‘WWE Vintage Collection TV Report #69 – September 27^th, 2009

Shown on Sky Sports in the U.K.

By Stephen Lyon.

This week: Matches from the Attitude era: Edge vs Owen Hart (1998); Edge & Christian vs The Dudley Boys (2001); Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Kane (1998); Chris Jericho vs Eddie Guerrero (2000); and The Rock vs Kurt Angle (2001).

Matches:

1) Owen Hart defeated Edge. This match was from the ‘WWF Breaking Point 1998’ pay-per-view event, held in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada on September 27^th, 1998. Announcers for this match were Jim Ross & Jerry Lawler. The gothic babyface Edge sat in the corner, awaiting the arrival of the yellow-and-black-clad Hart, who received loud chants of ‘Nugget’ upon his arrival. Owen worked over Edge’s left arm to begin with, before whipping Edge into the corner. Edge came back with a modified standing Frankensteiner on Owen, then threw him to the outside. Edge attempted a dive off the ring apron on to Owen, but Owen caught him and powerslammed him on the ringside mats. After a short break, Owen gave Edge an enziguiri kick, but when he went for a moonsault, Edge placed him on his shoulders, then dropped him face first to the mat. Edge took control, using a swinging neckbreaker, a DDT and a German Suplex, scoring nearfalls after each move. Owen hit back, giving Edge a belly-to-belly suplex of his own. The finish came when Edge blocked Owen’s sharpshooter attempt, and caught Owen with an enziguiri kick of his own. As he went to pin him, a mysterious newcomer appeared at ringside. This was the debut of Christian. “Who’s that guy?” cried both J.R. and Jerry Lawler. Edge, distracted by the arrival of this figure from his past, was rolled up from behind by Hart, who grabbed the pinfall win. Afterwards, Edge left through the crowd, stalking Christian. 

Next came a short video featuring Edge & Christian as a tag team, being utterly hilarious in a variety of situations. I wish WWE’s attempts at comedy nowadays were as funny as this was, back in the day. Broken record, I know. This just hammered it home.

“Edge, look at this – kazoos and streamers!”

“Ha ha, streamers rule – long live the stream!”

2) The Dudley Boyz defeated Edge & Christian to win the WWF Tag Team titles. This match was from the ‘WWF Royal Rumble 2001’ pay-per-view event, held in New Orleans, Louisiana, on January 21^st, 2001. Announcers for this joined-in-progress match were Jim Ross & Jerry Lawler. Edge attempted a piledriver on D-Von, but D-Von blocked it, and monkey-flipped Edge into Christian in the corner. D-Von made the hot tag to Bubba Ray, but the referee didn’t see the tag. As the ref escorted the protesting Bubba to the ring apron, Edge & Christian attempted a double conchairto on D-Von. D-Von ducked, then double clotheslined both Edge & Christian and made the tag to Bubba. Bubba gave Christian a Bubba Bomb, then slammed Edge, allowing D-Von to dive off the top rope and deliver a ‘Wassup’ headbutt to Edge’s groin. D-Von went to get the tables, but ended up brawling with Christian on the outside. The Dudleys went for the 3D on Christian, but Edge speared Bubba for a nearfall. Edge & Christian set up Bubba for their own ‘Wassup’ diving headbutt, but the Dudleys managed to reverse the move, culminating in Edge falling off the top rope, and landing head first in Christian’s groin. The Dudleys then combined to give Edge the 3D, grabbing the pin to win the tag team titles.

3) Stone Cold Steve Austin defeated Kane (w/Paul Bearer in his corner) to regain the WWF Title. This match took place on the June 29^th, 1998 edition of ‘WWF Raw Is War’, held in Cleveland, Ohio. Announcers for this match were Jim Ross & Jerry Lawler. This match came one day after the King of the Ring ppv, where Kane had defeated Austin to win the WWF title. This match on Raw broke all-time Monday Night Wars ratings records at the time, culminating in 6.9 quarter rating for this match. Kane was stomping on Austin in the corner, choking him as well. Austin came back, bouncing off the ropes and giving Kane a Lou Thesz press, unloading with punches of his own. Austin also wrapped Kane’s legs around the ringpost as well. Kane responded by brawling with Austin outside the ring, dropping him throat first across the guardrail. Paul Bearer nailed Austin with his shoe. As Austin went after him, Kane punched him from behind. The Undertaker, who had cost Austin the title the night before, made his way to ringside. Kane gave Austin a big boot to the face, then delivered a flying clothesline from the top rope. Austin tried to fight back with punches, but Kane chokeslammed him. Austin recovered quickly, and attempted a stunner on Kane, which he blocked. He then managed to hit the stunner in his second attempt, and scored the title-regaining pinfall win. Massive reaction from the live crowd, with people jumping up and down frantically. Undertaker entered the ring, but before it was clear what he was about to do, Austin gave him a stunner, ‘paying him back’ for the previous night. As Austin made his exit, both Undertaker and Kane sat up simultaneously.

4) Eddie Guerrero defeated Chris Jericho (w/Chyna in his corner) to win the WWF European title. This match took place on the April 3^rd, 2000 edition of ‘WWF Raw Is War’, held in Los Angeles, California. Announcers for this match were Jim Ross & Jerry Lawler. Jericho, with Chyna in his corner, was the babyface here. Guerrero had been flirting with Chyna for weeks, trying to score a date, but she had so far rebuffed all of his advances. Match was joined in progress, with only a few minutes airing. Eddie slammed Jericho and attempted a frogsplash, but missed, rolling through on the mat instead. Jericho powerslammed him and scored a nearfall. The referee was bumped, and Jericho then gave Eddie two successive powerbombs, followed by a Lionsault. With the referee out, Chyna climbed into the ring and counted to three as Jericho pinned Eddie. Chyna then raised Jericho’s hand and celebrated with him. Surprisingly, she turned heel on him, kicking him low, then giving him a DDT. She pulled Eddie on top of Jericho, and the referee revived to count the pin. After the match, Chyna had a big smile on her face, handing a groggy Eddie his newly won European title belt. The look on Eddie’s face when he realised that Chyna had helped him win was priceless, as he sported a huge grin as he gave her a big embrace.

A short video aired, recapping the rivalry between The Rock and Kurt Angle during late 2000/early 2001.

5) The Rock defeated Kurt Angle to win the WWF Title. This match was from the ‘WWF No Way Out 2001’ pay-per-view event, held in Las Vegas, Nevada on February 25^th, 2001. Announcers for this match were Jim Ross and Tazz. Match began with a staredown, before Rock charged out of the corner and clotheslined Angle. The two traded punches, before Rock gave Angle a side Russian legsweep. Angle recovered to take Rock down with a drop-toe hold, into an anklelock, with Rock grabbing the bottom rope to break the hold. Angle followed this up with a pair of belly-to-belly suplexes. Rock rebounded quickly and caught Angle with one his own soon after. After a short break, the two traded punches, before Rock managed to hit a spinebuster on him. Rock gave Angle the People’s Elbow, but Angle shockingly kicked out. Angle removed a turnbuckle pad in the corner. Rock attempted a Rock Bottom on Angle, but the ‘Olympic Champion’ blocked the move, instead sending Rock head-first into the exposed turnbuckle. Angle then gave Rock the Olympic Slam, but Rock kicked out of the pinfall attempt. A bewildered Angle charged at Rock, who sidestepped him and sent him charging into the exposed turnbuckle, sternum-first. Rock hit a first Rock Bottom, but only scored a two count. He quickly followed up with a second Rock Bottom on Angle, scoring title-regaining pinfall win.

Closing thoughts: Very good show this week, that brought back some great memories from a brilliant time to be a wrestling fan. I’ve been saying for months that they should do a show on the Attitude era, and this didn’t disappoint. Hopefully there will be more ‘Vintage’ shows on this era in the future. They could easily do a themed month of weekly shows on the Attitude era, similar to other monthly themes they have done in the past.

Match Results:

1) Owen Hart defeated Edge (‘WWF Breaking Point 1998’ pay-per-view event – Hamilton, Ontario, Canada: 27/09/98). 

2) The Dudley Boyz defeated Edge & Christian to win the WWF Tag Team titles (‘WWF Royal Rumble 2001’ pay-per-view event – New Orleans, Louisiana: 21/01/01). 

3) Stone Cold Steve Austin defeated Kane (w/Paul Bearer in his corner) to regain the WWF Title (‘WWF Raw Is War’ – Cleveland, Ohio: 29/06/98). 

4) Eddie Guerrero defeated Chris Jericho (w/Chyna in his corner) to win the WWF European title (‘WWF Raw Is War’ –Los Angeles, California: 03/04/00). 

5) The Rock defeated Kurt Angle to win the WWF Title (‘WWF No Way Out 2001’ pay-per-view event – Las Vegas, Nevada: 25/02/01). 

Please note: I DO NOT sell DVDs or tapes of any of these shows. Sorry!

I hope you enjoyed this week’s report. For other reports like this one, be sure to check it out my website archive at http://www.classicwrestlingreports.com .

It’s no longer updated, but this website carries all of my previous WWE Classics tv reports that have been featured on the old WrestlingObserver.com website.

As always your questions, comments and thoughts are always welcomed, and you can contact me at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Until next week, have a good week.

Stephen Lyon,
St Helens, England, U.K.