Random Rasslin Ramblings 2 - Electric Boogaloo (WCW Monday Nitro 9/25/1995)

Random Rasslin Ramblings 2 - Electric Boogaloo (WCW Monday Nitro 9/25/1995)

Thanks to the fantastic Fruit Machine, this was the random episode of Nitro from 1995 that I had to watch for the 2nd installment of Random Rasslin Ramblings. I've never really seen much WCW, despite the fact that I owned a WCW blanket when I was little. I have gone back and watched some Nitros and PPVs from 97/98 and I've actually seen quite a bit from 2000 (for comedy purposes), but that's about it. Therefore, 1995 WCW is going to feel pretty foreign to me. 

First thing that leaped out at me: the commentary team. Eric Bischoff is the anchor, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan is the color guy, and.... MONGO FUCKIN' MCMICHAEL AND HIS GOD DAMN DOG ARE HERE TO MAKE ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE 100% OF THE TIME. That's all I have about that.

Alex Wright vs Disco Inferno

I was actually pretty delighted to see that the opening contest was between two people that I'm rather familiar with, but I was not delighted to see that this wasn't a dance competition. Before we get started with the match itself, I just have to get this off my chest: DISCO FEVAH, DISCO FEVAH, DISCO FEVAH, YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH

I think I'm good now.

Disco has "Shake Your Booty" written across the ass of his tights, immediately jolting him near the top of my "ring gear" power rankings. They start it hot, as Das Wunderkind hits a few nice moves, including a perfect springboard dropkick that connects with Disco's lower back. Mongo is waaay too close to his McMichrophone (see what I did there), and it's making me want to jump off a cliff. Every time he speaks it sounds like he's eating into an Xbox headset. The next big portion of this match is spent with Disco on offense, working over Wright big time. It is now that I noticed how comically often Disco Inferno pats his hair in the ring. Really, it's pretty funny. With the action so slowed down and subdued with Disco on offense, the match mercifully ends when Das Wunderkind counters a swinging neckbreaker attempt into a backslide for the victory, but then doesn't even do his dance. Did he even do it in 1995? I genuinely don't know.

The match started pretty nicely, but Disco's offense was too slow, and he was on offense too long to wrestle that style and still keep me in the match. Bleh.

Interview with Jimmy Hart and Hulk Hogan

The difference between reviewing a TV episode like Nitro as opposed to the first RRR I did, IYH: Revenge of the Taker, is the increased amount of interview segments and promos. This one begins with a neckbraced Hulkster lifting the WCW World Heavyweight Championship with his neck muscles. (It's hard to explain.) He then informs us that the Hulkamaniacs aren't down and out, and that he has yet to miss a workout despite his injury. He describes in great detail how he recalls hearing the snap, crackle, and pop of his neck at the hands of The Giant. And then it gets good.

HE CHALLENGES THE GIANT TO THE INFAMOUS MONSTER TRUCK CHALLENGE.

NOW YOU WAIT JUST ONE FUCKING MINUTE...

THEY BILLED THE GIANT AS ANDRE'S SON????

Jesus Christ, I know ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about WCW before the nWo.

Anyway, Hogan says he'll bodyslam The Giant in Detroit, just like he did to "his father".

Macho Man Slim Jim Commercial

Can I just mention how fucking awesome it is that the Network kept this in? 

"People ask me what I like to snap best. Is it arms? Legs? No, I like a beefy, spicy Slim Jim! SNAP INTO ONE! OH YEAH!"

Mean Gene Okerlund Interviews Macho Man and Lex Luger

There's a recap of Macho Man and Luger's segment from the week prior. Both guys basically talk about how badly they want to be the WCW World Champion. The confrontation gets heated, but nothing comes of it. Now Macho Man calls Luger out. They're both in ring gear with Mean Gene between them. Lex Luger says that Macho Man lacks respect. Macho says he's not afraid of Luger, then accepts Luger's challenge for a match next week on Nitro. Luger puts his WCW Title shot on the line, then ups the ante even further by saying he'll leave WCW if he loses. Gee, I wonder who wins next week.

Kurasawa w/ Col. Parker vs Sgt. Craig Pittman

I've never seen either one of these two, but Kurasawa looks like fatter, shittier Shinsuke Nakamura. My first impression of Pittman is laughter, because he repeatedly yells "MAGGOTS" on his way to the ring. Kurasawa starts it off with some awfully stiff kicks, because, you know, he's a Japanese person in an American wrestling promotion. Kurasawa peels away the floor mats and back drops Pittman onto the concrete. 

"That splatted like grandma out of the wheelchair", states Mongo. 

I think I've seen that closed captioning screenshotted on twitter before.

Kurasawa is tossed over the top rope, and Bischoff is quick to point out that official Nick Patrick didn't disqualify Pittman. I forgot that was a thing in the NWA. So dumb. They're REALLY pushing the monster truck match for Halloween Havoc throughout this one. Pittman locks in a cross armbreaker, which is apparently his finisher. Kurasawa is able to get to the ropes. Kurasawa hits an awful bridged German suplex for a victory that includes a botched three count by Nick Patrick. 

You know when WWE makes fun of WCW and you think they're just making shit up? Stuff like this makes it seem like they're right.

Mean Gene Interviews Arn Anderson and Brian Pillman

THE FUCKING LADS. I'm honestly not sure I've ever seen anything cooler than Arn Anderson and Brian Pillman standing together in street clothes. Pillman cuts a really loud promo about Flair being "gutter slime". When Pillman turns around, his fanny pack catches my eye. The 90s were a time. "We're gonna exercise our right to hospitalize anybody that gets in our path. WOO!" <<<<<3 

Mean Gene questions how AA could do such a thing (not sure what he did) to a friend like Flair. Arn runs down all the horrible things Flair did to people for years, then explains that's why Flair can't find a partner to battle AA and Pillman.

Macho Man/Kevin Sullivan Promo

For some reason, they show a recap of Macho Man doing a bench press on the beach. Suddenly, he's assaulted by Kevin Sullivan. They will have a match tonight because of it. The fuck?

"The Taskmaster" Kevin Sullivan vs "Macho Man" Randy Savage

I refuse to stand for the BULLSHIT that is the WCW version of Pomp and Circumstance. Get your electric guitar the fuck out of here, Ted Turner. Bobby Heenan pretends that he stepped in Mongo's dog's shit. DID I MENTION MONGO HAS A SMALL DOG WITH HIM ON COMMENTARY? To this, Mongo says "now you're working, baby" to the dog. 

HOLY FUCKING SHIT THE ZODIAC JUST POPPED UP AT RINGSIDE. Poor, poor Brutus Beefcake. Dustin Runnels has no right to complain about the Seven gimmick when Brutus Beefcake was not only a barber, but also a.... zebra unicorn?

Zodiac beats up Macho Man, allowing Sullivan to take advantage. Kevin Sullivan fucking sucks. Everything is sloppy, and Macho Man doesn't bother to sell for most of it. As he shouldn't. They brawl outside for almost two minutes consecutively. No count. Macho pulls Zodiac into the ring and shoves the referee who tries to break them up. He's subsequently DQ'd. He places Sullivan on top of Zodiac and drops the elbow, but Taskmaster moves.

WEEEEEEEEELLLLLLL, WELL IT'S THE... uh, Giant. It's the Giant.

Giant chokeslams the living shit out of Macho Man. 

A couple jobbers file out of the locker room, only to get chokeslammed by Paul Wight. The only jobber I recognized was Alex Wright. Luger runs out, and it's assumed on commentary that he's here to attack Savage while he's down. Instead, he goes to help Savage up, and he gets beaten up by The Giant as well. Sullivan gets enraged at The Giant for assaulting Luger for some reason.

Lex Luger vs Meng

THERE IS ALMOST NOTHING I LOVE MORE THAN MENG MATCHES. 

Luger is still in the ring after the beatdown, so Meng just comes out and beats the shit out of him. Meng works Luger over for the first few minutes of the match. Meng picks up a nearfall off a vicious-looking piledriver. Luger mounts a mini comeback, but he's shut down in a hurry. Luger comes back fully now, but Meng pulls a FREAKING SPIKE out of his kickpad and hits Luger in the throat with it for the victory. 

This match was pretty awful, but it had Meng in it, so I can't really complain.

Overall, this show was exactly what WWE would like you to believe WCW was. Nothing made sense, everything was a clusterfuck, and Mongo was at commentary. It was basically the newest episode of Botchamania. By itself. 

Rumble Match 2015: Roman Reigns Supreme

Ok, I understand that A LOT of people aren't happy with WWE for what happened in Philadelphia tonight. I, on the other hand, am. This is why I loved this year's Royal Rumble match. 

1: Starting with Miz & Truth

They borrowed a technique employed at Royal Rumble 2000 for this one. At that show, the Rumble match was coming up immediately following an absolutely amazing WWF Championship street fight between Cactus Jack and Triple H. In order to give the Madison Square Garden crowd a chance to catch their breath, the first two entrants in the Rumble were D-Lo Brown and Grandmaster Sexay. This year, they used The Miz and R-Truth. Even better than just using it to cool the crowd down, was that they actually had Miz being number one mean something later in the match! But we'll get into that later.

2: Bubba Ray Dudley

My head almost fucking exploded when Bubba Ray came out. The second I heard the bomb drop at the start of his theme I almost threw my god damn laptop. And I guess since D-Von couldn't be there for whatever reason, R-Truth was a black enough replacement. If Bubba Ray comes back full time, I see Ascension vs Dudleys for Mania. If not, this was still a great way to pop the ECW-favoring Philly crowd, and it made me go nuts. And him in the ring with Harper was soooooo fucking cool.

3: Wyatt Family Reunion

The brawling between Rowan, Harper and Bray was pretty cool to see, especially if it leads to some kind of Rowan/Harper match at Mania. It didn't end up meaning much, but it was just an awesome visual with all three going at it.

4: Bray Wyatt's Dominance

His 1-on-1 eliminations of The Boogeyman, Sin Cara, and a returning Zack Ryder brought me thoughts of Rikishi in 2000 and CM Punk in 2010. Especially when he cut a promo in the middle of all of it. He looked great throughout the match, but never better than in this stretch. It seems like they've got big plans for The Eater of Worlds.

5: The Bryan Elimination

Time for controversy, I suppose. Let me lay this on the table first: I would have preferred Daniel Bryan winning the Royal Rumble. But, if they were going to eliminate him, that is the way to do it. Bray Wyatt has always had the problem of being a heel that doesn't get booed, thus making him, by definition, a bad heel. Who THE FUCK doesn't want to boo Bray Wyatt now? He basically killed our pets and took a shit on our chests. If they're setting Bray up to be the next big heel, Daniel Bryan is the guy to feud him with. A++ on the execution of that elimination, WWE. Oh, and D-Bry got tossed out by TWO of the most dominant heels in the company. So yeah, he still looks just fine.

6: The Hoss Rumble

At one point, the combatants in the ring were Ryback, Rusev, Roman Reigns, Bray Wyatt, Jack Swagger and Big E. This is nothing more than my personal wrestling preferences, because there's not much I love more than a good old fashioned hoss fight. 

7: Big Show and Kane Wreck Shit

This was one of the things that I saw people hate the most. Throughout WWE, there's a problem with people that are supposed to be heels not getting booed by the crowd. Well, Kane and Big Show are genuinely hated by the audience, so having them take the fan favorites and dump their lifeless bodies over the top rope not only makes the fans hate these big fat cunts even more, but it helps the people they tossed out get even more adoration. Ambrose and Ziggler are better off for it, trust me.

8. Roman Reigns Wins

I don't even feel like explaining this anymore. Roman Reigns has an incredible amount of talent, and, whether you like it or not, he won't be booed in many places that aren't full of smarky shitsticks like Philadelphia is. Roman Reigns is THE future of WWE, and to me, that's not a bad thing. He has THE LOOK (yes, that is a very, very real thing), he has a really cool moveset, and with time, he'll be where he needs to be on the mic. It may have been a little too early, but I can't complain about Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar main eventing WrestleMania.

9. The Overall In-Ring Action

Just some of the stuff the people in the match were doing throughout was pretty awesome, especially the likes of Daniel Bryan and Tyson Kidd. 

10. The Storyline Progression

Between the impending Miz and Mizdow split, The Rock now being in The Authority's crosshairs, Kane and Big Show being ULTRA MEGA CUNTS, Bray being almost unstoppable, D-Bry seeking redemption, Ambrose and Ziggler wanting to get back at The Authority, everything has aligned itself for one hell of a Road to WrestleMania in 2015.

Ok, those were the things that I liked. Here's what I didn't care for.

1. THE CROWD

Everytime someone on twitter said how "good" the Philadelphia crowd was, a baby was run over by a semi truck. THEY CHANTED FOR CM PUNK. IN 2015. I feel like that on its own should be enough. They tried to be soooooooooo cool and edgy, and instead were just being pieces of shit.

2. Show and Kane Eliminating Bray

I thought it was great that they scooped lifeless Ziggler and Ambrose out of the ring, but having them do it to Bray was just weird. If they put all the work earlier into making Bray get heat, why have the two shittiest pieces of shit in the entire match throw him out? I didn't get that. 

3. Rusev's Final Elimination

I feel as though having Rusev get something at least resembling offense in on Roman would've been better than just having him whiff on a savate kick, get Speared, and tossed out. While that part made him seem a little hokey, that doesn't discredit everything else he did during the match. 

Random Rasslin Ramblings Part 1 - WWF In Your House 14: Revenge of the Taker

Random Rasslin Ramblings Part 1 - WWF In Your House 14: Revenge of the Taker

Welcome to the first Random Rasslin Rambling! Basically what I'll be doing is once or twice a week taking a PPV, TV episode, or special event and reviewing it, in no particular order, from no particular company. First up, courtesy of @WWENRandom on twitter, a WWE Network randomizer bot created by @MuricaMark, is In Your House 14: Revenge of the Taker. Admittedly, I haven't ventured much beyond 1997 in my viewing of wrestling. The style is typically too slow and in the WWF especially, the names don't get me excited to watch the matches. So, this should be somewhat of an introduction to some of the guys on the card, although I haven't even looked at what the matches are yet. I'm basically going into this blind. Without further ado, let's get right into it. 

Legion of Doom vs Owen Hart and British Bulldog

The crowd is HOT for LOD at the start. I find that weird, but that's just because I've never been a huge fan of LOD myself, most likely due to my lack of viewing experience pre-97. Also, the commentary team is JR, The King, and Vinny Mac. So that's pretty hype. Owen plays a great heel throughout, not necessarily through his moves, but his trash talk and body language really antagonize the crowd, while Bulldog does essentially nothing. The match slows down to a snail's pace whenever Legion of Doom take over on offense, which absolutely should not be the case with babyfaces. During an Owen Hart rest hold, the camera cuts to Austin arriving in the arena. They seem shocked that he showed up, even though it's the very beginning of the show. Hawk and Animal mount a comeback, THEN PIN BULLDOG WITH A TOP ROPE POWERSLAM. The fact that they didn't win with the Doomsday Device makes me call shenanigans. Oh, what do you know, another ref comes out. As it turns out, Bulldog wasn't legal. The match restarts, and Owen is great, calling for LOD to be disqualified and yelling at the ref to give them their belts. JR says, "I don't think this referee went to referee school on a scholarship. He was a walk-on." Almost immediately following the restart, LOD hits the Doomsday Device on Owen. Bret runs out, breaks up the pin, gets disqualified, and Owen/Bulldog retain. Shitty finish to a shitty match, and not a very good way to start a show. Owen does cut a fan-fucking-tastic post-match promo though. This is where I find out from Dok Hendrix that our main event is BRET HART VS STONE COLD! Now I'm excited.

Backstage, Sunny and Brian Pillman are running the Superstar Line. They do a little promo trying to persuade people to pay for the Superstar Line, while JR and The King heavily imply that they're banging each other. I'm disappointed by this because Pillman running the Superstar Line means he must not be wrestling. Bummer.

Savio Vega vs Rocky Maivia

I completely forgot about the guys rapping over the Nation theme. I also forgot Crush was in The Nation. Boo. Rock cuts a pretty good promo with Hendrix before the match. Not "The Rock" good, but still good. It's really strange to see Rocky cutting white meat babyface promos and coming out to a hip-hop theme. Rock wrestles the first 20 seconds of the match with the IC Title still around his waist. May I just take this moment to point out that SAVIO FUCKING VEGA is competing for the Intercontinental Championship on Pay-Per-View this close to the start of the Attitude Era? I guess when you consider that he wrestled in the main event of No Way Out of Texas 1998, this isn't so bad. Faarooq comes out a little ways through the match, and joins commentary, but his headset doesn't work so JR gives his to Faarooq. WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE JR? Rocky and Savio trade boring offense while Faarooq essentially claims that the WWF is racist. Faarooq runs down Ahmed Johnson, then when talking about him belonging in The Nation, he says that he should "bring his black butt home". Savio kicks out of the god damn Rock Bottom (which hasn't been named yet, nor is it his finish). Crush interferes while Rocky is on the outside, leading to him being counted out in a title match while Savio stands and watches like a fucking moron, then gets angry after the count reaches ten. Savio and Crush start arguing until Faarooq tells them to get their shit together and they maul The Rock as a unit when Ahmed Johnson makes the save, wearing a red sweatsuit and wielding a 2x4. Ahmed cuts a promo that I can surprisingly understand every word of. Unfortunately, the promo is both terrible and racist, but I can at least make out every single word of it. He accepts Faarooq's challenge of a gauntlet match with all the members of The Nation. I don't know if it's meant to take place tonight, but based off the fact that Faarooq is in a sling, I'm guessing not.

THERE'S AN AOL BACKSTAGE THING WHERE KEN SHAMROCK CONFUSEDLY SLAMS HIS HANDS ON THE KEYBOARD OF A REALLY OLD DELL LAPTOP. 10/10 WOULD GIF.

Dok Hendrix conducts an interview with Marc Mero, Sable, and Marc Mero's mullet. Let me begin by letting out my inner 17 year old by mentioning just how hot late 90s Sable was. I would do really regrettable things to her. Carrying on, Dok makes note of the fact that they are in the very same arena where Mero won his Golden Gloves, but also informs us that Mero is unable to compete tonight. While Mero offers a response, Owen and Bulldog enter a room with weapons. There's a commotion, and when they come out, it's revealed that they assaulted Austin in the bathroom.

Jesse James vs Rockabilly

Road Dogg's name is misspelled as "Jesse Jammes" on the nameplate. He's also referred to on commentary as "Double J'. No. That is not him. Road Dogg is not Double J. Next to come out is Honky Tonk Man, who, if this match were decided by who has the better singing entrance, would have squashed Road Dogg (who, by the way, I refuse to refer to as Jesse James). Honky introduces his mystery protege to take on Dogg, and it's none other than Billy fucking Gunn, now known as Rockabilly. THE NEW AGE OUTLAWS.... EXPLOOOOOODE!!!! 

One of the highlights of the action is Billy taking a hip toss and audibly yelling "OH JESUS" on the way up. He doesn't get nearly enough credit for being a great wrestler. Road Dogg knocks down Billy on the outside and threatens HTM, to which Honky Tonk Man replies "YOU'RE A GOOF! WHAT AN IDIOT!" I chuckled. Billy hits the Fame-asser 2 minutes into the match and DOESN'T EVEN COVER! Did finishers exist in early 1997? JJ wins with a small package sometime later, then dodges the El Kabong from Honky Tonk Man and bails out of the ring. Strictly based on in-ring action, easily the best match so far. But, A THIRD CONSECUTIVE SCREWY FINISH dampens the mood a little. Still pretty good, though.

Backstage, Dok Hendrix shills an Undertaker door banner. They're charging 29.95 for this shit, which Dok says is well-priced. He does his best job, but I would hope nobody paid up 30 bucks for this.

Kevin Kelly asks Austin if he's good to go, and Austin basically tells him to fuck himself. SCSA says Bret can bring his "OLD FAT FATHER STU" and he'll kick his ass too. Wonderful stuff.

Some guy with a bad haircut whose name I didn't catch interviewed the Hart Foundation. Bulldog mentions that this guy's first name is Lance. The more you know. They claim that Austin tried to attack Owen first as a justification for their beatdown on The Rattlesnake earlier.

Undertaker promo package. The gist of it is that Undertaker and Mankind are both super fucking weird, and that's why they're facing one another. The WWF Title will be contested one hour into the show, and Taker isn't even competing in the main event of the show that is NAMED AFTER HIM. A RAW recap shows Mankind shooting a fireball into Deadman's eyes. Taker selling it looks goofy as hell.

Dok, who's doing it all tonight, interviews Bearer and Mankind. Bearer is extra squeaky as he tells us that Mankind will win the belt. And Mankind, yelling, mentions that Taker's screams will be music to his ear. SINGULAR. EAR.

Mankind vs Undertaker

I'm pretty excited for this, naturally. Deadman should carry the belt in his hand at his side during his entrance, not wear it around his waist over his entrance coat. Haymakers by Taker in the corner kick us off, of course. Taker has a humongous bandage on the right side of his face, but Mankind's right hands obviously hit Undertaker on the left side of his face. Missed opportunity not putting the bandage on the other side. Crowd brawling. The Attitude Era's not so far away after all. Deadman does Old School, but he does it with Mankind in the center of the ring and does a diving clothesline instead of a club to the arm. Much more impressive that way. Mankind uses a full water pitcher and a chair to attack Undertaker, but isn't disqualified for his actions. The announcers note that this isn't a no DQ match and question the ref. Blech. Foley beats the holy high fuck out of Taker. Good for him. Despite the fact that the referee had already opted not to DQ Mankind for the use of a chair, they do a ref bump. Mankind attacks the replacement ref EVEN THOUGH HE HAD TAKER PASSED OUT FROM THE MANDIBLE CLAW. Bearer throws Mankind a chair, then Mick grabs the steps. Taker dropkicks said steps onto Mankind's face. A thunderous chairshot followed by Taker blasting Foley off the apron with the stairs through the announcer's table leads to a Chokeslam for an absurdly close nearfall. Immediately afterwards though, a Tombstone puts Mankind away. Taker goes after Bearer then, who appears to nearly shit himself as Deadman gets him in the corner. Taker drops Bearer with a right hand, but a really awkward sequence ensues where Taker just doesn't attack Bearer and goes after Mankind instead. TAKER SHOOTS FIRE IN BEARER'S FACE. FOR. FUCK'S. SAKE. 

The heels retreat. Undertaker stands tall. Alright match, but JUST DO A NO HOLDS BARRED MATCH FOR THE LOVE OF CHRIST. An injured Bearer is rushed from the arena while Taker stands with a lighter in his hand. That would work for a double turn, but this wasn't a double turn.

Dok is back again, this time interviewing Bret. Bearer can be heard squealing in the background throughout the interview. Bret says this will be war, including saying that Austin will be "maimed, or crippled, or whatever." He, Owen, and Bulldog walk to the ring, which infuriates JR and Vinny Mac at commentary because of the Tag Champions' presence. Before they even make it to the ring, Owen and Bulldog are thrown out by officials and Gorilla Monsoon. 

Bret Hart vs Stone Cold Steve Austin

Apparently, the winner will get a WWF Title match at In Your House 15. The action starts hot with more ringside brawling as we're informed by McMahon that Bearer is "writhing in pain". No shit. Austin mocks Bret's taunt! Then he whips him back and forth into the steel steps when the feed cuts out momentarily. The feed returns, but it's the French commentary feed. Much like the last match, there's no application of the rules as they brawl outside for well over 10 seconds, and Austin even does a double axe handle off the barricade. Nearfalls are far more exciting with French commentary. Immediately after I make note of this, the English commentary is back. Bret grabs a chair (NOT NO DQ), and a fan is heard yelling "ECW!" There's a ref bump as Austin is dropkicked into Hebner. Bret assaults Austin's injured knee with the chair, and it is noted on commentary that Bret is trying to end The Rattlesnake's career. JR, MID MAIN EVENT, informs us that Pillman and Sunny interviewed both Undertaker and Mankind on the Superstar Line. Figure four on the ringpost by Bret. Hebner doesn't enforce a count of any kind. Chair to the knee. No disqualification by Hebner. The fuck is going on? Maybe it is no DQ, but then why would they have done a ref bump earlier? Bret taunts the crowd, and a fan on the hard cam stands up and flips him the bird. Good stuff. Bret continues on the knee. Again, MID MAIN EVENT, we're shown footage of a squealing Bearer being hauled off on a stretcher. Bret removes Austin's knee brace and keeps going on the knee, in a rather brilliant spot. SCSA chokes Bret out with his wrist tape. HE'S THE GOD DAMN BABYFACE!!! Bret evades the middle rope elbow drop and goes back to the knee, absolutely unrelenting. A regular figure four is applied by The Hitman, but the pressure is eventually reversed. Bret gets to the ropes, and NOW Hebner enforces the five count. More knee work by Bret. They go back to the ringside brawling, and it ends up in the crowd once again. Austin goes for a big piledriver, but his leg gives out. Again, more knee work. Bret walks right into a turnbuckle flapjack by Austin, but he counters the Stunner by wrapping around the ropes and throwing him into the top turnbuckle. Bret goes for the Sharpshooter, but Austin hits him with the leg brace that's been laying in the ring this whole time. Stone Cold applies a Sharpshooter of his own. Again, no DQ called for the use of the leg brace right in front of the referee. Owen runs in to stop the Sharpshooter and gets clocked, as does Bulldog. They're thrown from ringside by more refs, and Austin goes back and applies another Sharpshooter! Bulldog comes back, however, and clocks Austin with a chair, and NOW there's a DQ. A third non-finish out of 5 matches. Get THE FUCK out of here with that. 

Austin wins by DQ and gets the title shot for In Your House 15. Bret goes to hit Austin with the ring bell, but Austin counters with a chair to Bret's knee and puts in yet another Sharpshooter. Officials pry Stone Cold off The Hitman while Owen and Bulldog come to Bret's aid. Without having recently seen their WrestleMania 13 match, I really liked this aside from the bad officiating and lack of a clean finish. Had I seen that recently, though, this would pale in comparison. Especially the terrible finish.

This. Show. Sucked. Let's review the finishes to the five matches, shall we? Disqualification by run-in, count out to retain the Intercontinental Championship, roll-up victory, clean pinfall, and another disqualification by run-in. I'll let that speak for itself. Disgraceful.

Match of the Night
Bret vs Austin

MVP
Owen Hart