Legacy Review
Wrestle War '91
February 24, 1991 from the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix
Commentary: Jim Ross and Dusty Rhodes, just back from WWF
Before getting going with the show there's three important things to note: One, after being rested for a year and moved out of its traditional Great American Bash slot, War Games is back, in its temporary home for the next two years. Two, Ric Flair won the world title back from Sting at a house show in January. Three, right after Flair won the title back WCW announced its intention to leave the NWA and start their own title lineages. But, over the next few years they would still partner with the NWA for various things, usually involving the world heavyweight or world tag titles (which the NWA was happy to do as WCW was their last grasp on anything resembling continuing relevance), creating a maze of title lineages that start to look as complicated as the flowchart of the Doctor/River Song relationship.
WCW World Six Man Tag Team Championship: Ricky Morton, Tommy Rich and the Junkyard Dog (c) def The State Patrol and Big Cat in 9:54- The NWA had a 6 man title, but it rarely popped up on TV and never on major shows, save one time at Clash of the Champions IV. This is a revived version of the title for WCW just created earlier in the month that would be used a little more prominently on weekly TV, but also would be killed off before the end of the year in the Jim Herd/Kip Frey transition. They also don't appear to have made the actual belts yet, as the champs don't have any. That's WCW planning for you in a nutshell right there. The big guys JYD and Cat start. Look, I'm a big guy, so I really don't have a leg to stand on when it comes to criticizing other people's weight, but JYD looks like he ate the Superdome. Finger poking in chests leads to face punching. Morton schools Wright with the basics. Same with Rich and Parker. The Patrol are doing some enthusiastic bumping. JYD and Cat have a test of strength, followed by JYD headbutts. The Patrol cheap shot Morton in the back on a rope run and Morton goes into the role he was born for, face in peril. Quick but legal double teams by the heels lead to several near falls. Morton tries to fight back on Parker but runs into a powerslam. Cat catches Morton on a crossbody attempt and hits him with a backbreaker. Morton dodges a Parker corner charge and gets the hot tag. JYD headbutts and powerslams Parker. Donnybrook. Morton covers the still prone Parker and the ref counts 3 even though Morton wasn't legal. JR did call him a "rookie ref" earlier in the match. Serviceable opener. They kept things moving, Morton carried most of the match, and the State Patrol had some nice crispness in their work. **
"Beautiful" Bobby Eaton def Brad Armstrong in 12:51- Now, this has potential. On Eaton's entrance there's hilarious piped in "Bobby" chants. You think Goldberg's chants were blatantly piped in, that's nothing compared to these. It's so obvious, and even moreso when there's no shots of the crowd at all. But, though Eaton does have a face turn coming, right now he's still a heel. He wrestles like a heel and gets heat like a heel. Why the piped in chants at all? Don't ask, it's Jim Herd. I haven't gone back to check but they probably already taped the face turn and forgot it hadn't been on TV yet. Eaton jumps Armstrong from behind as he's getting his jacket off. Flying headscissors by Armstrong. Eaton pops him with a straight right in the corner. Armstrong counters with a monkey flip. Eaton gets a knee to the gut and throws Armstrong out. He follows but gets barricaded and posted. Back in, Eaton taunts and hides in the ropes. Test of strength that Eaton controls, until Armstrong WALKS UP HIM, jumps off his shoulders, springs to the second rope, and hits a reverse crossbody for 2. Fantastic. Eaton tries a slingshot suplex, but after the slingshot Armstrong plants and reverses it into a suplex of his own! Armstrong tries a rollup but Eaton blocks it and kills him with a clothesline. Pop up backbreaker by Eaton. Funny bit where Eaton is working a chinlock, and there's a kid (early teens looking) in the front row flipping him off. Eaton's back is turned but I think he's egging the kid on. Eaton uses the tights to hit a slingshot backbreaker. Roddy Strong is watching this match and taking notes. A back elbow from Eaton sends Armstrong out, with some kick assists. Eaton gives him the Rock drop on the barricade. Abdominal stretch with rope leverage. The ref goes between Armstrong's legs to catch it! Eaton misses a dive in the corner. Armstrong with a big Russian leg sweep, but Eaton gets a foot on the rope. Eaton counters a backdrop with a neckbreaker, goes up top, hits the Alabama Jam, and good night. Hell of a match. This was an early test run of the template of mixing traditional mat wrestling and innovative high spots that would define the soon to come Light Heavyweight division. ***3/4
Itsuki Yamazaki and Mami Kitamura def Miki Handa and Miss A in 6:47- This is a warmup match for the WCW/NJPW Supershow that would be held in the Tokyo Dome in March (which would lead into Superbrawl back in the States in May). Yamazaki was half of the Jumping Bomb Angels team that laid down some really good matches in WWF in the late '80s. Handa and A are the nominal heels. They offer a Code of Honor handshake but it's a RUSE! Yamazaki walks to the middle of the top rope and hits a sunset flip on A for 2. A gets some stiff kicks on Kitamura and she goes in peril. A with a suplex for 2, and she works the leg. Kitamura counters with a diving back elbow off the second rope. Yamazaki turns up the juice. She goes to hit a double underhook suplex on A, can't lift her, gets some support from the crowd, and hits it. Kitamura with a small package for 2. Kitamura hits a bulldog on Handa. Yamazaki with a gut wrench suplex for 2. Yamazaki gets caught in the heel corner, and A absolutely unloads on her with a series of strong style kicks. Yamazaki leaps onto A's shoulders, flips over and gets a sunset flip for 2! Big Saito suplex from A. Handa with a perfectplex for 2. Yamazaki hits both heels with a missile dropkick of the top rope! The faces get a nice sunset flip/clothesline off the second rope assist double team for 2. Yamazaki lifts up in a wheelbarrow like move, and rolls over to roll A over and gets the pin! Solid joshi puroresu. ***
Missy Hyatt is on a mission to get into the dressing room. Well, I'm sure she knows her way around back there....Oh, for an interview!
"The Natural" Dustin Rhodes def "Nature Boy" Buddy Landel in 6:33- Dustin had his major company introduction in WWF before heading back home with Big Daddy Dust. He's still learning but is clearly someone the company has a lot of hope in. And it helps that daddy's booking again. Rhodes with a big backdrop/dropkick start. Landell tries to hide behind the ref. .3 Flair chops from Landell. Rhodes counters by climbing the ropes and hitting mounted elbows. Dusty: "That's hereditary!". Landell goes up top but gets the Flair throw. Rhodes' shoulder gets posted. Landell works some dreary offense, including one halfway decent chop. Landell with a sleeper. Rhodes counters into a sleeper of his own. Landell rams him face first into the top turnbuckle, but Rhodes counters with a boot up on a charge. Rhodes hits the bulldog and wins. *1/4
Missy Hyatt walks into the dressing room and is promptly kicked out by a furious Stan Hansen. Reportedly this was all put together to parody a real life incident where a female Boston Herald reporter was doing interviews in the New England Patriots locker room. The players didn't take kindly to her presence and decided to show off their Patriot missiles to get her to leave. Needless to say the whole thing fell about as flat as one of Vince McMahon's parodies.
The Young Pistols def The Royal Family in 12:05- The Pistols are the renamed Southern Boys. The Royal Family stuck around after the Starrcade '90 tag tournament, but seem to have emigrated from New Zealand to the UK. The Family gets a legit post-bell jump on the Pistols. The Pistols try the midring do-si-do but eat clotheslines instead. Smothers ducks a double clothesline and Armstrong hits a crossbody off the top on both heels. As Smothers and Morgan start to reset and settle in the lights go out! Ah, crack WCW production. They quickly get every spotlight in the arena on the ring, and maybe the traditional CZW circle of truck headlights too. Smothers takes a while trying to power out of a Morgan headlock and not getting very far. He gets Morgan to the corner, jumps up for a monkey flip and tags at the same time, and they follow it up with a double dropkick. The lights are back on. Morgan gets an advantage but Victory runs into an armdrag. Victory runs over Armstrong with a bunch of shoulder blocks. The Pistols respond with a double team flying shoulder tackle, then play around with a bunch of arm wringers. Armstrong goes for a cross body but Victory ducks. Armstrong splats on the mat and goes pistol in peril, but not for long as the tag matches aren't getting nearly as much time as they did in '90. He gets a boot up on a charge and tags. Morgan kicks Smothers in the back on a rope run and Victory clotheslines him out. Smothers escapes a bear hug but takes a Morgan spinebuster for 2. Double suplex. Armstrong saves the pin. The Family set Smothers up for another double suplex. Armstrong dropkicks them, Smothers falls on Morgan and gets the pin. The Pistols hoisted the Family on their backs and drug them to an almost serviceable match. *1/2
Tony is with the new manager of the Freebirds, Diamond Dallas Page. Funny story. DDP started out as a manager in AWA, then went down to the original FCW, trained as a wrestler and worked commentary. He also tried out for an announcer gig with WWF, didn't get hired but did get to drive the limo Rhythm and Blues rode in at Wrestlemania 6. After FCW went out of business he went back to working nightclubs. But, Dusty remembered him from his WWF tryout, and DDP was one of his first hires after he got back to WCW. And here we are. It's still years away before he became a good wrestler, but the man could sure as hell talk straight away.
No DQ: Terry Taylor (w/Alexandria York) def "The Z Man" Tom Zenk in 10:59- Taylor hasn't had to convert to the full corporate "Terrance" yet. Zenk gets the high pitched pop. In between PPVs Zenk's actually had a cup of coffee with the TV title, ending Arn Anderson's near year long reign in December (taped before Starrcade but aired after), but dropping it back to Arn a month later. These guys had a couple of TV matches end in a DQ, hence the stip here. Fast start from Zenk and lots of Taylor quick powders. Shoving and slapping. Taylor hits a right hand and does an almost Rooster strut. Zenk responds with a punch of his own and Taylor rolls out again. Taylor ends up on the wrong end of a long headlock sequence, and when he gets free he goes out again to consult the computer. Zenk hits a backdrop for 2 with crazy Taylor overselling. Taylor hits headbutts in the corner, whips Zenk and Zenk Bret bumps. Taylor follows it up with a suplex. They go outside and Taylor chokes Zenk with the TV cable, taking advantage of no DQ. Back in, Zenk gets a sunset flip for 2. Zenk ducks a clothesline and hits one of his own to send Taylor 360 out. If we're actually enforcing the "no over the top rope rule" that's also taking advantage of no DQ, but that rule was never consistently enforced (because it's stupid and pointless). Taylor drags Zenk out and they brawl on the floor. Taylor hits the Flair lite kneedrop for 2. Zenk comes back with a swinging neckbreaker. Zenk superkick for 2 with more amazing Taylor overselling. Powerslam for 2. Enzuguri! Zenk hits a crossbody off the top but York is distracting the ref. Taylor rolls him up with a handful of trunks and gets the pin. There was a lot of effort, but they didn't really do anything to get into high gear or do much with the no DQ stip. Taylor had his selling boots on though. **1/2
Paul E is here for an edition of The Danger Zone. He comes out to mariachi music and wearing a matador outfit for cheap heat because we're near the border. The crowd doesn't really care. Paul E says that all the illegals are going to be arrested and they still don't care. He calls out his guest, El Gigante. He taunts Gigante with the red cape and goes for more cheap heat while Gigante circles him and doesn't speak. The main point of this is Gigante is going to be the special referee for a Flair/Sting world title rematch in a cage. Paul E puts the mic in Gigante's face and gets a "no habla". He throws his sombrero in Gigante's face and Gigante bodyslams him. And...scene. Like most talk show segments on PPV in the era, completely pointless.
Tony is with Hiro Matsuda and the Great Muta to hype up the upcoming Tokyo Dome show.
Big Van Vader and Stan Hansen go to a double DQ in 6:21- These guys lit Japan on fire with their NJPW/AJPW interpromotional matches in 1990, including the infamous match where Vader's eye popped out of its socket. Vader was again IWGP Heavyweight Champion (not mentioned on TV). He had dropped it to Tatsumi Fujinami in December but won it again in January for the third and what would be final time. Hansen dropped the All Japan Triple Crown title to Jumbo Tsuruta in January. As soon as Vader steps on the apron Hansen jumps on him. Vader grabs him and flips him over into a sort of belly to belly suplex on the ramp. Hansen hits a short arm clothesline. Vader is supposed to 360 back in but can't get over. Hansen helps him. Vader counters a charge with a stiff as hell clothesline. Avalanche! He tosses Hansen out and dives on him off the apron. Slugfest on the floor. Hansen dodges another avalanche and hits a belly to back suplex. They go outside again. Hansen scoops up a crate and hits Vader with it. They trade chairshots. Not traditional folding chairs, the molded plastic non-folding kind. And they're right on top of commentary. JR wants out. Vader drops Hansen gut first on the barricade. Hansen gives Vader a stair shot. They get back in and start wailing away on each other from their knees with forearms and headbutts. The ref tries to restore order but Hansen tosses him away. Eventually the ref DQs both of them. They keep fighting. Vader hits a clothesline off the top rope. Hansen gets his rope and tries to hang Vader with it. Vader gets it wrapped around Hansen's neck and drags him all the way to the back. It had a bit of the old stiffness but they definitely left the magic in Japan. **1/4 (*** if it was in the Tokyo Dome, max)
WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: "The Total Package" Lex Luger def "Dangerous" Dan Spivey in 12:52- Spivey punches off of the lockups in the corner. Luger counters with a backdrop. Luger blocks an atomic drop and hits a belly to back for 2. Spivey dodges a charge and Luger does his beloved crazy dive over the ropes, but since it's the double ring setup he goes over both sets of ropes into ring 1! Spivey suplexes him back in. Spivey with a tombstone piledriver! That was still a new move then. Reverse neckbreaker for 2. DDT for 2. Lots of big moves and Luger showing big heart kicking out of them all. Luger blocks a suplex and hits one of his own. Spivey still gets up first and hits a reverse elbow drop off the top rope that Luger JUST kicks out of. Big boot for 2. A traditional piledriver this time from Spivey for another long 2 count. Luger pops up and tries to hulk up. Spivey squashes it with a belly to belly suplex. Spivey kills another comeback attempt with a Japanese armdrag. Luger gets in a sloppy hot shot and finally builds some momentum. Clothesline off the second rope. Powerslam. Spivey punches out of a sunset flip. Double clothesline! Luger goes up top. Spivey tries to slam him, but Luger rolls through it into a Paul Smackage and the win! Not bad. Probably Spivey's best match outside of Japan. **3/4
The old NWA US title belt is being retired, so Tony hosts the presentation of the new belt. Former US champ Nikita Koloff is here to present it. They pull out a belt that looks nothing like the WCW US belt (I guess it's still in processing like the 6 man belts). But it doesn't matter, because Koloff takes it and whacks Luger over the head with it! Koloff says that he's been told over and over again he's been "retired" for 2 years and if the championship committee was going to notice him he needed to make a statement. Message received.
WCW World Tag Team Championship: The Fabulous Freebirds (w/Big Daddy Dink and Diamond Dallas Page) def Doom (c) (w/Teddy Long) in 6:56- DDP introduces Big Daddy Dink (Oliver Humperdink) as the Freebirds' new "road manager" and leaves. Once again Doom is put in a match where they're wrestling against heels, but are still being booked and wrestling like heels themselves. Today, that'd go over like gangbusters, especially given how pure badass Doom were. Back then, it gave all these matches a bit of a weird vibe. Tonight's no different. Simmons throws Hayes around a bit. He turns a bear hug into a spinebuster for 2. Hayes counters with the straight left punch and a bulldog for 2. Simmons with a powerslam. Garvin tries to ambush him off the top rope but Simmons catches him and powerslams him too! Tags. Garvin wails on Reed a bit until Reed kills him with a clothesline. Garvin sunset flip for 2. Reed hits power moves. Simmons suckers Hayes in so Reed can slam Garvin on the floor. Garvin counters a backdrop with a DDT. Simmons prevents a tag and absolutely plants Garvin with a spinebuster. Hayes breaks the pin up. Another Simmons powerslam. Donnybrook! Reed gets international knucks from Long and goes to hit Hayes, but Hayes ducks and Simmons gets it! Dink pushes Garvin onto Simmons, and he gets the pin and the titles for the Freebirds! Pretty good for the short time they got, and the heel/heel booking weirdness. Simmons looked every bit the future world champion. **1/2
But we're not done. Tensions had been festering in Doom for a while, and now the titles are gone it's about to explode. Simmons attacks Long. Reed jumps Simmons and beats him down. Doom is no more.
Now, here's another funny story. Back then WCW was taping ridiculous amounts of weekly TV at once, a month or more at a time (like NXT did during the Network only one hour show days, sometimes more). The Freebirds won the titles tonight, but barely a week before they had already taped the match where they *lost* the titles to the Steiners! Technically, they lost the belts before they won them. No internet to spoil these things back then.
War Games Match- The Four Horsemen (WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair, Barry Windham, Sid Vicious) and Larry Zbyszko (w/Arn Anderson) def Sting, "Flyin'" Brian Pillman, and WCW United States Tag Team Champions The Steiner Brothers in 21:50- Arn is out with an injury. Given the sudden timing and lack of on screen angle, I believe a legit one. His future Dangerous Alliance stablemate Zbyszko is replacing him. There was also an angle on TV the week before where the Horsemen injured Pillman's shoulder, but Pillman's gutting through it.
P1. Windham and Pillman- Pillman, hurt shoulder and all, storms in before his team can stop him because he's a LOOSE CANNON. He ducks a Windham clothesline and hits a flying clothesline of his own. Pillman grabs the top of the cage and uses it to kick, then hits a ceiling assisted half headscissors/half hurricanrana! He fakes a crossbody off the second rope to trick Windham and hits a missile dropkick. Windham dodges a splash. Pillman with a low blow! Windham takes the first cage shot and gets busted open. Cheese grater! Pillman bites the cut! He's got Windham's blood all over his mouth. Clothesline off the top rope. He throws Windham over both ropes across rings! Windham has a half crimson mask. Slugfest as the period ends.
Coin toss....the heels win! I'm shocked. SHOCKED I tell you.
P2. Flair- Pillman/Flair chop exchange. Pillman takes a cage shot. The heels start to work on his shoulder. Pillman takes the over the top across the rings throw.
P3. Sting- Pounds on Flair. Double clothesline on the heels. We get 2v2 pairoffs in each ring with a swap. Windham crotches Pillman. Sting no sells Flair's chops. Stinger Splash!
P4. Zbyszko- Pillman locks a figure four on Windham. Sting does his over the ropes dive across rings onto Zbyszko! As the period winds down the 3v2 lets the heels get the edge.
P5. Rick Steiner- Flair and Windham try to ambush him coming in but eat Steinerlines. Belly to belly suplex on Flair. Flair takes a cage shot and is bleeding. Sting eats cage.
P6. Sid Vicious- The obvious Horsemen closer. Sid rams Rick into the cage. Rick laughs at him! Flair with a low blow on Rick. More Flair chops on Sting. Windham does some more work on Pillman's shoulder. Flair Flop!
P7. Scott Steiner- The Match Beyond begins. Sid ambushes Scott but he gets a double Steinerline on him and Zbyszko. Double underhook suplex on Zbyszko. Stinger Splash! Flair Flop 2! Sting locks the Scorpion Death Lock on Flair but Zbyszko breaks it up. Sid rams Pillman's shoulder into the top turnbuckle and tears the tape off it. All the faces work all the heels into figure fours! Quadruple figure fours! Double stereo figure fours! It's figure four a mania! OK, enough JR (he didn't really say any of that). Since there's two in each ring the Horsemen help each other break them all up. Sting presses Flair's back into the ceiling. And now the big spot of the match: Sid's infamous botched powerbomb on Pillman. He picks Pillman up but the ceiling gets in the way, and Sid drops him right on his head. They redo the spot. Sid's more aware of the ceiling this time and Pillman takes the back bump. El Gigante comes down, "rips" the cage door off, checks on his little buddy Pillman, and tells the ref to stop the match because Pillman's out. And it's over. Some friend. Gigante cost him the match! Gigante carries Pillman out. Even taking the loss, Pillman looked like a million bucks in this match. This is probably the second greatest traditional War Games ever, topped only by the following year's Sting/Dangerous Alliance match. ****3/4
OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- This is definitely one of the best shows of the Jim Herd era. An all time great War Games, a great cruiserweight style match, a couple of really hot angles and a title change, and the undercard is all in the passable to decent range with no real duds. Too bad the crowd didn't show up until the main event, but Phoenix has never exactly been a wrestling hotbed. Yeah, watch this one.
OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B+
