Clash of the Champions XXIX

Legacy Review

Clash of the Champions XXIX

November 16, 1994 from the Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum in Jacksonville, FL

Commentary: Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan

At the time of this show Jacksonville was being hit by a late season tropical storm named Gordon. The show must go on but it's referenced a bunch of times. Mean Gene brings out Col. Robert Parker (and Meng) for a show open promo. Parker says he's got a contract signed for his team of Bunkhouse Buck and Arn Anderson to challenge the winner of the tag title match on TV this week.

WCW World Tag Team Championship: Stars & Stripes def Pretty Wonderful (c) in 9:20- Two teams that just can't quit each other. It's not like any of their previous matches have set the world on fire either. They've been there, that's about it. As if Parker's challenge wasn't enough of a dead giveaway on what was happening here, the Patriot's mask is also on the line if S&S lose. Heenan says the Patriot wears the mask because he suffered "radiation burns to the face" while serving in the Gulf War. Hold up, hold up. *Radiation* burns? Did someone set off a nuke during the fighting and no one noticed? Or was he on a naval vessel that had a reactor leak that somehow affected only him? Also, if he got dosed by radiation I think a lot more than his face would be affected. Anyway. Orndorff has some words with the crowd before we start. There's a guy in the front row that riles up almost all the heels tonight. A real fan, not Blacktop Bully or some other plant. Eventually Bagwell and Orndorff start. Orndorff gets a quick edge and Bagwell gets pummeled early. After some tit for tat corner dodges Roma hits a crossbody off the second rope for 2. Bagwell responds with a hip toss, clothesline and dropkick. Patriot cuts Orndorff off running in and the faces clear the ring. Reset with Orndorff and Patriot. Lots of caution. Patriot armdrags out of a lockup and hits a hip toss. Both guys dodge elbow drops. On a speed run Orndorff gets a knee to the gut. Roma does his triple backbreaker. Fist drop off the top rope. Bagwell breaks the pin up. Another speed run. Patriot catches Roma leapfrogging and gives him an inverted atomic drop. Thesz press from Patriot for 2. That was new. Roma hot shots Bagwell, with Orndorff double teaming and pushing Bagwell all the way down to the floor. Bagwell goes in peril. He takes the dreaded Orndorff boogie woogie elbow. Roma dropkick and powerslam. Bagwell blocks an Orndorff snap mare and turns it into a backslide. Roma breaks the pin up. Bagwell gets a sunset flip and Roma makes another save. Donnybrook! Stop me if you've heard this before in a WCW tag match but the finish is a mess. The heels go for their finisher. Patriot knocks Roma off the top rope. Meanwhile, after hitting a regular suplex Orndorff and Bagwell are just lying there. The ref goes over to count with all four shoulders down, Bagwell gets a shoulder up and S&S are declared the winners and new champions. The camera work did that no favors. We're officially into title hotshotting territory as this is the third time in about a month and a half these two teams have swapped the titles. The match was borderline decent, but these teams desperately needed a break from each other. *3/4

 

WCW World Television Championship: Johnny B Badd (c) def The Honky Tonk Man by DQ in 6:10- Another rematch from Halloween Havoc. Honky Tonk immediately hides in the ropes after the bell. They trade some arm work and Honky bitches about a phantom hair pull. After a Badd hammerlock Honky cranks up his '80s heel offense. Badd hits an atomic drop and musses up Honky's hair. Punch and Honky rolls to the floor. Back in Honky gets a cheap shot in the corner over the ref. Slam and fist drop off the second rope for 2. Chinlock! Man, even with a chinlock he's barely bothering to hook it on right. Badd backdrops out of a shake, rattle and roll attempt. Buckle shots, inverted atomic drop and mounted punches from Badd. Honky pushes Badd into the ref and we have a ref bump. Guitar shot! The ref still saw it and calls for the DQ. Different finish aside, if you saw their Halloween Havoc match you saw this one too. Honky was fired soon after this. In his book Bischoff called his firing of Honky his favorite of all his WCW firings so you know they got on just great. 1/2*

The Three Faces of Fear cut a promo for the main event with sinister darker lighting. Brutus Beefcake/Brother Bruti and Earthquake have their new WCW legal department approved names: the Butcher and Avalanche. Avalanche calls Tropical Storm Gordon his brother which is chuckle worthy. Kevin Sullivan's portion of the promo sounds like second rate Undertaker material.

 

Harlem Heat def The Nasty Boys in 10:36- It's been a while since we've seen Harlem Heat on a major show (February at Superbrawl), but they've slowly but surely been improving on weekly TV and were now poised for their first big push. Their names have finally been changed from Kane and Kole to what would stick: Stevie Ray and Booker T. They've got a new gimmick going where they call a mysterious person on their mid-'90s cell phone for advice and nearly always win their matches with it. Ray is on the phone during their entrance. And then the WCW graphics department goes and blows the whole surprise by having "with Sensuous Sherri" on their intro graphic. Then we get a botch on top of a botch, as the Nasty Boys also get Harlem Heat's graphic still with the spoiler on. Booker and Knobbs start with some jawing and shoving. The "is this guy serious" look on Booker's face before laying in some punches is great. Knobbs hits a back elbow out of the corner and a clothesline. He slams both heels and Sags runs in with a double clothesline. Avalanches on both heels from the Nastys and they roll out to regroup. Booker doesn't want to tag out but Ray talks him into it. He goes back and forth with Sags before getting trapped in the face corner and beat down by the Nastys. Make a wish double team from the Nastys. Commercial. Back from break with Booker superkicking Knobbs to the floor. Apparently Heenan went for a potty break during commercial and is back late. Booker holds Knobbs for a Ray bicycle kick. Flying clothesline from Ray and spinning kick from Booker. Kobbs dodges Booker coming off the second rope and tags. Sags cleans house. Powerslam on Booker. Both Ray and Booker try to make the call on their phone but Knobbs cuts them both off. We then cut to Sherri at the entrance curtain, holding a phone. Gasp shock Sherri is the one that's been helping them out! As anyone who caught the graphic spoiler would have guessed. The camera is so focused on Sherri we miss what happens in the ring but Harlem Heat get the pin. This was just the start what would be a long feud. After her not so great partnership with Ric Flair (no one's fault, they just weren't a good mix), Sherri would be an excellent addition to Harlem Heat, helping them get to the next level. *

 

Vader (w/Harley Race) def "The Natural" Dustin Rhodes in 11:43- A fresh matchup! Both these guys were moving on from long feuds that had consumed most of the year. Vader backs Dustin into the corner in the lockup and gives him a STIFF slap. Another lockup and another stiff slap! Vader trash talk. He spits on Dustin! Dustin charges out of the corner with a takedown and goes crazy, slapping Vader all over the place and ripping his mask off! Dustin hits the ropes, ducks a couple of clotheslines and hits a crossbody for 2. He clotheslines Vader 360 to the floor. Dustin follows and continues the beatdown, then turns around and gives Race a shot. Vader takes his time getting back in, less from stalling and more from he was just plain hurting. Dustin gets right back on him, pounding Vader down in the corner. Vader looks like he doesn't know what hit him. Dustin suplexes Vader! Vader rolls out again to have a think. When he gets back in Dustin charges but bounces right off a Vader tackle. Corner potato time. Vader shouts "Get up!". Dustin dodges an avalanche and rolls Vader up for 2. Vader punches and Dustin 360 sells it. More stiff Vader shots. He tries another avalanche. Dustin catches and powerslams him! Sunset flip, Dustin dodges a butt splash counter, and hits a diving lariat. He goes for the bulldog. Vader lifts him up and swings him over the top rope down to the floor! Stiff Vader clothesline back in. Vader bomb! Dustin refuses to let him even try a pin so Vader scrapes a couple of hard shots across Dustin's jaw. Vader bomb 2! Dustin kicks out! Vader comes off the second rope and Dustin powerslams him. Slugfest. Dustin gets the edge but Vader won't go down. Dustin lariat off the top for 2. He sets Vader up top, maybe thinking superplex, but goes for an avalanche DDT instead. Cover for 2. Bulldog! Race gets on the apron to distract everyone. Dustin goes for him. Vader charges and squashes Dustin between himself and Race! Wheelbarrow slam! That's a new one. Vader covers for 3. See, sometimes it really is as simple as throwing two of your best workers together, giving them decent time and letting them have at it. ***3/4

After the bell Vader wants to do more damage but Jim Duggan comes out to make the save. He and Vader stand off but Race holds Vader back and they leave.

 

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan (c) def "Stunning" Steve Austin by DQ in :54- Before they can do much of anything Vader runs back in and attacks Duggan, drawing the DQ. I guess the show was running long. Duggan chases him off with the 2x4. Austin was nothing but a hanger on for this as he continues to slowly be pushed into obscurity despite the fantastic work he'd consistently been doing for several years. But Hogan said he'd never draw and Bischoff agreed, so we can't have him here. NR

 

WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan, Sting and Dave Sullivan (w/Jimmy Hart) def The Three Faces of Fear in 10:55- Mr. T is guest reffing this once again, this time in his pajama ref stripes and nightcap. That look for some reason makes me think of a character on an NES game cover but I'll be damned if I can remember what it was. Hogan's team are all in yellow and red and both he and Dave have Sting facepaint on. Well, Dave has his Eugene-like version. The brawl starts almost immediately but Buffer still has to get his line in. Hogan and Kevin are in the ring while everyone else fights on the floor. Hogan with a corner clothesline and he runs Kevin into Sting's boot. Sting tags in and hits a backdrop, dropkick and elbow drop. Dave's wandering around talking to the crowd and not even paying attention to the match. Butcher and Avalanche have had enough, run in and triple team Hogan. All 6 guys get in to fight while T tries to get some control. Avalanche splashes Dave's arm and he's hurt. A trainer helps him to the back and now it's a handicap match. With Dave in there it pretty much was to start with anyway. Avalanche beats Hogan down in the ring. Hogan tries a slam and fails. The heels keep Hogan in peril. Hogan dodges an Avalanche, er, avalanche but doesn't tag. Instead he tries again for a slam and Avalanche falls on him for 2. Sullivan hits chops off the second rope. Hogan ends up in the heel corner again. Avalanche locks in a bear hug to kill a couple of minutes. Hogan punches out, hits a shoulderblock and clothesline but Avalanche doesn't go down. Butcher trips Hogan. Avalanche hits his powerslam. Hogan dodges a splash and tags Sting. Stinger Splashes on Avalanche. He presses Kevin into Avalanche. Avalanche catches Kevin and uses him to back Sting into the opposite corner. Kevin gives Sting a kneedrop off the second rope and a double stomp. Avalanche powerslam and legdrop. Cover, Hogan breaks the pin up. Sting slams Kevin off the top rope. Tag to Hogan. With Butcher the legal man in the ring. Theoretically this is what everyone wants to see. Theoretically. It quickly turns into a DONNYBROOK. Kevin gets Hart's megaphone. He goes to hit Hogan with it but T cuts him off. Kevin goes down and Hogan covers him for 3. Did he hit himself with the megaphone or something? That made no sense. We're 3 for 3 in ugly finishes in tag matches tonight, even by WCW standards. That was not what I would call hot build for a major PPV. 3/4*

After the bell the heels resume the attack. Kevin hits Hogan with the megaphone and Butcher slaps his sleeper on Hogan. Some doofuses from the face locker room try to make the save but get taken out. Finally security gets Butcher off Hogan after the sleeper had been on long enough for commentary to worry about long term damage. Hogan is coming to as the show ends.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- The Vader/Dustin match is a surprising little gem in a sea of shit, but you gotta row through a lot of shit to get to it. It's not enough to make the rest of the listlessness of this show worth watching.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D+

NXT Takeover: London

Legacy Review

NXT Takeover: London

December 15, 2015 from The SSE Arena Wembley in London

Commentary: Rich Brennan, Corey Graves & Byron Saxton

NXT is on their first international tour in the UK, and they figured why not have a Takeover while they're at it? The atmosphere is electric as you'd expect with a crowd full of UK football hooligans.

We get another dark arena in-ring Triple H promo start. Trips references getting his ass kicked last Sunday, he was murdered by Roman Reigns the last PPV as part of their ongoing feud leading to their main event match at the next Wrestlemania. Fortunately he got better, just like getting over being turned into a newt.

Asuka def Emma (w/Dana Brooke) in 14:49- Asuka took out one half of the Emma/Brooke duo in her debut at the last Takeover, but they couldn't let the issue die so now Asuka gets to take out the other one. The crowd is all kinds of into Asuka. Emma ducks a lockup. Asuka swings a kick and Emma hides in the ropes. Basic exchange and Emma dodges a dropkick. Hammerlock exchange. Emma rolls around but can't get Asuka to break. They do another long run of standing switches before Emma has enough and hits a back elbow. Both women hit the ropes and Asuka takes Emma down by the arm and tries to cinch in a Fujiwara armbar. Emma gets to the ropes and rolls out. Asuka hip attack off the apron! Brooke distracts and Emma hits a shotgun dropkick that knocks Asuka off the apron. Another shotgun dropkick in the ring for 2. Emma stretches out Asuka's arms in a submission hold. Asuka tries to roll over but Emma cradles her for 2. The crowd continues to come up with new ways to chant "Asuka". You have to love UK crowds. Emma hooks on a full nelson. Asuka back elbows out and does a backslide for 2. Emma turns her around into a clothesline for 2. Hard corner whips for Asuka. Brooke is shouting her head off from ringside. You can hear everything like she's got Jimmy Hart's megaphone. Asuka tries to reverse a corner whip. Emma blocks and slaps her! Uh oh. Asuka hops up to the second rope and hits a missile dropkick. On the knees slugfest. Asuka dropkick and kick combo. She lights Emma up with rapid fire strikes. Hip attack and yes kicks. Emma grabs her leg. Another slap. Emma ducks the spinning back fist response, gets a leg takedown and jackknife cover for 2. Asuka hits the spinning back fist! Another hip attack for 2. Emma dodges in the corner, goes over the top rope and wraps Asuka in the tarantula. She double underhook suplexes Asuka into the corner! Emma sandwich! Cover for 2. She sets up for the Emmalock. Asuka grabs her ankle and turns it over into an ankle lock! Emma stands up and tries to get free, so Asuka grabs her waist and hits a German suplex! Running kick for 2. She goes for the Asuka Lock. Emma fights it being fully applied and the ref gets squashed in the corner. Brooke takes off her belt and slides it to Emma. Asuka sees it and they fight for it. Asuka wins that, but Emma sees the ref get back up, drops down and tries the old Eddie Guerrero trick. While Asuka is arguing with the ref Emma rolls her up for 2. Asuka transitions it straight into the Asuka Lock! Brooke tries to get in and the ref goes over to stop her. Emma taps out and Asuka lets go, but the ref didn't see it. Emma gets the belt. Asuka sees her coming and hits a spinning kick to the head! That gets the pin. Another great outing for Asuka, and Emma continues to show new life with her heel character. After a couple more losses to Asuka Emma would move back up to the main roster early the following year and again do nothing of note other than the legendary Emmalina disaster before her release in late 2017. ***3/4

British wrestling legend Johnny Saint is in the crowd. He would be heavily involved in NXT UK after it started, both behind the scenes and as the on-screen GM.

 

NXT Tag Team Championship: Dash and Dawson (c) def Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady (w/Carmella) in 14:58- The UK crowd REALLY loves Enzo and Cass. Dash and Dawson targeted and hurt Cass' knee old school style during the build. There's no issue with it at the start but it's something to bank away for later. Enzo and Dawson start with a crazy rough lockup. Dawson hits a punch and locks on a headlock. Dash tags in with some big European uppercuts. Enzo slides between Dash's legs and in the same motion does a single leg takedown. Nice. Then he faceplants Dash. Cass pounds Dash down in the corner. After a whip Dash grabs the top rope and bails to the floor. Enzo follows, dodges and Dash clotheslines the post. E&C targets the hurt arm. Cass hooks on an armbar and taunts Dawson. The crowd serenades Cass with a full song. Dash dodges an avalanche and the heels pummel Cass in the corner. Long sequence of flying fists to try to get the big man down. Cass hits a double clothesline and presses Dash into Dawson. E&C set the rocket launcher up but Dawson rolls to the floor. Enzo charges and Cass launches him over the top rope onto both heels! Enzo sunset flip back in. Dawson gets a blind tag. Crossbody from Enzo, but Dash grabs him from behind and tosses him to the floor. Enzo hit the apron as he was sliding out and hurt his shoulder. D&D, the perfect old school team, know exactly what to do and start picking it apart. Dawson hits a hammerlock northern lights suplex for 2. They continue to keep the ring cut in half. Dawson basement dropkick and legdrop for 2. After more double teaming Dawson does a slingshot suplex for 2. After some more arm work Enzo counters a backdrop attempt by Dawson. He leaps over to tag....but Dash knocks Cass of the apron just before he can! Front suplex from the heels. The ref makes D&D swap as he didn't see the last tag, and the delay lets Enzo just kick out in time. Dash sets Enzo up top. Enzo fights Dash off. Leaping DDT from the top rope! Tag to Cass! Cass unloads on Dawson. Avalanche. Dawson ducks a big boot. Cass tiltawhirl side slam. Dash breaks the pin up. Cass goozles Dash and pushes him 360 over the top to the floor. While he's distracted with that Dawson chop blocks him from behind! There's the knee they worked on the weeks leading up to this becoming important again. Dash hooks on a reverse figure four. Enzo comes in but Dawson cuts him off with a clothesline. Cass fights in the hold a long time and finally manages to get to the ropes. Dawson goes up top but Enzo pushes him off. Cass rolls Dawson up for 2. Big boot on Dash! The rocket launcher hits! Dawson pulls Enzo off the pin just in time before 3! Cass gets in his face and he hides behind Carmella. Carmella slaps Dawson! Cass charges, but Dawson pushes him hard into the post! Enzo gets up top in the ring. Dawson goes up top with him. SUPER SHATTER MACHINE! Pin and it's over. The crowd is not happy. Once again Enzo and Cass come up short in a Takeover tag title match. The soon to be Revival carried them to their best match ever, one of the first of their many masterclasses in tag team wrestling. Clink me. Top guys, out. ****

 

Baron Corbin def Apollo Crews in 11:41- Crews tossed Corbin out in a #1 contender's battle royale, then Corbin interfered in Crews' title match, and the whole feud snowballed from there. This continues Corbin's unofficial position as the resident "anti-indie" heel, a role he was perfectly placed in. Crews also showed some fire during the feud, something he had been lacking to this point. Crews is aggressive in the lockup but Corbin shows better power. Corbin does some jawing and Crews charges. After a shoulderblock Corbin powders and stalls on the floor. Back in Corbin weathers another storm, hits a knee to the gut and gives Crews buckle shots all around the ring. Crews slips out of a slam. Corbin blocks a roll up. Crews ducks a clothesline and hits a dropkick. Corner charge, and Corbin backdrops Crews over the top down to the floor. Crews crashes on the stairs on the way down. Corbin: "How you feeling now? You should have stayed in Ring of Honor! You should have stayed in little gyms!". And that, ladies and gentlemen, is Baron Corbin's peak moment in NXT. I remember I laughed so hard watching this live when he said that, even as a very pro-indie guy who'd rather watch an incredible wrestling show in a gym with 50 people than a crappy one in a full football stadium. Corbin rolls Crews back in just to throw him out again. Crews tries a sunset flip but Corbin punches him in midair. Corner tackles and big boot from Corbin. The crowd gets on Corbin as the methodical beatdown continues. Crews tries a springboard crossbody off the second rope. Corbin catches him. Crews works it into a small package for 2. Another hard corner whip and Corbin soaks in the crowd's hate. Backbreaker. Corbin lifts Crews up for either a powerbomb or Canadian backbreaker but legit falls down. He recovers and charges. Crews dodges and Corbin flies to the floor. Back in Crews does a takedown and lays in some ground and pound while the crowd chants "botchamania" for Corbin's fall earlier. Corbin rolls out again and Crews tackles him on the floor. Apron moonsault! Crews clotheslines in the ring. But he runs into a Corbin deep six! Cover for 2. Corbin sets up End of Days. Crews flips through it and hits an enzuguri! Standing moonsault! Cover for 2. Crews goes for the toss powerbomb he'd been using lately but Corbin grabs the top rope to block it. End of Days! Corbin gets the pin! Despite the fact they clearly wanted to push Crews hard when he signed it's hard to argue the right guy didn't win. Corbin is slowly but steadily improving in all aspects of his game. It's another disappointing Takeover performance from Crews in what was becoming a pattern. Crews moved down to a midcard guy after this to hone his craft a bit more and wasn't booked for the next Takeover, but then was a surprise main roster callup on the Raw after Wrestlemania. **1/4

Video package for Sami Zayn, who's returning from injury next week. Earlier tonight, Nia Jax was promoing and was interrupted by Asuka staring at her. Fuck her up Asuka, fuck her up.

 

NXT Women's Championship: Bayley (c) def Nia Jax in 13:16- For the first time since the very first Takeover there's a non-4 Horsewoman in the women's title match. Jax debuted the week after the last Takeover and had been getting the huge monster push, muderizing everyone in her path. Fortunately I don't think she had injured anyone for real. Yet. Needless to say, London loves Bayley. The chants in this match are legendary. Bayley is in dodge mode early. She tries a crucifix into a roll up but Jax scoops her up and tosses her into the corner. More dodges with some hammy kicks and back elbows. Jax grabs a waistlock and tosses Bayley across the ring. Bayley lays in some forearms. Jax shrugs them off and hits a shoulderbreaker. Cobra clutch from Jax. Bayley fades then fights out. Jax spins her around and hooks it on again. After Bayley hangs on for a bit Jax lets go and tries a short clothesline. Bayley ducks. Dragon sleeper while on Jax's back! Jax backs into a corner. Bayley hits leaping back elbows in the corner. Jax lifts her onto her back. Bayley fights free and hits a dropkick to the knee. Jax goes down to one knee. Bayley hits a series of back elbows off the second rope but Jax won't go down. On the last one Jax pushes her down in midair. She goozles, but Bayley uses it to hook in a triangle choke! Jax lifts her up and sets her on the top rope. Bayley fights her off. Senton off the top! She covers, but Jax's kickout sends her all the way to the floor. Back in Jax hits the pop up Samoan drop, which has been her finisher. She takes her time on the cover. Bayley kicks out! Another Samoan. A third one. A legdrop. Cover with one foot. Bayley kicks out again! Jax hits avalanches in the corner and tosses Bayley across the ring. Legdrop on Bayley's arm, then THREE legdrops to the back of Bayley's head. Two hand cover. Bayley kicks out again! Bayley uses the ropes to slowly get back up. Another avalanche. The ref checks on her. Jax sets Bayley up top and sets up for a super Samoan drop. Bayley hooks on a guillotine! She gets Jax in the center of the ring! Jax hits a spinebuster. Another guillotine! Another spinebuster! Another guillotine! Jax goes down to a sitting position! Bayley cranks back hard. Jax fights and fights but eventually she has no choice but to tap out! Simple and pretty effective big man vs little man formula. It's got a bit of a Sting vs Vader vibe to it. Of course Bayley is Sting no problem, but we'd learn over the following months and years that Jax is no Vader. ***1/4

 

NXT Championship: Finn Balor (c) def Samoa Joe in 18:22- Like the Kevin Owens/Sami Zayn feud earlier in the year this is feeding off these guys' real life, non-WWE history, saying a 10 year friendship has been fractured. After they managed to coexist long enough to win the Dusty Classic, Joe asked Balor for a title shot. He was quickly cockblocked by GM William Regal, who said they need to go through a process to determine a #1 contender. Later on weekly TV Joe said screw your process and laid Balor out. In addition to being mad at Regal Joe also thought Balor was dodging him. It was a very organic, logical and realistic turn. Balor demanded the match and here we are. This is the show we get the awesome Jack the Ripper themed Demon entrance, being in London and all. Feeling out start with Joe getting a couple of takedowns. Dueling chants with a 50/50 crowd. A Balor dropkick sends Joe to the floor. Baseball slide. Apron PK. Balor rolls Joe in and Joe rolls right back out the other side. Balor follows and stays aggressive. Shotgun dropkick into the steps. He sets Joe up on the steps and goes for a double stomp but Joe dodges. Uranage on the floor! Joe pounds away back in the ring. Balor counters with forearms. Joe floors Balor with a forearm. Avalanche/enzuguri combo in the corner. Forearm slugfest. Joe tackles Balor and does a chop/kick/kneedrop combo sequence for 2. More corner jabs and a running boot scrape in the corner. Joe breaks out a Mongolian chop and European uppercuts. Balor tries to come back and charges but Joe gives him an inverted atomic drop and big boot. Balor dodges a senton. Corner enzuguri from Balor. He tries to leap off the apron but Joe pushes him to the floor. Joe TOPE SUICIDA! MAMMA MIA! That was like a scrawny QB getting killed by a 280 pound linebacker. Joe rolls Balor back in and covers for 2. Powerbomb from Joe for 2. He holds onto the legs and transitions into a Boston crab, then a crossface. Balor reaches for the ropes so Joe grabs the other arm and pulls it back. Balor twists and gets a foot on the ropes. Balor ducks a short clothesline. DDT! Flying burrito forearm. Signature running corner chops from Balor. Joe hits a back elbow counter. He goes up to the second rope but Balor knocks him to the floor with an enzuguri. Tope con hilo! Double stomp to Joe's back for 2. Rapid fire strikes from Balor. Slingblade! John WOOOO....no, Joe dodges! Senton! He sets up for the muscle buster. Balor just manages to squirt free and rolls Joe up for 2. Pele kick. Both guys are down. Kudos to the refs tonight for staying on count when the crowd is counting one number ahead. Crazy UK crowd. Back and forth slugfest. Joe blocks a Pele kick. Coquina clutch! Balor escapes to the corner. Joe blocks an apron kick, drags Balor back in and hooks the clutch on fully. Balor rolls out and hits Joe with a double stomp! Both guys are down again. Balor is up with a slingblade! John WOOOOO dropkick! A second one! Joe won't go down! John WOOOO to Joe's back! Now he's down. Balor goes up top. Joe gets up and tries for the muscle buster again. Balor blocks that and both guys are up top. Balor chops Joe down. Coupe de Gracie! That gets the pin! Hell of a match. This had a very indie/New Japan/non-WWE feel to the way it was laid out, especially the finish sequence, in a very positive way. As Balor celebrates Joe stares daggers at him while being helped out. This isn't over. ****1/2

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Another good Takeover to close the year out, but one that doesn't get remembered as well as other ones, possibly because of the lack of title changes or big debuts. The crazy London crowd bumps it up a notch. As 2015 comes to an end NXT is unquestionably the hottest thing in professional wrestling (the Bullet Club/Elite/Omega vs Okada fueled rise of New Japan as a legitimate international force was still a little bit down the road). 2016 will see them take that growth and continue to build on it to even more heights, and bring in a lot more big names we never thought we'd see in a WWE ring.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: A-

Halloween Havoc '94

Legacy Review

Halloween Havoc '94

October 23, 1994 from the Joe Lewis Arena in Detroit

Commentary: Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan

WCW World Television Championship: The Honky Tonk Man and Johnny B Badd (c) go to a 10:00 time limit draw- Just what WCW fans were clamoring to see, the Honky Tonk Man, another Friend of Hogan coming in and taking a spot. This is his first run with a major company since leaving WWF in late 1990. Badd takes some swings after the bell and Honky hides in the ropes. Badd wins an arm wringer tradeoff. He ducks a Honky punch and hits an atomic drop. Then he musses up Honky's hair! That's almost DQ worthy. Honky has to roll out to recover after that one. Sting is on the hotline to tell you how he feels about Eric Bischoff not bothering to book him tonight not wrestling tonight. Honky takes over with the same slow '80s heel offense he's been doing since time immemorial. Back elbow and it's chinlock time. He cuts off a Badd comeback with a knee to the gut. Badd sunset flip for 2. Honky hooks up for the Shake, Rattle and Roll but Badd backdrops out. Dodge and Badd flies full speed into the corner. Cover from Honky with a foot on the rope for 2. Badd's tossed to the floor and Honky hits a double ax handle off the apron. Back in Honky hooks on his fourth or fifth chinlock so far in the match, I've lost count. 2 minutes left. Badd tries elbows to the gut to get out again, he should be an expert on breaking chinlocks at this point, but Honky gives him a knee to the back. Buckle shots and mounted punches from Badd. One minute left. Badd gets a kneelift and Honky begs off. Honky ducks the Tutti Fuiti punch and hits a back suplex. Both guys choke each other and have an all out roll around mat brawl as time expires. That was as much as you were going to get out of Honky. And way to make Badd look strong after finally winning his first title. Not just drawing with Honky, but he was on defense for 75% of the match. 1/2*

 

WCW World Tag Team Championship: Pretty Wonderful def Stars & Stripes (c) in 13:47- Stars & Stripes failed to take the tag titles from Pretty Wonderful at Fall Brawl, but then defeated them on weekly TV just the week after. S&S run to the ring and try to fire the crowd up but don't get much response. They're good with chanting USA and booing the heels but rooting for these specific guys is another matter. Orndorff and Patriot start. Rough lockup. All four guys are quickly in and brawling. Orndorff tosses Patriot outside while Bagwell clotheslines Roma 360 and out. Rail shot for Orndorff and Patriot hits an ax handle off the top back in the ring. The faces knock Orndorff around then go to work on Roma's arm. Roma with a slam and fistdrop off the top rope on Bagwell for 2. Bagwell crossbody for 2. S&S double team and work Roma's arm some more. Bagwell sunset flip off the top for 2. Orndorff tags in and runs into a drop toe hold. Bagwell and Orndorff collide with each guy clearly having different ideas on what they were supposed to be doing. Bagwell recovers to hit a slam. Orndorff powders, lures Bagwell into the heel corner and gets him in peril with some double teams. Bagwell gives Roma some forearms, works his way over and tags. Patriot corner clothesline for 2. More arm work on Roma. Roma pulls Bagwell's tights to send him face first into the heel corner. Orndorff breaks out the dreaded boogie woogie elbow. Think he's toned that down a bit since the last PPV, this one couldn't be mistaken for an epileptic seizure. Bagwell completely fucks up a simple whip and Orndorff walks over and gives him some possibly get your shit together stiff shots. Roma rolls through some power moves. Bagwell hits a springboard "crossbody" off the second rope (his leg hit Roma right in the face) for 2. Roma cuts a tag off. Orndorff dropkick and elbow to the gut. Bagwell blocks and hits a suplex. Instead of tagging he covers for 2. Backslide from Bagwell. Roma breaks it up. Bagwell boot up in the corner and he hooks a sleeper on Orndorff. Donnybrook! After a few minutes ref Randy Anderson finally gets Patriot to listen to him. Same thing happened at Fall Brawl. It has to be the mask. Bagwell hits Orndorff with the perfectplex, but Roma hits him with an elbow off the top and Orndorff covers for the pin to get the titles back. That was 15 minutes that felt like 30. Bagwell is not progressing like the super hot rookie he was touted as back in '91, which is possibly why he's been kept in the tag division with random partners. For comparison, Badd debuted the same year at about the same level of experience and has come miles since then. *1/2

Dave Sullivan def Kevin Sullivan by countout in 5:17- After dispatching Cactus Jack to the Shadow Realm Kevin grew tired of his brother Dave's Hulkamania experimentation and set off a brother vs brother feud. Bret Hart vs Owen Hart, which carried WWF for most of this same year, this is not. Dave comes out to a new song called "I Want To Be A Hulkamaniac" and it's a saccharine coated earworm nightmare. Think the It's a Small World song, but even worse. I'm a Disney World fanatic but I categorically refuse to ever ride that ride because I don't want that song in my head for the rest of time. Kevin tries to jump but Dave beats him to the punch. An elbow sends Kevin to the floor. Corner chops from Kevin back in. Dropkicks. Dave blocks a buckle shot and pummels Kevin with them. Horrible backdrop. Kevin pulls tights and sends Dave to the floor again. Dave gets posted. Kevin beatdown in the ring. He grabs Dave's Hogan bandana and stuffs it in his mouth, then hits double stomps to the gut. Kevin goes up top but Dave slams him off, then puts the Hogan bandana in his mouth. Clothesline and big boot. Kevin begs off and uses the bandana to pretend he really likes Hogan now, honest. Of course it's all a RUSE. Brawl on the floor and Dave is posted again, but he manages to roll back in to beat the count while Kevin takes his time and gets himself counted out. Woof. As bad as this is, it's only the warmup to the horrors that are to come. A little something called the Dungeon of Doom. 1/4*

 

"The Natural" Dustin Rhodes def Arn Anderson (w/Col. Robert Parker and Meng) in 9:50- The long Rhodes/Stud Stable feud was blown off in War Games at Fall Brawl but we've still got some end of war skirmishes to mop up, like Dustin getting one on one revenge on Arn for turning on him. Like he should have expected anything else. Lockup stalemate. Arn blocks a hiptoss and gets an amateur takedown. Dustin counters with a headscissors and another stalemate. Arn frustrates Dustin by complaining about phantom hair pulls, like he's got anything back there to pull. Cheap shot by Arn on a rope break. Dustin responds, blocks a kick, spins Arn into an atomic drop and clotheslines the back of his head. Dustin goes up top but Arn smacks one of his legs out from under him, crotching him. Arn goes for a superplex. Dustin blocks and headbutts out. Lariat off the top for 2. Dustin loads up a bionic elbow but Arn cuts it off with a straight right. He tries coming off the second rope. Dustin gets a boot up but Arn sees it, lands on his feet out of harm's way, and drops an elbow. He goes for a figure four but Dustin pushes him all the way to the floor. Brawl on the floor and Arn ends up posting his shoulder. Dustin goes to work on it. Arn pulls hair but Dustin hangs onto the arm and hooks on an armbreaker. Inverted atomic drop from Dustin. He charges, but Arn dodges and Dustin flies over the top rope all the way to the entrance ramp! Gut punch from Arn back in for 2. He tries a leverage pin but Dustin gets him in a body scissors. That was the spot where Arn normally crotches himself, nice change up. Arn uses it to drag Dustin and slingshot him up into the bottom rope! Slugfest. Double clothesline. More slugfest. Dustin kick combo and lariat for 2. Arn tries to counter a backdrop into a DDT. Dustin blocks it by grabbing the rope and immediately follows up with an elbow drop. Dustin hot shot! He pulls his kneepad down and tries to kneedrop Arn's hurt shoulder. Arn rolls out of the way. He goes for a piledriver. Dustin backdrops out, but Arn rolls through it into a sunset flip. He puts a foot on the rope but the ref catches him. Dustin stacks him up and that gets a pin! After the bell Arn punches Dustin out and gives him a DDT. Good stuff with two old veterans (Dustin had been around long enough already to be called that) doing their thing, with some tight psychology. ***1/4

 

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan (c) def "Stunning" Steve Austin by DQ in 8:02- This is a "rematch" from Fall Brawl, if you could call the farce that happened there a match. Austin jumps Duggan before the bell. He's still got the "US Champ" tights on. Duggan responds with clotheslines and a slam. Duggan with a sleeper! Who knew he even knew how to do that? Austin flips out and goes to work on Duggan's knee. Duggan pushes, Austin flies all the way into the post, and Austin rolls him up for 2. Austin does the good ol' eye poke and goes back to the knee. Duggan atomic drops Austin out to the floor. Austin stalls and whips out the insincere handshake offer back in. Duggan has none of it. Austin hits a couple of double ax handles off the second rope. He goes for a third but Duggan clotheslines him in midair. More punches and Austin tries to hide behind the ref. Low blow! Nick Patrick reads Austin the riot act. Austin stomps a mudhole in Duggan but passes on walking it dry. Elbow drop off the second rope for 2. He tries coming off top but Duggan dodges, with Austin taking an incredible bounce off the mat that's only partially caught on camera. Pillar to post beating. Duggan gets in the 3 point stance, charges, and Austin backdrops him over the top rope for a cheap DQ. Duggan chases him off with the 2x4 after. Like Honky Tonk earlier, Austin got all he could out of pretty much washed up Duggan. *3/4

Mean Gene brings unbooked Sting out. He's going to sit ringside with Muhammad Ali, who's been there the whole show.

 

Vader (w/Harley Race) def The Guardian Angel in 8:17- Another feud that won't die, and it's starting to get past its sell by date. Remember Vader winning a #1 contender's match for the world title at Fall Brawl? Neither does WCW. Angel has a bunch of Guardian Angels come out with him. Vader gets in Ali's face during his entrance. Angel gets a preemptive strike on Race before the bell. Vader helps Race up on the floor. Bell. Vader plays to the crowd before locking up. Angel slaps Vader in the corner. That's bold strategery, Cotton. Vader lays in the corner potatoes. Short clotheslines. Angel goes 360 to the floor. Vader gets whipped into the guardrail and clotheslined. Angel chases Race into the ring and takes him out again. Angel slams Vader onto Race! The mask is off. Avalanche from Angel. More potato shots from Vader. Angel gives Vader a suplex and big boot. More punches from Vader, straight shots right to Angel's jaw that are seriously nasty looking and get gasps from the crowd. Vader does his usual spot of coming off the second rope and getting slammed. Angel headbutt off the top for 2. Enzuguri. Angel clotheslines Vader 360 over and Vader lands on his feet. Clothesline from Vader. He appeared to hurt his arm, but Angel is also out. Not sure what happened there but it didn't look like everything went to plan. Vader bomb! Slow cover and Angel kicks out. Vader goes for another. Angel gets his knees up. Angel big splash for 2. Spinebuster for 2. Boss Man Slam. Race distracts again. Angel goes over and suplexes Race off the apron into the ring. But as soon as he lands Vader nails him with a big splash! Vader gets the pin! Brilliant finish, as Angel's obsession with Race ends up costing him the match. It's nice to see a top heel win by legitimately outsmarting his opponent every once in a while. Vader won a couple against Sting that way too. ***

The Nasty Boys def Bunkhouse Buck and Terry Funk (w/Col. Robert Parker and Meng) in 7:56- The Stud Stable attacked the Nastys in their locker room after Fall Brawl to set this up. Knobbs has no shirt on during the attack which is practically an affront to humanity. I mean, he looks like I would and I know no one wants to see that. They Nastys bring a carved pumpkin to the ring because it's Halloween. As soon as they hit the ring the brawl is on. The Nastys clear the ring as the heels roll out wrapped up together in a heap and try to fight each other. Long stall, then reset with Knobbs and Funk. Funk gets pummeled and falls through the ropes. Sags sits on Funk and the Nastys give him the dreaded pit stop. Funk is furious. Sags gets beaten down in the heel corner but fights out. Buck gets knocked around and Funk is whipped into him as the heels fall to the floor again. Funk grabs a chair and hits himself in the head with it literally about a dozen times, then wanders into the crowd. I think Funk is going completely off script here. Back in Funk grabs a headlock, works himself up the ropes in the middle of the ring, and gets chopped off down to the floor. Now I think Funk is just trying to amuse himself. Buck chokes Sags with a rope. The heels try to double team Sags but he faceplants them both. Buck trips Knobbs from the floor. He puts on some knucks but the ref catches him. Meng tries to take a shot but hits Funk instead. Sags piledrives Funk through their pumpkin because it's Halloween, and it's over. What a mess, and I'm not talking about cleaning up the remains of the pumpkin. Way to make the Stud Stable look like a bunch of geeks. Funk left WCW almost right after this. DUD

 

Career vs Career Steel Cage Match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Hulk Hogan (c) (w/Jimmy Hart) def "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (w/Sensuous Sherri) in 19:25- Mr. T is the special guest referee for this one. The main story here, apart from the career vs career stipulation, is Hogan's knee that's been wounded by attacks by a mysterious masked man over the past couple of months. Buffer, will you shut up and let the match start, people aren't here to see you even though you clearly think they are. The cage isn't lowered until after entrances and everyone is in the ring. There's pyro galore as the cage is lowered. I mean TONS of pyro. Flair looks annoyed at it. Hogan's got his shirt tucked in his trunks to keep and use later. Flair goes to lock up but Hogan says screw your lockup, kicking Flair and eye raking him. Flair blocks a cage shot. Hogan backdrop and clotheslines. Flair begs off. Hogan with mounted punches, and he uses the cage to stomp Flair. T pulls him down and gets on him. Flair uses the opening for an eye poke. Chops. Flair takes the first cage shot. Flair Flop! Flair punches Hogan's bad knee and starts working on it. He gets in a shoving match with T. Hogan's run into the cage. Snap mare/kneedrop combo. Hogan reverses a whip and hits a corner clothesline. More cage shots for Flair. Hogan chokes Flair with his shirt. T gets on Hogan again and again Flair uses that opening. Delayed suplex from Flair. Punches and Flair struts around a bit. Hogan responds with punches and chops of his own. Flair tries to climb out. Hogan follows and gives Flair a cage shot on the top of the cage. Flair falls and gets crotched on the top rope. Back down Flair gets a boot up in the corner and goes for the figure four. Hogan reverses into a small package for 2. More chops that Hogan no sells. Flair goes into the cage again. Hogan gives him the cheese grater, which doesn't really work when there's no blood. And there should be blood in this match of all matches. Hogan back suplex for 2. Flair tries climbing again and Hogan chases. Flair dangles upside down over the top of the cage and Hogan rams his face into the cage. Hogan chops and Flair falls. Hogan grabs a headlock. Flair uses it to give Hogan a kneebreaker! Now we're going to school. Flair pulls the tape off the knee. Figure four! Hogan sells it, then stops and reverses it. Flair quickly lets go. T takes a ref bump. Flair hits a back suplex. Cover, Hogan kicks out and Flair lands on T. Flair stomps T! Sherri starts climbing the cage. Jimmy Hart pulls her down, pulling her skirt off in the process. Sherri hits Hart, climbs again, and this time Sting comes out of the crowd to stop her. The masked man comes out from under the ring! He hits Sting and Hart with his lead pipe. Sherri climbs and comes off the top of the cage onto Hogan's back, which he no sells. Hogan points at Sherri. Flair chop blocks Hogan! Sherri and Flair handcuff T to the bottom rope. Hogan gets run into the masked man's pipe. Flair and Sherri have some trouble coordinating what they want to do. They settle for Flair hitting another suplex while Sherri stomps T. Hogan no sells the suplex. Double clothesline for the heels. Hogan slams them both. Then clotheslines them both again. Sherri tries to escape and Hogan slams her off the top rope. Flair climbs and Hogan gives him more top of the cage shots. Big boot for Sherri. Flair chops Hogan, only causing him to Hulk Up more. Point, 3 punches, big boot, legdrop, T counts 3 while still handcuffed and good night. I've got a lot of thoughts on this one. Good match? Sure, though spectacle might be a better word with all the crazy overbooking. Best Flair/Hogan match so far? Probably. But I've got too many quibbles to put this into the upper tier: no blood; too much Superman Hogan; all the overbooking when all you need for Hogan vs Flair is Hogan vs Flair; and the career vs career stakes never felt as huge as they should have, continuing the trend of this epic feud of, at that point, the two greatest and biggest wrestlers of all time not quite feeling like the earth shattering event that it should be. Close, but not quite. To the surprise of no one Flair's forced retirement from the stip would last about as long as a real life retirement and he'd be back at the first of the following year. Fortunately his pairing with Sherri ended here, they never clicked together. ***1/2

While Hogan's celebrating the masked man runs out again and tries to attack, but of course Hogan beats him to the punch. While he's laid out Hogan finally gets the mask off......and *gasp shock* it's Hogan's BFF Brutus Beefcake! Oh wait, we can't use that copyrighted name. Er, Brother Bruti. Hogan is SHOCKED. Bruti pleads for his life. Kevin Sullivan runs out, as does the WCW debuting EARTHQUAKE! Except that name's copyrighted too so we can't use it even though he's still wearing his WWF gear. Commentary just calls him "the big man" but it's obvious they know who he is, they don't pretend he came out of nowhere which is good. Quake lays Hogan out with his powerslam and gives him the Earthquake splash. Sting runs in to make the save. The show ends with Hogan getting carried out, so kudos to them for that at least. Well gird your loins folks. You think it's been rough the last few PPVs? You ain't seen nothing yet. The Three Faces of Fear, the precursor to the Dungeon of Doom, are here.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- A very rough start, an up and down middle, and a good but not great main event to end the Hogan/Flair feud for now. The transition to the Hogan era roster continues with more Friends of Hogan getting spots, leading to a general marked downturn in quality that's not going to get any better for quite a while.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C-

NXT Takeover: Respect

Legacy Review

NXT Takeover: Respect

October 7, 2015 from Full Sail University in Winter Park, FL

Commentary: Rich Brennan, Corey Graves and Byron Saxton

It's a short turnover from Brooklyn as this is only about a month and a half after. Maybe this was to appease Full Sail for them not having a Takeover for the first time. They better get used to it. Oh great, the pink ring rope is here. October show back when Shyster G Komen had all the sports leagues in the country wrapped around their little finger in October. Fortunately that's something else that's changed. They've put a lot of work into making the stage setup look different tonight. The Dusty Classic trophy is set up on the stage. This was the first ever tournament, just months after Dusty passed away, so it really does have a special feel around it rather than the yearly checking off a box it's become since. It also came at a very opportune time, as they'd put a lot of work into finally building up the NXT tag division and this was a great way to showcase it.

Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Semifinals: NXT Champion Finn Balor and Samoa Joe def Dash and Dawson in 8:45- SAY YEAH! After a long time in the NXT system this is the first Takeover appearance for the team soon to be known as The Revival, and later down the road FTR, on their way to becoming the BEST TAG TEAM on this PLANET. Yes, I'm a big fan. Dash and Dawson beat the tag champ Vaudvillians in the second round, which will be important after the tournament was over. Balor and Joe agreed to form a superteam for the tournament in honor of Dusty and everyone, I mean EVERYONE, was waiting for one of them to turn on the other. No fooling around, Dawson gets right on the apron after their entrance, and Dash charges and takes Balor out while Balor and Joe were debating who was going to start! Joe takes momentum back with a series of shots. Corner charge by Joe. Dawson pulls Dash out of harm's way and Joe crashes. Double team fists a flyin' in the heel corner. Joe takes a long beating from both Dash and Dawson with commentary saying they've never seen Joe pummeled like this before. Joe dodges in the corner and hits Dash with an enzuguri. Dawson tries to cut the tag off but Joe makes it to Balor. Clothesline on Dawson and Balor knocks Dash off the apron. Receipt cashed. Corner chops on Dawson and Dash gets knocked down to the floor again. A dropkick sends Dawson outside as well. Balor tope con hilo! He rolls Dawson back in. John WOOOOOO dropkick! Dash cuts off the Coupe de Gracie. Dawson with a chop block to Balor's knee! Dash and Dawson go to work on it with quick tags and keeping Balor right by their corner. Balor's knee is posted. Brennan says they're "very mechanical in nature", a reference, maybe an automatic verbal tic, to their original name that didn't stick, the Mechanics. Saxton name drops the Brain Busters and Minnesota Wrecking Crew as inspirations for Dash and Dawson, which was music to my ears back watching this live and still learning about them. Dawson puts on a half crab and jaws at Joe a bit. I don't think that's going to end well. Balor gets to the ropes. Dawson tries to put on a figure four but Balor pushes him out to the floor. He crawls over to tag. Dash pops up behind Joe from under the ring and pulls him off the apron! Brilliant. Dash and Dawson hit the Decapitation Device! Balor kicks out! Dawson's frustrated. Balor gets a knee up in the corner (the good knee), dodges, and Dawson goes into the middle turnbuckle and falls to the floor. Dash rolls him back in, tags, and cuts Balor off again. Balor keeps fighting and gets the tag to Joe! Joe with an inverted atomic drop, big boot and senton. Scoop powerslam for 2. Uranage! He sets up the muscle buster. Balor says he wants to tag back in. Joe does. Muscle buster! Coupe de Gracie! But Balor tweaked his knee again! He manages to cover Dash and gets the pin. Damn good match. Great initial coming out party for the Revival and Balor now has a wound to watch in the finals. ***1/2

 

Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Semifinals: Baron Corbin and Rhyno def Chad Gable and Jason Jordan in 10:28- Ready, willing, and Gable. This is the team that will soon be known as American Alpha and Full Sail already loves them. They had some wonderful quick backstage promo bits on weekly TV while their team was being put together. Corbin and Rhyno decided to put their differences aside after their match a couple of Takeovers ago to try for the Dusty Cup. Unusual for Corbin as he clearly didn't play well with others. This is going to be a definite clash of styles. Jordan and Corbin start. Lockup! Jordan gets some waist takedowns. Corbin uses a waistlock to swing Jordan to the floor. Jordan pops right back in, hits the ropes, Corbin tries to hip toss him but Jordan flips through and lands on his feet! Corbin wins a shoulderblock exchange. Jordan deadlifts Rhyno! Amateur pin for 2. Tag and Gable leaps over with a sunset flip while Jordan holds Rhyno. Rhyno lays in shots in the corner. The crowd starts to chant "Gable" to the theme of Kurt Angle's music. I've been saying for years WWE has had the next Kurt Angle in Gable. Full Sail knew it too. Not to take a thing away from Jordan, he was fantastic before his unfortunate career ending neck injury (and before main roster booking got a hold of him but I'm not going into all of that). Gable does some maneuvering into a hammerlock on Rhyno and they trade arm wringers. Rhyno has enough and runs Gable over. Tag to Jordan and the faces quick tag and stay on Rhyno's arm, sticking to game plan on the bigger man. Double suplex for 2. Rhyno tries to get Gable into the ropes. Gable flips over the ropes and stretches an armbar! Gable was a fantastic amateur wrestler, but that was a page right out of Minoru Suzuki's book. Charge from Rhyno and Gable flies off the apron. Corbin runs Gable into the apron. Cover for 2. The heels go into somewhat slow beatdown mode but generally keep things moving. Gable slips out of a slam, tries for a tag, but Corbin pulls him back by his hair! Big boot. The ref was distracted by Jordan arguing and is slow to get over for a 2 count. Rhyno goes up top. Gable dodges the headbutt. Graves: "That's why Rhyno generally stays away from the top rope". Tags. Jordan with dropkicks. He tosses Rhyno out. Saito suplex on Corbin. The straps are down! Corner spear! Tag to Gable. Corbin fights out of the corner before they can get their finisher. Deep six on Gable! Rhyno with a belly to belly suplex on Jordan. Gable roll up deadlift German suplex on Corbin, with a bridge! Rhyno breaks the pin up! Gore on Jordan! Gable does a tiltawhirl around Corbin.....right into End of Days! Cover for 3. Solid match, fantastic finish sequence. ***1/4

 

So the tournament only superteams will be in the finals of the tournament, but the immediate future of the tag division is very clearly set with the semifinal losers. In fact, between here and the next Takeover Dash and Dawson used their tournament win over the champs to get a title shot on weekly TV and won, the first of the famous seven stars for 7 Star FTR. Top guys, out.

Really good video package for Asuka, the former Kana, making her hugely hyped in-ring debut tonight. Lots of footage from beautiful and historic Korakuen Hall in there. OK, maybe not beautiful as you would normally define it, but it's holy ground for wrestling in Japan and WWE needs to run a televised show there one day.

 

Asuka def Dana Brooke (w/Emma) in 5:25- As I mentioned before, Asuka is my favorite women's wrestler of all time, so if any bias shows here or in the future it's just because of that. Brooke and Emma had been arrogantly lording over everyone else in NXT, so this is their natural comeuppance. "Asuka's gonna kill you!" chant at the start. Asuka offers a Code of Honor handshake. Brooke slaps it away. Some jockeying before locking up. Asuka wrestles rings around Brooke while focusing on the arm. Brooke back elbows out and gives Asuka her famous condescending head pat. Not a smart move. Asuka slaps. Brooke slaps back harder. Really not a smart move. Asuka smiles! "You fucked up" chant from the crowd. Asuka strike flurry. Hip attack. Asuka mocks Brooke's entrance pose! Brooke's pissed. She charges. Asuka grabs her by the arm and grounds her. Brooke gets to the ropes. Kicks to the back from Asuka. Brooke rolls out. Asuka follows with more kicks. Emma grabs Asuka from behind and Brooke gives her a cutter in the ropes. Cover for 2. Some corner work from Brooke. Short clothesline. Body scissors. Asuka easily escapes and grabs an ankle lock. She suplexes Brooke by the ankle! Armbreaker! Brooke tries to roll out. Asuka kicks her in the head! Emma gets on the apron. Asuka knocks her off with a spinning back fist! Sliding kick on Brooke. Asuka Lock! Brooke taps! After the bell Brooke starts jawing again so Asuka kills her with a spinning kick to the head! The way she's holding her head while she's down Asuka might have caught her stiff on that. Asuka and Emma stare down on the floor and Emma wisely backs off. So begins the longest undefeated streak in the history of wrestling. Hashtag better than Goldberg. Brooke was still nowhere near good but she was a perfectly workable punching bag for Asuka's debut. ***

Ad for Shyster G Komen. I'm so glad everyone wised up to the fact that almost none of the money that was pouring into them in donations was going to actual cancer research and stopped promoting them so heavily every October. After that we see Balor with the trainers, working on his knee. Promo video for Nia Jax, coming next week. Oh, joy.

 

Apollo Crews def Tyler Breeze in 8:50- Fairly split crowd here as Breeze has been an NXT staple since the FCW days, and Crews has had that "not quite ready for prime time" look about him since his debut in Brooklyn. Rough lockup and basic start. Crews hits a dropkick and Breeze rolls out. Crews runs him over on the floor! Long delayed suplex back in for 2. After some corner reversals Breeze hits a kick and uses a cradle to roll Crews to the floor. He tosses Crews into the apron. Breeze targets Crews' back and goes to work on it. Whip reversal, Breeze ripcord knee and modified vertebraker for 2. Breeze goes up top. Crews grabs him and presses him off. Breeze escapes, does a leg takedown and hooks on a Sharpshooter! Crews teases tapping before fighting to the ropes. Breeze argues with the ref and Crews hits a clothesline. Breeze goes back to the back. Mounted punches. Crews lifts him up and carries him. Breeze turns it into a hurricanrana! He charges but Crews hits a standing enzuguri. Breeze backdrops Crews over the top rope but he lands on the apron. Flip back in. Breeze superkick! Crews kicks out! Springboard dropkick from Breeze that looked a ways off target but Crews sells it anyway. Breeze comes off the top again. Crews catches him and powerslams him for 2. Gorilla press. Breeze grabs Crews' leg. Crews shakes him off and goes for the standing moonsault. Breeze gets his knees up! Small package for 2. Series of running elbows by Breeze. Crews counters with a big boot. Power bomb! That gets the pin. Pretty underwhelming match that will do noting to dispel the notion that Crews, for all his obvious athletic talent, wasn't quite on the level of the other big name indy singing that have been coming in. He was still learning. On the other side, another solid performance by consistent and underrated workhorse Breeze in what would be his last NXT match. He'd move to the main roster later in the month, gain zero traction, and would end up teaming up with Fandango for a pairing best remembered for their hilarious Zucker Brothers/Police Squad style comedy bits called Fashion Files. Which were really, really funny. **3/4

The still injured Hideo Itami is in the crowd, along with FUNAKI! SMACKDOWN #1 ANNOUNCER!

 

Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Finals: Finn Balor and Samoa Joe def Baron Corbin and Rhyno in 10:57- The big question going in is, will Balor's knee hold up? Balor's severely breaking wrestling etiquette by not having his knee all taped up to say to everyone "HERE'S AN INJURY, TARGET IT". Brandi "Eden Stiles" Rhodes is back to do ring announcing for this match, with commentary openly acknowledging her marriage to Cody so she's a Rhodes by marriage. Balor and Rhyno start. Balor ducks under and rolls Rhyno up for 2. Shoving. Corbin tags in. He and Balor jockey and feel each other out for a bit. Finally Corbin kicks the bad knee. Balor hits a dropkick and tags out before any more damage can be done. Fists of fire from Joe. Kick and kneedrop. Corbin hits a flash powerbomb! He follows that with some ground and pound. Rhyno belly to belly suplex. Joe goes in peril and the heels go into slow beatdown mode. Interesting call having Joe be the mid-match FIP guy instead of Balor with the bum knee. Corbin hits avalanches and a big boot. Joe reverses a corner whip and hits an enzuguri. Tag to Balor. John WOOOOO dropkick on Rhyno as he comes in. Forearm on Corbin that maybe was supposed to be a slingblade and they just didn't pull it off right. Balor's knee twinges again and Corbin gives him a big boot. Rhyno clips Balor's knee while he's on the apron. Corbin posts it and start working on it. Balor fights out of the heel corner but runs into a deep six. Slingblade outta nowhere! Tags on both sides. Joe runs over Rhyno but does the exact same hot tag move combination he did in the semifinal match. GORE! GORE! GORE! (copyright Paul Heyman) Balor breaks the pin up! Corbin goes for End of Days but Balor swings around and turns it into a DDT. He clotheslines Corbin 360 to the floor and gives him an apron PK. Rhyno knocks Balor off the apron. He sets up for another gore on Joe. Joe counters with a kick. Tag to Balor and they do the muscle buster/Coupe de Gracie combo again to get the pin and win the tournament! This wasn't nearly on the level of the semifinal matches. It's almost as if the two best teams lost those matches. I think the fact they got through the whole thing without either Balor or Joe turning on the other took the wind out of the sails for some people too. **1/4

The Dusty trophy is in the ring along with all the Rhodes kids, including Cody and Dustin, both of whom were still with WWE at this point. Cody cuts a nice little promo. Man he's come a long way on the mic since those days.

Charlotte, Becky Lynch, Lita and the inventor of women's wrestling Stephanie McMahon are ringside for the first ever women's Takeover main event, a truly deserved honor after they tore the house down in Brooklyn. It also helped that the NXT Champion was doing the Dusty tournament instead of defending.

 

30 Minute Ironman Match for the NXT Women's Championship: Bayley (c) def Sasha Banks-

FALL ONE: Both women soak up the atmosphere with the crowd giving them all the love. Long lockup stalemate. Banks grabs a headlock with dueling chants going. She rolls through some quick pin attempts. Bayley shoulderblock and she also goes through some quick pin tries. More quick covers from both as they both try for an early lead. Banks ends the run with a dropkick. Staredown. Bayley hits some Japanese armdrags, including one that almost drops Banks on her head. Flying headscissors from Banks. Corner counters and they both block each other's finishers, a testament to how well they know each other by this point. Bayley helps Banks back up. Banks responds by grabbing Bayley's hair and yanking her down to the mat! There's the Boss. No more playing nice. Cover for 2. "Like a boss" chant. Bayley gets a back elbow in the corner. Series of elbows and dropkick. Banks rolls outside. Bayley corner baseball slide! Twice! Faceplant back in for 2. Banks rolls Bayley up and puts her feet on the ropes but the ref catches her. Both women almost squash the ref in the corner (I wouldn't complain). Banks uses her position blocking the ref's view to give Bayley an eye poke, rolls her up and gets a pin! 1-0 Banks with 21:28 left.

FALL TWO: Banks lays on the aggression. Bayley gets a leg takedown, setting off a mat brawl. Buckle shots for Banks. Banks turns and Bayley crashes into the middle turnbuckle. She sets Bayley up for the corner double kneedrop. Bayley catches her coming down and drops her over the top turnbuckle. Banks pops up with a forearm. Bayley to belly! Pin for Bayley! We're tied 1-1 with 19:05 left.

FALL THREE: Banks goes to the floor. Bayley tries the corner slide again. Banks catches her, pulls her out and SWINGS her into the stairs! Roll in and cover for 2. Banks tosses Bayley out again and throws her into the stairs again. And again. Banks yells at Izzy at ringside! She was a well known young Bayley superfan, her and her family were Full Sail regulars. Another cover for 2 and another toss out. Banks points at Izzy, goes up the ramp....and throws Bayley right into one of the tron boards set up on the stage! Horrible camera work on that too, it was in close up on Bayley the whole time. The ghost of Kevin Dunn strikes NXT. The board shorts out and Bayley is dead. Banks walks back to the ring and pulls a bow out of Izzy's hair on the way! She puts the bow on and struts around the ring! Bayley is counted out and it's 2-1 Banks with 15:47 left.

FALL FOUR: Banks is still mocking Izzy. Izzy is bawling while her dad his holding her! Now THAT is heel work. Absolutely phenomenal. Bayley tries to get back in but Banks gives her a baseball slide. She rolls Bayley in and covers for 2 as we hit the halfway mark. Banks mocks Bayley's tube man wave while dishing out more punishment. She pulls Bayley into a backbreaker. Boston crab from Banks, and she leans back into almost a full Walls of Jericho old style. Bayley slowly crawls to the ropes. Banks goes for it again. Bayley flips her over and gets a cradle for a pin! Tied again 2-2 with 12:38 left.

FALL FIVE: Izzy's good again. Banks sets Bayley up in the corner upside down. Bayley still dodges the double kneedrop! Running double ax handles from Bayley. She faceplants Banks with a move that I don't think went how they planned. Corner elbows. Diving back elbow off the second rope for 2. Bayley suplexes Banks into the tree of woe. Springboard elbow for 2! 10 minutes left. Both go up top. Banks slides out and puts Bayley in the tree of woe. Springboard double kneedrop! Cover for 2. She puts Bayley in the tree again. Charge, dodge, and Banks posts her shoulder. She falls to the floor. Bayley follows and smashes Banks' hand onto the steps! Receipt from what Banks did to her at Brooklyn. Bayley adjusts the steps and gives Banks more hand smashes. Bayley runs up the steps and comes off with a flying clothesline. Banks pushes and Bayley goes backwards hard into the steps. Banks tope suicida....Bayley catches her! Bayley to belly on the floor! Roll in and cover. Banks kicks out! 5 minutes left. Bayley sets Banks up top. Both are moving slow as we get deep into the match. Banks fights her off. Bayley springs back up. Super Bayley to belly! Banks rolls to the edge of the ring and JUST gets a foot on the rope to prevent a pin! Bayley sets Banks up top again, backwards. She's looking for the super poisonrana again. She does it, but Banks rolls through and lands on her feet! BANKS BAYLEY TO BELLY! Bayley kicks out! But Banks goes right into the Banks Statement! 2 minutes left. Bayley fights. Graves points out Banks can't fully lock the hold on because of the hand Bayley hurt earlier. When they get close to the ropes Banks pushes off with her foot and flips them over. Bayley tries to escape during that but Banks gets the hold back on. 1 minute left. Bayley grabs Banks' bad hand and smashes it on the mat! 30 seconds left. Banks goes for the Banks Statement again. Bayley rolls through it into an armbreaker! She stretches Banks' bad hand! Banks submits with 4 seconds left! Time expires and Bayley wins 3-2! It's not quite on the level of their Brooklyn masterpiece but it's still a fantastic match worthy of a Takeover main event. I'm a sucker for Ironman matches too, it's one of my favorite stipulations and we need another one. A 60 minute one. ****1/4

After half the match is replayed (I just watched the match, I don't need to see it all again) we see the whole NXT roster is on the stage applauding. Triple H and GM William Regal have flowers. Regal gives Banks flowers on the floor and she breaks down crying. Trips gets in the ring with Bayley, raises her hand and gives her the flowers. Bayley celebrates in the ring as the show closes. This would be Banks' last NXT match. She'd join Charlotte and Lynch on the main roster full time while Bayley kept the 4 Horsewomen flag flying in NXT.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Outside the main event it's all more good than great. There's nothing outside the Ironman match that anyone needs to go out of their way to see. Full Sail brings their all after the last Takeover went on the road, the crowd is nuclear all night long. All in all a solid midrange Takeover.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B+

Fall Brawl '94

Legacy Review

Fall Brawl '94

September 18, 1994 from the Roanoke Civic Center in Roanoke, VA

Commentary: Tony Schaivone and Bobby Heenan

WCW gave Hulk Hogan millions in guaranteed money, put the world title on him in his very first match with the company, were almost literally rebuilding the company around him.....and he's already taking PPVs off. Welcome to the new WCW.

 

During commentary's stand up open, which Mean Gene has been sitting, er, standing in on the last few shows, Okerlund says that he'll be talking to Hogan later in the show.....via satellite from Venice Beach. The crowd boos that.

WCW World Television Championship: Johnny B Badd def Lord Steven Regal (c) (w/Sir William) in 11:08- Regal first won the TV title at last year's Fall Brawl and, other than a one month blip where Larry Zbyszko took it, has held it since. Meanwhile, Badd has slowly and clearly been improving in the ring but had been unsuccessful in multiple opportunities at both the TV and US titles and was still titleless in his 3 year WCW career. Regal's got the rare alternate powdered wig look back tonight. Someone got the preorder exclusive code. Usual Regal stalling at the start before the lockup. Regal works out of an arm wringer and switches to a headlock. Leverage fight and Badd puts the arm wringer on again. Regal's had enough of that, casually wrapping up in the ropes. They go speed, do a series of counters, Badd hits a dropkick and drop toe hold. Regal monkey flips out of the corner. Badd hangs on to the knucklelock and works it into a hip toss. Regal sunset flip. Badd rolls through into a jackknife cover. Regal counters that and Badd does another drop toe hold into the ARMBAR. Badd with an airplane spin! Regal rolls out. Badd tope suicida! He tries another dive in the ring but Regal dodges and Badd crashes into the ropes. William chokes him with his cane. Regal starts laying in the European uppercuts and turns the aggression up to 10. He hooks on an arm scissors and gives Badd a lot of ground and pound. Oh, there's the Blacktop Bully again. Yay [/sarcasm]. He's still just "that crazy fan" to commentary. More European uppercuts and a cover for 2. Badd starts a comeback and hits a kneelift for 2. Huge European uppercut response from Regal. Badd tries punching back, so Regal ducks into a drop toe hold and locks on a mat full neslon. Badd powers out but runs into a back elbow. Slugfest with Badd coming out on top and he gives Regal an atomic drop. Backdrop and the momentum has fully shifted. Flying headscissors. Regal begs off and uses Badd's tights to pull him to the floor. Badd sunset flip back in. Regal tries to use William's cane, a finish they've done before, but the ref kicks him off. Badd gets a 2 count. William holds Badd and gets taken out. Badd roll up for 2. Armdrag from Badd but Regal dodges the follow up elbow. More uppercuts. After a few Badd ducks, grabs a backslide, and gets a 3 count to finally win his first title! Hell of a fun match. Regal would switch to the tag division after this. The original plan was to pair him with up and comer Jean-Paul Levesque (a guy you might know now by the name The Man with Three H's that's doing a bit of high level work in WWE), but after WCW let Levesque go he was teamed with veteran Bobby Eaton as the Blue Bloods. ***1/2

Commentary cues up a full recap of the last edition of The Hulk Hogan Show, also known as the last Clash, with the masked man attack and injury angle. In the aftermath of that Flair had started showing up with his own belt claiming to be the real world champion (an echo of his awesome WWF entrance in 1991), and for that he was suspended, a convenient excuse for him to not be here tonight when Hogan wasn't either. During all this there's multiple chants of "We want Flair" from the crowd. So to recap, the crowd has booed Hogan and chanted for Flair.

Loser Leaves WCW Match: Kevin Sullivan (w/Dave Sullivan) def Cactus Jack in 6:08- The former tag champs have suddenly had a disagreement so all encompassing that one of them has to leave the promotion. Or to put it another way, the firings have begun as WCW reshapes their roster for this new era. Nice pop for Jack. Evad has the full Hulkamaniac gear on again. Sullivan throws his robe off, Jack meets him on the floor, and we're on. Jack's run into the barricade and flips back into the first row. Sullivan joins him and the fight continues on the crowd side of the barricade for a bit. Jack takes over in the ring but they struggle to get on the same page in what they're doing. They go back out and Sullivan gets posted. Jack pulls the ring mat up and hops up to the second rope to deliver the full size Cactus Elbow. Evad stops him. Sullivan gets up and slams Jack off the second rope all the way down to the bare concrete floor! Foley bump. Then Sullivan slams him again on the concrete for good measure. In the ring Sullivan attacks Jack's famous half ear, an injury he'd only had about a year at this point. Jack gets a back elbow and elbow drop for 2. Back out again. Jack sets up a piledriver but Sullivan backdrops him, again onto the exposed concrete. Foley's giving full value on his way out. Running clothesline from Sullivan and Jack takes one more bump on the concrete. Jack tosses a chair in the ring Terry Funk style. On the floor he goes for a chairshot but Evad stops him. Sullivan gives him a stair shot. Back in now it's Sullivan with the chair, but Evad also stops him from using it. Jack charges, Sullivan dodges and Jack hits heads with Evad, and Sullivan rolls him up for 3. Cactus Jack's WCW career is over. He was already doing some work for ECW and would continue to as well as some other US indys over the next couple of years. He'd also work some of the most famous hardcore matches ever with Terry Funk in Japan before moving over to WWF in '96 as Mankind. Also somewhere around this time, I can't remember exactly when, Sullivan would take over as WCW's head booker and a dramatic drop in quality would follow. The match was decentish purely through Foley's crazed bumping. **

Mean Gene is with the Stud Stable backstage. Col. Parker says something but honestly I can't understand a word of it. And I'm from the south. Well, Texas. We're independent from the rest of the south. Commentary has been mentioning all night something was up with the US title, now we're going to find out what. Commissioner Nick Bockwinkel is in the ring as Steve Austin is announced. After that Ricky Steamboat comes out carrying the US belt, but in street clothes. Bockwinkel announces, with Austin in his face the whole time, that due to injury that no one is sure of the severity of yet Steamboat can't wrestle tonight, and he's giving the title back to Austin. Austin is thrilled. Steamboat cuts a promo saying he hopes to be back sometime and Austin's facial expressions during it are priceless. As I mentioned in the Clash review, this was the end of Steamboat's full time career. He wouldn't wrestle again until his 2009 short WWE comeback. Austin says Steamboat saved himself from an ass kicking, and tops it off by saying "Hell of a match!". Hah! Austin says that's it, he's the champ and he's done for tonight. Bockwinkel says wait just a gosh durned minute, you're scheduled to wrestle and we've got an opponent for you. He tells Gary Michael Capetta to introduce him over Austin's objections, and it's.....the WCW debuting Hacksaw Jim Duggan! Austin is not happy.

 

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan def "Stunning" Steve Austin (c) in :35- Austin keeps protesting but Bockwinkel says to ring the bell and it does. Three different times. Austin tries to leave. Bockwinkel drags him back in. Duggan hits the 3 point stance tackle, covers Austin, and pins him for the title. And I just about flip my table over. I get Duggan being popular still, I get it, but how in the holy hell do you put him over the clearly rocketing to stardom Austin IN BARELY 30 SECONDS? You have to be completely clueless to look at Austin at this point and not realize what that man is doing, and what he was capable of. And here's one of Hogan's buddies coming in, cutting his legs straight off. Might as well have him come in with a chainsaw and cut his legs off for real. It's insane, ludicrous, ass backward, moronic booking that I still can't believe it happened. NR match, MINUS FIVE STARS booking

...SERIOUSLY, DECREPIT COULD BARELY STILL WORK JIM DUGGAN BEAT RAPIDLY HITTING PEAK STEVE AUSTIN FOR THE #2 TITLE IN 30 SECONDS WHAT THE HELL OK OK OK, I'm OK. My calm was damaged but I'm good. Shiny. Let's move on.

 

WCW World Tag Team Championship: Pretty Wonderful (c) def Stars & Stripes in 12:54- Stars & Stripes are Marcus Alexander Bagwell and former GWF top star the Patriot, who had just signed with WCW after working in All Japan since GWF folded. The Bully gets in S&S's faces on their entrance and finally gets ejected. The heels make a huge show of taking each other's clothes off. Interpret that how you will. And then the "Paula" chants let Orndorff stall some more. Eventually we get going with Roma and Bagwell, meaning the combined IQ in the ring is about the same number as your average baseball score. Roma gets the quick edge. Bagwell ducks clotheslines and hits a crossbody for 2. The faces work Roma's arm for a bit. Patriot catches Orndorff coming off the top and the faces work his arm for a bit. Speed run and another Bagwell crossbody, followed by a Patriot crossbody. S&S double hiptoss on Roma for 2. Orndorff grabs Bagwell from the apron while he's running the ropes and drops him. Chinlock slam from Roma. Orndorff gives Bagwell the dreaded boogie woogie elbow. It looked like Orndorff had a spasm in the ring. Seriously, you think the People's Elbow, the worm elbow or the ballin' elbow are over the top? The boogie woogie elbow is like all three of those combined, AND it predates all of them. Bagwell gets a sunset flip and reversal tradeoff for 2. Roma dropkick for 2. He hits the elbow off the top and takes a ton of time celebrating before covering. Well, it is Roma. The Patriot breaks the pin up, allowing Orndorff to dump Bagwell over the top rope behind the ref's back. Orndorff rams Bagwell's face into a cooler at ringside, supposedly Heenan's drink cooler. Then Orndorff picks the cooler up and dumps the contents on Bagwell! It's mostly ice, but judging by what was in there Heenan is drinking water and.....Hi-C? What, is he 7? Back in Bagwell fights out of an Orndorff piledriver. Roma cuts the tag off. Bagwell slowly pushes forward and they do the ref didn't see the tag spot. Patriot doesn't care and cleans house anyway. Orndorff piledrives Bagwell on the floor. The Patriot hits the full nelson slam on Roma, but the ref doesn't count and Patriot finally figures out what's going on. Maybe he couldn't hear the ref because of the mask? Orndorff rolls Bagwell in, Roma drapes an arm over, and the ref apparently counts 3 even though Patriot dives over the top rope to break the pin up and it looked like the ref only counted 2. Yet another messy finish in a WCW tag match. *1/2

 

Triangle Elimination Match to be #1 Contender for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Vader (w/Harley Race) def The Guardian Angel and Sting in 30:22- Triple threat matches weren't a thing yet, so this match has some really strange and unique rules. Commissioner Bockwinkel is in the ring and he hands all three guys a coin. They all flip at the same time and the "odd man out" gets a bye while the other two have the first "round" of this match. In this case Sting wins the toss and gets to sit out while Vader and Angel wrestle, then he gets the winner. There's even more complicated stuff involving the time limit but I'll explain all that when we get there.

FIRST FALL (Vader vs Angel)- Lockup and shoulderblock stalemates to start. Angel yells....something at Vader. That sounded like Sting's "I'm a great white shark" promo. Vader wants a test of strength. Angel goes for it. Vader gives him a knee maybe to the gut or maybe a bit south of that. He tries an avalanche but Angel pops out with a clothesline. Angel goes for a slam but can't lift Vader. Now Vader hits the avalanche. Angel ducks a clothesline and hits a side slam. Elbow drop to Vader's gut. He still can't slam Vader. Angel comes off the top but Vader moves and Angel clotheslines himself over the top rope. Angel dodges another avalanche and rolls Vader up for 2. Angel crossbody for 2. VADER CACTUS CLOTHESLINE! Awesome. The mask is off. The heels try a double team but Race gets hit. Vader is posted. Back in Angel hits an enzuguri and finally slams Vader. Cover for 2. Ref Nick Patrick manages to get himself knocked down. I mean, he was practically trying to be a third wrestler there. Boss Man Slam but no ref. Race comes in and headbutts Angel. Vader bomb! That gets the pin.

SECOND FALL (Vader vs Sting)- Another round of this feud? Yes please. Lots of jawing before the lockup. Sting gets pushed out and pops right back up trash talking. Vader lays in shots in the corner with Sting no selling and hulking up. Vader hits him harder. Sting shoves and hits a dropkick. A little miscommunication ends with a Sting clothesline. Sting ducks Vader clotheslines but runs into a Vader tackle and drops down hard. Vader bomb! He goes up for another one. Sting gets up, kicks his leg and makes him drop back down. Vader potato shots and clothesline. He drags Sting to the corner again. Sting dodges another Vader bomb. He clotheslines Vader 360 to the floor. Vader lands on his feet! Nice. Race tries to suplex Sting right onto the announce team but Sting reverses and suplexes Race on the floor. Tony says he saw his life flash before his eyes. Back in Sting suplexes Vader and hits a splash off the top. He goes for it again but Vader gets his knees up. Corner slam and Vader goes all the way up top. Sting dodges the VADERSAULT. He sets Vader up in the opposite corner. Superplex! Elbow drops and a cover for 2. Samoan drop! Another Vader kickout. The Stinger Splash hits! Clothesline and another 2 count. Sting German suplexes Vader. Another 2. Vader is up with more potato shots. He tosses Sting out (with some difficulty) and Race gives Sting an apron shot. Vader short clotheslines. Sting hulks up in the corner. Clothesline. Vader rolls out, confers with Race, and gets back in the other ring. Sting goes up top and hits a diving clothesline across rings! Everything moves to ring 2. Another Sting clothesline off the top. Splash off the top! Vader kicks out again! Vader hits a back suplex for 2. Straight right hand. Vader comes off the second rope but Sting powerslams him. Scorpion Death Lock! Vader fights out before it's fully on. The 15 minute time limit elapses. The rules of this match are there will now be a 5 minute overtime period because there must be a winner. So what's the point of having a time limit in the first place? OT starts with more Vader potatoes and a suplex. Sting fights off a superplex. He bites Vader! Vader with a headbutt. He goes up top but Sting joins him and backdrops him off. Vader tackle and clothesline. Powerslam for 2. Splash for 2. After an obvious stall Vader hits a powerbomb as the OT time limit expires. Now they're going to sudden death OT, which means the first guy to get knocked off his feet loses the match. Vader's straps are down! Super cereal time. Vader pummels Sting, who uses the ropes to stay up. Sting punches back and Vader collapses into the ropes, which hold him up. The Guardian Angel decides now is a great time to run back out and grab Harley Race. They fight up the aisle with Patrick trying to stop them so he doesn't see Vader go down in the ring. The masked man from the Clash is back! He hits Sting in the leg! Patrick gets back, sees Sting is down, and calls for the bell. I have to say, all that was way too overbooked and convoluted for my liking. That was a long way to go to get a finish like that. I also thought that as great as Vader and Sting are, individually and together, they didn't really use the extended time they got well and the match started to feel like, as Bilbo Baggins might say, butter scraped over too much bread. What could have been an epic felt more like marking time until the screwy finish kicked in. Still, it's Vader and Sting so it's going to be good no matter what, and the first segment with Vader and Angel wasn't bad either. Give the whole package ***1/4

Mean Gene cues a up a "live" (clearly pretaped) interview with Hogan. Hogan's "hanging and banging" in the gym with his knee still taped up. Lots of boos from the crowd when he comes up on the screen. After a minute Jimmy Hart runs in with a phone and we go split screen with Flair on the other end, in Vegas with some adoring fans. One of the women is answering the phone for Flair. Hogan tells her to put Flair on, asks if she's Flair's training partner and says "I bet you give Flair a real good workout". Hey hey, let's keep it PG here. Flair takes the phone and claims that he's retired and couldn't be bothered with wrestling Hogan again. His "real world title" belt looks like a cheap Big Gold knockoff you'd get fleeced for $1000 buying on Ebay and realizing after you get it that it doesn't look anything like the real one. After some really bad back and forth arguing Hogan offers a deal- if Flair will agree to one more match Hogan will put his career on the line. Flair says that's good enough for him. It takes them 5 more minutes to really say it but that's the gist of it. After Flair gets off the phone Hogan starts taking his knee tape off and makes like it should be a secret between him and Okerlund that the knee isn't as bad as Flair thinks. Um, we're all watching you know! After some more commentary vamping Bockwinkel joins Okerlund and reads a statement from *looks up* board room level. The match having been agreed to with Hogan's career on the line, it will take place at Halloween Havoc with one additional stipulation- it'll be inside a steel cage! Okerlund: "WHAT ARE YOU SMOKING, MAN?".

 

War Games Match: "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, "The Natural" Dustin Rhodes and The Nasty Boys def The Stud Stable (Bunkhouse Buck, Terry Funk, Arn Anderson and Col. Robert Parker, w/Meng) in 19:05- What started off as a little dust up between Dustin and Buck in the spring has turned into the Feud that Wouldn't Die. Not that it's been terrible, but it hasn't set the world on fire either. Meng was originally going to be in the match before the Rhodes' boys got a really good lawyer and made Parker contractually obligated to wrestle in the match. Dusty recruiting the Nasty Boys is another one of those gloriously bad Rifftrax level WCW mini-movies. Dusty's got matching gear with the Nastys tonight.

P1. Dustin and Arn- Funk hinted in the prematch promo that he wanted to be first in but Arn gets the final call. The brawl is on. Arn tries to switch rings. Dustin climbs to the top rope and dives down onto him. Arn blocks a cage shot. He switches rings again and Dustin runs him backward into the cage. An inverted atomic drop and big boot puts Arn over the top rope into the middle section. Dustin holds him upside down with Arn's head stuck between the rings! Eye rake from Arn for some breathing space. Dustin ducks a punch and backdrops Arn. Head of steam and Dustin dives across rings over both top ropes with a lariat! Bionic elbow. Arn covers his junk but Dustin still gives him a nut stomp. Another lariat. Arn counters a backdrop into a DDT. He chokes Dustin with his wrist tape. Dustin 360 sells a clothesline. He ducks an Arn enzuguri and puts on a half crab.

P2. Buck- After ref Randy Anderson fumbles the coin toss like a Broncos RB at the goal line in last night's game (Broncos vs Seahawks week 1 Monday night 2022 season if you're reading this in the distant future) the heels win advantage. I'm SHOCKED. That never happens! Buck takes it to Dustin, who were the original two that this whole epic feud started with. Double back elbow from the heels. Dustin gets run into the cage. The heels work Dustin's arm a bit then switch to a double crab.

P3. Sags- He charges in with a double clothesline...ish. A clothesline that hit the top of their heads. Powerslam on Arn. Sags backs Buck into the cage and throws Arn into it face first. Piledriver on Buck. Dustin hits mounted punches on Arn. Arn flop! Dustin hooks on a sleeper.

P4. Funk- Talk about a man that was made for War Games. During the countdown Funk throws a chair up in the air. Um, there's a ceiling on the cage you know, this isn't NXT War Games. Funk is nuts. Before he gets in Funk takes one of his boots off and as soon as he gets in starts hitting everything that moves with it. The faces take more cage shots. Funk puts Dustin's face right in front of his dad outside. He stomps but Dustin moves and Funk gets crotched on the top rope. Sags piledrives Funk between the rings and he falls all the way down the gap! 

P5. Knobbs- The heels meet him as he gets in and they get run into the cage all over the place. Arn gets cheese grated. That would look a lot better if anyone was actually bleeding. Knobbs gets a hold of Funk's boot and goes to town with it. So does Sags. Funk, as usual, is selling like crazy.

P6. Parker- He's understandably reluctant to get in. Buck holds Knobbs down for him and Parker comes in to take some shots. Arn hits the World's Greatest Spinebuster on Knobbs. There's two belts that have been taken off and turned into weapons, being swung like whips all over the place by both sides. Meng sees Parker taking punishment and wants in badly, trying to tear off a side of the cage.

P7. Dusty- The Match Beyond begins. Dusty's immediately attacked but he's got bionic elbows for everyone. Parker tries to bail but the Nastys grab him. Meng climbs the cage trying to get in. Dusty hooks Parker in the figure four while the rest of the team holds the other heels off, and after a minute Parker submits! Meng is furious and cradles Parker like a hurt brother after the match is over. Underwhelming for War Games but it was still fairly good. The psychology with the faces getting to Parker after forcing him in the match was solid, and it was definitely better than the previous years'. Gotta knock it down for a lack of blood though. That's a War Games staple. You've got two Rhodes, a Funk and an Anderson in a cage and *none* of them bleed? **3/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Outside the Austin US title debacle everything else is at least watchable, with a few good or near good matches in there. The crowd reactions to Hogan and Flair whenever they're mentioned or pop up are hilarious, the complete opposite of what WCW wanted. Like other recent WCW shows the flow is also very disjointed with a lot of long talking segments.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C