ncluding the British Bulldogs and the Killer Bees, before Spivey finally makes the hot tag to Rotundo. The Express clears the ring and it’s a double flying forearm to Thornton for the pin at 9:20.
Rating: C-. This was your basic opener with nothing to see. I’m not sure what they were expecting with the Dan Spivey version of the Express, but they didn’t get anything worth seeing here. It’s not like Thornton and Lee were interesting either, so this was just a boring way to start the show.
Sivi Afi vs. Bret Hart
Bret is a face here and has the classic Hart Foundation jacket on. They fight over a wristlock to start until Bret takes him down with a leg trip. Afi gets up and slams him down, only to miss an elbow drop. Bret takes over with a headlock but Afi fights up and hammers away in the corner. A hard chop puts Bret down but he comes back with a suplex for two. Afi comes back with a dropkick and a slam for two of his own and it’s off to a chinlock. Bret fights up and hits a backbreaker before going up for the middle rope elbow. That misses though and Afi hits another slam for two. Afi’s top rope headbutt hits knees though and Bret cradles him for the pin at 8:20.
Rating: C. This was another basic match but at least they had some energy out there. Afi was a guy who could move around and do some things, even if he wasn’t anything that great. Bret was still early in his singles run but he was showing some of the flashes of what would make him a great worker in the future. Decent match here, but nothing that great.
The Machines vs. Big Machine/George Steele
The Machines are Bill Eadie (Ax), Blackjack Mulligan and a masked guy who is obviously Andre the Giant. Steele and Big Machine are managed by Bobby Heenan. Steele is a face here and looks like he’s wearing an old carpet. Mulligan and Big start things off but it’s quickly off to the masked guy. Steele comes in to try and work on the arm but gets caught by a double clothesline. The Machines start working on the arm and Steele bails to the floor in a hurry.
Back in and Steele gets in a few shots to the face before it’s back to Big for some forearms to the back. The arm work is quickly resumed with the masked guy coming in to work on the arm. Steele finally gets in a shot to the chest and it’s off to him for the first time. Heenan offers a chair to Steele but Steele shoves him down and goes back to the arm. The masked guy comes back in and gets caught by a bearhug from Big Machine. A slam puts the masked guy down and it’s back to Steele for a top rope ax handle for the pin at 11:03.
Rating: D+. This was a mess of a match with no flow and some really bad looking spots. The Machines were a weird idea but they didn’t have much of a point to them. Steele was a guy who could get a crowd going but he didn’t have much skill in the ring. This was just a bad match with some really bad looking spots.
Randy Savage vs. Tito Santana
This is the first match in the Best of Three series for the Intercontinental Title. Savage is defending and has Elizabeth with him. Tito takes him down with a headlock to start but Randy quickly takes him down with a