PPV review

I know this was a few years ago, but it's fun every now and then to watch an old PPV so I just wanted to know what people thought of this one.

The 16 man, 8 team battle royal was fun. There were more real tag teams on this PPV than the WWE even has now. And I don't mean two singles guys thrown together. I mean teams where the guys have something in common and they have a team name. Let me run down the participants. Edge & Christian, Hardy Boyz, Acolytes, Dudley Boyz, Headbangers, Godfather & Mark Henry, Too Cool, and the Mean Street Posse. This was nothing special until they got down to the final two teams, and then it picked up. They teased a bunch of different endings and the actual ending was great with Faarooq absolutely launching Jeff Hardy over the top rope. Grade: B

Kurt Angle's second PPV match was a big improvement over his first. Part of that was because it was against Steve Blackman instead of Shawn Stasiak. Angle still had a lot to learn, but this one wasn't bad. His character was so pompous when he debuted, and his promo about being the only Olympic champion, etc. was entertaining. Grade: B-

I liked the Hollys' gimmick of thinking they were super heavyweights, back when Crash used to bring the scale to the ring. This was after Rikishi first debuted and it seemed like the crowd didn't know whether to boo him or cheer for him. Viscera's performance was about what you'd expect it to be. Rikishi looked good during the match, and attacking Viscera after the match was the start of his big face push. RIP Crash Holly Grade: C+

A lot was going on in the women's title match. 4 corners match, plus an evening gown match, and on top of that it was in a pool. This one was famous of course for Miss Kitty flashing the crowd for a few seconds after she won the title. Jacqueline lost her top too, but you couldn't see much. I don't know why B.B. didn't last long in WWF, but she certainly had the look. She was hot and her melons were enormous, probably the biggest of any Diva ever. Luckily the match was in a pool so both B.B. and Miss Kitty didn't have to do any actual wrestling. Poor Ivory. She was probably the best wrestling diva in the WWF (at the time, not anymore) and she had to drop her title in a pool match. Probably because they knew, it wouldn't have looked good to have Miss Kitty beat her in an actual wrestling match. I could have done without Mae Young stripping to her underwear. Grade: D

European title match was OK. Honestly, a match between just D'Lo Brown and Val Venis would have been better. The only problem with that of course was that neither one was the champ, British Bulldog was. At this point, he had lost a lot in the ring, and he brought this match down a little bit for me. It was a shame that his lifestyle outside the ring caught up to him. Probably wasn't one of the better matches for either D'Lo or Val. Grade: C

Some nice spots in the Kane/X-Pac cage match including, Kane coming off the top of the cage, Tori getting the X-Factor (actually just seeing her for the first time in a while was good enough for me), Kane breaking the handcuffs, and X-Pac getting the cage door in his face and a Tombstone. X-Pac's promo before the match was awful. How DX ever gave him the mic was beyond me. Grade: B+

Next up, Chyna defending the IC Title against Y2J. I was very very against Chyna having this title. Not because she was a woman, but because her in-ring work was way below the Intercontinental level. If she'd have had the European title, I might have understood that one a little more. It was hard watching the first ever Undisputed Champion selling her weak forearms and clotheslines. But in the end, she tapped out so I was happy. Grade: C

The New Age Outlaws vs. Rock and Mankind was good. It was cool to see two guys so associated with the world title throw themselves into this tag team storyline and run with it. It was a good match but the ending with Al Snow kind of sucked to me. But I guess it was a good way to keep the belts on the Outlaws without having them beat Mankind or the Brahma Bull. Grade: B+

I have mixed emotions about the WWF Title match. The match itself wasn't very good. Hell, it was only about six minutes long. Six minutes and the crowd still chanted boring. I guess the highlight was Prince Albert getting chokeslammed through the Spanish announcers' table. What I did like about this match was the fact that it even took place. With all the guys on the roster at this time, Big Bossman probably didn't have any business being in the title match. But he'd been on the roster longer than anybody else (minus his brief WCW days) so it was kind of a reward to give him this match. I thought all the stuff in the weeks leading up to the match was great with the Big Show's dad dying and Bossman tricking him into thinking he'd died, and then when he actually died, stealing the coffin from the funeral. This match was a good way to make the Big Show look dominant. Grade: C

The Mr. McMahon/Triple H match was good. It relied on weapons and props almost exclusively, but for this match it worked. Stephanie's turn at the end was well done, and the change of pre-Armageddon Steph to post-Armageddon Steph was amazing. It was almost like two different actresses. Good job by Triple H to carry Vinnie Mac through an almost 40-minute match. Vince's bump off the stage looked good, even though there was a ton of padding where he landed. Grade: A

All in all, an entertaining PPV. No showstopping matches, but nothing that put you to sleep either. The lowest grade I gave was to the women's match and it even had nudity so you can't go wrong with that.


P.S. Check my profile for other PPV reviews I've done. Check them out and let me know what you think.