EVENT REVIEW: ECW - The Night The Line Was Crossed 1994

February 5, 1994

ECW Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Night The Line Was Crossed was Eastern Championship Wrestling's first major event of 1994 and a big step for the Philadelphia promotion as they began to firmly cement their legacy for violence, hardcore wrestling, and all things extreme. 

Throughout 1993, events such as the Super Summer Sizzler Spectacular had seen ECW presented as little more than another indie outfit in which both established, past-their-prime performers and up-and-coming superstars plied their trade. 

Tonight, however, the company let it be known that they meant business as they took the first bloody and brutal steps towards establishing themselves as one of The Big Three professional wrestling companies of the 1990s. 

Here's what went down on February 5th, 1994, a night that will forever live in ECW fans minds as the night the line was crossed. 

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The Night The Line Was Crossed

Tonight’s show opened with Todd Gordon sitting in front of a large map of the world and the oldest PC you’ve ever seen in your life.

Gordon informed us that Eastern Championship Wrestling had been accused of being the most violent, gory, extreme, and hardcore federation in America.

He neither confirmed nor denied these allegations, but simply said that what we were about to see was from February 4th, the night the line was well and truly crossed.

There you are then.

Wildman Sal Bellomo vs. The Ruffneck Mr. Hughes (w/ Jason)

I must admit, it was different seeing Mr. Hughes with somebody leading him into battle rather than Hughes being the man standing behind someone else.

The man in his corner had the uninspiring name of ‘Jason’ and wore a tuxedo jacket and bow tie. Combined with his hairdo, you got the feeling this might be what Paul Heyman might look like if he dressed as Brutus Beefcake for Halloween.

Anyway, this match was a big pile of nothing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen two men do less in the ring and call it a match.

A few instances of running the ropes, a slow, lumbering punch or two, then interference from Jason to give Hughes the win.

Your Winner: Mr. Hughes.

That was crap.

Double Dog Collar Match
The Sandman & Tommy Cairo vs. The Pitbull & Rockin’ Rebel (w/ Jason)

This was a fun, albeit short match full of wild brawling.

After five or six minutes of a fairly good match, Tommy Cairo dove on The Pitbull with The Sandman assisting by grabbing Pitbull’s legs.

That was enough to get the fall.

It’s a shame this will one didn’t last longer because I was just getting into it.

Your Winners: The Sandman & Tommy Cairo

Post-match, Rockin’ Rebel hung Sandman over the top rope by the chain before he and Pitbull did a number on Tommy Cairo.

No Rules Match
The Public Enemy (Flyboy Rocco Rock & Johnny Grunge) vs. The Bruise Brothers (Ron & Don Harris)

Coming to us by way of Smoky Mountain Wrestling, The Bruise Brothers entered into a chaotic, arena-wild brawl with The Public Enemy which looked to be even more wild and chaotic than the previous match.

I say ‘looked to be,’ because this was one example of how ECW’s low budget presentation could really hurt them.

The show seemed to be shot from a single camera which meant it was impossible to follow everything. Add some very low lighting, and keeping track of this match was hard going.

From what you could see, however, this looked to be an excellent brawl that finally ended up back in the ring where Johnny Grunge leveled one of their opponents with 2x4.

He and Rocco Rock then piled on for the three count.

Your Winners: The Public Enemy

Up next, this:

Tommy Dreamer vs. “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka (w/ Hunter Q. Robins III)

You know, the idea of a heel Jimmy Snuka appeals to me, but my goodness were his matches terrible.

On all of the Eastern Championship Wrestling shows I’ve reviewed so far, Snuka’s matches were  always one of -if not the- worst things on the show, and this was hardly an exception.

He and Tommy Dreamer spent the first third of the match stalling and playing to the crowd. I suppose that was fun for them but it was boring as heck to watch.

The second third saw Snuka beat down Dreamer in like 30 seconds, only for the plucky rookie to kick out of the Superfly Splash.

Then, in the final third, Snuka hit another splash and pinned him.

The ending was interesting as Joey Styles played up the idea that nobody ever kicked out of Superfly’s finisher, but the match itself was just dull.

Your Winner: Jimmy Snuka

Post match, Snuka beat up the official then attacked Dreamer some more.

Dreamer then sold the beat down like he’d been run over by a train while Sal Bellomo came in to ensure Snuka couldn’t do any more damage.

Kevin Sullivan & The Tazmaniac (w/ Woman) vs. The Original Sheik & Pat Tanaka

The Original Sheik was such a wild and out-of-control force that he tipped the entrance curtain over on his way out and destroyed started throwing things around wildly.

This distracted everyone enough that Pat Tanaka was able to sneak into the ring and attack The Tazmaniac. 

Tanaka was wearing street clothes tonight, probably because he couldn’t be bothered.

What followed from here was really two different matches. Sheik and Kevin Sullivan brawled through the crowd and got into a fight by the barricades while in the ring, Tazmaniac spent the entire match sitting on Tanaka’s back in a half Boston Crab.

To be fair, it wasn’t terrible, but having already seen two wild tag team brawls; this just didn’t add anything new.

At least not until the finish. Sheik broke away from Sullivan to throw a fireball in the ring at Tazmaniac, allowing Tanaka to score the victory.

The whole thing was over in about four minutes.

Your Winners: The Original Sheik & Pat Tanaka. 

Afterwards, Sheik and Sullivan continued to brawl while Woman tended to the scorched and singed Tazmaniac in the ring.

J.T Smith vs. Awesome Mike Awesome

Yes, Mike Awesome was Awesome Mike Awesome here as he made his first appearance at a major ECW event.

Big Mike did look impressive here, getting over with the crowd as he destroyed J.T Smith in what looked to be a short squash match until Smith scored a quick victory with a roll up, his only offensive move of the entire match.

Your Winner: J.T Smith

Post match, Awesome vented his frustrations by taking out the referee with two powerbombs.

He then climbed to the top rope, ready to pounce on the poor, battered official. Instead, the top turnbuckle snapped and Awesome fell flat on his face in an ugly botch.

Ouch.

Three Way Dance for the Eastern Championship Wrestling Heavyweight Championship
ECW Heavyweight Champion Terry Funk vs. Shane Douglas (w/ Sherri Martel) vs. Sabu (w/ Paul E. Dangerously)

Never in my life did I imagine that I’d willingly watch an hour-long Shane Douglas match, let alone actually enjoy it.

The entertainment started before any of the combatants even locked up as Paul E. Dangerously ran out and clocked Sherri Martel from behind with his ever-present cell phone.

It was such a cowardly-d*ck move and was so unexpected that you couldn’t help but be entertained by it.

From there, this three way dance started with just Douglas and Sabu as Joey Styles explained that in order for either man to win, they would first have to beat the other before dethroning Terry Funk for the title.

This got a little confusing as it was then explained that if neither man scored the victory in the first 15 minutes, Funk would come out anyway to make it a three way. That bit was clear, but it was never fully explained whether elimination rules still applied once the Funker got involved.

As both men duked it out, Styles also gave us the backstory to the match, reminding us that Sabu -in only his second match for the company- had upset Douglas for the title at NWA Bloodfest ‘93 before losing it to Funk.

Predictably, neither man scored the pin in the first 15, leading to the arrival of the ECW champion.

If you were immediately expecting the promised three-way though, you’d be dissapointed.

In the ensuing chaos, Sabu just kind of disappeared, meaning Douglas had essentially swapped opponents.

Later, the Homicidal Maniac returned sporting a bandage on his knee, with Styles telling us that he’d been injured.

The three-way then commenced and led to the most comical spot in the match:

Funk left the ring and worked his way through the crowd to Joey’s announce table.

There, he took to the microphone and practically begged Douglas and Sabu to come out and fight him in the crowd.

His opponents ignored him completely and instead went into a rest hold in the middle of the ring.

The more they ignored him, the more Funk called him out until eventually giving up and rejoining the fight.

I don’t know why, but that was hilarious.

Later, after more action, Bad Breed came out and began attacking Shane, though not without receiving a couple of chair shots courtesy of Sabu.

The match continued all the way up to an hour-long draw, and while it wasn’t the greatest technical spectacle in the world, it sure was a very entertaining hour of wrestling.

Time Limit Draw

Post match, Funk and Sabu had to be helped from the ring while Douglas left on his own power, all while the crowds gave the three men a standing ovation.

The Post-Show Media Conference

The Night The Line Was Crossed ended with Joey Styles pretending to host a media conference even though it was very obvious there was no one else in the room besides himself and ECW’s own camera crew.

First, Styles interviewed a very emotional Terry Funk, who put Douglas and Sabu over but was far less complimentary towards WCW and WWF.

The Funker was ECW all the way and was passionate about delivering hardcore wrestling for the hardcore fans.

Up next, Paul E. Dangerously came out with Sabu being restrained by his handlers.

Dangerously simply put his man over and claimed that he had been robbed of the title before making way for Douglas.

Calm, cool, and collected despite visibility seething underneath, The Franchise insisted that he should be the true ECW champion as he was the only man to leave the ringside area on his own two feet.

This brought Funk back for an intense confrontation which led to a predictable brawl that was broken up by most of the ECW roster.

I won’t lie to you, those post-match interviews were the most compelling thing on the whole show.

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The fact that the “media conference” was the most enjoyable aspect of the event doesn’t mean that the rest of ECW The Night The Line Was Crossed sucked.

It really didn’t.

By now, the company had truly embraced the renegade, hardcore style that would see them establish themselves as one of American pro wrestling’s big three.

And while none of the matches were classics and there was a lot of crap on here too (looking at you, Superfly), that hour-long main event and the utterly captivating post-match interviews made it well worth a watch.

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Other ECW Reviews:

• ECW Super Summer Sizzler Spectacular
• ECW Ultra Clash 1993
• NWA Blood Fest 1993
• ECW November to Remember 1999
• WWE - ECW One Night Stand 2005

Other 1994 pro wrestling reviews:

• WWF Royal Rumble 1994
• WWF Wrestlemania 10
• WWF King of the Ring 1994
• WCW Bash at the Beach 1994
• WWF Summerslam 1994
• WWF Survivor Series 1994
• AAA When Worlds Collide 

Be the first to catch the latest Retro Pro Wrestling reviews by following on Facebook or Twitter @RetroPWrestling.

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PPV REVIEW: WWE Unforgiven 2002

September 22, 2002

Staples Center, Los Angeles, California 

By the time Unforgiven 2002 rolled around in the September of '02, the WWE landscape had evolved even further away from the WWF of old. 

In the midst of her ongoing rivalry with Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff, Smackdown boss Stephanie McMahon had lured WWE Champion Brock Lesnar to the blue brand, locking him in on an exclusive contract which ultimately meant that the Monday night show would have no world champion. 

Looking to solve that problem, Eric Bischoff brought out The Big Gold Belt and declared it to be the new World Heavyweight Championship. 

Not only that, but rather than holding a tournament, a battle royal, or even a single match to determine the new champion, Sleazy E simply awarded the champion to the brand's top heel, The Game, Triple H. 

Tonight, The Game would need to prove whether he was worthy of such a title when he put it on the line against Rob...Van... Dam.

Here's what went down when Unforgiven came to Los Angeles, California. 

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A Night Like No Other

Our opening video package focussed on the fact that this was the first time that two major WWE titles would be defended on a PPV.

First of all, there was the newly restored World Heavyweight Championship.

The video linked the current title to the long lineage from WCW and the NWA, showing stars like Harley Race, Ric Flair, Sting, and Vader all holding the belt before noting how it had been brought back and simply handed to Triple H.

While the company gets a lot of stick for awarding The Game the belt without having to compete for it, I personally think it was a smart move to make Raw’s top heel even more despised.

Tonight, we’d see him defend the Big Gold Belt against Rob Van Dam to see if he actually deserved to be called champion.

Elsewhere, we looked at Brock Lesnar's dominant streak before and after dethroning The Rock at Summerslam 2002 and how he would defend the belt tonight against The Undertaker.

With that, it was pyro and crowd shots galore as Jim Ross and Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler welcomed us to Unforgiven 2002 and our first match got set to start.

00.04.12 - Announcers

8-Man Tag
The Un-Americans (William Regal, Test, and WWE Tag Team Champions Lance Storm and Christian) vs. Booker T, Goldust, Bubba Ray Dudley, and Kane

Before the match even started, JR flubbed his lines and referred to The Un-Americans as The Unforgivens.

That aside, this was a fun opener, even if it did follow a predictable formula.

After a few minutes of proper tag team action which gave most of the combatants an opportunity to shine, the match inevitably broke down into a free-for-all with everyone hitting their signature spots.

Eventually, Kane chokeslammed Lance Storm for the win, putting an end to what had been a very decent effort.

Your Winners: Booker T, Goldust, Bubba Ray Dudley, and Kane

Post match, Bubba Ray Dudley pulled Old Glory from under the ring and waved it about to the delight of the crowd.

A Pep Talk From Steph

Out in the back, Stephanie McMahon gave a pep talk to Billy & Chuck ahead of their inter-promotional match against 3 Minute Warning.

Steph wanted the boys to do it for Smackdown pride, but Billy Gunn thought it had more to do with Steph not wanting to “French kiss a lesbian.”

Chuck Palumbo assured the Smackdown GM that he and Billy would get the job done and that Eric Bischoff would end up kissing her ass tonight.

WWE Intercontinental Championship
WWE Intercontinental Champion Chris Jericho vs. Nature Boy Ric Flair

Ric Flair turned up in as fine a form as he was able to here, meaning this match was -for this fan’s money- even better than their previous clash back at Summerslam.

Both champ and challenger went at it hard and fast in a good contest with a neat finish.

Chris Jericho pretended to have injured his knee, prompting referee Charles Robinson to call for a trainer.

Then, when Nature Boy’s back was turned, Y2J blindsided him and made him tap to the Walls of Jericho.

Your Winner and Still Intercontinental Champion: Chris Jericho

Backstage, Eric Bischoff told Rosie and Jamal that he had recruited Rico as their manager for the evening as nobody knew their opponents better than WWE’s resident stylist.

Rico arrived on the scene and promised Bischoff that, when he was done, the Raw GM could grab some popcorn, some Vaseline, and enjoy some HLA.

With that, we swapped over to Smackdown for our next match.

Eddie Guerrero vs. Edge

And so we had our second Summerslam rematch in a row.

Unlike the last match, I wouldn’t say this was better than their previous PPV bout, but it was still fantastic in its own right.

Half of the story between these two was Eddie Guerrero being jealous of Edge’s pretty-boy looks, so he spent half the match trying to break his rival’s face, all while Edge continued to sell the effects of an apparent concussion he suffered on Smackdown.

Eventually, the future world champion made a comeback to give us a thrilling finale to a great match.

Alas, it wasn’t to be Edge’s night. Guerrero got him with a handful of tights to put their PPV record at one win a piece...just like Jericho and Flair.

Your Winner: Eddie Guerrero

Out in the back, Triple H confronted Rob Van Dam and made fun of him for being so cool, calm, and collected before their big title fight.

Hunter then turned his attention to Ric Flair, who was recovering from his match in the background. The World Heavyweight Champion mocked Nature Boy for being a shell of his former self, but before Flair could confront the champ, RVD insisted that he’d rather associate with a “loser” like Flair than an “alleged winner” like HHH any day.

3 Minutes

Prior to the next match, we got a look back at Eric Bischoff interrupting a “commitment ceremony” between Billy & Chuck by revealing himself to be the officiate and then setting Rosie & Jamal on them.

On Raw, Bischoff found himself confronted by a woman’s protest group who he called a “horde of lesbians” before realising that Steph was one of them. She set Billy & Chuck on the attack and thus, tonight’s match was born.

Interpromotional Match
Billy & Chuck vs. Jamal & Rosie (w/ Rico)

If Billy & Chuck win, Eric Bischoff must kiss Stephanie McMahon’s ass. If Rosie & Jamal win, Steph must snog a woman.

Rosie and Jamal had been around since Eric Bischoff’s first official night in charge on the Raw after Vengeance 2002, but this was their first official PPV match.

A good match it was, too.

Nobody was expecting this to steal the show, but it was performed well and had a hot crowd that helped to make it a fun watch.

The more things went on, the more Billy & Chuck looked as though they could genuinely defeat their unstoppable opponents, but interference from Rico led to Billy eating a Samoan Drop to lose the match.

Your Winners: Rosie & Jamal

In the GM’s office, Jonathan Coachman asked Bischoff who he would send to make out with Steph, but Sleazy E simply led a group of three women in a chant of HLA.

This stuff really hasn’t aged well.

Time to Play the Game

Before the next match, we got another look at Triple H being awarded the World Heavyweight Championship and Rob Van Dam winning a four-way elimination match to become the number one contender.

This led to the two having a showdown on Raw where RVD made fun of The Game in a very funny moment.

Pretending to be putting his opponent over, Rob said:

“And you have proved that you really can..spit a lot of water!”

I won’t lie, I laughed so hard at that.

WWE World Heavyweight Championship
WWE World Heavyweight Champion Triple H vs. Rob Van Dam

This was an excellent match even if anyone with half a brain could see the ending coming from the moment Triple H made fun of Ric Flair earlier in the night.

Rob Van Dam started off strong, embarrassing The Game by continually out-wrestling him and then taking a bottle of water and mocking his opponent’s pre-match ritual.

It was another hilarious moment, but Hunter clearly didn’t see the funny side and made RVD pay by beating him senseless.

Van Dam made a spirited comeback and legitimately looked to be in with a shot of winning, but then Earl Hebner took a tumble and the predictable happened.

As I’ve mentioned previously, I wasn’t watching wrestling at all in 2002 and I’ve never seen this event before nor heard much about it, but it was blatantly obvious that Ric Flair was going to run in and turn on RVD because he didn’t like that Mr. PPV had called him a loser.

That happened, and it allowed The Game to win with a pedigree.

Your Winner and Still World Heavyweight Champion: Triple H

I know HHH gets a lot of stick for not putting people over, but he helped RVD look so damn good here that the mind boggles as to why Van Dam wasn’t a full-time main eventer right after this.

Afterwards, Flair handed The Game his belt and celebrated with him. The journey to Evolution had begun.

The Young and The Restless

Backstage, D’Lo Brown and Billy Kidman were talking about Ric Flair’s dastardly behavior when some dude from The Young and The Restless turned up and started whispering and mumbling so bad that it was impossible to tell what he was saying.

This all led to Dawn Marie appearing and saying the mumbling dude was with her.

Well alright then.

WWE Women’s Championship
WWE Women’s Champion Molly Holly vs. Trish Stratus

After such a big match, the crowd weren’t really into this one. That was a shame, because Trish Stratus and Molly Holly worked hard to give us a good match with lots of creative spots.

After absorbing a fair amount of punishment from the champion, Trish Stratus finally put Molly down to win her third Women’s Championship.

Your Winner and New Women’s Champion: Trish Stratus

After the match, Jonathan Coachman caught up with Trish for a ringside interview. The new women's champion gave an emotional speech in which she talked about how much she loved pro wrestling, the fans, and being the champion. 

Orgy Time

Back in the GM's office. Rico, Rosie, and Jamal celebrated their big victory with a harem of women while Eric Bischoff looked on approvingly like the world's creepiest father. 

Even Rico -who we were all supposed to believe was gay- was having a good time, and suggested they take the party elsewhere.

Everyone left except for two of the women, who Eric kept behind to help him "with a little HLA."

I feel dirty after watching that.

I felt a little better watching the hype video for our next match, recapping the rivalry between Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle. 

Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit 

Despite everything that happened with Chris Benoit, Kurt Angle has often cited him as one of his favorite men to be in the ring with, and no doubt matches like this are the reason why.

Whether it was their bout at Wrestlemania 17, their classic at Judgement Day 2001, or tonight, the duo never failed to put on a pro wrestling masterclass that was utterly enthralling from start to finish. 

We had both men trading the advantage, we had ankle locks and crossfaces galore, and just delivered everything you'd want from a match. 

After a very excellent back-and-forth battle, Chris Benoit rolled up Angle and used the ropes for leverage, which was weird since he was a babyface, but oh well.

Your Winner: Chris Benoit

Out in the back, Undisputed Champion Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman that they had no problem making their feud with The Undertaker personal.

Lesnar vowed to end 'Taker once and for all tonight.

HLA

Up next, Eric Bischoff came to the ring with two women in tow. 

That meant that we got Howard Finkle giving us this unique introduction:

"Accompanied by THE LESBIANS, Eric Bischoff!" 

It was awful and yet somehow ridiculously hilarious. 

Bischoff teased having two women (called "Peaches & Cream") make out on their own, but then stopped and invited Stephanie McMahon to the ring.

Then, he had "The Lesbians" give her a massage, and they were almost about to make out when he changed his mind, sent Peaches & Cream packing, and introduced Steph's real make out partner, a big, ugly, old woman who was clearly a man in drag called "Hildergard."

Bischoff couldn't wait to humiliate his Smackdown rival by having her snog Hildergard, but then became surprised and disgusted when Steph proved to be very, very into it.

"What the hell?" exclaimed Bisch, that being the cue for Hildegard to rip her own plastic face off and reveal herself to be Rikishi. 

Naturally, a big, ol' stinky stink face to the Raw GM followed. 

While the reveal and subsequent stinkface were kind of entertaining, the rest of this segment just felt awkward and uncomfortable, not to mention the fact that it took up the best part of 10 minutes of PPV time that people had paid their hard-earned money for.

Main Event Time

Prior to our final match, we got an excellent video package highlighting Undertaker's history as the Phenom of the WWE, Lesnar's history as a bad ass legit wrestler, and their collision course towards tonight's meeting.

WWE Undisputed Championship
WWE Undisputed Champion Brock Lesnar (w/ Paul Heyman) vs. The Undertaker

If you ignore the completely pointless cameo from Matt Hardy (wherein he ran to the ring, was immediately powerbombed, and never seen again), this was a really good main event between two talented, powerful big man.

It was violent, bloody, and out of control, so out of control in fact, that referee Brian Hebner ultimately threw the whole match out as 'Taker and Lesnar simply punched the living daylights out of each other.

While the ending may not be to everyone's liking, this fan thought it worked well, putting Lesnar on the same level as WWE's resident living legend and making both men look unstoppable in the process.

Before the ending, everything else was solid, making this a very good way to end the show.

No Contest

Post-match, the two men continued to brawl. Undertaker eventually got the upper hand and launched Lesnar through the Unforgiven staging as the show came to an end. 

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Unforgiven 2002 may not have been quite on the same level as the excellent Summerslam 2002 the month before, but that show had been so good from start to finish that it was always going be difficult to top.

Still, that didn't mean that this event wasn't great in its own right. 

Edge/Gurrero, RVD/HHH, and the main event were all really good matches, though the highlight was, as you might have guessed, Angle/Benoit.

Elsewhere, nothing on the show was bad apart from the whole HLA thing, and overall, this was a very enjoyable 2 hours, 40-something minutes of wrestling. 

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Other 2002 pro wrestling reviews: 

• WWF Royal Rumble 2002 
• WWF No Way Out 2002 
• WWA - The Revolution
• WWF Wrestlemania X8
• WWF Backlash 2002
• WWF Insurrexion 2002 
• WWE Judgement Day 2002
• NWA-TNA: Weekly PPV #1
• WWE King of the Ring 2002
• WWE Vengeance 2002
• WWE Global Warning 2002
• WWE Summerslam 2002

Other WWF Unforgiven reviews:

• WWF Unforgiven 1998
• WWF Unforgiven 1999
• WWF Unforgiven 2000
• WWF Unforgiven 2001

Be the first to catch the latest Retro Pro Wrestling reviews by following on Facebook or Twitter @RetroPWrestling.

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PPV REVIEW: WCW Halloween Havoc 1990

October 27, 1990 

UIC Pavilion, Chicago, Illinois

According to legend, the original master tape of WCW Halloween Havoc 1990 was destroyed long ago, meaning all we're left with is the Turner Home Entertainment VHS version with omits a bunch of singles matches and gives us four tag matches, a US title bout, and the world title bout. 

While personally I typically prefer to watch a full event when I'm reviewing something for Retro Pro Wrestling, I'm not going to be too distraught about never seeing the following matches:

* Terry Taylor vs. Bill Irwin

* Master Blasters vs. The Southern Boys

* Brad Armstrong vs. J.W Storm

* The Junkyard Dog vs. Moondog Rex.

Instead, I'll focus this review on the matches we can watch as we head down to Chicago one fall evening in late 1990 for Halloween Havoc: Terror Rules the Ring.

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Spooky Time

We began tonight's event with a short, animated introduction that zoomed in on a haunted house as spectral images of Sting and Sid Vicious drifted on and off the screen. It wasn't all that spectacular, but at least it was there.

With that over, we went live to Chicago where Jim Ross and Paul E. Dangerously welcomed us to tonight's show. 

Dangerously was dressed as a vampire, while Jim Ross went with that classic Halloween costume, "Man Wearing a Hat."

The Greatest Night of Professional Wrestling

From there, Ross sent us over to Tony "Phantom of The Opera" Schiavone who was standing by for an interview with Ricky Morton and 'Wildfire' Tommy Rich. Morton gave a shoutout to his injured partner, Robert Gibson, and promised that they'd one day get revenge on the Fabulous Freebirds for taking Gibson out of action.

For his part, Gibson ranted loudly about what a great night of professional wrestling this was going to be and, with that, it was down to ringside for our opening contest. 

Ricky Morton & 'Wildfire' Tommy Rich vs. The Midnight Expres (Sweet Stan Lane & Beautiful Bobby Eaton w/ Jim Cornette)

This was as good of an opener as you were ever going to get on a WCW show. Sweet Stan and Beautiful Bobby were always a great team and their endless series of matches with the Rock 'n' Roll Express never failed to deliver. 

Even swapping Gibson for Tommy Rich didn't change that. This was fun, exciting, with lots of big spots (a Rocket Launcher to the outside, for example) that you just didn't usually see on American TV at the turn of the 90s. 

After an exciting match, The Southern Boys came down dressed up as Jim Cornette and got stuck into an all-out mele. In the resulting fracas, Jim Cornette's tennis racket was used against his team, giving the win to the good guys.

Your Winners: Ricky Morton & Tommy Rich 

Black Magic

Our next segment started innocently enough.

Tony Schiavone interviewed Sting about his ongoing rivalry with the Black Scorpion and his upcoming title defence against Sid Justice.

The champion had been dealing with both men since Sid issued a challenge at the end of Sting’s win over the Scorpion at Clash of the Champions 12.

The Stinger was all fired up about tonight, but before he could get very far he was interrupted by the Black Scorpion.

“Sting, Sting, let me show you an example of my black magic!” Said the Scorpion.

Except, by black magic, what he really meant was stage magic because all he did was pick a plant from the crowd and run behind a curtain.

Sting struggled to get to the frame holding the curtain on account of some random security dudes, and when he got there, there was a puff of smoke and Scorpion the girl were -shock of all shocks!- completely gone.

Except they weren’t, because they simply reappeared on the other side of the stage moments later, a move that was so obvious I’m sure even the little kids in the audience knew that they simply exited stage left, ran around, and re-entered stage right.

This was so bad it was hilarious.

Afterwards, Ross and Dangerously sold the whole thing like a much more impressive feat test than it was.

The Renegade Warriors (Chris & Mark Youngblood) vs. The Fabulous Freebirds (Jimmy ‘Jam’ Garvin & Michael ‘P.S’ Hayes w/ Little Richard Marley)

Interestingly, this was Mark Youngblood’s first appearance on a major NWA/WCW event since Starrcade ‘83.

Here, it was his younger brother Chris Youngblood (who sadly passed away earlier this year) that spent the bulk of this match playing the face-in-peril for the Fabulous Freebirds.

It wasn’t a sound booking strategy for the match. Usually the tag team formula builds sympathy for the battered face and ensures a big pop when he eventually makes the hot tag, but there was none of that.

The crowd didn’t really care for The Renegade Warriors and constantly chanted for either Jimmy Garvin or Michael Hayes to end it with their DDT.

Eventually, the fans got their wish.

After Mark Youngblood tagged in to absolute silence, a big fracas ensued which also saw the Freebirds’ “Roadie,” Little Richard Marley, getting dragged into the completion.

At one point, Chris Youngblood looked to have Jimmy Jam beat with a roll-up but the ref was too busy trying to break up a fight between Mark and Little Richard.

That meant that Hayes could hit the DDT and his team could win the match.

The finish was decent, but everything else about this match was a total snore.

Your Winners: The Fabulous Freebirds

Out on the arena floor, Tony Schiavone interviewed Nature Boy Ric Flair, The Enforcer Arn Anderson and Sid Vicious about their upcoming matches.

Flair and Anderson promised to take the tag team titles away from Doom tonight. No offense to Butch Reed and Ron Simmons, nor to Anderson for that matter, but that match sounds like a waste for a talent of Flair’s caliber.

Anyway, when they were done, Sid shouted really angrily about being the ruler of the world and how he was going to destroy Sting once and for all.

Right on.

National Wrestling Alliance United States Tag Team Championship
NWA US Tag Team Champions The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott Steiner) vs. The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs & Jerry Sags)

You know, given the kind of reputation The Nasty Boys would develop in later years, it still comes as a bit of a surprise to be reminded that they were once a formidable tag team capable of delivering some truly entertaining brawls.

Take this match, for example.

Here, Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags stormed out of the gate and into a wild, out-of-control fight with Rick and Scott Steiner that was a lot of fun to watch.

Eventually, things settled down with The Nasties dominating Scott Steiner before the equally as chaotic ending in which the champs retained thanks to the Frankensteiner.

Though it may have been a touch too long for some people, for this writer, any time you get two teams of people who aren’t afraid to just beat the crap out of each other, you’re in for a good time.

Your Winners and Still US Tag Team Champions: The Steiner Brothers

Post-match, Knobbs, and Sags attacked Rick Steiner until Scotty saw them off.

This led us to Tony Schiavone interviewing Scott, only to get attacked by Jerry Sags dressed as a concession stand worker. Knobbs eventually joined in the attack before stealing the mic to yell at The Steiners.

I won’t say whether this was good or bad, but I will say that when Scott Steiner is the most coherent promo in a segment, there’s probably something up.

National Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Championship
NWA World Tag Team Champions Doom (Ron Simmons & Butch Reed w/ Terry Long)

Oh look, another tag team match.

I know there were singles matches on this card that wasn’t up to much, but is it too much to ask to stick at least one on this presentation just to break up the monotony of reviewing four tag bouts in a row?

Despite this being yet another tag match, it was very good one and the best of the four so far, a lengthy, nigh-on 20 minute battle which culminated in a double count out.

That was a smart finish given the need to keep the titles on Doom while still protecting what aura Flair still had about him during this very obvious demotion.

Double Countout

Backstage, Stan Hansen spat on a pumpkin and promised to take the US title from Lex Luger.

It was a unique promo to say the least.

National Wrestling Alliance United States Championship
NWA United States Champion Lex Luger vs. Stan Hansen

This was a decent big man match but not something that would ever warrant repeat reviewing.

The two men battered each other in a slow and brutal fashion until the ref took a nap in the corner.

At that point, Hansen’s protege Dan Spivey ran in to hand his mentor a cowbell.

That didn’t make much of a difference, but one big larriat did, proving enough to end a Lex Luger US title reign that seemed to have been going on forever.

Your Winner and New US Champion: Stan Hansen

Before the main event, Teddy Long gave an interview to Tony Schiavone in which he insisted that Doom would never again have to defend the tag team titles against The Four Horsemen.

This was followed by Missy Hyatt joining JR and Dangerously at ringside just so that Missy could boast about predicting a win for Sid before Paul did.

National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Championship
NWA World Heavyweight Champion Sting vs. Sid Vicious

Sadly, this match was very underwhelming. Sting was finally getting a run at the top after being one of the consistently most over performers on the roster while Sid, despite not being an amazing worker, had always been the most popular wrestler in any match he was in throughout the duration of his WCW run.

Alas, that didn’t translate to a good match.

While there was some exciting moments, there were also long periods of chin locks, arm bars, and nerve holds all of which were entirely forgettable.

What wasn’t forgettable was the finish.

The Horsemen ran in and Sting ended up going to the back to fight them. Then a fake Sting (Barry Windham) came in and got pinned by Sid.

Fireworks errupted, balloons dropped from the ceiling and the fans half cheered, half wondered what the heck had just happened.

It was at that point that the real Sting returned, with the cameras missing a vital shot of him coming face to face with Windham-Sting in the isle.

That would have explained everything. Instead, we just got this confusing moment where referee Nick Patrick, despite counting the fall for Sid, simply shrugged his shoulders and counted another fall for Sting, giving him the win.

The crowds were bewildered but cheered anyway, probably because the mess was over.

Your Winner and Still World Heavyweight Champion: Sting

Post-match, a visibly annoyed Sting promised Jim Ross that he would defend his title anywhere at any time against anyone, and that was all she wrote for WCW Halloween Havoc 1990.

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The ending of the main event was disappointing because it was actually a clever idea, but it was so poorly executed that it came across as a baffling mess of calamity.

The match itself wasn’t great either, but Midnights/Morton & Rich, Horsemen/Doom, and especially Steiners/Nasties were all worth a watch.

Just skip right past the Fabulous Freebirds match. It’s utterly insane that despite cutting so many matches from their VHS presentation, Turner Home Network left in a match that was just painfully, painfully boring.

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Other 1990 pro wrestling reviews: 

• WWF Royal Rumble 1990
• WCW Clash of the Champions X: Texas Shoot Out
• WCW Wrestlewar 1990
• WWF Wrestlemania XI
• WCW Capital Combat 1990
• WCW Clash of the Champions XI - Costal Crush 
• WCW The Great American Bash 1990
• WWF Summerslam 1990
• WCW Clash of the Champions XII - Fall Brawl '90: Mountain Madness 
• WWF Survivor Series 1990

Other WCW Halloween Havoc reviews:

• WCW Halloween Havoc 1989
• WCW Halloween Havoc 1991
• WCW Halloween Havoc 1996
• WCW Halloween Havoc 1997
• WCW Halloween Havoc 1998
• WCW Halloween Havoc 1999
• WCW Halloween Havoc 2000

Be the first to catch the latest Retro Pro Wrestling reviews by following on Facebook or Twitter @RetroPWrestling.

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PPV REVIEW: WWE Summerslam 2002

August 25, 2002, 

Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, New York

There once was a time when one of the biggest complaints of the average professional wrestling fan was that authority figures in general, and the McMahon Family in particular, hogged too much screentime and often overshadowed the actual in-ring competitors. 

If you ever needed a prime example of why this was problematic, look no further than the run up to WWE Summerslam 2002. 

With the brand-split still in its infancy, Eric Bischoff and Stephanie McMahon had replaced Ric Flair and Vince McMahon as the GMs of Raw and Smackdown respectively.

The two had then begun feuding as they tried to snatch up all of the company's top talent and secure a fully-loaded roster. 

This storyline overshadowed everything else on TV, including two storylines which really should have taken center-stage during this time:

The Rock defending his WWE title against the young, unstoppable monster known as Brock Lesnar, and Shawn Michaels competing in his first WWE PPV match in four years (albeit an "unsanctioned" one) against former friend turned rival, Triple H.

Would the Bischoff/Steph saga overshadow Summerslam as a whole, or would matches like the ones above steal the show?

Let's get down to it to find out. 

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The Hottest Night in the North East

In lieu of the usual epic opening video, Summerslam 2002 began with a quick graphic intro and the usual fireworks and crowd shots as Michael Cole welcomed us to “The Hottest Night in the North East.”

With that done, it was straight onto the action.

Kurt Angle vs. Rey Mysterio

After a few weeks of hype, Rey Mysterio had debuted on the first Smackdown after Vengeance in a great match against Chavo Guerrero. That was followed by an equally as enjoyable encounter with Tajiri before the former WCW star dived headlong into a feud with Kurt Angle.

Tonight, Mysterio made his WWE PPV debut and wrestled in his first PPV altogether since WCW Greed, delivering a thrilling opening contest with The Olympic Gold Medalist.

Angle countered his opponent’s lightning quickness and breathtaking ability with some seriously heavy-duty slams, making for a truly exciting bout.

Kurt won in the end when Rey had no choice but to tap to the ankle lock, but before that, the supremely over Mysterio looked absolutely awesome.

Your Winner: Rey Mysterio

Out in the back, Stephanie McMahon sent a lackey to tell Eric Bischoff that there was no way his Raw brand could top that excellent opening match from Smackdown.

On entering her office, however, the Smackdown GM found Bischoff waiting for her.

As it turned out, there was only one office for General Managers, so the rivals agreed to watch the show together in one office, mainly so that they could bicker about who’s brand was better all night.

This took us to our Raw announce team of Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler and Jim Ross.

Getting himself confused, King welcomed us to “the Raw portion of Smackdown” before quickly correcting himself.

“This is Summerslam,” said JR, who has obviously never made a goof in his entire career.

Chris Jericho vs. Nature Boy Ric Flair

Chris Jericho and Ric Flair had been beating the hell out of each other on Raw, culminating in Flair disrupting Y2J’s Fozzy concert and destroying all the equipment in an angry rage that was a lot of fun to watch.

Tonight, the two locked up in what was the Nature Boy’s first-ever Summerslam match, one in which he came out to different theme music than the usual Sunrise section of Also Sprach Zarathustra.

Flair relied almost entirely on a single offensive move -the knife-edge chop- for the duration of this contest yet despite that it was still plenty entertaining.

Jericho battered and bullied his olde opponent and even locked in a Figure Four.

Flair got the ropes, planted a sneaky low blow and then won with a Figure Four of his own.

Before that, this was a strong match with a lot to like.

Your Winner: Ric Flair

Post-match, King and JR analysed a controversial spot in the ropes where Flair seemed to simultaneously grab the ropes and tap out to Jericho’s figure four at the same time.

Brock Destroyed Hulk Hogan

Out in the locker room, Paul Heyman reacted to a Hulk Hogan video that isn’t shown on the Network version of this event.

The former ECW boss boasted about his man Lesnar destroying Hogan on Smackdown before giving The Next Big Thing a pep talk about taking out The Rock in tonight’s main event.

Eddie Guerrero vs. Edge

Just in case you had any doubts at all, let me reassure you that yes, this was a damn fine match.

After a good bit of back and forth, Edge fell to the outside and appeared to aggravate the shoulder injury that had recently taken him out of action for a few weeks.

Naturally, the dastardly heel Eddie Guerrero spent the bulk of this very good match working on that shoulder, only for his resilient opponent to continue fighting back.

Eventually, after a top performance from both men, the 2001 King of the Ring drilled Guerrero with a spear to pick up the win.

Your Winner: Edge

After a promotional video espousing the fact that WWE season never ends, we next went backstage where Jonathan Coachman interviewed The Un-Americans.

As Test cackled in the background while holding the group’s upside-down US flag, Christian explained that he and Lance Storm couldn’t wait to defeat Booker T & Goldust. For his part, Storm got plenty of heat on his team by insulting the Long Island crowd.

Their match was next.

WWE Tag Team Championship
WWE Tag Team Champions The Un-Americans (Lance Storm & Christian) vs. Booker T & Goldust

This wasn’t the most action-packed match in the world, but the way they played up Goldust being cut off from his partner was masterfully done and made for very enjoyable viewing.

When Booker did eventually tag in, the pace picked up and things got even more entertaining until a ref bump allowed for a run in by Test that had been predictable since before the match even began.

That run in gave the bad guys the win.

This wasn’t the best match on the show, but it was perfectly good for what it was.

Your Winners and Still Tag Team Champions: The Un-Americans

Over at The World, Jamie Noble cheered on his girlfriend Nidia as she picked some dude to make out with and then snogged his face off on a sofa.

It was erm, well, it was a thing that happened let’s put it that way.

Back in the arena, Steph told Eric that a woman’s place in wrestling was on top before the two bickered over who would win in an inter-promotional match for the International Championship.

WWE Intercontinental Championship
WWE Intercontinental Champion Chris Benoit vs. Rob Van Dam

It was weird that this was the second match out of the last three in which the heel spent most of the match working over the babyface’s shoulder, but I’ll admit that’s a small complaint.

That aside, this was every bit as good as you might expect it to be.

Chris Benoit pulverized Rob Van Dam but simply couldn’t get him to tap to the Crippler Crossface and eventually succumbed to a Five Star Frog Splash to end yet another very high-quality match.

Your Winner and New Intercontinental Champion: Rob Van Dam

Out in the GM’s office, Bischoff gloated to Steph about the Intercontinental championship coming back to Raw, but McMahon simply laughed in his face.

The Un-Americans Hate America

Before our next match, we got a look back at how evil The Un-Americans were and how their evilness had turned The American Bad Ass back to being a babyface so that he could face Test.

Test vs. The Undertaker

I won’t lie to you, dear reader, I’ve become a bit of a fan of Test over the last year or so.

Sure, he was never the highlight of the night, but he was a decent big man who had been part of some enjoyable matches since the Invasion.

This was one of them.

While the ending was never in doubt (not was the predictable run-in from Storm and Christian), it was a solid and entertaining match in which Test legitimately looked like a threat before eating the inevitable tombstone from The Undertaker.

Your Winner: The Undertaker

Afterward, the Phenom headed into the crowd to find an American flag then held it aloft to the delight of the New York faithful.

Good Friends, Better Enemies

Before the next match, we got an awesome video package looking at the rivalry between Shawn Michaels and Triple H.

The video took us all the way back to 1997 and the height of the original D-Generation-X before skipping to recent weeks when The Game turned on The Heartbreak Kid and threw him through a car window.

It also showed us Hunter promising to end Shawn once and for all, and Eric Bischoff us sanctioning this match so that WWE wouldn’t be responsible.

This was excellent stuff that only got this long-time fan even more pumped up for a match I’ve been looking forward to since the show started.

Unsanctioned Fight
Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H

Yes, I was very much excited about this match.

Shawn Michaels is my all-time favourite and yet I’d never actually seen his big 2002 comeback on account of this being a time when I’d taken a break from watching any wrestling at all.

Fortunately, the match did not disappoint.

OK, so it nearly did.

There was a section of the match where Triple H was in charge and was trying to systematically cripple The Heartbreak Kid once and for all. That meant long periods of Shawn lying on the floor and Hunter just pacing around the ring doing almost nothing.

That was dull, but when HBK executed his patented kick-up, it was a genuinely exciting moment.

From there, the match picked up in intensity. The Game bled like the proverbial stuck pig, Michaels flew off the top and crashed onto his adversary on the outside, both men crashing through a table.

The showstopper then flew off a ladder and hit HHH with his trademark elbow drop. Hunter blocked a sweet chin music attempt, countered with a pedigree attempt but had that countered with a flip, a cover, and Shawn Michael’s first PPV victory in over four years.

Man, that was good.

Your Winner: Shawn Michaels

Post match, The Cerebral Assassin took out his nemesis with two vicious sledgehammer shots to the spine, causing Michaels to be stretchered out of the arena.

Lillian’s Revenge

Over the past few week, Howard Finkel had inexplicably turned heel and become some kind of creepy, egotistical misogynist as he entered into a feud with Lillian Garcia and Trish Stratus.

Tonight, The Fink took a moment to tell us that this was the first PPV he’d announced in this arena since Wrestlemania 2, and was about to put himself over even more before being interrupted by Trish.

The former women’s champion feigned having a crush on ‘Howie,’ promoting the veteran ring announcer to up the creepiness factor to an all-time high.

It was, of course, a rouse, and all designed to set up Lillian Garcia appearing, slapping him in the face and kicking him where the sun don’t shine.

This feud was dumb, but at least it didn’t last long.

All of this followed a video package hyping our main event and then, it was onto the action.

WWE Undisputed Championship
WWE Undisputed Champion The Rock vs. Brock Lesnar (w/ Paul Heyman)

This match was excellent.

Brock Lesnar came out swinging, quickly battering The Rock and taking him to a little place we’d later get to know as Suplex City.

This impressive start clearly won the crowd over, so much so that when the champion made his comeback, the crowd routinely booed him and chanted ‘Lesnar! Lesnar!’ as a means of encouraging the challenger to break out of Rock’s sharpshooter.

From there, things only got better. It was wild, it was brutal, it saw Rock looking seriously pissed off throughout the match, it saw Paul Heyman take a Rock Bottom through the announce table, but more importantly, it saw a hot finish which culminated with Brock hitting the match-winning F5.

Your Winner and New Undisputed Champion: Brock Lesnar

Yes, after just five months after his WWE debut, Brock Lesnar had captured the title in an utterly exhilarating match.

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Summerslam 2002 was an exceptional show and undoubtedly one of WWE’s best of the year so far.

While the main event, HHH/HBK, and Mysterio/Angle were the highlights, everything else (apart from the weird Howard Finkel) bit delivered on a scale that ranged from good to great.

Definitely a show worth watching.

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Other 2002 pro wrestling reviews: 

• WWF Royal Rumble 2002 
• WWF No Way Out 2002 
• WWA - The Revolution
• WWF Wrestlemania X8
• WWF Backlash 2002
• WWF Insurrexion 2002 
• WWE Judgement Day 2002
• NWA-TNA: Weekly PPV #1
• WWE King of the Ring 2002
• WWE Vengeance 2002
• WWE Global Warning 2002

Other WWE Summerslam Reviews

• WWF - Summerslam 1988
• WWF - Summerslam 1989
• WWF - Summerslam 1990
• WWF - Summerslam 1991
• WWF - Summerslam 1992
• WWF - Summerslam 1993
• WWF - Summerslam 1994
• WWF - Summerslam 1995
• WWF - Summerslam 1996
• WWF - Summerslam 1997
• WWF Summerslam 1998
• WWF Summerslam 1999
• WWF Summerslam 2000
• WWF Summerslam 2001

Be the first to catch the latest Retro Pro Wrestling reviews by following on Facebook or Twitter @RetroPWrestling.

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