Nerd Watch Wednesday: The Rock vs Al Snow Steel Cage Match

Oct 7, 20205 min read

Updated: Oct 14, 2020

By Ross Casey

"We have been absent in terms of content since the Speaking Out movement and felt the time was right to slowly get back to enjoying watching and reviewing some wrestling again. What better way to start the resurgence than a smackdown steel cage match between Al Snow and The Rock??!"

Why on earth did this match happen? Let's find out!

STEEL CAGE MATCH: THE ROCK vs. AL SNOW (Smackdown 23rd, 1999)

The Rock is shown looking super cool, ripped and sweaty marching his way to the ring before we see Al Snow who is in the Christmas decorated office of Stephanie McMahon.

She stands in the corner with Kane ominously by her side as Al Snow laments why he isn't #1 contender after defeating The Rock on Raw earlier that week in a Brahma Bull Rope match.

What the fuck? Did that actually happen? Sure enough, we see highlights and after interference from DX and a Famasser on the cow bell, Al Snow did pin The Rock. Well, bloody hell!

Al then criticises Stephanie for making Mankind of all people #1 contender tonight, so she tells him that if he can win tonight, he will be the next in line to face The Big Show.

So there is our table set ladies and gents... let's get cagey!

Al snow comes out to music that I am unsure is dubbed or not but I sure as hell don't recall it as his theme. The Rock has his classic entrance and also the bonafide pop that proved he was a true star in the world of wrestling.

Al Snow wastes no time and attacks The Rock on the ramp and before we are officially started, the pair trade blows on the outside before Al Snow brings a chair into the ring and we are underway!

The Rock does some of his twitchy leg foot stomps as the crowd chant his name. Al Snow hits his first move - a back body drop - and immediately tries to jump over the cage. I love that for two reasons, one he wants his title shot and two he tries to win the match at every opportunity. Lovely stuff.

The Rock catches him and drags Snow back into the ring before laying down some more smack and then a lovely twisting neckbreaker. Al isn't taking this lying down though and grabs the chair and strikes the Rock in the midsection. Again, he goes over the top in an attempt to win this quick, but again he is caught.

The Rock and Al Snow are now both on the turnbuckle and Rocky's head is driven into the cage and he falls to the mat. This is it! Al is gonna be #1 contender! But no, all of the intelligence saps from his brain and he attempts a flying nothing and gets a DDT for his stupidity.

Weirdly, The Rock goes for a pin (which I didn't realise was an option as there is no ref in the ring) and eventually a ref does enter but Al kicks out at 2.9. The ref then walks back out of the cage. This is clearly a flawed system and I can't wait for Connolly to hear about it.

Next it is The Rock that is smart enough to climb the cage and avoid this one in one out referee system. He reaches for the top of the cage only to fall balls first on the rope and then take a chair shot. The chair clearly missed his head which 14 year-old me would have hated, but 33 year-old me applauds. Screw chairshots to the head!

Al Snow is sure that's enough and goes for the pinfall. The ref slides in eventually, but The Rock kicks out! Al's intelligence level has returned and he now goes to exit over the top and is virtually out but The Rock has his hair and drags him back to the top of the cage! He then manages to suplex Snow off the turnbuckle back into the ring which Snow sells fantastically.

Commentary remarks that Al Snow has been jealous of The Rock since the Rock N' Sock Connection formed and suddenly memories of this feud are indeed coming back.

Al attempts an Arabian leap off the chair in the style of Sabu, but The Rock catches him on the way down with a clothesline. That was actually awesome and the timing was great.

Al Snow gives The Rock a low blow which he pretty much no sells before hitting a spinebuster on a chair and hitting the People's Elbow for the victory (once the ref entered the ring and counted the three).

THOUGHTS: Al Snow was pretty good as a heel here, doing his best to take shortcuts to victory and alongside the usual cage match tropes we saw two really cool spots with the suplex and the clothesline. The Rock oozed star quality and the crowd were massively into this, completely coming alive for The People's Elbow. I'm not sure that the crowd ever truly believed Snow was going to win but 21 years later I felt it was possible thanks to the storyline and the previous win on Raw. It was a decent little match and a reminder that wrestling should be fun.

WINNER: THE ROCK BY PEOPLE'S ELBOW

That's all, folks!