Clash of the Champions XIV

Legacy Review

Clash of the Champions XIV: Dixie Dynamite

January 30, 1991 from the Georgia Mountains Center in Gainesville, GA

Commentary: Jim Ross and freshly WWF returned Dusty Rhodes, who has also taken back over as head booker

 

Sting and WCW United States Champion "The Total Package" Lex Luger def WCW World Tag Team Champions Doom by DQ in 10:33- No Teddy Long for this match. JR mentions he's not there with no explanation and it's not brought up again. Sting and Reed start. After a long lockup Reed gets some clubbing blows in and Sting counters with some basic wrestling. Luger gets a swinging neckbreaker. Luger/Simmons shoulderblock standoff. After that they take turns knocking each other down. Simmons hot shots Luger to put him in peril. Mid-match commercial, which is something Clashes had been able to avoid to this point. We come back with Luger still in peril. Simmons hits a powerslam for 2. Luger tries to fight back but Reed cuts him off. Simmons and Luger badly mistime a backdrop counter, one of several rough exchanges between the two of them. Luger gets away from Reed and gets the hot tag to Sting. While Sting's cleaning house Dan Spivey, who's challenging Luger for the US title at the upcoming Wrestle War PPV, comes out and takes Luger out in full view of the ref who lets it go like Red Shoes. Sting dodges a Doom double team tackle and the ref goes down. Reed backdrops Sting over the top rope. The ref sees it from the floor and calls for the DQ. So a wrestler not in the match coming in and beating up a wrestler in the match is OK, but an over the top rope dump, call for the bell! Meh. Crap finish, and a sloppy match considering the talent that was in there. **

The results of WCW's fan poll for sexiest wrestler have been "counted", and the winner is Tom Zenk. Segue!

 

WCW World Television Championship: "The Z Man" Tom Zenk (c) def "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton in 7:08- The match where Zenk dropped the title back to Arn Anderson had already been taped but didn't air until the next week. There's an audio issue, after an awkward silence we can hear a countdown before Eaton's piped in "Bobby!" chants start. I really don't know what the deal with that was supposed to be. Shoving start. They go into some nice extended counter and stalemate sequences. Eaton does some arm work. He goes up top, and Zenk dropkicks him off and down to the floor! Just as Dusty says Eaton is thinking about nailing someone in the chops, Eaton nails Zenk in the chops. Zenk pops Eaton back. Eaton wants to slow down and offers a test of strength. On a rope break he gets another cheap shot in and works some high impact offense. Eaton goes up top again and Zenk slams him off. Zenk charges in the corner and Eaton nails him with a back elbow. He tries the top rope again, and this time is successful, but instead of hitting the Alabama Jam it's just a kneedrop. Zenk flash small package for 2. Eaton neckbreaker for 2. Zenk slips out of a suplex and gets a roll up for 2. Then Zenk blocks an Eaton hiptoss, works it into a backslide, and gets a questionable pin as it looked like Eaton kicked out. Not sure if that was a planned controversial finish or just a mistake. Slow start, good finish. There was definitely a good match in there if they had more time. **1/2

Alexandra York promises to reveal the newest member of the York Foundation later tonight.

 

The Fabulous Freebirds def "Wildfire" Tommy Rich and Allen Iron Eagle in 5:53- Eagle is an extremely green Joe Gomez, who would come back as a low carder/jobber during the Bischoff years. Hayes and Rich start. Rich powerslams Hayes and catches Garvin coming off the top. Eagle hits mounted punches on Garvin and cuts Hayes off from getting a shot in. Garvin gets a blind tag and the Freebirds take the kid to school. Eagle doesn't sell Hayes' straight left punch. JR's "He hit him so hard he stunned him!" is a pretty funny attempt at cover. Hayes clubs him in the back and tosses him to the floor, looking legit pissed off and wanting to teach the rookie a lesson. Eagle dodges a charge and Garvin wraps himself up in a one legged tree of woe. Donnybrook! When the dust settles Eagle gets a suplex and tags, but the ref doesn't see it. While Rich is arguing with the ref the Freebirds hit a double DDT and get the pin. Not much of a match, but it's amusing to see the veterans make Eagle pay some dues. 3/4*

 

Sid Vicious def Jumpin' Joey Maggs in 1:11- Special entrance for Sid with a turntable and spotlight. WCW was poised to push him to the moon before he jumped to WWF during the summer. The match is sanctioned kayfabe murder, with Sid tossing Maggs around and planting him with the powerbomb to win. Sid's personal EMTs try to stretcher Maggs out but Sid dumps him over. NR

 

Terry Taylor def Ricky Morton in 11:53- Taylor being announced as "The computerized man of the 1990s" should be a bit of a giveaway as to where this is going. Good back and forth with stalemates start. Morton gets a series of armdrags and Taylor gets a little hot but they keep the match face vs face friendly. Morton works a headlock and walks up the corner to keep it on. They go speed, almost too fast as they nearly miss each other, and Morton gets a crossbody for 2. Commercial as Taylor rolls out to regroup. Back to Taylor working a hammerlock. Morton jawbreakers out. Taylor blocks a roll up, Morton ducks a clothesline and hits an armdrag. Alexandra York appears at ringside. Taylor asks Morton if she's here for him, then hits him with a forearm from behind while he's distracted. Yup. We get a picture in picture promo with York announcing Taylor as her stable's newest member. Taylor with a side suplex and kneedrop for 2. Morton small package for 2. Taylor, punctuating his heel turn, keeps going for eye rakes. He gets a boot up in the corner and a bulldog for 2. Morton gets his knees up on a splash attempt. Slugfest. Morton goes for a senton-like dive. Taylor dodges and covers for 3. Not sure that went the way they planned. Ugly finish aside, this was a rock solid wrestling match as you'd expect from these two. The heel turn for Taylor made sense as he'd been making a lot of noise about being disrespected by WCW officials and the championship committee, but it didn't come off as well as it should have because it was all done for the TV audience and the live crowd wasn't fully clued in to what was happening. Ironically Morton would also end up joining the York Foundation after turning on Robert Gibson when he came back from his injury a few months later. **3/4

Video of Sting being presented the PWI Wrestler of the Year award for 1990 from Bill Apter.

 

Ranger Ross def El Cubano in 3:05- We're about two weeks in to Operation Desert Shield becoming Desert Storm so WCW got Ross out of mothballs for the patriotic pop. Cubano ambushes as Ross is getting his jacket off and hits a reverse springboard crossbody for 2. A Ross dropkick sends Cubano to the floor. After a chase Cubano ambushes again as Ross is getting back in. Ross does a nice piece of wrestling, taking a drop toe hold but then countering into a hammerlock. Cubano goes for a splash off the top rope that's dodged by Ross and he sends Cubano to the floor again. Ross gets a head of steam, barely leaps over the top rope and *just* sticks the landing. In Olympic gymnastics that'd be a deduction, but a small one. As they're getting back in Ross gets an ugly overshot sunset flip for 3. Not nearly as awful as it could have been. *

 

Arn Anderson and Barry Windham def The Renegade Warriors in 7:30- The Horsemen get a small pop. The Youngbloods shock the world by jumping the heels and clearing the ring. That sets up the first half of the match, which is the Horsemen getting outwrestled and beaten to the punch time and time again by the Warriors and being absolutely shocked that they're bringing it that good. Arn gets a drop toe hold and goes for a figure four. Chris Youngblood pushes out, Arn ricochets off the corner, and Chris rolls him up for 2. After a Windham eye rake the Horsemen finally settle in and get some control. The Youngbloods fire up again and double team Arn. He counters with the World's Greatest Spinebuster and tags. Windham suplex and DDT for 2. Arn gets overhand chopped by Mark from the apron, backs up into Chris and they bang heads. Arn goes for a Vader bomb. Chris is supposed to get his knees up but doesn't. Arn sells it anyway. Hot tag to Mark and he cleans house. Donnybrook. The Horsemen take Mark out, Windham hits Chris with a huge lariat, and the superplex finishes it. Perfectly competent tag wrestling. The consummate pros Windham and Arn are the first team I've seen to try to make the Youngbloods look respectable. **1/4

Footage of a Vader/Stan Hansen match from the Tokyo Dome, with Japanese commentary. You talk about two guys stiffing the ever loving snot out of each other. Hansen is with Tony to hype up their US match at Wrestle War, which was fine but nowhere near the level of their Japan classics.

 

"Flyin'" Brian Pillman def Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker in 3:17- Parker is best known as the longtime head trainer at WCW's wrestling school that started during the Bischoff years, the Power Plant. They start with a test of strength. Pillman goes down but bridges back up. He flips over and hits a hiptoss, dropkick and armdrag. Pillman crucifix for 2. A flying headscissors sends Parker to the floor. Parker gets on the ramp and jaws with the crowd. Pillman goes up top and FLIES over onto Parker a good 10-15 away on the ramp! Another crossbody off the top finishes it. A squash, but a spunky and fun one. Pillman was prepping for a massive "all heart no quit" push in the War Games match at Wrestle War that would lead to him being the face of the new Light Heavyweight division later in the year. *1/2

 

Next up is an arm wrestling contest between Paul E Dangerously and Missy Hyatt. Not sure what the beef was here, other than Paul E and Hyatt worked together on one of the multitude of WCW shows on TBS, and part of Paul E's gimmick was he hated all women. Hyatt takes her jacket off and hypnotizes Paul E with her cleavage, beating him before he even realizes what's happening. That's it, that's the whole segment. Next.

There's a lot to set up for the main event: After being revealed as the Black Scorpion at Starrcade to try to salvage that disaster Flair won the world title back from Sting at a house show in the Meadowlands on January 11. That win gave Flair his seventh world title and actually tied him with Harley Race for the most world title wins in history to that point, but that's not mentioned because WCW had just pulled out of the NWA. Meanwhile, everyone in WCW knew they had a special talent in Scott Steiner and this is his early tryout in a main event spot. Word is Flair was even willing to drop the title to him here, but Scott knew he wasn't ready for that yet and wasn't interested. Maybe he's not such a meathead after all. New Japan's Hiro Matsuda is here, as the winner of this match will face IWGP Heavyweight champ Tatsumi Fujinami in a title vs title match in the Tokyo Dome as part of the first joint WCW/NJPW show. Flair's in his weird phase where the top half of his hair is normal, but the bottom half is cut short. That's from Jim Herd trying to get him to change his gimmick, reportedly to a gladiator named Spartacus, but of course Flair rightly wouldn't hear of idiocy like that. Despite all his issues with Herd Flair really goes all out much of this match to make Steiner look good.

 

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (c) and Scott Steiner (w/Rick Steiner) go to a TV Time Remaining Draw in 24:25- TV time remaining was a common NWA/WCW gimmick, where if a match didn't end before the show went off the air it was considered a time limit draw. Flair gives us a WOOOOOOO and a strut and we're off. Flair wants a pose off, which Scott wins easily. Scott hits a shoulderblock and Flair looks almost eager at the challenge. After an amateur fireman's carry takedown Flair has a think in the corner. They fight for wristlock leverage with Scott winning that too. Flair goes to the ropes and jaws with Rick. After a Scott backdrop and side suplex Flair bails. After getting back in he goes to work in the corner with a forearm and chops. Scott gets an armdrag and there's some good mat wrestling with hammerlock tradeoffs. Flair gets a kick to the knee. Scott counters with a Steinerline. Flair rolls out again, clearly working the match to make Scott go at his pace. Scott suplexes him back in. Mounted punches are countered with a Flair inverted atomic drop. Scott's tossed out, but he instantly pops back up and comes in with a sunset flip. Flair punches out. After getting a boot up in the corner Flair tries an illegal leverage pin. Rick pushes his feet off the rope and we go to commercial. Back with a Scott drop toe hold. He hooks Flair in a figure four! Flair pretty quickly gets to the ropes. After a couple of running dodges Flair hits a crossbody that's supposed to send them both over the top to the floor, but Scott doesn't make it over and has to blatantly plant and relaunch himself over. Flair kneebreaker on the floor. 10 minutes left, and we're going to school. Flair works on the knee some more and hooks in the figure four. He tries for rope leverage but Rick gets the ref to notice. Flair hooks it in again in the middle of the ring. Scott fights a bit and reverses. Comeback mode for Scott with punches and a neckbreaker. Flair Flip! He falls down to the floor. Scott hits a charging Steinerline on the floor. Flair Flop! Rick rolls him back in. 5 minutes left. Scott beats Flair down in the corner. The ref grabs his arm to stop him and Flair takes advantage. He tries for another figure four but Scott rolls up a small package for 2. Scott gets a sleeper. Flair falls into the ropes. A Steinerline sends Flair 360 and out. "Judgement call" by the ref. Man, I hate that rule. I'm glad no one tries to use it today. 3 minutes left. Flair does the snap mare/kneedrop combo. He tries for leverage pins again and Rick pushes his feet off again. 2 minutes left. After a headlock/headscissors/bridge up sequence Scott hits a double underhook powerbomb! Flair rolls to the floor. Scott like an idiot stands in the ring instead of showing some urgency with time almost up. At one minute left Rick rolls Flair back in again. Flair begs off. Diving Steinerline! 30 seconds. Scott mounted punches. Flair Flip 2! He goes up top and gets off but Scott nails him in the gut coming down. After some fumbling Scott hits a belly to belly suplex long after time already elapsed, but they don't ring the bell until after a 2 count to make it look like a near fall. Good match overall, and a mostly successful first dip into major singles action for Scott. There was the usual issue with obvious stalling for the time limit, but it was nice that Flair tried something a bit different and didn't work his usual Sting/Luger/big man formula. ***1/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Well, it's certainly an improvement over the last couple of Clashes, which to be fair is an extremely low bar. The main event is definitely worth checking out as a historical curiosity. Wrestle War would turn out to be one of the few highlights of the Jim Herd era, and led into a mostly successful Tokyo Dome show. The bottom would quickly come out again however as the year turned to summer.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C-

Clash of the Champions XIII

Legacy Review

Clash of the Champions XIII: Thanksgiving Thunder

November 20, 1990 from the Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum in the future home of AEW Jacksonville, FL

Commentary: Jim Ross and Paul E Dangerously

The Fabulous Freebirds (w/Little Richard Marley) def The Southern Boys in 4:50- This is the third straight Clash featuring this matchup as the opening match. What is this, Raw? Gary Michael Capetta announces it as a 6 man, which is was scheduled to be, then stumbles all over himself. Bobby Eaton comes out with the 'Birds as their scheduled partner. After the Boys come out alone Hayes (wearing crazy yellow lipstick) takes the mic and asks where their partner, El Gigante, is? Hayes says he's in Delta airlines cargo (Turner plug!) inside a giant box labelled "return to Argentina" courtesy of the greatest rock & roll band of all time! They want it to be a handicap match but since they bragged about taking Gigante out the ref says it'll be a straight tag match and orders Eaton back to the locker room. The real reason for the switch was Gigante got hurt. Garvin and Smothers start. After a long speed run Smothers hiptosses and dropkicks everyone, including Marley. The Boys work the spot where Armstrong blindsides the 'Birds with a crossbody off the top. Smothers slams and double clotheslines both heels. A Hayes straight left sends Smothers flying off the apron into the barricade. Garvin gets slammed off the top rope. The Freebirds work the ref and double suplex Smothers. Armstrong comes off the top again and backdrops Garvin over the top onto the ramp. Armstrong dives over the top rope onto Garvin! While they're fighting Marley trips Smothers, Hayes plants him with a DDT, and gets the pin. Both teams were on autopilot until the finish. Play the hits, donnybrook, go home. *3/4

Sting is with Tony Schiavone for a promo to hype up his promo segment later tonight with the Black Scorpion. It's like a trailer for a trailer. As they try to kick to commercial Ole Anderson's voice interrupts and says Sting will see his "great powers of black magic" tonight, because that's sure worked so far. Scorpion wouldn't know avada kedavra from alohamora.

"Flyin'" Brian Pillman def "Nature Boy" Buddy Landell in 5:52- This is a rematch from Great American Bash. Landell pounds away and hits short clotheslines. He goes for an arrogant cover and Pillman rolls him over for 2. Pillman small package for 2. He clotheslines Landell onto the ramp. Pillman springboard clothesline! Landell backdrops out of a piledriver attempt on the ramp. A knee sends Pillman off the apron and into the guardrail. They take turns dodging and getting posted on the floor. Pillman tries for a plancha, sees Landell dodging, lands on the apron and does a springboard reverse crossbody off the second rope instead! Landell kills things with an abdominal stretch. Pillman tries another springboard reverse in the ring but Landell catches him and hits a backbreaker. He goes for a superplex. Pillman fights out and hits a crossbody off the top for 3. Surprisingly good for a Landell match. Pillman was already good enough to carry just about anyone if he got the chance to hit his flippydo. **

 

The Big Cat def Brad Armstrong in 4:31- Big Cat is the future bodyguard to the stars Mr. Hughes. Armstrong is still in his "Candyman" phase. He's even got candy canes on his boots for frak's sake. Armstrong plays dodge the big guy for a bit until he bounces off Cat's shoulderblocks. Cat catches Armstrong on a crossbody attempt and hits a trio of backbreakers. Bear hug, followed by Cat ramming Armstrong into the corner. Armstrong dodges an avalanche and hits a nice Okada-like standing dropkick. Cat dodges a second, puts Armstrong in the torture rack because he's trying to start a beef with Lex Luger, and the ref stops the match. That's an important point, the ref *stops the match*. Do NOT tell JR Armstrong quit because that's completely impossible. Paul E needles him for all it's worth and JR fires back. Those two were really good together. Armstrong was mostly locked into the spunky babyface jobber role, but he's a guy I'd really like to see today as a junior heavyweight in New Japan or something, I think he could do some good. Very underrated in his day. 3/4*

 

"The Z Man" Tom Zenk def Brian Lee in 3:10- Lee is making his WCW debut here after cutting his teeth under Jerry Jarrett in Memphis. He'd go on to have decent runs in SMW and ECW, but his biggest claim to fame was being the fake Undertaker in the Undertaker vs Undertaker match at Summerslam '94. After some shoulderblock standoffs Zenk catches Lee with a karate kick while he's jawing with the crowd. Zenk hiptosses Lee then jumps up for a springboard reverse crossbody from the top despite the fact that Lee is miles away in the opposite corner. Needless to say, he misses worse than an Iron headbutt from the last Clash. The hell was that? They go speed and Zenk hits a dropkick. Lee gets a sucker punch and works some generic offense. Zenk tries to walk him through the last part of the match, not completely successfully, before hitting a missile dropkick off the top to end it. Losing to Zenk, who had been putting other debuting talent over, was not a good sign for Lee's immediate career trajectory. 1/2*

Tony is with Mike Rotunda, his new personal assistant Alexandra York and her early '90s personal computer. Rotunda is furious Tony called him Rotunda and says he's legally changed his name to Michael Wallstreet. Why? You'll find out next Saturday on The Michael Wallstreet Story. York says they're computerizing their strategery, and the computer is never wrong.

 

Michael Wallstreet def The Starblazer in 4:15- Starblazer is Tim Horner in a mask. He looks so much like a red Blue Blazer the resemblance has to be deliberate. He does a funny little run coming to the ring to zero crowd reaction. See, these one night unknown masked men could work fine as a heel but they were DOA as a face. That's something Jim Herd could never figure out but you'd think Ole Anderson would know better. Rotunda gets an amateur waistlock takedown and pushes Starblazer around with his foot, mocking him. Someone in the crowd shouts "BORING". Blazer gets a hiptoss and dropkicks and Rotunda (shock) stalls and reconsults the computer. After momentuming Blazer to the floor Rotunda puts on the Rotunda Abdominal Stretch. Change the name all you want, it's still Rotunda. Blazer slips out of a suplex and gets a roll up for 2. More Blazer offense follows with the crowd all metaphorically staring at their phones. Rotunda tries for a Boston crab but Blazer keeps rolling out. Finally Rotunda hits the Wall Street Crash (a Samoan drop) and wins. 1/4*

Gordon Solie runs down this week's top 10 rankings lists. Looking at the tag team side it's amazing how the deepest tag division in wrestling history just a couple of short months ago has completely imploded into a bunch of lower card also-rans and never weres randomly thrown together. Speaking of tag teams, after that is a preview video for the upcoming Pat O'Conner Memorial Tag Team Tournament that will take place at Starrcade '90, featuring Olympic-style international competition. The Steiner Brothers have been set as the top seed representing the US with WCW semi-regulars Great Muta and Mr. Saito from Japan #2. The rest.....er.....we'll get back to you on that *frantically checks messages to see if anyone's called back on the offer yet*.

 

Pat O'Connor Memorial Tournament Qualifying Match: Sgt. Krueger and Col. DeKlerk (South Africa) def The Beast and Kaluha (Non-Apartheid Africa) in 4:48- This is billed alternately as "the African qualifier" and "the African final", like there was a whole tournament of African teams leading to this. I have serious doubts if Krueger or DeKlerk could find South Africa on a map, much less be from there. In fact they are Matt Bourne (future Big Josh and original heel Doink the Clown) and Rocco Rock of Public Enemy. Krueger and Kaluha start. Kreuger sells some stuff and tags. The "other" African team are supposed to be the faces but the crowd isn't sure/doesn't care. DeKlerk cartwheels out of a wristlock and gets a rollup, then hits a springboard .7 moonsault! Beast hits a flying clothesline on Kreuger. DeKlerk offers him an insincere handshake to finally get a bit of heat from the crowd. Beast powerslams him. DeKlerk goes to the top and moonsaults over Beast! Coming off the top again Beast catches and powerslams him again. Kreuger breaks the pin up and we're donnybrooking. The heels double team Beast to pin him and move on to Starrcade to join the tournament with the Steiners, the Japanese team, and whoever else shows up don't ask us such detailed questions we'll circle back to that. 1/2*

Recap of the Lex Luger/Stan Hansen feud over the US title. Luger is getting his rematch at Starrcade. During his prematch promo Big Cat interrupts and Luger pops him.

 

"The Total Package" Lex Luger def The Motor City Madman in 2:34- The Madman is a big guy that had a short and unimpressive career. His look and gimmick are kind of like Silas Young and the Beer City Bruiser had a baby that was a terrible wrestler. Luger looks annoyed by his pyro and kind of brushes it away. Cat stalks him on his entrance but Luger gets the better of him again. They slug it out on the ramp until refs run in to drag Cat off. Madman's being a good boy and watching it all from the ring. Idiot. Finally he jumps Luger as he's getting in the ring. Luger ducks a clothesline and hits a crossbody. Madman tries to suplex Luger onto the entrance ramp. Luger blocks and juuuuuuuuuust barely lifts Madman over the top rope in what was supposed to be a suplex but looked more like an elaborate DDT. Madman hits a side suplex and Luger backdrops out of a piledriver attempt. Luger hits a huge lariat to win, a message to Stan Hansen. That was a sneak preview of the massively unmotivated Luger we'd see throughout 1991. 1/4*

 

The Renegade Warriors def The Nasty Boys by DQ in 4:49- The Nastys and the Steiner Brothers have been engaged in a heated US tag title feud, but we can't have a big title match on this show, no, that'd make too much sense. JR is so confident in the Steiners that he promises to quit if the Nastys beat them for the titles. Paul E acts like it's Christmas. Talk like that makes me think the plan was for the Nastys to win the titles before they bolted for WWF. Saggs and Mark Youngblood start with cautious lockups until Saggs gets a cheap shot. Double suplex by the Nastys. The Youngbloods blind tag and Chris gets a crossbody on Knobbs for 2. Armdrags on both Nastys. Saggs tosses Mark over the top to the floor behind the ref's back and Knobbs gives him a rail shot. The heels work some bland Indian in peril stuff on Mark (with a funny moment when Chris beats on their ceremonial drum and gets booed by the crowd) until the Steiners run in and attack them for the DQ. The Nastys quickly bail. 3/4*

 

Sid Vicious def The Nightstalker in 3:30- Nightstalker is a young and still pretty green Bryan Clarke, better known as Adam Bomb from WWF or Wrath from Bischoff era WCW. He's got a giant cardboard ax with him. Sid gets a bit of a face pop even though he's technically still a heel (and to be fair with the Horsemen/Doom feud those lines were a bit blurred at this time). Stalker wants a test of strength to start. After that is the big man shoulderblock standoff. Stalker grabs a bear hug. Sid bell rings out and Stalker puts him right back into it. After a bit Sid punches out with Stalker showing he has almost no idea how to properly sell yet. It's a sad day when Sid is not the worst seller in a singles match. As Stalker is working Sid's ribs (with Paul E on commentary adroitly reminding the audience about Sid's punctured lung from the year prior) Big Cat comes out AGAIN. Is there anyone he's not trying to start a feud with? Sid back suplexes Stalker and punches Cat. Man, no one is ever pleased to see him. Stalker charges with the cheap cardboard ax. Sid dodges and Cat gets it. He picks the ax up, nudges Stalker with it, and pins him. The heels go into beatdown mode until Sid squeaks away. Just when you think this show has hit the bottom.....DUD

The Freebirds are out for a promo only to be interrupted by the Southern Boys and EL GIGANTE. Man, UPS can't ship anything right.

 

NWA United States Tag Team Championship: The Steiner Brothers (c) def Magnum Force in 1:57- Remember that team Maximum Overdrive the Steiners squashed on the last Clash? This is the SAME TEAM. Change the name, throw them out there again. I don't know what names they're using tonight and really don't care. Scott does some mat wrestling. One of the Force guys looks like he doesn't want to play ball with Rick so Rick stiffs the shit out of him. The Frankensteiner finishes it. After the bell the Nastys run in and both teams brawl again. This feud never got the big blowoff because, as mentioned previously, Vince stole the Nastys away before the end of the year. Really should have had it on this show. NR

Next up is the semi-main promo segment, Paul E's Danger Zone with Sting finally getting to confront the Black Scorpion face to face. Or so we're promised. After a recap of the feud that started potentially OK and got dumber and dumber as it went on Sting comes out. He and Paul E are interrupted by "spooky" music and the Scorpion, again with Ole Anderson's terribly obvious dubbing over the mic, comes onto the ramp and does a bunch more cheap stage magic that probably wouldn't impress a 19th century British music hall crowd. He turns an audience plant into a tiger then vanishes with the same trick used at Halloween Havoc. This is one of the worst promo segments I've ever seen and was really the last nail in the coffin of any chance the whole Black Scorpion mess could have a chance at any kind of a decent resolution.

 

"Nature Boy" Ric Flair (w/Arn Anderson) def NWA World Tag Team Champion Butch Reed (w/Ron Simmons and Teddy Long) in 14:13- This is part of the continuing Horsemen/Doom world tag title feud. If Flair wins, he and Arn get another shot at the belts at Starrcade and Teddy Long has to be his chauffeur for a day. If Reed wins, Doom gets Flair's limo and luxury yacht. After some Slick Ric at the start Reed lays in with the power. Back and forth chops in the corner. Reed gets a press slam. A clothesline sends Flair 360 and out. Simmons gets a shot in. Flair wanders onto the ramp and eats a Reed clothesline. Back in they do the bridge/backslide spot with Reed getting a 2 count. Flair goes to the ol' eye poke to get some space. He kicks Reed's gut a few times and taunts Simmons with the Florida Gator chomp gesture. Flair chops. He works ref Nick Patrick to toss Reed over the top to the floor. Arn nails him with a clothesline outside. That'll teach Doom to think they can outcheat the Horsemen. Not on your best night, pal. More chops in the corner and Reed comes back with punches. Flair gets pummeled with punches. Flair Flop! Flair Flip! And he falls off the apron right into a Simmons punch! Flair gets control back as he gets back in and does the snap mare/kneedrop combo. Reed dodges a second kneedrop. Reed hooks in a figure four! Flair sells it like crazy for a bit and eventually gets to the ropes. Patrick has to drag Reed off. Huge Reed suplex for 2. Flair dodges an elbow off the second rope. Reed pops out of the corner with a clothesline and does some ground and pound. Flair's bleeding just a little. Another press slam. Arn drags Patrick out of the ring even though Flair kicked out. Reed hits a tackle off the top rope and covers Flair for a sure 3, but Patrick is outside arguing with both Long and Arn. Flair backdrops Reed to the floor and he lands on Patrick and Long! Simmons comes in and kills Flair with a clothesline. Arn counters by whacking Reed with a chair. Flair crawls over, and Patrick gets back in to count the pin. Perfectly average if overbooked, even for a heel vs heel match, but on this show it almost felt like a 5 star classic. I also think the wrong guy for Doom was in there. Simmons was still raw, but he had shown flashes of brilliance in Doom's tag matches and Flair was more than capable of guiding him through a good to great match. The title match at Starrcade ended up being Arn and Windham challenging when Flair was pressed into trying to save the finale of the Black Scorpion angle. **1/2

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Yikes. The Jim Herd/Ole Anderson era Clashes were definitely going for quantity over quality but this is still a disaster. 11 matches, peaking at **1/2, two at ** or over and EIGHT under *, plus an absolute train wreck of a big time promo segment and very little angle advancement to offset the lack of match quality. And we still have a whole year of Herd left to go, even though Dusty Rhodes was about to return and take the head booker spot back from Ole. JR and Paul E are fun on commentary at least.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D-

In Your House 1

Legacy Review

In Your House 1

May 14, 1995 from the Onondaga Country War Memorial Arena in Syracuse, NY

Commentary: Vince McMahon and Dok Hendrix (AKA Michael Hayes)

The In Your House series was WWF's latest attempt to boost declining business, flooding the PPV market by putting on a discounted PPV ($15 for 2 hours instead of $30 in those days for 3 hours) every month one of the established big five PPVs, the original four plus King of the Ring, wasn't on. Obviously it got traction as monthly PPVs quickly became the model in wrestling, with WCW, who were already up to 8 full size PPVs a year in '94 anyway plus Clashes, quickly following suit. An added twist to this first In Your House was WWF was actually holding a contest to win a house in Orlando, FL, future home of NXT and the Performance Center (Orlando, not the house). There's a giant box of the entries set up on the entrance stage.

Bret "Hitman" Hart def Hakushi (w/Shinja) in 14:39- This is the first of two scheduled matches for Bret tonight. Hakushi is a young Jinsei Shinzaki, one of the founding members of Michinoku Pro Wrestling, a company he's the president of today. WWF had been looking for a new Japanese star and convinced Shinzaki to join the company after he worked WWF shows during a recent Japan tour. Shinja was also known to WWF audiences as Sato of the Orient Express. A Hakushi opening headlock leads to a speed run that Hakushi flips over Bret and cartwheels to end. Someone check on Jim Cornette, he probably had a coronary. Bret grabs the arm and Hakushi does the heel 101 hair pull. They get tangled up on a whip spot and Hakushi hits a flying tackle that I'm not sure was supposed to be a flying tackle. Bret slips out of a slam, rolls Hakushi up for 2, and hits an armdrag. They have another miscommunication on a rope run. Bret covers for it by hitting an elbow to the back of Hakushi's head. After some more armdrags Hakushi rolls out. We need an adjustment here. Hakushi reverses a corner whip and we have an early Bret Bump. Hakushi Vader bomb for 2. We go picture in picture showing Bret's opponent for later tonight, his old foe Jerry Lawler, enjoying the beating. Hakushi whips out what would soon be called the bronco buster, just without the extraneous junk in face bouncing. Bret tries another roll up but Hakushi momentums him to the floor. Shinja gets some shots in and the heels spend a couple of minutes working the ref to take turns choking Bret. Hakushi handspring elbow! Interesting him using that move, as he and Keiji Muto would have a long history as rivals and partners in Japan. A Bret comeback is killed with an eye rake. They trade tiltawhirls with Hakushi landing the slam (which might have been a missed backbreaker). Hakushi headbutt off the top rope. Bret kicks out! Hakushi goes for a springboard big splash. Bret dodges and goes into full comeback mode with the Five Moves of Doom. He starts to hook the Sharpshooter in. Shinja gets on the apron and distracts. Bret dodges a Hakushi ambush, hits an inverted atomic drop and diving clothesline that Hakushi 360 sells. Shinja trips Bret and Bret's had enough of this shit. Tope suicide on Shinja! As he gets back in Hakushi hits a dropkick for 2. Bret blocks a suplex, and suplexes Hakushi and himself over the top to the floor! The old Canadian Stampede spot. Hakushi hits a springboard moonsault off the second rope to the floor! Mind blowing spot for the time. Hakushi tries to suplex Bret off the apron back in but Bret slips out. They trade standing switches and German suplex attempts. Bret blocks a German, rolls Hakushi up, and gets the pin! As Bret's getting out of the ring he tweaks his ankle. Not good when you have another match later. This match got rave reviews at the time, but it hasn't aged too well. The first half is pretty rough with a couple of bad miscommunications and Hakushi working a lot of slow generic heel 101 offense. Once they got going down the stretch though, it got pretty damn good. ***1/4

Todd Pettingill is in the 900 number call center. Jerry Lawler runs in and demands his match with Bret start now. Pettingill says Bret's on his way to get on the hotline. Lawler makes up an excuse and bails.

 

Handicap Match: Razor Ramon def WWF Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett and The Roadie in 12:36- This was originally going to be a tag match before the 1-2-3 Kid suffered the first of his many career neck injuries. Ramon, being the badass, said he'd fight both guys anyway. Roadie, AKA Road Dogg, is making his official WWF wrestling debut here after managing Jarrett since his signing. Of course he already had plenty of experience in WCW and other companies, not to mention his pedigree as part of the Armstrong wrestling family, but don't let the facts get in the way of the angle. The heels try to corner Ramon and the ref makes one start and one get out. Roadie distracts and Jarrett ambushes Ramon. Ramon comes back with his punchy offense. Jarrett gets clotheslined 360 and out. Ramon follows and gets hit from behind by Roadie. Back in, Jarrett hits an enzuguri. Ramon catches Jarrett leaping and hits the fallaway slam. Roadie breaks the pin up. Tag and Roadie's in for the first time. He clotheslines Ramon and hits some elbow drops. Jarrett gets a sunset flip and they trade near falls. Ramon blocks a suplex and gets a small package for 2. Ramon catches Jarrett off the second rope and hits an atomic drop. He cinches up for the Razor's Edge, but he's close to the ropes so we know what's coming: Jarrett backdrops him to the floor. Ramon grabs his knee after the landing. Roadie gets up on the second rope and dives off to clothesline Ramon on the floor! Nice. Jarrett hits a crossbody off the top but Ramon rolls through it and gets a 2 count. Jarrett counters a backdrop with a swinging neckbreaker. Midring collision. Ramon ducks a punch, hits a back suplex and both guys are down again. Jarrett tags out. Roadie hits a kneedrop off the second rope for 2. Ramon comes back and whips the heels into each other. He hits Roadie with the back superplex. Jarrett clips his knee from behind. He goes for the figure four, but Ramon pushes out and Jarrett collides with Roadie, knocking him off the apron. Razor's Edge and good night. After the bell the heels go after Ramon's knee again. Aldo Montoya, who had a match with Jarrett on Raw that had a disputed finish, runs in for the save. Another guy runs in to take the heels out, and commentary has no idea who he is. You can question the result, especially as Jarrett was a reigning champion and Roadie was there to eat the pin, but the match was perfectly acceptable, and a good in-ring debut for Road Dogg. **1/2

We get an ad for the upcoming King of the Ring. It's so amusing to see WWF in this period getting a grip on the advertising style of the 1990s, my teenage years. Lawler is arguing with Jack Tunney in the back, wanting his match with Bret now. Tunney tells him it'll happen when it's supposed to happen.

 

King of the Ring Qualifying Match: Mabel (w/Mo) def Adam Bomb in 1:54- Men on a Mission had just turned heel and dumped their manager Oscar. It was inevitable Mabel would get a singles push at some point, as he was a big guy and you know Vince loves his beef. Bomb actually has a little mushroom cloud pyro. Mo takes a swing at Bomb and Mabel takes the opening. Avalanche. Bomb dodges a second one. A flying tackle to Mabel's back sends him to the floor. Bomb with a plancha! And a slingshot clothesline back in! Bomb's getting his shit in. Clothesline off the top rope. Mabel reverses a corner whip and hits a spinning heel kick. He catches a leaping Bomb, powerslams him, and we're done here. Not completely horrible for the time they got and who was in there. Mabel is the first entrant in the '95 King of the Ring tournament. Sure, he's a huge guy, but there's no way Vince would push him all the way to winning the tournament, especially with business in the toilet and several other potentially good winners on the roster, right?......Right? 1/2*

Ramon is backstage with the mystery man and introduces him as his longtime buddy, one of the greatest wrestlers in the Caribbean, Savio Vega. Ramon says "I don't recognize you, you look a little different", which is a pretty good inside gag to the fact Vega had been with WWF over two years, working under a mask as Kwang. Lawler's made his way to ringside and agitates officials during intros for the next match, while Bret's in the locker room with ice on his knee.

 

WWF Tag Team Championship: "The King of Harts" Owen Hart and Yokozuna (c) (w/Jim Cornette and Mr. Fuji) def The Smoking Gunns in 5:44- This is a rematch from Wrestlemania, with the Gunns supposedly having an advantage because now they know Yokozuna's coming. I don't want to sound mean, but Yoko's blown up so big I think he's attracting a couple of small moons into his gravitational pull. Yoko and Billy start. Billy bounces off the big guy and hits some dropkicks. Bart press slams Owen. The Gunns hit a dropkick/suplex double team. Owen gets an enzuguri with a 360 Billy sell. Hayes gets a Stridex plug in. Gotta pay the bills. Yoko pounds away on Billy and locks in the Nerve Pinch of Nerve Pinchiness +/-0. Owen neckbreaker for 2. Billy gets a huge sunset flip for 2. An Owen spinning heel kick sends Billy to the floor. Billy dodges Yoko and Yoko runs into the post. Bart works Owen over. Bret Bump! A back suplex follows. Owen dodges a crossbody and Bart flies to the floor. Yoko kills him with a legdrop on the floor, rolls him back in, and Owen gets the pin. Bleh. It was OK when Owen was in there. The Gunns were a pretty underrated team. They got stuck in an era with a completely moribund tag division. It'd be interesting to see them in an era and company that took tag wrestling more seriously. *1/4

 

Jerry "The King" Lawler def Bret "Hitman" Hart in 5:01- Lawler is in the ring with his "mother" (the show's on Mothers' Day so it's been a bit of a theme the whole night), some mid-'20s actress they got to be on the show. There's no point to it but she gets attention the entire match. Vince actually says "Gorilla Position" on TV. Bret's there and he shows the whole hurt knee thing was RUSE, everything's perfectly fine. He mock limps during his entrance and Lawler runs away. Bret cranks up the beat down, giving Lawler rail and stair shots. Lawler tries to hide behind Hebner. Bret tries a backdrop but Lawler counters it into a piledriver. Bret completely no sells it. Bulldog. Bret hits a piledriver of his own. Lawler eye rakes and slams Bret. He tries to come off the top rope but Bret's waiting for him. Bret headbutt to the gut and ground & pound on Lawler. Shinja comes out. He and Lawler coordinate and Henber falls out of the ring, dangling upside down with a foot caught in the ropes. Hakushi comes out and nails Bret off the top rope. A second time. A third time, after Hebner got untangled and back in so he has to pretend he didn't see it. Lawler does a victory roll and gets the pin. Not good at all. Their Summerslam '93 match was a nice old school blood feud throwback. This was crap. And sadly it would continue. 3/4*

It's time to give away a house! Todd Pettingill and Stephanie Wiand are at the giant box of entries. They so should have had a wrestler jump out of the box with the winner in his mouth or something. Were the Bushwhackers still on the roster? Knowing Vince at the time it probably would have been Shark Man or something, with the fin sticking up out of the entries. Unfortunately, Pettingill and Wiand play this whole thing like a couple of children's TV presenters on a sugar high and crack at the same time and it's utterly insufferable. They run to the "garage" and get a couple of rakes to rake the entries with. This is the worst episode of Blue Peter I've ever seen. It's a damn good thing (or maybe a bad thing?) this show isn't in a smarky city, the crowd is staying politely silent through all this nonsense. They pull the winner and Pettingill tries to call them. Wrong number. Of course. You'd think Vince would have learned something from this for Million Dollar Mania. They finally get the winner on the phone and the dad thinks it's a prank. Pettingill and Wiand stare into the camera like a couple of psychos.

Same energy.

WWF Championship: Diesel (c) def Sycho Sid (w/Ted DiBiase) by DQ in 11:31- Sid turned on Shawn Michaels right after Wrestlemania, turning Shawn face and putting him on the shelf for a bit. Afterward Sid took Bam Bam Bigelow's spot as the top dog in the Million Dollar Corporation, while Bigelow was booted for losing to Lawrence Taylor and turned face. Sid stares down commentary during Diesel's entrance. Big man big match stare down. Diesel hits forearms, a corner clothesline and the corner elbows. Sid barely sells and rolls out. Diesel does a double ax handle off the apron to Sid's back. Sid channels El Gigante with his punch selling. DiBiase distracts and Sid plants a knee in Diesel's back, sending him to the floor. He starts working Diesel's back, scooping him up and ramming him into the post. Sid gets a huge head of steam running all the way across the floor and.....gently nudges Diesel in the head with his foot. When he's supposed to be working the back. Sid's career in a nutshell. Sound and fury signifying nothing. Back in he continues the slow beatdown and puts Diesel in a camel clutch. After a bit Diesel tries to power out but Sid drops on top of him. Huge Sid legdrop for 2. Back to the camel clutch. They do the arm drops. Diesel powers out again, this time dodging Sid's counter and he ass splats on the mat. Sid recovers and hits a choke slam. Sid powerbomb! He plays to the crowd and takes forever to cover. When he finally does Diesel kicks out. Diesel starts no selling buckle shots and dodges a Sid corner charge. Snake eyes. Big boot. Jackknife. Tatanka runs in for the cheap DQ and initiates Heel Beatdown Mode 1B. Bam Bam Bigelow runs in to chase them off and the faces stand tall to close the show. Can you say Hogan Formula Match? They hit practically every single step. There's few things in wrestling more guaranteed to disappoint than a Sid main event. 1/2*

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS: An inauspicious start to the new PPV series, but it's 1995 WWF so you can't expect much. Michael Hayes was a breath of fresh air on commentary at least.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D+

Clash of the Champions XII

Legacy Review

Clash of the Champions XII: Mountain Madness/Fall Brawl '90

September 5, 1990 from the Asheville Civic Center in Asheville, NC

Commentary: Jim Ross and Bob Caudle

The show so nice they subtitled it twice. Or something. There's a whole lot of empty seats on the arena wide shots.

The Southern Boys (w/Bob Armstrong) def The Fabulous Freebirds (w/Buddy Roberts) in 8:34- This worked so well as an opener the last Clash, why not do it again? These two teams had been feuding and wrestling often on weekly TV. This was originally scheduled as a 6 man tag before Roberts got injured. Hayes and Smothers start. Smothers comes out hot and Hayes leaps into Garvin's waiting arms for a recovery hug. Smothers jumps over a Garvin backdrop attempt and hits a superkick. The heels roll out to have a think. Smothers maneuvers the Freebirds in and Armstrong nails them both with a crossbody off the top rope! After a double pin attempt the heels powder again. The Boys try the crossbody spot again. This time the Freebirds duck, but when they get up they're pelted with dropkicks. Another conference on the floor. Smothers leaps over Hayes in the corner and lands on the apron. Hayes clocks him with a straight left and Smothers falls to the floor. Garvin gets a cheap shot in. Smothers leaps and kicks Garvin coming back in but the tag is cut off. Hayes bulldog for 2. Smothers tries a sunset flip. Hayes punches out. Armdrag out of a chinlock by Smothers, but Hayes nails him with another straight left. Garvin goes up top, but Smothers catches him and slams him off. Dive and tag! Armstrong goes wild with backdrops and dropkicks. Roberts gets on the apron and hits Armstrong with his cast. Hayes rolls him up but there's no ref, he's busy with Smothers. Bullet Bob comes in and punches Hayes into next week. Armstrong covers but Garvin just breaks it up. Double diving tackle on Garvin. They try for one on Hayes but he dodges. Roberts throws the ol' "international object" in (you can hear the sarcasm in JR's voice every time he's forced to say it), but overshoots the target. The Boys hit stereo sunset flips and pin both Freebirds for the win! Pretty fun stuff from two teams that had worked together a lot, but most if it felt like the opening act to a much longer match. **3/4

Tony Schiavone is with the newly crowned US tag champs the Steiner Brothers, who say (through a lot of garbled words, it's the Steiners) that Doom told them to start again from the bottom after winning the world tag titles from them, that's just what they did and look what they've got now. Doom is next.

 

Captain Mike Rotunda def "Nature Boy" Buddy Landell in 5:39- This is Rotunda in his short babyface yacht captain phase in between the Varsity Club and Michael Wallstreet. Landell gets pointy in the corner and both guys get shovey. Rotunda tries to push out of a headlock but Landell keeps him in it. Rotunda gets a diving clothesline and some power moves. Landell heel 101 bitches about a phantom tights pull. After some more basic exchanges Rotunda works the arm. Landell blocks a hip toss and hits a clothesline. Arrogant cover for 2. Slugfest with both guys on their knees. Landell hooks in an abdominal stretch and uses the ropes. On Rotunda, that's damn near gimmick infringement. Landell hits a suplex but hurt his own head going down. Rotunda blocks a hiptoss and gets a backslide for the pin. Bare bones basic. *1/4

The Freebirds cut a promo demanding respect, followed by a video package of a trip they made to Hollywood with dozens of adoring fans greeting them. You'd think someone, somewhere on the production team might have said "Yeah, that giant Holiday Inn sign behind the limo, is that really conveying the message we want it to?".

 

The Master Blasters def Brad Armstrong and Tim Horner in 4:52- The Master Blasters (Iron and Steel, from Detroit, see where this is going?), making their debut here, are not to be confused with the classic NES game Blaster Master. Steel is none other than Kevin Nash in his major company debut, and he's sporting a crazy orange mohawk. Armstrong and Horner had a long history teaming as the Lightning Express, but aren't called that here. Horner is still "White Lightning", but Armstrong is being billed as the, er, "Candyman". Really. It's Jim freaking Herd, I have no idea why. Steel scoops Horner up and....gently puts him down in their corner. OK then. Iron goes for a diving headbutt and completely misses. A stationary target. And he misses. He tries to correct by crawling up to Armstrong and Armstrong sells it anyway. Oy vey. And then he almost whiffs *another* one while Armstrong is sitting up! Steel powerslam for 2. Armstrong walks green Nash through a decent reversal sequence before eating a big boot. Horner tries to put a sleeper on Iron but he blind tags out. The Blasters hit a double tackle to finish it. Iron sucked so hard he was let go and replaced by another guy named Blade before the month was over. 1/4*

Missy Hyatt interviews Ric Flair, who throws in some innuendo but manages to stay PG.

The Nasty Boys def Terry Taylor and Jackie Fulton in 7:11- The Nastys are also making their NWA debut. Jackie Fulton is the brother of Bobby Fulton of the Fantastics. The Nastys jaw with the crowd a lot before getting going. JR: "I don't know if Missy was trying to get into her dress with Flair or out of it." Holeeeeee crap wow. JR's read the dirt sheets. Fulton flips out of an double team and hits a double Japanese armdrag on both Nastys, then a double crossbody. Taylor has armdrags for everyone. Saggs hits Taylor with a forearm and tosses him to the floor. Taylor counters a push and Saggs gets posted. Back in, Taylor hits a crossbody for 2. Fulton with a missile dropkick for 2. Knobbs plants Taylor's head on the mat and the heels get a slingshot avalanche for 2. Taylor sunset flip for 2. More heel double teaming. Taylor gets them to run into each other and tags. Fulton hits a German suplex on Knobbs with a bridge! Nice. Saggs breaks the pin up. Fulton tries coming off the top but Knobbs catches him in midair and powerslams him. Saggs hits an elbow off the top rope and we're done. Acceptable. Interesting debut for the Nastys, as they didn't get much offense in yet still came out looking good. They'd actually get some traction in the crowded tag division as the year wore on, only to be plucked away by Vince before the end of the year. **1/4

Sid Vicious challenges Sting for the world title. That match would take place at Halloween Havoc, an attempt to get someone fresh in the main event scene that had been no one outside Flair, Sting and Luger the entire year.

 

"Wildfire" Tommy Rich def "Wild" Bill Irwin in 3:59- Two guys going nowhere. Rich was making a living off his fluke territory politics world title win over Harley Race in '81. Rich charges in hot. Irwin responds with a big boot and shoulderblocks. Multiple hiptosses lead to Irwin going over the top and out. Back in Irwin chops and Rich kips up. Rich back suplex for 2. He grabs Irwin in a headlock as the pace slows down a bit after a really hot start. Irwin catches a leaping Rich but Rich rolls back into a headlock. Irwin hits a side suplex. Rich ends up on the apron and a Sheamus-style Irwin clubbing blow sends him falling down into the guardrail! Slugfest in the ring. Irwin scoops, but Rich rolls around into a sleeper. Irwin backs him into the corner. Rich hits the Thesz Press and wins. Shockingly, I didn't hate this. Yeah, it's two guys not doing anything long term that the crowd doesn't give a damn about, but they went out there and worked hard anyway. Gotta respect that. **

Next up is the weekly singles and tag team top 10 rankings. Yes, this is where AEW got the idea from. Stan Hansen is with Tony after and is super pissed off he's only #6. Tony tries to stay out of the flying chewing tobacco juice line of fire.

 

LPWA Championship: Susan Sexton (c) def Bambi in 4:11- The LPWA was a short lived women's wrestling promotion that billed itself more as "straight wrestling", in contrast to GLOW which was very much WWF/E style sports entertainment, similar to how the NWA always presented themselves compared to the WWF. The NWA didn't have its own women's title anymore because the Fabulous Moolah had legal possession of it rather than the company for obscure reasons I won't detail here. The belt used for the WWF women's title in the '80s was actually the old NWA belt. JR: "What's Bambi's last name, Deer?". Oh hell, as my cousin and brother from a related mother Trevor would say, that's one for JR. Sexton gets a drop toe hold and does some leg work while Bambi puts on a headscissors. But never mind that shit, Caudle says next month at the Omni in Atlanta is STING WRISTWATCH NIGHT! Ted Turner owned the Braves at the time too, so he'd know a lot about minor league promotions. Bambi gets a small package, Sexton reverses it for the pin. Technically sound but completely heatless and nothing special. 3/4*

 

NWA United States Tag Team Champions The Steiner Brothers def Maximum Overdrive in 6:23- Maximum Overdrive is one of those one night "we have no idea who these guys are" teams, and frankly neither guy is worth knowing now. Their names in this match are Hunter and Silencer. It's an extended squash match with the Steiners tossing them around and Steinerlining them out of their boots, but not as much as you'd expect so it's a bit disappointing. A cool top rope DDT by Rick while one of the Overdrivers is up on Scott's shoulders is the finish. *1/2

 

Stan "The Lariat" Hansen def "The Z Man" Tom Zenk in 3:19- Zenk gets his usual high pitched pop. This is a complete squash, but a spunky and entertaining one with Hansen going full murderdeathkill and taking Zenk's head off with the lariat at the end. *

 

NWA United States Heavyweight Championship: "The Total Package" Lex Luger (c) def "Nature Boy" Ric Flair by DQ in 15:28- Flair's in the unusual position of challenging. This and the later Horsemen/Doom tag title feud were just to give him something to do while being fully out of the world title picture for a while for the first time in almost a decade. These guys knew each other very well after extended world title feuds in '88 and earlier in '90. Nose to nose at the start. Luger hits a shoulderblock and Flair takes his time getting back up. WOOOOOOOO! Flair suckers Luger in with a test of strength but Luger is quickly no selling chops. Press slam! Flair rolls out and sells the hell out of his back. JR gets the plane crash story in. Flair chops Luger as he comes off a corner bump. Luger no sells again and we have press slam 2. A clothesline sends Flair 360 and out. What top rope rule? Luger jumps down and clotheslines Flair from behind! Flair baits Luger into a sucker punch again. Luger with another no sell and it's press slam 3. Flair dodges the follow up elbow drop. Chops, corner whip, WOOOOO, Luger pops out with a clothesline! Flair hurt his shoulder on the bump. Or did he? It's a RUSE! Flair dumps Luger to the floor and whips him into the guardrail. JR mentions Flair's a 4 time US champion, which is a good reminder as those reigns were before the wrestling cable TV boom and hardly anyone knew or remembered. The internet to look those things up on was still a gleam in Al Gore's eye. Flair backs Luger into the corner and says "Turner! Herd! This is for you!" into the camera and lays in more chops. He throws Luger out again and goes for a chair. Ref Nick Patrick stops him. Flair kicks Luger's knee to start softening it up. Luger punches back. Slugfest. Flair Flop, but on the way down he eye pokes Luger! Fantastic. More corner chops. Luger reverses and hits mounted punches. Flair tries an inverted atomic drop counter but Luger blocks it and clotheslines Flair out of his RF boots. Flair gets a snap mare and tries some covers. He goes up top and gets slammed off over halfway across the ring. Flair Flip! Clothesline on the apron! Press slam 4. Flair screams "NOOOOOOOOO" as he's being whipped. Luger powerslam. He grabs a bear hug and places Flair on the top turnbuckle. Luger superplex! Cover. Flair just gets a foot on the rope. Flair hits a crossbody and both guys tumble over the top to the floor! Brawl on the floor. As Luger gets back in Stan Hansen runs in and attacks him. He chokes Luger with his rope before leaving. Guess they should have ranked him higher than 6. Hansen would end up being the guy to end Luger's record US title run at Halloween Havoc. The match was a condensed version of a typical Flair/Luger match with some extra riffs thrown in. Given more time and a clean finish, it might have been one of their best. ***1/2

We get a prerecorded promo of Ole Anderson the Black Scorpion telling Sting if he can beat him tonight, he'll find out who he is. The original concept of the Black Scorpion was not a bad one- a mysterious masked man claiming to be from Sting's past wanting revenge for reasons unknown. The problem was the vaudeville-esque stage magic he used to get into Sting's head, which took away any possible edge the character might have had.

 

NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Sting (c) def The Black Scorpion in 8:13- Scorpion's robe could easily make people think it's Kevin Sullivan, but once he takes it off you know that's impossible. Sullivan could never dream of being that ripped. In fact it's Al Perez, who many involved have since said was a frontrunner to end up being the real Scorpion. After a lot of moment milking Scorpion finally disrobes after the bell, jumps Sting and pounds away. Sting gets a shoulder to the gut for some separation. Scorpion chokes. And chokes. And chokes. They go outside. Sting scoops Scorpion up and drops him on the rail. Scorpion is quickly back in control with more bland punchy offense. Sting gets a slam and goes for the mask. Scorpion eye rakes to get away. Yay, more chokes. The fight moves to the ramp. Scorpion slams Sting on the ramp. Sting does a leg takedown and goes for the mask again. Back in Sting gets a backdrop and dropkick. After some more brawling Sting (barely) hits a press slam. Sting crossbody off the top for 2. Scorpion snap mare and knee drop for 2. Sting ducks, well, nothing, and hits a clothesline. Stinger Splash! That's enough to get a pin. Some terrifying opponent. Sting takes his mask off....and there's another mask underneath! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! Another robed man appears on the entrance ramp. Through the power of knowing the storyline commentary deduces that's the real Black Scorpion and Sting just wrestled a fake one. Terrible match, but as always the Black Scorpion stuff is amusing crap. 1/2*

JR is in the ring with Sting to close the show. He mentions "1986 and California" being the keys to the Scorpion's identity, keys that would go out the window when all the other options went away for various reasons and they said "screw it, just make it Flair". Sid Vicious runs in the ring and challenges Sting for the title because Sid gives no fucks about your other angles. Sting says that's up to the championship committee and walks away. Sid hits him from behind on the ramp and beats him with the belt to close the show.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS: Outside of Flair/Luger there's not a damn thing worth watching here, and even for that there's better matches of theirs on other shows. The second half of '90 is when the Jim Herd doldrums really sunk in, and sadly it'd get worse before it got better.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D+

Saturday Night's Main Event XXXI

Legacy Review

Saturday Night's Main Event XXXI

November 14, 1992 (taped October 27) from the Hulman Center in Terre Haute, IN

Commentary: Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan

For the first time in SNME's run the fall show taped before Survivor Series was actually shown before Survivor Series. Good thing too, because just like for the last SNME before Wrestlemania 8, the big PPV card was subject to change.

WWF Tag Team Championship: The Ultimate Maniacs def Money Inc (c) (w/Jimmy Hart) by countout in 9:54- The show's only an hour long so we jump right into intros for this match. Warrior and Savage were set to face Ric Flair and Razor Ramon in the co-main event at Survivor Series. Savage runs in with Warrior and they're immediately attacked by Money Inc. Everyone takes turns tossing each other out but eventually it's the faces standing tall. Reset with Savage and DiBiase. Savage atomic drops him, he ricochets into a Warrior elbow and does a delayed flop. Savage snap clothesline over the top rope with the usual great flip over DiBiase sell. It's 1988 again. Warrior suplex for 2. DiBiase dodges a Warrior flying tackle and tags out. IRS puts Warrior in a sleeper. We go picture in picture with Flair, Ramon and Perfect watching the match and they cut a promo. DiBiase hooks in the Million Dollar Dream. Savage breaks it up. Warrior hits a double clothesline and tags. Savage runs wild and hits the top rope elbow on IRS. DiBiase breaks the pin up and we're donnybrooking all over again. Both heels go over and out to the floor again. Hart grabs the belts and Money Inc takes a walk, taking the deliberate countout. The Maniacs chase them down on the aisle but are quickly attacked by Flair, Ramon and Perfect for the PPV selling beatdown. They painted themselves into a corner booking this match, not wanting the titles to change but also not wanting the Maniacs to lose right before the PPV. If it was given 5-10 more minutes to breathe more and had a definitive finish, it might have been good. And if my grandmother had wheels she'd be a wagon. *1/2

Vince cues up a "music video featuring Bret Hart" but it's been taken off the Network/Peacock version for rights reasons. Probably no huge loss.

 

WWF Intercontinental Championship: Shawn Michaels def "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith (c) in 10:28- Shawn is already scheduled to challenge Bret Hart for the WWF Title at Survivor Series, while Bulldog was to defend against the Mountie. Bulldog shows off his power early. Shawn just manages to stay standing trying to shoulderblock Bulldog, then slides under his leg and lays in punches. Bulldog blocks a hiptoss. Shawn flips over, hits it, and hooks in a short arm scissors. Bulldog shows his power by lifting Shawn up with one arm (a spot they'll work in, if I remember right, every one of their future major matches). Bulldog press slams Shawn and clotheslines him 360 and out. A nice speed/counter sequence ends with a Bulldog armdrag. Shawn flips over Bulldog in the corner but turns around into a shoulderblock. Bulldog runs and Shawn uses his momentum to send him outside with a hard splat on the floor on his back. While he's out Shawn takes a top turnbuckle pad off. Back in Shawn goes to work on the back. He hooks in a couple of abdominal stretches that Bulldog flips out of. Bulldog face plants Shawn on a backdrop attempt. Shawn flip! Bulldog slingshots him into the corner. Delayed suplex for 2. Shawn reverses a corner whip and Bulldog's back runs into the exposed turnbuckle! Shawn flips up in the corner again and Bulldog kicks him to sitting on the top rope. He hooks up a superplex attempt, but midmove his back gives out on him! He falls down with Shawn on top of him, and Shawn gets the pin and his first singles title! Really good match, with Shawn bumping like a maniac like usual and solid psychology around Bulldog's hurt back. Bulldog would leave the company soon after this (allegedly for steroid/HGH use which was becoming a huge no no with the federal investigation) and head over to WCW for a bit. ***1/2

 

WWF Championship: Bret "Hitman" Hart (c) def Papa Shango in 13:26- This is Bret's first TV title defense after winning the title from Flair in a very underrated classic hardly anyone saw because it was only on a horribly titled Coliseum video (check out my Summerslam '92 review for the full skinny). Shango is the future Godfather. He immediately pounds away on Bret. Bret hits a crossbody. Shango kicks out at one and it sends Bret to the floor. Back in Bret gets an inverted atomic drop and clotheslines Shango 360 and out. Plancha! Shango reverses a corner whip and we get a Bret bump. Back and forth slugfest. Bret bites out of a bear hug. More Shango power offense and a Nerve Pinch of Voodoo +1. A Bret comeback attempt is cut off with a clothesline. Bret does a sunset flip and dodges Shango's attempt to punch out. He gets a boot up in the corner and locks Shango in a sleeper. Shango runs him into the top turnbuckle to get out. Huge Shango elbow drops. He tries for one off the second rope that Bret dodges. FMOD run. Bret dodges another corner charge, hooks in the Sharpshooter, and good night. Bret got as good a match as possible out of Shango, especially with the fact that even aliens from Andromeda that had never heard of wrestling before knew he wasn't winning. **1/2

Next up is a Funeral Parlor segment hyping up the Undertaker/Kamala casket match at Survivor Series. After commercial is a Bret promo that's crashed by Shawn as the legendary feud begins in earnest. The show closes with Heenan hinting that he's gotten big news for Survivor Series- one of the Ultimate Maniacs might have a new partner! This would turn out to be Perfect turning face and replacing Warrior in the match after Warrior left the company again, this time until his 1996 return. 

 

And with that, the original run of Saturday Night's Main Event comes to an end. What started out as a major part of the WWF schedule born in the mid-'80s Hulkamania/Rock & Wrestling Connection boom had, by the time the calendar turned to the '90s, faded into more of a contractual obligation and superfluous show with the rise of more PPVs, and was about to become more obsolete with the launch of WWF's new flagship weekly show: Monday Night Raw. SNME was revived for a handful of specials from '06-'08 but none of them were treated like major shows either.

Saturday Night's Main Event XXX

Legacy Review

Saturday Night's Main Event XXX

February 8, 1992 (taped January 27) from the Lubbock Municipal Coliseum in Lubbock, TX

Commentary: Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan

SNME moves over to Fox for the first of two one hour specials in '92, the first WWF/E shows broadcast on the future home of Smackdown. A new network also means a new intro and new logo. We're on the road to Wrestlemania 8, which will run into some giant curves and forks both during and right after this show.

WWF Intercontinental Championship: "Rowdy" Roddy Piper (c) def The Mountie (w/Jimmy Hart) in 3:30- This is a rematch from the Royal Rumble, where Piper beat Mountie for the title after Mountie's house show upset of an ill Bret Hart two days prior, the shortest IC title reign in history to that point. In the only example of something scheduled for WM 8 when this show aired that actually ended up happening, former champ Bret is already set to challenge the winner in the Hoosier Dome. Jimmy Hart grabs the belt away from the ref and gives to the Mountie, who poses for the crowd. While that's happening Hart hits Piper from behind and Mountie uses the mosquito bite distraction to throw him out. Piper lands on his feet, and with an annoyed "well, that's how we're going to do it, OK then" look on his face hops back in and double clotheslines both heels out. He follows with a double noggin knocker. Piper's left his shirt on to wrestle in. Hart grabs Piper's foot as he's getting back in and Mountie ambushes him. Piper gets tied in the tree of woe. We go picture in picture for a Bret promo. Mountie diving reverse elbow for 2. Piper gets his knees up on a splash attempt. He goes for the bulldog but Mountie pushes him and we have a ref bump. Mountie hits a piledriver. Hart gives Mountie a cup of water. Commentary thinks it's to wake the ref up with, but he pours it on Piper instead. Hart hands Mountie the cattle prod and the plan becomes obvious. He sticks Piper with it and the cheesy post-production shock sound effect plays. But Piper pops right back up! He decks Mountie and catches the flying prod. Piper shocks Mountie with his own cattle prod! He covers, the ref wakes up to count, and it's over. Piper takes off his shirt, and underneath he has on a shock proof vest! Brilliant! It's 100% headcannon for me that Bret got the idea for the metal plate to block Goldberg's spear from this. Not much of a match, but the booking was logical and fun. *1/4

We get a replay of the final 3 from the Greatest Rumble Ever (the 1992 version, not that faux Rumble from Sweet Saudi Money I). Hilariously, the audio's been redone so now there's Hogan chants instead of the live crowd cheering Sid and booing Hogan. Monsoon and Heenan even re-recorded their commentary. After that we go to the Wrestlemania 8 press conference that was shown on weekly TV a week or two before this, where President Jack Tunney announced Hogan as Flair's challenger at WM and Sid's insane jealous rant at being passed up after. There's a quick Sid promo from "earlier today" where he says he's been misunderstood and apologizes to Hogan and the fans. I smell a rat. After Taker and Flair's entrance we cut to Sean Mooney with Justice and Hogan. Mooney cues up Justice....then takes the mic away and lets Hogan talk instead. Justice looks disgusted and walks away while Hogan's mid-promo.

 

Hulk Hogan and Sid Justice (w/Brutus Beefcake) def WWF Champion Ric Flair and The Undertaker (w/Mr. Perfect and Paul Bearer) by DQ in 11:42- I believe this is Hogan BFF Beefcake's first appearance ringside or doing anything other than his Barber Shop talk show since returning to the WWF after his parasailing accident. Justice talks Hogan into letting him start with Flair. Flair backs out of locking up and immediately hides in the corner ropes. When they do lock up Flair rakes the eyes, but Justice reverses a corner whip and Flair does his backdrop out of the corner spot. Hogan and Flair get in the ring together for the first time on TV. Flair takes another backdrop. Hogan hiptosses both heels. Justice blocks a Taker slam attempt and slams him. Hogan slams everyone and the heels roll out to regroup. Taker counters a Justice backdrop with a throat shot. The heels hits double team moves and Hogan breaks up the pins. Before long we're donnybrooking again. The faces clear the ring out. Hogan celebrates and Justice looks unhappy. Taker hits Justice from behind. The heels work Justice over for a bit, suckering Hogan in to let them double team and choke in the corner. Justice counters a double team with a noggin knocker (that Flair puts his hand up too early for). Flair Flop! Perfect distracts Hogan and Flair clips his knee. After some extremely quick knee work Flair slaps the figure four on. Justice makes a show of adjusting his kneepads and turning his back to the ring. Hogan reverses and Flair lets go. Hogan crawls to the corner but Justice makes no effort to reach out for a tag. Taker cuts Hogan off and hits the jumping clothesline. Flair goes up top and as usual gets slammed off. Hogan goes to tag and again Justice makes zero effort. After Taker cuts him off again Hogan no sells Flair's chops. Hogan double clothesline on both heels out of the corner and again he goes to tag. Justice throws a mock hand out like someone teasing their dog with a treat, then jumps off the apron and walks away. Beefcake tries to stop him. Justice tells him that Hogan can help himself and leaves. The heels are double teaming Hogan again. Flair throws Hebner away and the bell rings for a DQ. Beefcake jumps in. Hogan hulks up and saves him before the heels shatter his face again. Flair gets another Flop and Flair Flip in before leaving. There's some wrongbook committed on the result here. God forbid Hogan takes a loss even if it's two on one and the two are the WWF Champion and the Undertaker. As a whole the match had some sloppy moments, but pulled the important angle stuff off well. I think it could have used another 5 minutes or so to breathe a little better. Taker was probably the wrong partner for Flair too, his zombie/no sell gimmick didn't translate well to tag wrestling. **

Mooney is with Justice, who says he has no friends because he needs no friends. He's still pissed at Tunney for picking Hogan over him. After commercial Mean Gene is with Hogan and Beefcake, who mostly talk about Hogan being in the hospital with Beefcake after his accident instead of Justice.

 

Sgt. Slaughter and "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan def The Beverly Brothers (w/The Genius) in 2:39- Duggan and Blake start. Slaughter cushions the corner with his body so Duggan doesn't have to take a buckle bump. Beau hits Duggan in the back of the head on a rope run with Genius' scroll. Duggan counters a backdrop and tags. Slaugtermania runs wild. Donnybrook! Slaughter ducks a scroll shot, whacks Beau with it, Duggan hits the 3 point stance clothesline, and that's the pin. That was like watching a proper tag match with the VCR stuck on fast forward. Next. 1/4*

Recap of the Savage/Roberts feud, from the initial cobra bite to Roberts really crossing the line and slapping Elizabeth after the This Tuesday in Texas match.

 

"Macho Man" Randy Savage def Jake "The Snake" Roberts in 5:25- No Elizabeth at ringside for her safety. Savage charges right in and Roberts tries to run. Brawl on the floor as the bell rings. Roberts gets posted. Savage is out for murder. Roberts is cut open on the bridge of his nose. Back in Roberts gets an eye rake for space and tosses Savage over the top and out. Savage jumps right back in with a double ax handle to Roberts' back. Roberts tosses him again and Savage rolls into the guardrail. Now Savage gets posted. He really runs forehead first into the post with a nice "thunk" sound. Back in, Savage reverses a corner whip and hits a back elbow. Roberts counters a double ax off the top rope. DDT outta nowhere! Roberts doesn't cover, instead he brags to the crowd and signals he wants to hit another one. Short clothesline. Roberts cinches up another DDT but Savage backdrops him to the floor. Double ax handle off the top to the floor. Roberts goes throat first into the guardrail. Savage rolls him back in. Savage elbow! 3 count! Really good and intense brawl that was way too short, and ultimately had to serve as the final blowoff to the feud. **1/2

 

After the bell Savage goes up top for another elbow. The usual gaggle of refs and suited officials run in, but Savage leaps over all of them to hit another one! He goes up for a third. The officials get Roberts out of the ring. Elizabeth runs in and she and Savage celebrate to close the show.....but wait, Roberts is watching them from behind the curtain. He says "Not over yet". The show ends there, but the next week on weekly TV they show that Roberts was going to hit Elizabeth with a chair when she got to the back only to be stopped by.....his partner in evil the Undertaker! That would be Taker's face turn, finally acknowledging the crowd reactions he was getting anyway. And so the original WM card of Hogan vs Flair (announced) and Savage vs Roberts (planned) was torn up and redone as Savage vs Flair, Hogan vs Justice and Roberts vs Taker.