TV Title: Booker T. vs. Curt Hennig

Curt is challenging. Booker shoves him into the corner to start as the announcers talk about the second World Title change on Monday. A hiptoss sends Curt out to the floor and we take an early break. Back with Hennig hammering Booker down and kicking him in the ribs. They switch to boxing for a bit until Booker nails him with a forearm to the head for two.

Some right hands in the corner have Booker in trouble but Curt steps forward for a hot shot into the buckle. A low blow has Booker in even more trouble and Curt chops away in the corner. Curt puts on a sleeper for a good while before hitting a piledriver for two. Booker pops back up and hits the super, ax and side kicks. He goes up for the missile dropkick but Stevie Ray comes in with the slapjack to Hennig for the DQ.

Hotline plug

The Nitro Girls are getting their own site.

Video on Nash.

Here are Hak and Chastity with something to say. Hak talks about how awesome his hardcore matches have been and calls the three way with Bigelow and Raven the most extreme match ever. Chastity gets to pick his opponent for tonight and the schoolgirl chick selects Kevin Nash. Great. The hardcore mess is invading the main event.

Booker and Rick Steiner are fighting backstage. Why WCW thinks anyone cares about Rick Steiner in 1999 is beyond me.

WCW will be on QVC soon.

Video on Goldberg.

Jerry Flynn vs. Stevie Ray

Hardcore Hak vs. Kevin Nash

Bam Bam Bigelow comes out and wants to keep Hardcore Night going by getting a shot at the World Title. He issues the challenge to Page “from one homey to another.” Sure why not.

This Week In WCW Motorsports.

Goldberg vs. Meng

QVC promo.

Slamboree ad.

Randy Savage vs. Disciple

WCW World Title: Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Diamond Dallas Page

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of 1997 WCW Monday Nitro Reviews at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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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For the life of me I don’t know why I didn’t go to this show. I remember hearing about it on WCW TV around this time but I never saw an ad for the show life. I went to the other Thunder but not this one for some reason. Anyway, WCW is coming out of a really good Nitro and a big upgrade to this month’s pay per view, even though it wasn’t a great show. Let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

The announcers talk about Nitro’s tag match and mention Flair walking out on Goldberg. They did a really bad job of explaining that on Monday as Flair was legdropped a few seconds earlier and was down when the show ended.

Kenny Kaos vs. Bobby Duncum Jr.

Kaos grabs a few headlocks on the mat but gets countered into a headscissors every time. A hard shoulder sends Duncum to the floor and back inside a powerslam gets two for Kenny. Bobby comes back with a shoulder block but pulls Kaos up at two. He follows up with a shoulder breaker for two and we hit a quickly broken chinlock. Bobby gets a boot up in the corner but walks into a powerslam for two. Duncum comes right back with a Skull Crushing Finale for the pin.

Rating: D. Maybe it’s a good thing I didn’t go to this show. There were a few weeks there where Thunder was trying, but a Bobby Duncum Jr. vs. Kenny Kaos match isn’t trying. It’s filling in the TV time with wrestlers who happen to work for WCW. The fact that this is the live show scares me.

We recap the Stevie Ray/Horace/Vince stuff from Monday.

Gene brings out Curt Hennig for a chat. Curt says he’s that certain someone that every promoter is looking for. Flair may be the President of WCW but he’s also the World Champion. Hennig wants to face him for the title tonight and insults short people for some reason. He brings up slamming the cage door on Flair’s head a year and a half ago. Flair has fifteen minutes to respond.

Vampiro vs. Prince Iaukea

This is Vampiro’s return after one match back in June of 1998. A shoulder block and spinning kick to the face drop the Prince but he comes back with a springboard missile dropkick. Prince goes up again but springboards into a clothesline. Iaukea comes back with a dive to the floor and some right hands to the head, followed by a springboard dropkick to knock Vampiro off the apron.

Back in and Vampiro scores with some kicks to the chest as Saturn comes out to watch from the aisle. That goes nowhere and Vampiro nails a Rock Bottom and a legdrop for two. Vampiro flips out of a monkey flip and superkicks the Price down. Nail in the Coffin (Michinoku Driver) gets the pin.

Rating: D+. This wasn’t terrible but history hasn’t been kind to Vampiro. He’s watchable in the ring but time has shown that he’s almost all flash with nothing to back it up in the ring. To be fair to him, dragging an entertaining match out of Iaukea was next to impossible. Not a great debut but there have been worse.

Horace and Brian Adams talk about the events on Monday. Adams isn’t sure what’s going on but Horace cuts him off with a right hand to the jaw.

Gene brings out Flair for a chat. Flair has three things to get straight before he gets to what he needs to talk about. First, whether anyone likes it or not, he’s the World Champion. Before he goes on, he yells at a fat boy in the audience holding a Hogan sign. Second, he’s the President for life. Third, he’s a Florida Gator and has never met a Wildcat that he liked. Flair says he’s tired of walking into these arenas every week and sucking up to the fans, especially when this outfit costs more than an average man makes in Kentucky in a year.

Now on to business. Last night at midnight, Flair had no idea where Scott Hall was, so the US Title is vacant. There’s going to be a tournament for the title, culminating at Spring Stampede. The first match is tonight with Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Meng. That means every title has changed hands in the span of five days.

Flair calls out Hennig and has three things to say to him. One, if he messes up Flair’s suit, he’s fired. Two, he respects Hennig but he doesn’t get a shot tonight. Instead, he can have Hollywood in the main event. Hennig is fine with a warm-up match before he gets to face Flair. Flair’s third point: if Hennig touches Flair, he has three choices: two other wrestling companies or go home. Tony: “There are two other wrestling companies?”

Clips of Mysterio taking the Cruiserweight Title on Monday in a great match.

Cruiserweight Title: Juventud Guerrera vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.

This works. Juvy chops away to start and takes the champion down with a headscissors. He tries another headscissors out of the corner but gets dropped face first with a reverse powerbomb. Rey follows up with a moonsault but doesn’t cover for some reason. Back in and Juvy’s running powerslam is countered with a whip into the corner. Juvy bails outside and gets nailed with a running flip dive.

We come back from a break with Rey firing off forearms and draping Juvy over the middle rope, setting up a top rope guillotine legdrop. Juvy counters a hurricanrana and plants him with a running Liger Bomb. He can’t follow up though and I have no idea why the referee isn’t counting when both guys are down with Rey’s legs on top of Guerrera.

Back up and they run the ropes with Rey taking him down with a headscissors for two. There’s a Juvy Driver out of nowhere for two and Guerrera is stunned. Rey’s sitout bulldog is countered with a crotching on the top but Rey crotches him right back. A springboard hurricanrana retains Rey’s title.

It’s SuperBrawl Part II with a lot of rematches from that horrible show. In this case the main event is Hogan vs. Flair for the title in a barbed wire cage match with an added stipulation that hasn’t been mentioned on TV yet. We’ve also got Nash vs. Mysterio to blow off the giant killer story, Benoit/Malenko vs. Windham/Hennig for the Tag Team Titles and Sonny Onoo/Ernest Miller vs. Jerry Flynn. That match is happening but Goldberg, Diamond Dallas Page and Bret Hart aren’t on the show. Let’s get to it.

We open with a video on the main event. At least it’s different than the “building the cage” video.

Tony finally tells us the stipulation in the cage match: first blood. Just in case a barbed wire cage wasn’t enough for you.

Call the Hotline!

Video on Mysterio vs. Nash.

Cruiseweight Title: Kidman vs. Mikey Whipwreck

This is Mikey’s debut and he’s challenging. Mikey grabs an early front chancery followed by a fast headscissors. Kidman comes right back with a dropkick to put Mikey outside, followed by a whip into the barricade. Back in and a high cross body gets two but Whipwreck sends him back out to the floor. A wheelbarrow slam sends Kidman face first onto the barricade and gets Mikey two back in the ring.

Off to an Indian Deathlock on the champion but Mikey rolls over onto his stomach and reaches back to grab Kidman’s chin at the same time. That goes nowhere and draws a lot of booing so Kidman comes back with a hard clothesline. He’s all fired up now and stomps on Mikey in the corner, only to have a Fameasser countered into a powerbomb for two. Back up and Mikey gets knocked to the floor again, setting up a huge dive from Kidman.

It’s Whipwreck up first and he nails a slingshot clothesline for two. He tries a slingshot suplex but Kidman counters into a snap suplex of his own. Cool move. Mikey sends him right back to the floor but misses a dive and hits the barricade. They whip each other into the barricade with the newcomer getting the better of it and taking Kidman back into the ring.

A gutbuster gets two for Mikey but he walks into the BK Bomb for another two. Mikey drops him with a neckbreaker and gets a nice near fall off a top rope clothesline. Kidman comes back with a sitout Pedigree but gets caught in a reverse inverted DDT. Like every other challenger though, Mikey tries a powerbomb and I think you know what’s coming. Kidman goes up and nails the Shooting Star to retain.

Rating: C+. This was a good match but needed to be about three minutes shorter. Even though the cruiserweight division was stacked at this point, I like the idea of bringing in Mikey. He wrestled a much more ground based style than most of the other people in the division so this was a little different. Also Kidman has beaten almost every cruiserweight in the division so he needed a new challenger.

Stevie Ray talks about not being yoked anymore.

Vince says the name is Vince.

Remember the video on the cage being built from the start of the show? Here’s another version of it. This one aired on Nitro to make us want to buy the show that we had to buy to see the video that should make us buy the show.

Vince vs. Stevie Ray

This is a Harlem Street Fight and the winner leads the Black and White. In other words, all the stuff with Norton, Adams and Horace was a waste of time and has been dropped. Vince’s graphic still says Vincent, even though the video before the match emphasized his new name. Whatever his name is, he stomps on Ray’s foot and pokes him in the eye to take over. Stevie lifts him in the air by the throat before they hit the floor.

Vince is whipped into the barricade and they fight into the crowd. Luckily there’s a tarped off section of folded down seats for them to fight in. Stevie can barely stand on the chairs as he beats up Vince. Tony actually covers the bunch of unsold seats by saying it’s a production area. Back in and Vince slams him down and gets two off a middle rope elbow. He goes up again but dives into Stevie’s boot.

Stevie sends him into the buckle before lunging forward for a horrible collision spot before Vince does a HORRIBLE fall into a low blow. Stevie doesn’t even react off the impact. Horace comes out and throws in a slapjack, saying he’s the leader no matter what. Vince gets it but drops it, allowing Stevie to hit the Slapjack (lifting Pedigree) for the pin.

Rating: D-. This stuff is entertaining when they keep it short but when it’s a seven minute match, it loses its charm in a hurry. Stevie winning is the right choice as he’s the best talker of the team, but he’s the better of multiple evils. At least they’re keeping the Black and White separate and making it clear they’re a lower level unit. The street fight aspect barely meant a thing given that low blows have pretty much been made legal in WCW.

Jericho says Saturn doesn’t deserve to be in the same ring with him.

Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Kevin Nash

Rematch from Nitro a few weeks back where Rey beat Nash. A big boot to the face puts Rey down to start but he comes back with the sitout bulldog and a springboard Fameasser. Mysterio sends him to the floor with a spinwheel kick but makes the mistake of trying a baseball slide, allowing Nash to sidestep him and send Rey into the barricade.

Back in and Nash hits the framed elbow and boots Rey back to the floor. Nash lifts him into the air by the throat for an atomic drop but Rey kicks him low because what else was he supposed to do? There’s the Bronco Buster but Rey’s moonsault press is caught in midair. Rey escapes but Luger trips him up, allowing Nash to kick him in the face and Jackknife him back to the cruiserweight division. Appropriately enough, the match ran 6:19.

Rating: D+. So what did we learn here? Don’t mess with the main event talent, the last few weeks were a total fluke, and Rey Mysterio has no business in the main event scene. Also Konnan is a horrible friend because he wasn’t out there when Rey had to deal with Nash, Luger and Liz. I’m so glad Nash got to beat up Rey Mysterio though. It makes him look so much more awesome than he did before.

The three guys in the hardcore match talk about how tough they are. Again, we saw this earlier in the week on TV.

Jerry Flynn vs. Ernest Miller/Sonny Onoo

Let’s get this over with. Miller comes out to the Glacier lasers and the James Brown music while wearing a cowboy hat. Tony gets in his only good line of the night: “It’s the Cat in the Hat!” Flynn chops Miller down to start but goes after Sonny for cutting off his ponytail. Miller gets in a cheap shot as Schiavone talks about how Flynn could be a top five (he was OBSESSED with this top five thing around this time) star in the next year.

They head outside with Miller kicking Flynn down and Sonny gets in a few cheap shots. Back in and Miller hits some more kicks before tagging in Sonny to pick the bones. Flynn grabs at the foot so Onoo dives back to the corner. Back outside and Miller tries to use a chair but Mickie Jay pulls it out of his hands. Miller kicks Jerry some more but gets rolled up for two. Sonny finally comes in, gets kicked once and Jerry pins him.

Rating: F. Thankfully this was it for Flynn’s push as he went back to jobbing where he belonged soon after. This is another example of WCW having no idea what their fans wanted and thinking it was ok to throwing garbage out there with a WCW logo on it. Total waste of pay per view time.

In ANOTHER video from Thunder, the teams in the Tag Team Title match talk about being smart and tough.

Raven vs. Hak vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

Hardcore match. Hak comes out with barbed wire wrapped around him to what sounds like Mongo’s old music. Hak gets double teamed to start but Raven turns on Bigelow a few seconds in. Raven’s sister Chastity brings in a dumpster full of weapons to get us to the real match. It’s Raven in control until Bigelow runs him over. He breaks an ironing board over Hak but Raven comes back with a mailbox.

Raven and Bigelow have a standoff with trashcans but Hak uses the ironing board to break it up. An ECW chant starts up and everyone is worn down less than five minutes into the match. Raven uses the ironing board again but gets whipped into some trashcans. Bigelow takes over but Raven hits him low with a rowing oar. There’s a lot of just ramming each other into various objects and WAY more standing around between spots.

We get one of the few wrestling moves of the mat as Hak hits a top rope hurricanrana to Raven. Hak brings in a very real looking table but Raven helps Bigelow powerbomb Hak onto the table, followed by a splash through it. Bigelow switches over to wrestling but Chasitity comes in to save Raven. She pulls out some electrical tape and Bigelow brings in two more tables. Bigelow is whipped mostly through one of the tables in the corner and the Even Flow lays out Hak.

Instead of covering though, Raven tapes Hak’s arms together and blasts him in the head with the chair, which is TOTALLY not ripping off Rock vs. Mankind from the Royal Rumble. Bigelow lays out Raven with Greetings From Asbury Park but Chastity sprays him with a fire extinguisher, knocking him off the top rope and through a table. Chastity then turns on Raven by spraying him in the eyes and hitting him low, giving Hak the pin.

Rating: D. To recap, the girl that we know almost nothing about turned on her brother to be with the guy that we know almost nothing about who may or may not be a former friend of her family (it’s not clear if those appearances were retconned or not) and Bam Bam Bigelow has gone from facing Goldberg on pay per view to this in three weeks. Even worse, this got FIFTEEN MINUTES.

The announcers talk for a bit as the ring is cleaned up.

Tag Team Titles: Chris Benoit/Dean Malenko vs. Curt Hennig/Barry Windham

It’s a lumberjack with straps match and Hennig/Windham are defending. The lumberjacks are a bunch of lower/midcard guys including Meng and Norman Smiley. Benoit and Hennig get things going and Arn Anderson comes out to replace Chris Adams as a lumberjack. The champions try to leave and get beaten up like the cowards they are. Back in and Benoit chops Hennig to the floor for another whipping before it’s off to Barry.

Chris is find with chopping Windham to the floor as well where the Texan gets whipped as well.

Off to Dean who hammers away with more aggression than you would expect from him. The Horsemen double team Barry down but Hennig gets in a cheap shot to take over. Benoit is thrown to the floor and gets whipped a few times before it’s back to a chinlock from Curt. The beating continues but Benoit finally snaps off a German suplex and makes the tag off to Dean. Everything breaks down and Malenko hits Hennig with a PerfectPlex for two but Barry breaks up the Texas Cloverleaf.

Windham tries to low bridge Dean to the floor but Malenko stops himself, only to have Hennig knock him out to the floor for a whipping. Now it’s Dean in trouble as Curt hooks a sleeper. Dean makes the ropes but is sent to the floor for more belt shots. Windham hammers away in the corner but Dean punches his way out of a belly to back suplex. The double tag brings in Hennig and Benoit as everything breaks down.

Benoit takes off Windham’s belt and throws him outside for a brawl. Hennig goes after Anderson, earning him a tire iron shot to the head. Malenko breaks up the superplex and Benoit hits the longest Swan Dive I’ve ever see (Hennig would have been in a good place for a 450) for the pin and the titles.

Rating: C+. The match wasn’t as good as their first one last month but it finally got the job done. Last month’s was brought WAY down by the booking but the wrestling itself was better. This one was more of a tag team formula and that’s a hard idea to screw up. I could have done without Arn’s interference but to be fair Hennig went after him first. That Swan Dive was very impressive and I can live with it only hitting Curt’s arm as he was already out.

Chris Jericho vs. Perry Saturn

This is the dog collar match and Saturn comes out wearing a dress made of chains, black lipstick, eye shadow and yellow contacts. Jericho offers to have Ralphus fight in his place but Ralphus says no, earning him a slap in the face. Back in and Jericho is very tentative to put on the collar so Saturn attacks him to get things going. He puts the collar on Chris and pulls Jericho back when he tries to run. Saturn goes to the apron and gets a running start to send Jericho face first into the buckle.

A springboard chain shot to the head puts the Canadian down and it’s time for some choking. They head outside and Saturn pulls him into the barricade a few times. Back in and a clothesline knocks Saturn over the top rope to the floor and now it’s Jericho choking a lot. They head inside again and Jericho tries a powerbomb, only to pull himself down at the same time. A small packge gets two for Saturn and he pulls Jericho off the middle rope in a smart counter. Then he makes it simple and throws Jericho around by the neck.

Jericho gets the Liontamer but Saturn wraps the chain around Jericho’s neck so the hold chokes Jericho, forcing him to break it. The Death Valley Driver onto the chain gets two and Jericho counters a hurricanrana with a powerbomb. Jericho unhooks Saturn and wraps the chain around himself before going up for a moonsault. Saturn moves and the impact drives the chain into Jericho’s chest but it doesn’t seem to bother him. A top rope splash completely misses Saturn and another Death Valley Driver gets the pin.

Rating: C-. This was ok but the ending felt like it was supposed to be two minutes earlier. I’m not sure why the Death Valley Driver on the chain didn’t get the pin but the regular version could. The match wasn’t bad and hopefully it ends this dress thing which isn’t getting Saturn anywhere.

Mikey Whipwreck gives an interview on WCW.com and praises Kidman. Nothing to see here.

TV Title: Booker T. vs. Scott Steiner

Steiner is defending because US Champion Scott Hall has disappeared, taking Booker’s title shot with him. Scott stalls a lot after the bell and we get our first lockup at two minutes into the match. A lockup goes nowhere and it’s back to the stalling. Steiner hammers Booker down but he comes back with right hands. The champion ducks a spin kick and bails out to the floor for a breather with Bagwell.

Back in and Scott charges into a boot and Booker hammers away again. An atomic drop staggers Scott again and a spinning cross body gets two as Buff pulls Booker out to the floor. Steiner throws Booker into the crowd for a bit before the villains take their turns choking. The spinning belly to belly suplex plants Booker and we hit the chinlock. Back up and Booker hits a running forearm before mostly missing a spinning kick to the face.

Booker tries a side kick but Steiner ducks. The side kick clears the referee and thankfully he doesn’t sell, but the look of fear on his face is great. Another side kick nails Steiner but Buff crotches Booker on the top. Steiner superplexes him down and Buff comes in with a chair, only to hit Scott by mistake. Booker kicks the chair into Bagwell’s face and pins Steiner for the title.

Rating: C-. Not great here but the title change is a good idea. I can’t stand the referee watching Bagwell use the chair as it should be a DQ even if it was an accident. This whole getting more extreme and lawless is very annoying as it comes off more and more like an ECW knockoff every night. At least Booker’s losses are forgiven here though.

Video on the cage being built. I have it memorized by this point.

WCW World Title: Hollywood Hogan vs. Ric Flair

Hogan is defending and if Flair loses, he’s out of WCW for life. If Flair wins, he’s champion and President of WCW permanently. This is also a barbed wire steel cage match with no doors on the cage. Before the cage is lowered, Flair tells the referee to not stop the match for a scratch or a trickle of blood. The referee is allowed to use his own discretion as to what first blood means. Flair is sounding very heelish here. I’m glad they threw in the significant blood clause. I’ve always thought a heel could just slip in a needle and poke the other guy for the win otherwise.

Hogan shoves him around to start and nails a right hand before running Flair over like it’s 1986. The fans have no idea how to react as Hogan does all his old spots, including dropping the rapid elbows. Flair takes a beating in the corner and Hogan no sells a single chop. A running clothesline puts Ric down and Hogan does the hand to the ear. It’s one sided so far and Hogan puts on a Figure Four.

That thankfully goes nowhere so Hogan rams him face first into the cage. Hogan bites at the cut and Flair is doing his crazy man stuff, including having his trunks pulled down. There’s a small cut above Flair’s eye and Hogan sends him face first into the buckle. Total dominance so far and the fans are chanting for Hogan. Flair’s hair is half red now and Hogan drives him into the cage. Some of the barbed wire has fallen off the top of the cage and is hanging down the side.

Hogan hits the big boot and legdrop for a cover but obviously the referee (Charles Robinson) won’t count. Flair nails Hogan with a foreign object and sends him into the cage, cutting the champion open. Cue David Flair and the Blonde (now called Sam) as Ric drops a knee on Hogan’s head. Ric spits at his son and says he’ll be a fourteen time champion. Now it’s a full Hogan chant as we have a double turn.

Ric drops an elbow for two (Tony is totally fine with a cover and count) and it’s time for the Hulk Up. The fans are into it because they haven’t see it in years but the legdrop only gets two. Tenay tries to keep up with the stipulations as Hogan no sells a suplex. Ric, the crazed father desperate for vengeance, drops to his knees and begs for mercy.

The referee gets bumped (like it matters) and David tells Hogan to Hulk Up. Arn Anderson comes out with a tire iron to David so Sam jumps on Arn’s back. Anderson throws her down and slips Ric the tire iron to knock Hogan out. There’s the Figure Four and Robinson counts the pin to give Ric the title again. The fans, trying to make sense of this whole thing, are almost silent for the announcement of a new champion.

Rating: D. I have no idea what I just watched. It was indeed a cage match, but the barbed wire meant nothing and David and Sam didn’t need to be there other than giving Anderson a reason to come down. The stipulations were a mess though and the fans seemed really confused by the blood and then the pinfalls. The rest of the match wasn’t bad though as Hogan vs. Flair using the old formula is entertaining enough.

However there’s also the booking, which is as stupid as it could have been. I can REALLY stretch and accept Ric being tormented so much that he snaps and starts abusing his authority to get the title and revenge. It’s not the best story in the world and it goes against everything that WCW had been doing for the last few months, but at least it can be done.

Then there’s Hogan turning face and it just does not work. Period. Hogan has caused all these problems for the last several years but now we’re supposed to cheer him because…..why are we supposed to cheer for him? Because he Hulked up and Flair abused his authority by stretching what a first blood match meant and used a tire iron? I’m supposed to feel bad for Hogan because he’s getting cheated in one match after cheating for two and a half years?

Basically WCW is saying two wrongs make a right and that really doesn’t work after watching Ric go through this much horrible stuff over the last few months. That really doesn’t hold up and the story doesn’t work with everything that lead us to this point. At least Flair FINALLY beat Hogan in a big match though.

David checks on Hogan and Tony praises Hollywood for his valiant effort.

Overall Rating: D. This should be subtitled “SuperBrawl Part 2: We’re Sorry.” The Tag Team Title match is a reversal of what we saw before, Booker getting the TV Title is a nice addition and Flair won….albeit in weird fashion. Unfortunately the damage was done three weeks ago and the last few weeks of television. The fans are already starting to leave and WCW is going to start to get desperate.

Now to its credit, this was WAY easier to sit through than SuperBrawl which was one of the most infuriating shows I’ve ever seen. This show had some watchable wrestling on it and nothing maddening, putting it miles ahead of last month’s offering. It’s not a masterpiece or anything, but it at least corrected some of SuperBrawl’s errors.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of on the History of ECW Pay Per Views at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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Today is one of the most talented wrestlers you’ll ever see: Barry Windham. This is going to be a shorter list as one of the matches is over forty minutes long. It’s well worth it though.

Tag Titles: US Express vs. Nikolai Volkoff/Iron Sheik

The Express is Barry Windham and Mike Rotundo and they’re defending tonight. A little trivia for you: the song Real American was originally used for the two of them but Hogan wound up using it instead. The heels do their whole Russian national anthem and Iran/Russia #1 deal before the match. Rotundo and Sheik start things off with the Iranian hooking a headlock. A dropkick puts Sheik down and Mike grabs a headlock.

Off to Barry who avoids double teaming and causes the challengers to collide. Back to Rotundo to work over Nikolai with an elbow drop getting two. Windham comes in off the top with a shot to the arm and Rotundo does the same thing. Sheik suplexes Mike down for two as the foreigners take over. Nikolai drops him throat first across the throat and the USA chant starts up.

A sunset flip gets a quick two for Mike but it’s back to Sheik for an abdominal stretch. That doesn’t last long though as Mike hiptosses out of it and it’s off to Barry via the hot tag. The bulldog (Barry’s finisher at the time) takes Volkoff out as everything breaks down. In the melee, Sheik hits Windham in the back with the cane for the pin and the titles.

Rating: C. This was a better match than we’ve seen so far with the fans getting way into the whole USA vs. foreigners thing. The title change was there only so something historic could happen and the Express got the belts back about two and a half months later. They would split soon after that with both guys heading to the NWA.

Here’s the big match. From Battle of the Belts II, on February 14, 1986.

NWA World Title: Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham

Flair is defending of course and actually comes out to a Phil Collins song. They shake hands to start and Windham gets the early advantage with a dropkick and slam to send the champion to the floor. Back in and they fight over a top wristlock before going into a nice technical sequence to take them down to the mat. Flair goes for the leg but Barry grabs a hammerlock to escape.

Ric fights out of the hold but gets put right back into the hammerlock to keep him in trouble. Off to an armbar from Barry before he takes Flair into the corner for some good old right hands to the face. Flair goes for a right hand of his own and Barry is offended for some reason. A rollup gets two on Ric and Barry grabs a headscissors to keep control. Flair slips out and cranks on the leg but opts for a cover instead, only to have Windham bridge up for a long time to block.

Chops don’t have much effect so Windham comes back with more right hands to take over. Barry hooks a Boston crab but Flair makes it to a rope. A vertical suplex gets two and we hit the abdominal stretch on Flair. What looked to be a low blow gets Flair out of trouble and he throws Barry to the floor with Windham landing on the steps. Back in and a bleeding Windham is in trouble but he avoids the knee drop and Flair bangs his knee. As is the case in almost every Flair match, he gets put in his own Figure Four. Ric finally makes the ropes and Barry has to start over again.

Windham cranks on the leg and drives some knees into the champion’s bad wheel. Flair comes back with a knee in the corner and Ric takes a breather in the corner. Ric hooks a figure four headscissors but Windham reverses into another leg lock. That goes nowhere so it’s back to the corner for some more chops. A piledriver puts Barry down for two but he counters a snapmare into a backslide for two. Back up and a big lariat gets two for the challenger but both guys are getting tired.

There’s the Flair Flip in the corner and Ric heads out to the floor. Referee Bill Alfonso (yes that Bill Alfonso) orders them back inside and Ric, now bleeding as well, gets in another shot to take over. Now it’s Windham being thrown outside before having his sunset flip blocked by a right hand. There’s a sleeper to Windham but Flair opts for a suplex to put Barry down again.

Now it’s time for Ric to go after the leg with his old standards. The Figure Four goes on but Barry turns it over for the break. Ric takes forever to get up top and earns that slam down. Windham gets another burst of adrenaline but misses a knee drop of his own to put him right back in trouble. Flair busts out a double stomp of all things but the referee gets bumped.

Barry is sent over the ropes and lands back first on the apron. He comes back in with a missile dropkick and now the fans are waking up. The groggy referee only counts two so Windham puts Flair in a sleeper. Ric basically collapses to break the hold but Barry’s splash hits knees.

The Figure Four is countered into a small package but Ric lands in the ropes. Another big clothesline gets two for Barry and there’s another Flair Flip. Ric gets to the top but dives into a right hand to the ribs. Barry misses the clothesline and Flair cross bodies both of them out to the floor. Both guys fight to keep the other from getting in and it’s a double countout.

Rating: A-. This was one of their weaker matches but it shows you what they’re capable of doing when they have the time and stage to have a great match. Barry was so smooth in the ring for someone of his size (6’6, 260lbs) and it was amazing to see him move around the ring as fast as he did. Very good match.

We’ll jump ahead to Barry teaming up with Lex Luger to go after the World Tag Team Titles at the first Clash of the Champions.

World Tag Team Titles: Arn Anderson/Tully Blanchard vs. Lex Luger/Barry Windham

Anderson and Blanchard are defending and Windham and Luger are incredibly popular due to the Horsemen (the champions) kicking him out of the team for reasons explained earlier. Luger starts with Tully and pushes him down with ease. The champions try some double teaming but both get clotheslined followed by a powerslam to Blanchard. Lex puts Tully in his Torture Rack finisher but Anderson kicks Luger in the knee for the save. Arn comes in and goes after the knee before it’s back to Tully for more of the same.

Lex sends the Horsemen into each other and Tully can’t stop the hot tag to Windham. Barry cleans house and hits the lariat followed by a powerslam for two on Blanchard. Ross is losing his mind on commentary as only he can. A sleeper nearly puts Blanchard out but Barry lets him fall to the floor for a breather. Back in and Tully goes up but gets slammed down and put in an abdominal stretch. Arn makes the save and Horsemen manager JJ Dillon distracts the referee, allowing Anderson to DDT Windham for a very close two.

Anderson tries to hold Windham’s shoulder down for two but jumps in the air, allowing Barry to raise his knees and crotch Arn for a breather. Tully breaks up another tag attempt but gets caught by a cross body for two. They run the ropes a few times and collide, knocking both guys down to the mat. A gutwrench suplex puts Tully down again and it’s back to Anderson who misses a knee drop and gets popped with a right hand. Windham is spent though and collapses before making the tag.

Tully comes in again and hits his slingshot suplex finisher for a close two on Barry. Anderson comes in off the tag but Barry goes over to the corner and falls into the tag to Luger. Lex cleans house again and sends the champions into each other but Tully gets in a knee to the back to slow him down. Luger shrugs it off and snaps off the powerslam as everything breaks down. Dillon holds up a chair in the corner but Luger reverses a whip to send Arn head first into the steel for the pin and the titles. The crowd reaction for the pin is other worldly as the Horsemen were despised at this point.

Rating: B. This was the kind of match the show needed to make it historic as the Horsemen had held the titles for months on end and Luger was the man that needed to take them away. Barry was making the match work here before Luger came in to clean house at the end. That’s a good formula for someone like Luger and the result worked well.

Barry would turn heel and join the Horsemen soon after this and eventually become US Champion. Here he is defending at the 1988 Great American Bash.

US Title: Barry Windham vs. Dusty Rhodes

Barry is defending here and this is Dusty’s rematch after being stripped of the title for beating up Jim Crockett. Windham used to be Dusty’s friend but turned on him to join the Horsemen and take Luger’s spot so there’s heat here. Barry charges in but Dusty lifts up his elbow to scare him away. Dusty sends him to the floor quickly and Barry needs time out. Barry drops an elbow on the back of his head but Dusty pops up for a gorilla press to take over.

A DDT puts Barry down again as Rhodes controls to start us off. Rhodes hits a top rope cross body for two after the earth stops shaking. Dusty pops both Windham and JJ with elbows and the crowd explodes. The fat man was indeed popular and no one can take that away from him. Five minutes in now and Barry pounds away. I miss the NWA telling us the time gone in a match as it helps keep track of where we are and wasn’t just for time limit endings.

We go to the floor and Windham’s piledriver is reversed. Barry pounds away in the corner and we go outside again. And never mind as Dusty leans back on the rope (amazingly it doesn’t snap like a twig) to slingshot Barry out to the floor again. Barry grabs his finisher, a claw hold, after JJ interferes. We’re currently at 90 seconds of the US Champion having his finishing move on Dusty but Dusty is gyrating. Make that two minutes of nonstop claw. Dusty manages to stand up, climb the ropes (which doesn’t call for a break from Tommy Young) and signal for an elbow but Windham takes him down again.

We’re at 3 minutes straight now and Dusty hasn’t been past his knees in about two minutes of that. Imagine if Cena stayed in the cross armbreaker for three minutes. The internet would form into a missile and kill him all at once. Total time in the Claw: four minutes and five seconds before an elbow breaks it up.

Let me repeat that: the old man (Dusty is a veteran at this point and in his early 40s) just lasted over four minutes in the finishing hold of the young unstoppable US Champion who won the title with that very hold. I’ve heard of killing moves dead before but Dusty took the Claw, shot it, buried it, turned it into a chicken, plucked it, cleaned it, put it in batter and sold it to a man named Sanders.

Dusty is immediately fine and tries a Figure Four but gets caught in the Claw again. Dusty was out of the hold all of 8 seconds. This one only lasts 46 seconds as they go up to the corner again. Barry tries the superplex but Dusty shoves him off and takes out the referee. Dusty slams him off and hits the big elbow but there’s no referee. Ronnie Garvin of all people comes out and kills Dusty dead with his Hands of Stone punch finisher as he turns heel. The Claw is academic as Dusty is dead and Windham retains. Garvin would be gone in only a few months and would be in the WWF by December.

Rating: D+. That claw in the middle was just so ridiculous. I mean seriously, Dusty lasted practically 5 minutes in it overall and was just fine until a punch comes out and stops him cold? I mean how weak does the Claw look now when a right hand, the most basic move in wrestling, ends Dusty faster than five minutes of a claw? How many matches have you seen that are shorter than five minutes? Imagine a single hold lasting that long. Crazy.

We’ll jump ahead again to the 1991 Great American Bash where Windham has been thrown into the World Title match against old rival Lex Luger.

WCW World Title: Barry Windham vs. Lex Luger

In a cage if you missed that point and the title is vacant. Luger is clearly the more popular guy. Remember that. This is a short cage too as it’s maybe eight feet off the mat. The LOUD Flair chant begins again. Oh and another thing to complete the joke: Flair has the physical belt so they’re using the old Western States Title with a cheap looking plate over the part that says Western States.

The fans want Flair and we get going. They collide but no one goes anywhere. Luger hip tosses him down as we’re still in a feeling out process. They hit the ropes and Barry dropkicks him down and things slow down again. Small package gets two for Lex. He runs Barry over but the elbow misses. There are a lot of standoffs in this. Barry backdrops him down and they stare at each other some more. The camera guy looks at the fans as they chant for Flair. Nice job dude.

They go to the mat and Barry finally pops him in the face. A suplex puts Windham down and they stand off AGAIN. A figure four is broken up by Lex despite Barry not touching the leg at all yet. We’re like five minutes into the match so far and NOTHING has happened. Barry grabs a headlock and runs Luger over again. Lex grabs a sleeper but Barry counters into one of his own. Riveting stuff I tell you. Riveting.

Luger sends him into the corner to escape and this a DDT for two. That’s your biggest move so far people: a DDT. Lex goes up and gets slammed down, followed by a knee drop for two from Barry. Windham misses a top rope knee drop and Lex hits his series of clotheslines for two. There’s a powerslam and Luger puts him in the Rack but Barry kicks off the cage and backflips out in a cool counter.

A belly to back puts Luger down but he shrugs it off and loads up a superplex. That gets countered and Barry hits a top rope lariat. A regular lariat still gets no cover but a slam gets two. Barry goes up and hits a kind of flying superkick for two. Harley Race and Mr. Hughes come out for no apparent reason and Race says NOW IS THE TIME. Luger pops up and piledrives Windham for the pin and the title.

Rating: D+. The problem here is that while there were two or three good minutes at the end, the first five minutes of the thirteen minute match were just dull. The heel turn at the end made NO sense and most people didn’t catch on because they popped for the pin. The match just wasn’t that good but there were good pieces to it if that makes sense. The ending sucked though and that brings it down even more. Eh screw it we’ll go with a D+. They earned it. Take that for what you will.

Another year forward as Barry is going after the Tag Team Titles in the finals of a tournament at Great American Bash 1992.

NWA World Tag Team Titles: Miracle Violence Connection vs. Dustin Rhodes/Barry Windham

The Steiners come out before the match starts and are promptly thrown out. Dr. Death (Williams) and Windham get us going. Nothing of note happens there so it’s off to Gordy. Dustin finally does something by pounding away with elbows to the head. Gordy ties him up on the mat but it’s quickly off to Windham who hooks a figure four. Once that gets broken up it’s off to Williams and they go to the mat for more grappling.

That goes nowhere so it’s back to Gordy who runs over Barry some more, getting two off a clothesline. Rhodes comes in and fights Williams over a top wristlock but Dr. Death cheats by pulling him down by the hair. Gordy comes in with the STF again, which he calls the Oriental Twist. Dustin fights up and puts on a sleeper but Gordy makes a fast tag so he doesn’t have to sell or anything.

Williams takes it right back to the mat and cranks on another chinlock. JR goes on a small rant about how tag ropes should be used more, because that’s the most interesting thing he can talk about right now. That’s not sarcasm if you couldn’t tell. Gordy comes back in and puts on a Boston Crab which is broken up by Barry. Williams hits a powerslam for two and Dustin just walks over to make the tag.

Barry speeds thing up a bit and hits a pair of suplexes for two on Williams. And never mind as he hooks a sleeper to waste even more time. Dr. Death immediately rams him into the post to break the hold and puts on a chinlock. Barry suplexes out of it but Williams blocks the tag. Williams hooks on a front facelock which fires up JR way too much. Barry collides with Gordy and suddenly I want to listen to some Motown.

Windham gets up and Williams knocks him into the corner for the tag to Dustin but he gets knocked down almost immediately. Williams puts on ANOTHER front facelock to make sure the crowd isn’t woken from their slumber early. Gordy gets two off a clothesline. The Oklahoma Stampede is broken up by a Windham dropkick but Dustin’s bulldog is broken up. Dr. Death kills Dustin with a lariat to complete what was close enough to a squash.

Rating: D. Again, this was technically sound but it was dull. The MVC dominated the vast majority of this and most of that was them on the mat with some kind of hold on Dustin or Windham. That may be what pure wrestling is, but DANG is it ever boring. Also this makes no sense, as now the MVC has all of the titles and has defeated all of their challengers, so where do they go now? Instead, COMMON SENSE would say have Windham and Rhodes (or better yet the Steiners) win here and build to a unification match, but instead let’s have Oklahoma/Japan dominate.

The jump isn’t as bad this time as we hit another World Tag Team Title match at Starrcade 1992.

Tag Titles: Barry Windham/Brian Pillman vs. Shane Douglas/Ricky Steamboat

Windham used to be tag champions with Dustin Rhodes but lost the belts to Steamboat and Douglas a few months ago. Pillman turned heel due to frustration with only being Light Heavyweight Champion and hooked up with Windham soon thereafter. A few weeks ago Barry beat the tar out of both champions with a chair so Steamboat and Douglas want revenge. Douglas and Pillman start things off as Jesse’s mind is blown hearing about Shane holding a masters degree. A right hand puts Pillman down and more of them break up Pillman’s sunset flip attempt.

Brian, tired of losing the wrestling portion of the match, rakes Shane’s eyes to take over. Shane dropkicks him to the floor as Steamboat comes in for a double dropkick on Barry. Pillman bails to the floor as the champions double backdrop Windham. Barry gets the tag and wants Steamboat all to himself. A hard chop puts Barry down and a suplex does the same. Steamboat slows Barry down with a front facelock and a snapmare before bringing Shane back in.

Douglas puts Barry in a chinlock but Windham picks Shane up and suplexes out of it. Back to Steamboat for a neck snap on Barry and a right hand to Pillman. All champions so far. A clothesline puts Barry on the floor and Steamboat slams him on the wooden floor for good measure. Barry climbs up onto the ramp so Shane slams him down again just because he’s not a nice person. Ricky backdrops Barry into the ring and gets two off a neckbreaker. Back to Shane for another chinlock as Barry is trying to survive.

Windham FINALLY gets something going with a jawbreaker on Shane, allowing for the tag off to Brian. A facejam puts Shane down but a dropkick sends Pillman out to the floor and possibly into the barricade. Back in and Shane goes up top, but a distraction by Windham allows Brian to dropkick him off the top and out to the floor. Barry adds a big lariat for good measure before coming in legally and headbutting Shane down. A boot to Shane’s chest stops his comeback bid and Brian gets in some cheating for good measure.

Brian comes back in legally and chops Douglas down but Shane comes back with some right hands of his own. Pillman trips him up though and it’s right back to Windham, who stomps on Shane and throws him through the ropes and into the barricade to keep the champions in trouble. Steamboat goes to the floor to check on his partner but also blasts Windham in the back with a chair. It’s still not enough for the tag to Ricky though as Pillman suplexes Shane down.

Barry comes in off the top with a punch to Shane’s face and a suplex for two. Ross is losing his mind over the beating that Shane is taking. A splash gets two for Brian and Steamboat charges in, allowing the challengers to double team Shane in the corner. Barry tries another suplex, but this time Douglas counters into one of his own. Shane fires off one last right hand before falling backwards into the tag to Steamboat.

The Dragon (Steamboat) cleans house with slams for both guys but he walks into a powerslam from Barry to stop the comeback cold. A belly to back suplex puts Ricky down again and it’s off to Pillman, who illegally throws Steamboat over the top to the floor. The referee missed it though due to Shane, who also causes the referee to miss Windham throwing Steamboat into the post.

Back in and Steamboat chops it out with Pillman but gets caught in a headscissors for two. Windham comes in again with a top rope forearm to Ricky’s ribs, causing Ricky to….lecture him? Steamboat points his finger in Windham’s face and says something to him which confuses Barry. Windham goes up top but misses a right hand, allowing Steamboat to hit a superkick and a facejam to put both guys down. A double tag brings in Shane vs. Pillman with Douglas cleaning house. Everything breaks down and Steamboat cross bodies Windham onto the ramp. Shane hits his belly to belly suplex in Brian for the pin out of nowhere.

Rating: B+. Really awesome tag match here with all four guys working very hard to make everyone look good out there. Steamboat and Douglas would hold the belts until March, when Windham had to be replaced by Steve Austin due to an injury. Austin and Pillman proved to be a better team and took the belts, leading to a string of classic rematches. This was very good stuff though and match of the night by far to this point.

Barry would get an NWA World Title shot at SuperBrawl III.

NWA Title: Barry Windham vs. Great Muta

Flair is on commentary here. He would be perfect at that job today. This is a great example of why the NWA would never get anywhere: they insisted on doing things their way and having their own champions etc. No one cared about either of these two guys so they just insisted that they get TWENTY FIVE MINUTES on a WCW PPV. Why in the world should I care about these guys? The belt was just a name anymore but the NWA insisted it was still all about them.

It’s not NWA SuperBrawl or anything like that but hey, let’s make the longest match of the night about them. There’s just one problem: this match SUCKS. It’s 25 minutes long. After a minute we hit a headlock. At 9 and a half minutes in we break that headlock. Seriously, for nearly ten minutes it was a single headlock. The commentators have to try to make this seem interesting and epic and you can tell they don’t care either.

WCW would be out of the NWA to kill the freaking thing dead in September of 93. It’s been another 12 minutes since I typed anything as there is NOTHING to talk about. Muta tries two moonsaults and gets a bad jumping DDT (I think) for his troubles to lose the title. Flair hands Windham the belt and Windham shoves him. That showdown wouldn’t come for three months so Windham could have a title reign that no one remembers or cares about I guess.

Rating: F-. This was just freaking awful. What in the world was the point to having this anyway? Oh yes: to please the almighty NWA that no one cared about. Seriously, they couldn’t just accept that they were over and they still can’t to this day. Flair got the title in June before the NWA got dumped in September. They waited A YEAR before crowning a new champion in Shane Douglas. Dude seriously, if you insist on being a big deal, wait a few weeks, not a freaking year. This was awful on so many levels.

We’ll jump WAY ahead now as Windham didn’t do jack in his WWF run. Here he is in a double match final from the Tag Team Title tournament at SuperBrawl IX.

Tag Team Titles: Curt Hennig/Barry Windham vs. Dean Malenko/Chris Benoit

This is a tournament final, but since it’s double elimination and only Hennig/Windham are undefeated, Malenko and Benoit have to win two matches in a row. If Hennig and Windham win the first fall, they win the belts. Benoit and Malenko have already won three matches this week to get here. Heenan notices a nice plot point: you have current Horsemen against former Horsemen here.

Dean chases Windham around to start before they hit the mat to fight over hammerlocks. Off to Benoit vs. Hennig as the fans are still as hot as they were earlier in the night. Tony talks about Hennig, Malenko and Windham all being second generation wrestlers. Heenan: “So is referee Mickie Jay.” Tony: “Who was his father?” Heenan: “Oh he wasn’t a wrestling referee. He umpired a peewee football league in Moline, Illinois back in the 40s.”

Hennig chops Benoit in the corner so Benoit chops him so hard that Hennig falls to the mat. They slap it out and it turns into a fight in the corner. The running clothesline puts Hennig on the floor as Tony says Benoit has never been a champion before, meaning Benoit’s TV Title wins at house shows either don’t count, or Tony wasn’t informed of them. Barry comes back in and hammers away in the corner, only to get chopped right back.

Off to Malenko who dropkicks Windham into the ropes. Barry is a good two and a half feet from Hennig but Hennig comes in anyway. The referee puts him out but Windham gets in a cheap shot to take over. That was kind of an odd sequence. Hennig comes in legally and gets nailed by Dean, allowing him to roll to the corner for a hot tag to Benoit. Chris comes in and beats up both cowboys with ease and a backbreaker gets two on Curt.

A LOUD chop has Hennig in trouble and it’s back to Malenko for some shots in the corner. Heenan wants all car races to have no brakes because he likes his wrestling fast. Benoit nails the Swan Dive but Windham breaks up the cover. Curt gets crotches on the top rope and dropkicked out to the floor but comes back in with a low blow right in front of the referee. That’s perfectly fine with the son of a Moline football league umpire and Barry comes back in for two off a gutwrench suplex.

Dean gets sent to the floor and chopped up against the barricade for two back inside. Hennig gets sent into the corner as the fans think this is boring. Benoit takes Curt’s head off with a clothesline but Barry comes in with a cheap shot to take over. The superplex gets two as Dean makes the save and it’s back to Hennig for more chops. Hennig’s running neck snap gets two but Benoit finally rolls over and tags in Dean to clean house. Barry gets caught in the Cloverleaf and Benoit stops Hennig, forcing the submission for the first fall.

Since this is basically a two fall match I’ll save the rating for after the whole thing is done. There’s a thirty second rest period between falls.

Windham has taken his belt off and chokes Dean down, which there is no reason for the referee not to see. Barry keeps choking with the belt and pulls Dean to the mat for the pin and the titles.

Rating: C-. This match is proof that WCW just does not understand what it’s doing. After the last month of putting up with this way too complicated tournament where WCW didn’t even know who was in it half the time, we sit through a long yet good match where the Horsemen win, only to have them lose the second fall a minute later because it’s double elimination. Not only was the tournament boring, but now the ending makes people mad.

Who in the world thinks Hennig and Windham deserve Tag Team Titles? They’ve teamed together for all of a few weeks and now they get the belts after the Horsemen win four matches in a week to lose the last fall in a minute? This is bad storytelling and completely missing what your audience wants. Yeah Benoit and Malenko can come back and win them later, but all the momentum and the interest is gone now. Horrible decision and just a stupid move. For WCW to think Barry Windham is more valuable than Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko in 1999 is ridiculous.

As for the match itself, it wasn’t bad but the refereeing here was atrocious. There’s a difference between relaxing the rules a bit and having referees mean as much as ECW referees. When a guy is punching the other man low right in front of the referee, something should be done. Otherwise, why bother having them there?

We’ll wrap things up with Fall Brawl 1999 as Windham and Hennig try to get their belts back.

Tag Titles: Harlem Heat vs. West Texas Rednecks

The Rednecks are Barry and Kendall Windham with Hennig in their corner. They’re country singers and that’s about it. The Windhams are legit brothers. Booker vs. Kendall to start us off and Kendall bails to avoid a spin kick. Heat double teams Kendall and it’s off to Stevie. Now Stevie won’t sell anything. Naturally this is probably going to be praised, because WCW needs more guys to no sell so their other guys look bad right?

Barry comes in to hit a DDT for no cover. How he went from being as totally awesome as he was at one point to being here now is amazing. Odd to see two pairs of brothers here. Actually it isn’t but there isn’t much to talk about here. Hennig gets in a shot to make sure that Kendall can get a two count on Stevie. Stevie gets a powerslam out of nowhere to put Barry down.

Double tag brings in Kendall and Booker with the more famous one doing what he can. Down goes Hennig and Kendall does the same a second after. The double teaming begins on the floor as Booker gets caught. Off to the chinlock on Booker by Kendall as the fans chant for the Heat. That’s better than nothing I guess. Axe kick hits but it would have been a bit better if Kendall had waited until it actually hit to go down.

Spinarooni is broken up by Barry and it’s back to the floor for Booker. More double teaming continues and it’s back in to Barry. Barry gets a middle rope superplex (his old finisher) but Stevie makes the save. If this sounds really boring, I’m getting better at this emotion thing in the writing. Kendall gets a lariat mostly to the neck for two. Booker gets his sunset flip out of the corner for two.

The heels double team a lot, as you would expect from a team with an old school guy like Barry. There’s a sleeper to Barry as this is probably on the verge of ending. Back off to Kendall who hits a weak middle rope clothesline for one. Classic old school spot as the referee misses the hot tag. Stevie beats up everyone anyway and everything breaks down. Hennig hits Ray in the head with a cowbell but the referee won’t count BECAUSE HE WAS PAYING ATTENTION!!!! WOW!!!!! Booker is still legal so the missile dropkick he hits gets the tag titles back.

Rating: D+. Match was weak but this is a fine sign of what Bischoff not being around means: the ending made perfect sense for a change and was actually kind of creative. No one cared about the match though, because we had seen it just a few weeks ago on Nitro. Nothing of note at all, as you could say about most matches tonight.

Barry Windham was one of the most talented guys in wrestling history. If he had ever put his mind to it, he could have been the next Ric Flair at the drop of a hat. He got lazy later in his career, but during the late 80s he very well may have been the best wrestler in the world. Given how deep wrestling was at that point, that’s quite the accomplishment.

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SuperBrawl is rapidly approaching and unfortunately WCW’s hot streak seems to have taken a hit. Nitro was a strangely booked show with stuff happening that didn’t make a ton of sense, particularly Goldberg wanting to go after Bigelow instead of Luger despite Luger talking about Goldberg, even though Luger is in a feud with Rey Mysterio Jr. Sadly, this is probably the peak for WCW’s remaining time. Let’s get to it.

We open with a video of Hogan and Hell’s Angel Chuck Zito (never named on camera on Monday that I heard) stalking David Flair to beat him down.

Tony and company promise us two tag team tournament matches.

Arn Anderson is on the phone, presumably with Ric Flair, and it sounds like David wasn’t attacked.

The Black and White is waiting for Vincent and joke about him wanting to be World Champion. Adams: “That would kill the business.”

Chris Jericho vs. Scotty Riggs

Riggs’ eye is fine. They circle each other to start and Riggs nails a nice dropkick to take over. Back in and Jericho misses a dropkick, allowing Riggs to catapult him to the floor for a big plancha. Jericho shrugs it off though and hits a quick hot shot to take over. Riggs falls to the floor and gets nailed by a springboard shoulder as we take a break. Back with Jericho sending Riggs into the buckle and getting two off the backsplash.

Riggs is sent to the floor again but manages to dropkick a chair back into Jericho’s face. Back in and a top rope cross body gets two for Scotty but Jericho dropkicks him back down. A backbreaker has Riggs in more trouble and Jericho gets all cocky. He runs into a boot in the corner though and Riggs follows it up with a clothesline. Both guys try cross bodies and wind up down on the mat in a heap. An enziguri drops Jericho and he has to tell Scotty to cover him. Riggs gets the same off a running knee lift but Jericho sidesteps a dropkick and hooks the Liontamer for the submission.

Rating: C-. This was fine for the most part. Long but fine. Riggs is still having the same issues he’s always had: he’s not a very well rounded guy in the ring and he has nothing that makes him stand out at all. Generic looking wrestlers can overcome their lack of a gimmick if they’re great in the ring (Jerry Lynn for instance) but Riggs is far from Jerry Lynn.

We see the same Luger/Liz video from Nitro.

Video from Nitro on how the mask vs. hair match was set up for SuperBrawl. I’ve liked the build to this feud so far and it’s made Rey look like a big deal.

Disorderly Conduct vs. Rey Mysterio Jr./Konnan

The jobbers are Mean Mike and Tough Tom. The Tough one catches Mysterio in a hot shot to start but gets sent to the floor with a dropkick. Rey follows him out with a flip dive to take out Tom and Mike. Back in and a springboard sunset flip gets two on Tom before it’s off to Konnan for some hard stomping in the corner. A spinning bulldog sets up the seated dropkick and it’s back to Rey.

Tom finally gets in some more offense with a full nelson slam and a clothesline gets two. Mike comes in with a top rope ax handle for two but Mysterio rolls over and makes the hot tag to Konnan. Everything breaks down and Konnan hits the X Factor to set up the Tequila Sunrise on Mike as Rey hurricanranas Tom for the pin.

Rating: C. A nice match and logical booking as we build to a well set up match. What more can you possibly ask for? Mysterio and Konnan work well together and Konnan is good at getting the hot tag to clean house. They would have been a good entrant in the tournament to make a deep run if it wasn’t for the Luger/Nash match.

The Black and White see Vince arrive three hours late in a limo provided by Hogan. Ray isn’t cool with this.

Video on Hogan vs. Flair.

Stevie Ray hypes up Adams and Horace for their match later tonight when Vince comes in. Apparently Hogan has put him in charge of hyping up the champs but Stevie is tired of Vince’s talk and leaves. Adams lightly shoves Vince and leaves.

Norman Smiley vs. Disciple

I had forgotten Disciple was around. A quick wristlock doesn’t get Norman anywhere and we hit the chinlock less than a minute in. Back up and Disciple kicks Norman in the face but gets rolled up when posing. An armbar has Disciple in trouble and Norman teases the Big Wiggle. Back to the armbar as this is a total clinic so far from Smiley.

He’s still not ready to Wiggle though so he stomps on Disciple’s foot. Norman gets two off a butterfly suplex but Disciple holds the ropes to avoid a dropkick. Disciple’s suplex is easily blocked and Norman hits a textbook suplex of his own. NOW we get the Wiggle and the Norman’s Conquest gets the submission.

Rating: C. This was incredibly entertaining in a way I didn’t expect at all. Disciple was completely dismantled here with Norman looking like a master out there. It was a chain wrestling clinic with Norman looking like he could have beaten anyone. That’s not something you often see in WCW and it’s a shame Norman’s push is about to die. How do I know that? Because WCW of course.

Disco Inferno is looking for Vince. Adams says you can find him down there.

Tag Team Title Tournament: Horace Hogan/Brian Adams vs. Faces of Fear

I’ve given up on the rounds as the double elimination has thrown me off. Neither team has lost so far. Horace and Barbarian get things going with Barbarian nailing a shoulder block. Everything quickly breaks down and the Faces of Fear take over. Things settle down and Horace stomps away on Barbarian before bringing Adams in. Brian hammers away but makes the mistake of trying a double noggin knocker, allowing Barbarian to nail a clothesline.

Meng comes in legally for the first time and Tony clarifies that last week’s Outsiders match was NOT a tournament match, even though Windham and Hennig implied that the Outsiders were in the tournament. So either a match between two tournament teams wasn’t a tournament match, or someone has no idea what’s going on. Given that Nash is in a totally different story, I’d assume it’s Hennig/Windham who have no idea what’s going on. We take a break and come back with Barbarian getting two on Horace off a side slam.

Horace gets chopped in the corner and Barbarian rakes his back. Back to Meng who slams Horace down but misses a legdrop. Adams comes in and is easily taken down before it’s back to Barbarian. The boring chants start up as Adams comes back with an atomic drop. Horace comes back in and kicks at the leg before dropping an elbow for two. Brian gets the same result off the same move before a piledriver gets two more.

A fall away slam gets two for Horace but Barbarian sends him out to the floor. They have a dull sequence of Horace trying to get back in but he falls down a few times. Hart gets in some cheap shots but Vince runs out with the slap jack to knock him cold. Back in and Barbarian powerbombs Horace for two and the Kick of Fear gets the same. The referee is busy with Meng and Adams, allowing Vince to hit Barbarian with the slap jack. Horace drops a middle rope elbow for the pin.

Rating: D. This wasn’t so much bad as much as it was incredibly dull. The match ran an absurd SIXTEEN MINUTES and the fans stopped caring after about two. I like the idea of longer matches, but there are guys that can do this kind of stuff far easier than the Faces of Fear and the B Team. It’s not terrible but it should have been about four minutes long.

This Week in WCW Motorsports: the pit crew stays in shape!

Stevie Ray can’t find his slap jack.

The announcers talk about Bret Hart defending the US Title against Scott Hall at SuperBrawl. This leads into clips of Benoit vs. Hall from Nitro.

We see Goldberg calling out Bigelow from Nitro. That’s kind of a step backwards for Goldberg. You would think he would go after another member of the NWO. Like Luger, but that would make too much sense.

Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Jerry Flynn

Bigelow shoves him into the corner to start and we actually get a clean break. Flynn grabs a cross armbreaker but Bigelow is into the ropes before he feels the power of mullet. After Flynn chokes some more, Bigelow realizes he’s facing Jerry Flynn and takes over with kicks in the corner. A running splash crushes Flynn but he stops another with a boot. Jerry misses a bicycle kick though and Greetings From Asbury Park connects for the pin.

Rating: F+. The piledriver looked good but it’s Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Jerry Flynn. I think that speaks for itself.

Stevie is choking Vince for stealing his slap jack but the Black and White drags him off.

We see Scott Steiner causing Kimberly to fall before Nitro and Page wanting to fight Steiner.

Glacier vs. Diamond Dallas Page

Page is all ticked off and runs Glacier over with a clothesline. A hard forearm sends Glacier to the floor but Page pulls him back in to hammer away even more. Glacier gets crotched against the post and there’s the discus lariat. Tony tries to write off the bored crowd as being in awe of Page’s aggression. Glacier gets in a single shot and goes up, only to get caught in a Diamond Cutter from the middle rope for the pin.

Rating: D. Total squash here but it did what it was supposed to do. It amazes me how much stock WCW put into Glacier and now he’s doing jobs on the B show less than two years later. Page needs to do something of note soon as he’s been in the same place on the card for the last few months here.

Tag Team Title Tournament: Barry Windham/Curt Hennig vs. Mike Enos/Bobby Duncum Jr.

This is the main event people. Let that sink in for a minute. Hennig starts with Enos and it’s Curt slamming him down before tagging in Windham. Barry is actually taken down in a wristlock but comes back with one of his own. Bobby and Windham slug it out until Duncum takes over and hits a Vader Bomb into an elbow.

We take a break and come back with Enos powerslamming Curt for two. Hennig quickly fights back and starts in on the knee before giving it back to Windham who can’t hook the figure four. Instead he sends Enos out to the floor so Hennig can….do nothing at all. Back in and it’s off to Curt for some chops but Enos nails a hard clothesline.

Bobby comes in off the tag and runs Hennig over with a shoulder and middle rope clothesline. A bulldog gets two on Hennig and a horrible looking Skull Crushing Finale gets the same. Enos tries to come in for no apparent reason, allowing Windham to nail Bobby in the back of the head so Curt can get the pin.

Rating: D. The match was watchable but the fact that this was the main event showed how little this show mattered. This is another annoyance about a double elimination format: we have to sit through matches like these because the teams have to wrestle at least twice each. Enos and Duncum just aren’t interesting as a team and it’s a waste of someone who looks and works like Duncum.

Overall Rating: D+. The show had its moment and they were few and far between. The tag tournament is starting to come into form as we’re seeing some teams for the second time, but that doesn’t mean they’re teams I want to look at. Having Thunder as the wrestling show is a good idea, but it would be nice if I cared about more of the wrestlers. Windham/Hennig vs. Duncum/Enos is a Saturday Night match at best, not the main event of a show. Good idea on the structure here but horrid execution.

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Tonight we should be finding out some of the matches for Souled Out. Why should it be tonight? Well that’s because tonight is the go home Nitro for the pay per view. In its infinite wisdom, WCW had Starrcade, then Flair winning power the next night, then the Fingerpoke of Doom the next week, then Souled out less than two weeks later. The only match announced so far is David/Ric Flair vs. Hennig/Windham. Our big story at the moment is Nash vs. Giant to be the real big man of the NWO. Flair also promises to deal with the team tonight. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Hogan announcing Nash vs. Giant for tonight. One might think putting this on the pay per view would be a good idea, but why do that when you can do it for free with four days’ build?

Here’s Flair for the opening chat. Gene asks him about the match at Souled Out and Flair lets out a huge MEEEEEAN WOO! BY GOD GENE because Bischoff hates it. Flair talks about he and his son coming to get some of Windham and Hennig on SUnday. This brings us to Hogan, who is signed up through 2001, so he’s not going to Hollywood or the White House. Good to see Flair keeping his sworn enemy around for two years.

Flair also brings out JJ Dillon as the Chairman of the Executive Committee, along with more money, a new car and a female limousine driver. JJ makes his first match: Hogan defending the title at SuperBrawl against someone to be named by WCW. On Sunday, we’re also getting Goldberg vs. Hall in a shock stick above the ring match for the main event.

Ric has one more piece of business to tend to: the LWO. They come out minus a few members (Gene: “Que Pasa?”) and Flair calls them the most talented people in the world. He knows Eddie is in the hospital right now with a broken leg and knows the NWO had something to do with it. That’s something I miss in wrestling. Why do we have to know the real reason someone is hurt or injured? Blame it on someone else and make a story out of it.

So what if the real story is online? Is it that much harder to believe than some of the other gaps in logic/stories you hear on TV? Look at the injury to Daniel Bryan (in 2014 in case you’re reading this in like 50 years). Instead of having him announce his broken neck and then get beaten down by Kane, don’t have him mention anything and have Kane attack him. Kane looks like a monster, Bryan gets off TV, everyone wins.

Anyway Flair tells them to take the shirts off and join the WCW bandwagon. They’re promised money, cars, women, or whatever else they want. Most of them take the shirts off and Flair promises to go to Tijuana with Juvy next week. Rey won’t take off the colors ironically enough, but who needs Rey Mysterio when you have a Villano and Damien? We’re STILL not done though as Flair knows we’re a match short so he puts himself in a match with Curt Hennig.

Video on Flair and tradition. He gets to list off people like Jack Brisco and Wahoo McDaniel because that’s what half of his promos are about.

The announcers talk for a bit and hint at Eric Bischoff having a new assignment.

Clip of the LWO getting beaten down on Thunder.

Gene brings out Saturn because we don’t have enough talking to open this show yet. Saturn talks about how great Flair is before saying he got ripped off. He wants a rematch with Jericho and gets both Chris and Ralphus. Jericho says the record books show two straight fair wins over Saturn and now Perry is out here caterwauling like a ten year old.

Saturn is crying so much he should be wearing a dress. That’s a good idea and Jericho pitches a third match and if Saturn loses, he wears a dress for the rest of his career. Saturn says no but Jericho runs his mouth long enough to get the deal made. Chris is worried that Saturn doesn’t have the legs to make the dress work.

The Cat vs. Perry Saturn

Scott Dickinson is referee because this story won’t die. Miller tries a sneak attack to start but gets suplexed down and hammered on in the corner. A ticked off Saturn pounds away with right hands but Dickinson physically pulls him off. The announcers try to tell us a history between Saturn and Dickinson but they lose me as soon as I remember it’s about a mostly bald referee.

Miller kicks him in the leg and poses a lot before we hit the chinlock. A dropkick to the knee puts Perry down again (Tony calls it a knee to the ribs because he’s stupid in 1999) but Saturn comes back with a quick suplex. He hits a frog splash but Dickinson is with Sonny Onoo, allowing Jericho to come in and hit Saturn with a shovel. It knocks Saturn into Dickinson though and that’s a DQ.

Rating: D. Did Saturn run over Bischoff’s dog or something? He’s plummeted through the floor since the biggest push of his career and it seems like it’s just going further and further. I don’t know why I’m surprised, but I don’t see why the Dickinson stuff is needed at all. This same story could be told with just Jericho.

Jericho puts Saturn in a dress.

We see Flair ranting about Bischoff on Thunder.

Opening sequence, about 40 minutes into the show.

Nitro Girls.

Time for more not wrestling as we see Bischoff arriving in Atlanta for a meeting with WCW and Turner brass. Bischoff’s security card doesn’t work so he has to call the receptionist to get in. It’s funny you see. He has to sign in and this is humiliating I guess. Security guard: “Mr. Bischoff….” Eric: “Do you know who I am?” Security guard: “No sir.” Eric is shown waiting presumably for hours for Flair and ranting to the new receptionist.

Ric will finally see him and apparently the secretary has a new house and stock options. Flair is in Bischoff’s old office, complete with a robe hanging from the coat rack. Bischoff liked a few moments of last Monday and claims no responsibility for what happened with the NWO. Flair promises to spend ninety days (isn’t it like 80 now?) making Bischoff as miserable as he can. Ric gives Bischoff all of the personal stuff he left in the office and assigns him to the ring crew. Bischoff gets to ride in the truck down to Knoxville. This ate up over eight minutes for one joke. Tony promises more on this later.

Now it’s back to Gene who has a cake. He brings out Chavo Guerrero Jr. and of course Pepe…..for the horse’s birthday. We get a huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY sing a long until Norman Smiley comes out to bring some sanity to this show. Actually scratch that as he’s upset about not being invited and wants to make amends with the horse. Smiley of course attacks Chavo, sends him into the cake and does the Big Wiggle. This still isn’t done though as Norman takes Pepe outside and throws him in a conveniently placed wood chipper.

Hour #2 begins with us looking in on Raven playing Backgammon with James (Sandman). Raven asks to see his high school yearbook and is told it’s in the garage. He goes to find it but instead finds a folded up picture of Roddy Piper. James asks what that is but Raven quickly brushes him off.

The NWO motorcade arrives and the Black and White wants to know why they didn’t get such a nice entourage. Hogan, thankfully without the flannel shirt, walks to the ring flanked by the Hell’s Angels. The bikers rev their engines a lot then leave so Hogan can talk. Hollywood talks about being under contract and winning the title in a hard fought battle. He’ll still be president of course.

Nash, a former Tennessee Volunteer, promises to show the world who the real giant is. Scott Steiner says he’ll beat up Diamond Dallas Page and threatens to hurt Schiavone if he calls Page the People’s Champion again. He promises to show Kimberly what it’s like to be with a real man. Hogan thanks the Angels and that’s it. This interview proved one thing: we’re not getting an explanation for the NWO’s merging are we?

Kaz Hayashi vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.

A quick headscissors puts Kaz down and gets sent to the floor for a big old flip dive over the top. Back in and a slingshot headscissors drops Hayashi again but here’s Lex Luger to attack Kaz for the DQ after less than two minutes.

Luger wants to know why Rey didn’t take the shirt off and decks the “helpless” Rey (Tony’s word as Rey was standing there looking at Luger when Lex jumped him, because there’s no way a small guy could ever fight a big one). A quick comeback is thwarted by Luger as the announcers make it sound like Rey is 12 years old and worthless.

Konnan calmly walks down for the save but doesn’t attack Luger. Instead Konnan says there’s no point to attack Rey because he’s no threat to the NWO and doesn’t have a title they want. Luger says he (Luger) wasn’t in Konnan’s video so they don’t have to do everything together. Nash comes in and the beatdown is on. Hall zaps him a few times and Konnan is off the team. The fans want Sting but get no one.

We see Hogan making Giant vs. Nash tonight.

Here’s Giant with something to say. Giant admits that he was suckered in by Macho Man (who hasn’t been seen since that one appearance) and he’s sick of Hogan complaining about it. Tonight, he’s fighting to get a piece of Nash and then a piece of Hogan. He’s about to unwrap himself from the wrong things he’s gotten caught up in.

Booker T. vs. Lenny Lane

This is what we’ve waited for? Feeling out process to start with Booker grabbing a headlock and easily taking Lane down. A running forearm puts Lane on the floor and Booker rams him into the barricade. Back in and Lane scores a boot to the jaw and a bulldog but stops to showboat. T. shrugs them off and it’s a side kick, the ax kick, the spinebuster and another side kick to pin Lane.

Rating: D+. This was nothing special and there wasn’t all that much to it. At the end of the day, we’re an hour and a half into this show and this is the longest match we’ve gotten so far and the rest has been a lot of talking. Booker continues to fight his way through the card and is getting no recognition for it. Is there any shock that so many people left?

We get an NWO produced sitdown chat between Hogan and Nash talking about how awesome their match was. Tony brings up a good point: Why did Flair allow this to be on the show?

Recap of the Hell’s Angels being here and not doing anything earlier.

TV Title: Diamond Dallas Page vs. Scott Steiner

Steiner is defending and Page has walking pneumonia. Scott shoves Page into the corner a few times but gets caught by the driving shoulders and some right hands. Page fights off both Steiner and Bagwell to finally fire up this crowd. Bagwell breaks up a superplex attempt and Page is in trouble. The beating begins as Steiner throws him to the floor and stomps away before sending Page into the barricade.

Back in and a running kick to the head has Page in even more trouble as the crowd is already dead. The spinning belly to belly gets two and Scott yells at the referee for counting slowly. Off to a chinlock for a few moments before a hard clothesline sets up Scott’s pushups.

Bagwell gets in some cheap shots on the floor but Page nails Steiner with a discus lariat for a quick two. Steiner charges into a boot in the corner and Page makes his comeback with right hands and clotheslines. The Pancake connects but Vincent comes in for a distraction so Steiner can shove Page into the referee. Bagwell throws powder into Page’s eyes so Vincent takes a Diamond Cutter. Page thinks it’s Steiner, even though Vincent is wearing a shirt, allowing Steiner to hit some bad chair shots to set up the Recliner for the three arm drops.

Rating: D. I waited this long for a match this bad? It wasn’t so much the action but that it’s the same NWO formula we had for so long but with an ending instead of the lame run in. I feel sorry for this crowd as they’ve sat through a very boring show and now they get this match as one of the features on this show. Also what was the point of the powder? They could have done the exact same thing without Page being blinded.

Goldberg talks about Starrcade being a big mistake when he thought Nash would have a faie match. He won’t make that mistake again. Ignore the fact that it wasn’t cheating as there were no disqualifications.

We see Bischoff setting up the ring earlier. This is supposed to entertain us somehow. Seriously it’s just several minutes of the guy in charge of the ring yelling at Bischoff for being slow and Bischoff insulting him.

Another clip of Nash winning the title and the end of last week’s show because we have to fill this show with as many replays, videos and interviews as we can.

Now it’s a REPLAY OF BISCHOFF PUTTING UP THE RING. Just…..wow.

Scott Hall vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

The fans aren’t interested in the idea of Goldberg getting shocked again. Bigelow runs him over to start and stops the driving shoulders with a clothesline. A poke to the eye has Bigelow in trouble and Hall slowly hammers away in the corner. Another clothesline puts Hall down and a delayed vertical suplex gets the same. Disco Inferno comes out for a distraction as Wrath shoves Bigelow off the top. Inferno slides Hall a taser which the referee somehow doesn’t hear, even though the cameras pick up the sound, allowing Hall to fall on top for the pin.

Rating: D-. This was somehow even less interesting than the previous match with punches and clotheslines before two run-ins and an electric stick got the pin in a four minute match. I’d guess this sets up Wrath vs. Bigelow at the pay per view, which puts us at I believe four matches for the show.

More from Goldberg, saying Nash knows he can’t beat him on his own. Luger’s turn surprised Goldberg more than anyone else for some reason.

Wrath and Bigelow got in a fight in the back to set up their match. Not that we get to SEE this or anything, but here’s a clip of Nash nearly killing Giant a year ago.

Nitro Girls.

Ric Flair vs. Curt Hennig

Feeling out process to start with Flair slapping him in the face a few times. Despite hating Hennig, Ric goes for a hammerlock and struts a bit. A backdrop puts Flair down and Barry Windham is at ringside less than a minute in. David Flair comes out to even things up as well as he can and we go to a break. Tony: “The tape machines are rolling.” Heenan: “BUT NO ONE IS RUNNING THE MACHINES!”

Back with Hennig eating an elbow in the corner but slamming Flair off the top. Curt slaps on the Figure Four but Ric pokes him in the eye to escape. Hennig sends him outside for a Flair Flop right in front of David. They send each other into the barricade until Flair takes him inside for a suplex to put both guys down. Back up and they collide to put each other down again. Ric sends him outside and Barry nails David. They get back in and Ric puts on the Figure Four, drawing in Barry for the DQ.

Rating: D+. I can only give it that because it’s slightly better than the previous two matches. The opening part of the match drove me crazy though as Ric is supposed to hate Hennig but treated him like any run of the mill jobber at the beginning. The idea of Ric and David wrestling a tag match together makes my head hurt, but that could just be the migraine that this show is giving me.

Goldberg says the phrase is now Who’s Left. He finally says Hall is first.

Nitro Girls.

Giant vs. Kevin Nash

Buffer says this is the home of the NCAA Champions of the Universe. Giant seemed like he quit the NWO earlier but comes out to their music here. You can’t blame them for not remembering that as their minds are still recovering from the comedic genius of Eric Bischoff using a wrench and carrying ropes. The trade poses to start and a headbutt staggers Nash before Giant stomps away in the corner. Nash avoids a charge and gets two off a big boot and an elbow drop.

Kevin hammers away in the corner as Tony points out that Sunday is the first WCW Souled Out rather than the third NWO Souled Out. I’d still love to hear the meetings where WCW thought people would care about which organization was putting on the pay per views at any point after the first Souled Out when it was still a new idea. Nash hits the picture frame elbow in the corner and Hall gets in a shot of his own.

We get a nice power display as Nash slams Giant but the bigger man powers out of the Jackknife attempt. Hall comes in and gets taken down as well before splashing both of them in the corner. A double headbutt puts them down and Hall gets chokeslammed. Nash pulls out a wrench (apparently the same one Bischoff used earlier in the day, which is treated as a big deal for some reason) to knock out Giant, literally with the referee looking right at them, for the pin.

Rating: D. And that’s it for Giant in WCW. It’s really hard to feel bad for him when he went on to become a multiple time World Champion and multimillionaire in the WWF, but it’s always bothered me that Giant never got to beat Nash even once. Giant would be 27 a month after this and still has a pretty high profile job fifteen years later. This is the start of a trend for the WWF: taking young stars from WCW instead of the older veterans. Giant would be the first of many and it would slowly chip away at WCW’s future.

Giant gets spray painted to end the show, giving me a flashback to two and a half years ago.

Overall Rating: F. This was one of the worst shows Nitro has ever produced. The best match of the night was either Booker T.’s glorified squash of Lenny Lane or Flair vs. Hennig in a nothing match ended with a run-in DQ. Other than that it was a night of recaps, unfunny comedy bits as Bischoff is humiliated, and videos that don’t go anywhere.

One thing I don’t think WCW ever got: most fans really didn’t care about the tradition that they kept talking about. Their idea of tradition seemed like the same old people instead of the same old style, and that just wasn’t going to work. It was an idea when the NWO was a different offering, but now that idea has gotten stale as well. With both options being dull, why should I watch?

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It’s a new year but somehow it feels like we’re still in 1997. Hogan is World Champion again and he has the full NWO behind him including Lex Luger and the Outsiders. This is the first show after the Fingerpoke of Doom, which is kind of uncharted territory. So many people remember the Fingerpoke of Doom, but after that you barely hear any TV talked about until Russo came in. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Flair vs. Bischoff which earned Ric control of the company ten days earlier. You would think this would be a montage of what happened Monday, not ten days ago. There is a clip from Monday, though it’s about what Flair did on his first night in power. This eats up nearly five minutes.

The announcers talk about Bischoff a bit before we talk about the World Title situation from Monday. Tony: “Words cannot describe what happened on Monday.” You mean when Nash laid down to give Hogan the title and the NWO reunited? That’s something you can’t describe? We see the ending segment again, plus some bonus footage from after the show went off the air. Goldberg wanted to fight Nash but I believe the Atlanta Falcons got in the ring instead. Nash didn’t come out so this really doesn’t mean much.

Gene brings out Flair for a chat. He asks Ric about what happened on Monday and Flair is very serious. Flair talks about the tradition in this building and wrestling Harley Race here eighteen years ago. They were two men fighting to be the World Heavyweight Champion. That brings him to Hogan and Nash. Flair has spent his entire career walking behind Hulk Hogan and ten years from now, they’re going to look at their kids and have to explain what they’ve done.

Flair lays down and demands that Gene count him. He demands to know why Nash gave the World Title to Hulk Hogan. Flair shook his hand on Nitro and gave him the match so this is all on the President. He lists off every member of the new NWO and singles out Luger for having no leadership.

As for Bischoff, he spent hours sitting there silently before erupting at the end. Bischoff will be in a meeting with Harvey Schiller, Ted Turner and Flair to figure out what to do about Hogan and Nash this coming Monday. Flair lists off a bunch of legends and says they all used to be World Champions. Hogan and Nash are not taking away what that title means.

We see the clip of Jericho talking to referee Scott Dickinson on Nitro.

Ernest Miller vs. Perry Saturn

Starrcade rematch. Miller holds him off with kicks to the air before taking Saturn into the corner. A superkick puts Saturn down as the fans are trying to care about this show at all. Saturn tries a sunset flip, gets punched in the face, and then pulls Miller down after some posing anyway. Miller gets caught by a head and arms suplex for two but a Sonny distraction lets Cat get in another kick. Falcon’s Arrow gets two on Miller but Jericho pulls the referee to the floor. Tony: “The world has turned upside down.” Miller rolls Saturn up and Dickinson runs in, counts a one, and gives Miller the match.

Rating: D. Saturn is now feuding with a referee. How long ago was he at war with Raven in a hot feud? Four months? This was a waste of time and I can’t blame Saturn for wanting to get out of the company as fast as he could. Do Jericho and Saturn even have an issue? Jericho started stuff with Miller after Starrcade and now he’s feuding with Saturn because…..WCW?

Both NWO camps arrive with Hogan in a Red and Black shirt with a flannel shirt over it, complete with a red and black Harley-Davidson toboggan. Giant is the biggest star in Black and White and asks Hogan what’s up with this. Hogan says give him five minutes and they’ll have a meeting. Hogan looks like an idiot. We follow the Red and Black into their dressing room….and that’s all for this shot.

We look at Luger turning heel. Thankfully Tony brings up Scott Steiner recruiting him, so there is at least a backstory for it, even though it could have just been part of the NWO merger.

Cruiserweight Title: Kidman vs. Psychosis

Kidman is defending. They stall to start until Psychosis cranks on a wristlock into a hammerlock. Kidman rolls him out to the floor and hits a nice plancha as we go to a break. Back with….an ad for the Nitro Girls calendar. Now we’re back with both guys down on the floor. Apparently Psychosis hit a big top rope backsplash to the floor to get them in that position. Not that we get to see it or anything, but Tenay seemed to think it was rather spiffy.

Back in and the BK Bomb gets two on Psychosis before he tries a powerbomb of his own. You know what that means, but Juventud Guerrera runs in for the DQ before we get the Shooting Star. No rating due to the commercial but we didn’t get to see many of the high spots anyway.

Rey Mysterio comes out for the save but here’s the Red and Black. The cruiserweights get destroyed but Mysterio is allowed to leave. Nash talks about the match of the century on Monday where Hogan took the title. Hogan says Flair can’t handle the fact that tradition has been taken to a new level. He promises to take back the wrestling business and rips on Goldberg for having police and Atlanta Falcons protecting him. On Monday, we’ll see what backup is all about.

Cue the Black and White who aren’t looking very pleased. You can see Psychosis being taken out as they hit the ring. Giant wants to know why Hogan didn’t come talk to him but Hollywood says it was just bad timing. Hogan loves all the Black and White guys but thinks there’s a problem. It was Giant that got suckered in by the Macho Man (who hasn’t been seen since the night after Starrcade) and it’s time to trim some fat around here.

The Red and Black are all cool, but Giant is jumping in Hogan’s face. There’s only room for one giant in the NWO, and Kevin Nash has never dropped the ball. Giant says he’s the giant, because his name says he is. Hogan respects that and declares love for the Black and White. Since this is business, how about Nash vs. Giant on Monday for the giant spot on the team? Giant agrees.

This Week in WCW Motorsports. There are too many jokes to pick from.

Ad for the WCW/NWO Thunder game for Playstation.

We go to Raven’s house where his family and Kanyon are trying to get him to go back to therapy. He’s sitting there in ring gear and all of the women say the same things over and over. Raven says he doesn’t want to go back and everyone talks over each other. Raven finally walks off. His sister is being played by ECW’s Chastity.

Jerry Flynn vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

Neither guy has music. Twenty six seconds and Greetings From Asbury Park ends Jerry.

Tony wants to know where Konnan was on Monday. That’s a fair question actually.

Gene brings out Curt Hennig and Barry Windham for a chat. They talk about Ric sending his son to a slaughter, even though Ric’s career is already over. Hennig says not only will it be a handicap match, but Flair will have a handicapped kid.

Juventud Guerrera is trying to leave but Gene flags him down because Gene is an annoying man. Juvy rants about someone getting to Eddie before switching to Spanish. Gene: “You don’t have to talk to me in Mexican. You can talk to me in English.” Juvy looks terrified and escapes while talking about the Wolfpack.

Disco Inferno vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.

No NWO shirt for Disco anymore. Pepe has a neck brace after what happened to him on Monday. Disco doesn’t know what to make of it so he grabs a wristlock instead. A shoulder puts Disco down and it’s time to dance. Some clotheslines put Inferno down again as they’re barely past the first month of wrestling school so far. Disco bails to the floor and Pepe rides Chavo around the ring a bit.

Back in and Chavo fires off some chops as we hear about the Tag Team Titles being vacated due to Rick Steiner’s injury. Flair has announced a tournament, but Tony is cut off by Norman Smiley coming out to do the Big Wiggle with Pepe included. Chavo goes to save the horse and gets caught by the Chartbuster for the pin.

Rating: D. The match didn’t have time to do anything as it was more about continuing Chavo vs. Smiley rather than anything with Disco. I’m glad Smiley has a feud now but couldn’t they do more for him than have something about dancing with a wooden horse? Well in theory they could, but it might take something away from 87 NWO segments a show.

Tag Team Title Tournament First Round: Fit Finlay/Dave Taylor vs. Super Calo/Lizmark Jr.

Finlay and Calo get things going as Tony talks about seeing Jimmy Snuka and Paul Orndorff winning the World Tag Team Titles back in the 70s. A headlock annoys Calo so Finlay sends him flying with a shoulder instead. Taylor gets in a kick from the apron and Finlay scores with a clothesline. Lizmark and Taylor come in with the masked man nailing a dropkick and stopping for what looked like a dance. Finlay comes back in to clean house and then hand it back to Taylor. Lizmark misses a moonsault press and a floatover butterfly suplex sends Finlay and Taylor to the next round.

Rating: D+. The match wasn’t horrible but these matches not even getting to five minutes is getting very annoying. I get that it’s a special kind of show, but usually you get a long match to fill in some of the time. This is the fifth match of the night and the only one that got more than five minutes had a commercial in it. It doesn’t help that it’s not even anything interesting, though paying some attention to the tag division is a nice idea.

Not that the match matters as the NWO comes in to clean house. Hall says tradition bites and there’s no tag wrestling around here because the Outsiders were undefeated. The tournament isn’t going to happen.

Booker T. vs. La Parka

La Parka dances a bit but gets forearmed for his efforts. Booker easily sends him outside but gets caught in a chase, allowing La Parka to hit some chops in the corner. Time to dance! La Parka fires off some right hands in the corner as Tony says there’s no way Booker is getting a World Title shot anytime soon. Booker easily comes back with the ax kick for two and the whip spinebuster. Tony is of course talking about some meeting with human resources. La Parka clotheslines Booker out to the floor and brings the chair in, only to have Booker kick it into his face for the pin.

Rating: C-. The match probably wasn’t that good but after this show I’ll take anything. La Parka wasn’t the best in the world but he was having a decent match here and actually trying. Booker continues to look like someone capable of getting a rocket push at the drop of a hat, but like Tony said, that simply wasn’t in the cards at this point.

Back to Raven’s house with him sitting by the pool and Kanyon cleaning. A man with blond hair named Jim shows up and throws Kanyon in. Apparently the man is related to the family and gets into a chat with them as Raven goes inside. You might know Jim better by his ring name: the Sandman.

We see Konnan beating Chris Jericho for the TV Title back in November.

Chris Jericho vs. Konnan

We cut to the back to see La Parka laid out with the NWO circle of spray paint around him. Konnan (still in a Konnan Red and Black shirt) does the catchphrases and finally gets jumped while he talks forever. Why did no one ever figure that out before? Konnan fights back with a shoulder but walks into a spinwheel kick. Another clothesline puts Jericho on the floor and it’s right back inside for a chinlock.

That goes nowhere so a release hot shot puts Konnan down instead. Back up and Konnan spins around into a bulldog for two followed by the rolling lariat. Scott Dickinson is bumped and Jericho pulls out a foreign object for two but Saturn pulls Dickinson out. Back in and Konnan gets in a cheap shot and Saturn counts a fast three because why not.

Rating: D+. This show is rapidly killing me as this referee nonsense is such a waste of Saturn’s skills. They tried to throw in something about them coming from the same wrestling school but at the end of the day, it’s Saturn feuding with a referee and Jericho by proxy. Why am I supposed to be interested?

Tony and Tenay brag about doing commentary in the Thunder game. Heenan: “Why wasn’t I invited?” Tony: “You’re very obnoxious.”

Chris Benoit vs. Barry Windham

Apparently Tony gave human resources a very bad report on Eric Bischoff’s commentary Monday. They fight against the ropes to start as Tony lists off a bunch of people Bischoff has treated horribly over the years. Benoit and Windham fight to the floor as the announcers still ignore them.

Back in and Benoit backdrops Barry and chops away in the corner. Windham nails a quick low blow to take over but gets caught in the release German. Back to the floor with Benoit being rammed into the barricade but coming back with a clothesline inside. The referee goes down again as Benoit hits another German but Hennig comes in. He gets caught in the Crossface but Barry is back up to kick Benoit in the head for the pin.

Rating: D. Think back to all the battles and matches Benoit has had. Think back to the wars with Kevin Sullivan. Now imagine a single kick to the back of the head being enough to pin him. It’s just a way to cap this awful show with another stupid moment that doesn’t make sense or please any fan.

Mongo comes out for the save to end the show.

Overall Rating: F. This looks to be the start of a really bad time for WCW. We had terrible matches (none of which seemed like anyone was even trying save for maybe Booker T. vs. La Parka) and WAY too much NWO stuff. I see no reason whatsoever for the LWO to have to be destroyed. Did we really need to prove that the guys who just destroyed GOLDBERG could beat people up? It’s clear that there was no thought put into this save for the main event angles and that’s not a good thing. The main event was just there and the announcers spent half the time talking about Tony and human resources. REALLY bad sign here.

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