Hack Myers/Mikey Whipwreck v. Raven/Steve Richards

 

This was needlessly long, featured a ton of armwork that ultimately went nowhere and had a couple of badly telegraphed spots but I'm going to nominate it anyways. For starters this was a really fun match as you have Hack and Mikey working as equals v. Raven when they are in there with him. Hack actually kicks out of a superkick from Stevie and the DDT from Raven during his FIP which was shocking. This was also another match were Whipwreck looked great as he was really tremendous as a house of fire every time he was called upon. He hits a great plancha in this and some really nice dropkicks for example. I also loved the interplay with Raven and Richards as Richards kept insisting on second chances after failed exchanges and the spots where they collided were amusing and well timed. Best yet Mikey went over clean after several teased pinfalls from the heels over the course of several minutes after hitting a misdirection crossbody on Richards off of a blind tag. I've been looking for a way to get a Hack match on the set and this is easily the best candidate so far.

 

Marty Jannetty v. Shane Douglas

 

I thought the opening exchange in tihs was really clever as Shane extended his hand for what seemed like three minutes with Marty refusing to shake. He finally does and Douglas goes for the gut kick but Marty grabs his leg and ask around to see if he should kick Shane low. Instead Shane spins around and decks Marty in the face. Just a real cool variation of a couple of different standard opening match spots. This is really an up and down match as they go to some big runs of offense and then settle back down into a more methodical pace usually off of a teased spot by Douglas that Marty is able to block or counter. Match is just getting interesting when Shane jobs clean off of a pinfall on a figure-four? They stretched him out afterword because of an injury to his face? No clue what happened here.

 

Jim Neidhart v. Ron Simmons

 

Talk about your "I can't believe this happened" matches. This starts with the Anvil asking for a shoulder tackle off and teasing it and then bailing when Simmons goes into position. There is a shit load of stalling by Neidhart early so when Simmons finally hits a couple of tackles they get a huge pop. Simmons dominates until he misses a top rope shoulderblock. Neidhart control segment is slow but fundamentally sound. Finish is stupid as Simmons lifts his shoulders early on a back suplex to "steal" the pin. This was just bizarre to watch.

 

Pitbulls v. Public Enemy

 

These guys had brawled earlier in the show so I was annoyed by how slow this started. This was clipped which is fairly amazing to me, because it was a really tedious match even with the clipping and a Grunge blade and FIP run that presumably should have made things less....boring? It didn't. The match was a real task to get through.

 

Ian Rotten v. Axl Rotten (Barbed Wire Baseball Bat)

 

This was pretty much the match they ran at the Arena but with less crowd heat. I will say that I enjoy this match and think one of their garbage matches should be included, but this ain't the one.

 

For some reason the Dreamer v. Sandman match wasn't taped until the Funk run-in. I mean I enjoyed watching Funk, Sandman, Dreamer and Foley brawl all over, but it was strange that the match itself wasn't taped. The longer this goes on the more I think it may have been a tag of some sort involving these guys but you can't really tell. Cool segment but not really a match.

How bout RF skipping the Eddy/Malenko match just showing the end when Taz ran in. Ridiculous.

There are some really uncomfortable moments on some of these FanCams where RF is focusing in and out for minutes at a time on young boys..