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A Survivor Series match a day


HarmonicGenerator

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Back to elimination matches for 1993 - Team IRS vs. Team Ramon.

 

This is my third and final Randy Savage match for the project, but seeing as we're up to 1993, I don't foresee this being a major problem.

 

 

The match:

 

So, just started the show from the start, and fucking hell, the Lex Luger opening segment must be the most 1993 thing I've ever seen.

 

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Wow.

 

On the show itself, Vince is wearing a really ill-fitting suit.

 

Team IRS come to the ring first, to what has to be the worst entrance music there's ever been. Right To Censor was a symphony compared to this cacophony. Awful.

 

The team is IRS, Diesel, Rick Martel, and Adam Bomb. I don't think I've missed anyone. Weird mix of people on the surface, but perhaps there's a reason for them all teaming up.

 

1-2-3 Kid is out first for the other team, the crowd loves him. Looking forward to watching him here, one of my all-time favourites is X-Pac. Marty Jannetty out next, and then Razor Ramon, who's Intercontinental Champion at this time, and the crowd love him as well. I wonder if he'd ever had a chance at the WWE Title if he'd stuck around.

 

So three of the guys in this match from Survivor Series in 1993 did a run-in in a feature match at WrestleMania 31, in 2015. 

 

Wow.

 

Razor's final partner must be a mystery, because he's on the mic building up to it… he mentions 'machismo' and the crowd pops a bit, and then that wonderful wonderful music begins, and through the wonderful wonderful entranceway to a wonderful wonderful reaction is the Macho Man! He's like a legend of a bygone era alongside the likes of the Kliq, but you know what, it's a shame that whatever happened happened with Savage, because he's treated like a legend already and you can only imagine that perception growing the longer he didn't go to WCW.

 

All four members of Team Ramon have been popular with the crowd - they all got individual entrances as well, unlike Team IRS, so I'm expecting a drubbing here. 4-0 Ramon.

 

Razor and Martel start off with some nice chain wrestling. It ends with Razor giving the Model a slap across the face. He almost gets him with a two count after a cross body counter, then hits a fallaway slam for another two. We then get an Atomic Drop - whatever happened to Atomic Drops? Why don't people really do them anymore? - Savage gets a punch in, then an inverted Atomic Drop, and then Adam Bomb gets tagged in. His yellow contact lenses look uncomfortable.

 

Bomb is overpowering Ramon, and the pace has slowed accordingly as he tries to get to grips with his new opponent. He's got loads of pictures of razors on his trunks and kneepads. Merchandise idea: Razor Ramon razors. I'm saying things like this because the pace of the match is now… well, calling it a crawl would be overestimating it. Bomb's literally just stood there holding Ramon's hand and not moving for the past two minutes. Razor eventually gets up and hits a suplex not unlike the one that Molly Holly used to have as a finisher in SmackDown: Just Bring It. Martel comes to break up the pin but hits Bomb, and then it all falls apart for Team IRS, who all begin arguing with each other. Razor takes the opportunity to tag in Kid, who's really going to be overpowered here.

 

Diesel gets a tag in and I foresee Kid being thrown about all over the place YEP he just got thrown all the way across the ring! Gutwrench slam, OOF! This is an absolute beating, BIG boot! Diesel vs. 1-2-3 Kid, did it happen, when and where and how can I watch it?

 

Kid manages to hit a headscissors on Diesel then TAGS IN SAVAGE! Savage takes on everybody on Team IRS, gets the better of the lot of them, and ends by bodyslamming Diesel, going to the top rope and HITTING THE ELBOW! Diesel looks like he kicks out but the bell rings so I guess that was a three count… wasn't expecting him to go down quite so easily. 4-3 Ramon.

 

it's Savage and IRS for a while now - my current wondering, did IRS wear a proper tie or a clip-on? I bet it's a clip-on - and then Razor Ramon is tagged back in. I don't think they like Marty Jannetty.

 

Razor runs the ropes and Martel knees him in the back from the apron, then tags in and starts targeting the back, with backbreakers, elbows and so on. Bomb back in, and you can tangibly feel things slow down whenever he gets in the ring, that's weird. Super quick tags from Bomb to Martel, and Martel to IRS.

 

Gimmick overhaul idea: Bo Dallas goes to his dad's work (the tax office, obviously) and tries to make them Bo-lievers. He ends up being given a low-level job which slowly wears down his positivity until he becomes a bitter, resentful junior accountant. 

 

Savage back in, and I must say he's not as smooth and crisp as he was in the other Survivor Series matches I've watched with him in so far. He gets the better of IRS regardless, but then Crush turns up, who Savage is feuding with at the moment, and he's totally and completely distracted. IRS rolls him up, and gets the three. Fast count, but three. Savage runs away to crush Crush.

 

We must be 15 minutes into this match now and Marty Jannetty has JUST got into the ring for the first time. He takes a page out of Adam Bomb's book and stands still with IRS in a headlock for an age, then remembers he's supposed to do something and hits a few dropkicks. As the only guy in the match who hasn't done anything yet, you'd think he'd be doing better. Bomb suplexes Jannetty and dominates. Vince calls Bomb 'Diesel', and he must have heard and gone in a huff because he tags Martel back in to lock in an abdominal stretch. Marty is evidently a disappointment to his team, and he knows this, so tags out to Ramon, who punches IRS in the mouth and hits a CHOKESLAM!

 

Survivor Series chokeslam count: 1

 

Razor's Edge to IRS, and it's 3-2 Razor. Everybody piles in for a bit of brawling, but Razor and Martel are legal. Martel is up for the Razor's Edge, ref's distracted, IRS boofs Razor with his briefcase, and he gets counted out outside the ring. That's a shame because he's been the best part of this match so far.

 

We're down to Kid and Jannetty (but basically just Kid, the way Marty's been performing) vs. Martel and Bomb. Lots of speed, flips and reversals as Kid and Martel go at it, but then the Model decides to be a twat and tags Adam Bomb in again. It looks like Bomb chucks him down at one point but I think that was meant to be a Kid dropkick to knock Bomb outside. We get a second rope dive but Kid gets caught and slammed. Bomb hits a clothesline from the apron that flips Kid inside out and has the full advantage again. Martel in again, gut wrench slam for two. Kid gets the tag to Jannetty, who gets the advantage back, Kid tags back in, and manages to roll up Martel for a 3 count! The crowd is happy! Jannetty tags in again and hits a sunset flip on Bomb for an immediate three count and victory! The crowd is very happy! Very happy indeed!

 

 

My thoughts:

 

Good bits and bad bits. Razor Ramon, very good. Randy Savage, sadly not as good as he used to be. 1-2-3 Kid, very good. Marty Jannetty, came alive right at the end, but mostly not as watchable as his team mates. Martel, decent. Bomb, boring, sorry. Diesel, very good for the brief time he was there. IRS, reasonable. So with that comes parts of the match which are good fun to watch, and parts that are not so exciting. All comes with the Survivor Series territory, really. More of the Kliq members would have been good.

 

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I can't resist. 1994. The Royal Family vs. Clowns R' Us.

 

 

The match:

 

Monsoon and Vince have been discussing a fallout between Diesel and Shawn Michaels in the previous match when Jerry Lawler's music hits and the King comes out, with… Cheesy, Queasy and Sleazy. He's smirking and doing the royal wave and I already hate him, the smug royal twat. What a heel! They've all got very snazzy capes on. Lawler gets on the mic and everybody hates him. 

 

And here's Doink with his clowns… Wink, Pink and Dink, is it? Doink gives me a creepy unsettling feeling, I just can't see him as a face. But by royal decree, I must.

 

(I must admit, knowing that Doink and Dink were going to be coming out here, I thought I'd see the full version of the clip you see in this video: 

 

 

which, as I may have said in both the WrestleMania and Summerslam threads when I posted it there, is possibly the best thing WWE's ever done. A sublime video.

 

It's a different entrance to the one at Survivor Series 94, but I thought I'd post it anyway.)

 

Right, the match! Doink gets the better of Lawler in the early going and the King plays to the crowd. He misses an enziguiri and Doink gets him down in an arm stretcher, leading to Doink's mates all running over the top of Lawler to taunt the King's mates, then King's mates running over the top of him to get them back, then running away, again over the top of Lawler. The slapstick works because you can actually hear the crowd laughing, which does not often happen with WWE and comedy.

 

I don't think that's canned laughter.

 

Anyway, the spot is repeated but with Lawler's mates running over the top of Doink and back again, but they all fall over each other. Hey, it gets a laugh, so why not.

 

Doink hits three body slams on Lawler. He sells beautifully. Each of Doink's mates comes in and tries to pin him, and Lawler throws each one of them up in the air on 2. That made me laugh, I must admit. This is fast becoming one of my favourite comedy matches, like that Japanese one with the blowup doll, and the Joe/Ebessan/Jack Evans/whoever else it was in ROH, and Madman Manson against… I forget who I saw him against but he was hilarious.

 

Vince is pissing himself on commentary. 

 

Lawler's annoyed now. He slams Doink, and tries to do the same by bringing his mates in. The ref doesn't even bother to count these, but it ends with Doink throwing a King mate into Lawler's arms, he then throws him away, then the next mate is too heavy, and ends up knocking Lawler over. Once again, it gets a laugh!

 

They do a bit with a Burger King crown (product placement?) and Lawler wants to fight one of the other clowns, so Doink sticks Dink on his shoulders… I think I know what's coming… yep… nope, Sleazy comes in and Lawler gets on his shoulders, and of course they fall over each other, and the predictability's actually what makes it funny. This is ridiculous.

 

And it gets more so. As Lawler and Doink lock up, the mates do a quadruple criss-cross ending with two clowns dropkicking two kings. This has to have come from Vince's dreams. I can imagine him asleep in his mansion, and suddenly waking up and sitting bolt upright… "Linda! I'VE GOT IT, I'VE FUCKING GOT IT! MIDGETS! FUCKING MIDGETS, LINDA!"

 

Back in the match, Lawler goes to whip Doink into his mates, but it gets reversed, because obviously, and Doink hits a flying forearm as his mates beat up the kings, Doink hits a cross body, Lawler reverses it, he holds onto the tights and there goes Doink! According to the rules, Lawler is only allowed in the ring with Doink, so now he's been eliminated, the King can't do anything more. This is a pity because I don't particularly care about any of the others. How much longer does this go on for? I'm souring on it.

 

Dink bites a few bums and it's now Wink against Cheesy before Dink jumps from the top rope onto (I believe) Cheesy's beard, Wink back in and the crowd's kind of silent now. Lawler helps his mate out and Wink gets eliminated. Pink (who is not wearing pink) is now in, and with some distraction, Lawler picks up Cheesy and splashes him onto Pink, who is now eliminated as well. 4 against Dink, you'd think this can only end one way but I bet Dink still ends up winning.

 

Dink doesn't give up, he takes on all the kings at once and bests the lot of them, he hits a suplex then a big cross body. Lawler comes in to break it up, and the distraction allows for more shenanigans, bye bye Dink, Lawler is the winner! But he's not done, he asks for the microphone… HA! He's telling his mates off for celebrating and taking all the credit for the match himself! Brilliant! They don't listen, however, and he tells them to get out of the ring, and takes the spotlight for himself… but they're still celebrating outside the ring, GET 'EM KING, GET 'EM! He corners them, and the clowns turn up from under the ring, it's 6 on 1! The kings and the clowns have teamed up against him! He outruns them, but Doink is waiting behind him with a custard pie because of course he is, and Lawler gets pied. He goes full panto villain telling people to shut up to end the whole thing.

 

 

My thoughts:

 

This is the Jerry Lawler show, and deservedly so, because he's brilliant the entire time. It maybe goes on a little too long, but as comedy matches go, you could do a lot worse than this.

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Just watched the big 10 team elimination match from the 1988 Survivor Series for the first time since I was about 10 years old. Lovely blast of nostalgia and a really fun match to watch. Really, how could it be anything but fun when you've got the Bulldogs, Hart Foundation, Tully & Arn, The Rockers, Rougeaus, Powers of Pain etc all in one match?

 

One thing though, which never occurred to me as a kid - Demolition Ax was shit, wasn't he? Am I alone on this? He was fucking crap. He looked like my dad in some fruity S&M get-up and his whole offence seems to consist of those forearms to the back where he'd beat the other guy to his knees then scream. He did this exact same thing, and pretty much nothing else, every single time he was in the ring in this match and it stuck out amongst everyone else being more exciting to watch. I'm probably being unfair but, in this match at least, he was the shits. And looking back, I don't remember him doing much else besides the forearms and screaming bit. He also did the least impressive bit of Demolition's great finish, his paint looked shitter than Smash's and he had the crappest Hasbro of the three. Looking back, the Smash/Crush version of Demolition pisses all over the Ax/Smash version for me.

 

Weird ending as well with Powers of Pain and Demolition doing the old double-turn with Fuji switching sides. The crowd didn't seem to know what the fuck was going on.

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No one thinks Demolition with Crush and Smash was better, and if they do they are wrong.

 

Ax did what he did, big bruiser who did his job. He also sounded like an absolute beast. Check out his older stuff as the Masked Superstar. Good worker.

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The Ax and Smash version was obviously more successful but I don't remember ever thinking Ax was much good, I thought Crush looked much more the big bruiser than Ax too. I loved Smash. I admit I'm probably being a harsh twat and I haven't seen any of Bill Eadie's non-Demolition stuff. Just always saw him as the shitter half of the team.

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The main failing with Smash & Crush - other than the fact that they trundled along as an afterthought as the WWF's Road Warrior rip-offs but the WWF now having the actual Road Warriors - was the music. Part of Demolition's aura (and what a fucking aura they had) was the pair of them marching out to Rick Derringer's majestic cut which of course proclaimed "Here comes the Ax, here comes the Smasher" and in combination with their menacing appearance just completely sold you on the idea that someone was about to get their fucking head kicked in. As soon as Smash and Big Bri started limping out to that plodding Dungeon of Doom-worthy number, you knew they were finished. If there was any chance of that pair being positioned in the position of top heel team once LOD got finished lamping them on the house show circuit, they'd have given them the version of the track without the vocals that Ax and Smash started using before the lyrics were added, assuming they still had the relevant C90 knocking around between the Hulk Hogan Bop Buddies and inflatable Damians that (I imagine) were cluttering up Vince's office at the time.

 

Another thing that diluted them was taking Mr Fuji back. Kicking on without Fuji (and getting revenge on him) was key to Ax & Smash transitioning into genuinely popular babyfaces and I think it made them look weak when the three-man version took him back. This wasn't the same, in my eyes, as a Jimmy Hart with the Rougeaus or Bobby The Brain with Arn & Tully, getting extra heat for their antagonists. Demolition didn't need a manager to help them, they'd proven they could just beat the shit out of people. Demolition were tough scary heels, taking the old gimp with the cane back made them look soft, or at best stupid for trusting a bloke that had betrayed them once already. They'd retained the belts for ages and won them a further two more times without Fuji so there was no logic in them thinking they needed him, especially when at the time they did, Ax was still knocking about as an extra hand. And he'd done a brilliant job getting the Powers of Pain or the Orient Express the belts, hadn't he?? Demolition would never have been losing matches to the Bushwhackers before they took him back, so in kayfabe terms he was fucking poison to them.

 

As an aside.... Fuji was a dumb fuck, wasn't he?? He was managing the tag team champions, and thought it was a great idea to desert them and try and get two other lads to beat them. Which he failed to do, spectacularly. If they'd done the double turn after Demolition had lost the belts, or even during a tag title match where he was able to cost his current charges the titles against the guys he was moving onto, it might have made sense and the ends would have justified the means. But as it is, his record reads - dumped Demolition half way into an epic first title reign, managed nobody else to the titles, went back to Demolition shortly after they've lost their third championship, and transformed them into bottom feeders.

 

So, to tie in Fuji/Powers of Pain, the Survivors conversation going on in this thread and on the SCG podcasts, and that aura I mentioned earlier.... go watch Ax & Smash make their entrance at Survivors 89 and you'll see what I mean. Regardless of what they actually did bell-to-bell (and lots of it was forearms and snarling) - they were fucking hard as nails. You hear the music, you see them... they're a force.

 

Smash & Crush can eat a bag of dicks in comparison.

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I loved Demolition great look, promo's and music, they're my favorite thing to watch from the 80's, the forearms to the back was great for them it beat down smaller faces like Harts or Strike Force and chopped down big guys like Powers, they had a basic style but nearly everyone in the 80's did, such a piss poor ending to a great team a loser leaves town vs LOD at Mania 7 would've been a better send off, Slam 90 vs Harts was the highlight of the 3 man Demolition.

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I stand by my assessment that Ax looked like crap. He had my dad's hair and belly. Maybe that's clouding everything. I have no issue with wrestlers having a basic style either. Loads of my favourite wrestlers have a non-flashy, punch/kick-heavy style. But from memory Ax was just all forearms to the back, all the time.

 

I was definitely overly harsh earlier though. And flat out talking bollocks on the finisher bit when I said "he did the least impressive bit of Demolition's great finish". I just watched some highlights of Demolition on YouTube and it was old Ax with my old man's hair doing the elbow off the second rope while Smash just provided the knee shaped bench to his opponent's back. I always remembered it the other way. My bad.

 

I think I'm basing my opinion of the Smash/Crush version purely on their tremendous match with the Hart Foundation at SummerSlam '90, which isn't exactly a fair reflection I suppose.

 

The Demolition theme was immense though. Truth be told it was probably the best thing about their whole gimmick by quite a stretch.

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I can definitely see where wand's coming from regarding Ax, though admittedly I've never met his dad. Watching back now without having seen much of Demolition when they were actually around, he doesn't look the most intimidating bloke, even with all the accoutrements. And there are a lot of forearms to the back.

 

 

I apologise for not having done anything with this the past couple of days, been busy. But I'm back, and I'm going full on Divas Revolution by picking the women's match for 1995: it's Team Faye vs. Team Blayze!

 

 

The match:

 

For the first time in this project, JR is on commentary. 

 

Bertha Faye's skipping around the ring with her team, who get no introduction. Aja Kong is on this team, though, I know this.

 

Alundra Blayze, however, gets some pyro and each of her team-mates gets an intro too. 

 

The teams are made up of Japanese wrestlers. Kong gets the most talking up, but Watanabe gets a mention as well.

 

OOH! Lioness Asuka, who is also in this match, just hit a fucking BRUTAL heel kick, and then a Giant Swing, but the lady in red (Asari?) tags in Alundra Blayze, who tags Asari back in and she hits a beautiful move from the top rope which looks like a move Amazing Red did - a sky twister press, JR calls it. Blayze is back in, and Asuka is gone!

 

Watanabe in now, Blayze hits a top rope dive to the floor. A lady in white whose name I didn't catch is now in, and hits rolling double arm suplexes, fucking hell, there's moves going on all over the place here, this pace is fast and furious and it's great!

 

I apologise if I'm getting any of these names wrong. I'm sure I'll be corrected, but I haven't seen any of the Japanese ladies except Aja Kong before.

 

Kong hits a brutal back suplex on the lady in white and eliminates her, then clotheslines Asari into the air. Aja ("as in King Kong, right?" - Vince) splashes her from the second rope and I think she eliminates her. Blayze in briefly, then Kinoko Inoue, wearing some spectacularly colourful threads. Kong sits on her chest and eliminates her as well, it's three on one, and Alundra is the one. The three advance, and Blayze tries to take them all on. There's some crisp suplexes from Blayze for a two count, then a piledriver and bye bye Watanabe.

 

It's taken me until now to notice that MULLET CHIODA is the referee. That's the sign of a good match, when that mullet's been in the ring the whole time and it's taken this long to spot it.

 

Bertha just accidentally ran into Kong, Blayze takes advantage with a suplex and Bertha's gone! I'd expected those two to be the final two, but JR tells me that Kong and Alundra have a rivalry going back years in Japan. Superplex by Aja, Alundra kicks out. Kong goes for a strike… this is apparently the first ladies' Survivor Series match since '87 - and Blayze is going high-flying now, with a hurricanrana and then a standing moonsault unable to finish the job.

 

Kong is dictating the pace as the final stretch goes on, slowing things down and… WHOA! Hitting that strike, which was fucking STIFF, for a three count, she just pinned the Women's Champion to become the sole survivor!

 

For the sake of clarity, the ladies whose names I wasn't sure of were Tomoko Watanabe, Kyoko Inoue (nearly got that right), Sakie Hasagawa and Chaparita Asari.

 

 

My thoughts:

 

That was great! Fast and furious action that wouldn't have looked out of place in the NXT women's division today. Alundra was excellent, Kong looked a legit threat to her, Asari had some lovely high-flying moves, Watanabe looked good, and while none of the others really got enough time to get a full measure of, this was a women's match well worth watching.

 

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Any assessment of Ax vs Crush needs to consider that, in 1990, Crush was brought in because they thought Ax was getting a bit long in the tooth.

 

A quarter of a century later, Ax still gets in the ring and clubs people's backs every now and again, and Crush is long dead.

 

I know who my winner is.

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A fair point, Statto! Though I don't like to think of Pension Age Ax still rocking the Demolition costume...

 

 

 

 

 

Because I got behind, I'll watch a second match tonight. I'm taking advice from page 1 and watching Shawn Michaels vs. Psycho Sid.

 

 

The match:

 

Watching the opening of the show, Gravelly Voiceover Man does the intro here. I wonder how old he is now?

 

We're in Madison Square Garden for this show and they have the proper MSG entrance. Huzzah for that. Love that entrance.

 

Sid comes out first, fist bumping his way to the ring. He looks like he could tear your face off. I'd be worried if I was Shawn. Sid gets light-up letters spelling his name. They don't look very safe but bring those back, I say.

 

On a split-screen, we see Shawn and Jose Lothario heading towards the ring. This is for Michaels' WWE Championship. The crowd screams louder than Sherri for Shawn, and out he comes. He doesn't look worried by Sid, but he's bit miffed about the lady in the crowd who grabs onto him and won't let go. Plant? Didn't look like it. Some parent has dressed up a small child in an HBK outfit, which just … doesn't seem appropriate. Pyro pyro pyro pyro cool guitar solo bit of the music, you know what, this song is definite top 5 best entrance themes ever. For a supposed psycho, Sid's being very patient in letting Shawn do his full entrance before presumably beating the shit out of him.

 

Shawn's hair is long and luxuriant. Make the most of it, Shawn.

 

(Note: just googled 'Shawn Michaels hairline' expecting to find an image of him from recent years where it's all receding and nowhere near as splendid as it is in 1996. Instead I found this terrifying image of him heading out to kill things.

 

michaels.jpg

 

Hmm.)

 

While I was doing that, the match started, and as expected, it's Sid repeatedly clobbering Michaels, Michaels bumping for each strike and getting back up for more. No wonder his back was fucked by 1998 with all those bumps. He manages to slide under Sid's massive legs and fight back with a cross body, and a headlock takedown immediately stops Sid in his tracks. Vince and JR are talking up Shawn's abilities massively here, and you can see why, because his strategy and his character are all over every little thing he does in the ring.

 

Shawn got cocky and slapped Sid a few times, Sid ACTUALLY DID A KIP UP, and now they're just smashing each other as much as they can, until Sid gets Shawn above his head and…. no, he got out of it, but NO, Sid goes for the Powerbomb, and Shawn gets out of it again… and rolls out of the ring. Phew! Time for a breather. GREAT opening few minutes.

 

The breather doesn't last long because Sid comes after Shawn, chasing him around and back into the ring, but Shawn is able to take Sid down with a chop block and begins to work on his left leg, which I believe is what did most of the damage that resulted in it breaking several years later in WCW.

 

While Shawn locks in the Figure Four - surprisingly dominant in the early going - I'm just going to check it was the left leg Sid broke.

 

Yes, it was. I'm not watching the clip.

 

Sid's 'I'm in a painful submission hold' face is not that different from his 'I'm happy and about to beat someone up' face.

 

Michaels continues to work on the leg, but he's really taking his time between shots, which I don't know is a good move. Nope, it wasn't, Sid just kicked him into the ring post. Told you, Shawn. Sid continues to kick Shawn a lot and then in a beautiful piece of character work, SHOVES the camera out of his face. Lovely stuff.

 

It's all Sid now, until Michaels is able to move out of the way and take down the leg again with a basement dropkick. Shawn Michaels is just so fucking good. It's almost enough to make me forgive him this atrocity:

 

michaels.jpg

 

PHWOAH! NASTY clothesline by Sid knocking Michaels to the outside, and Sid's taken Michaels to the entrance way, picking him up and dropping him onto the barricade, in almost exactly the same place where HBK and Razor Ramon fought over a ladder in 1994. Sid's now totally in control, but JR points that he's wasting time. He seems genuinely annoyed at Sid doing this, but Vince reckons Sid's just pacing himself. 

 

After a back drop, Sid pays tribute to Demolition Ax by clubbing Michaels on the back several times, and then whips him into the turnbuckle to do the flippy-over-the-ropes thing. Shawn finds some life and jumps off the top rope, but Sid catches him for a backbreaker and a two count.

 

The announcers speculate that Shawn is essentially using the Homer Simpson boxing approach of just not going down as Sid repeatedly punches him, in the hope that Sid will tire himself out. They don't reference Homer Simpson (and I'm not sure if that episode had even aired yet) but I know they were thinking it.

 

homer-simpson+vs+tatum.jpg

Artist's representation of this part of Psycho Sid vs. Shawn Michaels

 

After a brief spell in a submission hold, we get a series of great counters to each others' moves, but then, THEN, Sid hits an absolutely cracking chokeslam...

 

Survivor Series chokeslam count: 2

 

… USING ONLY ONE ARM, to a HUGE reaction, Michaels is DOWN, Sid is nodding, but again he's wasting time. The crowd is LOUD. Sid doesn't try to cover, but instead gets Shawn up to hit the powerbomb, but Shawn counters into a small package! Sid kicks out, and hits a powerslam. This time he goes straight into a cover, and Shawn kicks out! Michaels fights back with his flying forearm... he kips up… and Sid knocks him back down again. 

 

This is the best Sid match I think I've seen.

 

Hang on! Sid just grabbed the camera! What's he playing at?! Earl Hebner is being an ignorant twat and deliberately and obviously trying not to notice the camera directly behind him, Sid gets annoyed at Hebner getting in the way and lamps Jose Lothario with the camera. He goes down. Shawn hits Sweet Chin Music, but sees what's happened and rushes out of the ring to tend to Jose. He's worried, and utterly distracted. Advantage, Sid.

 

Michaels tries for a diving cross body on Sid, but OF COURSE he hits Hebner, and Hebner goes down. Shawn doesn't give a shit about Earl Hebner, sensing the trouble that ref will cause for him a year later, and goes back out to check on Jose. Sid then lamps SHAWN with the camera. BOO SID BOOOOOOO. He gets him back in the ring, POWERBOMB… SLOOOOOW COUNT…. 1 … 2 … 3! FUCKING HELL HE DID IT! SID JUST WON THE TITLE! 

 

Right, okay, I knew Sid was the Champion at this time, but that was still a shock. Despite knowing otherwise, I genuinely thought Shawn was going to win it, and was genuinely rooting for him. But Sid was all powerful there, and yeah, new champion...

 

 

My thoughts:

 

Excellent match. Shawn at the top of his 1990s game, a career-best performance from Sid, a great story told both in-ring and in the wider match - athletic, dramatic, it had everything you'd want from a big match. HBK looked every inch the fighting champion, and Sid looked like a proper psycho, albeit not quite as psycho as Beardy Michaels With A Massive Gun.

 

michaels.jpg

 

Anyway, I'm very happy to have chosen this as the first of my three Shawn Michaels picks. An underrated 90s gem.

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I've never seen the whole of Survivor Series '95. My uncle taped it for me at the time but only caught the Wildcard match and Diesel vs Bret, so I've never seen that women's match. I remember thinking it looked pretty great on the highlight package at the end of the show though. I'll have to track it down, I reckon.

 

Shawn vs Sid from 1996 is brilliant. I was gutted at the time because I wanted to see Shawn vs Undertaker (which had never happened at that point) for the title, and I thought it might happen at WrestleMania 13. It was never on the cards for Mania but I wasn't to know. Looking back at it now though, Sid winning was a great moment. Especially at MSG with that rabid crowd. Incredible match in its own right as well.

 

Sid clearly and blatantly screaming 'FUCK YOU', twice, at Shawn after twatting him in the back with the camera was quite the shock as well. This was the year of The Goon, TL Hopper, Freddie Joe Floyd and Salvatore Sincere. And here's this big lunatic trying to kill pensioners and shouting 'fuck you'. Really made Sid stand out as being a legit nutcase even more to me.

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Definitely check it out. It's brief but good stuff.

 

 

I'll be doing two matches again tonight, because I'm well behind somehow despite giving myself a week's head start. First off, 1997.

 

For 1997, I'm going with Kane vs. Mankind

 

There are two reasons for this:

 

1) It's the '25 years of the Undertaker' thing again. Kane's such a big part of the Undertaker mythology, I'd be remiss not to watch his first PPV match.

 

2) I remember Mick Foley writing about this match in his first book, talking about how he wanted to make Kane appear as much of a monster as possible. I remember reading about this match, but I don't recall ever having watched it. So now I will.

 

 

The match:

 

It's Attitude time! More or less.

 

Mankind out first. This is not goofy Mankind, this is definitely pre-1998 mental deranged Mankind. The picture quality looks really to any previous year here, is that just me?

 

BIG pop even before Kane's music hits. They know what's coming. OOOOOOOF! Those flames were massive. Kane's got his classic music, which is by far the best he's ever had. He looks FUCKING TERRIFYING, and the kids of today will never know just how monstrous Kane was. This, it turns out, is actually his in-ring debut. He's got Paul Bearer with him too, yay!

 

Mankind goes straight after Kane, but almost immediately gets picked up by the throat and chucked into the ring steps, then thrown into them again head first. The lighting is still all red, but Kane raises his arms… and OOOOOOOOOF! More MASSIVE flames, and… the lights don't go on, it all stays red, fair enough. The Sin Cara effect. JR explains the red lighting as "one of Kane's unexplained powers". Right then, JR.

 

Cactus Clothesline knocks them both out of the ring, but Kane lands on his feet and clotheslines Mankind down. He picks up the steps and chucks them at Mankind's face. Ouch.

 

You know, I hope every throw every single smoke and mirror possible into whatever Kane and Taker are doing at Survivor Series this year. It'd only be appropriate.

 

Lovely cackling from Paul Bearer at ringside as Kane just dismantles Mankind. Mankind tries to fire himself up by pulling out his own hair - 'cause he's weird - but it doesn't help. There's a lot of choking in the corner, livened up by a popcorn seller walking across the hard cam view, and then a big side slam. Kane deserves a lot of credit for making this character as frightening as he is, the body language is all spot on.

 

Mankind thrown into the steps again, but he counters another attempt and flapjacks Kane onto the steps! Nice one Mankind! He grabs a chair, and there's an unprotected head shot. We're in Attitude territory now. Hmm.

 

Mankind hits a piledriver, and this is turning into less of a squash that I thought. Mankind signals for the Mandible Claw, and I was going to say that I don't know how the hell he's going to do that through Kane's mask, but he was intending it for Bearer all along so that's fine. Kane's up now and

 

WHAT

 

THE 

 

HOLY 

 

FUCK

 

WHAT

 

WHAT

 

WHAT

 

HE JUST CHOKESLAMMED MANKIND FROM THE APRON THROUGH THE ANNOUNCE TABLE FUCK

 

FUCK

 

FUCK

 

THAT WAS AMAZING.

 

Survivor Series chokeslam count: 3

 

Spanish announcer Tito Santana was caught in the crossfire of that. What a move! Let's see that on Luke Harper in a couple of weeks, please.

 

Mankind tries to crawl away, Kane goes after him, Mankind's alive enough to DDT Kane on the floor and they're both down.

 

Mankind up first, and it's the Cactus Jack elbow off the apron onto the concrete, because Mick Foley just doesn't care about his body. Remember when we all used to think that was a cool thing?

 

As if to prove the point, he just got flip-thrown from the top rope to the floor outside the ring. Unnecessary, Mick, the chokeslam was enough. I used to love watching his matches and all the crazy stuff he did, now it just kind of makes me wince in an uncomfortable sort of way. We're all complicit.

 

Tombstone from Kane… inside the ring this time… and a three count. "Kane is indestructible, Kane is the winner", says JR.

 

Bearer leads Kane out, and we get several replays of the chokeslam, which is just an incredible spot. Lawler calls it unbelievable, I'd agree, great move. They replay the top rope throw too, which looks less impressive but probably hurt more.

 

Can't bloody find a gif of the chokeslam, but check it out on the Network, it's at about 1:21:20 on the Survivor Series 1997 show.

 

Before I switch the show off, there's an interview with Vince McMahon, Michael Cole asks him who's going to win the main event and he says "I don't know" with a cheeky grin on his face, because he's ABOUT TO SCREW BRET AND HE KNOWS IT.

 

 

My thoughts:

 

Job done, Mick Foley, you made Kane look extremely monstrous. Kane himself helped with that, too, though. There's some unnecessary bumping from Mankind here, which was stupid of him because all he needed was that chokeslam spot, which I just love. Decent match, and less one-sided than I was expecting, actually.

 

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