WCW Halloween Havoc 1992

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

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

Ricky Steamboat vs Brian Pillman

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

Vader vs Nikita Koloff

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

Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes vs Steve Austin & Steve Williams

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

Rick Rude vs Masahiro Chono

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

Ron Simmons vs the Barbarian

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

Sting vs Jake “the Snake” Roberts

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

WCW Clash of the Champions XIX

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

Ricky Steamboat & Nikita Koloff vs Joe & Dean Malenko

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

Rick Rude & Steve Austin vs Tom Zenk & Marcus Bagwell

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

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

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

Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes vs Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton

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

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

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

Jushin Liger & Brian Pillman vs Chris Benoit & Beef Wellington

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

The Headhunters vs Hiroshi Hase & Akira Nogami

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

Steve Williams & Terry Gordy vs the Steiner Brothers

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

WCW Wrestlewar 1992

The Fabulous Freebirds vs Taylor Made Man & Greg Valentine

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

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

Marcus Alexander Bagwell vs Scotty Flamingo

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

Ron Simmons vs Mr Hughes

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

Super Invader vs Todd Champion

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

Richard Morton vs Big Josh

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

Tom Zenk vs Brian Pillman

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

The Steiner Brothers vs Tatsumi Fujinami & Takayuki Iizuka

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

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

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

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

WCW SuperBrawl II 1992

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

 

Brian Pillman vs Jushin Thunder Liger

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

Marcus Alexander Bagwell vs Taylor Made Man

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

Ron Simmons vs Cactus Jack

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

Van Hammer & Tom Zenk vs Richard Morton & Vinnie Vegas

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

Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes vs Steve Austin & Larry Zbyszko

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

The Steiner Brothers vs Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton

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

“Ravishing” Rick Rude vs Ricky Steamboat

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

Sting vs Lex Luger

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

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.

Everyday Is Like Tom Zenk: Z-Man & Brian Pillman vs Cactus Jack & Abdullah The Butcher

So, I was watching WWE Vintage Collection, when all of a sudden up comes a Z-Man match. Seeing as how I've got 10 minutes to kill, and we've not had a Zenk update for a while, I thought it'd make sense to give it some attention. It's a simple enough story for a tag match: the faces are quick and full of energy, whilst the heels are brawlers who just want to hurt people. Z-Man fights out of the opposition corner early and takes over on Cactus with some nice high flying offence. He does get caught in an Abby nerve hold, which he then breaks out of before hitting a nice enzuigiri. Pillman is in and full of gusto, which is why I always like face teams who are smaller and more explosive, where the fans' excitement at the hot tag is matched by the fire of the incoming face. It's certainly the case here, with Pillman ripping into Abby, including hitting the Butcher with an impressive slam. Pillman slips on a springboard attempt and immediately starts selling knee, which was either planned or some very quick improvisation from him. Pillman bumps like a pinball for Abby, which makes some average offence look deadly. Z-Man comes back in and hits a nice pair of superkicks on the Butcher, which Abby sells with an ace glazed expression. Zenk locks on a sleeper, but the referee is distracted by Pillman brawling with Jack, which allows Cactus to hit Z-Man with the Butcher's staff for the win. Great formula tag match, it allowed both teams to look good and highlight their strengths.

EDILTZ Special!! The Best Of Tom Zenk

You can only imagine my joy when, weeks after starting this blog, I spotted a DVD for sale from IVP videos called The Best Of Tom Zenk!! For the bargain price of $3, it consists of 2 hours of Zenk from his Japan tours between 1986 and 1994. This should be excellent.

Rick Martel & Tom Zenk vs the Funk Brothers (22/11/86)
The Funks start off playing face, showing mutual respect to Zenk and Martel, but early signs of frustration show when the younger team manage to keep up with them on the early exchanges. The first sign of the Funks' heeling comes when Dory repeatedly throws Zenk outside the ring (with some big bumps taken by Zenk) to be thrown back in by Terry, only for Terry to give Zenk an atomic drop (almost hitting a cameraman) before throwing him back in, to the rage of Martel. Martel begins to brawl with Terry outside, while Dory works over Zenk on the inside, hitting a nice piledriver for two. Martel comes in on a hot tag, following a reversal of Dory's spinning toe hold, and Terry does everything in his power to draw the ire of the crowd and make Martel look good: he runs away from Martel all around the ring, cowers in the ropes and offers a handshake in an attempt to placate Martel. Martel, as a good face, accepts the handshake, but the audience knows that Terry can't be trusted. So when Terry tries to double-cross on a clean break, and Martel avoids contact, the crowd erupts and a two count off a crossbody gets a huge pop. Zenk is brought back in with his own crossbody for two, but Terry rolls him up for three. Good tag affair with plenty of heat, the fired-up babyfaces meshing well with the sneaky heels.

Tom Zenk & Rick Martel vs Giant Baba & Hiroshi Wajima (12/12/86)
The crowd are psyched for Wajima right from the start. Zenk manages to hit one of the highest standing dropkicks I've seen on Wajima as Martel holds him in a bearhug. Baba comes in and the match quality quickly goes downhill, including him putting Zenk in a headscissors for what feels like ages. Wajima at least has some energy and shares some fierce exchanges with the two gaijin. This is my first time seeing Baba, and he's really not my cup of tea. His bumps and offence both are really low impact and go beyond being safe into being business-exposing.The difference between him and Wajima are night and day, so it comes as a relief when Wajima comes in like a house on fire and levels Zenk with a backdrop driver and a lariat for the win. Not a good match

Tom Zenk & The Terminator vs Genichiro Tenryu & Ashura Hara (21/11/87)
The Terminator is the brother of Johhny Ace and Road Warrior Animal. At this point, Zenk is more established in Japan and is actually getting some decent offence in, getting to look good against both Tenryu and Hara. Zenk and Tenryu share some nice exchanges during the opening section, including a swank sequence where Zenk goes from a hammerlock into a headscissors on Tenryu. Zenk also nails a nice standing inziguiri on Hara. Terminator doesn't fare so well, making the mistake of exchanging chops with Tenryu. Zenk rescues his partner from a Tenryu top rope elbow, but is unable to stop him falling prey to an enzuigiri and powerbomb for the Tenryu win. Pretty enjoyable, if a bit short.

Tom Zenk & The Terminator vs John Tenta & The Great Kabuki (11/12/87)
Early bad break for Zenk as he botches an attempt to springboard out of the corner, only for things to get worse then Tenta press slams him. After his mistake of chopping with Tenryu last match, this time Terminator goes for a test strength with Tenta. Again he doesn't win, but does get to knock the big man down with a clothesline. Tenta looks great here, moving with a fair bit of speed and he sends Zenk flying out of the ring with a big shoulder tackle. He also levels Terminator with a dropkick out of the corner. In fact, aside from a small flurry of offence from Zenk, it's pretty much the Tenta show, as he soon squashes Terminator with a powerslam and an elbow drop for the win.

Tom Zenk & The Terminator vs Abdullah The Butcher & TNT (12/12/87)
This TNT sadly isn't Savio Vega. Zenk & Terminator get the chance to look pretty dominant in the early stages, working over TNT with some double-teams and sending him outside for more punishment. Against Abby, it isn't quite the same, with Terminator making an offensive mistake for the 3rd match in a row by trying to headbutt the Butcher. Abby works Terminator over outside, including feeding him to a TNT chairshot and pins him with an elbow drop inside. Match lasted about 5 minutes. This is the last Zenk/Terminator match on the disk, all of which have seen Zenk getting in some solid offence, only to be let down by his partner. At this point you'd assume Zenk would be looking elsewhere...

Tom Zenk & Stan Hansen vs Abdullah The Butcher & Jimmy Snuka (30/08/88)
One year later and Zenk has a hell of an upgrade for his tag partner. Hansen jumps Abby as he gets in the ring, and it is on. Abby and Hansen brawl outside, while Zenk and Snuka tangle in the ring (which most fans aren't watching). Eventually, we get back in the ring, where Abby and Snuka double team Zenk repeatedly, including a series of chokes on the rope and Abby jamming a fork into Zenk's neck. all Hell soon breaks loose again with both teams brawling outside, while Snuka chokes Zenk with a chain. Chaos keeps reigning with Hansen snapping at one point, hurling a table in the ring. Eventually the ref has had enough and it's a double DQ. Despite it's sloppiness and Snuka looking far from his best, this is a fun little brawl.

Tom Zenk & Dan Kroffat vs Toshiaki Kawada & Samson Fuyuki (18/04/88)
This is for Kawada & Fuyuki's All-Asian titles. Fuyuki is a future founding member of Team No Respect. This match is notably faster than the last few matches and provides a refreshing change of pace, with Zenk looking noticably energized in his early exchanges with Kawada. Kroffat also looks good and both teams seem to have nice chemistry. Kawada sends Zenk to the floor, but misses a pescado, allowing Zenk and Kroffat to double-team Fuyuki, leading to a Zenk springboard splash for two. Kroffat busts out Cattle Mutilation on Fuyuki at one point, before hitting him with a Razor's Edge and I'm really starting to love this match. Kawada gets double-teamed with a swank suplex/missile dropkick combo from the gaijin, and you get the feeling that Zenk and Kroffat should have teamed more often, with Kroffat just bringing out more and more swank offence, including a powerslam that has a real nice snap to it. Against the run of the match, Kawada hits a crucifix on Kroffat for the win, but this was just a great match by all four men.

Tom Zenk & Jim Brunzell vs the Fantastics (11/07/89)
Some more nice tag-team wrestling. Zenk almost sneaks an early pin by catching Fulton in a small package as he ducks a Brunzell leapfrog. Zenk also does some nice work by catching Rogers with a springboard crossbody from the corner, then faking him out on a second attempt to hit a beautiful dropkick. The Fantastics, predictably, work fantastically (sorry) as a team, but Zenk and Brunzell look good together too. Zenk hits a choice powerslam when he catches Fulton coming off the top rope. The Fantastics have some beautifully executed double-teams here, including a fun double monkeyflip on Brunzell. Zenk seems to be positioned as the powerhouse of the match, and he does good work in the role, catching Rogers and Fulton with a double clothesline before hitting a good running powerslam on Rogers. The end comes when the less-established team misses a double-team move, allowing the Fantastics to double-team Brunzell with an assisted top-rope backsplash for the win. I could happily have watched another 10 minutes of this.

Tom Zenk, Stan Hansen & Doug Furnas vs Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (23/07/94)
Zenk is sporting some rather fetching pink trunks. A fun spot near the start sees Kikuchi running from Zenk and Furnas, thinking he's outsmarted them, only to get hammered by Hansen from behind, who throws him to Zenk and Furnas to attack outside the ring. The American team looks good early on, with Hansen and Furnas combining for a nice double-team shoulderblock on Misawa. The home team focus on keeping Hansen down, with Kobashi and Misawa both getting to look good against him, Kobashi even fighting to get the big man over for a suplex. It doesn't last too long, and soon Hansen and Zenk combine to hit a second-rope clothesline into a back suplex on Kobashi. Hansen also takes Kobashi to the floor for a DDT. The hot-tag to Misawa gets a massive reaction, which he repays by taking Hansen down with a flying elbow.Both teams exchange fast tags and offence, with a Furnas release German suplex on Kikuchi looking particularly impressive. Things break down quickly, until we're left with Furnas in the ring with Kobashi, who hits a moonsault for the win. Fast, frentic and crucially, a lot of fun.

Overall, this has done nothing to dilute my appreciation of Tom Zenk. What I saw on this disk was a great tag-team worker with great babyface fire and high athleticism. Four of the matches here are legitimately great, and I think it's fair to say Zenk pulled his weight in there. EDILTZ will continue, but it'll be hard for me to find better examples of how good he was than this

Everyday Is Like Tom Zenk: Zenk & Bagwell vs Taylor & Flamingo

Z Man & Marcus Bagwell vs Terry Taylor & Scotty Flamingo
This comes in the middle of a fued between Bagwell and the Taylor Made Man. Bagwell starts with Flamingo and looks pretty darn good, showing a fiery athleticism that was missing from the Buff Bagwell days. Taylor comes in as the veteran of the match as pointed out by JR, and plays the role of the cocky vet very well, whilst also letting Bagwell look good against him. Zenk also displays some good babyface fire when he comes in, hittng flying headscissors on both heels and busting out a springboard crossbody on Taylor which pops the crowd. Flamingo manages to make a blind tag to Taylor, who gets the advantage on Zenk from behind and starts pumping out some heeling tactics, starting by choking Zenk behind the referee's back. The heels continue to work Zenk over, cutting off the ring and drawing Bagwell in to distract the ref whilst they choke Zenk out. Zenk fires back with a neckbreaker, and makes a pretty abrupt hot tag to Bagwell. All four guys end up in the ring, allowing Zenk to hit a superkick on Taylor for the win. The match could have used another 5 minutes or so to stretch out the heat sequence on Zenk, but it was a perfectly decent wrestling match, with all four bringing a fact tempo to the match.

Zenk & Bagwell vs Taylor & Flamingo

Everyday Is Like Tom Zenk: Z-Man vs Cuban Assassin

Gary Michael Capetta announces this is Zenk's NWA debut, so this can't be long after his leaving the WWF due to an alleged pay dispute. Zenk takes an early advantage over the Assassin with some typical fiery babyface offence. Messers Ross and Cornette on commentary give the Z-Man some verbal fellatio, as Zenk keeps the advantage with several armdrags. Assassin gets in a small modicum of offence, but misses a diving headbutt from the second rope. The match is pretty much a showcase squash for Zenk, who looks good throughout- he's got superb dropkicks and he works the end sequence well, reversing Assassin holds and niftily putting on a sleeper for the win. This is the best Zenk has looked in EDILTZ so far, because he was given a role in the match that let him showcase his abilities. A good sign.

Z-Man vs Cuban Assassin

Everyday Is Like Tom Zenk: Tom Zenk vs Rob Rechsteiner (AWA 21/08/1985)

One of the things I want to do with this blog is to find out if my taste in wrestling as a kid was worthless or not. There are a selection of wrestlers who I was a big fan of between the ages of 10-18, and I want to see if I still like them now. One of these wrestlers is Tom Zenk, and Youtube threw up this interesting curio, where the Z-Man is fighting a pre-fame Rick Steiner, going under his birth name, in the AWA. Zenk is the veteran here, with Steiner looking a little green in the early stages of the match. There is a nice spot early in the match where Steiner powers Zenk onto the top rope, then foolishly jawing with the crowd, allowing Zenk to hit a crossbody for two. Zenk has some fine fiery babyface offence and Steiner makes a decent attempt at covering for over-early sell of a dropkick by rolling to the outside as if he'd deliberately avoided contact. There is a botched attempt at an airplane spin, seemingly from Steiner leaping too early, but a second attempt sees Zenk pick up the three. Hard to really make a judgement on Zenk from this match, which was essentially a squash and saw Zenk lumbered with a very green Steiner, but there were positive signs in his offence.

Link: Z-Man vs Rechsteiner