In Your Face: The Lost Episodes of the XWF

The XWF was a wrestling company founded by Jimmy Hart, Brian Knobbs and Greg Valentine in between WCW folding and TNA forming. They never made it to TV, but filmed some shows in Orlando (in what is now the Impact Zone) to try and get there. Sadly, the company wasn't long for the world, which is kind of a shame. For, as you are about to read, they had the right idea in pushing new names over known talent (whether or not the talent was good enough is another matter entirely) and they tried to produce a solid, family friendly product. With decent production values and an announce team of Tony Schiavone and Jerry Lawler(!), welcome to what is essentially a pretty good WCW Thunder...

Big Vito vs Buff Bagwell
Well I can't think of a more thrilling way to kick off a new company. Vito cheapshots early to take advantage, but Buff nails him with some clotheslines. A Mafia Kick regains the advantage for Vito, and he keeps Buff down with a choke on the rope. Partway through though, the fans are clearly favouring Vito and, to their credit, both guys start to switch roles. Vito nails a superplex for a nearfall but runs into feet in the corner, allowing Bagwell to nail the Blockbuster for 3.

Marty Jannetty vs Hail
Hail is an enormous mass of muscle managed by Jimmy Hart, famous for not being very good on WCW Saturday Night. Total squash as Hail nails a few dull powermoves (back-breaker, shoulder-breaker) and hits a legdrop for 3. Not impressive.

Horace Hogan vs Ian Harrison
Harrison is dubbed "British Storm" here. He's also a walking Wellness violation. Another squash as Harrison dominates, albeit in a more impressive manner than Hail. Harrison nails an overhead suplex and locks a leg-grapevine round Horace's head for the tapout.

Kid Kash vs AJ Styles vs Psychosis vs Juventud Guerrera vs Christopher Daniels vs Quick Kick vs Billy Fives vs Tongan Prince
This is a battle royale for the XWF Cruiserweight title, where pinfalls and submissions also count. Quick Kick is Low Ki, and the Tongan Prince is Prince Iaukea. Lots of fast paced action early on, though the camera work makes it hard to keep on top of. Fives is first out as AJ reverses a flying headscissors, before the cameras cut to Josh Matthews in the crowd. Juvi eliminates himself and Psychosis, before Styles gets hurled from the ring onto both of them in an insane bump. Ki really stands out here above all others, decimating Kash with a series of kicks. Fun spot as Daniels and Prince both duck top-rope clotheslines, leaving Kash and Ki to collide mid-air. Ki and Prince are eliminated in short order, and Kash knocks Daniels from the top rope to the floor to win the title. Spotty, but pretty fun.

The Nasty Boys vs the Shane Twins
As you'd guess, this isn't very good, though the Shane Twins pull out some decent stuff including a sweet Northern Lights suplex on Sags. Knobbs goes for a splash in the corner, but gets caught with a big clothesline and pinned. The Nastys attack from behind post-match, but the Road Warriors make the save.

Curt Hennig vs Vampiro
Hennig is managed here by Bobby Heenan, which is awesome. Hennig takes control early with the usual offense (knee-lift, neck-snap), but Vamp fires back with a top rope leg lariat for two. Heenan pulls some brass knucks from his pocket, but Roddy Piper runs out to grab them and punches Hennig into the Nail In The Coffin for the Vampiro win. Barely a match.

Psychosis & Juventud Guerrera vs Konnan & Rey Gonzales
Konnan outwrestles Psychosis early on, but the smaller team soon take control after kicking Gonzales in the back as he runs the ropes. Juventud and Psy use their speed and a few nice double teams to retain control. Gonzales shows absolutely nothing here, even less than Konnan, who at least shows a bit of zip on his moves. Even Gonzales' selling is poor, as he looks like he can't be bothered to react. Juvi hits the Juvi Driver, but Konnan knocks him off the top on a 450 attempt, leading to a shitty Gonzales Twist of Fate for 3.

Simon Diamond vs Jerry "the King" Lawler
Lawler insulted Dawn Marie earlier on the DVD, so Simon comes out to defend her honour. Swinger seemingly is allowed to get involved freely as they beat Lawler down 2-on-1, but Simon accidentally superkicks Swinger out of the ring and walks into a piledriver for the Lawler win. Way to make one of your better tag-teams look stupid.

Hail vs Knuckles
Knuckles is a fat balding guy in an ill-fitting singlet. This is another boring Hail squash, as Knuckles can barely sit on the top rope properly. Legdrop finishes, as Hail shows why he never graduated onto Thunder or Nitro.

Johnny B Badd vs Norman Smiley
Badd is in great shape here. Quite a bit of fun here, as both face-off with alternate dances. Smiley actually dominates this match for the most part, downing Badd with a double-arm suplex and wearing him down on the mat. Badd hits a TKO out of nowhere to win. No Big Wiggle either.

The Road Warriors vs the Shane Twins
The Shanes were supposed to face the Nasty Boys here, but they didn't show, leading to the Warriors coming out in their stead. This is kinda, sorta not bad, in a "big guys hitting power moves on each other" way. Certainly, the Shanes more than hold their own here. Hawk plays face in peril after a shoulder first bump into the post, but gets the hot-tag after a collision with one Shane. Animal doesn't exactly land on his feet following a back suplex attempt, but manages to recover enough to clothesline both Shanes. The Road Warriors hit a Doomsday Device, but the Nastys show to pull the ref from the ring, leading to a no contest. Not bad.

Curt Hennig vs Buff Bagwell
Even at this point of his career, Hennig bumps like a maniac, leaping over the top rope after a Bagwell dropkick. Pretty basic match between these two, but it's good to see Bobby Heenan clearly having fun managering Hennig again. He patrols the ring like a shark, waiting for a chance for a shortcut. The ending sees Heenan prevent a Buff Blockbuster by grabbing Buff's leg then pushing hin off the ropes straight into a Hennig-plex for the win.

Marty Janetty vs Drezden
Poor Marty gets to put over another muscle-bound stiff, this time in the form of a huge, leatherclad German. Marty takes some big bumps to make Drezden look a bit more impressive, including a rough looking overhead belly to belly. Powerbomb gets the win.

Horace Hogan vs Josh Mathews
One of those matches that helps no-one. Horace squashes Josh for the whole match in an uninspiring fashion, but gets caught in a flash pin for the Josh win.

The Shane Twins vs South Philly Posse
Odd that this is a family-orientated promotion, and the Posse have Jasmin St Clair in their corner. You may know the Posse better as the Public Enemy. The Shanes dominate Rock with power early, but Grunge attacks Michael Shane as he runs the ropes and the Posse start working on his leg. Not a bad strategy. Rock hits a diving headbutt to Shane's leg. Basic tag formula match, but it's effective. It would help if Shane sold the leg more of course. Hot tag after Rock misses a quebrada. Somehow, all hell breaks loose, the Nasty Boys and the Road Warriors start fighting outside and in the chaos, a Shane rolls up Rock for the win. Passable.

AJ Styles vs Kid Kash
Kash is playing smiley face, which really isn't his strength. Neat matwork early on by both guys, who are pretty evenly matched. They also match up evenly on a series of armdrags and counters, which seems to annoy Kash a little. AJ hits a beautiful dropkick right to the face of Kash. Beautiful springboard cross body gets two for Kash, who then finishes it with a double underhook piledriver. Too short, felt like the highlights package of a potentially good match.

Vapor vs Jimmy Snuka Jr
Vapor is oriental and managed by Sonny Onoo, so is therefore evil. I've no idea who he is though. Snuka has the build and attire of Rob Van Dam here, and looks impressive early on, planting Vapor with a pancake facebuster. Vapor comes back with Kendo Nagasaki's Kamikaze Crash, so he's ok with me. Vapor looks pretty decent himself here, with a nice powerslam in his arsenal. Somehow, Snuka Sr and Onoo end up in the ring, and the Snukas down their respective opponents, and hit stereo Superfly Splashes to get the win. Should highlight here that Jr hit an RVD-esque splash, where he changed direction midmove. Perfectly fine match.

Curt Hennig & Ian Harrison vs Buff Bagwell & Vampiro
Hennig tags out straight away to the monstrous Harrison, who dominates Vampiro. However, Vamp isn't as hurt as initially thought, so when Hennig tags in, Vamp rallies back and double-teams him with Bagwell. When Harrison tags in, he is reasonably impressive, and certainly better than the other musclebound unknowns (Hail. Drezden) in the company. He puts decent snap into his powermoves and can take some big bumps too. A melee ensues and Vamp stares down Harrison outside the ring, and thus fails to notice Hennig roll up Buff for the win.

Hulk Hogan vs Curt Hennig
This is a bonus feature on the DVD. Hennig stalls for time after Hogan overpowers him out of the ring. Typically insane Hennig sell off a Hogan shoulderblock. Hennig gets a nice escape from a Hogan knucklelock and takes over, but Hogan rams his head into a full set of turnbuckles to a huge pop. Hennig gets the Hennig plex for two, but Hogan hulks up and hits the big boot/legdrop combo for the win. You suspect they could have this match in their sleep, but plenty of fun.

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.