WCW Halloween Havoc 1992

Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton & Michael Hayes vs Tom Zenk, Shane Douglas & Johnny Gunn

Neat little six man opener. Being in Philadelphia, the heel team get cheered on their every move whilst the faces are met with a chorus of boos. Unsurprisingly with this line-up, the match flows really well. Some neat pairings here, Douglas meshing really nicely with Eaton, hitting him with a lovely flying headscissors. Both teams use quick tags to start, with the neatest being Arn tagging himself in while Zenk has Eaton in the air for an atomic drop, allowing him to level the Z-Man with a sneaky clothesline. Eaton takes out Douglas’s leg with a big clip, and delightfully Arn is all over it. He locks in a figure four with Hayes helping with leverage from the apron. It all breaks down as the hot tag is made to Gunn, and in the melee he nails a Thesz Press on Hayes to get the win. Fun match.

Ricky Steamboat vs Brian Pillman

Really good match here, which is still short enough to leave you wanting a future rematch. Loved how this opened, Steamboat lights up Pillman with some stiff chops, which Pillman seems happy to replicate. They go into a nice sequence that ends with a skin-the-cat and Steamboat hitting a trademark armdrag. Steamboat plays up his rare power advantage, grabbing Pillman by the throat and holding him in the air. Loved how Pillman locked on his sleeper as the smaller man, just yanking Steamboat by the neck as he runs the ropes, then leaping onto his back to put all his weight onto Steamer. Pillman heels it up nicely, cowering off and luring Steamboat from the ring, which leads to a nice moment as he knees Steamboat in the face entering the ropes. Moments later this happens again, but this time Steamboat avoids the knee and leg sweeps Pillman to the mat. Loved it. We get a series of roll-ups and Steamboat manages to hold Pillman down for the win. This was some lovely stuff.

Vader vs Nikita Koloff

Vader is defending the US title on behalf of Rick Rude, and I liked how Ventura on commentary highlighted this disadvantage to Koloff, preparing for a very different opponent. Vader is all over Koloff, mauling him from the get go, but then poses giving Nikita a chance to come back, hitting a rare crossbody for two. Vader still controls the bulk of this, battering Nikita outside the ring, and hitting a chokeslam inside that sees Koloff land awkwardly. Koloff gets a little shine, hitting a shoulderblock and an impressive slam, but like an idiot he tries the Russian Sickle on the floor with Vader stood against a ringpost. Surprise – he clotheslines the steel and gets thrown back inside to eat a powerbomb for the Vader win.

Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes vs Steve Austin & Steve Williams

Austin was subbed in here to replace Terry Gordy, who was fired that same morning for a contract dispute. Yet even with the heel team being thrown together, this was really good stuff. Rhodes and Austin already have really good chemistry from their 1991 feud, and Austin and Williams seem to gel more and more as the match continues. There’s a lot to love here, really dug Dustin breaking a Williams wristlock by leaping over the top to the floor, snapping Williams’s arm over the top rope. This is pretty even stuff until Windham gets wiped out with a flying clothesline from Williams. The heat on Windham is really fun, lots of hefty blows being dished out. Loved Windham blocking a superplex and nailing a big top rope clothesline to tag in Dustin. Rhodes swiftly becomes face-in-peril after Williams clotheslines him behind the refs back. Williams then bends Rhodes in half with a nasty looking Boston Crab. Austin hits a rare powerslam on Dustin that looks great, but then the call of “5 minutes left” comes up and suddenly the pressure is on the heels to win. We get a false finish, as the heels throw Dustin out of the ring after a ref bump and pin Windham, but the original ref reverses the decision and continues the match. The match goes on two minutes and ends as a time limit draw. Really neat stuff, basically putting four 5* punchers in one match, and the result was a fun, hard-hitting half hour that flew by.

Rick Rude vs Masahiro Chono

This is for Chono’s NWA title, and it’s a direct contrast to the previous match. Whereas the tag match is 30 mins that flies by, this is 22 minutes that drags to fuck. There are two refs, Harley Race inside the ring (calling it down the middle, surprisingly) and Kensuke Sasaki on the floor. There are bits of good in here – Chono snaps Rude to the mat with a sudden back suplex, Rude hits some nice big blows early on, but there’s a lot of very dull matwork that goes nowhere. There’s no fight over it, just two guys who should do better putting on holds slowly. You can hear the crowd audibly deflate when Chono locks on a sleeper. Nice little bit of psychology with Rude hurting his back after hitting a missile dropkick, before Chono accidentally hits Race with a Yakuza Kick. Rude is thrown outside the ring onto Sasaki, meaning that no-one makes a count when he nails the Rude Awakening inside the ring. Chono locks on the STF and Sasaki recovers to call the sub, but Race reverses the decision to DQ Chono. Doesn’t matter, Rude doesn’t get the belt either way, and a screwy finish is the final nail in the coffin of the crowd giving a shit. Awful stuff.

Ron Simmons vs the Barbarian

I’m a big fan of both guys, but I’d heard this was one of the worst WCW title matches. I’d say that was a bit of hyperbole, to be honest, this isn’t that bad. They work a nice power battle early, exchanging shoulderblocks and clotheslines without a winner. Loved Simmons beating Barbarian down with a series of double sledges, hammering him in the face. Barb takes over after dropping Simmons neckfirst over the rope and clotheslining him against the ringpost. Barb misses the ropewalk elbow and Simmons shows nice energy as he hits a series of clotheslines and shoulderblocks. Barbarian gets two after hitting the top rope headbutt, looked really good as he leapt across the ring, before Simmons gets the win from nowhere with a powerslam. This was perfectly decent power wrestling from two great power wrestlers.

Sting vs Jake “the Snake” Roberts

This is a Coal Miner’s Glove match after the whole “Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal” debacle. Roberts distracts Sting to start, and tries to climb the pole quickly, but is stopped. Coy opening, with neither seeming too keen to commit, weighing their opponent up. Loved Roberts doing a cocky little pose after Sting misses a dropkick, before hitting a bunch of knees to the spine. They looked great. Roberts hurts his arm on the ringpost, and I loved that Sting zeroes in on it, using it as his focal point. Clumsy spot with Jake supposedly hitting a kneelift, but selling it like he’d missed and both guys remain down. Ventura, bless him, covers for them both by claiming Jake’s momentum went against him. Roberts hits the DDT, but with the bad arm, meaning he can’t capitalise as quickly as he should, giving Sting a feasible way to recover. Sting goes for the glove, Jake goes for his cobra, and Sting hits Jake from behind, causing him to fall face first into the snake, who bites him as Sting gets the cover. Have to admit that’s an innovative ending, even though it looks a bit shit. Not as bad a match as I’d feared, it’s all logical, some nice selling and I kinda enjoyed it.

WCW Clash of the Champions XX

Steve Austin vs Ricky Steamboat

Really dug this, and it’s a situation where a good logical bit of storytelling enhanced an already great match. This is for Austin’s TV title, and it’s no DQ with Paul Heyman held in a cage over the ring for good measure. Straight away, when I noticed Heyman taking his phone into the cage, alarm bells started ringing in my head. “That’s the match ending right there then” I thought “Heyman throws the phone to Austin, who clonks Steamboat with it for the win”. It was nice to be proved wrong. Loved Heyman spending the national anthem giving Austin last minute tips. Austin starts off by going for Steamboat’s injured ribs, the bandages giving him a big target to aim for. Austin continues his attack, hitting some backbreakers and then locking in an abdominal stretch, clawing away at Steamboat’s midsection. I liked that, even though Steamboat had to work from beneath, he didn’t spend the whole match on defence, still getting in his fair share of offence, but with the injury giving Austin a focal point to cut Steamboat off. The rib injury doesn’t mean Steamboat can’t do anything, it just means he’s a bit slower each time. The end sees the stipulations used in a clever way, as Steamboat skins the cat, only for Austin to smash him back out with an elbow to the face, not drawing a DQ thanks to the rules. Steamboat crawls under the ring and goes to the top ropes on the opposite side. Without Heyman there to warn him, Austin turns around into a top rope crossbody to give Steamboat the win and the title. Great opener.

Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton vs Greg Valentine & Dick Slater

Interestingly, this is worked as heel vs heel, with both teams cheating and fighting dirty. Both team try two-on-one attacks early, and I loved Anderson and Eaton getting Valentine in their corner, simultaneously hammering him with punches to the face from inside the ring and punches to the back of the head from the apron. As neither team are sympathetic, they don’t bother with prolonged heat sections, so we get nice back and forth action. Eaton nails Slater with a beautiful right hand on the floor. Everything breaks down, and Valentine gets accidentally hit by manager Larry Zbyszko with a cane, allowing Eaton to hit a second rope Alabama Jam for the win.

Ron Simmons vs Cactus Jack

This is for Simmons’ world title. Fun brawl here, loved Cactus using some early misdirection on a rope run to hit Simmons with a big flying headbutt. Simmons looks great on offence, him hammering down Cactus in the corner looked really good, a full energy beatdown. Jack wears down Simmons with clotheslines, then successfully stops Simmons when he tries to make comebacks. There’s an odd spot when Cactus seemingly tries to sunset flip Simmons, and Simmons hits a quasi-Northern Lights suplex for two. Jack hits a powerslam on the floor, followed by the diving elbow, but Simmons quickly rebounds with a spinebuster and a powerslam for the win. Bit of a no-sell by Simmons at the end there.

Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes vs Butch Reed & The Barbarian

Reed is a mystery partner for Barb here. Dustin takes an insane corner bump early, flying into the post so hard that he lands 2-3 metres away from the ring. The heels wear down Dustin nicely, headbutts to the torso, backbreakers  and some big meaty Barbarian elbows. Rhodes builds nicely to the hot tag, getting a few little hope spots in the run up to tagging Windham in. Windham runs through the heels with a huge lariat and superplex on Barbarian, but he gets distracted by Reed, and Barbarian boots him in the face for the win. Could have gone a bit longer as the heat on Rhodes was slightly truncated, but I enjoyed this.

Vader, Rick Rude, Super Invader & Jake Roberts vs Sting, Nikita Koloff & the Steiner Brothers

This is an elimination match, and it’s a decent main event. The Vader/Rick Steiner face off is surprisingly fun, a battle of the big lads throwing bombs. Steiner hitting an unlikely belly-to-belly suplex was really neat. The problem is that the match may well be a bit too short, with a heat section on Scott being pretty short due to having to fit in all the eliminations. Nikita is the first to go, rolled up by Jake after colliding with Rude, then Invader quickly follows after a Sting bulldog. The Steiners continue to look great against Vader, with Rick hitting a German suplex on Vader. However, the Steiners end up looking like idiots on both their eliminations. First Scott comes off the top with an attempt at a top rope clothesline, but Rick obviously can’t hold Vader on his shoulders, so it looks crap and Scott gets DQ’d for breaking the top rope rule. Rick ends up on the floor, and eats a Rude Awakening, causing him to get counted out, and leaving Sting 3-on-1. Sting looks great as the fired up babyface, not backing down and cowering away, but instead is all fight, taking it to the heels. The end though, it’s pretty off. Sting suplexes Rude, but Vader hits a top rope splash, killing both Sting and Rude, getting himself DQ’d. Rude is as dead as Sting, so Jake drags him to the corner, tags in and hits the DDT on Sting for the final fall. Vader getting himself DQ’d and killing his partner in the same move made him look a bit dumb, but the overall match was fun.

WCW Great American Bash 1992

Deciding to take on so many different projects in the past year has meant that I've slacked on writing up my favourite year in wrestling history: 1992 WCW. Even more criminal when you consider that I've taken too long to get to this show - arguably this is the best PPV of all time. Seven matches, and the worst match is merely "decent". 

Jushin Liger & Brian Pillman vs Ricky Steamboat & Nikita Koloff

Really fun match, worked really evenly with momentum shifting quickly between the two teams. It’s worked really nicely though, as both teams use quick tags to justify the momentum switches, and I like little touches like Liger sprinting for his corner first chance he gets when he’s been in trouble. Really fun to see Steamboat working big against two light heavyweights. He blasts Pillman with a big clothesline, nails a string of backbreakers on Liger before planting him with a big powerslam. Some really nice offensive runs here too, at one point Liger hits Steamboat with a perfect moonsault, a tombstone and a flip senton, getting a close two off each move. The end sees Steamboat roll through a Pillman crossbody to win.

Hiroshi Hase & Shinya Hashimoto vs the Freebirds

A bit of a styles clash, but an interesting one. This feels a bit like a battle of the interesting strikes, as Hashimoto nails a lot of nasty looking kicks, Hayes nails a load of fun punches and Hase has a range of chops. Loved the gutbuster Hase hits. Hayes hits a pair of beautiful left hands to make the hot tag, but Garvin gets caught with a sneaky Hashimoto behind the ref’s back, and Hase hits the Northern Lights to win.

Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes vs Steve Austin & Rick Rude

This is such a great match. What you really have here is four guys absolutely on top of their game putting on a classic tag match, including a really great heat section. All four guys put in some really solid looking blows, but it’s not just the execution that makes them so good, but the timing. They all pick the exact right time to hit each other for maximum effect. Early on, Windham belts Austin across the face, leading to a terrific sell as Austin throws himself out of the ring. You know a match is fun when Austin and Rhodes manage to work a fun little section based around an abdominal stretch. The heat is worked on Windham, including an unlikely Rude missile dropkick. Loved how close Windham got to making the tag on multiple occasions, and when he falls back and finally makes the tag, both the crowd and Dustin just explode. Things break down and Dustin hits a massive top rope lariat on Austin to win. This was a belter.

Steve Williams & Terry Gordy vs Nikita Koloff & Ricky Steamboat

This was really neat, loved the opening stages with all four guys going to the mat, especially as Steamboat and Koloff equit themselves admirably. MVC have the advantage of having not wrestled previously this show, and they both have a power advantage over Steamboat which starts to slowly manifest. Though they match up evenly, gradually the power moves wear Steamboat down, and a running charge into the corner damages his ribs, giving a focal point for Williams to hit with a huge backbreaker. When Steamboat makes the tag to Nikita, he’s not even able to stand on the apron, and when Koloff misses a shoulderblock, you know they’re in big trouble. More heat is worked on Koloff, who gets to tag in Steamboat only for Williams to catch him from the top rope and hit an Oklahoma Stampede version of a spinebuster for the win.

Dustin Rhodes & Barry Windham vs Hiroshi Hase & Shinya Hashimoto

Another match that started with really nice matwork, it’s really neat watching guys like Dustinand Windham showing what they can do. Loved how a lot of the reversals felt natural, all stemming from shifts in body position and leverage. Rhodes becomes the face in peril, gradually getting worn down by Hashimoto kicks until you realise too late that he’s in trouble. Hase and Hashimoto work a fun heat on him until Hase misses a top rope knee drop for the hot tag. Lovely ending sees Hase lose attention of who the legal man is, and get blasted with a Windham lariat as he runs the ropes with Rhodes. Very good stuff.

Big Van Vader vs Sting

This was a great example of a champion putting over his challenger in an absolutely dominating fashion, whilst still keeping himself strong. Vader is allowed to totally dominate Sting in large sections of the match, blasting him in the corner at the start, no-selling a clothesline and a crossbody, whilst later in the match he even puts Sting in his own finisher, the Scorpion Deathlock. Loved how he applied it too, hooking up one of Sting’s legs, then grabbing the other as Sting used it to bat him away. Yet despite this, Sting is still able to look strong in defeat. His offensive flurries look great, full of energy, and he gets to show off remarkable strength. Nice suplex, big back suplex and an impressive Samoan Drop all look great, and Sting sells the exhaustion nicely each time. Even though Vader is dominant, Sting looks to have it won twice: a German suplex only gets two due to a ref bump, whilst it’s when Sting is in control that he loses it by accident. A Stinger Splash hits Vader, but Sting hits his head on the ringpost. From here, Sting is out on his feet and a powerbomb gives Vader the win. Really terrific bout.

Steve Williams & Terry Gordy vs Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes

This is the third 20-odd minute match for Windham and Rhodes on this show, and it’s to their credit that they don’t look exhausted throughout here. The opening is pretty even and they don’t show obvious signs of fatigue. The giveaway is how it gets easier and easier for Williams and Gordy to take control of whichever opponent is in the ring. This is a bout with three face-in-peril sections, yet as with the Sting/Vader match, you still feel like the faces could win the match. Loved how fired up Windham was when he makes his hot tag, hitting a lovely lariat on Gordy and a beautiful floatover suplex on Williams. It’s also worth noting how both teams make use of ring positioning to their advantages and in totally natural ways. Gordy makes a tag by flinging his arms backward whilst in a sleeper, letting Williams attack an unsuspecting Dustin unawares, whilst Rhodes later makes a hot tag by stretching his long frame when taken down with a drop toehold. Towards the end, Dustin takes the hot tag and is put in peril in mere seconds, showing the control Williams and Gordy have on the match. There’s a great nearfall as Barry dropkicks Rhodes on top of Williams during a Stampede attempt, but Williams soon turns Dustin 360 degrees with a clothesline for the win. Superb stuff.

WCW Beach Blast 1992

So, it turns out that I'm incapable of reading dates properly (blame the American date style on the WWE Network), and this event actually occurred before the Clash that I reviewed last year. (albeit only by 2 days). If you read that, just pretend you read this first...

Scotty Flamingo vs Brian Pillman

This is for Pillman’s light-heavyweight title, and is in that period where top rope moves were banned in WCW. Thus, this isn’t quite the highflying affair Pillman’s bouts with Liger or Zenk were. Instead, a lot of this is mat based, with Pillman in particular working over the arm of Flamingo. Indeed, it’s when he forgets the top rope rule that things go awry, as he goes up only to remember he can’t do anything and Flamingo throws him off. Flamingo’s control isn’t particularly flashy, and instead sees him trying to wear down Pillman. No danger of any face pops for Flamingo. Pillman seems to find it hard to make any comebacks, as Flamingo always seems able to cut him off. A snap powerslam and a handful of tights get a close nearfall for Scotty. Pillman does make a comeback, but crashes and burns as he tries a crossbody to the ramp, as Flamingo moves causing him to face plant on the walkway. This costs Pillman massively, as a shitty kneedrop catches him crawling back in and Flamingo picks up the clean title win. Bit of a shocker, but a decent bout. Going 15+ minutes was maybe a bit much for Flamingo, but they just about pulled it off.

Ron Simmons vs Taylor Made Man

Bit more of a sprint here, they cut a quick tempo from the off. A nice early sequence establishes both men’s role in the bout – Taylor throws Simmons through the ropes to the ramp by suckering him in and grabbing the tights, whilst Simmons is able to bounce back with his explosive power, press slamming Taylor back into the ring. This explosiveness does cost Simmons, however, as Taylor avoids a big charge, and Simmons flies through the ropes to the ramp. Taylor works some heat on Ron, but gets caught in a spinebuster, and from there is powerless to stop Simmons blitzing him with power moves, culminating in a powerslam for three. Quick little match, but one that told a decent story – Simmons was the explosive, stronger athlete that Taylor needed to use his cunning to beat, but when Simmons got on a roll, he was unstoppable.

Greg Valentine vs Marcus Bagwell

Nice competitive squash for Valentine, basically telling the story of grizzled veteran outsmarting and outworking the rookie. Valentine doesn’t go easy on the younger man, blocking a hiptoss with a clothesline that gives a nice thud. Bagwell gets a small flurry, but misses a kneedrop that gives Valentine a focal point for his offence. Valentine is all over the leg, setting up for the figure four. I liked the manner of Bagwell’s comeback, as rather than Valentine missing a move a Bagwell being fine, Bagwell is slow to recover and has to keep countering Valentine’s moves. However, Bagwell jars the leg on a leapfrog and Valentine locks in the figure four to win.

Cactus Jack vs Sting

Proper good brawl here, both guys go all out here with a real high tempo. Sting controls early on, but his excitable manner causes problems as he goes for a Stinger Splash too early, hitting the ropes as Jack moves. A lot of this match is fought on the floor, with a Jack neckbreaker giving a big thud and a sunset flip being a ludicrous bump. Like Jack locking in a body scissors to hurt Sting’s ribs, with the commentary highlighting how Sting had hurt his ribs fighting Vader. Sting’s comeback of a sudden back suplex on the concrete looked nasty, and it felt like a plausible desperation comeback. Jack misses a diving elbow, and Sting hits a diving clothesline to the ramp to win.

Rick Rude vs Ricky Steamboat

This is a 30 minute ironman bout, and it’s really fucking great. Steamboat hits Rude with a gutbuster from the get-go, and from that point on Rude is struggling with his ribs. Steamboat works over these ribs for the next 8 minutes, constant focus with some nice looking strikes and a really high angle Boston crab. Then, fantastically, Rude catches him with a knee to the face on a corner charge, and is able to pin him for the first fall. Just felt like a believable knockout blow and it changes the flow of the bout. Rude nails a quick Rude Awakening to go 2-0 up. Loved Rude hitting a top rope kneedrop, which earns him a DQ, but gives him an easy fall to go 3-1 ahead. Rude wisely goes to a Camel Clutch to kill off some time, the wrestling equivalent of a footballer playing the ball into the corner towards the end of a game. Rude goes for a tombstone, but Steamboat is able to reverse it and pick up a fall for 3-2. Great reversal, as Steamboat makes it look like a real struggle, forcing Rude backwards with his legs and powering into the reversal. Best I’ve seen that move look. Suddenly, Steamboat gets a backslide and evens up the falls 3-3. Both guys looks like they’re struggling at this point, every move feels like it could end the bout. A Steamboat attempt at the Rude Awakening sees Rude need to put his foot on the rope to survive. Rude locks on a sleeper, really good one as he forces Steamboat to hold his body weight for several minutes. Not a part of Rude’s body is touching the mat. Steamboat is almost gone with less than 90 seconds to go, but is able to get to his feet and we get the Hart/Piper reversal to give Steamboat the lead with less than a minute left. Rude is frantic, hitting repeat clotheslines to try and get an evener, but Steamboat survives and wins. Such a great ending, so exciting and that’s considering it’s a sleeper held for several minutes. Really terrific bout.

Bobby Eaton, Steve Austin & Arn Anderson vs Nikita Koloff, Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes

Fun 6 man tag, which provides a nice change of pace between two 30 minute matches. Ole Anderson is the referee here. The faces dominate the early goings – loved Windham’s Japanese armdrag from the turnbuckles, almost looked like a proto-Spanish Fly – until Arn rams Dustin’s head into Eaton’s to take control. Loved how this also put Eaton out of commission for a moment, meaning Arn had to tag in Austin. The heat on Dustin is predictably really solid, with a few hope spots nicely interspersed, but for the main Dustin is contained to the heels corner of the ring. Loved Arn stamping on Rhodes’ head, playing off the clash with Eaton. Dug the payback spot as Dustin rams Arn’s head into Eaton, which gives him a chance to come back. Hot tag is made to Windham, and it all breaks down. Windham hits the superplex, but Arn comes off the top rope to break it up, earning a DQ.

The Steiner Brothers vs Steve Williams & Terry Gordy

This goes the full 30 minutes for the time limit draw, but takes you on quite the journey to get there. Real full on battle, with the early stages worked primarily on the mat. Jim Ross is keen to put over the collegiate background of the competitors to show why these are so closely fought. The Rick and Williams sections are nicely competitive, like watching two big bulls colliding. Rick hits a great overhead belly to belly and a lovely big clothesline. All four guys hit big suplexes, all of which looked good. Eventually, the MVC manage to isolate Scott Steiner and work over his leg (and this fits in nicely with the Clash two days later, where Scott's knee injury is really played up). Lovely little touches like Gordy holding Scott in a leglock whilst Williams keeps punching him in the knee. Even when Scott is crawling for the tag, they yank him back by the leg to further injure the leg. Rick eventually gets the hot tag, but his run of offence is brief before the MVC take over and now HE’s the FIP. The time limit is ticking closer, and with Scott out of action, it now feels like a case of seeing if Rick can survive to the time limit. With minutes remaining, Rick is able to escape the clutches of Doc and Gordy and make the tag to a recuperated Scott, who runs riot. He hits the Frankensteiner on Gordy, JUST as time expires. Really great match, built up nicely to an exciting ending.

WCW Clash of the Champions XIX

Been a while since I worked on the WCW 92 project, thought it best to get back on board. All the matches here are part of the first round of the NWA tag titles tournament.

Ricky Steamboat & Nikita Koloff vs Joe & Dean Malenko

Decent opener, albeit with a little sloppiness. Nikita is really positioned as the game-changer here, with the Malenko’s not able to counter his strength advantage. He impressively catches Dean on a crossbody and, though knocked down by a Joe dropkick, he press slams Dean out of the ring on the cover, turning defence to offence. Joe is responsible for the sloppiest moments in the match, awkwardly dropping Steamboat to give his team the advantage and going down too quickly on a Steamer facebuster which leads to the hot tag. Dean was more impressive, really liked the way he held onto Steamboat’s wrists and feet when slamming him to the mat, transitioning straight away into a submission hold. Koloff is a beast on the hot tag and lays out Joe with the sickle to win.

Rick Rude & Steve Austin vs Tom Zenk & Marcus Bagwell

I thought this was a better laid out match than the opener, as they worked it exactly how an upper card heel vs midcard face team should be. There are moments of hope for the faces, but the Dangerous Alliance team are too overpowering and too experienced to be in danger for long. Loved Austin’s vicious blows to Bagwell in the corner early on, and Rude no selling Bagwell’s blows to the abs was perfect character work. The Alliance work heat on Zenk, maintaining control by cutting the ring in half. Bagwell gets a brief run off the hot tag, but misses a dropkick and quickly gets dispatched with the Rude Awakening. Good hierarchy establishing bout.

Steve Williams & Terry Gordy vs Larry & Jeff O’Day

Infamous squash, and one that hasn’t become any less entertaining with time. Amusingly, it’s not the younger Jeff O’Day who gets destroyed, but his oddly-skeletal father who gets folded up with a Gordy back-suplex, hilariously has a double-clothesline attempt no-sold and instead gets double-tackled to the mat and then gets decimated with an Oklahoma Stampede for the win.

Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes vs Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton

Windham and Rhodes were my favourite tag team as a kid, and it’s nice to be reminded why here. Loved Windham’s beautiful right hand to Anderson early on here, and Arn sells it with the perfect mix of pain and bewilderment. Lots of lovely little touches in this match to make this match stand out in a card of tag matches. Dug Eaton stopping short on a Dustin leapfrog to punch Rhodes in the stomach, and the sequence of Dustin grabbing the ropes to block an Arn DDT, only to be in the right position for Eaton to level him with a right hand. Dustin takes a big spill from the ring on a missed crossbody, which looks as good here as when he still does it 24 years later(!) There’s a great nearfall off an Anderson spinebuster as Rhodes is face in peril. Love the twist on traditional tag formula, as Rhodes never makes the hot tag, instead taking advantage of an Eaton mistake to hit a quick bulldog for the win. This was pretty great.

The Freebirds (Michael Hayes & Jimmy Garvin) vs The Silver Kings (El Texano and Silver King)

This, however, is very much not great. The Kings are only referred to here as Silver Kings #1 and #2. An absolute clash of styles here, and Hayes especially doesn’t seem to be up for selling anything. This is typified by the Kings hitting Total Elimination on him, which Hayes awkwardly bumps for, then goes right back on offence. A Silver King drop toehold somehow ends up with Hayes on top, and this is such a mess. The end sees the crowd begging for the DDT from the Freebirds, but Hayes instead gets a small package for the win. Rubbish.

Jushin Liger & Brian Pillman vs Chris Benoit & Beef Wellington

Interesting match here, feels a bit ahead of its time. This is a very back-and-forth lightheavyweight tag match, with neither side really taking a prolonged period of control. WCW’s top rope ban was relaxed for the tournament, and it feels like these guys are taking full advantage of being unleashed, as they come off the top and to the outside on a regular basis (with Jim Ross and Jesse Ventura constantly bringing up the lack of outside padding). Wellington heels it up slightly by hurling Pillman over the top behind the refs back, but misses a plancha. Benoit and Pillman share the best exchanges of the match, first with Pillman hitting an insane back suplex from the top rope, then with both guys exchanging nasty sounding chops on the floor. Wellington is the weakest link here, as it does feel like he’s sandbagging Liger on occasion, with the ending seeing an awkward looking Liger slam, before a beautiful moonsault for the win.

The Headhunters vs Hiroshi Hase & Akira Nogami

Apparently, this was supposed to be the massive fat guy Headhunters, but they couldn’t make it, so we get Arn Anderson and Bob Cook in masks. You’d think this would be a squash, but this is actually worked pretty evenly, albeit with the Japanese team getting the flashier moves. With name guys in disguise, it’s always fun to see if you can spot any noticeable mannerism, and yes, Bob Cook still has a great punch here. This is pretty heatless, but I loved Akira’s leaping enzuigiri, the swank thrust kick by Hase and the winning pinfall coming from stereo suplexes, Nogami with a German and Hase with a Northern Lights.

Steve Williams & Terry Gordy vs the Steiner Brothers

The Steiners were due to face a Puerto Rican team before facing Doc and Gordy in the next round, but the Puerto Rican’s are apparently injured (which Doc and Gordy unsubtly take credit for), so the Steiners get a bye and we get this second round match up early. The initial stages probably aren’t what the crowd as expecting, as all four go to the mat, jockeying for position and takedowns. Rick hits a huge overhead suplex on Doc out of nowhere to a big pop. Williams slaps Steiner, who responds with a barrage of punches to another, bigger, pop. Things move on a big quicker from here, with Doc and Gordy controlling Scott. Love the double team of Gordy dropping Scott from his shoulders onto Doc’s knee. They initially focus on Scott’s back before moving to his leg. Scott makes what we assume is the hot tag to Rick, who has a great brawl in the ring with Gordy. Rick tries a cover, but is informed by the ref that he’d not seen the tag, and Scott is still legal. A worn out Scott is outside the ring, and Doc clips his leg from behind. Lovely bit of misdirection. Back in, Scott tries a belly-to-belly on Williams, but Gordy clips his leg out again, and Doc lands on top for the win. Big shock victory, but I love how logical this all was. Williams and Gordy outsmarted the Steiners and simply had the better gameplan.

WCW Wrestlewar 1992

The Fabulous Freebirds vs Taylor Made Man & Greg Valentine

This is a fun opener for the US tag titles that feels primarily designed to warm up the crowd. A good bulk of this match sees the Freebirds strutting and making the heel champions look like idiots. They even do some comic cheating, swapping over an armbar without tagging to the delight of the crowd. The heels aren’t able to get control until Taylor throws Garvin through the ropes for Valentine to work over on the floor. Even this is only temporary as Garvin soon reverses a suplex and gets knees up on a splash, before a clash of heads lets him make the hot tag. It breaks down and Hayes tries for the DDT, but Taylor hits him with the Fivearm for a two. The heels work heat on Hayes for a while, this time lasting a bit longer. Valentine locks in the figure four, which lasts less than 10 seconds before Garvin runs in to break it. Hot tag leads to Garvin running over both heels, and despite Valentine’s best attempts to stop it, Garvin hits the DDT on Taylor for the win.

Tracy Smothers vs Johnny B Badd
Smothers is still billed as “Young Pistol” Tracy at this point. Really fun undercard match, aided by just how into the character Badd is. Badd is still a bit green at this point, but his commitment to the role carries him through, whilst Smothers is able to carry him in ring. Smothers gets great height on a single-leg drop kick, which looks great. Smothers heels it up nicely, using the ropes to his advantage and striking Badd in the throat, before scoring with a lovely diving elbow. I also love how Smothers showboats after a leapfrog, just for a second, which results in him taking a knee to the face. Smothers misses a few wild swings (stooging nicely) and Badd nails the Kiss That Don’t Miss for the win. Enjoyed this a lot

Marcus Alexander Bagwell vs Scotty Flamingo

I appreciate the effort here of two guys trying to add some intensity to the match, as an even lock up soon leads to an exchange of slaps and punches. Bagwell looks a bit out of sorts during the match, not getting up easily for some back suplexes and looking a bit hesitant in places. This may be why Flamingo grounds him with a chinlock relatively early in the match. Bagwell hits a fisherman suplex too close to the ropes, which allows Flamingo to grab the ropes, and Scotty is able to reverse a Bagwell roll up to one of his own, with a handful of tights sealing the win.

Ron Simmons vs Mr Hughes

This is initially supposed to be a tag bout with Simmons teaming with Junkyard Dog and Hughes teaming with Cactus Jack. Instead, Jack assaults JYD from behind, and we end up with Simmons taking on Hughes in a singles bout. Watching a match like this, you can understand why Bill Watts wanted to make Simmons world champion. Simmons looks so good on offence, he’s powerful but with an explosiveness and quickness of movement that makes him exciting to watch. Hughes is another guy with good movement, but his offence never looks quite right, like it’s a little too hesitant. He wins brownie points here, though, for keeping his sunglasses on whilst wrestling. Simmons hits an impressive spinbuster and a knee chop for the victory.

Super Invader vs Todd Champion

Invader is Hercules with a pair of red tights over his head. He looks ridiculous and this squash match is very dull. I quite like Herc, but he hits a milky clothesline off the bat and the tone is set. Unconvincing karate strikes, chinlocks and chokes are the order of the day, and Champion is given very little in the way of hope spots. The crowd is utterly dead throughout. Even the transition to Champion’s comeback sucks, as Invader leaps off the top rope solely for the purpose of Champion getting his foot up. Thankfully, Champion only gets to his two piss-weak spinning elbows before Invader finishes him with a powerbomb. Dreadful.

Richard Morton vs Big Josh

This is a pretty fun deal, worked at a brisk pace by two guys who know their way around the ring. Josh’s offence looked really good here, absolutely loved his running forearm into the corner. I thought Morton trying to work the arm of Josh was a good, logical game plan, and he worked over it in interesting ways, not just resting in one hold. This really felt like two guys who knew they didn’t have much time, and were working an undercard bout, and just decided to have a good match. Loved Josh’s overhead belly-to-belly suplex, before the seated splash gave him the win.

Tom Zenk vs Brian Pillman

This is for Pillman’s lightheavyweight belt, and is face vs face. I liked how even the opening matwork was, establishing that the former partners knew each other well. It also subtly established that Pillman is slightly better on the mat and that Zenk is stronger. This strength allows him to force Pillman down with backslides and small cradles for flash pin attempts. Pillman starts working over Zenk’s leg, but misses a flip senton, hurting his previously injured back. This gives both guys a focus point for their comebacks. I loved the figure four sequence, which not only continued the work on Zenk’s leg, but also allowed both guys to show some aggression by slapping each other in the face. Zenk’s power advantage allows him to reverse the hold before catching a Pillman springboard into a powerslam. Zenk ploughs through Pillman with a top rope crossbody for two. Zenk plays possum by feigning being unable to stand, then lays out Pillman with a big boot as he comes off the top rope, only for Pillman to grab the rope on a pin attempt. Zenk misses a top rope dropkick and Pillman swiftly gets a jackknife cover for the win. Really great match

The Steiner Brothers vs Tatsumi Fujinami & Takayuki Iizuka

This match is a lot of fun, just four guys throwing it all out there. Scott sets the tone early by hitting both opponents with standing moonsault powerslams in the first few minutes, which is nuts. Iizuka is given a bit of a spotlight to shine and looks really good against Scott. Loved his flipping cannonball from the top right onto Steiner. There’s no real heat section in the match, so the momentum switches between both teams fairly regularly, but it doesn’t feel like straight up no-selling, more guys taking advantage of opportunities. Rick Steiner shows scary strength in catching Iizuka in midair, whilst sat on Fujinami’s shoulders for a Doomday Device. Fujinami has a smart gameplan and tries working over Rick’s leg, including a lovely leg stretch by diving from the second rope. The end of all this carnage comes with Rick hitting an insane overhead belly-to-belly on Iizuka from the top rope.

Sting, Nikita Koloff, Ricky Steamboat, Dustin Rhodes & Barry Windham vs Steve Austin, Rick Rude, Larry Zbyszko, Bobby Eaton & Arn Anderson

AKA Sting’s Squadron vs the Dangerous Alliance in a WarGames match. I love Paul E Dangerously action having some written plans on the outside, actually makes him look like a tactical manager. This is such a perfectly laid out match. The opening section with Windham and Austin is great, really establishing the hatred. Windham even knaws away at the forehead of Austin after cutting him open. The heels win the coin-toss, so the entry of Rick Rude leads to a big beatdown on Windham. As well as putting more heat on the heels, it means that the arrival of the next face gets a huge pop and allows them to run riot on the heels. It’s like a hot tag every few minutes. In contrast, each new heel feels like a “reducer” (to quote Ron Atkinson), coming in to cut dead the face momentum. For example, when Anderson comes in, he plants Windham with a DDT and lays out Steamboat with a spinebuster and the heels are right back in there. He doesn’t enter with an energised flurry like Rhodes or (especially) Steamboat, just goes in and does his business. It’s this contrast that cools things down ready for the next face to heat things up again, which is great. The only time this doesn’t happen is when Zbyszko comes in, and Rhodes is all over him the moment he gets in the cage, which works with the “Zbyszko is the Alliance weak link” storyline they were running. Madusa has to sneak Paul E’s cell phone into the ring to allow the Alliance to takeover ready for the next face. Just great storytelling.

Nikita Koloff’s entry allows for some more great storytelling, as there was a slight question about whether or not Sting could trust him and they eyeballed each other when Koloff got in. Koloff pushing Sting out of the way to sacrifice himself to an Alliance attack, then the two faces hugging when they’d gotten the advantage back gets a huge pop, and is such a well-written moment. This quickly leads to the end, which continues the Zbyszko storyline. The Alliance had undone one of the steel hooks holding the turnbuckles in place, and Zbyszko swung it, intending to hit Sting, who was being restrained by Eaton. Instead, Sting moved, causing the hook to crash into Eaton and allowing Sting to lock in an armbar to make Eaton give up. Just a spectacular mix of violence, story-telling, logical layout and action, it’s one of the greatest matches I’ve ever seen.

WCW SuperBrawl II 1992

Time to continue with my (slowly-moving) WCW 1992 project. This is the first time I've seen this show (WCW PPV's didn't get any UK broadcasts in the day), so I'm looking forward to this immensely. A great commentary team of Jim Ross and Jesse Ventura do a really good job here too...

 

Brian Pillman vs Jushin Thunder Liger

Really great choice of opener to pump up the crowd. They didn’t really seem aware of Liger before the bout, but this crowd soon were going nuts for the action, pretty much from the moment Liger hit a graceful moonsault press to Pillman. I loved the struggle for Liger’s surfboard, which Pillman evaded twice – really put the move over as a threat. Liger works over Pillman’s legs following a missed knee charge in the corner, with a figure four causing real damage. Pillman is thrown to the floor, with Liger hitting a great rolling cannonball from the top. If I’ve one real issue, it’s that Pillman was barely able to stand from the figure four, and this was even before getting hit with the cannonball, yet right away he comes back with a springboard clothesline, showing no ill effects from either Liger move. I do like the way that PIllman ramps up his aggressive streak from this point, suplexing Liger to the floor and hitting a big dive from the top. This builds to the finishing stretch, which sees a number of very close nearfalls, with a Liger German suplex being the most convincing. However, Liger misses a top rope headbutt, and Pillman rolls him up with a bridging pin for three.

Marcus Alexander Bagwell vs Taylor Made Man

The Taylor Made Man really was a totally unsubtle Million Dollar Man rip-off, even down to the tuxedo with a gold trim he wears to the ring here. Bagwell is still played up as a rookie, but despite a few flubs on landings and reversals, he looks good here. Bagwell is mainly selling, as the veteran Taylor controls most of the bout after suckering Bagwell in and throwing him through the ropes. Loved the big gutwrench powerbomb from Taylor, and he hits a great top rope splash for two. The end sees an over-cocky Taylor getting rolled up for three, and I loved how Bagwell’s celebratory momentum sees him fired off the ropes and into a Taylor forearm for a post-match beatdown. Decent bout.

Ron Simmons vs Cactus Jack

Fun power sprint. I love the energy Simmons shows from the start, he just moves exceptionally well in the ring. Jack takes a nutty bump early, catching his neck in the ropes after diving through them. Momentum changes to Jack’s favour as he hits the double arm DDT, but it’s not a finisher yet, so he doesn’t bother pinning him. Big diving elbow to the floor by Cactus looks nasty. Simmons takes a bg bump, missing a 3-point stance and flying through the ropes onto the ramp, but he quickly rebounds to hit a vicious looking spinebuster onto the ramp. Back inside, Simmons catches Cactus from the second rope with a powerslam for three. Really enjoyed this.

Van Hammer & Tom Zenk vs Richard Morton & Vinnie Vegas

Good to see the Patron Saint of this blog, Tom Zenk, in action. Ventura gets in a few choice barbs on commentary, saying every Vinnie he knows wears bad suits, and in a jibe at the WBF, says no-one makes money on bodybuilding…”even Vinnie knows that”. The opening Vegas/Hammer section is pretty dull, Hammer looks a bit lost at times and Vegas isn’t the man to carry him. In contrast, Zenk and Morton work really well together, with a fun Zenk pescado leading to him hiptossing Morton on the floor in a heavy bump. Hammer becomes face-in-peril, and I did enjoy the heel double-teaming, with Morton directing traffic by holding Hammer in place for Vegas’ offence. The double-teams are basic, but effective. Zenk gets the hot tag, and looks great coming in, hitting a swank bodyslam on Morton for two, before pinning him with a sunset flip out of the corner. This was fine.

Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes vs Steve Austin & Larry Zbyszko

Zbyszko had famously broken Windham’s hand by slamming it with a car door at Halloween Havoc 91, giving him the “Cruncher” nickname that Ventura loves to repeat on commentary. We get a melee to start, and I loved Windham dominating Austin only to throw him to the corner to tag Larry in. Windham looks great here, nailing Zbyszko with a sweet lariat and a fucking great DDT. It takes some interference by Austin throwing Windham over the top rope to finally give Zbyszko some respite, and Windham promptly hurls himself outside again with a missed lariat. Windham making sure his fingers are tightly locked before breaking a sleeper with a chinbreaker is great attention to detail. The heels then work a fun heat section on Rhodes, with Austin managing to repeatedly cut off Rhodes with clotheslines. It’s therefore fun when Dustin is finally able to avoid one by ducking and nailing a stungun instead. Windham comes off the top with a big lariat for the win. Predictably fun tag bout.

The Steiner Brothers vs Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton

The second of three consecutive Dangerous Alliance matches, this time for Eaton/Anderson’s tag titles. This is a match of high impact moves, not just by the Steiners, but also from Eaton and Anderson. Steiners dominate early with a lovely overhead belly-to-belly on Eaton, followed by a sick looking tilt-a-whirl slam on the entrance ramp. The Alliance basically have to withstand this barrage until Eaton hits a mid-air low blow on Rick, as he attempts the top rope bulldog. This doesn’t last too long, as Scott is soon tagged in, and I love the desperation of Arn having to sacrifice his partner by ramming Scott’s head into Eaton’s just to get a sustained control. The Alliance have some great looking offence here: Anderson nails a great DDT and, in a sweet spot, Eaton gets thrown from the top rope onto the rampway with a Rocket Launcher splash. Rick gets the hot tag, and a fantastic nearfall when he slams Eaton on a Doomsday Device attempt. After all this, it makes sense that the DA need a cheap ending to retain their titles. After Anderson blinds him with powder, Rick hits a big suplex on the referee. Scott hits a Frankensteiner on Eaton, which is counted for 3 by a replacement ref, but the original ref recovers to disqualify the Steiners and keep the titles with the Alliance. One of the rare times I’d describe a fuck-ending as great, but I thought it fit the match perfectly. Really enjoyed this.

“Ravishing” Rick Rude vs Ricky Steamboat

This is for Rude’s US title, with Paul E Dangerously and Madusa banned from ringside. Steamboat is still allowed to be accompanied by his ninja though. I reviewed this same pairing earlier this year in the Royal Rumble 88 review, but this is light-years ahead. For example, both matches feature lengthy periods of Steamboat working the arm, but this time he mixes up the offence, clanging Rude’s arm around the ringpost. He also uses the arm as a focal point for comebacks, kicking Rude there in order to escape a barrage in the corner. Rude sells it really well too, hanging limply on his offensive runs. He twice instinctively hits clotheslines with the arm, but makes sure to sell the pain, and on the third clothesline he swaps arm. Love that stuff. Rude works the neck of Steamboat with a piledriver and spinning neckbreaker, which obviously sets up the Rude Awakening. Rude’s big mistake here is making soft covers which aren’t going to get him the win. It gets a little rest-holdy towards the end, with Rude locking in a camel clutch and two chinlocks, but Steamboat makes a fun comeback, with a great diving clothesline to a seated Rude. Second cheap ending in a row is a little disappointing though, as Steamboat gets whacked in the head by his ninja, suspiciously holding a Paul E-esque mobile phone, which gives Rude the win. A post-match segment sees Missy Hyatt go to Rude’s locker room, accidentally revealing Paul E indeed being the ninja.

Sting vs Lex Luger

This is for Luger’s world title, and you can tell Ross and Ventura know Luger is leaving soon. Luger had used all the dates on his WCW contract and had barely worked in 1992, and they’re all over him, pointing out how he lacked ring fitness and how he was sweating far more than Sting. Despite this, we had a pretty high tempo opening. Loved Sting hitting the Stinger splash, but Luger rebounding out of the corner with a big clothesline. Massive German suplex by Sting, which looked great. Sting always brought great energy around this time, and I loved his high leap to get more elevation on a leaping DDT. Luger hits the piledriver, but Sting kicks out at two. Sting makes a great fired-up comeback, starting off with some dazed blows, but getting more and more worked up with each blow that connects. Sting flies over the top rope, and Harley Race goes to piledriver him on the floor. Sting reverse and backdrops Race onto the floor. Luger doesn’t know about this, and turns around straight into a Sting top rope crossbody for the win. Really fun match, good logical ending and a massive pop for the new champion. No complaints here.

HUSTLE 07/03/04

Kaz Hayashi & Spanky vs Low Ki & Homicide

This is a fun deal, though sadly clipped, which means that it doesn’t get the chance to reach it’s full potential. There was a fun mat exchange between Low Ki and Hayashi, before we clip to Spanky as face-in-peril. This was a good idea, Ki and Homicide looked good as two stiff surly dudes beating up the pretty-boy face. Even when Spanky tags Hayashi in, he’s not safe, as during a melee he gets caught on a flip dive by both guys and powerbombed onto the apron. Hayashi takes both opponents out right after with a dive. Hayashi then gets a nearfall by no-selling the Ki Krusher and hitting Emerald Frosion for 2. Ki has been a bit of a dick in this match, and it ultimately costs his team. Homicide has Spanky in the STF, and Ki stands on the apron to kick at Spanky’s hands as he reaches for the ropes. This lures in Kaz, who takes out Ki then hits an enzuigiri from the apron on Homicide. This not only leaves Homicide prone for a frogsplash, but also means Ki is in no position to make the save, resulting in victory for Kaz and Spanky. Good opener 

Steve Corino vs CW Anderson

This was pretty goofy in places, but was still enjoyable. We get some brawling to start, followed by a comedy bit as Corino tries, and fails, to set up a chair on the ring apron to send Anderson into. Anderson decides to focus on the arm of Corino, ramming it into the ringpost then whacking it with the chair. We clip, and when we return, Corino is still selling the arm. Good lad. Anderson hits him with a lovely looking punch, which the ref reacts to with a standing ten count for Corino. He gets up on 9. Anderson yells for an STO, which ends up being hit on him by Corino. Corino then warms up the band for Sweet Chin Music, which Anderson then amusingly hits on him. Anderson gets a really close two count by reversing a lariat to a spinebuster on a chair, but Corino picks up the win with a suplex. Pretty good fun, Corino in particular was really good at playing up to the crowd, which helped create a fun atmosphere. 

Shinjiro Otani & Satoshi Kojima vs Dusty Rhodes & Dustin Rhodes

As Dusty isn’t exactly in his prime here, Dustin works the majority of this match, which is never a bad thing. He spends a lot of the early stages here getting beaten down, as Kojima and Otani lock him into a double Boston crab. I did enjoy Dustin outsmarting Kojima on a strike exchange, letting Kojima rear up for a blow, then droptoeholding him into the ropes. Dustin slingshots Kojima into a Bionic Elbow, before the Rhodes’ lock in stereo figure-fours. Neither Dustin nor Dusty seem that over here, which kinda hurts some spots as Dusty has to really work to get a reaction. Dustin nails a bulldog on Kojima for two, but gets hit with a Koji Cutter which allows the tag to Otani. Otani gets the bootscrapes on Dustin, but gets hit with the Curtain Call for two. Kojima and Dusty brawl outside, and Kojima is able to recover quickest to get back in and level Dustin in the back of the head with a lariat. Otani rolls him up for the win.  

Riki Choshu & Tomohiro Ishii vs Zebra Man & Naohiro Hoshikawa

On the first Hustle show, Zebra Man got a bit of a decent push, beating Ikuto Hidaka in a pretty swift fashion, so it’s surprising that this is a bit of a squash. Not in his favour. Choshu lariats Hoshikawa right at the start, who never really recovers. Ishii hits a big back suplex and Choshu locks in the sharpshooter. Zebra Man is tagged in to a sizable pop, but his offence is pretty milky. Not an accusation you could level at Ishii, who decks him with a lariat and a brain buster. Shrugging off some more questionable offence, Ishii hits another brainbuster and Choshu hits the lariat on Zebra Man for an easy three. 

Sabu, Justin Credible & Mike Awesome vs Kintaro Kanemura, Masato Tanaka & Tetsuhiro Kuroda

You’d be hard pressed to call this a good match, but it’s pretty fun while it lasts. Awesome looks great early doors throwing big old Kanemura about. There is no tag format in place at the start of the match, with pairings of guys taking it in turn to compete in the ring, whilst the others brawl outside the ring. An Awesome Bomb from the ring apron through a table puts Kanemura out for a while, whilst Sabu puts Tanaka through a table with a big legdrop. This leaves Kuroda alone, and they suddenly go into a proper tag format, purely to build some heat on Kuroda. Awesome breaks a chair over Kuroda’s head. Of course, as soon as Kuroda makes the hot tag to Tanaka, all structure vanishes again and we got back to some big spots. The end sees Credible and Tanaka battle over a tombstone, before Kanemura hits Justin with a kendo stick and Tanaka nails the roaring elbow for the win. Goofy structure aside, this was enjoyable nonsense.

The Predator vs Dan Bobish

I’ve always had a soft spot for the Predator, and he looks in good shape here. Bobish is a big guy, like former WCW jobber Al Greene inflated with helium. Not a particularly good wrestler though, and this match is pretty dull. Bobish chokes Predator on the ropes, then plays up to the crowd, so I’ve no idea if he’s supposed to be face or heel. I did like the big delayed back suplex Predator hit on Bobish, and he gets good height on a leg drop, but there is too much sluggish brawling on display here. Predator gets the win with a top rope kneedrop. 

Mark Coleman & Kevin Randleman vs Shinya Hashimoto & Toshiaki Kawada

Two MMA fighters vs two of the elite guys in Japan. I really want to like Randleman, who has great movement and energy, but a little too much of his offence feels flat, and his opening section with Hashimoto is a little awkward. Coleman doesn’t even have the energy going for him, though his section with Kawada is a little less laboured. Hashimoto has his shoulder heavily taped, and Randleman starts to focus on it, hitting some nasty headbutts to the taped area. Kawada doesn’t have an obviously weak area, so he’s able to look more dominant in the ring, and his Yakuza kick in the corner on Coleman looks great. The match never feels like it’s building to anything though, and the end comes as Randleman hits repeated knees to Hashimoto’s shoulder, forcing the ref to call it off. Not Hashimoto or Kawada’s best day. 

Naoya Ogawa vs Matt Ghaffari, Kevin Randleman, Mark Coleman, Dustin Rhodes, Giant Silva & Dan Bobish

This is a handicap match, and there is a crooked ref to further stack the decks against Ogawa. He fares well at first, hitting STO’s on everyone. Bobish is able to put up a little more resisitance before falling to an STO. The heel ref gets “distracted” by events outside the ring, so everyone bar Ghaffari comes in and clobbers away on Ogawa. Silva hits a chokeslam and Ghaffari finally steps in to hit a big splash for the win. Not the best main event I’ve ever seen.

WCW Clash of the Champions XVIII

Way back when I started this blog, it was designed to re-ignite my love of the pro-wrestling, to rediscover why I love it and to start watching new stuff. On this level, it's been a success. Though not updated very often, I've been watching and discovering more wrestling than ever. I've started going to live shows, I'm finally getting into things like lucha and puroresu that I'd only dabbled in before and I'm more open-minded about the world of wrestling than I was before.

Of course, the release of the WWE Network in the UK has given me access to a whole history of shows, and this gave me the idea to embark upon a little project. I'm going to rewatch the era of pro-wrestling that started my obsession with the sport, 1992 WCW. Saturday afternoons were spent, without fail, in front of the TV watching Worldwide on ITV, and I thought it would help continue my wrestling/writing journey to watch it again. I'll still be reviewing other stuff as well, but expect a lot of Dangerous Alliance-era WCW over the coming months...

Vader & Mr Hughes vs the Steiner Brothers

This was a whole heap of fun, and following a token bit of Scott Steiner using his mat skills to down Mr Hughes, a big man power-move spot fest. Scotty hits a huge overhead belly-to-belly on Hughes to get the ball rolling, and from that point on its just big hitting move after big hitting move. Rick hitting his own overhead belly-to-belly on Vader was great, as was Vader catching Rick on a dive from the ring and ramming him into the ring post. We don’t really get a face-in-peril section, as Rick soon hits a belly-to-belly on Vader off the top rope. There is a little bit of heat on Scotty until Hughes misses an avalanche and gets planted with a big backdrop. A melee ensues, with Vader accidently clotheslining his partner and Rick hitting the top rope bulldog on Hughes for the win.

Brian Pillman & Marcus Alexander Bagwell vs Tracy Smothers & the Taylor Made Man

Another tag sprint here, albeit with less emphasis on power moves. This is pretty fast paced to start, until Taylor hits a backbreaker on Pillman to stop him in his tracks. All four end up in the ring, with Pillman and Bagwell dropkicking the heels out and nailing them with pescados. Bagwell is still talked up as a rookie, and runs into a Smothers superkick following distraction from Taylor. The heat on Bagwell is brief, and in fact Pillman spends more time in peril, getting double teamed as Bagwell’s inexperience distracts the referee. Pillman takes some big bumps, getting suplex straight out of the ring and getting rammed off the apron into the railings. A hot tag to Bagwell follows almost straight away though, and the end is pretty cool. Bagwell hits a sunset flip on Smothers, but Taylor grabs his partner to stop him going over. Pillman dropkicks Taylor, which sends Smothers over for the three. Fun match. 

Richard Morton vs Johnny B Badd

The announcers play up Badd’s size advantage, so I appreciated Morton using a slightly vicious edge to take control, throwing Badd from the ring and ramming him into the ringpost. Badd is occasionally able to come back by overpowering Morton, so Morton makes his comebacks by cutting Badd off with quick blows to the midsection. The end comes rather abruptly, Badd rolling through a crossbody to win.

Diamond Dallas Page vs PN News

Very quick match. We start with DDP trying (and failing) to slam News, which seems like a terrible plan. News uses his weight well here, hitting two barrel rolls onto Page. A missed elbow gives DDP an opening, but he’s not learnt from his earlier mistake, trying another slam. This times, he gets News up, but collapses under the weight, and News wins with a belly-to-belly and a top rope splash.

Cactus Jack vs Van Hammer

This was really fun, and I’m impressed at how good the much-maligned Hammer looked. In many ways, a match like this played to his strengths, as he only needed to hit a few good looking moves, and the rest of the gaps were filled in my Cactus. Hammer was pretty agile, getting good height on a legdrop and leaping over the top rope from the ramp to hit a clothesline. They tumble outside, and Jack establishes the gimmick early with a quick pinfall attempt. Cactus hits a sunset flip to the floor, typically taking almost all the impact himself. He also lands with a horrible sounding thud when Hammer hiptosses him off the ramp. They brawl to the back and the cameras find them outside near a bullpen, which they end up fighting in. A rather large cowboy is revealed to be Abdullah The Butcher, but his attempt to hit Jack with a shovel fails and he nails Hammer instead, giving Cactus the win. Really fun, energised brawl, probably the best Hammer ever looked.
 

Michael PS Hayes & Jimmy Garvin vs Brad Armstrong & Big Josh

This was pretty brief, but man it felt like the Freebirds had their working boots on here. This set off at a fair pace, and even an awkward looking Garvin crossbody felt it like kinda fit. Josh and Armstrong were a decent combo of power and speed, and I’d have liked to have seen more of them as a team without Josh’s lumberjack gimmick. That said, I thought the log roll he did on both Freebirds was a fun spot. Garvin stops Armstrong hitting a suplex and the Birds hit a double DDT behind the refs back for the victory.

Vinnie Vegas vs Thomas Rich

Squash match. Vegas cheapshots Rich to start and hits the snake eyes for the win.

Arn Anderson, Larry Zbyszko & Bobby Eaton vs Barry Windham, Dustin Rhodes & Ron Simmons

Zbyszko broke Windham’s hand back in November, and Windham is out for revenge. He’s so fired up that he no-sells an Eaton superplex before the faces lock in stereo figure fours. Simmons and Dustin are both equally as fired up, with Simmons looking great clearing the ring and Rhodes hitting a flying clothesline over the top rope to the ramp. Rhodes soon ends up as face-in-peril (albeit briefly), and a referee distraction allows Paul E Dangerously to hit him with his phone. Arn gets two after hitting Dustin with the spinebuster, and again following a nice DDT. The heat on Dustin is pretty brief, and Arn only hits boot trying an ax handle from the top. A melee ensues, during which Windham catches Eaton coming off the top rope with a big punch from his cast-clad hand, and gets the win for the face team. Fun, but felt a bit too rushed. You could easily add another ten minutes to this and have a classic.

Sting & Ricky Steamboat vs Steve Austin & Rick Rude

The decision to have a lot of the upper-card revolve around the Dangerous Alliance really helped with the match quality in this time period for WCW. I love Steamboat trying a few quick roll-ups early on to look for the quick victory. Rude wants a piece of Sting, so slaps him to lure him into the ring. Sting has a gameplan here to work over Rude’s back, and him and Steamboat trade Camel Clutches on Rude, taking a page from the Alliance playbook by pretending to tag behind the referee’s back. Commentator Jesse Ventura is livid at this. The Alliance briefly take over on Sting after a low blow by Rude, but he swiftly makes the tag to Steamboat, who is in like a house on fire. Things break down as Rude nails Steamboat whilst he pins Austin following a victory roll, but the faces are able to pick up the win, Sting nailing a crossbody from the top as Austin holds Steamboat, with both men controversially covering the future Stone Cold for the three. Another match that was too short, but was fun.

A WCW Saturday Night pick'n'mix

Sometimes, I want nothing more than to watch some totally random wrestling. In those times, nothing satisfies more than WCW Saturday Night where up-and-comers would compete alongside guys long thought retired to create all manner of unusual match-up. Using the power of Youtube, here are 5 matches I decided to watch at random, with links attached.

Rick Cornell & Allen Funk vs Chuck Palumbo & Sonny Siaki
This is from early 2000, and all four are Powerplant guys. Cornell (later known as Reno) and Funk play heel here and look really impressive throughout the match. Funk is loaded with intensity, including a nice move where he just hurls Siaki like a dart, with Siaki landing face first, whilst Cornell has some impressive moves for a big guy, including a slingshot senton that looks like he rams his shoulders into Siaki’s chest. The faces aren’t quite so good, though Palumbo shows some impressive agility for a man his size, hitting a nice springboard dropkick to the outside on Cornell. Siaki mainly plays face-in-peril, so doesn’t show much apart from a decent Sky High powerbomb (which Cornell leaps about 4 feet in the air for). Ending sees the faces go over following a top rope Palumbo shoulderblock, but the heels make the match, would have been a decent addition to the tag ranks at the time.
Cornell/Funk vs Siaki/Palumbo

American Males vs High Voltage
True story: Everyday Is Like Tom Zenk was very nearly a feature on Scotty Riggs instead (albeit with a different name). I always thought he was very underrated and had a terrific match with Kanyon on Thunder in early 99 following the Flock split. Here he’s still a young tag wrestler, though the Males are portrayed her as relative veterans compared to High Voltage. Indeed, it’s so early in the Voltage career that Rage is still known as Ruckus. The Males dominate with their quickness and frequent tags until Bagwell hits knees trying to splash Ruckus. High Voltage were obviously green as Plymouth Argyle here, but they at least look like they’re trying, so kudos there. They only have control for a short period until Ruckus misses an elbow and the Males hit a double dropkick for the win
American Males vs High Voltage about 20 minutes in

Pat Tanaka vs Villano 4
How very WCW Saturday Night this pairing is. As a bonus, Dusty is on commentary and tells us straight away he used to date a girl called Villano 4. Tanaka is wearing some long trouser and a shirt and seems behind the pace, as Villano kinda wrestles around him, until Tanaka reverses a second rana attempt into a powerbomb. Villano soon fires back, hitting a nicer thrust kick than Tanaka does in the same match, before leaping to Tanaka’s shoulders and rolling Tanaka up for the win.
Tanaka vs Villano 4

Arn Anderson & Dustin Rhodes vs Bad Attitude
This is a warm-up match for Rhodes and Anderson before facing the Stud Stable at Clash of the Champions. Sadly, it only goes 4 minutes as this could have been great. Dustin takes control early doors and sends Bobby Eaton over the top rope with a huge boot to the face, allowing Arn to pick up the pieces and backbody drop Eaton on the floor. Double A shows his tag acumen by controlling Eaton in the ring and getting a quick tag, but Dustin soon becomes face-in-peril and Keirn and Eaton start working him over. Eaton gets two from a decent top-rope elbow, but misses a second and a Rhodes bulldog gets the win.
Anderson/Rhodes vs Bad Attitude

Lash LeRoux vs Scotty Riggs
More Riggs, by now working his narcissist gimmick. This is pretty much a squash and more of a showcase for the Riggs character. Riggs catches LeRoux trying to look in his mirror and goes on the offensive right away. Riggs has some nasty offence in this match, hitting some big elbows in the corner and a nice running knee in the corner. This is followed by a choice dropkick, which gets a two count (though mainly because Riggs only covers with one finger). LeRoux gets a bit of token offence, hitting a sloppy looking headscissors and a better looking Northern Lights slam. However, this is Riggs’ match and he gets the easy win with the fivearm.
Riggs vs LeRoux

WCW Halloween Havoc 1991: The Chamber Of Horrors

This is the UK VHS release of the event, so a few matches a cut out. We know this because a backstage segment includes Bobby Eaton talking about just having won his match, a match we never get to see. That said, we do still have a few solid matches on the tape. To ringside, with JR and Tony Schiavone...

Sting, El Gigante & the Steiner Brothers vs Big Van Vader, Cactus Jack, Abdullah the Butcher & the Diamond Studd
Yes, this is the infamous Chamber of Horrors, but I went into this with high hopes: with the exception of Gigante, everyone involved should be able to make a huge weapon-filled brawl in a giant cage into an awesome spectacle. The opening few minutes, with guys brawling in and out of the cage confirmed my suspicions. This is going to be great! However, within minutes they’re hampered massively by the rules, which state that you need to strap one of your opponents into a huge electric chair and electrocute them to win. This wouldn’t be a problem if the chair (which gets lowered down halfway in) didn’t take up most of the ring. Straight away Cactus has to pretty much no-sell a top-rope Steiners DDT to avoid getting crushed by the descending chair. From then on, the match turns pretty dreadful, as no-one has any room to do anything except wander round hitting people. It’s utter nonsense as guys start climbing up the cage for no reason (you can’t escape the cage to win), masked men appear from inside caskets only to get handcuffed to the cage, while the action gets documented on the “Refer-eye” camera on Nick Patrick’s head (which is shaky and unwatchable). The ending is especially horrible. Rick Steiner has spent about 5 minutes hanging around near the chair, probably just hoping to be put in it to end the match early, when Abdullah knocks him into the chair. Cactus goes to the switch to end the match, then has to hang around like a moron while Rick belly-to-bellys Abdullah into the chair and takes his time fastening Abby in before Jack finally flicks the switch to accidentally fry the Butcher. Just appalling.

Johnny B Badd vs Jimmy Garvin
Badd is supposed to be the face here, but the fans are pretty solidly behind Garvin (led by an injured Michael Hayes as cheerleader). Badd takes a huge bump over the top rope as the more experienced Garvin takes over, which is the story JR and Tony put over on commentary. Badd starts to heel it up with some nasty looking punches to Garvin’s midsection, before choking Garvin with Teddy Long’s white towel. A botched looking sunset flip off the top earns two for Badd, before a missed corner charge sends him over the top for his second huge bump of the match. The fans are chanting pretty strongly for Garvin’s DDT, which he hits to a big pop (and another beautiful Badd bump). However, Long distracts the ref long enough for Badd to recover and hit Garvin with the Kiss That Don’t Miss for the win (with Long pushing Garvin’s foot of the rope for good measure). Perfectly decent match.

Dustin Rhodes vs Steve Austin
This is for the TV title. Both guys are relatively young here, which does become apparent in places. They kick off with Dustin getting a nice looking leglock reversal which leads to a decent chain wrestling period to open. The story behind the match seems to be how evenly matched the two are. Dustin maybe holds onto the headlock a little too long, which kinda telegraphs the finish. Dustin misses a crossbody and just bounces out of the ring. Rhodes is bleeding, and Austin zeroes in on this straight away, punching Rhodes around the cut and cranking a headlock to take advantage of the bloodloss. As time starts to run out, Dustin regains control and starts to take a few more risks. A lariat gets two, before Rhodes rams Austin into the ringpost, busting Austin open. Time ticks further towards the time limit and Dustin gets more frantic. Bionic Elbow gets two and Dustin tries a top rope lariat, but this doesn’t leave enough time for the pinfall. Neither guy was as good as they would later get, but, headlock spot aside, this didn’t drag and created some real drama in the closing moments. That said, the ending was entirely predictable, but works well as a mean to continue the feud.

Tom Zenk vs the WCW Halloween Phantom
Not one of the Zenk classics. Phantom attacks from the bell, nailing Zenk with a vicious clothesline and a nasty looking gutbuster. Zenk tries a dropkick, but Phantom brushes it off and nails a hangman neckbreaker (called a Rude Awakening by a rather coy Schiavone on commentary) for the win. This would lead to a big angle later.

The Patriots vs the Enforcers
This is for the tag-team titles. For a match which you know will be a carryjob, Firebreaker Chip keeps up with Larry Z pretty well in the first minute or so. Arn tries his luck, and rolls out of the ring protesting that Chip is too oily. This prompts a discussion between JR and Schiavone about whether or not the ref should make Chip towel down. I really like the fact that they freely explain that the Patriots are underdogs due to their inexperience, while the Enforcers start to take over on Todd Champion. This is especially proven when Larry runs from Champion, who follows him around the ring and misses a quick tag to Arn who attacks him from behind. The veterans continue to use their wits to slow down the larger man, getting another blind tag to stop a Champion comeback. The Patriots looks ok, but really the Enforcers are wrestling around them. Chip again looks decent when he gets the hot tag, but he bumps into Larry and turns into an Arn spinebuster for the three count.

I don’t generally cover angles on the blog, but this next one is too good to miss. Eric Bischoff interviews Paul E Dangerously, who is fuming that WCW sacked him from commentary for being to controversial. However, Paul E still has his managers’ license, so he is going to send his new protégé after the franchise of WCW, Sting, in an attempt to bring WCW down. The WCW Halloween Phantom comes down to the ring and is unmasked as Rick Rude, making his WCW debut, who announces he is going to help destroy WCW. One Hell of an angle, an angry Paul E is always gold.

Lex Luger vs Ron Simmons
This is 2/3 falls for the WCW title and, to be honest, I thoroughly enjoyed this. Both have ringside help, Simmons is joined by Dusty Rhodes whilst Luger has Harley Race. The first fall is pretty swift, with Simmons dominating, catching Luger with a powerslam and a typically sweet spinebuster to take the first fall. Luger sells the shit out of it too, not even getting back to his feet by the end of the 60 second rest period. The second fall continues with Ron on offence, whilst JR and Tony put over how Lex hasn’t managed to get started yet. Ron continues with high impact offence on Luger’s back, however, Simmons gets a little overenthusiastic, and Luger is able to sucker him in, sending him hard to the outside. Luger starts working over Simmons in a nicely evil way, with bootscrapes to the eyes and vicious elbows. Ron starts to fire back, but Lex charges at him while Simmons is near the ropes. Luger goes over the top, but Race holds Simmons from outside the ring to stop him going over as well, meaning Lex wins the fall by DQ. The commentary is really choice in this match too, as both JR and Tony do a great job of explaining how Race has helped his man here, but throughout they put over how well Simmons is doing, pointing out his gameplan and really doing a great job of enhancing the match. Simmons is still fresher than Lex and starts the third fall like a house of fire, getting a near two count from a diving shoulderblock. They go outside and Simmons stupidly tries a shoulderblock on Lex as he stands near the ringpost. Of course, Ron goes straight into the post, leaving him easy pickings for Lex, who rolls him in and hits the Attitude Adjustment piledriver for the win. Really fun match, Lex’s selling here was awesome and really put Simmons over as a real threat. The booking helped too, letting the audience know Simmons is a real contender (winning the first fall), but he got caught out by one simple mistake. Not a match I was looking forward to, but one which has pleasantly surprised me.