Slamboree '93

Legacy Review

Slamboree '93: A Legends' Reunion

May 23, 1993 from the Omni in Atlanta

Commentary: Tony Schiavone and Larry Zbyszko

 

This is less a new PPV and more a rebranding. The past two years the May PPV was the first Superbrawl ('91), and the last Wrestle War ('92) after Superbrawl II took Wrestle War's former February slot. And this is almost needing a chart now. Moving on. After the success of the legends' appearances at the 20th anniversary Clash of the Champions in '92 WCW decided to expand the concept to a full PPV, including several matches involving the legends.

All the legends are crammed together in the ring to start the show. Apparently they were all introduced to the crowd beforehand because there's no on-screen intros. That'd eat up the first half hour of TV time anyway so I shouldn't complain. The Jim Herd era raised entrance ramp is back! I'm also not going to complain about that. Tony says Jesse Ventura is in the hospital back in Minnesota so Zbyszko is filling in. Maxx Payne plays during the opening again. A bunch of barefoot wrestlers carry out The Fabulous Moolah in a chariot. New WCW showrunner Eric Bischoff is still doing the hosting gig with Missy Hyatt. Their light goes out in the middle of their segment. Clearly Vince's saboteurs are in the building.

 

2 Cold Scorpio and Marcus Alexander Bagwell def Chris Benoit and "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton in 9:22- I forgot to mention in the Superbrawl III review that Eaton had been fired by Bill Watts in a Nick Khan style cost cutting move soon after the Dangerous Alliance started coming apart, and he's just coming back after Bischoff re-hired him. I think they had finally settled on Benoit as a heel at this point. Scorpio and Bagwell have matching gear, showing they're a serious tag team. Benoit and Scorpio start with a crazy speed/counter run echoing their Superbrawl match. Scorpio ends it with a dropkick and armdrag. Benoit suckers Bagwell in and Eaton hits Scorpio from behind. Scorpio hits a springboard reverse crossbody. Eaton tries to break up the pin but Scorpio sees him coming and Eaton elbow drops Benoit. Double dropkicks send the heels to the floor. Benoit holds Bagwell from the apron, but when Eaton charges Bagwell backdrops him over Benoit to the floor! Bagwell's hands slip and Benoit flips himself into the ring. After another miscommunication the heels regroup on the floor again. Benoit hits Bagwell from the apron and Eaton tosses him to the floor, sending Bagwell face in peril. Eaton kneedrop off the top rope. The heels double team while Scorpio protests. Benoit hits a back suplex for two and wraps Bagwell in a headscissors with leverage help from Eaton. Bagwell gets his knees up on a Benoit splash off the top and gets the hot tag. Scorpio runs wild. Donnybrook! Scorpio hits the twisty splash off the top. Eaton breaks the pin up. The heels take each other out yet again. Eaton's one of the best tag wrestlers of all time, you'd think he'd keep that from happening. Scorpio hits a 360 legdrop off the top on Benoit for the pin. Rock solid. It tried hard to be good but didn't quite get there. **1/2

 

Sid Vicious (w/Col. Robert Parker) def Van Hammer in :35- Hammer comes out in a generic singlet with no bells or whistles. I guess Payne won the guitar gimmick at kangaroo court or something. Parker had just arrived in WCW a few weeks prior. He will be the promotion's top manager for the next several years. Hammer's repeatedly turned down his offers to join his stable, so Parker's got a mystery opponent to teach him a lesson. Sid is his big surprise, making his WCW return a good year after leaving WWF. He gets a massive pop too, it's a true surprise no one was expecting. Hammer tries, but Sid kills him with a clothesline, plants him with the powerbomb and good night. NR

 

Don Muraco, Dick Murdoch & "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka and Blackjack Mulligan, Jim Brunzell & Wahoo McDaniel go to a no contest in 9:06- The first of three legends matches tonight. The choice of team pairings is....interesting. The Muraco/Murdoch/Snuka team are the nominal heels. Brunzell and Snuka start with some slow basics. Mulligan hiptosses and armdrags Murdoch, who tries to tag out in the wrong corner. After some more back and forth Murdoch tries to walk up the aisle. Wahoo cuts him off. Wahoo gets worked over in the heel corner. He's still got the chops, which he uses to get out. Brunzell comes in with a dropkick. MURDOCH DOES A FLYING HEADSCISSORS ON BRUNZELL! That almost deserves a "holy shit" chant. Damn! Brunzell responds with an armdrag and a sleeper. Murdoch backs him into the heel corner. Muraco hits a powerslam and legdrops. Muraco accidentally clotheslines Snuka! This really works because old fans remember their WWF feud, whether WCW mentions it or not. Murdoch gingerly climbs the top rope and faceplants Brunzell. Brunzell crossbody on Muraco for 2. Desperation small package on Snuka for 2. Now Snuka accidentally chops Muraco! They shove each other in the ring, allowing the faces to sneak in and roll them up. Everyone in the pool! After a minute the ref calls for the bell, throwing the match out because it's gone completely out of control. Weak finish. Somewhere in there had to be willing to do the job, it's not like they're working regularly and have a spot to protect anymore. After the bell Snuka flies over the top rope for no reason and legit bangs his head on the announce table. There was some sloppiness, but overall not a bad match for a bunch of retirees. It even had a story. *3/4

 

Thunderbolt Patterson and Bob Brad Armstrong def Ivan Koloff and Baron Von Rashke in 4:39- Patterson is kind of a poor man's Junkyard Dog. He's from Atlanta so he gets a huge reaction. He says Bob Armstrong is out because of a bad knee and he's willing to take both guys on himself! The heels run down the whole Armstrong family, so Brad Armstrong comes out to take his dad's place in his street clothes. Big brawl start. After a couple of minutes the faces stand tall. Koloff headbutts the guardrail in frustration. He was a unique guy. When things settle back in Rashke can't handle Patterson's jiving around. Patterson slips out of headlock attempts. Koloff muscles Armstrong down. Rashke hooks on the claw and Patterson makes the save. After more donnybrooking Patterson hits Rashke with a throat chop to get the pin. Sure, make your full time wrestler look like a geek. Though to be fair it's not like they ever saw Armstrong as much more than a jobber anyway. 1/2*

Next up is a PPV segment of the Flair for the Gold talk show, which was how they kept Flair on TV while he waited out his WWF no compete clause. Flair had promised a Four Horsemen reunion and reformation tonight. First out is Arn Anderson. Arn is wrestling Barry Windham tonight so Windham's out of the reunion and the group. He's been a dick lately anyway. They also mention Tully Blanchard won't make it tonight and blame Windham. In reality it's because Blanchard thought WCW was lowballing him with the money they offered to appear and turned it down. Next out is Ole Anderson. JJ Dillon goes completely unmentioned because he's working for the WWF. After that is an infamous moment in Horsemen history. To fill the last spot, Flair introduces a brand new Horseman. And he is.....Paul Roma. The crowd is less than thrilled. Roma, no shock, was a disaster in the group and lasted less than a year before getting kicked out. Flair closes the segment by challenging the Hollywood Blondes for the tag titles, and says "The tights are coming back on". After that is an ad for the next PPV, Beach Blast in July. Johnny Valentine joins commentary for what's essentially the main event of the legends' portion of tonight's program.

 

Dory Funk Jr (w/Gene Kiniski) and Nick Bockwinkel (w/Verne Gagne) go to a 15:00 time limit draw- This is billed as "NWA vs AWA", which they could do since AWA finally had its final death rattle a couple of years ago. Cautious start with lockup stalemates. They swap hammerlocks with Bockwinkel coming out on top and cranking it. Funk hits his uppercuts in the corner and works his way out of a headscissors. After a slam tradeoff Funk powders. Back in Funk hits a back elbow and more uppercuts. Forearm tradeoff in the corner, and they're fairly stiff too. Bockwinkel gets in it with Kiniski, who more than anyone else in this match is trying to heel it up. You'd think that'd be Bockwinkel's natural wheelhouse. Funk fights out of a Boston crab attempt and back suplexes out of a headlock. Both guys are fighting for standing leverage at the 5 minutes left call. Reset with 4 minutes left. They trade shots in the corner. Bockwinkel has a headlock with 3 minutes left. A Funk uppercut sends Bockwinkel to the ramp. He suplexes Bockwinkel back in for 2. 2 minutes left. Funk hits a piledriver. Bockwinkel gets a foot on the rope. Bockwinkel counters a double underhook into a backslide for 2. Funk cranks up his patented spinning toe hold with one minute left. Bockwinkel small package for 2! Figure four! Kiniski helps Funk get to the rope. After a couple more near falls the bell rings for the time limit. They get a nice respect ovation from the crowd, who seemed pretty indifferent most of the match. Not too shabby, especially for a couple of very grupy grups. The mat wrestling was intense, and even though I thought they were running out of steam at around 5 minutes left but both guys held enough in reserve for a really nice stretch run. **1/2

 

"Ravishing" Rick Rude and WCW World Television Champion "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff def Kensuke Sasaki and "The Natural" Dustin Rhodes in 9:25- Rude comes in wearing the US title belt and is announced as the US Champion following a controversial decision over Dustin on TV the week before. However, not long after this show the title was retroactively vacated due to the controversy and the title change was erased from the records books. Rude and Dustin would spend all summer having non-decisive matches over the vacant title before Dustin finally got it back in August. Add Rude to the list of guys that got shitty new music after the Bischoff takeover. Sasaki and Rude start. Sasaki takes a minute to check Rude out from every angle, then shoves him across the ring all the way back to the heel corner! Rude pounds away. Sasaki goes nuts jerking Rude's arm out of its socket. Rude is selling like, well, Rude. He was so damn great. Orndorff tags in and the faces work his arm for a bit. After that Dustin and Rude end up in together and the intensity picks up several notches. Hockey fight slugfest! Both guys get knees up in the corner. Rude dodges a wild Dustin charge and he flies over the top to the floor! Nice touch with Zbyszko calling him "overemotional" from commentary. Orndorff rams Dustin into the guardrail while the ref is distracted. Back in Rude hits a swinging neckbreaker for 2. Hip swivel! Dustin gets worked over as face in peril for a bit. Rude goes for a piledriver but Dustin blocks it. Rude tries to turn it around into a tombstone. Dustin reverses it and hits almost a package piledriver! Orndorff cuts the tag off. Midring collision. Dustin rolls over and tags! Sasaki and Rude need a couple of moves to get on the same page but they do. Inverted atomic drop with that classic Rude sell. Sasaki does the hip swivel! Well that's just rude. No pun intended. Forever clotheslines and Rude begs off. Sasaki presses Rude as everyone gets in. Sasaki goes to the top rope. Orndorff shoves him off. Rude hits the Rude Awakening (with a nice job by Sasaki fighting it the whole way down) and it's over. Good stuff. ***

Gordon Solie emcees the announcement of the inaugural class for the brand new WCW Hall of Fame. After a moment of silence for wrestlers who had recently passed away, including Andre the Giant, the class is announced: Lou Thesz, Verne Gagne, Mr. Wrestling II and the late Eddie Graham.

 

Sting def The Prisoner in 5:16- This was originally supposed to be Sting against Scott Norton, but in true WCW planning style Norton was still in Japan. To replace him, they signed the artist formerly known as Nailz off the street. That's right, the guy WWF fired for literally trying to murder Vince McMahon over money. That guy. Wonder if Bischoff saw that as a positive or a negative character reference? He looks exactly the same as he did in WWF. Same orange jumpsuit, and he's even still got Boss Man's nightstick! At the bell Prisoner goes right to the chokes. And chokes. And more chokes. Back elbow and yet more chokes. He hits some super weak chops in the corner. Backbreaker! He did a wrestling move! Sting dodges a corner charge and goes punchy. Prisoner responds with punchy and eye rakey. Sting gets tossed to the floor. Prisoner chokes him with a TV cable for, you know, variety. Back in Sting ducks a clothesline and hits his own, with Prisoner having no idea how to sell it. Backdrop. Stinger Splash! Sting covers for 2. Prisoner dodges an elbow drop. He gets mad at the ref, allowing Sting to climb to the top rope behind his back. Clothesline from Sting and that gets the pin. Sting gets out of town in one hell of a hurry with that Victory Road '11 look on his face again. Like any Nailz match, this was complete and total shit. DUD

 

Steel Cage Match for the Unified WCW and NWA World Tag Team Championship: The Hollywood Blondes (c) def Dos Hombres in 16:08- The Blondes defeated Steamboat and Shane Douglas for the titles on weekly TV in March. After that the Blondes lost to a masked lucha team calling themselves Dos Hombres in a non-title match, who were after revealed to be Steamboat and Douglas. Well, Steamboat. Douglas, as was his occasional wont, had a falling out with management and wasn't present then or now. He'd next be seen in his first ECW run. Tonight Tom Zenk is playing Shane Douglas in a mask. The masks are a fun angle, but they make trying to recap the match accurately hell. They could at least be different patterns or something. Even though the tag titles are officially still unified they've gone back to just one set of belts. Austin and who we figure pretty quick is Steamboat start. Austin goes right for the mask. Steamboat exchanges chops with both Blondes. Pillman takes the first of many cage shots. DEEP armdrag. Austin gets pushed into the cage. After a crazy speed run Austin gets backdropped into the cage! An atomic drop sends him into the cage again. Good Pillman/Zenk back and forth. They were partners and opponents in the past so they know each other well. Steamboat presses Pillman and throws him into the cage! Austin gets back in. Steamboat suplexes him, and Austin gets tied up in a tree of woe on the top of the cage! Steamboat splashes him. Zenk gets whipped to also splash Austin, but Austin's feet came unhooked at the same time and they have a pretty ugly collision and fall. They take a second to check on each other before continuing. Zenk goes hombre in peril. Austin snap mare and elbow off the second rope for 2. Pillman chokes Zenk with his towel. He tries coming off the second rope but Zenk gets a boot up. Austin cuts the tag off. After a whip reversal Zenk hits a dropkick and Austin's in the cage again. Austin has been flying around with 150% intensity all match and it's amazing to watch. Another tag is cut off with a spinebuster. The Blondes go for a rocket launcher. Zenk gets his knees up! Tags! Steamboat chops and throws both heels into the cage. Austin tries to climb out. Steamboat lifts him in an electric chair and drops him! DONNYBROOK! The Hombres do stereo mounted punches. Everyone hits the cage. Steamboat takes his mask off so everyone knows for sure it's him and goes all the way to the top of the cage. CROSSBODY OFF THE TOP OF THE CAGE ONTO BOTH BLONDES! AND THE BLONDES KICK OUT! The timekeeper frakked up and rang the bell early but everyone thankfully keeps going with no confusion. Both Blondes kick out of Steamboat DDTs and a double dropkick. Stun Gun on Zenk outta nowhere! Austin covers for the win! Amazing match, with Pillman and especially Austin going all freaking out on smashing themselves into the cage. Great finish too, with the Blondes almost coming out like babyfaces kicking out of everything and getting a clean pin. You can quibble about the ref not caring about who was legal in the stretch run, but it's a cage match, it makes sense. ****

 

NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Barry Windham (c) def Arn Anderson in 10:55- This is Arn's one and only shot at a world title on a major show. Mixed reactions for both guys even though Arn has clearly been booked as the face and Windham the heel. This is Windham in his "lone wolf" phase, the guy that doesn't need the Horsemen. Shoulderblock and quick cover by Arn to get in Windham's head. Windham leapfrogs. Arn slams on the brakes and hits a belly to belly for 2! Windham is shocked. No no no Tony, we will not speak of Paul Roma in the Horsemen. Stop it. Verboten. Arn hits a backdrop. A straight right from Windham floors Arn. Arn ducks another punch and hits a DDT! Windham powders. Back in Arn tries coming off the second rope but Windham kills him with a clothesline. Windham DDT and elbow drop for 2. Arn goes to the floor. Windham tries to flip him back in, but Arn blocks it and flips Windham to the floor! Rail shot for Windham and he's busted open. Arn works it. Small package for 2. Windham is gushing really good, almost a full crimson mask. Arn goes up top. Windham dropkicks him off and all the way to the floor! Arn hurt his knee on the way down. Windham hits a suplex on the floor, then a lariat off the top back in. Kneedrop to the back of Arn's head for 2. Arn tries a suplex but Windham blocks it and hits the floatover suplex for 2. World's Greatest Spinebuster! But Arn's hurt and can't cover! Windham rolls out, grabs the belt and takes a walk. Arn smartly takes the ref out first so he can't count, then chases. He throws Windham over the top back in, with Windham doing an incredible extended midair flop. Arn pounds away in the corner and pushes the ref away every time he tries to stop him. After a few times the ref goes down and Arn realizes he's pushed too far. Windham with a belt shot! He covers Arn for the pin. Damn good match with two old friends, even late in their careers, going out and laying it all out there with all action and pretty much no resting. It's very a '80s NWA match too which is only appropriate on a number of levels. I just wish they'd gotten more time to let it breathe a little more. ***1/2

 

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith def Big Van Vader (c) (w/Harley Race) by DQ in 16:16- In one of '93 WCW's few good angles, Vader was running roughshod over the whole company and had just put the indestructible Cactus Jack in the hospital. Bulldog is one of the few guys that can stop the reign of terror, so he thinks, because he can match Vader in strength. Bulldog no sells a clothesline and the big Vader tackle. A corner beatdown from Vader finally rocks Bulldog. Bulldog goes to the floor and Race gets a punch in. DBS dodges a charge on the floor and Vader flips over the rail into the first row! Then Bulldog lifts him back over the rail and slams him on the floor! Back in Bulldog hits the delayed suplex to the delight of the crowd. Vader gets a boot up in the corner and tries coming off the second rope. Bulldog catches and powerslams him! A clothesline sends Vader 360 and out. Back in Bulldog tries a crucifix but Vader drops him. Vader hits elbows to the *ahem* lower midsection. Vader bomb! Bulldog kicks out! Huge Vader potato shots. Tackle off the second rope and more potatoes in the corner. Bulldog fights off a superplex attempt and shouts out Dynamite Kid with a headbutt off the top rope. Both guys are down. Bulldog gets a roll up for 2. Vader big splash off the top rope! But he had tweaked his sternum/ribs area earlier in the match, and hit that spot too hard to cover now! Another Vader corner beatdown. He hits a butt splash and puts on a double chinlock. Bulldog lifts him up in an electric chair and drops him! Bulldog clotheslines for 2. Vader tries an avalanche. Bulldog catches and powerslams him! Damn! Race pulls Bulldog off the pin attempt. Bulldog's had enough of him and takes him out. While that's going on Vader grabs Zbyszko's chair and whacks Bulldog with it for the cheap DQ. Vader looks to continue the assault. He brushes aside Bagwell and Scorpio, but Sting comes out to make the save. Bad finish aside that was a pretty good match. It shows how damn good Vader was- he made sure to make Bulldog look great (not to say Bulldog didn't hold his end of the power game because he did) and still came off looking like a complete badass, DQ or no DQ. **3/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Quite the underrated show this one. There's some bad to be sure, but everything outside the Nailz crap the second half of the show delivers to one degree or another and the legends portion was mostly inoffensive. But don't get your hopes up, there's still lots of awfulness to come in '93.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B