman: Pillman had some pretty innovative stuff for 1989, he was ahead of his time, because there were few others who could do the stuff he could. Wild Bill was your traditional heel, although he talked some good trash during this match. Pillman wins after jumping from the far rings top turnbuckle with a cross body.

Dynamic Dudes vs Skyscrapers: Haha John Laurinautis! Man the Dudes are white meat babyfaces. They come out with Frisbees they throw into the crowd. Johnny picks up a kid and gives him one too. I will say the crowd seems to love them. Ha the Skyscrapers are billed from “Metropolis”! JR not above taking shots at WWF with lines like “There’s no snakes or pets here, this ain’t bodybuilders under a heat lamp” lol. The crowd is really into Sid, chanting for him to come in. Dan Spivey gets the win after almost dropping Johnny on his head with a botched powerbomb.

Paul E. Dangerously vs Jim Cornette: A tuxedo match we don’t see now days and it’s not hard to understand why lol. About what you’d expect between two non wrestlers, some sloppy brawling and shots. Cornette rips off Paul E’s tuxedo to win it after kicking powder into his eyes.

Steiners vs Varsity Club: Texas Tornado rules in this one, all four men start out brawling and we even see some weapon usage and a chair and table come into play on the outside with Rick and Sullivan. A pretty fast paced match compared to the others. Steiners win when Scott cross bodies into Rick onto Sullivan. Pretty short match but they certainly didn’t waste any of the time they had. Best match of the night thus far.

Sting vs Great Muta: A good fast paced match between these two. Muta and Sting always had good chemistry together in the ring. Muta ends up missing with the mist and hitting the ref! Another bizarre pinfall finish, what was with NWA 1989 and their controversial pin predicament finishes? It looked like both men had their shoulders up and I assume that meant a rematch upcoming.

Lex Luger vs Ricky Steamboat: Luger gets the match changed from a No DQ match to a regular one by threatening to walk out. Steamboat is a house of fire early on, hitting a shit ton of chops and right hands, sending Luger reeling. Luger comes back and uses power moves to regain control. These two had a pretty darn good match here. It was weird to hear Luger getting some cheers, I guess there were a lot of early smarks in late 80’s NWA lol. Luger brings in a chair, which Steamboat takes, and he can’t control himself, attacking Luger with the chair and gaining a measure of revenge.

WarGames (Freebirds & Samoan Swat Team) vs Road Warriors, Midnight Express, Dr. Death:
I love me a WarGames match. I loved how Cornette, Ellering, and Paul E all had notepads and were talking strategy; it added an element of realism to a special match like this. This was your typical Wargames match, the heels having the advantage and then the faces coming back. The crowd was red hot for the Warriors more than anyone; they couldn’t wait to see them beat the hell out of the heels. Hawk comes in and cleans house, then gets Garvin in the hangman and he submits. The heels trap Animal in the cage after the match and beat him down until the faces can break back in to save the day.

Flair vs Funk: Lmao at Funk coming out with an army of security! Heel heat baby! Funk is just entertaining to watch, his mannerisms and facial expressions are amazing. The way he engages the crowd is great. Even his selling is hilarious, he got piledriven and walked a circle on his side around the ring. Haha the ref slid for a pin attempt and hit a photographer outside the ring, the scolded him to get out of the way. Uh oh, Flair’s busted open with the branding iron. Flair ends up winning after reversing a cradle for three. Really good match between two veterans. Both guys brought the intensity and it felt like a real blood feud where they hated each other and wanted to punish the other.

Muta comes out after the match and mists Flair, and the double team is on. Sting comes out and makes the save and we’ve got a wild brawl in the ring. The babyfaces clear the ring, but then Flair wants some more and attacks Funk in the aisle, Sting comes out the fight continues in the aisle until cooler heads prevail.

But wait! Muta attacks Flair from behind and it starts back up again near the stage! Flair has the branding iron and goes to town on both men. Things calm down until Funk grabs a chair and hits Flair, somehow Sting has a velvet rope and is choking Muta with it. Flair cuts a wild promo to end the show, saying it’ll be over when “he wears Funk’s Texas ass out”.

Overall a pretty good show, I don’t know if it quite lived up the hype it had, but still pretty good. The last four matches were all pretty entertaining contests and the main event was really good.

[Str8Shooter]

ROYAL RUMBLE 1994
JANUARY 17, 1994
PROFIDENCE CIVIC CENTRE
PROVIDENCE, RI

I chose this PPV as it was the very first Live PPV my parents ever rented me and it’ll always have a special place in my heart. In fact I taped it and probably still have that VHS tape somewhere. I’m looking forward to watching it again.

Tatanka vs Bam Bam Bigelow: I was a huge Tatanka mark as a kid, he was one of my favourites. Tatanka comes out firing with some fast paced offense, only to get stalled by Bam Bam reversing a sunset flip by sitting on his chest. A bear hug follows and Tatanka fights out of it. Tatanka does his “hulk up” with his Native American war dance, but Bam Bam hits an enziguri to end the comeback. Bam Bam then mocks the war dance hilariously. Tatanka fights back again and gets the win with a top rope cross body. Also, Luna Vachon was in Bam Bam’s corner and was terrifying.

Bret & Owen Hart vs The Quebecers: A video package shows Owen and Bret’s problems but a promo shows they patched things up during Christmas and are on the same page now. Wonder how long that lasts ? A good back and forth match to start, both teams using some good teamwork and tagging in and out. Bret gets beat down on for a while, but makes the hot tag to Owen, who comes in and cleans house, obliterating the Quebecers with a bunch of fast offense. Bret ends up back in, gets knocked out of the ring and injures his knee. The Quebecers attack the knee outside the ring with a chair and Polo’s putter. Bret is rolled back in and beat on some more, finally has a chance to make the tag but tries the sharpshooter, but his knee can’t hold up. The ref stops the match for his safety.

Owen is furious at the loss. He berates an injured Bret on the ground. Bret finally gets up, but Owen kicks out his leg to massive boos. Owen stalks out, looking deranged. Bret is finally put on a stretcher and wheeled out, all while seeing Owen verbally abuse him yet again. Owen actually cuts a really good promo, but it’s most remembered for the “kick your leg outta your leg” comment lol. Excellent segment for the Owen turn.

IRS vs Razor Ramon: No idea why JR and Gorilla are calling this match but I’m down. Razor starts out pounding away on IRS, who bails from the ring. IRS fights back and takes control with a rear chinlock. Razor fights back until the referee gets sandwiched in the corner. IRS attempts to clock Razor with the briefcase, but Razor stops it and hits him with it instead. He has the cover but the ref is out. Shawn Michaels runs out and interrupts the Razor’s edge with a belt shot before bolting. IRS covers for the three. A second ref runs out though and tells the first what happened as the old IC belt is still in the ring. Razor grabs IRS off the second rope from behind and drops him with the Razor’s Edge for the real three.

Yokozuna vs Undertaker: The vignette beforehand shows Taker building Yoko’s casket and wishing him a Merry Christmas “Ho, Ho, Ho” which made me laugh my ass off. Yoko looks terrified and it’s fantastic. “You shouldn’t be afraid Yokozuna, you should be Terrified!”, man I love this vignette so much. Taker starts out on top, battering Yoko and hits Old School. He then hits Yoko with a chair outside the ring. Yoko fights back by throwing salt in Taker’s eyes. Yoko tries to get Taker in the casket, but he fights back and hits a chokeslam. Taker rolls Yoko into the casket, but he’s attacked by Crush. Taker dispatched Crush, but Kabuki and Tenryu come out and attack him. He gets rid of them but Bam Bam Bigelow comes out and attacks. Fuji has stolen the urn, but Paul Bearer sneaks up and clocks him and Cornette, stealing it back. Adam Bomb and Jeff Jarrett join the fray. Taker takes the salt bucket and pummels everyone with it. The Headshrinkers join in and it’s like 12 on 1 now. Lmao Diesel is out now too. Taker won’t stay down. Yoko takes the urn and opens it and some crazy green smoke comes out. They finally get him in the casket to end the match.

On the way up the ramp, Taker’s gong hits and we see him inside the casket, where he cuts a creepy promo about the eternal flame. Then he rises up out of the screen into the air. This as goofy as shit, but 8 year old me loved the hell out of this and thought it was the coolest thing ever.

Royal Rumble Match:

Scoot Steiner & Samu start until Rick Steiner comes in 3. They eliminate Samu, but before they can fight, Kwang comes in and mists Rick in the eyes. Diesel comes out and goes on a spree, eliminating Bart Gunn, Scott Steiner, Owen Hart, and Kwang to stand alone. Bob Backlund almost eliminates Diesel but ends up getting dumped. Billy Gunn gets a try, but it quickly tossed after a boot. Virgil comes out, and in a hilarious bit of continuity, Dibiase rips him on commentary lol. Virgil gets dumped. Business picks up as Macho Man is in next! Macho takes it to Diesel, Jarrett is out next, he attacks Savage, but Macho turns it around and eliminates Double J.

Crush is out and he and Savage go at each other. Diesel and Crush pound on Savage. Macho is unceremoniously dumped out by Crush. Clearly Savage was on his way out with WWF here by that elimination. Wow. Doink is out next. Doink squirts water in their faces, Bam Bam comes out and the three team up on Doink and he’s out. Mabel and Bob Holly enter, then Shawn Michaels comes out, and Diesel teases going after him but they shake hands. Diesel is jumped by everyone and HBK helps dump him out apparently, the camera shot missed it though which I’m sure pissed someone off.

Mo, Kabuki, Greg Valentine and Tatanka join the fray and Mabel is dumped over by everyone. Lex Luger comes out and goes to work on everybody.The clock ticks down but no one comes out and the announcers suspect it was Bret Hart’s spot. The clock counts down again and camera zooms in on the entrance, and Bret Hart comes out! Limping badly. And I remember marking the fuck out as an 8 year old for this. Marty Janetty comes in, and in a cool moment, he and Michaels immediately beeline for each other and lay into each other with punches as the rest of the ring stays back.

The ring is whittled down, with Crush, Tatanka, Valentine, Adam Bomb, and Rick Martel all being tossed. Bam Bam is dumped by Luger and then Jannetty is dumped out by Michaels, Marty just can’t catch a break. The final four are Hart, Shawn, Fatu, and Luger. Fatu and HBK are simultaneously backdropped over, and Bret & Luger go at it. Luger tries to press Bret, but both men go flying over the ropes and touch the floor at the same time.

Finkel alternates announcing each man as the winner as two refs can’t agree on who won. President Jack Tunney comes out, and decides that the two men will be co-winners, much to their chagrin. Bret is still selling his knee like a champ, dude can barely walk. Bret & Luger shake hands as the announcers wonder who will face Yokozuna at Mania 10.

Overall, a solid trip down memory lane for me with a show that is special to me. I didn’t think that anything was especially bad, it was all solid enough. Not the best Rumble match, but far from the worst.

[Str8Shooter]

WCW SPRING STAMPEDE 1999
APRIL10, 1999
TACOME DOME
TACOMA, WASHINGTON

I picked this one because it’s widely regarded as “WCW’s last great PPV”, and thus I figured it could be a fun watch to see how WCW was just as things were starting to go south.

JUVENTUD GUERRERA VS BLITZKRIEG: I don’t remember a whole lot about Bliztkrieg as after WCW I think he pretty much disappeared from wrestling. He wasn’t too bad here actually; he hit some cool offense, if a little sloppy at times. He springboarded up to the top rope, turned backwards and moonsaulted off perfectly, which looked great. A couple of his more complicated moves looked like they were kinda screwed up though. Juvi gets the win with a second rope Juvi Driver.

HAK VS BAM BAM BIGELOW: It’s WCW’s version of their Hardcore title scene. Hak is Sandman by the way if you didn’t know. He has Raven’s “sister” Chastity with him. They brawl in the aisle right away, Hak puts Bam Bam on a table and climbs onto the stagecoach at the entrance and dives off with a somersault through the table. Heenan says “That’s the Duke, John Wayne” lol. This was filled with punder, garbage cans, cookie sheets, a railing, you name it. Bam Bam tosses Hak through a table over the top. Inside, Chastity tries to spray Bam bam with a fire extinguisher, he catches her and sprays her with it. He gets caned by Hak from behind. Bam Bam gets the win after a Greetings from Asbury Park through a table of the ropes. Schiavone implores kids to not try this in their backyards, to which Heenan hilariously answers, “yeah, try it in your living room, it’s way more fun!”, which cracks me and all the announcers up.

SCOTTY RIGGS VS MIKEY WHIPWRECK: Whipwreck looks like your average dude put on crappy wrestling gear and got hired. Riggs seems to be working a Rick Rude type male model gimmick they’re trying to get over. The less said about this match the better, the crowd chanted “boring” and Riggs wins with a flying forearm.

DISCO INFERNO VS KONNAN: Disco Inferno is a gimmick that just makes you smile despite how goofy it is. He goes all in with it too. Konnan gets on the mic and calls him a “strawberry”, alright then. An okay match, nothing special. Disco goes for the Chartbuster at the end, but Konnan reverses it and hits Disco with his own move for the pin. Also, I don’t know how Disco got away with using the Stunner, Austin’s finisher, during Austin’s hottest period.

RET MYSTERIO VS BILLY KIDMAN: These two are also Tag Team Champions together, which is pretty interesting. Rey is the Cruiserweight champ too which is on the line. Man it’s jarring seeing a maskless Rey lol. They trade high flying moves to start. Outside the ring Rey hits a headscissors and smacks his head against the steel steps! Ouch! He’s pissed too as he kicks them lol. Awkward announcer moment, Shiavone makes a joke about Heenan saying useless stuff and The Brain seems pissed. As usual, Kidman fucks up the Shooting Star off the apron and bangs knees with Rey on the floor. Both men hit some cool, unique moves and their signature spots until Rey hits the top rope hurricanrana for the win. Pretty good match.

SATURN/RAVEN VS BENOIT/MALENKO: The match starts out with the Horsemen taking control and beating up Raven, with Double A getting some shots from the outside. It’s hard to tell who the faces and heels are, I think the Horsemen are heels. Raven makes the hot tag and things pick up, all four men brawl, and Saturn escapes the Texas Cloverleaf. Benoit & Malenko retake control over Saturn, until he makes the hot tag. Saturn tries to splash Malenko off the top through a table outside, but Arn pulls him out of the way. Raven hits the Evenflow on Malenko, but Arn places a chair on the back of his head as Benoit hits the diving headbutt, busting himself open in the process, for the pin. Best match of the night thus far, just pure in ring action with four solid wrestlers.

BOOKER T VS SCOTT STEINER: Steiner is hilarious, he gets into it with virtually everyone around ringside, letting a woman touch his muscles and then ripping into her husband, he almost smacks the hat off of some guy. He cusses another guy out, he’s either a fantastic heel or legitimately insane, maybe both. Haha he gets out of the ring and goes into the crowd to rip some guy now! Both guys are wrestling stiff in this one, Steiner especially. Steiner’s “loose cannon” gimmick is really good, if it is a gimmick lol. Steiner hits Booker with a chair and shoves the ref but he doesn’t DQ Steiner because of “intimidation” according to the announcers. The crowd starts a “steroids” chant at Steiner lol. Steiner pulls the ref in the way and Booker melee’s him. The crowd, so conditioned to NWO interference by this point, immediately are all staring at the entrance. Booker hits the axe kick. There’s no ref to count, Booker pulls the ref up, but Steiner clobbers them both again. Steiner hits Booker with a foreign object during a suplex and the ref comes to for the three. Pretty good match again.

NASH VS GOLDBERG: Nash gets on the mic before the match and plays to the fans. The NWO’s insistence on being the “cool” heels bugs me more the older I get from these days. It was a big factor in WCW’s downfall in my opinion. Nash dominates early with slow paced power offense, but Goldberg comes back, but misses the spear and hits the ref, another ref bump in an nWo match… Luger hits Goldberg with a chair as he sets up another spear. Goldberg fights off the Jackknife and fights off Luger, then spears and Jackhammers Nash for the win. Goldberg avenges his first loss.

HOGAN VS DDP VS STING VS FLAIR: Randy Savage is special ref, and he comes out with the absurdly hot Gorgeous George, Randy also has seemingly gotten into Steiner’s stache of roids, because he is swelled as hell. Savage isn’t wearing a referee shirt and that bothers me for some reason. Sting comes out and pisses me off that WWE didn’t use this music, it’s badass. They all start out brawling with each other around ringside. Eventually Flair attacks Hogan’s knee, locking in the figure four. It’s broken up but Page locks on a figure four around the ringpost. Hogan’s knee is too damaged and he is taken out of the match, probably a Hogan political move so he didn’t have to lose lol. Flair and DDP team up on Sting but he no sells it and fires up, taking on both men. Flair ends up locking Sting in the figure four. Sting gets to the ropes, but Savage breaks it up, pulls them back into the ring, then climbs up top and drops the elbow onto Flair! Eventually Flair gets back up, but is caught by the Diamond Cutter and DDP wins his first World title! The crowd seems stunned that DDP of all the guys in there won lol.

Overall, a solid PPV, I don’t know what the rest of the 99 PPV’s were like in WCW, but this very well could have been the best of them given what WCW was like then. I probably liked the main event best, it was fast paced and full of star power. Steiner/Booker, Benoit/Malenko vs Raven/Saturn, Kidman/Mysterio were all pretty solid. If you want to check out a later WCW PPV that isn’t full of a bunch of shit, then this is a good choice.

[Str8Shooter]

SMACKDOWN EPISODE 213
SEPTEMBER 18, 2003
NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY
KURT VS BROCK

The famous Angle vs Lesnar Iron Man match episode, I’m looking forward to this. Vince starts off us with a taped promo hyping up the Iron Man match, he’s interrupted by Big Evil Taker, who threatens Vince for having Brock interfere in his match with Angle.

This crowd is a million percent more into this than any Smackdown now. Look at all the signs and people standing! Cole says this is the “season premiere” of Smackdown on UPN!

MYSTERIO/BENOIT VS TAJIRI/RHYNO: A really good quick paced short match. Typical tag formula, with the heels getting the heat on Benoit, then makes the tag to Rey who cleans house. Tajiri looks for the green mist on Rey, but he ducks and Rhyno gets hit. Rey hits a 619 right into a Benoit German suplex which was cool. Rey then hits the 619 on Rhyno and the West Coast Pop for the win.

TORRIE WILSON/NIDIA VS SHANIQUA: The show is brought to us by Limp Bizkit’s latest album and Wrestemania 19 for the Nintendo Gamecube!! 2003 baby!! Shaniqua is built like a tank. Cole says Shaniqua is an amazon, she towers over Tazz. To which Tazz responds, “well yeah, most people do” . Shaniqua wins easily with a powerbomb, then lays out Dawn Marie after the match just for kicks.

GM Stephanie is backstage drawing devil horns on a pic of Sable, when Vince, Show, and Sable walk in. Vince vows to make Stephanie quit, to which she says there’s no way.

Chavo and Eddie are backstage getting ready for their title shot. Chavo says Eddie (The US Champ) will have double gold. They agree to do it for Grandma and leave. These two were awesome together.

Haha yes! Rapper John Cena raps from the arena roof. He says he’s more American than silicon strippers, and that he leaves careers dead of heart attacks like John Ritter. (Ritter died only a week before, wow. Can’t believe this aired)

WORLD’S GREATEST TAG TEAM VS LOS GUERREROS: This is Chavo’s first match back after a biceps tear 4 months prior. Los Guerreros look awesome early, making quick tags and dominating. Chavo hits a gorgeous spinning headscissors on Shelton. Shelton hit a superkick to the arm of Chavo, and the WGTT goes to work with mat holds on the arm of Chavo. Chavo makes a diving hot tag and Eddie goes to town on both. Haas brings two chairs and distracts the ref, but Shelton misses the chair shot, and Chavo dropkicks the chair into his knee from behind. Haas is hit with a double flapjack that looked like he thought it should have been a backdrop and he fell right on his head. A brainbuster and a frog splash later and we’ve got new champions! A tremendous match, seriously, this is a forgotten gem.

We go to Tazz’s Keys to Victory for the main event. This was a nice touch that added realism. One of his keys for Angle was to maybe avoid the Angle slam because It’s easily countered into the F5.

LESNAR VS ANGLE: 60 MIN IRON MAN MATCH: The match starts with Lesnar stalling, getting hit with a couple moves and heading to the outside to recover. Angle gets the advantage but Lesnar grabs a steel chair, and wails on Angle with it, getting DQ’d. The math restarts but Angle is beat up and Lesnar just F5’s him to tie things at 1-1. Brock locks on the ankle lock on Angle and Kurt taps out immediately giving Brock a 2-1 lead. Brock and Angle fight on the outside, and Brock hits the F5 on the floor, and sneaks in before the 10 count, going up 3 falls to 1. Angle comes back shortly after and hits an Angle Slam out of nowhere to cut the lead to 3-2. Brock attempts a clothesline but misses and lays out the ref. He then takes the belt and clocks Angle with it, tosses the referee over and gets the pinfall to make it 4-2.

Kurt uses some new stuff, with a top rope axehandle to the outside, and then a missile dropkick for a two count but then misses the moonsault. Kurt ups his intensity but can’t get a pinfall. We go to our last break and unbelievably, Brock has scored a pinfall with a superplex during the break! It’s now 5-2 with under 15 minutes left. Kurt catches Brock by surprise, running up the buckles and suplexing him off to make it 5-3 with under 10 minutes left. Angle rolls through a German attempt and locks on the anklelock. Brock fights for the ropes but can’t get there and he taps to make it 5-4 with 4 minutes left.

Angle pulls out all the stops in the last few minutes, hitting four straight German suplexes. But Lesnar grabs the ref before the fifth and low blows Angle with 40 seconds left. Angle grabs the leg and applies the ankelock with 20 second left and grapevines the leg. Brock is about to tap, but hangs on to zero and becomes the new WWE Champion!

A pretty damn good iron man match. They made good use of the time and got lots of falls to keep the crowd engaged. I’m not a huge iron man match fan as knowing the match is going 60 usually takes the drama out of it. The ending was strong and the storytelling throughout was well done.