CLASSIC TOMK AND/OR PHIL from DVDVR #129

Kurt Angle vs. Shane McMahon - The Street Fight-Sicko Circus Act

“Your total disregard of the human consequences is almost sickening. We were just talking about the DVDVR boys~! and their inability to appreciate wrestling as an art and not some sicko circus act.”
- Randall – wrestlingrandall@hotmail.com

“Unlike WWF wrestling, the popularity of extreme wrestling is driven by the bloodlust of its spectators, who clamor for the participants to continually cut, hit and slash each other with all types of implements... Although extreme wrestling is rehearsed, it is nonetheless quite dangerous for its participants, who voluntarily subject themselves to bleeding wounds, many of them self-inflicted to keep the blood flowing.”
- New Jersey State Assembly Bill 2304

Phil and me re-watched the “Kurt Angle vs. Shane McMahon Street Fight-Sicko Circus Act” a second time Sunday night. These are our thoughts after second viewing.

Match starts with Angle dominating for first minute, than Shane wins an exchange scores a leg takedown and an armdrag and than does an amateur ride on Angle. Shane's punches had that Bill Alfonso vs. Todd Gordon untrained stiffness thing going for them, not quite Marc Curtis vs. Randy Hales stiff. It looked like on slow-mo that Angle got cut on the leg sweep not on the punches, as Shane hit him with his forearm on the way down and bounced his face on the mat with his weight on top of him.

Angle then goes to par terre position and challenges Shane to mount. Angle controls completely. Really dug the punishing crossface attempts, Ross or Heyman should have got over that being a legit way to hurt someone in the amateurs. After a 12 match series with Benoit, odd that Angle chooses this match to show stiff tendencies.

Angle goes to the par terre a second time at about the five-minute point in match. We really dug Shane’s kick into wrestler in par terre. It is one of the great classic old school wrestling spots.

They then brawl to outside of ring as Shane dominates the next ten minutes of offense as we enter the portion of match where the crowd should have chanted “Money Mark! Money Mark!”. Coolest spot of the match was definitely Shane’s nasty armdrags into the ring barrier, very innovative stuff and looked very neat. Second was Angle countering the pinning attempts with great looking bridges.

The WWF ring apron is like Captain Caveman's body hair ---you just reach in and pull out anything. Also Angle really should have reversed the sharpshooter (which was early Rocky bad, as was the floatover DDT, Shane seemed to be doing an homage to crappy 90's Rocky) rather then just using the Kendo stick. It looked like Shane landed wrong on the SSP on the garbage can as he hit his ribs on the corner when he should have probably taken it on the middle. After missing the SSP onto the trashcan, Angle should have transitioned into power offense. Instead he just tossed Shane over the top rope (Shane needs to study Nigel Fairservice to learn how to do this properly) and then kicked Shane down the aisle. Seemed weak. Also ridiculous that Shane counters Angle with suplex, there should have been no point in the match where Shane outwrestled Angle. There were far too many.

The first suplex attempt through the glass was easily the rudest bump of the night, Shane lands on the top of his head right on the steel grate. He had to have concussed himself. Shane and the bookers were looking for this to be visually impressive but physically safe (even safer then the big falls) so he was wearing three shirts and god knows how many pants - little did he know. Angle adjust the second suplex to insure that it goes through the glass, by throwing Shane HEADFIRST, kind of an odd way to protect someone. Shane gets cut right above ear at the temple, which of course would kill him instantly if it were any deeper.

Angle then goes to overhead belly to belly through the second glass panel. When prop doesn’t break, Angle decides to protect Shane from taking another headfirst bump to the floor on the belly-to belly. His strategy is to adjust so as to catch Shane’s head flat on his own face to keep it from hitting the floor. Not smart. This is where I would guess Angle got his tooth knocked out, and apparently lodged in the back of Shane's head.

Angle tries another belly to belly this time this time keeping it a back bump but throwing with more force. Again panel doesn’t break. Although the back bump into the solid glass was nasty, this time Angle rather skillfully catches Shane on the way down. After the third failure of the spot, Angle tosses Shane face first through the glass, at this point Shane is super bloody (all hardway) and Angle's back is approaching Yamakawa, especially after he falls down try to drag Shane (which may have been a planned fatigue spot, but he fell onto broken glass).

Ross comments on Shane's bloody face, saying that his father would want the match stopped. Heyman mentions that Mass Transit's dad wants it stopped too. They go back to the Ring and Shane is rolled in leaving a blood spot on the mat with what appears to be Angle’s tooth in the middle of it. Angle then gives an agonized grimace where you can see his now Benoitish hockey smile. Truly one of the great visuals in garbage wrestling history.

About 24 minutes into the match at this point and Shane delivers an “Angle Slam” to Angle but Angle clearly has the momentum. The final spot has Angle placing a Balsa wood plank on the top rope (which was terrifying after all the previous hideous prop issues) Angle hits Shane twice with the already warped piece of wood. Mike Chioda shows some nice ring sense (the only person in this match to display any) by holding the board while Angle climbs up. Chioda seemed reluctant to do this, while a Nick Patrick would have jumped right on it (heck, Patrick would have kicked his leg through the glass panel to get it to break). Angle executes a pretty swanky Angle Slam off the top rope, with the extra spice of both guys landing on the broken glass chunks, which dotted the ring at this point. They show a close up of a defeated Shane McMahon and he has the thousand yard stare and apparently had blood in his left eye, Angle walks back from the ring and also has that John Matua look in his eyes. This is the point in the match where I am used to seeing Onita and his opponent each enter their ambulances.

“The Legislature further finds and declares that, because its principal purpose is to entertain by having its participants intentionally cause bleeding, or perform acts which reasonably could be expected to cause bleeding, extreme wrestling should be distinguished from professional wrestling. The emphasis on dangerous stunts that cause injury and bleeding makes extreme wrestling potentially harmful to its participants. Furthermore, the atmosphere of base violence and depravity that prevails at an extreme wrestling event has a deleterious effect on children and young adults. Moreover, the liberal bloodletting that characterizes many extreme wrestling events constitutes a public health hazard not only for the participants, but also the spectators. For all of these reasons, extreme wrestling should be subject to strict State regulation. Because the creativity of those who seek to profit from vulgarity cannot be underestimated, the State Athletic Control Board should be given a proper amount of latitude to regulate the attendant excesses of extreme wrestling that presently exist and that could be incorporated into extreme wrestling events in the future.”
New Jersey State Assembly Bill 2304

If it weren’t for the visuals caused by the missed spots and failed props, this would have been a poorly booked and booked too long money mark match. Meltzer said "Angle was phenomenal here" but Shane appeared to be calling the match (very loudly) and Angle really showed a failure to improv properly and his decision-making skills were pretty poor. Very fun but very not good. The WWF could have really used a crowd killing match before main, too bad they fired Chyna.

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