*All matches were simulated on WrestleMania 2000 for Nintendo 64 at this time.
The first ever TWF WrestleMania was held at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, California and it featured a HUGE 17 match card.
Jacquelyn def. Ivory in a "special challenge" match.
Dean Malenko def. Essa Rios with the Texas Cloverleaf.
Kurt Angle and Ken Shamrock had some major issues leading up to this event but Angle got injured on TWF RAW and had to select an opponent to battle Shamrock at Mania. That person was Bob Backlund and Backlund pulled what some considered a huge upset when he pinned Shamrock with a rollup.
Mankind def. X-Pac in a brutal Boiler Room Brawl.
The Acolytes def. The Hardy Boyz in a no disqualification Texas Tornado match.
It was cousin vs. cousin for the Hardcore title and even though he took a severe beating, Crash defeated Hardcore Holly to retain his belt.
Masato Tanaka def. Weapon R to become Lightheavyweight champion.
Travis Wakeman successfully defends the Intercontinental title against Val Venis. This was the debut of Trish Stratus and Venis had Jessica Lopez in his corner. Many TWF loyalists know that these two men also met in the main event at WrestleMania 2, with similar circumstances.
The Big Show def. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin with the Chokeslam.
In a battle of former tag team partners, "Badd Ass" Billy Gunn def. Road Dogg by DQ after Road Dogg brought a steel chair into the match.
In the weeks leading to WrestleMania, Kane had challenged anyone in the world to face him at WrestleMania through his manager Paul Bearer. Of all people, the immortal Hulk Hogan showed up to battle the Big Red Machine and with all moves, Hogan defeated the monster with a small package.
Triple H def. Shawn Michaels with the Pedigree and wins the rights to the D-Generation X name.
In an "I Quit" match for 100% control of the TWF, Shane McMahon defeated his father Vince, only to give control back to him just a few weeks later.
In the first ever WrestleMania main event, The Rock challenged The Undertaker for the World title in a First Blood steel cage match. After one hell of a war, Taker Tombstoned the Great One on a steel chair and split his head wide open to win the match and retain the title.
1999 SURVIVOR SERIES: 11-21-99 The 1999 Survivor Series, held live from the Pepsi Center in Denver, was the very first TWF Pay-Per-View and took place just 2 days after the company officially began running shows. This event came after heavy advertising and featured some great action.
Dusty Wakeman, who would later become known as D.W. Jones, defeated Droz in singles action. Gangrel lost the European title match to D'Lo Brown after falling victim to the "Sky High". In a triple threat match for the Women's title, Jacquelyn was able to to outlast both Ivory and Tori to become the company's first Women's champ. In a number one contender's match for the Intercontinental title, which was held by Jeff Jarrett, Chris Jericho made Test tap out to the "Walls of Jericho". In a No Disqualification match, Travis Wakeman shattered a glass pitcher over the head of Ken Shamrock to beat him and as history would later tell, these two would have many more battles. The main event saw a 30 man over the top battle royale in which the winner would become the very first TWF champion and with help from other superstars, Vince McMahon last eliminated "Stone Cold" Steve Austin to win the belt! ARMAGEDDON: 11-30-99 Just 9 days after the Survivor Series, the TWF held Armageddon from the Kiel Center in St. Louis. A tournament to crown the first ever Lightheavyweight champion got under way and saw Scott Taylor defeat Mujin Rudan by count out, Weapon R defeat Brian Christopher, Christian beating X-Pac with a small package and Colonel Carter get an upset win over Jeff Hardy. The 500 pound Viscera squashed Dusty Wakeman with his big splash to defeat him. In what was billed as a "Super Heavyweight" match, Rikishi Phatu hit the "Rump Shaker" on Hardcore Holly for the win. Ken Shamrock made Val Venis tap out in the ankle lock. Tori challenged Jacquelyn for the Women's title but she wasn't up to the task as Jackie put her away with a stiff ddt to retain the gold. In a hardcore rules match, Cactus Jack took on a double tough Crash Holly but was able to beat him after his stump puller through a table. In what was not viewed as an upset at the time, Droz was able to escape the Angle Slam and roll up Kurt Angle to pick up the victory. It would be considered a major upset now. In a mixed gender match, Travis Wakeman and Jessica Lopez impressively defeated Shawn Stasiak, who was going by the name "Meat" at the time and his manager Terri Runnells. In a very brutal match, Al Snow took the Hardcore title from the Big Boss Man after rolling a bowling bowl into his crotch and then smashing him over the head with a deer head. In a rematch from the Survivor Series, Gangrel won the European title right back from D'Lo Brown after getting help from fellow Brood member Edge. In the main event, a 6 pack challenge for the TWF Title set up by Vince McMahon, who vacated the belt due to not being a regular competitor, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin caught "Mr. Ass" Billy Gunn with the Stunner to win the title. The match also featured Mankind, The Big Show, Chris Jericho and Test.
WAR IN THE WINTER: 12/27/99 Now a TWF tradition, the first ever War in the Winter was held just 2 days after Christmas and just 4 days before the turn of the century at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was also the only pay-per-view in TWF history in which every match was for a title, all but the War match that is. Ivory challenged Jacquelyn for the Women's title but couldn't defeat the champion. Jackie retained with her version of the TKO. Ken Shamrock became European champion, getting Gangrel to tap out in the ankle lock. In a nasty hardcore match, Cactus Jack challenged Steve Blackman. A master of weapons, Blackman really took it to the Hardcore legend but after smacking Blackman with his own pair of nunchucks, Cactus Jack hit his double arm DDT through a table to win the match and the title. The Lightheavyweight title was on the line as newly crowned champion and future TWF Hall of Famer Weapon R turned back the challenge of Colonel Carter. The Acolytes defeated the New Age Outlaws to become new tag team champions, handing the Outlaws a terrible defeat after dominating the match. Bradshaw hit Road Dogg with his "Clothesline from Hell" to win it. In a bit of an upset, Viscera used his 500 pound frame to defeat Chris Jericho and become Intercontinental champion. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin defended the TWF title against Kane and did so successfully, having to use his Stunner 3 times for the win. In the "War match", four teams of 4 went at it in a 4 corners match. The match had 3 referees, 4 men in the ring at all times and with the first man to earn a decision getting the win for his team. Representing the Ministry of Darkness was The Undertaker, Gangrel, Mideon and Viscera. D-X was team 2 as Triple H teamed with X-Pac and The New Age Outlaws. The Union had Test, Ken Shamrock, Dusty Wakeman (who would later become DW Jones) and Rikishi Phatu. Finally, Wakeman Enterprises had Travis Wakeman, Kurt Angle and The Hardy Boyz. The Union was declared the winners when Test smashed Mideon with his big boot to get the 3 count. 2000 ROYAL RUMBLE Now one of the TWF's top events, the first Royal Rumble was held on January 13, 2000 from the Pond in Anaheim, California. The highlight of the night of course was the 30 man over the top Royal Rumble but there was an undercard that was pretty good as well. The Rock and Triple H went at it with the loser of the match getting the unfortunate consequence of having to enter the Rumble at #1. That man was Triple H after Rock found a way out of the Pedigree and rolled him up for the win. In one of his few TWF appearances, The Ultimate Warrior was victorious over Chris Jericho, defeating him in just over 5 minutes. The Acolytes, who had just won the Tag Team titles about 2 weeks earlier, had one of the shortest reigns in TWF history when the Holly cousins defeated them in a great match. In a match pitting the monsters from Wakeman Enterprises and the Ministry of Darkness against one another, Viscera smashed Giant Gonzalez in the corner with an avalanche splash and then splashed onto him with all 500 pounds to win it. Jacquelyn again was successful in defending her Women's title, this time defeating Tori with the TKO. Rikishi Phatu, who had only had the Intercontinental title for a little ove a week, put the gold on the line against Travis Wakeman and Wakeman got some help from Kurt Angle, pinning him to win his first title in the TWF. In a steel cage match for the TWF title, Stone Cold put the belt on the line against Mankind. For almost 30 minutes these two went at it but after ramming Mankind face first into the top of the steel ring post, Austin hit the Stunner and escaped the cage for the win. The Rumble match itself was last was next and Triple H started the match with the man who drew #2, the brand new Intercontinental champion Travis Wakeman. Several big names were in this including Chyna and TWF owner Vince McMahon. But it came down to The Undertaker and Mankind, who had drawn #30. After putting forth one hell of an effort in the TWF title match earlier, Mankind gave the deadman all he could handle. But he seemed to just run out of gas near the end and The Undertaker got him up for the Tombstone, instead just dumping him over the top rope to win the match and a gauranteed shot at the title at WrestleMania.
TWF WARFARE- THE LETHAL LOTTERY The only event of it's kind in TWF history, Warfare was held in the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas on February 13, 2000. Now an event held in SMW, Warfare featured the Lethal Lottery. In the weeks leading to this event, random tag team matches were set up on TWF programming with the winners advancing to a 16 man over the top battle royale at Warfare. The Rock battled Chris Jericho, but when the referee lost control of the brawling superstars, he threw the match out, ruling a No Contest. In one on one action, Tazz battled Droz and the man known as "Puke" pulled off the upset of the night, pinning Tazz after a sitdown powerbomb. The Lightheavyweight Title was on the line as fans were mesmerized by two of the TWF's most mysterious stars. Weapon R was able to outlast Mujin Rudan after his Diamond Dust manuever from the top rope. In a No Holds barred match, The Acolytes defeated the newly signed Dudley Boyz when Bradshaw smashed D-Von with the "Clothesline from Hell" for the win to make he and Faarooq the number one contenders for the TWF Tag Team titles. Kurt Angle and Christian had been at each other's throats for weeks, leading Angle to say that if he couldn't beat Christian, he would take a 90 day leave from the TWF. He didn't have to worry about that, using the Angle Slam to get by Christian. Edge put the European Title on the line against X-Pac and after a long, hotly contested match, Edge used a clever rollup to retain the belt. With the TWF Title on the line, bitter rivals "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Vince McMahon battled inside a steel cage. Vince took one heck of a beating from the rattlesnake, who used a Stunner before climbing out of the cage to win the match and hang onto his belt. It was time for the Lethal Lottery Battle Royale. 16 men entered, and after several superstars were tossed out, it was down to the Ultimate Warrior and Travis Wakeman. Coincidentally, these two men were tag team partners in the qualifying round. After nearly 5 minutes of action, Wakeman finally tossed the Warrior out to win the battle royale. The main event of the night was the Lethal Lottery winner against the winner of last month's Royal Rumble, The Undertaker. The winner would become the number one contender for the TWF World title. In their first of many classic battles over TWF history, Undertaker and Wakeman waged war. Undertaker was fresh though, and able to take advantage of the fact that Wakeman had just been part of the battle royale. Late in the match, Wakeman was felled by the big chokeslam before Undertaker used the Tombstone piledriver to put him away, bringing a huge event to a close.
WHIPLASH On April 28, 2000, the TWF held an event from the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. After Mick Foley won the TWF World title from the Undertaker in his last match, then giving up the belt, it was put on the line in a 32 man single elimination tournament. The quarterfinals, semi-finals and finals were held at the PPV, but the early rounds took place on TWF programming. Besides the tournament, this event had a jam packed card. With Essa Rios in her corner, newly signed TWF diva, Lita made a serious bid to become the new Women's champion. But Jessica Lopez got her knees up when she went for her moonsault before planting her with a DDT to retain the belt. Funaki took his Lightheavyweight title to Whiplash, putting it on the line against fellow Japanese superstar Masato Tanaka and Weapon R in a triple threat. Tanaka was able to get Weapon R to tap out to an STF to become the new champion. There was a special invitational battle royale on the card which featured such stars as Triple H, Razor Ramon, Kurt Angle and Val Venis. Eric "Butterbean" Esch made an appearance in this battle royale, as did Earthquake. But when all was said and done, The Road Dogg was able to emerge victorious in the 20 man battle royale. Ted Dibiase put $10,000 of his own money on the line, confident his 500 pound King Mabel could defeat Chris Benoit, who had just signed with the TWF. But Benoit was up to the task, using his flying headbutt off the top rope to get the win and the money. In title matches, Chris Jericho used the Lionsault to retain the Intercontinental title against D'Lo Brown but Edge wasn't as fortunate. Edge ran into the People's Champion and after a Rock Bottom, The Rock became European champion. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin met Sgt. Slaughter in a Boot Camp match. Austin was ready to destroy the Sarge after the two had cost each other their matches in the tournament. But Slaughter pulled off the upset of the night, getting a pair of handcuffs and locking Austin to the top rope before putting a serious beating on him. After smashing a steel chair over Austin's head, Slaughter took off the handcuffs and covered him for the win. In a rematch from the first round of the tournament, Hulk Hogan looked to avenge his loss to Kane inside a steel cage, but the Big Red Machine beat Hogan up, and after the Chokeslam from Hell, he escaped the cage to win. Tournament Matches: 1st Round: Val Venis defeats Saturn Diesel defeats Prince Albert Big Boss Man defeats Razor Ramon Sgt. Slaughter defeats Stone Cold by DQ Shawn Michaels defeats Eddie Guerrero Crash Holly defeats Test Kane defeats Hulk Hogan Travis Wakeman defeats The Godfather The Big Show defeats Jeff Jarrett Edge defeats The Rock The Undertaker defeats Kurt Angle Bull Buchanan defeats Chris Jericho Billy Gunn defeats Road Dogg Chris Benoit defeats X-Pac Ken Shamrock defeats Triple H Dean Malenko defeats D'Lo Brown (Match of the Year 2nd Round: Diesel defeats Val Venis Big Boss Man defeats Sgt. Slaughter Shawn Michaels defeats Crash Holly Travis Wakeman defeats Kane The Big Show defeats Edge The Undertaker defeats Bull Buchanan Billy Gunn defeats Chris Benoit Dean Malenko defeats Ken Shamrock Quarterfinals: Big Boss Man defeats Diesel Travis Wakeman defeats Shawn Michaels Undertaker defeats The Big Show Billy Gunn defeats Dean Malenko Semi-Finals: Big Boss Man defeats Travis Wakeman Undertaker defeats Billy Gunn The finals of the tournament featured The Undertaker, who had lost the title to start this tournament, against The Big Boss Man, who had used his nightstick to win almost every match. The nightstick wouldn't work on this night as it had no effect on the deadman and after a huge chokeslam, The Undertaker delivered the Tombstone piledriver to win the TWF World title right back. *On a side note, to this day I have the 32 man tournament bracket for this event on a huge piece of posterboard. Nah, I don't get that into the TWF. ERUPTION Eruption has certainly become one of the big events on the TWF calendar, but the first ever Eruption actually had an "Eruption" match. Really, that's what is was billed as. It was an elimination match with 12 men in the ring, all at the same time. This match was set up by Vince McMahon, who forfeited the World title after winning it from Travis Wakeman, in controversial fashion, of course. Vince cited the fact that he wasn't a contracted wrestler and would be unable to defend the gold, hence the Eruption match. But first, the night had plenty of other action. America West Arena in Phoenix, Arizona was the site for Eruption. It was May 26, 2000 and there was a "big fight" feeling in the arena all night. 8 days prior, the TWF held a non-televised event along with rival company mFw called "Warfare". At that show, Adam Bomb won a fatal four way to be crowned the Japan World champion, a title the mFw had won from a small Japanese promotion. At Eruption, Adam Bomb broiught the Japanese title out and was able to defeat Mark Henry in a non-title match, but a great opener that saw a lot of action. In a special challenge match between submission experts, Ken Shamrock was able to get the ankle lock on Tazz and he got him to tap out. With the Tag Team titles on the line, Perry Saturn and Dean Malenko were on the bring of becoming champions, but the Headbangers weren't having it. After breaking up the Texas Cloverleaf by knocking Malenko off his partner Mosh, Thrasher pulled the ropes down to lowbridge Saturn. Malenko came after Thrasher but Mosh rolled him up from behind to win it. In other tag team action, The Acolytes were very impressive in defeating The Big Boss Man and his new protege, Bull Buchanan. After a nasty breakup, Chyna and Eddie Guerrero agreed to a "Battle of the Sexes" match. Eddie didn't hold anything back against Chyna, but she dealt out most of the punishment. But she made a mistake in trying to superplex Guerrero and he pushed her to the mat before hitting the Frog Splash for the win. Former Brood members Edge and Gangrel met in singles competition long before Edge broke out and became the "Rated R Superstar". The only way to win this match was to cover your opponent in blood as a bucket full of it was positioned on a stand in the aisle. But after that bucket got knocked over, Gangrel was able to take Edge down and hit him with a countless amount of right hands, causing him to bleed profusely. Gangrel was awarded the match, and it was later revealed he used brass knuckles. But to this day, it may still be the biggest win of his career. Boy, Kurt Angle never lived this one down. Shaquille O'Neal, a huge TWF fan, had been coming to nearly every show for weeks, heckling the Olympic gold medalist. Finally, Angle had had enough and he challenged Shaq to a match. Taking a page out of Lawrence Taylor's book, Shaq defeated Angle. Not only that, he made Angle submit to what was more or less a chokehold, but Angle gave up none the less. After losing $10,000 to Chris Benoit at Whiplash, Ted Dibiase decided to get back into the ring himself, and he wanted to start by taking on brash young superstar Chris Jericho. See, Jericho had turned down an offer to join Dibiase's "elite" group, Money, Inc. Dibiase brought King Mabel and a steel chair to the ring, and it still wasn't enough as Jericho locked in the "Walls of Jericho" to get the win. Kane and Diesel had been battling each other for weeks, trying to prove just who was the dominant big man in the business. But this wasn't just any match. It was a First Blood match. And not only that, it was for the final spot in the Eruption match. For over 20 minutes, these two monsters battled it out. Kane delivered 4 Tombstone piledrivers and fought off interference from The Big Show. Of all people to help Kane, "Super Heavyweight" Hardcore Holly came in and cracked Diesel with a steel chair to the head. Kane then delivered a 5th Tombstone piledriver, right on that same chair, to win the match. We were ready for the main event, 12 men going at it elimination style for the World title. The Undertaker, Sgt. Slaughter, Travis Wakeman, King Mabel, Test, Triple H, Hulk Hogan, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, The Rock, Shawn Michaels, The Big Show and Kane all took their chance at the title. It was really a who's who of the wrestling business at the time. There was a lottery drawing to see which two men would start the match, and every 2 minutes thereafter, another superstar would join. Kane got the unlucky draw of the night, having to start it out with Test after just competing in a grueling First Blood match. Triple H was the first man eliminated after being rolled up by Test and Sgt. Slaughter fell victim to Kane's chokeslam. The Undertaker would go on to eliminate Test and his own brother, Kane, as Steve Austin joined the fray. The Rock and Hulk Hogan joined and the fans went wild as Hogan and Austin began to rip into each other. But The Undertaker grabbed Hogan by the throat and chokeslammed him to get him out. The Rock was able to eliminate both Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker, but The Big Show eliminated The Rock and King Mabel, both with chokeslams. It came down to The Big Show and Travis Wakeman, and Big Show had things well in hand. But Wakeman made an incredible comeback before showing an amazing feat of strength, getting The Big Show up and delivering the "Royal Flush" to win the title right back, much like The Undertaker had done at Whiplash. 2000 King of the Ring Just before this event, I had bought my first PC, a desktop from Gateway. So we were getting very close to putting the TWF on the internet. But first, we were ready for another tournament in the TWF the King of the Ring. The subtitle for this event was "Royal Execution" and it remains a personal favorite of mine because I thought the storylines heading in were great. The show was held on June 28, 2000 at the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Not only did this show feature the King of the Ring tournament, but the main event was billed as the "King of Kings" match for the World title. Now, this was LONG before Triple H started calling himself the King of Kings, so I really liked it. We had the challenger, King Mabel against Travis Wakeman. Many of you know that when Wakeman's wrestling career began, he used the moniker "King T". The show started with Chris Benoit and Perry Saturn representing The Union taking on Jean-Pierre Lafitte and the newest member of Sgt. Slaughter's Mercenaries. On the last Raw before this show, The Union was slammed into by a black car as they tried to leave the arena. Slaughter promised that the driver of that car would be Lafitte's tag team partner tonight. It ended up being Zues, Travis Wakeman's former personal bodyguard. Benoit and Saturn exacted a little revenge when Benoit made Zues tap out to the Crossface. The Headbangers were successful in another Tag Team title defense, defeating the Dudley's when Mosh hit D-Von with a tornado DDT. Lord Vincent Valentin gave Dean Malenko a great run for his money with the Lightheavyweight title on the line, but Malenko was able to lock in the Texas Cloverleaf to hang onto the belt. In a "Cat Fight" for the Women's title, Trish Stratus competed in her first career match against Jessica Lopez. The fued between these two ladies is something of TWF legend, but it has been well documented. They were battling for the approval of Travis Wakeman. One woman his longtime girlfriend, the other trying to take that position. Lopez ended up winning the match with a Fujiwara armbar, but after the match, she tied Trish up in the ropes. She then came up with a pair of scissors from outside the ring and began to cut several locks of hair from the blonde bombshell's head! Ken Shamrock wanted to beat up Val Venis because of the way Val had treated his sister, Ryan, more than he wanted to win the IC title. Shamrock got both, winning the title with the ankle lock. I wrote the storyline between Test and Triple H pretty much exactly how it had been done on WWE tv. Ya know, Test proposes to Stephanie, they're about to get married when Triple H comes out and reveals he married a "drugged up" Steph. Then Steph reveals it was all a plan to bring The Game to the top? Ok, well the only thing I did differently was I actually had a PPV match between Test and HHH and, fighting for nothing more than pride, Test wins it with his pumphandle slam. I had so much fun doing the Whiplash tournament that I had to make the KOTR a 32 man bracket as well. And yes, I still have the entire bracket on posterboard. Below is that bracket, starting with the 1st round. This was arguably the best tournament in TWF history, of any kind:
Shane McMahon defeats Chyna Tazz defeats Sgt. Slaughter Crash Holly defeats Bull Buchanan The Godfather defeats Christian Weapon R defeats Jeff Hardy Edge defeats Big Boss Man Adam Bomb defeats Kurt Angle Road Dogg defeats Kage Billy Gunn defeats Prince Albert X-Pac defeats Perry Saturn Masato Tanaka defeats Eddie Guerrero Mark Henry defeats Gangrel Chris Benoit defeats Steve Blackman Mideon defeats D'Lo Brown Chris Jericho defeats King Kong Bundy Al Snow defeats Mike Norton 2nd Round Shane McMahon defeats Tazz Godfather defeats Crash Holly Weapon R defeats Edge Adam Bomb defeats Road Dogg X-Pac defeats Prince Albert Masato Tanaka defeats Mark Henry Mideon defeats Chris Benoit Jericho defeats Al Snow Quarterfinals Shane McMahon defeats Godfather Weapon R defeats Adam Bomb X-Pac defeats Masato Tanaka Chris Jericho defeats Mideon Semi-Finals Shane McMahon defeats Weapon R Chris Jericho defeats X-Pac Finals Shane McMahon took a beating from Chris Jericho in the final match, but he botched a top rope move, knocking himself silly when he hit his head coming down. Shane McMahon had been using a triangle choke to win matches in this tournament, and he got it on the unconcious Y2J. The referee had to stop the match at that point. Yes, Shane McMahon won the King of the Ring. There was such a great build to the main event match, including an unforgettable moment when Travis Wakeman attacked both King Mabel and Ted Dibiase in a luxury box with a crowbar at a Detroit Tigers baseball game. But on the last Raw before this event, King Mabel did get the pin on Wakeman. Wakeman was not going to let that happen in this one, not even close. Mabel may weigh 500 pounds, but Wakeman was still able to get him up and put him down with the "Royal Flush" to become the first, yes the first, "King of Kings". CAPITOL PUNISHMENT July 26, 2000 was the date for this event, held in our nation's capitol, Washington, D.C., hence the name. By this time, I was in my first apartment and I had my computer. In fact, the TWF website had been designed, I just didn't know how to post results and stuff yet. I was still learning, but I kept doing the shows. In a rematch from King of the Ring, The Headbangers defeated the Dudley's again when Thrasher pinned D-Von with a rollup. The Headbangers again held onto the Tag Team titles. Terri Runnells had brought a new, chiseled superstar to the TWF known as Hardbody Harris. This was his coming out party, as he defeated Essa Rios with a move he called the "Winner's Circle". Steve Blackman and Al Snow had been teaming together and formed a bit of a friendship. But Snow took it personally when Blackman informed him that he wanted to be left alone. Snow came out dressed just like Blackman for this match, which seemed to throw the "Lethal Weapon" off. But fresh off his earlier victory, Hardbody Harris interfered and roughed up Snow. Blackman was able to get the submission with a Japanese leg lock. Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley challenged Jessica Lopez for the Women's title, but Lopez had come down with a 102 degree fever. Just as Stephanie was about to be awarded the title by forfeit, Lopez came out and beat her from one side of the ring to the other to retain her belt. 4 developmental superstars from Smoky Mountain Wrestling were given the chance on the big stage in a fatal 4 way elimination match. The last man standing would win a TWF contract. It was Aaron Vasquez vs. Rhyno vs. Boris Nemchinov vs. Spencer Hollywood. Hollywood and Nemchinov were quickly eliminated by the "Gore" but Vasquez took his chance against the Manbeast. But Vasquez began to repeatedly rake his eyes and the fans were incensed when he was actually disqualified for excessive eye gouging. Rhyno got the Gore on him after the match and Vasquez wasn't seen or heard from much after that. Up next was the Hardcore title match. DW Jones and Crash Holly had traded the title back and forth, but this match had very little "hardcore" aspects to it. Jones got the win with a german suplex to regain the title, but after the match, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin came out and hit Jones with the Stunner. Why? No one really knows. Mike Norton had turned his back on Money, Inc. and he had a lot to prove against the massive King Mabel. But he didn't have much of a shot as Mabel threw him out of the ring shortly after the match started and as he blocked the referee's view, Ted Dibiase smashed a steel chair over Norton's head. That led to a count out and Mabel got the win. The rivalry between The Union and the Mercenaries had intensified into an 8 man tag team elimination match. After Mideon eliminated Perry Saturn, Eddie Guerrero came in and went through the Mercenaries one by one. After quick pins on Mideon, Zues and Sgt. Slaughter, he fought it out with Jean-Pierre LaFitte. After hitting his trifecta suplexes on him, he came off the top rope with a Frog Splash for the win. But after the match, Eddie tried to give Chris Benoit a high five, but Benoit put on the Crossface! Chyna, who had fixed things with Eddie, tried to get Benoit off, but he put her in the Crossface too! That Benoit's not very nice, is he? The main event was also an elimination match, fatal 4 way style for the TWF World title. Travis Wakeman found himself in there with Tazz, Kane and the 2000 King of the Ring, Shane O'Mac. Wakeman made Kane the first elimination with the Royal Flush but Shane pinned Tazz, the man he had beaten a month earlier in the King of the Ring tournament. Shane then gave Wakeman all he could handle, trying to pull off the impossible. But Wakeman was just too much, hitting a series of moves to pummel Shane and set up the Royal Flush to get the win. SummerSlam Before we had MeltDown, we had SummerSlam. This was the last event I ever did offline and believe it or not, I actually put the results off this show on the site and only left them there like 3 days because I didn't know how to archive results. SummerSlam featured the "Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal" match but a lot of talk had been placed on this mysterious man who had come to the TWF, set to destroy The Undertaker. The show started with a tag team battle royale which would determine new #1 contenders for the TWF Tag Team titles. The Acolytes outlasted Edge and Christian, Excessive Force, LoDown, King Mabel and Ted Dibiase, Too Cool, Stevie Richards and The Blue Meanie and The Headhunters to win it. Test was able to defeat Kamala in a quick match. He showed his tremendous power by powerbombing the Uguandan Giant to do it. Eddie Guerrero and Chyna won a mixed gender match over Saturn and Terri when Eddie pinned his old friend Saturn, who had turned his back on him as well. Hardcore Holly defeated Rhyno when interference from his manager, Jim Cornette, backfired. In a submission match, it was the Figure-Four Leglock against the Walls of Jericho. Jeff Jarrett against Y2J. It didn't take long to get a winner as Jericho got Jarrett to tap out to the Walls of Jericho 3:25 into the match. This would end up being Jeff Jarrett's last match in the TWF. The issue between Ken Shamrock and Val Venis continued and now we had a Lion's Den match. Venis actually climbed to the top of the structure and hit the "Money Shot" to win the IC title back. Although, both men left on stretchers. In a match between two of the top superstars in the TWF, Chris Benoit faced off against The Rock. But it would be interference from Shane McMahon that would lead to Benoit winning the match. The Big Show was able to defeat Kane with his chokelam, but he chokeslammed him twice more after the match to send a message. In a classic steel cage match, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin took on The Great Muta. Both men got to the top of the cage, ready to climb out. But Muta spit the green mist in Austin's face and the Rattlesnake fell hard to the mat, allowing Muta to climb out for the big win. The Demon may be the most mysterious man in TWF history, mainly because we knew nothing about him, other than he wanted to take The Undertaker out. A match that was hyped as much as any on this card, if not more, didn't live up to expectations. Undertaker dominated The Demon, putting him away with the Tombstone before rolling him into the casket, never to be seen again. The Dungeon of Doom had surfaced in the TWF, compiling superstars like Muta and Kamala. But their biggest name was Vader and he was in the main event in what was billed as the "Wheel of Death" match. Several matches were on this wheel and when it was spun, it landed on a Last Man Standing match. Vader and Travis Wakeman battled for nearly 22 minutes before Vader began a spree of "Vader Bomb's". After a 5th Vader Bomb dropped Wakeman right on the back of his head, the 10 count was issued and the crowd was stunned to seeing the Rocky Mountain Mastadon leave with the World title, a reign that would barely last a month. There ya have it! That is the TWF n a nutshell before it came onto the internet and turned into what it is today. I still have all these shows in my office so if you ever have any questions, feel free to ask. But this is just further documentation of the rich history of the TWF!
