Royal Rumble '89

Legacy Review

Royal Rumble '89

January 15, 1989 from The Summit in Houston, TX

Commentary: Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura

After the success of the first Rumble on regular cable TV, the last of the Big Four PPVs is born. No counter move from Atlanta this time, as both the next Clash and WCW PPV would be in February.

2 Out of 3 Falls Match: The Hart Foundation and "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan def The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers and Dino Bravo (w/Jimmy Hart and Frenchy Martin) 2-1 in 15:42- Officially this match is "International Rules", which is just their fancy way of saying two out of three. One of the Royal Rumble logo ceiling banners is swaying awfully bad. Good thing it's not the old Boston Garden or half the upper deck wouldn't be able to see. The heels come out to Bravo's music instead of All American Boys, which almost makes me want to knock a full star off the match. I'm petty.
FIRST FALL- Anvil and Bravo start. Mandatory power guys shoulderblock standoff. It never gets old. They do it almost every match in New Japan today and I still like it. They swap elbow misses. Duggan scoops up a running Raymond and slams him, then hits him with a diving....something or other. It's Duggan. Bret rolls through some Ricky Steamboat-like rapid fire pin attempts. The Rougeaus hug in the corner to regain health. Jacques flips out of a backdrop attempt. Bret congratulates him with his fall down clothesline. The faces stack the heels in the corner and Anvil gives the lot of them the shoulder! Fun. Raymond pulls the top rope down on a Bret rope run and he tumbles out. Bravo gets him back in, hits him with the side suplex, and the Rougeaus hit their finisher and get the pin.
SECOND FALL- Bret is face in peril. Bret bump! That gets a long 2 count. Bret fights out of a Bravo bearhug. USA chant for Bret. Er, who wants to tell them? Heh, Ventura actually points that out. Bret with a sunset flip for 2. Double chinlock on Bret. Anvil runs in and the Rougeaus swap without a tag. Boston Crab. Bret slowly crawls toward the corner while in it and gets a tag to Anvil, but the ref was distracted and didn't see it. The Rougeaus work a double team abdominal stretch. Bret blocks a monkey flip, hits an inverted atomic drop and gets the hot tag to Duggan. Duggan slingshot splashes both Anvil and Bret onto Raymond, but there's some awkwardness as both try for covers but Duggan never actually tagged them. Duggan finally realizes this, drops an elbow, and gets the 3. Good on Joey Marella for calling it straight. The Revival Revolt approve.
THIRD FALL- Duggan works Raymond over. He goes into the heel corner to attack the rest of the team but they get him tied down instead. Duggan goes mild FIP until Bravo inverted atomic drops him right into the face corner! Well that was dumb. Bret tags in. A semi-donnybrook leads to Duggan whacking Bravo with the 2x4 and Bret covering to get the pin. Perfectly acceptable. It tried to be good, especially in the first fall, but the Bret FIP sequence felt bogged down and overlong with not enough hope spots. Bret overall seemed oddly off tonight. **1/2

Montage of wrestlers drawing their numbers for the Rumble. Ted DiBiase is not happy and calls Slick over for a chat.

WWF Women's Championship: Rockin' Robin (c) def Judy Martin in 6:24- Former champion Sensational Sherri is in the ring and challenges the winner. Sherri showed more personality in 30 seconds than anyone else in the ring the whole match. She then goes into commentary. Judy Martin looks older than Moolah. Fast back and forth start. Robin dodges a corner charge and hits some dropkicks. Martin gets a boot up on a charge. Robin tries a crossbody but Martin catches and drops her. Robin recovers and works the knee a bit (which goes nowhere). Boston Crab. Martin counters into a cradle for 2, then Robin counters into one of her own for 2. Sloppy small package from Martin for 2. Martin counters a dropkick and a roll up attempt. Robin has a horrible DDT counter than she had to stall and get herself in position for. Sherri: "Somebody win!". I concur. Robin fakes a reverse crossbody off the 2nd rope, waits for Martin to stop ducking, then hits it for the 3. Pacey but sloppy. The crowd didn't give two smegs. Contrast that to the women's tag title match the year before, where the Jumping Bomb Angels hooked the crowd in through sheer workrate awesomeness. Sherri never got her rematch. This would be the last appearance of the women's title until Medusa/Alundra Blayze signed and Vince got it off the shelf and dusted it off for her. 3/4*

Date promo for Wrestlemania 5: April 2, 1989

Sean Mooney is in the back with Slick and the Twin Towers. Mooney asks Slick about DiBiase. "Who?" "The Million Dollar Man." "Haven't seen him in a month!" Mooney counters with the footage from earlier. Slick claims he misunderstood the question and it's none of your business anyway because shut up.

Time for the "super posedown" between Rick Rude and the Ultimate Warrior. Mean Gene is hosting. Warrior runs in as per usual. No belt though. In fact, commentary never once mentions he's the Intercontinental champion. Weird. It's basic kayfabe era face/heel stuff. Both guys pose (I'm not a bodybuilding guy so don't ask me for details), the crowd boos Rude and cheers Warrior no matter what. Heenan even tries to butter them up by saying how much they love Houston. I wonder if this gave Vince the idea for trying to start the WBF. During Warrior's last pose a fed up Rude attacks him with his exercise bar and chokes him out with it. When Warrior comes to he beats up all the officials trying to help him and runs to the back. It was a bit long for a PPV segment, they probably should have done this on weekly TV. But it's not horrible, and it set up the Warrior/Rude IC title match at WM 5 and their longer feud that ended up elevating both guys. 

For the King of the Ring Crown: King Haku (w/Bobby Heenan) def Harley Race in 9:01- Haku was awarded the King crown after Race had to take time off for a hernia injury that required surgery. This is heel vs heel so crowd investment will be difficult. Race does get a bit of a pop. Probably old school NWA fans. These are two of the legit tough guys in wrestling history. If it was the WWF style they could probably go at it like Suzuki and Ishii and both of them would be perfectly OK with it. Race dumps Haku's jobber carried throne over while he's still on it! They fight on the floor a bit. Race gets some '70s offense in the ring before clotheslining Haku out again. Haku counters and Race gets posted. Heenan is hilarious in this match. He cheers on whoever is on offense at the time with no shame. Race JUST gets over the top with a Flair Flip and falls to the floor. Back in they start headbutting each other like a couple of drunk Klingons with no sells on both sides. Race hits a piledriver. Shoulderblock, and both guys go down. Race falls crashing outside. Haku suplexes him back in. Race suplexes Haku. Race tries for a piledriver on the floor but Haku backdrops out. Race counters, then does hit the piledriver on the floor. Swinging neckbreaker for 2. Race is really moving slow now. Race dodges a headbutt off the top rope. Haku dodges a headbutt of the 2nd rope. While Race is running the ropes Haku catches him with a superkick and gets the 3. Race was trying every tool left in his diminished toolbox to make this decent but he was clearly spent by the time the match was half done. This would be his last WWF match. He'd continue to wrestle in smaller promotions through mid-'90 (including getting a shot at the AWA world title) before hanging it up and closing out the career of, if not the biggest wrestling star of the 1970s, then certainly the second biggest after Bruno Sammartino. And then go on to have a successful second career in WCW as a manager. *3/4

Royal Rumble- This is the first true 30 man Rumble. Before we get going Howard Finkel (who passed away less than two weeks before writing this, RIP Fink, the best ring announcer there's ever been) gives us the rules rundown. Let's all find out who drew NUMBER ONE....

1. & 2. WWF Tag Team Champion Ax & WWF Tag Team Champion Smash- Now here's a Rumble moment, right at the start. Demolition ends up 1 and 2. Not just a great moment, but smart booking as it perfectly encapsulates the every man for himself angle. Smash charges in and they go right at it with no hesitation. Ax axes. Smash smashes. Ax was always better at that spot. Ax sends Smash over the top but he lands on the apron.
3. Andre the Giant- Business is here early. I highly doubt he's going the distance. The Demos wait for him to get in and take him down with a double clothesline. After a bit of a beating Andre gets back up and fights them both off.
4. Mr. Perfect- Very early in his WWF run and in trunks instead of a singlet. I think they had just dropped Curt Hennig from his ring name as well. He goes after everyone. Andre eliminates Smash. Ax and Perfect team up against Andre until Ax turns on Perfect. Perfect with the Bret bump!
5. "Rugged" Ronnie Garvin- Goes right after Andre. Andre gets tied up in the ropes. The other three try to lift him up but Andre fights out of it. Perfect and Garvin get in a nice chopfest.
6. Greg "The Hammer" Valentine- Goes right for Andre. Andre eliminates Garvin. Perfect gets Ax back for the double cross earlier.
7. Jake "The Snake" Roberts- This is during the "Andre's so afraid of snakes the sight of Damien gave him a heart attack" feud so Roberts goes right after him, but Andre quickly shuts him down.
8. "Outlaw" Ron Bass- Sporting a near clean shaven look after Brutus Beefcake finally got his revenge for Bass taking him out of Summerslam '88. He does not go right for Andre. Andre eliminates Roberts. That was the Rumble equivalent of a squash match. Commentary can't believe Ax is still in. We're only up to #8, guys!
9. Shawn Michaels- Perfect eliminates Ax. Perfect tosses Shawn, Shawn skins the cat back in, clotheslines Perfect, and gets a Perfect 360 sell. A Shawn dropkick sends Perfect over but not out. Ventura floats the idea of Sherri in the Rumble. A decade later it could have happened. She was good enough. Shawn and Perfect are still paired off, sending the overall match workrate level sky high.
10. Butch- Roberts comes back in with Damien! Andre flies over the top rope in terror and eliminates himself.
11. The Honky Tonk Man- Perfect and Honky pair off for a bit. Every man for himself! The other wrestlers whip Perfect and Shawn into each other. Perfect takes a Flair Flop like bump face first into the middle turnbuckle.
12. Tito Santana- No Martel for him to go after....oh wait, they're still tag partners. He and Perfect pair off to continue the workrate Rumble. Bass and Perfect double team Shawn.
13. Bad News Brown- Commentary points out this is his style of match. Ventura: "This is a regular Saturday night for him!" Santana and Butch eliminate Honky. Shawn has a near elimination off a Valentine atomic drop.
14. Marty Janetty- Bass nails him as he comes in. Shawn helps and the Rockers get their double team mojo going. The Rockers eliminate Bass. Ventura: "The Rockers won't turn on each other unless they're the last two guys in". Or there's a Barber Shop window nearby. Santana with the Flying Tortilla on Valentine.
15. WWF Champion "Macho Man" Randy Savage- Now business is picking up. Savage goes right for Brown, who he'd been feuding on the house show loop with. Savage and Perfect pair off. Hell yes, please.
16. Arn Anderson- Savage eliminates Valentine. We're right in the middle of the absolutely awesome Rockers/Brain Busters feud so Arn and Shawn quickly find each other. Shawn slips out of a slam and gives Arn a superkick. Arn and Savage team up to eliminate Shawn! Every man for himself. Janetty goes after Arn.
17. Tully Blanchard- Bad luck for Janetty, great luck for Arn. The Busters temporarily turn their attention to Butch. Savage and Perfect pair off to tease us again. World's Greatest Spinebuster on Janetty! The Busters get Janetty mostly over. Janetty tries to fight them off, even hooking his feet across the top rope, but they eventually eliminate him.
18. Hulk Hogan- And speaking of business picking up. Hogan eliminates Perfect. Perfect got the first ever Rumble ironman run and would hold the first longevity record at just under 28 minutes. Hogan and Brown pair off. Santana is eliminated off camera. My stat sheet says it was the Savage and Arn combo again.
19. Luke- Before the Bushwackers can team up Brown eliminates Butch. The Busters are doing their best to work as a team. Hogan press slams Tully but just drops him throat first on the top rope. Everyone teams up against the Mega Powers, who have been slow to try to help each other.
20. Koko B Ware- Luke holds Hogan down for Arn. Every man for himself. Arn goes up top. Hogan catches him and gives him the Flair throw. Savage rams the Busters together. Hogan eliminates Ware, then Luke. The Busters double team Hogan.
21. The Warlord- As he's coming in Hogan eliminates the Brain Busters. As soon as Warlord steps in the ring Hogan clotheslines him out for the first Rumble lightning elimination. Brown and Savage are fighting on the ropes. Hogan comes up from behind and tosses Brown, AND SAVAGE. Savage is IRATE. He gets back in and he and Hogan have a calm, logical discussion about it. With pointing and shoving. Elizabeth runs in to mediate. After a minute Savage calms down and offers a handshake. They hug it out. All is well with the Mega Powers. For now.
22. The Big Boss Man- This is convenient, as the Mega Powers/Twin Towers feud was ongoing. All Hogan to start. Boss Man gets an avalanche in the corner to take over, followed by a piledriver. Hogan dodges a big splash.
23. Akeem- Boss Man's tag partner, how even more convenient! Hogan tries to fight them off but the Towers are too much beef even for Hogan. He tries to come back and gets a side suplex on Boss Man, but that also seems to take the last out of him. The Twin Towers eliminate Hogan. There's a shocker. The whole thing is wide open now. Hogan, always the gracious loser, pulls Boss Man under the bottom rope and beats on him some more. Akeem makes the save.
24. Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake- Attacks Akeem while he's still on the floor. Hogan tries to get back in but the refs stop him. Someone still has to pay though, so he reaches up and pulls Boss Man over the top and out, eliminating him! Taking sore loser to a whole new level. They brawl to the back. Monsoon tries to defend Hogan but Ventura destroys every debate point and, in this instance, has the winning argument in my opinion. Hogan's just a bad loser.
25. Terry Taylor The Red Rooster- Akeem wipes him out getting in. Beefcake takes advantage and the faces double team Akeem.
26. The Barbarian- He saves Akeem then attacks him? Monsoon and Ventura agree that was stupid. Akeem squashes the Rooster with a big splash.
27. Big John Studd- Studd had just unretired after two years out and turned face to feud with the Heenan Family. He pushes Rooster aside to attack Akeem.
28. Hercules- The match is starting to bog down and suffer from the fact that almost all the best workers and biggest stars have already been eliminated. Studd and Akeem keep at the hoss fight.
29. Rick Martel- Fortunately it's babyface Martel so here's a good hope to liven things up again. And he does turn it up a bit with a nice sequence with Rooster.
30. "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase- I suspect money was exchanged to secure this spot, but nothing can be proven in a court of law. From a "guess the booking" perspective DiBiase would look like a good bet to win at this point. He and Rooster reacquaint from their Mid-South days and have a very nice sequence, including Taylor breaking out the old Fivearm. DiBiase whips Rooster into the corner and he Flair Flips out. They don't call him Ric Flair Lite for nothing. Herc goes to town on DiBiase, referencing their mini-feud (Heenan sold Herc's contract to DiBiase, DiBiase said he'd bought a slave, Herc said screw you and turned face). Beefcake gets a sleeper on Herc. DiBiase and Barbarian sneak up and eliminate them both. Barbarian powerslams Martel and hits him with the headbutt off the top. Martel ducks a Barbarian clothesline and eliminates him.
FINAL FOUR- Akeem, Studd, Martel and DiBiase. Martel unloads on DiBiase. Martel dodges an Akeem corner charge and hits some dropkicks. He tries a crossbody, but Akeem catches him and dumps him out. The heels gang up on Studd. DiBiase takes on a coaching role while Akeem does the heavy lifting. Studd pulls DiBiase in the way of an avalanche. Studd eliminates Akeem. DiBiase offers to buy the win. Studd is not interested. After an overly long beatdown and no drama, Studd eliminates DiBiase and Big John Studd is the winner of the first 30 man Royal Rumble!

This was a great Rumble, up until Savage and Hogan were eliminated. After that it was just.....there. It peaked too early. They're still working on the formula, and we all know they'll get there. Studd winning is a nice underdog win, something you could have in the days before the winner got the WM title shot, but it went nowhere long term as Studd's only other major WWF appearance was as the guest ref for the Andre/Roberts WM 5 match and then he'd retire again. ***1/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Like other shows of the era, you won't see a lot of snowflakes but you'll have a mostly good time watching it. There's nothing close to can't miss on the undercard, but Rumbles usually live or die by how good the Rumble match is, and this was a good one, especially for the first full attempt at it.
OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B

Great American Bash '89

Legacy Review

Great American Bash '89

July 23, 1989 from the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, MD

Commentary: Jim Ross and Bob Caudle

This show's tagline is "Glory Days", and they aren't kidding. This is the pinnacle of the incredible year WCW had in 1989. Once again I'm revisiting an old review, as I don't think I did the show justice the first time.

$50,000 Triple Crown King of the Hill Double Ring Battle Royal- (not much happening here so copy and paste my original review) Say that name three times fast. WCW was famous for coming up with matches that had horribly convoluted rules that not even the wrestlers fully understood. Think this one is bad, go check out Battlebowl or the GAB '88 Tower of Doom match. So, there's 14 guys in this match. All 14 had won a battle royal in the previous month to qualify. Everyone in this match starts in one ring. To be eliminated from ring one, you have to be thrown over the top into the second ring. Once there, you have to be thrown over the top to the floor to be fully eliminated from the match. The last man standing in ring one would wrestle a regular match with the last survivor of ring two to determine the winner. Most of the guys in this match will be pulling double duty later in the show. As the match starts, Teddy Long can be seen lurking around the stage. He's the manager of The Skyscrapers (Dangerous Dan Spivey and Sid Vicious), both of whom are in this match, so the finish is a bit telegraphed. For some fun, you can see a very young Scott Hall in this match, with curly blonde hair and a mustache. Despite the overcomplicated rules it's a fairly typical battle royal, lots of random brawling and guys flying out. Vicious wins ring one, Spivey wins ring two. Long then comes out and says that his guys won't fight each other and they're splitting the money. 1/2*

Flyin' Brian def Wild Bill Irwin in 10:18- This is Brian Pillman's PPV debut. Irwin attacks at the bell. Pillman turns the tide with his speed. JR is all over Pillman's NFL career with the Bengals, even calling him one of Boomer Esiason's "best friends". A rope assisted flying headscissors sends Irwin outside. Pillman teases a dive but goes with the baseball slide dropkick. Deep armdrags. Crossbody for 2. Irwin plants Pillman with a slam to turn things around, i.e. kill the match stone dead. Irwin shouts "You wanna fly?" and tosses Pillman outside. Lots of power offense from Irwin with running color commentary during most of it. Pillman dodges a dive in the ropes. He goes up top for a missile dropkick but Irwin dodges it. Gutwrench suplex for 2. He throws Pillman from ring 1 to ring 2. Pillman climbs the top rope in ring 2 and hits Irwin with a crossbody across the rings to win. Cool finish. Horrible layout. What should have been a Pillman showcase had Irwin on offense for 75% of the match. *1/4

The Skyscrapers (w/Teddy Long) def The Dynamic Dudes in 9:14- The Dudes are not over in Baltimore. Way too cheesy. Teddy Long spends a ton of time bragging about his guys co-winning the overly long name battle royale earlier. Spivey and Ace start. Spivey no sells a dropkick and pounds Ace. The Dudes try some blatant no tag double teaming way over the 5 count until Spivey kills Douglas with a big boot. "We want Sid" chant from the crowd. After a minute Spivey obliges to a decent pop. Sid hits a half assed .2 Flair chop then tags right out again. Ace dodges an elbow and tags, but Spivey plants Douglas with a Rock Bottom style slam. Another, louder "We want Sid" chant. Spivey ignores it. A big boot sends Douglas outside. Spivey still stays in. After Douglas gets back in Spivey finally tags in Sid to another pop. Sid seems surprised by the reaction and plays to the crowd a bit, but still does almost no actual wrestling. Spivey tags back in and gets booed. Another "We want Sid" chant while Spivey catches Douglas in midair trying a crossbody. Spivey misses a headbutt off the 2nd rope and Douglas gets the "hot" tag. Both heels barely sell. Ace hits a clothesline off the top but Sid makes the save. Donnybrook. Douglas dodges and the Scrapers hit (gently nudge) each other. Spivey badly fucks up a powerbomb on Douglas, barely picking him up off the mat and then almost dropping him on his head. Thankfully that was the finish. Spivey checks on Douglas after. Sid was the only guy in the match the crowd cared about and the heels completely phoned it in while controlling almost the whole match. 1/2*

Manager vs Manager Tuxedo Match: Jim Cornette def Paul E Dangerously in 6:22- This is the final blowoff to what started as the Original vs Current Midnight Express feud, and Paul E and Cornette worked so well together it made sense to keep it going. The first guy to strip the tuxedo off his opponent wins. Paul E has a stolen Cornette racket with him. It's still crazy to hear Cornette getting face pops. Paul E tries an ambush but Cornette catches him and gets his jacket off. Paul E throws powder in Cornette's face and goes to work with the phone on his stated prematch promo target: the knee that Cornette (legitimately) blew out falling off the scaffold at Starrcade '86. Great psychology and logical callback. Cornette's jacket is off. Cornette is selling really well. Paul E takes his cummerbund off and chokes Cornette with it. Cornette gets a shot in and returns the favor by choking Paul E with his own cummerbund. Paul E backs him into the corner to get free. Paul E taunts and spits. Cornette tries to attack but his knee gives out. He falls outside and they brawl on the floor for a bit. Cornette gets posted (again, guaranteed blood pre-Turner). Back in Paul E tries a diving elbow. Cornette dodges but can't capitalize. Cornette starts hulking up! Paul E with a 360 180 sell of a punch! Cornette gets Paul E's shirt off. Paul E gets more powder out, but this time Cornette kicks it back in his face. The pants are off! Paul E runs to the back in his tightie whities quicker than an Ultimate Warrior entrance. It was a bit ugly at times, but overall this was two very talented non-wrestlers that were (in Paul E's case, still is) very good at their regular job going out there and putting on a watchable and solidy entertaining match.  **1/4

Texas Tornado Tag Team Match: The Steiner Brothers (w/Missy Hyatt) def The Varsity Club in 4:22- The Varsity Club is down to just Kevin Sullivan and Mike Rotunda. This is Scott Steiner's in-ring PPV debut. He's in trunks instead of a singlet. Early days. Tornado rules means all four guys fight with no tags. Not sure about the Texas part, but whatever. As a native Texan I can claim we invented it because we probably did. As soon as the Steiners hit the ring they're off. Scott and Rotunda wrestle on the inside, Rick and Sullivan crazy brawl on the outside. Rick no sells a chairshot to the head. Sullivan drops Rick crotch first across the guardrail. He gets a table out, but Rick picks it up and drops it on him. Rick gets posted. Rick and Sullivan finally get in the ring. Rick belly to belly on Sullivan. Scott slams Rotunda in the corner upside down and he ends up in the tree of woe. Rick powerslam for 2. As the ref's counting Scott gets a small package that's also a 2 count. Rick with mounted punches on Sullivan. Sullivan grabs his tights and dumps him over the top and down to the floor. Scott's double teamed. VC with simultaneous covers, each for 2. Sullivan tries a sunset flip but Rick headbutts his crotch. Steinerline! VC with a double backdrop on Scott. Sullivan picks Rick up to slam him, but Scott comes off the top rope with a crossbody and both Steiners pin Sullivan for the win. This was the Varsity Club's last gasp of semi-relevance, while the Steiners would rightly be getting the rocket ship treatment. The match was crazy nonstop action. I wish they'd gotten more time. **3/4

NWA World Television Championship: Sting (c) (w/Eddie Gilbert) and The Great Muta (w/Gary Hart) go to a no contest in 8:40- Special entrance for Muta. Huge pop for Sting. They start in separate rings. Ref Nick Patrick tries to get Muta into ring 1. Sting says he's got this, and dives over the gap onto Muta in ring 2! Then he goes after Hart. Muta gets a overhand chop off the top rope. Throughout the match there's a small but noticeable constant "Muta" chant. Handspring elbow. He goes for the Mutohsault, but Sting rolls and he lands on his feet. Sting no sells a karate kick, but a second one catches him and he rolls out. Plancha! As he's getting back in Sting fights back, clotheslines Muta from the apron, then hits a clothesline off the top rope. A dropkick sends Muta out. Sting tries a dive but Muta is too far away, so he goes over the top rope and lands on his feet. Muta slips out of a suplex. Sleeper! Sting gets to the ropes. Press slam! Muta dodges a big diving elbow. Muta with an abdominal stretch with rope help. He turns it into a cradle for 2. He throws Sting out. Sting jumps right back in swinging haymakers. Muta with the eye poke. Sting dodges another handspring elbow. Rapid fire clotheslines and a face plant. Muta spits the red mist, but Sting ducks and it gets Patrick! Muta dodges the Stinger Splash! Mutohsault! Tommy Young runs in and counts but Sting kicks out! Sting dodges a kick, hits a belly to back suplex, and Young counts as it looks like all four shoulders are down. Sting is declared the winner. Hart and Muta disagree. They steal the belt and leave with it. The replay shows that both Sting and Muta got a shoulder up. This was as good as you can get in a sub-10 minute match, with two revolutionary young talents showing what the future would look like. ****

NWA United States Heavyweight Championship: "The Total Package" Lex Luger (c) def Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat by DQ in 10:26- Luger turned to the dark side to win the US title back from Michael Hayes, then attacked Steamboat at the most recent Clash with a chair to solidify the heel turn and set this up. Like with his Flair matches, Steamboat's family is with him on his entrance. But there's even more this time: Steamboat is carried out on a raised platform holding a live kimono dragon. Luger's on a turnstile for his entrance but it doesn't turn. Typical WCW. This match was signed as no DQ but Luger refuses to wrestle under those stipulations. He demands it be a regular match or he's walking. Steamboat agrees. Luger pushes Steamboat around on the lockups. Steamboat dodges a corner punch and goes into rapid fire covers, dropkicks and chops. Luger rolls out to recover but Steamboat follows. More chops. Luger catches him with a knee in the gut while getting back in. They fight outside again. Stamboat comes back with chops and a table shot. Steamboat off the top, but Luger catches him in the gut. Luger rolls through the power moves, mostly focused on the back. Steamboat fights out of covers. While Luger argues with Tommy Young Steamboat gets a roll up for 2. Luger murders him with clotheslines. Steamboat chops back. Rolling neckbreaker. Luger slips out of a slam. Luger goes for a clothesline but Steamboat doges and Luger tumbles outside. Steamboat tries to slam him but Luger falls on top for a long 2. Luger goes up top. Steamboat catches him and gives him the Flair throw. Steamboat charges. Luger backdrops him over the gap from ring 2 to ring 1! Luger goes out and gets a chair. Young tries to stop him. Steamboat fights him, gets him in slingshot position, and slingshots him into the corner while still holding the chair and Luger goes face first into the chair! Steamboat's enraged at Luger's previous attack and doesn't go for a pin, but instead lays into Luger with the chair. Young has no choice but to call for the DQ. Oh, the irony. A perfect trap set by Luger. After the bell Steamboat continues the attack and chases Luger all the way to the back. However, due to a contract dispute this feud would not continue. Steamboat would take time off to heal nagging injuries, then work some smaller promotions and in Japan before re-signing with the WWF in '91. This was 10 minutes of literal nonstop action. Not a rest hold or barely a breather to be had. ****1/4

War Games match: The Road Warriors, The Midnight Express and "Dr. Death" Steve Williams (w/Paul Ellering and Jim Cornette) def The Fabulous Freebirds and The Samoan SWAT Team (w/Paul E Dangerously) in 22:18- As part of the huge reshuffle going on in the tag division, we have the tag teams in War Games (a GAB tradition at this time) to settle scores that started during the tournament for the vacant world tag titles or even before. The newly reformed Freebirds won the tournament and are champs here. Badstreet USA is still awesome entrance music. The Road Warriors come out on motorcycles. Traditional War Games rules: two guys start for 5 minutes, coin toss (heels always win), winning team gets the advantage for the following 2 minute periods. Once everyone's in, the Match Beyond begins and it can only end in submission or surrender. All the managers have notepads out for strategizing.
P1. Jimmy Garvin & Bobby Eaton- Good back and forth to get the match rolling with no clear advantage. Eaton takes the first cage shot. He has Garvin in a Boston Crab as the period expires.
P2. Terry Gordy- Eaton in the cage again. The heels drape him across the ropes in between rings. Eaton ducks a punch and Gordy hits Garvin.
P3. Steve Williams- The heels jump Williams but he fights them off with a double clothesline. Williams picks Gordy up in a press slam, presses him into the roof multiple times, and finally slams him. These guys spend most of the match working on each other, which is ironic as they're about to form a long running tag team in both Japan and WCW with one of the coolest names ever: The Miracle Violence Connection. Eaton and Garvin fight in the gap between rings.
P4. Samu- The heels gang up on Williams. Double suplex on him. Eaton tries to fight back into it.
P5. Animal- He takes out the big guys. He and Samu isolate themselves in one ring, then when Samu goes back Animal dives through the ropes of BOTH rings onto him! The faces temporarily take over.
P6. Fatu- Goes right for Animal. The Samoans double team him. Gordy and Williams get in the other ring by themselves for a bit. Garvin and Eaton are still paired off.
P7. Stan Lane- Hot tag-like housecleaning. All the heels eat cage. Paul E is drawing up the playsheet. Hayes has been stalling all match and doesn't want to go in.
P8. Michael Hayes- DDTs for everyone. He gets in a ring by himself and struts. Hawk is dying to get in.
P9. Hawk- The Match Beyond begins. Hawk goes right to the top rope and double clotheslines the Samoans. Chopfest on Gordy. Snake eyes to Garvin. Eaton DDTs Hayes. Hawk with a HUGE dive over the top ropes of both rings! There's a hilarious moment where Paul E tries to squeeze his phone in through the cage, Tommy Young catches him and gives him the kind of look a dad gives to his son trying to sneak off with the car keys, and Paul E backs off. The Roadies signal they're going to try a Doomsday Device on Gordy. I don't think that'll work with the roof. It's a moot point because Garvin makes the save. Hawk thanks Garvin by clotheslining him off the top rope. Neckbreaker for Garvin, then Hawk gets Garvin up in a hangman's neckbreaker submission hold. Garvin gives up! The freshest guy makes the guy in the match the longest tap out. As the faces leave the heels slam the door on Animal and trap him in the cage. They beat up on him until Hawk forces the door open to make the save. This isn't an absolute top tier War Games match (a very high standard), but it's still a damn good one. ****

NWA World Heavyweight Championship: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (c) def Terry Funk (w/Gary Hart) in 17:23- This is Flair's first match back after Funk nearly "forced him into retirement" after his Wrestle War '89 attack injured his neck (very similar to Flair's last match as a pure babyface, the Starrcade '83 main event with Harley Race). Funk is flanked (as opposed to flunking flank, there's a Mel Brooks reference for you) by Goldberg level security on his entrance. Funk is looking to win the world title back 12 years after he lost it. Flair's got women and pyro. After Flair gets his robe off they start brawling on the floor without any cameras on them. Flair struts back in. Funk's pissed and won't get in. Flair hits him with a double ax handle off the apron and rolls him back in. Funk immediately rolls back out, grabs a chair and throws it in the ring. Finally he calms down enough for a lock up. Funk chops. Flair with one cannon shot chop. Funk goes over the top and out off a chop. Flair dives off the apron again. Funk recovers and posts Flair, then suplexes him back in. Funk starts working the neck. They end up outside again. As they're getting back in, Flair suplexes Funk from the inside down to the floor! Well, gets him up then drops him, there's not much room there. Chop exchange on the floor. Back in, Funk goes for the piledriver but Flair backdrops him over the top and out again. Flair gives Funk some neck snaps. Rolling knee on the back of the neck gets 2. Flair piledriver! Some incredible selling from Funk here. A second piledriver! Funk tumbles outside and crawls up the isle. Flair chases. Figure four! Hart slips Funk his branding iron, and while Young is distracted Funk waffles Flair with it. Flair doesn't give a damn about no blood policies, he's Ric Flair dammit! And he's gushing blood. Funk hits the piledriver! Flair just gets a foot under the bottom rope. Funk goes outside and pulls the mat up. He sets Flair up for a piledriver on the straight concrete floor. Flair powers out. Funk hits 3 spinning neckbreakers. He wants Flair to give up. The branding iron is in again. Flair manages to snatch it away and nail Funk with it. Funk's bleeding and, as Dusty would say, wobblelegged. Flair tries a running knee in the corner but Funk dodges. Funk locks in the spinning toe hold, which is what he won the title with back in '75. Flair counters it and starts to hook in the figure four. Funk counters it into a small package. Flair reverses into a Paul Smackage and gets the 3! Yet another Ric Flair 1989 masterpiece, and it's a completely different type of match than any of the Steamboat matches. And not to discount Funk, he held his end up as well.  ****3/4

But we're not done. As soon as Flair gets his hand raised, Muta shows up and hits him with the green mist. The heels attack. Funk tries to piledrive Flair on a chair. Security head Doug Dillinger makes the save. Here comes Sting! He buys time. Flair recovers and jumps right in! Brawling all over. Eventually Flair and Sting stand tall in the ring. Muta tries to slide back in but retreats. Flair chases the heels up the isle and we're on again! JR and Caudle try to do an on camera wrap up, but Muta and Flair come into shot behind them fighting. Flair fights them both off with the branding iron. After a pause Funk attacks Flair with a chair and we're going AGAIN. Finally the heels have enough. Flair and Sting invade commentary. The visual of Flair with his face covered in both blood and green mist is phenomenal. Flair tells Sting "I haven't said thank you in 10 years. Thank you, pal!". He tells Funk that they're just getting started. They give us a WOOOOOOOOO and a Sting yell simultaneously. Oh, and JR says the TV title has been held up after the controversial finish.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- This is one of the greatest PPVs of the era. A large run of 4+ star matches is typical today, they happen all the time at NXT Takeovers and most major New Japan shows. But back then, this was mind blowing stuff. Even with a few duds on the undercard, I can't recommend this enough. Watch it.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: A

Wrestle War '89

Legacy Review

Wrestle War '89

May 7, 1989 from the Nashville Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, TN

Commentary: Jim Ross and Bob Caudle

Flair/Steamboat III! And also another new PPV as WCW continues to expand the calendar.

The Great Muta (w/Gary Hart) def Doug Gilbert in 3:03- This was originally scheduled to be Muta vs JYD but was changed due to "circumstances beyond our control" per JR. A much shortened Muta prematch mediation ends with swift kicks for Gilbert. Gilbert goes outside and Muta posts him. Back in Gilbert gets an ugly crossbody and Muta takes a quick powder. Handspring elbow! Gilbert gets a little more token offense in. Muta kills it with the fingers in mouth green mist assisted eye rake. He goes for the Mutohsault but sees Gilbert rolling and lands on his feet. For '89 that's the equivalent of Ricochet's flip out of the ring and landing on his feet on the floor in NXT. Bloody Jedi. (Just to get this down for the record, Ricochet is a Jedi and Will Ospreay is a Marvel superhero. I see so many people get that backwards.) Eddie Gilbert comes out to morally support his brother. Plancha! Muta rolls Gilbert in, hits the Mutohsault for real, and gets the 3. An ugly squash. Muta looked as great as usual, but Gilbert was not a good bumper foil for him. *1/2

"Hacksaw" Butch Reed def Ranger Ross in 6:59- This isn't Ross (NWA's version of Sgt. Slaughter, only a much worse wrestler) vs the evil heel forrrner so no one cares. Even after the camo pants come off! He needs to take notes from Angel Garza or Taichi on how to do that *during* the match for the big pop. Basic start. Ross advantage until Reed charges out of the corner with a clothesline. Teddy Long, who'd recently been fired as a referee for turning heel, comes to ringside with a notepad, setting up his future as a manager. An old boss of mine once told me that if you have a pen and a clipboard with a notepad you'll always look busy. Lessons for life, kids. Ross punches the same way Hogan does: cover the other guy's face with your hand then punch your hand. Reed locks in a chinlock and plays the rope game with the ref. After what feels like 2 hours Ross tries to get out and Reed tights pulls him back in because God forbid something actually happen in this match. Finally the ref catches the rope leverage. Off the ropes Ross counters with an ugly looking throw that took him a solid 5 seconds to reposition himself for. Reed hits the missile football tackle off the top rope and wins. Basic, heatless and boring. 1/2*

Bullrope Match: Dick Murdoch def Bob Orton Jr (w/Gary Hart) in 4:54- This is the continuation of a feud started from one of the matches cut off the WWE Network copy of Clash 6. Murdoch is in jeans, Orton in regular wrestling gear. The bullrope is attached to both guys' wrists like a strap match, but there's a cowbell attached to the middle of the rope that can be used as a weapon. Tug of war to start. Orton dodges. Murdoch wraps the rope around his knuckles to punch with. Orton drags them both outside just so he can try to run and take a bump on the floor when Murdoch yanks him back. Murdoch uses the rope as a whip. Orton's the first one to use the bell. Murdoch takes his boot off and uses it as a weapon. That finally wakes the crowd up. Orton goes to the top rope but gets jerked off. Off the top rope. With the bullrope. Just for clarification. Dirty minded people. Murdoch steer ties Orton's legs with the rope and pins him. Afterward the heels beat him up and Orton literally hangs Murdoch with the bullrope. This type of match is completely pointless when there's a no blood rule and the cowbell shots don't bust anyone open (see Starrcade '85). 1/4*

The Dynamic Dudes def The Samoan SWAT Team (w/Paul E Dangerously) in 11:02- This is the Dudes' PPV debut (future ECW legend Shane Douglas and future former Interim General Manager of Raw and Smackdown and Executive Vice President of Talent Relations "People Power" John "Johnny Ace" Laurinaitis). The Dudes have skateboards because they're cool and rad dudes. People not of my generation probably don't understand how huge skateboarding was in teen culture in the '80s. But the Dudes just feel like what a corporate boardroom thought teens would think was cool in the late '80s. Paul E intros the Samoans in much the same way he intros Brock today. He even tells Gary Capetta "That's how you do it!" when he gives him the mic back. Ace and Fatu start. Samu runs in and Ace slams both of them. Douglas outsmarts Samu and gives him a dropkick. After a sneaky heel tag Ace eats a superkick. Paul E distracts the ref and the SST wishbone Ace and he goes face in peril. Rest holds. Ace hits a backdrop but the dropkick follow up is dodged. That's one bit of wrestling logic I've never understood. How does missing a dropkick hurt? You don't fall any differently. A Fatu powerslam gets 2. There's a funny bit where Paul E counts with Tommy Young, hits 3, then tries to argue it was 3. Ace can't get a tag even when he's in the right corner. Paul E grabs the mic and gives some color commentary. Right after that Ace finally gets the hot tag. Douglas' momentum is killed by a clothesline. Fatu hits a big splash off the top but Ace makes the save. Fatu picks Douglas up, but Ace hits Douglas' back with a dropkick off the top rope, Douglas lands on Fatu, and gets the 3. Pretty big pop for the upset win, I will admit. It was formulaic (Ace was face in peril for 80% of the match) but OK. **

NWA United States Heavyweight Championship: Michael PS Hayes (w/Hiro Matsuda) def "The Total Package" Lex Luger (c) in 16:06- Hayes turned on Luger during a tag match and joined the Yamazaki Corporation to set this up. Hayes promised during his promo that there would be no outside interference from any of his former Freebird partners. Badstreet USA is still awesome entrance music. Super strutting by Hayes down the ramp. Usual stalling at the start from Hayes. After some basic maneuvering Hayes gets a shock crossbody for 2. Hayes slips out of a slam and (barely) gets a side Russian leg sweep. Teddy Long is out taking notes again playa. Luger starts getting frustrated and slaps Hayes on a corner breakup. Big backdrop from Luger. Hayes goes out to catch his breath. Back in he takes over with buckle shots and a clothesline. He goes for the DDT but Luger powers out. More Hayes stalling. Luger starts working the arm with some really good selling from Hayes. Hayes tries another crossbody but Luger catches him and gives him a backbreaker. Luger no sells a clothesline. Hayes dodges a dive and Luger flies (and I mean FLIES) over the top rope and all the way to the floor. Hayes goes out and posts him. If it was only a year earlier Luger would be bleeding, but Billionaire Ted said no blood so there's no blood. Luger tries to come back but Hayes clocks him with a quick left jab for a 2 count. Another Luger comeback is stopped with an eye poke and Hayes throws him out. Matsuda-san gives Luger a barricade shot. Hayes goes for a bulldog but Luger powers out. Clotheslines. Luger hits one, two, THREE press slams. He calls for the Torture Rack. He gets Hayes up, but Hayes slips out, and hits the DDT! Both guys are down. As they get back up ref Nick Patrick takes a shot and goes down. Luger is down on the mat, Hayes is literally being held up by the ropes. Terry Gordy runs in, pushes Hayes onto the prone Luger, and as Patrick recovers he counts the 3! This is, quite frankly, one of the biggest upsets in the history of the US title, if not all of WCW. The crowd is shocked. The Freebirds get out of town with the belt. Hayes would only hold the title a couple of weeks before dropping it back to Luger at a TV taping to kick off Luger's record 523 day reign and going back into the tag division. It started out pedestrian but got going pretty good down the stretch, and told a solid story. ***

NWA World Television Championship: Sting (c) def The Iron Sheik (w/Rip Morgan) in 2:12- Sheik ambushes Sting from behind with the flagpole and chokes him with a towel. Sting says screw this and starts no selling. Basic lockup leads to a Sheik gutwrench suplex. Sting says screw this again. Corner whip. Stinger Splash! Scorpion Death Lock to break his legs and make him humble! Sheik submits and it's over. Nothing like squashing the opposition's former champion to put your new megastar over. 3/4*

NWA World Heavyweight Championship: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair def Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat (c) in 31:37- The trilogy concludes. Why in the blue hell this match is not main eventing is beyond me. Moronic card structure. I guess it's either because of how huge tag wrestling was in the deep south, or because of the postmatch angle. Neither is a good excuse. Steamboat was forced into one last match with Flair against his wishes after the controversial finish to the Clash 6 match, but it was also agreed that this would be Flair's last shot at the title while Steamboat was champion. In case the match goes to time limit or there's another controversial finish there's three judges at ringside to make a final call, a common NWA/WCW gimmick. Fortunately there's no celebrities this time, just former world champions: Lou Thesz, Pat O'Conner and Terry Funk. I said in the previous trilogy matches Flair had all the women on his entrance, but this one is really ALL the women. The whole isle is lined with them on both sides. As usual Steamboat comes out with his family, this time with Richie dressed as a cowboy and riding a pony. This is already a lot of text so let's do a break before getting into the match for readability sake.

The inital lockup leads to a quick Steamboat armdrag. Flair struts it off. They're still cautious even after wrestling each other so much the last few months. Slap exchange in the corner. WOOOOOO! Like previous matches, there's a pause to stare lasers at each other. Damn they make that work. Flair wants a clean corner break then gets a cheap gut shot in followed by a chop. And the chopping is off on both sides! The chests are welting up already. Steamboat with a backdrop and Flair falls outside. He takes his time getting back in. Long test of strength like wristlock standoff. Steamboat wins and starts working the arm, a major theme for most of this match as he's setting up for the double chicken wing that made Flair submit in the last match. That was an awesome move that Steamboat should have kept after these matches. Someone should even bring it back today. I'm so glad Marty Scurll has made the crossface chicken wing a thing again, another great submission hold. Now if we can only get Daniel Bryan to bring cattle mutilation back before he retires for good. Flair tries to slip out with a drop toe hold, but Steamboat reverses right back in. Flair chops. Steamboat slides under Flair's legs off the ropes, does a double leg takedown, and back to the arm. Flair uses hair to get into the corner then hits another cheap shot on the break. Steamboat chops him across the ring. Flair Flop! Speaking of cattle mutilation, Steamboat flips while in a hammerlock in a very cattle mutilation like move. Flair gets him up into a fireman's carry and places him on the top rope. Steamboat gets away and dropkicks Flair outside. He teases diving off the top to the floor but Tommy Young stops him. Spoilsport. Flair with some mind games slowly getting back in. DEEP armdrag and more arm work. Flair gets a hip toss and gets a bit of a pop for it. Back to the arm. Flair lays in more chops. Steamboat answers. Flair with an eye rake and he throws Steamboat outside, but Steamboat hits the brakes on the apron and jumps right back in. Mounted punches on Flair. Flair Flip, but Flair gets stuck in the tree of woe! Flair uses rope run momentum to send Steamboat over the top and out. Big chop on the floor and Steamboat flips over the guardrail and into the laps of the front row. After some recovery Steamboat chops back. Flair tries to run and slides back in the ring. Steamboat goes up and hits the overhand chop off the top rope. Not the turnbuckle, he launched straight from the rope with one foot. Flair Flop 2! Flair Flip! Steamboat catches him coming across the apron with a chop. Flair dodges a crossbody attempt and Steamboat flies over the top and out again. Flair flips him back in and starts working his usuals. Rolling knee. Back suplex for 2. Double underhook suplex for 2. Steamboat doges a chop, comes off the ropes and goes for a dive but Flair catches him and hot shots him! He covers but Steamboat's arm is under the ropes. Flair rolls outside and drags Steamboat with him. Suplex on the floor! Huge move for the time. Flair tries to suplex him back in, but Steamboat flips out and gets a roll up for a long 2 that the crowd bit on. Flair with a crossbody but they're both near the ropes and both guys tumble over and out! Flair rolls Steamboat back in and goes up top but gets the Flair throw off. Flair begs off. More mounted punches. Big backdrop. Flair begs off again and gets the sneaky kick in. He tries a back suplex but Steamboat flips out and rolls him up for 2. Eye poke. Flair tries another suplex but Steamboat blocks and places Flair on the top turnbuckle. Superplex! Instead of covering Steamboat goes for the double chicken wing but Flair gets in the ropes before it's fully locked in. Steamboat overhand chop from the top rope. He goes up again for the high crossbody finisher but Flair falls into the ropes and Steamboat falls off and all the way to the floor! He clutches his knee. There's blood in the water now. Flair goes right for it. Figure 4! Steamboat fights and fights and fights and finally manages to get to the bottom rope. Flair keeps targeting the knee. Steamboat tries to chop back. Enzuguri! Steamboat picks Flair up for a slam. Flair rolls through it (probably aided by the hurt knee) and gets a semi-small package that gets the pin and the title! Complete perfection. This is my personal favorite of the trilogy, but you can't go wrong with any of them. There were many, many great matches after, but for my money this was the greatest match in all of professional wrestling until Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada stepped into the ring together and reset the bar for a whole new generation with their unbelievable 2017-18 series of matches. ******

But we're not done. Steamboat hands Flair the belt and they shake hands in a sign of respect, signaling a change for Flair. JR gets in the ring for an interview and Flair goes full babyface and puts Steamboat over. Terry Funk interrupts. First he congratulates Flair, but then he says he wants a title shot. Flair laughs him off, saying he's honored but "you've been acting in Hollywood and rubbing shoulders with Sylvester Stallone, we have a top 10 system here and you haven't wrestled in 5 years". Funk accuses Flair of saying he's not good enough. Flair stands his ground. Funk says he was "only kidding", offers a handshake, and sucker punches Flair. Funk goes full Terry Funk batshit crazy and beats the hell out of Flair on the outside. He caps it off by piledriving Flair on the judges' table. This isn't some super thin gimmicked wrestling table, this is a thick SOB. Flair looks like he's dead. And we have a textbook double turn. Flair instantly transitions from one red hot feud to another. You can't do it any better.

NWA World Tag Team Championship: The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering) def The Varsity Club A Squad (c) (w/Kevin Sullivan) by DQ in 6:06- Not only is the world title not main eventing, but not even the world tag titles! Craziness. The Club beat the Roadies for the titles in another of the Clash 6 matches cut from the Network copy, aided by a fast count from newly minted heel Teddy Long. Nikita Koloff comes out of sabbatical to be the special guest referee. The Roadies attack as soon as they hit the ring while pyro is still going off. All four guys brawl. Eventually things settle down with Animal and Williams. Koloff physically stops Williams from punching on a corner break. Sullivan jumps up to argue and Koloff throws him out! Jeez, at least let him throw the challenge flag or something. After another contested corner break Williams and Koloff jaw at each other. Rotunda tries to come off the top. Animal catches and powerslams him. Loud "ref you suck" chant directed at Koloff. Decent back and forth between Hawk and Williams leads to Williams rolling out. Hawk follows and hits a diving clothesline off the apron! He charges for another one but Williams dodges and Hawk clotheslines the post. Williams works the arm on the barricade. Hawk manages to get a tag while the heels are tagging. Animal fights off both guys. Donnybrook! Rotunda flies over the top and out. Double (front/back) clothesline on Williams. Doomsday Device! But before a count the VC B Squad run out, pull Koloff out of the ring and start pummeling him. Huge scrum. Schmozz, if you will. When things settle down the match is awarded to the Road Warriors by DQ. If you gave these teams 15-20 minutes with a clean finish and no BS you probably would have gotten a really good match. A good one tried to break out here, but there was too much overbooking holding it back. More on that and the title situation after the "main event". **1/4

NWA United States Tag Team Championship: The First Family (w/Missy Hyatt) def The Varsity Club B Squad in 6:41- Another rematch from Clash 6. The Club attack before the bell. There's brawling all over as Spivey posts Steiner's shoulder, injuring it. Gilbert and Sullivan settle in inside the ring. The heels work Gilbert over until he literally just stops selling and goes outside to check on Steiner. While Gilbert is dodging Spivey Sullivan attacks Steiner again. Steiner hasn't even gotten his jacket off yet. Sullivan drags Gilbert to the face corner and mocks him for having no one to tag. While Gilbert's being worked over Steiner slowly crawls his way up the apron. Eventually Gilbert sneaks through Sullivan's legs and tags, but Tommy Young was distracted and didn't see it. Steiner says screw it and Steinerlines Spivey with his good arm anyway. Gilbert falls on top and gets the pin. Afterward the heels continue the onslaught until Gilbert saves Hyatt's virtue....well, saves her from getting hit by Sullivan. Way too late for the other one. Bleh. *

After the match JR tells us that due to the attack on a referee the Varsity Club have been stripped of the world tag titles. A major reset and reshuffle was coming to the tag division. New teams like the reformed Fabulous Freebirds, the Steiner Brothers and Doom would take over the top spots while the Varsity Club would slowly dissolve and the Road Warriors would become more a special attraction than title contenders (probably leading to their jump to WWF in late '90). The US tag titles would also be quietly shelved after this show until getting dusted off and put back in service in early 1990.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- This is a tricky one to grade. On one hand you've got the greatest wrestling match ever to date and for many years to come, a solid US title match and Muta and Sting squashes. On the other hand, there's a lot of dead weight in the undercard and a really bad card layout. Still a recommended show, though.
OVERALL SHOW GRADE: A-/B+

WrestleMania VII

Legacy Review

WrestleMania VII

March 24, 1991 from the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena

Commentary: Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan, except the two matches Heenan manages (this is Heenan's last show as a manager)

We're in the immediate post-Gulf War period and the show's theme is "Stars and Stripes Forever". It was originally supposed to be at the LA Coliseum but, depending on who you believe, they either didn't sell enough tickets or had major security problems. Probably both. Regardless, the Sports Arena is not a bad venue, if a bit smallish for WM, and the crowd is red hot all night long.

The Rockers def Haku & The Barbarian (w/Bobby Heenan) in 10:33- Hacksaw Jim Duggan is on commentary for Heenan. The Rockers were supposed to come into this show as tag champs but the infamous broken rope match killed it. Shawn and Haku start. Shawn tries to juke but Haku gets him with a kick. He catches Shawn in a bear hug and dumps him in the corner. Shawn turns the jets on and gets Haku down with a shoulder tackle. The Rockers do their double elbow double team, but Barbarian comes in and murders them both with clotheslines. The Rockers duck a second one, and give Barbarian a superkick party. The heels regroup. Reset with Janetty and Barbarian. Janetty gets up on Barbarian's shoulders, then Shawn comes in and dropkicks Barbarian in the back to send Janetty flipping over him! After a tag Haku levels Janetty with a .8 Flair chop. Janetty mounts up to try the same spot as before, but the ref stops Shawn coming in and Barbarian drapes Janetty throat first over the top rope in a sick looking spot. Janetty goes face in peril. Double cross body with Haku! But Haku keeps him from tagging. Janetty is in mega selling mode. He gets a boot up in the corner on Barbarian, but tries a dive off the second rope and Barbarian catches him and twists it into a powerslam! Barbarian goes for a headbutt of the top rope, but Janetty dodges and gets the hot tag! Shawn starts the mounted punches on Haku, then sees Barbarian coming and twists into a reverse crossbody. Donnybrook! Janetty dropkicks Barbarian out of the ring. The Rockers hit Haku with the dropkick/crossbody combo off the top ropes for the 3! Absolutely tremendous speed vs power tag wrestling. This is one of the best openers, and one of the most underrated matches in Wrestlemania history. It's also the Rockers' last major match before their big breakup angle in the fall. ***3/4

The Texas Tornado def Dino Bravo (w/Jimmy Hart) in 3:11- Tornado is coming off an IC title run the second half of '90 but the fuel in his push tank was just about empty. Bravo with the Suzuki-Gun as Tornado's getting in. He clotheslines Tornado over the top and out while he still has his robe on. Back in Tornado ducks a punch, hits an atomic drop and a clothesline. Bravo blocks the claw and hits an ugly inverted atomic drop. Side suplex! But Tornado kicks out! He catches Bravo off the 2nd rope with the claw. The discus punch finishes it. They got a lot of back and forth in for the time they got and kept the pace up. *

The British Bulldog def The Warlord (w/Slick) in 8:15- Simple setup for this match: Warlord said no one could break his full nelson. Bulldog said he could. Warlord gets the early edge. Shoulderblock standoff. Bulldog turns on the jets and gets Warlord down and out of the ring. Bulldog gets a crucifix but Warlord drops him. Bear hug. Bulldog powers out quickly. Warlord counters a dive and clotheslines Bulldog across the top rope. Forearm tradeoff. Warlord with a scoop belly to belly! Bulldog comes back but takes forever in chopping Warlord down. He goes for a piledriver, Warlord counters it, Bulldog counters the counter into a sunset flip, Warlord counters the counter of the counter by getting his knees down, but makes the mistake of posing so Bulldog get his legs up to counter all the previous counters for 2. Warlord gets a boot up in the corner. Full nelson! He doesn't lock it in all the way and Bulldog gets out. A shocked Warlord scoops him up for a powerslam, but Bulldog slips out and reverses it, nails his powerslam, and it's over. This is quite an underrated power match. Not really good, but nowhere near as bad as its reputation. Easily Warlord's best match, and the first hint in WWF that Bulldog might end up a pretty good singles wrestler. **1/2

WWF Tag Team Championship: The Nasty Boys (w/Jimmy Hart) def The Hart Foundation (c) in 12:10- The Nastys jumped over from WCW in December of '90 and for some reason Vince took an instant shine to them. They still had a long way to go, judging by the completely apathetic crowd reaction on their entrance. The Nastys got this title shot by winning a battle royale on weekly TV. Bret and Saggs start. Saggs gets a cheap shot in on a corner break, but it's all Bret after that. Bret even fights off both heels when Knobbs runs in. Knobbs wants Anvil. Anvil no sells some shots in the corner and shoulderblocks Knobbs out of the ring. Knobbs manages to power Anvil into the heel corner, but Anvil counters a backdrop and tags. Bret schools Saggs again, until another Knobbs run in ends with Bret taking a shot in the back of the head and going FIP. The match....slowwwwwwwwwwwwwws.......down. Bret tries his best but it's almost nothing but rest holds from the Nasys. Saggs gets a neckbreaker for 2. Eventually Bret gets a neckbreaker of his own but Knobbs cuts the tag off. After more resting Bret dodges a double team and gets to the corner but Hebner doesn't see the tag. While Anvil and Hebner argue the Nastys get the megaphone, but Knobbs nails Saggs with it and Bret finally gets the real tag. Anvil slams Knobbs into Saggs. Donnybrook! The Nastys crash into each other. Hart Attack on Knobbs! But Hebner for some reason decides to get Bret out instead of counting, allowing Hart to get his motorcycle helmet in. Saggs wallops Anvil with it, drapes Knobbs over, and we have a major upset and new champions. The crowd is in stunned silence. Jimmy Hart's celebration is amazing. This was pretty good when the Harts were in control, less so when the Nastys were (though to be fair the Nastys did sell well for the Harts). The whole reason for the title change was Bret's long-delayed singles push was finally about to begin for real. **1/4 

Blindfold Match: Jake "The Snake" Roberts def "The Model" Rick Martel in 8:34- Back in the fall before Survivor Series Martel attacked Roberts with his Arrogance cologne and "blinded" him in one eye. What better way to get revenge on a guy that half blinded you than challenging him to a match where you're both blinded! Right? This is a weird one. Lots of fumbling around and Roberts using the crowd (who are into the whole thing) to try to find Martel. Silly spot where Martel whips Roberts then tries for a blind backdrop but Roberts is a mile away. They bump butts in the middle of the ring and wildly charge, missing each other. Martel gets a slam and goes for an elbow but again misses wildly. Roberts claps to try to lure Martel in, but ends up falling outside after they collide. Martel follows, manages to get a chair, pokes in the air a bit, then backs into the post, thinks it's Roberts, and hits it with the chair. Back in, Martel manages a backbreaker and puts the Boston Crab on but Roberts powers out. Next contact results in a DDT outta nowhere, and we're done. An interesting experiment, and one that's probably for the best it hasn't been repeated. **

The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) def "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka in 4:21- The streak begins! Taker gets a bit of a pop on his intro. He was getting over in a hurry and (likely despite plans) would be a face by this time next year. Long staredown. Taker ambushes Snuka when his back is turned and goes through his (at the time) limited offense. As Taker himself said in his interview with Austin, his job wasn't to have 4+ star matches, it was to get the character over. And he did. He does whip out the flying clothesline. Big suplex from the apron back into the ring. Taker misses an elbow and Snuka gets some token offense in, all no sold. Taker catches Snuka off the top rope, hits the Tombstone, and it's over. 1-0. There looked to be a lot of communication issues in this match as Taker had to reposition or reset Snuka on several occasions, including the finish. *1/4

Career Ending Match: The Ultimate Warrior def "Macho King" Randy Savage (w/Sensational Queen Sherri) in 20:47- Savage made repeated demands of Warrior for a title shot and all were rebuffed, even when Savage had Sherri offer her body up on a platter, so Savage cost Warrior the title at the Rumble. An enraged Warrior demanded this stipulation. Before the match Heenan spots Elizabeth in the crowd. For the first and only time ever to sell the stakes, Warrior WALKS to the ring. Heenan: "Is that THE Ultimate Warrior? Then why isn't he running 150 miles an hour like that insane fool usually does?" Warrior's also taken some ring gear lessons from his old rival Rick Rude: drawings of him and Savage are on both his coat and kneepads, and the back of his trunks say "It means much more than this" with a picture of the WWF title belt. Cautious start. Between the wrestlers' work and commentary I've never seen a match of this type with the stakes sold so well as this one is. Savage gets an advantage but bounces off a shoulderblock. Sherri tries to distract Warrior, but he quickly recovers and throws Savage around like a rag doll. He throws Savage into Sherri! Warrior catches Savage coming off the top rope....and puts him right back down on his feet then slaps him. Mind games! Savage does his classic heel bit of throwing a chair in the ring then ambushing off the distraction, but Warrior was ready for it. Savage dodges a dive in the corner and Warrior flies over the turnbuckles and out. Savage double ax handle off the top to the floor. Sherri gets her shots in. Warrior counters a neckbreaker into a backslide for 2. Another Sherri distraction, and this time Warrior catches Savage coming in. Savage dodges a flying tackle. Double clothesline! Warrior gets a small package but Sherri has Hebner distracted, and Savage gets out at 2. Savage with a high knee, and Warrior falls on top of Hebner. With the ref down Sherri comes off the top rope with the Shoe of Extreme Pointiness +2 but Warrior dodges and Savage gets it. But there's no ref. Warrior decides to chase Sherri instead. Dude, you had your chance, she offered herself willingly. Savage takes advantage and gets a roll up for 2. Savage softens up Warrior a little more and then goes into full murder death kill mode. Savage elbow off the top! Two elbows! Three elbows! FOUR elbows! FIVE ELBOWS! Warrior's chest must be a mass of goo. BUT HE BARELY KICKS OUT! Warrior gets to the ropes and Warriors up. Gorilla press! Big splash! SAVAGE KICKS OUT! We're used to guys kicking out of finishers all the time nowadays, but this was unprecedented back then. Warrior starts to talk to his "gods", wondering if he should walk away (aided by a fantastic job from Monsoon on commentary to explain what's happening). He starts to walk and Savage ambushes him. He goes for the double ax handle off the top to the floor again, but Warrior dodges and he eats guardrail. Warrior: "NOW I KNOW!" Warrior hits, one, two, THREE flying tackles, with Savage flying out of the ring on each one. He drags Savage's carcass to the middle of the ring and pins him with one foot. What a match. And a bit ironic, as this would actually be Warrior's peak as a main event player. His career was almost all downhill from here, while Savage would win the WWF title again in another classic with Ric Flair at WM 8, one of my favorite matches of all time. ****1/2

But it's not over. After the match, Sherri goes nuts on Savage for losing. Elizabeth comes out of the crowd to save him and they reunite in one of the most classic Wrestlemania moments of all time. Not a dry eye in the house. Except Heenan, of course.

Intermission time in the arena means promo time on TV. Still haven't found that segment from the original broadcast where Vince and the Bushwackers make fun of NFL instant replay. I remember it being funny in a cheesy way.

Genichiro Tenryu & Koji Kitao def Demolition (w/Mr. Fuji) in 4:44- This is the very short lived Smash and Crush version of Demolition following Ax's departure from WWF. They've even lost the awesome Rick Derringer theme and have generic heel music instead. Kitao was a former sumo turned pro wrestler, Tenryu is a future All Japan Triple Crown and IWGP Heavyweight champion. This match is part of WWF's alliance with the short lived SWS promotion in Japan. They even ran a few joint shows in the Tokyo Dome. The Demos pull the Suzuki-Gun attack before the bell. Kitao comes back on Crush and no sells shots from Smash. Fuji gets a cane shot in on him. Kitao is face in peril for a while, and his inexperience shows with some very mediocre selling. Finally he gets a clothesline out of the corner and tags. Tenryu gets a good run until he misses a back elbow off the top rope. Kitao stops the Decapitation Device and pushes Crush off the top rope to the floor. An enzuguri and power bomb from Tenryu finish it. This was Demolition's last match before being disbanded. Smash would take on the infamous Repo Man gimmick, while Crush would take some repackaging time off and come back as a babyface Hawaiian surfer dude. 3/4*

WWF Intercontinental Championship: The Big Boss Ban def Mr. Perfect (c) (w/Bobby Heenan) by DQ in 10:46- Lord Alfred Hayes is replacing Heenan on commentary. This all started with Heenan insulting Boss Man's momma, and Boss Man working his way through the Heenan Family (or what was left of it at this point, with Heenan almost done with managing) to get revenge. Perfect is the last one left. Perfect throws his towel at Boss Man. Boss Man wipes his ass with it and throws it back. Boss Man spits. Perfect slaps, and bails. Boss Man follows and slaps him back, with Perfect doing a 360 sell on the floor. Back in he swings Perfect around by his hair. Good speed sequence where Boss Man keeps up with Perfect every step of the way. Classic Perfect double bump off the turnbuckle. Boss Mann pulls out a belt and whips Perfect with it right in front of the ref. Perfect gets a hold of it, wraps it around his fist, and gives Boss Man a gut punch with it. Abdominal stretch. Heenan tries to get the timekeeper to ring the bell. Neck snap. Perfect goes for the Perfectplex but Boss Man counters it into a small package for 2. REVERSE neck snap! That was sick looking. Perfect tries a dive off the top but Boss Man gets his boot up. Perfect 360 sells a buckle shot. Boss Man pulls Perfect's crotch into the post. A Boss Man uppercut in the corner sends Perfect flying 360 degrees over the top and out. Boss Man goes after Heenan. Perfect pushes him into the stairs. Heenan kicks Boss Man while he's down. Andre the Giant makes his way to ringside. Perfect takes the top turnbuckle pad off and it looks like rams Boss Man into it but the cameras are all on Andre. Andre has the IC title belt. Perfect tries to get it, Andre whacks him in the head with it. Boss Man slowly crawls over and covers Perfect but it's just a long 2 count. Haku and the Barbarian run in for the blatant DQ. Perfect does a 360 sell of an Andre punch on the floor. Boss Man and Andre fight off the heels. They were working their way to a really good match, but once Andre came out it was all about him. Plus the cheap DQ finish, which I understand they didn't want to take the belt off Perfect yet (right call), and Boss Man couldn't lose with the way the feud was set up. **3/4

Earthquake (w/Jimmy Hart) def Greg "The Hammer" Valentine in 3:14- Quake was wallowing in midcard hell following his feud with Hogan while Valentine was in full JTTS mode by this point. Quake hits the powerslam early, that's usually the setup for the Earthquake splash. Valentine dodges a corner charge and lays in with chops and elbows. Quake won't go down. Finally after an elbow off the 2nd rope he does. Valentine tries to put on the figure four but Hart distracts him. Quake gets him from behind. The big elbow drop is followed by the Earthquake splash and the 3. Quake would move into a new program with Jake Roberts that started when he squashed and killed Damien. 1/2*

The Legion of Doom def Power & Glory (w/Slick) in :59- This came out of the #1 contender's battle royale, where LOD eliminated P&G, then P&G pulled LOD out and gave the Nasty Boys the win, so LOD are super pissed off here. More than usual. You wouldn't like them when they're angry. P&G try to ambush at the start. Hawk counters with a double clothesline. All four guys are fighting. Animal catches Roma coming off the top rope and turns it into a powerslam. LOD hits the Decapitation Device and good night. Like with the Harts at WM 6, a quick squash to establish the new #1 contenders/next champions. LOD had only been in WWF a few months but were already super duper mega over. NR

Virgil (w/Roddy Piper) def "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase by countout in 7:41- Virgil ended years of servitude to DiBiase by turning on him at the Rumble, morally assisted by Piper. Piper's on a crutch after a motorcycle accident (which I can never remember if it was real or storyline). Virgil spends most of the match fighting as a boxer rather than a wrestler, bouncing around and sticking and moving. DiBiase jaws with Piper. Virgil catches him from behind and cleans his clock with punches. DiBiase rolls out several times to regroup. He and Piper get arguing on the outside. Virgil flips him back in, then clotheslines him right back out. DiBiase makes the ref tell Virgil to open up his fists. Virgil then wins a basic wrestling sequence and DiBiase is really hot. DiBiase gets a drop toe hold and slams Virgil's face into the mat, finally getting some control. A piledriver gets 2. DiBiase throws Virgil out in front of Piper, then pushes Piper. In retaliation Piper uses his crutch to pull the top rope down on him. DiBiase clocks Piper but doesn't get back in before the 10 and is counted out. DiBiase goes nuts on Virgil, slapping on the Million Dollar Dream. Piper hits him in the back with his crutch to break it up. Sensational Sherri runs into the ring and grabs the crutch. DiBiase uses the distraction to take down Piper and he and Sherri work on Piper's injured knee. After chasing the heels off Virgil tells Piper to use the power of positivity to stand back up. Their rematch at Summerslam is much better. **

The Mountie (w/Jimmy Hart) def Tito Santana in 1:21- A basic start leads to Santana nailing Mountie with the flying gordita while Mountie was in the middle of a leapfrog, but Mountie falls out of the ring. He and Hart take a double noggin knocker. While Santana is fighting to get him back in Hart slips Mountie the cattle prod, Santana takes it in the gut, and it's done. This feels like it was cut down due to the show running long. 1/4*

With Wrestlemania in LA the guest celebrities for the main event are back. Alex Trebek is the guest ring announcer, Marla Maples is the guest timekeeper, and Regis Philbin jumps into commentary.

WWF Championship: Hulk Hogan def Sgt. Slaughter (c) (w/General Adnan) in 20:26- And here we have one of the most controversial feuds in WWF history: American turncoat and Iraqi sympathizer Sgt. Slaughter vs All-American Hulk Hogan. An interesting twist in this tale is how Slaughter became one of the most hardcore wrestlers ever seen in WWF up to this point. Hardcore for 1991 anyway. That played huge in this match. All night long commentary had been floating the prospect of Slaughter deliberately getting DQ'd or counted out to keep the title, and Slaughter even mentions it in his prematch promo. Hogan chases Slaughter around the ring while he's still got the belt and his entrance gear on. After Slaughter slowly gets ready there's a very cautious start. Long lockup sequence where Hogan pushes Hebner out of the way twice and finally throws Slaughter across the ring. Slaughter takes a huge bump off a shoulderblock and ends up outside. Hogan chases. Adnan hits Hogan in the back, Hogan no sells. Slaughter grabs a chair and hits Hogan with it. Another no sell. Slaughter takes a page out of the Flair playbook by begging off, then taking control with an eye poke. After a bit of a beating Hogan rolls away from an elbow and pops back up. Hogan beats Slaughter from pillar to post for America. Literally to post, as Slaughter takes several headfirst shots into the top turnbuckle and even ring post. But even after all that he slips out at 2 on a cover. Hogan goes up to the second rope. Adnan grabs his foot, but Hogan shoos him away because he's a spot too early. Slaughter catches Hogan coming off but Hogan no sells it and rakes the eyes. Hogan goes all the way up to the top, but now it's time for Adnan's interference. He grabs Hogan's boot and Slaughter gives him the Flair throw. Slaughter clotheslines him out and posts him. Chairshot. Slaughter then takes a TV cable and chokes Hogan with it. Back in Slaughter works the back, then hooks in a Boston Crab. They're right next to the ropes, but stubborn Hogan tries to power out then finally grabs a rope to get out. Slaughter's got Hogan down for a pin but Adnan's distracting Hebner! That's the kind of efficiency that kept the Iraqi army toe to toe with the US. Twice. I wonder if Adnan knew Baghdad Bob? Slaughter goes out to get another chair and nails Hogan in the face with it. Hogan clearly and obviously blades on camera. But he does a good job, and starts bleeding as much as you'll ever see in a pre-Attitude Era WWF match. Camel clutch! Hogan powers out, but Slaughter uses the position to push Hogan face first into the buckles. He gets the Iraqi flag, drapes it over Hogan, and covers for the pin. Hogan Hulks Up, tears the flag up, and it's 3 punches/big boot/legdrop/good night. I know this match generally doesn't get well rated, but I've always liked it. Slaughter was a great bumper, Hogan was motivated, the layout was good, and the added hardcore touches and blood were something you rarely saw in this WWF era. ***

Overall show thoughts: This is still one of my personal favorite Wrestlemanias (a bit nostalgia fueled as this was also my first real exposure to wrestling) and it still stands up today. Is the card to big? Sure. But it's well paced, with the more important matches sprinkled around the squashes in a way that makes sense, and most of the top matches deliver to one degree or another. It was also the closing of an era in a lot of ways, the last WM where Hulkamania was really still HULKAMANIA. By the time 8 rolled around the Hogan act had really started to get stale, and the general downturn in business and thinner roster would start to take its toll for a few years.
OVERALL GRADE: B+