Josh Mathews talks about the 80s being prime time for cage matches. This transitions into a discussion of Ric Flair within the confine of cage matches and what he then did in the 1990s. Of course, the next match is…
-World Heavyweight Championship `Nature Boy’ Ric Flair (w/Woman) (champion) vs. Lex Luger (WCW United States Champion) (05.19.1990)
Match in Five Words or Less: Luger Chokes Again
Match Summary/Analysis: First thing I notice about this match? Woman’s hair. My God does it look huge. The cage on top appears to turn inward to further prevent interference. Flair and Luger had a million matches for the world heavyweight championship, and they were all really good. Why? Because Ric Flair is awesome and Lex Luger still tried at this time. Amazingly, Luger never actually defeated Flair to become the title holder. Apparently, some people in WCW wanted Luger to win here. That will explain the finish. Thankfully, good sense prevailed and Sting was able to win the title a couple months later to complete their epic storyline. Match takes forever to get started as the referee has to check Woman for foreign objects. AND HE FOUND ONE! The cage looks more like a rinky dink Hell in a Cell as opposed to the regular cages you might have seen on the first disk. Luger no sells an early chop from Flair and maintains control for the early part of the match. Flair always sold like a champ for Luger. No different here. Thumb to the eye and a series of chops by Flair… do absolutely nothing. Flair tries climbing out. Luger gives chase at first but starts selling his knee because his injured knee was part of the storyline. What’s that called kids? Psychology Flair takes advantage and works over what body part? THE KNEE! Luger no sells a vertical suplex and goes back to work. Flair goes back to the cage climbing trick. Luger brings him down quickly. Into the cage goes Flair. Again they climb. Flair is sent into the cage hard multiple times. Shockingly, he starts bleeding. Then Flair is sent into the post. More punishment so Flair tries again to leave. He tries sending Luger into the cage but eats it himself. Wow. SUPERPLEX! Luger begins selling his injured knee. Then and only then can Flair finally maintain some sustained offense. Flair focuses on the knee. Figure four leglock while holding on the ropes. The rest of the Four Horsemen (Arn and Ole Anderson plus Sid) make their way to ringside. Luger makes his comeback. Horsemen try climbing the cage, and the crowd now seems distracted with everything going on. Luger hits a clothesline and nearly gets three. Sting comes out to help his friend. It’s here I notice Sid is in a tuxedo. Good lord. El Gigante also comes out to help Luger. Picture a thinner Great Khali for a modern reference. What was turning out to be a great match has now become a cartoon. The cage raises slightly, giving Barry Windham an opportunity to come in and save Flair from losing the title. Referee calls for a DQ. Match was going well until the last couple minutes where it fell off a cliff. I’ve seen these two guys have far better matches. Horsemen beat down Luger down in the cage until Sting and Gigante finally gets the cage up and cleans house.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Lex Luger (Ric Flair keeps the championship)/17:21/***
-We get an Ultimate Warrior promo before the next match. Best idea ever. Warrior gets a terrible joke in. He snarls and then proceeds to cut a promo that makes absolutely no sense.
-WWE Championship: Ultimate Warrior (champion) vs. `Ravishing’ Rick Rude (w/Bobby Heenan) (08.20.1990)
Match in Five Words or Less: More Like A Cartoon
Match Summary/Analysis: At least Flair and Luger still had some allusions about being an athletic competition where a title meant something. This is more like a cartoon. This dichotomy is also seen in the announcers. The previous match had Jim Ross and Bob Caudle. Here we’ve got Vince “What a Manuever” McMahon and Roddy Piper. Match starts before Warrior can even get in the cage. Warrior sends Rude flying down and hits a double axe. Rude gets a chance to meet every side of the cage quickly. These two had a couple excellent matches the previous for the Intercontinental championship. Piper burying Warrior throughout the match was far more entertaining than this contest. Warrior charges and meets the cage. Rude tries going out, but he gets caught. Offense by Rude. He goes for the Rude Awakening. Warrior powers out of it. Big splash met with knees. Rude Awakening… but he goes to climb the cage ON THE SAME SIDE AS THE DOOR! This is stupid. Big fist drop. Rude climbs to the top of the cage but is met with a shot to the gut. Rude just made himself look like a complete geek. Warrior tries heading out the door, but Bobby Heenan sends the door into Warrior. Rude FINALLY covers but only gets two. Double headbutt and they’re both down. Heenan tries pulling Rude out the door. Warrior pulls Rude’s pants down. Heenan ends up in the ring and takes more bumps in a minute than these two guys did the entire match. Warrior roids up and goes into his little dance. Series of clotheslines. Press slam. Up and over the cage he goes. He mocks Rude before dropping down to the floor. WWE is not making their cage matches look very good considering what they’ve included on this DVD.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: STILL WWE Champion-Ultimate Warrior/10:05/*
-Ultimate Warrior vs. `Macho King’ Randy Savage (w/Sensational Sherri) (01.21.1991)
Match in Five Words or Less: Sherri makes A Difference
Match Summary/Analysis: Brawl starts outside the ring because these two guys really don’t like each other. Warrior goes crazy on Savage. Savage cost Warrior the world title a few days before at the Royal Rumble. Brother Love and Sean Mooney are on commentary. They might be the worst team of announcers ever. Into the cage and Savage is not doing very well. Hey Brother Love, STOP SCREAMING! Savage cannot get any offense in. Savage finally sends Warrior into the cage. Savage gets some offense before covering. Referee comes in to make a two count. That was awkward. Savage knees Warrior into the cage. Savage works Warrior over in the corner. Savage heads to the top and hits an elbow. 1-2-NO! Why didn’t he just climb over? Warrior roids up and dances. Series of clotheslines. Big splash met with knees. Savage tries to climb over. Warrior allegedly pulls Savage up and back over the cage. I don’t buy that for a second. Sherri knocks the referee down and heads into the cage. She attacks Warrior and even chokes him out. Savage drops down and actually wins. An okayish match that helped lead to one of the greatest matches in Wrestlemania history. Sherri is stripped down to her lingerie by Warrior. He continues his assault on Savage before everyone from the back has to break them out. Sherri, somehow back fully clothed, gets press slammed for her trouble… and stepped on. The Ultimate Warrior. What a babyface.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Randy Savage/10:30/**
-Discussion of the Shawn Michaels/Marty Jannetty feud.
-Intercontinental Championship: Shawn Michaels (w/Diesel) (champion) vs. Marty Jannetty (08.17.1993)
Match in Five Words or Less: Announcing Saves The Day
Match Summary/Analysis: This is not their historic Monday Night Raw match from earlier in the year, but we do get Johnny Polo on commentary. He might be better known to you fans as Raven. Still hilarious though. You can tell it’s the 90’s based on how colorful Jannetty’s tights are. Back and forth early on. Jannetty slingshots Michaels into the cage. Monsoon buries the referee for going in the ring and counting. Then he buries the idea of pinning people in the cage. Guess he didn’t watch many Ric Flair cage matches. The announcing is a million times better than this match. Michaels charges and hits himself out. No wonder he had to retire for a bit. Jannetty tries going out the door, but Diesel prevents his departure. Michaels whips Jannetty into the steel. Michaels tries heading out the door, but Jannetty stops him. Monsoon buries the director for not getting a good camera angle. Awesome. Janetty pulls Michaels down, and we see a bit more of him than most of us would want. Long chinlock. IN A CAGE? Jannetty out of the hold and Michaels sent into the cage. Series of fists by the challenger. Atomic drop and Michaels bumps into the cage. Michaels climbs up and over the cage. Janetty pulls him by the hair and on to the top. They battle on the top of the cage. Jannetty almost punches Michaels out of the cage. Hip toss off the top. Jannetty has to re-climb the cage. He kicks Diesel away. Diesel climbs up. They battle. Michaels works his way out of the door to retain the belt. A passable match between the two partners. Monsoon and Polo were tremendous.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: STILL Intercontinental Champion–Shawn Michaels/12:49/***
-Mankind vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley (w/Chyna) (08.03.1997)
Match in Five Words or Less: Dude Love Lives!
Match Summary/Analysis: These two had a pretty good three month feud. Helmsley actually defeated Mankind to win the King of the Ring that year. This actually opened Summerslam and wasn’t as great of a brawl as you might think. Did anyone actually have a good match in the big blue cage? Helmsley almost gets out of the cage ten seconds in. Helmsley pretty much goes for the escape whenever he can in the early part of the match. Piledriver and it looks like Hunter may have nearly been killed. Mandible claw. Chyna interjects and chokes Mankind against the cage. Spinning clothesline and Mankind goes over. Chyna clocks him right in the nuts. Brutal shot. Helmsley with a superplex off the top of the cage. Helmsley could go out the door, but he decides to continue beating Mankind up. Why would he not walk out after obsessively trying to escape to start the match?Helmsley sends Mankind head first into the cage. This would never happen in 2011 WWE. Just brutal looking. Mankind pulls Helmsley back into the cage after a couple of attempts to get him out. Whip to the corner and a knee to the midsection by Mankind. Chyna hits another forearm on Mankind from the outside. Helmsley takes advantage. Atomic drop and clothesline by Mankind. Helmsley uses the knee. Suplex sets up Helmsley hanging on the cage. Charging elbow. Into the cage. Hunter is thrashed about the ring, all the while hitting the steel a lot. Mankind backed into the cage. Battle on top of the cage. Helmsley crotches himself as Mankind merely falls. Helmsley then gets his foot caught in the ropes. Mankind tries going out the door, but Chyna rams the door in his face. Referee goes down. Chyna brings a chair into the ring. Mankind slingshots Helmsley into Chyna, who is sent flying off the cage wall. Double arm DDT on the chair. Mankind could easily climb over, but there’s something he needs to do. He rips his shirt. Pretend there’s a heart by his chest to signify the fact that he’s Dude Love. ELBOW DROP OFF THE CAGE! Now Mankind/Dude Love can leave. Chyna tries to pull her man out of the ring but to no avail. Mankind wins. Dude Love’s music plays.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Mankind/17:23/**1/2
-Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Mr. McMahon (02.14.1999)
Match in Five Words or Less: Austin’s Revenge
Match Summary/Analysis: While Vince McMahon had been a part of matches before, this was really his first singles match. And what a singles match it was as Austin and McMahon has been engaged in a war for nearly a year. This is still when WWE at least pretended to tell stories. If you’re looking for a four star classic, look elsewhere. This definitely isn’t a great match, but it has a couple of moments that have been replayed on WWE television for many years. The first is Vince McMahon taking a giant bump into the announce table. The second is Big Show making his WWE debut by tossing Austin into one side of the cage, and whole side collapsing as Austin was able to win the match. McMahon flipping Austin off during random points in the match was also pretty hilarious as well. The official match only lasts eight minutes, but the segment itself lasts almost 30. This could have been just as effective in half the time.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Steve Austin/7:52/*
[WWE Championship: Triple H (champion) vs. The Rock (10.02.1999)
Match in Five Words or Less: Why?
Match Summary/Analysis: Not sure why they had to include this except for Rock’s promo, which ruled as per usual. Rock threatens to shove an oompa loompa up Hunter’s ass. True story. Rock rips apart a fan in the front row for booing him. Fair enough Between 1999 and early 2001, Rock and Hunter met roughly 10,000 times. They even wrestled in a number of cage matches during this period. This wasn’t anything special in the ring. In fact, I recall this being the last cage where they used a blue or black barred cage instead of the fencing. WWE was still desperately trying to get Triple H over as a top heel. They were a few months away from that reality. This is a slightly toned down version of their usual matches. Nothing bad but nothing to go out of your way to see. Screwy ending as it seems like everyone and their mother run out. Chyna. The British Bulldog. Pat Patterson. Gerald Brisco. Shane McMahon Vince McMahon. Bulldog tosses Rock back in the ring before powerslamming Shane. That Shane sure wasn’t afraid to bump. Bulldog liberally intereferes and beats both champion and challenger up. Chyna rams the cage door into Rock’s face… after playing a babyface against Jeff Jarrett not even an hour earlier. Then she helps Triple H out of the cage to win. Vince McMahon comes out after the match to insure Bulldog stays in the cage to take his whooping. Rock bottom. People’s elbow.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: STILL WWE Champion-Triple H/24:12/***
Disk 2 Thoughts: I wish WWE would put a little more effort into these DVD’s because it really felt like this was just a random set of matches put together to make a buck. It’s no wonder WWE is unable to sell as many DVDs. Thanks to repeats and poor matches choices, it’s going to be tough for me to recommend this DVD.