Boo: Kennel from Hell

Al Snow has some "pepper" steak courtesy Big Bossman

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

In 1999, the WWF had a secure hold on the ratings in the Monday Night Wars.  But that doesn't mean bad ideas were not a part of the battle.  I give you Exhibit A: the Kennel from Hell Match from Unforgiven.  The match featured Al Snow and the Big Bossman.

The match came about after the Bossman cooked up Snow's chihuahua "Pepper" and served the dog for dinner.  Snow thought he was eating pepper steak, not Pepper steak.  The two decided to settle their differences in the Kennel from Hell, which saw the old school blue cage.  Then around that was the traditional Hell in a Cell structure, and in between the cell and the cage were rottweilers, and their handlers.

The dogs' bark was definitely worse than their bite as they never really played a factor in the match.  Besides hearing them snarl and growl and snap a bit at the competitors, the dogs seemed to serve no purpose here.  However, there was one shot of a couple dogs getting it on.  Sadly that may be the highlight of this match.

Battling it out in a kennel from hell

The video I've posted is not from the original pay per view.  Mick Foley and Kevin Kelly provided the commentary for another project.  Foley's overselling and hyping of things make this more fun to watch. Kevin Kelly even comments on the mating dogs, expressing concern that if more puppies are born there would be dozens of rotweilers ringside.

Unlike Hell in a Cell, the Kennel from Hell concept never went beyond this original match in 1999.  I think we can agree, that's probably a good thing.  Despite many critics calling it one of the worst matches ever, it served its purpose of being fun and allowing Snow to get some revenge on behalf of Pepper.  It made wrestling fun, and sometimes I think that's forgotten in today's current environment.