Some random ECW today, brought on by the Smark's Choice best of ECW poll and the discussion over on DVDVR that followed.
Devon Storm vs Louie Spicolli: I find Damien Kane incredibly annoying and I never understood what he brought to the table. Devon Storm was also never taken seriously in ECW which is too bad, I kinda liked that lime green attire and chair based moonsaults. But I think the ECW fanbase saw him as a clone of Sabu and never gave him a shot. Joey Styles is really pushing Louie on commentary, kind of like he would push Justin Credible before his world title run. They really did like halfway connected friends of the Kliq.
The roles seemed reversed from what the commentary is putting across. Louie works over the leg in a heelish manner, and Storm fights back with the chair based offense and high flying. There isn't much here, and Louie didn't show the "extreme style" Styles was trying to put over. He kicked Storm off a backdrop attempt and hit a DVD for the win. I still dig Spicolli using "Louie, Louie" as his theme.
Doug Furnas vs Rob Van Dam: This has been getting a lot of love lately, and I remember enjoying when I first saw this tape many many years ago. Re-watching now, I like it, but it's not my top ten favorite ECW matches.
The beginning I do enjoy, Furnas hits Rob hard and counters his flips with suplexes, and Rob responds by kicking Doug right in the mouth. Intentional or not, I am happy, there's a dynamic already.
The middle crowd brawling section feels unnecessary, especially on an ECW show that has a crowd brawling D-Von vs Bubba match and Terry Gordy vs Brian Lee match. Furnas gorilla presses Rob while on the top bleachers, which is a cool visual, but other than that, it's the normal walk around chair shot, ECW routine.
Rob's clothesline bump over the rail kicks off the last stage (and it's an awesome bump). This part is pretty good, I have liked the ending of the match just fine. There's a few sloppy moments like RVD's high cross, and I think there should have been a few less chair shots since the finisher was the Van Daminator, which, if not done perfect, comes off like a weak blow after so many of the hard chair shots these two were dealing out. Rob also just about no sells a flying clothesline so that he can go out and get a chair that plays into the end.
Doug brings some good work and offense, and Rob was pretty fun during the Sabu series 1996, but for some reason this didn't click with me as well as I remember it doing. I think of it as an average ECW match, and really not one of my fav's from Van Dam.
I must note however, how amazing the crowd is, I think I had forgotten how rabid they were for anything, and that really makes all this enjoyable to watch.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Friday, July 16, 2010
Fancam 4/13/00 The ECW fun continues!
Throwing in another Fancam this morning. Let's see what was going on at a regular ECW house show in 2000. We're in Indy, and as it turns out, I have randomly picked the show where Mike Awesome dropped the ECW title to Taz before going to WCW.
Match One: Johnny Swinger vs Chilly Willy:
Chilly Willy is "everybody's homeboy" and one of many guys Paul brought in to the new ECW undercard. Swinger was coming off his WCW job guy run and would eventually form a pretty good team with Simon Diamond.
Johnny's tights say "Swing Zone" on them. Chilly Willy does a Michinoku Driver as part of his first burst of offense. Was he a house of hardcore guy? Rude Awakening by Swinger gets him the advantage. Chilly Willy comes back with a flying hip attack and a huge baaaack body drop! Willy has facial expressions like D'lo Brown, really, he has the same kinda head shape. Suplex is blocked into a small package. Swinger argues with the ref, gets cradled and loses.
1 for 1. Not bad, basic, but enjoyable, so it gets a pass. And Chilly Willy has lots of charisma
Match Two: The Baldies (DeVito and Angel) vs Danny Doring/Roadkill
Always fun to see The Baldies NOT fighting New Jack! Doring and Roadkill are on their long march to the title, which they'd get in December. D and R are a house of fire early, hit moves and beat up the Baldies. Doring already hits one of his moves that has a special name, the Bareback I think. DeVito hits a spin kick to get the heat. I assume he does that in street fights. Then a dropkick. Who is this Tony DeVito? He then does a Nightmare on Helms street and its bizarre thug offense. Angel comes in and does a butterfly suplex. Awesome! Doring fires back once and a while, which is great to see and keeps me watching. Tony drills Danny with a sit out Rock Bottom for two. I think that was his finisher. Angel misses a dropkick running to the corner, but Doring moves, and he lands on the top rope. Roadkill in and he starts laying waste to the Baldies. Heart Attack by Doring and Roadkill. Roadkill goes up top for a splash, but DeVito pushes him off and he falls through the ringside table. Things break down a bit and Tony gets a chair, but misses and hits Angel. Doring clotheslines Angel out and Roadkill flies back with a clothesline off the center of the top rope. Pancake/Top Rope legdrop combo, and Doring gets the pin
2 for 2. Super fun, I always enjoy these kind of ECW tag matches. Doring and Roadkill were two of my favorite 2000 ECW guys.
Match Three: Simon Diamond vs Mikey Whipwreck
Simon has his amazing group with him: The Prodigy, The Prodigette, The Muskateer. What a group. Did the Musketeer ever wrestle? Simone berates his cast of misfits one by one, wondering why he had them around even. Mikey them comes out and gets double teamed by Prodigy and Diamond. They brawl around ringside and Mikey takes control, but eventually the lackeys outside help Simon gain control. Mikey hits a nice Superkick and I realize he has two sets of knee pads: regular white ones and his old pink ones around his ankles. Oh, James Mitchel is outside as well, and soon he's in the ring fencing the Musketeer: sword vs walking cane. Awesome! Prodigy comes in and lays Mikey out, but Prodigette misses and moonsault. Diamond tries to take advantage, but gets a whippersnapper and pinned.
2 for 3. Not much here, entertaining for the outside stuff and fencing, but a bit short.
One thing I have a problem with in late era ECW is the amount of heels that had big entourages. Justin Credible had it at one point (Jason, Nicole Bass, Chasity), Simon had it for most of his early run. It just seems like they were trying to reuse a concept that they had already done a lot with Raven, just with lower card heels. I worked great for Raven when he had 3 or 4 guys outside the ring to help him, but the other ones just look like copycats or in Simon's case, just make him really hard to take seriously.
Match Four: Kid Kash vs Rhino
Rhino hurts him early. Jack Victory is out with Rhino. Victory had a long run in the company for reasons I'm not sure of honestly. Kash's flying stuff is pretty great when he hits it. Rhino catches him trying a moonsault and drives him down with a powerslam. Crowd chants for tables. Took them long enough. Rhino gets right up after a flying hurricanrana, connects with a Gore, piledriver, and its over!
3 for 4. A bit on the short side, but really energenic and fun, i like the combo of these two, good stuff in 2000 ECW.
Match Five: Billy Wiles/CW Anderson vs Chris Chetti/Nova
The Dangerous Alliance, Lou E's version, is another in what seemed like a lot of lower mid card ECW gimmicks that I never took too seriously, this one because it's based on a parody. CW is a great worker and could be great in a tag environment, but I dont remember him and Billy ever doing anything serious. Nova and Chetti were a decent tag team, but seemed thrown together at the start of their run. It was a good use of both. Electra is with the D.A. and she had no real purpose except to be their "Medusa".
The Alliance does have matching gear, which is always a plus. Nova is in his Green Lantern tribute outfit, which is cool, he always had fun gear that played off the original version of his chracter (he was like the Hurricane in an indy way). He also invented most moves used today, so it's great to see where today's wrestling came from...um...yeah. Chetti and Anderson do some stuff and I remember that Chris is mostly kicks and baggy, baggy pants. Really its like High Energy with him. Wiles hits a spinning wheel kick, which is shocking, and he a decent punch. Anderson does a hammerlock Michinoku Driver to Nova, which is pretty cool. He works the arm just like the family taught him. He also had a good spinebuster. Nova gets a Downward Spiral on Billy and gets the tag. Chetti is all kicks! Electra breaks up a pin and Jazz comes out to give us our catfight for the night. Lou E. tries to attack her, Jazz tries to give him an X-Factor, but CW gets a superkick to save his boss. Rude Awakening by Wiles, which Nova breaks up. Kinda messy right now, everyone just kinda doing stuff, and the interference doesn't come off so great. They do a super duper convoluted chair spot: Nova is down so Lou E. put a chair on his face, Wiles goes to slingshot Nova up into what I think was going to be a superkick. Was their plan for nova to hold the chair to his face the whole time? Anyway, Nova blocks that, throws the chair and Anderson and Chetti nails a bit kick off the top to give him a pseudo Van Damintaor for the win. It didn't look great and wasn't a good idea anyway.
3 for 5. I wanted a longer heat section as I like the Dangerous Alliances tag work, and less Chris Chetti practicing all his kicks.. Too much interference in what could have been a good basic tag match.
After the match, the Alliance beat down the babyfaces. And, like Jim Gordon and the bat signal, ECW plays "natural born killers" alerting New Jack that there is trouble in the Land of Extreme that only he can handle. He answers the call as always.
Match Six: Little Gudio vs Super Crazy:
This should be fun, as most of the matches in the Super Crazy/Guido/Tajiri/Lynn group in 99. There's some fun stuff here. I like the opening chain sequence that ends with Guido somersaulting over a monkey flip attempt and doing an elbow to the abs and seated dropkick. On the outside, Crazy avoids a big Sal splash and uses him as a platform to dive into the crowd. Sal is allowed to interfere as he pleases, but at least ECW had a history of allowing this. Crazy fights back and eventually uses a brainbuster to get the win.
4 for 6. A shortish but good back and forth match, your normal match between these two but that doesn't make it any less enjoyable.
Match Seven: Lance Storm vs Raven
Storm has Dawn Marie and Raven has Francine with him, but I'm sure they will not do anything except lend advice to their men during this battle. This is an odd match. Storm is one half of the tag team champions (w/ Justin Credible). This is not one my favorite periods for Raven; his character seemed undefined and the angles around him so loose, total cruise control until he left for the WWF. A lot of stalling, and the guys do a short exchange before the girls start to argue.
Raven stops Storm from attacking Francine and it's a brawl outside.
Storms offensive section is decent, and Raven makes sure to show life every now and then, but it never loses the feel of a feud advancement TV taping match. Raven has a face doesn't quite work and he lacks most of the tricks he did as a heel. I do love the powder attempt by Dawn, blinding Storm and giving Raven a good near fall. Evenflow DDT draws in the interference, and we get the catfight. Raven pulls Dawn off Francine, and eats a superkick for his trouble, and pinned. I'm surprised!
4 for 7. I'm not a huge fan of Raven during his second ECW run. Storm's always crisp no matter who he's in against, but you can skip this.
Match Eight: Tajiri vs Tommy Dreamer
Both Steve Corino and Jack Victory are out with the Buzzsaw, and Dreamer gets an early jump on Corino before the proper match starts. Tajiri beats on Dreamer, until the handspring elbow is countered into a Russian Leg sweet and Dreamer decides to do a Tarantula. The move outside for the normal chair swing based action. We begin the crowd brawling and the camera does a good job of following them. They head back to the ring, and Tajiri kicks a chair into Dreamer stomach, then uses it to make his kicks even more deadly. Tree of woe dropkick misses, and Dreamer decides to counteract with a Tree of Woe nut stomp and then a chair sliding dropkick. Corino comes in at that point, but Dreamer puts him and Victory down and receives a table. Tajiri mists him and sets him up on the table, giving Tajiri a perfect chance to do a double stomp through it. Dreamer kicks out at two, then DDTs Corino and the Buzzsaw. Victory comes in next to break up that pin. Corino uses the bullrope on Dreamer (this was during his Dusty Rhodes feud).
All this 3 on 1 brutality leads to the Sandman making his long entrance. If I was one of the heels, I'd run out of the ring as quickly as possible. Sandman canes everyone quite hard. Rhino runs in and Gores Sandman to the outside, leading to more heel control of the ring. Mikey and Super Crazy run out for the save, which brings out the Baldies. In the background, I notice Rhino gives Sandman a piledriver off the apron through a table. Geez, I would have liked to see that closer. This is just a messy brawl, bringing out the whole roster.
4 for 8. I really liked the Tajiri/Dreamer match, but there's not enough. The ending chaos works sometimes, but ECW did a lot of that, and it doesn't lead to much except Danny Doring punching Tony DeVito a lot.
Match Nine: Mike Awesome vs Taz
Awesome arrives from the crowd, being outside the arena the whole show. The crowd dislikes him to a great extent. Mike was, of course, already signed to WCW and left ECW without dropping the belt. Taz answers a challenge and the crowd goes crazy. He's using his WWF music and gear, but no one cares about that small bit. And while it's weird to have a WCW guy fighting a WWF guy for the ECW title, I have to ask: why did ECW need to bring Taz in. Could they have not had any number of guys on the roster take the belt. Dreamer taking the belt from the traitor seems like as nice a moment as any. They brawl around the ring and back inside. There's a ref bump (like we need it) and Dreamer comes out to DDT Awesome. Taz applies the Tazmission and wins the belt. This was two minutes long. Dreamer hands the belt to Taz, and this would lead to their ECW arena match, that just a few months FINALLY got shown in full on WWEClassics.com
Not going to rate this one. It's a historical couple of minutes and a crazy fan reaction.
Final Thoughts: An alright show that's overshawdowed by the ending. The good matches are just good, but there's nothing blow away and no odd matches or hidden gems. Check out the title change if you're curious, you can skip the rest
Match One: Johnny Swinger vs Chilly Willy:
Chilly Willy is "everybody's homeboy" and one of many guys Paul brought in to the new ECW undercard. Swinger was coming off his WCW job guy run and would eventually form a pretty good team with Simon Diamond.
Johnny's tights say "Swing Zone" on them. Chilly Willy does a Michinoku Driver as part of his first burst of offense. Was he a house of hardcore guy? Rude Awakening by Swinger gets him the advantage. Chilly Willy comes back with a flying hip attack and a huge baaaack body drop! Willy has facial expressions like D'lo Brown, really, he has the same kinda head shape. Suplex is blocked into a small package. Swinger argues with the ref, gets cradled and loses.
1 for 1. Not bad, basic, but enjoyable, so it gets a pass. And Chilly Willy has lots of charisma
Match Two: The Baldies (DeVito and Angel) vs Danny Doring/Roadkill
Always fun to see The Baldies NOT fighting New Jack! Doring and Roadkill are on their long march to the title, which they'd get in December. D and R are a house of fire early, hit moves and beat up the Baldies. Doring already hits one of his moves that has a special name, the Bareback I think. DeVito hits a spin kick to get the heat. I assume he does that in street fights. Then a dropkick. Who is this Tony DeVito? He then does a Nightmare on Helms street and its bizarre thug offense. Angel comes in and does a butterfly suplex. Awesome! Doring fires back once and a while, which is great to see and keeps me watching. Tony drills Danny with a sit out Rock Bottom for two. I think that was his finisher. Angel misses a dropkick running to the corner, but Doring moves, and he lands on the top rope. Roadkill in and he starts laying waste to the Baldies. Heart Attack by Doring and Roadkill. Roadkill goes up top for a splash, but DeVito pushes him off and he falls through the ringside table. Things break down a bit and Tony gets a chair, but misses and hits Angel. Doring clotheslines Angel out and Roadkill flies back with a clothesline off the center of the top rope. Pancake/Top Rope legdrop combo, and Doring gets the pin
2 for 2. Super fun, I always enjoy these kind of ECW tag matches. Doring and Roadkill were two of my favorite 2000 ECW guys.
Match Three: Simon Diamond vs Mikey Whipwreck
Simon has his amazing group with him: The Prodigy, The Prodigette, The Muskateer. What a group. Did the Musketeer ever wrestle? Simone berates his cast of misfits one by one, wondering why he had them around even. Mikey them comes out and gets double teamed by Prodigy and Diamond. They brawl around ringside and Mikey takes control, but eventually the lackeys outside help Simon gain control. Mikey hits a nice Superkick and I realize he has two sets of knee pads: regular white ones and his old pink ones around his ankles. Oh, James Mitchel is outside as well, and soon he's in the ring fencing the Musketeer: sword vs walking cane. Awesome! Prodigy comes in and lays Mikey out, but Prodigette misses and moonsault. Diamond tries to take advantage, but gets a whippersnapper and pinned.
2 for 3. Not much here, entertaining for the outside stuff and fencing, but a bit short.
One thing I have a problem with in late era ECW is the amount of heels that had big entourages. Justin Credible had it at one point (Jason, Nicole Bass, Chasity), Simon had it for most of his early run. It just seems like they were trying to reuse a concept that they had already done a lot with Raven, just with lower card heels. I worked great for Raven when he had 3 or 4 guys outside the ring to help him, but the other ones just look like copycats or in Simon's case, just make him really hard to take seriously.
Match Four: Kid Kash vs Rhino
Rhino hurts him early. Jack Victory is out with Rhino. Victory had a long run in the company for reasons I'm not sure of honestly. Kash's flying stuff is pretty great when he hits it. Rhino catches him trying a moonsault and drives him down with a powerslam. Crowd chants for tables. Took them long enough. Rhino gets right up after a flying hurricanrana, connects with a Gore, piledriver, and its over!
3 for 4. A bit on the short side, but really energenic and fun, i like the combo of these two, good stuff in 2000 ECW.
Match Five: Billy Wiles/CW Anderson vs Chris Chetti/Nova
The Dangerous Alliance, Lou E's version, is another in what seemed like a lot of lower mid card ECW gimmicks that I never took too seriously, this one because it's based on a parody. CW is a great worker and could be great in a tag environment, but I dont remember him and Billy ever doing anything serious. Nova and Chetti were a decent tag team, but seemed thrown together at the start of their run. It was a good use of both. Electra is with the D.A. and she had no real purpose except to be their "Medusa".
The Alliance does have matching gear, which is always a plus. Nova is in his Green Lantern tribute outfit, which is cool, he always had fun gear that played off the original version of his chracter (he was like the Hurricane in an indy way). He also invented most moves used today, so it's great to see where today's wrestling came from...um...yeah. Chetti and Anderson do some stuff and I remember that Chris is mostly kicks and baggy, baggy pants. Really its like High Energy with him. Wiles hits a spinning wheel kick, which is shocking, and he a decent punch. Anderson does a hammerlock Michinoku Driver to Nova, which is pretty cool. He works the arm just like the family taught him. He also had a good spinebuster. Nova gets a Downward Spiral on Billy and gets the tag. Chetti is all kicks! Electra breaks up a pin and Jazz comes out to give us our catfight for the night. Lou E. tries to attack her, Jazz tries to give him an X-Factor, but CW gets a superkick to save his boss. Rude Awakening by Wiles, which Nova breaks up. Kinda messy right now, everyone just kinda doing stuff, and the interference doesn't come off so great. They do a super duper convoluted chair spot: Nova is down so Lou E. put a chair on his face, Wiles goes to slingshot Nova up into what I think was going to be a superkick. Was their plan for nova to hold the chair to his face the whole time? Anyway, Nova blocks that, throws the chair and Anderson and Chetti nails a bit kick off the top to give him a pseudo Van Damintaor for the win. It didn't look great and wasn't a good idea anyway.
3 for 5. I wanted a longer heat section as I like the Dangerous Alliances tag work, and less Chris Chetti practicing all his kicks.. Too much interference in what could have been a good basic tag match.
After the match, the Alliance beat down the babyfaces. And, like Jim Gordon and the bat signal, ECW plays "natural born killers" alerting New Jack that there is trouble in the Land of Extreme that only he can handle. He answers the call as always.
Match Six: Little Gudio vs Super Crazy:
This should be fun, as most of the matches in the Super Crazy/Guido/Tajiri/Lynn group in 99. There's some fun stuff here. I like the opening chain sequence that ends with Guido somersaulting over a monkey flip attempt and doing an elbow to the abs and seated dropkick. On the outside, Crazy avoids a big Sal splash and uses him as a platform to dive into the crowd. Sal is allowed to interfere as he pleases, but at least ECW had a history of allowing this. Crazy fights back and eventually uses a brainbuster to get the win.
4 for 6. A shortish but good back and forth match, your normal match between these two but that doesn't make it any less enjoyable.
Match Seven: Lance Storm vs Raven
Storm has Dawn Marie and Raven has Francine with him, but I'm sure they will not do anything except lend advice to their men during this battle. This is an odd match. Storm is one half of the tag team champions (w/ Justin Credible). This is not one my favorite periods for Raven; his character seemed undefined and the angles around him so loose, total cruise control until he left for the WWF. A lot of stalling, and the guys do a short exchange before the girls start to argue.
Raven stops Storm from attacking Francine and it's a brawl outside.
Storms offensive section is decent, and Raven makes sure to show life every now and then, but it never loses the feel of a feud advancement TV taping match. Raven has a face doesn't quite work and he lacks most of the tricks he did as a heel. I do love the powder attempt by Dawn, blinding Storm and giving Raven a good near fall. Evenflow DDT draws in the interference, and we get the catfight. Raven pulls Dawn off Francine, and eats a superkick for his trouble, and pinned. I'm surprised!
4 for 7. I'm not a huge fan of Raven during his second ECW run. Storm's always crisp no matter who he's in against, but you can skip this.
Match Eight: Tajiri vs Tommy Dreamer
Both Steve Corino and Jack Victory are out with the Buzzsaw, and Dreamer gets an early jump on Corino before the proper match starts. Tajiri beats on Dreamer, until the handspring elbow is countered into a Russian Leg sweet and Dreamer decides to do a Tarantula. The move outside for the normal chair swing based action. We begin the crowd brawling and the camera does a good job of following them. They head back to the ring, and Tajiri kicks a chair into Dreamer stomach, then uses it to make his kicks even more deadly. Tree of woe dropkick misses, and Dreamer decides to counteract with a Tree of Woe nut stomp and then a chair sliding dropkick. Corino comes in at that point, but Dreamer puts him and Victory down and receives a table. Tajiri mists him and sets him up on the table, giving Tajiri a perfect chance to do a double stomp through it. Dreamer kicks out at two, then DDTs Corino and the Buzzsaw. Victory comes in next to break up that pin. Corino uses the bullrope on Dreamer (this was during his Dusty Rhodes feud).
All this 3 on 1 brutality leads to the Sandman making his long entrance. If I was one of the heels, I'd run out of the ring as quickly as possible. Sandman canes everyone quite hard. Rhino runs in and Gores Sandman to the outside, leading to more heel control of the ring. Mikey and Super Crazy run out for the save, which brings out the Baldies. In the background, I notice Rhino gives Sandman a piledriver off the apron through a table. Geez, I would have liked to see that closer. This is just a messy brawl, bringing out the whole roster.
4 for 8. I really liked the Tajiri/Dreamer match, but there's not enough. The ending chaos works sometimes, but ECW did a lot of that, and it doesn't lead to much except Danny Doring punching Tony DeVito a lot.
Match Nine: Mike Awesome vs Taz
Awesome arrives from the crowd, being outside the arena the whole show. The crowd dislikes him to a great extent. Mike was, of course, already signed to WCW and left ECW without dropping the belt. Taz answers a challenge and the crowd goes crazy. He's using his WWF music and gear, but no one cares about that small bit. And while it's weird to have a WCW guy fighting a WWF guy for the ECW title, I have to ask: why did ECW need to bring Taz in. Could they have not had any number of guys on the roster take the belt. Dreamer taking the belt from the traitor seems like as nice a moment as any. They brawl around the ring and back inside. There's a ref bump (like we need it) and Dreamer comes out to DDT Awesome. Taz applies the Tazmission and wins the belt. This was two minutes long. Dreamer hands the belt to Taz, and this would lead to their ECW arena match, that just a few months FINALLY got shown in full on WWEClassics.com
Not going to rate this one. It's a historical couple of minutes and a crazy fan reaction.
Final Thoughts: An alright show that's overshawdowed by the ending. The good matches are just good, but there's nothing blow away and no odd matches or hidden gems. Check out the title change if you're curious, you can skip the rest
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Random ECW Fancam! 5/31/98
I have lots of random Fancams, let's review one.
We're in New Orleans, LA for this show. Crowd is rabid as usual.
Match One: Jerry Lynn vs Justin Credible
One match of many in a series , these two were joined at the hip once Justin joined ECW as Jason's new find, and this summer series between the two helped bring Justin up the card. The next step would be the Impact Players. Justin plays up the "Justin Asshole" chants, and his facials remind me so much of X-Pac, but that makes sense now in a post X-Factor world. Lynn controls early with some basic wrestling, but Justin takes control with a....Razors Edge. Finishing move some places...but in ECW transitions are extreme. They're trading chops seconds later, and Lynn takes a corner bump that's like Psychosis-lite. The fans think he F'ed up. Jason gets a chair for his charge and the fans cheer and chant ECW, face and heel be damned. Lynn moves the chair out and gets boo'd. Lynn wipes out Credible and ref, but catches Jason interfering,. Even heel ref Jeff Jones is here, I didn't think they were doing that in mid 1998. Double teaming from Jason and Justin, and I'm starting to think the Jeff Jarrett stole his 2005 TNA World Title match formula from Justin Credible matches. Mindless interference, ref bumps, it's all there! Lynn gets back control and sets up the chair for a corner slingshot. Would love to see Hennig take that bump. The crowd boos cause it was extreme enough. Was this their first time in the city? Justin gets rana'd off the top onto the chair, leading to Chasity trying to interfere, it doesn't go well at all. Lynn's assult on her leads to him getting caught with That's Incredible. This match would be recycled for the rest of Justin's ECW run, but for some reason, I still enjoy random Credible matches. It's just me. But this felt short, oddly paced, and way too much interference, in the middle and at the end.
0 for 1
Match Two: Mike Luzansky, Jamie Dundee, Danny Doring vs Al Snow, Balls Mahoney, Axl Rotten:
That heel team is a very random collection of ECW undercard guys. And the faces are like a trio at any midwest or east coast indy "ECW reunion" show since 2004. Jamiee Dundee has a great jacket and hat, Danny Doring has the same tights he always wore. Crowd is quick to get on Dundee once he starts cutting a promo. Was Luzansky in ECW prior to this, i thought he had just one cup of coffee with them in 1997 (?), ah well. Wish I could hear Jamiee a bit better. I think this is after Al failed to win the ECW title from a nearly crippled Shane Douglas, he was close to going back to WWF and jobbing to Too Much. Dundee is the early highlight of this, and I am guessing the whole match. He starts with Axl, makes it entertaining for a few minutes, and then we get Snow and Doring. Snow had feuded with a lot of undercard ECW guys in late 97 - early 98 (Doring, Roadkill, Paul Diamond of all people). Danny Doring is one my guilty pleasure, well, 1999-2000 Doring, but i was 15 and a sucker for his multiple moves and funny colored tights. This early in his career, he's doing pretty much the same stuff Rhett Titus has been doing. Balls takes in and squares of Luzanski. Would have thought he would pair off with Al. Balls goes to the floor with one of his oft-missed spin heel kicks, and the heels go to work. I just remember Luzanski passed on a few years ago, I didn't follow his career, but that's surprising to think about. The heat segment is on B. Mahoney, but he makes the comeback with a nice back suplex. He tags Snow, good idea. Axl gets in anyway. Everyone brawls, Doring takes Head and Axl hits him with a chair, and we have a pin. Nothing spectacular, sort of a waste of Snow, Luzansky, and Jamie Dundee
0 for 2
Match Three: FBI vs Blue Meanie/Super Nova
Another one of those undercard ECW rivalries that went on forever. But you can't go wrong with the Guido/Smothers/Rich version of the FBI, good wrestling, incredibly funny, and quite Italian. Did Rich ever wrestle? Maybe a six man once or twice, and I do remember him having a match with Terry Funk and one with Ricky Morton, both at the arena. Not sure what Morton was doing there, hanging out with David Tyler Morton Jericho Cash, perhaps? Nova and Guido both got better (nevermind, Gudio was always pretty good) but lose their comedy edge by the end of ECW. I don't think it was best direction for Nova, I always like the goofy blue version better. He starts with Guido. Meanie and Nova work double teams and for some reason my mind goes to the Hart Foundation, only they're like the Harts, outside of the Big Guy/Little Guy pairing. Smothers tags in and we have a dance off. Tracey Smothers automatically win this match a point by dancing.
Then Taz comes out, DANG! I was kinda looking forward to this match. He suplexes everyone, but does let Tommy Rich fire off one awesome punch before choking him out. Damnit Taz, ruining my fun. He has the FTW title with him, which was a goofy gimmick and just reminded me how silly it was to leave the belt on Douglas while his body was in a million pieces.
Then Bam Bam comes out, tosses Guido over the top with little regard and he starts brawling with Taz. They get broken up. Guessing that's a match for later tonight, Hooray!
1 for 3, I said Tracey Smothers busting a move would get this a point.
Match Four: Lance Storm vs RVD
This should be fun! Lance is alwasy a great opponent for RVD, and I prefer watching him work with Rob than Jerry Lynn. Also, the RVD TV title reign is one of my favorite runs of a guy with a belt ever, and Fancams have a wealth of awesome TV title matches. Rob jumps RVD at the bell and hey, that's a different start. Instead of a feeling out process, they start right away hitting big stuff like the superkick from Storm and a somersault plancha from RVD. They misses some sweets, Storm flips or cartwheels out of most of RVD's signature stuff, and Rob takes it outside, gaining control with the help of Fonzie and a chair. I think Van Dam was a heel during this time, and Storm was the face in his tag team with Chris Candido. Lance comes back with one of his perfect spin wheel kicks. Sitout Powerbomb gets two for Storm, after the springboard elbow. Cartwheel clothesline and a springboard clothes gets Lance another two count, then Sabu comes out to prevent another springboard. They set up a table and Sabu puts Storm through it with a triple jump elbow drop to the outside. You know, the fact that ECW had no rules makes me totally ok with this. At least they never pretended to be a lawful group. RVD nails a split legged moonsault for the pin.
2 for 4. Short, but an awesome pace and super fun.
After the match, Candido comes out to save his partner. Oh, I hope we're getting Sabu vs Candido! The tag champs do a double plancha on Sabu and RVD to finish a nice post match section.
Match Five: John Kronos vs Ulf Herman
Dangit. Ulf looks like Droz, but maybe that's just me. Kronos runs to to the ring and the fight is on. He does some sweeps and punches a lot. Lance Wright is with Ulf, continuing his oh so amazing run as a manger. Anyway, Kronos hits a 450, ref is distracted, Jack Victory shows up, hits Kronos and Ulf wins. Ulf is also using Green Day as his theme, "Brain Stew" to be exact.
2 for 5. Nothing to see here
Match Six: Mike Luzansky vs Chris Chetti
Jamie Dundee is back out with Mike! Awesome! And Tommy Rodgers is the special ref. I want this to be a tag match based on that fact alone. Crowd has no interest in this, but I am curious to see how it is. Chetti does a superkick and a springboard clothesline, then Luzansky does a flying clothesline. Dundee gets on the apron to get some heat for this match, and gets slugged my Rodgers, then Luzansky goes after him, only to get hit with Tommykazi. double springboard moonsault by Cheeti and its over.
3 for 6. Not a great match, a showcase of Chetti's House of Hardcore skills, but it made me imagine The Fantastics vs PG 13.
Match Seven: The Dudley Boys (Bubba Ray, D-Von, Big Dick) vs Sandman/Spike Dudley/Tommy Dreamer:
I don't see this being any different than their other matches, including the Heatwave 1998 match (which I enjoyed when I first saw it). The intros and entrances take forever, as you'd expect with these six. Then we settle down for a good old fashion six man. There's some assorted tomfoolery with the New Orleans fans, Sandman's tits, bear, and Beulah. At least everyone is having fun. Dreamer starts with D-Von. It's a rematch from their 1997 Raw main event! They wrestle for a bit. Spike and Bubba then go at it and he almost immediately get powerbombed and rolls outside. Heat segment on Spike, but he makes a comeback soon after. Finding myself not typing much as I watch this one. Sandman tags in to face Big Dick, and we have the worst combination of guys in there now. I am very excited for this. Sandman punches Dick and shakes his hand out, which is an instant win. Then everyone starts fighting. I am amazed it took this long to turn into the normal match with these teams. Sandman does his top rope rana on Big Dick, quite a sight, and everyone seems ok. Dick does a powerslam to Sandman and this is now his best performance. Spike is busted open, and he drives from the post over the rail onto D-Von and Bubba. A bit later, Dreamer and Bubba go at it in ring and Bubba nails a Bubba Cutter. I had thought the angle with the Dudley's taking out Beulah was already done, but she's here still. Spike gets a rope running bulldog for two. D-Von then hip tosses him to the floor. Big Dick ducks a chain shot and gets a go behind waist lock and i think he's gonna german suplex Sandman, buts it not to be. There's just a lot of brawling...as you can tell. I still dig Sandman cannonball splash onto the ladder on some guy. Ladder gets brought in and Spike climbs up, only to be shoved off and caught on the way down with a Bubba Cutter, which is a cool spot. The Dudleyz give Beulah 3D and I think this is the angle that took her out. Or perhaps that was later, not sure. Dreamer and Sandman are handcuffed to the guardrail and ropes, so New Jack comes out to save the day. Then Jack Victory shows up, again quite randomly. I know Raven didn't come back til 99, but him returning to beat the Dudleys, and putting aside his hatred for Dreamer in doing so, is kinda perfect given the Dudleys did put Beluah out of ECW. That does seem like the one thing that would motivate Raven to work with Tommy. Don't think they ever brought that up, as the TNN shows never recaped the ECW history as well as the regular TV shows did.
So the Dudleys and Jack Victory kill everyone and its a total mess. Dreamer would feud with Bubba and D-Von for a very long time after this.
4 for 7. I still enjoy these brawls every now and then, and the heavy nature of the post match was good.
Match Eight: Sabu vs Chris Candido
Shane Douglas, with his giant arm cast/support, comes out and does a promo. He was holding the belt for Taz, and would until January 1999, but I do wish they would have done something different.
This should be a great main event. Sabu starts with his single leg take down, it goes just like it always does. Two minutes in, Candido goes out and Sabu follows with a dive and then hits him with a chair. Really liking Candido chops so far. He also does a nice swinging neck breaker and Lightning Kid like leg drops. Long delayed suplex by Candido. Sabu blocks a top rope rana and connects with a leg drop off the buckles. He then starts his chair assisted offense, which I still have a soft spot for, finishing with a hurricanrana off the top. Table gets set up briding the guard rail and apron, but Candido planchas onto Sabu to stop that. Superplex connects for Candido, but a top rope headbutt misses. Triple Jump Moonsault gets messed up, so Candido responds with a simple powerbomb. Sabu does take over, and the triple jump hits the second time, only with Sabu's foot drilling Candido in the mouth. Storm hits the ring and they double team Sabu, payback for earlier. RVD comes out after that and he fights Storm off. Combo Rolling Thunder-Slingshot Legdrop by RVD and Sabu. They then put CAndido through a table and Sabu gets the pin.
5 for 7. A good match, while Candido and Sabu have had better matches, this was still fun. It went a long way to setting up RVD and Sabu as top challengers to Lance Storm and Chris Candido, which I should search out and watch.
Final Thoughts: A fun show, nothing incredibly standout, but some fun basic ECW matches. Storm/RVD was fun, main event was good, and the Dudleys match is good if you like that sort of things.
More ECW to come!
We're in New Orleans, LA for this show. Crowd is rabid as usual.
Match One: Jerry Lynn vs Justin Credible
One match of many in a series , these two were joined at the hip once Justin joined ECW as Jason's new find, and this summer series between the two helped bring Justin up the card. The next step would be the Impact Players. Justin plays up the "Justin Asshole" chants, and his facials remind me so much of X-Pac, but that makes sense now in a post X-Factor world. Lynn controls early with some basic wrestling, but Justin takes control with a....Razors Edge. Finishing move some places...but in ECW transitions are extreme. They're trading chops seconds later, and Lynn takes a corner bump that's like Psychosis-lite. The fans think he F'ed up. Jason gets a chair for his charge and the fans cheer and chant ECW, face and heel be damned. Lynn moves the chair out and gets boo'd. Lynn wipes out Credible and ref, but catches Jason interfering,. Even heel ref Jeff Jones is here, I didn't think they were doing that in mid 1998. Double teaming from Jason and Justin, and I'm starting to think the Jeff Jarrett stole his 2005 TNA World Title match formula from Justin Credible matches. Mindless interference, ref bumps, it's all there! Lynn gets back control and sets up the chair for a corner slingshot. Would love to see Hennig take that bump. The crowd boos cause it was extreme enough. Was this their first time in the city? Justin gets rana'd off the top onto the chair, leading to Chasity trying to interfere, it doesn't go well at all. Lynn's assult on her leads to him getting caught with That's Incredible. This match would be recycled for the rest of Justin's ECW run, but for some reason, I still enjoy random Credible matches. It's just me. But this felt short, oddly paced, and way too much interference, in the middle and at the end.
0 for 1
Match Two: Mike Luzansky, Jamie Dundee, Danny Doring vs Al Snow, Balls Mahoney, Axl Rotten:
That heel team is a very random collection of ECW undercard guys. And the faces are like a trio at any midwest or east coast indy "ECW reunion" show since 2004. Jamiee Dundee has a great jacket and hat, Danny Doring has the same tights he always wore. Crowd is quick to get on Dundee once he starts cutting a promo. Was Luzansky in ECW prior to this, i thought he had just one cup of coffee with them in 1997 (?), ah well. Wish I could hear Jamiee a bit better. I think this is after Al failed to win the ECW title from a nearly crippled Shane Douglas, he was close to going back to WWF and jobbing to Too Much. Dundee is the early highlight of this, and I am guessing the whole match. He starts with Axl, makes it entertaining for a few minutes, and then we get Snow and Doring. Snow had feuded with a lot of undercard ECW guys in late 97 - early 98 (Doring, Roadkill, Paul Diamond of all people). Danny Doring is one my guilty pleasure, well, 1999-2000 Doring, but i was 15 and a sucker for his multiple moves and funny colored tights. This early in his career, he's doing pretty much the same stuff Rhett Titus has been doing. Balls takes in and squares of Luzanski. Would have thought he would pair off with Al. Balls goes to the floor with one of his oft-missed spin heel kicks, and the heels go to work. I just remember Luzanski passed on a few years ago, I didn't follow his career, but that's surprising to think about. The heat segment is on B. Mahoney, but he makes the comeback with a nice back suplex. He tags Snow, good idea. Axl gets in anyway. Everyone brawls, Doring takes Head and Axl hits him with a chair, and we have a pin. Nothing spectacular, sort of a waste of Snow, Luzansky, and Jamie Dundee
0 for 2
Match Three: FBI vs Blue Meanie/Super Nova
Another one of those undercard ECW rivalries that went on forever. But you can't go wrong with the Guido/Smothers/Rich version of the FBI, good wrestling, incredibly funny, and quite Italian. Did Rich ever wrestle? Maybe a six man once or twice, and I do remember him having a match with Terry Funk and one with Ricky Morton, both at the arena. Not sure what Morton was doing there, hanging out with David Tyler Morton Jericho Cash, perhaps? Nova and Guido both got better (nevermind, Gudio was always pretty good) but lose their comedy edge by the end of ECW. I don't think it was best direction for Nova, I always like the goofy blue version better. He starts with Guido. Meanie and Nova work double teams and for some reason my mind goes to the Hart Foundation, only they're like the Harts, outside of the Big Guy/Little Guy pairing. Smothers tags in and we have a dance off. Tracey Smothers automatically win this match a point by dancing.
Then Taz comes out, DANG! I was kinda looking forward to this match. He suplexes everyone, but does let Tommy Rich fire off one awesome punch before choking him out. Damnit Taz, ruining my fun. He has the FTW title with him, which was a goofy gimmick and just reminded me how silly it was to leave the belt on Douglas while his body was in a million pieces.
Then Bam Bam comes out, tosses Guido over the top with little regard and he starts brawling with Taz. They get broken up. Guessing that's a match for later tonight, Hooray!
1 for 3, I said Tracey Smothers busting a move would get this a point.
Match Four: Lance Storm vs RVD
This should be fun! Lance is alwasy a great opponent for RVD, and I prefer watching him work with Rob than Jerry Lynn. Also, the RVD TV title reign is one of my favorite runs of a guy with a belt ever, and Fancams have a wealth of awesome TV title matches. Rob jumps RVD at the bell and hey, that's a different start. Instead of a feeling out process, they start right away hitting big stuff like the superkick from Storm and a somersault plancha from RVD. They misses some sweets, Storm flips or cartwheels out of most of RVD's signature stuff, and Rob takes it outside, gaining control with the help of Fonzie and a chair. I think Van Dam was a heel during this time, and Storm was the face in his tag team with Chris Candido. Lance comes back with one of his perfect spin wheel kicks. Sitout Powerbomb gets two for Storm, after the springboard elbow. Cartwheel clothesline and a springboard clothes gets Lance another two count, then Sabu comes out to prevent another springboard. They set up a table and Sabu puts Storm through it with a triple jump elbow drop to the outside. You know, the fact that ECW had no rules makes me totally ok with this. At least they never pretended to be a lawful group. RVD nails a split legged moonsault for the pin.
2 for 4. Short, but an awesome pace and super fun.
After the match, Candido comes out to save his partner. Oh, I hope we're getting Sabu vs Candido! The tag champs do a double plancha on Sabu and RVD to finish a nice post match section.
Match Five: John Kronos vs Ulf Herman
Dangit. Ulf looks like Droz, but maybe that's just me. Kronos runs to to the ring and the fight is on. He does some sweeps and punches a lot. Lance Wright is with Ulf, continuing his oh so amazing run as a manger. Anyway, Kronos hits a 450, ref is distracted, Jack Victory shows up, hits Kronos and Ulf wins. Ulf is also using Green Day as his theme, "Brain Stew" to be exact.
2 for 5. Nothing to see here
Match Six: Mike Luzansky vs Chris Chetti
Jamie Dundee is back out with Mike! Awesome! And Tommy Rodgers is the special ref. I want this to be a tag match based on that fact alone. Crowd has no interest in this, but I am curious to see how it is. Chetti does a superkick and a springboard clothesline, then Luzansky does a flying clothesline. Dundee gets on the apron to get some heat for this match, and gets slugged my Rodgers, then Luzansky goes after him, only to get hit with Tommykazi. double springboard moonsault by Cheeti and its over.
3 for 6. Not a great match, a showcase of Chetti's House of Hardcore skills, but it made me imagine The Fantastics vs PG 13.
Match Seven: The Dudley Boys (Bubba Ray, D-Von, Big Dick) vs Sandman/Spike Dudley/Tommy Dreamer:
I don't see this being any different than their other matches, including the Heatwave 1998 match (which I enjoyed when I first saw it). The intros and entrances take forever, as you'd expect with these six. Then we settle down for a good old fashion six man. There's some assorted tomfoolery with the New Orleans fans, Sandman's tits, bear, and Beulah. At least everyone is having fun. Dreamer starts with D-Von. It's a rematch from their 1997 Raw main event! They wrestle for a bit. Spike and Bubba then go at it and he almost immediately get powerbombed and rolls outside. Heat segment on Spike, but he makes a comeback soon after. Finding myself not typing much as I watch this one. Sandman tags in to face Big Dick, and we have the worst combination of guys in there now. I am very excited for this. Sandman punches Dick and shakes his hand out, which is an instant win. Then everyone starts fighting. I am amazed it took this long to turn into the normal match with these teams. Sandman does his top rope rana on Big Dick, quite a sight, and everyone seems ok. Dick does a powerslam to Sandman and this is now his best performance. Spike is busted open, and he drives from the post over the rail onto D-Von and Bubba. A bit later, Dreamer and Bubba go at it in ring and Bubba nails a Bubba Cutter. I had thought the angle with the Dudley's taking out Beulah was already done, but she's here still. Spike gets a rope running bulldog for two. D-Von then hip tosses him to the floor. Big Dick ducks a chain shot and gets a go behind waist lock and i think he's gonna german suplex Sandman, buts it not to be. There's just a lot of brawling...as you can tell. I still dig Sandman cannonball splash onto the ladder on some guy. Ladder gets brought in and Spike climbs up, only to be shoved off and caught on the way down with a Bubba Cutter, which is a cool spot. The Dudleyz give Beulah 3D and I think this is the angle that took her out. Or perhaps that was later, not sure. Dreamer and Sandman are handcuffed to the guardrail and ropes, so New Jack comes out to save the day. Then Jack Victory shows up, again quite randomly. I know Raven didn't come back til 99, but him returning to beat the Dudleys, and putting aside his hatred for Dreamer in doing so, is kinda perfect given the Dudleys did put Beluah out of ECW. That does seem like the one thing that would motivate Raven to work with Tommy. Don't think they ever brought that up, as the TNN shows never recaped the ECW history as well as the regular TV shows did.
So the Dudleys and Jack Victory kill everyone and its a total mess. Dreamer would feud with Bubba and D-Von for a very long time after this.
4 for 7. I still enjoy these brawls every now and then, and the heavy nature of the post match was good.
Match Eight: Sabu vs Chris Candido
Shane Douglas, with his giant arm cast/support, comes out and does a promo. He was holding the belt for Taz, and would until January 1999, but I do wish they would have done something different.
This should be a great main event. Sabu starts with his single leg take down, it goes just like it always does. Two minutes in, Candido goes out and Sabu follows with a dive and then hits him with a chair. Really liking Candido chops so far. He also does a nice swinging neck breaker and Lightning Kid like leg drops. Long delayed suplex by Candido. Sabu blocks a top rope rana and connects with a leg drop off the buckles. He then starts his chair assisted offense, which I still have a soft spot for, finishing with a hurricanrana off the top. Table gets set up briding the guard rail and apron, but Candido planchas onto Sabu to stop that. Superplex connects for Candido, but a top rope headbutt misses. Triple Jump Moonsault gets messed up, so Candido responds with a simple powerbomb. Sabu does take over, and the triple jump hits the second time, only with Sabu's foot drilling Candido in the mouth. Storm hits the ring and they double team Sabu, payback for earlier. RVD comes out after that and he fights Storm off. Combo Rolling Thunder-Slingshot Legdrop by RVD and Sabu. They then put CAndido through a table and Sabu gets the pin.
5 for 7. A good match, while Candido and Sabu have had better matches, this was still fun. It went a long way to setting up RVD and Sabu as top challengers to Lance Storm and Chris Candido, which I should search out and watch.
Final Thoughts: A fun show, nothing incredibly standout, but some fun basic ECW matches. Storm/RVD was fun, main event was good, and the Dudleys match is good if you like that sort of things.
More ECW to come!
Friday, July 2, 2010
Even more WCW Pro!
Ah, let's return to the glory of WCW Pro from 1996. Commentators are Chris Cruise, Dusty Rhodes, and Larry Zbyszko
4-6-96:
Scott Norton vs One Man Gang:
"Flash" had some problems with Shark of the DoD in 1995, this may be a continuation of that. Or it might just be awesome. Gang had lost the US title to Konnan, and wouldn't be around much longer. Which is a shame, as I would have loved to see him involved in the Big Bubba-John Tenta feud. Match is a lot of clubbering, clotheslines, and other big guy vs big guy stuff for four minutes, until Norton finishes with a power slam! Very enjoyable, I am digging Norton
-There's a Men at Work vs Public Enemy match, one of the first matches in their 2034 best of series (and I swear Men at Work eventually won one). I really enjoyed the first four months of the P.E. run. They had a fun match against the Steiners, and the Nasties, except they never ever won. WCW was the best in the world for having great undercard tag teams: Men at Work, State Patrol, Barrio Brothers, etc. Public Enemy play face here, in contrast to their role on the main shows. Not much to this one, Kanyon and Star mock the P.E. a lot, Grunge takes forever to set up his inverted DDT, and Rocco flips around a bit before finishing with the Drive-By senton. Does make me long for a U.S tag title revival at least for the year of 1996.
4-13-96
Men at Work vs Steve Armstrong/Brad Armstrong: Whoa, I am pumped! My two favorite Armstrongs, with Scott playing cheerleader outside, going against the cranky construction crew. This is easily the semi-finals of my hypothetical US tag title tournament. Armstrongs have some basic tandem offense, nice dropkicks and armdrags, what more do you need. Things get a bit messy as Men at Work transition onto offense, but Kanyon does do a uranage backbreaker. They try a partner assisted Canadian breaker, and the Armstrong comes back. Finish plays of the earlier transition, as Kanyon tries to backbreaker again, Brad floats over and hits the russian leg sweep for the pin. Some nice ideas, but everyone seemed a step off. I demand a rematch, it could only make Men at Work better.
Barbarian vs Konnan: Dusty discusses Meng and Barb forming a "big and bad" tag team. I think Dusty finally understated something. Konnan is pre Dungeon of Doom here, and US Champ. Konnan starts arm dragging the Barbarian, then spins twice around for a kick to the abdomen. I have no idea what happened here, he must have thought he was Chun-Li. Barbarian gets control quickly and gives him a suplex on the outside. That makes this practically a Pro Hardcore Match. I fully support Barbarian as United States champion. Powerbomb gets a near fall, and a second is countered into a slow hurricanrana roll up for the three. Interesting match, basic pro main event.
More to come!
4-6-96:
Scott Norton vs One Man Gang:
"Flash" had some problems with Shark of the DoD in 1995, this may be a continuation of that. Or it might just be awesome. Gang had lost the US title to Konnan, and wouldn't be around much longer. Which is a shame, as I would have loved to see him involved in the Big Bubba-John Tenta feud. Match is a lot of clubbering, clotheslines, and other big guy vs big guy stuff for four minutes, until Norton finishes with a power slam! Very enjoyable, I am digging Norton
-There's a Men at Work vs Public Enemy match, one of the first matches in their 2034 best of series (and I swear Men at Work eventually won one). I really enjoyed the first four months of the P.E. run. They had a fun match against the Steiners, and the Nasties, except they never ever won. WCW was the best in the world for having great undercard tag teams: Men at Work, State Patrol, Barrio Brothers, etc. Public Enemy play face here, in contrast to their role on the main shows. Not much to this one, Kanyon and Star mock the P.E. a lot, Grunge takes forever to set up his inverted DDT, and Rocco flips around a bit before finishing with the Drive-By senton. Does make me long for a U.S tag title revival at least for the year of 1996.
4-13-96
Men at Work vs Steve Armstrong/Brad Armstrong: Whoa, I am pumped! My two favorite Armstrongs, with Scott playing cheerleader outside, going against the cranky construction crew. This is easily the semi-finals of my hypothetical US tag title tournament. Armstrongs have some basic tandem offense, nice dropkicks and armdrags, what more do you need. Things get a bit messy as Men at Work transition onto offense, but Kanyon does do a uranage backbreaker. They try a partner assisted Canadian breaker, and the Armstrong comes back. Finish plays of the earlier transition, as Kanyon tries to backbreaker again, Brad floats over and hits the russian leg sweep for the pin. Some nice ideas, but everyone seemed a step off. I demand a rematch, it could only make Men at Work better.
Barbarian vs Konnan: Dusty discusses Meng and Barb forming a "big and bad" tag team. I think Dusty finally understated something. Konnan is pre Dungeon of Doom here, and US Champ. Konnan starts arm dragging the Barbarian, then spins twice around for a kick to the abdomen. I have no idea what happened here, he must have thought he was Chun-Li. Barbarian gets control quickly and gives him a suplex on the outside. That makes this practically a Pro Hardcore Match. I fully support Barbarian as United States champion. Powerbomb gets a near fall, and a second is countered into a slow hurricanrana roll up for the three. Interesting match, basic pro main event.
More to come!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Some WCW 1996 PRO!
Ah, WCW B-Shows, my favorite type of wrestling. I'm a fan of any b-show really, which gives us odd matches, sometimes longer matches, odd appearances, and fun commentary. WCW was king of these types of programs, seeming to have 25 different B and C shows during the 1990's
Right now I am going through my 1996 WCW Pro set, so let's see what we have here as I make my way through the year.
3-9-96
Sting vs Barbarian: Fun little match, always enjoy Barb on offense. I wasn't paying as much attention as I was writing the intro for this blog while it was going on. A five minute a affair, I think there was a powerbomb by Barbarian, I must re-watch this at some
3-16-96
Dave Sullivan vs Fit Finley: Oh wow, this might be the best Dave Sullivan match ever. He hits a sweet big boot, drills Fit with a clothesline. Finley is in the early stages of his big American run with Regal, and was doing solid hurty matches on the B shows with guys like Brad Armstrong. This is three and a half minutes, Dave misses a corner charge like he's 1988 Ken Patera, and fit wrenches the shoulder with a Fujiwara armbar for the win. There was also senton by Fit earlier, so this is fun! Best Evad ever...it doesn't take much.
Brad Armstrong vs Ric Flair: This probably happened a half decade earlier and was awesome, I don't know. But here it is in 1996 and I have no problem with that. Brad gets a huge flurry earlier, Flair flips over the buckle, get caught on the way down, and takes the Russian Leg Sweet for a near fall. Brad has great punches fighting out of the corner. Match is mostly Brad taking the offense, Flair trying to get ahead but getting put down by multiple punches and backdrops, almost to the point of repetition. Very little leg work, and once the Flair spots are run through, Brad misses a dropkick off the top (the flat back bump kind, which is fun to see) and Flair hooks on a rope assisted figure four for the win. With 10 more minutes, it would have been really good, as is, it's a very cliff notes Flair match. Looking forward to the eventual Flair-Hardwork Bobby Walker match that I know is here somewhere
3-23-96
Hulk Hogan vs Meng:
The rare Hogan appearance. Nothing drives me crazier than one of those Hogan matches where he just chokes and bites...then chin locks. Meng comes back with a back rake, and choking. Was hoping for a more fiery brawl, but I really should know better. Hogan bites the leg to counter a pile driver, then bites the neck. Ax Bomber!!!! Elbows!! The choking and biting continues for a while, and at least no one is in control for a long period of time. Just as I say that, we hit the nerve hold. Meng its a big superkick and Hogan hulks up to avoid an elbow, nice to see a variation. Big boot follows and Savage tosses him a chair, bringing out most of the Dungeon of Doom! We are deep into the build up to the Uncensored Cage of Doom build up. Kinda fun, could have been more, but an odd sight.
Ric Flair vs Mark Star: The Flair Pro Tour continues! Star's early offense is short lived, and mostly a headlock and a few roll ups. I keep looking at the elevated Pro stage and wondering why I never heard of anyone getting hurt from it. Match feels like the end of a longer Flair match as Star's comeback offense is a small package and backslide. Flair taking backdrops even in 1996 is scary. Finish is similar to the last one, just Mark misses a second rope knee drop, and the figure four finishes. Interesting to watch different lower card guys fit into Flair match, not a bad way to see who's good and who is a lower card guy for a reason.
And we're out for now, I can't wait to watch more than this
Right now I am going through my 1996 WCW Pro set, so let's see what we have here as I make my way through the year.
3-9-96
Sting vs Barbarian: Fun little match, always enjoy Barb on offense. I wasn't paying as much attention as I was writing the intro for this blog while it was going on. A five minute a affair, I think there was a powerbomb by Barbarian, I must re-watch this at some
3-16-96
Dave Sullivan vs Fit Finley: Oh wow, this might be the best Dave Sullivan match ever. He hits a sweet big boot, drills Fit with a clothesline. Finley is in the early stages of his big American run with Regal, and was doing solid hurty matches on the B shows with guys like Brad Armstrong. This is three and a half minutes, Dave misses a corner charge like he's 1988 Ken Patera, and fit wrenches the shoulder with a Fujiwara armbar for the win. There was also senton by Fit earlier, so this is fun! Best Evad ever...it doesn't take much.
Brad Armstrong vs Ric Flair: This probably happened a half decade earlier and was awesome, I don't know. But here it is in 1996 and I have no problem with that. Brad gets a huge flurry earlier, Flair flips over the buckle, get caught on the way down, and takes the Russian Leg Sweet for a near fall. Brad has great punches fighting out of the corner. Match is mostly Brad taking the offense, Flair trying to get ahead but getting put down by multiple punches and backdrops, almost to the point of repetition. Very little leg work, and once the Flair spots are run through, Brad misses a dropkick off the top (the flat back bump kind, which is fun to see) and Flair hooks on a rope assisted figure four for the win. With 10 more minutes, it would have been really good, as is, it's a very cliff notes Flair match. Looking forward to the eventual Flair-Hardwork Bobby Walker match that I know is here somewhere
3-23-96
Hulk Hogan vs Meng:
The rare Hogan appearance. Nothing drives me crazier than one of those Hogan matches where he just chokes and bites...then chin locks. Meng comes back with a back rake, and choking. Was hoping for a more fiery brawl, but I really should know better. Hogan bites the leg to counter a pile driver, then bites the neck. Ax Bomber!!!! Elbows!! The choking and biting continues for a while, and at least no one is in control for a long period of time. Just as I say that, we hit the nerve hold. Meng its a big superkick and Hogan hulks up to avoid an elbow, nice to see a variation. Big boot follows and Savage tosses him a chair, bringing out most of the Dungeon of Doom! We are deep into the build up to the Uncensored Cage of Doom build up. Kinda fun, could have been more, but an odd sight.
Ric Flair vs Mark Star: The Flair Pro Tour continues! Star's early offense is short lived, and mostly a headlock and a few roll ups. I keep looking at the elevated Pro stage and wondering why I never heard of anyone getting hurt from it. Match feels like the end of a longer Flair match as Star's comeback offense is a small package and backslide. Flair taking backdrops even in 1996 is scary. Finish is similar to the last one, just Mark misses a second rope knee drop, and the figure four finishes. Interesting to watch different lower card guys fit into Flair match, not a bad way to see who's good and who is a lower card guy for a reason.
And we're out for now, I can't wait to watch more than this
Saturday, January 30, 2010
WWF Wrestlefest 1990!
Well here is a random tape from the massive 1980-1990 WWF VHS series. I so miss the days when Supertape, Battle of the WWF Superstars, and of course, Wrestlefest were regular tape releases to look forward to...let us see what the 1990 incarnation of Wrestlefest has to offer.
-Randy Savage vs Roddy Piper: Savage's gear as the Macho King is just awesome. I know he feuded with Rhodes, but what else did Savage do in 1990, seems like he spent most of the year out of the spotlight, which is a huge waste. Sherri and Piper's interaction to start is enjoyable. The high light of this is easily the airplane spin contest which I would say goes to Savage, his is must faster. Since this is a 1990's home video, its a DQ win for Piper after Sherri get involved on the floor. Matches like this remind me how much Piper did without a huge moveset, as his offensive run consisted of clotheslines and great, great punches.
-The Fan Favorite match is Dino Bravo vs Ultimate Warrior. The green screen backgrounds are still great, as are the promo addressed to the "fan" who requested this contest. The Warrior cuts possibly the shortest promo of his career.
-Dino Bravo vs Ultimate Warrior: This is either very early 1990 or late 89, as Earthquake is still in his brown outfit. Early starts fast early, but things get goofy when he goes under the ring after being knocked over the top by Bravo. Warrior pulls Jimmy Hart under the ring, removing his pants and throwing him into the arms of Earthquake. There's even a suplex by the Warrior, which I don't remember seeing, but maybe I wasn't ever paying attention enough. Bravo controls with a test of strength and some clubbing offense, and he hits a nice back suplex on Warrior. Bearhug mixed with some very involved trusting. Bravo misses a a move that looked to be somewhere between a leg and elbow drop, I honestly can't tell. Side slam leads to a Warrior "Hulk Up", and I wonder if the Warrior's run as champion didn't work because his matches were essentially the same formula as Hogan's, only with a less mainstream babyface. Earthquake in for to cause the DQ. I feel so bad for the "fan" that requested this, they didn't even get a finish :(
-Oh, a special look at Mr. Fuji. Just to mess the timeline of this tape, we have clips of Powers of Pain and the Orient Express, and some clips of the race Fuji did before WM 5. I want to see the Express vs Rockers match they showed clips from.
-Brutus Beefcake vs Rick Martel: Hooray, Hillbilly Jim and Monsoon on commentary. This is from MSG.
Going to watch more of this later
-Randy Savage vs Roddy Piper: Savage's gear as the Macho King is just awesome. I know he feuded with Rhodes, but what else did Savage do in 1990, seems like he spent most of the year out of the spotlight, which is a huge waste. Sherri and Piper's interaction to start is enjoyable. The high light of this is easily the airplane spin contest which I would say goes to Savage, his is must faster. Since this is a 1990's home video, its a DQ win for Piper after Sherri get involved on the floor. Matches like this remind me how much Piper did without a huge moveset, as his offensive run consisted of clotheslines and great, great punches.
-The Fan Favorite match is Dino Bravo vs Ultimate Warrior. The green screen backgrounds are still great, as are the promo addressed to the "fan" who requested this contest. The Warrior cuts possibly the shortest promo of his career.
-Dino Bravo vs Ultimate Warrior: This is either very early 1990 or late 89, as Earthquake is still in his brown outfit. Early starts fast early, but things get goofy when he goes under the ring after being knocked over the top by Bravo. Warrior pulls Jimmy Hart under the ring, removing his pants and throwing him into the arms of Earthquake. There's even a suplex by the Warrior, which I don't remember seeing, but maybe I wasn't ever paying attention enough. Bravo controls with a test of strength and some clubbing offense, and he hits a nice back suplex on Warrior. Bearhug mixed with some very involved trusting. Bravo misses a a move that looked to be somewhere between a leg and elbow drop, I honestly can't tell. Side slam leads to a Warrior "Hulk Up", and I wonder if the Warrior's run as champion didn't work because his matches were essentially the same formula as Hogan's, only with a less mainstream babyface. Earthquake in for to cause the DQ. I feel so bad for the "fan" that requested this, they didn't even get a finish :(
-Oh, a special look at Mr. Fuji. Just to mess the timeline of this tape, we have clips of Powers of Pain and the Orient Express, and some clips of the race Fuji did before WM 5. I want to see the Express vs Rockers match they showed clips from.
-Brutus Beefcake vs Rick Martel: Hooray, Hillbilly Jim and Monsoon on commentary. This is from MSG.
Going to watch more of this later
WWE Backlash 2009 Random Thoughts
-Christian vs Jack Swagger my favorite Christian match from last year. Haven't seen the one against Regal from breaking point, but I should get to that ASAP. I know the praise for Christian is nothing new, but I'm impressed his matches remain entertaining while being made up about half a dozen spots (Killswitch, middle rope sunset flip, corner swinging kick thing). Swagger getting a chance to just muscle Christian with take downs and control on the mat is what he should always be doing. And really liked the ending.
-Steamboat vs Jericho was just so much fun. Ricky did as well as he could and really went above what I expected. Wish this had been higher on the card given it's probably one of the more emotional matches on this show.
-Kane vs CM Punk was a lot better than I thought it would be. Dug Punks armbar over the top rope and attempts to work the arm over early, which he played off later turning the chokeslam into a single arm DDT. Kane spends his heat section working over the ribs, including a baseball slide dropkick that drives Punk not the post. I love Kane's use of the basement dropkick for some reason. Like the finishing stretch, but I have no idea why Kane went over, but I did like Kane using his left arm to help get Punk up for the Chokeslam. These guys meshed a lot better than I thought they would. I do wonder, does Kane only have one pair of tights? His gear hasn't changed in 5 years
-I forgot all about the Triple H/Batista/Shane vs Legacy match. Why was this happening, and was it part of another false start Batista heel turn?
I might watch the Edge/Cena main event, but right now, nah, I've had my fill of WWE main events for now, but bring on the mid-card!
-Steamboat vs Jericho was just so much fun. Ricky did as well as he could and really went above what I expected. Wish this had been higher on the card given it's probably one of the more emotional matches on this show.
-Kane vs CM Punk was a lot better than I thought it would be. Dug Punks armbar over the top rope and attempts to work the arm over early, which he played off later turning the chokeslam into a single arm DDT. Kane spends his heat section working over the ribs, including a baseball slide dropkick that drives Punk not the post. I love Kane's use of the basement dropkick for some reason. Like the finishing stretch, but I have no idea why Kane went over, but I did like Kane using his left arm to help get Punk up for the Chokeslam. These guys meshed a lot better than I thought they would. I do wonder, does Kane only have one pair of tights? His gear hasn't changed in 5 years
-I forgot all about the Triple H/Batista/Shane vs Legacy match. Why was this happening, and was it part of another false start Batista heel turn?
I might watch the Edge/Cena main event, but right now, nah, I've had my fill of WWE main events for now, but bring on the mid-card!
Thursday, July 2, 2009
OVW! Let the madness begin
So I just got OVW TV in the mail, a TON of it, from Mid 1999 (when they became the main developmental group), to 2007, with only 2002 left out. So here I got, I'm thinking....why not BLOG IT ALL. It's at least a project to keep me interested in doing this blog.
So we begin in July 1999.
OVW TV: July 1999, Disc 1
-Dean Hill opens the show by introducing Jim Cornette as the new OVW matchmaker. Cornette explains his role, declares OVW an offical WWF developmental territory. He then hypes up new, exciting, wrestlers coming to OVW, and acutal WWF Superstars coming to work in Louisville! This includes, DROZ vs AL SNOW, later this month.
Cornette then turns his attention to Kenny Bolan, then a color commentator. He explains their relationship, and an angle for last November where Bolan had Cornette beaten up. He then fires Kenny and has him taken out of the Davis Arena. Something tells me he'll be back.
Awesome segment, simple, right to the point, and was the perfect jumping on point.
-So we have Dean Hill and Cornette on commentary, and they get right into the feud between the Damaja and Rob Conway. Footage from a recent house show match between the two. Hill calls Rob's fists "Iron Fists" and his elbows "Iron Elbows". They fight over using a chain, and eventually both shove the ref down and its a double DQ. Then RIP RODGERS comes out to help Conway beat down the Damaja. Nick Dinsmore comes out to even it up, but Damaja isn't too appricative.
-We come back to the Arena, and Rob Conway cuts a promo. This is the first non-"Con Man" and non-"La Resistance" interview i've heard him come. He's done teaming with Rip, and makes it clear he wants Damaja's title belt. Dinesmore interrupts, and tells Conway to "Zip It", and "Get to stepping". Dinsmore is street! He explains how he was the last OVW Champion, and he wants it back. Damaja comes out and tells both to piss off. This is like a RAW segment on speed, which means it's going at the speed it should. Cornette comes out and says they're gonna have a Triple Threat match on July 20th! That was five minutes, too the point, and hyped up their big card.
-Add for the July 20th match and Louisville Garden. And by add, I mean blurry footage with Cornette's voice over. These sorts of things are always fun to watch a few times.
-Match One: Johnny Spade vs Jason Lee (OVW Light Heavyweight Champion): The announcers get right into putting both guys over and discussing their characters. Lee controls early, and does look like Chris Candido's younger brother (a comparison Cornette made). Spade comes back with a dropkick (those Addis wrestling shows hurt) and a big cross body. The anouncers once again put over Al Snow vs Droz and the idea of a hardcore match. Lee takes over again with some non-descript offense. Spade starts his comeback off a Rock flip around DDT that is slightly botched. Samoan drop by Spade gets two. Lee gets dropped with a reverse DDT, but a big splash catches only knees. Sit out powerbomb by Lee, and he goes to the top, connecting with a moonsault, and pulls up Spade at two. That's not a good sign. Lee poses and dicks around too much, and gets caught with a small package for three! Johnny and his awesome Spade t-shirt are OVW Light Heavyweight champion.
Spade cuts a decent promo, he look comfortable talking at the very least.
-Another OVW commerical, giving dates for upcoming shows.
-And this is where blogger cut off my original post. Yep, I had this show done but it refused to save. To quickly recap:
-Rod Steele won a match. Afterwords, Jim Cornette hyped the soon to be debuting Rico Constantino
-The July 20th show was hyped a million times.
-The Hillbillies broke up after they failed to win the tag team titles from Flash Flannigan and Trailer Park Trash
-The American Eagle defeated Rasputin. The purpose of this match was to continue the Eagle/Chris Alexander feud and yes, hype up a return match between the two on the next big show.
-Due to Rob Conway showing him the door, Rip Rodgers grabbed less partner Juan and STILL managed to beat the tag team champions. Rip celebrates his essential one man victory
-Conway and Dinsmore both interrupt the main event, the Damaja vs a jobber. It evolves into Conway vs Dinsmore, which ends when the Damaja beats everyone down with a chair.
And that was the first show. Sorry about the blogging issues, let's just move onto the next one
SHOW 2:
-Tonight is the Damaja vs "All American" Doug Basham! A history of the three way title feud! Al Snow! And more!
-First, due to some outlets having cable problems, they replay Cornettes accouncements from last week.
-Match One: Rip Rodgers vs "Smooth" Johnny Spade: Never hurts to start out with Rip. They trade some go behinds and arm wringers, as Rip blantently uses the hair. Cornette announces Rip and a mystery partner will get a tag title shot at the July 20th show. Rip gains the advantage early with a series of stomps and chops. Rodgers takes his shirt off and chops away, but Spade comes back with a big clothesline. He misses something in the corner and gets locked into the Boston Crab for the submission. On one hand, that was the Light Heavyweight champion, but Rip is being kept strong after last week and going into a tag title match. Short and inoffensive.
-Rip cuts another promo about last week and this week's win. He says he's a 103 and he can make anyone a champion. Rule of thumb says the mystery partner is Savio Vega, but I sadly doubt it.
-Cornette and Dean Hill come back and begin a recap of the Damaja-Dinsmore-Conway feud.
-Match Two: Trailer Park Trash/Flash Flannigan vs Guido/Vito: Trash and Guido start out and Flash joins in for some quick double teaming. Trash comes back in and get caught with a clothesline by both heels. Clothesline by Guido and he tags back out to Vito. Both of these guys are dressed like low level 911's....that's saying something. Vito misses a splash, giving Trash time to tag Flash. Dropkicks for both men by Flash, and the champs run them together. Superkick by Flash, and they finish off with a powerbomb followed by a legdrop from Trash. Nice showcase for the Southern Tag Team Champions. Flash especially looked good.
-Al Snow cuts a promo from a forklift. He's ready for Droz this coming Tuesday.
-Jim spends a moment to promo the debut of Rico on that show, but is cut off by Kenny Bolan. Kenny reveals his manager lisence. It's a lot like the angle which formed the Dangerous Alliance in 1991. Jim so clearly lays out the angle; Kenny has a managers lisence, and Cornette has to deal with him if he wants to use any of his wrestlers. Problem is he has no clients, so Jim has him taken out again. That's a nice way to progress the story slowly.
-Match Three: Rasputen vs Chris Alexander: Chris' enemy took out Ras' last week, can Alexander repeat that feat? Rasputen drops him with a Downward Spiral, already overused in 1999. Big dropkick by Rasputen, but gets caught with a drop kick. Sidewalk slam by Chris, but a second gets turned into a flying headscissors. Russian lucha! Rasputen with a huge back drop suplex. Alexander sneaks out a chain and uses that to ko the Russian and get the pin. American Eagle comes in and drops Chris and remind us that if he wins this Tuesday, Chris get shaved bald.
-We get a replay of the Hillbillies break up from last week. Jack Black lays out his former partner.
-Match Four: The Damaja vs Doug Basham: Basham out wrestles Damaja to start with some ice roll ups. Damaja gets a waistlock take down, but Basham does a nice amature sit out. Damaja yells at his valet for trying to trip up Doug. He can do it on his own. Doug controles however for the next few miutes, but finally gets caught with a boot while coming off the top. Damaja with a drop kick off the second rope. And we get our second Downward Spirial! I was joking earlier! Damaja chokes away. Basham floats over a back drop attempt and nails a drop out DDT, but is hit with a spine buster a few minutes later. Damaja chokes away in the corner as Conway joins the commentary team. Basham almost gets a win off a surprise cradle. Big suplex by Damaja as Cornette goes into July 20th hard sell mode. Now I want go to this show, where's the time machine! Basham begins his comeback with a leg lariet and a drop kick. Scoop slam by Doug, but Conway trips him up as he goes up top. Basham falls and Damaja easily nails the Brain Damange (Baldo Bomb) for the win. Dinsmore runs in and starts fighting, and Basham nails the Brain Damage on Conway. He turns around into a chair shot from Dinsmore, payback from last week. The locker room empties to stop the brawl. Make sure to come to the Louisville Gardens to see who wins!
Final Thoughts: What a good set of shows. The featured players, and their roles, are easy to distiguish, and everything is explained. Great stuff, I'm already having a blast watching these. And it's only going to get better with Rico debuting the eventual formation of Bolan Services
So we begin in July 1999.
OVW TV: July 1999, Disc 1
-Dean Hill opens the show by introducing Jim Cornette as the new OVW matchmaker. Cornette explains his role, declares OVW an offical WWF developmental territory. He then hypes up new, exciting, wrestlers coming to OVW, and acutal WWF Superstars coming to work in Louisville! This includes, DROZ vs AL SNOW, later this month.
Cornette then turns his attention to Kenny Bolan, then a color commentator. He explains their relationship, and an angle for last November where Bolan had Cornette beaten up. He then fires Kenny and has him taken out of the Davis Arena. Something tells me he'll be back.
Awesome segment, simple, right to the point, and was the perfect jumping on point.
-So we have Dean Hill and Cornette on commentary, and they get right into the feud between the Damaja and Rob Conway. Footage from a recent house show match between the two. Hill calls Rob's fists "Iron Fists" and his elbows "Iron Elbows". They fight over using a chain, and eventually both shove the ref down and its a double DQ. Then RIP RODGERS comes out to help Conway beat down the Damaja. Nick Dinsmore comes out to even it up, but Damaja isn't too appricative.
-We come back to the Arena, and Rob Conway cuts a promo. This is the first non-"Con Man" and non-"La Resistance" interview i've heard him come. He's done teaming with Rip, and makes it clear he wants Damaja's title belt. Dinesmore interrupts, and tells Conway to "Zip It", and "Get to stepping". Dinsmore is street! He explains how he was the last OVW Champion, and he wants it back. Damaja comes out and tells both to piss off. This is like a RAW segment on speed, which means it's going at the speed it should. Cornette comes out and says they're gonna have a Triple Threat match on July 20th! That was five minutes, too the point, and hyped up their big card.
-Add for the July 20th match and Louisville Garden. And by add, I mean blurry footage with Cornette's voice over. These sorts of things are always fun to watch a few times.
-Match One: Johnny Spade vs Jason Lee (OVW Light Heavyweight Champion): The announcers get right into putting both guys over and discussing their characters. Lee controls early, and does look like Chris Candido's younger brother (a comparison Cornette made). Spade comes back with a dropkick (those Addis wrestling shows hurt) and a big cross body. The anouncers once again put over Al Snow vs Droz and the idea of a hardcore match. Lee takes over again with some non-descript offense. Spade starts his comeback off a Rock flip around DDT that is slightly botched. Samoan drop by Spade gets two. Lee gets dropped with a reverse DDT, but a big splash catches only knees. Sit out powerbomb by Lee, and he goes to the top, connecting with a moonsault, and pulls up Spade at two. That's not a good sign. Lee poses and dicks around too much, and gets caught with a small package for three! Johnny and his awesome Spade t-shirt are OVW Light Heavyweight champion.
Spade cuts a decent promo, he look comfortable talking at the very least.
-Another OVW commerical, giving dates for upcoming shows.
-And this is where blogger cut off my original post. Yep, I had this show done but it refused to save. To quickly recap:
-Rod Steele won a match. Afterwords, Jim Cornette hyped the soon to be debuting Rico Constantino
-The July 20th show was hyped a million times.
-The Hillbillies broke up after they failed to win the tag team titles from Flash Flannigan and Trailer Park Trash
-The American Eagle defeated Rasputin. The purpose of this match was to continue the Eagle/Chris Alexander feud and yes, hype up a return match between the two on the next big show.
-Due to Rob Conway showing him the door, Rip Rodgers grabbed less partner Juan and STILL managed to beat the tag team champions. Rip celebrates his essential one man victory
-Conway and Dinsmore both interrupt the main event, the Damaja vs a jobber. It evolves into Conway vs Dinsmore, which ends when the Damaja beats everyone down with a chair.
And that was the first show. Sorry about the blogging issues, let's just move onto the next one
SHOW 2:
-Tonight is the Damaja vs "All American" Doug Basham! A history of the three way title feud! Al Snow! And more!
-First, due to some outlets having cable problems, they replay Cornettes accouncements from last week.
-Match One: Rip Rodgers vs "Smooth" Johnny Spade: Never hurts to start out with Rip. They trade some go behinds and arm wringers, as Rip blantently uses the hair. Cornette announces Rip and a mystery partner will get a tag title shot at the July 20th show. Rip gains the advantage early with a series of stomps and chops. Rodgers takes his shirt off and chops away, but Spade comes back with a big clothesline. He misses something in the corner and gets locked into the Boston Crab for the submission. On one hand, that was the Light Heavyweight champion, but Rip is being kept strong after last week and going into a tag title match. Short and inoffensive.
-Rip cuts another promo about last week and this week's win. He says he's a 103 and he can make anyone a champion. Rule of thumb says the mystery partner is Savio Vega, but I sadly doubt it.
-Cornette and Dean Hill come back and begin a recap of the Damaja-Dinsmore-Conway feud.
-Match Two: Trailer Park Trash/Flash Flannigan vs Guido/Vito: Trash and Guido start out and Flash joins in for some quick double teaming. Trash comes back in and get caught with a clothesline by both heels. Clothesline by Guido and he tags back out to Vito. Both of these guys are dressed like low level 911's....that's saying something. Vito misses a splash, giving Trash time to tag Flash. Dropkicks for both men by Flash, and the champs run them together. Superkick by Flash, and they finish off with a powerbomb followed by a legdrop from Trash. Nice showcase for the Southern Tag Team Champions. Flash especially looked good.
-Al Snow cuts a promo from a forklift. He's ready for Droz this coming Tuesday.
-Jim spends a moment to promo the debut of Rico on that show, but is cut off by Kenny Bolan. Kenny reveals his manager lisence. It's a lot like the angle which formed the Dangerous Alliance in 1991. Jim so clearly lays out the angle; Kenny has a managers lisence, and Cornette has to deal with him if he wants to use any of his wrestlers. Problem is he has no clients, so Jim has him taken out again. That's a nice way to progress the story slowly.
-Match Three: Rasputen vs Chris Alexander: Chris' enemy took out Ras' last week, can Alexander repeat that feat? Rasputen drops him with a Downward Spiral, already overused in 1999. Big dropkick by Rasputen, but gets caught with a drop kick. Sidewalk slam by Chris, but a second gets turned into a flying headscissors. Russian lucha! Rasputen with a huge back drop suplex. Alexander sneaks out a chain and uses that to ko the Russian and get the pin. American Eagle comes in and drops Chris and remind us that if he wins this Tuesday, Chris get shaved bald.
-We get a replay of the Hillbillies break up from last week. Jack Black lays out his former partner.
-Match Four: The Damaja vs Doug Basham: Basham out wrestles Damaja to start with some ice roll ups. Damaja gets a waistlock take down, but Basham does a nice amature sit out. Damaja yells at his valet for trying to trip up Doug. He can do it on his own. Doug controles however for the next few miutes, but finally gets caught with a boot while coming off the top. Damaja with a drop kick off the second rope. And we get our second Downward Spirial! I was joking earlier! Damaja chokes away. Basham floats over a back drop attempt and nails a drop out DDT, but is hit with a spine buster a few minutes later. Damaja chokes away in the corner as Conway joins the commentary team. Basham almost gets a win off a surprise cradle. Big suplex by Damaja as Cornette goes into July 20th hard sell mode. Now I want go to this show, where's the time machine! Basham begins his comeback with a leg lariet and a drop kick. Scoop slam by Doug, but Conway trips him up as he goes up top. Basham falls and Damaja easily nails the Brain Damange (Baldo Bomb) for the win. Dinsmore runs in and starts fighting, and Basham nails the Brain Damage on Conway. He turns around into a chair shot from Dinsmore, payback from last week. The locker room empties to stop the brawl. Make sure to come to the Louisville Gardens to see who wins!
Final Thoughts: What a good set of shows. The featured players, and their roles, are easy to distiguish, and everything is explained. Great stuff, I'm already having a blast watching these. And it's only going to get better with Rico debuting the eventual formation of Bolan Services
Friday, April 17, 2009
the exciting return of the blog with....Velocity!
So it's been a year and half since I wrote in the blog. So what better way to come back than with an exciting review of an exciting episode of Velocity. Well, I hope it's exciting, I pick it out at random.
Velocity
-Match One: Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs Crash Holly: Chavo starts off cheating, kicking and punching and forearming crash. We're deeply into the "Smackdown Six" era here, so the announcers are talking mostly about the swank tag title tournament. Chavo snaps his neck backwards over the top rope and later hits a neckbreaker. I"ll assume his finisher at this time was the Ghostbuster. Crash attempts a small comeback but is cut off quickly. It's the rare Chavito squash! Crash finally comes back with a back elbow and I start thinking about all the goofy comedy offense he came up with later in his Fed run. I always liked the splash, land on the mat, than hit the splash move. Or the Pre-School, which was the rope walk using the bottom rope. Good times. Anyway, Crash does none of these things and gets dropped with a brainbuster. Decent, but bland
0 for 1
-btw, I'm going to skip the recaps
-Match Two: Albert vs .....wait...he's cutting a promo! Albert cuts down the fact that he's on Velocity. The crowd chants "shave your back" as the Hip Hop Hippo proclaims his sexiness...which is one of those out of nowhere character moments WWE sometimes throws in there. Albert thinking he was sexy lasted about as long as Paul London being a whiney heel ex-Crusierweight champion.
and there is a match. Of course, Funaki is the opponent. This is part, I believe, part of of their best of 95 match series. Funaki avoid a few, before finally getting caught and hit with that Canadian Backbreaker drop. Cole than admits Albert has been battling Funaki forever, and we get the trademark "Albert is a bully" comment from Mark Llyod. Albert misses a charge in the corner and Funaki hits a couple low dropkicks, a legdrop, but get caught trying a cross body. Turned into a DDT, ah yes, this is one of their more classic matches. Funaki sends a shout out to Dick Togo with a couple of sentons. Albert catches him finally, hits the Baldo Bomb and that's it for Smackdown's number one announcer. Will Albert finally be free of Velocity, tune in next week.
1 for 2, decent for the time given, and I like both of 'em, good Velocity fun!
-Match Three, the MAIN EVENT!: Chuck Pulumbo vs Ron Simmons: This was an awkward time for both men. Ron Simmons was post-APA phase where he teamed with D-von, a pairing that the announcers are at a loss to explain. Chuck still has his Billy and Chuck Titantron, but both men were attempted to change their look from AWESOME to serious bad asses. It lasted two seconds. Cole has Simmons "must have realized it was time to get serious and start beating people up", I don't know he ever stopped. Nothing muc happens, as Chuck controls the first few minutes with punches! shoulder blocks and a nice belly to belly. But Simmons takes over and slams Chuck around but gets caught coming off the top with another belly to belly. It's like Kurt Angle trained chuck. Another punch from Chuck and he sets up for the JUGLE KICK. Kick misses, spine buster, and Simmons wins. Wow, it's actually a little surprising how quickly Chuck and Billy got buried once they went straight.
and so ends an exciting episode Velocty. Funaki and Albert was fun, but nothing much else unless you're into lower card workers with no creative direction battling it out. But really, that's half the fun.
Velocity
-Match One: Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs Crash Holly: Chavo starts off cheating, kicking and punching and forearming crash. We're deeply into the "Smackdown Six" era here, so the announcers are talking mostly about the swank tag title tournament. Chavo snaps his neck backwards over the top rope and later hits a neckbreaker. I"ll assume his finisher at this time was the Ghostbuster. Crash attempts a small comeback but is cut off quickly. It's the rare Chavito squash! Crash finally comes back with a back elbow and I start thinking about all the goofy comedy offense he came up with later in his Fed run. I always liked the splash, land on the mat, than hit the splash move. Or the Pre-School, which was the rope walk using the bottom rope. Good times. Anyway, Crash does none of these things and gets dropped with a brainbuster. Decent, but bland
0 for 1
-btw, I'm going to skip the recaps
-Match Two: Albert vs .....wait...he's cutting a promo! Albert cuts down the fact that he's on Velocity. The crowd chants "shave your back" as the Hip Hop Hippo proclaims his sexiness...which is one of those out of nowhere character moments WWE sometimes throws in there. Albert thinking he was sexy lasted about as long as Paul London being a whiney heel ex-Crusierweight champion.
and there is a match. Of course, Funaki is the opponent. This is part, I believe, part of of their best of 95 match series. Funaki avoid a few, before finally getting caught and hit with that Canadian Backbreaker drop. Cole than admits Albert has been battling Funaki forever, and we get the trademark "Albert is a bully" comment from Mark Llyod. Albert misses a charge in the corner and Funaki hits a couple low dropkicks, a legdrop, but get caught trying a cross body. Turned into a DDT, ah yes, this is one of their more classic matches. Funaki sends a shout out to Dick Togo with a couple of sentons. Albert catches him finally, hits the Baldo Bomb and that's it for Smackdown's number one announcer. Will Albert finally be free of Velocity, tune in next week.
1 for 2, decent for the time given, and I like both of 'em, good Velocity fun!
-Match Three, the MAIN EVENT!: Chuck Pulumbo vs Ron Simmons: This was an awkward time for both men. Ron Simmons was post-APA phase where he teamed with D-von, a pairing that the announcers are at a loss to explain. Chuck still has his Billy and Chuck Titantron, but both men were attempted to change their look from AWESOME to serious bad asses. It lasted two seconds. Cole has Simmons "must have realized it was time to get serious and start beating people up", I don't know he ever stopped. Nothing muc happens, as Chuck controls the first few minutes with punches! shoulder blocks and a nice belly to belly. But Simmons takes over and slams Chuck around but gets caught coming off the top with another belly to belly. It's like Kurt Angle trained chuck. Another punch from Chuck and he sets up for the JUGLE KICK. Kick misses, spine buster, and Simmons wins. Wow, it's actually a little surprising how quickly Chuck and Billy got buried once they went straight.
and so ends an exciting episode Velocty. Funaki and Albert was fun, but nothing much else unless you're into lower card workers with no creative direction battling it out. But really, that's half the fun.
Saturday, September 8, 2007
WCW Halloween Havoc 1992: Part One!
WCW Halloween Havoc 1992 Countdown Show Review!
-We have the WCW Halloween Havoc control center countdown show. These are fun because half the time the card they announce ends up being changed. But that’s WCW for you. Of course this is the debut of the spin the wheel, make the deal for the blow off of the Sting vs Jake Roberts feud. That means we get the mini-movie for it. Ah yes, the first of three classic mini-movies. Sting arrives at Jakes biker bar, filled with bikers chanting “Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal”, someone dressed up like Hannibal Lector, and Medusa dressed up for a night of S & M fun. Everyone “oooohs” as Sting enters. After some spiffy dialog, written probably by the same writers who brought us the “Lost in Cleveland” skits half a year later. Oh yes, and Cheetum the midget makes his tv debut. Jakes goes over the concept, even noting there’s a “Mystery Match” on the wheel. What the hell was that going to be? Did they have a separate wheel? Sting spins the wheel as the chanting continues….and then him and Jake go face to face and SHOOT LASER EYES AT EACH OTHER. Five stars, it reached four with the terrible Sting acting and someone thinking Jake Roberts needs a script.
-Bill Watts explains why it’s a “Lights Out” match, and I’ll say this, Watts makes everything sound credible. In the background you can hear Gary Michael Capetta announcing a match. I’ll look up later what that was. In one of the best debates ever, Bruno Sammartino and Michael Hayes debate who will have the advantage. This is awesome.
- 18 minutes till show time. And we’re about to look at the Ron Simmons vs Barbarian show down. There’s the usual Ron training video and recap of show he won the title. Now that is a great moment and yes, they show the one guy balling his eyes out because well, it was an awesome moment. Eric talks about how Barbarian has perfected the “Power Kick”, later called the “Kick of Fear”. That is the most laid back kick call Eric’s done. Next video is the Barbarian-Cactus Jack training. Barbarian pulls a car and has a ton of guys slam him! Yeah, Buddy Lee Parker! Barbarian practices kicking out, he gets a board broken over his back, then Barbarian destroys a pumpkin with the POWER KICK. The pumpkin, btw, has Ron written on it, eyes, and a frown face, just to push it over the edge into campy. This is followed by a promo by Cactus and Barbarian. Honestly, WCW tried their hardest to get Barbarian over for this, but it didn’t stick, even when I was 10 and watching the build. Bruno and Hayes comment again, which isn’t a bad thing, Bruno giving his analysis is a nice touch. Hayes proclaims the Power Kick will “kick Ron Simmons ass”. Ron Simmons gives a promo and says Barbarian “came out of the word work” yeah, it was that sudden. I still wish Butch Reed had stuck around long enough to get this build and title shot, instead of flaking out of the rotating Cactus/Barbarian/Spivey/Atlas stable.
-Finally, a run down: Sting vs Jake Roberts, Ron Simmons vs The Barbarian, Rick Rude vs Masa Chono in a “Don’t show up the Main Event” Match…and that’s it? Come on, where is the entire card.
-Clips are show of the Rude vs Chono match from Tokyo, which I’ve heard is a billion times better than the match I’m going to see soon. Rude says he’s going to surprised Chono with the Rude Awakening…well…he just spoiled it, didn’t he!
-Seven minutes left, I can’t wait! I need to go to the phone and call my local cable company
-They replay the mini-movie…its always worth a repeat. Spin that wheel leather clad harlot Medusa!
Now it’s time for the show:
WCW Halloween Havoc 1992
The show starts out with more Barbarian training footage and Bruno talking, I just kinda saw this! They announce Steve Austin will replace Terry Gordy in the tag title match against Barry Windham and Dustin Rhodes. Can’t be a early 1990s WCW PPV without a few card changes. Rick Rude apparently has to wrestle twice, once against Chono for the NWA Title and again for the US Title. If you know this show, you know that won’t hold up.
Match One: Arn Anderson/Bobby Eaton/Michael Hayes vs Z-Man/Johnny Gunn/Shane Douglas: We’re in Philly, so you can probably guess which team gets cheered and which teams gets treated like the Dynamic Dudes at Havoc 1989. No wonder it took Shane a steady string of swear to get over in this town. This is during the blink and you miss it period of Hayes managing Anderson and Eaton. Faces get their dropkick on and receive a loud chorus of boos. Z-Man and Johnny Gunn were the newest jobber tag team, and they had a great ZZ Top rip of theme. Zenk and Gunn work over Anderson’s arm for about three seconds. Arn gets a great take down on Zenk and tag in Eaton. HUGE pops for Bobby’s right hand and the neckbreaker. Another big pop for Hayes just being tagged in. Not a great day to be the Z-Man. Jesse is even forced to acknowledge the fan support for the heels. Shane is tagged in, and its either boos or silence. Hayes out, Eaton in, and he gets arm dragged. Eaton with a right hand, but gets back body dropped by Douglas, who then follows up with a headscissors right out of 1970 and a leg drag take down. Jesse calls Shane a “right wing republican” , I’m sure there’s a story behind that. Heels tag in and out, Arm gets a big time pop for escaping a Z-Man sleeper, and Hayes comes in. Jesse says “Z-Man realizes he’s in the big time”….uh, he’s been there for a few years no. Hayes comes back with a neckbreaker and tag in Eaton. Blind tag to Anderson, who kills Zenk with a clothesline and then plays to the fans! Jesse chalks it up to the fans liking the veterans. What we have here is the Pretty Boy Face Team trying to work a normal structure and get their stuff in on the heels, and they keep getting cut off. Not just because, on paper, they are so outmatched it’s silly, but because Arn, Bobby and Hayes, realize that the face offense is losing the crowd. Z-Man gets a “hot” tag and Douglas is in. He punches a bit, goes to suplex Arn, but Bobby clips him for a giant pop. Beautiful. I think this is the official heat segment. Top rope knee drop by Bobby and Arn soaks in some more cheers. Triple team is cheered like mad. Bobby keeps Shane in the figure four for a while so his team can cheat and cheat and cheat. Douglas finally tags in Johnny Gunn and it’s a pier six brawl! Zenk nails on Hayes and Gunn gets in a Lou Thez press for the win, and the faces parade around like idiots as the crowd boos like mad. What a fun match, just for the crowd.
1 for 1
Match Two: Brian Pillman vs Ricky Steamboat: Yes, it’s freshly heel turned Brian Pillman. Well, he turned in July, but he also spent the middle of the year with injuries, Brad Armstrong, and the Light Heavyweight Title. This feud would morph into The Hollywood Blondes vs Shane Douglas/Ricky Steamboat during early 1993. I have no idea how Douglas got involved. This should be wonderful. Pillman starts out with the chops and Steamboat responds. Brian tries to chuck Ricky out, but he skins the cat and gets a roll up for 2. You’d think Brian would know better, but I guess when you turn heel you forget how you wrestled as a face. Ricky controls with an armbar. Armdrags and armbar by Pillman…I’m kidding, it’s Ricky, and that’s his first armdrag of the match. Ricky controls Brian on the mat, hammerlock, armbar, ect. Brian fights his way out but gets chopped and body dropped. And slammed, but takes a headbutt and a clothesline by Pillman. JR and Jesse note that this is a rare match where Steamboat isn’t the fastest. Ricky gets a neck hang for a moment and clothesline Brian. Jesse says Ricky’s stronger here, so he’s using those rare strength moves on Pillman. Brian fakes a knee injury to take control, hitting a concerned Dragon with a clothesline. Ricky’s back on offense a minute later with chops, but Brian gets a headscissors take over, and goes to choking on the ropes. Backslide by the Dragon for two, but Pillman gets back in control. Dragon gets set up top for a superplex, but Ricky reverses and sends Brian down. High cross body attempt is met with a dropkick. The cover gets 2. Ricky gets a back suplex and the ten count is on! Pillman with a sleeper. Jesse makes it a bit more interesting by commenting on the mechanics and effectiveness in relation to how Ricky’s body is bent. Steamboat gets out of it and then catches Pillman coming off the top, and they do the Flair slam spot. Back in, Brian catches him going through the ropes and chops away. They’re doing that very hard. They go outside, then back in, and this time Ricky catches Brian trying to attack him and leg sweeps him. Backbreaker by Steamboat and he goes up top and sticks a sunset flip for two, Brian rolls through and cradles him for two, Steamboat reverses that and gets the pin. The finish was like the middle of every Malenko-Guerrero pinning sequence, but this was 1992, it was cool, A very unfocused match, perhaps Brian wasn’t sure how to wrestle Steamboat as a heel, and there didn’t seem to a be a bunch of heat behind this. You get the idea that they have better in them. But this was ok. I’m not hard to please.
2 for 2
Match Three: United States Title: Nikita Koloff vs Big Van Vader: So Rude threatens legal action against WCW and gets Vader to wrestle this match for him. Koloff is also on his way out and his, well, fucked. I’m not even sure what Nikita did, but I’m sure Cowboy Bill isn’t happy. Koloff pounds Vader back for a bout two seconds, then gets turned around into the corner and pounded on with the Vader forearms and punches. Splash by Vader and huge clothesline. Koloff does a slight Jannetty flip sell, so he’s not too hurt, yet. Vader with more forearms and tosses Nikita outside. He comes back, nails some forearms and just kinda pounces on Vader. Chinlock time! Vader stands him up, pounds away, but misses a splash and cradled for 1. Cross body by Nikita gets two. The fight goes outside and Nikita hits the guard rail. Vader drops him harshly on the guard rail and then cracks Koloff with a cheer, and I think the fans are solidly behind Vader. Koloff is very very slow getting back in. He tries a sunset flip but faster just sits down on him. I guess it is a squash. Another clothesline by Vader turns Koloff inside out, this time a bit more legit. Vader no sells some punches and just pop Koloff in the nose. Chokeslam drop Nikita on his side, close to breaking his arm under him. Splash of the second rope by Vader, but Koloff kicks out to a mix reaction. Vader hooks on a chin lock. Attendance must have been low or this because the audience is almost totally in darkness It’s like ECW 2006 lighting. Koloff tries to back suplex out of it, but Vader decides not to and they just crumble down. Sloppy suplex just about drops Vader on his head. Nikita gets his first real comeback, hitting a flying shoulder block for two. Vader takes a slam and it gets two. Nikita gives him the Russian Sickle, sending Vader to the floor. He doesn’t follow up and the match just dies. Koloff finally goes outside to get him, and stupidly charges into the post and hurts his arm. Nikita comes back in and gets nails with the Vader Attack. Powerbomb by Vader and that’s it. Either his selling his awesome, or Koloff really messed his arm up big time, and the powerbomb probably didn’t help as he really jammed his arms bad on it. Not a good match, but interesting.
2 for 3
and let's cut off here for now
-We have the WCW Halloween Havoc control center countdown show. These are fun because half the time the card they announce ends up being changed. But that’s WCW for you. Of course this is the debut of the spin the wheel, make the deal for the blow off of the Sting vs Jake Roberts feud. That means we get the mini-movie for it. Ah yes, the first of three classic mini-movies. Sting arrives at Jakes biker bar, filled with bikers chanting “Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal”, someone dressed up like Hannibal Lector, and Medusa dressed up for a night of S & M fun. Everyone “oooohs” as Sting enters. After some spiffy dialog, written probably by the same writers who brought us the “Lost in Cleveland” skits half a year later. Oh yes, and Cheetum the midget makes his tv debut. Jakes goes over the concept, even noting there’s a “Mystery Match” on the wheel. What the hell was that going to be? Did they have a separate wheel? Sting spins the wheel as the chanting continues….and then him and Jake go face to face and SHOOT LASER EYES AT EACH OTHER. Five stars, it reached four with the terrible Sting acting and someone thinking Jake Roberts needs a script.
-Bill Watts explains why it’s a “Lights Out” match, and I’ll say this, Watts makes everything sound credible. In the background you can hear Gary Michael Capetta announcing a match. I’ll look up later what that was. In one of the best debates ever, Bruno Sammartino and Michael Hayes debate who will have the advantage. This is awesome.
- 18 minutes till show time. And we’re about to look at the Ron Simmons vs Barbarian show down. There’s the usual Ron training video and recap of show he won the title. Now that is a great moment and yes, they show the one guy balling his eyes out because well, it was an awesome moment. Eric talks about how Barbarian has perfected the “Power Kick”, later called the “Kick of Fear”. That is the most laid back kick call Eric’s done. Next video is the Barbarian-Cactus Jack training. Barbarian pulls a car and has a ton of guys slam him! Yeah, Buddy Lee Parker! Barbarian practices kicking out, he gets a board broken over his back, then Barbarian destroys a pumpkin with the POWER KICK. The pumpkin, btw, has Ron written on it, eyes, and a frown face, just to push it over the edge into campy. This is followed by a promo by Cactus and Barbarian. Honestly, WCW tried their hardest to get Barbarian over for this, but it didn’t stick, even when I was 10 and watching the build. Bruno and Hayes comment again, which isn’t a bad thing, Bruno giving his analysis is a nice touch. Hayes proclaims the Power Kick will “kick Ron Simmons ass”. Ron Simmons gives a promo and says Barbarian “came out of the word work” yeah, it was that sudden. I still wish Butch Reed had stuck around long enough to get this build and title shot, instead of flaking out of the rotating Cactus/Barbarian/Spivey/Atlas stable.
-Finally, a run down: Sting vs Jake Roberts, Ron Simmons vs The Barbarian, Rick Rude vs Masa Chono in a “Don’t show up the Main Event” Match…and that’s it? Come on, where is the entire card.
-Clips are show of the Rude vs Chono match from Tokyo, which I’ve heard is a billion times better than the match I’m going to see soon. Rude says he’s going to surprised Chono with the Rude Awakening…well…he just spoiled it, didn’t he!
-Seven minutes left, I can’t wait! I need to go to the phone and call my local cable company
-They replay the mini-movie…its always worth a repeat. Spin that wheel leather clad harlot Medusa!
Now it’s time for the show:
WCW Halloween Havoc 1992
The show starts out with more Barbarian training footage and Bruno talking, I just kinda saw this! They announce Steve Austin will replace Terry Gordy in the tag title match against Barry Windham and Dustin Rhodes. Can’t be a early 1990s WCW PPV without a few card changes. Rick Rude apparently has to wrestle twice, once against Chono for the NWA Title and again for the US Title. If you know this show, you know that won’t hold up.
Match One: Arn Anderson/Bobby Eaton/Michael Hayes vs Z-Man/Johnny Gunn/Shane Douglas: We’re in Philly, so you can probably guess which team gets cheered and which teams gets treated like the Dynamic Dudes at Havoc 1989. No wonder it took Shane a steady string of swear to get over in this town. This is during the blink and you miss it period of Hayes managing Anderson and Eaton. Faces get their dropkick on and receive a loud chorus of boos. Z-Man and Johnny Gunn were the newest jobber tag team, and they had a great ZZ Top rip of theme. Zenk and Gunn work over Anderson’s arm for about three seconds. Arn gets a great take down on Zenk and tag in Eaton. HUGE pops for Bobby’s right hand and the neckbreaker. Another big pop for Hayes just being tagged in. Not a great day to be the Z-Man. Jesse is even forced to acknowledge the fan support for the heels. Shane is tagged in, and its either boos or silence. Hayes out, Eaton in, and he gets arm dragged. Eaton with a right hand, but gets back body dropped by Douglas, who then follows up with a headscissors right out of 1970 and a leg drag take down. Jesse calls Shane a “right wing republican” , I’m sure there’s a story behind that. Heels tag in and out, Arm gets a big time pop for escaping a Z-Man sleeper, and Hayes comes in. Jesse says “Z-Man realizes he’s in the big time”….uh, he’s been there for a few years no. Hayes comes back with a neckbreaker and tag in Eaton. Blind tag to Anderson, who kills Zenk with a clothesline and then plays to the fans! Jesse chalks it up to the fans liking the veterans. What we have here is the Pretty Boy Face Team trying to work a normal structure and get their stuff in on the heels, and they keep getting cut off. Not just because, on paper, they are so outmatched it’s silly, but because Arn, Bobby and Hayes, realize that the face offense is losing the crowd. Z-Man gets a “hot” tag and Douglas is in. He punches a bit, goes to suplex Arn, but Bobby clips him for a giant pop. Beautiful. I think this is the official heat segment. Top rope knee drop by Bobby and Arn soaks in some more cheers. Triple team is cheered like mad. Bobby keeps Shane in the figure four for a while so his team can cheat and cheat and cheat. Douglas finally tags in Johnny Gunn and it’s a pier six brawl! Zenk nails on Hayes and Gunn gets in a Lou Thez press for the win, and the faces parade around like idiots as the crowd boos like mad. What a fun match, just for the crowd.
1 for 1
Match Two: Brian Pillman vs Ricky Steamboat: Yes, it’s freshly heel turned Brian Pillman. Well, he turned in July, but he also spent the middle of the year with injuries, Brad Armstrong, and the Light Heavyweight Title. This feud would morph into The Hollywood Blondes vs Shane Douglas/Ricky Steamboat during early 1993. I have no idea how Douglas got involved. This should be wonderful. Pillman starts out with the chops and Steamboat responds. Brian tries to chuck Ricky out, but he skins the cat and gets a roll up for 2. You’d think Brian would know better, but I guess when you turn heel you forget how you wrestled as a face. Ricky controls with an armbar. Armdrags and armbar by Pillman…I’m kidding, it’s Ricky, and that’s his first armdrag of the match. Ricky controls Brian on the mat, hammerlock, armbar, ect. Brian fights his way out but gets chopped and body dropped. And slammed, but takes a headbutt and a clothesline by Pillman. JR and Jesse note that this is a rare match where Steamboat isn’t the fastest. Ricky gets a neck hang for a moment and clothesline Brian. Jesse says Ricky’s stronger here, so he’s using those rare strength moves on Pillman. Brian fakes a knee injury to take control, hitting a concerned Dragon with a clothesline. Ricky’s back on offense a minute later with chops, but Brian gets a headscissors take over, and goes to choking on the ropes. Backslide by the Dragon for two, but Pillman gets back in control. Dragon gets set up top for a superplex, but Ricky reverses and sends Brian down. High cross body attempt is met with a dropkick. The cover gets 2. Ricky gets a back suplex and the ten count is on! Pillman with a sleeper. Jesse makes it a bit more interesting by commenting on the mechanics and effectiveness in relation to how Ricky’s body is bent. Steamboat gets out of it and then catches Pillman coming off the top, and they do the Flair slam spot. Back in, Brian catches him going through the ropes and chops away. They’re doing that very hard. They go outside, then back in, and this time Ricky catches Brian trying to attack him and leg sweeps him. Backbreaker by Steamboat and he goes up top and sticks a sunset flip for two, Brian rolls through and cradles him for two, Steamboat reverses that and gets the pin. The finish was like the middle of every Malenko-Guerrero pinning sequence, but this was 1992, it was cool, A very unfocused match, perhaps Brian wasn’t sure how to wrestle Steamboat as a heel, and there didn’t seem to a be a bunch of heat behind this. You get the idea that they have better in them. But this was ok. I’m not hard to please.
2 for 2
Match Three: United States Title: Nikita Koloff vs Big Van Vader: So Rude threatens legal action against WCW and gets Vader to wrestle this match for him. Koloff is also on his way out and his, well, fucked. I’m not even sure what Nikita did, but I’m sure Cowboy Bill isn’t happy. Koloff pounds Vader back for a bout two seconds, then gets turned around into the corner and pounded on with the Vader forearms and punches. Splash by Vader and huge clothesline. Koloff does a slight Jannetty flip sell, so he’s not too hurt, yet. Vader with more forearms and tosses Nikita outside. He comes back, nails some forearms and just kinda pounces on Vader. Chinlock time! Vader stands him up, pounds away, but misses a splash and cradled for 1. Cross body by Nikita gets two. The fight goes outside and Nikita hits the guard rail. Vader drops him harshly on the guard rail and then cracks Koloff with a cheer, and I think the fans are solidly behind Vader. Koloff is very very slow getting back in. He tries a sunset flip but faster just sits down on him. I guess it is a squash. Another clothesline by Vader turns Koloff inside out, this time a bit more legit. Vader no sells some punches and just pop Koloff in the nose. Chokeslam drop Nikita on his side, close to breaking his arm under him. Splash of the second rope by Vader, but Koloff kicks out to a mix reaction. Vader hooks on a chin lock. Attendance must have been low or this because the audience is almost totally in darkness It’s like ECW 2006 lighting. Koloff tries to back suplex out of it, but Vader decides not to and they just crumble down. Sloppy suplex just about drops Vader on his head. Nikita gets his first real comeback, hitting a flying shoulder block for two. Vader takes a slam and it gets two. Nikita gives him the Russian Sickle, sending Vader to the floor. He doesn’t follow up and the match just dies. Koloff finally goes outside to get him, and stupidly charges into the post and hurts his arm. Nikita comes back in and gets nails with the Vader Attack. Powerbomb by Vader and that’s it. Either his selling his awesome, or Koloff really messed his arm up big time, and the powerbomb probably didn’t help as he really jammed his arms bad on it. Not a good match, but interesting.
2 for 3
and let's cut off here for now
Sunday, August 26, 2007
WCW Saturday Night 8-23-97
A boring Sunday afternoon, so let's see what a totally random episode of WCW Saturday Night has to offer. And so, with a can of peach soda and a tear in my eyes, let's begin our journey:
Match 1: Alex Wright vs Mark Starr: Alex is fresh off a TV Title win over Ultimo Dragon! After years of being babyface, Alex finally uses his goofy German club dance to get heat, which is the best use of it. Mark Starr is best known as the lesser half of Men at Work, but was an amazingly tenured member of the roster, as far back as 1993. Starr controls with dropkicks and arm dragging. Oh, a double main event tonight: Eddie Guerrero vs Dean Malenko and Wrath and Mortis vs The FACES OF FEAR. Alex back in control with a suplex, but the play by play as always, is poor. Alex nails a stomp off the top...and dances. European uppercut by Wright as Dusty and Tony discuss the upcoming Fall Brawl. Alex misses a charge, and Starr fires away, but then falls prey to Alex begging off and a poke to the eyes. Wright off the top, missle drop kick and thats it. Nothing to see here.
0 for 1
-Alex gives a promo and calls Ultimo Dragon the "Ultimate Loser". They are fighting at Fall Brawl, a card which was made up of 80% Clash of the Champion rematches.
-Scheme Gene interview Evil Heel Eddie! Eddie laughs at the idea of everyone thinking he was a clean cut babyface. What sleeze. Eddie says tonight he'll see what Dean is all about, as if they've never wrestled before.
Match 2: Rick Fuller vs Hugh Morrus: Seeing Rick Fuller made me so happy, Hugh, not so much. Fuller starts off like a house of fire with chops and such. Hugh runs out of the corner with a clothesline. Punching by the laughting man, but he runs into a huge Rick Fuller spin kick. Hugh returns the favor with a spin wheel kick of his own, and then a leg drop below the beltline. A headbutt to the lower ab region, then a powerslam. I miss the Fuller offense. Rick comes back with a Triple H style knee jawbreaker, but is hit with a clothesline off a corner charager. No Laughing Matter Moonsault, and its over! Oh hm, not bad really, better than the usual Hugh Morrus squash.
1 for 2
-Fast forward through a Harlem Heat interivew. This is during the Miss Jacqueline manager phase, where they had a never ending fued with the Steiners while beating up NWO jobber teams.
Match 3: High Voltage vs Public Enemy: There's actually some set up to this, as we get a clip of the PE being descimated by HV on Nitro. This is also a long running fued based mostly on both teams having nothing to do and the tag belts slowly rotting away due to Bischoff's hatered of 2 vs 2 contests. Brawling on the outside to start, which settles into Rocco vs Kaos on the inside. That's probably the best combo of workers you could get in this match. Rage in now, and a tag to The Grunge. Rage with a huge suplex and Johnny does the D-Von sesizer sell. High Votlage ake control with a poetry in motion style splash, offically typing the PE in the number of double team moves they know. Many tags between High Voltage, and if I wasn't muting the sound, I'm sure Tony is mentioning it on commentry. Grunge comes back with a ok swinging neckbreak and makes the tag to Rocco, who goes crazy. Kaos vs Rock on the inside, they flub a kick and Rock gets a cradle off a suplex attempt. Johnny wanders off to get a table as Rock attempts to slam Kaos, but gets tripped up by Rage and his foot is held for the win. After the win, High Voltage double teams until Johnny finally gets the table inand they use it to gain a measure of revenge. Nothing tag match, but at least it was part of a fued
1 for 3
-Gene interviews Brad Armstrong. Brad tries to be a nice guy, but then makes a sudden heel turn, calls himself a VIP! and promises to start kicking ass all over WCW. Perhaps he could dawn the Badstreet costume. Gene shouldn't have called him a "young man"
Match 4: Brad Armstrong vs Prince Ieakuea: Let's see how long Brad's heel push lasts. Brad shoves and slaps the Prince, but Ieakuea fires back and Brad begs off. Prince is slowly sliding down the card after his poor TV title reign. Brad controls back in the ring with new found heel offense, chokes, turnbuckle slam, punches. Armstrong nails a nice back suplex and I'm amazed Tony and Dusty are discussing Brad's change of attitude. Sitting abdominal stretch locked on, eventually into a two count. Brad sets early for a body drop and gets cradled for two. Ieakuea with a backslide for another two, and Brad is pissed...and turns into a thrust kick, but kicks out. Prince goes up top, but comically misses a cross body. Russian legsweep, awesome float over, and its over! The reign of terror begins in WCW. Brad had a great cocky smirk on his face almost the whole time, He could have been easily put into the TV mix during this time or even early 1998. Oh well.
2 for 4
-Gene has another amazing 900 number plug, teasing WHAT STING WANTS?! Oakerland brings in Miss Jacqueline and has her stand there as he explains that she wants to take Harlem Heat ot the top, and some other naughty secrets which you can hear on the hotline. Jackie stands there looking amused.
Match 5: Super Calo, Juventud Guerrero, Ciclope vs Damien, La Parka, Psichosis: Sonny Ono is representing Parka and Psichosis. I'm considering not doing play by play. Juvi and Psichosis starts out, and that's the cue to discuss the Clash, Fall Brawl, and all things New World Order. Juvi messes up a victory roll, then tags in Ciclope, who gets taken down hard by Damien. Flip flop fly and Dusty screams out the call to "SPRING BOARD DROPKICK!" then "SPRING BOARD FLIP". Dusty deconstructs why they do so many spring boards as the heels take over. Tony joins in the discussion, and it kinda makes sense. La Parka accidently nails Psichosis. Super Calo headscissors Parka to the floor than dives out. Juvi powerbombs Damien and all heck is breaking loose. Top rope hurricanrana by Juvi, but Psichosis breaks up the pin. 450 by Juvi and another pin on Damien is broken up. Sonny Ono nails Ciclope in the back of the head, and Psichosis nails the top rope leg drop for the win. A bit of a mess, and not in an overly planned out way. But, I'm not asking for too much on WCWSN
3 for 5
-A replay of Mongo beating Jarrett for the US title at the Clash. I still don't under why the crowd poped so hard for it. I think it was a combo of their hatred for Debra and especially Jarrett. Still it's quite a sight to behold. Steve McMichael = Gulity Pleasure!
-Match 6: Eddie Guerrero vs Dean Malenko: Dusty reminds us the Mongo, being US champ, is one step away from Hogan! Now that would be a match. Dean looks more serious than usual. Malenko chases Eddie around, as this was during the more person part of their fued (Eddie cost him the Crusierweight title at Superbrawl that year). Full nelson switches and Eddie is dropped over to the top rope off a victory roll attempt. Malenko gutbuster and Dean stomps away. Eddie comes back with a thumb to the eye and a uppercut. Eddie counters a drop down monkey flip atempt by stepping on Dean's face, which was awesome. Dusty and Tony discuss the bad new attitudes of Eddie, Brad Armstrong and Alex Wright. That wouldn't have been a bad stable, and Eddie and Alex were halfway part of Debra's anti-Mongo kill squad in late 1997. Rest hold of the match is a rope assisted headscissors. Camera in close for Eddie's discussion about rope usage with Mark Curtis. Fall away slam by Eddie, which I forgot he did, and there's another face stomp. Tony spits out an odd reference to Dr. X, saying he did a similar face scraping twisting stomp. Dean finally comes back by pressing Eddie into the lights and a clothesline in the corner. They trade roll ups quickly, and Eddie goes back to the thumb in the eye. Guerrero leapfrog countered with a powerbomb. Series of reversals until Eddie nails a brainbuster then tries the cloverleaf on Dean, which, of course, is countered into a roll up for the pin. Jarrett sprints to the ring and heels begin to work over Malenko. Jarrett puts on the figure four and Eddie nails the frog splash. Good match
4 for 6
-Nitro recap
Match 7: Wrath and Mortis vs The Faces of Fear: I really enjoy this fued, and it demonstrated that if WCW cared, they could have had a better tag division during their boom period. They could have at least instated the US Tag belts again so teams that Hall and Nash were never going to put over (anyone not named the Steiners) would have something to go for. Brawl right off the bat, with Meng and Wrath going outside and Barbarian and Mortis ont he inside. Mortis with a spin kick off the second rope for a two count. Barbarian powers Mortis up and slams him into the corner, then Meng comes in with a choke. Stomping away now and some huge chops. Meng with a nice back suplex and pounds away some more. Barbarian comes back in and they trade kicks in the corner. Mortis does well becuase he was a big time pit fighter. Meng comes and Mortis kicks him off enough to tag Wrath. This is my favorite Brian Clarke gimmick. Meng catches Wratch coming off the second rope into a power slam. Double middle rope headbutt by the FOF. Mortis breaks up the pin. Wrath pulls out an inside cradle, and Tony is amazed! KICK OF FEAR!!!!! Barbarian goes for a cover and you can see Nick Patrick looking to make sure Mortis is coming in. All heck breaks loose and Wrath boots Barbarian and pins him with his own move. Mortis and Wrath try for some post match double teaming, but they get clotheslined outside. This fued needs to continue. Short but fun lil match.
5 for 7
-Ultimo Dragon profile by Mike Tenay. At least they're keeping him strong after losing the TV Title. They make a point of us how they stupidly called him Ultimate for nearly two years.
Match 8: Hector Guerrero vs Chris Benoit: Hector was brought into to put over Eddie as a jumping off point for the heel turn. Hector also donned the LAZERTRON outfit for a few WCW Pro Exclusive matches. They exchange chops right away I'm sure you know who wins. Hector with a series of headscissors, but a third one gets him pushes to the mat. Armdrag off a powerbomb attempt sends Chris out, but Hector is soon sent into the railing. Yes, its a little odd watching a Benoit match, I think all the media coverage has kinda desensitized me. But I dont think i want to go into that here, it's been discussed enough. Benoit wins.
-Gene is there with Jacqueline again, and this time she's allowed to SPEAK! She says she can lead the Harlem Heat to victory and that they can't talk about her past on the air! Call the outline to hear about her beating up Brandon Baxter in USWA!
Match 9: Renegade vs Lenny Lane: Renegade has Marc Mero's "Boxing" gimmick music. Ah, this is heel turn Renegade, another in a series of bad attitude heel turns. Renegade stomps away and drops Lenny over the top throat. Lenny with a headscissors, but misses a corner splash. Lane kicks out of a big splash. Renegade with cross body to the floor. Pump handle backbreaker. What a moveset! Back to basics with a choke and a powerslam. Huge suplex for a two count. Lenny makes a comback with a bulldog, and Tony says we might see an upset. He misses a "Top Rope Flying Body Attack" and Renegade hits his crappy handspring elbow and a side slam for the win. Huh, i kinda liked it, basic WCWSN match
6 for 9
-Clash highlights, including Stings vulture attack!
Match 10: Harlem Heat vs Konnan/Syxx: This a bigger NWO team than i was expecting. The Heat, of course, has been pushed all show by the near mute cameos of Miss Jacqueline. Booker starts with Syxx. Beautiful spin wheel kick by Syxx, followed up by a Michinoku Driver. Dusty says this will be a measuring stick for Jackie's managment. I knew that was the story of this match! The NWO, btw, have Vincent with them at ringside, what role will he play? Stevie Ray tags in and misses a charge, giving Syxx a chance to do his kicks and the (according to Tony) "Bronco Rider". Konnan in and he goes to town, screams some catch pharses, and nearly gets dropped on a Ray powerslam. Booker comes back in and they nails a near missing double....punch. Boooker with an Ax kick for two. Booker off the ropes, gets nailed by Syxx, and walks into the rolling clothesline from K-Dawg. NWO pounds away in the corner, and Booker eventually does a flying schoolboy roll up as Konnan bends over for a backdrop. Stevie Ray back in and nails everyone with forearms and sloppy Ahemed Johnson kicks. Syxx gets caught coming off the top and is slammed. Booker up top for the Harlem Hangover, but Vincent pushes him off for the DQ! Steveie Ray cleans out and Jacqueline, after a whole show of posing and posturing backstage...does nothing, not even a clothesline to Vincent. What a disappointment. Booker-Syxx was enjoyable for what amount of time they were in there together, other wise, nothing here.
6 for 10: Oh yeah, 60% fun on this show, but that's only if you enjoy Renegade squashes. Overall, its a nice snapshot of WCW's undercard at the time.
Match 1: Alex Wright vs Mark Starr: Alex is fresh off a TV Title win over Ultimo Dragon! After years of being babyface, Alex finally uses his goofy German club dance to get heat, which is the best use of it. Mark Starr is best known as the lesser half of Men at Work, but was an amazingly tenured member of the roster, as far back as 1993. Starr controls with dropkicks and arm dragging. Oh, a double main event tonight: Eddie Guerrero vs Dean Malenko and Wrath and Mortis vs The FACES OF FEAR. Alex back in control with a suplex, but the play by play as always, is poor. Alex nails a stomp off the top...and dances. European uppercut by Wright as Dusty and Tony discuss the upcoming Fall Brawl. Alex misses a charge, and Starr fires away, but then falls prey to Alex begging off and a poke to the eyes. Wright off the top, missle drop kick and thats it. Nothing to see here.
0 for 1
-Alex gives a promo and calls Ultimo Dragon the "Ultimate Loser". They are fighting at Fall Brawl, a card which was made up of 80% Clash of the Champion rematches.
-Scheme Gene interview Evil Heel Eddie! Eddie laughs at the idea of everyone thinking he was a clean cut babyface. What sleeze. Eddie says tonight he'll see what Dean is all about, as if they've never wrestled before.
Match 2: Rick Fuller vs Hugh Morrus: Seeing Rick Fuller made me so happy, Hugh, not so much. Fuller starts off like a house of fire with chops and such. Hugh runs out of the corner with a clothesline. Punching by the laughting man, but he runs into a huge Rick Fuller spin kick. Hugh returns the favor with a spin wheel kick of his own, and then a leg drop below the beltline. A headbutt to the lower ab region, then a powerslam. I miss the Fuller offense. Rick comes back with a Triple H style knee jawbreaker, but is hit with a clothesline off a corner charager. No Laughing Matter Moonsault, and its over! Oh hm, not bad really, better than the usual Hugh Morrus squash.
1 for 2
-Fast forward through a Harlem Heat interivew. This is during the Miss Jacqueline manager phase, where they had a never ending fued with the Steiners while beating up NWO jobber teams.
Match 3: High Voltage vs Public Enemy: There's actually some set up to this, as we get a clip of the PE being descimated by HV on Nitro. This is also a long running fued based mostly on both teams having nothing to do and the tag belts slowly rotting away due to Bischoff's hatered of 2 vs 2 contests. Brawling on the outside to start, which settles into Rocco vs Kaos on the inside. That's probably the best combo of workers you could get in this match. Rage in now, and a tag to The Grunge. Rage with a huge suplex and Johnny does the D-Von sesizer sell. High Votlage ake control with a poetry in motion style splash, offically typing the PE in the number of double team moves they know. Many tags between High Voltage, and if I wasn't muting the sound, I'm sure Tony is mentioning it on commentry. Grunge comes back with a ok swinging neckbreak and makes the tag to Rocco, who goes crazy. Kaos vs Rock on the inside, they flub a kick and Rock gets a cradle off a suplex attempt. Johnny wanders off to get a table as Rock attempts to slam Kaos, but gets tripped up by Rage and his foot is held for the win. After the win, High Voltage double teams until Johnny finally gets the table inand they use it to gain a measure of revenge. Nothing tag match, but at least it was part of a fued
1 for 3
-Gene interviews Brad Armstrong. Brad tries to be a nice guy, but then makes a sudden heel turn, calls himself a VIP! and promises to start kicking ass all over WCW. Perhaps he could dawn the Badstreet costume. Gene shouldn't have called him a "young man"
Match 4: Brad Armstrong vs Prince Ieakuea: Let's see how long Brad's heel push lasts. Brad shoves and slaps the Prince, but Ieakuea fires back and Brad begs off. Prince is slowly sliding down the card after his poor TV title reign. Brad controls back in the ring with new found heel offense, chokes, turnbuckle slam, punches. Armstrong nails a nice back suplex and I'm amazed Tony and Dusty are discussing Brad's change of attitude. Sitting abdominal stretch locked on, eventually into a two count. Brad sets early for a body drop and gets cradled for two. Ieakuea with a backslide for another two, and Brad is pissed...and turns into a thrust kick, but kicks out. Prince goes up top, but comically misses a cross body. Russian legsweep, awesome float over, and its over! The reign of terror begins in WCW. Brad had a great cocky smirk on his face almost the whole time, He could have been easily put into the TV mix during this time or even early 1998. Oh well.
2 for 4
-Gene has another amazing 900 number plug, teasing WHAT STING WANTS?! Oakerland brings in Miss Jacqueline and has her stand there as he explains that she wants to take Harlem Heat ot the top, and some other naughty secrets which you can hear on the hotline. Jackie stands there looking amused.
Match 5: Super Calo, Juventud Guerrero, Ciclope vs Damien, La Parka, Psichosis: Sonny Ono is representing Parka and Psichosis. I'm considering not doing play by play. Juvi and Psichosis starts out, and that's the cue to discuss the Clash, Fall Brawl, and all things New World Order. Juvi messes up a victory roll, then tags in Ciclope, who gets taken down hard by Damien. Flip flop fly and Dusty screams out the call to "SPRING BOARD DROPKICK!" then "SPRING BOARD FLIP". Dusty deconstructs why they do so many spring boards as the heels take over. Tony joins in the discussion, and it kinda makes sense. La Parka accidently nails Psichosis. Super Calo headscissors Parka to the floor than dives out. Juvi powerbombs Damien and all heck is breaking loose. Top rope hurricanrana by Juvi, but Psichosis breaks up the pin. 450 by Juvi and another pin on Damien is broken up. Sonny Ono nails Ciclope in the back of the head, and Psichosis nails the top rope leg drop for the win. A bit of a mess, and not in an overly planned out way. But, I'm not asking for too much on WCWSN
3 for 5
-A replay of Mongo beating Jarrett for the US title at the Clash. I still don't under why the crowd poped so hard for it. I think it was a combo of their hatred for Debra and especially Jarrett. Still it's quite a sight to behold. Steve McMichael = Gulity Pleasure!
-Match 6: Eddie Guerrero vs Dean Malenko: Dusty reminds us the Mongo, being US champ, is one step away from Hogan! Now that would be a match. Dean looks more serious than usual. Malenko chases Eddie around, as this was during the more person part of their fued (Eddie cost him the Crusierweight title at Superbrawl that year). Full nelson switches and Eddie is dropped over to the top rope off a victory roll attempt. Malenko gutbuster and Dean stomps away. Eddie comes back with a thumb to the eye and a uppercut. Eddie counters a drop down monkey flip atempt by stepping on Dean's face, which was awesome. Dusty and Tony discuss the bad new attitudes of Eddie, Brad Armstrong and Alex Wright. That wouldn't have been a bad stable, and Eddie and Alex were halfway part of Debra's anti-Mongo kill squad in late 1997. Rest hold of the match is a rope assisted headscissors. Camera in close for Eddie's discussion about rope usage with Mark Curtis. Fall away slam by Eddie, which I forgot he did, and there's another face stomp. Tony spits out an odd reference to Dr. X, saying he did a similar face scraping twisting stomp. Dean finally comes back by pressing Eddie into the lights and a clothesline in the corner. They trade roll ups quickly, and Eddie goes back to the thumb in the eye. Guerrero leapfrog countered with a powerbomb. Series of reversals until Eddie nails a brainbuster then tries the cloverleaf on Dean, which, of course, is countered into a roll up for the pin. Jarrett sprints to the ring and heels begin to work over Malenko. Jarrett puts on the figure four and Eddie nails the frog splash. Good match
4 for 6
-Nitro recap
Match 7: Wrath and Mortis vs The Faces of Fear: I really enjoy this fued, and it demonstrated that if WCW cared, they could have had a better tag division during their boom period. They could have at least instated the US Tag belts again so teams that Hall and Nash were never going to put over (anyone not named the Steiners) would have something to go for. Brawl right off the bat, with Meng and Wrath going outside and Barbarian and Mortis ont he inside. Mortis with a spin kick off the second rope for a two count. Barbarian powers Mortis up and slams him into the corner, then Meng comes in with a choke. Stomping away now and some huge chops. Meng with a nice back suplex and pounds away some more. Barbarian comes back in and they trade kicks in the corner. Mortis does well becuase he was a big time pit fighter. Meng comes and Mortis kicks him off enough to tag Wrath. This is my favorite Brian Clarke gimmick. Meng catches Wratch coming off the second rope into a power slam. Double middle rope headbutt by the FOF. Mortis breaks up the pin. Wrath pulls out an inside cradle, and Tony is amazed! KICK OF FEAR!!!!! Barbarian goes for a cover and you can see Nick Patrick looking to make sure Mortis is coming in. All heck breaks loose and Wrath boots Barbarian and pins him with his own move. Mortis and Wrath try for some post match double teaming, but they get clotheslined outside. This fued needs to continue. Short but fun lil match.
5 for 7
-Ultimo Dragon profile by Mike Tenay. At least they're keeping him strong after losing the TV Title. They make a point of us how they stupidly called him Ultimate for nearly two years.
Match 8: Hector Guerrero vs Chris Benoit: Hector was brought into to put over Eddie as a jumping off point for the heel turn. Hector also donned the LAZERTRON outfit for a few WCW Pro Exclusive matches. They exchange chops right away I'm sure you know who wins. Hector with a series of headscissors, but a third one gets him pushes to the mat. Armdrag off a powerbomb attempt sends Chris out, but Hector is soon sent into the railing. Yes, its a little odd watching a Benoit match, I think all the media coverage has kinda desensitized me. But I dont think i want to go into that here, it's been discussed enough. Benoit wins.
-Gene is there with Jacqueline again, and this time she's allowed to SPEAK! She says she can lead the Harlem Heat to victory and that they can't talk about her past on the air! Call the outline to hear about her beating up Brandon Baxter in USWA!
Match 9: Renegade vs Lenny Lane: Renegade has Marc Mero's "Boxing" gimmick music. Ah, this is heel turn Renegade, another in a series of bad attitude heel turns. Renegade stomps away and drops Lenny over the top throat. Lenny with a headscissors, but misses a corner splash. Lane kicks out of a big splash. Renegade with cross body to the floor. Pump handle backbreaker. What a moveset! Back to basics with a choke and a powerslam. Huge suplex for a two count. Lenny makes a comback with a bulldog, and Tony says we might see an upset. He misses a "Top Rope Flying Body Attack" and Renegade hits his crappy handspring elbow and a side slam for the win. Huh, i kinda liked it, basic WCWSN match
6 for 9
-Clash highlights, including Stings vulture attack!
Match 10: Harlem Heat vs Konnan/Syxx: This a bigger NWO team than i was expecting. The Heat, of course, has been pushed all show by the near mute cameos of Miss Jacqueline. Booker starts with Syxx. Beautiful spin wheel kick by Syxx, followed up by a Michinoku Driver. Dusty says this will be a measuring stick for Jackie's managment. I knew that was the story of this match! The NWO, btw, have Vincent with them at ringside, what role will he play? Stevie Ray tags in and misses a charge, giving Syxx a chance to do his kicks and the (according to Tony) "Bronco Rider". Konnan in and he goes to town, screams some catch pharses, and nearly gets dropped on a Ray powerslam. Booker comes back in and they nails a near missing double....punch. Boooker with an Ax kick for two. Booker off the ropes, gets nailed by Syxx, and walks into the rolling clothesline from K-Dawg. NWO pounds away in the corner, and Booker eventually does a flying schoolboy roll up as Konnan bends over for a backdrop. Stevie Ray back in and nails everyone with forearms and sloppy Ahemed Johnson kicks. Syxx gets caught coming off the top and is slammed. Booker up top for the Harlem Hangover, but Vincent pushes him off for the DQ! Steveie Ray cleans out and Jacqueline, after a whole show of posing and posturing backstage...does nothing, not even a clothesline to Vincent. What a disappointment. Booker-Syxx was enjoyable for what amount of time they were in there together, other wise, nothing here.
6 for 10: Oh yeah, 60% fun on this show, but that's only if you enjoy Renegade squashes. Overall, its a nice snapshot of WCW's undercard at the time.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
OMG! it's a new blog...WCW Handheld 12-27-1991!
At this rate, the blog might be updated three times a year...we'll see how that pans out. Luckily, no one reads this, so it's all good.
However, if you stumbled on this and thought "I love random pro rasslin' reviews, but I'm not gonna read this if its only updated twice a year", allow me to explain the delay. I moved to Texas in July, before that, I worked two jobs to afford said move. So, outside of the occasional episode of RAW or SD or ECW, I had no time to watch wrestling. Now that the move is done though, and I'm still job hunting, there is plenty of free time at my disposal. So let's fire up the DVD player and pop in some WCW handheld goodness!
Ah, 1991 WCW. In wake of Flair's June depature, WCW was seiged upon by a motely cast of gimmick heavy super workers: from Van Hamer, PN News, Black Blood, to Big Josh and Oz, it was a thrilling time to be a fan of World Championship Wrestling. The York Foundation was in full swing, leading to a fun series of matches on any of the 65 various WCW TV shows featuring Buddy Landell, Terrence Taylor, Richard Morton, Tom Zenk, Bobby Eaton, Thomas Rich, and Dustin Rhodes. Lex Luger was champion of planet Earth and having his problems with Ron Simmons, Rick Steiner, and anyone else they could find until Sting was free to win the belt. Steve Austin had just arrived on the scene and had taken the TV title as his own, and Cactus Jack was making his second, and highest profile, stint to date, toughening up the Stinger before the eventual showdown with Flexy Lexy. Oh yeah, and there was an ill fated Light Heavyweight title, which was an excuse to put Morton and Johnny B. Badd in sub par matches with Mike Graham. However, on this show, I've heard, two guys named Flyin Brian and Jushin Liger are wrestling for it...I wonder if that's any good?
Let's begin:
Match One: Terrence Taylor vs PN News
Joy! Taylor is simi-frsh off joining the York Foundation, and News is fresh off his fifteen consecutive job to Steve Austin on WCW Saturday Night, so this should be a bg time batle to see who can crack into the WCW Top 10. Of course, as with most handheld videos, slight blurry and shakiness are an issue, so bear with me if play by play is an issue. After some stalling, News begins the match with an arm bar heavy offensive flurry, causing Terrence to bail to the outside. Back in...both...stand ther, before News locked on a grizzly like headlock. A knockdown off the ropes, and another headlock. As a side note, some time in 1991 WCW brought in Axl Rotten to fued with News, punk vs rap! It was also spossed to be a battle of the big splashes, though Axl was never fat enough for it work well...and he also didn't stay in the company for more than one or two TV tapings. Anyway, News misses a charge and Taylor goes right to work. Choking against the ropes and a series of punches which rocks the big man. I don't know how he's doing it without the computer out there telling him what to do! A slam attempt is stopped, and PN shows him how it's done. Three slams and I'm hving Muhammed Hassan flashbacks. Taylor off the ropes, drockkick by the Rap Master! The Broken Record Splash Misses...and Taylor hits the FIVE ARM, causing the fan who taped this to MARK OUT. Taylor has this well in hand but almost loses it off a PN schoolboy. Something happens which the camera misses....we'll just say it was a powerbomb by Taylor! News gets in control again and hits a Bundy like avalanche for the WIN?! That's it? Alright, decent but short little match, we'll have to go
0 for 1
Match 2: Dallas Page vs Jimmy Jam Garvin: There's at least some interesting continunity with Page being the Freebird's manager during the early and middle part of 1991. But this is also his first six months as an in ring performer. Jimmy starts off quick with a sunset flip and a clothesline, but then slows it way down with an arm bar. Dallas takes control off a clothesline, following it up with some basic punches, elbows and eblow drops. Russian leg sweep and rope choking, topped off by an over the top neck snap. At least it's well paced. Page misses his own Avalanche, obviously watching the previous bout, and Garvin begins a firey comeback. Off the ropes, Garvin leapfrongs and nails....a five arm? Seriously, he jumped up like Taylor and nailed an awkward fore arm shot for the win. That was odd, no DDT...no anything!
0 for 2
Match 3: Larry Zbyszko vs Tom Zenk: This has a fifteen minute time limit, so I don't expect any contact until minute nine. Zenk has this awesome theme that contains the lyrics "Yeah yeah yeah yeah YEAH yeah yeahhhh....". It goes well with his "debuting heel squash victim" gimmick. Aside from being invovled a little with the York Foundation/Dustin and friends storyline, Zenk did little after his 1990 TV title run. After some basic stuff inside, Larry actually picks up the pace and destroys Tom's knee on the side. Back in, he kicks away and snaps the lg around. This is insanely fast for Larry. Z-Man gets a sleeper out of no where, I think this was his finisher at some point. That doesn't last long, as Larry gets a standing rope assisted leg lock. More leg attacking, which I guess means no missle dropkick tonight. A few seconds later, Zenk gets a roll up out of no where for the feel good win! Not enough here, though oddly, more than I expected from Zbyszko.
0 for 3
Match 4: Cactus Jack/Abdullah the Butcher vs El Gigante/Van Hammer: Cactus and Hammer were in the middle of a fun little fued. Cactus starts with Gigante, and Mick isn't having the best time. Clotheslines and a bearhug, until Abdullah comes in, and now it's a battle of the big men! Abby runs into a boot and Gigante actually bear hugs him, lifting him off the ground. A claw on Abby, and then a double claw on Cactus as well. I've never longed for Van Hammer as much as I do now. Van Hammer in, and Abby tags Cactus. The fight is on! Hammer goofs up almost instantly, and Cactus nails a bulldog and the Cactus Clothesline over the top! This gives Abby time to beat on Hammer, cause it was the hip thing to do in 1991. This would be funnier if they were getting the heat on Gigante. Abdullah could just stab him with the fork over and over, no one would mind. Right now it's just a series of Abby chops until Hammer makes the comeback with a slam and a leg drop in his Hogan Imitator spot. He doesn't tag out because he's an idiot. Back and forth punches now on Cactus, then another slam and leg drop. Gigante comes in because he can't believe his parter is such a moron. As he's being pushed back this corner. Hammer goes for the slingshot suplex on Cactus, Abby nails him with their head on a stick thing, and Cactus gets the win. Van Hammer is a fool.
0 for 4
Match 5: Rick Rude vs Sting: Alright, things are going to get much better. Sting comes in and, not surprisingly, kicks Rudes ass with punches and a DDT. The crowd has woken up big time. Huge press slam and Sting throws Rude over the top, then takes him into the steel railing. I so miss the steel railing. Rude gets throw into the time keepers table, and Sting overturns it, stomps, and this is about as hardcore as he got when Cactus wasn't around. Back in, Rude pulls the knees up on a Stinger splash, and Sting bumps huge for a clothesline. Back breaker and it's heat time! Rude, btw, was US champion at this point, winning the belt off Sting after Sting was attacked by a mystery man during long Cactus/Abby/Luger fued. Chinlock by Rude. Long chinlock. Sting eventually powers out, but gets kneed again coming down for a splash. Rude throws him to the outside allowing Paul E to get a shot in. I don't know how I forgot, but this was, of course, during the height of the Dangerous Alliance! How I mentioned the York Foundation twice and not the Alliance, I'll never know. Rude locks on a bearhug. Sting reverses into his own bearhug, then an eyerake, but can't slam rude! Selling! Big suplex by the Ravshing One, and it looks all but over. Little Stingers are crying all throughout the arena. Sting comes back with punches and his goofy chops but gets caught in a sleeper. Rude wears him down onto the mat, the ref check the arm, and it's over! Sting is out...just kidding, he starts to make another come back. This time with two atomic drops, allowing Rick to do his fun selling. Clotheslines aplenty and a huge press up into the lights. Rude bumps into the ref as Sting locks on the deathlock, but there's no ref! Sting takes care of Paul he and knocks Rude out with the cell phone. Another ref slides in and counts the pin...another ref...aww, we know where this is going, mass confusion and Rude nails Sting with the US Title. I think Sting won via DQ, either for the ref bump or the belt shot. Either way, good times!
1 for 5
Match 6: Richard Morton vs Johnny B. Badd: Richard Morton is, of course, decked out in his heel of attire of faded blue tights and chaps, his hair looking exactly like it did five years ago. This heel turn was as affective as Tatanka. And neither of them saw fit to change their gear that much either, there's an obvious correlation. Not much early on. Punches are missed. Lots of walking around, until Morton hits a huge hip toss. Badd with a hip toss and arm drag, Morton hits an atomic drop, and Johnny is the least firey face ever (he was coming off turing against Teddy Long). Richard controls on the outside, which isn't to say he does anything. Back in and still nothing, a suplex. For a guy who spent most of his time getting worked over by heels, Ricky sure didn't pick up much on how to do it. Punches and a choke. Badd misses a charge. A
Badd inside cradle gets two, which upsets me, cause I'm ready to move on from this. This is obviously not the right role for Ricky Morton. You know, yesterday I found a handheld which has Ricky Morton vs Tully Blanchard on it. I'm sure its ten times better than this. Also has Gibson vs Arn Anderson, I need to review it soon. Badd comes back for a moment with a powerslam, then hits the top rope sunset flip for the win. Dull as dirt
1 for 6
Match 7: "Stunning" Steve Austin vs Scott Steiner: This is more like it. Scott was just coming back from a torn tricep, and, seeing as Rick was in a little side fued with Luger, we get a rare singles match from Scotty. Very exciting. Scotty had earlier in the year wrestled Flair in a great one on one match, which I think was the first time they wanted to push him solo until Rick begged Scott not to let them. Scott backs Austin ito the corner because he is super strong. Scott takes him to the mat early, because he's also a better mat technician. Side headlock by Austin. These days, you'd watch these two men for the promos...this was a different time. Austin throws Scotty outside, but gets caught coming off the apron. Austin nails him on the way back in and fires away with punches. Military press by Scott and a huge clothesline. Austin goes back to the headlock but gets caught in a headscissors. Austin takes control for a moment, but Scotty drives him with a tilt a whirl slam, causing Stunning Steve to bail. Scott follows him and slams him and slams him on the outside Back in and Scott does lifts Austin into the powerbomb position and does the Rick Steiner ram him stomach first to the corner. Steiner charges and Austin ducks low and sends him over the top, then comes off the apron with an ax handle smash. Some choking against the guard rail. Austin continues to work over the arm in ring. Not much to type during this part. Scott makes a comback with a knee lift, but gets taken down and arm barred again. These two would not have a singles match on TV against each other until late 1992, when Scott would win the TV title just seconds before leaving for WWF. It was an odd little moment, which I only vaguely remember and should rewatch Saturday Nights from that period to freshen up. Barry Windham and Austin then fued over it a little I think, having a good 2 out of 3 falls match. Anyway, Austin's heavily in control right now, kicking away at the arm, until Scotty just says "screw this" and throws him back hard with a German Suplex. To the outside, Scott slams him into the railing and then onto the timekeepers table, tipping it over much like in the last match. Austin runs back into the ring. Backbreaker by Scotty, and a double underhook powerbomb. Belly to belly suplex for two...and its a time limit draw! Aw geez Pretty good, though the heat segment was a little long, especially if they were only going 15.
2 for 7
Match Eight: Jushin "Thunder" Liger vs Brian Pillman: I think Liger won the Light Heavyweight title on Christmas Night, so this would be two nights later. Liger in control early after some flipply arm bar counters. Brian comes back with a headscissors out of the corner and a victory roll. Drop toe hold and arm bar by Pillman. Liger with a headlock, off the ropes, and he connects with an enzuguir. Pillman dumps Liger onto the apron, but gets knocked down and liger comes back in over the top with a splash for two, then slows down for some leg work. Ah yes, both men trying to ground the other the game of human chess! Headscissors and hip toss by Pillman, than a dropkick and arm drag into a bar on the arm! Sure nice to see some moves placed in between holds. Liger with a back drop and a spin wheel kick to send Brian outside. That's followed by a baseball slide dropkick, and a plancha fakeout, and another baseball slide. They're teasing the dive! Build the highspot, that's exciting. I'd been so used to spottier matches, I totally expected Liger to go flying outside there, they sure fooled me. Liger with a chinlock now, and a minute later they do the goofy both men trying for arm drags double Matrix arm drag thingie, which Brian wins and follows up on with a short arm scissors. Stand hammerlock by Brian, which gets reversed, and then he runs Liger to the outside. Brian holds the ropes, but Liger pulls himo ut and throws him into the guard rail, solidifying himself as a heel! The table is used again, this time meeting Pillman's head, and evil foreign heel Liger tosses Brian back in and kills him with a flipping senton. Up top for a monsault, which only gets two. He slams Brian again and climbs up, crushing him with a top rope summersault senton, that's just mean! It only gets two. Knucklelock bridge spot, into a Pillman monkey flip but Liger catches him with a powerslam for a good two count. Jushin slows it down with a headscissors, but Brian catches him going for another moonsualt and dropkicks him to the floor. Pillman does his own baseball slide dropkick and decides to just crack Liger across the back a chair. Liger backdrops out of a piledriver attempt and hits a huge Asai Moonsault, coming up just an inch short. It still looked great. He tries to suplex Pillman back in, but settles for wheel kicking him down to the floor again. Linger goes for a dive but Brian jumps up on the apron and nails the Air Pillman clothesline, then pulls Liger back to the apron, steps onto it, and suplexes him outside, getting the move he wanted two minutes ago. Brian throws him back in and climbs up top, and both men try dropkicks. Liger misses a spin wheel kick, but Pillman's connects for two. Awesome near falls here. Pillman sends him off the ropes, ducks too early and Liger nails a powerbomb for another two. Tombstone atempt by Liger, but Brian reverses it but gets only two. Mid air collision and both men are down, this is fantastic. Not sure how it stacks up with the Superbrawl 2 match, I need to watch that again, and not the clipped to hell Turner Home Video version. Minutes later, both men on top and Brian blocks a superplex attempt, throwing Liger off, he goes for a cross body, with the champ rolls through for the win! I'm pretty sure this was a defense by Liger, as in the title change match, there's a plancha, it was shown in clips on TBS. But I'll double check. Anyway, great match, awesome pacing, they built up the high flying stuff and actually built to simple moves (the baseball slides, the apron suplex). Just a blast to watch.
3 for 8
Match 9: Arn Anderson/Bobby Eaton vs Ricky Streamboat/Dustin Rhodes: This house show has taken a turn for the better. Dustin and Steamboat had been teaming since The Dragon returned to WCW. Arn Anderson and Larry Zbyszko were tag team champions then, and barely able to hold onto the belts in the wake of the rise of Bill Kazmier before eventually losing to Steamboat and Rhodes. Anyway, this is a number of months removed from that, all the heels are in the Dangerous Alliance, and Paul E. has teamed up Anderson and Eaton, becuase he's brilliant. Arn starts with Ricky and I wonder if these two ever had a singles match against each other on TV. All I remember is tag matches. The faces control early, as to be expected. After little success, Eaton comes in and they fight over a top wristlock, Eaton takes over with his badass swinging neckbreaker, a move that has, sadly been lost to the ages, partly in thanks to Marcus Alexander Bagwell's piss poor version of it. Dustin in, and Eaton gives him the great right to the face. Arn comes back in, continuing a fued with Rhodes that would go on for the better part of Dustin's run in WCW. Arn cuts Dustin up top, goes for a superplex, but for some reason,gives a thumbs up, takes to long, gets dumped off and Dustindoes a great top rope lariet. Arn bails out, Ricky nails a chop off the apron, goes crazy with a chair and Dustin elbows both heels inside the ring...it kinda breaks down until Arn and Dustin are back in the ring, the two legal men. That was a very nice break in form, I was totally expecting a long Dustin in perial. Ah there we go, Dustin does his trademark cross body and crashes to the mat, rolling otside where Eatin is free to go to work. Medusa, btw, is with the Tag Champs, sporting some sort of ship captians outfit left over from the Bruise Cruise. In an odd moment, Steamboat comes over to the heels side to stop the double and triple teaming, but just ends up getting slammed on the floor. This, however, does no lead to Dustin attempting a tag and finding no partner, Ricky just sells and eventually gets back to the corner while The Natural gets his ass kicked. Odd...Arn nails a DDT off a Dustin irish whip, but Dustin gets a kick out. It was like an anit-babyface comeback. Dustin is needing some kinda Hulk-Up spot, like the Tatanka war dance or the Warrior seizure. He tries to punch his way out of the corner, but Arn makes the awesome tag off a Dustin atomic drop, and the heels run wild some more. The story hereis that Eaton an Arm are easily the better team, accented by every time Ricky goes to help Dustin but actually ends up getting more beat up. He attempts a second time but Eaton drives his head into a ringside chair. It's interesting, and I would hope it effects Ricky's ability to fight even if Dustin makes the hot tag. The experience of the DA team is really showing here. Dustin gets the Eaton neckbreaker here, and, if Bobby was a face, it'd be Alabama Jam time...but he's not, so Dustin just gets a knee to the face. He finally makes the hot tag and Steamboat goes nuts with those illegal karate blows! He does a double chop to the head of both men. Eaton and Ricky end up inside as Arn sends Dustin into the pole. Steamboat gets a roll up on Eaton for the win. Rhodes and Steamboat win, retaining the belts, but you do get the feeling on any given night, they could lose them, just because they didn't jell as much as Paul E's team. Oh yeah, and the Dangerous Alliance beat them down afterward. Great match!
4 for 9
Match 10: Lex Luger vs Rick Steiner: Gary Michael Capetta threatens me by saying this is match has a one hour time limit. They should run through their power spots like at the Superbrawl 1 Steiners vs Sting/Luger match and then go to the finish. This mini-fued, as mentioned earlier, is the result of Scott taking the summer off for a torn tricep. Rick got a pin in a non-match against Luger, and the guys holding the camera chant that they want Flair. Three seconds in, Luger tosses Rick so Mr. Hughes can beat on him some, setting up the Steiners vs Hughes/Vader during the first part of 1992. Rick takes over on the inside with a back drop and some punches, and a german. Not much heat, which is a combination of 1. Rick not realistically having a chance of being made champion and 2. It's a house show, so title changes are less likely than usual. Luger stalls on the outside, because his 1991 heel character, until the 1989 version, is based around being boring. Luger was also slowly getting depushed, while still champion mind you, due to his contract being up in a few months, and the Dagerous Alliance kicking ass all over WCW. Punches and clotheslines back and forth, very slowly,Luger dumps Rick outside again, so this time Harley Race can get a shot in. It might have been Race the first time, now that I think about it. Luger takes Rick into the guard rail. Every move Lex does is highlighted by him walking around in a circle pointlessly after it. Bak in with an elbow drop, not the sky high never hits elbow, just a regular one. They seemed to skip the whole opening face control portion of the match. Maybe its because most of Rick's offense needs to be saved for the comeback. Rick sells and ax handle by slumping his shoulders and punching Luger in the face, but Lex cuts him of with a clothesline and sets up for the piledriver. However, he lifts Rick about two inches up to high, jumps bakc on his ass and plants Steiner to the mat with the worlds most half ass piledriver powerbomb thingie. Rick makes a comeback and I don't notice it because the crowd isn't buying it. They spill outside, Rick goes at Lex with a chair, misses and Luger tries to run to the dressing room. Rick brings him back and begs off. Well, I'm sure he's seen it enough from Flair. Rick slams him and nails the top rope bulldog, for two...probably because Harley was late getting in the ring to break the count. Race trips Rick, who goes outside after him, leading Luger to sneak around and nail Steiner from the back. Harley goes for a piledriver and takes a backdrop outside, and it seems like they're running through seven different match finishes. Rick tries to get back inside the ring, Leg grabs his legs and holds him out, as ring is grabbing the freaking ropes, until it's a double count out! WOW, that was shitty, Scott runs in to stop Luger and Race from double teaming Rick and that's it. That didn't work at all. Why in the world they had to protect Rick Steiner, when he's going back with Scott for tag teaming soon anyway, I dont know, but it made Luger look like a tool who couldn't even win after hittng his sloppy ass pile driver.
4 for 10
Final Thoughts: The highs here are great (Liger/Pillman and Rhodes/Steamboat vs The Dangerous Alliance) and the lows aren't so bad, and at least kept short. The main event is a mess which helped make Lex look like less of a might champion, leading to his anti-climactic match with Sting at Superbrawl 2. Anyway, the middle portion of the show is entertaining, the opener is alright. I had a good time. Thanks for reading!
However, if you stumbled on this and thought "I love random pro rasslin' reviews, but I'm not gonna read this if its only updated twice a year", allow me to explain the delay. I moved to Texas in July, before that, I worked two jobs to afford said move. So, outside of the occasional episode of RAW or SD or ECW, I had no time to watch wrestling. Now that the move is done though, and I'm still job hunting, there is plenty of free time at my disposal. So let's fire up the DVD player and pop in some WCW handheld goodness!
Ah, 1991 WCW. In wake of Flair's June depature, WCW was seiged upon by a motely cast of gimmick heavy super workers: from Van Hamer, PN News, Black Blood, to Big Josh and Oz, it was a thrilling time to be a fan of World Championship Wrestling. The York Foundation was in full swing, leading to a fun series of matches on any of the 65 various WCW TV shows featuring Buddy Landell, Terrence Taylor, Richard Morton, Tom Zenk, Bobby Eaton, Thomas Rich, and Dustin Rhodes. Lex Luger was champion of planet Earth and having his problems with Ron Simmons, Rick Steiner, and anyone else they could find until Sting was free to win the belt. Steve Austin had just arrived on the scene and had taken the TV title as his own, and Cactus Jack was making his second, and highest profile, stint to date, toughening up the Stinger before the eventual showdown with Flexy Lexy. Oh yeah, and there was an ill fated Light Heavyweight title, which was an excuse to put Morton and Johnny B. Badd in sub par matches with Mike Graham. However, on this show, I've heard, two guys named Flyin Brian and Jushin Liger are wrestling for it...I wonder if that's any good?
Let's begin:
Match One: Terrence Taylor vs PN News
Joy! Taylor is simi-frsh off joining the York Foundation, and News is fresh off his fifteen consecutive job to Steve Austin on WCW Saturday Night, so this should be a bg time batle to see who can crack into the WCW Top 10. Of course, as with most handheld videos, slight blurry and shakiness are an issue, so bear with me if play by play is an issue. After some stalling, News begins the match with an arm bar heavy offensive flurry, causing Terrence to bail to the outside. Back in...both...stand ther, before News locked on a grizzly like headlock. A knockdown off the ropes, and another headlock. As a side note, some time in 1991 WCW brought in Axl Rotten to fued with News, punk vs rap! It was also spossed to be a battle of the big splashes, though Axl was never fat enough for it work well...and he also didn't stay in the company for more than one or two TV tapings. Anyway, News misses a charge and Taylor goes right to work. Choking against the ropes and a series of punches which rocks the big man. I don't know how he's doing it without the computer out there telling him what to do! A slam attempt is stopped, and PN shows him how it's done. Three slams and I'm hving Muhammed Hassan flashbacks. Taylor off the ropes, drockkick by the Rap Master! The Broken Record Splash Misses...and Taylor hits the FIVE ARM, causing the fan who taped this to MARK OUT. Taylor has this well in hand but almost loses it off a PN schoolboy. Something happens which the camera misses....we'll just say it was a powerbomb by Taylor! News gets in control again and hits a Bundy like avalanche for the WIN?! That's it? Alright, decent but short little match, we'll have to go
0 for 1
Match 2: Dallas Page vs Jimmy Jam Garvin: There's at least some interesting continunity with Page being the Freebird's manager during the early and middle part of 1991. But this is also his first six months as an in ring performer. Jimmy starts off quick with a sunset flip and a clothesline, but then slows it way down with an arm bar. Dallas takes control off a clothesline, following it up with some basic punches, elbows and eblow drops. Russian leg sweep and rope choking, topped off by an over the top neck snap. At least it's well paced. Page misses his own Avalanche, obviously watching the previous bout, and Garvin begins a firey comeback. Off the ropes, Garvin leapfrongs and nails....a five arm? Seriously, he jumped up like Taylor and nailed an awkward fore arm shot for the win. That was odd, no DDT...no anything!
0 for 2
Match 3: Larry Zbyszko vs Tom Zenk: This has a fifteen minute time limit, so I don't expect any contact until minute nine. Zenk has this awesome theme that contains the lyrics "Yeah yeah yeah yeah YEAH yeah yeahhhh....". It goes well with his "debuting heel squash victim" gimmick. Aside from being invovled a little with the York Foundation/Dustin and friends storyline, Zenk did little after his 1990 TV title run. After some basic stuff inside, Larry actually picks up the pace and destroys Tom's knee on the side. Back in, he kicks away and snaps the lg around. This is insanely fast for Larry. Z-Man gets a sleeper out of no where, I think this was his finisher at some point. That doesn't last long, as Larry gets a standing rope assisted leg lock. More leg attacking, which I guess means no missle dropkick tonight. A few seconds later, Zenk gets a roll up out of no where for the feel good win! Not enough here, though oddly, more than I expected from Zbyszko.
0 for 3
Match 4: Cactus Jack/Abdullah the Butcher vs El Gigante/Van Hammer: Cactus and Hammer were in the middle of a fun little fued. Cactus starts with Gigante, and Mick isn't having the best time. Clotheslines and a bearhug, until Abdullah comes in, and now it's a battle of the big men! Abby runs into a boot and Gigante actually bear hugs him, lifting him off the ground. A claw on Abby, and then a double claw on Cactus as well. I've never longed for Van Hammer as much as I do now. Van Hammer in, and Abby tags Cactus. The fight is on! Hammer goofs up almost instantly, and Cactus nails a bulldog and the Cactus Clothesline over the top! This gives Abby time to beat on Hammer, cause it was the hip thing to do in 1991. This would be funnier if they were getting the heat on Gigante. Abdullah could just stab him with the fork over and over, no one would mind. Right now it's just a series of Abby chops until Hammer makes the comeback with a slam and a leg drop in his Hogan Imitator spot. He doesn't tag out because he's an idiot. Back and forth punches now on Cactus, then another slam and leg drop. Gigante comes in because he can't believe his parter is such a moron. As he's being pushed back this corner. Hammer goes for the slingshot suplex on Cactus, Abby nails him with their head on a stick thing, and Cactus gets the win. Van Hammer is a fool.
0 for 4
Match 5: Rick Rude vs Sting: Alright, things are going to get much better. Sting comes in and, not surprisingly, kicks Rudes ass with punches and a DDT. The crowd has woken up big time. Huge press slam and Sting throws Rude over the top, then takes him into the steel railing. I so miss the steel railing. Rude gets throw into the time keepers table, and Sting overturns it, stomps, and this is about as hardcore as he got when Cactus wasn't around. Back in, Rude pulls the knees up on a Stinger splash, and Sting bumps huge for a clothesline. Back breaker and it's heat time! Rude, btw, was US champion at this point, winning the belt off Sting after Sting was attacked by a mystery man during long Cactus/Abby/Luger fued. Chinlock by Rude. Long chinlock. Sting eventually powers out, but gets kneed again coming down for a splash. Rude throws him to the outside allowing Paul E to get a shot in. I don't know how I forgot, but this was, of course, during the height of the Dangerous Alliance! How I mentioned the York Foundation twice and not the Alliance, I'll never know. Rude locks on a bearhug. Sting reverses into his own bearhug, then an eyerake, but can't slam rude! Selling! Big suplex by the Ravshing One, and it looks all but over. Little Stingers are crying all throughout the arena. Sting comes back with punches and his goofy chops but gets caught in a sleeper. Rude wears him down onto the mat, the ref check the arm, and it's over! Sting is out...just kidding, he starts to make another come back. This time with two atomic drops, allowing Rick to do his fun selling. Clotheslines aplenty and a huge press up into the lights. Rude bumps into the ref as Sting locks on the deathlock, but there's no ref! Sting takes care of Paul he and knocks Rude out with the cell phone. Another ref slides in and counts the pin...another ref...aww, we know where this is going, mass confusion and Rude nails Sting with the US Title. I think Sting won via DQ, either for the ref bump or the belt shot. Either way, good times!
1 for 5
Match 6: Richard Morton vs Johnny B. Badd: Richard Morton is, of course, decked out in his heel of attire of faded blue tights and chaps, his hair looking exactly like it did five years ago. This heel turn was as affective as Tatanka. And neither of them saw fit to change their gear that much either, there's an obvious correlation. Not much early on. Punches are missed. Lots of walking around, until Morton hits a huge hip toss. Badd with a hip toss and arm drag, Morton hits an atomic drop, and Johnny is the least firey face ever (he was coming off turing against Teddy Long). Richard controls on the outside, which isn't to say he does anything. Back in and still nothing, a suplex. For a guy who spent most of his time getting worked over by heels, Ricky sure didn't pick up much on how to do it. Punches and a choke. Badd misses a charge. A
Badd inside cradle gets two, which upsets me, cause I'm ready to move on from this. This is obviously not the right role for Ricky Morton. You know, yesterday I found a handheld which has Ricky Morton vs Tully Blanchard on it. I'm sure its ten times better than this. Also has Gibson vs Arn Anderson, I need to review it soon. Badd comes back for a moment with a powerslam, then hits the top rope sunset flip for the win. Dull as dirt
1 for 6
Match 7: "Stunning" Steve Austin vs Scott Steiner: This is more like it. Scott was just coming back from a torn tricep, and, seeing as Rick was in a little side fued with Luger, we get a rare singles match from Scotty. Very exciting. Scotty had earlier in the year wrestled Flair in a great one on one match, which I think was the first time they wanted to push him solo until Rick begged Scott not to let them. Scott backs Austin ito the corner because he is super strong. Scott takes him to the mat early, because he's also a better mat technician. Side headlock by Austin. These days, you'd watch these two men for the promos...this was a different time. Austin throws Scotty outside, but gets caught coming off the apron. Austin nails him on the way back in and fires away with punches. Military press by Scott and a huge clothesline. Austin goes back to the headlock but gets caught in a headscissors. Austin takes control for a moment, but Scotty drives him with a tilt a whirl slam, causing Stunning Steve to bail. Scott follows him and slams him and slams him on the outside Back in and Scott does lifts Austin into the powerbomb position and does the Rick Steiner ram him stomach first to the corner. Steiner charges and Austin ducks low and sends him over the top, then comes off the apron with an ax handle smash. Some choking against the guard rail. Austin continues to work over the arm in ring. Not much to type during this part. Scott makes a comback with a knee lift, but gets taken down and arm barred again. These two would not have a singles match on TV against each other until late 1992, when Scott would win the TV title just seconds before leaving for WWF. It was an odd little moment, which I only vaguely remember and should rewatch Saturday Nights from that period to freshen up. Barry Windham and Austin then fued over it a little I think, having a good 2 out of 3 falls match. Anyway, Austin's heavily in control right now, kicking away at the arm, until Scotty just says "screw this" and throws him back hard with a German Suplex. To the outside, Scott slams him into the railing and then onto the timekeepers table, tipping it over much like in the last match. Austin runs back into the ring. Backbreaker by Scotty, and a double underhook powerbomb. Belly to belly suplex for two...and its a time limit draw! Aw geez Pretty good, though the heat segment was a little long, especially if they were only going 15.
2 for 7
Match Eight: Jushin "Thunder" Liger vs Brian Pillman: I think Liger won the Light Heavyweight title on Christmas Night, so this would be two nights later. Liger in control early after some flipply arm bar counters. Brian comes back with a headscissors out of the corner and a victory roll. Drop toe hold and arm bar by Pillman. Liger with a headlock, off the ropes, and he connects with an enzuguir. Pillman dumps Liger onto the apron, but gets knocked down and liger comes back in over the top with a splash for two, then slows down for some leg work. Ah yes, both men trying to ground the other the game of human chess! Headscissors and hip toss by Pillman, than a dropkick and arm drag into a bar on the arm! Sure nice to see some moves placed in between holds. Liger with a back drop and a spin wheel kick to send Brian outside. That's followed by a baseball slide dropkick, and a plancha fakeout, and another baseball slide. They're teasing the dive! Build the highspot, that's exciting. I'd been so used to spottier matches, I totally expected Liger to go flying outside there, they sure fooled me. Liger with a chinlock now, and a minute later they do the goofy both men trying for arm drags double Matrix arm drag thingie, which Brian wins and follows up on with a short arm scissors. Stand hammerlock by Brian, which gets reversed, and then he runs Liger to the outside. Brian holds the ropes, but Liger pulls himo ut and throws him into the guard rail, solidifying himself as a heel! The table is used again, this time meeting Pillman's head, and evil foreign heel Liger tosses Brian back in and kills him with a flipping senton. Up top for a monsault, which only gets two. He slams Brian again and climbs up, crushing him with a top rope summersault senton, that's just mean! It only gets two. Knucklelock bridge spot, into a Pillman monkey flip but Liger catches him with a powerslam for a good two count. Jushin slows it down with a headscissors, but Brian catches him going for another moonsualt and dropkicks him to the floor. Pillman does his own baseball slide dropkick and decides to just crack Liger across the back a chair. Liger backdrops out of a piledriver attempt and hits a huge Asai Moonsault, coming up just an inch short. It still looked great. He tries to suplex Pillman back in, but settles for wheel kicking him down to the floor again. Linger goes for a dive but Brian jumps up on the apron and nails the Air Pillman clothesline, then pulls Liger back to the apron, steps onto it, and suplexes him outside, getting the move he wanted two minutes ago. Brian throws him back in and climbs up top, and both men try dropkicks. Liger misses a spin wheel kick, but Pillman's connects for two. Awesome near falls here. Pillman sends him off the ropes, ducks too early and Liger nails a powerbomb for another two. Tombstone atempt by Liger, but Brian reverses it but gets only two. Mid air collision and both men are down, this is fantastic. Not sure how it stacks up with the Superbrawl 2 match, I need to watch that again, and not the clipped to hell Turner Home Video version. Minutes later, both men on top and Brian blocks a superplex attempt, throwing Liger off, he goes for a cross body, with the champ rolls through for the win! I'm pretty sure this was a defense by Liger, as in the title change match, there's a plancha, it was shown in clips on TBS. But I'll double check. Anyway, great match, awesome pacing, they built up the high flying stuff and actually built to simple moves (the baseball slides, the apron suplex). Just a blast to watch.
3 for 8
Match 9: Arn Anderson/Bobby Eaton vs Ricky Streamboat/Dustin Rhodes: This house show has taken a turn for the better. Dustin and Steamboat had been teaming since The Dragon returned to WCW. Arn Anderson and Larry Zbyszko were tag team champions then, and barely able to hold onto the belts in the wake of the rise of Bill Kazmier before eventually losing to Steamboat and Rhodes. Anyway, this is a number of months removed from that, all the heels are in the Dangerous Alliance, and Paul E. has teamed up Anderson and Eaton, becuase he's brilliant. Arn starts with Ricky and I wonder if these two ever had a singles match against each other on TV. All I remember is tag matches. The faces control early, as to be expected. After little success, Eaton comes in and they fight over a top wristlock, Eaton takes over with his badass swinging neckbreaker, a move that has, sadly been lost to the ages, partly in thanks to Marcus Alexander Bagwell's piss poor version of it. Dustin in, and Eaton gives him the great right to the face. Arn comes back in, continuing a fued with Rhodes that would go on for the better part of Dustin's run in WCW. Arn cuts Dustin up top, goes for a superplex, but for some reason,gives a thumbs up, takes to long, gets dumped off and Dustindoes a great top rope lariet. Arn bails out, Ricky nails a chop off the apron, goes crazy with a chair and Dustin elbows both heels inside the ring...it kinda breaks down until Arn and Dustin are back in the ring, the two legal men. That was a very nice break in form, I was totally expecting a long Dustin in perial. Ah there we go, Dustin does his trademark cross body and crashes to the mat, rolling otside where Eatin is free to go to work. Medusa, btw, is with the Tag Champs, sporting some sort of ship captians outfit left over from the Bruise Cruise. In an odd moment, Steamboat comes over to the heels side to stop the double and triple teaming, but just ends up getting slammed on the floor. This, however, does no lead to Dustin attempting a tag and finding no partner, Ricky just sells and eventually gets back to the corner while The Natural gets his ass kicked. Odd...Arn nails a DDT off a Dustin irish whip, but Dustin gets a kick out. It was like an anit-babyface comeback. Dustin is needing some kinda Hulk-Up spot, like the Tatanka war dance or the Warrior seizure. He tries to punch his way out of the corner, but Arn makes the awesome tag off a Dustin atomic drop, and the heels run wild some more. The story hereis that Eaton an Arm are easily the better team, accented by every time Ricky goes to help Dustin but actually ends up getting more beat up. He attempts a second time but Eaton drives his head into a ringside chair. It's interesting, and I would hope it effects Ricky's ability to fight even if Dustin makes the hot tag. The experience of the DA team is really showing here. Dustin gets the Eaton neckbreaker here, and, if Bobby was a face, it'd be Alabama Jam time...but he's not, so Dustin just gets a knee to the face. He finally makes the hot tag and Steamboat goes nuts with those illegal karate blows! He does a double chop to the head of both men. Eaton and Ricky end up inside as Arn sends Dustin into the pole. Steamboat gets a roll up on Eaton for the win. Rhodes and Steamboat win, retaining the belts, but you do get the feeling on any given night, they could lose them, just because they didn't jell as much as Paul E's team. Oh yeah, and the Dangerous Alliance beat them down afterward. Great match!
4 for 9
Match 10: Lex Luger vs Rick Steiner: Gary Michael Capetta threatens me by saying this is match has a one hour time limit. They should run through their power spots like at the Superbrawl 1 Steiners vs Sting/Luger match and then go to the finish. This mini-fued, as mentioned earlier, is the result of Scott taking the summer off for a torn tricep. Rick got a pin in a non-match against Luger, and the guys holding the camera chant that they want Flair. Three seconds in, Luger tosses Rick so Mr. Hughes can beat on him some, setting up the Steiners vs Hughes/Vader during the first part of 1992. Rick takes over on the inside with a back drop and some punches, and a german. Not much heat, which is a combination of 1. Rick not realistically having a chance of being made champion and 2. It's a house show, so title changes are less likely than usual. Luger stalls on the outside, because his 1991 heel character, until the 1989 version, is based around being boring. Luger was also slowly getting depushed, while still champion mind you, due to his contract being up in a few months, and the Dagerous Alliance kicking ass all over WCW. Punches and clotheslines back and forth, very slowly,Luger dumps Rick outside again, so this time Harley Race can get a shot in. It might have been Race the first time, now that I think about it. Luger takes Rick into the guard rail. Every move Lex does is highlighted by him walking around in a circle pointlessly after it. Bak in with an elbow drop, not the sky high never hits elbow, just a regular one. They seemed to skip the whole opening face control portion of the match. Maybe its because most of Rick's offense needs to be saved for the comeback. Rick sells and ax handle by slumping his shoulders and punching Luger in the face, but Lex cuts him of with a clothesline and sets up for the piledriver. However, he lifts Rick about two inches up to high, jumps bakc on his ass and plants Steiner to the mat with the worlds most half ass piledriver powerbomb thingie. Rick makes a comeback and I don't notice it because the crowd isn't buying it. They spill outside, Rick goes at Lex with a chair, misses and Luger tries to run to the dressing room. Rick brings him back and begs off. Well, I'm sure he's seen it enough from Flair. Rick slams him and nails the top rope bulldog, for two...probably because Harley was late getting in the ring to break the count. Race trips Rick, who goes outside after him, leading Luger to sneak around and nail Steiner from the back. Harley goes for a piledriver and takes a backdrop outside, and it seems like they're running through seven different match finishes. Rick tries to get back inside the ring, Leg grabs his legs and holds him out, as ring is grabbing the freaking ropes, until it's a double count out! WOW, that was shitty, Scott runs in to stop Luger and Race from double teaming Rick and that's it. That didn't work at all. Why in the world they had to protect Rick Steiner, when he's going back with Scott for tag teaming soon anyway, I dont know, but it made Luger look like a tool who couldn't even win after hittng his sloppy ass pile driver.
4 for 10
Final Thoughts: The highs here are great (Liger/Pillman and Rhodes/Steamboat vs The Dangerous Alliance) and the lows aren't so bad, and at least kept short. The main event is a mess which helped make Lex look like less of a might champion, leading to his anti-climactic match with Sting at Superbrawl 2. Anyway, the middle portion of the show is entertaining, the opener is alright. I had a good time. Thanks for reading!
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