If you missed the first three parts of our wrestling Secret Santa (concept discovered by us on Voices of Wrestling) then follow the links below
Nerd giving: Luke
Nerd receiving: Pete Hitchcock
Match:Undertaker vs Steve Austin - First Blood End of an Era Match for WWE Championship - Fully Loaded 1999
Luke: I present to one Nerd the gift of the end of an era match from Fully Loaded 1999. Undertaker vs Austin, First Blood match, Vince ringside on crutches no less. It’s ridiculous, it’s silly, it’s bloody. It’s the perfect gift for the holidays,
Pete: Undertaker vs Steve Austin - First Blood End of an Era Match - Fully Loaded 1999
That is a fucking mouthful of a title. Undertaker in an End of an Era match in 1999, 13 years before his End of an Era (the next Era) match against Triple H. Will he be in another one, maybe against Adam Cole? The End of the Undisputed Era match. IT MAKES SENSE. This video package is all very cool but is this not just exactly the same feud as 1998? Undertaker and Austin infamously didn't have the greatest chemistry, but this is definitely getting me hyped despite the stipulation. Nice shot of Austin bleeding in the Sharpshooter right at the end too.
Vinny Mac out first on crutches as trusty JR informs us he cracked his butt. Sterling journalism, there. JR slags off the fine profession of law as we are told Vince has about 30 lawyers under his command, proving why he would be a top-line candidate for WORST COMMENTATOR in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards twenty years later. Law is cool! Vince on commentary as we see Undertaker making the walk from backstage trying to ice his head as we are told Austin attacked him and busted him open earlier at the hairline. So, Undertaker definitely has the deck stacked against him. This Corporate Ministry theme song is pretty good, I'm a fan. Wouldn't mind hearing a version with some really gnarly guitar as well.
Side note: First Blood is a crap stipulation. If they've both been gushing in the build-up then surely you want a Last Blood match or something! A Muta scale match, possibly? Whoever BLEEDS TO DEATH loses. Vince shows twisted respect for Austin's guts as we see Austin making the walk to the ring and the glass shatters. Hell of a pop and it's on as Undertaker meets him on the ramp and they fight! Austin goes for a belt shot but misses and Austin apparently also got busted open earlier and then stitched up, so he's also got a target on his...head. Good line by Vince though as we are told that the match aint stopping with a trickle of blood...SOMEBODY'S GONNA BLEED.
Vince on commentary as Mr. McMahon is great, going HAM cheering on Undertaker. Why does he make all his commentators now just the dirt worst? Is it senility? FINISH IT, DAMMIT, FINISH IT! The stars involved are big deals, but this is one of the quieter crowds I've heard for the hottest period in wrestling and without Vince on commentary I would probably not enjoy watching this so far, but he's absolutely carrying the match. Big YEAAAHHHs as Undertaker knees Austin in the corner. Nice recent history mention as JR informs us Austin has lost the title in First Blood before, to Kane, but it was Undertaker who busted him up.
Austin now firing back and working over Undertaker's leg with kicks and the like. Not really sure how that is meant to bloody him up, but JR covers it by saying Austin keeping Taker down means Taker cannot punch him in the face. Austin now working Taker's leg against the post. Taker able to kick Austin off back over the barricade and Vince is on it like a hawk. YEAH! HE'S BLEEDING, I THINK! Vince should have been a doctor or a nurse, maybe a surgeon. Taker now back on offense and Austin is down on the table but a chair shot misses, a second one is blocked and Austin drop toeholds him onto the steel steps on number three. No blood though as Austin brings out an old favourite, trying to choke Taker with some cabling like he's Bret at Mania 13.
Ref shenanigans as Undertaker gets tripped on a ref and tangled up in the ropes. Austin goes for the finishing blow with a steel chair, but Shane runs in! CHAIR SHOT TO THE FACE AND SHANE IS DEAD, HIS BRAINS ARE POSSIBLY SOUP! Vince thinks he's alright though. Taker able to get free but Austin gets him in the nuts it looks like and STUNNER! Vince off comms but Austin straight down to the outside to fuck him up but Taker now has the chair and is laying it in, but...X-PAC! What? Forget it, Jake, it's the Attitude Era! Spinning heel kick takes out Taker and allows Austin to get a TV camera and smash it in Taker's face. Taker's bleeding! STOP THE MATCH! Austin up for a tombstone but the ref sees Taker is bloody and calls the bell!
MCMAHON IS GONE and STUNNERS FOR TAKER AND AUSTIN! Triple H comes in and the crowd, who admittedly had really come alive gets quiet...but THE ROCK shows up and they pick back up! Taker starts smashing...stuff but Austin gets him with one of Vince's crutches and they go toe-to-toe. At one-point Taker just decks Shane which is funny. This all got quite fun in the last few mins as Vince does his best David Starr face at the end of RevPro Summer Shitstorm 2019 knowing he's on his way out. Austin offers a handshake and as Vince takes it, STUNNER and that's all she wrote. Somehow Austin got mega bloody in all this. WAS THIS A SCREWJOB! When did he bleed? Find out next time on WWF...Z!
This was a perfectly cromulent piece of professional wrestling that was easy to watch and mindless enough to enjoy. Steve Austin and VINCENT KENNEDY MCMAHON on comms definitely carried this match past the dreadful stipulation into definitely watchable territory and you know what? Fair enough. This match is the Rise of Skywalker of professional wrestling. With that out of the way, I hear JCH is editing this blog post so I want to wish him a very Merry Christmas with a gift related to one of his favourite wrestlers because I don't think he popped up enough in this match.
Undertaker. Undertaker. Undertaker. Undertaker. Undertaker. Taker. Undertaker. Undertaker. The Deadman. Undertaker. Undertaker. Undertaker. Taker. The Phenom. Undertaker. The Deadman. Undertaker. The Physical Embodiment of the Right Wing. Undertaker. Undertaker. Taker. James's Fave. Undertaker. The Deadman. Undertaker. The best wrestler of 2019. Undertaker. Undertaker. The Best Pure Striker in the WWE. Undertaker. Merry Christmas, especially if you don't think wrestling should be fun but unfortunately these nerds are the best friends a man can get!
Prediction:I guess Shafi
Nerd giving: 90’s Mike
Nerd receiving: Dom Van Dam
Match:Shawn Michaels vs Bret Hart - Iron Man Match for the WWF Title - Wrestlemania 12
Mike:My reason? This was the match that defined the move from the big guys of the 90s towards the smaller guys that could actually wrestle into the 00s and beyond.
Dom:Thanks very much secret Santa for this wonderful gift of a wrestling clinic to watch on Christmas Eve. I’m currently in Australia visiting family so I’ll go with the policy of long match, short write up here and I’m writing the entirety on my phone. With that being said there was no way I was going to miss out on being involved in this concept.
I’m currently sharing a twin room in Port Douglas with my 93-year-old, deaf Gran. I’m
finding it pretty hard to explain to her what I’m doing here.
The narrative of this match is built completely around Shawn Michaels’ “boyhood dream” of being WWF Champion. He is trying to wrest the title away from Bret Hart in an Iron Man match and it’s lucky for this card that he is, because the semi-main on this card was The return of The Ultimate Warrior vs a very young Triple H.
The action is back and forth throughout, but all of the high spots is never enough for that elusive pin fall. The lads enter the final 5 minutes locked at 0-0.
Jerry Lawler joins the Owner of the company on commentary for this one and as HBK is fighting out of a Beet Hart sleeper inside the last 10 minutes, he weirdly yells out “The Kliq, The Kliq, The Kliq!” I can only think The King is referring to Michaels’ fans as The Kliq, but this is the sorta thing you may have missed if, like me, you haven’t watched this thing since you were a kid.
The lads are balls to the wall for the closing exchanges. Shawn is trying any desperation move he can to grab the impossible pin fall over the champion. We have dropkicks, moonsaults, flying elbows, ranas and even a gutwrench powerbomb. Bret, on the other hand, only wants The Sharpshooter. He manages to reverse one last high risk move from Shawn and lock on the submission taught to him by Stu, in Calgary with 30 seconds to go.
The crowd is going banana, and Vince and Jerry are doing a great job questioning whether Shawn will finally give up on his dream. But the time runs out.
Back here in Australia we say draws are a bit like non-alcoholic beer or kissing your sister. Bret doesn’t care though, he’s out of here with his championship until President Gorilla Monsoon is here to restart the match with sudden death over time.
Bret is, understandably, ropable. But returns just in time to eat a Superkick and a pinfall.
“The Boyhood Dream has come true for Shawn Michaels.”
Prediction:As I arranged The Secret Santa “random” drawing, I know who chose my match, so I won’t have a guess. I’ll just say, thanks very much for the Chrissy nostalgia. Merry Christmas to everyone out there. Drink lots of water; look after your mates.
Dom enjoyed his match and even the notoriously hard to please Pete loved the commentary and seemed to think it was ‘quite fun by the end’. We’ll take that as 9 for 9 happy nerds….
Comments