Fall Brawl '95

Legacy Review

Fall Brawl '95

September 17, 1995 from the Asheville Civic Center in Asheville, NC

Commentary: Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan

Monday Night Nitro has started, kicking the Monday Night Wars off in full. Like a lot of wars, at least historical ones before the advent of "shock and awe" aerial bombardment, there would just be some exploratory skirmishes to start out with, like Lex Luger making a shock return to WCW on the first Nitro. Total warfare wouldn't begin until the start of the NWO in '96. Hell, WWF wouldn't even hardly acknowledge there was a war before late '96 or '97 other than those hilariously awful Billionaire Ted skits. I guess all those coastal defenses just blew themselves up.

During the intros it's mentioned that during the Main Event preshow the Giant destroyed Hulk Hogan's prized Harley motorcycle by running a monster truck through it. Sadly that is a direct setup for what's coming next month.

Johnny B Badd def "Flyin'" Brian Pillman in 29:14- The winner of this match gets a US title shot. This is face vs face, at least in theory. Badd makes Buffer wait forever with his frisbee throwing and Badd Blaster blasting. Note Buffer says this is a 20 minute time limit. Pillman gets a lot of boos on his intro, the crowd is almost all pro-Badd. Code of Honor handshake, but after the inital lockup. Does that still count? I need an ROH rules expert to make a ruling. Polite but fairly intense basic wrestling at the start. After an extended speed run both guys try a dropkick at the same time. Badd goes to arm work. Pillman snap mares out and moves into a headlock. Another speed run and both guys hook for armdrags, twirl and go flying. Pillman runs and trips in Badd's vicinity, not sure what that was supposed to be. Badd rolls him into a magistral cradle but Pillman quickly gets out. Pillman drop toe hold and Euro clutch for 2. Flying headscissors in the corner from Pillman and he gets another leg roll up for 2. Pillman starts laying in the chops. Badd's bleeding on his head from somewhere. It's clearly inadvertent, I'm not sure where it could have happened and commentary doesn't even mention it (Turner corporate orders were WCW was a no blood zone). Badd hiptoss into a chinlock. Pillman tries an armdrag but Badd rolls through it back into the chinlock. Pillman backbreaker for 2. Boston crab. He lets go pretty quickly and starts punching Badd as the heel loose canon starts to come out. Badd tiltawhirl backbreaker for 2. He hooks on a toe hold then rolls into a surfboard. Pillman gets out and shoves. Badd shoves back. The niceties are definitely over. Pillman gets a back elbow in the corner then messes with the crowd, clearly going full heel now. Badd punches back and Pillman rolls to the floor. After he gets back in he offers another handshake. This time Badd knows better and offers a fist instead. Pillman punches and tosses Badd out. He bites Badd on his cut! Badd gets a slingshot legdrop for 2. They hit the ropes again, both guys leapfrog, then they leapfrog at the same time and collide! That's definitely a theme in this match and it's not done yet. Pillman plants Badd with a headbutt but collapses and both guys are down again. Pillman's up first and kicks Badd to the floor. 5 minutes left. Badd suplexes Pillman out to the floor. Pillman does that every match and it never stops looking awesome. Badd plancha! Back in Badd comes off the top. Pillman dropkicks him in midair! 4 minutes left. Badd sit out powerbomb for 2. Pillman tombstone for 2. 3 minutes left. Pillman tries a DDT off the second rope but Badd pushes out. He wraps Pillman's arm up in an obvious stall. 2 minutes left. Pillman slips out of a slam, does a Russian leg sweep and transitions into his own submission hold for a bit more time limit stalling. 1 minute. The ref does arm drops on Badd and they don't get up until there's 30 seconds left. Badd faceplant. Tutti Fruiti Punch! Pillman falls under the ropes to save himself. Pillman springboard clothesline for 2. He gets a backslide as time expires. Ref Nick Patrick quickly calls Buffer over and says this match MUST CONTINUE! It's for a title shot so it's sudden death until there's a winner. Pillman charges out aggressive and bites Badd again. Badd punches Pillman to the floor. Chop exchange. Badd gets whipped into the guardrail. Back in Badd comes off the top with a missile dropkick, but Pillman also tries his dropkick counter again! Another simultaneous move. Pillman hooks on a sleeper. Badd goes down and they do the arm drops again. Badd grabs a rope. Badd sleeper! Pillman back suplexes out. Badd blocks a superplex. Sunset flip off the top! Pillman kicks out! Badd tries another powerbomb but Pillman counters with a hurricanrana for 2. Pillman goes for a crucifix but Badd drops him for 2. Badd sets Pillman up top. Hurricanrana off the top! Pillman kicks out again! Badd sets Pillman up top again. Pillman counters into an avalanche DDT! Badd kicks out! Where the hell is this crowd, these are serious quality near falls and they're all sitting on their hands and staring at their phones or something. Wait, it's 1995. They're imagining staring at their AOL homepages at home. Pillman goes up again. Badd tosses him off all the way to the floor onto the guardrail! Somersault plancha! Badd goes for a slingshot splash back in. Pillman gets his knees up! Cover for 2. Pillman drops Badd on the top rope and he falls to the floor. Pillman TOPE SUICIDA! Man, Badd did Pillman no favors there, he was a mile away. Pillman barely reached him. Pillman tries a springboard apron dropkick but Badd counters and Pillman gets crotched on the top rope. Another crazy speed run. I mean they're going full tilt. SIMULTANEOUS CROSSBODY COLLISION! Badd ends up on top and gets the pin! Great finish, great match. Other than Flair/Savage at Great American Bash this is by far and away the best match WCW has put on in this dreary year so far. The time limit draw and restart was a bit silly and unnecessary but the match after that was so great it's easy to forget about. ****

Ric Flair gives a great promo about his history and relationship with Arn Anderson ahead of their match against each other tonight, including some Four Horsemen references. Good stuff, but I spent almost the whole thing trying to figure out what the hell that big green stain is on Okerlund's cuff.

 

Sgt. Craig Pittman def Cobra in 1:22- Cobra (sadly not dressed like GI Joe bad guy Cobra) is Jeff Farmer, soon to be NWO Sting. There's this huge elaborate backstory about how Cobra and Pittman knew each other in 'Nam and one of them went AWOL or something but frankly it's not worth getting into. Zero crowd reaction for the supposed face Cobra. Pittman no shows his entrance and instead a generic unnamed solider (crazily enough the future next Alex Wright-like rookie push bomb, Prince Iaukea) comes out to argue with/distract Cobra. Distract because Pittman rappels down from the ceiling behind him. It's special forces warfare! Pittman chokes Cobra from behind and after a little back and forth submits him with the Code Red armbreaker. Total crap, but they kept it short so I'll go easy on it. NR

Next up we get a video of Paul Orndorff backstage doubting himself after a recent string of losses, thinking he's not Mr. Wonderful anymore. Until help arrives in the form of....."Gary Spivey?! From the Psychic Companion's Network?". Yes, that's the actual line from Orndorff. You can hear the collective shouts of "WHO?" from 1995 still echoing across spacetime today. This Spivey guy, no relation to Dan Spivey that I know of, was an actual "celebrity" (I use the term very loosely) psychic. His wig has to be seen to be believed. It looks like it's chiseled out of styrofoam. Anyway, Spivey goes all Stuart Smalley on Orndorff, convincing him he's good enough and doggone it people like him. Orndorff starts kissing his own arms so I guess that means he's OK now. This angle was so bad that Orndorff decided retirement was preferable by the end of the year.

 

WCW World Television Championship: Diamond Dallas Page (w/the Diamond Doll and Maxx Muscle) def The Renegade (c) (w/Jimmy Hart) in 8:07- DDP's got a very early Savage/Elizabeth relationship going on with the Doll and that's finally given him some traction with crowds and on TV. Case in point: DDP gets in the wrong ring then blames Doll for it. DDP jumps Renegade before the bell. Bret bump from Renegade and DDP turns the rebound into a Russian leg sweep. Renegade shouts and DDP stumbles out of the ring, walks into the ring post and stumbles over the guardrail into the first row. What, is Renegade the Dragonborn or something? DDP begs off back in and tights pulls Renegade into the corner. Renegade drags DDP around in a headlock. Clothesline for 2. DDP dodges a crossbody...ish. He snaps Renegade over the top rope. Swinging neckbreaker and he tosses Renegade out. Renegade sunset flip back in. DDP counters for 2. Renegade counters the counter for 2. DDP clothesline for 2. Running corner shoulderblock. Renegade dodges another. Backdrop counter and clothesline from Renegade. DDP is selling like a crazy man. Renegade handspring elbow with a great DDP flop out of the corner. Double ax handle off the top for 2. DDP jawbreaker. Renegade goes for a hiptoss. DDP counters in midair into a DDT! That was good. He cinches up for the Diamond Cutter. Renegade pushes out, DDP bounces off the corner and Renegade rolls him up for 2. Muscle gets on the apron. DDP gets whipped into him and Renegade hits a powerslam. Renegade goes up top....and dives on Muscle on the floor! Emotion over strategy. As Renegade gets back in Muscle holds his leg down. Diamond Cutter! DDP gets the pin and his first WCW title! On top of that our long nightmare of Renegade as TV champ is over. WCW thankfully decided to pull the plug on the experiment after this. Renegade would hang around a couple of more years but only as a lowcarder and jobber. But for DDP, the sky was the limit. The Doll is not happy with the title win however. It's only 1995 but DDP is already a freaking miracle worker, dragging Renegade to a decent match. **1/4

 

WCW World Tag Team Championship: Harlem Heat (w/Sister Sherri) def Bunkhouse Buck and "Dirty" Dick Slater (c) (w/Col. Robert Parker) in 16:49- The romantic subplot of Parker and Sherri being into each other continues. Booker drops what sounds like an f bomb coming down the aisle. A shot from hard camera catches one of the ringside cameramen coaching fans to boo on camera. Booker and Slater start with Booker getting the quick edge. Slater gets a drop toe hold into a sort of crossface before getting worked over in the face corner. Ray chinlocks early. Booker hits a heel kick. They go speed and Booker hits a hiptoss and kneedrop. Slater tries to chop Ray down, eventually giving him a swinging neckbreaker. Ray responds with a gut headbutt then chokes Slater with his own bandana. Well if he wears it in the ring voluntarily.... Parker is caught on camera all in a flutter about Sherri. Booker gets tossed onto the steps. Buck runs over and clotheslines him with his rope. Booker goes Heat in peril. Heel corner beatdown and choke. Slater Russian leg sweep for 2. Piledriver. Booker gets tossed out again and run into the guardrail. Medium boot back in from Buck. It was too short for a big boot. Buck dodges and Booker crashes hard in the corner. Slater back suplex for 2. Some more Booker FIP beatdown follows. Buck and Booker muff a counter sequence a bit before Buck slams Booker. Slater hooks on a Boston crab. Ray breaks it up. The heels swap without a tag and Buck puts on a single leg crab. Buck goes for a backdrop but Booker counters with a scissors kick. Tag! Ray cleans house. Powerslam. DONNYBROOK! While the fight goes on in one ring Parker and Sherri can't contain themselves anymore and get in the other ring to have a "match" of their own. Sherri crawls toward Parker and they make out. Hard. If it wasn't Turner PG clothes would be coming off. The Nasty Boys run in, whack Slater with a boot, and Ray covers for the pin and gets the titles back for Heat while the intergender Greco Roman lip lock continues in the other ring. Why would the Nastys interfere on Heat's behalf? Could be something from weekly TV I don't remember. Could just be WCW. Buck is pissed at Parker while Heat aren't sure what Sherri is doing either. Sherri argues they got the belts back so everything's good. Not as bad as their borefest of a match at the last Clash but still nothing close to good. They did try to work the most classic of tag team formula. 3/4*

Mean Gene stops the heels as they walk back. Buck and Slater are still pissed at Parker. Parker says he's serious about Sherri, and he's the boss anyway so shut up. He also promises to get them a rematch.

Next up is a video package going through Flair and Arn's recent issues. One of the key parts of this is Flair has clearly not been himself mentally since Hogan came in. For both guys this is not anything like a blood feud or grudge match, it's an unfortunate piece of family business that must be done.

 

Arn Anderson def "Nature Boy" Ric Flair in 22:37- It's a perfect stroke to have this match in North Carolina, the former home of Jim Crockett Promotions where Flair, Arn and the Four Horsemen became stars in the mid '80s. It'd be even better to have it in Greensboro or Charlotte, JCP's top two cities, but that's a very minor quibble. Flair looks conflicted as he makes his way to the ring. A bunch of wrestlers have joined the crowd in the first couple of rows, adding more atmosphere to the match. This truly is a match we thought we'd never see. Flair gives Arn a little Slick Ric and strut before locking up. Speed run, Flair shoulderblock, Arn gets a drop toe hold and rides Flair a bit. Long staredown. Arn gets his own shoulderblock. Both guys shove. Flair rolls out for a think. Arm wringer tradeoff back in with Arn getting the edge. Flair gets out and yells. Arn slaps him! Flair, of course, bumps off it. Flair gives Arn one of the most intense "WOOOOO"s ever. Hammerlock exchange. Flair gets a drop toe hold. Arn counters into a hammerlock. Flair gets a leg takedown but Arn cranks the arm again. He goes into an armbreaker. Flair does a really sweet multiple roll flip to get out and puts on a headlock. Arn headscissors counter. Flair chop! He kicks Arn's knee as things get ratcheted up a notch from clean mat wrestling to striking. More chops. Back elbow in the corner from Arn. Arn sleeper! Flair backs him into the corner. Arn climbs the second rope and comes off with a knee to Flair's back. Hammerlock slam. Flair tries to beg off but Arn grabs the arm again. Pure vintage Anderson strategy, choose a body part (usually an arm), stay on it and pick it apart. Leverage pin attempt from Arn. Flair wobbles him with more chops. Arn hair pulls Flair back down, then posts his arm. ARMBAR. Flair backs into the corner and hits more chops. Arn starts throwing punches. Flair Flip! Arn charges while Flair's on the apron, but Flair pulls the top rope down and Arn goes to the floor! Brilliant subversion of the usual moves there. Flair double ax handle off the top to the floor! He's Randy Savage all of a sudden. Arn gets snapped over the top rope. Flair chop and kneedrop. He tries a rope leverage pin. Arn pummels him with left hands. Backdrop. The ref has enough of the closed fists and blocks an Arn punch. Flair takes advantage with a hard cheap shot to Arn's gut. Arn gets tossed out again. Arn backdrops Flair on the floor! He follows up with some ground and pound. Flair blocks and suplexes Arn on the floor! Delayed suplex from Flair back in the ring. Both guys are down. Flair rolls over for a 2 count. More Flair chops. Arn sunset flip. Flair tries to punch out but Arn dodges. Flair Flip 2! Flair gets caught in the tree of woe! Arn stomps and chokes him. He calls for the DDT. Flair grabs the top rope to block it. Flair Flop! Flair gets slammed off the top rope. Arn tries coming off the second rope again but Flair clotheslines him. Figure four! Arn tried to block it by grabbing Flair's leg but Flair gets it applied. After a couple of near falls Arn sits up. Flair spits on him! Arn reverses and Flair lets go. Chop block from Flair as both guys are limping. Another figu....no, Arn small package for 2! Another knee shot. Flair pummels Arn with punches in the corner. Arn's knee goes again on a whip attempt. Brian Pillman gets up on the apron. He punches Flair! Flair punches back! Pillman kicks Flair! Arn DDT! That gets the pin! That was a beautiful piece of business. Intense, emotional, perfectly worked by both guys. You'd prefer a clean finish of course, but Pillman's interference would be explained in the coming weeks and it turns out it all works when you get through the whole story. Flair must have booked all this out on his own without Sullivan. ****1/4

From that to this. After a typically weird as shit Kevin "Taskmaster" Sullivan video we get a replay of the Giant committing motorcyclecide on Hogan's Harley with his monster truck. Then ANOTHER video setting up the match. Of all the War Games deserving a double video package, this one sure isn't it.

 

War Games: WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan, WCW United States Heavyweight Champion Sting, "Macho Man" Randy Savage and "The Total Package" Lex Luger (w/Jimmy Hart) def The Dungeon of Doom (w/The Taskmaster) in 18:47- Luger was a last second replacement for Vader after Vader left the company and Luger returned at the same time. Luger also takes over Vader's assigned role of possible Dungeon mole within Hogan's team. Luger already made Hogan promise him a title shot the night he came back. Hogan's team are all decked out in camo pants and paint. Huh, I think I have an idea where that green stain on Okerlund's cuff came from. An added stipulation is if Hogan's team wins, Hogan gets Taskmaster inside the cage.

P1. Sting and Shark- Shark is the latest gimmick for the former Earthquake. You know, he's into natural disaster gimmicks. Wonder what would happen if you combined a shark with a tornado? Nah, that's too out there even for wrestling. Shark gets in control at the start because he's large. Shark swims steps over Sting and bites his arm. Sting dodges an avalanche. Dive across rings by Sting! He slams Shark, then tries for another slam and gets squashed. Shark bear hug. That'll kill some time. Sting bell rings out. Shark tries to dive between rings but gets caught straddled over the top rope. Beached whale! Sting kicks him while he's hung up. Another Sting dive. Shark catches him this time. Shark gets up top again and gets crotched. Sting hits some hammy kicks. He manages to put the Scorpion Death Lock on as the period expires.

P2. Zodiac- OK, so Zodiac is announced as "the man that walks between the darkness and the light". Well, yeah. Don't we all? Anyway, with that deep thought, Zodiac breaks the Scorpion up. Sting grabs the top of the cage (which is even lower than usual because of all the pyro that's been set up on it) and kicks Zodiac. He goes for another Scorpion but Shark breaks it up. Elbow drops from the heels. Double clothesline. Sting's run into the cage.

P3. Savage- He runs in and, as expected, goes nuts. The Dungeon guys are too much and he gets pounded down. The heels outside pull Sting's arm under a huge gap that's between the bottom of the cage and the ring. Man, they phoned in the setup on this one. Shark powerslam on Sting. Now Savage's leg gets pulled through the gap. Someone in the back must have said something because they stop doing that after this.

P4. Kamala- He pounds away on Sting as the Dungeon stay in control.

P5. Luger- Double clothesline on Kamala and Shark. Zodiac is run into the cage. Savage manages to get a double ax handle off the top rope despite the ceiling being almost as low as in some of those ballrooms Ring of Honor used to run back in the early aughts. Zodiac ducks and Luger clotheslines Savage! Uh oh. Savage attacks Luger! Sting tries to make peace.

P6. Meng- He easily picks apart the infighting face team. The Dungeon stays in control as the camera stays on a shot of Luger being choked in the corner for a very long time.

P7. Hogan- The Match Beyond begins. So does any drama that the Dungeon might actually win. Hogan comes in with a pocketful of powder and it's all got the Dungeon's name on it. After that every heel takes his turn getting bounced off the cage. More powder gets thrown. After a few more minutes of painfully dull brawling Hogan hooks Zodiac in a mostly camel clutch and Zodiac gives it up. It's definitely one of the worst War Games, but it's the Dungeon of Doom, what can you do? *1/2

As per the stipulation Hogan now gets Taskmaster in the cage. Taskmaster tries to run but security ace Doug Dellinger and Sting get him in the cage. Hogan tosses him around. Taskmaster tries to escape, Hogan drags him back in. Big boot. The Giant makes his way out. He gently tosses the door ref aside (with a hilariously great look of terror on the ref's face), then swings himself over the top rope using the top of the cage. He could move in his younger days, I'll give him that. Giant chokes Hogan from behind. Hogan tries to punch back but of course they have no effect. Giant snaps Hogan's neck and leaves him lying in the ring as Buffer calls for medics.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- There's a lot of the usual '95 shit, but if you sort through the shit enough there's a couple of nice solid gold nuggets in there. As usual, a crap main event hurts the final rating though. Main events matter. WCW wouldn't get better overnight but the early days of Nitro do give them some focus that they had been lacking up to this point.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C+