The announcers welcome us to the show and tell us about Mysterio vs. Guerrera for the Cruiserweight Title tonight. Works for me.

Vampiro vs. Buff Bagwell

Rating: D. Egads this match was dull. Vampiro continues to be nothing in the ring and puts me closer to a coma every time I have to see him. When you remind me of Ernest Miller before he got funny, something is very wrong. Nothing to see here and not a good choice to open the show.

Jerry Flynn vs. Wrath

Horace vs. Meng

Back in and Horace pounds away to almost no effect as Meng comes back with a powerslam. Meng busts out a dropkick of all things and they slug it out again until Horace hits a spinebuster that the announcers claim was an atomic drop. Horace clotheslines him out to the floor and nails an actually decent suicide dive. They head back in with Meng countering a slam into a small package of all things. Horace nails some clotheslines and a Hogan legdrop for two. Then, like the nitwit he is, he tries a sunset flip and gets Death Gripped for the submission.

Flair, Anderson and Robinson are in the back with Charles pouring champagne. A woman brings in some papers for Flair to sign, which he does without reading them. Arn points out how stupid this is but Flair tells him to calm down.

Disco Inferno vs. Mikey Whipwreck

Mikey fights up but gets elbowed right back down. Disco misses another middle rope elbow and gets dropkicked a few times, only to come right back with a clothesline. A Fameasser puts Disco down but Mikey takes too much time going up. Disco pulls him down for a reverse DDT, only to spin Mikey around into the Last Dance for the pin.

This Week In WCW Motorsports.

Disorderly Conduct vs. Saturn/Raven

Saturn wants to accessorize his dress with a Tag Team Title. Raven and Mike get things going with Mike quickly running into a boot. Off to Saturn for a side kick before the stars start tagging quickly. A kick to the ribs sets up a knee lift from Raven who then allows the tag off to Tom. Raven takes Tom down for a top rope knee drop from Saturn for two.

We look at Mysterio getting beaten down on Monday.

Cruiserweight Title: Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera

Rey is defending. They pose to start with Juvy shaking his hips on the middle rope. Juvy runs him over with a shoulder and stops to pose even more. They try a quick pinfall reversal sequence but Guerrera stops to try a powerbomb instead of a backslide. Rey sends Juvy out to the floor but he comes right back in with a tilt-a-whirl slam. A hurricanrana takes Juvy out to the floor and we take a break.

Robinson keeps sucking up to Flair, calling his match on Monday as good as his series with Steamboat. Anderson comes in and complains about not being able to find the woman from earlier. Robinson is sent off to find her.

WCW World Title: Diamond Dallas Page vs. Stevie Ray

Stevie yells at Kimberly to start and gets punched in the jaw by the champion. A hard forearm puts Ray on the floor and Page dives onto both Stevie and Vincent. They brawl in the aisle and then into the crowd before coming out by the set. Vincent gets punched as well before the guys actually in the match head back inside.

Vincent, Horace and Adams come in and get beaten up as well to end the show.

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We’re past Spring Stampede now and DDP has finally become World Champion. The other interesting, and arguably more important, part of the main event was Hollywood Hogan going down with a knee injury. That’s going to be very damaging to the NWO going forward and might even be the death knell for the team. Let’s get to it.

We open with Page in catering when Gorgeous George and Savage come up, saying Page owes Randy the title. Scott Steiner comes in and nails Page with a chair and crushes him with a table leg. Steiner shouts that he’s going to be champion.

Opening sequence.

Ricky Rachman now has DJ Ran with him. The two pests bring out the Nitro Girls for some dancing.

The announcers talk about Page winning the title and his first defense against Steiner tonight.

We look at Steiner throwing Kimberly out of the car a few weeks back.

Here’s Sting with something to say. He talks about the many people that have tried to put him out of action over the years but no one will ever be able to do it. A lot of wrestlers have heart, but none of them are Sting. He’s the man that built WCW because he’s been here since day one. This is his house and his turf and if anyone can say they built this house, it’s Sting. Diamond Dallas Page didn’t build this place, so Sting wants some of Page tonight.

Stills of Mysterio vs. Kidman.

Cruiserweight Title: Juventud Guerrera vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.

Rey is defending. Juvy takes him down by the leg but Rey comes back with some forearms to the head. A hurricanrana attempt is countered by a Guerrera powerbomb and they actually stay on the mat for a bit. With their legs tied together, they stand on their heads and slap each others’ faces. That was different. Rey gets back up but gets caught in a DDT. Juvy makes the mistake of posing instead of covering though, allowing Rey to get back to his feet.

A headscissors gets two for Juvy and Mysterio rolls out to the floor. Juvy follows up this time with a big plancha and sends Mysterio face first into the steps. Back in and Rey hammers away in the corner before countering a Liger Bomb with a hurricanrana. Juvy tries the Juvy Driver but has to settle for a successful Liger Bomb. Mysterio is able to get up and stop the 450 before hitting the top rope hurricanrana, but the Horsemen run in for the DQ.

Rating: C-. This picked up near the end but it really wasn’t anything interesting until the last minute and a half. You don’t expect these two to stay on the mat and it made the match feel disappointing as a result. Then again, maybe both guys were spent after last night. That’s not really an excuse but it’s a possibility.

The Horsemen destroy Rey until Raven and Saturn make the save. Mysteiro doesn’t seem to want their help.

Jimmy Hart and Hugh Morrus are excited to face the new King of Hardcore Bam Bam Bigelow tonight. Hak comes up nails Morrus in the head with a cane to demonstrate how to beat Bigelow. Morrus smiles and beats up a technician. Good grief I’m tired of this angle.

Video on Scott Steiner.

The announcers talk (and casually plug Surge) about Bret quitting and show us a clip of him on an NBC talk show. He talked about WCW screwing up his debut and thinks they mismanaged the last year of his career. This is spliced together with clips of Bret’s promo ranting about how much better he was than people like Flair and Hogan. We also see the Goldberg spear into the metal plate. Bret insists that he’s done and says it’s a shame how bad both companies treated him.

We get stills from the hardcore match last night.

Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Hugh Morrus

This is a kendo stick match so Bigelow throws in some tables before the bell. They hit each other with canes and Bigelow slams him down. Bam Bam takes FOREVER to get to the top and misses a moonsault, only to have Morrus do the same. A table is set up in the corner and both guys are whipped through it.

Jimmy Hart trips Bigelow so Morrus can beat on him with the stick. Morrus takes a stick to the middle rope and tries to stab Bigelow but the stick hits the mat and goes up into Hugh’s chin. The announcers talk about making a Hardcore belt like a Swiss army knife. Morrus sets up another table and loads up the moonsault but only his feet hit Bigelow in the face. Bigelow’s top rope headbutt ends this mess.

Rating: D-. I have no idea what I’m supposed to say about this nonsense. They’re trying to put comedy spots in there now and it’s not making things any better. I don’t know how but somehow this is getting even less interesting to sit through. WCW really was shortsighted enough to think this is what made ECW work. I’m no ECW fan but that’s one of the dumbest things they ever did. I hate this nonsense.

Kidman says he was at a personal appearance and couldn’t be there to help Rey. If he was there, he would have helped of course.

Main event stills from last night.

Here’s Page for his first comments as World Champion. He says he wasn’t supposed to happen and either he’s dreaming or he really won this last night. Page tells Hogan sorry about the leg but Gene gets on him for not being serious. The champ corrects him because he would have loved Hogan to be in the ring for the win. As for Sting, he deserves a title shot but first up is Scott Steiner. He promises to show Steiner that size doesn’t matter, even though Steiner has heard that before.

Nitro Girls.

Tony talks about all the big names here while pointing a Surge at the camera.

Gene brings out Flair with something to say. The President if flanked by Anderson and referee Charles Robinson in I believe his first official affiliation with the boss. Flair says the title is being held up for reasons he doesn’t have time to explain because here are Savage and Gorgeous George. Randy has a piece of paper in his hand and says he’s going to lay the smackdown for Flair right now.

The executive committee and President gave him power in the match last night so Page is still champion. Flair says Savage is never going to wrestle again because he’s going to sit at home and get a check. After tonight, Savage isn’t in the picture at all. Flair rips up the paper and Robinson says Savage isn’t a qualified referee. He makes the mistake of calling George a bimbo and gets one of the best slaps I’ve ever seen.

Savage says he wants to wrestle and has an idea: at Slamboree it’s Robinson vs. George for Savage’s career. Robinson agrees and Flair says Charles will win with the Figure Four. Macho thinks George will win with a big elbow. This brings out a running Sting who says that since Diamond Dallas Trash is ducking him, how about Sting vs. Flair tonight? Anderson accepts for Flair, which is cool with Sting.

La Parka/El Dandy vs. Master Blasters

I really don’t think these are the original Master Blasters but that’s just a hunch. Both guys have stockings over their face so I can’t make out either of them. They’re both very muscular though and have Jimmy Hart in their corner. Dandy starts with #1 and is easily shoved down. A belly to belly suplex puts Dandy on the mat again and it’s off to La Parka. Not that it matters as here comes Nash (rather appropriate), of course drinking a Surge. Nash beats everyone up and the match is thrown out.

Nash shows us a clip of he and Flair talking last week and Hogan not being pleased with it. Back in the arena, Nash says the business he and Flair talked about was him getting a title shot at Slamboree if Flair made it out of last week’s show with the belt. He wants Page to make it to St. Louis (Slamboree location) with the title because what Page did to Hogan was wrong. Page will pay the price Wolfpack style.

More DJ Ran nonsense.

Psychosis vs. Kidman

They start slow with Psychosis grabbing a headlock followed by a running dropkick to the side of the head. Kidman comes right back with a hurricanrana and some right hands in the corner. Psychosis launches him into the air for a big crash and the fans are all over him. Another dropkick puts Kidman on the floor and Psychosis follows him out with a huge dive.

Back in and a missile dropkick gets two on Kidman while the announcers are arguing about fraternities or something. Psychosis sends him back to the floor but his dive is blocked with Kidman’s first dropkick. They head inside again with Psychosis nailing a great looking top rope hurricanrana for two. Kidman misses a splash in the corner but Psychosis makes the eternal mistake of trying a powerbomb. The faceplant sets up the Shooting Star for the pin.

Rating: C+. This was a better match than I was expecting and a good reminder of how good Psychosis can be. Even though he didn’t use much besides dropkicks, he still looked great out there and made the match work. The division is really starting to fill out and it’s making shows much easier to get through.

Nitro Girls.

Stills from Goldberg vs. Nash.

Gene brings out Goldberg for a chat. Goldberg talks about how awesome he is and says that he’s waiting for Bret to come back. Okerlund brings up Luger and Goldberg is ready to knock his face off. Finally, he commends Page on his title win but says it doesn’t make Page immune to Goldberg. He’s coming for the title and no one can stop him.

DJ Ran again. How does this make me want to watch the show?

TV Title: Rick Steiner vs. Booker T.

Booker is defending of course. Rick takes him down to the mat and drives in a few forearms to the back of his head. A suplex sends Booker flying and the announcers ignore the match to insult Mike Tenay for some reason. Back up and a big spin kick drops Steiner and a running forearm does the same. He loads up the side kick but Rick is mostly standing so it’s a superkick instead.

Another superkick puts Rick on the floor for a bit and the champion is in control. Back in and a clothesline puts Booker right back outside. Rick hooks a kind of powerbomb for two followed by his powerslam for the same. There goes the referee but he’s right back up as Stevie Ray comes out to slap jack Rick. Booker didn’t see it and nails the Harlem Side Kick to retain.

Rating: D+. This didn’t do much for me as it was a lot of slowly going back and forth as they waited for the run-in at the end. Stevie Ray and Booker getting back together wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world but I’d really rather see Booker keep going with his singles run. Rick didn’t look good out there tonight as his timing was off and he wasn’t doing anything besides power moves.

Here’s Scott Steiner with his own mic and something to say. He runs down Page for his lack of muscles and calls him white trash. Steiner will take Kimberly too because that’s still a thing.

DJ Ran. Tony: “YEAH! YEAH! YEAH!”

Kenny Kaos vs. Goldberg

Goldberg works on a wristlock to start before taking him down into a legbar. Kenny goes to the eyes and takes him into the corner for no effect. A gorilla press into a powerslam plants Kaos but he pops back up with a slam of his own. He goes to the apron for a springboard shoulder….and totally misses. Goldberg just stands there and watches Kaos fly past him into a crash. A pumphandle throw sends Kaos flying and the spear and Jackhammer end the destruction.

Rating: C-. This was somewhat competitive for a little bit but that missed shoulder was hysterical. Goldberg may not have been the most versatile wrestler in the world but there’s something cool about watching him just run over people and throw them around the ring like a bag of flour. Fun stuff here as usual.

DJ Ran, AGAIN. Rachman talks about the World Title match to kill even more time.

Sting vs. Ric Flair

Robinson is referee and Sting has big white wraps around his feet. Flair gets shoved down a few times to start and the gorilla press puts him down again. Sting: “For old times’ sake!” There’s another gorilla press and Flair rolls outside to scream in pain. Sting carries Flair back to the ring but gets his eyes raked to give Flair a break. Back up and a sunset flip gets two on Ric and of course the trunks go down.

Flair easily loses a test of strength but pulls Sting’s hair to take him down. Sting nips up every time and clotheslines Flair back to the floor. Almost total dominance by Sting so far. Ric sends him into the barricade to take over before going after the knee back inside. Sting blocks a knee drop and puts Flair in the Figure Four. Ric shouts that he gives up but Robinson won’t call for the bell. He finally gets to the ropes so Sting hammers away in the corner and gets in a shot on Anderson as well.

Arn gets back up and pulls Flair out of the way of the Stinger Splash to give Flair his first real advantage. Robinson conveniently turns his head so Flair can hit Sting low. The announcers are actually paying attention to and calling the match. Sting slams him off the top and takes Flair’s head off with a running clothesline for two. Another low blow in the corner slows Sting down but a vertical suplex has no effect.

The chops don’t work (I love Flair never learning in twelve years) and Sting scores with a superplex. Here comes the Scorpion but Anderson gets on the apron for a distraction. Another Stinger Splash misses and Flair gets the Figure Four. Flair grabs Anderson’s hands but Savage comes out to take Arn out. Sting turns the hold over to break and reverses another suplex into the Death Drop for the pin after threatening Robinson with violence.

Rating: B. This is one of those matches that is almost impossible to screw up. It’s the classic story of the schooled technician vs. the charismatic natural and it’s going to work every time they do it. The match was given time and told the story that works every time. There was no major interference, the pin was clean, and there was no stupid DJ to shout about getting up. It was such a refreshing change and proves the theory that good wrestling is always going to make things feel better.

Anderson tries to come in but gets the Scorpion as well.

WCW World Title: Scott Steiner vs. Diamond Dallas Page

Steiner is challenging. Before the match we get an appearance from Roddy Piper to do commentary. Kimberly makes her return in Page’s corner. Page debuts his ever stylish wear the belt backwards look. It’s a slugout to start and Steiner is knocked out to the floor where Page nails a plancha. Steiner is thrown over the announcers’ table but punches Page up the aisle as we take a break.

Back with Scott suplexing Page down and hammering away in the corner. Page gets two off a belly to belly of his own but can’t hook the Diamond Cutter. Steiner shoves him off the ropes and drops an elbow for two. The announcers are back to form by talking about Flair and Savage rather than the World Title match in front of them. Page gets tied up in the Tree of Woe and choked upside down in a Steiner signature spot. A top rope Frankensteiner gets two and the fans finally react to something.

Page comes back with a discus lariat as Piper accuses Page of injuring Hogan’s knee on purpose. A swinging neckbreaker gets two on Steiner and Page sends him into the buckle ten times. Steiner blocks the Diamond Cutter and the referee goes down again. He heads outside and pulls some bolt cutters off the back of the US Title and unhooks a buckle.

Page goes face first and then back first into the buckle before Steiner loads up the Recliner. He won’t put the hold on though with no referee up so Page takes him down with a running DDT. Steiner low blows his way out of another Cutter attempt but Page blocks the Recliner. Kimberly nails Steiner with a chair and the Diamond Cutter retains Page’s title.

Rating: C. The match was fine if not a little bit overbooked. It was annoying to have the commentary barely paying attention until the last two minutes but that’s modern wrestling announcing for you. Kimberly helping to knock Steiner out was a good ending and made sense given their history. It’s a good first defense and sets Page up for the big match with Nash at Slamboree.

Overall Rating: C+. There’s a lot of good stuff in here but the bad stuff really brings it down. First and foremost, the DJ Ran stuff is just annoying. You’re at a professional wrestling show and WCW thinks you need a DJ to fire you up? The matches were good for the most part, save for whatever Hak vs. Morrus was that is. Slamboree should be decent enough and this was a good start to the build. There are some problems in the show though and cutting it down to two hours would solve a lot of them. Unfortunately they seem to be leaning towards the stuff that causes problems rather than the good parts.

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This is a Wednesday show for no apparent reason and we now only have a two man booth. It’s also the go home show for Spring Stampede and we have a main event as of the last fifteen seconds of Nitro. This is also a taped show, meaning we’re probably in for a very dull show. Let’s get to it.

The intro now has the new logo.

Cruiserweight Title: Evan Karagias vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.

Rey is defending of course. Evan punches him down to start and nails something like a bulldog for two. Back up and Karagias misses a dropkick, allowing Rey to drop a dime on the back of his head. A powerslam and springboard cross body get two each for Evan and we hit the chinlock. They head outside with Rey being whipped into the barricade before it’s back inside for chinlock the sequel.

We take a break and come back with Evan still holding the chinlock. Evan stomps away even more as the announcers talk about the major matches for Sunday. Rey finally starts a comeback and ties Evan in the ropes for a top rope legdrop and two. The springboard hurricanrana is countered into a powerbomb but Evan gets crotched on the top and hurricanranaed down for the pin.

Rating: C-. Karagias didn’t mean anything yet so this was fine for a TV title defense. Mysterio was on a roll at this point and a match with a great opponent like Kidman should make for a great PPV match. Karagias wasn’t much besides a pretty boy in good shape so it would take a ridiculous gimmick to draw any interest.

We see Goldberg knocking himself out by spearing Bret.

We get the announcement of Sunday’s main event from Nitro.

Video on Nash vs. Goldberg.

Wrath vs. Damien

Tenay tries to build Wrath up as a title contender and it’s just sad at this point. Damien gets shoved down a few times before trying a headlock, only to get shoved away again. Wrath ducks a shoulder to send Damien to the floor before whipping him into the barricade. Back in and Damien’s dropkicks have no effect and he runs into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker.

Wrath throws the little guy around and sends him chest first into the corner ala Bret Hart. Damien tries a rollup but gets knocked back to the floor and onto the barricade again for his efforts. Back in and a springboard sunset flip gets two for Damien. A cross body gets the same but Damien dives into the Death Penalty, followed by the Meltdown for the pin.

Rating: D+. When Damien hits the better spots of a match, you can tell your career is in trouble. Wrath was on such a roll and it’s a shame that this is the best he can do anymore. The match was your usual power man vs. luchador match but neither guy is the best option for that style of a match.

Here’s Konnan with something to say. He runs down Disco a bit before Sunday so here are Juventud Guerrera and Disco as La Cucaracha. Remember that one off match from a few weeks back on Nitro that was never mentioned again? Well it’s being brought up here. Juvy is going to translate for La Cucaracha and oh dear this is going to be painful. Konnan sees that it’s Disco but Juvy says Cucaracha is from Cancun. Cucaracha says something about bring from Brooklyn and the brawl is on with Konnan quickly clearing the ring. This was worthless.

Video on Konnan vs. Disco.

Video from Nitro of Nash challenging Goldberg.

Hardcore Hak vs. Mikey Whipwreck

This is Mikey’s second WCW match to date. They stall a lot to start until Mikey takes him down by the arm. We actually get some technical stuff with Hak grabbing a headlock on the mat until Mikey has to get to the ropes. That’s enough of that as Hak sends him out to the floor where Chastity can rake his eyes. Mikey comes back with a Russian legsweep to send Hak into the barricade. Back inside and Mikey hits a top rope clothesline for two and we take a break.

We come back with Mikey down on the floor and being whipped into the barricade. Hak misses a slingshot legdrop back inside so Mikey hits a slingshot Fameasser across the bottom rope for two. Whipwreck puts him in the Tree of Woe and baseball slides a chair into his face. With Hak stunned, Mikey goes to the middle rope but misses a spinning dive. Hak drapes him across the top rope and hits a top rope Fameasser of his own. A slingshot legdrop onto a chair onto Mikey’s face has Hak limping as hs calls for a Singapore cane. Mikey intercepts it and hammers away, only to get caught in the White Russian legsweep for the pin.

Rating: E. For ECW, because that’s all this was. It was an ECW style match with ECW wrestlers who even had a history back in ECW. I didn’t want to watch ECW back in 1999, I don’t want to watch ECW now, and I certainly don’t want to watch ECW in WCW. At least ECW had Joey Styles to get on my nerves by thinking he was a radio announcer and calling EVERY SINGLE MOVE in the match because he thought we didn’t know what an Irish whip was without being told.

Bigelow runs out post match and beats up Hak.

This Week In WCW Motorsports.

Scott Steiner video.

Super Calo vs. Blitzkrieg

A quick dropkick puts Blitzkrieg down and Calo dances a bit. He stops long enough to missile dropkick Blitzkrieg to the floor where Calo hits a dropkick through the ropes. Calo dives out to the floor to take Blitzkrieg out again before throwing him back inside. Back in and Calo cranks on the arm but gets rolled up for two.

Blitzkrieg comes back with a dropkick of his own to send Calo out to the floor, followed by a BIG flip dive with Blitzkrieg landing on his feet. A standing moonsault gets two for Blitzkrieg but he gets dropkicked into the corner. Calo cranks on a chinlock to get a breather before missing a charge into the post. He gets back up but gets crotched on top, allowing Blitzkrieg to almost entirely miss a Phoenix Splash (his arm grazed Calo’s chest) for the pin.

Rating: D+. I’m still waiting on Blitzkrieg to blow my mind and I get the feeling I’m going to be waiting forever. The flip dive while landing on his feet was cool but it’s nothing I haven’t seen done before. On the other hand though, the splash at the end was just laughable and it was clear that the camera did as much as it could to hide it. Either that or they thought there was something to looking at the bottom of Calo’s boots.

Video on Benoit/Malenko vs. Raven/Saturn.

Chris Benoit vs. Raven

This should be good. Benoit rips off Raven’s leather jacket to start and then takes Raven’s head off with a clothesline. He bends Raven over his knee in a backbreaker before sending Raven outside for some cheap shots from Anderson. Back in and Benoit charges into two boots in the corner to give Raven an opening. Raven hits what we would call Three Amigos for two but has to escape a Crossface attempt.

We take a break and come back with Raven driving Benoit back first into the buckle. Chris takes him down by the leg and cannonballs down on it in true Flair style. Raven leverages him out to the floor and throws in a chair to make this more comfortable. He can’t hit a bulldog though and gets slammed head first onto the chair. Benoit goes up for the Swan Dive but only hits the chair to put both guys down. They both get up but Anderson comes in for the DQ, because a chair doesn’t mean anything anymore.

Rating: C+. This was the usual good brawl between these two, even if the ending really doesn’t make sense. The tag match on Sunday should be good, though the Horsemen costing Raven and Saturn the titles on Monday doesn’t hold up. Hopefully they’re given some time to make things work.

Post match Saturn comes in to go after Anderson but Malenko saves his mentor. The Horsemen dominate and given Raven and Saturn a DDT and DVD respectfully. Anderson says this is on the fans’ hands.

Video on the four way from Monday.

TV Title: Chris Jericho vs. Booker T.

Booker is defending. Before the match Jericho says Richmond, West Virginia is one of his favorite towns. A fan holds up a Booker T. Hug Me sign and gets her wish in a nice moment. Booker takes him into the corner to start before grabbing a headlock. Jericho fires off some quick elbows to escape and we’re already at a stalemate. The Canadian elbows out of an armbar and nails a shoulder. Booker comes back with a side kick and we’re right back into the armbar.

The announcers mention Steiner vs. Booker for the first time tonight as Booker clotheslines Jericho to the floor. Chris tries to walk out but gets whipped into the barricade for his efforts. They head back in, only to have Jericho get backdropped out to the floor. This time it’s Booker being sent into the barricade though for his first real advantage. A top rope elbow sets up the Arrogant Cover for two. Jericho drops a backsplash and we hit the chinlock.

Back up and Jericho sends him into the corner but gets rolled up for two. Jericho nails a spinwheel kick of his own but stops to pose instead of covering. He goes up but dives into a boot, allowing Booker to hit the ax kick and 110th Street Slam for two. The referee gets bumped, allowing Scott Steiner to come out and hit Booker with a chair. This brings out Stevie Ray to slap jack Jericho for some reason, giving Booker the pin.

Rating: C. Ok so this was Jericho’s final WCW match. It wasn’t bad and I liked it better than Monday’s but it’s still a shell of what Jericho used to be. I really hope Booker doesn’t get swallowed up in the NWO nonsense as he’s one of the few people that has been able to stay fresh by avoiding the whole thing.

Overall Rating: C. This was a nice surprise as the taped Thunders are usually the bane of my existence. The wrestling was good enough and they did enough to promote Spring Stampede. There were still far too many videos and recaps but at least there was enough stuff here to keep me entertained for a few hours.

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Today’s Wrestler of the Day was awes…..well he was good at…..uh……his music was good. Yeah we’ll go with that. It’s Steve McMichael.

Ric Flair/Arn Anderson vs. Kevin Greene/Steve McMichael

This is another attempt at crossing over with football, which just never works for one reason: football players can’t wrestle that well because they get a crash course in wrestling. Now there have been players that have gotten long training and are wrestlers for a long time who become good wrestlers and Mongo got close to doing that, but not when they do it in the off season or after retiring for the most part.

Heenan manages the heels here for no apparent reason. Savage manages the faces because he hates Flair, which is fine as it gives them a lot more credibility. Greene walks like a robot. His wife is hot though so that helps a lot. Rhodes makes a great comment that the football players who have been learning to wrestle shouldn’t try to wrestle. So wait, they wasted their time for the last few months? That’s a great endorsement there Dusty.

Arn and Mongo get down in a three point stance because that’s a brilliant idea where Mongo of course dominates him. Tony says that Mongo left the Bears for money. Remember that line. This really is just getting stupid all around. What’s commonly forgotten about Flair is that he was a college football player as well at the University of Minnesota, so the three point stance isn’t exactly a foreign concept to him.

Very soon we start to see the problem: the football guys know about 5 moves each, two of which are boots and punches. You can see that Flair and Anderson are completely carrying them and calling the whole thing, including hearing Flair call spots to Mongo, which might be due to the extreme close-ups in the corner.

Flair whispered, but with the camera 4 inches from him you can’t really blame him for that. The heel women chase away the face women. The announcers are still trying to make this sound epic and are still failing on every level. Mongo gets beaten on forever until the hot tag to bring in Greene for more punches, tackles and slams. Another five minutes or so of beating on Greene until Flair gets the figure four on.

Debra, Liz and Woman come back but Debra is dressed up now and Liz has a briefcase. You know what’s coming next. The shirt and money are in the case and Mongo hits Greene with it to join the Horsemen and end the match, drawing a huge pop as this is Horsemen country. Post match, there’s a huge beatdown by all four Horsemen. Benoit and Savage fight as I drool over the idea of that feud. You can see Flair say good job to Green after he pins him and the Four Horsemen are back!

Rating: C-. This was just pretty bad to say the least. I’ll give the football guys credit though as they were at least trying very hard. The turn at the end was clearly the most important part and while the match went on too long, it wasn’t terrible for what it was. Could have been better but it also could have been worse.

So Mongo is a Horsement, meaning it’s time for an eight man tag. From Nitro on July 1, 1996.

Rock N Roll Express/Joe Gomez/Renegade vs. Four Horsemen

Anderson vs. Morton to start after a break. Everything breaks down quickly and the Horsemen bail. Flair vs. Morton now. How often do you see all of the Horsemen in one match as a team? Morton gets a rana and there’s the double dropkick by the Express. Were this 1986, the crowd would be in a frenzy. Here it barely gets two. Flair vs. Gibson now and then off to AA.

Enziguri takes Anderson down as the Horsemen aren’t looking all that good here. Off to Benoit and Renegade who hasn’t meant anything in like a year. Benoit hammers away and it’s off to Flair again. No Mongo yet. The card for Bash at the Beach doesn’t sound half bad actually. Gomez beats on Flair and hits a backdrop but Flair cheats and brings in Benoit. Chris was in his element as a Horseman, he really was.

Benoit mauls him and the natural order of the universe is restored. Finally off to Mongo who gets a decent reaction actually. This is his in ring debut as a Horseman I believe. Mongo is in a word, really bad. He does some stuff that looks like a football player doing moves before thankfully bringing Flair back in. Gomez gets a sunset flip on Anderson for two.

There’s a spinebuster which is called a sidewalk slam here. Back off to Benoit who gets caught in a backslide for two. And that more or less ends Gomez’s career as Benoit is all fired up and the punches go flying. Off to Flair who does the same but Gomez manages to escape the Figure Four. Anderson and Flair work the knee and it’s off to Benoit who is all too comfortable with taking apart a body part.

Back to Mongo who is in desperate need of experience for the most part. Powerslam doesn’t look that bad. Neither does an elbow. That was FAR better than his first time in there. Off to Anderson but Gomez gets a shot in and the hot tag to Renegade. He cleans a few rooms and everything breaks down. Mongo totally botches the briefcase shot as he doesn’t actually hit Renegade (he tosses the case and the announcers make fun of him for it) but Renegade goes down anyway, into the Figure Four and we’re done.

Rating: C. Meh pretty basic match here but it was cool to see the Horsemen united like this. Mongo was indeed bad, but it was his second wrestling match ever. How mad can you really get at him for something like that? The powerslam wasn’t bad but he never really got any better at all. Points for trying though.

Now a six man version from Nitro on July 22, 1996.

Sting/Lex Luger/Randy Savage vs. Ric Flair/Steve McMichael/Chris Benoit

No Anderson, not even as a second. Flair isn’t here either but we were told earlier he would be making an entrance. After a break Arn is checking a white limo for whom I’d assume to be Flair. He can’t find him though so Arn, who just happens to be in wrestling gear, is filling in. The announcers speculate about who the next guy in the NWO could be and Heenan says it’s all about money. I guess you could call that foreshadowing.

Sting vs. Anderson to start us off. Mongo takes Sting down and the double beatdown is on. Back inside and here’s Benoit. I’d love to see early 90s Sting vs. Benoit in a 20 minute match or so. Mongo gets a bad neckbreaker for two. A bad dropkick follows and we look at the white limo. Off to the Crippler again and an elbow gets two. Only Sting has been in so far.

Anderson takes a few punches but manages to stop the tag. Back to the football dude who hammers on him in the corner and it’s very clear Mongo isn’t ready to be in there yet. It’s not his fault but he’s just not experienced enough yet. Even a few months in a minor league would have done wonders for him. Lex finally gets the hot tag and cleans house. Everything breaks down and the girls try to slip in the briefcase. Savage manages to steal it back and clocks Benoit with it, allowing Luger to get the easy pin.

Rating: C+. This was fine. It was short but given Mongo, that’s probably a good thing. He was trying but the experience and coordination just didn’t click. He was a great football player but it’s a different thing and I think he learned that quickly. Savage was never legally in the match I don’t think.

We did eight and we did six, so here’s four, from Halloween Havoc 1996.

Faces of Fear vs. Chris Benoit/Steve McMichael

Mongo has barely any experience at all so expect a heavy dose of Benoit here which is hardly a bad thing. If nothing else we get the music again for the Horsemen. This feud went on forever and there was never really a blowoff for it other than it just stopping. Meng and Mongo start and McMichael hides from a kick. Oh that looked bad. It’s always cool seeing Benoit’s mix of wrestling and brawling. Not a lot of people were as good at it as he was.

Mongo loses a sumo match to Meng. Is there a reason this is happening? Mongo wakes up and uses football moves to get Meng down. This works so well that Meng kicks him in the face. I love that. Whenever someone does something stupid, KICK THEM IN THE FACE. McMichael tries some dropkicks. This is a very sad sight. The match is only watchable when Benoit is in there so the tag can’t come fast enough.

In a NICE move, Meng backdrops Benoit into a powerbomb from Barbarian. It’s an awesome move, so Dusty starts talking about the Outsiders. Why you ask? It’s Dusty so this is normal for him. A double headbutt from the top hits Benoit as it’s a good thing that he’s in. Tony talks about an old rule called the One Save Rule, which says that if you save your partner more than once it’s a DQ. This rule isn’t in effect anymore and I’ve never heard of it.

Mongo pops Meng with the briefcase, thereby completely ignoring all stereotypes, and the top rope headbutt ends it. The Dungeon runs in and since the Horsemen are with Anderson at the hospital it’s Benoit vs. everyone. That only works for so long though as the Dungeon stands tall. At least there’s a feud here to explain this. Sullivan goes up to Woman and says let me show you why I’m still the man and does what we would call a punt on Benoit.

Rating: D. I know I gave the previous match the same grade but this is somewhat better. There’s a feud here which makes sense so that’s definitely a good thing. This was really bad when Mongo was in and decent when Benoit was in. Mongo always looked like he was trying, but he just didn’t ever get the hang of it. This is a great example of it.

Mongo would actually main event a PPV in a unique match. From Uncensored 1997.

Team WCW vs. Team NWO vs. Team Piper

WCW: Giant, Lex Luger, Scott Steiner
NWO: Hall, Nash, Hogan, Savage
Piper: Piper, McMichael, Jarrett, Benoit

This is kind of like a cross between WarGames and a battle royal. You have three guys start and go five minutes. Then after two minutes we get another man from each team (Team WCW will miss an entry due to Rick going on and they weren’t smart enough to have Page fill in). It’s elimination style, which means we don’t have to deal with 11 guys in the ring at once. You can put someone out via pin, submission, knockout and over the top.

If Team WCW wins, the NWO is stripped of all titles and can’t wrestle for 3 years. If Team Piper wins, Piper gets Hogan in a cage at a time to be announced. If Team NWO wins, they more or less have carte blanche (Previously they would have gotten a title shot anywhere anytime, kind of like Money in the Bank). They change that back to the MITB thing but it would ultimately be the free reign thing.

Benoit, Hall and Giant start us off. They’re not at ringside which is kind of stupid as you would be able to jump them as they come out in theory no? Benoit jumps Hall before Giant gets there. Not that we can see that as we need to see Giant’s very slow walk to the ring instead. Giant gets in very slowly which is rather smart before taking them both down with a clothesline.

Benoit tries to chop away and it doesn’t work at all. It’s almost hard to believe that Benoit would be world champion before Hall. Basically this is Giant and two other guys in there as he keeps dominating the entire time. Elbow drop on Hall so Benoit tries to jump Giant. No real attempts to throw anyone out but since you can win by pinfall that’s ok.

Sleeper doesn’t work for Hall and Giant gets a huge chokeslam to Benoit for only two. Hall saves, I guess out of fear of fighting Giant one on one. Giant busts out the claw of all things but a corner splash misses and Giant is gone first! That leaves two guys for Team WCW. The clock runs out on the first period and it’s Jarrett, Randy Savage and Luger. That puts five guys in the ring at the moment if you’re keeping score.

It’s more or less a battle royal at this point as Luger can’t gorilla press Savage out. Jeff avoids a Razor’s Edge and here come Mongo, Nash and Scott Steiner. No real effort to put anyone out right now as everyone is really just beating on each other. Belly to belly puts Nash down as we only have Hogan and Piper left. Nash gets a big boot and clothesline to Jarrett and he’s out. Jeff that is. Mongo gets backdropped out so Team Piper has just Benoit and Piper left.

Here are Hogan and Piper so everyone is out there now. Nash gets a big boot to Steiner to knock him out so Luger is all that’s left for WCW, Piper and Benoit for Piper and all of the NWO is left. Wait where’s Hogan? What a shock he’s going to come out last isn’t he? Oh there he is with Dennis Rodman. Piper is on the floor but not out. Scratch that as he’s back now. Seven people in at the moment.

Hogan, Piper and Savage are on the floor with Hogan kind of chilling and Piper choking Savage. The Outsiders beat up Benoit and everyone is finally in there at the same time. Hogan throws Piper through the ropes and they brawl on the floor a bit. After Savage jumps them in the aisle everyone goes back to the ring. In a HORRIBLY stupid looking moment, Piper is sent into the ropes but Rodman pulls it down to put him out. This would have looked passable if Piper didn’t JUMP OVER THE ROPE BEFORE IT WAS PULLED DOWN. And people wonder why they went out of business.

They keep brawling on the floor anyway and Savage helps as it’s the Outsider Edge for Benoit. The tag champs toss him out and Team Piper is gone. Luger is the only one left for WCW and he’s against technically five guys counting Rodman. The NWO literally stands around for a minute and a half posing before Nash sets him up for a powerbomb.

Luger escapes and racks Savage, clotheslines Nash and racks Hall to eliminate all three in under thirty seconds. And never mind as when he goes to rack Hogan, Savage gets the spraypaint from Rodman and pops Luger in the face with it so Hogan can get the winning pin. The NWO won a big match. I’m shocked too.

Rating: B-. The match was actually pretty good as it didn’t really get stupid and for a big multi-man tag, this actually worked. I fail to see why Rick wasn’t out there but still, pretty good stuff. The ending was obvious but it doesn’t ever drag, the stuff they did made perfect sense the entire time and it was kind of interesting. Shockingly good main event.

And now, more football at Slamboree 1997.

Reggie White vs. Steve McMichael

GREAT. This is EXACTLY what this show needs. Why is Reggie White fighting? Who knows? Who cares? My guess is because even though Mongo is a face here, he turned heel on Greene like 11 months ago and this is REVENGE. You would think that Greene would want revenge himself, but he’s in the main event with the guys that Mongo turned on him for. In theory White is a heel here, but naturally he’s treated as the hero against a Horseman in CHARLOTTE. He has his strength coach with him. This is White’s first match ever and they put him with STEVE FREAKING MCMICHAEL. Let’s get this over with.

Feeling out process to start as Mongo is definitely playing heel. They collide and both stumble. They do it again and Mongo stumbles a bit. White hooks a headlock and they ram again with Mongo going down this time. Steve draws the scrimmage line and they go at it with Mongo taking the leg out. They do it again and White jumps over him, then hits him in the side of the ribs which is a “clothesline.”

Mongo tries to leave but one of White’s teammates comes out to throw him back in. It’s a nose tackle from the Packers apparently. White gets some great height on a dropkick for two. The kick sucked but he was UP THERE. The fans cheer for Mongo but he keeps playing heel because that’s what was set before the match and White (not his fault) doesn’t know how to be a heel because HE ISN’T A WRESTLER.

Mongo hooks an armbar and shouts about how Jesus may have White’s soul (White was known as a very religious man) but Mongo has him right now. That gets McMichael sent to the floor and it’s more stalling. White hooks a headlock but Mongo escapes and clips him to take over. Side slam puts Reggie down but he comes back up quickly and puts the headlock on again before hitting a cross body for two.

Off to a nerve hold by White but McMichael hits him low and makes fun of church bells. Off to another leg lock and then a half crab. They ram each other into the corner a few times but Steve kicks the knee out. Figure four is countered and White shoves him down. He actually SELLS THE KNEE….or maybe he’s just tired. They slug it out in the corner and Reggie is all fired up.

There’s an atomic drop and a much better clothesline to put Mongo on the floor. Back in and McMichael takes over, only to have his suplex countered. He hits a splash but there’s no referee because of Debra. Briefcase is stolen by the other football player but Jeff Jarrett comes out and throws in another case and the shot with that gets the pin on White.

Rating: F. As in FIFTEEN MINUTES that this match got. Now before I get into this, I want to emphasize something: Reggie White was TRYING out there. He looked fired up, he was going the entire time, and there have been far worse celebrity performances in the past. That being said, the match was WAY too long and McMichael was the totally wrong person to try to carry him.

Think back to the 96 Great American Bash when it was Mongo/Greene debuting as a team. They faced Arn Anderson and Ric Flair, two of the best ring technicians ever. Flair and Arn walked then through a 20 minute match and it wasn’t that terrible. That being said, this was a HORRIBLE idea. You took basically a rookie and had him work a fifteen minute match with a football player. Horrible match, but more based on the people that put it together rather than the wrestlers.

Another Horsemen match from Nitro, June 30, 1997.

Steve McMichael/Ric Flair/Chris Benoit vs. Buff Bagwell/Masahiro Chono/Scott Norton

Bagwell and Flair start things off and we get a strutting competition. Buff pounds on Flair in the corner and it’s off to Mongo who has a dumb look on his face. Mongo gets caught in the wrong corner but he comes back with right hands to Chono. Back to Flair who pounds away for about five seconds before Benoit comes in to a nice reaction. Chono kicks him down but stops to argue with Flair, allowing Benoit to clothesline Chono down and hit the Swan Dive. Everything breaks down and Vincent comes in for the DQ.

Rating: D+. Nothing to see here as the whole match wasn’t even four minutes long and had the NWO DQ as required by WCW law. Also I’m not sure what was accomplished here at all, but on a shot this big I can understand the matches being this short. It isn’t fun to sit through but it’s understandable.

For reasons that still aren’t clear, Mongo would be given a shot at some gold at Clash of the Champions XXXV.

US Title: Steve McMichael vs. Jeff Jarrett

Jarrett is a talented wrestler from Tennessee who wanted to be in the Horsemen but never fit. He won a match to become a Horseman which gave the team five members instead of the usual four. Jarrett and McMichael (nicknamed Mongo) argued almost every day and Mongo’s wife Debra got in the middle of things because she liked Jarrett and eventually helped him win the US Title in June. Mongo wants Debra to be in his corner because she’s his wife, but Debra just kept causing trouble which eventually (among other things) led to the downfall of the Horsemen.

Jeff speeds things up to start and keeps moving around Mongo while pointing to his head. Mongo misses again and Jeff ducks down into a three point stance to take out the challenger’s knee. Jeff lays across the ropes and struts as he was known to do but gets clotheslined down to the floor for getting on Mongo’s nerves.

We take a break and come back with Mongo being whipped into the steps. Debra chokes Mongo across the ropes to really rub in how evil she is. The fans don’t seem to care though. Back inside and Jarrett hooks a sleeper but Mongo reverses into one of his own. Debra gets the referee’s attention so Eddie Guerrero, another of Debra’s clients, comes out and accidentally blasts Jarrett in the back with the title belt, giving Mongo the pin and the title.

Rating: D. The wrestling wasn’t very good, the story wasn’t very good and the fans didn’t care. What else can you expect from something with all those things going wrong? Jarrett just didn’t work in WCW at all and the whole thing was bordering on being a disaster. Debra screwed up a lot of things in the Horsemen as well as they went from an elite group to petty arguments like you would see in high school.

Mongo’s wife Debra would turn on him and pick up Alex Wright as her new client. Here’s their showdown at World War III 1997.

Steve McMichael vs. Bill Goldberg

This is over Mongo’s Super Bowl ring that Goldberg stole at the previous PPV. Mongo comes out with a pipe Goldberg’s music hits and there’s no Goldberg. Mongo says this isn’t happening and says he can sneak up on people too. We go to the back and Goldberg is out cold. So no one noticed the big man in his underwear out cold on the concrete just behind the entry way? Mongo more or less gives an open challenge, resulting in this.

Steve McMichael vs. Alex Wright

Wright isn’t here because he wants to be but because Debra, Mongo’s estranged wife, brings him out and more or less makes his fight. Wright whips him with his jacket to start. Wright is from Germany so wouldn’t that be a foreign object? Mongo is like screw this and hammers away, sending Wright to the floor. He tries to leave but Debra more or less makes him come back.

Alex tries to fight and gets slammed down to the mat with ease. Mongo is barely breaking a sweat in this. Was there a reason they didn’t have Goldberg in this that I’m not getting? Debra’s voice is irritating to put it mildly. Wright takes over for a very little bit with chops but McMichael takes out the knee. Side slam sets up the Tombstone to end it. Total and complete squash and no rating here. Heenan asks Who’s Next for Mongo. Nah that’ll never catch on.

Here’s the showdown from Starrcade 1997.

Bill Goldberg vs. Steve McMichael

Steve “Mongo” McMichael is a former Horseman and NFL player, but he’s absolutely terrible in the ring. Goldberg is still undefeated at this point and would become a much bigger deal after this show is over. This is happening because Goldberg stole McMichael’s Super Bowl ring and they’ve attacked each other a few times since. The brawl is on in the aisle to start but Mongo’s offense isn’t having much effect. Goldberg literally picks him up and carries Mongo into the ring like a rag doll.

Goldberg picks up a table at ringside as the bell rings and the actual match begins. Mongo suplexes him down for two but a big shoulder tackle takes Steve down for two. We head to the floor where the table is leaning against the post. They fight around the ring with Mongo taking over before heading back inside, only to have Goldberg punch Mongo as Steve dives off the top. Goldberg hooks a quick leg lock and is toying with Mongo at this point.

The spear (the setup for Goldberg’s finisher) hits for two and Goldberg loads up the table on the floor. He tries to slam Mongo over the top and through the table but the referee breaks it up. A dropkick of all things puts Mongo down and out to the floor and we have to be getting close to done. Mongo gets back up onto the apron, only to be punched through the table. Back in and the Jackhammer (suplex but instead Goldberg turns it over into a powerslam) ends Mongo.

Rating: D. This was terrible but Goldberg’s day was coming. It was clear that Mongo just wasn’t any good as a wrestler and thankfully in 1998 he would be pushed WAY down the card and rarely ever have a big match again. The match itself was slow and plodding, but Goldberg would be pushed to the moon very quickly after this.

Brace yourselves. Nitro, February 9, 1998.

Glacier vs. Steve McMichael

Louie Spicolli has jumped into the commentary booth and is carrying bags he says belongs to “his friend” Larry. Still no word on where Larry is. Glacier tries to jump the Texan from behind but gets slugged down to the floor with ease. Back in and Glacier pounds away, only to send Mongo right back to the floor. They head back in again for Glacier to fire off his basic karate stuff followed by a snap suplex. Glacier jumps into an elbow, gets forearmed in the head a few times and the Mongo Spike (tombstone) ends this very quick.

The Horsemen would occasionally team up on TV, including on Nitro, June 29, 1998.

Chris Benoit/Steve McMichael vs. Harlem Heat

Benoit and Booker get us going which is the best idea for everyone. Stevie comes in before there’s any contact though and gets stomped down into the corner with ease. A clothesline out of the same corner takes Benoit down and it’s off to Booker who gets caught in a dragon screw leg whip. Tag brings in Mongo to pound on Booker with his generic power offense until he charges into a boot in the corner.

Back to Stevie for his own generic power offense as the crowd audibly dies. Booker comes back in for a spinebuster for two but Benoit has had enough. Everything breaks down without any tags and here’s Bret Hart with a chair to blast Booker in the back, giving Mongo (who didn’t see Bret) a pin.

Rating: D+. Simple explanation for this: Booker and Benoit good, Stevie and Mongo bad. That’s as basic as you can get here and the fans seemed to feel the same. I’m not even sure why Stevie doesn’t like Benoit in the first place. Is it just because Benoit offered to help Booker whenever he needed it? That’s why we’ve in the third week of feuding?

Mongo would even get some squashes. From Nitro on July 20, 1998.

Steve McMichael vs. Sick Boy

Hey look a match. Tony tells us that the wrecked car is a reference to Jay Leno, who always drives a different car to the Tonight Show. Tony: “That’s all it could be.” Lodi and Sick Boy jump Mongo on the floor and a clothesline gets two for Sick Boy. Mongo comes right back with a three point clothesline and the tombstone for the pin in about a minute.

The Horsemen would reunite in the fall, giving us even more pairings, such as this one on December 3, 1998 on Thunder.

Chris Benoit/Steve McMichael vs. Raven/Kanyon

Before the match Raven sits in the corner while Kanyon grabs a mic. Kanyon yells at him for putting his head through a window tonight and talks about Raven’s mother. The fans actually get tricked as Kanyon asks who is NOT better than Kanyon before we go to Arn Anderson leading the Horsemen to the ring. Benoit runs Kanyon over to start but gets caught in a sweet rollup for twp. They trade wristlocks until Kanyon takes him down and chokes away out of anger at Raven.

Kanyon stops to call the depressed Raven an idiot, allowing Mongo to run him over out of a three point stance. Steve misses a boot in the corner though and gets caught in something like a neckbreaker. The Horsemen take over with Benoit chopping the skin off Kanyon’s chest before stomping him down for good measure. Raven doesn’t do much so Benoit goes over to yell at him before Kanyon gets double teamed some more.

A backbreaker gets two for Chris but he charges into a boot in the corner. Not that it really matters as he takes Kanyon down with a dragon screw leg whip, only to miss the Swan Dive. Raven still won’t tag so Kanyon hits a powerbomb into a faceplant for two as Raven walks away after being tagged. That’s a countout as Benoit puts Kanyon in the Crossface.

Rating: C+. The idea here worked pretty well with Raven’s downward spiral into depression continues with him walking away from his only friend. Other than that the Benoit stuff was very good, but Mongo just wasn’t working out there for the most part. Thankfully he won’t be around much anymore.

Here’s a match that should have happened years earlier. Nitro, January 25, 1999.

Hollywood Hogan/Scott Steiner/Kevin Nash vs. Horsemen

This has A LOT of time, as in nearly half an hour. Hogan is still listed as a Presidential candidate. Before the match, Nash gets a cheap pop and Steiner says that Kimberly has been flirting with him out back. If she wants to tease him, she better be ready to please him. Hogan is glad that there aren’t any WCW or Ric Flair fans out here because they stink very badly. He’ll take care of Ric at SuperBrawl because Flair is the first one being hunted by the Pack.

After a break we get the Horsemen’s entrance and the opening bell. It’s a brawl to start of course and Benoit gets to beat up Hogan in one of the only times they ever had contact. Flair goes after Hogan but Nash makes the save. The NWO clears the ring to start as the announcers bring up Sting for the second or third time tonight. It’ll be nice to have him back. This turns into a discussion of Alex Wright no showing the show tonight.

Benoit and Steiner get things going with the power man running him over and kicking Benoit in the head. Scott runs into a boot in the corner though and Benoit fires off more right hands. A dropkick sends Steiner outside and Benoit holds up the fingers to Nash and Hogan. Kevin comes in for a knee to the ribs but Benoit runs him into the corner and chops away.

Off to McMichael for a slam, setting up the Swan Dive but Hogan makes a save. Steiner gets in a shot from the apron and Nash hits the big boot to take over. Hogan comes in and man alive is it strange to see him in there against Benoit. It doesn’t last long though as Hogan clotheslines Benoit down and suckers Flair in before hiding behind Steiner. A non-existent tag brings in Steiner for a belly to belly and two on Chris. Nash comes back in for the side slam and it’s back to Hogan with a belly to back suplex.

We take a break and come back with Hogan still on Benoit. Again he suckers Flair in but tags Scott to get in a few shots on the Canadian. The fans want Flair as Nash slams Benoit and elbows Ric in the face. Everything breaks down and Benoit gets caught in the Tree of Woe for some choking by Nash. Hogan whips Benoit with the weightlifting belt and suplexes him for another two count.

Choking ensues and it’s back to Nash for the foot choke in the corner. Nash misses a big boot in the corner but Steiner breaks up a hot tag attempt. We hit the bearhug on Benoit and he seems to pass out. Hogan wants the pin but can only get two. An elbow gets the same but the legdrop misses, allowing Benoit to FINALLY tag Flair. Everything breaks down and Bischoff comes in with a foam finger wrapped around a 2×4. Flair gets Hogan in the Figure Four but Nash nails him with the board for the DQ.

Rating: B-. This was the six man formula done very well and the match was very good as a result. Benoit is an excellent face in peril and he had the crowd going nuts for the tag to Flair. I’m fine with a messy finish here as you don’t want to have a champion do a job before a pay per view. If WWE could get that through their heads, a lot of my headaches would go away.

Mongo would leave with a whimper. Here’s his last WCW match on February 8, 1999’s Nitro.

Outsiders vs. Ric Flair/Steve McMichael

It’s a brawl to start and the Outsiders are knocked to the floor. Hall and Flair get things going with Flair chopping him into the corner. Scott comes back with some right hands in the corner to no effect but Hall nails a clothesline to put both guys down. Flair elbows him in the jaw and goes up, only to be slammed back down. It’s off to Nash but Ric is able to tag in Mongo, who stomps on Nash’s foot. Both Outsiders are slammed down but Nash kicks McMichael in the face to take over.

Tony brings up Sting again as Mongo gets double teamed in the corner. Hall hits the fall away slam for two before putting on the sleeper. Mongo jawbreaks his way to freedom and the ice cold tag brings in Flair. Ric beats up Hall with ease and a few knee crusher set up the Figure Four. The hold stays on for a good while but we cut to Hogan knocking on the bathroom door. Bischoff hands him the mop bucket that he poured the bleach into earlier and says that this should work.

Hogan leaves with the bucket and all of the backstage workers are out cold on the floor. Back to the arena and Hall is out of the hold without much damage. A shoulder puts both he and Flair down as Hogan comes out with the bucket. He throws the bleach in it at Flair but hits Mongo to blind him and the match is thrown out.

Rating: D. This was Mongo’s final match and thank goodness for that. The guy dragged down a match between three guys that shouldn’t have their stuff dragged down like this. The fans did not care about him when he was in there and after two and a half years, there’s really no excuse for him to not get any better at all.

Mongo just wasn’t very good. He was given all the help they could give him, but there just wasn’t enough there to make him work. I’ll give him this though: to come from a football career into this spot and do even close to decent is impressive. He could have gotten a lot of good out of being in developmental for a few years but instead he was thrust onto the main show and it never worked out. Great theme song though.

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Today is one of the most technically sound guys you’ll ever find in wrestling: Bobby Eaton.

Bobby Eaton vs. David Price

Feeling out process to start with Eaton shoving him down and stomping away. Price gets sent hard into the buckle and gets pounded against the ropes. A powerslam and running elbow drop give Eaton the pin in a basic Memphis TV match.

Still in Memphis on January 8, 1983.

Bobby Eaton/Sweet Brown Sugar vs. Jacques Rougeau/Terry Taylor

Rougeau is the Mid-America Champion and Taylor is the Southern Champion. Sugar is more famous as Koko B. Ware. Taylor and Eaton get going to start and things speed up, which you know is going to be at least moderately awesome. Off to Sugar who is immediately taken over in a headlock by Taylor. Rougeau comes in and things slow down a bit. We get a test of strength resulting in Rougeau monkey flipping Sugar down.

Back to Eaton who is taken down by another headlock as things slow down even more. Eaton has black hair here which is an odd look on him. The heels finally wake up and cheat to take over on Jacques. Taylor gets a quick hot tag and cleans house, only to get poked in the eye and taken down. Sugar works on his back and then the arm as the fans are WILD about Taylor. Back to Eaton with a knee drop for no cover.

Sugar comes in again and I think this is 2/3 falls. They’re really bad about letting us know these things in advance. I get that it’s a common thing of the era, but if you’re someone like me who doesn’t get to see this regularly, a little notification would help. Taylor finally gets away from Eaton and it’s off to Rougeau for a quick middle rope dropkick on sugar, good for the first fall.

We start fall #2 with Sugar taking over on Rougeau. Back to Eaton as Jacques is in trouble early on. After some quick offense from Eaton, Sugar comes back in for a fast chinlock. Rougeau misses a cross body out of the corner as Eaton ducks and gets two off of it. Jacques finally makes a comeback but doesn’t tag for some reason. Eaton trips him up coming off the top, allowing Sugar to drop an elbow on him for two.

Rating: C. There’s no time for a third fall so this is going to end in another draw. This wasn’t bad and it was fast paced enough, but I’m not a big fan of Koko and I’m certainly no fan of Taylor. Still though, this was certainly interesting enough to keep my attention for the last fifteen minutes of the show. Not great but not bad so we’ll go right in the middle.

We’ll look at a singles match from WCCW in 1985.

Scott Casey vs. Bobby Eaton

Feeling out process to start as the announcers make fun of Eaton’s pink tights. Eaton takes him into the corner but gets kicked back as they’re still in first gear. Casey gets caught in a headlock on the mat and Bobby hammers away with shots to the back. Back up and a gorilla press sends Bobby flying but he grabs a rollup for two. Right hands in the corner don’t have much effect on Casey as he comes back with a big chop and puts on a hammerlock.

Back up and Casey steals a green jacket which is a plot point of some kind. Casey puts on a sleeper as Jim Cornette freaks out over the jacket. Bobby Fulton comes out to protect the jacket as Eaton puts on a hammerlock. He switches it into a kind of cobra clutch as the match slows way down. Back up and Eaton gets two off a suplex but can’t force the shoulders down for another try. Casey starts his comeback with right hands but gets nailed in the back by Cornette’s tennis racket. Fulton takes care of Cornette, allowing Casey to roll Eaton up for the pin.

Rating: D+. Not great here but the jacket thing was a distraction. I’d have rather seen the Midnight Express against the Fantastics but you can only get that on occasion. Casey was passable in the ring but never did much beyond the basics. He did however train Booker T. so he knew a thing or two.

Eaton’s greatest success was of course with the Midnight Express, including this huge match at Starrcade 1986. I have to include the post match stuff as it’s more famous than the match.

Midnight Express vs. Road Warriors

This is the scaffold match, meaning there’s a scaffold about fifteen feet above the ring and you have to knock your opponents off to win. The Express is Bobby Eaton and Dennis Condrey and they have Cornette and Bubba with them. On the other hand we have Hawk and Animal, the Road Warriors. These two were BEASTS who were basically indestructable and insanely popular.

Condrey thinks about going up to face the Warriors but climbs back down because he’s not that crazy. Cornette, who is legitimately terrified of heights, goes on a rant about how this isn’t civilized. Dennis and Bobby finally get up top and the punishment begins. The scaffold is maybe three feet wide and there are no railings on it at all so they can barely move up there. There are some railings at either end so at least there’s some safety up there.

The Express throws powder in the Warriors’ eyes to blind them which is pretty terrifying this high up. Hawk’s legs go over the edge but he crawls back up. Animal is laying down with one leg dangling over and Bobby winds up hanging from said leg. He manages to swing back over to the structure and climb back up as this continues. Condrey is cut open and tries to climb down the ladder but he gets rammed into the scaffold for his efforts by Hawk.

Condrey and Hawk get under the scaffold and kick at each other with Condrey trying to monkey bar away. Animal and Bobby join them and a few moments later the Express get kicked down, giving the Road Warriors the win. As someone who is scared of heights, my stomach can now calm down.

Rating: D+. This is a hard one to grade as it’s hard to criticize them for moving around so slowly given the fear of potential death involved. There’s only so much you can do that high in the air with no safety rails and they did as much as they could have. The Road Warriors would move on to feuding with the Horsemen soon after this.

Post match we get the famous part of the match as Cornette goes up top and runs into Animal. Cornette tries to climb down and winds up hanging from the bottom of the scaffold. He drops down…and Bubba isn’t there to catch him. Jim lands on his legs and basically destroys both of them, causing him problems for the rest of his life. Cornette tries to shout to Bubba to carry him to the back because his legs don’t work but his legs are so destroyed that he can’t get his point across. Animal later said in interviews that it was the funniest thing he’s ever seen.

We’ll jump ahead to Great American Bash 1987 for the biggest rivalry of the team’s career.

World Tag Titles/US Tag Titles: Midnight Express vs. Rock and Roll Express

This match happened twice on the tour and I think this is in Atlanta. The Rock N Roll Express are the world tag champions and the Midnights are the US Champions and it’s title for title. Gibson vs. Eaton to start us off and there’s no Cornette here which is REALLY weird to see. Off to Stan Lane who doesn’t have much luck either. He gets sent to the floor and now it’s off to Morton.

A Japanese armdrag gets one for Ricky. Lane makes a tag and Eaton can’t get anything going either. This has been all Rock N Roll so far. Back to Morton who gets into a test of strength. I love seeing that from smaller guys. Ricky literally climbs up onto Eaton’s shoulders and drops over the back. I’m not sure what the point of that was but it looks cool.

Sweet rana gets two for Morton and it’s back to Gibson. A rana misses there and Lane cheats to save Eaton so that the Midnights can take over. I’m not sure what to make of Gibson being the one beaten down but it’s certainly happening. The Midnights beat down Gibson as only the Midnights can do even though they never really do since it’s always Morton getting beaten down but who cares. Hot tag brings in Morton (that may never be said again) and house is cleaned. A double dropkick gets two on Lane and everything breaks down. Bubba comes in with a Bubba Slam and it’s a DQ.

Rating: B-. This is one of those matches that is always good and this is no exception. They know how to have great tag matches and this is something that you flat out did not see back in the day. The Rockers claim to have introduced this style but if they did then they never watched the NWA because these guys were doing it years before that. Good match, bad ending.

Eaton had some singles matches around this time, including a title match at Bunkhouse Stampede.

NWA TV Title: Bobby Eaton vs. Nikita Koloff

Eaton is half of the Midnight Express, who are the US Tag Champions here. Koloff is a monster. In other words, this would be like Batista vs. Carlito. Koloff, the Russian evil man, is a face here due to Magnum TA’s car wreck. It was overly complicated but it was all they could do. Caudle was a good commentator that was underrated. Also, why is the TV Title being defended on a PPV?

They mention the contrast of styles before they make contact. I think Eaton’s mullet is alive. Surprisingly, Eaton has a gut on him. Naturally since there so many empty seats, we need to keep going to a wide shot. Sure why not. We get a LONG feeling out process as Cornette tries desperately to coach Bobby. Back in this era, he was the best in the world and had lapped everyone else at drawing heat as a manager.

We keep stalling as we’re about five minutes into this and the most exciting thing has been a hammerlock. Koloff works the arm as you can see a big Winston Cigarettes ad in the background. That’s just odd by today’s standard. Hey look at all those empty seats! Tony is your ring announcer who says we’re five minutes in with fifteen to go. I have a bad feeling about this.

They fight on the floor and the fans want to cheer for this. They really do. The referee looks like he’s about 80 years old. Cornette gets in an argument with the cameraman over following him. That’s kind of amusing. You can hear him yelling the whole match. Normally the AUDIENCE would drown him out but not here.

We hit the headlock again as this is just boring as all goodness. The fans pop off a SLAM. See? The crowd wants to like this stuff but they can’t get into it because of far too high of a level of suck. More headlockage as this match sucks. We hit the floor again. Nothing of note happens other than Koloff taking over by posting him. Cornette is apparently waddling around the ring. Ten minutes down, ten to go.

Back in and Eaton is in control again. Now we go to a hammerlock. Seriously, half of this match has been them doing mat holds for like 4 minutes at a time. Eaton hits a missile dropkick for the first interesting move of the show so far. Ah never mind. Back to the hammerlock. Sorry, thought we were doing something interesting there for a minute. Didn’t mean to confuse anyone.

Koloff taps but that doesn’t mean anything for about 6 more years in America. Cornette runs through every insult he can think of in a 20 second period and it actually wakes me up for a bit. We’re still in the hammerlock mind you. Five minutes left. Jim truly is making this bearable with his yelling at Nikita. Of fifteen minutes, probably seven has been hammerlock. Four minutes left. HE BROKE THE HAMMERLOCK!

The Russian Sickle, his old finisher, hits and we’re at a standstill. Ah never mind, more hammerlock. We’re told Eaton does something awesome. Not that we saw it or anything as we were on a shot of some fans. Three minutes to go. Two minutes left. Nothing but hammerlock in between there. He breaks the hold again but that lasts all of 8 seconds as we HIT IT AGAIN. With a minute to go, he’s still cranking on the arm. Is he an Anderson in disguise?

You know, Eaton is stupid. The arm stuff doesn’t work for 15 minutes so he KEEPS DOING IT. Koloff just beats him up for a bit and lets the time run out. Yeah, that’s how it ends. He gets the tennis racket post match but Stan Lane comes in for the double beatdown. Koloff would lose the title TWO DAYS later to Mike Rotunda. Clearly they couldn’t put that on the PPV right?

Rating: F. Nu uh. No. This was not working. Seriously, over half of this was hammerlock. I was losing my mind with boredom here, but Cornette brought me back from the brink. This is how you open your PPV? Seriously? Awful excuse for a match if there has ever been one.

Another Great American Bash, this time in 1988.

US Tag Titles: Fantastics vs. Midnight Express

The Fantastics (Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rogers) are champions and if they win they get to lash Lane and Eaton 10 times and they get to lash Cornette as well. Jim will be up in a cage above the ring though which is funny stuff as he’s legit scared of heights. I’ve always liked the Fantastics so this should be good. Cornette is in a straitjacket as well.

Cornette freaks out as only he can do, getting in such lines as “THIS JACKET HASN’T BEEN TAILORED!!!!” and then trying to bribe the referee with 5,000, 10,000 and finally 15,000 dollars. The referee turns him down so Cornette says “WHAT KIND OF CRACKPOT ARE YOU? YOU’RE AN HONEST MAN! BOBBY HE’S AN HONEST MAN!!!” Cornette gets in the cage and has one of the best terrified reactions you’ll ever see. “AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! I’M GOING UP IN THE AIR!!! MOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!” Hilarious stuff.

Ok so now there’s the bell as all of that was just pre match fun. Bobby Eaton vs. Bobby Fulton gets us going. Fulton tries a cool move by sliding between Eaton’s legs but pulls him down into a sunset flip position for one. Eaton takes him to the mat with a headlock to take over but a headscissors sets up a rana to put Eaton right back down. The fans are all over Cornette who I think is having a heart attack.

Lane comes in and fires off some awesome kicks to send Fulton out to the floor. Lane’s martial arts were always good. Rogers comes in and beats up some Midnights to take over again. We hear about the Maryland State Athletic Commission, which no one has ever heard of before and is foreshadowing for later tonight. Eaton pops Rogers in the face but a blind tag brings in Fulton again and everything breaks down. The champions send the Midnights to the floor and dance a bit.

The focal point is mainly the arm of Lane and Rogers backflips out of a backdrop but a blind tag brings in Eaton for a bulldog. This is a total chess match with both teams trying to top each other. Stan takes Tommy’s head off with a slingshot clothesline and it’s back to Eaton to destroy him a bit more. Swinging neckbreaker gets two. Lane comes back in and fires off some kicks to send Rogers into Eaton for a Low Down backbreaker.

Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker gets two as Rogers is in the ropes. Cornette is still sitting in the cage and is freaking out. We’re at about eleven minutes which JR and Tony tell us more than once because I guess we need to know it really badly. Rogers finally gets in a shot but Lane is in to break it up. He misses a kick by what must have been a good six inches (or half his foot, whichever you prefer). (I’ll now pause for you to roll your eyes at what might be the worst joke I’ve ever made).

Fulton tries to come in illegally which doesn’t work because most faces aren’t good cheaters. Sunset flip gets two for Rogers but Eaton takes him down quickly. Top rope legdrop (Eaton’s is great) hits for a tag instead of a cover. The Midnights keep up the beating but a Rocket Launcher eats knees as we hit fifteen minutes. It’s finally a hot tag to Fulton and everything breaks down. Double teaming puts Fulton onto the floor and he takes a slam out there. Down goes the referee and Stan has a chain or something. Eaton winds up with it and pops Fulton with it for the pin and the titles and a face pop.

Rating: A-. Don’t let anyone tell you the 80s weren’t the best time ever for tag team wrestling. This was for the midcard titles and it was a great match. It’s totally awesome as both teams work together so well and you got a great match out of it as a result. This was what they did on all kinds of house shows and the scarier part is that the Rock N Roll matches with the Midnights were probably even better regularly.

The Express would stay in the title picture at Capital Combat.

US Tag Titles: Tom Zenk/Brian Pillman vs. Midnight Express

This works. It’s Eaton and Lane in case you weren’t sure. The faces are the champions here. Pillman has hot pink tights and a mullet. There’s something funny there. Cornette has to be in a small cage at ringside but this time it isn’t going into the air.  Randy Anderson hits a clothesline and DOWN GOES CORNETTE!

He’s put into the cage and freaks out over it. We hear more about Mama Cornette who was the person that paid for all of his stuff but was never seen. The cameraman is wearing a bright green shirt. Is there a reason for this that I’m just missing? We start very fast as the champions hit a SWEET double team slingshot into a double clothesline. That was nice.

The Midnights are in peach and are getting their teeth kicked in. Them running up to the cage for advice is kind of funny. They’re kind of starting and stopping here which is sort of odd. Zenk and Lane go at it with Stan throwing out his kicks and we hear about Flair training him. That’s not something you hear about every day. In essence we have two high fliers vs. two semi-high fliers.

This has been very good so far. It’s a great example of the idea of a dream tag match with two kind of thrown together guys and a career tag team which can work very well. This one is seeming to be like that. They work over Pillman for a good while which was their specialty. This was a great time for tag wrestling, with the Midnights and the Rock And Roll Express who are on next leading the charge.

Eaton hits a pretty nice elbow drop from the top rope. I like that. The ropes are a very odd color scheme of blue, white and yellow. Yeah that’s just odd. Bobby hits his top rope legdrop which doesn’t have a name yet. Very good match so far. Pillman tries a Tombstone but he kind of botches it so he improvises into a suplex sort of move. THAT is smart, as going for the piledriver would have looked terrible.

Zenk comes in and hooks a sleeper which is called a sleep hold. He kicks out of the Rocket Launcher. That’s saying a lot as it was the Midnights’ finisher. With Pillman being put out of the ring, Lane hits an enziguri on Zenk into a small package for the pin. Nice ending to a very good match.

Rating: A-. This was very fun to put it mildly. This is like I said a great example of a match where you have two kind of thrown together people and a great team and it turns into a great tag match. All four guys worked hard and it turned out to be a great match with very good chemistry all around. Worth seeing.

Here’s a match from Great American Bash 1990 which Cornette has called one of the best Express matches he’s ever seen.

US Tag Titles: Midnight Express vs. Southern Boys

The Southern Boys are the challengers and are Steve Armstrong and Tracy Smothers. The Midnights clear the ring almost immediately and the fight heads outside. The Southern Boys get Eaton alone and hit a double backdrop followed by a double shoulder to send him out. Lane is knocked out too and Cornette freaks. He yells at a fan “WHY DON’T YOU SIT DOWN AND WIPE THE UGLY OFF YOUR FACE YOU STUPID PIG FACED MORON?” I love Jim Cornette.

Armstrong and Eaton officially get us going and Eaton gets an early advantage. He gets slammed off the top though and Armstrong speeds things up to take over. It’s not often that speeding things up works on Eaton but it is to a degree here. Smothers comes in and Eaton has just as much luck as he did with Armstrong. Smothers fires off some martial arts shots and Eaton complains.

Eaton gets thrown around a lot and superkicked to his own corner. FINALLY he tags in Lane and it’s time for a karate fight. Lane gets in the first shot and then a few more to a big reaction. Now Armstrong superkicks Lane and then does the same to Eaton. Back to wrestling now with Smothers working on the arm. Lane escapes and tags in Eaton who is taken down with an armdrag as well.

Eaton gets knocked to the floor and Armstrong kicks him down again. The Southern Boys ram their heads together and Cornette freaks out even more. This has not been his day at all. Smothers rolls Bobby up but Bobby made a blind tag, allowing Lane to throw Smothers over the top and ram him into the barricade to take over for the first time. Smother tries to speed things up but Bobby takes his head off with a clothesline.

Off to lane again as the Southern Boys are in trouble. The beating continues and Eaton hits the Alabama Jam. It hurts him too though and it’s back to Lane. Smothers gets two off a sunset flip. The Midnights use their double team moves and a swinging neckbreaker puts Tracy on the floor. Smothers manages to slingshot Eaton to the floor and then rams Lane’s head into the buckle.

Lane comes back with some kung fu fighting, but both Midnights get caught in a single sunset flip. Smothers has some great thinking here and runs over to tag out instead of the improbable tag. Everything breaks down and the Southern Boys hit a sweet double team move resembling a Hart Attack with Armstrong hitting a missile dropkick instead of the clothesline. That gets two and the Midnights take Armstrong down and the Rocket Launcher gets two. The Southern Boys switch and Smothers rolls him up for two. Lane manages to kick Smothers in the head from the apron and Eaton rolls him up to retain.

Rating: A. GREAT match here with the fans absolutely coming unglued to end things. The Southern Boys got a lot better in about the blink of an eye while the Midnights would drop the titles to the Steiners later in the year and then would split, with Lane and Cornette starting up SMW and not being in WCW ever again that I recall. Outstanding match here though, which Cornette called one of the best Express matches ever.

Another singles match from Starrcade 1990.

Bobby Eaton vs. Z-Man

The Z-Man is somewhat more famous as Tom Zenk and is allegedly on a thirty five match winning streak. This is Eaton’s major solo debut after Cornette and Lane left to make their own company in Smoky Mountain Wrestling. Soon after the match begins we’re informed that Ric Flair is out of the world tag team title street fight against Doom and will be replaced by Barry Windham.

Feeling out process to start with both guys going for the arm until Z-Man jumps from the mat to the top rope and hits a spinning cross body for two. For 1990, that’s a HUGE spot. Z-Man takes him down into a hammerlock as Dangerously talks about Eaton breaking up the Midnight Express because Eaton’s partner was dating Yoko Ono. Point for a funny line if nothing else.

Eaton comes back with some hard right hands but he lets Z-Man get up instead of following in on him. A quick dropkick gets two for Z-Man and it’s back to the armbar. Eaton reverses into one of his own as they take a breather. Bobby puts him on the ramp (there’s now a ramp leading from the entrance down to the ring) but Z-Man suplexes Eaton out of the ring and onto the ramp. A BIG dive from the ring onto Bobby fires up the crowd again but Z-Man can’t pin him out there.

Back in and Ross says that Dangerously is a “psychoceramic. You know, a crackpot.” Eaton hits a quick bulldog to set up a top rope legdrop but doesn’t cover for some reason. Instead he misses a charge into the corner and gets caught by a dropkick for two. Eaton comes back with a neckbreaker but he jumps into a kick to the chest. Now Z-Man goes up, only to miss the missile dropkick, allowing Eaton to roll him up for the pin.

Rating: C+. See, THIS is the kind of match you should open things up with. It was fast paced, it was exciting, and the fans are into the show now. Eaton and Z-Man both looked good out there and the fans were way into it. St. Louis has always been a good wrestling town and they responded well to the opener which is always a good sign.

Eaton would get a TV Title shot at SuperBrawl I.

TV Title: Arn Anderson vs. Bobby Eaton

Eaton is freshly face here for no apparent reason and Anderson is the champion coming in. They’re still using the NWA TV belt which is far better looking if nothing else. Eaton is vastly underrated in the ring so this should be good. This is a very old school, NWA mentality match meaning it’s rather slow for the majority of people’s tastes, but it’s working pretty well. Eaton works on the arm and Arn works on the leg which is just odd for an arm man like himself. At least the leg work makes sense here as Bobby is a high flier.

Anderson works on the leg. And I mean for about 5 minutes straight. Ok, we get it: his leg is messed up. We of course get the big face comeback but as he’s going for the Alabama Jam (top rope leg drop) Barry Windham comes out but is stopped by Pillman and they have no bearing at all on the match, making their appearances completely pointless other than to make us miss the pin as we see Brian chasing him to the back when the pin happens. That’s BRILLIANT guys.

Rating: D+. It wasn’t bad, but it was boring as all goodness. Almost half of this is Anderson working on the leg which makes sense but dang it was boring and I’m an Anderson fan. This just wasn’t anything special, although Eaton winning a singles match was a big deal. Some people will love this but it wasn’t that great.

Eaton was on such a roll at this point that he would get a World Title shot at Clash of the Champions XV.

WCW World Title: Ric Flair vs. Bobby Eaton

2/3 falls and Flair has different music here for some reason. Eaton is TV Champion though he had lost the title on a show that hadn’t aired yet. They slug it out in the corner to start and Eaton takes over with a shoulder and some elbow drops. A clothesline puts Flair on the floor but comes back in with a hard right hand to the jaw. Bobby will have none of that though and hammers Flair down with right hands, giving us a Flair Flop (Flair faceplanting down onto the mat).

Eaton puts on a short arm scissors into a hammerlock but Flair reverses with a nice amateur move. The champ gets a bit too cocky though and Eaton pops him in the face with another right hand. Flair heads outside again and suckers Eaton in for a cheap shot to take over. Back in and Flair throws him into the corner before stomping away for good measure. A knee to the face gets two for Ric but Bobby comes back with some solid left hands.

Flair goes up top but is slammed down like always. Another right hand puts Flair on the ground and a backbreaker puts him down again. Eaton takes him down with a neckbreaker and the Alabama Jam (top rope legdrop) gets the completely clean pin to give Bobby the first fall. There’s a thirty second rest period between falls.

The second fall begins with Flair eating a right hand to put him face first on the mat again. A backslide gets two more for the challenger and he goes to the corner, stops to punch Flair down again, and then goes up again. Flair shoves him off the top and wouldn’t you know it, Eaton has hurt his knee. It’s amazing how that always happens in Flair matches. Eaton can’t beat the count back in and the second fall goes to the champ.

The third fall begins with Flair dragging Eaton back in but Bobby comes back with a superplex for a delayed two count. Bobby can’t follow up and gets caught in a belly to back suplex, followed by the Figure Four with hands on the ropes. The referee catches the cheating so Flair clips the knee and puts the hold on again. Eaton fights as long as he can but passes out to end the match.

Rating: B. Another good match here with some solid storytelling and Eaton getting a huge rub as a result. This is a good example of a match where a guy loses but comes out looking far better anyway. Eaton got a clean pin over the World Champion in a title match. What more can you want for him?

Here’s a better Anderson match from Saturday Night on May 15, 1993.

Arn Anderson vs. Bobby Eaton

They trade headlocks to start with Arn shoving Eaton to the mat to take over. An elbow to the jaw puts Anderson down on the floor and he takes a breather. Back in and Eaton goes after the leg for a bit before they head right back outside. Anderson backdrops him on the concrete and catapults him throat first into the bottom rope. Eaton gets an elbow up in the corner but walks into the spinebuster for the pin out of nowhere.

Rating: D+. It wasn’t great but the match worked well enough. The winner was pretty obvious as they spent the entire time talking about Anderson getting an NWA World Title shot at Slamboree (yes that actually happened, though I don’t remember it ever happening before or after). The spinebuster looked great too.

Eaton would hook up with Steven Regal as the Bluebloods at this point. Here’s a Tag Team Title match at Clash of the Champions XXXII.

Tag Team Titles: Sting/Lex Luger vs. Blue Bloods

The challengers are Lord Steven Regal and Earl Robert Eaton, which is Bobby Eaton now as a nobleman. Sting and Regal start things off and we get our first contact after a minute of posing. Regal cranks on the arm to start but gets dropkicked into the corner. Sting says bring it on before it’s off to Eaton vs. Luger. Lex is sent to the floor but Eaton walks into a backdrop on the concrete. Back inside and Luger poses, sending Eaton to the corner for a tag.

Luger slaps Regal in the face and says bring it on. Regal is tentative but sends Luger into the corner for some European uppercuts before tagging Eaton in again. A jawbreaker puts Luger down but it staggers Eaton enough that he has to tag Regal only a few seconds later. The Blue Bloods start double teaming Lex and Eaton nails his top rope knee drop.

Regal puts on his self named Stretch but Sting makes a quick save. Eaton goes up top but gets caught in a weak powerslam from Luger and they collide with each other. The hot tag brings in Sting, who knocks Eaton off the top and into Regal, setting up the Deathlock for the submission from the Earl.

Rating: C+. Just a nice little title defense here against an acceptable pair of challengers. Sting and Luger clearly weren’t going to lose the belts the night after winning them, but it was a nice performance by Eaton and Regal. It’s a good idea to have hands like the Blue Bloods around to put on a solid match and they helped do that here.

Off to the Nitro era now with this match to make a kid look good. From Nitro on October 21, 1996.

Chris Jericho vs. Bobby Eaton

Should be good. Tony says Sting is here and has a match scheduled with JL. Syxx and NWO Sting are here. After a break we’re ready to go. Patrick is referee and is still hurt. Jericho speeds things up to start and hits a dropkick and shoulder block to control early. Eaton comes back with a bad powerslam for no cover. Jericho hits the springboard dropkick to put Eaton outside. If Jericho wasn’t so pale I’d think he was the Cheetah Kid from last week.

Eaton works on the arm back in the ring. They slug it out and this match probably needs to end soon. They’re just not clicking out there. Jericho sends him into the post and they hit the floor. The Canadian’s elbow hits the post but Eaton misses a shot and stumbles up the aisle. Back in and Eaton hooks a swinging neckbreaker for no cover. A top rope kneedrop mostly hits for two. Jericho hits something like a jumping superkick and then a missile dropkick for the pin.

Rating: D+. Really surprising here as the match didn’t click at all for the most part. The ending was a lot better but other than that they looked totally out of sync. Jericho would get a lot better and I don’t think Eaton would be around much longer after this. Jericho would get Syxx on Sunday.

Jericho says that in six days he’ll get the first win over the NWO. He actually would, but it wouldn’t be until World War 3.

Video on Mysterio and how awesome he is.

Dean Malenko vs. Jimmy Graffiti

Graffiti is more commonly known as Jimmy Del Ray of the Heavenly Bodies. Graffiti takes over early and looks pretty stupid in his shirt with the word Graffiti on it and jean shorts. A Batista Bomb gets two for Graffiti as does a superkick. Malenko comes back and knocks him to the floor where he lands on the top of his head. Fake Sting is watching this and filming it. This prompts Tony and Larry to discuss if Rey has joined the NWO.

Dean hits a clothesline in the corner and a suplex but the Cloverleaf is broken up. Graffiti gets in his bit of jobber offense and they both go to the floor off a Malenko cross body. Back in and Graffiti tries something resembling a dropkick but gets caught in a powerbomb kind of move. The Cloverleaf ends this clean. It gets the Power Pin of the Week which is a sponsorship thing despite it not being a pin.

Rating: C-. Just a long squash here as Graffiti was never any threat to Deano Machino. I really don’t know why they brought in Del Ray of all people but he was fine for a jobber role I suppose. Dean would get the title back from Rey on Sunday before losing it to Ultimo Dragon at Starrcade.

One last WCW match, from Nitro on February 16, 1998.

Bobby Eaton vs. Curt Hennig

Speaking of throwing some veteran out there, here’s Bobby Eaton for the first time since April. They trade slaps to start until Hennig chops him out to the floor. Rude throws him back in so Hennig knee lifts Bobby back to the floor so Rude can throw him in a second time. Let’s do that sequence one more time in case you didn’t get the point already. Back in and Eaton takes advantage of Curt yelling at the fans by clipping the knee. Tony lets us know that Hennig has been gone because of his knee so there’s some psychology thrown in. Not that it matters as Hennig hooks the PerfectPlex for a pin out of nowhere. Glorified squash.

We’ll wrap it up with the World Wrestling Legends reunion show.

Midnight Express vs. Bob Armstrong/Scott Armstrong/Brad Armstrong

Cornette is the manager of the Express (Lane, Condrey and Eaton) and the more famous Armstrong (Brian, as in Road Dogg) isn’t here so who really cares? Cornette says the Armstrongs have been a thorn in his side for years and tonight he can get rid of them. When was that? Well Condrey looks like crap.

BOBBY HEENAN IS MANAGING THE ARMSTONGS!!! HOLY FREAKING SMOKES!!! Heenan looks a bit bad here but not too bad. Wow this is awesome to see. Bob Armstrong is in a mask for absolutely no apparent reason. You can see through the face part of it though so there’s zero point to it at all. Condrey vs. Brad, who is very underrated, to start us off.

Eaton comes in and doesn’t look that great. Off to Scott who is the referee that was in WWE that had the hitch in his count. We get the Heenan vs. Cornette showdown which is the main point of this match. And they just look at each other and now back to the match. Off to Lane vs. Scott now with the crowd kind of dead for this for some reason. Here’s Bob who is old as the hills and in the mask and never really was anything special but who cares?

Stan kicks Brad in the back to give the Midnights the advantage. Bob was in there maybe four seconds. Stan dances a bit as Cornette chokes Brad. This is awesome to see them together again which is the idea here. Heenan gets a chair. When would Bobby EVER do that? Brad gets a pretty ugly looking suplex to break Eaton’s momentum.

Everything goes nuts and Cornette pops Bob with the tennis racket which does nothing at all. Heenan takes out Cornette so that Bob can pop Bob to pin Eaton. In other words Bob Armstrong pinned Bobby Eaton after Bobby Heenan got him the tennis racket. Wow these were unoriginal parents.

Rating: D. Boring match of course as Bob Armstrong looked horrible in there and for the life of me I still don’t care for the mask but whatever. This was just for the managers which the announcers point out which is fine. This wasn’t anything of note but seeing the Midnights was awesome all over again. Bad match, cool moment.

Bobby Eaton is one of the most natural wrestlers you’ll ever see. The guy can just get in the ring and go with anyone, making him very fun to watch. You’ll hear a lot of wrestlers talk about how Eaton was a night off in the ring because he could do everything himself and make the other guy look good. Watch his stuff if you want to see a guy that just knows how to wrestle.

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We’re still in my hometown for the taped version. After last week I don’t even want to imagine how bad this one could be but it can’t be worse than some of the stuff they’ve done before. As expected, WCW is coming off a pretty lame show earlier this week as almost nothing happened on Nitro. We’re a few weeks away from Spring Stampede and a lot of the card has already been set. Let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

The announcers welcome us to the show and promise us a World Title match tonight with Ric Flair defending against…….Barry Windham. Yes, in 1999 Barry Windham is getting a World Title shot. Ten years ago this would be must see TV, but why in the world are we seeing it now? Oh of course: it was awesome ten years ago and that means everyone today is going to love it. I’m sure the match will be decent at worst, but man alive it doesn’t make me want to sit through two hours to get there.

Scotty Riggs vs. Jerry Flynn

This is going to be a very long two hours. Scotty takes him down with an armdrag and does the Crane pose. Jerry comes back and Scotty bails to the floor as the stalling begins. Back in and Flynn scores with a chop followed by some of his martial arts stuff. Jerry misses a bicycle kick in the corner and Riggs goes after his legs. This goes on for a good while as he lays on Flynn’s leg before getting small packaged for two. More leg work eats up time as we hit an Indian deathlock on Jerry.

Flynn fights up with some punches, only to be dropkicked in the knee to get us right back where we were. Things stay slow with Riggs kicking at the knee and using his wide variety of clotheslines and punches. Flynn finally counters a clothesline into the cross armbreaker for the submission. Mike: “The winning streak lives on!” This would be a winning streak of zero, as he lost to Meng on Nitro in his last televised appearance.

Rating: D-. I know I sounded annoyed by Flair vs. Windham, but I at least get the thinking behind it. This was nine minutes where I could feel my brain melting away as I watched each boring moment. Riggs just isn’t any good and never has been, but Flynn is a guy whose employment I do not understand.

Video of Bagwell and Steiner splitting up.

Mike Enos vs. Wrath

Wrath feels like a relic of the past despite being on fire about three months ago. He takes Enos into the corner for some knees to the ribs but Enos grabs a quick armdrag. Wrath puts on a headlock before running Enos over with a shoulder block. Enos escapes a suplex and grabs a rollup for two before getting knocked out to the floor. We actually get something interesting as Wrath hits his cannonball off the apron and we take a break.

Back with Wrath scoring with a top rope clothesline for two before we hit the chinlock. Enos fights up and nails a superplex, giving him a target in Wrath’s back. He cannonballs down on it a few times and puts on a half crab. A rope grab forces the break before both guys try cross bodies. Enos scores with a neckbreaker but walks into a Rock Bottom followed by the Meltdown for the pin.

Rating: D+. Not a bad power match here but it was too long again. Wrath fell through the floor like few others you’ll ever seen and it’s kind of a shame. Enos on the other hand never went anywhere in WCW, but he wasn’t bad in the ring. He could wrestle a decent power match and didn’t screw up anything big. That’s more than you can say for a lot of jobbers.

Video on Lex Luger.

Fit Finlay vs. Chris Adams

Oh yeah we’re on a taped Thunder. Finlay hammers him down to start and drives in some elbows to the face. We hit an early chinlock but Adams avoids an elbow drop. Not that it matters as Finlay takes him down and cranks on the arms. Back up again and Adams scores with an armdrag to send Finlay out to the floor. An enziguri staggers Fit and we hit a sleeper from Adams.

Finlay escapes with a jawbreaker and we hit another chinlock. An elbow drop sets up a third chinlock as this show is putting everyone to sleep. Adams comes back with a belly to back suplex for two. He nails the superkick but it knocks Finlay out to the floor. Back in and Finlay backdrops him out to the floor before ducking a high cross body. Finlay plants him with the tombstone for the pin.

Rating: D+. It was a faster paced match but it’s the same problem with every match tonight: it’s so basic and slow paced that there’s nothing to get interested in. The superkick looked good but it was forgotten a few seconds later. This was the seconds glorified squash in a row, but it was slightly shorter to make things easier.

Video on Benoit/Malenko.

Blitzkreig vs. Kidman

Thank goodness for the cruiserweights. A dropkick puts Kidman down early but he comes back with a running clothesline. They fight over a wristlock until Blitzkreig is sent to the apron for a springboard missile dropkick. The fans are so bored that they don’t even respond. A corkscrew Asai moonsault takes Kidman down and finally gets a reaction, albeit a small one. Back in and Kidman hits a running layout powerbomb for two, followed by a slingshot legdrop.

We take a break and come back with a preview (Ringside Release) of a TBS original movie. Oh and make sure to get in the closing graphics before we see more of the match. Back with Kidman in control before Blitzkreig hits a very flippy kick to the back of the head. Off to a head scissors on the mat to keep Kidman in trouble. A standing twisting moonsault gets two for Blitzkreig but Kidman comes back with a sitout Pedigree.

Kidman nails a middle rope legdrop and we hit the chinlock. Back up and Blitzkreig nails a quick dropkick but tries a powerbomb. The obvious faceplant from Kidman gets two but Blitzkreig gets two off a spinning victory roll. Kidman gets crotched on the top and Blitzkreig slips a bit while trying a top rope huricanrana. A corkscrew moonsault misses and Kidman hits the Shooting Star for the pin.

Rating: C. It’s the best match of the night by about 500 miles but it’s nothing special. I can see why Blitzkreig was so revered at this point, but his stuff just doesn’t hold up. He’s the stereotypical flippy 90s cruiserweight who adds flips instead of doing good moves. For a comparison, look at someone like Kidman who does one flip move but consistently has better matches and gets bigger pushes. He may not be as flashy, but he’s a far more complete wrestler.

This Week In WCW Motorsports.

Horace vs. Kaz Hayashi

Hayashi is still doing the Glacier entrance and it still changes nothing about him. Horace takes him into the corner to start but can’t throw Kaz across the ring. Some dropkicks and a spinwheel kick get one on Horace but he nails Kaz with an elbow to the jaw. Hayashi is thrown outside and into the barricade a few times.

Back in and Horace tosses Kaz around a bit until he comes back with a bulldog. Kaz goes up but dives into a clothesline to put him back down. Horace loads up a powerbomb but gets hurricanranaed out to the floor. A suicide dive hits Horace’s knees but he’s able to hit a missile dropkick for two back inside. Horace comes back with an electric chair and the H Bomb (Samoan drop) for the pin.

Rating: D+. This wasn’t terrible actually, but as usual the stakes are just so low that it’s hard to get into the match. They did a decent enough power vs. speed formula and Kaz’s dropkicks were nice, but at the end of the day it’s a glorified Horace Hogan squash. That’s not the easiest thing in the world to get behind.

Recap of the US Title tournament so far.

US Title Tournament First Round: Saturn vs. Booker T.

This has to be more interesting. We stall to start with Saturn slowly taking off the top of his dress and then walking around for awhile. Booker takes him down for a nice sequence on the mat before a flying forearm puts Saturn down. A hook kick to the jaw does the same and of course we have to take a break. Back with Booker getting lowbridged to the floor and having to avoid some flying stairs. They head inside again with Saturn putting on a bearhug of all things.

A big superkick drops Booker and we hit the seated abdominal stretch. Back up and a t-bone suplex gets two on Mr. T. and Saturn puts on a sleeper. He lets go of the hold for no apparent reason and charges into Booker’s boot in the corner. Booker does the same thing to Saturn’s boot and gets taken over by a German suplex. Saturn misses a top rope splash and Booker hits all of his usual stuff, finishing Saturn with a rollup and a pretty fast count.

Rating: C-. Not bad again but the lack of energy was really glaring. Booker winning was of course the right choice, but it still doesn’t make for a good match. Neither guy looked all that interested in being out there and the finish made things look even worse. Saturn’s dress continues to make me scratch my head, even after hearing his explanation for it.

60 seconds with Goldberg.

WCW World Title: Barry Windham vs. Ric Flair

Tenay briefly mentions the history between the two but doesn’t mention their classics from ten years earlier. The announcers aren’t sure why Hennig didn’t get a shot but Barry does. Barry quickly takes him down with a headlock but Flair asks for a mic. He says he’s going to take five women home and make women out of them tonight. Also there’s a fat boy yelling at him from the front row.

Back in and we hit another headlock before a basic sequence results in Flair getting knocked down by a shoulder. Windham cranks on an armbar before Flair chops him in the corner. We take a break and come back with Barry holding Flair in the Figure Four. Tony: “You can see the Figure Four on but I think Windham has Flair in the hold.” Good to know that Tony goes for popcorn during the breaks. Barry hits a running lariat and a backslide gets two. Flair breaks up a sunset flip with a right hand and they slug it out.

A clothesline puts Flair down for two and Ric gets in Charles Robinson’s face for some reason. The champ suplexes Windham down but Barry comes back with one of his own. Robinson counts very slowly and then does the same after the superplex. Windham gets up to yell some more despite Flair not moving. Robinson trips Barry up in the confusion and gets put in the Figure Four, only to have Arn Anderson pull Barry into the ropes. Arn whispers to Barry and Windham walks out to end the show.

Rating: C. It wasn’t bad but it was mainly kicking and punching until the ending picked up a bit. The angle at the end is somewhat interesting as you have Flair’s closest friend having enough of Ric’s cheating, despite doing about a hundred times worse back in his day. The match was nothing great but it could have been far worse. The audience didn’t get interested though.

Overall Rating: D. Believe it or not there were some things that were far better about this episode than the previous editions. Above all else, they cut WAY down on the video packages. It was common to have nearly half an hour spent on those packages so having them cut down to maybe five minutes was a very nice change of pace.

It spent a lot more time on the wrestling, but that brings us to the biggest problem: there was a lot of wrestling, and the majority of it was really boring. The key word there is boring, because most of it wasn’t bad. It’s just clear that this show doesn’t mean anything to WCW and it’s very dull to sit through.

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