Jim Ross and Vince McMahon on commentary tonight. They welcome us to the Mecca Arena as Owen Hart makes his way to the ring in a suit. He tells McMahon to get on with the show, bringing us to Austin's entrance. We see him on the ramp before Vince takes us to Steve Austin's victories over the last month, 3 weeks ago he beat “Spark Plugg” Bob Holly and last week beat Savio Vega. Mero makes his entrance and has Sable with him, who is clearly more over than him. Owen Hart makes a beeline for her on commentary before we see Mero beating Skip from the Bodydonnas 2 weeks ago and beating Owen in the quarter-finals 6 days before with a roll up. Owen has every excuse. He says he “slipped” when he attacked Mero after the match. He says his cast is a legal medical cast before McMahon reminds him he has to stay at the announce table for this match. We finally go to the match.
MATCH 1: Mark Mero VS. Steve Austin
Mero dives early for the leg, and Austin lets him up. Austin gets a headlock takedown from a collar-elbow tie up, but Mero gets the headscisors for a release. Another collar-elbow tie up, and Austin gets another healock as McMahon says Austin will try and keep this methodical, but Mero will want to speed it up. Mero hits body shots on Austin, so Austin transitions into a standing hammerlock. Mero reverses the hammerlock, but Austin reverses back into a waistlock and gets the drop toehold. Austin goes to a chinlock on the mat. Owen Hart says Austin needs the King of the Ring win since he lost the Million Dollar Championship. Austin moves his position on the chinlock and Mero fights to his feet. Mero elbows Austin in the gut and runs to the ropes, but Austin follows and meets him with a back elbow! Austin gets a right hand but Mero replies with two of his own. Mero gets a side headlock, and Austin shoves him off using the ropes, but Mero knocks Austin down with a shoulder block. Austin goes prone and gets caught with a flying headscissors, sending him out of the ring. Mero looks to fly but Austin sees and walks out of range, frustrating Mero. Mero gets Sable away from Austin as we see a replay of Mero's headscissors. That's considered a “risk” in 1996 showing how far we've come.
Austin's back in the ring as we get back from the replay and he quickly gets an arm wrench off a collar-elbow tie up. Austin wrenches a second time but Mero reverses and gets a side headlock. He wears Austin down to one knee as McMahon and JR talk about the second semi-final match up next with Jake Roberts taking on Vader. Austin sends Mero into the ropes and gets a hip toss but Mero kicks him off from the floor. Both men get back to their feet and Mero gets an arm drag and keeps hold of Austin's left shoulder. Mero just a step ahead of Austin right now as he gets the side headlock, not giving Austin room to breathe. Austin tries to pull at Mero's hair and gets warned off by the referee. Austin fights to his feet and pulls Mero's hair away from the ref's view, but he moves position and warns Austin again. Austin backs Mero to the ropes and shoves him off, but gets knocked down with a shoulder barge. Mero jumps over Austin and runs into an early variation of the Lou Thesz press, sans right hands. Austin over-jumped it and stomped on Mero instead, upping the intensity in the match. He hits falling elbow drops and the crowd suddenly wakes up. Austin tries to send Mero across the ring but Mero reverses it and hits a backdrop causing Austin to take a breather outside.
Austin wants a time out, but the referee starts to count him out. Meanwhile, on commentary, Owen Hart says both these men are hungry, and when he won the King of the Ring tournament he was even hungrier. Stone Cold gets back in the ring and extends his hand to Mero, Mero doesn't take it so Austin asks for a test of strength instead. Mero has the slight size advantage and Owen says you have to be careful of Mero taking a cheap shot as they lock hands. Austin boots Mero in the gut sending him down to his knees. Mero makes his way back to his feet and quickly snaps into a side headlock. Austin moves back into the ropes and sends Mero off. Austin goes prone, then sends Mero out of the ring. Sable checks on her man. Austin climbs out of the ring and stalks his prey, scaring her off. Austin peels a mat off the concrete floor and drops Mero on the concrete from overhead before gloating on the turnbuckle.
Mero gets back in the ring but Austin's there to meet him with a suplex. Austin elbows the back of Mero's head, before dragging him so his head hangs outside the ring. Another elbow from Austin, this time to the throat. Mero escapes to the middle of the ring but Austin follows and does the same over on the other side. Mero tries to fight back when Austin's back in the ring but Austin shrugs it off with a knee. Austin drags Mero's throat across the top rope and sends him across the ring into the turnbuckles. Austin follows and sends him back across the ring, working the midsection more. Mero gets sent over with a snapmare, and Austin hits an elbow drop from the middle rope. Austin covers but only gets a nearfall. Austin picks Mero up overhead and drops Mero's ribs onto his knee. Austin covers again for another nearfall. Austin drags Mero closer to the middle of the ring and locks in a Boston crab. Mero almost gets to the ropes before Austin drags him back, but Mero is able to roll over and spin Austin off. Mero rolls Austin up, 2, 3, 2.5, No! Austin is up first and he sends Mero across the ring before hitting a back elbow. Austin looks to the crowd as Owen says Austin needs to focus on putting Mero away quick. Austin knees the “lower midsection” of Mero before putting Mero back in the Boston crab. Mero bridges up and rolls Austin up for 2, Austin reverses but Mero rolls through and gets another close nearfall!!
Both men get to their feet and Mero gets sent chest first into the corner. Mero rolls out of a back suplex and rolls Austin up, 1, 2, no! Austin sends Mero to the mat with a right hand before taking a minute. Mero reverses an irish whip into a sleeper hold, but Austin stunners out of it. Austin sends Mero into the corner but Mero has it scouted now and catches himself on the middle rope before coming back at Austin with a back elbow, both men stay down for a while after that move, and Austin sends Mero into the ropes when they get back to their feet. Mero ducks a chop and hits a running dropkick. Mero gets some right hands in the corner before hitting the good ol' mounted 10 punch. I miss that. Mero sends Austin across the ring and barely gets him over for the backdrop. Mero climbs to the top rope and hits a double axehandle! 1, 2, 2.999, no! Mero sends Austin into the corner but Austin raises his boot. Austin tries to send Mero over the top but Mero reverses it and follows with a somersault plancha!
We get a close up of Austin's mouth bleeding. Mero quickly brings Austin back in the ring but he climbs to the top rope, giving Austin time to roll out to the floor. It didn't do Austin much good though as Mero comes flying at him with a tope suicida! Again Mero rushes Austin back into the ring and climbs to the top rope (why does he climb both/either time(s)?) this time it works and he hits a missile dropkick on Austin, Mero covers and gets a nearfall. Mero brings Austin to his feet, but he just collapses. Mero gets hold of him again though and brings him to the corner. He seats Austin on the top rope and hits the super frankensteiner! 1, 2, NO! Austin gets to his feet as Mero argues with the referee. Austin kicks Mero in the gut and picks him up for the powerbomb. Hotshot like move for Austin, and he covers, 1, 2, 2.75, no! Austin can't believe it, but he catches Mero for a stunner and gets the win.
This was a fantastic match to kick off my consideration of the Attitude Era. Austin was a rising star ready to make his mark at this event, and he had a hard fought battle with Mero. It was back and forth with both men getting a good advantage at times. Austin seemed to be gaining in popularity at this point and it showed. Mero had a good showing here, and I'm actually quite interested in his midcard WWF career after watching this match. – Rating: 6.7/10
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