Wrestle War '91

Legacy Review

Wrestle War '91

February 24, 1991 from the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix

Commentary: Jim Ross and Dusty Rhodes, just back from WWF

Before getting going with the show there's three important things to note: One, after being rested for a year and moved out of its traditional Great American Bash slot, War Games is back, in its temporary home for the next two years. Two, Ric Flair won the world title back from Sting at a house show in January. Three, right after Flair won the title back WCW announced its intention to leave the NWA and start their own title lineages. But, over the next few years they would still partner with the NWA for various things, usually involving the world heavyweight or world tag titles (which the NWA was happy to do as WCW was their last grasp on anything resembling continuing relevance), creating a maze of title lineages that start to look as complicated as the flowchart of the Doctor/River Song relationship.

WCW World Six Man Tag Team Championship: Ricky Morton, Tommy Rich and the Junkyard Dog (c) def The State Patrol and Big Cat in 9:54- The NWA had a 6 man title, but it rarely popped up on TV and never on major shows, save one time at Clash of the Champions IV. This is a revived version of the title for WCW just created earlier in the month that would be used a little more prominently on weekly TV, but also would be killed off before the end of the year in the Jim Herd/Kip Frey transition. They also don't appear to have made the actual belts yet, as the champs don't have any. That's WCW planning for you in a nutshell right there. The big guys JYD and Cat start. Look, I'm a big guy, so I really don't have a leg to stand on when it comes to criticizing other people's weight, but JYD looks like he ate the Superdome. Finger poking in chests leads to face punching. Morton schools Wright with the basics. Same with Rich and Parker. The Patrol are doing some enthusiastic bumping. JYD and Cat have a test of strength, followed by JYD headbutts. The Patrol cheap shot Morton in the back on a rope run and Morton goes into the role he was born for, face in peril. Quick but legal double teams by the heels lead to several near falls. Morton tries to fight back on Parker but runs into a powerslam. Cat catches Morton on a crossbody attempt and hits him with a backbreaker. Morton dodges a Parker corner charge and gets the hot tag. JYD headbutts and powerslams Parker. Donnybrook. Morton covers the still prone Parker and the ref counts 3 even though Morton wasn't legal. JR did call him a "rookie ref" earlier in the match. Serviceable opener. They kept things moving, Morton carried most of the match, and the State Patrol had some nice crispness in their work. **

 

"Beautiful" Bobby Eaton def Brad Armstrong in 12:51- Now, this has potential. On Eaton's entrance there's hilarious piped in "Bobby" chants. You think Goldberg's chants were blatantly piped in, that's nothing compared to these. It's so obvious, and even moreso when there's no shots of the crowd at all. But, though Eaton does have a face turn coming, right now he's still a heel. He wrestles like a heel and gets heat like a heel. Why the piped in chants at all? Don't ask, it's Jim Herd. I haven't gone back to check but they probably already taped the face turn and forgot it hadn't been on TV yet. Eaton jumps Armstrong from behind as he's getting his jacket off. Flying headscissors by Armstrong. Eaton pops him with a straight right in the corner. Armstrong counters with a monkey flip. Eaton gets a knee to the gut and throws Armstrong out. He follows but gets barricaded and posted. Back in, Eaton taunts and hides in the ropes. Test of strength that Eaton controls, until Armstrong WALKS UP HIM, jumps off his shoulders, springs to the second rope, and hits a reverse crossbody for 2. Fantastic. Eaton tries a slingshot suplex, but after the slingshot Armstrong plants and reverses it into a suplex of his own! Armstrong tries a rollup but Eaton blocks it and kills him with a clothesline. Pop up backbreaker by Eaton. Funny bit where Eaton is working a chinlock, and there's a kid (early teens looking) in the front row flipping him off. Eaton's back is turned but I think he's egging the kid on. Eaton uses the tights to hit a slingshot backbreaker. Roddy Strong is watching this match and taking notes. A back elbow from Eaton sends Armstrong out, with some kick assists. Eaton gives him the Rock drop on the barricade. Abdominal stretch with rope leverage. The ref goes between Armstrong's legs to catch it! Eaton misses a dive in the corner. Armstrong with a big Russian leg sweep, but Eaton gets a foot on the rope. Eaton counters a backdrop with a neckbreaker, goes up top, hits the Alabama Jam, and good night. Hell of a match. This was an early test run of the template of mixing traditional mat wrestling and innovative high spots that would define the soon to come Light Heavyweight division. ***3/4

 

Itsuki Yamazaki and Mami Kitamura def Miki Handa and Miss A in 6:47- This is a warmup match for the WCW/NJPW Supershow that would be held in the Tokyo Dome in March (which would lead into Superbrawl back in the States in May). Yamazaki was half of the Jumping Bomb Angels team that laid down some really good matches in WWF in the late '80s. Handa and A are the nominal heels. They offer a Code of Honor handshake but it's a RUSE! Yamazaki walks to the middle of the top rope and hits a sunset flip on A for 2. A gets some stiff kicks on Kitamura and she goes in peril. A with a suplex for 2, and she works the leg. Kitamura counters with a diving back elbow off the second rope. Yamazaki turns up the juice. She goes to hit a double underhook suplex on A, can't lift her, gets some support from the crowd, and hits it. Kitamura with a small package for 2. Kitamura hits a bulldog on Handa. Yamazaki with a gut wrench suplex for 2. Yamazaki gets caught in the heel corner, and A absolutely unloads on her with a series of strong style kicks. Yamazaki leaps onto A's shoulders, flips over and gets a sunset flip for 2! Big Saito suplex from A. Handa with a perfectplex for 2. Yamazaki hits both heels with a missile dropkick of the top rope! The faces get a nice sunset flip/clothesline off the second rope assist double team for 2. Yamazaki lifts up in a wheelbarrow like move, and rolls over to roll A over and gets the pin! Solid joshi puroresu. ***

Missy Hyatt is on a mission to get into the dressing room. Well, I'm sure she knows her way around back there....Oh, for an interview! 

 

"The Natural" Dustin Rhodes def "Nature Boy" Buddy Landel in 6:33- Dustin had his major company introduction in WWF before heading back home with Big Daddy Dust. He's still learning but is clearly someone the company has a lot of hope in. And it helps that daddy's booking again. Rhodes with a big backdrop/dropkick start. Landell tries to hide behind the ref. .3 Flair chops from Landell. Rhodes counters by climbing the ropes and hitting mounted elbows. Dusty: "That's hereditary!". Landell goes up top but gets the Flair throw. Rhodes' shoulder gets posted. Landell works some dreary offense, including one halfway decent chop. Landell with a sleeper. Rhodes counters into a sleeper of his own. Landell rams him face first into the top turnbuckle, but Rhodes counters with a boot up on a charge. Rhodes hits the bulldog and wins. *1/4

Missy Hyatt walks into the dressing room and is promptly kicked out by a furious Stan Hansen. Reportedly this was all put together to parody a real life incident where a female Boston Herald reporter was doing interviews in the New England Patriots locker room. The players didn't take kindly to her presence and decided to show off their Patriot missiles to get her to leave. Needless to say the whole thing fell about as flat as one of Vince McMahon's parodies.

 

The Young Pistols def The Royal Family in 12:05- The Pistols are the renamed Southern Boys. The Royal Family stuck around after the Starrcade '90 tag tournament, but seem to have emigrated from New Zealand to the UK. The Family gets a legit post-bell jump on the Pistols. The Pistols try the midring do-si-do but eat clotheslines instead. Smothers ducks a double clothesline and Armstrong hits a crossbody off the top on both heels. As Smothers and Morgan start to reset and settle in the lights go out! Ah, crack WCW production. They quickly get every spotlight in the arena on the ring, and maybe the traditional CZW circle of truck headlights too. Smothers takes a while trying to power out of a Morgan headlock and not getting very far. He gets Morgan to the corner, jumps up for a monkey flip and tags at the same time, and they follow it up with a double dropkick. The lights are back on. Morgan gets an advantage but Victory runs into an armdrag. Victory runs over Armstrong with a bunch of shoulder blocks. The Pistols respond with a double team flying shoulder tackle, then play around with a bunch of arm wringers. Armstrong goes for a cross body but Victory ducks. Armstrong splats on the mat and goes pistol in peril, but not for long as the tag matches aren't getting nearly as much time as they did in '90. He gets a boot up on a charge and tags. Morgan kicks Smothers in the back on a rope run and Victory clotheslines him out. Smothers escapes a bear hug but takes a Morgan spinebuster for 2. Double suplex. Armstrong saves the pin. The Family set Smothers up for another double suplex. Armstrong dropkicks them, Smothers falls on Morgan and gets the pin. The Pistols hoisted the Family on their backs and drug them to an almost serviceable match. *1/2

Tony is with the new manager of the Freebirds, Diamond Dallas Page. Funny story. DDP started out as a manager in AWA, then went down to the original FCW, trained as a wrestler and worked commentary. He also tried out for an announcer gig with WWF, didn't get hired but did get to drive the limo Rhythm and Blues rode in at Wrestlemania 6. After FCW went out of business he went back to working nightclubs. But, Dusty remembered him from his WWF tryout, and DDP was one of his first hires after he got back to WCW. And here we are. It's still years away before he became a good wrestler, but the man could sure as hell talk straight away.

 

No DQ: Terry Taylor (w/Alexandria York) def "The Z Man" Tom Zenk in 10:59- Taylor hasn't had to convert to the full corporate "Terrance" yet. Zenk gets the high pitched pop. In between PPVs Zenk's actually had a cup of coffee with the TV title, ending Arn Anderson's near year long reign in December (taped before Starrcade but aired after), but dropping it back to Arn a month later. These guys had a couple of TV matches end in a DQ, hence the stip here. Fast start from Zenk and lots of Taylor quick powders. Shoving and slapping. Taylor hits a right hand and does an almost Rooster strut. Zenk responds with a punch of his own and Taylor rolls out again. Taylor ends up on the wrong end of a long headlock sequence, and when he gets free he goes out again to consult the computer. Zenk hits a backdrop for 2 with crazy Taylor overselling. Taylor hits headbutts in the corner, whips Zenk and Zenk Bret bumps. Taylor follows it up with a suplex. They go outside and Taylor chokes Zenk with the TV cable, taking advantage of no DQ. Back in, Zenk gets a sunset flip for 2. Zenk ducks a clothesline and hits one of his own to send Taylor 360 out. If we're actually enforcing the "no over the top rope rule" that's also taking advantage of no DQ, but that rule was never consistently enforced (because it's stupid and pointless). Taylor drags Zenk out and they brawl on the floor. Taylor hits the Flair lite kneedrop for 2. Zenk comes back with a swinging neckbreaker. Zenk superkick for 2 with more amazing Taylor overselling. Powerslam for 2. Enzuguri! Zenk hits a crossbody off the top but York is distracting the ref. Taylor rolls him up with a handful of trunks and gets the pin. There was a lot of effort, but they didn't really do anything to get into high gear or do much with the no DQ stip. Taylor had his selling boots on though. **1/2

Paul E is here for an edition of The Danger Zone. He comes out to mariachi music and wearing a matador outfit for cheap heat because we're near the border. The crowd doesn't really care. Paul E says that all the illegals are going to be arrested and they still don't care. He calls out his guest, El Gigante. He taunts Gigante with the red cape and goes for more cheap heat while Gigante circles him and doesn't speak. The main point of this is Gigante is going to be the special referee for a Flair/Sting world title rematch in a cage. Paul E puts the mic in Gigante's face and gets a "no habla". He throws his sombrero in Gigante's face and Gigante bodyslams him. And...scene. Like most talk show segments on PPV in the era, completely pointless.

Tony is with Hiro Matsuda and the Great Muta to hype up the upcoming Tokyo Dome show.

 

Big Van Vader and Stan Hansen go to a double DQ in 6:21- These guys lit Japan on fire with their NJPW/AJPW interpromotional matches in 1990, including the infamous match where Vader's eye popped out of its socket. Vader was again IWGP Heavyweight Champion (not mentioned on TV). He had dropped it to Tatsumi Fujinami in December but won it again in January for the third and what would be final time. Hansen dropped the All Japan Triple Crown title to Jumbo Tsuruta in January. As soon as Vader steps on the apron Hansen jumps on him. Vader grabs him and flips him over into a sort of belly to belly suplex on the ramp. Hansen hits a short arm clothesline. Vader is supposed to 360 back in but can't get over. Hansen helps him. Vader counters a charge with a stiff as hell clothesline. Avalanche! He tosses Hansen out and dives on him off the apron. Slugfest on the floor. Hansen dodges another avalanche and hits a belly to back suplex. They go outside again. Hansen scoops up a crate and hits Vader with it. They trade chairshots. Not traditional folding chairs, the molded plastic non-folding kind. And they're right on top of commentary. JR wants out. Vader drops Hansen gut first on the barricade. Hansen gives Vader a stair shot. They get back in and start wailing away on each other from their knees with forearms and headbutts. The ref tries to restore order but Hansen tosses him away. Eventually the ref DQs both of them. They keep fighting. Vader hits a clothesline off the top rope. Hansen gets his rope and tries to hang Vader with it. Vader gets it wrapped around Hansen's neck and drags him all the way to the back. It had a bit of the old stiffness but they definitely left the magic in Japan. **1/4 (*** if it was in the Tokyo Dome, max)

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: "The Total Package" Lex Luger def "Dangerous" Dan Spivey in 12:52- Spivey punches off of the lockups in the corner. Luger counters with a backdrop. Luger blocks an atomic drop and hits a belly to back for 2. Spivey dodges a charge and Luger does his beloved crazy dive over the ropes, but since it's the double ring setup he goes over both sets of ropes into ring 1! Spivey suplexes him back in. Spivey with a tombstone piledriver! That was still a new move then. Reverse neckbreaker for 2. DDT for 2. Lots of big moves and Luger showing big heart kicking out of them all. Luger blocks a suplex and hits one of his own. Spivey still gets up first and hits a reverse elbow drop off the top rope that Luger JUST kicks out of. Big boot for 2. A traditional piledriver this time from Spivey for another long 2 count. Luger pops up and tries to hulk up. Spivey squashes it with a belly to belly suplex. Spivey kills another comeback attempt with a Japanese armdrag. Luger gets in a sloppy hot shot and finally builds some momentum. Clothesline off the second rope. Powerslam. Spivey punches out of a sunset flip. Double clothesline! Luger goes up top. Spivey tries to slam him, but Luger rolls through it into a Paul Smackage and the win! Not bad. Probably Spivey's best match outside of Japan. **3/4

The old NWA US title belt is being retired, so Tony hosts the presentation of the new belt. Former US champ Nikita Koloff is here to present it. They pull out a belt that looks nothing like the WCW US belt (I guess it's still in processing like the 6 man belts). But it doesn't matter, because Koloff takes it and whacks Luger over the head with it! Koloff says that he's been told over and over again he's been "retired" for 2 years and if the championship committee was going to notice him he needed to make a statement. Message received.

 

WCW World Tag Team Championship: The Fabulous Freebirds (w/Big Daddy Dink and Diamond Dallas Page) def Doom (c) (w/Teddy Long) in 6:56- DDP introduces Big Daddy Dink (Oliver Humperdink) as the Freebirds' new "road manager" and leaves. Once again Doom is put in a match where they're wrestling against heels, but are still being booked and wrestling like heels themselves. Today, that'd go over like gangbusters, especially given how pure badass Doom were. Back then, it gave all these matches a bit of a weird vibe. Tonight's no different. Simmons throws Hayes around a bit. He turns a bear hug into a spinebuster for 2. Hayes counters with the straight left punch and a bulldog for 2. Simmons with a powerslam. Garvin tries to ambush him off the top rope but Simmons catches him and powerslams him too! Tags. Garvin wails on Reed a bit until Reed kills him with a clothesline. Garvin sunset flip for 2. Reed hits power moves. Simmons suckers Hayes in so Reed can slam Garvin on the floor. Garvin counters a backdrop with a DDT. Simmons prevents a tag and absolutely plants Garvin with a spinebuster. Hayes breaks the pin up. Another Simmons powerslam. Donnybrook! Reed gets international knucks from Long and goes to hit Hayes, but Hayes ducks and Simmons gets it! Dink pushes Garvin onto Simmons, and he gets the pin and the titles for the Freebirds! Pretty good for the short time they got, and the heel/heel booking weirdness. Simmons looked every bit the future world champion. **1/2

But we're not done. Tensions had been festering in Doom for a while, and now the titles are gone it's about to explode. Simmons attacks Long. Reed jumps Simmons and beats him down. Doom is no more.

Now, here's another funny story. Back then WCW was taping ridiculous amounts of weekly TV at once, a month or more at a time (like NXT did during the Network only one hour show days, sometimes more). The Freebirds won the titles tonight, but barely a week before they had already taped the match where they *lost* the titles to the Steiners! Technically, they lost the belts before they won them. No internet to spoil these things back then.

 

War Games Match- The Four Horsemen (WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair, Barry Windham, Sid Vicious) and Larry Zbyszko (w/Arn Anderson) def Sting, "Flyin'" Brian Pillman, and WCW United States Tag Team Champions The Steiner Brothers in 21:50- Arn is out with an injury. Given the sudden timing and lack of on screen angle, I believe a legit one. His future Dangerous Alliance stablemate Zbyszko is replacing him. There was also an angle on TV the week before where the Horsemen injured Pillman's shoulder, but Pillman's gutting through it.

P1. Windham and Pillman- Pillman, hurt shoulder and all, storms in before his team can stop him because he's a LOOSE CANNON. He ducks a Windham clothesline and hits a flying clothesline of his own. Pillman grabs the top of the cage and uses it to kick, then hits a ceiling assisted half headscissors/half hurricanrana! He fakes a crossbody off the second rope to trick Windham and hits a missile dropkick. Windham dodges a splash. Pillman with a low blow! Windham takes the first cage shot and gets busted open. Cheese grater! Pillman bites the cut! He's got Windham's blood all over his mouth. Clothesline off the top rope. He throws Windham over both ropes across rings! Windham has a half crimson mask. Slugfest as the period ends.

Coin toss....the heels win! I'm shocked. SHOCKED I tell you.

P2. Flair- Pillman/Flair chop exchange. Pillman takes a cage shot. The heels start to work on his shoulder. Pillman takes the over the top across the rings throw.

P3. Sting- Pounds on Flair. Double clothesline on the heels. We get 2v2 pairoffs in each ring with a swap. Windham crotches Pillman. Sting no sells Flair's chops. Stinger Splash! 

P4. Zbyszko- Pillman locks a figure four on Windham. Sting does his over the ropes dive across rings onto Zbyszko! As the period winds down the 3v2 lets the heels get the edge.

P5. Rick Steiner- Flair and Windham try to ambush him coming in but eat Steinerlines. Belly to belly suplex on Flair. Flair takes a cage shot and is bleeding. Sting eats cage.

P6. Sid Vicious- The obvious Horsemen closer. Sid rams Rick into the cage. Rick laughs at him! Flair with a low blow on Rick. More Flair chops on Sting. Windham does some more work on Pillman's shoulder. Flair Flop!

P7. Scott Steiner- The Match Beyond begins. Sid ambushes Scott but he gets a double Steinerline on him and Zbyszko. Double underhook suplex on Zbyszko. Stinger Splash! Flair Flop 2! Sting locks the Scorpion Death Lock on Flair but Zbyszko breaks it up. Sid rams Pillman's shoulder into the top turnbuckle and tears the tape off it. All the faces work all the heels into figure fours! Quadruple figure fours! Double stereo figure fours! It's figure four a mania! OK, enough JR (he didn't really say any of that). Since there's two in each ring the Horsemen help each other break them all up. Sting presses Flair's back into the ceiling. And now the big spot of the match: Sid's infamous botched powerbomb on Pillman. He picks Pillman up but the ceiling gets in the way, and Sid drops him right on his head. They redo the spot. Sid's more aware of the ceiling this time and Pillman takes the back bump. El Gigante comes down, "rips" the cage door off, checks on his little buddy Pillman, and tells the ref to stop the match because Pillman's out. And it's over. Some friend. Gigante cost him the match! Gigante carries Pillman out. Even taking the loss, Pillman looked like a million bucks in this match. This is probably the second greatest traditional War Games ever, topped only by the following year's Sting/Dangerous Alliance match. ****3/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- This is definitely one of the best shows of the Jim Herd era. An all time great War Games, a great cruiserweight style match, a couple of really hot angles and a title change, and the undercard is all in the passable to decent range with no real duds. Too bad the crowd didn't show up until the main event, but Phoenix has never exactly been a wrestling hotbed. Yeah, watch this one.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B+

This Tuesday in Texas

Legacy Review

This Tuesday in Texas

December 3, 1991 from the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio

Commentary: Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan

Here we have WWF's attempt to establish weeknight PPVs. The problem is, it's only a week after Survivor Series and fans hadn't yet been conditioned to monthly PPVs, much less two within a week. They certainly did the hard sell for this one though, turning Survivor Series basically into a setup show for this one.

The show opens with a replay of the Undertaker/Paul Bearer promo from the go home show last week....er, the major Big Four PPV last week. Thanks for talking your parents into forking out 20 more bucks, kids!

WWF Intercontinental Championship: Bret "Hitman" Hart (c) def Skinner in 13:46- Skinner gets a jobber introduction while Bret's music is playing. Fortunately it was impossible for anyone to think he had less of a chance of winning. Skinner's billed as undefeated, even though Bret himself beat him during the '91 King of the Ring tournament that Bret ended up winning (which was completely memory holed when KotR started as its own PPV in '93). Bret schools him with wrestling early. Atomic drops from both sides and Bret clotheslines Skinner out. More feeling out arm work. Skinner goes to the heel 101 playbook, hiding in the ropes and taking control with a Greco Roman thumb in the eye. He throws Bret into the corner and Bret's shoulder is posted. Abdominal stretch with the rope leverage game. Shoulderbreaker for 2. Bret gets a boot up on a charge but misses the follow up elbow. Skinner gets his can of chaw from the corner, and while the ref is taking it away he takes his alligator claw and pokes Bret in the throat with it. Slow follow up, and lots of choking. Bret bump! Now Skinner, after hurting both the shoulder and the throat, starts working Bret's leg! Even Monsoon and Heenan call him out on that. Skinner hits his alligator drop or whatever the official name was finisher (basically a Scorpion Death Drop) but Bret kicks out. He tries coming off the second rope but Bret gives him a boot in the face. Bret plays possum as he liked to do, pops up and goes to work. Five Moves of Doom! While Bret's arguing with the ref Skinner rolls him up. Bret's kickout pushes him outside the ring. After Bret follows Skinner tries to suplex him back in. Bret slips out and tries a roll up of his own, but Skinner uses the rope to block it. Pretty good actually. Now Skinner tries the top rope and eats a Flair throw. Bret decides he's had enough, hooks in the Sharpshooter, and we're done. A textbook example of Bret Hart being able to make absolutely anyone look good. **1/4

Jake Roberts is in the back with Sean Mooney. It's an absolutely classic heel Roberts promo, almost orgasmic in enjoying Elizabeth's fear from the cobra attack and saying Jack Tunney will be to blame for anything that happens. Roberts' "Trust me" is one of the most underrated catchphrases ever in wrestling. Quick cut to Savage's rebuttal. You know he's serious because he cuts off Okerlund after a couple of words and flips his glasses off. Overall it's much better than his rather generic Survivor Series promo. Roberts' music starts as the promo ends and Savage says the time is now....

 

"Macho Man" Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) def Jake "The Snake" Roberts in 6:25- This is Savage's first match back after being reinstated from (storyline) forced retirement. While Roberts is walking in Savage charges down the aisle and attacks him from behind! Savage gives him a pillar to post beating outside and inside the ring while still having his jacket and plumed hat on. Double ax handle off the top! Roberts powders. Savage finally gets his entrance gear off and chases Roberts down. While Hebner's trying to get some order restored Roberts gets a shoulder in Savage's gut and throws him outside to get some recovery time. He slithers out, they brawl on the floor and Savage gets posted, hurting the arm that took the cobra bite again. Roberts has a target. Back in Savage tries to fight back but Roberts stays on the arm and makes good headway with it. He tears the bandages off and it's bleeding (well, it's pre-bloodied tape). Savage ducks the short clothesline and hits a Dusty Rhodes-esque elbow but the arm is still bothering him too much. Roberts hits the short clothesline and calls for the DDT. Savage backs him up hard into the corner and commentary thinks Roberts might have cracked a rib. Savage climbs up, hits the elbow, and gets the 3! It was short, but intense, hard worked and psychologically airtight. Very underrated. ***1/4

And they're not done. Savage wants to do more damage. He grabs a chair but an official takes it away. He takes the ring bell and threatens Roberts with it. Hebner takes it away, and Roberts uses the opening to plant Savage with a DDT. Both guys recover, and Monsoon loses himself and thinks the match is still going on. Roberts with a second DDT. He starts to leave but smiles and turns back. He says he promised Tunney, the snake's not here (points to the corner), it's under the ring! It's the tiny cobra bag. He taunts Savage with it. Elizabeth comes out. Liz pleads while Roberts continues to taunt. Thankfully Liz manages not to corpse this time. Roberts picks Savage up, points to Liz, and gives him a third DDT. He opens the bag and takes the snake handler's glove out. Roberts gets in Liz's face and says "You want to save his ass you better start begging now!'. He grabs Liz's hair and slaps her in the middle of the ring! Finally Jack Tunney himself comes out and makes Roberts leave. Roberts offers a handshake, then pulls out the swerve: "There is no snake in this bag!". The refs carry Savage to the back. A brilliant piece of business from start to finish. Remember, at this point the plan was still that Savage and Roberts would blow off at Wrestlemania 8 in most likely the #2 match after Hogan/Flair.

Cut to Roberts shouting at Mean Gene to congratulate him. Roberts really walks the PG line by saying slapping Elizabeth was the kind of pleasure you normally "have to pay for" and begs Savage to bring her back so he can touch her again. Okerlund is incensed and throws Roberts out.

 

 "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith def The Warlord (w/Harvey Wippleman) in 12:45- This is a rematch of a pretty underrated (Bulldog carried) power match at WM 7. Warlord's got his hair cut in a W on the back of his head. I don't think I ever noticed that without high def before. Powerhouse lockups. Warlord wants a test of strength but it's a RUSE! Bulldog responds with a takedown and diving headbutt in the gut. Warlord's clotheslined 360 and out. Bulldog follows up with a plancha! Warlord is supposed to catch him but Bulldog lands on his feet, so Warlord scoops him back up and posts his back. Bulldog comes back with buckle shots and hits a missile dropkick off the top. Warlord gets tied in the ropes. Wippleman gets him out and Bulldog dives into the ropes and crotches himself. Warlord brings the workrate to a screeching halt with his *ahem* methodical offense. They do the piledriver attempt/sunset flip reversal spot that was also in the WM 7 match. Warlord hooks in the full nelson and it goes on....and on....and on....finally he gives up because Bulldog didn't submit and lets it go. Bulldog comes back with a clothesline off the second rope. He goes for the powerslam, but Warlord grabs the top rope and falls on Bulldog for 2. Off a whip and rope run Bulldog hooks in a crucifix and gets the pin. Twice as long as their WM match and a fraction as good. 1/2*

Sean Mooney is with Savage, who's distraught and out for blood. He's borderline incoherent but in context of the story, it works. He also does a good job of getting out of the usual promo comfort zone by moving around a lot and even laying on the floor in anguish.

 

"The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase and Repo Man (w/Sensational Sherri) def "El Matador" Tito Santana and Virgil in 11:28- Santana and Repo start. They have an arm wringer tradeoff. Santana tricks Repo into running the ropes a bunch of times and he and Virgil bounce him back and forth a bit with punches. Now they block each other's hip tosses until Santana wins near the ropes and sends Repo out. DiBiase tells the ref to make Virgil wrestle instead of box and unloads on him. Virgil gets a sunset flip for 2. An atomic drop sends DiBiase over and out. The heels trap Virgil and choke him with the tag rope. A DiBiase gut wrench suplex gets a long 2. Virgil counters a backdrop with a neckbreaker and tags. Flying flan! Santana calls for the spike in the bull's neck or whatever new finisher. DiBiase grabs his foot and Repo hits him from behind. Santana takes a stair shot and goes matador in peril. They do the phantom tag and the heels double team. Repo and Santana double clothesline and both tag out. Virgil cleans house. Donnybrook! Sherri goes to hit Virgil with the Shoe of Extraordinary Pointiness +2 but Virgil dodges and DiBiase gets it. But, Repo hits Virgil from behind, DiBiase covers, and gets the 3. Inoffensive house show style stuff. **

 

WWF Championship: Hulk Hogan def The Undertaker (c) (w/Paul Bearer) in 13:09- President Tunney will be at ringside to make sure everything's on the up and up after all the interference in the Survivor Series match. I have my doubts. Hogan gets tearing his shirt off out of the way down the aisle so Taker and Bearer can jump him getting in the ring. They take a double noggin knocker. Tunney appears to be on Clinton Standard Time as he hasn't shown up at ringside yet. Oh, here he is. Taker fights off one slam attempt but Hogan gets it on the second try. Zombie sit up. Mandatory Taker 360 clotheslined over and lands smooth on his feet spot. He almost ended up in Tunney's lap there. Short prayer to the urn. Taker drags Hogan out and takes control with the usual slow zombie Taker arsenal. Lots and lots of choking. Taker almost sells a buckle shot before going on offense again. Rope walk punch. Taker puts on the same claw/smother hold he used at Survivor Series and gets a couple of near falls with it. They do the arm drops and Hogan powers back. Taker legit slips and falls while hitting the ropes. Whoops. They do a quick recover and reset, and hit the flying clothesline spot that was probably supposed to happen earlier. The match feels like it's gone into stall mode while they're waiting for Flair to show up. Taker rope walks again but Hogan pulls him down. Ah, here comes Flair. As Tunney confronts Flair Hogan hulks up. 3 punches and he clotheslines Taker out again, and Taker does not land on his feet. Hogan goes out, grabs a chair, and whacks Flair in the back, taking Tunney out in the process. Back in Taker keeps cutting Hogan's offense off. Flair sets up a chair but Hogan reverses Taker into it. But again Taker gets the edge. He holds Hogan for Bearer to hit him with the urn but again Hogan dodges and Taker takes the shot. Hogan opens up the urn, throws the ashes in Taker's face, and rolls him up to win. While that's happening Flair props Tunney back up to make sure he sees Hogan cheating. Due to all the shenanigans the next week on TV Tunney would hold the belt up and put it on the line in the Royal Rumble, where it would be won by Flair. Still not too good, but it's way better than the Survivor Series match. Hogan looked like he was trying this time (he was also winning, which I'm sure was a complete coincidence). From a historical perspective, like the Survivor Series match, it's important viewing regardless of quality. *3/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- It's got a bad reputation thanks to the ill advised scheduling. and while it's pretty dull it's not a complete turd. It was sold hard on the top two matches, and one delivered (especially the postmatch angle) while the other was definitely an improvement over Survivor Series. The weak buyrate for this show would kill the weekday PPV idea until it was revisited in the early WWE brand split years for Taboo Tuesday, which lasted a few years before moving to a more traditional Sunday slot. WWF wouldn't attempt to add to the PPV calendar again until making King of the Ring the 5th PPV in 1993.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C-

Starrcade '90

Legacy Review

Starrcade '90

December 16, 1990 from the Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis

Commentary: Jim Ross and Paul E Dangerously

JR opens by shouting out the troops in Operation Desert Shield. WCW wouldn't do nearly as much with that as the WWF famously (infamously?) did. He also sets up one of the main events of the evening: the Pat O'Conner Memorial International Tag Team Tournament. We also get a short tribute to legendary St. Louis promoter and one of the founding fathers of the NWA Sam Muchnick, probably because this was to be the last wrestling show in the soon to be demolished Kiel Auditorium, which was the Madison Square Garden for the Midwest in the territory days. Gary Capetta talks all over the National Anthem! How disrespectful. There's boxing-like covers on the ring posts again, but no ads this time, just "Starrcade". JR also mentions that Ric Flair pulled himself out of the tag title match just an hour before the show and was being replaced by Barry Windham. Interesting....

"Beautiful" Bobby Eaton def "The Z Man" Tom Zenk in 8:45- Stan Lane and Jim Cornette both left WCW after Halloween Havoc, but Eaton decided to stick around and give a singles run a try. Zenk turns on the jets after a slow start and gets springboard crossbodys off the second and top ropes. Eaton quickly kicks out of both. Basic hammerlock exchange. Eaton pops Zenk with a straight right on a corner break. He goes for a monkey flip, but Zenk flips the flip and lands on his feet. Another Eaton punch sends Zenk out onto the ramp. He tries to suplex Zenk back in, but Zenk reverses it and suplexes Eaton onto the ramp! He follows it up with a big dive over the top rope. Back in, Eaton counters a charge with a back elbow and hits a bulldog. He goes up top and hits the Alabama Jam, but that wasn't his finisher yet. Zenk dodges a corner charge and Eaton gets wrapped up between the buckles. Eaton responds by countering a backdrop with a neckbreaker. He goes up top again, but Zenk superkicks him on the way down! Zenk goes up top for his missile dropkick finisher, but Eaton dodges it, wraps him up in a Paul Smackage and wins. Pedestrian start, once they got going it was pretty good back and forth, but it never hit the high gear both guys (especially Eaton) were capable of. **1/2

We have the introductions for the O'Conner Tournament. The trophy is brought out, followed by an Olympics-style "Parade of Nations" with each participating country's flag. To give it even more of an Olympic feel, each team comes out to their national anthem.

First Round: The Steiner Brothers (US) def Colonel DeKlerk and Sgt. Krueger (South Africa) in 2:12- The Steiners are the reigning US tag champs. Neither "South African" wrestler has probably ever even stepped foot in South Africa: DeKlerk is Rocco Rock, and Krueger is future post-Matt Bourne Doink the Clown Ray Apollo. Kreuger gets a quick belly to back suplex on Rick but walks right into a Steinerline. Double Steinerline! A DeKlerk spinning heel kick sends Rick outside. DeKlerk tries a dive but ends up landing on his head outside. Rick laughs at him (probably legitimately) then checks to make sure he's OK. Scott tags in, rolls through a few moves, hits a Frankensteiner, and we're done. Decently fun Steiners squash. *1/2

First Round: Konan and Rey Mysterio Sr (Mexico) def "Gentleman" Chris Adams and Norman Smiley (UK) in 5:29- Rey Rey's dad looks more like a large barbarian than a lucha wrestler. Konnad is in a mask that looks more like Rey Jr.'s and is in his phase as a traditional lucha wrestler, a complete contrast to his Bischoff-era WCW years. Smiley grew up in Florida but he was born in England so he gets on the UK team. Mysterio and Smiley start. The Mexicans go for double teams quickly. The Brits double dropkick them out. An Adams superkick sends Mysterio out. Konnad thinks it's lucha rules and tries to come in but Mysterio has to tag. Smiley hits a perfectplex but Konnad quickly gets out. The luchas try to double team Adams but Smiley dropkicks both of them at once. The Brits hit a nice superkick/bridged German double team on Konnad for 2. Konnad and Smiley have a decent mat wrestling sequence. More lucha double teams. Konnan props Smiley on the ropes, hits him with a reverse suplex, and bridges over him for the pin. After the bell Mysterio hits a plancha on Adams and appears to hurt his leg. This was a sloppy clash of styles, like this was the first time they'd ever been in the ring together. If they'd had time to iron out the bugs this might have been a potential show stealer, there was clearly something there. *3/4

First Round: The Great Muta and Mr. Saito (Japan) def The Royal Family (New Zealand) in 5:41- This is Muta's first return to WCW after his legendary run in '89 during his excursion. At least some of the crowd remembers him and cheers for him. The Royal Family are legit Kiwi Rip Morgan and non-Kiwi Jack Victory. Victory and Muta start with Victory barely keeping up with Muta. Muta dropkicks him out and hits a dive off the top onto the ramp. Morgan and Saito no sell each other. Saito goes for the Scorpion Death Lock (a hold he's credited with inventing) but Victory breaks it up. Victory kicks Saito in the back on a rope run and he goes slightly in peril. Belly to back for 2. Saito dodges a legdrop off the second rope and tags Muta. Handspring elbow. Bridged German, and that gets the 3. Bleh. 1/2*

First Round: Salman Hashimikov and Victor Zangiev (USSR) def Danny "Bull" Johnson and Troy Montour (Canada) in 3:54- The Soviets are announced "in the spirit of glasnost" and try to be the faces. The crowd's not interested, but they don't give a damn about the Canadians either. You could hear a pin drop the entire match. The Ruskies were legit amateur wrestlers but had little experience in the pro (worked) style. Zangiev works the near 300 pound Johnson into a bow and arrow type hold. Montour breaks it up. Zangiev works his way out of a headscissors, then tries a sort of belly to belly suplex, but more an amateur takedown, and drops Johnson on his head. Tags. Montour and Hashimikov have some lockup gamesmanship. Another belly to belly, but a bit better executed, and even though Montour's shoulder is clearly up the ref counts 3. I think a call was made. The Canadians sucked, and though the Russians were clearly talented amateurs, they had no clue how to work. 1/4*

Michael Wallstreet (w/Alexandria York) def Terry Taylor in 6:52- Mike Rotunda's traded in the skipper cap for a suit and become IRS v0.7. Alexandria York is a computer whiz that uses a portable computer (yes, they really did look like that) to formulate match strategery. Tonight, it says Wallstreet should beat Taylor in 8:32 or less, so there's a countdown clock on screen. Taylor jumps Rotunda as he's getting his suit off and goes for quick pins. Rotunda rolls out and checks the computer printout again. Taylor works a headlock. Rotunda tries to use it for a pin. Big clothesline from Taylor for 2. Rotunda works an armbar with hair pulling. JR: "Taylor's had a frustrating career the last couple of years". You could say that *cough*Red Rooster*cough*. Patented Rotunda abdominal stretch with rope leverage. Now matter how many gimmicks Rotunda had, the abdominal stretch was always there like a big comfy rest hold blankey. Taylor dodges a dropkick, rolls through some impact moves, and nails Rotunda with the fivearm. But Rotunda falls near the ropes and gets a foot up on it. He hits a hot shot on Taylor, and drops him with the Stock Market Crash (a Samoan drop) for 3 with 1:39 to spare on the clock. Perfectly acceptable, bordering on good. Now here's a series of ironies: Rotunda would leave for the WWF soon after this, where he'd take on the similar Irwin R Schyster gimmick. After he left, Taylor would turn heel and take Rotunda's place in the soon to be York Foundation stable, and later would have the "Taylor Made Man" gimmick that, visually, was a ripoff of Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Man, who Rotunda would go on to team with as IRS in Money Inc! **3/4

The Skyscrapers def The Big Cat and The Motor City Madman in 1:01- This is Vicious and Spivey's one night only reunion, as Vicious was still a Horseman. 2 on 2 brawl to start. The Scrapers and Cat screw up a double backdrop spot, so they turn the other direction and do it again. Double avalanche on Madman. Sid can't get Madman up for the power bomb (or Madman sandbags it) so Spivey helps get him up and it's done. The Scrapers double teamed the entire match. Since this was a one night only deal I really don't know what the point of it was. It's not like the Scrapers were some legendary team people were begging to see again. 1/4*

Ricky Morton and Tommy Rich (w/Robert Gibson) def The Fabulous Freebirds (w/Little Richard Marley) in 6:13- Gibson's still got an injured knee so Morton is still saddled with Rich. The Freebirds have Confederate flag facepaint. Morton and Garvin start with the basics. Both Freebirds get hiptossed and the faces clear the ring. Hayes blocks a post shot and celebrates, turns around into a punch from Gibson, then gets posted! Morton dodges a kneedrop and the faces hook in stereo figure fours. The Freebirds powder again. Rich flips Marley in and....spanks him like a 5 year old. Hayes gets pounded around some more and the heels hug for HP recovery. Finally Hayes clocks Rich with the straight left punch. He goes for the DDT but Rich backdrops out. Donnybrook! Morton rolls up Garvin, but the ref is getting Rich out and Hayes gives Morton a bulldog. Marley goes to the top rope to dive on Morton's knee, but Gibson hits him with his crutch and he falls onto Garvin. Garvin is pissed. Morton uses the distraction to roll Garvin up and gets the 3 count. Afterward the Freebirds give Marley his walking papers, signing them with a double DDT. The faces save him. This was the first 5-6 minutes of a really good tag match. **1/4

Semifinals: The Steiner Brothers def Konan and Rey Mysterio Sr in 2:51- Rick and Konnad start out with some amateur wrestling. Scott and Konnad do some pro wrestling. Scott gets Konnad up and Rick plants him with the bulldog off the top rope! But there's no cover. They let Konnad go over and tag out. Mysterio tries some mat wrestling but Scott's not interested. He turns Mysterio over into a fisherman's suplex. Rick catches Mysterio coming off the ropes into a semi-pop up powerbomb and pins him. Pretty good for the time they got. **

Semifinals: The Great Muta and Mr. Saito def Salman Hashimikov and Victor Zangiev in 3:08- Muta grounds Zangiev and tries to work him into a hammerlock. Zangiev gets a bridged belly to back suplex for 2. Hashimikov shows sportsmanship by letting Saito out of the Russian corner when he was trapped. He gets a leg takedown and puts Saito into a Boston Crab. Muta kicks him in the back to break it up. Saito puts Zangiev into the Scorpion but can't hold onto it. Hashimikov gives Muta a belly to belly and just about drops him on his head again. Saito kills Zangiev with a clothesline, gives him a bridged Saito suplex, and it's over. Much better. The veteran Japanese walked the Russians through a short and almost acceptable match. *3/4

Texas Lariat Match for the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship: "The Total Package" Lex Luger def Stan Hansen (c) in 10:13- Hansen upset Luger to end his record long US title reign at Halloween Havoc. Hansen's also the reigning All Japan Triple Crown Champion (slightly mentioned on TV as the "Japanese heavyweight championship"). This is essentially a strap match, except with a rope. It's touch all 4 corners rules. Hansen's got about 10 pounds of chewing tobacco sticking out of his mouth when the match starts. Gag me with a spoon. As soon as the rope's tied on Luger Hansen attacks. They go back and forth for a while and they both roll out of the ring. Luger chokes Hansen with the rope. Hansen responds with a chair shot. Back in Luger hits a big clothesline, does some ground and pound, and takes the first shot at hitting the corners. After 2 Hansen fights back and hits an ugly belly to back suplex. Hansen wraps the rope around Luger's throat to drag him by the neck, but only gets one corner. He re-wraps the rope around Luger's throat then flips him over the ropes to hang him. Hansen gets to 3 corners, but Luger charges up with a clothesline to stop him. They roll out again and Luger uses the rope to post Hansen. He hits Hansen with three legdrops in the ring and goes for the corners again. After 3 Hansen pulls back. Hansen jerks the rope down, sending Luger into the 4th corner for the seeming win, but he squashed the ref on the way down. Hansen takes off his boot and uses it as a weapon. Senior ref Nick Patrick runs in as the replacement. Hansen ties Luger up again and manages to get to all 4 corners. Hansen is announced as the winner. BUT WAIT! The original ref waves it off and declares Luger the winner and new champion! The reverse Dusty Finish. Those ending bells and whistles weren't really needed, but the match itself wasn't too shabby, especially for a strap match. **1/2

Street Fight for the NWA World Tag Team Championship: Doom (c) (w/Teddy Long) and Arn Anderson & Barry Windham go to a no contest in 7:19- This is a rematch of the Halloween Havoc title match that went to a double countout, but Windham is replacing Flair at the last second. Everyone's in their casuals for the street fight. As soon as Doom hits the ring it starts. Simmons slams Windham on the ramp. Arn whips Simmons with his belt, they brawl on the ramp, and Simmons gets the belt and whips Arn with it. Reed hits Windham with his weightlifting belt at the same time Arn gives Simmons a chairshot in the leg. Windham gets posted, Reed hits him with the buckle of his belt, and Windham's bleeding. Windham counters with a suplex on the floor. Arn whips Reed with the lifting belt. Chairshots on the outside, whipping and gouging on the inside. It's mayhem. Before long, everyone's bleeding. Simmons hits Windham with the spinebuster, but Windham rakes his eyes to get out of getting pinned. Simmons goes up top, but Windham hits him with a low blow. Superplex! Simmons kicks out! Reed hits his football tackle off the top rope on Arn. Windham DDTs Reed. Arn and Simmons fight over a chair. Arn gets in the face and Simmons covers, but Arn just kicks out! Reed piledriver on Windham. Windham dumps Reed out, allowing the Horsemen to double team. They set Simmons up for a spike piledriver, but Reed gets back in and clotheslines Windham, and Simmons pops up and clotheslines Arn as he's coming off the rope! Windham small packages Reed, Simmons covers Arn, and Nick Patrick counts them both down! Who wins? The wrestlers keep fighting and brawl all the way up the ramp to the back. No announcement. Later in the show it's announced as a no contest double pin. The Halloween Havoc match was a great wrestling match with a flat finish. This was a really good, brutal, bloody brawl that would have been right at home on a mid-'80s Jim Crockett show with an unsatisfying finish. Despite the lack of resolution Doom would move on to new challengers while the Horsemen would focus even more on Sting. ***3/4

Final: The Steiner Brothers def The Great Muta and Mr. Saito in 10:52- The special guest referee is none other than a (relatively) young TIGER HATTORI. Paul E is mad because Hattori is *too honest* and won't be biased for the Japanese team. Classic. Batten down the hatches, it's the Steiners vs Japan. They always knew they could cut loose in those matches. Scott and Muta start. Quick kicks from Muta, and an enzuguri. Scott rolls him into a single leg crab. More Muta kicks until Rick kills him with a Steinerline. Ricks hits a rare dropkick on Saito, and gives him another stiff Steinerline. Muta goes up top but gets crotched. Funny bit as he recovers on the apron by jiggling his crotch. Handspring elbow on Scott. Scott counters with a belly to belly suplex. Saito hulks up off Rick's punches and suplexes him. Mid ring collision. Rick gets posted while Scott argues with Hattori. Muta whacks Rick with the ring bell. Scott keeps running in and allowing Rick to get double teamed. Typical Steiner hot hotheadedness. Rick ducks a Muta spinning kick, hits a Steinerline, and tags. Scott gets a double underhook suplex for 2 but Muta quickly takes back control. Spike piledriver on Scott. Rick prevents a cover. Scott gets a sneaky tag to Rick. Saito puts a sleeper on Scott, but Rick ambushes him with a sunset flip off the top rope, and that gets the pin! Absolutely fantastic, even without either team hitting most of their best stuff, I still loved it. ****

MAIN EVENT FEUD RECAP- The Black Scorpion started showing up in late summer 1990, taunting Sting that he was someone from his past, a former tag partner, and was out for revenge. At Halloween Havoc he did some cheap magic tricks that were supposed to spook Sting (that did more to turn a potentially good angle into a joke more than anything else). In the build up to this final blowoff Sting wrestled multiple "fake" Scorpions on TV and house shows, only to find out the real one was still waiting. The original idea was the Scorpion would be revealed as his rookie year Powerteam USA partner Dave Sheldon, AKA The Angel of Death. That was nixed when it was realized no one would recognize the connection. Another option was Al Perez, who wrestled Sting as one of the fake Scorpions at Clash of the Champions XII in September, but Perez quit the company soon after that match. Absent any other options, they turned to the tried and true obvious one, even though all the parlor tricks and pseudo supernatural stuff did not fit his style at all. Lesson the first, kids, when building a long term story in wrestling, always know where you're going and how it ends.

Steel Cage Match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Sting (c) def The Black Scorpion in 18:31- If the Black Scorpion loses he has to unmask. Cage match master Dick the Bruiser is the special guest ref. The Scorpion's entrance is....something. Multiple fake Scorpions come down the aisle. Then, some kind of spaceship like structure comes down, closes, there's smoke, Ole Anderson's voice plays in one last time saying all the other Scorpions are just "messengers" and there's only one true Scorpion, and the structure opens again with the real Scorpion inside. Cautious lockups to start. Scorpion counters a headlock into a belly to back suplex. He looks like he might drop a knee but goes for an elbow instead and misses. There's a small "Nature Boy" chant, showing the game's already been given away for some people. Sting blocks a cage shot. Hiptoss and clothesline from Sting. More slow caution. Scorpion hits a gut wrench suplex. Snap mare into a modified headscissors. Scorpion tries a leverage pin with his feet on the ropes. Dick the Bruiser says "screw you". Another snap mare into a pin attempt. Lots and lots of punches. The Scorpion is having to work completely generically to keep the mystery, if there is any left. Sting finally turns up the juice and hits a press slam. Scorpion dodges a dive and Sting flies into the cage. More slow, generic Scorpion offense. Sting gets a boot up on a charge and covers for 2. Suplex for 2. Scorpion counters with lots of eye rakes. More cage shots for Sting. Piledriver by Scorpion. Sting comes back and faceplants Scorpion. Stinger Splash! Scorpion Death Lock! Black Scorpion gets to the ropes. Scorpion gets rammed into the cage. Sting gets his mask off. But there's another, gray mask underneath! It's the double mask trick! Rey Mysterio would pull the same one many years later. I'll give it to Scorpion, he's managed to get one step further than any other Scooby Doo villain. Sting presses Scorpion and dart throws him into the cage. Scorpion's backup mask gets ripped and he's bleeding. He also starts to slip more and more into his true mannerisms, further giving the game away. Sting goes up top, hits a tackle, and that gets the pin. All the fake Scorpions run in. Bruiser and Sting fight them off. Now the Horsemen come in. Scorpion had been trying to escape over the cage, but now he gets back in. Arn DDT's Sting on the chair, and the Horsemen hold him down while Scorpion gives him chair shots. The faces try to run in but the cage door's been locked. Finally the Steiners arrive with bolt cutters and the heels retreat. But, Sting grabs Scorpion and.....just.....gets his mask off.....and....

"IT'S ME STING!"

"Aw, son of a bitch."

"IT WAS ME ALL ALONG STING."

Yup, it's Ric Flair. They did about as well as they could considering Flair had to wrestle completely generically. **1/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- The tag tournament surprisingly turned out to be one of the better one night tournaments. It started blandly, but once they got rid of the riff raff the matches got better as it went on, with the finals a must see. Definitely better than Starrrcade '89's G1 wannabe Ironman Tournament. The street fight was also very good, the non-tournament midcard was loaded with average and nothing offensive, and, again, the Black Scorpion stuff is always worth a laugh.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C+

Survivor Series '91

Legacy Review

Survivor Series '91

November 27, 1991 from the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit

Commentary: Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan

The Gravest Challenge

The show opens up with footage from the previous week's Superstars of Jake Roberts attacking the trying to get reinstated Randy Savage with a king cobra. Well, I say attacked, more like tried to persuade the defanged snake to stay on Savage's arm and draw as much blood as it could. Vince goes into super selling mode after deciding on the fly that the snake must not have been devenomized because Savage is having a major FREAK OUT FREAK OUT, even dropping "This was not supposed to happen!", trying to persuade smart fans that this might not be scripted in a way that would be common during the Monday Night Wars era. We then cut to a prerecord of Jack Tunney in his Titan Towers office. He bans all reptiles from ringside (insert your own manager joke here), reinstates Savage, removes Roberts from the Survivor Series card and schedules a Roberts/Savage match at the "earliest possible time", which so happens to be This Tuesday in Texas.

Ric Flair, "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase, The Mountie and The Warlord def "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, WWF Intercontinental Champion Bret "Hitman" Hart, The British Bulldog and Virgil in 22:48- This is Naitch's WWF PPV debut after making the big jump over the summer. He's running with the Real World's Champion gimmick, but legal wrangling had sadly forced WWF to stop showing the Big Gold Belt on their TV programs, so Flair's toting around an old tag belt, and they use various video distortion or pixelation techniques to cover it up on TV (on Jack Tunney's orders in storyline). Tonight's it's a simple black circle. Flair was also in a warmup feud with Roddy Piper to get him going in the promotion. There's definitely a small but noticeable pro-Flair contingent in the crowd. DiBiase had just won back the Million Dollar Belt from Virgil on the Survivor Series Showdown USA Network special, and Bret and the Mountie's feud had also gotten going with a cattle prod attack. For the first time at a Survivor Series, all managers have been banned from ringside. I knew someone would read reptiles as managers. Piper wants Flair, but Flair sneaks away and lets DiBiase start. As they lock up Flair sneaks in and knees Piper in the back. Piper quickly recovers and crotches DiBiase. DiBiase drags Sherri, who illegally stayed and ringside, in. Sherri jumps on Piper's back. He pulls her off and kisses her! Stunned Sherri collapses to the floor and the ref sends her packing. The faces rotate quick tags on DiBiase. DiBiase comes back a bit on Bret, dodges a charge and Bret knees the top turnbuckle. DiBiase goes for a figure four but Bret pushes out. They roll through a roll up/quick cover/counter sequence that's really good. Flair tags in to a small pop. Bret dodges an elbow drop, hits Flair with a headbutt, and we get a Flair Flop! Bulldog slingshots Flair into the turnbuckle. Flair Flop 2! Piper tags in and Flair begs off. Chop exchange. Flair falls outside and it's Flair Flop 3! He's getting his money worth early. Bulldog and Warlord renew their WM 7 feud. Mountie, genius that he is, lets Bulldog tag out. Bret and DiBiase crank the workrate up again. Bulldog beats the Mountie around. Flair back in. Bulldog no sells chops and fights off all four heels. Bulldog gets the powerslam on the Mountie. Everyone runs in. Flair comes off the top rope and hits Bulldog in the back of the head, covers, and Bulldog is eliminated even though Flair wasn't legal. Piper tears in for Flair but gets caught in the heel corner. He goes nuts trying to get out but eventually gets worn down. Flair hits the snap mare/knee drop combo but Piper dodges a second knee drop. Piper hooks in a figure four! DiBiase breaks it up. DiBiase hits a Flair-style kneebreaker on Piper and goes for his own figure four, but Piper rolls him into a small package for 2. Man, it's like Ric Flair Appreciation Night out there. The Mountie goes against the flow and hooks in a Boston Crab. Piper drags him to the corner and tags out. DiBiase and Virgil go at it again. Warlord throws Virgil out and Flair works him over on the floor. Warlord locks in the full nelson. Everyone runs in again. This time Bret comes off the top to knock out Warlord, and Piper covers to eliminate him even though he wasn't the legal man. Joey Marella's having some kind of Marty Asami night out there tonight. While Dibiase's arguing with the ref Piper rolls him up for 2. Virgil ducks a couple of DiBiase clothesline attempts and puts on the Olive Garden Dream. DiBiase runs his face into the buckle to get out. Flair tries for the sneaky style rope leverage pin. Flair and Piper go at it again. Flair bumps off a Piper eye poke. DONNYBROOK! Flair throw by Piper. They have to reposition themselves because of the guys fighting in the other corners, then a Piper whip sends Flair for a Flair Flip ride and he falls to the floor. Piper joins the big brawl in the ring. Finally Marella has enough and DQ's everyone in the ring, leaving the guy who just tumbled out, ironically, as the winner. SOLE SURVIVOR: The Man. Weak ending to an otherwise fun and excellent match, and a solid PPV debut for Flair to go along with the huge push he was getting on weekly TV. ***1/2

Mean Gene invites Randy Savage to the promo stage. He looks good for a guy that survived a king cobra bite less than a week ago. He says the venom made him delirious but he could hear Elizabeth's crying, and he's going to get revenge This Tuesday in Texas. Kinda boilerplate stuff from Savage really. Monsoon says they're "working on" TV coverage for the big event.

"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, Sgt. Slaughter, "The Texas Tornado" Kerry Von Erich and "El Matador" Tito Santana def The Berzerker, Col. Mustafa, Hercules and Skinner in 14:19- That heel team is what you could call a black hole for workrate. Santana had just returned from a short hiatus with the Matador gimmick because Vince couldn't stand anyone vanilla on his roster anymore. The newly face turned Slaughter was replacing Jim Neidhart, who was doing an injury angle from Flair's figure four to put Flair over. Santana and Skinner start. They roll through some basics until Santana hits him with the flying frijoles refritos, sending him outside. Slaughter rolls him back in. Santana ducks two clothesline attempts, but Skinner dodges a dive and Santana crashes out. Santana dodges a Berzerker butt splash attempt off the second rope and tags out. Berzerker and Tornado fumble around for a bit before finding a bit of footing. Herc and Duggan have a shoulderblock standoff and slugfest. Berzerker grabs Duggan's hair and pulls him into the heel corner. Duggan goes patriot in peril. He and Sheik have a pretty ugly sequence. Duggan blocks a suplex and tags out to Slaughter. Slaughter takes his old stablemate out with one clothesline. Berzerker comes in and Slaughter tries to sell his messy offense. At some point in here Yano snuck off with one of the top turnbuckle pads. Slaughter takes a couple of bumps into the exposed buckle. A Berzerker big boot gets 2. Slaughter gets rammed into the post, but still kicks out. Slaughter dodges a punch and crotches Berzerker. Duggan throws Berzerker out of the ring several times but he keeps getting right back in. Then he whips Duggan right into the face corner! Well that was dumb. Berzerker pretty much no sells a Tornado discus punch. Santana hits his new finisher, Murder Death of the Bull or whatever it was, on Herc and he's gone. Santana outsmarts Skinner, not a hard job, and Slaughter rolls him up to send him packing. Berzerker gets a face full of the exposed buckle, and the Duggan 3 point stance tackle finishes him off. SURVIVORS: Duggan, Slaughter, Tornado and Santana. It was bad, but considering most the participants no worse than you'd expect. It looked like they wanted to try to get Berzerker over as a monster heel but he sucked so much it barely registers. 3/4*

Jake Roberts joins Okerlund on the promo stage. He has zero remorse for what he did. Okerlund asks him about the snake ban, and Roberts says we've all been fools for six years. The thing in the bag was always just a toy. He's the real snake. Roberts grabbed his heel turn with both hands and ran with it without looking back. This was an awesome run for him. Monsoon says that they've sorted TV for This Tuesday in Texas out and it will be on PPV. So, kids, after asking your parents to pay for this PPV just before Christmas shopping season, now you can ask them to get another one next week! Imagine the poor sod that made the deal that Tuesday in Texas would be part of their Christmas presents, or even the only one! Poor kid.

Recap of a recent edition of The Funeral Parlor where Flair confronted Hogan with Big Gold and told him time's up, daddy's here. Taker comes out of a standing casket and attacks Hogan from behind.

WWF Championship: The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) def Hulk Hogan (c) in 12:45- Taker is billed as undefeated, even though I can point to a house show I went to in the summer of '91 where he clearly lost to The Ultimate Warrior. But not on TV = doesn't count. There's a Hogan themed coffin at ringside that Hogan trashes tips over on his entrance. Taker doesn't flinch a muscle Hogan's entire entrance. Early lockup win by Taker but Hogan dodges the follow up charge. Hogan is being super extra cautious. Taker takes him down with a shoulderblock and Hogan rolls out for a think. Back in, Taker chokes.....and chokes.....and chokes. Sloooooooooooooooooow zombie Taker offense. Hogan dodges an elbow drop and goes on the offensive. Taker no sells a clothesline and blocks a slam attempt. Taker won't go down. Hogan clotheslines him over and out. Taker lands on his feet and pulls Hogan out. Stair shot for Hogan (that he clearly pulls up a good half a foot early for) and Taker chokes him with a TV cable. More slow Taker offense. He's doing one part of his gimmick right. The crowd has been euthanized very effectively. Taker puts on a claw-like hold and gets a couple of near falls out of it. They do the arm drop spot and Hogan comes back. Hogan hits a shoulderblock, but Taker uses the momentum to bounce off the ropes and hit the flying clothesline! By far the best move of the whole match. He plants Hogan with the tombstone, but doesn't cover and turns his back instead. Hogan pops up to a much smaller pop than usual. Hogan punches and punches and punches and Taker finally goes down to one knee. Hogan slams him while Ric Flair comes to ringside. Flair picks up the Winged Eagle belt to admire it. Hogan goes out and punches him. Big boot. Hogan goes for the legdrop but Bearer grabs his leg. Taker gets up and loads up the tombstone again. Flair slides a chair into the ring and Taker tombstones Hogan right into it.....and gets the 3 count and the title! And a pop? Yeah, there was definitely a pop there. People are cheering Taker beating Hogan. Not a ton of them, but enough to notice. The times are changing. After nearly 8 years, the Hogan act was getting stale and people were starting to want something fresh. This is a hugely historic match for multiple reasons (Hogan's waning popularity, Taker's first world title, Hogan/Flair interactions...). It also sucks. 1/4*

Intermission time in the arena means promo time on TV. Perfect and Flair celebrate. Flair says Hogan's days are numbered and partially blames Tunney for interfering in the match because he distorted the real world champion's belt. On an intensity scale of 1-10, Flair's at least a 15 here. Remember, the plan at this point was 100% Flair vs Hogan at WM 8. That's what they were building toward. Typhoon says he has "shocking" news. Oh bloody hell that's hilarious. Please tell me you don't need that one explained. Mooney tries to interrupt Hawk's promo. Hawk doesn't like that one bit. Mean Gene is with President Tunney, who's been on this show more than the last 5 years' worth of shows put together. Tunney says the ref's decision in the WWF title match is final, but it's in his power to schedule a rematch at the earliest possible date, which happens to be....This Tuesday in Texas! They're doing the serious hard sell for that show.

The Nasty Boys and The Beverly Brothers def The Rockers and The Bushwackers in 23:06- Butch and Knobbs start. It goes about as bad as you'd expect. The Bushwackers double team all the heels. Both Beverlys eat the battering ram. The Rockers double dropkick the Nasys. The heels regroup on the floor. Reset with Shawn and Blake. They have an OK back and forth. Knobbs tackles Luke off the second rope and eliminates him. Shawn gets a crossbody off the top rope on Saggs for 2. Janetty armdrags Saggs around. Commentary spends almost 5 straight minutes hyping Tuesday in Texas instead of calling the match. Janetty flips over Beau and hits him with a superkick for 2. Then they have a nasty midring collision that I don't know what the hell it was supposed to be. But I doubt that. The Beverlys fit their finisher on Luke and the Bushwackers are mercifully gone. Janetty whips out a hurricanrana and enzuguri. He's trying. The wrestling is mostly OK but it's one of those matches where there's no flow. It's all disjointed. Shitty shows have a tendency to drag everyone down. Shawn gets a backslide on Beau to eliminate him but goes Rocker in peril after. Commentary thinks Janetty's not trying very hard to tag in. Saggs tries to throw Shawn out, but Shawn lands on the apron and dropkicks Saggs out. But doesn't tag. Instead, he hits a nice flying clothesline off the apron to the floor! Then superkicks Knobbs. He tries to come off the top but Saggs hits him on the way down. Finally he counters a backdrop and tags. Janetty does a nice flippydo rollup on Blake for 2. The heels wear him down and now Janetty's Rocker in peril. He gets his knees up on a dive and crawls over to tag Shawn. The Rockers use the Nastys to make a Blake sandwich. Janetty picks Saggs up to slam him, but Saggs' boot catches Shawn in the face and Knobbs rolls him up to eliminate him. Shawn and Janetty have a heated discussion. Heenan plugs the recent issue of WWF Magazine that has an "exclusive report" on tension between the Rockers. (I remember that issue. One of my two late childhood/early teens magazine subscriptions: WWF Magazine and Nintendo Power.) Shawn finally leaves. Janetty tries to put up a fight, including hitting an awesome high spot with a dive off the top rope onto both Nastys on the floor, but in the end the heels are to much. SURVIVORS: The Nasty Boys and Blake Beverly. Just a few weeks after this Janetty would be making his fateful trip through the Barber Shop window. The match had some nice Rocker high spots and built up the breakup well, but that's about it. *1/2

WWF Tag Team Champions The Legion of Doom and The Big Boss Man def The Natural Disasters and Irwin R Schyster in 15:21- This gets the main event slot instead of the title match because it was still standing WWF policy to always send the crowd home happy (a policy that would thankfully unofficially end the following Royal Rumble when Flair won the title). Boss Man and IRS start. Is this the first time, in a non-gimmick match, that two wrestlers with button up shirts faced each other? Boss Man shows off his underrated speed and agility by sliding under IRS's legs, dragging him down from the apron, then trying to go up to the top rope but slips. He recovers to do the Baron Corbin style slide out of and around the corner. Quake tags in and he wants Animal. I'll say this, if nothing else having LOD out there just about woke the crowd back up. Animal tries a crossbody but Quake catches him and gives him a backbreaker. Animal dodges a big splash and works the power moves. Hawk press slams IRS into Typhoon. Typhoon catches him, but Hawk dropkicks them both down. The faces work on Typhoon in the corner while the ref is distracted. Quake slips IRS his briefcase. He pops Boss Man with it and eliminates him. The Disasters double team Animal. Quake hits a belly to belly suplex for 2. Typhoon goes for an avalanche, but Animal gets a boot up, clotheslines out of the corner, and tags. The heels double team Hawk and IRS goes for another briefcase shot, but Hawk ducks and Typhoon gets it instead. Hawk pins him and he's gone. Quake is furious at IRS. He helps Typhoon up and leaves with him, leaving IRS to die. IRS dodges a charge and Hawk posts his shoulder. He throws Hawk out and into the stairs. They have a really ugly botched midring collision, yet another one on this show. What was in the water in Detroit? Hawk reverses a suplex and tags. Animal hits a powerslam, LOD double clothesline, and IRS rolls out. He tries to walk but Boss Man comes back and forces him back to the ring. Animal suplexes him from the apron back in, Hawk hits the clothesline off the top, and we're done. No Doomsday Device? For a WWF match this was awfully generic. No one hit any signature stuff at all. SURVIVORS: The Legion of Doom *

Mooney is in the back. He's just come from Hogan's dressing room, and though Hogan didn't want to appear on camera he promises to brother brother at Tuesday in brother. Brother. Then we go to Mean Gene. He's in the boiler room with Taker and Bearer, who are probably thinking this might be a nice place to have a match in one day. They say Hulkamania died tonight, and Tuesday in Texas will be its funeral/burial. Taker closes the coffin lid on the camera and the show ends with Undertaker's Dong. Pretty good ending actually. Would have really worked on weekly TV.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- WWF's streak of really good PPVs in '91 comes to a screeching halt. If it wasn't for the superb opening match and the historical significance of the Hogan/Taker/Flair WWF title situation we'd be in worst PPVs of all time territory. It became clear halfway through the show that this major PPV only existed to try to sell the experimental PPV the following week. It was so bad even Heenan and Monsoon mostly checked out the second half of the show.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D

Great American Bash '90

Legacy Review

Great American Bash '90

July 7, 1990 from the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, MD

Commentary: Jim Ross and Bob Caudle

Welcome to what is by far the biggest and most important show put on so far under the WCW banner, featuring the injury-delayed coronation of Sting as the Next Big Thing.

Tonight is the PPV debut of the famous early '90s WCW raised platform entrance ramp. As many awful ideas as Jim Herd had, I've always kinda liked that.

Flyin' Brian def "Nature Boy" Buddy Landel in 9:29- If Terry Taylor is Ric Flair Lite as a wrestler, Landell is Flair Lite in appearance with a fraction of the talent. Pillman's music doesn't start until he's halfway down the ramp. Landell tries to intimidate Pillman but he has none of it. Chop exchange in the corner. Pillman with a springboard reverse crossbody off the second rope for 2. A couple of dropkicks send Landell out. Landell: "You want some more of me, boy?" and he poses badly for the camera. Heel 101 hair pulls and taunt & hide spots from Landell. Pillman tries another springboard crossbody but Landell catches him in midair and gives him a backbreaker. Most of the second half of the match is Landell in control, Pillman gets some hope juice in, Landell shuts it down. Pillman gets a jumping crossbody but Landell reverses it for 2. Pillman goes up and hits the crossbody off the top rope for the win. Way too much Landell to be good, but at least Pillman got enough in to keep it almost interesting. It's a slightly better version of Pillman's match with Bill Irwin at GAB '89. *1/2

"Captain" Mike Rotunda def The Iron Sheik in 6:46- Sheiky Baby with the usual ISIS-Gun ambush with the flagpole before the bell. He works his early '80s heel offense until Rotunda comes back with a sunset flip. Straight up chop exchange. Rotunda gets a face full of boot spike. Sheik gutwrench suplex for 2. Sheik goes through a bit of a suplex showcase, albeit a very slow one, for more near falls. Rotunda blocks a move and gets a backslide to win. If I hadn't been staring at a clock the whole time I'd have thought that was 20 minutes long. 1/2*

Doug Furnas def "Dirty" Dutch Mantel in 11:18- Furnas was another in the line of powerlifters/strongmen turned wrestlers, but unlike guys like Ted Arcidi or Bill Kazmaier he actually had some athletic ability instead of just being a giant muscle. Mantel walks Furnas through some basic sequences, bumping big off shoulderblocks. Loooooooooong delay press slam from Furnas. He goes for mounted punches on Mantell then backflips off the top rope onto his feet just because. Mantell dodges a splash attempt of the top rope to take over and works some basic holds. JR starts talking about football more than usual, a sure sign he's checked out. Furnas with a couple of big strong boi kickouts that Mantell flies across half the ring on. Mantell uses one arm to hold a sort of armbar, and has a handful of tights in the other. Not sure what the leverage advantage is there. Furnas comes back with a powerslam. A belly to belly suplex gets the 3. Way too long for what they were doing. Furnas wouldn't do anything of note in WCW, but would go on to form a tag team with Philip Lafon that would become huge in All Japan and ECW. *

Harley Race def "Wildfire" Tommy Rich in 6:32- This is Race's return to WCW to kick off his farewell tour, starting off with this rematch of the infamous 1981 NWA world title changes in the Georgia territories. Race is still wearing the King gear made for his WWF run. JR jokingly asks if he's a fan of the Sacramento Kings. Fast start. Rich hits some shoulderblocks, Race stops it with a clothesline. Race's shoulder is posted. Rich works him over a bit before Race counters with the classic Harley Race high knee. Or as well as he can do it by now anyway. Rich does a crazy oversell of a piledriver. The Rock is watching that and thinks that was too over the top. Race suplexes him on the entrance ramp. Back in Race obviously positions himself and Rich sends him over the top and out. Rich suplexes him back in. Race counters with a belly to belly and a swinging neckbreaker. Rich scoops him up for a slam, but they're by the ropes and both go tumbling over and out. Getting back in, Rich hits a crossbody off the top rope, but Race reverses it to win. Race was clearly trying, but it's a textbook example of a wrestler hanging on too long. He'd continue to wrestle on the house show circuit and weekly TV through the fall until a shoulder injury finally forced him to hang it up for good and move on to managing. 3/4*

NWA United States Tag Team Championship: The Midnight Express (c) (w/Jim Cornette) def The Southern Boys in 18:14- The Southern Boys came into WCW as a house on fire after cutting their teeth in what was left of the Florida and Tennessee territories. They were certainly talented, but are generally not remembered today because there was little to differentiate them from other southern, smaller guy tag teams that had already become stars the previous decade. An ill advised Jim Herd brilliance heel turn in '91 (after changing their name to The Young Pistols) didn't help any. The Midnights, meanwhile, were practically molten lava at this point, dropping 4+ star matches with regularity for nearly two years running, so this should be great. Suzuki-Gun attack by the Express. All four guys brawl on the outside. The Boys recover and get a double backdrop and double tackle on Eaton. Boos from the crowd. Baltimore is not the Southern Boys' home territory. Reset with Eaton and Armstrong. Eaton goes up top early and eats a Flair throw. Armstrong seems to lose his place for a second before hitting Eaton with a clothesline off the top. Sneaky tag by the faces. Double arm wringer on Eaton. Smothers sets up for a powerslam. Eaton counters out of it but eats a superkick. After a second superkick Eaton finally tags out. Lane and Smothers go full Karate Kid for a bit. Lane gets the first shot to a big pop from the crowd but Smothers gets the upper hand. The Express go out to regroup again. Lane tries some mat wrestling but Smothers is one step ahead the whole time on that too. Lane finally eye pokes and tags, but Eaton runs into an armdrag. Smothers flips over the top rope from the apron to the ring then kicks Eaton while he's on the floor. The Express try to work the ref to double team. Smothers dodges them, and both heels walk right into an Armstrong crossbody off the top rope! Quick covers. Double cover! After a double noggin knocker the Express are outside recovering again. Cornette is furious. Smothers tries a roll up but Eaton gets a blind tag to Lane, who throws Smothers over the top and gives him a couple of barricade shots. The crowd is 50/50, leaning toward the Express. The Express start working their patented double teams. Smothers looks to tune up another superkick so Eaton stops it with a clothesline. Alabama Jam! Desperation sunset flip from Smothers for 2. Eaton hits a neckbreaker to another noticeable pop. Smother flips Eaton out of the ring but Lane is ready to cut him off with a clothesline. The Express try a double backdrop, but Smother sunset flips *both* of them, rolls and gets the hot tag! Donnybrook! The Boys hit their finisher (kind of a Hart Attack/Doomsday Device combo, but with a dropkick off the top rope), but the ref chooses trying to restore order over counting. Eaton pushes Armstrong off the top rope. Rocket launcher! But again the ref is slow to count and Armstrong kicks out! The Boys outright cheat and swap without tagging. Smothers rolls Eaton into a small package but Lane breaks it up. The crowd is going nuts. As Smothers runs the ropes Lane kicks him in the back of the head, and Eaton rolls him into a Paul Smackage for the 3! Yup, that was great. The Express could do no wrong in this period, and the Boys held their end up well. ****1/2

Gordon Solie is with the Fabulous Freebirds, who are wearing a disturbing amount of makeup and glitter tonight. It's like they're a test run for Johnny B Badd.

Big Van Vader def "The Z Man" Tom Zenk in 2:16- Smart card placement here after the tag match tore the house down. This is Vader's big WCW debut. He was already a megastar in Japan. In fact (not mentioned on TV), he was at this time the reigning, defending, undisputed IWGP Heavyweight Champion, in the middle of a year long reign with the belt, his second of three runs as champion. Vader appearing here is the continuation of the loose NJPW/WCW alliance that started with The Great Muta's excursion, and would soon blossom into a full blown partnership. Vader's got his cool steam shooting headgear. After dropping the US tag belts and splitting from his team with Pillman, Zenk's already fallen to JTTS status. Vader starts pounding away as soon as he hits the ring. Avalanche! Short arm clothesline. Even with the crowd on the comedown after the last match Vader's getting awesome reactions. As good as you could ask for on a big debut. Zenk ends up on the ramp and Vader lifts him up by the head over the top rope back into the ring. Zenk gets one token dropkick that Vader no sells. Press slam. Suplex. Big splash. Good night. Glorious Vader squash. Vader looked fantastic, and he didn't even whip out his best stuff! * in reality, ***** in my heart.

Solie's with the Horsemen minus Flair. Barry Windham says they're going to take the giant (El Gigante) out tonight then let Sid loose on everyone else. Ole says that Jim Herd thinks he has everything figured out, but he's got a few surprises. Is he talking about the match or the next booking committee meeting? "Jim, I've got a great idea for what to do with Sting after he wins the title. It's called The Black Scorpion....."

The Steiner Brothers def The Fabulous Freebirds in 13:45- The Steiners beat the Freebirds for the world tag titles in the fall of '89 so there's a lot of bad blood here. Another pre-match heel jump. The Freebirds work Scott over still in their glittery overalls. Scott blocks a DDT. Rick gets back in. Steinerlines! The heels retreat but Scott gives them a double clothesline on the floor! Reset with Rick and Garvin and lots of react to the crowd stalling. No 50/50 here. Baltimore hates the Freebirds. Judging by some of the chants the makeup was a pretty big heat getter. Oh, and they're actually wrestling in the glittery overalls. Big backdrop on Garvin, followed by a Steinerline for 2. Garvin's had enough and tags out. Hayes stalls more and tries to hide in the corner but Rick bites his ass. Scott dropkicks both heels out. The Freebirds have a long walk and think. More stalling from Hayes but this time he lures Scott into an ambush. He tries a backdrop, but Scott grabs him and turns it into a double underhook suplex. Hayes wants a time out. Rick catches him in midair on a leapfrog and powerslams him. Garvin tries to ambush Rick from behind off the top rope, but Rick catches him in midair and throws him away! While Rick's running the ropes Garvin gets him in the back with a knee, followed up by the patented Hayes straight left hand that sends Rick outside, and the Freebirds finally get some momentum. Double suplex on the floor. Hayes gets a bulldog for 2. Rick elbows out of a chinlock and tries to slam Garvin, but he reverses it into a cover for 2. Garvin tries coming off the top rope but Rick gets him in the gut on the way down, then comes off the second rope with a kinda bulldogish slam. Tags on both sides. Scott powerslams Hayes, then press slams him into Garvin. Stereo Steinerlines. Frankensteiner! But the ref's distracted. Garvin sneaks in and nails Scott with a DDT. He covers but the ref remembers he's not the legal man! FTR nods in appreciation at the rules being followed. Rick comes in behind the ref and gives Hayes a belly to belly suplex and Scott covers for the win. It started out really slow with all the Freebird stalling, but once they got going it got pretty good. ***

The Dudes With Attitudes def The Four Horsemen by DQ in 12:10- It's Arn Anderson, Barry Windham and Sid Vicious representing the Horsemen. Arn is in the middle of a near year long run as TV champ. He wasn't defending on PPVs because of the focus on the tag division but it was still featured on weekly TV. The Dudes with Attitudes was a loose faction put together by Sting to counter the Horsemen. Representing them in this match are Paul Orndorff, the Junkyard Dog, and in his first PPV match, El Gigante, who's by far the focus of the whole match. He's really tall. Can't wrestle, zero charisma, but by God he's tall. JR's forced to talk about Gigante's native Argentina playing in the World Cup final the next day because Turner is broadcasting it. Arn and Orndorff start. No, Sid wants in. Orndorff tries a sunset flip. Sid pulls him up by the neck. Orndorff dodges a legdrop and takes out all the heels until Sid blocks a hiptoss. Orndorff tries to turn it into a backslide. With JYD's help he does for a 2 count. Orndorff fights out of the heel corner and they have a 3v3 standoff until Gigante says BOO! and the Horsemen scatter. Arn tries to rally the troops but Orndorff pulls him back in. Arn ends up in the face corner and runs away from the tall man. JR is laying it on extra super JR's BBQ sauce thick trying to make Gigante a big f'n deal. Windham eats some JYD headbutts and also runs away from the face corner. Orndorff beats up all the heels by himself again. He loads Arn up for a piledriver but Windham hits him from behind off the top rope. Sid hits a powerslam while Arn and Windham do some classic Horsemen teamwork. Orndorff hits Windham with a back elbow and gets over to tag.....JYD. Why, it's almost as if they don't want Gigante to actually be in the match. Arn does a funny Flair Flop variation off a double noggin knocker. The Horsemen get back control and throw JYD over the top rope. While they're celebrating Gigante sneaks up behind them and gently pushes each of the out of the ring. The ref calls for the DQ for the over the top rope throw. There was good effort from the usual max effort guys (mostly Arn and Windham) but the layout and booking were bass ackwards. They tried to walk the tightrope of getting Gigante over as an unbeatable monster, but without exposing the fact that he was complete and utter shit. Half measures usually lead to half results. Plus, on two separate occasions Orndorff took out the whole heel team by himself, so why did they need the monster anyway? **

NWA United States Heavyweight Championship: "The Total Package" Lex Luger (c) def "Mean" Mark Callous (w/Paul E Dangerously) in 12:10- Great to see Paul E managing again after spending most of the year solely on commentary. Crazy to see Taker as an original Paul Heyman Guy here after the multiple feuds they've had in WWE. It's also crazy to see him in trunks. Arm wringer exchange at the start, followed by a serviceable mat wrestling sequence. Luger gets an armdrag and Callous does heel 101 bitching about a phantom hair pull. Paul E: "He's a football player, he's not supposed to wrestle that good!". Even in his throwaway lines you can find layers of meaning. Callous with a couple of, as JR would describe them many years later, carcinogenic right hands. They turn it up a notch and Luger hits a crossbody for 2. Paul E is on the phone with Murray for advice. Luger works an armbar. Callous tries to roll out but Luger hangs on. They have what looks like a couple of botches on a rope run/punch or clothesline sequence but Callous recovers with a big boot to Luger. Luger does his favorite missing a dive and flying over the top rope spot. Paul E distracts the ref while Callous rams Luger's head into almost every available ringside object. Luger comes back with a sunset flip for 2. Slugfest. Callous counters a backdrop and hits a suplex. Luger pops right back up and no sells the hell out of it. OK then. Clotheslines. Luger gets Callous up in the torture rack but Callous' boot makes contact with the ref's head. Paul E runs in and whacks Luger with the phone. Callous covers, the ref crawls over and Luger JUST gets a shoulder up in time. Callous sets up for the heart punch. Luger counters it with a boot in the face, hits one clothesline, and that's good enough to win. Borderline serviceable, and it could have been better. Callous' inexperience showed in a few spots, and while Luger wasn't dogging it, he didn't look particularly interested in going the extra mile to help get the youngster over either. Partially on the strength of this match Vince was convinced to steal Callous away in the fall, give him the Undertaker gimmick, and the rest is wrestling history. **1/4

NWA World Tag Team Championship: Doom (c) (w/Teddy Long) def The Rock N Roll Express in 15:40- Pure clash of styles here. Gibson and Simmons start. Simmons compares physiques and offers Gibson the chance to walk away. The lockups are, unsurprisingly, all Simmons. Gibson cranks on the jets, jukes, dodges a corner charge and rolls Simmons up for 2. Then Gibson shows some power by slamming Reed and planting an elbow between his eyes. Reed responds by running Morton over with shoulderblocks. The RNR get some double teams in but the AXS guys must be on the cameras again because they miss half of it. Reed kills Gibson with a clothesline. Simmons with a slam and huge legdrop. He's looking really crisp tonight. Doom taunts Morton in to throw Gibson over the top and out. He comes back in with a sunset flip for 2. Reed hits a swinging neckbreaker. Gibson counters a backdrop attempt with a kneelift and rolls over to get the tag. Morton tries a sleeper but Simmons comes in and breaks it up. Morton rolls up Reed. Simmons comes in and flat out murders Morton with a clothesline in the back of his head and we're in classic Ricky Morton takes a beating mode. Reed gets an elbow off the second rope for 2. The heels work Gibson and the ref to give Morton some shots on the outside, including one from Long. Reed goes for a big splash. Morton gets his knees up and crawls over for the tag. Not much from the crowd on this one. They've been flipping between hot and cold all night long, no in the middle. Gibson does a nice slide under Simmons' legs and tries to roll him up but Reed breaks it up. Donnybrook. Gibson hits an enzuguri on Reed and the momentum sends him crashing into Long, who was on the apron. Gibson drags Long in and starts to beat on him, allowing Reed to get up top, hit a flying shouldertackle, and get the pin. It was fine, but felt like something was missing. **3/4

No DQ Match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Sting (w/The Dudes With Attitudes) def "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (c) (w/Ole Anderson) in 16:06- The Dudes are acting like lumberjacks, but to keep the Horsemen out instead of the wrestlers in. Ole Anderson spends the match handcuffed to El Gigante to make absolutely sure he doesn't interfere. Epic pyro waterfall entrance for Sting. He's fully decked out in red, white and blue. All through the prelims Sting is raring to go. He wins the early lockups. WOOOOOO!/Sting yell exchange. The crowd is alive again, big time. Sting no sells the early chops and hits a press slam. Flair tries to roll out but the Steiners stop him. After a dropkick Flair rolls onto the ramp to clear his head. Another chop no sell and Flair backs off. Sting hiptosses him on the ramp and clotheslines him over the top and back in. Flair begs off and gets an eye poke to slow Sting down. Snap mare/knee drop combo. Delayed suplex. Sting pops right back up. Clotheslines and a crossbody for 2. Flair teases a test of strength but uses Sting looking up to go down and kicks his surgically repaired knee. Sting comes back with a clothesline out of the corner but Flair dodges the follow up elbow drop. He goes for the figure four but Sting powers out. Another WOOOOO/yell exchange with Flair looking almost crazed. He takes his time diving back in and you can see the wheels turning. More big chops and he throws Sting onto the ramp. More kicks to the knee. Sting's limping and Flair smells blood. He goes for another kneedrop, but Sting dodges and hooks in his own figure four! Flair quickly gets to the rope. He pulls Sting outside and runs him into the guardrail. Another no sell. Flair goes into full begging mode. He goes up top but Sting throws him off. Blocked hiptoss/backslide spot for 2. While Sting's questioning the count Flair kicks his leg out of his leg again. Another figure four attempt, and again Sting pushes out before it's fully on. Flair lays in some wear down chops. Sting's chest is a red and blue mess. Flair makes the mistake of slapping Sting's face. He starts hulking up and asks for more! Press slam 2. Long 2 count off a clothesline. Flair Flip! Sting clotheslines him as he's coming across the apron! Suplex back in for 2. Stinger Splash! Flair Flop! Sting gets the Scorpion Death Lock on! The Horsemen try to run in but the Dudes stop them. Flair's fighting and crawling and makes it to the ropes. He was in the Scorpion longer than probably anyone to this point without submitting. Flair hits a shoulder to the gut off the apron, then slides into a cover with his feet on the ropes for leverage. But Scott Steiner pushes his feet off before 3 and Sting kicks out! Sting tries a running high knee in the corner, but Flair dodges and Sting knees the top turnbuckle. Flair goes for the figure four again, clearly thinking it's over, but Sting grabs him, rolls up a Paul Smackage, and gets the 3 and the title! Massive pop and celebration. This was the biggest world title change in the NWA/WCW since Flair's win over Harley Race at the first Starrcade in '83. The match was a bit short for a Flair main event, and as great as Sting already was he was still developing and learning, and still shaking off post-injury ring rust, and it showed a little in the main event spotlight. Really very good and a wonderful moment, but not peak Flair/Sting. ***3/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- The deepest tag division in wrestling history was still carrying the bulk of the show, but that would start to change in the second half of the year as the division slowly started to thin out from both injuries and departures. All the worst aspects of Jim Herd's management would start to really take hold the next few months. Every wrestling fan needs to watch this world title change at least once.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B