Hello and welcome to another edition
of Seanomaniac Wrestling Reviews, the only wrestling review series on the
internet with less credibility than the WCW Hotline! It’s WWF Revenge of The
Taker, The Undertaker is your WWF Champion with his first challenger being none
other than the deranged Mankind, Mankind has been a thorn in the side of Taker
for almost a year at this point and Mankind makes a fitting first challenger.
We also have a Wrestlemania rematch as Stone Cold Steve Austin battles Bret Hart
to determine the number one contender for the WWF Championship. We also have
Rocky Maivia vs Savio Vega, Rockabilly vs Jesse James and Owen Hart & The
British Bulldog defending their WWF Tag Team Championships against The Legion
of Doom! Not a bad card for sure, will it be a big hit? Let’s find out!
(WWF Tag Team
Championship Match) Owen Hart & British Bulldog © vs The Legion of Doom
LOD have wasted no time looking for
championship gold in the WWF, Owen & Bulldog have humiliated LOD in recent
weeks but it’s time to put up and shut up. Animal and Owen Hart start out,
Animal clubs and lands a shoulder block on Owen, Owen retreats before kicking
low. Clubbing blow and a front chancery before Animal tosses off Owen. Owen
tags in Bulldog, Animal tags in Hawk who chops up Bulldog. Shots to the gut in
the corner and chops too, flying shoulder block from Hawk. Bulldog lands a boot
and a clothesline, stalling vertical
suplex on Hawk. Diving axe handle from Owen, Owen wants that sharpshooter but
Hawk shoves off Owen. Vicious clothesline from Hawk, boot to the ribs from
Animal. Powerslam from Animal for two, military press slam for Owen. Animal
yanks Owen down by the hair, scoop slam and splash combination from LOD for
two.
Hawk and Owen bang heads off an Irish
whip reversal, Owen tags in Bulldog who squeezes down on Hawk. Hawk fights out
before Bulldog lands a massive knee, Owen comes in and applies a sleeper. Hawk
snap-mares his way out, scoop slams from Hawk who is kicked in the bag by
Bulldog from the apron. Hawk shoves Bulldog into Owen, Hawk tags in Animal.
Sandwich clothesline, assisted powerslam from Animal from the middle rope and
we have new tag team champions just like that.
Woah that was fast, what’s going on
here? Mike Chioda sprints down to ringside and tells the referee we need to
change this decision as they pinned the illegal man. The match has to continue,
Bulldog & Owen are not happy about the match continuing. The champions
sprint back to ringside with Animal taking down Bulldog with a kick, Owen tags
in and wipes out Animal with a spinning heel kick. Wishbone-split from the
champions, shoulder thrusts from Owen as Bulldog chokes Animal behind the
referee’s back. Leg drop from Owen for two, tag to Bulldog who gets caught in a
sunset flip but the referee is distracted. Bulldog escapes and stomps Animal,
tag to Owen. Owen takes down Animal, Animal dodges the top rope splash. Animal
tags in Hawk who clotheslines everyone, boots too.
Owen clobbers Hawk, double team by the
champions goes wrong as we see a massive clothesline. Owen Hart is all alone
with Animal, Doomsday Device from the challengers, 1…2… Bret Hart breaks up the
pin-fall. Bret Hart has saved the tag team championships for his brother and
brother-in-law.
Fun match, LOD can work and Owen can
sell. They beat the crap out of the champions and it’s an easy watch, Owen is a
fantastic watch too while Bulldog holds his own. Would love to see more of
these two work with LOD capturing the gold because this was one hell of an
opening match, if only we got this at Wrestlemania.
Winners: LOD over
The Hart Foundation via DQ!
(WWF
Intercontinental Championship Match) Savio Vega vs Rocky Maivia ©
Rocky Maivia is still your Intercontinental
Champion, overcoming every challenge in his way but perhaps Rocky is out of
luck against Savio and every member of The Nation supporting Savio. Rocky comes
in with a flurry of right hands, big arm-drags and an arm-bar from Rocky.
Faarooq is here with his arm in a sling, Faarooq looks massive. More arm-drags
from Rocky, Savio wipes out Rocky with a corner spinning heel kick. Axe handles
on the back, Rocky is thrown into the buckle hard. Savio applies a nerve-hold
before Rocky answers with a crossbody for two. Savio puts down Rocky with a
right hand, back to the nerve-hold from Savio.
It seems this whole match is all about
Faarooq’s promo on commentary, Savio tries a suplex that Rocky counters with a
small package for two. Savio lands a big boot before choking Rocky. Rocky
continues to fight back with a massive fisherman suplex, D’Lo Brown distracts
the referee which allows Savio to recover. Spinning kick from Savio, Savio
chops Rocky in the corner over and over. Big hip-toss for two, Savio misses a
spin-kick and eats a massive DDT from Rocky. Rocky covers for two, Rocky tees
off with right hands. Savio tries an O’Connor roll but Savio is shoved into the
ring-post. Savio misses a corner attack, belly to back suplex from Rocky.
Irish whip and gut punch, belly to
belly suplex from Rocky for two. Savio reverses the Irish whip but eats a Rock
Bottom for two. Backslide for two, Savio sends Rocky to the floor into Crush.
Crush goes to work on Rocky, Heart Punch from Crush. Rocky is down and is not
moving, Savio looks on as Rocky is counted-out and the championship will not
change hands on a count-out. Savio and Crush are having words, Faarooq cannot
believe his eyes. Faarooq brings Rocky into the ring and they stomp the bejesus
out of Rocky before Ahmed Johnson comes down with a 2X4, The Nation powder real
fast.
Dull and lifeless, Rocky’s smile and
cookie-cutter babyface character or lack of character rather was starting to
irritate the fans. Meanwhile, Savio as a heel is no different than Savio as a
babyface. I am sure in Puerto Rico Savio has to have something that had the
fans buying into him and getting involved but here and now, there is no added
value in having Savio on a WWF card. The finish makes Savio look like a total
fool as well, why wouldn’t Savio take advantage of the situation with Crush
knocking out Rocky. Just a bizarre match really, not sure what was accomplished
here but there you go.
Winner: Savio
Vega over Rocky Maivia via Count-Out!
Jesse James vs
Rockabilly W/ Honky Tonk Man
The Roadie is still around without his
dreads and looking very much like a cowboy, I am pretty sure I have not see
Jesse James since 1995 but the big thing here is Honky Tonk Man has a new protégé
and it’s Rockabilly. This right here is the first solo run they would give to
Mr. Gunn that well, we will just see where this goes. Anyways, haven’t seen
Billy Gunn since The Smoking Gunns were having problems with Sunny. The future
would be bright for these two but what about in this moment?
Rockabilly boots down James, Irish
whip reversed by James who lands a hip-toss and arm-drag followed by a
dropkick. Clothesline to the floor, apron clothesline from James who struts to
mock Double J who jumped to the greener pastures of WCW. Rockabilly begs for
mercy, eye poke from Rockabilly. James lowers his head off a back body drop and
eats a Fame-Asser which gets a two because Rockabilly danced for 10 seconds after
applying the move. Neck-breaker from Rockabilly, reverse chin-lock from Rockabilly
before a mean right hand. James fights back from his knees with mean rights,
another eye-poke from Rockabilly. Irish whip to the corner with an elbow from
Rockabilly. Irish whip and Rockabilly misses his corner splash, James answers
with big right hands.
Ten punches in the corner from James,
Irish whip to the opposite buckle. Corner clothesline with strutting, Irish
whip reversed by Rockabilly. James is side-stepped to the floor and lands hard
on his hip. Rockabilly gets caught when attempting a tornado DDT and James gets
the small package for the win.
So the new protégé loses in his first match
with his new gimmick, that’s a good start isn’t it? I always am a little
confused when something like this happens especially when they have a very
competitive first match. For me, if you are going all in, you go all-in on the
new gimmick and if you aren’t then ask yourself why are you bothering with the
gimmick in the first place? Two very meh matches back to back, making this a
drag so far, how long before Austin & The Hitman?
Winner: Jesse James
over Rockabilly via Small Package!
(WWF Championship
Match) The Undertaker © vs Mankind W/ Paul Bearer
This is a fitting first challenger for
Undertaker, the deranged Mankind who often got the upper-hand on The Deadman in
their encounters, led by the man who knows Undertaker better than anyone else.
A possible mental block for The Deadman, the master of mind-games is backed
into the corner and that does not happen too often. However, this is The
Deadman and Undertaker has no intention of being a fluke champion. They have
always had good chemistry, this feud reinvigorated Undertaker in many eyes and made
his matches watchable for the first time in a while so I am pumped, this should
be a slobber-knocker!
Taker almost sprints into the ring
with his new gear, Mankind tees off with multiple right hands before Taker
reverses it and pummels Mankind who is almost kicked out of the ring. Taker is
wearing a bandage over his eye due to the assault at the hands of Undertaker
who used a fire extinguisher to injure the WWF Champion. Mankind hammers the
eye and down goes Taker who lands on his feet from a clothesline. Taker has
Mankind by the throat before tossing Mankind into the barricade hard twice. It
looks so nasty, Taker breakes the count and goes back to punishing the
challenger. Mankind is sent into the crowd, we are getting more crowd-brawling
ladies and gentlemen.
Taker lands shoulder thrusts on
Mankind who does not have an answer, a variation of old school from The
Deadman. Taker wants a tombstone early with Paul Bearer interfering, Mankind
has the urn and cracks The Deadman in the skull for a close two. Mankind is
irate with this, Mankind pummels Taker with right hands and his running
corner-knee. Throat thrust and choke from the challenger, Taker begins
answering with his own big shots. Taker lowers his head off an Irish whip
though, massive neck-breaker from Mankind. Nerve-hold from Mankind, Taker escapes
and lands a massive flurry. Taker sends Mankind to the floor, Mankind pulls out
Taker. Taker meets the steel steps, Mankind smashes a jug of water over Taker’s
head.
Mankind nails Taker with a chair in
the head, where is the DQ? Mankind lands a middle rope elbow drop to the floor,
Mankind rips and rips at the head of Taker. A little juice would add so much to
the idea that Taker is in a bad way, shame about the policy in the company.
However, we do get a nice shot of Taker’s head that has make-up on to look like
a burn. Beautiful piledriver from Mankind for two, headbutts and another piledriver.
Taker is walking around the ring, trying to shake it off. Mankind is being
beaten back by Undertaker, flying clothesline from Undertaker. Mankind pulls
the referee in front of him, Undertaker wipes out the referee as Mankind
applies The Mandible Claw.
Mankind puts the claw on a new
referee, Paul Bearer throws Mankind the chair. Mankind grabs the steel steps,
fans are getting excited now. Taker sits up and dropkicks the steel steps into
Mankind’s head. Taker has the chair and Mankind is waffled in the head with the
chair. Mankind is tied up in the ropes and Taker rips off the mask of Mankind.
Taker has the steel steps and rams the steps into Mankind on the apron and
Mankind goes flying through the announce table head-first. Unbelievable bump
all these years later, Taker looks to have killed Mankind. Chokeslam! 1….2…
Mankind kicks out! Taker calls for the tombstone, Mankind is crawling to the
corner. Tombstone Piledriver and this match is over!
Very good match, I would have liked a
little blood to put over the dire straits that Undertaker was in when Mankind
was battering his skull with chairs and headbutts but this was a brawl and it
delivers especially the bump at the end which is tremendous and we get some good
character protection too with Mankind’s love for pain keeping him going,
Mankind survives the Chokeslam but The Tombstone is too great for Mankind to survive.
These two batter each other like all their other great matches they had over
the course of 1996, very happy with this main event. Very unfortunate that the ending
angle went to shit with Foley’s lighter malfunctioning and Taker salvaging the
angle by lighting the fire in Bearer’s eyes but yeah, this match was a lot of
fun.
Winner:
Undertaker over Mankind via Tombstone Piledriver!
(Number One
Contender’s Match) Bret Hart W/ British Bulldog & Owen Hart vs Stone Cold
Steve Austin
Wrestlemania rematch time with Austin
taking on The Hitman, the tables have turned with Bret Hart no longer being a
hero, the fans are firmly in the camp of one Stone Cold Steve Austin. Earlier
in the night, Austin was jumped by Bulldog & Owen, can The Rattlesnake
defeat Bret Hart when he’s not 100%?
We start hot with brawling, Austin is
winning the war with right hands that floor The Hitman. Stomps from Austin,
Bret cannot get away as Austin lands an elbow. Big suplex from Austin, stomp to
the gut from Austin. Bret is choked against the middle rope, they spill to the
floor with Bret tasting the steel steps. Bret meets the steps again as Austin
mocks The Hitman in the ring, Bret meets the steel steps once more. Austin throws
Bret to the crowd, they brawl back into the ring and it’s all Austin. Middle
rope elbow drop by Austin for two, Bret rolls to the floor looking for a break.
Bret has a chair, Austin manages to thwart The Hitman. Austin has the chair,
Bret dropkicks Austin into the referee. Bret goes after the knee of Austin,
Bret stabs the knee with the chair again and again.
Bret starts working the leg with kicks
and dropping his weight on the knee, Austin fights back but Bret rakes the eyes
and drags that leg to the ring-post. Apron figure-four from The Hitman, Bret
smashes the knee of Austin with the chair. Austin answers back with elbows to the
back of the head, Bret goes to the knee and drops an elbow on the leg. We
interrupt the main event to see Paul Bearer in the hospital, Bret rips off the brace
of Austin. More leg work, Bret has Austin on the floor. Austin goes low and Bret
is down, still no DQ call from the referee, Austin drops a leg on the groin of
The Hitman. Elbow and choke from Austin, Austin uses his wrist-tape to
choke-out The Hitman. Middle rope elbow drop misses for Austin, his knee being
the target of Bret’s attacks.
Hamstring kicks from Bret, Austin
hot-shots Bret. Austin is suplexed into the ring by Bret, figure-four leg-lock
from Bret who is trying to destroy the knee of Austin. Austin reverses the hold
which puts pressure on Bret, the referee eventually separates both men. Austin
talks too much trash with the referee which allows Bret to kick out Austin’s
leg. Austin avoids a figure four on the apron, Bret decks Austin with right
hands before a back body drop from Austin has Bret in the crowd. Massive rights
from Austin, Bret is dumped back ringside. Bret is dropped on the guard-rail, apron
diving clothesline from Austin. Irish whip into the corner with Bret taking his
bump in the corner, Austin mounts Bret and lands multiple right hands. Bret
lands a shoulder block, Bret runs into Austin though. Austin wants a
piledriver, Austin’s knee gives out.
Bret laughs and stomps the leg of The
Rattlesnake, right hand from Bret. Bret whips Austin who collapses, no Irish
whip here. Bret pummels the knee, Austin manages to send away Bret. Austin assumes
control, Bret latches onto the ropes to avoid the stunner. Bret low-blows
Austin and Bret wants the superplex, massive superplex from The Hitman. Bret
calls for the end, Bret was close to applying the sharpshooter but Austin smashed
Bret with his knee-brace and Austin applies his own sharpshooter. Owen and
Bulldog are here, Austin batters both away, the referees come to save the day.
Austin goes back to the sharpshooter, middle of the ring as Bulldog grabs a
chair and clocks Austin in the back. Austin is your winner and will be the
number one contender for the WWF Championship. Austin manages to smash the knee
of The Hitman with a chair, Austin goes for the leg with a sharpshooter and
damages the knee of The Hitman.
It was never going to match the
intensity and epic encounter that was Wrestlemania the previous month but here
we have a feud that has the steam to carry the company because by God do I
believe that these two despise one another. From the opening bell to the
finish, I feel the hatred these two have for one another, it’s in a league of
its own in the WWF at the time and they batter one another. Bret’s leg work
feels so much more brutal as a heel with the ring-post figure-four in his arsenal
as well as using every cheap tactic he can think of, we have weapon shots and
low blows. A joy to watch while Austin is developing into that babyface that
can overcome anything the dynamic is a little-off with some people still siding
with Bret and there are going to be some growing pains for sure but this is a
solid main event to end the night.
Winner: Stone Cold
Steve Austin over Bret Hart via DQ!
That was WWF’s In Your House: Revenge
of The Taker, a largely forgettable pay per view outside of a solid main event
and a good WWF Championship match between Taker and Mankind. LOD are rightfully
where they should be, on top in the tag division as legitimate competition for
Davey Boy & Owen Hart. The matches should be a lot of fun as we saw here
and it can go either way between the two, the Intercontinental Championship scene
in the WWF needs a serious shot in the arm as it continues to suffer ever since
the injury of Ahmed Johnson with Rocky Maivia carrying the torch as best as he
can but with the likes of Helmsley, Goldust and Savio Vega being his
challengers, I don’t see much hope in a revival of the scene with Rocky
spearheading it. Mankind and Taker deliver as they usually do, it’s brutal and
carnage and the fans along with me eat it up while Bret and Austin have the
intensity for their rivalry and it feels like things are only starting there,
we are only scratching the surface. Again like 1996, 1997 is having some bright
spots but the cards are weak and even the short In Your House PPVs can feel
like a drag, will things change with a returning HBK, the rise of Hunter Hearst
Helmsley and Austin in the main event? We will have our answers soon, thanks
for reading and remember: there’s always another night!
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