The WWE explosives match that never was, and other attempts in 2000

Of all of the crazy match types that exist in wrestling, there aren’t many that WWE hasn’t attempted their own version of. While they have played with fire a few times, they’ve never done anything like an explosions match, the dream of many a hardcore promotion, which I've been reading a lot about lately.


I did find however, that WWE did have plans for such a match in 2000, appropriately including Kane, and the man he’d been embroiled in a feud with for months, X Pac. In this video, we’ll look at the plans to run the match, why it fell through, and the other promotions who were also in the race to be the first to pull it off.


The history of this type of match is massive and there are lots of stories to draw from, so I thought I’d look at all of the instances that I could find from 2000, and there are chapters below if you’d rather skip to the WWE one.


WWF


Having had a steel cage match at Armageddon, and a No Holds Barred match at No Way Out, it seemed that Kane and X Pac were likely to meet again at Wrestlemania 2000. Perhaps the most bizarre of Wrestlemania’s, with a crowd at least. I say that because it only features one singles match, and that was a catfight. The rest of the show was multi-man chaos up and down the card, from the triangle ladder match, to the Hardcore invitational, to the fatal four way for the WWF title. It seems that there could have also been a few explosions that night also. In the March 13th Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer writes that “There was talk about doing an explosive ring match with Kane vs. X-Pac at Wrestlemania.”


If you were going to do this match with anyone on the roster in 2000, Kane and X Pac would have been the two to go with. Their feud had become bitterly personal, with the two starting as unlikely friends, even becoming tag team champions in ‘99. The two would help each other in visible ways to the audience, with Kane beginning to speak, no longer needing a voice box, and X-Pac proving that he could hold his own inside the ring, even against much larger opponents. By the end of the year though, the two would become enemies, with X Pac leaving Kane behind to regain D-Generation X, stealing Tori, Kane’s first love away with him. Kane seemingly rebounded by bringing Paul Bearer back, presumably to be his wingman or something.


The first talk of an exploding ring match came in the March 4th edition of the PW Torch, where Wade Keller wrote that Kane and X Pac were set to meet in an “FMW style exploding landmine cage match.” Interestingly a month out before the show, a lot of the rest of the card he published wouldn’t happen either, with the IC title three match being the only one that stuck. We like to think that wrestling bookers have it all figured out, at least more that we would have, but often this is not the case.


If you were following along with the newsletters at the time, You could be forgiven for thinking that nobody really knew what the company was aiming for, as the name of the match changes with each reporting of it. So far we’ve already had “exploding landmine cage”, and “explosive ring”, and in the March 11th Torch, Wade calls it the “Exploding cage” match. Also in this reporting, Wade notes that apparently Kane and X Pac were all for the match but Vince McMahon didn’t seem to be. A week later though, we would learn that the match had gotten as far as the explosions being given a trial run, and this is where the plan would be abandoned. “The X-Pac vs. Kane explosion match has been vetoed because Vince McMahon didn't like the special effects in the trial run. Some in the WWF were against the concept anyway. Kane & Rikishi vs. X-Pac & Road Dogg is the back-up plan.”


In the March 27th Observer, less than a week away from Wrestlemania, Dave would explain two more very valid reasons why the planned match fell apart. Firstly, “they didn’t feel they had enough time to familiarize themselves with that kind of a match, since it had never been done in the WWF, and that they didn’t want to not get it right at Wrestlemania because when the explosives go wrong, it kills the match no matter what the wrestlers do because the whole match is determined by the impressiveness of the explosion”. Quite rightly, they didn’t want to risk trying to pull this match off for the first time on one of their major shows, perhaps knowing that if it were to fail, it would be all anyone was talking about for a long time to come. ECW may have got it right by having their match on a house show, and not let’s say, in the main event of one of their biggest shows of the year. Nope, not naming anyone. I promise that's the only AEW reference in this video. Perhaps also WWE might well have learned from the ‘Kennel From Hell’ match they attempted just a few months earlier, and the company was once bitten, twice shy.


The second reason Dave adds is that “this is not the time politically to do something like this and have it screw up and someone actually get hurt.” there are a few things that Dave could be referencing here, from the passing of Owen Hart being less than a year ago, to the ongoing issues at the time with the Parent’s Television Council, and their challenging of the content of the attitude era shows. Either of these might not be what he was getting at, but if someone were to get hurt in such a stunt, it would only give the company’s enemies more to come back at them with.


One final potential reason for the match being nixed actually comes from the Torch a few weeks later and is far less dramatic. Wade notes that “Kane will be out about eight weeks due to a hand injury which he suffered a couple of weeks ago. He was hurt before WrestleMania.” Though this wasn’t reported before Mania, it could well have also played a part in the one on one match not taking place, with the tag team match being easier for him to work. To add to this and perhaps make the fans happier, Kane at least got to destroy Pete Rose one last time. The fact that this didn’t become a thing for many more Wrestlemania’s still to this day makes me sad.


So thats the match that WWE was planning, but did you know that around the same time, a few other promotions were competing to be the first to bring a match using explosions to a US audience. One of the first of these was a newer company, CZW.


CZW


On February 14th the Observer says there are plans supposedly for “a 6/25 PPV show” that was set to be headlined by a rematch between Atsushi Onita and Terry Funk under the same rules as the original. Dave would go on to note that this event already felt suspicious, because it fell on the same date as the 2000 King of the Ring pay per view, “so there is no way they are getting any serious clearance or buys for a live show”. The other barrier seemed to be that Terry Funk worked for WCW at the time, and even though he claimed that his contract wasn’t exclusive, I doubt WCW would have wanted their talent going off and working such a match. Dave makes one more interesting note while making the claim that indie shows generally did not do well on pay per view, citing as an example the most recent attempt which had been Heroes of Wrestling, which was reported to have been purchased in just twenty nine thousand homes.


On the subject of CZW, Dave notes that they had recently been featured on ABC Nightline, and were also planning for the card to include “another match with snakes, alligators and a piranha in various corners of the ring.” Barely a year old at the time and likely wanting to make a name for themselves, it seems that CZW had some big ambitions, and an even bigger imagination. If I can just take you off course for a minute, I managed to find an article that was published on IGN, who naturally gets a twelve out of ten for their wrestling coverage, promising a rather bizarre card for what was meant to be CZW’s first ever pay per view. Firstly, the main event was promoted as a trios exploding barbed wire death match, with Funk, Zandig and a mystery partner teaming up against Onita, Araya and Yaguchi. Also on the card was a “glass cage” match, though it isn’t clear what that means. Get it, cos it’s glass, never mind. Finally, a ‘freaks of nature match’, which included “four aquariums, one in each corner, will be filled with who knows what?” In the infamous CZW Follies list, it mentions that they got as far as someone actually trying to source such ‘freaks of nature’ The article also promises three live bands, and despite being in 2000 and clearly a massive fantasy, none of them are Limp Bizkit, WWE’s favourite band.


A week later it would be reported that Terry Funk had verbally agreed to the match, and Onita announced that the match “would be at a 30,000-seat stadium in New Jersey in June.” You might well be aware of this already, but a CZW event in a thirty thousand seat stadium a little over a year into it’s existence wouldn’t happen. However, CZW did hold an event on this day titled “They Said it Couldn’t be Done.” On that card, which took place at the Champs Soccer Arena in Sewell New Jersey, likely not the same place that Onita was referring to, Zangig and Lobo would in fact have a no ropes, barbed wire explosion match. Before the match takes place though, Zandig gives an impassioned and swear-laden speech, beginning by cursing out Onita. He then goes on a tirade about other promoters such as the NWA’s Dennis Corraluzzo, but this seems to be about a larger issue than this match that was affecting the promotion. Zandig and Lobo’s match wouldn’t exactly reach the legendary heights of Funk and Onita, but the explosives did in fact work, which is more than can be said for ECW’s version, which could well have been a rush job to beat CZW to the punch, but it ended up never airing anywhere.


ECW


On March 3rd 2000 in Asbury Park New Jersey, Balls Mahoney would face Vic Grimes of the Baldies in exploding barbed wire boards in play. This match would never air on television, but we can see it thanks to Fan Cam footage which would have been distributed by RF Video. Given that the match was booked in a pretty packed looking indoor venue, there wasn’t much hope for being able to do a lot explosion wise, and not much is what ECW delivered. The match begins like any other, with Balls and Vic trading punches, while outside the ring, were placed barbed wire boards that were rigged to blow.


Once Vic and Balls had both used their trademark weapons, and both were bleeding, Balls has referee Jim Molinaux assist him in getting one of the boards in the ring, as Vic perches uncomfortably on the top rope. Balls tried to superplex him, but Vic punches back, and shoves him into the board. Two blasts of pyro come from either side of the board, admittingly sounding impressive, and the referee sells like he’s been shot. Vic tries to pin Balls who kicks out, so he brings in a second board. Balls manages to counter and powerbombs Vic into the board, but the explosion does not go off, and the crowd boos loudly. Balls pins Vic for the victory, but there is a sullen feeling as the crowd look on and Vic is helped away.


So those are the three main companies that were racing to put on an explosion match in early 2000, but there are many more stories about the match being attempted. In the back end of the year, California based XPW would be the next to try, even bringing Atsushi Onita in. They would attempt to put on Onita vs Sabu in an exploding barbed wire death match. A press conference and follow up angles were filmed, but ultimately this match wouldn’t take place. I partly made this video to sort of test the water a bit, to see if videos about this kind of hardcore wrestling were interesting. If they are, please let me know in the comments. Thank you for watching, and if you enjoyed this video please like, comment and subscribe.




Sources:


WON March 13 00 plans revealed https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/march-13-2000-wrestling-observer-newsletter-beyond-mat-controversy-new/

CZW

WON Feb 14th 2000 Show announced https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/february-14-2000-wrestling-observer-newsletter-vince-mcmahon-announces/

WON Feb 21st Funk agrees https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/february-21-2000-wrestling-observer-newsletter-1999-attendence-numbers/

IGN previews CZW show https://www.ign.com/articles/2000/06/20/terry-funk-to-headline-ppv-barbed-wire-match-for-combat-zone-wrestling

PWT March 4th 00 Landmines https://members.pwtorch.com/torchbackissues00/torch592/T592WWFNews.html

PWT March 11th exploding cage https://members.pwtorch.com/torchbackissues00/torch593/T593WWFNews.html

PWT March 19th trial run https://members.pwtorch.com/torchbackissues00/torch594/T594WWFNews.html

WON March 27 00 match nixed https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/march-27-2000-wrestling-observer-newsletter-more-wwf-leaving-usa/PWT April 8th 00 Hand injury https://members.pwtorch.com/torchbackissues00/torch597/T597WWFNews.html