Sid, inexplicably, returned as probably the biggest babyface in the promotion
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The WWF followed their best pay per view in eighteen months with, well, not very much. At a time where Nitro was breaking new ground with the pre-NWO version of the Outsiders a WWF sans not only Hall and Nash but also Bret Hart (who actually didn't have a WWF contract at this stage), felt very flat. Even a match between The Undertaker and the new king "Stone Cold" Steve Austin on Raw felt forgettable, even with the benefit of hindsight.
As for what they'd setup at the pay per view, it was pretty much a one match show. A show closing angle at King Of The Ring was the prelude to Shawn Michaels, The Ultimate Warrior and Ahmed Johnson facing off against Camp Cornette in a six man tag team match. Top-loading the card meant there wasn't much else to go around, certainly nothing documenting of any note in these notes.
That being said, plans changed when Warrior was suspended by the WWF for missing live dates. This played out on television on July 8th with Gorilla Monsoon announcing Warrior's suspension to open the show, followed by Warrior wrestling a match previously taped on Raw immeadiately afterwards; the perils of taping weeks in advance. Still, at least Camp Cornette beat down Warrior after the match.
Surprisingly, perhaps, the WWF didn't try and emulate WCW's "Third Man" surprise (which, given the show was in Canada would've been an awesome spot to have Bret Hart return). Instead out of the woodwork came Psycho Sid, inexplicably a babyface. Six days before the pay per view, where Cornette coaxed Johnson and Michaels into an attack in the arena car park, Sid steamed across front of screen in a car crashing into a series of waste bins... one hell of way to announce his return. By the end of the show, any questions as to whether his newly found babyface status made sense would be completely irrelevant.
We're in Vancouver in front of a huge crowd that belied the status of the show. Still, at least there's a Canadian on this card unlike the last time they were in the country. The pre show had an in ring debate between Jose Lothario and Jim Cornette which ended with Lothario laying out Cornette, Vader coming out to look intimidating and Shawn Michaels sprinting out to ringside, sliding so far across the ring that he ended up separating the pair without even standing up.
The Smoking Gunns (Billy & Bart Gunn w/ Sunny) vs The Bodydonnas (Skip and Zip)
I'm not sure there's a measure of distance in the English language to describe how far apart the WWF's tag division is at this stage to WCW's. The lustre of Sunny has worn off, and the rest of the characters in this match are duds. Very little heat, at all, the Gunns fuck up a leapfrog spot so badly they end up looking at each other confused and the crowd actually started laughing. Usual tag team fare, ends up with Skip dropkicking Bart from the top, Zip falling on top of Bart and pinning him. To round off how awful this was, it turns out it wasn't even a tag title match.
Mankind vs Henry 'O' Godwinn (w/ Hillbilly Jim)
Godwinn is a late replacement for Jake Roberts. Some things rarely change, for example Mankind trying to kill himself in a nothing match early on a pay per view. The matting at ringside came up, he hit a swinging neckbreaker before later taking a slam onto the concrete... jees, it's no wonder he can't walk 20 years later. This ends with Mankind blocking a slop drop before locking in the Mandible Claw for the victory.
“Stone Cold” Steve Austin vs “Wildman” Marc Mero
Much like last month: pretty good. Austin dominates the mid point of the match with his usual arsenal of methodical heel offense, Mero makes a babyface comeback with a series of high flying moves into including a rolling senton off the apron and even more impressively a standing moonsault from the apron. Austin picks up Mero, hits a neckbreaker esque version of his "Stunner" and picks up the clean win. Good stuff.
Goldust (w/ Marlene) vs The Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer)
A lot of stalling early on, because that worked so well a few months ago when Goldust faced Warrior. Undertaker chokeslams Goldust onto the ring steps, he then goes to hit him with them but Marlene acts as as a human shield. Goldust gets on top, Undertaker rallies (we even get an inside cradle from Taker, a collectors item, surely?). Taker hits a tombstone, sets to pin Goldust before Mankind crawls up from underneath the ring and pulls him under. There's a short if telling delay between Taker setting up the pin and Mankind coming up. Mankind resurfaces, as does Undertaker across the other side of the ring – he chases Mankind to the back, and they very, very quickly find their way to the boiler room. Unfortunately the whole thing was so poorly lit and shot so quickly it didn't really have the desired effect.
Shawn Michaes (w/ Jose Lothario), Ahmed Johnson and Psycho Sid vs Camp Cornette (The British Bulldog, Vader and Owen Hart w/ Jim Cornette)
That GIF where Shawn Michaels jives out to ringside and the guardrail collapses as fans try and touch him? This show.
OK... who got the memo that Sid was the biggest babyface in the company? Because on this night in this location Sid's reaction was unbelievable. This was a barmy match, very long with everyone getting their time. At one stage a fan attempts to jump in the ring, but shits himself when both Bulldog and Ahmed Johnson leave their standing positions to see him off. That wouldn't have ended well!
It's surprising, perhaps, that given a couple of weeks prior WCW ran their "third man" surprise angle that the WWF didn't attempt something similar in an attempt to replace Warrior. Bret Hart would've been a great one night surprise but, in all honesty, given how much of a surprise mega-over Sid was it probably wasn't even the strongest option.
Late in the match, Sid chokeslams Bulldog, Owen and Vader – the crowd are all over him. Shawn goes to tune up the band in the corner, but Cornette grabs his leg. Vader takes advantage, flattening Shawn in the corner before hitting the Vader bomb for the three. We end the show with Sid powerbombing Bulldog and Owen, before the two get Vader out of danger.
Score Rating: 5.5/10
Go Back And Watch: Austin vs Mero is decent, the main event is good but surely an average match in front of a hot crowd. In the shadow of Bash At The Beach it's very definitely second best.
As for what they'd setup at the pay per view, it was pretty much a one match show. A show closing angle at King Of The Ring was the prelude to Shawn Michaels, The Ultimate Warrior and Ahmed Johnson facing off against Camp Cornette in a six man tag team match. Top-loading the card meant there wasn't much else to go around, certainly nothing documenting of any note in these notes.
That being said, plans changed when Warrior was suspended by the WWF for missing live dates. This played out on television on July 8th with Gorilla Monsoon announcing Warrior's suspension to open the show, followed by Warrior wrestling a match previously taped on Raw immeadiately afterwards; the perils of taping weeks in advance. Still, at least Camp Cornette beat down Warrior after the match.
Surprisingly, perhaps, the WWF didn't try and emulate WCW's "Third Man" surprise (which, given the show was in Canada would've been an awesome spot to have Bret Hart return). Instead out of the woodwork came Psycho Sid, inexplicably a babyface. Six days before the pay per view, where Cornette coaxed Johnson and Michaels into an attack in the arena car park, Sid steamed across front of screen in a car crashing into a series of waste bins... one hell of way to announce his return. By the end of the show, any questions as to whether his newly found babyface status made sense would be completely irrelevant.
We're in Vancouver in front of a huge crowd that belied the status of the show. Still, at least there's a Canadian on this card unlike the last time they were in the country. The pre show had an in ring debate between Jose Lothario and Jim Cornette which ended with Lothario laying out Cornette, Vader coming out to look intimidating and Shawn Michaels sprinting out to ringside, sliding so far across the ring that he ended up separating the pair without even standing up.
The Smoking Gunns (Billy & Bart Gunn w/ Sunny) vs The Bodydonnas (Skip and Zip)
I'm not sure there's a measure of distance in the English language to describe how far apart the WWF's tag division is at this stage to WCW's. The lustre of Sunny has worn off, and the rest of the characters in this match are duds. Very little heat, at all, the Gunns fuck up a leapfrog spot so badly they end up looking at each other confused and the crowd actually started laughing. Usual tag team fare, ends up with Skip dropkicking Bart from the top, Zip falling on top of Bart and pinning him. To round off how awful this was, it turns out it wasn't even a tag title match.
Mankind vs Henry 'O' Godwinn (w/ Hillbilly Jim)
Godwinn is a late replacement for Jake Roberts. Some things rarely change, for example Mankind trying to kill himself in a nothing match early on a pay per view. The matting at ringside came up, he hit a swinging neckbreaker before later taking a slam onto the concrete... jees, it's no wonder he can't walk 20 years later. This ends with Mankind blocking a slop drop before locking in the Mandible Claw for the victory.
“Stone Cold” Steve Austin vs “Wildman” Marc Mero
Much like last month: pretty good. Austin dominates the mid point of the match with his usual arsenal of methodical heel offense, Mero makes a babyface comeback with a series of high flying moves into including a rolling senton off the apron and even more impressively a standing moonsault from the apron. Austin picks up Mero, hits a neckbreaker esque version of his "Stunner" and picks up the clean win. Good stuff.
Goldust (w/ Marlene) vs The Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer)
A lot of stalling early on, because that worked so well a few months ago when Goldust faced Warrior. Undertaker chokeslams Goldust onto the ring steps, he then goes to hit him with them but Marlene acts as as a human shield. Goldust gets on top, Undertaker rallies (we even get an inside cradle from Taker, a collectors item, surely?). Taker hits a tombstone, sets to pin Goldust before Mankind crawls up from underneath the ring and pulls him under. There's a short if telling delay between Taker setting up the pin and Mankind coming up. Mankind resurfaces, as does Undertaker across the other side of the ring – he chases Mankind to the back, and they very, very quickly find their way to the boiler room. Unfortunately the whole thing was so poorly lit and shot so quickly it didn't really have the desired effect.
Shawn Michaes (w/ Jose Lothario), Ahmed Johnson and Psycho Sid vs Camp Cornette (The British Bulldog, Vader and Owen Hart w/ Jim Cornette)
That GIF where Shawn Michaels jives out to ringside and the guardrail collapses as fans try and touch him? This show.
OK... who got the memo that Sid was the biggest babyface in the company? Because on this night in this location Sid's reaction was unbelievable. This was a barmy match, very long with everyone getting their time. At one stage a fan attempts to jump in the ring, but shits himself when both Bulldog and Ahmed Johnson leave their standing positions to see him off. That wouldn't have ended well!
It's surprising, perhaps, that given a couple of weeks prior WCW ran their "third man" surprise angle that the WWF didn't attempt something similar in an attempt to replace Warrior. Bret Hart would've been a great one night surprise but, in all honesty, given how much of a surprise mega-over Sid was it probably wasn't even the strongest option.
Late in the match, Sid chokeslams Bulldog, Owen and Vader – the crowd are all over him. Shawn goes to tune up the band in the corner, but Cornette grabs his leg. Vader takes advantage, flattening Shawn in the corner before hitting the Vader bomb for the three. We end the show with Sid powerbombing Bulldog and Owen, before the two get Vader out of danger.
Score Rating: 5.5/10
Go Back And Watch: Austin vs Mero is decent, the main event is good but surely an average match in front of a hot crowd. In the shadow of Bash At The Beach it's very definitely second best.
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