Ring Crew Reviews: VHS Tape Digging Volume 4

• I’ve done a few of these and always find it interesting to take a dive into old comp tapes that I have laying around. In case you do too, here are the previous versions

• Tape Digging Volume 1

• Tape Digging Volume 2

• Tape Digging Volume 3

• Sting vs. Arn Anderson. WCW Nitro 07/08/96. In case that date doesn’t register, this is the night after WCW Bash at the Beach 1996, Hogan’s turn to form the n.W.o. The previous night, Arn and Benoit had lost a revenge tag match against the Giant and Taskmaster. Sting, meanwhile, was part of the losing WCW team against the Outsiders. This is one of the outdoor shows at MGM Studios.

• Bischoff and Brain are worried that the n.W.o might be looming and perhaps the cops should be called and the show stopped. Arn offers Sting a shake to show fair play and unity and Horseman integrity, unlike that OTHER pack of wild dogs, the n.W.o. Sting though doesn’t bite and Bischoff pounces: “It’s a different Sting. I think he’s consumed with what happened last night like we are all and were.” Good stuff. Lockup goes nowhere. Another and Sting drives over Arn with a shoulderblock as Brain says that he tried to tell everyone for years that Hogan is evil and not to be trusted. Arn grabs a hammerlock but Sting counters to his own. Arn fights back and shitcans Sting out. He preps a piledriver on the floor but Sting counters to a backdrop on the floor to a pop. We take a break as Bischoff gets word through the headset that WE’VE GOT COMPANY! We’re back to this still pedestrian pace but Arn counters a leap frog with a Spinebuster. Double KO spot at 3 minutes in. BUT WAIT! THERE’S A BLACK LIMOUSINE HAS PULLED UP! Bischoff doesn’t know who’s in it or how many people but he’ll keep us posted. Arn up and sends Sting across for a hard whip. Brain speculates that Savage will take a crow bar out back and bust into the limo as Bischoff worries about the kids at ringside and their safety. Great commentary there.

• Arn with some lazy chokes as we’re still in first gear and he follows up with an ab stretch. Brain: “And you know Sting didn’t get a good night’s sleep last night. No one did that cared about Hogan. I slept like a baby. I was in bed early, I had the covers pulled up around my ears, I was relaxing, I had the clicker in my hand. DIDN’T BOTHER ME! SICKENING HUMAN BEING HE IS!” The ab stretch goes on a bit before Nick Patrick sees the cheating and Sting hiptosses out. Sting goes for a splash but Arn gets the knees up. Arn tries forcing a cover with the Greco-Roman knuckle lock before Sting counters to a body triangle. Arn counters THAT with a Boston Crab. That was slick. Arn releases to work a few more 2 counts. More choking from Arn and he tries a flying clothesline but Sting cuts him off to a pop. They slug it out. BUT WAIT! THE OUTSIDERS ARE WALKING! But no Hogan. Sting backdrops Arn and hits a top rope clothesline. He covers for 1, 2, only 2. Security holds them at bay while the match comes to a halt. SAVAGE IS OUT! It’s a standoff but it’s short lived because like a true Horseman, Arn sneaks Sting from behind and tries a DDT. Sting blocks and rolls Arn into the Scorpion Deathlock. Arn taps at 9:00.

• Meanwhile, Macho and security shove the Outsiders back. Sting stands tall in the corner as WCW holds court. Mean Gene appears with a mic and wants a word with Stinger. Sting says he’s not surprised at the Outsiders but he’s VERY surprised with Hogan. He says he shouldn’t have been because Hogan was too busy riding in his own limo, making movies, dropping in to WCW for CAMEOS! THE STINGER WILL NOT BE SECOND BILLING TO ANYONE! STING SHOULD HAVE KNOWN WHEN HOGAN WENT TO THE DARK SIDE! WHEN HE REFERRED TO LEX, MACHO, AND STINGER AS THREE LITTLE DOGS! Sting made a mistake, but HOGAN! YOU MADE A BIGGER MISTAKE! YOU TOLD EVERYONE TO BELIEVE IN THE MAN UPSTAIRS AND BELIEVE IN THEMSELVES! IT’S A GOOD THING YOU DID BECAUSE THEY SURE AS HELL CAN’T BELIEVE IN YOU! Stinger’s on fire. Great promo from Stinger.

• Macho’s up next and just because he’s the Madness, he gets the stenographer treatment: “I’ve got a MESSAGGGEEE! For Hollywood Hogan. WHAT I WANNA TELL YA! AND WHAT I WANNA DO TO YA! I CAN’T SAY ON TELEVISION, especially here at Disney! BUTTT! YOU TAKE THE WORST THING THAT YOU CAN THINK ABOUT! AND YOU MULTIPLY IT BY THE NUMBER 9,000,000! AND THEN YOU MULTIPLY IT BY INFINITY AND BEYONDDDDD! It would be just like one grain of sand in the Sahara Desert, BROTHER! BECAUSE IT’S REALLY, REALLY SCARY WHAT I’M THINKING AND WHAT I’M GONNA DO TO YOU, YEAAAAAAAAHHHH!”

• Match was mostly shit other than a few cool counters with the Boston Crab and Arn trying to sneak a win like a bastard even in the confusion of the n.W.o invasion. But the commentary, the atmosphere, and the post-match promos are dynamite. *1/2 for the match. **** for the promos. *** is a nice medium.

• Scott Hall vs. Hollywood Hogan. WCW Nitro 07/13/98. Eric Bischoff is special guest ref. This is a week after both Hall and Hogan lost to Goldberg on his way to the WCW strap and is over whose fault it really is that Goldberg won. Hall was inconsistently utilized for months prior to this. After winning WW3 and having a feud with Larry Z, Hall lost his title match against Sting and then was taken off TV due to showing up inebriated. He would return to turn heel on Nash at Slamboree and join n.W.o Hollywood and then would disappear for another couple of months only to appear out of nowhere to job to Goldberg. Hogan, meanwhile, would springboard out of this into feuds with DDP, Karl Malone, and Jay Leno.

• Hall pauses for a moment to throw the toothpick in Hogan’s face TO A POP! Bischoff, wearing a Hogan shirt I might add, tries to calm tempers so Hall has a toothpick for him too. STEREO TOOTHPICKS! THIS IS UNPRECENDENTED IN THE HISTORY OF OUR GREAT SPORT! Hogan quickly goes to work with the usual and tries to choke with the do-rag. Hall capitalizes and starts biting Hogan’s hand and throws the rag into the crowd. Brain: “You know, you put your hand in someone’s mouth, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll get bit. Speaking of biting, remember last night–” Tony: “SHUT UP!” Hall goes to the arm so Hogan pulls him down by the hair as the crowd gets a HOGANSUXHOGANSUX chant going. Hall paintbrushes Hogan around to a pop so Hogan Hogan-lines him down. Hogan goes to the throat and the closed fists. Hogan now paintbrushes him for some payback and a running clothesline in the corner. Tony is all up in arms that Bischoff isn’t calling for a corner break, but Brain talks some reason and wants to wait until he sees if Bischoff is a terrible ref when Hall is on offense too. Indeed, Bischoff admonishes Hall for some closed fists. In the distraction, Disciple waffles Hall from behind for the cutoff and Hogan moves in for another Hogan-line but they botch it and Hall ignores. Awesome. Hogan gives him an atomic drop and school boys Hall for 1, 2, rope break.

• Hogan goes to the BLATANTCHOKE as Bischoff turns a blind eye. Hall comes back with a haymaker. Bischoff: “HEY! GET OFF HIS HAIR!” Hall with a Hogan-line of his own and a few boots in the corner. SNAP AB SUPLEX TIME! Hall covers but Bischoff won’t count. BOOOOOOO! Hall goes after Bischoff but Hogan applies a weak sleeper/choke from behind. Hall ducks behind for one of his own to a pop and Bischoff quickly breaks it up. Hogan takes him down with the BLATANTLOWBLOW. Hogan follows up with another low blow and rakes the eyes. Hogan hits the FOOT TO THE FACE and cups the ear to boos. BUT WAIT! DIAMOND DALLAS PAGE HAS COME OUT OF NOWHERE! DISCUS CLOTHESLINE TO HOGAN! DIAMONDCUTTER TO BISCHOFF! And there’s a huge sound effect to go along with it. Did WCW seriously used to have thunder sound effects for the DiamondCutter that I just blacked out for 15 years? Disciple is in to hold DDP for the requisite Hogan beatdown. IT’S NASH! THE BIG MAN! He takes out Disciple and waffles Hogan. Nash offers Hall the Wolfpac symbol. Jack knife time for Hogan. NOOOOOOO! HALL TURNS ON NASH… AGAIN! Hall pounds down Nash and Hogan chokes DDP. Leg drops for everyone and Vincent is out just because. No contest at 8:00.

• This isn’t face-heel, this is bigger heel vs. smaller heel and the crowd mildly cheering the smaller heel in Hall. Still, the crowd was at least mildly enthused if even this was weak. Plus, that heel re-turn by Hall at the end of the match is one of those repeated n.W.o things that is almost always groan-inducing. *1/4

• Triple Threat Match for the World Heavyweight Championship: Chris Benoit vs. Edge vs. Triple H (c). RAW 11/29/2004. I’ll give the short version of the background because this is some of the fed’s most intricate and well-developed main event booking possibly ever. Benoit is former champ after losing the belt to Orton back at Summerslam. Orton of course quickly dropped the title back to the leader of Evolution, Trips. After returning as a face and getting booed at SS in a triple threat against Jericho and Batista for the IC strap, Edge is just easing into his conspiracy victim tantrums that would become a career turning point for him. He would also be “screwed” out of a title shot at Taboo Tuesday after the fans voted for an injured HBK over him. Instead, he and Benoit won the tag titles even after Edge left the apron and walked out. A month or so later, Edge would do worse, completely turning on Benoit and costing them the tag titles against La Resistance. At Survivor Series a face team of Jericho, Maven, Orton, and Benoit defeated Evolution, Snitsky and Edge. The match had one of my favorite stipulations ever where the winners all got to book RAW for a week each. Every week centered around the different GM’s booking Trips into title matches and making his life a living hell. The previous week Benoit and Edge had it out in a cage match that Benoit won when Edge speared him through the door. Earlier in the night, there was a battle royale to determine who Trips defended against tonight and of course it was the dubious tie. In the background of all of this is Batista’s inevitable face turn.

• Edge and Benoit quickly come to blows while Triple H casually hands the belt over to the ref feeling like quite the third wheel. Trips takes his sweet time in the corner as Edge knees and baseball slides Benoit to the floor. Trips applauds as Edge follows out and hangs Benoit out to dry on the barricade. Back in, Trips dumps out Edge and gives Benoit a FIERRRCE whip for the Bret Hart bump and works a few covers for various 2 counts. Trips tries another whip but Benoit gets up the boot for some chops. Benoit ducks behind for a nice German suplex. Trips fights off another and now he and Edge put the boots to Benoit. Edge and H implode and Benoit comes back with chops on both. Benoit with a snap suplex and then clotheslines both out and to the floor. Benoit follows out with a dive on both. We take a break and we’re back to Edge and Benoit in the ring with Trips selling on the floor. Benoit hangs Edge out to dry and suplexes him back in. Benoit wants the Sharpshooter. BUT WAIT! TRIPLE H IS IN! Benoit releases to pull him into the Crippler Crossface. JR: “THE GAME TAPPED OUT AT WRESTLEMANIA! WILL HE TAP OUT HERE?!” BUT WAIT! THAT’S FLAIR AND BATISTA! Flair distracts the ref while Batista LARIATOS Benoit on the floor. JR: “DAMMIT! WHATTACLOTHESLINE!” MY GOODNESS, ACTING GM RANDY ORTON! He ejects Batista and Flair from ringside. Edge sneaks Trips with a school boy for 1, 2, 2 ½. Edge sends him off but Trips comes back with a spinebuster for 1, 2, nearfall.

• After throwing out Evolution, Orton stays at ringside to keep the peace. Edge counters a suplex with the Edge-o-cutioner for 1, 2, kickout. Edge fires up for the Spear but Trips cuts him off with the high knee. Trips wants the Pedigree but he gets catapulted into the turnbuckle and Benoit is back in for a GERMAN SUPLEX! Benoit then snap suplexes Edge ONTO Triple H and the Game sells a busted face out to the floor. Nice. Benoit goes for the Sharpshooter again and locks it in on Edge. Edge is close to tapping! The building is FEELING IT! Orton gets up to get a closer view but H recovers to throw him into the ringpost. THATNOGOODBASTARD! H then breaks up the sharpshooter with a running knee. Benoit stacks up Trips and Edge in the corner and then whips Trips across again for the Trip Flip. Benoit goes to the Rolling Germans on Edge. Benoit wants the diving headbutt but TRIPS IS IN! He wants the Pedigree but Benoit backdrops him to the floor. Benoit heads up top but Edge cuts him off. Benoit headbutts Edge down and into a ref bump. Triple H gets up and tosses Benoit off the top. H gets a chair and taunts Benoit. BUT WAIT! RANDY ORTON! Orton dumps out H and chairshots the HELL out of him and into the front row. Edge fires up for the Spear but Benoit counters to the CC! Edge rolls on top for the cover for the 1, 2, 3 but taps simultaneously at 11:26 of shown footage.

• The fed was just on fire all through here, at least on the RAW brand, with perfectly intercutting storylines and payoffs and interesting angles for most of the card. In fairness, Smackdown was in the winner of JBL’s title run with the cabinet, but at least they had that plucky newcomer John Cena. ANYWAY, the title would be held up until the Elimination Chamber at NYR 2005 where they would all but guarantee a Batista faceturn and title win only to tease it out until Wrestlemania. Match here is very solid with great booking and interference if a bit of a cheap ending. ***1/2

• Triple H and Mr. Kennedy vs. ECW Roster. RAW 05/05/2008. Regal is GM and King of the Ring after winning the tourney on RAW a week before this. Trips is WWE champ but is in the midst of a feud with Regal and Orton after Regal shut off the lights on an entertaining main event for the belt the prior week between Orton and Trips. Kennedy had not been on TV for weeks but jumped into the proceedings earning the ire of King GM Regal and landing himself in this ignominious position. What the roster of ECW had to do with anything other than just because, your guess is as good as mine, however, I will just add this is an obvious sequel to Orton and Cena taking on the entire roster a couple months before this. Let’s get an approximate rundown of the ECW roster – Chavo, Miz, Morrison, Shelton Benjamin, Matt Striker, Nunzio, Mike Knox, Tommy Dreamer, Elijah Burke, Kofi Kingston, CM Punk, Steven Richards, and Kane who gets his own entrance as ECW champ.

• Kennedy and Burke to start. Burke grabs a headlock and shoulder tackles Kennedy down. After a blocked hiptoss, Kennedy clubs him down and covers for 1. I’m surprised the entire apron didn’t jump in the ring trying to break it up because that would have been hilarious. Trips tags in. JR: “It’ll be interesting to see the chemistry and continuity between Triple H and Kennedy.” King: “Well, when Elijah Burke gets ready to tag out, he’ll have 13 choices.” That sentence alone describes the insanity of this match. Burke goes to the eyes and tags in… STRIKER! Trips takes him down immediately with a high knee and Kennedy is now back in. Kennedy stomps a mudhole but Striker escapes to tag in Mike Knox. IT’S THE ACES ‘N EIGHTS SHOWDOWN! Striker waffles Kennedy from behind off a whip and Knox clotheslines him down. Chavo tags in for a back suplex and a 2 count. Kofi tags in for a quick roll up for another 2 count as JR puts over Kofi’s undefeated streak. Dreamer tags in for a snap suplex and an elbow drop for 1, 2, 2 ½. Kofi back in but Shelton makes a blind tag and they collide on a burrito. Shelton jumps Kofi from behind. Uh oh. Kennedy ducks behind Shelton and folds him up with a back suplex. Shelton tags in Nunzio but he runs into a Finlay Roll from Kennedy. Chavo tags back in and tries a cheapshot on Trips but he punches him down. JR: “TRIPLE H NOT GOING TO PLAY THAT GAME!” The match breaks down as Trips begins shining on all the heels. He hits a Spinebuster and preps a Pedigree but Shelton superkicks him down. Kennedy dumps Shelton and hits the Mic Check on Striker. Kane is in for the ChokeSlam but then he turns on Chavo because of their feud over the ECW strap. Bam Neely dumps out Kane to work him over. Chavo hits the Frog Splash and covers Kennedy for 1, 2, 3 to win it at 5:43. JR: “ECW WINS THIS MATCH!”

• Post-match, everyone feeds into Trips for some haymakers. The numbers finally overcome and the beatdown commences. Knox gets a chair but H cuts him off and evens the score with unprotected chairshots for almost all. BUT WAIT! THE LIGHTS HAVE BEEN TURNED OUT! IT’S THE VIPER! WHERE THE HELL DID HE COME FROM!? HE RKOS TRIPLE H! WE’RE OUTTA TIME, TUNE IN TO NITRO!

• At least the faces didn’t win. Plus, the sheer insanity of the match concept justifies at least a small look in. **

• Fatal Four Way Match for the Vacant WWE Championship: John Cena vs. Big Show vs. Randy Orton vs. Triple H. RAW 06/15/2009. This was the night that Donald Trump “bought” WWE from Vince, thus working the MSM, and then sold it back to Vince a week later. After coming up short at WMXXV, Orton had circled the wagons with Legacy and goaded Trips into defending the title in a six man tag at Backlash. Orton won the belt and in the process punted the Hs out of action. At the same PPV, Showster had cost Cena the WHW strap by ChokeSlamming him into a spotlight in a Last Man Standing match against Edge. Going into Extreme Rules, Orton was champ and Batista was number 1 contender after defeating Show with Cena’s help. Batista had a torn bicep but still went over at the PPV. The next night on RAW, Legacy put the boots to Batista thus putting him out of action kayfabe. Orton tried to score a countout title change over an absent Batista but that’s when the Hs returned in an electric moment.

• H pounds down Orton and Show goes to clubbering Cena to start. Trips and Orton brawl out to the floor where H gets the advantage. He clotheslines Orton to the front row while Show biels Cena across and out of the ring. Trips and Show go face-to-face now as we take a break. We’re back to the heels working over the faces in adjacent corners. Orton stomps a mudhole while Show hits a few cash register headbutts. Orton drops a knee and H is toast. Orton goes for another but Trips rolls out of the way and Orton sells the impact out to the floor. Sure, that’s what normally happens. Cena finally gets in something against Show and H follows up with a jawbreaker. They team up for clotheslines and shoulderblocks and Show finally stumbles out to the floor. Now, it’s Hulk against Superman. They soak in the moment before locking up. H blows through him with a shoulderblock but Cena comes back with FLYING shoulderblocks and a ProtoBomb. He fires up for the 5KS but Trips cuts him off with the SPINEBUSTER! He preps the Pedigree but Cena gets him up for the FU. Showster is back in to club down both and Orton slithers in too and they heels are back in charge. Orton dumps out H and stomps a mudhole. Show with a big suplex on Cena as Orton sends Trips into the stairs. Cena tries fighting back but he collapses on a bodyslam attempt only for Orton to break up the pinfall.

• Orton cowers away from Show and bails out to the floor. Showster wants a double ChokeSlam but Trips and Cena counters to a double suplex. Orton, THAT OPPORTUNISTIC SNAKE, slides in to reap the rewards of their handiwork. Orton wants the Punt but Show catches the foot and just starts destroying Orton with punches and chops. Show’s PISSED and takes down everyone. Show tosses out Orton and Trips and slams down Cena. Show preps a VaderBomb and hits it but AGAIN Orton breaks it up. Show shitcans him out again and then Spears the Hs. Cole: “LIKE A LOCOMOTIVE RUNNING YOU DOWN!” He covers for 1, 2, 2 ½. Show tries another VaderBomb but Triple H slides under. Orton wants the RKO on Show but Show shoves him off. He goes for the Runaway Showster Semi on H but he avoids and hits a Pedigree on Show. BUT WAIT! Cena hits the FU on Triple H. Cena now covers SHOW for one, two, THREEOHNOHEALMOSTGOT’IM! Cena pumps the Reeboks up for an FU. He hits it but Orton breaks it up. He slams Cena into the ringpost and hits the RKO. Cover gets 1, 2, 3 to crown Orton champ again at 8:24 of shown footage. Typical blah four way with no juice or urgency other than a ¾ speed finishing stretch. The Trips/Cena collision was the typical face/face Warrior/Hogan stuff that the Fed is perfect at especially with guys like Cena and Trips who have great chemistry together, but that only lasted about 90 seconds. Not good enough. **1/2

• Steel Cage Match for the Number 1 Contendership to the WWE Championship: King Sheamus vs. Wade Barrett vs. Randy Orton. RAW. 01/03/2011. Win by escape only but if you do, you get the title shot at RR. Back at Survivor Series 2010, Orton retained the WWE strap against Barrett after Cena, despite having his WWE contract on the line, counted Barrett down and out. The next night on RAW, Cena was “fired” and Miz cashed in his MITB to become new WWE champ. The following week, Miz would defeat King in a TLC match to retain his WWE championship and Sheamus would win the most recent KOTR tournament. At TLC, Cena was back and defeated Wade Barrett in a TLC match to effectively end his feud with Nexus and Miz retained over Orton in a tables match. Going into this RAW, CM Punk had finally gotten off commentary and was revealed as the NEW higher power of New Nexus much to Wade Barrett’s chagrin. All the while, Miz still has mini-feuds going with Lawler and John Morrison.

• Barrett tries the early climb, but Orton and Sheamus drag him down and put the boots to him. Orton pounds down Barrett and now Sheamus slinks out the back to climb. Orton chases him down so they can slug it out. Orton comes barrelling out of the corner with a clothesline only to eat the FOOT TO THE FACE from Barrett. Barrett wants Wasteland but Orton ducks out and vaults to the top rope. Barrett and Sheamus both pull him down. The heels gang up on the Viper for some combo punishment. Crowd gets a small RANDYRANDYRANDY chant going but that goes nowhere as does Orton’s comeback. Barrett steals Sheamus’s slink out strategy from earlier and gets the same. Sheamus clubs him down. Orton pulls Sheamus down and blocks a cage shitcan for another clothesline. Orton clotheslines both down and heads for the door. They go for the cutoff but Orton spins around into RKO position. Cole: “Orton now turns around into OFFENSE!… DEFENSE! Depending on how you look at it.” We take a break and we’re back to Sheamus pulling Orton down from the top rafter. Orton drapes himself over the side but Sheamus holds him in place in a cool spot. Cole: “HIGH DRAMA HERE, TONIGHT!” Barrett has to run up and help Sheamus pull Orton back to the top. Back in, Orton fights back and tosses Barrett into the cage and dropkicks Sheamus. Barrett tries the climb out but Orton jumps him from behind on the top rope… again. I’m detecting a pattern here. Orton tosses Barrett into the ringpost and preps the double apron DDT. Barrett fights him off long enough for Sheamus to backdrop Orton into the cage. Sheamus puts the boots to him and hits a back elbow. Once again, Sheamus and Barrett team up on Orton and hit a double suplex.

• Pax Britannia doesn’t last too long as they start potatoing each other with Barrett sending Sheamus into the turnbuckle for the Bret Hart bump. Barrett quickly jumps up to the top of the cage but Orton bearhugs him back down. Top rope superplex follows. Orton tries firing up but Sheamus catches him in the half nelson backbreaker. Sheamus launches Barrett into the cage a few times and hits the Bulldog powerslam. Sheamus crawls for the door but Orton lunges and grabs his foot. Sheamus boots him off and tries climbing over but that gets nothing as Barrett pays him back with the requisite CAGE VENGEANCE! Barrett hits the pumphandle slam and a Bossman slam on Orton. Barrett eyes the top of the cage but there’s that crazy Irishman that likes to fight again. Barrett smashes Sheamus into the grating but rather than climb out he goes for an elbow off the rope. Sheamus gets the knees up of course. Sheamus fires up but feeds instead into Orton for the clothesline and a powerslam. Another for Barrett and an Angle Slam on Sheamus. Orton hits the apron DDT on Barrett, but Sheamus tries a quick climb out. Orton cuts him off and Barrett is there to crotch both on the top rope. Barrett has HAD IT and BOOT OF FEARs both down. That was pretty cool. Barrett starts to climb. BUT WAIT! CM PUNK HAS COME OUT! Punk offers a hand to Barrett to help him climb out. Barrett accepts but Punk has duped him and pulls the Nexus armband off and dumps Barrett back down. Sheamus blasts Barrett down with the pump kick but spins around into an RKO. Orton waltzes out Bruno-style for the win at 15:55.

• Two lukewarm heels going against the wooden Orton with a finish that protects one of the heels to setup a feud that didn’t even warrant a PPV blowoff. That Punk as leader of New Nexus thing really did go nowhere other than jobbing to Orton a few times, tagging with Mason Ryan, and ultimately setting up Barrett as leader of the midcard Corre, which also went nowhere. But hey, all that anger and resentment toward his booking ultimately lead to the Summer of Punk II, so there’s that. Also, a strange gimmick with no pinfalls and way too many repetitive cutoffs. They can’t all be winners. **1/2

• FCW 15 Championship: Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins (c). FCW TV 09/18/2011. Time limit is extended to 30 minutes for the iron man match. Rollins had been holding the Jack Brisco honorary title since January. Commentary plays up how this is a match up between two of the biggest stars on the indies and the rivalry goes back years. Lock up goes nowhere. After a few go behinds, Ambrose gets a rope break and Rollins gives it up cleanly. Rollins ducks under a fireman’s carry to try the superkick but Ambrose bails out. We take a break and we’re back to Rollins working a hold on the arm. Ambrose sends him off but Rollins catches the leg and trips him up for a quick 1 count. Rollins goes back to the arm. Ambrose tries armdragging through but Rollins stays on it and then drops a knee down. Rollins hammerlocks Ambrose into a Flatliner and Ambrose bails out to the corner. Rollins wraps the arm but Ambrose manages to get a break and work him over in the corner with LEATHERY chops. Rollins really sells the hell outta a forearm as Ambrose’s personality finally begins to show through some. Ambrose: “HOW YA LIKE THAT ONE?!” Commentary nicely points out that these two have already wrestled to a 15 minute time limit and a 20 minute time limit, thus necessitating this special time extension stipulation. Good stuff. Ambrose goes for more chops but Rollins ducks under and comes back with chops of his own that tie up Ambrose in the ropes. That gets a nice pop and Rollins finishes him off dropkicking Ambrose to the floor. On the floor, they slug it out and Rollins wins that with kicks to the BAD ARM! Back in, Ambrose begs off but Rollins won’t let him get a break in the corner. Rollins sniffs out a fake out on the whip and counters with a backflip but Ambrose outsmarts that with a PUNT TO THE STONES! Rollins takes the first fall by DQ at 8:23.

• The good guy on commentary questions that strategy but the vet puts him straight. Guy 2: “I like that move…. That’s OK, that’s OK. You stabilized your opponent. Seth Rollins isn’t going anywhere, BELIEVE ME!” Ambrose pounces with the Midnight Special/Island Driver to even the score at 9:00.

• Ambrose brags about taking the lead and then beheads Rollins with a LARIATO. Cover gets 1, 2, 3 to put Ambrose up 2-1 at 9:39.

• After a brief spell, Ambrose with another LARIATO but Rollins rolls out to the floor rather than take another pin. We take another break and we return to Ambrose rocking Rollins into a bow and arrow. Rollins escapes and floats into a pin for a close 2 but Ambrose quickly takes back over with a neck wrench. Ambrose stays on the neck with a neckbreaker for 1, 2, only 2. They chop it out but Rollins sniffs out another backdrop. He goes for a big roundhouse but Ambrose avoids and faceplants with the wheelbarrow facebuster. Cover gets 1, 2, 2 ½. Ambrose dances and prances around as Rollins stumbles around selling a combination of exhaustion and a bad neck but it’s not going over so well. Ambrose eggs him on so Rollins smacks the taste out of his mouth. Ambrose takes the insult but wants another Midnight Special. Rollins slides down his back for 1, 2, 3 to again tie things up at 16:12.

• Ambrose tries another LARIATO to come back but Rollins hits a few burritos and a snap suplex. Rollins fires up in the corner and hits the Flatliner into the turnbuckle. Ambrose avoids a curb stomp but gets shitcanned out for a flip splash after a few counters. Nice sequence. Both sell the fall for a bit while the ref decides just to not count. Back in, Rollins rolls through on a springboard and after some more counters, finally hits the enzuigiri in the corner and a springboard clothesline in another great sequence. Cover gets 1, 2, 2.7. Rollins fires up for the superkick but Ambrose ducks out to the apron. He preps a suplex to the floor but both land on the apron. Ambrose gets back in the ring and tries again but Rollins again lands on his feet and rolls through. Ambrose finally gets his bearings and suplexes Rollins over the top AND DOWN TO THE FLOOR! YEAHHHH!

• We take a break and we’re back to both slugging it out on their knees in the ring. They brawl their way to their feet and Ambrose hits a big slap. Rollins is stunned but hits the desperation Pele. He drapes the arm for 1, 2, 2.99. Rollins hits the Lionsault. He hooks the leg for 1, 2, 2.9999. Rollins is getting more and more and pissed with each 2 count. Rollins hits the Kawada kicks and a HUGGGGEEEE CURB STOMB! BADASS! 1, 2, 2.9999999999999999999999999999999! 25 minutes have elapsed and just 5 minutes to go and we’re tied 2-2. Rollins is out of answers but has one option left and goes for the PHOENIX SPLASH! Ambrose moves and Rollins eats canvas. Ambrose crawls over and tries to steal one for 1, 2, nearfall. Ambrose tries smacking some sense back into himself and wants a Texas Cloverleaf. Rollins blocks so Ambrose gives him a few stiff boots to the breakdbasket and goes to the GnP. Texas Cloverleaf is locked on and he deepseats it. Rollins is in trouble. He tries powering out and just barely makes the ropes. Despite it being tied, Ambrose is super confident and feels like it’s over. He awesomely mocks Rollins’ corner fire up and goes for a superkick of his own. Rollins counters to a Midnight Special! 1, 2, THREEOHNOHEALMOSTGOT’IM! Rollins wants one more go and hits the Superkick at the last second. Cover gets 1, 2, KICKOUT! Time limit draw at 30:00.

• BUT WAIT! Maxine gets the stick and demands a sudden death overtime session. Ambrose complains as the bell rings and Rollins cradles him for 1, 2, 2 ½. They come to blows with fists of fury. Ambrose tosses him into the corner for some BLATANTCHOKING. Ambrose hits a BRUTAL running knee to the face. Cover gets 1, 2, nearfall. Ambrose gets to the apron only to eat another enzuigiri. SUICIDE DIVE TAKES THEM TO THE FLOOR! Back in, two running clotheslines but Ambrose no sells! Running clothesline! Superkick from Rollins! NO SELL! LARIATO! MIDNIGHT SPECIAL! 1, 2, 2.9999999999999999999999999999999999999999. The announcers are losing their voices at this point. Ambrose climbs up top but Rollins cuts him off with another enzuigiri. Ambrose no sells to crotch him. Ambrose wants the super Midnight Special, but Rollins slides behind. BUCKLEBOMB! SUPERKICK! X2! GOD’S LAST GIFT! 1, 2, 3 for Rollins to win 3-2 at 33:35.

• It felt like it took them a while to find a groove. The first 10-ish minutes felt fairly slow, but it’s obvious they were intentionally saving all their gears for the 15 minutes straight of balls-to-the-wall counters, go-behinds, and some wonderful chain wrestling. The booking was especially wonderful down to the stolen finishers that didn’t get a pin and the attempted super finishers in the overtime period. ****1/2

The 411: This time around, you've got some interesting oddities but nothing is lights-out dynamite other than the Iron Man match and Sting and Macho's promos the night at BATB 96.
Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]