Slamboree '94

Legacy Review

Slamboree '94: A Legends' Reunion

May 22, 1994 from the Philadelphia Civic Center in Philadelphia

Commentary: Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan

The legends' reunion worked well at the debut Slamboree the previous year so they're doing it again, albeit with fewer matches for the legends. No one knew going in, but this would turn out to be a somewhat significant historically PPV as it was WCW's final one pre-Hulk Hogan. It's impossible to overstate how everything changed for WCW after Hogan signed. He took over the entire presentation on screen and, with no one like Vince to rein him in, dominated backstage politics as well, pretty much controlling who he got to work with and even who else got big pushes, or no push at all. This is in a lot of ways the end of an era.

The show opens with Mean Gene doing the legends roll call. Terry Funk is a no show. After that we cut to Tony and the Brain, who say Ric Flair will have a mystery opponent tonight. Commissioner Nick Bockwinkel joins them with the Big Gold Belt and asks Sting to come out. He addresses the controversial finish to a recent Sting/Rick Rude title match in Japan complete with some footage (part of NJPW Wrestling Dontaku '94 held in the Fukuoka Dome, now known as the PayPay Dome, where New Japan returned to for one of their stadium shows in 2021). Due to Rude using the belt as a weapon on the way to winning the International title back, Bockwinkel throws the match out and tries to award the title back to Sting. However Sting, ever the babyface, refuses to take the title this way and instead asks for his match with Vader tonight to be for the vacant title. Bockwinkel agrees. The real reason they did this is because Rude suffered a career ending back injury during that match.

 

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: "Stunning" Steve Austin (c) (w/Col Robert Parker) def Johnny B Badd in 16:12- We're in ECW territory during their early years and there's some well known ECW superfans at ringside, including ECW Hat Guy. Austin gets a mild Philly pop. Badd ignores Austin's handshake offer and starts rolling through some basics. I love Austin's "US Champ" tights. Very old school look. Standing switch waistlock and Badd gets a takedown. Austin maneuvers out of a hammerlock and gets a drop toe hold. Whip and Austin sleeper. Badd jawbreakers out. Austin powders. The camera finds the former Sensational Sherri at ringside, now called Sensuous Sherri. She'd been on weekly TV the last few weeks saying she was looking for a future world champ worthy of her managerial time. Austin wins a wristlock leverage fight and starts going to the heel hair pulls. After a speed run Badd gets a drop toe hold and goes back to the arm. After another hair pull Badd jumps up, wraps Austin with a headscissors and flips him over. I can't call it a hurricanrana, it wasn't like that at all. Badd crossbody for 2. Deep armdrag. Austin gets a knee to the gut to some cheers. Badd wraps up a small package for 2. Another Badd drop toe hold and another hammerlock. Commentary starts questioning Badd's strategy as high tempo high flying is more his wheelhouse than mat wrestling. Another speed run and Austin nails Badd with a baseball bat style swing double ax handle. Stomps and knees from Austin and a choke from Parker when the ref's not looking. Austin pulls Badd's tights to dump him to the floor, suplexes him back in and hits a delayed kneedrop. Arrogant cover for 2. After a double chinlock Austin hits a snap mare and another kneedrop. He comes off the second rope but Badd gets his knees up. Austin tries a gutwrench suplex but Badd's the one that hits it. Big Austin chops with sweat flying. Badd gets whipped into the corner, but pops out with a standing backdrop on Austin and a hiptoss. Another corner whip and Badd pops out again with a clothesline. Dropkick and kneelift. Badd gets a magistral cradle, but Parker's distracting the ref. Austin accidentally hits Parker and Badd rolls him up. Austin kicks out in plenty of time, but the bell rings. Everyone keeps going. Badd sunset flip off the top! Austin kicks out! Badd goes for a side suplex, but Austin pushes off the top rope with his foot and wraps Badd up when they fall for the pin. Bit of a messy finish there. Pretty pedestrian and disappointing match for the most part, but the end run was decent. **1/4

 

Terry Funk and Tully Blanchard double DQ in 7:15- This is the one straight legends match on this year's show. This is Tully's first recorded match in nearly four years as he continued to battle his personal demons. WCW tried to get him for the first Slamboree but Tully thought they lowballed their money offer and turned them down. The Funkster is making his first WCW appearance since his '89-'90 run, but recently he had been wrestling in ECW as one of their first major stars so this is very much a home game for him. He gets an ECDub chant at the start and hangs out with some of the ECW regulars at ringside. A sign mentioning ECW even makes it on TV. Gordon Solie takes over play by play from Tony for this one. Funk throws his chaps at Tully, triggering a brawl on the floor! They're going at it good with some real stiff shots. Tully goes over the top rope and drops a knee on Funk as they come back in, then hits a suplex. Funk rolls out and it's back to the floor. Funk has a pair of crutches! He throws them in the ring. Where the hell did those come from? Slugfest on the floor. Funk hits an atomic drop and Tully goes head first into the barricade. Back in Funk hits a neckbreaker for 2. He tosses Tully out to the ramp and hits some chops. Tully tumbles off the ramp down to the floor. Funk takes a panel off the ramp and hits Tully with it! Back in Funk piledrives Tully through the panel, breaking it! Then he DDTs Tully on the ramp! Funk hurt his back on that. Ref Nick Patrick says "Gentlemen, I'm starting a count, get back in the ring". "We want blood" chant from the Philly crowd. When they get back in Funk hits another piledriver. He goes to the top rope. Backwards. He's not, is he? He's 50 years old! Holy shit TERRY FUNK MOONSAULT! And Tully dodges it! I don't know if he'd been doing that in ECW or not, but damn seeing that was something else. Tully drapes an arm over for 2. They get back up in the corner and Tully lays in some more stiff shots. After a few whip reversals Patrick gets knocked down. Funk gets a chair and sets it up Sabu style in the ring. He puts Tully up top and sets up for an avalanche piledriver into the chair! Something happens and both guys tumble down, with Funk landing sitting down in the chair. Not sure if that was planned or if they screwed something up. Given the way they brawl right after I'm thinking the latter. Patrick is back up. He tries to stop Tully kicking Funk in the ropes. Tully kicks Patrick and Patrick is down again! Funk gets the branding iron and whacks Tully with it! Tully responds with a low blow! Patrick gets up again. He's had enough and calls for the bell, throwing the match out. Reportedly the money WCW offered Tully this year was enough to get him to show up but not enough to do the job, and there were plans in place for Funk so no one wanted him to lose and here we are. After the match Funk takes Hat Guy's hat and elbow drops it because he's nuts. Fun stuff with Funk being Funk and Tully looking way better than the last time we saw him in his AWA run, but that aborted chair piledriver spot hurt the overall package. ***

Jesse Ventura is still around doing interview duty. Flair is with him. They roll footage of the previous night's Saturday Night, where Flair was attacked by a masked man in the employ of Robert Parker. Flair says Parker promised a "6 foot 7 blonde former world champion" and that masked mystery man will be Flair's opponent tonight. Given all the Hogan teasing WCW had been doing since the first of the year it's obvious who they wanted everyone to think it would be. For the record the masked guy on Saturday Night looked nothing like Hogan, or even Mr. America.

 

"The Living Legend" Larry Zbyszko def WCW World Television Champion Lord Steven Regal (w/Sir William) in 11:30- Zbyszko returned to WCW earlier in the year as a commentator. Regal pestered him enough to get him out of retirement and here we are. Tony's back on commentary. According to him Regal "hates Philadelphia". Understandable. Hey, I'm a Cowboys fan. The first half of the match is the stallfest to end all stallfests with understudy Regal outdoing the master Zbyszko, but in the context of the story they're telling it works. Regal takes forever jawing with the crowd and won't even look at Zbyszko. After a couple of minutes Regal does his little Nomar Garciaparra warm up routine (there's an old baseball reference for you). Zbyszko dodges and gets a single leg takedown. Regal has a discussion with William. Zbyszko gets a leg trip. A frustrated Regal stalls some more. When he's ready he grabs a headlock. Zbyszko backs him into the ropes and hits a reverse spin kick. A now very annoyed Regal powders. Back in they have an arm wringer exchange. Zbyszko maneuvers into a small package for 2. Abdominal stretch from Zbyszko. He pulls the rope for leverage because once a heel always a heel. Plus Philly will cheer him for it. The ref catches him and Regal hiptosses free. After another counter sequence Zbyszko gets an armdrag. Regal has the best facial expression, totally bewildered this peon has been outwrestling him so badly. Zbyszko cranks an arm wringer and grounds Regal with an arm scissors. Regal manages to get Zbyszko backed into the corner and lays in knees and European uppercuts. Regal pounds away in a way we've never seen before, finally venting his boiling anger. He hooks on a modified cobra clutch type sleeper as some "boring" chants filter through the arena. Another uppercut sends Zbyszko to the ramp and William stomps him. Zbyszko ducks an uppercut and tries for a backslide, but Regal blocks it and turns him over into a sort of surfboard type hold. Slugfest. Zbyszko hooks on a sleeper. Regal jawbreakers out. William gives Zbyszko a shot in the back with his brolly. Regal double underhooks, looking for the suplex. Zbyszko blocks it, backdrops Regal over, and with Regal's own double underhook he's trapped and Zbyszko pins him! Not a bad bit of wrestling once they got going, and again in this case the stalling played well into the story they were telling. This lead to Zbyszko getting a title shot, and thanks to the magic of pretaping the match where he won the title was already in the can. **3/4

Mean Gene says he's going down to Orlando to interview Hulk Hogan this week and it'll be on TV next Saturday. Terry Funk joins him and says some crazy Terry Funk things. After that Gordon Solie is in the ring for this year's WCW Hall of Fame induction ceremony. This year's inductees are: Harley Race, The Crusher, Ernie Ladd, The Assassin, Ole Anderson and Dick the Bruiser (posthumously). This went on a while. There's a reason WWF/E always had it on a night separate from the PPV it was connected with.

 

Bullrope Match: "The Natural" Dustin Rhodes def Bunkhouse Buck (w/Col Robert Parker) in 12:47- Second straight PPV these guys are having an '80s NWA brawl style gimmick match. The wrestlers are tied to each other by the bullrope like a strap match, but it's pinfalls only to win instead of touch all corners. There's also a cowbell in the middle of the rope that can be used as a weapon. In case anyone was wondering, because I have, there really is a Bucksnort, TN. Screw the intros, we're fighting! Dustin chokes Buck with the rope and flips him from the apron back in the ring with it. Elbows and more choking. Finally Dustin puts the rope around Buck's wrist. Another bionic elbow and Greco Roman Nut Stomp from Dustin. Slam and elbow drop for 2. He crotches Buck with the rope and starts hitting Buck's knee with the bell. Another "we want blood" chant from Philly. Dustin atomic drop and clothesline. He posts Buck's knee. More rope choking and knee work. While Dustin's on the knee Buck pulls Dustin's shirt up and wraps it around his head, Yano style. He then hits Dustin in the back with the bell. They go to the floor and Dustin is posted. Buck uses the rope to tie Dustin to the post. Slugfest and Dustin gets loose. Low blow, the third time Buck's taken a shot down there tonight. He's gonna be sore. Dustin hits him again with the bell, in the chest. After all the blood in their last PPV match they're avoiding headshots here. Oh, there's one. Buck is busted open a little but hardly at all. Dustin mounted punches. After some corner whips he pulls the rope and Buck takes the ref out. Parker takes his jacket off and gets in the ring. Dustin fights off the double team, hits Buck in the head with the bell, and pins him. Pretty underwhelming brawl. *3/4

After the bell Terry Funk runs in and attacks Dustin with his branding iron! NOW there's blood, finally. Officials run in and chase the heels off. Funk would continue working with WCW the rest of the year, joining Parker's Stud Stable.

 

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (c) def Barry Windham (W/Col Robert Parker) in 13:21- Jesse Ventura replaces Heenan on commentary for the next couple of matches. Parker comes out by himself and announces Windham. Windham is NOT 309 pounds. That's like calling Sam Houston 200 pounds. He'd been out for nearly a year with a knee injury. Commentary reminds us Flair defeated Windham for the Big Gold Belt the previous year, which was of course only the tail end of their long friends/enemies relationship going back almost 10 years. Lukewarm reaction to Windham from the crowd. I'm not sure if they were really expecting Hogan or not but Windham doesn't thrill them. Lockup stalemate and a WOOOOOO from Flair. He starts laying in the chops. A Windham punch floors Flair. After a slam Flair dodges the follow up elbow. Windham powders. Tony hypes Hogan some more. More Flair chops and kicks to Windham's knee. Windham pops out of the corner with a clothesline. He clotheslines Flair 360 to the floor. Rail shot, and Flair is suplexed back in. A legdrop kicks off a Windham beatdown sequence. After a rope leverage chinlock he hits elbows to Flair's head. Flair reverses a corner whip and goes nuts with chops and punches. Flair Flip! He falls to the floor and Parker stomps him. Another Windham suplex back in. Mental ring rust. He hits some mounted punches. Flair counters with an inverted atomic drop. He goes up top but Windham cuts him off. Windham superplex! Flair kicks out! More comeback Flair chops and kicks. Windham flop! That was so Flair Flop like it had to be a deliberate reference/rib. Flair hits a delayed suplex. Figure four! Windham gets to the rope with a little help from Parker. More figure four attempts are cut off by an eye rake and by Flair putting it on right by the ropes. Flair ax handle off the top rope. Kneedrop for 2. A Flair crossbody sends both tumbling over the top to the floor. After some more shots Windham begs off. Flair pummels him. Jackknife cover for 2. Windham gets a headbutt to Flair's gut. He tosses Flair to the floor. Flair takes out Parker before he can do more damage. He sunset flips back in. Windham drops down and Parker helps with leverage. Flair escapes before getting pinned. He punches Parker off the apron and Windham rolls him up for 2. Flair Flip 2! He gets across the apron, goes up top and comes off with a, er, pretty awful crossbody. Not Flair's wheelhouse. But it does get the pin. I don't know how much Windham was planned to be involved in the Stud Stable, but whatever it was it had to be tossed out after this match because Windham reinjured his knee and wouldn't be seen again until his WWF return in the summer of '96. You know Flair's in his groove again when he can carry a hobbled Windham like this. ***1/4

Very mid '90s ad for Bash at the Beach.

 

Broad Street Bully Match for the WCW World Tag Team Championship: Cactus Jack and Kevin Sullivan def The Nasty Boys (c) in 9:56- I'd say Sullivan is replacing Maxx Payne, but it's more complicated than that. Payne was removed from his team with Jack due to backstage disputes. Meanwhile, Sullivan had started teaming with the man formerly known as the Equalizer, now playing his kayfabe brother Dave. But, Dave Sullivan was hurt before this show when they were starting a feud with the Nastys. With both Jack and Sullivan without partners, they agreed to team up for this match. Former Flyers player Dave Schultz is the guest ref for this match. His hard hitting, hard fighting '70s Flyers teams were known as the Broad Street Bullies, hence the name for this match. The wild brawl street fight worked so well at Spring Stampede they're doing it again. Sullivan comes out in a Phillies jersey that I'm pretty sure is John Kruk's. As soon as they hit the ring it's on. Everyone pairs off on the floor. There's some off screen chair shots as the cameras and director have a hard time keeping up with everything at the start. Sullivan has the crutches Funk found earlier. Sags and Jack go into the crowd with a chair. There's chairs flying on both sides. Sullivan and Knobbs get in the ring for about 10 seconds. Jack takes a fire extinguisher to the back. Sullivan piledrives Knobbs on the ramp. Jack nails Sags with a trash can. Trash can shots for everyone! Jack sets up a Cactus Elbow all the way off the second rope, but Knobbs moves and Jack elbows the trash can! More trash can shots. Sags got a camera from someone and whips Jack in the back with it. Chairshot to Jack's head. Sullivan throws a chair in Knobbs' face. The smashed remnants of a trash can are still getting swung around everywhere. Jack Cactus Clotheslines Knobbs from the ramp into the ring! More chairshots. Sags gets a table. Jack is tossed off the ramp and goes through the table! Now Sags has a light stand and pummels Jack with it. Jack suplexes the table remnants onto Sags. Sullivan is all over Knobbs with a chair. Sags breaks a piece of table off and hits Jack with it. Now the trash can lid is out and it's being used. Away from the camera on the other side of the stage a fire extinguisher goes off. Sags drags Jack to the ring. He hits Jack with an elbow off the top but doesn't cover. Instead he takes Schultz's hockey stick. Schultz objects to that and they get into a good old fashioned hockey fight over it. Jack takes the stick, nails Sags with it, and covers for the pin and the titles! After the bell the brawl continues. Payne comes out and levels Sags with a guitar shot. That would turn out to be Payne's last WCW appearance before being let go and moving to WWF for his short run there as Man Mountain Rock. Kobbs tries to retreat but he's cut off by Dave Sullivan on the ramp, who nails Knobbs with one of his crutches. Just another night of '90s wrestling in Philadelphia. ****

 

For the Vacant WCW International World Heavyweight Championship: Sting def Vader (w/Harley Race) in 13:54- Sting and Vader are renewing a rivalry that produced one of the most underappreciated great PPV trilogies ever in '92-early '93 (**** at Great American Bash '92, ****3/4 at Starrcade '92, ****1/2 at Superbrawl III in a strap match of all things). Heenan tags back in for the main event. I'm a bit surprised Philly isn't behind Vader more. Nose to nose. Lockup stalemates. Vader gives Sting a clean rope break and a little bow after. He's enjoying himself. Sting goes into dodge mode as some of the crowd, probably the ECW section, chant "Sting must die". Vader blocks a kick in the corner and starts laying in the corner potatoes. Sting tries to cover up but eventually gets pounded down. Vader short clothesline. Sting ducks a punch, hits a back elbow and pummels Vader down by the ropes. The mask comes off. Sting suplexes Vader, which still looks impressive as hell. Shoulderblock stalemate. Vader hits a tackle and an elbow to the gut. He stands on Sting's face. Vader bomb! Sting kicks out. Another one! Sting grabs the rope. Another Vader tackle and he works Sting's chronically hurt knee with a leg scissors. That's new. Vader channels some ZSJ and transitions into stretching Sting into an almost bow and arrow hold. Sting kicks Vader in the head to get out. More corner potatoes. Sting punches back! Vader goes down! Huge Sting elbow drop, but he's spent and both guys are down. Vader crawls over and tries for a leverage pin. Another Sting comeback flurry. Vader ducks a clothesline and the ref goes down. Vader choke slam! He covers but there's no one to count. Race has a chair. Sting dodges and Race taps Vader with it. Sting DDT! Vader kicks out! He clotheslines Vader 360 to the floor, suplexes him back in, then 360s him again out the other side! Sting measures as Vader slowly gets back in....Stinger Spla...no Vader catches and powerslams him! There's an awkward pause. Race tells Vader to go up top and he does. THE VADERSAULT MISSES! Race tries a headbutt off the top but Sting dodges and Vader gets that too. Sting big splash off the top! That gets the pin and regains the title for Sting! Thankfully this would be the last PPV where WCW had split world titles. Not quite on the level of their previous PPV trilogy, but it's still a damn good match. ***3/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Another quietly good '94 PPV with Flair booking and pre-Hogan. Like Spring Stampede, the impressive thing isn't so much the top matches, but the fact that everything was at least in the realm of decent. That big gap between matches in the middle of the show for the HOF ceremony killed the show's flow though. And in the long run this show turned out to be not too important, because as I said in the open once Hogan came in everything changed and there was hardly any oxygen left for anyone else.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B+