Excellent. I’m going to load it up tomorrow.
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Yea ill probably give it a watch tomorrow as well
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Wasn’t the HHH v Mero match in this all to do with Sable?
Yea HHH had Sable as a second in a match and started mouthing off to her so Mero made the save
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Who vs what rivalry?
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Backlash took place in Puerto Rico, I’ve just caught up to some highlights and damn the crowd was amazing.
The pop for Carlito’s return and Bunny’s entrance was insaneeeeeee.
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The picture they chose fucking ended me.
Plumber Moxley looking like a pig with his screwdriver, talking absolute nonsense as usual.
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KING OF THE RING 1996
Steve Austin vs Marc Mero - 6/10
Good opener here. Austin has really good chemistry early on in his career with Marc Mero and Savio Vega and it shows here. Owen Hart is hilarious on commentary (as he would be all night)
Jake Roberts vs Vader - DUD
The Godwinns vs The Smoking Gunns - 4/10
The Godwinns at this point are the last of the 1995 “Every wrestler must have a part time job” gimmick. A dull match with nothing exciting happening at all.
Jerry Lawler vs Ultimate Warrior - DUD
Mankind vs Undertaker - 7/10
Match of the night for me. This is the Undertaker we have NEEDED for ages now. Moving fast, throwing fast swift punches and taking bigger bumps than normal. It’s great we finally get a more mobile Taker and it’s against Mick Foley of all people, a man who could put on a classic with anyone.
Goldust vs Ahmed Johnson - 4/10
You can tell Ahmed HATED this angle. Toward the end he started throwing shoot punches at Goldust for planting a kiss on him without covering up again, something which Johnson hated legit. Outside of the very real punches being thrown, it was okay. Ahmed is still green at this point. Does he always miss them over the top rope dives to the outside?
Steve Austin vs Jake Roberts - DUD
I don’t normally comment on DUD matches, but it’d be rude not to say something about arguably the most important match in the company history. We get the birth of Austin 3:16 here and that is enough to make it awesome. The only reason I gave this a dud is because the match barely clocks in at 4 minutes, not enough to rate.
British Bulldog vs Shawn Michaels - 6/10
I guess Shawn and Bulldog wanted to try this time? Their IYH match was terrible, and whilst this one was better, there were no excuses to be doing rest holds 15 minutes into a 25 minute match. It did get a lot better after that until that very confusing finish, which prevented me from giving it a 7.
Final Rating - 5/10
I did enjoy this PPV. We of course get the birth of Austin 3:16 and the debut of Brian Pillman, who cut an INCREDIBLE promo mid event. The only thing that lets this PPV down for me is the amount of quick matches, and the matches that were given time, outside of Mankind vs Taker, just were a bit too slow and sluggish for my liking. 5/10.
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Literally loading this up now to slam my own review. Can’t wait
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That will always be a standout feud from that period for me. As a child the mandible claw freaked me out. Must be coming up the boiler room match in the next few ppvs?
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Mankind - Undertaker
Bret and Hart Foundation - Austin
The two best feuds from 96-97 in my eyes.
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Stone Cold vs. Marc Mero
Great opening match. Very enjoyable and Stone Cold was so mobile pre-injury it’s such a shame it all got cut short on 97 with the neck injury. All in all, Mero is a very underrated worker and like you said Austin had some great chemistry with him and Vegas.
7/10
Vader vs. Jake Roberts
Shit match. Not long. Jake had no business being in the WWF at this stage and Vader should have absolutely been booked to be a total monster but HBK is HBK.
Skipped Godwinns match.
Lawyer vs. Ultimate Warrior
Crap.
2/10
Mankind vs. The Undertaker
Excellent brawl and really helped get Mankind over. Completely agree this was the beginning of the best development Taker made and that was moving quicker and looking more varied in the ring. The zombie Taker style got stale and limited his matches so transitioning to a more MMA style (different holds, faster strikes and movement) was the best decision he ever made. Mankind becomes a main event guy after feuding with Taker and this was a great match.
7/10
Goldust vs. Ahmed Johnson
Goldust is a main event quality guy. He was misused by WWF in my eyes and I think he had so much controversy around his character he could have been golden (no pun intended). Johnson is shit, clearly hated working with Goldust and was a dangerous worker. Rhodes is a legend, and the son of a legend too. But he definitely did too much with the slow heat stuff in this period and that hurt his character in my eyes.
4/10
Steve Austin vs. Jake Roberts
Not a good match. No time really. But the right outcome and obviously leads to the most iconic promo in the history of the business. Why do I call it that? Because it birthed a star who would go on to become biggest drawing wrestler of all time and one of the most compelling characters ever.
2/10 for the match, 10/10 for the promo
Shawn Michaels vs. British Bulldog
Soooo… they were definitely on in this one. Definitely worked it well, a good match and all in all a good main event. Definitely had some unnecessary moments to it and I don’t think these guys hit gold as often as they could have. But still a good main event and let’s be honest HBK could work with anyone he was that good. As a kid I always used to think Bulldog should have been a champion but in hindsight I think WWF made the right decision keeping the belt off of him.
Overall rating: 6/10
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As you are both watching that period of time
It’s funny to see Vader and HBK having a friendly chat knowing what’s to come further down the line
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Yeah @Mr_Nostalgia, boiler room brawl is 2 PPVs away.
Good stuff there @SRCJJ, I didn’t rate the main event at all. Could of been better with the talent in the ring
I’ll probably be watching the next PPV tonight, International Incident
Then it’s Summerslam afterwards, right?
Stupid HBK trying to bury Vader
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Yep, don’t think I’ve ever watched that SummerSlam all the way through
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As a young kid it was quite strange to see the WWF move to that type of gimmick march, along with the streetfight at wrestlemania. Don’t remember seeing them do anything similar prior to 96.
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Had this show up on YouTube
@RockyMaivia Owen’s last push in the WWE.
A spin on the Rock’s theme of the same time. Both absolute bangers.
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