10 Best Matches From B-Level WWE Pay Per Views
5. Steve Austin Vs. Savio Vega - In Your House: Beware Of Dog
If you can take Bruce Prichard at face value - no easy task - it was this brutal Caribbean Strap match that finally convinced Vince McMahon to proceed with coronating Steve Austin as the King of the Ring.
Even if you don't, Austin's performance is so self-evidently awesome that it hardly matters. He was destined for superstardom at some point.
The (first) match was so good that it stopped Vince McMahon from blowing a gasket at the technical difficulties the thunderstorm plunged the show into. All he cared about was watching what he reverently referred to as a "hell of a damn match".
The replayed match proved that the intensity was no aberration. The stipulation lent the match a believable dramatic heft; like the very best pro wrestling bouts, immersion was easy. Vega used the strap in the early going to send Austin hurtling chest first into the apron decades before we were told, endlessly, that it is the hardest part of the ring.
The expansive use of the ring was ahead of its time, and so was the brawling-heavy strand of violence. The force with which Austin and Vega literally leathered one another in the face was wince-inducing, and Austin’s manic bumping - this was fought before his neck injury forced him to modify his style - added a dynamic layer to the ghoulish physicality, all of which was underpinned by a choice narrative searing through it. The strap was never used arbitrarily. Every choke, every propelled high spot, was all in service of the objective. Savio didn't so much win as survive, pulling the win out of his ass after a beautifully suspenseful finishing sequence.
When it ended, Austin and Vega were covered in welts. The gritty, full-on war left a similar indelible impression on all who watched it.