WCW Saturday Night – August 27, 1994: Open That Vault
WCW Saturday Night
Date: August 27, 1994
Location: Center Stage, Atlanta, Georgia
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan
So this was posted live on the incredible WWE Vault YouTube channel and we might as well take a look at it. There doesn’t seem to be anything significant to the show other than the star power and I’ve heard worse excuses to watch the show. We’re just done with Clash Of The Champions XXVIII, meaning Hulk Hogan has been attacked and injured by a masked man. Let’s get to it.
Dig that old school robotics intro. Dang this is a strong flashback right out of the box.
We open with a long Clash recap.
Commentary welcomes us to the show, with Bobby Heenan being fine with being in a neck brace because Hulk Hogan is hurt even worse.
Ricky Steamboat vs. Tom Burton
Steamboat’s US Title isn’t on the line and the Blacktop Bully (Barry Darsow as a mean truck driver, because WCW) yells at Steamboat from the crowd before the match. Burton headlocks him to the mat to start but Steamboa-t drop toeholds him into an armbar. That’s reversed into a suplex to give Burton two and he even cuts off Steamboat’s chops. Steamboat chops him down anyway and, after waiting for Burton to get up, hits the high crossbody for the pin at 2:46. Burton got a good bit in here, mainly because it’s Steamboat and that means a lot of selling.
Gene Okerlund shills the Hotline, as tends to be his custom.
Stud Stable vs. Joey Maggs/Todd Morton
That would be Bunkhouse Buck/Terry Funk with Colonel Parker and Meng. It’s a brawl to start and the Stable is whipped into each other, resulting in quite the pratfall. Back up and Morton, who looks a lot like a smaller Bobby Eaton, monkey flips Buck to no avail. Funk comes in and hammers away but Morton, who even has Eaton style tights, flips out of Buck’s backdrop and hands it off to Maggs. That’s fine with Funk, who plants Maggs with a piledriver so Buck can finish with a left hand at 3:36.
Rating: C. I’m convinced that Funk could make a trip to the dentist fun, as he turned this into an entertaining match. Buck was good in his own right, making this a far more engaging match than it should have been. Maggs was around for a long time and Morton…well he certainly looked like Eaton.
Post match the Stud Stable looks at a clip from the Clash, where Meng no sold Dusty Rhodes breaking a wooden chair over his head. This was a complete redo of Rhodes’ angle with Big Bubba Rogers, which turned him into a star. Back in the arena, the Stable, including Cowboy Arn Anderson, is ready for Dusty and Dustin in WarGames at Fall Brawl. Terry Funk even feels sorry for Dusty!
TV Title: Johnny B. Badd vs. Lord Steven Regal
Regal, with Sir William, is defending and there is a ten minute time limit. They lock up to start and Regal gets backed into the corner a few times. That’s reversed into a battle over arm control, meaning Regal needs to bail over to the ropes. The exchange of arm cranking continues until Regal needs a breather (complete with seething) on the floor.
Back in and Regal avoids a charge to send Badd crashing into the ropes, meaning Regal can grab a cobra clutch. Badd fights up but gets elbowed in the face to put him back down. We have less than two minutes left as Regal knocks him back down for two more. Badd fights up with a backdrop and a suplex but time expires at 9:36 (called 10:00) for the draw.
Rating: C. Not the most thrilling match but they weren’t hiding the impending draw most of the way through. It just wasn’t that interesting though, which isn’t exactly out of the norm for Regal around this time. That is only going to get them so far, but I remember BEGGING someone to take the title from Regal so he was certainly doing something right.
Post match Badd jumps Regal and William so Regal says he wants a rematch at Fall Brawl.
Steve Austin vs. Chris Michaels
Michaels works on the arm to start but gets snapmared down. Austin misses an elbow so Michaels grabs a headlock, only to get taken down for a knee to the back. Austin starts in on the leg before That’s A Wrap (standing reverse figure four) makes Michaels tap at 2:31.
Sting vs. John Faulkner
Sting shoulders him down to start and slaps the turnbuckle a few times but Faulkner kicks away in the corner. That’s shrugged off and the Stinger Splash into the Scorpion Deathlock finishes Faulkner at 1:29. Squash.
Cactus Jack says he and Kevin Sullivan are done. Jack talks about how Sullivan started making Jack’s career work but now they’re through because it’s time to become a singles wrestler. Sullivan’s dyslexic brother Evad (just go with it) tries to calm things down and gets DDTed for his efforts. It’s weird seeing Jack use a one armed version.
Commentary isn’t sure who Dusty and Dustin Rhodes could find as partners in WarGames but we see a video of Dusty going to a rather tough bar. Inside he finds the Nasty Boys, who, after having their nastiness questioned, are talked into joining Dusty and Dustin. This was such a weird choice for WarGames.
Harlem Heat vs. Buddy Wayne/Barry Houston
As has been their custom lately, Harlem Heat gets orders from their mysterious manager over their (brick sized) phone. Booker and Houston start things off as Heenan thinks Harlem Heat is on their way to becoming champions. Houston gets two off a rollup so it’s off to Wayne, who gets kicked in the face. An assisted Stun Gun drops Wayne again and the spinning forearm puts him down for a third time. Ray comes in for a running powerslam and the Heat Bomb (powerbomb/top rope elbow combination) finishes at 4;01.
Rating: C. You could see Harlem Heat starting to come into their own as a team and it was a lot of fun to watch them putting things together. The talent was there and it would eventually turn into one of the best tag team runs in a long time. Not uch of a match here but the phone thing was intriguing at the time.
Post match Harlem Heat gets what seems to be a rather positive phone call. They go over to Gene and say they’re here to stay and want the Tag Team Titles. Their manager will get them to the top and you do not need to know who it is. That would wind up being Sister Sherri.
We look back at Hulk Hogan being attacked by a masked man at Clash Of The Champions, which was WCW copying the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan story. Later in the night, Ric Flair wanted to be named World Champion but Hogan limped back to the arena and lost the title match…via countout. After the match, the Masked Man (clearly Arn Anderson) came in and wrecked Hogan’s knee. The masked man would lead to Brutus Beefcake headlining Starrcade, again, because WCW, when Mr. Perfect fell through.
Nick Bockwinkel announces that Ric Flair is suspended from wrestling throughout North America. He also bans Sherri Martel for being Flair’s associate. Since it’s Nick Bockwinkel, this takes FAR longer than it needs to.
Vader vs. Chris Nelson
Vader has Harley Race with him and slugs Nelson down, followed by more slugging in the corner. The powerbomb is enough for…well not a pin as Vader doesn’t cover but he insists the referee count Nelson out at 2:03.
We go to the Fall Brawl Control Center, with Ric Flair suspended and Ricky Steamboat st to defend the US Title against Steve Austin (not quite). Speaking of Austin, he talks about how Steamboat has inspired him to wan the title back. Steamboat doesn’t care for Austin’s comments and is ready to give Austin a rematch.
CALL THE HOTLINE!
Tag Team Titles: Nasty Boys vs. Pretty Wonderful
Pretty Wonderful is defending. Sags and Orndorff start things off with some circling until Orndorff stomps him down in the corner. Everything breaks down and some clubberin sends the champs outside. Back in and Knobbs cleans house before Sags grabs a headlock. Roma gets in a cheap shot though and Sags is (illegally) thrown over the top.
Roma’s top rope elbow gets two and he sends Sags face first into the mat to keep him in trouble. Sags fights back and grabs a sleeper before slamming Roma down. That doesn’t last long as Roma goes up, only to dive into a slam. Knobbs comes in and cleans house but throws Roma over the top for the DQ at 9:00.
Rating: C. I never got the appeal of Pretty Wonderful but they were fine enough as a team. That was on full display here as they were mostly trying to have a run of the mill match with the less than traditional Nasty Boys. As usual, the over the top rule is dumb, but that was a thing in WCW forever.
Post match the Stud Stable runs in to beat the Nastys down and post break, the team promises to win WarGames. Terry Funk barks a lot because Dusty is an EGG SUCKING DOG to end the show.
Overall Rating: C+. The matches were all run of the mill at best but the main thing here is they built up the big match for Fall Brawl while also addressing the big Hogan/Flair story. WCW doesn’t have the best reputation around this time but my goodness there is a lot of talent on here. It was a breath of fresh air to watch and it would be great to see more random shows, either from this era or anywhere else. WWE has such a huge archive and it’s great to see something like this every so often. Lot of fun here, and I could go for more.
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Today we’re looking at a real American: the Patriot.
The Patriot, played by Del Wilkes, got his start in the AWA as the Trooper, a police officer. Here he is at some point in 1990 on AWA Championship Wrestling on ESPN.
Trooper vs. Kent Carlson
There’s a masked man sitting in the audience. Trooper hammers away with left hands out of the corner to start before slapping Carlson across the ring. A left hand to the ribs drops Carlson again and a belly to back suplex gets two. Trooper plants him with an Alabama Slam and a bad looking dropkick puts Kent down again. The Big Pinch, a nerve hold, makes Carlson submit. Total squash.
Next up was the Dallas based Global Wrestling Federation. From some point around 1991 under his better known name.
Tom Davis vs. The Patriot
Davis takes him into the corner to start as Scotty Anthony (later known as Raven) comes to commentary to say the masked Patriot is a Russian spy named Vladimir. A rollup sends Davis to the apron and Patriot works on the arm. Anthony praises Joseph McCarthy as the last real patriot in America. Patriot takes him down with a headlock as Anthony needs quiet from the audience to do commentary.
Tom bails to talk with his brother Mike before getting caught in a headlock back inside. Davis snapmares him down and gets two off a legdrop as Anthony thinks Davis writes Garfield. Anthony: “A win over the Patriot would be a feather in his cap, if in fact he had a cap on.” The full nelson slam plants Davis and the Patriot Missile (top rope shoulder) is good for the pin.
Rating: D+. The match was nothing to see but the commentary was hilarious. Raven is one of the funniest guys in wrestling and can crack me up almost every time he’s given the chance. Patriot was good for a spot like this but he was ready to move up to a bigger role soon after this.
Patriot would jump to WCW in early 1994, including this match on Saturday Night, March 20, 1994.
Lord Steven Regal vs. The Patriot
Regal’s TV Title isn’t on the line here. They circle around for well over a minute to start with Patriot getting the crowd behind him. Patriot takes him down with an armdrag into an armbar for early control. Regal fires off a European uppercut as Bischoff and Ventura have a bet over who is going to throw a punch first.
Patriot hooks a short arm scissors but Regal uses some nice technical stuff to fight up into an armbar. More uppercuts stagger Patriot and Regal cranks on an armbar of his own. Back up and the arm gets wrapped around the top rope but Patriot sends him face first into the buckle. Patriot throws the first punch and Jesse wins the bet. Regal gets caught in a quick Boston crab but Regal’s manager Sir William comes in for the DQ.
Rating: C. The ending hurts this as it needed another five minutes to keep going. The arm stuff worked here as we had a nice back and forth technical match instead of just doing the usual style that didn’t go anywhere. Regal can make that style work very well and Patriot was hanging with him while the match lasted.
Patriot would join forces with Marcus Bagwell in the team Stars N Stripes. Here they are challenging for the titles at Fall Brawl 1994.
Tag Titles: Pretty Wonderful vs. Stars N Stripes
We see Barry Darsow AGAIN but this time he’s being thrown out. Seriously, Paul Orndorff and Paul Roma are the tag champions and it’s 1994. Let that sink in for a bit. Bagwell shakes hands with Penzer. I kind of like that for some reason. It’s nice if nothing else. What the heck happened to this kid? He became the biggest dick I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen my share of big dicks. Oh just leave it alone.
The Patriot apparently changed houses between this and Halloween Havoc as he’s billed as from DC here and South Carolina next time. Roma and Orndorff are reminding me of Billy and Chuck. They actually call the previous sham a match. I’ve heard it all now. Other than Admin KB, but I think that could come this year. Stars N Stripes beat the champions in a non title match to set this up. They make fun of the WWF and say these are wrestlers and not bodybuilders.
Keep in mind that Bagwell would become Buff Bagwell in a few years and Orndorff was Mr. Wonderful for his muscles. And yeah you guessed it, the match sucks. Nothing at all of note goes on here as it’s just four guys with no heat having a tag team match. Thankfully it’s shorter than their rematch next month.
Yes, Orndorff and Roma got to fight on PPV again, but as challengers where they won the belts again. Anyway, this is just boring as all goodness . Orndorff dumps a cooler with soda and ice onto Bagwell for no apparent reason and miscommunication between the faces ends this.
Rating: D+. Now remember, Regal and Austin lost their titles tonight, but Roma and Orndorff keep theirs. Let that sink in a bit. To further the pure stupidity of this company, these teams fought again SIX DAYS LATER and the faces won the belts, which they held until October, only to lose them back to Paul and Paul, before Stars N Stripes won them AGAIN, before losing them to Harlem Heat for their first reign. Did Orndorff save Hogan from drowning in cocaine or something once?
The team would win the belts on TV soon after this and defended them at Halloween Havoc 1994.
Tag Titles: Stars N Stripes vs. Pretty Wonderful
Pretty Wonderful are the former champions here as Stars N Stripes beat them about a month earlier. Good night do those teams sound generic. Pretty Wonderful is made up of Pretty Paul Roma and Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorff. Stars N Stripes are Bagwell and the Patriot. I really am not looking forward to this. This just sounds like a bad match on an indy show or something like that.
Heenan suggests that the Patriot is Al Gore. Something tells me that Bobby is going to be all that gets me through this match and show. Bagwell was a five time champion with four different partners. That either says he’s a great tag wrestler or he has no direction so they kept throwing him in random tag teams because he had a big contract and they had nothing else to do with him.
You can tell the announcers are just bored to death as they’re arguing over what a tag is and then there’s something about Dennis Rodman. This is just BORING. They actually say this is the last night Hogan will face Flair. That’s just hilarious. They wrestled 15 years later and likely will in TNA also. They discuss the Lions’ Super Bowl chances. This is just amusing. Nothing at all is going on in the match.
They say that Tiger Stadium and Yankee Stadium are the last great ballparks. The real last great ballparks are the ones still in use today: Fenway and Wrigley. Heenan says that once all of the matches are over, no one is going to take a shower because they’ll all be watching the cage match.
Ok, number one, why does Heenan know the showering habits of the wrestlers and why would no one take a shower after their match when they have about an hour and a half before the main event? How clean do they like to get? The fans are more or less dead for this by the way. Bagwell hits the suplex and Wonderful hits an elbow on him to get the titles. This was somehow worse than the previous match.
Rating: D-. I have never cared less about a match than I did here. I’ve always thought Bagwell was hot and there’s a former Horseman in there though so it’s not a failure. The announcers were bored too as this was just bland as all goodness. The match didn’t work, but the tag division around this time was a disaster anyway.
One last match at Clash XXIX.
Tag Team Titles: Stars and Stripes vs. Pretty Wonderful
This is Pretty Wonderful’s titles vs. the Patriot’s mask. The teams have traded the titles over the last few months with Pretty Wonderful starting as champions but losing the belts to Stars and Stripes before taking them back a month later. Orndorff and Bagwell get things going and it’s quickly off to Roma as the champions gain an early advantage. Roma jumps over Marcus twice in the corner and hits a quick cross body for two but Bagwell comes back with a dropkick and the challengers clean house.
Back in and it’s off to Patriot vs. Orndorff and both guys miss elbow drops before trading hammerlocks on the mat. Patriot takes control on the mat for a bit but Orndorff buries a knee in the ribs to give the champions the advantage. Roma comes back in for three straight backbreakers followed by a top rope fist to the face and a near fall. Back up and Patriot scores with an atomic drop and a second for good measure. A Thesz Press gets two and it’s off to Bagwell for some arm work.
Marcus dives at Roma but gets dropped over the top with the camera missing most of whatever happened. Orndorff goes outside for some knees to the ribs and it’s back inside for some right hands to the face. Roma comes back in for a nice dropkick and a powerslam but he poses instead of covering. Back to Orndorff who gets caught in a backslide by Marcus for two and a sunset flip for the same. Everything breaks down and the champions load up their suplex/top rope splash combo, but Patriot shoves Roma off the top and Bagwell counters the suplex into a pin for the titles out of nowhere.
Rating: C. It’s not a great match but the fans loved the ending and there’s nothing wrong with having the fans explode to open a show. Stars and Stripes were another young team who didn’t last long but were easy to cheer for and had decent enough matches to validate the push.
Here’s another title shot at Clash XXX.
Tag Team Titles: Harlem Heat vs. Stars and Stripes
Harlem Heat won the belts earlier in the month and this is the rematch. We have no Stars and Stripes to start but we do get Nature Boy Ric Flair with two very nice looking women. He walks by Vader with no incident and goes to his seat. Booker and Bagwell get things going with Marcus stomping him down in the corner but running into a boot in the corner. He comes right back with a dropkick for both champions as Stars and Stripes stands tall.
It’s off to Patriot for a double backdrop on Booker for two. He cranks on Booker’s arm as the fans chant USA. Stevie comes in but walks into a wristlock from Patriot before it’s back to Bagwell for the same hold. A knee to the ribs stops Marcus cold and the champions take over. The advantage only lasts for a few seconds though as it’s quickly back to Patriot for more arm work. A belly to belly gets two on Booker but Stevie saves his brother from a monkey flip.
Back to Stevie for some heavy stomping and he draws in Patriot so Booker can choke from the apron. A running forearm gets two for Booker and it’s off to the chinlock. Marcus fights up but both guys try cross bodies to put him right back down. Sherri gets up on the apron for a distraction so Bagwell’s tag to the Patriot doesn’t count. She takes her shoe off but accidentally hits Booker by mistake. Bagwell rolls him up for two but Stevie kicks Marcus in the face to give Booker the pin to retain.
Rating: C. It’s not bad and more entertaining than the other matches tonight. They let the match have a little more time and things got better as a result which is usually the case. Harlem Heat was getting much better and this more or less ended Stars and Stripes as a team. Good enough to get by.
After a few years in All Japan, Patriot would be signed by the WWF. Here’s one of his first matches on Raw, July 28, 1997.
Bret Hart vs. The Patriot
Bret is all evil and Canadian here and Shawn is on commentary. We can’t start immediately though as Bret insists on O Canada being played. That’s not cool with Patriot who wants to hear the Star Spangled Banner. Like a true villain though, Bret jumps him during the song and we’re ready to go. The song is still going as Bret hammers away before choking on the ropes. Hart stomps away in the corner as Shawn says he stands for truth, justice and the American way. Patriot fights back with a big right hand and they fight outside with Patriot in control.
Back in and the Patriot Missile connects for two and we take a break. We come back with Bret suplexing Patriot down as we see him putting the Figure Four on around the pole during the break. A backbreaker sets up the middle rope elbow but Patriot fights back in the corner. He loads up Uncle Slam (full nelson slam) but the referee gets bumped. Bret nails a piledriver but there’s no referee. Shawn trips Bret up though and the distraction lets Patriot grab the longest rollup in history for the pin.
Rating: C+. This was a natural matchup during the Border War with Patriot being the Kurt Angle of his day, minus the whole Olympic Gold Medal part of course. Bret and Shawn would have their issues until the end of time, including six days after this with Shawn refereeing Bret’s WWF Title match at Summerslam.
That win alone was enough to give Patriot a title shot at In Your House XVII.
WWF World Title: Bret Hart vs. The Patriot
Patriot comes out to what would become Kurt Angle’s theme song. Bret jumps him to start before tying Patriot up in the Tree of Woe for some kicks to the ribs. The fans chant USA to tick Bret off even more so he rakes Patriot’s eyes through the mask. The left handed Patriot comes back with a clothesline and a nice dropkick before clotheslining the champion out to the floor. Bret takes his sweet time on the floor before heading back inside to hide in the corner.
Some nice armdrags put Bret down as the pace picks up a good bit. We hit the armbar Patriot sends Bret’s shoulder into the buckle before slapping on the armbar again. Hart finally makes it to the corner to break up the hold but Patriot wraps the weak arm around the ropes again. Bret comes back with some kicks to the ribs before focusing in on the knee. He cannonballs down onto the knee a few times before just punching the side of Patriot’s leg.
Patriot limps around the ring while holding the top rope but Bret kicks his knee out again to take him down. There’s a spinning toehold of all things from the champion before he locks on the Figure Four around the post. Back in and Patriot fights up as British Bulldog makes his way out to ringside. Bret takes Patriot down with a Russian legsweep and the fans chant for Austin. Patriot comes back with a kick to the side of Bret’s head and gets two off a sunset flip.
The challenger starts coming back with a left hand to the ribs and a legdrop but Bulldog’s distraction lets Bret take over again. Bret accidentally hits the Bulldog, allowing Patriot to get a rollup for two and a BIG pop from the crowd. The Uncle Slam (a full nelson slam) gets two for Patriot but Bulldog makes the save. Patriot goes after Bulldog and here’s Vader to help deal with the Englishman. Bret and Vader get in a fight but the match continues.
Vader and Bulldog are taken to the back and Patriot goes up top for his Patriot Missile (top rope shoulder) but Bret gets up at two. There was nowhere near as much of a reaction for that count as the previous ones. A suplex gets two more on Bret but he grabs a quick Stun Gun to put Patriot down again. The bulldog and middle rope elbow get two for Bret but Patriot slugs away at him in the corner.
The referee gets hit in the face with an elbow and as luck would have it, Patriot hits the Uncle Slam again just a few seconds later. It’s only good for two when the referee wakes up but it’s too late. A double clothesline puts both guys down but it’s Patriot up first, sending Bret chest first into the buckle. With nothing left to try, Patriot puts Bret in the Sharpshooter but Bret counters into one of his own and Patriot gives up, despite being about a foot from the rope.
Rating: B. The match worked well but the ending hurt it a good bit. Patriot is fighting for America and all that jazz, but he gives up instead of crawling another ten inches? The match took awhile to get going but once we got to the interference and all that jazz, things picked up a good bit.
Here’s Patriot on Raw, September 8, 1997.
Patriot vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. British Bulldog
Shawn and HHH jump the Bulldog on his way to the ring. They ram his knee into the ramp and crush it with a chair to set up the match at One Night Only. Back from a break and Savio has jumped into the match and is replacing Bulldog I guess. This is back when the match wasn’t a total cliché that was required at least once a month. HHH gets double teamed and elbowed down but the alliance ends quickly with Patriot clotheslining HHH down and getting kicked in the face for his efforts.
Savio gets knocked to the floor and HHH drops a knee on Patriot for two. HHH pounds away on Patriot’s head but Savio comes gets jealous and pounds away on Patriot instead. I’ve never understood the logic behind that: why not let HHH expend energy and then jump him later on? Shawn comes out for commentary as we take a break.
Back with Savio hitting a spinwheel kick in the corner on HHH, followed by a DDT from Patriot on the future Game for two. Patriot and Savio take turns beating on HHH but neither guy can get more than a one. Patriot suplexes Savio down but HHH breaks it up before there’s even a cover. Savio tries a sunset flip on HHH and after Patriot breaks up HHH’s hold on the ropes, it gets two.
The fans are booing something here and to be fair, it’s probably the match as it’s not working at all for the most part. Shawn is ripping Vince apart on commentary because of how stupid Vince sounds. Savio kicks HHH’s head off, making Shawn speak Spanish. Savio puts a headscissors on HHH and Patriot puts a headscissors on Savio at the same time as we take a break.
Back with Patriot chopping away on Savio and vice versa. HHH breaks up a cover on Savio and the booing gets louder. Patriot and HHH literally stand still and choke each other as a LOUD boring chant breaks out. Vince complains about Shawn’s change of attitude. Shawn: “Well it was you that told me to change.”
The Pedigree is countered and Savio lands on the referee. HHH throws Patriot to the floor and loads up a Pedigree on Savio, only to be catapulted into Patriot, crotching the guy that comes out to Kurt Angle’s music (Patriot if you’re kind of slow). Savio kicks HHH’s head off but Shawn distracts him before the cover. HHH rams Savio into the Patriot and rolls up Vega for the pin.
Rating: D-. WHO THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA??? They should be made to sit and watch this match over and over again until they scream for mercy. I mean DANG this didn’t work at all. Someone thought giving this SEVENTEEN MINUTES was a good idea. Savio comes completely out of nowhere (he had been feuding with the original Nation of Domination) and jumps in the match, which makes absolutely no sense. Taking Bulldog out was a problem as at least he would have given us three distinct groups (Harts, Anti-Harts, future DX) in the match, but instead it was a total mess and VERY dull. Terrible main event.
Maybe he’ll have better luck in England. From One Night Only.
Flash Funk vs. The Patriot
Flash Funk is more commonly known as 2 Cold Scorpio and is a pimp without the name of being one. Patriot showed up a few weeks before this and somehow had a title shot at the previous PPV which went nowhere. Naturally he “came within an eyelash” but that didn’t mean anything after that show.
Patriot has Angle’s old music which it’s just odd to hear in 1997. He’s more or less a heel here since he comes out with the American flag. Patriot says he wears a mask because he represents the face of every American. I don’t know that many men that have golden skin like that. Flash is wearing a freaking zoot suit. This isn’t as good of a match as it could be but it’s ok I guess.
It’s about as generic as you could get but that’s fine. Vince calls Flash the Funkmeister. I’m done. Patriot was just annoying at this point. He wasn’t that good at all but was built up to be this great worker which he just wasn’t at all. They keep saying the reason they’re not being all violent and such is because they don’t hate each other. That’s better than nothing I guess.
If nothing else this should tell you everything you need to know about Patriot: his finishers are a full nelson slam called the Uncle Slam and a top rope shoulder block called the Patriot Missile. Funk’s finisher is called the Funky Flash Splash. A full nelson slam ends this. That was a waste of time.
Rating: C-. Again, this was just there. It wasn’t particularly good or bad, but Patriot got some decent heat which is really all you can ask for. Funk went for a big move from the top and it missed for the Uncle Slam. That’s better than nothing I guess. It could have been a lot worse I guess, but this just wasn’t the best choice of a pairing.
We’ll wrap it up at In Your House XVIII with a flag match.
Bret Hart/British Bulldog vs. Vader/The Patriot
This is a flag match and you can win by pinfall, submission, or capturing your country’s flag from the poles in the corners. It’s a big brawl on the floor to start with everyone fighting on the floor. Vader pounds on Bret with a Canadian flag pole but Bret sends him into the steps. Now it’s Bret hitting Vader with the pole as Bulldog does the same to Patriot in the aisle. We’re still waiting for an opening bell. They change positions and the Foundation members are both down.
We finally get a bell as the Americans are alone in the ring. Why they don’t go up for the flag is anyone’s guess but everyone stands around instead of doing anything. Patriot finally goes up for it but gets pulled down by Bulldog. A snap suplex puts Bulldog down but Bret distracts Patriot from climbing. Vader comes in and runs Bulldog over before it’s off to Bret for the first time. Hart tries to slug it out and is easily punched down into the corner for his efforts.
Bret avoids a charge into the corner and takes Vader down with a Russian legsweep. Vader easily breaks up an attempt at climbing with a low blow before sitting on Bret’s chest for two. Back to Patriot vs. Bulldog with the masked man mostly missing a dropkick for two on Davey. Patriot goes for the flag very slowly and Bret breaks it up again. Vader does the same to the Bulldog as things slow down. Bret sends Patriot’s shoulder into the post and puts on the Figure Four around the same post for good measure.
Back in and Bret drops a headbutt to the abdomen before putting on the Sharpshooter, but Patriot easily reverses into one of his own. That’s broken up just as easily until all four go into the same corner. Bulldog throws Patriot off and the match slows back down again. Patriot kicks Smith away and finally makes the tag off to Vader to almost no reaction. Bulldog scores with a quick belly to back suplex but Vader runs him over and drops a splash for two.
Vader can’t get to the flag either as Bulldog pulls him back down and we hit the chinlock. Back to Bret for a Sharpshooter but Vader is right next to the ropes. Patriot comes in without a tag to break up the hold anyway and Vader takes over. Now it’s a Sharpshooter from Vader to Bret as the fans are trying to get into the match. Bulldog breaks up the Sharpshooter so it’s Patriot in again with a Figure Four. Smith breaks it up again and comes in for the delayed vertical suplex. Patriot is knocked down again while trying to climb so it’s back to Bret.
Hart drops some knees and elbows but Vader easily stops him from getting the flag. Now it’s back to Vader vs. Bulldog but the masked man misses his moonsault, only to LAND ON HIS FEET. That’s INSANE. Anyway he pounds Bulldog down into the corner but Bret stops an attempt at the flag. Instead Vader clotheslines Bulldog to the floor but gets nailed in the head with the bell.
They head inside again where Bret easily slams Vader and drops a few legs. Vader fights up and clotheslines both Foundation members down, allowing for a lukewarm at best tag to Patriot. House is cleaned and the Uncle Slam gets two on Bret. A fan comes in and is easily taken out by security. The Vader Bomb crushes Bret but Vader isn’t legal, so Bret gets a quick rollup on Patriot for the pin.
Rating: D+. This wasn’t a horrible match but again it just went on WAY too long. This was nearly half an hour long and could have easily been done in about twelve minutes. The flags weren’t a factor at all as none of the attempts to get them even came close. It would also be the last major appearance of Patriot who tore his triceps a few weeks later and retired as a result.
Patriot is a guy that fills in a very logical role. He looks great, he has an easy character and he can have a decent match. It’s a shame that he tore his triceps and was released less than a year into his WWF run. Patriot was a good hand in the ring and could have been something better in a different era of the WWF. With Austin rising up the card though and DX soon to turn face, there just wasn’t room for him though.
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:
Today we’re looking at the whipping boy of the Horsemen: Paul Roma.
Roma got started in 1985. We’ll pick things up on the first episode of Superstars, September 6, 1986.
Hart Foundation vs. Koko B. Ware/Paul Roma
This is Koko’s debut. It’s also Ventura’s first appearance since Wrestlemania too. Neidhart and Koko start things off and Koko armdrags him down. Off to Roma who doesn’t have as much luck because he isn’t that good. Bret, who is that good, comes in and pounds him down with ease. Ventura praises him and we get an inset promo from Koko who has nothing to say. While he’s talking the Hart Attack pins Roma. Vince calls it bad officiating but it seemed fine to me.
Roma was best known for his tag matches, including this one on June 14, 1987.
Jim Powers/Paul Roma vs. The Islanders
Powers/Roma would eventually get the name The Young Stallions and become more or less the face jobbing team. The Islanders are now heel as this is about three months later. Still in the Garden here. The beginning of this is clipped to Roma having an armbar on Tama. Oh and Heenan is managing the Islanders now. Haku’s athleticism is underrated badly. Headbutt misses and here comes Roma.
And never mind as Tama trips him from the floor and it’s back to the Islanders. Sunset flip gets Roma hit in the face for his troubles. Off to the nerve hold which Monsoon says is effective due to the martial arts background or something like that. Roma is destroyed for a good while here as we’re filling in time for the most part. Jumping back elbow by Tama gets two.
Superkick by Haku gets two as well. Roma gets a jawbreaker to break the momentum but can’t make the tag. Haku misses a front flip splash and there’s the tag finally. Powers cleans house but somehow messes up a backdrop. Tama landed on Powers’ feet if that makes sense. Anyway it breaks down again and a backbreaker by Haku sets up a top rope splash to end Powers.
Rating: D. Pretty weak match here with Powers being in there a minute combined. Granted the clipping likely had something to do with that. Anyway, weak match from two teams that never really were anything special. I’d like to see more of Tama, but that simply didn’t happen.
The Young Stallions would appear on Saturday Night’s Main Event XII.
Tag Titles: Young Stallions vs. Hart Foundation
The Stallions are Paul Roma and Jim Powers. They never really got above jobber status so there you are. This is a glorified squash and is mostly about Brain making fun of the Stallions and saying how they could be good with him as their manager but they suck otherwise.
Powers hits a leap frog and either gets hurt or is great at selling his back and I’m not sure which it is. I’m betting on selling. We get the “new champions momentarily” line which seals the retaining of the belts. And all of a sudden Roma takes the Hart Attack. I didn’t even seen how that happened. Literally 2 seconds later we’re talking to Hogan and Savage.
Rating: D. Just a very fast match to say there was a title defense. Strike Force would get the belts off the Harts in like 3 weeks and hold them until Mania. The Stallions never were worth much at all and this is a fine example of it. They were good for spots like this though and that’s a good role for them.
The team would be involved in the tag team Survivor Series match in 1987.
Strike Force, British Bulldogs, Killer Bees, Young Stallions, Fabulous Rougeaus
The rules here are that if one member of a team is eliminated, both members are out so it’s still just five eliminations needed. Strike Force recently stunned the Harts for the titles. I think you should know every team here. The Dream Team is Greg Valentine and Dino Bravo and the Stallions are Jim Powers and Paul Roma. I’m a big Strike Force fan so it’s good to see the fans pop loudly for them.
I’ve seen this show many times as it was one of my favorite tapes but I’ve never figured something out: for this and the main event, the lights are turned down. Why would that be the case? It’s clearly darker in the arena now and it’s not a dome with sunlight coming in or anything. I’ve never gotten that. Volkoff and Martel start things off. There are so many people on the apron that you can’t see most of the ring from a standard camera shot.
Volkoff powers him down to start before bringing in Zhukov. Since Zhukov is pretty much worthless, Martel beats him up and brings in Santana for the forearm out of nowhere for the quick pin. Santana’s reward for the pin: he gets to fight Ax. Ax does his pounding but knocks Tito into the corner and it’s off to Jacques Rougeau who speeds things up with a jumping back elbow to take over.
Dino Bravo comes in and the good guys start speeding up their tags. I’m sorry for all of the play by play in this but when you have 18 guys in a match there isn’t much room for analysis or anything else. After Bravo gets beaten up by about five different guys we wind up with Smash vs. Dynamite and the Bulldog (Dynamite) gets caught in the heel corner. Well actually it would be the heel side of the ring because they don’t all fit in one corner but corner sounds better.
Off to Haku and they chop it out before Dynamite tags in a Killer Bee who tags in the other Killer Bee. Neidhart comes in and gets his legs stretched by Brunzell and Roma. Back to Smash and then Ax who beat on the (somehow) future Horseman. I’m not listing a lot of the tags as there are probably five of them a minute and there’s no point in listing off stuff like “Ax comes in and hits Roma once before tagging back out.”
Roma tags in Powers who gets beaten down just as fast as Roma did, so it’s off to Jacques again. Not that it matters much as Jacques misses a cross body and Smash gets a quick pin. That’s good as we’re now down to sixteen guys left in the match. Off to Dynamite vs. Tama but Powers comes in, only to hesitate and gets his head taken off by a clothesline. Neidhart comes in and puts him in an over the shoulder powerbomb position as Haku drops a double ax (is there a single ax?) to the chest.
Off to Roman who gets beaten up by Ax and then Valentine. The Stallions are jobbers for all intents and purposes but they were great at selling so there was a point to having them around. Bravo comes in and hits a gutwrench suplex for two. Roma crawls over and brings in a Killer Bee who tags out to Dynamite almost immediately to face Smash. Smash fires off something similar to Sheamus’ ten forearms but shoves the referee, drawing the DQ to knock out Demolition. Notice that they kept Demolition VERY strong here and didn’t let them get pinned.
Bret immediately comes in and piledrives Dynamite for only two. Jesse immediately starts singing Bret’s praises as he was known to do. Bret misses a charge and hits the post shoulder first and it’s off to Powers again to face Tama. Tama misses a Vader Bomb and there’s the tag to Martel. Rick cleans house but when he puts the Boston Crab on he’s too close to the ropes and Neidhart gets a tag.
Rick gets away enough to bring in Santana who hits the forearm almost immediately for two. The saving shot to the back of Santana’s head by Bret is enough for Neidhart to get a pin and eliminate the champions. To recap, we have the Harts, the Dream Team and the Islanders vs. the Bulldogs, the Stallions and the Bees. At least now things can slow down a lot. Haku hits a HIGH dropkick on Powers as Jesse talks about his great great grandfather coming over on the Mayflower.
Valentine comes in and does Arn Anderson’s jump in the air and get crotched spot. Anvil (Neidhart for you schmucks out there) comes in and hot shots Powers followed by a superkick from Haku. Off to Valentine who has his suplex countered but still blocks the tag by bringing in Hitman. Bret suplexes Powers but Roma is still able to get the tag somehow. Back to Valentine who comes off the middle rope with a shot to the back for two.
In something you rarely see, Bret whips Roma into the ropes and knocks Valentine off the apron. Bret misses a dropkick and there’s the tag to Dynamite. A belly to back gets two for the Kid and it’s off to Roma which is a pretty questionable move given the beating he’s taken. Off to Haku vs. Blair as Roma was only in for a few seconds. Davey comes in and it’s power vs. power. Make that power vs. Powers but Jim misses a corner charge and Haku tags Anvil.
Powers dives away from Bret and it’s time for Davey Boy vs. Bret in a Summerslam 92 preview. Davey uses a perfect gorilla press on Hart and hits the powerslam for two on Haku. Dynamite tries a middle rope headbutt (notice all the similarities between Dynamite and Benoit. Benoit basically cloned himself after Dynamite) on Haku but knocks himself silly, allowing Haku to superkick him for the elimination.
It’s 3-2 now and Roma immediately charges in with a dropkick for two. Off to Bravo who misses an elbow and it’s off to Powers. Why won’t they tag the Bees already? Valentine Hammers away on Powers as do both Harts. Valentine comes in for a second before handing it off to Bravo again. Dino hits his side suplex but tags off to Valentine for the Figure Four, which is countered by a kick to the back. Off to Roma who sunset flips Valentine off the top to make it 2-2 (Stallions/Bees vs. Islanders/Harts).
The Bees double team Anvil in a match that by their own words probably happened 300 times over the years. Brunzell hits a high knee to the face for two and it’s off to Bret who does about as well. Tama comes in and takes out Roma and it’s off to Haku. Haku misses a legdrop and it’s back to Brunzell. Brunzell hiptosses him into the heel corner for some reason and Bret comes back in. Roma gets two off a middle rope fist but Hart comes right back with a belly to back suplex.
The Islanders hit a double headbutt and this referee counts SLOW. Haku pounds on Roma and hits a dropkick which is rather impressive for a guy his size. It’s not quite as impressive as Anvil doing a dropkick of his own (literally 2 seconds after Monsoon says he’d like to see Neidhart try one) though. Bret comes back in and Roma slides between Bret’s legs and tags in Brunzell.
Brunzell tries to slam Hart but Tama dropkicks Bret’s back. Brunzell rolls through and gets a fast pin to eliminate the Harts and get us down to 2-1. Tama hooks a nerve hold on Brunzell followed by a shoulderbreaker from Haku. That gets two so Haku puts on a nerve hold of his own. Now Tama puts on ANOTHER nerve hold. To be fair we’re over half an hour into this so the guys are likely getting tired.
Brunzell tries a sunset flip but there’s no strength in it at all and he only gets two. He FINALLY gets a tag off to Powers who tags in Roma for a powerslam for two. Things start to break down a bit and the Bees being in the ring allow the Islanders to double team Roma a bit. Roma escapes enough to tag Blair but Tama kicks him before Blair can even get in. Tama misses an elbow and it’s off to Brunzell again for some reason. He can barely get Tama over for a backdrop but the signature dropkick gets two. Everything breaks down and Blair puts on his mask (it was a thing the Bees did to cheat) and sunset flips Tama for the pin.
Rating: C-. This match just kept going on and on and it was kind of exhausting to sit through. It runs nearly forty minutes and by the end there were no combinations we hadn’t seen already. You could easily cut out fifteen minutes of this match and it would have improved greatly. If you like tag wrestling, find a copy of this NOW but otherwise be ready to fast forward a lot. It’s not a bad match or anything but man alive is it long.
They would main event the first Royal Rumble.
Islanders vs. Young Stallions
Another 2/3 falls match here just to fill in the final part of the show. The Islanders have recently kidnapped Matilda and are recently back off suspension for returning the dog. Tama and Powers (It’s Haku/Tama vs. Jim Powers/Paul Roma) start things off and no one can get a real advantage in the early going. The Stallions beat on Tama a bit, with shots to the head for some reason, before it’s Haku in off the tag.
A cross body gets two for Roma and the Stallions work on the arm for awhile. Off to Tama who gets in like one shot before we cut to a camera angle from over the announcers shoulders. That’s a new one. Powers gets caught by a double headbutt and Haku hammers away on him some more. This continues to go nowhere so I think out of boredom it’s off to Roma vs. Tama.
Roma dropkicks Tama down but Haku low bridges Roma, sending him to the floor and injuring the knee. That’s good enough for a countout for the first fall and the Stallions take Roma to the dressing room to get his knee looked at. In other words, we need a reason to show the contract signing again and let Andre talk a bit. Just like Hogan, Andre doesn’t have much to say but it hypes up the Main Event.
Back to the match after the promo, the recap and a pair of breaks and it’s basically Powers in a handicap match now. You can see big gaps of seats where fans have left. For this one, I can’t say I blame them. Powers dropkicks him down and we hear about Giant-A-Mania from Jesse. Off to Tama who pounds away even more and kicks out of a small package at two. Tama’s jumping back elbow takes Powers down and it’s a little Samoan trash talk for good measure. Haku’s dropkick gets two and there’s a gutwrench suplex for two more.
It’s off to an abdominal stretch but Powers finally hiptosses out of it to get a breather. Haku misses a splash and things slow down again, but there’s no one for Powers to tag because of Roma’s knee injury. Roma finally tags himself in and Haku casually kicks the leg out to take over. Jesse wishes that was Vince’s knee because that’s the kind of guy he is. Tama puts on a half crab and the referee stops it.
Rating: D. This match is a victim of its spot on the card. The problem here is that everything else is done and this was the textbook definition of filler. It’s hard to care about something like this when there’s no story and no interest in this match, and on top of that it wasn’t even anything decent. This is one of those matches though where you can’t blame a lot of the problems on the wrestlers.
Another one off match on November 12, 1988.
Brain Busters vs. Young Stallions
In Toronto here I think. You could always tell as the camera was always off to the side a bit. There’s no Heenan here, although Gorilla says he might be in the upper deck in drag. That wouldn’t shock me actually. Arn and I think Powers start us off here and it’s a big brawl, won by the Stallions. Back to Tully vs. Powers and Blanchard isn’t sure what to do with him. Nice dropkick by Roma puts him down.
Off to Anderson who should be in the Hall of Fame. Roma (a future Horseman for some reason) snaps off some dropkicks and the Stallions rule the ring again. Blanchard tries to speed things up and that goes as well as anything else he’s tried. The Stallions work on Tully’s leg as this has been one sided so far. Anderson finally realizes he’s a Horseman and comes in with some double teaming to take over.
There’s a spinebuster which didn’t have a name yet. Roma gets beaten down like he’s a glorified jobber and Gorilla complains about the lack of perfection in the abdominal stretch. We get into a standard tag match with Roma being beaten down for awhile. Arn does his “test of strength on the mat and jump onto the other guys’ feet to crotch myself” spot. Blanchard gets taken down also and there’s the double tag. Everything breaks down and during the insanity, Tully cheats (atta boy!) and gets an illegal pin via a sunset flip on Powers.
Rating: C+. Fine match here and the 80s style never fails. It’s not a great match or anything but for a house show match that got about 12 minutes, it’s hard to complain about something like this. The Busters would get the titles later that year and would hold them until Tully got a little bit too high one day.
Roma had a worthless singles run in 1989 so it was off to another tag team with Hercules as Power and Glory. From Summerslam 1990.
Rockers vs. Power and Glory
Power and Glory (Hercules and Paul Roma) get a jobber entrance. The camera immediately goes wide during the opening brawl so you don’t see Shawn’s knee get grazed by Hercules’ chain. His knee was REALLY badly hurt at this time so he’s just here for an appearance, making this a handicap match for all intents and purposes. Marty hits a quick dropkick to both guys and gets a small package on Roma but Slick has the referee.
Vince is freaking out over the referee missing stuff as Marty clotheslines Herc to the outside. We officially start with Roma vs. Jannetty and Roma tagging his way out of a sunset flip. Shawn is still on the floor as Hercules pounds away and slams Marty down. Roma plants Jannetty with a backbreaker for two but Marty comes back with a powerslam. The top rope fist connects with Paul’s head but Hercules breaks up the pin. Roma sends Jannetty into a clothesline from Herc as Shawn is screaming in pain. The superplex/top rope splash combo is enough to finish the massacre of Jannetty.
Rating: C-. The match wasn’t too bad all things considered. The crowd is white hot here and they carried the match to a higher level than it could have reached on their own. It’s kind of a shame that Marty had to be Shawn’s partner as his own skills were overlooked by his far more talented partner.
Here’s a singles match from September 21, 1990.
Marty Jannetty vs. Paul Roma
So it’s a drug addict vs. a guy that is a running joke in wrestling. Oh dear. Back at MSG again. This is a result of an injury angel where Power and Glory, Roma’s team, injured Shawn who had a legit knee problem. Marty is sent to the floor in a leverage move and may have hurt his wrist. This is in MSG. Roma takes over to start and sends Jannetty to the floor. Hercules keeps distracting Marty to let Roma take over.
Back in Marty can’t quite get a sunset flip as Roma tries a punch which also misses. They’re moving pretty quickly out there. Roma takes over and slows it down, hitting two backbreakers and a powerslam for no cover. This referee, Joey Marella (the son of Gorilla and whose last name was the inspiration for Santino’s last name) counts very slow. Off to the chinlock as some fans think this is boring.
Hayes has decided that Roma is going to win, more or less handing the win over to Jannetty already. Jannetty tries to do an inside out twist off a clothesline but he can’t quite get there. Off to another chinlock as I wonder how Roma got to be a Horsemen. I mean really dude? Was Virgil not available? He was a more interesting character to be sure and probably better in the ring.
Apparently before this match Power and Glory flipped a coin to decide who would face Jannetty here. Is there a reason we didn’t see that? Oh ok we needed more Sean Mooney plane jokes! Roma works on the back a bit and we’re back to the chinlock for the third time in this match. Anyone else thing it was a bad idea to have Roma get this much time?
Marty fights back and gets a suplex. They slug it out and Marty speeds things up a bit. Jannetty gets some basic offense in and adds a head grab/bulldog from the middle rope (think the bulldog Jericho uses to set up the Lionsault) which Roma flips forward with for some reason. Top rope punch looks to finish but Hercules interferes. Somehow that isn’t a DQ so Roma gets the pin with Herc helping him.
Rating: D. Weak match here that went WAY too long. Roma isn’t a guy that I want to see wrestle as he’s not bad but just boring beyond belief. I’d be annoyed if I were there live and had to sit through that. Weak match from a feud that never really got any kind of blowoff of note.
Roma would be in the 1990 Survivor Series.
The Vipers vs. The Visionaries
Jake Roberts, Rockers, Jimmy Snuka
Rick Martel, Warlord, Power and Glory
Power and Glroy are Hercules and Paul Roma. This is built around Martel vs. Roberts, which is based on Martel blinding Jake with cologne and Jake not having full vision yet. This was a BIG feud which they screwed up with a horrible match at Wrestlemania. It wasn’t that the wrestling was bad, but that it was a blindfold match and they spent about 2 minutes in contact with each other.
Marty and Warlord start as Piper is singing I Am The Walrus. Warlord powers Marty around but misses a charge in the corner. For those of you unfamiliar with Warlord, imagine Chris Masters but paler, bald, and even dumber. Both Rockers try to outmaneuver him but it just results in bringing in Martel. Shawn handles him with ease and brings in Jake, causing Martel to scamper away.
It’s Roma instead and Jake picks him apart like he’s not even there. He works on Roma’s arm and brings in Snuka to keep it up, but the afro apparently weighs down Snuka’s brain to the point where he can’t maintain a wristlock. Off to Hercules who gets chopped down so it’s off to Warlord instead. Snuka tries his stuff but when that gets nowhere it’s off to Marty. Jannetty tries his speed stuff but jumps into a great looking powerslam for the pin.
Off to Shawn whose leapfrog is caught but he ranas Warlord down instead. Jake comes in and the fans wants a DDT. A bunch of clotheslines take Warlord down and it’s back to Shawn. Roma comes in with an elbow drop to the back of the head as Gorilla talks anatomy. Warlord comes in and backdrops Shawn before tagging out to Herc. Martel comes in just as fast and drops a knee for two. Roma sends Shawn into the corner and Shawn of course sells it like he’s dead. Martel’s shoulder hits the post and here’s Snuka again.
A flying headbutt to the standing Martel gets two, but Rick grabs a small package for the pin out of nowhere. Jake comes in again and Martel immediately runs and brings in Hercules. Roberts is getting frustrated because he can’t get his hands on Martel, but he still manages a knee lift and a failed DDT attempt. Jake starts pounding away on Herc and Martel clotheslines him down out of nowhere.
Roma comes in for some stomping but he misses a middle rope punch. There’s the hot tag to Shawn who suplexes Roma down and hits a middle rope elbow for two. Shawn does what he can but Hercules comes in off a blind tag and pounds away even more. Power and Glory hook up the Powerplex (superplex from Herc immediately followed by a top rope splash from Roma) eliminates Shawn and it’s 4-1. It’s Hercules in first but Jake is in trouble. Warlord comes in with a bearhug but Jake escapes and DDTs him out of nowhere. Jake says screw it and gets the snake out. He chases Martel to the back for the countout loss.
Rating: D+. There wasn’t much to see here but other than Jake vs. Martel, there was nothing here at all. To the best of my knowledge, Warlord and Snuka never interacted at all before or after this so they were just tacked on. The Rockers and Power and Glory had fought at Summerslam but that’s about it. The Visionaries are the first ever team to survive intact.
Here they are against the most dominant tag team ever at Wrestlemania VII.
Power and Glory vs. Legion of Doom
Hercules is sent to the floor and it’s a Doomsday Device to end Roma in less than a minute. They were clearly coming for the belts very soon.
One more WWF match at Summerslam 1991.
Ricky Steamboat/British Bulldog/Texas Tornado vs. Warlord/Power and Glory
Steamboat is just The Dragon here, complete with what looks like a lizard man costume and breathing fire. The heels get the jobber entrance and have Slick with them. Steamboat and Roma get things going as Gorilla is listing off the rest of the card. Roma slams him down and mostly misses a dropkick before posing. Paul goes to the middle rope but dives into the armdrag and Steamboat cranks on the arm even more. Ricky hits a much better dropkick to put Roma in the corner for a tag to Hercules who gets caught in some armdrags of his own.
Off to Tornado and the fans go nuts as he rams Herc’s head into the buckle. Ten right hands to the head in the corner have Hercules in even more trouble but it’s off to Warlord vs. Bulldog which was a decent power feud. Bulldog hits the suplex for two and it’s off to Steamboat for a top rope chop to the head. Warlord blocks a monkey flip though and it’s back to Roma with a suplex of his own for two. Three straight backbreakers have Steamboat in even more trouble before it’s back to Hercules for a gorilla press.
Steamboat starts fighting back but gets caught in a big hotshot to put him down. Here’s Warlord again but he dives into two feet from Steamboat, allowing for the tag off to Tornado. The Texan cleans house but makes a blind tag to Bulldog who hits a cross body. That plus the Tornado Punch to Warlord is good for two as everything breaks down. Bulldog powerslams Roma down and Ssteamboat adds the high cross body for the pin.
Rating: C+. Nothing wrong with this as it was a basic six man tag to fire up the crowd. Everyone looked fine and the crowd was WAY into the smark god known as Ricky Steamboat. The heels were all about to be gone from the company with only Warlord making it to 1992.
Roma would head to WCW in 1993, somehow becoming a Horsemen. Here he is with Arn Anderson at Beach Blast 1993.
WCW Tag Titles: Hollywood Blondes vs. Paul Roma/Arn Anderson
Oh dang it it’s Paul Roma. This is your really long wrestling match that isn’t as good as it’s made out to be but is still pretty good but needs about 10 minutes cut off to really make it good match of the night. The Blondes, the heels here, stall to start. The Horsemen are of course the over team as they’re in the Deep South. Good night could Roma be more outclassed?
We have perhaps the best wrestler to never win a world title, the best American cruiserweight ever, and the second biggest star of all time. Then we have Paul Roma. There’s something amusing about that. How in the world did he get a spot in the freaking HORSEMEN??? Pillman kisses Austin on the cheek after Roma punches him. That’s just amusing.
Ventura makes a line about Pillman adjusting himself and Tony nearly loses it. After about five minutes we finally get something substantial going. Ventura asks why Anderson has had so many tag partners which is a good question. To be fair though he won titles with just about all of them. It’s freaking weird though seeing Anderson as a face. Roma is sloppy as a wet track but of course is told that he’s awesome for no apparent reason.
Since he’s great apparently, Roma is in there for about the first ten minutes of the match. Ok make that 8 out of ten but whatever. Thankfully just as I say that Arn comes back in. Pillman does his old standard Blondes thing of just faking a knee injury. It worked every time yet for some reason no one ever got that. It’s like when Bret plays possum.
You don’t think that even though he’s done it a million times he’s not doing it here again? Pillman’s tights are riding up so more or less he’s wearing a half thong. Roma just simply isn’t popular at all and it’s showing badly as the fans are really restless. He can’t even do a dropkick properly. This is pathetic. Anderson gets the tag and the crowd…does nothing at all really.
This is just boring and a great example of a match that needs some time cut off. Either that or a different partner for Anderson so it’s not so freaking boring. Austin finally comes in and then we hit the floor immediately. That was rather pointless. I wonder why Anderson is so freaking tired after not being in that long. My guess would be it’s from carrying Roma. It’s getting better now which is a good sign.
The middle hurt it a lot though. Anderson suplexes Austin over the ropes and Jesse wants a DQ. Roma gets the tag and no one really cares again. This crowd more or less sucks by the way. Roma rolls up Austin but Pillman hits a clothesline to reverse it and Austin hooks the tights for the pin. Tony talking about how stunning that is makes me chuckle.
Rating: C+. The ending was better and the drama was there, but Roma was just annoying as all goodness. I’ve never heard a deader crowd either. The wrestling was pretty there but not great. This is right in the middle for me, but I could see it going either way for a lot of people.
Here’s another title match at Clash of the Champions XXIV.
Unified Tag Team Titles: Steve Austin/Steven Regal vs. Arn Anderson/Paul Roma
Anderson and Roma are challenging. Austin and Anderson get things going and shove each other to a stand still. Austin takes over with a clothesline and some knees to the back but Arn trips the leg and hammers away with left hands to the head. A catapult sends Austin over the top but Austin skins the cat to get back inside. Instead Anderson backdrops him over the top to the floor which should have been a DQ.
Off to Regal vs. Roma with Paul coming in off the top to work on the shoulder. Regal knocks him over with a shoulder but Roma comes right back with a dropkick. Austin rips Paul up from the apron and the champions take over. Pillman gets in some choking from the floor like a good villain should. Back in and Regal breaks up a sunset flip and hits a running forward roll splash for two. Austin gets the tag and Roma hammers away but gets sent into the corner to stop a comeback attempt.
Regal drives some knees into the ribs and throws some left hands in the corner. Austin comes in again and hits some forearms to the back of Roma’s head but gets caught in his own Stun Gun. Regal comes in for the save and the referee puts him out, meaning he misses the hot tag to Anderson. Regal catches Roma’s kick but Paul jumps up for a dropkick in a nice looking move. Now the hot tag brings in Anderson to clean house and the butler Sir William accidentally hits Austin with his umbrella, giving the Horsemen the belts.
Rating: C-. This was already better than any match on the previous Clash. There wasn’t much to see here though as the match wasn’t really in doubt given the substitute partner. Roma wasn’t exactly great in the ring though and it was Arn doing most of the heavy lifting out there.
The Horsemen wouldn’t last long and it was off to Pretty Wonderful with Paul Orndorff. Here they are at Starrcade 1993.
Paul Orndorff/Paul Roma vs. 2 Cold Scorpio/Marcus Bagwell
Roma and Orndorff would eventually become a regular team known as Pretty (Roma) Wonderful (Orndorff). Both guys are from the WWF and both have seen far better days at this point. Bagwell teamed with a long list of partners over the years with Scorpio being his current teammate. They also have Teddy Long as their manager, who receives an award for being Manager of the Year. The Pauls have the masked Assassin as their manager to counter.
It’s a brawl to start with Marcus and Scorpio clearing the ring with a pair of double dropkicks. Bagwell and Roma finally get things going with Roma pounding him down, only to be caught by a crossbody for two. Bagwell cranks on the arm before it’s off to Scorpio for more of the same. A middle rope punch to Roma’s shoulder keeps Bagwell in control and it’s off to a short arm scissors. Roma finally takes him down to escape and brings in Orndorff.
The other Paul (called Paula by the fans) charges in and gets caught by a wristlock from Scorpio. A few flying headscissors puts Orndorff down and it’s off to an armbar. Off to Bagwell for a splash for two. Back to Roma who is caught in an armbar of his own followed by an atomic drop. The good guys double team Roma with a quick drop toehold from Bagwell, setting up a badly botched splash from Scorpio. Roma was sitting up (presumably making it his fault) so Scorpio landed on the back of Roma’s neck in a scary looking move.
Thankfully Roma isn’t paralyzed and can scream about Scorpio hurting his arm. We’re over seven minutes into this thing and the vast majority has been spent on armbars. Back to Bagwell as Orndorff FINALLY gets in a few shots to take over. The commentary goes out for awhile, presumably due to boredom. Roma hits a few backbreakers and stops to check his hair.
Back to Orndorff for a Saito Suplex (modified belly to back) for two. Roma comes back in and misses a top rope splash, allowing for the tag off to Scorpio. Bagwell and Roma fight on the floor as 2 Cold hits a top rope fist to Orndorff. A spinwheel kick takes Orndorff down as the Assassin puts something in his hood before headbutting Scorpio, allowing Orndorff to get the easy pin.
Rating: D-. This was about as boring as you can get without falling sound asleep. The Paul’s were a very basic tag team who gave you nothing at all of interest. Bagwell and Scorpio could have been any two guy as they added nothing whatsoever. This was a very
And again, this time for the titles, at Fall Brawl 1994.
Tag Titles: Pretty Wonderful vs. Stars N Stripes
We see Barry Darsow AGAIN but this time he’s being thrown out. Seriously, Paul Orndorff and Paul Roma are the tag champions and it’s 1994. Let that sink in for a bit. Bagwell shakes hands with Penzer. I kind of like that for some reason. It’s nice if nothing else. What the heck happened to this kid? He became the biggest dick I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen my share of big dicks. Oh just leave it alone.
The Patriot apparently changed houses between this and Halloween Havoc as he’s billed as from DC here and South Carolina next time. Roma and Orndorff are reminding me of Billy and Chuck. They actually call the previous sham a match. I’ve heard it all now. Other than Admin KB, but I think that could come this year. Stars N Stripes beat the champions in a non title match to set this up. They make fun of the WWF and say these are wrestlers and not bodybuilders.
Keep in mind that Bagwell would become Buff Bagwell in a few years and Orndorff was Mr. Wonderful for his muscles. And yeah you guessed it, the match sucks. Nothing at all of note goes on here as it’s just four guys with no heat having a tag team match. Thankfully it’s shorter than their rematch next month.
Yes, Orndorff and Roma got to fight on PPV again, but as challengers where they won the belts again. Anyway, this is just boring stuff for the most part. Orndorff dumps a cooler with soda and ice onto Bagwell for no apparent reason and miscommunication between the faces ends this.
Rating: D+. Now remember, Regal and Austin lost their titles tonight, but Roma and Orndorff keep theirs. Let that sink in a bit. To further the pure stupidity of this company, these teams fought again SIX DAYS LATER and the faces won the belts, which they held until October, only to lose them back to Paul and Paul, before Stars N Stripes won them AGAIN, before losing them to Harlem Heat for their first reign. Did Orndorff save Hogan from drowning in cocaine or something once?
After quickly losing the titles, they would have another chance to get them back at Halloween Havoc 1994.
Tag Titles: Stars N Stripes vs. Pretty Wonderful
Pretty Wonderful are the former champions here as Stars N Stripes beat them about a month earlier. Good night do those teams sound generic. Pretty Wonderful is made up of Pretty Paul Roma and Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorff. Stars N Stripes are Bagwell and the Patriot. I really am not looking forward to this. This just sounds like a bad match on an indy show or something like that.
Heenan suggests that the Patriot is Al Gore. Something tells me that Bobby is going to be all that gets me through this match and show. Bagwell was a five time champion with four different partners. That either says he’s a great tag wrestler or he has no direction so they kept throwing him in random tag teams because he had a big contract and they had nothing else to do with him.
You can tell the announcers are just bored to death as they’re arguing over what a tag is and then there’s something about Dennis Rodman. This is just BORING. They actually say this is the last night Hogan will face Flair. That’s just hilarious. They wrestled 15 years later and likely will in TNA also. They discuss the Lions’ Super Bowl chances. This is just amusing. Nothing at all is going on in the match.
They say that Tiger Stadium and Yankee Stadium are the last great ballparks. The real last great ballparks are the ones still in use today: Fenway and Wrigley. Heenan says that once all of the matches are over, no one is going to take a shower because they’ll all be watching the cage match.
Ok, number one, why does Heenan know the showering habits of the wrestlers and why would no one take a shower after their match when they have about an hour and a half before the main event? How clean do they like to get? The fans are more or less dead for this by the way. Bagwell hits the suplex and Wonderful hits an elbow on him to get the titles. This was somehow worse than the previous match.
Rating: D-. I have never cared less about a match than I did here. I’ve always thought Bagwell was hot and there’s a former Horseman in there though so it’s not a failure. The announcers were bored too as this was just bland as all goodness. Changing the titles over and over again got very dull but it was a way of life in WCW around this time.
We’ll wrap it up with one more singles match at SuperBrawl V.
Paul Roma vs. Alex Wright
GO BACK TO THE VIDEO PACKAGES!!! This match is kind of infamous as it got Roma fired from the company for the way he acted in it. More or less Roma was sent out there to put Wright over and nothing else. Roma, thinking for some reason that he’s worth more than Wright and for some reason that he’s simply not going to get in trouble for what he’s about to pull, more or less just made Wright look terrible and embarrassed him to no end.
Naturally he was gone and hasn’t been seen on a major show since. Roma is completely dominating so far although to be fair we’re a minute into this. Wright keeps trying to take over but Roma keeps fighting back which he shouldn’t do at all here. OH MAN Heenan is gone. You can barely understand him half the time. Orndorff, Roma’s tag partner, comes down to ringside. Roma I guess allows Wright to get an armbar to control a bit.
He’s showing off again though with a lot of power moves as Wright has done more or less nothing so far. Basically Roma is controlling the whole thing and is making sure Wright gets nothing. Even on a backslide he won’t let Wright get him down easily, fighting him the whole way before kicking out at one to make it look even weaker. Roma is a jobber to the stars at this point so this should be a glorified squash for Wright who was getting a pretty decent push around this time.
See, Wright starts a comeback and Roma avoids a dropkick. A SWEET top rope elbow from Roma connects. Note again, that’s going to be the biggest and most memorable spot in the match, as in Roma is the one getting remembered. Roma won’t even let him do a hiptoss, more or less intentionally botching it. You have to feel bad for Wright here. He’s 18 years old and he’s got one of the biggest matches of his career at a major PPV against a former Horseman.
He’s told that it’ll more or less be a dominating performance by Wright, or at worst pretty even and the guy out there isn’t cooperating whatsoever. That’s ridiculous on all levels to make a kid like Wright have to work on the fly like this. Wright hits one of his big moves, a spin wheel kick, and Roma gets up at one again. Roma talks to Paul and it lets Wright get a dropkick to the back and a rollup. Roma AGAIN kicks out but Randy Anderson the referee is just like screw it and calls for the bell.
Rating: D. To make something clear here: Alex Wright is in ZERO way responsible for this match being bad. Roma completely screwed this up by being 100% unprofessional out there and in the process destroyed both of their careers. Wright, while still undefeated, looks completely weak here as he can’t beat a guy like Roma without a total fluke so his push more or less died and Roma was out in a few days. This was totally uncalled for and bogus on top of that. Roma, grow up. You need to.
Paul Roma just wasn’t very good and is definitely the black sheep of the Horsemen. He was almost always a tag wrestler and not a very good one at that. Roma had a good look and was easy to hate but at the end of the day he had to have a good match now and then. The guy isn’t memorable for the most part and was only there for his looks most of the time.
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We’re looking at someone often remembered but not particularly successful as a singles guy: Buff Bagwell.
Bagwell debuted in 1991 and was named Rookie of the Year, a title which he seemed to hold for several years running. We’ll start at the end of that year with a match from Starrcade 1991. This was a show of “random” tag team matches and Bagwell was in the opening contest.
Michael Hayes/Tracy Smothers vs. Jimmy Garvin/Marcus Bagwell
Smothers was part of a tag team called the Young Pistols (current US Tag Champions) and Bagwell was a rookie at this point. Hayes and Garvin are regular tag partners in the Freebirds. Bagwell and Smothers start things out by shoving each other a few times until Bagwell runs him over with a shoulder block. Hayes starts the Atlanta Braves chop (a baseball crowd deal) for no apparent reason. A quick rollup gets two for Marcus and Tracy is complaining about having his trunks pulled.
Tracy comes back with a shoulder of his own, only to be taken down by a shoulder block and a dropkick from Bagwell. Now Tracy says he wants Garvin and things speed up a bit, leading to Smothers being hiptossed and dropkicked to the floor. I’m pretty sure Smothers is the only bad guy in this entire match so the fans are all over him. Back in and an atomic drop sends Smothers out to the floor again.
Bagwell comes in again for a top rope ax handle to Smothers’ arm but Tracy goes to the eyes to take him down. Now it’s off to Hayes for a back elbow to the face and it’s time to dance. They trade armbars with Hayes taking control before it’s back to Smothers. Bagwell takes over on Tracy’s arm as this just isn’t a good night for Smothers so far. Another armdrag puts Tracy down again and he’s getting very frustrated. Back to Garvin but Tracy tags in Hayes to give us a battle of the Freebirds.
They shake hands and don’t seem too hesitant to go after each other here. Granted not a lot happens for the first few moments of them being in there against each other as both guys have to strut a bit first. A rollup gets two for Hayes as this isn’t the most serious brawl ever. Both guys strut over to their corners and tag out while fixing their hair. Well that was worthless.
Back to Smothers vs. Bagwell with Tracy missing an elbow and it’s back to Garvin again. A forearm puts Tracy down and it’s back to Marcus a cross body for two. Everything breaks down and Hayes accidentally hits Garvin, allowing Bagwell to hit a fisherman’s suplex on Tracy for the pin to advance to Battlebowl.
Rating: D+. This started somewhat promising and then fell completely apart. The stuff with the Freebirds fighting was a waste of time and Smothers’ overblown selling of everything didn’t help much either. They were telling a story in this match but it wasn’t the most interesting in the world. That’s going to be a common theme tonight: there’s no reason for these specific people to be fighting, so the grades rest entirely on the in ring action for the most part.
Bagwell would be a staple of tag team wrestling over the coming years. He would win two tag titles with 2 Cold Scorpio and The Patriot, though neither reign would last even a month. The Patriot and Bagwell would trade the tag titles with Pretty Wonderful throughout 1994. Here’s their final tag title change from Clash of the Champions 29.
Tag Titles: Stars N Stripes vs. Pretty Wonderful
Stars N Stripes are Bagwell and the Patriot, Pretty Wonderful are Paul Roma and Paul Orndorff (holy Yoda line Batman and holy combination of two awesome geek series) and this is mask (Patriot’s) vs. title (Pretty Wonderful’s). The camera is a bit low so you can’t see over all of the fans. These teams traded the titles over the last two months or so. After a lot of stalling it’s Bagwell vs. Orndorff to start.
Roma comes in quickly and ever the genius, wrestles like a face. By that I mean he’s climbing the ropes and flipping off of them, jumping over Bagwell, using cross bodies and dropkicks. How many heels do you know that wrestle like that regularly? Anyway the challengers clear the ring quickly. Heenan thinks Patriot is Al Gore.
Paul vs. Patriot at the moment. Blast it this is one of those teams that I have to specify with. Orndorff vs. Patriot at the moment. How in the world was Roma a Horseman but not Orndorff? Patriot takes him down with an armbar and Orndorff isn’t sure what to do. Off to Roma who shows off again with three backbreakers without putting Patriot down. Thesz Press gets two for the masked dude.
The champions try a double hot shot but the cameraman falls over so we don’t see what happens. I know it’s just an accident but when do you ever see that? Orndorff drops an elbow on Bagwell as they’re legal at the moment. The fans chant USA for four American wrestlers. Off to Roma who has a REALLY high dropkick. Powerslam gets two. Sunset flip by Bagwell gets two on Orndorff.
Roma and Patriot hit the floor as this match is needing to end rather soon. Thankfully it does but even a simple pin doesn’t go right for them. Orndorff suplexes Bagwell and lays there with him, but doesn’t let him go. Roma goes up for a splash off the top ala the Powerplex but Patriot makes the save. Orndorff just stayed in the position and gets pinned, but Tony screws up the count, making it seem like the titles change on a two count and generally confusing the TV audience. Either way, new champions.
Rating: D+. Orndorff got a push at this point for some reason which I’m SURE wasn’t because he was one of Hogan’s buddies but whatever. The tag title situation never really was interesting at all at this point but they were trying….I think. Harlem Heat would rise up soon to half save the division but they tried at least.
His next partner would be Scotty Riggs in the American Males, who would win another tag title for nine days in 1995. After a year of jobbing with Riggs, Bagwell would join the NWO in November of 1996, setting up a feud with Riggs which was blown off at Souled Out 1997.
Buff Bagwell vs. Scott Riggs
Bagwell had very recently turned black and white so this is the blowoff I guess. I don’t know about you but I was begging for that American Males showdown. Bischoff talks about how Bagwell has the IT factor and is going to be a movie star according to Hogan. That’s rich. Buff channels his inner Hogan and poses so Riggs jumps him to start us off. And now we stall.
The constant camera cuts are reaching TNA levels here. They’re doing a weird handheld look here and it’s really not working at all. Apparently Buff has a new move for us tonight. He slaps Riggs and it’s on. Buff is sent to the floor which isn’t a DQ here for no apparent reason. I hate that rule but love how they constantly change it.
Eric: “Everybody has to go somewhere. Horses have glue factories and people here have Connecticut.” And then there’s Orlando I guess. Amazingly enough, this is a fairly boring match. Bagwell leads the fans in a Bagwell Sucks chant for some reason. He gets a powerbomb for two. This match is just rather boring. We get a shot of Buff’s tights down off a sunset flip attempt.
And now let’s look at the biker chicks again. Sure why not. Bischoff points out that the fans are restless and I’m rather surprised. This match would be perfect for me to get some rest to. It’s putting me to sleep. Riggs reverses a slam into a small package for a long two. The crooked referee schtick is getting very old.
Tornado DDT puts Buff down and Riggs of course doesn’t cover. Eric picks New England for the Super Bowl which was the wrong selection of course. After some more camera cuts and more slow counting, the fans are miserable. Patrick is tired here and I can’t really blame him for that. They go to the corner and Buff debuts the Blockbuster to end this. Yes, this got 14 minutes.
Rating: F+. And that’s just because I love the Blockbuster. This was incredibly boring and not even a fast paced match. At the end of the day, this was Marcus Bagwell vs. Scotty Riggs for almost 15 minutes on PPV. There is no way that works no matter what you say and the match was what you would have expected.
Bagwell formed another weak tag team with Scott Norton called Vicious and Delicious who worked a lot in Japan where Norton is a much bigger star. A feud with Lex Luger never went anywhere as Bagwell’s career began to stall. In April of 1998, Bagwell suffered a very serious neck injury in a match against Rick Steiner. He would come back later in the year and join the NWO again as WCW wasted a chance for a huge face push. This led to Bagwell’s newest tag team with Scott Steiner. That only lasted until Uncensored 1999 when Bagwell cost Scott the TV Title. Steiner would win the US Title soon thereafter and Bagwell had a shot at Slamboree 1999.
US Title: Buff Bagwell vs. Scott Steiner
Since Bagwell never won a singles title, I think you know who is champion coming in. Buff jumps him before the bell and Steiner still has the belt on. Swinging neckbreaker gets two. Scott hits him low and there’s the Push-Up elbow. Buff gets thrown to the floor and Steiner yells at some fans. Things slow WAY down with Steiner on offense. It was a running theme with the Steiners at this point.
Scott chokes away and yells at another fan. Much like in the Rick match, you may be noticing a pattern emerging here. They go to the mat and Steiner elbows him a lot. He runs to the floor and brings in a chair. If that shot had hit Steiner would have been facing 10-15 years. Bagwell fights back but there goes the referee. Buff gets the chair and here’s Rick to turn heel on Buff and whack him with the chair. The Recliner keeps the title on Scott.
Rating: D-. I can’t take many more of these bad matches. I mean the people in them are just SO lazy with them laying around and doing nothing of note. Scott and Rick are back together as the Steiners and both have singles titles. You know, because that’s what the people wanted to see and would light the world on fire. Benoit and Jericho and Malenko? Who are they?
For once, Bagwell was given a long singles push as both a face and a heel. He lasted in this role for the better part of a year and had some very good success though didn’t win any titles. Since the results weren’t there, it’s back to the tag teams, this time with Shane Douglas. At Spring Stampede 2000 they faced Ric Flair and Lex Luger in a tournament final for the vacant tag titles.
Tag Titles: Team Package vs. Buff Bagwell/Shane Douglas
Russo comes out with the New Blood and sits in on commentary. Luger vs. Bagwell gets us going. Russo is guaranteeing victory. Buff rakes the eyes to stop the offense and it’s off to Shane. Luger casually gorilla presses him and Flair gets in a right hand and they go to the floor. Tony shouts BS about something as the New Blood beats on Flair. How a guy that was world champion seven years ago can be considered New Blood is beyond me but it’s WCW so who cares.
Bagwell beats down Flair and Tony wants more choking and violence. That would be cool if we hadn’t seen it in every single match so far tonight. Flair gets a chop and they hit the ropes, bumping heads to put both guys down. Luger FINALLY does something to break up the beating on Flair. There’s the hot tag to Luger who cleans house for a bit and there’s the Figure Four on Shane. Russo gets up with the bat as the Blockbuster hits Shane by mistake. Russo pulls the referee out as Kronik debuts and hits the double chokeslam on Luger to give the New Blood the titles with Russo counting the pin.
Rating: D+. Just another match here and Kronik added nothing for the most part. The New Blood win the first tournament and I’m sure that’s all they’ll win right, because it’s not like they’re going to put all the titles on the heel faction like the NWO because that would just be stupid when they had done that a few years ago right?
That was pretty much if for Buff in WCW as he would have random feuds and matches until the company went under about a year later. Bagwell would be brought into the WWF, receiving one match for the WCW Title on an episode of Raw.
WCW World Title: Booker T vs. Buff Bagwell
Hudson screws up AGAIN, saying Booker is the current TV Champion rather than the US Champion along with world champion. You can actually see the people walking out. The fans IMMEDIATELY start changing BS and the upper level is blacked out so we can’t see them leaving. Buff takes over and does his strut as EVEN MORE people leave.
Buff hooks a chinlock and the remaining people boo. Now they chant THIS MATCH SUCKS. Buff starts glaring at the crowd, basically turning heel mid match. Booker comes back with a side kick and forearm that misses but gets two anyway. Axe kick, Spinarooni, Austin and Angle FINALLY come in for the DQ.
Rating: F. I’m going to go into a much longer explanation of why this was an abomination later, but for now we’ll go with this: if the company has to black out the upper deck because your match made that many fans leave, your match is a failure. Again, we’ll get back to this later.
That was it for Buff in the WWF as the match was so poorly received that he was fired. Bagwell would hit the indy circuit after that, joining up with the World Wrestling All-Stars organization. He would appear on their first Pay Per View called The Inception in a match that, I kid you not, was called T***, Whips and Buff.
Seven Deadly Sins Tournament Semi-Finals: Jeff Jarrett vs. Buff Bagwell
This is a, and I quote, T*** Whips and Buff match, which means the Starretts as lumberjacks holding whips. Buff’s graphic says Road Dogg but to be fair it’s their first show. Apparently Buff got to pick the stipulations. Ok then. Basic stuff to start and Jeff has to avoid a whipping. A clothesline puts Jeff on the floor and the girls chase him around some more. Buff gets sent to the floor and the girls help him up and rub his shoulders.
Jeff gets one of the whips and beats on Buff a bit and it’s off to a token reverse chinlock. Buff escapes with an electric chair and hammers away before sending Jeff to the floor for a whipping. Buff whips him a bit too and the referee says that’s not allowed so the referee takes a few shots too. In the ring the Blockbuster hits but there’s no referee. One of the girls counts and Buff (who wasn’t looking) celebrates, allowing Jeff to hit the Stroke to advance to the finals.
Rating: D-. Another comedy match here and it’s starting to wear thin. These matches aren’t funny and at about four minutes long, they aren’t coming off as important or anything like that. These are supposed to world title tournament matches but there’s almost no wrestling involved at all. That gets old in a hurry.
Overall, Bagwell is a guy who was always around in WCW but never did anything of note as a singles guy. He had a ton of potential with a great look and some above average skills, but the solution was always put him in a tag team and give him a meaningless tag title that never elevated him at all. His finisher, the Buff Blockbuster (flipping middle rope neckbreaker) was awesome and he could go in the ring, but as usual, WCW screwed it up.
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