Leif Cassidy vs. Marc Mero

[3.0] "This match is pretty flat, Al with some pretty boring leg work and Mero does really do anything until the end and him and Sable act heelish while being the faces. Not a great start."

[5.0] "If they called Marc Mero "Wild Man" one more time, I was going to jump off a cliff. I see nothing to indicate that he is wild or even a man. Al Snow is trying his best, but his character sucks."

[7.0] "If I didn't know any better, i'd have thought that Cassidy was the babyface, and Mero was the heel based on how this was worked, but this was great for a cold match none surprisingly as both Mero and Cassidy (al snow) are both heavily underrated as performers. Mero by early 1997, had more of a mean streak to him compared to years past, he worked more aggressively (especially in this encounter), and tended to resort to more heel tendencies during his matches. Which was well on display here as he gouged Leif's eyes to get out of the grapevine Leif had on his leg, shoved the referee to the side, and even used closed fist punches when whaling on Leif. I also thought Sable was made of good use here as she also played in to Mero's heel tendencies by causing distractions to Cassidy, pushing the rope towards Mero so he could grab it while in the figure four, and even going as far as to get physical with Leif at times. I thought Leif played his role well too. He also brought more of an aggressive streak to the match after going out on his own (as I think Marty hadn't long departed from the company). He did a great set of heat on the usually high flying Mero's knee in attempt to keep him out of the air, and on the the ground. He did some good heel interacting with Sable on the outside (although sable also more so worked like a heel valet in this). And I really felt like he gave the character legs despite there not really being a leg for the character to stand on. The only thing I didn't like about this and i'm nitpicking here is the finish. With the way the match was worked, the more heel on heel style of match, i'd have liked to have seen Marc break something else out of his arsenal besides the wild thing to put leif away."

[6.0] "There was no real build to this match (at least not on Raw), but I actually thought this was a pretty solid match with Leif Cassidy doing solid work keeping Mero grounded and Mero's selling is also very good, which makes his win at the end feel like a hard fought one. Mero's all or nothing style is also mentioned heavily in commentary."

[4.0] "The actual wrestling was fine here, but the crowd wasnt really into the match outside of a few moments here or there. I did like the story actually of both Mero and Sable being a bit more intense and if theyd done the dual Heel turn they might have been a pretty hot mid-card act provided they could have found a good opponent for Mero to feud with"

[6.0] "Not even near the best these two could've done but it was solid for an opening match. Set a good tone for the rest of the night."

[5.0] "I expected something better from these two to be honest, but they still delivered a decent little match. Mero looked more heelish here than in his previous matches as Sable starts to get more over. Unfortunately Cassidy felt blant here, so you couldn't get invested in this that much."

[7.0] "Not much heat in this match but it's a fun enough way to start the show between two strong workers. Mero was injured shortly after and Leif Cassidy became Al Snow next year"

[6.0] "not sure why this fight is rated so low, it starts this show off pretty well. There is, of course, a moment when a little uninteresting fun was held, but overall the impression is positive."

[5.0] "This reminded me of the many Mero matches that used to open WCW PPVs, as this was a match that was decent enough to open the show without stealing the spotlight from the bigger matches on the show. Mero is a charismatic guy, and he can coast by on that and he was never really that interesting in-ring when you strip away all his presentation and the high spots from his moveset. Cassidy does a good enough job at working over Mero's leg. The camera keeps cutting to Sable and you can tell that the fed has big plans for here. Jerry Lawler can't stop making domestic abuse jokes about her, sheesh. Cassidy's downfall comes when he can't keep his eyes off Sable and it ends up costing him. Mero's finish is still quite a sight to see, even in 2022."

[4.0] "This would be Cassidy's last WWF ppv before he came back in spring 98 as Al Snow and finally found his niche. This is Wildman's last ppv before knee injuries took him out til late 97 and he was repackaged as Mavelous. Not a whole lot going on, feels like an average Raw match. Cassidy works the knee. Mero fights back and uses a Samoan drop near the corner then hits the wild thing to pin Cassidy."

[3.0] "this was surprisingly fun. Of course there were tedious moments, but Mero made up for them with high flying moves that were enough for an undercard match"

[5.0] "Hate to say it, but it's possibly the last good match of Mero's career. Not sure if it was during this match or the next night on Raw, but he tears his ACL and he would never be quite the same. **1/2"

[4.0] "Ah Leif Cassidy, formed a team with Janetty and somehow still managed to be the Janetty of the team. The match didn't really work, they were trying some character changes with Mero that didn't pay off, and there was little chemistry between the wrestlers."

[4.0] "A weird match. It seems to be heel vs heel but the characters are so underdeveloped that it's hard to tell. Leif is so low down the pecking order that he doesn't even get an entrance for a PPV match."

[3.0] "Not a very good match. Complete disregard to sell by Marc Mero, and the outside bits with Sable with Leif weren? t particularly interesting."

[3.0] "This was a boring match with the crowd not getting into it that much. If it was a few minutes shorter it would have helped. They were technically sound wrestlers, but it was a poor choice for an opener since it wasn't exciting enough for the fans to get into it. The crowd didn't care. Boring match *1/2"