Spring Stampede 1998
Date: April 19, 1998
Location: Denver Coliseum, Denver, Colorado
Attendance: 7,428
Commentators: Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay

Allegedly we have a double main event tonight but in reality only one of the matches has received any focus at all. The two matches are Sting vs. Savage for the world title and Giant/Piper vs. Hogan/Nash in a bat match. Take a guess as to which is getting all the attention. Hogan and Nash’s problems have gotten nearly all the focus for the last few months and I’m sure they’ll dominate the show tonight. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is about the power struggle in the NWO. Sting is there too but why waste time on the guy you spent all of 1997 building up as the great hope for WCW?

Something I miss about PPVs from this era: the sets were always unique. Here there’s a western theme with covered wagons and bails of hay. Today you just have the set except for the occasional show outside of Wrestlemania. It’s a nice change of scenery.

Savage has had the cast removed from his arm and the main event is now No DQ just because.

Perry Saturn vs. Goldberg

Goldberg is 73-0 and has a US Title shot tomorrow night on Nitro. He and Saturn have been staring each other down for weeks now and this is Goldberg’s toughest match to date. Goldberg is billed from Dawsonville, Georgia which I never remember hearing before or after this show. Saturn goes right after him with chops but Goldberg counters a leg lock into a pumphandle suplex. Something resembling a belly to belly puts Saturn down but Goldberg has to toss Kidman off the apron and onto Perry before following up.

Back in and Saturn trips Goldberg down and hits a springboard legdrop to keep him down. A middle rope splash gets one and Saturn takes him into the corner for some kicks to the chest. Goldberg easily blocks a vertical suplex into a swinging neckbreaker, followed by a gorilla press into a World’s Strongest Slam for no cover. Kidman distracts Goldberg again though and Saturn hits a release fisherman’s suplex to take over.

Out to the floor and Goldie is sent into the steps as Tenay talks about how Goldberg has never gone this long before. A hurricanrana puts Goldberg down on the floor again but Saturn slips off on what looked to be an Asai Moonsault. Thankfully he landed on Goldberg or that could have been much worse. Back in and a top rope spinwheel kick takes Goldberg down and Saturn hooks a Fujiwara Armbar. Now it’s a cross armbreaker but Goldberg lifts him up into a kind of powerbomb to escape.

A side slam puts Saturn down and there’s the Bret killer superkick for no cover. There’s the spear but a Kidman distraction lets Saturn hit him low to escape the Jackhammer. Saturn takes him to the middle rope but Goldberg press slams him from said ropes. Cool looking move. Cue the Flock but Goldberg fights them off (including a middle rope dropkick to knock Reese off the apron) and spears Kidman. Saturn takes him down into the Rings of Saturn but can’t get them on full. Goldberg powers his way out into a fireman’s carry before powering Saturn up into the Jackhammer to make it 74-0.

Rating: C+. This was better than I was expecting though Goldberg didn’t look great throughout the match. To be fair though this was by far his longest match to date despite it only running about eight minutes. They did a good job of testing Goldberg here and the crowd was into him as always. His career was about to take off and this was a good step for him, though they made the winner of Page vs. Raven pretty clear here.

Ultimo Dragon vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.

If Guerrero wins, he’s free of Eddie’s control but if he loses Eddie is going to be twice as hard on him. Dragon has the awesome looking red, white and green attire with a Mexican flag cape to match. The fans are all over Eddie to start as Chavo takes Dragon to the mat and ties up his legs. Dragon reaches around to grab a headlock before things speed up with Dragon taking over via a legsweep. There’s the headstand in the corner followed by Dragon’s kicks to put Chavo down again.

Eddie is hiding his head under a towel like he did on Thunder as Dragon puts on a chinlock. That goes nowhere so Dragon changes it up to a standing reverse figure four, only to have Chavo reverse into a bridging Indian Death Lock with a chinlock. As usual that hold can’t stay on long though so Chavo takes him down with a headscissors and stomps away in the corner. We hit the chinlock on Dragon as the starting and stopping continues.

Dragon fights out of a headscissors on the mat and hooks a camel clutch chinlock of all things. That goes nowhere either so it’s a seated surfboard (as in Dragon is sitting down and pulling on Chavo’s face) to make Eddie apologize to Mama Guerrero. La Majistral gets two for Dragon but he gets clotheslined down for two by Guerrero. They trade rollups for two each but Chavo gets crotched on top to slow him down again.

Guerrero fights out of the super hurricanrana but Dragon suplexes him from the apron to the floor. The Asai Moonsault puts both guys down so Eddie can yell in Chavo’s face. Chavo gets back in first and tries a dive but jumps over Dragon, barely grazing him on the way down.

Back in and they clothesline each other but it’s Dragon up first with an enziguri. Dragon goes up but gets dropkicked low on the way down. Eddie shouts to get him but Chavo doesn’t want it that way. Chavo eventually tries a suplex but gets small packaged for two. A brainbuster puts Dragon down but the tornado DDT is countered into the Dragon Sleeper for the submission.

Rating: C+. More good storytelling with the Guerreros as Chavo has gone from a pretty basic cruiserweight to a guy having morality issues and wanting to get Eddie off his back. Eddie hasn’t been in the ring much lately but he’s in his element yelling at Chavo and bringing up the Guerrero Family in some hilarious moments. Good stuff here.

Diamond Dallas Page is on WCW.com, talking about going from pinning Savage a year ago to the US Title match here tonight.

TV Title: Chris Benoit vs. Booker T

Booker is defending and there’s no time limit after two straight draws between these guys. They lock up into the corner to start and it’s a clean break by the two good guys. A shoulder sends Benoit to the mat and then out to the floor, holding his head. Benoit seems to be ok though and goes after Booker’s legs back in the ring. Booker superkicks him back to the floor as the stalling continues. That might have something to do with the show being in Denver, meaning the air is very thin and it can be difficult to breathe.

Back in and Booker takes his head off with a clothesline for two before we hit the armbar. Benoit gets bored of the rest hold though and takes Booker into the corner for a mudhole stomping. Booker comes right back with a backbreaker for two and it’s back to the armbar. Chris fights up again and drapes him over the ropes before knocking him out to the floor. Back in and a hard chop takes Booker down and a snap suplex gets two. Off to the chinlock by the challenger as the wind clearly isn’t there for either guy.

Back up again and Booker misses a dropkick and Benoit suplexes him down again. The Swan Dive gets two but Booker comes back with a suplex of his own to put both guys down again. A snap suplex from Chris gets two and a belly to back gets the same. We’re past the regular TV Title time limit and Benoit starts rolling Germans. Benoit takes him up top instead of covering and drops Booker with a belly to back superplex to put both guys down again.

A very delayed cover gets two for Chris but he walks into a spinebuster to put both guys down again. Booker hits a flapjack and spins up, drawing a mixed reaction. The ax kick accidentally takes out the referee and Benoit grabs the Crossface, drawing an unseen tap. Benoit goes to hep the referee but gets caught by the side kick for the pin to retain Booker’s title.

Rating: C+. Good match here but the altitude was clearly taking its toll on both guys. At the end of the day though, Benoit not getting a title is getting annoying. He had the feud of the year with Raven, took the TV Champion to two straight draws and still can’t get a title reign. The match was good, but did you expect anything else from these two?

The referee is helped from the ring.

Curt Hennig vs. British Bulldog

This is one of those feuds that no one cares about but just won’t go away. Rude and Neidhart will be handcuffed together to make sure we get to see this enthralling match. Bulldog pounds away to start and stomps Curt down in the corner before going after the hamstring. They head outside with Neidhart pulling Rude away from interfering. Apparently Hennig has a bad knee coming in so the leg work makes sense. Bulldog kicks at the leg very slowly as Rude is pulled back again.

The slow motion continues as Bulldog is hitting the leg about twice a minute before going for the Sharpshooter. A cop, who is clearly Vincent, goes after Neidhart and gets choked down, allowing Rude to get a key and unlock himself. Neidhart is cuffed to the post as Hennig escapes the hold and sends Bulldog into the post for the pin, meaning the stuff outside accomplished absolutely nothing.

Rating: F. The fact that this is on PPV makes it a failure alone. The match was horrible too with the knee work taking forever and boring the fans to death. At the end of the day though, no one cares about these guys or this stupid feud because it’s somehow about Bret Hart despite him barely being involved with it anymore. Without Bret, there’s no reason for anyone to care about the matches at all, making this feud very boring.

Bulldog and Neidhart get beaten down as the bell rings a lot, making this segment even more annoying.

Cruiserweight Title: Chris Jericho vs. Prince Iaukea

Jericho has beaten almost everyone of note so Iaukea is one of the few guys they have left to challenge him. Jericho is wearing a headband which I don’t think has any reason for existing but is awesome anyway. He dedicates this match to the fallen hero of WCW: Dean Malenko. Jericho takes Iaukea to the ropes but gets caught in a wristlock.

Off to a headlock on Jericho but he flips out, only to be caught in the headlock again. Back up and Jericho shoulder blocks him down but walks into a dropkick. Really basic stuff so far and Iaukea hooks another headlock. Jericho tries to skin the cat but gets dropkicked to the floor, followed by a flip dive off the apron from the Prince. Back in and we hit the headlock again because Iaukea is running out of offense.

Jericho drop toeholds him into the ropes and suplexes Iaukea down for two. Time for a chinlock because this match was starting to get slightly entertaining. Jericho slams him down and does his big strut. He takes WAY too long on the top rope and jumps into the feet, giving Prince control again. A Samoan drop and a springboard flip attack gets two but Jericho counters a victory roll into the Liontamer, only to have Iaukea next to the ropes.

Iaukea counters a middle rope sunset flip for two before both guys go to the top and fall down to the floor in a somewhat scary scene. Back in and the Liontamer is countered again but Jericho grabs the rope to escape the northern lights suplex. Back up and Iaukea’s middle rope sunset flip is countered into the Liontamer to finally end this.

Rating: D+. The buildup to this match was boring, Iaukea was incredibly boring and the match itself was very boring. As I’ve said before, at the end of the day there’s nothing interesting about Iaukea at all and any number of guys could have done the same thing he did. Nothing to see here other than a lot of headlocks and sunset flips.

Jericho steals Iaukea’s skirt thing for his trophy case.

Raven quotes Shakespeare to WCW.com.

Scott Steiner/Buff Bagwell vs. Lex Luger/Rick Steiner

Buff has his wrist in a cast but it doesn’t look too professional. JJ comes out and says he thinks it’s fake so here’s a doctor to check the injury. The wrist is fine so let’s fight. Seriously, this was created, executed and ended in less than five minutes. Rick goes right for his brother but gets jumped by Buff. Bagwell gets caught by a powerslam and a Steiner Line but Scott gets in a cheap shot to put Rick down.

Scott comes in while Rick is down and chokes a bit before bringing Buff back in. Buff slams him down and grabs the “injured” hand before getting two. Back to Scott who gets two but runs back to Buff at the kickout. Buff hooks the chinlock but lets it go to argue with the referee.

Back to Scott for a chinlock of his own, though he at least adds in a knee to the back to spice things up a little. Rick charges into Buff’s boots in the corner but catches him in a backdrop to put both guys down. The hot tag brings in Luger but Scott breaks up a quick Rack attempt. Rick nails Buff and it’s time for the showdown but Scott runs. The Rack ends Buff a few seconds later.

Rating: D-. There was no reason whatsoever for this to be on the PPV. It was a glorified Nitro match as the Steiners had about a minute of contact but the real showdown still didn’t happen. That’s wrestling booking in general: keep coming back for the next show to see the stuff you’re interested in. The trick though is you have to give us those moments eventually which rarely happened in WCW.

Call the hotline to find out who is in the back!

La Parka vs. Psychosis

This is a bonus match. La Parka dances a lot before chopping Psychosis down. Psychosis comes back with chops of his own before sending La Parka into the buckle. La Parka stands him on the top turnbuckle but Psychosis jumps backwards into a headscissors takeover to send skeleton man to the floor. A suicide dive takes La Parka down but he gets back inside first anyway. Back in and a clothesline gets two on Psychosis before he’s sent to the floor for a springboard split legged moonsault. Heenan: “Another move I never thought of trying.”

Psychosis might have a bad shoulder but he launches La Parka face first into the buckle. Not that it matters as La Parka kicks him in the head to put Psychosis on the floor again. Back in and Psychosis tries a springboard hurricanrana but can’t get up to the top for a few moments. I guess the fans booing is better than their dead silence. Psychosis misses a top rope splash and gets caught in an Alabama Slam for two. La Parka poses on the ropes but gets dropkicked down, tying his legs up in the ropes. The guillotine legdrop from Psychosis finally ends this torture.

Rating: D. It’s not easy to complain about free wrestling but man alive this was dull stuff. There was no story to the match other than a forgotten chair shot from a few weeks back. The match being very sloppy didn’t help things either and the fans clearly weren’t pleased. Was Juvy not available for this? He was always good at firing up a crowd which would have helped things out a lot here.

The announcers talk for awhile to fill in even more time. Heenan goes into some analogy comparing Savage to a wounded dog with a long series of examples. Now they talk about the tension in the NWO and how it might be a big swerve.

The Giant/Roddy Piper vs. Hollywood Hogan/Kevin Nash

This is a bat on a pole match. The idea here is Hogan and Nash can’t get along at all and they’ll likely turn on each other. Piper immediately goes for the bat but Hogan makes a save by ramming him into the pole. Roddy gets caught in the Tree of Woe for some stomping before it’s off to Nash to pull him out of the corner. Back to Hogan (literally all Nash did was drag him to the other corner) for more old man offense but Piper won’t sell any of it.

Roddy comes back with right hands and pulls off Hogan’s bandana. Piper pulls out what’s left of Hogan’s hair, earning himself a poke in the eye. Hogan takes him down again and goes up but Piper makes the easy tag to Giant. The biggest man pulls Hogan down and spanks him, sending Hogan to the floor in pain. Back in and Piper chokes Hollywood with the weightlifting belt but a low blow allows for the tag off to Nash. It’s time for the battle of the giants and Giant easily sends him into the corner. Nash gets a boot up to stop the charging Giant and fires off his usual stuff in the corner.

Kev walks away to pose but Giant snaps to his feet, setting up a double big boot to put both giants down. The double tag brings in Piper to face Hogan with Roddy pounding away to take over. Nash comes in and gets a low blow as everything breaks down. Giant dropkicks Nash to the floor as Piper puts Hogan in the sleeper. Piper goes up and gets the bat but Hogan knocks it out of his hands and throws it away.

Cue Disciple with another bat so Hogan can blast Giant in the back of the head. Piper avoids a shot to his bad hip and Hogan hits Nash by mistakes. Now Piper gets the bat and knocks Hogan to the floor before knocking Nash down. Disciple grabs Piper’s bat and throws Hogan the original bat so he can blast Piper for the pin.

Rating: D. To the shock of no one paying attention, this match sucked. It was basically the same thing they’ve been doing for weeks now with Nash and Hogan accidentally hitting each other but the NWO standing tall again. The biggest problem though is the quality of the match. Usually good drama can hide the fact that a match sucks, but if it’s bad drama, people notice how bad the match is. That’s what happened here and that’s really bad when this was the main event for all intents and purposes.

Hogan tells Nash to powerbomb Giant but whacks Nash in the back with the bat, basically throwing him out of the NWO. Giant breaks the bat over his knee and swears vengeance on Hogan.

Slamboree ad, which they try to make sound more epic than Starrcade. Side note: why did WCW have so many PPVs that began with the letter S? Souled Out, SuperBrawl, Spring Stampede, Slamboree, Starrcade.

US Title: Diamond Dallas Page vs. Raven

Page is defending, Raven has the belt itself, this is under Raven’s Rules and the winner gets Goldberg tomorrow. Sick Boy tries to interfere at the beginning but gets a belt to the face for his efforts. Page shoves Raven into the corner and pounds away to start before hitting a belly to back suplex. A big dive to the floor takes out Raven and Sick Boy but Raven knocks Page off the apron, reinjuring the ribs. Back in and Page counters the Even Flow into a swinging neckbreaker for two.

Raven bails to the floor to avoid a Diamond Cutter and the fight heads up to the set. Page throws Raven off a stagecoach into some bails of hay before diving off said coach to take Raven down. Raven is thrown into a corral and beaten down by a trashcan. Now Raven goes through another wooden fence and suplexed onto the website table. Page is kicked into a wall and Raven blasts him in the head with a piece of metal.

They head to some VIP area with Raven diving onto Page to send him through a table. Raven pulls a bullrope off a horse and chokes Page down before grabbing a trashcan. The can freaks Tony out, despite it being used about two minutes ago. Raven wraps the rope around Page’s neck and drags him back to the ring where Sick Boy has a kitchen sink. The sink is only good for two for Raven and it’s back to the rope choking. Page fights up and drop toeholds Raven onto the sink as Tony and Heenan make plumbing jokes.

Kidman tries to interfere but splashes Raven by mistake, giving Page two. Sick Boy blasts Page with a crutch to give Raven two so Raven calls in the rest of the Flock. Hammer accidentally clotheslines Raven down so Page knocks him out with a sink. A low blow puts Page down and here’s Reese for a chokebomb, giving Raven another two count. Lodi throws in the stop sign but Page knocks it into Raven’s face and takes out a few Flock members. Kidman gets a Diamond Cutter but Horace Hogan debuts by hitting Page with the stop sign, allowing Raven to DDT Page on the sink for the pin and the title.

Rating: C. I’m not a fan of this garbage brawling style but this could have been worse. It’s good that Raven finally won the title that he’s been chasing for months and it makes sense as the numbers and style finally caught up to Page. I wasn’t liking the way most of the brawling was treated as comedy spots when the feud has been serious though. It was a reversal of what had made the feud good up to this point and hurt the match a good deal. Still though, not bad and a decent way to wrap the feud up.

The announcers basically guarantee that Goldberg is winning the title tomorrow night.

WCW World Title: Sting vs. Randy Savage

Alleged main event time. This is also No DQ because having three straight hardcore/weapon based matches isn’t copying WWF and ECW at all. Sting, the lamest of all lame duck champions, is defending here. Savage jumps Sting during the entrances and sends him into the barricade as the bell rings. Back in and Savage chokes a lot but hurts his bad hand throwing a punch. Sting comes back with a shot to the ribs and we head back outside again.

Savage walks up the aisle until Sting throws him through another wooden fence. Sting sends him into the hay and through another fence before hitting him with another bale of hay. Tony: “That can be very abrasive to the skin.” Mr. Schiavone, don’t ever change. Back to ringside for the missed Stinger Splash into the barricade and a posting by Savage. They get in the ring for a change and Sting backdrops out of a piledriver, only to have Savage punch him back down.

They head back to the floor because neither guy is interested in having a match at the moment. Savage is suplexed on the floor and sent into the barricade. Sting heads back inside but Randy hits him low and drapes him over the top rope for two. Savage clotheslines Sting into the referee before piledriving the champion down.

Sting no sells it by popping back up but has to no sell a Liz chair shot instead of going after Savage. Liz gets hit by the Stinger Splash so Savage lays him out with a chair. Cue Hogan of course to break up the elbow and Sting hits a quick Death Drop but there’s no referee. Nash comes in and powerbombs Sting down, giving Savage the pin and the title. There’s a problem though: Savage is holding his knee, which would wind up being a torn ACL.

Rating: D. This was an angle with a few wrestling moves thrown in to pad things out. At least it ends the joke that was Sting’s title reign so we can get the focus back on that earth shattering Hogan vs. Nash feud. That’s the focus of this match: the power struggle in the NWO. Sting looks like nothing as 1997 is pretty much left in the dust lie it never happened. Nice work on that WCW.

The last shot of the show is Hogan yelling that Savage has his belt and that Nash will pay.

Overall Rating: D+. This was almost exactly what was expected: a dull show that kept us in the same loop we’ve been in for months with the focus entirely on the NWO once again. None of the matches here were worth seeing other than maybe Goldberg vs. Saturn to see Goldberg’s first match with some length to it. Other than that we had a bunch of feuds that no one cared about and more worthless angle advancement. Where was Bret, who said that anytime Sting needed him he’d be there? Apparently dealing with Savage, Hogan and Nash doesn’t warrant Bret’s help? Bad show here as WCW is getting into big trouble in a hurry.

Here’s the original review if you’re interested:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2012/05/24/spring-stampede-1998-with-bales-of-hay-and-covered-wagons/

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Thunder
Date: April 16, 1998
Location: Fargodome, Fargo, North Dakota
Commentators: Lee Marshall, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan

It’s the final show before Spring Stampede and by now the news has broken that Nitro lost in the ratings on Monday for the first time in nearly two years. It should be interesting to see if things change up at all tonight to try to right the ship. Other than that tonight is going to be the final push for the PPV, meaning more NWO whether anyone likes it or not. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of the main event from Nitro with Bret Hart cleaning house to save Sting.

NWO video on Buff Bagwell, showing him looking in a mirror.

Buff Bagwell vs. Rick Steiner

Rick throws his collar around to get Vincent off the apron before scaring Buff to the floor as well. Buff armdrags him down and poses so Rick punches him in the face. An atomic drop and a clothesline put Buff on the floor as Lee wonders who brought Scott Steiner to the NWO. Didn’t we cover that like months ago? Back in and Buff pounds away at Rick’s head, which actually has an effect. Buff’s middle rope ax handle is caught in mid air and Rick throws him around a few times. Rick loads up the bulldog but here’s Scott Steiner to shove him off the top for the DQ.

Rating: D+. Nothing to see here with the whole match existing tos et up something else at Spring Stampede. They’ve been pushing this battle of the Steiners for months now but there’s no sign of the actual showdown coming. Then again why bother pursuing a match that could be a big deal and bring in some money when you can keep pushing Buff Bagwell?

Hogan is amused at Savage’s injuries and is ready to take the title back from Sting soon.

Here’s Nash with something to say. He’s tired of hearing Hogan talking about how amazing he is because Hogan is afraid. Nash should be champion right now and would be if not for Hogan and then Hart interfering in his title shots. Bret made a huge mistake by messing with Nash on Monday and Hart will be dealt with. Back to Hogan: if he doesn’t do what he’s supposed to do on Sunday, Nash will drive a stake through his heart. He’s ready for Giant and Piper and tonight he’s ready for Sting and Bret with Savage as his partner. Just hyping up the big tag matches here.

We get the same video on Goldberg from Nitro.

Goldberg vs. Barry Darsow

Goldberg vs. Saturn is official for Sunday. Barry tries to match power with Goldberg and is easily run over and thrown into the corner. Heenan: “This could be a very hair raising experience for Barry Darsow.” Darsow is bald if that clears anything up. Barry sends him over the top and out to the floor but Goldberg comes right back in with the spear. The Jackhammer makes it 73 in a row.

We get the same video on Page vs. Raven from Nitro.

Here’s JJ Dillon to say that the winner of Page vs. Raven has to defend the US Title against Goldberg on Monday night. I’m jumping the gun a bit here but that means that both of Goldberg’s title shots this year have been announced four days in advance. You would think he’d get more hype than that.

TV Title: Booker T vs. Rick Fuller

Booker fires off kicks and forearms to start, only to run into a powerslam from the much bigger Fuller. Fuller slams him down again but misses a charge into the corner and walks into a spinebuster. The ax kick and side kick set up the missile dropkick to retain Booker’s title. Squash for the most part.

Recap of Hogan vs. Nash, despite them not being opponents anytime soon.

Tony announces Scott Steiner/Buff Bagwell vs. Lex Luger/Rick Steiner at the PPV. Scott Steiner comes out to say he and Buff aren’t showing up because his parents don’t want to see him fight his brother.

Chris Benoit vs. Scott Norton

Benoit pulls Vincent to the floor for some chops before going in and being chopped down by Norton. A few elbow drops have Benoit in trouble and a slam puts him down again. Benoit comes back with some chops but Norton just punches him down with no selling at all. A splash in the corner crushes Benoit and a shoulder sends him all the way to the floor.

Benoit avoids a charge into the post but Norton is back inside first and still in control with a powerslam. Chris escapes a shoulder breaker and takes Norton down with two German suplexes. Norton charges into the post and gets caught in the Crossface, only to have Vincent come in for the DQ immediately.

Rating: D+. What’s the point in Benoit even being out there if Norton won’t sell a single bit of his offense? Norton went into the post twice, both off his own power, and still wouldn’t stay down. Also for the thousandth time or so, WHY CAN SCOTT NORTON NEVER LOSE A CLEAN FALL??? Benoit is going into a PPV title match but can only get a DQ win over Norton because…..I’m thinking Scott Norton has photos of Eric Bischoff smoking crack while wearing women’s lingerie and shoving an old lady down a flight of stairs.

Post match Booker comes in for the save but gets shoved down for his efforts.

Here’s Giant with Piper on his shoulders and something to say. Giant steps over the top rope with Piper still on his shoulders. That’s rather impressive. Piper rambles on and on as he is known to do. His odd line of this promo: “What’s the opposite of Big Sexy? Pee Wee Herman?” Piper gets off Giant’s shoulders and pretends he’s a tiger that has to be tamed. He spends the next minute and a half or so saying he and Giant will win. Piper: “We’ll bring the bat, you bring the balls.” Again, someone keep Piper away from live mics. Please?

Curt Hennig vs. Super Calo

Rude is on commentary as usual. Curt easily takes Calo down and hits a quick Hennig Necksnap for no cover. Calo avoids a charge in the corner and gets one off a quick missile dropkick. Curt will have none of that and stomps Calo down before ending him with the Hennigplex. Squash.

Cruiserweight Title: Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Chris Jericho

During the entrances, Tony rants about how WCW delivers the matches they promise, in reference to Austin vs. McMahon not happening. I would say I remember Ric Flair talking about that last week, but he never showed up as advertised. Chavo pounds away to start, only to get kicked in the ribs and suplexed down for two. Jericho charges into a boot in the corner and gets clotheslined down for two as well as Chavo stays in it. An atomic drop sets up a rollup for two more on Jericho but he trips Guerrero up and hooks an early Liontamer. Chavo crawls over to the ropes but Eddie slaps his hand away twice, forcing Chavo to tap out.

After the quick match, Iaukea comes out with the scale from last week to knock Jericho off of Chavo. They fight to the back, leaving Eddie and Chavo alone in the ring. Uncle Eddie calms Chavo down and says that if Chavo beats Jericho on Sunday, he’s free. Chavo is facing Ultimo Dragon on Sunday but at least there’s a story to the match now.

Here are Hogan, Bischoff and Disciple with something to say. After Eric sucks up to Hogan for awhile, he talks about realizing what he had when Hogan came to WCW in 1994. Hogan runs down Savage and Nash and understands why they’re both jealous of him. He brags about the 3 Ninjas movie and being on the Tonight Show before saying he should get the next world title shot because he’s just that awesome. Nothing much to see here and he didn’t even mention his opponents for Sunday.

Here’s JJ with something to say. First of all, Goldberg will receive his first major title shot this Monday on Nitro. This confirms one of two things: either the TV Title, which Goldberg had a shot at last year, isn’t a major title or WCW doesn’t remember matches that happened five months ago. Also, due to Savage’s injuries, there might have to be a replacement in the world title match. The options would be either DDP, Nash or Hogan. JJ says Savage can wrestle on Sunday if he has a doctor’s clearance, but tonight he just can’t be wearing a cast.

This brings out Savage to say that JJ should be outside watching for red and yellow Vipers that are running over people. JJ says there’s no concrete evidence as to who attacked Savage so he needs a doctor’s clearance and no cast on Savage’s arm. Savage says he’s getting the title shot on Sunday no matter what.

Giant vs. Bryan Adams

Nothing match as Giant shrugs off Adams’ offense (including Adams going up top and just falling off) and kicks him in the face, only to have Vincent run in to break up the chokeslam and draw the DQ.

Post match the B team comes in but gets destroyed as well.

Video on Raven.

Silver King vs. Perry Saturn

Saturn side steps a fast dropkick and hits a running elbow in the corner, only to get caught in a tornado DDT. Saturn avoids a charge in the corner and superplexes King down before the Rings of Saturn gets the submission.

Video on Diamond Dallas Page.

Page says to say he’s ready for Raven but thinking about fighting Goldberg gets him even more jacked up. Goldberg and his buddy Jack Hammer has been running through WCW and Page wants to know if Goldberg can be banged. He’s getting his belt back on Sunday, but the fans are oddly silent during this entire speech.

Sting/Bret Hart vs. Randy Savage/Kevin Nash

Tony goes off about how they’ll deliver what they promised no matter what. Savage has the cast on, despite JJ saying he couldn’t wear one tonight. Bret and Savage get things going but Nash comes in before any contact is made. Nash and Bret pound each other into the corner with Nash hammering Bret in the back to take over. There’s the foot choke in the corner but Nash charges into a boot in the opposite corner.

Bret clotheslines Nash down and fires off right hands before bringing in the world champion. Savage gets the tag and is put in the Scorpion about ten seconds later. Nash pulls Randy out to the floor for a long stall before it’s Bret vs. Nash again. Bret escapes Snake Eyes by shoving Kevin into the corner, only to be punched in the face for his efforts. There’s the side slam but Hart avoids the elbow, only to have Savage break up the Sharpshooter.

Nash puts on a sleeper of all things but Bret suplexes his way to freedom. A double tag brings in Savage and Sting but Nash breaks up the Stinger Splash as everything breaks down. Nash and Bret fight to the floor and the Stinger Splash hits Savage’s cast. Savage goes up for the elbow and waits forever until Hogan and Disciple run in for the DQ because why would a world title match need story development?

Rating: D. This was the usual lazy main event match from all parties involved. Savage being injured excuses his lack of effort but the other three guys just looked bored out there. To be fair though Bret has nothing to do, Sting is the lamest of all lame duck champions and Nash is Nash so why bother trying at all?

Post match Hogan goes after Savage’s bad arm but Nash makes the save to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. This is a strange one to grade as the show did a good job of building up to Spring Stampede, but Spring Stampede is one of the least interesting shows in a long time. Why they don’t just do Nash vs. Hogan is beyond me, but I’d guess neither guy was willing to do a job for whatever reason they always gave. The show had its moments but the NWO drags it down as usual.

Here’s Spring Stampede if you’re interested:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2013/09/07/spring-stampede-1998-2013-redo-here-lies-1997-we-hardly-knew-ye/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews, and pick up my new book of Complete 2001 Monday Night Raw Reviews at Amazon for just $4 at:

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for just $4 at:

Smackdown
Date: September 6, 2013
Location: Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Commentators: John Bradshaw Layfield, Michael Cole

We’re almost three weeks into the new Corporation and not a lot has really changed. Daniel Bryan is still getting destroyed every week, the roster still won’t help him and it still makes all the good guys look like cowards who won’t stand up for anyone. The other main story is Punk vs. Heyman which is set for a handicap tag at Night of Champions. After that I could see the two stories merging with Punk helping Bryan in his war with the Corporation. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Cody getting a match against Orton and losing his job as a result. No mention of Bryan and Big Show in the intros here.

Opening sequence.

HHH and the GM’s are in the ring (with a red carpet) and the roster on the stage with Shield standing guard at ringside. HHH says as of Monday, Cody Rhodes is no longer a WWE Superstar. He talks about Cody being insubordinate to the COO of the WWE, making him disrespectful to the fans since HHH is the WWE. How long do you think he’s wanted to say that line? He gave Cody a chance to fight for his job but Rhodes lost, meaning Cody Rhodes fired Cody Rhodes.

That was hard since HHH is friends with the Rhodes Family but as COO he has to make some hard decisions. However, tonight he’s going to allow for an open forum for any superstar to air their grievances. No one says anything so HHH begs them to open up to him so he can work hard for everyone here. Damien Sandow supports the firing of Cody Rhodes because Cody embodied everything that was bad for business.

HHH says he appreciates that but doesn’t want this to be all about kissing up to him. Kofi Kingston goes to the mic and says the entire locker room has been living in fear since Cody was fired and that’s not good for business. HHH took Cody’s livelihood away and that makes everyone else live in fear. HHH is about to respond but 3MB cuts him off to complain about Big Show just standing around watching everything. Oh and thank you HHH for having an awesome management style.

RVD comes to the mic and says HHH brought him back to WWE a few months ago. Rob expected things to be better now but the vibe isn’t very cool around here. HHH: “I’ve been waiting since 2000 to have RVD call me dude.” HHH thinks Rob is still cool and asks to hear from someone else.

Ryback is tired of being called a bully and HHH agrees because it wasn’t Ryback’s fault Ziggler was hurt on Raw. Therefore tonight it’s Ryback vs. Ziggler again. HHH stops for a minute to say that Daniel Bryan isn’t here because Bryan thinks he’s above everyone else on the stage. Tonight it’s Bryan vs. a member of the Shield of Bryan’s choice. HHH thanks the stars for their honesty and gives Kofi a non-title match against Curtis Axel. RVD gets a non-title match as well against Randy Orton. Orton gets his big introduction to end this segment.

Time for a sidebar. This segment shows a lot of what’s wrong with this whole story: it’s a HHH story and everyone else is just there. A few weeks ago after Bryan destroyed the Escalade, HHH said Orton was just holding the WWE Title for him. Tonight HHH said he was the WWE. The guys that all said stuff were treated to HHH’s unfunny jokes as HHH tries to be a cool heel.

Much like the far too long feud with Lesnar, this is a HHH story which we don’t need. Everyone else is just there in the background but it’s HHH front and center every week. More people are going to be elevated throughout the story but so far it’s only pushed HHH. It’s still entertaining and has potential, but there’s too much HHH dominance so far and it’s hurting things.

Randy Orton vs. Rob Van Dam

Del Rio sits in on commentary. Rob starts with some shoulder into the ribs and a kick to the face for two. Another kick to the face gets two more and a slingshot legdrop has Randy writhing around on the mat. A top rope kick to the face gets two for Rob but Orton counters Rolling Thunder into a powerslam for two. Orton stomps Van Dam’s head but Rob comes back with yet another kick for two. The fans chant for ECW as Randy pounds away at Rob’s head for two.

Rob comes back with the fifth kick to the face of the match as Del Rio says Ricardo was stealing money from him, hence the split. We head to the floor with Orton being draped across the barricade, only to move from Rob’s kick to the back. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that move miss before. Back in and Orton goes after the leg with a Robinsdale Crunch before stopping to pose.

Randy throws him back to the floor and we take a break. Back with Rob fighting out of the chinlock and getting two off a superkick and a standing moonsault. A spinwheel kick in the corner staggers Orton but he avoids a monkey flip and kicks Rob’s leg out for two. The Elevated DDT puts Rob down but the RKO is countered with, say it with me, a kick to the head. A rollup gets two for Rob and now Rolling Thunder connects.

The Five Star misses and Rob rolls to the floor for a second, only to come back in for another kick to Randy’s face. Alberto gets off commentary and sends Ricardo into the post, drawing Rob into a dive to the floor, taking Del Rio out. Randy sends RVD into the announce table and hits the Elevated DDT on the floor (the same move that wrote RVD out of the WWE six years ago, not mentioned here of course) before the RKO gets the pin at 10:18 shown of 13:18.

Rating: B-. Good match here with Orton continuing to turn his usual spots into heel moves quite well. I’m not wild on the booking idea of having both the champion and the challenger losing as we head into the PPV but such is life as the World Heavyweight Champion in the WWE anymore. At least Orton is still looking strong.

Post match Del Rio beats up Rob and puts him in the cross armbreaker.

Daniel Bryan says that he wasn’t invited to the town hall meeting and the only attitude problem he has is that he wants to be WWE Champion. Shield can pick a member to face him because any of them are fine with him.

AJ runs into Layla, Aksana and Alicia Fox (who is at least six inches taller than all three of them) and says that she’d rather face any of them rather than the Total Divas because the three of them are actual wrestlers. AJ has a plan.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Ryback

This is a rematch from Monday where Ambrose jumped Ziggler before the match. Ziggler escapes a quick gorilla press and low bridges Ryback out to the floor. Back in and Ziggler hits a quick dropkick but misses a splash into the corner to give Ryback control. Dean Ambrose jumps in on commentary out of nowhere and goes into that creepy voice of his.

Ryback puts on a bearhug and gets a two count out of it before lifting Ziggler back into the air. A BIG DDT gets Dolph out of trouble and he pounds away on Ryback in the corner. Dolph gets two off a neckbreaker and the Fameasser gets the same. Ryback knocks Ziggy to the floor but misses a charge into the steps. Ziggler goes after Ambrose but walks into the Meat Hook to take his head off. Back in and the Shell Shock ends Ziggler at 4:32.

Rating: C. This was more angle advancement for Ziggler vs. Ambrose than anything else but it’s good to see Ryback getting some wins in his new persona. Ziggler’s fall from grace continues but I guess a US Title shot is better than nothing. The fans did seem more into Ziggler than usual so maybe the fighting against odds idea might work for him.

Curtis Axel vs. Kofi Kingston

Non-title. They fight over a top wristlock to start and the fans are entirely behind the hometown boy Axel here. Axel takes him to the mat as we open with some nice chain wrestling. Off to a headlock by Axel but Kofi fights out for the double leapfrog and jumping back elbow to the jaw. Curtis has a quick consultation with Heyman and walks right into a headscissors.

Kofi dropkicks him to the floor but Axel steps to the side before Kofi can launch the suicide dive. Instead Axel tries to send Kingston into the steps, only to have Kofi jump over the steps, turn around and use the steps as a springboard for a clothesline. A Heyman distraction lets Axel shoulder Kofi to the floor and we take a break. Back with Axel holding a chinlock but Kofi comes back with kicks to the ribs. Axel will have none of that though and hits a clothesline to the back of the head for a close two.

The fans want to see a PerfectPlex but instead they get Axel jumping into Kofi’s boots to put both guys down. Kofi speeds things up but walks into a great looking dropkick for two more. The dueling chants begin but Kofi misses a charge into the corner and gets caught in a quick Tree of Woe. Not that it matters as Kofi escapes and hooks the SOS out of nowhere for the pin at 6:44 shown of 9:44.

Rating: C. This was nothing special and the ending came from way out of left field. I guess the idea they’re going for is Axel could lose at any time to Punk and leave Heyman alone but it didn’t do this match any favors. Also it’s not like this does much for Kofi as he’s perpetually in the midcard title hunt. Not a bad match but the sudden ending hurt it a bit.

We get the Bray Wyatt promo from Raw on Kane disappearing while talking about Icarus. The myth, not the indy guy.

Heyman is panicking over what might happen at the PPV when Renee asks him about that very thing. Paul calls tonight an error in judgment and takes the blame instead of putting it on Axel. Renee says that Punk has promised to give Heyman the beating of his life which freaks Paul out even worse.

Naomi vs. Brie Bella

Have we ever gotten an explanation of why she’s Naomi in WWE and Trinity on Total Divas? Brie kicks her down and puts on a chinlock while shouting that she’ll be Divas Champion. Trinity fights out and hits a flipping clothesline for two before they tumble to the floor where AJ, Alicia, Aksana and Layla run to the ring for the DQ at 1:39.

The Total Divas are beaten down and AJ declares herself Divas Champion. This is somewhat booed, which makes me chuckle as they’re really going with the Total Divas as the good people here.

Los Matadores are coming.

Real Americans vs. Usos

Antonio now has a We The People cape, making him even more amazing than he was before. Cesaro charges right at Jey with a dropkick at the bell to send him to the floor. Swagger gets the tag and runs Jey down with a clothesline on the floor before heading back inside. The Vader Bomb crushes Jey and a double stomp from Cesaro makes it even worse. Back to Swager for a double arm trap but Jey fights up and backdrops Jack to the floor.

The hot tag brings in Jimmy who throws Antonio to the floor and hits a big dive to take him down again. Back in and the running Umaga attack in the corner gets two as Swagger saves. Jey superkicks Cesaro down and loads up the Superfly Splash but Swagger shoves him right into the European uppercut for the pin by Cesaro at 3:37. Jey sold that perfectly by stopping cold on impact and looking like he ran into a building.

Rating: C. This started slowly but the ending helped a lot. I’m glad to see Cesaro winning again but he needs to get away from Swagger. Jack is such damaged goods at this point and it’s dragging Cesaro down. Antonio could be a great choice for the corporate enforcer if treated as a serious threat, but instead he’s having to drag Swagger along with him.

HHH comes up to see Big Show and gives him a handicap match against 3MB for what they said earlier. Big Show can use the like stress balls.

The Raw ReBound covers the Big Show/HHH/Bryan stuff that closed the show.

Big Show vs. 3MB

Slater is the first lamb to be slaughtered and Show takes out the knee. The other two are knocked to the floor and the carnage begins. Show unleashes the chops on Mahal’s chest and spears Drew in half. Back in and a double chokeslam takes out Mahal and McIntyre but it’s the WMD to pin Slater at 2:35. Exactly what you would expect here.

Shield comes out as Show leaves but HHH takes the giant to the back.

Seth Rollins vs. Daniel Bryan

Reigns steps forward to distract Bryan and give Seth a cheap shot to start. Bryan comes back with a knee to the ribs and fires off the kicks to a kneeling Rollins. A Cactus Clothesline sends both guys to the floor but Bryan heads inside with Shield closing in on him. Rollins knocks him back to the floor and kicks Bryan in the side of the head for two. Off to a chinlock for a bit before Bryan comes back with forearms and a release German suplex. Bryan hits the corner dropkick and its missile cousin for two.

Back up and Bryan fires off more kicks but the Rollins ducks the roundhouse kick and shoves Daniel to the apron. An enziguri puts Bryan on the floor and Reigns gets in a cheap shot to take Bryan down. Bryan is whipped into the steps but Rollins’ top rope knee is countered into the YES Lock. A Reigns distraction breaks it up though and Bryan hits the FLYING GOAT to take out Roman. Not that it matters though as the running knee to the head pins Rollins at 6:06.

Rating: C+. This was the usual fast paced match these two are expected to have but the limited time they had kept it from being great. It’s good to see Bryan get a clean pin over one of the guys that has tormented him for weeks now so at least he didn’t get crushed again. Nice main event here but it needed a few more minutes.

Bryan bails to escape Shield and poses on the stage…..but Orton lays him out with the belt to end the show. This would be the seventh consecutive show to end with Daniel Bryan laid out since he won the WWE Championship.

Overall Rating: C. This was just ok. We didn’t get much development tonight and the show ended with Bryan laid out yet again. They have to do something by Night of Champions but they kind of put the brakes on Big Show’s story tonight. Instead of being all upset he was given a bone by HHH and was on screen for about five minutes all night. Nothing to see here but it was an acceptable use of two hours.

Results

Randy Orton b. Rob Van Dam – RKO

Ryback b. Dolph Ziggler – Shell Shock

Kofi Kingston b. Curtis Axel – SOS

Naomi vs. Brie Bella went to a double DQ when Layla, Alicia Fox, Aksana and AJ Lee interfered

Real Americans b. Usos – European Uppercut to Jey Uso

Big Show b. 3MB – WMD to Slater

Daniel Bryan b. Seth Rollins – Running knee to the head

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews, and pick up my new book of Complete 2001 Monday Night Raw Reviews at Amazon for just $4 at:

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for just $4 at:

By that I mean rating stars.I was reading a summary of Vince Russo’s latest shoot interview and he mentioned that the casual fans don’t care about a match being four stars and lasting twenty minutes with great workrate.  In something that isn’t often said, Russo is exactly right on this point.  Casual fans care about the story and having fun on any given night.  Look at what is considered the greatest match ever: Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat.  Do you think the match would be as beloved as it was if not for the basic backstory (Savage injured Steamboat and Steamboat is here for revenge)?  The fans wanted to see Steamboat get his revenge and the fact that the match is a masterpiece helps a lot, but it’s not the main reason most fans liked it.

In other words, booking for the fans that want long and entertaining matches is a bad idea, as most fans get bored and change the channel for stuff like that.

Superstars of Wrestling
Date: September 6, 1986
Location; Providence Civic Center, Providence, Rhode Island
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Jesse Ventura, Bruno Sammartino

So I was going to do the September 13 episode when I found out that it was the second episode of the series. This would be during Hogan vs. Orndorff in what was an absolutely huge feud and indirectly led into Hogan vs. Andre the following year. I’d expect a lot of squash matches here which is what Superstars was known for as it replaced Championship Wrestling. Let’s get to it.

We open with an opening. There’s a good idea.

The announcers run down the people on the card tonight.

Ricky Steamboat/Sivi Afi vs. Roger Kirby/Terry Gibbs

The heels try to jump Steamboat and Afi but are quickly atomic dropped to the floor. Steamboat starts with Gibbs but it’s quickly off to Kirby. Now it’s quickly back to Ricky. Gibbs manages an elbow to take Afi down and the heels pound on Afi in the corner. A headbutt from Kirby puts him down but gets rolled up for two to stop the momentum. There’s the hot tag to Steamboat and house is cleaned. He suplexes Kirby down and Afi hits a top rope splash for the pin. Short but not half bad.

Video on Billy Graham training, set to Bad to the Bone by George Thorogood and the Destroyers. Graham, with a freaking tarantula crawling over his face, says he’s coming for Studd and Bundy.

Hart Foundation vs. Koko B. Ware/Paul Roma

This is Koko’s debut. It’s also Ventura’s first appearance since Wrestlemania too. Neidhart and Koko start things off and Koko armdrags him down. Off to Roma who doesn’t have as much luck because he isn’t that good. Bret, who is that good, comes in and pounds him down with ease. Ventura praises him and we get an inset promo from Koko who has nothing to say. While he’s talking the Hart Attack pins Roma. Vince calls it bad officiating but it seemed fine to me.

Koko saves Roma from a beating post match.

MSG house show ad. The Machines, including Hulk Machine, are ready for Heenan and his boys. Hogan trying to sound Japanese is borderline offensive and I’m not even Japanese.

Honky Tonk Man is coming and he wants to beat up Paul Orndorff. He was a face when he debuted until the fans were actually asked if they would give him a vote of confidence. In other words, the fans decided if he was a face or a heel. Now there’s something different.

Ron Shaw/Pete Doherty vs. Hillbilly Jim/Cousin Luke

Luke isn’t that good but he furthered the hillbilly gimmick for Jim. Jim and Shaw start us off and the Hillbilly throws him around for a bit before it’s off to Luke. Luke doesn’t do that well so Jim comes in and mauls them both, finishing Doherty with the bearhug. Total squash.

Meadowlands house show ad. Heenan isn’t worried about Steamboat because he has Mr. Wonderful ready. Orndorff knows what a monkey wrench is, and just like Steamboat’s martial arts, that won’t mean a thing.

Kamala vs. Tommy Sharpe

This is Kamala’s return apparently. Kamala’s manager King Curtis tells us about how great Kamala is. Sharpe gets in more offense than you would expect here, but at the end of the day he’s a jobber and Kamala is a returning monster. The big splash ends this in about two minutes.

Time for the Flower Shop with Adrian Adonis which replaced Piper’s Pit and set up a great angle between the hosts. Piper is the guest and he’s still on a cane due to the knee injury he suffered earlier in the knee. He says he’s not here tonight to fight (despite implying Adonis is female) but he does have a letter. They’re the ratings for the segments on WWF TV, and apparently the Flower Shop is killing them. He gives Jimmy Hart another letter which says that the Flower Shop will be canceled next week so that Piper’s Pit can return. Adrian freaks and it’s on next week.

Rougeau Brothers vs. Mike Fever/Bob Bradley

Bradley was in the last show I reviewed and it was the only time I had ever heard of him. I love little things like that. The Rougeaus aren’t fabulous yet but they take Bradley apart to get things going. We listen to some French commentary for no apparent reason. Total dominance again with Ray getting the pin after the Cannonball that the Quebecers would use as their finisher years later.

We get a clip from a previous Flower Shop where Heenan tries to prove that one of the Machines is Andre the Giant but they keep switching places to confuse him.

Big John Studd/King Kong Bundy vs. Corporal Kirschner/SD Jones

The Corporal and Studd start us off with the Corporal hitting and moving. He pounds on Studd and goes for a slam but Bundy breaks it up. Bundy comes in and uses fat man offense but it’s back to Studd quickly. Jones comes in and it’s Wrestlemania all over again. The Avalanche gets the quick pin. Literal squash. Even Vince says this match wasn’t that good.

Another MSG ad. Harley Race says that Tito Santana is in way over his head.

Vince tells us what’s coming next week and we’re out.

Overall Rating: D+. For a debut episode this was pretty forgettable, but back then it wouldn’t have been seen as all that bad. The idea here was to pump up the house shows so on that front, it did pretty well. It’s hard to criticize these shows because they’re not meant to be some masterpiece and a show that’s going to get you to watch next week like Raw is today. It wasn’t that bad and at 45 minutes, how can I really complain?

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews, and pick up my new book of Complete 2001 Monday Night Raw Reviews at Amazon for just $4 at:

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Clash of the Champions 12: Fall Brawl 90
Date: September 5, 1990
Location: Ashville Civic Center, Ashville, North Carolina
Commentators: Bob Caudle, Jim Ross
Attendance: 4,000

We’re kind of in No Man’s Land here with no major show to build to and none to come off of. This is in the Black Scorpion period so you know things are pretty bad. That’s the main event tonight: Sting vs. the Black Scorpion in what I’m sure will be a classic. Other than that you get a Nasty Boys match of all things. Yes the Nasty Boys in 1990. That should be shall we say, interesting? Outside of that….yeah this is going to suck. Let’s get to it.

Side note: this show winds up having a special moment for me which we’ll get to at the end.

Also keep in mind this has zero connection to the PPV series of the same name. This show is also called Mountain Madness.

Jim and Bob run down the card.

Southern Boys vs. Freebirds

Garvin and Hayes here. We get the music video as it feels like the 80s all over again. You old school fans know what I’m talking about. The Freebirds are faces here which makes me think we might have faces vs. faces here. The Freebirds are the Southern tag champions here which I’m not sure what are. Yep faces vs. faces. This was supposed to be a six man with Bob Armstrong and Buddy Roberts on the respective teams but Roberts has a bad arm so it’s standard.

Hayes and Smothers start us off. The Birds have face paint on which is a different thing for them. Also the ramp is really weird here as it comes to a corner rather than the traditional side of the ring. Ok maybe the Birds are heels but the crowd just likes them. That sounds far more realistic in the South. Smothers hits a nice superkick to send Garvin to the floor. And now the fans think the Birds suck. Maybe it’s just that the crowd is insane.

Armstrong (the Southern Boys are Steve Armstrong and Tracy Smothers in case the names were confusing you. The Freebirds are Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin) hits a SWEET top rope cross body and the Birds go running. Or is it flying? Everything goes nuts so we kind of restart things with Smothers vs. Hayes again. BIG left hand by Hayes catches Armstrong as he’s on the apron.

I’ve looked around and I have no idea what those tag titles the Birds allegedly hold are. Now the Birds are being booed. Caudle thinks if Robert E. Lee had the Southern Boys during the Civil War Atlanta might have been the capital. They really would have been awesome if they had gotten the Confederacy to switch from Richmond to Atlanta for the capital. Yeah I’m that bored here: I’m making US History corrections.

The Freebirds are credited as being the first team to use rock and roll music for their entrances. Ross mentions that here and for once that’s accurate. Listen to some DVDs and see how many people take credit for being the first to do that. Gorgeous George used theme music back in the 50s but I’m pretty sure the Birds were the first to use rock music. Then again almost everyone in WCCW did that at first so it was either them or the Von Erichs. Again, not much is going on here so I have time for tangents like these. I need to do some WCCW stuff.

Armstrong comes in to clean some house and has a nice dropkick. Bob Armstrong comes in to cheat to counteract Roberts’ cheating. Yep his arm is fine of course. Everything goes nuts and Roberts throws a foreign object to Hayes but a double sunset flip gets the pin for the Southern Boys. The heels beat up Bob Armstrong (Road Dogg’s dad. Steve is his brother) after the match.

Rating: C-. Not a great match at all as it was very start and stop which is rarely a good thing. This wasn’t horrible and the fast paced stuff made it fairly good. Far too many dead spots in there though. Also the double Southern gimmick was just kind of a headscratcher. Crowd is red hot though so this was a good opener from that perspective.

Tony talks to the Steiners who just won the US Tag Titles. Rick in a pink hat works somehow. Scott fumbles through both of his lines. They’re fighting Maximum Overdrive tonight. No one has heard of them, which is probably because they’re a pair of jobbers.

Buddy Landel vs. Mike Rotunda

Rotunda would be gone to become IRS in like a day. Landel is still alive here which amazes me. Rotunda has some chick with him that won a poetry contest held by Burger King. Very different time obviously. Technical stuff to start with nothing really all that special about it thus far. Somewhat botched hip toss by Rotunda and we have a standoff.

Rotunda’s tights have an anchor on them for some reason. A second hip toss works a bit better this time as Landel actually jumps. We somehow slow it down even more here which I didn’t think was possible. They slug it out a bit which is definitely the best part of this so far. But enough of that as we hit the mat again. Rotunda gets up and hooks a freaking backslide to get the pin. Wow that’s not something you see everyday.

Rating: D. Just boring filler here as neither guy meant anything at all. Rotunda turned heel soon after this but was in WWF less than 6 months later. This went nowhere at all and was just about five minutes of wrestling to fill in that much time. Landel was pretty worthless here and was gone soon also.

The Freebirds say they’re awesome and are rather ticked off about life in general. Oh apparently they want the Southern Boys again. We get a video of them in Hollywood as they were supposed to be a big time rock band. Fans mob them and that’s that.

Tim Horner/Brad Armstrong vs. Master Blasters

Brad Armstrong is a very underrated wrestler that oddly enough would hook up with the Freebirds as a masked man soon after this. The Master Blasters are a debuting team of giants, one of which has a huge mowhawk which he would soon shave and replace with black hair. When this team died off he would be repackaged as Vinnie Vegas but then he would get released to go to WWF and become a guy named Diesel, who would eventually become known by his real name: Kevin Nash.

It’s weird seeing Nash look all ripped. Armstrong is called the Candy Man here. Any guesses as to what we’re going to see here? Nash, a power guy named Steel, uses a wristlock. Iron, the dude that did nothing other than be a part of this team, is really bad. You can tell Nash is really green here. Iron misses a falling headbutt so badly the fans loudly boo it. When you can see it that clearly without a video screen that’s a bad sign.

Nash hits a decent powerslam on Armstrong to take him down. His eyes are FREAKY as they’re wide open and very white. Nash works the majority of the match as he’s the one that sucks less here. This Iron guy is horrible. He falls down before a dropkick hits him and can’t take a backdrop properly. Horner comes in and gets about 20 seconds of offense in before Nash crushes him. Double shoulderblock ends Armstrong clean.

Rating: D. Just a squash but Iron was HORRIBLE. Nash wasn’t very good yet but he was passable at least. Horner was a jobber for the most part but was decent enough. Armstrong was a good worker but he was a jobber here so you couldn’t see much of that. This was fine for what it was but nothing special at all.

Brian Pillman is going to start a new contest called the gauntlet. Back in the day there was an NWA show on Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. You would have a match on each show and if you won all three you won $15,000. If you lost the three guys split the money. Kind of a pointless concept but it lasted for awhile. Nothing special though.

Missy Hyatt brings out the “greatest world champion of ever”, Ric Flair. He has a US Title match vs. Luger tonight and is rather over since this is definitely Flair country. Nothing is said here at all.

Jackie Fulton/Terry Taylor vs. Nasty Boys

Fulton is the brother of Bobby Fulton of the Fantastics and did some stuff in Japan. This ends his career highlights. Everyone else I’d think you know. Knobbs and Fulton start us off. This is the debut for the Nasties and of course they would be gone in a few months. Knobbs was in the final three of the 91 Rumble so the couldn’t have been in WCW long after this.

Fulton takes them both down very quickly as the Nasties can’t get much going. Caudle tries to say that Jackie is one of the Fantastics which is incorrect but whatever. Taylor sends Sags into the post as the first time team is winning here surprisingly enough. You would think the Nasties were the jobbers here. Taylor is the key to the match here. Why he’s the key is never explained but apparently he’s the key.

The Nasties take over with the highest extent of their wrestling abilities. Taylor gets a sunset flip for two as Knobbs punches the mat by mistake. Heel miscommunication lets Fulton get the tag. He goes up but Knobbs catches him in a nice powerslam, allowing Sags to hit a top rope elbow to end it.

Rating: C. I can’t believe I’m saying this but the Nasty Boys had an entertaining match. This was kind of an odd debut here but the Nasties looked good near the end. Hardly a great match but I thought it was entertaining enough for about 7 minutes. Power vs. speed is hard to screw up even for the Nasty Boys.

Sid Vicious is here and wants to yell at Sting. Sid was a Horsemen here and wants the title, which are grounds for throwing him out. Just ask Sting if nothing else.

Bill Irwin vs. Tommy Rich

Irwin was the Goon in WWF and something close to a big star in WCCW but is a generic cowboy here. Tommy Rich is the most forgotten world champion ever and we start off fast. Rich hits a dropkick to send Irwin to the floor which Ross ensures us is NOT a DQ because his feet hit the mat first. That makes such little sense I’m not even going to try to make a joke out of it so whatever. We talk about the military for no apparent reason other than Rich is wearing a Confederate style of tights.

Rich hits a jumping headlock takeover which looked like he wanted Irwin to carry him over the threshold or something. Lot of headlocks here. Irwin stomps the same way Lance Storm does with that little hop in his kicks. Rich gets a pretty nice counter to a side slam into a sleeper. Charge misses for Irwin and a Thesz Press gets the pin. As surprising as this may be that is supposed to be a pinning combination. I’m not sure how one move can be a combination but you get the point.

Rating: D+. Far too short to mean much and the headlocks were rather repetitive but they were working rather quickly out there. Rich would join the York Foundation in a rather pointless stable but it had some success. Other than that neither guy meant anything until Rich went to ECW and did some forgettable stuff.

We get the WCW Top Ten.

World Champion: Sting

10. Buddy Landel
9. Tommy Rich
8. Junkyard Dog
7. Flyin Brian
6. Stan Hansen
5. Sid Vicious
4. Barry Windham
3. Arn Anderson
2. Ric Flair
1. Lex Luger

Tag Teams:

World Champions: Doom

10. Rotundo/Horner
9. Junkyard Dog/El Gigante
8. Flyin Bryan/Z-Man
7. Samoan Swat Team
6. Freebirds
5. Southern Boys
4. Midnight Express
3. Horsemen (no members listed)
2. Rock N Roll Express
1. Steiner Brothers

Took a minute to list off and that’s all there is to it. I never got the point of these things.

Stan Hansen is mad that he’s number 6 so he’s going to fight everyone above him.

LPWA World Title: Bambi vs. Susan Sexton

So back in the 80s and early 90s there were a fair amount of women’s wrestling companies. None of them were very good and they had a lot of the same rosters. This is another example of one where they try to get their product on national TV. Susan is champion here but it doesn’t really matter all that much as this won’t be mentioned again. Both are in the old school one piece swimsuit-looking outfits.

Sexton works on the knee early as she’s fairly decent from a technical standpoint. This is all technical stuff which isn’t that interesting but is pretty decent from the standpoint of technique. Sexton does the first move that isn’t technical with a reverse cross body. Boring match so far. Small package by Bambi gets two and is reversed for the pin by Sexton.

Rating: D. Yeah this was pretty pointless. The problem with these companies was that there was absolutely nothing separating these girls once they got in the ring. Today you have companies like SHIMMER where the girls are all distinctly different. These girls had different names and gimmicks but inside the ring they were the same thing, making the company pointless. Pretty worthless match but not terrible.

Maximum Overdrive vs. Steiner Brothers

Overdrive is an unknown team and the Steiners just won the US Tag Titles and are more or less considered the only team in the world capable of touching Doom at this point. What do you think is going to happen here? Scott and one of the jobbers start us off. Scott gets a Sharpshooter without the legs being intertwined. The jobbers names are Hunter and Silencer.

There’s a reason I’ve never heard of them. In the words of Steve Austin, it’s because they absolutely suck. Surprisingly enough Rick seems to be the more popular one here. I know I’m not saying much here but this is just killing time before we get to the end. And there it is as Scott ENDS Hunter with the DDT from the top.

Rating: D-. Again I say so? No one thought there was any kind of chance for the no names here and that’s exactly what the case was. Why should anyone have wanted to see a six minute squash, especially when the other team was awful? They were a jobbing tag team and this was their career highlight. Can we go to something else now?

Missy plugs the Main Event and I want to hit her.

Stan Hansen vs. Z-Man

Hmm what do you think is going to happen here? Z-Man wears pink in this, apparently just wanting Hansen to murder him faster. We’re already on the floor and Hansen pops him with a chair. Hansen is kind of a cross between Austin and JBL when he was a bar fighter. He had a match at a WWF/Japanese (might have been AJPW but I’m not sure) with Hogan and he nearly KILLED Fink. In case you didn’t guess Z-Man has gotten a total of one kick in throughout the match here. He gets some jobber offense in the form of dropkicks until a Lariat ends him.

Rating: N/A. Just to show that Hansen is awesome and giving him a reason to be in the building. Keep that in mind.

We recap Luger vs. Flair at Wrestlewar 90 where Luger STILL couldn’t get the title off of him. He’s been US Champion for over a year now so everyone is just waiting on him to lose it. Luger is second only to Sting in popularity but Flair is his Kryptonite. Luger says he’s not used to being the champion vs. Flair which is true as I don’t think Flair has ever challenged him for anything before.

US Title: Ric Flair vs. Lex Luger

I love that black and white Flair robe. It has to be his best one, including the blue one. Since we’re in North Carolina, Flair is more or less the second coming. There’s no feeling out period here since both of them have fought about a million times. Speaking of a million times, Flair broke his back in a plane crash 20 years ago. Flair chops Luger and Luger Hulks Up.

Luger’s offense is limited at best but the fans freaking love him so it’s easy to see why he was pushed the way he was. Flair’s shoulder might be hurt. To the shock of no one that pays attention he’s faking and a cheap shot gives him the advantage. Ross messes up when he talks about Flair’s past, saying he played football and weighed 265lbs, 25lbs lighter than he is now, putting Luger at 290 here.

Basically Flair wants this to get his shot at Sting again. And there goes the knee as Flair gets a solid shot in on it. Flair chops away in the corner then kicks Luger in the knee and repeats the sequence a few times. Nice. Luger comes back again and we get a Flair Flop, but as he goes down Flair pokes him in the eye. That is what you call thinking while wrestling. We hit the fifteen minute mark (more like 10) and Luger gets two on a backslide. We already had one fall off of that move this century so there was no way that was happening.

Flair goes flying off the top as the crowd is way into this. We get the corner flip and clothesline on the apron as Flair is reeling. Another gorilla press and powerslam set up the Rack. It’s a bearhug first which makes sense for once here. Second rope suplex gets two as Flair gets his foot on the ropes. You can hear the crowd groan as they thought it was over. Flair hits a cross body to send them both to the floor. Luger gets back in and gets MAULED by Stan Hansen. This set up their match at Halloween Havoc where Hansen ended the longest US Title reign ever. Luger would get it back about 7 weeks later and hot it seven more months, giving him the title for two years minus 50 days. That’s not bad.

Rating: B. Rather good match here as these two just have insanely good chemistry together. Other than Sting Flair brought out the best in Luger and this was no exception. It’s a natural face vs. a natural heel which is the easiest formula in the world to work and these two did it as well as anyone. Luger chased Flair for years and I don’t think ever beat him for a title.

The Black Scorpion wants Sting. If Sting wins he’ll tell Sting who he is. Sting says he’s ready.

WCW World Title: Sting vs. Black Scorpion

Scorpion has to be very careful here because he can’t let any of his trademark moves come out here so as to preserve his identity. Sting is so popular it’s unreal. This is actually the NWA and WCW Titles at once but they’re the same thing so it doesn’t really matter. Scorpion is in a hood and a mask so he’s doubling up here. Scorpion beats up Sting to start here but something tells me that’s not going to last long.

The announcers try to figure out who is under the mask as it’s been established that Scorpion is someone from Sting’s past. We hit the floor and it’s more or less even. Back in the ring and Sting takes over. He goes for the mask but the Scorpion gets out. There’s a section of about 20 empty chairs about seven to nine rows deep. Those would be excellent seats as they’re about eye level with the ring. I don’t remember them being empty earlier so they must have left or something.

They brawl on the ramp for a bit and Sting takes over. Top rope cross body gets two and Scorpion keeps the advantage. We take a shot at WWF by saying anyone can have a belt made and say they’re a champion but only this title dates back to 1905. That’s nonsense but since when has truth meant anything in wrestling? In something I hardly ever remember, Sting gets the pin off the Splash and not the Deathlock.

Rating: D+. Pretty much a standard match here which obviously was to further the angle which was blown off as Starrcade where the Scorpion was revealed to be of course Ric Flair. This Scorpion was a former midcarder named Al Perez whose name shouldn’t really mean anything to you. The match was more or less just a power vs. power match and I don’t think anyone believed Sting was in anything resembling danger.

Post match Sting goes for the mask and gets it off, revealing a red mask underneath. He goes for that one but ANOTHER Black Scorpion shows up on the ramp. Instead of, oh I don’t know, RUNNING EIGHT FEET TO GET AT THE BLACK SCORPION, Sting stares at him and lets him walk away.

Sting says he’s confused to end the show.

On a semi-related note, the Black Scorpion standing on the ramp and staring down Sting is my very first memory of wrestling ever.

Overall Rating: D+. Pretty weak show but the Luger vs. Flair match is good and the main event has the most popular guy in the world not named Hulk Hogan so it revived the crowd. The problem is this is a two hour show and about an hour of it is just painfully boring. WCW was in a weird spot here as there wasn’t really much of anything for Sting to do and with Flair leaving in about 9 months things would just get worse. It would take a combination of Rick Rude and Paul E. Dangerously (Heyman) to breathe life into the company in about 13 months. This wasn’t much at all but the last half hour was ok. Not worth seeing though.

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Impact Wrestling
Date: September 5, 2013
Location: Wolstein Center, Cleveland, Ohio
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tazz

Tonight is the second end of the Bound For Glory Series as we’re having a gauntlet match for twenty points so we can have one more match to jump someone into the final four. Also we have Bully Ray vs. Sting, which may or may not be for the title depending on whether you listen to what Hogan says or not. Let’s get to it.

Some of the participants in the BFG Series guarantee that they’ll win the gauntlet match tonight.

Here are the Aces and 8’s to open things up. Ray insists that they’re in total control and that he’s very pleased with his teammates. He hugs the members of the team and stops to tell Tito that the people are all jealous of him. Ray especially loves Anderson and gives him an awkward hug. Tonight the Aces are going to dominate everything.

Knux vs. Chris Sabin

Ray is at ringside and is already distracting Sabin. Sabin’s headlock is easily countered by the powerful Knux so Sabin wants a test of strength. Chris suckers him in and wisely goes after the knee with some dropkicks before wrapping it around the ropes for another dropkick to the knee. Knux easily slams Sabin down and stops Sabin cold with a big boot.

Sabin is catapulted throat first into the bottom rope for two and we hit the neck crank. A belly to back suplex puts Sabin down again and a middle rope legdrop gets two for Knux. Knux misses a running crotch attack into the ropes and hurts his knee again. Sabin hits a missile dropkick so Ray sends in the hammer to Knux, only to have Sabin intercept it and knock Knux silly for the DQ at 6:00.

Rating: C-. This was somewhat better than I was expecting but the ending better be part of a bigger angle. Sabin was world champion about three weeks ago and now he’s losing to Knux? It was a decent big man vs. little man match though this was a nice surprise given what I was expecting.

Post break Velvet Sky yells at Sabin for what he just did but Sabin shouts back at her that it wasn’t his idea. He calms down a bit and Velvet isn’t sure what to do.

Here’s Mickie James with something to say. She talks about being in Cleveland which is home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but she’s brought her own trophy instead. She should have been at the VMA Awards and defends Miley Cyrus. ODB comes out to say this isn’t country music land and that she wants the Knockouts Title. Mickie says she’s the star and jumps ODB before talking a lot of trash. ODB fights back and rips off Mickie’s top in a nice visual.

Bound For Glory Series: Gauntlet Match

This is for 20 points and all twelve people in the Series are entered. Two people (Hernandez and Jay Bradley) will start and every so often (likely a minute or so) another person will come in. It’s over the top elimination until the final two have a regular match, winner gets twenty points. Before the fighting starts, Bradley talks about someone paying him to eliminate people and offers to split with Hernandez. SuperMex pounds him down and here’s Joseph Park at #3. The intervals are 90 seconds.

Bradley pounds Hernandez down and goes after ark, only to get caught by some shoulder blocks to give Park some momentum. Park is knocked to the apron but Bradley opts to go after SuperMex instead, earning the hard shoulder block that takes him down. Anderson is #4 and now the intervals are at two minutes. The entrances will be based on your standings in the points coming into the match.

Back from a break with AJ Styles and Samoa Joe now in as well but Park is gone. Kazarian comes in at #6 to no reaction. The crowd has been dead all night so far. Anderson goes up top and gets hit with an enziguri to the floor by Joe for an elimination. Kaz suplexes AJ down but AJ pops right back up and knocks Kaz down. Daniels is #8 and hopefully things pick up a bit. Bad Influence goes after AJ before turning their attention to Joe. A double clothesline misses the Samoan and he clotheslines both of them down to take over. Neither guy is eliminated so they put Hernandez out as Jeff Hardy is #9.

We come back from another break with Roode coming in to complete EGO and stomp on everyone in sight. Bradley tries to put AJ out but eliminates himself by mistake. AJ and Kaz go at it but Styles takes his head off with the dropkick. Aries is #11 and things pick up a little bit. Not that anything else happens but at least nothing is happening faster. Magnus is #12 to give us a final grouping of Magnus, Aries, Joe, Daniels, Roode, Kazarian, Styles and Hardy.

Bad Influence teams up to get rid of Joe and Roode dumps Hardy to get us down to six. Magnus dumps Kaz but gets thrown out by Daniels, leaving us with Roode, Daniels, AJ and Aries. Roode and Aries go at it, only to have AJ forearm Aries out. Roode misses a charge and goes out, leaving us with AJ vs. Daniels. AJ hits the flying forearm but can’t hook the Styles Clash. Instead it’s the Pele and a clothesline to put Daniels out, giving AJ the win, 20 points and a spot in the final four at 29:45.

Rating: C-. This falls into the category of long rather than good. Until the last few people in there was WAY too much standing around and it got boring fast. The other problem here is this wasn’t necessary at all since the same result could have been achieved by having AJ win via submission last week. It wasn’t terrible but thirty minutes was WAY too long for an obvious ending like AJ winning.

The final four are AJ, Magnus, Aries and Roode. AJ gets to pick his opponent for the semi-finals next week.

Bully goes off on Anderson for disappointing him and threatens to break a beer bottle over Anderson’s head.

Sting and Rampage give us some exposition to cover up Hogan botching the announcement of Sting vs. Ray tonight.

Gunner/James Storm vs. Garrett Bischoff/Wes Brisco

Non-title. The Aces and 8’s jump the champions on the ramp but Storm throws Garrett into the ring to start. Scratch that as they head back to the floor immediately and the brawling continues with the champions taking over. We finally get going with Gunner and Storm running over Garrett and Storm getting two off a bulldog. A knee drop gets the same but some cheating by Brisco puts Storm in trouble for the first time.

Storm comes right back with a Backstabber to Wes and kicks him away for the tag to Gunner. The Irish Curse gets two on Bischoff as everything breaks down. Gunner catapults Garrett into a DDT from Storm for two but Brisco takes James to the floor and sends him into the post. Brisco brings in a title belt but is instantly caught, allowing Bischoff to pull out a chain to knock Gunner out for the pin at 6:00.

Rating: D. The match was dull but I don’t have much of a problem with the ending. It’s not like there are a ton of teams challenging Gunner and Storm so why not these two lunkheads? I had forgotten who the tag champions were so any feud is better than nothing for them. The match was dull stuff though, much like the rest of the show so far.

AJ picks Austin Aries because Aries was the one guy he didn’t want to lose to. Aries doesn’t make predictions but says he’ll be in the title match at BFG. That leaves Roode vs. Magnus so Roode talks about how EGO’s plan is coming together. Magnus says he’s gotten here on his own with no one throwing appletinis in people’s faces. He has a family though and will go through anyone he has to in order to get to the world title. Good stuff from everyone here.

Bully Ray vs. Sting

Non-title, since Hulk Hogan can’t be trusted on a live mic after 30 years of talking. Ray reminds Sting that this is non-title because of Slammiversary which brings out Hulk himself. Ortiz is banned from ringside and this match is now No DQ. Sting hits a quick Stinger Splash before the bell and throws the champion to the floor as we take our last break.

Back with Sting working over Ray on the floor in the exact same positions as when we left. Sting hits him in the back with a chair before we head inside where Ray gets in chair shots of his own. Ray heads back outside where Taz hands him a box cutter to cut up the mat like he did at Slammiversary. Another chair shot keeps Sting down so Ray can rip up the padding to expose the wood under the mat.

Ray takes too long though and gets caught in a quick Deathlock, drawing out the Aces and the Mafia for the required brawl. They fight to the back as Ray tries the piledriver on the wood. Sting backdrops his way out but Ray blocks the Death Drop, sending Sting to the at. Ray misses a big boot and gets caught in the Scorpion. Anderson is still at ringside and pulls out the hammer but he won’t hand it to Ray, forcing Ray to tap out at 9:48.

Rating: C. This was your standard Sting brawl with a screwy ending. It wasn’t bad but we’ve seen the Mafia vs. the bikers so many times now that it’s almost impossible to get fired up for it anymore. Anderson screwing over Ray furthers the split which is long past due at this point.

Post match Anderson confirms what everyone already knew: he’s got the title shot against Ray next week.

Overall Rating: D+. The show wasn’t bad but it felt entirely unnecessary. Next week is the No Surrender special which doesn’t feel like it needs to exist either. The focus was firmly on the BFG Series and Aces and 8’s, but both of those stories have dragged on for so long that it’s hard to get interested in them anymore. This wasn’t a bad show but it went on forever and got boring quick.

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According to various words on the street that is.  In other words, the guy who is likely to become world champion at the biggest show of the year might not be signed two months later.  From what I can find, and of course remember to take EVERY report you hear on the internet with a barrel of salt, it’s due to TNA not being able to afford raises that Styles was promised.  You have to think that these alleged financial problems could signal the end of Hogan’s run with TNA.  He must be their highest paid guy and he’s barely ever on TV anymore.

NXT
Date: September 4, 2013
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Alex Riley

Things are getting interesting again in NXT as we started a series of new stories last week. On top of the card we have Sami Zayn wanting the NXT Title but having to deal with the other Real American, Jack Swagger. Other than that we have Sylvester LeFort strengthening his stable with the addition of Alexander Rusev. It should be a fun show tonight so let’s get to it.

Welcome Home.

Bayley/Charlote vs. Alicia Fox/Aksana

Bayley starts with Aksana and the WWE chick wants a hug. The gullible Bayley goes for it and earns the kick to her ribs. Aksana crawls around on the mat before covering and drops an elbow for two. Off to Fox for that gorgeous northern lights suplex for two before it’s back to Aksana for some stomping in the corner. The heels continue to tag in and out quickly to work Bayley over until it’s off to a chinlock from Fox.

Aksana comes back in for more choking but walks into a belly to belly suplex, allowing for the double tag. Charlotte comes in with her gymnastic flipping, including rolling out of a slam from the top in a nice nod to her dad. Fox is put in a fireman’s carry but Bayley tags herself in, much to Charlotte’s annoyance. Alicia accidentally kicks Aksana to the floor, allowing Bayley to roll Fox up for the pin at 4:33.

Rating: C. This wasn’t too bad with Charlotte starting to get her style down. Bayley’s overzealous character could work well as she could drive everyone crazy enough that they’ll want to fight her. The fans like Bayley though so it might be a problem to make the other Divas not like her without turning them all heel.

Charlotte doesn’t seem too mad at Bayley.

Scott Dawson and Sylvester LeFort are in the back when Alexander Rusev’s snarling quiets them down. Tonight is about getting revenge on Mason Ryan so Rusev breaks a board with Mason’s name on it.

Rick Victor vs. Corey Graves

Graves has bad ribs due to the attack by Ascension last week. Victor has stolen Graves’ tag title belt so Graves has even more of a reason for revenge. Corey takes him down to start and sends Victor into the corner to pound away. A headbutt knocks Victor into the corner but he kicks away from Lucky 13. Instead Corey puts on a front facelock but gets rammed into the buckles, jarring those bad ribs.

Corey comes right back with right hands and a snap suplex for two. A cross body puts Rick down but it hurts the ribs again, giving Victor the opening he needed. They slug it out and Graves scores with a mule kick, only to be sent into the ropes hard enough to hurt the ribs again. We take a break and come back with Victor pounding Corey down in the corner. Every time I see Ascension pounding beating like that it puts me in mind of Demolition which is never a bad comparison to make.

A backbreaker gets two on Graves and it’s off to a knee in the back to stretch the ribs even more. O’Brien taunts Graves with the title belt but Victor stomps Corey in the ribs before he can start a comeback. Back to the chinlock with the knee in the back but Corey fights up and makes his comeback with as many right hands as he can throw.

A clothesline puts Victor down and Graves drops a fist to the back of Rick’s head. Conor O’Brien gets on the apron but Adrian Neville dropkicks him down and dives on Conor before he can interfere. Victor loads up Graves for a gutbuster but Graves rolls him into a small package for the pin at 9:51 shown of 13:21.

Rating: B-. The match was good but I’m not liking the booking. The champions have now beaten both challengers clean in back to back weeks, so why should I be interested in seeing them in a tag match? Also it goes against the dominance that Ascension has shown in their earlier matches, which almost defeats their purpose as a team.

Sasha Banks is doing her makeup when Summer Rae comes up to start trouble. Summer talks about Sasha’s match with Paige next week and suggests Paige thinks she’s too good to be a Diva like them. Summer says to use the inner rage and Sasha seems intrigued.

Paige doesn’t care what Summer Rae is doing but knows that Sasha Banks is good. She isn’t here to be a covergirl but rather to cover girls in the ring. Paige promises to give Sasha the fight of her life next week. This wasn’t a very good promo at all with Paige sounding nervous and not being sure what to say next.

Alexander Rusev vs. Mason Ryan

Alexander breaks another Mason board before the match. They lock up a few times to start with Ryan shoving him away both times, so Alexander kicks him in the face. Ryan gets in some right hands, only to have Alexander take him down with an impressive spinwheel kick. Some falling headbutts have Ryan in trouble and more headbutts to the chest get two for Rusev. Mason dodges a charge in the corner and comes back with right hands and a big boot but he has to deal with Scott Dawson and LeFort. The distraction allows Alexander to splash him in the corner and a camel clutch makes Mason tap out at 4:00.

Rating: D+. This was a squash for Rusev and the fact that it’s over Ryan makes it even better. Mason has never shown any potential but has consistently been pushed as a monster. Rusev actually looks good in the ring and would have been a top heel in the mid 80s against Hogan. I like what I’ve seen from him so far and I can dig the foreign monster heel idea.

Leo Kruger laughs a lot and looks down at Xavier Woods who is holding his neck.

Sami Zayn vs. Jack Swagger

They have a ton of time here assuming there’s nothing left on the show. Sami stomps him down into the corner but Jack scores with a clothesline. Zayn will have none of this being on defense stuff though and comes back with chops for two. A dropkick sends Swagger to the floor but he moves before Sami can dive. That’s fine with Zayn who catches himself before the dive and flips back into the ring to fire up the crowd even more.

Zeb Colter grabs Sami’s leg, finally allowing Jack to get in a hard clothesline to take over. We take a break and come back with Sami fighting out of a chinlock, only to walk into a belly to back suplex for two. Another suplex puts Sami down before another clothesline turns him inside out. Swagger puts on a double chicken wing for a bit, only to have Sami fight up and send him to the floor for the big flip dive.

Back in and a high cross body gets two on Swagger, as does a sunset flip. Swagger hits something like a running spinebuster to put Sami down again but Zayn escapes an Oklahoma stampede and gets two more off a blue thunder bomb. Jack goes for the ankle but has to settle for the gutwrench powerbomb for two instead. Now the Patriot Lock goes on for a good while but Sami makes it to the ropes for a YES chant.

Sami fights up AGAIN and sends Swagger into the corner for a jogging big boot. Zayn pounds him down before going up top where Swagger crotches him down, only to be caught in a sunset bomb for a VERY close two. The fans are losing their minds on these kickouts. This draws out Bo Dallas, whose distraction allows Swagger to put on the Patriot Lock for the submission at 13:14 shown of 15:44.

Rating: B+. Sami has yet another great match here by putting the fans on the edge of their seats for those kickouts. Thankfully the loss wasn’t clean as Zayn hasn’t won anything major since his debut if I remember correctly. Still though, very entertaining match here and hopefully it sets up Zayn vs. Dallas down the line.

Overall Rating: B. Can we have a bad episode of this so I don’t have to say the same good things about it every week? This was more good stuff from the Florida people as they continue to roll along. The Sami vs. Swagger match was really exciting stuff and they made sure to build more stories for later. These guys know how to run a weekly wrestling show and it keeps me wanting more.

Results

Bayley/Charlotte b. Alicia Fox/Aksana – Rollup to Fox

Corey Graves b. Rick Victor – Small Package

Alexander Rusev b. Mason Ryan – Camel Clutch

Jack Swagger b. Sami Zayn – Patriot Lock

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Monday Nitro #1
Date: September 4, 1995
Location: Mall of America, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Commentators: Eric Bischoff, Steve McMichael, Bobby Heenan

So nearly three years after Raw got going, WCW woke up and realized that being on Saturday nights at 6:05 for your flagship show was freaking STUPID so they decided to go head to head with Raw by debuting Monday Nitro. Their first episode aired when Raw wasn’t on that week which really was the right thing to do when you think about it.

It’s just one hour tonight for no apparent reason, but they manage to pack a good bit in here, including a very important thing that I’ll get to later on. This is a show I’ve seen at least 5 or 6 times so I remember it being not bad. Let’s see how it was.

I always liked the intro video for Nitro as it was a street more or less blowing up with pictures of wrestlers and a great song. It really was cool and I liked it better than Raw’s for a long time. I don’t think anyone knew who McMichael was outside of Chicago, but when did that really bother WCW?

Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Brian Pillman

I can’t wait to do SuperBrawl 2 as their match there could rival Bret vs. Owen for beat PPV opener ever. Liger is just coming back from a broken leg so he might be a bit rusty, meaning he’ll be better than 95% of the wrestlers in the world. Naturally, they start off hot. This is another one of those pairings where it’s hard to mess it up. We’re two minutes in and Mongo and Heenan are already calling each other names.

This could be a really long night. Eric is pitching the company like no other which is fine here as it might be the first show for a lot of viewers. We get the surfboard which is a move that I always mark for. Bobby has a great line: “I never go surfing. I always have people do it for me.” I love that. McMichael is trying but he’s just lost out there. For the life of me I have no idea why they thought he was a good idea.

Liger gets a hurricanrana from the top rope which was a move that no one had seen for the most part. And no, the Frankensteiner doesn’t count as it’s nowhere near as fast or as crisp. These two were WAY ahead of their time out here as the Cruiserweights wouldn’t rise to prominence for over a year. Out of nowhere, Pillman hooks a rollup for the pin.

Rating: B. This is based on being the first match in the new era of the company. They set the pace for the show as they had a fast paced and exciting match. What else can you ask for from a debut match? These two simply didn’t have bad matches, which makes sense given their talent and styles.

Sting is ready for Flair.

WCW Hotline ad.

Ad for Batman Forever for the SNES. That game SUCKED. You use Down + R to use the grappling hook yet X and Y aren’t used at all. See the problem?

We come back from break to see…hang on I need a moment here. Ok I’m good. We come back to Hulk Hogan at Hulk Hogan’s Pastamania. Hulk Hogan had a pasta restaurant in the Mall of America, complete with a dish called Hulk A-Roos. You can’t make this stuff up at all. He cuts a generic promo but the kids around him are loving it. The guy was great with kids, I’ll give him that. This was one of the biggest jokes in wrestling history though, but it did show how huge and mainstream Hogan was.

US Title: Sting vs. Ric Flair

I’ll give Nitro this: they got the card spot on for the first show. You have a cruiserweight match that’s going to be awesome and was, you have this which is more or less impossible to screw up, and Hogan vs. a big man in the main event. They played things safe here and that’s all they needed to do. And now we get the defining moment for Nitro until Hall showed up: Lex Luger walks down the aisle and stares at Sting and Flair.

Now that doesn’t sound very interesting does it? The thing you have to remember, Luger had been in a WWF ring wrestling the day before. This was the first big shock and since the internet was more or less a non factor for the most part back then, this was a shocking thing. No one knew this was coming and it really did set the tone for Nitro and WCW in the future as Luger was immediately in the main event picture.

The announcers have no clue what to say to this and even though Bischoff knew it was coming, he’s playing it off well. Sting was the perfect choice to put on the show here as he had the speed, the power, the mat wrestling ability, the look, the charisma and the talking ability to be remembered really well. He didn’t have to do much as he hits his third gorilla press, but the crowd is eating it up. Why mess with what works? Make that four of them.

His strength is overlooked quite a bit. We go to a break and when we come back we have a wide shot of the Mall and it looks VERY cool. It’s a three story mall and you have all kinds of people shopping around and we just happen to have a major wrestling show going on. Arn Anderson walks out as Sting misses a splash. Arn and Flair had been having a lot of problems lately and would finally fight at Fall Brawl.

They play up the shock value to a T here about Luger and the unpredictability aspect of the show. Sting hits a top rope suplex. The announcers’ reactions: Bischoff says the ring moved two feet, McMichael says his monitor nearly fell off the table and Heenan says his monitor went black. I wish I was making this up. Flair gets the figure four but Arn comes into the ring for the DQ and he and Flair go at it.

Rating: C+. Again, this is hard to get wrong. It wasn’t one of their better ones, but it wasn’t supposed to be. It got them in front of a TV camera and showed the fans what they had coming. This was a lot like the debut of a new promotion in a lot of ways as no one really knew what to expect here.

They kind of had to restart a lot of things in the early weeks to give the people a feel for what they were all about. The match was fine and they did their regular good stuff, but this was about angles and not the match and that’s fine.

Scott Norton comes out to yell about not being on the show despite having a contract. Savage comes out to yell at him. They set up a match for next week. It’s so adorable that Norton thinks he means something outside of Japan.

Sabu is coming. Dang it.

Some guy from Alabama wins a sweepstakes. This took 10 seconds of ring time.

Ad for Saturday Night, featuring a double main event: Johnny B. Badd vs. Dick Slater and Sting and Macho vs. the Bluebloods. And people wonder why the fans were very happy Nitro debuted.

Mr. Wallstreet is coming to WCW. It was IRS going JBL’s gimmick. This went badly. He even mentions the IRS. Seriously?

WCW Title: Hulk Hogan vs. Big Bubba Rogers

Rogers is Big Boss Man’s 15th or so gimmick. We go to a commercial before Hogan’s entrance and we get a SLIM JIM AD! Oh and there’s one for Hot Pockets too. Jimmy Hart has stars and stripes pants and a jacket. He looks like a walking barber pole. The fans are going nuts for Hogan if nothing else. What are you expecting here?

It’s Hogan vs. big man 101, Like I said earlier they’re playing it very safe and that’s fine. Bubba gets in his offense and Hogan makes a comeback and slams him before the leg drop ends it in about five minutes. A clean pin on Nitro. That won’t happen that often.

Rating: C. It’s exactly that: average. There was nothing special here but it wasn’t unwatchable or anything. No one was expecting an epic showdown here as it was just Hogan defending his title in a token title defense. Nothing wrong with that.

The Dungeon of Doom which had been feuding with Hogan hit the ring and Luger makes the save. Macho and Sting show up to calm them down. This would be your main event at Fall Brawl. Sting, Hogan, Luger and Savage vs. Shark (Earthquake), Zofdiac (Beefcake) Meng and Kamala. I wonder who wins that.

We go to commercial and see an ad for the Muscular Dystrophy Association which sponsored Fall Brawl for some reason. That’s just odd. There’s also an ad for the Eagles vs. Cardinals game. Dang that would have sucked.

Luger says he wants a title shot. Hogan says sure but says he’ll be champion forever and a day. I love delusions of grandeur that almost came true. They make the match for next week and that’s it.

Overall Rating: B+. For a debut show, this was great. They advanced a lot of stuff and set up next week and the future pretty well. With only an hour they did quite well but remember there was no Raw tonight. The ratings were good but they lost for a good while. The wrestling was ok and we got three kinds of matches and angles were advanced so I’d say very good job here. Things would get far worse for awhile though.

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