[2000-07-30-iGeneration] Curt Hennig vs Dennis Rodman

[soup23]

The pull apart between Hennig and Rodman didn’t look half bad. Hennig comes out with two women and some random belt. Dennis uses the belt as soon as he gets into the ring and Hennig is busted open. The women that escorted Hennig down the aisle are at the foot of the entranceway in the most awkward position I have ever seen. With the action spilling to the outside, Hennig gets some offense in with a broom shot and sends Rodman over the announce table. The match from there is almost all punching and kicking on the outside. It isn’t good but by the same token we have seen worse brawling in 2000. After around 8 minutes of this, the match just gets thrown out and the crowd is pissed throwing trash as Rodman and Heenig fight to the back before being broken up. So ends the career of Rodman before he did the Hulk Hogan Celebrity Wrestling contest. **

[GSR]

We get footage of a press conference where Rodman jumps Hennig and they have a legitimate looking pull apart brawl. Curt’s got a couple of women with him as he makes his entrance, and is also carrying a title belt of some sort. Rodman is out second and jumps Hennig with a double axe handle from behind as soon as he steps through the ropes. Disqualifications are clearly not in operation as he then picks up that belt and clocks Curt with it right in front of the referee. Blimey, he blades from that and we’re not even thirty seconds in yet. Rodman with an Irish whip and Hennig just launches himself over the top rope and to the arena floor. The action continues on the outside with Rodman slamming Curt head first into the timekeeper’s table. Hennig grabs a broom and uses that as a weapon against his opponent, before hitting him over the head with a garbage can and then driving his head through the table, breaking it in two. Back inside and Curt with a stomp to the balls, but they’re quickly on the outside again. He chokes Rodman over the guardrail and lights his chest up with a chop. Hennig tears his shirt fully off and lays some more of those chops in, holding nothing back. The official gets between the two of them trying to separate them, but Rodman headbutts him and when he tries a second time, tosses him out of the ring. The ref calls for the bell after the latter, disqualifying him (so they were in operation after all!) and the fans pelt the ring with more garbage after that cheap ass finish. Hennig and Rodman are still going at it even after the match is over and Curt slugs the official for good measure too. Of all people, Ed Leslie dressed up like a zebra is out to separate them and finally drags Hennig to the back.

 

Way better than I was expecting and it had any right to be. They work this as a fight as opposed to a wrestling match, which was a smart decision as this way they can freely incorporate plenty of weapons and the like. I didn’t bother to check on Cagematch, but my guess is that this is only Rodman’s third match (after the two in WCW) and without wanting to get too carried away, the guy is a bit of a natural. He throws a nice punch, is a good seller, doesn’t look or move awkward in the ring and it actually looks like Curt Hennig and he can’t stand one another. Okay, things would probably be completely different in a straight up wrestling match, but a straight up wrestling match this isn’t. The pull apart at the press conference and the subsequent post-match one are some of the most convincing and realistic I’ve seen this year.

[Tim Evans]

This was better than OMG vs Tatanka that's for sure. Hennig was trying his best by bleeding and bumping for Rodman. Rodman actually sold something which is a plus and this match is short. Crowd throws trash again and that seems very staged like WCW.