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Free For All:
For some reason, Don Cherry's NEVER shows the free for all. If you're lucky, you'll have a tv right at your booth where you can switch the channel to the preview show. Anyways, of what I saw, Sable gave the King a sneak peek at her (and I use this phrase loosely) bikini. The King had a woody for the duration of the show.
Fully Loaded:
Match #1: Val Venis vs Jeff Jarrett
Surprisingly, Val doesn't come out with Yamagouchi San's wife. However, Kaientai do make an appearance. Yamagouchi sits at the broadcast with Ross and Lawler and promises revenge on Venis. Unfortunately, his english isn't very good. So it took me a few minutes to clue into what he was saying. Not a horrible match, but Venis gets the win with a
Match #2: D-Lo Brown vs X-Pac
Great match. I love seeing D-Lo with a title. He gets so excited. I also love how Waltman is putting so much effort into his matches lately. Gotta love those disgruntled ex-WCW wrestlers. D-Lo gets the win with his new finisher, the "Sky High". (a powerbomb/spinebuster type move)
The WWF.COM team speculate the Undertaker's whereabouts since he hasn't shown up yet.
Interview backstage: Bradshaw & Terry Funk
Funk announces that after tonight, he's going to take 6 months off so his back can heal. Bradshaw has heard nothing of this before hand and starts arguing with Funk. I suppose he felt that they had some tag team gold coming their way. They continue arguing right to the ring.
Match #3: Vader vs Mark Henry
Awful match. I had some higher hopes for this one, but boy was this ever bad. Basically it was just to big guys ramming into each other. Badly. A kind of blowoff way to end this feud, but Henry gets the win with a simple splash. No, not a splash off the top, or a splash even from the middle buckle (which Henry kicked out of earlier in the match) but a splash from the floor. And he beats f'n VADER clean with his move? Bad news for Vader fans... he's gotta be in the WWF doghouse. Big time.
Match #4: Bradshaw/Funk vs Scorpio/Farooq
Back and forth matchup which ended with Scorpio pinning Funk after the 450 splash. Not much reaction from the crowd until Bradshaw clobbers Funk with a clothesline. Heel turn! Bradshaw continues to beat up Funk when Scorpio tries to make the save but gets absolutely demolished by the "Clothesline From Hell". Complete 260 degree spin around Bradshaw's arm WITHOUT even touching the ground. Funny as hell. Farooq attempts to save his partner, but gets a steel chair to the back from the big Texan.
In Ring Interview: Kane & Mankind w/ Paul Bearer
They call the Undertaker a coward, and how easy the match tonight will be without him ... blah blah blah.... but then the New Age Outlaws burst out and demand a rematch for the titles on the next night's RAW. A breif brawl ensues, and the teams are separated.
Match #5: LOD 2000 vs D.O.A.
Typical LOD match - horrible. The only brightspot was Paul Ellering. That guy is insane. He kept interfering over and over. Anyways, LOD lose when Hawk is pinned after a typical DOA switch. A true dud.
In Ring Interview: Mr. McMahon
McMahon tries to pass the blame for the Undertaker's apparant no-show on Steve Austin. McMahon indicates that the card is, as always, subject to change. Therefore a suitable replacement is picked if the Undertaker does indeed not show up. That replacement is Steve Lombardi, aka The Brooklyn Brawler!!!! The Brawler runs out, overjoyed at the opportunity of wrestling a ppv main event. Big pop from the crowd. He hugs everyone in the ring, and jumps around for joy. Funny stuff.
Match #6: Dungeon Match: Owen Hart vs Ken Shamrock
Special Guest Referee: Dan "The Beast" Severn
This match actually took place in Stu Hart's own home in Calgary. His basement/wrestler training facility is known throughout wrestling circles as "The Dungeon". So, Owen has the home turf advantage.
Another very entertaining match. But far too short. The match consisted of a lot of fast-paced and brutal action. The match ends with Owen lifting Shamrock and driving his head through the giprock ceiling. One smack with a dumbell later and Shamrock is out cold. Through out all of this, Severn has been down after a misplaced kick by Shamrock. As Severn wakes up, Owen has Shamrock in some silly submission move, and taps Shamrocks hand for him. Severn sees it, and ends the match.
Match #7: 2/3 Fall Intercontinental Title match: The Rock vs HHH
As great as both these guys are, a 30 minute match made me realize just how bad both men need some new moves. Its the same old stuff. But, the match was still good. The Rock got the first fall after a Rock bottom after some help from Mark Henry. HHH got a small package after a Chyna lowblow and DDT. As the 30 minute time limit dwindled dowm, Hunter gets the pedigree on The Rock. As he goes for the pin, the ref stops the match when the timelimit runs out. The Rock keeps the title because of the draw.
The Undertaker finally arrives, and Dustin Runnels says a prayer for the souls participating in the next affair: THE BIKINI CONTEST!
Bikini Contest: Sable vs Jaqueline
Once both ladies were in the ring, Jaqueline was first to disrobe. She wore a red one piece leather suit. Looked pretty good. As she strutted around the ring, things jiggled here and there until... well let's just say we can call her "Nip" from now on. 8) Accidental? I've gotta doubt it.
Sable had her turn next. She pulled off her new "Sable Bombs: 38 Specials" t-shirt to reveal a less than revealing tank top and bikini bottoms. Lawler seemed disappointed. He asked what was up, and she said that McMahon wanted her to be "conservative". BUT, this is live tv and she can do whatever she wanted. With that, she pulled off the top to reveal two small bodypaint handprints on strategic areas of her upper torso. (If you can smell what I'm cookin')
Lawler almost has a heart attack. Mero tries to cover up Sable's... thingies with a shirt, but she slaps him. She continues to strut as the crowd hoots and hollers. Lawler asks if they think Sable is the winner and the crowd explodes. 8) Sable wins! Sable wins! Finally McMahon comes out and covers up Sable with his sportsjacket and escorts her out of the ring.
You want pics? Well click here to get 'em. Enjoy, fellas. 8)
Match #8: Tag Team Title Match: Austin/Undertaker vs Kane/Mankind
Austin basically fought the whole match. Tensions between Austin & Undertaker were teased during the whole match. At the last moment, The Undertaker accepts the tag from Austin and cleans house. Kane is chokeslammed then tombstoned for the win. New tag champs. The Undertaker leaves the ring with both belts, and Austin looks perplexed at the end of another ppv.
Comments:
How the mighty have fallen.
When Sable left the ring at Wrestlemania, she was above the other valets in the WWF and WCW. She proved that she could get in the ring and actually deliver some great moves. I for one envisioneda possible return of the WWF Women's division with Sable as its popular champ (much like Austin). Even though the Evening Gown Match was a little degrading, Sable fought a good match even with an injured foot. The future looked great for Sable's career. Sure, everyone who paid to see her strip couldn't have been disappointed. But when she exposed herself for the world to see, she destroyed any hopes of her being anything else but eye-candy.
As far as the rest of the card goes, I enjoyed it. The only really terrible matches were Vader/Henry and the LOD/DOA matches. The others were at least entertaining.
My only problem with WWF ppvs these days is that some matches, though good are very underhyped. Sometimes they're not even announced. For example, I had no idea that LOD were wrestling DOA. To my knowledge, it wasn't even announced. The Owen/Shamrock Dungeon match was barely mentioned on the RAW previous to the ppv. And now at Summerslam, they'll be in a Lion's Den match (in an octagon). More emphasis should have been made over how Owen had the hometurf advantage on tv leading up to Fully Loaded. The resulting octagon match would have been more significant for SummerSlam.
Like Over The Edge, I'll give this card the thumbs up for pure entertainment value alone. So, it gets a rating of 7/10.