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Break It Down
By Manny Tsigas

Five Stars: Matches Outside the Ring

There’s nothing better than watching a five-star in-ring classic unfold before your very eyes. Even the staunchest smark can remember where he was and how he reacted as certain battles took place. For me, the last time I had to stop myself from screaming at my television was when Shawn Michaels took on Kurt Angle at Wrestlemania 21.

Luckily, my screams of “Tap, you bastard!” were not in vain.

But those kinds of matches are few and far between. While the current product is more saturated than ever, most of the matches we see today are cookie-cutter encounters between wrestlers who don’t seem to radiate the same kind of buzz as those before them.

When I want to decide whether something is entertaining, I often compare it to the feeling I used to get watching WWE during the Attitude Era. It was a time when the main event roster consisted of four massive names (Stone Cold, The Rock, Triple H and Mankind) rather than the current dozen medium ones, as well as one hell of an entertaining undercard. Names like Val Venis, Goldust, the Godfather, Ken Shamrock, Steve Blackman, Al Snow. Back then each wrestler had a unique character that made you sit up and take notice, whereas today Michael Cole seems to use the same three words over and over again to describe most wrestlers: “arrogant”, “brash” and “cocky”.

But this entry will focus on one of the Attitude Era’s cornerstones – a factor which made the then WWF all the more fun to watch: hardcore matches. There was a time where every week on Raw, SmackDown, and even Heat(!) a hardcore match would take place. Falls would count anywhere, crowds would become human barricades, and beating an opponent senseless with a mop or a stop sign was as legal as a headlock.

These days we get next to nothing, despite the WWE running a weekly show called EXTREME Championship Wrestling. Many would argue that hardcore matches are simply unimaginative, immature filler. In some ways, they are. There’s a lot of risk that comes with taking a match outside the ring. There’s no canvas to fall on graciously, you don’t get the same acoustics from wrestlers giving or receiving a hit, and it seems all the more unrealistic leading your opponent around an arena, rather than to the nearest turnbuckle. But for me – and countless others – they’re priceless. When a hardcore match is done right it gives wrestling (and the wrestlers themselves) more of an edge. The fact that fans can get that much closer to the action is another striking contrast. While a wrestling ring is surrounded by barricades and security guards, a hardcore match gives fans a new perspective. The crowds that huddle around those two fierce rivals experience first-hand the power and sheer grit of professional wrestling.

I’d like to share some of them with you below, but it pains me that I couldn’t watch any episodes of ECW back in its heyday. So the only hardcore matches I can refer to from my past will be from WWF/E.

You’ll notice the title of this entry includes the phrase “five star”, but don’t take that literally. These matches are not five-star classics. In fact, some of them have received little recognition since they took place.

The phrase refers to five particular wrestling-related gems (or “stars” if you will) that have been burned into my memory for various reasons – some trivial, others significant. So for my first compilation, here are five matches that have taken place outside a wrestling ring, which I found (and still find) thoroughly entertaining...

Goldust vs. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper: Hollywood Backlot Brawl

The 12^th instalment of Wrestlemania was a strange one: the Ultimate Warrior was re-signed in a desperate attempt for ratings (where he defeated fellow egomaniac Triple H in less than two minutes), the Undertaker wore a mask that made him look like the Phantom of the (world’s worst soap) Opera, and one of the earliest examples of a hardcore match took place at the then-WWF.

It was around this time that things at Extreme Championship Wrestling were starting to heat up. In the same year as Wrestlemania XII, Paul Heyman took the reins at ECW and started producing matches and characters that the WWF and WCW would steal from relentlessly. (In fairness, the WWF provided quite a bit of financial aid to ECW, and the two even worked on cross promotional angles.)

The reason this particular match stands out for me is its look. In 1996 the WWF was nearing the end of its exclusively cartoonish gimmick era (look no further than Goldust and his golden Cadillac!), and was on the verge of introducing a certain redneck who would go on to change the face of sports entertainment forever.

In the meantime, this concept of “hardcore” was being introduced to a pretty conventional environment. Just look at the match’s production value. This has to be one of the most well-filmed hardcore matches I’ve ever seen – not a wobbly camera in sight, and notice the change in angles as Roddy strikes Goldust (or, rather, his car) with a baseball bat.

It wouldn’t surprise me if this was a pre-record, as the WWF was still very much experimenting with something that would become a staple for the Attitude Era. Compare it with some of the entries below, where the production (along with the matches themselves) is a lot more gritty and off-the-cuff. The link below shows the first part of the match, but I couldn’t find the thrilling conclusion where Piper continued to pursue Goldust in a white Ford Bronco, mimicking OJ Simpson’s slow speed chase of 1994. You even hear Vince McMahon quip, "This footage looks awfully familiar."

Watch it " class="mcevisualaid" target="_blank" title="Clip 1">here.

Al Snow vs. Road Dogg: Hardcore Title Match

January 4, 1999: Road Dogg Jesse James defends the Hardcore Championship against one of the most entertaining characters to ever feature on RAW, Al Snow. Whether he was participating in evening gown matches or eagre enough to fight himself in a hardcore match, you knew that when Al Snow was on-screen, something nutty was about to go down.

This match was no exception, as the Road Dogg would end up fighting Snow... in snow.

Watch it  " class="mcevisualaid" target="_blank" title="Clip 2">here.

“Mankind” Mick Foley vs. The Rock: Empty Arena Match.

To give you an idea of just how big the WWF was back in 1999, it decided to try and skim some ratings off the biggest sporting event in the country: Superbowl XXXIII. During halftime, the USA Network aired a special edition of Heat featuring a match between The Rock and Mankind for the WWF Championship in the first-ever Empty Arena Match.

Just a week earlier Mankind had lost the belt to The Rock at the Royal Rumble in an “I Quit” match. But it later emerged The Rock had cheated by playing a recording of Mankind saying “I Quit” as he lay on the ground unconscious. Foley took a number of legitimate chair-shots during the match, with his wife and children watching in horror from ringside – as seen in Barry W. Blaustein’s doco Beyond The Mat. But as good as that match was their Empty Arena match was unlike anything before it. In fact, I can only remember seeing one more since then, and that was earlier this year between Kurt Angle and Sting on TNA.

To ensure no distractions or interference, the soon-to-be Rock and Sock Connection would duke it out in a falls-count-anywhere match within an empty arena. What followed was one of the best encounters I’ve ever seen. Enjoy.

Watch Part 1  " class="mcevisualaid" target="_blank" title="Clip 4">here.

Mankind vs. Big Show: Boiler Room Brawl.

A couple of months prior to Backlash 1999 the WWF had scored another coup in its feud with WCW by acquiring the services of one Paul Wight, better known as The Big Show. He began as a heel for the Corporation by feuding with Mankind. Their most brutal encounter was in a Boiler Room Brawl on pay-per-view. The concept is simple: two men enter the bowels of the arena, and the way to win is to walk out the other side. But it’s what happens in between that’s the kicker.

Watch it " class="mcevisualaid" target="_blank" title="Clip 5">here.

WrestleMania 2000: Hardcore Battle Royal

Australia started screening live WWF pay-per-views back in 2000. I may not have seen Wrestlemania 2000 live, but witnessing it on the day it happened was still pretty damn good. After seeing Ice T come to the ring with the Godfather and D’Lo Brown (only to be defeated by Bull Buchanan and the Big Bossman), the second match on the card was a hardcore battle royal for the Hardcore Championship.

Due to the 24/7 rule, Crash Holly had been run off his feet trying to prevent most of the roster from taking his Hardcore title. At one point even one of the Godfather’s hos was crowned champion, no doubt an indication that the hardcore era was on its way out. So Wrestlemania 2000 saw more than a dozen competitors (Crash, Hardcore Holly, Tazz, Viscera, the Mean Street Posse, the Acolytes, Kaientai and the Headbangers) take part in a 15-minute free-for-all where the championship could change hands an unlimited amount of times within the limit. The last man holding the belt would be crowned Hardcore champ, and the participants could do so using any means necessary.

Watch Part 1 " class="mcevisualaid" target="_blank" title="Clip 7">here.

I’m sure you all have your favourites, so please feel free to send me some links via the email address below.

I’ve heard various people within the industry say that the way wrestling storylines work is that something which happened seven years ago can easily be dusted off and “regifted” as being brand new. So if my calculations are correct, prepare for the reintroduction of the Hardcore Championship belt on August 26 this year.

Shweeeeeet.

Manny Tsigas is a journalist for SBS World News Australia, and a lifelong wrestling fan. When he’s not watching, reviewing and obsessing over films, he also enjoys music, writing, anime, videogames, stand up comedy and anything to do with the 1980s. You can email him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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