This is Dean making his return after two months away from WCW after losing a previous title shot against Jericho. Dean won a battle royale disguised as Ciclope which happened directly before this match.
Jericho tries jumping Malenko from behind but Malenko ducks it, punches Jericho into the corner then unloads on him with stomps. Dean backdrops and dropkicks Malenko. It’s strange in that he’s trying to show emotion but he doesn’t actually seem angry. Malenko slips out of a suplex, hits some forearms to the back, a weird spin kick sends Jericho to the floor then the director misses a dive from Dean.
Dean sends Jericho into the guardrail then back into the ring. Jericho hits some soft kicks as Dean gets back on the ring and chops him. They have an awkward transition, Dean punches Jericho, and Jericho begs off in the corner. Dean hits a pair of elbows and charges but Jericho hot shots him and follows that up with a senton. Jericho walks around confused, dropkicks Jericho, and yells about a conspiracy. Jericho hits a delayed vertical suplex and gets a two count with the cocky cover. Jericho follows up with a slam and gets a two with the Lionsault.
Jericho goes to a chinlock but never really locks it on. Dean escapes from a Meltdown attempt but gets hit with the double underhook backbreaker. Dean counters out of the Liontamer but Jericho scrambles to the floor. Jericho hits a top rope back elbow for a close two count. They trade punches and Dean gets the advantage but misses a charge in the corner. Jericho sets him on the top rope and counters a super frankensteiner attempt into a top rope gutbuster. Dean puts on the Texas Cloverleaf and gets the submission.
Final Thoughts: This is a great minute and then six minutes of average wrestling. The reveal and Dean’s initial fire works great and the crowd loses their minds for it. Then they just start doing moves and any sense of this being a heated quest for revenge from Dean or terror of getting his comeuppance from Jericho just goes out of the window. Dean throws weird rolling kicks because he hates Jericho so much! Jericho is so worried about facing Dean that he hits a delayed suplex and tries pinning him with one foot! It’s just a disconnect from the first minute and the crowd dies in a way that was honestly surprising giving just how excited they were when things started. It doesn’t help that neither guy looked great striking and that’s what a lot of the match ended up being, but they also weren’t throwing bombs for the rest of the match so the whole thing just felt boring in comparison to that one great moment. **- The first minute is awesome, the top rope gutbuster is cool, but there was nothing else in this match.
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