Summerslam '88

Legacy Review

SummerSlam '88

August 29, 1988 from Madison Square Garden

Commentary: Gorilla Monsoon and Superstar Billy Graham. Graham is just plain awful. How awful? Think Booker T's worst night on commentary. Then think worse than that.

The British Bulldogs and The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers go to a 20:00 time limit draw- The Rougeaus had just turned heel and didn't have Jimmy Hart or, sadly, All American Boys yet. The do have the mini American flags and make sure Fink announces that they're "soon to relocate" to the US. DBS takes it to Jacques. After a bit of beating he dumps him in his own corner and lets him tag. The Rougeaus hug to regain HP. Raymond gets a cheap shot in on a rope break. DBS reverses a monkey flip and gets a deep armdrag. Jacques tries to start a USA chant while he's on the apron. The crowd surprisingly is having none of it. DBS and Raymond do a nice sunset flip/O'Connor Roll counter. The dog handler outside has his hands full keeping Matilda sitting on her platform. Jacques trips DBS from the outside to turn the tide. The heels work DBS's leg for a while. DBS uses a monkey flip to get time to get to the corner and tag. Dynamite cleans house. DBS hits the powerslam but Jacques runs in to break up the pin. Dynamite gets up on the second rope to give Raymond the 10 punches, but Jacques runs in and side suplexes him off. Dynamite goes face in peril. The Rougeaus work the ref to double team and swap without tags. Dynamite gets a small package but the ref misses it. They work the "ref doesn't see the tag" spot, but Dynamite quickly gets the real hot tag. DBS gorilla presses Jacques and crotches him on the top rope. All four guys are in. The Bulldogs hit their finisher, but the ref is trying to get Jacques out of the ring and the bell rings for the time limit. This was textbook tag team wrestling. They kept the pace slow enough to last the 20 minutes, but fast enough so it never got boring. The booking of the draw is a bit of a puzzler but I guess they didn't want either team to take a loss. It's the best Summerlam opener until the next year's opener, when the Harts and Brain Busters tore it up. ***1/2

Gorilla says they have breaking news- Beefcake is out of the IC title match later. They roll footage of Ron Bass attacking him on Superstars the week prior. Bass chokes him out with his whip then grabs his spur and rakes it across Beefcake's forehead, cutting him open. It's pretty grisly, and out of WWF's comfort zone for this era. To punch that point home, once the spur rakes start there's a giant red X with the word CENSORED put on the screen over the footage. It's not like no one's ever bled in wrestling before. Monsoon says that even though Beefcake is out there will be an IC title match with the "#1 contender".

Bad News Brown def Ken Patera in 6:33- Patera's pretty past it at this point, but he's got one of the more interesting bios in wrestling. The son of Czech immigrants, Patera was a decorated weightlifter, competing in the 1972 Olympics and winning a gold in the Pan American Games. He also finished 3rd in a World's Strongest Man competition. He transitioned to pro wrestling in the early '70s, winning numerous regional titles, including the NWA Mid-Atlantic title, and worked most of his career as a heel. He was also a former WWF Intercontinental champion. Also, he once gave a promo so bad that Mean Gene almost lost it during. It's interesting that Brown got prominent matches and title shots on house shows, but was always midcard fodder on PPVs. Brown jumps Patera as he's getting in the ring. Patera counters with a clothesline and gets his jacket off. Brown dodges an elbow. Patera actually sells pretty good, but is boring and uninteresting on offense. Bear hug! Brown eye rakes out of it. Patera goes for a full nelson but Brown gets in the ropes. There's an ugly whip spot that looks like a miscommunication. Going the other direction Patera posts his shoulder. Brown hits the Ghetto Blaster to win. Brown looked really good but didn't have much to work with. 3/4*

Mega Powers promo. They say that Elizabeth is their secret weapon tonight. Foreshadowing! 

"Ravishing" Rick Rude (w/Bobby Heenan) def The Junkyard Dog by DQ in 6:18-Rude has JYD on his tights. Rude jumps him as he's getting in. JYD counters with a backdrop and gets the crawling headbutts (thankfully without Gorilla talking about being on all fours is his favorite position this time). Rude powders and confers with Heenan. JYD drags him back in by the hair but Rude dodges a headbutt. Double ax handle off the top. Graham says Heenan looks "pasty and unhealthy". Man, wonder what he thought of Paul Bearer. Long chinlock spots. Rude somehow crotches himself on JYD's arm. More headbutts. Heenan distracts JYD and Rude gets a knee in the back. He goes up top for the fist drop, but as he's up there pulls his tights down and reveals a second set of tights with Cheryl Roberts, Jake's wife, on them! Roberts immediately runs in and pummels Rude. The ref calls for the bell and Rude wins by DQ. 1/2*

Honky Tonk promo. He issues an open challenge to anyone in the locker room. Okerlund tries to spill the beans on who's been selected to face him but Honky wants it to be a surprise.

The Powers of Pain (w/The Baron) def The Bolsheviks (w/Slick) in 5:27- The Baron is Baron von Rashke in a very short lived managerial stint in WWF. He's in a Sith Lord robe and has most of his face covered (I will make it legal), and he's got face paint on in a style similar to Warrior. This is the POP's WWF PPV debut shortly after leaving NWA/Crockett. Word was they didn't want to work scaffold matches, which were all the rage for tag teams down there at the time. They get a decent pop. Yet another match where the heels jump the faces before the bell. It's pure chaos for a while. The POP double team with no tags. The heels confer outside, and there's a reset with Barbarian and Zhukov in. Lots of power moves and unorganized run ins. The heels choke Warlord with the tag rope and he goes FIP. Baron and Slick face off outside. Slick is brandishing his cane. He should know Palpatine has a lightsaber hidden away somewhere. Hot tag. Double flying tackle. Powerslam and headbutt of the top and we're done. The opening match was 20 minutes that felt like 10. This was 5 minutes that felt like 30. *

Brother Love Show time, with guest Hacksaw Jim Duggan. They argue for a while until Duggan threatens to stick the 2x4 up Love's ass. A nothing segment and a waste of PPV time. More on this later.

Honky Tonk comes out for his title defense. Fink goes to announce the opponent but doesn't know who it is either. Honky grabs the mic and says "Get me someone out here for me to wrestle, I don't care who it is". Be careful what you ask for.....

WWF Intercontinental Championship: The Ultimate Warrior def The Honky Tonk Man (c) (w/Jimmy Hart) in :31- Warrior's music hits and here he comes! Fink and Jimmy Hart bail. Honky never got his entrance gear off. Flying shoulderblock. Clothesline. Big splash. Warrior squash. New champ! Honky's record IC title run of 454 days where he probably used about 454 different tricks out of the heel playbook to keep the title finally comes to a merciful end. An iconic moment. NR

Intermission time, which once again is mostly missing from the WWE Network copy. Heenan charges into commentary with an update on both teams in the main event. Andre is reading the Wall Street Journal. DiBiase has four briefcases of money out and is counting while Virgil looks on. Hogan and Savage have barricaded themselves in their locker room and are screaming and begging to be left alone. Monsoon and Graham are dubious.

Dino Bravo (w/Frenchy Martin) def "The Rock" Don Muraco in 5:28- Heenan stays on commentary! Yes! Sadly it's just for this match. He's jawing like crazy with Graham. This is a rematch of a first round match in the Wrestlemania 4 title tournament, which was not good but better than I expected. Paint by numbers start. Bravo goes out to confer with Frenchy. When he gets back in Muraco takes over again. He gets about 6 armdrags that range from slightly deep to kiddie pool shallow. The last one was pathetic. That was kind of like watching a truncated version of Scott Steiner hitting about 47 belly to belly suplexes against Triple H at the 2003 Royal Rumble. Muraco picks Bravo up to slam him but Bravo's feet his the ref. Bravo uses the distraction to switch into his sidewalk slam side suplex and get the win. That was more along the lines of what I was expecting. This was Muraco's last WWF match. 1/4*

Sean Mooney (pants optional) is in the back with Ventura. Ventura admits to taking the money that DiBiase put in his jacket on the Brother Love Show a couple of weeks before. "I'm no fool". Well, can't argue that he's not disclosing his campaign contributions properly. Hell of a slogan for a Libertarian candidate though. "I'll take your money, I'm no fool"

WWF Tag Team Championship: Demolition (w/Mr. Fuji and Jimmy Hart) def  The Hart Foundation in 10:49- The Harts had just completed the slow face turn that Bret started at Wrestlemania 4 and dumped Hart as their manager. Hart is with out with Fuji to give away the playbook, so to speak. Bret and Smash start. Smash gets a quick advantage but Bret turns it around and the Harts work quick tags. Graham loves Anvil. Ax gets his boot up as Anvil's running the ropes and hits him in the back of the head. Anvil counters a backdrop and manages to get the tag. Bret gets thrown though Fuji's cane that was hung in the corner, hurting his shoulder. Why does Fuji keep leaving them there? It must be such a hassle having to buy new canes all the time. While Bret is face in peril Anvil chases Hart up the entrance ramp and out. The Demos tie Bret's arm in the ropes and work the shoulder. Bret gets thrown out and for some reason everyone lets him rest. Back in, Bret runs the ropes at 150 MPH and gets a clothesline. Hot tag! Anvil dropkick! The Demos go outside. Bret slingshots Anvil over the top rope on a dive onto them outside! You didn't see that every day in 1988. An Anvil powerslam only gets 2. The crowd really bit on that one. Donnybrook! Anvil gives Fuji a shot. While the ref is distracted Hart runs back out, gives Ax the megaphone, and Ax whacks Bret with it. Smash drapes an arm over for the 3. It was a bit pedestrian to start, but from the Anvil hot tag on it got pretty good. These two teams would have a better title match at Summerslam '90, the only bright spot on an otherwise dreary show. **3/4

Mean Gene is in the heel locker room. Honky is having a grade A hissy fit.

The Big Boss Man (w/Slick) def Koko B Ware in 5:57- This is Boss Man's WWF PPV debut. He had been wrestling for Bill Watts' UWF (the former Mid-South), and when UWF was bought out by Crockett it was expected internally in Crockett that we would go back with them, since that's where he got his start. He surprised everyone by jumping to Vince instead. It's early on for the gimmick, and he's wearing a real metal badge and has keys hung off his belt. Monsoon and Graham vehemently protest him being able to wear those while wrestling through the match. Slick distracts Ware and Boss Man ambushes him from behind. Ware fights back and gets a dropkick. Boss Man gets tied up in the ropes Andre style. Ware hits a Stingerish splash on him before he gets out. During that sequence the badge came off his shirt. Boss Man hits his own Stinger Splash in the corner! He got a whole 3 inches off the ground there. A few years after this he'd have been able to get good height on that. Boss Man nails Ware with a clothesline, but pulls him up on the pin attempt, refusing to take the win yet. He goes up top for a splash. Ware dodges but Boss Man doesn't sell missing. Ware goes up top and gets a very nice missile dropkick. A big splash only gets 2. Ware runs the ropes, but Boss Man catches him with the Boss Man slam to finish it off. Glorified squash. Yet another TV loss for Hall of Famer Koko B Ware. 1/2*

Mooney is in the face looker room with the new Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior. "I was sitting in Parts Unknown waiting for the next spaceship to the higher planes when the lightning bolts came down from the sky and the Warriors spoke and they said make it to the Garden!" Sure, who hasn't gotten a phone call like that from time to time?

Jake "The Snake" Roberts def Hercules in 10:06- Where's Heenan? Commentary wonders if he got lost getting back down from the booth earlier. Herc wants Damien gone. It's a ruse! Herc ambushes Roberts while he's moving Damien. The usual early DDT tease. Herc tries to side suplex out of a headlock but Roberts hangs on to it. Herc ends up needing a rope break for a headlock. Good thing this isn't under ROH Pure rules, that would have been a waste of a rope break. But it does let Herc get the advantage. Long chinlock spots follow. Herc drapes Roberts over the top, but Roberts manages to leverage him over and out. Herc grabs Roberts' head and clotheslines him over the top rope as he's getting back in. Roberts counters out of another chinlock and starts working his signature short punches and clothesline. Herc backdrops out of a DDT attempt. Herc counters a high knee. Monsoon gets the external occipital protuberance in, which sends Graham into a laughing fit. Roberts counters a bodyslam attempt into a DDT outta nowhere to get the win. Meh. Surprised Rude didn't show up. *1/4

The Mega Powers (w/Elizabeth) def The Mega Bucks (w/Virgil and Bobby Heenan) in 14:43-This is the final act of the long feud that started with Hogan/Andre a year and a half ago and grew to intersect and include all four guys. Ventura was appointed the guest ref by President Tunney as the only one that could keep order. The heels loved it because they knew they could buy Ventura off. Ventura makes a big show of instructions then makes everyone wait while he changes the corners the tag ropes are in. Finally we're off. Savage talks Hogan into starting but turns around into Andre. Andre pummels him into the heel corner, but Savage squeaks away when DiBiase tags in. DiBiase wants Hogan. Hogan atomic drops him into the face corner and he and Savage play whack a mole with him. Ventura chases Heenan and Virgil off the apron while the faces work quick tags on DiBiase. Savage gets on Ventura for not so much a slow count, but not starting his count in a timely manner. Hogan gets too close to the heel corner and Andre reaches out and headbutts him. Andre comes in and works Hogan over, including locking in the Nerve Pinch of Enlarged Fingers +4. While Ventura is distracted Andre switches to the hidden choke with his singlet strap. That was by far the best move in heel Andre's arsenal. It's pure sneaky style (copyright Rocky Romero). DiBiase comes in and hooks in a long chinlock that commentary keeps complaining is a choke and Ventura is an idiot or paid off for not seeing it. I don't see it, looks proper to me. Hogan gets out and they both run the ropes into a double clothesline. Hot tag to Savage. DiBiase does an A+ sell of Savage's draping top rope clothesline. DiBiase dodges a charge in the corner. Really good back and forth sequence, but it's killed when Andre tags in. Andre literally sits on Savage in the corner. DiBiase, like always, misses the fallaway reverse elbow off the second rope, allowing Savage to get hot tag 2 to Hogan. Hogan is in Hulk Up mode and takes Andre down with one clothesline. While Hogan has a sleeper on DiBiase Savage goes for the elbow on Andre, but Andre gets a boot up. Andre headbutt to Hogan, and both faces are outside on the floor recovering. Elizabeth gets on the apron. Heenan and Virgil get on the apron to demand Elizabeth get off the apron. Elizabeth pulls of her skirt and unleashes the secret weapon hinted at in the promo: her panties! Everyone is shocked. Hogan and Savage use the distraction to jump the heels from behind. Andre is taken out. They hit a Savage flying elbow/Hogan legdrop combo on DiBiase. Ventura counts two but can't bring himself to bring his hand down for three. Savage helps him and it's over. Not too shabby. Savage and DiBiase were on form. ***

A final note before signing off. Word on the street is that Vince was in heavy pursuit of Ric Flair to jump over in time for this show, possibly fueled by the fact that Crockett was about to go under and would soon be bought out by Ted Turner to start WCW proper. I've heard two different versions: that there was to be a Flair/Savage WWF title match, or that the Brother Love segment would have been a full on Four Horsemen debut, possibly with Heenan managing. Arn and Tully were already signed to come over, but Flair wanted to stay loyal to Crockett and the NWA and stayed put. How history would have been different. It would have been incredible if it had come together, but at the same time we would have lost the Flair/Steamboat '89 trilogy as well as much of the rest of the WCW '89 greatness that was booked by Flair. The main event was also an important signpost on the road of the Hogan/Savage friends to enemies story, and Flair's '91-'92 WWF run when he did come over was still great. So I say all's well that ends well.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS: Much like the first Wrestlemania, this is as much a glorified MSG house show as a "proper" PPV. The opener, tag title match and main event are worth checking out and the IC title change is an all time great moment, but most of the rest is pretty bleak. Graham is so bad on commentary I really think it takes away from the show as well.
OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C-

Halloween Havoc '90

Legacy Review

Halloween Havoc '90

October 27, 1990 from the UIC Pavillion in Chicago, IL

Commentary: Jim Ross and Paul E Dangerously

Sadly a complete version of this show has never been released. The WWE Network version is the same as the original home video release, with only the top 6 matches on it.

JR, Paul E and Tony are all decked out for Halloween. We start right off with a promo. Tommy Rich and Ricky Morton are out with Tony. There's what looks to be a piece of unfinished stage scaffolding behind them. Unfortunately the answer as to what that is will be much worse than typical WCW sloppiness. To really hammer the Halloween theme home, the ring ropes are all orange, the ring mat is red and, in a rare move for WCW, there's colored lighting in the arena.

"Wildfire" Tommy Rich and Ricky Morton def The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette) in 20:49- Morton is teaming with Rich because Robert Gibson was injured by the Freebirds just before this show. Schefter says it'll be 6-8 months out after reconstructive knee surgery. Paul E is asking the same question we all are: "Why Rich?". JR doesn't have an answer. Rich is probably the least impressive former NWA World Champion of all time. We've got 3 out of the 4 guys involved in the longest running feud in tag team history here, which is a bit sad because this would turn out to be the Midnights' last match. Lane and Cornette would leave WCW soon after this, giving Eaton a chance at a singles run. Morton and Eaton start. Eaton throws him around a bit until Morton turns the jets on. Rich gets a cheap shot in. The Chicago crowd, shockingly, is rooting for the heels. If Gibson was out there it'd probably be more 50/50. Eaton gets a blind tag to Lane, who gets a shot in on Morton. Morton posts his shoulder and falls outside. Eaton dives off the top all the way to the floor, misses but doesn't sell missing. Everyone wanders around a bit then keeps going like nothing happened. A bit of confusion there. Cornette gets his first racket shot in. A Cornette distraction allows the Midnights to double team. Morton gets slammed on the ramp, then Lane rocket launches Eaton off the top and onto Morton on the ramp! Eaton with a Diamond Cutter/Stunner/RKO/Gun Stun but it only gets 2. Another racket shot. Lane suckers Rich in, allowing Eaton to throw Morton over the top. Morton dodges an Eaton charge and Eaton posts himself. Morton with a flying headscissors on the floor! Lane still manages to keep Morton from tagging. Eaton hits the Alabama Jam but doesn't go for a cover. Morton starts no selling but still can't get a tag. The heels go for another rocket launcher, in the ring this time, but Morton gets his knees up and FINALLY gets a tag to Rich, who's in for the first time the whole match. Donnybrook! Rich goes up top but Cornette whacks him in the back with the racket. The Southern Boys run out, dressed up like Cornette to mock him, complete with cheap plastic tennis rackets. Rich grabs the real racket, nails Lane, and gets the 3. **3/4

There's an obvious clip here as JR throws it to replay but it really goes to Tony, later in the show. Tony is wearing lipstick as part of his Phantom costume. Sting is out with him. Sting says that Sid's "butt will overload with you know what" then corrects himself and says his "mouth will overload with you know what from his butt". I still blame Sid for that. It's promo botch spillover. Sid's Jedi Mind Trick. Sting is interrupted by Ole Anderson's voice a dark and "menacing" voice. THE BLACK SCORPION IS HERE. The Scorpion had been following Sting around warning him that he was coming. He was supposedly someone from Sting's past. He's here to give Sting a "taste of my black magic". He grabs a female stagehand and drags her to the scaffolding I mentioned earlier. While he does this it's patently obvious that the voice on the speakers is nowhere close to coming out of the mouth of the man in the mask. Scorpion drags the woman up into the scaffolding and a cheap glitzy curtain rolls up. Gee, I wonder what's happening behind there. It'd be hilarious if the curtain dropped and Scorpion and the woman were making out. After about 10 minutes, long enough for them to run to the other side of the building, there's a flash of pyro, the curtain drops, and THEY'RE GONE. Another pyro flash! Wait, they're on the other side of the stage! It's MAGIC! Scorpion says a few more words and scarpers. Over all of this there's been spooky music playing. Even with how long it took them to move from behind the curtain to the other side of the stage the whole segment felt rushed, like they knew it was going to bomb and they just wanted to get it over with. Everyone sells it like they just saw the scariest thing they've ever seen. Paul E's reaction is especially priceless. The Black Scorpion angle is one of the most infamous in wrestling history. It was devised by Ole Anderson to get Sting's first title run over. Spoiler: didn't work. Fortunately it didn't hurt Sting in the long run. The whole thing would culminate at Starrcade '90, where the Scorpion was revealed to be.....nah, I'll make you wait.

The Fabulous Freebirds (w/Little Richard Marley) def The Renegade Warriors in 17:28- The Renegade Warriors have nothing to do with the Renegade or the Ultimate Warrior. It's Chris and Mark Youngblood, who had started teaming together after their older brother Jay (the longtime tag partner of Ricky Steamboat in the late '70s and early '80s) passed away and had just come into WCW after a successful run in Puerto Rico's WWC. They're also the kind of white meat babyfaces that get eaten alive in Chicago. Marley is a jobber (under the name Rocky King) turned manager, which would be short lived and he'd soon be a referee. Marley is wearing Robert Gibson's tights and leaning on a crutch, celebrating the fact the Freebirds had just put him on the shelf. Hayes does his usual strutting at the start. Chris takes out both Freebirds with a double clothesline off the top rope. JR is losing his mind on Paul E over Gibson being hurt and Paul E is egging him on. Hayes wants a time out. Chris has a long headlock spot on Garvin. Chris rolls Garvin up, but Garvin pushes him off into the heel corner and Hayes clocks him with a left. Chris goes face in peril. There's several long chinlock spots, during all of which there's loud "DDT" chants from the crowd. JR says there's a "few" Freebird fans here. Chris backdrops out of a DDT attempt but can't tag. Eventually Hayes gets thrown over the top and Chris gets the "hot" tag with zero crowd reaction. Marley gets involved, and while he's got one Youngblood distracted Hayes nails the other with the DDT and gets the pin. The Freebirds didn't have too much to work with in this one. *1/2

Tony is out with three of the Four Horsemen: Flair, Arn Anderson, and Sid Vicious, all in title matches later. Barry Windham is conspicuous by his absence.

NWA United States Tag Team Championship: The Steiner Brothers (c) def The Nasty Boys in 15:24- We've got two hot, young teams here. The Steiners had been teaming in WCW just over a year, had already had a run with the world tag titles and were well on their way to becoming legends. The Nastys were having a cup of coffee in WCW before Vince saw them and scooped them up. Huge pop for the Steiners. The Steiners charge the ring and we are off and running quick. All four guys fight on the outside. Saggs gets posted, but recovers and turns around to give Scott a chair shot. Rick and Knobbs do something big in the ring judging by the crowd reaction but the cameras miss it. Must be using AXS TV guys. Saggs gets Scott up for a superplex but Scott slips out of it. He was supposed to land on the second rope but slips off. He gets back up and gives Saggs a belly to belly off the top. All four guys are still fighting, but finally Rick gets in the corner and there's some semblance of order. Scott gives Saggs a double underhook power bomb, then lifts him up and Rick does a Doomsday Device Bulldog off the top rope! Any wonder why the Steiners became legends? The ref tries to get Rick out, which allows Knobbs to nail Scott with a chair and take over for Saggs with no tag. Piss poor officiating. This guy must have taught Marty Asami. Scott goes face in peril. The Nastys work his back over, which had been previously hurt during the build to the match. The Nastys use more wrestling moves in this match than their entire WWF run. That hot head Rick keeps trying to run in, allowing the Nastys to swap with no tag. Bear hug! Scott belly to bellys out of it but can't get a tag. Rick runs in again and Steinerlines Knobbs, but Saggs throws him out. Spike piledriver on Scott. Rick runs in with a chair and nails Saggs with it in the head while the ref is conveniently distracted trying to get Knobbs out. Saggs is busted open. The heels still keep Scott in FIP status. Boston Crab. Camel Clutch. Scott dodges a corner charge and finally gets the hot tag to Rick. Steinerlines for everyone! Belly to belly! All four guys are in again. Both Steiners are thrown out. Rick sneaks up to the top and takes out both Nastys with a double Steinerline. Scott trips both Nastys from the floor, then posts Saggs, runs in, hits the Frankensteiner on Knobbs, and we're done. After the match the Nastys attack again. It's the Steiners so almost by default it was good, but the Nastys looked like a promising young brawler team here too. They should have gone with a tornado tag or hardcore match and kept the crazy fighting from the start and finish going on the whole match, instead of bogging it down in the middle with another long face in peril sequence after having two other tag matches before it with the same structure. That hurt the match a bit. ***

Rick's hurt and is going back to the locker room, but Scott stops off for a word with Tony. He's jumped by a guy with a concession tray and worker's outfit, fake beard and wig, who turns out to be Saggs. Impressive quick change.

NWA World Tag Team Championship: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair & Arn Anderson and Doom (c) (w/Theodore R Long) go to a double countout in 18:20- From the "giving Flair something to do between world title runs" files. Arn was also the reigning World Television Champion. Doom is one of the more underrated teams of all time, and was a great vehicle to get Ron Simmons started on the road that would lead to him being world champ in 1992. This is nominally a heel vs heel match, but unsurprisingly the crowd seems mostly behind the Horsemen, even though the way the match is booked Doom acts more like faces. Arn and Simmons start. Arn tries to wrestle but Simmons' power is too much. Arn goes out and regroups. Reed like an idiot tries to get in and distracts the ref, allowing Flair to get a knee in his back on a rope run. Arn gives him a suplex but Simmons no sells it and pops Arn again. The Horsemen try a double team. Flair gets the chops in. Simmons double clotheslines out of it. The Horsemen take a powder. Flair chases Long into the ring. Long slaps Flair! That man has a death wish playa. All four guys stand off, but they slowly back down and reset. Arn wants Reed. After he tags in Reed wants Flair. Flair struts and plays around with Reed like a cat with a ball of yarn, taunting Simmons the whole time. Reed punches out. Simmons and Arn come in and Doom gives the Horsemen stereo gorilla press slams. Flair begs off and gets the eye poke in. Flair hits some seriously wicked chops, even by Flair standards. The pops are like gunshots. Reed tries to come back but it's pretty obvious Flair is playing with him. Reed rolls off about a dozen punches in a row. Flair turns around to tag Arn, but Flair Flops instead! That was absolutely hilarious. Flair Flip! The cameraman was in that corner and he goes down too. Flair walks into Simmons. Simmons no sells a chop, and Flair backs up and begs off halfway up the entrance ramp. Flair manages to get back in the ring on his side and tags out. Anyone that wonders why I think Flair is the greatest of all time, just watch what he does in the middle section of this match. It is absolutely, flawlessly perfect. Flair suckers Reed in. While the ref is distracted Arn gets Simmons in a Boston Crab and Flair gives him the kneedrop to the back of the neck. World's Greatest Spinebuster! But Simmons has too much power and powers out at 2. Flair starts working the knee. Figure 4! Flair gets extra leverage from Arn. After a while Simmons manages to flip it over. Flair tags out. Arn keeps working the knee over Anderson style. Arn throws Simmons out and taunts Reed in to distract the ref so Flair can work Simmons over outside. Backfire. Simmons counters and sends Flair face first into the guardrail. Arn manages to prevent a tag. Simmons counters an Arn backdrop by planting him face first in the mat (which Arn sells wonderfully like a flopping fish) and gets the tag. Reed cleans house. Donnybrooking! Reed hits a shoulderblock off the top but Flair saves the pin. Arn plants Reed with a DDT but Simmons makes the save. All four guys are still fighting. They go outside and fight all the way into the crowd and everyone gets counted out. They were heading to something really special. Flair and Arn had their working boots on as only they could do it, and let Doom play to their strengths. It's still great, but not as great as it could have been with a decisive finish. This would lead to a street fight rematch at Starrcade. ****

Quick Stan Hansen promo. He's in the back with a small fall looking setup and holding a mini pumpkin. He shouts "LEX LUGER", but his mouth is so full of chewing tobacco it's hard to make out the rest of it. For all I know he's reciting the "Alas, poor Yorick" speech with the pumpkin. Which makes me think.....what would be better: Stan Hansen Hamlet, or elcor Hamlet? Not that either stands up to the original Klingon.

NWA United States Championship: Stan Hansen def "The Total Package" Lex Luger (c) in 9:30- Hometown pop for Luger. I know I've ragged on Luger a lot in these reviews for his crappy world title run in '91, but this is from a period when he was motivated and really good. This is quite the body contrast. Luger: body guy. Hansen: not so much. Hansen is possibly still to this day the biggest American wrestling star ever in Japan. He spent most of his career there, this is part of a short, less than a year run back on American shores with WCW. Hansen's so crazy he goes after commentary before the bell. Luger gets a hot start. Hansen takes a walk to ponder, then takes over with an eye poke. The fight spills outside multiple times. Lots of back and forth brawling. Luger dodges a corner dive, Hansen slowly flops over the top and down to the floor. Luger chases him. JR speculates that Luger is making a mistake by playing Hansen's brawling game instead of trying to wrestle. Hansen gets a snap suplex and exposes his knee for a kneedrop. A bulldog gets 2. Hansen pounds on Luger in the corner and pushes the ref away when he tries to stop him. Dan Spivey, Hansen's tag partner in Japan, comes to ringside and gets Hansen his cowbell. Hansen tries to nail Luger with it but Luger counters it with a backdrop. Luger signals for the torture rack, but goes off the ropes instead. Hansen nails him with a lariat outta nowhere and gets the 3! The crowd is stunned. Hansen ends Luger's record US title run at 523 days, a record that still stands today. Hansen's run would be little more than a blip, as Luger would win it back at Starrcade and hold it another 210 days before vacating it after winning the world title at Great American Bash '91. They were trying hard, but there wasn't much "there" there. *3/4

NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Sting (c) def Sid Vicious in 12:38- This is part of the long running Sting vs the Four Horsemen angle. Sid had joined the stable soon after Sting was kicked out for refusing to give up his title shot at Flair. I love how in this period Sid was announced as being "from anywhere he darn well pleases". Sid gets a bit of a pop. Highish pitched pop for Sting. Commentary speculates if the Black Scorpion has messed with Sting's head. Well, it's certainly messing with all of ours trying to figure out why anyone would come up with such an awful idea. Mid-ring big match staredown. Sting turns around to play to the crowd and Sid ambushes him. Sting no sells a slam. Sid stalls. Sting dodges a punch, Sid flies all the way over the top and out. Sting works the arm for a long while. I think it's deliberate that there's no action in the ring, as there's lots of shots of people in the crowd cheering for Sting. I'd call it a serious hard sell but, it's Sting. It's legit. Sid kips up! and hits a clothesline. Sid locks in his favorite rest hold, the Nerve Pinch of Extreme Clutching +3. Sid fights off a Sting comeback with a powerslam, then dodges a Stinger Splash. The crowd is starting to turn on Sid. Or they're realizing they're watching a Sid match. Sid pauses to pose in the ring. Sting sneaks up and hits a cross body off the top, but only gets 1. They fight up the ramp. Sid goes back to the ring. Sting runs halfway down the entrance ramp then dives over the top rope and into Sid! Sid goes out and Sting hits a plancha. Flair and Arn show up as Sid and Sting fight into the back. The camera stays on Flair and Arn. Sid comes back with someone in Sting's tights, with Sting's hair and facepaint, but the body is completely different. It doesn't take long to realize it's Barry Windham's lanky body. WindSting picks Sid up for a slam, but falls down and lets Sid pin him. Sid is announced as the new champion. But during the celebration the real Sting comes back in with a rope tied around his wrist. JR figures out it was Windham that was pinned. While pyro is going off Sting hits the Stinger Splash and gets a Paul Smackage to win. For realsies. After the match there's a replay shot of WindSting and real Sting crossing paths. The match was OK. The finish was sloppy overbooking even if it made a bit of sense within the Horsemen dynamic. **1/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS: If you love tag wrestling like I do this is a decent show to watch, even if almost all the matches follow the same basic structure. Both tag title matches are worth checking out, especially the Doom/Horsemen match. The rest of the show has some notable historical moments, but nothing else I can really recommend. The Black Scorpion is always worth a laugh.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C

The Favorites (as of October 2019) Lists

Johnny Legacy's Deep Thoughts

The Favorites Lists

No real *deep* thoughts here, I just thought I'd get a record of my lists of favorite wrestlers in one place, if anyone was ever curious or to provide a bit of perspective on where I'm coming from in my reviews or modern articles. Here we go!

The Lists of Ten

Top 10 All Time Favorites (retired wrestlers only)

10. Arn Anderson
9. Shawn Michaels
8. Vader
7. Sting (mostly surfer Sting)
6. Steve Austin (all eras- WCW Stunning, ECW, Stone Cold)
5. CM Punk
4. Kurt Angle
3. Bret Hart
2. Randy Savage
1. Ric Flair

(note- when he finally, hopefully a long while from now, retires for real Daniel Bryan will be in the top five, which includes his Bryan Danielson ROH years when I became a fan of his)

Top 10 All Time Favorite Tag Teams (retired only)

10. The Hardy Boyz
9. The Fabulous Freebirds
8. Edge & Christian
7. Demolition
6. The Rockers
5. The Rock N Roll Express
4. The Brain Busters (or practically any team with Arn Anderson)
3. The Road Warriors/Legion of Doom
2. The Hart Foundation
1. The Steiner Brothers

The Lists of Five

WWE Main Roster- Men's

1. Daniel Bryan
2. Shinsuke Nakamura
3. Kevin Owens
4. AJ Styles
5. Seth Rollins

(addendum- BROKEN Matt Hardy is my favorite gimmick of all time and might crack the list if WWE did something with it again. Bray Wyatt/The Fiend is also getting up there)

NXT/NXTUK- Men's

1. Adam Cole BAY BAY
2. Johnny Gargano
3. WALTER
4. Pete Dunne
5. Finn Balor (late addition after this week's events)

All Non-WWE Companies- Men's

1. Kenny Omega (also my #1 overall current favorite)
2. Tetsuya Naito
3. Kota Ibushi
4. Will Ospreay
5. Minoru Suzuki

All Companies- Women's

1. Asuka
2. Becky Lynch
3. Io Shirai
4. Kairi Sane
5. Shayna Baszler

All Companies- Tag Teams

1. The Young Bucks
1A. The Revival
3. The New Day
4. War Raiding Viking Machine Experience
5. (tie) reDRagon/Undisputed ERA and Gallows & Anderson