DaveyBoy’s Wrestling Menu – Backlash Review + Piper DVD Review (Disc-2)
Submitted by DaveyBoy on Wednesday, May 2, 2007 at 1:17 AM EST






THE WRESTLING MENU #229

Welcome one and all to the 229th edition of The Wrestling Menu, the column that is sure to satisfy your taste buds when it comes to discussing all things wrestling.

Before I even get into the wild world of professional wrestling today, I must congratulate the Australian cricket team for successfully completing the threepeat when it comes to the World Cup. Once more, just like 4 years ago, they went through the entire competition undefeated, and seeing the ball fly all over the Caribbean, especially in the final, was indeed a pleasure.

Today, I will review the Backlash pay-per-view that the WWE held this past Sunday night, while also posting Part-2 of my 3 part DVD Review on the ‘Roddy Piper: Born To Controversy’ DVD set. If you have not yet had time to read my review of Disc-1 (that I posted a fortnight ago), you may still do so by clicking on the following link: http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/2007/articles/1176870358.php

On with the rowdy show…..


APPETIZERS – Backlash Review

For those that cannot recall my previous PPV review columns, this is the key that explains what the final PPV Rating means:

<50: Ask for a refund for not only your money, but also your time. [F] (Armageddon '04)
50-54: Mediocre & disappointing. [D] (EG: No Way Out '07)
55-59: Average. [C] (EG: Cyber Sunday '06)
60-64: Worth A Watch. [C+] (EG: No Mercy '06)
65-69: Good event that was worth the money. [B] (EG: WrestleMania 24)
70-74: Very good. [B+] (EG: Royal Rumble '07)
75-79: Make sure you add this ppv to your video or dvd collection. [A] (EG: One Night Stand '05)
80+ : Make sure that the video or dvd is locked in a safe & cannot be erased. Memorable. [A+]

THE HARDYS defeated LANCE CADE & TREVOR MURDOCH to Retain the World Tag-Team Titles: Matt & Jeff get yet another great pop upon entry & it continues through to a chant in the match, as Matt & Cade begin. Following both teams getting a tag, Jeff hits a nice Whisper In The Wind into a blockbuster & follows it up by throwing himself over the top-rope to take out both opponents on the floor! The heels get into the bout when Murdoch counters a Matt bulldog, and Cade follows up soon after with a Rock Bottom into a power-bomb on Jeff for a 2 count! A Cade-assisted leg-drop by Murdoch then gets the same result, as the heel challengers control the next few minutes with predominantly solid pro-wrestling.

Jeff finally gets the hot tag to brother Matt, who cleans house (if not as excitingly as usual) & gets a 2 count with a side-effect that is broken up when Cade hurls himself off the top-rope half way across the ring! Murdoch then gets a 2 count with his messy flipping powerbomb finisher, but a fireman's carry gets reversed into a Twist of Fate & (with an assist from a Jeff Swanton) the decisive pinfall at the 15 minute mark. Very good opener that was an old-school tag-team match in many ways, but with enough variety to keep it fresh. While it lacked some excitement in parts & dragged a little when the heels were in charge, the action was very solid & these guys fairly easily stretched the duration out to 15 minutes. Match Rating: 7

MELINA defeated MICKIE JAMES to Retain the Women's Title: Some flat, although competitive, action kicks things off before Melina fakes an eye injury to fire Mickie up. Heading to the top-rope proves a bad move for the face challenger though as Melina takes her legs out & Mickie falls all the way to the floor. Melina follows up with a couple of strange (in a good way) submission holds, one of which she contorts into an innovative pinning attempt! The champ then ups the heel factor with chokes, hair pulls & rope leverage, before coming off the top-rope with yet another interesting move for a 2 count.

The 2 then both show their flexibility with dual splits, before Mickie gets a near-fall with a neck-breaker variation & a top-rope cross body block. Melina rakes the eyes though & then hits a reverse DDT soon after for the victory at the 9 minute mark. This just goes to show what some hard work & ample time can do for any match-up between 2 wrestlers. Even here, the 2 initially didn't appear to mesh well together, as it was very difficult to get involved in the opening few minutes of the bout, despite some ok action. But the match lifted dramatically when Melina added some character & innovation. A genuine pleasant surprise! Match Rating: 7

CHRIS BENOIT defeated MVP to retain the United States Title: After an initial feeling out process, Benoit wastes no time in reminding his opponent of his crossface finisher. The 2 then head to the mat with some good action where MVP holds his own, but Benoit gets the better of, ending with his alternate sharp-shooter finisher. MVP reaches the ropes though & follows up soon after with a big boot to the back of the head. Following a couple of MVP restholds targetting the neck, Benoit hits his triple German suplexes, but MVP then gets 2 counts with a hot-shot & a neckbreaker. Benoit then locks on a crossface from out of nowhere, but MVP reaches the ropes once more & goes back to the mat with a nice armbar variation.

A missed MVP big boot then leads to 5 German suplexes, but the champ only finds his opponent's knees with his top-rope swan-dive headbutt. MVP capitalizes with a half-crab that Benoit sells to death before reaching the ropes. He then counters a suplex and, following a series of moves & counters, Benoit scores the pinfall with a small package at the 13 minute mark. Nice bout that wasn't too dissimilar to their WrestleMania 23 & SmackDown matches. It probably lacked a bit of extra variety actually, but that's not to take anything away from the individual match quality here, that was solid & mostly entertaining. Match Rating: 7

VINCE McMAHON (with SHANE McMAHON & UMAGA) defeated BOBBY LASHLEY in a Handicap Match to Win the ECW World Title: Shane starts off for the heel team, but it doesn't take long for Lashley to show his strength with a huge take-down. Umaga is quickly tagged in, as the 2 full-time wrestlers go at it with some decent action. Lashley finds some time to take down Shane as well, but when the younger McMahon pulls down the ropes, the ECW Champ ends up at ringside where Umaga takes control. The Samoan Bulldozer weakens Lashley back in the ring, before tagging in Shane, who locks in an arm-bar submission. Bobby eventually uses his strength to break out of the hold with an impressive modified powerbomb, but Umaga is tagged in & regains controls with strikes & then a bear-hug. In comes Shane once more & he locks on a camel clutch as the crowd start a dual chant! Lashley also powers out of that move & hits his torture-rack backbreaker, then a spear on Umaga & finally his running powerslam finisher on Shane. But Vince, finally entering the ring for the first time, just breaks up the count.

The match breaks down a little from there as Shane hits Lashley with the ECW Title & tags in Vince for a 2 count. Umaga hits a top-rope splash & tags in Vince for a 2 count. Umaga then hits a second top-rope splash & this time Vince gets the 3 count to win the title at the 16 minute mark. So Vince is ECW World Champion & won't that pleasure all the die-hard ECW fans! Solid bout that was entertaining for the most part & flowed well. Like the previous 2 matches, any restholds were well-hidden in decent submission holds, while the story of Vince not wrestling until towards the end was a wise one. Lashley still came out looking strong with a number of impressive power moves, but (if anything) the bout lacked some bigger spots & more memorable moments. Not quite as good as Vince's series of matches with HBK & HHH, but not too far behind either. Match Rating: 7.5

THE UNDERTAKER & BATISTA Wrestled To A Draw In A Last Man Standing Match for the World HeavyWeight Title: ‘Taker is the one that begins on fire here with a big boot & many elbows, while setting up an early choke-slam that Batista counters. The champ hits old-school, but Batista hits a messy powerslam soon after to see our first count of the bout. The dead man then rolls out of the ring where the 2 brawl with The Undertaker targeting the already injured right leg of Batista. A ‘Taker apron leg-drop sees another count, as does a (loud) superplex back in the ring. Numerous Batista strikes & counts later, the 2 head back to ringside where the phenom busts the Animal open with a steel steps shot, before leg-dropping him through an announce table. Batista gets up at 9 & heads back to the ring where he hits a spear out of nowhere! He then follows up with 3 spine-busters for a 9 count, before an Undertaker choke-slam also gets a 9 count. The challenger then scores with a Batista Bomb for another 9 count, before bringing in a steel chair & scoring with a shot to the head.

The Undertaker then counters a Batista Bomb & hits a tombstone piledriver for yet another 9 count, before the 2 head up the entrance ramp & punch it out. Not long later, Batista hits a spear off the stage that collapses half of the set, and neither man is able to answer the count for a draw result at the 20 minute mark. I’m a little torn on this match as the effort was there, as were some of the spots. But there were also some annoying factors, especially the amount of counts that we had to put up with, as well as how early they started. I mean, how can anyone think that their opponent will stay down for a 10 count only 3 minutes into a match? The ending also came off as too gimmicked for mine, with unnecessary explosions & neatly collapsing towers. But in amongst all that, there was definitely quality big man wrestling, even if the false finishes didn’t quite have the suspense of their WrestleMania 23 match. So, in conclusion, there was a lot right with this match & a lot wrong. That made it difficult to rate. Match Rating: 8

JOHN CENA defeated SHAWN MICHAELS, EDGE & RANDY ORTON in a Fatal Fourway Match to Retain the WWE Championship: The 4 stare at each other to begin with, before discussing the meaning of life! Edge & Orton are immediately cleared from the ring to already leave a 1 on 1 for the faces, where Cena gets a 2 count with a Fisherman’s Suplex. Edge & Orton then clear the ring with stereo clotheslines before the 2 heels go at it. All 4 soon end up at ringside where HBK hits a top-rope moonsault to knock down all 3 opponents. Back in the ring, Cena takes out 2 opponents with a double top-rope leg-drop, before Orton & the champ battle it out. Edge joins in, clears Cena from the equation & then talks Orton into double-teaming Michaels. This works for a while until Cena saves the day & the action starts up at ringside where HBK goes to pile-drive Orton through an announce table, before Edge makes the save with a chair-shot & then follows up with another to Orton. Back in the ring, Cena locks the STF-U on both Edge & Orton, but HBK saves the day & then hits both Cena & Edge with top-rope elbow drops! Going for a 3rd though is unlucky for HBK as a 4 man spot basically sees Cena Samoan Drop Michaels from the top.

Cena & Edge then go through a series of counters before a series of finishers sees Orton hit an RKO, Edge hit an Impaler DDT & Spear, and then finally Michaels connects with Sweet Chin Music on Cena. Unfortunately for HBK, Cena falls on to Orton for the victorious pinfall at the 19 minute mark. While the finish actually confused many live fans (who appeared to think that HBK won), I thought it was tremendously planned & performed in an entertaining fashion. Elsewhere during the bout, the opening 10 minutes or so had the usual deficiencies of a fatal fourway with way too many 1 on 1 encounters. They almost overwhelmed the match actually, but the quality of the multi-man sequences shone through at the end of the day, as did the work ethic from all 4. And, of course, it was all topped off superbly by that finish. Match of the night. Match Rating: 8.5

PPV RATING (45/60) = 75

Looking at the key, I have basically given the 2007 version of 'Backlash' an 'A’ grade & recommended to ‘Make sure you add this ppv to your video or dvd collection ‘. Wow… who could have expected that!? I mean, I know the card looked decent on paper, but to have it rated up there as one of the best 5 pay-per-view events of the past 5 years is a phenomenal effort. In all honesty, my simplistic PPV Ratings System tends to favor & overrate consistent shows with not many matches on the card. However, I’m unsure that any system would fail to rate Backlash in the ‘A’ grade range here as, if anything, I was a little harsh on the opening 3 bouts… I could have rated any of them a 7.5 in all honesty & all 3 were very solid & played their part in setting up the 3 main events as such.

The 3 major title bouts all delivered, despite them all having flaws that will stop them from being genuine match of the year contenders. What I especially liked was the booking of the matches as no-one really came out looking weak (not even Orton). Of course, it also helped that all 6 matches were given approximately the correct time to play out. For whatever reason, and I’m guessing that this being the first InterBrand ppv had something to do with it, the WWE played the percentages with this event & let the wrestlers do their talking in the ring so to speak. I, and no doubt many other fans, am pleased that this was the case. Kudos to all involved.


RODDY PIPER DVD REVIEW - DISC 2: The Matches

MAIN – 1980's Matches

PIPER & PAUL ORNDORFF vs HULK HOGAN & MR T (WWF WrestleMania. March-31, 1985): Only the entrances of the face team are shown here as both sides make tags before the action begins. Mr T & Piper eventually begin & a battle of slaps leads to some amateur wrestling, before tempers get the better of everyone & the bout breaks down. Special guest ringside referee Muhammad Ali calms things down & the heels think about leaving, before heading back to the ring. Hogan gets the better of Piper here & then tags in T who puts together a few nice moves. The heels use constant double-teaming soon after to isolate the Hulkster, and while the offense is fairly standard, it is impressively effective. Orndorff misses a top-rope move, allowing a tag to Mr T, but the heels continue their dominance of the television star.

The hot tag finally comes to Hogan & the match breaks down from there as Jimmy 'Superfly' Snuka & 'Cowboy' Bob Orton become involved. Orton accidentally hits Orndorff with his plaster cast & Hogan gets the resultant pinfall at the 13 minute mark. Memorable & atmospheric main-event of the first ever WrestleMania... Hard to rate for that reason alone! Very effective on many levels though & it wasn't all that bad of a match anyway with a nice mix of orthodox pro-wrestling. A strangely structured bout, but it actually ended up working in it's favor. If anything, the finish needed to be set up a little better & came from nowhere. Match Rating...7.5

vs PAUL ORNDORFF (WWF Saturday Night's Main Event. October-5, 1985): Orndorff had turned face not long after WrestleMania as Piper & Orton left him stranded in the ring after the match. This bout started off super intense & captured the heat of the feud at the time very well. The 2 brawled frantically in the ring & then outside of it, and the pace just didn't stop until the 2 clashed heads at about the 3 minute mark. A flying body-press by Mr Wonderful then saw both men go back to the outside where the brawl continued & both men were counted out at only the 4 minute mark! A further one minute of footage is shown of the 2 brawling up the entrance-way & back to the locker-room. Non-stop, intense & entertaining, it's a real shame that 5 or so minutes of wrestling wasn't thrown into the mix here. Hard to rate (highly or mark down too much) due to the duration. Match Rating...7

vs Mr T (WWF WrestleMania 2. April-7, 1986): This was a Boxing Match & T had 'Smokin' Joe Frazier in his corner. Piper trash talks during the pre-match instructions & the 2 almost come to blows there! Roddy throws a punch on a break early in the first round as he does most of the work, but T gets better bang for his buck when he does throw his punches. Piper trash talks some more during the break between the rounds & then totally controls round 2, including knocking T down following numerous punches towards the end of the round. This actually prompts the crowd to chant for the heel! 'Cowboy' Bob Orton comically throws a bucket of water over Mr T in the break between rounds & this seemingly wakes the television star up as he knocks Piper down early in the 3rd round. The 2 look tired from this point onwards, but a huge left from T (that basically missed) knocks Roddy out of the ring!

The 4th round starts with Piper throwing his corner stool at T, leading to the 2 trading huge blows, before T gets on top & forces Piper to resort to body-slamming his opponent! The 2 brawl for a little while afterwards in amongst a sea of bodies. I won't rate this as it wasn't a wrestling match, but while this often cops a lot of flak for being on the WrestleMania 2 card, I felt it was sufficiently entertaining, despite including some flat spots. The boxing action was decent for non-professional stuff, while the animosity between the 2 played out to a good story. Of course, that's not even mentioning the further mainstream exposure that Mr T brought to the WWF. All up, we see 18 minutes of footage. Match Rating...Not Rated, but THUMBS UP As A DVD Extra

vs THE IRON SHEIK (WWF Saturday Night's Main Event. October-4, 1986): Piper had obviously turned face by this time & this bout is preceded by Jesse 'The Body' Ventura interviewing The Iron Sheik & his manager Slick. An injured knee initially looks as if it will keep Roddy sidelined & that his replacement would be Pedro Morales. But Piper limps down to the ring & with one swing of his crutch (that leaves one hell of a mark on Sheik’s back) starts the bout. A frantic & intense beginning leads to some brawling between the 2. Sheik then goes for a suplex, but Roddy rolls him up for the victorious pinfall at exactly the one minute mark! 4 minutes is shown all up & that includes the interview. Hard to make any further comments really... This was way too short to be effective in any way, shape or form. Match Rating...2

vs 'COWBOY' BOB ORTON (WWF Saturday Night's Main Event. November-29, 1986): Once more, this match is preceded by a Ventura interview of the heel & his manager Jimmy Hart. Following that, we get to see a corny highlights package of the 2 combatants as friends, before Roddy gives one of his frenetic, yet effective, interviews backstage. Don Muraco is initially at ringside to distract Piper, but he is sent to the back by the ref promptly. A battle of fists begins things & Piper gets the best of the battle & then continues the momentum with everything from bites to eye-pokes. Orton fights his way into the bout & targets Roddy's mid-section, but following some backfiring interference from Jimmy Hart, Piper scores the roll-up win at just the 4 minute mark. Too short to be effective & most of the bout was stalling anyway. Very little wrestling, although there was some decent intensity I suppose. All up, we see 8 minutes of footage. Match Rating...4

vs ADRIAN ADONIS (WWF WrestleMania 3. March-29, 1987): This was a 'Hair vs Hair' match & was also billed as a 'Retirement Match' for Piper as it was his last WWF match for a while. It's great to look back at the jam-packed SilverDome (better lit than at WrestleMania 23) & all the fans erupt as Roddy runs to the ring. A battle of fists begins things, but Piper soon adds a leather belt to the equation as both men get their shots in with it. Jimmy Hart soon gets involved on behalf of Adonis, but he is sent here, there & everywhere to the raptures of the crowd. The manager finally trips Piper & this allows the heel to gain control, mainly through punches & elbows. Adonis eventually locks in a sleeper-hold, but releases it too soon upon thinking himself victorious. This gives Brutus Beefcake time to come out & wake Piper up. A sleeper-hold later & it's all over in Piper's favor at the 6 minute mark.

The after match is then shown with Brutus shaving off half of Adrian's hair, while Piper mocks him. Mostly entertaining stuff & actually not that bad of a match for the shortish duration it lasted. Jimmy Hart helped a lot here as he made the match competitive. Achieved its purpose without being anything too special & the huge crowd definitely helped. Match Rating...7

vs HULK HOGAN (WWF War To Settle The Score. February-18, 1985): I'm unsure why this bout was placed out of chronological order on this DVD to be honest. Emanating from MSG, the crowd is extremely loud as this bout begins frenetically with great intensity. This was the pre-cursor to the first WrestleMania & many mainstream stars were apparently at ringside (not to mention Paul Orndorff & Bob Orton seconding Piper). When Orndorff gets physically involved at the 6 minute mark, so do Cyndi Lauper & Mr T! This results in a huge brawl that has to be broken up by police & arena security at the 7 minute mark. A DQ win to Hogan is obviously a disappointing finish, but this was a very good set-up match for the first ever WrestleMania main-event. Hard to rate for that reason, but very hot, intense & entertaining while it lasted. We see 13 minutes of footage all up. Match Rating...7

vs 'RAVISHING' RICK RUDE (WWF. December-28, 1989): Emanating from Madison Square Garden, this was a Steel Cage Match & Rude attacks his opponent right from the beginning. It isn’t long until the heel is thrown into the (old-school blue) steel though & Piper follows up with some leather belt whipping. Piper then continuously bites Rude before sending him face first into the steel & busting him open. Roddy goes to climb out of the cage, but gets crotched on the top-rope resulting in some Rude offense targetting the mid-section. Rude then gets half his body out of the cage door, but Piper desperately drags him back in. Following some back & forth action, Rude hits his Rude Awakening finisher out of nowhere, but doesn't have the energy to capitalize. After clashing heads, the 2 then have a top of the cage fist fight, before climbing down simultaneously & jumping to the floor in unison. But instead of declaring a draw, the referee orders the match to continue at the 9 minute mark.

Back in the cage/ring, Rude climbs to the top of the cage & hits an ax-handle type of move that only gets a 2 count. A Rude piledriver follows & the heel heads to the top of the cage once more. But he gets crotched up there & then hung upside down. Piper goes to easily walk out the door, but Bobby Heenan slams the door on his head, resulting in a near-fall for Rude. The Ravishing One then gets some brass knuckles from his manager, but Piper dispossesses him of them, uses them himself & then walks out the door for the win at the 13 minute mark. Too bad that Rude's music then played! Great match where the always reliable Rick Rude got the best from his opponent. About the correct duration, very involving, entertaining & made good use of the cage. If anything, the bout was a little too unrealistic (or un-natural) at a few stages. An often forgotten & under-rated bout. Match Rating...8.5


DESSERT – 1990's Matches

vs BAD NEWS BROWN (WWF WrestleMania 6. April-1, 1990): This match is preceded by a backstage interview of Piper by 'Mean' Gene Okerlund (which could be rated as really good or really bad) & is the infamous bout where Roddy wrestles with half his body painted black! It's brawling right from the beginning as referee Danny Davis battles to keep control of the 2. Bad News has the better of the opening minutes with his standard rough-house wrestling style, but Piper gains some control when he Irish-Whips Brown into a previously exposed corner turnbuckle. The 2 brawl at ringside soon after & both are (too) quickly counted out at the 6 minute mark. The 2 brawl to the back in the aftermath & all up we see 12 minutes of footage. Disappointing match which even lacked the usual intensity Of Roddy's shorter matches. The whole black paint gimmick angle seemed to be a distraction for all involved & was not a very successful idea at all. Match Rating...4

vs THE MOUNTIE (WWF Royal Rumble. January-19, 1992): Please note that for some reason, this InterContinental Title match is placed after the Bret Hart bout on the DVD, but I recommend watching it before-hand. Once more, we get a backstage interview of Piper before the match, while the IC Champ is accompanied to the ring by his manager Jimmy Hart. Piper surprises The Mountie (Jacques Rougeau) with a flurry of offense immediately & seems to have an answer for everything the title-holder does in the early minutes. Roddy misses a dropkick though & The Mountie goes to work with his rather average offense. A miscommunication between the champion & his manager soon after though, results in Piper locking on a sleeper-hold & getting the title victory at a little over 5 minutes. The ex-champ gets to feel the wrath of his own electric shock stick afterwards. Nothing terrible here, but average in almost every way possible. Only just passable, but deserves to be here on this DVD to see Roddy winning his only major WWE Title. Match Rating...5

vs BRET HART (WWF WrestleMania 8. April-5, 1992): Another backstage interview by Mean Gene is included here, but this is different in that both wrestlers are interviewed together. That basically tells us that this is a face vs face InterContinental title bout, although Bret's seriousness rubs Piper's craziness a little the wrong way here! A nicely played out beginning sees Piper try to match it technically with the Hitman & then get frustrated when he can't quite stick with Bret. The frustration grows when Hart fakes a shoulder injury & gets a 2 count with a roll-up. This results in greater physicality from Roddy & Bret gets busted open with a punch during this period. The IC Champ then targets the facial wound with punches & bites, but makes the mistake of heading to the top-rope where he gets crotched.

The bloodied Hitman then goes to work with move after move (mainly targetting the back in preparation for the sharp-shooter). A ref bump follows & Piper takes advantage with some brawling at ringside. He then brings the ring-bell into the squared circle, but his face character tells him not to use it on his fellow face. He locks on a sleeper-hold instead, but Bret kicks off the corner turnbuckle & pins Piper for the title win at the 13 minute mark. Great match with a good storyline & an excellent dynamic between the 2 faces. It could have been a genuine classic with an extra few minutes, but it was still very good as is. This was a nice mix of everything, had good back & forth action, and was very involving. Match Rating...8.5

vs GOLDUST (WWF WrestleMania 12. March-31, 1996): This match is preceded by a 1 minute promotional package detailing the feud between the 2 & is the infamous 'Hollywood Backlot Brawl' that actually begins in what appears to be an alley at a movie studio. Goldust begins in a gold Cadillac which Piper takes a baseball to, before using the weapon on Goldust himself. Some subsequent brawling (not to mention shenanigans involving food & a hose) sees Piper cut open his hand, while Goldust stems the tide with a low blow. Goldy then gets back into his car & basically runs Roddy over! He then drives off, with Piper getting into a white Ford (a'la OJ Simpson) to begin a highway chase to the arena!

The 2 eventually find their way to the ring & brawl intensely with Goldust initially getting the better of the offense while targetting his opponent's leg. Goldust then starts playing mind games with Piper & the turning point comes when he kisses Roddy! This angers Piper into action as he targets the... ummm.... groin of Goldy with his hand & then knee, before disrobing him to reveal lingerie. This forces Goldust back to the locker-room, thus ending the match at the 13 minute mark. Heavily gimmicked match is tough to rate due to it's structure & content, but was sufficiently entertaining as well as intense when all was said & done. Actually plays out better here that it did on the night (where it seemed to drag on & on). The crowd was inconsistently involved, but the 2 worked hard enough to eventually win them over. Match Rating...7

vs 'HOLLYWOOD' HULK HOGAN (WCW Starrcade. December-29, 1996): I actually remember liking the way Piper returned to wrestling at the time, so an introductory promotional package and/or interview would have been great here. Instead, we even skip the 2 entrance themes as we head straight to the ring to see Hogan stall for a minute or so before the 2 lock up 3 times, before Piper gets the best of a battle of punches. Hogan then gets his turn, before Piper locks on a headlock & gets the better of a number of standard exchanges. Hogan tries to walk out, but Piper brings him back to ringside where he whips the Hulkster with a leather belt. nWo figure-head Ted Dibiase interferes to allow Hogan to regain control & the Hulkster targets Roddy's injured hip with kicks & then an abdominal stretch.

The 2 veterans then look very tired as Piper gets a 2 count with a suplex, prompting nWo member The Giant (aka The Big Show) to come out. But following a distraction from a (real) fan running into the ring, Piper bites his way out of a choke-slam & locks Hogan in a sleeper-hold, that eventually (to the surprise of the crowd, commentators & fans) leads to the Piper victory at the 15 minute mark! The match stopped at about the correct time as both men looked genuinely buggered, while the action was beginning to get monotonous. The pace wasn't at all great here & while the main-event feel existed & helped, that wasn't enough to keep the live crowd fully involved throughout. Nothing too awful though, this had a sort of dream match feel at the time, but doesn't play out that way here unfortunately. Match Rating...7


Ok, so that concludes the second part of this 3 part DVD Review series. Once more, if you can, please try & hold back on feedback & questions concerning the DVD Review until after the final part of this series next Wednesday. But it’s no sweat if you do want to ask me, or comment on, something right now. The same obviously goes for my review of Backlash. You are more than welcome to do so by emailing me at DaveyBoy123@bigpond.com. Alternately, if you are an LOP Forums member, it would be much appreciated if you could leave feedback on my thread at http://www.lopforums.com/showthread.php?t=217&page=6.

Next Wednesday in 'The Wrestling Menu', I will complete my 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper DVD Review. That will include my look at the 3rd disc, as well as my concluding comments on the entire 3 disc set. Dependant on how long that review ends up being, I may attempt to throw in another topic just as I have done today. We will have to wait & see on that for now though. Either way, my column will be posted at the same Wednesday time on the same LOP channel. Until then, this is DaveyBoy signing off & asking you to remember that dinner is best served in 3 courses..


DaveyBoy’s Wrestling Menu. 2002-2007

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***DIRECT LINK*** In Bed with Trish Stratus, PART 2! Very Rare TRISH PIX!

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