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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 25, 2024 11:46:48 GMT -5
The waking up with the elbow was a variation on waking up someone from a Sleeper. It was part of the routine, when they actually let someone win with a Sleeper or Cobra Clutch (or Shinanomaki) that the victor then had to wake up the defeated opponent, to ensure they weren't badly hurt. There were a few ways that wrestlers did this. One was to massage the back of the neck for a minute, then slap them, hard, on the back of the neck, supposedly to stimulate the circulation. Another was to have them sitting up and slap them on the back of the neck and shoulders or drop an elbow in the area. I've seen it done all of those ways, with the rationale of jump-starting the circulation, like a defibrillator for a heart attack. The biology is mostly BS, because a Sleeper is actually a choke, cutting off air in the windpipe. However, most wrestlers kept their forearm outside the chin and their other hand on top of the head. The real choke is applied with the edge of the forearm against the throat, locking that hand into the elbow pit of the opposite arm, while the other hand is placed behind the head, pushing the head downward, towards the chest, cutting off the airway. Verne Gagne used to put the hand behind the head, but still kept the forearm outside the chin, when he applied it. Johnny Weaver, who was noted for using it, in the Mid-Atlantic territory, kept the hand on the top and side of the head, but would have the forearm at or somewhat below the chin, but with a lot of daylight in there, as you can see here.....
I've seen some guys sit their opponent up then grab the head and roll forward, snapping the neck and the opponent suddenly "wakes up."
There was a discussion about it on the Wrestling Classics Message Board and someone noted that a wrestler (can't recall who) would refuse to do it and leave the opponent for the referee to wake up.
So, same principle, different application. Makes as much sense as stomping the mat when you punch someone or patting them on the shoulder as you shoot them off the ropes, or running the ropes at all!
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Post by dbutler69 on Jul 26, 2024 8:11:00 GMT -5
I recently watched WCW Uncensored 1995. The idea behind this first time PPV is that it’s been arranged for scores and feuds to be settled once and for all, so it’s “uncensored” and also unsanctioned by WCW, meaning that no championships are on the line (except for the tag team belt, for some reason) and “anything goes”. Also, every single match is a gimmick match (see below), and I hate gimmick matches, so I seriously considered skipping this but finally decided to tough it out. Here is the scheduled card: 1. King of the Road Match: Blacktop Bully vs. Dustin Rhodes. 2. Martial Arts Match: Meng vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan. 3. Boxer vs. Wrestler: Johnny B. Badd vs. Arn Anderson. 4. No Disqualification Match: Macho Man Randy Savage vs. Avalanche. 5. Anything Goes Match: Sting vs. Big Bubba Rogers. 6. Texas Tornado, Falls Count Anywhere Match for the WCW World Tag Team Championship: The Nasty Boys vs. Harlem Heat (c). 7. Indian Strap Match: Vader vs. Hulk Hogan. This takes place in Tupelo, Mississippi and your hosts are Bobby Heenan and Tony Schiavone. For some reason Mike Tenay from thew WCW Hotline is replacing Gene Okerlund on interviews and I will tell you that I wind up missing Mean Gene pretty soon into this show. Hogan has a new man in his corner named Renegade, who is an Ultimate Warrior rip-off. Supposedly they tried to get the real thing but he asked for way too much money. Nobody ever accused Warrior of thinking too little of himself. WCW suspended Ric Flair?! How can they do that? He’s retired! Good ol’ WCW. First match is the King of the Road Match: Blacktop Bully vs. Dustin Rhodes
The idea here is that these two guys are in an 18 wheeler flatbed truck (with a wire fence perimeter) full of bales of hay, with the truck going down the highway during the whole match, and the first one to climb the fence and ring the horn at the front of the truck is the winner. Who says WCW is a hick outfit? Anyway, while this certainly looks quite dangerous, and is an interesting visual with the two guys fighting and trying to climb the truck with camera trucks and helicoptors following along, I actually found the action difficult to follow, and I found it so boring that I fast forwarded through large chunks of it. Oh, and Blacktop Bully won, in case anybody cares. This match was joined in progress and apparently filmed the day before and edited to fit into the PPV. Oh, apparently Jimmy Hart (Hogan’s manager) is missing and nobody seems to know where he is. Next is the Martial Arts Match: Meng vs. Hacksaw Jim DugganThis was another boring match. Meng wins it with a superkick. Some cheating during the match from Col. Parker but this is uncensored so there shouldn’t be any DQ’s during this PPV. We’ll see how that plays out. Next is the Boxer vs. Wrestler Match: Johnny B. Badd vs. Arn AndersonOkay, this match was actually pretty good. It was a well done boxer vs. wrestler match, We get 3 minute rounds (up to 10 rounds) with rest periods, just like a boxing match. Badd wins when he removed a boxing glove and hit Anderson with his left hook for the KO in the 4th round. Again, plenty of cheating in this one with Anderson attacking Badd during the rest periods. No Disqualification Match: Macho Man Randy Savage vs. Avalanche
This is a No Disqualification match. Guess what, Randy Savage wins – BY DISQUALIFICATION!! Only WCW would do something this stupid. Anyway, the match ends when Savage is attacked by a woman from the crowd, and the woman is revealed to be – Ric Flair in drag!! Yup. Chaos ensures and the ref decides to end the match. The match itself was okay, Nothing great, but at least a legit match. Savage looked good, anyway. Next is an Anything Goes Match: Sting vs. Big Bubba Rogers
Sting dominated the first several minutes of the match, but suffers a knee injury during the match, and Rogers wisely goes to work on that bad knee. The match ends when Sting picks up Rogers in an attempt to slam him, but can’t keep him up, so Rogers falls on top of him and stays on top for the pin. That doesn’t make Sting look too smart to try that with his bad knee (though he’d already done several other power moves like that on the bad knee) but I thought that this was a pretty good match. Probably the best match of the night so far. Poor Sting, though. How the mighty have fallen…down the card. Next match is the Texas Tornado, Falls Count Anywhere Match for the WCW World Tag Team Championship: The Nasty Boys vs. Harlem Heat (champs).
Harlem Heat trick the Nasties by sneaking in from behind before the match starts and attacking them while Sherri provides the distraction. I thought this match was very boring, especially once they moved the fight to the concession stands. The floor got slippery and the match slowed to a crawl. The camera didn’t even show the pin live, as it was on Sags and Stevie, so we’re watching them and the bell mysteriously rings. It turns out that Knobbs had pinned Booker, I guess. I can’t believe a title changed hands on this absolute mess of a “match”. Once they got to the concession stand, the match resembled a blooper scene from Animal House. What garbage. We get Mike Tenay interviewing Vader, then Ric Flair joins them for the promo. He’s still got the mascara and red nail polish from his disguise. Quite a sight. They are selling the idea that Flair has snapped. Still no sign of Jimmy Hart, by the way. And the main event is Indian Strap Match: Vader vs. Hulk Hogan. I’m not sure why the WCW Championship isn’t on the line here, but it’s not. Hogan comes out alone. No Jimmy Hart and no Renegade. Vader comes out with Ric Flair. Michael Buffer screws up (for not the first time) by saying that this fight is sanctioned by WCW. The match starts, and Flair threatens to interfere (as this is “uncensored” so anything goes) but OUT COMES RENEGADE! He runs off Flair temporarily. Eventually during this boring match, Jimmy Hart comes out. His clothes are torn, he is disheveled, and he’s got tape around his wrists and ankles, as he’s obviously been tied up out back. He comes out to cheer on the Hulkster. At one point, the mysterious masked man (who was Arn Anderson, who had previously done Ric Flair’s evil deeds against Hogan) and breaks a wooden chair over the Renegade’s head. Man, what a total Ultimate Warrior ripoff this Renegade is. Anyway, at some point Vader loses hold of the leather strap joining the two men, and Flair gets is, and Hogan wins the match – BY DRAGGING RIC FLAIR TO ALL 4 RING POSTS!!! Wait a minute, this was a match between Hulk Hogan and Vader, not Hogan and Ric Flair! How the hell does he win the match by pinning someone nor technically a part of the match. Typical WCW stupidity. In fact, this is pretty dumb, even for WCW. The heels try to cheap shot the faces, and with the masked man, they figure they have the numbers advantage. But wait! The masked man takes off his mask, and it’s really Randy Savage! Savage and Hogan hug, and we see Arn Anderson, still with arms and legs taped up, hopping down the aisle. Then we get the good guys chase off the bad guys and 5 minutes of Hogan posing, just like every other Hulk Hogan match. Bad, boring, nonsensical match. Some moments of drama, but not NEARLY enough to save it. The worst Vader match I’ve seen to this point and it’s not his fault at all. Overall, this might be the worst PPV I’ve seen. If not, it’s pretty darn close. I did like the idea of an “unsanctioned PPV”, but, my goodness, so much to criticise here. There has to be some logic in even the most frivolous and quirky stuff. Police Academy is silly (and fun), but needs to have some sort of logic, often with the parameters being defined early on. Wrestling should be no different. In no logical reality or fictional reality does it make sense for Hogan to win a strap match by dragging SOMEBODY ELSE around the ring. Logically, no referee would allow it. I can’t think of a comparison, but, hell, if Superman defeats Doomsday during a fight, by unleashing some magic on Darkseid, which causes Darkseid to fall down, it’d be silly if Superman flew away and said, “Well, I didn’t technically beat Doomsday, but Darkseid interfered and I put him down.” WCW, eh? And we can’t even blame this on Russo.  As for Renegade, Hogan, what were you thinking?! At a time when I got my news from the likes of the PWI family of mags, whenever Hogan mentioned his “ultimate surprise”, well I expected Warrior to show up. Who didn’t, especially as some magazines had hinted at Warrior talking with WCW in 1993 and 1994 (I have no idea if that actually occurred)? In what universe was Renegade fooling anyone? God rest his soul, but it was a poor imitation. Warrior had his fans, and love him or hate him, he had charisma and those intangible qualities. You do not copy that. EVER. Yes, comicbook publishers do it all of the time, but it doesn’t mean others should. WCW fans who had NEVER watched WWF would not have cared for Renegade, and those of us watching both promotions would have seen through that. We did! It was never gonna work. How tone deaf was Hogan? Or maybe ego overrides everything; after all, as discussed countless times, Hogan still maintains he wrestled in front of 80,000 fans at Wembley Stadium, so I guess his entire existence is a work. It’s a shame how Renegade’s life ended. I’m *not* blaming Hogan for that, but he should never have been brought in. You know, I feel the Powers of Pain and Demolition carved out their own niche, and good luck to them. They did it. But no-one was gonna successfully imitate Warrior. So, a lousy PPV on some levels (I guess some bouts were good), and Vader deserved better. Quick answer - yes, ego overrode everything else for Hogan. And yes, Vader definitely deserved better. Sting too, for that matter. |
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Post by dbutler69 on Jul 26, 2024 8:14:22 GMT -5
The waking up with the elbow was a variation on waking up someone from a Sleeper. It was part of the routine, when they actually let someone win with a Sleeper or Cobra Clutch (or Shinanomaki) that the victor then had to wake up the defeated opponent, to ensure they weren't badly hurt. There were a few ways that wrestlers did this. One was to massage the back of the neck for a minute, then slap them, hard, on the back of the neck, supposedly to stimulate the circulation. Another was to have them sitting up and slap them on the back of the neck and shoulders or drop an elbow in the area. I've seen it done all of those ways, with the rationale of jump-starting the circulation, like a defibrillator for a heart attack. The biology is mostly BS, because a Sleeper is actually a choke, cutting off air in the windpipe. However, most wrestlers kept their forearm outside the chin and their other hand on top of the head. The real choke is applied with the edge of the forearm against the throat, locking that hand into the elbow pit of the opposite arm, while the other hand is placed behind the head, pushing the head downward, towards the chest, cutting off the airway. Verne Gagne used to put the hand behind the head, but still kept the forearm outside the chin, when he applied it. Johnny Weaver, who was noted for using it, in the Mid-Atlantic territory, kept the hand on the top and side of the head, but would have the forearm at or somewhat below the chin, but with a lot of daylight in there, as you can see here..... I've seen some guys sit their opponent up then grab the head and roll forward, snapping the neck and the opponent suddenly "wakes up." There was a discussion about it on the Wrestling Classics Message Board and someone noted that a wrestler (can't recall who) would refuse to do it and leave the opponent for the referee to wake up. So, same principle, different application. Makes as much sense as stomping the mat when you punch someone or patting them on the shoulder as you shoot them off the ropes, or running the ropes at all! But when the elbow off the top rope is your finisher, and all it does to a guy (who will undoubtedly be your top opponent one day) is wake him up...well, I think that's pretty bad booking, I don't care about precedent. |
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Post by dbutler69 on Jul 26, 2024 8:17:42 GMT -5
I recently watched Royal Rumble 1995 from the USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Florida. Funny, I thought USF was in Miami. Anyway… Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler on commentary with Todd Pettengill doing the interviews. Pamela Anderson is our celebrity of note. She will be in attendance and will also escort the Rumble winner to the ring for his Wrestlemania match. I think this is the first Royal Rumble being shown live in the UK. It must have started at about 1AM there, so kudos to any Brits who stayed up to watch this live! Opening match is for the WWF Intercontinental Title. Razor Ramon (champ) Vs Double J Jeff Jarrett w/ The RoadieDuring the match, Razor Ramon is knocked out of the ring and appears to tweak his knee. Unseen by the ref, the Roadie then clips him from behind, further injuring the knee, and Razor is unable to beat the count and get back into the ring. He is thus counted out. Jarrett (that’s Double J to you) wins by countout after about 12 minutes but doesn’t get the title. However, the Roadie hands him a mic, and as Ramon is heading back to the locker room, Jarrett starts trash talking him and calling him a coward for not coming back and finishing the match. This goads Ramon into coming, or rather limping, back into the ring, and he tells the ref to restart the match. After about an additional six and a half minutes of wrestling, Razor set up for the Razor’s Edge, but then his knee collapsed and Jarrett capitalized with an inside cradle for the pinfall win. I thought this was a great match, with very good storytelling and psychology, and Razor did a great job of selling the knee injury. I thought Jarrett winning the title was a huge upset, and the crowd fell into a stunned silence. Pettengill interviews both Diesel and Bret (separately) and they are both too tense to say much to him. Good job of selling the importance of this. Next match is The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) vs. Irwin R. Schyster (w/Ted Dibiase)Ugh. Undertaker gets the win with a chokeslam (not a Tombstone!) after about 12 minutes. This was a mediocre match. Next match is for the WWF Championship: Diesel (champ) vs. Bret HartThis is a rare face vs. face match, though Bret has been acting a bit heelish in promos lately and frankly, acts very heeling in this match. Bret Hart has new music, and frankly, his old music (which goes back to the Hart Foundation days) was much, much better. I have no idea why they felt the need to give him new music. I have noticed that, since Jimmy Hart left the company, the entrance music has gone downhill sharply and in most cases, the newer wrestlers aren’t even getting proper music, but rather just sound effects, like a truck’s horn, or an animal’s bellow. Diesel also gets new entrance music. It’s okay, I guess. It sounds like it came from a honky tonk hole-in-the-wall bar, frankly. On to the match, I thought that this was a great match. Excellent psychology and storytelling. Bret got the figure four on Diesel (after working the knee throughout most of the match) on Diesel a bunch of times, but could never get the submission. No doubt because that’s not his finisher. Anyway, the ref seemed to think this was a no DQ match. There could have been a DQ about a half dozen time, such as whe Bret ties Diesel’s legs together with his wrist wraps,, when Bret hit Diesel’s leg with a chair, when Shawn Michaels came in and interfered, and when Owen Hart came in and interfered. We also get the dreaded ref bump, though it didn’t really play much of a role. After 27 plus minutes, the ref is finally forced to stop the match when no less than 4 wrestlers come in and interfere and there’s no way he can restore order at that point. The match is declared a draw. Great match with a stupid ending – just like WCW! While I loved the match, I absolutely hated the finish. It makes no sense to have the ref ignore all of those other cases of outside interference and refuse to DQ either guy even when it warranted it, in a heroic effort to give us a clean finish, then have a double DQ finish after all. What a waste. For the Vacant WWF Tag Team Championships: Bob “Spark Plugg” Holly and 1-2-3 Kid vs. Bam Bam Bigelow and Tatanka (w/Ted Dibiase)When Shawn Michaels effectively broke up the championship tag team of himself and Diesel by throwing his belt in the garbage, the Tag Team title became vacant and they held an 8 team tournament to determine the new champs. The Smoking Gunns (who were my pre-tournament favorites to win the thing) had to pull out at almost literally the last minute due to a kayfabe rodeo injury to one of the Gunns, and they were replaced I the tournament by the makeshift team of the 1-2-3 Kid and Bob Holly. I really like this replacement team, actually, though I’d rather have had them face the Heavenly Bodies (who I think are by far the best in-ring heel WWF tag team ad this point) in the finals rather than Bam Bam and Tatanka, but oh well. Also, the winner is supposed to face the Smoking Gunns (now fully healthy) in a title match on Monday Night Raw the night after this PPV. They list the combined weight of Kid and holly as 344 lbs. I’m pretty sure that’s a typo. The crowd was quiet for much of this match, I think maybe because they’re still recovering from the previous match. In the end, Kid is laying prostrate on the mat, so Bigelow (who is the legal man) goes to the top rope for a finishing moonsault. However, Tatanka for some reason decides to do an elbow drop on Kid, and he bumps into Bigelow, who winds up falling and knockling himself out. This allows Kid to roll over and lay his arm on Bigelow for the pin and the upset win. Personally, I thought that Tatanka looked like a moron for trying to finish off Kid when he (Tatanka) wasn’t the legal man, and he also looked like a klutz for bumping into Tatanka. However, the announcers made no mention of this, making it sound like it was Bigelow’s fault – and for that matter, none of the online reviews of this I looked at called Tatanka to task for his stupidity and clumsiness. Anyway, DiBiase and Tatanka leave without Bigelow. Bigelow eventually revives to find people mocking him, and Lawrence Taylor, who is sitting in the front row, is laughing at him. Bigelow has words with LT and then pushes him down and walks away. Hey, we’ve got our Wrestlemania XI main event all set. Sigh. Anyway, aside from that, I thought this was a very good match. Kid, Bigelow, and Holly all looked good and Tatanka was good enough. This was a big surprise not only because of the size difference but also because we knew the winner would face the Smoking Gunns on Raw the next night, so you’d expect the heel team to win here to face them. Next we get to the actual Rumble match. For the first time, we’ve only got one minute breaks between the entrants. Shawn Michaels draws #1 (no way he’ll win!) and British Bulldog draws #2, so those two guys start the match. At one point, Bulldog picks up Michaels and holds him over his head. Rather than simply throw him out of the ring, he throws him right down on the mat, which makes him look rather stupid. Duke “the Dumpster” Droese also had Michaels up on his shoulder and didn’t throw him out, so he looked pretty dumb too. Owen was attacked by Bret as he tried to enter the ring, and the beating continued until the next entrant was called. Owen apparently did get in, but got eliminated so quickly that the camera never even showed him in the ring! However, a few minutes later they did show on a replay Davey Boy Smith eliminating Owen. Luger got a surprisingly good pop when he entered. Not a lot of hot rivalries at this rumble. Certainly nothing like when Flair and Piper were going at it that one year. Bret also attached Bob Backlund when he tried to enter the ring. They’re selling here that Bret has basically snapped. Could a heel turn be coming? The Smoking Gunns looked like morons trying to eliminate each other (when there were about 8 other guys in the ring they could have gone after instead of going after each other) and both got eliminated together by one guy. Shawn had a lot of near eliminations here! At the end, we’re left with Shawn Michaels and Davey Boy Smith! It was kinda cool seeing the two guys who started the rumble also finish it, though I wouldn’t want that every year. We get another controversial finish as Michaels is apparently eliminated, and they play Davey Boy’s music, and he stands on the turnbuckles to celebrate – then Michaels comes from behind and knocks him out! It turns out that Michaels wasn’t eliminated, as only one of his feet hit the floor. However, it made WWF look kind of dumb for playing his music prematurely without a signal from the ref, and it also seemed very unfair to Davey Boy. Anyway, they showed a really nice replay and you can see that Michaels hangs on for dear life and indeed only one foot ever hits the ground. Good call by the refs, but bad call by whoever started Bulldog’s music. Pamela Anderson now enters the ring, as she will escort the Royal Rumble winner to Wrestlemania. I’ll be she’s glad that Mantour didn’t win!!! Still, she does not look thrilled to be here. I would say she’s just picking up the paycheck and getting out of Dodge. All in all, I felt the only real stinker here was the Undertaker/IRS match. All the other singles & doubles matches I thought were excellent. The rumble itself was okay. It wasn’t great, as having only one minute between entrants was probably a mistake (I think this was the only year they did this, so I guess somebody else agreed with me) but on the other hand, the shorter rumble match did allow the other matches to go longer, so that may be why most of them were so good. They also didn’t have people doing double duty with regular matches as well as the Rumble match, like they did last year. Overall, I thought that this was a pretty good rumble, as 3 of the 4 non-rumble matches were excellent. Firstly, I couldn’t watch this live as I had school the day after, but in the pre-internet age, it was great to be able to watch it the day afterwards, without worrying about inadvertently coming across spoilers (back then, only a UK hotline would have given you the results). It was disheartening to see Ramon lose the Intercontinental Championship, but what a good match. Also, Ramon never wrestled in a Rumble (I’m not counting Fake Razor in 1997), which is disappointing. Personally, I’d have had both men do double duty that night. That would have given the Rumble some star power. Double J could have boasted to Pettengil, saying something like, “Double J beat the so-called Bad Guy and became the Intercontinental Champion! Well, ‘ol Double J is gonna win the Royal Rumble. And I don’t care if its the Hitman or Big Daddy Fool, Double J is gonna become the WWF Champion at WrestleMania. Bank on it!” And Razor could have said, “Yo, chico, the Bad Guy had a tough break earlier tonight. But I am ready for the Royal Rumble. I don’t care who I have to go through. I will go through friends like Lex Luger. I will go through foes like Shawn Michaels. I will go through 28 guys to get to Jeff Jarrett. I don’t care. I may have lost the Intercontinental Championship, but I am going for the top prize, chico. Bet on it.” Undertaker vs. IRS was what it was. There was no point to the feud. Again, the Rumble would have had more star power if both men had been in it. In WCW, at one of their PPVs (possibly Spring Stampede 2000), the event was announced as having “relaxed the DQ rules” to give referees some leeway. Rare logic from WCW. Something could have happened like that for Bret/Diesel. Still, a good match and I don’t suppose Bret could have done the job. The WWF Tag Team tournament was the usual predictable formula of not allowing anyhing other than babyface vs heels, but I did like where it led, and I’d say the tag team match here was possibly the match of the night. Like you, I did not expect the babyfaces to win. Regarding LT, be honest, we’re all pining for and wishing for an LT/Bigelow WM XI action figure set, right? The Rumble did lack star power. I did read that the 60-second interval between participants was due to concerns over a lack of star power. It was decent enough. I often had fun imagining unlikely victories, e.g. if Dick Murdoch had won this, we’d have had WWF Champion Diesel vs. Dick Murdoch as the main event of WM XI. How peculiar. The ending was fun, but what if Shawn had accidentally touched the floor with both feet? How would the WWF have explained that?Incidentally, Jim Neidhart was due to participate in the Rumble, but he was gone by the time of the event, so was replaced by Rick Martel. Here’s some interesting stats for the event: * Shawn Michaels eliminated the most men, 9 in total * Davey Boy Smith and Shawn Michaels lasted the longest, 38:41 in total * Owen Hart lasted the shortest, 3 seconds in total * This is the only Rumble that Dick Murdoch, Jimmy Del Ray, King Kong Bundy, Mantaur, Steven Dunn, Timothy Well, and Tom Prichard competed in. If Shawn had accidentally touched both feet to the floor, I'm sure WWF would never have shown the replay. The live shot was from the other side, so you couldn't tell if both feet touched or not. So, only the people i nthe front row would have known the truth. And I'm sure Vince was p*ssed that Shawn cut it so close. |
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Post by dbutler69 on Jul 26, 2024 8:28:13 GMT -5
I recently watched WrestleMania XI
We’re in Hartford, Connecticut this time, with Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler on commentary. I assume that this location was chosen in part because it’s got a lot of Giants fans, and of course we have Lawrence Taylor vs. Bam Bam in this one. Jim Ross and Todd Petengill are doing some interviews, and John Turturo (from NYPD Blue) some others. The main event is Diesel vs. Shawn Michaels for the WWF Championship!! Or, is it Lawrence Taylor (he plays American football, for all you non-Americans who’ve never heard of him before) vs. Bam Bam Bigelow?? Let’s see.
The opening match is The Allied Powers (British Bulldog & Lex Luger) vs. Jacob & Eli Blu w/Uncle Zebekiah.
The Allies come out to Lex Luger’s music, or a variation of it. This is a very newly formed tag team, and with rumors of Luger jumping to WCW, and the Blus a new team getting a bit of a push, it will be interesting to see who wins what promises to be a brawl.
The Blus are identical twins, and the announcers constantly talk about how they can’t tell them apart (which gets annoying pretty quickly – enough already) but I can tell the difference because they have different tattoos on their arms. By the way, these guys came over from WCW (I think they were the Harris brothers there) and WCW actually had two tag teams of identical twins at the same time. I can’t remember the name of the other tag team, but they were blonde guys and I thought that they were much better in the ring than the Blus, but of course they didn’t have the size that McMahon loves oh so much.
One of the Blus is setting up Luger for a piledriver, and Luger (I guess?) tags Bulldog behind his back, and Bulldog comes off the top rope with a sunset flip for the win at about six and a half minutes. I can only assume that Luger somehow tagged Bulldog. The camera angle was completely wrong to capture it, they showed no replay at all of the finish, and the announcers made no mention of it one way or another. I’d expect Vince to say that Luger made the tag, or Lawler to complain that there was no tag and thus Bulldog wasn’t the legal man. This was a decent enough match (though the Blus are kinda dull) but WWF screwed up the ending as far as I’m concerned. Not the wrestlers, but the director, producer, and announcers. That was WCW level incompetence with the ending on their part.
John Turturro is in the back looking for Pamela Anderson, but we can’t hear him due to technical difficulties. Again, WCW level incompetence here. A few minutes later they do go back to him and he’s in the locker room with a bunch of wrestlers and Jenny McCarthy (who seems amused by all this – good for her!) and apparently Pamela is upset with the Heartbreak Kid for some reason.
Next match is for the Intercontinental Title: Razor Ramon (w/ The 1-2-3 Kid) vs. Jeff Jarrett (c) (w/ The Roadie)
At the end, Razor is attempting the Razors Edge, but the Roadie clips Razor’s knee and causes a DQ. The match went about 13 minutes, and it was a pretty good match, though these two have had better, and the ending was kinda cheap, though it did make sense. I have to say, though, that Razor should have been disqualified twice in this match for the 1-2-3 Kid’s interference. It got me wondering who the heels were in this one. I’m glad the Roadie helped me figure it out at the end. Then, after the match, Kid attacks Roadie and Jarrett, and Jarrett leaves with a bloody nose, but with the belt. I have to say, Kid acted very heelish here, making me wonder if a heel turn is coming sooner rather than later. I was also surprised, as I figured that Razor would regain his gold, chicos!
Next match is The Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer) vs. King Kong Bundy (w/ Ted DiBiase)
The Million Dollar Corporation has confiscated the Undertaker’s urn, so DiBiase comes out holding it. Early on in the match, Undertaker takes the urn away and gives it to Paul Bearer. However, Kama later comes out, kicks Bearer in the guy, and takes the urn away, saying he’ll have it turned into a necklace for himself.
Anyway, onto the match. I expected a bad match here, and that’s exactly what I got. Undertaker gets the boot to the face, the body slam, then uses a flying clothesline for the finisher, after about six and a half minutes. The best thing I can say is that at least it wasn’t too long, but it was slow and dull.
Backstage, Turturo interviews the NFL All-Stars who will have Lawrence Taylor’s back for his match against Bam Bam Bigelow. Don’t worry. They will take of the Million Dollar Corporation.
Next match is for the WWF Tag Team Titles: Smoking Gunns (Billy & Bart Gunn) vs. Owen Hart & Yokozuna w/Jim Cornette & Mr. Fuji
It was announced that Owen Hart would be wrestling for the tag team title with a mystery partner. We don’t know who it is until Woen comes out and announces his partner himself. This was a surprise! I hadn’t seen Yoko in a while and out of sight, out of mind. This sort of makes sense, though. The one way to get a 10 minute match out of Yokozuna is to put him in a tag team and let his partner wrestle for 8 minutes.
Yoko applies his Bonzai Drop on Billy, then tags out to Owen. Owen teases the Shartpshooter, but then just pins Billy instead, and we have new tag team champs! Owen gets his first WWF gold! Hallelujah. Anyway, this was a good match. Not great, but a good, solid, enjoyable match.
Next is the I Quit Match: Bret Hart vs. Mr. Bob Backlund
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I hate gimmick matches. I think Bret Hart is one of the few guys that could have a good match with Backlund, but we keep having to throw these stupid stipulations into it. I will say, though, that this is better than that stupid throw in the towel match that they had last time. At least it just comes down to these two guys rather than a corner man deciding to throw in (or not throw in) a towel. Oh, wait, the referee will apparently be holding a microphone and you’ll have to say “I quit” into the microphone for all to hear. I take it back. This is just as stupid as their last gimmick match.
The special referee is Rowdy Roddy Piper!
Bret’s new music stinks. I still don’t understand why they got rid of his old (Hart Foundation) music. I think that the WWF misses Jimmy Hart in terms of the entrance music.
I guess there are no DQ’s, since Bret reached the rope at one point and Piper didn’t make Backlund break his chicken wing hold. Bret Hart wins with the crosssface chicken wing! I like the unexpected idea of Bret winning with Backlund’s move, but Backlund never said “I quit”! Or at least I never heard it. That defeats the whole purpose of this match! Once again, I’m seeing WCW level incompetence. Also, it was very distracting and annoying to have Piper constantly running over with that microphone in someone’s face after every freaking move!
All in all, not a very good match. Not terrible, but certainly disappointing and the format distracted form it immensely. Bret Hart didn’t speak well of this match in his book and I can see why. By the way, Bret Hart has 4 fueds (Backlund, Owen, Lawler, Hakushi) going on at once, which could give one the idea that everybody hates this guy. It seems like it must have been unprecedented at that time for someone to be involved in so many feuds at once.
Next is the WWF Title Match: Diesel (champ) vs. Shawn Michaels (w/ Sycho Sid)
Diesel win in just over 20 minutes with a somewhat sloppy jackknife. However, overall, this was a very good match. Another ref “bump” in this one prevented Shawn from getting the win. I’m getting sick of ref bumps. There was one spot where Shawn had removed a turnbuckle pad and a couple of minutes later Diesel slingshotted him into that turnbuckle, but he missed and only hit the middle turnbuckle. I think that must have been a mistake. This should have been the main event. Oh well.
The final match is Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Lawrence Taylor
I can’t believe that this is the main event. I mean, obviously they did it because LT is a big star (in the US, that is. I’m pretty sure that the rest of the world couldn’t care less about LT) and they wanted his name recognition, but I still think the championship match should have been the main event. The WWF roster is thin at this point so they tried to sell this Wrestlemania with star power.
Pat Patterson is the ref. Bam Bam does a cartwheel (impressive) in the ring before the match but we can barely see it because the camera is zoomed in too much. More poor production at this show.
Anyway, Lawrence Taylor wins with a forearm off the middle rope after about 11 or 12 minutes. This match was better than I expected – though that’s not saying much, but at least it didn’t drag and LT did a pretty good job for someone with zero wrestling experience (they obviously worked with him a lot) and Bam Bam did a great job of selling.
Overall, a somewhat mediocre PPV. The Undertaker and Bret Hart matches were bad. The Diesel-Shawn Michaels match was very good, and the rest of the matches were good, but not great.
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Post by Ricky Jackson on Jul 26, 2024 9:57:09 GMT -5
That Mania was in many ways the nadir of WWF in the 90s, and one of the all-time nadir's for the company (circa 1968, with no TV in New York, and circa 2010, pre-Punk and Bryan breaking out, are the other contenders), a truly uninspired event for an uninspired time. My fandom was already hanging on by a thread prior to Mania that year, and after watching I completely checked out until the Fall, when Bret beat Diesel for the strap
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Post by dbutler69 on Jul 26, 2024 12:01:14 GMT -5
I recently watched WCW Slamboree 1995.
This is in St. Petersburg, Florida. We’ve got Eric Bischoff with Bobby Heenan, as Tony Schiavone is recovering from neck surgery. Gene Okerlund is back for interviewing duties, thank goodness.
Opening match is for the WCW Tag Team Championship: The Nasty Boys vs. Harlem Heat (Champions w/Sister Sherri)
This is suppose to be the Nasty Boys’ last shot at the title, so it’s now or never time for them. Sags is by himself, as apparently Knobbs was attacked and injured prior to the match, though they don’t do a good job of telling us exactly what had happened. So, anyway, it looks like this will be a handicap match for Sags, and Bischoff says they should have postponed the match. Sags holds his own for a while, then eventually Knobbs makes his triumphant return and cleans house, and the Nasties win when Knobbs gives Sherri a spinebuster, tosses her over the top rope, and the Nasties give Booker T their finisher (powerslam/flying elbow combination). This was an okay match. Booker T looked good, as usual, and the pace really picked up when Knobbs appeared. Sherri took some serious bumps in this one.
Oh, and Knobbs came out with his ribs taped up, but he didn’t act the least bit injured, either in the match or in the interview afterwards. His appearance in the match was cool, but he wasn’t selling anything.
Next match is Kevin Sullivan vs. The Man with No Name
Okay, so Beefcake/Barber/Butcher is now the Man with No Name, Uh, okay. He’s also apparently a Hulkamaniac again, and of course Kevin Sullivan is not cool with that so they will settle this thing in the ring. I have low expectations for this match.
I’m not sure the fans even know whom to root for (or against?) in this one.
Kevin then puts the erstwhile Butcher in the Tree of Woe and nails a running knee. That is followed by a double stomp for the win. This was a terrible match (surprise, surprise) but at less than five and a half minutes, at least it wasn’t too long.
After the match, we see some crazy old man (it’s the Wizard AKA King Curtis) goes on some rambling, nonsensical promo about Hulkamaniacs in the bowels of New York, Paris, and the slums of Singapore and such, and this seems to freak out Kevin Sullivan, who hightails it out of the arena through the crowd.
We then get a rambling promo by Hulk Hogan (way too many “brothers” again but not as bad as the last PPV) and Randy Savage, with Jimmy Hart lurking in the background. Hogan actually acknowledges that Angelo Poffo is Savage’s father, which obviously calls out the Savage name as kayfabe. A bit surprising to me there.
Next match is Wahoo McDaniel vs. Dick Murdoch
This is part of the deal with Slamboree – we get these legends matches. Most of them are pretty bad, unfortunately, but I guess I’ll watch this instead of fast forwarding and see what happens.
For some reason, they film this in black and white. I mean, I know these guys are old, but come one, they did have color TV back when these two were in their prime.
Anyway, this match is very slow and dull. The crowd is dead for this and I can blame them. The ending comes from out of nowhere (not that I’m complaining) as Wahoo does the Irish whip followed by a chop, and that’s enough for the pin.
We get an Okerlund interview with Big Bubba Rogers. He’s apparently recently beat Sting, and promises to do so again tonight.
Next is the IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: The Great Muta (champ) vs. Paul Orndorff
Muta wins this in just over 14 minutes with his patented moonsault. This match really dragged. I even heard someone in the crowd yell “boring”. Never good at a PPV. Also, at one point Orndorff choked out Muta with a TV cable right in front of the ref, yet no DQ.
Next is the TV Title Match: Arn Anderson (champ) vs. Alex Wright
This had a 30 minute time limit instead of the usual 15 (or 10) minutes that TV title matches usually have, but nobody bothered to mention this, because WCW. Not that it mattered. Anderson DDT’s Wright for the win at about eleven and a half minutes. This match had some good storytelling and some good moves and overall I thought it was a pretty good match, but it really dragged at times. Wright engages in too many really long rest holds, especially for a young, fit guy. I read that Flair wanted Wright to go over here but Hogan (who else) nixed that because he wanted the Enforcer to be Arn Anderson’s next opponent. So I guess now Hulk Hogan is booking everybody else’e matches?
There are some Hall of Fame inductions, including Angelo Poffo and Gordon Solie.
Next match is Meng (w/ Col. Parker) vs. Road Warrior Hawk
This seems like a random match, but whatever. My hopes aren’t too high for it, in any event.
I’ll keep this short. This ended in a double countout as both guys were brawling on the floor. Hawk, then Meng, didn’t feel like selling in this match and I guess neither guy was willing to job. This was a very uninteresting match.
Next match is a Lights Out Match: Sting vs. Big Bubba Rogers
Lights Out means it’s unsanctioned by WCW, so it’s a no DQ match.
Sting brings a table with him to the ring. After a couple of minutes of stalling to start, this wound up being a pretty decent match. Sting wins with his Scorpion Death Lock.
The main event is Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage (w/ Jimmy Hart & The Renegade) vs. Vader & Ric Flair (w/ Arn Anderson)
Michael Buffer says “Hulkmania” instead of “Hulkamania” yet again. Can’t this guy get it straight after all this time, or can’t someone at WCW correct him?? Sheesh. It’s not that hard.
Renegade is here to keep Arn Anderson from interfering but he proves completely worthless in that regard. He really doesn’t do anything useful in this. Also I just have to say, he’s such a blatant Ultimate Warrior rip-off that it’s hilarious. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with recycling a gimmick, but this is pretty funny.
The match lasts about 19 minutes, and of course it ends with a Hogan leg drop on Flair for the win. After the match, the heels attack the faces. They are beating on a prostrate Randy Savage in the ring, when Angelo Poffo (Bischoff says he’s 70 years old) comes in to try and make the save, but instead Flair and Arn Anderson beat on him, then leave. Randy comes to and is naturally distraught over the condition of his father, setting up future feuds.
This was a pretty decent match. It had some fun moments and was one of the better matches in the show.
All in all, a mediocre show. Not bad, but somewhat below average, I’d say. The only bad matches were the Sullivan/Butcher match and the Legends match with McDanial and Murdoch. The rest was all pretty good, even if there were no great matches.
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Post by driver1980 on Jul 26, 2024 14:37:55 GMT -5
I recently watched WrestleMania XI
We’re in Hartford, Connecticut this time, with Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler on commentary. I assume that this location was chosen in part because it’s got a lot of Giants fans, and of course we have Lawrence Taylor vs. Bam Bam in this one. Jim Ross and Todd Petengill are doing some interviews, and John Turturo (from NYPD Blue) some others. The main event is Diesel vs. Shawn Michaels for the WWF Championship!! Or, is it Lawrence Taylor (he plays American football, for all you non-Americans who’ve never heard of him before) vs. Bam Bam Bigelow?? Let’s see. The opening match is The Allied Powers (British Bulldog & Lex Luger) vs. Jacob & Eli Blu w/Uncle Zebekiah.
The Allies come out to Lex Luger’s music, or a variation of it. This is a very newly formed tag team, and with rumors of Luger jumping to WCW, and the Blus a new team getting a bit of a push, it will be interesting to see who wins what promises to be a brawl. The Blus are identical twins, and the announcers constantly talk about how they can’t tell them apart (which gets annoying pretty quickly – enough already) but I can tell the difference because they have different tattoos on their arms. By the way, these guys came over from WCW (I think they were the Harris brothers there) and WCW actually had two tag teams of identical twins at the same time. I can’t remember the name of the other tag team, but they were blonde guys and I thought that they were much better in the ring than the Blus, but of course they didn’t have the size that McMahon loves oh so much. One of the Blus is setting up Luger for a piledriver, and Luger (I guess?) tags Bulldog behind his back, and Bulldog comes off the top rope with a sunset flip for the win at about six and a half minutes. I can only assume that Luger somehow tagged Bulldog. The camera angle was completely wrong to capture it, they showed no replay at all of the finish, and the announcers made no mention of it one way or another. I’d expect Vince to say that Luger made the tag, or Lawler to complain that there was no tag and thus Bulldog wasn’t the legal man. This was a decent enough match (though the Blus are kinda dull) but WWF screwed up the ending as far as I’m concerned. Not the wrestlers, but the director, producer, and announcers. That was WCW level incompetence with the ending on their part. John Turturro is in the back looking for Pamela Anderson, but we can’t hear him due to technical difficulties. Again, WCW level incompetence here. A few minutes later they do go back to him and he’s in the locker room with a bunch of wrestlers and Jenny McCarthy (who seems amused by all this – good for her!) and apparently Pamela is upset with the Heartbreak Kid for some reason. Next match is for the Intercontinental Title: Razor Ramon (w/ The 1-2-3 Kid) vs. Jeff Jarrett (c) (w/ The Roadie)
At the end, Razor is attempting the Razors Edge, but the Roadie clips Razor’s knee and causes a DQ. The match went about 13 minutes, and it was a pretty good match, though these two have had better, and the ending was kinda cheap, though it did make sense. I have to say, though, that Razor should have been disqualified twice in this match for the 1-2-3 Kid’s interference. It got me wondering who the heels were in this one. I’m glad the Roadie helped me figure it out at the end. Then, after the match, Kid attacks Roadie and Jarrett, and Jarrett leaves with a bloody nose, but with the belt. I have to say, Kid acted very heelish here, making me wonder if a heel turn is coming sooner rather than later. I was also surprised, as I figured that Razor would regain his gold, chicos! Next match is The Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer) vs. King Kong Bundy (w/ Ted DiBiase)
The Million Dollar Corporation has confiscated the Undertaker’s urn, so DiBiase comes out holding it. Early on in the match, Undertaker takes the urn away and gives it to Paul Bearer. However, Kama later comes out, kicks Bearer in the guy, and takes the urn away, saying he’ll have it turned into a necklace for himself. Anyway, onto the match. I expected a bad match here, and that’s exactly what I got. Undertaker gets the boot to the face, the body slam, then uses a flying clothesline for the finisher, after about six and a half minutes. The best thing I can say is that at least it wasn’t too long, but it was slow and dull. Backstage, Turturo interviews the NFL All-Stars who will have Lawrence Taylor’s back for his match against Bam Bam Bigelow. Don’t worry. They will take of the Million Dollar Corporation. Next match is for the WWF Tag Team Titles: Smoking Gunns (Billy & Bart Gunn) vs. Owen Hart & Yokozuna w/Jim Cornette & Mr. Fuji
It was announced that Owen Hart would be wrestling for the tag team title with a mystery partner. We don’t know who it is until Woen comes out and announces his partner himself. This was a surprise! I hadn’t seen Yoko in a while and out of sight, out of mind. This sort of makes sense, though. The one way to get a 10 minute match out of Yokozuna is to put him in a tag team and let his partner wrestle for 8 minutes. Yoko applies his Bonzai Drop on Billy, then tags out to Owen. Owen teases the Shartpshooter, but then just pins Billy instead, and we have new tag team champs! Owen gets his first WWF gold! Hallelujah. Anyway, this was a good match. Not great, but a good, solid, enjoyable match. Next is the I Quit Match: Bret Hart vs. Mr. Bob Backlund
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I hate gimmick matches. I think Bret Hart is one of the few guys that could have a good match with Backlund, but we keep having to throw these stupid stipulations into it. I will say, though, that this is better than that stupid throw in the towel match that they had last time. At least it just comes down to these two guys rather than a corner man deciding to throw in (or not throw in) a towel. Oh, wait, the referee will apparently be holding a microphone and you’ll have to say “I quit” into the microphone for all to hear. I take it back. This is just as stupid as their last gimmick match. The special referee is Rowdy Roddy Piper! Bret’s new music stinks. I still don’t understand why they got rid of his old (Hart Foundation) music. I think that the WWF misses Jimmy Hart in terms of the entrance music. I guess there are no DQ’s, since Bret reached the rope at one point and Piper didn’t make Backlund break his chicken wing hold. Bret Hart wins with the crosssface chicken wing! I like the unexpected idea of Bret winning with Backlund’s move, but Backlund never said “I quit”! Or at least I never heard it. That defeats the whole purpose of this match! Once again, I’m seeing WCW level incompetence. Also, it was very distracting and annoying to have Piper constantly running over with that microphone in someone’s face after every freaking move! All in all, not a very good match. Not terrible, but certainly disappointing and the format distracted form it immensely. Bret Hart didn’t speak well of this match in his book and I can see why. By the way, Bret Hart has 4 fueds (Backlund, Owen, Lawler, Hakushi) going on at once, which could give one the idea that everybody hates this guy. It seems like it must have been unprecedented at that time for someone to be involved in so many feuds at once. Next is the WWF Title Match: Diesel (champ) vs. Shawn Michaels (w/ Sycho Sid)
Diesel win in just over 20 minutes with a somewhat sloppy jackknife. However, overall, this was a very good match. Another ref “bump” in this one prevented Shawn from getting the win. I’m getting sick of ref bumps. There was one spot where Shawn had removed a turnbuckle pad and a couple of minutes later Diesel slingshotted him into that turnbuckle, but he missed and only hit the middle turnbuckle. I think that must have been a mistake. This should have been the main event. Oh well. The final match is Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Lawrence Taylor
I can’t believe that this is the main event. I mean, obviously they did it because LT is a big star (in the US, that is. I’m pretty sure that the rest of the world couldn’t care less about LT) and they wanted his name recognition, but I still think the championship match should have been the main event. The WWF roster is thin at this point so they tried to sell this Wrestlemania with star power. Pat Patterson is the ref. Bam Bam does a cartwheel (impressive) in the ring before the match but we can barely see it because the camera is zoomed in too much. More poor production at this show. Anyway, Lawrence Taylor wins with a forearm off the middle rope after about 11 or 12 minutes. This match was better than I expected – though that’s not saying much, but at least it didn’t drag and LT did a pretty good job for someone with zero wrestling experience (they obviously worked with him a lot) and Bam Bam did a great job of selling. Overall, a somewhat mediocre PPV. The Undertaker and Bret Hart matches were bad. The Diesel-Shawn Michaels match was very good, and the rest of the matches were good, but not great. This wasn’t a good WM, and Ricky Jackson using the word nadir is spot on! Lex Luger’s star had fallen, eh? Challenges for the world title at SummerSlam ‘93, co-wins the Rumble in ‘94, challenges for the world title at WM X - and by WM XI, is part of a forgettable opening match. The twins in WCW were The Cole Twins, I think their WCW tenure lasted from late 1992 to early 1994:  I guess Ramon/Jarrett was the match of the night, inconclusive ending aside. dbutler69 , remember, it’s MISTER Backlund to us, not Bob. And he most definitely did not say, “I quit!” What did he say? It sounded like he was gargling water to me. (Great point about Bret having four feuds on the go at the same time!) Prior to this event, WWF Magazine was hinting at how Owen’s mystery tag team partner could be someone from “parts unknown”. What was it wrestling promotions doing that? Hogan was on about an “ultimate surprise” (thanks, Hogan). WWF Magazine also hinted at Warrior returning for the 1996 Royal Rumble. I wouldn’t be surprised if Mean Gene Okerlund’s WCW Hotline (clickbait before clickbait was even a term) hadn’t hinted at Warrior. Some criticise Warrior, but promotions certainly did seem to like hinting at his return. Does anybody know if ECW or TNA ever implied Warrior would join them? Diesel vs. Michaels was okay, although I expected Shawn to win. On LT/Bigelow, they did squeeze so much out of what felt like an underwhelming main event, and Taylor did seem natural in that ring. Not sure why it had to be the main event, though. I must admit, if a toy company wants to make an LT/Bigelow action figure set, count me in! On a final note, we’ve discussed the WWF’s bizarre mathematics in the past. This was the true tenth anniversary of WrestleMania, taking place a decade after WM I. Mind you, WM X, billed as the so-called ‘tenth anniversary’, is the better PPV. |
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Post by driver1980 on Jul 26, 2024 14:50:35 GMT -5
I recently watched WCW Slamboree 1995. This is in St. Petersburg, Florida. We’ve got Eric Bischoff with Bobby Heenan, as Tony Schiavone is recovering from neck surgery. Gene Okerlund is back for interviewing duties, thank goodness. Opening match is for the WCW Tag Team Championship: The Nasty Boys vs. Harlem Heat (Champions w/Sister Sherri) This is suppose to be the Nasty Boys’ last shot at the title, so it’s now or never time for them. Sags is by himself, as apparently Knobbs was attacked and injured prior to the match, though they don’t do a good job of telling us exactly what had happened. So, anyway, it looks like this will be a handicap match for Sags, and Bischoff says they should have postponed the match. Sags holds his own for a while, then eventually Knobbs makes his triumphant return and cleans house, and the Nasties win when Knobbs gives Sherri a spinebuster, tosses her over the top rope, and the Nasties give Booker T their finisher (powerslam/flying elbow combination). This was an okay match. Booker T looked good, as usual, and the pace really picked up when Knobbs appeared. Sherri took some serious bumps in this one. Oh, and Knobbs came out with his ribs taped up, but he didn’t act the least bit injured, either in the match or in the interview afterwards. His appearance in the match was cool, but he wasn’t selling anything. Next match is Kevin Sullivan vs. The Man with No Name
Okay, so Beefcake/Barber/Butcher is now the Man with No Name, Uh, okay. He’s also apparently a Hulkamaniac again, and of course Kevin Sullivan is not cool with that so they will settle this thing in the ring. I have low expectations for this match. I’m not sure the fans even know whom to root for (or against?) in this one. Kevin then puts the erstwhile Butcher in the Tree of Woe and nails a running knee. That is followed by a double stomp for the win. This was a terrible match (surprise, surprise) but at less than five and a half minutes, at least it wasn’t too long. After the match, we see some crazy old man (it’s the Wizard AKA King Curtis) goes on some rambling, nonsensical promo about Hulkamaniacs in the bowels of New York, Paris, and the slums of Singapore and such, and this seems to freak out Kevin Sullivan, who hightails it out of the arena through the crowd. We then get a rambling promo by Hulk Hogan (way too many “brothers” again but not as bad as the last PPV) and Randy Savage, with Jimmy Hart lurking in the background. Hogan actually acknowledges that Angelo Poffo is Savage’s father, which obviously calls out the Savage name as kayfabe. A bit surprising to me there. Next match is Wahoo McDaniel vs. Dick Murdoch
This is part of the deal with Slamboree – we get these legends matches. Most of them are pretty bad, unfortunately, but I guess I’ll watch this instead of fast forwarding and see what happens. For some reason, they film this in black and white. I mean, I know these guys are old, but come one, they did have color TV back when these two were in their prime. Anyway, this match is very slow and dull. The crowd is dead for this and I can blame them. The ending comes from out of nowhere (not that I’m complaining) as Wahoo does the Irish whip followed by a chop, and that’s enough for the pin. We get an Okerlund interview with Big Bubba Rogers. He’s apparently recently beat Sting, and promises to do so again tonight. Next is the IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: The Great Muta (champ) vs. Paul Orndorff
Muta wins this in just over 14 minutes with his patented moonsault. This match really dragged. I even heard someone in the crowd yell “boring”. Never good at a PPV. Also, at one point Orndorff choked out Muta with a TV cable right in front of the ref, yet no DQ. Next is the TV Title Match: Arn Anderson (champ) vs. Alex Wright
This had a 30 minute time limit instead of the usual 15 (or 10) minutes that TV title matches usually have, but nobody bothered to mention this, because WCW. Not that it mattered. Anderson DDT’s Wright for the win at about eleven and a half minutes. This match had some good storytelling and some good moves and overall I thought it was a pretty good match, but it really dragged at times. Wright engages in too many really long rest holds, especially for a young, fit guy. I read that Flair wanted Wright to go over here but Hogan (who else) nixed that because he wanted the Enforcer to be Arn Anderson’s next opponent. So I guess now Hulk Hogan is booking everybody else’e matches? There are some Hall of Fame inductions, including Angelo Poffo and Gordon Solie. Next match is Meng (w/ Col. Parker) vs. Road Warrior Hawk
This seems like a random match, but whatever. My hopes aren’t too high for it, in any event. I’ll keep this short. This ended in a double countout as both guys were brawling on the floor. Hawk, then Meng, didn’t feel like selling in this match and I guess neither guy was willing to job. This was a very uninteresting match. Next match is a Lights Out Match: Sting vs. Big Bubba Rogers
Lights Out means it’s unsanctioned by WCW, so it’s a no DQ match. Sting brings a table with him to the ring. After a couple of minutes of stalling to start, this wound up being a pretty decent match. Sting wins with his Scorpion Death Lock. The main event is Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage (w/ Jimmy Hart & The Renegade) vs. Vader & Ric Flair (w/ Arn Anderson)
Michael Buffer says “Hulkmania” instead of “Hulkamania” yet again. Can’t this guy get it straight after all this time, or can’t someone at WCW correct him?? Sheesh. It’s not that hard. Renegade is here to keep Arn Anderson from interfering but he proves completely worthless in that regard. He really doesn’t do anything useful in this. Also I just have to say, he’s such a blatant Ultimate Warrior rip-off that it’s hilarious. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with recycling a gimmick, but this is pretty funny. The match lasts about 19 minutes, and of course it ends with a Hogan leg drop on Flair for the win. After the match, the heels attack the faces. They are beating on a prostrate Randy Savage in the ring, when Angelo Poffo (Bischoff says he’s 70 years old) comes in to try and make the save, but instead Flair and Arn Anderson beat on him, then leave. Randy comes to and is naturally distraught over the condition of his father, setting up future feuds. This was a pretty decent match. It had some fun moments and was one of the better matches in the show. All in all, a mediocre show. Not bad, but somewhat below average, I’d say. The only bad matches were the Sullivan/Butcher match and the Legends match with McDanial and Murdoch. The rest was all pretty good, even if there were no great matches. You know, I could never care about WCW’s Hall of Fame like I could with the WWF. WCW just seemed to undersell so much, from home video releases to the Hall of Fame. That said, they only had three ceremonies in 1993, 1994 and 1995, so it didn’t outstay its welcome. Had it continued after 1995, and been a thing until WCW’s demise in 2001, no doubt they’d have been inducting the world and its wife, we’d have probably seen a 2000 Hall of Fame where Shockmaster got inducted or something. I did really enjoy the chemistry that the Nasty Boys and Harlem Heat had in their feud. The other bouts ranged from solid to forgettable. I did feel the main event was heated and atmospheric, but at this point, the “Mister Undefeated” reign of Hogan was wearing thin. Was this Gordon Solie’s final on-air appearance? By the way, I hate that Hogan’s creative control extended to other people’s matches/feuds, if the Wright/Anderson thing is true. If they were intent on giving him creative control, then so be it. And it’s fine if it had been Hogan saying, “I want to wrestle on PPV four times next year, and I want to win all four bouts.” But he should not have been able to dictate what happened in a Wright/Anderson bout (or any bout). If true, there should have been a clause, where other participants could have vetoed that. In an old magazine interview, Dynamite Kid said something like, “Hogan was a cool guy, but he would didn’t care if you were paid a dollar for you match as long as he got the big bucks for his main event.” |
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Post by driver1980 on Jul 26, 2024 15:02:21 GMT -5
What does Brawl in the Family even mean? Your guess is as good as mine. Perhaps host Todd Pettengil could have informed us.  The Undertaker vs. King Kong BundyIn exactly what you’d expect from that era, Undertaker vanquishes yet another monster. The match itself is passable at best. Men on a Mission vs. Owen Hart & Jim NeidhartOwen and Jim had a lot of heel energy (or whatever term works best), which always elevated any bout they were in. You’re rooting for Mo and Mabel to defeat the dastardly heels here, but Owen pins Mo after some shenanigans. This bout was okay. Diesel vs. Jeff JarrettIn a surprisingly good bout, which did exceed my expectations, Big Daddy Cool, defending the WWF Championship, pinned Jarrett after a jacknife. There was a lot of interference here, from the Roadie and Shawn Michaels. Jarret was a credible challenger, though, and I’d argue this might well have been Diesel’s best title defence if we’re only including televised bouts. Of course, it was satisfying to see Diesel put Double J away. Doink the Clown vs. Jerry “The King” LawlerI did like this feud, I feel wrestling must be a variety show, and not every bout needs to be a five-star classic featuring lots of holds. Lawler was the guy you loved to hate, and seeing a guy like Doink attempt to both humiliate and outwrestle him was fun. Sadly, though, Lawler gets the win here via pinfall. (Hang on, what’s with all these pinfall finishes on a Coliseum Video release?) Lex Luger vs Mr. Bob BacklundBob - sorry, Mister Backlund - and Luger didn’t really gel. Both were often reliant on rest holds and a slower pace, which can often work, but, in my view, not if both men are doing it. Luger wins with the torture rack to end a painfully average bout. Mabel vs. TatankaWhat can I say here? It’s pretty mediocre. And we get our first DQ ending of the tape, with Tatanka disqualified after Ted DiBiase interferes. Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart (No Holds Barred]Bret and Owen had some fantastic TV bouts, such as on WWF Action Zone, and here’s another one, which ends with Bret winning via sharpshooter. It may not surprise you to read that I consider this to be the match of the tape, although Diesel/Jarrett did come close! Razor Ramon vs. King Kong BundyWe end with this one, with Razor defending his Intercontinental Championship. It’s an intriguing idea due to the different styles. Can the street smart Bad Guy take down a monster? That’s often a good story to tell in the ring (IMO). Both men hold nothing back, and it’s easy to root for Razor. Thank goodness we’re about to see a conclusive ending - maybe somewhere in the multiverse. You see, what spoils this reasonable bout is the DQ win for Razor as Jarrett comes running out. (One might argue that Jarrett gained nothing; he was set to face Razor for the IC Championship, so leaving Bundy to wear down the Bad Guy might have been a better strategy) SummaryThis is a below average tape, with only 2 great matches (Diesel/Jarrett, and Bret/Owen). I would not recommend it if you see it in a bargain bin. This is one I’ll be donating to a charity shop. |
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Post by dbutler69 on Jul 26, 2024 18:23:46 GMT -5
I recently watched WrestleMania XI
We’re in Hartford, Connecticut this time, with Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler on commentary. I assume that this location was chosen in part because it’s got a lot of Giants fans, and of course we have Lawrence Taylor vs. Bam Bam in this one. Jim Ross and Todd Petengill are doing some interviews, and John Turturo (from NYPD Blue) some others. The main event is Diesel vs. Shawn Michaels for the WWF Championship!! Or, is it Lawrence Taylor (he plays American football, for all you non-Americans who’ve never heard of him before) vs. Bam Bam Bigelow?? Let’s see. The opening match is The Allied Powers (British Bulldog & Lex Luger) vs. Jacob & Eli Blu w/Uncle Zebekiah.
The Allies come out to Lex Luger’s music, or a variation of it. This is a very newly formed tag team, and with rumors of Luger jumping to WCW, and the Blus a new team getting a bit of a push, it will be interesting to see who wins what promises to be a brawl. The Blus are identical twins, and the announcers constantly talk about how they can’t tell them apart (which gets annoying pretty quickly – enough already) but I can tell the difference because they have different tattoos on their arms. By the way, these guys came over from WCW (I think they were the Harris brothers there) and WCW actually had two tag teams of identical twins at the same time. I can’t remember the name of the other tag team, but they were blonde guys and I thought that they were much better in the ring than the Blus, but of course they didn’t have the size that McMahon loves oh so much. One of the Blus is setting up Luger for a piledriver, and Luger (I guess?) tags Bulldog behind his back, and Bulldog comes off the top rope with a sunset flip for the win at about six and a half minutes. I can only assume that Luger somehow tagged Bulldog. The camera angle was completely wrong to capture it, they showed no replay at all of the finish, and the announcers made no mention of it one way or another. I’d expect Vince to say that Luger made the tag, or Lawler to complain that there was no tag and thus Bulldog wasn’t the legal man. This was a decent enough match (though the Blus are kinda dull) but WWF screwed up the ending as far as I’m concerned. Not the wrestlers, but the director, producer, and announcers. That was WCW level incompetence with the ending on their part. John Turturro is in the back looking for Pamela Anderson, but we can’t hear him due to technical difficulties. Again, WCW level incompetence here. A few minutes later they do go back to him and he’s in the locker room with a bunch of wrestlers and Jenny McCarthy (who seems amused by all this – good for her!) and apparently Pamela is upset with the Heartbreak Kid for some reason. Next match is for the Intercontinental Title: Razor Ramon (w/ The 1-2-3 Kid) vs. Jeff Jarrett (c) (w/ The Roadie)
At the end, Razor is attempting the Razors Edge, but the Roadie clips Razor’s knee and causes a DQ. The match went about 13 minutes, and it was a pretty good match, though these two have had better, and the ending was kinda cheap, though it did make sense. I have to say, though, that Razor should have been disqualified twice in this match for the 1-2-3 Kid’s interference. It got me wondering who the heels were in this one. I’m glad the Roadie helped me figure it out at the end. Then, after the match, Kid attacks Roadie and Jarrett, and Jarrett leaves with a bloody nose, but with the belt. I have to say, Kid acted very heelish here, making me wonder if a heel turn is coming sooner rather than later. I was also surprised, as I figured that Razor would regain his gold, chicos! Next match is The Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer) vs. King Kong Bundy (w/ Ted DiBiase)
The Million Dollar Corporation has confiscated the Undertaker’s urn, so DiBiase comes out holding it. Early on in the match, Undertaker takes the urn away and gives it to Paul Bearer. However, Kama later comes out, kicks Bearer in the guy, and takes the urn away, saying he’ll have it turned into a necklace for himself. Anyway, onto the match. I expected a bad match here, and that’s exactly what I got. Undertaker gets the boot to the face, the body slam, then uses a flying clothesline for the finisher, after about six and a half minutes. The best thing I can say is that at least it wasn’t too long, but it was slow and dull. Backstage, Turturo interviews the NFL All-Stars who will have Lawrence Taylor’s back for his match against Bam Bam Bigelow. Don’t worry. They will take of the Million Dollar Corporation. Next match is for the WWF Tag Team Titles: Smoking Gunns (Billy & Bart Gunn) vs. Owen Hart & Yokozuna w/Jim Cornette & Mr. Fuji
It was announced that Owen Hart would be wrestling for the tag team title with a mystery partner. We don’t know who it is until Woen comes out and announces his partner himself. This was a surprise! I hadn’t seen Yoko in a while and out of sight, out of mind. This sort of makes sense, though. The one way to get a 10 minute match out of Yokozuna is to put him in a tag team and let his partner wrestle for 8 minutes. Yoko applies his Bonzai Drop on Billy, then tags out to Owen. Owen teases the Shartpshooter, but then just pins Billy instead, and we have new tag team champs! Owen gets his first WWF gold! Hallelujah. Anyway, this was a good match. Not great, but a good, solid, enjoyable match. Next is the I Quit Match: Bret Hart vs. Mr. Bob Backlund
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I hate gimmick matches. I think Bret Hart is one of the few guys that could have a good match with Backlund, but we keep having to throw these stupid stipulations into it. I will say, though, that this is better than that stupid throw in the towel match that they had last time. At least it just comes down to these two guys rather than a corner man deciding to throw in (or not throw in) a towel. Oh, wait, the referee will apparently be holding a microphone and you’ll have to say “I quit” into the microphone for all to hear. I take it back. This is just as stupid as their last gimmick match. The special referee is Rowdy Roddy Piper! Bret’s new music stinks. I still don’t understand why they got rid of his old (Hart Foundation) music. I think that the WWF misses Jimmy Hart in terms of the entrance music. I guess there are no DQ’s, since Bret reached the rope at one point and Piper didn’t make Backlund break his chicken wing hold. Bret Hart wins with the crosssface chicken wing! I like the unexpected idea of Bret winning with Backlund’s move, but Backlund never said “I quit”! Or at least I never heard it. That defeats the whole purpose of this match! Once again, I’m seeing WCW level incompetence. Also, it was very distracting and annoying to have Piper constantly running over with that microphone in someone’s face after every freaking move! All in all, not a very good match. Not terrible, but certainly disappointing and the format distracted form it immensely. Bret Hart didn’t speak well of this match in his book and I can see why. By the way, Bret Hart has 4 fueds (Backlund, Owen, Lawler, Hakushi) going on at once, which could give one the idea that everybody hates this guy. It seems like it must have been unprecedented at that time for someone to be involved in so many feuds at once. Next is the WWF Title Match: Diesel (champ) vs. Shawn Michaels (w/ Sycho Sid)
Diesel win in just over 20 minutes with a somewhat sloppy jackknife. However, overall, this was a very good match. Another ref “bump” in this one prevented Shawn from getting the win. I’m getting sick of ref bumps. There was one spot where Shawn had removed a turnbuckle pad and a couple of minutes later Diesel slingshotted him into that turnbuckle, but he missed and only hit the middle turnbuckle. I think that must have been a mistake. This should have been the main event. Oh well. The final match is Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Lawrence Taylor
I can’t believe that this is the main event. I mean, obviously they did it because LT is a big star (in the US, that is. I’m pretty sure that the rest of the world couldn’t care less about LT) and they wanted his name recognition, but I still think the championship match should have been the main event. The WWF roster is thin at this point so they tried to sell this Wrestlemania with star power. Pat Patterson is the ref. Bam Bam does a cartwheel (impressive) in the ring before the match but we can barely see it because the camera is zoomed in too much. More poor production at this show. Anyway, Lawrence Taylor wins with a forearm off the middle rope after about 11 or 12 minutes. This match was better than I expected – though that’s not saying much, but at least it didn’t drag and LT did a pretty good job for someone with zero wrestling experience (they obviously worked with him a lot) and Bam Bam did a great job of selling. Overall, a somewhat mediocre PPV. The Undertaker and Bret Hart matches were bad. The Diesel-Shawn Michaels match was very good, and the rest of the matches were good, but not great. This wasn’t a good WM, and Ricky Jackson using the word nadir is spot on! Lex Luger’s star had fallen, eh? Challenges for the world title at SummerSlam ‘93, co-wins the Rumble in ‘94, challenges for the world title at WM X - and by WM XI, is part of a forgettable opening match. The twins in WCW were The Cole Twins, I think their WCW tenure lasted from late 1992 to early 1994: I guess Ramon/Jarrett was the match of the night, inconclusive ending aside. dbutler69 , remember, it’s MISTER Backlund to us, not Bob. And he most definitely did not say, “I quit!” What did he say? It sounded like he was gargling water to me. (Great point about Bret having four feuds on the go at the same time!) Prior to this event, WWF Magazine was hinting at how Owen’s mystery tag team partner could be someone from “parts unknown”. What was it wrestling promotions doing that? Hogan was on about an “ultimate surprise” (thanks, Hogan). WWF Magazine also hinted at Warrior returning for the 1996 Royal Rumble. I wouldn’t be surprised if Mean Gene Okerlund’s WCW Hotline (clickbait before clickbait was even a term) hadn’t hinted at Warrior. Some criticise Warrior, but promotions certainly did seem to like hinting at his return. Does anybody know if ECW or TNA ever implied Warrior would join them? Diesel vs. Michaels was okay, although I expected Shawn to win. On LT/Bigelow, they did squeeze so much out of what felt like an underwhelming main event, and Taylor did seem natural in that ring. Not sure why it had to be the main event, though. I must admit, if a toy company wants to make an LT/Bigelow action figure set, count me in! On a final note, we’ve discussed the WWF’s bizarre mathematics in the past. This was the true tenth anniversary of WrestleMania, taking place a decade after WM I. Mind you, WM X, billed as the so-called ‘tenth anniversary’, is the better PPV. The Cole Twins! Thank you! Yes, that's them. I thought that they were pretty good. And sorry, MISTER Bob Backlund! |
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Post by driver1980 on Jul 26, 2024 18:33:24 GMT -5
Your post got me thinking about two other teams that had short runs in WCW.
There was The Wrecking Crew. I can’t find a photo, but there is a video:
And these guys:
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 26, 2024 21:13:02 GMT -5
Your post got me thinking about two other teams that had short runs in WCW. There was The Wrecking Crew. I can’t find a photo, but there is a video: And these guys: The Blackhearts were Tom Nash and Dave "Vampire Warrior/Gangrel" Heath, first teaming up in Stampede. They worked some indies, like Joel Goodhearts Tri-State Wresting (a precursor of ECW) and Herb Abram's UWF. Nash was married to Luna Vachon, then they split and she ended up with Heath and the team was done. The Wrecking Crew are an interesting story, as they were a pair of guys who ended up in several teams and gimmicks. Rage was Al Green, who was trained by Steve Keirn (of the Fabulous Ones and partnered with Kevin Sullivan, in Florida, in the 70s, as well as Mike Graham) who debuted as half of the Road Warriors knockoff The Master Blasters, along with Kevin Nash. Nash became OZ, then Vinnie Vegas, before going to the WWF to become Diesel and back to WCW under his own name. Green then became Rage, as part of the Wrecking Crew. He later teamed with Brian Knobbs, as The Dog, in WCW. Fury was Marc Laurenaitis, the youngest brother of Joe "Road Warrior Animal" and John "Johnny Ace." He started out in 1987, after training under Nelson Royal and Gene Anderson. He worked for the UWF as The Terminator and was teamed with The Angel of Death (Dave Sheldon, who had trained alongside Sting and Ultimate Warrior), as part of Skandar Ackbar's Devastation Incorporated. He also worked in All-Japan, teamed with Tom Zenk, as well as brother John. They also teamed up in Florida, in the later days of that territory, before John went to WCW, as one of the Dynamic Dudes. Marc ended up teaming with Al Green, as The Terminators. When they came to WCW, they were repackaged as Rage & Fury, the Wrecking Crew, probably because the Terminator name might lead to trademark dispute....or maybe they wanted to invoke the Minnesota Wrecking Crew of the Andersons. Whatever the reason, that's how the proceeded and they used those names for both Otto Wanz's CWA and in All-Japan. WCW had some good tag teams, but no idea how to use them, like both those teams, as well as Thunder & Lightning. Problem was that the Wrecking Crew and Thunder & Lightning were muscleheads and WCW had enough of those types. Lightning was Jeff Farmer, who was The Cobra, briefly and then was the fake NWO Sting. He also worked All-Japan, as Thunder & Lightning and New Japan, doing the NWO Sting gimmick. Thunder was a guy named David Haines. You could also add Dennis Knight & Mark Canterbury, as Tex Slazenger and Shanghai Pierce, who became the Godwinns, in the WWF and Knight also worked as Mideon. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 26, 2024 21:32:46 GMT -5
I recently watched WCW Slamboree 1995. This is in St. Petersburg, Florida. We’ve got Eric Bischoff with Bobby Heenan, as Tony Schiavone is recovering from neck surgery. Gene Okerlund is back for interviewing duties, thank goodness. Opening match is for the WCW Tag Team Championship: The Nasty Boys vs. Harlem Heat (Champions w/Sister Sherri) This is suppose to be the Nasty Boys’ last shot at the title, so it’s now or never time for them. Sags is by himself, as apparently Knobbs was attacked and injured prior to the match, though they don’t do a good job of telling us exactly what had happened. So, anyway, it looks like this will be a handicap match for Sags, and Bischoff says they should have postponed the match. Sags holds his own for a while, then eventually Knobbs makes his triumphant return and cleans house, and the Nasties win when Knobbs gives Sherri a spinebuster, tosses her over the top rope, and the Nasties give Booker T their finisher (powerslam/flying elbow combination). This was an okay match. Booker T looked good, as usual, and the pace really picked up when Knobbs appeared. Sherri took some serious bumps in this one. Oh, and Knobbs came out with his ribs taped up, but he didn’t act the least bit injured, either in the match or in the interview afterwards. His appearance in the match was cool, but he wasn’t selling anything. Next match is Kevin Sullivan vs. The Man with No Name
Okay, so Beefcake/Barber/Butcher is now the Man with No Name, Uh, okay. He’s also apparently a Hulkamaniac again, and of course Kevin Sullivan is not cool with that so they will settle this thing in the ring. I have low expectations for this match. I’m not sure the fans even know whom to root for (or against?) in this one. Kevin then puts the erstwhile Butcher in the Tree of Woe and nails a running knee. That is followed by a double stomp for the win. This was a terrible match (surprise, surprise) but at less than five and a half minutes, at least it wasn’t too long. After the match, we see some crazy old man (it’s the Wizard AKA King Curtis) goes on some rambling, nonsensical promo about Hulkamaniacs in the bowels of New York, Paris, and the slums of Singapore and such, and this seems to freak out Kevin Sullivan, who hightails it out of the arena through the crowd. We then get a rambling promo by Hulk Hogan (way too many “brothers” again but not as bad as the last PPV) and Randy Savage, with Jimmy Hart lurking in the background. Hogan actually acknowledges that Angelo Poffo is Savage’s father, which obviously calls out the Savage name as kayfabe. A bit surprising to me there. Next match is Wahoo McDaniel vs. Dick Murdoch
This is part of the deal with Slamboree – we get these legends matches. Most of them are pretty bad, unfortunately, but I guess I’ll watch this instead of fast forwarding and see what happens. For some reason, they film this in black and white. I mean, I know these guys are old, but come one, they did have color TV back when these two were in their prime. Anyway, this match is very slow and dull. The crowd is dead for this and I can blame them. The ending comes from out of nowhere (not that I’m complaining) as Wahoo does the Irish whip followed by a chop, and that’s enough for the pin. We get an Okerlund interview with Big Bubba Rogers. He’s apparently recently beat Sting, and promises to do so again tonight. Next is the IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: The Great Muta (champ) vs. Paul Orndorff
Muta wins this in just over 14 minutes with his patented moonsault. This match really dragged. I even heard someone in the crowd yell “boring”. Never good at a PPV. Also, at one point Orndorff choked out Muta with a TV cable right in front of the ref, yet no DQ. Next is the TV Title Match: Arn Anderson (champ) vs. Alex Wright
This had a 30 minute time limit instead of the usual 15 (or 10) minutes that TV title matches usually have, but nobody bothered to mention this, because WCW. Not that it mattered. Anderson DDT’s Wright for the win at about eleven and a half minutes. This match had some good storytelling and some good moves and overall I thought it was a pretty good match, but it really dragged at times. Wright engages in too many really long rest holds, especially for a young, fit guy. I read that Flair wanted Wright to go over here but Hogan (who else) nixed that because he wanted the Enforcer to be Arn Anderson’s next opponent. So I guess now Hulk Hogan is booking everybody else’e matches? There are some Hall of Fame inductions, including Angelo Poffo and Gordon Solie. Next match is Meng (w/ Col. Parker) vs. Road Warrior Hawk
This seems like a random match, but whatever. My hopes aren’t too high for it, in any event. I’ll keep this short. This ended in a double countout as both guys were brawling on the floor. Hawk, then Meng, didn’t feel like selling in this match and I guess neither guy was willing to job. This was a very uninteresting match. Next match is a Lights Out Match: Sting vs. Big Bubba Rogers
Lights Out means it’s unsanctioned by WCW, so it’s a no DQ match. Sting brings a table with him to the ring. After a couple of minutes of stalling to start, this wound up being a pretty decent match. Sting wins with his Scorpion Death Lock. The main event is Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage (w/ Jimmy Hart & The Renegade) vs. Vader & Ric Flair (w/ Arn Anderson)
Michael Buffer says “Hulkmania” instead of “Hulkamania” yet again. Can’t this guy get it straight after all this time, or can’t someone at WCW correct him?? Sheesh. It’s not that hard. Renegade is here to keep Arn Anderson from interfering but he proves completely worthless in that regard. He really doesn’t do anything useful in this. Also I just have to say, he’s such a blatant Ultimate Warrior rip-off that it’s hilarious. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with recycling a gimmick, but this is pretty funny. The match lasts about 19 minutes, and of course it ends with a Hogan leg drop on Flair for the win. After the match, the heels attack the faces. They are beating on a prostrate Randy Savage in the ring, when Angelo Poffo (Bischoff says he’s 70 years old) comes in to try and make the save, but instead Flair and Arn Anderson beat on him, then leave. Randy comes to and is naturally distraught over the condition of his father, setting up future feuds. This was a pretty decent match. It had some fun moments and was one of the better matches in the show. All in all, a mediocre show. Not bad, but somewhat below average, I’d say. The only bad matches were the Sullivan/Butcher match and the Legends match with McDanial and Murdoch. The rest was all pretty good, even if there were no great matches. You know, I could never care about WCW’s Hall of Fame like I could with the WWF. WCW just seemed to undersell so much, from home video releases to the Hall of Fame. That said, they only had three ceremonies in 1993, 1994 and 1995, so it didn’t outstay its welcome. Had it continued after 1995, and been a thing until WCW’s demise in 2001, no doubt they’d have been inducting the world and its wife, we’d have probably seen a 2000 Hall of Fame where Shockmaster got inducted or something. I did really enjoy the chemistry that the Nasty Boys and Harlem Heat had in their feud. The other bouts ranged from solid to forgettable. I did feel the main event was heated and atmospheric, but at this point, the “Mister Undefeated” reign of Hogan was wearing thin. Was this Gordon Solie’s final on-air appearance? By the way, I hate that Hogan’s creative control extended to other people’s matches/feuds, if the Wright/Anderson thing is true. If they were intent on giving him creative control, then so be it. And it’s fine if it had been Hogan saying, “I want to wrestle on PPV four times next year, and I want to win all four bouts.” But he should not have been able to dictate what happened in a Wright/Anderson bout (or any bout). If true, there should have been a clause, where other participants could have vetoed that. In an old magazine interview, Dynamite Kid said something like, “Hogan was a cool guy, but he would didn’t care if you were paid a dollar for you match as long as he got the big bucks for his main event.” It was never a secret anywhere that Angelo Poffo was Randy Savage's father and Leaping Lanny Poffo was his brother. Even in the WWF, they didn't exactly hide it, though they rarely referred to that fact. All three had worked together for the Fullers, in Knoxville, in the Carolinas and in Memphis, and all worked their own promotion, though solo, as Randy and Lanny were rivals, early on, then Lanny did more tag matches, with George Weingeroff, or did secondary main events, against guys like Rip Rogers, Pez Whatley and when Ronnie Garvin turned heel. Angelo worked as the masked Miser, but Ronnie Garvin outed him on a tv show and after that they referred to him, occasionally, as Angelo, though he was mostly done wrestling by the time they did the angle (and usually only wrestled occasionally, until he did a short stint as the tv champion). I believe it was acknowledged once or twice, early on in the WWF, that Randy and Lanny were brothers, but rarely after, especially after Randy was working on top. I don't recall Angelo's name being mentioned, though, nor appearing on tv. One of the sore points between Randy and Vince was when they did a legends battle royal, Randy asked about Angelo having a spot of Chief Jay Strongbow shot it down and blocked it from happening. Angelo wasn't a mainstay of the but, had worked Madison Square Garden, in the 60s. He was as prominent as some of the guys who did work the battle royal and better known than a few of them. He had worked more in the Midwest, for Detroit, Indianapolis and Chicago, as well as some of the Southern promotions, later; but, he had held the Detroit US title and was in a top tag team, in the Kohler years, in Chicago, when it was the main NWA promotion. This was Gordon Solie's last event. He greatly objected to Angelo Poffo being inducted into a NWA/WCW Hall of Fame, since he hadn't been an NWA mainstay and top draw and felt it was nepotism t appease Randy. Solie was more of a purist about it reflecting more of the NWA and Southern territory legacy, which was the main counterpoint to the WWF. Far more people worked those territories than the WWWF and many were much bigger draws than a lot of the WWF inductees, until they started broadening it more with legacy inductions. It's all moot, anyway as they soon dropped the whole thing. Cauliflower Alley Awards tended to have more meaning, as those were peer-to-peer, rather than who was on Vince's good side. Slamboree was a better idea when they were still working with what remained of the NWA, but they dropped it when they parted ways, again. I think it was a shame, as that legacy was a big factor for their fans, much like the JSA, at DC, vs Marvel. It was something that helped differentiate the promotion, as they paid homage to legends and tradition, while Vince tried repackaging the same guys as someone new and ignored anything or any history of people who came in. I was stunned when the Briscos first turned up and they acknowledged Jack as a former NWA World Champion and the same for Harley Race. I don't recall them ever doing that for Dusty or mentioning Rick Martel as a former AWA World Champion, or Curt Hennig. The only other time they did something like that was when they ran a magazine feature on the Von Erichs, but that was when Vince was trying to court Fritz, to buy out Dallas, to get his hands on the tv. fritz wanted and equal merger and Vince didn't and they remained at odds and Vince used his usual tactic of buying time in those markets to try to undercut them. World Class had better tv presentation than most of the rest and real fan loyalty, but they were self-destructing by 1986. |
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Post by dbutler69 on Jul 27, 2024 7:56:38 GMT -5
Your post got me thinking about two other teams that had short runs in WCW. There was The Wrecking Crew. I can’t find a photo, but there is a video: And these guys: Yeah, I remember both of them! The Wrecking Crew were decent bruisers. I don't remember much about the Blackhearts in the ring, but they had a very interesting entrance. That's about all I remember of them. |
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