Off Topic- Favorite Indie Games

Johnny Legacy's Off Topic Deep Thoughts

My Favorite Indie Games

Yes, yes, I know. Not wrestling. That's why it's called OFF TOPIC (thanks to Cody Kahne for the title idea). Gaming is another passion of mine, and I've been on the indie game train pretty much since it first left the station. This is an article I've been wanting to write for a long time, and now I have the platform, here it is. If people enjoy it I might sprinkle some more gaming thoughts in between the classic wrestling reviews. So here it is, my favorite games from the little guys, indexed into four distinct game styles.

1. Classic-Style Point and Click Adventure Games

• The Entire Wadjet Eye Games catalogue (2006-present)- If, like me, you grew up playing the point and click classics in the '90s (my teenage years), especially Lucasarts, it doesn't get any better than this. Wadjet Eye, led by Dave Gilbert, both develops games in-house and publishes outside titles, and for my money they might be the best collection of adventure games under one company's banner ever made. At least the best since the aforementioned Lucasarts classics.
• Dreamfall Chapters (episodic 2014-2017)- The sequel to 2006's Dreamfall: The Longest Journey, which was itself the sequel to what, even more than Monkey Island, is probably my single favorite point and click game of all time, 1999's The Longest Journey, Chapters is a satisfying conclusion to the saga. It's also quite graphically ambitious for a game developed by a small studio, almost rivaling some AAA games in visual quality. Though it does bring a good amount of closure, I would still really like the proposed The Longest Journey Home to be made and more closure given to April Ryan's story. Hell, I just want more from that game universe period.
• To the Moon series (To the Moon/Sigmund Corp Holiday Specials 1 & 2/A Bird Story/Finding Paradise, 2011-present)- Kind of borderline in the point and click category as there's not much in the way of gameplay in these games, but that doesn't matter when you have this much wit, character richness and warmth shining through. Eva and Neil are one of the best double acts in gaming history, and subsequent games in the series have also fleshed out other entertaining employees of Sigmund as well as included some very interesting big picture worldbuilding. The next game in the series, Imposter Factory, is currently in development.
• Thimbleweed Park (2017)- The triumphant return of Ron Gilbert to the genre that made his name. There's even on screen verbs! This is a game dripping with creativity and charm, as well as some very devious old school puzzles. The final act is a total mindfuck in the vein of cerebral sci-fi films of the '60s and '70s and I will under no circumstances spoil any of it here. You have to play it.
• Telltale's Golden Years (all 3 seasons of Sam & Max, Tales of Monkey Island, Back to the Future, 2006-2011)- I might be stretching the definition of indie a bit, but in their early years Telltale was indie before there was really a such thing as indie games. Not to mention they were at the forefront of bringing back the point and click genre. The first season of Sam & Max is a little up and down from a gameplay perspective, but they get better as they go on and the character interaction is on point from the start. They're the wittiest games of all time, in my opinion. Tales is a worthy successor to one of the most legendary series in gaming and features the entire original voice cast. Back to the Future is a bit rougher gameplay wise, but the story (assisted by original movie writer Bob Gale) is worthy of a Back to the Future IV and several actors from the films return.

2. First Person Adventures/"Walking Simulators"

• Draugen (2019)- A new IP from Longest Journey saga creators Ragnar Tornquist and Red Thread Games, a peaceful exploration of a beautiful Norwegian village quickly turns into a surprisingly dark psychological horror. My biggest complaint is it's too short.
  
• Everybody's Gone to the Rapture (2015)- This one also pegs the creepy atmosphere meter, wandering around abandoned English villages with radios still playing emergency broadcasts, all leading to a very ambiguous ending.
  
• Firewatch (2016)- An interesting little personal narrative told well and in a unique way, framed by some absolutely gorgeous wandering scenery.
  
• Obduction (2016)- It's not really fair to put this in with the "walking simulators" (a term I generally dislike anyway). It's a Myst-style first person adventure from Cyan, the people who made....Myst. And most of the games in the Myst series, another series I played a ton of in the '90s and aughts. This is their first game since Myst ended with Myst V in 2005 and is a completely new universe not connected to Myst's story, but gameplay wise it's a worthy spiritual successor. With just as evil puzzles. Confession: I've never gotten through a Myst game without a walkthrough. But it's all about the story anyway, right?
  

3. Retro-Style 2D Action Platformers

• Shovel Knight (2015)- A loving tribute to the 8-bit action platformers of old, just as good and just as hard. Hard, but also generous, in that checkpoints are frequent and there are no lives so you never get a game over, just unlimited attempts to progress from the last checkpoint. During the late part of the game I could spend 30-45 minutes and many deaths in between checkpoints trying to crawl along. Hard, but very, very fair, and one my most satisfying game completions.
  
• Rogue Legacy (2013)- Another classic style platformer with tight and fun but difficult gameplay (expect to die a lot), enhanced greatly by the RPG and randomization elements, and surprisingly tricky big picture strategic decisions. Do I lock this version of the castle down and accept reduced gold in order to see if there's a good item in one of those chests or to take another stab at a boss? According to Steam I pumped nearly 40 hours into this game the first year or so I had it, about the equivalent of a full Final Fantasy game, while getting all the way up to about New Game +5, where the whole castle is filled with minibosses. And there's a sequel coming!
  
• Dust: An Elysian Tail (2013)- This one's a bit more modern than others in this section, with a wonderful cartoony art style and satisfying "kill a bunch of enemies at once" gameplay. One little niggle is that it's a bit of an easy game, certainly compared to the others in this section.
  
• Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures (2013)- I've been an AVGN fan since he was only up to about episode 30 or 35. I've even referenced him in a couple of reviews. This is another 8-bit style game, and you wanna talk about hard? This mother frakker is HARD. I haven't poured a ton of time into it, but off and on over the years I've only cleared one level so far. ONE. There's also a sequel I need to get.

4. Unique Experiences

• The Stanley Parable (2013)- I love love love this game. Almost creepily. It's full of dry British wit, surrealism, and perfect poking at fun video game tropes. You can play through the whole thing and get all the endings in a couple of hours, but there's more crammed into those two hours than a lot of games get in ten. My suggestion for new players: follow the narrator and do the "proper" story first before wandering off the beaten path. I think it's more satisfying that way. Also, make sure to stand in the broom cupboard. And there's a new version with more endings coming!
  
• Tacoma (2017)- Another "favorite among my favorites". Tacoma features an atmospheric setting, deep characters, and a wonderful gameplay mechanic that lets you discover the story, as well as deeper character moments, through found footage and archived chats/emails at your own pace. The only little criticism I have is that, unlike most modern games, the story is locked in and doesn't have options for player's choice. A very minor complaint when everything is this good. Fullbright's other game, Gone Home, isn't on my list but it's still worth checking out. I really like how their games respect the player's intelligence and let you put the pieces of the story together yourself rather than banging you over the head with exposition.
  
• Papers, Please (2013)- Who says tedious work has to be, well, tedious? This was one of the first big breakout indie hits and showed what kind of quirky little game experiences were possible from small developers. And as a child of the '80s I'm always a sucker for takes on Soviet/Eastern European style communism.
  
• Orwell (2016)- Now this game will make you feel just plain dirty. As the name implies, this is a biting critique on overpowered government in the form of the surveillance state. The gameplay is simple and (almost too) addictive, and succeeds in making you feel like you're messing with the lives of real people. The sequel, Ignorance is Strength, is also worth playing though it's not as good (the characters are, frankly, more despicable and you don't mind messing with them as much, and it feels less real and more like a game).
  
• The Beginner's Guide (2015)- Another game from Stanley Parable creator Davey Wreden, this is another one that I tend to play through in one sitting and get done in less than two hours, but it's a packed two hours. This is one you should really go into cold, anything I might say would, in my opinion, spoil the experience.
  
• Telltale's Poker Night at the Inventory 2 (2013)- Yeah, it's just poker. But it's poker with Ash Williams (sadly not played by Bruce Campbell), Brock Samson from The Venture Bros., Claptrap from Borderlands, and Sam & Max (Sam plays and Max provides his usual acerbic color commentary) with Reginald van Winslow from Tales of Monkey Island hosting and f'n GLaDOS from f'n Portal dealing. Poker has never been this much fun. My favorite is after getting all the unlockable collectables to turn on the whole Aperture Science set and let GLaDOS feel right at home.
  
• Return of the Obra Dinn (2018)- Another game from Papers, Please developer Lucas Pope. This is a very interesting mystery, trying to piece together the fates of everyone aboard an early 19th century East India Company ship using a supernatural equivalent of found footage. It also features the most retro art style I've seen in a game yet, going back to classic two tone PCs from the early '80s, with a choice of colors.

Starrcade '89

Legacy Review

Starrcade '89

December 13, 1989 from the company's new home arena under the Turner regime, The Omni in Atlanta

Commentary: Jim Ross with either Terry Funk (singles matches) or Jim Cornette (tag matches)

This year's tagline is "Future Shock", and the shock is this isn't a normal Starrcade or PPV. Instead of a regular card, this show features an "Ironman Tournament" for both the singles and tag divisions. Think of it as a one night G1 with small blocks of four that wrestle each other round robin style, and a unique points system: 20 points for a pin or submission win, 15 points for a countout win, 10 points for a DQ win, 5 points each for a draw (15 minute time limit). Every match on the show is a tournament match. Your participants are:

Singles: NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair, NWA United States Heavyweight Champion Lex Luger, NWA World Television Champion The Great Muta, and Sting

Tag Team: NWA World Tag Team Champions The Steiner Brothers, The Road Warriors, The New Wild Samoans, and Doom

The stage looks like it walked off the Top of the Pops set. There's a very forced and cheesy intro with the tag teams scattered dramatically all over the stage. The Samoans are a last second replacement for the Skyscrapers due to a Sid Vicious injury (supposedly a punctured lung suffered in their Clash IX match with the Steiners).

The Steiner Brothers def Doom (w/Woman and Nitron) by countout in 12:24- Nitron is Tyler Mane, who never did much in wrestling and ended up becoming an actor. We've got another "late arriving crowd" here. It is Atlanta. Even during their '90s dominance no one showed up to a Braves home game until the 4th inning. Scott and Simmons start. Scott gets a powerslam for 2. Very slow pace. Simmons gets a jawbreaker on Rick to get out of a hammerlock. Rick counters with a belly to belly. Jim Cornette goes full King of the Gimmick Table Rocky Romero and says the crowd are all at the Midnight Express merch stand. Reed dodges a Scott clothesline and he goes over and out. Nitron beats Scott down. Scott goes face in peril. Hope small package for 2 in between some Doom near falls. As usual Rick can't stop himself from running in. Scott counters a suplex by twisting it into a cover but the ref is distracted. A Scott belly to belly at the 3 minutes left call leads to the hot tag. Steinerlines for everyone! And....stalling. Doom double teams. As Rick runs the ropes Nitron trips him. All 4 guys brawl on the floor. Rick just gets back in before the 10 count and Doom is counted out. Messy finish. Underwhelming match, as neither teams was interested in getting out of 2nd gear with lots more work to be done tonight. The Steiners take an early 15 points. *1/2

Lex Luger def Sting in 11:31- Luger jaws with the crowd and threatens to take a walk. Sting chases him down and brings him back. It's all Sting to start. Luger dodges a Sting dive and he goes over the top, but grabs the rope, lands on the apron, and clotheslines Luger! Nice. Slingshot splash for 2. Luger tumbles through the ropes and out. Great sequence from Sting. Luger eats guardrail and gets wobblelegged. Sting with a crossbody off the top for 2. Sting locks in an armbar in the match's only pause so far. Luger tries an inverted atomic drop. Sting blocks it, and while Luger's celebrating hits him with a clothesline. Sting springboard crossbody off the second rope for 2. He tries to go off the top again, but Luger catches him and gets the inverted atomic drop. And another one. Gutbuster. Luger works the midsection and plays to the crowd. He's settled very nicely into his heel role after the recent turn, and the crowd hates him. Luger double ax handle off the 2nd rope for 2. Powerslam. Luger goes for the Torture Rack but Sting slips out and starts no selling. Full Sting comeback at the 2 minute call. At one minute left Luger rolls out to play for the draw. Both guys get back up on the apron. Both fall over the top rope, but Luger lands on top, grabs the rope for leverage and gets the 3 as Sting fights to get out (and honestly had both shoulders up at some point). Another messy finish. But, even though I've seen other reviewers give this low ratings, I didn't hate this. Both guys went for it and didn't worry about having something left for later. 20 points and the early lead for Luger. **1/2

The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering) def Doom (w/Woman and Nitron) in 8:31- Doom's already out again. No time to rest. Cornette to JR: "Is that scorecard girl your daughter? You called her baby." Frakking hell, that was Worst Lines of Jerry Lawler bad. If he starts screaming about puppies I'm turning the show off. Animal and Reed start. Lots of power shoulderblock standoffs. Hawk posts his shoulder and goes FIP. Doom rolls through power moves for near falls with a bit of heel 101 to keep Hawk in. After the 5 minutes left call (the clock they're using tonight is....variable) Hawk gets the hot tag. Donnybrook. Reed tries to piledrive Animal. Hawk gets the clothesline off the top rope and Animal gets the win. Doom falls to 0-2 while the Roadies take the lead over the Steiners 20-15 in the second quarter. *1/4

Oh hell, Norman is out here dressed as Santa Claus. Just...don't ask. I've not had to mention him yet since he'd only been on Clashes up to this point, but he's about to start getting PPV paydays so it's coming. Well, so are the Clashes.

Ric Flair (w/Arn and Ole Anderson) def The Great Muta (w/Gary Hart) in 1:55- Flair is in the rarely seen pink gear tonight. It's a very short match so we get a very fast start. Muta blocks a hiptoss and lays in some punches. Handspring elbow. Reverse Flair Flop! Here come the chops. Flair gets the kneebreaker and hooks in the figure four. Hart calls down a couple of goons from the J-Tex Corporation to help but the Andersons stop them before they get to the ring. Muta with a backbreaker. He goes for the Mutasault but Flair gets his knees up, rolls him into a Paul Smackage, and it's done. Well, that's one way to end Muta's undefeated streak. It's like they suddenly realized he was about to go back to Japan. Flair ties Luger up top at 20. *1/2

The Steiner Brothers def The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering) in 7:27- In other circumstances this would be a potential show stealer. Sadly, it's also the only major show that these teams would cross paths. Code of Honor handshakes and high fives at the start. Hawk gets an enzuguri on Scott. Scott mat wrestles out. Rick does a 360 sell of a Hawk clothesline! Rick counters with a huge Steinerline on Animal. Rick reverses and hits Animal with a belly to belly. Hawk makes the save. Hawk press slam on Scott. Now Rick makes the save and Hawk looks annoyed. Scott hits Hawk with a belly to belly off the second rope and Hawk almost lands on his head. He immediately tags out but shakes it off and keeps going. The doctor even sneaks in barely in frame to ask if he's OK. Rick saves a couple more pin attempts and Hawk finally has enough, running in illegally and attacking, triggering your mandatory end match donnybrook. Animal gets an assisted German suplex on Scott. All four shoulders are down, Scott gets one up just before 3 to win. Decent with the potential for so much more. I like they tried to get a little story in there instead of just having a Generic Tournament Match. The Steiners take back the tag block lead 35-20. **1/2

Sting def The Great Muta (w/Gary Hart) in 8:41- Muta blows off some green mist steam before we get going. Full nelson tradeoff (and just when you think that's an antiquated moved that's dead forever, it gets brought back again, thanks Bobby Lashley). Mule kick from Muta on a corner break. They turn it up with a nice speed sequence. Sting goes for the Scorpion Death Lock but Muta gets to the ropes and powders. Back in Muta takes over with green mist covered fingers eye rakes. Muta locks in CATTLE MUTILATION! CATTLE F'N MUTILATION! (I'm a massive old school Bryan Danielson fan, this excites me) Sting powers and flips out of it. Press slam for 2. Muta hits the backbreaker and goes for the Mutasault. Sting rolls and Muta lands on his feet and nails him with a roundhouse kick. Muta goes up top again, but Sting dropkicks him while on the top rope, goes up, hits a superplex, and that gets the 3. Good, but not their GAB '89 match good. Sting ties Flair and Luger at 20. ***

The New Wild Samoans (w/The Big Kahuna) def Doom (w/Woman and Nitron) in 8:22- We've had face vs face, now it's heel vs heel. Long Fatu/Simmons lockup. Fatu hits a running powerslam. Reed barely sells it. A headbutt staggers both guys and both tag out. Savage no sells a Simmons powerslam and headbutt. Hard Samoan skulls. Doom takes over with a blind tag. Savage goes in peril for a long stretch. The Samoans are nominal faces here and it doesn't really work. Savage gets a sunset flip for 2 but then Doom uses ref distraction to double team. Savage dodges a dive off the second rope and tags. Donnybrook. Savage and Reed collide and collapse. But Savage collapses in the ropes. Humperdink pushes him over onto Reed and he gets the pin. All the no sells the first part of the match were mildly amusing but that's about it. Doom ends the night 0-3 and Woman looks extremely displeased (I'd say murderous, but, well, we know what ends up happening to her and I'm not going there). Soon after this she would leave Doom for the reformed Four Horsemen. Doom would pick up Teddy Long, lose the masks, and quickly become much more interesting. And just plain better. The Samoans are on the board with 20. 1/2*

Ric Flair and Lex Luger go to a 15:00(ish) time limit draw- The clocks are very subjective tonight. You could probably wrap a Doctor Who or Red Dwarf time flux plot around it. Flair gives Luger a little Slick Ric at the start. Luger's jawing with the crowd again. Luger pushes Flair back on a lockup. No one is impressed. A "Luger sucks" chant leads to more Luger stalling. Flair with a headlock. Luger pulls the hair to power out and reverse it. Flair rolls it into pin attempts. JR makes a really good point: the 15 minute time limit might be detrimental to Flair because that's usually how long he takes to warm up and really gets his claws into a match. Much like Kazuchika Okada today. Luger tries to no sell chops in the corner but Flair eventually chops him down and turns Luger's chest beat red. Flair works the arm. Double underhook suplex for 2. Luger tries to power out, but every time Flair outwrestles him back in. Luger finally goes to the heel 101 playbook, complaining about a hair pull then poking the eyes when the ref's not looking. Flair slips out of a slam and goes through a few Ricky Steamboat-like quick pin attempts. Luger takes over and rolls through the power moves. At the 4 minute call Luger is in control but getting a little desperate. Flair counters a suplex into one of his own. Flair backslide for 2. Flair Flip! He gets off the top rope but Luger hits him on the way down and gets a long 2 count off it. Flair goes up again and Luger gives him the Flair throw with under a minute left. Flair dodges a big elbow drop and locks in the figure four with 30 seconds left. Luger fights until the bell for the time limit. 5 points each for the draw. With one match left for all four guys it's Flair and Luger 25, Sting 20 and Muta 0. **3/4

The New Wild Samoans (w/The Big Kahuna) def The Steiner Brothers by DQ in 14:05- Everyone gets on all fours and the Steiners strike their pose. Rick makes fun of the Samoans' ceremony. The Samoans mock the Steiners' pose. Back and forth between Rick and Fatu with Rick still mocking. During a Steinerline one of Fatu's locks gets caught in Rick's headgear and pulled out! Rick keeps it on as a trophy. Major stalling from the Samoans. After a stiff clothesline exchange Fatu rolls out again. Savage complains about a phantom Scott hair pull to kill another minute. Rick ducks a double team and the Samoans hit each other. They tease a fight and Rick eggs them on but they end up hugging it out. Scott's thrown out and crotched on the barricade. More double teaming on Scott and more failed run ins by Rick. Rick runs in and bites Fatu's ass. A Samoan powerslam at the 2 minutes left call gets a 2 count. Scott gets a backslide but the ref is getting Rick out again. Frankensteiner! But Scott can't get the tag. Rick has enough and runs in for good. In the confusion Scott throws a Samoan over the top. The ref sees it and calls for the DQ. Another sloppy finish. This was another potentially good power match wrecked by the tournament format. The Steiners looked like they just wanted to go through the motions until they could hit the showers. With one match left the tag standings are Steiners 35, Samoans 30 and LOD 20. *3/4

Lex Luger def The Great Muta (w/Gary Hart) by DQ in 14:15- Luger limps down to the ring. The knee gives out early on a leapfrog attempt. Muta targets it. Luger begs off. He rolls out but Muta chases. Back in Luger gets a kick with his good leg and tries a suplex but the leg gives out again. Muta works the knee for a long stretch with good selling from Luger. Almost New Japan-ish. Handspring elbow. Luger uses raw strength to separate Muta's hands on a hold and gets an eye poke in. Muta responds by kicking Luger's leg out of his leg again. Muta locks in a half crab, then turns it into the Mutalock. Luger gets to the ropes. At the 4 minutes left call Luger starts hulking up with punches. Muta counters with a reverse kick, but Luger kills him with a clothesline. Luger hits some power moves. Guess the knee suddenly got all better then. With under a minute left Muta sprays the green mist in Luger's face right in front of the ref and gets DQ'd. Woof. Another bad finish. For 10 minutes this was pretty good with solid Japanese style submission wrestling from Muta and Luger selling it well, but it was all downhill after that. Luger takes the lead with 35 points to Flair's 25 and Sting's 20. Muta takes the goose egg, going out on his back at the end of his WCW run. His last piece of business before wrapping up his excursion and going home to NJPW would be to drop the TV title to Arn Anderson on weekly TV in early January. **1/4

The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering) def The New Wild Samoans (w/The Big Kahuna) in 5:18- Any Samoan win will give them the tournament. The Roadies have to get the full 20 points to win. A draw will lead to a Samoans/Steiners tiebreaker. Animal no sells a piledriver. Hawk and Fatu trade chops with Hawk whiffing on a couple of them. Hawk no sells a Samoan headbutt. The LOD is giving nothing. Animal takes a Samoan coconut to the gut and goes down. Animal dodges a Vader Bomb. Tag. A botch filled finishing sequence mercifully ends with Hawk getting the clothesline off the top to win the match and the tournament. The Steiners come out to congratulate. Both teams just phoned it in. 3/4*

Sting def Ric Flair in 14:30- Despite the screwy nature of the show Flair's streak of main eventing every Starrcade to date remains intact. Remember these guys have been on the same page and partners against Funk and Muta lately. There's lots of scoring possibilities here so lets just say a full 20 point win will give the winner the tournament and worry about the rest if needed. Much like Hirooki Goto in the 2016 G1, Luger can still backdoor a win if there's a draw. Sting comes out hot and Flair slows it down with a walk outside. They have a WOOOOO/Sting yell yell off. Sting works the arm. Flair shows his underrated strength by scooping him up into a fireman's carry. He places Sting on the top turnbuckle and...walks away. Mind games. They pick the pace up, ending with a Sting press slam. Flair starts getting frustrated and shoves. Sting shoves back harder. Flair slides out again much to Sting's consternation. Sting blocks a hiptoss into a backslide. Chop time! Flair turns Sting's chest red. Sting responds with a hiptoss and a couple of dropkicks. Flair begs off, suckers Sting in and throws him out. Flair is slowly starting to heel it back up as the match goes on. Flair delayed suplex for 2. He puts Sting in an abdominal stretch then uses it as a roll up for 2. Flair gets on Nick Patrick like he's Tommy Young. Sting charges out of the corner with a clothesline for 2. At the 5 minutes left call Sting starts no selling chops. Flair punches out of a sunset flip. Flair tries to suplex Sting out of the ring but Sting reverses it. More chop no sells. Stinger Splash at the 3 minute call. He hooks the Scorpion Death Lock in but Flair gets right to the ropes. Kneebreaker into the figure four. Sting gets to the ropes. Flair works the knee some more. Bridge up spot and another backslide for 2. At 1 minute left Flair hits a long delayed kneebreaker, then gets cocky and takes his sweet time putting the figure four on. With less than 30 seconds left Sting rolls him up into a Paul Smackage 3 to win the tournament! Afterward the Andersons come in and they tease a confrontation, but everyone, including Flair, congratulates Sting and Arn throws up the 4. Slow burn, kids, slow burn. Right after this the Horsemen would reform with Sting as a member. For a while. This isn't in the pantheon of great Flair/Sting matches, but it's still a good one with nice character work and foreshadowing as Flair slowly crept back heel. ***1/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- WCW's great year of 1989 ends not with a bang, but with a whimper, kicking off what would be nearly two years of struggle with poor creative and worker apathy. In absolute classic WCW style, they take what could have been a decent idea and smother it with poor planning and execution. The night is filled with the most screwy finishes in a single show until Bischoff era WCW. This is really for completionists only, or people who want to watch every single step in the Flair/Sting feud.
OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D+

The Wrestling Classic

Legacy Review

The Wrestling Classic

November 7, 1985 from the Rosemont Horizon in Rosemont, IL

 

Commentary: Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura

 

WWF's first attempt to follow up the first Wrestlemania on PPV wasn't Survivor Series or Summerslam, it was this right here, the generically named Wrestling Classic. And yes I said PPV. This was the first wrestling show ever to be broadcast via PPV instead of closed circuit TV, which had been used for the first two Starrcades by Jim Crockett Promotions and the first WM. This was supposed to be just the first of a series of five PPVs under the umbrella name "WrestleVision", but a lack of buzz for and following this show and a general lack of available PPV carriers at that point led to the rest of the series being cancelled. WWF wouldn't try another PPV outside WM until the first Survivor Series in '87.

 

The hook for this show is a one night 16 man tournament dubbed "the most prestigious wrestling tournament of all time". The winner gets.....I dunno, bragging rights I guess. And I suppose the biggest paycheck for the night. Not a lot is being offered as far as winnings here, which was part of the problem. Interestingly, it was earlier this very year in June that the first King of the Ring tournament was held, also a one night 16 man affair, though that one was on a house show with no TV broadcast. Apart from the tournament, tonight will also feature Hulk Hogan defending the WWF Championship one last time against his longtime archnemesis Roddy Piper.

 

Howard Finkel unusually does the opening video voiceover. After that Vince McMahon acts as MC for the evening, along with a still eternally befuddled Lord Alfred Hayes. Vince, Hayes and the Vanna White substitute hired for the night along with her pointy stick go over the wall sized bracket for the tournament. After that Mean Gene is with WWF President Jack Tunney, whose very presence shows just how *important* this tournament is. An interesting (at least to me) note on the setup for this show- WWF is using a local ring instead of their own. It's smaller with clearly not WWF supplied cable ropes and generic turnbuckles. They also use local refs for the most of the show instead of usual WWF refs.

 

First Round: Adrian Adonis (w/Jimmy Hart) def Corporal Kirchner in 3:21- Adonis is still in his "leather jacket" tough guy phase before he went all, er, effeminate. Monsoon points out that Adonis and Ventura were once the tag champs as The East West Connection. I miss the "connection" names for tag teams, there used to be so many of them. Kirchner was legitimately a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne before leaving the military and turning to wrestling. Adonis practically hugs Kirchner back into the corner. I did mention this is pre-effeminate. Kirchner gets a couple of armdrags that rattle Adonis. Kirchner cranks a headlock that ground Adonis down. Eventually Adonis Saito suplexes out. He hits a couple of elbows to the head, then a snap mare. Now Adonis kills what little time they have with a chinlock. When Kirchner fights back up they seem to have a hard time figuring out what they're doing. Very fumbly. Kirchner hooks up for a suplex. Adonis blocks it and uses it to hit a DDT! Great counter. And that gets the pin. 1/2*

 

First Round: Dynamite Kid def Nikolai Volkoff in :08- Volkoff does his usual Soviet national anthem singing. Dynamite patiently waits in the corner......then as soon as Volkoff is done goes up top and hits a missile dropkick! That gets the pin and it's over already! Screw King Kong Bundy at WM1, that was a real record time. NR

 

First Round: "Macho Man" Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) def Ivan Putski in 2:48- Savage signed with WWF in June after working in Memphis most of his career to that point. He was dubbed "the hottest free agent in wrestling" when WWF brought him in, and even him bringing his real life wife Elizabeth in as his manager was an event as literally every other WWF manager was angling to sign him. He immediately began working to transform WWF's in-ring product, as much as one man could, to something more athletic and high flying. Even better, he could back it all up with great mic skills too. His "improv minute" bits with Mean Gene on TV and at MSG were already becoming the stuff of legend, promos still instantly recognizable and widely referenced by wrestling and non-wrestling fans today. There was literally no one like Randy Savage on the roster when he started in WWF. This would be the final major match for "Polish Power" Putski, one of WWF's biggest babyface stars in the '70s. Savage is already getting the full modern style entrance. WWF knew what they got, a megastar waiting to happen. Ventura says he helped Savage train for this tournament. I'm sure he'll stay completely unbiased though. As soon as he's disrobed Savage hops right out to stall, riling hothead Putski up even more than he already was. We have a WWF ref for this match. In fact its Dave Hebner, twin brother of Earl, who was still working in Jim Crockett at the time. Savage gets up top at the bell. Putski dares him to try, so Savage hops down, spits, and hops out again to play some more mind games. Lockup and Putski spits in Savage's face! Savage hops out again and repositions Elizabeth. Back in they go quick speed and Savage does a great bounce off Putski on a shoulderblock attempt. Dude's built like a Polish privy, that's for sure. Putski gives Savage a buckle shot and Savage hides in the ropes. He does an eye rake that lets him hit a few shots, but Putski grabs him and gives him a bunch of rapid fire jabs in response. More punches from Putski and he stomps Savage down in the corner. Leg takedown from Savage in the corner, he gets his feet on the ropes and steals a pin! Savage grabs Elizabeth and they get the hell out of town. Not exactly a showcase for Savage and chemistry was lacking to say the least as Putski didn't seem much interested in what Savage was trying to do, but it did show that Savage can win a match with his brains too, even if it was cheating. 3/4*

 

While Vince and Hayes are updating the bracket Volkoff storms in and rants about being robbed. Probably said the same thing when we beat them to the moon. Yes I know that seems random, but I just got done finally getting caught up on watching For All Mankind before diving into this. Absolutely superb show.

 

First Round: Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat def Davey Boy Smith in 2:55- The other half of the British Bulldogs tag team making his PPV debut. He hadn't taken Bulldog as his name just yet. This is your face vs face match to put over the "random draw" nature of the first round. If it really was random we'd see a lot more face vs face and heel vs heel matches. Ventura says he expects one or both guys to snap and do some rule breaking to win. Nice basic start with lots of quick counters. Bulldog gets a hiptoss, then hits a weird suplexey slam thing to get them in position for the bridge up spot, which of course they pull off smoothly into a Steamboat backslide for 2. The old local ref working this match is having a near impossible time keeping up, this is way out of his usual experience. Press slam from Bulldog for 2, then he hooks on a front facelock. Another press slam, then back to the facelock. Steamboat blocks a suplex and does a very impressive delayed suplex, considering how much bigger Bulldog is than him. Steamboat goes for a splash but Bulldog gets his knees up, then hits a standing shotgun dropkick. Steamboat dodges against the ropes and Bulldog crashes into them! Bulldog is in serious pain after crotching himself on the ropes and the ref stops the match, giving Steamboat the win. A day when smashing your nads against the ropes was actually taken seriously. I'm curious if that was really the planned finish or if Bulldog legit bolloxed his bollocks up enough to force it to be stopped. The way he grabs himself in the slow mo replay after hitting the ropes it might be the latter. All that aside, that's about as good as you can get in a sub 3 minute match. **3/4

 

In his prematch promo JYD says he wants to give congratulations to "the Chicago". I assume he means the Bears, who were in the midst of an all time great season that year. Jordan was still rounding into form in his second year with the Bulls and neither the Cubs or White Sox were winning jack shit at that time.

 

First Round: The Junkyard Dog def The Iron Sheik in 3:26- In terms of workrate and effort, I expect this match to be the exact opposite of the last match. Dubbed over music for JYD again. Sheik jumps JYD as soon as he gets in the ring. He chokes JYD with his robe, turban still on. Then he chokes JYD with the turban. JYD no sells punches and fires back. Headbutt. Sheik tries to beg off but takes another headbutt, then gingerly steps out of the ring. Back in Sheik gets a full nelson on. JYD powers out and hits a horrible clothesline for 2. Sheik dodges a diving headbutt. Camel clutch to break his back and make him humble! JYD seems to go out and Sheik lets go, but the ref doesn't do any checks at all. I think not having regular WWF refs is hurting some of these matches. JYD catches Sheik with another headbutt and that gets the pin. Amazingly, that was way better than I was expecting. Not great, but it could have been much worse. *1/2

 

Mean Gene gives up on his interview with Funk because Funk is spitting chewing tobacco all over him. I don't blame Okerlund one bit. That stuff is disgusting. I've had family that have used that and it always made me gag to just look at it. Funk makes it clear he doesn't care about the tournament, he wants to collect the bounty that's out on Orndorff, then win the WWF Title.

 

First Round: Moondog Spot def Terry Funk (w/Jimmy Hart) by countout in :27- Funk swung over for his first ever real WWF run in June, and under a special deal where he could still work in All Japan at the same time. Funk takes Fink's mic and says he doesn't want to wrestle Spot, Spot doesn't want to wrestle him, why not take a draw and call it a night? Spot seems to agree and they both leave the ring. D Hebner rings the bell to start the match. Funk hits Spot from behind! Spot drags Funk down off the apron. Funk lifts Spot up into the ring to stop Spot from hitting him, but that gets Spot back in the ring in time and Funk gets counted out! Got a tick to clever for his own good on that one. NR

 

First Round: WWF Intercontinental Champion Tito Santana def The Magnificent Muraco (w/Mr. Fuji) in 4:19- This is a revival of an old IC title feud from a couple of years ago, when Santana won it for the first time. He's in his second reign now after dethroning Greg Valentine in July. The IC title belt has been upgraded to the classic version, making its PPV debut here. After a couple of lockup stalemates Muraco gets the first shots in and goes to town on Santana. Santana ducks a clothesline and gets a crossbody for 2. Muraco gets back up with an uppercut. Sunset flip from Santana for 2. Muraco hooks up for a neckbreaker, but Santana blocks it into a backslide. Muraco's too close to the ropes for a count, and he begs off in the corner. Santana says nah. Muraco upside down flip in the corner! Santana cranks an ARMBAR. Muraco lifts him up and drops him on the top rope. Standing clothesline and elbow drop from Muraco. Kneedrop for 2. Powerslam near the ropes. Local ref counts 3, but then sees Santana's foot was on the ropes and waves it off. But the bell rang and Muraco thinks he won. Santana grabs a small package and gets a pin to win for real. Again the local ref turning things into a bit of a mess. Commentary was even confused. The match was decent enough before that. **

 

Bobby Heenan is with Mean Gene. Even though none of his wrestlers are in the tournament, he's always watching and is scouting tonight. He also reminds everyone he has a $50,000 bounty out for anyone that can take Orndorff out. 

 

First Round: "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff def "Cowboy" Bob Orton by DQ in 6:30- The signature match of the first round. Orndorff turned face after taking the pin and being abandoned by his teammates Piper and Orton in the WM 1 main event. Just spotted a guy in the crowd wearing a classic Seahawks Steve Largent jersey. Nice. Of course it wasn't classic then, it was current. Orton is, naturally, still wearing a cast on his "hurt" arm that's been "hurt" for a good 6-7 months now. Lockup and Orndorff cranks an armbar on Orton's "hurt" arm. Atomic drop from Orndorff and Orton goes all the way into the post. Orndorff smashes Orton's cast arm onto the post. Orton catches Orndorff with a headlock takedown. Orndorff responds with an armdrag and goes to work on the arm again. Orton gets a knee up in the corner to catch Orndorff. Commentary says a lot of complimentary things about Orton that are very similar to what will one day be said about his son Randy. "Mechanically sound", "A wrestler's wrestler". He hot shots Orndorff on the top rope. Orndorff tries a sunset flip. Orton tries to punch out, but Orndorff pulls his tights down to get him over for 2! Once a heel, always a heel. Orton drops some more forearms and knees to put Orndorff down again. He works a headscissors on Orndorff. Orndorff does a nice escape and they do the bridge up/backslide spot with Orton getting a 2 count. He hiptosses Orndorff out of the corner. Orndorff dodges in the corner and Orton flies onto the ropes! Comeback flurry from Orndorff. Back elbow/elbow drop combo from Orndorff. A running punch sends Orton 360 over the top to the floor, though he lands on his feet. While D Hebner is getting Orndorff back Orton adjusts his cast. He waffles Orndorff with the cast! But Hebner saw it and DQs Orton. The fight continues. Orndorff punches Orton out of the ring and Orton walks off. Rock solid stuff. **1/2

 

Back to the bracket board, where Vince has to peel Hayes off the hired blonde. No word on where the pointy stick is while that's going on. Once order is restored and the stick is found they go over everyone that advanced and the second round matchups. Hayes sounds like he spent the whole show so far eyeing up the blonde instead of watching the matches. Funk then crashes in to complain about getting screwed by the ref. He actually would manage to finagle a title shot against Hogan on the next Saturday Night's Main Event.

 

Quarterfinals: Dynamite Kid def Adrian Adonis (w/Jimmy Hart) in 5:27- Speed run with Dynamite hitting a couple of quick armdrags. Adonis bails to the floor to rethink things, then slugs Kid down back in. He slingshots Kid into the corner. Ventura sees what's up next and leaves to have a strategery confab with Savage while Adonis hits a slam for 2. Monsoon has to fly solo for a bit, but he's not too worried about it. Suplex from Adonis for 2. Kid muscles Adonis up for a Saito suplex out of a headlock. Adonis dodges a diving headbutt and he starts working on Dynamite's leg. Adonis hooks on a Scorpion deathlock. Someone watched his Riki Choshu tapes, that wasn't a widely used move in the US yet as far as I can remember. Kid does a fancy floatover into a cradle in the corner for 2. Adonis takes Dynamite's leg out of his leg again to put him back down. He goes for a bulldog but Dynamite pushes him into the corner! Clothesline with a weird sell from Adonis. Kneedrop from the second rope for 2. Snap suplex from Dynamite. Diving headbutt. Hart gets on the apron. Adonis sneaks a cradle for 2. Dynamite's kickout sends Adonis into Hart, and Dynamite covers for the pin. Adonis throws a full on toddler temper tantrum after the bell. **

 

Quarterfinals: "Macho Man" Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) def Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat in 3:19- These two will have a slightly more famous match later on down the line that you may have heard of. Savage does the finger point to rile Steamboat up, then hides behind Elizabeth, then attacks from behind. All with his robe still on. Steamboat slides under and hits some chops that send Savage bailing to the floor. After Elizabeth gets his robe off Savage drags Steamboat out to the floor for a few shots. Back in Steamboat uses his position in the corner to headscissor Savage out to the floor! Steamboat hits some chops and gives Savage an atomic drop on the floor. Back in Savage tries to dodge a double hand chop but Steamboat hits it on the second try. Savage ducks under another chop attempt and hits a back suplex. Good news, everyone can relax, Ventura is back in the booth. Savage goes up top. Steamboat catches him with a shot in the gut coming down and hits a kneelift. A series of fistdrops force Savage to the apron. Steamboat suplexes him back in. He goes up top and the crossbody hits! Savage kicks out! More chops from Steamboat. On the apron again Savage pulls something out of his tights. Steamboat lifts Savage up to get him back in the ring. Savage nails him with the object and Steamboat goes out! Cover and Savage gets the win. Savage would use that exact finish early in the next year to win the IC title from Santana. They did as much as they possibly could in just over 3 minutes. ***1/4

 

Mean Gene tries to get some words from Moondog Spot. Might as well be talking to Captain Caveman. Or Gabby Johnson.

 

Quarterfinals: The Junkyard Dog def Moondog Spot in :45- It's a dog eat dog world.....sorry, I'll see myself out. Once again JYD gets jumped as soon as he steps in the ring. JYD dodges Spot's attempt at a splash off the second rope and hits his crawling headbutts. Monsoon points out something I missed- there's no ref in the ring! Where the smeg is the local ref? I know one of them is up, D Hebner worked the last match. JYD hits a headbutt, covers, and counts 3 himself! The bell rings and I guess it counts. That's another one I'll pin on the local refs, who've been horrible tonight. DUD

 

Quarterfinals: Tito Santana and "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff double countout in 8:06- Another face vs face matchup here. I'm relieved to say there's actually a ref in the ring for this one. Santana's added a bit of tape on his upper leg after his last match. Code of Honor handshake before the bell. Lockup and Santana works a headlock, getting Orndorff down. Orndorff powers back up into a top wristlock fight. Santana manages to get him back down into a headscissors. Ventura wonders if the REAL Orndorff will show up in this match. Maybe not tonight, but definitely soon. Orndorff manages to maneuver to catch Santana with a jackknife cover for 2. Both guys pop up with clinched fists, much to Ventura's delight, but neither takes a swing. We stay scientific and respectful. Orndorff works around into a hammerlock that grounds Santana. Santana manages to fight up and reverse. Orndorff takes a rope break and we have another slug it out tease. Ventura's chomping at the bit to see the two "goody two shoes" get in an all out brawl. Another headlock from Santana that Orndorff atomic drops out of. Santana grabs at his taped up leg and can't get back up. Orndorff debates with himself whether or not to jump on it. Santana manages to limp around on one leg. Drop toe hold from Orndorff and he cranks back on the leg. Santana tries a crossface to get free but it goes nowhere. Elbow drop on the leg from Orndorff. He tries for a possible figure four but Santana pushes free, sending Orndorff into the corner. Again Santana hops around on one leg and Orndorff gives him space. Lockup and rope break....Orndorff nails Santana with a forearm against the ropes! You knew he'd be the first one to snap. That sent Santana to the floor. Orndorff follows and they get into a forearm slugfest on the floor. That turns into full on fisticuffs! Orndorff takes a post shot. The ref gets to 10 to count both out. Neither guy cares and they're still throwing fists. Finally they realize, cool off and back down while Ventura laughs away. I liked that match. They had a solid plan, executed it well and told a cohesive story. It also gets IC champ Santana out without having to take a real loss. ***

 

Once again Hayes has to be peeled off tonight's hired bird before we run down the bracket board again. Clearly this was before WWF had an HR department. The double elimination gives JYD a bye right to the finals

 

WWF Championship: Hulk Hogan (c) def "Rowdy" Roddy Piper by DQ in 7:14- The pre-Winged Eagle WWF Title belt is making its PPV debut tonight. A pretty underrated belt. It's not the Winged Eagle (nothing is) but it's still a pretty good design. During this first title reign Hogan would sometimes wear something other than the classic red and yellow gear, that wasn't a set in stone look yet. Tonight it's all white gear for him. They get into a tug of war over the belt and Piper uses that to jump before the bell. He tosses Hogan out. Hogan immediately drags Piper out with him despite Piper's attempt to get tied up in the ropes. Hogan tosses Piper over what guardrail there is and hits a kneelift. Back in both guys eye rake with Piper getting the edge with thrusts to the throat. Hogan reverses a corner whip and hits a corner clothesline. Piper flop! Almost Flair or HHH level. Back suplex from Hogan. Slam/elbow drop combo. Local ref hooks Hogan's arm while they're in the corner, allowing Piper to get another shot in. Piper tries coming off the second rope but Hogan catches him in a bear hug! Piper eye pokes to get free. He pounds away on Hogan on the mat and covers for 2. Piper gets the sleeper on and rides Hogan's back. Hogan grabs for the ropes and tears at the ref's shirt, but slowly goes down. He goes all the way to the ground and we get arm drops. Only two of course. Hogan fights back up and dumps himself and Piper over the top to the floor! Post shot for Piper. Someone tosses a full drink toward the ring but it's a mile away from the wrestlers. What a waste. Hogan no sells punches on the floor. Back in Hogan hits the big boot, then an atomic drop. Piper reverses a whip and pushes Hogan into the ref. Piper goes out and gets a chair. Chairshot for Hogan. Hogan blocks another one. He gets the chair and gives Piper a shot with it. Sleeper from Hogan! Bob Orndorff runs in and attacks Hogan, drawing the cheap DQ. They double team for some cast shots before Orndorff chases them off. Perfectly fine if very house showish. **1/2

 

Semifinals: "Macho Man" Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) def Dynamite Kid in 4:52- Oh. Hell. Yes. Outfit #3 on the night for Savage and Elizabeth tonight. Both guys are cautious at the start. Quick lockup stalemates. Savage tries a waistlock takedown that leads to a rapid fire mat exchange stalemate. Savage hops out and jaws with the crowd to try to keep things at his pace. Back in they go into a rough, roll around the ropes lockup. Savage hits a cheap shot over D Hebner against the ropes. Buckle shot for Dynamite as Monsoon admits they don't have WWF standard buckle pads tonight. Dynamite hits some shots in retaliation. Big shoulderblock from Dynamite. He backdrops Savage. Crossbody from Dynamite but they get tangled up in the ropes. Sunset flip from Dynamite. Savage blocks it and butt splashes him. Another crossbody attempt that Savage ducks. Big speed run and double clothesline. Savage drags himself to the top rope. Dynamite dropkicks him and Savage gets crotched on the top rope! Dynamite goes up and hooks up. SUPERPLEX! But Savage rolls, cradles Dynamite after the landing, and gets a pin! INCREDIBLE finish! After the win Savage has to be helped to the back. As good a sub 5 minute match as you could ever hope to see. It's a damn shame Dynamite never had a chance for a proper singles run at this level. ***3/4

 

Next up is a car giveaway, a very classic style Rolls Royce. They do the whole thing in the ring and it's little more than a giant time killer. The WWF promotions guy is named Basil and *isn't* English? That's impossible. I almost feel bad for the marketing/official judgment guy getting booed by the crowd. He's clearly out of his depth. Plus, Chicago crowd. Even in the mid '80s.

 

Final: The Junkyard Dog def "Macho Man" Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) by countout in 9:44- So Savage survived three hard fought matches to get here. JYD had one moderately hard match, one cakewalk that he got away with counting the pin himself, and got a bye into the final. And JYD is the babyface we're supposed to be rooting for? The car giveaway was long enough for Savage and Elizabeth to have one last quick change. Savage looks like he raided Superstar Billy Graham's wardrobe. He's clearly favoring his back as he walks in. Savage RIPS his tye dye shirt off....then hides behind Elizabeth again. He's on the floor with a chair as D Hebner rings the bell to start. Savage tosses the chair at JYD. JYD catches it and pounds his own head into it. Savage slowly gets in, then hops right back out again. Then does it again as the boos get louder. Savage hops in, locks up and gets tossed back by JYD. Savage tries a slam that doesn't work. JYD headbutt to Savage's hurt back. He saw. Atomic drop from JYD. Bear hug. Savage eye rakes free. Okerlund comes over and joins commentary. JYD stays targeted on Savage's back with typical fantastic peak era Savage selling. Savage pops out of the corner with a diving clothesline that JYD didn't seem to know was coming. Cover for 2 with a big JYD kickout. Savage tosses JYD to the floor, goes up top and hits the double ax handle to the floor. He sneaks around the ring to ambush JYD from behind and run his back into the post. Another double ax handle off the top rope. Savage gets a chair out from under one of the arena security guys and hits JYD with it. Another sneak around the ring and he chokes JYD on the guardrail. Elbow drop on the floor. Finally he rolls JYD back in and goes up top again. JYD catches him with a shot in the gut. Crawling headbutts with INSANE Savage sells. Regular headbutt and Savage gets tied up in the ropes. JYD gets him free, allowing Savage to eye rake him. JYD backdrops Savage over the top rope to the floor! The completely unpadded floor. Savage can't get back up in time and get counted out, giving JYD the match and tournament win. Savage did his best to make this work, bumping around like an absolute madman. *3/4

 

Ventura interrupts the victory interview to complain that JYD got a bye while Savage had to wrestle Dynamite Kid. JYD looks too blown up to respond. In fact he doesn't say a single word. I think you could very strongly argue the wrong guy won this thing, but it wouldn't hurt Savage any. As mentioned earlier, he'll defeat Santana in Boston in February to win the IC title and kick off his year plus run with that belt, which only catapulted him to even bigger things.

 

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- It doesn't look like much going in, but for a one night tournament this holds together surprisingly well. It definitely flows better than future and much bigger tournament shows like Wrestlemania 4 or Survivor Series '98 despite the lack of stakes. On top of that there's several really good short matches to be had, and a great chance to see Savage early in his WWF run already working hard to change the game. He was by far the star of the night. I think this night also showed WWF they needed their own group of referees on the road that they could rely on. The two temp local refs used for this show were clearly out of their depth all night.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C-

 

v2.0 published 5/5/26

Halloween Havoc '89

Legacy Review

Halloween Havoc '89

October 28, 1989 from the Philadelphia Civic Center in Philadelphia

Commentary: Jim Ross and Bob Caudle

After peaking an incredible year with the Great American Bash the inevitable (especially for WCW) slow slide down was beginning. I think I can see Jim Herd pushing that rock downhill. He'd been hired earlier in the year and was slowly starting to flex his muscles. This is another new addition on the PPV calendar, and one that would stay all the way until the final demise of WCW.

"The Z-Man" Tom Zenk def Mike Rotunda in 13:23- It's amazing how quickly Rotunda went from important cog in the #2 heel stable and year long TV champ to just another guy. His penchant for endless stalling, a great skillset for a heel TV champ but not much else, might have had something to do with that. Zenk made his WCW debut the month before at Clash VIII and was getting his first serious push after a few years of bouncing around AWA, WWF, and Japan. Rotunda's still in his Varsity Club gear. Philly, being Philly, boos both guys. Zenk slips out of an amateur takedown and Rotunda complains he's got oil on. Zenk takes him down with a shoulderblock and Rotunda plays statues for a few minutes. Big "Syracuse sucks" chant. Rotunda reacts to it and takes a walk. Rotunda with an eye poke and he throws Zenk out. Zenk sunset flip for 2. Every time Zenk tries to turn it up Rotunda slows down and stalls. Philly is getting restless. Rotunda plays rope cat and mouse with Nick Patrick on a headscissors. Well, that's a different hold for that at least. Zenk grabs a headlock and there's some scattered "boring" chants. Rotunda uses Zenk's rope run momentum to send him out and that gets a cheer. For the next few minutes it's Rotunda lets Zenk sit outside and recover, then as soon as he moves to get in he hits him, rinse and repeat. Finally he suplexes Zenk back in. Rotunda abdominal stretch. Basically the Rotunda Ortonlock. A clothesline kills Zenk's comeback attempt for a second, but Zenk dodges a dropkick after. Rotunda does a nice springboard reverse crossbody off the 2nd rope. Zenk uses momentum to roll it over and get the 3. It's a Rotunda match, where you can measure the gap between moves in geologic time. *1/2

The Samoan SWAT Team (w/Oliver Humperdink) def The Midnight Express & "Dr. Death" Steve Williams (w/Jim Cornette) in 18:23- The Samoan Savage had jumped over from WWF to join his Samoan brethren and make it a trio. Paul E was being moved away from managing and into commentary so Humperdink took the team over, who also called him "The Big Kahuna". No idea why Williams is hanging out with Cornette, but hey, he works stiff and the Samoans work stiff so it's all good. Lane and Savage start. No, they're teasing a brawl on the floor. And have a 3 on 3 standoff in the ring. NOW Lane and Savage start. Lane clotheslines him over and out, and Eaton gives him a straight right on the floor. Another floor standoff. Back in Samu chops the hell out of Eaton. Eaton dodges a corner charge and Samu eats post. Williams punches out all 3 heels and they go out to regroup. Williams runs over Fatu with football tackles. Fatu blocks a Lane hiptoss and clocks him. Williams and Fatu hoss it up some more. The faces work Fatu's arm. Savage counters an Eaton bulldog and he crashes crotch first into the corner. Fatu and Samu give Eaton a barricade shot. Savage hiptosses Eaton on the entrance ramp where there's no pad and Eaton splats on the concrete with a smack that echos across the arena. .9 Cactus Jack bump, with less body padding. But Eaton comes right back with a sunset flip for 2. Samoan Nerve Pinch of Light Viceness +/-0. It's not a good one. Eaton plays face in peril for a while longer and sells the hell out of it. He was so good. Williams saves a pin attempt. Eventually Eaton counters a diving headbutt and gets the hot tag to Williams. Williams press slams everyone. Well, not the ref. Lane and Savage mess up a swinging neckbreaker where Savage doesn't swing. Enzuguri by Lane. Donnybrook! Cornette gives Humperdink a racket shot. Savage pushes Lane into Cornette, they bump heads, and Savage drops on him to get the pin. The brawl tease standoffs at the start went on a bit too long, but once they got their teeth into the match they got going real good. ***1/4

"Wildfire" Tommy Rich def The Cuban Assassin in 8:29- Oh, Tommy Rich. Probably the least impressive NWA or WCW world champion this side of David Arquette. He held the title for 4 days in 1981 while Harley Race was driving through Georgia. According to Race it was all politics to make sure the NWA affiliated Georgia territory stayed on top during a territory turf war in the state. With a name like "the Cuban Assassin" you'd expect him to be wearing a mask, but he's not. Philly does not like Rich. Ambush by Assassin to start. Rich counters with slams and a Dusty elbow. Loud "Tommy Rich sucks" chant. Assassin does a nice springboard reverse crossbody for 2. Rich hits an ugly sunset flip. He didn't get high enough, almost hit heads with Assassin, then has to almost crawl around his back to complete it. Big boos for that. Rich and Assassin trade arm holds for a bit. The best thing I can say about this match is they're keeping it back and forth with no one staying in control. But to say the crowd's checked out is an understatement. The ring could explode and they'd still get no reaction. Finally Assassin goes for another springboard crossbody. Rich dodges it and pins him with a Thesz Press. 1/2*

NWA World Tag Team Championship: The Fabulous Freebirds (c) def The Dynamic Dudes (w/Jim Cornette) in 11:28- As you would expect, Philly hates the Dudes. Cornette had taken on an "advising" role with them, which was a lead in for him and the Midnights to turn back heel now the Paul E feud was done. Badstreet USA is still awesome entrance music (OK, I'm going to go ahead and stop with that. Just assume it's there for every Freebirds match because it's true.) The Freebirds get pyro! And a face pop. Hayes seems to have forgotten his belt, they only have one. Douglas and Hayes start. Hayes does his usual start of match strutting and gets cheered for it. Standoff start with no advantage. There's a miscommunication where Hayes jumps up but Douglas goes for a clothesline. That didn't work whatever it was supposed to be. Ace outspeeds Garvin to get an edge. The Dudes work Garvin's arm to a big "Freebird" chant. Douglas does a nice rope assisted flip out of an armbar. More arm work on Hayes and more boos from the crowd. The Dudes clean out the ring with a double team and get booed out of the building. Another Freebirds chant. JR: "Really enthusiastic crowd here tonight. I guess there's some Freebird fans here." JR cites Cornette's influence as the Dudes are trying some Midnight-like double team moves. Ace has Garvin in a headlock and taunts him not being able to tag. Hayes runs in and Ace backdrops him while still holding the headlock. A flying headscissors sends the Freebirds outside again and the crowd shits all over it. "You suck" chant. Ace gets a roll up, Garvin pushes off, Ace goes all the way to the ropes and Hayes decks him with a left hand. A knee sends Ace outside to a pop from the crowd. Hayes clocks Ace with another left on the floor and the crowd loves it. "Freebirds" and "DDT" chants. After a short FIP sequence Hayes signals for the DDT and the crowd goes nuts. Ace counters out of it and tags. The Dudes double team again to massive boos. A double knee sends Hayes out. The Dudes go for their Wipeout finisher, but Hayes grabs Ace's foot from the outside, allowing Garvin to fall on top of Douglas and get the pin and a big pop for the Freebirds win. The match was fine even though it never hit high gear. It's worth watching just for the smarky crowd. **1/2

Steiner Brothers promo. Rick is asked about Woman and he says that if she gets involved he's going to "GIVE IT TO HER". And making the belly to belly suplex gesture just makes it sound even more dirty.

Here's the story of how Doom came about, because it's long and pretty good: Missy Hyatt managed Rick Steiner, then both Steiners when Scott came in. Not long after they started teaming Woman started showing up in the crowd under the name Robin Green with a Rick Steiner shirt professing her love for him. Rick, never the sharpest bat'leth on the ship, fell head over heels and let her start being their valet for matches. Scott was dubious, and Hyatt left in a jealous rage. Woman showed her true colors by costing the Steiners a title match against the Freebirds. Woman promised to bring the Steiners' "Doom" at Halloween Havoc. The team Doom itself she stole from longtime Steiner rival (and Woman's real life husband) Kevin Sullivan.

Doom (w/Woman) def The Steiner Brothers in 15:32- Decent pop for the Steiners. Doom comes out in Sith Lord robes and are wearing masks. No one knows who they are. We know now that it's Butch Reed recently heel turned Ron Simmons. The Steiners Suzuki-Gun Doom as soon as they cross the ropes and we're on. They run Doom into each other and give them stereo German suplexes. Doom roll out, get back in the ring and the Steiners clothesline them right back out. They settle in with Simmons and Scott. Scott with a clothesline on the back of Simmons' head. Rick tags in. Steinerlines! Doom rolls out again. Back in, Rick and Reed look a tad lost on what to do. Doom works Rick over a bit until Rick counters a suplex with a nice suplex/one arm slam combo. Scott with a clothesline off the 2nd rope. Not the buckle, the middle of the rope. Simmons gets a jawbreaker on Rick. Rick counters a backdrop and tags. A Scott face first suplex gets 2. Scott ducks a clothesline, immediately puts on the brakes, turns, and gives him a German. While Scott's running the ropes Reed hits him in the back of the head. Doom gives him a couple of Rock-style barricade drops and Scott goes face in peril. Lots of distracted ref chokes. Scott gets a Rick-assisted sunset flip for 2. Doom power moves get a few near falls. Simmons gets Scott in a front chancery, Scott literally picks Simmons up and drags him to the corner to tag. But the ref was distracted and didn't see it. A spike piledriver on Scott gets 2. Finally Scott fights over to make a tag. Steinerlines! Donnybrook! Scott hits a Frankensteiner on Simmons while Rick ground and pounds Reed. While the ref is outside breaking up Scott and Simmons Woman gets on the apron and slips an international object into Reed's mask. Reed gives Rick a headbutt and pins him. Pretty good stuff, and you can tell they have an even better match in them once they get more experience. The Steiners already knew how to carry a match. The loss wouldn't hurt them as a few weeks later they'd beat the Freebirds for their first world tag titles on weekly TV just months after starting to team up. In fact, by the summer of 1990 both these teams will have had title runs. ***

NWA United States Heavyweight Championship: "The Total Package" Lex Luger (c) def Flyin' Brian in 16:49- Now this is an interesting matchup. Not just the clash of styles, but also the fact Pillman was getting this shot just months after joining the company. Pillman is accompanied by the world's oldest cheerleading squad on his entrance. Rough lockups to start with no one getting an advantage. The crowd sounds into it but unsure which side to take. Luger slaps Pillman around and throws him out. A pissed off Pillman runs right back in and football tackles Luger. A big backdrop and dropkick send Luger out, followed by a baseball slide that sends Luger into the guardrail. Pillman loads up a springboard dive but Luger bails before he launches. A reverse crossbody off the top rope from Pillman gets 2. Deep armdrag. Pillman flips out of a hiptoss and hits another dropkick. Luger tries a shoulderblock but Pillman gets a hiptoss of his own. No matter what Luger tries he ends up back in an armbar and he's getting frustrated. Pillman tries a splash off the top but Luger rolls out of the way. Luger works on Pillman's neck/throat area a bit while jawing with fans in between everything. Pillman dodges a clothesline and Luger goes over the top and out. Luger gets back in and plants Pillman up for a superplex but Pillman fights out. Sunset flip off the top for 2. Pillman hits a springboard flying clothesline! It's a sure 3 but they're too close to the ropes and Luger gets a foot up on it. Luger dodges a missile dropkick and hits a hot shot that gets the 3. This was well paced, virtually non-stop, and had a tremendous closing stretch. Luger was on fire in '89. Shame it wouldn't last. ***3/4

The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering) def The Skyscrapers (w/Teddy Long) by DQ in 11:39- The crowd is all LOD. Animal and Spivey start. Animal clotheslines him twice and Spivey was supposed to go over but doesn't and rolls under the ropes instead. Hawk and Spivey have a shoulderblock standoff. Hawk gets him down with a flying tackle. Hawk ducks a Sid clothesline (another possible botch there) and hits one of his own that Sid no sells. Now Animal and Sid crash into each other without budging. Hawk wants a test of strength with Sid. After Sid gets the advantage Hawk turns it into a monkey flip. Sid kips up out of a headscissors and clotheslines Hawk. Helicopter slam. Spivey with a side suplex for 2. Hawk manages to reverse a Spivey suplex but the heels prevent a tag. While Hawk is in a facelock he manages to get to his corner and tag but the ref doesn't see it. That was almost exactly the same spot as the Steiner match. Hawk gets a boot up in the corner and gets the real hot tag. While everyone's donnybrooking the managers start fighting. Long tosses his giant key (I wish I could remember the story behind that, key to the city or something) to Spivey and Spivey uses it to get DQ'd. After the bell the heels beat Animal down until Hawk makes the save with the key. The Roadies carried the Scrapers to an acceptable power match. **1/4

Main Event Feud Recap- This was set up by the big end of show brawl at Great American Bash '89. Muta defeated Sting to un-vacate the TV title at a house show in September. No big deal for Sting, he was already on his way to bigger things anyway. In fact, Flair had already promised him that he would be the guy Flair would drop the world title to when the time was right, a promise that would cause quite a bit of backstage consternation in the coming months. But more on that when the time comes, because as a wise man once said, tonight is about tonight.

So, what is a Thunderdome you ask? Well, in a lot of ways it's a precursor to the Chamber of Horrors. It's a Hell in a Cell style oversized cage that allows some floor access. It's a bar style cage like WWF's blue bar one. There's no roof but the top of the cage is slanted to prevent anyone climbing out. In fact, there's no door at all. Once the cage comes down everyone's trapped until the cage raises again. To keep with the Halloween theme there's all kinds of set dressing on the cage: chains, rags, branches, skull faces and gargoyle-like bats on the top. Also, the cage is supposed to be "electrified". That doesn't last. And specifically to this match, the rules are that it can only end when one of the seconds, called "terminators" (not T-1000s) throws in the towel. So it's a bit like War Games in how it can end. Gary Hart and Ole Anderson (Anderson had just come out of retirement to take over from Flair as head booker) are the seconds.

Thunderdome Match: NWA World Heavyweight Champion "Nature Boy" Ric Flair & Sting (w/Ole Anderson) def NWA World Television Champion The Great Muta & Terry Funk (w/Gary Hart) in 23:46- WW(W)F legend and Pennsylvania's own Bruno Sammartino is your special guest referee. Funk jumps right onto the cage. I thought it was supposed to be electrified? Oh, now commentary covers and says the *top* is electrified. Some of the dressing on the top of the cage caught fire from the pyro and Tommy Young is trying to put it out. Muta goes up and green mists it! Fantastic. Now, if he had used the red mist would that have made the fire bigger? There's a lot of chaos in this one making it a bit hard to recap. Flair and Funk start as they try to stick to tag rules for now. Flair chops him and whips him into Sting. Big 2 on 2 standoff. Flair slams Funk over the top and out. Sting rams Funk into the cage. Flair with the rolling knee on Funk, and as he gets up he slaps Muta! Muta runs in and Flair chops everyone. Sting press slams Muta into Funk. Sting ends up in the heel corner and takes some hard shots from Funk. All four guys fight on the floor as they collectively say the hell with normal tag rules. Flair throws Muta over the top. Muta lands on his feet and casually strolls away. Sting ducks a spinning kick from Muta and face plants him. He goes for the Scorpion Death Lock but Funk breaks it up. Bruno tries to restore order but everyone ignores him, and to his credit he fades into the background and lets them have at it. Funk and Flair climb the cage and Funk takes a cage shot. Now Muta and Sting climb. Muta finds the one magic bar on the entire cage that's "electric" and jolts his hand back. Right after that Funk and Flair get up to the roof portion and commentary gives up on pretending anything on here is actually electric. Funk hangs from the top and Flair chops him, then gets his feet caught in a tree of woe like position on the way down. Sting and Flair swap. Muta sneaks under the ring and rams Flair into the cage. Flair recovers and hooks in the figure four but Muta gets out quickly. Muta kicks Flair in the back of the head. Mutalock on Flair! While this is going on Funk hogties Sting to the cage and gets in to help Muta. Anderson tries to get Sting free. Spike piledriver on Flair. Sting finally gets free and FLIES from the corner of the cage all the way to the middle of the ring onto Funk! Muta and Sting fight on the cage while Flair works Funk's knee over. Muta goes up for the Mutohsault but Sting crotches him. Figure four on Funk! Sting helps by hitting Funk with two splashes off the top rope. Muta gets back in and for some reason tries to take a shot at Bruno. Bruno dodges and punches him out. The seconds get in. Anderson waffles Hart, and while Hart's going down he drops the towel. Bruno sees it and calls for the bell. The heels are furious. It's OK. On the bad side, there was clearly not much thought or planning into how to use the cage (par for the course with WCW) and the hyped up "electrified cage" angle went nowhere. On the plus side, all four guys in the match were more than talented enough to paper over the cracks and turn what could have been a disaster into something at least watchable. This would lead to a reformation of the Four Horsemen with Sting joining the group (Arn Anderson would return from his WWF run in December), all part of the long term plan leading to Sting winning the world title from Flair. Meanwhile, Flair and Funk would have their final blowoff at the next Clash in one last Ric Flair '89 classic. **3/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS: Not bad, not great. By WCW '89 standards it's definitely low on the list, but it's a decent watch. This was the start of a period where the tag division would get a lot of emphasis, hence all the tag matches on this show.
OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B-