As I sit here with a lime & mint tea, ready for another Attitude Era show, we start of by hyping up the Austin/Kane match, which has a really creepy promo from Kane declaring if he doesn’t win he will set himself on fire, really unsettling as Kane was using electrolarynx to speak at the time, a good hype promo though! Let’s Go.
Taka Michinoku & The Headbangers (Mosh & Thrasher) vs Kai En Tai (Funaki, Dick Togo & Mens Teioh): [**]
*Ok opener, this was a few years before Funaki became SmackDown’s resident job guy. I really enjoy watching Taka work, he was different for this era and had charisma. In commentary Lawler made reference to one of my favourite bands Nine Inch Nails. I also dig the Iron Maiden shirt Togo sported. Some good work here, the team work spots looked good and it didn’t feel too much like filler.*
We get a promo with Sable, Mr McMahon (which Sable botched on the promo btw) and his “Goons” Pat Patterson and Gerard Brisco. Sable slaps the tar out of Patterson, which sends him fit to be tied. Vince cuts a surprisingly boring promo about the Austin vs Kane match and insults the City of Pittsburgh, really getting under their skin about the crowd being disappointments to their parents and vice versa, he really drags it out, this felt like filler.
KOTR Semi Final Round
Ken Shamrock vs Jeff Jarrett: [*3/4]
*Average match, no real surprise but it made sense Shamrock went over. I’m glad they didn’t just make it a complete squash match, letting both get some offensive in a short time was the right idea*
KOTR Semi Final Round
The Rock vs Dan Severn: DUD
*IC Championship not on the line here of course, two very different people here, Rock being the loud, charismatic heel and Severn is Mr No Thrills, a man of few words, yeah this was lacklustre,really sloppy with zero chemistry and Rock was clearly going over, really made Severn look like a chump too, they couldn’t even just have Rock win clean either, D-Lo’s involvement was really tacked on*
Too Much (Brian Christopher & Scott Taylor) vs Al Snow & Head (Guest Referee Jerry Lawler): [-*]
*Well this was a chore to sit through, I love Al Snow & his Head Gimmick but this was shit, I suppose if Braun Strowman can team with a child, Vince McMahon can team with God, Al Snow can team with a mannequin head. All the stop and starts, pissing around, dancing and even Snow walking out on the match here got incredibly tiresome, nonsensical finish with a head & shoulders bottle.. ok that gave me a giggle, awful match though*
X Pac vs Owen Hart: [***]
*Fun little match here, went at fast pace for a bit with some fine selling from X Pac,it did slow down but it was never boring. Owen bled a bit here, it always looks nasty when above the eye. A weird looking splash from Mark Henry on X PAC causes shit to hit the fan on the outside as Chyna and Vader get involved. Chyna eventually costing Owen the match.
Here comes Paul Bearer, I always love his promos, the accent, facial expressions and how he looks at the camera. Really sells the character. He goes off on Undertaker and how his “son” Kane idolised him and missed out on a proper childhood because of the scars but still wants to be like his “brother”, hamming it up and says he’ll be the father/manager of the WWF championship. I nearly screamed laughing when he said “You can laugh at the fat man all you like”.
Billy Gunn (c) & Road Dogg (c) vs The New Midnight Express (Bodacious Bart and Bombastic Bob): [**1/4]
*Bodacious & Bombastic, what ridiculous names, love seeing Corny though. Crowd seemed bored of this one, to be fair it really dragged at times. The New Midnight Express gimmick never did work out, especially for the time, wasn’t it a dog whistle from Russo to show how out of touch he thought Cornette was? Bart & Bob were clearly trying to make it work, using the team psychology and sometimes it worked. Poor Corny getting kicked in the nuts by Chyna, now we know why he and Stacey never had kids.*
KOTR Final
The Rock vs Ken Shamrock: [***]
*HHH is in the house, joining Lawler & JR for commentary. HHH does everything he can to wind up the Rock, causing a distraction to give Shamrock the offensive, good match overall, they told the story well with a slower pace with occasional bursts and Rock really biting back at the crowd, who were really turning on him tonight, good back and forth action with some close calls, in hindsight it was a weird choice to have Shamrock go over, especially via tap-out. The Rock was going to get the big push and this would’ve really elevated him.*
Hell in a Cell: The Undertaker vs Mankind: [*****]
*A match that’s been talked about and fondly remembered for many years, and rightly so, what a fuckin’ match. Some of the spots, especially when Mankind went through the cell are some of the most memorable wrestling moments of all time. And JR’s commentary, made it special “Good Gawd Almighty, Good Gawd Almighty, they’ve killed, as God is my witness, he is broken in half! Foley really has put his body through it for the business, some of the shots are almost biblical, something that would make a great screensaver, this match seems to be hit and miss with people, some calling it an all time classic, others calling it overrated, overbooked spotfest that’s aged horribly, one can’t deny, it’s certainly influential*
Stone Cold Steve Austin (C) vs Kane: [**1/2]
*How does one win a first blood match against a man wearing a mask? That’s the story here. That promo with Kane using the electrolarynx still creeps me out, I enjoyed this for the most part , Vince was always stacking bizzare odds against Austin which kept things interesting and seeing the cell come back down was cool as it’s basically a First Blood In The Cell Match throw in Foley & Undertaker getting involved to do battle again, gotta love some good old Attitude Era overbooking, Kane had a ridiculously short reign as they booked themselves into a corner with the Kane will set himself on fire angle if he doesn’t win, the Attitude Era was Crazy, but it wasn’t that crazy.
- Best Match: The Undertaker vs Mankind
- Worst Match: Too Much vs Al Snow & Head
*Overall Thoughts*
This was arguably a one-match show with the rest ranging to good to woefully bad. The HIAC match is one of the most famous matches of all time, most casuals would likely just tune in to see what the fuss was about.
