Live from Las Vegas, Nevada
Attendance: 10,000
Your hosts are Tony Schiavone, Dusty Rhodes & Bobby Heenan
Cruiserweight Championship
Rey Mysterio Jr. (C) Vs Dean Malenko
Malenko wins the title after a powerbomb from the top. You're not gonna find many better openers than this! Aside from a few moments with some boring rest holds, this match clicks on all cylinders. I could watch these two wrestle all day. The scary thing is this isn't even close to what these two are capable of.
***3/4
Diamond Dallas Paige Vs Eddie Guererro
DDP wins with the Diamond Cutter. This was a pretty good match between these two. DDP's ground game meshed well with Eddie's high- flying style. I wouldn't call it anything outstanding, but it was a good match. My only complaint is that DDP's Diamond Cutter was sloppy here.
***
Ted Dibiase says Jeff Jarrett is stupid because he refused to join the nWo. Jeff Jarrett told the nWo to stick it. The Giant says that's pretty good advice. The Giant will stick Jarrett to the wall, the floor, the ceiling, and when it's all said and done, he's gonna chokeslam Jarrett. Everybody goes through the glue factory.
The Giant Vs Jeff Jarrett (W/Ric Flair)
The Giant wins by DQ after Flair comes in and delivers a low blow to the Giant. It's too weird seeing Jarrett as a babyface. He played a babyface in TNA as well, and I didn't like it then either. As far as the match goes, it was OK for a David vs Goliath scenario. Jarrett's offense was believable enough.
**
Ted Dibiase and Syxx both say Jericho is a fine athlete, but tonight, Jericho's gonna get crucified against Syxx.
Syxx Vs Chris Jericho
Syxx wins with a roundhouse kick. It's not without controversy. Nick Patrick kept counting slow when Jericho had a pin attempt. I was pumped for this one. It didn't quite meet my expectations, but it's still well above average. There are plenty of high-flying moves and quality wrestling to enjoy.
***1/4
Lex Luger Vs Arn Anderson
Luger wins with the Torture Rack. Luger does some heavy damage to Arn's back to the point where Arn has to be carried out on a stretcher. This match lacked intensity for a feud that was intense. I'd call it distinctly average. This was somewhat Arn's swan song as a wrestler. He wouldn't wrestle very much after this due to all the injuries suffered over the years.
**
The Faces of Fear (Meng & The Barbarian) (W/Jimmy Hart) Vs Chris Beniot & Steve McMichael (W/Debra & Woman)
Beniot and McMichael win after some chicanery from The Four Horsemen, The Four Horsemen pay for it after the match by getting their asses kicked severely by The Dungeon of Doom. This match was OK at best. The Faces of Fear had some cool moves and shockingly looked really good. Beniot looked like a badass after the match by taking on everybody. Overall, it advanced things well, even if the match wasn't great.
*3/4
Tag Team Championship
Harlem Heat (C) (W/Sister Sherri & Col. Rob Parker) Vs The Outsiders
The Outsiders win the titles after Nash nails Stevie Ray with Parker's cane. This match was mediocre with an obvious result. It lacked any kind of spark at all. I was amused at the "Razor and Diesel" chants, though.
*1/2
World Heavyweight Championship
Hulk Hogan (C) (W/Ted Dibiase & The Giant) Vs "Macho Man" Randy Savage
Savage has the match won with the flying elbow from the top, but Nick Patrick stops counting at two. The Giant comes down and chokeslams Savage on the floor. The Giant rolls Hogan on top of Savage and gets the win. This was an overbooked mess! It's a crying shame because these two are capable of really good matches together. They didn't need all of this over protection.
*1/2
Roddy Piper makes a surprise appearance at the end of the show. Piper comes up with a great line. "I'm not here to represent WCW, NWA, the SPCA, or the SOB. But I can be one SOB when I wanna be" Piper says he's just as big an icon in wrestling as Hogan is. Hogan tries to cut Piper off by sucking up to him by saying he and Piper were neck and neck in wrestling. Piper says at Wrestlemania, Hogan wasn't able to beat him. Piper's the only guy Hogan's never been able to beat. Piper says it's the fans who made Hogan. Piper takes Hogan's belt and they bicker as Halloween Havoc goes off the air.
Thoughts: Piper and Hogan isn't something that really excites me in 1996. Piper was excellent and intense on the microphone as usual. He made some good points about Hogan. Hogan did a fine job of playing the arrogant heel.
This PPV really goes downhill after a while. Piper's appearance and the Cruiserweight Championship are worth seeing, but not much else.
5/10 overall.
Attendance: 10,000
Your hosts are Tony Schiavone, Dusty Rhodes & Bobby Heenan
Cruiserweight Championship
Rey Mysterio Jr. (C) Vs Dean Malenko
Malenko wins the title after a powerbomb from the top. You're not gonna find many better openers than this! Aside from a few moments with some boring rest holds, this match clicks on all cylinders. I could watch these two wrestle all day. The scary thing is this isn't even close to what these two are capable of.
***3/4
Diamond Dallas Paige Vs Eddie Guererro
DDP wins with the Diamond Cutter. This was a pretty good match between these two. DDP's ground game meshed well with Eddie's high- flying style. I wouldn't call it anything outstanding, but it was a good match. My only complaint is that DDP's Diamond Cutter was sloppy here.
***
Ted Dibiase says Jeff Jarrett is stupid because he refused to join the nWo. Jeff Jarrett told the nWo to stick it. The Giant says that's pretty good advice. The Giant will stick Jarrett to the wall, the floor, the ceiling, and when it's all said and done, he's gonna chokeslam Jarrett. Everybody goes through the glue factory.
The Giant Vs Jeff Jarrett (W/Ric Flair)
The Giant wins by DQ after Flair comes in and delivers a low blow to the Giant. It's too weird seeing Jarrett as a babyface. He played a babyface in TNA as well, and I didn't like it then either. As far as the match goes, it was OK for a David vs Goliath scenario. Jarrett's offense was believable enough.
**
Ted Dibiase and Syxx both say Jericho is a fine athlete, but tonight, Jericho's gonna get crucified against Syxx.
Syxx Vs Chris Jericho
Syxx wins with a roundhouse kick. It's not without controversy. Nick Patrick kept counting slow when Jericho had a pin attempt. I was pumped for this one. It didn't quite meet my expectations, but it's still well above average. There are plenty of high-flying moves and quality wrestling to enjoy.
***1/4
Lex Luger Vs Arn Anderson
Luger wins with the Torture Rack. Luger does some heavy damage to Arn's back to the point where Arn has to be carried out on a stretcher. This match lacked intensity for a feud that was intense. I'd call it distinctly average. This was somewhat Arn's swan song as a wrestler. He wouldn't wrestle very much after this due to all the injuries suffered over the years.
**
The Faces of Fear (Meng & The Barbarian) (W/Jimmy Hart) Vs Chris Beniot & Steve McMichael (W/Debra & Woman)
Beniot and McMichael win after some chicanery from The Four Horsemen, The Four Horsemen pay for it after the match by getting their asses kicked severely by The Dungeon of Doom. This match was OK at best. The Faces of Fear had some cool moves and shockingly looked really good. Beniot looked like a badass after the match by taking on everybody. Overall, it advanced things well, even if the match wasn't great.
*3/4
Tag Team Championship
Harlem Heat (C) (W/Sister Sherri & Col. Rob Parker) Vs The Outsiders
The Outsiders win the titles after Nash nails Stevie Ray with Parker's cane. This match was mediocre with an obvious result. It lacked any kind of spark at all. I was amused at the "Razor and Diesel" chants, though.
*1/2
World Heavyweight Championship
Hulk Hogan (C) (W/Ted Dibiase & The Giant) Vs "Macho Man" Randy Savage
Savage has the match won with the flying elbow from the top, but Nick Patrick stops counting at two. The Giant comes down and chokeslams Savage on the floor. The Giant rolls Hogan on top of Savage and gets the win. This was an overbooked mess! It's a crying shame because these two are capable of really good matches together. They didn't need all of this over protection.
*1/2
Roddy Piper makes a surprise appearance at the end of the show. Piper comes up with a great line. "I'm not here to represent WCW, NWA, the SPCA, or the SOB. But I can be one SOB when I wanna be" Piper says he's just as big an icon in wrestling as Hogan is. Hogan tries to cut Piper off by sucking up to him by saying he and Piper were neck and neck in wrestling. Piper says at Wrestlemania, Hogan wasn't able to beat him. Piper's the only guy Hogan's never been able to beat. Piper says it's the fans who made Hogan. Piper takes Hogan's belt and they bicker as Halloween Havoc goes off the air.
Thoughts: Piper and Hogan isn't something that really excites me in 1996. Piper was excellent and intense on the microphone as usual. He made some good points about Hogan. Hogan did a fine job of playing the arrogant heel.
This PPV really goes downhill after a while. Piper's appearance and the Cruiserweight Championship are worth seeing, but not much else.
5/10 overall.
