The WWE Network Hidden Gems came back with a vengeance in the month of October. For the last few months they had over-relied on average stuff from their developmental territories and WWF c-shows in the 2000s.
This month they went back deep and provided some really cool stuff: footage of famous “shooter” types who didn’t have big WWF runs (Lou Thesz, Karl Gotch, Danny Hodge, Nobuhiko Takada, Billy Robinson), El Hijo del Santo and Art Barr in the WWF, and the previously thought to be lost footage Last Battle of Atlanta’s entire show.
The shooter stuff stinks because they chose the worst footage (solid Thesz outing that will test your patience, shit Gotch match, shit Robinson match, 4 minutes of Takada, and a match where Hodge is in the ring for 60 seconds), but the rest is pretty cool.
The format here is this: I will start with some history, then review the match/event. The star rating at the bottom has little bearing on how awesome or weird the thing was. Read the review for that.
Legendary Lou – 2/3 Falls – NWA World Heavyweight Title: Lou Thesz [c] vs. Wild Bill Longson (Texas Rasslin’ Sportatorium 6/17/52)
This match took place at the famous Dallas Sportatorium in 1952.
Wild Bil Longson was a St. Louis heel who might’ve invented the piledriver. Lou Thesz was wrestling’s O.G. and in the middle of his first reign as the NWA World Heavyweight Champion, a title he’d hold frequently into the mid-60s before the Race/Funk/Brisco era. He had previously beat Longson for the National Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Title, which he soon unified with the National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Title. Just a few weeks prior to this match, Thesz had won the L.A. Olympic Auditorium World Heavyweight Championship, unifying all the world titles at the time.
The show featured these other matches: Gory Guerrero & Mighty Atlas vs. The McDaniel Brothers, Ethel Johnson vs. Kathleen Wimbley, Jack Kennedy vs. Duke Keomuka, and Sterling “Dizzy” Davis vs. Danny Savich, who wrestled Rito Romero on a Hidden Gem from last month.
Ed “Strangler” Lewis seconds Thesz to the ring while current NWA Texas Heavyweight Champ Ray Gunkel acts as referee. This is a match with a whole lot of holds, supplemented by punches to the thigh and hair-pulling and sneaky closed fists. The credibility keeps it kind of interesting, but it will test even the most forgiving wrestling fan’s patience. When it gets going it is AWESOME, but there are only a few instances of that and it takes long chunks of time to get there.
A transcendent, beautiful Thesz Press wins the first fall. Longson does an incredible leap over the ropes before he wins the second fall with his piledriver. Thesz then quickly throws a series of dropkicks to retain. The charm of 1950s main even pro wrestling is always present, but this wasn’t very good. ***
The Great Gotch – 2/3 Falls – WWWF World Tag Team Title: Karl Gotch & Rene Goulet [c] vs. The Rugged Russians w/ Nikita Mulkovich (WWWF MSG 1/31/72)
I’m not 100% that this was for the titles, as the ring announcer says either “tag team title match” or “tag team style match.” Considering Gotch & Goulet dropped the titles the next night to King Curtis & Mikel Scicluna, I lean no – but it REALLY sounded like title.
This was on a Pedro Morales-era MSG show that saw Pedro defend the WWWF World Heavyweight Title against Toru Tanaka, as well as Chief Jay Strongbow vs. Freddie Blassie as the semi-main.
Karl Gotch was on the tail end of his career here. He’s more known for his influence in Japan – his approach to grappling, centered around exercises like bridges and Hindu squats, inspired a young Antonio Inoki, which led to Gotch main eventing the first New Japan show and his teachings continuing to influence the New Japan Dojo to this day. He also has a piledriver named after him that Minoru Suzuki uses as a finisher.
I have no idea why he briefly teamed with Rene Goulet in the WWWF. Goulet was a former AWA wrestler who gained his most notoriety as an enhancement talent – The Number One Frenchman – during the early years of Hulkamania.
The Rugged Russians meanwhile are just one of those teams. One was Igor. One was Ivan. They wore mask. Their manager was a journeyman wrestler named Nikita Mulkovich who designed a lot of championship belts during this era.
Gotch is announced as “the great” Karl Gotch, which is serious respect. Outside of the wackiness of him being featured on the WWE Network and Goulet as a babyface, this is a very drawn out turd of a wrestling match with a lot of armbars. So many armbars. So. Many. Armbars. The crowd is IN when the action picks up, but god damn those eternal armbars.
Gotch is very… deliberate, and early 70s WWWF fully embraces that deliberateness. The Russians get the first fall off a… kick? Then they get DQ’d and it ends or something. Gotch and Goulet doing a goofy dance to mock the Russians and a sweet back elbow from Gotch makes it so this isn’t a complete DUD. 1/4*
Oklahoma’s Favorite Son – Danny Hodge & Jos LeDuc vs. Pak Song & Toru Tanaka (CWF 11/12/74)
Danny Hodge, a legend in wrestling that nobody has ever seen any actual footage of.
Hodge was a successful amateur wrestler and Olympian before he became a pro wrestler in the early 60s. He held the NWA World Jr. Heavyweight Title a whole lot and when working in Oklahoma became a favorite of Good Ol’ Jim Ross. He can also infamously crush an apple with his hand.
His partner Jos LeDuc was a mainstay in various territories throughout the 60s and 80s – AWA, Montreal, Tennessee, Florida, where he went around the loop with names like Jerry Lawler and Dusty Rhodes.
Their opponents were evil Asian men managed by Gary Hart. Pak Song worked for the NWA and CWF throughout the 70s, facing names like Funk, Race, Brisco, and Rhodes. His partner Toru Tanaka earned more fame throughout he 60s and 70s in the WWF as the partner of Mr. Fuji.
This Championship Wrestling from Florida show also featured Bob Roop vs. Bob Backlund, Jerry Brisco vs. Greg Valentine, Mongolian Stomper vs. Don Muraco in a No DQ Match, and Hiro Matsuda and Dick Slater in action. This match was the semi-main, while the main event saw Bill Watts defeat Dusty Rhodes for the NWA Florida Heavyweight Title.
The footage is grainy and clipped it’s mostly LeDuc vs. Song. WWE Network HAS to be other footage of Hodge, right!? Why this? Song does a stomach claw. Then a nerve hold. Then another nerve hold. Hodge finally (after just 5 minutes it feels like finally) tags in and goes to work with punches. Then they run a sloppy finish where Hodge gets a Cobra Twist on Tanaka and Pak kind of runs into Tanaka and Hodge pins Tanaka. YIKES!!!
Japanese Pride – Nobuhiko Takada vs. Athol Foley (Stampede Wrestling 8/12/83)
Nobuhiko Takada is on the WWE Network and it is very cool. In 1983 he was a New Japan Young Lion and was traveling to Stampede along with Antonio Inoki and several other wrestlers. This appearance actually got him enough recognition that he joined the 1984 WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship League tournament. He would go on to earn most of his fame in the industry-revolutionizing UWF and UWFi organizations throughout the 80s and 90s, which mass produced Inoki’s shoot-style vision. Those organizations invaded New Japan on two separate occasions, both of which were two of the hottest periods in New Japan of all-time.
Athol Foley meanwhile was a dude named Bernie Wright playing the son of Stampede heel manager JR Foley.
This Stampede show was main evented by Bad News Allen vs. Jim Neidhart and was filled out by all Stampede vs. New Japan matches: Archie Gouldie vs. Shunji Takano, Bruce Hart & Davey Boy Smith vs. The Cobra & Kuniaki Kobayashi, Don Kolov vs. Tatsumi Fujinami, and Bret Hart vs. Animal Hamaguchi.
This is just the last few minutes of a prelim match but it sure is cool to see young lion Takada stomping away in Stampede Wrestling. He tries a missile dropkick that pops commentary, then does a front suplex, and finally an awkward Japanese leg roll clutch for the win. Foley attacks Takada after the match. *3/4
To Catch a Model – Billy Robinson w/ Lord Alfred Hayes vs. Rick Martel (AWA 10/18/84)
I have no idea when this match actually happened. It’s from the 10/18/84 episode of AWA TV and billed as an :”exciting classic match… from the past!” No timeframes of anybody in AWA seem to line up right though. Maybe early 80s. Even HistoryOfWWE.com doesn’t have a result.
Billy Robinson was nearing the end of his career after a successful run in the AWA where he held the British Empire Heavyweight Championship. Like Gotch, he earned most of his revere in Japan as he was an influence on Antonio Inoki and taught young wrestlers like Yoshiaki Fujiwara catch wrestling.
Lord Al Hayes had stepped back from the ring and was working as a heel manager. He’d soon go to the WWF as a commentator and Vince McMahon’s sidekick on Tuesday Night Titans, before he became ingrained in the minds of young wrestling fans in the early 90s as a fixture of the Coliseum Home Video series.
Rick Martel had come to the AWA after a brief run in the WWF as a Tag Team Champion with Tony Garea. He received a big push, eventually winning the AWA World Heavyweight Title. He returned to the WWF in 1986 and stayed there through the mid-90s, earning his most fame as The Model.
The highlight of this match is the mustachioed Lord Alfred Hayes just casually standing outside. And small joys can be found in a neckbreaker being a big spot or Billy fighting and fighting and fighting to escape a headlock. Otherwise, this sucks. It’s a whole lot of Billy putting Martel in holds or them standing around. Every 5 minutes the ring announcer reminds you of just how much time you’ve spent on such little. Nothing amounts to anything until Hayes trips Martel while he’s doing a suplex and Billy wins. *
Unpredictable Greatness – Carlos Colon vs. Johnny Rodz (WWWF MSG 8/1/77)
Carlos Colon is the dad of Carlito and Primo and the uncle of Epico and he is also a major superstar of a professional wrestler. He was a few years into This Business and became a star after founding Capitol Wrestling Federation in Puerto Rico, which later became the World Wrestling Council. He only appeared in the WWWF a couple times on MSG shows and randomly came back for Royal Rumble 1993.
His opponent, “The Unpredictable” Johnny Rodz, was a perennial enhancement talent in the WWWF and WWF from the mid-60s to mid-80s and earned more notoriety as guy who trained The Dudleys, Tazz, Tommy Dreamer, Bill DeMott and Big Cass.
This MSG show featured an awesome Bruno Sammartino vs. Superstar Graham WWWF Title match which was on the Grudge Match Coliseum Home Video. It also had Patera vs. Strongbow, Putski vs. Von Raschke, Peter Maivia vs. Nikolai Volkoff, and Garea/Zbyszko vs. Steele/Stasiak.
Vince McMahon is on commentary. This feels like a match taking place because of a tense contractual agreement or something. It goes like this: Rodz goes, Colon goes, Rodz goes, Colon goes. Colon does a cartwheel and two hurricanrana’s and freaks everybody out. Rodz is a clubbing WWWF heel, but he is also excellent at eating shit and begging off. Colon wins off a victory roll that they almost lose each other on. “We haven’t seen that one… ever in the Garden.” *1/2
The Art of War – The Latin Fury (Konnan) vs. “The Juicer” Art Barr (WWF Dark Match 1/8/92)
What a strange match to feature on the award-winning WWE Network. Art Barr is a major member of wrestling history who I’d be remiss to say was convicted of rape only a few years prior to this match. Incredibly enough, here he was coming off a run in WCW as The Juicer, a ripoff of Beetlejuice that was supposed to be this kid-friendly mascot. Man. Wrestling.
He’d gain more fame in Mexico where he teamed with Eddie Guerrero as Los Gringos Locos, and died in late-1994 of an overdose.
Konnan was a few years into his career and already as star in Mexico. McMahon had his eye on the fella and as Konnan had a few tryouts, McMahon was inexplicably already at work on the Max Moom gimmick. He did eventually come to the WWF in September of 1992 but soon left because apparently he was riding high on Mexico fame and couldn’t be assed to deal with Vince’s cartoon character bullshit. The Max Moon character went to Paul Diamond and Konnan earned his U.S fame in WCW a few years later.
This was the first match on a big WWF taping – Hogan vs. Flair, a couple Bret Hart IC Title defenses, Macho Man & Sid vs. Jake the Snake & The Undertaker, and a whole bunch of squashes.
Konnan gets to enter to the Young Stallions theme, while Barr is already in the ring. Barr wears a Save Pee-Wee Herman shirt, and I’d say “because of course he does” but I am seriously shocked that got past the gorilla position. He attacks pre-bell and seems like a psychopath with his screaming, zubaz pants, face-paint and the Herman shirt. Konnan hits his spots with gusto and feels like a guy Vince would’ve brought in back in 1985 to pop the crowd on undercards. Barr does a tope and sets up a plancha, but Konnan crotches him. A tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and lariat from the top wins it. **
When Stars Align – Super Loco (Super Crazy) vs. El Hijo del Santo (WWF Super Astros 11/22/98)
I wasn’t hardcore in 1998 so seeing Santo in the WWF absolutely blows my mind. I love that the description for this clip is about this being Super Crazy before he was Super Crazy, when god damn Santo is in the WWF. He only worked a couple shows and gets a big time pop here. Crazy is 24 but a decade into his career. He had joined AAA in 1996 and the WWF’s working agreement with AAA led to this and eventually Paul Heyman noticing him and introducing him to the world.
El Hijo del Santo meanwhile is a legend. He had just turned face again after a weird heel turn in the mid-90s.
Super Astros was basically NXT Mexico, to be honest. It was the WWF’s foray into creating their own Lucha Libre program targeted at Latin America television markets. Carlos Carbera and Hugo Savinovich were on commentary and guys from AAA and CMLL were featured.
It only lasted six months.
This Super Astros taping was followed by a taping for Shotgun Saturday Night before a live episode of Sunday Night Heat. The Rock beat Marc Mero, X-Pac beat Taka Michinoku, The Hardy Boyz beat Animal & Droz, Steve Regal beat Bradshaw, The Brood beat The Oddities, Steve Blackman beat D-Lo Brown, and Jeff Jarrett beat Val Venis. Every match went 60 seconds.
Current Spanish Announce Team member Marcelo Rodriguez, sporting a cool-ass haircut and cool-ass leather jacket, intros the show. The match is 3 minutes long but holy shit Santo is doing matwork in the WWF Attitude Era. And it’s against Super Crazy. Crazy does some absolutely batty stuff (springboard moonsault, corkscrew dive) before Santo locks on the camel clutch. **3/4
The Heat Comes to OVW – Eddie Guerrero vs. Nova (OVW 11/20/02)
It’s Eddie By God Guerrero in Ohio Valley Wrestling! He had recently returned to the WWE after his release the previous year for drunk driving and a brief but awesome run on the independent scene where he worked with Rey Mysterio and CM Punk. He was in the middle of the Los Guerreros run and like many top stars at the time, stopped by the WWE’s developmental territory to give a young fella the rub. The young fella in this instance is Nova, who had signed with the WWE right around the time Eddie returned. He had previously made a name for himself in ECW as Super Nova and bWo guy. He eventually debuted in 2006 as Simon Dean, but made most of his impact behind the scenes as assistant booker in OVW and eventually head of talent development in OVW, which basically made him the head of talent relations in the WWE.
Nova had such a crazy run – a guy from ECW where the WWE was like “hey, we can do something with him” and then he becomes a jobber and then he becomes high-up in talent relations and then he’s gone.
Also on this particular OVW taping: Matt Morgan vs. Seven, Doug Basham vs. Eric Angle, Johnny Jeter vs. Lance Cade, and Charlie Haas vs. Chris Kanyon. The future was….. bright?
This match has an interesting atmosphere as Cornette is screaming his head off and Eddie Guerrero is in Ohio Valley Wrestling. But Eddie seemed a step behind here – weird pauses in his promos, a few spots that didn’t hit right. Maybe he was still hurting from the Edge No DQ Match. So the match is very low rent Eddie even if Eddie is Eddie. Nova is athletic but feels goofy going toe-to-toe with him. They almost blow a ref bump too. There’s a little drama towards the end and then The Damaja attacks Nova and Eddie hits a frog splash and it’s over. **1/2
Last Battle Battle of Atlanta Full Show (GCW 10/23/83)
This is WWE Network just being cocky. Oh, y’all thought there was no Battle of Atlanta? Here it is. Not enough? WE HAVE THE FULL SHOW. This is a streaming service ran by GODS.
Right before that ince McMahon bought out GCW’s Saturday TV timeslot, the territory was HOT with a violent Buzz Sawyer/Tommy Rich feud that culminated in the only thing that could contain them: a steel cage match with an enclosed top. The footage of this match was for years thought to be lost and those who had seen it spoke of it in mythical terms: over-the-top violence and the perfect culmination of a wrestling blood feud.
Legend had it that Ole Anderson threw out the tapes that would have had this show, but when WWE bought the WCW’s tape library the show was found on a reel titled “Omni Live Events.”
This is that show.
1. Les Thornton vs. Chief Joe Lightfoot: Under the darkened GCW lights, the bulky Thornton looks like Bruno Jr. There’s some cool hold-trading here and I dug Lightfoot taking a suplex and keeping on a chinlock, but this is too much of Lightfoot working that chinlock. *1/2
2. Bruno Sammartino Jr. vs. Pat Rose: On the other hand, here is a match that maybe needed a headlock. This is 5 minutes of heatless punch-kick non-action before Bruno Jr wins with a powerslam. Bruno Jr would go by his real name, David, a couple years later in the WWF and really not improve a whole lot. DUD
3. Mask vs. Mask: Mr. Wrestling II vs. Bob Roop: The story here is that Mr. Wrestling (a dick) and Mr. Wrestling II (our hero) are feuding but Mr. Wrestling is injured so can’t compete in the Mask match. So big Bob Roop is his replacement and if Roop loses, he unmasks.What a sweet match old school match this is. Guys in the GCW territory took their time, but when they got things going it was magic. The crowd here is 1000% in on Wrestling II and that’s amplified by the incredible timing he has on his holds and attacks. At one point he grabs Roop’s singlet straps and just wails away at his gut.
God, the old school wrestling is too good: The shoving match they have here to get to the lockup is SO great. Roop uses Mr. Wrestling’s crutch and the crowd FLIPS. They are incensed as Roop works over wrestling and they lose their shit when Wrestling does an awesome struggle out of a Roop carry then schoolboys him for 3. ***1/2
There’s only a single camera (and no commentary), so it pans to Mr. Wrestling on the outside (and also the black void that is the back of a person’s head) as he’s told to unmask. He does it but there’s no zoom-in. He covers his head with his shirt but a fan tears it off and he sulks to the back. This might have been the last of Mr. Wrestling, as he retired around this time. He was the guy Ric Flair infamously said kept kayfabe after their 1975 plane crash, which included not saying his name when being put in an ambulance and working a couple weeks later.
4. NWA National Heavyweight Title: Brett Wayne [c] vs. Jake Roberts: This is a 20+ minute match that has the story and some of the drama of a 20+ minute match but not necessarily the competitor, as Wayne just doesn’t feel like a strong enough wrestler to put their story over the top. Jake is great though and this is really all about him being a pro who was ready to be a major star – his reactions and selling carry a match with a guy a foot shorter than him.
The best part of this match is probably this incredulous fan behind the camera who’s shouting is picked up: “GET UP, HE DIDN’T DO ANYTHING!” and “COME ON REF, YOU SAW IT!”
Wayne is Buzz Sawyer’s brother and kind of a blank slate of a babyface, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing – he has good fire, sells the hell out of his bandaged leg, and rips a huge bladejob. He takes forever to work out of a double wristlock but when he does the pop is astounding, especially by a few old ladies in the front row. A few wrestlers including Mr. Wrestling II and Ole Anderson come to ringside to rally Wayne as Jake goes after his taped leg and he bleeds and bleeds. II finally throws in the towel and Ole runs in and covers Wayne with his body. Despite the surrender, Wayne retains the title as it wasn’t by pin and submission. When the announcer says that, Wayne gets in a few shots on Jake and it makes me wish more of the match was like that. ***1/4
5. NWA National TV Title: Ronnie Garvin [c] vs. The Great Kabuki w/ Gary Hart: Great Kabuki is young and spry and way more mobile than I am used to. It’s like he spontaneously broke down a year later. This seems to have a gimmick where Kabuki has to beat Garvin in under 10 minutes to win the title. He doesn’t. The match is mostly long Kabuki holds combined with Ronnie wobbly selling or throwing punches. It’s fine. The loud fan shouts at one point as Gary Hart rakes Garvin’s eyes, “GET HIM! LET ME HAVE ‘EM, I’LL HIT EM… bastard … god DANGIT!” Some guys’ head blocks the camera so it misses a Kabuki kick that pins Garvin, though the title again stays with the champ. **3/4
6. NWA National Tag Team Title: The Road Warriors [c] vs. Jimmy Valiant & Pez Whatley: “Were gonna kick some booty tonight” hollers Valiant as he and Pez charge the ring and attack The Road Warriors. This is like 3 minutes long… the Warriors bumping for Valiant and Pez is wonderful but the referee goes down quickly, Valiant throws a chair in the ring, Bruno Jr. runs in and starts a countout against the Warriors, Bruno Jr. gets dragged outside, and the referee rings the bell. *1/4
7. Steel Cage Match: Tommy Rich vs. Buzz Sawyer (Paul Ellering in a Shark Cage): I talked about this match and feud a lot more in the post on the first Hidden Gems Collection. It’s a really good match that’s just too drab and boring sometimes. It works for the crowd but it doesn’t work as well in a historical context. Still, it’s one of those legendary matches that isn’t a legendary great match and that’s kind of OK – it’s still legendary.
I watched it again and I still love Buzz pulling on the loose mesh cage top. Tommy Rich BLEEEEDS. Buzz does too but I mean Rich BLEEEEEEDS. Buzz’ bumps into the cage, when he really goes for them, are incredible. Viewed within the confimenets of Georgia style it might be a bit of an epic – they use low key action and big selling and pepper in big spots. That style has been done a lot more interesting than here though, and it doesn’t lend itself to valuable use of wrestling watching time. Here’s what I wrote last time, questionable use of grammar here and there and all:
The match itself is just chaos, though it doesn’t quite live up to the years of hype – and I mean really, what could? As it is it’s really fun, perhaps a tad slllooowww but a total spectacle and bloodbath with two grizzled dudes just brawling. No referee dares enter the ring, so the announcer has to count pins over the loudspeaker. There’s a nice shot of the mesh on the ceiling of the cage early on, and Buzz goes right after Rich’s arm – slamming it into the cage, slamming Rich into the cage. It’s nothing fancy but the crowd is hot and Rich’s hair is soaked in blood a minute in and that’s really all you need sometimes. Sawyer bleeds himself and by the end of the match both guys are just on their knees, wailing away at each other. Buzz takes a HUGE crossbody into the cage and Rich keeps throwing him into it before pinning him 1-2-3. It was a damn bloody FIGHT that felt legit, though the legit bloody fight has been done better at other points. As it ends, both guys just are just laid out and completely out of it, and hearing the announcer yell “Ladies and gentleman, please stand back! Please stand back!” and an official yelling “Can I get some help!?” just adds to the madness. Star ratings are stupid because in a vacuum this isn’t incredible but it’s a legendary match and totally worth checking out. ***1/4
As a result of Tommy winning this match, Ole Anderson got 5 minutes with Paul Ellering, who is lowered down from his cage.
8. Steel Cage Match: Ole Anderson vs. Paul Ellering: Paul Ellering helps Buzz out of the ring and Ole Anderson enters in a polo shirt and dress pants and GOES TO WORK. The Paul/Ole showdown is fun and more a traditional kind of match with Ole all fired up and Ellering bumping like crazy. Ole’s punches are awesome – he reels back big for them and maximizes the reaction, while Ellering bumps and bleeds all over. The crowd’s going crazy at the start, though they do lose steam as the match continues. Ole’s pants rip in a way where he’s almost wearing shorts by the end of it. He bleeds at some point, Ellering takes control, the crowd chants O-LE, they trade punches, and Ole headbutts Ellering to win. ***
The entire show is really good and I’ll be real here I liked that Bob Roop vs. Mr. Wrestling II match more than the actual Last Battle of Atlanta.
Destruction After Dark – The Undertaker & Kane lay out Stone Cold Steve Austin & Triple H (RAW Dark Segment 4/16/01)
This is a 5-minute dark segment after RAW. If you haven’t seen one before, it might be interesting. If you have, it’s probably exactly what you expect. This is only really interesting in that it was just a couple weeks after the infamous Stone Cold heel turn and formation of the brief Two Man Power Trip stable.
It also took place during the title switch galore build to Backlash 2001, where Austin & Triple H defended their WWF and IC Title’s against The Undertaker & Kane’s Tag Titles. Austin had won the WWF Title from The Rock at WrestleMania, Kane won the Hardcore Title at WrestleMania, Triple H won the IC Title right after WrestleMania, Jeff Hardy won the IC Title a week later, and then Triple H won the IC Title back right before this segment. The next night, Kane lost the Hardcore Title to Rhyno but with The Undertaker beat Edge & Christian for the Tag Titles. Woo.
Also prior to this segment: Edge & Christian retained the Tag Titles vs. The Holly Cousins, Kane retained the Hardcore Title vs. Steven Richards, Chris Jericho beat Kurt Angle by DQ, Chris Benoit beat William Regal in 5 minutes, the dream team of Billy Gunn, Raven & Test beat The other Radicalz, and Big Show beat Kaientai in 30 seconds, and Triple H defeating Jeff Hardy to regain the IC Title. After the title switch, the Two Man Power Trip beat down The Hardys and teased hitting Lita with a chair until those good ol’ Brothers of Destruction made the save.
The only really cool thing about this is that Kane chokeslams Triple H while he swigs a beer in his free hand. And that honestly might be worth watching the entire thing for. Otherwise, you’re getting staredowns. You’re getting teases of confrontation. You’re getting punches . A double chokeslam. Triple H selling. Etc. etc. The Brothers of Destruction beer bash might be cool.
Destruction Comes to OVW – The Undertaker & Kane vs. Diamond Dallas Page & Leviathan w/ Sinn (OVW 6/30/01)
These two uploads are here either because The Brothers of Destruction are teaming up soon or as a parody of the NJPW Destruction shows.
The setup for this wacky match I never knew existed is that it was going to be Undertaker vs. Leviathan (the soon-to-be Batista) with Mick Foley as the special guest referee, but Foley couldn’t be there.
This is a brief Bolin/Cornette promo and a brief last few minutes of the match. Like, on paper the match is interesting enough, but it’s OVW video quality and half the clip is Kenny Bolin. Only the finish gets shown, and to be honest I would’ve much preferred to see Undertaker’s choices at working up the Lousille marks early than him make a lazy hot tag. If you’re going to show this bad footage, show me the full thing you cowards.
DDP had just revealed himself as The Undertaker’s wife’s infamous stalker a couple weeks before this, so you could say there was some heat between Dally and Taker. He’d soon join up with Kanyon and feud with the Brothers of Destruction as they moved on from the Two Man Power Trip. Batista meanwhile is a year into his run and already in this match.
Also on this insane show: Damaja, Rob Conway, Brian Keck & BROCK LESNAR wrestling Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn, Randy Orton vs. Rico, Mark Henry & Big Show vs. John Cena & Mr. Black, Nick Dinsmore vs. The Machine in a Career vs. Mask Match, Bobby Eaton teaming with Ron Waterman to face The Disciples of Synn, and Flash Flanagan defending the OVW Heavyweight Title against Chris Jericho.
Bolin is with Synn and Jim Cornette in the ring and announces that Mick Foley is out (booo) but Diamond Dallas Page will be Foley’s replacement as referee (moderate pop). Cornette gloats that he knows something they don’t: DDP IS here (pop), but he’s not a referee – he’s a partner, and The Undertaker’s partner has got… got… it’s gotta be KANE!
DDP front facelock, Taker tag, double chokeslam and The Disciples of Synn (Damien & Payne) run-in for the DQ. Man, Batista was so bad for a while. The Synn boys get double powerbombs and The Undertaker cuts a post-match promo that he is honored to be there on this historic night yessir indeed.
