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Post by dbutler69 on May 6, 2024 15:48:26 GMT -5
As far as heel vs. heel bouts, I really enjoyed the Shawn Michaels vs Ric Martel at Summerslam 1992. It was fun seeing both guys cheating - yet also trying to abide by the "no hitting the face" rule they had agreed to. That was a fun bout for all the reasons you describe. I remember a Bastion Booger vs Rick Martel match where Martel was repulsed by Booger. Repo Man vs. Papa Shango was a peculiar bout (I was rooting for Repo Man). I’ve mentioned The Quebecers vs. Bam Bam Bigelow & Adam Bomb. I think it was untelevised. I just want to know what Johnny Polo was doing, given he managed The Quebecers and Bomb. Did he cheer both teams on? Shift allegiance for one match? Go on strike? Sit down and just wish the better man to win? I used to like some of the Rumble promos between heels. Earthquake and Dino Bravo did one in 1990, and Earthquake said, “No-one is safe, everyone is going out!” Erm, what about your friend Dino Bravo? And a later promo (same event) had Bravo looking at Quake and saying, “The last man will be there at the end…standing by himself!” Another one I remember (1990) was when Andre, Rick Rude, Haku and Bobby Heenan began bickering over ‘every man for himself’. Starrcade ‘89 is a good PPV for heel vs heel and face vs face bouts as it features round robin tournaments for the singles and tag divisions. So we saw heel vs heel matches such as Lex Luger vs. Great Muta, and Doom vs. The New Wild Samoans. Bastion Booger vs Rick Martel? That would be hilarious! Yes, it would be nicxe to see that Quebecers vs. Bigelow/Bomb match just to see what Johnny Polo did. If he was smart, he sided with the Quebecers. And yes, the Royal Rumble promos could be fun as allies/friends would sometimes argue over what would happen if it came down to the two of them. Remember when the Nasty Boys got numbers 1 and 2 at one Royal Rumble?
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Post by dbutler69 on May 6, 2024 12:04:20 GMT -5
I agree with everything you've said here. And I don't know if there's any truth to the "Legends" idea, but it's a possibility, though I agree with you that it's silly. The main problem I have with being fixated in face vs. heel matchups is that it makes things too predictable. Once one match is over, I already know who's going to win the next matchup, since they almost always tried to preserve that heel vs. face thing. Once Razor defeated Bam Bam, I knew that IRS would defeat Mabel since they wouldn't want two babyfaces wrestling against each other. This also applies to the qualifying matches, where once one match was done, I already knew who would win next week's qualifying matches. Plus, as you imply, by always having face/heel matchups, it reduces the number of possible matches we get to see. We'll never get to see Owen vs. Jeff Jarrett, for example. And yes, Roddy hadn't wrestled in over two years, and this feud seemed totally forced. You’re right in how predictable it makes things. I did like how the 1993 KOTR had two faces go against each other, Bret vs. Mr Perfect. But off the top of my head, the PPV KOTR never had a heel vs heel bout (untelevised KOTR events did, such as IRS vs. Berzerker in 1991). In 1994, something like Bam Bam Bigelow vs. IRS might have been fun. Or a face vs face encounter such as Tatanka vs. Razor Ramon. Just to shake it up a bit. We like face vs face and heel vs heel encounters in the Royal Rumble, so why not at KOTR? It was often the same in other WWF tournaments, such as the 1990 Intercontinental Championship tournament, or 1995’s WWF Tag Team Championship tournament. Not always, of course, but often. I like heel vs heel bouts because of the novelty. But it’s also fun to be torn over who to root for. I mean, I was rooting for Power and Glory when they battled the Orient Express in 1991, because while they were bad guys, Mr Fuji was a real heel, and I wanted to see Hercules and Roma win. Having a heel vs heel dynamic in any kind of tournament could also allow some fun booking regarding torn loyalties. Imagine if back in the day, two of Jimmy Hart’s wrestlers had found themselves facing off in a tournament. Or something like that. As far as heel vs. heel bouts, I really enjoyed the Shawn Michaels vs Ric Martel at Summerslam 1992. It was fun seeing both guys cheating - yet also trying to abide by the "no hitting the face" rule they had agreed to.
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Post by dbutler69 on May 5, 2024 8:07:02 GMT -5
On King of the Ring ‘94, dbutler69 , I agree with most of your review. It is one of my favourite WWF PPVs of that era (Art Donovan aside, who was as bad as Rob Bartlett on Monday Night Raw). I must admit, though, I wish some of the tournaments hadn’t been so dead set on babyface vs heel finals. I’d have been intrigued by seeing, say, Bam Bam Bigelow VS IRS here, or Owen Hart vs. Jeff Jarrett. But what we did get was good, although the running times were too short. This isn’t the best Bret/Diesel match, but it was pretty good. At the time, I did wonder what Neidhart was up to. It was good to see him back, but when he came out during the Razor/Owen match, and perhaps I was naive, I expected he was out to help Razor and confront Owen. The Owen victory was a good one, but imagine if Razor had won. Imagine him taking his toothpick out as he drank the royal goblet. Oh, and I was also expecting Jerry Lawler to show up. After all, he did consider himself the true king. I was thinking about how Lex Luger’s stock had plummeted after WM X. To not even make the card here was frustrating. And where was Doink? As a kid, I expected Tatanka to win, it felt like he needed a big victory after 2 years of service to the WWF. The tag bout was intriguing, and at least fresh. It was also a rare occasion to see The Head Shrinkers as underdogs, which they rarely were. Now, to the main event (which was okay, I guess): at the time, it felt like the most random main event the WWF could have come up with. Why? Why indeed. I mean, Piper hadn’t wrestled since WM VIII, and as far as I know, he had no prior history with Lawler. It honestly felt like someone at the WWF had come up with two random names and that is what we got. It made Boss Man/Bigelow at RR ‘93 look like a meticulously planned arc. Random doesn’t even begin to describe it! I did read years ago that with Hogan/Flair planned for Bash at the Beach ‘94, which took place a month after this PPV, the WWF wanted to get a “legends match” in first. Is there any truth to that? It’s the most logical explanation anyone has ever come up with. Given the “New Generation” hype/advertising at the time, it just felt odd that neither the KOTR final, nor the Bret/Diesel bout, went on last. So while there was a wild and fun aspect to Piper/Lawler, it’s perhaps the one WWF bout where I wish I could have been a fly on the wall to learn just why it was booked. If there is truth to the “legends idea” of beating Hogan/Flair, well it would still be silly. While some fans did enjoy the WWF and WCW (I was one of them!), not everything is a competition. Did the WWF doing a “legends bout” a month before WCW mean anything? Did it win them any accolades? Were there any bragging rights? I doubt it. I mean, Piper vs. Lawler was one thing, Hogan vs. Flair was another, I doubt Piper/Lawler had any WWF fans saying, “You know, I got my legends match, so I won’t buy the Hogan/Flair bout.” It may just be a theory, but it’s the only one I’ve heard that makes some sort of sense. Overall, I enjoyed this, even better than KOTR ‘93, if I’m honest. I’d say it’s one of the most solid and enjoyable PPVs of the New Generation Era. If anyone has any insight into why Piper/Lawler was booked, please let us know! I agree with everything you've said here. And I don't know if there's any truth to the "Legends" idea, but it's a possibility, though I agree with you that it's silly. The main problem I have with being fixated in face vs. heel matchups is that it makes things too predictable. Once one match is over, I already know who's going to win the next matchup, since they almost always tried to preserve that heel vs. face thing. Once Razor defeated Bam Bam, I knew that IRS would defeat Mabel since they wouldn't want two babyfaces wrestling against each other. This also applies to the qualifying matches, where once one match was done, I already knew who would win next week's qualifying matches. Plus, as you imply, by always having face/heel matchups, it reduces the number of possible matches we get to see. We'll never get to see Owen vs. Jeff Jarrett, for example. And yes, Roddy hadn't wrestled in over two years, and this feud seemed totally forced.
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Post by dbutler69 on May 4, 2024 14:06:21 GMT -5
I recently watched King of the Ring 1994.
We’ve got our tournament, plus Bret Hart vs. Diesel in a champ vs. champ match, plus the tag team belts being defended, plus a grudge match between Roddy Piper and Jerry Lawler!
Vince McMahon sits this one out with neck surgery. We’ve got Gorilla Monsoon and Randy Savage on commentary, along with local football legend Art Donovan. Art Donovan as a wrestling announcer. Boy, I don’t even know where to begin. His announcing is...something. It’s too easy to pick on his commentary, so I won’t bother too much. This guy has clearly never seen a professional wrestling match in his life, and whoever thought it would be a good idea to hire him for this gig should be fired, except that it was probably Vince McMahon’s idea. One of my favorite Art quotes, when Bam Bam had Razon in a Torture Rack: “Gorilla, is he dead?”. And he was being serious. He mostly just asked inane questions throughout the broadcast like somebody's clueless grandpa and also kept asking how much everybody weighed. Honestly, I found it a bit distracting to have to listen to him. Well, the silver lining is that this debacle apparently helped convince McMahon to hire back Jim Ross.
Unfortunately, this will be the last PPV for Joey Morella, as he dies in a car accident falling asleep at the wheel driving back from a show a couple of weeks after this. They say that his father, Gorilla Monsoon, was never the same after that.
Going back to Art Donovan, he was 70 years old at the time of this event and it’s incredible (and sad) to think of how many wrestlers (and refs, and commentators) at this PPV he would outlive, even though he was considerably older than all of them.
They push the use of the term “New Generation” a lot on this PPV.
Unlike last year when Bret Hart was declared #1 seed and didn’t have to wrestle in a qualifying match, all 8 wrestlers in this one had to win a qualifying match on either Raw or Superstars.
First match is Bam Bam Bigelow (w/Luna Vachon) vs. Razor Ramon.
Razon wins in a little over 8 minutes when Bam Bam goes to the top for a moonsault and Razor grabs him and powerbombs him. This was a good, back and forth match, with both guys getting in some offencse and Bam Bam working Razor’s back, as he wasn’t going to get someone Bam Bam’s size up for the Razor’s Edge anyway. As with all of the tournament matches here, this thing clocked in at under 10 minutes.
Razor advances to the semifinals to fac the winner of the next match.
Next up in the tournament is Irwin R. Schyster vs. Mabel (w/Oscar).
IRS wins in about five and a half minutes when Mabel goes to the middle rope and IRS shakes the rope, knocking him off, then IRS covers him (with his arm on the rope, though oddly none of the commentators mentioned that) for the win. This was not a very good match, but at least it was relatively short.
IRS will face Razor in the semifinal.
Next tournament match is Owen Hart vs. Tatanka.
Tatanka blindsides Owen before the bell, in a heelish move. This was a good match with a lot of nearfalls that got the crowd into it (the crowd was great throughout this PPV, by the way) and Owen wins in about 8 and a half minutes by sitting on Tatanka during Tatanka’s sunset flip attempt and hooking his legs. Another example of Owen being clever and coming up with different ways to win. This was a fun, face paced match.
Owen advances to the semis.
Final first round match is The 1-2-3 Kid vs. Jeff Jarrett.
This was another fun, face paced match with good storytelling. The kid missed a corner charge, smashing his knee. Double J attacked the knee a couple of times, then went for the figure four, but Kid grabs him during the figure four attempt and rolls him up into a small package for the win. Another good plucky underdog win for the Kid. After the match, Jarrett hits 3 piledrivers on Kid then goes up top for two or three elbows off the middle rope, and the Kid’s ability to be able to compete in the next round after that beatdown is in question.
1-2-3 Kid advances to the semis vs. Owen Hart – if he’s physically able!
Next is the WWF Title Match: Diesel (w/ Shawn Michaels) vs. Bret Hart (c) (w/ Jim Neidhart).
Diesel is Intercontinental champs, and I don’t understand why they keep saying he can own both belts. When Warrior won the WWF championship while Intercontinental champ, he had to vacate the Intercontinental, which makes sense, and I don’t know why that wouldn’t be the case here. Of course, the WWF never acknowledges that event anyway.
I saw a “Greaseball” sign being held up during this match, which I assume is a reference to Bret Hart. Pretty harsh! Overall though, the crowd was VERY much behind Bret here.
So anyhoo, at the King’s Court a few weeks ago, Diesel, with help from Shawn Michaels and Jerry Lawler, gave Bret a serious beatdown after a Diesel jackknife (powerbomb) so Bret has said that he will have a family member present at ringside for this match to offset the presence of Michaels. A lot of stupid guesses as to who that might be, but of course it’s his brother-in-law Jim Neidhart.
Excellent match here. Good storytelling with Bret working the leg to set up for his sharpshooter and Diesel working the back to set up for his powerbomb. Bret made Diesel look good here (surprise surprise). Diesel wins by DQ (after nearly 23 miutes) when Neidhart comes in an clotheslines Diesel after Diesel jackknifed Bret Hart. So Diesel wins the match but Neidhart’s actions did save the belt for Bret Hart since you can’t win the title on a DQ. Neidhart then walks off. As he does, Diesel and Michaels give Hart a serious beatdown, and the announcers are wondering where Neidhart is. Later on in the show, Bret goes looking for Neidhart, but can’t find him. The ending could have been better, but it did leave open the question of whether or not Bret could have kicked out of the Jackknife, so that set up a future rematch.
I read that Diesel wrestled this match with a torn groin. If that is true, kudos to him!
Next match is a King of the Ring Semifinal: Razor Ramon vs. Irwin R. Schyster
Razor wins with his Razor’s Edge (after just a couple kicks to the stomach) in a little over 5 minutes. An okay match, but nothing special. They’re keeping these matches short since the two guys in the final will need to wrestle 3 times. That’s a shortcoming of this format.
Next match is a King of the Ring Semifinal: Owen Hart vs. The 1-2-3 Kid.
Frankly, this was my favorite match of the entire PPV. It was under 4 minutes, but possibly the best under 4 minute WWF/WWE match of all time. My kind of match – very fast paced with lots of arial stuff plus some good mat wrestling thrown in. They did a good job of building up drama and it actually seemed longer than it was because so much happened. This match was so great that these two wouldn’t meet again in a big match until 1998. Sigh.
Owen started this match with a dropkick on the Kid, who hadn’t even entered the ring yet, but unfortunately, since the WWF now has the wrestlers enter the ring in a darkened arena, with some fancy spotlights, you really couldn’t see that dropkick. A shame.
Next is the Tag Team Title Match: The Headshrinkers (c) (w/ Afa & Lou Albano) vs. Crush & Yokozuna (w/ Mr. Fuji & Jim Cornette)
The Headshrinkers retain the title in a little over 9 minutes when Fatu superkicks Crush and covers for the pin. This match wasn’t necessarily great (some botches in there) but it was better than I expected. Lex Luger came out during the match and distracted Crush, which played a role in the outcome. In fact, they had the camera on Luger during that finishing superkick, so that you could barely see that finishing move. Not good, WWF. They kept mentioning that Crush cost Luger the win in the King of the Ring qualifying match but they never mention that Luger retaliated by doing the same thing to Crush. Luger had been feuding with Mr Perfect but then Perfect got injured so Crush is now the guy with the Luger feud.
The crowd started a “USA” chant in this match between two Samoans, vs. a Hawaiian and a “Japanese” guy. Annoying and ignorant.
There was one point in this match where Yoko came in an illegally leg dropped one of the Samoans and the ref pretended not to see it (since it should have been a DQ) but it was obvious to me that he did see it. Whoops. I guess that’s what they mean by a ref being out of position.
Next we get the KOTR Owen Hart vs. Razor Ramon.
I find it strange that the Piper-Lawler match goes on last rather than this. That really doesn’t make any sense to me. The final of the tournament should be main event, plus it would give the guys more time to rest. Really odd.
Anyway, Owen Hart wins the match, and the tournament, after Jim Neidhart came out when Razor had been backdropped onto the floor and gave Razor a couple of cheapshots while Owen had the ref distracted, then rolled him back into the ring so that Owen could just do a Randy Savage elbow drop off the top rope for the win. The match was good, but not great. Both guys were probably tired, so under the circumstances I can’t complain. The final was only about 6 and a half minutes, which is pretty short for a final match. Maybe that’s why this wasn’t the main event? More time to this match would have been nice.
So we see that Neidhart was actually an Owen guy all along and only helped Bret to make sure that Bret would retain the title so that Owen could win the title for him when Owen won the king of the ring. I liked the ending where Neidhart comes out, to the surprise of all, and attacks Razor and we finally see why he disappeared after Bret’ match. Pretty cool betrayal.
In the ceremony to crown Owen as the new King of the Ring, Owen was such an awesome jerk here. I loved the coronation, Also, Neidhart was by his side for this. Owen now wants to be known as the King of Harts. Cool.
The main event is “Rowdy” Roddy Piper vs. Jerry “The King” Lawler.
I find it odd that this is the main event, but I guess they wanted to send the fans home happy. Whatever. I’d rather get sent home with a really good match. Anyway, these two have been feuding, with Lawler insulting Piper and also insulting the kids at the children’s hospital that Piper has been visiting. Piper has promised his winnings to that children’s hospital and Lawler says the kids will get nothing because Piper will lose. The odd thing about this feud is that it’s been done remotely. These guys have not met even once. Odd way to build up a feud. In a recent edition of the King’s Court, Lawler got a very skinny kid to wear a kilt and Piper tee shirt and impersonate Piper (and his Piper impersonation was spot on) then he made the kid kiss his feet and crawl out of the ring. He pretended that that was really Piper. Pipers rebuttal was that Lawler took advantage of and humiliated this poor kid and that he would find him and make amends. Sure enough, Piper comes out to this match accompanied by that kid, after Lawler came out first and grabbed the mic and insulted the crowd as well as Piper.
As far as the match itself, it was okay I guess. I mean frankly, it wasn’t all that great though these are two legends. It probably would have played better 10 or 15 years earlier. Anyway, it was mostly punches and kicks and the kid getting involved a bit and Lawler went after the kid several times and when Piper tried to save him Lawler took advantage. Piper had gotten the early advantage acting rathe heelish, throwing his kilt over Lawler then pummeling him before the bell, then shortly thereafter outside the ring he held Lawler so the kid could poke him in the eye. I’m not sure why that wasn’t a DQ nor do I know how those guys weren’t both counted out during that segment. I will say, Piper looked ripped here. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in such good shape. Anyway, Piper wins the match (surprise surprise) when he knocked Lawler off the ropes then hit a belly to back suplex and covered for the win I n a sloppy looking finish.
Overall, though the booking here was quite good. I don’t know who the booker was for this, but good job overall. It thought it funny that they’re pushing this “New Generation” thing and even have a commercial mocking older wrestlers, yet their main event was two guys in their 40s/ Go figure.
Anyway, I thought this was a pretty good show overall. Bret/Diesel was really good, all of the Owen Hart matches were good, Razor and 1-2-3 Kid had good performances and I enjoyed Owen’s antics at the coronation ceremony. The main event wasn’t very good, and some of the tournament matches weren’t get good (especially IRS-Mabel) and many of the tournament matches were too short, but overall, a rather decent show.
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Post by dbutler69 on May 4, 2024 8:24:03 GMT -5
Amazing Spider-Man #37 Avengers #28 Daredevil #16 (Spider-Man! Nice cover, too) Fantastic Four #51 (This Man, This Monster!) Strange Tales #145 Tales of Suspense #78 Thor #128 (Thor vs. Pluto!) X-Men #20 (I think this was the first X-Men back issue I ever bought) Adventure Comics #344 (Legion of Super-Heroes in the Super Stalag of Space!) Detective Comics #351 (Elongated Man backup!) Doom Patrol #103 Flash #161 (Mirror Master) Justice League of America #44 Showcase #62 (The Inferior Five!) Teen Titans #3 World's Finest Comics #157 Tales to Astonish #80 Some of my favorite covers for the month:
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Post by dbutler69 on May 4, 2024 8:07:43 GMT -5
He changed his name back to Big Bubba Rogers when he turned heel in '95. Probably should have just done that in the first place when he came back to WCW.
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Post by dbutler69 on May 4, 2024 8:07:03 GMT -5
I saw Clash of Champions 28 from June, 1994. This is it! This represents Hulk Hogan’s WCW debut! He doesn’t actually wrestle here, but he does make an appearance, limo, police escort and all. The other storyline here is that Sensual Sherri (she can’t be Sensational any more since WWF has the rights to that name) is going to choose her “man” to stand by, but nobody knows who it is. Plenty of speculation, of course. Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan on commentary, with Jesse occasionally replacing Heenan. Okerland doing the interviews. First match is for the WCW World Tag Team Championship: Cactus Jack and Kevin Sullivan (c) w/ Dave Sullivan vs. The Nasty Boys. This one, unlike their previous PPV matches, just has regular tag team championship match rules. Due to the crazy nature of their previous encounters, there are two refs for this one. The second ref (who is on the floor) played absolutely no role in this match whatsoever, so I have no idea why they bothered. Anyway, this was a good match. Not as good as their previous PPV encounters, but another good brawl. The champs retain the belts when Cactus laid out Knobbs with the double arm DDT. Next match is The Guardian Angel vs. Tax Slazenger. The Guardian Angel is the Boss’s (AKA Big Bossman) new gimmick after WCW changed it to avoid litigation with the WWF. This was just a quick squash to put over the new gimmick. It was fine for what it was. Prior to the match, they had a video showing him training to become a Guardian Angel. Next match is for the WCW Television Championship: Larry Zbyszko (c) vs. Lord Steven Regal w/ Sir William. Zbyszko had gotten the title from Regal somewhere along the line, within the past couple of weeks, I think. Regal wins when Larry had Regal in a Boston crab, but Sir William walked by and flipped them over so that Regal now had Larry in a pinning predicament, then Regal held onto the ropes for the pin. This was a good match. A mixture of brawling and mat wrestling. I think Zbyszko retired for good soon after this. Dustin Rhodes has selected Arn Anderson as his tag team partner for the next PPV. Next match is for the WCW United States Championship: Steve Austin (c) vs. Johnny B. Badd.This was a pretty good match, except that the ending was stupid, confusing, and annoying. Austin pulls out some brass knuckles, clobbers Badd with them, and pins Badd for the win. Then, a second referee comes out and tells the first referee what happened. So Badd rolled up Austin and won, to take the title. Then he walks off with the belt. Or did he take the title? Apparently, though THEY NEVER EXPLAINED THIS DURING THE BROADCAST, Badd won by DQ, not by pinfall, so he did not win the title. First of all, I HATE when they have a second referee come in after the match is over and get a decision reversed. So many plot holes there. Why not do that every time then??? Second, the ref never should have counted Austin out for the Badd pinfall win. If you’re going to reverse the decision, then a Badd DQ win is the right call, which was apparently what eventually happened, though WCW, in their baffling incompetence, never explained that. Then Hulk Hogan basically challenges Ric Flair to a match. The main event here is Flair vs. Sting in a unification match, and WCW basically gave away the ending of that match with this confrontation between Hogan and Flair. Not the first time and probably not the last time WCW gave away the ending of a big match. They are apparently pretending that Hogan and Flair have never wrestled before. Also, they had Hogan on the mic a few times on this show, and he said "brother" about every fifth word. It got really, really annoying. It's like he's a parody of himself. The main event is the Unification Match: WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs. WCW International World Champion Sting.The guys come out, and we finally see who Sherri has selected. She makes her grand entrance wearing the same face paint as Sting, and goes to his corner. The crowd seemed to be primarily behind Sting for this one. This was an excellent match. Not the best ever Flair-Sting match, but still very good. Flair wins when Sherri distracts Sting (she got clobbered by a Sting plancha when Sting was going after Flair but Flair pulled Sherri into the path – Shawn Michaels style) as Sherri went onto the apron to say something to Sting, and while that was happening, Flair rolled Sting up from behind for the win. It was a setup! Sherri had actually chosen Flair all along and tricked Sting! Then Flair and Sherri beat on Sting for a while until the Hulkster runs out for the save. I liked the Sherri double cross here. Anyway, with Hogan now on board, with Jimmy Hart, I might add, WCW will be changing a lot, of course. It had been getting more hardcore, but that will change. All in all, a very good show. No bad matches. You had the Guardian Angel squash, but that was short and wasn’t really bad or anything. We must have very similar tastes because, once again, my view is akin to yours. (Sorry to post this - all due respect - but wasn’t this Clash 27 rather than 28?) The main event is really just a placeholder bout. Expect an interesting thing or two between Dustin Rhodes and Arn Anderson. Austin’s stock is really plummeting at this point (not his fault, obviously). With the benefit of hindsight, while I felt a bit of excitement at Hogan being in a new environment, the discussions we’ll no doubt have about future PPVs will show just what Hogan meant for WCW, Austin included. Guardian Angel’s stock plummeted, too, and I can’t help but think the loss of The Boss gimmick hindered him a tad. Oh well, plenty of fun to come… Yeah, you're right - it's 27 not 28. I fixed my post, thanks. I read somewhere that Eric Bischoff thought that Austin wasn't marketable. I think Bischoff is in charge at this point, so maybe that's why he's slipping down the card. Good call, Eric! I agree that losing the Boss/Bossman gimmick hurt our Guardian Angel.
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Post by dbutler69 on May 3, 2024 14:51:27 GMT -5
Funny thing is, on one of the weekend shows a few days before this Clash, WCW accidentally aired a segment that was supposed to air after the Clash where Mean Gene talks about Flair as being the winner of the big match with Sting. So they had already spoiled the result before the show started. Not that there was much doubt they were going to book Hogan vs Flair for the title as Hogan's first WCW match Yup, that sounds like WCW all right.
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Post by dbutler69 on May 3, 2024 11:41:32 GMT -5
I saw Clash of Champions 27 from June, 1994.
This is it! This represents Hulk Hogan’s WCW debut! He doesn’t actually wrestle here, but he does make an appearance, limo, police escort and all.
The other storyline here is that Sensual Sherri (she can’t be Sensational any more since WWF has the rights to that name) is going to choose her “man” to stand by, but nobody knows who it is. Plenty of speculation, of course.
Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan on commentary, with Jesse occasionally replacing Heenan. Okerland doing the interviews.
First match is for the WCW World Tag Team Championship: Cactus Jack and Kevin Sullivan (c) w/ Dave Sullivan vs. The Nasty Boys.
This one, unlike their previous PPV matches, just has regular tag team championship match rules. Due to the crazy nature of their previous encounters, there are two refs for this one. The second ref (who is on the floor) played absolutely no role in this match whatsoever, so I have no idea why they bothered.
Anyway, this was a good match. Not as good as their previous PPV encounters, but another good brawl. The champs retain the belts when Cactus laid out Knobbs with the double arm DDT.
Next match is The Guardian Angel vs. Tax Slazenger. The Guardian Angel is the Boss’s (AKA Big Bossman) new gimmick after WCW changed it to avoid litigation with the WWF. This was just a quick squash to put over the new gimmick. It was fine for what it was. Prior to the match, they had a video showing him training to become a Guardian Angel.
Next match is for the WCW Television Championship: Larry Zbyszko (c) vs. Lord Steven Regal w/ Sir William.
Zbyszko had gotten the title from Regal somewhere along the line, within the past couple of weeks, I think. Regal wins when Larry had Regal in a Boston crab, but Sir William walked by and flipped them over so that Regal now had Larry in a pinning predicament, then Regal held onto the ropes for the pin. This was a good match. A mixture of brawling and mat wrestling. I think Zbyszko retired for good soon after this.
Dustin Rhodes has selected Arn Anderson as his tag team partner for the next PPV.
Next match is for the WCW United States Championship: Steve Austin (c) vs. Johnny B. Badd.
This was a pretty good match, except that the ending was stupid, confusing, and annoying. Austin pulls out some brass knuckles, clobbers Badd with them, and pins Badd for the win. Then, a second referee comes out and tells the first referee what happened. So Badd rolled up Austin and won, to take the title. Then he walks off with the belt. Or did he take the title? Apparently, though THEY NEVER EXPLAINED THIS DURING THE BROADCAST, Badd won by DQ, not by pinfall, so he did not win the title. First of all, I HATE when they have a second referee come in after the match is over and get a decision reversed. So many plot holes there. Why not do that every time then??? Second, the ref never should have counted Austin out for the Badd pinfall win. If you’re going to reverse the decision, then a Badd DQ win is the right call, which was apparently what eventually happened, though WCW, in their baffling incompetence, never explained that.
Then Hulk Hogan basically challenges Ric Flair to a match. The main event here is Flair vs. Sting in a unification match, and WCW basically gave away the ending of that match with this confrontation between Hogan and Flair. Not the first time and probably not the last time WCW gave away the ending of a big match. They are apparently pretending that Hogan and Flair have never wrestled before.
Also, they had Hogan on the mic a few times on this show, and he said "brother" about every fifth word. It got really, really annoying. It's like he's a parody of himself.
The main event is the Unification Match: WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs. WCW International World Champion Sting.
The guys come out, and we finally see who Sherri has selected. She makes her grand entrance wearing the same face paint as Sting, and goes to his corner.
The crowd seemed to be primarily behind Sting for this one. This was an excellent match. Not the best ever Flair-Sting match, but still very good. Flair wins when Sherri distracts Sting (she got clobbered by a Sting plancha when Sting was going after Flair but Flair pulled Sherri into the path – Shawn Michaels style) as Sherri went onto the apron to say something to Sting, and while that was happening, Flair rolled Sting up from behind for the win. It was a setup! Sherri had actually chosen Flair all along and tricked Sting! Then Flair and Sherri beat on Sting for a while until the Hulkster runs out for the save. I liked the Sherri double cross here. Anyway, with Hogan now on board, with Jimmy Hart, I might add, WCW will be changing a lot, of course. It had been getting more hardcore, but that will change.
All in all, a very good show. No bad matches. You had the Guardian Angel squash, but that was short and wasn’t really bad or anything.
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Post by dbutler69 on May 3, 2024 11:38:34 GMT -5
Shoot me now, please: I shudder to think what his latest lies may be. Noooooooo! “Brother, I was playing in my high school band, and I met Neil Armstrong, who saw our band regularly. He wasn’t sure about the space program, but I said to him, ‘Brother, you gotta do this for the United States and its morale.’ And he went to the Moon. So I like to think Hulkamania - before Hulkamania was even a thing - played its little part in making sure America won the race to the Moon…”Don't forget about how he invented the internet.
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Post by dbutler69 on May 3, 2024 7:49:54 GMT -5
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Post by dbutler69 on Apr 29, 2024 7:14:27 GMT -5
Did you ever see Jacques and Pierre in WCW as The Amazing French Canadians (1996-98)? Didn’t really get a high profile during the nWo era, but it was good to see them again. Not that I recall. I may have seen them back in the day and don't remember it. I'm sure I'll get to that eventually as I make my way through the WWE/WCW content.
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Post by dbutler69 on Apr 27, 2024 7:45:22 GMT -5
Taped on this day 30 years ago, the Head Shrinkers defeated The Quebecers to win the WWF World Tag Team Championship (the victory would air in early May): I really enjoyed this title change as The Quebecers were heels you loved to hate, and had been so dastardly at times. Seeing The Head Shrinkers humble them was great. I just watched this a few days ago! It was on Raw. I read that Jacques was leaving the company (he wanted to be able to spend more time at home and I guess the money WWF was offering him wasn't enough to offset that) so I assume that's why they dropped the title at this time. Another tag team champ for Captain Lou Albano!
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Post by dbutler69 on Apr 25, 2024 16:02:21 GMT -5
I finished watching WCW Slamboree 1994.
Again, Bobby Heenan and Tony Schiovane are the announcers with Ventura doing interviews and Okerlund doing features from the interview platform. This was held in Philadelphia.
Rick Rude was supposed to defend his international title against Vader here, but suffered a career ending injury in Japan, so Commissioner Bockwinkle rules the recent Rude-Sting bout a no-contest and awards the international title to Sting, but Sting comes out and says he refuses to win a title in the board room, but he will wrestle Vader for the title. Good man! Still, it might have helped their buy rate if they had announced this match beforehand instead of during the event.
Sensational Sherri (now Sensual Sherri due to WWF rights issues) is in the audience! 2 Cold Scorpio was fired for failing a drug test, unfortunately. Ric Flair is going to wrestle a large mystery masked opponent (who attacked him on an episode of WCW Saturday Night and is in Col. Parker’s stable) for the WCW title.
First match is a U.S. Title Match: Stunning Steve Austin (c) (w/ Col. Parker) vs. Johnny B. Badd.
This was a pretty good match, mostly mat based, with a botched ending. I don’t know what they were going for, or how to describe it, but basically they were both laying on the mat and Austin rolled on top of Bad for the pin and retains his belt.
Next match is a Legends match, Tully Blanchard v. Terry Funk. Gordon Solie joins Heenan on commentary for this one. This is ECW territory, so Funk got an especially nice pop from the crowd. This was a wild brawl. I’d have thought it was a no DQ (with all the weapons that Funk used) and no countout match, but I guess the ref was just being very permissive. At one point, Funk puts a chair in the ring and tries to piledrive (I guess) Blanchard off the middle rope onto the chair but either it was botched or Blanchard just blocked it. Anyway, this thing ended about the only way it could have, with a double DQ. Good match. Also, I read that Blanchard was promised a larger payoff than he got, and thus refused to do the job as a result. The fans were chanting “bullsh*t” after this match.
Next match is Larry Zbyszko vs. Lord Steven Regal (w/ Sir William). Regal is the TV champ but this is a nontitle match. Zbyszko has come out of retirement to feud with Regal, who has been saying bad things about the good ol’ US of A. This match was very slow and had a lot of stalling. Some good technical stuff here, but could have been better, in my opinion. Zbyszko pulls off the upset when he counters Regal’s butterfly suplex attempt with a backdrop, and stays on top of him for the pin.
A wonderfully insane Terry Funk interview follows.
Next match is a Bull-Rope Match: Dustin Rhodes vs. Bunkhouse Buck (w/ Col. Parker). A rematch from their Bunkhouse match at the last PPV, Spring Stampede. The rules are that the two guys are tied together with an 8 ft. bull rope which has a large cowbell attached, which either wrestler can use as a weapon. Effectively a no DQ match. The crowd chants “we want blood” repeatedly and loudly. Philly fans are so nice! They didn’t get their blood until after the match was over though, when Terry Funk came out and attacked the victorious Rhodes with his branding iron, I guess because he doesn’t like Dustin’s daddy.
It backfires when Col. Parker tries to interfere and Dustin is able to clobber Buck with the cowbell over the head for the win. This wasn’t as good as their Spring Stampede match, but it was still a decent brawl.
Next is the WCW Title Match: Ric Flair (c) vs. Barry Windham (w/ Col. Parker). Odd to have the title match here in the middle of the program, but whatever. Col Parker’s mystery man is finally revealed as Barry Windham, who lost his NWA title (which later became the WCW International title) quite some time ago. Parker had been promising a 6’ 7” 300 lb former world champ to get people to think it would be Hulk Hogan, but we get a curveball here. The fans didn’t seem too thrilled about this. Windham hadn’t been seen in WCW in quite some time and looked out of shape. Tony said that he’s been away for 6 months due to a knee injury
Anyway, Flair wins with a cross body off the tope rope. This was a boring match, for the most part.
Next is Broad Street Bully Match for the Tag Team Titles: Cactus Jack & Kevin Sullivan vs. The Nasty Boys (c)
Former Philadelphia Flyer Dave Schultz was the guest referee. I guess this was supposed to be Kevin Sullivan and his kayfabe brother Dave but Dave (or Evad, in an embarrassing WCW dyslexia storyline) was injured by the Nasties, so Cactus Jack is taking his place.
A Broad Street Bully match means pinfalls count anywhere, no DQ’s, and all four guys are legal at al times. Basically, the exact same rules as with their Chicago Street Fight match at the last PPV. However, for some reason, they only have one referee for this one, trying to watch two pairs of guys fighting oftentimes 50 or more feet from each other. Schultz didn’t seem too interested in getting involved, not that I blame him as he might have gotten hit by a stray chair!
This was another brutal match. It was similar to, but not as good as, the Nasty Boys-Jack/Payne match from Spring Stampede. Again, mostly weapons such as table and chairs being used, most of the match taking place outside the ring, and the two pairs of guys fighting separately. In the end, Jack/Sullivan win when Sags takes Dave Schultz’s hockey stick (which he’d brought to the ring with him) and is about to club Jack with it, but Schultz take it away from him and sets it down. He then punches Sags several times and then pulls his shirt over him, hockey style. Then Jack picks up the hockey stick (and for some reason Schultz doesn’t take the stick away from Jack like he did from Sags) and hits him with it, then covers him for the pin. So Dave Schultz is an even worse referee than The Boss. Jesse (who had stepped in for Heenan on commentary for this one) is rightfully indignant about that ridiculous ending. It did get a big pop in Philly, though, of course. Still, in spite of that, this was a very good and, as I said, brutal match. Also, after that, Jack and Kevin Sullivan continue (with some help from the referee Save Schultz) to attack the Nasties, then Dave Sullivan comes out in crutches and hits Knobs with a crutch, while Maxx Payne comes out (I guess he was not in this match because he was in the doghouse for injuring Sags’ shoulder – and Sags needing shoulder surgery is why they had to drop the titles) and smashes the guitar over Sags’ head, smashing it to pieces. And all is right with the world.
And our final match is the International World Title Match: Sting vs. Big Van Vader (w/ Harley Race)
I guess this was supposed to be Vader-Rude but Rude suffered that career ending injury in Japan vs. Sting so Sting gets this spot instead.
The fans started a “Sting must die!” chant during this match. Philly fans are brutal! It got me to wondering who the worst sports fans in America are.
Anyway, this was an excellent match. I don’t think it was quite as good as some of the Sting-Vader matches from 1992-93, but it was still a very good match. It ends with a Sting victory when Vader misses a moonsault, Harley Race accidentally headbutts his own man (then gets tossed by the ref) and Sting hits a flying splash for the pin. Sting is the new International champ!
All in all, a very good PPV. No bad matches!
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Post by dbutler69 on Apr 22, 2024 8:12:43 GMT -5
What I noticed on the coloring as I started out, it looks like stuff like gradient backgrounds are a little crisper in the digital style. It doesn't bother me, but I know these details do matter to people considering reprint collections. I was able to do a compare per below where the first 2 side by side are the coloring from the original first issue (left) and the Special Edition reprint a few years later (right) which I didn't realize had been recolored! Then below a picture I took from my book (had to crop a bit, I was having trouble scaling down as the gradient started looking checkered which it doesn't in person). It looks to me like they went back to more the original colors for the omnibus, with some digital enhanced pattern backgrounds/fills, and a little brighter overall. So not perfect for the purist, but again works for me just fine. New omnibus: This is a really helpful comparison @kal . I'm a big fan of Bill Mantlo's writing, but I have not read any Micronauts since I was a very, very young lad in the late '70s (it appeared in black & white as a back-up strip in Marvel UK's Star Wars Weekly comic in '78 and '79). I'd like to read the at least the early issues, with Michael Golden on art chores, and have been wondering whether to get the omnibus, the Special Edition '80s reprint, or the original issues (which aren't that pricey). This post of yours helps me make a more informed decision. Yeah, if you haven't read these since back in the day, you need to get on it! At least the first dozen issues, with Michael Golden. Those are the acme of the series, but the entire series is really good.
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