Lex Luger vs The Blackmailer (WCW Clash of the Champions 5)

Solid early Lex match. He's a few years away from being as confident and polished as he would later be, but here, in his lime green trunks, he's every bit the charismatic young babyface that you'd want to push. His opponent here is Jack Victory, in generic tights, mask and totally unthreatening name, here just to give Lex a win on a big show. Lex's early control isn't especially exciting. It's headlocky, very headlocky, to the point that even Jim Ross highlights how much he's working the headlock. But crucially, he intersperses moments of excitement to pop the crowd. Big running shoulderblocks, or popping straight back up when Blackmailer counters a headlock with a back suplex. Lex let's Blackmailer take over by taking an insane over-the-top bump on a missed charge, and he's a good seller, working up from underneath when Blackmailer works his own headlocks. Loved Lex using a sunset flip as a counter, and he worked his comeback nicely. He didn't just start no-selling Blackmailer's punches, it was almost like "Oh, that punch didn't really hurt. Nor did that one! Hey, I think I might be ok here", building up his resistance in a way that popped the crowd. He finished with a superplex, because he had a big match with Barry Windham coming up, and though it wasn't Windham standard, it was still a decent effort. 

WWF Monday Night Raw 19/09/1994

Lex Luger vs Executioner Agony

Feels like Lex should have run through Agony, rather than having to resort to small packages and (briefly) getting heat worked on him. Like Lex leapfrogging over a backdrop attempt before hitting some clotheslines and the torture rack to win.

Jerry Lawler vs Duke “The Dumpster” Droese

Super fun Lawler performance here, just totally entertaining schtick throughout. Right from the start, he locks a simple headlock on Droese, shit talks to the crowd, gets picked up and thrown across the ring, then cowers behind the ref. Droese hits a string of ten punches in the corner, which Lawler sells by faceplanting. Lawler takes over by luring Droese into a test of strength, then punching him with a foreign object from his tights. Absolutely loved Lawler peppering Droese with punches, then jumping to the second rope to celebrate. Such a dick. Lawler hits the 2^nd rope fist drop and a piledriver, but his ego gets the best of him and he decides to empty Droese’s own bin onto him. However, inside is Dink, who squirts Lawler in the face with a water pistol, and the King chases him, getting counted out in the process. Total King showcase, he was superb here.

The Heavenly Bodies vs Mike Bell & Steve King

We’re joined in progress, and the Bodies just demolish King, Bell never even gets in the match. The Bodies are such fun offensive wrestlers, everything looks so good. Del Ray nails a lovely Northern Lights suplex and a huge clothesline, Pritchard hits a great gutwrench powerbomb (baffling the Macho Man on commentary, who claims never to have seen that before) and Del Ray finishes with a moonsault.

Bob Holly vs Richie Rich

Interestingly, the commentary and match graphic both say “Bob Holly”, but you can clearly hear the Fink saying “Thurman Sparky Plugg” in the background. This followed an angle where Bob Backlund had brutalised a WWF magazine writer with the chicken wing, so this is sub two-minute filler while the crowd recovers. Holly throws some awful armdrags, but hits a lovely dropkick and a top rope crossbody to win.

Yokozuna vs Phil Apollo

Yoko interestingly doesn’t use any of his usual moves here – no belly-to-belly, no legdrop, no running corner splash. He just viciously beat away on Apollo, trapping him in the corner and punching him down. Boots and chokes follow, leaving Apollo in a prone position for the Bansai Drop for three. Different edge to Yoko, made a nice change of pace.

WWF Raw 22/08/1994

Only two matches on this episode of Raw, as they build up to SummerSlam that coming Sunday. A lot of Vince and Randy Savage hyping the matches, not much action. One of these matches is surprisingly good though...

Lex Luger vs Crush

If I had to predict how this match was going to start, I probably wouldn’t have gone for “Lex Luger crossbody”, but that’s how Luger takes the early advantage. Crush is a frustrating watch, as he does a load of neat little things amidst a load of slow plodding offence. Liked him holding up Luger’s arm to give him a clear opening to punch him in the ribs, and him blocking a backdrop with a downwards fist to the back of Luger’s head looked good. He also had a logical match structure, working Luger’s back after a backbreaker, punching him in the spine and locking in a Camel Clutch. However, in between this he slowly wanders around the ring, hitting the odd blow, but doing nothing exciting. Frustratingly, Gorilla Monsoon keeps referring to Crush building up toward a “devastating” bearhug, but the moment he locks it in, we got to commercial and Lex had escaped by the time we return. Lex at least has an energetic comeback, nailing some nice clotheslines, a powerslam and a decent DDT. Crush takes control again with a neat tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, but gets distracted by the Million Dollar Man at ringside, allowing Luger to hit the bionic forearm to win.

Diesel vs Typhoon

This starts off surprisingly energetically, with both men tussling for position and Typhoon sending Diesel out of the ring with a shoulderblock. Diesel downs Typhoon with his own shoulderblock after a Shawn Michaels distraction, and things do predictably slow down as Diesel locks in a chinlock. Enjoyed Typhoon’s comeback, hitting wild swinging fists at Diesel, missing a legdrop but nailing a corner splash. A second one hits boots, however, and a flying clothesline gives Diesel the win. This was surprisingly good.

WWF Monday Night Raw 08/08/1994

The “Undertaker” vs Butch Banks

Nothing like kicking off with a painfully dull squash. Really slow paced match, with Brian Lee successfully aping the methodical pace of the real Taker, which unfortunately doesn’t make for an entertaining bout. Lots of choking against the ropes, awkward looking big boot before an admittedly nice chokeslam gets the win.

Lex Luger vs Chad Miller

Doesn’t feel like Lex is really putting his all into this. He openly telegraphs some armdrags, doesn’t bother rolling back on a failed O’Connor roll and spends the bulk of this three minute squash working Miller’s arm. Miller hits a few crap leaping kicks to really highlight how poor this is, before Luger hits the flying forearm to win.

IRS & Bam Bam Bigelow vs Tatanka & Doink the Clown

Surprisingly decent tag match, with an ending that actually benefits from hindsight. Million Dollar Corporation members IRS and Bigelow have a tag title match at Summerslam, whilst Tatanka is facing Lex Luger in the belief he’s sold out to the Million Dollar Man, so there’s some storyline strands tying this all together. Doink is the odd man out, so the smart money would be on Doink taking the fall. There’s a nice spot early on in this where Doink catches a boot from Bigelow, and instantly I thought “Ah, Bam Bam is going to hit an enzuigiri here”, only for Doink to duck the enzuigiri and hit big elbows to Bigelow’s back. Odd moment where Tatanka hits two clotheslines to stagger Bigelow, only for IRS to try and pull the ropes down as he runs them and tries a third time. However, Tatanka completely no-sells this and hits a clothesline on Bigelow anyway. The heat gets worked on Tatanka after IRS interferes more successfully. There’s a short period of heat on Tatanka before he collides full-force with Bam Bam as they both try crossbodies. Looks like a car crash. Doink gets the hot tag, but Tatanka manages to distract the referee, leading to a Bam Bam enzuigiri to Doink, followed by the Write-Off to give the heels the win. Knowing as I do now that Tatanka joins the Corporation in a few weeks time, this is a lovely little detail, with Tatanka “accidentally” giving Bam Bam and IRS the win.

Bob Backlund vs Kevin Kreuger

This is evidently just after Backlund turned heel, as he’s still got the floppy hair and acts like a cheery 80’s babyface. He just outwrestles Kreuger, sending him to the mat and letting him get up, only to send him back down again. He keeps looking for cheers, cheers that he’s not going to get. The “We Want Bret” chants from the crowd visibly annoy him, and he instantly whips on a crossface chicken wing to tap out Kreuger. Really effective, you can see the gradual swing into madness.

WCW Thunder 15/01/1998

The Steiner Brothers & Ray Traylor vs Black Cat, Ohara & Gedo

Fun little six-man that also continues the Scott Steiner slow burn heel turn. Liked Traylor’s slight variation on his rope-mounted uppercut, this time just popping Black Cat as he nears the ropes. Scott gets a huge pop when he tags in and he basically demolishes the opposition solo, ignoring Rick’s attempts to tag in. Huge suplex to Ohara is followed by a Tiger Bomb and Steiner Screwdriver on Gedo for the three.

The Cat vs Yuji Nagata

Genuinely think if 1998 Ernest Miller came along now, the WWE would push him to the moon. Real fighting credentials and insane charisma? Give him a year at the Performance Centre and he’d be made. The commentary team mention a rumoured WCW karate division that thankfully went nowhere. Short but sweet little match. Miller hits a big superkick at the bell for an early two count, but is soon eating a bunch of nifty suplexes from Nagata. The Cat hits a really nice short lariat and a top rope Feliner to win.

Chris Jericho vs Eddie Guerrero

Interesting, as Jericho is just turning heel so this is a heel vs heel match. Not as long as you’d hope for, but they squeeze some really good stuff into this. Love Jericho throwing Guerrero through the air for a high elevation stungun, as well as Eddie out-heeling Jericho by grabbing the ropes on an abdominal stretch. They maintain a really high pace throughout, Eddie escaping a powerbomb and whipping into a sunset flip with real pace. A sloppy looking Gory Special that drops Jericho on his head is the only down point, before a great ending sees Guerrero try a hurricanrana, only for Jericho to shift weight and hold him down in a Liontamer for the victory. Really good stuff here.

Rey Mysterio Jr vs Juventud Guerrera

This, however, is even better. They get nearly 10 minutes to fill here, and they go all out and both look tremendous. Guerrera largely controls the match with Rey making well-timed comebacks. Loved Rey’s early flip dive, before he bumps enormously after taking a slingshot to the floor. Juvi follows with his own insane dive. Juvi looks great in control, hitting a nasty looking drop down muscle buster and ramming Rey’s head into the ring apron by swinging him down violently over the ropes from the ring, sending his head upwards through the ring apron. Juvi reverses a diving rana attempt into a powerbomb, but Rey avoids the 450 and hits a quick rana for the win and the cruiserweight title.

Diamond Dallas Page & Lex Luger vs Kevin Nash & Randy Savage

This is a handicap match, as DDP is on crutches and gets taken out by Hulk Hogan before the match even starts. This gives the NWO team control, but dissention between Savage and Nash basically derails them throughout. Luger especially benefits as Savage goes to hit the axe handle from the top on Nash outside, allowing Luger to instead slam Savage to the mat. He runs riot, hitting flying forearms on both Nash and Savage, even getting to put an interfering Hogan in the rack before the numbers game builds up and we get a huge melee to end the show with Sting, the Giant and the whole NWO all involved.

WCW Thunder 08/01/1998

Randy Savage vs Chris Adams

Savage is aggressive from the off, blind-siding Adams, and choking him with his bandana. Savage is all over Adams, stomping and picking him up on pins. Adams gets some respite on the outside by Irish whipping Savage into the ring post, and Lex Luger comes to the ring and levels Savage with a chairshot, rolling him back into the ring for the Adams victory.

Rick Martel vs Louie Spicolli

This is the second match into Martel’s 1998 renaissance. Spicolli starts the match by holding onto the ropes on an Irish whip, turns to the crowd to point at his head to show off his intelligence, then turns around into a clothesline, so this is already a five star match. Spicolli tries to punch his way back into it, but Martel is fired up and hits a nice spinebuster into a Quebec crab for the win.

Tenzan vs Ohara

Pretty straightforward bout. Both guys go heavy with the chops, but Ohara hits a powerbomb before Tenzan hits a tombstone and a diving headbutt to win. Very brief stuff.

Chris Jericho vs Ric Flair

Five minutes long, but they make the most of it. Nicely worked opening sequence, with Jericho smoothly reversing a hiptoss into a monkey flip. Flair cheats a few times in this match in endearing ways – first by faking an ankle injury only to poke Jericho in the eye, followed by convincing Charles Robinson to check the turnbuckle pads then hitting a low blow. Loved the spot where Flair took his usual flip over the turnbuckle, only to be met on the apron by a Jericho springboard dropkick. Jericho misses a missile dropkick and Flair swiftly locks in the figure four to win. Good stuff

The Giant vs Meng

This was only a few minutes, but was very effective. Loved the Giant hitting a huge powerslam on Meng. Meng is able to chop and kick away at the Giant, wearing him down to the mat, but this advantage is temporary. Giant gets back up, grabs a chokeslam (with Meng frantically trying to reach him for a Tongan Death Grip) and gets the win.

Goldberg vs Steve McMichael

Another effective short match. Fun little big boys scrap, with McMichael hitting Goldberg with a shoulderblock from the apron before the match even starts. Goldberg looks like a beast, muscling about a huge guy like Mongo with a press-slam into a powerslam. McMichael tries for Goldberg’s legs with a series of chop blocks, but Goldberg blitzes him with a spear and the jackhammer. Played to both guys strengths.

The Steiner Brothers vs Konnan & Buff Bagwell

Never felt like the Steiners were in jeopardy here. The NWO team get a bit of control, including a Bagwell neckbreaker that Rick botches by dropping down too early, but it doesn’t last long before the Steiners both hit huge overhead belly-to-belly suplexes. Scott finishes Konnan with a top rope Frankensteiner, much to Rick’s chagrin as he’d climbed ready to hit the top rope bulldog. This was fine.

Scott Hall vs Ray Traylor

Hall shows Traylor no respect in this one, feigning fear and slapping the back of Traylor’s head, so it’s fun to see Traylor lay into Hall with some nifty punches. The ref gets bumped, allowing Hall to hit a belt shot for two. Nice second rope bulldog also gets two, before Larry Zbyszko comes out, distracting Hall, who turns into a Bossman Slam for the win.

Juventud Guerrera vs Ultimo Dragon

This was a fine little sprint, but what I really liked is how logically and organically the spots flowed. For example, in one 30 second period, Dragon misses a handspring elbow in the corner, allowing Juvi to put him on top for a hurricanrana. However, Ultimo fights him off, sending him to the floor and hitting a (barely hit) top rope moonsault. Nothing felt contrived, everything felt in keeping with their moveset. Ultimo hit a nice kick combo and a German suplex for two, but Juvi reverses a powerbomb attempt to a big DDT. One Juvi Driver and a 450 splash later, and Juvi is the new Cruiserweight champion. Dug all this.

Lex Luger vs Scott Norton

Too short to be worth anything, but it was all action for the two minutes it lasted. Norton jumps Luger at the start, including basically deadlifting Lex up for a backbreaker when it seems to be going wrong. Luger survives the shoulderbreaker, and nails the Bionic Forearm and the torture rack for the win.

Diamond Dallas Page vs Kevin Nash

Longest match of the night at nearly seven minutes. Less pleasingly, most of those minutes are Nash’s plodding offence of clubbing blows and wandering around. It’s a shame, as this started well, DDP using his smarts to take the big man down after a blocked hiptoss, instead hitting a knee to the gut and a swinging neckbreaker. Page is good at fighting from beneath, but he’s given little to work with. Snake Eyes gets two for Nash, before DDP tries the Diamond Cutter, luring in Hulk Hogan for the DQ win. Very skippable.

WWF Monday Night Raw 18/07/1994

Diesel vs Lex Luger

This is one of those matches that starts off feeling pretty pedestrian, but really drew me into it by the end. There’s nothing fancy, with Diesel in particular very much going through his routine, but they work in enough nearfalls and a hot ending to make it work. I thought Luger was terrific here, hitting a lovely powerslam before taking a big spill to the floor to give Diesel control. Hard not to chuckle at Jim Ross and Randy Savage praising Diesel’s “technical skills” because he can lock on a sleeper. Lex earns a series of two counts on his comeback, with a second rope clothesline coming closest. There’s also a very close fall for Diesel, as Shawn Michaels superkicks Luger as he goes for the torture rack following a ref bump. Sadly, we get a cop out ending, as Razor Ramon comes down and all four men fight for a double DQ.

Mabel vs Austin Steele

Fun squash, with Mabel showing off his strength. Nice overhead suplex, big corner splash and a Bossman Slam get the win.

Owen Hart vs Reno Riggins

As the #1 contender to the world title, Owen maybe gives Riggins a bit too much offence here. Then again, it helps the story, as Owen gets frustrated at Riggins keeping up with him and starts putting in nastier blows. A slick belly-to-belly leads to the sharpshooter for the win.

Thurman Plugg vs George South

This is a pretty by the book squash. Liked the early spot where South went for a leapfrog, only for Plugg to stop and kick him in the stomach. Plugg has pretty basic offense here, but it’s all executed well enough. Top rope crossbody, with good height, gets three.

Bam Bam Bigelow vs Gary Sabaugh

This was one of the better Bigelow performances, as he lays waste to Sabaugh. His corner splash is fast and painful looking, and a standing enzuigiri looks decent. However, Bigelow ends up winning with the worst looking move in the match, a Million Dollar Dream turned into a shitty bulldog. I think he quickly dropped this move, and with good reason. 

WWF Monday Night Raw 27/06/1994

Mabel vs Bam Bam Bigelow

Disappointingly, this is the sole competitive match on this episode, and it only goes a few minutes. What we do get is pretty fun, with two big agile guys colliding with some real impact. This is mainly angle though, as Luna runs distraction, but remains on the apron, so it’s no surprise that she gets sent flying when Bigelow accidentally runs into her. Bigelow goes out to check on her and gets counted out. Pretty blah.

IRS vs Rich Myers

IRS is truly a terrible squash worker. Less than a minute in and he locks in the abdominal stretch, then works basic holds on Myers before getting the win with an STF. Just really dull stuff.

The Headshrinkers vs The Executioners

In contrast, the Headshrinkers know exactly how to work a fun squash. They actually work a bit heelish, ripping at an Executioner’s face and picking him up on two counts. Still, the work is a lot of fun, with hard body slams, quick powerslams and a superkick by Samu that hits flush on the jaw of an Executioner. Samu hits a DDT from the corner that looks a bit clumsy, but the double team Stroke that wins it looks good.

Kwang vs Mike Moraldo

Kwang squashes always deliver the goods. Moraldo looks pretty decent, as he moves well enough that Kwang looks even more impressive when he hits a sudden flash move. They work an early quick tempo, with Moraldo getting a two from a crossbody, but as he gets up Kwang nails a big kick. A throat thrust looks vicious and the running leg lariat in the corner looks terrific. Really liked the ending as Moraldo ducks a big chop, but gets nailed with a huge kick as he gets up for the win. Really fun stuff.

Lex Luger vs Dave Thornberg

This was basically Luger vs a wrestling dummy, as he ploughs through his opponent in a straightforward manner. Luger’s huge clothesline looks great before the torture rack gets the win.

WWF Raw 27/03/1994

Lex Luger vs Rick Martel

Luger is coming off his controversial loss at WM10. Pretty high paced to start, with Luger showing some real fire in his punches. Loved some of Martel’s in-ring stooging, turning around lost on a criss-cross in time to get bulldozed by a Luger shoulderblock. Sadly, things slow down at this point, as both guys decide to apply long headlocks. Luger actually works his, but Martel locks in 3 dull headlocks. His control doesn’t get any more inspired, with a few boots and blows. Luger blows landing on his feet off a backdrop, but hits a powerslam and the torture rack for the win.

Owen Hart vs Mike Freeman

Perfectly fine squash, as Owen schools Freeman on the mat. Some nice little touches, with Owen hitting a nasty stomp to the prone elbow on Freeman. Owen gives Freeman one or two hope spots, but nails a lovely looking bulldog and locks in the sharpshooter for the win.

Doink vs Eric Cody

The problem in the early days of Doink post-Matt Borne, is that the replacement Doink would try and replicate Borne’s mat skills to maintain the same style. However, he was nowhere near as capable as Borne, so you’d get periods of Doink holding armbars as if he was the new Ricky Steamboat. This is largely dull, bar Dink coming in to run over Cody’s prone body, which the ref seems to deem perfectly fine. A bit of token armwork and a slam seem to render Cody totally incapable of movement and the Whoopee Cushion gets the win.

1-2-3 Kid vs the Black Phantom

Fun little match, as Kid’s small stature means this is worked a bit more evenly than the usual squash. Black Phantom gets to show a bit with a nice short back elbow and a committed headfirst dive into the turnbuckle. Kid takes a big bump, almost landing on his neck on a missed dropkick. 1-2-3 Kid comes back with a lovely running dropkick in the corner, and a moonsault crossbody gets the win.

Crush vs Ray Hudson

Crush has been surprisingly fun in squashes in 94. Loved him grabbing a running Hudson by the throat with a swift chokeslam, and a thrust kick to the jaw looks vicious. Knee drop gets the very quick win.

WWF Royal Rumble 1994

Last year, I did a super-topical Royal Rumble post on the day of the event, so decided it'd be an idea to do one again this year. As I'm in the middle of my 1994 Raw project, I thought it'd make sense to do the 1994 Rumble, the first one I watched when my parents got Sky

Tatanka vs Bam Bam Bigelow

This was supposed to be Tatanka vs Ludwig Borga, but Borga was injured. Probably an upgrade to get Bigelow here, with the result being a decent little PPV opener. It kicks off at a high tempo, as Bigelow tries to jump Tatanka before the bell, but Tatanka uses his speed to avoid the attack, and manages to take control. Nice DDT by Tatanka, but he misses a big crossbody. Bigelow hits a corner splash on Tatanka, getting real nice speed on it. Bam Bam slows things down with a bearhug, but it’s a bit embarrassing as he initially tries to hold Tatanka in the air, but has to put him down right away. Bigelow doesn’t even bother working the bearhug, so it’s a dull period of the match. There’s a double crossbody spot where both guys fly into each other at full speed. Bigelow stops Tatanka hulking up with an enzuigiri, which is a nice touch, but he misses a moonsault. Tatanka hits a top rope crossbody for the win.

Bret Hart & Owen Hart vs the Quebecers

I was interested to revisit this match because, as memorable as the match-ending angle is, you don’t really hear much said about the match. On the whole it’s quite fun, though not as memorable as you’d hope from these two teams. I really liked Jacques’ heeling it up after Owen gets the best of him, hugging Pierre and cowering on his knees. Bret going for flash pins early makes sense, given that he and Owen still had the Rumble to come. The Quebecers briefly get control of Bret, and Owen keeps doing more harm than good by trying to get in the ring, as it draws the attention of the ref away from the Quebecers cheating. This is an ongoing theme throughout the match, which builds up Owen’s hot-headedness and desperation to win for the final angle. Loved Owen’s beautiful overhead belly-to-belly on Pierre when he does get in. Then the big match-changing spot occurs, as some Johnny Polo interference causes Bret to crash through the ropes to the floor, injuring his leg. The Quebecers focus on this injury, including a nasty looking leap off the ringsteps to the knee. All the time, an impetuous Owen is trying to get to Bret and distracting the referee. Even as Owen brawls with Pierre, Jacques is hitting Bret in the leg with a foreign object. Pierre goes for the top rope cannonball to the leg, but Bret moves just in time. Bret opts to try the Sharpshooter rather than tag Owen (a stupid move, though you could justify it by pointing out that Bret is the wrong side of Pierre), but can’t hold the move due to his injury. The ref instantly calls off the match (though the Fink is keen to point out “Bret Hart DID NOT submit” on his announcement), and a furious Owen kicks out Bret’s leg. Fun match to start off a great angle.

Razor Ramon vs IRS

Both guys exchange some nice punches early, nicely surprised by IRS. Razor takes a huge bump over the top running the ropes. I was really happy to see someone reverse the “heel leaps off the top rope to hit unknown move, only for the face to get his boot up” trope, as IRS grabs the foot and hits a big elbow to Razor. Unfortunately, this is the highlight of IRS’ offensive run, as the rest is pretty pedestrian. It also includes a really long chinlock. A ref bump sees the end, as Shawn Michaels runs in to level Razor with his phony IC title, and after a loooong time, IRS crawls over to cover Ramon for the win. However, a 2^nd ref comes in to advise what happened and the match gets restarted. Rather unfairly, as IRS is still celebrating his win on the 2^nd rope, and he gets planted with a Razor’s Edge for the victory. An uneventful bout.

The Undertaker vs Yokozuna

Another match that’s more famous for the post-match angle. The match itself is pretty lacklustre, and painfully slow. After the two exchange some chairshots outside the ring, Yoko thinks a clothesline is enough to conquer the Undertaker, so really takes his time putting him in the coffin. It’s not. Taker hits a sloppy chokeslam, that looks more like Yoko slipping on a banana, and a big DDT to roll Yoko into the casket. You can see Taker desperately killing time for the first outside attacker to stop him closing the lid, before Crush turns up, followed by the Great Kabuki, Tenryu, Bigelow, Adam Bomb, Jeff Jarrett, both Headshrinkers and Diesel. We all know what happens next (urn blows green smoke, heels close Taker in the coffin, Taker talks to the audience from the coffin and rises to the ceiling), but the boring match is often forgotten about as a reason to hate this whole deal.

Royal Rumble

Scott Steiner and Samu start off, which is pretty fun as neither is afraid to lay in their blows. Owen is brought back as an early entrant, earning major heat. The heel turn definitely worked. Diesel gets his first vestiges of a big push, as he gets to go on an elimination spree. He clears the ring (with Owen’s elimination getting a big pop, and clears the ring one-by-one of the next entrants…Bob Backlund, Billy Gunn, Virgil (much to the delight of Ted DiBiase on commentary). This conveniently gives enough time for them to cut to the back where Jim Cornette’s hired guns Tenryu and Kabuki are beating up Lex Luger. Back in the ring, Randy Savage comes out and is a big enough star that Diesel doesn’t get to eliminate him. We get glimpses of a potentially great Savage/Jarrett match, which I don’t think ever took place (but I’d love to be wrong), but Jarrett is quickly eliminated. Loved the ferocity of Savage’s attack on an entering Crush, you can really feel the hate between the two. Savage gets eliminated, and we get a Diesel/Crush segment. Doink enters and stands back, laughing at the two heels fighting, until they look over and spot him. They rightly batter him, then present him on a platter for an entering Bam Bam Bigelow. Bammer hurls him over the top to the floor. Loved that.

Shawn Michaels soon enters and, after facing off with his bodyguard Diesel, shakes hand with him. However, Shawn does nothing to stop his friend being eliminated, setting the tone for a year of tension between the two. Both Mabel and Mo from Men On A Mission end up in the ring at the same time, but seem to be idiots as they barely work together. You’d think Mo would be desperate for Mabel to help him. Instead, when all the entrants gang up on Mabel, Mo is left standing idly by like a moron until Shawn attacks him. The way Mo was just gormlessly staring, he needn’t have bothered. Luger comes out to a decent pop and swiftly eliminates the useless mercenary Kabuki. Tenryu is out next and, though he’s also being paid to make sure Luger doesn’t win, he doesn’t actually spend much time fighting Lex, which was surely the point of him entering. A non-entrant is believed by the commentary team to be Bret. Bret does come out a couple of entrants later, earning a massive pop. However, he gets no offence on getting in, as Crush goes right to the leg. I liked the continuity of Marty Jannetty going right after Michaels upon getting in the ring. Reminds me of how Tito and Martel would always square off in the Rumble. Somehow, fucking Mo is still around at the end of the Rumble, and takes a shitty elimination – he gets superkicked while facing away from the ropes, then spins round and dives over the top. So bad. The final four is Bret, Lex, Michaels and Fatu, going down to just Bret and Lex as they simultaneously eliminate the other two. The two exchange blows and both end up going over at the same time to be crowned joint-winners. A memorable end to a decent Rumble match.

WWF Raw 24/01/1994

Lex Luger vs Austin Steele

Really dull squash, where Luger doesn’t do much to warm up the crowd. For example, why is buffed-up super-face Luger holding a side headlock on the mat on lumpy jobber Steele 2 minutes in? Steele gets in some basic looking offence before Luger finishes with a superplex.

Jeff Jarrett vs John Paul

Jarrett is proving himself to be a great squash worker on these old Raws. Loved his big dropkick here, and a nice heavy clothesline on Paul. Jarrett lets Paul get in a few flash pins throughout, but I love the fact that Jarrett will cheat even when in total control. What a heel. Dug seeing Jarrett bring out a slingshot suplex. The match ends with a fun little sequence of counters, and Jarrett wins with a roll-up and a handful of tights on a jobber squash. Great dickish work by Jarrett

 

Men On A Mission vs the Headshrinkers

This had been advertised prior to the Rumble as the Harts vs the Headshrinkers, so this is a real step down. Mo is really positioned as the weak link of the team, so you can see Vince plotting a Mabel push already. Mo even makes the mistake twice of trying to slam a Headshrinkers head, which doesn’t work. I liked a fun spot where, unbeknownst to Fatu, Mabel had tagged in and Samu refused to accept his tag. Fatu takes control on Mo with a pair of superkicks, so you can see where the Usos get their main offensive move from. A kick to the back makes Mo the face in peril, and the heat section is a little bland. Mo gets a few hope spots including a terrible small package. Mabel finally gets the hot tag, and I like that they paid off the “Headshrinkers no-sell head shots” story by having Mabel do a noggin-knocker with Afa and a Shrinker, with the payoff being that both heads were so strong that both felt pain. Things turn into a bit of a mess towards the end, before the Shrinkers finish Mo with the top rope splash. Not much to recommend here. 

Adam Bomb vs Tommy Angel

Interestingly, both Vince and JR talk up the bland looking Angel as a decent talent pre-match. Curiously, the commentators spend a lot of the match slamming manager Harvey Whippleman, stating that Bomb is wasting time and Harvey should order him to put Angel away. It’s odd, as Bomb is in complete control, bar a little flurry by Angel at the start. A flying clothesline and the Atom Smasher finish it.

Doink vs Joey Stallings

This is an odd state of affairs, as the recently sacked Matt Borne had been playing Doink as a talented mat wrestler and working all kinds of fun holds on guys. However, the replacement Doink (and I’m not sure which one it is here) is not as talented as Borne so, after an admittedly great overhead belly-to-belly, Doink hits some perfunctory armwork to try and maintain character. Problem is, he’s not as fluid or vicious as Borne was. Stallings gets to hit a nice side slam, before Doink folds him up with a side suplex (again, pretty good), and the Whoopee Cushion gets 3. 

Shawn Michaels vs Tyrone Knox

As good as Jeff Jarrett has looked on these old Raws, Michaels is proving to be a dull squash wrestler. He stooges too much for the stocky Knox here, then slowly works him over when he is on offence. This includes a chinlock that goes on for too long. Knox is allowed to no-sell a turnbuckle shot, but a superkick and piledriver win it for Michaels.

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.

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.