Mae Young vs. Fabulous Moolah - WWF Smackdown! (1999)
Today Mae Young passed away after being misreported that she had passed away almost a week ago.
While there is very little footage of Mae Young in her prime, I think it's very appropriate to honor Mae by showing her work that she did with Fabulous Moolah back in 1999 anyway. Mae Young will forever be remembered as that fearless and tough old lady that took bumps off the stage onto tables, called the PG Divas of today sluts, and gave birth to a hand.
I actually had the chance to see Mae Young wrestle at an indy show when I was younger and I was certain that she was going to wrestle well into her 100's. Still, 90 years old is pretty damn good.
David Jericho vs. Taka Michinoku - WWF Shotgun Saturday Night (1998)
WWF Light Heavyweight champion, Taka Michinoku takes on a newcomer by the name of David Jericho in a non-title match for the Heat of Saturday Nights, Shotgun Saturday Night. David performed on and off with WWF at house shows and in dark matches until breaking both of his ankles during a match with Too Cool in 1999. After recovering, David, real name David Cash, returned to ECW where he started out and brought with him a new gimmick as a Kid Rock look-a-like. Thus, Kid Kash was born.
Kid Kash would eventually get a full contract deal with the WWE in 2005, but the David Jericho character did not make a comeback. Apparently WWE already had a "Jericho" on the roster this time and didn't need another one running around.
The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels - first Hell in a Cell match - WWF Bad Blood: In Your House (1997)
The match that started it all: the very first "Hell in a Cell" match. The main differences between a Hell in a Cell match and a regular WWF/E cage match is that the cage is wider with room for the wrestlers to go outside the ring, there's a roof on the cage, and you can't win via escaping the structure.
While this match between the Undertaker and Shawn Michaels marked the first Hell in a Cell match, the match is probably remembered more for its ending. The ending goes like this: Just as Undertaker is about to finish off a bloodied Michaels after blasting him over the head with a blue steel chair, the lights got and from the darkness appears Paul Bearer, Taker's former manager, following a large figure clad in black and red from head to toe. After weeks of Bearer mentioning that Taker has a long lost brother, it is finally confirmed that he is still alive and looking for his brother. As the large individual walks to the cell, Vince McMahon from his headphones reveals, "that's gotta be... that's gotta be Kane!" before ripping the cage door right off its hinges. The two brothers of similar height then square off in the middle of the ring until Kane makes his move and takes out Taker using the Phenom's own tombstone piledriver and forever cementing his legacy as the Big Red Machine!
This match also features a fair amount of brawling outside the ring and on top of the cell, Michaels abusing cameramen, and a bump off the cage that will forever be overshadowed by the legendary bump that Mankind takes in the next Hell in a Cell match.
Daniel Bryan vs. The World Heavyweight champion Chris Jericho - NXT debut show (2010)
In good fashion like the other Mondays following a new champion crowning, here is Daniel Bryan's debut match in WWE.
Despite Bryan being no stranger to the WWE ring as seen just last month in the callback to the Danielson/Cena match on Velocity in 2003, this was Bryan's first match on WWE not only after becoming an indie sensation but also as "Daniel Bryan", the NXT contestant and rookie. He wouldn't be a rookie very long though, that's for sure.
This match was also the first main event on the very first NXT episode. Double debut.
Also, check out that bump Bryan takes on the side of the announce table after Jericho "catches" him in mid-air after the suicide dive.
As the title suggests, this is the match where Tajiri, the current Cruiserweight champ at the time, took on Jamie Noble in singles competition with his girlfriend and Tough Enough 1 winner, Nidia by his side. During the match, Tajiri looks to use his Cruiserweight title as a weapon on Noble, but as Nidia tries to intervene by grabbing the title away from Tajiri, Tajiri sprays her in the face with his Asian mist. According to legend, the black mist, which was the mist used on Nidia in this sequence, is said to blind the recipient for weeks.
Eventually, Nidia would get her sight back, but would milk the incident for well over the time she could see again.
MNM (Joey Mercury & Johnny Nitro w/Melina) vs. Jon Moxley & Brad Taylor - Velocity (2006)
I've been watching the Best of the Indies series, Stories From the Streets: The Jon MoxleyStory by Smart Mark Video and thought I would look up this match mentioned early on in the interviews with Jon Moxley - a man now known as Dean Ambrose. The bout is Moxley's first dark match with the WWE where he tags with his fellow Heartland Wrestling Association wrestler, Brad Taylor (Brad Attitude). In the interview mentioned above, Moxley talks about how excited he was to get a chance to have a try-out match with the WWE and be where the big boys play. During the match you can plainly see just how amped up Moxley was for this little bit of spotlight. The tiniest, really.
All in all, it's not a bad match for what it is: a glorified preliminary match to make the champs at the time, MNM, look strong. But Moxley didn't care about that here at 19-20 years old and was just really in love with wrestling. Also in the interview, which was made pre-Shield/FCW (so, 2011), Moxley mentions that he has no plans of being with the WWE anytime soon.
Now he's already fought the Undertaker and pinned Randy Orton at Wrestlemania.
Bonus: You can pick up The Jon Moxley Story in DVD form from Smart Mark Video dot com. It's actually a three disc DVD that also features 14 Jon Moxley matches from CZW, IWA-MS, IPW, HWA, and wXw.
Triple H takes out his raging aggression for Batista, who recently turned his back on Evolution (now just Haitch and Ric Flair), while the 400 pound superhero looks to avenge his fallen ally who had been taken out by the Cerebral Assassin a week before.
Let the burying began.
Minor fun fact: This is the match where Triple H makes that weird noise at the end when he holds up his World Heavyweight title and the sledgehammer - the sledgehammer he lodges into Rosey's gut during the unprovoked attack on the poor superhero after the match.
Triple H vs. Tazz - Champion vs. Champion - WWF Smackdown! (2000)
Only a couple of days after defeating WCW's Mike Awesome for the ECW heavyweight championship in about 3 minutes in Indianapolis, Tazz appears on Smackdown! to take on WWF's champion at the time, Triple H.
Though no titles were on the line and Tommy Dreamer appears only to be left looking like a fool with his silly suspender pants on the ground, Tazz puts up a good fight againt Triple H.
Anyways, here's the ECW champion, Tazz taking on the champion of the McMahon/Helmsley era, Triple H.
