Micitype Pretty Good

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

SlyGuy21 1st Match: Rikishi vs HHH. So this is Rikishi under his "Makin' a Difference" gimmick, both guys were still pretty green here. A decent match to start, nothing special, but both guys put on some good work. Rating: 3/52nd Match: The Smoking Gunns vs Razor Ramon and 1-2-3 Kid, WWF World Tag Team Championships. The match is good, and shows hints of Waltman turning heel, but the ending is predictable and anticlimactic. Both teams put in some great work here, the ending just brings it down for me. The bad news is the show goes downhill fast from here. Rating: 3.5/53rd Match: Goldust vs Marty Jannetty. I love Goldust, but this is a terrible debut. I'm sure Goldust was never meant to be an intimidating character, but Marty gets way too much offense here, and the rest of the match is just stalling. This match kills the crowd, but as we're about to find out, a crowd can get worse than dead. Rating: 1.5/54th Match: Yokozuna vs King Mabel. A 5 minute trash fire that serves no purpose other than to waste your time. I normally don't rate matches like this, but this match is an insult to everyone who bought this show. How can a 5 minute match be that bad? It has Mabel and Yokozuna facing each other, enough said. Rating: 0.5/55th Match: Dean Douglas vs Razor Ramon, WWF Intercontinental Championship. I normally don't involve myself with backstage politics, mostly because I see it as just hearsay, but something was up here. Michaels got into a bar fight, and for some reason had to give up the belt. I'm guessing suspension or he just didn't want to lose to a guy with a teacher gimmick. I don't blame him on the latter, but the weird thing is that Douglas lost to Ramon immediately after getting the belt. Not only that, but the match was slow as hell, and Douglas got pinned off a back suplex, with a terrible cover, with his foot under the rope. Now I won't hold the backstage politics against the match, the match is bad enough by itself. Slow, plodding, the ending sucks, and it feels phoned-in. Rating: 1/56th Match: Diesel vs The British Bulldog, WWF Championship. Bret Hart's on commentary, which is interesting, but Davey Boy does nothing but work Nash's leg for 3/4 of the match. Some moments are good, but other than that it's just rest holds, and the match ends in a DQ, the laziest DQ I've seen in awhile. Apparently, Vince berated Nash after the match in front of the people at ringside, talk about breaking kayfabe. Not a good end to a show, to say the least. Rating: 1.5/5Final Rating: 4 out of 10. The show starts off OK, then it just devolves into terrible match after terrible match. The buy rate for this was hilariously low as well, which isn't surprising given the matches that were on display here.

callanvass Live from Winnipeg, ManitobaAttendance: 10,339Your hosts are Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler & Jim RossGorilla Monsoon announces that Shawn Michaels can't compete in his match with Dean Douglas tonight. As a result, Dean Douglas is the new Intercontinental Champion. Shawn must also forfeit the Intercontinental Title to Dean Douglas. Dean's not out of the woods totally, though. He has to defend the title against Razor Ramon. Thoughts: There were rumors that Shawn didn't want to job to Dean Douglas and they did this because of that. He really did get attacked at a Syracuse night club, though. Fatu Vs Hunter Hearst HelmlseyHunter wins with the Pedigree. Far from great, but this was actually better than I expected. Both of them worked hard and even managed to throw in some creativity here and there. The result was never in doubt, but I appreciate the effort from both guys. One thing bothered me, though. It annoyed me when Fatu didn't sell the DDT. He no-sells it and gets up right away. That move was made famous by Jake "The Snake" Roberts. Disrespectful, in my opinion.**After the match, Hunter does an interview with Jerry Lawler, but Henry Godwin sneaks up from behind and almost slops them both with a slop bucket.Tag Team ChampionshipThe Smoking Gunns (C) Vs Razor Ramon & The 123 KidAll four are babyfaces here, but The Kid was showing heel tendencies. Razor has the match won when he hits Billy Gunn with The Razor's Edge, but The Kid wants the tag to pin Billy instead. They take too much time and Billy ends up pinning The kid with a roll-up. Not a bad match. It had enough excitement to keep you engaged throughout, even if the result was predictable because of The Kid's heel tendencies. **1/2After the match, The Kid attacks The Smoking Gunns and steals the titles until Razor calms him down and makes The Kid give the titles back.Marty Janetty Vs GoldustThis is the wrestling debut of Goldust. He wins with the Curtain Call. This was a pretty inauspicious debut for Goldust. Not only was this match somewhat dull, but rather sloppy at times. Marty was a good choice for Goldust to go over in his debut, but Goldust's methodical style didn't mesh well with Marty. *1/2King Mabel (W/Sir Mo) Vs Yokozuna (W/Jim Cornette & Mr. Fuji)I wouldn't wish this match on my worst enemy. Both are heels, but Yokozuna was on the verge of a face turn. The combined weight between the two of them is over 1200 pounds! Yokozuna is getting the face reaction from the crowd. The result is a double countout when both men battle outside the ring. This was absolutely laughable to watch. Admittedly, it's a hilarious disaster with some unintentionally funny moments. Thankfully, it was short. DUD (zero stars)Shawn Michaels hands over the Intercontinental Title to Dean Douglas, who is now the new champion. This is one of those times where Shawn "lost his smile"Intercontinental ChampionshipDean Douglas (C) vs Razor RamonIn a very controversial finish, Razor wins the Intercontinental Title with a side suplex, but the referee doesn't see Dean's leg under the ropes. They unintentionally created sympathy for the heel. Thanks to politics from The Kliq, this really devalued the Intercontinental Title. I actually dislike Shane Douglas, but it's hard not to feel bad for the guy. Even the crowd was deflated, and this was pro Razor crowd! The match was below average and a bit too slow for my liking. It picked up a bit after a while, but not enough to get me fully invested. *3/4WWF ChampionshipDiesel (C) Vs The British Bulldog (W/Jim Cornette)Bret Hart comes out for commentary. Bret Hart chases Jerry Lawler away from the announcer's table (Yay!) Bret will face the winner of this match at Survivor Series. Davey Boy wins by DQ after interference from Bret. Davey Boy provoked Bret by slapping him at the announcer's table and Bret lost his cool. This was a pretty poor main event. Normally, I would praise working on the leg as good psychology, but there was WAY too much of it. Davey Boy worked on Diesel's leg for almost half the match! The lack of action really hurt this one as well. If you look closely, hints of a Diesel heel turn were there. Diesel isn't too pleased about Bret costing Diesel the match and the two get into a fist fight over it. Officials and other babyface wrestlers come in to try to break it up, but they keep on brawling as they go off the air.*1/4Final Thoughts.This is a pretty bad PPV for the most part. The best match on the card is only **1/2 stars. The main event is really boring and almost stunk up the joint with how lazy it was. Vince didn't have much to work with in 1995, but that doesn't excuse him for all the crap we had to endure. Believe it or not, things were looking up for the WWF. At Survivor Series, Bret defeated Diesel for the WWF Title and ended the failed Diesel run. The product was about to get edgier as well. Oh, yeah! Some guy named Stone Cold Steve Austin would debut a couple of months later in January of 96. 3.8/10

amanwhorocks 1. Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Fatu - OK match. HHH won by Pedigree. 6.5/10 2. WWF World Heavyweight Tag Team Title Match: Champs-The Smoking Gunns Vs. Razor Ramon/1-2-3- Kid . Nice and funny ending, when Razor let the Kid do pin after Crucifix Powerbomb, and Billy Gunn Oldschooled Kid. 6.5/10 3. Marty Jannetty Vs. Goldust - First Goldust's PPV appearance. Nothing special in this match. 5.5/10 4. Yokozuna Vs. King Mabel - One of the worst match I've ever seen ended by Count out like bonus 2/10 5. Dean Douglas took the belt from Shawn Michaels and became new IC Champion. Vs. Razor Ramon - Razor 2x per night. And he quickly won the belt. 5.5/10 6. WWF World heavyweight Championship: Champ-Diesel Vs. The British BullDog - Poor match because of both wrestlers. 4.5/10

Spawn Devil 1. Hunter Hearst Helmsley earned a pinfall victory over Fatu.2. The Smoking Gunns (Bart/Billy Gunn) retained the World Tag Team Championship, defeating The 1-2-3 Kid & Razor Ramon. Billy pinned the Kid for the win.3. Goldust defeated Marty Jannetty via pinfall.4. Yokozuna and Mabel's match resulted in a double-countout.5. Shawn Michaels forfeited his Intercontinental Championship, as WWF President Gorilla Monsoon refused to allow him to compete after a recent concussion. The title was handed over to his arranged opponent, Dean Douglas. Dean Douglas would then go on to lose the title that same night to Razor Ramon. Ramon pinned Douglas to capture the Intercontinental Title, regardless of the fact that the champ's feet were in the ropes; the referee didn't restart the match, however.6. "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith defeated Diesel via disqualification. Bret Hart, provoked by a cheapshot from Diesel outside the ring, interfered in the match, allowing Diesel to retain his World Championship.Overall Mark: C+