PG-13 v. Mikey Whipwreck/Spike Dudley

 

This is the first show I've seen so far that I attended in person. Pre-match J.C. Ice mic work is somewhat difficult to hear at times, but what is audible is typically awesome. Opening Spike/Wolfie segment was really entertaining as they kept having these weird spots that sort of looked like something was being miscomunicated, but kept resulting in shit that made sense or was really cool like Wolfie's wipeout bumps to the floor off of a rope running exchange or Wolfie taking an attempted reverse rollup like a fucking spike piledriver. This all builds to a cool dive spot where PG-13 catch Spike only for Mikey to hit a leaping hilo onto everyone for the big bump. Ice and Mikey exchange starts off great with Ice being incapable of slamming Mikey so Mikey slams him. Ice can't knock Mikey down so Mikey knocks him down. Ice resorts to ridiculous karate posturing, Mikey bows, Ice bows, Mikey punches him in the face. Just lots of fun shit early. Wolfie comes in and throws some punches before Mikey takes advantage again and they do the spot with Ice pouting on the floor and Wolfie consoling him with a hug. Mikey eventually loses control on a cool misdirection clothesline, but the really great stuff starts when Spike comes in. PG-13 takeover on Spike with a clothesline and from there it is just a ton of awesome, with Spike taking rana's into the turnbuckle, getting punched to shit, selling his ass off, et. Mikey is great on the apron desperate to get in. Wolfie ends up taking the great flip bump off the top to lead to the hot tag and Mikey is a great house of fire. Finish is Wolfie getting tossed crotch first off the top by Mikey onto the ropes and Mikey hitting a top rope dropkick onto Ice into a Spike schoolboy. I thought this was a great match when I saw it at the time and seeing it now nothing changes my mind. Watching Mikey work as the strong man/immovable object is really pretty insane but he was great at it. PG-13 were just incredible at incorporating all of the tricks of the trade and Spike sold better than damn near anyone in wrestling at that point. Awesome stuff.

 

FBI v. Danny Doring/Roadkill

 

Guido selling frustration early in exchanges with extremely young Doring and Roadkill was pretty cool and a smart way to put a couple of rookies over. Smothers come in and immediately starts with the grandstanding and shit talking - again a smart tactic against guys this green. Smothers is really great here working basic shit and building to a couple of big offensive spots from Roadkill. Babyfaces get the best of the heels on the floor and we get the "we're bailing!" heel spot. Roadkill ends up eating a misdirection kick from Guido and then takes a really nasty baseball slide from Tracy. God damn the FBI are great during the control segment working ref distraction, taking cheapshots at Doring, Guido bragging after slamming Roadkill, simple but effective double teams, et. Crowd starts chanting boring and Smothers and Guido actually ENCOURAGE this which is pretty brilliant because it has the effect of flipping the script and resulting in real heat. There is a slight flub on the missed dropkick that leads to the hot tag, but then Smothers hits an insane Dustin Rhodes esque below the bottom rope bump off of a knee from Doring. Finish comes out of nowhere off of a double russian legsweep, but I thought this was really brilliantly worked by the FBI.

 

Chris Chetti v. Shane Douglas

 

This was another very well put together match thanks to Shane. Chetti does not look awful here, but his offense is still noticeably weak at times and he still looks awkward in the ring. But Shane works the match around Chetti's amateur background frustrating him. It really is smart because it puts Chetti over as a real threat and allows Shane to get good heat. There is a great nearfall spot off of a schoolboy here that I even I bought and the subsequent Douglas clothesline was just the sort of pissed off response you would expect from a vet on the ropes at the hands of a rookie. When Shane takes over it is because of Francine distraction and Chetti takes a crazy bump face first into the guardrail off of a baseball slide. Rude coems out and abducts Francine leading to another good Chetti schoolboy nearfall. Douglas gets up and spikes him with two piledrivers. I really think the match should have ended there but they seem intent on "making" Chetti with this match so douglas continues to work him over with some pretty solid stuff. I was not buying the Chetti comeback though everyone he hit looked pretty good. Flash belly-to-belly for the finish. Overall there was FAR more good than bad in this and it was pretty much a perfect way to try and establish a newcomer. I do think it was needlessly long though and ultimately that leaves this just short of a nomination.

 

Bobby Duncam Jr. v. Bam Bam Bigelow

 

This would have been really good if Bobby Duncam wasn't a 6'5 Texan. Seriously this match was structured like Bigelow v. Tim Horner. This should have been two big bruisers beating each other to shit and instead it was Duncam trying to impersonate Spike Dudley. Annoying.

 

Chris Candido v. Balls Mahoney

 

Early Candido bumps big and bitches after every Balls offensive spot. Balls ends up taking the plunge off of his missed spinkick bump over the ropes and then Candido wipes him out with a plancha. At times I think Candido matches have a tendency to have weak momentum swings but this one works well and I enjoyed Candido wrecking Balls during the early floor exchange. The Balls table bump is really well built to and I loved Candido's taunting slaps when they got back to the ring. There are really some very good teased comeback spots from Balls in this and the powerbomb spot with Candido spilling to the floor after hitting it really is perfectly done as is the Balls nearfall off of the ensuing counter of splash into a powerslam. I even liked the Balls hulk up spot after the top rope rana and the ref bump off of the frustrated chair shot. The ending of this was disappointing as Balls blocks a power shot only to be taken down via blindside chairshot from Douglas. Still I think this is good enough to at least consider for the set.

 

Bubba Dudley/D-Von Dudley v. New Jack/Axl Rotten

 

Jesus this seemed to go on forever. Jack and D-Von did some okay shit and Jack bled to shit but this was a real step down for the show.

 

John Kronus v. Taz

 

Pre-match these guys pull up chairs to watch two idiots talk shit at each other. Later Taz grabs a mic and calls these guys out for distracting attention from the match. Kronus lets Taz beat the shit out of him and takes some really nasty bumps for him in this. Kronus offense looked phony as shit but I did like the finish with Taz blocking the backflip elbow with the Tazmission.

 

Louie Spicolli v. Tommy Dreamer (I Quit)

 

Spicolli brings the fight to Dreamer early with a plancha and attack on the floor. Spicolli takes a huge bump onto the guardrail and Dreamer starts pelting him with random weapon shots. Spicolli comes back and kisses Beulah and then brags about it over the house mic. These guys really throw some bombs in this and the impact on everything looks good. Beulah becomes the "weak link" for Dreamer as Spicolli keeps trying to use her as a way to get Tommy to quit and Tommy keeps making the save for here at the last possible second. I really did think Spicolli was great cutting off a couple of key Dreamer runs and these guys tried pretty hard, but I thought the attempt to replay the Magnum-Tully finish with the spike to the eye was ill advised as it came of sort of phony. Weak finish to a pretty good match.

 

Rob Van Dam v. Sandman

 

Gordon and Fonzy are cuffed together ringside. Man Sandman bumps and sells his ass off for RVD in the early going and manages to take all of his questionable offense in a fashion that makes it look really impressive. Sandman has a ton of min-comebacks in this and he really does a great job with them and reacting to the cutoffs from Van Dam. I know they were staple spots for him, but I got a real kick out of him using tope rope frankenstiner and slingshot splash as offensive spots v. RVD. I was just getting to the point where I thought this might be nomination worthy when Spicolli came out and unlocked Fonzy from Gordon and helped RVD beat the Sandman down. Of course this prompts Dreamer to cun out, but it pretty much ruined the match, which up until then had been really good.

This show really was a tough one to be fair about. I was there live so naturally there is that, but also matches like the FBI match, Balls/Candido, Chetti/Shane and Spicolli/Dreamer are all bouts that I could see eliciting wildly different opinions from people. I'm really interested to see other thoughts on this show, because I could see someone thinking all of those matches deserve nomination and I could see someone saying none of them do.