Post by dbutler69 on Apr 25, 2024 16:02:21 GMT -5
I finished watching WCW Slamboree 1994.
Again, Bobby Heenan and Tony Schiovane are the announcers with Ventura doing interviews and Okerlund doing features from the interview platform. This was held in Philadelphia.
Rick Rude was supposed to defend his international title against Vader here, but suffered a career ending injury in Japan, so Commissioner Bockwinkle rules the recent Rude-Sting bout a no-contest and awards the international title to Sting, but Sting comes out and says he refuses to win a title in the board room, but he will wrestle Vader for the title. Good man! Still, it might have helped their buy rate if they had announced this match beforehand instead of during the event.
Sensational Sherri (now Sensual Sherri due to WWF rights issues) is in the audience! 2 Cold Scorpio was fired for failing a drug test, unfortunately. Ric Flair is going to wrestle a large mystery masked opponent (who attacked him on an episode of WCW Saturday Night and is in Col. Parker’s stable) for the WCW title.
First match is a U.S. Title Match: Stunning Steve Austin (c) (w/ Col. Parker) vs. Johnny B. Badd.
This was a pretty good match, mostly mat based, with a botched ending. I don’t know what they were going for, or how to describe it, but basically they were both laying on the mat and Austin rolled on top of Bad for the pin and retains his belt.
Next match is a Legends match, Tully Blanchard v. Terry Funk. Gordon Solie joins Heenan on commentary for this one. This is ECW territory, so Funk got an especially nice pop from the crowd. This was a wild brawl. I’d have thought it was a no DQ (with all the weapons that Funk used) and no countout match, but I guess the ref was just being very permissive. At one point, Funk puts a chair in the ring and tries to piledrive (I guess) Blanchard off the middle rope onto the chair but either it was botched or Blanchard just blocked it. Anyway, this thing ended about the only way it could have, with a double DQ. Good match. Also, I read that Blanchard was promised a larger payoff than he got, and thus refused to do the job as a result. The fans were chanting “bullsh*t” after this match.
Next match is Larry Zbyszko vs. Lord Steven Regal (w/ Sir William). Regal is the TV champ but this is a nontitle match. Zbyszko has come out of retirement to feud with Regal, who has been saying bad things about the good ol’ US of A. This match was very slow and had a lot of stalling. Some good technical stuff here, but could have been better, in my opinion. Zbyszko pulls off the upset when he counters Regal’s butterfly suplex attempt with a backdrop, and stays on top of him for the pin.
A wonderfully insane Terry Funk interview follows.
Next match is a Bull-Rope Match: Dustin Rhodes vs. Bunkhouse Buck (w/ Col. Parker). A rematch from their Bunkhouse match at the last PPV, Spring Stampede. The rules are that the two guys are tied together with an 8 ft. bull rope which has a large cowbell attached, which either wrestler can use as a weapon. Effectively a no DQ match. The crowd chants “we want blood” repeatedly and loudly. Philly fans are so nice! They didn’t get their blood until after the match was over though, when Terry Funk came out and attacked the victorious Rhodes with his branding iron, I guess because he doesn’t like Dustin’s daddy.
It backfires when Col. Parker tries to interfere and Dustin is able to clobber Buck with the cowbell over the head for the win. This wasn’t as good as their Spring Stampede match, but it was still a decent brawl.
Next is the WCW Title Match: Ric Flair (c) vs. Barry Windham (w/ Col. Parker). Odd to have the title match here in the middle of the program, but whatever. Col Parker’s mystery man is finally revealed as Barry Windham, who lost his NWA title (which later became the WCW International title) quite some time ago. Parker had been promising a 6’ 7” 300 lb former world champ to get people to think it would be Hulk Hogan, but we get a curveball here. The fans didn’t seem too thrilled about this. Windham hadn’t been seen in WCW in quite some time and looked out of shape. Tony said that he’s been away for 6 months due to a knee injury
Anyway, Flair wins with a cross body off the tope rope. This was a boring match, for the most part.
Next is Broad Street Bully Match for the Tag Team Titles: Cactus Jack & Kevin Sullivan vs. The Nasty Boys (c)
Former Philadelphia Flyer Dave Schultz was the guest referee. I guess this was supposed to be Kevin Sullivan and his kayfabe brother Dave but Dave (or Evad, in an embarrassing WCW dyslexia storyline) was injured by the Nasties, so Cactus Jack is taking his place.
A Broad Street Bully match means pinfalls count anywhere, no DQ’s, and all four guys are legal at al times. Basically, the exact same rules as with their Chicago Street Fight match at the last PPV. However, for some reason, they only have one referee for this one, trying to watch two pairs of guys fighting oftentimes 50 or more feet from each other. Schultz didn’t seem too interested in getting involved, not that I blame him as he might have gotten hit by a stray chair!
This was another brutal match. It was similar to, but not as good as, the Nasty Boys-Jack/Payne match from Spring Stampede. Again, mostly weapons such as table and chairs being used, most of the match taking place outside the ring, and the two pairs of guys fighting separately. In the end, Jack/Sullivan win when Sags takes Dave Schultz’s hockey stick (which he’d brought to the ring with him) and is about to club Jack with it, but Schultz take it away from him and sets it down. He then punches Sags several times and then pulls his shirt over him, hockey style. Then Jack picks up the hockey stick (and for some reason Schultz doesn’t take the stick away from Jack like he did from Sags) and hits him with it, then covers him for the pin. So Dave Schultz is an even worse referee than The Boss. Jesse (who had stepped in for Heenan on commentary for this one) is rightfully indignant about that ridiculous ending. It did get a big pop in Philly, though, of course. Still, in spite of that, this was a very good and, as I said, brutal match. Also, after that, Jack and Kevin Sullivan continue (with some help from the referee Save Schultz) to attack the Nasties, then Dave Sullivan comes out in crutches and hits Knobs with a crutch, while Maxx Payne comes out (I guess he was not in this match because he was in the doghouse for injuring Sags’ shoulder – and Sags needing shoulder surgery is why they had to drop the titles) and smashes the guitar over Sags’ head, smashing it to pieces. And all is right with the world.
And our final match is the International World Title Match: Sting vs. Big Van Vader (w/ Harley Race)
I guess this was supposed to be Vader-Rude but Rude suffered that career ending injury in Japan vs. Sting so Sting gets this spot instead.
The fans started a “Sting must die!” chant during this match. Philly fans are brutal! It got me to wondering who the worst sports fans in America are.
Anyway, this was an excellent match. I don’t think it was quite as good as some of the Sting-Vader matches from 1992-93, but it was still a very good match. It ends with a Sting victory when Vader misses a moonsault, Harley Race accidentally headbutts his own man (then gets tossed by the ref) and Sting hits a flying splash for the pin. Sting is the new International champ!
All in all, a very good PPV. No bad matches!
Again, Bobby Heenan and Tony Schiovane are the announcers with Ventura doing interviews and Okerlund doing features from the interview platform. This was held in Philadelphia.
Rick Rude was supposed to defend his international title against Vader here, but suffered a career ending injury in Japan, so Commissioner Bockwinkle rules the recent Rude-Sting bout a no-contest and awards the international title to Sting, but Sting comes out and says he refuses to win a title in the board room, but he will wrestle Vader for the title. Good man! Still, it might have helped their buy rate if they had announced this match beforehand instead of during the event.
Sensational Sherri (now Sensual Sherri due to WWF rights issues) is in the audience! 2 Cold Scorpio was fired for failing a drug test, unfortunately. Ric Flair is going to wrestle a large mystery masked opponent (who attacked him on an episode of WCW Saturday Night and is in Col. Parker’s stable) for the WCW title.
First match is a U.S. Title Match: Stunning Steve Austin (c) (w/ Col. Parker) vs. Johnny B. Badd.
This was a pretty good match, mostly mat based, with a botched ending. I don’t know what they were going for, or how to describe it, but basically they were both laying on the mat and Austin rolled on top of Bad for the pin and retains his belt.
Next match is a Legends match, Tully Blanchard v. Terry Funk. Gordon Solie joins Heenan on commentary for this one. This is ECW territory, so Funk got an especially nice pop from the crowd. This was a wild brawl. I’d have thought it was a no DQ (with all the weapons that Funk used) and no countout match, but I guess the ref was just being very permissive. At one point, Funk puts a chair in the ring and tries to piledrive (I guess) Blanchard off the middle rope onto the chair but either it was botched or Blanchard just blocked it. Anyway, this thing ended about the only way it could have, with a double DQ. Good match. Also, I read that Blanchard was promised a larger payoff than he got, and thus refused to do the job as a result. The fans were chanting “bullsh*t” after this match.
Next match is Larry Zbyszko vs. Lord Steven Regal (w/ Sir William). Regal is the TV champ but this is a nontitle match. Zbyszko has come out of retirement to feud with Regal, who has been saying bad things about the good ol’ US of A. This match was very slow and had a lot of stalling. Some good technical stuff here, but could have been better, in my opinion. Zbyszko pulls off the upset when he counters Regal’s butterfly suplex attempt with a backdrop, and stays on top of him for the pin.
A wonderfully insane Terry Funk interview follows.
Next match is a Bull-Rope Match: Dustin Rhodes vs. Bunkhouse Buck (w/ Col. Parker). A rematch from their Bunkhouse match at the last PPV, Spring Stampede. The rules are that the two guys are tied together with an 8 ft. bull rope which has a large cowbell attached, which either wrestler can use as a weapon. Effectively a no DQ match. The crowd chants “we want blood” repeatedly and loudly. Philly fans are so nice! They didn’t get their blood until after the match was over though, when Terry Funk came out and attacked the victorious Rhodes with his branding iron, I guess because he doesn’t like Dustin’s daddy.
It backfires when Col. Parker tries to interfere and Dustin is able to clobber Buck with the cowbell over the head for the win. This wasn’t as good as their Spring Stampede match, but it was still a decent brawl.
Next is the WCW Title Match: Ric Flair (c) vs. Barry Windham (w/ Col. Parker). Odd to have the title match here in the middle of the program, but whatever. Col Parker’s mystery man is finally revealed as Barry Windham, who lost his NWA title (which later became the WCW International title) quite some time ago. Parker had been promising a 6’ 7” 300 lb former world champ to get people to think it would be Hulk Hogan, but we get a curveball here. The fans didn’t seem too thrilled about this. Windham hadn’t been seen in WCW in quite some time and looked out of shape. Tony said that he’s been away for 6 months due to a knee injury
Anyway, Flair wins with a cross body off the tope rope. This was a boring match, for the most part.
Next is Broad Street Bully Match for the Tag Team Titles: Cactus Jack & Kevin Sullivan vs. The Nasty Boys (c)
Former Philadelphia Flyer Dave Schultz was the guest referee. I guess this was supposed to be Kevin Sullivan and his kayfabe brother Dave but Dave (or Evad, in an embarrassing WCW dyslexia storyline) was injured by the Nasties, so Cactus Jack is taking his place.
A Broad Street Bully match means pinfalls count anywhere, no DQ’s, and all four guys are legal at al times. Basically, the exact same rules as with their Chicago Street Fight match at the last PPV. However, for some reason, they only have one referee for this one, trying to watch two pairs of guys fighting oftentimes 50 or more feet from each other. Schultz didn’t seem too interested in getting involved, not that I blame him as he might have gotten hit by a stray chair!
This was another brutal match. It was similar to, but not as good as, the Nasty Boys-Jack/Payne match from Spring Stampede. Again, mostly weapons such as table and chairs being used, most of the match taking place outside the ring, and the two pairs of guys fighting separately. In the end, Jack/Sullivan win when Sags takes Dave Schultz’s hockey stick (which he’d brought to the ring with him) and is about to club Jack with it, but Schultz take it away from him and sets it down. He then punches Sags several times and then pulls his shirt over him, hockey style. Then Jack picks up the hockey stick (and for some reason Schultz doesn’t take the stick away from Jack like he did from Sags) and hits him with it, then covers him for the pin. So Dave Schultz is an even worse referee than The Boss. Jesse (who had stepped in for Heenan on commentary for this one) is rightfully indignant about that ridiculous ending. It did get a big pop in Philly, though, of course. Still, in spite of that, this was a very good and, as I said, brutal match. Also, after that, Jack and Kevin Sullivan continue (with some help from the referee Save Schultz) to attack the Nasties, then Dave Sullivan comes out in crutches and hits Knobs with a crutch, while Maxx Payne comes out (I guess he was not in this match because he was in the doghouse for injuring Sags’ shoulder – and Sags needing shoulder surgery is why they had to drop the titles) and smashes the guitar over Sags’ head, smashing it to pieces. And all is right with the world.
And our final match is the International World Title Match: Sting vs. Big Van Vader (w/ Harley Race)
I guess this was supposed to be Vader-Rude but Rude suffered that career ending injury in Japan vs. Sting so Sting gets this spot instead.
The fans started a “Sting must die!” chant during this match. Philly fans are brutal! It got me to wondering who the worst sports fans in America are.
Anyway, this was an excellent match. I don’t think it was quite as good as some of the Sting-Vader matches from 1992-93, but it was still a very good match. It ends with a Sting victory when Vader misses a moonsault, Harley Race accidentally headbutts his own man (then gets tossed by the ref) and Sting hits a flying splash for the pin. Sting is the new International champ!
All in all, a very good PPV. No bad matches!