WrestleMania 2

Legacy Review

WrestleMania 2

April 7, 1986 (which was, strangely enough, a Monday)

The gamble of the original Wrestlemania had paid off big time, immediately making it the center of the WWF calendar. The NWA was having success running Starrcade at two different venues, so Vince looked at that and said "Screw that, we can top that shit, let's do THREE!". Well, I wasn't in the room so I may be paraphrasing a little. WM 2 took place from three different cities. Instead of swapping between matches like Starrcade, the show would run in time zone flow from city to city, with each arena having its own undercard and main event, and every city would have at least one title match. The live crowds could watch the whole show on closed circuit TV in the arena. This show also doubled down on the guest celebrities, with someone famous from the non-wrestling world around seemingly every corner.

From the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, NY (commentary: Vince McMahon and guest celebrity Susan St. James)

Vince welcomes us to WRESTLEMANIA (that's one word Michael Cole, not WRESTLE..........MANIA) and introduces Ray Charles for America the Beautiful. Charles gives us what could only be called a gross approximation of the lyrics. Totally off script promo. Quick cut to Chicago where Mean Gene says hi and shows the tech side is working fine. Then there's a pretaped Roddy Piper promo where he promises to quit wrestling, tiddlywinks and dating girls if Mr. T knocks him out. Piper also says that he'll never paint himself black. Incidentally, the next Wrestlemania I'll be reviewing after this one will be Wrestlemania 6.

The Magnificent Muraco (w/Mr. Fuji) and "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff go to a double countout in 4:10- Orndorff makes a show of taking his robe off. During the opening part of the match the audio of promos for both guys play. That's a bit of a mess. Bodyslam trade off. Orndorff with a backdrop and a drop toe hold and Muraco is in an armbar. Muraco tries to roll out of it but Orndorff keeps it locked in. After forever Muraco finally Samoan Drops out of it. Orndorff no sells some turnbuckle shots. They fight in the corner and slowly flop over the top rope and out (with Orndorff's feet inadvertently getting caught in the ropes). They do some weak brawling on the floor and both guys are counted out. Loud bullshit chant from the crowd. Next. 1/2*

WWF Intercontinental Championship: "Macho Man" Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) (c) def George "The Animal" Steele in 5:10- Savage arrived in WWF in mid-'85 from Memphis and immediately looked like The Next Big Thing. His groundbreaking aerial style revolutionized WWF's in ring product, while his charisma owned the promo stage. Savage beat Tito Santana for the IC title at the February Boston Gahden house show (with the assist of brass knucks). Unfortunately for his first Wrestlemania match, this is what we get. Steele being openly infatuated with Elizabeth was the driving force for the feud. Savage leaves his sunglasses and headband on at the start. Steele chases him out. Savage bails a second time, grabs a chair and takes a swing at Steele with it. He bails a third time. This time Steele chases. He catches Savage and bites his boot. Savage sells it like he's actually biting his leg. Savage tries to ambush him when he gets back in but Steele grabs him in a choke and lifts him up and throws him across the ring. Steele, mental genius, stops to say hi to Liz. Savage successfully ambushes him this time and Steele gets wrapped up in the ropes. Savage gets a crossbody off the top rope but Steele botches the catch and fall. Savage recovers and gets on top of him and gets a two count. Steele's kickout sends him through the ropes and out again. After being thrown out yet again Savage sneaks underneath the ring and gets Steele from behind again. Steele responds with an arm bite. St James: "I wonder if he's had his shots". She got a good line in! Savage grabs a bunch of flowers from ringside and attacks Steele with them. Another arm bite. Steele grabs the flowers and hits Savage with them and, Savage being Savage, he sells it. Steele does his signature eating of the top turnbuckle, takes the foam out and rubs it in Savage's face. This ref is giving more leeway than Red Shoes. They're outside again. Steele hits on Liz. Savage waffles him with a double ax handle off the top rope to the floor. Body slam, elbow, and thank God it's over. Oh hell it isn't. Steele freaking kicked out of the Savage elbow drop. Steele rams Savage into the corner. Savage manages a double leg takedown, stacks Steele up, gets his feet on the ropes, and gets the 3. There was no good reason not to do the clean finish other than the "heels have to cheat to win" rule. Savage tried his best but there was too much heavy lifting to drag Steele to anything resembling watchable. 3/4*

Jake "The Snake" Roberts def George Wells in 3:15- Wells was a former CFL player that held some minor and tag titles in various territories before being a jobber in WWF for a couple of years. Roberts had jumped over from Mid-South the month before and was still a heel. Fast start with Wells getting a quick advantage. Roberts tries to fight back but Wells does a good job of keeping him off balance and stays in control most of the match. He even whips out a flying headscissors! After a 2 count off a powerslam Roberts teases getting Damien out, plants Wells with the DDT, and gets the 3. Then gets Damien out. I went to Wrestlemania and a Superstars of Wrestling match broke out. The saddest thing is it's the "best" match so far. Short but spunky. Roberts taking a beating and still winning with just the DDT sells it as a move of instant death. *1/2

Boxing Match: Mr. T (w/Haiti Kid and Joe Frazier) def "Rowdy" Roddy Piper (w/Bob Orton and Lou Duva) by DQ in 13:14- Piper and T renewed hostilities after T had a boxing match with Orton on a previous SNME. They've gone so far as to put on boxing style turnbuckle covers on over the regular ones in the corners. This is scheduled 10 rounds. Round one, T lays in with body shots. They get wrapped up in the ropes but won't let go. The ref yells at them to "break when I say to break". Piper tries for cheap shots during breaks, the ref tells him off. Lots of dodging and spot picking from T. Piper keeps going for cheap shots. They keep fighting after the bell and have to be broken up. Round 2, T complains about grease on Piper's forehead and the ref makes him wipe it off. Piper gets some shots in and T gets a no break warning from the ref. Piper gets on a roll and T goes down. Piper gets a hard cheap shot in on the back of T's head after the bell. Between rounds Piper throws the water from his bucket across the ring. Round 3, Piper is confident. T traps Piper in the corner and slowly beats him down. Another hard left sends Piper down and out of the ring. His seconds help him recover. Round 4, Piper picks up his stool and throws it at T. They both lay in with straight unguarded punches, semi New Japan style. T's mouthguard comes out. Piper knocks the ref down and bodyslams T, drawing a DQ. EVERYONE starts brawling and have to be slowly separated. It was boxing, not my thing. It had intensity, which I appreciate. Though he would make some sporadic appearances after this was T's last actual match. It was also Piper's last major appearance as a heel. He'd take a short hiatus then come back as a face later in the year. **1/4

From the Rosemont Horizon in Rosemont, IL (commentary: Gorilla Monsoon, Gene Okerlund and guest celebrity Cathy Lee Crosby) 

WWF Women's Championship: The Fabulous Moolah (c) def Velvet McIntyre in 1:25- Moolah hides behind the ref to Suzuki-Gun McIntyre and flips her around by the hair. McIntyre comes back with a weak leapfrog and one foot dropkicks. She's fighting her tights to keep from flashing the audience. Not the show they're looking for. Might pop the Youtube views though. Oh. McIntyre misses a splash off the top. Moolah covers her and the ref counts 3 even though McIntyre's foot is on the ropes. Well that was pointless. This was the last women's match at a Wrestlemania until WM 15. DUD

Flag Match: Corporal Kirchner def Nikolai Volkoff (w/Freddie Blassie) in 2:05- Kirchner was a legitimate veteran, serving as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne. Volkoff is slightly unpopular. The ring is littered with trash during his intro and traditional Soviet National Anthem signing. The "flag match" rule in this case only means the winner can wave his flag. Well, they were probably going to do that anyway. It's all Volkoff early. Kirchner gets posted and is slightly bleeding. Everyone that worked in Mid-Atlantic at the time is laughing at the amount of blood. It breaks down to a brawl in the ring. The ref gets knocked down. Blassie throws his cane in but Kirchner intercepts, nails Volkoff with it, and gets the 3. Back to back trash matches as the Chicago portion of the show is not off to a great start. DUD

Even though it's not the last match at the arena the next match is called the Chicago portion of the main event. Mean Gene does the ring announcing. It's billed as "WWF vs NFL" but it's really just your standard battle royale. The match roster is for the WWF: Ted Arcidi, Andre the Giant, Hillbilly Jim, The Iron Sheik, King Tonga (Haku), Tony Atlas, Big John Studd, Dan Spivey, Pedro Morales, Bruno Sammartino, The Killer Bees and The Hart Foundation; and for the NFL: Jimbo Covert (T, Bears), Bill Fralic (G, Falcons), Russ Francis (TE, 49ers), Ernie Holmes (retired DT, Steelers), Harvey Martin (retired DE, Cowboys) and the hugely over William "The Refrigerator" Perry from the defending Super Bowl champ Chicago Bears.

WWF vs NFL Battle Royale- A fired up Perry comes off the top rope on his entrance and Okerlund sells it like an earthquake. There's no bell, they just get the cue and start brawling. Studd and Andre immediately pair off. Not much of note to recap here, it's just a bunch of weak battle royale brawling with the wrestlers trying to walk the non-wrestlers through it. Haku wraps up Covert and tries to teach him some wrestling lessons. Both tumble over the top and out. Probably smart to get Haku out early. Andre tries to work with Francis. A group dumps Brunzell out. Perry eliminates Atlas to a huge pop. He goes after Studd next. Morales and I think Martin eliminate each other. A group of big guys toss Arcidi out, then Spivey. Sheik flips both Blair and Jim out. There goes Fralic, who was cutting heel promos in the leadup to this. Bruno dumps Sheiky Baby. Studd takes out Bruno. The Harts double team Perry. They've done a good job of working together as a team the whole match. Perry throws them both off, both Harts go over the top but land on the apron. Perry tackles Studd. Studd taunts Perry for one more, counters with a back elbow and dumps him out. Perry offers a handshake, but IT'S A RUSE! He pulls Studd out! The final four are both Harts, Andre and Francis. The wrestlers gang up on Francis until the Harts double dropkick Andre. Andre ties himself up in the ropes. The Harts dump Francis out. 2 on 1? They're just where Andre wants them. The Harts successfully double team him for a bit but Andre soon comes back. Anvil eats a big boot in the middle of the ring and sells it all the way over and out. Bret for some reason goes to the top rope. Andre press slams him into Anvil and it's over. Andre wins his 4,783rd battle royale. I'm approximating. Well, I suppose it's an improvement on the previous two matches. Doesn't say much. 1/2*

WWF Tag Team Championship: The British Bulldogs (w/Capt. Lou Albano and Ozzy Osborne) def The Dream Team (c) (w/Freddie Blassie) in 13:03- These guys are here to save the show. Monsoon's dream comes true as there's two refs working the match. DBS and Valentine start. DBS's power game quickly takes over. Dynamite runs Valentine over with a shoulderblock at 100 MPH. Dynamite was really something special at his peak. Multiple suplexes on Valentine, who begs off and regroups. For some reason he doesn't tag out, but he does manage to get the upper hand on DBS so I guess he knew what he was doing. Now Beefcake tags in. DBS gives him a press slam. Dynamite tries for a couple of quick pins. He's almost visibly slowing himself down so everyone else can keep up. Beefcake manages to get to the corner and Valentine waffles DBS off the top rope. While in a lockup DBS gets a backhand tag. Dynamite and Valentine have about a .5 NJPW forearm exchange. After a couple more Bulldog near falls Valentine calls for Beefcake to come in. The ref gets him out and Valentine tries to take advantage of the distraction but nothing doing. A Dynamite sunset flip gets two. Beefcake breaks up a pin attempt after a backbreaker. A stiff Valentine forearm takes Dynamite down. Valentine hooks him up for a piledriver but falls forward instead of backward, tombstone style. That gets a long 2 count that the crowd really bit on. Valentine tries to go off the top but gets thrown off. Donnybrook! Beefcake is thrown out. Valentine dodges the Bulldogs' finisher by rolling out. After things settle down DBS powerslams Valentine but only gets 2. Valentine reverses a whip and DBS's shoulder is posted. He goes mild face in peril as the heels work the shoulder. Valentine goes for a pin but pulls DBS back up when it looked like he could get the 3. Bad move. DBS recovers, pushes Valentine into his corner where Dynamite is up on the ropes, Valentine's head smashes into Dynamite's, and DBS covers him for the 3 and the titles! Really good match, especially after the crap that came before it. I don't know if Beefcake was nursing an injury or something, but for whatever reason Valentine carried 90% of the match for the heel team, which quality wise is a big plus. This is easily not only the best match at this WM, but the best one at WM period until Savage and Steamboat reset the bar at WM 3. ***1/2

Promos with the champs and seconds after the match. Dynamite might have had his bell legitimately rung. He looks almost as dazed as Brock did after his botched shooting star press at WM 19. He can't even stand for the promo.

From the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in Los Angeles, CA (commentary: Jesse Ventura, Lord Alfred Hayes and guest celebrity Elvira) 

Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat def Hercules Hernandez in 7:27- This is Herc's first major WWF match. He blindsides Steamboat with a high knee before the bell. Steamboat slides between his legs a couple of times, gets a two handed chop, and the DEEP armdrags. Herc grabs Steamboat wrong before a flip and has to stop and reset himself. Subtle but noticeable. More speed game from Steamboat ends with a back elbow in Herc's mush. Herc counters with a turnbuckle shot and a big clothesline. A hot shot on Steamboat gets 2. Steamboat goes for a slam but Herc falls on top of him for 2. Steamboat tries to come back with chops but Herc kills his momentum with another clothesline. Herc of all people tries to come off the top rope but Steamboat gets the knees up. Steamboat goes up top, hits the crossbody, and we're done. Watchable. **

Adrian Adonis (w/Jimmy Hart) def Uncle Elmer in 3:01- Elmer is a fatter, beardier and possibly hicker version of Hillbilly Jim (whom he was related to in WWF kayfabe). Hart tires to spray some of Adonis' perfume on Elmer before the bell. Elmer chases them both off. Adonis tries to jump Elmer as he gets back in but doesn't get far. Flair flip in the corner from Adonis, but he doesn't get all the way over and falls in the ring. Elmer falls down swinging a punch. Adonis' shoulder is posted. Hart helps him recover outside. Elmer runs him off, rips off Adonis' "dress" and flips him back in. Elvira: "Can he put the dress back on?". Hah! Adonis gets tied up in the ropes. A couple of punches gets Elmer down to his knees but no more. Elmer with an avalanche. He goes for a legdrop but Adonis dodges, goes up top, hits a big splash, and gets the 3. Elvira: "Never trust a man that wears pink leg warmers". Words to live by. The match was as ugly as the wrestlers. 1/4*

The Funk Brothers (w/Jimmy Hart) def Tito Santana and The Junkyard Dog in 11:42- Dory Funk is going by Hoss for some reason. JYD and Terry had been feuding. Hoss got involved because they're brothers. Santana got involved for.....reasons? Hoss and JYD start. Terry tries to get involved and immediately regrets it, but it's obvious right from the off that he's in overdrive mode. He's all over the place like a crazed man. Bodyslam party! The Funks regroup outside. Terry gets some stiff chops on Santana before Santana clotheslines him over and out. JYD gives Hoss some straight rights and about a million buckle shots. Terry pulls JYD off a pin attempt before going over the top and out again. Uppercuts from Hoss. Santana counters with the flying chorizo but Terry breaks up the pin. During a criss cross Terry nails Santana with a knee in the back putting Santana face in peril. He gets thrown out and Hart gets some shots in until JYD runs him off. Santana reverses a suplex and has a midring collision with Terry but the Funks manage to keep him from tagging. A Terry legdrop gets a long 2. He goes for another, but Santana dodges. Santana ducks and jukes and finally outmaneuvers Terry to get the hot tag to JYD. Double noggin knocker! Terry wraps a chain around JYD's throat to choke him but JYD no sells it. Terry charges and JYD backdrops him over the top and all the way to the floor! That's a crazy spot for 1986. JYD follows up by slamming Terry on the timekeeper's table. Hoss breaks up a small package attempts and it goes mini-donnybrook. Santana puts Hoss in the figure four but neither of them are legal. Hart uses the distraction to get the megaphone to Terry, who waffles JYD with it and gets the pin. That was a very pleasant surprise. Terry Funk being crazy Terry Funk alone made it fun, but everyone did their bits well. ***

Pause for the cage setup. This, if memory serves me correctly, is the debut of the classic blue bar steel cage. It's said to be "reinforced" for Bundy's massive bulk.

Steel Cage Match for the WWF Championship: Hulk Hogan (c) def King Kong Bundy (w/Bobby Heenan) in 10:15- Bundy attacked Hogan on Saturday Night's Main Event and injured his ribs to set this up. Hogan is wrestling "against doctor's orders" and has his ribs taped up. In traditional WWF style this is escape rules only, no pins or submissions or even a ref in the ring. Fast fisticuffs start with an early Hogan edge. One advantage of the classic blue bar cage is the cameras fit in between the bars for less obstructed views. While blocking a cage shot Bundy punches Hogan in the hurt ribs. Bundy goes for the door but Hogan cuts him off. Bundy picks Hogan up and rams his back into the cage. He goes for the door again but gets stopped again. Heenan: "Damn it!". Bundy rips the tape off Hogan and chokes him with it. Bundy uses the tape to try to tie Hogan to the rope and goes for the door again, but Hogan gets out in time to stop him. Somewhere, Yano is shaking his head. Hogan punches get him the momentum back. Cage shot for Bundy! While lying face down on the mat he very sloooooooowly blades with Heenan covering for him. Hogan rams him into the cage on every side and he's bleeding pretty decent. Not NWA levels but decent for '80s WWF. Hogan starts to climb but just chokes Bundy over the top rope and comes back down again. Hogan goes for a slam but can't get Bundy up and falls down. He recovers and chokes Bundy out with the tape. Bundy goes to the eye rake. Avalanche! Big splash! Spasm selling from Hogan. Bundy goes for the door but Hogan grabs his foot. Hogan starts to hulk up and no sells an avalanche. Bodyslam! Hogan legdrop! Hogan starts climbing. Heenan and Bundy try to stop him. Bundy takes a bump from the top rope down to the mat and Hogan climbs out to win. Afterward Heenan takes his mandatory bumps. This match might be just a tick better than its reputation, but it's still not a Wrestlemania worthy main event. SNME maybe, but not Wrestlemania. **1/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- It's a bit of a drag. It does have the first two WM matches to hit 3+ stars, but also has a lot of dead weight to drag around and unlike other shows of this era doesn't have the "whole is greater than the sum of the parts" quality bump. More the opposite really. The three arenas experiment came off fine on a technical level in that there were no broadcast issues, but it also made the show flow extremely disjointed and produced weird crowd reactions. Definitely a bottom tier WM.
OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D

Chi-Town Rumble

Legacy Review

Chi-Town Rumble

February 20, 1989 from the UIC Pavilion in Chicago

Commentary: Jim Ross and Magnum TA

The new Turner regime is experimenting with new PPVs to start what would turn out to be an all-world 1989, headlined by the first match of the legendary Ric Flair vs Ricky Steamboat trilogy. Surprisingly, there was no counter punch from Titan Towers for this show.

The show open has some of the worst music I've ever heard for a wrestling show. Or, ever. The Turner boys are still figuring out how they want to do the presentation. Things open up at a snail's pace with JR and TA listing all the matches, then a long, generic video package of mostly Starrcade '88 footage. Guess they hadn't bought the Crockett tape library yet.

Michael PS Hayes def Russian Assassin I (w/Paul Jones) in 15:48- Assassin I is the Angel of Death. Badstreet USA is still awesome entrance music. This is in a short period where Hayes and fellow Freebird Terry Gordy were both working singles (Jimmy Garvin was out with an injury). Assassin tries a leapfrog. Hayes stops, waits for him to land, and nails him with a punch. Hayes poses on the 2nd rope, senses Assassin coming, and turns around and hits him with a diving punch. Twice. Assassin tries an eye rake but Hayes no sells the following punches and gives us the Freebird strut. A Hayes sunset flip gets 2  Assassin gets a couple of knees to the gut, then kinda nudges Hayes with a .3 Russian Sickle for a 2 count. Long chinlock spot. Hayes powers out and gets a crossbody for 2. A slightly better .5 Sickle puts Hayes right back in Chinlock City. It's like Suplex City, but with chinlocks. Things move slow there. The crowd is pretty dead. Hayes tries for a bulldog but Assassin counters out of it. Hayes dodges a corner charge and Assassin posts his shoulder. Assassin tries for a backdrop, but Hayes counters it into a DDT for the pin. This should have been a 5 minute squash but it went three times as long. Hayes had a pretty big singles push coming so he was trying. *3/4

Steamboat muddles his way through a promo. Never his strong suit. Little baby Richie wants the mic to show dad how to do it.

Before we go any further, I should take a minute and lay out what's going on in this period with the Four Horsemen, because it's a little convoluted. Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard left for the WWF in mid '88. With only Flair, Barry Windham and JJ Dillon left, the group was called just the Horsemen. The powers that be toyed with the idea of adding new guys to the group (Butch Reed and Windham's jobber brother Kendall being options), but when the calendar turned to '89 another wrench was thrown in: JJ Dillon was leaving to take a backstage job in WWF. WCW wrote him out by having Flair turn on him after losing the tag match where Ricky Steamboat was reintroduced into the company. To fill the managerial gap WCW turned to another old Horsemen "associate", Hiro Matsuda. The group was renamed the Yamazaki Corporation to play into thoughts that were prevalent in the late '80s that Japan's economy, booming from their dominance of the electronics and computer industries and starting to challenge the US in car manufacturing, would soon overtake the US as the world's #1 economy.

Sting def "Hacksaw" Butch Reed (w/Hiro Matsuda) in 20:07- A jobber entrance for Sting?! Oh, looks like the intros happened during Steamboat's promo. Sting ducks a punch and hits an atomic drop with a super sell from Reed. They go power vs speed for a bit. JR says Reed used to be a steer wrestler. Yeah, but did he ever wrestle a bear? Sting does a nice Destino like flip to switch from a blocked hip toss to an armdrag. He then shows some strength by holding onto a headlock while Reed tries to push him off into the ropes. Another nice Sting counter, a blocked hip toss into a backslide for 2. Reed gets some punches in but Sting dodges a corner charge. Reed uses Sting's momentum off the ropes to send him outside. A ringside cameraman gets caught on hard camera gesturing to fans in the crowd to boo. Reed works through punches and chokes. Matusda-san gets a choke in. Reed goes to the heel 101 playbook to keep Sting in a chinlock. Sting twists Reed into the turnbuckles to get out. He tries a Vader Bomb (he's too small!) but Reed gets his knees up and we're right back in the restholds. Sting jaw jacks out, ducks under a couple of clothesline attempts and hits one of his own. The crowd loves him. Sting gets a sunset flip. Reed grabs the top rope to keep from going over but for some reason ref (and future Reed manager) Teddy Long kicks him off. Reed drops down and covers Sting's shoulders with his knees, but tries to grab the rope for leverage and Long catches him. Sting rolls him over to complete the sunset flip and gets the pin. Another rung on the ladder of Sting's rise to the top. Reed was not the kind of guy to carry a match, but he could be a decent complimentary piece to a good worker. Another match that went twice as long as it needed to be. **1/4

Promo with Paul E Dangerously and the Original Midnights. Wait, that's not the Originals. That's Randy Rose and....Jack Victory? Dennis Condry pulled another one of his famous disappearing acts before this show, necessitating a last second substitution. Paul E plays it off as strategery.

Loser Leaves NWA Match: The Midnight Express & Jim Cornette def The Original Midnight Express & Paul E Dangerously in 15:51- Just to clarify, only the loser of the fall has to leave, not the whole team. Loopholes are fun. And convenient. Paul E's warm up "punches" are amazing. Cornette wants to start and he wants Paul E, but Lane and Rose end up starting. Rose gets the Flair throw off the top. The faces TRIPLE team Victory. Yes, Cornette even gets a shot in. Eaton gives Rose a series of stiff right hands, then another triple team sequence and another Cornette shot. The heels work Eaton into their corner and Paul E goes for a shot, but hits Rose instead. Rose is miffed. Rose throws Eaton off the apron and into the guardrail. Paul E tags in, gets a bunch of kicks in on Eaton, but Eaton no sells it all (realistic) and Paul E skedaddles for a tag. Cornette tags in and tries to get at Paul E, but Rose ambushes him from behind. Once Cornette is safely down Paul E tags in again. The managers work a proper match and do a pretty nice job of it. While Paul E plays to the crowd Cornette nails him from behind. The heels work Cornette over more until Eaton intervenes, allowing Cornette to tag out. Paul E distracts Lane and Victory gets him with a knee in the back. Lane is face in peril. After a bit Lane dodges a corner charge and gets the hot tag to Eaton. Beautiful missile dropkick from Eaton. Eaton physically forces Victory to tag Paul E in. Cornette is back in. Cornette hits a .4 clothesline and covers but Rose makes the save. Cornette tags out. DONNYBROOK! Rose misses a dive off the top. Lane covers but Victory breaks it up. The heels have a midring collision. The Express get Rose up and hit him with a double flapjack, and that gets the 3! Randy Rose is out of the NWA. Not as good as their Starrcade match, but considering the last second substitution it went about as well as it could have. Cornette and Paul E played their roles perfectly, and would continue to feud off and on the next few years. ***1/4

Bob Caudle is in the back with Flair, who shows Steamboat how to cut a promo. Whether you like it or don't like it, learn to love it, because it's the best thing going today! WOOOOOOOOO!

NWA World Television Championship: Mike Rotunda def Rick Steiner (c) (w/Scott Steiner) in 16:21- This is Scott's NWA/WCW debut. Steiner beat Rotunda for the title at Starrcade in the (supposed) culmination of probably the hottest feud in the company at that time. The same heat is not there for this rematch. Rotunda gets straight to the stalling, but overall it's not as bad as usual and a much quicker start than the Starrcade match. Lots of amateur takedowns showing off both guys' backgrounds. Rotunda takes advantage of a rope break to get the first punch in. He ducks to the outside to avoid a Steinerline, but a minute later gets clobbered with one and get his foot up on the rope to break the pin. Rotunda offers an insincere handshake. Abdominal stretch! Scott tries to tell Teddy Long that there's a 141 2/3% chance Rotunda is using the rope. Long breaks it up and Steiner reverses into a pin but they're under the ropes. Rotunda gets another rope break cheap shot. He goes for a reverse crossbody off the 2nd rope (and damn near botches it by landing on his feet) but Steiner reverses it for 2. They go outside. Steiner gets posted and starts bleeding. What happened to the no blood rule? Steiner recovers and gets a powerslam for 2. Kevin Sullivan has slithered out to ringside. He grabs a mic and tells Steiner "That's a nice dog you have in the dressing room." Steiner walks out and is clearly worried. I would be too. Knowing Sullivan he could either be sacrificing that dog to The Great Mowjal or eating it. Or both. Rotunda grabs the distracted Steiner and Saito suplexes him for 2. Steiner gets his head back in the game and hooks in a sleeper. Rotunda is going out but he's laying on top of Steiner and Steiner's shoulders are down. Long counts the 3 as Steiner pins himself! Weak ending. Sullivan's run out was completely pointless in the end. Steiner's singles push was cut short but he's moving into teaming up with his brother and I think that turned out OK. Rotunda winning the belt back would just be a transition as Sting would beat him for his first title a month later. This match didn't have the heat or great moment of Steiner winning that Starrcade did, but thanks to a faster pace and less stalling turned out as the better match. ***

NWA United States Heavyweight Championship: Lex Luger def Barry Windham (c) (w/Hiro Matsuda) in 10:43- Luger shoves Windham during instructions. Luger locks in an early sleeper but Windham suplexes out. Luger no sells it. Press slam! Luger does a unique whip, holding on while Windham tries to reverse it and still sending Windham into the corner. Luger tries a dive of the top but crashes and burns and slides all the way outside. Windham goes to work with the glove and busts Luger open above his right eye. They go out again and Luger eats barricade. Windham charges but Luger ducks out and Windham punches the ring post. Ow. Both guys take time to recover. Luger's bleeding above his eye. Windham's wrist is bleeding and barely functional. Windham manages to stay in control but hurts himself as much as Luger when he tries to punch. He hooks on the Claw, but after a minute his wrist gives out on that too. Tommy Young tries to check it but Windham refuses. Windham manages to hoist Luger up and superplexes him for a close 2 count. Windham gives Luger a bridged suplex and they do the finish where all four shoulders are down but Luger gets one up at 2 and Windham is pinned. Luger wins the title! Windham snaps and gives Luger a piledriver, indicating the feud must continue, but Windham was actually on his way out to the WWF (for a run that was cut short due to real life scandal and he'd be back in WCW within a year). It would have been nice if the wrist injury had played more directly into the finish, and the finish was a little redundant after the Rotunda/Steiner match having a similar one, but it was still very well done. ***1/2

NWA World Tag Team Championship: The Road Warriors (c) (w/Paul Ellering) def The Varsity Club in 8:27- The Road Warriors are kinda popular in their native Chicago. We've got three guys perfect for a stiff hoss match....and Kevin Sullivan. Sullivan and Animal start. Animal no sells a clothesline then kills Sullivan with one of his own. Sullivan tries to go off the top but Animal catches and powerslams him. Animal and Williams have a good shoulderblock standoff. Animal gets a powerslam. Williams takes a quick powder. When he gets back in he gives Hawk a press slam. Hawk answers back with a stiff clothesline. While Sullivan has the ref distracted the Roadies double clothesline Williams. Not a normal double clothesline. One from front and one from behind. Sensational. That gets a long 2 count. After another ref distraction Animal is thrown over the top and out, and Sullivan follows with a chair shot to the arm that had been hurt during the build. The heels work the wounded arm for a while and use toe and leg holds to keep Animal face in peril. They're keeping the pace up very well. Williams almost slips coming off the ropes. Double clothesline. Hot tag to Hawk! DONNYBROOK! Animal gets Sullivan in Doomsday Device position. Williams comes from behind and chop blocks Animal down. Hawk says eff it and clotheslines Sullivan off the top rope anyway, and gets the pin! There was a lot of promise here. I wish time had been cut off the first two matches and given to this one. **3/4

MAIN EVENT FEUD RECAP- Ricky Steamboat came back to the NWA at the start of '89 and in his first match back got a pinfall win over Ric Flair in a tag match at the original NWA studio. An enraged Flair laid down the challenge right after. The feud was soon framed as the limo riding, jet flying, expensive suit wearing, women dripping off arms Nature Boy vs family man Steamboat. In the last standoff before the big match Flair told Steamboat "Why don't you go back home and help the missus with the dishes?". Steamboat attacked and ripped Flair's expensive suit off, and Flair beat Steamboat up in his tightie whities.

NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat def "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (c) (w/Hiro Matsuda) in 23:18- Flair's got all the women with him tonight. He gets a pretty decent ovation. Chicago. And, Flair. This is the feud that would lead to an organic face turn for him at the end of it. Chicago being Chicago, there's audible "Steamboat sucks" chants at several points in the match. Steamboat goes for a quick cover 10 seconds in. Flair takes a step back. Flair drops down for a trip attempt. Steamboat stops and wraps him in a headlock. Flair tries to flip out, Steamboat turns it into a roll up for 2. Flair takes a breather. Here come the chops! They go to them regularly throughout the match and they never get old. After a huge backdrop Flair begs off. More stiff chops. They stand and stare for a few seconds before locking up again, a subtle but very effective tension builder. Steamboat slides between Flair's legs and hits a dropkick. Flair's chops are absolute cannon blasts. Steamboat's aren't far behind. If this was HD you'd be able to really see both guy's chests welling up. Steamboat tries another flash pin and Flair takes another short walk. Flair wins a shoulderblock exchange to get some momentum, but on a run Steamboat gives him a two handed chop and Flair does a Flair Flop through the ropes and out! Steamboat teases coming off the top but backs off. Flair cautiously tries to lock up then backs of and screams at Steamboat for being a coward. Mind games. We get a run of several high octane flying moves from Steamboat. That's the 1989 equivalent of Ricochet or Ospreay. Flair nails Steamboat with a back elbow. Steamboat comes back with chops. The last one sends Flair over the top and out again. Flair takes his time at the apron getting back in, suckering Steamboat in. He grabs Steamboat's feet, drags him under the ropes, and gives him a guardrail shot and more chops. Flair starts working through his usuals, including the knee drop for 2 and a double underhook suplex that only gets 1. Another stiff chop exchange. Flair Flip! He lands on his feet, runs across the apron to the other side, hops up to the top rope, AND ACTUALLY GETS OFF! Crossbody! Steamboat reverses it and locks his fingers but it only gets 2! The crowd is going crazy. Flair with an inverted atomic drop. Figure four! Flair plays the rope leverage game. Steamboat is in it for a long while. Tommy Young finally catches Flair using the ropes but Flair isn't worried, he's got Steamboat where he wants him. He thinks. Steamboat tries to come back with chops. Flair chops and punches back. Flair ducks a clothesline and on the rebound goes for a jumping crossbody, but it's close to the ropes and both guys tumble over the top and out! Steamboat gets posted. Flair suplexes him back in for a long 2 count. Flair tries for pins with his feet on the ropes but Steamboat won't stay down. While Flair argues with the crowd Steamboat rolls him up for 2. Flair dodges a Steamboat dive off the 2nd rope. They do the bridge up spot, but instead of a backslide Steamboat hits a double underhook suplex and Flair JUST gets a foot on the rope at 2. Steamboat goes up top and hits the flying chop. He goes up top again and nails the crossbody! But Young was in the way! Ref bump! No one is there to count! Flair grabs the tights and rolls Steamboat up, but there's still no ref. Flair throws him over the top but Steamboat half skins the cat to get on the apron, goes up top again, and misses! Flair goes for the figure four again, but Steamboat rolls him into a Paul Smackage! Teddy Long is in the ring and counts the 3! Steamboat wins the title! Absolute perfection. This was quite possibly the best wrestling match ever to that point, until Flair and Steamboat get in the ring together again. ****** (yes, that's 6)

Bob Caudle is in the locker room as the faces bury Steamboat in champagne. Steamboat promises Flair an immediate rematch.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- The magic NWA year of 1989 is off to a good start. The undercard has nothing awful and a few pretty good matches, and it's topped off by one of the most legendary matches ever.
OVERALL SHOW GRADE: A-