Top stars going through the motions

By JOHN MOLINARO -- SLAM! Wrestling  The WWF returned to Toronto's Skydome last night with a three hour snooze-fest. The throng of rabid wrestling fans who packed the Dome were treated to a show where the promotion's top stars "didn't show up", deciding to phone it in and go on cruise control. WWF World Champ Steve Austin, The Rock, HHH and other top stars just went through the motions, saving themselves for the WWF's Fully Loaded pay-per-view event this evening from Buffalo, NY.

In the main event, Steve Austin defeated HHH by DQ in a 13-minute match comprised of restholds and stall tactics. The main event capped a card of wrestling matches marred by screwjob finishes and pedestrian work rate.

In the biggest disappointment of the night, Road Dog beat Mr. Ass in a dog collar match that lasted all of four minutes. Hopes were high that these two would put on a show-stealer type of a match but unfortunately they did not comply.

The Undertaker defeated the Big Show in what has to rank as one of the worst cage matches in recent history. The illogical ending of having the Undertaker's comrades in the Ministry come in and interfere diminished the value and story line of the cage. Not to mention that neither combatant used the cage at all in their offense, making one wonder why the WWF even booked it as a cage match?

The Rock defeated the Big Bossman in a night stick match that saw the charismatic ex-champion put more effort into his post match speech to the crowd than the actual match.

In a big surprise, Edge captured the WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight title from Jeff Jarrett. The native of Orangeville, Ontario was subbing for the absent Ken Shamrock and was rewarded with his first title since signing on with the WWF, eliciting the first of many tremendous pops of elation from the wild crowd.

Edge pulled double duty, as he tagged with Christian in the opener to defeat Acolytes. D-Lo was one of the few wrestlers with his working shoes on, putting forth a solid effort in defeating WWF European Champ Median in a non-title match. Test defeated Meat by pinfall where both big men plodded around and barely managed to execute an actual wrestling hold or maneuver.

The majority of fans went home happy, brimming with exhilaration over Edge's title victory. There was one front row fan, however, that was not impressed with the quality of the show, holding a sign in the air reading "Who booked this crap?" the entire evening.

The WWF returns to the Toronto SkyDome on Saturday, November 20th.