NWA World Championship Wrestling
Date: February 15, 1986
Location: WTBS Studios, Atlanta, Georgia
Commentator: Tony Schiavone

This is the flagship show for the NWA. Their TV show was called World Championship Wrestling so when Turner took over in about two years, he just named the company after the TV show. Anyway, there are going to be a lot of squashes tonight and a lot of talk about this new group that formed last month (unofficially): the Four Horsemen. Let’s get to it.

We open with a clip of Tully vs. Dusty and Tully giving up, then getting piledriven. JJ gives Tully Dusty’s National Championship Belt.

Tony runs down the card.

Jimmy Valiant vs. Ron Rossi

Valiant is the dancing guy with a big beard. For you Chicago guys out there, he’s not here to start no trouble, he’s just here to do the Boogie Man Shuffle. Valiant murders him for a minute or two, knocks him to the floor, brings him back in, murders him some more and drops his big elbow to win. Don’t expect very many grades in this show.

JJ and Tully yell at Tony about Ron Rossi. JJ says that Tully can beat Rossi faster than Valiant did. Tully says he works better under pressure so he’s going to give himself four weeks to win Dusty’s National Heavyweight Title.

Cornette says that he’s been fined $5000 but mama has already sent in the check. As for the Rock N Roll Express, they do get fan mail from girls but they’re girls like these. He unfolds a picture of a fat woman in a swimsuit and says this is all they can get. The Midnights defend later.

Baron Von Raschke vs. Kent Glover

Raschke is an East German monster that was around forever. He’s managed by Paul Jones and is destroying the jobber here. Glover gets in a few shots but Baron pounds him down with clubbing forearms. Raschke hooks the Claw and we’re done.

Rating: D. Not much here as it was just a long squash. The Baron was nothing of note at all but he was fine for an old school evil foreign heel. I don’t recall him ever going past the midcard but by this point and he was later in his career, having been around nearly twenty years at this point. Then again if you were in Jones’ Army, it didn’t matter much anyway.

Jones introduces his newest man: Teijho Khan. He’s the stereotypical white guy playing an Asian.

The Barbarian vs. Paul Garner

Barbarian would join Jones’ Army eventually. Oh ok he’s already with him here. Garner is thrown around by the powerhouse of Barbarian. Garner tries to work on the arm but a headbutt sends him to the floor. Jones adds in a cane shot. I’m skipping over a lot of stuff here because there’s nothing interesting to it. It’s Barbarian beating on Garner with power moves and headbutts. BIG boot puts Garner down, setting up a powerslam and swan dive for the pin.

Rating: D-. This was a nearly 6 minute squash. Didn’t the point pretty much get proven after about two? That’s one of the other things that’ll happen on these shows: matches going FAR longer than the really need to. Squashes are somewhat entertaining but they lose steam quickly, which is why they rarely go long.

Jimmy Valiant says he’s behind Dusty and is ready for Tully. He’ll fight Paul Jones’ Army too.

Tully Blanchard vs. Ray Traylor

Yes, that’s Big Bossman as a jobber. He’s in a singlet here which looks like an S&M outfit on him. JJ is on commentary and sounds a little worried about Traylor’s size. Tully goes amateur on him but Traylor gets up and muscles him back into the corner. Traylor keeps using his weight to get him into the corner. Tully sweeps the leg and takes it to the mat again. He manages to get Traylor up and hit the slingshot suplex for the pin.

Rating: C+. Considering Traylor’s size (over 350lbs) that suplex at the end was awesome. Dusty was so impressed by the fact that Traylor could take it and make it look good that Traylor got a full time job out of this. He was kept off TV for three months and came back as Cornette’s unstoppable and unhurtable bodyguard Big Bubba Rogers and would jump to the WWF in about two years.

Tony talks about the inaugural Jim Crockett Senior Memorial Tag Team Tournament. What a mess that show was. Here’s Jim Crockett Jr. who thinks the tournament will be in Greensboro. There’s also mention of a new belt for Flair. That would be the Big Gold Belt, or the World Heavyweight Championship as it’s known today.

Ron Garvin vs. Art Pritts

What a name for the jobber. Garvin takes him to the mat very quickly and grabs a neck crank. Side roll gets two and Garvin lays on him. A forearm and knee lift put Pritts down and the fans seem to like Ronnie. I guess there was a radon leak or something in Atlanta. Garvin hits headbutts to what appeared to be Pritts’ hand. Ronnie hooks various stretches on Pritts and the Hands of Stone (big punch) ends this.

Rating: F. Any match with Ronnie Garvin in it is a failure by definition, but this one was boring on top of that. The squash went on too long again, which is becoming a recurring theme tonight. Maybe that’s an NWA WCW thing but it’s getting kind of dull. Two hours for this show might have been too long but this was their version of Raw.

Garvin says he and Flair will collide like two trains and he’s not going off the tracks. He respects Flair as a wrestler, not as a man. They’ll meet somewhere and that’s all that matters.

Cornette says Crockett won’t take away the tennis racket because it’s the security blanket that his mama gave him when she’s not there.

Tag Titles: Midnight Express vs. Ron Bass/Don Kernodle

This is Condrey/Eaton. Bass and Condrey start things off. Cornette sits in on commentary to make my day better. Bass sends him to the floor as Cornette says they’re just feeling the challengers out which is why they’re starting slow. Bass works on the arm and it’s off to Eaton. Eaton is slammed and it’s off to Kernodle. Scratch that as it was a high five and not a tag. Whatever.

Ok now it’s Kernodle. Condrey pounds on him as does Bobby. Kernodle hits a clothesline and we take a break. Back with the champs in control of Bass but he kicks both of them off at the same time. A double noggin knocker sends the champs into the corner again. Condrey tries a test of strength. Bass is in a competition with Barbarian for who the strongest guy in the company is at this point, so guess who wins.

Condrey cheats to take Bass down and Eaton hits the top rope legdrop for one. Cornette is at ringside now and is panicking. Bass suplexes Eaton down and tags in Don. Kernodle takes Condrey down and hits a neckbreaker for two. Off to Bass who works on a backbreaker. The Midnights double team to escape and it’s Condrey hooking a chinlock. Eaton goes up again and misses a top rope elbow this time. Bass comes back in with a pair of elbows for two. There’s the Claw but Cornette hits him with the racket for the DQ to save the titles.

Rating: D-. This didn’t work at all. The Midnights never looked like they had any momentum here and the challengers’ style totally clashed with theirs’. It’s probably the worst Midnights match I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen quite a few of them. Maybe it was just an off night?

The Rock N Roll Express clears the ring.

The Rock N Roll complains about Cornette and the racket when Dusty comes in. He has a present for them: a small cage that Cornette will be locked in during matches from now on. Dusty says he found it in a place that was kinky in San Francisco. I REALLY don’t want to know that story. This would be a staple of the Express matches.

Dusty and Baby Doll talk about Tully. I have no idea what they’re saying.

Rock N Roll Express vs. Larry Clarke/Bob Owens

The Express controls to start and take I think Clarke to the mat. Gibson comes in to elbow him down and hooks a headscissors. Total squash again here and there’s not much to talk about. They make a wish with Clarke’s legs and beat on both guys. Double dropkick puts Owens down for the pin.

Rating: D. Another boring squash. The Rock N Roll could feud with anyone but they were building up towards another Express showdown which was probably a classic. This was another boring squash though and it didn’t go anywhere at all. At least the show is almost over though.

The Russians warn the Americans that they’re coming for them. Not a specific American. Just any of them and they’re coming for the US Title. Magnum is watching from the ring. Ivan says there will be no Nikita matches after today until Magnum faces Nikita on this show for the US Title. Nikita speaks Russian about Magnum.

Magnum TA vs. Lee Peek

Here’s Magnum’s gimmick: he beats everyone in thirty seconds. Therefore he’s the match: headlock, shoulder, hip toss, dropkick, belly to belly, pin.

Magnum says he’ll do wrestling a favor and keep Nikita out of wrestling. He goes on a long rant against the Russian team as well.

TV Title: Arn Anderson vs. Sam Houston

Houston is Mid-Atlantic Champion here but it’s just Arn’s title on the line. Anderson headlocks him down and there’s a lot of stalling. Arn stalls on the floor a few times so Houston holds open the ropes for him to get outside easier. Houston speeds things up with dropkicks and Anderson slows things down. Down to the mat and Houston hooks a headlock. Anderson hits him in the ribs to slow things down again.

Arn goes to the arm which is his biggest tradition. He stomps away on it and Houston has a bad arm coming in anyway. Here’s an armbar and we take a break. Sam hammers away but ducks his head and Arn elbows him in the back to take him down again. There’s the hammerlock slam and a shortarm scissors. Anderson cranks on the arm for a few minutes and there’s not much to talk about in between.

Houston gets up and comes back with right hands. He monkey flips Arn out of the corner but a second results in an atomic drop. That only gets two so it’s arm time again. Houston fires off right hands and backdrops Anderson. A cross body misses and Houston crashes into the ropes and Anderson gets the pin.

Rating: C-. Not a great match as the match was mainly Anderson working on the arm. Sam Houston was never a guy that was interesting for me. He was so small and never got any interesting offense at all. Also being a guy from Texas and using the bulldog as a cowboy can only carry you so far.

Anderson says he’s champion and no one is going to take it from him.

Jim Cornette doesn’t like the idea of the cage. He HATES the idea of being 80 feet in the air. It was more like 20 but you get the idea.

Nikita Koloff vs. Josh Stroud

Nikita kills him deader than dead. Josh fires off some right hands which just tick Nikita off a little more. The Sickle ends this.

Magnum runs out to help the jobber but the Russians beat him down. Dusty makes the save to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. This was a chore to sit through. The problem is that there are a lot of squashes which doesn’t mean that it’s interesting to sit through for the most part. It’s not a bad show and when you consider this was the flagship show back in the day, that makes it a lot more bearable. It doesn’t hold up well, but if this is what you grew up on it probably would help a lot.

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Impact Wrestling
Date: February 16, 2012
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Tazz, Mike Tenay

We’re back in Orlando which means the crowds have gotten a lot worse again. Roode is still the champion after Sting had to count the pin on Sunday in a redo of Summerslam 1997. And before anyone complains, no I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. 14 years is more than enough for an angle to be repeated. Anyway, we start towards Victory Road tonight. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap video of the two main events from the PPV. The other is Garrett vs. Gunner if you’re confused.

Here’s Roode to open the show. He says that the fans are chanting Rooooooooooode so loudly that he needs to hear his introduction again. Roode talks about overcoming everyone, including Jeff Hardy. As for Sting, Sting has been pointing his finger at Roode since Roode won the title. After Sunday, that finger should be pointed at Sting because it was him that counted the pin to keep the belt on Bobby.

Cue Sting who says it was Sting that was selfish on Sunday because he let his anger get the better of him. If hurt the outcome of the match and Jeff got screwed. He’s here tonight to make things right with Hardy. He’s glad Roode is a fighting champion because tonight, it’s Roode vs. Hardy. There’s no time limit and no DQ. Oh and it starts NEXT.

Brandon Jacobs of the New York Giants is here.

TNA World Title: Jeff Hardy vs. Bobby Roode

Jeff charges and attacks Roode before the introductions can be made. Roode catches him in Percy Watson’s Persecution for two. Roode is sent to the floor where Jeff hits a dive and a pair of chair shots. This isn’t falls count anywhere. Roode is rammed into various metal objects and has his suplex countered into one by Hardy. It’s been about 95% Jeff so far. They go towards the ramp and Hardy cracks him in the back with a chair. Hardy whips him into the apron twice and signals to the fans for something. Roode uses the distraction to get in a punch to the ribs.

Jeff counters a whip to send Roode’s knees into the steps. He uses said steps to make a platform and hits Poetry in Motion onto the champ against the railing. With both guys down we take a break. Back with Hardy getting two off his front suplex. He loads up the Whisper in the Wind but Roode shoves the referee into the ropes to crotch him. Roode takes it to the floor again and tries a piledriver on the ramp but Jeff counters with a backdrop.

They go up to the stage with Hardy in control again. Hardy throws Roode off the stage but it wasn’t a huge crash as Roode is up pretty quickly. Also the stage isn’t as high. Jeff dives off the ramp with a clothesline. Twist of Fate is countered as Roode shoves Jeff into the stage. Roode’s charge misses and both guys are down.

This is random but they’re near the announce desk so it popped into my head. Tazz isn’t live in the arena and is doing this on a voiceover due to the death in his family. Hardy takes him back to the ring and takes his shirt off. Out of nowhere comes Kurt Angle who whips him into the steps. Roode pops up and hits the spear (of course) for the pin at 16:45.

Rating: C+. Far more of a fight than a match but that’s ok. The match was entertaining enough and it sets up something new for Hardy. He’s been around the title picture enough and hopefully this means they’ll be going towards Storm vs. Roode now. Good match here as Hardy looked great and his stuff with Angle should rock.

Roode says he won when Sting comes in. Sting says he cheated the system and says he’s not done yet. Roode is going to defend against the winner of the #1 contenders match tonight.

Eric Young has a guitar and says that he’ll get ODB back tonight. He also talks about shoot fighting and having his driver’s license taken away.

Sting talks to two people about getting a shot at Roode. He asks if they’re in and the people are revealed as Ray and Storm. They both say they should be world champion and the match is on.

We get a video of the Sorensen injury from Sunday. The current word is that Sorensen will be out for a year at least. He is however moving his arms and I believe legs as well.

Zema Ion/Austin Aries vs. Alex Shelley/Shannon Moore

Aries and Moore start things off. Aries takes him down with a fast headlock takedown and then a dropkick. Ion tags himself in to tick the champ off. Shannon kicks everyone down and Aries is knocked to the floor. There’s a baseball slide and Asai Moonsault which kind of misses as Moore lands on his feet and Aries falls a few seconds later.

Shannon picks up Ion’s hairspray which gets him a dropkick to the back. Shelley knocks Ion to the floor and wants a tag. Here’s Alex who misses a double boot and has Sliced Bread broken up. Aries dropkicks him in the back of the head and loads up the brainbuster but Ion tags himself in. Shelley escapes the brainbuster but falls into a rollup by Ion at 4:10.

Rating: C. The match was fine and I honestly forgot that Ion was #1 contender. That’s probably due to how the match he got the spot ended which is understandable. Also it’s rare to have heel vs. heel http://onhealthy.net/product-category/anti-anxiety/ feuds. Not a bad match or anything and the ending worked pretty well I thought.

Speaking of heel vs. heel, Gail and Madison are coming to the ring and Madison wants to chill things out between then.

Battle Royal

Brooke Tessmacher, Tara, Sarita, Rosita, Winter, Angelina Love, ODB, Mickie James, Velvet Sky, Madison Rayne

Winner gets the shot at Gail at Victory Road. Before the match, Madison praises Gail for giving everyone a chance to win right now. Madison sits at ringside with Gail. Winter and Tessmacther are out quickly. ODB threw both of them out and she tosses Rosita onto them. Mickie goes after her and has some better luck. She tries a headscissors but three other girls knock them both to the apron.

Mickie goes up top and ODB knocks her out. Everyone rams into ODB to knocker her to the floor and we’re down to Tara, Velvet, Angelina, Sarita and Madison who is on the floor. Tara is knocked out by Sarita. Angelina and Sarita team up against Velvet who fights out as well as she can. Velvet fights both of them as well as she can but can’t put Sarita out.

The alliance seems to break down but they hit a double elbow to put Velvet down. Madison hasn’t been in the ring yet so she’s still in this. Botox Injection puts Velvet down and Sarita says now put her out. Angelina goes to do that and Sarita tosses her. Salsa dancing abounds. Sarita charges at her but Velvet ducks to put her out. Madison runs in to throw out Velvet for the win at 6:30.

Rating: D. So apparently Madison was a surprise entrant into this match because when she said Gail was giving anyone in the ring a shot, it entered her into the match. Still though, this was longer than it should be or at least too long with those final three in there. Can’t call it a failure due to the hotness involved though.

Storm is all fired up.

The new tag champs say they proved their greatness by doing what they said they’d do. It’s a rematch next week.

We recap the Garrett vs. Gunner match from the PPV where Garrett fought hard but lost.

Here’s Immortal, who is now Flair, Gunner, Bischoff, and Chelsea if you remember her. She’s hot if nothing else. Eric says Chelsea wanted back in after seeing Garrett’s loss on Sunday. Champagne is brought in along with cigars. Eric says get a dog as a dog catcher, but never come close to wrestling again. He wishes Garrett the best in all of his future endeavors.

The host of some MMA show talks about MMA.

Eric Young talks to ODB who doesn’t want to hear it. He plays a song on his guitar called the Ode To ODB. She laughs at it and spanks him. This isn’t funny, as usual.

James Storm vs. Bully Ray

It’s 10:30 so there’s either something after this or we’re going to have a long match. Ray is way too proud of his calves. Feeling out process to start and Storm armdrags him down. Hebnar trips over him and Ray works on Storm’s knee. Ray even takes the boot off of Storm’s foot to work it over even better. More leg work follows which has been the focus of the match so far. Ray keeps on the leg as we take a break.

Back with Storm trying a comeback but Ray dropkicks the knee out for two. Ray punches the knee and talks trash, which gets him a punch in the face. Codebreaker puts Ray in the corner. He comes out with a big boot but Storm ducks underneath and hits the Last Call for the pin and the #1 contendership at 12:10.

Rating: C. Not the worst match in the world but it wasn’t that interesting either. It gives us Roode vs. Storm which is what we needed more than anything else though. Storm has made the superkick into a big move that can change a match at anytime which is what it needed to be.

Storm has a beer bash post match and gives Brandon Jacobs a beer as well. Ray jumps Storm during the celebration and gets in Jacobs’ face. He takes a drink from the beer and spits it in Jacobs’ face. Jacobs shoves him down and wants to fight. Storm and security pull him back and D’Lo Brown looks like he’s trying to hold back a small bus. Jacobs and Storm get in the ring and celebrate.

Storm and Jacobs say bring it Bully. Jacobs will be back next week.

Sting wants to talk to Roode face to face. Roode comes out and announces Roode vs. Storm in the cage at Lockdown. Roode kicks Sting in the balls for that. He takes Sting’s sunglasses and hits him with the belt to open him up. So….Sting vs. Roode at Victory Road?

Overall Rating: B-. This was a very packed show but nothing came off as excellent. Storm vs. Roode is the match that needs to happen but it’s a very good thing to get Sting vs. Roode out of the way first. That’s been the real main event feud since Roode won the title so getting it out of the way lets Roode vs. Storm feel like the huge match that it is. It wasn’t announced but I’d call it a very safe bet after the ending to that show. Good show but not great.

Results
Bobby Roode b. Jeff Hardy – Spear
Zema Ion/Austin Aries b. Alex Shelley/Shannon Moore – Rollup to Shelley
Madison Rayne won a battle royal last eliminating Velvet Sky
James Storm b. Bully Ray – Last Call

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Monday Nitro #66
Date: December 16, 1996
Location: Pensacola Civic Center, Pensacola, Florida
Commentators: Eric Bischoff, Ted DiBiase

We’re in Florida this week and we’re just about to Starrcade with only one show after this before the big one. Also tonight is the last televised Sting match for over a year. That’s assuming he wrestles of course. We’ll also get more of the Piper vs. Hogan buildup which should be somewhat entertaining. Let’s get to it.

Here’s the NWO to start and they storm the announcers’ desk. Eric wants to do commentary and Larry says he’s not leaving. DiBiase and Virgil aren’t enough to make him leave. Tony leaves and Larry finally goes also.

We get a clip from the ending of last week’s show. Hogan is here tonight.

TV Title: Psicosis vs. Steven Regal

I don’t think this is a title match. Oh so it is. Eric says they’ll be taking over New Japan next. They fight over a wristlock to start and hit the mat where Regal takes over. Regal works on the arm and Bischoff implies that Regal will join the NWO soon. We take a break to NWO music and Bischoff promising something special. Back with Regal firing off European uppercuts in the corner.

Rolling cradle gets two. Psicosis speeds things up to send him to the floor. The fans are getting into this too. Psicosis hits a big dive to the floor and a top rope sunset flip for two. A top rope rana gets the same and the fans are really into this. The guillotine legdrop gets the same but I don’t think that was Psicosis’ finisher yet. Regal comes back with a suplex but his neck is hurting him.

Regal hooks the crossface part of the Regal Stretch and Psicosis taps but it doesn’t count yet. Now it’s a half nelson as Regal works on the neck. Butterfly suplex for two. Regal tries a top rope butterfly suplex but Psicosis knocks him down and hits a kind of frog splash for two. Psicosis superkicks him down (good one too) and tries a victory roll but Regal slams him onto his face and the Regal Stretch gets the submission.

Rating: B. I would ask where this came from, but as I say over and over on here: giving talented people time usually means you’re going to get a good match. Psicosis really had the fans into this and I think had them believing that the title was in danger. The idea of someone that was viewed as having only a tiny chance would be used again in February.

We recap the Sting vs. Rick Steiner stuff.

Big Bubba vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.

Bubba knocks him into the corner to start but Chavo manages to speed things up to take over. He gets Bubba tied up in the ropes and dropkicks him to the floor. Bubba slams him out there though and Chavo is in trouble. Back inside a splash misses and Chavo hits some dropkicks. He fights out of a powerbomb position with right hands but jumps into a Bossman Slam for the pin.

Here are Sonny Onoo and Masa Chono. Sonny is his agent and is negotiating with New Japan for his contract. Sonny opens his jacket to reveal a New Japan show. Chono opens his jacket to reveal an NWO shirt. Chono yells at Sonny and Gene wants to know what he says. Sonny says something in Japanese. Gene: “IN ENGLISH YOU IDIOT!!!”

Chris Jericho vs. Masa Chono

Chono sends him to the floor and Jericho has no idea what to do with this guy. Chono knocks him down and yells at the referee. Sunset flip gets two for Jericho. Jericho tries to fight back but Chono is too much for him. Masa goes up but Jericho manages to get a superplex followed by a spinwheel kick for two. A top rope version of the kick misses but Jericho lands on Chono’s back. I think Chono was supposed to duck but didn’t get completely out of the way. Jericho gets knocked into the ropes and his foot gets tied into them. Chono chokes him until it’s a DQ.

Rating: C-. Not a bad match but Jericho wasn’t ready to hang in there with Chono yet. Also this was designed to be almost total domination for the new NWO guy which was par for the course at this point. I don’t remember when WCW’s first major win was but it would be awhile coming unless I’m overlooking something.

We recap last week’s Piper stuff as well as his segment with Flair.

Here are Flair and the Horsemen minus Benoit. Anderson says he’ll take out Sullivan tonight. Flair tells Benoit to get home. Debra doesn’t like Woman. Mongo says be ready Arn. Flair loses his voice and says Piper will kill Hogan.

Dave Sammartino vs. Dean Malenko

Did they lose a bet or something? The last national match I can find for Sammartino before this is at Wrestlemania I. That’s over 11 years ago! Did they owe Bruno a favor or something? They fight over the arm to start and Dean takes him to the mat like he’s fighting a no talent hack that is in the ring because his dad is famous. Small package gets two. A tiger suplex ends this. Not even enough to call it a squash. It was more like a workout with a punching bag for Dean.

Hour #2 begins and it’s Tony, Bobby and Tenay back on commentary.

We look at Chono joining the NWO again.

Ice Train vs. Jerry Flynn

Train destroys the martial arts guy to start but walks into a clothesline. Tony plugs the NWO PPV even though he doesn’t want to. Train takes him down again and this is a really boring match. He wins with an ankle lock of all things.

Rating: F. This is one of those times where you have to wonder what WCW was thinking. I mean…why does this match exist? Who thought this show needed Ice Train vs. Jerry Flynn? Ice Train would have four more matches on Nitro through May and then wouldn’t be on this show for over three years. Flynn would be about the same. I don’t get it.

Post match Syxx brings out the Outsiders. The Outsiders talk for a bit and the gist is Faces of Fear vs. Outsiders tonight.

Video on Sting abandoning WCW.

Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Bobby Eaton

Eaton goes for the knee quickly and works on the arm. Mysterio vs. Liger is announced for Starrcade. Rey sends him to the floor and hits a dive to take over. They head back in and things slow down. Rey works on the arm which isn’t something I ever recall him doing. Eaton takes over again and the top rope knee drop gets two. Eaton goes up again but Rey crotches him and hits a top rope rana for the pin.

Rating: D+. This was a big surprise for me. With the talent you have in there, this was a big disappointment. I think the problem at the end of the day is that Eaton isn’t used to being the much bigger guy and that messed him up. The match isn’t terrible but they weren’t clicking at all.

Benoit and Woman are still in Germany and have another video, basically saying Benoit has taken Woman from Sullivan.

Arn Anderson vs. Kevin Sullivan

Sullivan blames Schiavone for showing the videos on the way to the ring. The brawl stats in the aisle and Sullivan throws a chair at his head. Anderson misses a swing with the chair and hits the post by mistake. They go into the ring for what must have been a good 4 seconds before heading into the crowd.

They go into the ring for the first time that you can actually keep track of and the referee gets a DDT. Sullivan double stomps him and ties Anderson into the Tree of Woe but Anderson manages to kick him low. Here’s Hugh Morrus who gets a DDT. Konnan gets a left hand and Sullivan manages to hit Anderson with a wooden chair for the pin.

Rating: N/A. I can’t really grade this as a match because it was a brawl instead of an actual match. It was entertaining which is really all you can ask for here. Benoit would get back soon enough, namely due to being in the US Title tournament. This was a fun brawl but there isn’t much of a reason to watch it from a storyline perspective as the heat was on Benoit.

Rick Steiner vs. Sting

Sting comes from the rafters and through the crowd. That doesn’t look like Sting at all. A second one comes out and that one looks more like him. The second one is the real one. The fake one has a ball bat. And so does the real one. The fake one throws his bat to Scott and the real one throws his to Rick. They turn around and offer a free shot to the Steiners, but the real Sting hits a Death Drop on the fake one, who we’re told is the NWO Sting. The real one walks out. No match.

Here’s the NWO in full force. Well at least the big names as Giant and Hogan are here with Vincent and DiBaise. Liz is there too. DiBiase demands a spotlight for Hulk. Hulk calls out Piper when we know Piper isn’t here. Hogan talks about starting here like Piper started in Charlotte last week. He says he was beating up Andre the Giant when he stated. Vincent is sent to the back to find Piper. Hulk says he could beat up Flair and Piper at the same time. Vincent comes back and tells Hogan that Piper ran out the back door. Hogan poses and dances to end this.

Faces of Fear vs. Outsiders

Brawl to start and Hall loads up the Edge on Meng. Barbarian breaks it up and Big Bubba comes in and joins the NWO, beating up Meng. Sullivan comes out and is knocked backwards. The Dungeon comes in but they’re outnumbered. The whole NWO comes out and some WCW guys join in as well. Scott Norton drops Ice Train on the floor and is NWO as well.

Sting comes in and the brawl stops. The fight stops and Anderson swings at Sting. Sting ducks and hits Anderson. Mongo gets in some shots so Sting hits him too. Rey jumps on him and is slammed down. Sting walks out to end the show. He only hit people that attacked him.

Overall Rating: B-. This is a hard one to grade. It’s a very entertaining show and I can’t take that away from it. However there’s something very important to note. With the three new additions to the NWO, counting non-wrestlers, there are now SIXTEEN members. The common problem people have with the NWO is that there were too many members. Within the last two weeks, they’ve added 4 new members, most of whom mean nothing. You could argue that Bubba is the biggest name as most American fans didn’t know who Chono was. You can see the problems that will plague the group starting here.

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Monday Nitro #65
Date: December 9, 1996
Location: Independence Arena, Charlotte, North Carolina
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyszko, Bobby Heenan, Mike Tenay

We continue to head towards Starrcade tonight and if my memory is right, Piper is in the building tonight. There’s another member joining the NWO tonight as well but it’s not like the rest of them to put it mildly. There are a lot of matches tonight too so they should be pretty quick each. Let’s get to it.

Here’s Piper to open things up. Piper says it’s nice to be home. He used to live at a Days Inn here before it was pretty. The last time everyone saw him, there were a bunch of NWO guys pounding on his leg. Piper hops around the ring on one leg. On December 29, he’s supposed to fight Hogan in Nashville. He has six kids so he has to win this one. Piper is bombed it seems. His seven year old told him that Hogan was younger than him and has two good legs so what chance does he have?

Piper talks about boxing Mr. T. at Wrestlemania 2 and being asked to take a dive. He said no, so they added extra padding to his gloves to make sure the punches didn’t hurt T as much. I’ll leave that one alone. There’s a guy in the audience with an NWO sign. Piper says nothing bad about the NWO because he’s a free agent. He talks about a promo they did of six guys in one room in leather drinking and not one woman. Our hero ladies and gentlemen. He knows Hogan is here so let’s just do it tonight.

Mike Enos vs. Michael Wallstreet

Michael grabs a quick fireman’s carry to start and it’s a feeling out period. About a minute in here’s DiBiase. Enos hits a powerslam but gets distracted by DiBiase. DiBiase has papers in his hands and Wallstreet hits a quick Samoan Drop for the pin.

DiBiase hands Wallstreet the papers and he seems pleased. DiBiase leaves before anything else happens.

We get a video of Woman and Benoit with Woman talking about how she’s obviously not in the Florida Keys and that Kevin can’t find him. She meant it in Baltimore when she said if Sullivan kicked Benoit one more time she was gone. It’s not the 1950s anymore so she’ll do what she wants. Benoit talks about how Sullivan fancies himself a chess player. Well Benoit’s bishop just took Sullivan’s queen. We cut to Sullivan who is speechless.

Hugh Morrus vs. Renegade

Renegade still has a job? They fight for control with power moves to start which gets no one an advantage. Morrus changes things up with a spinwheel kick to take Renegade down. Small package gets two for Renegade. Morrus’ bearhug is quickly countered into one by Renegade which is quickly broken up as well. Morrus says to hit him, so Renegade punches him down. Can’t say he doesn’t take orders well. Hugh suplexes him down and the moonsault ends this. Better match than you would expect actually.

Joe Gomez, Renegade’s partner, pulls him out of the way of another moonsault.

Sullivan comes out post match and wants to talk to Tony who played the video of Benoit and Woman. Kevin says it’s a ratings game but that video wasn’t sent to WCW. It was sent to Sullivan, so why didn’t they ask Sullivan if they could show it? Tony is a pawn in a game to get ratings. Sullivan says he has a personal life and stuff that he does outside of this ring. Next time there’s something to show, screw the ratings because Sullivan has people to take care of. I didn’t remember this angle all that well but it’s starting off well.

Video on Sting set to, and I kid you not, Holding Out For A Hero.

Here’s Kevin Greene of the Carolina Panthers who got a big win yesterday. I know this because Tony has reminded us of it every 47 seconds. He doesn’t like Mongo and he doesn’t like the NWO. Greene would love a chance to fight Hogan.

Cruiserweight Title: Jimmy Graffiti vs. Dean Malenko

So Graffiti loses to Dean and then to Rey, then he gets a title match. I’ll never understand how the title contenders selection process works. Chain wrestling to start and Graffiti taking over with a hammerlock. Dean gets up and clotheslines Jimmy to take over as we take a break. Graffiti is in control with brawling stuff when we return. Clothesline gets two. Graffiti misses a charge in the corner and they head to the floor.

They both try a suplex but both guys are down as a result. A superkick puts Dean down for two. A powerbomb puts Dean down as well but Graffiti wastes time. After a very delayed cover, Graffiti tries a front suplex but Dean rolls through into a small package for a quick pin to retain the title.

Rating: C. Not a bad match but Graffiti was nothing of note at all. This was just an appetizer until we got to the Dragon feud which was more interesting. The ending was a good one as Dean used his wrestling abilities to catch the lazy Graffiti off guard. Not a great match but a good ending.

Sonny Onoo has lost his accent but says Dragon will destroy Dean at Starrcade.

We get some clips of the triangle tag match from World War 3.

Nasty Boys vs. Faces of Fear

If you’re expecting anything other than a fight here, raise your hand so I can point at you and laugh. They go split screen almost immediately and the Outsiders are standing on the ramp. I have no idea who started but it’s Sags vs. Barbarian now. Sags goes to the floor to fight Meng and it breaks down again. The NWO has left. Ok so it’s back to Barbarian and Sags in the ring and there’s a tag to Knobbs. It breaks down again and Knobbs has Barbarian pinned but there’s no referee. Jimmy GOES UP TOP with the Megaphone but it hits Barbarian. Meng hits Knobbs with the Megaphone and it gets the pin.

Rating: C. Ok so with this, if you’re going just on the wrestling this is somewhere between a Divas match and two kids in the back yard. If you’re going on entertainment and keeping things moving, this was incredible. That being said, we’ll put it somewhere in the middle. It’s a total brawl that has no order to it at all, but like I said that’s all you should have expected.

Here’s Flair for an interview. He comes out to the Horsemen music but he’s on his own. Flair is still injured here but his arm isn’t in a sling anymore. He praises the Panthers again and bows down to Greene, who he says he doesn’t like. Flair asks Piper to come out here to a big Charlotte welcome.

Flair talks about Piper getting here on a Greyhound bus and now he’s got a home next to Phil Knight (Nike boss) in Oregon. Piper has taken it upon himself to challenge Hogan, whose name draws a bunch of boos. Flair talks about the losses to Hogan haunting him but now Piper is here to rectify it. Piper says this is his last shot and he appreciates the offer but he wants to do this on his own.

Hour #2 begins.

We have a recap of the opening segment and then the announcers talk about said segment.

Chris Jericho vs. Bobby Eaton

Eaton takes him down quickly and hits the top rope knee almost immediately. Jericho comes back with a powerslam and an inset interview, saying WCW will prevail. He isn’t done with Nick Patrick yet either. Suplex sets up the Lionsault for two. It wasn’t a finisher yet. Alabama Jam misses and Jericho hits the missile dropkick for the pin. Pretty much a squash.

We recap the Rick Steiner/Sting issues.

The Steiners are in the arena to talk about Sting. Scott says it’s crazy to hand Rick Steiner a bat but when Scott did that, he saw something in Sting’s eyes. He has no idea what it is though. Sting has done the same thing to Lex and them and those three are all WCW. Rick says they’re waiting for his next message.

We recap Lex vs. Giant, which isn’t really a feud. This is more like a video on Lex set to his theme music and not much Giant. It’s Lex vs. Giant at Starrcade.

Craig Pittman vs. Arn Anderson

Pittman and Long have parted ways apparently. An inset interview by Sullivan says he blames this on Arn. Next week they’re going to fight. Anderson stalls a lot and Tony says that there’s more video from Benoit and Woman for Sullivan. We take a break (why?) and come back with more stalling. Anderson drops to the floor and wraps the knee around the post but is slammed off the top. Tony says that doesn’t happen often. I’d hit him if I could right now. Code Red is countered by grabbing the ropes and they head to the outside. Briefcase to the ribs, DDT, NEXT.

Gene asks Okerlund where Woman and Benoit are. Anderson says Benoit is in Germany and 2 + 2 = 4. Anderson says love stinks and it’s his fault. Debra goes on a rant against Nancy and McMichael says focus. Anderson tells benoit to come home and says he has a bone to pick with Woman.

Lee Marshall is in Pensacola.

US Title Tournament Semi-Finals: Diamond Dallas Page vs. Jeff Jarrett

Man this would have been different three and a half years later. The winner of this gets the winner of Guerrero vs. Benoit at Starrcade. This continues the streak of “put DDP in the ring with guys that could have a watchable match with a grizzly bear so that he gets better.” Jarrett has a small advantage to start but Page kicks him in the ribs and poses. They fight over a top wristlock and we take a break.

Back with Page in control and slamming Jarrett down. Jarrett comes back with an enziguri and a swinging neckbreaker for no cover. The fans start booing something and a sunet flip and clothesline both get two for Jeff. A Blanchard slingshot suplex sets up a middle rope fist for two. There’s a sleeper and Page is in trouble.

The referee is looking at something else as Page hits a discus lariat for a big reaction. Page punches him down and suddenly is over like crazy. A top rope clothesline gets two. Page is sent to the floor and here are the Outsiders. Nash distracts so that the Razor’s Edge can kill Jarrett. Page didn’t see it and gets the pin.

Rating: B-. Remember what I’ve said before about talented guys getting time means a good match? This is a similar version but Page wasn’t quite good yet. Jarrett was reliable though and could easily get a good match out of Page at this point. The reactions for Page are getting much stronger very quickly and WCW capitalized on it too.

Page says he doesn’t need the NWO because the Diamond Cutter does whatever he needs. One more time: leave me alone. He wants to know where they were last year when he was voted Most Improved by PWI. It reminds him of a girl he picked up in a nightclub and the next thing he knows, she wants a full time thing. In short, stop calling!

Rick Steiner vs. Scott Norton

We have about five minutes left in this show so this isn’t lasting long if at all. And there’s no Steiner. It’s Roddy Piper instead and he’s MAD.

He gets a chair and gets in the ring. Piper says nothing is happening until Hogan gets out here because it’s time to fight. Here’s Bischoff instead but Piper says get out because he wants Hogan. Eric says the NWO has left and here comes the garbage. He says he tried to keep Piper out of WCW for his own safety. Eric says that Hogan will beat him up on the 29th and then he limps out of the ring to imitate Piper. Piper gets the chair and here’s the NWO. He has the chair and says bring it on but no one gets in. Kevin Greene gets in also and they stand tall to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. Most of Starrcade is set at this point so the next few weeks are going to be a lot of buildup shows and that’s ok. This show was entertaining enough but we need Hogan and Piper in the same ring soon. It’s not a bad show and the wrestling is good, but it was still a few weeks/months before we get to the Sting vs. Hogan stuff and the real drama begins. This is just kind of keeping things warm until then.

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Clash of the Champions 18
Date: January 21, 1992
Location: Kansas Expo Center, Topeka, Kansas
Attendance: 5,500
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Jim Ross

Time for another Clash, but this time it’s from a better era. This is during the Dangerous Alliance period, where the top heels in the company banded together to fight Sting and whoever he could get to back him up. However, he needed to win the world title first nad we need to set up that match tonight. Also we get Cactus Jack vs. Van Hammer in a falls count anywhere match which I remember fairly well. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is about Heyman wanting to take over the company with the Dangerous Alliance.

As usual Eric and Missy are more or less the hosts.

Vader/Mr. Hughes vs. Steiner Brothers

Scott vs. Hughes gets us going. The Steiners are insanely popular. Scott throws Hughes around for a few minutes and that’s exactly what I wanted to see. That’s what the Steiners were awesome at: throwing big guys around like it was no big deal. Hughes powers him to the corner and everything breaks down. The Steiners get sent to the floor so they wait for the monsters to pose and both go to the top at the same time. A double Steiner Line off the same corner gives the Steiners the momentum again.

Vader vs. Rick now and Vader goes old school monster on him. There’s a gorilla press and a splash in the corner but Rick keeps getting up because that’s what he does. Steiner Line takes Vader down and there’s an overhead belly to belly (great one too). Rick knocks him to the floor and dives off the apron, but gets caught and rammed into the post. Back in and Rick throws Vader off the top with a belly to belly superplex.

Off to Scott and the Steiners are all fired up here. Scott gets the best German suplex you’ll ever see to a guy the size of Vader. He goes up but his cross body is countered into a powerslam and a splash keeps Scott down. Tag to Hughes and it’s off to Rick soon thereafter. HUGE backdrop and Hughes is in trouble. Everything breaks down again and Vader accidentally hits Hughes. Vader and Scott go to the floor and the Steiner Bulldog ends Hughes.

Rating: B. That’s probably high but I’m a sucker for the Steiners throwing everyone all over the place like it’s nothing. They were so far and away better than all of the other teams at this point and it was very clear. Anderson and Eaton were champions at this point and the Steiners would get the titles back in just a few months.

Terry Taylor/Tracy Smothers vs. Brian Pillman/Marcus Bagwell

Tracy is still part of the Young Pistols and Taylor is the Taylor Made Man. According to Ross, a standard backhand chop is a judo chop. Didn’t know that. Pillman cleans house on his own and speeds things up but walks into a backbreaker for two. Off to Bagwell and the good guys clear the ring with a double dropkick. There are some double dives to the outside and Taylor/Smothers are in trouble.

We get back to normal with Bagwell vs. Smothers and Tracy hits what was either a dropkick or a superkick to take over. We hear about Bagwell hanging out with Sting a lot lately as Tracy beats him up. He avoids a shot though and here’s Pillman again. A spinwheel kick gets two for Pillman. The heels double team to slow Brian down and Taylor suplexes him to the floor.

Pillman gets rammed into the post which gets two back in the ring for Tracy. Gutwrench powerbomb gets the same for Taylor. Back to Smothers and a jumping back elbow sends Pillman out to the barricade again. He comes back in with a springboard clothesline and it’s hot tag to Bagwell. Everything breaks down and Bagwell gets a surprise sunset flip on Smothers for the three count.

Rating: C+. Fun tag match here with Pillman flying all over the place and just being awesome. Smothers and Taylor are two guys that I’m not wild on but they did their thing here and it worked well enough. Bagwell was still a glorified rookie at this point but he never really developed past anything slightly above average, which is pretty telling.

Video on Jushin Thunder Liger. He and Pillman will tear the house down at SuperBrawl II for the Light Heavyweight Title which Liger recently won from Pillman.

Richard Morton vs. Johnny B. Badd

Badd is pretty new at this point and is still the gay character that we don’t acknowledge as being gay. He takes off the rainbow colored robe to put on a pink and blue boa. Badd has to fire the Badd Blaster (confetti gun) before we can get going. He tries to punch Morton so Morton wisely hides in the ropes. Double axe off the middle rope gives Badd control. A bad looking atomic drop by Morton lets him send Badd to the floor. Badd gets a sunset flip for two. This isn’t meshing at all. Powerslam gets two for Johnny. They slug it out and Morton tries a cross body which Badd rolls through for the pin.

Rating: F. Just awful here and the ending looked horrible with Morton barely running when he hit the cross body. It took Badd a few years but he would get way better. The Light Heavyweight division never worked like it was supposed to because they had no idea that there was a difference between being small and knowing how to wrestle small.

Badd and Pillman are with Bischoff and Badd puts a lips sticker on Eric’s cheek. They both want to fight Liger. Pillman gives a bizarre speech about Japanese automakers and how he’s defending the honor of Americans and bringing the title back to America. And then Badd puts lips on Brian’s cheek, earning him a right hand. I have no idea if that was a heel promo or not.

PN News vs. Diamond Dallas Page

Page is a manager recently turned wrestler and more or less is a jobber here. News is a very fat white rapper. He raps a bit before the match. This makes JR’s from two nights ago look bearable. Page (in a singlet) jumps him to start and they try running the ropes for a few seconds, but News can’t do it due to high levels of fat. News tries a dropkick to send Page to the floor as the announcers shill the WCW Hotline. All News until he misses an elbow. Page hammers away and gets two off a Russian legsweep. For some reason he tries a slam and guess how well that goes. News hits a belly to belly and a top rope splash for the pin.

Rating: D-. Barely better than the previous match but Page was trying. The problem was that he wasn’t very good yet. News….you’re fat and you need to go away. The match was nothing to see and was there to get News on TV, because WCW was stupid enough to think that was a good idea.

Here’s the WCW Top Ten.

10. Larry Zbyszko
9. El Gigante
8. Big Van Vader
7. Dustin Rhodes
6. Cactus Jack
5. Rick Steiner
4. Ricky Steamboat
3. Steve Austin
2. Sting
1. Rick Rude

Kip Allen Frey is introduced as the new boss of WCW. Why WCW insisted on having actual executives on TV as the boss characters is beyond me. They FINALLY woke up in like 1995 and had a character played by a wrestler (I mean Bockwinkel, not Watts, who actually was the boss). Frey was actually really good at what he did though, and SuperBrawl II would be proof of that. He had a very interesting policy: whoever had the best match at a televised show received (I believe) a $5000 cash bonus. Think that might get people motivated? He announces Sting vs. Luger for the title at SuperBrawl II.

The other thing Frey does is bring out the newest WCW color commentator: Jesse Ventura. This was a legit big deal and was probably the first high profile guy they took from Vince in a very long time. Jesse puts over WCW as the future and says he’ll be debuting soon, which also was at SuperBrawl.

Tony brings out Sting who high fives Jesse on the way to the ring. Luger (recorded) says he’s been gone to get ready for the match. In reality, he only had one contracted appearance left so he just sat out for two months. His match with Sting was HORRIBLE, and in one of the rare instances in history, it can be completely blamed on one guy instead of two as Luger didn’t care at all and gave maybe a 4% effort. Sting signs and the match is on.

For those of you wondering about Frey, he would be fired after the PPV because of an unspecified reason. The common answer is he was actually good at his job and that was simply unacceptable in WCW.

Cactus Jack vs. Van Hammer

Hammer was a guy that made David Otunga look like Lou Thesz in the ring, but man was he popular. After Sting and Hogan, he was probably my favorite when I was a kid. Jack is a crazy man and this is falls count anywhere. Hammer has a guitar with him and fires something out of the end of it into Jack’s eyes. A slingshot cross body gets two about a second after the bell.

A big leg gets one (he would usually use a big boot beforehand. Hammer was tall and blonde. You figure it out) and Jack takes over. Cactus Clothesline puts them on the floor where Cactus gets two. Jack peels back the mats on the floor and jumps off the second rope with a sunset flip, hurting himself more than Hammer. They’re on the ramp now and we get a wrestling hold in the form of a sleeper by Jack.

Powerslam on the ramp gets two for Hammer. This is a very hard hitting match. Jack keeps clotheslining him down while Hammer tries to wrestle. Hammer throws Jack off the ramp where he lands with a thud. A clothesline to the floor gets two. They brawl to the back as the fans boo (no big screens yet) and we take a break. The stuff after the break was taped earlier, because it’s 1992 and that’s how they rolled back then.

They’re out in the parking lot and Jack hits him with a 2×4. A traffic cone to the head and they fight over to the bulls that are in place for an upcoming rodeo. Missy Hyatt is there to get on my nerves. Hammer chokes him with a rope so they climb into the pen with the bulls. Abdullah the Butcher pops up dressed as a cowboy and whacks Hammer with a shovel by mistake so Jack can get the pin.

Rating: B-. Before the break, this was a SICK brawl. Post break, it goes downhill quickly. Butcher as a cowboy is a very strange vision and not one that I need to see every day. Hammer would never really mean much after this which is probably the best thing that could have happened to everyone involved. It has nothing on Sting vs. Jack but it’s still good.

Butcher and Jack fight a bit with Butcher throwing Missy into a water trough.

Freebirds vs. Brad Armstrong/Big Josh

The Birds are now faces and no one cared. I mean no one AT ALL cared. They’re still singers and have a song nowhere near as good as Badstreet USA. They dance through the crowd and I want this to end already. Big Josh is a lumberjack that liked to dance with bears. Armstrong used to be a Freebird lackey in a mask (never acknowledged as the same guy). Hayes and Armstrong start us off.

The Birds, despite being a long running tag team, really doesn’t work together all that well. Granted that might be due to Garvin not being all that good. Off to Josh who has far better luck. He stomps on Hayes’ ribs and I think this is face vs. face but I’m really not sure. Back to Garvin and Josh punches him for awhile too. They ram heads which has no effect on Garvin at all. Back to Armstrong who hits a bunch of dropkicks. Everything breaks down and the Birds cheat to hit a double DDT on Armstrong for the pin.

Rating: F. This was one of the worst tag matches I’ve ever seen. The song didn’t help either with the title being “I’m a Freebird, What’s Your Excuse?” This was horrible and thankfully the Birds weren’t around much longer after this. It didn’t work at all and was one of the worst matches I can remember in a long time.

Video on the Steiners and how awesome they are. We get some clips of them winning huge matches and hear about Scott’s arm tearing apart and putting him on the shelf for a long time.

The Steiners say they’ll get the titles back because they never lost them fairly.

Vinnie Vegas vs. Tommy Rich

Vegas is more famous by his real name: Kevin Nash. Vegas is in suspenders, a white collared shirt and dress pants. Snake Eyes end this in less than a minute.

Dangerously says that someone is getting taken out tonight. He lists off what might happen to each of them and it’s classic Heyman. You can see in his eyes how fired up he is here. He gets in the great line of someone is going to the Magnum TA Wrestling Retirement Home.

Arn Anderson/Bobby Eaton/Larry Zbyszko vs. Barry Windham/Dustin Rhodes/Ron Simmons

Windham still has a bad hand due to Zbyszko. Eaton vs. Windham starts us off and Barry is all fired up. It works against him though and he gets caught in a superplex which he no sells. Big lariat puts Bobby down and Windham hits his own lariat (his finisher) for two. Everything breaks down and the Alliance is all put in Figure Fours. Off to Larry vs. Ron with Larry trying to use power on him for some reason. Arn and Larry combined can’t overpower him.

Ron is beating them up all on his own. For some reason Barry and Dustin just let him fight on his own and to be fair, it’s working pretty well. Off to Dustin and they work on Larry’s arm. Bobby comes in and Dustin is all fired up, throwing him over the top (behind the referee’s back) and hitting a huge diving clothesline to the ramp. Off to Larry vs. Barry and Barry misses a lariat. That’s the big feud to this match as Zbyszko and Anderson broke Barry’s hand at Halloween Havoc.

Off to Dustin and he misses a cross body, sending him flying and therefore crashing onto the ramp. Dustin takes a cell phone shot to the ribs and the Alliance is in control. Back in the Anderson Spinebuster gets two. Dustin gets in some punches but walks into a DDT. Arn’s cover is delayed though so it’s only two. Off to Eaton who hits a top rope elbow instead of the Alabama Jam for two.

Eaton misses a corner charge but Anderson saves the tag. Then we get to the big problem Arn has in his matches. Dustin is on the mat and Arn goes to the middle rope. He jumps off with a double axe handle and Dustin hits a boot to the jaw. What in the world was Arn going for, since he was jumping at the feet of Dustin the whole time? Either way it’s off to Barry vs. Larry Z and everything breaks down. Eaton comes off the top and jumps into the cast on Barry’s hand and that’s good for the pin.

Rating: B. Very fun tag match here and it shows the reason the Dangerous Alliance worked: everyone on the team was REALLY good and considering they only feuded with talented guys, the matches were almost a guaranteed awesome showcase. JR called the Alliance an All-Star team in this match and that’s about as good of a description as you can give them.

Tony is with the winning team in the back and Barry says he doesn’t care who says what because he’s coming for revenge. Awesome stuff again as Windham is all fired up.

Sting/Ricky Steamboat vs. Rick Rude/Steve Austin

Austin is TV Champion and Rude is US Champion. My goodness Sting is ridiculously popular. Remember that Top Ten thing earlier? Check out #1-#4. Steamboat vs. Austin starts us off and Austin still has hair here. Jesse has joined commentary to replace Tony here. Ricky takes over to start and Steve has no idea what to do with him. Steamboat gets a bunch of two counts on Steve and fires off a superkick to knock him down. Rude takes a kick as well and the ring is cleared.

Rude comes in and he wants Sting. He slaps some of the paint off him and here’s the Stinger to the biggest pop of the night. Rude, ever the heel, hides in the corner immediately. Sting hits a pair of atomic drops and we get the best selling ever of that move. Sting rakes the back and we get some classic Jesse/face commentator banter of how can Sting do that and claim to be a hero.

Sting hooks a modified camel clutch for some reason. Rude’s ribs are his strong point so why put a hold on them? Now it’s Steamboat and they do the non-tag thing. The fans swear they did though and that’s good enough. They do it again as Austin tries to come in. JR, speaking of Sting: “Well he’s the legal man! That’s what you want right?” Sting tries to cannonball down onto Rude’s ribs but does the Anderson spot and lands balls first on the knees.

Austin vs. Sting in what would have drawn at least seven figure buys in 1998. Rude hooks a front facelock and keeps Sting from tagging. Back to Austin who punches the mat in an attempt to block a sunset flip and there’s the hot tag to Steamboat. Rude takes his head off as Sting was trying to come in and the Alliance controls some more. Austin avoids a rollup and everything breaks down. Sting and Austin fight up the ramp and then they come back. That was kind of pointless but whatever. Austin picks up Steamboat but Sting dives off the top with a crossbody and both pin Austin at the same time.

Rating: B. Remember the previous reason as why the six man was good? Same reason here but with four guys and better talent involved. The Alliance angle had YEARS worth of material in it but instead they lasted about six months because this is WCW. The Alliance was one of the greatest gatherings of talent ever, but it never became a memorable team because of WCW’s incompetence in promoting stars.

By the way, everything in that last sentence starting with the word one was from Arn Anderson, not me. So it’s not just my opinion but from someone on the team itself.

Rude and Austin annihilate Steamboat post match, whipping him with a belt as Sting tries to protect him.

Overall Rating: B+. This was a free TV show and we got pretty much 80% good stuff. When’s the last time you remember 80% of Raw or Impact being good to very good? The first half of 1992 was pure gold for WCW and once Luger’s laziness left and Sting got the title, it was all gravy for a long time. Then Vader came in and Sting had his best matches ever with him, so it got even better. Good show, but I still like 17 better I think.

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Monday Night Raw
Date: August 21, 2006
Location: Webster Bank Arena, Bridgeport, Connecticut
Attendance: 5,700
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

Another night, another requested show, another with no idea why it’s on this list. Anyway, this is Raw from 2006, meaning Edge is champion….I think. The main event is Flair vs. Orton, in a match that is probably nowhere near as good as it was supposed to be but they didn’t have anyone else to put out there other than Flair since the world champion is in the middle of the card. Let’s get to it.

This is the night after Summerslam where Hogan beat Orton.

Here’s Edge to open the show without the belt. He talks about how he’s been waiting for this night for his entire life. Everyone bought tickets to see Cena here as the new champion but they were ALL WRONG! Hey you, the kid in the front row. YOU WERE WRONG! If he’s champion, where’s his title? And where’s his girlfriend? Lita (with a top cut down to her navel) pops up on the screen with the WWE Title near a harbor. Lita throws it into the water.

Edge says that this is the beginning of a new era. Smoke comes down from the ceiling and when it’s gone, there’s a new title hanging on a hook. It’s a new spinner belt with a Rated R logo on it. Edge says if there’s anyone in the back that wants a shot at the title, bring it on. Cue the returning Jeff Hardy, back on Raw for the first time in about four years. So that’s why this was requested. Edge runs his mouth about Matt so Jeff takes him down and loads up the Swanton but Edge runs.

Ad for the McMahon DVD. That’s one of the funniest DVDs you’ll ever see.

Eugene/Jim Duggan/Highlanders vs. Spirit Squad

This would be the Squad minus Mitch. Eugene and I think Johnny start things off. Mitch is the one on the floor. Got it. Johnny kicks Eugene in the ribs in a battle of OVW legends. There’s an airplane spin from Eugene and here’s Robbie. The Spirit Squad are using a Freebird Rule on steroids to be five man tag team champions. Off to Kenny, the leader of the team who gets two off a clothesline.

Mikey in now with some crossface shots. Mitch and Nick (Dolph Ziggler) cheer Mikey on, meaning they’re playing the gimmick perfectly. Robbie fights off everyone in the corner for a few seconds but there are too many cheerleaders. The fans want Hacksaw. Here’s Nicky and he represents Exhibit A as to never say never about someone. Back to Kenny, the star of the team and the guy that hasn’t been seen in years.

This match is probably getting more time than it needs, especially when we’re waiting on Hacksaw to get the hot tag and destroy everything in sight. Kenny misses his nearly perfect guillotine legdrop and there’s the tag to Rory, meaning the fans don’t care all that much. He hits what we would call the Irish Curse and everything breaks down. Duggan gets a big reaction. The Highlanders get Nick alone and hit the Scot Drop (double team reverse slingshot suplex) for the pin.

Rating: D+. The time hurt it here and Duggan not being in officially killed the crowd. The Highlanders were funny for a little while (and by that I mean for their vignettes) and then they became any other tag team. They never won the titles and then Robbie showed up at Impact in the crowd and got a huge fine or something like that.

Edge wants to find Vince but gets Coach (and an endorsement for the McMahon DVD). Edge vs. Jeff non-title is made for later. The champ leaves just as Vince gets here and he throws Coach out. The McMahons (Shane is with him) say that the illegal man was pinned last night so this isn’t over with DX.

Orton says he had Hogan beaten and Hogan getting his foot on the rope shouldn’t mean anything. Flair is a bigger legend than Hogan too. Carlito pops up and says seeing Hogan win last night was cool. Randy: “At least I was on Summerslam.” Orton yells some more and leaves.

HHH is reading a magazine and then talks to the camera a bit. Last night the McMahons tried everything to beat DX (including male cheerleaders, a leprechaun, a chubby giant, and a cannibal) but DX overcame and won. They were on the way to Bridgeport when they saw Vince’s private plane. Shawn pops up with an overly dramatic plane crash sequence using a toy plane. HHH says they found the private hanger where Vince keeps his 30 million dollar plane and there was a little incident. Shawn scratched the paint but HHH says he doesn’t think Vince will notice. The camera pans over to a giant DX painted on the side.

Vince is very mad and grunts. He shoves the TV he was watching and I think he starts to cry.

Victoria vs. Trish Stratus

They slug it out to start and Trish hits a splash in the corner followed by a dropkick. Trish knocks her to the floor and hits the Thesz Press to the floor. Clothesline gets two back in the ring. Victory roll gets the same and you know Lawler was happy with that. Stratusfaction is countered into a backbreaker and Victoria works on the back a bit. They go to the corner and Trish hits a middle rope hurricanrana but Victoria pops up and tries the Widow’s Peak. Trish escapes and Stratusfaction ends this clean.

Rating: C+. This was FAR better than any Divas match that we’ve had in years. It’s only about three minutes long and they did more good looking stuff than the modern batch of Divas have done in I don’t know how long. Trish was gorgeous but she could also have some great matches. Victoria is no slouch either.

The McMahons come out immediately after the match ends and Vince is mad. He yells at the fans for encouraging DX for their degeneracy. Ok see, there’s a difference between being a jerk and vandalism. Thankfully Vince knows this and has called the cops to have DX arrested. With that, we go to a break.

We come back and the McMahons are still here so let’s go to the airport where the cops are waiting. Instead we cut to DX who aren’t at the airport. So they’re fugitives now. They’re on top of the WWE headquarters and talk about how everyone has left their marks on places they’ve discovered or reached first. HHH talks about the Germans bombing Pearl Harbor but Vince stops him before he gets on a roll. The camera pans way out and there’s a huge DX painted on the side of the building. Vince looks like he’s going to be sick. He starts crying and walks to the back very slowly.

On this day seven years ago, Smackdown debuted.

After a break it’s STILL on the McMahons with Foley popping up. He asks Vince how he’s doing and says he’s not having such a great night himself. Vince says he doesn’t like Foley and to stop calling him Vince. Tonight, since DX isn’t here, Foley can join Vince’s exclusive club. If Foley doesn’t do it, someone gets fired.

Edge vs. Jeff Hardy

Non-title and clearly this needs to be in the middle of the show instead of in the main event spot right? The version of the video I have speeds up a lot here which makes JR sound like William Shattner as Captain Kirk. Jeff starts with a baseball slide and the fight starts on the floor. Edge takes over by sending him into the steps and gets two in the ring. He bends Jeff around the post to work on the back.

Jeff sends him into the buckle and goes up but Edge moves. DDT gets two. Edge hits a quick Edge-O-Matic to take over and get two at the same time. Whisper in the Wind out of nowhere gets two also. Twist of Fate sets up the Swanton and Edge is in big trouble. Lita has to make the save…and here’s Cena for the DQ.

Rating: C+. These two know each other so well that it’s almost impossible for them to have a bad match together. Jeff was being put back into things carefully because he hadn’t been around the WWE style for a long time. He would get into the IC Title picture very soon and would get the title in a few months/weeks.

Cena knocks Edge into the back and they fight to a break. Back and the fight continues. Edge is knocked into various objects but he manages to get in a right hand. Cena throws Edge into the water where Lita threw the belt earlier.

Foley is in the back when Melina comes up to encourage him.

Intercontinental Title: Kane vs. Johnny Nitro

Kane beat Shelton to get this shot. Nitro runs as much as he can and gets in a few shots here and there. Melina won’t stop screaming. Kane hammers him down and hits the top rope clothesline and Umaga runs in for the DQ.

Umaga beats Kane down and hits a bunch of Samoan Spikes on him.

Layla won the Divas Search.

Marine trailer debuts.

Randy Orton vs. Ric Flair

Flair is covered in bandages and has a black eye after the I Quit match with Foley last night. All Orton to start as he beats Flair into the ground with basic offense. Back to the floor and Flair is sent into the steps. Orton stomps around Flair’s body and the RKO finishes this clean. Total squash.

Orton beats on him even more post match until the decision is reversed. Carlito makes the save.

Here’s Foley for the Vince kissing segment club. Foley says he won’t do it because he doesn’t need this job. “I’ve saved a bunch of money over the years on apparel and haircuts.” Vince says if he doesn’t do it, Melina is fired. She says don’t do it but Foley says Melina will be a big star (really?) so he’ll get it over with. In a funny moment, Foley freaks out on Vince and demands he take his pants down.

Foley does it and Melina hits him low. Vince fires Foley. The McMahons and Melina leave and Vince talks trash. He and Shane get outside and Vince says he thinks DX has broken him. Vince gets in his limo, drives away…..and there’s a chain attached to the axle which rips it and the wheels off. DX is painted on the side of it and Vince starts to cry.

Overall Rating: D. This show sums up most of the problems of this era: the whole summer was about Vince and eventually Shane vs. DX, and it wasn’t funny. DX never really broke a sweat against them because at the end of the day, it’s Shawn Michaels and HHH vs. 5 cheerleader jobbers and the McMahons. The stuff to “break” Vince isn’t funny in the slightest and the whole thing was a mess. Also, why in the world was the return of a big name fighting probably his biggest rival who is world champion on in the middle of the show? To see Flair for 2 minutes? Really? Bad show.

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NXT
Date: February 15, 2012
Location: Save Mart Center, Fresno, California
Commentators: Josh Matthews, William Regal

Fifty shows. We’ve somehow hit FIFTY shows. There have been 104 shows in the history of NXT and nearly half of them have been in this season. Anyway, nothing of note has been happening lately as the rookies (can you be classified as a rookie in your second year on the show?) have been losing more lately other than Titus. Oh and Hawkins/Reks beat up Striker last week. Let’s get to it.

Here are Hawkins and Reks to open the show. Hawkins says it should have been their moment but instead it wasn’t. Reks says they should be on the main shows instead of begging for matches here. Hawkins runs down Striker and wants to know what a host does around here. The NXT roster is full of talented superstars so it needs change. He pulls back his vest and reveals an Obama style shirt.

Here’s Striker who says this is all ridiculous. He’s given everyone a chance to shine. Hawkins says come here and say that but Striker says he isn’t as stupid as Hawkins looks. Striker has called an old friend to help him. Call him a substitute if you will. And it’s Regal. Regal is now in charge of things, at least for tonight. Hawkins has a match right now and Reks is banned from ringside. Reks: “Why me?” Regal: “I don’t like you you scruffy thing. Go and have a bath or something.”

Curt Hawkins vs. Tyson Kidd

Awesome sequence to start as Hawkins throws him over the top but Kidd skins the cat. Hawkins slides under him and Kidd teases a dive. He lands on the apron and runs to the post, jumps around it and catches Hawkins in a hurricanrana. That looked great. Kidd is looking more muscular now. Hawkins rams him into the apron and we take a break.

Back with Hawkins getting two off a suplex. Hawkins is wrestling in the shirt which is a better look for him. Hawkins works on a chinlock which is broken pretty quickly. Kidd fires off some kicks and sends Hawkins to the outside. Tyson hits a slingshot dropkick and a running knee smash off the apron which gets two back inside. Hawkins counters what looked like a suplex into an inverted DDT for two.

Kidd goes to the apron and tries a sunset flip but spins in mid-air to land in a reverse victory roll for two. He tries a Rocker Dropper but Hawkins suplexes out of it which also gets two. We go to the corner and Kidd fights out of a superplex attempt. In a great and subtle move, Kidd uses a victory roll (ala Bret, who Regal said Kidd had been training with) into the Sharpshooter for the submission at 7:37.

Rating: B. I really liked this match and it was very entertaining. When you give young and talented guys some time, this is what you can get. I loved the victory roll part at the end with the Bret nod, which is a fine lesson in what an announcer can do. Regal set that up and the ending to the match paid it off. Perfect.

Titus O’Neil vs. Yoshi Tatsu

The way the announcers are talking, Regal is permanent boss. The power controls to start this power vs. speed match. Titus yells at Yoshi that no one cares about Yoshi because it’s all about Titus. Yoshi takes more punishment but avoids a charge in the corner and fires off some kicks. A running knee to the chest gets two. Not that it matters as Titus hits him in the back and a very good Clash of the Titus gets the pin at 3:22.

Rating: C. This was Titus’ best performance as a heel so far. The Clash looked great and he had some mannerisms that would make you believe he was a jerk instead of the same guy but frowning like he’s been for the last few weeks. I could get into the idea of Regal sending guy after guy to fight him until it’s Regal himself in a big match.

Titus yells at Regal that he wants competition in the form of Alex Riley. Here’s Riley who says he’ll come say it to Titus’ face. Alex says let’s do it right now and Titus rolls to the floor to escape.

Alicia and Kaitlyn want Bateman and Maxine to break up. Kaitlyn insists they’re just friends. Curtis comes up to hit on them. A guy with flowers and candy comes up after the girls leave saying he’s looking for Bateman. Curtis says that’s him and there’s a card for Maxine. He says it’s like stealing candy from a Bateman.

Percy Watson vs. Michael McGillicutty

McGillicutty has a big beard now. Michael takes him to the mat to start but Percy nips up. I don’t think the crowd knows who Michael is. Whoever he is he hooks a quick chinlock and Percy is in trouble. Percy comes back with a modified version of the spinning DDT Rock did when he was Rocky Maivia. A dropkick and clothesline put Michael down but the Heisman lands on knees. Not that it matters as Persecution ends this at 4:02.

Rating: D+. The announcers build this up as some huge victory but both of these guys lost on their season of NXT. To be fair though, McGillicutty has had some success in the WWE while Watson has been on NXT the entire time. Not a terrible match but Watson needs something to do other than just being athletic.

Maxine finds a box of chocolates addressed to Kaitlyn and signed by Derrick. She isn’t happy.

Raw ReBound is about Cena/Kane/Ryder.

Kaitlyn is on commentary for this.

Derrick Bateman/Justin Gabriel vs. Heath Slater/Johnny Curtis

Kaitlyn says that she and Bateman watch Full House together. Justin and Curtis start off and Curtis is kicked to the outside. Bateman dives on Curtis and we take a break. Back with Slater working on Justin’s knees. Apparently Curtis has been asking Regal if he was breastfed. Ok then. Curtis works over the knees as Regal hits on Kaitlyn. Justin gets two off a quick rollup. There’s the hot tag to Bateman and he cleans house. Everything breaks down and the falling bulldog (the Sweet Meat Sizzler according to Kaitlyn) gets the pin on Slater at 5:37.

Rating: D. Very uninteresting match here and that’s the problem with the main event stuff (if you can call it that) on this show: it’s BORING. Bateman and Curtis have a good story going with Maxine and Kaitlyn but they’re so terribly uninteresting and bad at acting that there’s nothing that makes me care about this at all. That’s a big problem, or at least it would be if more than 5 people watched this show.

Post match Maxine comes out and hits Kaitlyn with the chocolates. She rams Kaitlyn into the barricade and Bateman tries to stop her so she shoves him too. Bateman carries Maxine out as Curtis smiles.

Overall Rating: C+. This was a good episode for the most part. With the new directions the show has been going in there’s an improvement and that’s helped a lot. However as I said above, Bateman and Curtis are less interesting than dried paint. When you have hot women fighting and you can’t make the guys they’re fighting over interesting, there’s something wrong with them. Good ideas, not the best execution this week.

Results
Tyson Kidd b. Curt Hawkins – Sharpshooter
Titus O’Neil b. Yoshi Tatsu – Clash of the Titus
Percy Watson b. Michael McGillicutty – Persecution
Derrick Bateman/Justin Gabriel b. Heath Slater/Johnny Curtis – Sweet Meat Sizzler to Slater

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Santino.  He won a battle royal to get the vacant spot.

On one hand, this is crazy.  On the other hand, you can’t say it’s predictable.  On the other hand, I’m curious to see if anyone replaces him.

Thoughts/outcrys?

Monday Night Raw
Date: February 1, 1999
Location: Tucson Convention Center, Tucson, Arizona
Attendance: 6,986
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler

This is the 300th (or so) episode of Raw. We’re just after the Rumble and we’re solidly in the middle of Vince vs. Austin. Taker is starting to get psycho at this point and the Ministry is around, but it hasn’t hit its peak yet. The main event tonight is Kane vs. HHH in a cage. Mankind won the world title “last night” at Halftime Heat. Both this show and Halftime Heat were taped the previous week. Let’s get to it.

We open with clips of the empty arena match where Mankind won the world title in what I thought was a fun match. The ending is stupid but it is 1999 WWF so you have to cut them some slack.

We open with Shane having a meeting with the Corporation. Vince isn’t here tonight so he’s in charge. Kane is traveling on his own which freaks Shane out.

Here’s the Corporation to open the show. It’s Shane, Bossman, Test and Shamrock. Shane says he isn’t X-Pac and sends everyone else to the back. Vince is down in Victoria, Texas to try to provoke Austin into hitting him so that Austin gets fired. Shane calls for the cage to be lowered. What he doesn’t see is X-Pac riding down on it. The Corporation is getting beaten down by DX in the back.

Shane talks smack about X-Pac and then sees him. He begs off and tries to buy time for the Corporation to save him. Pac jumps him until Chyna runs out for the save. Pac spin kicks Shane down but takes a low blow. Chyna and Shane leave together.

Here’s the WWF Super Bowl commercial. This was at the beginning of every home video for like a year.

Vince is in Texas with the Stooges. They’re in cowboy hats so Vince says they look ridiculous. They’re in a badly lit bar and Vince asks the bartender if she’s seen Austin. He makes fun of her accent and gets annoyed when she won’t answer him.

Here’s Shamrock who is IC Champion at this point. Val Venis has been hitting on Shamrock’s sister and made one of his videos with her.

Billy Gunn vs. Val Venis

This is part of the threeway feud for the IC Title. Shamrock goes on a huge rant about Venis before the match while on commentary. Val says he’s a lot like a custom Harley: good on the eyes, powerful between the legs and ready to be rode all night long. Billy moons Val and stomps on him in the corner. Cole asks if Ken’s sister might be making consensual decisions with Val. Ken says he makes the decisions for her.

Ken goes on another rant about how horrible adult films are and how it needs to be banned from the country. Billy hits a powerslam for two. The fans start laying into Shamrock as this match is background noise for the Shamrock rants. Lawler of course goes on about how Venis was soaping up Shamrock’s sister in the shower. Val hooks a chinlock and Shamrock has promised not to put a hand on Val. Shamrock finally has enough and whacks Val with a chair. Not his finger though, right? The camera cut to the crowd during the shot for some reason.

Rating: D. The match sucked for the most part but like I said, the whole point of this was to hear Shamrock’s rants. This was pretty funny stuff as Shamrock went all insane conservative instead of just his usual insane. Ryan (his sister) was rather attractive so I can’t say I’m complaining about her being Val’s partner.

Val thinks Billy hit him with the chair so he hits Billy with the chair (again cutting to the audience).

Somehow Mankind got $100,000 out of Shane’s trust fund and has been going on a spending spree. His first purchase: Max Mini for $487.

Rock doesn’t like the money being spent. He’s talking to Vince who is still in Texas.

Here’s Debra to brag about being the manager of the new tag champions. Mark Henry comes out to hit on her when Jarrett and Owen beat him down.

Mankind gives investment advice to Kurrgan. Kurrgan has no money so Mankind gives him some.

We recap D’Lo costing Terri her baby so he has to be the slave of PMS (Pretty Mean Sisters).

Before their match, Terri and Jackie complain about D’Lo not doing enough for them yet. Bossman insulted them earlier so they want D’Lo to fight him.

D’Lo Brown vs. Big Bossman

Bossman takes over to start with his power. A splash in the corner puts D’Lo down but he comes back with a leg lariat and some leg drops. Middle rope elbow gets two. Brown puts Bossman down and hits the Low Down but PMS gets the referee’s attention. Bossman Slam ends this quick.

Mark Henry comes out for the save post match.

Pat Patterson hits on Texas women. Vince says he’s found Austin.

Here’s Blue Meanie for an audition to see if a male dance review will go over on cable TV. I am dead serious. Goldust jumps him and hits Shattered Dreams on him.

Henry tries to tell Brown that he can’t keep doing this. The doctor tells Henry that Terri was never pregnant.

Darren Drozdov vs. Kurrgan

Droz turned heel last week and beat up the Oddities’ friend George Steele. Kurrgan fights him back with power and hits a side slam for two. A splash in the corner puts Droz down and he gets clotheslined to the floor. Droz hits Kurrgan with a stick of some sort from under the ring and wins with a top rope shoulder.

Droz beats him down post match until the other Oddities make the save.

Vince and the Stooges have some chili at a place Austin frequents.

Undertaker/Mideon/Viscera vs. Edge/Christian/Gangrel

Taker is sitting on a throne at the entrance so this is 3-2 for awhile. Mideon and Gangrel start us off and Gangrel is backdropped. Here’s Viscera who has recently been added to the Ministry. A rolling heel kick kills Gangrel so the brothers come in to try to help him out. The three of them manage to take Mideon down but the Acolytes run in for the DQ.

Officials come down but the Brood throws them out. They ask for more punishment which they receive. Gangrel is hung.

Mankind gives Debra a sweater.

Clips of Halftime Heat last night.

Here’s Mankind for his official introduction as the champion. He briefly talks about how fun it is to be champion when Rock is here. Rock talks about how he’s the real champion and how he lost the title with all of Mankind’s conditions in play. He wants his $97,000 back. Mankind says it’s more like $72,000 now. Apparently Foley said that if Rock gave him the empty arena match, he’d give him the money back. But he’s changed his mind so he won’t give it back. Ok then. Rock wants a last man standing match for a rematch and Mankind says deal. This was really low key and not the best exchange they’ve ever had.

The Super Bowl commercial is talked about again and we get the spoof of it, which is the exact opposite of what they had before. For instance, Sable says they always use sex to enhance the show as opposed to the original where they say they never do. It’s a lot funnier than it sounds.

Vince thinks he’s found Austin in a pawn shop. He tells the Stooges to jump him as he comes in while Vince gets the car. And it’s not him but rather a Texan with a gun. Austin is at a bar apparently.

Al Snow/Road Dogg vs. Acolytes

Roadie is Hardcore Champion if you’re looking for an explanation for the pairing. The brawl starts on the ramp and it’s a hardcore match. Snow has a table rammed into his head and this is a big mess from the bell. Bradshaw throws in the steps and Road Dogg has a pencil. Snow and Farrooq fight into the crowd and the others join them. They fight to a concession stand and Snow goes into a barricade. They head outside and Snow hammers on Farrooq who has a garbage can over his head. Roadie and Bradshaw have a table in the ring while Viscera appears in the back to slam Snow. Bradshaw powerbomb Dogg for the pin.

Rating: C. Fun match but the ending was exactly what you would expect it to be. These matches are for fun for the most part and the thrown together team did a lot better than you would have expected them to do for the most part. The Acolytes were still getting the hang of what they were doing.

The Ministry comes out to beat on Roadie, including three druids. Taker comes out and has them unveiled, showing them as the Brood.

Road Dogg wants to know where Snow was. Snow wants to know where Road Dogg was. Roadie hits him with a chair.

The cage is lowered.

Vince finds the real Austin. Vince talks trash and Austin says he isn’t going to hit him until St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. McMahon says he doesn’t like being here with these kind of people. Austin tells “these kind of people” to make sure Vince has a good time after Austin leaves.

HHH vs. Kane

In a cage. HHH isn’t happy with Chyna who he tells to suck it even though she’s in the back. This is escape only I believe. There’s no referee in there so it must be. Kane takes over and the fire goes out of the corners. That didn’t seem 100% planned. The red lights are on too. The lights go normal again as HHH is rammed into the cage. Trips dives for the door but Kane makes a save.

He tries it again and there’s a chair on the outside. I’ll bet that comes into play later. Kane goes up top but the clothesline misses. HHH goes for the door for the third time and Kane saves, but just as I expected the chair is brought into play. It goes onto Kane’s head and the jumping knee puts him down. HHH has the momentum and gets his feet up to stop a charging Kane.

Kane uppercuts him down though and starts to climb. HHH makes the save in a pretty impressive looking fall. They both go up and Kane tries to chokeslam him off the top but gets crotched instead. Pedigree is countered by a backdrop which is followed by the chokeslam. Pac comes out and slams the cage door onto Kane’s head as he tries to escape but Kane still gets up first. Pac climbs up to stop him as HHH climbs the other corner. Chyna comes in to try and interfere to no avail as HHH escapes for the win.

Rating: C+. This set up a tag match at the PPV which I don’t remember in the slightest. The match itself was pretty solid though with these two working well together. Somehow three of these people (not X-Pac) would manage to turn four times within a week with three of those coming at Wrestlemania alone, resulting in a total role reversal.

Chyna promises to end this with HHH at the PPV.

Overall Rating: C-. This show is one that is going to be hit or miss for a lot of people. If you like this era, you’ll like this show but if you don’t then you’re not going to be all that thrilled. It’s ok and the main event is good, but the wrestling other than that is totally worthless as the matches are either really short or there to set up the angles post match. Not terrible, but not there for the fans of in ring actions.

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Clash of the Champions 17
Date: November 19, 1991
Location: Savannah Civic Center, Savannah, Georgia
Attendance: 6,922
Commentators: Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone

This is a show that I remember watching on a tape quite a few times. This is a stacked card with five title matches and the reveal of the major storyline at the time. There had been a lot of massive gift boxes being delivered to Sting and tonight we got to find out who had delivered guys like Cactus Jack and Abdullah the Butcher to try to hurt Sting and take him out. This is a nostalgia show for me but it still looks good. Let’s get to it.
We list off the title matches and everything looks good, but Rick Steiner is getting a world title shot vs. Luger. Well you can’t win everything I guess.

Tony and Jim run down the high points which is nothing of note. Missy and Eric, with THICK hair, talk about Missy’s interview with the newest rookie in the company: Marcus Alexander Bagwell.

Thomas Rich vs. Big Josh

TON of notes here. For one thing this is a lumberjack match. For those of you that aren’t old school enough or can’t get the name change, that would be Tommy Rich, as in the former NWA World Champion. Big Josh is the guy famous in WCW for dancing with bear cubs. In WWF he’s most famous for being the original Doink the Clown. Rich is in a group called the York Foundation led by Alexandra York, more famously known as Terri Runnels.

Ok now for the match even though I’m spent from all those notes. They used to be friends (a long time ago for you Veronica Mars fans. For those of you that don’t get that, go watch it as it’s a very underrated show) and then Rich turned heel so it’s a revenge match. Josh is this wilderness dude that wears jean shorts and a flannel shirt to the ring. The lumberjacks are a bunch of midcarders that mean nothing of note.

The Freebirds, I guess faces at this point, throw Rich back in. Richard Morton and Terrance Taylor, members of the Foundation, beat Josh up on the floor as you would expect them to. The match itself is nothing for the most part as it’s just filler for the lumberjack stuff. Taylor accidentally hooks Rich’s leg and Josh hits his seated senton to end it.

Rating: D. This was nothing at all. It filled in 8 minutes and wasn’t interesting in the slightest. Other than Sting this is one of the worst times for WCW other than its end as Flair was gone so no one bought Luger as champion. This was a good example of it: a guy that dances with bear cubs fighting a bunch of Wall Street guys that were barely able to beat jobbers. See why this was a bad time for the company? Boring match.

Firebreaker Chip vs. Bobby Eaton

Chip was part of a team with Todd Champion who were called the Patriots. Eaton was about to become a member of the Dangerous Alliance. Chip was this young guy that never really did much but I think they won the US Tag Titles at one point. The crowd is about as alive as Christian’s chances of main eventing Wrestlemania next year (get over it fanboys. It’s never happening).

Eaton was one of the best workers of the 80s and was still great at this point. It’s a shame this isn’t a tag match where he’s one of the best ever. This is just pure filler and Eaton hits a suplex and a bridge to get the pin. Yeah whatever.

Rating: D-. This was like the first match but just without an angle going with it. The crowd was dead and there was nothing of note here. There was nothing of note here but the wrestling was decent. This was just a match. That’s a good way to put it: this was just a match between two decent guy. Other than that there’s absolutely nothing here. It’s not horrific or anything but it’s just there.

Ad for Starrcade, which was the first Battlebowl and my first WCW show. I can’t wait for that show, even though it’s pretty terrible.

It’s time for the box thing and Sting’s entrance is something else. He’s just the US Champion here but he’s by far and away the most popular guy in the company and possibly the top star in the world at this point. A bunch of muscle guys bring this carriage without wheels thing out. There’s a name for it but I can’t think of it and it doesn’t really matter.

A woman (Madusa) pops out and tries to seduce Sting. This of course doesn’t work as Sting is a HERO. With his back turned though (Sting never was the smartest guy in the world) Lex Luger pops out of the carriage and hits Sting in his knee that was destroyed about a year and a half or so ago. In a funny bit Luger hits the left knee and the with Sting does goes after the right knee. Sting shakes his head and shouts NO and then Luger grabs the left one which is the bad one. An army of faces run him off after not a lot of knee damage. This comes into play later on.

Diamond Studd vs. Tom Zenk

The Diamond guy would go to WWF soon and imitate Al Pacino with a name of Razor Ramon. This match started in the break for some reason. Sting is being attended to in the back so we cut this down to a quarter of the screen. Sting is put in an ambulance and taken to a hospital. Back to the match and Zenk kicks Diamond Dude in the head and hits a crucifix to end it. He takes a Diamond Death Drop (Razor’s Edge) afterwards.

Rating: N/A. This was just a backdrop so that Sting could leave.

TV Title: P.N. News vs. Steve Austin

These two feuded forever and it never went much of anywhere. News is a very fat rapper and very white on top of that. You might have heard of the other guy. This is still the old NWA TV Title which is far better looking than the more famous WCW one. News would dominate Austin for the most part and then Austin would either get out on a time limit draw or a DQ or a count out or something like that.

News completely dominates for the most part here while wearing bright orange with the words Yo Baby Yo Baby Yo all over his tights. Basically Austin can’t do anything here and knows it so he just tries to get in a shot where he can. He also has shoulder length blonde hair if you can imagine that. AUSTIN GOES LUCHA as he dives over the top with a flying forearm to save his lady friend.

For no apparent reason Austin goes for the stomach and of course that doesn’t work. They’re badly calling spots here as it amazes me that you could have a guy as talented as Austin stuck with a guy like News. Austin avoids an avalanche and uses his feet on the ropes to get the heel pin.

Rating: C-. Not bad here and Austin is always fun to watch. News wasn’t as bad as his gimmick makes him sound but since this is WCW we can let that slide I think. This was short enough to not be that bad as Austin cheats to win again, which is the whole point to this feud. Short and not that awful. Austin would become part of the Dangerous Alliance soon and be repackaged as a killer which were the seeds of his legendary character.

Missy talks to Bagwell and we actually see videos of him training. He’s 21 here and would be around for nearly 10 years which has to be one of the longest tenured guys in WCW history without leaving for anything other than injury.

It’s time for the Top Ten, which was updated weekly and rarely made anything resembling sense.

10. Vader
9. Bobby Eaton
8. Bill Kazmaier
7. Cactus Jack
6. Barry Windham
5. Dustin Rhodes
4. Ron Simmons
3. Steve Austin
2. Rick Steiner
1. Sting

Yeah….just a few odd ones in there.

Cactus Jack vs. Van Hammer

Van Hammer is one of the weirdest cases in wrestling history. He was completely devoid of talent, his gimmick was that of a heavy metal guitarist and he couldn’t really talk. That being said, he was the second most popular guy in the company after Sting. I LOVED this guy and for the life of me I don’t know why. This was by far his biggest feud as he never did anything of note after this but whatever.

Jack jumps Hammer as a fairly attractive woman looks like she’s in ecstasy over him. Jack jumps him (Tony called it) and it’s on. This wasn’t a feud yet but it would become one. Hammer gets a dropkick to the stomach and we head to the floor. Hammer realizes he’s fighting Cactus Jack on the floor and goes back to the ring immediately.

Cactus Clothesline and we’re on the floor. It’s all Foley here until Van Hammer hits a clothesline to the back of the head which I think was one of his finishers. Jack gets Hammer’s guitar and hits him in the throat with it for the pin, which was Hammer’s first loss. They brawl to the back.

Rating: D+. This was pretty weak as Jack just beat him up for the most part and then cheated to win. This is probably too high though due to bias but that’s the fun part of nostalgic shows. Hammer would never really improve but obviously Jack would.

We get ahold of Eric on the phone at a hospital where Sting is. Way before he starts talking though we hear Eric tell Tony to move his head in a funny moment.

At Halloween Havoc The Enforcers (Zbyszko and Anderson) broke Barry Windham’s arm by slamming it in a car door, putting him out. Windham tried to keep wrestling but couldn’t, so Dustin Rhodes, his partner, has a mystery partner for the tag title match tonight. This is going to be awesome.

Tag Titles: Enforcers vs. Dustin Rhodes/???

The champions don’t know who they’re fighting yet. Rhodes comes out with Windham who is in street clothes. We bring out Dustin’s partner but he’s in a black robe with a big dragon mask on. Oh you know where this is going. Dustin takes the dragon mask off and there’s a hood over his head.

If you didn’t get it, it’s RICKY FREAKING STEAMBOAT. Anderson loses his mind over this, clearly shouting NOT RICKY STEAMBOAT!!! The fans freaking erupt as Steamboat had been doing WWF house shows as recently as three weeks or so before this. HUGE shock and to say this is going to be a classic is an understatement.

Steamboat and Anderson start us off as the champions are trying to adjust on the fly. It’s a big brawl immediately on the floor for a bit. It’s ALL Rhodes and Steamboat here as they clean house. Larry’s arm gets worked over to start and it’s been one sided so far. Tony makes the stupid statement of you have to be a good singles wrestler to be a good tag wrestler. I’m not sure on that one. Now that I’m back from making a thread on it, let’s continue.

Anderson breaks tradition and comes off the top with a double axe that actually connects! That’s the extent of Anderson’s offense though as this continues to be one sided. Larry comes in and slows things down (shocking isn’t it?). Ricky uses martial arts and that’s using one of Larry’s moves some how. Well to an extent that’s true but it’s worded oddly.

The heels take over with good old fashioned double teaming. Can anyone sell a sunset flip like Arn Anderson? If they have I’d certainly like to see it. Why do wrestling companies always insist on showing us shots of the crowd in the middle of the match? We know they’re there and we can tell if they’re enjoying it or not. We don’t have to see them to prove it.

Arn and Larry use some great double team stuff and Arn busts out a bearhug. They work on Ricky’s back as this has been a very fun match. They switch out when the referee is busy and swear they tagged. Moments later Dustin and Ricky make a tag but the referee didn’t see it. The referee is of course Nick Patrick so did you expect anything less than nefarious means?

Dustin gets the hot tag and comes in to clean house, beating the heck out of both guys. He hits the bulldog on Arn and makes a blind tag. Arn doesn’t know it and walks into the cross body off the top and there’s no way you’re getting up from that. The roof is blown off again as the new champions celebrate.

Rating: A-. This was a great match including a great surprise for the partner. This was a televised title change which is something you never saw back in the day. They went old school here with the heels cheating and the faces working hard and everything worked. It’s a great match and considering this was on free TV, you can’t go wrong at all.

The Enforcers are mad about losing apparently because they didn’t sign to fight Steamboat. Arn and Eaton would team up to get the tag titles in a few months which became part of WrestleWar 92 which had probably the best gimmick match in WCW history. I’m looking forward to that one.

We get a music video about Jushin Liger, complete with clips of him beating up someone named Pegasus Kid. I’m sure he would never go anywhere.

Dangerously (Heyman) has the contract for the US Title match later tonight. There’s a clause in it that says if Sting can’t be there by the time the bell rings, Rude gets the title by forfeit. In a funny line Heyman says “I’m not lying this time.” Always a good sign that he has to point that out.

Jim is on the phone with Eric again who is with Sting. Ok never mind he’s not with Sting. Sting is apparently leaving and Eric tells him about the loophole where he’s going to have to forfeit and apparently steals an ambulance.

Light Heavyweight Title: Johnny B. Badd vs. Brian Pillman

These two would put on a classic at Fall Brawl 95. Unfortunately that was when Badd had stopped having an overly flamboyant character and was getting ridiculously good ridiculously fast. On the way to the ring Badd has women putting money in his garter belt. What does that tell you? This title would evolve into the Cruiserweight Title in a few years and actually mean something.

Pillman and Liger had one of the best openers ever in a few months at Superbrawl but something tells me this isn’t going to be anything like that. The weight limit here is 236lbs for no adequately explained reason. Badd’s manager is Teddy “Peanut” Long. Has this guy EVER not been working? We hear again that Badd was a boxer which I think was at least partially true.

Pillman was completely awesome at this point while Badd was the opposite, which makes for an interesting dynamic here. They brawl to the floor and I’m trying to figure out if Badd is a heel or a face. Well the people are booing him but I’m not sure what that really proves in this case. Badd takes over for a bit but Pillman hits a nice spinwheel kick.

Badd totally botches the top rope sunset flip but Teddy has the referee for no apparent reason. We do the ram the wrestler into the guy on the apron for the rollup to end it. They managed to mess up the cradle too. Badd knocks out Long afterwards.

Rating: D+. Badd just isn’t that good. There’s no other way to put it: he’s just not that good. Pillman was more or less carrying this and while it’s not bad, it’s certainly not that good. Like I said though, Badd would improve a lot and in 95, these guys would have some wars.

United States Title: Rick Rude vs. Sting

Rude had debuted like a month earlier and had guaranteed that he would win the US Title from Sting. Paul cuts a promo talking about how Sting isn’t here but of course as he does the ambulance pulls up and Sting goes in the wrong door. His buddies help him out and the first is on the ramp. Sting is limping horribly and he manages to press slam Rude on the ramp which is impressive even if he’s healthy.

Crowd is electric here. This is ALL Sting as he realizes if he stops moving at all then Rude can get to his knee. Rude gets to it anyway and wraps the knee around the post. I remember FREAKING when this was on. Rude Awakening is blocked which I think had only been done in WWF by Warrior and Hogan at this point. Rude gets knocked down but rams into the knee on the way down.

Heyman gets a phone shot to the back of the head for a false finish. Ross is losing his mind of course and Dangerously is going nuts. DDT puts Rude down but a chop block and tights get Rude the title. This was like four minutes long but it never once slowed down at all. Rude would hold the belt for over a year and had to forfeit due to injury.

Rating: B+. This is WAY high, but the atmosphere here and the energy is completely insane. For less than five minutes long to get that kind of a reaction and do a TON of other stuff in the process, this means a ton. Let’s see what this accomplished.

1. It gets Rude over. Sting was the MAN in WCW and Rude just beat him for his title in his second match with the company. Rude had been a glorified midcarder until his last maybe five months in WWF and now he’s a total tough guy that beat Sting and is the US Champion.

2. It frees up Sting to fight Luger for the world title. Sting was clearly destined to win the world title but he had to get rid of the US belt first. This was like Cena losing the US Title to Orlando Jordan (yes young fans, that happened) before he could beat JBL for the world title.

3. It keeps Sting strong. It in essence took Madusa, Luger, Dangerously and Rude plus a cell phone and a bad knee to beat Sting. To manage to keep him strong and make Rude looks strong at the same time is a great thing. Sting keeps his credibility and Rude gets the rub.

4. It gives Sting a feud to come back to once he wins the world title. And dang was that feud awesome.

Not bad for four minutes and 50 seconds, counting the thirty seconds it took to get to the ring for the champion.

We go to Dangerously, Rude and Madusa who say it was all a setup and Luger was in on it too. He says WCW answers to him and forms the Dangerous Alliance who would eventually get Zbyszko, Anderson, Eaton and Austin to join Rude. Dangerously had been fired from being a commentator so he formed this team to get back at WCW. He would do the same thing with a guy named Brock after he was fired by Vince after the Invasion. Arn Anderson later said that this was one of the best groups of talent he had ever seen, and only WCW could manage to screw it up. That’s just funny.

Ron Simmons says he’ll be back from his wrist injury soon enough. Him winning the world title was mind blowing to say the least.

We recap Rick Steiner pinning Luger in a tag match and beating up Race.

WCW World Title: Rick Steiner vs. Lex Luger

This was supposed to be Simmons but the aforementioned wrist injury kept that from happening. Scott was also hurt if you were wondering why the more talented one isn’t in there instead. Steiner takes it to the mat and Luger is just beaten there. We hear about Scott having a one night manager’s license or something. This is where WCW got stupid at times: instead of having a license or something, he can’t just be there for his brother’s biggest match ever? WWF did it too and it was stupid then as well so shut up about my WWF bias. Yes I like WWF more and I’m going to cut them more slack. I like them more and have since I can remember. So to the people that keep complaining about it, let it go.

Steiner dominates early as you would expect. Steiner keeps dominating but Race yells at him and that somehow gives Luger the advantage. Did he scare a guy named the Dog Faced Gremlin into losing his advantage? Luger throws in a low blow and takes over. Luger pounds on him but Steiner just kind of shakes it off and makes his comeback. The top rope bulldog gets two as Luger puts his foot on the rope. Mr. Hughes, the bodyguard, and Scott Steiner come in and do nothing of importance. It lets Luger get a belt shot to Steiner to end it though.

Rating: D. The lack of drama hurts it as this was just literally thrown on at the end. It’s not horrible but seriously, RICK STEINER? No one else was available? This was just a weird match and while it’s watchable, it’s certainly not very good. It came and went though so there’s always that.

Tony and Jim talk about the hotline where they’ll have the decision on whether the tag title switch stands. LANCE RUSSELL and Gordon Solie are doing the talking. Any old school fan just came to that.

Overall Rating: A-. This was a free show. I actually forgot about that a few times during the tape. To say the card is stacked and a lot happens here is an understatement. They fit 9 matches, five of which were title matches with two changes, into a two hour card. How’s THAT for efficiency? There’s also a major stable being formed and a classic tag match. Couple this in with the fact that this was thrown on TV for free and that the WWF PPV of the month was the abysmal Survivor Series and this is as one sided as it can get.