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WWF UNFORGIVEN
When: September 26, 1999
Where: Charlotte, N.C.
What: WWF's fifth pay-per-view of the year
Jason Powell, PWTorch assistant editor (3.5)
The WWF sacrificed the quality of the PPV by placing the majority of their top guys in the main event. The strategy seems to be that the main event is what sells a PPV, but they should realize an action-packed, three-hour show will keep viewers coming back. The WWF has taken all of the thrill out of title changes because they occur on a bi-monthly basis. Triple H has turned out to be a decent champ, but needs a lengthy title reign with clean finishes over other top names.
The WWF's biggest problem seems to be their lack of heels. In this very space, I called for the DX divorce just before they broke up. I wrote that they should do it temporarily in order to save the group from becoming stale. The time is right to bring them back as heels. With a new faction being formed every Monday night on Raw or Nitro, the only one that stands a chance of getting over is DX. Follow the old Four Horsemen title belt monopoly formula of the top dog (Triple H) holding the world title, a tag team (Outlaws) holding the tag belts, and the other member (X-Pac) holding the secondary belt (Intercontinental Title). About a year or two from now, X-Pac could split from the group and have a hot title run with Triple H. X-Pac is a hell of a worker, has earned a run as top contender, and should be ready about the time fans would be calling for it.
Having ripped on Mike Awesome's hair last week I don't want to risk becoming the unofficial hair critic, but the barber who gives Tom Prichard that haircut should really have his license revoked. I've seen sheep dogs with a better look... Hey Bulldog, aren't boot tassels usually reserved for middle-aged guys who had their best days in the '80s and don't belong in today's main events? Oh wait... Luna should never be allowed to speak again... Jarrett and Chyna should've been slotted higher on the show as it was the only interesting match outside of the main event... Ross's insider comments during the Snow vs. Bossman fiasco are among other things what separates him from other announcers... Jericho needs to drop the "wacky" bits that go over the heads of casual fans and concentrate on getting himself over... It was embarrassing that the Stone Cold Enforcer didn't know the rules of the main event and had to ask the announcers to update him on current storylines. Have another cold one, Steve...
Wade Keller, editor (4.0)
Overall, not a terrible show, but it was spotty. Every decent match was a notch below expectations and every bad match failed to exceed its low expectations... How long has it been since not one McMahon family member participated in a PPV on camera?... It's strange how Chyna is the heel manager of Triple H, yet is considered a big-time babyface against Jeff Jarrett. It's understandable fans would cheer Chyna since her character is sympathetic, as opposed to Jarrett who has great heel heat right now, but to see her later with Triple H as a heel doesn't seem right... The light towers making up the PPV set made it look like wrestlers were entering Bally's Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas...
One of Ross's better traits as an announcer is his willingness to call a spade and spade and acknowledge when a match is bad. His commentary on the Hell in the Cell mess adds to his credibility. While other announcers would have tried to hard-sell the match as a brutal, bloody classic, Ross knew it was unsalvagable and called it that way. He will have more credibility next time he describes a good match as a classic because of it. Earlier Ross pointed out one of my pet peeves. When Steve Blackman had Val Venis pinned, Val punched Blackman in the ribs and Blackman rolled off of him, but Val never lifted his shoulders once Blackman began rolling off of him, so technically the ref rightfully could have counted to three. Ross pointed out that Val didn't lift his shoulder and should have lost. Announcers should have the latitude to, in essence, point out flaws in matches to embarrass wrestlers into paying more attention to details...
It was a nice touch to have medical help come out to tend to Venis after he got hit with the kendo stick. Thanks to overkill kings Mick Foley, Masato Tanaka, and their type, cane shots and single chairshots don't mean nearly what they once did. Credit the WWF and Val for selling a single cane shot, because next time someone threatens to use a cane, maybe fans will think it actually is dangerous. It's all how it's portrayed...
During the X-Pac vs. Jericho match, the camera focused on X-Pac as he called a spot to Jericho. No audio was picked up. Ross said X-Pac was "talking trash" to Jericho. Why bother with the cover-up anymore? Why not just say, "Oh, fans, that is an example of a wrestler calling a spot." If it's okay for Rock to talk about how it was "best for his character" to do this on the Deja Video segments on Heat and how "I thought this would be a fun spot for the character to incorporate into his matches," then why shouldn't Ross just start explaining how matches work while they take place? Why wait for the Deja Video feature a few months later?... Doing color during the main event, Austin made it clear he didn't know the rules of the match and he talked in such a breezy style about the match that at times it worked to undercut the importance of the match more than it helped add to the drama...
[Luna Vachon art credit Joseph Borzotta (c) PWTorch] Send feedback on this article to pwtorch@gmail.com and we'll regularly publish reader feedback in the "Torch Feedback" category on the Main Listing.
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