As Wrestlemania rolls around, I tend to prepare myself by diving into other PPVs, especially since I have the WWE Network nowadays. And I found this PPV, Beware of Dog, and thought it would be funny to do after the Scooby-Doo Wrestlemania review I did. Then I learned that this PPV is a little infamous because it blacked out for most viewers right around the end of the first hour. That’s pretty amazing! So of COURSE I have to review it! So let’s take a look!
Not pictured, Marc Mero
Marc Mero defeats Hunter Hearst Helmsley in a grudge match
Oh yeah, HHH’s original gimmick as the Connecticut Blue
Blood. Hee hee hee. This is silly.
This match is all about HHH attacking Mero, the “Wild Man,” and I think
it is because HHH used to have Sable as his valet but no longer does, as she is
with Mero now. Mero, by the way, is
ridiculous and gives a terrible promo just before the match starts.
The story of this match is HHH absolutely destroying Mero in
every way other than one or two strange luchadore/cruiserweight spots to see
Mero do. But as HHH was going to put the
final pedigree to him, he saw that Sable wasn’t watching. So he leaves to make her watch, but Mero capitalizes
and knocks HHH out with a slingshot into the corner. Don’t normally see that as a finish,
either. Weird match that was mostly
uninteresting.
Verdict: Fine
There’s a backstage segment where it is revealed that the
British Bulldog, the number one contender, will be managed by his tag team
partner Owen Hart for this one night only.
Oh, and some weird smear campaign soap opera story about how Bulldog’s
wife claims that Michaels slept with her.
Michaels denies it.
Pictured, Davey Boy Smith's wife holding the belt upside down.
Shawn Michaels (c) retains against the British Bulldog
because of a no contest
Uhh, isn’t this match super early? The main title match is the second one on the
card? But ok, sure. Just before the match starts, Michaels is
served a subpoena. He rips it up. And the match starts.
Now it should be stated that the PPV I am watching is
actually the redo PPV, not the one that got screwed up because of the
storm. I’m a little disappointed about
it, to be honest. It starts with the two
good matches that were taped during the storm, which is why this main event is
the second match of the night for this viewing, then moving to redos of all the
other matches.
Bulldog is incredibly strong. I mean, yeah, it’s because of steroids at this
point, I’m pretty sure, but still, he does some cool power spots. Michaels does Michaels things. The match ends with a bridging german suplex
which leads to some screwy “both guys pinned each other” that ends up with a no
contest and Michaels retains. Uh … ok. Some of that match was fun, but what a screwy
finish.
Verdict: Also fine, I guess.
And now, Beware of Dog 2.
This is a reshoot of all the stuff in the dark from the Sunday before that mattered. It was filmed live on a Tuesday.
Savio Vega defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin in a Caribbean
Strap Match
Oh god. These matches
are terrible. Let’s see if Stone Cold
being in here makes this one even slightly more tolerable. Oh, and if Stone Cold doesn’t win, then Ted
DiBiase quits WWF. AND if Savio Vega
loses the match, a match he has never lost before because he is Caribbean
himself, then he becomes DiBiase’s chauffer.
An interesting note: the nWo started BETWEEN these two
PPVs. Scott Hall showed up on Nitro on
May 27th, the day after the blackout and the day before Beware of
Dog 2, and only a few weeks later Kevin Nash also showed up. You see, I never cared about the WWF guys, because
all the cool guys like Hall and Nash were in WCW. And now I see that this is the MOMENT where
that idea was implanted. Not only did
WWF take a huge shot from a blacked out PPV, plus a screwy finish to the WWF
title match, but then Razor Ramon showed up on WCW Nitro, but in street clothes
and not saying he was Razor Ramon. What
a neat little turning point of wrestling history here.
This match is long and boring and predictable. Like, really long. Like, I cannot believe it is still
happening. Add to that the terrible
announce team (I am not a “good ole Jim Ross” fan) and this is just a
chore. This IS possibly the first use,
or at least earliest point, where they use the “Na Na Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye” song
for a guy who lost their job.
Verdict: Terrible
Vader defeats Yokozuna in a grudge match
It’s Vader Time!
I love Vader. Awesome
big man, one of the best ever. And he’s
of course facing one of the OTHER best big men, though not a favorite of mine
in anyway, just a real good one. The
story here is that Vader put Yokozuna out of commission for a long time, and he
has returned from injury for revenge.
Yokozuna real quick sets up for them to just go toe to toe,
sumo style. And Vader chickens out a
bunch, before they just start beating the very living hell out of each
other. And Vader once more takes out
Yokozuna after the Samoan tries to destroy Vader’s manager. The match is fun enough, nothing great, but
fun enough. This isn’t Vader at his best
(that was three years ago) but it is still a nice match.
Verdict: Fun, but not great
Goldust (c) retains against the Undertaker in a Casket Match
for the Intercontinental Championship
Oof, another gimmick match.
It feels like a lot. Also, all
the lead up to this match was about Goldust and Ahmed Johnson’s feud, with
nothing on Undertaker. So I highly
suspect Undertaker doesn’t matter here.
I like Undertaker’s purple gloves. Also, with it being a casket match, I am
betting shenanigans. Let’s say … someone
shows up in the casket. Kane? Nah, he hasn’t debuted yet. So that means Mankind. My money is on Mankind. Yup, tombstone to Goldust, then Mankind is in
the casket. Goldust wins.
Verdict: Shenanigans are stupid.
This PPV is not good.
It isn’t the worst thing in the world, but man oh man is it not
good. I think the points I made about nWo
and WCW getting in their swing and then looking at this PPV … I can see why WWF
was losing. But tides would change. I’m glad to have watched it, but man … eeesh.
No comments:
Post a Comment