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RDT Reviews WCW Beash Blast ’92

March 11, 2015 rdtworldofsport@gmail.com

WCW Beach Blast 92
June 20, 1992
Mobile, AL
Reviewed on March 26, 2014

Background: To be honest, I don’t know my WCW 1992 very well, but I do know of some things that were going on and how the company was struggling as a result.

WCW had lost their top two main eventers in the past year. The Jim Herd era had the NWA/WCW’s top draw leave without dropping the belt, as Ric Flair left in the middle of 1991. This led to the end of the new Lex Luger run as well…as Luger never beating Flair ended up ruining Luger’s reign, and he bolted shortly thereafter. This left Sting as the only top guy. WCW did have talent though, and we’ll see it on this show.

Herd was fired after the Flair fiasco and I believe Kip Frye took over for a while…but eventually Bill Watts was the head guy in WCW for this point. Watts was an extreme mixed bag…extremely old school…but at least his booking provided good stories and solid action. So let’s see how Beach Blast 92 shakes out.

The Card

Main event tonight is a World Tag Team Title bout: Steiners vs. Dr. Death and Terry Gordy. I guess that passes in 1992.

Bill Watts is on screen talking about tonight’s matches. He talks about hard hitting action and rules and stuff. I do think there is a way to do the old school stuff, and Watts was the way to do it. They weren’t going to beat the WWF like that though.

WCW Lightheavyweight Championship
Flyin’ Brian Pillman vs. Scotty Flamingo

I wonder how much it killed Raven to be Scotty Flamingo.

Crowd is very into Pillman. I think this is right after a series of matches with Jushin Liger.

Well wrestles match so far. Watts’ rules had no over the top rope moves…so unsurprisingly we’re getting a technical contest.

Not the best selling of the wristlock by Raven (unless you purposely flip to the canvas in a wristlock).

Most of my Brian Pillman viewing was post accident in 1997, watching him do cruiser stuff is a bit jarring (although I’ve seen it before). Pillman was really good.

Jim Ross points out that if Pillman jumped off the top rope it would have been a DQ. See, that was a bit too much for the old school stuff.

Scotty Flamingo looks like Carlito.

Getting close to the 20 minute time limit here.

Scotty Flamingo wins the title by pin in 17:29. Pillman clotheslines Raven over the top rope onto the ramp, but misses an over the top rope dive and lands on the ramp hard (both of which I thought would be DQs here. I guess I don’t understand the WCW rules at the time). Raven brings him back in and hits a knee from the 2nd rope (looked terrible though). Gets the three. Good match. Not great, but filled the 17 minutes pretty well and put over Flamingo.

Bikini Contest
Missy Hyatt vs. Madusa

Oh god Johnny B. Badd is hosting this. I actually prefer Marc Mero.

I guess it’s actually an evening gown contest first. Doesn’t really fit the Beach theme.

We’ll get back to this later apparently.

Ron Simmons vs. Taylor Made Man

Here’s another wrestling joke: Terry Taylor. At least this is better than the Red Rooster.

Horrible three point stance shoulder blocks…as Taylor practically jumps over Simmons.

Simmons presses Taylor over this head and tosses him into the ring from the ramp. Jesse Ventura says I guess that’s not a DQ because Taylor was thrown into the ring. Even the announcers were confused.

Angry Man Spinebuster wasn’t that angry yet.

Ron Simmons pinned Taylor in 7:10. Powerslam for the win. Honestly, I could see why Watts went with Simmons later. Simmons would have been a great guy for a territory to build around, and if Watts was going old school, it makes sense.

Marcus Bagwell vs. Greg Valentine

A really young Buff Bagwell here.

I can’t really tell, but I feel like Valentine is stiffing Bagwell here.

Good old school match with Valentine destroying the leg.

Greg Valentine makes Bagwell submit in 7:17. Figure four for the win. Interesting ending as Bagwell never makes a comeback, almost as if this was a “real” match. It was what it was, but good psychology with the leg I guess.

Falls Count Anywhere
Sting vs. Cactus Jack

Some story here, although I know more about the backstage stuff: Sting was beginning to be fed monsters to help put him over (I think preparing for a Sting vs. Rick Rude World Title match). As Mick Foley wrote in his first book, Cactus Jack came in to put over Sting…but Foley wanted to try some crazy stuff to put himself AND Sting over, which worried Sting at first. Mick Foley calls this his favorite match in his book. While Sting is the WCW World Champ here, it is a non-title match and it kinda makes sense as that’s not what Cactus Jack was about at this point.

In the storylines, Cactus Jack was kinda known as the king of the Falls Count Anywhere match at this point. That’s really the standard Hardcore Match. He beat Van Hammer in one where Abdullah the Butcher interfered.

Awesome backdrop sequence on the ramp! Awesome start so far.

Jack with the flying elbow off the apron. A killer move for the time.

Sunset Flip off the apron on the floor. I’d love to see someone Foley’s size do that today!

I can’t believe this match is taking place on USA national PPV in 1992. Crowd fighting. Rail bumps!

That was what was great about the Cactus Jack character. Yes he was a violent brawler…but he could wrestle too…and that only added to the danger (body scissors here).

Nice Stinger Splash on the floor where Cactus ends up dumping Sting on the railing.

Not sure if that was a botched piledriver or part of the story with Cactus’ knee. I’m actually gonna go with story here.

Sting bashes Jack in the knee with the chair. So yeah, I think the earlier spot was story. Cactus escapes the Scorpion!

Sting pins Cactus Jack in 11:24. Flying clothesline from the top to the ramp from Sting for the win. Great match! Nice brawl. Wish this was longer…and I am wondering why this didn’t main event? No wonder Sting wanted to work with Foley so much afterwards.

30 Minute Iron Man Match
Rick Rude vs. Ricky Steamboat

Oddly, another non-title match as Rude was the US Champ here.

I like how Rude’s gimmick hadn’t changed one bit since 1988, yet he was still over as hell anyway.

Before I even watch, same question about Sting vs. Jack. Why isn’t this the main event?

Steamboat brings his kid and wife Bonnie (Flair’s brings some insight there about here). He attacks Rude’s ribs and Ventura has a point about Steamboat using his kid as a way for Rude not to attack first.

Steamboat trying to win it with some submissions quickly. Interesting story they are trying to tell.

Rude gets a surprise pin after a knee to the face. Steamboat was absolutely owning before that. Pin seems a bit quick for me, but if we are going for realism a knee to the face I could see being a good finish (ain’t that right D-Bry).

Rude nails the Rude Awakening for a quick 2-0 lead now. I do like that booking a lot. Steamboat is dazed…so take advantage. Well done.

Rude comes off the top rope with a flying knee drop! That’s a DQ here! 2-1. But wait, that took out Steamboat…so Rude gets ANOTHER pin for the 3-1 lead. Awesome heel spot. HHH vs. Rock stole this idea at Judgment Day 2000.

Steamboat gets beat on for about six minutes, but nicely reverses a Tombstone and drills Rude to cut it to 3-2. I wanna see someone climb Undertaker like that.

Steamboat with an awesome bridge into a backslide for another three. 3-3! Still 10 minutes left.

Steamboat trying to take the lead with tons of pinning attempts. No dice though, Rude stops him.

Man even Rick Rude’s sleeper looks awesome.

This seriously is the best sleeper I’ve ever seen. And somehow Steamboat even sells it like a million bucks…which is crazy, again, because it’s a sleeper. Two minutes left.

Ricky Steamboat wins 4-3. Wow! Steamboat looks dead in the sleeper…but gets back to his feet and does the Bret Hart-Roddy Piper/Steve Austin Rude pins himself sequence…only the Rude’s injured ribs story makes it more effective…and he gets the pin! Rude goes batshit insane here and gets SEVEN two counts in 30 seconds to try to tie it…but no dice. Incredible finish. Match was great. I did think the first fall came too sudden but everything else worked really well. Really wondering why this wasn’t the main event especially since there was a great finish here. This was PWI’s Third Runner up for Match of the Year.

Swimsuit Competition
Missy Hyatt vs. Madusa

Oh god more Johnny B. Badd.

Um…I think Missy Hyatt wins. There’s a round three later though.

Six Man Tag Team Match: Ole Anderson is the special referee
The Dangerous Alliance (Steve Austin, Arn Anderson and Beautiful Bobby Eaton) vs. Nikita Koloff, Barry Windham and Dustin Rhodes

A young Stone Cold and Goldust in this one. Young Heyman at ringside too.

Windham and Austin start. Not sure if this is really a good comparison, but I actually see some Austin in Windham at this point.

They tease Arn Anderson coming off the top. Really pushing the new rules of WCW here.

Koloff clotheslines Arn over the rope…and Paul E. wants a DQ. He doesn’t get the call though…which it least is consistent from the Lightheavy title match.

During the match Ross and Ventura say that Madusa is beating Hyatt 51% to 49%. A lot of blind people voting I guess.

I like Ole Anderson as a referee.

Rhodes, Windham and Koloff win in 15:32 by DQ. Arn Anderson is caught coming off the top rope for the DQ. Ugh. Look, that’s fine if you want to get the new rules over, but don’t waste a PPV finish on it. This is a well wrestled match but utterly pointless due to the finish.

Paul E. tells Steamboat no more US Title shots. Then Steamboat is attacked by Cactus Jack. Good stuff.

Bikini Contest
Missy Hyatt vs. Madusa

Hyatt uses Ventura’s scarves as a bikini. Johnny B. Badd says she wins. Madusa gets mad. For the record, Hyatt’s swimsuit was more of a bikini. Whatever. How did Missy Hyatt get so unhot though? She was practically Sunny before Sunny.

WCW World Tag Team Championship
The Steiner Bros.(c) vs. The Miracle Violence Connection (Dr. Death Steve Williams and Bam Bam Terry Gordy)

I think the story here is the Steiners have destroyed everyone…but these two from Japan can match amateur wrestling and power with the Steiners.

A lot of amateur wrestling early.

Jesse Ventura with the line of the night. JR: “Rick Steiner has a degree in Education for Michigan.” Ventura: “Oh yeah right. From Kindergarten?”

Crowd is really into the Steiners, for what it’s worth about this being the main event.

All this technical wrestling leads to a Bow and Arrow lock from Scott. I like the rarer unique submissions as you can see.

Working on Scotty Steiner’s knee. Always good psychology.

Dr. Death with the Walls of Jericho!

I always wondered how people killed JBL for his Clothesline From Hell when the Steiners used Steinerlines as a finisher at times.

Time Limit Draw in 30:00. Scott Steiner gets a Frankensteiner, but it’s too late. Of course, in any era, this is a shit finish for the last match on the show. Match itself was pretty boring. Maybe it was a big deal in 1992, and it was wrestled well I guess, but I just wasn’t feeling it. This match also has another bigger issue. Throughout the show a NWA World Tag Team Title tournament was being promoted. So, why should I care about the WCW World Tag Team title?

Interesting PPV. It’s wrestled well from top to bottom, but it has some major problems. One is the match order. Having two non-finishes as the last two matches on a PPV is very unsatisfying. Especially when Steamboat-Rude was an excellent Iron Man Match and quite main event worthy…and the WCW Champ Sting could have also main evented in a great brawl with Cactus Jack. But a DQ by coming off the top and a time limit draw? Bad way to end the show in any era. I’m guessing the tag match main evented because Watts liked tough guys, and Dr. Death, Gordy and the Steiners were all as tough as they come. It’s still the wrong choice though and really messes up the card.

The bikini stuff didn’t need three different segments.

There could have been some emphasis on the stories. While Cactus Jack got some story, I had no idea about why Steamboat-Rude wasn’t for the title and why he still can’t have a title shot. Also no idea why, as alluded to in the commentary, Vader was happy that Cactus was beating up Sting.

Those may be the only bad things, but they are major.

A lot of good stuff though. Great wrestling. A couple great matches. Some of the bikini stuff was great. Very good opener. A clear showing that they were going to go with Ron Simmons at some point. The storytelling is there…they just need to tell us.

Good outweighs the bad for sure.

Final Grade: B

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews WWF This Tuesday In Texas

March 11, 2015 rdtworldofsport@gmail.com

WWF This Tuesday in Texas
December 3, 1991
San Antonio, TX
Reviewed on January 22, 2015

And you thought Taboo Tuesday was the first experiment for weekday WWF PPVs?

Just six nights after Survivor Series (held on a Thursday back then), the WWF tried a new form of revenue stream in the form of a Tuesday night PPV. It had a pretty hot main event as well, with new WWF Champion The Undertaker going up again the man he took it from, Hulk Hogan. The WWF had been on the bit of a slide business wise, although the true reason for that was that fans were tiring of the Hulkster and Vince had no one hot enough to replace him. Sid was a popular choice at the time. Vince had also acquired Ric Flair, but he was never one to really build his promotion around a heel like Flair.

Also on this card is a match regarding the big Jake Roberts vs. Randy Savage feud. So while this PPV seems pretty random and is forgotten now, you can tell the WWF tried hard with it to see if it would work. Does it? Let’s see.

The Card

We kick off with a post Survivor Series promo with Paul Bearer and The Undertaker. They are already hyping up This Tuesday in Texas. Bearer says nothing is immortal, not even Hogan. He says Hulkamania at Survivor Series…all that’s left is the funeral services. Bearer and Taker were pretty awesome characters in 1991.

WWF Intercontinental Championship
Bret Hart© vs. Skinner

Skinner actually gets the jobber entrance here. Not sure why he’s getting an IC title shot on a PPV but we’re told he’s undefeated so far, so there’s that.

Starting with Bret is a good idea though.

There’s not much to say about this match other than Bret is mega over.

Bret Hart retains when he makes Skinner submit in 13:46. Bret tosses Skinner off the top rope and makes him submit to the Sharpshooter. Went about 6 minutes too long. Match was as bare bones as you can think of. The only move I can remember Skinner doing that seemed remotely unique was his reverse DDT. Boring overall. Crowd was into it though, as Bret was as I wrote earlier, mega over.

Jake “The Snake” Roberts promo. Roberts was terrifying at this point. You really thought he’d beat the crap out of Miss Elizabeth if given the chance.

Randy Savage with a crazy nutty promo himself. Both are pretty awesome.

Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs. “Macho Man” Randy Savage

This really should have happened at Wrestlemania VIII, but I get putting it here to sell the PPV. Story here: Jake turned heel earlier in 1991, and had put a snake in Elizabeth’s wedding gifts. There was an angle later that actually used a real cobra to bite Randy Savage. Savage eventually got re-instated as he lost a retirement match to The Ultimate Warrior back at Mania VII, and got his match with Jake.

Savage attacks Jake during his entrance. I think this is his first match since Mania, but I could be wrong.

Jake quickly takes control, ramming Savage’s arm into the ring post.

Randy Savage pins Roberts in 6:25. Savage drops the big elbow on Jake for the win. It surprisingly just ends like that. While it was fun, it was too short for a feud of this caliber. I would be okay with it if it led to a Wrestlemania match…but it didn’t. Savage tries the post-match chair shot, but the ref stops him, leading to Savage getting the DDT. Jake drops Savage with a 2nd DDT for good measure.

Jake then brings out a snake, and Miss Elizabeth runs in and begs Jake to leave Savage alone. Jake drops a third DDT on Savage right in front of Elizabeth. Jake forces Liz to beg in order to save Savage. Jake then SLAPS Elizabeth, which is one of the most despicable things a heel could have done in 1991. It takes President Tunney to get Jake out of there. Nuclear heat for Jake.

Another great Jake promo. He’s sick.

The British Bulldog vs. The Warlord

A pretty good power match here. Warlord has more moves than I ever realized.

Warlord actually locks his full nelson in by using the Bulldog’s hair. Creative heel stuff.

This long full nelson is kinda killing it though. It just went too long.

The British Bulldog pins the Warlord in 12:45. Bulldog gets a crucifix to win. It was the best Warlord match I’ve ever seen and a decent match overall. The full nelson really took me out of the match though. The Bulldog and Warlord didn’t get through 1992 I don’t believe with the steroid issues the WWF would have.

Randy Savage interview. He’s furious about what happened with Jake and Elizabeth. It’s an awesome promo. How didn’t they blow this off at Mania?!

Repo Man and Ted Dibiase vs. El Madator and Virgil

Part of the Virgil-Dibiase feud…Dibiase hired Repo Man to re-obtain the Million Dollar Championship from Virgil.

Dibiase and the Repo Man dominate Virgil. Makes sense as the storyline is with him, not Tito.

Man, crowd is hot for Virgil, especially when he gets his hands on Dibiase. You just don’t see that for midcarders these days.

Ted Dibiase and Repo Man win when Dibiase pinned Virgil in 11:28. Strange finish here. Dibiase holds Virgil for Sherri to hit with her shoe, but Virgil moves and she clocks Dibiase. Virgil grabs Sherri, but gets kneed in the back by the Repo Man. Dibiase then makes the pin. What was the point of Sherri hitting Dibiase there? Anyway, this was a good match, best on the card. Virgil was over…but sadly no one really cared about him without Dibiase.

Hulk Hogan interview. Hogan really was one of the best promo men of all time.

WWF World Championship
The Undertaker© vs. Hulk Hogan

Bobby Heenan with an awesome line. Monsoon is busy praising Hogan, and Heenan responds with “quiet Monsoon, here comes the WWF…Champion.

Taker and Paul Bearer attack right away. President Jack Tunney is at ringside to prevent any shenanigans.

We get our first botch. Taker goes for his top rope hangman from the apron, but Hogan keeps punching. Well this wasn’t going to be a technical classic.

It’s pretty amazing what Undertaker was in the ring in 1991 and what he was some 16 years later. The only submission Taker knew here was the choke.

Huge botch, although it may have been the ring. Taker was going for his flying clothesline…but he gets caught in the ropes and falls.

Flair is here! Hogan smacks him with a chair and Tunney goes down as well!

Hulk Hogan regains the WWF Title by pin in 13:09. Paul Bearer tries to hit Hogan with the urn…but gets Taker! Hogan grabs the urn, pours out ashes and throws them in Taker’s face before rolling him up for the three. Flair propped Tunney up though so he saw the finish…which led to the title being vacated and being up for grabs in the ’92 Rumble. Uh…this match was terrible. All Undertaker choking with some botches in-between. Historically though this led to the ’92 Rumble, and Hogan failing to obtain a clean victory over Undertaker really helped establish him as a top guy for basically forever.

Interesting attempt at a Tuesday PPV. It was entertaining, but they had to give Bret a better opponent in the opener. I mean what was Rick Martel doing at the time. Taker vs. Hogan was what it was. Everything else wasn’t too bad. Jake slapping Elizabeth is a crazy moment.

Main event is just too bad to put this in B range though.

Final Grade: C+

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews NWA/WCW Halloween Havoc ’89

March 11, 2015 rdtworldofsport@gmail.com

WCW/NWA Halloween Havoc 1989
October 28, 1989
Philadelphia, PA

We are just past the Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat classics and into the Flair vs. Terry Funk feud. Flair and Funk had a title match at the Great American match which ended with a Flair victory…and an attack from The Great Muta.

It had been about five years since the birth of Hulkamania, and it seemed that the NWA was just fine being #2 with their “real wrasslin” as opposed to the mainstream kiddie WWF. I think looking at the men in the main event of this PPV: Flair, Muta, Funk (Stingtoo, but he doesn’t really fit what I am saying) showed that this was still an old school promotion. Really, until Jim Herd showed up that would be the case.

This was also the rare time that not only was Ric Flair a face, but he was on Sting’s side. A little odd considering they would be rivals shortly again.

This is the first Halloween Havoc.

The Card

Captain Mike Rotunda vs. Tom Zenk

No entrances for the first match.

I do feel like I’ve missed something not seeing a lot of Z-Man matches.

He’s also undefeated apparently. Rotunda is the TV Champ. Don’t think this is for the title.

Near the end of the match there is a pretty nice clothesline by Rotunda. Looked crisp.

Tom Zenk pins Mike Rotunda in 13:23. Zenk rolls through a flying bodypress. Pretty boring overall to be fair. I mean, I guess it would technically be classified as good, but I just didn’t get into it. Also looks like Rotunda kicked out in time.

Bruno Sammartino is being interviews. He is the referee in the main event…a Thunderdome Cage Match. Sammartino talks about the type of match and how dangerous it is. I’m sure they had Thundercage matches in the 60s and 70s.

The Samoan Swat Team (Samu, The Samoan Savage and Fatu) vs. The Midnight Express and Dr. Death

I had no idea there were Samoans in WCW.

That’s a really young Rikishi in there as well.

This match feels designed to put Dr. Death over.

The Samoans mess up crotching Eaton on the railing. Samu and Fatu especially seem green here.

Commentary is really making it seem like the Samoans are idiots. Shrug.

Crowd is HOT for Dr. Death.

Horrible botch with a neckbreaker attempt by Lane on the Savage.

The Samoans win when the Savage pins Lane in 18:23. Jim Cornette ends up getting knocked off the apron after he knocked Oliver Humperdink off the apron, and the Samoan Savage pinned Lane. Pretty sloppy from the Samoans…all of them. Fatu and Samu weren’t ready yet.

Gary Hart and Terry Funk interview. Funk looks in monster shape.

How come there are no entrances at all? I coulda swore Starrace ’88 had them (maybe I am misremembering).

The Cuban Assassin vs. Tommy Rich

Of course Rich has an entrance to make me seem stupid.

Rich is a former NWA World Champion, crazy as that sounds.

I think that’s a Tommy Rich sucks chant. Even in 1989, Philly fans were smart.

Opening sequence was horrid. Looked like a WWF 1989 preliminary match!

The Cuban just busted out the ugliest high knee I’ve ever seen.

Timmy Rich pins The Cuban Assassin in 8:29. Thesz Press for the win. Awful match. Fans booed it and Rich right out of the building. Just a bunch of armbars and ugly looking armdrags. Terrible all around.

NWA World Tag Team Championship
The Freebirds © vs. The Dynamic Dudes

The Dudes: Shane Douglas and Johnny Ace, are up there for worst major tag team of all time.

Philly boos the Dudes out of the building too. No surprise. At least Douglas would become Philly famous later.

Huge boos for the Dudes, including a You Suck chant for big Johnny. They are the faces. This is 1989 no less! I didn’t know this happened in 1989!

The Freebirds win when Garvin pins Douglas in 11:28. Wow. Weird slingshot double team leads to Garvin countering and landing on Douglas for the pin. Pop is MASSIVE. One of the biggest I’ve ever heard. Quite the spectacle there just for the crowd reaction. Another bad match though. Douglas wasn’t there yet and Ace never would be. Freebirds were never the best wrestlers either.

Steiners interview. Rick sounds different.

The Steiner Bros. vs. Doom

Doom is Ron Simmons and Butch Reed.

The story here is that a fan wanted to be with Rick Steiner, but he said no, and she got him back somehow by turning into Woman. Woman manages Doom. This is Doom’s debut.

Another boring match here…and it’s not a good boring either.

Rick Steiner almost breaks Reed’s neck with a powerslam. Wow on that one.

Doom wins when Reed (or Doom #2) pins Rick in 15:28. Woman loads Reed’s mask with something and a headbutt gets the upset win. Slow and not good.

NWA US Championship
Lex Luger© vs. Flyin’ Brian Pillman

Lex Luger and Brian Pillman sadly show the sad sides of pro wrestling.

Luger seems like an amazing heel here. And he can work.

Pretty fast paced so far.

Pillman has cheerleaders in the crowd. Seems distracting.

Man Luger is killing Pillman with these clotheslines! One to the back of the head was vicious!

I thought Luger screwed up…but it was actually a brilliant dodge of the top rope dropkick!

Lex Luger pinned Brian Pillman to retain in 16:49. Hotshot for the win after the missed dropkick. Well, this match saved what was a lackluster show so far. Luger sells for Pillman like a million bucks and still looks like a bad ass. What a great big man vs. little man match where both men just go at it full blast. What happened to this Lex Luger? Jeez. Great match. Philly loved Luger.

The Road Warriors vs. The Skyscrapers

Selling won’t be a major theme here.

Interestingly the Road Warriors are announced as the Legion of Doom…I thought that was only a WWE thing.

The Skyscrapers are Dan Spivey and Sid. Two WWF ’95 staples!

Man Spivey just takes an Animal clothesline and no sells. You heard that one.

Sid with a pretty awesome spinning helicopter bomb to Hawk. Why didn’t he keep that move?

The Road Warriors win by DQ in 11:39. LOD has it won, but Teddy Long gets involved and throws the golden key to Spivey to cause the DQ. Weak ending, but this was a bad ass power match. Technically I guess it wasn’t wrestled well, Sid especially misses some stuff, but it’s really a good power match overall.

Thunderdome Cage Match: Bruno Sammartino is the Special Referee
Ric Flair and Sting vs. The Great Muta and Terry Funk

The only way this ends is if Ole Anderson or Gary Hart throws in the towel for their teams. Eh.

There is something amazing about Terry Funk and The Great Muta as a tag team.

The cage is apparently electrified.

The top of the cage actually catches fire. Well damn. I don’t think that was supposed to happen.

Wow Muta Misted the fire! That alone owned.

For some reason this is being wrestled as a regular tag. Why? I have no idea, it’s supposed to be no DQ.

Why in WCW 2000 didn’t Russo just run Sting vs. Muta again instead of that talentless bum Vampiro?

Bruno being the ref just seems so out of place.

Muta gets shocked climbing high on the cage. Why climb at all? I don’t understand this logic. Commentary actually brings this up.

There’s a rope hanging for some Tarzan action…but it really doesn’t work.

Sting takes out Funk my leaping off the cage, which was cool.

Sting and Ric Flair win in 23:46. Flair locks Funk in the Figure Four and Sting splashes him off the top rope twice! (Ouch). Gary Hart still refuses to throw in the towel. Muta attacks Bruno, and Bruno decks him. Ole Anderson attacks Hart and the towel goes flying into the ring. The stipulations pretty much guaranteed a shit finish, so we got it. The cage gimmick is pretty disappointing overall. It was mostly used for some Tarzan stuff, and honestly the logic of anyone climbing the cage was stupid. The match was well wrestled…an old school no DQ Texas Tornado woulda been awesome between these four. If anything the cage probably hurt the match.

Pretty subpar PPV overall. Most of the card sucked. Pillman vs. Luger ruled. LOD vs. Skyscrapers served its purpose. Main event had a gimmick that didn’t fit the match. Could have been a lot better of a show, but here we are.

Historically…I guess we keep building Sting up as a main event guy…and I think this was the start of the Sid to the top run? I do think the non-finish of the main led to the I Quit match between Flair and Funk, so there is that.

Luger vs. Pillman the rest of the second half of the show helped it, but I still wouldn’t say this was good overall.

Final Grade: C+

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews NWA/WCW Starrcade ’88

March 11, 2015 rdtworldofsport@gmail.com

NWA/WCW Starrcade 1988
December 26, 1988
Norfolk, VA
Reviewed on June 21, 2014

A high point for the NWA. The NWA had tons of talent and while not drawing as well as the WWF, they were arguably putting on a better quality of shows. Earlier in 1988 WCW put on a Clash of the Champions PPV that hurt the WWF’s Wrestlemania IV, headlined by a Sting vs. Ric Flair classic.

Ric Flair was truly the man at this point. Flair and the Horsemen were the main event, and Flair was doing all he could to get Lex Luger over as a top face. At the time, Luger was a pretty solid wrestler and it worked out well, leading to the main event here. Unlike the main for Starrcade 1987 (Flair vs. Ronnie Garvin) this felt like one of the biggest matches the NWA could throw out there at the time. The NWA would continue the roll they were on through 1989 with the Flair-Steamboat series.

The Card

The Fantastics are Tommy Rogers and Bobby Fulton. Williamd and Sullivan had a brighter future, even then.

Apparently the Bushwackers were supposed to be in this, but Vince signed them away.

Not sure if it’s supposed to be booked this way, but the champs are getting no offense in whatsoever.

JR is putting over Dr. Death like a million bucks…of course.

Williams and Sullivan win the title when Williams pins Fulton in 15:50. Hotshot for the win. Pretty solid hard hitting opener. Match was clear designed for Williamd and Sullivan to get over.

The Midnight Express vs. The Original Midnight Express

Jim Cornette’s Stan Lane and Bobby Eaton (the most popular version) against Paul E’s Dennis Condrey and Randy Rose.

Kinda amazing not only how long Paul Heyman has been around, but how many different things he’s done in wrestling.

The story is really a battle of managers. To be fair, this seems like the older teams comes back to take back their glory angle, but it seems quite well done here.

Referee asking the crowd if the Old Express cheated was interesting.

New Midnight Express wins when Lane pins Condrey in 17:46. After referee Teddy Long (playa!) determines the Originals used Paul E’s telephone as a weapon, the Express get the Goozie for the win. They get beat down afterwards. Pretty solid back and forth match, crowd was into it.

The Russian Assassins vs. Junkyard Dog and Ivan Koloff

If the Assassins lose their manager Paul Jones has to retire.

Pretty big downgrade from earlier.

The Assassins win when #1 pins Koloff in 6:47. Koloff has it won, but the #2 Assassin puts something in his mask and headbutts Koloff, leading to the win. A lot of whatever here. I don’t think the fans caught onto what happened in the finish.

Sullivan is locked in a cage here. This is the big blowoff to all the Varsity Club stuff.

Rick Steiner could really go at this point.

Dr. Death comes down and rings the bell, confusing everyone…

Rick Steiner wins the title by pin in 17:59. The ref, Steiner and Rotunda are confused about the bell. Even the cage comes down and Sullivan gets on the apron. Steiner shoves Rotunda into Sullivan and gets the pin. Really fun finish and a good match here too. Rick Steiner was pretty good at one time for sure. Crowd pops huge for Steiner’s win.

Bam Bam looks like a star ahead of his time here…but interestingly by 1998 he would look behind the times.

Bam Bam was just coming off his first WWF stint, which had mixed results.

Windham is a Horseman here.

What’s weird about Bam Bam is that he doesn’t look like he ages.

Always thought it was crazy how aerial Bigelow was.

Seriously Barry Windham used a clawhold?

Barry Windham retains by countout in 16:17. Both men end up on the outside, and Bigelow misses a charge and slams into the post, allowing Windham to get back in. Pretty good back and forth match, Windham seemed like a good workhorse back in the day. Disappointing ending though.

Rick Steiner interview. Very happy about winning the TV title. Of course he is.

Fans are mega into Sting here. Sting gets a dropkick to stop the Warriors from attacking early, which is smart booking.

Pretty crazy dive from Sting off the top to the outside onto Animal!

Dusty’s no selling comeback is pretty entertaining to watch.

Dusty is the face in peril.

Sting is getting a huge reaction destroying The Warriors.

Sting and Dusty win by DQ in 11:20. Sting has it won, but Paul Ellering breaks up the count for the DQ. Pretty basic match and the crowd was hot. Sting stole the show and no wonder he was the future of the company. Of course, another non-finish is pretty lame.

Flair gets a huge reaction.

Flair knew how to make strong babyfaces look great, and this match is no exception.

It’s absolutely jarring seeing Luger as this good wrestler. Leapfrogs, great agility, just a lot of stuff from Luger you didn’t remotely see seven years later.

Luger amazingly no sells the Figure Four with some flexing.

The story has been working on the leg, and there’s some great psychology here as Luger keeps going for slams and such, but always tending to, or even further hurting, the leg.

Ric Flair retains by pin at 30:59. Luger gets on fire and totally no sells a big forearm from Flair. Big powerslam and then the Torture Rack…but the leg gives way! Flair gets the pin AND the feet on the ropes, and Flair gets the three! Great match, Luger looked like a million bucks and Flair showed he was the best in the world at the time. How the NWA didn’t ride the Luger gravy train is surprising to me, but some of that sounds like it’s on Flair since he wanted to work with Steamboat. To be fair, those are some of the best matches of all time.

A very good Starrcade with a great main event. So what’s wrong with this show? Absolutely no historical significance here. This wasn’t a really important card in the development of Sting, and Luger’s career ended up with a choker label that could actually be traced to this match. I’m not sure Flair winning was a good idea…even though he was the man. Everything else? I mean Rick Steiner got development here, but nothing else really mattered in the long run. Even early on, I thought Starrcade should make of solidify stars. Despite Luger looking like a million bucks, that didn’t happen here. The first few Starrcades made Ric Flair, but Flair was already made here. Maybe I am being too hard on this aspect of the show, but does anyone really remember Starrcade 1988?

Great card match quality wise though. Can’t deny that.

Final Grade: B+

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