Hack Myers v. Donn E. Allen (EXTRA)

 

Well this was fun. Hack almost gets caught early with a sunset flip and it seems to annoy him so he fucking destroys Allen with shit. Seriously he hits a Benoit level powerbomb, followed shortly thereafter by a Guerrero level brainbuster. Allen's brief offensive run is marred by him selling what may have been brain trauma. Then Hack just charges at him and takes him down with running tackle and fucking spikes his head with a DDT. Jesus fuck everything Myers does in this match looks like it might actually result in a homicide conviction. The finish was brutal. Too much of a pure squash to justify a real nomination, but I think this should be an Extra if no other Hack match makes the cut.

 

Too Cold Scorpio v. Ron Simmons

 

Pre-match Simmons grabs the mic and says they should just leave without fighting so it looks like he is the heel. Simmons tries to bail after the opening exchange so Scorp calls him a "punk ass motherfucker" to get him to come back to the ring. Scorp keeps getting suckered by Simmons ruses and stalling. Boy this match was a an awful lot of bullshit for such a measly payoff.

 

Steve Richards v. Tazmaniac

 

Short virtual squash of Richards.

 

Dean Malenko v. Eddie Guerrero

 

Technically this was a good match with Dean attacking the arm and incorporating some pretty fun and diverse stuff into that attack. My big problem with these matches is that aside from their bouts at Enter Sandman, and the farewells match at the Arena they all sort of come off as soulless exhibitions. I actually find myself dosing off in this. I usually don't mind methodical pacing in matches, but this was really ridiculous at points and it was totally obvious they were going to a draw within the first three minutes. Both guys sold really well but this just didn't do it for me.

 

Cactus Jack/Tommy Dreamer v. Sandman/Raven

 

There were things about this I liked, especially Raven's getting dunked in a trash can and whipped around the gym, but ultimately this lacked the "feels like a fight" quality that it should have had.

 

Mikey Whipwreck v. Shane Douglas

 

Douglas fakes an injury pre-match to get the advantage on Mikey. This was a good match. They slightly flubbed a few spots and I think Mikey's comeback spot was telegraphed just a wee too much, but the structure here was really good. I thought Mikey did a great job getting in position for the cut offs and Shane is really underrated as "champion on the ropes." This lacked the truly great nearfalls of the Feb. 95 match and Mikey's offense didn't look as dynamic here, but this was still good work. I'm going to abstain from nominating this because I really don't think we need two Mikey v. Shane matches ont he set, and this is clearly worse than the 2/95 match.

 

Pitbulls v. Public Enemy (Double Dog Collar)

 

For some reason the camera spends a lot of time on Pitbull 1 and Grunge which really feels like the wrong choice. Truth be told these PE matches are not as bad as I expected. Not good, but not as a bad as you might think.

God damn did Hack kill Donn E. Allen and that is a definite extra.