Spring Stampede '94

Legacy Review

Spring Stampede '94

April 17, 1994 from the Rosemont Horizon in Chicago

Commentary: Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan

Spring Stampede is the first and only new entry to the WCW PPV calendar in '94, bringing their total up to seven for the year along with the usual four Clashes. Tonight marks the PPV debut (possibly overall debut but I'm not digging into weekly TV shows to find out) of the famous "target" WCW ring mat logo.

Johnny B Badd def Diamond Dallas Page (w/Diamond Doll) in 5:55- In my review for the last WCW PPV (Superbrawl IV) I pointed out both these guys as poised for some serious in-ring ability growth over the next couple of years, and here we are with them facing each other. DDP's real life wife Kimberly Page has taken over as the Diamond Doll. My word she is gorgeous. DDP gives her a present to give to Heenan, then turns and jumps Badd before the bell. Badd ducks a clothesline and gets a roll up for 2. Hammerlock reversal. DDP with a back elbow and shoulderblock. Badd gets an armdrag. DDP with a headlock takeover for 2. He gets Badd in a dragon sleeper-like hold. Badd does a nice job of flipping over to get out of it and hits a dropkick for 2. DDP pulls Badd into the top turnbuckle by his tights. Badd Bret bumps and DDP hits a back suplex. Gutwrench gutbuster. Suplex for 2. Badd fights out of a chinlock and hits his own back suplex. Inverted atomic drop and clothesline. He barely gets DDP over for a backdrop. A Badd flying headscissors almost drops DDP on his head. The Tutti Fruiti punch hits but it sends DDP to the floor. Badd plancha! Back in he hits the sunset flip off the top and that gets the pin. They both worked hard and kept things moving, but their limitations also showed. They're getting there. **

Jesse Ventura is still hanging around after Heenan took his commentary job. He and Mean Gene shill the hotline in a bit of an awkward segment.

 

WCW World Television Championship: Lord Steven Regal (c) (w/Sir William) and "Flyin'" Brian Pillman go to a 15:00 time limit draw- Another quick start with Pillman immediately letting chops fly. Regal tries for Pillman's chronically bum knee, but Pillman dodges and works some ground and pound. Regal begs off. Pillman gets to his knees and slaps him! Speed run and Pillman hits a Japanese armdrag. Regal rolls out. Pillman follows and there's a brawl on the floor. Regal's arm gets rammed into the guardrail. Commentary has issues as there's a lot of extraneous noise coming through. Tony is still on so it must be Heenan's headset. Regal's arm is posted. He fires back with an eye rake and European uppercut. Heenan's headset is still being worked on. Apparently he stood on something he shouldn't have, but sounds like he's taking it in stride and not freaking out. Pillman with chops and a European uppercut of his own. Regal catches Pillman in a leapfrog and slams him. Pillman flips out of a Canadian backbreaker and wraps up a small package for 2. Regal reverses a leg takedown and hooks on an STF. More European uppercuts. Pillman dodges one and tries a backslide. Regal reverses it into a surfboard. Pillman comes back with more chops. Regal counters a backdrop. He goes for a powerbomb, but Pillman twists in midair and turns it into a hurricanrana! Regal struggles to lift Pillman but finally gets him up and hits the Regal Roll for 2. More Regal mat work. He goes for a bow an arrow, loses a bit of grip, but carries on with it anyway. Half crab into an Indian Death Lock by Regal as we hits the 10 minute mark. More Pillman chops. Regal tights pull roll up for 2. He grounds Pillman again. 4 minutes left. Another Pillman flurry. This time an angry Regal fires back with forearms. Pillman hits a headbutt that staggers both guys. 3 minutes left. More back and forth slugging. Pillman dropkick. Regal tries a Boston crab but Pillman flips out of it. 2 minutes. Pillman enzuguri. Regal blocks a monkey flip. 1 minute. Regal comes off the second rope but Pillman counters with a dropkick. Pillman backdrop and waist takedown. He comes off the ropes. Regal catches him and they both tumble over the top to the floor. A little fumbling in that last sequence. There's not enough time for them to get back in the ring and the match is a draw. **3/4

 

Chicago Street Fight: WCW World Tag Team Champions The Nasty Boys def Cactus Jack and Maxx Payne in 8:54- It's Falls Count Anywhere rules for this one. Everyone's got their street fighting gear on. The Nastys jump the faces on the ramp and it's on! Crazy brawl pair off. Knobbs brought a half a pool cue with him. Jack whacks him with it. Cactus Clothesline! Saggs with a chairshot on Payne. He didn't even fold the chair up before hitting him. Jack takes shots with the chair and pool cue. Sags takes a chair shot in return. It's been a crazy ass fight and they've only been warming up. Knobbs clotheslines Jack from the ramp 360 back in the ring. More pool cue shots. Payne and Knobbs fight up the aisle. Knobbs goes over the guardrail into a not at all suspiciously set up merch stand area. Trash can shot for Payne. Jack and Saggs go into the crowd. Saggs throws a chair at Jack. Jack gives Sags a chair shot to the head. Bang bang! Payne slams Knobbs through the merch table! He grabs a shirt and stuffs it down Knobbs' mouth. Cover for 2. Knobbs beats Payne with what's left of the table's support and legs. All four guys are in the merch area now. Jack gets whipped over the rail. The Nastys throw Payne through the standing merch display! Tony: "Is everything half price now?" Sags lifts the second merch table and hits Jack with it. Sags and Jack go back on the ramp with the table. Knobbs gets thrown through what's left standing of the merch display. Jack SUPLEXES THE TABLE ONTO SAGS! Knobbs has a snow shovel. He hits Jack with it! Payne takes the shovel and hits Knobbs with it. Knobbs low blows Payne. Sags sets Jack up for a piledriver on the table, but before they can do anything the table prematurely breaks in half! Sags pushes Jack off the ramp and he splats hard on the concrete. He grabs the shovel, gives Jack a ridiculous stiff shot right in the head with it against the concrete floor, and covers for 3. While all that was going on Payne had Knobbs covered but both refs were with the other guys, which I'm pretty sure is what they used as an argument for a rematch. After the carnage Tony is shocked Jack is standing. Heenan says that was the best time Jack's ever had. That was an insane, magnificent, beautiful all arena brawl that was about four years ahead of its time, at least as far as the big two companies are concerned. ECW would soon make this a business model. In this instance the table breaking early didn't hurt the match, because of the chaotic nature and the fact it was so fresh no one knew what was going to happen. They did a good job improvising a new finish too, I'm positive the table piledriver was supposed to be it. ****1/4

Ventura is in the back with Badd, who issues a challenge to the winner of the US title match.

 

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: "Stunning" Steve Austin (c) (w/Col. Robert Parker) def The Great Muta by DQ in 16:20- Even though the official joint Tokyo Dome shows are over, the WCW/NJPW relationship continues. Muta's popping over for this, and some WCW guys would go to Japan after this show to participate in the annual spring Wrestling Dontaku tour. Muta gets a decent reaction. His run in '89 pretty much set him as a permanent face in the US. Despite that, he's been booked kind of heelish saying he's going to take the title back to Japan, and the fact he's against one of WCW's biggest heels makes it even more odd. Cautious start. Muta has the advantage in the early basics. He grabs an abdominal stretch. Austin tries to reverse it but Muta blocks that. Austin back suplexes out of a headlock. Muta hits a brain buster and elbow drop. Speed run and Muta rolls under Austin, then hits a dropkick. Headlock/headscissors. Muta escapes and Austin powders for a think. Back in Austin hooks Muta's tights and rolls him up for 2. Parker tries to trip Muta. An Austin knee to the back off the distraction sends Muta tumbling outside. Parker with a choke. Austin comes off the apron a couple of times and posts Muta. Back in he locks in an abdominal stretch. He plays with rope leverage until ref Nick Patrick catches him. Muta tries to come back but misses a dropkick. Austin elbow off the second rope (rope rope, not corner) for 2. Muta blocks a buckle shot, gives Austin one and hits a backdrop and suplex. He goes for a missile dropkick but Austin dodges it. Austin tries for his new Hollywood & Vine leg grapevine finisher. Muta escapes before it's locked in. Guess that one needs more work. He gives Austin his own stun gun! Handspring elbow. He sets Austin up top and hits a hurricanrana. Parker gets on the apron. Muta kicks him off, then backdrops a charging Austin over the top rope, forcing the lame rule DQ. Guess no one wanted to take a loss. It was fine but Muta was clearly on autopilot. Like Naito he was wont to do that in his US appearances. **1/4

 

WCW International World Heavyweight Championship: Sting def "Ravishing" Rick Rude (c) in 12:50- Harley Race interrupts Rude's usual prematch shtick to issue a challenge to the winner on behalf of Vader. Then he tries to cheapshot Sting and pays the price for it. Same goes for Rude, who gets backdropped out and suplexed on the floor. Pillar to post beating back in the ring. Sting back suplex for 2. Slam and elbow drops. While in a front facelock Rude grabs tights, so Sting responds in kind. Rude tries to stomp Sting's feet to get out but no dice. Finally after a few tries he lifts Sting up and crotches him on the top rope. Sting falls to the floor. Rude forearms to the back and back suplex for 2. After a double chinlock and some posing Rude drops an elbow for 2. Back to the chinlock. Sting tries to electric chair out but Rude counters with a victory roll. Sting counters the counter and rolls Rude over for 2. Rude hooks on a sleeper. After two arm drops Rude lets it go! Bold strategery, Cotton. He's determined to beat Sting up some more. Sting hulks up and asks for more punches! Sting atomic drop and inverted atomic (that they need two tries at) with the classic Rude sells. Clotheslines. Corner whip reversal and Rude squashes the ref in the corner. A Stinger Splash makes sure he's down. Sting hooks the Scorpion in and tries to revive the ref. Race and Vader run out. Sting fights them off. While he's distracted Rude clips his knee. He tries for the Rude Awakening but Sting fights it. Race comes in with a chair. Sting sees him coming and ducks, and Race whacks Rude in the back of the head with it, busting him open somewhere as we'll see later. Sting covers for the pin and the title! Sting wins the big gold belt back, for what it's worth right now. The split title mistake is about to be fixed. Once again the match was OK, not great, and the overbooking did it no favors. **1/2

And this would turn out to be the final PPV match of the great career of Rick Rude. During the previously mentioned Dontaku tour in Japan, Rude would win the title back from Sting, but during the match suffered a back injury that would turn out to be career ending. The intention was for him to win the title back, but the change was retroactively erased for Rude using the belt as a weapon during the match and Sting kept it. Really Rude had already been breaking down so it wasn't a huge shock. He was never the same after the neck injury at the end of '92 that ended his great US title run. He'd become famous all over again during the Monday Night Wars as a bodyguard/enforcer figure for both DX and the NWO, even appearing on Raw and Nitro on the same night one week due to Raw's pretaping, before his untimely early death in 1999.

He was also just the first of two Hall of Fame wrestlers that suffered career ending injuries in WCW in '94. Foreshadowing!

Speaking of foreshadowing, Tony mentions Flair offered to buy Hulk Hogan a ticket for this show. Obviously Hogan was a no show. The teasing continues.

 

Bunkhouse Match: Bunkhouse Buck (w/Col. Robert Parker) def "The Natural" Dustin Rhodes in 14:11- Buck is Parker's old Stud Stable tag partner Jimmy Golden. Fun fact: he also played Jack Swagger's dad for a short angle in 2010. Dustin's UT shirt almost has me rooting against him. I'm an A&M guy myself. Dustin charges down the ramp on his entrance and dives over the top rope with a lariat! Man, no one's wasting any time tonight. Another lariat. Buck rolls to the apron and Dustin suplexes him back in. The fight goes to the floor as it's still all Dustin. Buck dodges a crossbody and Dustin tumbles down to the floor. Buck takes a piece of wood (a 1x2 per Tony, as opposed to Jim Duggan's 4x4), breaks it over Dustin's back then pokes him in the head with the broken piece. Dustin's bleeding. They go to the ramp. Dustin 360 sells a clothesline and Buck chokes him with his suspenders. Back in Buck stomps on the cut and works on Dustin's knee a bit. Dustin manages to kick Buck down and gets something out of his pocket. Heenan says it's his will. It's powder! But Dustin's too hurt to follow up. Buck takes his belt off and whips Dustin ON THE CUT with it. Tony channels JR with some "IT'S LEATHER ON FLESH" talk. Straight low blow from Buck. More beating in the corner. Buck charges one too many times and Dustin dodges. Buck's leg is caught on the rope. Dustin props him on top of the corner and punts away on him. Dustin takes his belt off, wraps it around his fist and hits Buck with it. Now Buck's busted open. Dustin takes his boot off and comes down on Buck off the second rope with it. He rips Buck's shirt off and whips his back. Bionic elbow. Buck is clotheslined to the floor. He appears to get something from his pocket, but Dustin dodges a punch and hits an atomic drop. Corner clothesline/bulldog combo! Parker gets on the apron. Dustin suplexes him in and gives him some belt whipping. Buck uses the distraction for a roll up for 2. Slugfest. Parker puts some knucks on Buck's hand. He waffles Dustin with them, and gets the pin! Don't think anyone expected that result. As opposed to the tag match's ahead of its time all arena kitchen sink plunder brawling, this was very much an old school '80's NWA bloody brawl that daddy Dusty had all the time. Went on a bit longer than it probably should have though, it was starting to feel flabby at the end. ***1/4

Ventura is in the back with Rude, with dried blood over parts of his face. He's super pissed at both Race and Vader. The rest of the heel locker room has to hold him back. I wonder if they were planning to turn him face before his injury. I've never seen anything that said so, just speculation on my part. Would have been interesting, Rude had never been a face at any point of his career.

 

Big Van Vader (w/Harley Race) def The Boss in 9:02- This has serious potential if Boss (Man) can find his peak '91-'92 form. ANOTHER jump start as Boss meets Vader on the ramp. Race tries to hold Boss down and eats a Vader tackle. The mask is off. Boss clotheslines Vader 360 into the ring and the bell rings to officially start. Boss big boot. An uppercut sends Vader over the top and back to the ramp. They just left the ramp! Heenan has a bit going on why did the crew even bother building the ring the way things have been going tonight. Boss throws some very pulled and weak punches. Vader responds with potato shots and a short clothesline, then scoops Boss up and slams him back in the ring. Vader backs up on the ramp, gets a huge head of steam and leaps over the top rope with a diving splash! Boss gets his knees up! They've been in the ring a whole 10 seconds so Boss clotheslines Vader out to the floor. Whip and Vader crashes over the guardrail into the first row! Boss lifts him up and drops him on the rail! Somewhere in there Vader got cut around his right eye. It takes a bit before there's noticeable blood but I think it bothers him the rest of the match, he looks slightly off. Back in Boss hits an avalanche. He scoops Vader up with some difficulty and slams him. Vader pops up with more potato shots. Boss punches back, a bit stronger than earlier. Vader was known to stiff guys bad until they got the courage up to stiff him back, then he'd ease off. It was his way of gauging respect. Vader backdrops Boss FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE RING ALL THE WAY OVER THE TOP ROPE AND TO THE FLOOR. Damn. Lots of ways that could have gone bad. He suplexes Boss back in and hits a big splash for 2. Corner potatoes. Boss jabs back and hits a back suplex. Now the cut around Vader's eye is starting to show a good amount of blood. Clothesline exchange. Vader sets up a Vader bomb. Boss comes from behind, scoops Vader up and just drops him in the middle of the ring! Boss takes Vader up to the second rope and hits a half avalanche DDT half superplex for 2. He goes up top again and tackles Vader for 2. One more time up top, this time Vader catches and powerslams him. I think that was supposed to happen last time and they got their signals crossed. Vader bomb! Boss kicks out! Vader climbs all the way up. THE VADERSAULT HITS! And good night. After the bell Boss attacks both heels with his nightstick and beats Harley Race down with it. What did Race do? Vader won clean as a sheet. What a sore loser. The match was good, but not as good as it could have been. Like I mentioned, Vader seemed off, possibly due to the cut around the eye. Boss had added some weight and he looked more like late '80s WWF Boss Man rather than the really good and underrated worker he was around '91 and '92 when he had dropped some weight. On top of that it really looked like they struggled with chemistry to me. This was good almost through sheer force of will and the general awesomeness of peak Vader. ***

After some more hotline shilling Ventura is in the back with Boss and commissioner Nick Bockwinkel. Bockwinkel punishes Boss for his tirade by taking his nightstick, his handcuffs, and the Boss name from him. Why not just take my dignity while you're at it? This was due to WWF lawyers having issues with similarities between the Boss and Big Boss Man (NO!), so WCW was changing up his gimmick. Little did they know the epic saga that was about to unfold.

 

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (c) and Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat no contest in 32:19- Flair gets the book back and one of the first things he does is get himself another match with Steamboat. Smart. As you know these two had a legendary trilogy of matches in '89 that were nothing less than the greatest professional wrestling matches ever seen to that point, and five years on they hadn't been topped yet. For added story symmetry it was right here in Chicago that Steamboat beat Flair for the title in the first of those matches. Steamboat's music starts then stops. Everyone's confused. After a minute it starts again where it left off with no rewind. Lots of boos for Steamboat. He'd been asking for years to work as a heel, maybe this was Flair's backdoor way to letting him do it for at least one match, even though the build clearly had Flair leaning back toward heel in anticipation of him turning in full when Hogan came in. Speaking of, commentary talks about Hogan a bit more. Big pop for Flair. Pre-bell staredown. There's no lockup, instead Flair dips down for a quick drop toe hold. Arm tradeoff stalemate. More mat stalemates. Flair bridges out of a headscissors. Steamboat generally controls the mat game, getting a fireman's carry takedown and trying for leverage. When they get up again Steamboat slaps Flair! Flair chops him back. Long intense staredown. Now they lock up and crank the speed up. Steamboat gets a press slam and several flying headscissors. He dropkicks Flair to the floor. Steamboat quickly follows, rolls Flair back in, and hits a chop off the top rope for 2. Flair rolls out for a breather and takes his time getting back in. Another lockup with Flair pulling hair and Steamboat kiping back up. Big Flair chops. Steamboat grabs a headlock and walks up the ropes. After holding the headlock a while Steamboat gets a shoulderblock and immediately covers for 2. Back to the headlock. Flair works him to the corner and chops him. Steamboat with a hiptoss and another flying headscissors. A bit more headlock work. Flair pushes Steamboat off and uses momentum to send him over the top rope. Steamboat skins the cat back in and rolls Flair up for 2. Headlocking again. Flair tries a tights leverage pin. Steamboat blocks an inverted atomic drop, but Flair uses the opening for a knee to the gut. Shoulderblock from Flair, but on the rebound Steamboat gets a drop toe hold. Flair backs Steamboat in the corner and hits some shoulderblocks to the gut. Steamboat with a backdrop. Flair dodges the follow up dropkick. This is wrestling as human chess at its finest. Flair snap mare/kneedrop combo and he tries to wrap Steamboat up for a pin. Back elbow for 2. Chop exchange with Flair going down. After a little obvious "You ready? Ready for this?" conversation Flair hits a crossbody and both guys tumble over the top rope to the floor! Steamboat backdrops out of a piledriver attempt on the floor. Flair dodges a dive and Steamboat crashes into the guardrail. After a small struggle to the top rope Steamboat hits a superplex for a long 2. Flair Flip! Steamboat chops him off the apron! Steamboat climbs to the middle of the top rope and comes off with a chop down to the floor. It's beg off time for Flair as both guys assume their natural roles. Steamboat with some mounted punches and chops. Extended Flair Flop! Steamboat covers but Flair gets a foot on the rope. Flair uses a tights pull to send Steamboat outside. Steamboat pops right back up with a sunset flip. Flair punches out. He goes for another kneedrop. Steamboat blocks it! Steamboat figure four! They have a long fight in the hold, with Flair trying to get to the rope and Steamboat dragging him back to the center. Finally Flair eye pokes out. Steamboat rolls out and takes time on the floor to get his eyes working again. Flair needs to use the ropes to stand back up. He tries to suplex Steamboat back in but Steamboat falls on top of him for 2. Bridge up spot. Backslide fight. Steamboat turns Flair over for 2. Steamboat small package for 2. Flair chops. Steamboat chops back. Flair Flop through the ropes to the ramp! Suplex counters on the ramp. Steamboat chops Flair back into the ring. Flair Flip 2, and he falls all the way to the floor! Steamboat comes off the apron but Flair gets his boots up! Another chop exchange. Steamboat crossbody off the top! Flair kicks out! The crowd bit hard on that one. Hard Flair clothesline. He goes up top but Steamboat slams him off. Steamboat tries a splash off the top but Flair dodges. Flair figure four! Steamboat tries to block it but Flair gets it applied. After a bit of a fight Steamboat gets to the ropes. Flair goes for it again. Steamboat small packages him for 2. Chops from Steamboat and he sets Flair up top again. Another superplex! Both guys are down. Steamboat slowly drapes an arm over Flair for 2. Roll up from Steamboat, but ref Nick Patrick got knocked down during it and has to get back in the ring, giving time for Flair to kick out. Steamboat hooks in the double chickenwing! Talk about '89 callbacks. Both guys go down. Patrick counts 3! But who won? After some discussion Patrick determines all four shoulders stayed down and it's a double pin. Flair retains the title. Bockwinkel follows up with commentary saying he's going to have to take it to *looks up* board room level, and there'll be a final decision on TV next weekend. Was the match '89 trilogy level? No. Was it the next best thing? Pretty much. If it had a clean decision I'd probably give it the full monty. Sadly there'd be no PPV rematch and this was the last time Flair and Steamboat had a match at this level. ****3/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS: A home run. It's not just the top level matches, it's also the fact that on an 8 match card everything is at worst adequate. That's impressive, Kip Frey era level quality. It's crazy no one let Flair book more than he got to. But in a case of horrible timing for WCW, this was just a few weeks after WWF knocked it out of the park with Wrestlemania 10, which had its own breakout gimmick match in the Shawn/Ramon ladder match, and had the red hot Bret/Owen feud going so this show didn't get the notice that it really should have. Well, that and the fact that WCW's business was a few months away from changing completely, making this show historically much less important, but no less good.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: A

NXT Takeover

Legacy Review

NXT Takeover

May 29, 2014 from Full Sail University in Winter Park, FL

Commentary: Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton and William Regal

ArRIVAL was the first live NXT show (and the first live show ever on the WWE Network), but the true lineage of Takeovers starts here. As a point of historical interest, the dark match for this show was Sasha Banks vs Bayley. The future is almost here.

Adam Rose def Camacho in 5:07- Want to play a fun game with these early NXT shows? See how many future stars you can spot as Rosebuds. Tonight I can see Becky Lynch, Braun Strowman and Simon Gotch in a Waldo outfit. I think there's a couple of other possibly familiar women, but the masks and camera cuts make it hard to tell. Adam Rose is one of those fun gimmicks that was a hit in Full Sail but DOA when he hit the main roster. Camacho is the future Tanga Loa, now famous for teaming with his brother Tama Tonga as the Guerillas of Destiny in New Japan, the record holders for most ever IWGP Heavyweight Tag Title wins. He was trained in FCW and had done some main roster work, and this would turn out to be his last televised WWE match before being released. "Party pooper" chant as the bell rings. Rose dances around. Camacho hooks on a full nelson. Rose does a full on junk grind to get out. That gets Camacho even more pissed and Rose laughs. He leaps into Camacho's arms. Angry forearms from Camacho. "Party pooper this!" and he hits a double underhook suplex for 2. Chinlock from Camacho and the crowd starts to sing Rose's music. Rose hulks up. A Camacho legdrop only gets 1. Rose counters a backdrop and rolls through comeback punches. Spinebuster! CHOO CHOO! The Party Foul hits and gets the pin. Not much here wrestling wise, but Full Sail loving Rose so much makes it fun. *1/2

Video package on Sami Zayn trying to pick himself back up after losing to Cesaro at ArRIVAL.

 

NXT Tag Team Championship: The Ascension (c) def Kalisto and El Local in 6:18- El Local is none other than Ricardo Rodriguez under a mask. He was famous for being Alberto Del Rio's personal ring announcer over the past few years, a fantastic gimmick that he excelled at. The Ascension does the Suzuki-Gun jump at the bell. The faces counter with stereo hurricanranas that send both heels to the floor. They dial up a pair of dives, but Ascension counter with midair uppercuts from the floor! Things settle in with Viktor and Kalisto. 75% of the match is Kalisto taking a beating. Not sure about the layout call here. He gets caught in the tree of woe in the heel corner and Viktor gives him a GTR off it for 2. They go to the floor and Konnor bounces Kalisto off the ropes. Kalisto hooks the ropes and tries to get out but gets cut off and back in the heel corner. After a little more beating Kalisto gets a back elbow and hurricanrana in a neutral corner, and tags. Hot tag run from Local. He tries a springboard off the second rope and barely makes it. He was an experienced indy wrestler, but didn't do much wrestling in WWE and the ring rust shows, which makes the call to have Kalisto do almost nothing but sell even more puzzling. Local moonsault off the second rope. Donnybrook! Viktor dodges Local coming off the top rope and murders him with a clothesline. The Fall of Man ends it. The torture continues as the NXT tag division continues to slowly be put together. **

Video package on Tyler Breeze living, and owning, the gimmick.

 

NXT Championship #1 Contender's Match: Tyler Breeze def Sami Zayn in 15:55- To be clear, this is for a title shot on weekly TV, not the next Takeover. I don't think there even was a next Takeover planned at this point, they were taking it one show at a time. Unlike ArRIVAL both guys have their well known music now. I've always loved Breeze's entrance, it's staged so well. Cautious start and arm wringer tradeoff. Zayn uses his agility advantage to zip around Breeze and hit a couple of armdrags. Breeze hair pulls to try to get out and Zayn responds with a hair pull of his own! Heel kick from Zayn. He gets up on the second rope, but Breeze grabs a leg and twists it to send him down to the floor. Breeze bulldog into the second turnbuckle for 2. Faceplant for 2 and he hooks on a front facelock. Zayn powers out, backpedals and pulls the top rope down to send Breeze outside. Springboard moonsault! Zayn crossbody off the top for 2. Blue thunder bomb for 2. Breeze dodges Zayn coming off the top, hits a reverse kick to the gut and DDT for 2. Zayn tries to hang onto the middle rope in the corner. Breeze pulls him out and lifts him into a power bomb for 2! Beatdown in the corner from Breeze. Zayn pops out and gives Breeze a corner exploder suplex! Boo/yay punches. Corner whip reversals, Zayn hits the brakes when he almost squashes the ref in the corner, and Breeze rolls him up for 2. Breeze flips out of another blue thunder bomb. Standing switches. Breeze blocks a roll up. Superkick! Zayn kicks out! Both guys are slow to get up. Zayn with a slap! That sets Breeze off. Zayn blocks a whip, hooks in for what could be a package piledriver if that wasn't a banned move, counters that I don't think went the way they were hoping, all ending with Zayn hitting an x-plex. Breeze kicks out! Zayn goes for the helluva kick. Breeze flops down to the floor as a defensive move. Zayn tope con hilo! He goes for the helluva kick again. Breeze ducks it, and when he does he hits Zayn right in the gonads! Intentional? Not intentional? It's deliberately ambiguous. Beauty Shot! Breeze gets the win! Damn good match. Breeze is now a made man with that performance and win, at least in NXT, while Zayn doesn't suffer from losing as it's all part of the long term underdog arc. ***3/4

Lana is out and brings Rusev with her. Rusev's transitioned to the main roster and moved to the Russia part of Bulgaria. It's the full on presentation, with the picture of Putin on the tron and everything. Mojo Rawley interrupts with a US flag, and says he's going to shove one flag or the other right up Rusev's Putin. Props to whoever wrote that line for him. Rawley charges and runs right into a machka kick. Avalanche and the Accolade is hooked on. Lana says MOAR CRUSH, so Rusev hooks it on again while they're on the ramp. International politics aside, Rusev destroying Rawley makes you feel all is right in the world. Unfortunately like so many others before him, Rusev's hot run would end when he became the latest victim of the John Cena Heel Credibility Destroying Machine. Much like Bray Wyatt was going through at the time this show took place.

Recap of the women's title tournament. Paige comes out with the butterfly belt to say hi.

 

Tournament Final for the Vacant NXT Women's Championship: Charlotte (w/Ric Flair) def Natalya (w/Bret Hart) in 16:49- Paige famously made her main roster debut on the Raw after Wrestlemania 30, defeating AJ Lee for the Divas title. Soon after that she was stripped of the NXT Women's title since she was going main roster full time. An 8 woman tournament was held for the vacant title, culminating here. Quite possibly the two greatest professional wrestlers that have ever walked on this planet are standing at ringside for their respective family members. Nattie was already well known as one of the workhorses of the main roster women's division and a former Divas Champion, while this is Charlotte's first taste of the big time. Lil' Naitch is here to ref this one! Rough lockup. Nattie shows her power advantage early. She gets a fireman's carry takedown and armbar. Charlotte headscissors counters and stalemate. Charlotte cartwheels to reverse an armbar. Nattie flips around and gets a leg takedown. Charlotte grabs a leg and Nattie carwheels over into a modified cloverleaf. Charlotte leans and gets a chinlock. Fantastic mat wrestling so far. Crisp and compelling. After another reversal exchange they crank up the speed. Nattie reverses a wheelbarrow into a roll up for 2. Body scissors that Nattie maneuvers into a cross armbreaker. Charlotte rolls to the apron. Slap from Charlotte. Nattie slaps harder. Charlotte blocks a German suplex so Nattie turns it into another roll up for 2. Charlotte hits an OK chop, like .3 Flair, but Nattie drops instantly and sells it like death. Flair gets excited and struts around. Nattie sleeper. Charlotte jawbreakers out. Cover for 2. Charlotte with a headscissors. Or "figure four headlock" according to Regal. Hey, I'm not arguing with him. I know better. Charlotte uses her legs to run Nattie's face into the mat! Abdominal stretch. Nattie reverses it. She turns it into a backslide. Charlotte slips out and hits a basement dropkick. Nattie double underhook suplex. Man, I can see Nattie calling spots a mile away. Snap mare and basement dropkick from Nattie. Charlotte does the corner Flair Flip! Nattie forearms her off the apron. Charlotte drags Nattie to the floor by her leg. After a cover Flair gets on Lil' Naitch about the count like he's Tommy Young. Charlote goes up top. Per Saxton this is the first time she's ever done this. Moonsault! Nattie dodges! Nattie discus clothesline for 2. Sharpshooter! Charlotte crawls to the ropes but Nattie pulls her back to the center. Charlotte flips out of it. Figure four! Long and good sequence where they fight for leverage, roll around and slap each other. Charlotte crawls down the apron with the hold still applied! Lil' Naitch makes her break. Nattie's knee is kicked into the stairs. Charlotte gets her back in, thinks figure four again, then stops, thinks, looks at Bret, and hooks on a Sharpshooter! Nattie flips her over. Charlotte fights off another Sharpshooter! Bow Down to the Queen! (the earlier and better name for Natural Selection) Charlotte gets the pin! Flair goes nuts. Everyone involved hugs it out with Charlotte and especially Flair showing some genuine emotion. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the coming out party for Charlotte Flair. Made woman doesn't even begin to cover it. It's the birth of a new Flair legend. ****

Video recap for the main event. Tyson Kidd, the final graduate of the legendary Hart Dungeon and now husband of Nattie so Hart by marriage as well, was another established but underused main roster wrestler moved to NXT. His gimmick is a heel looking to use NXT as nothing more than a springboard to revitalize his main roster career. Cesaro and Christian are shown ringside for this one, and behind them is I'm fairly certain a very young Izzy.

 

NXT Championship: Adrian Neville (c) def Tyson Kidd in 20:55- There's a "Cast Neville in the next Hobbit movie" sign. Fantastic. Staredown after the bell. Another rough lockup all around the ring. Kidd offers a handshake. Neville takes it and it's genuine. They roll through some nice ground laying basics. Kidd has a touch more power, Neville a touch more agility. Lots of flippydo from Neville and he flips Kidd over by the arm. Neville takes the edge on the mat as we continue to ease into it. I'm not complaining. Speed run and Kidd shoulderblock. Armdrag exchange. Both guys go for dropkicks! Great sequence. Commentary puts over the whole "mirror match" aspect. Kidd levels Neville with a forearm! I think we've moved to a new phase in the match. Neville gets put in the tree of woe and Kidd pummels him with kicks to the spine. Running corner dropkick. Not nearly on the level of Shibata or KENTA on that. Neville's comeback is cut off with a hot shot and a dropkick sends him to the floor. Kidd somersault plancha! Back in Neville gets a boot up in the corner. Simultaneous crossbody! Man they hit hard. That spot never gets old. Neville is up with rapid fire forearms and kicks. He puts Kidd in the tree of woe and gives him his receipt with kicks to the spine. Corner dropkick from Neville. Better, but still not as good as the best. Springboard forearm from Neville for 2. That was pretty much the Phenomenal Forearm. He could do it because AJ Styles wasn't in WWE yet. Kidd cuts off a dive with a kick to the head. Cover for 2. They go up top and fight for control. Kidd tries for a sunset bomb. Neville flips through it and lands on his feet. Neville pop up powerbomb! Kidd kicks out! Neville tries to springboard off the second rope, but before he can come off Kidd jumps up next to him and gives him a Russian leg sweep! Kidd tries a Boston Crab but Neville rolls him up for 2. Kidd enzuguri. Neville suplexes Kidd over the top rope and both guys tumble to the floor! They both barely beat the count back in. Struggle slugfest. Kidd hooks on a Sharpshooter! He feels Neville trying to counter, so he turns around and grabs Neville's arm in and armbreaker, and the way his legs are wrapped it's almost like a triangle choke. Neville fights, almost passes out, and grabs a rope. Kidd goes up top and does a somersault legdrop while Neville's hanging in the ropes! Cover for 2. Kidd goes up top again. Neville tries to hop up. Kidd fights him off. They do that a few times before Neville stays up and hits a hurricanrana! Kidd ends up in the opposite corner. Neville goes up top. Red Arrow! Cover for 3! After the match Neville offers a handshake but Kidd shoves him off and walks away. Really good match, but not quite great. It had a lot of great moves for sure but didn't come together as a whole as well as it could have. ***1/2

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- The first couple of matches are a little rough, especially by Takeover standards, but that's soon forgotten when you hit the rest of the show. NXT's second live show is another success as the brand continues to come together, grow and evolve. The usual red hot Full Sail crowd is always a plus. Soon the name Takeover will be synonymous with blowaway quality wrestling.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B+

Superbrawl IV

Legacy Review

Superbrawl IV

February 20, 1994 from the Albany Civic Center in Albany, GA

Commentary: Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan

I forgot to mention when I did the January Clash, the start of '94 saw another change in the head booker seat at TurnerBischoffland, with Ric Flair taking it from Dusty Rhodes. Flair did a damn fine job with it in '89 before he was politicked out for giving the top star in the company too many title runs, which just so happened to be him, so I call it a potential win.

The show opens with Johnny B Badd's intro for his match. His opponent Michael Hayes comes out in a wheelchair, being wheeled out by old Fabulous Freebirds partner Jimmy Garvin. Garvin's been out of wrestling for two years working his post-retirement job as, I kid you not, a commercial airline pilot. Hell of a career path. Commissioner Nick Bockwinkel joins Mean Gene to ask what happened. Hayes says he fell down the stairs, Garvin says he slipped on a banana peel. Bockwinkel smells a rat. Garvin produces a doctor's note that Bockwinkel concedes looks genuine. While Bockwinkel is reading it Garvin makes his bed by saying he could beat Badd with one arm tied behind his back, so Bockwinkel, due to the fact the Freebirds still have an active contract in a filing cabinet somewhere (amazing how he knows that off the top of his head), makes him lie in it by unretiring him and putting him in the match in Hayes' place! Fairly funny stuff but it went way too long. Badd's entrance was unnecessary.

Harlem Heat def Thunder & Lightning in 9:47- Harlem Heat are still called Kane (Stevie Ray) and Kole (Booker T). One look at Thunder and Lightning and they scream "vanilla jobbers". One of them, Lightning, hung on to be NWO Sting in a couple of years. Lightning, well, let's put it this way- he only has one page of listed matches on Cagematch and the page isn't full. They look so bland and generic similar it's hard to tell them apart. Kole starts with Tony says Lightning so we'll go with it. Lightning has trouble with Kole putting an arm wringer on him right. Waistlock switches and Lightning gets a takedown. They go speed with Lightning getting a hiptoss and dropkick. The faces work Kole's arm. Kole gets a slam and tags. Thunder ducks a clothesline and hits a diving tackle on Kane. More face arm work. T&L double team kneelift on Kole for 2. Kane distracts, er, Thunder. I think. Kole clotheslines him 360 to the floor, with Thunder taking quite a journey to work his way down there. Harlem Heat go into generic heel double teams and chokes. A Kole flying forearm is by far the best thing in the match so far. We get a live feed from Flair's locker room to confirm yes, Flair is in his locker room. Thunder dodges a Kole elbow off the top and gets a "hot" tag. Kane does the worst dropkick sell ever. Donnybrooking. Lightning rolls up Kole, Kane gives him a generic stomp in the head, and Kole covers for the pin. Bare bones basic. That was more like a training match than something that should have been on TV. Harlem Heat were still a ways away from being good themselves and nowhere near ready to carry a couple of greenhorns. 1/2*

Mean Gene documents the Goldberg level security between Flair and Vader's locker rooms, mostly due to Vader threatening to take Flair out before the match even starts.

 

"Jungle" Jim Steele def The Equalizer in 6:31- Speaking of nowhere near good enough to carry a green wrestler, here's Evad. Steele looks like a poor man's Jimmy Snuka and his music has a bunch of jungle sounds. I'm going to save you most of the torture for this one. Equalizer controls most of the match with his kicky punchy rest holdy "offense" while Tony marvels at the fact Steele's had a match this long. Really. Heenan takes the whole show over with jokes on commentary and Tony lets him fly. Heenan also interestingly mentions Hulk Hogan. Long term foreshadowing. After both guys fumble around while going home Steele hits a Thesz Press ("Steele Trap") to win. Another match that should have been in the Power Plant instead of on TV. DUD

Hotline shill! Bockwinkel returns along with Ricky Steamboat. Steamboat already has an agreement with Flair for a future title shot (Flair's really back on the book), but now it's official, he will challenge the winner of tonight's world title match.

 

Terry Taylor def Diamond Dallas Page (w/Diamond Doll) in 11:45- Taylor's transitioning to backstage work but is still up for the occasional match, and actually is someone capable of making a green wrestler look good. After working some PPV matches for WCW in '91 Page had been away for a couple of years, healing an injury and continuing to learn and improve. It's all up for him from here. I'm not sure Page's Diamond Doll tonight isn't a Diamond Dude. DDP uses the DD as a shield and tries to ambush Taylor but is cut off. Nice hook kick from Taylor. Flippy slam for 2. Some mat jostling that Taylor stays one step ahead on and he hooks on a cross armbreaker. DDP gets to the rope and rolls out. When he gets back in Taylor goes back to the arm. In a nice bit of cross-promotion continuity Tony mentions Heenan used to manage Taylor, and Heenan complains that he "wouldn't take direction". A DDP sunset flip sets off a series of reversals, ending with Taylor stacking DDP up for 2. Hiptoss from Taylor and both guys kick each other off the mat. Great sell from Taylor on his. Taylor clothesline for 2. DDP turns a whip reverse into a vicious back elbow. He hits some more back elbows in the corner and Taylor flops out. DDP slam suplex for 2. Gutwrench gutbuster! Nice. DDP back suplex for 2, then he hooks on a cobra clutch. Taylor goes down and almost gets pinned before escaping. DDP with a clothesline for 2. An eye poke cuts off a Taylor comeback. Taylor reverses out of a chinlock and hits a back suplex. Dropkick. DDP again kills his momentum by countering a backdrop with a faceplant for 2. DDP then shows some inexperience by seemingly running out of ideas and going back to the chinlock. Taylor crossbody for 2. DDP FLOORS Taylor with a straight right. Corner shoulderblock. Taylor dodges another, and off DDP's ricochet off the buckle rolls him up for 3! I see this match get panned online but I honestly don't see why, I enjoyed it. Taylor was winding down but still plenty good enough and DDP had gotten better in his time away. Not good yet, but better. This was a breath of fresh air the show desperately needed. **1/2

 

Johnny B Badd def Jimmy Jam Garvin (w/Michael Hayes) in 10:48- No Badstreet USA. Boooooooo. Garvin stalls and struts. After a headlock/headscissors exchange Garvin bails and goes to talk with Hayes. Speed run, hiptoss blocks, and Badd gets a headlock takedown. Mat exchange with Badd staying in control. Garvin gets a rope break and soaks in the boos. Badd slam and armbar. Garvin pulls Badd's hair to get out and hides in the corner. He wants a time out and goes out to consult Hayes again. Badd gets a drop toe hold and goes back to the arm. Garvin hits knees in the corner and gets a boot up in the opposite corner. Snap mare and sleeper. Garvin knee to the gut for 2. He hooks up for the DDT but Badd backdrops out. Flying headscissors from Badd. Backdrop. Garvin ducks the Tutti Fruitti punch but Badd catches him from the opposite side with an uppercut. Sunset flip off the top rope and it's over. After the match Badd goes after Hayes and Garvin attacks him from behind, laying him out with the 911 (a stunner). Given Garvin's layoff you really couldn't expect much. Like DDP, Badd was on the cusp of serious growth and improvement but wasn't quite there yet. 1/4*

Mean Gene pokes his nose in Vader's locker room and almost gets it smashed in by a chair.

 

WCW World Television Championship: Lord Steven Regal (c) (w/Sir William) def Arn Anderson in 29:54- Flair's got the book again and look who's back in prominent matches. Not like he doesn't deserve it. Arn offers a handshake and Regal looks disgusted by it. Long lockup and stalemate, but after Regal complains about his ear getting hurt. Arn cranks a headlock, which doesn't help Regal's ear. Shoulderblock by Arn and more stalling by Regal. Arm work tradeoff. Long test of strength. Arn finally takes a shot at Regal's taped up thigh to break it up. Back to the arm. Regal European uppercut. He grinds Arn down with a partial chickenwing. Arn reverses and hits a hammerlock slam. Shoulders in the corner. He goes out and posts Regal's arm. Regal checks the time with William. Forearms from Regal back in. He hooks in the cravat for near falls. Arn gets out into a hammerlock. 15 minutes gone in the 30 minute time limit. Regal headscissors and back to the cravat. Arn hits a backdrop and stretches out an armbreaker. Another Regal European uppercut. Hard corner shot for Regal. Another European uppercut sends Arn to the apron. William gives him a brolly shot in the throat. 10 minutes left. More Regal uppercuts in the corner. Single leg crab with rope leverage that the ref quickly spots. Regal hooks in a modified STF. Arn gets a leg takedown and finally focuses on Regal's taped leg after being laser focused on the arm the whole match. Regal fights off a figure four. Another William brolly shot to the back of Arn's head. Arn pulls Regal down from the floor and gives his leg a shot across the apron. Regal gets a desperation takedown and wraps Arn up, trying to ice the match for the time limit. 5 minutes left. Arn fires back at 3 minutes left. Slugfest. Regal drops and Arn covers for 2. 2 minutes left with Regal trying to get a leverage pin. Arn hooks up a body scissors. Regal tries to turn it into a Boston Crab but Arn flips him out. Arn with a sleeper! Instead of holding it he pushes Regal into the corner and rolls him up for 2. Arn small package for 2. World's Greatest Spinebuster! Arn can't cover. William distracts again. Arn with a sunset flip off the apron. Regal blocks, drops down, grabs the top rope and pins Arn with less than 10 seconds left. Technically sound, but it never got in high gear. They didn't use all the time they got well at all, you could cut half this match out and it wouldn't make a difference. **

 

WCW World Tag Team Championship: Cactus Jack & Maxx Payne def The Nasty Boys (c) by DQ in 12:37- Jack and Payne beat the Nastys in a non-title match at the last Clash to set themselves up as #1 contenders. Commentary points out Missy Hyatt is nowhere to be seen. Heenan says she's at the Mayo Clinic getting gum replacement surgery after getting kissed by Jack. I would think that kiss was more dangerous for Jack. In reality, Hyatt had just been fired by Bischoff over some back and forth complaints about sexual harassment that would lead to Hyatt filing a lawsuit against the company. The Nastys bring a guitar to the ring which I'm sure won't play into the match in any way whatsoever. Payne and Knobbs start. Payne quickly grabs a waistlock and hits a German suplex! Then he catches Sags and gives him an exploder suplex! Commentary raves about the fact that Payne "can actually wrestle", not just brawl. Nice try, guys. Payne ducks a Knobbs clothesline and gives him a uranage. Sags runs in and gets powerslammed. Jack comes in with some forearms and the faces hit a dual elbow drop. After the Nastys have some floor recovery time Jack outbrawls Knobbs. Apron leg drop. Payne faceplants Knobbs for 2. A Knobbs clothesline/Sags clip combo finally gets Payne down and the Nastys work the knee a bit. Payne dodges a Knobbs legdrop off the second rope and tags. Jack with a kneelift. Cactus Clothesline on Knobbs! Sags cuts off the apron elbow drop. Knobbs pulls the mat up. Sags knocks Jack off the apron and he splats down straight on the concrete! Foley bump. Commentary acts like they just watched Jack die. Knobbs runs Jack's head into the guardrail for good measure. Back in the Nastys switch off holding a Boston Crab. DAMMIT TONY STOP BRINGING UP LOST IN CLEVELAND. While the ref is busy with Sags, Payne pulls Jack over toward their corner. Smart. But then the Nastys distract the ref again and he doesn't see the tag. Good use of ref distractions by both sides. Jack gives the Nastys a double DDT! Now he tags out. A belly to belly from Payne drops Knobbs right on his head and shoulder, and his shoulder is clearly bothering him right after. Paynekiller on the non-legit hurt arm. Sags gets the guitar from ringside and nails Payne with it for the cheap DQ. Crap finish to a pretty decent brawl, but it plays in well to what's to come in this feud. **1/4

Mean Gene is in the back with Flair, who drops some more Hogan hints but says he needs to get done with Vader first, and Steamboat is next in line after. Dramatic cage lowering! Remember the Thundercage is basically WCW's Hell in a Cell, a jumbo size cage with floor access inside the cage. It doesn't have a roof but it does have a slanted top to prevent anyone climbing in or out.

 

Thundercage Match: Sting, "Flyin'" Brian Pillman & "The Natural" Dustin Rhodes def WCW International World Heavyweight Champion "Ravishing" Rick Rude, WCW United States Heavyweight Champion "Stunning" Steve Austin & "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff (w/Col. Robert Parker) in 14:36- Sting and Rude start. No, Orndorff. No, Sting pisses Rude off with a hip swivel mock and he's back in. Rude forearms. Sting backdrop and clotheslines. Rude bails to the corner. Austin and Sting crank up the speed. Austin tweaks his knee. Sting jumps right on it and hooks him in the Scorpion Death Lock! All the heels come in break it up. Austin uses the distraction to get a roll up with a tights pull for 2. Guess it was a ruse. They go outside. Sting whips Austin and Austin THROWS himself back into the cage! That's an awfully wobbly cage. If anyone did try to climb it, it might fall over. Pillman comes in to work over his old tag partner and mocks him with a camera roll. Chop exchange on the floor. Austin leads Pillman on a chase and runs Pillman into the cage. Pillman ducks his head under the ring forever, presumably to blade, but doesn't do a good job of it. There's a bit of already dried looking blood. Rude works the cut and Pillman is face in peril for a bit. Orndorff back suplex. Rude knee off the top rope for 2. Austin elbow off the second rope. He goes for it again but Pillman dropkicks him in midair! Tag to Sting. He clears all the heels out. Orndorff gets run into the cage and busted open a little. Dustin pummels Orndorff with a little Dusty sauce and follows with some ground and pound. Orndorff uses Dustin's tights to run him into a turnbuckle and makes a wobblelegged tag to Rude. Dustin goes for the bulldog but Rude lifts him up onto the opposite corner. Back superplex. Rude bear hug that he turns into a belly to belly suplex when Dustin tries to fight out of it. Austin gets dropkicked off the apron and falls leg first into the cage! He's been taking some crazy ass bumps in this match. Pillman is in with Austin again. Everyone in the pool! Pillman and Sting double backdrop Austin, then Sting presses Pillman onto Austin for the pin. Really good nonstop action, but it was also very much a spotfest with no attempt at any kind of story or feud development. ***1/2

Long recap of the Flair/Vader saga. Vader hurt Flair so bad at the last Clash that Bockwinkel tried to postpone this match. An enraged Vader attacked Steamboat and Arn to rile Flair up. Flair demanded the match go on as scheduled. Bockwinkel wanted doctor's clearances, Flair got them, and we're back on.

 

Thundercage Match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (c) def Big Van Vader (w/Harley Race) in 11:32- The Boss (Big Boss Man) is the special guest referee. Vader's got some special gear tonight. It's still weird seeing Flair with the globe and stars belt, the belt that was created after Flair went to WWF with the Big Gold Belt. Boss locks the cage door and takes the key. Vader charges for an avalanche right when the bell rings. Flair dodges and lays in a punch/chop corner beatdown. A back elbow sends Vader 360 to the floor. Flair gives him a chairshot! WOOOOOO and strut in the ring. Flair rips Vader's mask off! Corner whip and Vader does the Flair Flip in the corner! That's freaking fantastic. Flair walks into a Vader tackle. Slam and Vader Bomb! Short clothesline. Vader goes up top. VADERSAULT! Flair rolls! But Vader sees the roll and lands on his feet! Seriously, how great was Vader to do that stuff at his size, and that's only part of his game! Vader tosses Flair out and Race chokes him on a cage bar. Vader potato shots on the floor. Corner potatoes. Flair chops back and chokes Vader out of desperation. Another Vader tackle sends Flair back to the floor. Headbutt from Race. Vader suplexes Flair back in. He sets Flair up top. Superplex! Flair dodges Vader elbow drops. Boss stops Race from interfering again and tries to handcuff him. Vader hits Boss from behind, then he and Race handcuff Boss to the cage! Race gets the door key and gets in. Heel double team beatdown. Arn comes out but can't unlock the door. "SHIT!" Steamboat tries to break the lock with a chair. Flair gets Vader to tackle Race and tries to make a comeback, but the two on one is too much for him. Boss gets free by straight breaking the handcuffs and attacks Vader, hitting him in the knee with his nightstick. Flair hooks in the figure four, with difficulty. Boss immediately calls for the bell! I smell a screwjob. A furious Vader confronts commentary after, saying he never quit. They were going pretty good, not to the level of their Starrcade match but good, but once the overbooking hit everything after was completely flat. Vader would move out of the title picture for the first time in nearly two years and start a feud with the Boss, while Flair would move on to other challengers while everyone waited for the Hogan contract to get done. **3/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Not the greatest start to the WCW PPV year. The last two matches barely saved this from being an all time stinker, though with Flair back booking the whole show has a bit more of a smoother feel. Better things were on the horizon.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D+

NXT ArRIVAL

Legacy Review

NXT ArRIVAL

February 27, 2014 from Full Sail University in Winter Park, FL

Commentary: Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton and William Regal

Welcome to the first of a brand new series here on the Legacy Blog. The way I figure it, the NXT we knew and loved is dead and buried, therefore the classic Takeovers are now old school, therefore they deserve a place here. Logic even a Vulcan couldn't argue with.

After starting out as a game show style show for "developmental" talent (some guys stretched this definition) with decidedly mixed reaction and results, the whole NXT brand was revamped in early 2012 when Triple H took it over. He shut down developmental territory FCW and renamed it NXT with a base of operations at Full Sail University, with an eye toward creating what we now have in the WWE Performance Center. NXT produced a weekly show that had a ton of buzz from hardcore fans as it went on, and during that era produced future stars like Seth Rollins and the Shield, Big E, and the Wyatt Family, but was also syndicated on TV and hard for most people to find and watch. This is both the first ever NXT show to broadcast live and the first ever live broadcast on the brand new WWE Network. While it's definitely intended to give the NXT developmental brand some exposure, its main purpose was as a stress test for the Network before the much bigger Wrestlemania 30 in a little over a month.

The show opens with a dark arena and some cool lighting. The music playing is, I kid you not, Earthquake's old music minus the quake sound effects. It works great. I've said for years upon years that his music was underrated. Trips does his "are you ready" intro and says the future is now. It was weird seeing him here at the same time he had turned himself into one of the most hated men in wrestling again on the main roster as the rule ignoring heel authority figure holding, among others, super hot Daniel Bryan down.

 

Cesaro def Sami Zayn in 22:55- Zayn was, if memory serves, the first big high-profile indy signing for NXT after Triple H took over the brand. He was of course known for his work under a mask as El Generico. He's got his original music and tights here, with the flag of every country he'd wrestled in on them. Such a cool idea. Cesaro was a few years into his WWE career after also coming over from the indys (a rarity at the time), and was already a mainstay on the main roster but was coming down to NXT on a semi-regular basis to help out. He's in his Real American phase here. WE THE PEOPLE! He was in the midst of one of his regular "we're really really going to do something with him now" push teases, having beaten WWE Champ Randy Orton on TV recently. The push would die out after deadlift bodyslamming Big Show to win the first Andre Battle Royale at WM 30, one of many missed opportunities for a guy that absolutely should have been a world champion in WWE. This is actually the conclusion of a trilogy. These two had a couple of well received matches on NXT TV in 2013 that because of the way pre-Network NXT was distributed hardly anybody saw. Anyway, to the match. The Full Sail faithful are split. Cesaro shows the power advantage early. He gets a waistlock takedown and slaps Zayn in the back of the head. After a couple of old school headlock/headscissors counters Cesaro hits a dropkick. He blocks a Zayn headscissors. Zayn blocks a swing attempt and armdrags Cesaro, sending him sliding to the floor. Baseball slide. Zayn teases, runs, and hits a tope con hilo! Back in Zayn tries a crossbody off the top. Cesaro catches him and hits a backbreaker for 2. Zayn rolls out. Cesaro runs him into the barricade. He rolls Zayn back in just to chuck him out again. Classic "ole" chant from the crowd from Zayn's Generico days. Zayn tries to come back with forearms. Cesaro gives him another barricade shot. He slams Zayn on the apron and covers for 2. He tries to drag Zayn to the corner to post his knee, but Zayn pulls Cesaro into the post. Zayn goes to the floor, charges, and dives through the ropes in the corner! Cesaro cuts him off in midair with an uppercut! "Holy shit" chant for that. That was a callback to their last match where Zayn hit that crazy ass dive. Now Zayn's knee gets posted. Cesaro goes to work on it while we get more replays of the midair uppercut. Double stomp on the knee. Dragon screw leg whip by Cesaro! Zayn gets him with a heel kick out of nowhere for some breathing space but Cesaro is quickly back on the knee. More dragon screws. Zayn lays in some forearms. Cesaro ducks an enzuguri and hooks on a single leg crab. Zayn gets to the rope. Cesaro charges right into a back elbow. Zayn backdrops him to the floor. He shakes the knee off, and hits a springboard moonsault! Cesaro catches him and slams him on the ramp! Zayn barely beats the count back in. Another Cesaro charge....Zayn grabs him and hits a corner exploder suplex! Cover for 2. Cesaro tries to hit the ropes, but Zayn grabs his tights and pulls him into a blue thunder bomb for 2! Koji clutch! Cesaro powers out and locks on a knee hold we now know as Numero Dos thanks to El Desperado in New Japan. Zayn fights, teases tapping, and finally dives in desperation for the rope. Swing tim....no, Zayn counters with a roll up for 2! Now we're swinging! 10 rotations. Cesaro corner uppercut and cover. Zayn counters with a crucifix rollup for 2. Cesaro basement dropkick for 2. They have a battle climbing the ropes. Cesaro blocks a hurricanrana, wraps up Zayn's arms for a straitjacket powerbomb, but Zayn fights out and hits the hurricanrana! Helluva Kick! Cesaro kicks out! Oh man the crowd thought that was it. Both guys are slow to get up as we're getting into the deep water now. Cesaro floors Zayn with a series of stiff European uppercuts that are hitting a full 1 on the Suzuki meter. After each he tells Zayn to stay down and for the ref to count a KO. After a fourth uppercut Zayn hits back! Slugfest! Hockey fight! Zayn ducks a punch and hits a German suplex! He charges but runs into a Cesaro big boot. Cesaro goes for the Neutralizer. Zayn backdrops out and covers for 2. Cesaro goes for a powerbomb but Zayn flips it into a Canadian Destroyer for 2! Cesaro press and uppercut! Zayn kicks out at 1! That rattled Cesaro. But Zayn's almost spent, using the ropes to stand up. Cesaro discus uppercut! He hits the Neutralizer! That gets the pin. After the match they hug it out and the crowd has nothing but love for Zayn even in defeat. His NXT journey is just beginning. An absolutely incredible match that was the perfect choice to go out first on NXT's first live show. This is the one that initially put NXT on the map more than anything else. ****3/4

 

Mojo Rawley def CJ Parker in 3:25- Oh CJ Parker. This is Juice Robinson, who'd been with WWE developmental since the FCW days, in his hippie gimmick. Rawley is a former football player and is basically a poor man's Ultimate Warrior minus the face paint. His whole gimmick is he's a hyped up wild man that's always got the meter on 15 out of 10. Second straight match with a proper lockup. Rawley's hyped. After some basic counters and a speed run Rawley gets a backdrop for 2. Parker with a boot up in the corner and clothesline for 2. He lays in some left hand punches that would become a Juice trademark. He does some more corner beatdown stuff until Rawley reverses a corner whip and hits a couple of avalanches. A Rawley Earthquake splash, or the "Hyperdrive" as he calls it (which is begging for a ludicrous speed joke somewhere), finishes it. This is the kind of match between two clear developmental projects that would stay confined to regular NXT TV in the future rather than the big Takeover shows. Rawley in particular was very raw and, frankly, wouldn't get much better. 3/4*

 

NXT Tag Team Championship: The Ascension (c) def Too Cool in 6:40- The Ascension had run roughshod over what little there was of the NXT tag division since winning the titles the previous September. More than any other part of NXT it'd take a while to get the tag division up to scratch. Frankly the Ascension weren't very good, there was just no one else and they were believable powerful monsters. Attitude Era stars Too Cool were a mystery opponent, having worked an Old School Raw earlier in the year. They get almost no reaction from the crowd. Viktor and Grandmaster Sexay, who's looking more like his dad Jerry Lawler than ever, start. Sexay hits a shoulderblock and dances. Viktor kips up and pummels him with chops. Konnor with a huge legdrop and huger shoulderblocks. The Ascension break Sexay down as it's been all one sided so far. Hammering elbows and chinlocks from Viktor. Sexay jawbreakers out, crawls under Viktor and tags. Bald Scotty 2 Hotty is in with punches for everyone. He and Viktor block hiptosses and Scotty hits a forearm. He tries to get the crowd going with "raise the roof" but they don't care. Not just the lack of reaction for Too Cool, that wasn't even retro cool yet. Is it now? I'm no expert. Scott and Viktor do some back and forth until Scotty hits a faceplant and you know what's coming. W.....O.....R.....M.....whoooooooooa no Viktor cuts it off! Clothesline. The Fall of Man ends it. It's the Ascension and past their prime Too Cool (who arguably never really had it anyway), so it's pretty much what you'd expect. Much better days were coming for the NXT tag division. *

Ric Flair is ringside with his daughter, up and coming NXT wrestler Charlotte. No last name, just Charlotte. Stephanie McMahon comes out to introduce the women. Er, excuse me, Divas. We're still firmly ensconced in the Divas era even with AJ Lee on the main roster trying to change that. Though NXT doesn't use the Divas name on the title the belt's color scheme is very much modeled after the butterfly belt.

 

NXT Women's Championship: Paige (c) def Emma in 12:54- Paige became the first NXT Women's champ in June '13, also becoming the youngest woman to ever hold a WWE title at age 20, and has held it since in dominant fashion. Her whole persona is the "anti-Diva", a brilliant move considering where WWE women were at the time. Emma (AKA Tenille Dashwood) had been in the system since the FCW days and had made her main roster debut earlier in the year. She's in her bubbly babyface persona that liked to dance really badly. Steph said she was going to be doing the ring announcing, then doesn't. There's a weird silence where commentary is quiet, expecting announcements but they never happen, the bell just rings. Paige gets right in Emma's face. Shoving. Emma does a double leg takedown. Cat fight! I can say that, they're still Divas. Paige goes for the Paige Turner early. Emma blocks it into a backslide for 2. Emma sets up a slingshot. Paige blocks that and stacks Emma up for 2. Split crowd chants. Chinlock with aggression from Paige. Emma gets up with a waistlock. Paige blocks a German suplex and backs Emma up into the corner. Wild back elbows from Paige. Emma grabs a boot and drops Paige. She gets the slingshot and goes for the Emmalock. Paige pushes out before she can hook it on. After a bit of tussle on the floor Emma drops Paige on the apron and covers for 2. DilEmma (a tarantula)! She follows that with the Emma sandwich (a crossbody in the corner) for 2. Emma stretches Paige's arms out in a surfboard while commentary puts her over as a submission specialist and says in a very good Captain Subtext way that she's all character on Raw and SD, but in NXT she can actually frigging wrestle. After she can't hold the surfboard anymore Emma covers for 2. Classic women's hair throw. Paige gets a forearm in the corner. They go up top. Emma fights out of a superplex, sunset flips and gives Paige a walking sit out powerbomb for 2! "Better than Batista" chant from the crowd! That's fantastic. Running kick from Emma for 2. Paige comes back with an open hand slap and clothesline. The Paige Turner hits! Emma kicks out! Good, that would have been a pretty flat finish. Paige hooks in a Sharpshooter, but stays facing Emma, straitjackets her arms and pulls back! That's nasty looking. Emma taps. Solid stuff, but compared against the women's wrestling on the main roster at the time it was damn near mind blowing. It also suffered from the outcome never really being in doubt. **3/4

Ad for weekly NXT on Thursdays, now exclusively on the WWE Network. Pat Patterson and Dusty Rhodes are ringside for the next match. Saxton does the worst Dusty impression ever.

 

Tyler Breeze and Xavier Woods no contest in :35- Woods comes out to Brodus Clay's old "Somebody Call My Momma" music. Breeze still has his original music. The bell does ring so it is an official match, but before anything can happen......RUSEV UDRYA! RUSEV MACHKA! ALEXANDER Rusev (still with a first name) is here! And Lana. Rusev destroys everyone and walks off. Statement made. Happy Rusev Day everyone!

Larry Zbyszko and Steve "Skinner" Keirn, an important coach/trainer in FCW, are ringside for the next match. Shawn Michaels makes a special appearance to hang the belt up for the ladder match and cut a very fun goofy Shawn promo. This was before he started working for NXT full time.

 

Ladder Match for the NXT Championship: Adrian Neville def Bo Dallas (c) in 16:04- Neville is the past and future PAC in his "The Man that Mavity Forgot" gimmick. He's already held the NXT tag titles twice with two different partners (Oliver Gray as British Ambition, and Corey Graves). Dallas is a 100% FCW recruited and trained project. It's never mentioned on air but he's Bray Wyatt's brother, son of Mike Rotunda and nephew of Barry Windham. He's the third ever NXT Champion after Seth Rollins and Big E, and he's held the title longer than either of them. This is the peak of his heel BOLIEVE gimmick, one of many NXT gimmicks I absolutely loved even though I knew they likely wouldn't do well on the main roster. Neville's had past shots at the title but Dallas has held onto it through nefarious heel means. No getting away with that in a ladder match. Dallas immediately tries to step out to get a ladder. Neville grabs him and pulls him back in. Neville flip over in the corner, flip across the ring and missile dropkick off the second rope. He goes up top for an early Red Arrow. Dallas rolls out of range, then takes the advantage with short arm elbows and a short arm clothesline. He hooks Neville upside down in the ropes and goes for a ladder. Smart. Neville baseball slides the ladder into Dallas! You don't get more classic ladder match spot than that. Neville plancha! They fight on the floor and Neville goes into the steps. Let's get another ladder! Neville dodges Dallas throwing the ladder at him. He backdrops Dallas to the floor and sets to climbing. Dallas throws the other ladder onto him! He sets the ladder up on top of Neville. Neville pushes the ladder up from his back and dumps Dallas. Neville climbs again and Dallas dumps him. Ladder tug of war. Neville gets squashed in the corner by the ladder. Dallas wedges a ladder into the ropes in the corner. Neville uses it as a launch for a tornado DDT! They fight over the other ladder and have a midring collision. The ladder accidentally falls on top of Neville. A ref quickly leans in to check on him but he's a Geordie, he's fine. Dallas hits some corner clotheslines. He goes to bulldog Neville onto the ladder. Neville counters and pushes Dallas into the corner ladder! Climb and fight on top of the ladder. Dallas pulls Neville's face into the ladder. Back to the mat and Neville hits a high kick to Dallas' head. He goes to the top rope but Dallas pushes him to the floor. Dallas slowly crawls to the ladder. Neville springboards off the top rope and leaps over him! Dallas pounds Neville in the back. He teases a German off the ladder, then when that's blocked lifts and buckle bombs Neville into the corner ladder! Neville slams Dallas on the ladder. Red Arrow on Dallas laying on the ladder! Dallas rolls out to the floor. Neville sets the ladder back up and climbs. Dallas recovers and gets back in, but too late as Neville grabs the belt for the title! During the postmatch celebration John Cena is shown in the crowd applauding. Smart move, not showing him until then. He would have been booed out of Orlando. Good though unspectacular ladder match, but I do appreciate how they focused more on psychology than high spots. ***1/4

Before wrapping up I do have to mention the streaming issues. This being the first live show ever on the Network, there certainly were issues. For many the feed cut out during the Woods/Breeze match and didn't come back. I honestly don't remember if that happened to me or not, but I do remember during the Cesaro/Zayn match I had a consistent horrible frame rate, like trying to play a newer game on an old PC. People rightly complained and WWE was quick to point out that the full show would be available on demand almost immediately, as would become standard for the Network. And the stress test did its job, as they got a lot of the issues ironed out in time for WM 30. Imagine if they hadn't tested everything with this show before then.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- This was a wonderful introduction for NXT to the general public that, like me, didn't have access to the old weekly show. I wasn't hooked in as a regular weekly NXT viewer yet (I'll let you know when that happens, there's a specific signing that did it), but I was definitely in for the next major show. The middle did have a couple of bleh matches, but the show's overall feel and atmosphere make up for it. I also can't stress enough what a breath of fresh air this was against the stale feel of the main roster. NXT has indeed arrived, and something truly special has started.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B

Clash of the Champions XXVI

Legacy Review

Clash of the Champions XXVI

January 27, 1994 from the Riverside Complex in Baton Rouge, LA

 

Commentary: Tony Schiavone and a surprise guest

 

Mean Gene opens up the show, and can't believe it when he's told to introduce, in his WCW debut, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan! Less than two months before Heenan, and his belongings, were being physically tossed out of the arena on Raw by Gorilla Monsoon and now here he is. He and Okerlund have a fun bit. "Heenan won't you leave me alone, you follow me everywhere!" "I work here!" Heenan is replacing Jesse Ventura as the top color commentator, though Ventura would hang on doing regular TV through the summer before leaving.

 

Marcus Alexander Bagwell and 2 Cold Scorpio (w/Teddy Long) def Pretty Wonderful (w/The Assassin) in 12:29- This is a rematch from Starrcade. In fact it's the latest in a series of rematches. The winner is getting a tag title shot on Saturday Night. Heenan is on form early, calling TBS "The Brain Station" and having fun exchanges with Tony about the Assassin. Too bad he'd stop caring after about 6 months in Bischoffland. Orndorff and Scorpio start. Scorpio does some arm work and Orndorff lays in forearms. Orndorff gets a badly timed boot up in the corner. Scorpio flips out of a suplex attempt. Commercial. Back with Roma in control over Scorpio, hitting a hot shot. They show a replay of the faces getting a double tackle during commercial for a near fall. Bagwell gets on the second rope and rolls Roma up for 2. Scorpio sets up a superplex but Orndorff blocks it from the apron. Roma hits ax handles off the top. A long and fairly dull Scorpio face in peril segment follows. Assassin gets a punch in. The heels hit a double backdrop. Orndorff comes off the top but Scorpio gets a boot up. Great wobblelegged sell from Orndorff as he goes to tag. Hot tag to Bagwell. A high knee in the back sends Orndorff to the floor. Crossbody on Roma for 2. Missile dropkick. Orndorff comes in....Bagwell's still covering Roma but the ref is arguing with Orndorff....finally the ref turns around and Bagwell kicks out. The way that reads it seems straightforward, but watching it that was a bit of a cluster. Not sure what they were doing there. Orndorff ducks a Scorpio crossbody and Scorpio slides outside. It looks like Assassin loads something in Orndorff's kneepad. Roma goes to run Bagwell into it but Bagwell runs Roma into it instead, then covers him for 3. Decentish. The more exposure Scorpio got the more obvious it was he really didn't know what to do in between his (very good) high spots. **

 

Ron Simmons def Ice Train in 3:32- This is billed as "student vs mentor" as Simmons had been training Train on camera. Simmons is continuing to show the same heelish attitude he had at Starrcade. As soon as the show comes back from commercial the bell rings. Simmons slaps. Train slaps harder. Train powerslam. A football tackle sends Simmons to the floor. Slam on the floor. Simmons dodges another tackle and Train runs into the post. He suplexes Train back in. Falling headbutts from pissed off intense Simmons. In other words, the best Simmons. Train dodges a Simmons tackle and gets a sunset flip. Another ugly Train powerslam. Simmons dodges a tackle in the corner and rolls Train up for the win. Not nearly as horrible as it could have been. They kept it moving the whole time, but they were also running through the same handful of moves over and over. *

Mean Gene is joined by Steve Austin and Col. Robert Parker. Since Parker's wrestling tonight Austin has Parker's suit on, and does a pretty passable Parker impression. Not as good as his Bischoff impression in ECW but still good. After that Okerlund announces the long teased brand new commissioner of WCW: former AWA World Champion Nick Bockwinkel! Zero crowd reaction for him. Bockwinkel promises no immediate changes, he's going to watch closely and settle any issues that need to be addressed. Hope he's learned how not to do things from AWA's Stanley Blackburn, mister hold up every title at the slightest opportunity.

 

WCW World Television Championship: Lord Steven Regal (c) (w/Sir William) and "The Natural" Dustin Rhodes go to a 15:00 time limit draw- Gordon Solie replaces Tony on commentary for this one. Everyone wanted to work with Heenan. Can't blame them. Usual Regal disgust at having to lock up with some common plebe at the start. Regal slaps on a corner break. Dustin responds with punches and a dropkick. Regal powders. Back in Dustin gets an arm wringer and flips Regal by the arm. After a hard Dustin shoulderblock Regal rolls out again and checks William's watch for the time limit. We get a few minutes of Dustin holding onto a headlock no matter what Regal does to try to get out of it. Finally Regal does escape and lays in the European uppercuts. Gut wrench suplay. Regal does some ground work for a bit. 5 minutes left. Standing leverage battle. Regal headbutts and puts Dustin in a straitjacket. 4 minutes left. Dustin flips Regal and hits a lariat. He covers but Regal has a foot on the rope. Regal rolls out and checks the watch again. 3 minutes left. Regal's still stalling and Dustin's more or less letting him. Finally Regal gets on the apron and sunset flips but Dustin blocks it with punches. Diving lariat for 2. Regal goes outside again. 2 minutes. This time Dustin chases. He flips out of a suplay and dropkicks Regal for 2. And Regal goes out again. One minute. Fight on the ramp. Dustin backdrops Regal back in the ring. Slingshot crossbody for 2. To the outside again. Dustin gives the heels a double noggin knocker. Elbow off the top rope. He hits the bulldog as time expires. Not a horrible draw. They worked pretty well together. All of Regal's stalling was perfectly logical in character too. **1/2

 

Cactus Jack and Maxx Payne def WCW World Tag Team Champions The Nasty Boys (w/Missy Hyatt) in 6:46- This is a non-title match. Solie stays on commentary. After no showing their entrance before commercial the faces attack from behind through the crowd after coming back from break. Cactus Clothesline on Knobbs! Elbow off the apron! Payne and Sags are doing stuff in the ring but who cares. Swap and Sags gets slammed on the floor by Jack. And he takes an elbow off the apron! Jack hits the ropes like a crazy man and elbows Knobbs. Payne posts Sags. Double faceplant by the faces in the ring. Knobbs eye pokes Payne and tags. Payne counters Sags off the top rope for 2 then no sells a buckle shot. Knobs boot up in the corner. Payne grabs the Paynekiller, triggering another mini-donnybrook. Sags trips Payne from the floor. Payne gets tossed out. Sags gives him a chairshot on the floor! The Nastys with a double tackle. Payne double clotheslines the Nastys and tag. Jack cleans house as everyone gets in again. DOUBLE Cactus Clothesline to both Nastys! Bang bang! Double underhook DDT on Knobbs! But wait, the ref is distracted. Here comes Nasty Boys finish 1A. Yup, Saggs elbows Jack in the back but Knobbs covers. But wait again! The ref is still distracted. Payne elbows Knobbs! Jack covers for the pin! The Nasty Boys finish is turned on its head! Another match that was better than expected, mainly thanks to Jack being Jack, but still had too much Payne to be more than borderline decent. This set up Jack and Payne being long term challengers for the tag titles. Payne would end up being replaced by Kevin Sullivan for reasons I'll get into in a later review, but Jack would carry everyone involved to some groundbreaking hardcore matches on PPV in the spring. *3/4

Call the Hotline to find out what the Nasty Boys and Missy Hyatt are getting up to backstage! For some people that's what 900 numbers were invented for.

 

"Flyin'" Brian Pillman def Col. Robert Parker (w/Steve Austin) in 5:41- Tony's back. The loser of this match has to wear a chicken suit on the next Saturday Night. Austin is still doing his full Parker impression, voice, mannerisms, everything. Pillman comes out with a box of KFC with Parker's face taped to it. Zero reaction from the crowd for Parker, and Pillman gets a mild pop at best. Parker immediately does the coward runaway. Pillman catches and slams him for 2, then gives Austin some shots on the floor. Parker takes advantage to hit Pillman but soon Pillman's back in control with an atomic drop. Great sell from Parker there. Even during the match Austin remains locked in to his Parker impression. That's commitment. Parker tries to walk. Pillman chases on the ramp and backdrops Austin. The Boss (former Big Boss Man) comes out and stops Parker. While Boss is dragging Parker back to the ring Austin gives Pillman a Stun Gun. Heenan calls him Boss Man. Dollar in the jar! Pillman goes up top but Austin pushes him off. Parker covers for 2. Austin and Boss fight on the ramp, distracting Parker and allowing Pillman to get Generic Raw Finish 1A, the distraction rollup, for the win. Not much of a match as you would expect, but the overbooking made it somewhat fun. It was hurt by the fact the crowd didn't give a damn. *1/4

Ad for Superbrawl IV, again advertised as "Double Thundercage".

 

Elimination Tag Team Match: WCW World Heavyweight Champion "Nature Boy" Ric Flair and Sting def Big Van Vader and WCW International World Heavyweight Champion "Ravishing" Rick Rude (w/Harley Race) in 22:07- Commissioner Bockwinkel joins commentary. Lots of new and old rivalries intersecting here, everyone in this match has had a title match with everyone else in this match at some point. Well, except Vader and Rude. Flair and Vader already have a rematch scheduled as one of the Thundercage matches at Superbrawl. Sting and Rude start. Rude hip swivels and Sting mocks it. Basic start. Vader tackles Sting, then presses him and drops him on the top rope. Vader sunset flip off the second rope! He got some serious air time on that. Sting counters with a butt splash. Rude runs in to double team but Flair's hesitant to join. Vader's mask is off. He lays in the potato shots on Sting. Sting ducks one and gives Vader a German suplex! Stuff like that never gets old or less impressive no matter how many times you see it. Tag to Flair, who immediately lets loose with a flurry on Vader. Chop and strut. Commercial (boooo). Back with Rude holding a bear hug on Sting. Nothing worth replaying happened during commercial apparently. Sting bell rings out. Tag to Flair, who jumps up top and comes down with an ax handle on Rude. Inverted atomic drop with Rude only doing about .6 of his usual sell. Vader avalanches Flair. Vader bomb! No cover. He places Flair up top. Superplex! Still no cover. Flair's selling to the cheap seats. Up top and another superplex! Vader goes up top to finish Flair off. Sting drags Flair out of danger. The heels double team Sting and Rude hits a DDT. Vader grabs a chair but Bockwinkel stops him. While they argue Vader is counted out, as is Flair, who's too hurt to get up. Neither guy takes a fall to protect them for their main event on the next PPV. Sting and Rude are left. Sting clotheslines Rude 360 to the floor as Flair is helped out by officials. Sting clothesline off the top. Huge backdrop. Rude blocks an inverted atomic drop because he's already taken one of those tonight. Ax handle off the top and fist drop for 2. Double chinlock. After a few tries Sting electric chair and drops Rude. He goes for a splash but Rude gets his knees up. Double clothesline. Sting grabs the top rope to block the Rude Awakening. Sting hits a Rude Awakening! Cover, but Rude gets a foot on the rope. Rude hits an inverted atomic drop. Tombstone reversal and Sting hits it. Splash off the top, and that gets the pin and the win for Sting! Good, but also about the "worst" or floor match you'd expect from these guys. ***1/2

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS: Pretty middle of the road as a whole. Nothing really sucked, good main event, some light story progression. Heenan was a blast on commentary, meshing well right off the bat with Tony (and Solie), giving WCW a fresh but familiar and respected voice as they move further into a whole new era.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C+, the plus for Heenan

NJPW Wrestling World 1997

Legacy Review

NJPW Wrestling World 1997

January 4, 1997 from the Tokyo Dome

Following the successful feud with UWFi over '95-'96 New Japan is once again in the middle of an interpromotional feud, this time with Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW, get the P out). BJW had just started in '95, and were an interesting dance partner for New Japan to say the least. Why? Because they were a deathmatch company. Deathmatches boomed in Japan in the '90s, not least thanks to the work of guys like Terry Funk and Mick Foley in IWA Japan in '95, who had some of the most legendary hardcore matches in history. This new promotion rode that wave to start, and is still going today. I think calling them a Japan version of CZW wouldn't be too far off the mark, though they probably have a lot fewer shows lit by fans' car headlights. This show is also kicking off New Japan's 25th anniversary year.

As usual this is on New Japan World so Japanese commentary only.

Junji Hirata, Satoshi Kojima, Manabu Nakanishi and Osamu Nishimura def Yuji Nagata, Osamu Kido, Takayuki Iizuka and Kazuo Yamazaki in 11:21- Mainly this is your usual multi-man New Japan tag opener, with the added twist that it's Nagata's last match before heading off for his excursion, which famously included a stop in WCW. As usual with these matches we'll whip through it quickly. Nagata and Nakanishi start with a nice exchange. Nakanishi gives Nagata the cobra clutch swing. Kojima and Iizuka trade sentons with Iizuka giving a little "anything you can do I can do better" attitude. Nagata ends up in the wrong corner and Hirata works him over. Nagata and Yamazaki grab a DOUBLE armbreaker on Nishimura. Kojima hits an elbow off the top on Iizuka for 2. Yamazaki pummels Kojima with kicks. Nagata armbreaker attempts set off a couple of donnybrooks. Hirata hits Nagata with a sit out powerbomb for 2. Huge lariato and Nagata's not getting up from that, going off for excursion on his back as Young Lions are supposed to do. "Go make yourself better, then come back and prove it". These are the kinds of matches that got a little more palatable once New Japan got a whole bunch of factions like today, giving them more of a team vs team aspect. **1/2

 

Super Liger def Koji Kanemoto in 11:11- Super Liger is none other than Chris Jericho in a full Jushin Liger-style bodysuit and mask. Now, you're probably figuring, this is classic heel Jericho work mocking Liger and setting up a potential clash down the line. Perfectly reasonable assumption. Unfortunately, it's also wrong. This was a really real attempt by New Japan to create a really real new Liger, and it went over like shit dressing on a Thanksgiving turkey. It bombed so bad this would be the character's only appearance. I can say with almost complete certainty that's Jericho's real golden locks, not hair sewn on the mask like Liger's. During intros you get the sense the crowd wants to boo Jericho but is too Japanese polite to out and out do it. Jericho Saito suplexes out of a headlock and hits a delayed suplex. Zero crowd reaction, no normal polite applause, nothing. Kanemoto lays in some kicks and elbows. Chop exchange. Jericho hits a basement dropkick and wraps up a legbar. Kanemoto no sells an enzuguri. A second one hits. I've never heard a Japanese crowd this quiet. It's a totally different kind of silence to the normal polite silence you usually get. They're shitting all over this match in their own unique way. Jericho hits a slingshot splash for 2. He locks in a facelock and shouts "ASK HIM!". Old habits die hard. Jericho plays to the crowd and gets absolutely nothing back. Spinning heel kick on Kanemoto. He goes for the classic Jericho springboard dropkick but slips off the second rope! The crowd APPLAUDS that! Holy shit. I can even hear some laughter in there too. Jericho recovers with a regular dropkick, then hits a missile dropkick to the floor. Again zero reaction. Jericho rolls back in and FLIPS THE CROWD OFF to try to get something out of them. No dice. Kanemoto suplexes Jericho from the ring to the floor! Springboard corkscrew senton! Jericho flips out of a suplex back in. The Lionsault misses but Jericho pops up and hits a dropkick. He goes for a hurricanrana off the top but Kanemoto blocks it and turns it into an avalanche powerbomb! That woke the crowd up. Kanemoto moonsault. He pulls Jericho up out of the pin! I don't think anyone wanted this match to go longer. Tiger suplex for 2. Jericho hits a lariato for 2. Kanemoto blocks a superplex, lifts Jericho up and drops him down to the floor! He dives, but Jericho dropkicks him in midair. At least I think he did, the photographers were in the way. Back in Jericho hits a double underhook superplex, then mocks Kanemoto by pulling him up out of the pin. He then continues the mocking by hitting his own tiger suplex for the win. They really should have called an audible and had Kanemoto win. Both guys tried their best to make this work but it was a Kobayashi Maru scenario with no way to reprogram the test. Jericho has been very open about the disaster this was, and how the mask and bodysuit messed him up. The match had some flashy moves but was also very disjointed for obvious reasons, but it's worth watching just for the crowd reactions. *1/2

 

Jensei Shinzaki def Michiyoshi Ohara in 9:17- Shinzaki is the former Hakushi in WWF. Ohara is Heisei Ishingun and has some of his cronies seconding him. It might be Gedo and Jado, I'm not sure, but I think they were elsewhere at this time. Ohara has some writing on his body, presumably mocking Shinzaki's Hakushi look. Ohara charges before the bell. He hits the praying powerbomb (also mocking Shinzaki) and elbow drop combo for 2. Shinzaki cartwheels after a corner whip and hits a superkick. Ohara backdrops him to the floor and the cronies jump on him. Spike piledriver on the floor! Shinzaki's whipped into the barricade. Ugly Ohara backdrop for 2. After some heel choking Shinzaki is thrown out again, but this time he fights off the seconds. He grabs Ohara's arm from the apron, walks the top rope for a bit, and comes down with a chop. Vader bomb for 2. He tries coming off the top with a chop, but Ohara catches and choke slams him. Shinzaki counters a powerbomb and fights out of another choke slam. Ohara gives him a low blow. One crony distracts the ref and the heel double team backfires. Shinzaki tackle off the top for 2. Headbutt off the top. The praying powerbomb gets the pin. Bleh. *

 

NJPW vs BJW: Shinjiro Otani def Yoshihiro Tajiri in 8:30-Yes, this is indeed the same "Japanese Buzzsaw" Tajiri that worked in the WWE Cruiserweight division during Paul Heyman's legendary run booking Smackdown in the early brand split years (AKA the "Smackdown Six" era). I was a huge fan of his in those years. In fact, he was the first Japanese wrestler I was ever a fan of. Tajiri offers a handshake then pulls it back. Otani charges but Tajiri nails him with a spinning heel kick! Tajiri armdrag and he rolls Otani around. German for a long 2! The crowd bit on that one. Tajiri hurricanrana for another long 2. Otani hits a basement dropkick to finally get a bit of offense in. After some knee work he gives Tajiri some boot scrapes in the corner and gets all fired up. Open hand slap exchange. Both guys hit and both guys go down! Tajiri dodges a springboard dropkick. Another German! Otani kicks out again! Otani rolls to the floor. Tajiri with a beautiful, high springboard moonsault! Otani straight caught him to prevent him from crashing into the guardrail and both guys go down on the floor. Tajiri tries to kick Otani off the apron, but Otani grabs his foot and puts on an ankle lock. Tajiri fights out of a dragon suplex. He grabs a clutch and they roll around the ring again. Otani escapes. Tajiri hurricanrana off the top for 2. Otani hits a powerbomb. He refuses to take the count, goes to the apron, and hits a springboard spinning heel kick! That gets the pin. Good stuff, with Tajiri looking like the future star he was. New Japan goes up 1-0. ***1/4

 

NJPW vs BJW: Kendo Nagasaki def Tatsutoshi Goto in 9:23- Both guys are wearing black pants and are bald. From a distance it looks like a mirror match. Goto is the leader of Heisei Ishingun. Lots of positioning at the start. Nagasaki swings some wild forearms, a couple hitting Goto stiff. Goto responds with headbutts. Nagasaki gets an arm takedown and tries to put on a kimura lock. After some weak mat wrestling they go outside and do some weak floor brawling. Back in Goto charges and hits an ugly ass lariato. Both guys go to the ramp, the first match tonight to do so. Goto suplexes Nagasaki on the ramp, then gets a big head of steam and hits a running lariato. Nagasaki hits a superkick back in. Piledriver. Goto kicks out. They go to the floor again. Nagasaki grabs a chair and pummels Goto with it. Back in he hits Goto with a side suplex on the chair. Goto's bleeding from somewhere on the side of his head from one of those shots. Piledriver on the chair! The ref lets it all go and counts 3. Super bleh. The interpromotional series is tied 1-1. 1/2*

 

NJPW vs BJW: Masahiro Chono def Shoji Nakamaki in 1:07- The video starts with a staredown and brawl on the ramp. Nakamaki brought a large sheet of barbed wire with him and Chono looks perfectly happy with it. After a couple minutes fighting they walk past the wire sheet, get in the ring and the bell rings. Nakamaki is bleeding a bit. After a little more Chono pummeling he goes up top and tells Nakamaki to join him. Nakamaki superplex. Chono pops right back up! Yakuza kick and that's it. Total squash. After the bell Chono puts on the STF, then sets the barbed wire sheet up in the corner. Nakamaki fights back, chopping Chono down with multiple lariatos. Chono reverses a corner whip and Nakamaki goes into the barbed wire. Chono sets the wire up again in the middle of the ring and superplexes Nakamaki (sort of) onto it. Nakamaki responds by taking his shirt off and taking multiple voluntary bumps onto the barbed wire to show he's a crazy son of a bitch. Not much of a match but the whole package was pretty fun. New Japan goes up 2-1. NR

 

NJPW vs BJW: Masa Saito def Great Kojika in 4:25- Kojika is wearing a tux and has grenades attached to his vest. That's hardcore, I guess. He takes the vest off but stays in the tux. Saito complains to the ref. Kojika decides he's OK with taking the jacket off. Finally they lock up and Saito goes nuts. Kojika tries to get away. Saito floors him with leg kicks and hits some Mongolian chops. Kojika rolls out and TAKES HIS BOW TIE OFF. Guess that means he's serious now. Or about to regenerate into Peter Capaldi. He tries chops but Saito shrugs it all off. Kojika runs away again. The crowd is furious with him. Saito fights off the goon squad Kojika brought with him. While he's distracted Kojika hits him with a chain and chokes him with it. The ref, instead of calling a DQ, hits Kojika to make him stop. Saito locks in an ankle lock and Kojika gives it up. Another squash. That was horrendous. Not even being in the Tokyo Dome saved it from dudsville. New Japan wins the series 3-1, which was all part of the deal. BJW traded getting their asses handed to them for exposure, and seeing as they're still in business today I guess it worked. DUD

 

MMA Match: Antonio Inoki def Willie Williams in 4:19- Don't let the "MMA" fool you, it's still a work. This is part of Inoki's continuing Final Countdown retirement tour (this match being specifically billed as "Countdown 6"). Back in 1980 Inoki had a draw with Williams while defending the WWF World Martial Arts Championship, a title that was created for and given to Inoki by Vince McMahon Sr. in 1978 and sporadically defended by him until 1989. The Martial Arts title belt was actually used again by New Japan for the short lived Greatest 18 Championship. Williams charges at the bell and knocks Inoki down. Ref Tiger Hattori gives him time to get back up. A couple of battles on the mat end in rope breaks. Inoki dodges Williams kicks. After a corner break Inoki ducks a punch, wraps up a cobra twist, grounds Williams and he taps out. Inoki vs Vader this was not. This would be Inoki's last match on the traditional 1/4 Done show. After a few more matches in '97, his only and last match in '98 would be in a special Tokyo Dome show held on April 4 to celebrate his retirement (which sadly is not available in full on New Japan World). 3/4*

 

J-Crown Championship: Jushin Thunder Liger def Ultimo Dragon (c) in 18:21- The J-Crown is here! Intended to give a boost to the junior heavyweight division (and reportedly Liger's idea), the Crown combined eight different junior titles from Japan and Mexico, including the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, the original WWF Light Heavyweight Championship that had been defended in the Mexican promotion UWA and then Michinoku Pro in Japan, and a couple of NWA belts that were still floating around. Clearly the boost worked, given this is much higher up the card than junior matches normally were back then. The 8 man tournament to crown an inaugural champion was held in conjunction with the '96 G1 Climax tournament. I'm sure most long time fans reading this will remember Ultimo Dragon bringing the Crown to WCW while he was champion, and even adding the WCW Cruiserweight title to it for a time. Dragon is flanked by women in swimsuits during intros, each one holding a belt. Does the winner get the women along with the belts? Liger is in a really sweet all gold outfit for all the gold on the line tonight. That's a keeper. After some sneaky Liger knees on a rope break they go into an extended breathless speed/counter sequence, ending with Dragon managing to wrap up a magistral cradle for 2. Liger rolls out for a think and walks back in to knees and kicks. Backbreaker from Liger and we're going surfing. Powerbomb. Liger with a camel clutch that leads into some more exchanges on the mat. Dragon targets Liger's knee. He does some hip swivels while holding an Indian Death Lock. Closet Rick Rude fan? Liger flash sunset flip for 2 that leads into some rollup counters. Dragon goes back to the knee. Liger gets back up with chops while shaking the knee off. Rolling corner kick. Dragon with a monkey flip and dropkick. Springboard moonsault for 2. Dragon handsprings, but Liger catches him and gives him a release German suplex! Another rolling kick sends Dragon outside. Liger with a dive to the floor. Back in Dragon comes back with forearms. Liger eye pokes him to stop it. Fisherman buster for 2. Dragon counters a suplex with another magistral for 2. Double lariato and both men are down. Liger drops Dragon with one straight punch and covers for 2. Dragon blocks a hurricanrana and headscissors Liger to the floor. Tope suicida! Dragon goes up top and comes down with a senton to the floor. Back in Dragon hits a fallaway slam and moonsault. Tiger suplex! Liger kicks out! Liger reverses a tombstone. Both guys head up top and have a slugfest up there. Dragon flips around Liger's shoulders and hits a hurricanrana! Liger kicks out again! Dragon hits Liger with his own Liger bomb for a 2 count. Liger dodges a Lionsault and does his own magistral for 2. Dragon tries for another Liger bomb but Liger turns it into a hurricanrana. Liger lifts Dragon up in a suplex and drops him straight down with a Steiner Screwdriver! That gets the pin and the boatload of titles. Not the women, presumably. Really good match as expected, but is was missing that something extra to get it to the next level. ***1/2

 

IWGP Tag Team Championship: Tatsumi Fujinami and Kengo Kimura def Cho-Ten (c) in 16:10- Chono's pulling double duty tonight. The legendary team of Cho-Ten are on their second title run, having first won the titles in '95 soon after Tenzan came back from excursion. Kimura and Fujinami were actually the very first IWGP tag champs when the title was created back in 1985, and had three total title reigns in the late '80s. Kimura had been part of Heisei Ishingun but was now back face and back with his old tag partner. Cho-Ten do the Suzuki Gun ambush before the bell, tossing the faces out. Things settle in with Kimura in the wrong part of town. After a few minutes he escapes and Fujinami tags in with a flurry. Tenzan hits Fujinami from behind to kill his momentum. Chono works his knee. Tenzan headbutts. Fujinami open hand slaps back. Tenzan ends up in the face corner for a bit. Fujinami and Kimura give him kneedrops off the top rope. Tenzan blocks a Fujinami suplex and hits his own, then pushes Fujinami into the heel corner and tags out after having been in peril a while. A wild Chono kick sends Fujinami into his own corner and he tags out. Tenzan with Mongolian chops and a Samoan drop on Kimura. Chono neckbreaker for 2. Cho-Ten double tackle. Tenzan Mongolian chop off the second rope. A Chono top rope tackle misses but Kimura sells it anyway. Tenzan has a great "aw, what the hell" reaction. Cho-Ten do a Hart Attack with an inverted atomic drop added in. Nice. STF! Fujinami breaks it up and it's everyone in the pool time. Fujinami blocks a Chono Yakuza kick. Dragon screws! The faces try a double team but Kimura wipes out his own partner. Kimura recovers and hits Chono with a powerbomb. Tenzan breaks up the pin and donnybrook the second is on. Kimura superplexes Chono. Fujinami with a sleeper. Tenzan spinning heel kicks him in the back to break it up. Fujinami tries for it again and Chono low blows him. Yakuza kick! Fujinami kicks out! Dragon sleeper! He covers, then dodges a Tenzan headbutt off the top. Face double team to clear the ring. Dragon sleeper again! Chono taps out! There were parts in the middle that were pretty dull, the stretch run was fantastic, but I also think it went on a tad too long and might have been better if they hit the end a few minutes earlier. Cho-Ten temporarily broke up right after this show when Chono formally formed NWO Japan. **3/4

 

Power Warrior def The Great Muta in 16:09- Kensuke Sasaki and Keiji Mutoh are both channeling their alter egos for this one. Muta lets some red mist fly and we're off. Cautious lockup. Warrior breaks a waistlock to show off his power advantage. Muta spits out some green mist. Big shoulderblock by Warrior. Muta pops right back up with punches and kicks. Warrior pops out of the corner with a lariato. Press slam and Muta powders. Muta rolls under a lariato, hits a spinning kick and a suplex. Cover. Warrior's kickout sends Muta sliding outside again. After a catch and powerslam Muta rolls out yet again. When he gets back in he eye rakes Warrior and tosses him outside. They get on the timekeeper's tables. Muta piledrives Warrior onto the table! And it's Japan, you know that table isn't breaking. While Warrior's down Muta buries him under chairs and another table. Warrior tosses the whole pile away! They get on another table. Warrior sets up for a piledriver but drops Muta face first down on the table instead. That might have been a safety audible call, Warrior was messing around with the table before setting that up. Back in Warrior misses a dropkick and Muta drops an elbow. They go out to the ramp. Muta with a faceplant. You know what's coming. Ramp run lariato! Back in Muta goes for the handspring elbow. Warrior catches him! Muta back elbow out. Clearly both watched their previous matches with the Steiners. Both guys go up top. Warrior presses Muta while standing on the ropes and drops him to the floor! Muta tosses some chairs in the ring. Chairshot to Warrior's head. Warrior no sells it and kills Muta with a lariato! Warrior picks a chair up, just in time to use to it to block a red mist spray from Muta! Chairshot to Muta! Warrior powerslam for 2. Lariato for 2. Powerbomb. While being pinned Muta green mists Warrior! Moonsault! Warrior kicks out! Muta brings a table into the ring and sets it up in the corner. He whips Warrior into it, then hits the handspring elbow! Hurricanrana onto the table! He goes up for another moonsault. Warrior dodges and Muta lands on the table! Warrior brain buster on the table! That gets the pin. Really fun American style spectacle match. This is the kind of match you can show a friend that's never watched Japanese wrestling before and nothing would be lost in translation. This win would kick off a '94 Diesel like run for Sasaki in '97 where he won everything in sight and solidified a spot at main event level. Meanwhile, this continued Muta's story of having trouble winning big matches that had been running since his Heavyweight title loss the previous year and teasing a turn that would lead him to joining NWO Japan later in the year. ***1/2

 

IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Shinya Hashimoto (c) def Riki Choshu in 18:04- Like the tag title match this is another clear cross generational battle, with old school Choshu up against the man who had solidified his position as the new company ace over the last few years in Hashimoto. Choshu won the G1 Climax in '96, technically his first but he did also win the G1 precursor World Cup Tournament in '89. That win didn't give him this title shot, we're still years away from that G1 stipulation. The bell rings and they dive right into the big boi lockup. After some facelock/headlock/test of strength basics Hashimoto swings some exploratory kicks. Choshu punches him down and hits a suplex slam. Slugfest. Hashimoto takes the edge with knees and kicks. After getting pounded down in the corner Choshu fires up and lays in some kicks that tweak Hashimoto's knee. Scorpion Death Lock! Hashimoto tries to power out but can't. After a few minutes with no submission Choshu lets go. He starts in with the killer lariatos. Hashimoto tries to stay up but goes down after a few. Cover for 2. More lariatos, including one in the back of Hashimoto's head. Hashimoto keeps kicking out. He finally blocks a lariato and kicks Choshu's arm. More kicks to Choshu's lariato arm. Choshu comes back with big chops. Superplex from Choshu! More lariatos. Choshu goes up top again. Hashimoto pops up, climbs up with him and hits his own superplex. DDT. Choshu kicks out! Leaping DDT! Choshu kicks out again! Hashimoto hits the brain buster and that does it. In contrast to the last match, this was pure simple and effective strong style, but once again was missing that extra ingredient to get it to the next level. If they'd gotten 5-10 more minutes I think they would have gotten there. ***3/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Probably the weakest Dome show I've done to date. It's not bad, just average. The NJPW vs BJW stretch has some turds, Super Liger is an amusing disaster, and unlike other Dome shows there's not any of those upper echelon matches to pull the whole package up. In fact this is the first Dome show I've done with nothing hitting 4 stars.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C