A Major Disappointment

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

1st Match: 1-2-3 Kid vs Hakushi. A fantastic opener, some great high flying, from guys that know how to work the crowd. Hakushi winning was a surprise, but a pleasant one. I wonder if he ever went on to better things in the company? Rating: 4/5 2nd Match: Bob Holly vs HHH. Wow, Hunter's first WWF PPV match. Going off his match against Alex Wright at Starrcade '94 you can see that he does have talent. It's not a perfect match, but he was a pretty good heel here with some good power moves and Holly did a good job of selling. Rating: 3.5/5 3rd Match: The Blu Brothers vs The Smoking Gunns. A decent tag team match, but nothing really special here. The ending is the only memorable thing here because The Gunns hit a Deat Sentence like AMW. Rating: 3/5 4th Match: Chris Candido vs Barry Horowitz. No idea who Barry is, but this match is pretty good. I know Candido was an athletic guy, but I know him more from TNA than anything else. Hakushi getting revenge on Candido from earlier in the night was pretty funny. Rating: 3.5/5 5th Match: Alundra Blayze vs Bertha Faye, WWF Women's Championship. I like Blayze, but I have no idea who Faye is, and after watching this match, I don't want to know anything else. Blayze tries to elevate the match, but it's too short and Faye can't wrestle, not a good match. Rating: 2/5 6th Match: Kama vs The Undertaker, Casket match. Another solid match, a good brawl that gives both guys a chance to show what they got. No outside interference aside from DiBiase either, which is nice to see. Rating: 3.5/5 7th Match: Bret Hart vs Isaac Yankem. This match is a little longer than it needs to be, and the ending sucks, but it's interesting to see Kane before he eventually became Kane. For a guy who's still green, he does an alright job here. I just wish Lawler would shut up and move on from this feud. Rating: 3.5/5 8th Match: Shawn Michaels vs Razor Ramon, Ladder match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship. So far, this is my pick for Match of the Year. It has all the greatness of their Ladder match at Wrestlemania X, but without the interference. Razor goes full heel mode here, destroying Michaels' leg in every way possible, and Michaels does a great job of selling as always. Some fantastic spots, and a surprising amount of brutality easily make this the match of the night. Rating: 5/5 9th Match: King Mabel vs Diesel, WWF Championship. A short match, but I imagine it has to do with them running short on time. Both guys do a good job with what they're given, but Mabel just wasn't main event material. I'll give 'em points for pushing new talent, but they could've done better for the main event for a flagship show. Rating: 3/5 Final Rating: 7 out of 10. A solid show with some great matches. Aside from the women's match, every match is at least watchable. A serious contender for PPV of the Year.

Live from Pitsburgh, PAYour hosts are Vince McMahon & Jerry LawlerThe 123 Kid Vs HakushiHakushi pins The Kid by dropping him on his head. This was a glorified spot fest, but a pretty good one at that. They crammed in a lot of fun spots, since both are high flyers. The only thing that confused me was Hakushi getting the win. He was rather directionless at this point.**3/4Hunter Hearst Helmsley Vs Bob Holly"Hunter wins with the Pedigree. It had a nice pace to it, but it was really nothing special. Holly was only here to put Triple H over and he did a good job of that. Holly got in a good amount of offense to make this a competitive match. ** Jacob & Eli Blu (W/Uncle Zebekiah) Vs The Smoking GunnsThe Gunns get the win. This was pretty mediocre, as I expected. The match lacked genuine excitement and neither team had any real chemistry with each other. The Blu Brothers would later become the D.O.A. *1/2Skip (W/Sunny) Vs Barry HorrowitzThe story here is Barry was a jobber for his entire career without ever winning a match. Barry shocked the world by pinning Skip on the Action Zone to get the first win of his career. Horrowitz gets another upset win when he pins Skip with an inside cradle, thanks to interference from Hakushi. It went on a bit longer than it should have, but it was mostly a decent match. They told a good story of Skip playing the overly cocky heel and Barry taking advantage of Skip's arrogance. **1/2Women's ChampionshipAlundra Blayze (C) Vs Bertha Faye (W/Harvey Wippleman)Faye drills Blayze with a sit-down powerbomb to win the women's title. Blayze could carry the great wall of china on her back, but not even she could carry Faye to a good match. Faye's laziness really bothered me and I hated the title change. *1/2Casket MatchThe Undertaker (W/Paul Bearer) Vs Kama (W/Ted Dibiase)The Undertaker wins. This was an excruciatingly boring match. Kama's offense is mostly kicks and punches. As much as I love Taker, his run from 91/96 consisted of him playing the zombie, making him wrestle a lot of crappy matches. It didn't help that he had many horrible wrestlers he feuded with either.DUDIssac Yankem (W/Jerry Lawler) Vs Bret HartBret Hart wins by DQ after interference from Jerry Lawler. This match was barely above average. Bret is a godsend when it comes to wrestling and he could really make anything look good. Vince chose the perfect guy to try to get Yankem's awful gimmick over. Better things would be ahead for the future Kane.**1/4Intercontinental Championship (Ladder Match)Shawn Michaels (C) Vs Razor RamonShawn Michaels retains the Intercontinental Title. The crowd was split 50/50 for this match and both played faces. They were trying really hard to equal/or top the original, but they just couldn't do it. That being said, it's still a fantastic ladder match and a very worthy sequel. I also enjoyed the psychology, especially Razor working over Shawn's knee and acting like a heel. It's definitely a must-see and it certainly stole the show. ****1/4Dean Douglas criticizes Razor in his classroom so Razor comes in and drills him for it, setting up a feud between the two. WWF Championship Diesel (C) Vs King Mabel (W/Sir Mo)Diesel wins by nailing Mabel with a flying forearm from the second turnbuckle. How the f**** does this main event over the ladder match? I swear to god I wanna slap the hell out of Vince at times. One of the worst main-events in history. This was a train wreck of a match that had no business main-eventing this PPV. I'm surprised the crowd was as lively as they were. This match is only notable for being Luger's last appearance for the WWF. He'd bolt for WCW and shock the world by appearing on Nitro a few days later. 1/2* (half a star)Final Thoughts: The Diesel push is similar to how Roman Reigns is being pushed these days. Vince wanted it so badly, but the fans were completely indifferent towards Diesel. Vince's mindset was terrible in 95. Mabel was being pushed as a top heel and won King of The Ring. When you put on an abhorrent main-event just after an exhilarating ladder match, something is seriously wrong. The scary thing is that the main event isn't even the worst match on the card! That dubious honor goes to Kama Vs The Undertaker. See it for the ladder match, everything else isn't worth seeking out.4.5/10

1. 1-2-3 Kid Vs. Hakushi - One high-risk match. Hakushi clearly won. 8/10 2. Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Bob Holly - Yeah, first HHH's PPV appearance. First PPV Pedigree :) 7/10 3. Jacob & Eli Blu Vs. Smoking Guns 7/10 4. Skip Vs. Barry Horrowitz 6.5/10 5. WWF Women's Title Match:Bertha Faye Vs. Champ-Alundra Blayze - Great booking to let overweight Bertha won.5/10 6. Casket Match: Kama Vs. The Undertaker - That was far Better match than at In Your House 2. 6.5/10 7. Isaac Yankem D.D.S. Vs. Bret Hart - DQ match. I never like this feud. 5.5/108. Intercontinental Title Match: Razor Ramon Vs. Champ-Shawn Michaels - Incredible match with sad ending, where Shawn couldn't get the hard-tight belt. 10/10 9. WWF World Heavyweight Title Match: King Mabel Vs. Champ-Diesel - Diesel with his deadly 3-combination of Punches/Elbows/Kneehits made this match along with Mabel worst of entire event. 4/10

It was so/so for the time. The opener was decent and turned into a good bout only hurt by the time allowed for it. Everything else on the undercard was only so/so. Another good match was Bret Hart carrying the Issac DDS(Kane)to a decent matchup. The Ladder match between razor and shawn was amazing! It was a better constructed match than their Wrestlemania matchup, with wrestling the main focus here. The only problem is HBK keeps falling off the ladder! Main event was well...for the time, it was alright. It wasn't the best match on the card and it wasn't the worst. My Rating B-