That Was Then 2.11.06: Stu's Reviews Of Pay Per Views - WWE In February
Posted by Sam Caplan on 02.11.2006
A more eventful month than you probably realize, we take a look back at the history of WWE's PPV shows leading into Wrestlemania.
Howdy folks, we're back. Hope you enjoyed the Ring of Honor feature that ran for the last few weeks. But now we're back with this month's edition of Stu's Reviews Of Pay Per Views, as we look at the history of WWE on PPV in February. February WWE shows have a tendency to have the same problem that the December shows do, and that's falling into that "other" PPV category between major shows. However, unlike in December, they have been shown to have some fabulous wrestling and other interesting happenings on them. Let's get started in…
1996 (In Your House)-Shawn Michaels continued his roll to Wrestlemania 12 here by beating Owen Hart to both get vengeance for Owen putting him in the hospital some months earlier, while also successfully defending his own WM title shot. Owen's brother Bret, in the meantime, successfully defended the WWF Title against Diesel in a cage match that ended when the Undertaker popped out through a hole in the ring and dragged Diesel under the ring. Also of note is the first (and to date, only) Crybaby Match, where the loser was diapered, powdered, and given a bottle. Razor Ramon got the win here over longtime friend/rival the 123 Kid.
1997 (Final Four)-Not a lot going on here, as things got a bit shuffled around due to Shawn Michaels suffering a knee injury and having to vacate the WWF Title. As a result, the four way elimination main event, which was previously for the Wrestlemania title shot, now became a match to fill the vacant title. Steve Austin was actually booked to win the title here and lose it the next night to Sid due to interference from Bret Hart, but he suffered a knee injury during the match and had to get eliminated. Bret Hart was hastily rebooked to win the title and he ended up losing it to Sid the next night instead. I think things worked out better for Austin having his title win held off until the next year anyway. The undercard featured new Intercontinental Champion Rocky Maivia successfully defending against former champion Hunter Hearst Helmsley in a low profile match between two future greats, as well as Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith getting disqualified against Doug Furnas and Phil LaFon in order to build a split that never ended up happening.
1998 (No Way Out)-A total throwaway show, the only interesting match on the entire show was the main event, which saw Steve Austin, Owen Hart, Cactus Jack & Chainsaw Charlie (Terry Funk with pantyhose on his head…don't ask) beating Triple H, the New Age Outlaws, and Savio Vega (who was subbing for the badly injured Shawn Michaels) in an eight man main event. Absolutely nothing of value happened on this show.
1999 (St. Valentine's Day Massacre)-An unusually interesting show for this month, 1999's show featured Val Venis scoring a surprise upset over Ken Shamrock for the IC Title, Kane & Chyna beating Triple H & X-Pac, and The Rock and Mankind going to a draw in a Last Man Standing Match for the WWF World Title. The stars of the show, however, were unquestionably Steve Austin and Vince McMahon in a match that had been over a year in the making. They met in a cage with Vince putting his Wrestlemania title shot (which, you will recall, he earned by winning the Royal Rumble) on the line. Austin, of course, totally dominated Vince, but the Big Show made his WWF debut here, bursting out from under the ring and throwing Austin not only into the cage, but actually through the cage, inadvertently giving Austin the win and the title shot at Wrestlemania.
2000 (No Way Out)-A great show to set the stage for Wrestlemania 2000, No Way Out 2000 saw Kurt Angle, already the European Champion, beat Chris Jericho to win the IC Title, the Dudley Boyz decisively beat the New Age Outlaws for the Tag Team Title, Edge & Christian beat the Hardy Boyz to become #1 contenders to the Tag Team Title, Big Show beat the Rock to keep his title shot at Wrestlemania, and Triple H beat Cactus Jack in perhaps the best Hell In A Cell match ever to retain the WWF Title and retire Mick Foley in the process. The Cell match is worth watching this incredibly loaded show for by itself, and everything else on here just adds to the greatness. Terrific all-around show.
2001 (No Way Out)-Unusually, this was a lot more than just the PPV before Wrestlemania X-7. The Rock regained the WWF World Title from Kurt Angle to set up his defense against Steve Austin, the Dudley Boyz retained the Tag Team Title against Edge & Christian and Undertaker & Kane to set up TLC2, Jericho retained the IC Title in an excellent four way match against Benoit, Eddy and X-Pac, and Triple H beat Austin clean to win a great three fall match to blow off the storyline where Triple H paid Rikishi to run Austin over at Survivor Series 1999. Excellent show which had a lot of great matches on it.
2002 (No Way Out)-This was the year that No Way Out really was the NWO show, as the original three members of that famous group (Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall & Kevin Nash) returned to the WWF, costing Steve Austin his WWF Title Match against Chris Jericho. Also on this show, Kurt Angle beat Triple H to get a shot at the Unified World Title at Wrestlemania, The Rock beat Undertaker, and William Regal ended Edge's IC Title reign thanks to a pair of brass knucks.
2003 (No Way Out)-A really weird show that seemed to be here for the combined reasons of setting up Wrestlemania while trying to undo everything that had happened the month before at the Royal Rumble. The main event saw The Rock return and score a second victory over Hulk Hogan, albeit with help from Vince McMahon, to set up the Hogan-Vince WM match. Rock's Mania opponent also returned to the WWE that night, as Steve Austin squashed Eric Bischoff in his first appearance in almost a year. Scott Steiner's short run at the top was totally and completely aborted with a loss to Triple H, Matt Hardy won the Cruiserweight Title from Billy Kidman, and Chris Benoit & Brock Lesnar beat Team Angle in a preview of the Angle-Lesnar match at Wrestlemania.
2004 (No Way Out)-A big night for the Guerreros, which started when Chavo beat Rey Mysterio, Jr to win the Cruiserweight Title while Eddy beat Brock Lesnar to win the WWE Title in the main event. Kurt Angle also earned a Wrestlemania title shot by making John Cena tap out in a triple threat match also involving the Big Show.
2005 (No Way Out)-Another big night for the Guerreros, as Chavo won the Cruiserweight Title for the second year in a row, this time in a Gauntlet Match, and Eddy teamed with Rey Mysterio, Jr to win the WWE Tag Team Title from Doug & Danny Basham. The WWE Title Match at Wrestlemania 21 was also set up when John Cena avenged his loss from the year before by beating Kurt Angle to become #1 contender to the WWE Title, and JBL beat Big Show in a Barbed Wire Cage Match for the WWE Title. The barbed wire never came into play once, but Bradshaw found yet another creative way to retain the title, as Big Show chokeslammed him through the ring, but was able to crawl out underneath the ring and to the floor before Big Show walked out of the cage himself.
It's funny, you don't realize how much important stuff has happened on the February shows until you actually lay it all out like this. Ultimately though, the results are often forgotten soon afterward as people get caught up in the excitement of the build to Wrestlemania. Still though, several World Title changes and some great matches (which, if I was the star giving type, would definitely be of the ***** variety) add up to a month to keep an eye on.
Thanks for reading, and make sure to check out my blog, which you can get to by clicking on my profile on the bottom of this column. I check in every day or two with some of my very opinionated opinions, and hope you enjoy reading them. And feel free to shoot me an email and let me know what you thought of the column, the blog, or whatever else is on your mind!
