Skunkyrate
Gripping story with well-crafted characters
Afouotos
Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.
Plustown
A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.
Adeel Hail
Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.
callanvass
Live from Fresno, CAAttendance 9,855Sable gives Jerry Lawler a sneak peak of her "bikini" Val Venis Vs Jeff JarrettVenis wins. This was a FANTASTIC opener. I didn't care at all about this match...but they got me into it right away. Great wrestling from two guys I was never really fond of. I'm always happy to be pleasantly surprised.***1/4 out of 5D'Lo Brown Vs X-PacD'Lo wins with help from The Godfather. Disappointingly average match between these two. They are capable of way more.** out of 5The Undertaker hasn't arrived to the arena. Farooq & Scorpio Vs Bradshaw & Terry FunkFunk says he's done with the WWF after this match. Loud boring chants sprinkled in here and there. Scorpio pins Funk with a 450 splash. Bradshaw pulls a Barry Windham after the match and turns on Terry Funk. Obviously, they took a page out of Barry Windham's heel turn on Dustin Rhodes at Clash of the Champions. Terrible match.* out of 5Vader Vs Mark HenryHenry wins. Vader was a glorified jobber at this juncture. Henry was really green and Vader was less than motivated...so this stunk pretty good.*1/4 out of 5Kane, Mankind, and Paul Bearer are out. I LOATHE Paul Bearer. Love to hate him. He's a damn good heel and a heat magnet. He calls The Undertaker a coward and says Stone Cold is in the wrong place at the wrong time. The New Age Outlaws interrupt. They issue a challenge Kane and Mankind or Stone Cold and The Undertaker for a shot at the Tag Team Titles on Raw tomorrow. A huge brawl breaks out. That woke the crowd up.The Legion of Doom Vs The D.O.AThe DOA wins after they pull the twin switch. Pretty mediocre match. This PPV has gone downhill quickly. *1/2 out of 5Mr. McMahon and his entourage (Brisco, Patterson, Slaughter) are out. Vince says Stone Cold is to blame for everything. If the Undertaker no-shows, don't blame, Vince McMahon. He says The Brooklyn Brawler will be Austin's partner later tonight.Dungeon Match (Submission Match)Ken Shamrock Vs Owen HartThis takes place in Stu Hart's Dungeon in Calgary. Dan Severn is the referee. Owen Hart wins by cheating after knocking out Shamrock with a barbell. This was pretty physical and intense for what it was. Owen is hilarious as usual. n/rIntercontinental Title (2 out of 3 falls)The Rock (C) Vs Triple HThe match ends at 1 fall apiece in draw. Plenty of interference and perhaps a TAD overbooked, but it was mostly enjoyable. Not their best...but enjoyable.*** out of 5Dustin Rhodes turns heel and asks "God" to forgive the people for enjoying the Bikini contest. He says the Messiah is coming soon.Bikini ContestSable Vs JacquelineSable comes out, virtually nude. The crowd loses their minds...whatever. Vince comes out and covers her up. Sable is one of the most overrated women I've ever seen in my life. Lana is the female equivalent. Can't stand either of them. Sable isn't that attractive in my eyes. Tag Team TitlesKane & Mankind (C) Vs "Stone Cold" Steve Austin & The UndertakerAustin and Taker win the titles. Fun "Attitude Era" style main event with lots of good brawling. I certainly can't complain about it.**3/4 out of 5This PPV was OK. I'd say it was somewhat above average. Certainly no great shakes...but it wasn't bad.5.5/10
amanwhorocks
1. Val Venis Vs. Jeff Jarrett - Push for Venis. 7.5/10 2. WWF European Championship: Champ-D-Lo Brown Vs. X-pac - D-Lo always annoyed me. 7/103. Faarooq/Scorpio Vs. Funk/Bradshaw - Heel turn for raging Bradshaw. 7/10 4. Vader Vs. Mark Henry - Too heavy match and full of misunderstanding. Hate Vader's jobbing... 5.5/10 5. D.O.A. Vs. L.O.D. = B.A.D. Boring as hell, Hey you 80's figures go back to your grave. 5/106. Dungeon Match: Owen Hart Vs. Shamrock - I must admit it was entertaining. 7.5/10 7. 2 out of 3 Intercontinental Title Match: HHH Vs. Champ-The Rock - Very Long and "boring chants". But after first fall things get better. And after all - we get draw. 7/10 8. Bikini Contest: Jacqueline Vs. Sable - Jacqueline won over Sable, at least in my head. She was so sexy in that outfit! 10/10 9. Champs-Kane/Mankind Vs. Stone Cold - match with great ending! Taker & Austin are million dollar tag team :) 8/10
bh_tafe3
Sable went topless, Triple H and the Rock had a classic, Ken Shamrock and Owen Hart had a rather unauthentic worked MMA/ pro wrestling hybrid match and Undertaker eventually helped Steve Austin win the tag team belts from Mankind and Kane in an entertaining main event.This was a filler PPV in the true sense of the word, with all roads leading to Summerslam. I find it interesting when people talk about how deep the WWE was during the attitude era when, in reality, the only four guys in the company moving PPV numbers in 1998 were the ones in the main event here. Rock and Triple H were coming fast, and Sable was sending merchandise flying off the shelf. But depth was not there at all.The night started off with Val Venis, making his PPV debut and beating Jeff Jarrett with a roll up pin. Between this and his last PPV match, Jarrett was off to an inauspicious start in his final WWE run, but it would get a lot worse when he left a year later.The next match was one of a number at this PPV featuring the stable war between Triple H's DX stable and the Rock's Nation stable. Here we had D Lo Brown, representing the Nation defeating DX's X-Pac in a short, not overly good match.Next up came a short tag team match which saw the tag team of Faarooq and Scorpio defeat Terry Funk and Bradshaw. Faarooq had been the leader of the Nation of Domination before the Rock usurped him following Wrestlemania. Terry Funk had won the tag team titles partnering Mick Foley at Wrestlemania. Funk would soon be out of the WWE again. By the end of the year Faarooq and Bradshaw would be part of the The Undertaker's ministry stable as his Acolytes.The next match saw the latest low in the sad WWE career of Vader as he lost to Mark Henry in a short, awful match. Henry had been bought into the WWE with big plans that he would be a dominant monster, but he struggled to find his feet and the WWE largely gave up on him pretty early in the piece.Next up was another short, forgettable tag match with the Disciples of the Apocalypse defeating the LOD 2000. LOD 2000 was an unsuccessful attempt to re invigorate the legendary NWA Tag Team the Road Warriors.Next up saw a Dungeon Match between Owen Hart and Ken Shamrock. Given Shamrock's UFC background and Hart's MMA training curiosity might cause you to track this match down: don't bother. They do a couple of take downs and then have a wrestling match. Hart wins.Next up was a classic with stable leaders Triple H and the Rock meeting for the Intercontinental Championship in a 2 out of three fall match. There's a fair bit of factional involvement in the first two falls. And the match ends with Triple H hitting the pedigree as time expires. Rock retains his title. But the faith the WWE has invested in Triple H seems to be finally paying off with the fans responding.Next up saw Sable take her top off in a bikini contest with Jacqueline, one of the few memorable moments in a forgettable filler show. Sable had been re instated following her pin fall loss to to Marc Mero in the previous PPV. Mero, having turned on Sable, had now gotten with Jacqueline.Brings us to the main event, in which Steve Austin and the Undertaker, who were scheduled to meet for Austin's WWE Title at Summerslam in a month, defeated Kane and Mankind to win the WWE Tag Team Titles. The story here was that McMahon had put them together knowing that they would not work together and hoping that Undertaker would allow Kane and Mankind to destroy Austin. But Undertaker's conscience gets the better of him and he tags in, winning the match. The will he/ won't he crisis of conscience over the course of the night was one of the more effective running themes of the show. Fully Loaded had been an effective filler show and now we all waited impatiently for the main event of Summerslam.
Spawn Devil
Match 1: Val Venis vs. Jeff Jarrett Venis takes the mic and says he is going to do something he has always wanted to do, he starts to pull his dick out but is interrupted by Jarrett. Southern Justice is sent back to the locker room and Yamaguchi son comes out to do commentary. Venis takes control in the early match with two near falls. Then Jarrett takes control with a Powerbomb and throws Venis to the outside where Tennessee Lee takes a cheap shot at Val. Venis then hits a belly to back suplex to take back control. Jarrett and the ref hit heads and Venis goes to the top where he is shaken off by Lee. A small scuffle continues and Val wins with a roll up. Val was accidentally split open in this match and it wasn't a bad beginning match up. WINNER: Val Venis
Match 2: D-Lo vs. X-pac (non Title match) D-lo starts off in control. Chants begin saying D-lo sucks. X-pac jumps at D-lo but hits himself on the ring post. D-lo really dominates with many moves including an unbelievably powerful Irish whip. D-lo hits the frog splash and only gets a 2 count so he goes for a moonsault which he misses. X-pac takes control for a minute riding D-lo in the corner. D-lo whips X-pac into the ropes where the godfather hits him and D-lo puts him in the sky high for the win. D-lo really dominated this match and his moonsault was one of the highest I have ever seen. WINNER: D-LoMatch 3: Terry Funk & Bradshaw vs. Scorpio & Faarooq Early in an interview Funk announces he will take 6 months off and Bradshaw wasn't happy. Also the Undertaker hadn't arrived yet. Farooq dominates Funk and Scorpio dominates Bradshaw. Bradshaw then hits a suplex off the top rope and a Powerbomb. Funk takes Scorpio outside and Scorpio meets the railing. Faarooq and Bradshaw battle outside allowing Scorpio to hit the moonsault off the top rope. Bradshaw then bitches out Funk and attacks him. Scorpio comes out to help and gets his butt kicked and then Faarooq gets hit with a chair. WINNER: No contestMatch 4: Mark Henry vs. Vader This match really stunk. Both men went back and forth with control. Vader hit a splash off the second rope but Henry kicked out. Henry then gave Vader a powerslam and a splash to win. WINNER: Mark HenryMatch 5: LOD vs. DOA with Paul Ellering Control of the match went back and forth. Ellering was very active in the match from the outside helping DOA beat the crap out of Hawk. Hawk was in the ring for a long time until he clotheslined both members of DOA and tagged Animal. Animal cleaned house and LOD executed the Devastation Device, but the other member of DOA interferes and breaks the count. The legal member of DOA is rolled to the outside and the fresh man covers Animal for the win. Both teams showed great teamwork and Ellering is one crazy dude. WINNER: DOAMatch 6: Owen Hart vs. Ken Shamrock in a Dungeon These two went back and forth trying to make each other submit. They both smashed each other into walls. Eventually they made their way to the weights and Hart lifted Shamrock up and his head went through the roof. Shamrock went for a kick and missed and knocked out Severn. Hart then hit Shamrock with a dumbbell and knocked him out. Severn woke up and saw Shamrock in a hold knocked out and called the match. WINNER: Owen HartMatch 7: The Rock vs. HHH for the IC Title (2 out of 3 falls) This match went back and forth on the outside. Then Henry came down and splashed Hunter and Gunn came down to stop. The Godfather comes out but so does NAO to stop him. The Rock distracts the ref and D-lo comes down with the belt but Hunter takes the belt and hits D-lo. Hunter then turns around and gets hit with the rock bottom and a three count. Fall one to the rock via the Rock Bottom.
B.) D-lo comes back on the apron but Chyna kicks his butt. X-pac comes down and tries to interfere. While Chyna is distracting the ref Hunter gets a chair but the Rock gets it and hits the ref when he went to hit Hunter. The ref is knocked out. Chyna then hits the Rock with a DDT on the chair. Hunter gets the pin. Fall two Hunter via DDT on a chair by Chyna.C.) For the final fall Hunter hits the pedigree at the end of the match and time runs out. the match is a draw and the rock keeps the belt. After a brawl between the two factions ensues. this was a great match.WINNER: Draw (Rock retains IC Title)Match 8: Sable vs. Jacqueline in a Bikini Contest WINNER: SableMatch 9: Steve Austin & The Undertaker vs. Kane & Mankind for the WWF Tag Titles The match went back and forth. Austin tried to stun Kane but he blocked it. Then Kane chokeslammed Taker. Next Austin and Taker exchanged middle fingers. Undertaker was outside the ring fighting Mankind and Mankind threw a chair into the ring but Austin got it and hit Kane. Austin eventually couldn't get a tag and was getting his butt kicked but he then stunned both Kane and Mankind. Austin went for the tag and Taker was reluctant but Taker tagged and choke slammed Kane and Mankind and gave Kane the tombstone for the pin. WINNER: Undertaker and Austin via the tombstone on Kane. NEW Champions!! Undertaker left the ring with both belts and didn't give Austin his.
This PPV deserves a B