The Main Event V

Legacy Review

The Main Event V

February 1, 1991 (taped January 28) from the Macon Coliseum in Macon, GA

Commentary: Vince McMahon and Roddy Piper

 

The show opens with shots of Hulk Hogan from a recent USO tour.

Hulk Hogan and Tugboat def Earthquake and Dino Bravo (w/Jimmy Hart) in 8:56- Putting a bow on this long feud before everyone moves on for Wrestlemania season. Really surprised to see the heels not pull the Suzuki-Gun jump. Hogan and Bravo start. Bravo pushes Hogan into the corner off a lockup and celebrates like he just won a title. Hogan wins round 2 and backdrops Bravo. Hart takes an early shot. Hogan atomic drops Bravo into the face corner and he and Tugboat ricochet him around for a bit. Bravo gets boots up in the corner on Tugboat and inverted atomic drops him, which is legit impressive. Tugboat dodges a Quake elbow drop and tags. Hogan slams Bravo, then slams Quake. Guess that spot's lost all its luster, throwing it in midmatch with no buildup. Double big boot on Quake. Quake eye rakes Tugboat to take control and the heels hit some double teams. Quake elbow drop. Hogan breaks up the pin. Quake walks over Tugboat. Tugboat reverses a corner whip and hits an avalanche. He and Quake look like they're trying to literally dance, not just wrestle dance, before Tugboat hits a clothesline. Bravo hits Tugboat in the back of the head with Hart's megaphone while he's hitting the ropes and he tumbles out to the floor. More bland in peril stuff follows, along with a phantom tag spot. Quake tunes up the band for the big one. Hogan cuts it off with a clothesline and both guys slowly crawl over to tag. Hogan immediately unloads the Hulk Up artillery on Bravo. 3 punches/big boot/SWERVE Hogan rolls him up for 3. Well that was something a bit different. Match still sucked though. Tugboat was an atrocious seller and he and Quake got lost a couple of times. 3/4*

Long recap of the WWF title situation at the Royal Rumble, from Savage and Sherri's rejected challenge to the interference filled match where Slaughter won the title. Slaughter's with Mean Gene and declares the WWF is playing by his new rules now.

 

WWF Championship: "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan def Sgt. Slaughter (c) (w/Gen. Adnan) by DQ in 6:50- Duggan comes out to Stars and Stripes Forever and Hogan is with him as flagbearer. He's forced to return to the back during commercial. Pushy punchykicky back and forth the first part of the match. Slaughter works some sneaky style chokes in. Duggan reverses a corner whip and pounds Slaughter down in the corner FOR AMERICA, then clotheslines Slaughter 360 and out. Slaughter's back took a rough bump on the apron going down but he's good, he was a bumping machine. Duggan tries to slam Slaughter back in. Adnan grabs his foot and Slaughter drops on top of him setting up the Wrestlemania 5 finish, but Adnan lets go and Duggan's able to kick out. It's that kind of laser focus, tactical follow through and forward planning that kept the Iraqi military toe to toe with US and coalition forces. That and Baghdad Bob saying there are no American forces in Baghdad when the tanks are literally rolling in behind him. Anyway, Duggan grabs Adnan and swings at him but completely misses. I mean whiffed, Adnan didn't move. Adnan hooks Duggan up, but Duggan dodges and Slaughter pops Adnan. Well, that's a court martial. Hell, in Saddam's Republican Guard they probably would go straight to the execution. Slaughter pops Duggan with his own 2x4 and covers him with one foot. Duggan kicks out. Slaughter whips out the Back Rakes of Excruciating Torture +3. Red Shoes would have made him clip his fingernails before the match. Slaughter rams Duggan's face into his boot spike. After a couple of buckle shots Duggan hulks up and comes back. On a corner whip Slaughter flies over the top rope all the way to the floor! They fight outside. Adnan distracts Duggan and Slaughter whacks him in the head with a chair for a DQ. Back in Slaughter gently nudges Duggan with the chair until Hogan runs back in. Hogan gets a piece of the chair nudging action too before Slaughter spits on them, decalres victory and leaves. There was a decentish brawl trying to get out but it never really got going. *1/4

 

The Legion of Doom def The Orient Express (w/Mr. Fuji) in 5:11-  The Express were coming in hot off a show stealing match with the Rockers at the Rumble. Animal and Kato start. Animal tosses him halfway across the ring out of a facelock. He no sells a chop and Kato runs for it. A speed run ends with an Animal powerslam. LOD double backdrops Tanaka, who does a nice twist in midair to land on his face. The heels take time outside to recover. Back in, Hawk knocks Tanaka around. Kato grabs Hawk's boot and the heels try a double team. Hawk goes to clothesline them both. Tanaka takes it but Kato ducks. He takes a swing at Hawk but Hawk plucks his fist out of the air mid-punch. Kato gets thrown out. Animal press slams him back in, and as soon as he gets to his feet Hawk clotheslines him out again! Then Animal runs him over on the floor with a clothesline! Kato just can't catch a break. Animal blocks a Tanaka hiptoss. Tanaka tries to flip over but Animal murders him with a clothesline that Tanaka 360 sells. Kato tries to hit Animal from behind again, still nothing doing. Finally Fuji throws some salt in Animal's eyes and that lets the Express get a little offense in. Animal lulls them into a false sense of security by taking a few moves before double clotheslining them and tagging out. Hawk destroys everyone. The Doomsday Device on Kato finishes it. Hugely fun squash. It's easy to see why the LOD were insta mega over the moment they hit the WWF, even for people that hadn't seen them in other companies, and the Express worked their asses off to make them look great. **1/2

Mean Gene is in the ring with President Jack Tunney for our main event promo segment- the announcement of Sgt. Slaughter's challenger at Wrestlemania 7. The Ultimate Warrior, Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Randy Savage are all floated as possibilities but to the shock of absolutely no one, it's Hulk Hogan. The show ends with fairly standard boilerplate promos from Slaughter and Hogan to kick off what would be in my mind a very underrated feud due to people's disdain for the Iraqi sympathizer/Gulf War exploitation angle, which is totally understandable. What really makes it memorable for me is Slaughter added in some hardcore touches that WWF wouldn't really get comfortable with until the Attitude Era.

The Main Event IV

Legacy Review

The Main Event IV

November 23, 1990 (taped October 30) from the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, IN

Commentary: Vince McMahon and Roddy Piper

Once again we're in the pretape hole of this show being recorded before Survivor Series but airing the Friday after Thanksgiving. All the in-arena signage for this show is Saturday Night's Main Event, but it ended up being moved to the Friday night Main Event spot for broadcast, becoming the first Main Event to not air live, and the only one in the original run not in February. Because of the shorter one hour timeslot no time is wasted, jumping right into DiBiase and Warrior promos.

WWF Championship: The Ultimate Warrior (c) def "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase (w/Virgil) by DQ in 9:47- Tonight's Warrior belt strap color is classic black. Not surprisingly Warrior opens up by tossing DiBiase around and clotheslining him 360 and out. He gives the heels a double noggin knocker. Back in, Warrior hits a double ax handle off the top rope. DiBiase gets a knee up in the corner and hits a clothesline. DiBiase double ax handle off the second rope for 2. Piledriver for 2. He tries another piledriver but Warrior backdrops out. Virgil grabs Warrior's foot on a rope run and DiBiase clotheslines him from behind. Warrior fights out of a headlock. DiBiase cuts the comeback off with a clothesline. Warrior counters a backdrop into a backslide for 2. DiBiase suplex for 2. Warrior blocks another suplex attempt and does a standing (!) sunset flip over DiBiase for 2. After a stair shot outside Warrior starts no selling punches, then blocks and hits a suplex. Speed run and midring collision. DiBiase comes off the second rope and Warrior gives him a punch in the gut everyone saw coming as soon as he climbed up. To the power of the ropes and Warrior up. Forever clotheslines. Flying tackle. Cover. Virgil runs in for the cheap DQ. As Warrior is trying to press slam Virgil Randy Savage runs in and whacks Warrior in the gut with his scepter, then drills Warrior in the throat with it off the top rope (doing a cool little spinny thing with it after). Savage and Sherri continue to work Warrior over until officials get them to leave. At this point I think they were still planning on a Warrior/Savage title match instead of the Rumble shenanigans that put the belt on Sgt. Slaughter. Match was encroaching on decentish. DiBiase passed on his usual stalling and went right for it, while Warrior actually whipped out some wrestling moves. *3/4

 

Sgt. Slaughter (w/Gen. Adnan) vs Nikolai Volkoff never officially starts- So we've got a former Soviet communist turned American patriot against a former American patriot and Army sergeant turned post-Kuwait invasion Iraqi sympathizer. They're both jumping sides more than Miami sports fans trying to figure out which team to bandwagon when the home team isn't in championship contention. Volkoff and Adnan wave their flags at each other. Slaughter takes advantage and hits Volkoff from behind, whips him with his riding crop, and slaps on the camel clutch to torque his back and make him compliant. Or something. Hacksaw Jim Duggan runs in and chases the heels off with the match a theoretical point of philosophical debate because the bell never rang.

 

Mr. Perfect def The Big Boss Man by countout in 8:15- This is right after Bobby Heenan started insulting Boss Man's mamma. He's a no show at the start of the match because he's scared. Perfect winning back the IC title aired on TV a couple of weeks after this. Perfect swerves the lockup and slaps Boss Man. Some more shots get Boss Man pissed so Perfect casually hops over the top rope to the floor to have a think. Boss Man chases him around the ring and decks him. Back in, Perfect channels his old manager the Genius by cartwheeling out of a backdrop. Boss Man acknowledges the reference by clotheslining him out of his boots. Perfect gets his double bump in the corner in. Boss Man drags Perfect around by the hair and Perfect slides crotch first into the ring post. Perfect dodges a Boss Man splash off the top rope. Reverse neck snap. Perfect small package for 2. Perfect takes a top turnbuckle pad off. Boss Man blocks and Perfect takes the shot with a 360 sell. Perfect reverses a corner whip and Boss Man's already damages back hits the exposed buckle. Heenan comes out to ringside. Perfect goes for the Perfectplex but Boss Man turns it into a small package for 2. Slugfest. Perfect gets an eye poke and hits the Perfectplex. Boss Man gets out at 2 and stands right back up. That was...awkward. Heenan holds down the top rope, but Boss Man reverses the whip and Perfect tumbles out to the floor. Boss Man tries to get Heenan in the ring. Heenan slaps him and runs. Boss Man chases, turns around and tries to get back to the ring, but not quickly enough and gets counted out. It's basically a condensed version of their future Wrestlemania 7 match with a different non-finish. A lot of the spots are exactly the same. **1/4

Heenan runs by Mean Gene in complete panic and begs for help. Meanwhile, all show Vince had been teasing showing something that would let you eat anything you want and not gain any weight, and it's time to unveil it. It's a commercial for "Playboy" Buddy Rose's "Blow Away Diet Plan". Eat whatever you want! No exercise! Just pour the special weight loss powder all over your body, then use a fan to BLOW IT ALL AWAY. Yeah, I saw this Doctor Who episode. People dissolving into little fat monsters is horrific and all, but the Adipose themselves were pretty damn cute. There are a couple of actually amusing bits at the end: the "before" and "after" photos are exactly the same, and the phone number to call and order is 1-500-LAR-DASS, a nice subtle stretching of the era's strict PG boundary.

 

"The Model" Rick Martel def Tito Santana in 6:46- A year and a half after their big tag team breakup the former Strike Force finally get a one on one match on a major(ish) show. And of course commentary doesn't bring it up once, because this is right after Martel "accidentally" sprayed some of his Arrogance cologne in Jake Roberts' eye and partially blinded him. Martel jumps before the bell and throws Santana out. Santana ducks a punch on the floor and Martel punches the ring post. They go back in and Santana works the arm and hand for a bit. Good intensity from both guys here on basic stuff. They worked so good together. Santana counters a backdrop into a small package for 2. Martel gets a thrust into Santana's throat. Santana turns a chinlock into a hammerlock. Martel uses Santana's tights to pull him face first into the top turnbuckle and goes back to work on the throat with chokes and more sneaky illegal shots. Martel backbreakers. He slowly goes up top, giving Santana time to get up and punch him, dropping Martel crotch first onto the turnbuckle. Hot Santana comeback. Like picante hot. Diving clothesline off the second rope for 2. Martel ducks a punch and tries for an atomic drop, but Santana blocks it and starts to put the figure four on. Martel rolls him up into a small package for 2. As they're getting up from that Martel headbutts Santana in the gut, does a double leg takedown, and turns over into the Boston crab! Santana has to submit. Great closing stretch. These two guys would always give you quality no matter how time or angle constrained. **3/4

Mean Gene is with Jake Roberts. There's a quick recap of the Arrogance attack and his recovery, then Roberts takes his sunglasses off to reveal one white eye. It got better. The show closes with Sean Mooney and Warrior, who gives a rare promo with no face paint on. He promises revenge on Savage for making all the little Warriors cry.

BONUS MATCH REVIEW

Best 2 out of 3 Falls Match for the WWF Tag Team Championship: The Rockers def The Hart Foundation (c) in about 25:00- This match and title change was supposed to air on this show, however there was....an incident. This is courtesy of WWE's pre-WWE Network DVD library. It might be up on Peacock now but I'm not digging around to find it. No commentary on this match because it was never recorded, but it's also a plus because the in-ring audio is mixed much louder.

FIRST FALL- Bret and Janetty start. Headlock/headscissors tradeoff and standoff. Bret back elbows out of a hammerlock and runs over Janetty. A speed run ends with a Rockers double team backbreaker and a double superkick on Anvil. Bret recovers to ram the Rockers' heads together, and Anvil absolutely murders them with a double clothesline that both Rockers 360 sell. The Rockers slide under another double team attempt and we have a standoff and reset. Anvil shows he's stronger than Shawn. Not a shock to anyone. Shawn rolls Anvil over with a headscissors and the Rockers work his arm. Janetty plays with Anvil by pulling out of rope runs. Finally Anvil clotheslines him, then sends him 360 and out. Shawn quickly falls beside him from a move that was off camera. Janetty slides under Anvil's legs coming back in and atomic drops him. Rockers double dropkick. Janetty sunset flips Anvil for 2. More double teams on Anvil. Both Rockers go up top. Bret pushes Shawn off, while Janetty hits Anvil with a fist drop for 2. Anvil catches Shawn leaping in the corner and powerslams him. Bret goes into an FMOD like run with near falls. Shawn just kicks out of a piledriver and Bret lays into the ref, probably telling him refs count quicker in Canada. Check the rule book, I'm sure Lance Storm has a copy. With Bret distracted Shawn just gets over to tag. Bret sunset flips Janetty, but Janetty stacks him up and gets a pin!

SECOND FALL- Slow reset and restart. Bret catches a Janetty leapfrog and hits an inverted atomic drop. Bret and Janetty keep trying to reverse each other's suplex, allowing Janetty to tag Shawn behind his back. Shawn catches Janetty as Bret's suplexing him and the Rockers hit a double clothesline. Anvil runs in and avalanches Shawn, but when he does the top rope on the other side of the ring (right side from the hard camera view) comes off. Well, crap. Someone shouts "Goddammit son of a bitch!", but it's hard to tell if it's a WWF employee or just a fan around ringside. The match continues with no stop with Shawn in peril. Bret puts him in a front facelock for a while, likely to try to figure out how best to proceed. Janetty keeps reaching in to tag, and with no top rope he's able to reach way more into the ring than usual. Anvil runs in to discourage him. As they're slugging it out Anvil shouts "Break us up!" and the ref does so. Shawn reverses a corner whip and Bret does a Bret bump, but being Bret he adjusted on the fly and went down and hit the middle turnbuckle only. Hot tag. Janetty whips Bret and Bret gingerly and reluctantly hits the ropes before taking a superkick. Bret cuts him off with a swinging neckbreaker and tags. Bret slams Anvil onto Janetty for 2. Hart Decapitation Device. Shawn breaks the pin up. The Harts try a rocket launcher. Shawn dropkicks Anvil and he drops Bret all the way down to the floor. Anvil goes down to check on him (possibly legitimately). Shawn tries to suplex Bret back in. Bret slips out and hits a back suplex. Shawn leapfrogs right into Anvil's waiting clutches and is right in position. Hart Attack! That gets the fall. Afterward the Harts have a discussion with the ref with Anvil looking over at the broken rope with disgust. Bret looks upset too. They pause and we have a tape edit while the rope is fixed.

THIRD FALL- Everything's repaired and in working order again. Anvil knees Shawn in the back on a rope run. Bret pummels him with nasty European uppercuts. Shawn dodges a dive and Bret goes flying into the ropes. Guess they're OK. Tag. Janetty powerslam on Bret for 2. He hits a bulldog-ish face plant off the second rope. Anvil breaks the pin up. Bret and Janetty do a criss cross that ends a little muddled with a Bret suplex. Slingshot double team shoulderblock on Janetty for 2. The Harts try the double team powerslam, but Janetty gets his knees up on Bret. Anvil flips Shawn to the floor. The Harts set up the Hart Attack again. Shawn leaps over the top rope from the apron and dropkicks Janetty in the back and onto Anvil. Shawn rolls Bret up, and Janetty pins Anvil for the win! Good size pop but not a massive one. That was probably wasted on the first fall pop because people don't listen to the rules. Everyone handshakes and hugs it out after. The Rockers were allowed to carry the tag belts around for a bit, and even defend them a couple of times on TV tapings for later airing, before Vince decided the match was too much of a mess to air on TV. Honestly, I don't see it. There was a lot of fumbling around during the second fall, sure, but the match was likely going to be cut down anyway to fit in the SNME or ME timeslot, and they could have easily edited around the offending portions and still gotten the match on air and made the Rockers official champions. Instead, it turned out to be probably the most famous phantom title change in WWF/E history as, officially, the Harts' title reign continued uninterrupted until they were upset by the Nasty Boys at WM 7. The match as it was is still pretty good. The first fall was excellent and clearly on the way to a classic until it was derailed by the broken rope. After that they did what they could, but there was way too much talent involved to keep it from falling down too far. ***

Saturday Night's Main Event XXIX

Legacy Review

Saturday Night's Main Event XXIX

April 27, 1991 (taped April 15) from the Omaha Civic Auditorium in Omaha, NE

Commentary: Vince McMahon and Randy Savage (still playing a heel for now)

Even though this was broadcast as an SNME the arena banners and mic covers are all The Main Event. During the promos for the opening match we get footage of Slaughter throwing flashpaper a fireball in Hogan's face backstage after WM 7, and from recent weekly TV of Warrior getting locked into a Warrior themed coffin by Paul Bearer and the Undertaker and almost suffocating to death before being rescued by WWF officials. The whole inside of the coffin is torn up from Warrior trying to claw his way out before passing out. Another for the list of things you'll never see in wrestling today.

The Ultimate Warrior def Sgt. Slaughter (w/Col. Mustafa and Gen. Adnan) by DQ in 8:00- This is Warrior's revenge match after losing the WWF title to Slaughter at the Rumble (with a huge assist from Savage). Slaughter climbs the top rope before the bell and Warrior slams him off. A punch sends Slaughter 360 and out. Back in Slaughter begs off and gets an eye poke. He throws Warrior out and Sheiky Baby gets a shot in. Slaughter starts working Warrior's back. Bear hug. Warrior Mongolian chops out. He slams Slaughter but his back gives out right after. Back to the bear hug. Paul Bearer comes down to ringside with the same Warrior themed casket that Warrior almost died in. Warrior sees it and freezes. Slaughter clotheslines him from behind. Warrior gets to the ropes and starts Warrioring up. Forever clotheslines. Flying tackle. Bearer lifts the lid and Undertaker's in the coffin! There's a great shot of Taker snapping his head to the side to look at Warrior. Warrior freezes again and Slaughter hits him from behind again. Everyone runs in and starts beating on Warrior for the DQ finish, not that it really matters with everything else going on. Hulk Hogan runs in and fights off Slaughter's crew. He gives Taker a whack with the title belt and Taker no sells it. Hogan chases off the Axis while Warrior dodges Taker elbow drops and Warriors up again. Taker no sells clothesline. Warrior builds up a ton of steam with a lots of rope runs and hits flying tackle that sends Taker 360 over, but he lands on his feet. End scene. Not much of a match, but the angle work was really good. *

Bearer and Taker are with Mean Gene and promise to bring a final end to the Ultimate Warrior. This feud is historically significant not just for being Taker's first major feud, but also because it was WWF's last true major house show feud, in that it was built specifically for the house show loop and had no resolution on TV. With more TV, especially PPVs, that style was going the way of the spinning toe hold. The first show I ever went to in person in the summer of '91 was main evented by Warrior vs Undertaker.

 

WWF Tag Team Championship: The Nasty Boys (c) (w/Jimmy Hart) def The Bushwhackers in 6:48- This is the kind of match you read on the rundown and you just want to pack it all in, quit your review writing hobby and maybe gouge your own eyes out so you don't ever have to watch it. OK, lets see how this goes. Luke and Knobbs start. After some back and forth it's a quick donnybrook with the heels getting whipped into each other and double clotheslined out. The Bushwhackers march all over the ring while the Nastys regroup. Sags gets Butch to play to the crowd and hits him from behind. After a whip reversal and ripcord knee to the gut Luke gets a diving clothesline. Knobbs breaks the pin up. Everyone in again! After taking a couple of battering rams the heels are on the floor again. Once things settle back in Knobbs kicks Luke in the back of the head from the apron on a rope run. Luke goes Kiwi in peril. After a bit of beating he dodges a corner dive and both sides tag. Butch clotheslines for everyone. The Nastys hit a double team clothesline. Luke breaks the pin up. Knobbs lifts Butch, but Luke pushes Butch down on top of him. Sags just breaks the pin up. The crowd ate that one up. An innocent time, when you thought the Bushwhackers might actually win the tag titles. Knobbs does a double leg takedown on Butch, stacks him up, and Sags gives a leverage assist for the pin. Well. Where the hell did that come from? It didn't suck. That was a decent brawl with nearly nonstop action and hardly any resting. The Nastys were really working hard, possibly to justify their winning the tag titles, and the Bushwhackers were on as well as anytime in their WWF run. **

We get footage of Earthquake squashing and killing Damien. I mean, I'm not condoning pet murder, but as strategery goes it's not terrible. It certainly takes the snake out of the equation. That is, until Jake Roberts comes in toting another bag with Damien's big brother Lucifer inside. I haven't read for sure one way or the other, but I'm willing to bet it's the exact same snake. Hogan's got a bandage on the side of his face from the fireball attack.

 

20 Man Battle Royale- Your participants are: WWF Champion Hulk Hogan, Intercontinental Champion Mr. Perfect, The British Bulldog, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Earthquake, Tugboat, Greg Valentine, Jake Roberts, The Big Boss Man, Haku, The Barbarian, Jimmy Snuka, The Warlord, The Texas Tornado, The Rockers, The Orient Express, and Power and Glory.

Hogan charges right for Quake when he hits the ring and it's on. Perfect tries to hide by wrapping himself around the ring post. Hogan holds Quake for Roberts. Janetty goes over the top, skins the cat and headscissors Roma over. Roma drags Janetty down with him and they're both gone. Hogan, that guardian of fair play, chokes Quake with his wrist tape. Perfect and Hogan renew their late '90 rivalry. Perfect fights off an elimination attempt. Now Perfect and Tornado get back together. Shawn gets hoisted up on Herc's shoulders but manages to get out. Valentine and Hogan ricochet Perfect around. Perfect goes over the top but lands on the apron. Warlord eliminates Bulldog, a bit of revenge for his WM 7 loss. Tanaka is eliminated as Boss Man dangles over the corner upside down by one knee. Snuka's eliminated. Perfect keeps rolling under the bottom rope to the apron to rest. Smart. Hercules and Quake eliminate Roberts. Roberts grabs the bag and gets Lucifer out. Quake bails and the whole match stops. Commercial. Back with brawling resumed. Hogan tries to lift Quake but Tugboat hits him from behind! Best buds Hogan and Tugboat fight! Every man for himself. But even more, knowing now what happens after this, I think it's safe to say that Jimmy Hart has already gotten his hooks into the future Typhoon, he's just working undercover and hasn't exposed himself yet. Hogan eliminates Warlord. Tornado puts a sleeper on Barbarian. Barbarian uses it to dump him over and out. Quake eliminates Duggan. Hogan elimiantes Quake! Hogan's starting to get some momentum. He lifts Kato up to eliminate him, but Tugboat comes from behind again and dumps Kato AND HOGAN! Shawn sneaks up and eliminates Tugboat. Hercules gets tossed while Hogan and Tugboat stare each other down on the floor. I'm telling you, Tugboat's counting Hart's money in his head. Meanwhile the match takes on a completely different tone without Hogan or any of the superheavyweights. Perfect dropkicks old rival Boss Man in the back and Barbarian eliminates him. Haku accidentally chops Perfect and Shawn dropkicks Haku out. The final four are Shawn, Valentine, Perfect and Barbarian. Shawn unloads rapid fire punches on Perfect and throws him over, but Perfect grabs the rope to land on the apron. Perfect reverses a corner whip. Shawn flip! He lands on the apron. After a couple of dodges by both guys Perfect back elbows Shawn and he drops to the floor. Great sequence from those two. Valentine tries to eliminate Barbarian but the two Heenan Family members gang up on him. Valentine dodges a double team, Perfect dropkicks Barbarian and Valentine eliminates him! It's down to two. Fight in the corner. Chop exchange. Now the ring's clear Perfect gets a 360 sell in. An atomic drop slingshots Perfect into the corner. Valentine throws Perfect over but he lands on the apron again. They push against the ropes. Both guys go over! Valentine hits the floor, but Perfect lands on the apron again! Perfect wins! Hell of a finish, and a sensational choice for the winner. Like most battle royales it started slow, but once the ring started clearing the last 5-6 minutes were really damn good. Perfect put on a great performance, carrying a lot of the match on his way to victory. There was a ton of story and angle work in here too on several different fronts. ***1/4

 

Bret "Hitman" Hart and "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase (w/Sensational Sherri) double countout in 9:56- Roddy Piper, who's been side feuding with DiBiase as Virgil's mentor, joins commentary for this match. This is the unofficial official start of Bret's long delayed singles push. DiBiase chops after a rope break. Bret reverses a corner whip and pummels DiBiase with clotheslines, the last one sending him 360 and out. Bret with a plancha! He follows with a ground and pound on the floor, and looks Sherri off. Back in, Sherri tries to grab Bret's foot. Bret drags her up and dodges DiBiase so he knees Sherri off the apron. Bret quickly rolls him up for 2. They go on a speed run. DiBiase catches Bret on a leapfrog and gives him a hot shot. DiBiase piledriver for 2. Bret slips out of a slam and tries a roll up, but DiBiase shits the momentum to send Bret to the floor. Stair shot for Bret. Sherri sneaks around and gets her shot in, then chokes Bret with her jacket. Bret bump! DiBiase hooks in the Million Dollar Dream. Bret quickly backs him into the corner. DiBiase comes off the second rope and Bret gives him a punch in the gut. Five Moves of Doom with close near falls. Sherri grabs Bret's foot again. Bret jumps out and stalks her. DiBiase hits him from behind with a double ax handle off the apron. Piper has seen enough. He leaves the virtual commentary booth in Stamford and transports to the arena. He gets in Sherri's face, looks under the ring and grabs a broom, then points to Sherri and asks if it's hers. That's ridiculous. That looks like a Cleensweep Five or some crap like that, and you know DiBiase isn't going to let Sherri ride anything less than at least a Nimbus 2000. Piper rides the broom like a Quidditch cosplayer and chases Sherri to the back. DiBiase chases Piper, then Bret chases DiBiase. Bret and DiBiase fight on the aisle as they're both counted out. No shock to anyone, these guys had great chemistry, but all the Sherri shenanigans and the crappy non-finish held it back. ***

 

The Mountie (w/Jimmy Hart) def Tito Santana in 4:29- This is a rematch from Wrestlemaina 7. They were at the end of the card and had their match cut short for time, so they're getting a little more of a proper go at it here. A little more. On a rope break Mountie shouts "I AM THE MOUNTIE!" and Santana shows zero respect for him as a law enforcement officer by punching him. An atomic drop and dropkicks send Mountie to the floor and he hugs Hart to recover in the old Rougeau Brothers style. Santana tries a double noggin knocker but Mountie elbows him in the gut. Back in Mountie blocks a monkey flip and Santana is pounded into the turnbuckle. Santana gets his knees up on a splash. Flying frijole! Hart gets in and takes a flying frijole of his own! But the cattle prod rolled over to the Mountie. He stabs it in Santana's throat and shocks him, confirmed by the electricity sound effect that in no way was added in post, and Mountie gets the pin. *1/4

The show closes with dueling Slaughter and Hogan promos. And that brings us to an end of the original 6 year run of Saturday Night's Main Event on NBC. After sitting idle for the rest of '91 the show would be picked up by Fox for two short hour long episodes in '92, which is where we'll be heading next.

Saturday Night's Main Event XXVIII

Legacy Review

Saturday Night's Main Event XXVIII

October 13, 1990 (taped September 18) from the Toledo Sports Arena in Toledo, OH

Commentary: Vince McMahon and Roddy Piper

We've got another themed SNME. This time it's Oktoberfest. For the first time the commentary stand up opening is done via green screen like Superstars and Wrestling Challenge rather than in the arena, and the first match's promo are also the normal weekly TV style rather than with Okerlund or Mooney, showing SNME's dwindling importance in WWE's show hierarchy. Hawk is his usual hilarious self in his promo, running full on with the edict to get as many Oktoberfest/German references in as possible by admitting straight up that they deliberately cost Demolition the tag titles, then saying what are they gonna do, sob in their schnitzel or whimper over their wieners?

WWF Champion The Ultimate Warrior and The Legion of Doom def Demolition in 4:59- Hawk's wearing his old style face paint for one of the very few times in their WWF run. Warrior's got the small logos on the cheeks rather than full paint again too. Tonight's Warrior belt strap color is white. Demolition is at the beginning of their freefall to nothingness after dropping the tag titles at Summerslam. This and Survivor Series are the only major encounters between LOD and the Demos in what was a dream feud. Bad timing. The faces jump and Demolition roll out of the ring. We get a shot of Dustin Rhodes sitting at ringside. As things settle down Smash ambushes Animal from behind and smashes him. Animal counters with a powerslam for 2. Warrior tags in and Ax wants none of it. Warrior runs wild over all the heels. Ax dodges a big splash. Smash throws Warrior to the floor and Crush works him over. Demolition double teams as Warrior goes face in peril. LOD run in and Animal gets hit from behind and knocked to the floor. Hawk breaks up the Decapitation Device attempt on Warrior and gets the hot tag. Hawk knocks Smash around. Clothesline off the top rope. Warrior tags back in and hits the forever clotheslines. Donnybrook! Warrior hits Smash with a flying tackle and the big splash for the pin. Eh. It might have been good with more time, but Demolition also knew the writing on the wall and really weren't putting much effort in anymore. It gets a small bump for an unusual layout with putting world champ Warrior in the FIP spot. *3/4

Mean Gene is at Oktoberfest with a boatload of extras and some WWF wrestlers. I can only imagine the amount of food and beer consumed during this shoot. Meanwhile, Lord Alfred Hayes is over in the brewery complaining that the beer isn't warm enough.

 

"Macho King" Randy Savage (w/Sensational Queen Sherri) def "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes by countout in 9:30- Oh hell this feud isn't over. Rarely has a dream feud been more disappointing. OK, one more time. We can do this. Savage's feud with Warrior has also started building, with Sherri slapping him silly during the Brother Love Show on weekly TV demanding a title shot for Savage. More on that later. Dusty ambushes Savage on the apron with an elbow. He tries a bear hug but Savage immediately eye rakes out. Dusty backslide for 2. Sherri distracts and Savage hits Dusty with a jumping knee in the back. Sherri chokes. Savage kneedrop for 2. Sleeper. Ted DiBiase and Virgil are in the crowd. They pay off everyone in the front row opposite hard camera to leave, except one person: Dustin Rhodes. He tears the money up and tells them to go to hell. DiBiase and Virgil take seats on either side of him. Dusty elbows out of the sleeper. Dustin stands up and DiBiase pulls him back down. Dusty rolls out and takes a swing at DiBiase while the ref holds him back. Commercial. We come back to Savage back in control. Sherri chokes Dusty again with her glove. Savage covers for 2. Double ax handle off the top rope for 2. Dusty dodges a dive and hits a headbutt. Savage tries to slam, but Dusty uses his girth to fall on Savage for 2. Savage tries coming off the top again but Dusty catches him with a punch in the gut. On the outside, Dustin has had enough and punches DiBiase. Dibiase clotheslines him over the rail onto the ringside mat. He and Virgil work Dustin over and hit him in the head with a wooden chair. Dustin's busted open. Dusty goes out to save him. Savage hits him from behind with a double ax handle off the top, gets back in, and Dusty is counted out. The beating on Dustin continues. Dusty covers him up to protect him and takes the beating himself. It was mostly all about the angle to transition feuds, but sadly it was also by far the best Savage/Dusty match. Truly the first and only glimpse of what things might have been under better circumstances with a pairing that could have main evented any arena in the country in the '80s. **

Okerlund is at a cheese factory with the Bushwhackers. The Bushwhackers have giant knives, which I'm sure is a violation of several international arms control treaties. They make a whole bunch of cutting the cheese jokes and stuff their mouths. It's wretchedly awful. Meanwhile, Lord Alfred has had enough German lager that he's getting the taste for it.

Hulk Hogan and Togboat def Rhythm and Blues (w/Jimmy Hart) by DQ in 7:20- Hogan and buddy Tugboat (future Typhoon and Shockmaster) were still feuding with Earthquake and Dino Bravo, but they're doing the cowardly heel duck and sending Jimmy Hart's other team out there instead. Hogan and Honky start. Honky does a quick eye poke and backs Hogan into their corner. Hogan ducks a double team, clotheslines both heels, and hits the first of many of his favorite tag match move: the double noggin knocker. He whips both guys into Tugboat big boots. The faces work Valentine's arm. Eventually Valentine eye rakes Tugboat and chops away on him. Honky runs into a bear hug. Valentine hits Tugboat from behind to get Honky out. The heels beat down the beached Tugboat, and I mean beached. He barely moves. Finally Tugboat dodges a double elbow and tags out. Hogan cleans house. Hart takes a shot and runs to the back. Hogan ground and pound on Valentine. Big boot. He goes for the legdrop but Tugboat grabs him as he hits the ropes to get his attention- Hart is coming back with Quake and Bravo. Officials hold them back and the match continues after a few words from our sponsors. Tugboat hits an avalanche. Hart distracts Tugboat and Honky hits him from behind with his guitar, drawing the DQ. Quake and Bravo run in, knock Tugboat to the floor and start beating on Hogan. Quake powerslam and big splash. He goes for the Quake splash but Tugboat hits him in the back with the guitar. Tugboat chases all the heels away with the guitar. Hogan actually does some postmatch selling, favoring the ribs Quake had injured back in the spring. *1/2

The Genius is presiding over a sausage stuffing contest. I got nothing, all the jokes write themselves and they say them all on air. Lord Alfred is now at least two sheets to the wind.

 

WWF Intercontinental Championship: "The Texas Tornado" Kerry Von Erich (c) def Haku (w/Bobby Heenan) in 3:10- Heenan: "Give me the belt right now and we'll call it even". Heh. Tornado gets an armdrag and slam. He goes for the claw early. Haku blocks it and rolls out. Back in Haku grabs a quick standing chinlock that looks almost like a rear choke. It goes on for a bit while Heenan plays some pocket pool. I'm guessing it's supposed to be a foreign object setup but it goes nowhere. Tornado punches. Haku stops it with an eye rake. Stiff shoulderblocks from Haku. Tornado punches back again, corner whips Haku and locks the claw in. Haku backs into the ropes. Discus punch from Tornado and good night. Not completely awful for the time they got. Haku brought the stiffness at least. *1/4

Sean Mooney is with Hogan and Tugboat. Hogan ditches the Oktoberfest theme from earlier promos and throws in enough nautical references to fill a Navy technical manual, a playthrough of Return of the Obra Dinn and several episodes of ITV's Horatio Hornblower adaptation.

 

Sgt. Slaughter (w/Gen. Adnan) def Koko B Ware in 5:18- Slaughter returned to the WWF after about 5 years in the AWA at Summerslam with his new heel Iraqi sympathizer gimmick. This is his big reintroduction match. Ware plays with him by ducking lockups early, then hits armdrags and a hiptoss. Ware's looking spunky early. Slaughter does a heel 101 bitch about hair pulling, like he has any anyway. Ware hits a jumping shoulderblock with no effect. He slides under Slaughter's legs and hits a dropkick. Slaughter dodges a corner dive. Backdrop and kneedrop for 2. Slaughter backbreaker. Ware counters another backdrop attempt into a swinging neckbreaker. More dropkicks. Slaughter catches another leap and hits a hot shot. He hadn't inherited the camel clutch from the Iron Sheik yet so he uses what was the original idea for his finisher, the Grinding Knuckle To The Temple of Extreme Agony +3. Ware submits. I was expecting a squash, but this had a lot more back and forth. Ware had his working boots on, but in the end it's yet another TV loss for Hall of Famer Koko B Ware. *3/4

Oktoberfest has reached the drunken dancing portion of the festivities. I believe the German word is backpfeifengesicht. Or was it schnapsidee? The Lord Alfred running gag reaches its logical conclusion as he's completely pissed. Back with the main group, Anvil accidentally knocks tag partner Bret Hart into a table and the mandatory Vince loved FOOD FIGHT is on. And it's a doozy. I'd hate to be the cleanup crew. There's more than a little corpsing going on during it. Back to reality, the Ultimate Warrior (I just used reality and Warrior in a sentence, I know) accepts the challenge from Savage via Sherri's slaps. Somewhere along the way whatever the original plan was got Meltzered, as Savage never got a title match and Warrior ended up refusing Savage's challenge again at the Royal Rumble, which caused Savage to interfere and cost him the title to Sgt. Slaughter, and eventually led to the big career ending match at Wrestlemania 7.

WCW/New Japan Supershow II

Legacy Review

WCW/New Japan Supershow II

January 4, 1992 from the Tokyo Dome

Once again this is from the NJPW World archives, so only Japanese commentary but it also has the full card, a trade I happily make. Like the first joint show this was edited down into a 2 hour WCW PPV for the US market. The name of this show in Japan was Super Warriors in Tokyo Dome. It's starting a brand new tradition in New Japan- the very first January 4th Tokyo Dome show, an annual event still going strong that about 15 years after this took on the name we know it by today: Wrestle Kingdom.

Black Cat def Hiroyoshi Yamamoto in 10:28- Yamamoto is still in his Young Lion phase. You might know him by the name he took after coming back from excursion in '95: Hiroyoshi Tenzan. We JIP (join in progress) the match with Yamamoto hitting a German suplex and diving headbutts for 2. He slaps Cat silly. Cat comes back with a stiff clubbing blow to the back and a DDT for 2. Flapjack! Cat runs Yamamoto upside down into the corner, then powerslams him. Leg submission hold tradeoff. Cat Saito suplex for 2. Yamamoto dodges a senton and hits a headbutt off the top for 2. Cat flash small package for 2. Yamamoto backslide for 2. Cat hits a senton off the second rope but is slow to cover and Yamamoto kicks out. A Cat avalanche DDT off the top finishes it at about 6 minutes shown. I liked what made it to TV, which was your usual "Young Lion shows the appropriate fighting spirit before losing" match. That Tenzan guy turned out OK. **3/4

 

Kuniaki Kobayashi and Osamu Kido def Kengo Kimura and Kantaro Hoshino in 11:54- Like the undercard tags on the previous show this is a group of guys I know next to nothing about so I'll do my best and apologies if I get some names mixed up. This match is also JIP'd, coming in with Hoshino working Kido's leg. Hoshino hits a kneedrop off the top rope. Kobayashi gives Hoshino the ol' feet neck snap that ZSJ does today. Kimura and Kobayashi trade kicks. Kimura with a powerbomb for 2. Hoshino hits a missile dropkick off the top and we're donnybrooking. Kido wears Hoshino down and rolls him up for the pin at about 6 minutes shown again. Solid looking stuff. **1/2

 

Jushin Thunder Liger, Akira Nogami and Masashi Aoyagi def Hiro Saito, Norio Honaga and Super Strong Machine in 15:12- Saito, Honaga and Machine are part of a heel stable called Raging Staff. Honaga is on his second run as IWGP Junior champion, while at the time this show took place Liger was WCW Light Heavyweight Champion (which he dropped to Brian Pillman in their Superbrawl II classic before this show aired in the US, but it's OK because he'd won the IWGP Junior title back by then too). Purple and white are your Liger gear colors tonight. Another match JIP with Saito working Akira over as we join. Akira reverses a whip and hits a corner dropkick. The faces do the drumming spot on Saito's back, a Japanese tradition carried on today by CHAOS. Liger hits a senton and moonsault off the second rope for 2. Akira almost misses a short range elbow off the top rope. Saito hair pulls out of a cobra twist but Akira keeps him from tagging. After a single leg crab Saito hits a pop up spinebuster on Liger and tags out. Huge Machine delayed suplex. Rivals Honaga and Liger are in together. Honaga diving lariato off the top for 2. Liger hits a tiltawhirl backbreaker, followed by a double underhook superplex. Akira tries for a dragon suplex but Honaga low blows him. Spike piledriver on Akira for 2. Machine gets pounded down in the face corner, and they turn the tables by hitting him with their own spike piledriver! Liger tries to slam Machine but he blocks it and turns it into a snap suplex. Honaga and Saito try to lift Liger, but he shifts in midair and dropkicks both of them! Aoyagi kicks for everyone until Machine lariatos him. He dodges a Machine headbutt off the top rope, and Liger flies into camera with his own illegal dive onto Machine from the top! Akira messes everything up for the faces, dropkicking Machine right into his own corner and letting him tag, then getting caught with a double team powerbomb. Everyone in the pool! Akira just kicks out of a Saito senton off the second rope. He reverses a hold and hits the dragon suplex for the pin at about 9 minutes showed. The usual fun New Japan undercard trios tag match. Wish we could have seen the first act. ***

 

The Enforcers def Michiyoshi Ohara and Shiro Koshinaka in 12:32- Interestingly, the Enforcers were former WCW tag champs, and by the time this show aired in the US Arn had already won the tag titles again with a different partner: Bobby Eaton. This is our first complete match of the night. Arn offers a handshake and it's taken. Zbyszko and and Ohara start. I sense some stalling coming. Zbyszko plays some mind games pushing out of a rope break. Ohara gets an armdrag and Zbyszko stops to think. They crank up the speed and Zbyszko misses a dropkick, then pops up and PUSHES Ohara hard into the heel corner and tags. Arn and Ohara trade arm wringers. Good Arn/Koshinaka back and forth. Arn hits a Mr. Perfect like neck snap and DDT. Zbyszko gets hip tossed and pissed off. Koshinaka/Zbyszko shenanigans with chokes and hair pulls. Zbyszko is on it tonight, selling everything all the way up to the Tokyo Dome cheap seats. Crowd's not reacting to it much at all though. Koshinaka dropkicks send Arn scrambling. Arn suckers Ohara into a test of strength and kicks him down. Ohara slowly comes back and pushes Arn down. Ohara tries to slam out of an armbar, but Arn turns it into a headscissors. More Zbyszko super selling of a headscissors. Koshinaka hits a suplex with Zbyszko swinging his legs the whole way over. They look like they get a little lost, so Zbyszko smartly pushes into his corner and tags Arn to reset. Koshinaka goes in peril. The heels wrap him up in Boston crabs and an abdominal stretch with the guy on the apron providing illegal leverage. Koshinaka counters a backdrop, tags and Ohara goes on a hot tag run. He drops multiple elbows on Zbyszko that pop the crowd, then an elbow off the top for 2. Koshinaka hip attacks for both heels. Ohara slams both guys but tries to cover the illegal man and Arn ambushes him. Zbyszko gives him a knee in the back on a rope run. Arn hits the World's Greatest Spinebuster! That gets the pin. It was on the cusp of being good. Zbyszko and Arn were clearly trying, with Zbyszko selling like mad and Arn putting on his usual clinic on tag wrestling strategery. The New Japan guys were more going through the motions, and the crowd wasn't into it at all. **3/4

 

Dusty & Dustin Rhodes def Masa Saito and Kim Duk in 14:23- This is one of Dusty's first post-retirement special appearance tag matches. Duk is a Zainichi Korean (Japanese citizen of Korean descent) and a career midcard journeyman, nowhere near on the status level of Mr. Saito or Dusty. He wrestled in mid-'80s WWF under the name Tiger Chung Lee. Duk and Dustin start. Saito and Dusty tease letting it break down early. Dustin armdrags. Criss cross. They badly mistime a leapfrog spot. Dustin hits a flying headscissors and another armdrag. A Dustin dropkick barely grazes Duk but he sells it anyway and falls to the floor. Duk comes back with some kneelifts. He wants to tag out but Saito tells him to keep going. Dusty tags in, throws Duk into his corner, and demands Saito tag in. Saito obliges and for just about the first time tonight the crowd makes some real noise in anticipation of the legends hooking up. Chop exchange. They move onto the raised entrance ramp. Dusty slams Saito on the ramp and drops an elbow. Saito comes back in, begs off, offers a handshake and bows. To the shock of no one it's a RUSE and he kicks Dusty when he sees an opening. He hair pulls Dusty into an armbar. Now Duk chooses not to tag in. Dusty boogies up with some headbutts and hits a suplex for 2. Duk comes in and locks on the Oriental Nerve Pinch of Double Fisting +1. The heel team tries a double team, but Dusty dodges and Saito lariatos Duk. Tag. Dustin diving lariato for 2 before getting trapped in the heel corner. Double suplex on Dustin. Duk piledriver for 2. He dodges a Dustin crossbody and Dustin rolls onto the ramp. Dusty blocks so he can get back in. Back to the nerve pinch. Duk goes up top. Dustin catches and slams him, then gets some offense in before tagging out. Rhodes double team arm work on Saito. Saito counters with his namesake suplex. A second one. Dusty breaks the pin up. Midring collision. Dustin beats Duk down, and after a little back and forth hits the bulldog to win. Not a lot of "there" there. *1/2

Tony Halme def Scott "Flash" Norton in 8:41- Halme is better known to US fans as the short lived WWF Finnish buzzsaw Ludwig Borga. He's in black jeans, and I don't know if it's the difference in ring gear or just a funky memory, but to me he looks way bigger here than in his WWF run. One downside to watching this on NJPW World is all the entrances are cut off, and during in-ring intros for this match there's a quick shot of the stage that really makes me wish they weren't because it looks pretty awesome. Have to dig up the US version for that. Halme gets some body shots in the corner on a rope break. Norton reverses and hits chops, followed by a corner whip and avalanche. The crowd is into this match more as they have been all night so far, cheering Norton and booing almost any Halme offense. Long sequence where they trade working headlocks. Norton hits a couple of big football tackles. Halme no sells a back elbow so Norton gives him a huge lariato. Halme's got a small cut on his forehead. Norton works a chinlock and neck wringer, which he twists into a hangman's neckbreaker for 2. Halme blocks a slam and hits more body punches. Samoan drop. Crossbody avalanche in the corner. Norton ducks a short lariato and hits his own. Backdrop for 2. Alabama slam for 2. He goes up top. Halme shakes the rope and Norton falls down and crotches himself. Halme slams him off, goes up himself, and hits a lariato off the top to win. Blech. The crowd might have been into it but I sure wasn't. Funnily enough these guys would end up teaming up and winning the IWGP tag titles later in the year. 3/4*

Shinya Hashimoto def Bill Kazmaier in 8:37- Kazmaier's push from '91 had mostly flamed out by this point. Hashimoto missed the '91 show, but he was another young star on the rise to eventual New Japan legend status. Kazmaier shows his one positive attribute, strength, early, throwing Hashimoto out of the initial lockup and deadlift bodyslamming him. Hashimoto tries some kicks that Kazmaier no sells. Kazmaier strikes with an elbow that Hashimoto does a delayed sell of, then rolls out like he just took the strongest punch in the history of man. The camera goes to a super wide shot for a while, which is probably for the best. Hashimoto reverses a corner whip and lays in some kicks. Kazmaier pops back up with no selling and we have another reset. More very bland Kazmaier offense. He hits a backdrop that Hashimoto took forever to work his way over for. Kazmaier powerslam for 2. He slaps on a bear hug, like this match hasn't been slow enough already. He lets that go and hooks Hashimoto in the torture rack. Hashimoto escapes and takes Kazmaier down with a couple of leg sweeps. He rolls through some offense with Kazmaier barely selling. Spinning kicks get 2. DDT for 2. Hashimoto plants him with a huge jumping DDT and good night. Oil and water. Kazmaier sucked in general anyway. Only the end run of Hashimoto offense saved this from getting DUD'd. According to cagematch.net, this was Kazmaier's last listed wrestling match ever. 1/4*

Big Van Vader and El Gigante double countout in 4:49- From Kazmaier to Gigante. Just great. I wish someone could tell Vader to let loose like Gigante was Ken Shamrock. Vader is going sans mask tonight. The crowd loves him. Lockup and shoulderblock standoffs. Gigante hits some punches in the corner. Vader turns him around and goes to work with corner shots. There's definitely some potatoes in there. Vader hits a 3 point stance avalanche. He waistlocks Gigante and tries for a German. There is no way in hell Gigante was physically capable of doing that, so Vader trips him down instead. Big splash for 2. Gigante gets a boot up in the corner on another charge and goes back on offense. He's laying in his punches more than before, Vader might have actually gotten a rise out of him with those stiff shots. He locks in the claw. Vader backs up into the ropes. Gigante lariato. Vader goes 360 over and onto the ramp off a back elbow. They brawl on the ramp and Vader hits a couple of avalanches while Gigante's against the ropes before they both get counted out. Weak. Vader pulls Gigante over his entrance helmet and gives him a face full of steam. OK, that's funny. They keep weakly brawling all the way to the back. What a waste of Vader. 1/2*

Antonio Inoki def Hiroshi Hase in 10:09- As far as the Japanese crowd is concerned, God himself just stepped into that ring. Hase was also a popular fan favorite. Here's an interesting aside- both these wrestlers are to date the only Japanese wrestlers to have turned to a successful political career, with both having served in the House of Counselors (rough equivalent of a US Senator), and Hase is still currently in office in the House of Representatives. Feeling out start. Hase slaps but doesn't get a reaction. Mat wrestling stalemate. Both guys try to get a takedown, with Hase winning. Hase hits a snap belly to belly suplex! Inoki does what I assume is a little trash talking. He grabs a rear choke and Hase almost instantly drops like a Lebron James flop. The match stops for a moment as ref Tiger Hattori gives Hase time to recover. Inoki eventually has enough and runs in with a cartwheel kick! Inoki double underhook suplex for 2. He hooks in another rear choke. Hase quickly gets to the ropes. Inoki pounds away with straight rights but Hase starts getting fired up off them. The trade some unique simultaneous leg work holds. Hase maneuvers into a Mutalock, but Inoki reaches up and puts Hase in a chinlock at the same time. Hase hits the uranage! Another one! A THIRD one! Cover. Inoki just kicks out! A FOURTH uranage! He goes for five but Inoki blocks it and snaps his arm over his shoulder. Inoki enzuguri! He puts on another rear choke, but lets it go and hits another enzuguri. Cobra twist! Hase falls into the ropes. Inoki gives him another enzuguri and wraps up another twist in the middle of the ring. Hase has no choice but to give it up. Really fun match, easily the best thing on the show so far. ***1/2

 

Sting and The Great Muta def The Steiner Brothers in 11:03- Sting and Muta put their past differences aside to form a one night superteam. The Steiners are in a rare spot during their peak years where they didn't have any gold, mostly due to Scott just coming back from an injury. They'd get it all back in short order. This was shifted to the main event slot for the US broadcast version. Scott and Muta start. Muta sprays off some rare BLUE mist and we're off. Scott gets an arm takedown. Muta hits a front enzuguri outta nowhere. Scott scoops him up and absolutely plants him. Muta rolls under a rear kick. Both sides swap. Rick gets the upper hand on Sting. Steinerline! Bulldog off the top rope for 2! Sting pops out of the corner with a lariato with a Rick 360 sell. Faceplant, and he runs Rick upside down into the corner. An early Stinger Splash attempt is dodged. Scott hits a double underhook powerbomb. He tries for a tombstone, but Sting reverses and hits it. Rick breaks the pin up. Muta and Scott do some more mat wrestling with Scott getting a deadlift takedown. Rick places Muta up top and hits a release belly to belly superplex! German suplex! Scott hits a pumphandle slam. Now he puts Muta on the top rope and hits an avalanche Olympic slam! Damn, the Steiners are tossing Muta around like a bag of rice. Scott hooks in a dragon sleeper (and I swear I can hear the puzzled amusement in the voices of Japanese commentary at that with Fujinami in the main event). Muta gets to the rope. Rick takes his turn to run Muta upside down into the corner pad. Scott with a belly to belly. He throws Muta outside and Rick hits him with a belly to belly on the floor! Back in Muta ducks a Steinerline, hits a Saito suplex and tags. Stinger Splash on Rick! Muta goes for the handspring elbow....RICK CATCHES HIM IN MIDAIR AND GERMAN SUPLEXES HIM! Frakking awesome. He covers but Sting breaks the pin up. Rick did not like that one bit. He tags Scott then goes after Sting. Rick with a Bret bump! Sting and Muta double faceplant Scott. Sting presses Muta, throws him into Rick and they both go over the top to the floor! Damn! Sting crossbody off the top to the floor! Muta goes back in just to fly back out with a TOPE SUICIDA! Sting and Muta get back in. The Steiners climb up the top rope behind them and ambush them with tackles! Scott tries a tiltawhirl on Sting, but Sting partially blocks it into a cover and pins Scott! But Rick had Muta covered at the same time and thinks he won. The ref disagrees. Bit of a messy overdone finish, but that was one hell of a sprint. They jumped right out of the gate swinging haymakers and didn't let up the whole match. It was also interesting to see the Steiners playing the nominal heel role. ****

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: "The Total Package" Lex Luger (c) def Masahiro Chono in 15:09- Jim Herd is in the ring displaying the belt. Everyone hiss! He'd finally be run out of town almost immediately after this show. Rough opening lockup. Huge Luger shoulderblock and press slam. Chono ducks a lariato, gets a drop toe hold and goes for the STF early. Luger quickly gets to the ropes. Test of strength. Luger unsurprisingly gets the upper hand until Chono backdrops out of it. They go into a long stretch where Chono works Luger's arm while Luger turns to high impact power when he's on offense. There's an ugly moment in the middle where Chono reverses a corner whip and they collide at about half speed not knowing what to do, clearly a major miscommunication. Chono quickly bumps and Luger drops an elbow as they recover. After some more arm work Luger finally goes to the heel playbook and eye pokes out. More power. He drops Chono on the top rope and hits a suplex for 2. Chono kicks back. Enzuguri! Chono hits a back suplex but runs into a Luger powerslam. Luger DDT. He calls for the torture rack. Chono fights out before it's fully applied and gets a backslide for 2. Chono goes for the STF! Luger prevents the facelock part from being fully applied and crawls to the rope. Chono hits a tackle off the top rope. Luger ducks a charge and Chono flies over the top to the floor. That was Luger's usual spot a couple of years prior when he, y'know, cared. Chono sneaks back in and rolls Luger up for 2. He tries coming off the top again but Luger's got it scouted and lets him splat on the mat. He hooks Chono up in the torture rack. Chono manages to maneuver Luger close to the ropes and they both tumble over to the floor. Luger whips Chono into the guardrail and puts him in the rack on the floor! Once Hattori has gotten up to about 10 (New Japan 20 for a countout rules since it's in the Dome) Luger lets go, drops Chono to the floor and gets back in. I see the thinking here. Chono barely beats the count back in. Chono slips out of a suplex, tries for another Saito, but Luger low blows him! Luger hits an elbow off the second rope to the back of Chono's head and covers for the pin. Not too shabby. It had a decent start, was dull as Nailz middle, but I really liked the closing stretch. Probably Luger's best match from his hugely disappointing first world title run. Someone in the WCW office definitely noticed Chono's performance here as he'd go on to be a major part of the plans for the revived NWA world title later in the year. ***

 

Title vs Title Match: Greatest 18 Club Champion Riki Choshu def IWGP Heavyweight Champion Tatsumi Fujinami in 12:11- These guys have a longstanding rivalry dating back to New Japan's early days. Good back and forth start. Fujinami gets the first takedown. Choshu hits a fireman's carry slam out of a headlock. Knucklelock and test of strength. Fujinami works Choshu into the corner and slaps him. After another quick reset Fujinami hits a full speed shoulderblock and slam. Choshu Saitos out of a headlock, sets up the Scorpion and slowly turns Fujinami over. After a bit with no submission he breaks the hold. Fujinami grabs a kick and gives Choshu a dragon screw leg whip! Fujinami hooks in a Scorpion! Another quick break. Choshu tries another Saito but Fujinami rolls over on top of him on the way down. Fujinami piledriver. He does a snap mare and hooks up the dragon sleeper. Choshu gets to the ropes. Another dragon sleeper and Choshu slips out. Fujinami tries a cobra twist but Choshu flips out of that. Fujinami goes up top. Choshu follows. Choshu with a superplex! Fujinami stops his momentum with a dropkick. He grabs a headlock but Choshu plants him with another huge Saito. Lariato! Lariato to the back of the head! Choshu's huge pumping bomber-like lariato! That gets the pin and Chochu's third Heavyweight title! That was definitely an old school (even for me) '70s style match, but with great physicality and intensity. I wish they'd gotten more time. Choshu would go on to defend the IWGP Heavyweight and Greatest 18 as a unified title, but when The Great Muta took them in August of '92 he would retire the Greatest 18 title. ***1/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS: Definitley an up and down start to the January 4th Tokyo Dome tradition, but at this time New Japan wasn't quite known as the consistently excellent in-ring quality company like it is today. Only a year in and it's also already feeling more like a regular New Japan show with WCW guest stars rather than a true joint show. They'd run one more in '93. After that the joint promotion shows would end, but WCW wrestlers would still show up regularly as freelancers for the Dome shows. In fact New Japan bringing in outside companies would be a regular feature of the 1/4 Dome shows all the way through the early Wrestle Kingdom years.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C-

WrestleMania XI

Legacy Review

WrestleMania XI

April 2, 1995 from the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, CT

Commentary: Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler

This is the first of a long run of WMs in smaller arenas due to the downturn in business. At only 7 matches it's also by far the smallest WM card to date, another sign of how shallow the roster's gotten.

We open again with a highlight reel of Wrestlemanias past, but this time it's 100% focused on the celebrity guest stars with no wrestling footage at all. Then the guest celebrities for this year are introduced as the stars, making it pretty obvious where Vince's headspace was at. There's audio issues at the top of the show. We also have two debuts tonight- the famous mid-'90s WWF camera blimp (sponsored by Stridex for this show), and the New Generation version of the WWF logo.

The Allied Powers def The Blu Brothers (w/Uncle Zebekiah) in 6:34- Luger and Bulldog had nothing better to do so they got thrown together as a tag team. They have one of the first instances of two singles stars' music getting mashed up for their tag run. It's....eh. Zebekiah is Dutch "Zeb Coulter" Mantel. The heels try to jump and the faces dodge. They hit stereo powerslams in almost the same spot and end up flopping on top of each other. Bulldog delayed suplex on Blu 1 (larger tattoos) and he fights off a double team. Blu 2 (smaller tattoos) hits Bulldog in the back of the head on a rope run. After some selling Bulldog gets a small package while the ref is distracted. Blu 1 ugly side suplex for 2. Double big boot. This whole thing is moving at a glacial pace. Bulldog pops up, hits a clothesline and just stops selling. He's barking at the ref the whole time so something's clearly legit annoyed him. Everyone wanders around for a few seconds not knowing what to do. Another big boot puts Bulldog down again. After some more slow beatdown he dodges an elbow off the second rope and tags. Luger rolls through some power moves and hits the loaded forearm. The pin is broken up. The ref gets distracted and the Blus do the twin magic switcheroo. While he and Luger are fighting Bulldog hits a sunset flip off the top rope (tag?) and the ref counts 3 even though the Blu kicked out. I call that a mercy killing. The Blus were bad in general, Luger was in full my contract is almost up dogging it mode (at least Vince had the sense not to put the world title on him like '91 WCW) and Bulldog didn't look too thrilled with his current situation either. 3/4*

Poor JR has been exiled to entrance aisle interviews instead of being on commentary where he belonged. They kick it to a backstage segment but there's more audio issues so Vince and Lawler kill some time.

WWF Intercontinental Championship: Razor Ramon (w/The 1-2-3 Kid) def "Double J" Jeff Jarrett (c) (w/The Roadie) by DQ in 13:32- This is a rematch from the Rumble where Jarrett beat Ramon for the title ostensibly with interference from the Roadie, but it really wasn't that much, Jarrett won it almost completely clean. Regardless, fellow Kliq member Kid is here to watch Ramon's back. Ramon and Kid are interviewed by Vince while they're in or near Gorilla. After some words from Kid Ramon says "Let's go" in a very legitimate "screw this shit" voice. Ramon drops his gold necklaces on the aisle and charges the ring. After knocking Jarrett to the floor his pyro goes off after the bell's already rung. Jarrett tries to speed around Ramon. Ramon counters with punches and a 360 clothesline. Jarrett stalls outside. He fakes a springboard crossbody and tries a sunset flip but Ramon counters it every step of the way. Roadie gets on the apron. Jarrett is whipped towards him but slams the brakes on. Ramon punches them into each other. He goes for the Razor's Edge but Roadie grabs Jarrett's feet and drags him down to the floor. Jarrett tries to walk but Kid stops him and rolls him back in. Ramon roll up for 2. Roadie takes a buckle shot and Jarrett gets thrown over and out again. Jarrett counters a backdrop with a swinging neckbreaker. Ramon catches a boot and ducks an enzuguri, but misses an elbow drop. Blocked hiptoss/backslide for 2. They're putting some nice spots in, but it feels disjointed, like all the interconnecting pieces are missing. There's been a ton of near falls but none of them seemed like they mattered. Jarrett hooks in a sleeper. Ramon gets out awful easily. Ramon back suplexes out of a chinlock. Why didn't they do that for the sleeper? Midring collision. When they get up they punch each other at the same time and go down again. Some boos from the crowd after that, and not good boos. Ramon catches a crossbody attempt and hits the fallaway slam. Kid tries to post Jarrett's crotch behind the ref's back but Jarrett pushes him off. Good, that was out and out cheating from the faces there. Jarrett dodges Ramon's bulldog off the second rope attempt. Ramon hurt his knee again coming down. Jarrett hits a kneebreaker and locks in the figure four. After some near falls Ramon fights and reverses it. Ramon back superplex. He calls for the Razor's Edge. As he's getting Jarrett up Roadie comes in and clips his knee for the cheap DQ. Kid beats down Roadie until Jarrett takes him out and hooks the figure four on him. Refs and officials run in to break it all up. That's the finish you do on Raw to build up the feud, not at WM. Even taking out the crap finish I didn't like this nearly as much as the Rumble match. **

They retry the backstage segment that had the bum mic earlier. The Million Dollar Corporation and Jenny McCarthy are hanging out. Shawn and Sid crash the party, with Sid shouting his promo so loud McCarthy covers her ears.

 

The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) def King Kong Bundy (w/Ted DiBiase) in 6:36- DiBiase still has the urn. Like in the '80s, Bundy's weight is being massively inflated. 440 pounds?! Please. Paul Bearer is almost as big as Bundy. He's strangely barely mentioned during the match, but MLB umpire Larry Young is guest reffing this match, and he does a fine job. If you didn't look it up you wouldn't even notice he wasn't a regular ref. Bundy charges and Taker dodges. Top rope walk drop. Clotheslines get Bundy down. A Bundy elbow sends Taker 360 and out, but he lands on his feet, walks up to DiBiase, and takes the urn back. Well that was anticlimactic. He gives it back to Bearer, who takes the top off and light comes out again. Not the wrath of God face melty light thankfully. Close your eyes, Marion! DiBiase walks off and calls Kama in. Kama kicks Bearer and steals the urn back. As he's leaving JR stops him and Kama says he's going to melt the urn down and make a necklace out of it. While all this is going on Bundy's slowly pounding down Taker in the ring. Bundy avalanche. That just pisses Taker off. He slams the 1,000 pound Bundy, hits a diving clothesline, and gets the pin. Well OK then. I think part of the point of this was to slowly work Taker away from urn based storylines, which was a good move. Still, the match was every Taker vs barely mobile slug match they'd been running almost nonstop for nearly three years to this point, just with more sideshow. Mankind can't come soon enough. Taker goes to 4-0 at WM. 1/4*

Back to backstage. We get a report that Shawn and Pamela Anderson had a fight earlier and Anderson's gone into hiding. But never mind that shit....HERE COMES MONGO! Mongo and the rest of the All-Pro team cut some fairly decent promos on the Million Dollar Corporation. We swing around and find Mr. Bob Backlund playing chess with Johnathan Taylor Thomas. Backlund flips out at being interrupted and asks "Who's Pamela Anderson?". Thomas schools Backlund in chess and in trivia and Backlund flips out about young people having no respect for their elders. Funny stuff.

 

WWF Tag Team Championship: "The King of Harts" Owen Hart and a mystery partner def The Smoking Gunns (c) in 9:42- Owen introduces his mystery partner as Yokozuna, replacing the fired Jim Neidhart, with Cornette and Fuji in tow. Yoko's weight issues are getting really out of hand at this point. Lawler mentions Owen was the Blue Blazer at WM 5, one of the first instances of WWF acknowledging a different past gimmick for someone. Yoko waves the Japanese flag and looks half blown up already after. Owen and Billy start. They trade shoves and slaps. Both sides do some arm work and double teaming. Yoko comes in, hits a slam and misses and elbow drop. A double dropkick sends Yoko tumbling to the floor. Owen gets flipped off the apron back in and the Gunns roll through some nice double teams. I bet Cornette is hiding a smile watching that, they're very Midnight Express like. Owen with a Bret bump. He slips out of a slam, gets a sneaky tag, drop toe holds Billy and Yoko caves his skull in with a legdrop. Billy goes to the floor and Owen posts his back. Yoko locks on the Nerve Pinch of Extreme Resting +3. Billy dodges a double team and Owen missile dropkicks Yoko. Hot tag. Bart press slams Owen and rams Yoko's head to the mat. They try a double team, but Owen pulls the top rope down on Bart and Yoko belly to belly suplexes Billy. Banzai drop! Bart breaks the pin up. Yoko tosses him out, tags, and Owen drags Billy to the middle of the ring and pins him to win the titles, Owen's first WWF title. Owen's celebration is amazing. **1/4

Recap of the LT/Bigelow feud followed by a really good Bigelow promo. He doesn't want to be known as the guy that lost to LT at Wrestlemania. This is the spot on the card that match should have been on, but Vince was desperate for eyeballs.

 

I Quit Match: Bret "Hitman" Hart def Mr. Bob Backlund in 9:34- For the second year in a row Roddy Piper makes a surprise appearance as a guest referee. Crazy Backlund doesn't stop moving for a second during his or Bret's intros. Huge pop for Bret, easily the biggest of the night. Bret pounds away early. Backlund fights off a Sharpshooter attempt. Bret drops elbows. Piper's already getting in at random points with the mic and asking "Whaddya say?" whether there's a hold on or not. Bret chokes Backlund on the bottom rope. "Whaddya say?" "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Backlund rolls out of an attempted Sharpshooter again. Bret hooks on a figure four instead. Backlund reverses and they get to the ropes. Bret grabs the leg again and works the knee. Knee grapevine and more no's on the mic. Piper asks Bret to be cute. Bret tries not to laugh. Highlight of the match. Backlund fights out and snaps Bret's arm around the top rope. Bret ducks a crossface chickenwing attempt a couple of times. Backlund works armbar variations and Bret gives Piper a "hell no". Very little happening while Backlund has the arm wrapped up. Finally Bret stands, scoops up Backlund and slams him. The FMOD run is cut down to just the backbreaker and second rope elbow. He goes for the Sharpshooter again. Backlund rolls to the ropes and Piper has to physically untangle them. Backlund dodges and Bret posts his shoulder. CHICKENWING! Bret grabs the top rope but Backlund pulls him off it. Bret keeps blocking it from being fully applied....then reverses it! Bret with a chickenwing! He cinches it in on the mat. Backlund: "YEAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!". Well, technically he was supposed to say "I quit" but I guess that's close enough. They had a plan, that's obvious, but they never got in a good rhythm. A big reason was Piper sticking the mic in their faces way too often. Nowhere near on the level of their great Survivor Series match. Bret has been candid on the record about how disappointed he was with this match, calling it his worst PPV match. He'd make up for it the next couple of WMs. *3/4

JR is with a very dazed Backlund staring at the ceiling. "I SAW THE LIGHT! DID YOU SEE THE LIGHT?". Say what you will about his matches, crazy Backlund the character never failed to amuse. This would be the end of his push and he'd go back to being a special and nostalgia undercard attraction. We cut backstage again for the breaking news that Pamela Anderson is missing presumed vacated the building.

 

WWF Championship: Diesel (c) (w/Pamela Anderson) def "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels (w/Jenny McCarthy and Sid) in 20:35- Diesel found Anderson. His pop is better than the Rumble, but still noticeably smaller than Bret's. Diesel swings for Sid after he gets in the ring. Shawn tries to charge, but Diesel backdrops him to the floor. All while his music is still playing. He calls Anderson in and finishes his entrance with full pyro. Anderson and McCarthy park it next to each other at ringside. Good thing it's not a few years later, Lawler would just be shouting "PUPPIES!" over and over again the whole match. Shawn ducks the lockup and kicks. Extended speed sequence. Shawn slips out of a slam and tries a rollup. Diesel blocks. More running. Shawn finally takes an elbow to the forehead. Reset. Shawn tries some arm wringers. Diesel pushes him into the corner and flips him out. Mile high BAAAAAAAACK BODYDROP. Shawn flip in the corner and he falls to the floor, squashing a badly positioned photographer on the way down. Shawn grabs him and shoves him away in a very not nice way. We are most certainly in the dick Shawn years, as he himself will readily admit. Sid tries a distraction but Diesel is all over it, catching and popping Shawn. Shawn spits to piss Diesel off. He tries mounted punches. Diesel pushes him off and he keeps jumping back on until he runs into an elbow. Diesel presses Shawn but he manages to get out of it before being slammed. A knee should have sent Shawn 360 and out, but he got caught up and settles for slowly flopping to the floor between the ropes instead. Sid jaws to give Shawn time to recover. Shawn eye pokes Diesel as he's coming back in and slides under Diesel's legs. Sunset flip. Diesel grabs him by the throat, lifts him up, and crotches him on the top rope, a spot Shawn had to have every match. Shawn slides under a big boot! Shawn with a Cactus clothesline! And he hangs onto the rope and skins the cat! Shawn crossbody from the top rope to the floor! He gets back in and gives Diesel a baseball slide to the face. He tries another one but Diesel dodges it. Shawn dodges and Diesel posts his own elbow and ribs. Um, is that a Sid chant from the crowd? I think it is. Ugh, don't encourage him or Vince. Shawn big splash on Diesel from the apron! Diesel takes a long time to recover on the floor and the match grinds to a halt after a great 4-5 minutes. Sid tries to sneak around but Hebner cuts him off. Diesel finally gets back in. Shawn goes to work on the ribs. Shawn bulldog off the second rope for 2. Diesel reverses a corner whip, but Shawn springboards to the second rope and hits a fallaway reverse elbow for 2. Shawn up top. Flying elbow two thirds of the way across the ring to Diesel's back! That gets a 2 count. Shawn looks to go for a DDT but Diesel flips him over to get out. Twice. Shawn with a sleeper. Diesel goes down and Hebner does very slow arm drops. Diesel powers back up and backs Shawn into the corner. Huge corner clotheslines. Snake eyes. Another Shawn corner flip. Shawn begs off. Diesel knocks him silly. Slugfest on the floor. Hebner jumps down to stop Sid again but hurt his ankle when he hit the floor. Back in, Shawn ducks a clothesline. Superkick! Sid rolls Hebner back in. Slow count and Diesel kicks out. Sid takes a top buckle pad off. Shawn moves toward it but Diesel gives him a back suplex. Both guys are down and Hebner counts. At 9 Shawn slowly gets an arm over and Diesel kicks out. He tries to come off the second rope again. Diesel catches him and gives him a side suplex. He slingshots Shawn, and he's supposed to go into the exposed buckle, but they were too far away and Shawn has to hit the middle buckle instead. Big boot. Diesel hits a horrible jackknife that drops Shawn straight on his ass and gets the 3 count. Pretty abrupt and sloppy ending. The match had some really nice parts but also several rough stretches. On balance it's borderline good. Despite being an entrenched heel Shawn gave an amazing resilient babyface performance, which would lead to a face turn almost right after this show, while Sid took over the top heel spot. ***

Both teams of seconds in the main event get individual entrances. I think they were going for a Super Bowl style entrance here. The All-Pro Team is a legitimately great collection of defensive NFL talent of the era. Someone in the back must be ribbing Mongo because his tron uses pictures from his final year with the Packers instead of the Bears. There was also an intro rap song here that's cut out of the Peacock/Network version, likely for rights reasons. No big loss in my opinion. There's some jawing and shots fired between the teams before the main intros.

 

Lawrence Taylor (w/The All-Pro Team) def Bam Bam Bigelow (w/The Million Dollar Corporation) in 11:42- Pat Patterson's got his ref shirt on for this one. Despite locker room resistance to LT getting a big spot here (most notably from the Kliq, in no small part because it bumped Shawn and Diesel down), Bigelow agreed to do the job because it was a big payday, he was a professional company guy and he knew it was likely his only shot at a WM main event. They go chest to chest during the very long instructions. Bigelow shoves. LT slaps! He starts out hot, throwing Bigelow around. 360 clothesline, with Bigelow starting to go over before contact. Bigelow tries an avalanche. LT dodges. Bulldog for 2! LT with a hip toss and Bigelow goes out again. LT jumps over the top rope to the floor to chase him. The teams of seconds stand off as Bigelow catches LT coming back in. LT does a good job of swinging and fighting back while Bigelow pounds him down. Body slam by Bigelow. LT dodges a headbutt. Bigelow catches a leaping LT and rams him into the corner. Both guys are doing a good job selling this as a fight. Bigelow hooks on a Boston crab, then transitions to a half crab. LT almost gets to the ropes so Bigelow drags him away. He hooks on the leg portions of both an STF and a Mutalock. LT gets to the rope each time. LT comeback forearms. Back suplex from LT! Bigelow comes back with headbutts to the ribs. Legdrop. Bigelow up top....moonsault! He hurt his knee on the landing and pulls out of the cover. He crawls back over and covers for 2. LT with a power bomb! Bigelow kicks out. Bigelow enzuguri. He hits the headbutt off the top rope. LT kicks out! Bigelow is shocked. LT is up and swinging with elbows to the chin. He goes up to the second rope and hits a diving elbow. LT covers and gets the pin! During the victory celebration LT looks blowed up all to hell, but he earned it. DiBiase berates Bigelow for losing to a football player as they leave, which would lead to Bigelow being kicked out of the Corporation and turning face. I have a lot of thoughts on this one. On one had, for a celebrity match it's good. Really good. Bigelow walked LT through like a pro, and LT hit all his spots just right. It's a great performance. The problem is, this had no business being anywhere near the main event of Wrestlemania. A special attraction match, sure. Maybe the main event of a B PPV where there's not a world title match on the card. Maybe. But not the main event of the biggest show of the year. Business was cratering and Vince was desperate. It's not any more complicated than that. **3/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- It's almost as bad as Wrestlemania 9. Enough said.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D

WCW/New Japan Supershow I

Legacy Review

WCW/New Japan Supershow I

March 21, 1991 from the Tokyo Dome (aired in the US as a PPV in April)

This show was also known as Starrcade '91 in Tokyo Dome, which is the title on the ring skirts and mat. I'm pulling this out of the archives of New Japan World, which on the minus side means only Japanese commentary, but on the plus side includes complete matches and matches that were cut out on the US broadcast.

Animal Hamaguchi, Kengo Kimura, Osamu Kido and Kantaro Hoshino def Hiro Sato, Tatutoshi Goto, Norio Honaga and Super Strong Machine in 10:12- This match was removed on the US version. Full disclosure: I've been watching New Japan regularly for about 5 years as of 2021 and know the recent history before that pretty well, but this is pretty far back and I honestly have little idea who most of these guys are, and obviously commentary in Japanese is little help, so I'm going to summarize as best I can. Machine's team are clearly the heels as they do the Suzuki-Gun jump at the bell. Hamaguchi and Machine work in the ring while everyone brawls outside before order is restored. Hoshino (in distinctive teal blue trunks) is the designated "crank up the juice" guy in the match. Machine misses a headbutt off the second rope and the faces trade dropping elbows on him. The heels take turns on running corner shots and hit a spike piledriver. They donnybrook and go into a good closing stretch with near falls, ending when Machine lariatos his own teammate, who gets pinned. Usual solid New Japan multi-man tag opener. **1/2

 

Shiro Koshinaka, Kuniaki Kobayashi and Takayuki Iizuka def Tim Horner, "Flyin'" Brian Pillman and "The Z-Man" Tom Zenk in 12:10- WCW ref Nick Patrick is officiating this one. Interesting to see Horner getting a spot on the WCW side of the card as he was hardly a name. Zenk and Pillman were familiar teammates, as this is about a year removed from their US tag title run. Cautious feeling out start. Zenk hits a trio of dropkicks, then eats a spinning heel kick from Kobayashi. Pillman comes out of the chutes blazing away with chops but gets caught in the heel corner. A Koshinaka hip attack sends Pillman over the top and out, but he pops up and comes back in with a springboard lariato! Springboard reverse crossbody on Iizuka for 2. Zenk enzuguri for 2. Koshinaka puts Zenk in a cobra twist. Pillman and Zenk start working their old double teams on Iizuka and he goes home country wrestler in peril. Pillman places him on the top rope and dropkicks him to the floor, then follows up with a crossbody off the top to the floor! Horner/Pillman decapitation device for 2. Pilliman springboards to the top rope and hits a reverse big splash for 2. Horner does a reverse splash of his own off the top and it's crap. Stick to what you know, kid. Zenk piledriver for 2. Iizuka starts to bushido up off some chops and hits a double dropkick on Pillman and Zenk. Donnybrook! Iizuka hits a missile dropkick on Horner, then plants him with a dragon suplex for the pin. **3/4

 

Scott "Flash" Norton def The Equalizer in 2:23- Another match removed on the US broadcast. Equalizer is like a cross between the Ultimate Warrior and the Berzerker. This is an extended squash with Equalizer getting some token shots in while Norton stiffs the hell out of him. Norton hits a short clothesline and pulls Equalizer up out of the pin, then hits a horrible powerslam (Equalizer's fault, not Norton's) to win. The US audience didn't miss anything. 1/2*

 

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Jushin Thunder Liger (c) def Akira Nogami in 16:08- Liger's wearing green and gold tonight, a departure from his usual white and red. He's in his third junior title reign and already quickly becoming a legend. Akira had just returned from excursion and was in a gimmick where he dressed up like a kabuki actor. He's even got streamers shooting out of his hands like Spider-Man on his entrance, that's pretty cool. Liger comes out hot. A spinning heel kick sends Akira to the floor. Liger hops right up top and hits a cannonball senton to the floor! Back in Liger wraps Akira up with a sleeper and grapevine. Get your boards polished kids, we're going surfing! Akira punches out, then reverses a Liger snap mare into a hammerlock. Liger gets a drop toe hold and wraps up a modified surfboard with Akira's legs wrapped. He transitions into a camel clutch. Akira reverses into a camel clutch of his own! He lets go and hits a series of legdrops, then works Liger's arm a bit to cool things down for a minute. They crank up the speed and Liger dodges a senton. Akiro flips out and hits a Saito suplex. Liger backdrops Akira over the top to the floor. He sets up for a plancha, but Akira gets on the apron. Liger dropkicks him off, gives him a minute to get up, and goes for the plancha. Akira dropkicks him in midair on the floor! Both guys hurt their knees in that exchange. Once they get back in Akira gets the advantage working Liger's knee. Spinning toe hold, and a figure four! Liger reverses it. Akira stays on the knee and locks on a reverse half crab. Liger gets a desperation kick to Akira's knee. Slugfest. Liger with a Saito for 2. He props Akira up on the top rope but Akira headbutts him down. He goes for a splash off the top, but Liger gets his knees up! Akira flip over sunset for 2. Liger tries a suplex. Akira blocks it and rolls him over for a long 2 count. Akira German for 2. He goes for a dragon suplex, Liger blocks it and tries to roll him up, but Akira drops down on him for 2. Liger goes for a tombstone but his knee gives out. Akira gets right back on it. Liger small package for 2. Akira tries coming off the top again but Liger is five steps ahead, casually avoids it and even pushes Arkia on his way down to splatting on the mat. Liger bomb! A second one! AKIRA KICKS OUT! The crowd goes nuts for that. Liger sets up another one but Akira blocks it. Liger sets Akira on the top rope again. Avalanche DDT! The count is academic. Wonderful match. For the US PPV this was clipped down to an unconscionable four minutes. That's not a match, that's a highlight reel. ****

 

Arn Anderson and Barry Windham def Masahiro Chono and Masa Saito in 9:17- Chono was a major star on the rise in New Japan after re-retiring his mentor Lou Thesz. Chono and Windham have a cautious start. Corner break gamesmanship in both team's corners. Arn and Saito trade shoulderblocks. A Windham/Chono slugfest ends with a Windham back suplex. Chono transitions into headscissors. Windham hits a DDT. Arn goes up top and Chono slams him off. Chono comes off the top with a flying tackle. He starts hooking in the STF. Windham breaks it up and soaks in the crowd's boos. Chono dropkicks him to the floor. Tope suicida! Arn tries to catch Chono as he's getting back in but Chono fights him off and locks in a cobra twist. Windham comes off the top rope to break it up, and again revels in the crowd's disapproval. Windham with a suplex and floatover for 2. Arn hits the World's Greatest Spinebuster! That gets a 2 count. Arn knucklelocks with Chono to try to pin him, and looks to want to do the spot where he comes down and crotches himself on his opponent's knees, but Chono either misses the sign or just plain refuses to do it and they end up slowly standing up fighting for leverage instead. The Horsemen keep the ring cut off and Chono in trouble. Arn hooks in an abdominal stretch and tries to get leverage help from Windham but the ref is all over it. Chono counters a backdrop and gets a tag. Saito absorbs all Arn can throw at him and Saito suplexes for both Horsemen as things break down. Arn holds Saito as Windham hits him with a diving lariato (Hart Attack like setup) and that gets the pin. Disappointing considering who was in there. The Horsemen looked off their game for whatever reason. Jet lag, spent all night at one of the Tokyo Dome City arcades, rode the Thunder Dolphin too many times (yes I know that hadn't been built yet, go with me), whatever. **1/4

 

Title vs Title Match: WCW World Tag Team Champions The Steiner Brothers def IWGP Tag Team Champions Hiroshi Hase and Kensuke Sasaki in 12:56- Nick Patrick is reffing again. Scott and Hase start. The crowd had been observing the usual polite Japanese silence for match starts so far, but they're going nuts as this one gets going. Scott grabs a takedown, cloverleafs Hase's legs and tries to get a leverage pin. Off a lockup Scott grabs Hase and deadlift flips him over. Hase tries a rollup, then hits a spinning heel kick right on the top of a ducking Scott's head. A huge Hase lariato sends Scott 360 and out. Rick tags in and wants to play. He gets Sasaki. After some mat wrestling and speed run Sasaki catches a leapfrogging Steiner and powerslams him. HUGE Sasaki lariato and Rick bumps on his head. Hase gets caught in the Steiner corner. Scott (big poppa) pumphandle slam. Scott props Hase up on the corner and hits an avalanche Olympic slam! Rick gut wrenches Hase onto his shoulder and runs him chest first upside down into the buckle pad! Steinerline! Scott belly to belly suplex for 2. Hase tries to chop back. Scott grabs him and gives him a DDT. Now Rick puts Hase up in the corner, and hits a top rope belly to belly suplex! They're mauling this guy. Hase ducks and hits a lariato. Scott grabs his legs to keep him from tagging. Rick German suplex that drops Hase right on his head. Rick laughs at it. Hase powers out of a chinlock and hits a belly to belly suplex. The Steiners still prevent a tag. It's a testament to how popular Hase was that the hugely over Steiners can work like heels here and get some Tokyo boos. Rick wraps up Hase's arm in a crossface-like position. Hase wrestles out, grabs Rick's legs and gives him a giant swing! Yes, a Cesaro swing. On a guy probably at least 50 pounds bigger than him. That's awesome. Rick tags out but Hase still can't. Scott with a double underhook powerbomb! Sasaki saves the pin. Hase fights off a double team and hits a uranagi! Tag! Sasaki dropkicks for everyone. He powerslams Rick but Scott breaks the pin up. Hase sits on the top rope facing out. Sasaki comes up and REVERSE SUPERPLEXES HASE ONTO RICK! There's your holy shit spot of the match. Hase hits a northern lights suplex. Rick kicks out! Double lariato! Scott's in and hits a tiltawhirl slam. Sasaki DDT on Scott, then he lifts Scott up in an electric chair. Hase gets on the top rope preparing some kind of finisher, but Rick knocks Scott off Sasaki's shoulders and slams Hase off the top. Now Scott lifts Sasaki up in an electric chair. Rick bulldog off the top rope! Frankensteiner! 3 count, and the Steiners win the IWGP tag titles! Fatnastic match. Physical, good mat wrestling, and a well thought out layout. BUT, even as a giant Steiners and Japanese strong style fan, not quite as good as its reputation in my humble opinion. It's great, but there's better Steiners matches out there. ****1/4

 

El Gigante def Big Cat Hughes in 2:16- WCW's Randy "Pee Wee" Anderson is handling this one. He and Gigante make a big show of the prematch check to show the size difference, even comparing hand sizes. I gotta say, Gigante's over in Tokyo. He dances around a bit before the lockup, then scoops Hughes up (a 300+ pounder himself), carries him around and slams him. Hughes eye pokes. Gigante no sells punches. Not sure if that's better or worse than his usual *ahem* unique selling. He pounds Hughes' back with clubbing blows. He cinches up a suplex and plays to the crowd forever before hitting it. Ugly "jumping" big boot. That's probably as close as Gigante's ever gotten to a dropkick. The claw (or BRAIN CLAW according to commentary) finishes it. What you'd expect. The crowd was into it and it was in the Tokyo Dome so I'll be generous. 1/4*

 

Big Van Vader and Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow def Doom in 13:17- This is another match cut off the US version, probably because of Doom's breakup, which for US audiences was the previous month at Wrestle War. Remember, there was no internet back then to easily keep up with international promotions, it was mostly magazines and tape trading. Tiger Hattori is your referee for this one. Vader's in a full mask and Bigelow's going sleeveless. Reed and Vader start. Vader potato shots. Reed fights back. Vader charges and SMASHES into Reed! Full scale football contact there. Short clothesline. Vader charges the corner again but Reed pops out with a lariato. Reed slams Vader! Simmons takes some Vader potato shots before lifting him by the legs and spinebustering him! Simmons catches a Bigelow boot but eats an enzuguri. Bigelow and Vader avalanche Simmons. He's dead, Jim. Simmons dodges a Bigelow headbutt off the top rope. Shoulderblock standoff. Bigelow double lariato on Doom. Reed pulls the top rope down and Bigelow crashes to the floor. Simmons slams Bigelow on the floor. Doom starts hitting their power double teams. Simmons casually walks over Bigelow as he's going back to his corner. Reed swinging neckbreaker for 2. Huge Simmons standing lariato for 2. Doom keeps the ring cut in half. Bigelow desperation small package for 2. Reed slams him and hits an elbow off the second rope for a long 2 count. Simmons slips and falls after whipping Bigelow. Bigelow gives him a headbutt in the back and finally tags out. Vader/Reed slugfest. Stiff Vader lariatos. Reed hits a flying tackle and Simmons powerslams Vader for 2. Doom double suplex on Vader! Reed tries another tackle off the top rope but Vader dodges, hits a big splash, and gets the pin. After the bell Doom come to blows with each other and Reed walks out on Simmons. Fun power match with Doom tossing the superheavywights around like they were nothing. ***1/2

The Great Muta def Sting in 12:41- The legendary rivalry from Muta's 1989 US excursion is renewed. Hattori is reffing again. Muta lets some green mist out before the bell and jumps Sting. Handspring elbow. Backbreaker and Muta wants to end it early. He goes for the moonsault, sees Sting dodging and lands on his feet. Sting no sells a kick, so Muta keeps kicking until he goes down and rolls to the floor. Muta plancha! Then he lets off some random red mist in the air. Maybe there was a fly he was trying to kill. He tries coming off the top again but Sting counters with a jumping knee to the gut. Sting presses Muta, carries him around a bit, and drops him down to the floor! Sting with a plancha! Back in, Sting slows things down a bit with a front facelock. Speed run. Sting monkey flips Muta and he lands on his face. Muta grabs Sting's eyes and refuses to let go. Sting ducks a kick and faceplants Muta. They go outside again and Sting drops Muta on the guardrail. He goes for the Scorpion Death Lock in the ring. Muta fights being turned over and gets to the ropes. Another Muta eye rake. Snap mare and elbow drop for 2. Muta measured elbow to Sting's forehead. Commentary says ""WWF" and "Ultimate Warrior" so I assume they're talking about Sting's original run with Warrior in the Blade Runners. Sting dodges another handspring elbow. Muta dodges a Stinger splash! Another backbreaker and moonsault attempt. Sting gets his knees up. He tries another press but Muta falls on top of him for 2. Muta goes up for another go at the moonsault. Sting dropkicks him in the back and Muta falls crotch first on the turnbuckle. Sting goes up and hits a back superplex! That gets a 2 count. Double lariato! Both guys try dropkicks at the same time! Sting blocks a hiptoss and backslides for 2. Muta blocks a slam and gets a small package for 2. Another Scorpion attempt. Sting gets it fully applied but Muta immediately gets to the ropes. He goes for the Stinger splash again. Muta green mists him in midair! Springboard reverse crossbody, and Muta gets the pin! After the bell a pissed off Sting gives Muta the Stinger splash and puts him in the Scorpion until the other WCW wrestlers at ringside calm him down. Good stuff from two guys that knew each other very well, but it was missing that extra something to get it to the next level. ***1/2

 

Greatest 18 Club Championship: Riki Choshu (c) def Tiger Jeet Singh in 11:07- The Greatest 18 Club was New Japan's first Hall of Fame, and this short lived title was meant to symbolize the legacy of those legends. The title was created in February '91, Choshu was the first champion and this is the title's first defense. This is the last of the matches removed for the US broadcast because it's an all New Japan match. It's also being contested under some kind of hardcore or alternate rules- there's no ref in the ring, clearly anything goes, and the finish is a KO 10 count. Before the match Singh is jawing with the crowd, running around the ringside area and he knocks the ring announcer silly with his rubber rapier. Choshu jumps him and there's a brawl on the floor. As they get back in Singh takes control by whacking Choshu with the rapier handle, busting him open. Singh takes a couple of the corner pads partially off to expose the top rope turnbuckles, then chokes Choshu with one of the ropes from that. Forever. Choshu gets run into one of the exposed buckles and bleeds some more. He comes back with a big gut punch. Singh stops the comeback with a low blow, to the disapproval of the crowd. Choshu doesn't seem to be bleeding very much but there's already blood everywhere. He knocks Singh to the floor and rams him into the post, then gets the rapier and hits Singh with it. Singh's now busted open. As they get back in Singh has a spike in his hand and he pops Choshu with it. He digs the spike into Choshu's head. Choshu slowly fights Singh's hand down and pulls the spike out, then hits Singh with it. More low blows from both guys. Singh bites Choshu's cut. Chochu hits an enzuguri, literally the only wrestling move the entire match. And a second one. He wallops Singh from behind with a clothesline, Singh gets 10 counted and it's over. They continue fighting after the bell. On the plus side, they had good intensity and sold this as an almost real brawl. On the other side, pretty much everything else. Choshu would hold the title until August '92 when he dropped it to the Great Muta, who promptly retired it to focus on the IWGP Heavyweight title, which he also held at that time. New Japan wouldn't have another secondary title until the also short lived U-30 (Under 30) championship was created in 2003. **

 

A little necessary title lineage background before we get to the main event: In January '91 WCW left the NWA and started new title lineages under the WCW name. However, the NWA, not having much of any other option, still recognized Ric Flair as their world champion. The NWA name was much more well known than WCW in Japan, so for the home crowd the following match was presented as Flair defending only the NWA title. But WCW was trying to completely separate from anything NWA related, and if pushed still considered the WCW and NWA titles the same thing, so for the American audience this was Flair defending the WCW world title. Clear? I hope so, because in the immortal words of Amy Pond...

Title vs Title Match: IWGP Heavyweight Champion Tatsumi Fujinami def NWA World Heavyweight Champion "Nature Boy" Ric Flair in 23:06- The ring announcer has a bandage on his head after Singh's attack. The ring's stained with blood after the last match. Randy Anderson is the official referee for the match, but Tiger Hattori is also present. Flair and Fujinami go nose to nose before Flair offers a handshake, which is accepted. Both guys hit the ropes, we have a WOOOOOO and we're off. Some corner break gamesmanship early. Shoulderblock tradeoff. Fujinami back suplexes out of a headlock. He goes for the dragon sleeper early! Flair fights it getting locked in all the way and makes it to the ropes. Flair with a kick in the corner and the match's first chops. Chop exchange. A hiptoss and dropkick send Flair to the floor. Fujinami works a headlock with some Flair spots in between. Flair backs Fujinami into the corner and hits more chops. Fujinami with a backdrop. Now Flair back suplexes out of a headlock. There's a bad miscommunication where it looks like Fujinami's going for a lariato but Flair's nowhere near in position. Flair realizes and quickly covers by giving Fujinami a "come on!". Flair starts knee work out of nowhere, like he hit fast forward on the match somewhere. He's going to something familiar trying to make the match work when it clearly isn't to this point. Kneebreaker. Snap mare and kneedrop. Fujinami gets a drop toe hold with a great Flair sell. Fujinami hooks in a Scorpion! Flair sells it for a while, content I think to milk this as they try to find some footing. Fujinami transitions into more of a cloverleaf, then almost a Mutalock, then a camel clutch. Flair flips him over to get out. Fujinami lariato for 2. Flair hits an inverted atomic drop and goes up top. Fujinami goes to slam him, but Flair slips off and onto the apron. He quickly recovers by snapping Fujinami's throat over the top rope. It's definitely one of those nights. Flair pulls Fujinami out, gives him a guardrail shot and flips him over the rail. Fujinami stays on the floor a long time while Flair gives Pee Wee some what for like he's Tommy Young. Once he's back in Flair chops him then waits forever for Fujinami to chop back. Still a lot of obvious spot discussions happening. Flair swinging neckbreaker for 2. Double underhook suplex for 2. Fujinami chops back. Flair goes to the ol' eye poke. He goes up top again and this time successfully gets slammed off. Flair flip! Fujinami dropkicks him off the apron. Flair ducks under to blade because why not. Guardrail shots for Flair. Fujinami pounds away on the cut. Flair Flop! That got a pop from the Tokyo crowd, nice. Flair catches a boot, but Fujinami gives him an enzuguri with an amazing Flair flop like sell. Flair goes into full begging off mode as the match finally gets into a bit of a groove. Flair gets a knee to the gut and chops. Slugfest. Fujinami's chest is beet red. Another Flair flip and he gets tied up in the tree of woe! Fujinami flips out of a suplex and gets a roll up for 2. Saito suplex and cover, Flair gets a foot on the rope. Fujinami drop toe holds Flair into the ref! Fujinami gets several quick pin attempts but there's no ref to count. Flair charges and Fujinami backdrops him over the top rope! Remember that. As Cowboys radio play by play legend Brad Sham says, circle that play. Fujinami suplexes Flair back in, wraps up a cobra twist roll up, and Tiger Hattori comes in and counts the 3! Huge celebration for Fujinami. We can just get a glimpse of Flair arguing with Anderson and pointing to the top rope, but Fujinami is awarded both belts. The match was two legends that struggled mightily to get on the same page, sadly something they would struggle with again at their Superbrawl rematch in the US. **1/2

OK, the title situation. For the home crowd and on New Japan TV, Fujinami was the winner and new NWA world champion as well as IWGP Heavyweight champion. But for the US broadcast and on WCW TV in the US, they announced that Flair was the winner by DQ due to the over the top rope throw and was still WCW world champion. The NWA would continue to recognize Fujinami as champion until Flair won the rematch at Superbrawl, but for WCW Flair's reign was unbroken. And if you think all this is confusing, just wait until I start reviewing the shows with the WCW International World title. Oh yeah.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS: We had peaks and valleys here for sure, but overall it's a fine first joint promotion show between WCW and NJPW, with a good and large Tokyo Dome crowd. Definitely check out the junior and tag title matches. It was successful enough that both companies agreed to do it again in '92, but this time on a brand new date that would end up becoming the cornerstone of the New Japan calendar: January 4th.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B