Goody Bag 86: The NEW WWF Generation

 

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Razor Ramon v Jeff Jarrett: From Montreal, Quebec, Canada on October 21 1994. Posturing to start, dominated by Jarrett, until he gets cocky, and Razor clotheslines him over the top. Back in, Jarrett manages to grab a standing side headlock, so Razor tries a side suplex, but Jeff lands on his feet, and slaps him. Jarrett with a bodypress, but Ramon catches him in a fallaway slam for two, and he gets the challenger in a wristlock from there. Jeff escapes with a trio of dropkicks, and he lands a straddling ropechoke as Ramon staggers. Jeff with a side suplex for two, but Razor reverses a sunset flip for two. Jarrett reverses back for two, and throws a clothesline for another two, before grounding the champion in a chinlock. Razor escapes into a backslide for two, so Jarrett corner whips him, and throws a leg-feed enzuigiri for two. Back to the chinlock, and Jarrett uses some leverage this time. He gets busted, and Ramon throws punches following the break, but Jarrett rides him with a sleeper. Razor escapes, and tries a backdrop, but Jeff counters with a swinging neckbreaker for two. Jeff uses a bodyslam ahead of a flying bodypress, but Ramon rolls through for two, so Jarrett throws a clothesline for two. Back to the chinlock, but Ramon powers into a side suplex to shake it off, and both men are left taking the count. Razor crawls over with a cover for two, and he goes on the comeback trail as both guys get to their feet. A big charge misses, allowing Jarrett to send him over the top, and the challenger follows for a slugfest in the aisle. Razor tries a whip into the apron, but gets reversed, and Jarrett slides in for the countout victory at 13:44. Oddly, that’s it, as they end tape right there, without showing the usual bit where Jarrett demands the match get restarted, and then loses (which happened here). That’s a pretty big lapse for them. I’ve always enjoyed their chemistry, even if this was a turned down version of their higher profile matches. ** ½ 

Mixed Tag Team Match: Hakushi and Bull Nakano v Bob Holly and Alundra Blayze: From Stockton California on March 13 1995. Holly is subbing for 1-2-3 Kid here. Bull goes after Alundra to kickstart things, but Blayze fights her off. A roundhouse kick allows Alundra a standing moonsault for two, but a corner whip gets reversed. Blayze tries staying on it with a headscissors, but Bull drops her to block, and uses two dramatic hairwhip slams, then a matslam. Tag to Hakushi, which means Holly has to come in as well. That’s my biggest issue with these mixed tags, you can’t really work regular tag psychology, since there’s no actual ‘mixing.’ Holly manages a schoolboy for two, and he grabs a standing headlock, but Hakushi forces a criss cross. Holly wins it with a hiptoss, and he goes to an armbar from there. Gorilla Monsoon sounds like he’s in complete cruise control for this one. Hakushi lands a handspring backelbow, and a cross corner dropkick follows. Chinlock, but Holly escapes, and throws a clothesline, before tagging out. Bull charges in with a clothesline, but Blayze manages to snap her throat across the top. Sunset flip, but Bull sits down on her for two, so Blayze hooks a rana for two. Bull responds by clotheslining her over the top, but Alundra lands on the apron, and dives with a 2nd rope dropkick. Bull tags out, and Holly delivers a turnbuckle smash, then a vertical suplex for two. Bull trips him up as he runs the ropes, allowing Hakushi a dropkick for two, as Alundra comes in to brawl with Bull, and Roseanne Barr the door! The babyfaces clean house to set up stereo flying bodypresses on the floor, as Monsoon tags Nakano as ‘the beached whale.’ Shinja with a distraction to allow the heels to attack, and Hakushi dives at Holly with a plancha. Bull tries to put Blayze away in the meantime, but Alundra hooks a bridging German suplex at 6:50. *

Undertaker v Mankind: From East Rutherford New Jersey on July 5 1996, with Dok Hendrix as the ring announcer. Gosh, Undertaker entrances are match length at freakin’ house shows. It’s like every night is a stadium WrestleMania for this guy. Undertaker pounds him into the corner right away, and he dumps Mankind to the outside after a sufficient beating. Mankind pulls him out with him, and feeds Undertaker the guardrail, but a whip into the steps gets blocked. Undertaker throws some shots, so Mankind kicks him low, and feeds him the steps on the second go. They brawl up the aisle, and the lighting is actually surprisingly good for a live event from this period. Compare it to the Ramon/Jarrett match from earlier, which looked like it was taking place in the basement of the ECW Arena. Undertaker with a big boot on the floor, and he pounds Mankind back into the ring, unloading in the corner. Undertaker with the ropewalk forearm, so Mankind dumps him back to the outside, and he grabs a chair. A charge goes south when Undertaker boots the chair back in his face, and Undertaker grabs the weapon to smack Mankind across the back with. Inside, Undertaker delivers a cross corner whip, but the charge in gets blocked, and Mankind delivers a clothesline. Mankind keeps coming with a running kneesmash in the corner, and Undertaker falls out of the ring. Mankind follows to choke him with some cable, but eats a big boot on the way back inside. That allows Undertaker to try for the tombstone, but Mankind blocks, and ropechokes him. Back to the outside for an elbowdrop from the apron on the floor, but Undertaker beats the count. Mankind uses a bodyslam to set up an elbowdrop, and he grounds Undertaker in a nervehold from there. Undertaker escapes, so Mankind uses a swinging neckbreaker for two, and adds a legdrop for two. He goes for the mandible claw, but Undertaker blocks. Mankind tries a clothesline, but Undertaker ducks, and rebounds with a jumping clothesline. He goes in for the kill, but Mankind snaps his throat across the top rope to block. Mankind heads to the top for a flying axehandle, but Undertaker catches him in a chokeslam, and that allows him to hit the tombstone at 17:02. Mankind could be counted on to take big bumps even at the live events, but the match wasn’t on par with some of their later classics. It wasn’t bad though, and I’m honestly shocked it had a clean finish. *

WWF Title Match: Undertaker v Steve Austin: From Toronto Ontario Canada on June 14 1997, at SkyDome. Man, if the Ramon/Jarrett match looked like it was taking place in the basement of the ECW Arena, this one is taking place in the storage closet. They slug it out, and Undertaker tries for a chokeslam early on, but Steve blocks, and bails. Inside, Undertaker catches him with a big boot for two, and he grounds Stone Cold in a wristlock. Steve fights to a vertical base and reverses, but Undertaker overpowers him, and reverses back. Undertaker with the ropewalk forearm for two, and the crowd is silent here. That, or it’s such a large venue, only 25% full… maybe the sound is just getting lost. Steve bails to break the momentum, and he drags Undertaker to the outside, but gets reversed into the steps out there. Inside, Steve tries a bodyslam, but Undertaker topples him for two, and grabs a sleeper. Steve drops down into a jawbreaker to escape, but Undertaker reverses a turnbuckle smash on him, so Steve goes low. Austin stays on him with a legdrop to the groin, and he grabs a front-facelock to ground the champion. Undertaker powers into the corner to escape, so Steve throws a 2nd rope axehandle for two, and uses a snapmare into a chinlock. Undertaker escapes, triggering a slugfest, which ends in Undertaker dropping him with an uppercut. Steve is up first, but misses a backelbow, and Undertaker rebounds with a jumping clothesline. The chokeslam follows, so Austin tries for a stunner, but Undertaker counters to the tombstone at 11:10. Not even a pop for that (at least, not an audible one). Honestly, these two have had worse matches against each other on big stages… this was surprisingly solid for a house show match. The dead crowd really sucked the energy out of it, though. ¾*