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Pro Wrestling

RDTWorldofSport 2017 Wrestling Awards

RDTWorldofSport 2017 Wrestling Awards 

I don’t have a real basis for this to be perfectly honest. It’s mostly my opinion with some searching around to see what some respected wrestling forums and writers think. Also this will mostly be WWE (but not all), basically because that’s what I watched 99% of the time. But if something else catches my eye, it could make the awards. With that being said, here goes. (Yes, I wrote the same thing last year).

Moment of the Year

Winner: The Undertaker Loses to Roman Reigns and Gets a Standing Ovation

 

Can’t say he retired, because we don’t know that yet, but it was one heck of a moment after he lost to Reigns. He sure looked like he was retiring, that’s for sure.

Second Place: The Festival of Friendship – Kevin Owens Turns on Chris Jericho

Third Place: Kurt Angle returns as RAW GM

Fourth Place: Chris Jericho challenges Kenny Omega for Wrestle Kingdom 12

Fifth Place: The Hardy Boyz return at Wrestlemania 33

Debut of the Year

Winner: Samoa Joe in WWE

 

WWE has already seemingly screwed up some NXT talent debuts, but one they haven’t messed up at all has been Samoa Joe. He came in as Triple H’s heavy to take out Seth Rollins, and has been near the top of the card ever since. He could be that big match killer that Brock Lesnar is sooner than later.

Second Place: Shinsuke Nakamura in WWE

Third Place: Tye Dillinger in WWE

Fourth Place: Aleister Black in NXT

Fifth Place: Asuka in WWE

Return of the Year

Winner: Kurt Angle on RAW

 

It feels so right to see Kurt Angle back in WWE. He got an insane reaction when announced as Raw GM. His in-ring return was I guess a bit underwhelming, but it was also refreshing to see him come back in the flow as opposed to a massive big built match. He also was pretty good in the TLC match. It’s great to see Kurt home.

Second Place: Chris Jericho to NJPW to challenge Kenny Omega

Third Place: The Hardyz at Wrestlemania

Fourth Place: Paige in WWE

Fifth Place: Drew McIntyre in NXT

Match of the Year

Winner: WWE Championship: A.J. Styles vs. John Cena – WWE Royal Rumble 2017

I didn’t watch any NJPW, so I can’t speak on anything Okada and Omega did, but there still was a strong WWE selection. It may have been weaker than the Summerslam 2016 match, but AJ and Cena delivered once again it what seemed to almost be a greatest hits version of their match. Those were some pretty great hits.

Second Place: Brock Lesnar vs. A.J. Styles – Survivor Series 2017

Third Place: WWE U.K. Championship: Pete Dunne vs. Tyler Bate – NXT Takeover Chicago

Fourth Place: War Games: Undisputed Era vs. Sanity vs. Authors of Pain and Roderick Strong – NXT Takeover War Games

Fifth Place: WWE Championship – Elimination Chamber: John Cena vs. A.J. Styles vs. Bray Wyatt vs. The Miz vs. Baron Corbin

Feud of the Year

Winner: Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman

 

Say what you want about Roman, him and Strowman had some great matches and this feud elevated Strowman into a top guy. The Last Man Standing match at Great Balls of Fire almost made my top five. It also gave us an edge to Roman’s character that’s been missing since he was elevated to top guy status. Great stuff all around.

Second Place: Chris Jericho vs. Kevin Owens

Third Place: The Usos vs. The New Day

Fourth Place: Shane McMahon vs. Kevin Owens

Fifth Place: Asuka vs. Ember Moon

Biggest Disappointment of the Year

Winner: Former NXT Talents Get Buried

 

Man where to start. Finn Balor went from the first ever Universal Champion to doing a whole lot of nothing. After his feud with Bray Wyatt eroded into a joke, he was saved with a great match with A.J. Styles at TLC only to just get jobbed out the next night to Kane. Word is Vince doesn’t see what’s so special about him. I mean come on. He even has a marketable Demon gimmick and everything! We had fans booing Bayley at one point, which is incredible really. Talk about a lost year. Shinsuke Nakamura debuted on Smackdown during a Miz promo and that ended up being the highlight of his entire run in 2017. Too bad he couldn’t just feud with Miz. Feud with Ziggler was okay at best. Wrestling Jinder for the WWE Championship and not winning it only hurt him. Bobby Roode has also done a whole lot of nothing since debuting on Smackdown and also had an okay feud with Ziggler. There’s already worry about Asuka’s booking. At least Samoa Joe looked great I suppose.

Second Place: Bray Wyatt

Third Place: Jinder Mahal as WWE Champion

Fourth Place: Survivor Series 2017 Main Event

Fifth Place: Jason Jordan as Kurt Angle’s son

Best Show of the Year

Winner: NXT Takeover: War Games

Everything ranged from good to great here. Lars Sullivan vs. Kassius Ohno? Good start for Sullivan. Aleister Black and Velveteen Dream told a great story in their match and could be near the top of some match of the year lists. The four way for the vacant NXT Women’s title was solid. Drew McIntyre and Andrade Almas had a surprisingly good match with a shocking outcome. War Games is 4th on my match of the year and really put over the Undisputed Era as an up and coming great faction.

Second Place: NXT Takeover: Brooklyn III

Third Place: NXT Takeover: Orlando

Fourth Place: NXT Takeover: Chicago

Fifth Place: WWE Royal Rumble 2017

Non-Wrestler of the Year

Winner: Paul Heyman, Manager

Got to give it to Heyman. He made every match against Lesnar this year a really special feel. From the Goldberg match to the Samoa Joe match to even the A.J. Styles match, he put over everyone. He even put over Finn Balor. All while Brock ran through all of them.

Second Place: Daniel Bryan, Smackdown GM

Third Place: Kurt Angle, RAW GM

Fourth Place: Shane McMahon, Smackdown Commissioner

Fifth Place: William Regal, NXT Commissioner

Best Surprisingly Good Angle

Winner: The Festival of Friendship

Sometimes those type angle miss (see “This is Your Life” for Bayley this year) and sometimes they hit. I guess when Chris Jericho is doing it, it hits. There was a painting, a Gillberg, a new list…and a truly great heel turn. I think Owens vs. Jericho should have been the Universal title match at Mania, to be honest.

Second Place: Enzo Amore becomes the face of 205 Live

Third Place: Aliester Black vs. Velveteen Dream

Woman of the Year

Winner: Asuka (NXT/WWE)

Asuka carried the NXT Women’s division in the post Charlotte-Becky-Bayley-Sasha world. She had great matches with Ember Moon, and has yet to be screwed up in WWE yet, although the start hasn’t been all great either. After the “women’s revolution”, it hasn’t been a super strong year for women. Asuka at least had a strong year.

Second Place: Alexa Bliss (WWE)

Third Place: Sasha Banks (WWE)

Fourth Place: Charlotte (WWE)

Fifth Place: Ember Moon (NXT)

Tag Team of the Year

Winner: The Bar (WWE)

 

What amazing chemistry Cesaro and Sheamus have! What began as a best of 7 series between two guys who had nothing to do turned into an amazing tag team that complement one another well. They had good matches with the Hardyz this year and also were a good team to put together with the Miz in the feud with the Shield.

Second Place: The Usos (WWE)

Third Place: Authors of Pain (NXT)

Fourth Place: The New Day (WWE)

Fifth Place: The Hardy Boyz (IMPACT/ROH/WWE)

Wrestler of the Year

Winner: A.J. Styles (WWE)

 

How can it not be Styles? I asked that last year. He came in as WWE Champ. Participated in my 2017 Match of the Year at the Royal Rumble and another contender for it at Elimination Chamber. Carried Shane McMahon to the best or second best match at Wrestlemania. Had a good, if not too long feud with Kevin Owens over the US Title in the summer. Surprisingly won the US Title at a MSG house show. Had to save the TLC show and Finn Balor’s early career by replacing Bray Wyatt and having a great match. Even Vince realized he was too good to not be WWE Champ, so the Jinder experiment ended with AJ winning another WWE Title. As a result he saved Survivor Series and had a Match of the Year contender with Brock Lesnar. Pretty good year for AJ. That’s 2/2 when it comes to WWE years too. Hope he main events Wrestlemania.

Second Place: Brock Lesnar (WWE)

Third Place: The Miz (WWE)

Fourth Place: Samoa Joe (WWE)

Fifth Place: Kevin Owens (WWE)

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews WCW Fall Brawl ’95

WCW Fall Brawl ‘95
September 17, 1995
Asheville, NC

The War is on! WCW Nitro had launched two weeks prior to this show and had surprised everyone by being competitive in the ratings with WWF Raw. WCW hit the WWF right where it hurt when they stole Lex Luger away and he made a surprise appearance on the first Nitro. The WWF, with taped shows already in the can, couldn’t do anything to stop WCW early on. WCW also had the first PPV since the Monday Night Wars started, and here it is. The main event here is a bit questionable…we have the four big faces (Sting, Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage and Lex Luger) against a heel group without remotely the star power to match the face team (The Dungeon of Doom) so you know who’s winning here. Should WCW just went for the kill right away with Luger and Sting vs. Hogan and Savage? We’ll never know.

Still, a good PPV here and the WWF would really be in trouble. Could WCW pull it off?

The Card

#1 Contender for the United States Championship
Flyin’ Brian vs. Johnny B. Badd

Badd looks exactly like he would a year later as “Wildman” Marc Mero when he was the IC Champ, red outfit and all.

Hilarious first moment. Badd tries to throw a Frisbee into the crowd, but accidentally hits the ringpost and it goes nowhere, getting a noticeable groan from the crowd.

Michael Buffer is announcing the opener. How confusing.

Pretty slow start here. Most notable moment in the first five minutes was a double dropkick.

Beautiful bridge trap by Pillman for a two count.

About eight minutes in Pillman starts to bring out the heel stuff. I expect this to pick up now.

Great variation of the surfboard from Badd. So far this is the best Mero match I’ve ever seen.

Buffer says five minutes remaining…so we know where this is going.

Thing really pick up at this point though. Badd starts to fly with a plancha onto the floor!

Pillman takes out Badd with an awesome dropkick as Badd comes off the top! Only two for that.

The big moves are coming! Powerbomb from Badd gets two, Tombstone from Pillman also gets two!

Badd counters the Tornado DDT from the top!
Ugh. Badd goes into a hold, which doesn’t make sense at this point. There’s only two minutes left!

We get to the time limit, but the referee declares that there has to be a winner considering they need a #1 contender…so overtime!

Great elevation on a top rope sunset flip from Badd. I woulda bought that as a 1995 finish for sure.

Top rope hurricanrana…but Pillman still kicks out.

Pillman hits the Tornado DDT this time…but Badd survives! Great idea for OT not to last a mere 2 minutes or something.

Badd throws Pillman off the top rope onto the guardrail! Ouch!

Pillman hits a suicide dive through the ropes and gets a lot of distance. Announcers claim Pillman didn’t really hit it, which is a shame because it looked awesome.

Johnny B. Badd pins Flyin’ Brian in 29:17. Double crossbody, and despite Pillman landing on top they make it seem like Badd got the best of it and he makes the cover for the win. Pretty disappointing finish considering everything else. I thought this was a great 20 minute match masquerading as a 30 minute match, but that doesn’t change that it was very good overall. Interestingly, both Badd and Pillman would be gone from WCW within six months. Easily the best Badd match I’ve ever seen.

Ric Flair on the mic and he really knows how to sell something special. He talks about the broken families he and Arn Anderson had went through and you can’t help but feel the damaged friendship between them.

Sgt. Craig Pittman vs. Cobra

I have no idea what this feud is about. Looks like a military vs. military thing or something.

Some random soldier comes down to distract Cobra as Pittman comes from the ceiling. Pittman chokes him out with his ammo belt.

Craig Pittman makes Cobra submit in 1:22. Code Red armbreaker for the win. At least this was short. Why was this on the PPV anyway? What was the point?

We get a video of Mr. Wonderful angrily doubting himself in the back. Some psychic tries to talk to him and get him back on track. Uh…Orndorff retired shortly after this. I don’t blame him, this was awful.

WCW Television Championship
The Renegade© vs. Diamond Dallas Page

The Renegade is an Ultimate Warrior ripoff.

Pretty funny how far DDP would come in the next 18 months. He looks ridiculous here.

DDP runs into the ring post by himself then takes a bump over the guardrail. That was strange for sure.

This was a time that Page and Kimberly weren’t getting along because Page treated her like crap. Page does manage to get all the heat here with no help at all from the Renegade.

Renegade’s comeback was pretty decent actually.

Diamond Dallas Page wins the title by pin in 8:07. Maxx Muscle holds Renegade’s foot, and DDP hits a pretty bad Diamond Cutter for the win. Nothing really to say here, although this could have been a lot worse.

WCW World Tag Team Championship
Bunkhouse Buck and Dick Slater© vs. Harlem Heat

The real point of this feud is that there’s some strange relationship deal with Sherri and Col. Robert Parker, which sounds awful just typing it.

Bobby Heenan reciting a poem is the highlight so far. Otherwise, we’ve just had a few minutes of punching and kicking so far.

The crowd is dead quiet here.

Terrible atomic drop from Slater.

Booker gets trapped in there and we get one of the most boring heat segments I’ve ever seen in a major tag team match. Were Slater and Buck just going through the motions here?

In the 2nd ring Sherri starts crawling toward Parker and they start making out…

Harlem Heat win the title when Booker pins Buck in 16:49. The Nasty Boys come out and take out Buck with a boot shot to the heat for Harlem Heat’s win. Parker would move onto co-manage Harlem Heat with Sherri…but they’d lose the belts to The American Males the next night. Anyway, this was awful. Seventeen minutes of just about nothing.

Ric Flair vs. Arn Anderson

Flair and Double A had been as close as brothers, but things began to go wrong thanks to Vader. The story pushes that Flair hasn’t been the same for a year since he lost the World title to Hogan. Anderson wanted to see Flair be the best again. Flair blamed Anderson for not helping him at crucial spots.

I love Double A’s demeanor throughout the opening sequence. Just straight out seriousness with the occasional mocking of Flair.

Smart booking decision to have Anderson dominate the early going. If there was anyone who thought Anderson wasn’t on Flair’s level, this would be showing them otherwise.

Commentators do a great job explaining why Anderson’s armbars hurt so much. That’s something that’s just missed in today’s wrestling.

Flair takes total control. Once again, the commentary is great, and now its question about whether or not Double A can hang with Flair. You really want Anderson to pull this one out.

Anderson blocks the Figure Four by holding Flair’s leg when he tried to come down with it. Can’t say I’ve seen that one before.

Crowd erupts when Anderson reverses the Figure Four. Hell, crowd goes nuts for each false finish here.

Arn Anderson pins Ric Flair in 22:37. Brian Pillman climbs onto the apron when Flair has Anderson down and kicks Flair in the head. Double A drops Flair with a DDT and gets the upset. Crowd ultimately was mixed on the finish (I think they were into the match…but this is still Flair country…nevermind that it wasn’t clean). All of this would lead to the reunion of the Horsemen, although I don’t remember how it played out.

War Games
Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Lex Luger and Sting vs. Kamala, The Shark, The Zodiac and Meng

If the Hulkamaniacs win, Hogan gets five minutes with The Taskmaster.

This was a cartoonish feud that didn’t really jive with the rest of what WCW was doing at this point. Kevin Sullivan’s pre-match promo/video is just laughable.

A side story to this is the debut of The Giant, who was being promoted as Andre’s son.

This has to be one of the most unbalanced multi-man tag team matches in wrestling history. There’s literally no way the Dungeon of Doom can win no matter how much the “can the good guys trust one another” story is shoved down our throats.

The Hulkamaniacs are in camouflage and have an American flag. Uh…is Kevin Sullivan not from the US or something?

Dungeon of Goom. Really Hogan?

Beefcake looks ridiculous, even for him, as the Zodiac.

We start off with Sting and the Shark.

Entertaining start, with Sting diving over both top ropes and taking out the Shark.

No idea if this was planned, but the Shark tries the same over both top ropes dive that Sting did earlier, but gets caught up on the ropes. I like John Tenta, but he shouldn’t be trying anything like that for sure.

Not a bad opening period. Of course the heels win the coin toss and here comes the Zodiac.

Things have slowed down since the Zodiac got in. Randy Savage comes in to save Sting from an uninspiring two on one beat down.

Kamala is next and this has just turned into a sloppy brawl.

Luger comes and evens the odds are again. Only decent part so far has been Sting-Shark and even that wasn’t that great.

Luger and Savage accidentally hit another and go at it…at least something interesting happens. Here comes Meng.

Luger sells a kick from Meng that doesn’t even remotely hit.

Hogan comes in and throws powder in everyone’s eyes. And he’s the top good guy!

Zodiac oversells some Hogan punches. That was embarrassing.

The Hulkamaniacs win when Hogan makes Zodiac submit in 18:47.

We get a terrible Camel Clutch (called a reverse chinlock) for the win. It’s not like Sting and Luger have finishers that are submission holds afterall. Hogan didn’t take one move, it was all offense and that was it for the Dungeon of Doom. Absolutely horrible all around here with a shit finish. Second worst War Games in the history of the match (’98 is worse for sure).

Hogan then beats up Sullivan for a while, before the Giant comes in and chokes Hogan and injures his neck. Even in getting beat down, Hogan doesn’t take a bump. What an embarrassment.

Two really good matches but a whole lot of garbage inbetween. WCW needed to move past this Dungeon of Doom thing, but really wouldn’t until mid-96 when Scott Hall showed up.

A least the Nitros have been good so far.

Final Grade: C

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews WCW Fall Brawl ’98

fallbrawl98

WCW Fall Brawl ‘98
September 13, 1998
Winston-Salem, MA
Reviewed on November 13, 2014

What the hell is going on?

Ten months ago it was supposed to be over. WCW had gotten Bret Hart. WCW had the super hot Sting vs. Hogan feud. WCW had the NWO. Even the raw rookie Goldberg somehow became one of the biggest stars in pro wrestling.

And WCW…is losing?

This is the equivalent of an all-star team in sports without thought of making a “team”. It’s hard to find a top guy in WCW booked correctly except for Diamond Dallas Page at this point. Hogan? Stale. Nash? Acting half his age trying to be the “cool” heel or face or whatever (although he’d get mega over by the end of the year). Sting? Buried in Washington D.C. last December and replaced by some guy in red face paint. Don’t even get me started on Goldberg. All the momentum in the world and somehow Goldberg still plays second fiddle to Hogan. In fact, Goldberg hadn’t even wrestled a last match main event since his title win in July.

Of course there’s Bret Hart too. One of the biggest wastes in wrestling history was Bret Hart in WCW.

Most recently WCW signed The Warrior as well. He went right after Hogan and…

And well let’s get right to it. Fall Brawl means WAR GAMES! The Warrior in War Games! Who knows what will happen?!

The Card

Opening video reminds us that Team Hollywood in War Games is Hollywood Hogan, Stevie Ray and Bret Hart. One of those is not like the other.

“WE WANT FLAIR!” Well, wait a night.

Tony Schiavone talks about the new rules for War Games. Three teams! It can end before all nine men get into the ring (um…what? Why would that happen from an entertainment standpoint?). Also winner gets a World Title shot at Halloween Havoc. So much for the team aspect eh?

Ernest Miller being held by security. Fuck if I know the storyline there.

Gene Okerlund talks about the rest of the card. Why? We already sold the PPV, no?

It’s Chris Jericho! Jericho is one of the best parts of WCW 1998. He’s calling out Goldberg and says Goldberg accepted a match against Jericho tonight! Title vs. title!

Alex Wight and Disco Inferno vs. The British Bulldog and Jim Neidhart

I like how we get separate entrances for Wright and Inferno. Double the dancing!

USA chant to Alex Wright. The British Bulldog was in the ring opposing him.

A whole lot of nothing to start this thing…other than Anvil dancing.

Bulldog can still land on his feet after being monkey flipped from the corner. Impressive.

Bulldog screws up a stun gun. It’s amazing how different the Bulldog and Neidhart are in terms of giving a shit here. In WWF 1997, the Bulldog and Neidhart showed great intensity. Here? Meh.

“WE WANT FLAIR!” Yeah no one cares about this boring match.

Neidhart misses a slingshot shoulder block. I don’t think he was supposed to miss.

Bulldog actually screws up picking Disco up for the Running Powerslam. Sad.

Bulldog and Neidhart win when Bulldog pinned Disco in 11:03. Bulldog eventually gets the Running Powerslam for the win. Bad boring match. This match is also infamous for the Bulldog injuring his back on the Warrior’s trap door.

Not the typical WCW opening match goodness sadly.

Scott Steiner has a doctor’s note! No Steiner vs. Steiner tonight.

No wait! JJ Dillion calls him on his bs! The match is on!

Title vs. Title
Chris Jericho vs. Goldberg

JPS! Ralphus and the Jerichoholic NINJA!

Jericho is just absolutely brilliant here.

And it’s a midget Goldberg!

Chris Jericho vs. Mini-Goldberg

Mini-Goldberg gets a spear in! You know HHH stole this idea a year later on Smackdownm using Gillberg.

Chris Jericho wins by submission in 1:15. Liontamer! Jericho is brilliant.

Norman Smiley vs. Ernest Miller

Angle here? Smiley asked Miller what his problem was after Miller attacked The Armstrong Brothers. That’s it.

Miller pins Smiley in 5:07. Top rope feliner I think was the finish…but Smiley didn’t go all the way down. Smiley hits a 2nd for the win. A whole lot of nothing for five minutes. Not a good sign when the best part of the first 45 minutes of the show is a Jericho joke match.

Rick Steiner vs. Scott Steiner

Angle began when Scott turned on Rick back in February at Superbrawl. Buff Bagwell’s serious injury was used as an angle between them as well, where Bagwell faked being friends. Scott did all he can to avoid fighting Rick, but Dillion said it has to happen at Fall Brawl. So here we are.

Crowd is very into this.

Really good brawl to start! Crowd is really into Rick Steiner. I’m starting to think they should have pushed Rick big as a face here. Too bad though as…

No Contest in 5:30. Bagwell tried to attack, but Rick Steiner slams him into the 2nd turnbuckle. Bagwell goes limp. The announcers treat it as a shoot. It takes about 10 minutes to get Bagwell into the ambulance…and then Scott and Bagwell attack Rick! It was a ruse! A great brawl turned into a bullshit angle. Ah well.

WCW Cruiserweight Championship
Juventud Guerrera© vs. Silver King

Silver King? Really?

Sunset flip botch! Woo!

Inverted top rope frankensteiner is pretty cool. Shocked it only got 2.

Juventud Guerrera retains in 8:36 by pin. Weak Juvi Driver, then the 450 for the win. Decent. Pretty low on the standard WCW Cruiserweight Title match quality tier. I don’t think anyone saw Silver King winning either. Best match of the night by default.

Drunk Scott Hall and Konnan have a confronation.

Raven’s Rules: If Raven wins, the Flock disbands, if Saturn wins, he becomes Raven’s slave. Kanyon is handcuffed to the ringpost.
Raven vs. Saturn

I enjoyed this match two months ago, so I am all for it again.

Back at Bash at the Beach, Saturn had broken free from the Flock. Now Saturn is trying to save the others from Raven. I don’t remember how Kanyon ended up officially in the Flock to be fair.

This one has more wrestling than the last…but Saturn picks it up with a tope!

One of the big shocks: The Flock comes to help Raven finish off Saturn…but Kidman takes out Raven with a missile dropkick!

That’s followed by a great false finish with the DVD!

Kanyon breaks free, Flatlines Saturn, the locks himself back up. I laughed.

Saturn kills Lodi with a DVD through the table on the floor!

A lot of great false finishes. Saturn survivies an Evenflow!

Saturn frees the Flock at 14:04. DVD wins it! Great second half of the match. I still prefer their July encounter though. Kidman would become a star instantly, winning the Cruiserweight Title the next night. Somehow, despite the big reactions for Saturn here…he would be getting pinned by Sonny Oono two months later. Whatever. Still a solid match.

Curt Hennig vs. Dean Malenko

For some reason these two had a cage match on Nitro. Doing things backwards…aren’t we.

“WE WANT FLAIR!” At least it makes sense, since Hennig turned on the Horsemen at this event in the same building last year.

This is a fun little match where Malenko beats the crap out of Hennig’s leg. I like it in terms of building up Malenko’s aggressiveness.

Malenko wins by DQ in 7:38. Malenko nails Hennig with the Hennig-Plex…but Rick Rude runs in to cause the DQ. Arn Anderson looks to make the save, but gets taken out. No Flair. He would come tomorrow. Still, not bad. The last three matches have at least taken this show past F potential.

Konnan vs. Scott Hall

The drunk Scott Hall angle. Horrible.

He actually gets a drink while applying an abdominal stretch.

Hall has it won, but wants another drink. Konnan kicks the drink out of Hall’s hand (and it hits a fan, nice) and hits a facebuster.

Konnan makes Scott Hall submit in 12:03. Tequila Sunrise for the win. Horrible. It’s still hard to believe something like that was on TV, much less Pay-Per-View.

#1 Contender War Games
Team Hollywood (Hollywood Hogan, Bret Hart, Stevie Ray) vs. Team Wolfpac (Lex Luger, Kevin Nash, Sting) vs. Team WCW (Roddy Piper, Diamond Dallas Page and The Warrior)

DDP is #1. Bret Hart #2. The team psychology is already non-existant.

Stevie Ray is next! Well…it was a good five minutes between Bret and Page I guess.

So 0 Wolfpac, 2 Hollywood and 1 WCW. Yeah that makes sense.

Here comes Sting! Crowd comes alive!

Sting kicks Stevie Ray’s ass, and leaps from one ring to the other with a flying clothesline!

Piper’s in, looking like a nut. It’s all punches and kicks though.

Here comes Lex Luger! There really isn’t a whole lot happening between each segment.

Kevin Nash next! Big reaction. Hogan and Warrior left.

Hogan’s out early! So much for rules!

Hogan slapjacks everyone but Stevie Ray.

For some reason, Hogan doesn’t go to pin anyone.

We’re just waiting for the Warrior here.

As soon as the pin attempt happens there’s SMOKE EVERYWHERE!

WARRIOR’S IN THE RING! Hogan nails him from behind!

More smoke….it’s a fake Warrior? Whatever, here comes THE WARRIOR!

A few punches and Hogan goes through the door of the cage to escape. Hogan locks himself out of the cage (well, Warrior goes for the door and it slightly opens…and Warrior avoids the door. Nice). Warrior gets all angry, kicks the top part of the cage to get out, blows his quad and then gets some more punches in. Even though it’s a match and both are participants, security breaks them up. Imagine if that happen at Bad Blood ’97.

Now that the angle is over, Stevie Ray accidentally hits (I think it missed and Bret knew it) Bret Hart with a slapjack, and a Diamond Cutter to Stevie Ray!

Diamond Dallas Page wins in 20:06 when he pinned Steve Ray. Bret tries to make the save but fails as Page pins Stevie Ray for the Title shot. Absolutely horrible. The worst War Games in the history of the match. It’s not even close really. One of…if not THE worst major PPV main event in professional wrestling history. Your match was a 5 minute solid Bret-Page match, entrances and punches (except for Sting, who did some good stuff). Kevin Nash’s entire night was a few forearms before getting hit with the slapjack and taking two legdrops. The Hogan-Warrior angle was an embarrassment. Page getting the win at the end was pure afterthought.

Here’s another thing about this PPV.

No Rey Mysterio Jr. or Eddie Guerrero (but Silver King!)
No Chris Benoit.
No….Goldberg. No fucking Goldberg.

At the end of Hennig-Malenko we were in D range. The show overall was a whole lot of nothing. The only real positive I saw storyline wise was Saturn vs. Raven.

Well drunk Scott Hall didn’t help. The show basically rested on the main event. Considering it’s possibly the worst main event in professional wrestling history, that should tell you all you need to know.

WCW somehow still hung in there ratings wise…although not for long.

Final Grade: F

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews WCW Fall Brawl ’96

wcwfallbrawl1996

WCW Fall Brawl ‘96
September 15, 1996
Winston-Salem, NC
Reviewed on September 7, 2014

WCW is getting its ass kicked.

Not by Vince. Oh no, at this point WCW had left Vince and the WWF in the dust ratings wise. They were about 10 weeks into their eventual 84 week streak.

It’s because they were getting their ass kicked by the NWO.

For two months the NWO had been destroying WCW in one of, if not the best, angle in North American pro wrestling at that point. Hollywood Hogan, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall were the most destructive group in wrestling and had beaten up WCW at pretty much every turn. Ted Dibiase joined them shortly afterwards, and then The Giant followed.

On paper the Giant joining was brilliant. It showed that any top guy would join the NWO, and it helped plant the seed that Sting could join. The Giant had no previous ties to the WWF, unlike Hall, Nash, Hogan and Dibiase. Of course, the Giant in the NWO didn’t quite work out and they used him to be that “first loss” at Starrcade, and then he left and re-joined WCW. If they kept the NWO as a group that only allowed top members and no one would want to leave it would have been great, but Giant leaving showed that it wasn’t the end-all be-all to join.

Still, the major angle, is Sting joining the NWO? Him doing so could kill WCW dead! He attacked Luger afterall! (Not really).

The only way to decide this war? WAR GAMES!

The Card

We get a pretty awesome overview if the dominance of the NWO over the past few weeks.

Bobby Heenan points out that War Games was created for the Four Horsemen and is confident the NWO will be wrestling their last match tonight. It’s pretty awesome that WCW felt this was the big comeuppance for the NWO. I’ll explain why later.

Diamond Dallas Page vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.

You know, for all that WCW didn’t create new stars bs, what do you call DDP?

It’s hard to see Chavo go toe to toe with DDP, knowing where both would go in a couple years.

Pretty good start. It’s weird that Chavo was a better worker when he started than he was later.

Weird timing spot which was impressive as Chavo actually delayed standing on the top rope (not corner). Still technically a botch again.

DDP tosses Chavo from one ring to the other. I love spots like that.

Semi-botched sidewalk slam. Ah well, it was good enough.

Incredible spinning gutwrench powerbomb from Page. Wow. (Ok, the landing was a bit off but still looked great.)

Diamond Dallas Page wins by pin in 13:07. Page goes for the Diamond Cutter, but Chavo reverses into a backslide. Page blocks the backslide by stomping on Chavo’s foot, and gets the Cutter for the win. Big reaction too. Pretty awesome opener and a great start to the show.

WCW SPECIAL REPORT. Goes over the NWO angle at this point. Which is pretty incredible at this point.

Submission Match
Scott Norton vs. Ice Train

Watching the first Nitro, it’s interesting what a big deal Norton was…and where he is at this point.

The story here I think is the Fire and Ice team breaking up.

Ice Train is managed by Teddy Long! Holla Holla!

Not a bad start though. Standing frog splash from Train was nice.

This seems more like an “I Quit” Match as the ref has a microphone.

Ice Train makes Scott Norton submit in 7:08. Scott Norton has Train trapped in an armbar, but Teddy Long tried to interfere. Norton takes care of him but gets trapped in a Full Nelson and he taps out (so much for the microphone?). Not horrible or anything, there was solid power stuff in here.

AAA World Championship
Konnan© vs. Juventud Guerrera

They call it the Mexican Heavyweight Title, but my research (read: wiki) says the AAA title.

No one knows who Juvi is at this point. Konnan is known as he joined the Dungeon of Doom. He was also the US Champ for a while. He is in his gangsta look he would have for basically the rest of his career.

Yellow is not a good color for Juvi.

Pretty sweet release German suplex where Juvi flips over.

Konnan sends Juvi flying!

Konnan just stands that as Juvi does this triple jump spin kick (two leapds on the 2nd ring, then one from the 1st). Weird that Konna just stood there.

Great aerial stuff early on.

Nice powerbomb on the floor!

Mike Tenay says Juvi gives up 50 pounds of weight. Konnan is not 215, and Juvi was listed as 165.

Pretty badly botched headscissor-like move from one ring to the other.

Juvi makes up for it with more crazy flying.

Backdrop over the top rope and Juvi ends up hanging on the other rope! Nice!

Bad moonsault. Konnan seems to take exception and powerbombs Juvi. Pretty sick.

Damn rolling Germans from Konnan. I actually thought Benoit invented that.

Odd rest spot where Juvi just walks arounf and Konnan talks to Jimmy Hart.

Pointless backflip from Juvi? Leads to him getting dropkicked by Konnan.

I know I trash Konnan a lot, but this is the best Konnan match I’ve ever seen and it’s in spite of Juvi, not because of him.

450 is even slightly off, and doesn’t finish anyway.

Konnan busts out a Muscle Buster…but that doesn’t finish. Juvi might have missed some spots, but he’s taking moves like a champ.

Konnan pinned Juvi in 13:45. Splash Mountain Bomb! Nicely done and it’s over. Very good match only hampered by Juvi missing some spots and some weird spots in general (like Juvi’s backflip). Everything else owns though. Best Konnan match I’ve ever seen.

Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit

Jericho’s awful 1st theme!

Jericho had just debuted. The story here is simple: two guys just looking to have a great match.

Benoit is super over here.

Tony says he expected Mongo instead of Benoit here. Thank goodness it’s Benoit.

Benoit puts Jericho in the Lion Tamer! I wonder if Jericho was using it at this point.

Jericho looks great early on against Benoit.

Jericho with a crazy springboard back elbow to the outside from Jericho!

I believe this is the match where booker Kevin Sullivan said he wanted Benoit to have 90% of this match. Then Benoit and Jericho just did it 50-50 anyway.

Nice back jumpkick from Jericho.

Backsuplex to the outside with a twist! Some crazy ideas here.

Pretty perfect Swan Dive from Benoit. I like it better than his Diving Headbutt (the difference is how they land, although surely they’ve been called differently each time).

Jericho Tombstones Benoit!

Chris Benoit pins Chris Jericho in 14:36. Back Superplex for the win! Great match! Jericho looked like a star here and surely WCW will capitalize on someone who looked like the next Shawn Michaels here! (lol…at the push part). Great match though. A great back and forth contest.

WCW Cruiserweight Championship
Rey Mysterio Jr.(c) vs. Super Calo

I was once told that Super Calo was named that way as shorthand for supercalifr-whatever. Bobby Heenan then makes that joke immediately.

Super Calo is like a power cruiserweight, if that makes sense. I liked that roll through on the slam.

Mike Tenay says Super Calo is named after a Mexican rap group. Thank goodness.

Nice missile dropkick off the top to the outside by Calo!

Ridiculous somersault senton from the inside out from Calo!

Really surprising that Super Calo has been on the offensive basically the whole match.

Funny botch where Super Calo doesn’t go over the top rope…but Rey tries his damnest to get him over. The ref helps!

Rey Mysterio with the greatest hurricanrana off the apron I’ve ever seen in my life. I can’t explain it. It was nuts.

Rey Mysterio Jr. retains by pin in 15:47. Double springboard hurricanrana finish for the win! Another great match…but it had ONE flaw, which was NO one was buying Calo winning this thing. As a result, it felt pretty long. Oddly Calo had 80% of the offense too. Still great though.

WCW World Tag Team Championship
Harlem Heat© vs. The Nasty Boys

I expect the match quality to drop quite a bit here…

How great was Sherri Martel? She could play so many roles.

Kinda surprised the Nasties never had a random ECW run.

CLUBBERIN! How can someone be the master of CLUBBERIN?

Match is pretty boring. Only excitement so far was Sags chasing Sherri.

That might have been the worst looking roll up by Sags ever.

Nice piledriver from Sags!

Harlem Heat retain when Booker T pins Knobbs in 15:31. Sherri whacks Knobbs with a cane and that’s that. WAY too long. Match was pretty horrid and only big spots were involving Sherri. Fans reacted though, so there is that.

We get a Savage interview! One of the best of all time for sure.

The Giant vs. Randy Savage

Giant joined the NWO, Savage is still a defender of WCW here.

Giant still has the creepy music he had before…then it turns into the NWO theme.

Giant had the potential to beat Nash’s sidewalk slam…but opted for a weak backbreaker sadly.

Boston Crab from the Giant just seems like an odd visual.

Savage slams the Giant! That would lose its luster years later as everyone slammed him.

The Giant pins Randy Savage in 7:47. Savage drops the big elbow, but Hogan is out here! He goads Savage to the entrance and the Outsiders beat Savage up with a chair. Giant distracts Nick Patrick, and then gets the win when the NWO rolls him back into the ring. Pretty bad all around. It was just 7 minutes of the Giant beating up Savage and a terrible finish.

War Games
WCW vs. NWO

The story here is simple: the NWO is here to take over WCW. This is another battle in the war…but it’s a big one as War Games is one of WCW’s primer match types.

Also, Mike Tenay asks Ric Flair which Horseman has replaced Sting in the match, but Flair doesn’t answer the question. All three of them, Luger, Anderson and Flair, are acting like Sting joined the NWO on Nitro. Sting then shows up and says it wasn’t him. Luger doesn’t believe him. This is all fantastic.

Rules are simple. There was a pre-match coin toss (usually always won by the heels, as it was here). Two men start, one from each team. The team that won the coin toss gets to bring man #2 first, then so on and do forth. When all 8 men are in, you can only win by knockout or submission (or as Michael Buffer says it, surrender or submission…)

We start with Scott Hall for the NWO and Double A for WCW.

Crowd is super hot for this. I think a lot of people thought WCW was winning this.

The announcer’s hype up the coin toss deal with a minute left. Sadly…they find out the NWO has won. Kevin Nash is next.

Outsiders beat the crap out of Double A for the next couple minutes.

Lex Luger shows up early to even the odds. I wonder how that’s legal? Anyway Luger regains control for WCW.

Here comes Hogan! NWO has the advantage once again.

Crowd goes bonkers when Double A and Luger beat up Hogan, but the Outsiders end that.

Huge “We want Flair” chants…so here he comes! HUGE reaction.

Hogan vs. Flair faceoff! When Flair gets a punch in the crowd roars!

Brass knucks for Flair! Flair has taken over!

WCW is owning…but then Sting shows up for the NWO…and everyone is dismayed. Some boos there. Some people definitely bought it.

We get some “We Want Sting” chants. And there are some who definitely knew the real deal here.

The NWO wastes away Flair, Luger and Anderson…but here comes the REAL Sting!

Sting destroys EVERYONE! Stinger Splashes everywhere!

“Is that good enough for you? Is that proof enough?” Genius. Sting walks out on WCW, and WCW doesn’t last long.

NWO wins when NWO Sting and Hogan make Luger submit in 18:15. A Scorpion Deathlock and a Front Headlock get it done. While not the best War Games from a match quality perspective (not a drop of blood!), it told a tremendous story and set the wheels in motion for the red hot Sting story arc for the next 15 months. This showed that only Sting could deal with the NWO, no one else. Brilliant. This is the main reason why WCW made bucket loads of money the next two years.

NWO and WCW go at it a big, and Savage tries to help, but the Giant takes him out. The PPV ends with another big NWO beat down. They even spray paint Miss Elizabeth when she comes out to help Savage…which is a nice touch. We get a Hogan promo too to hype up the Hogan-Savage Halloween Havoc match.

Overall, a great show! The only thing that was bad was the tag title match and Giant vs. Savage. Everything else ranged from decent (the submission match) to pretty good to great. Great matches, good wrestling, and a really well done storyline with WCW not trusting Sting. Historically, it was a huge moment that helped carry WCW through 1997 as the #1 promotion in the US over the WWF.

This PPV tore the hearts out of WCW fans. The Four Horsemen and WCW lost War Games? Sting left us? What will we do?

Just brilliant.

Final Grade: A

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews WCW Wrestlewar ’92

WW_92

WCW Wrestlewar ‘92
May 17, 1992
Jacksonville, FL
Reviewed on May 26, 2014

We are now in a post Ric Flair, post Lex Luger and I believe a post Jim Herd WCW. With losing Luger and Flair, WCW was down to one main eventer (Sting), but a lot of potential.Rick Rude had come in and the Dangerous Alliance storyline was a big deal. As all big stable angles end up going, Wrestlewar would feature the War Games.

1992 was an interesting year for WCW as a lot of the pieces seen on this show would end up never truly making it and getting ousted in one way or another by 1995. Also, perhaps with the exceptions of Rick Rude, Ricky Steamboat and Arn Anderson, it’s clear that Sting was in a different class than everyone else in WCW at the time. WCW was still ways away from challenging the WWF to anything resembling a rivalry, but at least they had gotten past the worst of the Jim Herd era.

The Card

WCW US Tag Team Championship
The Taylor Made Man and Greg Valentine© vs. The Freebirds

Terry Taylor as the Taylor Made Man just looks awful.

I don’t think these titles had any real value at this point.

I often wonder how Greg Valentine ended up with such gimmicky teammates. Honky Tonk Man and Taylor are two examples.

The Freebirds as faces here is also a bit strange to me.

The crowd is very into the Freebirds though.

The Freebirds win the title when Jimmy Garvin pins Taylor in 16:02. Garvin sets Taylor up for the DDT and backdrops Valentine while keeping the head locked. Hayes holds Valentine back and Garvin gets the DDT and the win. Good finish to an otherwise boring tag match. Fans popped big.

Johnny B. Badd vs. Tracy Smothers

The story revolves around Johnny B. Badd’s boxing history and the use of a closed fist.

Nice twisting bodyblock from the top from Smothers, but the Badd rollover counters is botched a bit, but it’s passable. I never pictures Smothers as a high flying guy.

Nice top rope sunset flip by Badd!

Johnny B. Badd pins Tracy Smothers in 7:03. Left hook gets the win, which was predictable due to the commentary. A lot better than I expected, considering I expected nothing. Wasn’t too bad at all.

Missy Hyatt interviews the Freebirds! Obviously they are happy.

Scotty Flamingo vs. Marcus Alexander Bagwell

Raven vs. Buff Bagwell here. How strange.

Quite the bitchslapping contest here.

Pretty bad back suplex from Flamingo, although I think Bagwell didn’t go up for the move.

There’s a double over the top sequence that the commentators wonder on whose fault it was. I guess we were in the Bill Watts era? Seems too early though.

Scotty Flamingo pins Marcus Bagwell in 7:11. Bagwell rolls Flamingo over, but Flamingo counters and holds the tights for three. Nothing to say here really. Both guys were still young…and Flamingo would get better. Pretty subpar first fifth minutes to the PPV though.

Junkyard Dog and Ron Simmons vs. Mr. Hughes and Cactus Jack

Story here: Abdullah the Butcher and Cactus Jack beat up Simmons, and JYD made the save. No idea why Hughes is Jack’s partner.

Jack attacks JYD on the outside…and Jack drops the big elbow off the ramp on JYD!

Simmons takes out Jack on the ramp.

Mr. Hughes and Cactus Jack has to be up there with oddest tag teams ever.

Simmons helps JYD to the back, but then comes out and cleans house.

This is now Hughes vs. Simmons.

Ron Simmons pinned Mr. Hughes in 5:22. Big Spinebuster, then Simmons attacks the interfering Jack. Simmons hits a chop block for the win. You know what…not bad! This should have been horrible, but Hughes’ offense was okay and Simmons showed off some damn good power slamming around the 400 pound Hughes. Cactus Jack being around is a good bonus too. Probably the best Mr. Hughes match I’ve ever seen (not really saying much there). No surprise this launched a Simmons push.

Todd Champion vs. Super Invader

Super Invader is Hercules I believe. Hercules sucks, so I think that’s a bad sign for this match.

This match has sucked, but Champion does take a surprisingly good bump to the outside into the guardrail.

Champion’s offense is terrible.

Invader pins Champion in 5:26. Powerbomb wins it. Pretty bad. Champion can’t really hit clotheslines correctly. Invader’s offense is a bunch of punches and headlocks with the occasional move like a backbreaker (just like Hercules). Squash here. Funny enough, I felt like this match would have been on a 1993 RAW with Champion being the babyface Vince would push. Whatever. This didn’t belong on PPV.

Big Josh vs. Richard Morton

For some reason Ricky Morton goes by Richard here.

Of course, Big Josh is the future Doink the Clown.

The story is Josh’s power vs. Morton’s er…flying ability? Also, how disgusting Josh is. Like he’s a Godwinn before the Godwinns were a thing.

Big Josh pinned Morton in 7:33. Josh hits a flying butt drop (I like how he used the Whoopie Cushion before he was Doink) for the win. Really boring match. Sorry, but no one has ever cared about the Rock’N’Roll Express when they were in singles matches. A very basic back and forth match.

WCW Lightheavyweight Championship
Flyin Brian Pillman© vs. The Z-Man Tom Zenk

Story here: Former partners. Pillman thinks Zenk didn’t have any gratitude for Pillman helping him out recently. Zenk says Pillman is arrogant, sticking his nose into things that don’t involve him.

Zenk gets scared by his own pyro. Great start there.

This is an example of a really good back and forth match. First match with any type of psychology as well, with Pillman working the leg, and Zenk working the back.

I’ve already see two figure fours now in this match. I wonder how many were done when Flair was around.

Pretty awesome counter to the over the top rope dive by Pillman when Zenk seamlessly slammed him out of it.

Awesome selling of the crossbody from Pillman there.

Pancake from Zenk and Pillman goes sky high for it!

Brian Pillman retains by pin in 15:30. Pillman goes to the top but eats a superkick on the way down! Zenk gets two on the cover, as Pillman got his foot on the ropes. Zenk comes off the top with a dropkick but Pillman sidesteps then folds Zenk up in a jackknife pin for the win. Pretty good match here. It built up to the frantic climax and had a good ending.

#1 Contender to the IWGP Tag Team Championship
The Steiner Bros. vs. Tatsumi Fujinami and Takayuki Iizuka

Steiners are the WCW World Tag Team Champions…I wish this was just for those belts. I wonder if people back in 1992 really cared about the Japanese titles. It bothers me that the Steiners would go for other tag belts. They are the World champions! Who cares about the other belts!

Fujinami has some WCW cred though, as he had that WCW Title/NWA Title deal with Flair in 91.

Nice elbow off the top from Rick in Iizuka when Scott had him in the rack.

Rick just dropped Fujinami on his head with a German suplex. Ouch.

Fujinami has Rick in the Doomsday Device setup, but Rick actually catches Iizuka and slams him when he comes off the top. Never seen anything like that. I do think Rick’s knee landed on Iizuka’s face though.

Man Scott Steiner just no sells a legdrop when he was on his knees. Steiners have dominated and it seems obvious to me that they aren’t being professional with Fujinami and Iizuka.

Really awesome counters by Scott Steiner of a double wristlock. I really can’t explain what he did though.

The Steiners win when Rick pins Iizuki in 18:05. Belly to belly off the top for the win. Someone is going to have to convince me that the Steiners didn’t purposely bury Fujinami and Iizuki here. The Steiners had 75% of the match, won in convincing fashion and there was some no selling from both Rick and Scott, and there was definitely some stiff takedowns from both Steiners.

NOTE: I did some research, and apparently the PWTorch had an article written about his match. Spoilered for length.

PWTorch Article About Steiners vs. Fujinami and Iizuka

Fuck the Steiners. The more old stuff I watch of them the more I hate them.

War Games
Sting’s Squadron (Sting, Nikita Koloff, Dustin Rhodes, Barry Windham and Ricky Steamboat) vs. The Dangerous Alliance (Steve Austin, Arn Anderson, Rick Rude, Bobby Eaton and Larry Zbyszko)

Sometimes it’s easy to forget Paul Heyman did stuff before ECW.

Austin and Windham start. I believe Windham won the TV title from Austin recently, so there is history here.

Nice DDT from Windham to Austin.

Austin’s busted open 4 minutes in. Good opening period from Windham and Austin.

Heels win the coin toss, and they waste no time. In comes Rick Rude!

Ricky Steamboat is the Squadron’s choice! There is history between Steamboat and Rude too!

Steamboat is owning everyone.

Alliance sends in Arn Anderson. A lot of great workers in that ring right now.

Massive spinebuster to Steamboat. Wow.

Steamboat gets thrown over BOTH top ropes into the other ring. What a bump.

Dustin Rhodes is in!

Larry Z is in, and Dustin beats the hell out of him!

Madusa climbs to the top of the cage and drops the cell phone (huge at the time) into the ring for Anderson, who uses it as a weapon. Sting goes up there to chase her away!

Huge pop! Here comes Sting!

Sting kicks all kinds of ass of course.

Sting just backdrops Austin into the cage! Austin hit hard!

Austin with a great clothesline that Windham sells like a million bucks. Wow!

Bobby Eaton is the last member of the Alliance in.

Larry Z messes with the turnbuckle.

Koloff is in! Match beyond begins!

Koloff and Sting had their issues in the past, but Koloff shows his allegiance by saving Sting from an attack and then they hug!

We have a rope torn down!

Sting’s Squadron wins when Sting makes Eaton submit in 23:27. Larry Z gets a metal hook from the broken ring rope. Eaton holds Sting, but Sting moves and Larry smacks Eaton on the arm with the hook. Sting takes out Larry, then puts Eaton in an arm bar for the submission. Post match the Alliance bitches out Larry Z for the screw-up. So, wow. What a match. Nonstop action for 24 minutes. Literally. It doesn’t stop starting from Austin vs. Windham all the way until the submission. Just wow. I am blown away here. Also, I think it’s something that Paul E. sucks chants were the biggest for any heel in 1992. Heyman owns.

I was wondering what the big deal was all the way until the main event, and I got it. This is basically a two match show, unless you think the Steiners match was good (which I don’t). War Games was awesome and Pillman vs. Zenk was solid. The rest? I mean nothing was mindblowningly bad, but it all ranged from boring to average at best (except Invader vs. Champion, that sucked). It makes sense though, all the workrate was in the Lightheavyweight title match and the main.

Funny enough, this card reminds me of Great American Bash 2004. One big bloody brawl. One good lightheavyweight/cruiserweight match. And a lot of disappointing crap. I’d say this is the much better version of that though. Maybe if there was some historic stuff here I’d give it a higher grade, but the only man who really did anything of note regarding their match here was Sting. Austin would be gone in three years. Rhodes in and out. Rude retired soon. Steamboat hung around but also retired soon. Windham probably peaked here. Etc. etc.

Final Grade: B-