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.

Mid-South Wrestling 12/12/1981

B. Brian Blair vs The Monk

Or “Bryan Blair” as he’s known as here. Nice little bit of matwork to kick off, with Blair using a nice legsweep to down the Monk, followed by a nice leverage battle to push Monk’s shoulders to the mat. The Monk uses Blair’s hair to pull him to the mat, and this seems to infuritate Blair, who ups the tempo. Nice height on a legdrop, before Blair uses an abdominal stretch to pin the Monk down for three.

King Cobra vs Tom Renesto Jr

Cobra looks to be in great shape, and his movement is certainly better than that of the chubby Renesto Jr. Cobra controls with some uninteresting armwork before winning with a headbutt. Not much to say here.

Jimmy Garvin vs Ed Wiskowski

Both guys look pretty hench here, especially the burly looking Wiskowski. As opposed to the previous bout, Garvin actually does some nice work on the arm of Wiskowski, wrenching a hammerlock and driving knees into the elbow. Wiskowski has some really nice looking blows in the corner and soon finishes Garvin off with a running knee to the face, a stungun and a gutbuster. Really good work here.

Junkyard Dog & Mike George vs Jerry Novak & Aaron Holt

Blink and you’ll miss it, as JYD and George hit a double-shoulderblock on Holt and JYD hits the Thump to win.

Iron Sheik vs Buddy Ryan

I’m not even sure Ryan gets any offence in, but he’s a pretty generic looking guy especially in comparison to a man in shape like the Sheik. Sheik just blitzes Ryan with some fun suplexes, refusing to take a pinfall win in order to hit more offence. Nice double-underhook suplex, nice belly to belly and finally a nasty looking deadlift German win the bout.

Rick Ferrara & Diamond Lil vs Tony Charles & Barbie Doll

Really odd mixed tag match, with full-sized men teaming with female midget wrestlers. Never been a big fan of matches like this, as you lose the whole tag dynamic. You can’t really do double teams, it’s harder to work heat on the face and it ends up feeling like two matches bolted together. I thought Charles looked great here, before Barbie Doll pins Lil after a sitdown splash.

Ted DiBiase vs Paul Orndorff

Real fast tempo to kick things off here, really made it stand out from the other matches. Liked the focus from both men with DiBiase working an arm to start, only for Orndorff to take advantage of DiBiase hitting his head on a turnbuckle to put in some nice kicks to the skull. Thought Orndorff looked really good in the whole match, to be honest, felt really driven. The end felt a bit off, as DiBiase (the face) locked in a figure-four on Orndorff, which was then reversed with DiBiase only just hanging on before the time limit goes to save him from submitting. It was probably supposed to make him look tough for hanging on, but it really made him look dumb for getting his own hold turned against him and only not losing because the bell saved him. Small quibble aside, the match was fun.

The Triumph & Tragedy of World Class Championship Wrestling

This is the selection of matches that accompanies my favourite WWE-produced documentary. I'd never really seen an Texas wrestling before buying this last December (barring the Best of Kerry video I reviewed earlier this year, which I'd watched once back in 2001). However, I really found myself loving it, and especially the awesome brawling of the Von Erich boys.

Duke Keomuka vs Ricky Starr
This is from Texas Rasslin’ in the 60’s (at a guess), and is two out of three falls. It’s heavily matbased, and is certainly an acquired taste, but I sorta dug it. Really liked Starr’s escapes from Keomuka’s holds and it’s no surprise to learn he had a popular run in England. He seems like he’d have fitted in perfectly. Keomuka gets the first fall with a Japanese Sleeper, and the commentary, though dry, really does good work at explaining what is happening and why the ref is checking Starr’s arm. Starr gets the second fall after nailing Keomuka with five dropkicks. The third fall sees Starr finally target the bare feet of his opponent. But Keomuka goes back to the matwork, targeting Starr’s left arm. However, he misses a corner charge, allowing Starr to hit two flying mares for the win. Not for everyone, but a fun curiosity.

Fritz Von Erich vs King Kong Bundy
This is Fritz’s retirement match, but is still for Bundy’s American title. Bundy looks far less intimidating with hair, and Fritz is still a huge old fella, so this doesn’t look as one-sided as a champion-vs-retiring-vet match normally would look. The match is more of a fight than a wrestling match and, whilst you’d think that would favour Bundy, they tease the idea early that Fritz can get the claw on Bundy at any time he wants to. Fritz even locks a stomach claw on Bundy when escaping a pinfall. I also dug Fritz stamping on Bundy’s head from the apron after sending the big man outside. Bundy grabs a chair, but Fritz uses it and gets the win in his send-off bout. Good fun.

Ric Flair vs Kerry Von Erich
This is a steel cage match from Christmas Day for the NWA title. Michael Hayes is the special guest co-referee, with Terry Gordy guarding the door on the outside. Flair typically plays dirty early on, only for Hayes to physically interject himself. Kerry reverses a suplex into a sleeper in a nice little move, before beginning to brutalise Flair, ramming his head into the steel and causing him to bleed. Flair starts to focus on Von Erich’s right knee, which Bill Mercer tells us was injured in a previous match. Kerry fights back, but tries a knee drop like an idiot which misses. Flair locks in the figure four, which Kerry reverses then doesn’t sell. We then come to the beginning of the end, which is an awesome bit of in-match storytelling. Flair jumps off the top straight into a Von Erich Claw, but his foot grazes the bottom rope. Hayes calls for a rope break, but the other referee disagrees. Kerry keeps the claw locked in, and Hayes forcibly pulls him off, sowing the seeds for friction between them. Flair provokes Hayes so much that Hayes waffles him, but Kerry refuses to cover him and win the title unfairly. Hayes goes to leave, and Flair pushes Kerry into Hayes, sending Hayes to the floor. Enraged, Gordy slams the steel door onto Kerry’s head, igniting the Freebirds/Von Erich feud that Texas thrived on. Hayes counts a Flair cover on Kerry, which the other ref rejects because Kerry kicked out at 2. The match goes on without the Freebirds, with Kerry out on his feet. Kerry hits the discus punch to give the crowd one last pop, but he’s done. The ref checks him and calls the bell. Good match, but the angle at the end is fantastic.

Iceman King Parsons, David Von Erich & Kevin Von Erich vs the Fabulous Freebirds
The early doors give proof (as if proof were needed) that Kevin Von Erich is a terrific brawler. It also shows how great the Claw was as a hold, as the Von Erich’s could hit it at any time and the fans would buy it as a finish. Here, all Kevin has to do is threaten it and the Sportatorium pops. The Freebirds soon take control on David and a superbly worked heat section ensues. The crowds love of the Von Erich’s really helps here, but the timing on all the near tags is perfect. In one beautifully shot moment, we see David’s hand just centimetres away from tagging Kevin, only for the Freebirds to prevent it. There is also a great false tag, before David and Buddy clash heads which leads to the actual tag. Unsurprisingly, all Hell soon breaks loose, with all three guys in, and in the madness, Buddy catches Parsons with a cheapshot to the head, which gifts the Freebirds the victory.

The Fabulous Freebirds vs Fritz, Mike & Kevin Von Erich
This is from the first David Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions and sees Fritz come out of retirement for this Six Man Title match. The opening brawl is predictably intense, leading to the referee getting on the mic and stating this match will be fought on a 1-on-1 tag basis. This lasts for about a minute before people start getting in the ring again. Mike is correctly booked here as a fiery babyface, who lacks experience and gets caught out by the ‘Birds. That said, the Freebirds soon get a heat section on Kevin, who telegraphs a Claw attempt and gets blocked off by the ‘Birds. Fritz gets the hot tag and takes over on Roberts, which works as he’s the best Freebird for stooging and bumping for the aging Fritz. A melee ensues (shock!) and in the chaos, Kevin nails Buddy with a crossbody for three. Good match.

Iceman King Parsons vs Buddy Roberts
This is hair vs hair, with the Freebirds’ hair removal cream located at ringside. This isn’t a great match, and is pretty short, but there are some fun moments to keep it interesting, mainly Roberts stooging around for Parsons by getting tied up in the ropes, or missing three elbow drops in a row. Roberts gets the pin by rolling Parsons up and pulling so much tight that we need to censor Parsons’ arse. The ref starts to question Roberts, giving Parsons the break to attack and cover Buddy’s hair with the cream. A better angle than match.

Chris Adams & Sunshine vs Jimmy Garvin & Precious
Mixed tag rules apply here. I really liked the storytelling in this match, with Sunshine desperate to get her hands on Precious, whilst Garvin does everything he can to stop that happening. This means Garvin has to try and keep control of Adams to prevent him tagging out, which he does until Adams blasts him with a superkick and makes the tag to Sunshine. Sunshine brings Precious in forcefully and is all over her, until Precious escapes and tags in a still-woozy Garvin. Garvin manages to take control on Adams again, but Adams again tags in Sunshine. This time, however, Garvin stays in the ring and trips her, allowing Precious to take advantage. The girls give no impression that they’re wrestlers here, but do give the impression they really hate each other in their fight. In the confusion, Adams hits a sunset flip on Garvin to win.

The Great Kabuki vs Kamala
A pair of oddities, but a pair who put on an absolute stinker of a match. A Kamala bearhug seems to go on forever, killing off the usually passionate WCCW crowd. Even Bill Mercer can’t think of anything to say. Kabuki escapes, but Kamala applies a neverending nervehold. Their respective managers, Gary Hart and Skandor Akbar, start to fight so the ref calls the match off. Abysmal.

The Fantastics vs the Midnight Express
This is for the vacant tag team titles. Apparently Jim Cornette interfered in a previous match, causing the vacation, so he’s stuck with a huge man called Little John at ringside to prevent him interfering. Also, the match is held in two rings side-by-side, which means the match starts as two 1-on-1 matches. Seems a little wasteful when you’ve got two consummate tag-teams out there. Luckily, all four men soon end up in the same ring, making this more of a tornado tag situation. Eaton takes some nasty looking bumps to the wooden floor early on. He gets payback by attacking both Fantastics with a chair to take control. This is done in plain view of the ref, so obviously there are no disqualifications. Eaton really makes good use of the two rings, drapping Bobby Fulton on the ropes between rings to kick him in the stomach. Eaton whips Tommy Rogers into the ref in the corner and Little John, neglecting his only task in the match, goes to investigate, allowing Cornette to belt Fulton in the head for a Condrey roll up, which gets a three count. Moments later, Rogers rolls up Eaton for his own three count, but the MX pin was counted first. However, discussion between the two refs causes them to DQ the Express (despite the chairshots earlier being absolutely fine), giving the Fantastics the titles. Massively overbooked, but pretty fun in places. I still think a simple tag match would have yielded a better match.

Bruiser Brody & the Missing Link vs One Man Gang & Rick Rude
I was really looking forward to this, but it was largely disappointing. It just never really seemed to settle into a good groove, and the face team in particular never seemed to hit their strides, though i loved the dropkick Brody hit on OMG. Link’s offence in this match consists entirely of headbutts, thrown by grabbing his own hair. After less than 10 minutes of uneven action, Rude throws Link over the top rope and gets disqualified. Lame.

Chris Adams vs Kevin Von Erich
Reviewing the Best of Kerry tape a few months back really made me appreciate how good Kevin was, so I went into this with high hopes. My hopes were met. The early part is nicely worked, with the Claw threatened early, but we soon end up on the floor where the brawling begins. Kevin takes control in this environment and soon Adams gets slammed onto the commentary table, before getting back into the ring, bleeding. Adams grounds Von Erich with a chinlock, blood dripping down his face, and they build up the hope spots for Kevin nicely, before he gets cut off by Adams again. Things soon break down again, and Adams manages to drag the restraining rope from ringside into the ring, but gets beaten by Kevin before he can use it, and instead Kevin uses it to choke Adams, which draws the DQ win for the Gentleman. Really enjoyable stuff.

Abdullah The Butcher vs Bruiser Brody
This is a steel cage match. We’re told they did a worldwide search for a guest referee to control these two, so end up with....Fritz Von Erich, which makes me believe this search wasn’t as extensive as they suggested. This takes a while to get going, as Abby’s offence is a little dull, but things soon heat up with Brody in control, with Bruiser repeatedly kicking Abby in the head. Some of the offense looks surprisingly tame, but we do get a nice, heated slugfest with both guys on their knees. The Butcher manages to get a fork from Gary Hart at ringside, but Fritz spots him using it to stab Bruiser and floors Abby with some punches, allowing Brody to get the pin. Quite fun, though the ending certainly gives the impression that Fritz is the toughest man in the match, as he gifts Brody the win simply by punching Abdullah out. The post match brawl between Fritz and Abby/Hart is pretty cool.

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.